Phantom

V

Sonic shivered in the cold.

The thought about all that happened to him, from that half year ago when he'd been caught of guard.
Half a year ago since his perfect life was brutally murdered by the monster in the dark.

His body, the one he was once so confident about, scarred and broken, his mind even more so.
His thoughts had always been rushed and blurred, like an untidy filing cabinet, but now, the was completely fuzzy, and he was unable to make any decisions.

He hated Eggman for doing this to him.
He hated Shadow for going along with his nemesis.
He hated Chaos.
He hated Zavok.
He hated Metal.
And I especially hate that Jackal.

He growled, rubbing his arms.

But it was over now.

He was reminded when he didn't hear the familiar clinking of chains stopping him from moving his hands, stopping him from being able to comfort himself.

Or is it?

Sonic didn't know. It could all be another one of Infinite's crazy dream worlds, where he would use him as a puppet in a string, putting him in any scenario he wanted, while he watched in the background like it was all a movie to him.

Put a sudden jolt of the truck woke him up from his thoughts, and he heard a blurry voice ask him if he was ok, which was drown out by his ears ringing.

In reality, He was in the back of a all-fours truck, along with Silver who had been an emergency pick up after he had a run-in with Infinite.

He looked across at the light grey hedgehog, unconscious with medics tending to his wounds.

Come to think of it, he was barely conscious, slipping in and out of another nightmare.

Vector glanced behind him, noticing Sonic swaying.
"Hey someone catch him he's gonna go again-"

Wham!

He hit the floor, falling away as he saw a blurry image of Espio's shoes and someone else picking him up, him and Charmy calling his name as he finally slipped away..

***

In what seemed like a few seconds, Sonic's eyes opened again, but he found himself in an entirely new setting.
A odd room, with an old musty smell, as well as a feel of something.. soft?

It had been so long since he had felt something soft.
He could also feel the presence of someone else in the room, but had no strength to look over

He groaned, grabbing the attention of the other person.

"Oh you're awake," he heard Rouge's voice as she came into view, "how are you?"
"Everything's so sore yet numb at the same time," the blue croaked, "I can't even move,"

"You had a lot of broken bones and torn joints," the bar explained, "including your legs."
She heard him sigh, "I knew."

"But enough of that," Rouge held his hand, "Welcome home Blue. Everyone's missed you so much,"

"Tails?" He asked, "Is he okay?"

"Tails is in the room across from you, and is, or at least physically, okay. You won't believe what he's done to the place."

"Can I see him?" He whispered, but the bat just shook her head.
"He's not here right now." She explained, and he seemed the settle down, sighing.

"Thanks Rouge. For everything,"
"Don't mention it," the bat gave him one last look, before exiting the room.
Sonic sighed as he got comfortable. Sure, the bed was old and creaky, the mattress springy and the pillows flatter then the pancakes Vanilla makes, the blankets thin and fraying at the ends, but to Sonic's aching body, it might as well have been the most expensive bed in the world.

***

"How is he?" Knuckles asked Rouge as she came back into the main room, the whole crew eager to hear.

"He's resting," the bat announced, "I think it's only fair that he explains the rest,"
"But listen, no bombarding him with questions, ok? He's been through a lot, and isn't up to much talking,"

"You heard her," Knuckled ordered, "Now get back to work!"

***

Tails rushed to the Headquarters in Sunset City, beyond ecstatic with the news.
Oh chaos the cub slowed down a little, what should I say to him? It's been a whole six months.

As he walked in, he was greeted by Amy, asking him about his day.
"Wheressonic?" He questioned, before hearing footsteps from the balcony. Footsteps he never thought he'd hear ever again.

"Sonic?" He questioned, looking up to see the two green eyes staring straight at him, slowly walking down the stairs, "Is it really you?"

But he just continued walking, not saying a word.
"Look, I know you're probably really angry at me and you have a right to be and if you never want to see me again I understand I wouldn't trust me ei.."

But Sonic had wrapped his arms around him.
"Missed you bud."

Tails teared up, hugging back, embracing that same comforting warmth of his brother he had felt what seemed decades ago. It felt like the war didn't even matter now, he just had him back.

He took a good look at him, noticing all the injuries, "Oh Sonic. What did Eggman do to you?"

"He didn't do anything," Sonic smiled, reassuring him.
But Tails looked even more concerned, examining his quills, which even know had been probably cleaned, was still clear that they had been cut short.

"You're lying. You're a terrible lier," Tails sighed, "As much as I want to believe you, you're not really okay, are you,"

Sonic just glanced down at the floor, "No. If only I could tell you everything"
"But you can," Tails encouraged, "I know that you've always found it hard talking about feelings, but I promise I won't tell anyone,"

"No," Sonic backed off, "I just ca-"
He was cut of by the alarm, signalling another attack.

Sonic just shrugged, following Knuckles at the resistance to the call, forcing himself to run, telling himself to not let them know that anything was severely wrong.

"Only Rouge shall ever know, otherwise something bad will happen to your foxy friend," He'd heard Eggman whisper when he'd past out.

It's okay. I'll just hide it, like I always have. I'm sure the feeling will go away

***