MVA (but it's sonic) 2

Chapter 10- Nightmares in the Deep

CW: descriptions of blood and implied death

The world was dark, a black void that was only illuminated by a faint glow of light from above so he could see himself. In fact, he could see himself in full, almost like he was watching a movie. He was dreaming. But he didn't entirely know it.

The cold floor below him was filled with water. It was four feet deep, but compared to Sonic, it could be mistaken for only a few inches. It splashed and rippled with every careful but heavy step of him. It made him uneasy to hear each of them.

"Uh. Hello?" He said as he glanced around the darkness. "Is anyone there?" He turned behind himself and took a step backwards. "Can someone please tell me where I am?" He froze in place and put a hand to his mouth. Why were those words so familiar?

A familiar metallic chuckle fell against his ears. It made his chest fall heavy and the air out of his lungs to disappear. He knew where it came from, or who it came from. It was an all to familiar sound. He whipped his head around to the source of the noise, but there was nothing. Nothing but... a looming dread that blanketed his shoulders.

He could feel it- hear it. That metallic sound. It didn't come from the figure he heard earlier though. No, this came from something much much bigger and much more robotic. Sonic turned around in horror to face what he dreaded, as he came face to face with the giant robot that belonged to Neo.

It slammed its hands against the floor as it pulled itself up from the shallow abyss of water, creating a horrific metallic groan as it did. It only pulled itself up to its waist, but it still towered over him like it did once before, and that sight still made Sonic uneasy.

He took a step back and tried to keep his cool in front of this ginormous robot. But a cold shiver came over him as it bent down, placing each of its hands to either side, and aimed its single, large red eye at him. It stared at him, unmoving. It was chilling.

"My, my, you seem to put yourself in quite the situation, haven't you?"

That voice. He knew that voice. It was one he came to hate since he had heard it, since it died. But here, right now, it wasn't dead. He whipped his head over to see exactly what he expected: Neo.

"Wha- why are you here?!" Sonic shouted. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Am I?" Neo responded. "I think out of the both of us, you would be the one to know that."

Sonic placed his hands over his temples as he thought. "Wait a minuet.. wait..." He dropped them to the sides when the realization hit him. "Ha. I must be dreaming! That's it! Dreaming! That's why you and this stupid giant robot are still here! This is all just some crazy and stupid dream my brain is making so I feel bad!"

Neo snorted. "Right."

"That means..." Sonic turned himself back to Neo. "I can beat you to a sorry pulp and not feel bad about it!" A massive and intense grin stretched across his muzzle. But his threat didn't seem to affect the cybernetic alien he was talking to. Actually, he seemed to enjoy it.

"Hmm... and how do you know it's not going to affect you when you wake?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, while you're here talking to me, how do you know you're not..." He waved a hand. "Moving around while your asleep?"

"That's stupid! I don't sleep walk! I never did!"

Neo gave him a look in response, it only made Sonic more peeved.

"I DONT!"

"Hey, don't get mad at me! This is in your mind, remember? You're getting mad at yourself."

"I.... I... UGH! JUST SHUT UP!"

He slammed his fist down at the hedgehog and was met with what he half expected. The feeling of something hard being crushed by his hand, along with that wet feeling of whatever blood or oil was inside of him. But that feeling against his knuckles felt... softer than he thought it would be. Softer and more... organic.

A painful twist came over his stomach with his realization that he absolutely dreaded it to not be true. He shook, he didn't want to move his fist from the ground in fear of who he would see beneath it. But his body moved unwillingly and his fist pulled itself from the ground, and while his brain didn't let him see it in full, he knew what he had done.

His mind switched between each person; Knuckes, Tails, Shadow, even Silver and Metal. But what made  him dread the most was the thought of it being Amy. So much so that his legs gave out and he fell with a deafening thud that was slightly muffled by a large splash. There was still water on the ground, but none where his friend(s) laid.

He was nauseous, and the thick tears that began to puddle in his eyes weren't helping. He tried so hard to keep his cool, but it was torture for him, and he could barely choke down the tears in his eyes that wouldn't stop pouring out of him. Look what you've done.

"Isn't this not what you wanted?" Neo's voice felt like daggers stabbing through his ears and into his stomach. He was so calm and mellow, like he expected this. He did expect this. "You had the chance to be normal back when my ship was exploding, you could have gotten your friends out of there and left with your superspeed, and yet you decided to come back just to make yourself a giant again."

Sonic's breath grew shallow with every word he kept saying to him. He huffed and wheezed as he silently pleaded for the alien to stop, stop talking, stop making him feel guilty for what he did. He deserved this.

"And now look at you. A pathetic excuse for a holder of chaos. Using your power for good? HA! That's not what chaos is for. But I guess you're catching onto that now, huh?"

A weight fell over Sonic's body, making him crash to the floor. He couldn't get himself back up, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he began to choke on the water below as he began to slowly sink like it was quicksand. The mech's hand that pinned him down only pushed harder the more he struggled. He screamed for someone, anyone to help him. But there was no one. No one would help a monster.

His head fell further and further from the surface, and he felt himself choke on the water that entered his throat and into his lungs. He struggled to reach a hand up to the surface, to pull himself out of the water that only got deeper and deeper, but he couldn't, as there was nothing around for him to hold onto.

"Don't you worry, Hedgehog..." Neo spoke again through the noise in his ears. "You'll soon see THE REAL POWER OF CHAOS!"

Sonic awoke and shot up with a loud yell. He placed a hand on his chest and huffed heavily, his heart pounded in his ears. He could feel it in his head. When he blinked, he realized he was crying, as thick tears poured down his cheeks, and he placed his fingers against them. He looked back at his fingertips, seeing the water stain his gloves only temporarily as it dried out almost instantly. He then flipped his hand over. No blood. It was only a dream. Just a bad dream.

He put a hand over his face and exhaled out a tight sob from his throat and let his leg slide off the side of bed, and he sat there with his head in his hands, quietly whimpering and whining as he resisted the urge to full on sob, but it was hard to. He hated crying. The feeling it gave him made him feel disgusting, but now it was hard to suppress.

It took ages for him to compose himself. He sat there for a while, his mind hollow and foggy. Finally he slowly turned and stood up from his bed and made his way to his bedroom door. Out it, and then out of the facility. He needs some fresh air. Maybe a run will do it. Yeah, he knows a spot that he wouldn't run into anyone.