For how Long will the Red Rose Grow

Blankness

Adrenaline spiked and pounded in his ears as Sonic stared down Eggman from across the room. He flattened his ears to his head, scowling in the most threatening way he could. "Eggman."

The rotund man sneered, lifting the red object up between his pointer and middle finger. "Do you know what this is, Sonic?"

"A rose petal?" He answered with a low growl, trying to keep down his fears. He couldn't possibly...

"Precisely." Eggman replied, voice dripping venom. "Not just any ordinary petal."

He knows.

"Am I right, Sonic?" Eggman finished with the biggest, nastiest smirk. "It was found in Tails's lab, after all. And there weren't any roses in there."

Shadow's gaze cut straight into Sonic's fur, almost searing him. He shrunk slightly, his hard gaze faltering. Eggman knew. He knew he was weak. He knew he was dying.

He knew he couldn't do anything to fight back.

"Sonic?" Silver asked softly, looking over at him with confused, concerned eyes.

"You didn't tell them, Hedgehog?" His nemesis sneered. "I thought you'd be better than that, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. Go on. Tell them you're dying."

Silver's eyes blew wide in alarm, and Sonic just shied away from his gaze. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. His heart began to pound as though he'd just ran all day. Shadow's mouth moved, but he didn't hear a sound. The world around him was drowned out, as though he were underwater. The ground beneath him shook, and he fell into the violent, hungry sea. Sinking, sinking, sinking, drowning, drowning—

"—ic! Look out!"

Tackled to the side, Sonic finally came back to reality. Shadow was above him, pinning him to the ground almost, his head turned to face something else in the room Sonic hadn't comprehended. He could smell his soft, faint cologne, the sweet lavender of his fur, him. It made him so sick, a pool of heat settling uncomfortably in his belly. He retched, and started coughing uncontrollably.

Shadow above him gazed back down at him in a panic, his voice drowned out from Sonic's ears as he coughed. His blood roared in his ears and stung the back of his tongue as he coughed up petals, nearly choking as he rolled from his back to his belly. He pushed himself to his hands and knees, accidentally pushing Shadow, barely able to gulp in air between each horrid cough. His airways were suddenly obstructed by what he knew now as a full flower head. He retched silently, passing the bulb as more petals poured out like a waterfall out after it.

There were two more blooming flowers that passed, his arms trembling and knees threatening to give from underneath him. He stared down, teary-eyed, at the mess of blood and petals beneath him. Even with the Chaos Emerald tucked safely in his quills, he had an attack that bad and felt like he couldn't breathe. It was worse than he thought. He finally was able to tune back into the world around him with his attack over, weakly looking up to what appeared to be a battle.

Silver was flying around the room and throwing whatever objects he could at a large mecha Eggman was piloting. Shadow was still nearby him, protecting him as he struggled through his floral attack. The mecha, which looked almost like a miniature Death Egg Robot, was shooting bombs and lasers at the two other hedgehogs. Sonic attempted to stand and help, his knees buckling underneath his weight. He collapsed, hitting his head on the sterile white floor.

Then white faded almost instantly to black.

——

Hello everyone, I'm back! I never really intended to leave, but life had other plans for me. Three Florida trips, my dog nearly dying on one of them, selling the house we were fixing up down there, buying a house in my home state, and now also repairing that house. Also work, but whatever.

I'm gonna try to keep back up with writing again, but if I go dark again at any point know I'll be back sometime in the future with another chapter for you guys. :)

Stay safe, and stay healthy!!
—SuperHedgies