For how Long will the Red Rose Grow

Awakening

The world was fuzzy around Sonic as he slowly came to. His eyelids felt like cinder, and his chest and stomach ached badly. He could barely breathe, and his head throbbed. Everything just hurt.

He could hear muddled voices, three of them. He picked out Tails, so he was back at the workshop. The last thing he could remember was squaring up with Eggman...and learning that he knew of Sonic's Hanahaki. His heart sank again, and he barely mustered a groan.

The voices stopped, and Sonic could feel the warm presence of Tails next to him. Or maybe he just smelled the mint. Sonic wasn't sure, his brain hurt.

"Sonic?" Tails asked, voice muddy and surprisingly loud in Sonic's ears. "Are you awake?"

Sonic tried to reply with a simple "yes", though he was sure it came out more like "ymmmphhhsssssss". He groaned again, forcing his hundred ton eyelids to slip open. The room around him was thankfully dark, with faint light filtering through partiality closed blinds. Tails sat beside his bed, hands on one of Sonic's own. The other two voices belonged to Shadow and Silver, so he now discovered seeing those two also in the room.

Speaking of room, he was in his bedroom. In his bed. Certainly better than the stark, cold metal floors of Eggman's lair.

The ringing in his ears that he hadn't even detected before started to fade, and he could hear the room much better. He struggled to sit up, only to be gently forced back down by both Tails and Silver. "Guys?" He winced at how weak and vacant his voice was.

"You gave us a heart attack!" Shadow scolded, ears flat to his skull. "We thought you were going to die!"

"Sorry," Sonic tried almost inaudibly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Silver softly questioned, his golden eyes meeting Sonic's emerald.

"I didn't want anyone to know." Sonic answered. It wasn't a great excuse, but it was all he had. Silver looked away from him, his hand glowing a faint cyan.

The vines constricting his chest twitched unnaturally, but gave him enough reprieve to gasp and swallow up as much air as his bruised lungs could hold. He did just that, giving into his eyelid's wants and closing his eyes again. "I can help you," Silver replied, delicately, "I can help ease the stress they put on you."

Slowly, the relief faded away as Silver's power deactivated. The vines constricted his heart again, and his breathing became a chore. "I didn't know." He licked his lips, parched.

"I didn't either," Silver admitted, looking away. "But when we defeated Eggman, and saw you laying there motionless, I knew I had to try." He looked back at him again. "But I can't do it forever, Sonic. You're going to—"

"Die? I know." He interrupted. "Tails and I have come to that conclusion."

Tails looked down at his lap. "Shadow and I have been working to find a loophole. No results so far."

"I'm not sure we have enough time to keep looking, and then implement one if we did find it." Shadow added, running a hand over his quills. "I'll redouble my efforts."

Silver looked back at him. "I'll help too."

"Just keep this a secret, for now. No one else needs to know." Shadow replied. Sonic could see the strain on his face. "And keep him breathing."

"You all act as though I'm gonna die tomorrow," Sonic attempted humor, but was met with nothing but seriousness.

"At this rate," Tails began.

Shadow finished for him. "You might."

——

Hehe two chapters in one day? Well, they were short and I figured since between them they are over 1,000 words, so technically it's at least 1,000 words for you all to read? All jokes aside, I figured I deserved to give you a few extra updates to this to make up for being gone so long. So ta-da!!!

Enjoy!!
—SuperHedgies