This is not Panic

A nightmare. That was all it was. That was all it could be. Because there was no way that this terror filled experience could happen twice in his lifetime. No way.

But the water pouring in told a completely different story. No matter how tight he closed his eyes, he wasn't waking up. Which meant he was awake. Which meant it was really happening.

The water was already all the way up to his chin, and rising much too fast.

In some delirium filled cavity of his mind, Shadow remembered that Sonic was afraid of the water, almost mortally so. He could not swim. Shadow though, could. He wasn't afraid of the water, never had been. No, Shadow feared only one thing when it came to water. Full submersion. And it was getting frighteningly close to that.

He wanted to thrash, struggle even, do anything but sit there in a frozen state of what he knew, but couldn't admit to himself was fear. He blamed it on his bindings. He was after all, chained to a bloody chair, gagged with a dirty cloth. But something else was wrong. Something was hindering him from chaos controlling out. Perhaps he'd been drugged? Or else it was that stupid asthma as Tails liked to call it. Except it wasn't asthma. Not really. He'd just had trouble breathing that one time. Only one time. Only one. Certainly not...

He was getting dizzy. With his mouth covered, he didn't feel like he was getting enough air. Chaos.

He couldn't struggle, he couldn't use chaos energy, he could hardly breath. But he was not crying. Not. At. All. Not when the water rose past his gagged mouth and lapped just below his nose, not when the walls of the little room seemed to grow closer, and certainly not when a spinning blue form crashed through those shrinking walls and splashed into the water right next to the chair.

Sonic. Sonic who was afraid of the water.

But he at least could stand up and move around, and that was all that Shadow could think as the evil liquid covered his head, submerging him fully. Just like in that stupid tank. He squeezed his eyes shut.

Now he was panicking. Now he really couldn't breath. Now he was thrashing, trying to kick out and whipping his head from side to side.

Hands. They gripped his shoulders, holding him still.

His eyes flew open.

Sonic was holding him still.

But why? Did he want them both to drown? Why was his brother holding him under the water? What could he possibly have done to upset him that much?

A flash of red. But Shadow wasn't sure if it was real, or just the lack of oxygen in his lungs fuelling a hallucination.

Then his hands and legs were free, and he was being pulled to the surface. The gag was ripped away from his face and he coughed violently. He could feel hands holding him up above the water. Voices floated though the air, but the words didn't make sense. Was he breathing? Did he even remember how to do that?

"Shadow snap out of it!" Someone's very cross sounding voice demanded.

Another voice, more panicked begged, "Please, Shadz! Just breath!"

Wasn't he though? Wasn't he breathing?

His eyes were watering, and he was still gagging, choking on the air. He felt his hands, detached as if they belonged to someone else, scrabbling to push something away.

But then they were pinned to his chest, restrained once again.

Something whacked painfully into his back.

He coughed again.

"Breath!"

And he did. Oxygen poured into his lungs and he gasped. Blinding white spots peppered his vision, and it hurt. Everything hurt.

Then he was being pulled up, leaving the cruel water behind. His sopping clothes clung to him, and he shivered in the suddenly cool feeling air.

Cement. Cold, hard, wonderfully solid cement. Someone had laid him on his back, he didn't know where, didn't have the courage to open his eyes. It hurt too much.

Someone ran their hands over him.

Shadow jerked, fresh panic flooding his veins. His eyes flew open.

Blinding light, and then, Sonic. Sonic and Knuckles and Tails and Amy and Rouge.

They were just checking for injuries. That was all. They weren't trying to hurt him. They weren't trying to hurt him. They weren't trying to hurt him.

He tried to hold still as he was prodded and then turned on his side so he could breath easier. He closed his eyes to it all, hoping to shut it out.

Their voices above him tangled together confusingly, and he didn't care what they were saying. He couldn't. Not yet.

"Shadow?" A hand on his shoulder.

No. He didn't want to understand yet. He didn't want to have to tell them what had happened. He didn't want anything but to curl up and stay that way until everything stopped hurting.

"Shadow, I need you to open your eyes for me." Tails.

Shadow shook his head, scrapping his cheek against the rough cement.

"Come on, faker." Sonic. "We need to figure out what's wrong."

Shadow almost laughed. If he didn't still feel so oxygen starved, he might have. As it was, he was still fighting to pull air into his lungs. So he didn't respond.

"Hey, you still awake, handsome?" Rouge.

Shadow shook his head again. It hurt this time.

An exasperated sigh, somewhere to his left.

"Help me turn him over." Tails instructed.

The hands were on him again, pushing him over onto his back.

Not that. Shadow tried to fight them. He wound his arms around himself and tried to curl into a ball, but they wouldn't let him. He gritted his teeth. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

Someone grabbed hold of his hands. Or was it two someones? Who could know? Because he was not going to open his eyes.

"Talk to me, buddy. What's going on?"

He didn't know. He didn't know what was going on anymore. Not what was happening around him, and not what was happening inside of him.

"Shadow you're scaring us!" Amy cried when he didn't respond.

He didn't mean to. Not this time. But what was he supposed to say? He gritted his teeth again, and knew he was probably grimacing.

Gloved fingers ran over his cheek, collecting a salty drop of water that had been sliding down his face.

Sonic's voice, soft and gentle, "It's ok, Shadow. We've got you. It's ok."

And Shadow the hedgehog, did not sob. He did not let anymore tears escape, and his little brother did not scoop him into his arms and rock him like a small child. It did not happen. Because not one of them ever mentioned the incident again.