Princess

Love, Comfort, and Care

Scourge was still shaking by the time they got to Sonic's house. During the whole walk he never let go of Sonic, his face buried in his shoulder as he kept whispering "she won't die, she won't die". Sonic was starting to get really worried, unsure how to handle such trauma.

"Shhhh, calm down Scourge, it's ok." He tried to comfort him. "It's dead. The dog is dead. Shadow killed it. You saw it happen."

"She won't die." Scourge said again, shuddering in fear.

"I think he's just traumatized." Shadow informed, crossing his arms as he observed the green hedgehog. "Get him in the bath. It should help calm him down."

"Wow. Didn't think you actually cared, Shadow." Sonic said as he soothingly rubbed Scourge's back.

"I don't, but I wanna know more about this dog." Shadow huffed. "He seems to be familiar with it. And it didn't act like a normal rabid animal either."

“Shadow’s right.” Knuckles frowned. “That dog wouldn’t go down for anything but death. No normal dog can handle what we were throwing at it.”

Sonic nodded. "I see your point. Everybody, go wait in the living room, and get your own wounds taken care of. We’ll be right back. Come on, Scourge," He said, gently guiding the shaking hedgie to the stairs leading to the upper floor. "Let's get you cleaned up."

Scourge said nothing as he allowed Sonic to take him upstairs to the bathroom. As they entered, Sonic flicked on the light, illuminating the surprisingly sparkling clean bathroom in a white luminescence. As soon as Sonic closed the door and locked it, he set Scourge on the white porcelain toilet, petting his quills back calmly. "Just wait one moment."

The blue hedgehog gently released himself from the green one's arms and took off his gloves, going up to the tub and turning on the water. He turned the knobs ever so slightly, checking the water with his bare hands to make sure that the temperature was just right before he put the plug in, allowing the water to fill the tub. He then walked back to the shivering hedgehog and gently removed his shades from his face, revealing the bloodshot blue eyes of the green hedgehog.

Sonic was at a lost for words. He had seen the fear in Scourge’s eyes out in the forest, but this was the first time he was seeing them without the rose colored glasses on. They looked so lost, so frightened… so hopeless. He sighed and set the shades on the counter by the sink, folding the earpieces in. "Come on, let's get you undressed. You don't want to be bathing in your clothes, do you?" When Scourge didn’t move, Sonic sighed again and got to work undressing him himself.

Scourge remained completely still, a light blush on his cheeks as he allowed Sonic to undress him, pulling his gloves off and throwing them in the hamper before then pulling off his jacket from his shoulders, hanging it up on the towel rack. Sonic then knelt down to the floor and pulled off Scourge’s shoes and socks, setting the shoes aside and throwing the socks in the hamper with the gloves. “Your clothes need to be washed before you can wear them again. Until then, I’ll let you borrow a pair of my gloves and socks. I even have a nightgown you can wear if you want to.”

Scourge shivered, now completely naked in front of his doppelganger, but still said nothing. Sonic shook his head and turned back to the tub, turning the water off when he saw that it was full. He knelt down and swirled the pool of water around with his hand, giving Scourge a warm smile. "The water is nice and warm, Scourge. It'll help you feel better." He stood up and gently took Scourge's hand, pulling him up from the toilet and guiding him to the tub. "Come on now. In you go."

Scourge could only give a small nod as he hesitantly stepped into the water, standing there with his shins submerged before Sonic gently helped him sit down. The warm water splashed against his body as he moved, reaching his waist and soaking his fur. He purred quietly at it's warmth.

Sonic was right. He was starting to feel better.

"There now." Sonic smiled tenderly. "That feels better, doesn't it?"

Scourge only closed his eyes and continued to purr as Sonic grabbed a red plastic cup that was sitting on the corner of the tub and started wetting his fur and quills down, getting it completely soaked before he grabbed the bottle of quill shampoo from the rack that was hanging on the shower wall, poured a little in his hand, and started scrubbing it into his fur, massaging it into his quills and working his way down.

"Thank you." The lime-green hedgehog finally whispered quietly.

Sonic stopped scrubbing and looked up at him in a bit of shock. Out of all the things to come out of Scourge’s mouth, not once has Sonic ever heard him say “thank you”. At least not a genuine one. He smiled and continued to bathe him, scratching behind his ears a bit. "It's no problem, Scourge." He said. "After all of that, you could use some love, comfort, and care."

Scourge purred and leaned into Sonic's touch, enjoying the treatment he was getting. He didn't ever want him to stop, never before feeling so loved and cared for. He didn't even stop him when Sonic started scrubbing the urine out of his legs, despite how close he was to his personal area.

"You poor thing." Sonic shook his head as the urine in Scourge's fur started to come off, looking like a yellow fog within the sudsy clear water. "That damn dog really frightened you."

"It's not the first time I encountered her." Scourge whimpered. "And I doubt it'll be the last."

"Scourge what do you mean?" Sonic asked in a worried tone as he stopped scrubbing and gently lifted Scourge’s face up to him, blue and green eyes meeting between them. "She's dead, Scourge. You saw how Shadow killed her. You're safe."

"She won't die!" Scourge hiccuped through a sob. "I know she won't! I've known her my whole life! She won't die! You just don’t understand!"

"Shhhh." Sonic whispered as he gently hugged the crying hedgie, calmly rocking him back and forth as he soothingly petted his quills and rubbed his back. "It's ok. It's ok. If you really think she's not dead you can stay with me tonight."

"You're… you're not gonna send me to the No Zone?" Scourge asked hopefully.

"No Scourge, not when you're like this." Sonic shook his head as he released the hug and began rinsing the soap off him. "Tonight, you need all the TLC you can get, and if nobody else is gonna do it, then I will."

Scourge didn't know what to say. He was so grateful for Sonic's care and sympathy. He's also never seen Sonic act so mature. Because they were practically the same person, Scourge knew that Sonic was usually carefree and happy-go-lucky, not really minding the consequences for his playfulness. But not this time. Not at this moment. At this moment, this was the most grown up he’d ever seen Sonic act. He was treating the attack like the very serious situation that it was.

Scourge purred and nuzzled into Sonic's hand as it rinsed the soap out of his quills.

"Thank you, Sonic."

"You're welcome, Scourge."