Chapter Text
Darkness.
That’s the only thing Sonic knew right now.
That fact was swiftly changed however, when a bright beam of light shined right in his eyes.
He jolted upward, squinting through the beam of sunlight currently blinding him. Sonic moved to stand up (when did he sit down?) but was stopped. Looking down at himself, Sonic saw he was sitting in a chair, with thick ropes wrapped tightly around him, binding him to the chair.
“What the…?” he mumbled. The blue hedgehog squirmed in his seat, a futile attempt to free himself. “How the hell-”
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Sonic’s head snapped up, eyes darting around the small amount of the space he could see between the bright light and dark shadows. To say he was concerned when he woke up tied to a chair was an understatement. Add a deep voice threatening him from the shadows to that equation… yeah, he wanted out of here as fast as possible.
“Hey, uh, creepy voice from the shadows… I don’t want any trouble so if you could just let me get outta here with my body and satchel intact that’d be great- Wait! Where’s my satchel? Who are you anyways? What did you do to my stuff?!”
A quiet huff came from the voice in the shadows, but Sonic couldn’t decipher the emotion behind it.
“You mean-” the voice started as soft footsteps could be heard crossing the floor before Sonic’s captor finally stepped into the light, “-this satchel?”
Before him stood another hedgehog. Even when sitting, Sonic could tell this new hedgehog was shorter than him, but he carried himself like he was much bigger. Everything about him screamed ‘dangerous.’ He had jet black fur with bright crimson streaks and quills that arched upwards. An appearance that fits a predator better than a hedgehog. His irises were a deep red-brown color like garnet with those same crimson streaks at the corners of his sharp eyes. His muzzle was brown, as were the insides of his ears which had tufts of fluffy white fur tucked inside them.
This hedgehog’s paws were bare, showing off black paws with another crimson streak running down his two middle fingers. His palms had the same fluffy white fur as his ears, joined by black paw pads. His feet appeared to be the same, but the red streak ran down the outsides of his legs.
And then Sonic realized his paws were bare.
“Whoah! Dude! Care to cover up?” lifting his hands as much as he could before looking away with emerald eyes squeezed shut.
His captor tilted his head, the intimidating persona slipping a bit as it was replaced with confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Carefully peeking open one eye, he looked at the darker hedgehog’s eyes doing everything in his power to prevent his eyes from darting back to the other’s paws. “Um, your paws? Are you gonna put on some gloves or socks anytime soon?”
The shorter one scoffed, one fluffy paw moving to rest on his hip as he shifted his weight. His other paw now loosely gripped the satchel at his side. “Why would I do that? Are you scared?” a small, sharp grin made its way onto his muzzle as he lifted his left hand. The satchel was now hanging around his wrist as he flexed his fingers and it was then that Sonic noticed his claws.
They were sharp. Very sharp. Much sharper than a hedgehog’s should be and the fluster Sonic had about the other’s paws shifted to unease with a tiny hint of fear. Not that he’d ever admit it to anyone. He was Sonic the Hedgehog! The Blue Bandit! He didn’t get scared. Especially not of some short, fluffy little bare-pawed hedgehog who haughtily looked down on Sonic despite his stature.
“Me? Scared? Psshhh, nah,” Sonic bragged, looking away for a moment. “I don’t get scared of anything. I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”
His captor looked him up and down with an unimpressed expression. “Sonic, hm? I can’t tell which I dislike more, that name or the one on your wanted poster.”
Sonic gasps overdramatically. “I’ll have you know that everybody I know loves those names, and they all have great taste.”
“Hmph. I’m sure they do,” the other replies sarcastically.
Sonic scoffs at this. “Well if you think my name is so bad, why don’t you tell me yours, Mr. Grumpypants.”
The darker hedgehog’s eyes narrow. A tense silence descends upon the two of them. Sonic’s about to break it due to nothing except discomfort under the shorter one’s silent, scrutinizing gaze when he finally speaks up again. “It’s Shadow.”
Sonic takes in the ebony hedgehog’s appearance again and snorts. “Wow, how creative.”
Shadow’s brown muzzle wrinkled and his eyes narrowed further. He tossed the satchel somewhere behind him and Sonic squawked in indignation. “Hey! Careful with that!” But Shadow paid him no mind. Instead, he grabbed the end of the rope tying Sonic to the chair and produced a frying pan from seemingly nowhere as his expression intensified.
“Alright, Sonic, I know why you’re here, but you are not going to get what you want, even if I need to kill you.”
Who is this guy??? Sonic thought, fur standing on end. He had no idea what this guy was talking about.
Shadow pulled on the rope, the chair scraping forward slightly at the movement. “I have some questions to ask you and you’re going to answer them, got it?” It was phrased like a question but both hedgehogs knew that it wasn’t. “How did you find me? And who else knows my location?”
The frying pan was right up in Sonic’s face and he would prefer to not get whacked in the face by it so he answered. “Hey, let’s calm down. No one else knows where this place is. I didn’t even know where this was. Finding this was an accident.” The frying pan lowered slightly. Garnet eyes continued to stare so Sonic kept talking. “I came here alone, nobody else knows either of us are in this tower, or where the hell this tower even is.” Saying it out loud made Sonic realize that, yeah, nobody knew where this place was, so this shorter hedgehog could very easily push him out of the window and kill him and absolutely nobody would know. Sonic could only pray the other would see some sense if he continued to answer his questions.
Shadow retreated slightly, seemingly satisfied with the answers he got, but Sonic didn’t get the chance to breathe before the frying pan was back in his face once more.
“Very well. But what do you want with me? Are you here to use me? Sell me?” Sonic’s captor circled him, the rope in his hand following. The frying pan never wavered from its place poised in front of the thief’s head.
It took a minute for Sonic to register exactly what Shadow meant. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Use? Sell?” Sonic sputtered, hands flailing and gesturing as much as they could while bound. “Are you crazy? Of course I’m not gonna do that stuff! Look man, I was running, I saw a tower, I climbed it. End of story.”
Shadow paused, head tilting as if considering the bound captive before him. The frying pan lowered, “You’re… telling the truth? You really don't want to use me?”
“Why on earth would I want to use you? What would I even use you for? I don’t even know you!”
The ebony hedgehog’s garnet eyes darted across Sonic’s face. His glare lessened, but there was still a careful wariness in his eyes as he took a few steps back and turned around.
Before Sonic could make any half-hearted escape attempts, Shadow’s eyes locked onto his form once more. “Okay, Sonic the Hedgehog, I’m going to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Yes,” Shadow walked around him once again, pulling the rope. “Look here.”
One particularly harsh tug tipped the chair over. Sonic — now squished in between the chair and the floor — let his emerald eyes trail up the rope to see Shadow standing on top of the fireplace. “Do you know what these are?”
Sonic’s captor pulled open the curtains above the mantle, revealing a large painting on the wall. One quick look told Sonic what Shadow was specifically asking about. “You mean the lantern thing they do for the prince?”
“Lanterns? I knew they weren’t stars,” Shadow whispered to himself. Sonic was unable to hear it even with his ears perked forwards. The ebony hedgehog’s ‘intimidating captor persona’ wasn’t gone for long, as it returned when he spoke again. “Well, tomorrow night these lanterns will light up the sky and you are going to be my guide and take me to them.” Sonic wanted to speak in protest but Shadow barreled on, “Afterwards, you will take me back home. When I’m home safely, and only when I’m home safely, I’ll return your precious satchel.”
Sonic stared at him for a moment. Pushing up from the floor, he only managed to get the chair on its side, but at least he wasn’t crushed anymore. The thief chuckles, “Sorry dude, no can do. The kingdom and I aren’t exactly on good terms at the moment. So no, I will not be taking you anywhere.”
A determined glare took over Shadow’s face, clearly disappointed that things weren’t going his way, but still unwilling to give up. He yanked the rope forward as he jumped back down. Sonic made a noise as he was suddenly upright again. “Listen to me carefully, hedgehog, as I don’t have the patience to repeat myself.” Another harsh pull and Sonic’s chair tipped forward again, but he didn’t fall. Shadow braced his free hand on the back of the chair and got up in Sonic’s face as he growled, “If you don’t agree, I will throw that satchel of yours out the window, and I assure you that nothing will survive that drop.” The hidden double-meaning in that threat in his words was not lost on Sonic. “So unless you agree to this deal, you will never get it back.”
Since Shadow seemed to be done with his over-the-top threats, Sonic took the brief window of silence as an opportunity to talk again. “So, you want me to take you to the lanterns, take you home, and then you’ll give me my satchel. That’s it?”
His captor’s glare remained firmly planted on his face. “That’s it. I promise you.” Sonic raised an eyebrow. Shadow scoffed, “I mean it. When I promise something, make sure to keep that promise.”
Sonic shook his head to the side and sighed. “I didn’t wanna have to do this to you, but you leave me no choice. Here comes the smolder.” Sonic pulled a facial expression that has been proven to be quite seductive but the shorter hedgehog just looked at him with confusion. “This is kind of an off day for me, this doesn’t usually happen.” Their awkward staring match went on for a while before Sonic decided that his smolder is in fact not working. The blue bandit dropped his head and his failed smolder before letting out a long, drawn-out groan.
“Fine, I’ll take you to see the lanterns.”
Shadow retreated from Sonic’s space. “Really?” While Sonic was thankful for him not being in his face anymore at first, he swiftly realized that Shadow was the only thing keeping him upright. He didn’t even get a chance to do anything before he was once again slammed face first onto the floor.
Shadow flinched. “You broke my smolder,” Sonic croaked.
The ebony hedgehog hissed through his teeth, “Yikes.” He crouched down and tilted his head to meet Sonic’s emerald gaze. “You’re really going to take me to see the lanterns? You mean it?”
Sonic sighed and looked at the other with a half-lidded and unimpressed expression. Well at least he tried to, given his face was currently half-smushed. “If I want my satchel back, I don’t really get a say in the matter, do I?”
“Hmph, smart.”
Shadow stood and moved behind Sonic. With a grunt of effort, he was able to heave the chair up so its legs were flat on the ground once more. When they were face-to-face once more, Sonic held out his hand. Or, at least, he held out his hand as much as he could while tied up. “Deal?”
Shadow gives the cobalt hedgehog one more look before taking the gloved hand offered to him in his own bare one. “Deal.”