Chapter Text
Sonic’s eyes hadn’t left the small triangular shaped object in his hand since he left the store. The cold air around him felt unfamiliar and almost dangerous. The blue hedgehog could only be thankful he convinced Tails to let him grab the tech piece for him instead. He could only assume what Tails would’ve felt at the empty streets and eerie sounds.
Not that he felt even remotely scared, of course.
Although Sonic did have to admit it was rather awkward having to repeat the name of the piece while staring at a piece of paper before it simply got snatched out of his hands. He always wondered why those things had complicated names, but at least that was over.
Sonic’s fingers closed in on the small object as he wondered what his brother could be using it for. He didn’t have much to go off of, but he did remember Tails mentioning some sort of sword he was working on. Knowing his brother, that sword was definitely no ordinary one, and Sonic tried to make a few guesses as to what would be special about it.
Well, that was enough guessing. Sonic brought his right arm back and locked his eyes just in front of him, getting ready to run back home and give Tails what he needed. Just before he did, his eye caught something and he felt himself get pulled to the side with incredible strength and speed.
Sonic shut his eyes once his back hit the brick wall behind him. He had already assumed that this attacker was either his red striped rival trying to get back at him for what he did the last time they encountered, Metal, or perhaps even Espio for whatever reason. He made his guess instantly and opened his eyes to see none of the options before him.
“So. You’re Sonic the Hedgehog?” They began, a visible smile on their face.
They took a few steps back and Sonic tried to make out who it was, also staying alert for any moves he tried to make. There wasn’t much to take in. The person wore a dark jacket with a hood that covered parts of their face. They also wore some sort of boots with spikes coming out on either side of them. Apart from that, Sonic couldn’t register any more details with how dark the place they dragged him in was.
“Yes. I’m quite famous. You are?” Sonic hadn’t let his guard down.
“May I have your autograph? Please?” The mobian got on their tippy toes briefly as their entire face beamed of excitement.
To say the least, Sonic had to admit it was pretty impressive how they could act so well. It did sound like one of his usual desperate fans begging for an autograph. It wouldn’t surprise him if one of them actually pulled a stunt like this.
“Um... you haven’t answered my question.” Sonic pointed out and the other showed a sheepish smile.
“Sorry. Name’s F... Fredrick.” He smiled, “I’m just such a big fan of you.”
“Okay, Fredrick. You don’t happen to have a pen and paper? Or book, or anything?”
He watched Fedrick nod and look into his jacket’s pockets. Sonic observed carefully, but yet in less than a second, Fredrick pinned him against the wall once more. It was incredibly fast and his grip on his arms was intense. But what confused Sonic more is the pressure and pain he felt just below his muzzle and by his chest.
That mobian was... biting down on him.
What?
“Dude, what are you doing!?”
Sonic attempted to push him off even in the slightest, but he didn’t move him an inch. How strong was this guy?
Fredrick’s head snapped up and back as his fangs left Sonic’s skin. Sonic watched in disgust and confusion as the other looked back down at him, his mouth dripping of blood and his eyes a soft glowing red.
Who was he?
What was he?
He leaned his head closer to Sonic’s, their noses almost touching. Sonic watched in shock, unmoving. There wasn’t much he could do besides that. He watched Fredrick’s pupils shrink as he spoke.
“An animal bit you. You do not remember me, or anything else revolving me that happened tonight.”
Fredrick let him go and turned around as Sonic stared at the floor. A sigh escaped him and then he made Sonic’s head snap.
__
Sonic lay on the floor, a grunt escaping him as he tried to sit up. He felt a weird sensation on his upper chest that he tried to see but couldn’t. His hands made their way there and felt a warm liquid Sonic later saw was blood. His brows furrowed at the sight and he looked around, trying to recall what had happened.
He shut his eyes and sighed once he remembers. An animal did this. Sonic helped himself up as he wondered how tired he must’ve been to even allow this. His guard should’ve been up tonight or none of this would’ve happened.
He checked his phone to see it was past midnight and a few minutes past 2. He shook his head. Tails was probably worried sick. He had already promised he would arrive back home in less than an hour and look where he was! Too busy passed out because of some animal. He wonders how he even passed out in the first place. It was only a bite, after all.
That reminds him – the tech! Where was it? He couldn’t lose that.
He looked around frantically only to find said object on the ground, a small scratch on the surface. Sonic knew nothing about how those things worked, but he was sure hoping it was still functional. Or he had spent Tails’ money for nothing.
__
He found himself soon standing in his very living room. Tails lay asleep on a chair, his hand off the edge and the tablet he always uses on the ground. He should’ve expected that. What he also should’ve expected, but somehow didn’t, was Amy, also asleep, but on the couch, holding a pillow close to her chest as her phone was barely holding itself back from falling.
Sonic stared at them both for a moment before checking his phone and seeing that he had earlier missed his most recent notifications. Several missed calls from the both of them and even some from Rouge.
While he looked at his phone, he heard a thud on the wooden floor and he watched Amy stand up, eyes wide.
“Sonic!”
“Hey?”
“Where were you?” her eyes narrowed at him
“I was-”
Amy raised her hand to quiet him and instead began shaking Tails awake.
“Your brother should be hearing this excuse as well.” She spoke and Sonic pressed his lips into a thin line as he looked away.
The kit awoke, his first instinct being to run and hug Sonic.
“You’re back! Finally.”
Sonic returned the hug, placing a hand behind Tails’ head. “Yeah, sorry about that, buddy. Got caught in a mess.”
“Okay. Now answer.” His gaze shifted to the skeptic pink hedgehog before him that spoke.
“Right.” He nodded, “I was buying Tails something and then got bit by some animal and somehow passed out. Happy?”
“That’s weird,” the kit commented.
Sonic looked down to see Tails examining the mark.
“How did an animal manage to sneak up on you?”
Sonic shrugged.
“Well, guess what? We called Rouge to look for you for basically an hour. We made her call you, we BOTH called you more than 30 times. And all because you let your guard down?” Amy complained.
“Look, I’m really sorry. I’ll make sure to apologize to Rouge too. I appreciate what you did, really.”
Amy looked at him and soon sighed.
“You know I can never stay mad at you.”
After that, the kit made Sonic follow him to have him patched up and ready to sleep with how exhausted they all were. It was a crazy night, but they suppose nothing is too crazy if Sonic’s involved.
Soon enough, each of them sat on a chair, and blood no longer seeped from the bite wound as it was covered with a clean bandage. The scratched tech component back at Tails’ work area in the room beside them. Sonic was thankful Tails hadn’t actually examined the object. He would gladly deal with that the next day.
“What animal was it?” Tails asked his brother, to which he shrugged.
“Eh. Not sure, I must’ve forgotten.”
“I once got bit by a friend of mine,” Amy said, looking at a plant on the shelf, “The bite looked just like that. Well, except for the bleeding by the canine marks.”
“Well, I guess not many mobians have large fangs. But mobians are out of the equation already. Sonic said it was an animal.”
Amy shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“You sure you don’t know, Sonic?” The kit asked, “No distinct features? The size?”
Sonic shook his head at that, fully believing he had simply forgotten. He heard a chair being pushed, and watched as Amy headed for the door, placing her boots back on as she got ready to leave.
“You’re leaving?” Tails asked and Amy nodded.
“Yeah, I’m gonna head back home. Sonic’s back, so it’s fine.”
“Are you sure? What about the animal?”
“My house isn’t that far, Tails, don’t worry. I’ll call you if anything.” She finished putting on the last boot.
“Be careful, Ames.” Sonic had a slightly concerned expression but he let Amy go.
“Yeah, goodnight!” And with that, she took her leave.
Sonic had definitely not expected that of tonight, but then again he was supposed to expect the unexpected. Eggman hadn’t launched the weekly attack and as far as he knew, that “animal” could have been one of the Egghead’s robots injecting him with some disease.
Sonic didn’t usually overthink or worry about stuff, so he shook his head and followed Tails to head to sleep. He kissed his brother on the forehead goodnight and headed for his own room before collapsing onto the bed.
__
The next day went rather fine except for this heavy feeling Sonic had in his chest along with a sense of unease. He hung out with his friends, in hopes that it would calm him down. And it did for a while.
He had found Amy tormenting Knuckles and decided to join in. Turns out the echidna was going to go on a date with none other than the bat he was crushing on and was looking for guidance. Unfortunately for him, that just ended with some laughs in the face.
He thought distracting himself with his friends would help, but he found himself overthinking the situation while leaning against a tree a bit far from his friends. He felt the texture of the brown scarf he wore to cover the bite, sighing to himself.
How obvious was he trying to be?
He shook his head and stopped leaning against the tree, instead sneaking away so he wouldn’t be caught sulking. The last thing he wanted to do was seem like Shadow on one of his grumpy days. Well, everyday then.
Speaking of the devil, he found his red striped rival not so far away, looking down at some flowers, his arms crossed.
“Hey, Shadow!” Sonic soon stood by his side, arms behind his back as he smiled in his direction.
“If you’re here to annoy me, I suggest you leave,” Shadow grumbled, not even looking at Sonic.
“Woah, dude. I’m not here to do anything.” Sonic put his hands up defensively, “I just wanna have a regular chat with my old pal, that’s all.” He smiled, which just earned glares from the other.
“You weren’t so grumpy yesterday.” Sonic commented and Shadow exhaled heavily, knowing what Sonic was rambling about.
“I barely even see you smile and I got you to laugh yesterday. Don’t you think that’s worth talking about?” Sonic shot him a smile that hoped Shadow would talk about it for at least a minute, but he should’ve known to not have such high expectations.
“You just said you wouldn’t annoy me.” Shadow shot back.
“I’m not trying to. Just stating facts.” Sonic replied in a matter-of-fact tone, smirking.
“Is there ever a day of peace while you’re alive?” Shadow mumbled, at which Sonic just rolled his eyes.
Sonic’s hands subconsciously made their way back to his scarf to play with it. He had to admit it was quite uncomfortable since he wasn’t used to having literal fabric under his head. But he had to keep it there and he knew that.
“You’re staring,” Sonic said as he turned to look at Shadow, grinning.
“What’s with the scarf anyway? It looks horrible.” Shadow ignored him.
“Well, sorry you have a terrible sense of style.”
There was a bit of silence as Shadow just stared at him with a knowing look that made Sonic sigh.
“Fine,” Sonic gave up, “An animal bit me. But it’s no biggie. Just don’t tell the others before they make a huge fuss about it.” He chuckled a bit as he raised the scarf only enough to let Shadow see the bite mark.
Shadow stared at it for a moment before his brows furrowed, and he didn’t look away.
“That...” he started, but didn’t continue the sentence as he shot Sonic a weird look. Instead, he asked Sonic something else, “What did you say it was again?”
“An animal?” Sonic repeated, arms crossed.
‘mind control...’ Shadow thought, a frown appearing on his face as he knew what this was about.
“Hello? Earth to Shadow? What’s with the face?” Sonic was basically in front of his face, waving a hand that Shadow slapped away.
“I don’t have time to deal with any of your nonsense. Go play hopscotch with your friends and stop bothering me.” Shadow turned to leave.
“Fine. But don’t think this means you win, Shads!”
“Don’t call me that.” And with that, he disappeared, leaving Sonic to just sigh and rethink what he was going to do.