#maybe i should wait to see how the next few chapters of egghead play out hhhhh

[goldenblu]

i’m plotting out how the egghead arc is gonna go in my emotionless sanji au, and that + recent manga chapters have got me thinking about sanji and kuma potentially being parallels (or foils? idfk)

sanji, who is slowly having his emotions stripped away from him, for no reason other than the fact that terrible things were done to him before birth by an uncaring father.

and then there’s kuma. everything kuma did, every act of kindness disguised as cruelty, every choice he made—it was all for a hope in a better future, for a liberation he would not get to see. for a child he loved and was loved by.

both of them, meant to be weapons. neither of them wanted to be.

but at the end of the day, kuma is a father who sacrificed his humanity to save his daughter.

and sanji…well, sanji is a son whose humanity was sacrificed to serve his father. 

do you see it. do you see my vision.

[icyllic]

Path of Destruction [Part 4] | JEON JUNGKOOK

PAIRING: Jungkook x Reader

GENRE: Drama, Angst (maybe???), Thriller

WARNINGS: Obsession, cusses, dirty talks, possessive Jungkook, angsty Jungkook, touching, kissing ⚠️⚠️⚠️ this part of the series had a scene of unprotected sex without consent so if it triggers you, please do not read!! this chapter showed the dark part of this fanfic and don’t risk it if it’s too much for you 🥺

WORD COUNT: 4472

It had been 2 weeks since that last argument you had with Jungkook. Unexpectedly on that night, he gave you space for you to think a lot of things. To be specific, to think quite a lot about him. Especially about the part where you’d either give him a chance to prove himself or not.

You’ve been busying yourself with assignments and sister time with Michelle. Sure, you spent a lot of time with your sister these days but you didn’t tell her about your story with Jungkook at all.

Even though Jungkook didn’t involve himself in your life for now, he still watched you through that “special” screen. He tried so hard not to text you but damn. It hurt him so much for not being able to touch you, to hold you, to feel you.. But he loved you too much that he was willing to wait for the right time to contact you again.

Adrian didn’t talk to you for whole 2 weeks as well and you let it be. You’ve grown tired of almost everything to care because of Jungkook. At this point, you thought having no boys in your life was probably for the best. After all, you couldn’t trust any of them because of that asshole, Trevor.

“Your hair’s a mess.” Michelle said as she brushed your hair. She was trying to braid your hair as a practice because braiding someone’s hair wasn’t something she was good at.

“Don’t blame my hair. Blame your braiding skills.” She smacked your arm playfully as you chuckled.

Having this sister time was all you needed after that “bond” you had with Jungkook. You knew this was only temporary since doubtlessly, Jungkook would come back in your life but finally, for the first time since your breakup, you felt peaceful. Happiness definitely looked so beautiful on you. Michelle was happy as well, knowing she was the reason behind your big smile.

When she finished braiding your hair, you praised her for her amazing braiding skills. She was getting better at it and well, she stood proudly in front of you while flipping her silky, long hair, making you laugh harder.

••••••

{Meanwhile at Jungkook’s}

Of course Jungkook didn’t waste any time and just watched you through that screen nearly every hour. He was currently watching you laugh right now with your sister and oh dear.. he wished he was the reason behind all that laughter you’ve let out.

“I really wanna hold her..” he started to whine, ruffling his hair in frustration. “come back to me, Y/N, please.. look for me. Get me back in your life.”

As he stood up, he took the framed picture of you and caressed it while observing the every detail on your face. Jungkook mostly caressed the part of your lower lip in the picture, and leaned forward to kiss it. “I’m longing for those beautiful lips. It’s killing me..”

Jungkook then looked at his phone, thinking whether he should text you or not. But then he decided to play ‘hard-to-get’. He wanted you to check up on him instead. Even though that was totally impossible, but only with you, he’d always been hopeful.

••••••

Next day at school made the whole day feel so long to be over. Thankfully, it was only Friday so you’d have two days off tomorrow.

When the English class was finally done, you were quick to come out of the classroom and went to your locker. You were ready to pack your things but someone stopped you from doing so.

Adrian.

He tapped on your shoulder and you widened your eyes as you turned to him, lips parted in shock.

“Um, hi.” were the first words he said. He began scratching at the back of his neck due to the awkward atmosphere flew in between the both of you.

You moved the fringe away from your hair and replied, “Hello to you too, Adrian,” You were trying to make this conversation as relaxing as possible, but seeing Adrian in an awkward state like this, you couldn’t help but to feel awkward too.

It had been 2 whole weeks. It felt like you were talking to someone new.

“I’m sorry for not talking to you these past few da- weeks! Weeks. I meant to say weeks.” Adrian corrected his words quickly, looking at you with his innocent green eyes.

You nodded in agreement, giving him a soft smile. Then you just shrugged. “It happens. I understand, Adrian. I’m totally someone boring to talk to.” You chuckled with your answer, giving him a hint that this was just a joke.

But Adrian took it serious and shook his head. “No, you’re not someone boring to talk to. I just... I just had it rough. I-I... hmmm.”

You definitely knew the reason why behind everything. It was all Jungkook. You decided to pretend not to know about it and waited for Adrian to tell the truth.

But his answer didn’t satisfy you since you knew it was a lie.

“My parents are going through a divorce and I needed some time alone.” How could he even say that? As far as you knew, his parents were still happy in their marriage. He could have said a better lie to hide about Jungkook, but bringing his parents who were actually beyond happy with each other into this? Yikes.

“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear about that, Adrian,” you played along while forcing yourself to give him a sad expression. “I had no idea.”

You hated the fact that Adrian was trying too hard to be looking so sad about this. Instead, you felt like you really wanted to punch him for telling a horrible lie. It sucked that he wanted you to feel sorry for him. It was obvious he was so desperate to have your attention. What a douche.

••••••

{4.25 p.m. with you walking in the streets alone}

When that terrible conversation you had with Adrian earlier ended, you headed home quick. You were singing your favorite song, Young and Beautiful to accompany yourself for a bit so you wouldn’t have felt lonely in the streets.

As you were walking past that specific street, you immediately felt like a pair of eyes were watching you. Eyeing at your each step. You stopped your tracks when you felt footsteps were approaching you.

You knew it was him.

Jungkook’s footsteps got closer to you, announcing his arrival after long weeks.

He decided to stop walking when he was in front of you and you two locked eyes with each other for a long minute. He looked a little bit messy... and broken.

You moved back as he walked towards you but he was so fast and pulled you for a tight hug, giving your tiny figure a light squeeze to signal the fact that he missed you so damn much.

“Why aren’t you hugging me back?” he hugged you a little tighter now, hiding his face on the side of your neck. “you’re supposed to miss me and look for me, Y/N. I’ve been waiting for you..”

You knitted your eyebrows in confusion. Hell, you were always in a confusing situation with this guy. You didn’t know how to feel about everything whenever it came between you and Jungkook.

He pulled away and caressed your cheeks with his thumbs while checking on some parts of your face, as if there were any injuries or something. What was he worrying about anyway?

“I’m going back home, Jungkook.” His face turned to a frown when you coldly said that to him. He didn’t want you to come back home to your sister. He wanted you come back home with him, at his place.

Jungkook shook his head while disagreeing with what you just said. “No no... don’t come back to Michelle. She’ll steal you away from me.” You scoffed, rolling your eyes in annoyance.

“How so is Michelle stealing me away from you? You were the one who kidnapped me, remember?”

His eyes suddenly darkened and was ready to fire back to you, but then he stopped and decided not to say anything that would make you go away. Jungkook pulled you closer to him and you let out a squeak.

“I never kidnapped you, Y/N. I was only taking back what’s mine and bringing you home safely with me.” The way he was looking so smug with his answer made you really want to punch his face until he couldn’t smile anymore.

Patience, Y/N... don’t let this egghead get to you.

“Well, you’ve already brought me safely to your place,” your voice was recognized with a mock. “so now, I wanna come back home that Michelle and I live in. Don’t test me, Jungkook.”

He weakly smiled as he was now playing with your hair. You both knew it had a “special” effect on him whenever his name was mentioned on your lips.

“You make my name sound so angelic, Y/N. Say it again...” he whispered and you just looked at him. You had your face completely blank.

Without realizing it, Jungkook grabbed your hand and pulled you to walk with him to his place. What the fuck. What have I gotten myself into?

His house still felt the same. Only this time, everything was strangely cleaner than usual. Had he been cleaning this whole time while you were away from him? He was making so much effort just to keep you.

“Sit down, Y/N. I’ll make you coffee.” You did what he asked you to, giving you a chance to look around and check every small detail in his living room. You recognized something that you wished he threw away already and he didn’t.

Your framed picture.

He even renovated the frame around it. God, why couldn’t he just move on?

Your gaze quickly fasten on him as he walked outside of his kitchen with two mugs on his hands. You hated to admit it, but the coffee he made actually smelled wonderful.

“Thanks.” you said when he handed you your mug, taking a sip of it and in hopes of him not noticing, you closed your eyes in pleasure. What the fuck, that coffee tasted so good!! your thoughts squealed, but you hurriedly brushed your thoughts away and snapped yourself back in reality.

You felt relieved when Jungkook didn’t see you earlier when you were in love with the coffee he made. As delicious as it was, you were hoping he didn’t put any ‘extra ingredient’ inside.

“So...” he leaned back on the sofa while looking at you. “Adrian talked to you, huh?”

You widened your eyes as you raised your head up to look at him. How did he even know about you and Adrian talking at school today? Didn’t he stay miserably at home the whole day?

“Even if he did, that’s none of your business.” You tried to avoid the conversation and had your focus on the mug instead, trying your best not to look at him at all.

Jungkook just chuckled and moved closer to you, placing his hand on your thigh. “You know I hate it when other boys talk to you, right..? Specifically that foolish Adrian.” He rubbed your thigh as he leaned forward to bite your earlobe. Geez, why did he admire your earlobe so much that he felt like it was important to bite it all the time?

“Fucking stop, please.” You tried to push him away, only to give him a chance to kiss your ear, then everywhere on the side of your face.

“You smell so fucking good..” he began kissing your neck, moaning softly as his lips touch your skin at last. This felt like a dream come true to him, since he had been waiting for so long to touch you.

You widened your eyes when he began undressing you, and he looked like he didn’t realize what he was doing at all. He was so busy kissing your skin everywhere.

“What the fuck are you doing?! Get off me!” you pushed him away right on the spot and you stood up from your seat away from him, quickly buttoning your shirt back. Jungkook just stared at you with lust in his eyes.

He was now standing in front of you and you looked away from him. You didn’t want to make eye contact with him at all. Because if you did, you wouldn’t hesitate to punch him on the spot.

And you knew that if you decided to punch him now, he’d do something to get back at you way worst than it already was.

“Have you even thought of what I’ve said the last time we met?” Jungkook asked as he cupped both of your cheeks.

“There’s nothing to think about, Jungkook,” you answered and you saw how angry he was right now but you didn’t care. “I’ve made my decision to just be on my own. I don’t need saving from a “superhero”.”

He suddenly guffawed at your answer, and you were now looking at him with your confused look.

“Oh Y/N.. even though you don’t need saving and reject me, I’m not taking no for an answer,” he pulled you closer to him. “you’re going to be with me. That’s final.”

He was now looking at your lips, touching the bottom part of them and you tried so hard to get his hands off you.

“Those lips...” he started to lean forward. “those lips have been craving for my touch. I can sense it.”

Without giving you a chance to speak, Jungkook crashed his lips on yours, almost devouring to give you hints of desperation. Weeks without you made him feel a lot needier than he usually was.

You didn’t know why, but you were so into it that you kissed him back.

Hold up. You kissed him back?

Jungkook realized that you were now kissing him back, which earned him a victory to smirk in the midst of the passionate kiss.

He lifted you and your legs were now wrapped around his waist, bringing you to his bedroom and not breaking the kiss. He was afraid that if he took a second to break it, you might escape and he was certainly not wanting to have that. He didn’t want you to run away from him.

He gently put you down on his bed and hovered over you, continuing to give you a deep kiss and your fingers were now on his hair.

He was inserting his tongue in your mouth, asking for a permission to make its entrance on the way with yours.

Fucking gross. Both of your tongues were now battling for dominance. You can do this, Y/N. Just wait for a few more seconds to kick him in the balls.

He moved his lips down to your jawline and then down to your neck, giving them wet kisses and then marking you as he sucked on the sweet spot on your skin. You had to fake your moan, which made him sucking on it more.

He began to grind on you now, and you distracted him by placing soft kisses on his chin. He moaned when your lips created a ‘love song’ on his skin. This was exactly what he wanted.

The next thing he didn’t expect was to get his ‘member’ kicked by you all of the sudden and he screamed in pain. Without thinking twice, you pushed him off and got up from his bed, running towards the door in a hurry as if you were chased by a herd of zombies.

“Y/N!!!” he shouted your name while still in a lot of pain. He was feeling too weak right now, and it was a perfect chance for you to get out from his place and ran as fast as you could without looking back.

You stopped running near a shop as you were catching your breath. Then continued before Jungkook had the chance to catch up and kidnap you again.

••••••

Michelle was ironing clothes as you arrived home. She stopped when she saw you were panting.

“Whoa, what happened? Were you in a race or something?” She walked towards you and caressed your back to calm you down.

“Well, I left from Suzie’s house and the thought of me going in the streets alone terrified me so I had to run.” You hated lying to your sister about it. But what other choice you had? Even if you decided to tell her about it, it wouldn’t have made any difference. Jungkook was capable of doing anything just to have you all to himself.

Michelle scoffed with what you just said. “After her being an irresponsible brat, you’re still friends with Suzie?” Talking about Suzie right now, you understood why Suzie wasn’t in your sister’s favorite list anymore. During that incident of Jungkook kidnapping you, Suzie didn’t make an effort to look for you at all. She acted as if you disappearing out of nowhere wasn’t a big deal.

Hence the reason why Michelle didn’t want you to be around Suzie anymore.

“She’s okay, Michelle. It was just a mistake.”

“Mistake? MISTAKE?! What “mistake” are you talking about, Y/N?” She was now keeping her focus on this conversation. “it wasn’t a mistake for not caring about my little sister’s sudden disappearance that time. She wasn’t a good friend to you on that night, and she isn’t right now.”

“Michelle, please. Can we not talk about this right now?” You made a tired face. “I’m so tired. I really wanna take a rest.”

Michelle took a little time to reconsider but then she nodded, feeling sorry for you. She apologized for her outburst earlier and you understood her intention. She became fully protective of you after that cancelled ‘girls’ night’ and after she got you back. You were the only family she had and she didn’t want to lose you.

But before you even managed to take a step on the stairs, her question made you surprise. “What’s that on your neck?”

Fuck! I forgot that that asshole gave me a stupid hickey!

You turned to her slowly and Michelle focused on the mark, squinting her eyes.

“Is that a hickey, Y/N?” She was walking towards to you to get a better view on the mark, and she gasped while closing her mouth with her hands.

You closed your eyes in frustration. Now, you couldn’t even get away because you knew your sister was gonna bombard you with numerous questions.

She finally put her hands away from her mouth and began asking you the question you wished she didn’t. “Did you have sex at Suzie’s, Y/N? I know that she’s so popular for bringing different guys into her home.”

“Err, yeah. I just felt like getting my rocks off.” You gulped nervously as you waited for her response, but to your surprise, Michelle was squealing happily.

“Oh my God, my little sister has finally getting it on!” She pressed the word ‘on’ so hard that it made you shock. She gave you a hug and you awkwardly hugged her back. This made her so happy because after your horrible breakup with Trevor, you’ve already given her hints that you didn’t want to involve yourself in a relationship anymore.

And in this moment, she was thinking you were finally ready to open yourself up to someone. To share your little moments with this ‘person’. But unfortunately, the person who gave you that hickey wasn’t someone you fell in love with. And you definitely would never in a million years.

Before Michelle could ask you any further, you pointed up at your room, hinting that you wanted to go upstairs and take a rest.

“Oh! You wanna talk to him right now?” she giggled and nodded as she rubbed your arm. “I get it. Young love.” She rolled her eyes playfully, chuckling afterwards when she saw how flushed you were.

You quickly ran upstairs to your room and you still heard your sister giggling.

You sighed in relief when you shut the door, not wanting to hear her giggle as you were now flushed in embarrassment.

As you put your schoolbag down on the floor, Ding! was making its way to notify your phone.

Double J [now]: what you did was not cool, twinkle toes

Another Ding!

Double J [now]: you’re gonna regret doing that to me

You smiled in satisfaction as you were replying his texts back.

you [now]: Whoops. Sorry, Jungkook. Guess excitement took over me that it had to make me kick you in your D. 🤭

You were unbuttoning your school uniform as you heard another number of Ding! sounds on your phone. Did Jungkook have fast fingers or something? He replied so damn quick.

Double J [now]: laugh all you want now

Double J [now]: i won’t go fucking easy on you the next time we see each other

Double J [now]: no more fucking mercy, twinkle toes

Double J [now]: i’m not joking

You scoffed and just laughed at his response. Who did he think he was? He was all talk. You knew that he would just become weak with your presence around him, anyway. So his texts didn’t even scare at you at all.

You decided to just ignore his texts and that really infuriated him now. He’d grown impatient for the next day. He couldn’t wait to do the thing he’d been wanting to do for so long.

••••••

The next day arrived and the sun greeted your face good morning. You were too tired to get up but you remembered you had to buy groceries. It was a duty made for you by Michelle.

So you got up from bed and took a shower, feeling a lot better as everything from yesterday’s event finally washed away from your body.

The next thing you noticed was that stupid hickey created by Jungkook. Thankfully, you had a beautiful scarf to cover that. It also matched with the maroon leather jacket you were currently wearing.

You ran downstairs and Michelle thought you were rushing to meet the guy you ‘had sex with’ last night.

“Ooh, are you going on a date with that guy?” She smiled teasingly at you and you just nodded in response, not giving her a chance to speak when you hurriedly walked outside.

It felt so good having the streets crowded with people and cars on this Saturday morning. You felt so safe. At least that Jungkook couldn’t have his hands on you now.

You were now at an area where there were only a few people sitting while chit-chatting in front of their stores, waiting for customers to shop there. You were about to walk towards this mini supermarket, only to be stopped by a pair of strong hands grabbing you to an empty hallway.

Jungkook quickly placed his hand on your mouth to keep you from shouting for help. He pushed you against the wall with your back now facing him. It felt like he was in a rush or something when he pulled your pants down.

“What the fuck are you doing?! Stop!” You were now a crying mess when he pressed his body against yours to stop you from moving.

“SHUT UP! I told you I’m not gonna go easy on you.” You felt his ‘member’ touching your butt, already on its way to enter. You wanted to stop him but to no avail. He held both of your wrists firmly against the brick wall and you shouted when you felt him inside you.

He groaned when he started thrusting you from behind, and you cried so hard to the point you felt so vulnerable and weak.

Why... why does it have to be me?

As he came, he threw his fluids away on someplace else. You were now kneeling on the ground, not caring that your butt was still visible.

Jungkook’s expression immediately turned soft when he saw you crying so hard like this. He was a monster. He was a beast. He let his demonic side conquer him and he did something that he never expected himself to do to you.

And that was being inside you without your consent at all.

“Fuck, what have I done?” He was kneeling in front of you and hesitated whether to touch you or not.

He really wanted to hug you so bad, but afraid that it might be a bad idea considering he was doing an unforgivable thing to you earlier.

You sobbed so hard and your true colors of being fully weak were now shown to him. It made him feel more guilty right now. What he did would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.

“Y/N, I-I’m...” you flinched when he was about to hold you. You were starting to feel so afraid around him now. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what happened to me. I-I..” His sentences were cut short when he saw you crying harder. You couldn’t get the horrible scene away from your head. It was so hard for you. You didn’t expect this supposed happy Saturday morning to turn out to be like this.

Without thinking straight, he gave you the tightest embrace, mumbling ‘I’m sorry’ a lot of times to you and you just cried harder and harder while hiding your face on his chest. You couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down on your wet cheeks.

You couldn’t help but to blame yourself too. If it weren’t for you acting all mighty and proud last night, this wouldn’t have happened. You made him so angry to the point where he didn’t even give a fuck anymore.

He’d been wanting to do that for long years, but now that it already happened, it didn’t make him any happier at all. It wasn’t what he envisioned in his head. In his head, he was imagining the two of you making love. But happily, not by force.

He caressed your hair while still apologizing to you. He regret doing what he did to you earlier. And it hurt him because a flashback of his words came to his mind. ‘I’ll try not to force myself on you. I’d do anything to change if that’s the only way for you to stay with me.’

He didn’t keep true to his words at all. He did something that was beyond stupid and for sure, that was going to make him feel at fault for his entire life.

You stopped sobbing when his next words broke the silence. “I’ll leave you for good now, Y/N. If that’s the only way for you to be happy,” he gave you a long kiss on the forehead, starting to cry now too. “I’m terribly sorry.”

[curse-of-the-dark-emerald]

Curse of the Dark Emerald, Chapter 7.

Welcome back! Enjoy! Let’s see what Robot Eggman and Stone will do next! And here is the CHAPTER  AND “MOMENT” YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR!!!

“You saw that right, Agent Stone?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Not that you’re very observant as I am, but I assume you’re thinking what I’m thinking, right?”

“Yeah, from what the robot's memory chip recorded, Sonic has displayed tremendous strength and agility than ever before.”

The two men after Sonic's life had just finished reviewing the footage of the battle with Sonic and the robots, Robotnik paid attention to every tiny detail from start to finish. The video was captured from the perspective of a different robot that was observing from afar. The last scene shown before leaving was Sonic ripping its chest open. 

“What do you think has caused him to suddenly be better in fighting?” Stone timidly asks but his curiosity was too high to be afraid to ask his boss.

“That should be obvious,” Robotnik's metallic voice shudders with a cold malice, “That jewel he found last night.. must have a lot to do with it, and my theory is..”

Stone turned in his seat to hear, “What?”

“It’s his fear. I, who loathes all human emotions and lack of them myself; I understand how they work at least. When you took away some of his soul, something new and powerful was awakened in his psyche to cause that transformation.”

Stone's eyes widened in stunned fascination. “You know what, when we track Sonic down I was thinking, what if..”

“No no, let me say it.” Robotnik silences Stone with his fingers, “Because I want to first, we need to find him in that form and take that jewel back.”

“So we're on the same page!” Stone skips in his seat and grins. “When you do get that thing back, what’s the plan?”

Robotnik's red eyes clicked and flicker; “We will crush him and harness its power of course!”

Robotnik looks at the desk clock by Stone, it reads 4:38 pm. Dusk was an hour and a half away.

“We will set out to confront the Wachowski resident at sunset, if my theory is correct, the creature will put on a little show for me.”

Stone gulps a knot in his throat, he didn’t know if it was anticipation or the lingering guilt that was haunting him in the back of his mind.

...

Back at the house and sitting in the kitchen, Tom and Wade sat at the bar table, Tom helped himself to some coffee and Wade had his own glass of water. Sonic was upstairs taking a quick rest from the fight, in which earlier he was afraid to do so…

An hour before...

“I am exhausted, but are you sure?” Sonic was at the bottom of the attic staircase and hesitated to go to his room, still worried about more bots coming to attack,

“If any of those things show up we’ll take care of it; but we’ll wake you up if it’s too much.” Tom bent down to rub the young worried hedgehog on the ears,

 “You’ve dealt with a lot of hell and I’m more concerned about you than them, so please, get some sleep, Sonic.”

Now…

Wade looks into his partners eyes, both curiosity and his own worry mixed in his being. While Sonic slept in his room, Tom quietly told Wade the events that took place from the first hour of the night before at the dinner table, to where they sat now. He filled Wade in with everything he wanted to know. 

“So, from what you’ve explained something’s happening to the kid? Is he dying? Or sick maybe?”

Tom grinned and became a bit amused with his friends guess, 

“No, he’s not dying, I’ll probably have Mads take another look at him, but he’s...I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s definitely something going on with him that I don’t fully understand...yet.”

Wade gazes at the black Chaos Emerald on the table, now knowing what it was and its capabilities, he had a really bad feeling about it. 

“This emerald-thingy was causing all those strange lights in the other town huh? Makes me ask now, where are the other ones; he mentioned there’s more..”

“I don’t know that, either.” Tom gently grasps his coffee mug and let the liquid inside warm his hands, “They could be right under our noses, or scattered across the universe.” 

“And, the kid isn’t the type to be easily pissed off, right?” Wade glanced at the spot where Sonic's room was located upstairs. 

“Yeah, pretty much.”

A humming from the garage rumbled the door leading to it following the engine of Maddie’s car rolling in, she was now getting home.

Both men look at each other, “I’ll tell her everything, and what are you going to do in town?” Tom asks.

“Well, I know everyone else is probably wondering where I am.. and I should head back, but I don’t want to leave you guys alone; what if that crazy guy who’s after you shows up? I still haven’t forgotten what he did to the staff months ago.” Wade shrugs one shoulder at him.

“You have a good point. Stay if you want to. We just need to make sure Sonic is safe.” Tom nods in agreement.

Maddie enters through the door, still wearing her vet scrubs and immediately, sees her husband and Wade, in her brain she assumed something bad was going on and hastily drops her belongings down, 

“What did I miss? Is Sonic okay?”

“He’s upstairs,” Tom replies.

“Has he been up there since I left this morning?” Now, she was really worried.

“No, no. Me and him went out for some food, but..Maddie..” 

Tom didn’t know where to begin to explain what was going on first.

“That crazy government guy is back and he’s after Sonic and Tom again.” Wade finished it for his friend.

Maddie’s jaw drops.

“Oh my god.” She sighs loudly, “But how? I saw you two send him off in a portal!” She rubbed her forehead and could feel the oncoming headache in her skull.

“We don’t know, but that’s not it, he’s brought in a bunch of mechanical looking Sonics with him and they ambushed the diner today.” Wade added.

“Oh my god…” Maddie repeated herself and not only was she worried now but angry. She put the pieces together and understood now..that evil doctor was responsible for Sonic’s injuries.

Tom gets up and put his arm on her, “I know he can defend himself, but he’s not only injured, I’m worried about his mental well-being.”

Maddie nodded and looked down at the floor, “But what’ll we do? He’s gonna come ruining the house again, and I’ll clock his lights out if he does.” 

Wade bent his neck back and made a soft chuckle to himself. Yep that’s like Maddie. 

“Pretzel lady?”

All three adults turned to the voice by the kitchen entryway, and Sonic grinned at his motherly guardian, and in a blink of an eye he was hugging her legs.

“Hey, sweetie. Are you okay?” Maddie bent down and rubbed her hands on his back quills.

“Sorta. I tried to sleep, but I’m too nervous about Eggman.” Sonic fumbled his fingers and his glove was still ripped from the battle earlier. 

Tom looked at the kitchen clock, it read 5:40 pm, 30 minutes till the sun was leaving. 

“Hold still for me, will you Sonic? I just want to check you again.” 

Maddie saw the new scuffles and cuts on Sonic's arms and face, and he did as he was told. 

“Does this hurt here?” Maddie puts pressure on his fingers and forearm to check for any broken bones.

“No, I’m fine. Really.” Sonic shrugged and forced a smile, “It’s just a few scratches.”

“If you say so.” Maddie pats his head, and looks at Tom and Wade.

“So, what’s the plan?”

Tom looks at Wade quickly then back at his wife, “I really don’t know, egg-guy or whatever could be coming back anytime now and we should be on guard.”

“I’ll step up on that,” Sonic inserts a serious tone and points his thumb to his chest,

“Remember, it’s me he’s after and he can’t catch up to me no matter how fancy his robots are, but I need you all to know this…”

The three adults listened intently and Sonic jumps to grab the tainted Chaos Emerald, displaying it to them in his ripped up gloved hand;

“I have to fix this. No matter how you put it, I’m mostly to blame for making the Emerald turn into this and we have to restore its powers. When these become messed up, I was told by Longclaw bad things can happen.”

Tom was going to make a response but a loud bang on the front door interrupted the conversation.

Both Tom and Wade took their guns in hand, Tom made a silent signal to Maddie, and she understood what it meant: take cover.

The two adults and with Sonic right behind them inches closer to the door, readying for what could be outside. Maddie takes herself and Ozzy to a hiding place in silence. Ozzy could sense the tension from his owners and knew to be silent and on guard for Maddie as well. 

Another loud knock hits the door, Wade and Tom take each side, and Tom shouts,

“This is the Sheriff of Green Hill! Who is it!?”

No answer.

“It’s obviously a trap, you know that right?” Sonic throws his hands, warning them.

“Identify yourself! If you don’t we'll take precautions if you’re a threat!” Tom yells again, and glances at Wade.

“On count of three…”

Wade nods.

Sonic positions himself with one hand on the floor, ready to stop any oncoming attack and enemy awaiting…

“One, two…”

Tom grasps the door-knob.

“Three!”

Tom shoves the door open with he and Wade aiming to whatever could be outside, 

But nothing. They scan around for anything or anyone but see nothing in sight.

“I’m getting sick of this…”

Sonic, whose head was bowed down and eyes covered in shadow, runs ahead of the two and shouts, 

“You coward!! Come out and fight me already!!” 

The sun was halfway set on the horizon, and not far from it..the full moon was soon going to take its place…

“I’m sick and tired of playing these games, Egghead! I’ll kill you!”

Sonic stops himself and puts his hand on his mouth, shaken by the words that came out. 

Tom and Wade still kept guard but they too were now really worried about what Sonic could be capable of, but it wasn’t the time and place to dwell on it.

“Very well, Sonic!”

A voice, that voice...Sonic and Tom immediately recognized it; callous and mocking with a hint of amusement.

A few of the dark blue robots finally hover downwards to them, their arms and hands pose and reveal their weapons aimed at the three, their red eyes piercing them down. 

In the center of them all, a figure with another pair of red circular eyes glow in the darkness, a man with his hands tucked behind his back, snidely chuckling at them like a giddy child.

“Glad to see you’re alive and well.”

“So you finally show up, Eggman.” 

Sonic gives the most angry glare he could muster at the doctor, shaking his fist at him, “I don't want to prolong this any more than I have to. Let’s get it over with.”

Sonic runs in a blue flash straight at Robotnik, intending to punch his face..but the attempt became slack and Sonic’s expression turns confused; Robotnik was quick enough to catch this and stops his fist from reaching him and threw the teen back, Sonic yelled in surprise and falls on his back, stunned. He sits up,

“You’re...not Eggman...you’re a robot, too?!”

“Correct. I was created to take his place if something were to ever happen to him. And here I am.” Robot Eggman bowed with one arm outstretched,

“Now, there’s something I need from you, before you worry your little heart about attacking, first..”

Tom and Wade also yelped in surprise from behind Sonic, the two of them were pinned down by unsuspecting robots to the ground, they struggled to free themselves but the mechanical copies held a death grip on them. 

“Donut Lord!” 

“Sonic, don’t worry about us! For just this once, run and save yourself!” Tom begs.

                  Hearing that...something in Sonic's mind snaps…

Run. 

Hide. You can’t save them. 

You’re only good at running and avoiding your problems…

You don’t need them...

The black Chaos Emerald Sonic dropped on the ground pulsates, a little red, glowing light from its center begins to show. The sun was now gone…

                                                       “No.”

Tom and Wade stopped struggling and froze, Sonic's voice.., it was dark, guttural, and thunderous. The very sound of his voice alone seemed to make the air crack. Sonic never felt this much bitterness towards something and he didn’t have a sliver of care this time of how he looked and sounded like. He just wanted to rip into something..

They saw his eyes flash red at them, 

“I’m tired of running away, and listening to you, Tom.”

Wade gulps in stunned silence, his stomach dropped in a knot seeing Sonic's face so grim. 

“I’ll handle this myself, since you have such little faith in me.” Sonic spat with venom at his best friend.

“Sonic..” 

The corners of Tom's eyes started to water with tears. He wasn’t hurt from what Sonic said, but was so scared for him…

“What’s happened to you, buddy?”

“Are you done talking?” Eggman asks in a bored tone while looking at his hand, waiting.

Sonic takes a few steps forward, his teeth revealing his small fangs, 

“Shut up. I’ll tear you to pieces..”

The full moon illuminated its cold light just behind the robotic doctor, the man was waiting for it..

“You just wait until I-“ Sonic stops in his tracks and lurches forward, his chest and heart throbbed in pain so hard it makes him fall to his knees.

“What’s the matter? Having some heartache over the fact you’re weak?”

Sonic could barely hear Eggman, he held himself up with his hands on the ground, his body was stopping him from moving any further and he grunted and tried to take deep breaths to calm his panic and hold back his pain.

“Urrghh! Agghh!”

“Sonic!?” Tom cries out and he knew he was helpless to do anything.

                               “Show me your true self, hedgehog..”

“Aaaaghhh!!!”

Sonic screams in pain and fear as his body once again begins to shift and morph. His gloves rip open to reveal the long sharp claws growing out, white fur pricks out of his wrists, his short fangs extend past his lips as his fur darkens to midnight blue, his shoes blossom out the metal spikes again and his quills become dipped in white tips..and finally with a tortured howl, the newly transformed Sonic sets his green slit eyes at his enemy…he groans angrily;

“What have you done to me, Eggman!!?”

“Don’t blame me, this is all in the good name of science.”

“I’m seeing everything on my end, Doctor.”

In a different area Agent Stone was watching on surveillance, “What now?”

Eggman didn’t reply to his assistant and and claps his metal hands together,

“I’m done here for now. I’ve collected all the information that I needed to see.”

The robots who held down Wade and Tom finally release them and fly off towards Eggman. The two with their guns in hand standby if they were to attack at any point. Sonic, still staring down his enemy, was livid, of course. 

“Now listen carefully, if I may call you “werehog”, you can find me at the same place you found your precious little diamond from last night, we can finally settle our conversation from there.”

Eggman turns and walks away, not before with a few final words, “Bring me the jewel and I may spare your friend’s lives and to make it a sweeter deal, I’ll cure you of your curse. Hahaha!”

He continuously laughs as he makes his leave and disappears into the darkness, the robots along with him.

Wade, who let out a breath he was holding clutched his chest, “Oh my gosh, I really thought I was gonna..”

He stops himself and runs back to the house, “Hey, Maddie! Are you okay in there?” 

Tom finally comes to Sonic's side, who was looking at the ground, angry...but most of all, frightened. 

“Tom…” Sonic's voice shakes with fear,

“Hey, it’s okay for now, he’s gone.”

Sonic looks at his hands, which tremble and shake, tears threatening to fall from his eyes. His claws gleamed in the moonlight. 

“What’s..what's happening to me? I don’t know what to do..”

Sonic looks into Tom’s greenish blue eyes,

“I’m scared…”

Tom put aside all his own fears, frustrations and concerns for himself, right now he knew Sonic needed the one thing to calm him down…

“It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be alright..” Tom gets to knee height and embraces Sonic into a firm hug.

Sonic’s chin cupped on top of his shoulder, his face and eyes cloaked in so much fear...till finally his tears fell and were released. Sonic returns the hug back and sobs onto Tom's uniform. His cries echoed into the empty night.

[sonic-wildfire]

Aftermath: A Sonic Forces AU Fanfiction - Chapter 6

The Day After the Attempt

Quite frankly, Sonic had no idea how the hell he was still alive by this point.

For the past 16 months, he had spiraled down to the lowest of lows. He was a completely broken hedgehog. But, even after nearly following through on a suicide attempt not too long ago, here he was; sitting on the front porch with Tails, who had paid a visit to Sonic to check in and make sure everything was alright. Up to now, Sonic never told a soul about what he had almost done that one night.

“Hey, Sonic?” Tails spoke up. Sonic realized his mind had wandered and was briefly dazed before he turned to his partner.

“Oh, hey,” Sonic said softly before he chuckled to himself. “Forgot you were there for a second. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to let you know that it’s great having you around,” Tails answered with a grin.

“I-I appreciate the sentiment,” Sonic stumbled, “but why do ya say that?”

“Well, I just knew that something wasn’t exactly right these past few months…” Tails confessed. “Like a suspicion that you were hiding something from everyone else.”

“No way!” Sonic smugly retorted. “I’d never not tell you anything that would be important, little bro!”

As Sonic spoke, Tails’ upper eyelids slid down and he looked at him worryingly.

“See, the thing is…” Tails began, the smile running away from his face.

Sonic waited for Tails to finish his sentence, but all he got was silence.

“...You know what, never mind,” Tails brushed off the suspicion. “Maybe I’ll bring it up later.”

“Whatever ya say, buddy,” Sonic said as he flashed a bright smile.

A few days later, Sonic was mysteriously invited anonymously for a “private gathering.” His friends would be there, too, he was told. He accepted, and made his way to the destined location. When he arrived, the “rundown shack” that was described in the invitation letter just turned out to be Tails’ house. As he entered and shut the door behind him, he turned around to see thousand-yard stares going right through him.

Tails. Shadow. Silver. Amy. Knuckles. Gadget. They were all there. Some had tears welling in the corner of their eyes. Others simply stared with their mouths slightly agape in shock.

“But why?” Sonic thought to himself. “What’s the big deal?”

Then it hit him.

His heart instantly sank. He tried to speak.

“I…”

But he was at a loss for words.

He gestured for them all to stand, and they obliged. One by one, save for Shadow, Sonic embraced them all. Some of them wept as he did so. Others were so shocked they physically could not return the favor. Sonic then seated himself in the only other chair available.

“Sonic…” Tails sniffled, fighting the urge to sob uncontrollably.

“Buddy…” the hedgehog interjected. “...I’m okay.”

“Like hell you are!” Amy scolded him. “You nearly killed yourself!”

“Ames! It’s not what you thi—”

“It is exactly what we think, Sonic,” Knuckles affirmed. “We know what happened. I watched you do it that night.”

There it was; Sonic’s secret was no longer. His friends knew.

“Have you forgotten everything we’ve been telling you since the war ended?” Silver queried.

Gadget tried to speak but he couldn’t come up with anything to say, so he remained mute.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush,” Tails said. “You need to understand that we care about you. You worry that you’ve never done enough for us or done all the wrong things to us? A lot of us owe our lives to you for being who you were before: a courageous, selfless hero. But ever since the war, a part of you seemed to die. You stopped visiting us. You ate less. You slept less. You never found enjoyment in anything. Even running—the one thing you’ve always loved to do—was nothing more than a nuisance to you.”

As he finished the last sentence, Tails’ voice trailed off. He wiped away his tears and continued.

“Sonic… we’re here for you. Remember that you can always talk to us if you need to. We want to help you.”

The air in the room was nearly bone-chilling as they spoke. Sonic couldn’t take it any longer. He had to get the words out if he wanted to feel any sort of vindication, he felt.

So he did.

“I don’t know who I am anymore. Every single day, I look back on my past and I realize I’m no longer the Sonic I used to be. It feels cold. It feels empty. It feels hopeless. Nothing makes sense to me anymore. It feels like that everybody I know no longer knows me. I feel alone. I know I’m not alone, but it always feels like I am anyway. To be truthful with you, I never thought I’d even attempt suicide. But… it happened. Last night, it happened. I was going to take my own life. I felt like I was floating without a body in a black limbo rather than being a physical entity treading the Earth. I was lost. I didn’t know how to get myself on the right path again.”

“Trust me, I want to be my old self again. I really do. There’s always that one tiny part of my mind telling me, ‘You’ve been through this before. You’re going to be OK.’ But they’re all overpowered by the numerous voices in my head telling me I’m not good enough, that I’m a burden, that I should just fade from existence as an insignificant footnote in history. Playing hero for so long has taken its toll. I’ve danced with the reaper more times than I can count, and every single goddamn one of those experiences were the most utterly terrifying thing someone could ever go through. The Death Egg imprisonment was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. I barely held it together for the remainder of the war. I tried to hide it as best as I could. But I couldn’t hide it forever. I had to let the world know my pain.”

Tears began streaming down Sonic’s face again. He fell silent as he wiped them away.

“But the worst part of it all is that I’m scared. I’m scared of what will happen to me if I don’t escape from this emotional Hell soon. I’m scared of my actions. I’m scared of myself. I don’t know how to explain it, but I’m really scared of who I am now. I want to go back. I want to go back to the old days where I hadn’t a care in the world and threw myself into trouble without thinking twice. I want to go back to the days where I enjoyed bashing Egghead’s face in on a regular basis. I don’t want to be like who I am now.”

At this point, Sonic was full-on shaking. He began to grow less somber and more angry. He was red in the face, his green irides had shrunk and his pupils followed suit. As he immersed himself in his own words, he could feel something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. To his amazement, he was slowly beginning to feel like his former self. It was simply nothing but a blip on the radar. A pebble thrown into the ocean. Its presence was almost impossible to notice.

But Sonic felt it. And it was there. And he wasn’t about to let the feeling escape. He wanted more of it. He had been starved of it for far too long.

“I want to go back. I will go back.”

His face contorted into a wicked smile and began cackling maniacally.

“And if anyone wants to stop me, then they’ll have to pray for me to stop.”

With that, he shot out of his seat and bolted out the door. In a flash, he was gone. Everybody else, in a futile effort, immediately sprang up and gave chase, unsure of Sonic’s intentions.

For the first time in a long time, Sonic had faith in himself. Was it craziness? Perhaps. Was it a fleeting feeling? He didn’t know. But in that moment, it had finally arrived.

It was a long time coming for him.

“Free at last,” he thought to himself as he blazed through the terrain, his mind focused on what lies ahead.

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