Chapter Text
Zonic found himself standing in a grassy plain, blinking the interdimensional spots away as he found his bearings. The grass rose to his knees, and rattled noisily when he pulled his feet through it and took a few steps forwards. He capped his helmet and adjusted it as he scanned the horizon, searching for his companions- chaos he hoped he didn't lose them, that would suck,- until his eyes caught onto a blue silhouette. It looked too tall to be X... and Sunny wasn't blue, so- "Hey, Sonic?!" He called, cupping his hands around his mouth. He wasn't sure if this guy had a nickname or not- he really should ask at this point- but Sonic should suffice.
But then the silhouette darted out of sight, merely a blue streak across the horizon until it faded away entirely.
"Huh." Zonic frowned. "I mean, fair enough but. Kinda rude." He started walking in that direction, keeping a close eye on the sun to keep his bearings, all while searching for any hint of his counterparts. "Sonic?" He called out again, "X? Sunny?" He frowned. "Where in the zones did you all go-!"
And then something slammed into his side.
All the air was shoved out of his lungs in the blink of an eye, and suddenly, very, very, suddenly, he was on his back, staring up at his own face.
"Who the fuck are you, and what do you know about Super Sonic." The hedgehog hissed, looming over Zonic as he shoved his knee into his gut.
"NZPD," Zonic managed to wheeze. He wound his hands around his assailant's shoulders and tried to square his grip enough to find leverage against him.
"What are you then," His eyes narrow- eyes not quite vibrant enough to belong to someone familiar with chaos energy. "Some kind of rozzer?"
With a grunt, Zonic manages to press his boot into the hedgehog's chest, and throw him off, giving him just enough time to get a knee up, before his assailant is on his feet, glaring. Zonic glared back. "Are you fucking british?" He coughed, prodding at his stomach, at what was sure to be a bruise in the morning. "What the fuck?"
"I'm asking the questions here, you sci-fi bugger." He scowled, marching closer. "What do you know about Super Sonic?"
"Not much?" He frowned, climbing to his feet. Zonic realized idly that he was taller than this guy. "He's not a Sonic, that's for sure. He's something... other." Zonic wrinkled his nose and pulled off his helmet.
"Oh." The hedgehog’s eyes went wide as he fell back a step. "Oh, what the fuck?"
"I’m Zonic," He offered a hand, bridging the distance between them. "NZPD, Zone Cop."
Light liked to go on walks. It distracted him from what happened with his world, his home. He had grown accustomed to wandering the forests surrounding the family house, seeing as there wasn't much ground left to wander. He didn't schedule these walks, but they became a part of his day regardless, whenever the silence was too loud, or even too quiet, he would go walking. Routine did wonders for the psyche. However, this walk in particular broke his routine, as he looked up from the unruly brush and saw a... blue thing floating around.
"What is that?" He muttered as he walked closer to the end of the forest. Light quickly realized that this thing was instead a hedgehog, like him. He didn't know what to do to help them, whatever to try and get them or just wait for them to fall on the floor? They were... oh anarchy they weren't floating they were falling-!
Light broke into a dash, trying to catch the hedgehog, but he didn't calculate the right time nor position to do it and the blue one fell directly on the grass, hitting with a hollow thud. Light hissed in sympathy as he crept towards the... hopefully unconscious hedgehog. He crouched and poked their cheek with his finger, looking for some reaction. Their face screwed up in a grimace as they whined, turning their head away.
"Ha!" He huffed. "You are alive!" He quickly scooped the hedgehog up. They barely stirred beyond the occasional grunt or whine, and Light noticed they were bandaged... and quickly losing blood. "Damn." He breathed, immediately starting for the house, purpose in his gait.
“Ngh… who…?"
Light blinked down at the hedgehog, and a warm smile bloomed on his face as their eyes cracked open, revealing pretty brown pupils.
"Light the Hedgehog, and you are?" He asked, slowly climbing the steps to the house. He shifted his guest to one arm as he dug through his quills for the keys. Even though he was surely alone, he liked to keep in the habit. Routine was important. "I'm curious about how you ended up floating around the void," He continued when they didn't answer. He quickly unlocked the door once he found the keys, and walked directly into the living room and set his guest down on the couch "Stay here," He smiled. They looked back up at him with wide eyes, something almost awestruck in them. "I'll get my first aid supplies." He lightly gripped their shoulder, eyeing the scarlet beading through their thin bandages. Best to be quick.
He darted out of the kitchen, what little supplies he still had in hand, as well as a washcloth he'd run under the sink. He was running low on menial things, like painkillers and allergy meds, but he still had triage supplies in spades. He dropped to a knee in front of his guest, opening the kit on the floor beside him as he inspected their chest. The bandages were thinly wrapped and loose, slowly turning a deeper red as they soaked through. They sported a few deep bruises that shone through their vibrant fur, but none of those hits seemed to have broken skin. Light cemented their chest injury as his top priority.
"Okay," Light began, taking a deep breath as he mentally took inventory of his medical supplies. Bandages, gauze, cotton swabs... not much else. "I'm Light, can I help you?" He asked, meeting their wide, brown eyes. Their left eye was clouded, damaged somehow, but held no less emotion, no less caution.
They nodded, after a beat, hesitance in their hiked shoulders and trembling hands. Light watched them carefully as he slowly reached for them. When they didn't react, he began to gingerly unwrap their bandages. It looked like a quick job, and judging by the blood in their claws and the sand in their mused fur, they must've been in quite the scrape.
They hissed, a soft, pained sound, as the bandages tugged at their wounds.
"Sorry." Light said softly, slowing his pace, even as the white gauze began to reveal a mess of blood and rent flesh. "I'm curious." He said, aiming to distract them from their discomfort. "I've never seen a hedgehog with fur as blue as yours." Blue fur matted with fresh blood. "It's beautiful." He smiled, suppressing the unease in his chest.
"I’m… n-not supposed to be fucking blue...” They groan, bracing themselves against the couch as Light unwound their bandages, tugging them gently from their frame.
"What do you mean?" Light's ear twitched, signaling his attention as he turned away to find something to staunch their bleeding. "And, if you don't mind me asking for your name? I don't want to call you Blue." He tried to joke, but got the solid impression it had fallen flat. He was never really good with jokes, that was more her strong suit, even toward the end.
"...Sonic." They answered after a beat, voice low and strained. Light smiled, it was a nice name, albeit unusual. They didn't return it. "I'm supposed to be green." They muttered, glaring down at their lap.
"This will hurt, Sonic." Light warned as he grabbed the towel. He had to clean their wounds before anything... as far as he could tell, Sonic had two, long, messy lacerations down their front. They looked deep, but almost seemed like slash marks. They were consistently leaking blood... and Light was fairly sure there was sand in there somewhere. He had to clean their wounds. He set his jaw, and went in with the towel, aiming to start from the top and work his way to the ends of the lacerations. He heard Sonic grunt in pain, but didn't look up from their injuries, focusing on being as quick and as thorough as possible. He worked swiftly, scrubbing the blood from their light chest fur, and gently working at the lacerations themselves. Once he deemed the area clean enough to wrap, he immediately padded the wounds with gauze, layering what he had until the blood stopped soaking through. "How are you doing?" He asked, reaching for a roll of bandages as he urged Sonic to lean back into the couch.
"Uh," Sonic said, fatigue and pain thick in their voice. "I'm fine."
"The hard part's over." Light said gently, keeping his spare hand pressed firmly on the layers of gauze on their chest. They still felt dry, thankfully. "If it's not too painful, could you lift your arms?"
Sonic lifted their arms without a word, allowing Light just enough space to wind the bandages around their chest and secure the gauze.
"Here, let me go get you something to drink." Light said once he tied off the bandages. "That should hold for a while, but we'll need to watch it. Those aren't small wounds." He frowned. "I can't help but wonder what happened..." He mused as he climbed to his feet.
"They're old." Sonic murmured, gingerly poking at the bandages. "...thanks."
"You're welcome." Light said lightly. "I'll be back." He said before walking quickly out of the room. He found a clean glass, and filled it with water. ...he should get Sonic a blanket as well, to soothe their stress. They lost a lot of blood. He swiftly retrieved one, and found his way back to the living room. "Here, Sonic." He handed them the glass, making sure they had a firm grip on the cup before he let go, then draped the blanket over their shoulders. They looked up at him with wide, wide eyes.
"Thanks." Sonic said, taking a slow sip. They swallowed, working their throat. "Uh, Light, right?"
Light smiled. It had been far too long since he had someone to talk to.
Sonic stared at the hedgehog in front of him, taking in their obvious similarities. Zonic's shorter, close cropped quills, his duller eyes, the uniform... but the color of his fur, the shape of his face, the familiar set of his jaw...
"Sonic," He said, reluctantly shaking Zonic's gloved hand. "Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm assuming you know me," He cast a look aside, to the taller, older looking version of well- he looked a lot like himself . "But not for the reasons I'd think." He drawled.
"You would be right." He offered the man a slight smile.
"You're-" Sonic cut himself off, squinting at Zonic. "You're an alternate version of me, I reckon. Or I'm an alternate you. And..." He trailed off, suddenly taking in the older, taller reflection of himself, who looked constantly between ease and anxiety, the younger one with the all too familiar shadow webbed behind his eyes, and... his face went cold. "You." He hissed.
"Who-" Zonic followed his gaze, but stiffened, once he saw the malice in Sonic's eyes, all directed at- "Sunny?!"
“The kid?” The older hedgehog raised a brow, stepping in front of the younger hedgehog, and that . The younger hedgehog seemed to be shielding it, quills bristling under Sonic’s gaze.
If he had to make a guess, the other blue hedgehogs- and it wasn’t like Sonic knew a whole lot of blue hedgehogs- they were also named Sonic.
"He did almost kill us but he's mostly harmless, mister." Zonic frowned, reaching a hand towards Sonic. He jerked away as Sonic's quills flared.
"Harmless?" Sonic rounded on Zonic, a dreadfully serious look, bordering on a glare, settling across his features. "You're kidding." He growled. "That thing is deadly, it's a mass of malignant chaos that's killed people. Now tell me again, mate," He took a step closer. "What exactly do you mean by 'harmless?'"
"I-" He stepped back, eyes darting between Sunny and Sonic. "He's not malignant-”
"Look," Sonic spat. "I don't care who you are, or what you're doing here, but it's killed people, it's made me responsible for a lot of damage." He leveled a glare at Zonic, something viciously solid within his eyes. "Don't try to tell me I'm wrong here."
"Okay," Zonic held up his hands. "Hold up here, don't tell me you're blaming Sunny for something- he's a kid!" He exclaimed. "I've seen a lot in my time, but seriously, don't pull a kid into your problems, I don't care how much chaos he's made up of, he's still a person."
"He's not a person!" Sonic yelled. "It's a problem, and a very fuckin' dangerous one at that! What is wrong with you!?"
"What's wrong with you?!" Zonic retorted. "Seriously, Sunny's a kid-"
"Sunny?!" Sonic hissed. "You've named it? I-" He cut himself off sharply, casting a sharp glance towards Sunny, and the two hedgehogs standing in front of him, both with eyes narrowed and shoulders tensed. "Look, mate. I'm sorry that my problems have gotten..." He spun a hand through the air, searching for something to graft onto his sentence. "Out of my… zone. But actually, you cannot be defending this thing." He scowled. "It's wicked, that."
"Okay-" Zonic sucked in a breath, then settled his helmet back over his quills, letting the visor slide into place. "Okay, first of all, buddy." He looked Sonic in the eyes, suddenly a faceless voice. Sonic grit his teeth. "You can dislike someone all you want, but don't deprive him of basic decency." Zonic said flatly. "At the very least, admit that he is a person, regardless of how he came into this world."
"Wow," Sonic laughed bitterly. "Alright, it's not a person. If this were about anythin' else I'd be right with you, but not this." He gestured harshly towards Super. "It's been too long, and I've had to deal with-" He cut himself off again, eyes darting between Super and Zonic. "It doesn't matter." He spat. "What does matter, is you can't be calling this thing a person after all it's caused. It's not even sapient!" He exclaimed.
“He’s a child!” The older hedgehog exclaimed, quills flaring up.
Sonic shot his older counterpart a look. "Yeah, sure. That's the form it's taken now that it's free." He scoffed. "It's not a child, nothing with that much blood on its hands is a child. I'm certainly not anymore."
“And would you still consider yourself a person?” He asked, rage lacing his tongue.
"I'm not a chaos demon." Sonic scowled. "There may not be much chaos, or a soul left in me, but at least it isn’t in me anymore."
"Okay, Sonic?" Zonic stepped between Sonic and their older counterpart, lips set in a firm line. "Shut up. You're not helping." It wasn’t especially clear who he was speaking to, but the older hedgehog does shut up, that’s fair.
Sonic does not shut up.
"I'm just making it clear," Sonic said. "That thing is dangerous, and has nearly gotten me killed far too many times."
"...stop calling him 'it.'" Zonic scowled. "He's not a 'thing,' he's a person. I knew most of us were thick, but I didn't expect you to be this stupid."
Sonic barked a laugh. "Yeah, I know, mate. You don't haf'ta spell it out."
Zonic looked at him expectantly, something hard and cold in his eyes.
Sonic raised a brow, a smirk riding up his lip. "You're a tough bloke to please, aren't you?" He cast a cold, almost... fearful glance towards Super, where he just peaked over the smaller hedgehog’s quills. "The chaos demon..." He drawled. "Seems a lot smaller than it did."
"You scared the kid." Zonic said stiffly.
"...he's not what you think he is." Sonic said lowly.
"Alright?" Zonic flipped up his visor, exposing his narrowed eyes. "You're going to be like that, yeah? I can tell you exactly what Sunny is. Sunny is a highly powerful concentration of chaos energy that has developed a young consciousness, likely due to exposure to you. He presumably has no recollection of you, or very little, as it has become the template for his personality, his first mark against tabula rasa, or his very first perception of reality. He is not evil, but highly susceptible to emotional stimuli, because he is a child." Zonic hissed, leaning closer and closer towards Sonic until they were nose to nose. "Do I make myself clear?"
Sonic stared at him for a moment, taken aback. He didn't know whether to fight back or not- heck, normally, he'd just punch his way out of arguments, or just run... but... he glanced at the older mirror, who watched the both of them intently. The older mirror, of which sparks of what he would bet was raw chaos energy intermittently fluttered off his ever so slightly iridescent quills. Something told him that wouldn't go well.
"Alright, firefighter." He huffed, pushing Zonic back by his pauldrons. "Sure. You win. This guy-" He swung an arm vaguely towards the demon. "Is a kid." Then he leaned in close. Zonic stared down at him fiercely, and for the first time, he realized the cop had a bit of height on him. Sonic decided to file that away for later. "...whatever took me over," He sighed heavily. "Whatever possessed me, whatever chaos energy made me nearly kill someone, is not a child, and is not me." He said lowly. "And don't you ever insinuate that he's anything like me."
Zonic took a step back, never breaking eye contact. "Alright." He said. "Alright, I understand." He sighed. "Listen, mister. Sonic. We're just here to get Sunny back to where he's been staying. That's all we're here for. None of this has to be your problem, Sonic."
"Well, firefighter," He winked. "You've gone and made it my problem." He cast another glance towards... Sunny. He couldn't make out much of the demon's form, but the hedgehog he hid behind was young, with fairly short, slim quills and tired eyes. Sunny was probably... small. Young. Zonic didn't seem the type to lie. He liked that. Sonic sighed again. "Get him home, firefighter." He turned on his heel. He felt the older, chaos-soaked hedgehog's eyes on his back. "I'll see you boys around." And with that, he took off. And suddenly the encounter was miles away.
X glared. “He was a jerk.” They huffed.
Zonic watched him speed off into the distance, suddenly a blue streak, standing out against the rolling stretch of grey-green grass. "He didn't beat me up. It could have gone worse." He shrugged. "...he called me a firefighter."
“…I-I was so scared he wouldn’t leave…” Sunny mumbled, looking at Zonic.
"I'm so sorry about that, Sunny." Zonic crouched down beside him and X. "If I'd known we'd be met so... antagonistically, I would've picked a different way point, I'm so sorry." He reached a hand towards Sunny, but didn't move it. "Are you alright?" He murmured.
He reached an oh so small hand out to Zonic, grabbing one of the other’s fingers. “…yeah…” He nods. “All he really did was yell.”
“He did yell.” Zonic’s lips thinned. “Just know, Sunny, that nothing he said was true. I don’t know your history, or his, but nothing he said was true to who you are now, or who you choose to be.”
Sunny nodded, a small, quiet motion.
"Thankfully he's gone now," Zonic said, wrapping his hands around Super's and gently squeezing it. "And we can get you home.”
“I was this close to spindashing him.” Tiers sighed, shaking out his arms, trying to rid himself of all the tension in the air.
"I would not have stopped you." Zonic snorts. "He was a dick."
“Y-Yeah…” Sunny murmured.
Zonic stood with a tired smile, and offered a hand to Sunny. “Let's get you home."
Zonic sent X and... he still needed to figure out what to call that other guy, through a portal, trusting that he would get X though safely. He seemed... oddly familiar with space travel. To be fair, that would align with what he suspected of him and the other... chaos was it three now? The other three fools that had followed him into the chat. In any case, he trusted him enough to keep X safe. X could handle themselves anyway, but precautions were nice to have. Now...
Oh voids, he had to get back to work.
Fuuuucccck.
"Sonic?" Someone called. "What are you doing out here?"
Archie froze. He knew that voice. Well, no, he didn't really, but it sounded familiar enough to strike his consciousness, just so. Point being, as he slowly turned his head and met green eyes, he knew to smile, instead of run. "Hi, Amy." He called amicably. He moved no closer, tucking himself between the reeds.
"Sonic," She said, a touch of disapproval on her tongue as she crossed her arms. "You said you'd be back three hours ago, where have you been?"
"Oh, you know." Archie shrugged, looking up at her curiously. She tilted her head, watching him from the boardwalk. This wasn't his Amy. His Amy was younger, angrier. Flame and fury at her hammer, not this tepid glare. "Around." He said finally.
"Around?" She scoffed. "Alright, we'll see if Tails will let that fly. You missed movie night."
"Oh." Archie laughed. "My bad."
Amy peered down at him, eyes narrowed into slits. "Where's your bandana?" She asked. "You always have that thing on."
"Uh." He blanked. "Around?"
"...I'm going inside." She drawled. "I'll see you later, Sonic. I don't want to deal with," She gestured vaguely towards him. "This, at eleven-thirty at night."
"Works for me!" He said quickly, working a smile into his voice. He waited for her to turn around before he bolted, running across the shoreline. Sand and grass passed beneath his feet like river rapids, rushing by. The wind was in his quills, a comforting howl as he dashed away. Away from Amy, and the village he didn't know, and the world he couldn't call his.
He threw his gaze towards the ocean and skidded to a stop.
The moon was huge.
It towered over the ocean, a gentle behemoth, parchment yellow and bright like a fog lamp. It's reflection was warped by the waves, churning and clipping across the ocean's surface. He squinted at it, and held his thumb up to the sky, and even that couldn't eclipse it. The waters rose to meet it at the horizon, before crashing below.
It was all wondrously peaceful, in an exotic sort of way. He smiled, ignoring the pit that festered in his gut, reminding him that the moon should not be that big, and that there was no way he could even pretend he was in his zone when even the sky was wrong.
You'd think he'd be used to it by now.
He sighed, and fished his phone out from his quills. A few notifications flashed atop the screen. X was worried for Scourge, poor kid. Zonic responded and-
Message the-fastest-things-alive:
Hi! Zonic!
Zonic you rat bastard
Zonic you left me here to die.
He snickered as he hit send. Aside from the apparent lack of chaos energy in this zone, he'd be fine, but may as well tease Zonic while he was at it. He'd figure out a way off eventually, and even then, Zonic would come back. Probably.
FutureFrontier- whoever in the heck that was- responded and- Front? Tiers? Tiers sounded good, very snappy. Nickname-able enough. He typed out as much, then looked back up at the moon. Its sheer size set his fur on end. He shook his head at the sight.
May as well get familiar with it.