Bones by Imagine Dragons.
~~~

He'd awakened on a chair. Akin to a throne, jagged and tall. Black and overlooking the mass of spears pleading up to him below. Almost slimy in texture, he moved a hand across the arm. Woven and knitted together with coal-toned vines, the back reached a central sharp point.

"What...."

He went to stand but a hand crawled onto his shoulder, keeping a firm grip. He whirled and met nothing but a glowing, smiling face. Teeth of a beasts and eyes filled with screams. He moved but the nightmare was faster and he tangled shadows of hands around his quills- pulling them against the thrones back.

The smile leaned to whisper, "I've been expecting you."

Sonic snarled and struggled. "You've got a lot of explaining to do pal."

With vines slithering across his hands, he twisted and rolled over the chairs side. Landing with a stumble, Sonic found the throne was no more and he was left all alone. Chatters and distant laughter, but no intrusive screams.

"Hey!" He yelled, arms wide. "My visit with Snively was pretty eye openin'- just who the heck are you?! What do you want?!"

A chill rushed across his back and shadows of a hedgehog crept from behind. "Five Chaos Emeralds. Impressive."

It moved to stand on the other side of the candle (since when...). It flickered yellows, purples, dark blues, reds and silvers.

"But just like any good villain, it's never enough."

Sonic's eyes rolled, but regret was swift with the revengeful burning in retaliation. "Playin' into the stereotypes, huh? I don't buy it. I...I don't buy any of your tricks anymore."

"Your naivety blinded you from what I had always been telling you."

"Which is?"

He sneered. "You should be more concerned with your fate. That along with your world and friends."

Sonic's fists clenched. "Avoid another question and I'll-."

"Was melting and destroying Snively's base entirely necessary?"

"I-."

"Memory foggy? Perhaps I can enlighten you."

And he was in Station Square. In the G.U.N base, on a bench besides Rouge. The bat was quiet and the distance was noticeable, not that Sonic minded. Reaching Tails' home had proved...taxing, for his friends were bombarding their concern and overwhelming his mind with questions.

He didn't understand, or fully recognise, what had occurred. One moment he had two Chaos Emeralds in hand and the next...he was on the Tornado. The Robo-Beetle was left in disaster and Snively had been taken in.

Which led to the present. Rouge wanted to prioritise ensuring Snively faced charges and Sonic was adamant on coming along. The remaining group took to much deserved rest and planned for the next Chaos Emeralds in the meantime.

Out of nowhere, Rouge chuckled and Sonic stalled digging at the skin around his claws. "We shouldn't be surprised, huh? Of course you're a Chaos User."

Blue shoulders raised. "We don't know that."

The bat fondly smiled. "Hun, arguing against it after using two Chaos Emeralds for Chaos Control is a bit...."

"Dumb?"

She laughed. "It's not exactly bright, no."

With Sonic's continued silence, the Commander neared and rested a hand over his. "Scared?"

"No. I'm...confused. How'd it get...?"

"Well, you stopped time for a minute there- obviously- and whatever it was after brought the place tumbling down. Metal could barely move and Snively was down for the count. With time stopped, Shadow thinks you used Chaos Blast- judging by the outcome."

Much to Rouge's surprise, Sonic dropped his head into his hands with tired shoulders. "Hun?"

"I'm sorry."

"Well, we're all pretty unscathed, Blue. You took the most of it, really. So relax."

"I lost control. I can't relax. Can't slip up like that again-."

"What do you mean, slip up?"

"Just...never mind."

"Well hold on-."

Sonic straightened. "Where's Snively gonna be taken to? What's gonna happen to him?"

"Everhold Prison- where the worst of the worst rot. He'll be on his own there- no way to get out. It'll bring Mobius more peace that's for sure."

Sonic chipped away at skin once more. "And Sally? The whole gang? My...my Uncle? Has he given anything up about them?"

Rouge eyed the interrogation room opposite, particularly its blinking red light above. G.U.N only had a few for special, elite cases such as these.

"Shadow's only gotten the impression Snively doesn't have them, but neither of them know where they are."

Emerald eyes glanced at his Comlink. "That's...a relief. Somewhat. A better chance they're okay, at least."

Still, the corners of his vision were dark and they crept from the edges. Whispering and chanting, sneering and crawling.

"Hopefully we can track them down- let them know they don't need to worry about Snively anymore." Rouge continued.

"Right." Sonic's stomach twisted and burned.

"In the meantime." The bat's eye ridges wiggled and she teasingly leaned closer. "You got a plan for the next emerald? Breezie's auction?"

The speedster tensed and flushed. He'd only recently, very much so, began to grapple with the idea of harbouring feelings for...Amy. It was bad enough Tails had caught on, but if Rouge-

"You gonna ask Pinky to come along?"

Exasperated, Sonic sunk. "Oh no."

Rouge laughed. "If you thought I wouldn't catch on, Blue-."

"Yeah Yeah I'm terrible at hidin' it."

"So, when did it start?"

"D-did what start?"

"Your feelings for her, Doofus."

Sonic gulped back the urge to curl into a ball. "I ain't talkin' about this with you."

"Well, I'll try to ignore the insult. Come on! Everything's been so dire lately and you've been all grumpy and edgy like Shadow. So spill."

He met the bats challenging smirk with an eye roll. "Does it matter? I won't-."

"Don't you dare. Amy, the poor girl, has been waiting long enough. She's pretty special, Blue. And, with love, she deserves more than your back and forth game. You might just want to make your move before she figures that out for herself."

Sonic cringed and fiddled with his neckerchief. "I...I know. But it's...."

"Scary?"

"No." And with a flick of a switch he met her gaze with a competitive grin.

"It's just funny, coming from you."

Rouge reddened. "I don't-."

"Tell you what. Seeing as you want me to ask Ames so bad, let's make a deal. If I do- you gotta ask Knucks."

"Pssht! Don't be ridiculous! Why would I?" Rouge frowned at Sonic's wiggling brows.

"You'll be closer to the Chaos Emerald~." He sung.

"I don't know why Amy's crushed on you so long."

"Ha! Whaddya say?" He held out a hand.

The Commander gave a begrudging shake. "Only because I want that emerald."

Sonic would've gagged if he were real, but the way Rouge's face melted and pulled apart was sickening all the same. He gave a startled yell and stumbled back, freeing the bats hand that split into hundreds of bugs. Her smile became deranged, teasing and the white walls of the G.U.N base crumbled and ripped into a black abyss.

Sonic shook his hand to try and rid the creatures, but a ferocious smack to the face brought him to the floor. He groaned and blearily observed the smiling silhouette, shifting his hand as if fixing his gloves cuff.

"Unlike yourself, I don't like getting my hands dirty. But this calls for a...different approach."

The speedster growled and shakily propped himself up. "Sick of your riddles dude. You owe me an explanation."

"You deserve nothing!"

And a swift, terrible kick collided with his side- rolling him onto his front. He hacked and grimaced at black slime dropping from his mouth.

"I must praise you, boy. Your will has proved something...unshakable." He lifted the hero by the chin, digging fatal claws into pale fur.

Sonic snapped his hands over a whispering arm. "Why do you need me to get the Chaos Emeralds?"

He snarled and dropped the hero, pressing his foot (akin to a hoof) against a blue back and leaning down. He harshly grabbed upturned quills and roughly brought Sonic's face to the side.

"Despite my efforts, we're losing time-."

"Losing time? What's gonna-?"

"You wish to save the world. Have a legacy of a Hero. Don't you think it's time we put them out of their misery?"

Sonic wiggled and cried out when he delivered a profound strike to his muzzle- drawing black, slimy liquid from his nose. His smile had haunted him for years, but he'd never seen him scowl.

"Stop struggling. You have not and will not ever be free, but you can give that to your friends. Break them from the life they have. Give them something better than yourself."

The Blue Blur seized his protests and slowly turned. "What...do you mean?"

"You are not free, because the world refuses for you to be. You don't want to pull them down to the same fate, do you?"

Blue ears folded back. "'Course not. That's why we're- I'm doing this. Right?"

"Precisely. I just want to ensure you don't lose yourself. We're too close to lose focus now."

Sonic's eyes narrowed. "You didn't answer me, and you keep sayin' stuff like that. Who are you? What do you want? Why do you need me?"

He stood. "Bit of an arrogant assumption, don't you think?"

"But-."

"I should thank you for making this a lot more enjoyable for me. I'm going to enjoy breaking you."

Sonic yelled and curled into a ball, rolling away as the screaming shadow lunged with impressive speed and the hero unravelled with wide eyes, but found no hedgehog. Until his quills were pulled and he crashed against the ground on the other side, agony flooding his form.

"W-wait!" He brought his arms over his eyes as black spears froze overhead.

"Why're you doing this?"

Isn't...isn't he doing what was wanted of him?

"To gain what was once mine- I will do what it takes. I'm sure you get the sentiment."

Sonic crawled aside and sprung up, ready to zip away when he found his legs glued to the floor. Panic strangled his lungs and he fought to move- only finding a rise in worry. He crept closer but Sonic still needed answers, so, he made a dive forward. The black towers bent and jeered overhead and when he stood, he found his surroundings failed to warp into blurs.

No. No no no.

He whirled and found the nightmare simply standing there. Anger clutched his heart and blinded his eyes- twisting them into glowing, empty white abysses. Tease him and hit him and isolate him all one wanted, but his speed was his. And his alone.

"Give it back!" He roared and tackled the other to the ground, only receiving manic laughter.

He pulled and twisted and broke and kicked. Tears crept to his eyes and quills lifted, but a spear appeared in his hand and he froze- narrowly over a grinning, chuckling face.

He could hear them. The way Shadow looked away. The way Knuckles argued and the way Amy pled and the way Tails cried. He refused to lose himself. Not like this.

"The thing with Amy, Sonic, is that if she woke up one day and forgot everything- even her name- she'd still remember yours." He jeered.

"Her life's been built around you. Everything she does is for you. Tails can't sleep because he's worried endlessly about you. Knuckles has to calm a god in your name. Your friends can't live their own lives because you curse it all. Like a disease you spread and dry out anything that comes close."

Sonic faltered and with a tear, dropped his arm. "I won't let that happen. They...they know me. They-."

"Oh stop lying to yourself!" He twisted and suddenly overshadowed the hero.

"You're just the bad person you were so afraid of becoming!" And he kicked and pulled at quills, tossing the other carelessly aside.

Sonic yelled and chanted and laughed and demanded. Shadow walked away and Knuckles screamed. Sonic pushed back and Amy cried and pled. Worst of all, his own words brought Tails to shrink under his stare.

Everywhere he walked he left one of his friends silenced. Hurt and confused. Scared and in the dark. Even as the nightmare brought him to his knees, only Sally's voice rung through his ears. His uncle's anxious whispers and Vanilla's desperate compromises weighed on his burning shoulders.

"I'm...I'm sorry." He croaked, shame filling his lungs.

"That all you got?"

Slapped to the floor, his quills sharpened and defended himself against a spear- but the damage was felt in falling spines.

"I-it's been rough, I know that." He cursed himself for pleading, but honestly he began to wonder what more he could do.

"But I'll do better next time."

Vines twisted up his legs and he towered over. "Why does there have to be a next time? Which next time will it be for you to reign victorious over Eggman? How many more next times until you set the world free? How many chances until your friends can evolve?"

He crumbled and ghosts of mobians crept and peaked from the spears. Flashing in reds, yellows, purples, silvers and blues- they whispered and chanted. Faces distorted, stitches lined their mouths and crosses covered their eyes. Black tears slipped from them and many neared on all fours. Some even had a robotic shine- glaring red, betrayed optics with vines akin to wires slithering after.

"People are relying on you! You've been doing this for years!" Yet it was the voices of his friends crying at him.

"You only curate bigger messes each time!"

"Do you enjoy toying with our lives for the chance to fight Eggman?"

"We needed you!" The Robians howled and Sonic threw his hands over his ears.

"You left us! Saving us and harbouring the rewards was enough for you!"

"That's not true!" He lamented. "We had plans in place- we had homes for you! We-!"

"The second Robotropolis fell you decided the adrenaline trip was more important than our lives."

"The world needed you-."

"Enough!" And with a wave of black ripping from his limbs, singing the darkest of blue fur, the wailing crowd was gone.

But it wasn't enough. He'd had interviews like this for years. He'd seen newspapers and rumours and countless chatter. Even his friends weren't immune to sharing the occasional criticism. Reckless. An idiot disguising himself as a hero. A child without a clue.

"I'm doing my best!" He hollered, voice of a younger boy and desperately trying to keep his breaths in check. "Lay off me!"

But he was there once more, tutting away in his arrogant upper-hand. "For a hero it seems you pull off a lot of misdeeds."

"I'd like to see you do better." Sonic almost whimpered.

"I have learned that when nothing makes sense in the light, you have to look in the dark." He stepped closer, reaching out a hand.

"I am tired of standing aside and watching you light a match against the world. The Chaos Emeralds have forever been a mystery, but always a greater source of power. It's unlimited what one can do with them."

"So you want me to bring you the Chaos Emeralds to help destroy the world? For all your speeches you're nothing more than a greedy, lowlife-."

A slap and Sonic could only muffle out a cry as stitches tore through his skin. He pulled and black liquid poured from his sown lips and curated puddles below.

"I don't want to destroy it. But together we can...create something wonderful. There's too much divide and anger and...." He watched his hands.

"Disease." He sighed. "You know, it's wonderful without your nagging, unfounded optimism screeching in my ear. In truth, you are only here for my bidding- as I'm sure you've surmised. A vessel for my creation. Together, we can move forward as one and set the world free."

Sonic hurled and hummed a scream at the tearing stitches, but held his stomach all the same. This...thing wanted to replace him? To...become whole?

He moved closer anyways. "What do you say?"

The Blue Blur clawed at loosening thread and snarled. "You're insane." He gurgled out.

"Very well. But you're on your own."

In a blink, beastly claws clutched a bloodied muzzle- drawing more of the bitter liquid from burning stitches. Tears dropped from glowing white eyes and Sonic pressed against the black abyss, hoping to set himself free.

"After all." He seethed. "No one mourns the wicked."