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Midnight shadows lurked beneath the windows and snuck up the brick walls like vines as thin as weakened bones, jolted at the cemented cracks. A twilight mist, shielding the darkening sky like dribbles of foggy ink slowly melting. No stars decorated the blackness, but a ghostly moon managed to break through the phantom clouds in a streak of silver.

Darkness faded inside as if it evaporated effortlessly through the window's glass, bleeding that same vicious black into the traumatised house. Although something flickered a splash of light in the very corner, illuminating the majority of the bedroom with a vivid amber. Wax was liquefied from the heat of the little flame, spreading through the metallic and elderly disc the candle sat in.

Beams of crisp gold wobbled as the flame shivered, the air still as frozen stone certainly cold, but in a spine-chilling manner. It felt like the fog of the night had whispered through the house, invisible fingers toying with the candle until the fire bent completely out of place. It crinkled softly, the darkened orange brushing the carpeted floor like disco lights, but with a saddened shadow shattering a full luminant circle.

Sonic wished to pinch the flame, its constant movement feeling like the pathetic thing he needed to tip him over this emotional cliff that already felt on the verge of crumbling down. Its aureate touch glazed over his vivid green eyes, usually sparkled with enthusiasm and that seductive determination, but tonight, they were drained. He glared at it with silent displeasure, although he wouldn't take his considered childish risk to lose a lonesome source of heat and luminescence for the rest of this spooked night.

Roughly, he lounged at the windowsill, elbows kneaded into the smooth wood breaking through the wall and into the eerie night. His tired body leant forward, so close to the window his breath puffed thick mist across the cold glass. Auric bursts from the dancing candle swept through his reflection, and Sonic's dreary gaze winced as it varnished over that gruesome image. It sprinkled salience over what he attempted to leave shrouded by the dark behind him, and it seemed his throbbing heart tugged him around with no permission.

Weakly, Sonic glanced to where the autumnal orange flickered behind him, like a warming curtain dressing up the bed interrupting the glow, with the silhouette resting to it his mind both wished to forget yet craved to remember. His quills smoothly wandered aside from his briskly turning head, yet his body felt tense at the torso and throbbed in the chest. He felt as frail as the window - weak enough to crack.

A regretful sigh demolished the silence forcing the air to become muggy, and Sonic's hands jammed into his closed eyes at the rim of his gloved palm. It hurt at first, but his heart felt the most painful. Every touch that bolted with a strike of discomfort seemed to channel straight to his chest, and it shuddered with each dispirited breath. Sonic scrunched his eyes harder, but it just brought back the trauma rather than eliminate it, and felt like bubbling tears were ready to spill.

It was unbearable, and he felt nothing but ridiculously helpless. Sonic harshly rubbed his eyes with his knuckles, like a sleepy baby, but the enticing luminance broke through his blacked out vision and weaved his interest elsewhere. The urge was irresistible, and the vivid blue hedgehog knew he couldn't ignore the presence of the inerasable past screaming for attention while lurking steps away from him and abusing the candlelight's flow.

He had to address it, and he knew he couldn't leave it locked in the shadowed cold. The day prior still graced with angered clouds from the breakage of its already dark dawn felt torn to shreds from the claws of villainy that even had the powers to do such a thing, and the event felt ghostly to Sonic, haunting him from behind with chilled breaths rippling down his spine. It felt drawn to the heated air behind in hideous ink, and the hedgehog's shoulders anxiously twitched with his heart begging for him to move.

Strangely, his legs felt numb - not a sensation the fastest thing alive would usually anticipate to feel - as his crouched stance to distract himself with a detached glare into the glazed window pane had been held for a good few hours. It was time to face the truth that laid dormant behind him, he knew that. Maybe some recognition would ease this pain rupturing his chest deep inside, the pounding seeming familiar from his speedy movements but foreign as they took place while still.

Sonic darted another glare at that flame, his feet embedded in his signature sneakers that could be described as anything but pristine tonight skidding lazily over the carpeted floor, and refusing once more to put any energy into pinching it out. The bed broke the clean circle of hazed yellow, and the silhouette of the lifeless body squashed into the mattress shattered the smooth line like a hill to flattened grassland. Sonic didn't think his frown could deepen any harder, but this sight proved him wrong.

He stooped to the rim of the bed, creased and warm. He leant his cheek to where his forearms sank into the mattress, folded over one another. Silky touches from the ruffled duvet spread atop tickled his skin, attempting to ease that emotional stab that felt as though it were to be cut deeper from the figure. Her shade projected to the wall from the candlelight shivered ever so slightly, and Sonic's heart twinged in a subtle hint of relief that she was still alive. Her breaths chilled the heated air, but Sonic felt a suspicious drive for more evidence of life.

(Y/n) was not fully spread across the bed, yet not fully curled to one side. Her legs were slightly bent in a route leading to her chest practically squeaking to obtain air, but her arms lashed out of their own free will. Her fingers were softly crooked and reached into her palms, inches away but with no success as her body failed to glow with movement. Her eyes, normally ablaze with hypnotising (e/c) that would amaze Sonic to the core, were smoothly closed, her damaged lids twitching feebly. From this angle, Sonic could just about make out her sorrowful face, that frown feeling permanent.

A breakdown felt imminent, sour tears stinging his eyes still glazed with the gold glow of the candle. Just a glance brought everything back, like a flood that destroyed the dam he had installed to his brain to keep the memories in the dark. It had only been a few hours ago, making the situation with a deathly consequence laid right before him harder to leave behind. Sonic could admit, although would be ashamed to in front of others, that he had never experienced a turn of events so horrific.

(Y/n)'s life felt like valuable treasure his existence secretly had the purpose to guard, and that last fight let it be stolen. Sonic rose his body to crawl over the bedding, his heart begging to get a closer look that his eyes would give anything to avoid. He balanced himself above her, knees denting the duvet on either side of her alarmingly still figure, and with his gloved hands slotted into hers rested above her injured head. That aureate luminance from the dainty flame set the memory alight, and Sonic let it poison his brain reluctantly as the consequence was inevitable.

Her clothes were demolished, torn everywhere possible and dyed with the wretched red of blood. It was shredded, and the gaping tears screamed with what her skin could be facing beneath the sanguineous scars to the new material. Smaller rips sneaked down the side of her shirt, flailing like the rim of a curtain as they sliced where it was designed to end. It reminded Sonic of how she ended up like this, the tears striken from the glass shards and robotic fingers clawing away at her when for once he wasn't fast enough...

Sonic ran his knuckle down her cheek frozen cold like death had already taken advantage of her struggles. Her skin felt ready to crack where it hadn't already, a gash destroying her forehead and burning her wrists raised aside. It felt like pure ice, and the hedgehog rubbed her face so delicately it wouldn't experience any more damage. Blood leaking from the cuts Sonic knew to be from that gruesome throw and that spine-tingling skid over the glass dried halfway down, just missing her eyes.

He was too late. Nothing more could be said. He'd messed up big time. Sonic leant closer to (Y/n), his chest throbbing from the yearning thumps rumbling through his heart pumping in and out significantly and against hers that remained motionless. She would wheeze roughly to give a hint of life still locked inside her, but Sonic could sense no enticing warmth he would normally feel when this close to her. His hands pinned hers flat to the pillow subtly stained in that vile red, and his gorgeous emeralds watered from his refusal to blink.

He felt an odd tingle, like a mysterious bolt of indescribable lightning shooting up and spine and into his veins. It was an attack from behind, sneaky, and possessed his muzzle with the same flare as his frown stooped into more of an unexpected smirk. He didn't know why this approach had suddenly manipulated what he wanted to portray - care for (Y/n)'s safety and mountainous regret for letting her fall into this state - but as it happened his heart thumped louder and harder like it was meant to be.

Sonic recognised this feeling instantly, and from past experience of undergoing this transformation he knew it best to let it happen. No tricks to abolish its movement, just a deep breath to let it take place. His body felt it was right, and he felt his arms trapped in (Y/n)'s hands tighten distant from his control. His smirk deepened, but not in that devilish fashion he would usually intend for attention and a flash of confidence, but more vicious, and with an uncontrollable snigger bursting out. This felt extremely familiar, and the largest change was yet to come: Sonic knew that for sure.

He didn't even need to look at himself for confirmation, because he could sense a darkening tone to have overtaken that vivid blue he normally shone bright with. He felt under a shadow in colour, and under a spell in emotion. All that regret and guilt and fury moulded into one, and was like a blackening ink pouring over him both inside and out. It was like his body wanted to use that helplessness to his advantage, and every inch of his pur and quills eclipsed from that signature blue to a harsh navy, just about touching the brink of faultless black.

Thoughts of hatred powered every minute of it-

How could I let this happen!?

I can't be trusted with her ever again!!

Why!? Why did this happen!?

It felt like a kick to himself over and over, not at all assisting this ghastly transformation to slow down or even come to a halt. It overboiled, and sent the pace of his heart to a wild level. Sonic's eyes darkened, capturing a deeper green than the more vivid shade that would have twinkled there before and given off that sweetened friendly aura. He could feel that stupid smirk growing, almost slicing his whole face in half - a gesture that would send (Y/n) nuts if it were to be held by his own sneaky ideas, but he knew she would scream if she were to awaken now with it ablaze from phantom possession.

He didn't feel in complete control of himself, and his limbs became so tense they jittered from the pressure. His entire body soon shook, and the shadow he projected to the wall from the candle's haze shuddered. From the corner of his enchanted eye, Sonic could see light flames of bewitched violet fuming from his hunched over body threatened by the same menacing emotion. His dark side meant business this time, and he slowly removed his hands from (Y/n)'s with no certainty of what he would now be capable of.

He felt a drive closer to her, and without his knowledge his irises vanished. Sonic glared to her still motionless body with bold eyes of pure white, himself being unaware of this ghostly phase it brought to his ever darkening expression. Another snigger or two blurted out from that smirk, like villainous laughter through the entertainment of defeating an enemy he never thought to be possible to create in his undiluted heroic bloodstream. His elbows felt like they had minds of their own, ceasing up so his arms would drop his whole body lower.

It felt wrong, yet unbelievably right. At the same time as both jumbled approaches, Sonic felt another action must be taken to soothe this despicable version of himself before it spiralled too far away. It was a strange one, but as soon as he began the touch his body seemed to desparately crave, he felt completely cured. He could barely see (Y/n) beneath all that purple fog, and her face scrunched a little as if she recognised the heavy air battling it out with the warmth of the candle as every flicker was scorching.

He ran a knuckle down her cheek, with more pressure, and it electrified his face for that smirk to harden in place. His trembling breaths still held that hazed chuckle, and they tickled (Y/n)'s face from the nonexistent distance between them. Sonic felt passionately haunted, his soul desiring to take journeys he wouldn't consider before. Smoothly, he broke through the thin flames burning down his shoulders until his lips crashed to hers, his overpowered alter ego melting into the gesture.

He pinned his hands to her shoulders, aware she had no chance to move but wishing to secure this moment nonetheless. The first kiss was done within seconds, and Sonic felt a mystical push to explore a little further. He tried to trace his lips over (Y/n)'s cheek and towards her jawline gently, and with closed eyes as one might expect, but this form denied both recommendations. At the moment, Sonic's eyes felt like empty voids, and glowed brighter in a torch-like shine ahead than the candle could ever amount to, still a waxy mess behind.

His movement seemed playful with a hint of naughty aggression, and that smirk still wouldn't leave him alone, forcing his lips to keep closed and simply, yet hungrily, trace themselves over her icy skin. Once he reached her neck and headed for her collarbone, he noticed her tense up, like she was slowly awakening and had fallen victim to the tickle of his breaths. Rather harshly, but through no intention of his heroic self, Sonic pressed (Y/n) deeper into the mattress. Natural creases outlined her with more dents growing from the overbearing pressure, and tiny words whispered over her position that made her seem frozen in time.

"Oh, (Y/n)..."

"This is all my fault."

"Please come back..."

"I promise this won't happen again."

While sounding enraged by his own actions, Sonic's quietened voice still sounded as gentle and silky to one's ears as it usually would. Although in this form due to anger he was incapable to contain, he still sounded on the verge of tears, his almost completely silenced voice cracking over each syllable. He wondered if (Y/n) could hear him, the emotion enforcing this variation steering him to the need of speaking out these monstrous feelings either way. He prayed that she could, leaning down once more.

Sonic eventually returned to her lips, grabbing her cheeks harder than he wished to apply another sweet yet rough kiss. Murky magenta and ignited indigo still crept over his jagged knuckles as smoothly as fingers tapping immaculate piano keys, bursting between them even though he glued each one together. This one lasted longer - a lot longer. Every so often, he would take a gentle breather, his sneaky smirk returning with that same snigger and a flash of his lonesome fang that repeatedly desired to go on its own adventure, he could tell.

He felt literally on fire, the shadowed smoke crisply hazing over him as effortlessly as sweat stifling the entire bedroom. He thought the light from the candle that assisted his directions would be vanquished at any second, but its light orange hue still snuck through. Sonic planted what his more mellow side prayed to be the last ravenous display of affection to (Y/n)'s neck, while his mind came to the conclusion there would be no response. He took a slow sigh, ready to leave the room no matter what his condition, this sight not helping him overcome this darkened and potentially deathly mutation.

However, that's when he heard it.

A small cough, leading into a frail breath.

Sonic's burning white gaze snapped away from the exit route instantly. He felt his eyes allow him to blink again, and the blazing light striken through them simmered down. His vivid green irises bursted back into place, as vibrant and captivating as before. The hopeful sound was like freshened water to the flames grazing his skin underneath his black fur that snatched a chance to return to a lighter shade. Not the same royal of blues that he would describe it himself, but close enough for the time being.

(Y/n) coughed again, a hand to her gashed forehead and another to her starved chest. Her breaths shivered with weakness, and her eyes flickered in a party of blinks before softly opening for good. Sonic felt a stab of relief jump over his chest and sink into his heart, like something weighted touching quicksand. It still throbbed, but no longer for yearning, more in satisfaction and somewhat excitement. He delved deep into the (e/c) galaxies that locked with his viridescent paradises as soon as they had the chance, but fear was written all across her face from his dark form still leaving a trace.

"S-Sonic-"

Interesting. Her murmur glowed with admiration, taken aback by the hedgehog's darker shade that would intrigue her no matter what her state.

"(Y/n). It's okay."

Sonic could feel the tension in her shuddering breaths, surely traumatised. Warmth clutched her cheeks and added a light pink to the icy aura of before as life flooded back into her prefect little face. Already (Y/n) could feel her cheeks heating up so frantically the flame of hot pink trickled down her neck, Sonic's muzzle keeping that smirk in place with more prominence towards kindly intentions than the accursed touch from before. It still sent her in a wild daze, even though she had only just awakened from one. He always played those kind of magical tricks on her, and she wouldn't even notice. It was natural.

"Sonic..." She breathed, bringing her hands slowly to his cheeks, her thumbs still quivering but gently rubbing vertically.

Sonic chuckled softly, his well-known appearance almost fully returned. (Y/n) smiled lightly, unaware of the reasoning behind his overwhelmed response to her awakening, and not understanding the pain her seemingly endless absence had brought to him. Before she could even speak another word, Sonic was close enough for their noses to be touching, and from her rising grin she approved. He tenderly planted another kiss to her awakened lips, and was relieved to feel the sensation of her pressing back. He mumbled through the breakage, until slumber peacefully manipulated them both.

"Everything's alright now, baby."

"I'll never let this happen again."

"You're safe now. I... promise..."

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Author's Note - First of all, sorry for not updating for nearly a week!! I have just been working so hard for this chapter as since I came up with this idea I knew it would need some effort!! And, THANK YOU FOR 70K READS!! 😁 This could technically be a 70K reads celebration, and I hope this is a success because I have really enjoyed putting this one together!! I have also been planning another book that I will release after I finish 'Movie Sonic x Reader 2'