People he once thought as friends slowly became twisted in his mind.
He tried his best to hide those thoughts from Shadow. The real Shadow.
Finding out that all of those were fakes helped a small bit. But he couldn't help the slight flinch whenever Shadow even so much as looked to him. He felt- no, he knew Shadow was catching on. He was perceptive like that.
He could still never get over those eyes….
"Wh-Why are you doing this!" He cried out, only earning him another burn.
Shadow's eyes sparked with malevolent delight. He never spoke. Not once.
He didn't need to.
It was searing pain, and he could feel his fur falling off.
No matter how much pain, he still couldn't look away from the joy in the other hedgehog's eyes.
"How can we make this better…?" He heard Eggman's voice. He and that mystery jackal had been watching the whole time.
"Might I suggest something, Doctor?" The voice of the other caused shivers to rack through his body as he let out another cry.
"What is it?" His arch-nemesis snapped.
"There's one thing that's extremely degrading to hedgehog's that I'd think you'd love." The jackal's voice grew even more sinister. "Blunting his quills."
His breathing became frantic to the idea as another burn was added to his side.
"Perfect!" He could almost see the dark grin the human had.
And he was dragged away, too hurt to flail, to broken to resist anymore….
He refused to even look back on the memories of that experience.
The only thing that came out of that was blunted quills.
And an even more broken hedgehog.
"Sonic?" He turned to see worried blue eyes staring at him. "Is everything okay?"
He shook the thoughts and memories away, quickly putting on a fake smile. "Of course, little buddy! I'm fine!"
Tails frowned, walking closer. "Rouge… told me about the day we came to rescue you…."
His eyes widened, those unwanted memories quickly spurring back.
His friends were coming for him!
He was going to be free!
The thought excited him as he heard it from the white bat standing in front of him.
"Don't worry, blue. We'll get you out of here."
Free!
Free!
Free!
After who knows how long, his friends had finally found out where he was!
He was starting to lose hope, but the news from Rouge had made him more elated than he had been in who knows how long!
"Th-Thank you…. If I could move my arms, I'd hug you right now!"
"Save your energy; Knuckles is sending a team up here soon."
A little while later, he found Eggman standing in front of his cell. He looked up to the other, who raised an eyebrow in question.
"This is the first time you've looked at me since you broke. What's changed?"
He stayed silent, but his eyes did not waver. He wouldn't let fear contain him any longer.
He was going to see his friends again.
He wasn't going to let Eggman win again.
"Answer me, rodent!" Eggman glared at him through his blue tinted glasses.
He remained silent.
Eggman got angry. He quickly pressed a button, and he soon found himself hanging upside down. He gasped out in shock, some wounds reopening in his legs, causing small whimpers to escape.
No, don't do that again.
Rouge is watching….
Don't show weakness….
You're their hope.
His ears twitched as he heard running water. His eyes widened as he looked to Eggman. The cell door was now a clear wall.
This wasn't that strange red tinted place….
This was real….
Real… water….
"Why do you suddenly have that spark, hedgehog?" Eggman said above his panic.
"No nononononono!" He struggled, crying out.
"I'll stop this if you tell me."
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" He was panicking.
"Then tell me, rodent!" Eggman's voice cane out as a growl.
The water was touching the tips of his ears. He just wasn't as strong as he use to be…. "MY FRIENDS ARE COMING TO GET ME!"
The water stopped, drained quickly, and his head hit the ground painfully, followed by the rest of his body. He let out a loud cry of pain.
The ground was still moist.
"How'd they find out you were alive!?" Eggman questioned darkly. "How'd you find out!"
He only let out a weak whimper as a response, his ears flattened against his head.
"No matter." The doctor waved his hand, dismissing the thought before murmuring, "I'll have to move my plans ahead."
He then left the now sobbing hedgehog alone.
Rouge flew down from her hiding place, eyes wide. "Blue, are you okay?"
He only let out a louder sob, hating that Rouge had to see that. "I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry! I'll get in contact with Knuckles!" Rouge was quick to comfort.
He curled up, tears streaming down his muzzle.
"Knuckles, can you hear me?"
"Rouge! It's about time! How's Sonic doing!?" He heard Knuckles' voice and let out a quiet whimper, which Rouge heard.
"He's… been better. They're getting ready to banish him into space."
"What!? You can't be serious!" Silver's voice was now heard.
He couldn't listen anymore, the pain becoming too much for him. He almost felt as if he was slipping in and out of consciousness.
Rouge was saying something to him, and then she left. His blurry vision looked around until he had found something on the ground in front of the bars of his cell. Curiosity got the best of him, and he soon found himself painfully inching like a worm to the thing. The closer he got, the better he could see it. It was like a miniature version of what that jackal had on his chest. He struggled a bit to grab it in his bound hands, but it was soon in his hands.
He held it close, momentarily thinking about what would happen when his other friends found him like that.
No, he couldn't let them see him like that.
The thing in his hands glowed, and the next thing he knew, he didn't have a scratch on him.
He looked at his arms curiously.
He could work with this….
Quickly, he grinned. "That was nothin', buddy. I'm fine, see?"
That's when the rest of his friends appeared. Knuckles held a small piece of the phantom ruby. "We finally found the last one! Now, it will never bother us again."
He stared at it. If this was the last one, then… was that the one he lost?
The moment Knuckles threw it to the ground and shattered it, he got his answer.
The virtual reality that he had conjured up with that very same piece had vanished, and his friends saw what he really looked like.
They all gasped in shock as he looked down to himself, feeling the pain that he had tried to hide all come spiraling back. He let out a pained cry as he fell, his legs not being able to support him anymore.
His friends now saw what he had become.
Six months of torture really does a lot to a hero who had once never truly feared pain.