The Song of Flowers - Sonadow

Run.

His heavy breath resonates in his ears, muffling the sloppy sounds of his steps in the sticky mud. 

He feels them, they're here. Under his feet, ready to grab him at any moment. These weeds ready to cling into him, to drag him under the ground, where everything started, and where everything will end. But now is not the time to end. He won't let it happen. He won't let it end.

The surroundings shift around him, fading away as his steps become more slow and as his feet dig deeper into the mud. His head snaps up as he reaches it, the giant sphere. It's only a few dozen feet away from him, but it's too far. He's not fast enough. 

Thats when they grab his ankles, and no matter how hard he struggles, he can't get out of their grip. They wrap around his legs, his abdomen, his chest, his arms, his neck, everywhere. It breaks the skin, making his bones crack and blood erupt, tainting his fur.

A scream suddenly rings in his ears.

"NO !"

❀

The forest is calm. Night has fallen on it a few hours ago, the stars shimmering up in the sky. The fire is cracking lightly, creating a peaceful and quiet ambiance around the awaken hedgehog. He observes his companion, blacked out by a messy sleep, filled by nightmares judging by the sounds of his whimpering and squirming. But Shadow doesn't do anything about it.

Green eyes snaps open and the blue hedgehog sits up immediately, panting heavily, a hand over his throat. His head is throbbing, the blood drumming in his temple is making him feel dizzy. Sonic's vision is blurry and spinning, he has to take a moment to breath and close his eyes to make his vision come back to normal.

His emerald eyes land on Shadow's crimson ones, who are watching him cautiously across the fire. The ebony hedgehog is leaning his elbows on his knees, his long coat tucked to the side of the log he's sitting on. He doesn't say anything, his silence is enough. They are safe. 

Sonic sighs shakily and flops back on the natural bed of moss on the ground, closing his eyes, his stomach flipping with unease. The memory of the last seconds before passing out flashes in his fuzzy mind, making the blue hedgehog stiffens in his makeshift bed, opening back his eyes to look up at the dense branches of the forest. He remembers the flowers, the white petals then tainted with bloody red when they fell over the beast and took its life.

The hedgehog swallows thickly and reaches down to his belt to grab his book, staring at the cover hesitantly. He sits back up despite the headache throbbing in his temples, taking the front cover between his finger and opening the book, his eyes falling over the blank page. He sighs and flips another page, the surprise makes him raise his eyebrows. On the yellowish page stands a meticulous sketch of an elegant flower, it looks like it's printed in the pages. Under the stem of the flower is written in a calligraphic and elegant writing the word "Peony".

Sonic stares at the page with attention, his fingers hovering above the black ink of the meticulous sketch. It looks printed in the paper, unable to fade, as if it was always here. As he looks to the side of the flower, he notices the word "Protection" written by it.

He stops his fingers on these letters, sucking in a sharp breath, "What happened ?" he asks in a quiet strangled voice, his throat constricting as if he screamed for hours.

As the blue hedgehog's green eyes meet Shadow's reds one, he realises how his companion is scrutinising him intently, almost like he's trying to unseal all Sonic's secrets, one by one. It makes the blue hedgehog feel weird, almost making him flinch as he stares back at the ebony one, surely with less intensity.