Chapter Text
When Rouge shows up unannounced at his front door, holding a bundled up pup, Sonic tries to remember if she was ever pregnant. He will be the first to admit that his memory is spotty at best, but it couldn’t be that bad right?
Nevertheless, he will always be supportive of his friends.
“Oh… congratulations!” Sonic exclaims, smiling.
“This isn’t mine,” Rouge states, her usual flirty playfulness absent from her voice. This on its own puts Sonic on edge. There is not much that can make Rouge as deathly serious as this, and when there is, it is never a matter to be taken lightly.
His smile drops. He looks down, once again, at the bundle in her arms. He couldn’t see much besides the makings of a muzzle and dark fur. It’s sleeping, if its closed eyes and slightly agape mouth were anything to go by.
Sonic looks back up to Rouge, who had been analyzing Sonic’s reaction the whole time. Without another word, Sonic steps aside to let her in. She accepts the silent invitation with ease, making her way through the familiar territory. Before he closes the door, Sonic takes a moment to feel the crisp morning air hitting his face. He had just been about to go on a run when he heard Rouge’s knock. Mourning the loss of the favorite part of his routine, he closes the door.
He catches up to Rouge in the living room. She’s sitting in her usual spot on the arm chair that she often claims in her previous visits. She doesn’t seem to notice him when he walks in. Or, at least he thinks so, because he doesn’t believe she would let him see this vulnerable side of her so easily.
She has the strange pup nestled in her arms as she uses her foot to slowly rock the chair. With a gentle hand, she tucks the blanket around the pup’s face. Sonic cannot remember a time where she acted this delicately with anyone else. It feels weird to see her behaving so maternally, almost as if he shouldn’t be witnessing it at all. So, he decides to make his presence known.
“Do you need a drink or anything?” Sonic asks as he walks in, ever the good host. She looks up and stops fiddling with the blanket, but still rocks the chair.
“No,” Rouge answers. “Come sit. We need to talk.”
If Sonic had a ring for every time he had a we need to talk conversation that ended well, he’d have only one ring. Something tells him he won’t be getting another one today.
He hesitantly takes a seat on the couch closest to Rouge. He tries to break the tension by laughing a bit, albeit forced. “You’re kinda scaring me.”
It fails to lighten the mood whatsoever. She just stares at him, only faint twitches on her lips breaking her stoicism. He can tell she’s trying to find the right words to say what she wants to say. In hindsight, she probably could’ve searched harder.
“This pup is yours.”
…
He mustn’t have heard her right, because it sounded like she said that that little tiny pup in her arms—that he has never seen in his life—is his.
And that is just absolutely impossible. Again, he will be the first to admit he doesn’t have the most reliable memory, but there is no way he could forget impregnating someone!
He wants to say this but his jaw is too slack to manage it. All he can do is stare, wide-eyed, at the unimpressed bat across from him.
“Let me explain,” she finally breaks the silence.
“Yes, please explain!” Sonic sputters. He looks down at the pup again, but it’s still covered by the blanket. It moves for a second before letting out a big sigh as if it was dealing with bigger issues than Sonic. Toning his voice down as to not make the situation worse with a crying pup, Sonic whisper-yells, “Wha- I- What do you mean it’s mine?!”
“He was made with your DNA,” she elaborates calmy, rubbing the pup’s side soothingly. “I found him while I was working on a mission for G.U.N.. Our systems detected an abnormal energy spike in an unidentified facility in the middle of ocean. I was sent to scope out the area and gather intel. You remember me stopping by to talk to Tails?”
Sonic, despite all his downplaying, has a memory that does in fact work. She visited about a week ago to borrow some gadgets that she would definitely need if she were to infiltrate an underwater facility. Sonic offered his assistance, because that’s what heroes do, but he was beyond relieved when she assured him she’s fine. The thought of having to go in the ocean had his quills standing on edge.
After he relays this memory to Rouge, she nods.
“The day right after, I flew off,” she recounts. “Took a few days, but I was able to find the place I was looking for. The mission was to just gather as much information as I could, because G.U.N. had no record of there being a base down there. Didn’t even know who was behind it.”
“Sounds like Eggman,” Sonic suggests.
“That was my guess,” Rouge shrugs. “But after poking around, I doubt it. Eggman isn’t particularly shy about his branding, and I couldn’t find any of it. Honestly, I was having trouble finding anything of note at all, until…”
She pauses for moment when the pup starts stirring. She rocks the chair a little harder and makes quiet shushing noises. Sonic stays uncharacteristically quiet, just watching the scene unfold before him with morbid curiosity. Soon enough, the pup stays still, and she continues with her story.
“I found a lab. Had to weasel my way through some heavy encryption, but when I did, I discovered a whole different section of the base—a secret lab. It was a mad scientist’s wet dream. I’m talking chemistry sets, computers, even a giant nuclear reactor. And in the middle of it all… was this guy.”
She gestures to the pup who sleeps peacefully.
“He was floating in this tall chamber filled with a bubbling green liquid—all hooked up to different tubes and wires.”
Rouge frowns as she recalls the memory. Absentmindedly, she brushes her hand against the pup’s blanket-covered head. A moment later, she clears her throat and continues.
“I started looking around and I found all the information regarding the project documented on paper. I skimmed through it, and I slowly pieced together what they were doing. This project is called ‘The Ultimate Weapon.’ They were trying to create something… someone to use him for their own benefit. It all reminded me too much of-”
“Shadow,” Sonic finishes solemnly. He looks down at his hands in thought.
Shadow was also created in a lab. It’s still something that weighs on Shadow’s soul, which some days, the dark hedgehog doubts he even has. For a long time, he was tormented by his own creation and its purpose, especially after what happened to Maria…
Shadow struggled to connect to others, often choosing to ostracize himself. If Sonic hadn’t been as persistent as he was, he never would’ve broken through Shadow’s hard shell. That truly would have been a shame.
“Yeah,” Rouge sighs. “And after digging around some more, I realized they were basically trying to create another Shadow. What I mean is that… Shadow was created to be the Ultimate Lifeform, right? He was supposed to help cure illnesses, but he also became an indestructibly fighting machine that rivals even you. That is what this person was trying to replicate. I found tons of documentation around Shadow’s creation, as if they were trying to learn from the process. Whoever is behind this must’ve had a lot of access to the Ark-”
“Hold on, hold on, wait,” Sonic interrupts before his brain implodes. “The only reason Shadow is as crazy powerful as he is is because he’s made with the DNA of the Black Arms, right? That’s a whole other alien species! This- evil scientist whoever couldn’t get that kinda access… could they?”
“My question exactly,” Rouge nods. “I was trying to find any evidence that they had any of the Black Arms DNA and came up empty. They did, however, have access to Shadow’s DNA…”
Rouge paused when the pup started to fuss again. Sonic was grateful for this break as he watched her adjust the pup so his head was against her shoulder. The blanket still covered his head, hiding him from Sonic’s view. The pup didn’t seem to be going down as easily as he did before. As Sonic’s brain finished processing the information, he spoke up.
“They used Shadow’s DNA to create this pup?” Sonic surmises. Then another thought came to mind. “Wait! I thought you said he was made from my DNA?’
“I did,” rouge says somewhat absentmindedly as she struggles to calm the pup. He is starting to whine now, no longer showing signs of returning the sleep. “They weren’t trying to make a shadow clone. They were trying to create the strongest, most powerful, most indestructible, and fastest ultimate weapon.”
“Oh Chaos,” Sonic let out the dreadful mutter. Rouge paused her attention to the whining pup that was now trying to push himself away from her. She only looked Sonic directly in the eye.
“This pup,” Rouge states slowly as the pup’s whines slowly turn into cries, “is the genetic combination of you and Shadow.”
The blanket falls from the hoglet’s head as he manages to turn away from Rouge. He lets out a loud cry and Sonic is finally able to get a good look of him.
And holy shit, that’s his and Shadow’s son!
Tails wakes up to the sound of a crying pup.
It is far too early for him to be awake, even for a day where he didn’t stay up 3 hours pass his bedtime playing games quietly in his room so Sonic doesn’t hear and scold him.
He groans and puts a pillow over his head to muffle out the sound. As if the mystery infant knew he was trying to block out its noise, the crying got even louder. Tails groaned again, knowing there was no chance of his sleeping again as long as there was this much ruckus.
He might as well figure out the cause of it, so he groggily gets out of bed and makes his way downstairs.
When he steps into the living room, he is only left with more questions.
Firstly, why is his brother pacing around the room like he’s trying to wear down the hardwood floors? Sonic’s hands are buried deep in his quills as he mutters something under his breath. Of course, there was no way for Tails to decipher it over the crying that is now 10 times louder since walking into the room.
Second, why is Rouge here? He let her use some of his gadgets for her G.U.N. mission and wasn’t expecting to see them returned for another few days. Instead, she’s here and flying in circles, making shushing noises to the bundle in her arms.
This leads him to his final, and honestly biggest, question: why is there a crying hoglet in his house?!
Tails should’ve stayed in bed.
“Whaaaat’s going on?” he asks hesitantly, his voice even raspier in his tiredness.
That’s when he gets the attention from the two adults in the room. The both freeze and look at him with different levels of stress written on their face.
“H-Hey lil’ buddy!” Sonic greets, wearing possibly the most forced smile Tails has ever seen on him. Sonic walks towards Tails with his arms open. He’s trying to act like things are normal, and failing terribly. He wraps an arm around Tails and starts steering him towards the kitchen. “You’re up early, huh? Let’s get you some breakfast!”
Tails lets Sonic lead him, but he still has his eyes on Rouge and the mystery pup she’s bouncing in her arms. She’s glaring daggers into Sonic’s head, most likely because he’s abandoning her to deal with a wailing hoglet all alone.
Just before the brothers fully exit the living room, Tails catches the faintest glimpse of the pup’s face. Why does it kind of look like Sonic?
Tails doesn’t get to revel in this thought for long before Sonic parks him by the kitchen island and Sonic goes into the kitchen. It’s normal for Tails to sit here and chat while Sonic prepares their meals, but today is clearly not normal.
“What are we thinking, huh?” Sonic asks, the forced grin still on his face despite his eyes easily giving away his nervousness. “Pancakes? Eggs? Spaghetti? Y-y’know what?! Let’s just do it all!”
“Soooonic?” Tails tries calling out for his attention, but Sonic is already opening the fridge and taking out a handful of ingredients.
“Sorry if we woke you up!” Sonic is clearly ignoring Tails, as if that has ever stopped the fox from figuring out what he wants to know. Sonic places a pan on the stove, and Tails doesn’t know how he feels about his brother handling fire in his frazzled state.
“Why are you so worked up?” Tails asks.
“How many eggs do you want, bud?”
“Why is Rouge here?”
“Let’s just use the rest of the carton! There’s only 10 left anyway!”
“Why is there a crying pup in our living room?!”
As if on cue, the crying gets closer. Tails turns just in time to see Rouge fly into the kitchen, wearing a disgruntled look on her face. She goes past Tails and stops right in front of Sonic. Thankfully, she gets to him before he can turn on the stove.
“Listen, I know this is a lot to take in,” She starts, having to raise her voice over the crying, “but I gotta go now. G.U.N. is expecting me back soon so you have to watch him.”
She finishes off her statement by unceremoniously plopping the pup in Sonic’s arms. Sonic completely drops his terrible everything-is-normal facade.
“What?!” he squawks, now holding the hoglet that looks suspiciously a lot like him. “Wh-why?! I can’t take care of him!”
“Yeah, well I definitely can’t,” she insists, tone serious. “I wasn’t supposed to take anything from the base. I was just supposed to gather intel so G.U.N. could decide what to do next. But I couldn’t just leave him there. I also can’t bring him to G.U.N.. I don’t know what they would do if I brought them the Ultimate Weapon but I can assure you, it wouldn’t be good.”
Tails jaw drops. That crying pup is the what?!
Sonic’s breathing is starting to speed up too much for him to muster an answer, causing Tails to grow seriously concerned. As much as Sonic likes to hide it, he has emotions and feelings that don't just abide to the happy-go-lucky persona he puts off. Tails has seen before that even Sonic can have a breaking point…
He’s about to do something when Rouge beats him to the chase. She rests a hand on his shoulder solidly. Sonic looks up to her where she is still flying a foot taller than him.
“Deep breaths, okay?” she says. She gives him a moment to do so, and only continues talking when he’s back to breathing normally. “We cannot let G.U.N. traumatize this pup the same they did Shadow. They can’t know he exists. I will do my best to lie and deter them, but meanwhile I need you to take care of him and keep him safe. I understand how stressful this is, trust me. I am risking a lot by doing this. But we’ll figure this out… together.”
She pointedly looks at Tails. He doesn’t really know how he feels about being roped into a situation he knows nothing about and even has Sonic this distraught. Nevertheless, he will do anything to help his brother and friends, so he nods confidently when Sonic looks his way.
“We always do,” Tails smiles reassuringly. Rouge smiles back at him before returning her eyes to Sonic.
“Shadow is on a mission, but he should be returning in a few days. He doesn’t know anything about this. I’ll- find the right time to tell him.
Now, Tails is a smart kid. He knows how to pick up on context clues and piece things together. If he’s correct (he usually is), this pup is the ultimate weapon the same way Shadow is the ultimate lifeform.
Shadow is… a complicated character. For a long time he was vindictive and hateful, and for an even longer time after that, he was closed off and brooding. At the time, the only person Tails had known to sort of get through to him, was Rouge. Even then, he could tell she was just barely scratching the surface. Tails eventually figured that Shadow was a lost cause. If it were up to him, Shadow would probably be out of his life, hiding somewhere in the corner of the world on his own.
It was Sonic, of course, who didn’t let that happen. Sonic was as earnest as he was persistent, forcing his way into Shadow’s life until the darker hedgehog got used to him. It took time, lots of it, but Shadow started opening up to Sonic.
The two of them, who were once at each other’s throats, were able to overcome their differences and work together to save the world multiple times. They are evenly matched, and this bonds them more than divides them. Tails knew Sonic was excited to finally have a worthy adversary to race and spar with. And seeing how Shadow never declined an invitation, Tails would bet he was too.
It felt like a miracle when Shadow even started opening up to the rest of the gang. Tails never thought it possible he’d hear the extent of Shadow’s past from the hedgehog himself.
So Tails knew… about how Shadow was created…
How he lost it all…
He knew this situation would bring back terrible memories and stir up even worse feelings. He did not envy whoever would break the news to Shadow.
Sonic’s breathing has slowed down a considerable amount, and, surprisingly, the pup starts quieting down too. As the hoglet’s cries are reduced to just whimpers, they all look down at him. Tails still doesn’t know all the specifics of the situation, but he finds it very interesting how much the pup looks like Sonic.
Tails finally gets a nice full look of the pup. The hoglet has a similar quill shape to Sonic, just a little flatter on the top of his head. His fur is a blue that’s so dark, it looks closer to black while his muzzle and stomach is a light, blue-toned gray. No longer screaming his head off, the pup slowly opens his eyes to reveal a pair of bright red irises.
Sort of like Shadow…
Sonic and the pup just stare at each other—the former in shock, and the latter in curiosity. The pup’s whines slowly turn into something closer to cooing. They all watch as he raises a tiny hand and brushes it against Sonic’s chin.
“See,” Rouge says softly, voice just above a whisper, “he already likes you.”
Sonic, still looking at the pup, smiles nervously.
“This is… a lot,” he mutters.
“I know, hon’,” Rouge pats his shoulder. “But you’ve got this. Tails will help. And so will Knuckles and Amy, I’m sure.”
Tails will be calling them the moment Rouge leaves and he figures out exactly what is going on.
“Yeah,” Sonic replies. He doesn’t look up until the pup’s hand slips away and tucks into his chest. “Okay... alright. I can do this! How hard is it to take care of a pup anyway, right?”
“That’s the spirit,” Rouge claps his shoulder one last time before pulling away. “I’ll get going then. I’ll come back as soon as I can, alright? Just try to stay alive ‘til then.”
“Okay,” Sonic nods. “Thank you Rouge. And be careful.”
She flashes him her signature smirk. “I always am.”
Sonic leads her out the front door and stands on the porch as he watches her go.
When she’s disappeared into the distance, Sonic looks down at the hoglet in his arms. The pup stares back with his big, red eyes. It reminds Sonic so much of Shadow, and he is again overwhelmed with just how insane this situation is.
But… when the pup isn’t crying… Sonic can admit he’s actually sort of cute.