Chapter Text
Sonic and Shadow huddled together on the cold basement floor. Their arms clung to each other for dear life, backs pressed against the wall while their quills bristled. Their eyes, wide and alarmed, stared at the… ‘creature’ that knelt before them.
Round, empty, beady eyes stared back at emerald and crimson. Long, stringy hair fell past its shoulders. Its jaw hung all the way down to its collarbone. The inside of it was dark, like a mini portal into an endless void. It resembled a human. A tall, boney, naked human with no apparent gender.
The sounds it made were a combination of moans, grunts, chirps, and heavy breathing in between. Every noise that came out of its gangly mouth sent a shiver down both hedgehogs’ spines.
It tilted its head one way, then another. It lifted a boney, stretched out hand to caress Sonic’s left cheek. Sonic flinched hard from the touch and hugged Shadow even tighter. The dark hedgehog responded by tightening his own hold on their back. If not for the thick lump in his throat, Shadow would’ve snarled at the creature in warning.
It tilted its head again. Sonic shivered as he felt its fingers moving up from his cheek to his ears. It played with the tip before brushing the top of his quills.
Neither hedgehog was used to this. This unnatural, chilling fear that left them glued to the spot, their bodies paralyzed and hearts pounding against the confines of their chests. It fought against their instincts that just screamed ‘danger,’ and for them to ‘get up and run.’
Sonic couldn’t even hear himself breathe. Couldn’t feel himself breathing. Was he even breathing?
The creature made a series of moans and chirps as it explored Shadow’s head next using its other hand. Shadow failed to suppress a shudder as the fingers wove their way through his quills. He felt a few coming loose and falling to the ground. He didn’t dare to swat the hand away though. Didn’t dare to look away from those bright, hollow marbles in its sockets.
At last, the hands retracted. The boys allowed themselves to relax for only a second. The creature twisted half its body around to reach for something from behind. When it came back, it was holding a wide, brown paint brush. With a chirp, it held the item out for both hedgehogs to see.
Sonic’s eyes crinkled in confusion. He looked between the brush, and then -reluctantly- the creature. It chirped again and pushed the brush closer to the blue hedgehog. Hesitantly, he unlatched a hand from Shadow’s body and took the brush.
The creature huffed like it was trying to laugh and gently clapped its hands. It turned around again and brought back another paint brush. Shadow flinched when the item was presented towards him, but just like Sonic he slowly took it and held it close.
The creature clapped again. It twisted its whole body around like an owl to look in the box situated behind it.
While it searched, Sonic took a moment to study the paint brush. It was old, the logo on its handle long faded. The bristles were a little messy and covered in dirt. The wood felt rough and uneven, but other than that, it didn’t look too damaged.
He felt a light tap on his shoulder. Sonic jumped as he turned to his friend curiously. Shadow squeezed his shoulder and gestured with his head towards the stairs.
They froze when the creature made a grunt. It held up what looked like a spring, studied it, then tossed it aside and kept rummaging.
Sonic looked between it, his friend, and the stairs.
It was distracted. The stairs were a few feet away. The door was open.
They could make it.
With a determined nod, the two gently placed their brushes on the floor and crept towards the stairs. They went slow, afraid that any bit of noise would give them away. Multiple times their heads snapped towards the creature.
Neither wanted to know what would happen if it saw them.
They made it to the stairs. Shadow gently urged Sonic up first. He placed his foot on the first step, relieved when it didn’t creak under his weight. He went up the next one, then the next. He looked behind to make sure Shadow was following. They looked back at the corner once more to check on the creature.
It wasn’t there.
Sonic and Shadow froze.
Suddenly, the room got ten degrees colder.
Sharing a panicked look, the two scrambled up the stairs, only to be met by the hollow faced creature staring at them from the top.
Sonic screamed. He lost his footing and fell onto Shadow, sending the two of them tumbling back towards the basement floor.
The hedgehogs groaned and laid there for a moment. Sonic shook his head and looked back up to the top of the stairs.
The door was closed.
The creature was gone.
That both terrified and confused him.
At the same time, Shadow opened his eyes and was met with the creature staring back at him. The dark hedgehog uncharacteristically shrieked and scrambled towards the base of the stairs. Sonic stumbled as he was pushed back before meeting eyes with the creature and shrieking as well. He hid behind Shadow, briefly noting just how much his friend’s body was shaking.
The creature was at its full height. It was a skeleton with the thinnest layer of skin coating it. So thin that both hedgehogs could count every rib on its chest. Its hair hung like dead kelp. It curled and uncurled its hands as it took a step forward.
Sonic and Shadow tried to crawl back. They were stopped by the base of the stairs. The creature leaned down until it was eye level with them both. A long, bellowing moan echoed out of its mouth.
Sonic gulped.
Shadow flattened his ears.
Sonic made slow, careful strokes on the paper with his brush. He admired the metallic shine of his blue paint, as well as the purple strokes of Shadow he was trying to mirror. The dark hedgehog kept one arm around his back, which was honestly very appreciated and very grounding. Sonic briefly nuzzled the crook of their neck before going back to painting. He smiled when he noticed Shadow’s muzzle turning pink.
Across the floor from them sat the creature. Its legs were criss-crossed while the left arm sat on its left knee. With its right hand, it guided its own brush along the paper with practiced elegance.
After a few minutes, the creature chirped, gaining Sonic and Shadow’s attention. They followed the direction of its brush as it gestured down towards its own paper. A big, golden blob with red dots for eyes sat at the center. It had four skinny limbs and tiny, pointy ears. Surrounding it were dry strokes of green made to represent grass. Above that grass were specks of glitter and realistically painted butterflies.
The creature chirped again, tilting its head.
Sonic blinked.
“…Nice rabbit.”
The creature let out a sharp grunt and slammed its fist against the ground. Splotches of paint flew off the brush. Sonic and Shadow flinched, the former letting out a high pitched squeak.
“S-Sorry! Sorry!”
The blue hedgehog looked at the painting again.
“...C-Cat?”
The creature nodded. It pointed at its canvas and circled the brush around the ‘cat.’
Sonic swallowed nervously and nodded.
“Y-Yeah… i-it’s a nice cat.”
The creature clapped its hands. Shadow leaned forward slightly and squinted his eyes.
“Where’s the tail?”
The creature dipped its brush into the silver paint. With careful precision it painted an oval on the cat’s rear, blending it in with the rest of its golden body.
Sonic tilted his head.
“Bobtail?”
The creature nodded and clapped its hands again. Sonic managed to give it a small, steady smile.
“Nice.”
It clapped again before washing out its brush and dipping it into another color. It started painting the top of its paper in a light pink mixed with some red -most likely to imitate an evening sky.
Sonic took a shaky breath and went back to his own painting. He leaned further into Shadow’s body while putting down another paint stroke. Shadow squeezed his back and nuzzled the top of his head in response.