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Sonic sighed as he leaned against the wall, last bits of adrenaline finally draining away.
In apparent nervousness, the crew at the station, on hearing a brief report of what happened aboard the train from the conductor before he left, had quickly offered the party use of the empty station that already had a few decorations up from this morning, which Amy happily accepted, to their relief. As people had settled either in the waiting room chairs or gravitated into little groups while chatting, cake in most hands from a member of staff that volunteered to divide it up for dishing out, Sonic had allowed visual confirmation of everyone’s safety to consciously relax his limbs, letting the tension leak out his slumping form as he trudged quietly away to lean in a shadowed area next to a nice pot of flowers.
He pulled in a deep breath, closing his eyes against the sunlight that was doing its best to poke a headache at him – or rather, increase the aching that was already unfortunately present. With the slow exhale, a strong wave of fatigue washed over him, making him glad he was leaning against a solid wall as it stole the last of the adrenaline-fuelled strength that had been keeping him upright for the past hour or so.
So for a while he just let himself lean there, taking stock of the various aches throughout his body, the stinging in his shoulder, bruises not yet visible but more than willing to make themselves known; and listen contently to the background chatter nearby of bright and friendly voices.
Letting his eyes open just a bit, Sonic watched a particularly tall flower in the pot next to him sway in a slight breeze, jostling the smaller ones around it to copy the movement. It was pleasant for Sonic to feel as well, gently brushing past him without enough force to bother but leaving a refreshing coolness that didn’t chill his skin.
He gave himself another deep breath with a little smile, half-lidded eyes seeing an insect crawling up one of the small flowers from the neatly packed soil, its methodical climb lulling him in tandem with the sound of a road somewhere nearby and bits of quiet laughter from inaudible conversations.
An odd feeling was starting to spread throughout Sonic’s body – or, rather, he was starting to have to notice it now there weren’t other feelings covering it with urgency – but he tried to ignore it best he could, letting little moments of dizziness pass by closing his eyes until the world felt right again, letting the resulting nausea settle with slow breaths and focusing on one piece of grass from the few that sprouted between cement tiles leading to the main bit of the station.
It was during wincing his way through another short episode of lightheadedness when he heard a voice speak his name from much closer than the continuing chatter had been.
Quickly, Sonic opened his eyes and straightened up with an automatic grin spreading across his face even as he had to grab at the wall behind him to keep his balance, trying to focus on the person standing a few steps away.
The grin eased into something softer when he took in the unhurried form of a purple cat watching him curiously, almost with concern – and immediately wanting to dispel potential worry about his state, Sonic casually swung his arm back away from the wall’s support and walked as normally as he could over to his friend.
“Hey, Blaze. Not feelin’ the party any more?” He made sure his grin portrayed that it was more teasing than a comment on her genuine limited ability to mingle with people she wasn’t exactly completely familiar with.
She gave a brief flat look that easily conveyed an unimpressed response, and gestured behind her at the main station area. “Amy was wondering where you were, actually. Having also noticed your absence, I offered to have a look around.”
Sonic felt his smile soften further at his friend’s frank way of speaking. It wasn’t really like anyone he had ever met, but then again, none of them had grown up in a castle training to be a princess with fire powers that didn’t even rely completely on needing a set of elusive gems on hand.
Blaze raised an eyebrow at his silent fond stare. “What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, just about how cool you are. I got real lucky with my friends here and there.” He knew the exhaustion and recent events were making him more clearly open than usual, but it felt right to say regardless.
Blaze blinked. “Oh.” She straightened up a little, a slight blush creeping on her cheeks that she couldn’t control. “Well, thank you, I think. You certainly know how to pick some of them, from what I’ve heard.” She inclined her head towards the crowded area she’d come from.
Ignoring another wave of dizziness that almost made him shiver, Sonic copied her raised eyebrow. “What’d you mean?” He asked back, noting at the back of his mind that it almost sounded slurred and hoping it was just the way his own voice echoed inside his own pained head.
“Well, Rouge had some interesting stories that she mentioned while we were in the Casino car…”
Sonic made a sound between a chuckle and a groan, letting some of the pain express itself under the cover of being mock-bothered about the bat’s need to gossip. He tried to focus on Blaze’s amused tone past the darker shade of his vision that didn’t seem as bright as the sun was a moment or so ago.
“…which was fascinating to hear. It seems he doesn’t talk much, but I can understand. When a group gets together, it can be unnerving, even if you know them.” Blaze sighed slightly, seeming to gather herself better now away from the bustle of the main party. “But yes, you certainly have interesting friends.”
“Hopefully that’s a compliment!” Sonic winked at her fondly exasperated glance, ignoring how the gesture didn’t help his already not great vision for ensuring he spoke clearly.
Blaze twitched a smile, so Sonic counted it as working out. He could feel his body shaking slightly but aside from trying to position himself in the most stable position he could, he tried to focus on Blaze’s reply.
“Well, I suppose so, given that I am in the group that apparently fought you on their first meeting.” She gave him a knowing look but it morphed into a frown at the way his head was tilted slightly and the glazed appearance of his eyes and face despite clearly trying to listen.
Sonic could feel his heart pounding almost over the sounds all around. It felt like it was speeding up in an attempt to get rid of whatever was making him weak, but the reaction just flared up the symptoms he’d been ignoring and seemed to only speed up the effect of the poison that had been lingering behind adrenaline and determination.
Blaze was still frowning, but Sonic could barely make out her concerned expression through blurry dark vision. She might have been talking, too, but it sounded like it was reaching him underwater now, unable to make out the words.
“…onic… ou… oka… ?”
His vision tunnelling into nothing, an instant attempt to form an ‘I’m fine!’ against the worry couldn’t get past a sudden loss of words. The sensation of an imminent fall managed to open his mouth, though Sonic had no idea if he actually said words or heard an alarmed reply as consciousness completely left him.
“…uh… think I… might…”
“Can…ou…hea…e…? -onic!”
.
Sonic came to with the sensation of nausea. It wasn’t altogether unknown or even unexpected, but it did make the first thing he realised be that his head was raised. And, as a related afterthought, his legs felt weightless too.
A need to cough made him make a noise close enough to clearing his throat and open his eyes, immediately squinting in shadowed bright light.
So, same place then – meaning it couldn’t have been very long he was unconscious for. On the unfortunate side, he was soon realising with a few blinks that his head was indeed resting on something, and that something was Blaze’s lap, and perplexingly, Knuckles was also present now, beside a chair that was also new to the scene, on which now rested his shoes.
Knuckles was standing with his arms crossed, face almost expressionless with a stony look. He apparently noticed Sonic openly staring at him, because after staring back coolly, decided to offer some context to the situation.
“You fainted,” he said simply as a whole explanation. Well, in his opinion.
Sonic made an “uh…” sort of sound and the light around him changed abruptly, making him flick his glazed eyes back up to see Blaze’s frown still present. At least something was familiar, even if it wasn’t ideal. But now the realisations were pouring on him like a bucket of stale rainwater, it was clear that the whole situation was very unideal.
“How do you feel?” Blaze asked with concern.
Sonic sluggishly raised an arm to put over his eyes to block out the light and ease quickly emerging embarrassment at being the centre of attention quite like this.
“Ugh. Kind of… dizzy,” he admitted, seeing little reason to ignore the symptoms any more now they had come to a very visible head. “And nauseous.”
Blaze hummed in acknowledgement and Sonic felt her take his other wrist for a moment. He tried to relax his body like he had before, exhaustion hitting him again despite already bringing him down on Blaze like this. “Sluggish,” she mused outside of his thoughts, “Seems about right.”
“Is that bad?” Knuckles didn’t change his posture or tone, but the clipped reply clearly seeking reassurance nonetheless. Sonic felt Blaze put his hand on his stomach and pat it once.
“It lines up with the symptoms,” She replied, glancing up at Knuckles in answer to his question specifically.
Despite the clear address, Sonic decided to add himself to the apparent conversation above him. “What symptoms?”
His voice was slightly muffled under his arm, but Blaze turned back to him without needing a clearer comment. He half-hoped she hadn’t noticed the things he was trying to suppress earlier, but given the state he found himself in now, it felt unlikely.
“You were drugged unconscious for quite a while…” For the first time, she sounded slightly unsure, possibly still perturbed by the train scenario and how serious it had turned out. Her voice strengthened in confidence as she gave an explanation. “An unknown substance can cause a lot of issues, even when it isn’t designed to cause something specific. You’ve been on the go, as it were, since you came round from the dart, and adrenaline has probably been the main thing keeping you on your feet. Your body is dealing with the after-effects now it can relax.”
Sonic made a vague sound of assent. He listened absently to the quiet conversation above him for a moment, a few sentences exchanged between his friends about what sounded like something about juice from the word he could catch.
Breathing out slowly in the same way he had tried to steady himself when first entering this area on his own, Sonic gave himself several beats to try relaxing and ease the aching pain drifting around his body, hoping it would also quiet the nausea and dizziness that still tried to plague him in waves.
But laying prone on the ground was not helping the uneasy feeling of not being in control that had been lurking ever since the damn dart first pierced his shoulder. Without thinking, he reached the arm over his face further across his body to cover the stinging limb, drawing the attention of his current headrest.
“Careful. I’m not sure if you should sit up yet,” she said with the same unusual hesitance. “Just take it easy.”
Sonic, who hadn’t been trying to sit up exactly, decided that he was suddenly sure that he did want to sit up now, and eased his uninjured arm underneath him to push his body up despite Blaze’s noise of protest, pulling away to get his legs off the chair that he had forgotten about.
“Hang on—You need to drink something before you get up – I did ask Knuckles to have him bring…”
She trailed off as she glanced up at the other present person, who had uncrossed his arms in favour of reaching out slightly and taking a concerned step forward to help if necessary, and behind him yellow came hurrying into view.
“Here, Blaze – they didn’t have very cold water, but the desk had a bottle of juice like you asked fo—Sonic! Are you okay?!”
At the familiar voice, Sonic had stopped trying to sit up and subtly get away from Blaze in case she decided to stop him, and looked up to meet the shocked blue eyes of his brother who quickly came over and held the bottle to Blaze without looking at her as he knelt in concern.
“He passed out,” Blaze informed with a frown, able to take the bottle as Sonic immediately took the opportunity to start clinging to his brother in an attempt to support his goal of sitting up.
Looking away from his shocked snap to Blaze’s statement, Tails glanced down in worry, arms now full of hedgehog.
Before he could scold his brother for the admittedly weak struggle to sit up before ready, Knuckles huffed abruptly and decided to intervene finally, also crouching down to bodily grip Sonic and lean him against the nearby wall without detaching him from Tails. “Stop moving, idiot. I’m not catching you again.”
Naturally, he would should the situation call for it, but to apparently back up his comment, as soon as Tails had Sonic situated in a mostly stable way, Knuckles backed up a step to standing and crossed his arms again.
Blaze also moved, shifting to a slight crouch instead of kneeling, and undoing the bottle as she talked, having finished inspecting the label.
“Yes; fortunately, he is unharmed from the fall as Knuckles and I were here to aid when he collapsed. I had his legs raised to try and assist with blood flow and help bring him round.” She gestured to the chair that Sonic had successfully dragged his feet off during the initial struggle to raise himself.
Sonic huffed into soft yellow fur, not entirely sure himself why he was feeling quite this way. His limbs were still shaking, more obvious now they were having to support him again despite his aching body, and the lightheadedness wasn’t going away as quick as it did at first. He swallowed against nausea and tried not to think about how he couldn’t just get up and run feeling this bad off.
There was a hand in the more numb one of his, it being the side that was hit by the dart. He squeezed it as he squeezed his eyes shut at the same time, hoping to somewhat reset himself with the brief action.
“You’re okay,” Tails soothed in a low voice, returning the squeeze a lot more gently but with enough pressure to ground him. “Deep breaths, Sonic.”
Having started with that at, well, the start of this little situation, Sonic sniffed in retaliation, resulting in making a short inhale as he squinted open an eye grumpily. “I am,” he muttered petulantly, because he wanted to.
Tails just smiled softly and squeezed his hand again, prompting him to take a deeper breath that did steady the vision of the concerned but calmly focused face a little. “There ya go. It’s okay,” Tails praised quietly, aware of his brother’s distaste for company in rare weaker moments like this.
Blaze had patiently waited in understanding, keeping the lid to the bottle unscrewed until Sonic was sitting up and aware and reassured enough to be able to actually receive the drink.
“Here.” She kept her tone muted to match Tails’ as she offered out the unlidded bottle to him, nodding at his small grateful smile as he extracted one gloved hand to carefully take it. “It’ll help him feel better. Juice is more ideal than water for sugar and hydration anyway.”
“Thanks, Blaze,” Tails replied genuinely, and she knew he meant for more than just the juice. He shifted to continue half supporting Sonic as he put the bottle pointedly in a free hand and started guiding it to his face.
Predictably, the hedgehog unsteadily raised his other hand to flap at Tails’ help while eyeing the bottle with distaste with mostly open eyes.
“Drink it, or I’ll go and get Amy,” Blaze said plainly, crossing her arms where she stood a polite step away but clearly still keeping the situation under her watch.
Sonic looked up with wide eyes and even Tails glanced at her in slight surprise as Knuckles huffed in amusement at the scene. Awkwardly, Sonic raised the bottle and took a sip to appease the very real threat.
When Blaze only watched him expectantly, every inch the princess in control of her people’s wellbeing even against their preferences, Sonic made a face and leant more against his brother in grumpiness as he drank more of the admittedly good juice.
With the support of close friends and the slight tang of the drink sharpening his mind from the fog that had been lingering over him since he had first woken on the train to borderline chaos that had only escalated, Sonic took a deep breath and watched the colourful flowers in the pot nearby sway in another slight breeze as they had earlier.
Tails’ presence was warm next to him, one hand absently fiddling with the ends of some quills, the touch grounding and familiar as he silently reassured himself of his older brother’s condition, more than content to stay close after the close call of an innocent enough party. Chattering from the rest of the guests still echoed from the train station’s main area, Blaze’s voice layering over it as she said something to Knuckles, his shrug in reply not moving him from the automatic protective stance he had taken up near them, arms crossed as he stood firm in the same way he guarded the Master Emerald.
“Feeling better?” Sonic glanced back at his brother’s keen but soft eyes as they gave him a visual once over, trying to ascertain his exact state the same way the kit could dismantle and fix machines.
Eager to ease the worry that was too often on the kid’s young face, Sonic offered a softer version of his classic grin and stabilised himself sitting up so he could pat one fluffy shoulder with fondness.
“I’m good, buddy,” he replied truthfully, the comfort of background noises and safety of closeness making it true even as Tails tilted his head slightly as if he didn’t quite believe him but didn’t sense a lie. “Just gotta sleep it off.”
And soon, when the party was settled in a nearby restaurant and Sonic was laid on his side on a comfortable cushioned bench with his head half in his little brother’s lap as the kit tapped on his tablet with one hand, tracking and checking in the ways that reassured his own mind, Sonic let himself truly relax and slip comfortably into a much-needed actual nap.