Sonadow
SonicXShadow
He Is My Master by Taranea

Chapter 39: Get This Party Started

The throne room was a zoo by now, and its (sapient) animal residents had reached about the same level of noise, activity and mating behaviour.

At least, that was how it seemed to Shadow. The Ultimate Lifeform kept to the walls rather than the center of the room, not wishing to attract too much attention to himself and maybe run into some other friends of the real Prince again, who could maybe tell something was off. So far, Scourge seemed to be the centre of social life instead, a lot of people thronging around him with fake and nervous smiles plastered on their faces who were trying to curry his favour, Shadow could tell. Having spent all his childhood in that narrowly-confined powder keg of social relations that had been the ARK, the Ultimate Lifeform now had very finely tuned antennae for dynamics of power in a group; the green hedgehog was obviously the up-and-coming guy and, much like Sonic, enjoyed his audience more than was decent. The Ultimate Lifeform briefly wondered what the real Prince might have done had he been here...

But that isn't my concern. He was actually trying to avoid thinking about his other-dimensional doppelganger, not wanting to imagine what kind of havoc the other might be wreaking wherever he was right now. Shadow vaguely hoped that this Prince might at least be as smart as he himself was and could keep himself out of trouble.

Out of the corner of his eye, he actually caught a glance of his supposed slave at the other side of the hall at this point. Sonic was casually walking past a turtle servant carrying a tray of some sort of proto-sandwiches, looking for all the world like just another broken pet dragged here for show...just up until the moment when the unfortunate servant blinked, there was a faint whoosh of air, and when the shelled reptile opened his eyes again, the entire food selection had mysteriously disappeared, a certain peach-furred chest now covered in rather a lot of crumbs. Sonic, of course, was already sauntering away from the flabbergasted castle employee gawking at his empty tray in shock but not paying any attention to the (now happily fed) collared blue hedgehog who had seemingly not even broken his stride. Shadow had watched the entire procedure and now slowly dragged a hand across his face.

My double not getting into trouble? Not if he's brought his own bloody blue maniac along...

xxx

The maniac in question was licking the last crumbs off his lips and enjoyed the feeling of having food inside himself again (even if he had had to eat VERY quickly). This dinner-slash-party actually wasn't half bad, Sonic thought. He was able to wander around among people without having to be on a leash and could finally have a proper look at the population of this odd dimension without somebody trying to kill him (or worse). The blue hedgehog supposed there might have been about 200-odd people in the hall, if you counted guests, slaves and servants together. Since the tables were still standing at the sides of the room, the standing space was fairly limited in the middle, but nobody seemed to mind thus far. Most nobles were happy to chat, drink, show off their pets and...

...a hand landed on Sonic's arm, belonging to a random wolf female he had never before seen in his life.

"My, isn't that fur silky! Tell me, have you ever seen such a fine pelt?" she asked her hyena friend, who immediately started running her fingers through the blue hero's peach coat as well, the enslaved hero unable to do anything else but to hold still and endure.

"Not bad at all! I have a soap that produces a similar effect on my pets, let me tell you about it..." the two canines moved on, talking to one another animatedly, leaving Sonic to give a sound not unlike Marge Simpson and flatten the ruffled fur on his arm again. Well, that was definitely the fourth activity the guests here seemed to like to indulge in. Groping other people. Sonic stalked off again, trying to shake off the irritation this encounter had left him with and instead look for some other servant who might offer something to drink that he could snatch. Despite what he thought earlier, now he realized once again that it was almost impossible to enjoy this evening, or any other activity at all, with other people constantly reminding you of your supposed status as an object. Sonic scowled, again hating this kingdom for attempting to crush their slaves' spirits so thoroughly. Well, so far they were at least failing pretty hard with him. His ear twitched as he sensed another noble approaching, already could see at the edge of his vision another silk-gloved hand stretching out, nearing his body...

There was an ever so subtle displacement of air and Princess Amy was left to wonder why the blue hedgehog she had longed to inspect again was suddenly standing 30 feet away at the other side of the hall without her having seen him move at all. Oh dear, perhaps she really shouldn't have had that much to drink on an empty stomach...

Sonic watched the pink girl over his shoulder how she looked faintly confused and then went off to sit down, shaking her head and leaving her wine glass on a waiter's tray. The collared hero couldn't help but give a faint grin, for a moment wishing this simple tactic would still work so well on his Amy, too. Next, he scanned the room for anything else to occupy his interest for the time being, and his gaze immediately fell onto a familiar face again.

Hey, Manic! He would have liked to call out, but this time didn't – for once, he was pretty sure that slaves here also weren't allowed to talk to each other, never mind yelling across the hall, but he also wasn't quite sure the other would even have been able to hear him.

For the smile that had sprung onto the blue speedster's face at the younger hedgehog's sight was immediately replaced by a frown as he saw that the poor green Sapient was currently being abused as well – he was surrounded by a gaggle of gawkers, all of them prodding and fingering the suffering hedgehog in their midst. Manic's face was lit up in embarassment, but he kept his head hanging down and his stare glued to the floor as he was obviously helpless to escape the humiliating treatment. Sonic's fists curled, but then his glare was instantly replaced by a sudden calculating expression as he had turned his head and could see Jet of all people coming toward him and the group, the hawk servant carrying a tray of glasses filled with red wine...

Anybody who could have seen the expression on Sonic's face right now would have done well to go hide.

As it was, nobody did, and the next things that happened were the gasp of a surprised avian, the clatter and shatter of drinks flying through the air and then a veritable cacophony of shrieks from roughly half a dozen ladies who had just gotten red wine splashed all over their dresses. The treacherous blue leg that had caused the hawk to trip, however, had mysteriously disappeared.

Manic stared after his tormentors as they rushed from the room to get cleaned up, alternately fuming and crying, the terrified servant stumbling after them, and seemed a bit speechless.

"Hey there, bud. Glad to see those harpies finally left you alone," a cheerful voice let him turn and next Sonic was pleased to see that there actually was a flash of recognition and even a faint smile on the other's face this time. At least, Sonic tried to look at his face and not anywhere else. The poor pet hedgehog had been forced to wear a sort of plumage of green feathers that gave him a peacock-like fan tail and the blue hero didn't even want to know how exactly they had been attached. Also, his wrist cuffs were now linked with two chains to his belt which prevented him from moving his arms too freely and his legs were shackled together by a length at the ankles. The sad thing was, in comparison to other slaves here, he actually hadn't struck that bad a deal.

"Did...did you...?" the younger hedgehog whispered now and Sonic only grinned broader.

"Sure did. They'll think twice about bothering another poor hedgehog again," he said and winked. "I've had it up to here with people groping us as if this was a petting zoo anyway."

"But..." the green hedgehog began, then looked around a bit furtively to see if anybody was overhearing their forbidden talking and then continued as if surprised himself by his daring, "But this is what this dinner is about," he said, sounding like he couldn't believe Sonic didn't know that, "Our owners show us off, so they can be proud of us. Of course we will have to be," he swallowed and looked away, "touched for that. That's what we're there for, isn't it?" Manic asked, indicating the red and black collar Sonic wore around his neck as well, the implication obvious. Then the other looked away and with an almost wistful expression on his face added:

"And sometimes when my Master is proud of me he pets or even just holds me, so I don't mind if I have to do other things for him..."

It sounded so forlorn and longing it almost broke Sonic's heart. The younger hedgehog was yearning for something so simple, which everybody deserved to be given to them freely and not as an occasional 'treat' when they had gone through unspeakable things to please their perceived Masters. Manic obviously needed to be set straight about quite a few things. The hero of Mobius pinched his snout and laid a hand on the other's shoulder, leading him away into a quieter corner of the hall and taking a deep breath, because what came next would take some time.

"Okay, Manic, listen."

Chaos, here we go again. And here I thought I wouldn't have to say this ever again...

"Let me put it like this," the blue hedgehog said. "There's nothing cooler than getting a hug from someone you like. But if that someone tries to touch you in a place or way that makes you feel uncomfortable..."

xxx

The Ultimate Lifeform was still moving along the edge of the throne room, keeping away from the other guests mingling in the middle, his aura that of a feral tiger circling at the bars of his cage, or of a mountain lion stalking a herd of unsuspecting deer. So far, no other people had tried to bother him, which was a relief - perhaps they were sensing his bad mood and kept away instinctively, or maybe their subconscious was telling them that this strange midnight creature was not even a part of their world. Whatever it was, however, at least meant that Shadow could observe freely and sometimes even keep an eye on Sonic, who seemed to enjoy his relative freedom among other people for once. But of Black Doom, the characteristic energy signature of a Chaos Emerald, or even those other royals that were supposed to be invited there was no sign...Shadow's frustration was mounting. Then another familiar voice reached his ears and black eye ridges rose in surprise.

"Gimme that! That's not a toy, I keep telling ya! The king's gonna have us all drawn and quartered if you keep this up!" A voice tried (and failed) to hiss under the speaker's breath, but it was still rather audible. The reply was prompt.

"Aww, but VECTOR! Espio promised I could play the drums!"

"Charmy, will you shut up!" A rather disgruntled armadillo could be heard, the words somewhat indistinct because the Sapient was carrying a huge load of musical instruments into the room through a side door, but he did not seem to be straining under the considerable weight. "A), Espio is not here because he'd be recognized, b), I play the drums, and c) you will be quiet or we will make use of these wonderful local customs here and sell you off as a slave to these loving people. Though the gods know who would be masochistic enough to buy you," he muttered the last part to himself as he put his load down in the corner.

"You can't!" The bee squeaked, obviously a bit frightened by this new threat. "The boss would never let you!"

"We can tell her you got captured in the line of undercover work," this dimension's version of Vector grinned his crocodile smile at the little insect. "No questions asked."

"N-no, I-I'll be good!" Charmy assured the reptile hastily, buzzing about and nodding his head frantically. Somewhat to the side he added: "Though I don't get why this king bloke would want to have us drawn anyway, it's not like a portrait would hurt anybody..."

"G-guys? Have you seen him yet?" A fourth member of the group poked his head through the door, a rather scrawny-looking, sunflower-coloured squirrel. Shadow, who was pretending to inspect a painting on the wall at the moment while watching the troupe from the corner of his eye, hadn't seen a rodent Mobian as part of the Chaotix yet in their home dimension, but alternate realities apparently also allowed for characters without counterparts.

"No, we haven't," the armadillo replied at this point, shaking his head with the curious yellow oval ears sticking to the side while arranging the instruments on a blanket spread on the floor. "But since Espio's found out he is in the castle, it can only be a matter of time until we find him. But if we keep talking about it like this, we'll blow our cover even without Charmy's help, so could we please start acting like court musicians now?" the red and black marsupial sighed, apparently used to be the voice of reason within this group.

Soon after that, the four mis-matched Sapients were indeed starting to set up the instruments and moving about trying to prepare for playing them, but saying nothing else pertaining to their actual plans. Only their furtive glances about were now a clue that apparently, the Chaotix detective agency could be hired no matter who you were, what you were looking for, or, indeed, which dimension you resided in. So far, Shadow didn't have a clue who they were working for or what they wanted, and briefly considered ratting them out to the nearest guard just because their presence made things more complicated, but quickly decided against it. Chances were they wanted something that would make Black Doom unhappy and that was fine with Shadow. (Also, he kind of liked the red-and-black colour scheme of the armadillo guy.) So in his opinion, as long as they weren't stupid enough to try and steal the Emerald for themselves (or made an attempt at his life when they thought him the Prince) they could do as they pleased.

The black hedgehog's gaze roved over the hall again and spotted Sonic about thirty feet away, his supposed slave currently talking to Scourge's pet hedgehog (Shadow thought he could make out that something or other was 'NO GOOD' and somebody should 'get outta there!', although it wasn't quite clear where to), and then decided that since there was nothing else to do at the moment, he might as well sit down on one of the red plush proto-sofas standing in one of the darker corners of the room.

xxx

"Okay," Knuckles started out, now sitting across from Shadow. They had finally managed to separate the two without bloodshed and now hoped that perhaps in this new constellation they could glean some more information, especially concerning the source of the fantasy world the two hedgehogs' minds seemed to be trapped in. The echidna looked at his question sheet.

"Have you ever been to any...strange websites?"

"What?" the black hedgehog gave him a dead-pan stare, arms crossed.

"What kind of websites do you visit? In the internet?"

"What do I visit where?" the other asked, eyes narrowing now. Knuckles scowled in annoyance.

"Oh no, don't give me that. I live on a flippin floating island and I know about that stuff. You know, the internet? On a computer? Webpages? Blogs? Forums? That blasted Wikipedia thing? Manipulating character polls so you come out on top of that blue hedgehog? I mean, come on!"

There was a bit of a pause as the two Sapients stared at each other. Finally, the self-proclaimed Prince opened his mouth.

"...you are a madman who speaks in tongues. I don't trust you, foreign red devil."

Ebony, who was watching the proceedings through the one-way mirror knew that it wasn't a good sign that Knuckles had just ripped the paper in half.

xxx

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

Sonic's head snapped around at the address of another familiar voice. Manic had just been dragged off by Scourge and the blue-furred hero had once again been feeling powerless as he was unable to do a thing to stop his friend being leashed and led away, a little fact that Scourge hadn't failed to underline with yet another infuriating smug smirk and a finger so much like Sonic's own trailing suggestively along the hero's collar, asking "Man, you gotta hate having to wear one of these, don'tcha, blue...?"

Sonic couldn't even begin to conceive the horror and degradation of being a true slave in this world and feeling that helpless everyday...

He made sure he had his features carefully re-arranged before he turned around.

" Maybe a little, not very much," he replied truthfully to the the sixth hedgehog hanging around here this evening. "And you?" he asked. "Or are you just here to catch any pets lacking in etiquette?"

"Casual as ever, I see," Silver sighed with a small concerned smile. "I saw you talking to your class-mate just now."

"Yeah," Sonic shrugged. "I know it's-" he paused. "Wait, you're not expecting me to use that slave-speak here, are ya?"

Silver raised an eye rige. "Would you?"

"No."

" I thought so. What were you talking about?"

"This and that, nothing in particular," Sonic dodged the potentially loaded question. "His Master treats him pretty badly, you know?" he asked instead, making no effort to conceal the slight accusation riding on his words. Silver actually looked a bit unhappy now.

"I...know," he said with some hesitation. "I also wish Manic would have a better home," he added quietly, almost as if those words hadn't even been meant to be heard.

Sonic crossed his arms, a bit surprised at this reaction, but not displeased. "If you know, then why did you work for his owner?"

"Because it's Lord Scourge," Silver replied simply, as if that was explanation enough.

"Yeah, Lord Sicko," Sonic replied scathingly (only remembering a second later that perhaps he shouldn't let his mouth run quite as loose within ear-shot of Silver if he didn't want to be on the receiving end of another literal mind-screw...), but the telekinetic hedgehog merely shot Sonic a faintly surprised look and then shook his head as if telling himself that this wasn't his fault. Besides, Sonic was faintly convinced the other might have agreed with him on that point... "But, eh, listen, if you didn't come to check up on me how hard I am failing your training right now, was there anything else you wanted?" Sonic asked quickly. "I mean, I don't mind just chatting to you if you came here for that..."

Silver met his gaze again. "Actually, I wanted to apologize."

"Say what?" Sonic looked honestly surprised. "For what? Air-groping me?"

A brief look of panic crossed Silver's face as the collared hedgehog mentioned his secret powers so openly, but then he shook his head rapidly, becoming serious again.

"No," he said, amber eyes trying to keep Sonic's gaze. "I wanted to apologize for almost letting you get killed."

"...oh." Sonic managed. "Uh, thanks, I guess. A lot of people have managed that so far, actually, but you're the first one who apologized afterwards, so, yeah, that's nice. But it wasn't really your fault, was it?" he asked. "Two-horned and crazy was just in one of his moods again, I thought."

"It wasn't directly my fault, no," Silver said, shaking his head and ignoring Sonic's verbal High Treason because this was apparently something really important for him. "But I..." he stopped and paused, before then taking a breath and starting anew. "You love your Master," he stated, now no longer holding Sonic's gaze but staring at the floor. "And he loves you. He treats you well and you aim to please him. This is how it should be." He swallowed. "I actually only became a slave trainer because I wanted to make things better, you know?" he asked and now looked at Sonic with just a bit of that innocence jaded by a cruel world, yet still fuelled by a stubborn righteousness that he had always associated with the original Silver, too. "I started out as an eitquette trainer for nobles," he continued. "And because of the contact with High Society I also saw how they treated their slaves and how they often got angry with them and punished them simply because their pets kept doing things wrong since they just didn't know how to behave," he said, now sounding a bit desperate almost as if he was hoping Sonic could understand how he had been feeling back then. "So I got the idea of offering lessons for personal slaves instead. People loved it and I thought that if only I could teach the slaves how they could please their owners, everyone would be happier and nobody would have to be punished anymore..." Amber eyes looked back at Sonic. "But sometimes that didn't work and no day has shown me that as plainly as today."

"Woah..." Sonic wasn't sure how to deal with this, the telekinetic now seeming angry both with himself and this world, and almost close to despair. "Silver, I totally agree with you, but it's okay, I'm fine-"

"It's not okay," the other shook his head, seemingly a bit calmed down even if his voice was still somewhat shaky. "You did everything right today. Everything I or your Master asked of you. And yet, just because His Majesty was feeling cruel today and angry with his son you would have almost been tortured to death. That is not just!" Silver exclaimed, before quickly silencing himself and looking around as to whether anybody had overheard him. He shook his head. "You intrigued me from the very first time I saw you. You were obviously not broken, but unlike the other Wilds I had seen so far, you never rebelled against your collar, but were as obedient as free-spirited. You were obviously content to belong to your Master."

"Happiness in slavery," Sonic paraphrased it for him, his face expressionless. "That's what you were hoping for us?"

"I think so," Silver replied defeatedly. "But seeing you, the only real example I have ever met, I realized how far from this ideal nearly every other of the pets I trained have been. I have been living a lie," he said, fists clenching, the telekinetics inner turmoil also briefly letting various small items in the near vicinity lift up several centimetres into the air for a second, "By now I don't think there even can be a truly happy slave, ever. Even if your Master loves you, your happiness can be shattered by so many different things and people. You were almost killed, but you could also have been sold, used by someone else or punished by any random passer-by when your Master wasn't around to protect you." Silver looked at him. "You don't live in happiness. You live in fear, don't you?"

"...yes," Sonic lied, knowing that for every other slave here, this was probably true. Silver nodded.

"I thought so," he repeated. "I have been a fool."

Sonic's jaw hardened slightly as he watched the younger hedgehog hang his head in painful shame, wishing there was something he could do for him, but there wasn't. Yet he was glad that the other one, who he had regarded as a good guy from the start , was finally seeing eye to eye with him. Silver condoning slavery had been really strange, but now Sonic realized the kid had only meant well, first not knowing better and then hiding from the truth until he could no longer bear it...

"Hey. Can you keep a secret?" Sonic asked the other one quietly. Silver looked up in surprise.

"What...?"

"Maybe there won't have to be slavery much longer," the blue hedgehog winked. "As the personal pet of the Crown Prince I hear things, you know..."

"You can't mean..." Silver whispered, stopping himself. "Prince Shadow would – but it could be decades until His Majesty-!"

"Perhaps we have decided to speed history a bit up," Sonic interrupted the overwhelmed silver hedgehog with a cheeky grin. "Stick around long enough and you might get to see it first hand."

"That is...that is..." the telekinetic tried to compose himself again. "That is more than I could have ever hoped for. I actually only came to find you and say good-bye, since I am just about to go and pack my things before leaving the castle as soon as possible. I have a lot of engagements to get to, but now I can hopefully expect to be out of work soon enough," the silver hedgehog said, for the first time smiling again. Sonic nodded cheerfully.

"We'll take care of it," he said and added in his mind, sooner than you think. This was great. If one of them could be won over to support a realm without slavery, the rest would just have to follow suit. Also, he was glad that if there was a war, Silver would hopefully be far from the castle and safe out in the country. "Goodbye, Silver. Try to ask first before you offer to 'help' another one of your pets, though, okay?"

"I hope I won't have to anymore," the metallic-hued hedgehog replied with a smile. "Goodbye, Sonic. Please give my regards to Prince Shadow. And..." his tone dropped to a whisper.

"...all Hail the future King!"

To be continued...


Chapter end notes:
Heyy there, hope you liked! Chapters are shorter but up more quickly now...^^ Heh, the inbox section of the site seems so empty at the moment. Doesn't anybody feel like posting a new fic? I don't have enough to read...XD
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