Chapter 48: Running Wild

There was a soft thud as two pairs of feet landed next to each other on a ruined castle carpet, the hedgehogs they belonged to straightening up as gracefully as a pair of cats out for the kill. One of them was wearing a collar that declared him the property of the other, but one could never have told from their stances; both Sapients stood upright and side by side, their movements so in synch with each other that they looked more like seasoned battle partners than anything else. Now emerald and crimson eyes were narrowed, the heroes of Mobius trying to recognize any shapes in the throne room they had just blasted into, ears twitching for any sounds and senses strained for the faintest traces of Chaos Energy, muscles tensed to evade any possible attack of Black Doom or others. The smoke was clearing...

And then it parted to reveal what was probably the most terrified lizard in the kingdom's history right atop the throne.

Sonic and Shadow paused. Then Sonic put a hand on his hip.

"What? You again?"

Shadow was pretty sure you could have heard Lazar's scream three neighbouring countries over.

xxx

"Sonic!"

Manic's eyes were wide with complete and utter incredulity, but at the same time also held a hope that the younger hedgehog almost didn't seem to dare to believe in. The green hedgehog jumped up, attempting to run towards them but only succeeded in nearly choking himself and falling back to the ground, his collar digging into his neck cruelly where he had been tied to the throne's foot.

"What did you – HOW did you-?!" the purple lizard stammered incoherently, scrabbling back on the too-large king's seat until he was apparently attempting to dig through the black wood of the backrest with his shoulder blades. His yellow eyes were darting like two panicking rabbits from the two hedgehogs to the giant hole in the wall they had leapt through, his mind unable to compute either of the two sights. Shadow stepped forward.

"Enough of this. I want Black Doom and I want the Emerald. Where are they?"

Lazar's mouth only opened and closed like a goldfish's who had been asked to explain the dynamics of a zeppelin. One of his hands, perhaps only coincidentally, drifted a little bit closer to the dagger that still hung on his belt, which Sonic took as a cue to step ever so subtly forwards as well.

"You touch that knife or raise a single claw to harm Manic again, and I'm going to slice you in half," the hero of Mobius said, and his voice was so quiet and his tone so calm, Shadow believed every word. When they had been dragged past Manic after getting re-captured again, the younger slave had looked devastated...

"Hey, Manic. It's okay, we're here to get you," Sonic addressed his green-furred classmate again, this time a smile on his face. With another warning glare directed at Lazar, he strode forward, Manic's chestnut eyes still staring in wonder. Shadow crossed his arms.

"While you have about three seconds to tell me where the King is. I'm not asking a third time."

"He'sss – he'ss gone-"

"WHAT?!"

Lazar flinched at Shadow's bark, even when the black hedgehog was already baring his teeth again. There was a very unsettling way in which the former Prince's eye was now twitching...

"Tell me you're lying," the dark hedgehog growled menacingly, Chaos fire already crackling in his hand again, but inside, the Ultimate Lifeform could already feel a suspicion becoming a gloomy certainty. Black Doom hadn't been absent from his own son's execution because he wanted to let him feel his disdain. Black Doom had already begun the war...

"I – I sspeak the truth! Your father hass already gone to the battlefield! He'ss taken Lord Sscourge and the gem ssstone with him!" the purple lizard squeaked, eyes now transfixed on the flames of Chaos in Shadow's hand. Reptiles couldn't sweat, but Sonic privately thought Lazar was having a damn good try.

Shadow's eyes narrowed. He couldn't sense the Chaos Emerald around, either. And now, judging by the growing noises in the distance it seemed as if the first guards were managing to reach the throne room in a more conventional way than he and Sonic had used...

"Impossible...you really are alive..." Manic was breathing beside the throne, Sonic just having managed to use his own quills to slice through the other's leash and help him up again. The blue hedgehog winked.

"What can I say? I die hard. C'mon, let's get you outta here!"

"You - you will never get away with thiss!" Lazar on the throne seemed to try and rally now, especially as reinforcements were on their way and Sonic had turned his back on his again. "Even you can't prevail againssst all the remaining forcess in thiss casstle! You sshall not esscape! I will ssee to it that you die...becausse I know your weaknessss!" Lazar shouted – and then let one of his arms lash out and grab a yelping Sonic forcefully enough that the hedgehog stumbled backwards, right into his arms.

"Again, your care for otherss will be your undoing!" the purple lizard hissed, using one hand to keep Sonic captive by his collar, the other one to steady his knife at the hedgehog's throat, "Jussst like at your execution, if you don't sssurrender, I will – hey, are you lisstening?" the malevolent, viciously triumphant leer on Lazar's face had started to turn into a strangely confused frown as the only reaction to his taking the Prince's slave hostage was a raised eye ridge and then the black hedgehog actually waving him off and turning around, appearing more interested in the noises indicating the nearing soldiers.

"Sonic!"

In fact, the only one appearing distressed at all was Lord Scourge's pet; Lazar's eyes darted to his side and saw that even Sonic's expression resembled more a disapproving nursery school teacher who had told little Lazar not to play with sharp objects. The blue hedgehog who was supposed to be terrified in his grip was actually quite relaxed with the blade against his throat, arms crossed and one foot tapping impatiently.

"Well, Shads? Ain't you gonna try and save me?"

"Will you quit fooling around, Sonic? The Emerald isn't in this castle, so we need to get going," Shadow answered, leaning with one hand against the wall, regarding the entire display like a theatre critic forced to watch a grade school nativity play.

"Sonic, I am so sorry-" Manic, still on the floor, reached out for the captive hedgehog, but Sonic held up a hand.

"Heh, no worries, Manic. Just back up there for a minute – did you know up close this guy's breath really reeks?" he asked, drawing a grimace to illustrate. Beside him, Lazar seemed to be turning a deeper shade of purple.

"You will take me seriously, or else-!"

And that, turned out, had been a mistake. Sonic's head turned, ever so slowly, the knife sliding over his neck like a caress. When the hedgehog in Lazar's grip was face to face with his captor, emerald eyes had darkened without a single trace of humour left in them.

"So you want to be taken seriously by me?" Sonic asked. "Then let me show you what I do with those I consider serious enemies..."

The attack came so fast, Lazar didn't even feel the pain until his ribs broke.

Manic's mouth stood open. Even Shadow raised an eye ridge. Sonic's elbow had lashed backwards, burying itself deep in the gasping reptile's abdomen. As Lazar was about to bend double, the hero of Mobius threw his head backwards, a hedgehog's defense that meant tips as sharp as razor blades were forced into the lizard's face and torso, the other finally letting go of Sonic's collar with a scream; the next sound was that of a heel connecting with Lazar's side as the fastest thing alive whirled around with a perfectly executed spinning kick, the scaled sapient getting slammed into the side of the throne with the force of a sledgehammer. He would have collapsed then and there, but a gloved hand shot out with lightning speed before he could even hit the ground and grabbed him by the lapel of his tiny jacket, burning emerald eyes suddenly only inches from his own.

"You tried to kill me. I can live with that," Sonic said, hedgehog teeth gleaming in the lizard's face whose hand let the suddenly so useless knife finally fall to the floor in terror, "You tried to torture me. There were others who tried before you," the hero of Mobius stated, breathing hard and Shadow for a moment thought that deep down, this was the other side of Sonic the Hedgehog, was as much part of him as his goodwill and eternal cheer – burning, righteous fury when somebody violated the laws of what it meant to be sapient. As rarely as it was seen, Shadow could feel that this was the fire that kept Sonic going, made his spirit indomitable...and right now meant so much trouble for Lazar.

"But you did something worse," the blue hedgehog continued at this point, voice hissing into reptile ears that were no more than holes. "You thought, just because they weren't free like you, that it was okay to consider enslaved people's lives worthless."

The lizard gave an incoherent whimper at this point. Sonic leaned in even closer, their faces actually touching now.

"Mistreat another living being again, we will find you. Make somebody your slave once more, we will come for you. You wanna know whose life is really worthless here?" he asked, and the growl in his voice now was that of the werehog, something ancient and furious, a threat that made every cell in your body scream to get out of there, hide and run. Lazar appeared barely able to focus now, yellow eyes wide and torpid. Sonic gave him a grin from a nightmare.

"Not even yours."

Lazar fainted.

xxx

"Finished?" Shadow asked as Sonic finally let go of the lizard, the reptile crumpling to the floor like a particularly ugly ragdoll, and the hero of Mobius turning around as casually as if he had just dusted off the throne. Manic, still sitting on the floor stared at the blue speedster like Sonic had just produced an elephant from his shoe, and Shadow was privately already dreading of having to lug around another kid star-struck by Sonic The Show-off. Now his supposed slave dusted off his hands.

"Eh, pretty much. So, we're gonna leave the castle for good, then? What's the ETA of the idiot brigade?" Sonic asked, his head nodding into the direction of the throne room doors.

"About thirty seconds, thanks to your dramatics," Shadow replied in a dead-pan. "By which time I wish to have left."

"Can do, Stripes," Sonic grinned, ignoring Shadow's raised eye ridge at the novel nickname, before reaching down to Manic and helping him to his feet again. "Hey. One question. Can I have all all those buckles and belts that creep Scourge put on ya?" he asked, indicating the outfit from the ball minus the feathers that still bound the green hedgehog uncomfortably tight.

Manic nodded hesitantly. "Uh...yes, if you want to..."

"Great!" There was a whirlwind rush, and the leather straps were gone; another whirlwind rush and Sonic had already scooped up the younger hedgehog, a black and a blue blur leaping out of the hole in the castle wall and landing in the courtyard again with practiced grace. The entire castle had now turned into a cauldron of chaos, people running about screaming how the undead were walking the earth and witches invading the castle, guards yelling about a prison breach from below and a ninja attack from above, there were fires in the courtyard where Shadow's Chaos attacks had set wood ablaze and sent people running, and Sonic thought it was absolutely brilliant.

Only problem was, what to do with Manic now...?

"My Prince! Sonic!"

"Silver!" Sonic's face lit up as he saw the telekinetic floating above the madness toward them, his appearance of course adding to the headless screaming considerably. His former trainer was gesticulating wildly.

"Sonic, Prince Shadow, I managed to free the group you told me about from the dungeons, but-!"

"Good. I suppose they are responsible for about half of the current chaos at the moment?" Shadow asked, privately knowing from experience that the Chaotix were known to cause mass destruction even when they weren't even actively trying to.

"Yes, I think so, and they said there's also a ninja chameleon of theirs here in the castle, but-!" Silver tried again, but this time it was Sonic who cheerfully cut him off.

"Espio? Cool, give that guy my regards. Don't mention anything about his default colour, by the way, he can be kind of touchy about that."

"What?" Silver asked, a bit confused. "No, Sonic you don't understand, they were looking-"

"Sonic," Shadow cut across this time, the young telekinetic by now seeming a bit desperate, "I'm telling you, we don't have time for this." He turned to Silver. "You. What are you planning to do now?"

"Well, at the moment I am trying to tell you-!"

"Good." Shadow nodded. "That means you have time to take care of him." And with that picked Manic up and placed him all but in Silver's arms.

"W-w-w-wait, what?" the five-quilled hedgehog stuttered, almost stumbling backwards. "Hey, wait a moment, I-!"

"Nice going, Shads, that's the second one of my friends you give away to other people without asking," Sonic shot an unmoved Shadow a slightly peeved look. On some level he seemed to see his supposed Master's point, though, for he added a bit more friendly to Silver, "Sorry, Silv, but where we're going it's gonna be plenty dangerous," Sonic gave his former trainer an apologetic smile, before at last turning to Manic "Hey Manic, it's okay. Silver can protect you. You trust him and me, right?"

"Yes?" Manic replied, though the completely and utterly lost look on his face indicated that the green hedgehog by now probably would have said yes to anything, only in the vain hope that the world might start to make sense again at some point.

"Great!" Sonic grinned. "Then you can leave the rest of the world-saving to us, no worries. You just take care of Manic and this castle, okay?"

Silver's stare directed at Shadow at this point said Help Me, but the black hedgehog seemed disinclined to listen. Instead, Shadow turned around and dusted his hands off, apparently all business now.

"Very well. Me and Sonic will have to leave, but we will find my 'father' and end this war before it has begun. Goodbye to you two."

"See ya around! We'll have this kingdom turned around in no time!" Sonic gave both Silver and Manic a two-fingered salute and his trademark grin and the next second both he and his Master had already zipped into the chaos again, leaving the two medieval hedgehogs standing there rooted to the spot.

"But, but the Chaotix said that you - oh, sod it!" the young telekinetic snapped after the dust cloud and then seemed to finally give up on a lost cause. Looking at Manic, he added; "You know, dunno how much you've seen of Sonic so far, but whoever thought that this guy would ever make an obedient slave was obviously out of his mind..."

xxx

"Alright. Can we leave the castle now? With every moment we wait my Chaos reserves are becoming increasingly drained and Black Doom is getting farther away," Shadow asked, the two hedgehogs having caught a momentary break behind some boxes in the courtyard before they would prepare their final dash for freedom. Sonic suddenly seemed a bit uncomfortable.

"Uh...actually..."

"What?"

A lop-sided grin. "...can we rescue Princess Sally?"

"Sonic!"

"She saved me, Shads. It's the least I can do!" Sonic defended himself. "She and her Dad and his knights are locked in the tower and there's already parts of the castle burning. She could die in there! An' besides, if we get them out now, that King Max guy can join the war..." Sonic trailed off, looking to the side. Shadow slowly counted to ten. When he spoke, his voice was quiet.

"Sonic. This is a very dangerous situation. We are both running on empty. There is pure pandemonium in the castle. It would take just one wayward arrow to end us both."

Sonic didn't look at his supposed Master.

"I know."

Next, an ungloved, black-furred hand laid itself on a peach arm and gripped it, gently. When Sonic met Shadow's eyes at last, they were uncharacteristically soft.

"Sonic...I nearly lost you today." There was something in his voice, beyond the exhaustion and the strain of draining Chaos power, something wounded and almost...scared?

"I know," the hero of Mobius replied. He raised his own hand to cover the one of his supposed Master on his arm, trying with his touch to soothe the haunted expression, the fear half-hidden in Shadow's eyes. "I nearly lost you today, too."

"Even if I had survived the hanging, if you had died, I would have..." A shudder ran through Shadow's frame that had nothing to do with the cold, his sentence breaking off, but he didn't need to say anything further. Sonic knew, because he felt the same.

"Yeah. But...Shadow, I need to do this." Because I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. His partner hadn't said the words but Shadow heard them still and his grip tightened almost reflexivly at Sonic's words. Sonic had to rescue the princess because Sonic was a hero...

"And..." now the blue-furred speedster paused, before he had to seemingly force the words out that were hard for him to say because he had only so rarely uttered them before.

"I can't do this alone, Shadow. I need you."

If you really love me...

Crimson eyes looked at emerald and suddenly, Shadow again remembered so many things.

How those eyes had pleaded with him to let him run. How the other had been scared, but entrusted himself to him when he had carried him into the bathing pool. How he could have run away so many times but never did. How, only last night, had leaned into his touch instinctively, had laid back underneath him and let himself be taken willingly...

"I can't run away and leave her to die."

The words were simple, but they held rock-solid determination. And, of course, Shadow understood. This was the Sonic the Hedgehog he loved. And whenever there had been talking of 'breaking' him, then this was what they would have really meant, this was what would have gone so much deeper than any chains or whips or collars. It would have been about taking away those things that defined him. Forbid him to do the things that let him feel who he is. Let him fail at what his entire being screamed he had to do...

And that, Shadow thought, was something I swore never to see happen.

"Alright," the Ultimate Lifeform smirked. "Let's rescue the princess."

Sonic kissed him.

And that, Shadow thought, was not such a bad reward at all.

xxx

"You and your saving-people-thing. Why do I let myself get roped into this?" Shadow grumbled a few minutes later, but of course it was empty of any actual annoyance.

"I do not have a saving-people-thing."

"Do too."

"Do no-well, maybe, but that's beside the point," Sonic tried and shook his head. "What's so bad about a saving-people-thing, anyway...?"

"I'll tell you in detail when we are both dead," Shadow stated casually and peeked around the corner once more. "Ready?"

"When you are," Sonic replied, tensing up. Shadow nodded. "Okay. Chaos Spear!"

The energy lance tore another hole into the wall of the castle, but that was merely meant as a distraction. While more screams erupted, Sonic and Shadow dashed across the open courtyard again, this time on the north side of the castle where the tower with the imprisoned delegation of King Max' realm was supposed to be. Shadow grabbed Sonic's wrist again and the collared hedgehog took a deep breath, right before his legs became a red, figure-eight shaped blur and let both Sapients shoot up the side of the tower like spiky spiders; they reached the window barred with beams of wood and Shadow's skates flashed into life, a powerful kick tearing the beams in half. Sonic alighted on the windowsill while Shadow dropped down again, preparing to give the thick oak door below a similar treatment while Sonic rallied the troops inside. The hero of Mobius turned around – to come face to face with a row of completely astonished knights that nevertheless all had their swords trained on him, King Acorn and his daughter standing just behind him.

Sonic blinked for a moment, but then decided to try his usual approach to royalty.

"Oh hey there, your Majesty. Hi, Sally!"

"A slave?" the elderly squirrely did not seem to be able to trust his eyes. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"S-Sonic?" Now the princess stepped forward from where her father had shoved her behind himself and the collared hedgehog found himself subjected to that piercing diamond stare a second time. "Is that really you?"

"The one and only, Princess." Sonic grinned, thumbing his own chest. "Me and Shads are here to get you and everyone out."

"Shads – you mean Prince – oh, lower your swords already, he doesn't mean any harm!" she commanded the armed Sapients who looked first at her, then at her father, and when the King didn't voice any complaints, indeed lowered their blades. Sally stepped forward. "There has been shouting and noise outside for over half an hour. What is going on?"

Sonic shrugged. "Long story short, it's war. Black Doom is already up and gone with his troops. Me and Shadow were supposed to be executed this morning, but we...kinda spoilt it, I suppose," the blue hedgehog gave another grin.

"What? He is moving his troops?" the king snapped. "That turncoat! The crown of Acorn will not stand for this; we shall return and rally our own forces immediately!"

"I'm glad to hear it, father," princess Sally said, just a tad coolly. "So slaves are a bit more than just cattle now, are they?"

"Well..." the older squirrel appeared to be just a bit uncomfortable now. "I suppose...under the given circumstances..."

"Yes, father," Sally nodded, before ignoring him and finally closing the gap between Sonic and her. There was a curious smile coupled with a war strategist's interest in her eyes as she stopped just short in front of the slightly taller hedgehog who now looked just a tad the worse for wear than he had yesterday night. She gave a little smile as she looked him up and down. "Well," she said, pursing her lips. "Looks like somebody escaped any serious punishment from the Prince yesterday."

Sonic briefly thought of replying with a smug Well, not quite, but didn't, as the Princess already continued.

"I'm glad you spoke the truth of how he treated you well."

Sonic shrugged. "Told ya, he's a good guy," he said easily. "And now we're about to turn this country upside down and stop slavery once and for all. So I guess we can count on you and your father's help?"

"As soon as we can escape from this castle and return to our borders, yes," the king replied at this point. "They're but half a day's gallop away, but first we need to be able to leave this tower."

"Oh that," Sonic waved him off. "Shadow's working on that."

And since there was nothing quite like dramatic timing, right at that very moment the door two storeys downwards was blown to smithereens.

xxx

"Finally, let's go!" Shadow called as Sonic was the first to burst out from the door of the tower that had served as prison for the family of Acorn. The collared hedgehog nodded.

"Okay. Are there any horses they'll be able to steal?"

"The stables are right over there, Sonic. And now we are leaving," Shadow said with emphasis, one hand of his grabbing at the blue hedgehog's collar to let him stumble to his side as a sign that his supposed owner really didn't want to complete any more subquests now. King Maximillian's knights were charging out of the door at this point, but did not run into the resistance they had probably expected, the entire castle already in chaos beyond salvation, especially as the one purple lizard who had been left in control had probably been discovered in the destroyed throne room, wrapped like a Christmas present in all of Manic's belts and bracelets.

"Okay, okay! Let me go and we can be on our way! Bye, Sally!" Sonic called out as the two heroes of Mobius were about to take their leave, Shadow once again wondering how on Earth Sonic could be on first name basis with absolutely anyone even when he had only met them twice.

"Prince Shadow -?! Wait!" King Maximilian called out after them, but this time, Shadow ignored him. He was definitely running on empty now, and he only wanted to get out of this nightmarish castle as soon as possible. Fortunately, Sonic seemed to understand this, and the pair of them ran, leapt and skated through the courtyard again toward the main gate, freedom only a few seconds away now...

"PRINCE SHADOW! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THIS CASTLE ALIVE!"

"What now?!" both hedgehogs' heads whipped around, their gazes falling onto the feline guard commander, one of the few soldiers who actually seemed to have kept their head in the chaos. Sonic immediately rose to the bait, of course.

"Oh yeah, lady? And how are you gonna try and stop us?"

"Release the hounds!" the female commanded – and had only split seconds to wonder why both of the convicts first only blinked at her and then burst out out laughing.

"What's so funny?!"

"The...the dogs...Shads, she's gonna try and catch us with dogs...!" Sonic actually had to lean on his supposed Master now, the entire hero giggling, while even the black hedgehog had admittedly trouble to keep a straight face.

"Yeah, I know," Shadow replied. "Let's get going before they actually bite our tails off, though."

"I am not joking! Here they come!" roared the cat atop the wall, indeed pointing toward a kennel that had just been opened, feral dogs inside barking wildly.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. If it floats your boat," Shadow shrugged. "Oh, and by the way, King Maximilian and his knights should have stolen your horses by now."

"What did you-?" the commander stammered, but by then this was really as far as she got, because by then, twelve knights flanking their crown princess and King were galloping towards them, Shadow used a last Chaos Spear to smash the wall she was standing on to pieces, somewhere else screaming soldiers were lifted in the air by a mysterious turquoise glow (together with a cry of 'It's no USE!'...), the front door of the inner castle entrance exploded as the Chaotix smashed through it, and not one of the hounds was able to catch anything as the two fastest things alive escaped laughing, finally running out of the castle that had held them prisoner for over a week, and escaping into the freedom of the open plains.

To be continued...