Archive of Our Own

It was cold that year. Very cold.

On the bright side, that meant the hurty part of his side had gone numb. Dark said that was bad. Maurice didn’t much care; he was more concerned with his belly than anything else right now. It gnawed at his insides, apparently deciding to revolt and eat him, upset at not being fed. This wasn’t a new feeling by any means but it left him just as painfully empty as the last time. And the time before that.

When the snow started to fall, it made finding fruit a lot harder. There were those red berries that were called holly… but he’d learnt the hard way – during a particularly rough, foodless winter – that eating those was a very, very bad idea. Thankfully he’d only had one, intending to save the rest to snack on every now and then to make them last. Maurice had been so horribly sick for quite a few days after that. He’d thrown up. A lot. That had sucked. He’d been all hot despite the harsh winds and he couldn’t stop shaking. Dark sat with him the whole time, though he often had to go heave himself – Dark never actually threw up though. His friend said it affected him differently but he also felt it. They’d both been miserable. The blue hedgehog had been so scared; for a while he thought he would not get better at all. Maurice had never been so sick in his short little life.

He knew to stay far, far away from them now.

Maurice thought snagging something from that one weird, metal thing outside the bread-place in the closest village would be enough for now. But he hadn’t really managed to reach it. That lady with the spiky stick had given him a good whack across his head and it really hurt, enough that he’d thought going for the tough, chewy bread wasn’t worth it anymore. There was a dull throb there now as he picked his way through the mounting snow, a pulsing feeling like his head had its own heartbeat. He really didn’t like it. And the falling snow stuck in his fur was getting really annoying. The panic had worn off since.

He knew where Eggman’s house was though. It was this big metal thing with very tall, smooth walls, not like the ones in the villages. When it came into view, it stood out starkly against the pristine white of snow and the plant-colours of the trees. Set up in a decent sized clearing, Maurice remembered watching the man build part of it with his badniks a while back. It looked icky. He was going to try there.

‘He’s not very good at hiding,’ Maurice thought with a snort.

Dark just hummed, walking beside him. He’d been there for a while, since Maurice had been thumped by that stick. Dark had appeared, growling and spitting at the lady in fury. But the mouse hadn’t reacted. No one ever did. The whole time after, his friend had been as quiet as the forest. Maurice thought the other might still be seething from him getting hurt. He’d tried telling Dark he was ok; the black-furred hedgehog didn’t believe him. He’d just glared at Maurice and then promptly looked away. The blue hedgehog thought he would have cooled off by now. He was starting to wonder if he’d upset Dark somehow.

‘Why’re you all sour?’ Maurice asked. ‘Did… did I do something wrong?’        

Dark sighed. He shook out his fur as though the snow was bothering him too and finally looked at Maurice again. Those white eyes were still narrowed, ears flattened right down. He looked like he might get snappy or something. Maurice hoped not, he wasn’t in the mood today. But Dark only shook his head.

“I’m not angry at you, Maurice,” Dark muttered, voice a little clipped but softer than earlier. “I just don’t like them. I don’t like when they hurt you.”

‘I know,’ Maurice thought. ‘But I’m really alright. And Eggman will have food. Everything’s fine.’

Dark huffed. Maybe he still didn’t believe him – but about what part? Eggman had to have food. Right? He looked different than the other mobians on the island but Maurice was pretty sure he had to eat something to survive. And if Maurice found food, he’d be ok too. That wasn’t a lie. It was probably the “alright” thing, wasn’t it? His head only hurt a little now; his side was arguably worse. It was all red and it hurt to touch it and it made his fur all stiff. Maurice knew that red stuff was supposed to stay inside, that it was really important. He seemed pretty awful at keeping it all in his body though. Maurice hoped he didn’t have a set amount of that stuff…

He tried not to think about that. It might make him panic. And panic was not a fun feeling.

“I don’t want you sneaking in there,” Dark said. “What if you get stuck? Or he hurts you too?”

‘He won’t catch me,’ Maurice insisted, putting a thumb to his chest. ‘I’m much too fast.’

Dark fell silent again. He didn’t really look angry anymore. Just worried. Maurice couldn’t hug him here so there wasn’t much he could do. But he’d show Dark; he’d be perfectly fine in there. Then his friend could relax.

But, as he circled the flat, ugly walls, Maurice was briefly stumped. How was he supposed to get in? There was a big door-thing around the other side that he’d seen open before but it was currently shut. And this house had no windows. How did Eggman see outside? After a little more thorough searching though, Maurice did find a metal covering over some opening a little from the bottom of the wall. If he could get a little momentum, he might be able to break it. So he took a few steps back while Dark looked on in disapproval, arms folded and still obviously worried. Maurice shot him a thumbs up before curling up and flinging himself into the cover. He cut through it with minimal effort and rolled a few paces into the opening.

When he uncurled, Maurice lowered his ears. He hadn’t been able to see very far inside with the metal in the way be he now realised it was a little tunnel. And the walls were way too close. The floor was frigid under his knees but it wasn’t really any worse than the snow – at least it was dry in here, ignoring the dampness he’d brought with him. And, thanks to his new gloves, his hands weren’t so bad today either. Fur prickling along his sides and back, Maurice grimaced and pressed forwards. As long as there was a way out, he’d be ok. As long as there was a way out he’d be ok…

“Breathe,” he heard Dark mutter. “They’re just walls. They aren’t moving and they can’t. You’re small enough to get through and, if you really don’t want to do this, you can just turn around. The forest is right behind you, ok? And I’m right here, always.”

Maurice let out a shaky breath. His quills flexed and the hedgehog let out a whine when they scraped against the top of the tunnel. Too close, they were too close. He blinked and Dark appeared in the bend of the tunnel up ahead. The black-furred hedgehog held out a partially see-through hand. Maurice knew he couldn’t take it but it was meant as an encouragement. If Dark thought it was ok, he would be fine. Dark didn’t lie to him.

He'd be fine.

Swallowing, though it felt like there was a pebble stuck in his throat, he tried to ignore the walls surrounding him and focus on Dark. Once he got to the bend, Dark faded away and reappeared at the next one. The black-furred hedgehog was sitting there, calmly. Maurice respected and appreciated his ability to stay so relaxed in such a cramped little place. Maybe he’d accidentally helped out his friend by making him focus on something else too.

“After this corner, it’s a straight shot to the other side,” Dark said. “Though… there is another cover. Just stay calm when you see it; you know you can break it. You’re not stuck.”

‘Promise?’

“I promise, Maurice.”

When he did round the last bend, Dark disappearing once more, he tried to steady his breathing. There was a cover there. But Dark was right; he’d been able to get through the first one and this looked exactly the same. So he just had to repeat what he did. Curling up in here should have made him feel better because he couldn’t see those walls anymore. But it just made him panic more. He thought again about how there was something blocking his way out and he just froze.

“Come on, Maurice,” Dark whispered. “You can do this. It’s just a flimsy piece of metal.”

Maurice sucked in a breath and launched himself at the cover. He tumbled through, feeling all weird and jittery. Scrambling to his feet, Maurice ran out into the centre of the long room beyond and gasped for air. He shook out his fur like Dark had done earlier, flicking water droplets from the melted snow everywhere. And for a beat, he just stood there, breathing hard.

Dark walked up to meet him from the opposite wall. There was a soft smile on his face but his ears weren’t quite upright. Maurice noticed it but he didn’t say anything. He could wonder why Dark wasn’t quite as fine as he seemed – probably still the village or being inside Eggman’s base – but he’d be there in that long room all day with no real answer. And that was a very bad idea. A badnik could come along at any time. Or Eggman himself. So he should probably get moving, even though his legs felt a little wobbly still.

“You did great,” Dark said gently.

Maurice eyed the tunnel he’d just left out the corner of his eye. He felt his quills bristling already. The idea of going back in there made his head feel sort of floaty. He couldn’t do it.

‘I don’t want to leave that way.’

“You might have to,” the other hedgehog admitted. “But the covers are gone now, remember. It’ll be easier.”

Marice still turned to growl at the opening. Why did Eggman even need such a tiny tunnel like that anyway? Was it for his badniks? The man certainly couldn’t squeeze his way through that himself. The thought would have made him laugh if it hadn’t first made him nauseous. So he pivoted on his heel, picked a direction and started to creep his way around the base. He kept low, to the wall and kept an eye out for doors, openings, places to hide and badniks.

There was no way to know where he was or where Eggman kept his food stash. So he just had to keep moving, remain undetected and just hope he stumbled upon something eventually. Not the best plan but that’s what he sometimes had to do out in the forest anyway when his usual spots were depleted or not producing. It was really frustrating but it had to be done. Besides, if he figured this out, he might be able to sneak in for more later. He’d only take small things, of course. Nothing that would – hopefully – be missed. Maurice did not like stealing things but sometimes, for his own survival, he just had to. Dark used to say it was fine because the villagers treated him poorly anyway and they deserved it. Maurice still wasn’t sure. And Eggman did bad things too. It still felt… wrong. Like he really, really shouldn’t be doing this.

Was it too late to head back and try the village again?

And then, suddenly, his nose picked up a smell. It was warm and sort of smoky but in a pleasant way. The type of scent he’d never smelled before but that made his mouth flood with spit – the good kind this time. What ever it was, he really wanted it. So Maurice changed course, following his nose to the source of that tantalising scent.

It only occurred to him, as he reached a new door that had been left open, that he was likely about to walk right into Eggman. Hot food usually meant someone was about, eating it. Maurice didn’t get hot food often. Once or twice, he’d made a fire after watching some kids from a village do it. And he’d heated up a few vegetables and an apple on there a few times. He was always hesitant to make a fire though when there were so many trees that could easily catch light. That wouldn’t be good for the poor forest. It didn’t seem fair to take that risk. Still, he thought about that apple sometimes. It had been really good…

Maurice slipped into the room. There was a big seat over by some bright, magic surfaces and stuff. And in that chair, he could see Eggman brooding.

Keeping his steps light, he ignored the usual sharp pain in the bottoms of his feet when he tensed them. That always happened. Some days it was a little more muted than others but Maurice had learned to ignore it. He still winced occasionally when he stepped a little weird and hadn’t been prepared for it. But it was whatever. Maurice believed he could get used to anything if it meant continuing to live. He liked living. That tunnel-thing he’d entered the house with would be difficult but, ultimately, if he had no other choice he’d just have to suck it up.

He already knew he was most likely leaving through it anyway. No use pretending he could avoid it. That always caused more harm than good. Dark had tried to warn him against ignoring things that were unavoidable. Expect the absolute worst so that good outcomes felt much better; that was Dark’s moto.

Maurice didn’t always like that but it made sense. Dark usually shot back that life wasn’t fair when he complained about it anyway.

The hedgehog spied the round white thing – plate, it was called a plate – and could see something stacked up on it. Bread with something else. It looked sort of long and round from here but he couldn’t be sure. He thought about dashing up, snatching one of… what ever they were and sprinting for his only access to the outside world. But there was no way Eggman wouldn’t suspect something. Maurice didn’t know how it all worked but he knew he somehow created some sort of wind when he moved really fast. And that plan would definitely kick up some movement in the air.

So… maybe if he was slow enough, the man wouldn’t notice?

Ears twitching occasionally at the rhythmic tapping coming from Eggman, Maurice inched closer and closer to the tall table. With every step, his chest thudded with that familiar panic. He really didn’t want to be caught, not again. He was so hungry. Maurice just needed one of those bread things. Just one. He could probably stretch it out for a day or two. Then he’d be good for a while. He reached out his hand when he was close enough, stretching to reach.

Just one.

Eggman’s hand shot out, clamping down on his wrist. Maurice cried out, completely caught off guard. He’d been so focused on his prize that he hadn’t been watching the man. Immediately, Maurice started to thrash, putting all his weight into pulling himself from Eggman’s freakishly strong hand. But he couldn’t do it. He could hear Dark to his side, hissing at the man and pacing. Maurice knew he’d be hearing an “I told you so” or two later after this. But right this moment, all he could think was to get away from Eggman. He didn’t really want another blow to his hurting head right now. He also felt awful for being caught doing something so wrong.

“What are you doing, rodent?”

The moment he heard the words, the hand around his wrist loosened considerably and Maurice felt himself falling back. He had to regain his balance before he ended up on the floor. He didn’t like being vulnerable; he had to have his feet underneath him at all times so he was always ready to go. So he stuck out his arms and tried to throw his weight forwards again to even everything out. For an agonising moment, he rocked on his feet back and forth before finally settling. Maurice let out a quiet sigh of relief. Then he remembered where he was.

Tensing a little again, he realised the man had not hit him. Why not? As he was trying to figure it out, he glared at Eggman for almost making him fall over. He couldn’t tip over in front of this man; he had to show Eggman that he was capable of holding his own at any given moment. He would not be walked over or ignored. Because he was the only one standing between this man and the destruction of his home. He couldn’t show weakness. Not ever.

But… the man had asked him a question. So Sonic felt he had to answer. Perhaps Eggman deserved that much since he’d just tried to steal from him. So he awkwardly pointed to the food.

“Can’t you ask someone in the village you just saved for something to eat instead of stealing my food?” Eggman snapped.

Maurice wilted even more. Blue ears drooped. He shouldn’t have been stealing, he knew that. But he couldn’t go to that village either. That lady might still be there. And if not her, then someone else would be about; he wouldn’t be able to sneak back in without them being on high alert, that’s for sure. They might be waiting for him. The thought made his quills want to bristle but he willed them not to.

The pure hate and fear in her eyes… Maurice hadn’t understood it. He never did. Why did he have to be so different? If he wasn’t, the villagers might actually like him.

“Why not?” Eggman asked. “Why can’t you ask there?”

There was no way to answer Eggman. Maurice just shook his head, trying to communicate that to the man, hoping he’d drop it. He wasn’t exactly looking to reveal to the man what had happened. But then the motion irritated his head again. He caught himself rubbing that spot next to his ear where the pain was the worst. It both soothed and aggravated the area. The pressure hurt but the actual motion was sort of nice actually. So, for a moment, Maurice just stood there, smoothing his knuckle over the side of his head.

He only realised what he was doing and stopped when he saw Dark staring at him. The black-furred hedgehog was looking at him with narrowed eyes and Maurice swallowed, caught. Was there any way out of it at this point?

‘I am fine, Dark. I promise.’

“And your head hurting has nothing to do with that lady hitting you over the head?” Dark huffed sarcastically. “I suppose you’re going to tell me it doesn’t even hurt next, hmm?”

He had upset Dark. It was time to pivot.

‘Ok, it does,’ Maurice admitted. ‘But it’s not that bad.’

Dark didn’t respond. He just went back to eyeing Eggman with suspicion, like he’d been doing for a while. But that’s what Dark did with everyone, so it wasn’t that out of the ordinary. His friend really didn’t like the man but Maurice wasn’t sure what he felt himself. Eggman did bad things, terrorised the villagers and captured and scared his animal friends. But he also wasn’t hurting him yet like Dark had said he would. Really, the man was just… different, like him. Maybe that’s why he was lashing out. Maurice wished he could tell him he didn’t have to.

Suddenly, Eggman picked up the disk – plate, it was a plate, he knew that word – with the food on it. Then he held it out to Maurice. The blue hedgehog started, not expecting it. His ears titled forward with interest. He almost leaned forward, enjoying the smell up close. But then he had to pause. Was it a test? What if taking one meant he failed? He saw Dark tense out the corner of his eye.

Maurice rose his eyes past the food to see if he could glean anything from the man’s face. It was sort of hard because he couldn’t see that man’s eyes properly behind the glass things he wore. But then, he couldn’t usually see that much in Dark’s eyes either. So he scanned the man’s face, looking for a hint of malice or some other indication that he was waiting for Maurice to make the wrong choice. He saw nothing there but a sort of resigned frown. Maybe… maybe he shouldn’t take one.

The next thing he knew, the plate was being thrust into his hands. Maurice blinked at the food, not understanding.

It wasn’t a test. But… this food was Eggman’s. Maurice had only wanted to take one. Maybe, with the man’s approval, he’d take two, at a stretch; that might last him six, seven days. But there were a lot of bread and red-cylinders on the plate and it seemed like Eggman intended for him to take them all. Maurice couldn’t figure out why. That was very unfair. So, with flattened ears, he hesitantly reached out to poke Eggman’s leg. He needed the man to know this was excessive and not what he’d wanted. This amount of food would not last that long outside with Maurice; it would be a waste. And Eggman needed to eat too.

The man turned back from his big table to look at him. Maurice pushed himself up as tall as he could make himself to slide the plate back into Eggman’s hands. The man looked just as confused as he’d felt before. Maurice didn’t know how to deal with it. So he took one of those bread-things from the plate and sat himself next to Eggman’s chair. The man just sat there for a moment. Then he set the plate back down and picked up a bread-thing himself. Satisfied, Maurice took a tentative bite of the food. Just in case it would make him sick like that berry, he had to be careful.

But it was the best thing he’d ever eaten in his entire life. Without a doubt, what ever this glorious thing was, he probably didn’t deserve it. But he had it and there was no way he’d let Eggman take it back now. He was halfway through the bread-thing before he’d even realised. Oops. Oh well, it was too late now.

“This world doesn’t deserve you,” Eggman muttered.

What did that mean? Maurice looked up at the man and tilted his head. He furrowed his brow, trying to work it out. But then Eggman turned away and fiddled with his shiny, magic wall again. Must not have been meant for Maurice then. No matter. Maybe Eggman just liked talking to himself. So he shrugged it off and went back to his yummy food.

When that one was gone, Eggman held the plate out to him again.

Oh. Eggman wanted to share. Maurice had never shared anything with anyone before. He felt like he had to eat this next one now then. But that was ok. If he ate both right now, then he would have the energy to look for more food later. And he’d be able to wait longer before eating what ever he’d find because he’d actually be full. That was sort of novel. Maurice wasn’t used to being full. He’d long grown used to that empty feeling.

Eggman ended up offering him a third after and… well, the blue hedgehog couldn’t exactly say no to that. But when Eggman tried to give him a fourth tasty bread-thing, Maurice narrowed his eyes.

‘That’s yours,’ he thought automatically, confused.

Had Eggman been counting wrong? Good thing Maurice had been paying attention then. So he shook his head to let the man know. No, he’d already had three – that one was for Eggman. Poor man must have been really focused on his magic stuff not to realise. Maurice would have truthfully been happy with two. But, admittedly, he’d really wanted that third when Eggman had offered. He might never have these again so he’d wanted all he felt was fair. Three each seemed plenty. Maurice had certainly been satisfied.

Maurice was ready to leave. But that felt kind of rude. So, despite Dark’s protests, he decided to stay until Eggman had finished eating. That seemed like the correct thing to do… right? It felt like it should be. After that last bite, Maurice hopped to his feet. He wiped his gloves on his legs, sort of as a way to announce that he was about to leave. Then he gave Eggman a smile to say thank you, then a little wave, and turned to head for the door. He felt happy that he’d been able to thank the man – he just hoped that’s what Eggman realised it was. Maurice was never quite sure how much he was understood by the man. But at least Eggman actually took the time to try unlike most everyone else. That also felt good. Maurice liked that the man tried.

“Wait!”

The hedgehog paused. He looked back at Eggman. What did the man want? They were done here, weren’t they? He asked Dark. The black hedgehog just shrugged. He’d mellowed a lot since it became clear that the man wasn’t going to hurt him.

“Stay,” Eggman said.

Wait, what? Did he hear that right? Maurice frowned and held out his hands, palms up. He let them fall back to his sides. He was pretty sure the man understood what he meant. Dark said it had been pretty clear to him but then… Dark always knew what he meant. So, although he appreciated it, his friend’s words weren’t massively helpful.

“It’s below zero out there, rodent,” Eggman said. “I’d rather my enemy not become a hedgehog popsicle before I have the chance to beat him properly. That’s hardly a fun challenge.”

Maurice didn’t know what “below zero” meant. Or what a popsicle was. But he’d could understand the want for a challenge. Sometimes, he made dares with himself – he’d learnt what those were from watching the same kids with the fire – to see what he could do. Seeing how fast he could go before hitting a tree. How many of Eggman’s badniks he could destroy without stopping. Testing how many bites he could take from a single apple without going over fifty. Trying to climb the tallest tree in the forest – now that one had really frightened Dark. Maurice liked a good challenge. It distracted him from being hungry sometimes or sad. Of course, he always had Dark. But sometimes, he still felt really low for some reason. His friend could relate. It was days when he couldn’t even bring himself to set a new challenge that were really bad.

Maurice didn’t like those days…

“I think it would be a good way to get out of the snow for now,” Dark mused. “Just keep your guard up. As long as the man doesn’t know how you got in, you always have an escape route.”

He perked up. Maybe he didn’t have to go out that scary tunnel so soon after all. Dark was right. Walls and something over his head meant no snow. And the snow had gone past the point of being fun yesterday. There was too much now and it was just getting hard to find somewhere that wasn’t buried under all that cold stuff.

The blue hedgehog rushed forward and hugged Eggman’s leg. He’d very much like to get out of the snow for a day. So he wanted the man to know that, know that he was thankful for this chance. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept with an actual roof, wasn’t sure he ever had. There was that shelter he found a little while ago and that one was pretty good. Couldn’t protect him from the wind or when the rain was coming down at an angle though. He did really like his shelter but this was a once in a lifetime opportunity – he couldn’t turn it down. So he beamed up at the man.

“Until the snow melts,” Eggman told him.

That might take more than a day though… So was Eggman actually offering an extended stay? Oh wow, multiple days away from the rough winds and freezing snow? That sounded awesome.

“I’m serious, rodent. Once the snow starts to thaw, you’re back out on your ass, you hear?”

‘I know,’ Maurice thought. ‘That’s so cool, thank you!’

But Eggman couldn’t hear him like Dark could. So Maurice nodded to let the man know he was understood. After a beat, Eggman stood from his chair and forced Maurice to shift away. He picked up his plate and started to leave, so Maurice raced after him. He couldn’t help the spring in his step as he walked beside the man.

Dark was prowling behind them, eyes narrowed as usual. He was nervous, even though he’d told Maurice it was a good idea. It sort of make the blue hedgehog falter a little. He recovered pretty quick; Eggman didn’t notice.

‘Guard’s up, Dark,’ he assured. ‘I’m alright.’

Dark gave him a single nod but went back to scowling at Eggman’s back. Maurice tried not to sigh. His friend was going to make himself sick if he kept stressing like that. Could Dark get sick? Huh. Maurice wasn’t sure. He knew, after eating that holly berry, that Dark had admitted to being nauseous himself. So he supposed he could, just not in the same way. He wanted to ask the black-furred hedgehog about it, curious now, but he got distracted when they walked into another room.

There was a big seat and a lot more tall-tables – though all but one had little doors blocking the underside. They were like tiny houses. What use could Eggman have for those? He drifted over to the big seat, curiously.

“Sonic, how old are you?” Eggman asked.

He almost jolted hearing that name. Right, that’s what he’d told the man a while back… He wasn’t used to hearing that name. Dark was the only one that called him Maurice but Eggman was the only one that called him Sonic. He quite liked the sound of it; Dark was the one to come up with that name. He’d said it might not be a great idea to give the stranger his name at the time. And to be honest… neither of them knew how to spell Maurice. He just knew that was his name and that’s what Dark insisted it was. He’d never asked why or how he knew that.

Maurice blinked. Right, the man had asked him a question. How old was he? He assumed the man meant in years. A year was made up of four seasons, right? He tried to remember how many seasons he’d been through. Eighteen? Dark chimed in and told him he’d been alive longer than that. They worked out together it was about… somewhere between twenty-five or twenty-eight then? So that was… how many? Maurice started to count out the seasons on his fingers, moving to the next finger after he counted four times. He wasn’t completely sure of his answer after the first count so he tried again. Then Dark helped him count one more time before he held up seven fingers to answer Eggman’s question. The man didn’t respond, just kind of stood there for a while, motionless. So Maurice turned to jump up onto the big seat. Dark took sat on the floor next to it.

Oh.

Oh, it was soft! He decided he liked the soft-seat. It was all squishy and squashy under him. After shifting a little at the novelty of it, Maurice let his eyes scan the room. There was another room off this one but it seemed to be a dead-end; he’d snoop later to double-check that was the case. Otherwise, there was only one exit to the room and Maurice made sure to note it. He hadn’t a clue what anything else in this room was, not that there was a lot. There were some things over on those tall-tables but he didn’t really care what they were right now. He wanted to explore more of what this soft-seat was.

Eggman walked away to the other side of the room. Maurice jumped slightly upon hearing the sound of water sloshing about. He peeked over the back of the seat to watch Eggman for a moment. When it became clear the man was way over there and not coming back, Maurice relaxed. He turned back to the seat.

There were gaps between three different square things on the seat. He was sitting on one of the square things right now but he wanted to know what was in those gaps. So he began to dig at one. The square shifted under him and he blinked. It was loose. He tried all three and he found he could move them all. Maurice crawled off the middle one and scratched at it from the side. It wasn’t that heavy but it wasn’t really light either. He found he could pull it up enough to get underneath it.

So he did.

It was cosy under there. Warmer than outside and he could still see out across part of the room. He settled himself under the big square, lying on his front with his legs up under him. His hands were pressed to the under-seat just below his chin. It was nice here and he didn’t get the same horrible feeling like he did in that tunnel – he knew at any moment he could shift the square above him and be free. Maurice felt extra safe. Eggman appeared in the space he could see. The blue hedgehog eyed him but he didn’t seem to be an immediate threat. Everything was great. He’d eaten, he had a roof over his head, and now he had this awesome soft-seat to sleep in.

Suddenly, the square above him was snatched away. He breathed in sharply through his nose, eyes darting around in panic. His cover had been taken away! Flattening his ears, he crawled his way under the square beside him, hoping he hadn’t been spotted. Then he remembered Eggman was the only one in the room with him besides Dark. And if the man was going to hurt him he would have already done so. Eggman put the square back down and Maurice huffed to himself. What was the man playing at? If he’d wanted that spot, why didn’t he just say?

Then, Eggman pulled his new square away. He made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. Now the man was being ridiculous. Maurice pushed his way back under his original square with narrowed eyes. What was Eggman’s problem? Was he not allowed to be under here?

None of the squares were taken away again. Maurice watched Eggman carefully, gauging if he needed to shift once more. But the man just stood there. So… he was ok to stay here? Whatever. Eggman was weird. Maurice moved around, getting comfortable. He was starting to feel really sleepy now. He curled up tightly in a ball, just in case Eggman tried anything else. Dark would probably warn him anyway. Letting out a sigh through his nose, Maurice closed his eyes.

He was hounded by Eggman the moment he was awake. Maurice did not like being touched. So when Eggman tried to pick him up, he wove his way around the man’s hands and succeeded in staying out of his grasp. He put up a fight for a few minutes, keeping away from Eggman. But eventually, noting Eggman’s insistence, Maurice stopped. The man wanted something from him but there were no badniks about yet. So it was probably fine, right? Dark thought no. Maurice thought yes. So, undecided, they came to an agreement: Maurice would see what Eggman wanted and, if it was nefarious, he’d bolt. Maybe even run for the tunnel if he had to. But Maurice would rather save that for a last resort.

Eggman herded him back over to the soft-seat. Maurice narrowed his eyes at the box sitting on one of the squares. The man began to prod at his hurty side, which the hedgehog really did not like. But he didn’t leave, not yet. Eggman’s touch was relatively light so Maurice would wait. It didn’t seem like the man intended to hurt him. Next, the man pulled a little white square from the box. It smelled horrid when he ripped it, pungent even before the larger, folded square from inside was near him.

“This is going to sting,” Eggman said.

Wait… why would it sting exactly? What was he going to do with that awful smelling square?

The moment that square touched his side, that sting he’d been warned about erupted in his side. It had calmed down a lot since it had first happened but now it really hurt again and Eggman was making it hurt. Maurice swiped his hand at Eggman’s arm, feeling his claws slice through skin. Then he launched himself off the soft-seat and ran to the wall.

He’d miscalculated and run the wrong way. The door was over there. So he stood where he ended up, growling at Eggman instead. A warning. As if to say, “Try that again and you’ll regret it.”

“I told you it would sting, rodent,” Eggman grumbled, inspecting the cuts along his arm. “Don’t blame me.”

Maurice thought about that. The man had said that. But still, what was that stuff? Why did it stink so bad? Why was he touching his hurt side with it? Maurice didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. His side still tingled, pricking with pain where that square had touched his skin. Dark appeared beside him. His eyes were narrowed at Eggman, as usual. But he also looked thoughtful.

“I think…” Dark started. “I think he’s helping?”

‘Then why does it hurt?’ Maurice thought, still growling.

“Not sure. But he did warn you. Maybe that stuff helps it heal?”

Helps it heal? Maurice was still unsure. But if the hurting now helped it feel better faster, then maybe he could do it. So he began to approach Eggman again. He didn’t quite trust this nasty-square still. But the pain from it wasn’t that bad. Not any worse than what he’d felt yesterday when it happened anyway. And the blue hedgehog could handle that just fine. When Eggman made a sweeping motion back at the soft-seat, Maurice reluctantly sat back down. Dark hovered nearby. Sometimes he was there, sometimes he wasn’t. Maurice knew he could always reach him with a single thought. But Dark didn’t usually linger this much. He supposed, after he’d been hurt yesterday, Dark had been very upset and just wanted to know he was ok. He appreciated it.

Eggman tried to wipe that stuff on his side again and Maurice let him. It stung once more but Maurice stayed still. This was helping, right? It had to be. So he sat there while Eggman ran it up and down his side a few times. But that was it. The man put the nasty-square away. That wasn’t so bad.

Then he felt Eggman’s hands grab the sides of his head. Firmly but not enough to hurt. He wasn’t sure what the man was up to now but he might as well let him get it out of his system. He tilted Maurice’s head this way and that and the hedgehog had no idea what he was looking for. When the man held him in a specific position, he assumed he was supposed to stay like that when Eggman removed one hand. Those fingers started prodding him again, around his head where he’d been hit. Was he going to do the same thing here? That nasty-square was gross and he didn’t want it near his face. Eggman pressed down on the spot that hurt the most on his head and Maurice pulled away from him, another growl erupting in his throat. But the man backed off and didn’t poke at his head again.

Still, he didn’t seem satisfied. He told Maurice to follow him to another room so he did. Once the man was done, Maurice could go do some exploring, so he’d bear with it. The man would get bored eventually of what ever this was anyway. That’s what Maurice usually did. If he stuck with something for too long he’d grow tired of it and find something new to do.

He scrambled up onto a white thing. It was smooth and cool to the touch with a big dip in the top. Eggman had tried to pick him up but he’d refused again. Maurice didn’t know what this was but it sort of looked like the thing Eggman had gotten water out of yesterday. But he wasn’t fiddling with this thing, he was fiddling with an even bigger white thing. Maurice watched in mild horror and confusion as he magically began filling the big white thing with water. His ear twitched. He wondered what the man needed it for. He wasn’t sure what he’d used the water for yesterday either. Did he drink it? Maybe he washed himself with it.

So… why was Maurice here then?

If the guy wanted to have a wash, why didn’t he just lick himself? That seemed far simpler and less dangerous. He’d suggest it to the man but… well, Eggman couldn’t understand him. Oh well. If Eggman wanted to drown himself, Maurice wasn’t going to help. He was far too heavy, much heavier than that flicky he’d saved from a puddle once. That puddle had been big but thankfully not much bigger than him. He’d just reached out and plucked the poor thing from it. Eggman though… yeah, that wasn’t happening.

‘Good luck, Eggy,’ he thought.

He heard Dark snort but couldn’t see him. He was probably in his head again.

The man stopped his magic and the big white thing had some water sitting in it. Like a very shallow pond. Then, the man turned to him again. Maurice didn’t like being this close to water. He thought filling the white thing had been pointless if Eggman wasn’t going to use it.

Eggman took off his gloves. What was he doing that for? Yeah, they were dirty but he did find them in a bin. Oh, was Eggman going to wash them? That’s neat. Not really needed though; they’d just get dirty again outside. But he also couldn’t tell the man that, so he might as well let him do it. Some nice clean gloves would be pretty cool though, even if they didn’t last long. He’d never had clean gloves before. And then Eggman moved his attention to his shoes. Maurice absolutely hated that. So he kicked out, striking the man at the chest. He began to growl in panic. The man could mess with his side all he wanted but Maurice would not let him near his feet. Absolutely not.

‘Leave my shoes alone!’

He needed his shoes, they were very important. They made his feet hurt a little less when he was walking and running. Without them, they really hurt. It was agony. They’d been relatively ok out in the snow, they’d gone pretty numb. But now he was all warm, they were burning again in that way they usually did.

“You’ll get them back, kid,” Eggman insisted, rubbing a hand over his chest,

Oops. Maybe he kicked too hard…

But his shoes… maybe Eggman wanted to wash those too? He hated to tell the man he’d have less luck with those. But, obviously, there was no stopping Eggman. When he had his mind set on something, he was going to do it. So if he let the man take his shoes to wash, then he could go sit in the other room away from the water, off his poor feet, and wait to get them back. Eggman said he would give them back to Maurice when he was done. So maybe it was fine. It was ok. He could get back to the soft-seat no problem without them. So those were taken too. But Eggman just tossed them to the floor next to his gloves. Why…? The water was right there, right? Did the man forget it was there already. Oh no, was he old enough to be all weird and forgetful like that man from the village that sometimes forgot everyone hated him? He was sort of nice, if a bit rambly, and strange when he forgot stuff. But he was really scary when he remembered…

Maurice was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a tug against the delicate skin on the bottoms of his feet. Agony raced up his legs. He yelped, raking his claws over Eggman’s arm once more. No. No. Not his feet. The man could do what ever he like, as long as he stayed away from his feet. So Maurice made the admittedly silly decision to jump down from where he was, wincing when he landed full force on the pads where it really hurt. Another couple spikes of agony and he was by the door. But he was too short to reach the opener-thing. At a loss of what to do, Maurice squished himself into the corner as much and he could, trying to keep some weight off his feet for a moment. A shudder went through him and he felt ill. His quills scraped against the metal walls, reminding him on the tunnel again. Maurice grit his teeth. His growl was near constant.

“I’m sorry,” Eggman said gently. “I’m just trying to help. Can you let me help?”

So he was trying to help? Then why did everything hurt? It wasn’t fair. Everything hurt all the time. His feet, when the villagers threw things, Eggman’s badniks. And apparently help had to feel like that too? Why? None of this felt like helping. He just wanted to go curl up under that square on the soft-seat again and forget this.

“He must know what he’d doing, Maurice,” Dark reasoned. “He apologised; when was the last time someone actually hurting you did that?”

‘Never…’ he thought miserably.

Eggman was beginning to approach slowly. Maurice wasn’t sure what to do. Trying to leave would just hurt more. But staying would hurt too. He couldn’t decide. Either way, his feet were the centre of that horrible burning, splintering agony. And he wanted to avoid as much of that as possible.

“I don’t get it either,” Dark said. “But Eggman seems to think pain leads to help. So maybe it will. He knows more than we do.”

That was true… But he still didn’t understand why that had to be the case. He thought about Dark’s usual life’s-not-fair rants and held his tongue. Dark was always right. Life really didn’t feel all that fair most days. So maybe he’d just have to endure this today. Then things might get better right? Maurice tried not to hope too much, like Dark warned against, but he did like that idea. His feet might hurt less after this. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Maurice didn’t resist when Eggman leaned down to pick him up this time. He did tense though when those hands closed over his sides, just under his arms. Touch was so wrong. It made his skin tingle. But he endured it as the man hoisted him into the air. Being up this high without his feet on the ground was bizarre. He didn’t really like it. He’d rather just be down there on the floor, on his feet, even if they were hurting. Maybe he should have just walked back over to the white thing he’d been sitting on by himself. But Eggman walked past the white thing. He… he was walking towards the bigger white thing. That wasn’t right!

‘Wait, no,’ he though, mortified. ‘Eggman, there’s water in here, remember? You put it in there. Is your think-part on the fritz?’

The man didn’t seem to notice. He lowered Maurice down towards the water. Weirdly warm water grabbed at his toes and Maurice freaked out. He couldn’t take this. He didn’t want what ever Eggman’s weird version of help was anymore. It felt more like… what was the word. He’d heard other kids mention it once, when an older mobian told them to do something. What was it?

“This is literally torture, dad!”

That was it. Torture. He didn’t know what that was but he was pretty sure that kid was very upset when he’d shouted that. So this must have been torture too, right? It certainly felt horrible.

So Maurice wanted out. He ripped himself from Eggman’s grasp, dragging his way to his chest. He felt his claws gain leverage on the man’s fabric covering and used it to get himself up, up and over the man’s head. When he landed on the floor, the jolt of agony tore another yelp from his throat. But right now, the pain was secondary to the pure panic of having touched that horrible water. Eggman seriously intended to put him in there, didn’t he? Maurice could feel himself trembling, making his legs a little wobbly. He made a running leap for the opener-thing and opened the door. Then he sprinted down the long room. Once again, he’d been too disoriented and picked the wrong way. The blue hedgehog ended up back in the room with the soft-seat again. He’d meant to run for the tunnel. He’d just have to find some new shoes, he couldn’t go back for them now. But now running back down that long room was also out of the question if Eggman was looking for him.

Maurice charged into the room he hadn’t checked out yet. It was a dead-end unfortunately. There was a big soft looking platform in the centre of the fairly small room. But trying to climb onto that felt too difficult when his feet were screaming at him. So he dragged himself to the other end of the room and curled up in a tight ball in the corner. It wasn’t very hidden but he just needed to sit for a while. Eggman wouldn’t be able to pick him up if he flexed his quills out as far as possible.

Maurice whined. He felt a coldness settle along his side and knew Dark was there without having to look. And he really didn’t want to look right now, didn’t want to uncurl. His friend didn’t say anything. Just sat there with him, as he always did. Even when Maurice heard movement in the room over, he didn’t unfurl, just collapsed in on himself even further. He was breathing very hard and it made his chest burn. His eyes stung too but differently than his side had earlier. This was the type of sting that started behind his eyes and built up to a near intolerable level. But he forced his eyes closed and willed the feeling to go away.

His ears twitched a little while later when Eggman’s movement drew much closer. He uncurled enough to be able to watch the man. Maurice kept his quills raised, still freaking out inside. But a smell had entered the room with the man. A sweet, also warm smell that was delightful. He’d caught a whiff of something similar from the bread-place a few times. He’d never known what it was. But now he was super curious.

Eggman set the plate down next to him and sat on the soft platform. Maurice stared at them for a moment. Disks. They were a golden-brown colour, with darker brown spots flecked throughout. The sweet-disks smelled so good. But Eggman hadn’t taken one yet. So he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to. Maurice looked from the plate to the man and back again, trying to ask. Then back at Eggman when the man failed to move. Was he allowed one? Was Eggman going to take one? After a moment, the man sighed and scooped a sweet-disk off the plate. So he could have one then. Good. Maurice really wanted to try it.

So far, the man wasn’t dragging him back to the water, so he assumed he was safe. Dark eyed the man warily. This could be some kind of trick. But Maurice wanted to eat one of those disks so bad. Hesitantly, he reached for a sweet-disk and sniffed it. He couldn’t smell anything harmful in it and Eggman was eating it too. But he wanted to commit this smell to memory. If he’d never have it again, like the bread-things, he wanted to remember this amazing smell. Then he broke a tiny piece off the side. It was amazing. Really sweet. Not the same kind of sweet as fruit-sweet but a new sort of flavour he really, really liked. So he took a bigger bite and chewed away at the interesting texture. It was crunchy but soft and kind of gooey on the inside. And really, really sweet.

Eggman seemed to forget how to share again, so Maurice had to pause between each disk to prompt the man to take another. Gradually, Maurice let himself uncurl, calming down. The sweet-disks were really helping. By the time the last one was gone, the hedgehog was sitting like Dark, with his back flush against the wall and legs tucked up under his chin. His friend stood to pace though once Maurice was feeling a little better. The blue hedgehog licked that dark, very sweet stuff form his fingers, unwilling to waste any of it.

“Sonic,” Eggman said, getting his attention. “I know they hurt but I need to look at your feet. They’re injured – do you know what that word means?”

Injured… was that another word for hurt? Then he supposed yes, he did. So he gave Eggman a small nod.

“They’ll get worse unless I can look at them, ok? You don’t want hem to get worse do you?”

Maurice shook his head. No, that would be awful. They already hurt real bad now. He couldn’t imagine what worse would be like.

“Your socks are stuck in the wounds on your feet,” Eggman explained. “They’re preventing any healing from happening. I need to soften the area with warm water to get them off. And clean your fur so that your feet and side don’t get worse. The water won’t hurt you, I promise. I’ll even let some out so there’s even less.”

Was “wounds” the same as injured and hurt? It was probably bad that his socks were stuck there then, wasn’t it? Eggman wanted to help but he wanted to help with water. That was the part Maurice was having the biggest issue with. He really, really did not like water. It was awful stuff. But the man said it was safe. He said there wouldn’t be a lot of water. But Maurice was still having trouble. The man asked if he’d let him help again. The hedgehog didn’t have an answer for him.

He let his eyes drift over the room, trying to think. Then he spotted Dark by the door. He’d stopped his pacing now and was just leaning against the wall. So Maurice tilted his head and asked what he thought.

“It would be bad if your feet get worse,” Dark said. “They’ve been bad for a while, Maurice. You might have to face the water.”

Maurice made face.

“I know,” Dark whispered. “But think about your feet. If Eggman thinks he can help… shouldn’t you let him try?”

He absolutely hated that answer. But Dark was always right. So Maurice turned back to Eggman and gave a reluctant nod. He could help. Maurice didn’t have to be happy about it though. He refused to be picked up again, not until he had to go in that horrid water. So he tottered along beside Eggman as they left the room, getting closer and closer to that stuff he really hated. Maurice at least wanted to have control over this part if he really had to sit in that big white thing. He shivered just thinking about it.

Watching Eggman fiddle with the big white thing – he supposed it sort of looked like a large, long bowl – Maurice began to fidget. The large-bowl made a weird, wet, sucking sound that made him jump. Then Eggman used his magic to make more water fill it. His ears flicked at the splashing sound uncomfortably. Dark told him to even out his breathing; that was really hard but he tried. He used Eggman’s leg to stabilise himself as he attempted to take a peek into the large-bowl. He wasn’t tall enough but it was driving him crazy not knowing what was going on inside. It made him feel worse not knowing. But he just… couldn’t… quite… reach. He huffed, frustrated.

Then hands closed over his sides again. Eggman paused like last time before lifting him up. He actually let Sonic look into the large-bowl for a moment which was nice of him. The water definitely seemed a little less than before, so the man hadn’t lied to him. Still, it looked like too much. He couldn’t help holding on to the side of the large-bowl, as if that would stop Eggman from putting him down inside it.

“You ready?” Eggman asked.

‘No,’ Maurice thought.

But he had to do this. If it would help his feet he had to. It was just a little water, he told himself fiercely. He could do this. Eggman was right there. If the man wanted to hurt him, he’d just hold him under, surely? But he hadn’t yet. He’d asked to keep going. He’d shared those really nice sweet-disks with him. For what ever reason, Eggman wasn’t hurting him at the moment. Maybe he just wanted a friend. Maybe he was lonely. Maurice did not like when he snatched his animal friends from their home and put them in big weird metal things. But maybe the man was just sad and lonely. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t hurting him. Or maybe it was something to do with the snow. Somehow, even knowing all this might stop in a few days, Maurice was glad for Eggman’s help. Knowing the man would not harm him, he knew he could do this. It would be hard though. Still, he nodded his head.

Eggman lifted him further until he was over the large-bowl. Then he lowered him down slowly. Maurice closed his eyes, desperately trying to pretend that stuff he hated wasn’t there. His whole body went stiff when the water touched his socked feet again. But he willed himself to endure it. That oddly warm water crept up his legs until he was sitting in it. He’d never felt water this warm before, it was so bizarre. It rippled over his lap and he tried to ignore the way it moved, how deep it was. Eggman flicked water up his fur and he could feel himself uncontrollably shaking. He hated this. He hated this. He hated this.

It was weird feeling stuff dislodge from his quills as the man poked at them though. He hadn’t realised just how much stuff had gotten up there. Every now and then, he tried to drag some of it out because it was uncomfortable but he never managed to clear it all. He hadn’t tried in a while though to be honest.

Eggman picked him up out the large-bowl and Maurice though they were done. That wasn’t so bad. He survived and he was ok. But then he watched the large-bowl fill again from the smaller white thing and his stomach sank. They weren’t done yet, were they?

He was lowered back down into he water and he growled. Why was he back in here? The man had already drenched his fur, what did he want of him now?

Eggman showed him a weird bottle of stuff. He poured it out onto his glove and Maurice smelled something sort of pine-like and fresh. It was coming from that liquid stuff. Gloved fingers ran themselves across his skin, working that nice smelling stuff into his fur and over his quills. The feeling was weird but kind of nice. The water was still unwelcome though when Eggman started splashing it over his fur again. He flinched the first time, forgetting that was why he was there. Then he growled when more water was dropped over his head. He shook out his fur, hearing Eggman make a sound of protest behind him.

‘Don’t splash it over my face then,’ he thought with a huff.

So the man didn’t like being wet either? Why was he making Maurice suffer then? Why did he own this stupid large-bowl? He couldn’t wait to get out of this thing. His fur was sticking to his skin, his quills felt heavy despite the stuff Eggman had managed to remove. He just wanted this to be over.

Then Eggman did take him from the large-bowl. He set him down on a sort of soft rectangle of some kind. Then the man took a seat in front of him on the floor. And Maurice remembered the other thing that Eggman wanted to do. He already felt miserable, dripping and tense. And now the man wanted to mess with his feet again, right? Was it too late to ask to get back in that horrible large-bowl instead?

“I’m going to remove your socks now, hedgehog,” Eggman said. “It’s going to hurt but I’ll try to be as fast as possible.”

Fast as possible? The man had some jokes, he’d give him that. Eggman’s idea of fast could not be that fast. It was silly, imagining the man moving that quick. Suddenly, Maurice wanted to laugh. But he still felt uncomfortable and worried enough that he was able to fight the urge down.

“His only other reference is a snail, I think,” Dark muttered.

That almost got him there too. Still, Maurice managed to keep quiet.

As predicted, Eggman was not fast. At all. He was starting to wonder if the man really was as slow as a snail. The first pull sent a wave of pain through him but he dug his claws into the fabric below him and tried to sit through it. He clenched his jaw, forcing away any sounds that tried to escape. He didn’t need Eggman hearing that stuff. It was better to make it seem like it wasn’t effecting him much. But every second of it hurt so, so bad. His feet were yelling at him to run. But if they were going to get better, Eggman said his socks had to go. Dark huddled up next to him, trying to distract him, but it could only help so much. Still, he thanked Dark for trying.

Then Eggman tugged the last of the sock away and Maurice cried out. All coherent thought left his head as he kicked the man’s hand away from him. Then he found himself jumping at Eggman with narrowed eyes. Before he realised what he was doing, Maurice was sinking his teeth into the man’s arm.

“Maurice!” Dark scolded. “No!”

He stopped short, never fully closing his jaw. He snapped out of it, understanding what he’d just done. Understanding that it was wrong. Very, very wrong. Maurice hesitantly backed off, a really bad feeling spreading through him. He’d felt it before but he didn’t know the word for it. It was the same sort of feeling he got when the villagers called him a freak or a curse. Or when they threw things at him or struck him with something. That same, burning feeling that he was wrong and shouldn’t be there. That he had to leave or stop what he was doing.

He should not have tried to bite Eggman. That was very, very bad. He wasn’t fully sure why it was worse than scratching but he knew it was. He’d really messed up. So he flattened his ears. Then he touched his nose to Eggman’s arm, trying to show the man he didn’t mean it. Though it was probably too late for that. Maurice backed off completely and awaited the angry, disgusted yelling, the hand coming down on his ear.

But none of that came when Eggman sat up.

“I know you didn’t mean it kid,” Eggman told him softly. “It’s ok. I’m sorry too.”

He… he was? But he’d just been trying to get the sock off. Just like he’d said. Why was Eggman apologising to him? Dark rubbed his check against Sonic’s shoulder. The man held his hand out. Maurice thought that hit was coming but Eggman just held it there. So he gripped the offered hand with both of his own, unsure what to do. He hoped this meant forgiveness.

“But you do understand I need to take off the other one, don’t you?”

Maurice gave the man two nods. He tightened his grip, worried. It was going to hurt really bad. But he knew what to expect this time. He could prepare for it and not immediately rush to do something bad after. He let the man do what he needed to get the second one off. They had been really stuck on there. He knew that must have been super bad for his feet because they weren’t like that when he first put them on. It didn’t make it any easier to bear but Dark was there with him, telling him all about the stuff waiting for him in the Voidspace when this was done. The trees, the flowers, the warm air – late spring not summer – and all that soft grass. He told Maurice that they’d race and watch the sun set. The blue hedgehog was looking forward to all that.

The moment Eggman was done, Maurice decided he was too. He didn’t care what else the man wanted to do, all of Maurice’s hurty areas were off-limits for the rest of the day. All of him was off-limits. He needed time to breathe and just sit, knowing that his feet were getting better. The weird little painful heartbeat they had right now would go away soon. It would. Dark assured him of it. So he coiled his legs close and would not let go of them for the rest of the day. That sounded like a great plan, even if it meant he had to stay here.

At some point, Eggman tried to get closer, presumably to poke at his feet again. But he moved away and rose his quills.

‘No more touching today,’ he thought miserably. ‘No more.’

Eventually, the man left. Dark convinced Maurice to use the sort of soft rectangle to dry off most of his fur. It worked surprisingly well actually, even if the blue hedgehog felt like he was moving through thick fog the entire time. Then his friend walked with him – very slowly and carefully – back into the room with the soft-seat. He was uncomfortable where he was and they both thought it would be easier to keep pressure off his feet if he was up higher. The squishy-squishiness would be nice too. But the journey there was awful. Maurice was… well not happy to get off his feet but happier. He still felt weirdly floaty and upset and hurty.

He'd started to drift off a little by the time Eggman came back. The man sat next to him and Maurice abandoned his centre spot in order to put more distance between them. He didn’t mind the man’s presence he just wanted him at a distance right now. He didn’t feel right. And the risk of more poking and prodding was higher if Eggman was closer. Dark’s was the only touch he needed and wanted right now.

The cold was a little grounding.

Thankfully, Eggman left him alone for the rest of the day. Though he did share some long stuff with red liquid on it with him a little later on. It was nice. Even if the man had tried to confuse him with putting it in two different bowls – he’d had to double check that the man was eating enough. But Maurice mostly sat there in his spot, drifting between awake and asleep for a while. At some point, he assumed he was safe enough to visit the Voidspace with his friend. He barely had to ask – it seemed Dark was about to offer the same thing. So the black-furred hedgehog disappeared.

The Maurice felt that familiar tug. Like a hand that wanted to pull him down, down, down inside of himself. He closed his eyes and reached out, taking that hand and letting it guide him. For a moment, it felt like he was falling through the seat below him. Then any awareness of the outside world faded away.

The warmth of the sun settled on his fur first. Then he cracked open his eyes. Bright green grass ticked his nose before he pushed himself to his knees and looked around. A wide open clearing of grass stretched on in every direction, a single tree in the centre. Dark was leaning against it, watching him. Maurice smiled at his friend and stared up at the sky. It was a dazzling blue like it got during the summer but the heat was noticeably lower than that, more like early spring – just as Dark had promised. A few clouds were dotted about but otherwise the sky was as wide and empty as the clearing. Lots of space to run. He stood, dashing over to Dark excitedly.

His feet were fine here, as they normally were. No aches, no pains, no sharp sting.

“Dark!” Maurice said, relishing the voice he was given here. “I wanna race!”

His voice was exactly how he always heard it in his mind, just how his thoughts had always sounded. Maurice never got tired of opening his mouth and having words come out. Actual words! It still made him so giddy even after all his trips to the Voidspace. He just felt happier here, happier with his friend.

Dark rolled his eyes but he was smiling too. That soft, barely there smile that Maurice loved so much.

“You always want to race,” Dark said with a chuckle.

Maurice folded his arms and pouted. It wasn’t real – he knew Dark was joking – but he couldn’t help playing into it a bit. In the end, he’d get to run through the grass with Dark anyway. And that’s all they both really wanted.

“I don’t have anyone else to race with,” Maurice muttered.

The black-furred hedgehog hugged him. The feeling of his arms encircling him, solid and there made his smile break through again. It was usually Maurice who asked for a hug, as if to prove to himself Dark was really there, that he was actually in the Voidspace. It wasn’t something the blue hedgehog felt much but he did like it a lot. Dark didn’t feel quite so cold to the touch here. He was still chilly, of course, just not quite as intense. Maurice nuzzled his nose into Dark’s chest. He felt the black-furred hedgehog’s cold nose nudge against his head. He sighed. Here, with Dark, in the ever-changing Voidspace, Maurice was already so much better.

“I know,” Dark whispered softly into his fur. “I like racing with you.”

Maurice wasn’t sure why he was speaking so low. Flicking an ear back in confusion, Maurice looked up at Dark. But the black-furred hedgehog’s eyes were closed. One opened slightly when the blue hedgehog moved but otherwise Dark was still.

“You alright?” Maurice asked.

“Always,” Dark responded with a smile.

Eggman was at it again the next morning and Maurice was too tired to argue. He maybe shouldn’t have spent so much time with Dark last night... The sight of that box made him shift in place. He endured another one of those nasty-squares along his side. Then the man brought out a really long white thing. It was some kind of material wrapped around a cylinder. Eggman brought it closer to his side but Maurice intercepted it before it could touch him. He held the man’s hand in place and sniffed it to make sure it was safe. It didn’t have any strong smelling nastiness on it. It just looked like cloth. So he allowed Eggman to wrap it around his middle. Did he need a new place to store it? Wasn’t the cylinder enough? But the man didn’t use it all and he put the cylinder down, so Maurice was even more confused.

Then Eggman tried to reach for his feet again and Maurice was not having it.

‘No,’ he thought sharply with a growl. ‘You already helped them.’

The man held up the nasty square and the cloth. Did he intend to use those again? The cloth was fine but Maurice still really didn’t like the nasty-square. He could keep that awful-smelling thing to himself; Maurice didn’t want it.

“I want to clean your feet,” Eggman told him. “It’ll help them not to hurt so much.”

Maurice made a high sound in the back of his through nervously. He would like to avoid having that nasty-square on his feet. But if it would help… He still didn’t want it right now. Maybe later. His feet still throbbed from yesterday. Eggman stepped closer and Maurice huffed at him, taking his feet up and out of reach of the man. Dark waved to get his attention on the other side of the soft-seat.

“It can’t be any worse than your side,” Dark reasoned. “He said it would help.”

‘But it hurts.’

“Maybe it won’t hurt so bad after he’s done though. Wouldn’t you like to finally run without being in pain? Like in the Voidspace?”

Yeah. Yeah, Maurice would like that. If he could run pain-free like he had last night with Dark, that would be really nice. That’s why he enjoyed visiting Dark; his friend could take away all the bad stuff. No pain, no villagers, no snow. It was the best. To have even one of those things out here… that would be so cool. Maurice didn’t think it was even possible though. The Voidspace was magical. And he knew Eggman was too but could he really take all the hurt away? Like Dark?

Reluctantly, Maurice untucked his legs so that the man could help. When a hand closed around his ankle, a spike of panic shot through him and he jerked away slightly. Then he forced himself to stay still, like yesterday. Eggman said he was helping and so he just had to trust that was what was happening. But he really, really didn’t trust this stuff. So he tensed up and watched the man carefully for any funny business. He was only allowed to help with these things. The moment he was done, Maurice wanted the man away and he wanted his shoes back. That seemed like a fair compromise. Eggman took up the nasty-square and he grit his teeth, anticipating the hurt.

When the first stinging came, Maurice dug his claws into the soft-square beneath him. He started to growl again, flattening his ears. The man better finish soon or he was going to get another kick. And this time, it would be to the face. Eggman stopped for a moment and picked up a metal device that looked sharp. It had two prongs. Maurice didn’t want that near him. He growled in warning as Eggman held his foot in place with a tighter grip. The hedgehog could feel the man doing… something. It hurt a little then he picked up the nasty square and used that again. Maurice thought he’d be done now but he pulled out some other thing with white goop inside. Then he tried to put that white stuff on his foot but Maurice didn’t know what it was. It also had a bad smell to it. He pulled his foot away with a huff. Eggman just took his foot again and whipped that cold stuff all over his pads. It was sort of painful but also weirdly soothing. The texture was terrible though. The man wrapped the cloth around his foot, over the white stuff. Maurice pulled the foot away as the man started on the next.

He knew Eggman had to do both feet. But he wanted nothing more done to them after this. He’d already used more things than he said he would and Maurice didn’t like any of it. What ever all that stuff was, it had to be enough to satisfy the man now.

It better.

Maurice hugged his legs close while Eggman left again. He could hear the man moving around behind him, doing something, but he didn’t care right now. It’s not that he wasn’t grateful for the man’s supposed help, his feet just really hurt still and he wanted to be alone. Well, his usual type of alone, with Dark. Getting out of the snow was nice but Maurice was starting to have a problem with the walls. At first, because they were so far away, they hadn’t bothered him. Now they felt like they were pressing down on him.

A bowl was set down beside him. This time, he knew exactly what was in it. An apple, raspberries… and those vile strawberries. He’d eat them in a pinch if there was nothing else he could find but he’d rather not. The flavour was awful. So he’d leave them for Eggman; the rest of the fruit would be enough for him. He did have to check the man was eating his a fair share though. He was. Good. Maurice picked his way through the raspberries, savouring them as he did any fruit. He wondered where the man had gotten them from. Then when he was done, he picked up the apple.

That first bite of apple was always the best. The satisfying crunch in made, the sweet tang on his tongue - almost sharp but not quite strong enough for the flavour to be too much. Maurice liked apples. They were his favourite. And there were plenty of apples trees on the island. He’d pick them directly from the boughts when they were at their freshest, then he’d gather them up when they started to fall. They weren’t very good anymore when they started to go all mushy but he’d still eat them. It was when the apples started to have a nasty smell that he’d leave them be – it had made him sick once, eating a foul-smelling apple when that was all he’d had. Dark said it was fetid. He liked that word to describe it. Fetid. It just sounded like bad stuff. Fetid.

‘Where did we learn the word fetid?’ Maurice asked Dark.

His friend was sitting on the back of the seat, staring at the ceiling. He hummed before turning to look down at Maurice.

“I think it was that old man,” Dark responded, a little unsure. “He used it to describe that milk he had. That had smelled horrible...”

It really had. It reeked. But that was one of those random days when the old man would talk to him instead of shooing him away. He wasn’t usually bothered that Maurice didn’t speak. The man would just ramble on about who knew what and Maurice was happy to listen. He learnt what a lot of words were through that man. Like fetid. And obscene. And fuck. That word was fun but Dark said he probably shouldn’t use it. Not like anyone but his friend would hear it anyway. The man said fuck was a bad word. Maurice liked bad words, they were cool. He learnt a lot of words from Eggman too, who was the only one who talked to him regularly other than Dark. Eggman taught him words like injury and ass. And “Damn useless pile of scrap.” He said that sometimes when Maurice broke his stuff.

Maurice broke a lot of Eggman’s stuff.

“He’d gone on that long rant about flowers,” Dark mumbled. “Do you remember that?”

‘Yeah,’ Maurice thought. ‘He said he used to get them for his wife. And she was very particular.’

“And she’d smack him on the nose if he picked the wrong ones.”

Maurice chewed on the core of his apple happily. He felt much better now he’d had some fruit. Still, he’d rather Eggman keep his poking to a minimum for a while. His feet were all wrapped up in that cloth stuff so they should be fine. They’d heal now, right? That’s what Eggman had said. Maurice put the core down and pushed the bowl towards Eggman.

‘So he had to learn what they all meant,’ Marice thought with a smile. ‘I like him when he’s not angry.’

Dark sighed. He sounded sort of sad. Maurice glanced up at him but Dark was looking away. He wanted to know what was bothering him. The blue hedgehog knew better than to ask. So he probably wouldn’t know.

“Me too.”

Eggman picked up the bowl and left. After a moment he walked out the door. He didn’t come back for a long while. Maurice took that time to catch up on some dozing again. He’d spent most of his night with Dark and so he hadn’t really slept properly. Dark disappeared to give him some time to rest his eyes. He kept his little ears perked though, searching for any sounds around him. He didn’t like letting his guard down fully. But he could still get a pretty good rest while not losing full awareness. It came in handy a lot.

He picked up no sounds of movement for a long time and began to wonder where Eggman had gotten off to. He better not be hurting his animal friends. Frowning, Maurice sat up with a yawn. He better go check, just to make sure.

But when he slipped off the soft-seat, he folded his ears. His feet felt… weird. All slimy and gross. He made an annoyed sound and took a hesitant step. Then another. Every time, he felt that same, horrible squishing. It wasn’t like the soft-seat, it was a wet sort of squishy. Like damp moss but much, much worse. Scrunching up his face in discomfort, he made his way slowly down the long room, trying to find the man. He assumed he’d be where he found him last time, with his shiny magic wall. Maurice remembered where that was.

If the man was still here, he wanted his shoes back. He felt uneasy without them. Eggman really was forgetful like that old man; he said he’d get his shoes back yesterday but he still didn’t have them. So, he’d just have to go over there and remind the man. He did stop by the scary room with the big water-bowl to see if they were still there first though.

They were not.

He wasn’t massively concerned about his gloves. Maurice would rather have them, especially with all this snow around, but he was used to going without.

When he found Eggman, Maurice marched up to him and grabbed the fabric on his leg. The man was startled, apparently too busy to notice him. It’s not like Maurice had been sneaking like last time; he wasn’t even trying to be quiet. He should pay attention more, learn to use his ears. It was funny. Not enough to distract him from his goal though. So he waited impatiently for the man to recover. Once Eggman was looking at him, Maurice pointed to his feet and then at Eggman’s shoes.

‘See what’s missing, Eggy?’

Apparently, the man did not, for he took a while to respond. So Marice gestured to the man’s feet again. Still, Eggman just stared at him. Was his think-part working? He huffed, glaring at Eggman. Maurice stomped in foot in frustration, immediately regretting it when his injury cried out in protest. He shook it off and pointed back to his own, shoeless feet. Shoes. He was asking for his shoes.

Eventually, the man hummed. Maybe he finally got it. Maurice relaxed. He could get them back and then he’d feel much better.

“I’ll return them in a few days,” Eggman told him.

‘WHAT?’

“It’ll be best to let your feet heal up a bit first.”

No. He wanted them back now. Not in a few days. His feet would be fine once he had his shoes. He felt like yelling that fun word he liked, fuck, in his head but knew it wouldn’t feel as impactful as actually saying it. And he couldn’t actually say it. Which made talking with anyone but Dark a completely pointless, frustrating effort. He wished he could say a hundred fun but bad words to Eggman right now. But he couldn’t. He was about to whine, tried to turn it into a half growl instead – it came out as neither – and folded his arms, showing his disapproval of Eggman’s choice. The man just turned away and started to ignore him. Which just made Maurice angrier.

So the blue hedgehog took to pacing, trying to take his mind off it. Pacing sometimes made him feel better. Until it made his feet hurt and then he felt worse. But today it was weird. He was compelled to keep up the soothing motion but his feet just felt gross. At least this stuff was sort of cushioning his injuries, so they didn’t hurt too bad. They still did hurt of course but he could barely recall a time they didn’t. The snow numbed them but then he couldn’t feel his feet at all, so that didn’t count. He stopped to shake his foot, as though that would clear the wrong-feeling stuff from inside the cloth. It obviously didn’t but he still tried a few more times. His feet his felt off and he didn’t like it. He didn’t like any of this. Leaving without his shoes would be a horrible idea. And turning down the opportunity to escape the snow would be downright stupid. If he just had his shoes back, he could deal with this. But right now, he was rapidly growing restless and frustrated.

He was suddenly really hungry. He must have been dozing longer than he’d thought. A normal occurrence usually that he could half-ignore. Especially since he’d already eaten this morning. Maurice often went days without anything. But he didn’t have to right now because Eggman was there. And Eggman had shared food with him before. Maybe he would now too?

Maurice dragged himself over to Eggman’s chair again. He let out an aggravated but also sort of stressed sound, surprising himself. Then he sat down by Eggman’s feet and started making that sound he used to when he was younger. Maurice had given up the high pitched call when it became clear no one was coming to help him. He wasn’t entirely sure what the sound was but he knew it should have been a way to get someone’s attention. It had never worked but he still sometimes did it when he was hungry. But maybe it would actually work this time.

Eggman looked at him for a while then turned back to his magic wall. Maurice kept trying for a while. Then acceptance set in. It didn’t work on Eggman either, did it? He was being ignored again, like he usually was. Oh well. He’d just wait until Eggman remembered he needed to eat himself then maybe the hedgehog might get something too. He sighed.

“Come on, rodent.”

Maurice perked his ears then he reminded himself that this probably wasn’t what he wanted. Where were they going now? He didn’t want to be poked at anymore. The man could go on by himself because Maurice wasn’t moving.

Dark appeared next to him. He leaned against Maurice. A see-though hand sunk into his own for a beat. Fleeting, not really there, but still so cold, so real.

“This morning, he gave you food after helping your feet,” Dark reminded him, somewhat unwillingly. “So if you do what he wants maybe he’ll get something later.”

That was true. Unfortunately. So Maurice reluctantly heaved himself to his weird, gross-feeling feet and made himself walk up to the man. He looked up at Eggman with his head tilted, trying to ask him what they were doing. But Eggman just gestured for him to follow. Maurice sighed and once again trailed after the man miserably. Dark kept pace with him, drifting close to let him feel that familiar cold like usual. They ended back in the room with the soft-seat and Maurice made for it right away. If the man was going to be annoying, he’d have to do it there. The hedgehog would move no further.

He pulled himself up onto the soft-seat and sagged against the raised side. Eggman made some sounds behind him again and he perked up slightly. Food maybe? Were they actually eating now? Oh. It didn’t make him feel massively better but he did try and convince himself that food would help. So he waited for Eggman to come back.

When he did, he had something new on the plates. The bread, he recognised. The rest, he didn’t. Eggman set it down next to him and Maurice frowned. There was something on his plate that Eggman didn’t have. It looked vaguely familiar but he couldn’t place it right away. The man really was slipping though, wasn’t he? So Maurice picked up half the slices of what ever it was and reached up to put them on Eggman’s plate.

‘Eat more,’ he thought.

He picked up the bread. This had something inside like the last bread thing but it was all a different shape. The thing inside was pink and flat. The bread was actually soft, softer than he thought bread could be. And it smelled better, fresher. He still checked both, just in case they had that bad sweetness that meant it wasn’t ok to eat. Both pieces smelled fine. Then he sniffed the new thing. It smelt kind of bad but Eggman had already taken a bite of his, so he assumed that was normal. There was something smeared on the bread that he’d never seen before. That also appeared to be ok, so he took a bite. It was good, not his favourite, but he happily ate it. More than happily. Food was food and he was grateful for it.

Then he turned his attention to the slices. He picked up one to inspect. Then he realised it was apple! He hadn’t seen it in this form before but he was glad for its presence now. He bit into the fruit slice contentedly, relishing the crunch. He felt that rare rumble in his throat and chest stir for a moment before going away again.

He really liked apple. The familiarity of it was nice.

Maurice huffed, ducking away from Eggman. He wanted to poke at his feet. Again. Eight days of this; Maurice was getting fed up. Were they not healed enough for him yet? They already hurt like way less than they used to. Sort of. Mostly. Ok, maybe they still caused him a lot of pain but the hedgehog could handle it. His feet had felt like this forever – they’d been a lot worse before he found those rad shoes, actually. And surely, now his feet hurt less, they’d work even better too. So he wanted them back. Maurice was done.

So when Eggman tried to approach him again, he snapped his teeth at the man in warning and fled up onto the tall white thing that hummed. He wouldn’t have actually bitten him; he knew that was wrong. Still, he just wanted to be left alone. The man kept bothering him with stuff.

A few days ago, Eggman had tried giving Maurice a little white thing. It was round but flat like a dot or a spot and smelled bad. He hadn’t been sure what the man had expected him to do with it. And then he’d had the nerve to stick the foreign, definitely-not-food-stuff in a raspberry he’d given him. First of all, Eggman hadn’t been eating anything, so Maurice didn’t feel right taking it. Second, if the man had tried to hide it, he’d done a terrible job. Maurice would not be tricked into consuming something that would make him sick, thank you very much. But the man still wasn’t done; next he tainted a grape. Maurice hadn’t seen any evidence of the tiny white spot in that particular grape but he’d smelled it there. Somehow, the man had managed to change the spot into something invisible. Maurice didn’t know what magic the man had used to do it but he didn’t like it.

He hadn’t found any trace of the weird spot since but he wasn’t fully convinced Eggman would stop trying either. So now he had to double check all his food to make sure there was nothing nasty in or on it. So far, Eggman was in the clear. He actually might bite the man if he tried again though.

Right now, he was content staying up on the tall white thing that hummed. Eggman couldn’t reach him here. And Maurice liked being up high. He could look out across the whole room and not have to worry about something sneaking up on him. Not that Eggman could if he even tried. And all his badniks were weirdly quiet. Sleeping maybe. Still, it put Maurice’s mind at ease a tiny bit and he was very, very not at ease at the moment. The walls felt worse every day. Dark kept telling him that they were exactly where they’d been the first day he was here but Maurice didn’t believe him. This room felt smaller and smaller the more time passed. The long rooms were fun to pace but even those walls felt like they were pressing down on him, waiting to swallow him up. The other day, he tried digging at it to see if it would move, like the ground when he burrowed sometimes. But it didn’t. Metal was much harder. So Maurice had given up.

Growling at Eggman whenever he got too close to his new perch, Maurice made himself more comfortable. He couldn’t quite settle enough for another quick nap though. So he crouched there for a good while, alone, focusing on the weird hum of the tall white thing. It moved beneath his fingers, beneath his knees, shaking him and yet it was weirdly soothing too. At first, he’d found the intrusive sound annoying but now it was just background noise he was able to tune out. Maurice wanted to nap here, though he didn’t trust the man not to find a way up himself, so he didn’t. He sort of missed Dark too but also didn’t want to bother him.

His friend needed time to himself sometimes.

Of course, if he truly needed Dark, he’d be there in a blink. Maurice could reach inside and ask him for company. But, like him, Dark occasionally wanted time to sort of… rest. But not sleep. Maurice didn’t have a word for it but it made them both feel better to have time apart. And Dark had been way more present than normal for too many days in a row, so it was understandable. Maurice would give him all the time he needed. It just sucked sometimes when one of them wanted to be alone and the other wanted company. The balance was difficult to find. But the blue hedgehog could spend a day or two without Dark directly at his side. If he had to for his friend, he would, it was just that simple. Dark always did the same for him.

But eventually, staring at the soft-seat, Maurice grew bored. Eggman was gone and had been for a while. So he clambered down from the tall white thing that hummed – only almost making Dark stir in his head when he slipped ever so slightly – and huffed. He wondered if the soft-seat cold be moved. And whether or not he could block Eggman from his sleeping corner.

Determined to move the soft-seat if it was possible, the hedgehog started forward. He pressed his hands against one of the short sides and heaved. After a very disappointing moment of nothing, Maurice felt it give way under his urging. And then its movement stopped. Growling, Maurice lowered his head and put his all into another shove. His ear flicked at the screeching the poor thing let out. He stopped briefly, checking to make sure the soft-seat was ok. It didn’t appear to be yelling anymore so he assumed it was fine. Maybe he just startled it. He promised it he would be quick and tried to push the soft-seat again. He made some more progress but he was getting tired. His arms hurt from all the tensing and his breaths were coming out strained.

Eventually, his arms failed him and he fell against the soft-seat, breathless. He pushed himself back up after he sucked in more air and frowned at the seat. If his arms wouldn’t work anymore, he’d just have to push some other way. So he braced his shoulder against the side and tried that way. He managed to get it next to the wall with this attempt but it was placed all wrong. But if he pushed it from that angle… Maurice moved around to the longer flat side and used his shoulder to move it once more.

And then his foot slipped out from under him and he yelped. His foot. He’d felt a sudden, stinging in his foot. It had caught him completely off guard and, for a beat, panic spiked through him. He pressed his nose into the soft-seat, a whine escaping him before he could stop it. This time he felt Dark stir and awaken and he felt worse. Maurice kept his foot away from the ground while he tried to recover from the shock.

‘I-I’m fine,’ he thought quickly. ‘I’m alright, Dark.’

He winced. Lingering panic had tainted his words. His friend would not let that slide.

“Are you sure?” Dark pressed.

‘My foot slipped,’ Maurice told him. ‘It was nothing.’

“You don’t just whine for nothing, Maurice,” Dark snapped.

He was about to try again, to insist it was alright. But then the door slid open and Maurice flattened his ears. Eggman was back. Now. After he’d hurt himself and while he was arguing with an irritated Dark. So he scrambled for the lower edge of the soft-seat, foot still not quite prepared to hold his weight again yet, and dragged himself up and onto it. But he’d thrown himself too far in his panic, hit the edge of the square, then bounced off directly onto the floor. He knocked his head and saw pretty stars along the wall for a moment. When Eggman’s footsteps grew closer, Maurice shook out his fur and forced himself up and into his corner, automatically holding his leg near.

‘Go away,’ he thought. ‘I’m not in the mood.’

The man sighed. But it seemed his plan had worked; Eggman couldn’t get to him. Even as he was glaring at the man, Maurice couldn’t help but cheer internally a little.

“Ok, hedgehog,” Eggman muttered. “I don’t know what your issue is all of a sudden but I need to look at your feet.”

That wasn’t happening. A dull throb had overtaken his foot now, the sting fading away. His wound would be fine if he just left it alone for a bit. Maurice didn’t need Eggman poking around the bottom of his feet anymore. He’d had his fun prodding the hedgehog and rubbing various things into the injury; he could go away now because he’d already helped. And Maurice wasn’t sure he wanted to accept the man’s help with this anymore. Shelter from the awful snow? Sure. Dealing with his feet? No. Those were off-limits now because he really couldn’t stand this anymore. His feet were exposed, vulnerable, and Maurice hated that more each day.

“If you let me check your wounds, I’ll give you some shoes,” Eggman said.

Now Maurice perked up a little. He noticed that Eggman had said some shoes not your shoes but… did that mean he’d be getting new ones? He’d really like new shoes. Maurice liked the shoes he’d managed to find but he knew they only helped so much – he could feel that. Would… would Eggman really get him new ones? Maurice tried not to get his hopes up, after all maybe he just spoke wrong, but he couldn’t help the surge of excitement. But did he really want the man around his feet again?

Not really.

Still, he pulled himself up onto the soft-seat. Maurice settled on the square, hands on the tall back of the soft-seat, and leaned up eagerly. Against his will, he felt his tail do that weird thing and made it stop again. It did that sometimes when he stumbled upon food when it was really cold or when he’d first found his super cool shelter in the forest. Maurice didn’t know why his tail did that but he didn’t like it. Dark said it was probably fine because it did that when good things happened. Maurice wasn’t so sure. He didn’t like his body doing things without his input. His quills already did that enough without him having to get angry at his tail too. Stupid thing. Maurice dug his claws into the soft-seat a little but otherwise tried to ignore it.

He pointed at Eggman’s shoes, trying to ask for them now. But the man just stared at him with a look that said, “Feet first.” Maurice huffed.

“I for one think he should look at your feet today if you’ve hurt them again,” Dark pointed out.

‘Daaaaaaark,’ he thought, annoyed.

But he did end up surrendering after seeing Dark’s face. His friend was serious. And Maurice knew he would not leave him alone until Eggman confirmed his feet were ok. Because apparently his own opinion on the matter didn’t actually count.

Maurice internally groaned and moved to sit on the slightly lower edge of the soft-seat. He flattened his ears when Eggman walked around to tend to his feet once more. He almost growled at the man but stopped himself when he remembered he should be getting shoes out of this. As long as Eggman kept his word. The man unwrapped his foot and peeled away the square of cloth he’d been using instead of the white stuff for the last few days. He looked at it for a few moments. Then Eggman just wiped it down, re-wrapped it and then did the same to the other. Maurice felt like telling Dark he’d been fine all along but knew he’d probably get snapped at again. So instead, he looked to his friend, trying to ignore Eggman’s last adjustments of the cloth.

‘You can leave if you want,’ Maurice thought, guiltily. ‘Sorry for bothering you, Dark.’

His friend sighed, face softening a little. He hopped up onto the soft-seat with Maurice and sat there beside him. It reminded Maurice of being up in that tree with him a little while ago. The quietness of the snow, the chill deep in his body. But this place wasn’t so quiet and he was warm here. And yet… he missed the tree, the height off the ground he’d achieved, the wind – even if it had been way too cold at the time.

“You didn’t bother me, Maurice,” Dark mumbled. “You were hurt. I just don’t like it when you lie to me. Even if it wasn’t that bad it still happened and I just want to know that you’re ok. Actually ok.”

‘I am actually ok, I promise,’ Maurice told him honestly. ‘It did hurt but it’s not so bad anymore. I think it just surprised me is all.’

Dark leaned against him. Maurice couldn’t wait to get his shoes but he also sort of wanted to stay in this moment too. Just for a little longer. He didn’t like upsetting Dark; the black-furred hedgehog meant a lot him. He was there all the time, whenever he needed him. Maurice didn’t know how he’d survive without him by his side. Even after everything, it felt really nice to just sit with his friend as he ignored Eggman’s annoying “help.” That familiar tickly feel as the fur along his side rose at Dark’s cold energy allowed his mind to wander away from reality for a second. But only a second.

“You’re alright?” Dark whispered.

‘I’m alright,’ Maurice responded.

And then the moment passed. Dark was gone.

On the bright side, Eggman was actually done now. And despite the man’s usual prodding, his foot was more on the dull throb side than actually painful now. The usual, if more muted. And personally, that made Sonic feel great. And he was getting shoes! So he hopped down from the soft-seat, ignoring the brief flare in his foot – both feet really – and began to lightly bounce in place. Nothing else mattered. Not Eggman’s annoying antics. Not the throb in his feet. He just wanted those shoes so, so much. If the man didn’t given them to him this time, Maurice would actually break all his stuff, every single piece, and leave, to hell with the snow. Someone else might have tossed a pair he could scavenge.

But if the man was truly going to get him some shoes, he wouldn’t have to. And that thought was nicer. So he followed the man down the long room excitedly. He couldn’t keep himself in a straight line, opting to circle Eggman’s legs restlessly. He. Couldn’t. Wait! Eggman said something but Maurice wasn’t listening. What ever it was, he didn’t care right now. They stopped at a door. The moment it was open, Maurice ran inside.

Looking around, it appeared to be a place when Eggman made his badniks and stuff. There were a few that looked familiar, a few that didn’t. He approached one that he recognised. Buzz bomber he was sure he’d heard Eggman call it. Curious, Maurice stretched out his hand cautiously, intending to poke it to see if it would react. Then Eggman grabbed his arm before he could and pulled him over to a tall-table instead. The man turned to the table but the hedgehog’s gaze wandered again distractedly. There was a lot of stuff in this room. His eyes caught something round and sort of familiar on a lower part of the desk and he reached for it. Then Eggman held out something to him and he paused. Maurice gasped, eyes widening.

Shoes.

Actual shoes.

Not ones with holes or scuffs or barely hanging on pieces of fabric. These were definitely not his old brown ones. These were not beat up at all. The outsides were smooth and without mark, the bottoms sturdy and thick. New. They were brand new. Maurice had never had anything this new before. It made him feel a little like sitting somewhere to cry for some reason.

He held his hands out for them, impatient to finally have them on his feet. Eggman handed them over and he actually had them. They were his now. Maurice grinned he looked at them from every angle very quickly and then he couldn’t take it anymore. He sat where he was and he couldn’t pull them on fast enough. Even when his more recently hurt foot protested a little at his impatience, Maurice truly didn’t care.

New shoes. They were new shoes! He’d never felt happier in his life. They were super soft on the inside, cushioned just right. When he stood, he could almost completely ignore how sore his feet were with them on. And instead of slipping a little on the smooth metal floors when he walked, they kept their grip properly. This was how shoes were supposed to feel, wasn’t it? They were supposed to be way more protective and solid and cool. Maurice decided that he really, really, absolutely liked them. Even if his feet moved inside them a little with each step. But his old ones had been way too small, so he preferred these greatly in every way.

Eggman made a hand motion, trying to get him to come closer. So he did. Oh, the man had earned what ever annoying thing he wanted to do now.

‘Thank you,’ Maurice thought, smiling. ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you!’

But then Eggman kneeled down and started poking around at his new shoes. The man was frowning and Maurice’s excitement started to fade. What was his problem? Did he… did he not want Maurice to have these anymore? The thought almost made him cry for a different reason. No, he couldn’t take them back, he just couldn’t. Maurice grit his teeth behind the half-smile still on his face. He couldn’t let the man know just how sad that would make him feel.

“You’re going to hate me,” Eggman said. “But I need to adjust them.”

Maurice couldn’t hold onto the smile even if he tried. The best he could manage was pressing his lips together as hard as possible to avoid them becoming a full frown. But he did narrow his eyes, hoping to get the man to reconsider.

“You’ll get them back,” Eggman told him. “They’re too big, kid. They’re just going to slip off when you run.”

Oh no, he didn’t want that. Then he might lose them. And his feet would hurt more again. Maurice looked to the side, almost hoping to see Dark standing somewhere out in the rest of the room. But he knew he wouldn’t be there. Still, it made him feel better to have a moment to think about this. Eggman wanted the shoes but he said he’d have them back later. And he was right, they were a little too big, which might be a problem. The man wasn’t even demanding them back and taking them away forever, right? He was just waiting there for Maurice to take them off. And he really, really didn’t want to. Flattening his ears, he looked up at Eggman, worry spiking through him. He pointed to the new shoes and then at himself, trying to make sure he really would be getting them back before taking them off.

He had to know for certain. Because if the man was lying, Maurice would rather just go now. Back into the cold forest, where he was sure the snow was still piled up everywhere, waiting to make his fingers numb.

“Yes, they’re yours,” Eggman confirmed. “I promise you’ll have them right back as soon as I’m done. You can even sit with me while I fix them, how about that?”

They were his. The shoes were actually his.

So, reluctantly, Maurice removed his lovely new shoes. But when Eggman tried to take them from him, Maurice couldn’t do it. He pulled the shoes out of the man’s reach frantically. Blinking in surprise at himself, Maurice took a deep breath and tried again. He stopped himself from flinching away just barely the second time. A high pitched sound built up in his throat the moment the shoes left his hands. He stood there, glum for a moment, as Eggman turned away. And then the man came back and put his hands under Maurice’s arms again. Waited. Then lifted him up into the air. The man hadn’t done that since the large-bowl. Eggman put him down on the tall-table, where he could see his shoes, and set a thin white rectangle in front of him with colours dotted on it.

The man told him to pick a colour for his shoes. Maurice got to choose? Then he wanted his favourite colour. The colour of those leaves he liked in autumn. The colour of those flowers outside the village he didn’t know the names of yet. The colour of his rad shelter.

And, he realised as he pointed to the dot, the colour of Eggman’s cloth stuff.

So he pointed it out to Eggman too but the man just looked confused. Maurice grabbed the sleeve of the cloth to better show the man. But Eggman still looked lost. Then his eyes landed on the white lines on the fabric. He wanted those too. The colours looked nice together. But how to ask for that? He looked around, trying to find something to help him.

There was something red and white lying on the floor across the room in a pile of metal. Spotting it, Maurice dropped down from the tall-table and slunk over to it. He ducked under another unmoving badnik, eyes narrowed. When he levelled with the cloth he realised it was the same as the one Eggman was wearing now. Exactly the same, except for some dark, burn spots. It was like his old shoes, all raggedy and discarded. Maurice picked up the edge of it and dragged it over to Eggman. He hauled it up onto the man’s lap.

“I’m not sure what you want, hedgehog,” Eggman said.

Maurice tried to show him the white part on the fabric. The man didn’t seem to be getting the hint. But he did take up the fabric and started doing… something. Maurice just sighed. He didn’t know and he didn’t care what Eggman was doing anymore. As long as he got his shoes back soon, the man could do what he liked. Maurice was bored.

So he did some exploring. He didn’t know what anything in this room was aside from the badniks. There was a lot of metal though. Eggman really liked metal, huh? It wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. Eventually, he found himself in front of that buzz bomber again. He didn’t fully trust that it was asleep. So he crept up on the badnik until he was right beside it. Maurice poked its metal side and shrunk back, quills raised. But it didn’t wake up. So he shuffled over again, head cocked to the side. He sniffed it, trying to pick up any bad or sweet smell. But it didn’t have that either. After a moment, he circled the badnik, trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Narrowing his eyes, he pushed both hands out to shove the buzz bomber. It fell to the floor with a really loud series of clangs and bangs and fell apart. He flattened his ears briefly at the sound.

Eggman spun around in his chair, startled. When the man glared at him, he just stared back like he hadn’t just knocked over the unresponsive badnik.

‘Wasn’t me.’

The pieces caught his eye and he sat down next to it on his knees. He poked a few of the metal things. The sort of pointy triangle pieces were boring. And the wide, hollow circles were fun to roll until they fell on their sides and made a loud sound again. But the rounder oval and sphere pieces were really fun to roll. It felt nice in his palm as he moved it across the floor beside him. This way. That way. This way. That way. The cylinder rolled really well, so well that it slipped from his hand and fled across the floor. Maurice watched it tumble over itself and then his ears flicked back.

He jumped at the cylinder, falling head over heals as he grabbed at it, growling. It escaped his grasp so he started after it again. The cylinder hit the wall and stopped. Maurice rolled onto his side and swiped out at it with both hands. He managed to flick it into a different position so it could travel along the wall and he curled up into a ball to follow it. He unfurled and slammed both hands down, catching it. Ears forward, he sniffed the cylinder. It still smelled the same; acrid and almost burnt. He sat back and yawned.

That was fun but he wanted that nap now.

Messing with Eggman was fun. Really fun.

It was best when the man could not reach him to retaliate. Like up on the tall white thing that hummed or when he had enough space to escape. He’d tried pushing some of Eggman’s things off his tall-table the other day but the man had gotten angry, picked him up and dumped him on the floor so he couldn’t reach anything anymore. That hadn’t been so great. The sound of the little metal things hitting the ground was satisfying though. The ping as it bounced and then spiralled away into he room made him smile. Being dropped on the floor himself, not so much.

So when the man got up to do something a little while later – though Maurice waited until he put down the fragile looking thing in his hands first – he dashed out in front of him. He felt the man’s leg flash against his side. Then Eggman yelled out and tripped, tipping forwards and falling flat on his nose. Maurice snickered and ran to hide under the tall-table.

“Sonic!” the man snapped.

Maurice knew Eggman wasn’t seriously hurt or anything. He was rubbing his nose and grumbling to himself but when he moved his hand, there was no red stuff or anything. Not like when Maurice had run into that tree There had been a lot of red coming from his nose that day. It stopped a little while later but it had still been scary. Eggman’s nose was fine, if a bit sore. He still felt sort of bad after though. So he chose to leave him alone for the rest of the day and napped on and off for a bit instead.

The next day, he went back to how it all started: the tiny doors.

He’d long wondered what the little doors were for in the room with the soft-seat. The ones that were set in the tall-tables along the wall. He’d looked into a few when Eggman was gone once. They didn’t go anywhere but instead had tiny rooms inside filled with… things. Like see-through bowls and a strange, tall bowl-like thing with sharp metal in the bottom. The room under the not-white but shiny-grey, smaller – but not bowl-sized – bowl where Eggman made the water was weird. It smelled terrible. He couldn’t quite figure out what it was but it sort of made his nose hurt. He’d tried opening one of the bottles there. But when Eggman walked back in, he seemed to panic and immediately took the weird bottle from Maurice. Then he pulled the hedgehog away from the door roughly and snapped at him not to touch anything in there. Maurice had flattened his ears, not understanding what he’d done wrong. He found that particular door was stuck when he’d tried the next day, refusing to open. And so was the one with the tall-bowl and metal pieces.

So those doors were off limits. But Eggman had no real problem with him going into the others. Maybe those bottles were the source of Eggman’s magic or something. Either way, he’d grown bored of the lower doors very quickly, unable to get into the interesting ones anymore. He’d been able to get on top of the tall-table by using the chairs and other table for a while – it was how he’d reached the tall white thing that hummed. But he couldn’t actually reach the higher doors from there still.

And that was really disappointing. He decided instead to doze on top of the tall white thing that hummed and wait for Eggman to open one of them. Hopefully, he could see inside then. The man came back into the room but he walked about, not doing much of anything for a while. When he finally walked over to the little doors, the man glanced at him with a raised brow. And Maurice quickly realised that the doors opened out towards him, not away, effectively blocking his view even more. Frustrated, he’d swiped at the door. Wham. And it was closed. Eggman had swung his head around to look at him and he shuffled back from the edge, ears pinned. But it had been fun. And the man looked annoyed. For some reason, that had made it better. The next time Eggman reached out, keeping his eye on Maurice, the hedgehog let the man think it was ok to open the door. The moment he turned away, fully opening it, Maurice smacked the door again. Bang. Eggman glared at him.

But Maurice did not feel threatened. He just chuckled. The hedgehog rolled onto his back, grinning at the weird way Eggman looked when he was upside down. The man was smiling from this way up. But Maurice knew he was still mad. He couldn’t get him from up here though, so he didn’t care in the moment.

And Eggman never did anything after either. Maurice was in the clear. So he kept doing it. But not every time. If he’d messed with the door whenever Eggman opened it, not only would he actually anger the man and risk being thrown out into the snow – or worse – but then he’d know it was coming. It was the surprise of it that kept it fun, kept the man guessing. He’d bat the door three times in a row and then he wouldn’t touch it for a whole day, maybe two. Then maybe he’d go back to doing it for a one-off the following day, then stop again. If the pattern was inconsistent, then there was no way the man could know when it would happen.

So, naturally, he was back doing that again today.

It was a great distraction, a way to entertain himself without bothering Dark. The loud sound had annoyed him at first but he could get past that because it was fun. And there was no risk of hurting Eggman like he’d done when he’d tripped the man. So that made it better too.

Eggman was approaching. He was eyeing him suspiciously, like he’d started doing a lot recently. The little door opened slowly. Maurice curled his fingers against the top of the tall white thing that hummed. He tensed. Waited a moment longer so that the man thought he was in the clear. Then he shot his hand out, pushing the door really hard with the flat of his hand so that it thudded closed. Then he coiled his hand back again, grinning. Eggman just sighed. He reached for the door, fingers touching the opener-thing… then he changed course last second and opened one further along instead. Away from where the hedgehog was perched. Maurice pushed himself up, mouth open and eyes wide. That was cheating! He was supposed to try and open this door again until Maurice let him get inside. The blue hedgehog huffed irritably. The man had ruined it. Now he was bored again.

“What’s the matter, hedgehog?” Eggman asked.

But Maurice sharply turned his head away with another huff and sagged against the humming thing beneath him. Lowering his ears, the hedgehog glared down at the floor. He tucked his arms in under him and rested his chin on them. When Eggman tried to wave near his eyeline to get his attention, Maurice ignored him. When the man walked to stand in front of him instead, folding his arms, Maurice growled. He turned around and curled up slightly, facing the wall to avoid Eggman. The man had ruined his fun and now he didn’t want to deal with him.

“Come on, Sonic,” Eggman said, a hint of laugher in his tone. “Sore loser, hm? Don’t like it when the joke’s on you?”

Maurice growled again, lower this time, and poked his nose out of his ball to glare sideways at the man. Eggman was smirking smugly. The hedgehog wanted to rake his claws over his nose. But he wouldn’t. Because the man was still offering him shelter and he didn’t want to face the snow if he didn’t have to. He wasn’t in the mood anyway, not right now.

‘It’s not fair,’ he thought angrily. ‘You always open this one.’

Eggman chuckled and stepped away. He fiddled with some shiny black thing set in the tall-table. There was a metal bowl with a handle on top of it. Then the man came back to the tiny door next to him. He looked at Maurice for a moment but the hedgehog didn’t want to mess with the door anymore. Huffing again, Maurice curled back up fully and closed his eyes. It looked liked Eggman was possibly making food. So, if the man wanted to share, the hedgehog would climb down then. But he’d return to his nap for now, one ear perked in Eggman’s direction to keep track of him. Maybe Dark would be ready to hang out again soon.

‘I’m sleepy,’ Maurice complained.

He was sitting on the pillow he’d borrowed from Eggman’s sleeping spot. The holey fabric that looked like the man’s jacket – he’d heard Eggman use that word when he tipped liquid black stuff down it a few days ago – was draped around his shoulders. Eggman didn’t want it, so Maurice thought he might as well use it to get even warmer. And it helped his little corner feel nice and cosy. Usually, when he woke up, he was ready to go right away. After falling into what Dark called a “proper sleep,” he was sometimes a little dazed. But this was different. He’d woken up and immediately wanted to go back to sleep.

“Maybe you didn’t sleep enough?” Dark suggested.

His friend was kneeling on the soft-seat, ears perked forwards and hands folded in his lap. Maurice looked up at him and groaned. But he did sleep enough. He must have. Maurice had settled down quite early yesterday and had actually fallen into proper sleep. So why did he feel all… wrong? His body was heavy and slow and he couldn’t quite wake himself up fully. His eyelids refused to move further than halfway up. The hedgehog had been trying to make himself stand for a while but he just… couldn’t do it. His legs, much to his horror, didn’t seem to be working.

Was he sick? Had Eggman’s poking and weird, cold and bad smelling things somehow taken away his ability to use his legs? Had he eaten something weird from the man? Maurice was starting to panic.

‘I did,’ Maurice insisted with a whine.

“Well, why not try sleeping for longer? Apparently your body needs it.”

Maurice just whined again. It came out really pathetic. He was glad Eggman wasn’t about yet – he was still sleeping himself. The hedgehog didn’t really want to go back to sleep but he couldn’t see how he could go about his day like this. He wasn’t sure what was happening with his body but more rest seemed to be the only thing he could do. If there was an actual issue here, Dark would help him deal with it. And if it wasn’t Eggman’s doing, the man would be there too. Right?

He kept telling himself it was fine as he forced himself to get comfy again. It wasn’t really working. Dark settled down beside him; something the black-furred hedgehog didn’t always do. His friend had sensed his mood and was trying to make him feel better. That was working way more than his own thoughts were. Maurice closed his eyes and tried to keep his focus on the cold flitting against his back, the sound of Dark’s breathing. Steady, even, calm. If he tried to match that, he’d be ok. Everything would be fine.

“We can go to the Voidspace for a little bit if you want,” Dark whispered. “If that’ll help you relax.”

The blue hedgehog nodded sleepily. Though he might not be able to keep his eyes open for long there either.

The usual falling feeling when he closed his eyes felt like a full on dive off the top of a tall tree. For the briefest of moments, he seemed to fall past the hand waiting to catch him and had to scramble for that connection.

He jolted awake in the Voidspace, feeling vaguely sick. He was on his back this time, staring at blue skies that just made him feel worse. Everything was too bright. He rolled onto his side with a whine, covering his head with his arms to try and block it all out. Sensing his unease, Dark took away the scene until only the freezing, pitch-blackness that gave the Voidspace it’s name remained. Maurice could see the change through squinted eyes. He felt Dark kneel beside him, a hand closing over his wrist. But Maurice resisted the gentle pull of his friend’s hand and curled his legs up to his chest. The light was gone but his head was still… mushy. He didn’t want to move.

“That wasn’t… right,” he heard Dark say, worried. “Are you ok, Maurice?”

He flattened his ears against the echo of the Voidspace. It didn’t always bother him but he also didn’t usually spend time in the Voidspace’s resting state either.  Maurice had forgotten about the echo. And right now, he really didn’t like it. The sound bounced around him and seemed to drive deep into his head. Maurice curled his fingers to make fists but they felt way too loose. His breathing was also too slow. Was his breathing always this slow?

The blue hedgehog didn’t respond for a good while. Thoughts were… difficult. Trapped in a thick fog and clogged up with moss, his head wasn’t working. What was going on with him today? This was not normal. Maurice had never felt like this before. It scared him.

“Head’s weird,” Maurice groaned.

Alarmed, Dark took his wrist again, more insistently. Maurice let his friend roll him onto his back this time. He felt too limp to fight it anyway. Which was worrying. Above him was no longer all bright and hurty on his eyes at least, so it wasn’t so bad. He felt Dark’s hands on his shoulders and looked up into the shadow above him, the pale muzzle and white eyes.

Dark’s brow was furrowed, ears perked forwards. The blue hedgehog didn’t like that look on his face. It was a bad look, the kind that made him feel confused and worse.

“Does it hurt?”

Dark sniffed his fur. Then carefully had him turn his heavy head this way and that, checking him over. Maurice had half a mind to swipe at him to go away. But at the same time, he didn’t want his friend to leave him. If Dark could figure out what was making him feel like this, then he’d let him do his checks. Not that this body would show any physical signs of much. But it might calm Dark to try and if his friend was ok then Maurice knew he might be too. Dark would tell him if there was a problem. Dark would help him if he could. He knew that.

“No,” Maurice mumbled. “Just… weird. Like heavy and stuff.”

“Maybe taking you here was a bad idea when you feel like this…”

A spike of panic shot through him. He swallowed thickly but his mouth wasn’t filling with a lot of spit like it did before he threw up. Maurice knew that wasn’t the only way to feel sick but it was the one he felt most often. Like with the holly berry he’d eaten a while back. And that was not happening right now. So what if this was something else? Something new? What if he was sick but he couldn’t show Eggman that he was? Would the man help him? Would he even know to? Would Maurice feel like this forever?

But what scared him most was that he didn’t usually feel any pain or that sick when he went to the Voidspace. This place took away all that bad stuff. So why? Why was he still feeling really bad right now? Why was it somehow… worse? That wasn’t right. Why wasn’t the Voidspace working? Maurice didn’t like it. He really, really, didn’t like what was happening.

“Am I sick?” Maurice asked.

“Well, I don’t feel sick…” Dark responded, confused. “And I can’t pick up anything actually wrong with you either. I-I don’t understand.”

And if Dark didn’t know, what was Maurice to do? This sucked. He just wanted to be awake. He wanted to run down Eggman’s long rooms and go back to annoying the man with the little doors. He wanted to be doing anything but this right now.

“Maybe you really do just need more sleep,” Dark muttered. “You just feel heavy? Nothing else?”

Maurice shook his head. He felt heavy and sleepy and wrong. Even though he knew he’d slept. There was no way that was right. It couldn’t be. Right?

After a moment, Dark allowed him to roll back onto his side where he felt more comfortable. Then the black-furred hedgehog curled up beside him; Dark’s silent plea for him to go back to sleep. And even though Maurice would really rather not, maybe his friend was right. Yeah, he just needed more sleep. That was it, surely? He just had to close his eyes. And then everything would be ok again. He was glad for Dark at his side because he might not be able to do it without him there. Maurice reach out a heavy hand for Dark. The black-furred hedgehog took his hand and gave it a light squeeze. He’d be ok. Everything would be fine.

“I’ll be right here,” Dark whispered. “I’ll keep an eye on you while you sleep. If anything is going on, I’ll know. I promise.”

When Maurice next woke he still didn’t feel quite right.

Maybe it was the corner? Maybe if he changed his spot he could get more sleep or something? If he woke this way again, he’d have no choice but to go to Eggman and try and get the man to see that something was wrong. But he did feel a little better than last time. So maybe Dark was right and he was sleeping for less than he thought he was. He’d had restless nights many times in the past, after all. Maybe this was just one of those annoying days – or nights, he supposed – and he just felt weird because of his surroundings. He’d been in Eggman’s house for a while now but it still didn’t feel… right. The walls were just too much. Maurice thought he was probably ready to leave soon. Hopefully the snow would clear up; the warmth was nice but he missed the sky.

Standing took so much more effort than it should have but he was glad his legs were working this time. So that was a relief. He paused for a beat, seeing the bundle of… stuff on the soft-seat. He hadn’t a clue what Eggman was up to now but he was too tired to really think about it for long. He chose to ignore it. Maurice pulled himself up onto the soft-seat and let himself fall to the other side. His feet actually managed to catch him – barely – and his hazy eyes landed on the tall white thing that hummed. He quite liked it up there.

Eggman’s old jacket in hand, Maurice trudged across the room. Very slowly. Just because his legs were working didn’t mean they were working properly. Every step was so very difficult. But the hedgehog was determined to make it up onto that tall thing. Eggman had moved a seat from the table a while ago so that he didn’t have to jump for the tall-tables every time – Maurice appreciated that right now. There was an easily climbable path right up to the tall thing now. All he had to do was get up there. That should be pretty easy, right?

Sure. He could do that, no problem.

And then a problem walked in. Eggman. For some reason the man started upon seeing him. He started forward, towards Maurice, and the hedgehog growled at him.

‘No,’ he thought groggily. ‘I’m sleepy, go away.’

Thankfully, the man seemed to somewhat understand him and took a few steps back again. Eggman put his hands up. Maurice turned away and kept dragging his body over to the tall white thing that hummed. He just wanted to go back to sleep. Eggman didn’t bother him, just stayed over by the door to his sleeping spot. So the blue hedgehog ignored him, struggling his way up onto the seat. Was it always this far off the ground? He thought it was much lower. Maurice huffed.

It took him a while but he managed to pull himself up onto the seat. A beat later, he was up on the tall-table. Maurice then shoved the jacket up onto the top of the tall white thing that hummed. He paused for a beat, sitting down and sighing through his nose. Once he was up there he could sleep. Soon he could sleep. So he shook out his fur and continued on. Maurice hooked his fingers on the edge of the tall thing and heaved himself up. He didn’t quite get it in one go and had to scramble up the rest of the way. Then he nosed his way under the ripped and burnt jacket. Maurice yawned stretching his arms and legs out before coiling everything close again and curling up. His eyes had already closed, apparently asleep before the rest of his body. His thoughts followed soon after, drifting into nothingness.

Maurice’s eyes cracked open. He had to blink a few times to rid his vision of that blurriness. Immediately though, he realised he felt so much better. Still sort of foggy but the usual level of fogginess. The hedgehog rubbed at his eyes to clear away the sandy stuff gathering at the corners then he stretched his arms above his head. It felt good. Maurice had finally gotten some proper sleep and he felt wonderful. Fully rested and back to feeling normal again, the hedgehog felt way calmer and way happier.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep. Maybe it had been an appropriate amount and he’d just woken a lot restlessly. Maybe it had been closer to a full day. Either way, he didn’t care because now his body didn’t feel all heavy anymore.

But it was perhaps time for him to move on now.

Even if the snow was still there, the walls were getting too much now and Maurice wanted to go outside. He narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously, so sure this room was smaller once more. It was definitely time to go now.

Slipping down from the tall white thing that hummed, Maurice pulled the jacket with him about as far as the seat and then left it there. It wasn’t his to take – he’d just been borrowing it. So he’d leave it there for Eggman to do with as he pleased. He should probably find the man though; if he could avoid that horrible tunnel he’d used to get in, he would. Besides, Eggman would probably be glad to be rid of Maurice anyway. He’d let him out for sure. Then he could leave through the big door and also say goodbye to Eggman. The man had let him take up space in his house for many, many days. It was only right that he let the man know he was leaving – it was what the old man called polite. Maurice also had to thank Eggman too for letting him stay.

So he set out to track down Eggman, ears perked to listen out for him. Maurice first checked the room the man liked using the most, the one with the hollow badniks, but he wasn’t there. Huh. He was always in this room. Where else did Eggman go? He hadn’t heard him in his sleep spot. The room with the magic wall? Or outside maybe? Was the snow gone then?

Maurice sort of hoped the man wasn’t outside. Not only would he not know what Eggman was doing but the door would be closed too. And he’d have no way of getting out without facing the tunnel again. He really, really didn’t want to have to leave through that awful tunnel.

He wandered his way to the long room he knew the tunnel to be in. Maybe it was a good idea to just leave anyway. Not to bother Eggman. And if the man was messing with his animal friends again, Maurice wanted to be there to stop him. The hedgehog didn’t really hate the man but he didn’t like his actions sometimes. He sort of wished Eggman wasn’t so… Maurice didn’t really know the word for it. Bad was the best he had. But recently the man had been not-so-bad. It was confusing. Maurice knew it was silly to think the man had changed completely. But he couldn’t help but hope something in the man was different.

Eggman wasn’t all bad. Maurice believed with all his being that no one was completely bad. Not even the villagers that threw things and yelled and waved big sticks at him. Because they were nice to each other. It was just… him who was wrong.

But for some reason, Eggman wasn’t like that. He only yelled at Maurice when he broke his badniks and stopped him from doing bad things. But in here, he’d been a lot different.

Maurice paused for a moment. Eggman was standing ahead of him in the long room. So at least he didn’t have to worry about where he was. And he could probably leave through the big door instead, which was nice. The hedgehog drifted closer, wondering what the man was doing just standing there. Once he was close enough he reached out to poke Eggman’s leg to get his attention. The man jumped really bad and screamed. It was kind of funny. Still, it didn’t seem like the man had learnt how to keep an eye on his surroundings yet. A small smile worked its way into Maurice’s face but slipped slightly. Eggman should really work on that or he might get hurt. Maurice didn’t want him to be hurt.

He yawned for a moment, still not fully awake but getting there. Still, that didn’t stop him from noticing the badnik approaching. Maurice tensed, keeping his eyes on that motobug. But it kept chugging along, completely ignoring him. That wasn’t… normal. And the hedgehog hadn’t seen any of the badniks awake for a long time. They must have to sleep a lot. Maurice looked up at Eggman, confused. The man stared back with a level expression.

“Wondering why it didn’t attack?” Eggman asked.

Yes. But not really. They always listened to Eggman, so he assumed the man had said something to them. Besides, they looked busy. So Maurice shook his head. He pointed to the badnik moving away from them. Then he took a few steps in place. He was trying to ask the man what they were doing up. He thought what he’d done was straight forward but the man still took a moment to respond.

“Why is it active?” the man asked eventually.

Active…? Was that another word for awake? It sounded sort of similar. Deciding that was the closest he’d get, Maurice gave the man a nod.

“Just moving some things around,” Eggman responded.

He supposed that made sense. Maurice watched the badnik round the corner and disappear. A little while later, another rolled on past. The hedgehog watched it, still a wary, but it didn’t go for him either. So they were safe then. It was still weird. He stood next to Eggman for a moment or two. Then he remembered he wanted to ask about the snow before he left. Turning his attention back to the man, Maurice pointed to the wall – outside – then up at the sky – weather. He received no response so he huffed and pointed back at the wall.

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to ask, kid.”

‘Is it snowing still?’ he thought, frustrated.

Still nothing. Not that Maurice really expected the man to understand. Most people didn’t. But the man was sometimes sort of ok at guessing. It didn’t even feel like he was trying today though. So he growled. If the man couldn’t figure it out he would just take him to the door instead. Either way, he was probably just going to leave anyway, Maurice just wanted to know if he had to prepare for the cold. He wanted to test out his new shoes properly. Sure, running up and down Eggman’s long rooms was fun and all but not much of a challenge. Maurice needed to feel the wind in his fur more than anything. That was perhaps what he missed the most. That and the sky. And his animal friends. And the trees. Ok, he missed a lot about the outside.

So he grabbed a hold of Eggman’s sleeve and began to tug him down the long room. It was difficult, the man not seeming to move very far at his insistent pulling. But Maurice kept trying. If he pulled hard enough he might just make the man go faster. It wasn’t working yet but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. Probably. So, with a strained growl, Maurice pushed himself harder. It felt a little familiar. For a moment he couldn’t place why. Then he remembered that’s how this all started, back when he first snuck in. Weird.

‘Why are you making this so hard?’ he thought. ‘Move.’

Maurice gripped the man’s sleeve with both his hands and pushed off against the ground with all his might. Still no change. But they were nearing the corner that lead to the big door. They were so close. At least the man was moving. The hedgehog just wished he’d move a little faster. He was so slow. When the door was in view, Maurice didn’t stop until they were right in front of it. Then he dropped the man’s sleeve and gestured to the big door.

‘Open, please.’

After a long pause, Eggman finally walked over to the big red thing on the wall out of his reach. Eggman touched it. Then the door let out a loud clang and began to rise. The hedgehog took a careful steps towards it, unsure of the sound. When it was so far off the ground, Maurice dropped down to peek underneath to check the forest really was out there, that this was the right door.

It was. And he didn’t see any white. So he crawled his way underneath, feeling his quills brush the underside of the door. Maurice ran out into the clearing. He zipped over to the edge of the treeline, ears perked. No snow here. The hedgehog ran over to one side to scan through the trees there. Nothing there either. Then he dashed to check the other side. There was nothing cold or wet to be seen. The mud felt a little tacky under his new, shiny red and white shoes, shifting under him a little as he took every step. It was so weird not being able to actually feel that the ground was wet but still knowing it was wet. He knew the way mud felt. It was just cool that his feet stayed all cosy and warm, completely untouched by it. He flexed his toes, making sure nothing was getting through. He smiled wide when his feet remained dry.

Running back over to where Eggman was standing, door up all the up now, Sonic grinned. He held his arms out, wide.

‘My shoes are so cool!’ he thought excitedly. ‘And my feet are dry, Eggman! Isn’t that neat?’

Eggman stared out at the forest. Maurice lowered his arms. It was hard to gauge what he was thinking with his eyes hidden. Maybe he was surprised the snow was gone. Maybe he was thinking up new plans to ruin the forest. The hedgehog followed his gaze but couldn’t see much in particular of interest. Nothing moving about apart from the tops of the trees. He wondered what the man was seeing. He glanced back at Eggman and remembered he had yet to thank the man.

He awkwardly approached, not sure if the man would understand. He wasn’t sure if he’d gotten his thanks the first time either. Maurice noticed he was squeezing his hands together as he got closer and made himself stop. He stood beside the man for a beat, rethinking what he was about to do. Still, the hedgehog wrapped his arms around Eggman’s leg again. Maurice felt a spike of something uncomfortable squirming in his chest. He frowned. There it was again, that weird uncomfortable surge that he had sometimes. What ever it was, he shook it off and powered through. He wanted to thank Eggman and he would.

‘Thank you for the food,’ Maurice thought. ‘Thank you for the shelter and helping my feet not to hurt so bad. And thank you for the new shoes, I really like them.’

He paused before rubbing his cheek along the man’s leg in one last, silent thank you. Then he flattened his ears and ran off into the forest. Maurice only stopped when he was on the other side of the island. When he finally came to a halt, he shook out his fur and quills, trying to rid himself of that awful feeling. Why did hugging Eggman make him feel all weird and wrong? His fur had risen along his arms and back and his teeth were clenched. His quills were only slightly ruffled but he still dragged his fingers through to right them again. The prickling along his skin, like there were fleas in his fur, had distracted him from even enjoying the wind or the pleasant springiness in his new shoes. What was this feeling?

And why did it take a while to wear off?

Maurice made it a habit to stop by Eggman’s house every now and then to make sure the man was keeping to himself. Eggman had been pretty quiet for a few days now, which wasn’t typical. The hedgehog was starting to wonder if he’d decided not to bother anyone anymore. That was cool if he had. Still, he wasn’t convinced. So he took to doing a daily circle of the big, grey house to check for activity.

The only time something had actually changed was when he came across some things left outside the big door. The raggedy jacket was folded on the floor, a pair of new socks and gloves sitting on top. Maurice stood, looking down at if for a moment, lost. Were… were these left for him? Why else would they be out here? He kept his eye on them and fled to the forest for a while. From there, he paced, one eye on the bundle. A significant amount of time passed before Maurice hesitantly made his way back over to scoop them up. The man never came back out for them and no one else stopped by either. So he could only assume they really were for him. Weird.

Still, he took them back to his shelter. The jacket he set down on the seat of his shelter, under the weird feeling, water-repellent cloth. Then he sat on one of the four long things that he used to hide from the rain sometimes. The shelter was red like his new shoes but not nearly as shiny – the colour was even flaking off in places, marked by something more orange and bad smelling. But that was ok because this shelter was his. Like everything else he had, apart from his shoes of course, it was left all alone. Just like him. He figured if he didn’t like being lonely, neither did his shelter. So he’d make sure it was never lonely and in return it gave him a place to hide from the rain.

The hedgehog took off his shoes. The cloth wrapping from Eggman had been ditched in one of those metal cylinder things in the nearest village – not the one he’d been hit in a little while ago. It was an interesting feeling sliding his feet into the socks. They were much softer than the stiff, holey ones he’d had before going to Eggman’s house. Other than his awesome new shoes, he hadn’t felt something so soft on his toes before. And the gloves were the same, all soft and white as snow.

Maybe he should give the man a proper thank you. Something to give back for these… gifts? Was gift the word? Dark would probably know. Maybe he’d ask later. For now, he’d have to go on a little search around the island. He would give the only things he knew, the ones he’d learned from the old man.

Flowers.

But what ones would he need? He knew they meant different things and he’d picked up a few of those from the old man. Maurice could get a camellia – but was one enough? He could risk paying the old man a visit. It was always hard to tell what mood he’d be in though. And he had to make sure no on else was near the house too. It was a little further from the rest of the houses in the village but sometimes a younger man or woman visited, so he had to be careful.

Maurice patted the side of his shelter to say a brief goodbye, as he usually did. Then he set out for the nearest village. It wasn’t far – not that anything was with the speed he could move. But he didn’t really even need to run.

So Maurice wandered his way there, still delighted with his new shoes. They did feel different out here, with all the roots and stones and mud. It was just so weird how he couldn’t feel any of it like his old shoes but he was still aware of when the surface below him changed. The bottoms were squishy on the inside but tough on the outside, still holding up well after days of running around the island. No holes so far. There was some dirt build-up on the bottoms and smeared up the sides but he’d been trying to wipe it away as best he could. He’d found an old sock – just one – in another metal cylinder two days ago that he’d been using to keep his shoes clean. He felt like they should shine. But how could he possibly keep them like that out here? Sometimes he wondered if he even deserved the shoes. Then Dark would tell him to just shut up and enjoy them. So he did.

The little acorn-shaped house came into view through the trees. There were usually wildflowers blooming outside but they hadn’t started to bud yet. The snows must have slowed their growth. But Maurice knew there were others growing over the island. It was possible they had been planted late because of the snow – unlike the rest of the island, a lot of the villagers tore up their poor flowers before it got too cold. He wasn’t sure why. The ice would make them all wilt and disappear anyway, so he wasn’t sure why they bothered. But the ground was upsettingly sparse around the house today.

Maurice paused behind a tree and scanned the area. The old man was sitting on a seat outside, completely alone. His dark tan fur was flecked with grey, large oval ears crinkled. The man was squat and wide with a long, thin tail that fell limply from his seat to the ground. The hedgehog wasn’t quite sure what he was; Maurice only knew him as the old man. Not that he could ever greet the man with anything but a wave.

But would the old man be in a good mood today?

Only one way to find out.

Stepping out of his hiding spot cautiously, Maurice approached. The old man watched him but made no move to get up, nor did he look particularly angry today. Good start. So the hedgehog drifted closer.

“Back again, are ya, sprig?” the old man called out.

He recognised Maurice this time. And he called him sprig, not mutant. He only ever called him sprig on a good day. So the hedgehog relaxed but didn’t fully lower his guard. Maurice knew the man could flip from calm to scary really quick, so he was sure to watch his every movement. He levelled with the man and stopped in front of him. And then Maurice realised he didn’t know how to ask what he wanted to. So he pointed at the greenery around the house. The old man looked from the hedgehog to the barely sprouted plants.

“Ah, those were my wife’s favourites,” the man mumbled. “Sweet violets. Humility, loyalty and love. Sylvie would insist on planting them at the start of every year. They’re always so short lived but I think that’s what she loved about them. I try to keep up the tradition but these old bones are getting harder to lug about, sprig. Took me longer to get to them this year. I’m worried they might not actually bloom.”

The hedgehog frowned.

‘I’d plant them for you if you taught me how,’ Maurice thought.

It was good to know but not exactly what he’d wanted. So he pointed to himself, back at the sweet violets, and gestured as though handing something over. The old man hummed.

“You want to give them as a present, sprig?”

Maurice shook his head. The man was sort of close but not quite. He didn’t want to give sweet violets to Eggman. He wanted to thank him. The hedgehog pointed once more to the sweet violets, shook his head and then moved his hands in the direction of the wider forest. The old man watched him closely. Maurice would give it to the man, when he was in a good mood he did tend to try just as hard as Eggman to understand him. It still took both of them a while sometimes though and Maurice tried not to get frustrated.

“You want to give other flowers?” the man asked.

Perking his ears up, Maurice nodded.

“Well, this time of year we should have camelias for strength and gratitude,” the old man started. “Sweet violas, obviously. Crocuses for joy and rebirth. Hellebore for warding off bad luck. Snowdrops for hope and purity. Daffodils for new beginnings and admiration. Glory-of-the-snow for trust and serenity…”

The man trailed off but Maurice had some ideas now. He knew how to identify each flower because he’d manged to ask the man to name a lot of the ones on the island a few times over the years Not all of them but probably most by now. So the hedgehog was sure he could find them no problem. He already knew all these flowers but not their meaning; he listened to everything the man said and made sure to remember it all so he could pick out the flowers he wanted later.

“You know, Sylvie loved snowdrops too. Used to dig up one from this little spot in the forest and replant it in a pot. Kept it in the house until it wilted, she did. Then Sylvie would bury it in the garden to return it to the earth.”

That sounded fun. Not that Maurice could do it himself. He wasn’t allowed to live in a house. He wasn’t sure why, only that the villagers really didn’t like him around theirs usually.

“Oh, she used to scream her tail off at me when I mocked her for it. Now I just miss having that little white flower sitting on my kitchen table. Chaos, I loved that woman.”

Listening to the old man often made Maurice sad. He didn’t quite understand where Sylvie had gone and why she didn’t just come back if the old man missed her so much. Maybe she was like a flower? There one day, wilted and gone the next? Like that flicky with all its red on the outside. Would Maurice wilt like a flower if he lost too much of his red? How much did he actually have to lose? Would he go to sleep for a long time? Like that flicky? Eventually it disappeared too, like the flowers. Maybe it woke back? The flowers did that too every year. So why didn’t Sylvie do that? Maurice had never met her but she sounded so cool. He wanted to look after flowers like she had. He wanted to have a garden where he could plant all his favourite flowers. He wanted a house he could take a flower into and watch it every day until it had to “return to the earth,” what ever that meant. But he wasn’t allowed any of that. So he had to make do with the flowers over the island instead, which wasn’t so bad.

If he knew how to plant them, maybe he could have a garden next to his shelter.

But at the moment he didn’t know. And he had to get flowers for Eggman first. One thing at a time. And he was pretty sure he knew what he was getting for Eggman now. Camellia. Hellebore. Glory-of-the-snow. Maurice could find those no problem. He knew where each one grew and could get them so quick. The hedgehog could get the flowers to Eggman by the end of the day to thank him for everything. Not just the jacket, the socks, the gloves but for the shoes and the shelter and the food. And for helping his feet. The hug was not enough. And maybe the flowers wouldn’t be either. But Maurice had to give the man something.

“Uncle Diggory!” a voice cried out in alarm. “That’s the mutant monster from the forest!”

Maurice stiffened. He spun around, quills raised and ears flattened. Dark was going to be so mad at him; he’d let his guard slip for just a moment while he’d been lost in his thoughts. He hadn’t heard the man approaching. And he also didn’t react fast enough. Pain crashed though his arm and he was running before he even registered what had happened.

‘He threw a stone,’ he realised numbly.

His chest felt weird and pulse-y as he dashed away in panic. The pain was already dimming now, surprise more than actual hurt pushing him to go for his shelter. His arm might be tender for a few days but it wouldn’t be so bad. It was the fright it gave him that made Maurice want to stay by his shelter for a while in case he ran into another villager. When he got there, Dark appeared. He didn’t snap at Maurice like he’d expected. Instead, Dark just sat next to him as he curled up under one of the long things on his shelter, unable to catch his breath.

He’d get those flowers in a day or two when he felt brave enough. But for now he kept repeating the flowers he wanted in his mind. Maurice wanted a camelia to thank Eggman for all his help. Hellebore to hopefully protect the man from any bad luck he might have accidentally left with him. The villagers seemed to think his presence did bad things so he hoped Eggman would be ok. And glory-of-the-snow to hopefully show the man he trusted him with his weird stuff. Because his feet really hadn’t felt this good for as long as he could remember. And that was perhaps the best gift the man had given him.

But right now, his own gift would have to wait. The hedgehog couldn’t even out his breathing and he felt really… shaky. Dark offered to take him to the Voidspace but Maurice shook his head. For some reason he didn’t feel safe and he wanted to be aware of his surroundings. Needed to know what was going on around him.

‘Why don’t they like me?’ Maurice asked Dark.

It wasn’t the first time he’d asked his friend that. And it probably wouldn’t be the last either. The hedgehog just had a really tough time understanding every time. It didn’t make sense to Maurice and every time he thought about it, it made him feel really low.

“Because they’re horrible,” Dark huffed. “And stupid. Very stupid.”

Maurice didn’t respond.