Do You Believe in Ghosts? (Triple S x Reader)

The Brotherhood

"Shadow?" she asked tentatively. He met her gaze, then fell to his knees, one hand gripping his head, the other scratching aggressively at the collar. Blaze crouched before him, hesitantly reaching towards him. "What's wrong?"

"(Y/n)," he whispered, the hand at his head falling to his chest over his heart. "Something's wrong with her. I can...feel it."

"Through your connection?" Rouge asked. Shadow managed a nod. "Do you know what's wrong?"

"Hurt...wounded...she's fading," he forced out. "She needs help."

"If she's in the Assassination Zone, that's the best place she can be," Blaze said gently. "They have all the working technology to help her."

"But how do we know she's not back in the Freezing Zone?" Rouge pointed out. "Silver could have been a quick thing and she's back to Sonic." Shadow shook his head. "What?"

"When I connected with (Y/n), I could feel her connection with Sonic. We're all linked." He paused, scratching at the collar again. "There's no connection to Silver, and Sonic's is dim."

"So, she's still working with Silver, and something happened to Sonic?" Blaze asked quietly. Shadow nodded. She frowned in thought. He was clearly struggling to maintain his hold on the primary realm, and if Sonic's connection was slipping away, she had no idea what that would mean for the Freezing Zone.

"Someone needs to go check on the Assassination Zone," she said after a moment, standing and turning to the others. "And since you are all a team, it would most likely be best if I went." Rouge studied her, then nodded. The princess's brows raised in surprise.

"What? Easier than you thought?" Rouge chuckled, setting her hands on Blaze's shoulders. "You go out there and find our girl. We'll be okay here." The cat stared at her, then touched her hand to her chest and dipped her head.

"I will depart at sunrise."

~

Tails' hands shook with cold and after a moment of struggle, he grunted in frustration and threw the wrench at the shield device.

"Whoa," Knuckles said, grabbing Tails' hand and the wrench. "We need that."

"I can't do this," the fox whispered, pressing a hand to his head.

"What, fix the shield? You've done it a million times, now; it should be easy!"

"No, I can't do any of this! I can't fix the stupid shield, I can't hold out hope for a hero, I can't save Sonic, I just can't!" Without a wrench, Tails resorted to kicking the device until Knuckles dragged him away from it. He opened his mouth to comfort the genius when a low growl distracted him. Tails heard it too, sinking into Knuckles' side.

"Alright, quietly head for the bunker," he whispered to the fox. It was too cold to fight; they didn't have full mobility, and Tails had already spent too long in the cold.

"Where's Amy?" Tails breathed.

"If she'd been found, we would have heard something. She's likely on the other side," Knuckles responded, nudging Tails towards the bunker. He winced at every step, their shoes crunching in the snow.

Then Sonic screamed, a thin, desperate wail. Knuckles cursed, the monster stalking them leaping over the roof of the bunker and landing in front of the door. It looked over at Sonic's cell, sniffing experimentally, before turning back to the pair. Knuckles shoved Tails behind him, though he struggled to curl his stiff fingers into fists.

"This shouldn't take long," he said. "When I say run, you run, and you get into the bunker. I'll be right behind you." Tails only nodded, taking several steps back. The monster flicked its tail, tilting its head. Then it barked, once, twice, three times. Knuckles didn't wait for it to make another sound, lunging and knocking his fist into the monster's jaw. He cried out at the pain in his hand, pulling back at the monster stumbled, shaking its head and roaring.