the descent

Chapter 8

The chameleon squinted as the sound of rumbling around him and shining light from the ceiling came closer

He had done it

He had managed a week of claustrophobic chaos and he was finally getting his reward

seeing them all was just overwhelming

despite their shakey appearances they too seemed just as relived

"Sonic!" Tails was the first to voice as he cried to his older brother, reaching through the bars in a desperate attempt at a hug

"sonic I, I tried but I couldn't-" Tails tried to apologise as if he had already cracked

if conditions were like his, espio took it as his way of saying he had already begged robotic for mercy and now felt ashamed for giving it

not that espio could blame him

a 12-year-old going under this torture obviously would be too much

"I, I know, it's ok, I know and I understand why" Sonic tried to reassure

(that's odd phrasing) espio thought

and it seemed he wasn't the only one that thought that

"what do you mean by that?" Knuckles questioned irritably, the sleeplessness not helping

the blue hedgehog looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't

"I, I can't" was all Sonic said

espio unable to stop his detective mind rolling tried deducing what that meant from what information already gathered

Understanding Sonic he had two main fears

water

and the inability to protect his friends

phrasing alone

the chameleon had a good guess as to what his room was

"you can see us from your room can't you" Espio asked

he got a very painful shock to the point he felt like he was going to collapse

but he would get his answers

"fear of water and inability to protect the innocent, you can see us and do nothing about it" Shadow added with a huff

causing the other hedgehog to shake tired and tearful eyes

"Don't say it like that!" Tails growled protectively

"How would you even reset a room like that?"

"reset?" Shadow asked before a booming voice shouted ENOUGH!" stopped the room entirely

the echidna settled back on the bed, where it seemed everyone but he still claimed, sighing as he turned towards the purple reptile

"esp you don't have enough energy to keep zapping yourself, stop digging" Knuckles warned

as frustrating as it was to keep his detective's lips sealed, it was more alarming to see the echidna's face so full of anger and fear

yet to breathless, one more shout and he looked like he'd be out for the count

"speaking of, 6 days esp, respect to ya" Sonic sighed with slight astonishment

yet that just seemed to build the echidna's anger further

"no, we should not be praising that, it was so stupid, we could have died and have had no chance of escape" Knuckles growled as he punched the floor

and yet not a dent was made