The Experiment

Chapter 2

Shadow opened his eyes and saw that Sonic was asleep. The pain and dead expression gone... for now. Shadow sighed inwardly, what could have happened to the usually happy hedgehog to make him into this? Shadow could barely admit it, but he actually missed Sonic's old behavior. At least he was alive. Now look at him, soulless, sad and defeated.

Shadow shook the thoughts away a moment and moved to Sonic to inspect his wounds. They were beginning to scab over already, which was a pleasant site for the dark hedgehog. If only his psychological wounds were as easy to fix. Shadow knew all too well how easy one can be broken. He had everything taken from him on the Space Colony Ark. The painful memory still felt like a bullet to the chest. He sat back, forcing the thought out of his mind. Sonic needed him now. This wasn't the time to go down that painful road.

"Shadow," Sonic murmured quietly. Shadow moved closer so he could hear him easier. Sonic's eyes were full of confusion and painand, "Why are you doing this?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed in bewilderment, "What do you mean?"

Sonic closed his eyes and turned over, "I mean nothing to you, why are you going through the trouble for me?"

Shadow felt that like a blow in the gut. His temper got the better of him, "Why would you ask that?" He realized he snapped and cringed inwardly when Sonic winced. He spoke gentler this time and even moving closer, "Sonic you mean more to me than that. We've had our bad history, but that's exactly what it is, history. Now we are in the present, and I care about you," Maybe he said too much...

Sonic rolled over to face Shadow, his expression unreadable. Shadow felt this was the right moment to find out more, so he took a very bold move and said, "What happened while you were in there?"

Sonic's eyes were suddenly wide with fear and he cringed. Shadow knew right away that he wasn't ready and did something he never would have done in the past. He reached his hand out and stroked Sonic's quills, "It's alright. I won't let it happen again."

A mixture of emotions played across Sonic's face,pain, sorrow, bewilderment, longing and something else. For some reason, it sent an uneasy, almost exciting feeling through the dark hedgehog. He had never felt felt nervous before and the feeling almost frightened him. However, he didn't show it. He dug through the dried rations and water, "You need to get some water and food into your system. It's not chili dogs, but it should do for now."

Sonic didn't respond. Shadow brought the water and food to him, offering it. Sonic didn't even look at it. This really worried Shadow. Sonic wasn't exactly a small eater. Shadow set it down and sat beside Sonic.

"Sonic-"

"I don't know what they did to me exactly," Sonic whispered. Shadow stopped talking abruptly and listened. Sonic's eyes were unfocused, staring off into space as he continued, "It started when I was brought to the underwater cell..."

Flashback

Sonic's POV

Sonic couldn't move anything. He had been drugged minutes before with something strong. The carried him in a cage down to the lower part of the base and even lower. That was when the sound hit him. He heard a lot of water! Everywhere. They were under water! Sonic panicked, but only on the inside since he couldn't move his body outside. The scientist who had captured him was now opening the steel door to a metal cell. He set the cage down and prepared an operating table. Sonic's head was spinning with fright and he tried to force his limbs to work, but they wouldn't listen to him!

The scientist unlocked the cage and carefully carried the panicking hedgehog to the operating table and strapped him down so tightly he wouldn't have been able to move even if his limbs did work. His eyes moved around frantically, hoping some sort of miracle would happen before the crazy man could do anything to him. However, he had no such luck.

"Alright, you're going to feel a little pinch... well," He chuckled, "More than a little." He held a large, sharp scalpel up so Sonic could see what was going to happen. Sonic's eyes widened and he wanted to strain more than anything. He wanted to run as fast as he could out of there, but couldn't. He couldn't do anything except watch helplessly.

Beginning of torture

The sharp instrument sliced through Sonic's lower abdomen without hesitation. Sonic screamed on the inside, but did nothing on he outside. The scientist cut and sliced so long Sonic was sure he was cutting him in half. He set the very bloody scalpel down beside Sonic so he could see and smell his own blood. It made him so sick he could have hurled. The scientist moved his hands around the inside of Sonic's abdomen, clipping, moving and even placing things in. Sonic felt all of it. He had never felt so much pain in his life! Fat, hot tears began to stream down his face and his fists clenched. Great, now he had his limbs back and they were still useless. The scientist worked for hours. Hours of pain and misery for Sonic.

End of Torture

"That should do it!" The crazy man said with satisfaction in his grey eyes. He pulled Sonic's gaping wound back together just as painfully as the opening and used some sort of laser tool that burned into his skin. Sonic arched back, yelling in pain. The scientist finished and said, "Now now no more of that. There isn't even a scar."

How is there not a scar? Sonic thought with disbelief. The scientist held up a mirror so Sonic could see for himself, and sure enough, there wasn't even a trace of the painful memory.

Sonic was injected with another dose of the drug and the man chained his wrists to the wall, attaching electric wires to his arms and legs, "If you even sneeze, you'll regret it. Don't even hope to leave here Experiment 308H"

Sonic didn't even have the will to give his proper name as the man left him in that frightening, underwater place.

End of Flashback

Shadow's rage nearly exploded as Sonic finished his story. He wanted to fun back and brutally murder that man as slowly as he desired. It was true that there wasn't a trace of the operation, but the way Sonic held his stomach as if in excruciating pain showed Shadow that it had actually happened. That explains why Sonic didn't want to eat anything. Shadow returned it to the bag and returned to Sonic. He couldn't help but glance down at Sonic's abdomen as if he could see it. He looked up at Sonic's broken features and asked, "May I inspect it?"

Sonic nodded and Shadow gently placed his hand on Sonic's stomach, not even applying pressure. It was hard, like Sonic had swallowed a bowling ball! Shadow wanted t apply more pressure, but knew he shouldn't. It would probably hurt Sonic even more. That was the last thing Shadow wanted to do.

Sonic gave a soft smile, "Don't be afraid of it, for some reason your touch is soothing."

This shocked Shadow and brought an involuntary blush to his face, but he said nothing. He applied a little more pressure, watching Sonic's expression for pain but there was none. He moved his hand along Sonic's stomach, noting the unnatural feel of it. He couldn't even tell what was in there! Sonic watched his expression as he observed. What had he done to Sonic?

Sonic curled up on the cave floor, closing his eyes. Shadow noticed the peaceful expression and wondered if his touch had anything to do with it. He blushed again, feeling a fluttering in his stomach but dismissed it. He continued rubbing Sonic's stomach soothingly as the blue hedgehog drifted off to sleep.