TW: Panic attacks and overstimulation
Please skip if it triggers you.
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Sonic opened his eyes to find himself... nowhere.
He was surrounded by strange black cubes, which seemed to appear every time he took a step forward.
"This isn't where we were meant to end up," he began, "Let's head back! Everyone's waiting for us-"
Sonic turned around to to find that Aurora wasn't there.
"Buddy?"
He looked around.
"Partner?"
He looked again.
"Aurora?!"
Okay, he was starting to get worried.
Finally, he found her sitting about 30 feet away from him.
He walked toward her to find that the cubes pop up in front of him, creating a surface for him to walk on, and fall back down when steps off of them.
Finally, he had reached her.
She was curled up into a ball, she looked pitiful...
"H-Hey... you alright, buddy?" Sonic asked her.
She looked up at him.
She was crying.
Sonic wanted to comfort her, but she looked so fragile that she could break with just one touch.
"Hey... what's wrong?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"Isn't it obvious?" she said, "I failed..."
Sonic didn't understand what she ment.
Sure, she might've failed to save Sonic and herself from Null Space, but they were okay, weren't they?
"H-Hey, it's okay..." Sonic tried to comfort her.
"No, it's NOT okay!" she said as she raised her voice, "I failed... EVERYONE!"
Sonic let out a "huh?"
"I failed Gadget, I failed the resistance, I failed you..." she listed, "Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Shadow... just... EVERYONE!!!!"
She began to hyperventilate.
"I-I-I'm a... f-f-f-failure..."
"Hey, hey, just breathe, okay?" Sonic said to her, "In and out, in and out... c'mon..."
~~~
After a few minutes, or what felt like a few minutes, Sonic finally got Aurora to calm down.
She eventually passed out on his chest, she slept for about what felt like 30 minutes.
Sonic was there the whole time, watching over her like a hawk.
Finally, she woke up, slowly but surely.
"Nghhh..."
Sonic noticed this and started rubbing her head.
"W-What happened..." she mumbled out.
"You... kinda had a mental breakdown..." Sonic said to her.
"O-Oh... I'm sorry..."
"It's fine," Sonic said in his hushed voice, "Tails used to get these all the time back when we were kids..."
"Oh..." she said as she tried to sit back up.
Sonic gave Aurora a sad smile.
"Hey, y'know what?" Sonic began, "Even if you mess up from time to time, that still doesn't make you a failure."
"How do you know?" she asked, "You're Sonic the Hedgehog! You're perfect at almost anything!"
"But here's the thing, I'm not perfect." Sonic explained, "I'm stubborn, sassy, short-tempered, y'know, just to name a few."
He leaned in closer.
"Not to mention I'm a terrible swimmer!"
"Wait, what?" chuckled Aurora.
"Yep! I sink straight to the bottom!"
"You poor thing!"
"Ahh, don't start with that!"
The two of them chuckled.
"Hey, the point is, you're not a failure!" said Sonic, "You are one of the strongest people I know, so don't give into your fears, okay?"
Aurora looked down for a little bit, then looked back at Sonic and nodded.
"Will do!"
Sonic opened up his arms for a hug, which Aurora accepted.
They were like this for about what felt like two minutes and released each other from their embrace.
"Hey, let's head back to our world," Sonic began, "They need us out there!"
"But how are we going to get back?" asked Aurora.
Sonic got up and helped her get back on her feet.
"By doing a Double Boost, of course!"
"How do we know it would work?" Aurora questioned.
"There's only one way to find out!" Sonic said, as he held out his fist towards her.
Aurora hesitated, but she accepted it.
"DOUBLE BOOST!!!!"
They ran faster than the speed of sound as the cubes beneath them kept up with them.
"We've got this!" encouraged Sonic, "Keep it up, partner! Nothing can contain the two of us at max power! Not even Null Space!"
Soon, there was a bright light ahead of them.
Could this be the way out?
The ran toward the light as it got brighter and brighter, until...
