Tales from the Phantom

Scared

"My good Gaia, your shaking!" Ben commented, gently unwrapping the dirty bandage from around Sonic's leg, "What happened?"
Sonic hesitated a little
"Come on, I'm your doctor. I'm not going to tell anyone, I promise,"
"He had a panic attack in the shopping center," Tails told, Sonic just nodding.
"Ah, well," Ben started, "You've been through a lot of trauma, it's bound to happen, don't beat yourself up for it. Um.. here, have this lollipop," he handed the small candy over.
"Uhh... thanks..?" Sonic said, before grimacing at his leg, "That sure is bad looking,"
"Wait, is this the first time you've seen it?" Ben questioned, Sonic nodding.
"Well, with between being torn apart by a psycho jackal and having trauma flashbacks, I forgot to look," he joked, Ben raising an eyebrow as he cleaned the wound before re-dressing it.

"So, what are you doing here?" Sonic turned his attention back to Silver, who was entertaining himself by spinning a pencil his had found.
"Oh, me? Nothing? Alittle birdie, no, wait. Make that a Chameleon, told me about you," Silver explained.
"I was worried about you, Sonic. We both were."
"We? Both?"
"Oh, I told Blaze. Hope you don't mind," Silver stepped aside as Blaze herself walked in at that moment.
"Sonic! Oh my Sol, what happened to you? Wait, that doesn't matter right now. Here, I brought you this tea straight from the palace, it's lavender, good for calming, and some of those scones you said you liked and a bottle that keep water ice cold and I found a heated blanket and if you need someone to talk it out to.. I'm here," She finished, setting the armful of stuff down.
"Uh.. thanks?" Sonic smiled slightly at her, before Blaze got right in his face,
"But I swear to the Gaias, if something like this happens again, I'm putting you in a room surrounded in bubble-wrap." She half threatened, Sonic thinking how that would probably be quite nice.

"Ok, that looks good," Ben nodded to himself, getting up from his spot on the floor with that groan all adults do, "I promised my kid that I'ld take him to the park to play Pokémon GO." He turned to Sonic one last time, "Take it easy,"
"I don't know what your talking about," Sonic joked as he shut the door behind him.

They only had a few seconds before a loud knock sounded at the door, "Hey I know your in there Skittle Squad!" It bellowed, "Open up ya fruit loop!"

"Oh," Sonic realized, "It's Karen. How'd she even get up here?"
"Skittle Squad?" Silver asked
"Fruit loop?" Blaze also added

"Because she somehow found out that Sonic's trans," Tails sighed, rushing to open the door.
"Oh, it's you. Where's the blue one?" Karen rudely proclaimed.
"You mean Sonic? In here," Tails was shoved out the way as Karen burst in and rushed to the hedgehog.
"Look, I can't believe I'm saying this, but. You gotta help me! My son went missing and I don't know where he is! I can't loose someone else!" She blurted out, and Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"Where was he last?"
"He said that he was going to the park, but he never go back to me when I phoned. And that was yesterday," she explained.
After hearing 'yesterday', Sonic immediately shot up, rushing to the door, "Come on you three," he told Tails Silver and Blaze, "You heard what Karen said,"

Tails was about to protest, but he already was gone, "You two come with us, I have a feeling he's going to do something stupid," he addressed Silver and Blaze.

***

The group continued to search for about two hours when Sonic heard a noise from the bottom of a rocky back. Looking down, he saw Spencer, Karen's son, sat down there weeping a little. When he saw the hero looking at him, he gasped and tried to wipe some tears away, "You saw nothing," he threatened as Sonic made his way down the grassy side, sitting besides the kid on a rock, "What are you doing?" He questioned.

"Me? Well, I came here to look for you," Sonic explained, "Your mum said that you didn't come back yesterday, are you okay?"
"Mmm.. it's a little embarrassing," Spencer whispered.
"That's okay," Sonic whispered back, "I understand if you don't what to tell an.."
"I got scared, okay?" Spencer almost shouted, "it got dark, and I started seeing dark shadows moving, so I ran and hid. I'm a coward," he watched as Sonic continued to stare blankly, "Ah, forget it! Why would you understand? Your the hero of the world, you never get scared,"

"Who told you that?" Sonic asked, but the boy just shrugged, "Of course I get scared," Spencer seemed surprised, and Sonic continued, "a few weeks ago, I was attacked by someone who still haunts my mind," he pointed to the bandage covering his leg, "I was so scared, I couldn't eat or drink, I didn't sleep or even talk to anyone,"
Spencer looked at him shocked, "We all get scared, Spencer. All it means is that we feel emotion. At least, that's what someone very special once told me," Sonic finished, holding out a hand, "So why don't you say we get outta here? Your mom's worried sick.."
The kid then clung to the hedgehog, hugging tightly, "thank you,"
"Ugh.. your welcome?" Sonic wasn't sure how to deal with this, so he just tapped his foot slightly until Karen came rushing up, Spencer noticing and smiling.
"Mum! I didn't mean to stay out.. I kinda got lost.."
"It's ok, sweetie. Why didn't you just phone me?" Even was shocked at Karen's sudden change in behaviour.
"I was scared incase you was disappointed in me," Spencer admitted, but Karen just shook her head.
"I'm proud of you honey. It takes a lot of bravery to admit that you need help."

Tails nudged Sonic's arm, "ow. Hey, what?"
"Oh, yes," Karen turned to the blue, "thank you ma... Sir," she then turned away, walking back towards home.
"Well all's well that ends well, can we get donuts now?" Silver asked, the group quickly agreeing, and so they headed of in the other direction.

Hmm. Maybe Karen isn't so bad after all