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

One Last Time

A/n: Be nice. I mean it.

The ground beneath Shadow's feet began to thaw, steam rising from his form. His head jerked to the side, his hands flying up to his neck as he stumbled back towards the Burning Zone. 

"Oh, no you don't," Silver growled, moving behind Shadow. The dark hedgehog whirled around, snarling at the telekinetic as he backed into the Freezing Zone, his legs giving out. He collapsed to all fours, curling his fingers into the softening earth. 

"Would you look at that," Sonic murmured, lowering (Y/n) and himself to the ground, reaching his hand towards the thawed ground. "It's working already." 

"Pull him out of his body," (Y/n) told him. "I'm gonna go back to mine and let the others know they might be able to come over here now that his temperature has been at least somewhat neutralized." 

Sonic nodded in acknowledgement, reaching towards Shadow and pulling him into the secondary realm as (Y/n) slipped back to her body. 

"Hey there, sleeping beauty," Vector said as she shifted in his hold, the crocodile moving to set her gently on her feet. Their group had stepped into the Freezing Zone several yards from Shadow, pulling on their coats. 

"How's Shadow holding up?" Rouge asked, wrapping a scarf around her neck and pulling it up to her nose. "And by the way, this place is miserable." 

"It's nostalgic," Tails said, shaking his tails out and pulling his coat on halfway. 

"Shadow's cooling down," (Y/n) said. "I think you guys should be good to carry him, now. I can walk the rest of the way." 

"Are you sure?" Vector asked. "I can keep carrying ya, that's no problem." 

"Yeah," Tails agreed. "Omega can just carry Silver under one arm and Shadow like a sack of potatoes." Charmy chirped a laugh, tugging on the fox's ear as Tails lifted the bee back onto his shoulders once he was settled into his cold gear. 

(Y/n) smiled wryly. "Yeah," she said. "I want to walk the rest of the way. It'll be the last..." She trailed off, shrugging wearily. The group sobered, Rouge shaking herself off as she approached the (a/t). 

"We'll respect that," the bat told her. "You're still perfectly capable of walking on your own two feet. I'll go check on Shadow and see if he's cooled down enough." 

"Here," Vector said as Rouge moved towards Shadow, helping (Y/n) into her coat. "Just let me know if you change your mind." 

"Thanks," she said with a small smile, zipping up her coat and tucking her chin into the collar. She turned just as Rouge straightened from where she'd been prodding at Shadow's comatose body, the bat raising her hand and giving a thumbs up. Omega turned to slide Silver into Vector's arms before moving to clomp over to Rouge and scoop Shadow off the ground. 

"Assuming the ghost boys are tailing us," the bat said as she and Omega returned to the group, "we're ready to go." 

At the prompt, Sonic shimmered into view, waving at (Y/n) and flashing her a thumbs up. She returned the gesture and nodded to Rouge. "We're good to go," she confirmed. 

"Take it away," the bat told Tails, the fox saluting and turning to head towards the camp. 

Each step was both invigorating and terrifying. She was walking to her death, but the prospect of life for the rest of the world. Walking towards their one chance to make things right again. She'd already cut it close once. The universe wasn't giving her another second chance. 

The walk to the Freezing Zone camp felt too short, like she didn't have enough time to prepare herself. Tails and Charmy jogged ahead to the bunker as the buildings came into view, the fox kicking the door and yelling for Knuckles.