The Last Resort (A Sonic / Teen Titans Crossover)

XXXVIII. Sonic the Hedgehog

I didn't move until Robin swayed on his feet, preparing to fall over. I was by his side in the blink of an eye, slowly lowering him to the ground. Even though I was holding his arm, he seemed miles away from me. And he was dying. Not just injured and in pain, dying.

"Robin?" I asked softly, my voice cracking. "Robin?"

Robin's eyes were wide as he looked at the puncture in his gut. I didn't want to imagine the kind of damage the bo-staff did to his stomach. It made the cuts on my shoulders look like scrapes you get on your knees when you fall in the street.

"I'm... fine." Robin gasped. "I'll be fine."

I looked to the side, seeing Anne just standing and watching, as if she was observing a bug crawling on the ground. She blinked lazily as I looked at her, folding her arms. I felt my teeth grinding together as I saw her like that.

"If you thought I was mad before," I said as I stood up, "you were mistaken."

"I never said I thought you were angry," Anne said coolly. "In fact, I don't think it had anything to do with emotions - you just temporarily lost your mind."

I lunged at her, thrusting my fist into her face. She kicked me off and I landed on my feet, my eyes never leaving her. I ran behind her and kneed her in the back before she was able to even see me. She crumpled to the ground, her arms trying to left her back to a standing position. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before returning to Robin's side.

"I'll never understand why you chose to stick with Slade," I said softly.

When I looked back up, she was gone, the only trace of her the wreckage of the street. I pressed a button on my communicator, calling Tails. "Where are you?" I asked. "No one else could find you."

"Sonic!" Tails replied, sounding a bit worried. "Slade came- Slade took- we were looking for the Emeralds and-"

"Tails, it's okay," I smiled. "I already knew that. How soon can you get to the city? We're going to need all of the strength we can get."

"Fifteen minutes, if we had a Chaos Emerald," Tails replied. "Now, we don't have any sort of spectacular energy source. I don't know how long it will take."

"Get started," I replied, shutting it off. I looked at Robin, sighing. He was shivering and looked weak, which wasn't something I had seen often. Still, he sat up, using the nearby wall to lean his back against.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, obviously working hard to keep his voice steady. "Where is everyone?"

"Still patrolling," I told him. "But right now, I need the Chaos Emeralds. Just having Slade nearby would be enough, but I can't sense them."

"Okay, so what will I be so stoked to see when you get the Chaos Emeralds?" Robin asked, slinging his arm around his stomach. "Because right now, we don't really have the time for secrets."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Trust me, we have time for this one."

Robin grimaced. "Whatever it is, just make sure you don't get killed first."

"I'll try," I promised. "We just have to hope that the others stay safe."

I relaxed for a bit, sitting next to Robin. I tried to keep my eyes off of him, not wanting to see his look of pain or the red leaking out of him. As long as I could hear him breathing, he was alive, and as long as he didn't die before I got the Emeralds, he would be okay.

"Neat weather," I said, looking up at the purple-gray sky. "Don't see this often in Mobius."

"I'd be worried if you did," Robin chuckled.