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Salty tears finding their way on tan muzzle, ebony body curled up in the corner of the room, desperately trying to fight those horrible memories coming back to his mind.
He could still hear his voice, he could still feel his hands on him, he could still see the labs, the room he was locked in, he could still smell the medicine, the dried blood on his own fur.
He let out a shaky breath, air feeling as if it couldn't enter his lungs anymore, as if his breath had been taken away.
He gripped his own thighs, claws digging in his own skin, as if he could just rip away that feeling from his body.
As if he could just open his wounds again, dig into the flesh and get rid of it, to maybe find a way out of his eternal sorrow.
He needed to be grounded, to be reminded that where he was in was not the ARK. That it was not that empty, cold room he'd been stuck in.
He needed it so bad, he wanted to be held, to be warmed, but he couldn't be touched, not again. His body shaking, his tears falling to the ground.
He felt pathetic, again. He felt worthless, useless, just like Robotnik tried to remind him back there.
How could he be the Ultimate Lifeform if he hadn't been able to save himself? If all he did in his life was believe in the lie that it was worth it?
His skin had started to hurt, his claws were pretty sharp. He traced them down his leg, itching at the touch that had started to get merciless. It felt almost nice, nice to be reminded of his own pity.
He stared down at his shaky hands, at the golden rings circling his wrists: he could remember the horrible feeling of the energy releasing, he could remember the exhaustion he felt each time it left his body. He looked at it for a while, the ruby of his eyes reflected on the shiny metal:
the fire of sorrow burning in that sharp gaze that once resembled love, compassion. He couldn't recognise himself anymore.
He snatched the rings away, letting them drop to the floor, the sound echoing in the bathroom along with the occasional heartbreaking sobs escaping his lips.
He had no intention of getting help, he was fine on his own.. like he'd always been, after all. Like he was destined to be. He didn't need anyone to reach out for him: they would only get pushed away by the monster he'd become- by the monster that he was.
There was knocking on the door, that he'd purposely locked just so that no one could see him. But to his own disadvantage, his bat sibling could hear him very well, and she could tell exactly what was going on.
But all she could do was to stand there, hoping to get some sense back into him before he could do something he'd regret.
But little did she know, by the time she would have been able to open the door, the ebony one would be laying on the cold floor of their bathroom, knocked unconscious by the overwhelming feeling of energy leaving his body. And in the back of his mind, he would've believed that it was his fault. In the back of his mind, he would've believed he did deserve all of this.