STARFALL // sonic au (part 3)

Instructions

second part of part 2!!! (honestly at this point i should start posting this on ao3 or something) part 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1134911264/ part 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1140945886/ --------------------- He doesn’t see the human in the bushes until it’s too late. They already have a gun pointed at his chest before he can move away. Terios freezes, stray energy sparking off his quills. It nearly catches on the grass below him, and the human swears and moves to stamp it out, their gun lowering. Panicking, Terios tries to run. But there’s another human waiting for him. And another. They circle him, all poised to shoot. Terios’s ears flatten, eyes darting. His mind goes to the hedgehog, still in the cave. Terios hopes that he’s far enough away from them that they won’t be found. Because these humans--one shouts something at him, then gives orders to someone else by their side--these humans definitely wouldn’t make sure they’re unharmed. Someone steps forward with a pair of cuffs, reaching for him. Terios takes a step back, a growl rising from deep in his throat. It surprises the human as much as it surprises him, and they use Terios’s moment of confusion to lunge. Terios tries to duck out of the way, but his body won’t listen. He feels pressure building up behind his eyes, a buzzing between his ears. It muffles the sound around him and makes him clumsier as he dodges. It doesn’t take much effort for the humans to overpower him and clasp the cuffs--rings--around Terios’s wrists. Then a second set around his ankles. The energy coming off Terios in waves subsides, leaving only the smell of Terios’s own singed fur. His scrambled thoughts start to become coherent again, but by now he’s already in the clutches of the humans. He feels a sharp pain in his leg, looks down to see a dart of some kind, and before he can even register what’s happening his body shuts down. As darkness fills his vision, Terios hopes beyond hope that the humans don’t find the cave. --- He’s not in the forest anymore. Terios knows before he even opens his eyes. The air smells different. The ground is too smooth underneath him. His body is desperately trying to acclimate itself, to understand what’s going on. His ears rotate, an attempt to ground himself. He remains disoriented, however, as he finally blinks and scans the room around him. He’s in some kind of room. A cell. The floor and walls are made of metal and concrete, a lot of gray. A stark contrast to the thousands of greens that filled his vision before. A long window replaces part of the wall in what Terios assumes is the front of his cell. But what confuses him the most is the human girl on the other side. She watches him curiously, standing close to the glass. When she sees that Terios is awake, she holds up a hand, waves, and says something through the window. Even though her voice is muffled, even though his ears still aren’t used to the environment, Terios knows exactly what she says. “Hello.” A grin grows on the girl’s face as Terios cautiously makes his way to the glass. It takes him a while, because the rings around his wrists and ankles are much heavier than what he’s used to walking with. Once he’s finally on his side of the window, the girl presses her hand to the glass. One ear flicking to the side, Terios looks up at her. What does she want? She nods at her hand, using her free hand to point to one of Terios’s paws. Oh. Terios holds up the paw, looking at it briefly, before putting it on the glass across from the girl’s hand. This seems to be the outcome the girl wants, because her smile only gets wider. She giggles and pulls her hand away, but the smile quickly fades. “Are you trapped in here?” she asks. Terios shrugs. He assumes the answer is yes, because he doubts the humans from earlier would leave the door to this cell unlocked, but he isn’t entirely sure. The girl hums. Her brow furrows. “Well, that’s not right,” she says assuredly, frowning. Yes, it isn’t right. Terios shouldn’t be trapped against his will. But there’s not anything that either of them can-- Inside the door to his cell, a series of locks click, startling him. Terios’s eyes snap to the door, which swings open, revealing the girl on the other side, holding something in her hand. Her eyes glint in a way that suggests she probably wasn’t supposed to do that. “Come on,” the girl beckons. She pockets the object, a keycard, before holding out a hand to Terios. He looks at it warily before his gaze moves back up to her face. He’s hesitant to leave, but then again he’d much rather be free than stuck in the room. “We can explore together!” The girl takes his paw in her hand and pulls him out of the cell, and then they’re padding down a long hallway. “What’s your name?” Terios is looking pointedly at the girl’s skirt (blue, which makes him feel like he’s forgetting something important). Only half-confidently, he answers with, “Terios.”