Not All Things Are Set In Stone...

The Master Emerald reaches out, collecting voices from far flung worlds for its Guardians to hear and answer... what will you say through its shining facets?

[askknuxadow]

The Emerald Speaks with the Voices of Legions...

"Why is the Master Emerald... humming?"

It was not a question Knuckles had been expecting to hear as he mounted the last of the temple steps. Shadow stood before the gem in question's altar, arms crossed and tail flicking in mild agitation- a resting state for him, at this point, though Knuckles imagined the aforementioned humming emerald might be exacerbating.

"I... it feels... off. Not diminished, almost like it's-"

"Like it's reaching out," the hybrid supplied, glancing back at the echidna, warm brown eyes nearly crimson, now. The power pulsing from the emerald must have been messing with his own energies, again.

"Yeah. That," Knuckles replied with nod. "But reaching out to where-"

The humming grew to an earsplitting whine, and both Mobians grimaced and covered their ears in pain- when the voices started...

Voices from within the Master Emerald.

✨Welcome✨

[Read from the Beginning]

The Emerald has opened itself to the wider multiverse, tapping into the stories and voices within. Why it has chosen to do this, and why now, is a mystery- but, for the time being, it seems its two guardians are able to communicate with this greater multiverse. This communication comes in the form of anon messages, sent through the emerald- as well as as-yet unknown other abilities...

[Please see below for further information such as a common tag list, character information, links to summary posts, and guidelines! This is a primarily Knuxadow askblog, both other characters (and ships!) may appear.]

✨Guidelines✨

Keep it SFW; there may be suggestive themes, but I won't be going beyond a 16+ rating on here, folks.

Feel free to be mean! But keep in mind, the characters might just be mean back! Or you might set off a breakdown who knows-

Send whatever! The boys will answer like, 9.99/10, trust. If I dont feel comfortable answering or having them answer, I'll let you know, no worries about it, we're all just having fun here, no stress.

This is based off an AU I've had for awhile, so ya'll have a lot of lore to uncover if you go digging in the right places 👀

✨Character Bios✨

[Coming soon!]

Knuckles will be tagged Bold Red

Shadow will be tagged Bold Purple

Sonic will be tagged Bold Blue

Mod yapping will be in [Small Green Brackets]

✨Common Taglist✨

[Coming soon!]

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, Final Part

Sprout shuffles their feathers as Flash opens the door and waves to Shadow on his way out, snapping their teeth once more at Riot before the door swings closed behind them. “Right. Shrine.” Flash retraces the route he’d taken with Knuckles earlier back to the Master Emerald and raises a hand in greeting to the others as he calls out; “Hey! How’s it going?”

Knuckles, Fringe (Sonic), and newcomer are all gathered around Tails, who’s crouched before the Emerald with his laptop wired to the riftwalkers sitting nearby. The newcomer looks back over their shoulder, and their eyes widen.

Fringe turns, too, and grunts. “Oh, here already? That was a quick nap. Uh, Flash, meet… well. Meet Mighty. Mighty, Flash. Er. Me. I guess? Sorta.”

Mighty tilted his head and raised a brow; this Sonic was certainly different than his own. “Um… hi?” He raised an awkward hand. How was one meant to greet their boyfriends multiversal double?

Flash huffs at the lacklustre greeting from Fringe and shrugs the short nap comment off. “Shadow woke me for biscuits.”  Could he use more of a nap? Probably. Is he going to admit that? No. 

He glances up at Mighty and smiles awkwardly. It’s not his Mighty, and it’s still very strange that this universe’s Sonic is dating him and not Shadow. “Hey, Mighty.” He stops beside the group and looks down at Tails’ computer, not really understanding the readings but interested nonetheless. “How’s it looking?” 

Tails looks to Flash and then frowns at the screen. “It’s looking… complicated. The other me has obviously been dealing with harnessing this energy longer than I have, because I’m having trouble seeing through it. But I think I have it figured out enough to get at least one more good jump out of shoes; ideally, they should re-target their home universe.”

“Ideally…?” Mighty echoed, 

“Sorry, did I say ideally?” Tails corrected, shaking his head. “I meant theoretically!”

Mighty blinked. “That’s. Not better?”

Fringe snorted softly. “Hey, it’s a maybe, and sometimes that’s as good as it gets. Flash… you ready?”

“Yeah!” A ‘maybe’ is better than a ‘no that’s not possible’. “Let’s do this.” He waits for Tails to unhook the Riftwalkers from his laptop and pulls them on, feeling the telltale tingle of them adjusting to fit him and hoping that means they’ll work. “Thanks for your help, guys.” 

He looks down at the shoes, taps his toe against the ground, and frowns slightly. “You know…I don’t actually know how these work. Just…one minute I was lying on the ground, and the next I was here.” Sprout settles on Flash’s outstretched arm, ready for multiversal travel again. “Any suggestions?”

“Well, they’re shoes, right?” Fringe asked, setting a hand on his hip and tilting his head. “So. Run?”

Tails moved to stand by his brother and nodded. “They seem acceleration-activated, so it's a safe bet.”

Fringe nodded and turned towards the temple steps. He dropped into a crouch and grinned. “Race ya?”

Running’s as good an idea as any. “You’re on!” Flash flashes a smirk in response and stretches his sore muscles before dropping into a crouch beside Fringe. Sprout settles on his back, tucking in below his quills like they’ve done before. He and his unusual Chao have had plenty of practice running together in Dino World and this way carrying the Chao won’t affect his streamlining. “3, 2 1…go!” Something must be wrong with his Chaos energy, because he feels slow for the first few seconds, but then his Chaos energy rises and he’s too hot for a heartbeat - something inside of him burning away - and he’s catching up to Fringe quickly. 

Clearly using the Chaos Emeralds from the other world did more than just burn him up, but he feels fine now. The rising Chaos inside of him heals his burns and he breathes a soft sigh of relief as the pain disappears. Now he’s got a chance to show off how much faster he is than someone, since Rift…he shakes the thought of the older hedgehog away for a moment, knowing he’s on his way back to help, and puts on a burst of speed. As soon as he passes Fringe he breaks the sound barrier. And then the world is a kaleidoscope again and he’s gone.

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 8

A tiny, angry meep from the living room window drew Shadow’s attention. An adult chao, dark running with a flying subskill turning the red stripes on their quills a bit of an orange color, soared in and landed on the back of the chair Shadow sat in. It shook his head and then looked up to Flash with a narrowed gaze. “... Riot. Be nice.”

24 isn’t that much older than him, but it’s clearly old enough to be ready for kids. Then again he thinks his Shadow would probably be ready for kids now if Flash said he was ready. Hearing that Shadow has also been sent back in time is somewhat reassuring, even if the hybrid clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. “Yeah, maybe. I touched a rock, as you do, and it blasted me back in time. And then, when I found my way back to what I thought was the right one, I ended up in an alternate universe, and then found the same rock there but it sent me to the last place and now I’m…here.”

He looks up at the sound the Chao makes and blinks at it. It looks like Shadow. “Oh, hey, what a cool Chao!” He offers it a smile, and then turns around to look for his own - unusual - Chao. “Wonder where Sprout got to…?” He sticks two fingers in his mouth and whistles, trying not to be too loud because of the triplets in the other room. Luckily Sprout has excellent hearing. An answering shriek from somewhere outside echoes back to him and Sprout dives in through the open window and lands neatly on his outstretched arm. “Riot, was it? This is Sprout.” He holds the unusual chao out for Riot to look at. Sprout sniffs at the dark chao, fluffing their feathers up and snapping their jaws a few times to show off their teeth, then settles down on his arm and stares at Riot. Flash thinks the prehistoric Chao is smiling, but it’s hard to tell. 

Riot ‘bah!’d at Sprout before hopping down to nestle against Shadow’s side. Shadow snorted and scowled at him before looking back to Sprout. “That’s an interesting chao. From the dinosaur world, I’m assuming?”

Sprout makes a squawking sound in return and shuffles their feathers indignantly, turning their sharp gaze on Shadow. “Yeah! They’re…well we bonded. As you do. And I wouldn’t have survived without them.” Flash scratches under Sprout’s chin fondly, the chao tipping their head back to allow for better stitches. “And they didn’t wanna stay behind, so I brought ‘em with me.” Sprout makes another squawking sound, as if in agreement. 

Shadow hummed and nodded. “Riot was living in the alley near Club Rouge as an infant chao; I started feeding him, and eventually he came in and refused to leave. He’s been with me ever since.” Riot nodded, then froze. A moment later, a soft whimper could be heard from the monitor by the side of the couch. Shadow swore softly and stood.

“One moment…”

He disappeared down the hall again, reappearing a few minutes later with a tiny, whining bundle in his arms. He sat back down on the chair. “...The other two are getting less restless, but this one’s been colicky for a few days, now.” He cradled the bundle gently, pushing the armchair to rock slowly and holding the hoglet as near to himself as he could, to let them be surrounded by his scent. 

“That’s cute, he clearly loves you…” Flash trails off as Shadow stands and disappears, and watches him return with a baby. He can’t see much beyond the blanket they’re wrapped in, but the hoglet is possibly the smallest baby Flash has ever seen. “Aw, well that sucks.” He doesn’t know much about babies, other than what Vanilla has told him about Cream, but he knows colic isn’t a nice thing. “Are they…they’re gonna be ok, though?” 

Shadow nods slowly as he rocks the tiny bundle in the recliner. “They’ll be fine,” he assures. “They’re strong, and it’s nothing so serious. Have you eaten enough? There’s more, or I can make you something else. If you truly tapped your super form, you should probably have more.”

He wasn’t sure why he felt so strongly this Sonic should eat more, or rest, or why he was so concerned with making sure the hedgehog had enough tea. He’d never been so domestic with his own world’s Sonic; he supposed, though, his Sonic hadn’t given him reason to worry over his wellbeing recently.

“That’s good.” Flash’s little spike of anxiety eases at Shadow’s reassurance and he smiles again, shaking his head. “I’m fine. You don’t need to parent me, too.” He teases lightly, taking another biscuit to appease the hybrid anyway. They’re really very good. And the tea is nice, even if he’d prefer a hot chocolate. Tea is Shadow’s thing. 

The other hedgehog is right, though, he does need his energy. The biscuit disappears almost as fast as it touches his lips, and he takes another. “These’re good.” He looks around the room a moment and then out of the window, wondering how the others are getting on. He should go and help them. 

Shadow sighed softly as Flash’s eyes wandered once more to the window. “...You know the way to the shrine? If you feel ready, you should go. But. Be careful?”

Flash winces a little at having been caught staring out of the window and hops to his feet, offering Shadow a soft smile. “Heh. I will. Thanks for…the food and the company. Good luck with your kiddos?” Is good luck the right thing to say? Possibly not but he’s said it now. “Uh. You look after yourself, too.”

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 7

Shadow comes into the living half an hour or so later. Upon seeing Flash asleep on the couch, he snorts softly and fetches a quilt from the rack by the hearth. He throws it gently over the sleeping hedgehog and turns off the lamps in the living room, then leaves for the kitchen. 

When he  returns again, it’s with a small tray of flaky biscuits and a couple of cups of tea. He sets these down on the coffee table before crouching and setting a hand on Flash’s shoulder.

“..Hedgehog. Wake up.”

Flash startles awake at the touch and stares up at Shadow for a moment as he remembers where he is. This is very obviously not his Shadow. “M’awake.” He gently shrugs Shadow’s hand off his shoulder and looks around, but only Shadow is present.. “Where’re the others? I should…I should go see if they need me.” 

He swings his legs around so he's sitting upright and stretches, wincing at the ache in his muscles and the sting of still-healing burns. It’s strange that they haven’t healed already, and that his muscles are still sore. That’s not happened since the Metal Virus. Usually his chaos energy would’ve healed him up in a few hours, though it might not have been that long. “How long have I been asleep?”

Shadow blows softly through his nose. “Thirty minutes. They’re still running analysis; I only woke you so you could eat something and have a drink. You said you went super? Your energy will need replacing, if your anything like me and the Sonic of this world.” He nodded to the tray and the flaky buttermilk biscuits on it, as well as the tea before taking a cup for himself and moving to sit in the chair off to the side of the room from the couch.

Ok so half an hour isn’t really long enough to be worried that he’s not healed up yet. But still…it’s a little concerning. At least if they’re still running analysis they probably don’t need him yet. “I did, yeah. Powered Caliburn for a bit, too.” Why does he feel the need to tell Shadow everything? Does he expect the other to be impressed? Maybe. 

He selects a biscuit and takes a bite, humming quietly. “Thanks. S’good.” He finishes his biscuit and collects another, along with a cup of tea. He’s not hugely into tea, but it reminds him of his Shadow. “So…triplets? That must be a lotta work.”

Shadow blows softly. “An understatement,” he sighs tiredly. He picks at the arm of the chair he’s in. His eyes flick up to consider Flash a moment before adding, “Worth it, though. I… suppose you and- and your Shadow dont…?” Its strange to him to consider a world where he would be interested in Sonic in that way; he and the Sonic of his world get along well enough now, sure, but, attraction? He almost wanted to laugh at the thought.

Flash shakes his head quickly. “No…we…well we’ve only really had like a month together without all the eyes in the world on us. And I dunno if I…well we’re only 21. And we’ve only been together for like…” He has to think about how much time it’s been for Shadow, but then he’s not really sure when it is for him, “Maybe 7, 8 months? I don’t know. I’ve been gone for like 7 months? But I dunno if Dino World time counted? Like Camelot time didn’t?” He realises he’s been rambling and sheepishly takes another sip of his tea. It’s good. Strong. “So, uh, no. Not…not yet. Or any time soon.”

Shadow nodded along as Flash spoke. “I see,” he replied. “You’re a bit younger than those of us here, then. I’m… well.” He stopped and tilted his head. How old was he, really? Stasis had already complicated that answer, and now the event which sent him back in time made it an even harder question to answer. “... the easy answer is 24, I suppose, as is our world’s Sonic.”

After a moment, he adds, “I do understand the confusion and disorientation of timeline skipping, though. The Master Emerald has done this before.” He feels that old anxiety make his quills rise up. He hates speaking on this, but it may be what this Sonic needs to hear. “Or something like this. It sent me back to the time of the old echidna tribe; perhaps it was a similar power that sent you back to the age of dinosaurs.”

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 6

A soft knock at the door sounded, and Knuckles moved to open it. Tails followed him back; the fox was lanky and tall, taller than either Sonic, and a bit taller than even Knuckles. A dark brown mask pattern covered from the bridge of his muzzle and around his eyes, and the tips of his ears and a band under the white tips of his twin tails was also the same dark brown. He froze in his tracks, blinking at Flash.

“Huh. Neat!” The fox broke into a brilliant grin and stuck out his hand. 

“Uh, no. Heard they helped in the search for us when…you know what? Never mind.” Flash does not sit down, he’s too wired up to think about it, and glances at the door at the knock. This Tails is also tall - why are all versions of his brother enormous? Was his own Tails going to get huge, too? - but at least he looks much more pleased to see Flash than the previous one did. 

Flash feels a smile tugging at his face in response and takes Tails’ hand. “Hey, bud. Thanks for coming. You can call me Flash, it’s easier than having two Sonics.”

Tails’ eyes were still wide with curiosity as she shook Flash’s hand. “Nice! You’re right, definitely easier. So, my Sonic stays Sonic then…?” Fringe snorted. “Fringe, apparently. For now.”

Tails snorts but sobers enough to nod at Fringe. “Okay, got it! So, can someone let me in on what’s going on?” His ears flattened as he let go of Flash’s hand, a bit nervous.

Fringe took a deep breath, steadying himself, then replied, “Okay. So. Flash here got tossed into our world from another Sonic’s world, apparently one where they’re getting their asses royally kicked, and he needs our help to go back. He’s got these shoes that the Tails from that world made, but they malfunctioned and sent him here in the middle of the fight. He wants you to take a look at them, so that maybe between them and the Master Emerald’s power, he can get back and help them out back there in that world.”

Knuckles crosses his arms as Tails blinks and looks to Flash. “Uh,” the fox began, “...Anything else you gotta add or is that the gist?”

Flash folds his arms and taps his foot as Fringe explains everything to Tails, and nods in agreement. “Just that…the Sonic of that world - Rift - he’s…he got his chaos sucked out. So. Without me there’s no Super form. And they needed me to power Caliburn…” He pauses to think, only just stops himself from pacing again. 

“Well, there’s Amy but she can’t power him, I don’t think? And she’s great with a hammer but she can’t wield a sword and Shadow is…he’s…he’s gone.” That sounds wrong even to him. Shadow hasn’t died. “He’s not dead! I mean…something happened and he’s taken on his massive, terrifying Doom form. Rift called it The Vanguard. It’s a Shadow who was fully under Doom’s control. His general.” He takes a deep breath and sinks down on the sofa. “So yeah. They need my help, and even if the Chaos Emeralds over there burn me up I have to try.”

All blink, look to one another, and stare back at Flash with wide eyes.

“...A Shadow under Doom’s control sounds…,” Knuckles begins, shrinking.

Fringe nods slowly. “Terrifying, yeah. Dude, I… I don’t think you should go back because I’m afraid you’ll… not make it, y’know? But, that said. You have to go back, because you’re right: that world needs you.”

Tails folds his ears and looks between them all. “... Let’s go to the Master Emerald. Up there, I can perform some scans, and we’ll see how the energy in your shoes plays with the Emerald’s energy and Fringe’s resonator abilities.”

“Flash should stay here and rest, I think. You guys can come get ‘em when your scans are done. You wanna hand them your… ‘riftwalkers’, or whatever?” Knuckles said, stepping forward with concern over his brow.

Fringe nodded. “That’s a good call; rest while you can, ‘cause it sounds like whatever’s waiting on the other side is gonna need you at fall capacity.”

Flash wants to collapse in relief when everyone agrees he needs to go back and wants to help, but he doesn’t allow himself to. 

As reluctant as he is to stay behind and give his Riftwalkers to anyone, he does need some rest. Just half an hour. “…yeah, ok.” He slips the shoes off and hands them to Fringe. They’re a little singed, much like Flash still is, but they’re intact. 

“Thanks for this.” He meets their eyes in turn. “I’ll just rest a little bit, and then I’ll be right with you.” He slumps sideways on the sofa and closes his eyes. 

The others looked between themselves before heading out the door.

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 5

Knuckles came back around the corridor and snorted at the sight of Fringe. “Ah, good, I thought Shadow seemed marginally more pissed off than he was a few minutes ago. See you met Sonic, Sonic?”

Fringe glared. “You’re enjoying this.”

“Yep! Sure am.”

“...How pissed are we talking, though, ‘cause like, I didn’t have getting doom-speared on my calendar today…?”

Knuckles rolled his eyes. “We’ll see how long it takes him to get Itza back down. She barely slept last night, he was hoping she’d sleep a little longer this morning so we wouldn’t have to get her to bed so early this evening. Y’know. Since we were almost getting them to stop flipping their nights and days?”

Fringe winced and shrank a bit. “Oops…”

Flash looks between Knuckles and Fringe as they talk, eyes half-lidded as his exhaustion catches up with him. It takes him a little while to pair up what Knuckles is saying with the three little cries he heard not long ago and he blinks sleepily. And is then suddenly much more awake. “Wait…you guys have kids?”

If he could stop having his mind blown in this universe for five minutes that would be great. 

“Like…hoglets? Babies?” Why have the Riftwalkers spit him out here? Where the love of his life has a home and a family with someone else? Well. Not the love of his life. But. A version of him. This is all very stressful and confusing for Flash and he struggles to get up off the couch again, feeling like he’s intruding all of a sudden. “Oh man. I’m super sorry, Knux. I’ll get outta your fur as soon as I can.” 

He turns to Fringe. “You said Tails is on his way?”

Knuckles waves Flash off. “Hey, you didn’t do it. But, yeah. Triplets.” He shifted a bit awkwardly; after all, in Flash’s world, Shadow was with him, not that world’s Knuckles. That shouldn’t matter, and yet…

Fringe looked between them both and raised a brow. “...You guys alright? Actually, know what? Nevermind- probably weird, right? Your Shads and Knux probably don’t have kids  yet.” His ears perk at the distant hum of the Cyclone flying in and he turns toward the door. “...Hm. Speak of the devil; sounds like he’s just made it!”

“Hopefully he brought your less annoying half…”

“Hey, mean…”

Flash perks up as he hears the plane outside, but it’ll be a minute before it arrives. “Less annoying half…who?” Who could this Sonic possibly be with?

This is all so confusing and Flash realises he hasn’t answered Fringe’s question either. “And yeah.. S’weird but not…not because of that.” He looks at the door instead of making eye contact. “The Shadow of my world…of the last two worlds, too, isn’t with Knux. He’s with me. Us.” He keeps his eyes on the door, not wanting to see how Fringe takes that news. “So. No. He and Knux don’t have kids.”

He sighs softly and musters a smile as he turns to Knuckles. “Congrats on your triplets, though. That must be…well a lotta work. But awesome?”

Fringe blinked, eyes wide. “With… Shads? But- no, no, I- I mean, here at least, I’m with Might! Er, Mighty! You know a Mighty, yeah?” Knuckles frowns and looks between the two. “... So, let’s all keep in mind multiverse counterparts are two very separate people, alright? Sonic- Er, I, guess, Fringe- you’ve been down this road before. So. Just remember that, alright?”

Fringe nodded and checked his phone. “Tails just landed, he’s on his way.”

Flash nods in answer. At least this is as weird for Fringe as it is for him. He perks up at the mention of Tails arriving soon and jumps up to pace even if he feels like falling over. The sooner Tails gets here, the sooner he can take a look at the Riftwalkers and hopefully send him back. 

Whilst he paces he glances at Fringe and offers what he intends to be a sincere smile. “So…Mighty, huh? ‘Course I know him. Not…not in the same way you do, obviously. Haven’t seen him for years. But. Guess I can see it?” 

Fringe watches Flash pace with growing concern. “Oh, uh, did yours not come back yet…? Mighty and Ray came back to settle on South Island when Knux and Shads got married. Dude, please sit back down maybe?”

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 4

Watching Shadow and Knuckles makes Sonic vaguely uncomfortable. It’s different from seeing versions of himself and Shadow; even though he knows it’s a different universe, it still feels wrong. So much for multiversal constant. 

He doesn’t have much of a choice but to stay put and rest for a minute, and mulls over Shadow’s words. Guest room…

He frowns lightly and calls after Shadow’s retreating back; “You don’t need to make a room up for me, I’m not staying.” He winces at his rudeness. “Not that I don’t appreciate it. But I have to go back. There’s a battle and I…well they need me over there.” Some of the urgency he’d lost on the journey here returns to him and he hauls himself up off the sofa with a groan of pain, looks around the room for any clues on how to get out of here. 

Shadow’s ears flicked and he turned to look over his shoulder in the direction of the living room. He sighed and called back, “I understand, but we can’t do anything until you’re in better condition. How good would you be in a fight right now, really?”

He preheated the oven for buttermilk biscuits and pulled out the bowl he’d prepped to rise overnight in the fridge. As he worked the dough from the bowl and began cutting biscuits to put on the pan, his mind raced through all the possible avenues that would have brought this Sonic to their world. The Master Emerald had never gone this far before. He had to trust in the fact that it had never allowed real harm through, at least.

He heard Sonic get up and move around. He sighed again.

Sonic won’t allow himself to admit that Shadow was right about the condition he’s in. He can still run. Well. Sort of. He still feels off balance and vaguely sick. He’s not going to tell Shadow that, though. “More good than not having me at all. Rift’s lost his chaos. Amy’s gone Super but…The Vanguard.” He shivers as he remembers the terrifying smoky form that Shadow had taken. He’s never seen anything like it before. “They need me, Shads. I gotta help.” His voice sounds pleading, even to his own ears, but he’s not above begging for help if it gets him back there. 

After sliding the tray in the oven, Shadow turns to walk back to across the corridor. “Sonic, listen; I’ve been in a similar position to you. Battle and all. Only I wasn’t sent to a new universe, but an older time; no amount of begging or pleading with the Emerald would bring me home, and the tribe it left me with didn’t know how to return me, either. Your best bet is to wait for Tails to take a look at the shoes the other world’s Tails gave you, and go from there. I’m sure that-”

His reply was lost as the front door slammed open. Standing at the entrance, now looking sheepish at the slow head turn his appearance got from Shadow, was the Sonic of this world; around Shadow’s height or perhaps half an inch or so taller, light frosting on the ends of his quills and dark mask over his muzzle, thick fringe hanging over his forehead, and scars on either side of his chest where lighter blue fur had grown into the peach in almost lightening bolt patterns.

“...Sorry, uh, my bad-”

“I swear to Gaia if that just woke-”

A sharp infant’s cry rang out down the hall, then a second, and finally a softer third. Shadow slumped tiredly and glared, then turned without another word down the hall towards the sound, tails lashing angrily.

Sonic cringed, then spotted the other out of the corner of his eye. He blinked, and his snapped towards them. “...Oh.”

“But they could be-” Sonic had been in the middle of trying to speak over Shadow, and whipped his head around to look as the door slammed open. And then babies started crying. Flash didn’t even have time to process that, too focused on the visitor. 

Well. Another Sonic, this one nowhere near as tall as Rift - his chest hurt thinking about the older hedgehog - with different quills and a fringe stood in the doorway staring at him. 

“Oh man, I don’t have time for this. Hi. Flash.” He gestures to himself. “Sonic from a different universe. Came here by mistake. Trying to go back. You’re a resonator, right? Can you resonate with multiversal energy? Because I could really use that right now. If not, please point me in the direction of Tails because Shadow is trying to feed me and says I need to rest but I need to go.” He sucks in a breath and stares at his other alternate self.

Sonic blinked. “...Okay,” he began, slowly at first, then took a breath. “Hi. Sonic- er, dunno what else you’d call me, sorry. Sorry about your accidental multiverse travel, happens to the best of us. Yes I’m a resonator, I don’t know but probably, Knuckles texted Tails like two minutes ago he’s probably on his way, that sounds like Shadow, aaannndddd why’s your fur smoking?” 

He glanced to the side to push the door shut, quieter now, though it was perhaps a bit late for that, then looked back to the other Sonic- Flash. He nodded to the couch. “Sit, maybe, ‘cause you look like you’re gonna fall out, dude. And we can talk, ‘cause to help you, I’m gonna need more than ‘please resonate with multiverse energy’, okay? Just got here, like, ten seconds ago. Less. Sit?” He walked into the living room and stood in the middle of it, tapping a foot restlessly.

Flash blinks at the new Sonic, then stares at the couch. “I’m not gonna fall over.” At least he’s pretty sure he isn’t. Still. He makes his way back over to it and flops down, if only to placate the other alternate so he’ll help out. 

“Ok, Fringe,” What else is he supposed to call him? “I’m sitting.” He waited for the other to join him. “I came from an alternate universe. These shoes are called Riftwalkers,” he gestures to the shoes in question, “and they were supposed to take me back to my universe when I used them. Except they malfunctioned and sent me here, in the middle of a battle no less, so now everyone could be dying and I need to go back. I’m…” he sighs heavily, cuts his eyes away, “not a good resonator. The reason I’m smoking - still - is because I used the Chaos Emeralds from that universe to go super to help. But they started to burn me up. I’m hoping either you or Tails could try and send me back?”

Sonic- Fringe, as it were, pinned his ears and glanced up at the fringe in question. “...Dude. Fringe? Really? Best you got? Okay, sure, fine, whatever,” he sighed, waving a hand through the air to brush the comment aside. He crossed his arms again to pin Flash with a hard look.

“Look, I don’t know what Shadow or Knuckles told you, but, I’m not like, magic or anything. Yeah, I can resonate pretty easy with most things, but- I can’t work miracles, dude. But I’ll try! I’ll need Tails’ help, though; I don’t really ever know where the begin on this one…”

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 3

Sonic looks around with interest as they approach the burrow. It looks similar to the one his Knuckles lives in, if a little bigger. The inside is homey and comfortable and he lets out a little sigh as he sinks into the couch. “Staying here.” He salutes Knuckles and tips his head back to rest it on the back of the couch. 

He wonders what this version of Tails is like. And Shadow. And why is Shadow on Angel Island? In Knuckles’ burrow no less? “Hey, Knux?” He calls, glancing down the corridor the echidna disappeared into. “What’s Shads doing here anyway?”

A short, whispered argument sounded down the hall, too quiet to make out words. There was rustling as though through a cabinet, and then soft padding down the corridor. Shadow appeared, quills just messy enough to suggest he hadn’t had the time yet to order them. He carried a basket in his arms with a few different salves and ointments and sprays, along with bandaging material and pain killers. His ears were large and rimmed in white, and he wore a pair of soft leather fingerless gloves with the cuffs under his inhibitors. What can be seen of his hands show white fingers with tan digital pads and long black claws; the pointer and middle finger of each hand is red, part of the stripe visible under the openings on the back of his gloves before it disappeared to track further up his arm. Held behind him, curved to keep its feathered blade off the floor, was a long tail; black, red, and creamy white feathers adorned its end in a blade. Black socks covered his feet; even still, his long talons could be heard clicking against the floor with each step.

Knuckles walked behind him. “Uh, he lives here, he-”

Shadow looked to his mate with a sharp, short growl, warm brown eyes flashing red a moment before he turned back to Sonic. He sat his basket down by the couch and crouch in front of him. “Don’t concern yourself with that. Knuckles said you aren’t from our timeline; tell me, who are you? And how did you end up here?” 

Sonic blinks  in surprise at the Shadow who appears from down the corridor. That. Is not his or anyone else’s Shadow. “H-uh-” His greeting dies on his tongue. It’s hard to focus on any one difference between any Shadow he’s seen before, and this version of him. The tail drew his attention for a good length of time, and the ears, and then the hands. He coughs when Knuckles mentions that Shadow lives here, shaking his head to clear it for a moment. Isn’t…isn’t he with the Sonic of this universe? But he does…look at home here. That’s going to have to blow his mind a little later, because Shadow asked him a question and is looking up at him from his crouched position on the floor. 

“I’m not. From your timeline. I’m from a different universe and I got here because my shoes sucked me back through a Rift and spit me out here.” He gestures at the Riftwalkers with irritation. “And I’m Sonic. You have a Sonic here, right? Knuckles knew my name. So you must. Is he here?”

Ok time to allow himself a moment to freak out that Shadow is apparently dating Knuckles. “You guys…” he looks between them, “you’re together. Like together?”

Shadow looks up to Knuckles, then sighs. “Yes,” he says, looking back to Sonic. “I take it we aren’t in your world?”

Knuckles grunted and moved to sit on the other side of Sonic, watching the two closely. Shadow reached out for the other hedgehog’s hand. “And, yes, I know Sonic. Our Sonic. He’s not here, but, by his text, he will be soon.”

“What? You told him already?” Knuckles asked, brows raised.

Shadow blew sharply. “No, of course not, but, he felt the disturbance with the Emerald. Even since all this mess started with the Voices coming through it, he’s been more in tune, you know that. Almost as much as you are.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes. “As if.” He pulled out his phone and winced at the missed messages he saw there. “Ah. Yeah. He texted me, too. Guess I was too busy getting other Sonic here to notice.”

Sonic bites his lip at the question and allows Shadow to take his hand, staring down at the differences between them. The fingerless gloves are really throwing him off. He listens to their conversation and tilts his head quizzically. “Your Sonic’s good at resonating?” He himself isn’t very good at it at all, it’s a miracle he was able to use the Chaos Emeralds and Caliburn from the other universe. Maybe the Sonic from this world can help him, then. 

The more he looks at Knuckles and Shadow, the more uneasy he feels about this universe. He’s going to have to tell them. It’s not even like it’s a secret, it’s just weird that here Shadow is with someone else. And even weirder that it’s Knuckles. He sighs and shakes his head slowly. “And no. You’re not together where I’m from. You’re…the Shadow in my world. In the other worlds I’ve been to…” he rubs the engagement ring beneath his glove with his thumb, looks away from them both, “is with me.” He’s not sure why it feels embarrassing to admit, but he takes his hand back from Shadow. 

Knuckles stares for a moment, as does Shadow; then the echidna bursts out laughing.

“Ha!” he shouted, gasping between laughs and turning his head as he struggled to contain himself. Shadow was giving him an unimpressed look from the floor. “So that’s why all those Voices in the beginning were asking if you were with Sonic!”

Shadow blinked tiredly at his partner before shaking his head and look over Sonic’s hand and arms. He took a pulse quickly, nodded to himself when it seemed normal enough, and release the hand to set about pulling out the salves and sprays for the hedgehog’s burns. “Well. Then I’d hope you have a bit more sense than our Sonic here, if that’s the case. Or else Gaia help your poor partner-”

“Be nice,” Knuckles chastised lightly, wiping his eyes and still chuckling under his breath.

Sonic feels his face heat with a blush at being laughed at and shrinks into himself, crossing his arms defensively over his stomach. His spines lift at the base and he wills them to flatten back down. “What’s…what’s that supposed to mean? Why would Shads need help…?” Was he reading too much into Shadow’s words? Probably. But he was feeling off-kilter by everything that had happened in the last…however many hours it had been, and being laughed at for a reason he didn’t understand never felt nice. And the fact that Shadow was with Knuckles was still throwing him off. 

Shadow’s ears pinned and he narrowed his gaze, swatting Knuckles to get him to stop chortling. “Go get the guest room ready, would you? I’ll get a kettle on.” Knuckles snorted and stood, helping Shadow up from his crouch and pecking a quick kiss on  his cheek as he passed. Shadow watched him go and look back to Sonic. “... Apologies. It was a jest in poor taste, given the current circumstances. Please, rest, I’ll be back with some tea and something for you to eat, and we can get to bottom of this all.”

Shadow turned then towards the corridor, crossing it and entering the kitchen to prepare the kettle for boiling.

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 2

When they’ve reached the bottom, Knuckles pulls out his phone to send a quick message to Shadow. 

Echidna: Master Emerald sent us a gift-

Hot Rod: And what’s that?

Echidna: second sonic, extra crazy on the side

The reply ellipses appeared and disappeared a few times, before finally the hybrid texted back-

Hot Rod: Does he seem safe enough?

Echidna: Wouldn’t bring him around the kids if he wasn’t

Hot Rod: Bring him to the burrow, then

Echidna: On our way

Knuckles stowed his phone again and wrapped an arm around Sonic’s shoulders to keep him upright as they walked the path towards the forest and out of the Temple Complex.

Sonic, finally out of steam now he’s rambled most of his thoughts at Knuckles, makes it to the bottom of the stairs in one piece. “Piece of cake!” 

He almost flinches as Knuckles puts an arm around him, but the contact is actually quite welcome and being held up so he won’t fall over is a nice bonus. He tucks his arm around Knuckles’ waist after a moment of thought, shrinking himself a little to fit into the space. “Where’re we going, anyway?” He looks around as they walk, noticing the differences between this Angel Island and the one he’s familiar with. “Tails visiting or something? Or we gonna call him? Wait you had your phone did you text him?” It must be an effort for Knuckles to keep him upright, given that he’s exhausted and also keeps tripping over rocks, but he doesn’t fall over so that’s a win. 

“Back to my place, get you patched up,” Knuckles replied, keeping a strong hold on this strange Sonic. “And uh, yeah. Texting folks. He felt his phone going off again, too, but ignored it for now in favor of keeping the struggling hedgehog on his feet.

The forest path was kept up enough that he wasn’t too worried with Sonic being able to traverse it, but, he still tried steering them both away from the worse of the dips and roots.

“Oh. Am I that bad?” Sonic looks down at himself, which he hasn’t done since he got here, and winces. He’s battered and bruised, which is to be expected, but he’s also singed in quite a few places. There are patches on his stomach and arms where the fur is almost completely burned off, grey soot clinging to the surrounding fur. He swallows and feels the bruises around his throat ache - the Black Knight would’ve strangled him if not for the Emeralds - and lifts a hand to feel them. 

Suddenly acutely aware of his injuries and pain, Sonic leans more heavily on Knuckles as they walk. Usually he’d have started to heal by now - chaos energy isn’t an instant cure but it’s normally pretty fast - and he worries about why he isn’t. Luckily the path isn’t too treacherous and with Knuckles holding him up he’s not at risk of faceplanting anymore. 

They make slow work of the forest path, which Knuckles find concerning for any Sonic, and approach the clearing where the burrow lies. It’s early enough in the morning most things are still asleep outside, and after the odd surge of Chaos energy from the Master Emerald, even those things that aren’t are kept quiet at the presence of the stranger in their midst. Knuckles pulls open the round burrow door and hurries Sonic inside. “Okay, I’m no medic, right? You probably know that. Shadow’ll patch you up, and then we’ll see about getting a hold of Tails, just- stay here, okay?” He deposits the hedgehog on the couch, makes a motion with his mitted hands to stay, and makes off down the hall near the living room.

[askknuxadow]

The Visitor

BB!AU x Set in Stone Crossover Event, pt 1 Continuation from this event on STHAskVerse

Flash tumbles through the Rift and out the other side, still smouldering as he lands on something hard and warm. “Ugh.” He opens his eyes to find himself staring at a beautiful blue sky, clouds rolling gently by. Sprout makes an offended sound and flies off and Sonic finally looks around to see where he is. This isn’t where he’d come from. 

He’s arrived on Angel Island. But not his Angel Island. And not the one from where he’d come from either. He doesn’t recognise some of the carvings on the stones, or the little hut off to the side. “No…no, no!” He rolls onto his knees with a pained gasp to find he’s landed atop the Master Emerald, which is warm to the touch. “Send me back!” He slams his fists down on the gem, anger and fear and pain making his voice hoarse and crackling. “You have to…you have to send me back! Please! They need me!” Nevermind that he is weak, battered and bruised, and still singed (and smoking). They need his help! 

“SEND ME BACK! I HAVE TO GO BACK!” He’s aware of tears landing on the glittering gem, but he doesn’t care and can’t  stop, slamming his fists down on the surface again and again - even though he is weak and wouldn’t be able to damage it should he want to. He keeps screaming until he can’t any more and then just…collapses atop the Master Emerald and cries.  

Knuckles is at the top of the Altar, finally at ease leaving the burrow with Shadow slowly beginning to feel like himself again- when the Emerald let out a sudden whining hum. The echidna spun to face it, and was blinded by a burst of light from within the ancient gem.

When he could lower the arm he’d used to block the flash, he was met with the sight of a figure dropping down onto the Master Emerald. He felt its power surge, and then still; the figure roused. And then it began to scream.

“Hey! Hey- Sonic?!” Knuckle shouted. He leapt onto the Emerald and stood on a faceted edge, balancing in a low crouch while the hedgehog unleashed his assault against the gem. This… wasn’t his Sonic, he was fairly sure, this Sonic had no fringe and his colors were different. He was also… smoldering? Previously on fire? 

Knuckles let the assault against the Emerald play out, aware the hedgehog was not in a state to actually damage the gem and secure in the knowledge that he, himself, had unleashed his own rage against it before without the relic coming to harm. He stayed in his crouch, arms set on his knees, and waited.

When the hedgehog collapsed, he ventured carefully, “...You done?”

Sonic flinches and looks up at Knuckles. Not his Knuckles, or the one from where he’d just been, but even an alternative version of his friend is still comforting. “Knux.” He breathes and scrambles up to a standing position, almost slipping over on the smooth surface of the Master Emerald as he makes his way over to the echidna. “You…can you send me back? I gotta go back!” He grips Knuckles’ shoulders desperately, almost hanging on to him to stay upright. 

Knuckles’ eye widen and he takes a hold of Sonic’s arms to hold him steady. “Hey, hey-, send you back where? I don’t… when did you come from?” He looked Sonic over, brow furrowed, then back up to the hedgehog’s face. “I don’t recognize you from anytime before, and, you don’t look like how I’d imagine you will in years from now, either…”

Of course this Sonic had to come from some other point in time; that’s all that made sense. After all, the Emerald had done the same with Shadow, hadn’t it?

Sonic wobbles on his feet and shakes his head quickly. “Not when. It’s…” He thinks for a moment, then makes a frustrated sound before rambling out his thoughts as quickly as he can, “Ok. So. The multiverse is real and I just came from a different universe and I need to go back there because they need my help or they’re all gonna die and Shadow is…” He sucks in a breath, bites his lip, “…oh Gaia…I’ve never seen him like that.” He realises he might have lost Knuckles in the word vomit he’s just spewed. “Never mind all that. These shoes-” he gestures at the Riftwalkers “- brought me through a Rift and they should be able to take me back, I think? You’re good with Chaos energy. Can you…do something?”

Knuckles blinks and leans back to follow Sonic’s gesture towards the shoes, then looks back up. “I… Don’t think I can do that, man- I…” His mind raced. He blinked and finally really took the sight of this new Sonic in.

He was in rough condition. “Look, first thing we gotta do is get you cleaned up and your wounds looked after, okay? And- I promise you, Shadow’s fine. Literally just saw him like, an hour ago, back at the burrow.” The echidna deftly hopped down from the Emerald, ready to help the injured hedgehog down, too, should he need it.

Sonic feels like he might burst into tears again as Knuckles says he can’t help, already trying to shake his head and deny that that can be the truth. It has to be possible. “No! No, I gotta…it’s not your Shadow I’m worried about…and why is Shadow in your burrow anyway? Wait, never mind. That’s so not important right now.” 

He stares down at the offered hand and seriously considers staying on top of the Emerald until Knuckles agrees to help him, but he is injured. And maybe if he heals up he can figure out the Riftwalkers. Or find - “Tails! You have a Tails, right? Maybe he can help me! Tails is the smartest person ever, that’s always true no matter the universe! Can you take me to him?” He shuffles off the edge of the Emerald and lands…well it’s not graceful. But he’s upright. 

Knuckles yelped as he tried to catch the stumbled hedgehog, eyes still wide and blinking. This Sonic clearly wasn’t in his right mind… 

“Yeah,” he replied, remembering something about going along with the fantasy to cause more stress to already taxed mind, “I can, sure! But, in the mean time, just while we wait, let’s- let’s get you fixed up, alright?”

Sonic breathes a small sigh of relief and practically throws himself at Knuckles to hug him. “Thanks, Knux. Can always count on you. Even if you did punch my lights out in the last place.” He chokes up thinking about the others, hoping they can hold up without him for a little while. “He’ll be ok. I just gotta get back, and the Emeralds…oh Amy! She went Super!” His eyes widen as he remembers her glowing rose gold form, brilliantly pink eyes staring in shock at herself. “But…Rift…he…I can’t leave them.” 

Knuckles only barely manages to catch the hedgehog, holding him up and standing rigid. “Uh… Amy went… super? And who’s Rift? You aren’t making sense, Sonic…” So much for going along with the fantasy. The echidna was struggling to make heads or tails of anything the hedgehog was saying, now. And when was the last time he punched Sonic…? Couldn’t have been recently. He was. Mostly sure, a least.

He glanced to the steps down the Temple and added, “You, uh… You think you can manage the stairs? Or, I mean, I can carry you; won’t even give you shit for it later, promise-”

Sonic eyes up the stairs Knuckles gestures to and nods, even if he’s not 100% sure he can manage them. But. He’s proud. He continues talking as he starts walking. “Rift is…me. Well. Not me me, but like, an alternate version of me? It’s complicated. Or. Maybe it’s not, I don’t know what you know. But he’s me except he’s bigger and older! And he’s like…Silver right now. Not silver like Silver the Hedgehog silver. But. Well he is a hedgehog. But not Silver. He’s Sonic. But we called him Rift and me Flash so it wouldn’t get confusing.” He misses a step or two on the way down them but mostly remains upright. 

Knuckles stays beside the rambling hedgehog the whole way down, looking more and more concerned by the moment. He grimaces at each missed step. “Uh-huh, yeah, that’s- wild. Um, can you, try not to fall, maybe?”

[askknuxadow]

See, Shadow? Everything turned out alright! All three of those hatchlings are yours so they had to be strong like you and Knuckles, even the little one! You're already doing a great job as parents 💙

Two weeks had passed since the hatching, and Knuckles and Shadow had fallen into a comfortable routine. During much of the day, Knuckles was out at the Master Emerald's altar, guarding solo as he once did and performing the daily rites over the gem, while Shadow remained at the burrow with the triplets. Most afternoons, Knuckles would return early enough to eat a late lunch with his mate before giving Shadow time to slip free of the burrow and make his own patrols of the island's parameter.

He hated leaving them, but framed as a necessity to protect his vulnerable children, he did it with a thoroughness bordering on obsession.

He was returning from one such check late in the evening, the sun beginning to set, casting deep, golden light all about the clearing.

Knuckles had dinner ready at the table, drawing a pleased purr from his husband as he entered the kitchen. The hybrid sidled up to him and nuzzled against his neck with a contented sigh.

"Babies?" Shadow asked after a moment of purring.

Knuckles laughed. "Babies are fine. In their cribs, probably about ready for a bottle and a snooze." He turned and pressed a kiss to Shadow's head. "Wash up. Let's eat first."

Shadow only grunted, but stood and moved to shed his gloves and wash his hands for dinner. As he sat down by his husband to eat, he took his phone from quills and caught sight of the message across the screen.

He smiled, and turned the screen down. Yes, he supposed they were doing rather well, after all...

[askknuxadow]

Hi mod! This is my first time coming across this blog, I was wondering if there’s kind of a summary of the story so far? It’s just quite a lot to catch up on but I’m very excited about this. I don’t see a lot of knuxadow often!

[Currently there isn't, but I can give you a quick rundown so far! I'll stick it under a readmore as it'll contain spoilers for anyone who would rather go back and read the blog, plus it got a bit longer itself lol-

The blog starts after Knuxadow have just returned from their honeymoon! They're a bit older in this AU, Shadow being about 24 and Knuckles 27. The Emerald is powered up on their return and letting entities known as Voices through- that's you guys!- to ask questions and partake in some light shenanigans. The Emerald acts as a Filter (i.e., this is the canon explanation of "mod powers") and chooses what to let through and when.

Sonic is here too, occasionally! He's dating Mighty. He's also a strong "resonator", meaning he taps easily into the power sources in the world like the Chaos Emeralds, Master Emerald, etc. He's gotten more confident and efficient at this as time's gone on, and with the Master Emerald in particular, he's probably second only to Knuckles in his ability to tap its energy.

Theres some lore to dive into, but I'll give you a rundown here: Shadow has access to an altered form of his Doom wings and has undergone some other physical changes (see the banner image!). This is due to a combination of the event of SxS Gens (giving him his wings, a new tail, and returning the claws that had been removed as a hoglet on the ARK) and an even that occurred not long before his wedding to Knuckles. In a nut shell, a battle occurred on Angel Island where Shadow was drawn to the Master Emerald and took in its power to save the island. This unlocked a "Master Form" for him, but also drained him of his Chaos energy and sapped his strength at a blinding rate, causing to lose consciousness and fall back towards the altar. The Emerald then sent him backwards in time 3000 years, something-something-time-to-recover?-, in which he befriended the echidna tribe and especially Tikal and Chaos. After Tikal and Chaos' sealing, he used his powers to break the island away from the land below, sent it and the last remaining members of the echidnas into the sky. The power of the Master Emerald sustained him in a sort of psuedo-immortality for a few hundred years where he took on the mantle of the First Guardian. When the last few echidna eventually took over the position, Shadow sealed himself away as Pure Chaos in caverns below the alter, leaving hints as to where to find him in carvings for Knuckles. Wibbly-wobbly, time-wimey stuff, yadda yadda, it's only been about a year for Knuckles, but sudden new carvings appear on the ruins that look just as aged as though they'd always been there, and Knuckles (with the help of Sonic and Tails) locates Shadow and brings him home. The memories of his time as the First Guardian are fuzzy and dream-like as the Emerald's way of protecting him from the madness those long stretches of time may have otherwise caused and to help him reintegrate back into his life as easily as possible. That said, he's a lot calmer now than before and more matured; the Master Emerald's influence over his Chaos stablized it in a way it never has been before, thus his new wings and ability to call on them at will with no pain.

Shadow is, in this 'verse and basically all my other AUs, "monoecious" or intersex (though this term doesn't fit him the best here 'cause weird alien biology and you can't be intersex if thats just the default of your species, thus, I use "monoecious") and can become pregnant. Which, he is, likely conceiving sometime after his return to the present and before his wedding to Knuckles. Because his internal biology adapts to the sire's biology, which in this case means monotreme, he lays a clutch of eggs- triplets! Two are puggles (echdna babies!) and one is a hoglet. The hoglet is a lot smaller than their siblings and hatched last.

Sonic's got a teensy case of hoglet fever after meeting the hatchlings; hasn't really been dealt with yet but we'll see what comes of it! There's also other facets of his and Mighty's story that have yet to be explored.

Shadow's undergoing a bit of post-partum depression atm; it isn't strong but certainly he's struggling a bit with transitioning to parenthood.

And.... that sums it up I think! Catches us up to here. I've a couple asks to answer, and then a treat- a crossover RP with a fell askblogger I'll be breaking up into parts and posting here! If anyone's also on my other blog @sth-askverse, its essentially a continuation of that.

But yeah! Hope I didn't leave this ask too long to answer lol, I intended to answer it soon as it came in but IRL events have been slowing me down. Getting back into it now though! Slowly and with spurts and stops but, we getting there lol]

[askknuxadow]

How did the night in your own bed go?

Shadow was sitting in the kitchen window seat, crossed legged and nursing a coffee. He looked tired, but his quills and fur were soft after a morning bath. He checked his phone before setting it back down taking his tea to sip again. "... Not well," he answed at length. Then sighed. "But better than I expected. I hardly slept; the babies woke at several points in the night. The hoglet in particular cried the most; I've been within feet of them for nearly every moment of their existence, up to this point, minus quick trips to bathroom while they nested. It felt like abandoning them. I don't want to do it again tonight, but if I don't now, it will only making harder later... I. I'm uncertain. Everything feels like the wrong choice, today..."

He folds his ears and sips his tea again, trying to take his usual comfort in it; the feeling doesn't come. His phone flashes again, a text from Rouge; he looks briefly like he's about to pick it up, but only turns the screen over and shifts his legs so they're drawn up to his chest.

[askknuxadow]

Congratulations to you both! Shadow, do you think you're going to miss your nest?

The day was winding down slowly, visits over for the time; Sonic had remained quiet throughout the evening, and held one of the hatchlings until he and Mighty left for the Altar again.

Knuckles sighed as he sat down beside Shadow on the day bed in the nursery. The triplets were sleeping again, and the room was finally put back in order from the nest.

Shadow pinned his ears and stowed his phone in his quills, looking to the cribs; they had moved each child into their respective beds.

"No, no, of course not," the hybrid said, in response to the message. He spoke with little conviction.

Knuckles leaned back and nudged his mate gently with his shoulder. "Hey, guess we can finally sleep in our own bed again, huh?"

Shadow swallowed thickly and did not respond.

"...Hot rod?"

Knuckles sat up and put his arm around Shadow, drawing him close. "...Hey. Tell me what's on your mind?"

Finally, Shadow sighed. "...What if we slept in here with them, just, one more night? We can stay here on the day bed-"

Knuckles frowned. "Shadow... we've been in here every night since you laid them. Don't you wanna be in your own bed again? I mean, we're just right across the hall, and we got the monitors-"

"I know! I know, it's ridiculous, but..."

"And this day bed is not going to be big enough for two grown Mobians."

Shadow's ears pinned harshly and he turned his face away.

Knuckles reached gently to turn him back around, crooked finger against his chin to draw his face back around. "... Shadow," he began softly. "They'll be okay, I promise; just, try it for me, please? C'mon, imagine it for me, will you: our own bed, big thick comforter fresh outta the dryer, clean sheets, that lavender stuff you like to put under your pillow to make it smell nice..." The echidna trailed, watching as Shadow closed his eyes and began leaning more heavily on on his side

Then, the hybrid opened his eyes again. "... But the triplets..."

Knuckles blew softly. "Okay... baby monitor by the bedside, crackling softly. Add that to your mental image."

Shadow looked to the cribs again with wide, anxious eyes. He let out a shaky breath. "I am... willing to try," he said quietly.

Knuckles nodded and stood, holding a hand out for his mate. Shadow took it after only a moment's hesitation. In his other hand, the echidna took up a monitor and nodded for the door. They walked together, Shadow's steps slow and hesitant; as they left the room, he cast one last glance towards the cribs.

The three slept peacefully, soft hums and sighs as they rested. He took a steadying breath and followed Knuckles out the door, flicking off the lights as he went.

[askknuxadow]

The babies are here!!!! Congratulations!

Sonic and Mighty raced to the burrow through the forest, following a by now very well trodden path.

At the home, Mighty went in first, walking softly through the hall to the nursery and knocking on the door. Knuckles was there to let him in. He and Shadow had been working on deconstructing the nest, bit by bit, setting aside a few smaller things to tuck into the cribs for scent and familiarity. The babies were in said cribs, swaddled and resting. Shadow looked like resting was precisely what he should be doing, too, but he was instead sorting the blankets and bits of clothing in the pile for washing up later. He looked up at the intrusion. Knuckles nodded the two inside. "Heh, was wondering when you'd two show up." Sonic laughed and leaned against his partner. "Yeah! When did they hatch?"

Shadow moved quietly to the crib where all three napped. "Yesterday evening," he replied softly. He looked down at the three and his smile softened in a way Sonic had never seen on him before. Then he looked back up. "Would you... like to see?"

Mighty grinned at Sonic as the hedgehog immediately bolted to stand by Shadow's side, eyes bright and ears up. "Woah... puggles, right?"

Knuckles moved to stand by Shadow. "Yeah, these two," he said, wrapped hand hovering over the two on the outside of the tiny pile. "Little ones a hoglet."

Shadow scooped up the tiny hoglet, purring gently to them, before his eyes cut to Sonic. "...Do you... want to hold them?"

"Can I? I mean- only if you're comfortable with it..."

The desperate look on Sonic's face made Shadow snort softly. He carefully deposited the child in the blue hedgehog's arms. "I am. Since they hatched by instincts have... calmed, considerably. The protectiveness is still there, and I still can't have them out of my sight for long, but... this is fine." He sounded a bit strained regardless, as though convincing himself as much as he was anyone else.

Shadow and Knuckles took up the remaining two hatchlings, and Mighty moved to wrap his arms around Sonic and looking over his shoulder at the swaddled baby.

The hoglet shifted in their blanket and yawned, turning to nuzzle as the soft, short fur at Sonic's chest before dropping back off to sleep. They chirped softly with each breath.

Sonic's eyes misted and he snuggled the hoglet close. Shadow glanced towards him here and there, but otherwise made no move to take the child from him.

They remained in the room for twenty minutes or so, talking softly and cooing over the babies. The nest was completely cleaned away, Shadow casting only a few longing glances at the spot it once occupied; Rouge and Amy were called, as were Tails and Omega. The first of their group to meet the newest additions to their growing family.

Throughout it all, Sonic stayed quiet, leaning against Mighty, hoglet bundled in his arms, eyes soft.

[askknuxadow]

BABIES! TINY BABIES!!

Sonic's ears perk. "Babies? Mighty! Mighty!"

The armadillo had gone down to wander the ruins at the base of the temple, but bolted back up at Sonic's frantic call. "WHAT?! WHAT IS IT-" His eyes were wide, and he snatched Sonic to hold behind him as though to cover him from some unknown threat.

When none was apparent, and when Sonic's snickering laugh drew his attention, his face took on an unamused look, and he raised a brow, looking back over his shoulder. "...What."

Sonic grinned and leaped to hook his arms around Mighty's shoulders, hanging for a moment off the taller Mobian's back before Mighty bent and shrugged him up higher to clasp onto his shell like a backpack.

"Babies hatched~!" Sonic purred, setting his chin on Mighty's shoulder.

Mighty blew softly. "Oh!" He looked towards the treeline, and back to Sonic. "...You wanna...?"

"Yes! Let's go! I wanna meet 'em so bad-"

Mighty grinned, reached back to ensure Sonic's hold was firm against his back, and took off past mach down the temple steps towards the forest.

[askknuxadow]

If that last egg is a hedgehog does it even know how to get out of an egg?

"They pipped on their own," Shadow muttered, ears back and trying to dampen his anxiety so as not to excite the puggle nestled against him. "There's... no reason they shouldn't be able to get out..."

Knuckles leaned forward and brushed his hand gently over the eggs shell. He cooed louder and waited for a response... none came. The puggle in his arms squirmed and shifted, and he had to set back again to readjust.

"Hey, hey, it's alright-"

The tiny child cracked their eyes and peered towards the unhatched egg. They shut them again and made a loud, sharp whine that ended abruptly. Knuckles' eyes widened, and then the red hatchling in Shadow's arms did the same call as they began to stir.

Shadow looked between them both with alarm. The hatchling against him struggled out of his hold and towards the egg, eyes still closed and barely able to more than squirm their way the short distance to their still enclosed sibling.

They curled against it and cooed loudly. Knuckles tilted his head, then shifted closed to Shadow and gently deposited the first hatchling in mate's lap. They had been squirming fitfully; now they calmed and curled by their sibling, warbling and cooing and clicking at the one still in the egg.

After a moment, Shadow began to make the same soft clicks; Knuckles could not follow, but he could continue the gently warbling coo in his chest. He drew Shadow close against his chest, so that their hatchlings and last egg were closer, too.

Softly, slowly, another set of clicks joined the chorus. Shadow's breath escaped him in a rush and his eyes watered; a tiny nose appeared in the pip, pale and pink, and slowly, it began to widen until the fluid could spill from it and Shadow could safely help open the shell.

The hatchling that emerged was far small that their siblings, with fur so pale it was hardly visible; until both parents realized they were, indeed, a soft, pale pink. Two ears, small and sealed, on the side of their head signified this child was, indeed, a hoglet.

Shadow scooped and began grooming immediately, anxious, sharp movements making him work quickly. The child was far more still than their siblings had been, not limp in their father's hands but nearly so. Knuckles took up the two puggles to keep them safe and warm while Shadow worked.

Finally satisified, Shadow pushed away the shell and soiled towel and reached for a small stack of blankets. He wrapped the hoglet in one, then set out the other two before him to help Knuckles wrap them. All swaddled, he pulled them into his lap and curled immediately against Knuckles' chest.

Knuckles held him close, soft eyes staring down in wonder at their triplets. The smallest moved weakly, but they moved, and that brought him great comfort. The Image of the tiny hoglet held to Shadow side, under the jacket, came to his mind from his vision; he had faith all three of their children would be fine.

He nuzzled Shadow's temple. "You did a good job, Papa..."

Shadow's breath hitched and he buried his nose under Knuckles' jaw, smiling even as his cheek fur grew damp with tears, in lieu of response.