The muffled sounds of distant waves, rushing wind, and chirping birds were the only things that pierced through the overwhelming static numbness that Sunshine had been feeling since he had awoken in... Wherever he was, was he even really awake right now? It all felt like a surreal dream. He couldn't see or feel anything. No wind brushing past his face, nor even the smell of the water rushing nearby although he could faintly hear the sources of both. Even his sense of direction was scrambled up, leaving him unable to tell which way was up or down as if he were constantly spinning and shifting within the empty black void he found himself unable to break free from. The experience almost reminded him of his time in cryostasis all those years ago, empty and numb with no awareness of the passage of time. The hybrid had tried reaching out to his siblings through the hivemind they shared but got no responses in return, he couldn't even sense any of them like he normally could. It was like a dam was blocking his connection to his siblings, completely cutting him off from them no matter how hard he tried to focus and reach them. Although he could just barely make out the sound of a painfully familiar voice starting to filter through all the confusion in return, a normally soft and loving voice turned bitter and cold against him.
It was Starlight's voice.
The voice of his beloved husband was spitting vicious insults and remarks about every insecurity and fear that had ever nagged at the back of his mind, leaving him distraught and confused. What was going on? Starlight would never say anything like this to anyone, especially not to him. There was no way this voice was real, was any of it real? No- It couldn't be. There was no way that the blue hedgehog was capable of being so cruel, it had to be some kind of illusion. But by who? Infinite? That strange girl that had been spying on his home? Maybe even Dr. Eggman himself? He had to find a way to figure out what was going on.
Sunshine takes a deep breath to steady himself as he puts all of his focus and effort on willing himself to open his eyes, slowly bringing his other senses into focus as well, all except for his sense of touch. The first thing he became aware of was the sweet smell of lavender mixed with a salty sea breeze, followed by blurry blobs of color coming into view drenched in a glitchy red haze as his eyes finally fluttered open. Was he in a forest? Wherever he was he could make out a lot of green and brown with splotches of purple dotting the ground and a peachy orange sky above, seems like it was sunset. Just how long has he been here? Where even was here?! Sunshine sighs and shakes his head, those questions can wait. First, he needed to gain a better baring of his surroundings, then he could start figuring out what was going on and how he ended up here in the first place. He attempts to take a step forward, only to realize that he was trapped inside a force field of some kind.
"...Ah crap."
{SOMETIME LATER}
“Hang on, I got you.”
He didn't know how long he had been asleep (or that he had even dozed off in the first place) when he's awoken by the sound of his husband's voice again, noticing that it held all of the love and warmth that he was used to hearing from the other hedgehog, unlike the cruel illusion he had faced earlier.
"Oh thank Chaos you're here, I thought I was losing my mind in there" Sunshine sighs with relief as the cyber cage around him disappears, causing him to stumble a bit and reach out to place a hand on his husband's shoulder to steady himself...only for his hand to phase right through the other hedgehog.
"What the hell...?"
He looks down to his hand and notes with slight alarm that his body was see through and had the appearance of television static "What happened to me?" He mumbles mostly to himself.
