Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Late one night, Amy finished preparing another meal with a thorough wash of her hands. Her mind wandered to her long, sharp claws. The shimmering red paint had chipped away days ago, leaving her tiny daggers with a faint, red hue. Amy tried so hard not to think about it, trying desperately to occupy her mind with the sweet strawberry pound cake scented soap soaking into her fluffy fur cuffs. Amy scrubbed up her heavy, thick fur arms, using her claws to comb through her coat. Her eyes avoided any reflection of her glaring, disturbingly thick canines like the plague.

Yet nothing could stop that dreadful thought roaring in her mind from echoing louder.

Teardrops cascaded into the drain.

Why did Sonic have to be gone when she needed his arms around her and his evergreen edge of hope so desperately?

"Hey, this honey glazed ham smells great!"

Amy jumped. She knew that voice, but couldn't remember who it belonged to until she saw who it came from: a chihuahua fae with a dollop tail and a whipped cream mohawk.

"Ah, sorry!" he squeaked. "I don't think we met, but I came from one of Sonic's bracelets and I'm trying to find him and..."

The fairy squinted, flapping his wings to reach eye level with Amy.

"You...you're Chip!"

Chip's eyes popped back open. "You're that girl that asked out Sonic! Miss Rose-?"

"Please! Just call me Amy..." Amy drew circles on her hand with her claw. "That's a vegan ham, actually. If you'd like some, you can join Shadow and I for dinner."

"Sure! Say, who's Shadow?"

Chip's wings were suddenly pinched and lifted by a black and neon magenta monster with the quills and face of a hedgehog, but the long ears and wings of a bat. The intense, pink pupils dotting his pitch black eyes shook Chip to his core.

"GAH!"

"That would be me," Shadow growled, baring his sharp, needle-like fangs.

"Hey, that's our guest! One of Sonic's friends at that... Why don't you be a dear and pour him a drink while I set the table?"

Soon after, the three were seated over their vegetarian meal. Between Amy and Shadow's conversation, Chip merrily stuffed his face with Amy's scrumptious cooking.

"You know," Chip said mid-bite, "I wasn't expecting you to live with a vampire."

"Shadow doesn't usually look like this," Amy explained. "If this was lunch, he and I would be normal, ordinary hedgehogs."

"You'd be a normal hedgehog," Shadow corrected. "My blood will never leave me."

Amy paused with her knife hovering just above her plate. Chip put his food on hold to read her body's features more thoroughly; his suspicions and dread from this premature awakening were beginning to boil over.

"...You never met Chip, Shadow?"

"No."

"I guess you were sick during the whole Earth shattering disaster...you should have told us! I could have given you some home remedies!"

"Hm. Whatever, it's not like I need them now."

Amy giggled. "Neither will I if you bottle up your medicine already!"

"How? By spitting in a bottle? I'd rather drop dead again."

Amy laughed louder.

Chip swallowed a lump in his throat. He hated to spoil their fun, but he HAD to say something.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

Cold silence.

Cold, unbearably long silence.

Amy slowly set her fork down and pushed her half eaten plate away. She hung her head low, letting her long bangs eclipse her eyes.

Shadow abruptly stood up, his glare sending shivers down Chip's spine. "She doesn't like to talk about it," he grumbled, moving to Amy's side and holding her hand. "Get out."

Chip trembled tearfully. "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't- I didn't know, I- Oh no!" He hopped onto the table, abandoning his meal to move closer to the girl whose wounds he opened.

"No, it's okay." Amy slowly wiped away a tear. Two more took its place. "You...you're Light Gaia..."

Chip nodded.

His tiny paws were gently scooped up and held by Amy's bulky hand.

"Then you should know what they've done," her voice strained.

All food was left behind on the dining room table in favor of the couch and its many blankets. Shadow nuzzled into Amy, gently squeezing her hand as he rested his head on her shoulder. Chip watched them from a tower of pillows built upon an armchair foundation. His tiny claws dug into the topmost pillow.

Amy took a deep breath.

It was time to open scars.

"Like everything, it began out in space 一 Neptune entered retrograde far earlier than projected, just as it was aligning with Pluto. It shocked the astronomy and astrology communities alike. I had to see the sky for myself.

"Tails let me know that Spagonia's hills had the clearest skies that week. However, other travelers from all over the world were already rushing there to see the upcoming blood moon. The night skies were becoming nothing short of chaos. I was thrilled to bits, but my heart was uneasy.

"Then..."

Amy closed her eyes, smiling softly.

"Sonic told me he was coming too."

The Spagonia marketplace with dense with intense, delightful aromas and loud human activity. Shadow found himself with no choice but to start shoving his way through the towering people just to look around.

Shadow ran his hand over a chaos emerald in his coat pocket. He was one push away from teleporting far away from Spagonia's crowd and not returning until the most dead hour of night.

Then Amy screamed loud enough for the whole market to hear.

Shadow jumped and turned around. In the blink of his eyes, Sonic was suddenly right front of him. Beside him was Amy squeezing his hand.

"Here!"

Sonic moved Amy's hands into Shadow's.

Their fingers squeezed instinctively.

"What-?!" Shadow's muzzle flushed red.

Sonic ran off.

Amy sniffled, her eyes squeezed shut.

Just as fast as he left, Sonic returned with a white rose in hand. "Gotcha something."

Amy opened her eyes back up. "Aw, thank you!" She dried her cheeks and gently placed the rose by her ear. "Sorry about that, I just wasn't expecting to see a chicken getting beheaded!"

"Hey, are any of us?" Sonic dashed to Shadow's side, winking. "Thanks for keeping her company."

"I...?" Shadow's face turned even redder as he realized he was still holding Amy's hand. "Way to make me do your work, Sonic."

Shadow felt a sudden bump beneath his back spines. It was Sonic and Amy linking up behind his coat.

"We have two hands, you know," Sonic teased, scooping Shadow's other hand into his.

Shadow wasn't sure what he was doing anymore, but he no longer wanted to leave.

The budding hedgehog trio stuck together as they navigated the rest of the market. The longest shop visits were the suppliers of mystic tools and treasures, but most of what they bought was food: hot dogs, buns, beans, peppers, cheese, the chili dog works. At Amy's insistence, they got a cake as well: a darling little strawberry and chocolate delight.

"Are you having a picnic or something?" Shadow kept their freshly bought cake safe in his arms.

"That's right!" Amy showed off her adorable pink picnic basket. "It was my idea. Sonic just wanted to stargaze."

"You just wanted to stargaze until I came along!" Sonic teased.

"And miss a second chance at a date with my darling?" Amy hugged Sonic's arm extra tight. "No way!"

Sonic blushed, his posture stiffening. He tried so painfully hard to appear nonchalant that his expression just came off as a cry for help. He locked eyes with Shadow and was met with a knowing smirk.

"Ahah!" Sonic slid free from Amy's arms and shoved himself between Shadow and Amy. "Say, you wanna join us, Shadow?"

"What?! I'm NOT going to be your third wheel, Sonic!"

"Actually, it would be fun if you came along!" Amy batted her big eyes at Shadow.

Shadow's ears drooped. "Hmph. Fine."

That cursed, lovely night, Amy skipped as fast as she could around a dazzling fountain to the heart of Spagonia: the grand clocktower. Back at sunset, she and Sonic had agreed to temporarily part ways and meet again at the top floor. She hummed her way to the last step, ready to throw open the doors.

Then the wind picked up around her.

Amy opened her eyes in Sonic's arms. She gasped.

"Sonic!" She playfully kicked her legs, then settled into his hold.

Sonic winked. "Going up?"

"Take me away!"

Sonic took his greatest series of leaps yet to reach the top of that monumental clocktower. He delivered Amy, all giddy and excited, right to Shadow. They spread out their blanket and set up their cozy chili dog picnic in what was most definitely a restricted area, not that any of the hedgehogs cared.

Sonic tried to bite his chili dog right out of the ingredients' insulating bag, but-

"Aah!! Ow!"

They burnt the roof of his mouth

Shadow smirked. He lunged forward and bit the other end of Sonic's chili dog with no issue. "All speed and no bite. Typical."

"Wha-?! Hey, make your own, faker!"

Sonic and Shadow started shoving each other. Sonic could hardly contain his laughter.

"Shut up and look!" Amy barked. She gazed outward, her big eyes reflecting glamorous constellations. "I've never seen the stars shine like this before!"

Sonic and Shadow scooted up to sit by Amy's side on the very edge of the tower. The sky was glowing with divine, lilac shimmers in luminous, violet oceans. The ever mystic moon, just a smidge away from being full, captivated the hedgehogs under its radiance.

They slowly gravitated towards each others' warmth amidst the chill of the night.

"I wish I had angelic wings on nights like this," Amy swooned. "Imagine slow dancing through the stars, turning back, and every little trouble on the earth is completely left behind. I couldn't picture anything more romantic."

"I could always fly us in a plane," Sonic said. "But that wouldn't be as fun, huh?"

Amy shook her head. "But a kiss close enough to those diamonds would be just as grand!"

"If we return to the ARK, I can show you the rooms with the best view," Shadow said.

"Alright, it's a date." Sonic reached across Amy to squeeze Shadow's shoulder.

Shadow blushed. "I...?!"

Amy giggled into his chest.

He promptly shut his mouth.

Amy stood from her spot and lifted a telescope close to her eye. Soft wind whistled through her ears. As the breeze caught Sonic's nose, he sneezed.

"Neptune and Pluto should be...right over..." Amy squinted, but haze and clouds were rapidly eclipsing the stars and the planets. "Hey, I could have sworn I cleaned this!"

A breeze started to pick up the hedgehogs' quills.

Back on the picnic blanket, Sonic laid on his stomach, kicking his feet. He was looking up at Shadow like a begging stray, intensely watching him arrange his spicy chili dog.

"You're not going to get away with this," Shadow taunted. "I have faster reflexes and high ground."

"I'll believe it when I see it." Sonic leaned into Shadow's chest fur.

Shadow kept staring at Sonic, unblinking.

Sonic laughed. He picked his own chili dog back up. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth, ready for his first proper, mouth wateringly savory bite of the night.

Then the wind smacked him in the face with pieces of his chili dog.

"OH COME ON!"

Shadow laughed, but ceased when his chili dog also blew into his fur. Concern began to storm as the wind picked up faster and faster.

Amy struggled to keep her balance in the sudden storm, but fought against it as hard as she could. She dug her boots into the stone, desperately trying to see anything through the thick layer of clouds. She took a few steps back.

Then her basket blew right into her head. She dropped her telescope and stepped back again, but there was no ground. A gasp escaped her frozen body.

"AMY!"

Sonic grabbed her hand the second that she fell.

"Gotcha! Are you okay?!" He pulled her up, held her tight, and didn't dare let go.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, but what a mess!"

Shadow stood up to join the others, but without his weight, the blanket was snatched by the wind. Amy caught it and used it as an oversized napkin on her chili covered companions.

"I know!" Sonic spat against Amy's smothering. "Tails has never been this wrong about the weather... Looks like we got an even greater mystery on our hands!"

"I'll say." Amy switched to scrubbing Shadow. Her ear twitched erratically. "I can't put my finger on it, but there's some sort of dark energy present in the wind!"

"I feel it too, it almost feels like when-"

"LOOK OUT!" Shadow suddenly tackled Amy and Sonic to the ground.

Lightning struck where they were just standing. Their hearts raced. Acidic rain followed suit, drenching the panicked hedgehogs and slicking up the stone ground.

"We need to get inside!" Amy yelled through the thickening storm.

Like clockwork, a shut door that the hedgehogs gave no thought opened on its own. Around it, the world darkened further.

Sonic perked up, whistling. "I've never been inside that part of the clocktower before!" He gripped Amy and Shadow's hands, bouncing back onto his feet and shaking the rain off of his quills. "What are we waiting for?"

The trio rushed inside.

The door slammed behind them.

Amy gasped. "Sonic, did the clocktower always-?"

"Look like a gothic mansion? Not in the slightest!" Sonic shook off the rain once more and spun around, soaking in the rich sights surrounding them.

Indeed, the interior looked nothing like the series of gears and pillars that Sonic climbed up in his original nighttime rooftop run. Luxurious purple velvet curtains and carpet complimented the long, black marble halls.

There were long mirrors adorned with onyx and amethysts, but not a single window in sight.

Shadow briefly gripped Sonic and Amy's shoulders. "Stay out of trouble, I'll be around."

"We can handle ourselves," Amy assured.

"Don't have too much fun without us," Sonic said, winking.

"Chaos control!"

Shadow disappeared in an emerald green flash.

A chandelier high above Sonic and Amy suddenly lit itself with hauntingly violet flames. Seconds later, an identical chandelier ahead of it followed suit. Amy and Sonic locked hands as they started following the path of illumination. The second chandelier was followed by the next, then the next, each lighting up faster and faster until the final chandelier in the hall revealed a black and purple badger that had been hiding in the dark, eyes closed and facing away from the distant entrance.

"This is such a beautiful place!" Amy said, clasping her hands and gazing at the shiny walls. "if you don't mind, my date-"

Sonic coughed.

"My dearest, most darling companion and I would love to take shelter here!"

The badger lowly hummed. "Please, make yourselves at home." His flawless, velvet textured suit subtly glowed as he lifted his eyes open. "We've been expecting you, Miss Rose and Mister Hedgehog."

"Please, just call me Sonic: Sonic the Hedgehog."

"How do you know our names?" Amy asked.

"Who doesn't anymore? Your legacies outweigh you both." His chest turned to face Amy. "As for me, I'm just a melancholic gift from the deepest dark. You may call me...Melanc."

"Nice to meet you, Melanc!" Amy eagerly shook his hand. "I can't wait to see the rest of the place! Is there a tour?"

Sonic threw his hands behind his neck, smirking at Melanc. "Just one question before you let me go: how long have you lived in this clocktower?"

Melanc exhaled through his nose, grinning dryly. He threw his thick arms around Sonic and Amy's thin frames. "Oh please, there will be plenty of time for questions..." Melanc hugged them closer and walked them through a nearby door. "...after dinner."

At the door's opening, Sonic and Amy's noses were enchanted with the mouth watering scent of a gourmet meal laid across a luxurious black table. Fresh garlic bread, buttery mashed potatoes, and crisp, colorful vegetables surrounded a grand, juicy, glazed turkey. The food was steaming hot and only had miniscule dents in them, as if whoever made the meal was struggling to save it for the incoming guests.

The long table had four seats on one side and two on the other. Three seats on the former side were taken up by three more residents. The closest to the door was a golden viper with ghostly arms burying his claws in the table; he opened his maw wide open and swallowed a slice of bread whole without so much of a taste. Farthest from the door was a hefty white fox with a full, but completely uneaten plate of food; he stared longingly at his own plate, slowly swishing his tail side-to-side. A properly seated, fancy scarlet owl towered over them; he had no food on his plate, just a drink in his goblet that he idly swished around.

"Ah! New friends!" the owl chirped as he rose out of his seat. He rushed to Amy and Sonic and fell to his knees to peck their cheeks with his sharp beak. "What beautiful, young hedgehogs! Please, join us!"

Sonic slipped away from Melanc and the owl to take his seat; his body had just started to shudder from its biting hunger. "So, who are the rest of you?" he asked, eagerly piling delightful food onto his plate.

The owl pulled out a chair for Amy and loomed between her and Sonic, swaying his hips. Melanc sat to the fox's right.

"Aren't you hedgehogs a ssssweet couple?" the viper hissed. "You can call me Choler!"

The fox smacked his lips. "I'm Flegmat," he said flatly.

"Like the temperaments?" Amy chuckled. "Then you must be Sanguine, huh?"

"Sanguin, yes," the owl confirmed. "A young lady who knows her humorism, what a smart cookie!"

"Yeah, we're quite humorous, huh?" Flegmat yawned.

Sonic laughed amidst silence. "Weren't the four humors an ancient medicine myth? You all must be pretty old fashioned." He stabbed his turkey with his fork. "Ancient, even."

The humors (sans Flegmat) side-eyed each other.

"Sonic, you can't just walk in here and call our hosts old!" Amy scolded through her gritted teeth.

"What? I'm just making myself at home." Sonic lifted his fork to his mouth.

"AND YOU CAN'T EAT BEFORE OUR TOASSST!" Choler hissed, slamming his fist against the table. "Tisssss tradition."

Melanc grimaced at the few crumbs on Choler's maw. "It's supposed to be, anyway."

"Fine, let's get grace over with," Sonic groaned, tapping his fingers against the table.

Sanguin filled Sonic and Amy's goblets with a wine colored fluid emitting a curious, violet fog.

"This isn't wine, is it?" Amy asked, giving it a cautious sniff.

"That's our special pomegranate mocktail we made just for you; we save the luxurious drinks for ourselves. It was my idea, you see: it's the color of your quills if they melted into one." Sanguin cocked his head and smiled down at Amy. "Since you're so smart and divine, why don't you lead the toast, Lady Rose?"

"Eheh! I actually prepared a toast for just Sonic and a friend of ours, but, um, I can include you all!" Amy eagerly stood and raised her goblet. "Ahem! To our adventures: past, present, and future, and the bonds that make them worth it! I raise this glass to celebrate US!"

Sonic raised his goblet from down in his seat. "For your sake," he said quietly.

Sanguin applauded them. The rest followed suit. Once Amy bowed and took her seat, everyone at the table drank in unison.

Neither Sonic nor Amy were expecting the true flavor of their drinks. The substance sliding down their throats was bitingly cold and slightly thicker than a typical juice. It definitely didn't taste like pomegranate 一 it had no taste at all! The sensation it filled their mouth with wasn't flavor, it was an emotion: melancholy.

Sonic swallowed it all in one rapid gulp, but gagged and shivered immediately after. His mind suddenly flashed back to the moment he had to let Shadow fall away in the ARK showdown's aftermath. His memory of the event usually fixated on the adrenaline soaked action before and the high of saving the entire planet, the high that was so great that he and Shadow couldn't help but kiss in the heat of the moment.

Not this time.

Sonic could only recall the very end: the last lingering touches and the desperate squeezes he gave Shadow's ring as he watched him plummet to his doom.

Amy just thought of her mother.

She faked a pleasant little smile, but struggled to force most of the fluid down.

"Alright, let's dig in!" Choler resumed his rapid food swallowing with additional reckless abandon.

Amy and Sonic's eyes glazed over the food one more time. Sonic slowly lifted his fork...only to put it back down.

"I...think I lost my appetite," he grumbled.

"We need to lie down..." Amy rubbed circles below Sonic's back spines. "If...if you could show us..."

"You may claim any room that you find," Melanc instructed.

Amy pushed against the table to stand up, but her once light body suddenly felt like it was made of lead. The world around her faded to a mess of blurry lights and ghosts. Her legs trembled, struggling to keep her upright as she stumbled around.

"Amy...?" Sonic pushed himself up faster, but his eyes suddenly lost all focus. "Take...take me with..."

"Sonic...!"

His body went completely limp and fell into Amy's arms. She caught him before his head hit the floor. She cradled him, struggling harder just to stay awake. Her vision distorted further and further; the violet flames, her new friends, and their generous but fruitless feast all melted together. She could have sworn that the walls were covered in clusters of eyes all staring through her body.

"Oh Gaia, they...they're every..."

She crashed into the marble floor. Her arms lost all strength, but they remained around Sonic's neck protectively. Under all the pain and haziness, she got one last hazy glimpse of a green bird checking her pulse with its talons.

From twisted corridors to zig-zagged hallways, Shadow was having a hell of a time trying to follow the energy that his chaos emerald was resonating with. Each time he felt like he finally found the right path, there was another staircase leading to nowhere or another door that opened to a wall. The deeper he descended, the less the black and violet maze made sense. It didn't help that each level was darker than the last. He descended further, deeper, darker, closer to the other chaos emerald, wherever it was, but the uncannily nonsensical structure of this interior only rose more questions.

"Wherever this is...this is no clocktower," he mumbled. "I have to get them out of here..."

Shadow descended one more staircase. The floor was pitch black, but his emerald was shining a brighter green than ever. With only the emerald's glow and no perception of color, he wandered through the deepest corridor. The interior was made up almost entirely of stone, some smooth and some sharp. Its ceiling, which was far too close to Shadow's head for comfort was made up of jagged edges and sharp spikes. Every few steps, a particularly long spike jabbed into his ear, stopping his heart for a fleeting moment.

Still, Shadow followed his emerald's glow.

He couldn't tell if the heartbeat he was hearing was coming from his chest or the subtly pulsating, slick walls around him.

Behind a turn at the very end of the dungeon, Shadow was finally greeted with a violet glow perfectly in sync with his chaos emerald's shine. The blinding violet was the same shade as the initial floors' decor, the clouds, and the stars.

"The answer to everything..."

Shadow rushed into the newfound glow.

The room he found himself in was far more cluttered than any he had been in before; piles of books, mountains of crystals spilling out of a chest, and a dizzying array of witchcraft tools scattered across low tables crowded the room. The violet emerald was held in the room's center, elevated by a podium and contained within a glass orb. As he glanced around, a peculiar tapestry on the wall caught his eye. Its design depicted a hellspawn with far too many eyes, snake-like tentacles, and the long body of a centipede. The planet, which was dwarfed by the demonic god, was shown being crushed in its upmost pair of claws. Shadow had seen that exact image before in one of Professor Gerald Robotnik's minor studies; he would have never seen it if Maria didn't show it to him.

"I wonder if it ever gets lonely when sleeping in the planet," she speculated late one night. "I suppose that's what fluffy little Light Gaia's for. Then again, the manuscripts describe them as eternal enemies. ...Do you think they ever tried ending their cycle of destruction by just...talking it out at twilight?"

"Dark Gaia." Shadow ran his hand along the tapestry's edge, clenching his jaw. "Right when Sonic put you back to bed, you just had to come back, you miserable abomination."

Shadow stepped back.

Squelch.

Shadow looked down. His shoe was halfway submerged in a warm, green puddle.

Drip. Drip.

Cold, sticky goop slapped Shadow's quills from above. He grimaced, but shook off the odd substances; the sooner he focused, the sooner he, Sonic, and Amy would be out of there. Shadow brought his emerald to the one in the glass.

"Chaos...contro-"

A beak, one sharp as a needle, pierced his neck.

"AUGH!"

Dark wings smothered his face from behind. Talons wrapped tightly around his body. One leg pinned his arms down and the other forced his emerald out of his hand. He could just barely make out the monster that attacked him: a demonic owl of pitch black and glowing emerald green. If its lanky body and long neck were fully extended, it would have been far too tall for the room it and Shadow were cramped in.

Shadow groaned, desperately trying to force himself out out of the demon's grip, but its whole body had him completely clamped. No matter how little the demon's grip budged, Shadow kept struggling.

"What grit!" the owl chirped. "I wonder how powerful you'll be after a little blood transfusion."

Whatever insult Shadow yelled was muffled by the wings around his face.

Other entities around him began to laugh as they manifested from other fluids flowing just beneath the chamber's surface: a long golden viper from a drain below, a large, goopy fox from the ceiling's pores, and the smallest but most formal of them: a stout, yet sharp and muscular badger demon.

"Sanguin," the badger commanded with a snap, "remove his rings."

Shadow thrashed even harder, especially his limbs, but he was strangled so tightly as the owl's talons forced their way between his cuffs and his limiter rings.

Shadow muffled a command. Both emeralds shone bright. Shadow warped out of the owl's grip. "...control!"

Time slowed to a crawl around Shadow, but all four of his rings were already off. His naked feeling ankles were already trembling faster and faster with the accelerating drumming of his heart. His pulse rocketed through and shook his body off of his balance. A migraine swallowed any concentration he could have had. Worst of all, the very chaos emeralds that usually empowered him were drowning his senses with their mere presence.

Shadow had removed two of his rings at once in plenty of dire circumstances, but not having any was a torture unlike any he had endured before.

The effects of Chaos control gave way to the vulnerable present. Shadow laid against the slimy floor, hyperventilating with his eyes squeezed shut.

Flegmat picked up the green emerald. His thin smile spread from ear to ear. "Thanks for the welcoming gift," he taunted.

"Excellent work." Melanc loomed over Shadow's head. He drew his smokey tongue over his lips, then slid it the other way along his charcoal canines. "I can't wait to see the monster you make out of this alien demon."

Sanguin pinned Shadow further into the ground with his talons and dangled his wing just above Shadow's face.

"What a curious, dramatic little thing you are!~"

Shadow snarled and snapped his jaws into Sanguin's wing, sinking his fangs in as hard as they could go, pushing as much of his pain as he could into the monster that stooped lower than anyone he had ever fought. His mouth quickly filled with an oddly, enchantingly sweet, almost green apple flavored blood. Tasting it brought to mind flashbacks of Halloween parties with his chao and horror movie marathons with Maria.

He choked up, but kept biting harder.

Sanguin didn't so much as flinch. His grin intensified.