Sonic noticed that his daughter, Dawn, had been acting rather unusal lately. She no longer showed interest in any of her hobbies, she always turned down invitations to hang out with her parents and friends, she was even losing sleep, as evidenced by the dark circles around her eyes and her lack of energy and concentration. But most unnervingly, she seemed afraid, like she was dreading something to come. Her behavior was alarming, but Team Sonic knew what had caused it.

Sonic carried a deadly gene in his blood-one that, on the night of the full moon, turned him into a werewolf. Whenever it happened, his teammates would take him to a secluded area far from civilization, to deminish the risk of him attacking anyone. He would remain there until morning, at which point he would return to normal. That he had such a frightening curse was depressing in itself, but the one thing he feared more than infecting someone else was passing it on to his daughter. And now, very much to his horror, that very thing seemed to be happening.

He often thought about talking to her about it, to reassure her that it would be alright, that they could work around it like they did with him, but he didn't know how to without scaring her. She was already so tired and afraid, he didn't want to drop an even greater fear on her.

The night of the full moon drew closer every day, and both Sonic and Dawn were becoming more anxious and distressed, especially Dawn. The team began making preparations for departure, and the night before they were to leave, Sonic sat with his husband, Knuckles, on the beach outside their shack. From this angle, they had a clear view of the moon-tomorrow, it would be full.

Knuckles took Sonic's hand, their fingers entwining. "I can't believe this happened." he said quietly.

Sonic nodded in agreement. "Every day since she was born, I prayed to all heavens that I hadn't passed my gene on to her." He shook his head and sighed. "But I guess that wasn't enough."

"Yeah, but ever since yoy found out you were cursed, you've hoped and prayed that you would find a way to free yourself. Don't give up on that now that we know Dawn's cursed, too."

"I never have after all this time, I never will." Sonic leaned against Knuckles. "I'm just scared. For her, for all of us."

Knuckles wrapped his arms around his husband. "I know, babe. I am, too." They said nothing more, bound in each other's worries.

A few hours before midnight the next night, Sonic went up to Dawn's room to let her know they would be leaving soon. "Dawn?" he called as he knocked on her door, but recieved no response. He opened the door to find her pacing the room, her hands nervously cupped-she didn't appear to notice her mother.

"Dawn." Sonic said louder to get her attention. She looked up sharply, as if startled, and that was when Sonic noticed her eyes-the pupils had dilated so that the silver-gray irises seemed to disappear. Her breathing was short and shallow, and her hands were trembling.

"M-Mom..." she whimpered.

"Dawn, it's okay." Sonic said gently. "It's okay, sweetie."

"N-No." Dawn murmured, as if she didn't hear her mother's words. "No, it's not..." Sonic reached out to her, but she backed away from him. "No! Stay away, Mom! Please!"

"Sweetheart, it's gonna be okay. But you need to listen to-"

"Something's happening to me, Mom." Dawn hugged herself. "Something's wrong with me."

"I know what's wrong, sweetie, and the gang and I are gonna help you with it. Now, listen, you need to come with-" Sonic's sentence was cut off when Dawn suddenly ran out of her room. "Dawn, wait!" With her mother's inherited speed, she ran out of their shack and to another part of Seaside Island, and Sonic lost her in a second. He contacted Tails on his communicator.

"Tails, Dawn's ran away. I think she knows she's about to turn. We've gotta go after her."

"We'll have to be quick-it's almost midnight. Meaning you'll transform soon, too."

"Right. You let Amy and Sticks know, I'll get Knuckles. Let's find Dawn and get us to seclusion fast."

Dawn finally stopped running when she arrived at the canyon. She staggered onto her hands and knees, panting ragedly, but not from exhaustion-from the now painful feeling that had her so afraid. That held her in its icy grip for weeks as it bled her of her energy. She felt the pain in her blood, as though someone had injected it with acid. Her heart was racing as well.

She looked up at the sky, where dark, wispy clouds just barely covered the moon. They soon parted, allowing the now-full moon to completely bathe Dawn in its silvery light.

Dawn let out a scream of pain as she began to transform.

Team Sonic paused their search for the leader's daughter as he started to change as well, only for him, the feeling was familiar-it had been happening for as long as he could remember. His friends and husband gave him space-even though they had witnessed Sonic transforming before, it was still a frightening sight, but he couldn't blame them for being afraid. His smooth pure blue fur became disheveled and turned a dark teal, accented with silver. His teeth sharpened into fangs. His gloves tore apart, revealing razor-sharp claws. Sonic had become a werewolf.

The transformed team leader shared his worried look with his fellow team members. Sonic had learned to control his werewolf intincts a long time ago, but his daughter had not, and nobody knew where she was. They had to find her and bring her to seclusion, and fast.

The last few moments had been awful for poor Dawn-immense fear, brutal pain, and the horrifying sight of watching herself become a monster. Her once silken sunrise purple fur was gone-in its place was now a disarrayed rust-colored mess. She had grown fangs and claws edged like blades, and her knuckles spikes were now twice their normal length.

But she didn't have time to lament over her new form. Her memories were starting to fade, her newly-gained werewolf instincts taking over, as she hadn't yet learned to control them. She lifted her head up and howled at the moon, then took off running, growling like a predator of the night.

When she came to a cave, her nose picked up the scent of prey inside of it. She prowled into it, maintaining silence on the rocky terrain. Inside the cave, a wide space had been cleared for all kinds of electronic gadgets, and standing before a tall monitoring screen was a black hedgehog with red streaks in his quills. He back was turned to Dawn, so he didn't notice her at first. His attention was grabbed when she snarled, and when he turned around, he was startled, but readied himself for a fight.

Unfortunately, Shadow overestimated his chances-Dawn was upon him faster than he could react. She began mauling at him, biting and clawing, opening up more and more wounds. She swiped at his left eye, her claws and spikes completely shredding it. She bit down on his left arm and ripped it out of its socket. Blood sprayed everywhere, straining Dawn's dull-colored fur with red.

When Dawn finally ceased her attack, she took on last look at Shadow's mingled, bloody corpse. She licked his blood off her lips, then turned and left the cave.

She had just stepped back out into the night when she heard something from behind her. A growl, very similar to her own. She turned back towards the mouth of the cave, and backed up in fright.

It was Shadow, the hedgehog she just brutally murdered, now a werewolf like her. Torn flesh and blood were visible where his eye and arm used to be, and his messy fur was stained with more blood from the other wounds that had to be hidden beneath it. He walked toward Dawn, and she cowered in fear. Was he going to attack her? As revenge for what she did to him?

Shadow leaned in close to her face, and she shut her eyes tight in anticipation. But when she felt his tounge on her cheek, and looked at him in surprise.

The look in his eye was...kind. Gentle. Affectionate. He didn't seem angry or disheartened by what Dawn did to him. He nuzzled her, and as she returned the gesture, she felt some of her true self emerging from the darkness she was trapped in. Despite having just become a werewolf, Shadow still seemed like himself, not having succumbed to his instincts in any way.

Dawn sat on her haunches, allowing herself to relax, thinking that if Shadow could control his predatory instincts, then so could she.

Sonic arrived at the canyon, still desperately searching for Dawn. He spotted her about fifty yards away and ran towards her, only to slow down when he saw the turned Shadow sitting beside her. His eye and arm were missing, and they were both covered in blood. Sonic's heart sank as he realized he was too late to stop her from turning him.

But to his surprise, Shadow seemed strangely calm about becoming a werewolf. He was gently licking and nuzzling Dawn, and sitting in a position that made it look like he was protecting her. Sonic walked up to them, and Shadow stepped aside to allow the blue one to see his daughter. When Dawn saw her mother, she sat up and looked at him with teary, apologetic eyes. Sonic just nuzzled her, grateful that she was alright.

The three of them were joined together in a terrible curse, but now they were together in hope. Hope that one day, they would be free.