burning-burning-burning

[burning-burning-burning]

Ain't that a Kick in the Head

Word count: 16.8k

In which Shadow takes a hit meant for Sonic; apparently even Ultimate Lifeforms can suffer months long comas; Sonic loses his voice because sometimes the noise inside his head is just too damn loud; after a grave prognosis and little progress, G.U.N. debates the ultimate end for the Ultimate Lifeform Project; and Commander Tower races to save the last soul alive who remembers the ARK.

((Eventual Sonadow One-shot, hurt/comfort, coma story))

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“On you six, Shadow!”

“Understood!”

The badnik attempting, poorly, an ambush attack on the Ultimate Lifeform was swiftly met with a volley of Chaos spears into its chest, instead. A fair enough trade for being a damn fool.

Shadow’s smile was coming off more as a deranged snarl as the battle around Team Dark intensified. These weren’t Eggman’s usual sentries, many seemed almost decayed, but they were hitting with more aggression than ever. Let them; Shadow was thriving under the challenge.

Rouge and Omega did not seem to share his feral pleasure in the fight ramping up all around them. “We need backup, we should fall back and signal the others our position-“

Shadow leapt, Chaos Controlling as he did, appearing behind a robot with his foot carving a sparking, jagged path through its head. He blasted the jets for good measure, igniting cables inside the bot and melting its components. A flash of green light and the hybrid was gone again, reappearing standing behind the bot, eyes aglow with burning Chaos that buzzed through the very air around him.

Omega fired into a band of badniks, shoulder cannons activating to fire missiles into yet another growing horde behind him. “I concur, we are at risk of being overpowered-“

“You two retreat if you want,” Shadow growled, turning and blasting the jets on his air shoes to hurl himself agains the nearest, biggest bot. He slammed his palm into its chest, knocking it off its feet before it could react to his approach, then kicked it up with a surge of energy that sent it flying into the air. He teleported to its height drove all the force of a Chaos Blast into it, the bot soaring over the battlefield and crashing into a gang of other larger bots on their way to join the frontlines. Shadow landed again, breathing quickly with the rush excitement around him. “I’m just getting started.”

Rouge swore and rounded an electric kick at a pair of sentries trying to grab her. Shadow had been like this, recently, on-edge and begging for a fight. Like he needed a chance to discharge, and the bat had to wonder if maybe he did need a release, if maybe it was something biologic, some need wired into him. Or if perhaps all the GUN testing and trials they had been forcing him through for his upcoming review were getting under his skin; he wouldn’t talk to her about them, beyond a click of his tongue and assurance that ‘they’re testing all their weapons right now, annual maintenance.’ 

Rouge had tried, she really had, not to show her growing resentment for the way GUN had the hedgehog convinced it was just okay to treat him like a walking super weapon.

There would be time to unpack whatever was ruffling the hybrid’s quills, later. Rouge had been pushed closer to Omega, limiting her ability to use her tech-sabotaging equipment and Omega’s choice of weaponry. Shadow saw them being hemmed in and teleported between them and the enclosing wall of bots, his quills standing on end and his eyes glowing brightly. His limiters were sparking as they worked overtime to discharge his mounting energy.

“I could-“

“No,” Rouge snapped, throwing a grenade into the thick of the horde. “Under no circumstances are you to take off your inhibitors, you hear me? Last time you did that it blacked out the entire Eastern seaboard’s electrical grid; not to mention wiped you for weeks, or don’t you recall?"

Shadow growled low in his chest at the memory. He couldn’t even make it across his bedroom on his own that first week, his Chaos energy completely spent. The subsequent surge from his irritation made Chaos arc off his limiters, a blast discharging through the robotic horde. He snarled in frustration at the lapse in control- unbecoming of a battle-tested GUN asset. “Fine. Other ideas?” 

“Tactical retreat,” Rouge reiterated. “Call in reinforcements.”

“Like who?” Omega questioned. 

“How about the Yang to our Yin?” the bat supplied, pulling her pointed boot free of a robots chest and yelping as Omega’s bullets nearly grazed her to take out the one threatening to take hold of her leg just behind it.

Shadow bristled. “I’d rather die-“

“Liar, and you know it- you’d just rather look all impressive for Sonic and handle this without calling him for help!”

“Slanderous lies-“

“Oh just admit it, we all saw you two eye-fucking over the table at Amy’s birthday party- Chaos knows where you both disappeared to afterwards.”

Omega whirred and sent his last volley of missiles to thin the mass of robots closing in around them, buying them breathing room. The blast drowned out whatever professionally curated string of curses Shadow lobbed at Rouge’s smirking face. “Enough! We are overpowered, we must retreat or accept our fate-“

“Well don’t you guys look cozy! Little team bonding?!”

Shadow groaned. He knew it was insane, but he swore he could hear some annoyingly upbeat rock number playing ambiently as the Blue Blur burst onto the scene, rolling into a homing attack and blasting himself in a wide arc around the surrounded Team Dark. He stopped himself in a forward crouch, hands braced on the ground and ready to roll back up in an instant. He shot a bright, self- assured grin at the team, shaking rust and metal scraps from his quills.

An explosion of red energy nearby signaled Knuckles had dived into the fray, a shockwave stunning and crumbling bots nearby as his fists slammed into the ground. A contingent of drones swept out over the field, blasting lasers into the badniks farther out. The fox, then, too, had joined the rest of his team.

“We were doing just fine,” Shadow snarled. He teleported mid kick, the force multiplying as the flat of his boot collided with the chest of a bot trying to snare Sonic in its arms. The hedgehog had the audacity to laugh as Shadow landed back down beside him.

“Nice looking out, Shads, but I think I’m still winning on the ‘saving your ass’ scale. Wanna even the score a little?”

Shadow blew roughly and scowled, though Rouge could see the light igniting brighter in his eyes. Sonic never failed to excite the hybrid. He crossed his arms and stood taller, leaning forward into the speedster’s space. “That a challenge, hedgehog?”

“If you want it to be, Faker.” Sonic loomed over his shorter rival, hands on his hips, chin up to give just that extra bit of height over Shadow, leering down at him.

“Hey!” Knuckles shouted, punching a robot out of his path and joining Rouge in the clearing. They wore matching expressions of irritation. “You two wanna stop flirting and get back in the damn fight?!”

Shadow and Sonic both spared him a look; Shadow’s cold disregard, Sonic’s sheepish apology. The next instant, the two were off, half racing one another, half battling badniks through the field, pushing their way back and around, cutting off veins robots as the villains pulsed toward their less-speed-inclined teammates. They covered one another’s backs as they did, though their blows and strikes more often than not came close to hitting one another, as though the impulse to be attacking the other hedgehog was too deeply embedded in their psyches to not indulge at least a little.

Shadow spotted the way into the warehouse, first. He hovered in the air after a Chaos Blast that had cleared the way forward, eyes locked on the jagged, rotting hole in the side of the building where yet more bots were pouring out. He snarled. “There!” he shouted, gesturing to the opening.

Sonic stood taller and hummed. “Nice, shall we?”

“Just try to keep up!” Shadow was skating forward at breakneck pace before he had even fully reached the ground.

Sonic snorted and sprinted after him, catching up easily and falling in pace with the speeding hybrid. His rival. Partner in… occasional drunken sex? Rival-with-benefits, who he had growing feelings for he was damn determined to ignore until the end of time itself. “We gonna survey before we jump in or…?”

“Didn’t think ‘surveillance first’ was your style,” Shadow scoffed. He smirked at Sonic and glanced from the corner of his eye as he skated. “Getting wary in your old age, hedgehog?”

“Old age!” Sonic shouted, scowling. He put up a sudden burst of speed, forcing Shadow to accelerate, too. “Ha! I’m a spring chicken, gramps, you’re the one who still listens to gramophones like they’re going outta style- oh, wait-“

Shadow sent a light punch into Sonic’s shoulder, though still hard enough to get a grunt out of the hedgehog and knock him off the trail for a brief moment. Neither acknowledged the dark flush in Shadow’s muzzle at the teasing. Then they were in the warehouse, both rolling into homing attacks, razor quills sawing through robots and carving a path of scrap and sparks in their wake.

The fight was over before either felt they had even gotten started, and they were left standing in the field of wreckage, quills bristled and ready for another wave. Other than the sounds of the battle outside, though, there was nothing in the warehouse but settling dust.

“… This doesn’t feel kosher,” Sonic muttered, ears back. He scanned the building, a gnawing pit of anxiety in his chest.

Shadow grunted, inclined to agree. “Be ready,” he replied quietly, chaos energy arcing from his fists and feet. Sonic snorted and reached out to shove his shoulder lightly, a breathy laugh at how the red arcs snagged onto him and sent his own innate energy zipping up and down his arm.

“Hey, calm down, sparky,” he teased. “Before you overload your inhibitors. Again.”

Shadow, about to snarl something about staying focused, looked over his shoulder with contempt at Sonic and instead grumbled, “That was one time. And entirely your fault.”

“My fault?!”

“Your team was supposed to be handling the juggernaut, Dark was on infiltration and extraction. I believe it was the fox kit who let it slip defenses?”

“We weren’t expecting three of ‘em, Shads, c’mon-“

“Undisciplined, much?”

“Me? I’m not the one who lost my entire shit on a Robotnik juggernaut!”

“It hit me with a Chaos cannon and overloaded my energy! Which was the whole reason your team was supposed to handle them first!”

Sonic blew and waved him off, stepping away from the scowling hybrid and flicking an ear in frustration. “Whatever, just watch it, would you?” He threw a half-hearted scowl over his shoulder. Behind him, in the shadows under a distant catwalk, something began to whir, bright white sparks arcing and growing.

Shadow’s eyes widened, and Sonic snorted. “What, I got bot on my face or somethin’?” He blinked as the humming intensified and turned, ears pinning. “…. Shit.”

Shadow snatched the speedster back and threw him before following him in a dive, a beam of hot white energy carving through the space they had occupied only a moment before. The hybrid rolled back up to his feet and turned, Sonic getting to his own and crouching beside him.

“Show yourself! Only cowards take shots from the dark!” Shadow shouted in to the empty air, fangs bared in a twisted snarl. Sonic recognized the appearance of fear in the hybrid’s posture; it was rare to see, and hard to recognize when it appeared so much closer to rage, but he endeavored to calm his own energy to try to soothe Shadow’s.

“Maybe we can talk, huh? Little conversation before we gotta break out the lasers?” the speedster called. 

Shadow growled beside him, ears back and pupils constricted to near slits. “Not a laser, that was electric-“

Sonic swore under his breath and bolted around the room, Shadow splitting from him to run the other side. Another bolt shot from the darkness, aimed once more for Sonic. The blue hedgehog swore again, louder this time; he had a feeling he knew who waited in the shadows.

Shadow roared at the attack and teleported himself forward and into the air, putting his full body into a sending a volley of dark Chaos spears into the gloom beneath the catwalk. He teleported again, to the center of the warehouse now, and sent yet another, angry red energy sparking off his quills. If Sonic didn’t know better, he would almost think the hybrid was about to go super without emeralds.

“Shads! Ease up, let’s talk, I got an idea who this is!” Sonic shouted. Shadow landed on a a destroyed mech and scowled.

“Talk, talk, talk, is that all you can do?!” they hybrid growled.

Another bolt form the darkness, this time from the catwalk itself. “I was hoping you’d come alone, Sonic!” a familiar voice screamed from the abyss. “Who the hell is this freak-of-nature you’ve got tagging along?”

“A freak-of-nature who’s about have your head on a fucking Chaos spear, coward!” Shadow spat back, fangs bared. A bolt of lightening launched towards him, and he teleported away a moment before it could strike him from his perch.

A guttural scream sounded from the darkness. Surge the tenrec, green quills sparking with electricity to match the red-orange Chaos arcing from Shadow, jumped onto the railing of the catwalk. “This isn’t about you, I don’t deal with GUN’s toys,” she snarled.

“Hey!” Sonic shouted, his own energy building and sparking inside him. He ran to the place Shadow had been a moment before, green eyes gone blue and glowing. “Alright, you’re pissing me off, now, Surge- blast us all you want, but no one’s talking to Shadow like that while I’m standing here-“

Surge sneered, rage twisting her face. “Fine, get down then-“

Another bolt arced, bright and cruel, across the warehouse, splitting to strike both hedgehogs. Sonic darted to the side and snatched Shadow out of the bolts way when the hybrid looked like he was about to attempt tanking the blow, aiming to throw himself at Surge’s advance. Shadow swore, but a retort to Sonic’s interference died on his tongue.

Movement caught Shadow’s attention, a quarter of a second before it caught Sonic’s. Surge’s hard metal boot, electricity lancing the air around it, carved through the air towards the speedster’s chest.

Time slowed. Shadow had Chaos controlled before he knew what he was doing; the next moment, he was leaping forward, energy blasting from him, all towards Sonic, shoving him back. None was spared to shove forward the attacker, as in the split moment before jumping, Shadow had done the calculations.

Surge had not been where she was now seconds before, and to his knowledge, she could not teleport. Her lightning gave her immense speed, and with that speed, terrible power; if her strike, at its current acceleration which even slowed by Chaos control was coming quickly, fell true, it would cave Sonic’s chest and shock his heart to ash for good measure. A lethal blow, no matter how many simulations ran through the hybrid’s mind- 

Zero sum. No win scenario. Sonic couldn’t die- the world needed him, the prophesies around him; the true, original Ultimate Lifeform-

And a world without Sonic didn’t feel like one worth living in. Shadow didn’t think, form acting for him. Lightening reached him before Surge’s boot, shocking him out of Chaos Control and paralyzing his body, stopping a block or a blast or anything to lessen the impact-

The last thought he had was how loud the sound of his own skull cracking was from the inside; and then, no more.

—- —- —- —- —-

Beep. Beep. Beep-

The noise was incessant; could no one stop their damn alarm? Shadow would have snarled, if he had been able to move at all. If there was anything to move, in fact. Where was he?

Beep. Beep. Beep-

It wouldn’t stop. He wanted to scowl, but, how to scowl with no face? There was only darkness all around him, pitch black and unyielding- was this anesthesia? Was this his pod, was he back there, the last near decade just… a dream? A fever? Madness finally taking him over after so long in suspension-

Beep beep beep beep beep-

It was getting faster. There was a flutter, where his chest should be, or where he imagined. It was hard to know, with all the darkness around him, and the feeling like he was floating in space, just outside his skin. Like his body and his soul had swapped places.

The lightening- the kick- losing Chaos Control to the paralyzing effects of electricity lancing through his nervous system-

Beep beep beep beep-beep-beep-beepbeepbeep- 

“Parameters failing, we need to sedate-“

“We want the asset awake, Doc-“

“You can have your asset as you please after we’ve discussed options, for now my patient needs sedation before he sends himself into another grand mal-“

Patient? Was he dying? He tried to shout at them both to shut up, shut up so he could think and remember- but how to scream with no mouth? It all felt wrong and cold and dark-

“What are you giving him?!”

That voice was familiar. Shadow clung to it, willing it to speak again, anything to anchor himself too-

“Stay out of this, Mobian- you’re lucky GUN isn’t hauling you out in chains-“

“Fucking try to get me out of here right now, I dare you-“

“You really think you can take the entirety of GUN coming down on you?”

“I did it before, and I was just a kid then- you wanna see what I can do now? Why don’t you fucking ask Surge what I can do now-“

“Enough!”

The final voice was one from before, the one requesting sedation. Doc. The Mobian was snarling, Shadow could hear him. Sonic…

Sonic survived. There was a cold feeling spreading rapidly up his imagined-arm, and Shadow felt hazy. Sonic survived. That was good, that was the point, after all, wasn’t it? Sonic survived.

Sonic survived, and Shadow could sleep. At last. 

—- —- —- —- —-

It had been a combination of factors, in the end. The shock. The skull fractures. The swelling, the inflammation, the runaway fever, seizure after seizure after seizure-

Too many things. Things that lesser lifeforms, lifeforms like Sonic, wouldn’t have survived half of. The blue hedgehog barely understood any of them; Shadow had always been the more medically inclined of the two, with his commitment to learning the art of healing to offset all the pain he had inflicted Before.

Before he was Good. Before he was Whole. Before Doom’s final death and the Hive leaving, the false memories the Professor had implanted in his broken brain, and all the Bad that hadn’t been his fault; but that he had shouldered the blame for, regardless.

Sonic sat on the window seat of the small hospital room, overlooking the street below. They were high enough to see the dark night sky, though all but the very brightest of the stars were washed out by the city lights below. Shadow would have fucking hated that. Maybe hated that with just as much intensity as he would felt confliction over the sight of the Space Colony ARK orbiting overhead.

It was late, and technically past visiting hours, but Sonic never left. The hospital had come to accept it, at this point- it had been six weeks since the hybrid had been moved to this new room, and the Hero had only slipped away long enough to shower and gather things at his house and Dark’s apartment to bring back. Mostly things for Shadow. For when he woke up. When. Because he was going to, he had to, no matter how many hopeless faces rotated through the room every day-

“You could at least sleep, you know,” a gentle voice pressed from the doorway.

Sonic glanced back, quills bristling at the intrusion, but relaxed at the sight of Rouge stepping in. She understood, and he trusted her for that. She was the only other one who wasn’t ready to give up. “Nah, I’m good. Took a hedge-nap, earlier.” His voice was rough from overuse- he had been talking all day. If Shadow wanted to sleep so bad, well, he was going to have to do through Sonic’s own never end stream of consciousness vocalized.

Rouge hummed and joined him on the window seat, her back against the opposite wall, and drew up her legs as she kicked off her boots. Getting comfortable, which meant she was staying. Another visitor the hospital had to come to terms with being unable to kick out. She’d only sneak right back in, anyway.

“Anything new while I was away?”

Sonic grunted. “Nothin’ much. Same old bullshit. Talking about brainwaves or something, same song, different verse. I started tunin’ ‘em out.”

Rouge nodded. “GUN’s… getting restless. It’s been nearly two months now-“

“Six weeks,” Sonic growled, dangerous light behind his eyes.

Rouge snorted. “Two months since the attack, Sonic. Not since we started this ‘wait and see’, sitting around twiddling thumbs.”

“… Yeah, fine, I guess. Tough, though, who cares what GUN feels,” he muttered, pinning his ears and drawing up his knees, setting his chin on them. 

They remained quiet after that, no good answer coming to either. The only sound was of the monitor beeping near Shadow’s bed and the soft click-shhhhh of the ventilator attached to the temporary tracheostomy in the hybrid’s throat. It had been kinder than leaving the endotracheal tube in, the doctors had assured, as they took Shadow for the procedure while Knuckles physically held Sonic back from tearing into them all. He couldn’t protect Shadow if he couldn’t see him, and he had to protect him-

After all, wasn’t all this his fault, in the end? He had been too slow, his reactions too little, too late. It should have been him taking the lightening, taking the kick, his bones crumbling under the impact, and his body lying in the bed under all those tubes and lines and monitors.

Or dead. He was pretty sure, looking back on the attack and the angle and the power behind the kick, and the fact it had been enough to take Shadow out of the fight and leave him debilitated- yeah. It would have killed him. Turned his chest and all the very vital organs inside to roadkill. He looked back to the bed, eyes skimming over Shadow’s eerily still form. His gaze traced the quickly scarring, dendritic trails that crackled and broke up Shadow’s arms and over his face, silvery fur already beginning to grow at the healing edges of the tracks. Did the hybrid know what he was averting, when he jumped? Had he done the math, just faster, and concluded the same? Had he freely chosen to trade his life for Sonic’s?

Gaia’s sake, Shads… why the hell would you take that kinda hit for me? Don’t you know you’re the one that’s gotta survive?

“You said GUN’s restless. What did you mean?” Sonic asked, turning back to Rouge.

Rouge folded her ears and dropped her gaze, looking out the window. It was evasive, painfully so, but Sonic knew better than to push the bat for an answer. She needed to steel herself, which only made the anxious vice about his chest constrict all the more.

Finally, she spoke. “Tower and I are working on them, but… the heads of the Project are talking about.. decommissioning.” She looked back to Sonic, her eyes a confusing mess of anger, of rage, of fear, of grief- they were wet, tears threatening to fall, but Rouge would not allow herself the relief.

The anxiety turned to cold dread, and Sonic’s quills bristled, fur lifting up on his arms and on the back of his neck. “Tell me plain?” he choked.

“They want to pull the plug. They say he’s-,” Rouge began, closing her eyes and swearing softly under her breath, “They say it’s too expensive, keeping him going, with such a poor prognosis. Even if he wakes up, the doctors can’t guarantee full return to form.”

Sonic snarled, sharp teeth displaying, and not for the first time he wished he had the impressive set of fangs Shadow wielded. “And what’s the point if GUN doesn’t have their asset in top shape right away, right?” he spat. “Guess this is part of their spring cleaning. Decommissioning. They wanna fucking kill him?”

Rouge couldn’t deny it. She had accused the project leaders all of the same; they hadn’t denied it then, either. “Tower’s fighting it,” Rouge reminded softly, casting a wary glance to Shadow, like he could hear them, somehow. Sonic wondered if he could. “But it’s getting harder. The doctors don’t sound hopeful.”

“Yeah, well, how many Ultimate Lifeforms have they had the chance to treat, huh? What do they know about anything; Shads has never been in this kinda shape before, who knows what healing looks like for him. They wanna give up, they’ll have to go through me- and I’m done pulling punches,” Sonic growled. Knuckles and Tails, whose visits were getting fewer as time ground on, had confronted Sonic on the surly demeanor the normally cheerful speedster had adopted over the past few weeks. They understood being upset and grieving, they all were grieving in their own way, but on suggestion that maybe spending so much time in the room was getting to him, he had snapped at them both. They left soon after, shaking their heads.

Come to think of it, that had been a week ago, and he hadn’t heard from either since, his texts to Tails left unread. He pinned his ears and set his chin back on his knees.

Rouge leaned back against the wall and looked out over the city. “They can’t touch him if we’re here to stop them,” she said gently. “I don’t trust them, Sonic… Tower assures me they won’t do anything without his knowledge, but, he doesn’t hear them talking when he’s not around. There are avenues around him, ones he can’t cover… If they decide he’s too invested, given his and Shadow’s shared history, then he’s out of the decision-making and we’re left in the dark.”

Sonic nodded mutely. He knew that much; no one else at GUN had their back the way Abraham Tower would. He was too much like Shadow to be anything but an ally; loyal, and burdened with guilt that was never his to carry. Little wonder GUN wanted him out of the picture, to do with Project Shadow as they pleased.

“I don’t trust them, either,” Sonic replied evenly. “So, we won’t. One of us in here, always, deal?”

Rouge nodded. “Deal. Watch over him, while he can’t watch over himself.”

“Until he can,” Sonic corrected gently, and Rouge gave a solemn nod. He looked back to the bed, ears pinned and eyes set, determination plain on his face. “Hear that, Shads? We got your back, GUNs not getting through us. You just gotta do your bit, just… something, Shads. Give us something to work with, help us prove you’re still in there…”

—- —- —- —- —-

I can’t tell you how much I’m trying-

It was ten weeks and four days after the attack that Shadow’s eyes opened. Opened, and even began to blink. Sonic had celebrated at first; but after days passed with no new response, no change, his hopefulness flagged.

“This happens, sometimes. It doesn’t change his prognosis- if anything, I’m more concerned now than before.”

“How will this affect his vision? 'Blind super weapon’ doesn’t sound particularly promising…”

Super weapon. That was his designation. And disabled, blinded? What good was he to GUN like that?

At least now he could see, though his vision was blurry and unfocused. He could put faces to names and voices, in those times when people bothered to stand near him enough for him to catch them in his limited field of vision. Sonic and Rouge were both good about that, which Shadow would have thanked them both for, if he had been able.

The blinking felt odd, out of his control. Sometimes he blinked, and it was normal, like no time had passed; yet sometimes he blinked, and the early dawn light was already replaced by dim twilight. He imagined he must be sleeping, in these times. Or perhaps his brain was finally ready to give in, and was preparing itself to shut down between moments of consciousness.

Unless GUN got there first. He wasn’t surprised; he had always known they would be the ones to finish him off, in the end. Those who brought him into the world, destined to take him out. Poetic, in a sense.

Sonic was sitting by the window again. Shadow couldn’t see that part of the room, but he knew from the sounds of restless fidgeting and from the experience of the past two and a half months where the speedster liked to perch. He could imagine the hedgehog now, in a tight crouch on the bench seat, legs drawn like a taut bow ready to snap under mounting anticipation. He needed to run, he hadn’t left long enough to do that in a few days now, with Rouge away on a solo mission. It was driving him insane, which meant Shadow also felt driven insane, though he knew that insanity would triple the moment his most constant companion left him to the silence and solitude of the hospital room.

Until, again, GUN came for him, something Shadow knew was more a question of ‘when’, not ‘if’. Which was the exact reason Sonic wasn’t leaving. Some part of Shadow’s mind that he had long since attributed to the traumatic brain injury would have even said he loved the speedster for it.

Soft footsteps. When had Sonic started walking? He appeared over Shadow now, looking down, green eyes searching listless red for any sign of the life inside. Shadow wanted to scream, snarl, screech at the top of his lungs I’m here, I’m here, tell them I’m here-

But nothing changed. He blinked.

Sonic was sitting on the bed now, perched just on the edge, careful not to touch the hybrid even through the thin sheets. Even now, when it wasn’t certain Shadow had the awareness to know if he was being touched at all, Sonic refused to break the boundary the hybrid kept so religiously. He would not touch without permission, and right now, Shadow could not give him that permission; even if, in this moment, he felt he might just break enough to allow the gentle affection.

Shadow could only see Sonic’s quills and a small portion of his face, in the very corner of his eye; he sat nearly as listless as the downed hybrid, staring ahead, eyes unfocused.

“… I’m sorry, Shads… I feel like I’m letting you down, again.” His voice was hoarse and quiet, barely audible over the ventilator.

You’ve never let me down, not really, not in the ways that matter-

“I couldn’t save you, I tried, I…” he rasped, hugging himself. Shadow could feel the bed shifting. The hedgehog’s quills bristled and quivered with some unspoken emotion, too heavy and overwhelming to give voice. “I’ve been thinking a lot about the ARK. About the Fall, you know? Heh, sorry, if you don’t wanna talk about it- maybe just, listen, then. If you can. Chaos, I hope you can…”

I can… please keep believing I can…

He swallowed, the sound painful and harsh. Sonic speaking in the past week or so had become a matter of feast-or-famine. Hours of nonstop talking, words flooding from him like he couldn’t help it, were soon followed with days of heavy silence. During one of these periods, Tails had come over to check on Sonic and force him out of the room for fresh air while Rouge took over the watch. The little fox had seemed shocked by something the moment he entered the room, something Shadow couldn’t see; in the next breath, he said sadly, “…Yeah, Sonic… I still remember sign. It’s okay, if you don’t wanna talk right now, you don’t have to. I.. I understand.”

Today was a break in an ever increasing pattern, a rare moment of words from the hedgehog, and the discomfort of breaking silence was audible in every creaking, strained vowel. Shadow never thought he’d miss Sonic’s voice so much, but here he was, praying it wouldn’t stop. “I keep.. keep seeing you, falling back to Earth like you did… I keep trying to catch you, but… it’s too far-,” his voice caught, quiet and rough as it was in his throat, and he snarled at himself for the emotion. “Heh.. You even know I still think about that, Shads? All the time. I wasn’t quick enough, too slow- just like, just like this time. Too slow. I’ve fought Surge, again, and again, and again… I know what she’s like. I should’ve known.”

You couldn’t have known… it was too sudden, I only saw because of Chaos Control, because of decades of paranoia and instincts- you are too optimistic for those things. It isn’t a weakness-

“I should have tanked it, I should have- I should have taken the hit,” Sonic growled softly. He turned towards Shadow, ears back, and the hybrid could see pain in his eyes. “But I’m not giving up, you hear me, don’t you? I know you do, can feel it, likes it’s in my bones or something. You’re gonna beat this, and when you get up, you’re gonna lay into those GUN bastards for ever doubting you- if I haven’t gotten to ‘em all first for treating you like some kind of machine.”

A beat passed, and Sonic’s face softened, some bit of fear allowed to creep in. Fear Shadow could see, and he had to wonder if Sonic meant for him to. “And… and maybe… when you’re up, we… we gotta talk. About something, kinda important. Kinda… big. Scary. Cause I… hell, Shads, if you really can hear me, this might not be the smartest idea, but… what if… what if I don’t get the chance to say it again? Shadow,” Sonic began, and his voice was barely more than a strained whisper now, blending to the sound of the ventilator.

Shadow wanted to cry out in frustration as the words were lost. He caught none of them, though he could see the conviction coming over Sonic’s face.

The sounds may have been lost as Sonic’s voice abandoned him, but his lips were still there for Shadow to read; and maybe it was the brain injury again, but swore he saw them mouth: “Shadow… I love you.”

—- —- —- —- —-

Twelve weeks since the attack, and the defense Rouge, Sonic, and Tower had been putting up was showing cracks. GUN was in the process of circumventing the Commander, and it was only a matter of time before Shadow was taken off life support and brought to GUN’s lab for decommissioning.

Shadow wondered if his mind would finally cease, then; or would he remain aware through it all? The cutting, the dissections? The inevitable burning? His own Hell.

Chaos, was he going to burn in Hell?

Sonic was pacing the floor, restless and cagey. There was a track of skid marks on the tiles now from where his pacing turned to running, back and forth, rubber bumpers of his sneakers catching and fraying against the floor until they were ragged and useless at helping the speedster brake in the small room. He’d crashed against the wall once already, and Shadow wished he had been able to laugh.

The door opened, and Shadow heard the familiar strike-click of Rouge’s heels.

Sonic’s pacing ended abruptly, sharp eyes turned to the bat, searching intensely.

Rouge didn’t wait for him to speak, she knew he wouldn’t. He hadn’t for some time. “They forced Tower into a corner,” she began.

Sonic stepped beside Shadow’s bed, quills bristled, posture defensive. He moved his hands in front of him, gesturing rapidly, though Shadow couldn’t see what he had signed.

Rouge shook her head. “No, no, let me finish- they backed him into a corner, but, he got them to agree to a compromise. Shadow continues life support and monitoring until such time as he recovers, if he recovers, but… at GUN.”

No-

Rouge took a breath and spoke softly. “They want him back in the pod.”

No no no, kill me, please, end me first, not- No-!

Sonic reached as though to take Shadow’s hand, but stopped short, still unwilling to cross that line. His own breathing had quickened, adrenaline taking over and draining just as quickly as it had come. He didn’t need to hear the rising panic in Shadow’s mind to know the hybrid would hate the thought of returning to his pod- to the horrible, lung-filling liquid that made every breath feel like drowning, the memories, the nightmares waiting for him there-

“… It’s, it’s the best we can hope for, Sonic. It’s an assurance they’ll keep trying. Maybe Shadow’s healing ability just needs more time… Maybe the pod is what he needs, I mean, it brought him back before, remember?”

No- being in a super-state did that-

Sonic nodded slowly and looked to Shadow. His eyes were full of apology, too much to speak aloud, even in the barest whisper he could only sometimes bring himself to share with Shadow late at night, when they were alone.

Chaos, Sonic, no- please, don’t- don’t let them take me there- 

Shadow’s pulse quickened, only just, on the heart rate monitor. Rouge didn’t seem to notice, but Sonic looked to it immediately, the rhythmic staccato changing tempo abruptly for the first time in months. It was subtle, but…

Rouge stayed until late in the evening, trying to convince Sonic not to attack any GUN soldiers who might come for Shadow in the days that followed. She left him only because she had appointments to keep with superiors the next morning, to try to buy them all more time.

Sonic pulled one of the scratchy, too-firm armchairs to Shadow’s bed and curled up on its cushion, in Shadow’s sight fully for once. The hybrid noted with alarm the shagginess of the speedster’s pelt, how unkempt his fur had become- and had he always looked so thin? He looked a small, pathetic lump, curled tightly in the chair, quills out and erect, eyes watching the door like a dog on alert. Guarding.

Protecting.

Sonic finally fell asleep hours later, with his hand brushing only just softly against Shadow’s, resting on the edge of the bed. The line toed and boundary nearly broken, but, Shadow couldn’t bring himself to even be annoyed. If he could have reached out and held that tentative hand, he would have.

He felt heavy, in his mind, like treading through mud with lead boots. He blinked, and time passed, the room even darker now. Sonic’s presence by his side and the soft snoring let him know it was still the same night. Then he blinked again-

- and did not open his eyes that whole night; or indeed, the next few. The next many.

—- —- —- —- —-

“He’s telling you Shadow moved On his own!” Rouge shouted, sharp fangs bared at the scientist in front of her.

The GUN project lead blew and looked to the blue hedgehog behind her. He had not spoken a word, though the look at his face spoke volumes enough. He was pissed, and signing rapidly something in what they all assumed at this point was Mobian Sign Language, which was unexpected of the normally annoyingly gregarious speedster.

Sonic snarled, which was much more fierce when he didn’t have to worry with forming words about the expression, and signed something else rapidly to Rouge.

“Yes,” Rouge replied with a nod, hands on her hips. “They are being fucking dumbasses on purpose.” She looked to the scientist again, then pointed behind her to Shadow. “Look! His eyes are closed, they’ve been open for weeks, that’s a change- and the hand!”

“Which Sonic could have moved in the night without realizing it,” the scientist sighed. “Considering he was all but cuddling with the type-specimen last night! Can we really trust him to make unbiased judgments?!”

A guttural snarl erupted from Sonic’s chest, one that made the humans jump and the hair at the back of their necks stand up. This was a feeling he remembered well from his earliest childhood, being talked about as though he wasn’t in the room. Something about being silent seemed to make people forget he was there; well, he wasn’t quite the same tame little hedgehog had been, back then. He held the project leaders gaze as he raised his hands. “[Call him that in front of me again- I dare you. I didn’t move his hand, he grabbed mine! And his heart rate- check the records, it spiked last night, right as we were discussing the pod!]” he signed rapidly. Rouge translated it faithfully, and he gave a firm nod as she added inflection to all the right points to sound appropriately pissed and ready to tear throats out.

What a very Shadow way to respond. Sonic wondered if the hybrid would be proud of them.

The scientist looked stormy a moment, before the door to the room opened and Commander Tower walked in with Shadow’s doctor in tow. The scientist was almost cowed by the sight of his commanding officer, but recovered quickly.

The doctor spoke before the scientist could try to speak over him. “I’ve looked over records from last night, there was definitely an uptick in activity across all parameters. I need more time to determine if this is evidence of regaining consciousness; but, I do think this warrants extending Shadow’s stay in our hospital. I’d rather not move him or alter his environment, if this is what’s waking him up.”

Tower stood tall behind the doctor, hands clasped behind his back. “I withdraw my support of the agreement, as these new developments have just made it null and void. We can reconvene at such a time the good doctor has a better idea of Shadow’s prognosis, given his new signs.”

The scientist opened his mouth, sighed, and finally stormed from the room. Tower looked to Rouge and Sonic, nodded at the doctor, then left after sparing only a pained glance towards the bed were Shadow lay.

—- —- —- —- —-

Sixteen weeks, to the day, since the attack. Since Sonic’s world began shrinking down to the size of this one hospital room. He was pacing again.

All month, Shadow had been showing signs of waking. His eyes would open and then close again; for the past two weeks, if you put anything in his hands, his fingers would twitch as though trying to make a first around it. In the last week he had been fighting his ventilator, until finally he was weaned off and left breathing on his own. They were waiting for a return to consciousness before they removed the temporary tracheostomy.

The fact they were talking about a return to consciousness like it was a given thing was making Sonic equal parts restless, excited, and terrified. After all, there was no guarantee the sort of Shadow they were going to get when he finally woke up- the one who had thrown himself in front of a rampaging, cybernetically-enhanced tenrec to save Sonic’s life? Or the Shadow who had, in his post-fall confusion, been led astray first by Eggman, then Black Doom?

Rouge had stepped out for a time, her turn to be free of the hospital’s stifling quarters. It had only been a few hours, but the anxiety at Shadow’s impending return compounded the restlessness in the blue hedgehog’s mind. He felt caged and cornered.

A loud, stilted blast of air. Sonic paused in his pacing and stared ahead at the wall. Shadow had started doing that, the doctors said it was essentially sighing, only through the tracheostomy. Blows and sighs and whistles would be expected. But this one sounded… more forced, with intent, and another followed.

Sonic turned and was at Shadow’s bedside the next instant, eyes wide. The hybrid was moving, which should have been a relief, but he was making stilted, uncoordinated movements towards the tracheostomy in his throat. Sonic swore soundlessly and grabbed at Shadow’s arms, holding him down. Even under restraint, the hybrid continued shifting, trying to scrabble at the offending device and the wrap holding it in place.

The fit abruptly stopped, and Sonic yelped as wicked, talon-esque claws hooked into his hand. He looked to the heart monitor and prayed the nurses would notice the sudden changes in its rhythm- he couldn’t risk letting Shadow’s arms loose to tear at his throat again.

Shadow’s brow furrowed darkly. His mouth opened and another hiss escaped his tracheostomy site. His chest, thinned and muscle wasted from the months of lying bedridden, heaved in a quick staccato pace before slowing, the hiss of the tracheostomy quieting. The hybrid was snarling, fangs displayed; he was screaming. Or trying to, at least; the effort seemed to leave him exhausted, breathing quick, shallow breaths.

Sonic folded his ears. The claws retracted from the speedster’s arms, and Shadow’s face slowly relaxed, until his breathing evened again. A knock on the door drew Sonic’s attention away, and a nurse pushed the door open gently.

She met Sonic’s gaze and tilted her head. “Another fit? He had one while Rouge was here, too. We talked about restraining his wrists so he can’t hurt himself, in case he did that when no one’s in,” she sighed. “He wake up at all during it?”

Sonic shook his head. He slowly released Shadow’s arms, and the hybrid settled fully. He looked back to the nurse and mimed claws in his hands and at his throat.

The nurse nodded. She had played this game with Sonic before, even if she couldn’t understand his sign. “He did that, yeah. Not the hand clawing, though- those look deep, you should let someone take a look.”

Sonic crossed his arms over his chest and hugged his hands under them, shrugging. He didn’t see the point; besides, Shadow needed his attention right now.

The nurse nodded and walked to the hybrid’s bed. She checked a few monitors and made sure the wrap around his throat was undamaged, then turned and held her hand out for Sonic’s.

The hedgehog blew roughly but gave her his hands, let her prod at the bloodied furrows in his wrists and up his arms. She hummed. “He’s still got good grip strength, at least.”

Sonic snorted and nodded, grinning half-heartedly. Certainly does.

“I’ll talk to his doctor, we might start capping trials soon. The sooner we can get that temp trach out, the better, I think- besides, looks like he won’t need it much longer.”

Sonic nodded, and the nurse gave the Mobian a smile before leaving, closing the door softly behind her. Sonic watched the door for a moment before a soft hand on his wrist drew his attention back to the bed.

His eyes locked first on the weak fist closed around the cuff of his left glove, then to the arm that, moments ago, had definitely been lying to Shadow’s side and not over his chest. He tore his gaze up slowly, painfully, higher and higher, until he met with bleary ruby eyes squinting at him under a furrowed brow.

Sonic blinked. And then again. Until his own eyes widened and he stood straight, quills out in alarm- should he call for the nurse again? There was a button somewhere, he just needed to find it-

But the hand, shaking in effort, closed more firmly over his wrist, and he let himself be pulled back down. Shadow hissed again from his throat, so obviously trying to speak, to make any noise at all through his mouth- 

He snarled soundlessly and reached for his neck with his free hand. Sonic grabbed it immediately, and they held gaze for a long moment. But this was not a fit of firing nerves and animal instinct, there was real awareness in Shadow’s eyes, and he almost looked irritated at being stopped. So Sonic let go, slowly, hand hovering near incase Shadow’s control lapsed.

The hybrid felt at the wrap gently until he found the valve covering his tracheostomy. He covered this, took a moment to control the rising panic at being unable to breath until his larynx remembered how to open on its own, and then wheezed a breathy, rattling, “Thank you.”

Sonic had to blink tears from his eyes. Shadow’s voice, no matter how weak and stilted and pitched it may sound, warped by the tracheostomy, was musical in his ears after four long months without it. Four months, scared he would never hear it again. He opened his mouth, but his own voice was still lost inside him, buried under too many emotions, too many thoughts, too much shame, and guilt, and nerves-

Shadow must have seen the panic growing in his eyes. Still holding off the temp trach, breaths a soft wheeze from the back of his throat, Shadow rasped, “… meant it?”

Sonic tilted his head, confusion apparent over his features. Shadow’s breathing quickened as he tried to wrangle his scrambled mind into order, works slipping away like sand through open fingers. Finally, he gave up and reached out to press his hand to Sonic’s chest. His brow furrowed, but his scowl had softened, and his exhausted eyes caught Sonic’s again.

Sonic blinked, and the tears rolled freely down his face now, unable to hide them anymore. He swallowed thickly and nodded, covering Shadow’s hand with his own. “Y-yeah, Shads… I meant it. Every word. I knew you could hear me…” His own voice sounded foreign to his ears, rough from disuse and too quiet. The effort left him feeling an odd sort of mental exhaustion, and his eyes got heavy.

Shadow only nodded, his own gaze growing hazy and distant. He let his hand fall from the temp trach and it opened up to redirect airflow again.

Sonic swallowed thickly and, feeling bold, leaned down graze the lightest of kisses against Shadow’s cheek. “Rest,” he whispered, no more than a quiet breath. 

—- —- —- —- —-

It took a few days for the temporary tracheostomy to be removed and the site to heal, and even then, the extent of longterm effects of Shadow’s injuries and his coma were ill-defined. His eyes suffered the most apparent damage; the unfocused blur and general haze over his vision stubbornly remaining even as full consciousness returned. Even as he began to move and perceive and be, again. His brain felt as though fog was settled over him, making his thoughts slow and disjointed. Speech in particular was hard, words slurring or escaping him entirely, leaving him snarling and frustrated.

He managed one statement in particular perfectly, though. It was one he had been selecting, word for word, in his mind since the very beginning. On the day of the last check of his temporary tracheostomy site to ensure the wound was healing well, a group of scientists from the Project arrived to perform their own physical. They stepped into the room, frowning severely at the state of their pet experiment.

Four months of lying unresponsive had quickly atrophied much of the strong muscling over Shadow’s body, leaving him rail thin and easily spent. He was sitting up now under his own power, though even this was sapping what little energy he had. Clearly, the sight of him so weakened was an outcome feared by the scientists, if the looks of contempt on their faces were anything to go by.

Shadow looked up at the sound of the door opening, as Sonic did. The blue hedgehog had yet to speak much beyond the words he shared with Shadow the day the hybrid regained full consciousness, but the look he gave the scientists was enough to make his feelings more than clear.

One of them opened their mouths to speak, but Shadow mustered his reserve energy and cut them off. Still sitting, he drew himself up to as much his full height as he could manage, scowl dark on his face. “Still want… to decommission me… assholes?” he breathed, starts and stops as he fought for breath. Even still, his fangs were bared and he snarled.

The scientists didn’t have much to say, after that. They took their data and parameter values and left quietly.

Later that evening, after he’d managed a small, bland dinner that still tasted better than anything he’d ever had on the ARK, Rouge came to see him. With his return to consciousness ending any plot GUN may have had to decommission him, Sonic had finally been convinced to leave long enough to go for a run and shower in his own bathroom instead of the hospital’s locker room. The convincing may have been Knuckles bodily dragging him from the room, throwing a wave to Shadow and a promise they’d spar as soon as the hybrid got his strength back.

Shadow was sitting up, his back resting on pillows propped against the headboard, with Rouge at the foot of the bed and turned to face him. She had done most of the talking, so far, filling Shadow in on everything that had happened over the past four months.

She trailed off and considered the hybrid a long moment, then smiled softly. He gave her a confused tilt of his head. “Sorry, handsome,” she sighed. “Just… been a minute, since we could sit and talk, you know? I’ve missed you.”

Shadow clicked his tongue but offered the bat a small smile at the sentiment. He tried to find the words to reply in kind, but, as was becoming his usual, they refused to come. A brief look of frustration passed his features, and his hands twitched in his lap. He pinned his ears and blinked, as though to clear the fog from his eyes, but nothing changed. Fog in his vision, fog in his mind- would anything ever be clear again? Rouge shook her head. “Don’t force it, hun. Words’ll come back, just like everything else, it’ll just take time.”

Shadow blew. He wanted to tell her the words were already there, they just weren’t coming out. He could think all he liked, but his mind and his mouth felt disconnected, the thoughts lost somewhere along the way. His hands curled to fists in his lap, but he nodded.

“Hey, soon as you’re out of here and in the rehab place, Tower says Omega can come visit. Big guy’s actually pretty excited about it, I think he missed you. Been moping around the apartment- or, as much moping as a robot can do, I suppose.”

Shadow looked up and grunted. Sounds he could manage, and single words here and there, but long complex thoughts evaded verbalization.

Rouge nodded, grinning. “Yeah… he wanted to see you before, but, you know GUN and their… inappropriate classifications. He’s still carrying the super weapon designation.”

Something we have in common. Shadow pinned his ears and growled. “Bastards.”

Rouge laughed. “About Omega’s sentiment, too.” Her own ears folded and she said softly, “Tower’s working on changing that, though. He’s… going through some back channels, calling in old favors. This whole situation revealed some holes he wants plugged, pronto. Namely the one where GUN somehow gets sole discretion over life-and-death decisions for you.”

“… Believe it… when I see it,” Shadow mumbled, words slurring in the back of his mouth, like his tongue couldn’t move right or his mouth form the syllables.

Rouge only sighed and nodded. What more could she say?

—- —- —- —- —-

Eighteen weeks had passed since the attack. Shadow was getting stronger, though very slowly, despite having only been awake for two weeks now. Sonic spent much of his free time with Shadow, though his caginess at being stuck in the hospital was growing ever more by the day.

So was Shadow’s. They were headed to a conference room supplied by the hospital, Shadow demanding to be debriefed on what he had missed of the battle with Surge. He had to be taken to the room in a wheelchair, much to his disdain; though, he was no shape to argue. When Sonic had lifted him from the bed, trying not to think about how light the hybrid was, Shadow had to close his eyes until a blanket was draped mercifully over his legs. He was glad, too, for the hospital gown that, while useless and unnecessary to a Mobian, covered his body from sight. Despite all good reason telling him he should be happy to have made it through the coma alive at all, he couldn’t help but feel disgust at the sight of his own unkempt pelt over wasted muscle and too-sharp bones. Weakness was not a look he was used to seeing on himself.

Sonic wheeled the chair; after a scathing look from Rouge, he decided against pushing Shadow at anything more than a brisk walk down the hall. Even still, when the bat wasn’t looking, the two hedgehogs shared a look that promised they’d try it anyway, the next time Rouge left the hospital.

Tower was waiting for them in the room, a screen set up at the room’s end to show a recording taken by Omega not long after Shadow went down; another screen was positioned at a place for Shadow’s chair, close to the hybrid in case his as-yet unrecovered eyes couldn’t see the screen. Sonic stayed while they showed Shadow the clip, though he kept his ears pinned and glared at the table, eyes cold and distant.

There was still smoke in the air from a powerful lightening blast. Dust and bits of metal settled all around them, visibility low.

“Shadow- Shadow! Shads, no, no, c’mon-“

“Sonic!” Rouge was flying through the frame the next moment. The sounds of jets igniting and the sudden surging forward of the camera position told of Omega following close behind.

The smoke parted before them. A mound of destroyed metal floor, ripped up in jagged fragments, and excavated earth curved around a lifeless form, as though they were a meteor fallen from the stars. Shadow, motionless, eyes wide, cradled in Sonic’s shaking arms. His face was a mess of blood, jagged wounds over his forehead and brow. The side and back of his head faired even worse: broken quills showing deep lacerations, bright white visible beneath where the cracking metal of the floor had peeled skin from bone, green blood pouring from the open wounds. Dendritic burns laced around his arms and over his face, the smell of burning fur and flesh cloying the air about him.

Rouge fell to her knees on the other side of the downed hybrid, pressing her hands over Sonic’s trembling arms. The hedgehog looked shellshocked, eyes wide. “I- I can’t- he hit the ground, he started- started seizing, I can’t wake him- Rouge, I can’t-“

In the conference room, Sonic had turned his face away from the others. Without looking at him, sparing him the shame of letting anyone see the emotions he wrestled with written plainly over his face, Shadow reached under the table to take his hand. His hear ached to hear such desperation in Sonic’s voice, even over the recording. Sonic gripped the hybrid’s back in a vice.

Rouge was shaking, too. She forced her hands to steady enough to slip under Shadow’s listless body, visible cringing at the green blood that quickly covered her gloves and up her arms. “It’ll be okay, Sonic, look at me, it’ll be fine, it’s Shadow, right? He’s- he’s always fine-“

A cold laugh cut Sonic off before he could reply. The hedgehog stopped trembling, frozen to the spot.

“Aw, whoops- my bad! Well, now that your boyfriend’s out the way, what say we end this, Sonic? Once and for all, you and me, right here-“

Sonic remained frozen, though his quills were slowly raising. Rouge’s ears folded. “Sonic…”

“C’mon, hedgehog!” Surge screeched. “Or you wanna a taste of the same medicine that just killed GUN’s pet alien freak?!”

Energy sparked from Sonic’s quills. Omega’s visuals glitched from the discharge. “Sensing increased levels of Chaos energy,” the robot warned. “Hedgehog, fighting in an emotionally charged state is inadvisable. Shadow would not approve-“

Sonic snarled, narrowed eyes and constricted pupils darting to Omega. “I didn’t. Fucking. Ask.”

In a streak of blue light, he was gone. Omega whirled to try to watch him, but only caught his silhouette disappearing into the smoke and dust of the warehouse floor. Omega took a step to follow, but his attention was pulled back down by Rouge’s voice.

“No, let… let him go. He won’t take it too far, he’s Sonic, remember? We need to get Shadow a med-evac, can you call it in?”

The robot whirred, almost nervously, before looking to his wrist and sending out a signal for immediate medical evacuation. “Asset PS-02 Alpha, ‘Shadow’, downed in combat. Unresponsive. Suspect severe traumatic brain injury. Additionally, electrical shock injury; cardio-pulmonary status unknown. Hostile in vicinity, advise caution-“

Sparks flew, and a guttural scream sounded from the opposite end of the warehouse- Surge. It was followed by another, and a horrible crashing, like someone being slammed into a wall again, and again, and again-

There was pleading, more screaming- white lightening flew through the dust, but the screaming didn’t end. Rouge stared in the sound’s direction, horror over her face.

“This is what you wanted, Surge! This is what you wanted from me! A real fight, right?! You wanted to see what I’m capable of?! Well here I fucking am-!”

Sonic curled at the sounds of his own voice, distant but primal. Surge’s screams made his eyes screw shut, and Shadow couldn’t imagine what played behind them. The Sonic in the recording did not sound like his Sonic, quipping and covering any true emotion with wit and an over abundance of understanding. This Sonic sounded angry, feral, like a caged, abused animal finally set loose. Beside him, Sonic’s ears were pinned firmly against his head, and Shadow’s grip tightened on his hand, thumb rubbing soothingly over his knuckles.

The video ended. “The tenrec is recovering in an isolated facility, receiving counseling and medical attention,” Tower began, taking a seat across from Shadow. The hybrid tracked him as he sat. “Her wounds were not as grievous as your’s. Unfortunately. Though certainly she’s been in no shape to put up much of a fight. Between what she endured under Starline and the counter-attack at the warehouse, she has a lot of rehabilitation to make it through.”

Sonic curled tighter, and on his other side, Rouge put a soft hand on his shoulder. She sent Tower a wary look, and the Commander nodded, dropping the subject of Surge for the time being. The meeting moved to discussing what the months ahead would entail, the rehabilitation facility Shadow would be moved to pending medical release, the estimations based on his current condition of how long until he was field-capable again.

Sonic remained quiet through all of the talking- so did Shadow, relying on the nonverbal communication he and Rouge had perfect between themselves years ago to ensure his thoughts were considered. By the meeting’s end, Shadow’s eyes were growing hazy, and his shoulders were slumping in the chair.

The meeting closed and Sonic took Shadow back to his room, Rouge stepping away to handle paperwork with Tower. In the elevator, Sonic lifted his hands and slowly signed something Shadow couldn’t quite understand.

The hybrid pinned his ears. Some of the signs he could recognize, those Sonic had used often over the course of the nearly five months since the attack- some even from before, when habit would have the speedster sign a word or two even as he spoke (these instances almost invariably passed off as ‘talking with his hands’, though the movements had always been too regular to be mere meaningless gesturing).

The desperate look Sonic was giving him made Shadow’s chest ache. He looked up, following the gesture Sonic repeated, slower, then to Sonic’s eyes. He made a frustrated grumble in his throat. He wanted to tell the man he was trying, he wanted to say he wasn’t raised on Mobius, how could he know their gesture-based languages? He wanted to quip, or say anything at all to diffuse the fading hope in the hedgehog’s eyes- but, upon opening his mouth, he found not a word forthcoming. He swallowed, thickly, and looked away before some horrible inane slurring could replace whatever syntax he was trying to create.

Sonic wanted to be able to communicate with him, in these moments where neither had to the ability to verbalize a single damn thing. Shadow took a breath, and cast his mind back, farther than he had dared since waking, too afraid of what might have been lost in the impact. Back to the ARK, to his old life, to his Before.

He found it all blissfully, wonderfully intact. The blue of Maria’s favorites dress, the contemptuous scowl as he passed Abe in the halls, the quickly silvering streaks along the Professor’s temples- all there, as crisp as the day the memories were made. And, yes, even the memories he was casting back for, too.

He and Maria hadn’t always had the luxury of speaking to one another, after all. There were times they had to be quiet, times when they were sneaking into places ‘unfit for children and wayward experiments’; times when Shadow would hide himself away during Maria’s medbay stays until it was safe for him to emerge, but still critical to keep the silence; times when experiments left him too drained for words or illness weakened Maria. Times they wanted to talk, but couldn’t.

They had both been quick-minded children. Sign language, that used on the international level for Earth and its orbiting colonies, had come naturally with so much motivation to perfect it.

Shadow lifted his hands and worked through a simple thought, in his mind mimicking the graceful motions of the pale hands that had first taught him the language. Bypassing his mouth entirely, which was mutinous and uncooperative at the moment, he found the words came easily. What muscle he had left, still infused with the memories of a lifetime. “[I don’t know Mobian sign… what are the chances you know Terran International?]”

Sonic was watching him with widening eyes. From the quivering of his quill-tips, Shadow could see he was shaking. The hedgehog made a strained noise and turned to hit the lift-stop, freezing them between levels. Before Shadow could scowl or try to slur a word or two of indignation, Sonic lifted his trembling hands, stared at them a moment, then swallowed and made his way, in starts and stops, through signs Shadow could finally understand.

“[Learned this one when I was a kid on Earth for the first time. Gonna need a minute to remember it. How do you manage to keep surprising me?]”

Shadow set his head against the back of his wheelchair and laughed. “[Guess you just keep leaving yourself open.]”

Sonic watched him, tilting his head, his quills falling to the side. Shadow’s hands faltered at the fond look on the speedster’s face, his own muzzle flaming under the soft gaze. “[…Stop looking at me like that.]”

“[Stop making me fall in love with you, then.]”

Shadow blinked. There was some uncertainty behind Sonic’s eyes, but it was masked by fronted neutrality. After a moment to recover, Shadow snorted. “[You’ve had two months to change your mind. You still-]” Shadow’s hands shook, and he snarled at them for the transgression. Sonic reached forward and took them, holding them in his own until they stilled.

When he let go, crouched to be eye level with the hybrid, conviction across his features, he signed, “[Yes. I meant it. Still mean it. I love you.]” He reached forward, slowly, tentatively, giving Shadow as much time as he might need to stop the advance; finally, he set his warm palm flat against the hybrid’s chest, thin hospital gown and his own glove between his hand and the thick white fur growing there.

Shadow’s eyes misted. He turned his head, blinking the moisture away; it would not do to lose himself completely. Sonic stayed there a moment longer, before sighing gently, fondly, and rising to start the lift moving again.

As it rattled back to life, Shadow, head still turned away, signed slowly, “[Give me time.]” He dared to peek back after, to catch Sonic’s response.

“[I’ve got nothing but time for you, always. Forever.]”

For once, the silence and stillness that followed didn’t feel so oppressive.

—- —- —- —- —-

Nine months, give or take a week or two, from the attack. Five since Shadow regained consciousness. Four or so since moving to the rehabilitation facility, and one since leaving there as an outpatient to return to his and Rouge’s shared apartment.

He was back was in one of GUN’s private training gyms now, between parallel bars and taking slow, deliberate steps as he held himself up. His arms were regaining strength faster than his legs, which he found immensely irritating; but at least he didn’t need as much help transitioning himself from his chair to the bars, anymore.

Sonic, ever a constant presence by his side these days, was leaned back against the wall in a crouch near end of the bars’ track. He appraised Shadow’s steps and winced when the hybrid’s foot caught on the mat, making him stumble. He fell less and less these days, and even though he had made Sonic promise to let him catch himself as part of the physical therapy, Shadow could see the battle the speedster briefly fought in himself not to launch forward to steady his partner.

Catching himself on a elbow on one of the bars, Shadow grunted and forced himself back to his feet. “Ridiculous,” he growled. “This is ridiculous.” His words were coming easier now, though when he was tired he reverted to the sign he and Sonic had been using to communicate since waking. He was learning Mobian Sign, even, much to the excitement of his partner at the request to learn it.

“[You’re just tired, you’ve been at this a couple hours, now.]”

“Thirty minutes.”

“[Bars for thirty, but we’ve been at the gym for two hours.]”

Shadow's legs were shaking under him which made Sonic raise a brow as if to say, ‘See?’. Damn hedgehog, always right. Shadow snarled. “Why are you here, again?”

“[Impulse control. And because you’re pretty, and you love me.]”

Shadow blew roughly. “Unfortunately.”

Sonic only grinned. The teasing was as close to a love confession as Shadow had given him, so far. Even still, it left him feeling warmed from his toes to the tips of his ears.

“Hey handsome! Take five for a second?” Rouge called from across the gym. Shadow lifted his head and looked back, careful to keep his feet planted.

Rouge waved cheerily as she walked into the gym, Commander Tower behind her. Neither seemed surprised to find Sonic there.

Shadow’s ears perked at their approach, though his eyes remained uncertain. Rouge didn’t seem upset, and if it was just Tower with her, he supposed whatever news they brought couldn’t be too Earth-shattering.

Tower stopped before the bars, and Shadow raised a brow at him. “Waiting awhile, if you want a salute,” he quipped.

Tower laughed and shook his head, then looked over Shadow’s shoulder to where Sonic had risen from the wall. The speedster did not yet share Shadow’s almost-trust of the GUN commander, and was watching him carefully. “Sonic, mind if I have him for a few minutes? Let two old dogs reminisce.”

“Speak for yourself,” Shadow grumbled.

Sonic hummed, and Rouge came to his side. “C’mon, Blue, you and me got stuff to discuss, too,” the bat informed, pulling Sonic’s arm until the hedgehog gave in and followed. He sent a look to Shadow as he passed, and his partner nodded to him to assure him he would be fine.

Rouge had promised to talk to Sonic about the not-talking, thing. From what Shadow had learned of the speedster’s past, he had been this way through all of his childhood, as far as anyone knew him. What caused it then wasn’t clear, as Sonic never went into much detail of the state of his psyche at the time; then one day, he just started talking and didn’t stop again until Shadow’s time in the coma. Shadow suspected a deeper psychology at play, some anxiety or old trauma that Sonic was trying to push through on his own. It was a sentiment the hybrid could relate with, being too stubborn to open up to others, but there was no reason to suffer alone; thus, asking Rouge to speak with him. Rouge was good at getting through to people; even if she couldn’t help him work through whatever had quieted his voice, she was the most likely out of anyone to convince him to seek help elsewhere.

Tower watched them go, then shook his head as he turned back to Shadow. “Maria would’ve liked him, you know? Would’ve liked the idea of someone looking out for you.”

Shadow grunted and turned away to hide the emotion that flashed through his eyes. “I know. They would’ve been insufferable.”

Tower laughed and stepped forward, prompting Shadow to follow along slowly between the bars. “That, too. Would keep you young, that’s for sure. Both of us.”

“You’re the old man, Abe.”

“Only because your lazy ass slept on ice for 50 years.”

Shadow snorted and laughed. Few could get away with bringing up Maria, and even fewer joking about his internment at GUN’s Prison Island. “You need me around to keep you humble.”

“That coming from the Ultimate Lifeform.”

“All have crosses to bear.”

Tower snorted and paused at the end of the bars. “C’mon, it’s nice out, you want some fresh air?” He offered the hybrid his arm. When Shadow looked back to his wheelchair, Tower nudged him and insisted he take the arm instead. “Surely you’re getting tired of sitting?”

Shadow grunted his assent and took Tower’s arm. He was right, he was tired of the chair and the sitting and needing help everywhere. He hated the shuffling and the way he could barely lift his own feet; he especially hated when it was anyone but Sonic he had to lean against to walk.

He was having to get over that more and more, these past few months.

They made it outside easily enough, the gym positioned on an outer wall. There were benches overlooking a grassy courtyard between the two wings of the facility; Tower led Shadow to one of these and waited for the hybrid to settle himself.

Shadow appreciated the dignity of being allowed to sit on his own. Tower took a seat beside him, sighing lightly.

“…You didn’t come to reminisce, Abe,” Shadow pressed after a moment. “Not only for that.”

Tower sighed again, this time heavier. “No, no, not only for that,” he replied. “I wanted to talk with you about a ceremony we’ll be holding in a few months. Welcoming you back to the fold.”

Shadow’s ears pinned. “There a point? I’ll be useless for the rest of the year, maybe next. Longer, if my vision stays this poor.” Unless they wanted him for experiments, again. The researchers talked about reviving old projects all the time. Shadow shuddered.

“Because your mind is still sharp, no matter what your legs can do at the moment. You’re a good consultant, field work be damned, for now. And I’ve told you, GUN takes care of its own.”

Shadow hissed, ears flat against his skull. “Decommissioning count as taking care of?”

“A vocal minority, one I’m working on silencing for good,” Tower assured, turning to the hybrid, though Shadow only glared ahead at the courtyard. “Besides, I brought them to compromise, on that.”

“The pod.”

“Exactly.”

“Rather be dead than back in that thing, honestly.”

“Which is what I was banking on.”

“I- what?” Shadow turned abruptly, searching Tower’s face. The man raised a brow and snorted.

“…Huh. Maybe I should take back the sharp mind comment. Little blunted, or maybe you’re just getting slower than me in your old age.”

Shadow blinked and narrowed his eyes. Tower held his gaze when far less men would have already cowed. Then, Shadow laughed.

“…Bastard. Clever fucking bastard.” He turned, still laughing, the sound coming up from chest in a flood.

Tower held the impassive deadpan only a moment longer before he laughed, too, grin over taking his face. “Damn hog, don’t you think I know you well enough by now? I knew you’d never let yourself be shoved back in that pod- if there was so much as an ounce of you left in that shell, threatening stasis would bring you around. And I was right.”

Shadow fought for breath and control over himself, laughter bubbling up before he could stop it. He shook his head, quills waving, and ran a hand over his face as he finally quieted himself down. 

Tower’s grin softened. “If I remember correctly, they usually had to call in the Professor himself to get you in it for the night. He’d sit and wait until you’d climbed in, wait some more by you while it filled. He’d stay damn near an hour, working at that little desk he had set up in the chamber, waiting until your vitals let him know you were asleep.”

Shadow hummed, memories overcoming him for a moment. He hadn’t known about the Professor waiting after the pod filled, but it didn’t surprise him. It was the fatherly thing to do, after all. “Had to have Maria there, a few times.”

“Remember that, too. Used to piss me right off,” Tower chuckled. “You going to the pod chamber was supposed to be a sign you were out of the picture for at least the night.”

Shadow grunted and shook his head. “…You really were quite the asshole back then. Still an asshole now, actually.”

“Been called worse. Usually while golf clubs are launched at my head.”

“Ex-wife number…?”

“One. And technically two. Never look back, s’all I can say, learn from me…”

Shadow snorted again and sighed. “… Hoping none of those, for me…” he murmured quietly. “Just want to go through it all the one time…”

Tower hummed and grinned. “Sonic, right?”

Shadow didn’t insult him by acting surprised. He only nodded, then added quickly, “Future talk. No time soon-“

Tower laughed. “Comes sooner than you think. It’ll hit you, you wait and see; the realization you can’t live without ‘em. Hit me, finally, decades too late.”

The image of golden hair over bright blue eyes flashed through Shadow’s mind. He imagined it was the same as what flashed through Tower’s. He nodded. “…Would’ve given you one hell of a shovel talk.”

Tower laughed. “No, Shadow, I think you would’ve skipped the talk and gone straight to the shovel. Or a boot up the ass. Maybe both.”

A hum of assent. The man wasn’t wrong. “And you would’ve ignored me and did as you pleased.”

“And I would’ve ignored you, and did as I pleased,” Tower echoed, nodding. “… Damn you all, you damn Robotniks. Getting in everyone’s heads.”

Shadow smiled, unable to stop himself from preening under the name. It would never be official, it carried too much baggage and weapons didn’t get last names, anyway, but, it warmed him to hear it. He always hoped the Professor and Maria would have approved of him taking it.

Tower sighed. “…Like I said. I’m going to keep working on the designation. You focus on getting better- I want you walking under your own power at that ceremony, alright? Be a great way to spit in the project lead’s face.” He looked to the hybrid and caught the curl of his lip.

“Like to do more than spit.”

“Behave. Let me handle them, keep your hands clean.”

Shadow snarled.

“And your fangs, if you would.”

The sun came out from behind thin clouds, warming the courtyard and the two on the bench with sudden intensity. Shadow sighed and closed his eyes, lifting his chin, and letting his black fur soak in the heat.

Tower watched him a moment before letting out a breath and settling to enjoy the sun, too. No rush to be back, not just yet.

Not just yet.

—- —- —- —- —-

One year had passed since the attack, very nearly to the day. Shadow had not yet made a full return to form, but he was getting stronger all the time. He could walk now unassisted, and had recently started jogging with Rouge in an attempt to slowly build himself back up to full speed. She often had to call him back from running ahead, his feet itching to carry him forward. He was sure he could match his old speed now, at least that he could reach without air shoes; it was more an issue of accidentally outpacing his own slowly regenerating musculature and causing further injury. His eyes were another area that held him back, in this regard; less from the coma than the direct blow his face took to Surge’s boot and lightening attack, his vision was made blurry and out of focus, to the point he needed correction to be able to read even words held directly before his nose. For the moment, reaching top speeds without being able to make out what was a tree right in front of him versus a tree five hundred yards away was an obvious hazard.

His heart, as well, had been causing him issue in the last few months, lagging behind the rest of his body. Though the doctors advised him that, in most patients, they wouldn’t think the heart would ever fully recover, they admitted they couldn’t predict what factor Shadow’s healing abilities might play. Already, his brain had recovered from significant physical damage most people would never have been able to return from; they imagined his heart would be little different.

Still, it didn’t stop the pains it sent through his chest now, sitting in the event hall for the ceremony GUN had decided to put on. It followed their yearly review of assets, and was largely for the different department heads to take turns jacking one another off, as far as Shadow was concerned. He sat on edge of a block of seating, leg crossed over his lap, down leg’s knee bouncing and his hand rubbing over the thick white fur on his chest. Eight months of rehabilitation had not been enough to bring back the full muscling he had lost during the coma, but his bones at least no longer protruded so prominently under his pelt.

Rouge, in the seat to his left, nudged his side. “Alright?” she whispered from the corner of her mouth. A speaker was up giving introductions to some department leads or other.

Shadow grunted quietly and pulled his hand away from his chest, forcing himself to take deeper breaths. “Fine,” he replied softly. “Heart’s fluttering.”

“Aw, is it because Sonic’s here?” Rouge teased.

The blue hedgehog himself leaned forward from where he was sitting behind Shadow and Rouge. “[It is because I’m here, isn’t it?]” he signed, smirking. 

Shadow leveled them both with a tired frown. “…It’s the cardiomyopathy, actually, but whatever gets you up in the morning.”

Sonic was wrenched back with an aborted yelp, and Rouge and Shadow both looked to see him being forced into his seat by Amy and Knuckles. “Flirt with your boyfriend later,” Amy hissed. She sent a placating smile to Shadow and Rouge and waved. A few of the other guests around them gave the Mobians scathing side-eyes for the disruption.

“Can you all behave?” Tails whispered from Knuckles’ other side, eyes wide with all the discomfort of a quiet child being forced to sit by the troublemakers.

Shadow snorted and turned back around in time to find Omega, on the other side of Rouge, leveling Sonic with the equivalent of a glare. He had found the robot doing that more and more when the speedster came around; Omega assured him he was only planning on testing the hedgehog’s reactions to ensure he was a worthy mate to match Shadow and that said testing would be “as non-lethal as was avoidable”. Shadow tried to gently express his appreciation for the concern while also dissuading Omega from launching any surprise attacks at Sonic anytime soon.

Sonic had seemed unnervingly excited by the thought of a real fight with Omega. At this rate, Shadow was starting to wonder if his heart palpations were from the coma or just a culmination of living and working with feral hell children bent on causing him the maximal amount of stress physically possible.

Chaos, when did his life become so full of people he couldn’t bear to live without?

Applause around them drew everyone’s attention back to the stage. The speaker was handing over the podium to Commander Tower.

Tower took the front graciously, dipping his head to the crowd as he did. He sorted the papers before him and began his address, thanking the audience for the opportunity, along with all the other niceties that made Shadow glad to be in fieldwork and not… whatever hell being a military diplomat entailed. Whatever kind of purgatory that was.

“I’d like to take a moment today to recognize a member of our community who has exemplified everything any field agent should aspire to be,” Tower began. “A soldier of a caliber rarely seen, who’s spent the last year recovering from injuries the likes of which I’ve never seen a living soul come back from.”

A few groups whispered amongst themselves. Shadow’s ears twitched, and he caught a few of the mutterings. “No shit, it was designed to take anything. Shouldn’t this honor be going to the Project team who made the thing?”

“Probably it’s alien blood, you think?”

“Better when it was a vegetable, we could’ve gotten more studies done.”

“I heard the damn things all but blind now. What good’s that?”

“Ugly as sin, too, you see the lightening scars? So much for all the work the original team put into aesthetics.”

Shadow pinned his ears and fought down the snarl threatening to peel back his lips. Beside him Rouge was nearly shaking with poorly contained anger for her friend. She found his leg and put a steadying hand over his thigh; not to hold him down, but to give him a warm counterweight against the cold rage nearly overwhelming him.

Shadow closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, accepting the distraction. He felt a soft touch on the back of his left shoulder, and reached back without looking to cover Sonic’s hand with his own. He would be fine, their words couldn’t touch him with so many around watching his back; and after surviving what should have killed him, he found their opinion of him mattering less and less.

If Tower heard the murmurings, he gave no indication. “On the back of that recognition, I have two announcements to make. The first, and let me implore certain Agents and guests sitting around, say, that area,” the Commander began, motioning vaguely to where Team Dark and the other Mobians sat, “to refrain from jumping to conclusions before I’ve made the second, is as follows.” Tower took up a document in front of him, straightening and jutting his chin, a posture he had taken since childhood when he wanted to appear more official and in charge. Shadow snorted.

“Effective immediately and from this date, at this time, onward in perpetuity, the asset known as PS-02 Alpha, ‘Shadow’, of Project Shadow, has reached the end of its expected use for continued Project data collection purposes. It is, therefore, to be decommissioned at the pleasure of the Project’s highest departmental authority.”

Rouge’s hand on his leg withdrew, the bat covering her mouth in shock. Shadow’s hand tightened over Sonic’s at his shoulder, though he was careful not to extend his oversized claws into the hedgehog’s glove. His eyes, unfocused as they might be, locked onto the stage, and he shoved forward his ears to catch Tower’s next words. Even still, he didn’t miss the deep growl behind him- Sonic clearly had no trust left for anyone in GUN, not even Tower. Shadow loosened his grip on the speedster’s hand to try to show he was relaxed, in hopes it would ease Sonic’s anxiety, too.

Tower’s attention was elsewhere. Project leaders sat looking mutinous, clearly already let in on at least this part of the announcement this morning, but their underlings were appalled at their experiment being removed from their complete control. He leveled them with a stern glare before looking out over the crowd. “As that highest authority over the experimental department in this region, that pleasure follows thusly: the asset formerly known as PS-02 Alpha, ‘Shadow’, has, effective this day, been redesignated as an autonomous agent of GUN- under contract, which will be negotiated with him and a legal team in private at such time as his medical team clears him for field service. He will be assigned under the leadership of Special Agent Rouge, as a full member of our Mobian Strikeforce known as Team Dark.”

The mutterings around the room increased; not all were against the idea, and seemed excited for the precedent this set. Others were less enthused, certainly, but these were easily tuned out, especially when Rouge was no longer able to contain a bright laugh at Shadow’s side and Sonic, too, let out a breathy laugh of relief. Amy, Knuckles, and even Tails cheered, as did those agents already working closely with the Mobian strikeforce. The rest of the room applauded the honor.

Shadow sat dumb, staring at the blurry form of Commander Tower, desperately trying to categorize the breadth of emotions he felt pass through him. In the end, he could only dip his head in silent thanks. I hope Maria is watching this, right now. I hope, if she is, she’s proud.

Tower grinned at the show of support around Shadow, then continued, “Shadow, forgive me this next bit as I’m well aware of your dislike of sentimentality; but, indulge an old fool a moment, would you? Agents, officers, researchers of GUN- allow me, for the very first time, to welcome this new agent into our fold, under a new designation- Agent Shadow Robotnik.”

Shadow’s eyes widened and he looked to Rouge, startled. She threw herself at him, arms securely around his shoulders and hugging him tight. “Congratulations, handsome- fuck, you’ve earned this a hundred times over-,” she whispered to him, voice thick with unshed tears, nearly lost in the din of applause and of his colleagues- his friends- cheering behind them.

Robotnik. He was a Robotnik. Not only in his own mind or in the tapes of Gerald before the madness took him over, claiming Shadow as his son, but legally, really, truly- Shadow Robotnik. A smile broke over his muzzle, warm and broad, enough that it hurt his face to hold it. But he couldn’t help it.

Shadow Robotnik. Field Agent Shadow Robotnik. No longer a weapon, no longer a project, no longer an experiment.

Shadow Robotnik. A name, legally, finally all his; and what a name it was.

—- —- —- —- —-

Two years since the ceremony. Since the name, and the redesignation. Three since the accident that had threatened to take the Ultimate Lifeform from the world entirely. And oh, the changes those three years had brought.

Shadow hummed and stretched, early morning light gently filtering through the sheer curtains covering the French doors out to the porch. He opened his eyes; through the curtains, he could see the soft blues and yellows of the dawn sky as the sun rose over South Island, reflecting off the ocean and white sands of the beach that bumped up to the narrow strip of scrub separating the house from the coastline.

He could easily make out the waves through the sheer fabric, and the wispiness of the rare, gray clouds floating softly near the horizon. His lens had to be augmented in a difficult procedure designed to offset the worst of the damage from Surge’s shock; but this had been a year ago, and the hybrid had plenty of time to adjust and recover.

The best was, the procedure had been his decision. No one made it for him; no scientist sedating him against his will, no one strapping him to a cold metal table. He was almost fond of the memory, despite the uncomfortable recovery period that had followed.

He hummed again and tensed his muscles in a half-way stretch, curling his fingers on his left hand that rested on the mattress in front of him. Dawn light caught on the gold of his inhibitor bracelet and of the gold on the band around his ring finger.

Another hand joined this one, slowly covering it. The hand was a vibrant cobalt blue over its top, the blue extending to a point on the back of its wrist, while underneath was a warm peach or apricot tone. Coral colored pads adorned the palm and the tips of its fingers with their small claws clipped neatly short. Those fingers interlocked with Shadow’s, a matching gold band glinting in the soft light. Shadow smiled, his face half buried in a pillow, and a gentle weight settled against his back. The weight began to purr.

“Mornin’, beautiful,” a low voice murmured, just behind Shadow’s ear. Sonic’s voice, slowly returned to the world a year and a half after it had left, coaxed out by time and much counseling and the patience of his friends and partner, made Shadow shiver. Especially in the mornings, when it was low and rough from sleep, and still just on the near side of quiet.

A voice only he got to hear. His smile softened and he turned, soft sheets shifting over him. Sonic was up on an elbow and leaned into him, smiling back down at his partner. His lover. His husband. “Happy anniversary,” Sonic whispered, anxiety no longer stilling his tongue but no less willing to break the morning tranquility. “Whole year… can you believe it?”

“Feels like a blink,” Shadow mused quietly. “But… also a lifetime. Can’t wait for the next. Happy anniversary, my love.” He turned fully into his husband and cupped the hedgehog’s jaw, trailing a thumb through longer, courser fur growing along its edge. Sonic usually kept this fur trimmed, but languid weekends like this, he didn’t bother. Mostly because Shadow liked it.

Greens eyes trailed slowly over Shadow’s face. The hybrid didn’t need a mirror to know Sonic was tracing the lightning scars bursting over his brow, over his eyes, onto his cheeks and muzzle. Arcing up his temples in silverly streaks that faded back into the longer fur and quills beginning there. He could see them along his arm and over the back of his hand, marring the once perfect ebony fur with odd, course growing silver.

He had hated the scars, at first. Considered dying them once the fur grew back in, though, they were too extensive and the upkeep would have been annoying to manage, if they had taken dye at all. Sonic took it up as a personal challenge every night to worship those scars, trace them all in soft kisses and trailing fingers, turning their paths hot with a wholly different sort of electricity, until Shadow could look at them with anything but disgust.

Others helped, too. Cream told Shadow they made him look like a wizard; Charmy informed they gave ‘mad main character energy, in a good way’. They prompted old stories of battles long passed and the scars they left from Knuckles, some his own, some passed down the long held oral traditions of his tribe. Rouge said it made him look like black marble, and while he wasn’t sure how he felt about being compared to a sought after countertop option, he could appreciate the sentiment coming from a gem-and-precious-stone enthusiast like her.

Silver, upon visiting for a ‘completely casual, friendly call- c’mon guys, can’t I just visit sometimes?’, grinned brilliantly upon seeing the marks and showed everyone one of his own scars, hidden mostly under his fur under his arm but leaving bold, black hairs in its path as it twisted up over the back of his shoulder. He commented something along the lines of, “Guess it’s genetic, huh? My fur’s kinda black-blue underneath the silver,” before promptly startling and changing the subject, like he had said too much. He would not elaborate on what he had meant, no matter how much prodding Sonic and Shadow both did at the time-traveling hedgehog.

In the present, Sonic leaned forward to press a soft kiss to Shadow’s lips. Shadow hummed and pressed back more firmly, tilting his head. Sonic’s hand moved to cradle the back of Shadow’s head, carding through his quills. The hedgehog was purring into their kiss, soft and steady, the vibrations reverberating through his chest that was pressed against Shadow’s.

Shadow drew back, eyes hooded, feeling hazy and sleepy as he settled in Sonic’s arms, cradled by him like he was something precious and rare. He found his own purr rise in his chest, raspy clicks joining Sonic’s gentle, vibrating hum. Sonic pressed soft kisses to Shadow’s face along a thin trail of silvery fur, following it over his temple and to the base of an ear before pulling back only enough to whisper, “I love you.”

Shadow gave a small smile, eyes closing under the gentle affection, purr growing louder. He carded his hand through the short peach fur of Sonic’s chest, claws out just a bit to scratch lightly and make Sonic’s eyes flutter closed. Shadow’s heart skipped a beat in his chest; by now, the muscle had begun to repair and restrengthen from the shock and the coma; so this time, he knew who was to blame for the arrhythmia.

He hummed lightly and nuzzled against his husband, warmth spreading through him. Not for the first time, as the rings on their fingers could attest, but with no less conviction than before, he murmured gently, “I love you.”

Sonic pulled him tighter to his chest, purr strong enough now for Shadow to feel in his chest in harmony with his own. He wrapped his arms around Sonic and nuzzled his jaw once more before settling, nose tucked under his chin, enveloped by his husband’s scent. He allowed only a rare few to ever see such softness from him, and even then, only Sonic was allowed the true extent. In this moment, wrapped in the solitude of their own sheets and the early morning peace, he could imagine they were the only two beings in all of existence.

“…We have one more day, right? Before you’re back on assignment?”

Shadow nodded under his chin. “One more day.”

“And by the time you’re back…”

“You’ll be on your trip with Tails.”

Sonic whined, half-heartedly. “Maybe we can delay it a few days-“

“Don’t give the fox more reason to dislike me; winning your brother’s trust has been hard enough,” Shadow said, cutting his partner off. He settled himself further in Sonic’s arms, and slowed his breathing. “Besides, you’ll be home from it soon enough, and I’ll be here waiting for you.”

“Mm… here? Right here?” Sonic murmured, arms tightening around his husband.

Shadow smiled again, still tucked against Sonic’s neck. “Is our marriage bed where you’d like to find me?”

Sonic shivered. “…While I’d be pleased to find you anywhere-“

Shadow laughed and pressed a gentle kiss to Sonic’s neck. “Then here I’ll be.”

Sonic sighed, content enough, and settled into his pillows with Shadow still tight against him. They would have all day to enjoy one another, pressing and exploring, reaffirming their bond. For now, he only seemed to want Shadow pressed as close as physically possible.

And I, you. Shadow felt himself dozing, warmed by the creeping dawn light and arms wrapped so firmly around him. Three years ago, he had nearly lost his life; if only he’d known then what he knew now: it hadn’t even truly begun.

Link to masterlist

[burning-burning-burning]

New Year’s Snowstorms and a Little Liquid Courage

Word count: 17.7k

In which it's New Year's Eve, Eggman's ruining everybody's plans as usual, there's a white-out blizzard outside, Sonic's determined to get Shadow drunk, Shadow's determined Sonic be more drunk, and neither is willing to admit the tension under their rival schtick is getting out of hand- until it gets very, very out of hand. The hogs are gay, ya'll. The hogs are so very, very gay.

((Sonadow One-shot, NSFW for sexually explicit scene))

Read on Ao3 or

“So what’s everyone’s plans for New Year’s?”

The question was met with equal parts dread and irritation, even from Amy, who was usually always game for an excuse to plan a party. Sonic thought it was all just a touch overdramatic, himself, but given their current state of post-battle exhaustion in a GUN ship on airlift from their latest battle with Eggman… Well, he supposed they were all allowed a little drama.

“Can we get home, rest, and clean off before I have to think about holidays?” Tails groaned. “I’m still not sure we just won that fight down there, anyway. We might all be still chasing the Doctor for New Year’s.”

“Foxy’s right,” Rouge said through a yawn. She leaned back, whether purposefully against Knuckles’ shoulder or not, Sonic wasn’t sure. Knuckles didn’t push her off, though. “Why make plans when Eggy’s just gonna ruin them for us?”

Sonic snorted and looked to Amy. “Ames?”

Amy looked to Sonic, held his puppy-dog gaze for a long moment, then blew. “You know I always have a pocket party plan, Sonic, honestly. I was going to formally invite everyone today, but, well- scouting mission turned a little hotter than I expected. If we actually get to celebrate, then, maybe we can all meet up at my place for a get together? Little midnight New Year’s Eve party?”

Sonic grinned. “Can always count on you to keep us from getting too boring, Ames- you know I’m in!”

Amy smiled brightly at the praise and giggled. Near her, Tails sighed. “I guess I’m in, too. If we get the chance.”

Sonic gave his brother a thumbs up and looked expectantly to Knuckles, who was watching him tiredly.

“…Must I?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.”

Sonic laughed, deciding that was as much enthusiasm as he would be getting from the echidna. Finally, he turned to Rouge, sparing a glance to the last two-thirds of Team Dark at the end of the airship.

E-123 Omega was in his charging station. Sonic wondered if the robot had climbed in just to keep himself from having to talk too much to the others outside his own team. He had never seemed the social type; though, Rouge assured them all that when it was just around Dark, Omega was a real “Chatty Cathy". Whatever that was.

Shadow was also “recharging”, though Sonic imagined if he called it that to the hybrid’s face he would be picking his teeth up off the floor. The dark hedgehog had his arms crossed and his chin tucked against the fluff of thick, white hair on his chest. His breathing was even enough to suggest he was asleep, though Sonic had been tricked by that before, and his ears twitched and swiveled at every voice. He was still scowling, too, but Sonic imagined that probably kept up no matter what Shadow was doing. He couldn’t really imagine Shadow without at least a little scowl.

He did wonder what that might look like, though… Shadow smiling, or laughing? And not at someone else’s expense, either, but truly, freely happy? It sent a little thrill down his spine that Sonic truly was not prepared to unpack, just now. Just seeing Shadow asleep, or, pretending to sleep, was a sight Sonic had yet to get used to; he knew the hybrid was wiped after the battle, having been forced to use a massive amount of energy on Chaos Blasts and volleys of Chaos Spears to keep up with the robotic horde, not to mention all the teleporting around he always did. It had certainly been an impressive display, that day, even more so than Shadow was just normally; if he thought the hedgehog would be willing accept the affirmation without getting surly and cagey about it, Sonic might even tell him just how impressive it had been.

Shadow, mid-air, one powerful leg whipping around in a kick to cave in the grinning face of a badnik, eyes and quills glowing with Chaos energy, one hand thrown up and to the side to release a volley of huge, fiery, ethereal spears into a horde of yet more bots at the same time- Sonic’s mouth ran dry. He blinked and felt his face flush, then turned abruptly back to Rouge. Yeah… definitely not touching those particular thoughts right now… What the fuck…

“Speaking on behalf of Team Sleeps-for-Days, despite assuring me all-powerful robots and Ultimate Lifeforms don’t need sleep,” Rouge scoffed, pulling Sonic’s attention away from his internal panic alarm and raising her voice so the boys in the back of the lift could hear (her only response was an annoyed flick of Shadow’s ear), “We’ll do what we can, Blue.” She turned to Sonic and offered him a patient smile.

Sonic grinned and nodded. “I’ll take that as a yes! It’ll be nice, you know? Get the old group together for a night of… not-robot smashing, for once.” Because apparently my brain gets weird watching Shadow do that. Only that, though. I can be so normal about everything else, 100%-

Amy looked refreshed, despite the grime and dust and oil that stained them all. “I’ll get to planning, then!” she announced happily. She looked to Rouge, sparing a significant glance back to Shadow, before adding, “And don’t worry, I’ll make sure there’s plenty of roasted coffee beans, too- even though there’s only one hedgehog I know who eats them. Be a shame for them to go to waste, wouldn’t it?”

Rouge laughed, and the remark earned a quiet snort from the defintely-asleep-and-not-eavesdropping Shadow. Sonic felt a twist of something at the acknowledgement Amy so easily got from the hedgehog; even when not pretending to sleep, Sonic found getting much more than an annoyed glare from the other hedgehog to be akin to pulling teeth. He stowed the feeling and decided to unpack that later, too. It felt dangerously close to jealousy, that little twist, but whether directed at Amy or at Shadow, it was hard to say.

Plans set and boredom pushed back at least another couple of weeks, Sonic sighed and kicked a leg over his knee. He clasped his hands behind his head under his quills and tucked his chin against his chest, a looser position than the dark hedgehog at the end of the row. “Sounds great,” he said through a yawn, able to rest now that he was sure there was something to look forward to in the near future. “Wake me when we land.”

—- —- —- —- —-

The nap had done enough to clear Sonic’s mind of any offending, inappropriate thoughts about his rival-turned-unwilling-ally. GUN gave the group the go-ahead to unload, and Sonic was the first to stand and stretch, arching his back and reaching high, high above his head, until he was pretty sure he felt every last disc space in his back pop open. 

“Why are you so crunchy?” Amy asked, wincing at the cracking of yet more joints as Sonic twisted his hips and popped his ankles.

“Running! Horrible for your joints, haven’t ya heard?” the blue hedgehog quipped with a lopsided grin. “Especially past mach.”

A sour tch from the end of the lift drew Sonic’s attention. “What?” he asked, hands on his hips as he lifted a brow at the bored scowl Shadow leveled his way. “Like you don’t crack a few joints here and there- even Ultimate Lifeforms got synovial fluid, Shads, that’s how joints work.”

Shadow stared a minute longer. “Yes, Sonic, I’m quite aware how joints work. I’ve seen the inside of mine enough in GUN laboratories to be familiar with the concept.” For emphasis, he rolled his wrist as he turned, and it let out a satisfying crack. He paused before stepping towards the exit and threw over his shoulder, “Impressed you know how to use synovial fluid in a sentence, though, erizo.”

Sonic snorted and pinned his ears, a foot tapping rapidly in irritation. And just a little bit of shame, because of course Shadow knew all about probably everything having to do with a body, especially his own, given his past. And of course Sonic felt like an ass for bringing it up, even if Shadow was also an ass for framing the response that way. Assholes all around, then, the blue hedgehog supposed.

And there was that nickname again. At least, Sonic thought it must be a nickname- Shadow had been calling him that, recently. The hedgehog spoke Spanish fluently, and apparently learned it alongside English on ARK, making him bilingual from… whatever counted as early childhood for the lab-grown hybrid. Sonic knew… well. He knew colors, he was pretty sure he could make it to at least nine in Spanish, and he could always count on being able to ask for the location of the nearest bathroom or library. Otherwise, he was at a loss, and so wasn’t sure exactly what an erizo was. Other than him, apparently.

Knuckles walked by and gave him a (relatively) gentle slap to the back of the head to get him moving. “C’mon,” the red warrior grunted. “I’m tired, Tails is tired, and you both still have to fly me back to Angel Island.”

Sonic nodded and followed him out, Tails walking out behind them, Amy bringing up the rear. Team Dark was already outside, Shadow talking with the human mission commander. Sonic grinned at the way the dark hedgehog stood, flat on his feet but noticeably stretching up as far as he could, with his chest puffed out to make himself look bigger and more intimidating. Hard to do, certainly, at only about 3-foot-7-inches to the human’s 6-foot. Sonic had to wonder if Shadow’s quills naturally pointed up like that, or if he trained them to do it to give himself the extra height. Sonic was shorter than a human, too, sure, but tall for a Mobian hedgehog at 4-foot. It was a little thing (like Shadow) but something fun to hold over Mr. Ultimate Lifeform.

The GUN agent gave a salute, which Shadow accepted with a nod and barely contained contempt, before Rouge walked up to the dark hedgehog and threw a jack at his side. He caught it and opened it up before scowling.

“I’m not-“

“Wear it, and yes you are, I saw you fluff your quills as soon as you stepped off the lift-jet,” the bat sighed. “What are you proving to anyone by being cold, Shadow?”

Shadow blew, but to Sonic’s complete shock, acquiesced and donned the jacket. It was a thick red letterman with white sleeves, and, once again to the surprise of the Blue Blur, had a embroidered cherry blossom branch with pink petals across its back. Not exactly the most badass thing in the world, and yet, on Shadow… 

Shadow caught Sonic staring at his back and his brow furrowed dangerously. Sonic only offered a lopsided grin and a thumbs up before hurrying off after Knuckles and Tails. He really, really needed to get a handle on this… whatever the hell this was. This weird attraction to all things Shadow- hell, even the hedgehog’s glare sent an exciting little trill to dangerous places, these days, and Sonic was struggling to understand this newfound draw.

At the sight of Amy up ahead, hugging Tails goodbye and waving to Knuckles, an idea started forming. Maybe, he could settle things around New Year’s, once and for all… Shadow was a (semi-) reasonable guy, and Sonic was sure if he got him sitting down (and maybe a little tipsy, he’d have to snag some of that extra strong rot-gut stuff from Vector if he wanted it to touch the hybrid at all-) they could have this out and Sonic could finally put to bed the mutinous thoughts floating his brain. Or take Shadow to bed, which said mutinous thoughts seemed to believe was a real option, here.

He hopped into the Tornado behind Tails, giving Knuckles his usual spot on the wing, and sent a salute towards Team Dark as they pulled away. He tried not to read too much into Shadow’s eyes tracking him as they drove down the runway.

—- —- —- —- —-

The day of the party donned dreary and grey, the promise of a heavy snow lingering on the horizon- not that there was going to be a party to worry over. As expected, Eggman’s plan had not ended with the last hotspot of activity, and the teams were forced together once again to track the mad Doctor down and foil whatever plot he had brewing now.

That had been the idea1, anyway. Before the promise of heavy snow turned quickly into a happening-right-now-this-very-moment blizzard, and the teams were forced into a ramshackle safehouse in the middle of nowhere. Or, most of the teams, that was.

Currently, all of Sonic’s people- Amy, Knuckles, Tails- were safe in his line of sight. Rouge, on the other hand, was pacing the floor and alternating between wringing her hands with worry, and phantom ringing a neck before her in rage (Sonic imagined the neck she pictured took turns between being Shadow’s or Omega’s- or, whatever Omega had instead of a wring-able neck).

They two had gone ahead before the storm picked up, and by now, the scene outside the safehouse was nothing but a wall of dense, swirling white. Amy watched Rouge’s pacing, and said finally, “I’m sure they’re fine, Rouge. Omega’s literally an almost indestructible robot, and Shadow’s… Shadow. A little blizzard won’t be enough to stop them.”

The bat paused and sighed. “They’re both stubborn. If I’d known what they were doing, or how bad the storm was going to get, I never would have let them out of my sight…”

Knuckles, who had taken up post in the window seat to watch the snow for any early warning of an attack, looked towards the women. “Those two do what they like, and just pretend to let the rest of us feel like we’re actually getting a say sometimes. Don’t kid yourself; if they wanted to run off, there’s nothing you could do to stop it.”

Rouge scowled at the echidna, but could not deny the truth in his word. She finally gave up her pacing and moved to sit against the opposite edge of the window seat from Knuckles, who reached out to nudge her leg with his foot in acknowledgement before going back to looking out over the storm.

Sonic leaned on a wall near the back of the room, by another window, arms crossed and eyes closed, brow furrowed. His left foot tapped incessantly on the rough hardwood beneath, a staccato so fast it was nearly a drone. He felt caged. The storm was dense and heavy and there was no way he could see ahead well enough not to take himself out on a tree, bug on a windshield style. He was worried for the rest of Team Dark (especially Shadow, though he could spare a thought to Omega, too) and worried for whatever Eggman was planning out there, obscured by the storm. 

And more than a little pissed his plans of finally solving this.. whatever this was, with Shadow were now completely trashed.

“C’mon, everyone, let’s try to do something to take our minds off the storm, yeah?” Amy offered, fidgeting nervously with the bright red scarf bundled around her neck. “The Dark boys will be fine, they’ll turn up looking cold and pissy in no time. There’s a fireplace over here, maybe we should look around and see if we can find stuff to start a fire.”

Sonic stood straight and bit immediately at the distraction of something to do. “I’ll check the kitchen, maybe there’s a lighter in there.” He sped off while Amy opened up the protective grate over the front of the fireplace and began sorting through the ashes and burned wood remains.

Sonic sorted through the kitchen drawers for matches or a lighter or anything that looked vaguely fire-stater-ish. Upon finding a half-used book of matches in one of the many, many junk drawers, the speedster’s attention was very quickly brought to the contents of the rest of the kitchen. There were all the appliances one might imagine they would find in a kitchen, though certainly old and out-of-date, with the odd bench top extra here and there. A coffee machine was among these, which Sonic imagined would come in handy- a dusty box beside it was half full with packets of instant hot chocolate mix and little, dehydrated marshmallows.

Opening up cabinets above the coffee maker, Sonic found a few odd plates and bowls, as well as a number of old mugs. there was a bag of coffee beans, too, though he hadn’t spotted a grinder anywhere.

“Sonic! Any luck?!?” Amy called from the living room, and Sonic was pulled from his musings on the feasibility of hand grinding coffee beans, apparently with no mortar and pestle either, for brewing. He picked up the matches he had found earlier and hurried back to the living room.

“All the luck! The Gaia must be getting along; found some matches,” Sonic quipped, tossing the book to Amy. 

The pink hedgehog lit the match and scowled before touching it to kindling under the logs. “Somehow you using that old saying feels wrong,” she snorted, flicking her hand to put out the match as the kindling went up.

Sonic laughed and sat down on the edge of the fireplace, kicking a heel against its rough brick surface. “Aw, what, Ames? Don’t like big beasties?” He made sure to pull back his lips as he said this, showing off his teeth that, while certainly not the robust double fangs of Shadow, were more than he had sported before the Gaia incident. He leaned in, grin a playful snarl.

Amy looked to him tiredly and palmed his face to push him away, making the speedster laugh into her hand. “Stop before I muzzle you.”

“Ooh, Amy, didn’t know you were still into me like that~”

“Oh please, that is so ARK era me, in your dreams!”

Sonic snorted and batted her hand away, grinning. “Ha! Yeah, don’t figure the two of us would even know what to do with one another, huh? All the wrong parts-“

“Sonic-!”

“Well!” Tails interjected, covering his face. “This has been enlightening! Let’s! Talk about literally anything else?!”

Rouge snorted from her place across from Knuckles, and the echidna was resolutely staring out into the snowblind in favor of taking part in this discussion on his friends' sexualities.

“Hey, anyone got any tunes?” the bat asked, swinging one leg absently against the side of the window seat, the other up with her knee hugged loosely to her chest. “Foxy, c’mon, I know you’ve got something, surely?”

Tails looked to Rouge gratefully and went for his bag by the front door. “Yep,” he said, pulling out a small set of speakers. “I usually have these in the Tornado for better sound, but lucky us, I was doing maintenance on them and hadn’t reinstalled them, yet. Who wants the aux?”

Sonic’s eyes lit up and he made to stand, but Amy snatched him down by his quills. “No nasty shit!” she scolded.

Sonic’s eyes watered from his quills being pulled so hard, and he nodded. “I wasn’t! Wasn’t! Honest! Got a sick heroes playlist for us, that’s all, I swear-“

“Hero playlist?” Knuckles questioned, turning towards them again. “What’s that include?”

Amy released Sonic before he started yelping and the blue hedgehog stood, shaking out his quills and rubbing the back of his head as he did. He grinned at Knuckles. “Glad you asked! Here we go!” And he tossed his phone unceremoniously to Tails, who only just grabbed it from the air in time. The fox blew roughly as he plugged it into his system.

“Surprised you don’t have Bluetooth on that thing,” Rouge mused.

Tails shuddered. “Last time we fought Metal, I had a bunch of wireless tech in the Tornado. Bad mistake- he jacked it, and I was listening to Megalovania for weeks. I’m as much a fan of 8-bit as the next guy, but, man, was I ready to hear literally anything without synth after that…”

Sonic laughed at the memory. “We went to visit you guys not long after,” he began, looking to Rouge with a grin, “and Tails nearly cried tears of joy hearing that old swing shit Shadow plays off that record player.”

“If he was here, he’d correct you that it’s called a ‘gramophone, hedgehog’,” Rouge snorted, dropping her voice into a deep growl to mimic the dark hybrid. She set her head back on the windowsill and laughed. “And he’d be pissy about you calling crooners ‘old shit’.”

“What is Shadow not pissy about,” Sonic replied, falling back down onto the fireplace edge as he did. Amy only just managed to sneak a cushion under him before he broke his tail against the bricks, and he gave her a sheepish, grateful grin. He looked back to his brother. “Hit it, Tails!”

Tails laughed and hit play on the playlist Sonic had queued up. Immediately, a strong bass beat began to play, and the room groaned. All but Sonic, of course, who was grinning widely at the familiar tune.

“Seriously? This is a ‘heroes playlist’?” Knuckles snorted.

Sonic laughed. “No, it literally is! That’s what they named the album! Heroes!”

What goes up, must come down, yet my feet don’t touch the ground-

See the world spinnin’ upside down, a mighty crash without a sound!

Amy broke first and laughed. “I still think its sweet, these groups making a whole album about us all,” she mused. Even if it had at first reminded her a bit too much of their fight with Neo Metal and the mess that came after with Shadow and his lost memories and the Black Arms, she could appreciate the sentiment and the feel of camaraderie the time had given her with her old team.

“Crank it, Tails! C’mon!” Sonic shouted, and Tails complied, turning up the volume. He laughed as Sonic jumped up from the fireplace and onto the nearby couch, a sneakered foot on the back of it as he belted along, “I won’t even hesitate, a second left to alter fate! You try to strike a bit too late-“

“I got you hooked by my own bait!” Tails joined, hopping onto the back of the couch with his brother. Sonic’s grin became wider and he fist bumped the fox, before they both turned to the window and pointed at Knuckles, who was watching them tiredly with the side of his jaw in hands.

The two continued, “Watch me, rule the night away; watch me, save the day! Feel my, storm is getting close-“

“Headed your way!”

The two cheered briefly as Knuckles broke and joined their song, throwing his head back as he sang. Rouge barked a laugh and hid her face as her shoulders shook.

Now all three were belting along, “Sonic herooess! Sonic heroes- find you, confine you, defying your reign!”

By the second verse, Amy had joined in, and by the second chorus, even Rouge was singing along, boot tapping in time with the beat as her head bobbed to the music.

By the time the song finished and the next began, some upbeat instrumental something or other that Sonic just thought made good roadtrip background adventure music, the group was laughing and crying and falling over themselves in their mirth.

Sonic and Tails were both tangled on the couch, the fox gasping for air between loud guffaws and Sonic’s howls only just beginning to quiet. Suddenly, the house shook as though struck, and all laughter cut almost immediately.

“Was that like, what, a downburst or something? Wind gust?” Rouge asked, looking out the window. Knuckles frowned and followed her gaze.

Amy stood from the fireplace and wrung her hands, brows furrowed and ears back worriedly. “I.. I’m gonna honest. It didn’t sound like the wind at all to me, and the fact we can’t even see out there to know what it was is making me nervous.”

Sonic frowned and looked out the window, too. Amy was right, of course- in addition to the snow that had thus far refused to let up, leaving a thick bank against the wall outside that was beginning to encroach even up to the window, it was also getting dark. The swirling mass outside was dimly lit by the few lights they had in the cabin, but beyond that, it was black as pitch.

Until a burst of warm orange-hued light the scene for the briefest moment, caught only because of the darkness of the sky otherwise. It highlighted behind the trees at the edge of the rough clearing the safehouse was nestled in. Sonic’s eyes widened. “Was that a-

Rouge got there first. “That looked like a Chaos Blast,” she breathed, getting up to her knees on the window bench and scanning the treeline, or where the treeline should be. Sonic was reminded her vision would be better than most, though he had to wonder if even she could see much beyond the dark and snow.

The house gave another shake, and Sonic recognized the feeling of residual chaos energy igniting down his spine, making his quills bristle.

Knuckles looked to him. “You felt that?” he asked. Sonic nodded. Knuckles was not a resonator, as Sonic was, able to match frequency with all the various power gems of their world, but he could still feel their energy spikes- particularly Chaos energy. 

Amy looked between them all. “Feel what? What is it? If that’s really Chaos energy hitting the house, then it has to be Shadow, right? Do you think he’s in danger?”

Tails folded his ears. “Or… maybe sending an SOS? What if he’s stuck in the blizzard? It’s gotta be even worse in the forest than it is here, darker with trees making it harder to tell which way to go… You think Omega’s with him? I wonder how his processors are holding up in this cold- temperatures like this and robotics don’t often mix well.”

Rouge’s ears pinned, too, and her eyes widened. “Shadow would never leave him behind, where there’s one, there’s the other. We have to find the source of that blast- I have the best chance of any of us to see out there, I’ll go-“

“Whoa, whoa, no offense, but that’s not a good idea,” Knuckles grunted, waving a hand as though to shoo the idea from the air around them. He stood from the window seat, brow furrowed sternly. “And before you accuse me of being biased or underestimating you, know that I’m not saying I’ve got any business out there, either. You, me, Tails, Amy, we’re sitting ducks in a storm like this.”

Rouge’s ears picked up slightly and the very-much-offended retort on her tongue seemed to die there, replaced with, “… You didn’t mention Blue.”

Sonic’s turn to fold back his ears. “Uh… yeah, Blue also picked up on that?” he questioned anxiously, eying the storm past Knuckles’ head.

The echidna snorted. “You have the highest metabolism out of all of us, we know you give off heat like nobody’s business. It’s why I can’t fucking stand squeezing into the Tornado’s copilot seat with you, you make me sweat.”

“I thought you liked riding on the wing-!”

“Not important,” Tails soothed, waving Sonic off. The hedgehog blew but turned to listen to this brother and pilot. “Knuckles is right, though. It’s why Eggman uses so much heat-seeking stuff on us; it can target-lock on you without a problem, as long as Shadow’s not around to throw it off. As long as we can keep you from getting lost in the storm, you’re the most likely of all of us to make it to wherever that blast came from.”

Sonic put his fists on his hips and tapped his foot rapidly against the ground. “…Fine. You have a point. How do I not get lost, though? I can’t even see past the window. In case you’re all forgetting, hedgehogs and depth perception aren’t really best buds; especially when the world’s all 2D in a white-out, like this. Or, black-out, at this point.” He motioned to the dark, roiling mess of swirling snow outside.

Tails tapped his chin for a second, twin tails twining behind him as they did when the fox was lost in thought. “I got it!” he explained suddenly, and ran back to this bag. He rustled through it, clicking his tongue in annoyance as he rifled through different bits and bobs and gadgets and whizmos, to the point it was nearly comical, until finally he pulled out what Sonic recognized as a Chaos tracker. It was set into a wristband, black and dark blue in color. The fox flew back to his brother and motioned for his wrist, which Sonic gave; the band fit well, like a high-tech version of one of Shadow’s gauntlets.

“This has a dual function,” Tails began. He tapped the screen, and it sent out a ping that made Rouge’s teeth grind and her ears fold back in annoyance. Tails sent her a sheepish smile before turning back to Sonic. “Uh… maybe wait ’til you get outside, but tapping the screen sends out a signal like just then. Part of that signal goes out, hits stuff, and bounces back- echolocation, essentially!”

Rouge snorted and shook her head, ears flapping. “Piss poor, my ears are still ringing.”

Tails shrugged. “Sorry, like with most tech, it can’t really beat the real deal- but, until hedgehogs and foxes evolve the ability, I’ll just have to keep trying my best.”

The bat nodded, but kept her ears folded, just in case the screen was tapped again.

“Okay, so, this’ll help me not hit a tree,” Sonic began, “But what about the finding my way back part? We gonna tie some rope to my waist or somethin’?”

Tails rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t just show whats around you, Sonic. It stores the information and maps your movements as you ping- tap the screen twice in succession, and it’ll start sending out a signal at regular intervals to keep up. As you walk, it’ll create a mini-map of sorts- three taps will bring up your trail on the map over the last twelve hours.”

All in the room nodded in appreciation. “Wow, Tails, what made you make something like this?” Amy asked, coming to stand closer to Sonic to see the tech.

Tails shrugged. “Got bored, had a few ideas. Plus, sometimes we go weird places, always good to have a way to navigate if needed. Anyway, like I said, dual function; second function, it’s a Chaos tracker. Seven taps, and it’ll display sources of Chaos energy and highlight the cardinal direction you should go for the nearest.”

Sonic grinned. “Seven taps for seven emeralds. I like it,” he mused. “But, how’s it gonna differentiate my signature from others?”

“Because you’re wearing it, so the device is too close to register yours. If I wore it and moved a few feet away, then it would go off like crazy in your direction. Also, if there are multiple signatures in the same field, you’ll be able to tell by the intensity of the blip they create on the screen- it’ll be the only thing colored there. Chaos energy blips appear orange, so, the brighter the blip, the stronger the signature.”

Orange like Shadow’s energy signature. Sonic decided to allow himself the brief anxiety of thinking of the dark hybrid, stuck out in the snow, either so trapped he was reduced to begging help, or fighting off some unseeable enemy in the drifts. Sonic shivered, and his quills bristled. “Alright. Guess I’m headed out, then-“

“Wait,” Rouge said, and she stood quickly. She went to her own bag and pulled out a thick jacket; one Sonic recognized. It was Shadow’s jacket, the red and white Letterman style, with the cherry blossom branch over its back. “Put this on; it’s cold out there, and maybe this will at least help a little.”

Sonic nodded and took the garment from her, shrugging it on. On Shadow, it had been almost a touch too long; on Sonic, it hit a bit above his hips and the sleeves were a touch short. Still, he smiled at the bat for the gesture. “Thanks. Hope Shadow doesn’t mind me using it?”

Rouge snorted. “Oh, I’m sure he would, but if he really needs rescuing out there, then I don’t think he’ll have room to be too grumpy.” She looked down to Sonic’s legs and bit her lip. “I just wish I had something to help your poor legs not freeze, out there…”

Sonic looked down, too, and grunted. He looked back up at the rest of them all and shrugged. “It’ll be fine- I’ll be quick! You all know me, guess I just gotta go fast, right?” He grinned wickedly at the chorus of groans that earned.

Amy moved to him and unwrapped her scarf so she could wrap it instead around Sonic’s neck and shoulders. He smiled gratefully at her, and she leaned in to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “Try not to freeze? We’ve all seen the ice-creams, you do not make a particularly attractive popsicle.”

Sonic barked a laugh and adjusted the scarf so he could pull it over his face when he left the warmth of the safehouse. “No promises; and I’ll have you know, no matter how cursed those things might be, my face is delicious in ice-cream form!”

Amy snorted and shook her head as she stepped back.

Sonic moved to the door and took a deep breath, then gave a salute the group watching nervously behind him. Amy’s fists where up to her chin, eyes wide, and Tails and Knuckles both looked torn about sending their teammate out in the field alone. Rouge, out of the lot of them, looked the most confident in him; in her eyes, he could see that if he took too long, she would be the most likely of the bunch to run out after him. After all, it was her teammates he was going to save.

Or try to save. I will find them, he decided, finality settling over him and his eyes hardening. He gave a nod to Rouge, and she nodded in return. She trusted him, and he could not let her down.

He gripped the door handle and gave an experimental tug. It… hardly budged. He frowned and pulled harder, but still to avail. Finally, he threw his full weight back, and the door slammed open, suction from the pressure of the storm giving up in dramatic fashion. He thought he might have heard his friends shouting something, but it was lost over the howl of the wind rushing past his ears and blasting his quills. He pulled the jacket tighter around himself and pulled Amy’s scarf over his nose; there was something calming about being surrounded by the scent of the two hedgehogs, Amy’s gentle and sweet and reminding Sonic of her bakery back home; Shadow’s exotic and spicy, something bitter and hot beneath like a spiced rum or cinnamon coffee.

Ignoring the electric sensation that came with being so familiar with Shadow’s scent (It’s from our fighting and sparring, that’s all…), Sonic focused on finding his feet in this new world of black and gray and cold. His sneakers held over the top of the snow for a moment, hard packed by the wind as it was, but gave a few inches as soon as applied his full weight. He hissed at the feeling of cold snow against his ankles, felt through his socks that he was sure would be soaked and frozen within a step or two.

It didn’t matter, he had a mission. He saw the light around him dim somewhat, and imaging the door must have been shut- not that he could hear it if it was. He looked down to his wrist and tapped the device twice to set its interval, then three times more to set it tracking his path. The screen was, thankfully, backlit enough to see even in the storm. There was an analog compass set above the screen, as well, and Sonic smiled at Tails’ forethought. Even without the map, he was confident he could find his way back.

He looked up towards the treeline. He couldn’t see it, at first, but then another burst of orange light lit the pines and he nodded. I’m coming, Shadow. He took the first steps.

The trudge was exhausting. Even if it had been safe enough to run, he there was no way he would be able to, not through this. His feet sank with every step, sometimes into unseen drifts past his knees, and before he’d made it very far from the safehouse at all, his fur from the waist down was a torturous mix of soaked and frozen. He felt his own energy spike in response, and his entire body began to shiver, quills bristling and fur fluffing against the cold. It worked to keep the worst at bay, but he found himself tugging at the too-short sleeves of Shadow’s jacket anyway. He was reminded of the alcohol he had tucked away in Tails’ bag, since Sonic’s version of light packing was typically to bring only those few items essential and stow them in his brother’s luggage. He’d snuck it into the kitchen soon after their arrival to the safehouse.

Though, he imagined being drunk and in the blizzard was… not one of his greatest ideas. Besides, it was a flask of whatever the hell probably lab-grade booze Vector got from his weird clients, and Sonic imagined a sip would be enough to put him on his ass, at least until his metabolism kicked in to flush it out. He groaned softly at a particularly biting gust of wind an stood in place to shiver before leaning against it again to continue his march.

As he reached the trees, he found the snow not so unforgivingly deep, at least. The pines and shrubs also did a good enough job of keep the worst of the wind from needling into his exposed arms and legs and face. He could open his eyes a bit more, under here, and despite the darkness, could even see a bit better, too.

He look down at the tracker. It was doing a good enough job mapping out the area around him, even through the noise of the signal bouncing off the storm and interference from the wind. Now, he tapped the screen seven times, and the side of the tracker closest to his hand flashed orange for a moment. He grinned under the scarf; that clever fox, at it again. He readjusted the jacket and kept trudging.

Another flash of orange light, this one lighting up the sky overhead through the trees and casting deep shadows in the forest around him. It was accompanied by a whoosh of air and his quills bristled and sparked, interacting with the wave of Chaos energy that followed. His eyes colored to a vivid cyan for a moment before fading back to their usual emerald green. Even through the storm, he thought he could almost hear that blast; he was getting close, then.

He picked up the pace, aided by the more tolerable depth of the forest drifts. He could see a break in the trees ahead, maybe where a stream ran through, through it was surely frozen over and covered in snow, now. He looked down at his tracker, still blinking orange, dead ahead. There was a blip forming now, just at its edge. Sonic stopped by a tree and looked up.

Another flash of orange light, this one accompanied by burst of sound like thunder, and a yell was carried on the leading edge. Sonic squinted and turned to shield his eyes from the blast before turning back; at the blast’s epicenter was a smudge of dark against a field of slightly-less dark, and… yes. His eyes widened, red. He could see red, deep and obvious, even in this lighting, even without perfect depth. The smudge was too big to be only Shadow, though; so, he had found them both, then.

“Hey!” Sonic shouted, but the sound was gone and whisked away by the wind before it could even hope to reach the pair ahead of him. Emboldened, Sonic darted ahead as fast as he could in the gusts blowing him back, eyes streaming in the stinging cold and the snow and ice that accompanied it.

Another Chaos Blast, this one directed, met him at the edge of the stream still at least twenty feet from his targets. Sonic was taken off his feet with a shout and blasted back into the snow, which began piling quickly around him. He braced himself for a follow-up, aware from the intensity of the blast that that one had certainly been defensive and not sent out generally as a beacon. But… it hadn’t hurt. Sonic pinned his ears and struggled out of the drift. Shadow didn’t send warning shots; if that was the strongest he could muster…

He was close enough now to make out the two distinct shapes ahead of him, now certain they were by what would normally be a streambank. The smaller of the two, Shadow, was on a bent knee, and though Sonic couldn’t make out which way he was facing, he could see the hedgehog was holding himself low to the ground, as though he didn’t have the energy to hold himself up against the wind. Close by, Omega was lying against the rough edge of a short cliff in the bank, facing away from the wind and thus spared from the worst of the collecting drifts. Sonic didn’t think he had ever seen the robot lying down, before; he felt cold dread to match the cold outside.

“Shads!” he shouted again, and he saw the hedgehog stir; perhaps he was close enough now to be heard? “It’s me! It’s Sonic!” He waited for acknowledgement; a shout, a wave, hell, another Chaos Blast, but none came. He swallowed thickly and tried not to wonder why Shadow’s last directed Blast had felt so weak and underpowered. Deciding to take whatever attack the hybrid put up head on, Sonic gathered his strength to push ahead.

He reached Shadow’s kneeling form faster than he anticipated, which usually meant he was closer than his own eyes led him to believe. “Shads-,” he breathed and dropped to crouch to put his hands on Shadow’s shoulders. The hybrid barely acknowledged his presences; he was shivering badly and his fur and quills were frozen stuff. Ice and frost had built up around his eyes, nose, and mouth, and his eyes were glazed and dull.

Sonic’s own eyes widened and he shook the frigid shoulders in his hands, wincing at the way ice fractured and broke off under his grip. “Shads, c’mon, give me something to work with-“

Dull eyes flicked up to meet his gaze. “¿E-eri-izo?” Shadow managed to choke through chattering teeth.

Sonic laughed despite the bone-deep ache the cold was spreading through his limbs. “Yeah! Yeah, Faker, it’s me, erizo, or whatever you keep calling me,” he quipped, grinning, though his eyes betrayed intense worry.

Shadow only grunted at the nickname and turned his head slowly towards Omega. He breathed out another grunt, as though he had tried to speak, and Sonic frowned.

“Is he.. out of power?” Sonic supplied, standing and trudging to the robot.

“C-col-old,” Shadow stuttered. “D-down”

“Powered down because he got too cold,” Sonic replied. When Shadow didn’t try to speak again, Sonic took that for being correct. He frowned and looked back to the hedgehog, who was still crouch in the snow and seemed unable, so far, to rise on his own. “We need to get back before you freeze to death out here, Shads, and before Omega… does whatever the equivalent is.”

Shadow, despite chattering teeth and shivers wracking his body taking away any of the bite it may have had, snarled and pinned his frozen ears. “Do-don’t g-get-“

Sonic snorted and crouch by him again. “Literally, man… shut the fuck up, okay? Conserve your strength. Here, this is yours, anyway.” He shed the jacket, spared himself only the briefest moment to mourn the loss of its warmth, and spread it over Shadow’s shaking shoulders.

The hybrid watched Sonic carefully a long moment before pulling his arms into the sleeves. He grunted, which Sonic imagined was as close to a ‘thanks’ as anyone could expect from Shadow, and Sonic took hold on one of his arms to pull him to his feet.

Everywhere he touched, there was ice. Sonic recalled Tails mentioning Shadow’s heat signature was the only one that could throw off heat-seeking weapons that would otherwise target Sonic; he must have been low on energy, to be so affected, then. Or perhaps it was a combination of low energy and being out in such extremes for so long; Sonic imagined he would be a walking hedge-cicle too, if he had been the one trapped out here.

“Could do with those Chaos Emeralds right about now, huh?” the blue speedster remarked, trying to lighten the dire circumstances around them. “Really missing how warm our superforms can be.”

Shadow grunted again in reply and gave a half-hearted nod before looking back to Omega. Sonic followed his gaze and nodded firmly. “I got you, no teammate left behind. Think you can walk on your own and take half his weight?”

Shadow swallowed thickly but nodded again. He trudged towards his fallen teammate, and Sonic noticed with concern that his air shoes weren’t activating. He really must be out of juice… Keeping himself and Omega going this long and sending out all those big blasts wiped him. We need to get back…

Sonic pulled the scarf more tightly around his mouth and nose, shivered, and moved to Omega’s other side. On a count, the two hedgehogs lifted the robot as much as they could and took a few painfully slow steps forward.

This was how they made progress back to the house; slowly, and with great difficulty. Sonic kept an eye on his old track as they went, so they wouldn’t get lost, and also kept an eye on Shadow, who he was worried on multiple occasions throughout the trip wouldn’t be able to take even one more step. He always did, his resolve and strength impressing Sonic more than ever, though thankfully he was too cold and anxious to feel more than admiration for the hybrid in that moment.

The drifts as they left the trees were the greatest obstacle, and Shadow, shorter than Sonic by enough that the deepest were, by now, up to his waist and some higher still, stumbled and nearly fell. Sonic swore, but Shadow caught himself and carried on, his steps flagging and his breath coming in pained gasps that Sonic could hear even over the storm.

“Li-lit-little f-farther, we’re s-so close,” Sonic stammered, teeth clacking in his jaw as the wind dug into his back and bit at his exposed arms. His feet were numb inside his shoes, and he wondered how well he would be able to run if he lost his toes to frostbite.

The safehouse was in view. Shadow seemed to catch a second wind at the sight of its warm light, and Sonic too, increased his pace. They made it to the front stoop and Sonic banged his first once against the door before Knuckles had the it open, several pairs of arms reaching out and dragging the three out of the storm.

After the frigid air outside and the snow and ice built up in his own quills, the warmth of the safehouse made Sonic’s fur feel on fire. He shivered anyway, though, his body trying to bring itself up to temperature.

Amy and Knuckles were both on him, Tails casting wary glances his way from where he had started running diagnostics on Omega. Rouge tended to Shadow; Sonic’s eyes widened. In the light of the cabin, the extent of the freeze on the hybrid was made clear. Ice and frost covered his quills, turning the usual inky black a hazy blue-gray and giving his fur an iridescence that would have been beautiful had it not been such a stark reminder of how long Shadow had been out in the storm.

“Sonic? You okay? I made some hot chocolate, you want some? It’ll help you warm up,” Amy said, her voice so close to him bringing Sonic’s attention back to his own predicament. Knuckles appeared from the kitchen with a tray of steaming mugs a moment later and set them on the coffee table between the couch and the fireplace.

Rouge helped Shadow out of his jacket, his own arms too stiff with cold to be of much use. “C’mon, both of you, follow me to the fireplace- I laid some gloves and socks out there to get warm, and we can leave your shoes to dry near it.” Shadow stumbled in the general direction of the fireplace, eyes glassy with exhaustion, and Rouge took one of his arms over her shoulder to help get steady him. Amy did the same with Sonic; though, he was less stumbling from the cold, and more stalling from watching Shadow with wide, worried eyes. He had never seen his rival like this, not since the ARK, not since the fall, not since…

He swallowed thickly and reminded himself this wasn’t like that time. Now, their feet were safely on the ground, surrounded by friends, they would be fine… Shadow would be fine.

Tails and Knuckles both took hold of Omega and hauled him towards the fireplace, too, though not too close; on Tails’ recommendation, they had decided it best to warm him slowly, so as not to shock his components.

As soon as they were at the fireplace, Shadow growled and fought out of his air shoes and socks, unwilling to be helped further. His humiliation at showing such weakness already was on full display. Sonic was slower, old rooted traditions of the taboo of uncovered hands on Mobius giving him pause. Amy and Rouge, thankfully, gave them both the minimal privacy of turning away to get blankets.

Despite the taboo of it all, despite uncovered hands only ever being shown to those of the closest nature- best friends, close family, intimate partners- Sonic couldn’t help but cut his eyes to Shadow as the hybrid tore off his sodden gloves. Sonic swallowed thickly and felt his knees wobble; oh, Shadow had claws. He wasn’t sure why that excited him, but the sight made his muzzle burn with a bright flush, and he had to turn away to see to his own clothing. He removed his sneakers and set them near the base of the fireplace to dry, then his socks. He hissed as his poor, frozen feet met with the hot air around him now, and his toes curled in pain as sensation slowly began to return to them in sharp pricks and burning sparks.

Movement beside him made him steal another glance. Shadow’s eyes were closed and his muzzle drawn in a grimace, uncovered hands held out closer to the flames, trembling; in pain or cold or both, Sonic wasn’t sure. From this angle, he could see for the first time the patterns marking the palms of Shadow’s hands. The red points that broadened as they moved down his forearms continued over his pointer and middle fingers, then split into two on his palm, with the two points they created swirling around one another gracefully over his metacarpal pad and into its center. The skin of his metacarpal and digital pads was the same tan of the fur on his muzzle, and the entire palmar surface of his hands besides was the same white as the tuft of fur on his chest, up to a point just behind his wrist and the small accessory carpal pad there. Sonic had never seen hands so… 

The word beautiful sprang to mind, and the thought made him turn away again. He couldn’t be thinking about Shadow like that; not his rival, who barely tolerated what little time they were forced to spend together… it wasn’t… it wasn’t right…

But he couldn’t shake the image. Those long, graceful claws, so clearly retractable in nature, extended out now by the tension in Shadow’s frozen muscles. Soft, thick white fur around tan, felty looking pads- the elegant swirl of red, dancing over Shadow’s palms…

Sonic shed his own gloves and quickly replaced them with the warm dry ones left out for him on the bricks. They were white with patterns of navy blue on their palms and sides a newer style he had been wanting to try out. Right now, though, he was just happy they were dry.

He slipped socks on, too, just as Rouge and Amy reappeared with blankets for them both. Amy blushed at Shadow’s uncovered hands and feet, but Rouge gave no reaction at all beyond nudging his shoulder and nodding towards his own dry pair of gloves and socks. Shadow grunted, eyes still glazed, and begrudgingly pulled the garments on.

He didn’t even care that Rouge saw… are they…? Sonic felt a stab of something like disappointment in his chest before scoffing at himself and shaking his head. No, idiot… Rouge is with Knuckles. Shadow was just raised by humans, of course he does’t care about Mobian customs… Besides, they were close friends. Rouge seeing Shadow’s hands was no stranger than Tails or Amy spotting Sonic’s, which they had certainly seen before. The blue speedster shoved the unwelcome sensation out of his mind, and crossed his arms over his chest, fighting back residual shivers that ran down his spine.

The girls passed the two frozen hedgehogs towels to dry off with, as both of them now dripped with snow and ice melt. Shadow grumbled as he passed the towel over his tufted ears, and Sonic imagined their increased height relative to a normal hedgehogs made them more susceptible to the frigid winds.

Dried, they booth accepted thick blankets and allowed themselves to be led to the couch. Sonic, recovered now, gave up worrying from a distance and helped Rouge more-or-less carry Shadow over; the hybrid was flagging fast.

“I think he expended too much energy,” Sonic explained upon seeing Rouge’s worried eyes.

Knuckles grunted. “I can usually feel Shadow’s signature from across the room… right now, I’m having trouble feeling it at all, even from here.”

Rouge let out a stilted breath. “He’s just wiped, he’ll get it back…” She cast a look to Omega and frowned. “They both will.”

“Yeah, just need some warmth and some rest, right, Shads?” Sonic breathed, his own throat tight with anxiety. Shadow managed a hoarse breath in response and nothing more.

Once settled on the couch, Amy fussed with Sonic until he shooed her and assured her he was perfectly fine and warming up nicely. Even still, she climbed up to sit beside him and pressed a warm mug of hot chocolate into his hands. It was gestures like these that, early on, the speedster had a hard time distinguishing from unashamed flirting. It was only with time, talking with Amy, and seeing her become a stammering, flustered mess around Princess Blaze, that Sonic finally understood; Amy just cared. She was just that good of a friend, and she didn’t really care how over bearing her actions could come across. She took care of her own, and no one would go without as long as Amy could do something about it.

He sighed and, despite assurances he was plenty warm already, leaned against Amy as he sipped his chocolate. Tails came and took a mug, too, and moved to sit with his back to the fire; as did Knuckles. Rouge perched on the arm of a chair nearby, between Knuckles and Shadow, after finally getting the near-catatonic hedgehog to take a mug.

After a few moments of quiet, Sonic sat up. “Hey,” he said, looking at Tails and wincing along with his brother at how rough his own voice was getting, now that he was thawing out. “Still got that playlist up?”

Tail scoffed. “Music? Right now, really?”

Sonic shrugged. “Yeah, why not? We all planned to party tonight, anyway, right? Since when has a little near death experience stopped us from doing that?” He grinned half-heartedly.

Rouge blew roughly, but nodded. Knuckles seemed to take the cue from her that she was fine with the idea, and Amy laughed quietly beside Sonic. Tails shook his head, but stood and padded to the speakers to start the music back up. Once playing, he took his seat back on the fireplace.

It was still on more background-y tracks, which Sonic could appreciate as the mood shifted in the room. He sipped his chocolate and felt the tension slowly ease from his shoulders; movement to his side proved Shadow was coming to enough to drink his own. A glance the hybrid’s way rewarded Sonic with the sight of the dark hedgehog taking a long draw of the scalding treat, eyes closed and brows drawn, both hands cupping the mug to draw out every last bit of warmth they could from the ceramic. Sonic smiled into his own mug as he took another sip.

Shads likes being warm, noted. And maybe has a thing for chocolate? He didn’t know why the mental checklist of all things Shadow felt important, but, he wanted to have one going, anyway. He knew he could never ask the hybrid himself for these facts, he would never admit to either.

So, like everything else with Shadow, it was a challenge, then. Sonic did so love a challenge.

“Anybody have any resolutions?” Amy ventured, hoping to break the anxious silence that pervaded the room.

Rouge blew roughly. “To kick Eggman’s ass hard enough he gives us at least the next six months off,” she muttered tiredly, adrenaline leaving her exhausted.

Knuckles grunted. “Seconded.”

Amy sighed. “Not… really what I was going for, but, okay. I’ll go! My resolution is to expand the bakery some more and branch out of my comfort zone. Very non-Eggman, non-work, non-current-mission-related, you see?”

Rouge and Knuckles both snorted but made no move to amend their own resolutions. Amy sighed.

Feeling bad that her attempt at getting everyone’s mind off the mess they were in was failing so spectacularly, Sonic cleared his throat. “Hey, I’ll go, I’m great at making resolutions,” he said. 

Tails scoffed and muttered a quiet, “Not so much at keeping them,” under his breath before being elbowed roughly by Knuckles.

Sonic cleared his throat and carried on as though he hadn’t heard. “Anyway,” he began, “Uh… let’s see… okay. My resolution this year is to…” He bit his lip, and though he managed to just stop himself from looking towards Shadow, the image of the dark hybrid still came to his mind, and he smiled. “To have the difficult conversations,” he said at length. “The ones that I’ve been putting off way too long, but are probably the most important of my whole life.”

The others blinked at him, and even Shadow was conscious enough to give him a light scowl.

Amy cleared her throat. “That’s great, Sonic!” she mused, then looked to Tails desperately.

After the fox took a moment to stare back, blinking owlishly, he finally said, “Oh, uh, I want to… build an even better, more upgraded version of the Tornado. Always improvements to be made, you know?”

Amy smiled and nodded her thanks at Tails for the completely normal answer.

A sigh to his left brought Sonic’s attention back to Shadow, who had leaned his head back against the back of the couch and closed his eyes, his body sunk into the blanket he had cocooned himself within. He would have thought the hybrid had fallen asleep if not for the careful grip he kept on the mug in his lap, hands still wrapped around it to soak up its warmth.

By the fireplace, a soft whirring alerted the house to Omega’s waking. The robot’s eyes lit ominously for a moment, but Rouge called softly, “Hey, Omega, you’re safe inside, alright? Threat level zero right now.”

The robot whirred softly. “Acknowledged,” he mused in a quiet monotone, and though he thought he must be going insane, Sonic could convince himself the machine sounded tired. “Team status?”

“Accounted for,” Rouge sighed, relieved.

“Fucking cold,” Shadow added, voice raspy and weak. His eyes were still closed and he sank further into the blanket around him. Sonic could not deny the relief he felt at hearing the hybrid finally speak.

Omega whirred again, and it nearly sounded like he was relieved, too. “We must deal with the Eggman threat once the storm lifts; it would be inconvenient to face him without either of you.”

Rouge smiled, and Shadow snorted in his not-sleep. “We love you too, Omega,” Rouge mused quietly.

Tails yawned, and Amy followed soon after. “I think we should all get some rest… Normally I’d want to stay up till the New Year, but, I don’t think I’m gonna make it this time,” the fox sighed. “How are we splitting rooms?”

“I can bunk with Shadow,” Rouge said. “Wouldn’t be the first time; plus, someone needs to keep an eye on him, tonight.”

“M’fine,” Shadow muttered, voice barely more than a croak. “Also, not moving. Sleeping here.”

Knuckles, who had started to look stormy, smoothed his features as Rouge looked to him. “In that case…?”

“Ew, ew, ew-,” Tails began, until Knuckles smacked his leg without looking.

Amy laughed. “Okay, so, that leaves two more bedrooms,” she began. “Tails, you want me, or Omega?”

“What about Sonic?” Tails asked, looking to his older brother.

Sonic grunted. “I’ll sleep out here. Kinda with Shads on this one; it’s too warm out here by the fire to move.”

Amy grinned. “Figured you say that,” she said. “Such a cat.”

“Hedgehog!” Sonic corrected with mock indignation.

Amy laughed, and out of the corner of his eye, Sonic thought Shadow looked annoyed. More so that usual, even when pretending to be dozing. He tried not to read into it.

“I guess I’ll sleep in the room Omega’s staying in,” Tails said, though he seemed wary. Sonic didn’t blame him. “In case he needs anything overnight.”

Omega whirred. “My systems are adequate, fox,” he assured. “But… my thanks; you are not so bad, for a meatbag.”

Tails blinked. “Uh… thank you?”

Instead of replying, Omega simply stood and made his way out of the living room and down the hall towards one of the three bedrooms. Tails grunted and stood to follow, grabbing his bag as he went and waving to the others in the room.

Amy wasn’t fair behind, and then even Knuckles and Rouge slipped after them down the hall. Left alone now with Shadow, Sonic felt a sudden weight settle over his chest. The difficult discussions… time to make good…

He looked to the hybrid. Shadow was still holding the mug in his lap, though his head now had fallen so his chin rested on his chest. Sonic imagined that would lead to the Ultimate Lifeform having the Ultimate crick in his neck, but waking him if he was truly asleep seemed like a bad idea.

“…Stop staring at me, erizo, I’m not about to keel over,” Shadow muttered, voice still painfully hoarse. Sonic pinned his ears as Shadow opened one bleary eye and fixed him with as stern a glare as the exhausted hybrid could manage.

Sonic blew roughly. “Didn’t think you were, just wondering how much that hot chocolate scald was gonna hurt when you actually fall asleep and spill it all over your lap.”

Shadow grunted and leaned forward to set the mug on the coffee table. “Fine. Better, now?”

Sonic blinked. That hadn’t been why he was watching Shadow, but… the hedgehog had, listened? “Uh… sure. So, say, since you’re up and all-“

Shadow growled, and Sonic was reminded, once again, the hybrid was raised in a lab by humans who probably alternated between treating him like a person and treating him like a semi-feral lab animal. Must have led to a confusing upbringing, and also probably why Shadow tended to resort to snarling and growling and, on occasion more common than most, biting. “I’m not up. Don’t consider this up. I’m tired- yes, erizo, tired- I don’t have energy for inane babble. Goodnight.” Shadow turned over, pulling the blanket up and over his quills as he curled against the back of the couch.

Sonic was left with his finger up and his mouth open, a remark on his tongue about Shadow ‘not getting tired’, which of course the dark hedgehog had headed off immediately. And with that nickname again, and the barest hint of an accent coloring his words. He really must be tired, then.

“Too tired for something to eat? I don’t know about your Chaos energy, Shads, but, mine needs fueling when the tanks low.” He kicked off his blanket, suppressed a shiver at the temperature difference without it, and stood in front of the couch staring at Shadow expectantly.

Shadow looked back over his shoulder, peering out from a small gap in the blanket. Sonic bit back a remark of how cute the scene appeared, knowing it would earn him a solid kick to the chest. “… Fine. Is there anything here that isn’t older than me, though?”

Sonic snorted. “Low bar, grandpa,” he teased. Shadow liked to hold the fifty years spent in stasis up as though they actually contributed anything meaningful to his age. Sonic thought that was bullshit, personally, and so considered Shadow around his own age, if maybe just a year or so younger. “I’ll go check. Don’t fall asleep on me?”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Shadow growled, though as Sonic turned towards the kitchen, he noted with satisfaction the hybrid pushing the blanket off his head and shoulders and sitting back up straight on the couch.

There wasn’t much in the kitchen, if he was honest. The hot chocolate packets, some packs of crackers and a few pre-packaged pastries… And the booze, of course, that Sonic had stashed earlier. He took the flask from its hiding place and grinned; after a second thought, he also grabbed the pastries and the bag of coffee beans from the cabinets, as Rouge had told him once the hybrid did like eating the beans by themselves, sometimes.

When he reappeared with the not-quite-bounty in his arms and deposited it on the coffee table, Shadow snorted. “Dinner of champions,” he droned.

“Hush, it’s calories, which is what we both need right now,” Sonic replied, tossing a plastic-wrapped honey-bun at Shadow.

Shadow glared at the pastry as though it had personally offended him before sighing and tearing open the plastic. He sank his fangs into the sugary bun without hesitation, and the way his scowl almost softened confirmed Sonic's suspicion enough to have the speedster grinning as he went back to his seat with his own snack in hand. Ultimate Lifeform definitely has a sweet-tooth, duly noted.

Sonic was less enthused about eating the pastry, but, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And as he said before; calories, which his body needed to replace all the energy he had burned just staving off hypothermia while out in the storm. 

As Shadow finished off the last of his own bun in a few neat bites, Sonic pointed towards the table with his toe. “More? Grabbed another one, and there’s crackers in there, too.”

Shadow snorted. “No, m’fine.” He seemed to almost hesitate, though, and Sonic couldn’t hide the small smirk that he definitely right about the sweet-tooth thing. Then the hybrid squinted at the sight of the flask on the table. “What is… that? You drink?”

Sonic finished his own bun and tried not to shudder at the saccharine sugary residue it left behind on his tongue. “Oh, heh, sometimes, sure. But that’s not for me,” he said. When Shadow gave him an odd look, he quickly added, “Uh, Vector, he.. gave it to me, but, it’s pretty strong stuff, way stronger than I usually have, so, I figured you might wanna try it…? They say it warms you up, ya know?”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Myth and misunderstanding. Alcohol causes peripheral vasodilation, leading to a warming feeling of blood returning to the extremities while heat is shunted away from the core and vital organs. It isn’t warming you, it’s making you feel warm even as your core temperature is dropping.”

Sonic blinked, but before Shadow could repeat any of what he said, the blue hedgehog said, “Blah blah, you’re super smart, I get it, but, we got a fire and blankets to keep our cores toasty, right? If anything, sounds like that,” he motioned to the flask, “is the cure-all to stopping you from losing fingers and toes to the frostbite, am I wrong?”

Shadow narrowed his eyes and snorted, but when Sonic leaned over to take the flask and pass it to him, he didn’t reject it. He unscrewed the cap and threw back a mouthful- even from a distance set by the length of the couch, Sonic could smell the strength of the alcohol inside burning his nose- how Shadow didn’t even wrinkle his own nose at it was far beyond the blue speedster.

Shadow let the flask back down, took a breath, seemed to consider his decisions carefully, then lifted it to his lips again for another long draw. He screwed the cap back on and set it on the coffee table with a grunt. “Well,” he rasped, “Can’t say Vector’s got good taste, but, that will… certainly do the job, won’t it?” He already sounded looser, and Sonic swore he could see some of the tension melt from his shoulders.

Sonic snorted. “‘Do the job’?” he questioned. “You mean get even you, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform, absolutely knocked on your ass? I dunno, probably.”

Shadow scowled at him, but it had little bite. “Tch, Nothing knocks me on my ass, erizo,” he chided with a click of his tongue. “No te hagas el tonto.”

Sonic tilted his head. “You either slurred the hell outta that, or that was another language.”

“Don’t be dumb, s’what I said.” Definitely slurring.

“Ah. Noted. Direct translation?”

“Nah, dumbed down, special f’you.”

Sonic laughed, and then laughed harder the at the self-pleased little smirk that Shadow gave. He thought to his plan, to the difficult conversation he needed to have with the hedgehog… he had hoped the alcohol would loosen Shadow up just enough to make him open to a conversation without shutting down immediately, but, now, Sonic was more interested in poking and having fun. A Shadow who would make playful jabs at him and then smile about his own cleverness was something new and enticing, and Sonic wanted keep the train rolling as long as possible.

“How long you think your buzz is gonna last?”

Shadow clicked his tongue again. “M’not buzzed, what’d I say? Dumb.” His eyes were hazy as he looked Sonic over.

“Liar.”

“You try it, then.”

“Me?!” Sonic replied, with little grace and nearly choking. He pinned his ears and looked startled, and Shadow smirked. “Shads, that stuff was burning my nose from here, it smelled like lab-grade ethanol.”

“Mm, I’ve had that before, don’t recommend it.”

Sonic snorted with incredulity and shook his head. “I’m not drinking that, I think it’ll burn through me like battery acid or something.”

“Battery acid- now that, surprisingly, not that bad…” Shadow tilted his head, as though in thought. 

Sonic snorted again. “You have not- okay, no, you know what? Fine, you’re on, then- you took, what, two swigs of the stuff? Two shots worth? Cool, cool, coolcoolcool, I can do that, no problem, I’ve had worse-,” the blue hedgehog babbled, ears still pinned. This was not the plan, this was certainly not the plan; and yet, he couldn’t stop himself as he reached for the flask to unscrew the cap and bring it to his lips.

Shadow was watching him with interest, and it made Sonic’s pelt itch and burn. His crimson eyes were almost sultry, sinfully so, and it sparked a dangerous feeling curling in Sonic’s belly. He closed his eyes and took back a shot of the liquor, holding his breath as he did.

It burned. Like hell, it burned, all the way down to his stomach, and for the briefest moment, he considered he might have just made a horrible mistake. But upon opening his eyes and seeing Shadow’s light with interest, he couldn’t stop himself taking another, longer shot. He took pride in not even sputtering as he let the flask back down and grinned at Shadow.

Shadow’s eyes had widened a bit, but he collected himself and smirked. “Fine, even score.”

“Hmm, nah, nah, I don’t think so. Your turn,” Sonic said, grinning, and pressing the open flask towards the hybrid. The world was already taking on a hazy appearance, and he felt odd and floaty all the way to his toes.

Shadow clicked again, a sound Sonic’s quickly deteriorating mind wanted to kiss off his stupid fucking lips (a last vestige of sobriety recoiled at the passion behind the impulse, that was something worth unpacking later-) and took the flask. He narrowed his gaze at Sonic and didn’t break eye contact as he took two more shots in quick succession. After only a moment’s hesitation, perhaps the last bit of his own sober brain begging him to reconsider, he took another draw; this one long, almost languid, and Sonic watched with pupils blown as his Adam’s apple bobbed with each swallow.

Shadow sighed as he pulled the flask away, catching an errant drop from the corner of his mouth on the back of his gloved hand, lips parted for a moment to catch his breath. His eyes were definitely hooded, now, as he passed the flask to Sonic again. “Last round, all your’s, erizo-,” he purred.

Sonic blew softly and took the flask, face flushed and muzzle coloring. “What is that you keep calling me?” he asked, voice thick in his own ears as he lifted the flask. There was enough left for Sonic to take at least two more shots, and he was inwardly very grateful not to be forced to recreate the long gulp Shadow had taken. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t simply pass out, if he tried. He took them down as quickly as he could, and shook the flask to prove it was empty to Shadow.

The hybrid smirked and nodded approval before replying. “Erizo. Jus’ means hedgehog,” he replied, words thick in his mouth. Sonic blinked and wondered if Shadow’s mouth tasted of the burning alcohol in the flask, or of the sweet, sticky, sugary bun he had eaten before. He was no longer sober enough to think this a dangerous thought.

Shadow watched him carefully, eyes a bit glassy now, but no less locked onto his rival across from him. Sonic hummed. “… Sorry. Right, hedgehog, yeah. Promise I was payin’ attention, honest…”

“No estabas…,” the hybrid muttered, head tilted, surveying the hedgehog before him with predatory interest.

Sonic swallowed thickly. “S’not fair, using language like that I can’t understand, you know? Could be sayin’ all kinds of stuff to me and I can’t even make a good comeback for it…” He was turned sideways now, blanket falling loosely down about his shoulders and exposing his chest,  the top of his heart-shaped pattern of short peach fur almost mimicking a sweetheart neckline. He had hated that, growing up, how damn feminine it made him look- but now, watching Shadow’s eyes trail hungrily over his chest and down his body, he puffed it out to make it all the more prominent.

Shadow’s pupils blew wide. “Eres demasiado, maldito tonto…“ Before Sonic could question what he had said, the hybrid was across the couch, blanket falling down his back. Sonic had exactly one-quarter of a second to react, Shadow eyes searching his briefly, the hybrid’s nose bumping his, before he was being pressed, forced onto his back by firm, insistent hands against his shoulders- and Shadow’s lips agains his own.

Sonic’s brow furrowed, and as soon as he enough wherewithal to understand what was happening, he pressed back with fervor, arms around Shadow instantly, drawing him closer, pressing their bodies together. Shadow growled into their kiss and it intensified, the hybrid licking into Sonic’s mouth, fangs clacking roughly against Sonic’s teeth. Alcohol, Sonic thought of the taste of Shadow’s mouth. But sweet. 

Shadow slotted a leg between Sonic’s thighs, his own rubbing friction in dangerous places, and Sonic moaned, in his inebriation not bothering to keep himself quiet. For his trouble, Shadow growled at him somewhere deep in his chest, the sound vibrating through Shadow’s bones and into Sonic’s. He deepened their kiss, exploring every inch of Sonic’s mouth, clumsy but domineering- he was in control, and Sonic, for the time at least, was more than happy to follow his lead.

Shadow’s grip on his shoulders tightened, and he felt those elegant claws he had so admired earlier extending, threatening to tear the fabric of Shadow’s gloves. The hybrid growled again in irritation, and pulled away, their lips parting with a sinful pop and trailing saliva following the sloppy parting. Sonic, looking thoroughly debauched already on his back, whined at the loss and lifted himself to chase Shadow’s lips again.

“Wait,” Shadow hissed, and bit his right glove to pull it off his hand. Sonic’s eyes widened, and the green of his irises was nearly all consumed by blown pupils. He felt a mutinous twitch between his legs, one he knew by Shadow’s smirk the hybrid had felt, too. It didn’t matter. Sonic tracked Shadow’s other hand now as he brought up the left to do the same, pulling it free with his teeth, revealing those hands-

Those hands. Sonic could have written ballads about those hands, would go to war over those hands- And suddenly, they were on him, pinning him back to the couch, Shadow over him as a predator over their kill, mouth on his again. 

Sonic’s hips bucked, hard, against his will, colliding with Shadow’s thigh, Sonic’s own leg pressed hard into Shadow’s crotch. The hybrid broke their their kiss again to moan.

The sound triggered something in Sonic, and he nearly snarled. Oh, he had to hear that again- the image of Shadow, absolutely flushed and squirming, coming apart at the seems, moaning and writhing beneath him, raced through his mind. The hybrid seemed to spot the intent across his rival’s face only a second too late, but even as Sonic reversed their positions, all but grappling Shadow to get him on his back, he swore he could see excitement in the way the dark hedgehog’s eyes widened. 

Sonic whined impatiently at the sight beneath him. Shadow’s quills haloed around him in a glorious mane of chaos, deep abyssal black mixing with strikes of bright crimson. His pupils were blown wide with arousal, ruby-red irises nothing but thin rims around pools of inky black. Sonic drank in the sight of him; until those eyes narrowed, and Shadow rolled his hips into Sonic’s, drawing a strained gasp from his partner.

“Get on with it,” the hybrid ordered, breath a staccato pant.

Sonic growled and pinned Shadow’s wrists above his head, his eyes looking back over those glorious, beautiful palms, tracing a finger languidly over the swirled pattern in Shadow’s metacarpal pad. The hybrid snarled beneath him, impatient, but his breathing quickened as Sonic trailed a short, clipped claw over sensitive, felty skin. He shivered, and Sonic smirked.

“Someone has sensitive hands, I see~”

“Taking your time, erizo, and here I thought you were the fastest thing alive-“

Sonic growled again, one hand pinning Shadow’s wrists, the other buried in the fluff of his chest, pinning him there, too, and stopping him from getting much leverage for bucking his hips as he had been trying to do.  The display froze Shadow, eyes wide and tan muzzle flushing darkly. Sonic leaned down, mouth by Shadow’s ear.

“You always this mouthy when someone’s about to fuck you senseless?”

Shadow’s breath left him all the sudden in a whoosh. “Only when they take too damn long,” he snarked, recovering quickly and turning to growl in Sonic’s face. When Sonic didn’t respond the way Shadow wanted, he nipped sharply at Sonic’s jaw.

The pain only added to the building cascade of electricity racing down Sonic’s spine. He let go of Shadow’s wrists in favor of grabbing around the hybrid’s jaw in a vice grip, turning up his face and crashing their lips together once more, kiss bruising and electric all at the same time. Shadow’s hands, released from Sonic’s containment, found purchase on Sonic’s shoulder and his collar, claws curling against his fur before tearing away again to wrap around his back, gripping his quills harshly.

Sonic gasped at the pain bur arched into it, Shadow’s claws digging deeper into his back and scoring his skin. The hybrid snarled into their kiss, and Sonic rutted against him desperately, his arousal overwhelming. Shadow’s grip tightened and the hybrid began rutting in sync with Sonic, arching his back and thrusting hard against his partner. They were both losing their control, panting and moaning- Sonic buried his nose in the crook of Shadow’s neck to stifle a low groan.

“Nngh…. Shadow-,” Sonic choked, breath blasting across Shadow’s neck. Somewhere, some part of his brain told him this was a horrible idea. Unfortunately for that part of his brain, Sonic was still far too drunk to give a shit, in the moment.

Shadow threw his head back and loosed a frustrated groan. “Maldito seas, erizo- get inside me, already-,” he snarled, voice strained and distant, nearly pitched to a whine. Sonic’s arms snaked around his waist as they thrust into one another, lifting the dark hybrid from the couch. He pulled Shadow’s back into a high arch, marveling at his partner’s flexibility.

“Heh… so impatient-,” Sonic began to tease, breathless and shivering in anticipation.

Shadow’s legs closed around his hips in a vice, ankles hooking behind him. Shadow growled deeply, “Yes, I am-“

Sonic bit back a cry as Shadow’s pace picked up, the hybrid’s strong legs locking them in tight concert. He could feel himself growing painfully hard in his pouch; he was shocked he was still able to hold it in, in fact. As Shadow squeezed his legs around Sonic once more, though, he couldn’t help himself, and now with nothing between him and Shadow, the pleasure spiking from the friction of rutting against one another spiked a hundred-fold

Shadow was a panting mess beneath him, whining under his breath, and Sonic felt his quills bristling with every thrust. He snarled and nipped at Shadow’s neck, then his collar, his shoulder, drawing gasps from the hybrid and making his pace falter and hitch. “Want me? Tell me about it then~“

Shadow swore something under his breath Sonic either couldn’t hear or couldn’t quite understand. “Put your fucking dick in me before I rip it off with my teeth,” he snarled finally, ears pinning and real anger mixing with the lust pooled in his eyes.

The threat invigorated Sonic, somehow, and he laughed breathlessly. Shadow threw his head back and loosened his legs, trembling beneath his partner. Sonic moved to reach down and touch Shadow, slip him free of his own pouch, open him up, but found his own gloves still covering his hands. Without a second thought, he took them off, ripping them free with his teeth and revealing soft, peach-furred hands with felty coral pads.

Shadow moaned as Sonic palmed the bulge between his legs. Shadow was certainly well endowed, and Sonic’s mind raced with possibilities of what they could do to one another. After a brief moment of reverent exploration went on too long for the hybrid’s liking, Shadow shoved his partner’s hand impatiently to a slit that got all sorts of terrible, disgusting thoughts running through Sonic’s horny mind. A consequence of his Black Arms heritage, perhaps? Sonic was in no position to consider the thought much beyond oh fuck yes- 

He slipped two fingers in, careful not to press too hard with his claws, and Shadow’s face contorted. He tightened around Sonic’s fingers, pulling back an arm to cover his own face as he moaned obscenities. Sonic slowed his pace to marvel at the sight of the hybrid unraveling beneath him- so put together, usually, stoic and brooding, but now he writhed as a third finger slipped in to join the rest. Sonic moved in and out of him, his own hips twitching unconsciously at the prospect of being inside his greatest rival, filling him up, feeling Shadow clamp down around him and milk him dry-

Would Shadow scream? Would he scream Sonic’s name? The thought made Sonic’s hip buck into the empty air.

“N-now, now- nngh-,” Shadow panted, snarl gone and voice desperate. He was pleading, and oh, Sonic was not a strong enough man to withstand that for very long. He withdrew his fingers, coated in slick, and the hybrid whined at the loss; but he wasn’t without for long. Sonic was in him in the next breath, his own breath hitching at how unbelievably tight Shadow was around him.

He had the wherewithal to move slowly, in case Shadow wasn’t ready to take all of him quite yet, but the hybrid let out a growling whine and tightened his legs around Sonic again. Sonic bit his lip to stop from shouting as he was abruptly buried in Shadow, the hybrid setting a grueling pace, Sonic at his mercy with those firm, powerful legs in a vice around his hips.

“So- so tight, baby-,” Sonic panted, nonsense spilling from his mouth.

Shadow hissed, head thrown back. “Shut up-“ 

Sonic’s mind became hazy, the world reducing to the sounds of his and Shadow’s moans and pants, that of their bodies sliding against one another, and the creak of the couch as they moved. Sonic could feel himself nearing climax; from the way Shadow was pressing his quills back into the cushions, eyes nearly rolling back into his own head at every thrust, he imagined his partner wasn’t far behind, either.

Well, just to be certain…

Sonic, one arm holding Shadow up behind his waist, reached down with his other to take hold of the hybrid. Shadow’s eyes widened and his mouth opened in a soundless gasp as Sonic began stroking his length in time to their thrusts.

“Sonic-,” the hybrid moaned, strained and choked, and Sonic’s pupils blew wide at the sound of his name coming from those lips, in that tone-

“Again-,” Sonic growled, voice dropping low, something primal taking over him for a moment. He thrust harder into Shadow and gripped him tighter.

“Sonic!”

Shadow's head threw back and his mouth gaped as he peaked, clamping down hard around his partner as electricity raced up his spine. A moan built up in his chest, and Sonic barely reacted in time to cover his mouth before the hybrid could loose a scream that would surely wake the rest of the house. Shadow was a vision beneath him, eyes rolled back, whole body shaking. 

The sight was too much, and the sudden pressure around his length- Sonic came with a strangled cry, burying his nose once more in Shadow’s neck to stifle his own voice. His hips gave a final few valiant bucks, chasing the last dregs of pleasure as sparks danced across his vision. He bit down gently on Shadow’s trembling shoulder, barely enough even to be felt. 

A rosy afterglow settled heavily in Sonic’s bones as he lay panting on top of his partner, completely spent. He kept his face in Shadow’s neck, and the hybrid seemed content enough to let him.

“…Wow,” he breathed softly.

Shadow blew above him and grunted in what Sonic was going to take as agreement. He shifted his legs, and Sonic slipped free of him, limp now, to recede once more. Sonic made no move, himself, and continued chasing Shadow’s scent by his neck.

“…We gonna talk about this, tomorrow?” Sonic asked quietly, speech slow and breathy. His eyes felt heavy.

Shadow blew again. “Get the feeling I won’t be able to stop you,” he muttered. He shifted again, this time to settle further into the cushions, and Sonic heard him make a noise of discomfort at the amount of sticky and wet that was currently between and all around his legs.

Sonic hummed and pressed a kiss to his neck. “Hold on, be right back-“

He stood, and for the sake of Shadow’s dignity and his own continued living without feeling the hybrid’s foot up his ass, Sonic chose not to acknowledge the small whine at his loss Shadow gave.

He found the towels by the now slowly dying fire and carried them back to the couch. He had to pause to appreciate the scene before him, though; Shadow, draped languidly over the cushions, one gloveless hand resting on his chest and the other hanging from the edge. The hybrid’s head had turned to watch him, pillowed by Sonic’s discarded blanket, hooded crimson eyes trained to his azure rival-turned-bed-partner.

Sonic swallowed thickly, and Shadow raised a brow at him. The blue hedgehog blinked and finally moved back to the couch. He settled on his knees around Shadow’s legs. He brought the soft towel up to wipe gently at the slick coating the inside of the hybrid’s thighs, then carefully over his crotch. He looked up to see Shadow’s muzzle darken with a flush at the light palming and heard the hybrid stifle a quiet moan. Sonic smiled.

“If you want a round two, it’s gonna be a little bit… think the alcohol’s slowing my recovery down, tonight.” He could feel the beginnings of a bulge already forming under his hand, and he had to marvel at Shadow’s apparent appetite. Likes to be warm, sweet-tooth… ravenous in bed. Check, check, and check-

Shadow grunted. “Unsurprising,” he murmured, an attempt at gruffness that was cut by how his eyes closed contently at Sonic’s continued cleaning. 

“Hey, let’s do this again when I’m not drunk off my ass, alright? I promise, I can go all night for you,if you can keep up,” the hedgehog assured softly. Sonic wiped carefully at Shadow’s abdomen, and, feeling emboldened by how much the hybrid had already let him do and feeling a soft sort of instinct kick in after such a thorough debauching, he set the towel aside and instead leaned his face in closer.

Shadow opened his eyes a bit to watch the blue hedgehog carefully, ears back, uncertain of what he was doing- until he felt Sonic’s tongue against the fur on the inside of his thighs. “What are you…?”

Sonic hummed, and the hum mounted to a soft, chittering purr. Shadow swallowed and set his head back down, eyes closing as he accepted the gentle grooming. It was… not overtly sexual, somehow. It was tender, the normally act-first-think-third hedgehog taking his time as he groomed his partner, laps short and gentle. Sonic was careful over the sensitive bulge still between his partner’s legs, though it was softening and receding now as Shadow’s body reacted to the tender aftercare. He pressed firmly, lapping away slowly the salty mess they’d left behind, then moved back over the fur in the opposite direction to help it it dry. Sonic’s purring continued as he cleaned, moving up to Shadow’s stomach to clean what the hybrid had spilled there, too, and even continued slowly up Shadow’s chest. There was no mess here; but, as Sonic settled back into his place against Shadow’s side, tucked between the hybrid and the back of the couch, he continued the slow, soft laps even by Shadow’s jaw.

He kept it up for a few minutes longer, until he felt Shadow’s arm slip quietly around him, pulling him closer. He paused his ministrations, eyes feeling heavy once more, and reached back to pull a blanket down around them. His purring softened, but did not quiet completely. He made a few more short, gentle laps with the tip pf his tongue against the course fur at the edge of Shadow’s jaw before giving up the grooming and settling against the hybrid with a contented sigh.

A moment later, his own fading purr was joined by quiet, growling clicks from deep within the hybrid’s chest. Sonic was nearly asleep, and struggled for a moment to understand where the noise was coming from, until it dawned on him.

A soft smile spread slowly over his face and he cuddled further into his partner’s side, eyes closing and hand coming to rest on the soft white fluff on the dark hedgehog’s chest. Yes, it was certain, he could feel the vibrations with each breath; Shadow the Hedgehog was purring.

—- —- —- —- —-

The first thing Sonic became aware of was gentle music still playing from the speakers. Damn, my phone’s charge is impressive…

The next thing was twofold: the sound of soft breathing somewhere above his head, and the fact that his pillow was exceptionally warm and fluffy for, well, a pillow. He blinked, bleary eyed, and sharp pang in the back of his skull reminded him to never to trust alcohol from Vector ever again.

He lifted his head where it had been pressed against the white, fluffy fur of Shadow’s chest. And blinked again. Shadow. Images of the night before, of the hybrid writhing and moaning beneath him, of Shadow’s legs twisting around his hips, of taste of the dark hedgehog’s mouth and the feel of being in his-

Sonic’s breath escaped him forcefully. Oh, he and Shadow had fucked, last night. Him. And Shadow. A trill ran down his spine and his mouth dried. Or, maybe it was already dry, what with all the alcohol…

Shadow groaned hoarsely in his sleep, brow furrowing for a moment before he woke with a tired sigh. He shifted, froze, and then slowly looked down. Ruby eyes met wide emerald, and Shadow’s muzzle flushed darkly. He groaned again and covered his face with his arms, head thrown back against the arm of the couch.

“Hey, mornin’ to you, too,” Sonic snorted. He set his chin on the patch of soft white beneath him and considered the hybrid. If he had wanted Sonic off him, he was more than capable of removing him… so, why hadn’t he?

“I’m never drinking again,” Shadow muttered, voice muffled by his arms.

Sonic grinned. “Heh, yeah, me neither. Good think neither of us made any ‘no more lying’ resolutions last night, huh?”

Shadow moved an arm to glare with one eye down at his rival. His bed partner. Rival-with-benefits…? He growled. “Shut up.”

“Intelligent.”

“My head hurts, I don’t have the energy to insult you properly.” He moved his arms and instead covered his face with his hands, rubbing at his head and eyes.

“Aww, you mean Ultimate Lifeforms can get Ultimate Hangovers?” Sonic tail wagged under the blanket, heart racing a bit in his chest. He felt unsettled and uncertain; sex hadn’t exactly been when he’d had in mind when he wanted to have the ‘difficult conversations’, last night. And, besides- his minor obsession had, apparently, at some point turned over into something rather more… well, more, and he hadn’t yet had time to come to terms with that.

Shadow groaned again. Sonic’s smile softened and he splayed a hand over Shadow’s chest, rubbing soothingly. “Hey… think Amy’s got some headache meds in her bag, want me to go get you something?”

Shadow’s scowl softened under his hands, though it did not abate completely. “…Why would you do that?”

Sonic pushed himself up, drawing a grunt from Shadow as pressure was applied for a moment against his chest. Sonic shifted to relieve the pressure and frowned at the hybrid. “What d’ya mean, ‘why’?” he began, brow furrowed. “You have a headache, don’t ya?”

Shadow pushed himself up so he was leaning against the arm of the couch, moving his hands as he considered Sonic with a gaze that was equal parts confused and irritated. “I don’t need your care,” he said simply. “You got what you wanted for the night, didn’t you? You can stop the tender act, erizo.”

Sonic’s eyes widened, then narrowed in a glare. “Act? I’m sorry, what? You think I’m-? Shads, the fuck, man, c’mon…” Sonic sat up and shook his head in disbelief. “First of all, that was not the plan, on my end. Just so you know. I wanted to- I don’t know, talk to you, but, getting my bones jumped was not on my bingo card, last night. Besides, if I recall, you’re the one who launched yourself at me to kick us off- am I wrong?”

Shadow looked appalled and turned with a dismissive click of his tongue. “… Was drunk, obviously. Let’s just… put this behind us.” The hybrid sank back down with another groan, covering his face again.

Sonic’s ears pinned. Something about the finality of put this behind us left a cold pit in his stomach. Behind them, as in, never again? He had only just realized his feelings for Shadow, he wasn’t about to let the other hedgehog slip away without a fight-

“Hey, Shads…,” he began softly, reaching out. 

Shadow dropped his hands back into his lap and peered up at Sonic, head still lowered in discomfort. Something painful flashed through his eyes, and Sonic chalked it up to the headache.

The blue hedgehog took a slow breath. “I… damn, I’m sorry, I’m… I’ve done this all ass-backwards, haven’t I?” He spared the hybrid a sheepish grin. “The.. hard discussion, i wanted to have, it… it was with you. Last night. I was hoping the alcohol would soften us both up and make talking easier, but, instead it… just lowered inhibitions a little too much, I think. But what I wanted to say was, I- I think I like you, Shads. No, wait, I do like you-“

Shadow’s tufted ears pinned slowly as Sonic rambled, lips parted. For once, he wasn’t scowling (well, maybe he was a little, it was still Shadow, after all), and his crimson eyes searched every inch of Sonic’s face for evidence of treachery. “… Sonic. If this is one of your stupid, elaborate jokes-“

Sonic was struck for a moment, and he shook his head hard enough for his quills to wave behind him. “No, no! No jokes, I promise,” he said, voice growing soft, as did his eyes. “I… had fun, last night. Not just the sex, I mean, don’t get me wrong, that was a highlight, of my life, actually- but, the… talking, too. Joking around with you. Not hitting each other, for once… And after what could have happened yesterday…”

Shadow blew. “I was fine.”

Sonic’s face became stormy, and it was his turn to scowl, now. Shadow almost looked impressed, at least enough to stop talking. “You were freezing solid,” Sonic growled. “Admitting it doesn’t make you weak. You lasted longer out there than most would- hell, longer than a literal indestructible robot, Shads.” Sonic reached out and pressed a hand into Shadow’s chest again. The hybrid watched him carefully, but he didn’t move or shove the hand away, so Sonic felt emboldened to shift closer.

When he looked up again, Shadow was met Sonic’s face much closer than the moment before. Their noses brushed, he was so close now, and the hybrid seemed to have trouble focusing on much else besides Sonic’s lips so near his own.

“…I’m not asking you let me in right now, Shads,” Sonic continued softly. “I know that stuff’s hard for you, alright? Just… think about it?”

Shadow’s eyes flicked briefly to Sonic’s and he swallowed. “I… alright. Fine.”

Sonic smiled and moved to sit back, but Shadow’s hand grabbed a hold of his arm before he could and held him in place. He looked up and searched the hybrid’s gaze, finding yet more uncertainty there. Then, Shadow tugged him closer and closed the gap between them.

It was nothing like the kiss last night, sloppy and full of clacking teeth and saliva and wresting tongues. This one was… soft, hesitant. Like Shadow was trying something out for the first time, and Sonic felt a happy buzz zip through him. His tail wagged furiously behind him despite his best efforts to hold it still, and he kissed back firmly, ears folded.

Shadow, as last night, was the first to break their embrace. He pulled back, only a hair, and once against searched Sonic’s gaze for proof this was, after all, just a trick. A joke. Some cruel, elaborate prank-

Finding nothing, the hybrid scowled and released his rival (friend? partner?). Sonic was still grinning, even as he finally stood from the couch, Shadow following him up. He kept grinning even when others began trickling into the room, Tails refusing to make eye contact with him or the dark hybrid (and also refusing to sit on the couch, looking mildly ill when Amy tried to get him to). He even kept grinning long after everyone realized the storm had passed over night, and they were clear to resume their chase.

He didn’t stop grinning until they were outside, Tails firing up the Tornado for Amy, Knuckles, and Sonic to hop on, Team Dark opting to take the land route and fan over the terrain. He only stopped then because, while the rest of their teams were busy game planning, Shadow pulled him behind the cabin and pressed against the rough outer wall. The grin was kissed away in a middle of the road between the hesitant meeting of lips that morning and the desperate make-out of the night before; something heavy, with the promise of more underneath, but not desperate. When he drew back, breathless, Sonic’s grin had softened to a besotted smile, eyes hooded.

“…Not a joke?” Shadow asked, voice soft, eyes still searching, one more time, for a hint this was all some dream he was about to wake up from.

Sonic stepped from the wall and wrapped his arms around Shadow’s shoulders. “Not a joke,” he assured quietly.

Shadow closed his eyes, and Sonic set his forehead against his partner’s almost reverently.

“… See you when we find Eggman?”

Shadow growled, low in his chest, and the challenge ignited the flame in Sonic’s belly again. “When we find him, I’m putting him out of commission for the next several years. Because this?” His hands found their way to Sonic’s waist, and pulled the speedster roughly against him. Sonic gasped at the rough handling but found his smile growing again, tail a blue blur behind him. 

Shadow leaned in, crimson eyes igniting in the early morning light. “This is something I plan to explore at length, and with as few interruptions as possible…” He snarled through gritted teeth, ears shoved forward, chest out.

Sonic laughed breathlessly and swept in to steal a kiss off Shadow’s lips, paying him back for the ones he had already taken before. Pulling away a moment later, and relishing in the way Shadow chased him for a moment, he replied, “Oh, we’ll be exploring this for awhile, when we get back home, don’t you worry…”

They stayed like that until they heard their names being called, and the risk of being found grew too much. Soon, they could open themselves up to the rest of their friends, but, for now, it was their own secret to carry. It was exciting.

Sonic climbed onto the wing of the Tornado and watched Rouge argue with Shadow about putting on his jacket. She won, in the end, and the hybrid shrugged it on begrudgingly. When the bat turned to say something to Omega, Sonic swore he saw Shadow close his eyes and bring the collar of the jacket up to nose, as though drawing in some enticing scent. My scent, from last night… Sonic though, ears folding and fondness for the quiet hybrid growing by the minute. As the plane’s propellor began to spin, Tails called out his usual flight check to Amy, Shadow glanced up and met Sonic’s gaze.

Sonic didn’t hide the electricity he felt at that look, alone. And now he knew Shadow felt the same- oh, they certainly had exploring to do. A lifetime’s worth, if Sonic had much to say about it. He touched his lips with two fingers, a silent promise, one that Shadow mimicked before the Tornado began its run across the clearing and pulled up to the blue sky above.

“Alright,” Sonic breathed, turning forward as he held onto the frame of the plane’s wing, eyes narrowed and ears pinned, a smile more like a snarl on his face. “Let’s go find Eggman, ‘cause I got a date after this, a few of ‘em, actually, and I am not about to be late for any of it."

[burning-burning-burning]

Vanguard

Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

The ARK was falling. The world was ending. Shadow was dying. Sonic couldn't save him, and the memory haunts him. He failed, and across the bond, he had felt the dark hedgehog's life leech out. But the world was saved, and so continues to spin on; Sonic, despite it all, persists, left in a limbo he can't even name. His friends rally around him and try to draw him back out to the unshakeable, sunny speedster they all know; but none of them were there, none of them felt the bond forged in pure Chaos energy- But, what better to lift his mood than a festival? And Earth has a special one coming up- the Fire in the Sky Festival, held once every 50 years to celebrate the close approach passing of the Black Comet.

Prologue - Chapter 2 (Ao3)

[burning-burning-burning]

The ghost of old memories

A young Shadow listens, helpless and half-conscious, to scientists talking over his head about the anesthesia for a procedure they're about to perform.

Wrote a little thing, don't know yet if I want to write a one-shot for it or a little comic on my art blog. Decisions, decisions...

[burning-burning-burning]

Hey there!

4th Vet Student | 26yr | F (she/her)

Under the Keep Reading line, you'll find links to my other blogs and a sorted list of original fic posts. To summarize: this is my writing blog, primarily fanfiction, and I can't be held responsible for the chaos that ensues here, we good? Aight-

Links

Primary - Spriggina

Art - Chaos Harbinger

Ao3 - FedExMarauder

These Restless Hearts are Waking

Sonic universe, primarily one-shots with some chaptered fics planned. Sonadow.

Vanguard (Ao3)

Sonic One-shots

Sonic universe with hybrid Shadow, Sonadow, separate from TRHAW

Query: Preferences

One of Those Nights

New Year’s Snowstorms and a Little Liquid Courage (NSFW, 17.7k words)

Ain't that a Kick in the Head (hurt/comfort, coma story, 16.8k words)

[burning-burning-burning]

One of Those Nights

In which Shadow can't sleep, Sonic can't either, and a restless sort of night might reveal the start of a path to a brilliant shared future. ((Pre-Sonadow One-shot))

The night was peaceful, the sky wide open, and Sonic felt a rare moment of serenity descend over him as he settled himself in his hammock, stretched between two palms outside his and Tails’ home on the beaches of Green Hills. 

He was almost dozing when he heard hear a distant sound, like an air blast breaking over the ground. It was far from him, and yet, when he sat up, he knew right where to look- and what he would see. He grinned.

A yellow-orange light trail streaked across the landscape nearby, coming from the direction of the small city’s downtown area where Rouge’s nightclub, and Team Dark’s shared apartment, was located. Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog.

But, it was late, nearly three in the morning- where was he going?

Sonic jumped from his hammock and set off, climbing to speed quickly as he entered the sparse woodland path Shadow streaked down. He leapt up a rock wall and continued, following from above. Shadow wasn’t running at full tilt, because Sonic caught up with him easily.

A leisurely jog, just under mach, then?

“Shads! Hey! Where ya headed in such a hurry, huh?” Sonic called down, grinning. As he matched speed with the hybrid, the blur of the light trail gave way to the sight of the man himself. Sonic hopped down from the ledge he had been running to stay alongside the dark hedgehog, weaving behind him to run on his right.

Shadow, skating effortlessly over the ground, snorted and shook his head. “Mind your business, Faker,” he shot back with a glance and smirk. He had been more open to Sonic’s little intrusions since his return from the ARK and the White Space.

Sonic laughed and sprinted ahead, arcing around and in front, forcing Shadow to brake. They were stopped now in a well-traveled path Sonic had always called “Hedgehog’s Pass”, for no other reason that it served as a prime strip for getting up speed.

Shadow didn’t seemed as pissed as Sonic might have expected after being stopped from his run. “Something I can do for you?” he asked, boredly, and crossed his arms over his chest. His brow was furrowed, but he seemed relaxed.

“Yeah, tell me what you’re up to? C’mon, Shads, I’m bored- if you’ve got wind of some action, I want in!” Sonic said, motioning to himself to emphasize his words. Shadow rolled his eyes, but he was smirking again.

“No action, Faker,” he sighed. “Only needed a run. Restless kind of night, tonight.”

“Yeah,” Sonic said after a moment of staring, hoping Shadow would laugh and change his answer. Another beat, no such luck. So much for a spontaneous adventure to spice up the night. “Obviously, me too.” He blew roughly and stepped back, out of Shadow’s way. “I was gonna sleep, but, well, then this crazy alien-hedgehog came streaking by my house so, I guess now I’m chasing him instead.”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Please, I was no where near your hut.”

“House.”

“Same thing.”

“Dude, you lived in a cave for like, two years before Rouge found out and made you move in with her-“

“First of all no one makes me do anything-“

“Fine, fine,” Sonic sighed, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers on his bicep. Shadow was watching him almost expectantly, and it was making his skin feel… weird. Prickly. Bad. Good? He wasn’t sure. He made eye contact, something he was good at and he knew Shadow hated, and that made the Ultimate Lifeform squirm enough to drop his gaze and stop staring. Well. At least he had one weakness, then.

“Hey, so…,” Sonic began, “Since we’re up, and you were looking for a run anyway… you wanna-”

“Thought you’d never get around to asking,” Shadow said, self-important smirk back on his face and already dropping into a runner’s starting position. He looked up and waited for Sonic to assume the same beside him.

Sonic was frozen for an instant at the sight of Shadow before him, strong arms stretched to brace against the ground, powerful legs drawn like a bow ready to be shot-

His ass just ever so temptingly up in the air behind him, whip tail weaving in anticipation.

Sonic swallowed thickly, face flaming, and was thankful for the night for hiding the flush that surely was overtaking his face. He dropped to a ready position beside Shadow, then, as expected, and cleared his throat. Fuck. That was weird. Okay. Gotta act like you weren’t just checking out his ass. His… really cute ass. With that tail- Fuck, when did he get so sexy- Stop. Stop, do not, c’mon, act natural-

“You re-ready, Shads?” Sonic voice creaked. It broke like a pubescent child’s. Oh Chaos please kill me-

Beside him, Shadow made a tch sound. “Always ready for you, hedgehog,” he replied evenly.

Fuck okay that was kind of hot- Nope. No. Race time. Focus. Banter?

Sonic glanced over at his rival and grinned, his eyes drawn once more to the twisting, softly lashing tail behind the hybrid. It had been a few months now since the Time Eater incident; long enough for him to get used to Shadow’s new appearance, he had thought, but, apparently also long enough for his brain to make the association between the tail and Shadow and decide it very, very much liked the sight of the two together. “Haven’t raced you since you got back from the ARK,” Sonic began, voice still higher than usual as he fought to control all the raging hormones in his body telling him to pin the hybrid to the nearest palm tree and claim that ass as his right now. Not that that would end well, Shadow would probably snap him like a glow stick if he tried- Fuck. Don’t think that. Hot. “Hope your new tail situation back there doesn’t slow you down too much; you know, slower than you already were, I mean.”

Shadow snorted and grinned, brows furrowed intently. “Hasn’t hampered me yet,” he replied. “Enough talking- Go!” And he was gone.

“Woah!” Sonic shouted, laughing, and took off after Shadow, both now flying at nearly their top speeds. As Sonic once again caught back up to Shadow, he felt a moment where he was sure time slowed, and he could feel the beat of the earth beneath his feet as his sneakers, nothing more than a blur of red and blue and white, struck off the ground below him. Then there was Shadow, his own legs a blur, yellow-orange light trailing from him as his entire body pulsed with Chaos energy, channeling into his air shoes. He was still grinning, a fierce look of determination on his face, even as he glanced sideways to Sonic.

Sonic didn’t know exactly when the dark hybrid had become so attractive, but, it was starting to be a real problem. If he let himself wander down particularly dangerous paths, he would swear he could hear his heartbeat and Shadow’s sync up as they raced, free and unburdened and wild. 

Fuck, when did he become such a hopeless sap? He grinned back and shook out his quills, trying to leave the confusing mess of feelings to the path behind him.

Their race took them up to the cliffs and over the raised pillar-bridge, to the loop and further still, tireless, infinite as they were. It took Sonic a moment to realize where their feet were carrying them- the Temple Mountain, the old former home of the Paradox Prism. They raced up the mountain side, faster and faster still, weaving in and out from one another- they both slowed, instinctually, at the cave mouth.

Sonic was fine to admit he was a bit winded by the time they had reached the top, and at least mostly from the actual run. Mostly. Shadow, too, was breathing a bit harder, which made the blue hedgehog feel better. Some tiny, rebellious part of him wondered if it was only the run stealing the hybrid’s breath, or something more.

Shadow turned, crimson eyes tracking over the landscape they had just sprinted through. The beach was out of sight over the horizon, as was the small coastal city. All that was visible was forest, and flat cliffs, and starry sky. The hybrid closed his eyes as a soft breeze blew up the mountain side, quills rustling.

Sonic dared watch him a moment longer, his own eyes tracing the broadness of Shadow’s shoulders; the way the muscles of his upper arm made his black fur ripple subtly; his equally well-muscled chest and sides; the fan of red fur and fine quills that now grew from the back of his arms at the elbow like weapon’s blades. His eyes tracked down further, to Shadow’s waist, then his hips- to that damn tail, with its line of long red-and-black quills flowing down his base and its barbed half-spade point, sharp enough to cut. His mouth ran dry, and he had to look away before he made it any further. Though, even still, his mind, unbidden, rebellious, conjured up images of Shadow’s powerful legs; namely, those legs wrapped around him, at his leisure to grab and hold and squeeze before-

Woah, woah- dude. What the fuck-

This new attraction as getting out of hand. He told himself it had been a phase when it started, a product of… he wasn’t sure. He had first noticed it happening before the Time Eater, before the ARK incident and finding Shadow… changed. Maybe it happened after the Shatter event, after working so closely with the hybrid for the first time in years, after finally righting his past mistake and saving Shadow from the falling to the void, and after Shadow returned the favor to save Sonic before he could fade into oblivion. 

Shadow’s eyes were still closed, his arms crossed now over his chest and his ears with their tufts of fur at their tips (something else new, and fuck, Sonic wanted to know just where else on the hybrid’s body all this new fur had grown-) perked and twitched to catch every sound that traveled up the mountain’s face from the forest below. If Sonic was a bolder hedgehog, or perhaps just a bit more of an idiot, he would have kissed his rival right there, on the Temple Mountain, under the crystal skies and cool breeze of a Mobian night.

But… he couldn’t do that. Shadow would never be in his reach, like that. He turned to look back out over the landscape again, ears pinned. His heart threatened revolt if he didn’t give into its disastrous desires, but, he couldn’t- the hybrid only barely tolerated him on a good day, and in times like this, when he was clearly in a good enough mood to be almost… playful, with Sonic. Racing him and teasing him and… It couldn’t be more than that. Sonic could lie and tell himself that was enough, but…

“Hey, Shads, you ever just… I don’t know. Want… more?”

Shadow hummed and opened his eyes. He turned to lean back against the cave mouth wall and looked out over the side of his shoulder at the expanse of Green Hills before them. “No,” he replied at length. “Maybe once, but, now? I’ve got friends, an endless supply of badniks to smash, more complicated missions from G.U.N. if I’m bored… and even a mouthy, annoying rival, to keep me sharp. What more could I ask?”

The hybrid had not looked to Sonic during the exchange until the end, when he cast a teasing smirk the blue blur’s way at the final comment. Sonic snorted and grinned. “Aw, yeah, you know, yada yada, heart you too, Shadow,” he replied. He held the hybrid’s gaze a moment longer before Shadow turned back to look over the landscape again.

Shadow gave a sigh. “No,” he continued, “I… I think I’m finally content.”

Sonic felt himself deflating inside. Well. That answered that, he supposed. Content. Happy, with no more need for edits or exchanges. His ears pinned, though he forced them back up and plastered his signature smile back on his face. Nothing was lost, really- whatever this… physical draw was on his side of their equation, it didn’t matter if it was reciprocated. It would fizzle out soon and everything would go back to normal; they would just be… best rivals, as they were now, and nothing more. And that’s enough.

…. It… it’s not, though, is it?

Feelings threatening to overwhelm him, Sonic shook out his quills and stepped up to the edge of the cliff again. “Hey, space-age, got your breath back?”

Crimson eyes, brilliant and glowing with their own intensity in the darkness, locked on emerald green. “Never lost it, Faker.”

Liar. “Great!” Sonic said, brow furrowing in a close approximation of the intense determination Shadow typically wore on his face. He grinned toothily, daring the hybrid, and dropped to a stance. “Then… rematch? If you’re ready?”

Shadow was already by his side, mirroring him perfectly save for the wavering, weaving tail he could not seem to keep still. Sonic had to wonder what it meant, it’s positions, its waves and snaps- Shadow, so hard to read, maybe this was his Rosetta Stone. “Born ready.”

“You weren’t born-“

“You know what I meant!” And the tail cracked, whip-fast, just behind Sonic’s head.

He really, really hoped Shadow didn’t read too much into the way he felt his pupils dilate at that, or how his breath caught in a spasm in his chest. His eyes met Shadow’s again just as the hybrid turned to face their track, and he thought he caught… alarm? Was Shadow… flustered? Sonic blinked, and, no, no he was seeing things correctly, he was sure. He turned back before he could be accused of staring, but, he had seen what he needed. The quick pinning of Shadow’s ears, the jolt from his breath leaving him all at once. If not for the dark of night around them, Sonic could even be convinced that a flush had darkened his cheeks under the tan fur of his muzzle.

Sonic grin and shook himself. “Alright!” He said, fingers gripping the ground beneath him. Shadow’s did the same, wicked claws that had forced the hybrid to exchange his usual white gloves for damn-near scandalous black fingerless ones scratching against stone, more evidence still of his changed form since the ARK. They still covered his palms, but Sonic shivered at their sight regardless; the sight of the hand uncovered on Mobius so ingrained in his psyche to be sensationally suggestive.

“Ready?” Sonic asked again, quieter, leaning back on his legs, ready for the push-off. He didn’t know himself what he meant by it, but it felt like more than their race.

Shadow’s tail whip-cracked again, a tiny bursting of the sound barrier, like a prelude to the display of speed Sonic knew they were both about to give over to. He looked to Sonic, a firm nod, features set in a sort of nameless ferocity. Something dangerous and unspoken floating between, on the edge of a shared experience neither quite knew how to approach.

One of those restless nights, Shadow had said. Maybe this is what he meant, this stirring of the soul, straining, clawing, desperate to reach out and swirl around its predestined other half. They once ran together, at this place, this sacred mount, to thin the veil between worlds and escape the fates the Prism’s breaking had sealed. This felt no different- a run to thin the barrier between them, escape the restless wanderings of two halves of a broken whole. Sonic felt infinite, under this sky, Shadow at his side and the promise of something jus teasing along the edges of their colliding realities.

“Then… go!”

And they were off again.

Link to masterlist

[burning-burning-burning]

Query: Preferences

In which Omega has questions; Rouge is getting tired of the bullying, quite frankly; and Shadow grapples with feelings he doesn't have a name for. ((Pre-Sonadow One-shot))

“Query.”

Rouge the Bat sighed. Omega, always with the questions… “Go ahead, Omega,” she said, refraining from asking him to ‘shoot’. Made that mistake once- there was still burns on the nightclub walls. Team Dark was in their shared apartment, Shadow cooking them all dinner.

Rouge and Omega, for many reasons, were only allowed to sit at the kitchen barstools and not further while Mr. Ultimate-Lifeform-and-also-apparently-Master-Chef was in the kitchen. Rouge would call him an ass, but, well… his dinners were always pretty good.

Omega took time, something the Team now understood to mean he was formulating the best reply given situational context and learned idiosyncrasies of his teammates. Considering his words, then. Finally, he said, in his unchanging monotone, “Bat, you have interests in many different males as mates, true?”

Rouge nearly spat her wine, and at the stove, Shadow snickered. 

Composing herself while the Ultimate Betrayer shook with the force of a contained laughing fit (she wondered when it would be normal, seeing Shadow laugh like that? So at ease, since his final confrontation with Doom and letting Maria go, at last), Rouge replied, “Omega that’s- that’s not a polite question…”

“So it is false, then? I have miscalculated.”

Shadow, composed enough to get back to stirring the stew he’d been simmering, smirked again. “He’s calculated, Rouge,” the hedgehog said, arching a brow and sending his smirk the bat’s way.

Rouge made a face at him and he want to back to cooking. Rouge sighed. “Ah, no, Omega, I, I suppose it is true, I have a… broad ‘type’.”

“Of potential mates?”

Rouge’s face burned. “No-! Oh, fine, yes, Omega, whatever you’d like to call it. What’s the point of this?”

Omega whirred, considering again. “Despite a broad preference set, you have never expressed interest in Shadow. True? And if true, my query is why?”

Rouge’s turn to grin, then. Shadow’s ear pinned uncomfortably and his nose curled. “Move on from this topic, please,” he droned.

“No, no no no, you were all cackles and grins when I was the one squirming, your turn, broody!” Rouge said, nearly standing in her seat and pointing at the hybrid. He only glowered at her.

Rouge sat back down and settled herself, smoothing the oversized t-shirt and soft shorts she had changed into for the evening. “Shadow… doesn’t really fall into my ‘preferences’, Omega. No matter how broad they may be.”

“Thank Chaos…,” Shadow muttered. Rouge ignored him.

Omega whirred again. “He is male, organic, and breathing?”

“Omega-!” Rouge shouted, before taking a breath and composing herself, again. “Shadow is… like a brother, to me. So, that’s trumps any… preferences.”

Omega continued staring at her, something he knew made her uncomfortable, which would make her keep talking to fill the silence. Damn him.

“Uh… and I mean, well, maybe I’m not Shadow’s preference, either, you know? That’s important, too,” the bat continued.

“I understand,” Omega toned. “Shadow- query.”

The hybrid threw up a hand as though to block the question. “Oh no-“

“Answer his question, spiky!” Rouge admonished. “You know he won’t drop it until you do.” Shadow threw his head back and groaned, then looked back to the robot to glare. “Fine. Go ahead, Omega.”

Omega whirred, and Rouge saw a light behind his eyes that usually indicated he was administering a threat level analysis. At least he knew to check. Deciding the danger, for now, was minimal, the robot continued, “What are you preferences?”

“Telenovelas over action movies, classic literature over modern. Enough?”

Rouge snorted, and Omega whirred as he worked to process the information and assess why the hell that answer was so non-conforming to the dataset he anticipated. “Apologies,” he said at length, “I was misunderstood. What are you preferences in mates?”

Shadow growled low in his throat and turned back to the stove. His tail, now long and ending in a bladed spear ever since he had unleashed his Black Arms genetics, lashed quietly behind his legs. “End query,” he said darkly, tufted ears pinned.

“But my data is incomplete-“

“End. Query.”

Omega whirred defiantly. “Hedgehog-“

“It’s alright, Omega. You can’t force people to complete your data,” Rouge soothed. She looked to Shadow, who was still turned away. “But I am curious, now, Shadow. Maybe it’s down to the Black Arms why you don’t seem to have any attraction to anyone, yet? You certainly have plenty of option, women love a bad boy, after all.”

Shadow was quiet a moment longer, still tense. “…It’s not the Black Arms DNA.” He was still stirring, slowly. Consider his own words, then.

Omega watched his teammates with interest. Rouge was good at getting Shadow talking, even after the hybrid had shut down all others. He wondered how she did that. A query for later, he supposed, and flagged the thought.

“Then…?” Rouge led, arms folded on the counter and leaning forward. “Say the word, baby, and I can have whoever or whatever you want waiting in your bed for you~” She was grinning toothily, enjoying the gentle ribbing. Sometimes it was nice to make the Ultimate Lifeform uncomfortable, and he trusted her enough to let it happen.

Shadow growled again, finally looking back over his shoulder. His ears were pinned and his brow was furrowed darkly in a scowl. “No thank you,” he said. So polite, even in murderous rage. He rolled his eyes and turned back to the stew. “… I don’t know my preference, anyway.”

Omega tilted some in his seat. Ah, back to his query, then? “Define?”

“Define not knowing?” Shadow scoffed, still scowling. “I don’t- I’ve never felt a need for it.”

Omega whirred again, slowly. “Then… new query,” he began. “What aren’t your preferences?”

Rouge grinned and patted the robot’s shoulder. “Good job, Omega,” she praised quietly.

Shadow took the stew off the heat and turned off the burners. He turned to lean against the far counter, arms crossed over his chest, tail flicking in frustration by his legs. He did, at least, seem to be taking Omega’s question seriously enough- after all, it was in the name of finishing a dataset, something Omega felt a strong compulsion to do, and he didn’t mean harm by asking.

He thought of Rouge’s assertions, earlier. ‘Plenty of options… Women love a bad boy.’ The thought was almost chilling, and he wrinkled his nose. Well, there, something he could give the robot for his data. “… I have never felt an attraction to someone of the opposite sex.”

Rouge’s ears perked. “Implying you have felt attraction, before? To someone… of the same sex?”

“Implying what part of I don’t know don’t you understand?” the hybrid growled. 

Ah. Rouge hummed and nodded. “Oh, I see. I get it, now- Omega, Shadow’s not going to be able to finish that dataset for you just yet.”

A whir. Perhaps of disappointment. “I will continue it later, then.” The robot turned and walked off towards the room which held his power station, likely to ‘sleep’. 

Rouge watched him go until the door closed, then looked back to Shadow. “I should’ve known,” she began, “Growing up on the space station and then all the chaos that’s happened since you woke up? You haven’t had time to experience anything, yet.”

“I don’t like how you said experience, please never say it again?”

Rouge snorted. “Hun, I mean any experiences. Beyond fighting. You found out you like reading, and old music, and you’re a good cook- important knowledge to have about yourself. But there’s gaps to fill in.”

Shadow looked affronted. “My memory has been perfectly returned to me, thank you, since after-“

Rouge sighed. “I know, I know- that’s not what I meant.”

Shadow calmed, glad to have the question of his memories settled.

“Shadow…,” Rouge began carefully, ears back. “Before when you mentioned never feeling an attraction to women and that you don’t know if you’ve felt it for anyone else, what did you mean? What makes you unsure?”

The hybrid swallowed thickly and turned his head, arms still crossed tightly, like he was protecting himself. “…Feelings I don’t have names for,” he muttered at length. “They aren’t… good. Or bad. They’re more annoying than anything.”

“Can you describe them?” Rouge pressed gently.

Shadow looked back to her. “Admiration, but deeper,” he said, words slow and careful. “Anticipation. Feeling on edge. Frustration.” Definitions were easy, for him. Words could be easily recited- all these were words that did not fit, but fell close. He had tortured himself over them all at length, finding every one coming up short.

The bat blinked, and her smile softened further. “That’s more than ‘preferences’, Shadow. You’re not gonna like it, but, it kind of sounds like your attracted to someone in particular.”

Shadow snorted and turned to get bowls for the stew. “Ridiculous. Fantasy.”

“What?” Rouge asked, brow furrowed. She flew over the counter and lighted beside the hybrid as he dipped bowls for the both of them. “That you might like someone?”

Shadow glared as he shoved her bowl towards her. “Yes. Now go eat your dinner.” He took up his own and moved to the kitchen counter.

Rouge moved back to join him. “Fine,” she sighed. “We can drop it.”

“Thank you.”

The two ate beside each other in silence for awhile. At length, Rouge said quietly, “But… think about what I said, would you? Shame to let rare feelings like that slip you by.”

Shadow blew soft but didn’t deny her request. He imagined now he wouldn’t have a choice. They finished their stew and worked to put away leftovers, remaining the rest of the night in companionable quiet.

—- —- —- —- —-

Shadow lay in bed that night, on his back staring up at the ceiling. Sleep was hard won every night, but now it eluded him completely.

In his mind, if he closed his eyes for a moment, he could see it- flashes of brilliant blue streaking past his line of sight, too fast even for his eyes to keep up with. Not at a standstill, that was. But in motion?

The blue took shape, and it was so much more. Emerald green eyes joined the form, free and bright, and delicate cream breaking up blue fur. An easy smile thrown over a shoulder, ears back against the rush of air as they teased the edge of the sound barrier. “Shads! Another race, then?”

He should hate that name- he did hate that name. But somehow, from that mouth and in that voice, it sent a frustrating shiver down his spine. Shadow opened his eyes and turned over on his side fitfully, ears pinned. He glared at his clock, 2:00 AM blinking back at him, mocking him.

He sighed and closed his eyes, endeavoring to turn off his mind and the dangerous, confusing thoughts that lingered there.

“Damn blue hedgehog…,” he muttered softly in his sheets. “What the hell are you doing to me?”

Link to masterlist