#slight knuxouge

[writingtraumaforever]

Die With A Smile: A Sonadow Oneshot

Notes: My friend challenged me to write Sonadow karaoke. This is the result. Very crackhead. Much gay.

Summary: Shadow loses a bet with Rouge and has to attend a karaoke party. Shenanigans ensue.

Rating: T for language

Start:

Shadow has got to stop placing bets with Rouge.

It’s his own fault, really. His ego is too big, and his need to prove himself as the Ultimate Lifeform in every possible way is far too strong. Rouge? Rouge knows this and takes advantage. Every. Time.

And as it has been many times before, her cons came in the form of a bet.

Walking over with a towel, she fiddled with it in her hands as she spoke, “So you coming to Amy’s Karaoke Spectacular??”

“I’ve already answered this. Seven times,” Shadow grumbles as he washes dishes, passing one off to Rouge to dry. This is their routine. They’ve been roommates for a little over eight months now, and the deal is whoever doesn’t cook has to wash the dishes. Tonight, that’s Shadow.

Rouge gives him a little pout, placing the dried dish on the rack and waiting for the next one, “Aw come on, Shadow.. Not even for me?”

“Why on earth would that make a difference?” Shadow questions with a quirk of his brow and teasing little smirk.

Rouge rolls her eyes at him with a huff, “Okay then. What if I said ‘pretty please’??”

“The physical appearance of the please doesn’t matter,” Shadow says unbothered, handing the next dish to her as he then begins scrubbing at the pan the chopped potatoes had cooked on, “And begging doesn’t suit you..”

“Hmph,” she growls a bit, placing her hands on her hips a moment before then growing a slow smirk, “What if we made a bet??”

Shadow’s ear twitches at that, looking at her out of the corners of his eyes a moment. She has that mischievous glint in them. He knew it was trouble, and still he-

“I’m listening..”

Rouge moves the pan Shadow is working on out of the sink, Shadow’s brows furrowing questioningly as he watches her instead place the towel she’s been holding in his hands.

“Here’s the bet. I lose, I’ll cook and wash the dishes for three months.”

Shadow’s brow raises at her, looking at the towel in his hands a moment before back to her, “And if I lose I have to come to the karaoke spectacular??”

“AND sing a song of my choice,” Rouge adds with a wicked grin.

Shadow is immediately handing the towel back to her and shaking his head, “Absolutely not.”

“Oh what’s wrong??? Got a case of the stage fright??”

“No. I just refuse to lower myself to such insolent and ridiculous standards as singing cheesy songs that no one asked anyone to cover,” Shadow’s arms cross.

Rouge shrugs, “Fine. Guess I just didn’t expect the Ultimate Lifeform to back down from a challenge so easily.”

Shadow’s eyes narrow at her with a scowl.

Rouge’s narrow with a challenge.

“...We have a deal?” She asks, reaching her hand out to him with a knowing grin.

Shadow growls a bit, already mentally scolding himself for falling for this shit again. But he still finds his hand reaching out to shake hers, nodding with a firm, “Deal.”

Rouge giggles a bit giddily, “Great!”

“So what’s the challenge?” Shadow questions as he retracts his hand, realizing now he probably should’ve asked that before making this bet.

Rouge hands the towel back to him again, Shadow watching as she moves his hands into position under the tap of the sink. Shadow holds an end of the dish towel in each hand, arms outstretched and spread as wide as the towel goes. Rouge then reaches to turn on the water, the tap flowing in the space between his arms, himself and the towel.

She crosses her arms then, nodding her head to him with a simple, “Move the towel without letting go of either end or getting it or your arms wet. And NO chaos control.”

Shadow’s brow raises at her. Crimson eyes roll at this, smirking confidently with a scoff, “That’s it?? I expected more from you-”

He looks back down at the towel and his brain freezes.

He stares at it a long moment, the gears in his head practically groaning and creaking with how he tries to find the solution. He could move it to the left, but then his right arm would get wet. Same with the right getting the left wet. He can’t simply move it towards him because then it’s wet. His brain begins to hurt. Rouge can’t help but let her grin widen as he successfully allows himself to get overwhelmed and overthink the entire puzzle.

His teeth grit, growling low as his body starts to tremble.

Rouge just leans against the counter and waits, examining her nails as if she has all the time in the world.

They stay like that for a solid sixteen minutes, which is terrible for the environment to let the water run that long. And then Shadow groans and growls out, “I can’t! I don’t get it! What the hell am I supposed to do!? Tell me!! Tell me or I’m gonna destroy this damn sink and rip the towel to shreds–!”

Rouge simply takes the towel from him, moving her arms into position while holding the towel. She then moves her hand while still holding the towel to simply turn off the water, successfully retracting the towel back to her body without getting it or her arms wet.

Shadow just stares dumbfounded and feeling smaller than a pathetic worm.

“But you can’t just– you– that’s–”

“See you at karaoke~,” She coos as she playfully rolls the towel up to whip and snap his tail, making him jump about two feet with a yelp.

And that’s how he ended up here. Standing outside Amy Rose’s front door with nothing but shame for what’s going to happen tonight. He can hear music coming from the backyard, what sounds like an agitating rendition of ‘We Built This City On Rock and Roll’ being sung.

He could run. He could chaos control somewhere far away, and no one could ever force him to socialize or sing or any of it.

But he can’t.

He made a bet and promised Rouge he’d come.

And he always keeps his promises.

Taking a deep breath, Shadow collects his dignity while he still has it and lifts his hand to ring the white doorbell next to the pink door.

Breathing out the breath he had just taken slowly, he hears footsteps approaching from the inside.

The door opens to reveal Amy standing there with a wide grin that only seems to get brighter the second she sees it’s Shadow who had rang the doorbell.

“Shadow!” she beams, her voice reaching octaves that shouldn’t be possible for most Mobians. He’s always like Amy, though, so he tries not to seem too agitated by this.

He offers a tired sort of smile in return, not quite reaching his eyes but still trying to be in good spirits for his host’s sake, “Hello, Rose.”

Amy quickly reaches to grab his wrist, dragging him inside and shutting the door behind him, “Come in! It’s chilly out there..”

“Isn’t the party outside??” Shadow asks with a quirk of his brow. Amy giggles in response with a sheepish, “Well, yes, but we have a bonfire going and everyone is toasting marshmallows and hotdogs and there’s a chili bar with hot cocoa— I even made some coffee in case you showed up!”

Shadow hums with a soft look to his eyes at her thoughtfulness. “That was kind of you.”

“I’m so glad you came!” Amy grins, bouncing on her toes as she leads Shadow to the kitchen where Cream and Miss Vanilla are helping her whip up some more chili since they’re running low outside, “Rouge has been saying you’d be here, but I honestly was doubting her.”

Before Shadow can respond, another squeaky voiced girl is wrapping her arms tight around his torso and squeezing for dear life, “Mr. Shadow! I’m so glad you’re here!”

Shadow looks down at the rabbit hugging him, chuckling a bit as his hand rests between her ears and pets there tenderly, “Nice to see you too, Miss Cream..”

Cream giggles at how he addresses her formerly, looking up at him with those big, starry eyes he can’t help but have a soft spot for, “Miss Rouge said you were coming, but I wasn’t sure she was being honest.”

“Why would Rouge lie, Creamy Dear?” Miss Vanilla says as she approaches, “Hello again, Shadow.”

“Miss Vanilla,” Shadow nods to her politely before looking back to Cream, “Unfortunate for all of us, Rouge is right most of the time.”

Cream giggles at this, letting go of Shadow and moving to tug on his hand, “Come with me, Mr. Shadow! I have a free seat next to me just for you!”

Shadow smirks a bit and allows himself to be towed behind the little one towards the backyard’s door, giving a small wave to Amy and Vanilla as they stay back in the kitchen.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so terrible.. Shadow does enjoy seeing Cream. She reminds him so much of the time he spent on the ARK taking care of Maria.. That and the little rabbit has never once looked at him with any sort of judgment or fear in her eyes. She always looked at him as though he had all the potential in the world to be nothing but good. And he couldn’t ever say why that meant so much to him, but it did.

If Cream ever looked at him with disappointment, he’d lose his mind.

Upon entering the backyard, he looks around at the decorations. Amy really is the best host for gatherings. She never misses, always hits the nail on the head perfectly and seems to enjoy seeing everyone have fun and appreciate her hard work.

The yard has fairy lights dangling all around, circling a bonfire in the middle that is in the center of a stone firepit. There’s wooden seats around the firepit for those who get a bit chilly, though most are empty currently. Only Espio sits there, not seeming too keen on the cold weather. There’s a coat rack just to the right of the door with complimentary, hand-knitted gloves, hats and scarves. Next to it along the porch is the coffee, hot cocoa and chili bar Amy had spoken of along with a little basket with long, metal skewers sticking out of it and a chalkboard dangling from the front that reads ‘For your Hot Dogs and Marshmallows’. There were hot dogs and marshmallows stacked into little pyramids on a table, ready to roast. Amy even had a vegan option..

To the far left is a stage pressed against the wood fence surrounding the yard, white curtains providing a backdrop behind it and spotlights hanging from the bottom of the stage to provide good lighting.

On the stage bouncing far too energetically up and down was none other than the dynamic duo themselves: Sonic and Tails.

Sonic is jamming on his electric guitar he seems to have brought for himself and Tails is singing next to him with laughter in his voice. Sonic is banging his head so aggressively that Shadow wonders if he’ll still have all his quills by the end of the night.

Rolling his eyes at the ridiculous display, Shadow looks back down to Cream who leads him to the coat rack.

The rabbit lets go of his hand to ponder the choices of winter weather clothes for a moment before she reaches and pulls off a deep blue scarf, turning to him and holding it out for him to take, “I think this one will look nicely with your eyes!”

Shadow looks at the scarf as he takes it into his hands, observing it a moment. Amy really outdid herself making all these for everyone.

He can’t help but look at it and think of—

“Thank you,” he says with a gentle smile at the little girl, wrapping it around his shoulders and then tying it secure but comfortable around his neck, “I like your light blue one.”

Cream giggles at this, beaming at him as she rocks back and forth on her toes, “We kind of match!”

“I believe we do,” he says with a wink, offering his hand to her again which she takes with pride.

Walking them towards the stage, Cream Explains her seat is in the front row. She likely chose this spot due to her short size, but Shadow really dreaded being near the front like this..

As they approached the stage, Shadow took notice in who all was there.

Vector was DJ-ing, of course. Charmy was sitting on a speaker near him, watching Vector’s hands move over the sound system as if he was taking notes. Rouge had Knuckles cornered near the back of the seats, leaning towards him a little too close for Knuckles’ comfort if how red his face was was anything to go off of. Omega was stood behind them, seemingly ignoring them with his robotic eyes locked towards the stage. Sticks the Badger was there. She was a relatively new member of the group that Amy had apparently taken quite the liking to. And Shadow trusted Rose’s judgment.

Big the Cat was sitting in the front swaying side to side in his seat with his frog in his hand as if this was a slow song, not at all matching the upbeat momentum of it. Even Silver and Blaze were there, to Shadow’s surprise. It’s not every day one should break the time stream just to come to a party.

He doesn’t dwell on this, though. Moving with Cream towards the front to find his seat just as Sonic and Tails finish up their number. The group hoot and holler for the two, applauding as Sonic gives a dramatic bow and Tails sheepishly grins and rubs the back of his neck. They exit the stage and Vector announces the next song,

“Alright everyone! That was a pretty sweet song, gonna be tough to follow up with that! Next on the song list is another duet! ‘Club Can’t Handle Me’ by Flo Rida! Let’s see who our duetists are!”

Shadow’s eyes watch Sonic as he walks off the steps to the right of the stage, high-fiving Tails as they go. They’re both laughing and saying something to each other that Shadow can’t make out, but it’s probably dumb anyway.

Sonic’s whole voice is dumb. And his dumb face and his dumb smile and dumb eyes—

He’s looking at Shadow.

Shadow quickly looks away, feeling his cheeks heat up a bit as he dips his head down in hopes his scarf will mask it some. Was he staring?? No, he wasn’t- he just got lost in his thoughts of how dumb that faker is..

His eyes are on the ground as Vector pulls two random names from a hat and announces it will be Blaze and Big performing this next song.

“Woo! Everyone’s favorite purple felines teaming up for the win!” Sonic yells supportively, Shadow flinching slightly at how close he sounds.

Oh.

That’s because he’s close.

Bright red, signature shoes appear in his line of sight, crimson eyes trailing up Sonic’s form to find emerald looking right back.

Sonic smirks. Shadow scowls.

“Well looky here. Didn’t expect to see you here, Shadow!“ the blue hedgehog beams, wearing a red scarf that matches his shoes. His has a tiny ‘S’ on the end of it, Shadow notices. Amy must’ve made one especially for him.

“I try not to make a habit of social gatherings,” Shadow gruffly replies, looking away as if to take in the event except it’s really just to escape that gaze..

Sonic chuckles at that, hands moving to his own hips as he speaks, “Well, maybe you should..”

Shadow’s eyes return to him at that, eyeing the blue hedgehog questioningly which seems to make Sonic blush a bit as he quickly gestures to Cream.

“Looks like you’d make a certain little rabbit real happy if you came around more.”

Cream beams at that, standing on her chair to try and be as tall as Sonic, “I would be, Mr. Sonic!”

“See??” Sonic grins, looking at Cream now, “Who could say no to that face???”

Cream giggles, bouncing on her toes to which Sonic reaches over and picks her up to toss her up then set her back down as she laughs excitedly. He bends down as she speaks to him.

“Can I make you a ‘little-bit-of-everything’ chili dog, Mister Sonic?!”

Sonic winks at this, giving her a thumbs up, “You make the best ones, Cream.”

She nods with a determined face, dashing off to the chili dog stand as if she’s on a mission.

Sonic watches her with a chuckle, rubbing under his nose as Shadow looks at him..

Sonic looks at Shadow.

Shadow looks away.

Sonic smiles a bit at this, moving to take a seat next to Shadow as Blaze and Big start their performance. It’s quite a comical one. Blaze’s raspy and shier voice paired with Big’s own off beat and tonedeaf one. She definitely looks uncomfortable but Silver is giving her thumbs up in the audience so that seems to motivate her.

“So what made you come?” Sonic asks after a moment, looking at Shadow with a tilt of his head.

“Rouge,” he mutters, looking over at the bat who is still pestering that poor echidna, “Lost a bet.”

“Ah,” Sonic immediately answers with a grin, “She’s a trickster for sure.”

“Mm..,” Shadow nods in agreement, his arms crossed over his chest.

There’s a long moment of silence.

“…So how have you—“

“I’m getting coffee,” Shadow interrupts, standing from his seat and leaving Sonic behind. Sonic’s ears droop a bit, watching Shadow go with a quiet, “Oh. Okay. See ya.”

Shadow walks quickly towards the coffee bar, grabbing a cup once he gets there and working to fill it up with his heart pounding in his chest.

Anxiety is a bitch.

He takes a long shaky breath as he pours the drink, watching the steam rise from it. Black. Just how he likes it.

He cups it in his hands and blows on the top before taking a sip and immediately feeling his shoulders slouch and some tension fade. His sighs slow and takes another sip, swallowing down the lump that felt like it had been forming in his throat.

He hated he got like this. It always made him feel so weak. He didn’t do well in groups.. he always felt out of place or like he has nothing to contribute to conversation.

And that hedgehog… that damn blue hedgehog.

Sonic always seemed to make Shadow lock up even more than usual. Made him feel like his defenses were both down and up all at the same time. Like his walls were crackling apart and thus making Shadow panic to rush to build them higher and stronger.

He thought it would get better with time, but instead, it just seems to get worse.

He does fine on assignments or missions with Sonic, whenever they’re required to work together for the greater good. It’s easy to speak to him then. They work well side by side, a power that can’t be beat. But in casual conversation??? Sonic is.. intimidating.

He’s so quick witted and talkative. He always knows what to say and how to say it. Shadow admires this and hate it about him. It’s overwhelming.

Just like his dumb face.

After a moment to gather himself, Shadow moves to instead approach Rouge who sees him coming and snaps up with a grin, “You came!”

“I’ve been here,” he grumbles with a roll of his eyes, noticing how Knuckles seems relieved her attention is elsewhere.

Shadow can’t help but wonder if Knuckles feels the same way about Rouge as Shadow does about Sonic. Two painfully charismatic people talking to two painfully awkward people.

Except with Knuckles and Rouge, it’s flirting and bickering.

That’s not what Sonic and Shadow do.

Well.

They bicker.

And Sonic might be naturally flirtatious now and then.

But it’s not the same.

“Oh. Sorry, I’ve been busy with Knuckles here,” she smirks, gesturing to Knuckles who offers a small “sup” to Shadow, Shadow nodding back before returning his gaze to Rouge.

“How long do I have to stay??”

Rouge blinks, “But— you just got here?”

“I’ve been here for about ten minutes, actually. And that’s plenty long, I think.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” she rolls her eyes at him, placing a hand on her hip as she juts it out all sassy-like, “Besides, you still have to sing your one song.”

Shadow had been hoping she’d forgotten about that.

“Then can we just get it over with so I can leave??”

“No way!” Rouge huffs, poking his chest with a finger as she narrows her eyes at him disappointedly, “You are going to stay here and socialize and be happy about it! And when I decide you can sing and leave, you’ll sing and leave.”

She crosses her arms, sticking her nose up a matter-of-factly as she closes her eyes with a “hmph.”

Shadow blinks.

He looks at Knuckles for help.

Knuckles just shrugs at him, “She scares me too, dude.”

“What did you say?!” Rouge glares down at the echidna who flinches immediately with a “Nothing!”

“Oh I’m scary, huh??? You know what’s scary is an echidna whose only friend is a rock!”

“Oh yeah?! Well—“

Shadow leaves before he gets a headache.

He looks at the spot near the front that Cream has saved for him.

Sonic is still sitting there eating his chili dog and talking to Cream and Tails and now Amy as well..

He turns on his heel and makes his way to the bonfire where Espio sits alone. At least he can depend on Espio to not try and spark a conversation with him.

He sits in one of the wooden chairs, leaning back in it with a sigh as he sips his coffee.

Espio, in fact, does not try to talk to him. He keeps his eyes shut in silence a few seats away from Shadow. Honestly, Shadow thinks he might be asleep.

His eyes flutter shut, holding his coffee in his lap as he sighs and lets the karaoke going on fade to the background.

He surely won’t actually be able to sleep Like Espio. He’s use to silence in his slumber. White noise. Like when he was in the tank on the ARK..

But he might be able to look enough like he’s sleeping that no one will disturb him.

He stays like this a long time.. at least three or four songs are performed as he sits there unbothered.

‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ performed by Silver and Cream.

‘Firework’ performed by Amy.

And ‘Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better’ very ironically performed by Rouge and Knuckles.

The next performance is Tails singing ‘Count On Me’ when Shadow hears footsteps approaching.

He doesn’t open his eyes, hoping whomever it is will take the hint and leave him be.

His ear twitches at the sound of the wooden chair next to him creaking with someone being seated in it. The person takes a breath as if they’re gonna speak and then stops.

Shadow expects them to get up and leave.

Instead he hears some fidgeting and movement. And then he hears the quiet sound of guitar strings..

His eyes slide open just slightly to peer over and see Sonic sitting there with his guitar in hand picking a quiet and relaxing melody..

It’s… odd to see.

Sonic who is chaotic and fiery and adventurous and always loud and obnoxious and can’t sit still..

now sits there picking one of the softest and quietest melodies he’s ever heard.

And he looks content while doing so. His face is soft with a smile on his muzzle, humming quietly as he plays. Like a lullaby.

Shadow watches him a long moment.. and then his eyes drift over to the fire. He watches it burn as Sonic plays, finding himself almost hypnotized by the moment. The calm of it. The warmth and the lull of the melody..

He sips his coffee. Sonic doesn’t bother him.

It’s nice. Shadow wasn’t even aware Sonic played guitar before tonight, if he’s honest. He never thought the hedgehog could even sit still long enough to learn such a thing.

And without much thought, he voices this, “I didn’t know you played.”

The strumming stops a moment, Shadow seeing Sonic’s head lift out of his peripherals to look at him. Sonic starts playing again and shrugs as he does so, “Yeah, I have since I was a kid. Use to be in a band, believe it or not.”

“I shockingly can believe that,” Shadow says with a small quirk of his brow, eyeing Sonic as he sips his coffee to which Sonic chuckles at in response.

“I don’t play a lot anymore. Only when I need to clear my head some or am at events like this. Sometimes both..”

Shadow turns his head a bit more towards Sonic at that, eyeing him a moment as Sonic’s own gaze returns down to watching his own fingers move.

“…Has something been on your mind?”

Why is he asking that??? It’s not his business and he doesn’t care—

“Mm..,” Sonic shrugs, “Just been having trouble sleepin’..”

Shadow hums at that, “Can’t say I relate fully. As the Ultimate Lifeform, I don’t require sleep.”

Sonic’s head lifts a bit at that, looking at Shadow with a slight tilt of his head, “Seriously??”

“Mm,” Shadow nods.

“Then what do you do most nights??” Sonic asks curiously, his picking on his guitar never stopping.

“It varies..,” Shadow says, not planning to elaborate but seeing how Sonic is leaning in tentatively, he keeps going, “Sometimes I read. Sometimes I do research for work.. sometimes I watch the stars or go for a run.”

Sonic smiles a bit at that, seeming to relate to that, “So you never sleep at all??”

“Well.. occasionally. For the sake of the pastime. Or for the sake of simply resting for a bit.. shutting down and not having to think for a period of time can be therapeutic.”

“I can’t imagine not sleeping,” Sonic says with a chuckle, “I’m a professional sleeper, I’ll have you know.”

“Well what kind of professional sleeper has trouble sleeping?”

Sonic’s cocky demeanor falters at that, looking at Shadow with a faded smirk before he looks back down to his guitar and mutters, “I’ve been having nightmares is all.. they’ll go away, though, and when they do, I’ll be a shooin’ for the Snooze-lympics.”

Shadow watches the blue hedgehog deliver the joke with a little grin, but he sees how it doesn’t meet his eyes..

He knows about nightmares.. he has far too many of his own.

“Do.. you want to talk about it??” Shadow asks after a moment, holding his now nearly empty coffee in his hands as he shifts his body a bit more towards Sonic.

Sonic hums a bit, looking up from his guitar to the fire instead. He seems hesitant. Reluctant. Shadow won’t push him if he is made uncomfortable by the conversation. He shouldn’t have asked in the first place, frankly.

“…You know.. in all my years of heroing and what not, I’ve rarely not been able to save someone,” Sonic says after a long pause, Shadow’s brows furrowing a bit at the subject change but he doesn’t interrupt.

“..So I guess when I fail, it would haunt me.. huh?”

Shadow purses his lips, not liking the way Sonic guilts himself but understanding the toll being a hero can take, “Makes sense..”

Sonic nods.

“..It’s the same dream. Over and over. Reaching and not being able to grab it. Not being fast enough.”

Shadow feels a sense of uneasiness grow inside him, his heart starting to rise into his throat again. He grips his cup a bit tighter and raises it to sip to try and swallow the feeling back down.

“I watch it fall like a star.. out of my sight. I try to get to it, but it’s like I can’t move. I feel so helpless..”

Shadow swallows the last of his coffee but keeps the cup to his lips, eyes staying on Sonic.

“…Why didn’t you let me save you, Shadow??” Sonic’s eyes lift to Shadow’s then and Shadow feels his chest hurt.

When did Sonic stop playing his guitar??

The only sound now is the crackling of the fire and the distant karaoke performance currently happening on stage.

Shadow doesn’t answer. Just watches Sonic in a long moment of silence. Sonic doesn’t push. He just waits, leaning his elbows against his guitar in his lap and chewing on the inside of his cheek.

The ebony hedgehog lowers his cup after a moment, clearing his throat before speaking at last, “I-… don’t really remember much of that event.”

Sonic doesn’t seem too convinced of his answer, so Shadow tries to add, “After the fall, I simply remember waking up and not knowing anything anymore.. I’m not sure what was going through my head—“

“You remember,” Sonic says. And there’s such conviction in his voice that Shadow’s mouth immediately shuts. Their eyes stay locked as if a challenge.

Shadow’s crimson orbs glare for a moment longer before Shadow huffs and pushes himself to stand from his chair. Sonic watches with his ears sinking back a bit.

“I’m leaving. Tell Rose I appreciated the hospitality.”

Sonic stands then, moving his guitar out of his lap and setting it on the chair, “Shadow, wait—“

“Alright! Next up is a special request from our belovedly devious Rouge the Bat!” Vector announces from the stage, Rouge standing beside him with a wicked little grin. Shadow is making his way to the door with Sonic not far behind him.

“Our two performers will be..,” Rouge whispers in Vector’s ear and Vector seems a bit stunned, “Sonic and Shadow???”

There’s immediate silence and whispers among the group, Shadow’s attention brought to the stage upon hearing his name and his eyes widening at realizing he’s being summoned.

Sonic too has paused, staring at the stage and then back to Shadow and then the stage again.

Shadow doesn’t spare a glance to Sonic, defensively crossing his arms with a stubborn, “I was just leaving.”

“Ohhh no you don’t, Grumps,” Rouge immediately protests, leaping from the stage to glide over to Shadow and tug at his arm, “You promised me a song of my choice. It’s your turn to perform.”

“Now is not the time, Rouge,” Shadow growls under his breath to which she shrugs unbothered.

“Not my problem,” she pulls him to the stage and pushes him towards the steps, “Now knock ‘em dead, Shadow! Metaphorically, of course.”

Sonic has walked to the stage now as well, seeming very off-put by this but also seeming as though he’s resolute.

Shadow watches him approach the mic on the stage, refusing to join him as he stands at the bottom of the stairs. He looks out at the small intimate crowd staring at him expectedly and then back to Sonic and then to Rouge and—

“Fuck this-“ he huffs before quickly making his way towards the exit again, Rouge standing from her seat to follow him.

“Hey! Shadow, hold on a second!”

The music starts playing.. emerald eyes watching the black hedgehog making his escape. Sonic swallows hard, moving a hand to hold the mic as he keeps his gaze on Shadow.

A surprisingly angelic “oooh” coming from him as he warms up to the song. Shadow’s steps falter a bit at this, not expecting Sonic to actually perform. Rouge stops behind him, her attention turning back to Sonic again, and then Shadow who is now standing still with his hand on Amy’s backdoor..

“I.. I just woke up from a dream,” Sonic sings with a slight sway on his feet, trying to loosen up some but his eyes stay on Shadow, “Where you and I had to say goodbye..”

Shadow’s brows knit a bit, turning to look towards the stage again and seeing Sonic standing there watching him.

“I don’t know what it all means..,” Sonic sings with a small shrug, averting his eyes a bit shyly now as he continues, “But since I survived, I realized..”

Shadow steps away from the door.

“Wherever you go that’s where I foooollow. Nobody’s promised tomooooorrow.”

Sonic’s eyes shut as he grips the mic a bit tighter and gives his all, “So I’ma love you every night like it’s the last night- like it’s the last night!”

Everyone watches as Shadow approaches the stage between the chairs, Sonic singing his heart out quite literally into the mic with an undeniable amount of emotion and earnest.

“If the world was endin’, I’d wanna be next to youuuu! If the party was over, and our time on earth was throuuuuugh.”

Sonic’s eyes open again to look up at the stars now, reaching a hand out to them as if to grab, “I’d wanna hold you just for a while..,” his hand returns to his mic with shut eyes, “And diiiiiie with a smile!”

Everyone is in absolute awe of what’s happening. Sonic’s voice demands attention and captures them with its feeling, but so does the fact it feels like a very intimate moment between Shadow and Sonic..

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next,” Sonic’s eyes open again, “to you..”

Sonic’s eyes widen a bit when he looks for Shadow but doesn’t see him, a quiet breath escaping him as he immediately backs from the mic and begins to leave the stage to the right to look for him when—

“Ooooh lost..”

Sonic’s eyes widen as he spins on his heels to see Shadow has joined him from the left side of the stage and is now holding the second mic singing into it..

He seems shy.. quiet at first, but his voice is so.. enchanting. Smooth like silk and mesmerizing.

“Lost in the words that we scream..,” Shadow sings with a knit to his brow, cheeks rosy as he glances to Sonic from the corners of his eyes, “I don’t even wanna do this anymoooore.”

Sonic quickly moves to his mic and joins in to harmonize as they both sing.

“‘Cause you already know what you mean to me!”

“And our love’s the only one—“

“Worth fighting for..”

“Cause wherever you go that’s where I—“ Shadow turns towards Sonic then, point down at the ground as if to make a damn point and Sonic just smiles and steps towards him a bit.

“—Fooooollow.”

“Nobody’s promised—“

“—tomooooorrow.”

Shadow and Sonic are now gripping their mics tight, and it’s as if the rest of the world has faded away.. Shadow’s stage fright gone as it feels as though they’re both confessing to one another right then and there.

“So I’ma love you every night like it’s the last night! Like it’s the last night!”

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next to youuuuu! If the party was over and our time on earth was throuuuuugh!”

Shadow gives an ever so small smile as he sings,

“I’d wanna hold you..”

Sonic harmonizing with him with a heart melting grin, “Just for a while..”

“And diiiiiie with a smile!!”

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next to you..”

Sonic smiles as he steps closer to Shadow, “Right next to youu..”

“Next to youuu..,” Shadow coos with a slight tilt of his head, taking a tiny step closer as well.

“Right next to youuu..,” they harmonize, Sonic’s hand moving to touch Shadow’s only for Shadow to reach and place his hand on the small of Sonic’s back. Holding him there, he pulls him close so their chests bump together.

Sonic beams at this, face going red as he tosses his head back and lets out a howled, “Ooh-Oh!”

And then Shadow is yanking Sonic in as the music reaches its climax, planting a hard and firm kiss on his lips to which the crowd of friends screams and cheers at excitedly. Whistles and applause but all of it is drainage in their ears as they share their kiss. Sonic’s free hand lifts to hold Shadow’s quills tight, fingers curling there as he holds himself to him and feels his heart soaring. Pieces of him mending that have been broken a long time..

Shadow feels whole in that moment. Complete. And not alone for the first time since he can remember..

It’s euphoric. It’s cheesy. It’s straight out of some corny chick flic and neither of them give a damn.

They eventually part a bit reluctantly, Shadow’s eyes staying shut as his forehead presses to Sonic’s with quiet pants for air. Sonic’s eyes open all half-lidded and dopey as he lifts his mic in the small space between them to sing,

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next to youuuu..”

Shadow smiles at him a bit dopey as well, opening his eyes as he lifts his hand to lock their arms and sing into his own mic, “If the party was over and our time on earth was throuuuugh..”

“I’d wanna hold you..,” Shadow’s hand lifts to cup Sonic’s cheek, “Just for a while,” Sonic’s head tilts to nuzzle into his palm.

Both of them then tossing their heads back to sing with their whole chest, “And diiiiiie with a smile!”

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next—“

“To youuuuuu!”

“If the world was ending, I’d wanna be next to you..”

Their foreheads touch again, noses nuzzling as they melt into one another.

“I’d wanna be next to you..”

Their eyes lock as the music fades, Sonic’s grin wider than ever and a soft little smile on Shadow’s own face..

He leans in to kiss him again only to be snapped out of his daze by the wolf whistling and applause their friends teasingly and knowingly give them.

A mix of “about time”s and “congratulations” were shouted at them as Shadow’s cheeks heat up beet red,

He turns his head away from them towards the back of the stage, trying to hide from the group. Sonic chuckles at this and moves to crouch slightly and tilt his head up to put himself in Shadow’s line of sight.

His hand moves to squeeze Shadow’s. And Shadow smiles and squeezes it back.

“In their defense,” Sonic teases with his thumb rubbing The back of Shadow’s hand, finally able to reach him..,

“That was super gay.”

[ruviart]

Hello 😺

[blahlahblash]

Colored doodles

Possible image for possible comic. 🤔

Drawing hedgehogs is too fun.

[maskygirl55]

I've been seeing a very, very slight increase in sonadow dimension travel fics (which I love very much) and can we get some of that for this prompt I have.

In most official Sonic media, Knuckles' main priority is the Chaos Emerald and because of that he doesn't give Rouge the love and dedication she deserves, and often less than. Which makes me appreciate fics where she finds love elsewhere or where Knuckles gets his head out of his ass, that much more enjoyable.

Back to the prompt, I want a Knuxouge to meet Movie! Knuxouge as I feel they're the most likely to have a healthy relationship. Since the movie universe have Knuckles, Sonic and Tails share the responsibility instead of him shouldering it on his own which gives him the opportunity to explore his interests and have a life outside the emerald. So the other Knuckles will feel that much more sucker punched when he sees how they could've been happy together if he tried.

[dailysonadowfanfics]

Reading every single Sonadow Fanfic (Ao3): 309/4.790

Title: Hollow

Author: orphan_account

Website: Ao3

Published: 24.07.2019

Word Count: 4.269 words

Language: English

Suited for minors? At this point in the story i'd say teen and up

Warnings: Violence, Major Character Death

Smut? No

Finished? No

Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog(mentioned), Mephiles the Dark, Silver the Hedgehog, Blaze the Cat, Knuckles the Echidna, Miles Tails Prower, Amy Rose, Rouge the Bat

Ships: Sonic/Shadow (mentioned), Mephiles/Silver

Author Tags: Sonadow - Freeform, Mephilver, slight knuxouge, a lot of gore, no nsfw or smut, Manipulation, Brainwashing, Mentions of genocide, technically not mephilver but kind of, won’t spoil, Crushes, Bonds, Insanity

Author Summary: It was unexpected, at the very least.

When given the task to murder Sonic the Hedgehog, the accused “Iblis Trigger”- Silver believes that even that isn’t enough to save his world.

My summary: This fic is unfinished and at that point more focused on Silver during the events of Sonic 06. One mention of Shadow that is sonadow coded.

You can read it here

[sonicshipbattles]

And the best Knuckles the Echidna ship on tumblr is...

...KNUXOUGE!! Congrats to these two! It was a close match all the way through, but Knuxouge always managed to hold a slight lead. Whichever ship won was a victory for bisexuality and these two have had a lot of fun moments across the franchise since Rouge's introduction in 2001. Let's hope they give us more in future! To treasure hunters!

THE FINALS

This poll is to decide which is the best Knuckles the Echidna ship on tumblr dot com - Knuckles/Sonic or Knuckles/Rouge? Both ships are general to any of the characters' shared media All ships included were submitted to us. This tournament does not accept insults towards either ship - use propaganda to uplift your fave, not put down the opponent

[multiscales]

You know I played Sonic Heroes, watched Sonic X a ton and many other Sonic media where Rouge constantly is interacting with Knuckles and Shadow. I think what I really like about Shadouge and Knuxouge (as someone who normally never cares for shipping/romance) is the fact that Rouge is allowed to interact with both of them (and other characters) without that flirting or shipping being “bonded” to her character (like say Mario/Peach is the default). Like I love how she also seems to have a consistent “type” (more sometimes aloof, tough guys) and how all of these characters exist independent of one another. 

I also like how they didn’t feel the need to automatically pair them off and how you could still read the interactions as being platonic. It doesn’t feel like some mandated Girl x Boy heteronormative stuff that they always feel the need to add in (Mickey Mouse/Minnie, Peach/Mario, etc.) IDW gives a cute little shoutout to the Rouge and Knuckles/Shadow triangle is kind of cool. Knuckles vs. Shadow is always an infinitely more interesting rivalry when it happens in certain media where they clash too. The thing is when it does happens (I haven’t read Archie) it’s not over Rouge but their samey-same butting heads. 

Hell, I love how Shadow isn’t prioritized because he’s the “ultimate lifeform” and nearly as equal to Sonic with their dynamic and interactions. It feels so grounding in a sense? Knuckles meanwhile has a weird dynamic of teasing with Rouge but being aware of her ways (trying to protect the Master Emerald) and being a bit flustered by her. We need more of them as a trio but I always preferred Rouge’s dynamic with both strong boys to actually endgame her with someone. We need more relationship coding like this versus automatically making female characters counterparts to be trophies for males without much agency of their own. 

[anguset]

Knuxouge dump

[jd-arts319]

Sonic ships & an au

Prior of this,i know only sonic x & some help from youtube to know other characters i haven't fully know off!

Maybe imma try to watch sonic games gameplay-yes even the supposed dreadful sonic 06-which can they come up a better title?-

Also plans to read some available comics from DeviantArt or youtube-

To the main topic-

I have several au's that involves ships & their kids including my own & slight if possible au creation-(whichimightalmostleaveitsometimeifthathappens-)

Sonic Next Gen

Main Zone

Main ships & children

Sonadow-Norin,Kazane,Sora,Tommy,Maddy,Maria, Himawari

Mephilver-Saito,Minato+Minami

Knuxouge-Hiroto/Ruben,Rumiko

Blazamy-Asahi,Kasumi

Zoeyxtails-Reynard

Alter Zone

Sonadow-Maria

Metamy-Coblat,Emily

Rookinite-Roux,Sable

Shuffle Zone

Sonilver- Hinode,Keshiki

Shadamy-Kaen

Venilaze-Seiji

Scourgeway-Brutus

Next up is the Alpha Zone au!

Idk about the shuffle zone but yes! This the three Zones of next gens!,the main zone is where the canon characters & in their fanon ships & children,the alter zone is from my au!

Shuffle zone is an inspiration for the new ship I'm doing,sonilver!

I might edit this later on for update or reblog for it!

Edit:added more ships & kids, shadamy is the one i'm into but for the sake of the universe i built i used them for it.

Scourgeway is scourge x fleetway!sonic

Ocs & Au (c) me

Characters (c)SEGA

[katie-wants-donut]

OC fun facts•Jessica

Name: Jessica ‘Speedy’ The Hedgehog

Age: I say she’s about 13 or 14 when I usually draw her

Family: mum (Amy), dad (Sonic), and two younger siblings called Dawn and Blu

Friends: Sam Prower (I’ll talk about him later), Spark the Hedgehog-Cat (Silvaze child), Julie 'Jewel’ (Knuxouge kid)

Ability: super speed, like her dad

Other facts: •siblings have special abilities too, Dawn can use her mother’s hammer and Blu turns into a werehog at night •daddy’s girl, though she does have close bond with Amy too •she is feisty and adventurous •can’t stay still for very long •said for Sam to have a crush on her •has a slight crush on Spark

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 46

Notes: Sorry about not updating last week! I sort of was dogsitting. And had migraines because of the weather and pressure and shit. And I just got glasses, so my eyeballs have been adjusting and it makes my head hurt. BUT ANYWAY! Here ya go. And you all will be glad to know I already have chapter 47 typed up and ready to post, so woohoo for for sure updates next week!

Also, while I have you! I recently updated my Masterpost on my profile to include my art as well as the art of other people who have made things from my stories!! Including some UC Fanart! So go check that out if you want!

Summary: Knuckles can't get out of his head.

UC Masterpost!

Link to My AO3!

Start:

Knuckles has truly grown more in sync with the Master Emerald over the years, he feels. Even despite his recent travels and adventuring the world off of Angel Island, he still felt that deep rooted connection between himself and the gem. Having Rouge check up on it now and then along with Sonic, he had been able to dive more into his inner archeologist and go treasure hunting around the globe. Not to mention learn so much more about the ancients and where the chaos emeralds were first found on this world..

After Starfall Islands.. he realized there was still so much more to know and discover about the emeralds that.. he hadn’t even thought about.

Always so closed-minded, he was. Narrow-headed. Only seeing one path rather than the multiple set before him. It made him miss many opportunities. Easily manipulated, tricked into things he regretted or robbing him of a chance at a higher knowledge. 

It was something he was working on in his journey of self-discovery. Truly assessing a situation and his surroundings before barreling in not knowing what to expect or how it may affect those around him.

Thank Chaos for Sonic and Rouge, though.. as much as each of them liked to pretend they were fine on their own, he knew it hadn’t been easy on either of them. Part of him feels guilty especially for leaving Sonic after such a taxing adventure as Starfall Islands had been.. but Sonic was a tough guy. He could handle it and take care of himself. And Chaos knows if Knuckles ever did offer a shoulder to lean on or a helping hand, Sonic would deny any need of it with a wide grin and thumbs up. 

Can’t help what won’t be helped.

Rouge on the other hand..

Now she was a complicated one.

Perhaps part of his motivation to become a more complex-aware fella was her. 

She was an enigma to him. A true mystery. Every time he thought he might have her even a little figured out, she proved him wrong.

Though, he certainly thought his absence during his recent travels had oddly made them grow.. closer.

The predicaments causing him to have to call her nearly daily, or at least text. Checking up on Angel Island and the Master Emerald.

He still remembers asking her to watch over it for him.

‘Me?? You want me to watch over the Master Emerald?? You’re kidding.’

‘I wouldn’t joke about this. I need someone I can trust who knows and respects the emerald like I do. And while I know you joke about stealing it a lot.. I also know you understand its importance and value.’

‘…Well damn. Alright then, Knucklehead, I’ll keep an eye on your rock. But no promises it’ll still be there when you get back~.’

‘It will be.’

The texts started out pretty basic..

Him asking for an ME update.

Rouge usually sending some ridiculous picture that would get him red in the face of her perched on top of it taken at an angle that was often far too suggestive. 

And then the texts went from updates to chatting..

And then the texts went to phone calls..

And then they just.. talked. All the time. Knuckles simply trusting Rouge would tell him if something was wrong with the Master Emerald, and calling her because..

Well.

Because he just missed her he supposed..

What’s that they say about absence and fondness??

But now that they were reunited again?.. 

Well..

Things felt awkward. Like neither of them knew how to act around one another anymore.

Right back to basking in their mutual tension and dancing around each other.

Knuckles wanted to blame their current situation. Say that Rouge is simply emotionally compromised right now with Shadow gone and they’re both occupied with the stress of the world’s potential end.

But he knows it’s bullshit.

Knows it’s more than that.

They’re both simply… not good at this.

Maybe they’re not cut out for it..

His eyes shut a bit tighter, sitting criss-crossed before the Master Emerald with a small frown. Brows furrowed in annoyance at his inability to concentrate. He needed to get his shit together. The world was ending for Chaos’ sake! 

It was wild to think such things and realize that only their little group of friends even were aware. So many innocent people were counting on them.. and they didn’t even know.

How many times had that happened, though.

They don’t do it for the praise, of course. They do it because it needs to be done.

And right now, Knuckles needs to be able to find out where the remaining chaos emeralds are. But it’s rather difficult when his mind just keeps wandering back to that—

“Just tell me who the hell you think you are?!”

Bat.

Knuckles’ eyes open with a sigh, slowly standing himself up because he already knows he’s about to get nothing done with her here.

“Sleep well??”

“I don’t need you looking out for me, redhead!” she scolds as she lands at the base of the shrine, crossing her arms and jutting her hip out as she glares at him from the bottom of the stairs, “You should’ve woken me up the moment you got the message about the whole damn world ending!”

“You were tired and pushing yourself too hard,” Knuckles frowns. No one else may have noticed it, but he did. The way her feet were dragging, her wings sagging a bit on her back, the extra concealer she patted under her eyes to try and hide the dark circles, the droop in her tail.

She was exhausted.

Both physically and emotionally.

Which is why he was trying really hard to be patient with her right now despite the way she’s storming up those stairs like she’s ready to sock him.

“I think I know my limits a little better than you, Knuckles-For-Brains!”

He closes his eyes.

Takes a deep breath.

She’s not angry with him.

Just taking it out on him.

He’ll be her punching bag for a bit if that’s what she needs to feel better.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she stomps towards him in her heeled boots with her finger up and pointing at him accusingly, “You should’ve woken me up the minute you knew. Not told the others to leave me be to sleep.”

Her voice was mixed with a growl and all the huffy sass in the world, Knuckles opening his eyes again when he felt her finger press to his chest and poke.

He frowned heavier. 

“The world is ending, you idiot! Now isn’t the time for sleep, it’s the time to get the fucking job done!” she huffs and crosses her arms then, retracting her finger from his chest.

“There’s nothing you could be doing right now anyway other than aimlessly looking for the last emeralds like the others—“

“Then I should be looking!!” she huffs, throwing her arms in the air, “I should be out there searching along with the others—“

“Then why aren’t you??”

She stops. 

Blinks at him.

“Wh-..What??”

“Then why aren’t you looking?? You came here instead. Why? Why waste time yelling at me when you could be scouting out for a chaos emerald??”

Knuckles crosses his own arms now, eyes remaining on hers as he waits expectantly for an answer. She just stares at him, looking as though she’s searching for some sort of snarky comeback or smartass answer.. but she doesn’t have one.

So she huffs and crosses her arms instead, turning her nose up and closing her eyes.

“Because I needed to get it out of my system. And needed you to know I don’t need you babying me. I’m a grown woman!”

“I’m well aware..,” he murmurs under his breath, eyes rolling as her own snap back towards him narrowed and looking for a fight.

That’s what this is about.

A fight.

A distraction.

She’s needed something to blow off some steam with since all this mess started. She just won’t admit it.

“Then why don’t you start treating me like it! Instead of trying to force some sort of sleep schedule on me like I’m a toddler!”

“You needed the rest, Bat. Now you’ve got it, and you can go on looking like the others—“

“You’ve got some nerve telling me what I can and can’t do—“

“I’m just saying—“

“Well don’t ‘say’!”

“I was just trying to help. You’ve got no one looking out for you right now, and Chaos knows you don’t look out for yourself like you should during shit like this—“

“I’m plenty fine on my own!”

“Not when I don’t even remember seeing you eat since I got here! Not when you’ve been living off coffee and cat naps here and there!”

“I’ve slept fine—!”

“Don’t bullshit me! I saw you take your laptop up to the room last night! If you think I’m so stupid as to not figure out you’re just going up there to worry yourself to death instead of sleep, you’re wrong!”

She locks her jaw at this, glaring at him.

He sees it. Her walls rising, her going on full defense.

“…What- so because we’ve texted a few times and had a couple phone calls, you think you know me all the sudden??”

“What?? No, I—“

“Well, you don’t! You don’t know me! Not at all, you dumb Knucklehead, and if you think for a second that you’ve got me figured out or— or that you have any right to me or my choices, you don’t!”

“I don’t think that—!”

“I worked for years on my own!! Since I was a child! I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself! I know when I’m pushing myself too far!”

“I know that, Rouge, but—!”

“No buts! You think just because Shadow isn’t here to babysit me that I can’t handle this on my own?! That because the only friend I have— the only family I have is gone that I can’t keep my shit together!! Is that what it is?!”

Knuckles frowns at this, brows going from furrowed in frustration to knitting up in realization.

She thinks she’s alone.

She isn’t angry because she thinks he thinks she can’t handle being alone..

She’s angry because she is alone.. or so she believes..

“…Rouge..,” he says softly, and that seems to just work her up more.

“No! No, don’t do that! Do do the whole ‘big purple doe-eyed’ shit and feel sorry for me! I’m grown! I don’t need anyone! I can get by, I can handle myself, I—!”

Knuckles moved without hesitation, arms wide and wrapping tight around her as he pulls her in against him. His chin hooks over her shoulder, hugging her firm and close and with all his strength so she had no chance of escaping.

Which she absolutely tries to after initially freezing up.

“Let go of me!” she huffs out, squirming in his arms and trying to use her wings to fly herself out of the embrace.

He just holds her tighter. Keeping her grounded right there on the shrine by the Master Emerald. She pulls and pulls, fighting against him until she can’t fight anymore and instead starts swatting at him.

Open hands pushing and shoving at his chest and shoulders as she growls, “Are you deaf, I said let me go, you- you—!”

“You aren’t alone, Rouge..,” he says softly against her soft fur hanging over her shoulder.

She freezes up, exhausted tension keeping her stiff as her ear flicks on her head to hear him.

“You’ve got friends.. we all care about you and see you— I see you.. I know a lot of the attention has been on Shadow and Sonic in all of this, but I know you’re struggling too.. and I’m here.. I didn’t come back for them, I came back for you because you called.. and.. I know you can handle this on your own.. that you’d make it through this strong and brave and all the things you always radiate.. but-.. you don’t have to.”

She sucks in a breath. Biting her lower lip beneath her fang as it begins to quiver.

“Just—I’m here. You’re not alone..”

It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back— well.. the bat’s back.

She collapses against him, her weight draping against his chest as her growls turn to whimpers and her knees give out from all that tension they’ve been holding. Her shoulders loosen so her arms can lift to ever so limply hug around Knuckles’ lower waist, draping right above his jagged tail and clinging there as she buries her face in his neck.

And she cries.

He’s never seen that of her..

Never seen her vulnerable.

But he finds himself honored in that moment to be trusted enough to cradle her through it.

So he does.

He stands there with her as she lets it all out.

He isn’t sure how long that is, but he never falters in the way he rubs her back or brushed his mit through her hair.. over her wings..

He stays as long as she needs.. feeling her tension slowly cry out of her body until she’s wrung dry of it. Left tired and a bit surprised herself at how she just crumbled.

When she eventually does pull away, Knuckles loosens his hold to let her do so, eyes watching her closely as she keeps her head dipped down and wipes at her dripping mascara with her gloves.

She sniffles, black streaks down her cheeks from her tears, offering a tiny and pitiful laugh as she rolls her eyes—

“Sorry… I-.. I don’t know why I did that.. any of it.”

He offers he a small smile and shrug.

“Because you needed it..”

She looks at him then, aquamarine eyes shimmering from crying, “Yeah.. guess I did.”

She snorts then, lifting her hand to his shoulder she had been crying against and rubbing at his red fur, “I got mascara all over your shoulder and neck— shit- I must look like such a mess right now..”

“No..,” he smiles soft, a light blush dusting his own cheeks as he raises a mit to tenderly rub at the mascara streaks on her cheek, “..You’re beautiful.”

She sucks in a breath at that, eyes lifting to his again and staring at him for a long moment before she melts and smiles..

“…Can I-… maybe stay here for a bit?… I guess I-.. could probably use some more rest.. if that’s alright.. crying kind of tuckered me out..”

He smirks a bit at that, biting back his instinct to tell her ‘I told you so’ and instead nodding his head and, “Of course. Stay as long as you need.”

He gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze before turning from her then and moving once again to sit before the Master Emerald. Criss-crossing his legs and closing his eyes as he tries to focus..

He hears her heels click against the stone of the shrine.. then the sound of her sitting down next to him, wings closing behind her.

Something she rarely does.

He always chalked it up to the fact she can never stay in one place too long, always needing to feel free to fly off if she so pleases..

Guess she plans to stay this time.

He smiles a bit to himself, taking a deep breath and sighing it out as he finally feels he’s at peace enough to focus on the Master Emerald—

Only to feel a soft kiss pressed to his cheek.

His eyes shooting open and muzzle growing red to match his quills as he bristles slightly in surprise.

He looks down to see her laying down beside him, her head settling in his lap..

A hand tucked beneath her head and the other draped over his knee..

Her eyes shutting with a little smirk on her lips and a light blush of her own..

He smiles. Dopily.

Snorts and shakes his head as he closes his eyes again with a grumbled, “Batty..”

She pinches the skin to the side of his knee.

“Ow!”

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 34

Notes: I probably won’t get any more updates out until after the holidays. So happy holidays everyone! Stay safe and warm! 💙

Summary: Rouge is upset about the alternate Shadow’s view of her. Shadow receives a message.

UC Masterpost!

Link to my AO3!

Start:

Reaching the rendezvous point, Shadow and Rouge hold their desired items in hand. Shadow with the emeralds and Rouge with the hard drive of research on the Time Eater.

“That was easy enough,” Rouge smirks, moving to Shadow with her bag open for him to put the emeralds inside, “We should head back—“

Shadow only gives her one emerald. She quirks a brow at this, immediately offended by the gesture of seeming distrust.

“Uhh, you gonna carry that the whole way back?” Rouge huffs, crossing her arms at him, “You forget, I want our Shadow back just as much as you want to be back in your world.”

Shadow blinks at this, looking at her in confusion a moment, “Huh?? Oh, no. I-… I wasn’t meaning to mislead you. I was simply going to chaos control us back.”

Rouge pauses, her defensive demeanor slowly easing up now and feeling more sheepish for how quickly she jumped to conclusions, “Oh.. you sure that’s a good idea considering you using chaos control is what got us all into this mess in the first place??”

“I don’t think it was me using chaos control that did it,” Shadow explains with a thoughtful furrow of his brow, “I think it was me using chaos control with a fake emerald.”

“But Sonic did it,” Rouge frowns, her own brows furrowing skeptically, “On the ARK. Back before you sacrificed yourself here in our world. He used it to escape death with the fake emerald.”

“Yes, but that’s Sonic,” Shadow points out, “He naturally holds chaos in his very bones. I was created. Much like that emerald. Chaos was put into me by force of experimentation and DNA intermingling. All this mixed with me using the fake emerald could’ve very well somehow corrupted the use of chaos control and be what tore the space between dimensions open.”

“That.. would make sense,” Rouge ponders with a quirk of her brow, “You do use chaos control pretty often with a normal emerald, and this never happened any of those times.”

“Exactly,” Shadow nods, tossing the emerald up before catching it and clutching it to himself, “So.. ready to warp?”

“Ugh,” she groans, rolling her eyes and stepping towards him so he can lightly place a hand around her waist— a bit sheepish about it, mind you, “I hate chaos controlling..”

Shadow smirks slightly at this, but he’s too focused on getting back to Tails and getting in contact with his Sonic to comment on it. His mind is a one way street, and at the end of it is his partner..

“Chaos control!”

A flash of light outside of Tails’ workshop and Shadow and Rouge reappear in a matter of less than a moment. Once there, he lets go of her and begins walking towards the workshop, Rouge following behind with a little frown. Honestly, the whole mission with this new Shadow just showed how different he was from her own. How she’s truly lost him..

She’s lost the one person she trusts more than anyone. The one person she’s allowed into her walls, and simultaneously felt as though he had let her in his in return. They understood each other. And this new Shadow— he doesn’t seem to care too much for her. Always hesitant to work with her, referring to her as ‘Bat’, showing general distrust..

It stings. Even if she knows it shouldn’t. Even if she knows it’s silly to think they would be friends in every world. She should’ve known that this world was just a fluke. She got lucky with her Shadow. She wasn’t meant for commitments and friendships..

Just more reason she has to get her Shadow back home.

“Sorry for snappin’ at you,” the bat comments before they enter the workshop, “back there. About the chaos emerald. Thought you didn’t trust me.”

“I don’t,” Shadow admits, pausing to turn and look at her with a quirked brow, “well.. not you. I don’t know you. But I don’t trust our Rouge back home.”

“Why? If you don’t mind me askin’, anyway,” she questions, though she tries to seem nonchalant about it. Like she doesn’t really care.

“She works with GUN..,” Shadow answers simply, “..Don’t have good experiences with GUN.”

“That’s all?” she asks with a quirk of her brow, “No personal reasons??..”

Shadow stays quiet a moment, pondering this before looking away with a neutral expression. Then he shakes his head.

Rouge frowns, not seeming satisfied by this answer, “Come on. There’s gotta be some reason you refuse to look me in the face half the time. Other than just working for GUN— which you work with too in this world, mind you—“

“Why does it matter??” Shadow asks, voice sounding a bit impatient now as he looks at the bat with furrowed brows.

She pauses now, blinking at him a moment and then clearing her throat with a shrug, “It.. doesn’t.”

“Okay then,” Shadow nods, crossing his arms with the emerald still in hand, “..So we’re done here?”

“Guess so,” she huffs, the tension between them only seeming to grow rather than shrink like she had been intending.

“Alright..”

She watches as he walks into the workshop, the door shutting behind him as she takes a moment to just breathe in a deep breath then sigh it out slowly..

This was all hitting her harder than she anticipated losing Shadow ever would..

“Yikes,” a voice from behind makes her spin around to see Knuckles gliding down from nearby, seemingly hearing their conversation, “That was hard to watch.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been watching,” she snaps with a huff, going into her typical offensive mode with the echidna that she puts on when she doesn’t want him to see her vulnerable.

He immediately raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back, “Easy. Didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was just getting back from emerald hunting— found one, by the way.”

“Good,” she huffs out, turning around to walk inside, “One step closer to getting this mess fixed—“

She’s stopped by Knuckles’ hand on her shoulder, halting her steps from the weight and warmth it holds.

“…Are you alright?”

She takes another long breath in, shutting her eyes and internally demanding she not let that question trigger her emotions right now. She’s gotta hold it together. Even if she really isn’t alright.

“Peachy,” she sighs out.

“Yeah. Sure sound it,” Knuckles remarks sarcastically, letting his hand squeeze her shoulder, “He doesn’t know you.. don’t let his judgments change your perspective of yourself—“

“Please stop acting like you know me or something,” Rouge rolls her eyes, shoving his large mit off her shoulder, “I said I’m fine. Just ready for this to be done.”

“Rouge—“

“Drop it,” she snaps, turning to narrow her eyes at him to let him know she’s serious.

He stares back at her, brows knitting a bit as he then sighs and looks away with a small nod and gruff, “Fine. But when you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”

Rouge’s eyes soften just slightly at this, but she keeps her defensive stance. Hands on her hips and jaw locked..

Knuckles moves around her to go inside.

She follows after him.

Shadow is standing by Tails, his arms crossed and a small frown on his muzzle as he taps his foot on the ground impatiently.

“So you think you almost got it??” Shadow’s brow knits, not trying to pressure the kit but also anxious to find out if his Sonic is okay..

Rouge and Knuckles join them, each placing their emeralds on opposite corners of the table. They spark a bit at being in close proximity for the first time since their last use, but nothing more.

“Maybe,” Tails sighs, scratching at his head with the end of a wrench before frowning, “I still haven’t fully gotten the hang of how to appropriately conduct the chaos energy and convert it from the emeralds to the device. That much power could outright make it explode if not transferred properly.”

Shadow has taken note that this team doesn’t seem quite as advanced when it comes to getting a hold on chaos energy and controlling it appropriately, but he has certainly learned a thing or two thanks to helping Tails in his own world.

“Maybe you could—“

“Hello?? Hello, this is Miles Tails Prower calling Shadow. Come in Shadow.”

Shadow’s eyes grow wide, everyone’s gaze immediately falling on him as he lifts his watch up to try and speak back, “Tails??? Tails, I’m here! Do you copy???”

Nothing. Static and silence.

Shadow groans in frustration.

“We have to get a signal out! We need more power to reach them—“

“Shadow??? Shadow, buddy, you hear me?? This is Sonic— you know who I am, what am I sayin‘.”

Shadow goes silent, eyes locking on the screen of his communicator watch as his partner’s voice comes through..

It’s like the rest of the world goes silent. Everything around him zoning out as Sonic’s voice speaks muffled and staticky through the tiny watch speaker,

“I’m okay. I just wanted to let you know in case you got any alerts or anything. I’m fine. I know you’ve probably been worried out of your mind for me.. I know I have been about you.”

Shadow’s smiling. He doesn’t know when he started smiling, but it’s wide and pained and wobbly. His eyes feel misty, a quiet and breathy chuckle coming from him as a wave of relief washes over him.

“I really hope you can hear me right now.”

There’s sniffling and Shadow’s heart aches. His fingers flexing uncomfortably with the need to reach out for someone who isn’t there.

“I hope you’re safe.. and not doing anything stupid without me. I hope that other Sonic is taking care of you like your other version has been taking care of me.”

Another wave of relief. With how this world’s Sonic speaks of his alternate, he wasn’t sure just how kind he would be to his own Sonic.. but it seems he’s been adequate.

“We’re all good here, bud. Just missin’ you somethin’ awful.. We’re gonna get you back here soon, though, alright??? Promise.”

Shadow lets out a shaky breath, pressing his forehead to his watch as a single tear slides down his cheek without his permission. He doesn’t care.. he just misses him so much. So damn much.

“We could send him a voice recording?” Tails’ voice comes from the background, a bit quieter due to not being the one close to the mic. It knocks Shadow out of his daze, slightly, his eyes opening again as he looks down at the communicator with knitted brows and listens to the two speak.

“Not a live one like this, but one he can play back? It should reach his communicator. We can maybe explain how we’ve gotten things running on our end and he can play it for whoever he has helping him and they can know what to do?”

“Yeah,” Sonic’s voice comes a bit quieter and holding more hope in it now, “yeah, that’s a good plan. Let’s do that.”

“On it.”

Static. And then more silence.

Shadow sighs shaky and drops his wrist, head tilting back to stare up at the ceiling as he rubs his fingers back through his quills with long inhale and then slow and wobbled exhale.

Rouge, Knuckles and Tails are stare at him with wide eyes. None saying a word about what just happened. What they just heard.

It all makes sense.. Rouge can’t find herself surprised by this. This alternate Sonic and Shadow obviously being involved with one another.. Even in this world, she always knew they had a connection. Even if they were each in denial over it. Sonic lived rent-free in Shadow’s head far too much for Shadow not to feel something for him. But to actually see it firsthand.. hear it with her own ears how much this other Sonic seems to care for this Shadow..

It was surreal.

And it clicked so many pieces together.

It’s gonna be real interesting when Blue gets to hear all this for himself..

They stay quiet until the watch gives a little beep. Shadow rubs his hand down his face and looks back to it, eyes glossy and red-rimmed but no more tears fall. He taps the screen only to see an incoming message being downloaded. He gives a shaky chuckle of relief and takes the watch off, handing it to Tails now and offering a small smile,

“This should help.”

“Yeah..,” Tails says, slowly moving to take the watch from Shadow, “Thanks..”

Shadow looks lighter now. Tension having left him at hearing his own Sonic is in fact safe. Relief has flooded him and hope is restoring inside him..

He’ll be home soon.

He’s okay.

He’s okay.

We’re okay.

[writingtraumaforever]

Uncontrolled Chaos: Chapter 30

Notes: Sorry if this sucks and isn’t my best but my brain is going brrr right now because IM SEEING THE MOVIE TOMORROW AHH—

Summary: Shadow receives one too many alerts for his liking..

UC Masterpost!

Link to my AO3!

Start:

“Did you hear that??”

“I absolutely did.”

Shadow eyes are wide on his wrist, slowly lifting his wrist to pull his glove up just enough to reveal the watch underneath.

The ‘no signal’ symbol at the top has changed to one bar. From red to green. His lips part with a small gasp, immediately holding the watch to his face and pressing the button on the side to speak.

“Tails??? Tails, do you copy???”

More static.

The Tails from this world perks up at the sound of his name, turning his attention from Knuckles and the others back to Shadow and Rouge who are staring at Shadow’s watch..

“You say something, Shadow??”

Shadow ignores him, trying again to press down the button and speak, “Tails??? Tails, come in, this is Shadow!”

Releases the button. More static..

He frowns and tries to swipe his finger along the screen of the watch for other options. He turns on his distress signal, hoping to have his location somehow locked on— but the watch informs him of an ‘error’ and doesn’t connect. Instead, he switches over to vitals. All Amy, Knuckle, Tails and Sonic are connected. They must all be together, he assumes—

Until Sonic’s vitals suddenly go high and a distress signal alerts across the screen.

Shadow’s heart drops.

Switching back to the communicator, he presses the button down and tries again, “Tails!! Tails! Answer me! Where’s Sonic?!”

“I’m right here!” Sonic answers with a curious quirk of his brow as he waltzes over to Shads; Amy, Knuckles and Tails following behind with equal amounts of confusion in their eyes, “Dude, you good??”

“Not you!” Shadow snaps out of panic, staring at the one green signal bar at the top of the tiny screen, “Sonic—my Sonic!”

“Huh???” Sonic’s eyes widen, it finally clicking what’s happening, “You’re communicating with them???”

“No exactly,” shadow mutters a bit hurriedly, tapping on his screen to switch back to vitals and look at Sonic’s again— still high. Still distressed. Why is he the only one distressed?? Is no one else with him??? Just as he thinks it, Amy’s heart rate starts to pick up on the screen..

His communicator beeps for an incoming message, Shadow instantly switching back to the comms screen.

“Shadow?? Shadow, can you hear me??”

“Is he able to— *krrrrch* —it??”

There’s two voices now. Shadow recognizes them as Tails and Knuckles immediately.

“*Krrrsh* —don’t know. It says he’s receivi— *krrrrch* —ou can hear us, send us a sign— *krrrshh*”

Shadow feels panicked. Rushed. Worried. His mind blanks, only able to think about his Sonic’s distress signal and not much else as he turns to the others with desperate eyes, “Help me send them a signal!”

“On it!” Tails jumps into action, moving to grab some tools from his workbench, “We don’t have a chaos emerald to power this thing enough to traverse time and space and communicate properly,” the kit explains, the others looming over him to watch as he works.

Sonic’s hand reaches without thought to rest on Shadow’s back, Shadow not taking notice but Sonic’s eyes are watching him. How scared he looks. How worried. It’s like nothing else in the world exists anymore, Shads’ full focus being on that watch.

“But maybe I can put enough juice in it to send them a signal of some sort—“

“We have a locations setting,” Shadow quickly offers, already taking his watch off to hand over to Tails, “Perhaps we can send them a quick enough signal to let them see it turn on then off??”

“That could work,” Tails nods, already opening the back of the watch with a tiny screwdriver. Tails is immediately intrigued by how similar yet different the schematics of the watch are on the inside, becoming temporarily overwhelmed. His need to dig and investigate and study takes over for only a moment before he takes a deep breath and gathers himself.

Not now. Nerd out later.

Locking back onto the task at hand, he reaches for a couple of tiny wires in his toolbox and begins attaching them to the inside of the watch, “We need a power source.”

“Will this work???” Shadow asks, pulling the fake emerald from his quills.

“That’s what got us into this mess!” Knuckles argues immediately as though the very thought of using the gem again is outrageous.

Tails grabs it without a second thought—

“Yup.”

“What!?”

Tails ignores Knuckles’ protesting, hooking the gem up immediately by attaching the wires with little sticky pads of some sort—

“Alright, let’s light this candle,” Tails says, passing the open watch carefully back to Shadow. Shadow nods and swipes back to the locator screen. He taps the ‘send location’ button. Error. He tries again. Another error.

“It’s not working,” Shadow growls out in frustration.

“Keep trying, it might take a second,” Tails replies, brows knitting as he watches Shadow repeatedly receive the error sign on the watch.

Shadow’s brows are knit tight, eyes panicked and mind racing with what could be happening. Why is Sonic’s distress signal being sent out??? Is no one with him?? He assumes Amy is since her own vitals are going up, but why is Sonic the one hurt??? That dumb idiot better not have gotten himself hurt pulling the sacrifice card—

The watch flashes green, locations turned on for a split moment and sending to all retrieving devices. And then it shuts off, losing signal again.

Shadow’s eyes widen, hoping it was enough for Tails to see and realize it’s him trying to contact them.

Switching back to the comms, he hears Knuckles speaking in the background of the staticky message,

“Did you see that?? His— *krrrch*”

“Hold on, Knuckles! I can only deal with one thing at a— *krrrch*”

“—deal with Sonic. You focus on getting that signal strong— *krrrch*”

The mention of ‘dealing with Sonic’ makes Shadow’s chest ache uncomfortably. Makes bile rise in his throat, burning when he swallows it down hard and holds the communicator up to speak again, “Tails! Tails, I’m here! Can you hear me???”

More static.

Shadow groans in frustration, his eyes shimmering red at the annoyance and anxiety all this is causing him.

“Damnit!” he yells, slamming his fist on the table when the signal reads red again and the green bars go away..

Everyone watches him in silence, unsure of how to comfort him or respond to what the heck just happened..

“…Shadow?” Sonic’s voice comes behind him, quiet and gentle as a gloved hand rests on his shoulder.

Shadow doesn’t respond. Just stares at the watch with gritted teeth, newfound determination rising inside him as he takes a breath and closes his eyes. He needs to control his emotions.. he can’t lose control now. Not here..

When he opens them again, the red glow is gone. He turns to look to Tails now, handing him the watch, “We need emeralds.”

“Yes,” Tails confirms with a hesitant nod, slowly taking the watch from him.

“Then let’s not waste anymore time,” he grunts, turning towards the others, “Tails, stay here get that signal back up..”

Sonic’s brows are knitted up, watching Shadow with concern and empathy clear on his face. But Shadow doesn’t look at him. He won’t look at him, Sonic notices. His eyes go right over him as if to avoid him, in fact. It makes something inside him burn, something worried and pained. Like loss.

“Rouge and I can go to Eggman’s Lair to retrieve any information we can find on the Time Eater and how Eggman managed to use its powers to hop through time and space. Knuckles, Sonic and Amy?? Find the emeralds. I don’t care how, just do it.”

“We can use the chaos energy reader??” Amy suggests, not questioning Shadow’s wishes a single time. And Sonic notices how she moves to rest a reassuring hand on Shadow’s arm. Like she knows something..

“Tails, you have two at the ready, right??”

“Yeah, if you count the one attached to the Tornado,” the fox says with a rub to the back of his neck.

“I can fly it,” Sonic assures, “I may be a little rusty, but I can do it.”

“You’re sure??” Tails frowns, eyeing his brother a bit nervously.

“I was flying that thing when you were still in diapers, pal,” Sonic smirks with a thumbs up, “I’ll figure it out.”

Tails hums a moment, seeming a bit reluctant to let Sonic take his baby like that before he eventually nods since he doesn’t have much of a choice, “Alright. You and Amy take the Tornado. She’s a good co-pilot,” Tails assures, looking to Amy who nods in response. She’s learned a lot sitting in the backseat on their adventures. He trusts her more than most with his plane at this point.

“I’ll take the handheld reader and search the zones,” Knuckles adds, “Between that and being able to naturally sense the chaos energy, I should be able to pick up on something.”

“Good,” Shadow nods, looking at the echidna before looking at the others— except Sonic. He once again lets his gaze jump right over Sonic.

Sonic sighs a bit at this, glancing to Amy who is still holding onto Shadow’s arm. Shadow is even leaning into her a little now.

Oh yeah. He’s gonna interrogate the shit out of her on this flight.

“Alright, gang,” Sonic throws on his signature confident smirk, amplifying the positivity and spirit of the group with that alone. Faking his happy-go-lucky attitude or not, it works. They all look to him for hope, and he never fails to give it,

“Let’s show this Shadow how Mobius 1.0 gets things done!”

“Yeah!” They all cheer in unison and oh man it’s so nice to have everyone together again..

Tails grabs the handheld reader for Knuckles, making sure it’s working properly before handing it off to him. Knuckles leaves immediately for his search, only pausing to take Rouge by her elbow and have her look him in the eye with a very intimate “Be safe” to which she smirked and replied “Too boring.” He just smirked right back and headed out.

Amy and Sonic load up in the Tornado, Sonic taking a few minutes to re-familiarize himself with the controls but after looking it all over, he’s confident he’s got this no problem. It’s his plane he built after all. New tech or not, the mechanics are still the same for the most part.

Shadow walks to Rouge, about to run over some infiltration plans with the bat only for her to pause him with a hand on his chest.

“Hold up there, Hot Topic.”

Shadow quirks a brow at her, “We don’t have time to hold up—“

“But you have time to tell him bye,” Rouge says simply, her eyes looking at Shadow’s knowingly..

Shadow’s brows knit a bit at this..

She knows..

“…You may not be my Shadow, but you’re still Shadow,” she smirks with a shrug, “And I know when you care for someone..”

Shadow sighs a bit at this, glancing over to Sonic who is letting Amy explain how the chaos energy reader works..

After a moment, he approaches the two, walking up to the ladder to the plane and climbing up two steps before leaning against the side of it and looking at Sonic.

Sonic’s eyes shift to his.

Finally, he thinks..

What he sees throws him off. How vulnerable Shadow looks. How shaken up..

He knows this Shadow has a very much different and closer relationship with his Sonic than his own Shadow does with him, but to see it all firsthand..? To see how triggered Shadow has gotten over his Sonic potentially being in danger..? It’s.. jolting, honestly.

“…Be careful,” Shadow says quiet but stern, “I’ve already got one Sonic to be worrying about, I don’t need two.”

Sonic smiles a bit at this, “You got it, buddy. Not a single quill on my precious head will be out of place by the time I get back.”

Shadow smirks slightly at this, but the worry in his eyes is still very present..

Sonic sighs a bit at this and offers, “He’s gonna be okay.. I’m sure he just ran into some trouble. But he’ll be fine. Any version of myself can handle anything life throws at him..”

Shadow chuckles breathily at this, “…You have no idea.”

“I think I do, actually,” Sonic smirks with a wink, Shadow smiling a bit more at that.

“…Yeah, you do, don’t you..”

They share a silent and knowing look for a few more moments before Shadow begins climbing back down with a ‘hmph’.

“Just be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah, thanks mom,” Sonic teases to which Shadow rolls his eyes.

He better be safe..

Or Shadow will just have to kill him.