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Shadow’s ears twitched as Amy’s voice rose in volume. She paced around the master emerald, trying to get Knuckles to take her concerns seriously. Shadow remained where he was, at the foot of the stairs, but even from here he could tell that Knuckles was half listening.
“It isn’t like him to not respond,” Amy continued, speaking of Sonic. Shadow understood both sides, could see why Knuckles wasn’t as concerned as Amy or Shadow were, but Amy was right. Sonic was the wind; he came and went as he pleased, but he would respond if any of his friends sent him a message of concern, and he would, at the very least, let someone know if he was off on a grand adventure.
“Amy, you know how he is,” Knuckles said. Amy paused, frowning at the response. She looked down the stairs at Shadow, a silent plea for help. Shadow uncrossed his arms and began to climb the stairs, air shoes clicking against the ancient stone. “What are you doing here?” Knuckles asked, finally taking notice of Shadow’s presence.
“To assist Rose, since you have apparently lost your ability to think critically, though I am not surprised,” Shadow muttered as he took his spot beside Amy. Knuckles balled his fists, but Shadow cut him off before he could speak. “I am aware of Sonic’s aloofness and inability to think ahead for more than five minutes, but are you not concerned that he has been quiet for a week?”
“Insulting me is not a good way to get me on your side,” Knuckles complained, causing Shadow to sigh. This was pointless. He told Rose they should forgo this effort, but she had been adamant about speaking to Knuckles and Tails on the matter. “Why do you even care?”
Shadow supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by the question, but it did cause some annoyance. He did things his own way, and while his methods were more brutal than the others, he had still been there when called upon. Shadow was loyal, but his bluntness and inability to sugar-coat things often came to the forefront of others' minds instead of the fact that he showed up.
And, if Sonic was truly in danger–regardless of whether his own actions put him in danger–then Shadow would be there to save him. He owed him that much.
“Do my feelings need to be taken into account for this?” Shadow deflected the question, not in the mood to open up to Knuckles of all people. He could tell by Knuckles’ reaction that this wouldn’t be getting anywhere, so he glanced at Amy.
“Ugh, no help,” she muttered, stomping her foot. Shadow touched her arm, not bothering to say goodbye to the echidna, as he teleported them off of Angel Island. It was pointless to argue with him anymore, and it would only lead to wasting time and energy.
He reached for his communicator, typing up a quick message to Omega and Rouge to meet him at the entrance of G.U.N Headquarters as soon as they could. “I appreciate you coming with me,” Amy said, crossing her arms. “At least someone believes me.”
“Try to speak with Tails again,” Shadow advised, hearing two quick beeps in response to his message. Amy glanced at his communicator, then back at him. “Team Dark will handle this matter, though it would be wise to have the kit as backup.”
“Do you think you know where he is?” Amy asked, eyes widening. “I can go with you!”
“I might. The doctor has been quiet, but we’ve been surveilling a small base of his that seems to have an uptick in activity over the past month. We assumed he had been working on something with the materials that had been brought in, but within the last week, those materials had stopped coming in.”
“Do you think whatever he built has something to do with Sonic?”
“Assumptions lead to mistakes, but it would make sense.” Shadow crossed his arms, knowing that what he was about to say next would only cause more frustration for Amy. “I will meet up with Omega and Rouge and send you the location of the base. I want you to return to Tails and let him know what we are doing, and give him the location.”
“But…” Amy mumbled, deflating.
“I understand your frustrations, and this is not an insult to your abilities, but this is a job for Team Dark,” Shadow said, hoping Amy would understand. He knew how often she was left out of things ,which hurt her deeply, but if Sonic was truly trapped in the base, Team Dark needed to be at their best. Introducing an additional member would throw off their dynamic and could lead to errors. “If Sonic is in there, then we have to be at our best. I don’t want to harm him.”
After a few moments, she nodded her head. Shadow felt his shoulders relax, just a touch, at the response. He respected Amy a great deal.
“I know you wouldn’t leave me out unless it was for the best,” Amy said, offering up a smile. “And I really appreciate you doing this. I could just be paranoid, but…”
“It is better to err on the side of caution,” Shadow said, ready to depart so he could meet up with Rouge and Omega. “Sonic can’t do everything on his own, despite what his hard head believes.”
“You’re right, thank you, truly,” she said as he put her hands over her heart, letting out a sigh of relief. “I feel so much better knowing that you worry for him just as much as I do. I know you’ll bring him back safe and sound.”
Shadow felt his muzzle heat as he quickly looked away, not wanting it to be noticed by Amy. “I wouldn’t say that I worry for him,” he muttered, though that was a lie. “I owe Sonic a great debt. It would be wrong of me to turn my back to him, when he never once turned his back on me, even when I deserved it.”
He and Sonic’s relationship had shifted throughout the years, but despite it all, Sonic had remained a friendly ally, even when Shadow didn’t view him as one. He once believed it had been because Sonic couldn’t help but be an irritating menace, and maybe that was still partially true, but it was also because he cared. He worried about Shadow, had worried about him for years, and Shadow had finally learned to appreciate it and to reciprocate it, in his own way.
He supposed his own way was odd to many, but Rouge had told him that they only saw it as ‘odd’ because people rarely gave additional chances. He felt particularly lucky that a few in his life had endless chances to give him.
“Ah, okay,” Amy said, giving in to him almost too easily. They trusted each other, but it still felt too easy after getting turned down by Tails and Knuckles back-to-back, both questioning his motives for assisting. “Regardless, I feel relieved that you’ll be there. Please be safe, and Tails and I will be here if you need us.”
“Shadow? Shadow!” Sonic said, though it lacked the usual wit and energy. Shadow could understand why, but it didn’t make it any less unsettling. “You’re here!”
“I’ve located him,” he said into his comm before eying the chamber that held the blue hedgehog. It was a dome with a concerning resemblance to one of the devices that they had used on him aboard the ARK. The device he was used to was used to measure his abilities and speed, but with Eggman behind this one, surely it had more devious purposes. “Conserve your energy, hedgehog.”
“I’ve got plenty to spare,” Sonic said, but Shadow didn’t miss the grimace as he shifted more weight to his left side. Shadow felt his own eye twitch, a steady boil of anger beginning to rise. Why hadn’t he noticed Sonic’s disappearance sooner? He shook his head, trying to knock the thought out of his mind. He often went weeks without seeing Sonic, and there was no way he would’ve noticed something was off without Amy’s help. “Uh, but, what are you doing here?”
Despite his earlier statement, Sonic didn’t appear to have energy to spare. If Shadow’s assumption were correct, the Doctor was draining Sonic of his energy, though for what purpose was still unknown. Instead of questioning Shadow’s motives, he needed to be resting.
“To free you from this contraption the Doctor created. Are you unaware that you’ve been gone for a week?” Shadow asked, taking a few steps back. Tails was rattling on through the comm, but it was useless to him. Rouge was handling the power source, not him.
“No, I mean yeah, I know that, but figured you’d be too busy to notice.”
“You’re ridiculous,” Shadow said quickly, shaking his head. “I will never be too busy if you need me.” Sonic’s muzzle flushed, and Shadow looked away quickly, feeling a brief moment of embarrassment from his own words, and that Sonic felt that way. “And the person you need to show appreciation for is Rose. She came to me with her concerns, and I put the pieces together from our surveillance of this base.”
“I’ll be sure to thank her, and to remind you that you’re not too busy when I ask for a race,” Sonic said, the teasing tone back in his voice. It brought little comfort to Shadow when the blue blur was still trapped inside of the machine.
“I said I will not be too busy if you need me, not if you need entertainment,” Shadow said, taking a few steps back to look up at the dome again. He could teleport inside of it and retrieve Sonic that way, but there was the chance that once he was inside, he wouldn’t be able to get out.
A crackle caught both of their attentions, but neither could locate where it came from.
“Ah! Your little friends came too re–Shadow?” Eggman’s voice filled the room, most likely coming from an intercom system somewhere. “What are you doing here?”
“Doctor, I am in no mood for games. Release Sonic at once,” Shadow said, clenching his fists as he prepared himself for a fight. What was taking Rouge so long to get the power turned off?
“Release…? Well, I wasn’t expecting you, but no matter!” Eggman exclaimed as the door on the opposite end of the room opened and a band of badniks entered. Sonic banged his fists against the glass, as if his weakened punches would even cause a crack.
“I said to conserve your energy, faker,” Shadow ordered before he turned his attention on the badniks, taking them out easily. He barely had to put any thought into the fight, which gave him time to mull over Eggman’s surprise.
“Is it really so odd that I came to get you out of there?” Shadow asked, frowning as his fist went through the last badnik. They were allies, had been allies for years, had battled the Doctor together, so why was he surprised to see Shadow here? He turned to face Sonic, who still had his fists against the glass. His comm had gone quiet, which meant that Rouge might be working on getting the machine turned off.
“I guess it’s not a role you play often,” Sonic said with a small shrug of his shoulders. “You and I don’t often come to each other’s rescue."
“That is not entirely true,” Shadow said, stepping around the mess of badniks on the ground. Surely there would be more, but hopefully Omega was holding them off. “The echidna and Tails both had concerns of ulterior motives when I joined Rose in requesting their help, despite us being on the same side.”
“Eh, they don’t get your charm like Ames, and I do,” Sonic said with a wink, trying to lighten the mood. “And a lotta people think we don’t like each other on account of you kicking my ass a lot.”
“You might talk too much, but your relentless attempts at friendship are the reason I am standing here. Do not think that I do not notice your efforts. I apologize if I have not made that clear before.”
“Oh, well,” Sonic looked like he wasn’t sure what to say, a first for him, Shadow was sure. “I wouldn’t give myself that much credit. You went through a lot.” Shadow eyed him, then turned towards the open door when he heard loud footsteps approaching. More robots to waste his time. He prepared himself and launched towards the next swarm of robots.
“Yes, and I made poor choices. I suppose the lack of trust or willingness to work with me is the consequence of those choices,” Shadow said, slamming his fist through the head of a robot. The pieces scattered across the floors, with more joining them as he continued through the wave of enemies.
“That knucklehead wasn’t tons of fun when I first met him either,” Sonic said, raising his voice to be heard over the smashing of metal. Shadow wished he would put the conversation on hold until they had gotten him out of here. “Doesn’t mean we hold it against him all the time!”
“I doubt he’s done worse than me,” Shadow said, putting his shoe through the chest of the last badnik. It fell backwards, shattering when it hit the ground, and Shadow let out a quick huff. This wasn’t difficult fighting by any means, but it was annoying to deal with such weaklings. “If it were up to others, I’d probably be buried deep in the labs under G.U.N. headquarters in cryosleep, an understandable fate, I suppose,” Shadow said, noticing Sonic’s expression darken.
“That isn’t what Maria would have wanted for you, and you didn’t deserve that fate,” Sonic said, quick to speak. He opened his mouth to say more when a low rumble shook the ground.
“It’s powering up, ” Shadow said as the lights dimmed in the room. All at once, they brightened again as the machine Sonic was trapped in whirled to life. Had Rouge gotten in trouble? “Omega, get to Rouge’s location!”
“Affirmative.” The robot responded, tone as even as always. Another swarm of badniks entered the room, getting a curse out of Shadow. Sonic banged against the glass again in an attempt to get his attention, as if now was a good time for that.
“So, if I hadn't kept bothering you, would you have put yourself to sleep?!” Sonic called out, barely heard over the noise of the machine. Shadow glanced his way, not liking having his focus so divided, but Sonic was clearly upset, and he needed to calm him down.
“I had considered it, briefly–”
“Why would you do that? Why would you even consider that to be an option?!”
“I almost destroyed the Earth twice,” Shadow growled, swinging a robot by its foot, letting it slam into the wall. “Do you not remember the Black Arms invasion? Or how the moon is permanently damaged?”
“Yeah, but that didn’t make you bad enough to go to sleep forever!” Sonic exclaimed, voice filled with concern. Shadow didn’t know why they were arguing over this, or why Sonic was so upset in the first place. He wasn’t trying to hurt him, he was trying to show his gratitude.
“I didn’t do it, Faker, so let it go,” Shadow said as a loud beeping filled the air. He finished another badnik as Sonic let out a cry of pain; glass of the dome vibrating all around him. “Rouge, where are we with eliminating the power? This thing is going to drain him.”
“We’re working on it! Has Eggman told Sonic what he’s planning on using his energy for?” Rouge finally replied, but it didn’t settle his concerns. Shadow wondered what would happen if he attempted to break the glass. He had never attempted on the ARK, he had no reason to when it didn’t cause him pain.
“I, I don’t really remember,” Sonic said, looking up at the top of the dome. His ears drooped and one of his hands went to his head. “After everything…you were going to go away again? Make me go through that again?”
“What?” Shadow asked as the machine grew louder. Why was Sonic focusing on that right now? They had a bigger issue on their hands! Sonic was so weak already, Shadow wasn’t sure how much there was left to drain from him. “I’m going to have to break this thing myself.”
He sped to the farthest wall from the dome before racing towards it, effortlessly gathering speed to skate across the glass of the doom. He circled it, keeping a steady pace to make it to the top where it connected to the ceiling. Sparking wires were hidden under a poorly placed piece of metal, no doubt a rush job. The Doctor hadn’t been prepared to capture Sonic so quickly it seemed. He paused, looking at the wires before a yelp from Sonic had him grabbing them in a handful and ripping them from the dome. It was a bit reckless, but they were running out of options.
The lights flickered, and the machine made an awful gluggly noise, but the silence that followed eased his concerns. He slid down the side, feeling no vibrations through the glass or the metal structure at the bottom. Sonic was against the glass, but Shadow couldn’t tell if he had passed out or not. With how quiet it was, he was guessing he was out cold.
“That was one way of doing it,” Rouge said, voice coming in clearly through the comm. “You got Blue, or do I need to send Omega in there?”
Shadow took another risk and teleported into the dome. Kneeling next to Sonic, he could see more clearly the poor condition of the other hedgehog. His blue quills were dull and sagging, and his tanned fur looked pale in the harsh lights of the lab. Shadow was careful as he slid his arms under him and lifted him slowly, not wanting to jostle him and cause further pain.
“I’ve got him,” Shadow responded once he had teleported out of the dome. Normally, he’d be happy to leave any civilians with Rouge or Omega and go after the enemy, but this was different. “I’ll return him to the fox. You handle the Doctor.”
“Kinda crazy to leave us on that conversation and then disappear,” Sonic said, annoyance in his voice, when he appeared at Shadow’s side. Shadow had sensed him moments ago, but he hadn’t felt the need to race away; now he almost wished he had.
“I did not disappear,” Shadow replied, crossing his arms as he looked at the city in the distance. It was true, he hadn’t disappeared. He had dropped Sonic off with Tails and Amy, two of Sonic’s most trusted companions, and went about his life.
“Didn’t even send a ‘get well soon’ card or nothin’,” Sonic clicked his tongue, earning an eye roll from Shadow. “I could’ve been dead!”
“Rose kept me informed of your condition. If that had been what did you in, I would be embarrassed for you,” Shadow said, and was met with a huff before they were in silence.
“I can’t believe you would tell me that and act like it isn’t a big deal,” Sonic said, breaking the almost peaceful silence. Of course, he wouldn’t let the topic go.
“If I had continued to be a threat, it would’ve been a reasonable option, faker.” Shadow crossed his arms as Sonic took a step towards him. Why was Sonic so upset by this? Threats had to be eliminated, and if he couldn’t control himself, he had to be put down to protect the Earth.
“Not to me,” Sonic said quietly, balling his fists. He went quiet again, and Shadow’s ears flicked when he heard an intake of breath. “I love being the fastest thing alive, but that can get lonely. Even when we were at odds with each other, just knowing there was another creature on this Earth that could put up a challenge made it less lonely. I’ve been on the outside, but it doesn’t suck as much when you’re next to me.”
Shadow moved his gaze to Sonic, surprised by the openness, and surprised that he felt a similar way.
Shadow had never wanted to discover a duplicate of himself, a creature who should never be replicated, but he couldn’t deny the comfort it brought him to know that Sonic rivaled him. Sonic, a natural creature of this world, was like him and never treated him with blatant distrust, like a bomb ready to go off at any moment. He wasn’t afraid of Shadow.
It made him feel less unnatural, less of an alien on this beautiful planet.
“I can relate,” Shadow mumbled, earning a small smile from Sonic at the admission.
“Everything thinks I let stuff roll off my back, and I do, sometimes, but man, I was really torn up after the ARK. The others didn’t understand why I couldn't roll it off my back, and it frustrated me a bit that I couldn’t be more than what they originally thought of me. We all gotta have that chance to grow, ya know?” Shadow nodded his head, hearing what Sonic was telling him. “And lemme tell you, I dunno how upset I’d be if you had allowed G.U.N. to put you to sleep again,” Sonic let out a sigh, toeing the ground with his shoe.
“I..I only considered it after Black Arms,” Shadow said, suddenly feeling foolish for how careless he had been about the topic before. Sonic cared for him far more deeply than he had originally realized, and Shadow had been rough as always. “When I was concerned for the safety of the planet, for the safety of my friends.”
“And you would’ve told me, right? Before you did it?” Sonic asked, meeting Shadow’s eyes. His gaze was magnetic, making it impossible for Shadow to look away, and always been that way. Sonic was a force that you couldn’t help but be drawn to.
“I don’t know,” Shadow answered, honest even when he knew it would hurt Sonic’s feelings. He didn’t want to lie to him, not when he was looking at Shadow so earnestly. “I was confused back then; things were difficult. I don’t know if I would have given you the chance to talk me out of it.”
Shadow was met with silence again, and he wondered if that was the end of it. If Sonic would laugh off the conversation and move on.
“I know that people make it difficult to be good, but I hope I don’t,” Sonic said, voice gentle, genuine with what he was saying. Shadow closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Because you are good, just in your own ‘shadow-y’ way. I find it charming.”
Shadow wanted to huff, roll his eyes, and brush the comment off, but it lodged itself deep in his chest. He felt proud of all that he accomplished, that Sonic had seen the effort and work he had put in, then felt embarrassed that his words had once again affected him so much.
He needed to go talk to Rouge, though he was sure what she would say. He didn’t want to hear the truth right now.
“As annoying as you are at times, and the extra work it causes, you never make it difficult to be good. I will continue to challenge you and continue to try, despite what others feel. Also, shadow-y is not a word.”
Sonic’s face broke out into a smile at that, and before Shadow could move, Sonic was wrapping him in a hug. He expected dramatics, Sonic yelling in his ear, refusing to let go, but the hug was nothing of the sort. It caught him off guard, yes, but it wasn’t forceful. It was gentle but firm, reassuring, and when Shadow returned it, Sonic hugged him tighter.
“And so you know, if you do put yourself to sleep, I would just break in and wake you up again,” Sonic said, and of course, he would. Shadow would never have peace with Sonic around, though maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. “And shadow-y is a word because I say it is.”
“Let me go.”
“There’s that shadow-y way.”