Chapter Text
Waking up without the warmth of another next to him was, traumatic to say the least.
The last time Shadow had shared a bed with someone was over fifty years ago aboard the ARK. He’d used to curl up next to Maria when her illness was flaring up. She had always said it made her feel better having him next to her. If he was lucky, he’d wake up to her peaceful presence.
If he wasn’t, he’d wake up to being forcefully dragged out of the girl’s room and being shoved back into his containment chamber.
Waking up with the absence of another nearly sent him back to that cold room, curled up on the floor as he was berated for not being careful enough. Despite the soft sheets of his own bed, he felt cold and miles away from his bedroom. Last time he’d stayed with Maria overnight he’d accidentally sliced her arm with one of his quills. She had claimed it wasn’t a big deal, she had known the risks and chose to have Shadow stay with her anyways. The doctors themselves even knew that she’d be fine. After all, with how sterile Shadow had to be to even visit the young girl, there was no way the cut was anything but clean.
But a clean cut still bled.
Shadows quills were blunted the next day. From then on, he was no longer able to sleep next to his sister.
Yet, this time was different.
Maria had smelled like crisp sheets and rubbing alcohol. The natural scent of a hospital that translated nothing but sickness and sterility, the scent of someone who was dying. He only tolerated the burning scent because it was her. Instead of death, Maria smelled clean. But it was only Maria who could make the sharp scent comforting. Now it was simply the scent of a hospital where there were hundreds of people whom Shadow had failed to help.
His awakening was painful, being forcefully drug out of his flashbacks of blond hair and blood smeared on white sheets. The uncomfortable sensation of his natural line of defense being rendered useless, of doctors not trusting him. He didn’t want to open his eyes, terrified that the sheets he felt now would be hers and he’d wake up on the cold floor again.
He nuzzled his nose into the sheets, the too clean scent being replaced with something else. The true scent embedded in his sheets.
The haunting essence of the ARK drifted away from his hazy mind, now being replaced with the new scent buried under his nose. It smelt like sunshine, warm and musky. Pine trees as wind rustled though their branches. It was new, it was comforting, it was also… weirdly familiar.
Shadow cracked his tired eyes open, his eyelids heavy and gummy from sleep. His brain was still attempting to catch up from both his flashback and the transition to wakefulness. He was met with dark blue sheets and the shallow indent of someone else who’d left hours ago.
Sonic.
“Fuck.” Shadow groaned, his voice rough as he slowly pushed himself to sit up. There was a bright blue quill imbedded in his sheets, an unmistakable clue toward the fact that what had happened last night wasn’t a product of sleep deprivation, but instead fact.
Somehow that obnoxious blue hedgehog broke into his apartment and slid into bed with him. No matter that it was the best sleep Shadow had gotten in literal years, it was still weird.
A light knock was the only warning he was given before his roommate leaned against his doorway with that sly look of hers.
“Why, good morning lover boy. How’d you sleep?” Rouge purred, expression reading nothing but mischief.
Shadow ran his hands down his face, silently thankful that he’d slept in his gloves. Rouge had seen his paws before, so he really didn’t care, but it was nice to retain at least some of his dignity. Especially after last night. “How much do you know?” He groaned, settling the bat with a look that he hoped expressed how dead he felt.
“How much do I know? You make it seem like there’s more to the story, care to give me some intel?” She winked. “From what I saw, Blue and you were getting a little friendly last night. What I want to know is how friendly?”
“Rouge, I know you’re nosy but give me fifteen minutes and I’ll provide. Let me just- give me a minute, ok?” His voice tapered off, hands covering his face as he sunk back down onto the mattress. His mind was still struggling to catch up with the influx of stimulus that he was receiving. A part of him was still screaming, memories still fading into the back of his mind as he tried to process the events of the previous night.
Rouge caught on immediately, her eyes widening in realization and gently closing the door. He noticed she’d left it open an inch or so, Shadow knew the bat didn’t like leaving him in closed rooms during times like these. It was her own form of showing support.
Her lack of privacy surrounding him was shockingly not stifling how he expected it to be. Instead, it was comforting. It was ridiculous. Spend your entire life surrounded by scientists and yet still be surprised by the need for codependency. Rouge meant well, he was perfectly aware of that. She wasn’t waiting outside his room to stab him with a needle or attempt to break his bones. She was his friend, she wanted drama not whatever the hell the scientists aboard the ARK were looking for.
Shadow wasn’t sure how long he laid in his bed, the rumpled sheets lulling him into a state of hazy sleep. When he finally shoved himself up it was nearly noon, much later than the hedgehog usually rose. He deserved the sleep though, or at least that’s what he tried to rationalize with himself as he made his way out to the kitchen.
“Well, well, well, nice to see you out of your room lover boy.” Rouge laughed, pausing her cutting. From the absurd amount of fruit on the counter he could only assume she was making a fruit salad. Aka, bowl of fruit and sugar.
“Is that going to be a permanent nickname now?” Shadow asked, stealing an apple slice and heading over to the coffee maker. It seemed the bat had made a fresh pot recently.
“Hmm,” She pondered, “For the time being, yes.” She smirked, watching Shadow carefully as he poured his coffee. “Your quills are a mess.” She quipped.
“I’m aware.”
“Blue not here to fix them?”
“No.” He growled. Rouge was, unfortunately, anything but phased by his harsh response. Of course she wasn’t, they’d lived together for long enough that he couldn’t get away with anything anymore.
Rouge smiles and shakes her head, placing her bowl of fruit in the fridge before gesturing for Shadow to join her at the table. “Either way, you still owe me details. So, spill!” Her gloved hands tapping on the table impatiently.
“We shared a bed.” Shadow huffed, taking a seat across from her.
“That’s all?”
“Yes.” He wasn’t sure how much she knew or even how she knew, but it’s not like Sonic and him were being loud in any capacity. They were asleep for chaos’s sake.
A knowing look crossed the bats face, “Well, would you change your mind if I said I had pictures?” Shadow immediately looked up from his coffee, “What do you mean you have pictures? Rouge, why do you have pictures?!”
“You want to see? They’re quite cute, not going to lie.” She giggled, trying to pass her actions of nonchalantly but she was clearly dying to show him the blackmail. Meanwhile, Shadow was torn between finding Rouges phone and smashing it or witnessing the photos himself before smashing it. Either way it ended with Rouge phoneless. “Delete them.” He settled on.
Rouge pouted, “Oh come on, where’s the fun in that? I’ll hold onto them until you need a pick me up.” She winked, getting up from the table and grabbing her coat. “The bar opens early tonight so I’m going to set up. Let me know if you need anything!” And with that, she was gone. Leaving Shadow to wrack his exhausted brain to try and remember exactly what had happened the previous night.
Sonic barged in and rudely woken him up. Then the menace made his bed for some reason and then offered to cuddle? It all felt like a weird dream. It was hazy and unclear but even just looking back at what he did remember filled him with a warmth that he couldn’t place. He’d have to yell at Sonic about privacy next time. The weirdest thing a pair of self-assured rivals could do is spoon each other in bed.
Chaos, Shadow was positive he had tried to get the hedgehog to leave him alone, but he would just not listen. It was Sonic of course, he did everything on his own agenda. But, ugh. The entire situation was bizarre. He didn’t know what to do with this new information. The most tragic part was that he liked it.
Shadow had enjoyed being near another body while he slept. The hands carding through his quills, the gentle hold on him. It was equally satisfying and humiliating in ways he couldn’t place. But it was over now, and it would never happen again. Shadow stared down into his half empty mug, the dark coffee gently rippling.
It would never happen again.
Shadow had reluctantly accepted that it was all right to have friends. He had Rouge and Omega and had even gotten comfortable with some of Sonic’s friends, it was becoming a more and more familiar concept. Yet something intimate such as anything beyond simple friendship, that terrified him. The fear of losing another person like Maria was something that he never wanted to face again. Yet somehow Sonic, the obnoxious hedgehog who constantly teases him and makes life more difficult, is always the one to weasel his way under Shadows skin.
Races for the sake of having fun, inviting him to ridiculous parties that he always ditched within twenty minutes. Video game nights, casual conversations, now cuddling was filed under the vast list of thing Sonic had coerced him into doing. If they weren’t so hell bent on being ‘rivals’ – whatever that even meant anymore – they’d just look like pining idiots.
In the end though, it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t ever be anything more than what it was.
Luckily Shadow didn’t have to remain stuck with his thoughts for too long. He’d just barely started on his mission reports when GUN issued him a new assignment. A foot soldier mission had gone wrong, they needed back up. Shadow was in no legal place to reject, so he reluctantly grabbed his stuff and chaos controlled to GUN. An action that unfortunately left him lightheaded from lack of energy. Hopefully that wouldn’t pose as too much of a problem, and if it did than it was GUNs fault anyway. Sending Rouge a quick text, he silenced his phone and sought out the meeting room. Hopefully it would be a quick mission, just a couple incompetent soldiers in a sticky situation and it would all be delt with within a reasonable amount of time.
It had not even been twenty-four hours since returning from his last mission, yet he knew that didn’t matter. He was the Ultimate Lifeform, an experiment, a weapon. Weapons didn’t get breaks.
-
It was not a simple mission.
Shadow stood amidst tons of rubble as soldiers barked orders at him. His communicator was blowing up, the constant ping of notifications enough to drive him insane if he wasn’t so distraught over the current situation. What had happened here?
GUN soldiers were sent out on an anonymous tip about an old Egg base. The doctor having accumulated many of them though his years trying to take over the world. Usually Sonic and his team would clear or demolish bases after they found them, but everyone had just assumed they’d missed one.
This was no ordinary Egg base. It was an elaborate trap.
Shadow had been ushered into the meeting room and given the most rushed pile of information ever. It was an active base swarmed with badniks and bombs. Somehow the GUN soldiers had set off nearly every trap that was set up. The base was conveniently located in a cliffside making the entire thing unstable and on the verge of collapse while the badniks had begun to terrorize civilians. He was on search and rescue. After that, he was supposed to support the soldiers helping the civilians.
Now he stood here watching as the old Egg base began to crumble before his very eyes.
“Agent Shadow!” A rough voice yelled, just loud enough to gain the hybrids attention. “There are still people in there! Get them out!”
Shadow provided a stiff nod at the order. He didn’t have the heart to tell the man that they were probably already dead. If Shadow got caught in the rubble, oh well, he’d survive. If a human did then they’d be as good a dead or at least mortally wounded. But this was his mission, he had to hold onto the shallow hope that someone was still alive in there. He had to give them a chance to survive.
Rushing into the crumbling base, the first thing he noticed was his time limit.
He had no time.
The walls were already caving, support beams cracking under the strain of rock pushing down on them. Shadow ran though the usable paths, dodging falling debris to the best of his ability. He spotted the first soldier, eyes lifeless as the lower half of his body had been crushed by rock. His neck bent at an awkward angle, a tell-tale sign of a broken neck. He looked from the body to the bloody rocks that trapped him. If he were to try and recover the body, the destruction of the rocks would most surely bring the rest of the cavern down.
Damn it, he was trying to be smart about this. GUN could yell at him later, but for now he simply ripped the name off the soldier’s uniform and kept going. He found two more bodies in similar situations. He had no respect for GUN or their soldiers, not after what they’d done to him and everyone aboard the ARK. Yet he still reached down and grabbed at name tags and badges, a singular memento to respect the lives that were now gone. If there was one thing Shadow knew, there was nothing worse than the news of a dead body without proof. At least this way their families would have something of theirs if the bodies weren’t recovered.
Nearly at the center of the cavern, Shadow hears it. A pained groan.
Leg smashed under a beam, but clearly still alive was a young soldier. “Shit.” Shadow cursed, looking at the situation in front of him. If GUN had given him a chaos emerald for this mission than he could have easily transported the soldier out. Yet the hybrid was unfortunately still low on energy and lacking proper supplies to do anything up to his normal standards.
He crouched down, “Can you hear me?” He asked, the soldier wincing in pain. It might have been a stupid question, but Shadow wasn’t sure how much head trauma the other had received. The soldier gave a shaky nod. At least there was some hope. “All right, I’m going to lift the beam and I need you to crawl out from under it. Unless you want me to completely amputate your leg, I’ll need your cooperation.
Shadow wished he didn’t have to see the look of terror in the soldier’s eyes, but they were running out of time. The entire cavern would collapse on them if they weren’t fast enough. Shadow braced himself under the beam, “Ready? One, two, move.” He grunted, lifting the beam up just enough to free the soldier’s leg, but not enough to disturb the rest of the cavern.
“Oh! I got you!” A familiar voice called, the soldier quickly being dragged out from under the beam. “Ouch, that’s a nasty wound you’ve got. Let’s get a professional to look at that.”
Shadow dropped the beam and turned, confused as to why he was here.
“Hey faker!” Sonic smiled, way too cheery to be inside a collapsing mountain side. “Heard you might need some help.”
“You can help by getting him out of here.” Shadow growled. “This place is coming down fast. I’m going to do one last loop so you better get out of here now.” Shadow didn’t want to waste any more time. As soon as Sonic had the soldier in his arms, Shadow took off.
The cavern was crumbling even more now causing him to weave between fallen debris and trying to avoid bombs that had been half buried in the dirt. He’d turn a corner to see bodies or blood splattered against the walls. A sight that no matter how many times he saw it, still made bile climb up his throat. Rounding a couple more turns, Shadow realized that it was too late. Unless he wanted to get trapped here, he’d need to turn back immediately. He cursed GUN for sending so many soldiers into the base. He had no idea how many got out or how many got sent in in the first place. The only tell was the handful of name tags shoved into his quills, a grim reminder of the bodies that would be buried under the rock.
He finally reached the center of the base, a large open cut out where machines were beeping with vengeance. No real threat existed outside of the countdowns displayed on the computers monitors for when the whole cavern would collapse. Only the Doctor would be dramatic enough to build an entire ornate base just to blow it up. Thankfully, he was the only one in the room. That was his sign to get out of there before rest of the ceiling caved in.
“Shadow! Is there anyone else in here?”
Shadow whipped around, chest filling with dread at the sight of the blue hedgehog. “What are you doing? I thought I told you to leave!” Shadow yelled, his voice suddenly overtaken by a loud rumble. Sonic yelped and jumped out of the way as the entrance into the main room collapsed, sealing the two hedgehogs inside. “Oh, that is not good.” Sonic whispered as the room began to violently shake.
Piece by piece the rocky ceiling began to crumble down on them. Small rocks followed by an avalanche, all coming down sporadically and crushing the mechanics with their force. Sonic had a steady look of fear gracing his face while Shadow was, internally, full blown panicking.
It was fine if he was stuck in a cliffside. He could survive without food and water for much longer than the average mobian. He could also heal a long list of his own injuries with only minimal chaos reserves. If he got stuck, he could survive and either wait until GUN went looking for him or until he reserved enough energy to chaos control to safety.
Sonic on the other hand, he couldn’t do any of that.
For as powerful as the hedgehog was, he was still painfully mortal. Shadow had to get the other out and fast.
“Stand back!” Shadow yelled over the roaring of the cavern. He rushed over to the barricaded entrance. Just from looking at it he could tell the rock was thick and not going anywhere. He berated himself for not having a better plan, but Sonic wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place. “I’m going to chaos blast the entrance. If it opens, you run. If anything blocks you then spin dash through it, that is your only way of getting out of here.”
“And what’s the success rate of this plan of yours?”
“Very low.” Shadow growled. “It will either open this entrance up or send the ceiling crumbling down on us.”
Sonic laughed nervously, “Gotta love those odds.”
“Shut up and get behind me.” Sonic complied, readying himself to run the second the rocks were cleared. Shadow took a deep breath. Realistically he knew that if he put all of his power into this, he’d be screwed.
“Chaos blast!”
And the entire cavern crumbled around them.
-
Shadow woke with a start, oxygen shoving itself through his lungs like sandpaper causing him to cough violently into the dirt. His head throbbed, an obvious indicator of some sort of head trauma, and a searing pain shot up his right leg. Summoning a weak ball of chaos energy, Shadow tried to survey the damage.
The damage was extensive.
Rock piled high around him, a complete landslide of rubble and dirt filled up the once cleared cavern. Shadows shoe was crushed under a rock and his calf and knee were torn apart, a bloody mess pooling around him. Cursing, Shadow managed to get is foot out of his shoe and free it from the rubble. If this were a usual situation he’d already be healing himself. Yet this wasn’t the usual situation.
“Sonic?” Shadow weakly called, his voice gruff from the amount of dust in the air. “Sonic!” He yelled again.
All that greeted him was silence. As much as he hated to admit it, there was no way the other could have escaped. The second Shadow had chaos blasted the ceiling had caved in. He didn’t even think the entrance had cleared at all. Shadow eased himself up carefully, trying to not put too much pressure on his leg. He could still walk on it, but it didn’t make it anything less than extremely painful. He may have an outrageously high pain tolerance due to years and years of scientific abuse, but pain was still pain and his leg was just crushed.
Limping his way through the darkness, Shadow held his small ball of chaos energy over every single rock he saw. The extra light aiding his night vision to ensure he didn’t miss anything. Terror began to build in his chest as his search became frantic. Maybe Sonic had gotten out- but no, that was still impossible. He had to be here somewhere. Maybe Shadows head was worse than he thought, quietly mumbling to himself as he dragged himself over the jagged rocks.
Everything smelled like dirt, the air already thinner than he would have liked. He took a deep breathe in a vain attempt to scent the air. Looking for any sign of the blue hedgehog’s scent. The smell of sunshine, the smell of forest.
“Please, please, please.” He pleaded, he couldn’t let Sonic die like this. “Sonic!” He yelled once more, the volumed scratching his voice painfully.
There.
Shadow turned around frantically, eyeing a glint of blue in the faint glow. Quills. Blue quills scattered the ground in front of a pile of rocks. Hastily, Shadow started shoving rocks away from the pile, trying his best to keep things stabilized while also being as fast as possible. Slowly the rocks pulled away to reveal a little pocket in the rubble. There, in the hole, was Sonic.
Bruised and battered, but still alive. Shadow nearly sobbed at the sight.
He quickly dragged Sonic out from the rubble and pulled him into a less precarious clearing. His head had a nasty gash in it, blood streaming down his head and mixing with his blue fur. One of his ears were torn and his nose was bloody causing there to be red smeared across his muzzle. He probably had a concussion, maybe a broken nose. No limbs were visibly mangled like his own, but Shadow was nearly positive the other had a broken rib or two. Thankfully, Sonic had dealt with many of those so that was the least of his worries.
Shadow sat down in the dirt, kicking his other shoe off and pulling his uninjured leg in. Carefully, he placed Sonics head in his lap, trying to keep him somewhat elevated before moving onto the bleeding. He ripped his own gloves off and used them to mop up the gash that was still steadily oozing blood. He placed the fabric over the wound and applied pressure to try and stop the bleeding. Sonic groaned at the handling, a weak noise that filled Shadow with hope.
Shadow continued to apply pressure as tears welled up in his eyes. The stress catching up to him and hitting the hybrid like a bus. The lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of overall energy combined with the stress that came with the mission was bad enough. But the sheer possibility that Sonic could have died was what sent him over the edge. Fat tears rolled down his muzzle while Shadow tried vainly to control his breathing. A droplet hit Sonics head and Shadow gently wiped it away, the tears coming down steady now. Shadow finally caved, resigning to sob over Sonics limp body and praying to Chaos that the hedgehog would make it out all right.
Shadow barely had enough energy to keep his light going, deciding it was best to let it flicker out. Fixing his leg any faster was a hopeless feat and the idea of chaos controlling both of them to safety? Impossible. Without a chaos emerald they were basically stuck until Shadow had enough energy to get them out. A search and rescue was also out of the question because one wrong move and they could be crushed and killed. They were truly out of options until then which did nothing to calm Shadows nerves. He had no idea how badly Sonic was hurt and he was too scared to move the hedgehog more than he already had. Luckily the gash had mostly stopped bleeding by now, but the internal damage was still unknown.
Most of all, Shadow hated how tired he was. Even with all the stress and adrenaline running though his veins, it wasn’t enough to keep him from feeling his exhaustion. As much as he wanted to stay awake until Sonic woke up, that was barely a logical decision. The sooner He got rest, the faster they’d be able to get out. Shadow gave himself a few more minutes to watch the sleeping hedgehog. Just a final confirmation that Sonic was breathing and comfortable. With that, Shadow fell into an uneasy sleep.
Shadow wasn’t sure how long his nap lasted. His internal clock was haywire, and his communicator was smashed in the cave in so he didn’t have any way of knowing. Only thing he did know was that he was woken up by movement. Sonic’s head was still in his lap but he was squirming around uncomfortably, occasionally letting out a whimper or two of pain.
Shadow calmly shushed him and began carding his bare hand through Sonics quills. Mindful of his injury and the raging headache the other probably had.
“Hello?” Sonic called, the word barely a whisper.
“Hello hedgehog.” Shadow responded just as quietly. Sonic hummed in response, a broken sound with acknowledgement all the same. “This you?” He asked, reaching his hand back and up towards Shadow. His gloved fingers just barely brushing over Shadows muzzle before dropping back down. Sonic swallowed heavily, “I feel like shit.” He manages to spit out.
“I know.” Shadow smiled pitifully. “I’ll get us out of here, don’t worry.”
“M’ not worried. You’re, you. Yeah-“ Sonic struggled. “Good. You’re good.”
“I’m good?” Shadow teased, continuing to pitifully groom the blood from Sonics quills.
“Loud.” Sonic finished, turning and burying his face into Shadows uninjured leg with a hum. Just like that, the blue hedgehog fell asleep once more. The confirmation of Sonic’s statis was equally relieving and concerning. At least he knew now that Sonic could be awake and somewhat lucid, but there was still the unknown of the rest of the damage. Shadow tried not to think too much about it, instead trying to force his body into a relaxed state. Luckily, the warmth of the hedgehog in his lap was enough to lull his mind into a false sense of security and allowed him to fall back asleep.
The second time Shadow woke up was to the sound of Sonic throwing up off to the side. Just about six feet away the hedgehog was hunched over, quills raised in defense as he dry heaved against a rock. Shadow could easily smell the putrid scent of stomach acid and the salt of tears now that the dust had settled. The scent that permeated all of those of course was the scent of blood. Blood coming from his own leg that was valiantly trying to stitch itself back together without any help. As well as the blood from his discarded gloves and the blood stuck to Sonic.
He hated the stuffy scent of the collapsed cavern. The way every other smell refused to dissipate once they appeared. A part of him selfishly wanted all the other smells to go away, that way he could focus on the soft scent that was his rival. His rival who smelt like blood and stomach acid right now. He wanted the scent of sunshine back, the smell of freedom, of fun. But that was a selfish notion, when they got out Sonic needed medical attention, not to be stuck with him any longer. As much as Shadow wanted to pathetically shove his face into Sonics neck, he was going to have to burry that urge deep, deep down.
Scents aside, Shadow could now feel the familiar surge of chaos energy running though his body. In a normal situation he could chaos control out right now if he wanted to. Instead, he was going to have to do things the tricky way.
“Sonic.” Shadow called, alerting the attention of younger hedgehog. “Hey Shads. Sorry for, uh, being sick.” He responded.
“Do you think you’ll be all right for a couple minutes?”
Sonic nods and hobbles his way back over to Shadow, the hybrid helping steer him after he missed his mark. Shadow sometimes forgot others didn’t have enhanced vision. Although he guessed that was a good thing for Sonic right now considering his concussion. He got Sonic settled seated in front of him and clicked off his inhibitor rings.
“W-what are you doing?” Sonic stuttered as Shadow grasped Sonics wrist and placed the rings in his gloved hand.
“You’re aware that I can’t chaos control more than one person without a chaos emerald, correct?”
“Yeah…”
He watched as Sonic’s blown eyes tried to find Shadows in the darkness. The look of worry etched into Sonics face was enough to almost make the hybrid cave – and do what? He wasn’t sure.
“I’m going to use the last of my reserves to transport us out of this cavern. When we get out, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be useful, but I need you to find some one to contact either GUN or the resistance. Do you got that?”
Sonic gave a shaky nod before slipping the rings onto his own wrist and grasping Shadows hand. He weaved his fingers between Shadows before pausing, “Where are your gloves?”
“The floor. They’re covered in your blood.”
“Oh.” Sonic squeezed a little tighter, “I’ve always wanted to see your paws.”
Shadow tried to ignore the stuttering in his chest at those words. Instead squeezing back and collecting as much chaos energy as he could muster. He really hoped this worked.
“Chaos, control.”