Work Text:
It was a beautiful afternoon on Bygone Island, Sonic and his friends had sent Eggman packing his latest robot, the sun was shining brightly and their meal at Meh Burger was less meh than usual, they had probably run out of cardboard. Bonus, Tails had received some parts he had ordered, so now he could finally work on that project he’d been putting off for weeks.
Late in the evening, the fox kit had just finished unpacking his new parts and was organising them on his workbench when he heard something. He stopped what he was doing and listened. When he heard nothing, he went back to getting out the tools he would need; screw drivers, wrenches, soldering iron, pliers, etc. Just as he was going to unscrew the first set of bolts, he heard something again. Again, he heard nothing for a few moments, then there was a loud crash outside.
Now curious, Tails goes to his door to investigate the crashing sound he just heard. Must be just a wild animal, but better be safe than be sorry, like Amy would say. Besides, if it were an animal, maybe they needed help or care.
Quietly, he went outside to check, still absently holding onto his wrench. The sun had gone down an hour prior and it was dark, so once he got outside of his workshop, he felt more than he saw movement at the corner of the building. He slowly approached, so as not to spook whatever creature decided to come close to his home. He could never have expected what he saw as he turned on the corner of the shop.
There was someone leaning on the wall, their eyes were closed and he didn’t recognise them at first. He moved a couple steps closer and was about to ask them if they needed something, but saw the red markings. Surprised, he took a few steps back and the figure flinched violently at his sudden movement. Once the surprise passed, Tails decided to approach slowly and more carefully, he didn’t want to spook the black hedgehog currently leaning on the outside wall of his home. Who knew how he would react, Shadow wasn’t known for being nice. Still, Tails could feel something was clearly wrong. Just as he got a few paces away, the dark hedgehog lifted his head and stared at the kit, freezing him in place.
Those eyes . Tails would recognize those rubies any time, no one had eyes quite like Shadow’s.
The hedgehog blinked owlishly, and Tails finally managed to move his own stare from his eyes. That’s when he saw something he didn’t expect; on Shadow’s face was some kind of muzzle. The contraption was clearly preventing him from opening his jaw, hindering any chance of talking. Tails moved a bit closer, unsure of what to do, only to freeze once again as his senses caught on something else : the smell of blood. He couldn’t tell if it was Shadow’s or not, but now that he had caught on it, he couldn’t ignore it. Tails decided to swallow the anxiety the other’s presence caused him and offered his hand, palm up in a non-threatening way. The older male’s gaze returned to his face.
“Do you need help? I can look at it if you want. I promise to be gentle.”
A moment went by, and just as Tails thought the hedgehog was going to keep ignoring him, he nodded and bowed his head to give him access to the back of the muzzle. Tails got closer but unfortunately, he didn’t get to see much of it. As soon as the fox touched the muzzle, the dark hedgehog yelped in obvious pain as the straps of the device somehow started to tighten. The pressure caused by the tightening of the muzzle around the hedgehog’s skull caused him to screw his eyes shut in pain as his legs gave out under him. Shadow collapsed on all four and let out a hoarse grunt, breathing heavily through his nose. Tails took a step back, afraid of causing any more pain to the other mobian.
The kit stayed frozen in place, observing silently as Shadow’s hands dug into the dirt. His gloves were shredded at the fingertips, showing off the deadliest claws Tails had ever seen in a mobian. A moment later, the muzzle stopped its tightening and seemed to relax, but stayed tight enough to prevent any movement from the hedgehog. When all movement stopped, Tails ventured a bit closer and gasped at what he saw : Shadow’s gaze was unfocused, exhaustion and pain clouding anything else. “W… Wait here, I need some light. I’ll be right back” said the fox, not waiting for an answer and going to get a flashlight in his workshop. He came back a handful of seconds later, holding the item in his right hand. “Could you close your eyes? I wouldn’t want to blind you…” murmured Tails, carefully approaching the hedgehog once again.
Another gasp left his lips when he turned the flashlight on after the older male complied with his request, also lowering his head to give him better access. The dark fur around the straps was crusted in blood and Tails could make out gashes through the black quills, some still bleeding sluggishly. Clearly he had tried to free himself of the thing for quite a while, he supposed, harming himself further in the process. Likely the source of most of the blood he could smell. Looking at the device more closely without touching it, Tails came to a disturbing conclusion: it was a torture device, designed to hurt and contain .
‘ What in Gaia’s name has Shadow gotten into?’
Tails didn’t dare touch the muzzle anymore, not wanting the hedgehog to get any more hurt than he already was. Realising it wasn’t something he could deal with on his own, the young fox decided it was time to call the others. But first, he had to somehow convince Shadow to follow him inside his workshop…
Somehow, it had been easier to get Shadow to cooperate than it had been to get Sonic and Amy to calm down. He had to convince them he had been in no danger at any given moment. The dark hedgehog was so unresponsive and dazed, he had simply followed the fox inside and was now sitting on a crate, staring at nothing.
When everyone but Sticks was there, and calm, they took a moment to observe the one who was usually their enemy. His quills were dishevelled, he was still hunched over and, despite the muzzle covering a large portion of his face, they could easily make out the dark bags under his eyes. In other word : he looked nothing like the prideful hedgelord they usually had to fight whenever he showed up. None of them would dare say it out loud, but he looked pitiful.
“So, what happened to you, Shadow?” Asked the blue hedgehog. The dark one gave him an unimpressed stare that clearly said You are dumber than I thought .
“Sonic, he can’t speak with that thing on his face.” rebuted Amy, hands on her hips.
“Yeah, hard to explain what happened… Ho! I know!” the kit exclaimed excitedly.
Tails went to his workbench and rummaged for a moment in a drawer. After a moment, they all heard a triumphant “Ah ha!” before he went back in front of his unexpected guest. He crouched a bit to be at eye level with the other and offered a pen and notebook. Shadow raised a brow, and acknowledged the kit’s effort with a nod as he took the offered items. Flipping the notebook open, he scribbled something quickly then shoved it in the golden furred kid’s face.
“ None of your business . Well, I guess that’s fair.” Said the kid, giving the notebook back to the hedgehog. “Can you tell us anything that could help us understand how to help you?”
“Was it Eggman?” Interrupted Sonic.
Shadow stopped writing and stared at Sonic. After a moment that seemed way too long, he blinked, shook his head and returned his attention to whatever he was writing.
While the black hedgehog wrote his message, they all stared at each other, confused. This was nothing like the person they knew. Shadow was aggressive, prideful and a jerk who injured them on many occasions. All that, without provocation on their part. While they waited, Amy decided to go get refreshments for everyone.
Shadow nudged the fox beside him with the notebook. The kit took it gently and read what was written, brows furrowed. He reread the message three more times, before lifting his gaze to meet Shadow’s.
“Okay, I think I might have a good idea of what to do. But… I…” he began, but at Shadow’s impatient gesture, he kept going. “I can’t think of any way to remove it that won’t hurt you in the process. I barely touched it earlier and…”
Shadow cut him off with a raised hand. When he had the kit’s attention, he shrugged and shook his head in a manner that left the child perplexed.
“You telling us you don’t care?”
Another shrug.
“Come on, if it hurts you, surely we can…”
The blue hedgehog stopped mid-sentence, realising he had lost the other’s attention. His rival was staring at the wall, seemingly uninterested in the conversation.
Shadow’s mind was sluggish. He was having a hard time focusing his attention on anything. The simple task of communicating was already difficult, so ignoring the blue idiot was easy. He didn’t even have the energy to be annoyed by the bunch of idiots and simply stared at the wall while they talked among themselves as if he wasn’t even in the room. Not that he could focus on their conversation anyway.
He stayed this way until Amy placed a glass of water directly in front of his face, getting his attention once more. He raised an eyeridge at her and turned his attention back to the wall. A moment later, the glass of water appeared again, but now a straw had been placed in it. Shadow blinked owlishly, but accepted the glass. He grabbed it with both hands and tried to slip the straw between his lips. The second he moved his head a bit too much, the device tightened again around his skull and he dropped the glass, his hands going to his head instinctively. The shattering of the glass on the concrete floor made him jump and caused the device to tighten further. He let out a muffled cry of pain and fell off the crate he was sitting on.
Amy yelped in surprise and moved away from Shadow. Everyone in the room stared at the dark hedgehog, unsure how they could help him and somehow scared to see him in pain like this. They had never seen the strong mobian express anything other than anger or disdain. Seeing him in pain like this was unexpected and somewhat scary.
At some point, he stopped grunting in pain and managed to calm down enough to get his breathing back under control. He was now on his knees, trembling from head to toe in exhaustion. Fortunately, he had not fallen in the broken glass and Amy got a broom and dustpan to remove everything.
The fox kit made a move to get closer to the hedgehog, but a hand on his arm stopped him. He shot a questioning look at his older brother and Sonic shook his head.
“I don’t see any way to remove that thing from him, Tails. It’s dangerous! You saw how he reacted, what if he hurts you?” said the blue hedgehog, worried for his friend.
“But Sonic, we can’t leave him like this!”
“I know buddy. But we need to find a safe way to help him. Won’t be of any help if you get hurt, right?”
Sonic’s attention went back to the other hedgehog when the now wet notebook hit his leg. The dark furred male snapped his finger and Sonic turned his gaze to his hands. His mouth opened in a surprised “ oh ” when he realised the other was communicating using sign language. “You know sign language?” asked the Blue Blur. Shadow waved his hand impatiently and stared at him.
“Right, not important. Go ahead, I can understand you.”
“ Red one should be strong enough to restrain me. ” Shadow signed, his hands trembling slightly.
“Not sure this is a good idea. But we could bind…”
“ No binding. ”
“Look Shadow, I understand this isn’t pleasant, but…”
“ No. Binding. ”
Shadow’s hand movements turned sharp, easily conveying his annoyance. Sonic raised his own hands in surrender and turned to Knuckles, who had been silent the entire time.
“Hey Knucks, think you could restrain Shadow while Tails looks at that thing?”
The echidna looked at his friend with a serious expression. He turned his gaze to Shadow and appraised him, one hand on his chin as he thought about the request.
“Shadow’s pretty strong himself. I’ll do my best.”
Sonic nodded, impressed by his usually silly friend. Amy offered to help and together, the group of friends prepared a makeshift table where Shadow would lay on, face down. They had covered it with pillows and a blanket to make it at least a bit more comfortable.
The dark hedgehog climbed slowly on it and laid down, his face pressed in a pillow and his arms along his body. Tails positioned himself at the head of the table, while Knuckles restrained Shadow’s legs with his hands. Sonic and Amy took an arm each, hands pressing down on his shoulders and biceps.
Tails observed the muzzle and took as many notes as he could without touching it. Then he counted to three and tried to move it a bit aside to check if he could see anything else that might be relevant. The device clamped down immediately on Shadow’s skull and the hedgehog’s reaction was immediate. His whole body tensed and he grunted in pain once more. Tails removed his hands as soon as the hedgehog tensed up, and took a step back, hands up and ears pinned to his skull. The other three managed to restrain him, but it was clearly a struggle. They exchanged anxious looks between them and tried to move away, but Shadow’s hand snatched Amy’s. The look he gave her could only be interpreted as “ keep going ”. After a quick look to the others, she nodded and went back in position.
It went like this for several more tries, Tails poking the muzzle or trying to move parts of it, resulting in Shadow’s pained exclamations and the tensing of his whole body. They couldn’t help but think the guy would be so sore after all of this. Then, Tails gasped.
“I think I found a weak point. But it won’t be easy to break it and I will need to hold onto the muzzle for several seconds.”
Shadow nodded weakly, indicating he understood and was giving his okay to continue. Sonic suggested taking a break first, but he shook his head no. Amy squeezed his shoulder soothingly and nodded to Tails to get going. The fox took his tools again and counted to three.
This time, he kept on prying on one of the straps. It seemed to have weakened after so many times squeezing between Shadow’s spines. The hedgehog’s pained grunts turned to muffled screaming, but he grabbed Sonic’s arm as soon as the blue male released his arm.
Then, everything went silent, save for the harsh breathing of the ones restraining Shadow. Tails yelped when the strap gave out and barely managed not to fall on his butt.
Amy moved to the head of the table and carefully lifted the unresponsive hedgehog’s head and turned it around a bit.
“He’s breathing, he’s just passed out.” she sighed in relief.
“I think I now understand how this thing is built. Removing the other straps will be a lot easier.”
“Good job buddy. Let’s keep in position in case he wakes up.”
What felt like an eternity later, but was only half an hour, Tails managed to completely remove the muzzle from the unconscious hedgehog’s head.
“What now?” asked Sonic, rubbing his face tiredly. They had spent most of the night up.
“Now, we make him comfortable and we let him rest.” Answered Amy as she rearranged the pillows to lay Shadow on his side. She draped another blanket over him and let him sleep. “What is it, Tails?” she asked, seeing the frown on the younger member of Team Sonic’s face.
“I… I think he was drugged.”
“What?” Amy and Sonic said in unison as they looked at their friend with big, round eyes.
“Think about it. You all saw how apathetic Shadow was. That wasn’t exhaustion only. Also, how do you think those who did that managed to put this t-t-torture device on him? This is Shadow we’re talking about. No way they put that thing around his head without a way to keep him down.” explained the golden fox.
The blue and pink hedgehogs shared a look, then Amy let out a worried sigh.
“As much as I don’t want to admit it, it does make sense.”
“We need to find out who did that.” Said Sonic, his tone serious, turning to look at the still passed out hedgehog on the table.
“We do, but first, we need rest.” reasoned Amy.
“Someone needs to keep an eye on Shadow, you guys go get some sleep. I won’t be able to sleep anyway, so I might as well keep an eye on him and study that thing .”
And they argued about who should sleep and who could stay up. Tails won the argument, but had to compromise. His friends would crash in his house and he promised to wake them up if there was any change in the general situation.
Several hours later, Amy showed up in the genius kit’s workshop with breakfast for three, hoping Shadow would be awake. The two friends discussed quietly while the dark hedgehog still slept.
Amy was just finishing her plate when she heard shuffling behind her. She turned around and her gaze met Shadow’s crimson one. The hedgehog was still disheveled and dark bags were still visible under his eyes, but at least he looks more lucid.
“Good morning Shadow”, Amy tried shyly while Tails stayed silent. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Uh… Define better…” grunted the dark furred male, rubbing at his eyes in a groggy manner.
“Is there anything you need? I brought refreshments and breakfast for you.” Amy added, deciding to ignore the other’s comment for now.
“No thanks. I’ll be going now.”
Tails got off of his chair and went in front of the hedgehog just as he was moving to climb down from the table. He held on his courage and faced Shadow with a stubborn look of his own.
“Wait! You can’t go like this!”
“Yes I can, and I’m leaving. Move, Fox.”
“No. I’m not moving. You need rest. And you owe…”
“I don’t owe you anything .” snarled the older male, his temper flaring.
“You showed up here, unable to remove what is obviously a torture device, plus your were clearly not all here last night.” Said Sonic from his position in the doorway. The blue hedgehog was frowning at his rival, his arms crossed over his chest in an impatient posture. “The very least you owe us, is an explanation.”
“It’s none of your business, Hedgehog .” Shadow sneered.
“It becomes my business when you potentially put my friends in danger. Besides, we want to help.”
“I don’t need your help .” spat the stripped male, still sneering.
“Maybe you don’t need it, but we still want to help.” Said Amy as she moved closer to the table Shadow was still sitting on.
“You’re still weak…”
“I am not…!!!” snarled Shadow
“Weakened!” Cut the kit again. “You’re still weakened, Shadow, you need to at least hydrate yourself and have a meal.”
“I don’t need to …”
Whatever Shadow was going to add to the argument between himself and the others was cut short as an energetic badger came barreling into the workshop.
“Hey guys! The government found us!”
As they all turned to their eccentric friend, they missed the barely repressed flinch that racked Shadow’s frame.
“I’m telling you! Government spies are in the village, asking weird questions.”
“Fuck, they’re already here. I…”
“Whoa! Language there Shads!” squeaked Sonic.”
“Clearly we are over a PG13 rate at this point Sonic! This won’t be aired!” screeched Sticks. “For example, watch me not get beeped when I say- [BEEEEEEEEEP]!”
“Sticks!!” Growled Sonic, now beside Tails to cover his brother’s ears as best he could.
“Let’s get back to the discussion shall we?” said Amy, separating her friends. “What kind of questions were they asking Sticks?”
“I don’t know!”
“Sticks, you said they were asking weird questions, surely you heard some of them, no?” asked the pink hedgehog, her patience on the short side of the fuse after the short night they had.
“Uh. They said they were looking for a dangerous beast. Dark fur and razor sharp claws, eyes the color of b…”
They didn’t get to hear the end of their friend’s rambling as she was cut by a flash of light. They all turned back to the table, but the dark hedgehog was no longer present in the room.
Shadow fell on all four, panting heavily. As he screwed his eyes shut to fight the dizziness, he could hear the flickies chirping and knew he was somewhere outside. Anywhere but in the fox’s building was an improvement. He needed to move away, fast, but the second he tried to get up, his head swam even more and he fell back on his knees.
He punched the forest floor in frustration and tried to calm his breathing. He knew he was on the verge of a panic attack and needed to focus. He opened his eyes and observed his surroundings.
‘ In… Green grass, blue flower, pink flicky, purple flowers. Out. Wind in my quills, grass under my knees, flickies chirping. In… ’
His breathing under control, Shadow shifted his position and rested his back against the nearest tree. He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. He was about to get up and move again when he heard footsteps somewhere east of his current position. He resigned himself to the inevitable and waited. He couldn’t move anyway.
Tails and the others found Shadow some time later in the forest, not far from the village. The dark hedgehog was sitting against a large tree. His eyes were closed and his head was against the trunk, one arm resting loosely over a bent knee. To anyone, he would appear relaxed or even asleep, but the group of friends were able to see how tense he really was. The young inventor cautiously approached the dark furred male and took a deep breath.
“Shadow?” He asked in a low voice.
“Nothing I say will make you leave me alone, right?” answered the hybrid with a sight.
“You know it! We just want to help buddy” said Sonic with an encouraging smile to his brother.
The friends waited for him to answer. They could tell he was still exhausted, so Amy silently left a bowl full of fresh fruits and a bottle of water beside the other hedgehog.
After a moment, Shadow let out another sight and mumbled something none of them would dare repeat. He absently grabbed an apple and bit in it, taking the time to chew before starting to talk.
He told them about the human organization named G.U.N., how they were a military organization sworn to protect the United Federations. While he explained things about G.U.N. and answering questions, Shadow kept on eating the different fruits Amy had brought for him.
“They captured me and put that device on me. I managed to escape them three days ago. I’d been trying to get rid of that muzzle since then when the fox found me. I hadn’t realised I’d been so close to the village.” Shadow grunted at some point.
“Why did they capture you?” asked Tails, offended on his behalf.
Shadow stayed silent for a while. The others were beginning to wonder what the hedgehog might have done to warrant their wrath, he wasn’t known for being nice after all, but couldn’t come with anything that would justify the use of a device such as the muzzle they had used on him. But after a few more minutes of tense silence, Shadow murmured something.
“What was that buddy?” asked the blue male.
“Because I’m the Ultimate Lifeform”, growled Shadow, finally turning to them again.
“Yeah, you say that all the time. But what does your ego have…” added Sonic.
“ Because, I was created by scientists.”
More silence followed this revelation, but before they could ask Shadow to explain himself, they heard more commotion coming from the village. Expecting Eggman to be the source of the commotion, they went to investigate quickly but came face to face with a group of humans wearing military uniforms. Sonic approached them with a cocky smirk and engaged the conversation.
“Hey there! What can we do to help you?”
“We know you are hiding it. Bring me to Project SHADOW and no harm shall befall any of the citizens of this island.” Answered a tall human with broad shoulders and short blond hair.
“Sorry no can do”, smiles the blue speedster. “I’d have to know where he is in the first place.”
“Look rat, the Project is extremely dangerous…” started an olive skinned woman with dark hair.
“Not gonna convince me to help by insulting me.” Sonic cut, frowning heavily. “Now, let’s start again, shall we? I’m Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog . Hero of Bygone Island. How can we help you? And by “help you” ”, Sonic finger quoted the words before continuing, “I mean, how can we make you leave peacefully without taking anyone with you?”
But he never got his answer. At this moment, the radios of the soldiers present before them came to life.
“We found the Project. We are situated South-East of the village. We hit it once.”
Shadow had been getting ready to leave when two of the G.U.N. soldiers had spotted him. He was feeling better now that he had had something to eat and had hydrated himself some, but he had been taken by surprise by the humans. As a result, he wasn’t fast enough to dodge the dart that hit him in the shoulder. He swore under his breath as he removed it quickly and threw it at the soldiers. They quickly moved to hide behind a tree as one of them took a small radio out, calling for the others.
They had found him. He had to get away, and fast. He had no intention of getting captured again by G.U.N., or anyone else for that matter. Standing up properly and taking cover behind the large tree he had been resting against, Shadow listened carefully for any abnormal noise in the forest. His keen senses picked on the sound of many footsteps coming from many different directions and he cursed again. He was being surrounded.
Sonic had gone back to Shadow as soon as they had heard the radio message and had found his rival behind the tree where they had left him. As he got beside him, the blue hedgehog focused his attention on the other one, trying to see any injury, but it was hard to tell with the dark fur. His friends had joined them, hiding all around among the trees before the humans could even catch up.
“Are you injured?” Inquired the Blue Blur in a worried tone.
“No.”
“But we heard them over the radio saying they had hit you once.”
“They got me with a tranq dart. I’m not injured.” grunted the dark furred male.
The blue speedster took a good look at the other. Dark shadows were still visible under his eyes and he was leaning against the tree, a far cry to the battle ready opponent Sonic’s group had to fight on a semi-regular basis. Just as the striped male closed his eyes and shook his head, most likely to try to focus, Sonic came to a decision. He silently signaled his friends to follow his lead, giving three simple directions : protect, watch out and defeat.
In a practiced synchronism, they scattered.
The group of mobians were now watching the soldiers from their respecting hiding spots. They had been evading the soldiers for a while and had managed to neutralize some of them. Amy and Sonic had managed to knock two of them out and Sticks had trapped one against a tree. They were now down to four of the seven they had seen until now.
Shadow had been avoiding the fight, using his namesakes to his advantage and staying hidden. All of them were staying on their guard in case any more G.U.N. agents showed up, keeping an eye out for each other and staying out of the way of the dart guns.
During the confrontation, Tails had heard two of the soldiers arguing in hushed voices. From that, he had learned that the darts contained a tranquilizer strong enough to knock out an adult man, and could even be potentially life threatening. The genius kit had come to the conclusion that each of those darts contained a lethal dose for any mobian. How Shadow was still standing still remained a mystery, even with his previous revelations.
Following this crucial revelation, the fox kit decided to get to all of his friends to inform them of the situation. They had to be even more careful than they already were. A single mistake could mean death.
The forest surrounding them was silent, the wildlife having fled when Shadow had teleported at the foot of a tree, but Tails knew this part like the back of his hand. Finding the others was a piece of cake, and moving around silently and out of the G.U.N. agents’ field of vision was just as easy. He filled everyone in and joined his brother last.
Sonic heard a radio crackle to life once more and took a moment to listen properly.
“ Sergeant, the pod is ready. Awaiting orders .”
Just as he was wondering what that meant, he heard someone taking a harsh breath in and turned to the source of the sound. There, on a high tree branch was Shadow. His expression was frozen, eyes wide in fear and his breathing was off.
His attention was drawn away from the hedgehog when his fox brother flew down on the same branch as him. Taking in the serious face of his lil bro, Sonic knew something was up, but he couldn’t wait for Tails to talk because Shadow was clearly reacting badly to the last radio message.
He gulped in anxiety when Tails explained what he just heard. They were using lethal doses of tranq? On an island full of mobians ?! Clearly these humans didn’t care if they hurt anyone else while tracking Shadow. The stakes were even higher now.
The blue hedgehog was so focussed on internally cursing the G.U.N. agents, it took him a moment to realize the other hedgehog was starting to hyperventilate behind him and his brother.
By the time he realized the problem, two of the humans had located the dark hedgehog. Amy’s warning shout got Shadow’s attention and he swiftly moved away from his hiding spot, but in his panic, he miscalculated his jump and missed the tree branch he was aiming for by several inches. He grabbed onto the tree branch and swinged himself away. One of the agents took the opportunity to take a shot and missed, but one of the other agent got lucky and aimed right.
They all heard Shadow crash somewhere farther on the forest floor, however, none of them managed to find him when they looked around the spot where they expected him to be.
Sonic and Amy shared a look, both perplexed by the situation. If he managed to move away, then he was still conscious, right? They both jumped when they heard a thud behind them. Letting out a sigh of relief at the sight of a downed soldier, they nodded to each other and silently went to search for Shadow.
Tails found the hedgehog about fifteen minutes later. He had panic warped himself farther into the forest. He was panting heavily, both hands holding him against another tree trunk when Tails approached him. The kit made sure to make his footsteps just loud enough to alert the older mobian of his presence without shartling him. Now wasn’t the time to get punched in the face.
Shadow turned his head toward Tails, but didn’t move otherwise. It was clear to the kit that Shadow needed all of his focus to even stay awake at this point. His eyes were glazed over and he was visibly trembling. Tails could see a dart still poking him in his left thigh.
Unfortunately, neither of them heard the nearly silent footsteps of one of the soldiers, but Shadow heard the sound of the trigger being pushed.
“SHADOW!”
The second Sonic heard the panicked cry of his little brother, Sonic zipped in the direction his voice had come from. He had not expected to find him stuck under the slumped form of the dark hedgehog, eyes wide in terror.
That. Was. IT .
Sonic spindashed the soldier standing beside his lil bro and sent him crashing in a nearby tree. He took a look at him long enough to make sure he wouldn’t get back up immediately and kicked the dark gun from his hands. He went to his brother the very second the gun was out of reach of the unconscious agent.
Tails had managed to move Shadow off of him, the hedgehog now laying on his side. Seeing his brother panicking, Sonic took a deep breath and put both hands on the fox’s shoulders.
“Calm down Tails. We’ll help him. Now we need to…”
“Sonic! He’s barely breathing!”
Amy and the others found them just as Sonic was going to answer. They had taken down the other soldiers, so the danger had passed for now.
“Let’s take Shadow to Tails’ place guys.
“Sonic! Take off your communicator and put it on Shadow’s left wrist!” The kit said urgently. He cleaned a table in his workshop, shoving everything to the side, not caring if he damaged anything as he heard some of it fall off the table. “Knuckles, put him there on the table. Amy, try to position him on his left side, bend his right leg in front of him. Left arm…”
“I got him Tails”. Cut the pink hedgehog.
The fox continued moving around gathering supplies. “Sticks, can you go in my home? We need blankets and pillows.” He finished, throwing a side glance at the badger.
Once Shadow was settled on the table, Tails started setting instruments up all around the hedgehog. His friends were all looking at him, perplexed and anxious. They stayed out of his way as much as possible and responded to every call he made, bringing supplies or moving other things out of the way.
Sticks came back a moment later, arms loaded with as many pillows and blankets as she could carry. Knuckles lifted Shadow again and Sticks placed two folded blankets under the lethargic hedgehog, before the echidna gently placed him back on the table. Amy propped the dark male’s head and Sonic added a pillow, making sure he wouldn’t get a crick in his neck later.
All this time, Shadow’s eyes were open and unfocused. He was awake, but Tails couldn’t tell if he was aware of anything going on around him. He busied himself with setting up a computer close to the table, then hooked Shadow on different medical appliances; heart monitor, blood pressure bracelet, oxygen saturation, breathing monitor, anything he had on hand.
When everything was set up, he stopped and took a seat beside the Hedgehog.
“What now Tails?” came a timid voice. Amy. Clearly she was in as much shock as he was himself. The bubbly hedgehog’s confidence now absent.
“Now… Now we wait. It’s going to be a long night.”
“What do you need us to do ‘lil buddy?”
“We need to watch over him at all times. He could go into cardiac arrest at any time.”
“Whoa?! Cardiac arrest?!”
“By all logic, Shadow should be dead, Sonic. You heard those humans! They said a single dose of these darts was lethal to us, could even be lethal to them .”
Silence fell on the workshop once more, the beeping of the different monitors the only sounds one could hear. Along with Shadow’s irregular breathing.
Without being prompted, each one of them found a spot to settle down for the night. They would keep watch, together. Shadow might not be their friend, but it didn’t matter to them. No one deserved to go through what he just had.
“Shadow. Breathe .”
The dark Hedgehog blinked sluggishly, turning his exhausted gaze to the young fox sitting beside him. He inhaled slowly, then exhaled. Then he repeated the same thing, his mind focused on this simple task. A task that should not need his attention. He could hear voices around him, but he couldn’t focus on anything else at the moment.
He was so tired. All he wanted was to sleep . Why couldn’t he just sleep?
“...dow. Breathe. Shadow!”
Huh, yes. Breathe . He had to breathe. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale…
A hand on his shoulder startled him. He inhaled sharply and glared at the offending hand. His glare went up the arm connected to the hand, then up to a face…
“You need to stay awake for now.”
The fox prompted him once again, and he focused again on the vital task. Who knew breathing was so complicated…
Tails had been sitting beside Shadow for hours. Prompting the Hedgehog to breathe every time he stopped. Staying awake himself was getting difficult, but Tails had refused to switch with anyone. They had decided to all stay awake and help their friend in any way possible. Food was shared, coffee was brewed, blankets were brought and everyone kept an eye on the dark furred male currently lying on the table in the middle of Tails’ workshop. Every conversation was made in hushed voices, as if they were afraid any harsh sound would aggravate the lethargic hedgehog’s condition.
The sun was high in the sky when Shadow started to show signs of improvement.
Shadow woke up slowly, his mind feeling foggy and unable to focus on anything. He was warm, and lying on a somewhat hard surface. His body was sore all over and he had a killer headache.
Then he heard them: voices. Immediately, all his instincts went on high alert, his flight or fight response kicking. His eyes snapped open and upon finding himself in an unfamiliar room with white walls , he attempted to teleport away. However, his powers felt just as sluggish as his mind and didn’t answer his panicked mind’s command. His next instinct was to just move away .
He pushed himself backward, not meeting much resistance, and yelped in surprise when gravity took him down on the floor in a harsh crash that resulted in a great cacophony of various equipment falling down around and on him.
Amy and Sonic cut their hushed conversation short when the other hedgehog woke up in a panicked frenzy and crashed down on the floor. The blue male turned around to face the source of all the noise, freezing in surprise at what he saw. The dark hedgehog was now hiding under another of Tails’ work tables in a darker corner and when Amy tried to approach him, he started growling, his quills and fur all puffed out defensively. Taken aback, Amy stopped where she was.
Tails came back in a hurry, having heard the commotion.
“What’s wrong?! His vitals are all over the place!”
“I don’t know!” Sonic answered, lifting his hand in confusion. “One moment he was asleep, the next he was hiding under the table, growling at Amy.
The fox stopped in his tracks, turning in the direction where he could see the other two hedgehogs. True to Sonic’s words, Shadow had cornered himself under the piece of furniture and was growling at the pink hedgehog.
“Amy, Sonic, get outside. I’ll handle it.”
“What? Not a chance, Tails! He’s gonna attack you!” Refused the Blue Blur, throwing a disbelieving look at his brother.
“Sonic, he’s clearly panicking. I can hear his shallow breathing from here.”
“Nuh uh, not going…”
“Sonic, please.”
While the brothers were arguing, Amy, still frozen in place, was observing Shadow. His body language was giving a clear signal: he was terrified.
“Sonic. Let's go outside.”
“What? Amy! No! We need to…”
“Sonic. Shadow’s terrified. He’s clearly not understanding where he is. Let’s go outside. Tails might have more chances of calming him down if we don’t make him feel trapped.”
Sonic turned to the dark furred male still hiding under the table. He does look like a terrified kid.
Sonic dropped his own defensive stance and nodded to his friends. “Okay… Okay. We’ll be just outside. Holler if you need help.”
It took a lot of patience and coaxing, but eventually, Knuckles was the one who managed to get the stripped mobian to calm down and get out of his hiding spot. The tall echidna had simply sat in front of the growling hedgehog’s spot, leaving enough space for him to get out easily if he wanted. One moment, he was silently sitting in front of Shadow, seemingly ignoring him and his attention focused on rummaging in a cloth bag he had brought with him, and the next thing you knew, he was placing a bright red apple between the two of them. Knuckles started to munch on a fruit of his own, ignoring the paw that came out to grab the apple.
Several fruits later, Shadow slowly came out of his hiding place. His eyes were focused on the floor, ears pinned in shame. He never expected the mountain of muscles to grab him like a plush toy and hug him tightly.
“I’m so glad you’re alright!” Cooed Knuckles, drowning Shadow’s surprised yelp.
“Let! Go! Of! ME!” Growled the ebony hedgehog.
“Knuckles! Let him go!” giggled the fox kit. As funny as it was to see Shadow being grabbed like a life sized teddy bear, Tails knew that this teddy bear would bite if he wasn’t dropped down. Soon, preferably. “I’d like to examine you, Shadow, if that’s alright?”
The dark ears immediately pinned down backward at that question. Shadow crossed his arms, but where this pose would usually be intimidating, now it was anything but. Clearly the hedgehog was uneasy and the pose was self soothing.
“Nothing invasive, I promise! I’ve had to monitor your vitals after you were hit with those two tranq darts.”
“Three.”
“Huh? Sorry?”
“I was hit with three…”
“Ho… So that’s why Sonic was confused…” mused the young fox. “Anyway, I had to monitor you. Had you hooked to all the basics : heart monitor, blood pressure bracelet, oxygen saturation, breathing monitor. But I didn’t keep any of the data. I just wanted to make sure you were stable…”
At the hedgehog’s prolonged silence, Tails’ own ears drooped and he looked aways, unsure of what to do. He was startled out of his self doubt by Shadow’s shy sounding voice.
“Thanks… For helping me. And for… not keeping data…”
“Ho! It’s nothing!”
Baby blue met crimson for a moment before the hedgehog looked away once again. Then he went back to the table with the blankets and jumped to sit on it. His ears were still pinned and he was looking everywhere but at Tails, but the kit understood the gesture for what it was. He approached the table and pointed to the blue communicator still on the black wrist.
“I was able to monitor your heartbeat with this. It’s a communicator I designed myself! With it I can monitor everyone’s vitals and know if they are in trouble or in need of assistance.”
Amy and Sonic came back inside to the sight of Tails showing off one of his gadgets to a surprisingly interested Shadow. Knuckles was snoozing on one of the makeshift beds they had prepared when they took turn watching over Shadow, while said hedgehog was absently munching on a piece of fruit and nodding at whatever Tails was explaining. If anyone had told them they would witness Shadow the Hedgehog having a friendly encounter with any of them, they would have laughed it up. But yet, here he was, calmly listening to Sonic’s little brother rambling about some sciency or techy stuff, nodding at all the right places and seemingly understanding everything.
Later in the evening, Sonic went to join Shadow on the beach. The dark hedgehog was sitting in the sand, knees up and his chin resting on his crossed arms. He was staring at the ocean, lost in thoughts. The blue blur silently sat beside him for a while.
“So, you know sign language?” Sonic asked after some time.
“I’m more surprised that you know sign language, Hedgehog.”
“Eh. Learned it a long time ago when I was a kid. What about you?”
“My sister taught me.” mumbled the dark hedgehog.
“Wait, you have a sister?”
“ Had .”
“Ho. Sorry…” said Sonic, quickly catching on the implication. After a moment, he looked away, uncomfortable. “...Do you want to talk about it?”
“Drop it, Sonic.” came the harsh response.
“Okay! Okay… I’ll be there if you ever ch…”
“I said to drop it.”
Sonic let out a frustrated sight, but didn’t say anything else.
“You should listen more to your badger friend.”
Sonic turned to Shadow, surprised. The ebony mobian was now looking at the sky, a lost look in his eyes.
“Heh. Sticks is one of a kind. She rambles a lot about the government, and aliens, and…”
“Were the last few days not proof enough that she’s right?”
“Yeah, maybe… She’s called you an alien you know.” Sonic add with a snicker.
“Who knows,” Shadow snorted, “maybe she’s right again. Wouldn’t surprise me at this point…”
“Some things are better left unknown and all that, right?”
“…”
“Meh. Enough gloom and doom! Come on, Tails wants to show you something.”
Getting up, Sonic waited a moment before offering a hand to the other mobian. It took a few moments, but Shadow eventually took it and let Sonic lift him up. He wasn’t groggy anymore, but he still felt bone tired.
They joined the others around a campfire just beside Sonic’s house and sat each on a log. Food was shared and the group of friends chatted amiably. Shadow was observing them, not participating in any conversation, until Tails came to sit beside him.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I’m leaving the island. I need to lay low and find another spot to hide.”
“But they are gone now. Sonic checked everywhere and made sure they were gone.”
“What’s preventing them from coming back?”
“We can help you, you know…”
“No, you can’t.”
At this point, the others had stopped chatting and were now listening to the fox and hedgehog.
“Guess there’s no convincing you, huh?” Said the blue mobian with a sad smile.
“I don’t even understand why you helped me in the first place.” came the soft reply.
“Nobody deserves to be treated the way they treated you, Shadow. You are a person, just like us. Just like them . You have your own free will, emotions, opinions. You deserve to be helped. You deserve to have people care about you.” Amy said softly but with conviction, as the others all nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, she’s right! Friends make you strong. All together, we manage to beat those military!”
“Hmph.”
“You mentioned you had… a sister, earlier when we were on the beach. I bet she cared a lot about you, if she taught you sign language.”
“She’s gone, what does it matter if she cared or not?” Shadow asked harshly, his eyes getting suspiciously shinny.
“Her being gone doesn’t erase that she did care.” Tails said quietly. So quietly that shadow almost didn’t catch it, even with his sensitive hearing.
“They’ll come back. I’ve been doing that dance for years now.”
“Aren’t you tired of running away? Don’t you want to settle down and live your life?”
An awkward silence followed. If Sonic had been the one saying this, Shadow’s temper would have been ignited in less than a second. But somehow, coming from the fox child beside him, the comment had a different effect on Shadow’s musing. He didn’t need to explain how dangerous G.U.N. were to anyone, not just him.
Letting out a tired sigh, Shadow rubbed at his face with both hands. He was exhausted. Both physically and mentally. This dance was taking more of a toll on him than he was comfortable admitting.
“I might have a suggestion…” Tails started when he could no longer take the heavy silence. Seeing Shadow’s ears twitch, he continued. “Maybe you could leave the island for a while, just to leave a false trail. After that, what’s preventing you from coming back here?”
Shadow lifted his head again, humming in a pensive manner. “I’ve never gone back to a place I was previously hiding around…” he said, one finger tapping his chin.
“Also, I can make a communicator for you. Long range, so you can contact us without issue. No GPS tracking, just as a safety, not that I think they could hack into my systems.” added the golden furred kit, smiling again.
“... Alright.”
At this, Tails let out an excited shout. Knuckles and Sonic high fived each other while the girls let out an excited “yes” of their own.
“Welcome to Team Knuckles!” cried the tall echidna as Sonic squawked indignantly.
“Hmph. I’m not part of any team, I work better alone,” Shadow snorted, crossing his arms in his usual fashion, scowl back in place.
Several days later, Team Sonic was assembled on the beach. Tails was handing a backpack to the dark hedgehog, listing every item it contained. The older mobian rolled his eyes good naturedly and accepted the pack before sliding the straps over his shoulders. Clearly it had been designed for a hedgehog, as it was comfortable and didn’t hinder his movements. Nodding approvingly, Shadow extended a hand, palm up. Without missing a beat, Tails handed him a red and black communicator. The ebony hedgehog put it on his left wrist and checked it was working properly. Satisfied, he nodded again.
Just behind his little brother, Sonic was smiling. He suddenly frowned when he saw a flash of uncertainty in the other hedgehog’s gaze.
“Something’s wrong buddy?”
“No. Everything’s fine. Just…”
Shadow hesitated again, but after a moment, his shoulder drooped and he lifted a hand to fish something from his quills. Heh, looks like Sonic wasn’t the only one with this ridiculous habit.
“Here. If you get into trouble and can’t get a hold of me, call her. She’s help me get out of… sticky situations before.”
“A friend of yours?”
“... You could say that.”
“We’ll do that. I guess she can contact you too, right?” asked Sonic, taking the slip of paper in his hands. Reading it, he found a name and a phone number.
“She’s been better than G.U.N. at founding me so far.”
“How’d you meet her?”
“None of your business, Hedgehog.”
“Heh. Fair enough I guess. Take care of ya Shadz.”
“Don’t. Call me that .”
And with that, the dark hedgehog was gone in a flash, the only evidence of his presence the rapidly disappearing footprints in the sand.
It was a beautiful afternoon on Bygone Island, Sonic and his friends had sent Eggman packing his latest robot, the sun was shining brightly and their meal at Meh Burger was less meh than usual, they had probably run out of cardboard again!
Sonic and his friends were playing volleyball on the beach when they were interrupted.
“I missed him again, haven’t I?”
“Rouge the Bat, I presume?”
The beautiful snow white bat with teal eyes put a hand on her hips and cocked an eyebrow at the blue hedgehog grinning at her.
“At your service…?”
“Name’s Sonic. He mentioned you were a friend.”
“A… Friend?”
“Yup!”
“I guess you could say that.” quietly mused the newcomer. “Alright, tell me everything I missed, Blue.”
Somewhere, way up north, a dark furred hedgehog with red stripes was calmly enjoying an apple when a ding sounded. He checked his new fancy watch and chuckled at the notification he had just received.
“I like your new friends. See you later, Handsome. <3”