Chapter Text
Shadow's vision blurred as he awoke.
What is this?
He's lying snugly in a bed, underneath thick black covers. As his vision clears, light shines through the peaks of the black curtains, otherwise, the room is covered in a cloak of darkness that can't hide the fact that this isn’t his room, nor is it a room at Rouge’s place.
Shadow feels his head, the last thing he remembers is that he was at Sonic’s birthday party… Did something happen to him after that? If so… what? He can feel the black spot in his memory, it’s fuzzy and when he tries to focus on it it doesn’t become any clearer. Shadow blinks and clenches his eyes shut in frustration. Again, his memory has failed him.
Knock, knock.
“Good morning Shadow,” said a voice, a male voice that Shadow also didn’t recognize. Before he could respond the door opened. A man walked in with ochre-brown skin, a neat black haircut, and holding a tray with a steaming cup of coffee.
Shadow did not like this, and he knew it read on his face. But the man didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he didn’t care. He delivered the cup of coffee to the nightstand next to the bed, along with a small glass of coffee beans.
“It’s your usual, black coffee and a side of beans. I’m trying out a new blend, give me your thoughts after you drink it.”
Then the man went to the curtains, pulling open the drapes to reveal the scenery of a town below the window, a car lazily drove by, as a handful of people walked by.
“What is… Who are you?”
Shadow blinked, lifting his hand to his mouth. My voice…
What has happened to my voice? It’s, deeper, older sounding. Shadow glances at his hands, turning them over, his gloved hands look different, and the fur on his arms is long, and glossy, shining in the bare amount of light present in the room.
This is wrong.
The man turns around with a half smile. Shadow notices he’s wearing a green apron with a coffee logo that reads “Mean Bean.”
The man chuckles at his question, "Nice joke Shadow. Oh, don’t worry about helping in the cafe today, I know Sonic has been begging you to hang out with him. You should take a break.”
Shadow blinks at him. What is this? Cafe? What Cafe? How does he also know Sonic? Who the hell is this guy?
“What is this place and what am I doing here?” he deeply frowns, “I’m being serious.”
“It’s the mushroom planet, I’m here to infect you with the mushroom virus." the stranger wiggled his fingers, "Was that better? I know humor isn't my strong suit."
“No, I said I was being serious," Shadow glowered.
“I don't think you have a strong sense of humor either,” he chuckles, “but keep working on it. I’ll be in the cafe if you need me.”
Completely flabbergasted Shadow sat up in the bed with his mouth open, watching the human leave without another word. He looked over to the cup of coffee and hesitatingly sniffed the hot steaming mug. It didn't smell suspicious at all. It's slightly floral; probably from the Southside Islands.
It’s a nice cup of coffee, with floral notes, light, strong, and smooth. He easily drinks all of it, and snacks on the raw beans after, looking around the room as he chewed. He recognizes that the room, while sparsely decorated, has items in his style. A black rug in the middle, a CD rack with Metal bands and… Whoever Sabrina Carpenter is, a black boombox, and a small black vanity with drawers for storage. The room feels too huge for the small bed and the scarce amount of items present.
Shadow sat at the vanities chair, looking at himself in the mirror. His eyes widened at what he saw.
That’s not me.
The reflection in the mirror looked like him. He can tell that this is supposed to be him. But it- that wasn’t what he looked like. His fur is strange and so is the shape of his face, he doesn’t even recognize the look in his eyes.
“I’ve taken on a new form,” he mumbled to himself.
No, that’s not right either. This isn’t his form. He’s starting to suspect what has happened here and he doesn’t like it.
…
“Shadow. Shadow!”
His eyes opened.
“Are you okay? You passed out! What happened?!”
His vision is flooded with blue. But that voice- that is-
“Sonic,” he speaks and his vision clears.
Sonic grins at him. The bright sun shines behind him, and a breeze ruffles through his quills. “Yeah it's me, you feeling okay? Rouge said you went on a solo mission while I was fighting the time-eater. Must've been pretty hard on ya for you to pass out.”
Shadow stares at him.
“...What are you talking about? I was just-” he looked around, his eyes widened, and quickly clamored up to his feet. With his mouth open he stared in awe of his surroundings. A breeze pushed through his quills, and the shade from the tree over his head swished, cascading leaves down below. One landed on Shadow’s forehead and he pushed it off. He saw flat green grass in bright colors. A loop-de-loop in the distance, colorful flowers in perfect shapes, and even more colorful critters in pink, purple, white, and green. Hedgehogs, alligators, bees, and creatures he can’t identify. They’re all pleasantly chatting and enjoying the sun, with not a human in sight; eating cake and smiling so brightly that it hurt to look at.
His stomach churned. This isn’t his room. This isn’t anywhere that exists on Earth. Nothing from Maria’s descriptions or the textbooks they read together could even allow him to imagine such a place existed. Yet somehow, he stood among the perfect grass, his ears whistling slightly in the breeze.
“You… okay Shadow? I’ve never seen you space out like this before Bud.”
Shadow grunts and it feels… weird in his mouth. His voice… Doesn't sound right to his ears. It's gravely, higher pitched.
“Where… Am I?” he turned his head to look at Sonic and Sonic looks just as confused as he feels.
“What do you mean Dude? Haven’t you been to Christmas Island before?”
Shadow shakes his head, “This place doesn’t even look like it belongs on Earth. How could I have been here before?”
Sonic's head cocked to the side.
“Earth?”
Shadows' mouth felt dry. He looked up to Sonic. But Sonic… He realized looked different, sounded different, older, taller. His fur is short, and it isn’t shiny. The more he stares, the deeper he frowns.
“Shads, you're starting to worry me.”
“You-"
A gentle flap from overhead made Shadow look up, a bat fluttered from above, landing next to Sonic.
“Let me try talking to him Big Blue, he sounds confused.”
Shadow shifted back when the bat flew in. The blue eyeshadow over her eyes made her large eyes look even bigger, with her posture relaxed, acting weirdly familiar with his presence. She eyed him in a way he didn't recognize, in a way he didn’t like. Whoever she is, she thinks he knows him, and that's an offense he can't reconcile with.
“Who are you?” he accused, and the bat held a hand over her chest incredulously.
“Who am- who am I?!” The bat’s voice raised in pitch, getting the attention of the other animals nearby, their gaze focused on the pair.
“Am I supposed to know who you are?” Shadow huffs.
“Of course, you’re supposed to know who I am- we- I was with you the whole time you were working with Eggman!” her eyes narrowed. “Oh, and there’s the little fact that we work together!”
“Please, if I saw you around the Mean Bean Cafe, I would know," he rolls his eyes.
As if startled, she stumbled back, “You work for GUN. We work for GUN! How could you… suddenly think you work in a Cafe. Doesn't the ultimate lifeform have a better way to use his time?"
Shadow glared at her, trying to keep his anger in check that he felt boiling inside of him. One of his hands clenched into a fist, “I don’t know who you are, and I would never even consider working for GUN. They took…” he shakes his head, “they took too much from me.”
“Oooookay!” Sonic clapped his hands together, dispelling the tension between the pair. Both blinked and looked at Sonic. “We’re going nowhere fast with this Rouge.”
“Agreed.” Rouge sighed. “I just don’t understand what could have happened. I was there with him in White space…”
“I don’t know what that is, I know I couldn’t have been anywhere with you.” Shadow rolls his eyes. “Now let me ask the questions. What is this place? And why don’t you know what Earth is? Where are those humans you depend on?”
The yellow fox stepped in, “Shadow, we don’t know what you’re talking about, and I think we should talk about this after the party.” Tails smiled, “It’s Sonic’s birthday you know-”
Even that little fox looks different, but at least his voice, oddly enough, is exactly the same.
“Tails, I think this is honestly more important than my birthday,” Sonic rubs a finger under his nose, nervously chuckling, “I can’t expect Shadow to enjoy my birthday if I don’t understand what’s happened to him, and I don’t want to be worrying about him the whole party.”
“Save your worry hedgehog,” Shadow replied. “I don’t even particularly want to be at this… party, I just want to understand why you look like that.”
That bridge on his nose doesn’t connect to his muzzle. It makes his eyes look connected, as though in his head is one giant eyeball.
“I look like what?”
“I also want to know what’s happened to him.” Rouge tapped her fingers on her crossed arms, “ How in the world did you lose your memories-”
“Guys, I think you’re crowding around him too much.” Sonic gestures for them to make space, which Shadow, admittedly felt grateful for, he didn’t like all these… eyes or questions, especially when he knew less than they did. Even still, Shadow kept his expression even, barely changing the way he looked.
Tails went ‘hm’ his big tails swishing behind him, “No if Shadow just lost his memories, he would remember you Rouge. I think…. There’s something else happening here. Shadow, please explain to us what earth is, what humans you’re talking about, and what you last remember. We can probably figure out what happened to you if we have more information because right now we’re just as confused as you are.
Shadow sighs.
“Fine. But no more interruptions.”
…..
When Shadow made his way downstairs, he lingered at the entrance to the Coffee Shop. It wasn’t a particularly busy day for the man he still didn’t have a name for, but he was working as a barista behind the counter. The hum of the machines and the sound of a shot being pulled into a mug were familiar to him, and the smell of the various blends of coffee etched themselves into the inside of his brain. It smelt divine in the shop, the strong stench of coffee somehow not drifting upwards into the upstairs rooms. Sweet pastries sat in the display case, along with bagels. The only customer in the room is an old man sitting at one of the tables, eating a croissant as he waits for his coffee.
Shadow didn’t at all know how to feel about this. There was a… twinge of jealousy. A very small twinge at that. This other Shadow was very lucky to have so much coffee at his fingertips, freshly delivered to his bed. Of course, it's ridiculous to feel any deeper emotions than that for something so... whatever.
As much as he hated to even admit it, he’s definitely in the body of another shadow, transported into his form and now somewhere in the multiverse, lifetimes, worlds, and dimensions away from his home and… acquaintances.
He needed to get in contact with Sonic and whoever else is in this dimension and figure out a way back. After all-
If I’m here, and the Shadow of this world isn’t here, that means he’s there.
And Shadow didn’t like the thought of someone else, even another Shadow, taking his place. With how different their circumstances and their lives are, he can’t imagine that the other Shadow even understands what’s happening. Who knows how long it will be before Tails invents some device or they find the chaos emeralds, or Knuckles is convinced to let them use the master emerald. Not that he's sure any of those would work. Shadow doesn't know how Blaze moves between her dimension and Mobius. He didn't ask, and it could be a power only the sol emeralds could perform. If that's the case, Shadows going to be very stuck here and he doesn’t want to spend any longer in another dimension than he has to, it’s a waste of his time. Like it or not, this world Sonic is his only ticket home.
Ugh.
He also feels a slight pang in his chest, a small worry, but it’s there- what if the world is in danger and I’m not there?
He shakes that off, that’s foolish. He'd even go as far as to call it stupid. Sonic is perfectly capable of defending their home alone, and so are the rest of his little friends. Besides, Eggman isn’t exactly in his prime, nor is Black Doom. Neither could feasibly attack again so soon.
The man serving as barista finally noticed Shadow with a nod.
“Go have fun.”
Whatever.
Shadow didn’t say anything back to him. He left the coffee shop and exited onto the street of who knows where he is now.
He could describe this place as… sleepy. Very few people were out and about, cars lazily drifted by in the street, in the distance he could hear the breeze twisting through the weather vane on top of one of the shops. Antiques, a general store, a supermarket, completely banal. He had a hard time believing that any Sonic could live in such a boring area-- if it weren’t for the mountains, covered in tall, thick pine trees that cut them off from the outside world. As much as he knew about Sonic, he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the green forests, thick with life and with nature.
A bristle went down Shadow’s neck. He turned around, seeing a blue blur from on top of one of the distant mountains, coming closer and closer in a matter of seconds. That wasn’t surprising, what was surprising was the chaotic crackle of energy surrounding the blue blur. It clung in the air, its presence aggressive, stinging. Shadow is always able to sense Sonic’s chaos energy that exists within himself it felt… sweet, and youthful, for lack of better words. This felt… aggressive, different. Like somehow… this Sonic isn’t fully in control of himself.
He really is in a different world. That isn't Sonic.
He looked down at his hand and clenched it into a fist, a spark of chaos energy coarse through his body.
And this isn't me either.
“Hey, Hot Topic! I thought I told you to meet me at the top of that mountain!”
Shadow looked up.
His face…. It's… completely different. That fur color. His fur. It's wrong. Different. The ridge between his eyes is more pronounced, a little bit of the peach of his muzzle travels up between his eyes, his eyes are deeper, and Shadow can see further into them than he could before (not that he spent a lot of time looking into Sonic’s eyes) and while he was at it, his voice is… hm, he can’t decide if it sounds younger or is just higher of a pitch. Either way, nothing about this Sonic feels like his Sonic, the Sonic that has been a pain in his side for years now.
Shadow crossed his arms, “I didn’t know that-”
“Didn’t know? Well, I totally told you. It’s okay if you forgot. Also, you stink of coffee, do you like it enough that you’ve started bathing in it?”
Shadow put up a hand, interrupting his childish babblings.
“Enough of this. Where’s Tails? In fact, where are the rest of your… little friends?”
“You’re asking about my brothers?” Sonic’s ears twitched. “I kneeeeewwww you liked them,” he teased, “Hehe, I thought racing was a you and me thing but I can invite them next time-”
“No, that’s not it at all.”
Brothers?
No, I’m not going to ask.
“I have something important I need to tell you and I’m not going to bother to explain it twice. Bring me to them, now.”
“I could bring them to you, or we could race to them! 1, 2, 3- GO!”
Sonic took off with Shadow a second behind.
Chaos energy crackles behind them as they run. Sonic whooped and hollered, he ran up hills and jumped, soaring through the air and back down to the earth.
Shadow let out a grunt as he watched, it was foolish. It slowed him down, Shadow didn't need to push himself at all to keep up. But he couldn't push himself past Sonic, he had no idea where he was going. Sonic caught his eye with a wink. Shadow rolled his eyes.
Never mind, they aren’t that different. They are both idiots.
But… he can’t deny that it’s almost nice. Running, jumping. This world feels different, it feels strange and foreign and colorless and Shadow doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like that he can’t understand everything that has happened, and doesn’t know that Sonic has brothers.
Even if this world turns out to be similar, and Sonic is somewhat the same, it doesn’t make a difference. He's become... a stranger to even the chaos energy in the air, swirling around him, enveloping his body every time he pushed off his skates.
Ugh. This is getting… upsetting to think about. Here's hoping that he won't have to think about this any longer, he can get home and he'll easily leave this world behind forever.
Of course, he doesn't think it's going to be that easy. It never is when he's dealing with Sonic.