Chapter Text
The universe is endless. A void sprinkled with infinite mysteries. To Shadow, immortality rendered it explorable without need of life-support. But for now, it was his ocean burial. He was lost and floating between various orbits, drifting in and out of consciousness, sunk deep in the thralls of apathy.
As his eyes fluttered open once more he took in the view of nothingness. The sparkling dots that encompassed every corner of his vision. Planets and moons that were too distant to make detail of. With a burst of energy, he shook off the ice that formed on his fur and warmed his frozen skin. The weightlessness once calmed him, but now he couldn’t remember what gravity felt like.
Earth. He abandoned that planet long ago after humanity proved to him how little they cared about their own survival. Between the ravages of nuclear war, rogue AI’s, corrupt autocrats who hid away in their bunkered mansions, Shadow saw no reason to keep fighting for them. Doing so was a slog at best.
Pathetic. It was all so sickeningly pathetic. And even as he sought the comfort of the void, he reminded himself that even he was pathetic for running away. Oh, how endless centuries left him aching with loneliness and longing. If only death would be merciful and allow him the chance to be with them again.
His mind danced with the memories of his long since passed friends.
Each one held yearning for his soul, and he bludgeoned himself with the pain his recollections caused. It was better than the numb apathy that plagued every ounce of his miserable existence.
If it wasn’t the memories that kept him entertained, in a sick self-degrading sense, he would take time to count the stars. Some of them became familiar.
A blue giant. He couldn’t escape that color, could he?
A faint flicker of a neutron star. Those things could go on forever.
A white dwarf. Powerful little monstrosities. It would be hell to get caught up in one of those.
Then something new caught his eye. A void. Darker than the surrounding nothingness, the disk ate everything around it.
In his voyages he hadn’t come across one of these before and the thought of entering one fascinated him. What were the bounds of his immortality? Shadow considered the many times he envisioned living long enough to witness the heat death of this universe. A black hole? Now that would be a way to go. No one could ever know what it would be like to enter one and live. The fact that it would crush him, atom by atom, while extreme, excited him.
An end to the monotony. The tedium of existence. And most importantly, an end to the debilitating loneliness that accompanied centuries of compounding grief.
Shadow watched, mesmerized by how the hole bent the light around it, warping and casting it out in swirling ripples. Within, was nothing, a level of darkness that he could not imagine of his own volition.
Nothing. He embraced that thought and angled his body towards it, pushing power into his boots, igniting the thrusters and launched himself towards it. He hurtled faster and faster till all became a blur. The stars became streaks. His vision darkened. And once gravity took, he let his power simmer out, closed his eyes and sent a prayer.
Chaos, please, let me have the chance to be with them again.
…
Shadow inhaled.
The last time air was in his lungs, he was on that Chaos forsaken planet. The shock of breathing woke him.
Blurry eyes blinked, clearing the way for odd colors. The sky was cast in haze, a hue that sat between orange and grey. Branches swayed, black as charcoal, swept the breeze with magenta petals. The air was perfumed, the scent reminding him of Rouge.
The dark hybrid sat up, pushing against gravity, which he hadn’t felt in ages, and pieced together the strange sensory information that was given him. Was this another dimension? Was he hallucinating? Was this what happened after you died?
The breeze picked up and tickled his nose with notes of lavender and smoke. The scent of hickory embers wafted through the air, food that sat in a smoker for hours. Shadow rarely felt hunger, but the smell tantalized him. He had to follow.
As he rose to his feet he discovered he was bare, all except for his inhibitor’s rings. The paw pads of his feet sank into the marshy ground. Even the grass was magenta. Bushes and vining flowers that crawled up the black trees held a variety of pink shades. The sight disoriented Shadow.
He traipsed through, enjoying the feeling of his toes in the soggy earth. Humidity clung to his fur. The smell of roasted meat beckoned him deeper into the surreal forest. He stepped over branches and cloying vines till the trees broke up into a vast scene. Light burst through and stung Shadow’s eyes causing him to shield his eyes with a hand. Rolling hills dipped into a river. The water ran grey and clear, sparkling in the white sun shining bright overhead. And in the distance, Shadow saw the source of the smoke.
An encampment sat at the far side of the river. Several grey and army green tents sat in a circle. Then, amongst the grey and pink scale landscape, a new color struck his vision.
Blue.
Shadow’s heart took off without him before he could reason with it. He ran for the encampment, his feet squishing each time they struck the ground. The air felt pleasant whipping through his quills.
Blue, it could be anything blue. Other hedgehogs were blue, some alien species were blue, but Shadow couldn’t stop himself. The closer he got the more his excitement bubbled.
Once he reached the campsite, his hopes were confirmed.
Emerald eyes gleamed up at him from the log in which he sat around the campfire. The blue hedgehog smiled and straightened up, “Hey Shads!”
Shadow stepped back, alarm bells ringing in his head, “No, this isn’t right. Where am I?”
“This is Arcadia. I was wondering when you were going to make it here.” Sonic leaned an elbow on his knee.
“Arcadia? How.” Shadow had so many questions but didn’t know where to start.
The place reminded him of White Space. He had the chance to be with Maria and Gerald again, but with the caveat that they couldn’t stay with him.
“No, this isn’t right, there has to be some catch.” Shadow looked around for any sign that this was a fabricated reality. The wind rippled the fabric of the tents, the sound of birds in the distance perked his ears, that savory scent of roast on the fire drew him back in.
“No catch, bud. This is exactly what it looks like.” Sonic got up and removed a pot off of the smoking pile of wood. He opened the lid and laid it in the grass beside him. Once settled back onto the log he grabbed a pronged fork from behind him and stuck it in, pulling out a chunk of beef roast dripping juices. Sonic brought the meat to his mouth and savored the bite, “Come on. I have been cooking this since dawn.” He said with his mouth full.
Shadow walked forward, his steps hesitant, expecting his perception of reality to fall through. Eye to eye with the blue hedgehog, the hybrid sat down beside him, feeling the rough texture of the bark underneath him.
He took a deep breath. What he felt was real, what he perceived didn’t make sense, but he could try to piece it together. Shadow just needed to roll with it.
“You’ve got to be hungry. How long has it been?” Sonic offered him some of the beef.
Shadow looked over the iron pot, wondering why the contents weren’t too hot to consume, “It’s been centuries. This place feels like a dream.”
“I know. It’s so dreamlike.” Sonic admired the view before waving the food in front of Shadow, “I didn’t put all of this effort into cooking just for you to turn your nose up at it.”
The dark hedgehog grumbled and took the roasting fork. He eyed the food till the hunger won him over. Taking a bite, he melted. The beef fell apart in his mouth, sweet and savory from being basted in butter and honey . If this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up.
As he swallowed and his stomach welcomed the nutrients, he allowed himself to entertain the idea that he got his wish. He smiled at Sonic, “So, this is like a spirit world?”
“I guess so. I’m not sure how we got here or how long we have been here. Every day feels like the first. It’s incredible.” Sonic picked another chunk of beef out of the pot, this time with a bare claw.
Shadow’s skepticism crept up, “Do you remember how you died?”
The blue’s cheery disposition faded away, and his jaw tightened, “Yeah… I’m sorry about that.” He turned away avoiding Shadow’s gaze.
The hybrid sighed, “I’m not trying to guilt you. I’m just trying to make sense of this.”
Sonic darknend, his demeanor shifting in an unusual manner, “Are you still having a hard time believing this is real?” His voice was laced with irritation.
The change perturbed Shadow, “I think after seeing you fucking dead and winding up in this LSD trip, I have plenty of reason to be questioning.”
Sonic side eyed Shadow. It seemed the two were at an impasse.
Shadow took comfort in the food, distracting himself from the tension he caused. He watched the rustles in the trees as various creatures leaped between branches and tousled leaves. Not being able to identify any of them he guessed, squirrels? Birds? Something alien to him?
“Can you at least explain what’s going on here? You said ‘we’, were you just talking about you and I or…” Shadow trailed off as he picked the conversation back up.
Sonic’s ears perked and he returned to his bright expression, “Oh, everyone else is here. Tails and Knuckles are out hunting, and Amy and Rouge were soaking in the hot springs. This is just our camp site, we have a village just south of here. We like to travel around a bit, there is a lot to find around here. There is a waterfall that I like to go to sometimes. I got to show it to you.”
“Hot springs?” Shadow liked the sound of that.
“Oh yeah, I think you will love them. The minerals make your fur feel like clouds. If you want to go there, I can show you where they are at.” The blue jumped to his feet and offered Shadow a hand. Even with the promise of seeing Amy and Rouge and getting to unwind in a hot spring, he couldn’t shake his unease. He took Sonic’s hand and the two took off, flying by their feet through the marshy landscape.
More floral perfume filled Shadow’s nostrils as they got closer. Through paths around blossom covered trees and over a rocky crag, Sonic led him to a cliff’s edge. Down the other side, Shadow saw tiers upon tiers of mineral pools that overlapped each other. The edges of the pools were hardened and tan, and each one was perfectly round. Grey water ran down in streams from cracks in the craggy rock into the pools. And in the center pool, sat Amy and Rouge.
Sonic let go of Shadow and gave him a mischievous grin. Then taking several steps back he ran and launched himself into the air, and curled up, “Canon ball!”
He splashed into the water where Rouge and Amy sat, nearly emptying the pool. The girls growled. Rouge turned her nose up, at first to show her irritation, but once she did her eyes landed on Shadow. She gasped, putting a hand up to her mouth, “What are you doing here?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” Should he be honest? If he told Rouge that he threw himself into a black hole she would have a conniption.
“You would have to be dead to be here, so you had to do something.” She raised a brow and crossed her arms. Rouge was just as much of a scold as he remembered.
The streams poured water back into the pool and Sonic settled in between Amy and Rouge. Amy smiled up at Shadow, “Well, are you going to join us and give us the details?”
“I’m joining, I am just not telling you shit.” Shadow scoffed as he stepped down the edges off the mineral deposits. Once he sank into the water with the others, he felt every bit of his body turn to Jello.
It was strange. For so long he held onto this need to prove himself. Maybe it was a need to punish himself. Either way, he delighted in causing his own suffering.Now Shadow was amongst the friends he longed for so dearly and in this heavenly bath, putting himself through purgatory didn’t matter anymore. Nothing else mattered but enjoying this simple and yet earth changing pleasure.
“I can’t wrap my head around this.” Shadow said to the sky as puffs of darker grey clouds wafted over the sun. Behind the haze he made out the shapes of a few gas planets. Their swirling colors made for a hypnotic show.
“Dear, admit it, you killed yourself and now you are in this spirit dimension with us.” Rouge tisked as she sank deeper into the water.
“What I did is nobody’s business. I’m just glad to be here.” Shadow felt his guard drop, “I missed you guys so much.”
“We missed you too.” Sonic threw his arms around the edges of the pool. Shadow’s eyes connected with Sonic’s, causing his heart to throb recalling his regrets. He never told Sonic how he felt. This could be his chance.
“You said you were waiting for me?” Shadow attempted to find a way to start.
“Shadow,” Sonic looked at him with tenderness, “Even if I never got to see you again, I would have waited for you.”
Amy blushed. Rouge gave the two boy’s knowing glances, “I should let you two sit together, I think you have a lot of unfinished business.”
As the bat waded to the opposite end of the pool, Shadow’s heart stuttered and his face flushed, “Now, I don’t know if we should..”
“Hun,” Rouge flicked a wrist at her as she settled down by Amy, “All Sonic has done since we have been here is talk about you. It’s not a secret.”
Sonic slid in beside Shadow and while the blue was beaming with suave and confidence, the black tensed and trembled.
Emerald eyes half lidded and a cheeky grin spread on his face, “I take it you got something to tell me?”
Shadow broke, “I love you. I always have and I never got the chance..” He bit his lip as he remembered how he fucked this up, “I refused to tell you because I was afraid.”
Ruby eyes welled with regret. Sonic swept in and wrapped his arms around Shadow, “It’s okay. I don’t hold it against you. We are together now, that’s all that matters.”
This hug was everything. Shadow couldn’t have held Sonic tighter and having an audience for this confession added to the surrealness. He could hear Amy and Rouge murmur and aww at their tender exchange.
“Kiss.” Amy prodded.
“No, we are not kissing for your entertainment.” Shadow sneered at her.
Amy’s eyes widened, “Still so grouchy. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I didn’t want to confess my feelings like this.” Shadow leaned back against the edge of the pool and Sonic wrapped an arm around his back, “I just wasted the time while you guys were alive. I don’t want to waste any more of it. Doesn’t mean that I am going to change overnight.”
Amy and Rouge looked at each other, sharing a silent conversation.
“And that doesn’t mean that my feelings are on full display for everyone to pick a part either.” Shadow’s defenses turned prickly, “I don’t know why you two find digging into me so interesting.”
Rouge gave him a smug expression, “We know you, probably better than you know yourself. Hun, you’ve got the biggest heart out of any of us. It’s just nice to see it for a change.”
Shadow eased. He supposed he owed them the more vulnerable side of himself. Afterall, that is what he regretted most. He never told a single one of them that he loved them. That he thought of them as friends. And looking at his true love at least the most important regret was washed away. Sonic knew that his feelings were reciprocated. Now they could catch up on that lost time. Time that Shadow still feared would be cut short.