From the Sky

by Bountyrat (AshTheRat)

Summary:

Shadow died saving the world.
At least that’s what Sonic keeps telling himself.
It’s easier not to think about the silence he left behind, easier to laugh, to run, to move on.
But grief has a way of waiting.
And sometimes, it comes back with a pulse.

OR: Another shameless Shadow-whump fic, because author can't get enough of it.

Notes:

This exact scenario has been written before, many times, by far better authors than me - but I needed Shadow whump so I wrote Shadow whump. I hope you enjoy.

A few disclaimers: I'm only familiar with the Sonic movies, so apologies if I get lore wrong.
I'm also not American, and know absolutely nothing about Montana, so if I something seems off that's why.
-

Chapter 1: You’re Not Dying On Me, Faker

Sonic can’t see the stars.

Heavy, grayish-black clouds cover the sky, hiding behind them the giant nebula that he knows is there, magnificent and terrifying all at once.

He keeps trying to catch a glimpse of it, but the thick, lazy layer of rainclouds is not budging, obscuring it from his view.

Grief is a funny thing.

Sonic is intimately familiar with it, having faced the loss of Longclaw at far too young an age to handle on his own. It had wrapped itself around him like a blanket, heavy, suffocating and ruthless, for years. 

He remembers the way his mind had kept looping in on itself, reliving that last day with Longclaw and making up various ways he could have changed the outcome. He remembers the dreams he had of her, the awful ones that had him jolting awake with tears streaming down his face. He remembers the relentless, nagging pain that lingered in his chest, year after year.

And so, when he’d felt a mild pang of that grief again, standing in the cornfield with Knuckles and Tails, he’d shoved it right back down.

He hadn’t even really known the guy, is the thing.

They’d fought. Briefly.

They’d shared a quiet moment on the moon, watching the sun rise into view from behind the earth.

Shadow had saved the world.

And then he’d died.

The others didn’t understand - they hadn’t seen him the way Sonic had, there on the moon, quiet and defeated. They hadn’t heard him beg, no, demand for Sonic to end his life. Tails and Knuckles only knew the aggressive side of him, the one that was dark and dangerous and ready to destroy everything.

Sonic didn’t want to deal with it. Couldn’t deal with it. (Not alone, not again.)

So he smothered that hint of grief before it could surface properly, going right back to hugging his brothers and visiting Tom in the hospital and running and planning family camping trips with Maddie and eating chili dogs – getting the hell on with it. Telling himself that it was over and that he was fine.

That Shadow’s silence doesn’t matter. That the image of him pushing the Eclipse Cannon away doesn’t keep flashing behind Sonic’s eyes. 

That the empty space beside him isn’t hollowing out a new grief in the shape of someone he barely knew.

The trapdoor behind him opens, and Knuckles peeks sleepily up at him.

“Pretzel woman says it’s time for bed,” he says.

 Sonic shoots him a bright grin and a thumbs-up.

“Tell her I’ll be right down, Knux!”

–----

By the time Sonic finally makes his way down to the attic room, Knuckles is already asleep in his bed on the other side of the room. Tails doesn’t even look up from where he’s focused on messing with one of his gadgets, his back to Sonic.

Sonic offers him a quiet drive-by greeting on his way to the bathroom, but Tails doesn’t seem to hear him, completely absorbed.

Sonic brushes his teeth, combs his quills, and then slips downstairs to say goodnight to Maddie. From the top of the stairs he can hear Maddie on the phone - with Tom, is Sonic’s best guess.

Tom’s doing better.
When they’d all visited him at the hospital earlier the same day, he’d been in a good mood. He’d be discharged soon, Maddie had said. Sonic couldn’t wait.

(The image of Tom on the floor, lifeless and unmoving, still haunts him when he closes his eyes for too long. Sonic had never felt such rage in his life, the urge to punish Shadow for what he’d done stronger than any rational thought. He’d almost killed Shadow for it, too.

Later, Tom had told him that he’d been wearing Commander Walters’ face when Shadow attacked him. Walters, who’d been responsible for locking Shadow away for the crime of existing. Sonic doesn’t want to think too hard about what would’ve happened had he struck Shadow down, up there in the dark.)

Not wanting to interrupt Maddie’s and Tom’s conversation, Sonic slips back up the stairs and to his room.

The sound of rain against the roof fills the attic room. Sonic has always found the sound to be soothing - and during his time in the cave, it had been a great comfort on otherwise lonely, damp nights. Sonic toes his shoes off and burrows in under the blankets.

“Um.. Sonic?” Tails' voice calls hesitantly from behind him.

“Sup Tails?” Sonic half-mumbles, sleep already tugging at him.

“I think… I think you should see this.”

Tails sounds nervous, unsure. Sonic sits up in his bed and peers sleepily at his brother, who is sitting in his own bed, staring back at Sonic with wide, worried eyes. He’s still holding his gadget in his gloved paws.

Sonic immediately feels wide awake again. He slips back out of bed and approaches Tails, hopping up next to him on his bed instead.

“What’s wrong?”

Tails eyes him hesitantly for a moment, his grip on the small screen tightening fractionally.

“W-well, um. It’s probably nothing, but…” Tails starts, glancing down at his screen again. “I thought my tracker was broken, but I’ve recalibrated it several times already and it keeps happening, so I…”

“What keeps happening?”

Tails points to something on his screen. Sonic can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be - but the device looks kind of like a radar from that shark horror movie he saw a while back, some kind of sensor sweeping across the screen every few seconds to reveal two colourful, flashing points on some kind of map.

“So this tracks Chaos energy signatures,” Tails explains, helpfully dumbing it down for Sonic without his prompting. “I tweaked it to track you when you, well…”

Sonic feels a pang of guilt in his chest.

“Yeah, okay, I can see why you’d do that. Go on?”

Tails flashes him a coy little smile, then sobers and points to one of the bright flashing spots on the map.

“This one’s you,” he says.

Sonic blinks.
“Okay, and who’s that other one?”

The other signature is just as bright, but unlike Sonic’s, it keeps fading in and out like the dying flame of a candle.

“I thought it was a glitch at first, but it’s not. There’s an energy signature almost as strong as yours, and it’s not far, but it keeps blipping in and out, almost like…” Tails says, a strange tremor in his voice. “I.. I wasn’t sure if I should tell you or not, since…”

Sonic stares blankly at him, uncomprehending. Tails doesn’t meet his gaze for a few heartbeats, but when he finally does, his expression causes a lump to form in Sonic’s throat.

It’s so easy to forget, sometimes, how incredibly clever Tails is. Not just with tech and sciency stuff, but emotionally. Sonic thought he’d smothered his grief, crushed it and hidden it from view - but the way Tails looks at him now, with uncertainty and sorrow and sympathy, it’s clear that Sonic’s not been half as subtle as he thought he was.

Without a word, Sonic scrambles to his feet and zaps to his bed to grab his shoes. As he rushes out into the rain through the sunroof, he can hear Tails call his name in alarm.

—---

 

Sonic runs.

The rain is heavy, whipping against his face and seeping into his eyes, blurring his vision. The ground is slippery beneath his feet, and he slips several times, his suddenly unsteady legs threatening to send him crashing down the hill.

The grief in his chest is bubbling its way into his throat, but it’s accompanied by something far worse.

He’d just wanted things to get back to normal. He’d just wanted to get rid of these stupid, inexplicable feelings, but now there’s no stopping them.

Shadow might be alive, and that sliver of hope, and the threat of it shattering is more cruel than any grief could be.

As Sonic runs further, the sound of spinning blades cuts through the rain. There’s the echo of sirens, of a voice through a megaphone. Through the blur of water in his eyes, Sonic can see faint light in the distance.

(G.U.N?)

He skids to a halt on top of a hill, ducking in under a fallen tree to peer into the valley below.

There’s a crater at the bottom of the valley, ash and dust and smoke floating in the air around it, heavy with rain. A helicopter circles the area, and soldiers in protective gear are swooping in to surround the crater, pointing their flashlights at the small, dark creature at the bottom of the crater.

Sonic’s breath catches in his throat. 

A frantic voice is bellowing commands through a megaphone, and the soldiers point their guns at their target in the crater.

Shadow doesn’t look good.
Even from this distance, Sonic can see the way he struggles to stand up, his fur glistening with water and mud and something else that Sonic doesn’t want to think too hard about.

The soldiers close in on him. Shadow stands there, swaying on his feet. Only when one of the soldiers gets too close does he finally react, disappearing in a crackle of red light and reappearing mid-air next to the soldier to deliver a spinning kick to his helmet.

It’s like Tokyo all over again, Sonic muses distantly. Shadow fights the soldiers off, one by one, but Sonic sees the way he weakens with every attack, leaving dark red smears on the ground wherever he reappears. 

Sonic can’t move. 

One of the soldiers gets a hit in with the back of his rifle, sending Shadow to his knees. Another takes the opportunity to jab him with his cattle prod. Shadow crumples into the wet mud, and doesn’t get back up.

The soldiers don’t stop. They keep shocking him, even when Shadow stops moving completely. Sonic watches, breath stuck in his throat, as Shadow’s already burned-up body begins to convulse under the relentless assault.

Something in Sonic’s brain finally snaps free. His limbs unlock and he releases the breath he was holding. Too fast for the soldiers to have a chance to even see him, he dashes into the crater, grabs Shadow, and is gone.

 

–---

Shadow fights him the entire time. 

He flails weakly at Sonic, teeth bared in a bloody snarl as he tries and fails to wriggle out of Sonic’s grip. Once or twice, he even gets a punch in, but he’s so weak that they barely even distract Sonic from his mission - getting Shadow as far away from G.U.N as possible.

Once the lights and sounds from the G.U.N helicopter have completely faded into the distance, Sonic finally stops. Shadow rewards him by socking him in the snout.

“Damn it Shadow, calm down! It’s me!” Sonic hisses, fighting to keep his grip on the wriggling hedgehog. 

 Shadow’s entire body is covered in burns, and a wave of nausea washes over Sonic as he feels something warm and wet seeping into his gloves. Shadow lets out a low growl, unfocused eyes flashing with red as he tries and fails to teleport away.

“Shadow,” Sonic repeats, desperate. This time Shadow stills, his gaze sharpening ever-so-slightly as he finally looks at Sonic’s face. Aggression and fear bleeds away, replaced by slow recognition.

Sonic laughs breathlessly.
“I can’t believe you’re alive,” he says shakily, his grip on Shadow tightening. “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

Shadow says nothing. Instead he stares at Sonic for a moment, then lets his eyes fall shut.  His body slackens in Sonic’s grip.

And then he stops breathing.

“Wait, no, Shadow, no no no, that’s a dick move-”

Sonic shakes him, desperate, but Shadow seems to have no intention of making this easy for him. Sonic wracks his brain, panic scattering his thoughts as the rain drums down on him. For a moment he considers calling for help, but their only spectators are the tall, dark trees of the forest.

Cradling Shadow tight against his chest, Sonic turns and begins to run back toward the Wachowski house.

Notes:

Sonic: Omg you're alive

Shadow: Lol sike

--
Shadow saw Sonic and decided it was safe to die.

Chapter 2: Breathing Is Non-Negotiable

Summary:

Sonic brings home a ghost.

“Mom!”

When Sonic comes rushing in through the front door at 10 PM, soaked, filthy, and holding a half-dead, bloody, but agonizingly familiar creature in his arms, Maddie’s first instinct isn’t at all what she would have expected it to be.

The unconscious creature in Sonic’s arms is another hedgehog, coat as black as coal. He is covered in grime, but Maddie can see the telltale red stripes peeking through the layers of dirt in his matted fur, and recognizes him instantly.

The Alien who attacked her children, severely injured her husband, and then almost blew up the entire planet to boot. Alive, if barely, in her entryway.

(She’d daydreamed about it, that first night she’d spent sitting at Tom’s bedside at the hospital, watching him struggle to breathe with punctured lungs, fluid rattling in his throat with every unsteady breath. She’d imagined all the things she’d say to the awful creature who nearly killed her husband, the scathing words she’d spit if she had the chance.)

Tails and Knuckles have both appeared on the stairs, wearing matching bewildered expressions. The buttons on Tails’ pajama shirt are all askew, Maddie notes dully through a strange, surreal haze.

“Maddie,” Sonic repeats, voice breaking. “Please!”

It’s the open vulnerability in Sonic’s voice that snaps Maddie out of her daze. Sonic is staring at her with wide, desperate eyes, holding onto the other hedgehog so gently, so carefully, trying so hard not to aggravate the plethora of wounds Maddie can see through his blood-sticky, filthy fur.

She thinks she should be feeling angry, maybe even afraid, but those feelings are swiftly buried under the overwhelming urge to soothe that terrified expression off of her son’s face . 

Without hesitation, she swoops in and takes the injured hedgehog from Sonic’s arms.

(Later on, when Maddie thinks back on the rest of that night, she finds much of it to be nothing but a chaotic blur. She remembers rushing to the car, the black hedgehog in her arms, wrapped in one of Sonic’s blankets. She remembers his stillness, the dark red wetness seeping through the blanket and onto her hands. She remembers the rain pouring down, soaking into her skin through her thin jean jacket.)

 Sonic’s at her heels, buckling himself into the back seat before Maddie can even attempt to tell him no. She pulls out of the driveway faster than she ever has before, knocking over a few flowerpots in her haste to get on the road. Tails and Knuckles watch mutely from the porch, small and uncertain figures in her rearview mirror.

 

—-

 

The vet clinic is dark and quiet.
Maddie fumbles her keys with one hand, cradling the injured hedgehog carefully with the other as she finally gets the door open. The overhead lights flicker on, bathing the waiting room in a yellow light. The usually cheery and welcoming clinic is oddly eerie so late at night, only the hum of the vending machines filling the silence.

Sonic tries to follow Maddie into the examination room, but she gently but firmly motions for him to stay in the waiting room. He whines out a protest, but she doesn’t budge. There is no reason for Sonic to see any of this.

As carefully as she can, Maddie places the Alien onto the examination table, and gently pulls the now-soaked blanket off his limp body. 

She looks at him.

In the bright light of the exam room, the hedgehog’s- no, Shadow’s injuries are evident - and they’re some of the worst she has ever seen. Much of his fur has burned off, leaving the flesh beneath raw and weeping. His wounds are full of debris and ash, and there are several obvious fractures in all four of his limbs. She thinks he is dying.

Maddie has no idea what the hell she’s doing.

Sure, Sonic’s been injured before. A scrape here, a cut there, even a twisted ankle or two - but he has always healed incredibly fast. Maddie has had to make a few educated guesses when treating him, his biology just different enough from earth-hedgehogs for that to be necessary, but never about anything so serious, never about anything life-threatening.

She gets to work.

She starts with the endotracheal tube. She’s not sure what condition Shadow’s lungs are in, but if his external burns are any indication, she assumes they must be as scorched as the rest of him. Shadow doesn’t react when Maddie gently tilts his head back and inserts the tube, but she can see the way his breathing immediately becomes a little steadier, a little smoother.
Next, IV fluids. With burns like this, dehydration, shock and organ failure are a serious threat.

She works mechanically, hours ticking by as she carefully washes the debris out of Shadow’s wounds and wraps them, one after another, in hydrocolloid wound dressing. She finds and sets every broken bone and applies stitches to open cuts.

 

She puts him back together, piece by piece.

 

When Maddie finally glances at her watch, it’s almost 2 am.

Shadow has remained silent and unresponsive through the entire thing. The painkillers Maddie gave him are strong, but his unnatural stillness still worries her. She’s concerned about the paleness of his gums and the rapid beat of his overworked heart.

His face is slack, eyes closed, and without his signature scowl he looks so much like Sonic it hurts. Without realizing it, Maddie finds herself gently stroking the smooth patch of fur between his eyes with her thumb.

He needs blood, Maddie knows that, but there are no donated blood bags in the clinic that she could possibly use for Shadow. She doesn’t even know what his blood type is, if alien hedgehogs even have a blood type. 

Hesitantly, she glances at the door to the waiting room.

 

—-

 

When Maddie cracks the door open, she finds Sonic curled up tight in one of the waiting room chairs, fast asleep. He looks so small where he sits, arms wrapped tight around himself, head resting on his knees.

“Sonic, honey?” Maddie says, voice barely a whisper.

Sonic snaps awake, scrambling to his feet the second he spots Maddie, eyes wide and shiny and a little unfocused with sleep.

“How is he? Is he okay? Could you help him? Can he-”

“I’m doing my best,” Maddie says, reaching out to gently smooth down Sonic’s bristling quills. “...But I might need your help.”

“My help?” Sonic echoes. “Yeah, okay, totally! Just tell me what I need to do!”

Not the slightest hint of hesitation. Maddie’s chest hurts with how much she loves him.

Quietly, she leads Sonic back into the examination room. Shadow is on his back on the table, a lightweight, papery blanket hiding the worst of his wounds from view. His shoes sit neatly on the floor beside the table.

Sonic looks at him for a long time, expression going oddly flat as he eyes the tube going into Shadow’s mouth.

“It’s to help him breathe,” Maddie explains, voice soft. “His lungs are hurt.”

“Okay,” Sonic says, but there’s an odd edge to his voice. “You should take it out before he wakes up though, or he’s gonna freak out.”

There’s a story there, behind that statement, but Maddie doesn’t pry. Instead, she gently lifts Sonic onto the table, next to Shadow. 

“Ordinarily I’d never ask you for this,” she starts, trying not to let hesitation creep into her voice. “But I don’t know if we have any other options.”

“I want to help him,” Sonic insists. “Tell me what to do.”

“Your friend has lost a lot of blood. He could really use some.”

Sonic eyes her for a moment, a concerned wrinkle between his brows. Then, he simply nods.

“Okay, yeah I’ve got loads. Do you have a knife or something I could borrow?”

It’s like a dam breaking. Maddie can’t help but laugh, reaching out to wrap her arms tightly around her earnest, brave, loyal, hilarious son. Sonic blinks in confusion, raising his arms to hug her back.

“No knives necessary,” she tells him. “Sit tight, this’ll just take a second.”

Sonic sits still as Maddie shaves a little square into his arm, only watching curiously as she prepares the needle. He doesn’t even wince when she inserts the needle, and she rewards his bravery with a kiss to the top of his head. He watches, fascinated, as red fills the long, thin tube connecting his arm to Shadow’s.

Direct transfusions like this are rare and somewhat risky, and there’s no guarantee that Sonic and Shadow’s blood will be a match - but Maddie finds herself completely out of other options. Sonic needs her to try and save this hedgehog, and she’ll be damned if she doesn’t try.

They’re both silent for a long time.

“Sonic, what happened?” Maddie asks, finally.

Sonic isn’t looking at her. He’s staring at Shadow’s face with that same intensity he had when he’d busted in through the front door with the darker hedgehog in his arms.

“I guess he fell from the sky,” Sonic says.

“How is that possible?”

“I dunno. Guess he’s just that cool.”

“Sonic,” Maddie sighs, “I need you to tell me.”

Sonic finally glances at her, and she thinks she catches a hint of guilt in his expression.

“Tails’ tracker,” he finally says. “It picked up on his chaos energy.”

“And he was like this when you found him…?”

“Yeah. Well I mean-” Sonic cuts himself off, hesitating. Maddie has to gently stop him from fidgeting with the needle in his arm. “He was fighting a bunch of G.U.N. soldiers.”

Maddie closes her eyes for a moment, biting her tongue to keep herself from voicing her true opinion regarding G.U.N and their cruel treatment of her adopted children. She’d thought things were different now, after everything Sonic, Knuckles and Tails have done for them. 

They’re silent for another several heartbeats. Time crawls on by.
When Maddie looks at her watch again, it’s nearing 4AM. In only a few hours, her colleagues will start arriving to open for the day. If G.U.N is hunting Shadow, it is not safe for him to stay where he might be seen.

She hates the idea of moving him, she can’t think of anything else to do. 

(It’s not the first time she’s hidden an alien Hedgehog from G.U.N. after all.)

Maddie begins to pack things into a cooler bag. IV fluids, bandages, painkillers, antibiotics. She eyes the endotracheal tube for a moment, then goes and gets the portable ventilator. (She’ll have to think of a way to explain its disappearance to her colleagues later.)

Sonic says nothing as Maddie pulls the needle out of his arm and gives him a bandaid patterned with a variety of different pokémon. His silence worries her a little, because Sonic is never quiet unless he’s asleep.

“You did very well,” she tells him. “He already looks much better, thanks to you.”

Sonic nods, still staring at Shadow’s face.

“Why isn’t he waking up?” he asks, suddenly.

Maddie considers her answer for a moment. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails have always healed from their injuries incredibly quickly, much more so than any earth animal she’s ever seen. Shadow, however, has not improved at all in the several hours since they arrived at the clinic.

“I gave him some medicine for his pain, it’s made him sleepy,” is what she ends up saying.

Sonic says nothing. Instead he quietly hops off the examination table to help Maddie carry the necessary supplies to the car, while she gently gathers Shadow into her arms again.

He still looks too much like Sonic.

She still doesn’t know what she’s doing.

But she can’t stop now.

Notes:

Why does a vet clinic in a tiny town in Montana have a portable respirator? Don't question it too much, the plot gods demanded it.

Please leave a comment, they sustain me.

Chapter 3: Rise and No Shine

Summary:

Shadow wakes up.

 

The drive home is quiet. 

The rain has stopped, and the rising sun has begun painting the horizon in soft shades of yellow and pink. 

Maddie’s cracked a window open, and a faint, earthy smell is wafting into the car through it. Petrichor, Sonic thinks. Tom told him that’s what it’s called, on their first camping trip together.

Sonic feels oddly sore, and a little light-headed. On the way out of the clinic he’d almost tripped and fallen on his face - and Maddie had promptly grabbed him a gatorade from one of the vending machines.

“You might feel a little woozy after giving so much blood,” she’d said, firmly prompting him to drink. She was fully in mom-and-vet mode, apparently.

Shadow still hasn’t woken up, but Maddie says he’s stable , which apparently means he’s no longer actively dying. Sonic would really prefer him awake though, because seeing him insensate like this just feels wrong on every single level. He’d shrugged off being punched to the moon, and now seems unable to even come back to himself.

(Sonic thinks he looks like he could use several bottles of gatorade.)

The car rolls to a stop, and Sonic climbs out of the backseat to help Maddie carry the bag of supplies inside. Maddie gathers Shadow into her arms, pulling a blanket gently over his head to hide it from prying eyes, before following Sonic to the porch.

The front door opens, and Tails and Knuckles hurry over to help with the carrying. Knuckles throws a dark look at the bundle in Maddie’s arms, but picks up the portable respirator without a word.

“GUN came here,” Tails tells them as they enter, fidgeting anxiously. “Knocked on the door. We hid in the attic and didn’t answer.”

“Good, I’m sorry for leaving you on your own all night,” Maddie says, voice level. “We’ll need to be really careful about answering the door for a while.”

“They hid me from GUN for like a year before you guys showed up,” Sonic clarifies, putting the supply bag down in the entryway. 

Tails doesn’t seem reassured, and Knuckles only glares silently at nothing in particular.

Maddie disappears into the guest room with Shadow, and Sonic follows. She ushers him back out, gently urging him to sit down and rest.

He doesn’t want to rest, he wants to help.

(And maybe he doesn’t want to let Shadow out of his sight.)

Feeling irritable and restless and yet somehow bone-tired, Sonic wanders into the living room and flops onto the couch. Tails and Knuckles follow him.

“Was it really necessary to bring him here?” Knuckles asks, now that Maddie is out of earshot.

Sonic feels a twinge of annoyance in his chest. 

“What’d you want me to do, leave him to die in the forest?” he shoots back, flipping the half-empty bottle of gatorade in his hand. 

“He could have stayed at the veterinary clinic.”

“That’s way too risky, GUN’s hunting him.”

“And now we are at risk of being hunted by them, as well.”

Sonic furrows his brows, looking at his brother. Knuckles crosses his arms, returning his stare evenly. Tails looks between them, both tails twitching anxiously.

“You’re being really unfair, Knux,” Sonic says. “He’s changed, okay? He was suffering, manipulated by that old Robotnik guy. He lost his only friend!”

Knuckles’ scowl deepens, and Sonic can see the way his jaw tenses.

“We have all suffered pain and loss,” he says, voice like steel. “That does not excuse anything.”

Sonic feels his face heat, anger flashing in his chest.

“ You were manipulated into attacking me too, Knuckles, right in this very house!” he says. “Did you forget that?”

Knuckles bares his fangs, eyes narrowing.

“ I did not attempt to destroy every single living thing on the planet ,” he snarls. Sonic winces.

Tails is starting to look increasingly anxious, gaze flicking back and forth between Sonic and Knuckles, hands clasped nervously in front of him.

“Aren’t you the one who gave me that whole spiel about not letting your anger control you and trusting each other?" Sonic tries, faltering a little. “What happened to forgiveness?”

“There is a difference between forgiving ,” Knuckles spits, “And bringing the person who hurt your family into your home . What is the Donut Lord going to say about this?”

It’s a low blow and they both know it. The look Sonic gives him must be scathing, because Knuckles scoffs and turns to leave, his steps heavy and angry against the wooden floor. After a few heartbeats, Sonic hears the front door slam shut.

Sonic feels tears burn in his eyes. It’s stupid. He never cries, he’s just tired and dehydrated. He looks at Tails, who tenses under his gaze, which must be far harsher than he intends.

“And you? You agree with him?” Sonic snaps.

“I… Well I..” Tails stutters, averting his eyes to the floor. “N-not necessarily, but Shadow is a little scary…”

Sonic doesn’t answer. He turns his back to Tails and flops down onto his side on the couch, curling demonstratively into a bristling ball of quills. Tails says nothing, and then Sonic hears him pad out of the room, leaving him to sulk.

—

Maddie hangs up the phone with a soft exhale, closing her eyes for a moment.

Exhaustion tugs at her, the effects of her stressful, sleepless night making themselves known. 

Tom had taken the news in stride, of course, just like everything else in life. That carefree, bend-with-the-blows attitude was part of what made her fall for him in the first place.

He hadn’t seemed angry, afraid or even particularly surprised when Maddie told him about Shadow. He hadn’t questioned her decision to bring him into their home, immediately trusting her judgement the same way she’d always trusted him with his judgement regarding Sonic in the past. 

( “Sonic must be really happy,” was all he’d said.)

She feels their bond grow, even at a distance.

She glances over at her guest, who hasn’t moved at all. The guest room has transformed into a makeshift infirmary, the portable respirator and IV stand sitting next to the bed, where Shadow lies motionless and silent on fresh, clean sheets. Bandages, gauze and medication have been arranged neatly on the dresser for easy access.

Maddie turns back to the dresser and begins to prepare an antibiotic injection. Shadow’s body is weak and susceptible to infection, especially after having spent God knows how long in the rain and mud, covered in open wounds.

There's a wheezing, rattling sound behind her.

Maddie snaps her head back around, alarmed.

Shadow’s bandaged hands shoot up to his face, clawing at the breathing tube with panicked, uncoordinated movements. Maddie drops the syringe and rushes over, instinctively reaching out to grab Shadow’s hands to stop him. But as she does, uncontrolled red energy cracks like a flash of lightning and sends her staggering backwards into the dresser, knocking the breath from her.

Shadow chokes, a few flecks of red dripping onto the clean white sheets as he finally grabs onto the tube and yanks it out of his throat in a way that makes Maddie cringe with sympathy, despite the fear that is creeping up her throat. 

Red, crackling energy gathers in Shadow’s quills, unfocused irises flashing red with danger danger danger . He fixes his unsteady gaze on Maddie as he bristles, sharp, bloody canines flashing.

Maddie grips the edge of the dresser, swallowing hard as she presses back against it, its edge digging into her lower back. Her heart beats anxiously against her ribcage, and fear coils into a ball in the pit of her stomach.

Unbidden, the image of Tom in his hospital bed flashes through her mind.

(Shadow did that. He could do it again.)

Maddie winces as Shadow rips the IV needle out of his arm and then scrambles backwards until his back hits the bedframe, breath heavy and wet and rattling in his throat. He glares at her, trembling, brows set in a deep scowl.

Maddie steels herself. She takes a deep, steadying breath, slowly easing her grip off the dresser and forcing herself to relax. When she speaks, she does it softly, voice even and gentle.

“Hello, Shadow,” she begins, “My name is Maddie, and you’re in my home.”

Shadow’s eyes flash again in response, scowl deepening as he bares fangs at her. 

“I’m Sonic’s mom,” she adds, gentle as ever. “He found you in the woods.”

There’s no recognition in his face at all. Maddie realizes that Shadow might not be entirely lucid, and allows a silence to settle in the room, filled only by Shadow’s trembling breath.

The silence is broken by Sonic, busting into the room like a blue hurricane powered by enthusiasm and protective instinct.

“Maddie!” he exclaims, “Are you oka–”

Sonic cuts himself off when he spots Shadow.

He freezes - just for a breath - eyes wide with surprise, then wet with relief. Immediately he zaps up to Shadow’s bedside, completely undeterred by the murderous glare he receives from Shadow in return.

He’s not afraid of Shadow at all, Maddie thinks.

“You woke up,” Sonic breathes, eyes shining with moisture. He reaches out as if to touch, hand hovering over Shadow’s bandaged arm. “...Dude, did you pull your breathing tube out yourself? That was kinda dumb.”

Shadow’s expression has softened ever-so slightly, recognition creeping onto his face as he stares blearily at Sonic. His quills have stopped crackling, and his eyes have faded back into a dull, glassy red.

Sonic grabs a piece of gauze and boldly wipes some blood off Shadow’s chin. Shadow lets him.

Maddie watches the hedgehogs for a moment, tension bleeding out of her muscles. She hesitates only for a moment, before quietly leaving the room. 

Sonic’s got this.

—

 

For the next half an hour, Maddie hovers restlessly in the kitchen. She does the dishes. She makes a cup of coffee and then leaves it to cool untouched on the counter. 

She keeps pausing to listen for sounds of conflict from the guest room, but there are none. She knows that Sonic has fought and defeated Shadow before, and that he could easily do it again with Shadow in this state - but the thought still terrifies her. 

When she finally cracks the door to the guest room open again, the room is silent.

Shadow is asleep again, and Sonic greets Maddie with a sunny smile from where he’s sitting on the other side of the bed.

“He passed out again pretty much right away,” Sonic says, answering the question Maddie hasn’t yet voiced. “I don’t think he really knows where he is, but he seemed to chill out when he saw me, so…”

Maddie sighs.
“It’s my fault,” she says. “You warned me about the tube.”

“It’s okay!” Sonic reassures her quickly. 

Maddie thinks he shouldn’t be the one reassuring her, not in this situation. 

“I think he has some hangups about medical stuff,” Sonic continues, glancing at Shadow’s relaxed face. “When we went to the military base he grew up on, I saw some weird things.”

“Weird things?”

Maddie shouldn’t be asking. It’s not her business, and Shadow is not awake to consent to his vulnerabilities being exposed like this, but she can’t help herself.

“Yeah, like… Tubes and old needles and scalpels and stuff.”

Another stretch of silence. Sonic fiddles with the corner of a sheet, peering at Shadow’s face.

Maddie would like to give Shadow that antibiotic shot. She’d like to reinsert the IV needle to make sure Shadow gets the fluids and nutrients he needs to heal - but suddenly the idea of doing so without his knowledge or consent feels reprehensible. 

She feels entirely out of her depth. 

“Why don’t we let him rest,” she says finally, a little deflated. “I’ll make some breakfast.”

 

 

Notes:

You had one job, Maddie!

Bit of mild surprise Sonadow snuck in there. I've added a tag to reflect that, but it can still be read as platonic.

Please leave a comment, they sustain me.

Chapter 4: Sonic vs. The Brick Wall

Summary:

Shadow wakes up again. It’s far less dramatic the second time around.
Words are hard. Trust is harder.
Sonic tries talking comics. Maddie tries not to cry. Knuckles tries patience.
At least one of them succeeds.

Scorching metal under his hands, pushing, pushing, pushing with all his might as power surges through his burning veins.

He sees the stars in his periphery. The Earth shrinks slowly behind him.

Chaos energy creaks and crackles.

He’s almost done. In just a few moments, he’ll get to see her.

He closes his eyes, a stray tear slipping down his cheek.

He thinks of her.

It’s almost over.

…

Pain.

Roasting alive, falling.

He’s almost done.

It’s almost over.

Shadow opens his eyes.

 

—

 

When Sonic looks up from his comic book, he finds red eyes open, silently watching him.

He startles a little - Shadow’s gaze is on the intense side even when he’s been through a meat grinder. He doesn’t say anything, simply studying Sonic from where he lies on meticulously arranged pillows, courtesy of Maddie. 

Sonic grins, puts the comic book (The Flash issue 750, the one that Tom got him on his bearthday) down and turns a little toward Shadow to face him properly.

“Hey,” he says, “How’re you feeling?”

Shadow stares at him, eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly.

“Yeah, okay, stupid question,” Sonic grins. “You kinda freaked us out, earlier.”

Shadow shifts, then slowly tries to sit up. Sonic sputters out a wordless protest, hands shooting to Shadow’s shoulders to gently press him back down against the pillows. Shadow, surprisingly, lets him as pain clouds his eyes, a strained whine escaping his scorched throat.

“Woah okay hold on- let’s not do that yet,” Sonic says hurriedly, “You look kind of like someone left you on the grill for too long, and should probably stay down for a bit?”

Shadow glares indignantly at him, but settles back down nevertheless. Fluid rattles in his throat with each shallow breath. 

(That’s probably not good.)

Shadow’s lips part. No sound comes out. The effort costs him - his hand curls into the blanket. 

“...I’ll get Maddie,” Sonic says, moving to slide off the bed.

A hand grabs his wrist.

Sonic blinks at Shadow’s fingers around his wrist, then up at his face, puzzled. Shadow looks back at him, expression set in his usual flat scowl. 

“Okay,” Sonic breathes. He settles back onto the bed, crossing his legs under him. Shadow’s ungloved fingers uncoil slowly from around his wrist. 

Sonic picks up his comic book again, grinning at Shadow.

“Ever heard of The Flash? ”

—

When Maddie opens the door to the guest room almost an hour later, she’s greeted by the sight of Sonic on the bed, enthusiastically explaining the lore of The Flash to a very drowsy-looking, but conscious Shadow.

“--They also call him The Scarlet Speedster, which is awesome but not as awesome as The Blue Blur . The first comic was released in like, the 1940s and he had this really funny-looking helmet. I’m so glad they changed his design, the red suit’s so much cooler-”

Shadow’s attention shifts from Sonic to Maddie, his face immediately shutting down into something neutral. Sonic follows his gaze, perking up and flashing a beaming smile at Maddie.

Maddie lingers by the doorway for a moment, before stepping further into the room, returning Sonic’s smile with a smaller one of her own.

“I’m so glad to see you awake, Shadow,” she says. “You had us really worried.”

 Shadow offers no reply.

It makes sense. Considering the severity of his external burns, his vocal cords are most likely in a similar shape. Speaking will be a challenge for a while.

“You must be pretty sore,” she continues, stopping just short of the bed. Shadow watches her, his expression a mixture of wariness and curiosity. His previous aggression is nowhere to be seen. 

“I’d like to change your bandages and give you something for the pain, if you’d allow-”

An immediate crackle of volatile red energy. Maddie startles, taking an instinctive step back. Next to Shadow, Sonic bristles at his rival.

“Shadow!” he exclaims, “Knock it off! She’s trying to help you!”

Shadow only glares, eyes narrowed to slits. His fists grip the blankets beneath him, and Maddie sees the way his chest rises and falls rapidly with shallow, too-fast breaths.

“It’s all right,” she says quickly, forcing the nervous waver out of her voice. “I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to. Maybe if Sonic…?”

Shadow curls his lip, baring a hint of sharp canine. Slowly, he shakes his head.

Sonic stares at him.

“Dude, it’s just a little needle,” he says, exasperated. “You’re not that scared of needles, are you? It’s really not that bad!”

The glare Sonic receives in reply is dripping with contempt.

“Okay,” Maddie breathes, “That’s okay.”

The silence that follows is brittle.

Sonic chews his lip. Shadow’s staring straight ahead now, not looking at either of them. Sonic leans back down into the pillows next to him.

“You know,” Sonic says, “Maddie’s not like the G.U.N. doctors.”

Still nothing. Not even a glare.

“I get it, though,” Sonic mumbles. “You don’t know us. It’s hard to trust people after something like that.”

Shadow’s expression shifts, just slightly. Something flickers in his eyes. Sonic almost misses it.
The silence stretches again. Then, barely audible:

“...G.U.N?”

Shadow’s voice is raspy and breathy, but both Sonic and Maddie perk up at the sound of it, Sonic’s ears turning attentively in its direction. Maddie steps a little closer again, cautiously.

“They don’t know you’re here,” she says gently. “Sonic made sure of that.”

Shadow glances at Sonic, who offers him a thumbs-up and a somewhat brittle grin.
The darker hedgehog closes his eyes. His brow furrows. He forces another word through burned vocal cords.

“…Why?”

“Dude,” Sonic says flatly. “Seriously?”

Maddie softens. Shadow doesn't speak - just watches him. There’s a brief, silent conversation between the two hedgehogs that Maddie’s not privy to.

The silence that follows is warmer somehow. Quieter.

Then, like nothing happened, Sonic flops back on the bed and says brightly, “Anyway! You wanna hear more about The Flash?”

—

Shadow spends most of the next few days slipping in and out of consciousness.

When awake, he doesn’t seem to mind Maddie’s presence, watching her move about the room with curious, intense eyes.

Every now and then, when he thinks nobody’s looking, his face settles into an expression of soul-crushing exhaustion that disappears the second he catches Maddie watching. He still refuses any kind of treatment, reacting with hostility when Maddie tries to gently suggest a change of bandages or a painkiller. She brings him meals every day, bland broths, soft rice, watery oats - anything easy to digest - but the dark hedgehog touches none of it.

 Stubborn, he wallows in his agony.

In an attempt to make him feel more comfortable, Maddie begins to clear the now-useless medical equipment from the guest room. Shadow watches her every move, expression shifting between open curiosity and suspicion.

So Maddie begins to narrate what she’s doing.

“This one’s a portable respirator, I kind of nicked it from the clinic so I need to take it back soon. It helps hurt people breathe,” she explains, smiling at Shadow. “See this oxygen tank here?”

Shadow watches, a wrinkle between his brows. He takes a breath, then croaks out a single word, scorched vocal cords straining.

“...Tube.”

“That’s right.”

“...Sorry.”

Maddie pauses, then smiles at him, just barely resisting the instinctive urge to smooth down his quills the way she always does with Sonic. 

“And this is an IV. It’s a way to give-”

“...Sedatives.”

A pang in Maddie’s chest. She doesn’t let it show, instead shaking her head with a small hum.

“Just fluids and nutrients, sweetheart,” she says, the pet name slipping automatically off her tongue. Shadow doesn’t seem to mind it, too busy glaring at the IV stand like it has personally offended him. (It might have personally offended him. )  She supposes she won’t be convincing him of its benefits anytime soon.

—

“Your name… Sonic?”

Sonic blinks at Shadow. Then, the realization hits him.

“You had no idea what my name was until just now, did you?” he laughs. Shadow glowers at him, which only makes Sonic laugh harder. 

It’s just past 7 on a Saturday evening.  For the past day or two, Sonic has spent most of his time in the guest room with Shadow, even when the latter hasn’t been awake to enjoy his company. He brings more comic books and fills the silence with his energetic prattling. Shadow rarely says anything, his voice still locked away by his injuries, but that’s fine. Sonic’s capable of holding an entire conversation all on his own.

(The fact that he hasn’t spoken to Knuckles or Tails since Shadow arrived has nothing to do with it. It’s not like he’s avoiding them or anything. It’s not like he almost ducked into the damn closet to avoid Knuckles when he spotted him in the hall earlier. It’s not like his chest hurts at all.)

“Well!” Sonic says cheerily, offering a gloved hand to Shadow. “Sonic the Hedgehog, nice to formally meet ya, Shadow.”

Shadow doesn’t move, so Sonic reaches over to grab his hand for a handshake. Shadow, surprisingly, doesn’t send him flying across the room for it.

( He’s not wearing gloves. His paw pads are black, rather than tan, and there’s a red stripe running all the way from his elbow to the tip of his middle finger. )

“Anyway, you must get bored out of your mind lying in bed all day,” Sonic says quickly, not flustered at all, “I have an idea. Ever seen a movie?”

Shadow raises a brow but doesn’t reply. Sonic hops off the bed, grinning.

“Tom has a laptop with a bunch of them downloaded on it, I’ll go get that for you! Be right back!”

Again, Shadow offers no input whatsoever, so Sonic just zaps out of the room. He remembers seeing Tom’s laptop on the coffee table in the living room, so he makes his way to the stairs.

As Sonic creeps past the master bedroom door on his way downstairs, he catches a strain of a phone conversation through it, one he’s definitely not meant to hear.

“--I’m completely out of my depth here, Tom. They’ve all got trauma, but this one’s on another level,” Maddie is saying, sounding both exasperated and helpless. “He won’t even let me treat him. Won’t eat anything I give him. He’s completely shut down.”

A pause as Tom responds.

“I can’t force him. He already doesn’t trust us, and once that line’s been crossed, there’s no uncrossing it.”

Maddie falls silent again to listen to Tom’s reply. With a lump in his stomach, Sonic forces himself to move past the master bedroom door and down the stairs.

–

Knuckles is in the living room, watching tv.

Sonic pauses awkwardly in the doorway, before clearing his throat and walking in to grab Tom’s laptop off the coffee table. Knuckles looks evenly at him, but says nothing.

Sonic hesitates for a little bit, the silence stretching between them. He wonders if maybe he should say something - an apology, an explanation, a justification - but he’s not the one who’s in the wrong. Knuckles is the one who’s being unreasonable. Sonic sets his jaw and turns to leave again.

“Is he doing better, then?” Knuckles asks.

Sonic halts, looking over his shoulder at Knuckles.

“Yeah- well kinda,” he says, “He won’t let Maddie help him. Won’t eat anything. Just kinda… Lies there.”

Knuckles grunts thoughtfully.

“Perhaps the more impressive Hedgehog doesn’t want to recover,” he states, like it's a totally normal thing to say. 

Sonic bristles, the indignant rage from a few nights ago flaring right back up, full-force.

“Why are you being so nasty about this?” he snaps, unable to stop the volume of his voice from rising. Knuckles just looks at him with mild surprise. 

Knuckles opens his mouth to reply, but this time Sonic is the one to turn and leave. He even stomps his feet on his way up the stairs to make a point, disgust simmering in the pit of his stomach. He’s so disappointed in Knuckles, in his needless cruelty.  Since the time Sonic met Knuckles, he has never known the echidna to be cruel. Passionate, yes. Rash, sometimes. But always fair, always reasonable. There is no world in which Sonic would have expected this kind of thing from him.

He shoves the anger down before reentering the guest room. 

Shadow’s eyes are screwed shut with pain, the corners of his mouth downturned as he trembles faintly. When he hears Sonic enter the room, he opens his eyes, walls slamming right back down as he schools his face back into a controlled mask. Sonic wishes he wouldn’t do that.

“Alright,” Sonic says, forcing the cheer back into his voice. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

He climbs back onto the bed and flips the laptop open. Tom has sorted all his movies into a folder helpfully named “MOVIES” in all caps like a total boomer. Sonic snickers to himself as he scrolls through them.

“Any preferences?”

No answer.

Sonic shrugs, then lights up at the name of one of the files.

“Aw hell yeah,” he exclaims, (secretly happy that Maddie isn’t there to hear him swear) “Tom’s got John Wick! You’ll like this one. The protagonist reminds me of you.”

That earns him a flicker of curiosity from Shadow. Sonic grins at him, then shuffles a little closer to the other hedgehog to give him a better view of the screen. He clicks the video file open.

In hindsight, Sonic should probably have picked a different film. Shadow’s expression remains carefully blank throughout the movie, but the scenes of the legendary assassin wallowing in his grief and then going on a violent rampage have Sonic peering nervously at the other Hedgehog. 

He wants to ask about her. About Maria.

Shadow had spoken about her a little, up there on the moon. Back then his pain had been too raw, too fresh. Sonic thinks it might still be. Fifty years may have passed since her death, but for Shadow, who spent most of that time in stasis, it’s been less than a year.

(“I’ve spent fifty years reliving what they did to her.”)

The credits roll.

“Did you like it?”

To Sonic’s surprise, Shadow nods slowly. Sonic glances at the time at the bottom right of the screen: it’s nearing 10PM. 

“You wanna watch the sequel?”

Another nod.

Sonic grins and clicks open the next file. 
Shadow doesn't say anything. He watches the screen, but his eyes look further away than that - like someone still chasing a ghost.

Notes:

I don’t think Knuckles meant to be nasty that time, Sonic.

Alternate chapter title: Shadow being the worst patient ever.

Please comment, they sustain me!
Next chapter will drop in about a week.

Chapter 5: Maddie vs. The Brick Wall

Summary:

Sonic figures it out.

Notes:

Check the tags for this one, guys.

 

Time crawls on by.

The sun crept behind the horizon hours ago. Sonic’s not sure what time it is, but he knows it’s definitely way past his usual bedtime. Despite the late hour, he’s restless, struggling to stay still where he sits on Shadow’s bed in the guest room, Tom’s laptop on his lap. He’d gone for a run earlier in the day, but it simply hadn’t been enough.

Shadow has grown pale and quiet over the past several days, eyes growing glassier and old bandages graying around thin limbs. His breath doesn’t rattle anymore, but it’s become shallow and quick, even at rest.

(At one point, Maddie abandoned her morals and attempted to change his bandages while he slept. She was rewarded with a vicious cut to the hand by a stray bristling quill - and though Shadow had looked a little guilty for hurting her, he’d still not allowed her to finish the job.)

A movie is playing on the laptop - some black and white monster movie from the 50s that Shadow had expressed mild interest in - but neither hedgehog is watching it. Shadow’s eyes are unfocused, staring at the wall opposite of the bed instead of the screen. Sonic, in turn, is watching Shadow.

“C’mon Shads,” Sonic says after a while, keeping a playful tone to his voice although what he really wants to do is admonish. “After all that trouble I went through to save you, it’d be really lame for you to die from, I dunno, super-sepsis or something.”

As usual, Shadow doesn’t even bother responding. The silence stretches long enough for irritation to begin simmering quietly in Sonic’s chest.  Maddie works herself to the bone with the clinic and with Shadow, who fights her every single step of the way for no reason. The least he could do is acknowledge it. Sonic huffs to himself and reaches over to close the laptop.

“Dude. It's like you’re not even trying,” Sonic says.

Nothing.

Now feeling genuinely ticked off, Sonic turns his head to look at Shadow. Shadow shifts his gaze back to him, eyes narrow in a way that seems almost… Defiant.

 Sonic frowns.

“...You are trying, right?”

Shadow’s silence is loud. He looks away from Sonic again, instead glaring at the ceiling with dead, glassy eyes. A heavy, suffocating weight settles in the air between them.

“Shadow,” Sonic prompts, a sudden edge to his voice.

Shadow’s lip curls, ears flattening against his head as he finally responds, his voice a low, biting snarl; 

“You should’ve left me to die.”

Sonic just stares at him, stricken, disbelief and dread coiling together into a heavy lump in his stomach. Anguish wraps itself around his throat and squeezes, and he feels a strange burn behind his eyelids. 

Sonic loves life. He loves the sky, the forests, and the mountains. Even through the loss of Longclaw and the crushing loneliness of his first years on earth, he has loved it, powering through the pain with nothing but enthusiasm and pure stubbornness. He hears Shadow’s awful, horrible words, and simply cannot wrap his head around them. When he finally finds his words again, his voice sounds unsteady and oddly distant in his ears.

“Shadow,” he tries, “You can’t say that, that’s…”

He hesitates, searching for the right words to express how desperately he wants for Shadow to take back the awful thing he just said. 

“You think Maria’d be happy knowing you gave up?” he finally manages past the lump in his throat. 

Red and yellow flashes in Shadow’s eyes. He bares his fangs, quills rising in a furious, crackling bristle. Sonic finds himself recoiling away, hands rising to hover defensively between them.

“Don’t ever ,” Shadow snarls, the pain in his voice raw and bleeding, “presume to tell me what Maria would want.”

Sonic feels like he can’t breathe.

“I just meant-”

“Leave.”

“Shadow-”

Shadow begins to push himself up, eyes squeezing shut in pain as crackling energies gather around his quills in preparation for a teleport. 

“Okay okay, I’ll leave!” Sonic cries quickly, sliding off the bed and backing away. “Just- don’t go, okay? Don’t go.”

There’s a desperate plea in his voice.

Shadow doesn’t reply.

Sonic pauses with his hand on the door handle, anxiety snaking its way up his throat as he stares at Shadow, eyes shiny with tears. Shadow avoids his gaze, curling onto his side on the bed with a pained shudder.

Sonic leaves the room.

 

—

 

Maddie’s been spending far too much time on the phone lately. 

Fortunately for her, it’s not like Tom has much else to do at the hospital except listen to her gripe about her most recent extraterrestrial hedgehog problem - and listen he does, happily, with endless patience and encouragement.

(She didn’t tell him about Shadow cutting her, though. That might have elicited a reaction from him beyond calm words and gentle humor, and Tom really doesn’t need that kind of stress during his recovery.)

Again, he’s spent the past half an hour making stupid jokes and gossiping about the nurses just to make her laugh. When they finally hang up for the evening, Maddie feels a little less frazzled.

She puts her phone down on the kitchen counter and picks up her half-finished cup of tea instead. It’s gone cold, but she sips at it idly anyway, the taste of peppermint and liquorice spreading on her tongue.

She turns around, and almost drops her cup at the unexpected sight of Sonic standing in the doorway, completely still and silent. She presses a hand to her chest, breath catching in surprise.

“Sonic, you startled me, honey,” she says with a soft laugh, “Are you hungry? I was about to make myself a-”

She stops when she sees his face.

He’s not looking at her, his wide green eyes fixed on some distant point beyond her. His expression is set in something so fragile and uncertain that Maddie immediately puts her cup down on the counter and approaches him, concern knitting her brows.

“Sonic?” 

“He said I should’ve let him die,” Sonic says.

She’d figured as much, really - ever since that first night at the clinic, when Shadow stubbornly refused to come back to himself. His refusal to accept any of her help had only confirmed her suspicions - but it’s different like this, hearing it stated outright. And for Sonic, who has never encountered a problem he couldn’t solve either through kindness or copious amounts of violence, the idea must seem insurmountable.

Sonic finally looks at her, a raw plea in his overly wide eyes. He’s waiting for her to explain it to him, to make sense of it. To fix it, to fix Shadow.

Maddie has no magic words for this. Slowly, she kneels on the floor in front of Sonic and pulls him gently into her arms, making sure to avoid his instinctively bristling quills. He clings to her like a lifeline, fingers digging into the fabric of her sweater.

When Maddie says nothing, Sonic continues, as if trying to unravel it all aloud:
“I think he wants to follow his friend.”

“His friend?” Maddie asks softly.

“Yeah, Maria. G.U.N killed her.”

Maddie smooths Sonic’s quills down, then pulls back a little to look him in the eye.

“It’s the whole reason he went nuclear in the first place,” Sonic continues, the words falling from his lips in an uncontrolled stream. His voice trembles.  “I thought I’d talked him out of it– I mean I talked him out the whole revenge thing but I didn’t think he’d still want to– But then he pushed the cannon away and–”

“Hush,” Maddie says, sensing the oncoming spiral. “It’s very late, and you’re exhausted. Go to bed, all right? Everything will feel easier in the morning.”

Sonic stares at her with damp eyes, looking like he wants to argue - but ends up closing his mouth and nodding dejectedly, gaze dropping to the floor. He pulls away from her, and Maddie watches him retreat into the dark.

—

 

Sonic doesn’t go to bed. 

He climbs out through the attic window and onto the roof, tilting his head up to the stars. Unlike the night he found Shadow, the sky is clear now - and he can see the nebula left by the Eclipse Cannon, sharp and terrifying above him.

His mind keeps looping back on itself again, building a cocoon around the grief he knows is coming. It’s like Shadow is alive and dead at the same time.

( Schrödinger's hedgehog , his mind supplies helpfully. He wants to laugh but chokes on the lump in his throat instead.)

With a shuddering exhale, he sits down on the cool tiles and pulls his knees to his chest, resting his forehead on his knees. He feels dizzy. His eyes are burning. His mind won’t stop running in circles and he doesn’t know how to make it stop. 

The worst thing is that he can’t even talk to his brothers about it. He’s been so focused on Shadow that he hasn’t even tried fixing things with them - and when Knuckles tried to tell him the truth, Sonic had the audacity to snap at him for it.

The shame curls in his gut like poison.

Behind him, the attic window creaks open. Sonic doesn’t look up. Heavy footsteps approach, and then Knuckles sits down next to him, wordless. Behind him, Sonic hears the flutter of twin tails.

“You were right Knux,” Sonic says, hating the way his voice wavers. “As usual.”

“As usual,” Knuckles agrees easily. 

Sonic lets out a laugh, but it sounds shrill and shaky in his own head. He covers his mouth with his hand. 

“M’sorry guys,” he hiccups, trying and failing to stop the tears that slip down his cheeks and into his glove. “I dunno what to do.”

Knuckles claps a heavy hand down on Sonic’s shoulder, almost causing him to topple over with the weight of it.

“The more impressive Hedgehog is overcome by his grief,” he says simply, “You have talked him off a ledge before. You will do so again.”

Sonic can’t help but laugh wheezily, shaking his head.

“I dunno if it’s gonna be that easy.”

“We’ll help,” Tails chirps from behind him.

Sonic turns his head, blinking wetly at the fox.
“I thought you said he was scary?” 

“He’s not that scary,” Tails replies, shrugging. “He’s just sad.”

Sonic offers Tails a watery grin. Tails doesn’t hesitate - he launches himself forward, throwing his arms around Sonic’s neck in a crushing hug. Knuckles joins in, wrapping his arms around them both and pulling them close.

It’s reminiscent of that time in the cornfield. Sonic closes his eyes and lets himself relax, some of the tension uncoiling from his core. He’s taken care of. 

They’re all taken care of.

They’ll fix this.

–

 

When Maddie enters the guest room, Shadow is staring up at the ceiling, eyes hazy and red-rimmed with pain. The moment he spots her, he schools his face back into that wary scowl that Maddie is starting to realize is nothing but a defensive mask.

She puts the tray on the bedside table, offering him a gentle little smile.
“I brought you some painkillers,” she says, “I know swallowing hurts, but it might still be easier for you than the IV.”

Shadow says nothing, simply watching her movements as she pushes the tray into his reach. He makes no move to take it.

Maddie leaves it there, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed. Shadow’s expression shifts briefly into something like curiosity as she clasps her hands in her lap and just looks at him.

They’re silent together, for a little while.

Slowly, Shadow sinks back against the pillows, allowing his eyes to cloud once more.

Maddie watches him. She thinks about those first few days after the destruction of the Eclipse Cannon, about what Sonic had told her happened between him and Shadow on the moon. Shadow had asked to die, even then.

Everyone Shadow cares about is gone. Even Gerald Robotnik, who’d ended up just using and manipulating him, had once been Shadow’s family. The world is different now than it was when he was locked away, unfamiliar, terrifying, and unbearably lonely.

He has nowhere to go.

Though her heart aches, Maddie finds herself understanding.

“You didn’t really expect to be here anymore, did you?” she says, gently.

Shadow’s gaze sharpens as it shifts to her again.

Instinctively, Maddie reaches out to stroke the soft patch of fur between his eyes, a gesture that has always been soothing to Sonic. 

Shadow lets her, his briefly puzzled expression relaxing as his eyelids flutter shut at her ministrations, the soothing touch like a balm to his pain.

“Maria was your everything, wasn’t she.”

It’s not a question, so Shadow doesn’t answer.

He’s lost part of his soul, Maddie thinks, the only reason he ever had to be alive in the first place. Since the moment he woke from his stasis, he’s been waiting, expecting to die. Even that, he was denied, his life nothing but a series of choices ripped away from him.

“You must be so tired,” Maddie says, voice barely a whisper.

Shadow breaks. His facial muscles tense, lips trembling as he presses them into a thin line. He doesn’t open his eyes as a stray tear seeps into the fur on his cheek. Maddie politely ignores it, continuing to gently pet the silky fur on his forehead.

“It’s all right to want to rest,” Maddie continues as Shadow allows himself to be comforted. His breath hitches in his throat.

Maddie thinks he might be waiting for permission to finally go.

 “...But Sonic and I would be so happy if you’d consider staying a little longer,” Maddie whispers. ”Sometimes, all life needs is a little space to begin again.”

Shadow remains silent, another few tears slipping down his face, leaving wet streaks in his fur.

“Can you give it a chance, do you think?”

A beat. Then a nod, so small that Maddie barely catches it. She moves her hand down to wipe gently at the tear tracks instead.

“Would you let me give you something for your pain?” she asks.

Another nod, just as small as the first one.

This time, when Maddie offers Shadow the glass of water and the painkillers, he takes them without a word.

—

 

Rest evades Sonic.

Knuckles and Tails are both asleep now, one on each side of him. Knuckles had just dragged his own bed across the room and shoved it up against Sonic’s without a word, while Tails insisted on climbing into Sonic’s bed and is currently hogging the pillow, limbs splayed in all directions.

Sonic feels a little better. The weight in his chest hasn’t gone away, not really, but after talking it through with his brothers, the grief has softened into something steadier - something like quiet determination. Shadow may have given up, but Sonic hasn’t. He won’t.

Careful not to wake the others, he sits up and untangles himself from the sheets, slipping out of bed with practiced ease. Tails lets out a soft sigh and burrows deeper into the pillow, while Knuckles snores on, utterly dead to the world.

Leaving his shoes by the bed, Sonic slips out of the room and pads down the dark hallway on socked feet. He sidesteps the creaky floorboard and stops at the guest room door. Carefully, he eases it open.

Moonlight spills across the floor, casting soft shadows that stretch toward the bed. The room is quiet. Still. Shadow lies where Sonic left him, chest rising and falling in steady rhythm.

Sonic crosses the room, hesitates - just for a second - then climbs into the bed. The mattress dips beneath his weight, and Shadow’s eyes flutter open. He blinks at Sonic, groggy and half-lidded, but doesn’t move as Sonic slips beneath the covers beside him.

Shadow lets out a faint exhale, his eyes slipping closed again. Drugged and drowsy, he doesn’t seem to care.

Sonic shifts a little closer until they’re face to face, their snouts almost touching in the dark.

For a long moment, he just watches Shadow - watches the slow, even breaths, the relaxed muscles, the fresh bandages wrapped neatly around slender limbs.

“Don’t go, Shadow,” Sonic whispers.

A pause. Then the faintest trace of a sigh.

“I won’t,” Shadow murmurs, and the words hang softly in the quiet.

Notes:

Oh whoops I tripped and the Sonadow fell out again

Chapter 6: Popcorn and Time Machines

Summary:

Shadow tries.

Notes:

This chapter is mostly fluff, so you get it a bit earlier.

 

“Here is the plan,” Knuckles declares solemnly, thumping his fist down on the kitchen table with a bit more force than strictly necessary. “We shall reveal to the More Impressive Hedgehog the beauty of life, of love, of brotherhood!”

“It’s actually kind of adorable how much you care,” Sonic muses from where he sits opposite of Knuckles, a half-eaten bowl of cereal in front of him. “Didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Yes,” Knuckles agrees, “And once he has healed sufficiently, I shall challenge him to a duel to the death, to regain the honor I lost during my humiliating defeat at his hands.”

Sonic facepalms, and next to him, Tails giggles.

“Absolutely no duels to the death in my house,” Maddie says evenly from where she stands by the kitchen counter, preparing a bowl of oatmeal. “When Shadow is better, you may spar in the backyard. But only when he’s better, and only if he’s all right with it.”

“He’ll just kick your ass again,” Sonic says, pointing at Knuckles with his spoon. “He was beating up G.U.N soldiers left and right while practically dead.”

“Language,” Maddie says.

“Then perhaps I shall challenge him right now, to even the playing field!” Knuckles declares, slamming his fist down again. “That ought to awaken the spark of life in him!”

“No dueling,” Maddie repeats firmly, pouring a glass of orange juice and placing it on a tray next to the bowl of oatmeal. She counts out a few pills from a small bottle and places them next to the glass, before picking up the tray and leaving the kitchen. Sonic hops off his chair and follows her, while Knuckles and Tails remain in the kitchen to finish their breakfast.

Maddie pads upstairs and to the guest room door. She knocks politely before opening the door and entering. Sonic follows.

–

 

Shadow is awake. His gaze immediately shifts to Maddie when she walks into the room to place the tray on the nightstand. Sonic catches the way Shadow’s expression perks up a little at the sight of her, and has to make a conscious effort not to relentlessly tease him about it.

(Sonic doesn’t know exactly what Maddie said to Shadow that night, but he knows it changed something. Shadow’s still quiet, still guarded - but there's a thread of something else now. Not hope, exactly. But maybe the faintest willingness to try.)

Sonic hops onto the bed and settles into his usual spot, sitting cross-legged on the other side. 

“Breakfast!” he announces, grinning brightly at Shadow, who only gives him one of his unreadable looks in return. He begins to sit up in the bed, patiently tolerating the way Sonic immediately reaches out to steady him and shove pillows behind his back.

Physically, Shadow looks better. There’s still a haziness to his eyes, but this time it’s caused by the potent painkillers Maddie has been giving him, rather than constant, relentless pain. Beyond that, not much has changed.

(Sonic can tell that Shadow is trying, but there’s no magical quick fix for a broken spirit. He knows that now.)

Maddie picks up the bowl of oatmeal and carefully offers it to Shadow. He takes the bowl with unsteady hands and rests it in his lap, glancing curiously at Maddie as she offers him a spoon.

“It’s oatmeal,” Sonic grins next to him. “It’s super gross. Too bad it’s all you’ll get until you’re well enough to appreciate Froot Loops.”

“It’s very nutritious and easy on the stomach,” Maddie says, giving Sonic a stern look. Sonic winks playfully at her, before looking back to Shadow.

Shadow brings a spoonful to his mouth - almost dropping the spoon a few times before Sonic reaches out to steady him - then lets out a small, appreciative hum.

“It’s good,” he says softly. His voice is clearer now that his throat has begun to heal, smooth and low.

“There’s no way you think oatmeal is good!” Sonic protests, “It’s like eating slime!”

“All right, that’s enough Sonic,” Maddie chides. She picks up the pills from the tray and offers them to Shadow, who takes them and swallows them dry before she can hand him the glass of orange juice. She glances at Sonic, something unreadable flickering behind her eyes, but doesn’t say anything.

“I’d like to check your bandages today,” Maddie says. “Would that be all right?”

Shadow nods mutely.

Sonic hates this part. Shadow’s eyes always cloud over, vacant and disinterested as he seems to disappear into some dark place inside his own head. Sonic always makes a point of being as loud and annoying as possible during the whole thing - just to remind Shadow where he is. Not in that lab, not with G.U.N. In Maddie and Tom’s house. Safe.

(Sonic doesn’t know what they subjected Shadow to down in that dark lab, but the amount of rusty scalpels, needles and metal tables fitted with restraints Sonic found paint vivid, unpleasant images behind his eyes.)

Maddie works quickly and efficiently, making sure to touch Shadow as little as possible. This time though, she spends a bit more time than usual inspecting one of the burns, a small frown on her face.

“I’d really like to give you an antibiotic shot,” she says carefully. “Just to be on the safe side.”

Shadow just nods again.

Maddie turns away to prepare the syringe, and for a few moments the room feels heavy again - until Sonic elbows Shadow gently.

“Just wait until you discover pancakes,” Sonic says. “They’ll blow your mind.”

“I’ve had pancakes,” Shadow replies. 

“Really? What’s your favorite topping?”

“...Topping?”

“Uh, yeah? Jam, syrup, whipped cream, whatever– Don’t tell me you just had them plain? ”

“I just had them plain.”

“Dude, you need to hurry up and heal so we can introduce you to the wonders of chocolate chips.”

While Sonic enthuses about pancakes, Maddie quickly and discreetly injects the antibiotic into Shadow’s arm while he is distracted. The darker hedgehog doesn’t even seem to notice, as if being injected with random needles is the most normal, everyday thing in the world. Sonic supposes it kinda is, for Shadow.

“There. Well done,” Maddie says, reaching out a hand to smooth down Shadow’s quills. Shadow gives her such an adoring, puppy-like look that Sonic has to physically stifle the laugh threatening to spill past his lips. Unfortunately for him, Shadow notices and shoots a withering glare in his direction.

There’s a crash downstairs, followed by Knuckles’ booming voice. Maddie sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Eat your oatmeal,” she tells Shadow, before leaving the room to go rescue her furniture from her eldest.

Dutifully, Shadow eats a few more spoonfuls of his oat-slime, while Sonic watches.

“What did they feed you at that military base anyway?” he asks.

“The fluid in my tube sustained me,” Shadow says, placing his spoon back down in the bowl.

“They didn’t give you any actual food?”

“They didn’t need to.”

“But you had pancakes?”

“Maria snuck me some, once.” Shadow squints at him. “Why are you so interested in this?”

“I just can’t get over the fact that you’ve never had pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream. My mind simply can’t comprehend this injustice!”

Shadow rolls his eyes, and Sonic thinks it’s a good sign that he has enough energy to be annoyed with him.

“So, out of the food Maria snuck you, what was your favorite?”

It’s a risky question. Talking too much about Maria tends to make Shadow clam right back up, and the other Hedgehog falls silent for long enough for Sonic to wonder if he messed up again.

Then, after a beat;

 

“Popcorn.”

 

—

 

It had taken a lot of begging, pleading and bargaining on Sonic’s part, but Maddie had eventually given in and agreed to let Shadow join the family for a proper movie night in the living room that same evening - on the condition that Sonic promise to make sure he doesn’t overdo it.

The popcorn had been a harder battle.

(“Popcorn does not count as a nutritious meal,” Maddie had said sternly. “Shadow’s appetite is almost nonexistent as it is, he should really only be eating calorie-dense foods with enough protein to help him heal.” )

Still, even she couldn’t deny that a movie night without popcorn wasn’t a real movie night - and Shadow deserves the full Wachowski family experience - complete with butter, salt, and possible stomachaches. And so, it was decided.

Predictably, Shadow had flat-out refused to be carried.

Getting out of bed alone turns out to be a slow, painful ordeal. He doesn’t utter a single word of complaint, but Sonic can tell every movement hurts - the way Shadow eases himself out from under the covers, the way he pauses to brace himself before standing for the first time in who knows how long.  Begrudgingly, he allows Sonic to steady him when he wavers, leaning against him more than Sonic thinks he realizes.

The trip down the stairs is just as slow, but Sonic doesn’t mind. Shadow’s implicit trust in him makes his stomach do funny little flips - not in a bad way, just in a whoa , kind of way. 

They’re almost to the living room when Knuckles appears in the hallway like a brick wall with feet.

Shadow slows to a stop, his usual wary scowl reappearing on his face as he eyes the guardian suspiciously. Knuckles stares right back, arms crossed, violet eyes scanning his injured form with a steady, measuring look. Sonic glances between them, ready for sparks to fly.

“Pitiful,” Knuckles says.

Shadow’s expression darkens, quills flaring. Sonic glares at Knuckles, already opening his mouth to tell him off, because what the hell man-

“I expect a warrior of your caliber to get back on your feet soon,” Knuckles continues, “This is beneath you.”

Shadow blinks, a flicker of curiosity replacing the fury on his face. Knuckles gives him a firm nod, grunts, and turns to stomp into the living room. 

Shadow glances at Sonic, who just grins and shrugs at him, before leading him after the guardian.

—

Tails is parked in front of the TV, remote in hand. At the sight of Sonic and Shadow, he gives them a small, almost sheepish smile before turning back to the scrolling list of movie titles. Knuckles is on the floor nearby, leaning back against the couch. 

“It’s Tails’ turn to pick tonight,” Sonic says,  steering Shadow toward the couch and fussing with the pillows. “But I made him promise not to pick anything Disney.”

Tails shoots him a look over his shoulder and sticks out his tongue before glancing at Shadow.

“You can pick if you want, Shadow,” he offers.

“I don’t care,” Shadow replies gruffly, settling his weight more on Sonic than the floor.

Maddie emerges from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn.

“Oh Shadow,” she chides gently, “you really shouldn’t be walking around yet.”  She sets the bowl on the coffee table and moves to help Sonic guide him the rest of the way.

They settle onto the couch, Shadow in the middle, propped up with pillows, Maddie and Sonic strategically seated on each side of him. Tails curls up in the armchair, wrapping his namesakes around himself like a blanket, while Knuckles stays on the floor. Tails points the remote at the tv, and the opening credits to Back To The Future begin to play.

Sonic can tell that Shadow is tired, the short trip down the stairs enough to drain his shallow reserves. Sonic watches him sink back against the pillows, eyes half-lidded and hazy, ears twitching occasionally at Tails and Knuckles’ obnoxious running commentary.

At some point, Maddie begins to run her fingers idly through Shadow’s disheveled quills in a slow, soothing rhythm. Shadow’s eyelids droop, and he’s out like a light before the movie’s even reached its halfway mark.

Sonic catches Tails sneaking a mildly jealous glance at the pair, and flashes him a reassuring grin. Right now, Shadow is clearly the one who needs Maddie’s unstoppable mothering powers the most. 

(Idly, he wonders if Shadow ever had a real parent, or if Gerald Robotnik’s poison-laced, manipulative affection is all he ever got.)

Knuckles, to his credit, says nothing about it. He watches the pair from the corner of his eye for a little while, before returning his attention to the movie instead.

When the credits finally roll, Shadow is still asleep, leaning lightly against Maddie. She carefully props a few pillows under his head before slipping away upstairs. Knuckles grabs the empty popcorn bowl and heads to the kitchen. Tails switches off the TV.

Maddie returns a few moments later with the comforter from the guest room, draping it over Shadow and tucking him in. Then, she offers a pillow to Sonic as well.

“Stay and keep an eye on him?” she asks with a small smile. 

Sonic nods, ignoring the mildly amused look Tails throws his way as he hops out of the armchair.

“All right, bedtime,” Maddie says, ushering Tails toward the stairs. “Brush your teeth, Sonic.”

She flicks the lights off on her way out, leaving Sonic alone with Shadow.

Sonic curls up under the blanket on the other side of the couch, listening to the sounds of his family upstairs. From this angle, he can’t see Shadow’s face, only his quills sticking out from under the comforter.

He finds himself daydreaming about things staying like this. About Shadow becoming a part of the Wachowski family, just like Knuckles and Tails did, and joining them for countless future movie nights. There’s so much he wants to show Shadow, to prove to him that life can be anything he wants it to be. That it doesn’t have to suck.

He might have to convince Tom somehow - but Tom’s a good guy, he knows that Shadow’s not a bad person, not really. And with his brothers now firmly in Sonic’s corner, it should be easy.

(He’s not sure he could convince Shadow, though.)

“Wouldn’t it be cool though?” Sonic murmurs into the dark, turning his face into the pillow.

The dark doesn’t answer, but that’s okay. Sonic’s getting used to it.

 

That night, he dreams of time machines.

 

Notes:

Please comment, they sustain me!

Chapter 7: They Had the Stars

Summary:

Tom comes home.

Notes:

Chapter title from "Stay in my memory" by BIM, which inspired parts of this chapter.

Sonic wakes up, groggy and disoriented, with Ozzy’s fur in his mouth and a fleece blanket awkwardly stuck in his quills.

The house is still asleep. The living room is quiet, darkness painting everything in muted greys and blues. Sonic sits up, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he untangles the blanket from his quills and looks around.

The other side of the couch is empty.

Anxiety flares in his chest as he starts to look around for the other hedgehog. Where’d he go? Did Maddie carry Shadow upstairs after all? 

Sonic hops off the couch and wanders into the dining room, his socked feet making no sound against the polished floorboards. His heart starts to tap faster in his chest.

Shadow is there, sitting on the floor in front of the sliding doors to the backyard. Blue light reflects off his black quills, creating stark highlights of white in his fur. Ozzy is stretched out beside him, but Shadow’s gaze is fixed beyond the glass, still and empty like he’s not really here at all.

Sonic pads over and plops onto the floor next to Shadow. A few splotches of red have bled through the bandages around Shadow’s torso, and Sonic clicks his tongue.

“Jeez, Shadow,” he mutters, “Maddie’s gonna kill me for letting you wander off. She might ground me. Hell, she might even ground you. ”

Shadow grunts in that way that suggests that he hasn’t heard a single word Sonic just said.

“Hey,” Sonic says, nudging Shadow with his shoulder. “Penny for your thoughts?”

As always, it takes a few moments before Shadow bothers to respond.

“...When all this is done,” he says slowly, voice raspy with exhaustion, “What am I supposed to do?”

Shadow doesn’t elaborate on what all this is, but Sonic can guess. He snorts.

“It’s not like we’re gonna kick you to the curb the moment you get better, you weirdo,” he says, not unkindly. “As for what to do… Anything you want, Shads. The world’s your oyster.”

Shadow blinks tiredly. The porchlight reflects in his eyes, making them burn like the stars.

“The only thing I wanted was to be with her.”

“Well,” Sonic tries, faltering a little. “You could stay here with us, figure things out.”

Shadow scowls at his own reflection in the glass.

“What’s the point?” he asks hoarsely, “...Of doing anything ?”

Sonic’s mouth opens, then shuts. He stares at the floor, wishing he had something smart or comforting to say. They’re quiet for a while.

A moth flutters aimlessly against the door from the outside, its wings leaving smears of dust in the glass. Sonic turns to look at Shadow again.

“You wanna… Tell me about her?” he asks.

Shadow swallows thickly.

“She was… Alive ,” he starts haltingly, every word like he’s dragging it through glass. “She liked music, and dancing. She laughed at everything.”

A brief pause.

“She wasn’t afraid of me at all,” he continues. “She wasn’t afraid of anything.”

Sonic listens quietly, keeping his eyes on Shadow’s face and watching the micro-expressions of pain that he fails to suppress. Slowly, Shadow raises a hand and presses it against the glass of the sliding door, eyes foggy. Sonic gets the sense that he’s not really in the present anymore, that he’s disappeared to that place in his head where nobody else can follow.

“She takes… All my thoughts.”

Beside them, Ozzy suddenly moves. He yawns, then promptly settles his massive head into Shadow’s lap, a heavy, gold-furred weight. Shadow snaps back to the present, gaze sharpening as he looks down at the golden retriever in surprise, hands hovering uncertainly in the air above the dog.

“Shadow, meet Ozzy,” Sonic laughs. “You ever met a dog before?”

“Not… In person,” Shadow says uncertainly, sitting very still. “What does it want?”

“He wants you to pet him!” Sonic grins, “Go on, his fur’s really soft!”

Carefully, Shadow lowers his hand into Ozzy’s fur and gives it a slow, hesitant stroke. Ozzy lets out a heavy, pleased sigh and Shadow relaxes, his eyelids drooping a little. He continues to stroke the dog, carding his ungloved fingers through the thick, wavy fur.

“It’s relaxing, isn’t it?” Sonic asks, and Shadow nods.

A silence falls between them.

“You mentioned…. Longclaw?” Shadow says, suddenly.

Sonic blinks. Honestly, he’s pleasantly surprised that Shadow even remembered her name. 

“Yeah. She took care of me before I came to Earth.”

“You lost her.”

“...Yeah.”

Shadow pauses, considering.

“...And your pain never went away?”

“Nope,” Sonic says, offering Shadow a sad smile. “But neither did my love for her.”

Another stretch of silence, as Shadow runs his fingers through Ozzy’s fur, mulling Sonic’s words over. 

“I can’t do it,” Shadow whispers.

Sonic freezes. The words are quiet, but they land like a brick in his chest.

 “Shadow?”

Shadow pulls his hands away from Ozzy’s fur and wraps them around himself. His claws dig viciously into the bandages, and red blooms in the white in an instant. His breathing quickens.

Sonic’s panic spikes.

“Shit- Shadow, don’t do that–!”

“If the pain never goes away,” Shadow strains through gritted teeth, “ I can’t do it. ”

Ozzy raises his head from Shadow’s lap and firmly shoves his snout under Shadow’s hand with surprising force. The motion is so insistent, so alive, it breaks whatever dark loop Shadow was caught in.

Shadow stares blankly at the dog, who only keeps nudging his hand. 

Sonic watches, heart in his throat, as Shadow slowly begins to pet Ozzy again, leaving small streaks of red in his golden fur.

They sit in silence until dawn, the pale light slowly painting their quills gold.

 

—

 

Maddie finds them there, a few hours later.

Sonic is pulled from his thoughts when Ozzy’s head lifts, the dog’s tail thumping happily against the floor. He turns to offer Maddie a small, watery smile, flicking a glance toward the fresh red seeping through Shadow’s bandages.

She immediately catches on. Of course she does - she’s Maddie. Pulling her bathrobe tighter, she crouches beside them, eyes scanning Shadow with a quick, practiced once-over. He doesn’t look at her, just keeps stroking Ozzy’s fur with that absent, mechanical motion.

“Sonic,” she says lightly, “why don’t you grab the eggs out of the fridge for me?”

He gets the hint. With a small nod, he rises and pads into the kitchen, leaving Maddie to sweep up the pile of bleeding glass shards that is Shadow.

The fridge door hums as Sonic pulls the eggs free and sets them on the counter. He slides onto one of the island stools, unable to resist a discreet glance over his shoulder. In the dining room, Maddie works with quiet efficiency, her hands moving gently as she rewraps Shadow’s wounds. They speak in low tones - Maddie’s voice calm and even, Shadow’s quieter still, his gaze downcast, ears folded back.

Then, to Sonic’s surprise, Shadow allows Maddie to pull him into her arms and pick him up. Grinning to himself, Sonic turns back around and holds his tongue when Maddie deposits Shadow into the chair next to him. Shadow either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, and for once, Sonic’s not in the mood to ruin a good thing.

The smell of sizzling eggs and bacon fills the air as Maddie begins to prepare breakfast, humming softly to herself as she moves about the kitchen. Shadow watches her with half-focused eyes, while Sonic slips off his chair to help her set the table.

Two steps forward and one step back , Sonic thinks, sneaking small glances at Shadow as he sets the plates out. Maddie had talked to him about this, something about ‘recovery not being linear,’ but that does nothing to stop his instinctive urge to fix. 

Maddie fills his plate with steaming eggs, bacon, butter and toast. Sonic’s mouth waters, and he immediately dives in. Shadow doesn’t touch his own, instead watching Sonic with a wrinkled snout.

“Let me guess,” Sonic says through a mouthful, “you’ve never had bacon before? You have to try it. It’s the best.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Maddie says.

Sonic nabs Shadow’s fork, spearing a crispy, delicious piece of bacon on it and waving it insistently in Shadow’s face. Shadow curls his lip in irritation and swats Sonic’s hand away, and Sonic hides a small, victorious grin. Annoyance is better than emptiness.

Maddie grabs the coffee tin and grinder, bringing them to the kitchen island. She opens the tin and pours a few spoonfuls of fresh, fragrant beans into the grinder. 

Shadow’s nose twitches with sudden interest. 

Sonic remembers the one time Maddie let him try her latte. He’d actually liked it - especially under a mountain of milk and sugar - but after bouncing off the walls all day, he’d been banned from the coffee tin for life.

A stray bean rolls off the scoop. Before either of them can stop him, Shadow plucks it from the counter and bites down with a sharp crunch .

Shadow’s pupils dilate, ears twitching as a pleased little shiver goes through him.

Maddie and Sonic both gape at him.

“Dude,” Sonic says, “You’re so weird.”

Without comment, Maddie scoops another spoonful of coffee beans and deposits them on Shadow’s plate.

After a while, a bleary-eyed Tails shuffles in for breakfast. Knuckles follows later, fur still damp and ruffled from his morning workout. 

The kitchen stirs to life around them, easy banter bouncing between plates and mugs, filling the house with warmth - the kind that lingers long after breakfast is done.

—

Sonic can’t remember the last time he’s been this restless. He darts from window to window, peering into the driveway for any sign of Maddie’s car, while Knuckles and Tails crowd at his heels. He shifts his weight from foot to foot, tail flicking impatiently as he presses his nose to the glass.

Shadow is there, too.

Before leaving, Maddie had tried to convince him to go back to the guest room and rest, but Shadow had insisted on joining the others. Now he stands still and silent in the entryway, expression completely closed down.

“They’re here!” Tails suddenly exclaims, nearly bouncing off the floor. All three of them press against the glass as Maddie’s car turns into the driveway.

Sonic watches Tom step out of the car, steadied by Maddie. Suddenly, his chest feels tight with the reminder of how much he’s missed Tom, how empty the house has been without him there. 

The front door opens, and before Sonic can think better of it, he practically launches himself forward, crushing Tom in a desperate hug.

“Oof- hey, bud,” Tom laughs, stifling a pained groan just as Tails and Knuckles barrel in. Knuckles wraps an arm around both of them in one of his bone-crushing embraces, while Tails squeaks happily and clings to Tom’s good side. Tom crouches down despite the effort, pulling them all into his arms. “Missed you too!”

Sonic’s eyes burn, and he squeezes them shut and buries his face in Tom’s shirt to hide the stupid tears that threaten to spill. He feels Knuckles’s grip tighten protectively, and hears Tails’s muffled, watery giggle against Tom’s shoulder. Distantly, he’s aware of Shadow’s gaze on him.

“All right, guys, let him breathe,” Maddie says gently, though her voice carries a note of concern. Sonic pulls back at last and really looks at Tom.

He looks better than he did in the hospital. His face has regained some color, and the deep, dark circles around his eyes have faded a little. His movements are still slow with pain, heavy bluish-purple bruising still visible past the collar of his t-shirt. His left arm is in a cast, tucked close to his body in a sling.

“Hey,” Tom says gently, “I’m okay, really.” 

Sonic realizes he’s staring. He rallies, pasting a wide grin onto his face and offering Tom a somewhat shaky fistbump.
“Uh, obviously you’re okay, you’re the Donut Lord!”

Tails giggles, “He never doubted it,” and Knuckles gives a solemn nod of agreement.

Tom smiles - until his gaze shifts to the figure in the entryway.

An icy tension settles over the room.

Shadow stands rigid as stone, every muscle drawn tight. His fists clench, his glare sharp enough to wound. To anyone else, he might look ready to strike - but Sonic has learned enough over the past days to see the truth flickering behind the mask: guilt, heavy and suffocating.

With effort, Tom rises to his feet and crosses the room toward him. Shadow tenses even further, a deeper furrow carving into his brow.

Tom stops in front of Shadow, and the two eye each other silently for several long, dragging seconds.

Then Tom grins, shattering the tension in the room.

“We’re both pretty beat up, huh, bud?” he chuckles, crouching again with a wince and offering his good hand. “Nice to meet you properly, Shadow. I’m Tom. Welcome to the Wachowski residence.”

Shadow stares at him, wide-eyed. Slowly, he reaches out to shake Tom’s hand.

“Let’s try to be good patients so we don’t overwork Maddie, yeah?” Tom adds with a wink.

“...Sorry,” Shadow manages.

“Don’t be,” Tom says easily. “You weren’t trying to hurt me. And from what I hear, that Walters guy kinda had it coming, didn’t he?”

Shadow just stares mutely. Tom gives his arm a friendly, dad-like pat before rising again, turning to check on the others.

Behind him, Shadow seems to collapse in on himself, his rigid posture crumbling. He sways dangerously.

“Whoa-” Tails starts forward, but Maddie is quicker. She slips a hand beneath Shadow’s arm, steadying him.

“And that’s enough wandering around for you,” she says firmly. “Back to bed. Now.”

Shadow makes a half-hearted sound of protest, but she’s already guiding him toward the stairs.

Sonic hesitates, torn between following and staying, but Tom’s hand settles warmly on his shoulder.

“Come on, bud,” Tom says. “She’s got this.”

Sonic exhales slowly, leaning into the touch. For the first time in what feels like forever, the house feels full again.

—

 

“So you’re not mad at him?”

Tom looks up from his beer (alcohol-free, as Maddie insisted) at Sonic, who’s perched on the kitchen table with his feet dangling. Sonic isn’t looking at him - his eyes are downcast, expression thoughtful. His quills are messy, dulled at the tips, and Tom can’t help but feel a pang of concern. Sonic hides it well, but this whole ordeal has worn him down.

“Not mad at all,” Tom reassures, “I was never his target. He didn’t know what he was doing.”

“Mmhm.”

Tom shifts in his chair, ribs aching, and makes a mental note to take another painkiller soon.

“Maddie said it’s been a bit tough for you guys,” he prompts gently.

“Yeah…” Sonic answers slowly, “Shadow’s… He’s really sad.”

Tom just listens. Maddie’s many late-night calls over the past week have painted a pretty clear picture, but Sonic has a habit of bottling things up, masking with cheer when he’s hurting.

“...He really likes Maddie,” Sonic adds at last, a small grin tugging at his face as he finally glances at Tom.

Tom chuckles. “I’m not surprised. She’s really good at this stuff. Always has been.”

Sonic falls silent for a moment, scraping a finger idly across the surface of the table.

“I almost killed him, you know,” he says quietly.

Tom stills. He sets his beer on the table and looks at Sonic with a small frown. He’d known about Sonic’s rage and his battle with Shadow of course, but this particular detail is new.

“I thought you were… I thought you were going to die,” Sonic continues, unprompted, “I wanted him to hurt. Wanted to kill him for it.”

“But you didn’t,” Tom says gently.

“He asked me to do it,” Sonic whispers, “But I remembered what you said, about making the right choice.”

Tom hums, watching him. Sonic stares fixedly at the floor, almost as if afraid to meet his eyes.

“...Would you still have been proud of me, if I had done it?”

Tom pauses, weighing the question. He thinks of Sonic’s boundless, playful spirit, and he thinks of the battered, traumatized Hedgehog currently asleep upstairs. Two sides of the same coin, one a dark reflection of the other.

He thinks of the devastating effect killing Shadow would have had on Sonic’s psyche, on his identity. On his soul.

“You’d still be my kid,” he says simply. “That will never change, no matter what.”

Sonic finally glances at Tom, though his smile is tinged with sadness.

“Have you forgiven Shadow, Sonic?” Tom asks carefully.

“Yeah,” Sonic says without hesitation this time. “I forgave him the second we teamed up against the cannon.”

“Then maybe the only one who hasn’t forgiven him, is Shadow himself.”

Sonic hums thoughtfully but doesn’t reply. A comfortable silence settles between them, though Tom can practically see the cogs turning in his son’s head, no doubt already piecing together some elaborate plan to help the Hedgehog who has, for better or worse, firmly lodged himself in all of their lives.

 

Notes:

Please comment? Pretty please?

Chapter 8: Feel The Distance

Summary:

Sonic challenges Shadow to a race, and Shadow has his first ever real shower.

 

“Soo… The bracelets.”

Shadow doesn’t even bother looking at Sonic from where he sits in the grass next to him. His eyes are closed, head tilted back slightly, soaking up the cool autumn breeze ruffling his quills.

He looks better now. The bandages are gone, pink skin healing where the burns once were. The scorched-off fur is slowly growing back, glossy and coal-black, over the red scarring.

They’re in the backyard, enjoying the last slivers of the late-afternoon sun. Knuckles is off somewhere with Wade, and Tails has disappeared into the shed with one of his newest inventions, built from scrap metal and the remains of an ancient lawnmower.

“Are they just, like, a fashion thing or…?” Sonic prods, grinning as he sprawls in the grass.

“They’re not bracelets ,” Shadow finally scoffs, blinking his sleepy carmine eyes open. “They’re my inhibitor rings.”

Sonic blinks. “What’s an inhibitor ring?”

“They inhibit my power,” Shadow says, like it’s obvious. Sonic sits up, peering at the golden rings securely attached around Shadow’s wrists and ankles.

“What happens if you take them off?”

“I gain access to my full power, with the risk of destroying myself and everything around me.”

Sonic gapes at him, then throws his hands in the air in the shape of a T.

“Hold on, hold up, wait, wait wait wait,” he says, “You’re telling me, that when you punched me out of Golden God mode and fought me, you weren’t even at full power ?!”

Shadow finally glances at him, his mouth subtly tilting up at the corners. He has the audacity to look smug about it. Sonic stares at him in utter disbelief, then flops back down onto his back in the grass.

“Aw man, I was fighting for my life,” he groans. “Why didn’t you take them off…?”

“It didn’t seem important at the time,” Shadow says dryly. (Smugly.) “I did, later. To push the cannon away.”

“That makes sense,” Sonic hums thoughtfully. “How’d you get them back though, if you took them off in space?”

“They fell with me, I suppose.” Shadow’s brow furrows as if the memory is fuzzy. “They were in the crater with me.”

Sonic sneaks a look at him. Sure, he no longer looks like he was run over by a giant lawnmower and then set on fire, but he’s still so listless. Dull-eyed, disinterested in anything and everything. 

He still sleeps a lot, eating only when prompted and joining Sonic in the garden only when practically dragged. Sonic can’t figure out how to get him interested in anything other than the occasional coffee bean.

Then, a sudden thought.

“Hey Shads,” Sonic says, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Y’wanna race?”

There’s the mildest spark of curiosity in Shadow’s eyes, and Sonic hides a victorious grin. 

“You will lose,” Shadow says evenly.

That only fans Sonic’s fire. He points to a sunlit mountain peak in the distance.

“To that peak and back,” he grins as he gets to his feet and drops into a stretch. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on ya. I know you’re still recovering.”

Shadow narrows his eyes, dropping into a crouch. Sonic mirrors him.

“Threetwoone-GO!”

Sonic keeps his word. He sets off at a leisurely pace - faster than any earth animal could ever dream of running, sure, but not enough for him to even break a sweat. Maddie will absolutely kill him if he pushes Shadow too hard too fast, so he takes it nice and easy—

Shadow blazes past him.

A black-and-red streak, his stride perfect, his body streamlined like he’s built for this and nothing else. Sonic actually sputters mid-step, stumbling for a second before instinct kicks in and he rockets forward to catch up.

“Oh, it’s like that , huh?!” Sonic yells into the wind, grinning wide as adrenaline rushes through him. Any pretense of ‘going easy’ flies straight out the window.

The world bends around them as they run. Trees whip by in streaks of green and gold. Sonic hops a fallen log, shoes skidding on loose gravel before he bursts forward again. Shadow doesn’t even flinch - he glides, every movement sharp and precise, sparks spraying from his shoes as he eats up the distance.

Sonic pushes harder. The ground blurs beneath his feet, the mountain peak rushing closer. He draws even with Shadow for a breathless second, their shoulders almost brushing.

Neither hedgehog gives an inch.

Shadow swerves, slamming his shoulder into Sonic and briefly knocking him off balance. Sonic recovers quickly, dropping into a Spindash and smashing sideways into Shadow in retaliation. Shadow loses his footing, instinctively grabbing onto Sonic when he begins to fall, dragging the other with him.

They tumble down the hill, crashing into roots and rocks and patches of damp moss on their way down. Sonic lets out a shrieking laugh as he lands on his face with a loud thump, spitting out mouthfuls of grass as he tries to catch his breath.

“Shit- Shadow-?” he coughs, blinking stars from his eyes as he looks around for his rival. He definitely pushed too hard. “I’m so sorry-  Are you okay?”

Shadow wheezes in the grass next to him, fur covered in twigs and leaves and moss, new bruises likely blooming over old scars - but he’s smiling. 

It’s subtle, barely there, but it’s definitely a smile. When he looks at Sonic, his gaze is sharp and wild and alive.

“I win,” he croaks.

“Wha- nu-uh, that was at least a draw!” Sonic protests, crawling over to check on him. 

Annoyed, Shadow tries to swat him away.

“Just sit still and let me make sure nothing got torn back open,” Sonic grumbles, plucking twigs out of Shadow’s quills and inspecting his half-healed scars. “Maddie will literally flay me alive if-”

“I’m fine ,” Shadow growls, shoving his palm into Sonic’s face and pushing him away. Sonic just barely resists the childish impulse to bite him.

They sit there for a while, catching their breath. The sun dips behind the mountains, painting the sky in orange and deepening blue. Stars prick the horizon.

“I think this is near the spot where I found you,” Sonic hears himself say. Shadow doesn’t reply, too busy gazing up at the yellow-green leaves, his ears twitching curiously at the occasional strain of birdsong.

(He probably hasn’t heard very much of that before, Sonic thinks.)

Light filters through the branches in warm, dappled patches, painting the forest floor in shifting patterns. A gentle breeze stirs the undergrowth, carrying the scent of mushrooms and wet moss.

Everything smells alive, everything feels alive, and Sonic closes his eyes, letting the warmth of the last sunbeam wash over him. The race feels far away now, just a rush of wind in his quills - and here in this quiet, he can almost pretend the world has paused just for them.

“We should get back,” he says after a while, opening his eyes. He gets to his feet and offers a hand to Shadow. “We’re gonna miss dinner.”

Shadow nods, takes the hand, lets Sonic haul him up.

This time, they run back together - side by side.

—

 

Yeah, Sonic had expected Maddie to be a little peeved with them - but when she sees the state of them, bruised, filthy, and covered in twigs and leaves, she almost looks angry. Like, for-real angry.

“That was incredibly irresponsible,” she scolds, voice sharp with worry. “Not only is Shadow not fully recovered yet, but for all we know, G.U.N is still looking for him. Anything could have happened!”

Sonic squirms on his feet, gaze averted and ears pinned flat. Shadow, on the other hand, listens attentively, his head tilted, ears perked toward her every word.

“We’re so grounded,” Sonic whispers, elbowing him lightly in the side. Shadow just blinks at him.

“ You certainly are, young man!” Maddie snaps without missing a beat. “Shadow didn’t know any better, but you should have!”

“Aww, that’s not fair,” Sonic whines. Shadow glances curiously between them.

Maddie closes her eyes and takes a steadying breath, pinching the bridge of her nose. From the living room sofa, Tom fails spectacularly at hiding his smirk.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Maddie says at last, calmer but still firm. “You are both filthy. Off to the shower. You first, Shadow!”

She begins to usher a bewildered Shadow toward the bathroom, and Sonic slouches dramatically into the living room to join Tom. He flops onto the couch with a groan, spreading dirt and grass everywhere.

“She’s gonna double-ground you when she sees those cushions,” Tom says, unable to hide the laughter in his voice.

“Come on, it’s not funny!”

“It’s a little funny.”

Sonic groans louder. Tom just reaches over and ruffles his filthy quills with a softer smile.
“You did good out there,” he says. “I saw that spark in his eye.”

Sonic peeks up at him, unable to keep a grin from tugging at his mouth.
“Yeah,” he says, a little proud. “I’m starting to figure it out.”

—

 

Shadow’s taking a while.

Maddie had shown him how to turn the water on and off, pointed him to the various bottles of shampoo, soap and conditioner, handed him a brush, and then left him alone.

In hindsight, she’s not sure that was the right decision. Has Shadow ever had a regular shower before? She can hear the water running, but there’s been no other sound at all for the past twenty minutes, and a prickle of worry begins to creep up on her. 

Her hand lingers on the doorknob. She’d wanted to give him space. Independence. But what if that had been the wrong call?

She knocks softly on the bathroom door. “You doing all right in there?”

There’s no answer. She frowns.

“I’m coming in, okay?” she calls, then eases the door open.

The room is full of steam. Shadow is standing in the shower cabin, frozen, staring down at the floor of the tub while water drums down on his quills. The dirt, mud and dry leaves from his fur have clogged the drain, causing water to rise slowly around his feet.

Maddie has never seen that expression on his face before.

His brows are upturned, mouth hanging slightly open, lips pulled up just enough to bare a hint of upper canine. The look in his overly-wide eyes is one of distressed confusion. He stares unblinkingly at the rising water like he isn’t in the present anymore - like he’s seeing something else.

“Shadow,” Maddie calls softly.

Shadow snaps back into his body. He blinks owlishly at her, water dripping from his quills as she reaches over to turn the shower off. 

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asks gently, “Do you need help?”

Shadow looks down at the clogged drain, as if only now realizing where he is. His hands tremble lightly. He says nothing, avoiding her gaze.

(Silently, Maddie berates herself for leaving him alone. She has no idea what those monsters at G.U.N did to this kid, and she doesn’t want to know - but she needs to be more careful in her interactions with him, since there seems to be no apparent logic to his triggers at all.)

Wordlessly, she reaches into the cabin to pluck the debris out of the drain, letting the dirty water seep away.

“Here, let me help you,” she says, keeping her voice soft. “Sit down, honey.”

Mechanically, Shadow does as he’s told. Maddie unhooks the showerhead and turns the water back on, testing the temperature with her hand.

She keeps the water pressure low when she aims the spray at his quills, running her fingers through them as she begins to pick the debris out with careful, gentle motions. She warms the shampoo in her palms before working it into his fur. 

Slowly, she feels him relax under her hands.

She rinses the shampoo out, then works the conditioner in with the brush, carefully removing any loose quills as she goes.

Shadow remains silent through the whole thing, until Maddie suddenly picks up the soft, clicking sound rising from his chest.

Sonic rarely purrs - he’s never quite relaxed enough for it, always either bouncing off the walls or asleep - but Maddie recognizes the sound. She smiles to herself and scritches Shadow’s ear as well, feeling him melt just a little more.

When the conditioner is rinsed away, she turns the water off and wraps him in one of Tom’s giant, fluffy towels, rubbing him dry with delicate care to avoid his fresh scars. Shadow blinks sleepily at her from under the towel, letting her guide him, calm and pliant.

“Well done,” Maddie praises him, sliding the cabin door open fully to let Shadow climb out.

Clean, mostly dry, and smelling faintly of vanilla cookies, Shadow exits the bathroom and pads quietly down the hall at Maddie’s side, still wrapped in the giant towel.

In the living room, Sonic immediately perks up. “Finally! I was about to send in a search party.”

Tom looks up from the couch and offers them a warm smile.

Sonic hops down and saunters past, cheekily trying to bump Shadow’s shoulder to smear some dirt back into his freshly washed fur. Shadow sidesteps easily, glaring daggers at the snickering hedgehog.

“My turn. Seeya!” Sonic quips before vanishing down the hall.

“Now then… You must be hungry, since you missed dinner,” Maddie says, giving Shadow’s shoulder a pat before turning and heading for the kitchen. “I’ll make you a snack.”

“Get me one too?” Tom calls after her, his tone light and playful.

“Only if you vacuum that dirt off the couch first,” Maddie sing-songs without looking back.

–-

Tom watches Shadow visibly panic when Maddie leaves them alone in the living room. 

He feels a bit bad for the kid. Ever since he was discharged from the hospital, Shadow’s gone out of his way to avoid him - slipping out of rooms the moment Tom entered, always keeping a careful distance.

Now, with just the two of them left in the living room, Shadow glances between Tom and the door Maddie disappeared through, as if weighing his options, before retreating into the armchair furthest away.

“Heya Shadow,” Tom greets him, keeping his tone light and friendly. “You look better. How’re you feeling?”

“...So do you,” Shadow replies haltingly, tugging the giant towel tighter around himself. “I’m fine.”

“Thanks! It’s Maddie’s amazing home cooking, I swear,” Tom chuckles. “Hospital food leaves a lot to be desired, let me tell you.”

Shadow doesn’t answer. He just watches. From what Tom’s seen so far, that seems to be his way - he rarely speaks more than a few words at a time, always choosing to observe instead.

“Did you enjoy your trip to the mountains today?”

“Yes,” Shadow answers. Then, after a beat: “...But Maddie doesn’t seem to want us to do that.”

Tom waves a dismissive hand.
“She’s just worried. The boys get in all sorts of trouble all the time, and you’re not quite at a hundred percent yet.”

No answer again. Tom doesn’t mind. He leans back against the cushions and picks up the TV remote.

“Maddie and Sonic are both really glad you’re here, you know,” he adds, his voice more deliberate this time.

Shadow blinks at him, unreadable, but still says nothing. 

Tom flicks the TV on. Some kind of Mexican soap opera fills the screen: a woman in a glamorous red dress loudly lamenting having to choose between two twin brothers, while dramatic violins swell in the background.

Tom’s thumb hovers over the channel button - then he catches the look on Shadow’s face, the dark hedgehog suddenly paying rapt attention to the screen.

He grins, sets the remote down, and settles back.

Notes:

The face Shadow made in the movie when he was being put into stasis, man… My heart.

I saw the idea of Shadow having a cryo-pod flashback in the shower explored in a different fic, but I can’t for the life of me find it now. If you know which one I mean, let me know so I can credit the author for this delicious angsty concept.

Please comment, they sustain me.

Chapter 9: Shatter

Summary:

A visitor arrives.

Notes:

Keep an eye on the tags for this one.

Shadow is having one of his bad days.

He doesn’t say it out loud, obviously - he never does - but Sonic doesn’t need his words to figure it out. He can see it in the faint redness around Shadow’s eyes, the tension carved into his jaw, and that practiced scowl he hides behind. A mask meant for the world - and especially for Maddie.

Since Sonic is still grounded, joyrides (and joyruns) are off the table - but he knows another trick that might help. So when the sun sets, he drags Shadow up onto the Wachowskis’ roof to watch the stars.

The fabric of the sky comes alive with billions of distant lights.

Shadow seems soothed by the stars, their light having become synonymous with Maria in his mind. He stares at them for hours on end, enraptured, wrapped in the ghost of his loss.

When Sonic looks at Shadow’s eyes, he sees his own grief reflected back at him, trembling and vulnerable. 

Sometimes Sonic catches him staring at the nebula of the Eclipse Cannon’s scar instead, lip curled with bitter self-loathing. That patch of sky is a wound - a reminder of how close he came to destroying it all.

Sonic gets it. It’s his scar too.

The night air carries a chill. The roof tiles are cold beneath them, and the air feels sharp in Sonic’s lungs. He rubs his arms for warmth, lamenting the too-quick end of summer to himself.  He glances over at Shadow, who hasn’t moved an inch.

“Have you thought of what you wanna do after this, yet?” he asks.

Shadow doesn’t look at him. His voice is low, quiet.

“I don’t know where to begin.”

“There’s gotta be something,” Sonic presses, scooting closer along the cool tiles. “Something you’ve always wanted.”

Shadow frowns. “Not really. I’ve only ever been a… Test subject. And Maria’s friend.”

“You can’t just define yourself by other people,” Sonic says with a small frown. “Who are you? What do you want?”

Shadow finally glances at him, sharp eyes clouded with a mix of embarrassment and confusion.

“You really have no idea, huh.” Sonic says quietly.

“I don’t even know what I am,” Shadow admits, quills bristling defensively. “Or where I came from.”

Sonic blinks. “Wait, they didn’t… Tell you anything?”

“Of course not,” Shadow growls. “I was an experiment.”

Sonic’s chest tightens. He stares down at his shoes, then back at Shadow.

“There’s gotta be something out there about you. Maybe in the base that you-”

Shadow glares at him, ears pinned flat against his head.

“...That you pulled into a miniature Black Hole and destroyed. Right,” Sonic finishes lamely, grimacing. “Wow, you really wanted us dead that time, huh.”

Shadow doesn’t bother replying, so Sonic taps his chin in thought.
“But G.U.N doesn’t keep all its information in one place,” he says, “There’s bound to be another server, or a stash of files somewhere.”

Shadow blinks at him, silently.

“Tails is good at this stuff,” Sonic adds, turning to grin at him. “We should talk to him, he can look into it for you.”

“…He would do that?” Shadow asks, voice softer than before.

“Of course. If it matters to you, it matters to us. That includes him.”

Shadow averts his eyes, his ear twitching uncertainly.

“As for what you are, Shads,” Sonic says, grin tugging wider, “I’m like… ninety-nine percent sure you’re a hedgehog.”

“I’m nothing like you–”

Shadow suddenly yanks him down by the quills.

“Ow! Shadow, what the hell?”

Shadow silences him with a sharp gesture, eyes locked on the road. Sonic follows his gaze - and freezes. Two sets of headlights creep closer to the house along the road, too slow, too deliberate.

Sonic frowns. Who would be visiting them so late? 

The vehicles pull into the driveway. Black vans, armored, stamped with the G.U.N insignia.  Sonic’s stomach flips; he remembers cages, cattle prods, the taste of electricity.

A uniformed man climbs out, followed by armed soldiers, and approaches the front door. The knock is loud in the quiet night. Tom’s wary voice answers.

Sonic can’t quite make out what they’re saying, their voices muffled and faint - but he can pick up on a few words, like ‘disturbance,’ and ‘project’ and ‘specimen.’ 

Sonic winces internally. Right. The race.

Tom's voice is casual when he answers, but even Sonic can hear the evasion in his tone.

“We gotta hide you,” Sonic whispers urgently, turning his head to look at Shadow.

Shadow’s pupils have shrunk to pinpricks. His lips are pulled back to bare his teeth, quills bristling like knives. He’s staring down at the armed soldiers with a look of disgust and pure loathing in his widened eyes.

“Shadow..?”

“They won’t leave me alone,” Shadow whispers, voice raw, dangerous. “I’m putting an end to this.”

He begins to rise, hands clenched to fists. Sonic shoots out a hand to grab him by the wrist, halting him mid-step.

“Ookay, let’s take a deep breath and several chill pills,” he hisses, tugging hard to keep him down. But Shadow doesn’t even seem to hear. His entire focus is locked on the men below.

“You can’t just start killing people,” Sonic insists, panic sharpening his tone. “That’ll make things, like, a billion times worse!”

Below them, Tom’s calm voice mixes with the soldier’s. Polite. Casual. They haven’t been spotted yet.

“I’ll finish it this time,” Shadow snarls. “All of them.”

“Absolutely not,” Sonic shoots back, tightening his grip. “These guys are just following orders!”

“They all need to die.”

Sonic’s breath stutters in shock. He zips in front of Shadow, blocking his path, quills raised. The air between them crackles.

“Didn’t we have this conversation already?” Sonic says quietly, an edge in his tone. “About winners and revenge?”

From below comes the muffled sound of car doors shutting, engines roaring to life. Thanks to Tom’s unbreakable poker-face, the soldiers are leaving.

“This isn’t revenge,” Shadow snarls, “It’s self-defense.”

Sonic allows himself to relax a little when he hears the vans pull out of the driveway and onto the road. He sighs, opening his mouth to answer-

Shadow’s fist slams into his face.

He’d almost forgotten how hard Shadow hits. Stars burst behind his eyes, and he crashes off the roof, slamming into the asphalt hard enough to drive the breath out of him.

He’s on his feet again in a blink, fists clenched, the sting still buzzing across his jaw. Shadow is already moving, rocketing toward the road, zeroed in on the retreating G.U.N. vans.

Sonic rockets off the asphalt just in time to block Shadow’s path. He slams into Shadow’s side, sending them both tumbling to the ground. Sonic rolls to his feet, planting himself firmly between Shadow and his target.

Shadow doesn’t even hesitate. His fist swings again, a blur of red and black, and Sonic ducks by a hair’s breadth. The shockwave rattles the air around him, quills prickling from the force.

“Get out of my way!” Shadow snarls, voice splitting the night.

“Not happening!” Sonic grits his teeth and lunges, grabbing Shadow by the arm. He digs his heels into the pavement, but it’s like trying to hold back a freight train. Shadow drags him several feet before throwing him off with contemptuous strength.

Sonic skids, flips back onto his feet, and charges again. Their quills clash like blades, sparks crackling in the dark. Sonic’s faster - he always is - but Shadow’s stronger, unrelenting. Every blow rattles his bones. Every dodge comes just a fraction too late.

“They won’t stop!” Shadow cries out, the fury in his voice having taken on a sharp, desperate note.

“Killing them won’t fix anything!” Sonic tries, weaving out of the way of another powerful punch.

Shadow fights like a storm - wild, furious, unstoppable. Yet… something is off. There’s a frantic panic to his movements. His strikes cut close, but not through. His claws scrape Sonic’s quills instead of sinking into flesh. His kicks send Sonic flying, but never shatter bone.

He’s holding back. Somewhere beneath the rage, he still hesitates to really harm Sonic.

Sonic crashes hard into the lawn, breath knocked out of him. Shadow is already on him, hand curled tight around his throat. The fire in his eyes is blinding, merciless - yet his grip falters, trembling.

“They will never leave me alone,” Shadow rages, eyes wide and wet and unseeing. “They will hunt me until they catch me, and then they will put me back in the tube, where I will ROT–”

Sonic wheezes, claws scrabbling at his wrist. Panic curls its fingers around his heart. “We won’t let them.” 

 Shadow chokes on a sound that sounds too much like a sob.
“--And I’ll watch her die in my dreams, over and over and over and over–”

His fingers twitch. He pulls his hand from Sonic’s throat and clutches his head like his mind is splintering under the strain, curling his fingers around his quills and pulling-
“You should have let me die, god DAMN it,” he shouts, voice breaking like glass.

Sonic stares, wide-eyed. Shadow lets out an anguished cry and flings him aside, sending him tumbling into the grass.

Shadow trembles with an aimless, desperate rage. Having nowhere to direct it, he digs his claws into his forearm, gripping tight as though he could crush the fury into silence - then rakes them down and tears it open. Blood gushes forth, dripping hot onto the damp grass.

For half a heartbeat, Sonic can’t move. The metallic tang of blood sharpens in the night air - then he’s on Shadow, grabbing his arm with both hands.

Shadow fights like a cornered animal, snarling and clawing and biting - but Sonic drags him into his arms and crushes him tight against his chest, ignoring the sting of bristling quills slicing into his skin.

“We won’t let them,” he repeats desperately into Shadow’s shoulder as the other squirms in his grip, smearing blood into Sonic’s fur. “We won’t let them.”

“I can’t--” Shadow snarls, his voice cracking from the stress. “You should’ve killed me, it’s your fault, I was going to be with her--”

His words collapse into a low, pained whine, then silence, broken only by ragged, shuddering breaths. He drops his chin against his chest, a silent sob wracking his form.

Sonic doesn’t say anything. He holds onto Shadow like a vice, eyes squeezed shut as he rocks him back and forth.

Seconds stretch into minutes. 

The night air grows colder, chilling sweat and blood alike.

They’re both bleeding. Shadow is silent, tears seeping into the fur on his face. A thread of spit hangs from his open mouth, and his half-lidded eyes have glazed over, dull and murky. He’s stopped moving, aside from the occasional involuntary shudder against Sonic’s grounding grip.

Sonic’s arms ache from holding him, but he doesn’t dare let go. The fight has bled out of Shadow, leaving him empty. His head lolls limply back against Sonic’s shoulder, breaths wet and ragged with half-swallowed sobs.

Sonic hears running footsteps approaching. He doesn’t open his eyes, but he senses Maddie as she crouches down next to them.

“Don’t touch him yet,” he warns hoarsely.

Maddie hesitates only for a second - and then Sonic feels Shadow being pulled carefully out of his grip. He blinks his eyes open, surprised to find his vision blurry with tears. He moves to stand up, but Tom’s arm catches him around the waist and lifts him up.

“I don’t need to be carried,” he whines petulantly, but Tom holds him firmly in his arms, turning back toward the house. 

“You did your part,” Tom says, quiet but steady, “Let us help, now.”

Sonic wants to argue, he really does - but suddenly his own body feels too heavy. He sags against Tom’s shoulder, exhaling shakily into his shirt.

Tom carries him quietly back into the house, and the bright lights in the kitchen sting Sonic’s eyes. He rubs at them as Tom puts him down on the kitchen table, his feet dangling off the edge.

Tom reaches for his first aid kit. He’s no vet, but as a cop he knows enough to get by in a pinch. Sonic watches blearily as Tom dabs antiseptic into the deep cuts in his arms and shoulders, left by Shadow’s quills.

“Don’t be mad at him,” Sonic croaks.

“We’re not,” Tom replies. His tone is soft, but Sonic picks up on the edge in it. Sonic looks tearily at him, ears folded back.

“Dad?”

“...Yeah.”

“Does G.U.N know he’s here?”

Tom doesn’t reply right away. His silence is answer enough as he reaches for a bandage. Sonic stares at him, stricken, while Tom begins to wrap his arms.

“They’ll put him back to sleep, dad.”

“I know.”

Sonic’s throat tightens. For one breathless moment, he wonders if he made a mistake - if he should have let Shadow go on his rampage, if maybe everyone at G.U.N deserves it.

“You did the right thing,” Tom says, as if reading his mind.

Sonic swallows, trying really hard not to cry.

—

Knuckles and Tails are waiting for him when he climbs up into their shared attic room.

They both look him over, concern etched on their grim faces. Sonic isn’t sure how Tom and Maddie managed to keep them out of the fight with Shadow - but he’s glad they did.

“Are you okay?” Tails asks, hesitantly brushing his fingers against Sonic’s bandaged arm as he stumbles toward the bed.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Sonic replies, forcing a tired, lopsided grin.

“Is he?” Knuckles asks, his gaze lingering on the bloodstained wrappings.

“Nope.”

His brothers glance wordlessly at one another. Sonic should probably elaborate, but exhaustion tugs him stubbornly toward his bed. He collapses on it, burying his face in the pillow. 

For a moment, all he can feel is the weight pressing down on him: helplessness, exhaustion, the gnawing sense that nothing is changing. Shadow’s grief keeps dragging him under, circling back to the same pit no matter how hard Sonic tries to pull him free.

He’d seemed better. He’d looked better. But then G.U.N. showed up and wrecked all his progress in less than an hour. 

How’s Sonic supposed to protect Shadow from G.U.N. when he can’t even protect him from his own mind?

What if Shadow’s fears are right? What if Sonic really can’t stop them? What if Shadow’s fate is to go back to his own personal hell - maybe forever this time?

The sharp clack of Tails’s laptop keys pulls Sonic out of the spiral. A second later, a familiar sound fills the room: the opening credits of Speed.

Sonic lets out a weak snicker into the pillow. He rolls over, finding Knuckles and Tails settled on either side of the bed. Tails nudges the laptop closer so Sonic has a clear view - just like Sonic did for Shadow, those few first days.

“Really?” Sonic mumbles, an exhausted grin tugging at his lips. “You’re just gonna steal my playbook?”

“You are not the only one versed in the ancient arts of comfort and healing, Hedgehog,” Knuckles declares with a sniff. Tails just snuggles up next to Sonic, leaning his head on his brother’s shoulder.

Sonic sighs, settling back as his heavy eyelids droop. He watches his favorite movie with his favorite people, heart aching with affection for them. And when his eyes sting and tears slip free, neither of them says a single word about it.

—

Despite his bone-deep exhaustion, Sonic can’t sleep.

He can’t get comfortable, keeps tossing and turning and getting tangled up in his sheets. His muscles ache - and the cuts beneath the bandages sting and itch like an absolute bitch. 

(Sonic feels a newfound sympathy for anyone who he’s ever accidentally nicked with his quills.)

Neither Tom nor Maddie came up to say goodnight. The house is quiet. No footsteps, no voices from downstairs. Just Knuckles snoring from across the room. Sonic listens, ears twitching, hoping for some sign that Tom and Maddie are okay. Nothing.

Then, the hatch to the attic room creaks open, and Sonic’s ears swivel toward the sound, perking up. He lifts his head, and in the dim light, a pair of carmine eyes meet his.

Shadow climbs up silently and eases the hatch shut behind him. Sonic can only stare as the black hedgehog pads toward his bed and gets onto it without a word.

“Shadow?” Sonic whispers.

Shadow says nothing. He gets in under the covers and curls up next to Sonic, silently watching him in the dark. His eyes are red-rimmed and a little swollen, but steady and clear. His forearm is wrapped in fresh bandages.

Something inside Sonic twists. Shadow looks different - like an infection has been drained from a wound, like some deep, desperate fear in Shadow’s soul has bled out of him with his tears, leaving a steady, determined clarity. 

“...Thank you,” he breathes.

Sonic stares wordlessly at him, lips slightly parted. For once, he doesn’t know what to say. His heart squeezes painfully in his chest, and he swallows past the lump in his throat.

“Are you okay?” he manages eventually, his voice just a whisper.

Shadow doesn’t respond. His gaze shifts down to the bandages around Sonic’s arms, and he traces a finger lightly along them in silent apology. 

Sonic shifts closer, hesitantly reaching out to touch Shadow’s shoulder. Shadow looks a little wary, but doesn’t resist when Sonic carefully pulls him in, pressing the other hedgehog’s face into the peach fluff of his chest.

Hugging Shadow is a bit like hugging a slab of concrete. The dark hedgehog is rigid, tense and awkward - but he doesn’t pull away, letting Sonic hold him. Sonic squeezes his eyes shut, afraid that Shadow might crumble to dust in his hold. 

“G.U.N…” Sonic begins, a waver in his voice.

“I know,” Shadow mumbles.

Sonic knows what it means, but he shoves the thought down, refusing to acknowledge it. He stays in the present, savoring the feeling of Shadow’s steady breath against the crook of his neck, undeniably alive.

Drowsiness creeps in, pulling at his frayed edges. He curls his fingers deeper into Shadow’s fur, stubbornly holding onto the moment.

Then, slowly, Shadow shifts. His arm drapes around Sonic in return, resting across his side.

Sonic is asleep within seconds.

Notes:

What, you detect some Sonadow in this chapter? Absolutely no gay hedgehogs to be found here your honor. Just dudes being bros. And snuggling in bed together, gazing into one another’s eyes. Platonically.

We’re nearing the end, guys. Please comment?

Chapter 10: I Can Feel The Light Shine On My Face

Summary:

Shadow makes a promise.

Notes:

And finally, Shadow's POV.

Human affection, in Shadow’s experience, is always transactional.

A gentle pat to the head for blood samples.

A movie night with Maria, reward for submitting to exploratory surgery.

A taste of some new food, dangled like a treat, if he ran the track until his legs burned.

Sonic’s humans - the Wachowskis - are doing it all wrong.

Since the moment he woke up in their guest room bed, Shadow has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for the demands, the expectations. He knows how it goes: small requests at first, gentle, coaxing, to lull him into lowering his guard. And then sharper ones. He has lived this cycle his entire life.

But here… they never come.

The woman, Maddie, tends to his wounds without cost. She smooths his quills with careful fingers, murmurs soothing words, sets food in front of him with a smile. She asks for nothing in return. Not his service, not his obedience, not his power.

Sonic has no pockmarks under his fur. No incision scars. The easy, open affection Shadow sees poured into him is free, too - freely given, freely received.

(He doesn’t understand.)

They have pulled Shadow into the rhythm of their daily lives as if it were the simplest thing in the world, slotting him in like he’s always been there. Like he’s part of their family instead of the weapon he’s meant to be. No whispers when he enters a room. No fearful glances cast at his back.

When Maddie scolds him for that reckless race through the mountains, his heart clenches with something he can’t name. It is not fear. It is not shame. Something warmer, frightening in its unfamiliarity. She’s not afraid of him at all.

Tom, whose body still bears the scars of Shadow’s attack, should have every reason to fear him. But he doesn’t. He looks Shadow square in the eye and stands unshaken.

But things are different now.

It was only a matter of time before G.U.N. tracked him down. He doesn’t know why they haven’t already stormed the house, collars and restraints at the ready. But he won’t wait for them to make the first move. He won’t risk Sonic’s family.

(Not again.)

The hour is early. The sun has not yet touched the horizon. The house is still, quiet, steeped in shadow.

Shadow slides from the bed, pulls on the socks Maddie bought him - new, soft, absurdly domestic. He smooths the covers behind him with practiced care, tucking corners just as he has watched her do.

He reaches into his quills and pulls out two folded slips of paper: a map, circled in red, and a small post-it with coordinates and a web address written in tidy handwriting.

 

(The fox had looked startled when Shadow first approached him, but only for a breath. Then his smile had lit up, curious and eager.

“Oh - hey, Shadow,” he’d said, tails flicking as he balanced a laptop on his knees. “What’s up?”

It had taken a few moments for Shadow to muster up the courage, to find the words - but when he finally did, the fox’s face had lit up with excitement.

A part of Shadow suspected Sonic had told him already, but the fox didn’t say so. He only worked with quiet efficiency, pulling up coordinates, printing a map, circling points of interest in neat red marker. When he handed it over, he did so with a grin, as though Shadow had done him a favor.

Shadow hadn’t known how to thank him. He still doesn’t.

“There’s… something else,” the Fox had said then, his smile turning into something a little sheepish, a little hesitant. “I looked this up for you earlier, you know,  just in case you wanted it.”

He’d scribbled something on a post-it and slipped it into Shadow’s hand, avoiding his gaze as he did.)

 

Now, in the still-dark guest room, Shadow unfolds the note.

FindAGrave dot com - World’s largest gravesite collection.
Maria Robotnik - Durham cemetery, Jackson County, Oklahoma.

Shadow feels a burn behind his eyes. He folds the paper back into his quills before it can scald him.

He cracks the door, slips soundlessly into the hall. He avoids the creaky step without thought. 

Soft lamplight seeps into the hall from the kitchen, and Shadow pauses - then drifts closer.

Maddie is sitting at the kitchen table, hands cradled around a steaming mug. Her fluffy pink bathrobe pools around her, and the soft light paints her in gentle shadows. She lifts her gaze to him and smiles.

“Time to go?” she asks softly.

Shadow should have figured she’d know. Her kind eyes always seem to see right through his defenses and into his heart, no matter how hard he tries to hide. He searches for disappointment in her expression, but finds only that soft, warm gentleness that she always carries.

He inclines his head.

Maddie hums softly, then rises from her chair. She walks around the table and retrieves a small brown-wrapped parcel from the counter. She crouches in front of him and holds it out.

He looks curiously at the package, then back up at her.

“Snacks for the road,” she says with a smile. “A bit of money, and a prepaid phone - with mine and Tom’s numbers already in it, so you can call us anytime you want.”

He takes it wordlessly, nestling it among his quills. Her eyes linger on him for a long, still moment, warm and glinting in the lamplight.  Words gather behind her lips, and he waits.

“You know the door is always open for you, right?” she whispers, ever-so-softly. “Any time, for any reason.”

Shadow averts his gaze. There are so many things he wants to tell her, but his words remain locked in his chest. Gratitude, remorse, and shame all gather into a confusing storm in his heart.

As always, she seems to know anyway. 

Gently, she leans in and draws him into a hug. He lets her. He breathes in the warmth of her hair, her robe, her gentle hands smoothing over his quills. He closes his eyes, and for a selfish heartbeat, allows himself to imagine golden hair and blue skirts, a girl’s laugh in his ear.

“Goodbye for now, Shadow,” Maddie murmurs.

He pulls back before the tightness in his chest can break him. Without a word, he puts on his shoes, opens the door, and slips into the predawn air.

—

The morning breeze carries a chill.
Moisture gathers in Shadow’s quills, making his fur puff up to keep him dry. He pauses on the porch, standing in the pale gray hush before dawn. The mountains loom in the distance, their dark shapes rising against the horizon.

He lingers there for a moment, gaze lifted. The air tastes of pine and wet earth. The world feels unbearably still, as if holding its breath for him.

(Leaving should be easier than this.)

“Hey, faker!”

The voice cuts through the silence, sharp and familiar. Shadow turns, looking up.

Sonic stands on the roof, arms folded across his chest. His quills stir in the breeze, and his tone is too casual, too sharp-edged - a cover, Shadow thinks, for what’s really there.

“Really, dude?” Sonic continues, his voice carrying down to the porch. “After everything, you were just gonna leave? Without even a goodbye?”

Shadow frowns. He watches as Sonic zips effortlessly down from the roof, lightning sparking faintly in his quills. Hurt and disappointment shine in his emerald eyes, brighter than the glow of his power.

“I thought it would be… Easier, for you,” Shadow says carefully.

For a heartbeat, Sonic just stares, quills raised, his indignation sparking like static. Then he exhales hard, deflating with a heavy sigh. He rakes his hands through his quills, forcing them flat, trying for a careless shrug.

“You’re going to G.U.N, right? To dig up their files on Project Shadow?”

Shadow nods.

Something flickers across Sonic’s face - raw, uncertain, the bravado slipping. His lip trembles as he chews on it, searching for the right words.

“...Will you come back?”

Shadow blinks at him, taken aback. He studies Sonic’s face, the lines in his brow, the moisture gathering in his too-wide eyes.

“If you want me to,” Shadow says at last, low and even, “I will.”

Sonic swallows. His voice, when it comes, wavers.

“Then you have to promise me something.”

Shadow raises a brow, crossing his arms but not speaking. He tilts his head, waiting.

Sonic clenches and unclenches his fists. His voice is softer now, stripped bare.

“Don’t go, Shadow.”

Shadow’s frown deepens. “You know I have to—”

“No.” Sonic cuts him off, fierce in his urgency. “Don’t go.”

Oh.

It’s still there, lingering at the edge of Shadow’s mind, lurking in his dreams. That quiet yearning that seems to wrap itself around his soul, whispering alluring promises of release, of seeing Maria again. A call toward something final, something that would end the pain.

But Sonic keeps talking, voice breaking, pulling him back.

“You have to promise. That no matter how shitty you feel in the moment, you won’t… That you’ll come back to us instead.”

Shadow draws in a long breath. He closes his eyes, lets it out slowly, his chest tightening around the weight of the choice.

Finally, he murmurs, “...I promise.”

Sonic breathes out too, shaky and uneven. Relief softens his features, but his eyes are still too bright, too wet.

“Then I’ll see you later, Shads,” he says, the words catching on his tongue but spoken all the same.

They stand there for a long moment, watching one another in silence. The sun begins to creep up the horizon, spilling pink and gold across the sky. It reflects in Sonic’s eyes, turning them into molten embers.

Shadow turns at last, activating his air shoes. As he rockets down the road, he risks one glance back. Sonic is still there, standing in the dawnlight, watching until he’s only a small shape in the distance.

Shadow faces forward. Moisture blurs his vision, and he blinks it away. The sunrise stretches before him, warm and endless. He can feel the light shine on his face, warm and steady, chasing the night’s chill from his fur.

And in that glow, he senses her.

For the first time, he lets it guide him forward.

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading, everyone. As always, comments are incredibly appreciated.

I know this ending leaves some loose ends, but I’m not quite confident enough as an author yet to dive into a whole convoluted plot with G.U.N. :’)

I listened to “The Line” from the Arcane soundtrack while writing this, and that’s where the chapter title comes from as well. It’s such a Shadow song for me.
(I even made an edit for it a while back. If you want to cry about it with me, you can watch it here: https://www.tiktok.com/@bountyrat/video/7531146976067374358 )

I might write a little part 2 one-shot for when Shadow returns to the Wachowski house. We’ll see!