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It had been five weeks.
Five weeks since Sonic fell from the Eclipse Cannon, crashing into the Earth with his brothers.
Five weeks…since Shadow had sacrificed himself. He had saved the Earth, and everyone Sonic cared about, using his final moments to push the cannon away as far from them as he could, with Robotnik’s help. After all that animosity, both Ivo and Shadow had turned against the Professor to save their world, giving their lives in the process.
Sonic could hardly believe it. For a few short moments, he and Shadow had shared everything; the power of the chaos emeralds, their emotions, their memories, their very souls… Only for it to be ripped away a moment later.
Sonic had barely known the guy, yet he missed him. Or mourned him. Or both.
Now, Sonic wasn’t some widower in mourning. He hadn’t cried over the other hedgehog or anything, and the past three weeks hadn’t exactly been boring, what with he and his brothers resting and recovering from the fall, Tom coming home from the hospital, and Knuckles’ grumbling over the master emerald being lost. Again.
Admittedly, Sonic had not made the best choice at the time, and Knuckles did kinda deserve to be annoyed at him for that. If he’s being honest, Knuckles had every right to be pissed that the chaos emeralds were scattered across the very-hard-to-travel-without-emeralds galaxy, but for now he and the Wachowski’s were all just relieved to be together and alive, spending the time recovering and ignoring all of GUN’s ‘requests’ to chat about what exactly happened to the cannon and ‘Project Shadow’.The only people who deserved a proper conversation about what happened was his family, of which Sonic had given the full run down as soon as all five of them were together and ensured no nosy government agents were listening. (Well, a full run down excluding the wild mix and power of emotions Sonic felt sitting on the mood and connecting to Shadow. Sonic feels like his family would have absolutely used the opportunity to tease and probe him).
No, GUN had gotten a very poorly spelled email on the basics (Shadow switched sides, Eggman switched sides, they saved the world and died) and they’d better be grateful for it.
Though Sonic had told them everything, including though brief his talk with Shadow, they could see his death…bothered him? No, had affected him. Of course they did, they were his family.
To be fair, the whole incident had affected all of them, especially with almost losing Tom. Both he and Maddie had taken leave off work for a month, Tom having to either way for his injuries to heal, and Maddie wanting to help take care of him as well as make sure her babies were okay. Family movie night had become more frequent, their parents cuddled up with Ozzie on the sofa, switching between Tails, Knuckles or Sonic squishing next to them while the other two sat comfortably snuggled on beanbags.
For the first week after Tom had been discharged from the hospital, the five of them had been near inseparable, finally having the chance to resume their so rudely interrupted camping trip. Even at home, rather than hiding away to his workshop in the basement, Tails had worked on his gadgets and inventions either in the living room or the shared bedroom with his brothers, not wanting to be alone, the presence of his family reassuring him. Knuckles had just barely gone back to the frequency of his training and patrols as when he first moved in, albeit a lot more toned down (Maddie would definitely not appreciate another throne in the living room made from her car). Of course, Knuckles was always punctual for meals and family bonding time, but after being so close to losing their dad, he was determined to ensure the safety of their tribe. The only other time he wouldn’t be seen ‘protecting their tribe’ was when Sonic so generously agreed to ‘take shifts’ to allow Knuckles to go bowling with Wade, both his brothers encouraging him to take a break and have some fun. Despite Wade all but kidnapping Knuckles and taking him across the country without telling neither Maddie nor Tom, after a severe telling off from both parents, they had to agree Wade had had a positive influence on Knuckles, helping him adjust to life on Earth, as well as being someone to talk to after all that had happened.
Sonic…he’d been his usual self, for the most part. Reading comic books next to Tails while he worked, going on runs in the vast forests surrounding their town, covering patrols with Ozzy for Knuckles. Sure, he’d been a little more clingy with Tom, needing a few more hugs than usual. And sure, sometimes he’d stay up at night thinking about the chaos emeralds. About Shadow. His Maria. Longclaw.
They’d both lost. Heck, they’d trauma-bonded over it. But Sonic’s head and heart felt heavy.
Part of the reason being he had the picture of Shadow and Maria tucked away in his quills, along with one of Shadow’s…wristbands? Tails had called it an ‘inhibitor ring’. Something to keep Shadow’s Chaos Energy in check. It was times like that that made Sonic so grateful he had such a smart brother, and grateful still that he had learnt his lesson to trust his family with things like this. He’d shown the ring to Tails shortly after retrieving it, having stumbled across it lying in a crater while on a run. He’d ran further than usual that day, when that emptiness had been too much, so he’d pushed his legs to run and run until they burned, until his chest heaved with exhaustion. The ring was something. Something to hold on to.
Just like the photo. He didn’t tell his family about the picture though. It was Shadows. Him and his own sibling, his sister, Maria. The ring, he didn’t know what it was. And they had all seen Shadow wearing it. But the photograph felt too personal. It wasn’t Sonics to share. Heck, he probably shouldn’t have seen it in the first place. But he couldn’t just let it be destroyed.
Lying on his side, Sonic stared at the photo and inhibitor ring in bed, thoughts swirling around endlessly. Five weeks.
Sonic hadn’t lost anyone since Longclaw, and that loss was still so painful. Losing Shadow felt almost as if he’d lost part of himself. Which was crazy! He’d barely know the guy. But he still felt empty.
It came in the quiet of night, when his family was fast asleep and he was left alone with his thoughts. Some nights it was worse.
It was obvious when he’d had one, being so obviously groggy and tired the next day, almost walking straight into the dining table at breakfast before being guided to sit down by Knuckles.
Normally, Maddie or Tails would ask if everything was okay, and he’d answer it was nightmares. Something that was unfortunately not a stranger in their household, and after checking if he wanted to talk about it, would be encouraged to take a nap later somewhere he wouldn’t be alone, mostly the sofa while Maddie would carefully run her fingers over his head, years of practice preventing damage or cuts from the sharp quills. Though nightmares were rarely the actual reason for his lack of sleep (even if he did get them on occasion), his mom’s presence was always calming enough to lull him to sleep, pushing that heavy void to the side for a moment.
One morning, though, was different.
Everyone, for once, was busy and would be out the house.
Wade needed help (didn’t he always) with a list of things he, as interim sheriff, didn’t feel confident in tackling without Tom’s guidance.
Knuckles had been wanting to spend an entire day renovating his training course, and Maddie and Tails would be out of town for the day at some local science fair. Knowing he’d been bored out of his mind, Sonic had declined the invitation, though now he felt a twinge of regret as his family were going out the door for each of their ‘solo quests’.
In all fairness, Tom had offered to stay with him, but despite his grumbling, Sonic knew the Donut Lord had missed serving Green Hills. The day would be good for him, and so after assuring his family he’d be just fine, he had Ozzy, two cars drove off, with Knuckles taking off at a jog.
‘C’mon Ozzy, just like old times, huh? So many possibilities, so much fun to be had with the infamous Blue Blur!’
Not even ten minutes after he’d shut the front door, Sonic was bored. Turns out, Ozzy had taken Maddie’s suggestion to nap for himself and was snoozing soundly in his dog bed.Even if he was tired, regrettably Sonic would not fit in the dog bed beside Ozzy.
No, Sonic was restless. Adrenaline pumping made all the worse by the absence of his family. He needed to run.
After one too many close calls with running into the ocean (and the universal constant of Sonic loathing water with every fibre of his being), Tails had made Sonic a compass that specifically would tell him when he was getting close to a large mass of water, and was actually fast enough to tell him even when running at some of his fastest speeds.
Making sure Ozzy was all set with enough food and water for the day, Sonic locked the door behind him and took off running.
Even with the adrenaline pumping through his veins, his thoughts were still far too loud.
Shadow was gone, gone, gone, he made the choice to help Sonic, to save their world, and now he was dead.
Maybe he wouldn’t have been if Sonic had been smarter. If he’d actually stuck by his family. If he’d listened to Knuckles. If he’d listened to Tails. If he thought for one second and learnt from what his dad was trying to tell him.
But he’d taken too long. He was too slow.
Sonic ran. He’d ran from that morning when his family left, all the way to dusk, all across North America dozens of times, through every empty land, weaving around towns and cities, kicking up dirt in desserts and forests and mountains, avoiding civilisation but barely slowing down.
When the sun was beginning to set over the horizon, Sonic finally stopped, chest heaving and catching his breath atop grassy hills. He was half-tempted to collapse on the ground, but seeing how late it was, tried to orient himself as best he could. He’d left a note for whoever arrived home first, simply saying how he’d be spending the day running.
He’d stopped in a clearing, shifting his weight as he stood on uneven, rocky ground near the base of one of the many surrounding hills, masses of flowers littering the grass and hiding patches of dirt. In the near distance, a gentle river flowed, ripples lapping at its beds. Trees blanketed the landscape, branches twisting and leaves aglow with the setting sun.
It was while looking around that Sonic felt his heart stop, and restart all over again, the heavy weight being raised from his chest.
Desperation in his eyes, staring wide-eyed at what must’ve been a ghost, Sonic’s heart felt lighter.
Saying nothing, Sonic held his hand out, palm up, gaze pleading.
It became lighter still when he heard Shadow tentatively ask, ‘You’re alive?’
His soul sang when Shadow stepped forward, placing his hand in Sonic’s own.
‘You’re alive.’
Sonic exhaled, letting out a breathy chuckle, slowly morphing into a light laugh, before his eyes welled up in tears.
Hand still intertwined with Sonic’s, Shadow looked both relieved, lost, and worried all at once, before he was all but yanked into Sonic’s arms, Sonic resting his head on Shadow’s shoulder as his free hand gently wrapped around to rest on Shadow’s back.
‘I…can’t believe you’re here.’ Sonic whispered.
After a moment, Shadow wrapped his own arm around Sonic’s middle.
‘Me too.’
The two stood like that, reassuring themselves that the other was truly there with them. They were both alive somehow, and they were together. Finally.
After a while, the sun having already set, Sonic guided them to sit on the grass, legs barely brushing against each other.
A million questions were running through Sonic’s mind, wanting to know everything that had happened, but having no clue where to start.
After Sonic spent almost a minute opening and closing his mouth, starting and stopping before he could even get a full word out, Shadow started for him.
‘Where have you been?’
His voice sounded just about as hoarse as Sonic’s throat felt.
‘Oh, uh, home I guess. After the fall…its taken us some time to recover. Tom’s fine though!’ Sonic waved his arms in assurance. ‘We were all a bit scratched up, but we’re okay. GUN footed all our hospital bills, which, honestly, feels like the least they could do after getting in our way trying to save the world. Like seriously, they called us to help first, then they try and imprison us for doing their jobs?! Sure we broke in, but its not like-‘
‘I thought you died. When you- you fell. You were unconscious. I saw you’. Shadow couldn’t look at him. He couldn’t look away.
‘Knuckles caught me. Big, red guy who likes to punch stuff? He and Tails came after me. Used a ring to get us safely on the ground again. Seriously, you were the one who pushed the cannon away! You were right there- how are you even alive, dude?’
‘I’m the Ultimate Lifeform.’ Shadow was being completely serious. No smirk or joking tone. ‘At least, that’s what the Professor and other scientists would always say. One moment I was with the cannon, the next I was waking up in a crater. I-went looking for my inhibitor rings.’ Shadow fiddled with the single gold cuff on his right wrist. ‘I’m still missing one.’
Eyebrows raising, Sonic rummaged through his quills, before pulling out the treasure he’d been hiding ever since first finding it.
‘It wouldn’t be this thing, would it?’ He cradled it in his open palm, offering it to the guy he’d thought dead less than half an hour ago.
Accepting and turning in his hands before attaching the ring to his left wrist, Shadow turned back to him. ‘Where’d you find this?’
‘Hmm, just in a crater somewhere up North while on a run. Looks like your landing wasn’t the only one to cause a bit of destruction.’ Sonic smiled lightly, shoving his shoulder.
His smile dropped, ‘Where have you been Shadow? You woke up on Earth- GUN have been looking for you, you know? Are you on the run from them? Weren’t you, I don’t know, injured at all after you fell? I mean, you blew up!!’
‘I wandered for a bit. Then Agent Stone found me.’
‘HOLD UP! Record scratch, Stone found you? Eggman’s crazy sidekick? Or - whatever he was to Robotnik?’
Shadow scrunched his nose at the word crazy (which was somehow so adorable to Sonic?) but didn’t refute the word.
‘Yes. He’s been good to me, and we’ve been hiding from GUN.’
Sonic grew quiet for a moment. Of all the ideas he’d had where Shadow could’ve been hiding, bunking with Stone had been nowhere on his list. Dozens more questions sprung from that little tidbit, but they could wait.
‘How have you been feeling? After...everything?’
Shadow thought for a moment before responding. 'I've been...okay. It's helped, somehow, talking with stone. Sharing grief, in our own ways.'
Sonic nodded. 'Yeah...when mom told me about that livestream with Egghead professing his love for his assistant, I was half convinced it was some mass hallucination. And…he hasn't made any moves on world domination?' He asked tentatively.
Shadow shook his head. 'He's just been collecting a lot of Ivo's old tech. Memories to hold onto, I think.'
'Mm. And you?'
'Hmm?'
Sonic raised his hand, brushing gently against the quills on the side of Shadows face before placing his hand back on the ground beside them, clutching at grass.
'You still- you'd lost Maria.’ Sonic’s spoke more quietly, his tone softening. ‘And then straight after waking up, that Professor put such a heavy burden on you. I just- hope you've had a moment to breathe. Plus, dude, you were *touching* the cannon when it exploded. I thought for sure you were...'
'Dead.' Shadow finished. He glanced at the hand that was just touching him, before looking back at the stars.
'I thought you were too. It took me a bit of time to recover, but my chaos energy means I heal fast. You though- I saw you fall. You helped me save the world Maria loved and I just-'
Shadow looked down, fists clenched on his lap.
Sonic carefully opened Shadows clenched fists before intertwining them on Shadows lap.
'I'm okay, really. I had my brothers with me.' Sonic grinned
‘The earth is safe, at least for now. And yeah the chaos emeralds are a bit scattered across the galaxy, Knuckles was pretty pissed about that, heh. I'm okay, and I'm so grateful for what you did. We're both here now'
Shadow let out a shaky breath, nodding, and shifted them so that one of their hands were still intertwined, the other holding cradling Sonics face.
'Thank you, Sonic.'
Smile softening, Sonic leaned into the hand slightly, closing his eyes.
' You're welcome.'
Their eyes met, hope and forgiveness and relief flickering between them.
Dropping the hand from Sonics face, Shadow guided Sonic to rest his head against Shadows shoulder, moving to wrap around Sonic while the other was still intertwined with Sonics own on their lap, as they looked to gaze at the fractured moon together.
They had been connected through the emeralds, one soul for just a moment before being broken away again. Sonic knew Shadow was still hurting, but saw he'd be okay. He'd make sure he was, now that they had each other. Friends seemed like too light a word, but for now they had time. Whatever they were didn't much matter as long as they were living and breathing together, gazing from the earth they helped save.
Though the moment was peaceful, Sonic couldn't help but latch onto something to tease Shadow about.
Head not moving from shadows shoulder, Sonic mused, 'you know, I don't recall me ever telling you my name.'
Sonic could feel Shadows glare even as he didn't look up.
Sighing, Shadow mumbled 'Stone told me.'
Chuckling, Sonic sang in a teasing lilt, 'aww, you were asking questions about me?'
Shadow grumbled.
'Well you didn't exactly introduce yourself!'
Shoving his shoulder lightly, Sonic indignantly retorted, 'well you threw a car at us!'
'Like I said, you jumped out of a GUN helicopter.'
'Yeah and we looked SO cool doing it. Me especially.'
'You did also keep yelling about looking like me. It gets old fast.'
'Hmmph. For the record, you look like me.'
' I was on earth first, dummy.'
'And I was on earth COOLEST.'
Shadow gave Sonic a blank stare, before shoving his back down to lie on the grass, then lying down himself, laying on his side, head resting in the crook of Sonics neck.
Sonic blinked
'You're so lame.' Shadow mumbled, closing his eyes
Laughing quietly, Sonic whispered, 'you're just jealous I have an awesome catchphrase everyone loves, and you dont'. Resting his head against Shadows, Sonic wrapped his arms around him.
Quiet settled over them as they continued to watch the stars, Sonic gently running his fingers over Shadows quills, until a soft purring could be heard from the black and red hedgehog laying on his side.
*man I wish I could record this!*
'Shadow?'
'Mm?'
'You awake?'
Shadow simply responded by nuzzling further into Sonics side.
Chuckling, Sonic resumed his petting, his own purr joining Shadows not long after.
Their challenges were far from over, but for now, they'd found each other, beneath the sky of a million stars, the light of their loved ones still here, even after they were long gone.