Chapter Text
There was a standoff happening in the yard. Red lightning arced off of Shadow’s quills as he stood firmly in front of the door. Olivia darted out of the car, cell phone present forgotten. His head snapped up at the movement and immediately launched himself at the intruder standing between them in a flash of amber.
Blue sparks rose to meet him. “Dude! Shadow!” Her hedgehog’s idiot, Sonic, grit his teeth as the blow struck. He threw himself at the other hedgehog, fist crackling with his own energy. They met in a flurry of limbs too fast to track, electric blue and amber flashing so fast the colors blended together into blinding light.
Oh hell no. “BOYS.” Olivia cupped her hand around her mouth and shouted louder than she ever had in her life. Shadow froze immediately, rising off of Sonic and letting his hands fall to his sides. His ears drooped and his eyes shut, awaiting a scolding or worse. The blue hedgehog watched the change happen in his opponent, stunned, and scrambled up to stand next to her kid. “Inside. Now.” The human pointed at the front door as her initial wave of panic settled down. When neither of them moved, she sighed, moved past them and climbed the porch stairs to open the door.
Shadow unlocked first and darted after her. “I can explain -”
“... You’re not in trouble, bud.” She assured him quickly. “I just want to know what the hell happened. So we’re all going to sit down at the table and talk this out.” Olivia unlocked the door and reached over to ruffle the fur between Shadow’s ears.
He leaned into the touch. “... Does he have to come?”
“Yes.” Her bluntness startled the hedgehog back as if he had been shocked. “Kid, I trust you, but you’ve only got one side of the story. I wanna hear his, too.” You might need to hear it too, bud. The other hedgehog hadn’t moved from his spot. Olivia caught Sonic’s eye with a wave and beckoned him up. “You too, kid. C’mon.” Her hedgehog ducked into the house before she turned back around.
The direct address seemed to wake Sonic up. The cobalt hedgehog walked normally up to the house steps with the strangest expression on his face. A myriad of emotions warred for dominance, shifting between joy and anger and hope and betrayal quickly. He eventually settled for a determined grimace, a fire burning in his eyes and scorching Olivia as he passed. For once, he was completely silent, taking the chair across from Shadow and keeping his gaze locked firmly onto the other hedgehog.
“Alright, ground rules.” The human put her hands on her hips. Feels like old times. “Speak one at a time. If it ain’t your turn, you sit there and stay silent. Understood?” She got an eyeroll and a nod from Sonic, and a terse nod from Shadow. “Good. Alright, Shadow, go first. What happened?” Olivia sat down between them as if she could keep two super-powered beings from restarting their fight.
“Thank you.” Her hedgehog nodded and let a tiny smirk grace his face. “I decided to go farther afield for my run than I anticipated. I found a highway that led east and ran along it. I must have ran for too long, because suddenly I did not recognize where I was. I retraced my steps, and he found me. I attempted to lose him, but I was unsuccessful. He followed me back and began pestering me with questions, questions I did not want to answer. I was trying to figure out how to lead him away, but then you arrived. So I attacked, to drive him away.” Shadow finished his recounting and stood up, chair scraping against the tile with a noticeable screech.
“Thank you, bud. Sit back down, we’re not done.” She put a gentle but unyielding hand on his shoulder. He gave her an incredulous look, but sat back down. “Okay, your turn Sonic. What happened?”
The blue hedgehog studied the other for a few moments, then turned to Olivia with an easy grin on his face. “Welllllll, I was also out for a run. Stretchin’ my legs, taking in the Atlantic seaboard, the whole shebang. Then, as I’m debating whether it would be worth breaking into Disneyland and sneaking onto all the rollercoasters before catching the fireworks, this thing goes off.” He reached up into his quills and pulled out a tiny yellow and white cube. “Tails just finished it and gave it to me before my evening stroll. Didn’t tell me what it was for, just to follow the beeps. So once it started beeping - and I finished checking the area for hidden bombs of course, you never know with the Mouse - I followed it and found Shads here. He tried to shake me but alas, I am still the fastest thing alive.” Sonic smirked cheekily at Shadow, who just huffed and crossed his arms, compressing his chest fluff. “So with that trademarked super speed, Blue Justice tracks the lone wolf back to his den and tries to get some info outta him! But Shads here is a tough nut to crack. Did not think he’d just hit me, but I shoulda seen it coming. Dude looooooves talking with his fists.”
“Okay…” The picture was starting to become clearer. “So you two ran into each other, you -” Olivia pointed at Sonic. “- decided to follow him home even though he did not invite you nor wanted to engage, and you -” She turned her finger on Shadow. “- decided to not talk it out like civil people and attacked him. Do I got that right?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“... I just wanted him to leave.”
The two hedgehogs could not have been more different at this moment. Sonic had his hands behind his head, squishing his sleek quills slightly with that same easy smile. Shadow’s ears were flat against his head, eyes locked onto the table. Olivia crossed her arms and thought. … Man how did Dad make this look so black and white… and stay so calm… “I suppose… we’re gonna have to keep talking. Jury’s still out. Shadow,” His eyes snapped up at the sound of his name. “... Why did you want Sonic to leave?”
The dark hedgehog’s spines started to bristle. “Because he is an annoying idiot.” He snarled.
“Try again.”
“... What?”
Olivia exhaled through her nose. “Bud, that’s just how you feel about Sonic normally. Not why you wanted him to leave. I can think Will’s an asshole and still look forward to seeing him tomorrow.”
Shadow arched a brow at her. “Are feelings not enough of a reason to want him here?”
Her eyes widened a fraction. This… might be painful kid, but it’s necessary. “Not for this. We’ll come back around. Sonic, why did you not want to leave Shadow alone?”
“Oh that’s an easy one.” Sonic quipped and kicked his feet up onto the table. “I missed my cool buddy Shads.”
“We are not friends.” Her hedgehog shot back immediately.
“Not yet anyway!”
“So you wanted to see him. Why?” The human narrowed her eyes at the mud-crusted shoes on her table. Yes it was an IKEA table but it was the principle of the matter.
He noticed and sheepishly pulled his legs back down. “... Well, we kinda ended things on a weird moment last time we saw each other. Went from trying to beat each other up to saving the world together in 30 minutes or less. Wanted to, y’know, see if the redemption arc he got fast-tracked into finished off-screen.”
“... Okay…” She shut her eyes, scrambling to find an argument to convince her headstrong kid. “Shadow, you said you didn’t want Sonic here. What if we were in the woods? Would that be far enough away?”
“No.” The answer was immediate.
“Why?”
Shadow’s spines were bristling fully, and tiny red sparks leapt between the quills as he got more agitated. “... Because revenge is a cycle. I hurt his family. I…”
“What? Dude, it’s water under the bridge!” Sonic piped up. “Tom’s fine, and everybody’s fine thanks to you. We’re good, dude.” He gave the other hedgehog a thumbs up.
Her kid’s eyes squeezed shut as the sparks became more frequent. “But… it could have not -”
“It didn’t.” The cobalt hedgehog said firmly. “Ya gotta stop living in the past, Shadow. Life’s here, now. Touch some grass, smell the roses!”
Olivia relaxed slightly in her chair. The old argument solver Dad had always used on them growing up did its magic. It got them talking, and more importantly, listening. “Okay. That was good, boys. Sonic, what did you learn?”
That fire was back. “That you lied to us.”
Shadow was on him in an instant, gripping him tightly by the neck. Sonic clawed at the hand holding him up, feet kicking in the air as he was held above his chair. “Kid, put him down. He’s… he’s right, after all.” She slumped over in her chair.
“But, Miss Olivia…!”
“Yeah, I know you wanted me to. But,” Olivia’s eyes darted between both of them. “I’m the adult here. And I shoulda known better. I’m supposed to protect you, Shadow. I’m not supposed to isolate you, especially from people who care about you and are worried about you.” And definitely not from people you care about back.
Her hedgehog’s eyes widened, and he relaxed his grip. Sonic landed into the dining chair with a grunt, rubbing his neck with a grimace. “I… I see. I … did not feel isolated.” Shadow dropped to a whisper. “... I felt safe. I did not want to lose that. To lose…”
“Dude, I wasn’t gonna attack your mom.” Sonic said flippantly. “But! I am not happy, you will be hearing from my lawyers! Or, well, Tom’s lawyer.”
“I’m sure I will. Think we can save it ‘til the weekend? Give us all a bit of time to cool off.” Olivia kept track of her hedgehog’s spines out of the corner of her eye. They had relaxed greatly, but were still raised.
“Well, I am excellent at keeping secrets for extended periods of time.” The blue hedgehog zipped his mouth shut and threw something over his shoulder. Does he…? No, never mind, not gonna point it out. “I will absolutely not spill the beans as soon as I make it home.”
Well that’s reassuring. She grimaced and made a mental note to turn her phone off before she went to sleep. “Uh-huh. We’ll revisit… all of this later. You, mister, should get goin’. You parents’ll start wondering where you are.” The sun had sank below the horizon while they’d talked, the sky illuminated by dusky purples and the eerie glow of the Cannon’s radiation.
“I’ll be back before they could even miss me. Oh who am I kidding, they always miss me when I’m not around.” Sonic laughed at his own joke and hopped up. “Don’t be a stranger, Shads! See ya later!” Instead of producing one of those portal rings, the self-proclaimed fastest thing alive took a sprinter’s stance on the grass, pointed vaguely north, and in a flash of blue disappeared from sight.
Once the blue afterimage faded away, all of the tension holding Olivia upright vanished at once. She leaned against the doorframe for support as her mind spun. Well… they know now. This is… probably for the best. Shadow’s not gonna like it, but… She blew an exasperated breath through her lips and rejoined her hedgehog at the table. “Hey, bud.” The human dragged her chair around to sit next to him.
Shadow was still frozen, staring at the spot Sonic had been. “... Why…?”
“Why what?”
“Why… do they care so much? How can they forgive so easily?” He flexed his hand slowly. “I hurt someone close to them. Nearly destroyed their home and everyone on it. Is… Has forgiveness always been so easy? Or am I…”
Olivia gently grasped his wrist. “It’s different for everyone. I… never forgave Lee, you know. But if -” When. “- I do, then it’ll be like he never left. For some people, saying ‘I forgive you’ means they’re at the beginning of the healing journey, and for others they’re at the end.”
“How do you know the difference?”
“You… well, you talk. Like what we just did. Lay everything out, figure out where everybody is, and try to figure out what the future looks like. Do we want to go back to normal, can we go back to normal, do we part ways, stuff like that.” She gave him a thin smile. He didn’t reciprocate, too lost in his thoughts. “So, what does your future look like, kid? No Sonic, some Sonic, or all Sonic?”
“... Some Sonic. He is too annoying to be around all the time, but it would be… acceptable to see him again.” Shadow decided with a tiny nod. “I do not know yet about the other two, but he… I would like him to stay in touch.”
Olivia fought herself to control the celebratory fist pump she wanted to make. “Well alrighty then. Wanna wash up while I make dinner?” He regarded his dusty, grassy fur with a tiny frown and stood up. He cast one last look at the door, shook his head, and trotted off down the hallway to get clean. We’ll getcha some friends yet, kid. You’re not gonna be alone any more. Not if I can help it.