Chapter Text
As the hedgehogs’ hands touch, the dark void slowly disappears. Now it’s replaced by a generic park with multiple walking paths, trees, bushes, and wooden benches. The sun is high in the sky, warming up the once-cold void.
Sonic strolls over towards the bench closest to them and sits down, leaning back against it with his arms relaxed behind his head. “I’m guessing that you don’t know how you got here either, huh?” He asks.
Shadow nods his head, following Sonic to the bench, but not sitting next to him. “If you knew that it was me here the entire time, then why did you keep trying to ask me where we were?” He rolls his eyes, crosses his arms, and turns away from the other.
“I didn’t know it was you. I only found out when I got close enough to see your face.”
He pauses a beat. That must mean… how much of his spiral did Sonic see? Other than the end, that is. He can’t dwell on that forever. He needs to think of a way out of here. “Whatever. Now that we both know we’re here, we can find a way out of this place.”
“Eh… not necessarily.”
“What do you mean? Are you trying to stay stuck in this random park forever?” Shadow asks, incredulously. Does that idiot actually want to stay here?
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that… this place isn’t real. It’s all a dream.” At Shadow’s glare, which screams that he doesn’t believe a word he’s said, Sonic adds.”When you first pushed me away, I went through this water-like goop. I thought I was gonna drown, but before I could, I woke up in my bed.” He taps his finger on his cheek, then points it at the other hedgehog. “Wait, if you didn’t know this is a dream, then how do you get here? I only show up here after I fall asleep.”
At the mention of sleep, Shadow realizes that he hasn’t had a good night's rest in months. So how does he keep showing up here then? “That doesn’t matter. We have to find a way out of here.”
“It’s probably best that we meet in person to figure this out.” Sonic stands, stretching his arms above his head.
Sonic right. They’ll have more resources outside.
But there are two tiny problems.
One, He doesn’t know how to get out on his own.
And two, Shadow’s body is too weak to teleport at the moment. The last thing he remembers is sitting in the middle of the wreckage of the lab before showing up here. “It’s going to be a little while before we can meet. My body is a little out of it.”
“Wait, are you sick too?” Sonic slouches his body, dragging his hands along the grass. “This is just great.” He sighs. “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”
“I’m not sick. My body just isn’t cooperating with me. Give it a day, and I’ll be at your place.” Shadow pauses for a second. “Also, you’re the one who’s sick. Why are you offering to get me?”
Sonic sits up. “Dude, nobody says their body is out of it when they’re not feeling under the weather. You’re sick like me.”
“I don’t get sick. I’m the ultimate lifeform.” Shadow doesn’t even know if he believes what he’s saying anymore. Everything that’s happened leading up to this point has contradicted his words.
“Well, if you’re not sick, describe what you’re feeling then.”
Welp. Sonic has him trapped in a corner. If he tells him what he’s feeling, then he’ll get proven right. “If you want to come get me, I’m at the wreckage of the lab.” He says, ignoring Sonic’s request. “Do you even remember where that is?” He turns towards the cobalt hedgehog.
“Nope. But I’ll find it. See ya later.” Sonic disappears into thin air.
Could they always just leave the void like that? If only Shadow had known that sooner. But then again, his body probably trapped him here to get some semblance of rest after he pushed himself to stay awake all the time.
He closes his eyes, imagining that he’s awake in the rubble in which he collapsed, and he feels himself dissolving into the air.
☆~✦~☆
Shadow can feel rocks poking at his side, sharp and uneven. He opens his eyes, standing up as fast as he can to get the rocks off of him (which isn’t super fast because of his… sickness, for the lack of a better word). The sun is setting. How long has he been in that weird dream world for?
He maneuvers around the sharp rubble to slowly but surely climb the mountain and free his body from sitting on hard rocks. His arms and legs ache as he does so. The rocks scrape at his paw pads. He looks up at the mountains in the distance. There’s one straight in front of him and two next to it, looking more opaque than the center one. His chest burns as he coughs. It’s dry, hurting more than the wet ones. Eventually, he makes it up to the top of the mountain. There are no rocks up here, just patchy grass, so he lies on his back with his arms and legs spread out in a star shape while he waits for Sonic to show up.
He takes a deep breath. Despite the mucus taking up space in his airways, it feels good. This is the first time he’s allowed himself to breathe without worrying about the things he could be doing.
—
Shadow blinks slowly. Someone’s hovering over him. It looks like they got dumped into a bucket of blue paint. The moonlight cast a white glow over them. They’re saying something, but his brain isn’t alert enough to decipher it. When had he fallen asleep? His eyelids feel slightly heavy. As a matter of fact, every part of his body feels heavy. He doesn’t want to leave this spot. He just wants to sleep right here. That… however long nap he took, was the most restful sleep he’s gotten in months.
The blue paint guy wraps his arms around his back and legs and picks him up. Shadow’s senses finally catch up to the present moment as he recognizes who’s holding him.
It’s Sonic.
He shoves the other hedgehog’s chest and jumps out of his arms, turning to face him. “You seriously couldn’t have told me you were here? And also, my legs work just fine.”
Sonic frowns. “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so pret—” His body stiffens. “Actually, never mind. Forget the last thing I was about to say. I totally wasn’t about to call you pretty. ‘Cause if I were, I would’ve said that you’re pretty ugly. No, that’s not true, you’re anything but ugly. You…” He waves his hands around as he explains himself.
Shadow tunes out most of what’s said after that. It’s just pointless rambling. He crosses his arms, shifting his weight to his right hip while he waits for Sonic to finish. As the area falls silent, he asks. “You done yet?”
“Yeah… Wait, were you even listening?!”
“No.”
Sonic groans. “Let’s just head back to my place now.” He tries to grab hold of Shadow’s back, but he’s pushed away.
“My legs work fine. Let’s go.” He starts walking in a random direction, expecting Sonic to follow him or lead him in the right direction.
“Come on, man. Just let me carry you. It’s gonna hurt your feet to run through six states.” Sonic points at his bare feet. “I’m trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
Sonic slides so he’s standing across from the darker hedgehog. “Dude, you look awful. Those bags under your eyes are practically screaming at you to get some sleep.” He pokes under his own eyes to mirror what he sees in Shadow.
“So do you. I’ll sleep when I’m at your place. There, you happy now?”
“No, actually. If I carry you, you can sleep on the way there.” He scoots closer to his darker counterpart, batting his eyelashes.
“Absolutely not.”
“Please.”
“No”
“Please.”
“No”
“Please.”
“No”
“I never thought I’d have to do this in front of you, but here we go.” Sonic gives him the biggest, sad puppy eyes he can muster. “Please!”
Shadow’s face scrunches up in what he believes is disgust. There’s something about Sonic’s emerald green eyes that he can’t seem to tear his own away from. It’s hard for him to describe. No one’s gaze has been able to make his mind go blank like this before.
He shakes his head. Get your head out of the gutter, Shadow. He tells himself.
He looks at Sonic again. He truly looks pathetic begging like this, but also, kind of… cute? He shakes his head again. What is he thinking? He looks anything but that. Shadow sighs. “If I let you carry me, will you shut up?”
“Yup.” He says, popping the ‘p.’
Shadow huffs and raises his arms. Sonic delightedly squeals and picks him up.
“We’ll be back home in no time.” The blue hedgehog dashes off in the direction he came.
As Shadow looks around, he can see why Sonic tried so hard to stop him from destroying this planet just a few months prior. The trees they pass by have leaves of many colors. Some red, some orange, some yellow. Small animals try to hurry out of their way as they rush towards them to no avail. They’re too fast to cause real harm to them. Birds can vaguely be seen flying overhead through the colorful leaves of tall trees in the dark sky. As they descend the mountain, the lush trees of the mountains turn into the bare, dry plains of tornado alley. Shadow can tell Sonic is avoiding highly populated areas. Occasionally, they pass through a small town, but thankfully, no one is out at this time of night.
The cool wind whipping against his fur, plus Sonic’s warm body pressed against him, is making him sleepy. He can’t fall asleep just yet. He’s not going to let Sonic prove himself right. He tries counting the trees passing by, tries counting the number of them with leaves that have changed color, which are few and far between and hard to see. These methods have the opposite effect on Shadow. His eyelids grow heavy. His blinks become longer. Maybe it’s okay just to rest his eyes for two minutes, then he’ll be able to stay awake during the rest of the trip.
“I told you that you needed to sleep now,” Sonic whispers in his ear, smug.
“Silence, hedgehog.”
“Alright, alright. Looks like sleeping beauty needs his beauty rest.” He chuckles softly.
Shadow ignores him, closing his eyes to get the sleep he so desperately needs.
—
Shadow wakes up in an actual bed. It’s still dark outside. Moonlight shines through a window in the corner of the room he’s in. There’s a ping-pong table made of a road sign on his far right. Other random signs hang on the room's walls. There’s only one place he’s been to that’s decorated like this.
He’s in Sonic’s room.
Which also means he’s in his bed. Not the guest bed he slept in the first time he came here.
Since he’s in Sonic’s room, that means… He rolls over to his left. Just as he expected, Sonic is next to him in the bed, still sleeping peacefully. They’re so close that their noses touch. He pulls the cover back over them since his adjusted position knocked it off.
Shadow could leave. He feels well-rested enough to take down G.U.N. now. But a strange part of his brain is telling him to stay. He thought that he wouldn’t be able to rest knowing that they’re still operating, yet here he is, lying here next to this blue hedgehog, at peace for the first time in fifty years. Maybe resting until the morning is best. He curls his body inwards, resting his arm on Sonic’s waist, and leans his head on his chest.