Chapter Text
Sonic had learned to kind of roll with it when it came to everything (probably) involving the Paradox Prism, but laying in his bed with a delirious Shadow clinging to him like a lifeline was still not in the top ten list of things he might have predicted. Still, it could have been much worse. Shadow's grip was finally starting to loosen and the shivers had dropped to more of an occasional tremor than the uncomfortable full body shaking and teeth chattering that he'd been doing before.
"Soup's ready!" Tails carried in a couple of coffee mugs and Sonic was very glad he was the smart one. Drinking water had been going pretty well, so drinking soup from a mug shouldn't be too different. Snapping at the soup and trying to bite the spoon like he had pizza was just going to end badly for everyone.
"Great, let me get him sitting up and awake enough to drink." Sonic pulled himself away more successfully this time so he could sit up and start wrestling Shadow into a sitting position. Patting at his face and annoying him that way seemed to work better than talking loudly, so Sonic didn't even try this time. Patting and gently poking at Shadow's cheek got the expected annoyed scrunching of his features and then his eyes half opened.
"You want to give him the soup this time? It's easier to keep him sitting up with both hands," Sonic suggested.
"Oh! Um, sure? I can do that." Tails took one of the mugs, leaning in with it.
"Just like that, put the lower edge against his lip, and tilt it enough to get some in his mouth and hopefully he'll drink all of it," Sonic instructed.
"That seems easy enough," Tails said, starting to lean in.
Sonic was not expecting Shadow to suddenly tense, trying to pull away.
"Whoa! Come on, don't make this difficult," Sonic tried to steady him.
"It's ok, I'm not trying to hurt you. Maybe it's because we're both here? It might be easier if you kept doing it alone," Tails said.
"Guess so..." Sonic forgot what he was going to say when Shadow suddenly spoke, slurred but understandable.
"Nine."
"It's fine Shadow, it's Tails. And me! Everything's fine," Sonic said, speaking fast and trying to keep him still.
"Nine... what? What have you done to me?" Shadow kept weakly fighting his grip like he was trying to push himself off the bed, either to fight or to escape, Sonic wasn't sure.
"He didn't do anything. This is Tails, not Nine." Sonic glanced at where Tails just looked confused. "Maybe turn around, let him see the proof?"
"Ah, alright." Tails sounded doubtful but turned around with both his tails clearly visible.
"See? Told you," Sonic said, as Shadow looked like he was struggling to focus. "We're home, everything's normal. Tails just wants to help give you some breakfast, or lunch at this point."
"Tails." Shadow said the name softly and then stopped struggling, slumping back against him.
"I think we can give it another try?" Sonic said.
"Alright, but if he freaks out again you're trying alone," Tails said, holding up the mug once more.
The second attempt went much more smoothly, Shadow slowly swallowing the broth and the noodles as Tails held the mug and Sonic could concentrate on keeping him sitting up and steady. Shadow finished the first mug and then most of the second before he started trying to turn his face away. Tails pulled back at that.
"I can put the rest up for later, but once you've got him comfortable again, I have a few questions for you," Tails said, and Sonic winced. There was no way that exchange hadn't raised his suspicions and at this point it seemed wrong to delay telling the story any longer. He'd just have to suck it up and tell it twice.
"I can do that, want to meet in your workshop?" Sonic asked, getting a nod.
Shadow laid back down easily enough, and Sonic look his time making sure the blankets were untangled and tucked around him before he gave the other hedgehog's covered shoulder a pat and headed out to try and figure out the best way to explain everything.
He'd decided to just start from the beginning when Tails spoke up as soon as he came into the workshop and derailed his thoughts.
"Who's Nine?"
"Ah, why would you ask that? I mean, Shadow's all delirious and stuff," Sonic said, and Tails just gave him a look.
"Because you didn't react like he was saying nonsense, you acted like you recognized it was a name and not just a number. Also I'm guessing they're a fox too because otherwise why would you prove it's me with my tails? So who's Nine? Do they have something to do with why you've been acting weird?"
"Alright, so... to get to Nine I'll tell you the short version, and then the longer version. Short version is when we were fighting Eggman for the Prism, I, uh, accidentally spindashed right into it," Sonic grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, my bad."
"What? No you didn't, I was there, Sonic. I saw that it looked like you might hit it, but you went for the doctor instead. You never touched the Prism," Tails pointed out.
"That time? Yeah no, I learned my lesson. That wasn't the first time though. First time I hit it, and... shattered it. It was bad. All the shards of the Prism formed their own worlds that were Green Hills but... not. I woke up in a Green Hills where Eggman... or rather Eggmen actually won, it was awful. And there were versions of Knuckles and Rouge and Amy and even Big there, but no one remembered me. And then there was a version of you there too, except he called himself Nine."
"Nine? But he was me?" Tails asked, sounding confused but not doubtful.
"Yeah, he was you but also he was his own person. A version of you who grew up in a world without me and where the Eggmen won. I guess the name was because in addition to his regular tails he built seven really cool robot tails to go with them. He could use them for all sorts of stuff." Sonic still wished they could have met. Tails would have loved all his tech and he knew there was no way he could explain it well enough.
"So that explains the easy way for Shadow to tell which me I am. But if I don't remember any of this, how did Shadow know?" Tails asked.
"Because he was there! Kinda. Because he teleported after me instead of hitting the Prism he couldn't just go through the gateways to the shatterspaces, he was mostly stuck outside them unless there was a portal or flaw or something," Sonic said.
"And so at some point he met Nine. Was... was he an enemy? Or was Shadow your enemy? He looked so angry when he thought I was him." Tails sounded worried.
"Not at all! Shadow was helping me and I mean ok Nine and I were kind of at odds for a while, and he might have sent an army of killer robots after me to harvest my Prism energy and Shadow helped me fight them, but he wasn't bad! Just a little confused and we worked it out." Sonic paused, looking at Tails' face and seeing about a thousand more questions. "Maybe I better start from the very beginning and go from there. It's kind of hard to explain Nine without explaining the whole shatterverse. And you do believe me, right?"
"Of course I believe you. And other worlds existing has always been a theory, there's just never been proof or a way to reach them... Start at the beginning." Tails picked up a nearby screen, showing it to him "I can set it to let us know if Shadow starts waking up again, even if it normally ignores those small activity spikes."
"Starting from the beginning would probably be best," Sonic agreed.
"And I can record it so you can share that with the others if you want," Tails offered, and Sonic grinned.
"You'd do that? You're the best. Alright, back to the beginning, fight in the cave, the Prism, Eggman, and me shattering it by accident...."
In a way it was a relief to have explained everything to Tails. It also helped make a little more sense why he was so adamant about taking care of Shadow. Sure they'd helped each other out during the whole thing, and fought a couple times, but if it wasn't for Shadow he'd never have made it back to Green Hills on time. And if it did have something to do with the Prism, then likely him being so sick was Sonic's fault. Maybe not totally his fault, he didn't tell him to teleport with the Prism, but he wouldn't have done it if he didn't know the danger it posed. What if Eggman had fired a shot that shattered it a second time? They could all have been in real danger then.
And really it wasn't even like it was that much trouble taking care of Shadow. The whole bathtub thing had been a mess, but that was arguably their fault, not Shadow's. If Shadow was in his right mind he'd either be willing to try and tough it out, or punch them. Other than needing to be fed a couple times a day and taking up space in Sonic's bed it was like he wasn't even there. Tails' sensors could even make sure he was sleeping peacefully, or as peaceful as he got anyway, so there was no need to keep going in and checking on him.
Still Sonic found himself gravitating back to his room after telling the full story and answering the additional questions. The sensors were probably more accurate, but something just felt better about seeing Shadow sleeping with his own eyes. Seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest and the occasional shiver that was visible even though the blankets as his body kept his temperature high to burn off the energy.
"Maybe we should have just let Eggman grab that thing if this is the result of me being near it and you touching it. Him staying out of everyone's hair for a week or two, or maybe even longer before he or one of his idiot robots figured out the Prism was poisoning him would have made for a nice vacation, right?" Sonic quietly asked Shadow's sleeping form.
Still, something about it didn't seem right. He'd felt great with the Prism energy, aside from the initial sparking and sliding and whatnot. More importantly plenty of others had handled the shards without any sort of energy transfer or effects. He'd even gotten a shard energy boost and been fine, though he dropped back to the same level once he burned through it. Sonic sighed sitting down on the edge of the bed.
"You know, I do kind of wish Nine was here too. With his knowledge of the shards I'm sure he and Tails could have had this figured out probably within the first hour, maybe two tops. Tails is working nearly blind here without the Prism to study and if you know anything about it you're not talking until you're well, so we're just doing our best." Sonic spoke out loud, tapping his fingers on his knee.
Maybe this whole thing was why the Prism had been hidden away. What use is an unlimited power source if you can't work with it without getting sick? Maybe it was only possible to safely work with it when it was split apart.
Sonic groaned and flopped back in bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to Shadow's quiet breathing.
"You should be really honored I'm even going through all this trouble for you. The thinky stuff isn't my style, I run around and let the smart people be like 'Oh the chaos energy is causing quantum fluctuations in space time because the flux generator is out of alignment. Go over there and spindash into it a few times, Sonic.' And I do and everything's great! So why is this bugging me?" Sonic asked rhetorically.
"Alright, so I'm going to try a new angle. What if it wasn't me being near the Prism and you teleporting away with it. What else happened to both of us, but you a lot more than me? Like... at least four or five times as much. We fought while I was collecting rings, but we fight all the time. Nothing weird there. I guess maybe there could have been like... some sort of Eggman weirdness that neither of us noticed, but that seems pretty unlikely especially with you getting it worse. Then the cave the first time, the shattering, and after that I was the one with the Prism energy and running around the shatterspaces encountering weirdness. Because you hadn't gotten any Prism energy from the shattering most of the time other than Ghost Hill and the Grim you were just stuck in the void."
Sonic paused turning it over in his head. Could it be? It wasn't like he knew if there was any way to test it, but...
The void. They hadn't paid much attention to it besides being between the shatterspaces, but Shadow could have easily spent five times as long out in the void than he had. Time seemed to move a little weird sometimes, so it was hard to keep track, but that seemed reasonable. Sonic had briefly passed through it most of the time, the longest times he could remember spending in it were with Shadow. The others usually used ships that may have offered protection from it, especially if they were based on Nine's design. It... wasn't out of the question that Nine might not have told him if the void was dangerous to the unprotected, or might have assumed the Prism energy would protect him the same way the ship did.
Was that it? While he was inside the shatterspaces eating and sleeping and making friends Shadow was trapped out alone in the void slowly being poisoned by it?
"If that's the case, it really was my fault," Sonic murmured, sitting back up to look at Shadow's face. That was a second quiet realization, that he'd been so caught up on trying to figure it out not because they needed to know to help Shadow recover, but because he'd been hoping there was an explanation that wasn't his fault. That he didn't do this to Shadow.
"I'm going to take the very best care of you I can," Sonic promised, getting a small ear twitch this time. It was probably coincidence, but he took it as a sign that maybe Shadow heard him.
"So.... food tonight, I've been trying to think of what we can get that also can be fed to someone in bed without turning into a crime scene. Like as much as I love chilidogs they're a mess even when you're fully conscious, you know?" Sonic rambled at Tails as he helped carry some samples back to the workshop. Tails had him collect a few rocks from the cave to see if there was any residual Prism energy he could study that might confirm or deny Sonic's current theory about the void being the source of the problem. Even if it likely wouldn't do anything to help Shadow recover, it would be good to know if they encountered the Prism again if they needed to keep their distance or find some way to shield against it.
Sonics rambles about food were interrupted by a knock at the door. This wasn't the most unusual thing and when Tails started to detour Sonic popped around him.
"I've got it. You finish taking the rocks to test." Sonic popped over to the door, opening it to a familiar bat. "Rouge! Good to see you, what brings you here?" For half a second he worried it had to do with trying to invite everyone together to explain things, before remembering he hadn't actually gotten to that before things went sideways.
"Have you seen Shadow? I've been trying to find him to ask what he was thinking just running off with the Prism. He's not always the easiest to find, but he usually shows up sooner or later," Rouge asked. "I don't even know what he'd want with a big shiny rock like that, but I haven't been able to track him down."
"Oh that's easy, he's here!" Sonic said brightly before his brain caught up with his mouth and pointed out that maybe advertising that Shadow was pretty helpless right now might be a bad idea. It was Rouge though, so... probably ok?
"He's here? I mean forgive me for doubting that, but... why?" Rouge asked skeptically.
"He's sick, but he should be better really soon?" Sonic tried to reassure her.
"Shadow doesn't get sick," Rouge said flatly. "That's kind of his whole thing. What are you hiding?"
"Nothing! It's not sick-sick, he just got exposed to some weird energy that was possibly related to the Prism and until it's out of his system he's running a fever and pretty out of it. I'm letting him crash here until he's back to his normal grumpy self. Do you want to see him?" Sonic offered.
"I'd like that," Rouge said, stepping inside.
"Right this way," Sonic went to lead her back to the bedroom. Shadow was pretty much just like he left him and Sonic was used to it by now, but Rouge paused and her eyes widened before she crossed the room to touch Shadow's forehead.
"He really is burning up," Rouge whispered, pulling her hand back. "You're sure he'll be better soon?"
"Tails is, he's tracking the energy levels and he's confident once they drop enough he'll be back to normal. I kinda... heh, kind of went through the same thing, but not as bad because I wasn't exposed to as much of it." Sonic reached to tug back the blanket enough to show off the band on his arm. "Tails has a sensor on him to track the energy as well as all the medical stuff so we're keeping a close eye on him."
"I can see that," Rouge said, glancing around what was obviously Sonic's bedroom. "Are you sure you're up for it though? He could be taken to the medical facilities at G.U.N and they might be able to do more for him."
"I don't know, while I'm pretty sure waking up here isn't something he'll be thrilled about, how do you think he'd like waking up in some lab?" Sonic said, hoping he really was thinking about Shadow's well being and not just that he didn't want to hand him over to a bunch of strangers. "Besides, Tails probably knows more about the Prism than any of them, and he has all the data from when I was sick. Plus he's not exactly hard to take care of like this. "
"That's true. Well if you guys need anything, don't hesitate to let me know," Rouge said.
"I can think of one thing. You know Shadow better than anyone, right?" Sonic asked.
"I'm not sure, but I do know a few things," Rouge agreed.
"Any foods you know he likes or hates? He's not exactly very talkative right now," Sonic said. Rouge barked a laugh, and then covered her mouth and dropped her voice again with a glance at Shadow.
"He'd probably be furious with me for saying, but junk food. Besides liking coffee the more greasy and terrible for you the better he likes it. Pizza, burgers, chips, all of that. I guess if I never had to worry about indigestion or heart attacks or anything else I'd probably eat exactly the same way," Rouge said.
"Really? Oh man, and here I thought he was the snobbish type. That makes things a lot easier." Sonic grinned.
"Think you can avoid mentioning that I told you?" Rouge asked.
"I'll do my best." Sonic walked her back to the door.
"And when he does wake up let him know I wanted to talk to him, though if this is what happens when you touch the Prism... maybe it's fine if he does keep its location a secret," Rouge said.
"I'll still let him know, thanks." Sonic waved to her as she flew off then looked back at the bedroom door. While it was possible Rouge was pulling a prank and Shadow would be horrified at being fed junk while he was delirious, it fit with how he'd torn into the pizza he'd been offered. Now it was just a matter of going through his favorites for foods that fit the earlier 'don't destroy the bed' criteria, or Shadow was just getting soup and pizza until he woke for real.
Going to sleep was a little easier the second time, especially just going ahead and letting Shadow tuck against him for warmth. Objectively it wasn't the most comfortable, he felt nearly overheated anywhere Shadow was touching and the rest of him felt a little chilly without a blanket in an attempt to settle on a more in-between temperature. Still though he figured he probably better appreciate it, because the odds of Shadow being cuddly again in his lifetime were pretty low.
The next morning brought a small surprise when he woke up and started easing away to swap in a pillow and Shadow stirred. Not a lot, but he moved a little and his eyes half-opened.
"Shadow?" Sonic kept his voice low, not sure if Shadow was recovering faster than Tails had anticipated.
"Hnnn?" It was a confused sort of sound that came out of Shadow's throat, and Sonic sat up to get a better look at him. He put his hand on his forehead, even if he'd been close enough to him before to feel how overly warm he still was the touch confirmed that he was still feverish.
Shadow's eyes were only half open and looking more closely Sonic could see they were still glassy and unfocused. Waving a hand in front of them got a twitch and an almost attempt to follow it, but not very coordinated. It looked like he was about at the same level of 'awake' that he'd been able to get him for meals.
"Looks like you're still not really thinking clearly, huh? Think you can stay put while I get you some breakfast?" Sonic asked, getting another soft sound and Shadow turning his head towards him a little.
"I'll take that as a yes, back in a flash," Sonic promised, getting up and tugging on gloves and shoes so he could zip to the kitchen and pop some frozen waffles in the toaster. He eyed the coffee pot, but he wasn't sure if caffeine would make things better or worse. A more alert Shadow might be better, a jittery confused one would be a nightmare. Plus Tails might not forgive him if he messed something up, so Sonic left that alone. A little butter on each waffle and a touch of syrup, far less than he preferred but any more wouldn't soak in and would make a sticky mess, and he was heading back to the bedroom
He'd expected to find Shadow the way he'd been all the day before, probably back asleep and dead to the world. Instead Shadow had pushed himself partially up to a sitting position and looked like he was trying to get out of the blankets.
"Whoa where do you think you're going?" Sonic asked setting the plate down and going to the bed. Shadow stared at him without really seeing him.
"I need to..." Shadow trailed off, like even he wasn't quite sure what he needed to do.
"You don't need to do anything but stay put. I brought breakfast, do you like waffles? Everyone likes waffles." Sonic kept talking as he tugged the pillows into place and coaxed Shadow to lean back against them. After a moment of resistance Shadow let himself be manhandled and Sonic grabbed the plate again.
"Alright, open up." Sonic held the first bite up. After a moment Shadow bit at it and Sonic winced when his teeth scraped the metal some. But at least he wasn't having to fight to keep Shadow awake enough to eat.
"I can..." Shadow made a clumsy grab at the fork when Sonic held it up again, almost knocking it out of his hand.
"Sorry Shadow, but I think you're being just a teenie bit overly optimistic there," Sonic said, which earned him a scowl and another attempt that went wide and didn't make contact with either Sonic's hand or the fork.
"Ok, so the good thing is I don't have to hold you up and try and keep you awake, but the bad is you want to help when you really can't right now," Sonic sighed, then had an idea. "Or maybe you can."
Sonic took his hand, placing the fork in it as Shadow reflexively tightened his grip. Then it was just a matter of guiding his hand up so Shadow could take the bite. It took a little longer, but Shadow wasn't biting down on the fork like this and Sonic slid it out of his hand while he chewed, stabbing another piece of waffle and then put the utensil in his hand.
"You know I think I jinxed myself saying you weren't much trouble, Tails didn't say anything about me waking up while still feverish, but maybe he forgot. Or maybe it's some weird 'ultimate lifeform' thing and you're adjusting to the fever and trying to be up and fighting again, who knows. I'll ask Tails later." Sonic kept talking as Shadow slowly finished the last of the waffle, then blinked slowly, head nodding a little.
"Tired.... why?" Shadow asked., slurring the words a little.
"Ooor maybe you were just awake because you got hungry? And you just need to sleep and be patient." Sonic set the plate aside, moving the pillows so Shadow could slump back down. "Just go back to sleep and I'll make sure you get something good for lunch."
Sonic grabbed the empty plate to take to the sink and add to the stack that was growing. Usually he got to them before they got too numerous, but taking care of Shadow was taking up more of his time. He promised himself he'd get to them, later, and started getting breakfast for himself.
"Shadow woke up on his own this morning?" Tails asked, taking the tablet and tapping on it one handed while he expertly drank coffee with the other.
"Yeah, I mean not coherently, but like... uh... about as alert as he was right after the bath? Just not nearly as unhappy about it." Sonic peered over his shoulder, even if the numbers and lines didn't mean anything to him.
"I can see that, and he stayed awake longer than he has been. You woke up a few times before your fever broke, especially at the end, but it seemed like you just wanted to know you weren't alone," Tails said.
"Shadow doesn't seem like the type to want company when he's sick though, he has the whole loner thing going on," Sonic pointed out.
"Maybe, or maybe not. He seemed to calm down when you were holding him after the bathtub," Tails countered.
"I think that was just getting out of the water and starting to warm up," Sonic said.
"Well you can go find out, it looks like he's waking up again," Tails moved the tablet towards him to make it easier to see and Sonic nodded like he understood it.
"Already? I'll go check on him." Sonic shoved the last of his breakfast burrito into his mouth and then stood up, grabbing a cup of water on his way out. He'd forgotten to get him anything to drink, so that might be it.
He made it to his room in time to see Shadow sitting on the edge of the bed starting to make an attempt to try and stand on legs that wobbled and refused to cooperate.
"As funny as it would be to watch you faceplant, I don't think that's a very good idea," Sonic said, watching Shadow pause and turn a little towards him.
"Sonic?" Shadow asked, sounding unsure.
"Hey, that's me! That's a good sign, right?" Sonic moved to his side, sitting down and holding the cup up. "Are you thirsty?"
"Water!" That was a lot more forceful and Shadow made a clumsy grab at the cup.
"Hey, cool it, I don't think we can share holding it as easily." Sonic held the cup to Shadow's muzzle and as soon as it touched Shadow gave up on his attempts to grab it, drinking deep. "Sorry about that, I'll make sure you have water more often today. Maybe you could manage a sports bottle on your own?"
Shadow didn't seem like he was paying attention to anything but drinking, draining it entirely and then taking a breath. Sonic set the cup down when he was done.
"There we go, all taken care of and you can pass out again." Sonic pushed him back onto the bed, tugging the blankets up and patting his shoulder before standing up so he could leave. Only to pause when Shadow started struggling up sit up again. "Oh come on, you've had food, water, and believe me I sort of remember being awake is absolutely miserable like this, everything hurts and you're freezing and too hot at the same time. I'm happy I don't remember most of it. You'll be happier if you sleep through as much of this as possible."
Shadow still looked like he was going to stubbornly keep trying to get out of bed.
"I want... I should... This isn't right." Shadow managed, pushing his upper half up so he was half-sitting.
"What isn't right?" Sonic did feel a pang, maybe a sterile lab environment with staff would be easier to tolerate after all. If he hated being in his bed that much... "You're sick, you should rest."
"Can't be sick, can't, something's wrong..."
Sonic sat back on the bed, seeing if he could coax him to lay back down.
"The Prism made you sick." It was just far enough from the probably truth to feel like a lie, but also close enough that he could explain properly later, if Shadow even remembered this conversation. "You're getting better, but it'll take time."
"The Prism..." Shadow shuddered, but finally collapsed back again with a groan that escaped an obvious attempt to stop it.
"Do you want me to stay?" Sonic asked, expecting just enough lucidity to get a firm no, maybe even to be told to go away. Instead Shadow stared at him, looking like he was thinking hard, and then closed his eyes, turning away to curl up a little laying on his side.
Well, that wasn't what he expected. For anyone else it might be a subtle hint to leave, but Shadow didn't do that kind of subtle. It seemed more like... he couldn't quite admit he wanted to say yes.
Hoping he wasn't misreading the situation Sonic stretched out on the bed behind him.
"I'll be right here, and if you want me to leave just say so," Sonic said quietly, reaching to rub Shadow's shoulder through the blanket before he could stop and think that unneeded touching might be a bad idea with a Shadow that was a little more aware of his surroundings. Shadow didn't react though, except to relax a little as he stopped fighting sleep. Slowly his breathing evened out and Sonic gave a soft sigh of his own. What had he gotten himself into?
"Sonic?" Tails spoke quietly from the doorway, and Sonic lifted his hand to give a little wave. "You've been in here a long time. Is everything ok?"
"Believe me, I know. I think you hit it right on the nose about not wanting to be alone. Every time I get up he wakes up and tries to get out of bed." Sonic kept his voice just as low, now that Shadow was waking up easier. Talking like this got an ear twitch, but his breathing was still steady.
Once he'd fallen back asleep deeply enough, Shadow had rolled and resumed his grip around Sonic's torso. Like this though Sonic was aware of the small changes. Shadow still didn't look entirely comfortable, but he was more relaxed when he was being held. If Sonic took the time to pet over his quills he looked almost content. Some of the tension left his body and he hadn't shivered in a while. It was a strange feeling that he was the reason Shadow was sleeping so peacefully, and that Shadow might be more aware of it than before.
"Looks like you're stuck then. Can I get you anything?" Tails asked.
"Can you think of any possible entertainment? Comic books maybe? He may be sleepy, but I'm not and I'm so bored," Sonic spoke a little louder than he intended, and then dropped his voice back when Shadow scrunched his face and squeezed a little tighter.
"I think I know just the thing," Tails said, vanishing for long enough that Sonic started to wonder if he'd gotten distracted, before he came back with a tablet.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, curious. He didn't think Tails would bring him some of his work.
"I loaded some movies on here for you to watch since you can do that laying down." Tails leaned over to prop the screen sideways where Sonic could see it around Shadow's head.
"Thanks buddy." Sonic gave him a grin and a thumbs up before he started looking through what Tails had picked out for him.
"Are you sure about this?" Tails sounded somewhat doubtful.
"Not really? But I am dying to get out and stretch my legs for a little while and so it's either see if he'll let you babysit him, or I bundle him up and go out with him over my shoulder like a rug and we both know how he'd feel about that if he knew what was going on," Sonic kept his voice low as he started the process of trying to sneak out of Shadow's grip without waking him up. Unless it would be easier to wake him up and try to explain what was going on? Not that Shadow was really capable of following a conversation right now.
"What if he thinks I'm Nine and tries to attack me?" Tails said, and it wasn't exactly a baseless fear.
"No offense but I think even you could take him in hand to hand combat right now. If he does start acting up, just leave the room and lock the door? I don't think he'd do much more than fall on his face and I can handle that when I get back." Sonic was sympathetic, but his back ached from doing nothing but laying in bed for most of the day and even with movies and other entertainment he was going stir crazy. It was one thing to chose to lay around and do nothing worthwhile all day, it was something else entirely to not have a choice. Every time he got up even just to get Shadow another glass of water or a snack he'd come back to the other hedgehog awake and agitated and it would take time to get him to settle back and actually rest.
Once Sonic had carefully escaped he motioned Tails to sit on the side of the bed.
"Alright, I'll give it a shot," Tails spoke softly, taking Shadow's hand.
"Perfect, you're the best little buddy." Sonic straightened up and muffled a groan as he felt something pop in his back. "I'll be back in a flash, maybe two flashes. And I'll bring something back for food, alright?"
Sonic didn't really wait for the answer, darting out so he could finally stretch his legs for what felt like the first time in forever. Actually getting out and covering ground at his usually zippy cruising speed was a relief and he could feel tight muscles warming up and loosening. Poor Shadow, after multiple days stuck in bed he was going to be in awful shape, unless that was something else he didn't have to deal with. Either way, he'd wanted to get out so he could do something other than think about Shadow for a little while. Once he no longer had a feverish house guest he could finally tell everyone about the Prism properly either with the recording or without, and with how Tails had taken it he was more optimistic about the whole process. Thinking about how the others might react to learning about their counterparts kept him occupied during most of the run, popping in to give a pizza order and then back out to kill time. Rouge had specifically listed pizza in her list of junk food Shadow liked, and so far he hadn't been able to come up with much else that would be easy to eat, especially with Shadow more awake for the process.
Sonic gave his head a brief shake, he'd wanted to clear his head, not keep coming back to circle around the same topic over and over. Still, his thoughts kept drifting without his permission. As overjoyed as he'd been that Shadow was the Shadow he knew and that that he had one person who remembered him, what would his counterparts have been like? With his friends he'd been able to see how they were still the same people, just shaped by their circumstances. As long as he had friends, Tails wasn't all that different. It was just hard to be a tech genius when there wasn't much tech around to genius. How different would Shadow have been as a pirate? Or living in the jungle? Was his core still the distrustful angry hot-tempered hedgehog that Sonic enjoyed scuffling with? Or was their Shadow basically the Nine of Shadows?
Either way, without his help the whole shatterverse probably would have been consumed by the void so there wasn't an answer to get at. Sonic could have kept going for much longer, but the pizza should be ready for pickup and he had promised not to leave Tails alone for too long.
Hot pizza boxes in hand Sonic let himself back inside. This time he'd gone ahead and gotten an entire pepperoni pizza for Shadow, and if he didn't want it then he could share with Tails again and Sonic would finish it off.
"I'm back! Everyone still alive?" Sonic called out, closing the door behind him and heading to the bedroom where he left them. He was relieved to see Tails still sitting on the edge of the bed and Shadow was still safely in bed, even if his eyes were open.
"Sonic, I'm glad you're back. He's been awake pretty much the whole time, but he hasn't tried to get out of bed," Tails reported, as Sonic carried the boxes over.
"Well that's good. Didn't want to try giving him a hug to get him to fall back asleep?" Sonic teased, getting a half-aware grumble from Shadow and the other hedgehog turning his head away a little.
"Sorry, that's your thing, not mine," Tails teased right back, making Sonic sputter a little.
"It's not my 'thing' it's just the easiest way to get him back to sleep," Sonic argued.
"If you say so." Tails stood up, making a grab for the pizza boxes as Sonic held them up and out of reach.
"I do say so, and since I have the pizza, shouldn't you agree with me?" Sonic pointed out a little smugly.
"Alright, fine, you getting all sweet and cuddly with Shadow is entirely out of necessity and not because you want to hug him," Tails said just as smugly.
"That's not... Hey!" Sonic was distracted as Shadow started to haul himself up and Tails took advantage of the moment to fly up and grab the boxes, landing and starting to check which one was his before shoving the other two at Sonic.
"Have fun!" Tails escaped with his pizza before Sonic could properly react, which was especially unfair.
Sonic sighed, sitting on the bed again and grabbing the pillows.
"At least this time you get your wish and you get to stay sitting up for a while since it's time for pizza. You do like pizza, right?" Sonic asked, getting a blank stare for a moment and then a small nod that he was going to take as agreement.
"Perfect. Now try not to make too big a mess or I'm making you buy me new blankets. Or at least a new bottle of detergent." Sonic opened up the pepperoni box and was amused by Shadow's immediate clumsy grab at it. "I guess it's probably a good thing you still want to eat while you have a fever, I know it can make a lot of people queasy."
Sonic felt like he was getting pretty good at steadying Shadow's hand with how he trembled trying to hold the slice and get it to his face, but once it was close he tore into it in a way that made Sonic glad his fingers weren't quite so close. It was kind of cute to see him undignified, but Sonic kept that thought to himself just in case Shadow remembered any of this.
"Now that I know you eat like a regular person I am totally inviting you over for pizza and movie nights. That way when you refuse I know that at least you're missing out on enjoying food in favor of the whole loner thing," Sonic rambled as he held the pizza. After everything he may have mentally moved Shadow more into the friend category but he wasn't under the illusion that Shadow had done the same.
Shadow ended up eating nearly half the pizza before he started looking sleepy again, and only a few pieces of sauce or cheese hit the blankets and those he could mostly get up with napkins. He was planning to throw everything in the wash once Shadow was finally well, so it wasn't that big a deal.
"Now will you sleep for a bit and let me get my own dinner or do I have to stay here with you?" Sonic asked.
"Shut up," Shadow mumbled, curling back on his side and startling a laugh out of Sonic.
"I'm going to take that as a good sign." Sonic could double check, but it probably actually was. He could check with Tails and his sensor but if everything went the same then Shadow should have purged enough energy within the next twelve hours to reach the point where Sonic had broken his fever and woken up. With as stubborn as Shadow was it might even be a little sooner. Their little sleepover would be coming to an end Sonic had no idea why he felt disappointed about that. He wanted Shadow well! He wanted his bed back. He wanted to be able to do whatever he wanted, and they were both really lucky that Eggman hadn't caused some kind of trouble that would have needed both him and Tails.
Still, when he finally was ready to crawl back into bed there was something that made him feel kinda proud with how Shadow reached for him and how the other hedgehog relaxed once he had settled close, sinking into the more relaxed slumber that eluded him when he was alone. Maybe it was just that he was warm and Shadow would have relaxed just as much if it was anyone else, but it was tempting to think that maybe he knew Sonic was helping him and he felt safe enough to sleep even if he was unable to defend himself. After a little bit thought Sonic forced himself to let his mind wander to other things. That previous line of thought was terrible for keeping his ego in check, and Sonic shrugged it off as he closed his eyes to get some sleep himself.
Sonic never thought he'd be thrilled to wake up laying on sheets and half-tangled in blankets that were absolutely soaked with sweat. Especially when it wasn't even his sweat. But Shadow had kicked off all the blankets and a quick reach out to touch his cheek confirmed it. His fever was gone! A cheer was out of the question, but Sonic did a triumphant fist pump that unfortunately was also too vigorous and caused red eyes to snap open and Shadow to immediately push him away to the other side of the bed.
"Where am I?" Shadow demanded, right to the point as always.
"In my bed, in my bedroom, isn't it obvious? You're welcome by the way. In case the next question is 'why am I here' the answer is you've been really sick the past few days." Sonic said quickly, watching Shadow's brow furrow. This is what he expected, wasn't it? He tried to tell himself the small pang he felt at the shove was just the fact it was downright insulting he'd put so much time and work into taking care of Shadow for the past few days and this was the thanks he got.
"I don't get sick," Shadow stated, and Sonic snorted.
"Déjà vu, yeah you were feverish because of some weird energy thing, probably connected to the Prism," Sonic explained, as Shadow hauled himself to sit up.
"Is that why I still feel so weak?" Shadow asked, sounding like he was reluctant to admit to the weakness, but also almost accusatory at the same time.
"Uuh, probably? I mean I guess so. I still felt kinda lousy for about a day after my fever broke, but we don't exactly have a lot to go on here for what's normal or not?" Sonic shrugged, watching him. Now that he was looking more closely Shadow really did look awful. His quills were disheveled and clumped with sweat and he didn't have the tense air around him that he was used to with an awake and alert Shadow. The kind of feeling that even if he looked outwardly relaxed he was ready to react to a threat at a moment's notice. Instead even after sleeping for days Shadow still seemed exhausted.
"You were sick too?" Shadow asked, interrupting his observations.
"Yeah. I mean that's why I figured it was probably something related to the shatterspaces, because otherwise just the two of us having a weird energy thing going on and literally no one else that I can tell, right after all the stuff we went through, seems a little too weird? But hey, if you're not back to 100% then there's no reason you have to rush off right away. You can get a shower, relax, have some leftover pizza. I mean I kinda figured once you were back in your right mind you'd want to take off to wherever you live rather than hanging around, but there's no reason you can't stay." Sonic finally paused for a breath as Shadow glared.
"Where's your shower?" Shadow finally said.
"Right this way!" Sonic just took a moment to tug on his gloves and shoes before offering Shadow a hand up. Shadow stared at it a moment as if calculating the indignity of having to take it, verses the utter disgrace that would be failing to get up and needing the help anyway and took it.
Sonic helped brace him as Shadow swung his legs out and stood. A little wobbly, but upright.
"This is ridiculous," Shadow muttered, and Sonic wasn't sure if he was meant to hear it but he decided to answer anyway.
"I know it doesn't seem like it, but this is a big improvement! You've pretty much spent the past few days laying in bed or trying to fall out of bed." Sonic didn't let go of his hand just yet, but he wasn't lying that he was thrilled with the progress. Shadow was already a great deal better than before, and in no time things could get back to normal. That's what they both wanted, right?
"I'm sure you found that hilarious," Shadow gritted out, taking a cautious step, and then another.
"Not really? You were sick, that sucks, dude," Sonic said, earning him a confused glance. "Like ok the fact that you kept growling at me when I was feeding you was kind of funny? But I wouldn't make fun of you for that or anything,"
"You probably never stopped talking either, no wonder my head hurts," Shadow grumbled, and Sonic immediately dropped his volume.
"Sorry, shower's not too much further."
"Sonic? The readings say Shadow should be awake for real now and... oh! This is great!" Tails beamed at them and then winced as Sonic held a finger to his lips. "Ah, sorry!" Tails whispered.
"Readings?" Shadow asked after a moment of looking like he was trying to decide how much punching either of them would aggravate his own headache.
"From the sensor on your arm band, I've been tracking the foreign energy levels and your vital signs to make sure you weren't getting worse," Tails said quietly.
Shadow glanced down at the arm band, and then reached up immediately to unfasten it and hold it up like it was something disgusting.
"Hey, it beats having to keep shoving a thermometer in your mouth, or worse," Sonic pointed out, reaching to take it so he could hand it back to Tails before Shadow did something like break it out of spite. "Now that he's finally awake for real it's time for a long overdue shower."
"Right, ah, good luck!" Tails whispered and then went to vanish again.
"You were studying me," Shadow sounded accusatory, and almost... upset? Hurt? Sonic wasn't sure if he was hearing it right.
"I'm not sure what definition of studying you're using, but I promise it was entirely just the weird energy levels and stuff like heartbeat and how fast you were breathing. We were dealing with a lot of unknowns here! What if the energy levels stopped dropping and you still had a fever? What if you started getting dangerously weak? What if the fever got high enough to gives you seizures or something? It's not like it told us anything new, I already knew you breathed and had a heartbeat. That's not exactly a huge secret." Sonic gave Shadow time to digest the information, and finally he seemed satisfied, walking shakily forward again.
Sonic was fairly sure Shadow was staying upright mainly out of stubbornness and spite, but it wasn't like he had much room to talk about that kind of thing. Finally though they made it to the bathroom.
"Hold on, let me get the chair," Sonic announced, taking a moment to grab the cheap folding chair and open it up, placing it in the shower. It wasn't the most elegant solution, and the chair was starting to rust in a few places where it had never been meant to be used in water, but it still worked.
"You have a chair. In the bathtub," Shadow sounded skeptical.
"Sure do! Do you know how many times I've needed to rinse off after a battle or adventure and I'm too tired to stand, but also don't want a bath or I might fall asleep? Too many times. Besides, I doubt you want me in there with you, right?" Sonic asked. Shadow swallowed, then shook his head.
"Great, then take your time." Sonic made sure Shadow made it into the chair where he could get his borrowed socks and gloves off on his own, then backed out of the bathroom to close the door.
Shadow took long enough that Sonic was almost starting to wonder if he should peer in and make sure he hadn't drowned when the water finally turned off and shortly after Shadow emerged. It was hard to say if he looked better or not, sweat and sleep mussed fur and quills had been traded for wet and hastily towel dried ones. He also looked even more exhausted, but even with that the fact that he was in his right mind and focusing on what was going on around him was a huge relief.
"Oh good, you're clean." Sonic was tempted to get a shower of his own, there should still be plenty of hot water. He wasn't entirely sure what Tails had done to the water heater and not inclined to listen to the excited technobabble that would come out of an explanation, but he had yet to ever actually use up all the hot water under normal circumstances. However, the dried secondhand fever-sweat in his own fur could wait since Shadow seemed ready to collapse again.
Sonic hopped up, grabbing his hand again and dragging him towards the couch.
"Sit, I'll get the dryer," Sonic announced, giving him a little shove.
"You're going to dry my quills?" Shadow sounded surprised as Sonic went to grab the handheld device. The cord was more than long enough to stretch across the room, a testament to his tendency to wander with it and do other things while he was drying his own.
"Yeah? If you lay back down with them wet it's going to be a nightmare to get them looking right when you do wake up, and staying soaked can't be great even if you can't get regular-sick." Sonic got the dryer and a comb, heading back to the couch. Shadow eyed him for a moment and then turned to sit sideways, leaning on the arm of the couch so Sonic could easily get to the back of his head and all down his back.
"Where did you put my gloves?" Shadow asked, as Sonic plopped down on the couch behind him.
"In a drawer, and your shoes got kicked under the bed so we wouldn't trip on them. I thought my spares would be more comfy for sleeping in," Sonic explained, turning on the dryer. It hummed quietly, hopefully not loud enough to aggravate Shadow's headache, and the air it blew was just warm enough to help evaporate the water without being uncomfortable on skin.
"They are," Shadow admitted, then went silent as Sonic started working the comb through his quills.
Sonic for his part was fascinated, he'd always wondered if the way Shadow's quills lifted and turned up a little was natural or something Shadow did to make himself look slightly different, but as he smoothed them with the brush and dried them out they resumed their shape with very little encouragement. Natural then. It was surprisingly soothing to keep up the motions and even play a little with how the sharp edge of red fur met black, tracing it with the comb. Sonic hadn't expected that, usually drying his own was a necessary but boring activity he had to do if he wanted to look his best and avoid the discomfort of wet fur if it was chilly out or something. He'd been fairly sure he'd have grown bored of the task or Shadow would have gotten impatient with him before he could finish, but it really wasn't so bad.
Finally though he was sure Shadow's fur was dry and had been so for at least a minute or two and he shut off the dryer.
"There we go, all done," Sonic whispered, expecting some sort of response. Shadow didn't even twitch and a fleeting moment of worry was replaced by amusement. Shadow had fallen back asleep slumped over the arm of the couch.
Sonic got up, putting the comb and the dryer away so he could go grab the blankets from the bed and wash them. No use in undoing his hard work helping Shadow back to a fever-sweat damp bed.
"Alright, pizza time!" Sonic was grateful when Shadow woke up and confirmed that the headache seemed to have faded with the additional sleep on the couch, because it meant he didn't have to whisper any more. Shadow, for his part, seemed like he was starting to regret not having lied to keep him quiet. But too late for him. He'd swapped out the borrowed gloves for his usual ones, and his shoes were back on, and it was almost like nothing had happened. Almost.
"What kind of pizza do you like anyway? We have cheese, pepperoni, and chili-lovers in the fridge, and I can always run out and get something fresh if they're not your favorite." Sonic asked.
"I don't care," Shadow stated, and Sonic frowned.
"Look, whatever it is you don't need to be ashamed about it, so just spill," Sonic said, and Shadow gave him a confused look.
"I just said I don't care. None of the pizza I've ever had has been bad, so as far as I'm concerned there's not a real difference," Shadow elaborated.
"Oh! That makes sense. Pepperoni it is then," Sonic said, going to the fridge to grab the two boxes that weren't marked for Tails and bringing them back to pass the box over. Shadow took out a cold slice without much fanfare and bit down, and then paused, looking like he was thinking hard.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, wondering if he was about to have the dubious honor of giving him his first bad pizza.
"This seems familiar. And not just because I've had it before in the past," Shadow explained.
"Oh! Maybe because you had some yesterday? I'll be honest, we weren't sure how much you would or wouldn't remember. I didn't really remember much from when I was feverish, just kind of bits and pieces of feeling bad?" Sonic explained.
"I don't know what's real and what's just in my mind. I remember teleporting away with the Prism and hiding it and going about my day, and then later feeling strange. I thought it might have had something to do with you, so I went looking for you. I went to the cave. Why would I do that? It doesn't make sense." Shadow frowned. "I should have come here, even if I couldn't find you, you'd have come back eventually."
"You probably weren't thinking clearly because of the fever starting. I found you in the cave," Sonic said when Shadow paused long enough he felt safe speaking. It was the most Shadow had said since he got sick, and he didn't want to ruin it.
"How did you know to go there?" Shadow asked.
"We'd already figured out it was a weird energy thing that got me sick, so once I recovered enough I had Tails make something that could pick it up long range, in case anyone else was hurt. It led me to you," Sonic explained.
"That's the last thing I know should be real. The rest was... dreaming, I think. I don't remember being here." Shadow scowled, and Sonic was pretty sure for someone who prided himself on being in control all the time that losing several days like that had to be disconcerting.
"Probably a good thing, I'm sure it was a pretty miserable time and sleeping was the better option," Sonic pointed out.
"I'm not so sure. The dreams I do remember are things like being trapped in a river under the ice and unable to claw myself free," Shadow said dryly. "I'd rather remember laying in bed."
Sonic startled a little at that, guiltily.
"That... may have been real, kind of," He said slowly, and Shadow shot him a sharp look.
"What are you talking about?" Shadow demanded.
"At one point Tails... I mean we had a theory that if the fever was getting rid of the energy by turning it into heat that helping you cool down might get you to recover faster. So... we put you in a cool bath," Shadow admitted.
"You what?" Shadow said flatly.
"You hated it, so as soon as we saw it wasn't doing much to help we got you out and right back to bed. I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd remember it!" Sonic said.
"You said it didn't do much, so it was helping?" Shadow finally asked, after a long enough pause to make Sonic sweat. "You should have left me in there then. I could have endured it."
"Nuh uh, it wasn't helping nearly enough. It was my decision to make, and I made it. Next time you'll have to be conscious so you can chose it yourself." Sonic shook his head slightly. He wasn't about to go into detail about how awful he'd felt making Shadow miserable, but still. Knowing Shadow might have tried to tough it out if he'd been aware did ease a little of the guilt that he remembered any of it.
"There won't be a next time," Shadow said flatly, then gave him a look. "Will there?"
"As far as I know, no!" Sonic said firmly. "It's.. hard to know for sure, but my best guess is.... Tails said the energy signature was almost a.. reverse of the Prism energy? Inverse? Something like that? So I think it may have been the void."
"The void." Shadow looked thoughtful. "So the entire time I was stuck in the void it was poisoning me? Likely the same way it was consuming the damaged shatterspaces." He spoke a little too calmly and Sonic winced, remembering the decay.
"Maybe. There's no real way to test it though, now that the Prism is back together and hidden and there's no way to go back into the void. But it's the only thing I've thought of that we both went through, just you a lot more than I did since I spent more time in the shatterspaces." Sonic watched his face, expecting anger but Shadow only looked thoughtful, and maybe relieved? But Sonic had to be seeing things.
"Then it shouldn't be a problem again," Shadow finished the last piece of pizza and shut the box, standing up. He did look a lot better after a nap and food, and with a start Sonic realized he was probably about to take off.
"Yeah, even so, you know you're welcome here any time? I mean, I heads up would be nice, but..." Sonic shrugged. Shadow hesitated, before he turned towards the door.
"I'll keep that in mind," Shadow said, before he was leaving without even saying goodbye.
Sonic watched the closed door after he'd left, turning over his own thoughts in a halfhearted attempt to sort them out. He was happy Shadow was well again, the trip through the void finally behind both of them. He'd gotten strangely used to having him around and it felt weird now. He had no clue if Shadow was going to take him up on the offer to come back, but... that hadn't been a no. And Shadow wasn't ever shy about saying no. With that optimism in mind, Sonic kicked back to finish his own pizza and see what the future would bring. Maybe Shadow really would take him up on the next pizza and movie night, and he couldn't wait to find out.