Chapter Text
He arrived at the nomad camp by the sunset. The tribe was simple; all of them had either fur or wool coats, and everyone worked together to light bonfires and set up tents for the night.
He managed to get a blanket, made of mole fur, in exchange for some help to set up the camp. Its owner clearly didn’t want to get rid of it, but changed his mind, because Shadow was almost freezing; the temperature was close to 0ºC, and a pair of sneakers and gloves weren’t exactly enough for that kind of weather.
Honestly, he wasn’t sure about how he had survived the last three days in such an inhospitable landscape; it felt like an eternity since he was accidentally warped there. Who could guess that long trips through time and space would finally work? There he was, thousands of years behind his own time, working in exchange for a chance to survive.
That was probably the second most fragile moment in all of his life.
He saw the group while making a campfire in an isolated part of the nomad camp. Four or five children seemed to play with something really long and furry. Upon lighting the bonfire, he found out that the "thing" was actually a rabbit's gigantic ear. The ear's owner screamed and struggled at the middle of the group, trying to run away while the others, bigger than her, just laughed and pulled her ears even more.
Kids could be really cruel, sometimes.
He didn't give it too much thought; after all, it wasn't his business. He had a whole lot of other things to worry about and was too busy trying not to panic with the possibility of having to live with nomads for the rest of his life. He turned up in the past with no means to come back to the future, and not enough technology to even theorize time travelling.
And to make things worse, he had lost his powers.
That was what almost made him lose his head; Shadow always had his powers. There was no problem that couldn't be solved with a blink. Now, every time he tried to do that, Shadow felt his own body being violently pulled back to the same place, and everything hurt terribly. It was like he had completely lost his connection with Chaos. The emerald he carried seemed to have simply turned off.
At least, his rocket shoes were still working. But they were useless in the snow. Well, almost useless: he was using the flame it created to light up the bonfire.
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"I told you to stay away from me!"
"Why, Big Ears? What are you going to do with us?"
She bit the hand of one of the kids for an answer. The bully screamed and started crying, shaking his hand. The others stopped laughing and faced her. Now they were really mad.
"You're done, Big Ears."
In a huge number disadvantage, she decided to run.
"Don't run, you coward!" She could hear them after her.
I'm not fleeing; this is an strategic retreat, she thought while running.
Running and looking behind her shoulder, trying to mislead the others, she ended up tripping on someone.
"Hey!"
She stood up, feeling dizzy, and saw herself face to face with a pair of red eyes. And those eyes weren't happy to be awaken so suddenly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, with a husky voice.
Before she could answer, the voices of the other kids got closer. She hid behind a lump of snow, right next to the hedgehog she just tripped onto.
"What the..."
He looked behind after hearing the footsteps. The kids stopped, bumping on themselves, and looked up to him.
Shadow didn't say a word; he just looked back at them, annoyed.
After a moment of awkward silence, the biggest of the group, a polar bear, gathered every inch of courage to finally speak.
"Where's the rabbit?"
Shadow lifted a single eyebrow.
"What rabbit?"
"The… The one who ran away. The one with the ears."
"I did not see any rabbits."
"But we did!" A small black cat screamed at him, with a squeaky voice. "She hid somewhere around here."
Shadow stood up, finally losing his patience. The kids shrunk back, instinctively.
"I would throw to the other side of the camping site any rabbit that ended up disturbing me." He bent down just a little, getting close to the group of kids. They shrunk even more. "It could happen to you."
For another moment of silence, the kids just faced him, not knowing what to say. Then, suddenly, all of them screamed and ran in circles, moving away from him.
He straightened up, yawning.
"Get out of there. Now. When I spoke about throwing you away, I was being serious."
She got out of the lump of snow, her pink nose full of cold white snowflakes. She was tiny, with huge ears that dragged through the floor behind her. The girl had light gray fur, light blue irises and big rodent teeth. She was wearing a poncho, a little bit similar to what Shadow was using, although tattered and a lot older; a pair of brown felt gloves; and walked around barefoot, leaving to show the white marks on her toes. Unlike the other nomads, she didn't look prepared for the cold weather.
And, unlike the other kids, she didn't show any fear upon facing Shadow.
She stopped beside the bonfire, with a frown in her face, and kept looking at him.
"Why were they after you?" Shadow asked.
"They don't like me. Think that I'm weird."
He crossed his arms, not saying anything, but she got it.
"... And I threw Jody's fishing rod in the river. And kicked his shin."
"Hm. The polar bear?"
"Yeah."
"He probably deserved it. Now leave. I must sleep."
"Who are you? I never saw you with the nomads before."
"Not your business."
He sat down again and reached his hands to the fire to warm himself. She sat down beside him, her legs crossed, her huge eyes locked onto Shadow.
"My name is Delilah."
"I didn't ask."
"What's yours?"
He closed his eyes and sighed. Give me patience, because if you give me strength I'll kill her.
"Shadow. Happy?"
She laughed.
"What a weird name!"
Shadow ignored her. As if it was enough.
"Where do you come from? You're not from around here, are you? Do you always have a frown on your face or are you feeling a stomachache?"
"Ok, enough" He stood up again, pulling her by the ears and dragging her away from his bonfire. "I didn't invite you to sit down with me, I don't want to talk to you, and you annoy me. Stay away from me."
"I'll freeze if I stay away from the fire!"
"And where are your parents to make one for you?"
"I have none!"
"Well, and I didn't sign any adoption papers. And I'm not your baby sitter."
She followed him back to the fire, determined. But didn't sit beside him anymore. Part of Shadow wanted to kick her, but a tiny part of his conscioussness reminded him that she was probably seven years old, and he didn't intend to add "frozen kid in the snow" to the list of things he regretted doing.
"Right. You can stay if you want. But keep quiet. If I wake up in the middle of the night because of you, you'll wake up in the morning turned into a popsicle."
She crossed her arms and pouted.
"You're too boring, Shadow."
"Why do you want my company so much, then?"
She didn't answer. But didn't leave, either.
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He had a vague idea on how to come back, but for that he needed an emerald that actually worked, and didn't even know if that was possible at that point in the past. Judging by the state of his powers, it was likely that the emeralds were useless at that era. But asking around wouldn't hurt, would it?
Well, for him, it would. Shadow wasn't exactly an outgoing person, and besides, he still needed to explain what he was looking for to people that couldn't understand what he wanted, or the urgency of his mission. He asked all the nomads about a faceted and polished stone, "with an edge at its base", and nobody managed to help him. Except for one person.
"I know where is what you're looking for."
The rabbit had followed him everywhere, although only from afar. Everytime he turned back, she hurried for a hideout. It was pathetic. At one point, a woman asked him if he had adopted her, since Delilah was an orphan - to which he responded, rather rudely, that he wasn't a father, nor a baby sitter.
But there she was, and seemed to know the location of an emerald.
"No, you don't."
"Yes I do"
"Haven't I told you to get out of here?"
"You're looking for a shiny rock that looks like an upside-down triangle, aren't you?"
He turned his head so fast that he felt his neck clicking. He hadn't show his useless emerald to anyone yet.
"Ouch! Have you seen…?"
"I did. In the mountains."
She pointed to a huge mountain on the horizon.
"That one, right after the forest."
He stood up to have a better look. The Sun was setting fast, but he was able to see a dark huddle of trees covering the view of the base of the mountain.
"It was green and flashed right on top of a tower inside the mountain. It looked like a lighthouse. None of the nomads wanted to get close; they were scared. So I went by myself. I couldn't get close 'cause I didn't find an entrance, but I climbed on top of a tree to see it. It had a triangle shape and floated by itself in the air.
She couldn't be lying, could she? That was exactly the description of an emerald.
"Then there's where I need to go."
He started walking towards the mountain.
"Wait!" He heard her scream and stopped, feeling vexed.
"Yes?"
"You won't be able to get there alone."
"And why not?"
"Because it's hard. There are wild animals, you can get lost. That kind of thing."
"And taking a small annoying bunny with me is the solution, I presume?"
"I can take care of myself out there better than you. You won't last a day by yourself. I watched, you can't even make a proper campfire."
She pointed at the Sun.
"You can't go out in the snow fields in the middle of the night, or else you 'll be the popsicle tomorrow. It's better to leave in the morning."
He crossed his arms angrily.
"Why are you so eager to come with me, after all?"
"I want to leave this place. I want to find somewhere else." She looked down and dragged her feet in the snow, embarassed. "But I can't either. If I go with you, maybe we'll have a chance."
She faced him, her eyes flashing with determination.
"I know that there's a city near the mountain. You can leave me there and go on your way then. I promise I'll be your guide! Please!"
He sighed, pressing his fingers against his closed eyes. Shadow didn't want to drag the girl around. He prided himself for being able to solve his own problems alone. But she was right. The girl knew that region far better than him, and if Shadow had to follow that path by foot, he needed a guide. The rabbit was the only one who volunteered herself - with an interest behind it, but who was he to judge her? Shadow didn't trust people who were too nice. The smartest survived. And that girl was small and annoying - but she was smart.
"Very well, Miss Survivor. You're my guide now. Congratulations. If you take me to the mountain, I'll leave you safe and sound at the city. Deal?"
"Deal."
"But let me make this clear" He approached her, bending down to stand face to face with the girl. "If I go to that mountain and find out that there is no emerald, I'll come back to get you. And there will be nothing left of you to tell the story when I'm done. Are we clear?"
She didn't move. Not even blinked.
"Got it."