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Shadow honestly had no idea why he agreed to this. Which wasn't to say that he necessarily hated the idea of going fishing with Big, but it was never something that he would willingly ask to do or anything of the sort. In fact, the very idea itself had never crossed his mind. Yes, he had seen Big the Cat before, everyone did. He had a habit of showing up in the most bizarre of places all in the name of looking for his pet named Froggy.
He managed to remember the interaction that was the cause for him being here now well. It was simple, he had been racing Sonic, both had stopped at a stoplight. They were both on different sides of the street, and Big happened to be looking for Froggy in the middle of Station Square. Big noticed him, his rather large ears flicking slightly as he looked downwards at Shadow. There was a somewhat awkward silence as he waited for the traffic light to turn green, the piercing red being a sign of boredom while the least threatening giant shadow in the world covered his entire silhouette. He seemed to just look for a while, his mind looking absolutely empty, until he spoke.
"Want to fish with me and Froggy?" Big asked with the usual amount of both clumsiness and gentleness. Something must have taken over Shadow or something, because just before the light flickered from red to yellow to green, he gave a curt nod with a noise of affirmation, then ran off to continue the race with the blue blur.
And now here he was, the odd odor of the overgrown leaves letting him feel both a sense of anxiety yet calmness. The sky almost had a completely different feeling here, multiple trees making attempts to block it and yet welcoming it onto the swampy forest floor. Rivers had pieces of sticks and leaves that floated by that must have cracked off of trees one way or another as water splashed gently onto the surrounding grass. Small bits of brick were easy to see as he traveled. Sometimes, he would see old piles of brick and mud that vaguely resembled possible old buildings that no longer could be used for shelter due to the passing years and that of which had eventually become dilapidated long before he himself was born. Vines would crawl anywhere and everywhere they could get, making pathways in the cracks of bricks or the holes of trees.
It was absolutely gorgeous. It was a complete polar opposite to the ARK. Every room had been sterile, clean. Gray walls that were smooth were a common sight. Plants were a rarity, and that had been if you were lucky. Everything had been completely organized, always by one order of the other that Shadow couldn't tell and would cause scientists annoyance when he would accidentally place things out of order. The smooth and constantly flat floors had resulted in every room feeling like the same room when he simply wished to test his speed, to explore and experience. There had never been a blue sky, only a pitch black space with small bitlets of white light scattered across it. The only other thing accompanying that void was the Earth below them as it at the time had been a goal to eventually get to, and not something only one of them would ever arrive at.
He felt his chest tighten slightly, and made sure to take some deep breaths as he grinded on a tree branch as if it were a rail on the Golden gate bridge. The land here was so much more fulfilling to explore, the architecture and natural formations of this planet were a complete, pure wonder, and answered so many questions he once had had when he was first created. The world would dip, or create mountains, and he would welcome it all the same.
Soon enough, Shadow could see him, Big's vibrant purple stuck out like neon lights in a city that could either lead you to somewhere dangerous or somewhere relaxing. Considering how fast he was, the moment that thought process finished he was already near Big, taking almost calculated steps as he approached him. Something that very much stuck out to Shadow was the fact that Froggy sat on top of Big's head, almost proudly.
"Hello." Greeted Big as if it was a normal everyday thing for the ultimate life form to simply visit him just to fish with him. He sat under his homely shack, fishing pole in hand as he sat on the stairs next to the river. Shadow simply greeted him by nodding briefly. Froggy let out a ribbit in response.
If he was being honest, Shadow, once again, had no idea why he had come here. Especially because he knew next to nothing about fishing. The most he knew was that it existed, that there was more than one way to do it, and that was essentially it. And so, he simply stood there almost awkwardly. Big patted next to him on the stairs, and Shadow decided to sit.
"Do you have a fishing rod?" Big's voice gently asked him, and Shadow immediately felt embarrassment rise through him. Why hadn't he brought one? He was supposed to be doing what, fishing? So how had it totally passed him to not bring one?! He crossed his arms and looked away instead of saying anything, and the moment he did he heard rustling around of some kind to about his right. Before he did it, something was gently poking him and when he looked back, it was a Big gently holding a fishing rod towards him, silently asking him to take it. He remembered what he had been told by the most important people in his life to do, even if he already knew to do it. Sometimes it helps to remember, that way he doesn't close in on himself like all those years ago again.
"Thank you." He said simply as he grabbed on to the fishing pole and hesitantly pulled it away from Big. It was simple, and definitely not close to modern. Homemade, if you will. The wood was smooth and nice to hold, and considering he could tell it was homemade he wondered how someone like Big had managed to make something so tiny and small without breaking it. He personally found it hard to keep his strength in check sometimes.
Shadow sat there for a short amount of time, unsure on what to do. He had never done this before or really read about it, and so he had no idea on what to do in this situation. He looked at how Big had his fishing poles string in the water, and was waiting patiently for something. Shadow decided to mimic him, abruptly grabbing his hook with his hand and throwing it into the water as hard as he could. Big's tail immediately shot into the air like a lightning bolt as his ears also striked the air with a slight shake. He gave Shadow an expression that was completely unreadable.
Coincidentally, the moment the hook splashed into the water, Big spoke, "Don't... Throw the hook with your hand..." He sounded confused, that or just plain awkward, and Shadow raised a brow at him. Instead of answering his silent question, Big momentarily put his fishing hook down on his lap and then slowly grabbed Shadows hand without warning. Big rotated it, and Shadow realized what he was looking for. The scientists on the ARK had done it a few times, usually after specific tests. He was checking for wounds, so maybe the way he had thrown his line was dangerous?
"Like this." Big picked back up his fishing pole off of his lap and reeled the line in. He then raised the entire pole over his head, and launched it forward. The end of the line landed in the water with a small splash. Shadow blinked, and decided to immediately follow suit, mimicking the action the best he could.
It was odd, really. He could tell that this was something that no one would really expect from him, and there was also the fact that he could simply leave anytime. In a way, Shadow preferred to keep some sort of reputation, some way to ensure that people didn't see him as someone who was weak or easy to target. It was a way to make sure that they wouldn't be able to poke at any of his weak spots should someone decide to.
And yet, despite how awkward this situation was, he didn't want to leave. There was an odd level of comfort that was there and refused to leave. The calmness of the situation reminded him all too well of days past, and while his chest might have tightened slightly, while it was bittersweet in a way, the sweet part of it all was a wonderful feeling and was more than worth it. Rare moments like these were nice, he had to admit.
The water in front of him was clear almost like glass, and moved calmly. The only disturbance in the water was the occasional leaves floating gently onto it and their two hooks bobbing above the water with almost practiced movement. And while, once again, this was nice and all, he didn't really understand what the next step was.
"What is the point of this?" Shadow asks as he noticed Big pet the top of Froggy's head. Big tilted his head to the side, and Shadow looked away from him. He hated admitting when he didn't know something. Especially stung when he could tell that he should know, but somehow had managed to not know about it due to his circumstances upon the ARK. Some silence passed until Big spoke.
"Being with family!" He answered happily, and Shadow could have sworn he felt himself freeze. He had expected the actual, literal purpose of it all, what he was supposed to do and what the end goal was, not... That.
"What?"
"You fish with family!"
Shadow didn't even realize that Big saw him as family. They barely ever even interacted, actually, and yet he saw him as family. He himself would never admit it out loud, but there were some people he considered family now as well. Some of them could easily fit into nuclear family roles, like how Cream was almost a little sister to him, or how Vanilla was almost like a mother. There were others he couldn't exactly fit into a role in his mind, like Rouge or Omega. He couldn't identify a specific feeling of them or a specific role, the only thing he could identify was that they were family by this point. There was probably more, no, there was definitely more, but he had no idea on how to identify it just yet, and so he simply didn't.
He looked into the water again, watching as fish swam around searching for one thing or the other and simply ignoring his hook. Even though the glassy blue of the water slightly changed their color, it did nothing to stop the rainbow of fish from shining through, their colors reminding him of biology books he used to read.
He remembered when he and Maria would spend hours reading books about the world of Earth. They would lay together in her bed, Shadow having to move around carefully to get in her bed so as to not knock over any medical equipment. Said medical equipment was a constant background noise, that would be every so often. The Shadow used to wonder how Maria never reacted to said beeping, until he got used to it too. She would ask him to get her a book, he would ask about what, she would answer, and he would retrieve it. It had been the normal schedule, really.
There was nothing much to do when you were in stars that most people apparently wanted to reach, to touch with their bare hands and see what it was like to see where they lived be below them instead of part of them. Both of them were usually exhausted, as well. Maria had near constant medical check-ups, doctors pricking her arm for blood, medical treatments were done on a near constant basis in the hope of keeping her alive just for a while longer. Shadow had near constant tests, watching a scientist with clipboards write down his every movement, and asked him to do strange things that he hadn't even realized were strange at the time. And for both of them, sometimes the things they had to do were quick and painless, and sometimes they were the most painful things in their entire lives, even if they needed it.
Maria would open up books, and then point at what she thought was the most beautiful, what she thought was strange, and she would always ask if Shadow felt the same. Sometimes he did, and would agree. Other times he didn't, and would point at another picture and say his opinion for the world to hear. But the world would never hear them, because they were too far up among the stars for anyone to know they existed.
"This one looks like you, Shadow!" Maria would smile while she pointed at the image of a red-black triplefin inside of a biology book. Shadow would simply blink while Maria told him the name of it, and he would turn to her and argue that it wasn't red and that it was orange. Maria would laugh, and Shadow would be slightly confused, but happy to hear a laugh that was so wonderful.
He knew that she had wanted to see so much on Earth. She wanted to see all that would be offered, and more. She and Shadow had planned to go see the world together, siblings in arms as they explored the world that they had not been allowed to see before.
He looked at the lake before him again and let himself smile. She would have loved it here. Maybe in another timeline, in a different situation, she would be here showing Shadow the different fish that she loves. Maybe she would point at them as she had in her books, or she would simply watch. But that was not now, nor was that his world. His world was being here, sitting next to Big as they both looked out into the lake before them, and after everything he's been through? He would just have to accept that, and he felt a sense that maybe he was okay with that, in a way.
"I see. Thank you."