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The rustling of dry leaves on the forest floor follow his path as Shadow traverses the area while making brief notes in his mind about its geography. All around him is a muted autumn hue of the tall brown trees that reach toward the dim grey sky, with the crisp, chilly air blowing past him as he continues forward. Absorbed in his thoughts, Shadow doesn’t particularly notice the dense clouds that begin to hover over to this area until the first droplets of rain land from above. Momentarily, he pauses in his tracks to consider his next plans, then he turns and makes towards the direction of potential shelter.
It’s been a few weeks since their return from the space expedition, with life reverting to normal for most of the crew even with the lingering effects of the battle. Shadow, however, was the outlier in many ways; for one, it was his first time arriving upon this planet, so while everyone else was returning to the comforting embrace of home, Shadow’s focus was on gathering some information about this place. Being the way that he is, he basically went off immediately on his own to do so, without ever consulting Rouge or anybody else who would, for certain, know a fair bit more than him about their home planet and would be more than willing to offer that guidance to him. By now, though, this aloofness of his (or a form of arrogance, perhaps) doesn’t come as a shock to anyone who knows him, so they’re mostly fine with leaving him to do things the way he prefers to. Being one of the primary contributors to the favourable outcome of the war, it’s safe to assume he can handle a great many things by himself.
In the present, amidst the gradually increasing downpour of rain, Shadow moves to higher vantage points across the terrain and is soon able to locate a path leading towards a mountain cave in the distance, so he approaches it with accelerated speed.
Upon reaching it, his eyes scan the interior briefly as he steps forward to take cover for the time being. The rocky walls around him create a decent amount of space, and it breaks the harsh wind that’s blowing outside. Shadow exhales calmly, and starts to sort through all the information he currently has on hand. But before he gets very far, he hears the sound of quickly nearing footsteps in the rain behind him from outside the cave. Shadow slowly turns around, and his gaze lands on none other than the first primary contributor to each battle effort - Sonic the Hedgehog.
At the entrance of the cave where he’s shielded from the downpour, the blue hero bends down for a moment, hands leaning on his knees, and heaves a sigh of relief.
“Man, I should’ve checked the forecast for today,” he says before straightening his back and meeting Shadow’s stare.
“Hey,” he continues in greeting, “It’d been a while since I caught sight of you, so I was gonna come say hi, but it seems like you took a turn to avoid this weather. This is a pretty good spot, actually.” Sonic explains as he glances around the enclosure, one hand on his hip in his signature carefree stance.
Shadow’s expression doesn’t betray anything he’s thinking, but his words remain pragmatical: “Is that all the business you have here?”
Sonic taps his chin with his other hand with a hum, then points palm facing upwards to Shadow, “What’re you up to these days? Any thoughts on this place so far?”
A short silence passes between them before Shadow responds neutrally, “Nothing I imagine that would be of particular interest to you, unless you want to hear about things that you already know. There are no unfavourable conclusions to reach from my findings, you needn’t be concerned.”
His implications firmly put a distance between them, even though he’s technically correct. Unfortunately - as Sonic had seen on a few occasions previously - Shadow isn’t exactly a fan of small talk, so he isn’t about to spend time exchanging mundane information. Apparently, he has no interest in getting on better terms with the hedgehog in front of him, either.
“If that’s everything you have to ask, then I think we’re done here.” Shadow begins to walk forward steadily. Emerald green eyes follow him uncertainly for a few seconds before a realisation appears to dawn on them. Sonic reflexively grabs Shadow’s arm.
“Wait, you’re going now?” he questions incredulously. As if to underscore his point, the sound of distant thunder rumbles in the background.
Shadow turns his head while remaining wordless, though his eyes ask, ’what of it?’
In the greyish, overcast lighting of the pluvial afternoon, Sonic’s silhouette doesn’t seem to carry its usual energy, despite his usual demeanour.
“Come on, you could at least wait for the storm to blow over first,” he says with a mildly perplexed smirk.
Shadow’s response is as steely and unedifying as ever. “I’ve travelled through worse.”
“But still…” Sonic trails off, not quite knowing how to approach this given that they don’t seem to be on the same page at all.
The dark hedgehog sighs, then proceeds to state what he views as a sufficient explanation:
“To be clear, I have no intention on acting familiar with you or your affiliates, nor any reason to. I assume we both have more suitable things to be doing.”
Sonic blinks as he takes in those words, then he counters half-heartedly, letting go of the other hedgehog’s arm, “Have you considered being more sociable, Shadow? It might be a good thing from time to time.”
He remains unperturbed. “We’ll let results do the talking. Contrary to what you believe, you may not even be in the position to offer advice, even if you’re used to putting yourself in the more sagacious position relative to others.”
Staying there or leaving - in truth, it doesn’t make too much of a difference to Shadow, and he’s not unaware that others may perceive the two options to carry lopsided tradeoffs. In this instance he isn’t bothered to clarify any of this for the same reasons that he leans towards the latter option in the first place… and it’s very much related to who he’s speaking to right now, or at least his deportment. While Shadow’s remark doesn’t have much heat behind it, it conveys some of that prejudice.
But that prejudice, even, is partially a deflection for the other forms of tensions swirling underneath both their facades. Shadow would be lying if he said that he didn't know what Sonic really wanted to address, but his bottom line is that mundane chatter isn't going to get them there. If the other option is Sonic approaching it from an elevated position of someone who's already seen through everything, he might as well forget it altogether.
Sonic looks like he wants to refute the allegation for a moment, but instead, he only huffs in indignation and settles on doing the reverse as he turns away with wilful indifference.
“Fine then. Since you’re so insistent, I won’t try to stop you.”
So Shadow begins to walk away again until Sonic adds, purposefully:
“… It seems like I was wrong for thinking that you might’ve changed a bit.”
The dark hedgehog stops in his tracks. Not wanting to let Sonic get in the last word, he takes the bait,
“What do you mean?”
“Who knows~ It’s not like you care about what anyone thinks, right?” Sonic pokes his tongue out with one eye open to make a face at him. But Shadow, upon seeing that, only looks somewhat amused; on second thought, perhaps he should retract his previous misconceptions about the blue hedgehog's nature.
“I don’t know what you were expecting from me, but I do prefer to be consistent with my methods,” he states coolly.
Sonic assesses his stance briefly. “Then, would you say what you did back there was ‘consistent’ with the rest of how you do things?” he asks with feigned nonchalance.
He is, of course, referring to the eleventh hour of their final battle with their last enemy, wherein Shadow cut Sonic short from using Chaos Control only to complete the job himself moments later. His stated motive at the time was that Sonic was too inept at it and would cause extra trouble for him if something went wrong. But if anyone who was there to witness the whole thing was asked about it, they’d most likely guess otherwise…
“I see no issue with my actions from back then,” Shadow maintains, crossing his arms. “Do you mean to say that my reasoning is faulty?”
Sonic rubs his nose complacently, “There would be nothing wrong with it - if you were being totally honest, that is.”
“Oh? In what way was I dishonest, exactly?”
Sonic pauses. “Well…” he trails off, apparently reluctant to voice his answer.
Shadow knows what the blue hero is playing at, in fact, at this point, they're each well aware of where the other is going with each word uttered.
A lot had happened between them on that odyssey, after all. There was friction between them in the beginning, but it all gradually morphed into a connection in a way that neither could've really seen coming. Shadow came to understand Sonic’s unique and far-reaching perspective, and Sonic found in Shadow an irreplaceable partner in battle, someone to pull him out of the solitude he had become so used to. Eventually there was trust, an immeasurable amount of trust, between them. They still had things to learn about each other, and things to identify within themselves that would help or hinder them in that (like Sonic’s stubborn side or Shadow’s stoicism), but so long as the thread tying their lives together remains, they will inevitably find themselves in each other's presence, contending with fate. Even in face of cautious resistance, the reality of their history, shared experiences and innermost thoughts about one another won't change.
Shadow approaches Sonic composedly. An intent, crimson red gaze locks with green irises that show a flash of surprise.
In a low voice, he tells Sonic, “… I’ll admit, there are some things I have not yet disclosed.” As Shadow walks closer, Sonic subconsciously takes steps back. The dark hedgehog continues as he backs the hero into a wall:
“But don’t you think that, in order to gain someone’s complete honesty, one must first offer a full sincerity of his own?”
Raising one arm, Shadow places his hand on the rock wall next to the blue hedgehog’s head, pinning him against it. Wide-eyed, Sonic takes a second or two to process the information surrounding him. Then, he blinks quickly and averts his eyes, though the tone of his instinctive reply remains even. The details in his gestures, however, don't escape Shadow.
“So, you think I’m not sincere enough?”
“Precisely,” his rival says, “You always strike me as someone who, while dedicated to his values, rarely speaks with frank words. Either it’s your habit of displaying unconditional assurance in front of your enemies and allies, or, it’s having your attention on something further beyond the situation at hand, both of which are fair enough, but of no interest to me.”
It's most certain that Sonic wasn't anticipating Shadow to make a move like this; creating an opening in the other by pushing forward with a force you wouldn't expect of someone who's usually so standoffish, then using that opening to pierce through the heart of the matter. This is his original nature, his way of doing things when something is important to him, though what the hero fails to ponder is why Shadow directs all this attention towards him in the first place. It's most likely what Sonic wanted from the start, but he seems to find himself a little under-equipped to deal with it when he actually gets it.
Sonic meets him with a stunned expression, then looks away again following with a resigned laugh.
“... Shadow, you’re really something, you know? But I can’t say I’m surprised.”
He pauses contemplatively, then takes in a deep breath and meets Shadow’s cool gaze once again, telling him:
“I understand what you’re saying, and I’ll keep it in mind.
“But, sorry, even though I know I should express everything plainly, out of respect, if nothing else… I think I can’t actually manage to do that,” he ends on a somewhat cynical note.
Shadow reads his countenance for a moment, then pulls away from leaning on the wall. He turns to the side, arms crossed in his usual fashion and half facing the other hedgehog. Momentarily, he laments in his mind how much it bothers him to see Sonic look genuinely troubled in this way.
“Is that so. Well, before I leave, I’ll tell you the other reason I made the decision to prevent you from risking your life in the last battle, although you may already be aware of what I'm about to say.
“It’s because there exists only one symbol for justice and freedom, and that is you. Self-sacrificial though you may be, from my perspective, you alone cannot be allowed to perish. Your power, idealism and bonds borne of the underlying kindness of your heart are things that no one could possibly replace.” His tone is solemn, and he locks gazes with the subject of his appraisal. Then his voice shifts ever so slightly, in a way that would almost be unnoticeable, but that to Sonic carries an unmistakable trace of gentleness:
“And if I’m to admit one more thing, it would be that… after coming to know the individual behind all of these qualities, I must say that I hold you in a good deal of reverence.
“Though, you need not make much of it. What I have to do doesn’t change, which is the most important thing.”
With that, he faces away from Sonic and is about to leave, but is stopped by a hand grabbing hold of his wrist once again. When he turns his head, he sees an expression on Sonic’s face that he’s never witnessed before, simply because the blue hero would never display such vulnerability to others - it’s a mixture of surprise, confusion and just a hint of elation, but even then, Sonic collects himself almost immediately, and searches for the words to speak.
“… You’re unfair, Shadow,” he starts steadily, like he’s holding his voice back from trembling. Still, he continues with a small smile, like how he always is, “You can’t just say all that and leave, without giving me a chance to reply.”
Lowering his head, he continues:
“Do you know why I said that I couldn’t be completely honest with you? It’s because if I told you everything, I was sure you’d be put off by how sentimental my thoughts surrounding you are. Even now, I know that I’ve failed in being an adequate ‘symbol’ like you described, because I’ve lost all my impartiality as a result of how I feel about you. Even though it’s undeniable that your appearance changed has much for me that I can hardly express it all…”
Then he lifts his head, still with a delicate smile. “Say, Shadow, can I ask you to help me through this predicament too?”
Shadow’s eyes widen, then he smiles calmly back at Sonic, while firmly grasping the other’s hands in his own.
“Naturally.”
The rain outside has stopped, and rays of warm light illuminate everything in their field of vision.
There’s no need to rush, as the road ahead of them is long. One step at a time, they will find the answers they need to everything.
Yes, as long as they have each other, everything will be fine.