Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I don’t do such missions. Not my speciality.” Shadow waved his hand in the air, openly showing his displeasure. The bureau agent only sighed tiredly.

“Listen, Mr Shadow, I know that’s not what you usually do, but the contractor is ready to pay twice your rate if you agree to it.” The agent, she was a light turgous ferret, locked her hands on the table and leaned forward. “They need help, Mr Shadow. And they believe that only you could help.”

Shadow skoffed. He was a famous monster hunter, not some Sherlock Holmes wannabe. He walked into this office with an idea that would get his next job, but now he was preparing to feel the disappointment of walking out with none.

Plus, the mission itself sounded ridiculous to him.

“So what if the other hunters are working off the radars? Not all of us want to be seen. It sounds like an agency problem, not mine.” He retorted.

“You’re right. Yet it’s not usual for so many of them to work together and not leave any data in our base. Something is off about this case, and the contractor wants you to find out what exactly.”

“Find some lower class hunter to do this then. I am no detective to you.” He turned around and marched to the door. His fingers already curled around the doorknob of the office door, when the agent’s argent tone of voice stopped him.

“Wait! Mr Shadow, please.” She quickly walked around the desk, and handed him a little note. The hunter took it in his hands on reflex, more than anything. “Can you at least think about it?”

He read through the note. It didn’t say much: just an address, the name of the contractor and the short description of the task: how the number of hunters were strangely active in the area and it worried the locals.

“The contractor will be ready to meet with you as soon as you get to the town.” The ferret lady quietly added. Her ears slightly folded back. “It is, if you decide to take the job.”

Shadow redirected his cold stare at her, one brow slightly raised. The agent took a deep breath.

“Look, I know it’s not what you usually do. But these people asked for your assistance in this matter. Specifically you. You’re a nobel man. An excellent hunter. They trust your judgment in this.” The agent got over her nerves and even dared to pat Shadow on the shoulder as she spoke.

He didn’t work with her often. And even when he did, it was strictly professional. No place for friendships and such. Yet now, as she smiled at him, her gloved hand on his shoulder, he wondered if this was what a friend looks like?

…whatever.

He looked down at the note one last time before it got folded in the pocket of his jacket. Shadow said nothing as he walked out of the office. The ferret agent let him.

*******

The harsh winds of autumn blew through the dark quills, ruffling them. Shadow leaned against one of the bigger trees, pressing his body tightly to it. He held his breath. Two Mobians walked past him, rifles hanging over their shoulders. Hunters.

Shadow growled lowly as he took notice of more of their group in the distance. Four, six, nine- Ten! It was a big number of hunters working together. After all, contractors don’t pay you more just cause there's a lot of people working with you. No one wants to share their profit. There was a reason why hunters usually work alone.

That’s why Shadow worked alone.

And because he didn’t need anybody. Obviously.

Shadow waited another few minutes for the watcher to walk away before he slipped out into the shadows and to the biggest tent in the camp.

The mission was starting to prove to be more complicated than Shadow first thought. He met with the contractor a day prior, who told him pretty much the same information as the agent. He only added that even more strange people, presumably also hunters, passed though the town and disappeared into the forest in the span of the last few days. Shadow didn’t paid much attention then, but now, after seeing the sheer amount of this hunters group, he was starting to get nervous.

Checking that the tent was empty, he swiftly slipped inside. There was a big wooden table standing in the center, a single comfy chair standing on the opposite side of it and a few far less comfortable ones circling around. On the table itself were sprawled a lot of papers and maps, the uncoordinated mess of it making Shadow wince. Such unprofessionalism!

Ignoring his bias, he walked towards it and, without wasting any more time, dug into the papers. His eyes quickly ran up and down the sheets, scanning for any important information. There were maps of the landscape and the town, plans for catching monsters, and some documents. Shadow stopped on the latter.

They were talking about some kind of enclosures. About capturing and transporting. It didn’t specify what exactly they were trying to catch, but knowing the field of work of Shadow’s so-called ‘coworkers’, it was not hard to guess. Word ‘experiments’ was also brought up quite a lot throughout the papers. And above all, every single paper was signed under the same name: Doctor Ivo Robotnick.

Shadow thought he heard that name from somewhere before, but even he didn’t, the information he gathered painted a clear enough picture.

What kind of sick thing was happening here?!

His ear suddenly perked up at a particularly loud shout that came from somewhere outside of the camp. Shadow’s face turned disgusted. The scream sounded like a scared and wounded animal. Quickly taking photos of the most important documents on his communicator, the hunter rushed out of the tent. Upon not seeing anyone close by, he walked out without a problem and headed after the sound of all the commotion. Once outside, the voices and screams sounded so much more prevalent.

Following them, he sneaked up to the slight moat. Crouching in the bushes Shadow observed the situation in front of him, growl rising out of his throat from what he saw. Along one side once again stood tents, some Mobians standing around. Among them were some that Shadow didn’t even see before. Just how many hunters were there?!

Yet that was not what got him so worked up. Away from the tents were cages. Row after row of crates prepared to be filled with various monsters: trolls, vampires, werewolves. There was even one clearly suited for a dragon.

Monster hunters rarely hunted beasts just to trap, preferring to go instantly for a kill. At least, that's what Shadow practiced in his line of work. What others did seldon bother him.

But now he had a task, a mission from a contractor. Deal with the hunters’ strange activity. He had to come up with a plan of action.

Another rather loud yelp brought Shadow out of his thoughts. His ear twitched as he turned his attention back to the camp, just in time to see two Mobians drag a huge bundle of matted dark fur by the ropes. The creature, as soon as it tried to wiggled again in its trap Shadow saw that it actually was a werewolf, bared its teeth at its capturers. A deliberate kick in the wolf's wounded leg quickly made its aggression pull back into pathetic hurt whines.

The werewolf didn't try to bite back anymore, even as the hunters dragged it further down to the cages and unceremoniously threw it into one.

Shadow frowned in disgust. Why torture the thing if the loaded gun was right there on the hip. Shoot it and be done with.

Well, guess he'd have to intervene.

Later that evening, Shadow would return back to the camp, single handedly capturing all of the mercenaries. He'd get into a fight with their leader, some crazy ass jackal, and in the midst of it he would put a bullet through his skull. The body would be left right where it fell. Let the agency handle this along with the tied up hunters.

Shadow would then proceed right up to the crates.

Almost all of them were empty. It seemed the strange hunter fraction appeared only quite recently and didn’t yet have time to bring their plans into action. At the very least, not fully.

At the end of the row Shadow was walking through, were the only occupied cages. Ripped out fur mixed with drops of blood littered the surface of the enclosures. From the neck of the beasts snaked out the metal chains that bound them to the bars opposite to the ones with the door. It's length was just short enough so that the hunter could have easily walked in without worrying for their safety. Pathetic.

Shadow walked up to the first cage and started mingling with the lock. From the dark corner he saw two caramel brown eyes of a beast watching his every move, fur twitching in contained rage. It tried to shift, but the collar around its neck buzzed threateningly against the action. The wolf growled.

Come kill rip-apart everyone kill all-pay

Shadow sighed tiredly. Even if the werewolf was quite docile before, now after such imprisonment, there was no way back. The hatred towards the hunters and normal Mobians was now sown deep in their minds.

The hunter listened to the deafening in the silence of the evening sound of the clear shot, the bulk body of a beast ungracefully collapsing in front of him.

As Shadow walked away to the next crate, the worst realisation’s crawling in his head. The cage looked ‘lived in’, in the sickest way possible. Claw marks decorated the floor, the earlier mentioned droplets of blood here looked like proper puddles, grossly glistening in the lights of the close by lamps. The skin on the wolf's neck under the chain was raw and the scar tissue looked infected at best and unsalvageable at worst.

This one was probably the longest stay in this camp. Shadow didn't let himself linger on the thought.

Another two werewolves were the same picture. Their minds screamed at Shadow almost in the same frequency, irritating him further after the long hard day. After so many years in this profession, mental threats from monsters were starting to sound repetitive, and so Shadow started filtering them out almost completely.

His ability seldom reflected on his decisions anyway. Sometimes he wished he couldn't hear the voices at all.

Two more BANG rang through the air.

When Shadow finally approached the last standing cage, he instantly recognized the fur curled up in the corner. The new dark blue wolf was lying quietly in its place, maybe hoping to be unspotted in Shadow's killstrick. But at last…

The door of the cage flew open and the wolf suddenly swirled from his spot on the floor and bared his teeth. Low growl reverberated against the bars. The chain painfully tugged against its neck, strained behind it.

Shadow huffed, his emotions getting the better of him, irritation taking over. Classic monsters.

"Yeah, come on! What do you have to say for yourself? It's not like I just saved your sorry ass from becoming some crazy doctor's lab rat!"

The creature's growl faltered for a second, but quickly renewed in its force. Wanting to already be anywhere but here, the hunter pressed the gun right between the beast's eyes.

"But you're too dangerous to just let loose. Have anything to say?"

Not that the wolf knew the hunter could hear its voice.

Not that the hunter was about to listen to its threats, anyway.

The wolf fell silent, all its dangerous facade crumbling on the spot. It peered Shadow right in the eyes for a moment, before shutting its own. His dog brows furrowed with how it braced for the impact of the bullet.

Shadow kept his face neutral even as the rough, scared voice filled his ears.

Make-it-quick make-it-quick

The finger on the trigger twitched, pressing slightly firmer, a second away from firing. A moment passed, then another. The wolf dared to raise one eyelid, peeking at the hunter.

Shadow sized him with his glare for a second longer before reluctantly lowering the gun. He sighed deeply, cursing under his breath. The wolf with the baffled expression eyed the hunter's moves, as the latter walked around it and started fiddling with the chain.

The collar loudly clattered on the ground from the neck of the beast. When it stood up in its full height, Shadow almost started regretting his life choices. The wolf was not yet broken by this camp, so it looked quite healthy, on four easily reaching Shadow's shoulders.

Beast's bright green eyes stared at the hunter, muscles tense and ready to pounce. The cage was open, with Shadow standing out of its way, so he patiently waited for the wolf to leave.

When the beast instead stayed frozen in place, Shadow's patience turned out to be rather thin.

“So, what are you waiting for?!” The wolf twitched from the volume, but otherwise didn't bulge. Shadow waved at it out. This at least gave some results. “Go, until I changed my mind!”

Slightly limping on the back leg the wolf finally emerged from the cage and, after giving one last wide-eyed stare at the hunter, disappeared in the depths of the forest.

And Shadow just silently let it go. He let the werewolf go…

Shadow sighed. Somehow he knew he'd come to regret this decision later.

Chapter Text

Shadow didn't have to wait long for his decision to bite him back.

The agency quickly took care of the camp, dealing with the hunters and starting the investigation on Doctor Ivo involvement in all of this. Shadow’s work in collecting evidence and eliminating the mercenaries was paid off with a quite big paycheck. Yet it seemed his work was not good enough to give him a break. A week or so later he was sent to investigate the pack of wolves seen in the town nearby his previous mission. The locals insisted that they saw werewolves near their borders.

And so Shadow headed back into the forests to find this illusive pack.

The morning was dump, yet the soil under his feet cricked from the weight of his steps. The first chills of the early winter creeped behind the hunter’s coat, ruffling his fur. The chilling wind running through his quills made the weather feel so much colder than it was in actuality.

Ducking under the particularly low-growing tree branch, Shadow closely followed a track of paw prints he stumbled upon half an hour or so ago. The animal didn’t try to hide it, be it too stupid to do so or too naive, so tracking them was extremely easy. Shadow almost felt bored.

It led him to a little clearing in between trees, where the tracks abruptly stopped. Shadow froze mid step, feeling as his quills stood on end. He was being watched.

Quick look around didn’t prove much help. But, as if to prove his suspicions, out of nowhere a blue blur ran past the hunter and jumped high on a trunk of a fallen tree on the other side of the clearing. Shadow hurriedly regained his bearings and looked up at the beast.

The wood crackled under the weight of the wolf as he pawed in place, claws leaving marks in their wake. Ears pinned, teeth bared and quills standing aroused out of the dark blue fur. Unbelievably bright green eyes bore right into the hunter.

Territory mine out!

Shadow crouched, fingers flexing to reach for the gun on his hip. The beast definitely looked displeased with his presence here.

Except until it wasn't? A recognition passed through the creature’s eyes and in a second its attitude made 180°, the muzzle falling into a surprised expression. Shadow raised a brow as the wolf started wagging its tail and moving his way.

"What the-"

The creature jumped off the trunk, changing into its Mobian form mid jump.

“It’s you-!” Was all the now Mobian hedgehog managed to say before promptly tumbling nose first into the ground.

Shadow slowly blinked, taking a cautious step back. He silently observed the scene in front of him as the blue beast slowly raised its head off the mud and leaned on its elbows. What was Shadow supposed to do in such a situation? Never before had a werewolf changed right in front of him.

"You've got some nerve to turn in front of a hunter" he rumbled, prompting to at least threaten the monster, if anything."I should shoot you right on the spot" He said, yet the gun stayed in the holster.

"But you didn't"

"I didn-? I'm gonna do it right now, you stupid mutt!" Shadow blew up, baffled beyond himself.

The werewolf only laughed harder. As it slowly was getting to its feet Shadow found a chance to take a better look at the beast’s Mobian disguise. As he noticed earlier, it was a hedgehog Mobian, with cobalt blue quills and peach fur on the creature’s legs, arms down the elbows and stomach. It looked fit, if only a little bit skinny. At the corners of its enchantingly green eyes it had light markings, sorta imitating the curves of the hedgehog’s spines. Even though it didn't have quite as thick fur as Shadow, the werewolf stood in barely any clothes, only some old fabric draped over its shoulders. Its feet were bare and hands adorned only with fingerless gloves. Oh, what a scandalous look. Shadow almost wanted to look away, but it would be too dangerous around the beast.

“I killed three werewolves right in front of your eyes. What makes you think I would not do the same to you?!” Shadow pressed further, not sure why was he still talking with the damn thing instead of just killing it on the spot.

The blue hedgehog looked at him with unmasked curiosity. The tease practically dripped from its voice. “Why’d I think you would? You didn’t shoot me while I was chained in the cage.” It then theatrically spread his hands in the air. “Gaia, you yourself let me out of it. You freed me.”

The gun in an instant materialized in Shadow’s hand, aimed for the kill. “And I'm starting to regret that decision.”

To the beast’s credit, it didn’t so much as flinched. It stoically met Shadow’s aggression towards it, staying in place. For a moment the two just stared at each other.

The hunter couldn’t hear the voice of the monster’s soul while it was in this form, but as he observed the hedgehog, it turned out he didn't really need to. The beast's body language was speaking for itself. From how it forced its ears to not fold back to the tensely clenched fists. To the intensified breathing.

To the eyes unblinkingly staring back at Shadow over the barrel of the gun.

“You’re too naive for your own good.” He breathed out, at last, lowering the weapon. No reason wasting bullets on the thing.

Even the beast couldn’t suppress the shock written all over its face at such an outcome. “Huh?”

Shadow grimaced as if he just ate something really sour. “I said get out of my sight!” He growled before turning in a different direction from the blue hedgehog and walking away.

Unfortunately, the gods didn’t answer the hunter’s pleas, and the beast behind him seemed to not value its life in the slightest. Does it not have any self preservation?

“What are you even doing in these woods?” The werewolf trotted beside Shadow, keeping a safe distance. Good to know it had some brains. “I thought your mission was with the camp. Were you looking for the escapees? Or their leader? Or..” It suddenly dragged on its thought, its ears perking up. The beast’s voice turned flirtatious. “Were you looking for me?” The werebeast singsang, exaggeratedly leaning closer to the hunter.

Shadow looked back at the blue hedgehog with the mix of horror and disgust written over his face. “I have a job in this parts that does not involve you.” And then his face turned even more sour, which he didn’t know was even possible. “And your mere existence is none of my concern.”

The hedgehog, on his part, for some reason looked delighted by Shadow’s reaction, skipping a few steps ahead of him to walk backwards, hands placed in a relaxed position behind the head. “Then you wouldn’t mind me tagging along, right?” It smiled brightly.

Shadow hoped that the werewolf would soon get bored with Shadow’s disinterest in its presents near him and just leave.

Maybe it would even try to attack him. Then at least Shadow would have a reason to finally shoot it down.

*********

The werewolf, in fact, did not leave the hunter alone, and followed after Shadow till the late evening. It never stopped talking too, so Shadow at some point just had to filter it out to the best of his effort. To not go crazy.

The sudden stop drew the werewolf's attention back to reality. “-and that berry tasted nasty and I was like- Why are we stopping?” It looked around surprised.

Shadow unceremoniously dropped his bags on the ground and started collecting kindling for the fire. “Camp. For the night.” He deadpanned, not even looking up at another hedgehog.

Shadow was exhausted, practically falling off his foot. The day was long and he rarely gave himself a break today due to the unwarranted company he somehow accumulated. The beast kept talking without a moment of silence and Shadow was running low on his mental capacity to filter it out.

Maybe, at least for the night, the werewolf would go away and return to its pack. And maybe, in the morning, Shadow would track it down and it would end up being the same werewolves he was looking for. That would be convenient.

For a moment the werewolf simply watched silently as the hunter prepared the camp for the night. It stood like that for some time before its ear started twitching as it picked up on something in the distance. Shadow fell silent and tried listening as well, but found nothing.

The next time he turned to check on the beast, it was frantically looking around before storming away in a hurry. Shadow watched it go and disappear in the pitch darkness of the forest, leaving without a word. He shrugged it off pretty easily, returning to finishing off the camp and promptly falling asleep.

When Shadow woke up the next morning, he was met with the blue wolf watching over the camp from the other side of the fire. The creature was calmly lying on the small patch of grass and watching its surroundings, paws crossed in front of it. Even as the hunter barely made any sound as he sat up from the cold ground, the werewolf’s head instantly snapped right at him.

Upon seeing him awake, the tongue rolled out of its mouth and the wolf’s muzzle morphed into a smile. Or an animalistic equivalent of it. The sparks flew around the beast’s body and a second later a blue bundle of fur and quills was once again facing the hunter.

“You’re awake!”

Shadow squinted his eyes. The werewolf looked rougher than the day prior, its whole stature covered in dust and grime. As if it was tossing around in dirt all night. On its right arm bloomed a new cut, not a deep one, but one that didn't show up by accident for sure.

Sensing eyes on itself, the hedgehog nonchalantly covered the wound with the palm of his other hand, displaying total calmness on its face. “So, what’s the agenda for today?” It smiled cheerfully.

Shadow scoffed. “I return back to my work. You-” The hunter pointed at the werewolf, shaking his head. “-I don't know, get lost somewhere. See if I care.”

The blue nuisance suddenly approached the hunter, entering his personal space. Shadow instinctively leaned away from an uncomfortable proximity. “Can I get lost with you?” The beast’s head was cutely tilted to the side.

Shadow snarked. “I do not get lost. Ever!”

“Even better, then.” The blue hedgehog’s smile grew wider as it straightened up and finally got out of Shadow's space. Its clapped hands created a slight echo among the trees as the beast continued. “Even more reasons for me to go with you. I'm always lost!” An uncharacteristically nervous laugh escaped from its mouth.

Shadow felt a shudder run down his spine. “You are not following me. Go to your pack or whatever.”

He instantly turned away from the conversations, not noticing how stiff the werewolf’s posture got for a second from his remark, before it as quickly melded away as if it never was there.

Shadow quickly picked up his stuff and, just in case, reloaded the gun, ignoring as the other hedgehog put down the fire for him and covered it with some dirt. He looked like a dog burying a bone doing so, the hunter mused.

Fully packed, he threw a bag over his shoulder and confidently walked in the direction he picked up yesterday. After a little shuffle in his supplies, Shadow successfully managed to retrieve the jerky he had packed for the mission and instantly dug into it as his breakfast. Mm, plain and tasteless as usual…

Now back to work: finding the wolf tracks.

“What if I can help you out?” The werewolf persisted, following close behind. Shadow barely stiffened a groan. “I can be your partner. Your right hand man! Your-!”

“I do not need a partner!” Shadow practically growled. “Now shove off!”

Keeping a sharp eye on, it didn’t take the hunter long to stumble upon a paw print. And then another one a few meters further down. They looked rather fresh, so Shadow eagerly took their lead and changed his course after them.

“What if I hunt for you?” The blue hedgehog pipped in once again, making the hunter slightly jump. Shadow didn’t understand how he kept forgetting the beast was still beside him, when it never once stopped running its mouth. It was as if it didn’t need to breathe. “I mean, come on, this can’t be tasty!” Its hand pointed at the piece of dried out meat the hunter was eating. “Or even nutritious.” The werewolf grimaced, stretching out its arm to save Shadow from his terrible food choice. The hunter had to slap any attempts away with his free hand.

“No need.” He simply replied and purposefully took a big bite of his jerky, taking some pleasure in a grimace that the beast’s muzzle deformed into. Small victories.

Gradually slowing down in his tracks, Shadow circled around and crouched near a cluster of paw prints. Although they all looked rather small for werewolf paws, it was definitely a pack of exclusively adults. Shadow frowned. That promised to be a problem. Kids can always be used as a leverage, or a hostage.

His hands traced the prints, noting how some of them first jumped in circles and only then followed further in the forest after the others. Some of the marks were slightly wiped out, as if somebody trashed around on top of them. Maybe the wolves had an infight.

Shadow felt precisely the moment the beast stopped behind his back, leaning forward so close that the hunter felt its breath down his headquills.

“Maybe I’ll kill monsters for you?” The werewolf tried some more, speaking over the hunter’s shoulder. “You are a monster hunter after all, right?”

Shadow amusedly chuckled, standing up from his squat. “You would not hurt one of your own. Don’t try to fool me.”

The blue hedgehog took a shocked step back, eyes furrowed in confusion. “Not all monsters are friends with each other. You know that, right? It’s important to me that you know that! I, as much as you, don't like seeing others getting hurt!”

The hunter’s ear twitched. “Whatever. It’s not like you would willingly hunt down another werewolf, now would you?” He turned around with the smirk plastered on his face. A second, then two, passed, but for the first time, the werewolf had nothing to counter argue. Shadow turned back around and continued walking after a moment. “Exactly.’

The silence dragged only a few short seconds before the hedgehog spoke again. Shadow felt the start of a headache. “Okay, but what if i-”

“I don’t need your assistance! How many times do I have to repeat myself!” Shadow yelled before storming down the path between the old trees, ignoring the other’s startled expression he caught a glimpse of in the corner of his eye.

“But I just wanna help. You helped me, after all.” The werewolf followed suit, not losing to Shadow in speed.

“And maybe I shouldn't have.” The dark hedgehog hissed, baring his teeth.

“Hey!”

But Shadow was not about to stop on that. “Maybe I should have shot you down like the other three unsalvageable ones. Maybe I shouldn’t have interfered with the camp at all!”

“Hey, you better look where you’re goi-” The werewolf’s panicked voice tried to break through the hunter’s frustrated rumble, but was successfully ignored.

He walked without looking, head too clouded by the frustration and anger at himself for his indecisiveness and foolishness. Who would in their right mind leave a potentially dangerous monster just free off the cage? Where were Shadow’s brains when he was making that stupid decision to let the werewolf loose? And because of what?! Cause he, once in his life, decided to listen to its soul voice, listen to the damn ability that Mother Nature oh so generously gifted him with! Why him?

“And maybe it would have been better if I hadn't accepted this mission at all!” Shadow threw a glance back at the beast, confidently taking another step through the thick bushed the two of them walked into.

“Hunter, look out!” The blue hedgehog suddenly cried out, desperately reaching out to try and grab the hunter’s hand.

“Don’t touch me!” Was the last thing Shadow hissed through his gritted teeth, before his next step backwards was not met with the solid ground under his foot. Alarm bells erratically rang in Shadow’s head, but it was already too late.

Next moment he was stumbling down the hill, unsuccessfully trying to get a grip on something to slow down the fall. He definitely crashed into some broken down dry log, rolling further down with it in hand. And only after what felt like an eternity of falling Shadow finally halted at the foot of the hill.

His head pounded like he was just hit with the club of a troll. Rubbing his temple, Shadow slightly shifted his leg to stand up, but was suddenly greeted with an excruciating pain down the calf.

“ARGH!!!”

His leg got trapped in a beartrap! Shadow clenched his teeth so hard he was sure they were gonna shatter in no time. The first streak of blood steadily started rolling down his leg, the others following not long after. Soon, his fur there was colored in more red “marking” than it ever was before.

Shadow barely took notice of the blue hedgehog’s descent from the hilltop down to him. The werewolf let out a startled yelp upon seeing what happened and quickly ran up and crouched next to the hunter.

“Oh sweet Mother of Wolves, that is bad!” The beast’s voice slightly wavered as its hands hovered over the trap. Then it plastered a confident smile on its face. The one that matched neither the situation, nor the horrified look in its eyes. “But no worries, we can fix that. I can fix that. Let's just unclench this thing first. Luckily, you fell into it with some fortunate chunk of wood, and this trap thingy is pretty old and rusted as it is, so it didn’t close on you with full force.” It laughed a forced out chuckle.

Shadow barely heard the other hedgehog’s nervous ramble. Something told him that it was not as much for his comfort, as for calming down the werewolf itself. Instead, the hunter was focused solely on pain pulsating in his limb, subsidizing and then again growing in rhythmic waves. His breathing started to become too erratic, making him feel slightly dizzy.

The hands of the werewolf squeezed in between the teeth of the trap and drew them open with a remarkable ease. Shadow didn’t know if he should be impressed or horrified with such a raw display of power. He settle on none.

After the beartrap was nonchalantly tossed somewhere in the nearby creek, the blue hedgehog turned his attention to the hunter. “Now, do you have any bandages or clean fabric to warp the- Your bag!”

Shadow followed where the hedgehog was pointing behind him. Close by, so close in fact that Shadow was surprised he didn’t end up in there too, was flowing a dangerously fast forest creek. It was all surrounded by big stones and mossy rocks.

And on one of those boulders was lying Shadow’s bag, that somehow ended up there in all the comotion, and was slowly slipping off of it and into the water.

Shadow tensed. “Get the bag!” He commanded the werewolf, but it was too late. The next second, as if feeling the audience’s eyes on it, the bag collapsed into the water and got quickly washed away.

The hunter couldn’t believe his eyes as he silently watched his belongings disappear out of the view.

“I-” The voice of the blue hedgehog quietly came up through the ringing in Shadow’s ears, and he felt his upper lip twitching up.

“What do you want from me?!” He heard himself asking. Shadow felt out of his body, the pain in his leg making it go numb by now. He felt bone-deep tired. “I told you to get lost! Now look I-” Shadow groaned, some from pain, some from frustration, burrowing his head in the palms of his hands.

“I just want to help.”

“I don't need your help!” He hissed, not looking up.

When none of the sounds of the other hedgehog leaving reached Shadow’s ears, he sensed something in him snap. “I said LEAVE!!” He snarled at it, baring his sharp fangs.

The werewolf took a wary step back, then another one. Its eyes jittery danced around the area, not looking back at the wounded hunter. Its blue ears were apologetically folded back while its fingers fidgeted the hem of the gloves.

Its voice sounded uncertain and slightly shaky. “I just want your to know that like this alone you are extremely vulnerable and here are-”

“I don’t care! Just leave me already!” Shadow snapped back, losing all his cool.

And this time the werewolf finally listened, leaving the hunter alone. Just as he wanted. Shadow buried his fingers in the headquills and forcefully pulled on them. Simply to ground himself with some light pain.

Deep breaths. In… and out. In… and out.

In...

...and out.

Chapter Text

His leg hurt like crazy. Every littlest movement shot an agonising spike of pain down his limb, making him wince and stop for breaks every so often. The brace Shadow did for himself helped a lot, but was still not enough to fix the problem fully.

As the werewolf said, it was pure luck that the bear trap was old and partially broken and didn’t close on his leg with the full force. A few of the spikes pierced through the skin, damaging the muscle structure but otherwise leaving the bone untouched. Walking felt like hell, but, at least, Shadow still could, right?

Slowly, the hunter made his way through the forest. His breath was becoming too elaborated, one by one drops of sweat rolling down the hedgehog’s temple. Long were the wolf tracks forgotten, Shadow’s focus too shaken to follow them steadily. Now he just wandered.

He confusedly looked around. Was he walking out of the woods or deeper in?

The sudden rustling behind Shadow brought him back to reality for a moment, the ray of clarity dawning upon his mind. He spun around, instantly berating himself for such a rushed movement as it pulled painfully on his wound. The lushfull branches were throwing dark shadows on the ground and around the hunter, creating almost zero visibility for him and amazing cover for whatever was hunting him.

Huh, the hunter being hunted down himself…. How ironic.

“If it’s you again, mutt, then I have already told you to get lost!” Shadow growled into the dark, receiving no answer.

The rustling seized for a moment, the uncomfortable silence hanging in the air, before another pair of paws started circling in between the trees. When no soul voice reached the hunter’s mind, he frowned. Shadow shook his head, trying to focus. He deeply wanted to deny the slow realisation that began creeping onto him.

With ears perked up he listened: one, two, three… Five specimens at least. And the steps sounded too light to be the werewolves.

“Damn it all…” Shadow cursed under his breath. All this time, was he running the circles after the regular pack of wolves?! For Gaia’s sake…

As if to prove his point, the first of the wolves walked out of its cover. It was a regular sized animal, its grey coat brightening under the rays of sun shining on it. Shadow would have called the animal beautiful if only he wasn’t standing on the other side of its and its pack hungry stares. After all, he usually doesn't have any problems with wild animals.

Opting to just scare them off, Shadow swiftly took the gun out of its holster on the hunter’s hip, and instantly fired in the air. The loud bang broke through the peace of the woods, driving away the birds from the nearby trees.

It was usually Shadow’s to-go plan when he would encounter the forest dwellers on his missions. Shadow always thought that there was no need to kill them. Especially when the loud noise would scare off the animals just as effectively, and he’ll continue on with his job. Easy as that.

… Not so easy now, huh?

The wolves, at least the ones he could actively see, jumped from the bang of the shot, but otherwise didn’t bulge from their places. Shadow watched them confusedly. The plan usually worked. What was different about now?

He slowly stepped a little bit further to the side, dragging his hurt leg and tired body away from the sticking out of the ground roots to not trip over them accidentally. The bandaged wound pulled roughly even at the slightest movement, forcing the small whines out of the dark hedgehog.

He felt his quills tensing up before he saw what caused such a reaction. He swirled in place, hissing as his leg protested the move, turning face to face with the bold wolf trying to corner him from the side. Acting on reflexes, Shadow fired another warning shot somewhere next to where the canine was just about to step. It drew a startled yelp out of the creature, forcing it to back off, but not far enough for the hunter’s comfort.

A stressed out growl bubbled in Shadow’s throat, eyes darting between the wolves, trying to keep them all in his field of vision. He knew the plan was flawed from the start, but when he suddenly felt the hot breath blowing against his wounded leg from behind him, he just made sure of that. It brought the startled yelp out of him as he jumped back and, without thinking straight, planted one of his boots in the muzzle of the attacking animal. Shadow was on the ground before he knew it.

The hot pain ran in waves along his limb, punishing him for such a reckless reaction. He held onto his leg and slowly tried scooting to a nearby tree, looking for some support to stand back up. Raising his eyes, he swiftly noticed the wolf he just hit whined in front of him, pawing at its hurt nose, before glaring back at the hunter, venom blazing in its eyes and teeth bared.

One after another three more bullets were fired, making the splinters flying from the bark of a random tree and the sand forming the dust clouds from the impact. The pack scattered from the shots, but after were quite quick to return back to scuffling around, circling their prey.

Cause that was Shadow was to them at the moment: the prey. Wounded and tired down prey, cornered in the situation with no escape in sight.

When Shadow next pressed on the trigger and no loud bang came out of the barrel, he instinctively reached for his bag for the spare magazine. When his hand was met with empty air instead, the realisation dawned on him in a moment. He felt the time freeze for a second.

That day, as the wolves inched closer and closer to him, snarling and snapping at the air in clear starvation, Shadow for the first in his life felt true despair.

Placing the gun back in the holster, Shadow did a quick work of removing the gloves off his hands, revealing the sharp claws. The quills defensively bristled against the tree the hunter was leaning on, making his frame look bigger for the attacker. Carefully manoeuvring around his wounded leg he took a more suitable stance, ready to fight off the pack.

If Shadow was about to go down today, he most definitely would not go without a fight. He would show them how painful the hedgehogs could bite.

He didn’t have to wait long, the closest to him dark grey wolf quickly jumped into action, launching at Shadow. Even as prepared as he was for it, Shadow easily went down under the sheer weight of the creature, his legs giving in. The cry of pain slipped out of his mouth when the sharp canines of the beast sunk into his shoulder, clenching around the bone. Shadow clawed at the creature's sides and paws, pressing his knee against its stomach. The hot blood was slowly but surely souking the hunter’s coat, reminding him that he didn’t really have a lot of time before the wolf would rip his arm out. Wiggling around the stinky fur, he bit behind the wolf’s ear right into its neck. Breathing heavily, he prepared for the momentum and punched into the wolf’s stomach with all what was left of his might, simultaneously tugging on its skin and fur with his claws and teeth.

A moment later the wolf was flying over Shadow’s shoulder, letting go of it in the process as it yelped in shock or fear. Its body landed roughly somewhere to the side, some other wolf from the pack nosing at its fur and checking on its brethren. Shadow paid them little mind as he tried to as quickly as possible even his breathing out and return to the upright position.

Unfortunately, that last little trick of his took out of him more than he would have anticipated, leaving the hunter even more exhausted and vulnerable then before.

As the remaining pack tried to approach Shadow next, he panicked. Baring his teeth and showing off his sharp fangs, he let out a deep growl to scare the others away from him. A growl, the volume and reverberation of which surprised him as much as it did the wolves, judging by their startled reaction. Shadow’s tired mind caught up to reality only when a blue blur ran out somewhere from the side and positioned itself in front of the hunter.

From his place on the ground Shadow couldn’t see much, but he most definitely caught enough of what was happening. The blue werewolf’s frame practically towered over the much smaller, in comparison to him, wolves. Clouds of vapour were slowly coming out of its mouth with every strained breath, clearly visible in the cold air of the day. The beast’s muzzle was morphed into the scowl so intense, the gums were showing off as well as the bared teeth.

Hedgehog mine leave!

The pack was slowly backing off from the fight that was definitely about to happen if they didn't leave the newcomer alone. If any of them tried to make even a step closer to the hunter, the growl of the beast would intensify, turning into a deep, rural sound, as it carried through the air.

LEAVE!

NOW!

As most of the pack lowered their heads in submission, turning around and carefully leaving the place, some of the more daring had a different idea. The blue werewolf barked loudly at the ones walking at its sides and behind it, letting them know that it saw what they were trying to do, and it clearly did not appreciate it. The dark blue quills twitched in the scruff of the werewolf’s neck. A warning!

The werewolf expected their submission. Instead, it was met with the angry scowls and a challenge.

The beast would make them regret that decision.

Just as the monster moved out of the Shadow’s view, his vision started swimming, pounding headache smashing into his temples. The hunter winced, trying to bring his attention back to the fight in front of him. He felt as the ground started swaying under him, forcing him to lose balance and fall on his side. The chest felt tight, breathing was becoming increasingly hard to maintain: the blood loss reminding of itself.

With the great force to keep his eyes open, Shadow looked up, seeing as the werewolf was in the process of chasing away the remains of the pack. It suddenly stopped in its chase and threw a glance at the hunter, some thought process going on behind those green eyes. A second later it ran after the wolves again, barking all the way after them.

Somewhere at that moment, the darkness swiftly embraced Shadow as he lost consciousness.

Wait-for-m…

*********

He woke up slowly. First his hearing returned, effectively waking him up. He heard the distant songs of the forest birds somewhere from the tops of the trees, he heard the calming sound of the wood crackling in the fire. He heard the wind swiftly blowing through the branches, disturbing the leaves growing on them.

The sensations in his body returned next. And Shadow sincerely wished they didn’t. The hunter squeezed his eyes so tight they hurt too, as his limbs whined and ached. Any smallest movement shot a painful spike up his leg and shoulder, making Shadow squirm in place even more. His headache felt as if his head was removed from the beartrap earlier, and not his leg. He absentmindedly tugged on his quills, trying to calm down.

When Shadow’s breathing eventually evened out, he finally tried to open his eyes. He was firstly met with the sight of the branches and leaves swaying above him in the wind. Shadow was lying down on his back, that was obvious. Slowly and carefully he propped himself up, leaning on his elbows. As he raised up, something slid off his body, catching the hunter’s attention.

It was a dark green fabric that was used as the cover for the dark hedgehog while he was unconscious. Under it Shadow now could see rolls of bandages wrapped around his torso and up around shoulder, another roll around his damaged calf. All the bandages were clean and recently changed. Sticking out of them were what looked like some type of leaves, maybe something healing.

Shadow felt his ears drop to the side in confusion. How…? Who…

As he moved his arm to help him stand up fully, it bumped into something lying on the ground. Checking what it was Shadow almost believed he hit his head too hard and it made him hallucinate now.

It was his hunter’s bag! The same bag that he was one hundred percent sure he would never see again after it got washed away by the current of the wild creek. The same bag that was now innocently sitting next to him with the slight rip on its handle that was never there before. The same bag that…he didn’t quite understand how got here.

As another wave of pain washed over Shadow’s body, he instantly dug into his belongings, looking for some painkillers if he even had any. The bottom of the bag was slightly damp to touch, throwing the hunter off guard, but another sharp ache in his leg reminded him about his mission. His claws unexpectedly glossed over some glass. Retrieving it from the bag, Shadow’s fingers were clenched around a sphere-like corked bottle with a little note stuck to it. He was sure he didn’t have anything like this with him before the bag got lost. “FROM PAIN, YOUR E WELKOME” was written on the paper, barely readable. Shadow cringed at the spelling mistakes, yet still plugged the cork out and took a careful sniff of the liquid inside.

It smelled sweet. Sweeter than the usual potions Shadow buys before his forays on missions. It was unusual for him to go on one without any backup healing supplies, and yet here he was, drinking unknown potions with weird notes on them.

The effect was almost immediate, the sweet relief washing over Shadow, letting him finally breathe more freely. He placed the cork back after finishing half of the bottle and securing it in the bag.

The pads of his fingers gently traced the outlines of the bandages around his shoulder. It was a good work done: the wrapping technique not too tight and not too loose. Shadow’s own method usually was too messy and rushed, always in the midst of danger. So.. who helped him? His claw caught on the small leaf sticking out of the bandage. Gently, as to not rip it in pieces, Shadow pulled it out, curiously twirling it in between fingers. Crystal-like particles twirled from the surface of the pale blue leaf, the hunter feeling the chilling foam gathering around the thing. Shadow thought he vaguely remembered the healer artisans using similar looking plants in their workshops, mixing them with other ingredients to brew their products.

Humming to himself Shadow stuck the leaf back in its place. Now that the pain got subsidised by the potion and didn’t draw the dark hedgehog’s attention solely to itself, he could clearly feel the calming cool from the little plant. It probably had more qualities to it, as the muscles around the wounds didn’t feel as tense as previously, but Shadow was not a medic to know all that.

What he knew was that he was hungry, especially after the day as draining and nerveracking as Shadow just experienced. His stomach let out a loud rumble and his ears flattened back. The scowl found its way on his face at the mere thought of the state of the leftover food in his soaked up bag. Not that the thought of dying of hunger was any better.

Surviving the starving wolves only to die out of hunger himself, was not an idyllic scenario in Shadow's book.

Before he could even humour the idea, the sound of twig breaking under someone's weight got him on high alert. Dark quills rose on instinct, low growl leaving his throat.

From the other side of the camp the bright green eyes were staring back at Shadow. The time felt like it froze, none of the boys daring to move first. The dark blue werewolf looked like a deer caught in the headlight, standing there still half hidden in the bushes. One of its front paws was yet to hit the ground, hanging in the air as the beast kept its eyes on the hunter. In its mouth, Shadow noticed, the wolf was holding two fish, one of them still kicking around, even as far as trying to slap the beast in the nose with its tail.

Stop-moving stop Werewolf’s inner voice proved it to be annoyed.

Forgetting the momentum, Shadow humouredly huffed when the little aquatic creature finally succeeded, making the wolf squirm in place trying to shake off the water drops off its fur. One purposeful clench of its teeth later and the fish quickly succumbed to death, motionlessly dangling from the wolf’s maw.

As the tension eased up around the two at the moment, the werewolf slowly started approaching where the hunter was sitting. Shadow steadily watched as the beast dropped its catch on the ground near the fire. It moved slowly, almost painfully so. As if the creature was scared of Shadow… Or trying not to scare him. When the emerald green once again found their way to the hunter, Shadow involuntarily curled onto himself, leaning on his arm. It tugged his hurt leg accidentally in the process, making the dark hedgehog wince in discomfort.

All the caution the werewolf had up to that moment was seemingly thrown out of the window in a second. In a blur, the beast transformed, and the blue hedgehog was crouching next to Shadow.

“Oh my, oh my, are you okay? I thought the potion should have helped with the pain. Did I tighten the bandages too much? I can loosen them up, if they bother-” The hedgehog rumbled and mumbled under its nose.

Shadow heard none of that, brain shortcircuiting from the uncomfortable close proximity of another being to him. The peach-light fingers carefully fiddled with the bandages, and Shadow was lost in what to do, frozen. The dark hedgehog didn’t bare his teeth at the intruder of his personal space, yet the low rumble started in his chest. Instinctively his ears fell flat against his skull.

The werewolf noticed the discomfort of its “patient” not long after, practically jumping away from him. “Oh, yeah, sorry.” It lowered its head in apology. Shadow slowly calmed down, breathing deeply, yet stayed quiet.

As the silence dragged for a moment longer than it was comfortable, the blue hedgehog started cautiously backing off from the hunter, looking sadder with every step. “I think I'm gonna go now.” It motioned behind itself. “Not gonna bother you any longer.”

The whisper would have not reached Shadow’s ears had he not had his enhanced hearing. He watched unblinkingly as the werewolf reluctantly moved its feet, walking around the fire and away from the hunter. Some strange feeling tugged uncomfortably inside Shadow at the sight in front of him, and something told him that it was not a side effect from one of his recent injuries.

His eyes darted from the lit fire to the fish lying next to it, untouched; from the bandages thoughtfully wrapped around his body to the bag sitting near him, despite being lost to the water current not so long ago; from his hunter’s coat swinging over the closest branch, dripping water and suspiciously lacking blood spots on it, to the green fabric he’s tucked in. The same fabric that Shadow remembered the other hedgehog wearing in his mobian form and not having on its body right now.

He didn’t remember how he got here. Although, not that the hunter really needed anyone to spell it out for him to know the answer.

The crimson eyes darted back at the leaving werewolf.

“Wait!” He shouted suddenly, a surprise even to himself. “You could stay.” He spit out nervously when the blue hedgehog turned around and looked back at him expectantly. Why did he even start this? What was he to say now?! “ I, um… I need help with preparing fish. My shoulder still hurts.”

He dropped his gaze to the ground, not waiting to see the reaction of the other. The silence fell over the space, the hunter rolling his good shoulder to get rid of the tense feeling in his muscles.

A nerve wracking minute of dead silence came by and finally some shuffling sound came from the werewolf, and Shadow, against his better judgement, looked up from his seat. The blue hedgehog moved back closer to the fire and planted its butt pretty close to Shadow, yet still leaving enough distance between them for comfort. Shadow huffed. A satisfied smile blossomed on the werewolf's muzzle, ears raised high and eyes not leaving the hunter out of sight. The beast must have found something funny in his reaction apparently, something that Shadow didn’t even want to think about.

“Okay.” The blue beast said briefly, smiling at Shadow. “Okay, I'll stay.”

The hedgehog almost looked proud of itself for being asked to stay, with its back shot straight and fur puffed pridefully. Shadow huffed out of his nose agitatedly.

“Why did you help me?” He started as the werewolf began preparing the fish. It took all the organs out, before skewer the meat on some sticks. “You knew who I was, who I am. Why risk?”

“You were in need. Why wouldn’t I?” Came an easy answer, the beast's eyes not even leaving the task in front of them. Shadow felt his irritation rising.

“Why would you? I just told you, I am a monster hunter! And you're a monster-” The blue hedgehog visibly winced at the wording. The hunter saw it, but chose to ignore… for now. “We don’t help each other. We kill each other!”

The fish steadily cooked over the fire, the blue furred hands slowly swirling the sticks to prepare the food equally from all sides. At first, it looked like the other hedgehog didn’t hear what the hunter said, its face stoic and unfaltering as it focused on the cooking. At the closer inspection though, its expression looked mellow and thoughtful more than anything.

When the response came, it was quiet. “I don’t know. Just had a feeling. I didn’t want to see you die.”

Shadow scoffed at that. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe.” The blue hedgehog answered without missing a bit, finally turning to look right at the hunter. The emerald eyes scrunched judgmentally. “Then why did you help me? You definitely knew who I was. What I am!” It patted itself on the chest, emphasising the point. “Why bother?”

Shadow winced. Truth be told, he was sure he knew the answer before. And yet, his confidence started to waver not so long ago. That one reckless decision, that he wasn’t even sure why he made, led out to all that was happening around him right now.

All he could vividly remember from that day were those green eyes looking back at him, before swiftly closing as the beast pressed its forehead against the barrel of the gun. With how much force it squeezed them shut… How scared it was-

Shadow stayed quiet, looking away. The beast huffed, yet no humour was heard from it. “Exactly…”

“Why stuck with me after? What, do you have no pack to return to?”

The blue fur slightly twitched, as if the hedgehog got the chills from a cold wind or something. It was a small gesture that Shadow still caught the sight of. As the silence dragged on, it more and more started to look like the beast wouldn’t answer the hunter at all, choosing to ignore him and his questions all together.

The dark hedgehog waited. The fish kept mindlessly getting twisted on the stick in the other’s hands.

As the seconds passed one by one, something in his mind clicked. Shadow squinted. “You don’t have a pack, do you?” He asked, somewhat sombrely.

Lonely werewolves were rare, but not highly uncommon. Although, they seldom stayed around in one place, opting to wander around to avoid being slaughtered by hunters or attacked by other packs. And yet, in practice, just like with the regular wolves: a lone wolf is a weak and vulnerable wolf.

“That is a very inappropriate thing to say to a werewolf, thank you very much.” The blue hedgehog tried to use its humorous and easy going attitude, but even to Shadow, who was vastly inexperienced in normal mobian interactions, the attempt fell flat.

A beat of silence. “So do you?” The hunter pressed.

He was pushing it, Shadow could tell that much. When the deep green emerald eyes turned to him, staring him down, he barely held the flinch.

“I do not.” The words felt like they hung in the air after they were spoken into existence. Shadow now heard the other side of the situation, but still couldn’t get it.

“Then why-?”

“I stuck around with you cause I wanted to, okay?!” The volume of the outburst forced Shadow to lean away from the beast., his ears pressing close to his head. Shallow breaths escaped through the werewolf’s teeth. “It has been a long time since anybody… helped me. Wanna keep a good company around...”

The beast’s attention returned back to food over the fire it was preparing. The crackle of wood and the crickets’ night serenades filled in where the words didn’t even try. For the time being both of the hedgehogs let the evening carry on. Light from the flame eagerly played on their fur, illuminating them in warm tones. The smell of cooked fish flowed through the clearing and further.

Shadow kept quiet through all of this. Somehow, the feeling that the blue hedgehog didn't say all it needed lingered, not letting the hunter speak up out of turn.

The beast stayed staring into the flames when it continued. “That day, you found something in me worth saving.” A tender smile crept on the werewolf’s face. “Maybe I'm curious what it was…”

Shadow said nothing to that. What could he say, really? The conversation, at least this part of it, seemed to die right there and then.

Finally, after a long while, the werewolf finished with the fish.

“Name’s Sonic, by the way.” The werewolf cheerfully provided, passing Shadow his portion of roasted fish.

The change in the mood slightly startled Shadow as he instinctively took the offered meal in hand. The cheerful hum carried from the blue hedgehog, the first bite of fish cheering him up even more.

“Shadow.” The broody hunter quietly provided, biting into his own portion.

The beast’s…Sonic’s smile grew even brighter at his response. “Well, it’s nice finally having a name to a face.” Shadow’s eyes widened.

Sonic looked like a little sun, even though it was already closer to midnight. His quills swayed in the wind, the light from the fire making him shine even more. The green in his eyes burned like the actual emeralds.

Shadow huffed. Maybe he would not mind this companionship as much as he thought he would after all.