Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shadow's vision blurred as he awoke.

What is this?

He's lying snugly in a bed, underneath thick black covers. As his vision clears, light shines through the peaks of the black curtains, otherwise, the room is covered in a cloak of darkness that can't hide the fact that this isn’t his room, nor is it a room at Rouge’s place.

Shadow feels his head, the last thing he remembers is that he was at Sonic’s birthday party… Did something happen to him after that? If so… what? He can feel the black spot in his memory, it’s fuzzy and when he tries to focus on it it doesn’t become any clearer. Shadow blinks and clenches his eyes shut in frustration. Again, his memory has failed him.

Knock, knock.

“Good morning Shadow,” said a voice, a male voice that Shadow also didn’t recognize. Before he could respond the door opened. A man walked in with ochre-brown skin, a neat black haircut, and holding a tray with a steaming cup of coffee.

Shadow did not like this, and he knew it read on his face. But the man didn’t seem to notice, or if he did, he didn’t care. He delivered the cup of coffee to the nightstand next to the bed, along with a small glass of coffee beans.

“It’s your usual, black coffee and a side of beans. I’m trying out a new blend, give me your thoughts after you drink it.”

Then the man went to the curtains, pulling open the drapes to reveal the scenery of a town below the window, a car lazily drove by, as a handful of people walked by.

“What is… Who are you?”

Shadow blinked, lifting his hand to his mouth. My voice…

What has happened to my voice? It’s, deeper, older sounding. Shadow glances at his hands, turning them over, his gloved hands look different, and the fur on his arms is long, and glossy, shining in the bare amount of light present in the room.

This is wrong.

The man turns around with a half smile. Shadow notices he’s wearing a green apron with a coffee logo that reads “Mean Bean.”

The man chuckles at his question, "Nice joke Shadow. Oh, don’t worry about helping in the cafe today, I know Sonic has been begging you to hang out with him. You should take a break.”

Shadow blinks at him. What is this? Cafe? What Cafe? How does he also know Sonic? Who the hell is this guy?

“What is this place and what am I doing here?” he deeply frowns, “I’m being serious.”

“It’s the mushroom planet, I’m here to infect you with the mushroom virus." the stranger wiggled his fingers, "Was that better? I know humor isn't my strong suit."

“No, I said I was being serious," Shadow glowered.

“I don't think you have a strong sense of humor either,” he chuckles, “but keep working on it. I’ll be in the cafe if you need me.”

Completely flabbergasted Shadow sat up in the bed with his mouth open, watching the human leave without another word. He looked over to the cup of coffee and hesitatingly sniffed the hot steaming mug. It didn't smell suspicious at all. It's slightly floral; probably from the Southside Islands.

It’s a nice cup of coffee, with floral notes, light, strong, and smooth. He easily drinks all of it, and snacks on the raw beans after, looking around the room as he chewed. He recognizes that the room, while sparsely decorated, has items in his style. A black rug in the middle, a CD rack with Metal bands and… Whoever Sabrina Carpenter is, a black boombox, and a small black vanity with drawers for storage. The room feels too huge for the small bed and the scarce amount of items present.

Shadow sat at the vanities chair, looking at himself in the mirror. His eyes widened at what he saw.

That’s not me.

The reflection in the mirror looked like him. He can tell that this is supposed to be him. But it- that wasn’t what he looked like. His fur is strange and so is the shape of his face, he doesn’t even recognize the look in his eyes.

“I’ve taken on a new form,” he mumbled to himself.

No, that’s not right either. This isn’t his form. He’s starting to suspect what has happened here and he doesn’t like it.

…

“Shadow. Shadow!”

His eyes opened.

“Are you okay? You passed out! What happened?!”

His vision is flooded with blue. But that voice- that is-

“Sonic,” he speaks and his vision clears.

Sonic grins at him. The bright sun shines behind him, and a breeze ruffles through his quills. “Yeah it's me, you feeling okay? Rouge said you went on a solo mission while I was fighting the time-eater. Must've been pretty hard on ya for you to pass out.”

Shadow stares at him.

“...What are you talking about? I was just-” he looked around, his eyes widened, and quickly clamored up to his feet. With his mouth open he stared in awe of his surroundings. A breeze pushed through his quills, and the shade from the tree over his head swished, cascading leaves down below. One landed on Shadow’s forehead and he pushed it off. He saw flat green grass in bright colors. A loop-de-loop in the distance, colorful flowers in perfect shapes, and even more colorful critters in pink, purple, white, and green. Hedgehogs, alligators, bees, and creatures he can’t identify. They’re all pleasantly chatting and enjoying the sun, with not a human in sight; eating cake and smiling so brightly that it hurt to look at.

His stomach churned. This isn’t his room. This isn’t anywhere that exists on Earth. Nothing from Maria’s descriptions or the textbooks they read together could even allow him to imagine such a place existed. Yet somehow, he stood among the perfect grass, his ears whistling slightly in the breeze.

“You… okay Shadow? I’ve never seen you space out like this before Bud.”

Shadow grunts and it feels… weird in his mouth. His voice… Doesn't sound right to his ears. It's gravely, higher pitched.

“Where… Am I?” he turned his head to look at Sonic and Sonic looks just as confused as he feels.

“What do you mean Dude? Haven’t you been to Christmas Island before?”

Shadow shakes his head, “This place doesn’t even look like it belongs on Earth. How could I have been here before?”

Sonic's head cocked to the side.

“Earth?”

Shadows' mouth felt dry. He looked up to Sonic. But Sonic… He realized looked different, sounded different, older, taller. His fur is short, and it isn’t shiny. The more he stares, the deeper he frowns.

“Shads, you're starting to worry me.”

“You-"

A gentle flap from overhead made Shadow look up, a bat fluttered from above, landing next to Sonic.

“Let me try talking to him Big Blue, he sounds confused.”

Shadow shifted back when the bat flew in. The blue eyeshadow over her eyes made her large eyes look even bigger, with her posture relaxed, acting weirdly familiar with his presence. She eyed him in a way he didn't recognize, in a way he didn’t like. Whoever she is, she thinks he knows him, and that's an offense he can't reconcile with.

“Who are you?” he accused, and the bat held a hand over her chest incredulously.

“Who am- who am I?!” The bat’s voice raised in pitch, getting the attention of the other animals nearby, their gaze focused on the pair.

“Am I supposed to know who you are?” Shadow huffs.

“Of course, you’re supposed to know who I am- we- I was with you the whole time you were working with Eggman!” her eyes narrowed. “Oh, and there’s the little fact that we work together!”

“Please, if I saw you around the Mean Bean Cafe, I would know," he rolls his eyes.

As if startled, she stumbled back, “You work for GUN. We work for GUN! How could you… suddenly think you work in a Cafe. Doesn't the ultimate lifeform have a better way to use his time?"

Shadow glared at her, trying to keep his anger in check that he felt boiling inside of him. One of his hands clenched into a fist, “I don’t know who you are, and I would never even consider working for GUN. They took…” he shakes his head, “they took too much from me.”

“Oooookay!” Sonic clapped his hands together, dispelling the tension between the pair. Both blinked and looked at Sonic. “We’re going nowhere fast with this Rouge.”

“Agreed.” Rouge sighed. “I just don’t understand what could have happened. I was there with him in White space…”

“I don’t know what that is, I know I couldn’t have been anywhere with you.” Shadow rolls his eyes. “Now let me ask the questions. What is this place? And why don’t you know what Earth is? Where are those humans you depend on?”

The yellow fox stepped in, “Shadow, we don’t know what you’re talking about, and I think we should talk about this after the party.” Tails smiled, “It’s Sonic’s birthday you know-”

Even that little fox looks different, but at least his voice, oddly enough, is exactly the same.

“Tails, I think this is honestly more important than my birthday,” Sonic rubs a finger under his nose, nervously chuckling, “I can’t expect Shadow to enjoy my birthday if I don’t understand what’s happened to him, and I don’t want to be worrying about him the whole party.”

“Save your worry hedgehog,” Shadow replied. “I don’t even particularly want to be at this… party, I just want to understand why you look like that.”

That bridge on his nose doesn’t connect to his muzzle. It makes his eyes look connected, as though in his head is one giant eyeball.

“I look like what?”

“I also want to know what’s happened to him.” Rouge tapped her fingers on her crossed arms, “ How in the world did you lose your memories-”

“Guys, I think you’re crowding around him too much.” Sonic gestures for them to make space, which Shadow, admittedly felt grateful for, he didn’t like all these… eyes or questions, especially when he knew less than they did. Even still, Shadow kept his expression even, barely changing the way he looked.

Tails went ‘hm’ his big tails swishing behind him, “No if Shadow just lost his memories, he would remember you Rouge. I think…. There’s something else happening here. Shadow, please explain to us what earth is, what humans you’re talking about, and what you last remember. We can probably figure out what happened to you if we have more information because right now we’re just as confused as you are.

Shadow sighs.

“Fine. But no more interruptions.”

…..

When Shadow made his way downstairs, he lingered at the entrance to the Coffee Shop. It wasn’t a particularly busy day for the man he still didn’t have a name for, but he was working as a barista behind the counter. The hum of the machines and the sound of a shot being pulled into a mug were familiar to him, and the smell of the various blends of coffee etched themselves into the inside of his brain. It smelt divine in the shop, the strong stench of coffee somehow not drifting upwards into the upstairs rooms. Sweet pastries sat in the display case, along with bagels. The only customer in the room is an old man sitting at one of the tables, eating a croissant as he waits for his coffee.

Shadow didn’t at all know how to feel about this. There was a… twinge of jealousy. A very small twinge at that. This other Shadow was very lucky to have so much coffee at his fingertips, freshly delivered to his bed. Of course, it's ridiculous to feel any deeper emotions than that for something so... whatever.

As much as he hated to even admit it, he’s definitely in the body of another shadow, transported into his form and now somewhere in the multiverse, lifetimes, worlds, and dimensions away from his home and… acquaintances.

He needed to get in contact with Sonic and whoever else is in this dimension and figure out a way back. After all-

If I’m here, and the Shadow of this world isn’t here, that means he’s there.

And Shadow didn’t like the thought of someone else, even another Shadow, taking his place. With how different their circumstances and their lives are, he can’t imagine that the other Shadow even understands what’s happening. Who knows how long it will be before Tails invents some device or they find the chaos emeralds, or Knuckles is convinced to let them use the master emerald. Not that he's sure any of those would work. Shadow doesn't know how Blaze moves between her dimension and Mobius. He didn't ask, and it could be a power only the sol emeralds could perform. If that's the case, Shadows going to be very stuck here and he doesn’t want to spend any longer in another dimension than he has to, it’s a waste of his time. Like it or not, this world Sonic is his only ticket home.

Ugh.

He also feels a slight pang in his chest, a small worry, but it’s there- what if the world is in danger and I’m not there?

He shakes that off, that’s foolish. He'd even go as far as to call it stupid. Sonic is perfectly capable of defending their home alone, and so are the rest of his little friends. Besides, Eggman isn’t exactly in his prime, nor is Black Doom. Neither could feasibly attack again so soon.

The man serving as barista finally noticed Shadow with a nod.

“Go have fun.”

Whatever.

Shadow didn’t say anything back to him. He left the coffee shop and exited onto the street of who knows where he is now.

He could describe this place as… sleepy. Very few people were out and about, cars lazily drifted by in the street, in the distance he could hear the breeze twisting through the weather vane on top of one of the shops. Antiques, a general store, a supermarket, completely banal. He had a hard time believing that any Sonic could live in such a boring area-- if it weren’t for the mountains, covered in tall, thick pine trees that cut them off from the outside world. As much as he knew about Sonic, he knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the green forests, thick with life and with nature.

A bristle went down Shadow’s neck. He turned around, seeing a blue blur from on top of one of the distant mountains, coming closer and closer in a matter of seconds. That wasn’t surprising, what was surprising was the chaotic crackle of energy surrounding the blue blur. It clung in the air, its presence aggressive, stinging. Shadow is always able to sense Sonic’s chaos energy that exists within himself it felt… sweet, and youthful, for lack of better words. This felt… aggressive, different. Like somehow… this Sonic isn’t fully in control of himself.

He really is in a different world. That isn't Sonic.

He looked down at his hand and clenched it into a fist, a spark of chaos energy coarse through his body.

And this isn't me either.

“Hey, Hot Topic! I thought I told you to meet me at the top of that mountain!”

Shadow looked up.

His face…. It's… completely different. That fur color. His fur. It's wrong. Different. The ridge between his eyes is more pronounced, a little bit of the peach of his muzzle travels up between his eyes, his eyes are deeper, and Shadow can see further into them than he could before (not that he spent a lot of time looking into Sonic’s eyes) and while he was at it, his voice is… hm, he can’t decide if it sounds younger or is just higher of a pitch. Either way, nothing about this Sonic feels like his Sonic, the Sonic that has been a pain in his side for years now.

Shadow crossed his arms, “I didn’t know that-”

“Didn’t know? Well, I totally told you. It’s okay if you forgot. Also, you stink of coffee, do you like it enough that you’ve started bathing in it?”

Shadow put up a hand, interrupting his childish babblings.

“Enough of this. Where’s Tails? In fact, where are the rest of your… little friends?”

“You’re asking about my brothers?” Sonic’s ears twitched. “I kneeeeewwww you liked them,” he teased, “Hehe, I thought racing was a you and me thing but I can invite them next time-”

“No, that’s not it at all.”

Brothers?

No, I’m not going to ask.

“I have something important I need to tell you and I’m not going to bother to explain it twice. Bring me to them, now.”

“I could bring them to you, or we could race to them! 1, 2, 3- GO!”

Sonic took off with Shadow a second behind.

Chaos energy crackles behind them as they run. Sonic whooped and hollered, he ran up hills and jumped, soaring through the air and back down to the earth.

Shadow let out a grunt as he watched, it was foolish. It slowed him down, Shadow didn't need to push himself at all to keep up. But he couldn't push himself past Sonic, he had no idea where he was going. Sonic caught his eye with a wink. Shadow rolled his eyes.

Never mind, they aren’t that different. They are both idiots.

But… he can’t deny that it’s almost nice. Running, jumping. This world feels different, it feels strange and foreign and colorless and Shadow doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like that he can’t understand everything that has happened, and doesn’t know that Sonic has brothers.

Even if this world turns out to be similar, and Sonic is somewhat the same, it doesn’t make a difference. He's become... a stranger to even the chaos energy in the air, swirling around him, enveloping his body every time he pushed off his skates.

Ugh. This is getting… upsetting to think about. Here's hoping that he won't have to think about this any longer, he can get home and he'll easily leave this world behind forever.

Of course, he doesn't think it's going to be that easy. It never is when he's dealing with Sonic.

Chapter Text

The birthday party finally ended some time ago, Sonic’s friends bid Sonic goodbye with long sentimental speeches and hugs that Sonic happily accepted. The pink hedgehog, Amy had gathered up all the party decorations, and now the sun was setting over Christmas Island, the sky bathed in blues, pinks, and oranges.

Shadow's arms crosses when he hears the bat flutter over his head, he looks up and Rouge stares at him, the shiny eyeshadow over her eyes sparkling in the orange light of the sunset. “I should apologize for giving you a hard time back there. I didn't know you weren’t my Shadow. How was I supposed to know really?” she shrugged, “It isn’t like you’ve physically changed anyway.”

“I don’t need an apology,” Shadow replied.

Rouge smiled, “You two aren’t all that different. Well, I can’t stick around. Ta ta~” She waved with a wink. “Call me if you need any help getting to your home, but I think Sonic and Tails should be enough help.”

Right, whatever. Shadow leaned back against the tree, looking up into the sky. The darker it gets, the more of the moon is visible, and he doesn't like what he sees.

The moon from his world is a clean break, one half sliced from the whole with knife-like precision. Here... it’s like someone bashed it with a hammer, the fragmented moon pieces suspended in zero gravity.

Shadow really can’t fully believe that he is in a different world, a different dimension that isn’t his own, but how could he not acknowledge it when even the moon is different- when Sonic reacted to Shadow explaining things about his world the way he did.

“Parents?!” Sonics face was... amusing. “I dont-What?! You think human parents adopted me?!"

Rouge stifled a giggle with her hand.

Tails was the only one not surprised, he had been nodding the entire time Shadow spoke, “It's just like I suspected! The reason Shadows is so confused and the reason why he doesn't know Rouge is that he is from an alternate dimension!"

“Tails, you saying he's… A different shadow?”

“Right! And the Sonic he is talking about is a totally different Sonic from his world. It's kinda sweet we got adopted together,”

“Aw jeez Tails,” Sonic pats Tails head, “don't get mushy."

Shadow wasn’t satisfied by this.

“How does that make any sense? How did I get here? How did I swap places with another Shadow? I wasn’t doing anything when the swap happened.”

Sonic shrugged, “One time I turned into a werehog.”

“What?”

“Y'know, a werewolf hedgehog. Was it annoying? Yeah, but it was kind of cool. My arms were stretchy. I mean, weirder things have happened Shadow, it's just par for the course you know?”

“No, that's ridiculous."

Tails spoke up, “What I think Shadow is trying to say is that this explanation makes the most sense. Your memories and things that have happened don’t align with us, you don’t even live on Mobius, you live in a completely different world. I don’t believe there’s another explanation.”

Shadow glares at nothing, he tries to contain his immense frustration. "I suppose that makes sense."

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you home!” Sonic dismisses, “Yo Blaze!”

The purple cat walked over, at least, Shadow was pretty sure she was a cat. She’s one of the few… Mobians here who is dressed, her face is even, and the gem in the middle of her forehead is shiny. She doesn’t say anything, Sonic is already talking, his hands moving.

“Shadow here is a different Shadow from another dimension, and since you travel here from your dimension to here a lot, do you have any idea how Shadow can get home?”

Blaze looked Shadow up and down.

“Hm. You look the same to me."

"I'm in... his body," Shadow crossed his arms.

"Oh." She blinks, "That's very strange. I wonder how that happened. But no," she looks to Sonic, "I don’t think the sol emeralds can help with that if that’s what you are asking. The sol emeralds are linked to my dimension and here, and they’re only linked to here because of Eggman." An angry look crossed her face, “maybe try the chaos emeralds? Sorry I can’t help.”

“No prob! We'll figure it out!” Sonic rubbed underneath his nose again with his ring finger. “Guess we gotta find those emeralds again huh Tails?”

“Sure sounds like it…” Tails chuckled.

Sonic turns to Shadow, "We'll start looking for those emeralds tomorrow."

Shadow is kind of stunned by the fact that Blaze doesn't have... any follow-up questions at all. This is too much information for Shadow to take in, and honestly, he's tired of all this... talking.

“I’m not in the mood to discuss this any further-”

“Sonic!”

Sonic and Tails turned to the pink hedgehog.

“Don’t you want to open my present?” She offered up a box, wrapped in blue wrapping paper with a big red bow on top.”

“Oh yeah! I’d love that Ames, me, and Tails were distracted talking to Shadow because he’s from another dimension,” he explained.

“Huh?”

Tails explained better, “Our Shadow has swapped places with this Shadow, he’s from a dimension where he lives on Earth and Sonic is adopted by humans.”

“Oh my gosh that’s sooo sweet!” her green eyes brightened, and he didn’t understand how it was she was also able to quickly accept this. “Does he know me?”

“No,” Shadow said flatly and ignored her. He stood underneath the tree near all the commotion and silently chaos controlled up.

….

And chaos controlled up?

….

Why isn’t this working?

Using chaos control doesn't come as… naturally to this body. He can feel the chaos energy inside of him struggling to come to its full power, it keeps fizzling out before he can do anything. Shadow focuses, closing his eyes and feeling the energy inside, but it's… Awful. Whatever is swirling inside of this body isn't the chaos energy he knows. He can feel something else, powerful and dark and dangerous, it feels… evil. Shadow opens his eyes with a gasp, covering his mouth with his hand. He has no idea what that is but now he knows it there he can't stop feeling it in the pit of his stomach, struggling to compete with the powers of chaos.

This catches the attention of Sonic.

“Shadow are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” he says curtly. A part of him wants to ask how other Shadow uses chaos control, but at the same time, he couldn't stand it if Sonic knew he didn't have a solid grasp of his powers.

So he climbs up the tree, ignoring Pinkie’s loud chattering and Sonic’s reactions to his birthday gifts.

…

Shadow’s race lasts seconds, milliseconds of dodging branches and circling trees before they’re in front of a normal-looking white picket fence house. Sonic and Shadow stop at the same time, and their bodies collide with each other and they tumble in the dirt, kicking up a dust storm.

“Bleugh! Gross! Dirt in my mouth!” Sonic shouted.

“Get off me, faker!” Shadow yelled, shoving Sonic off.

“Faker?” Sonic sounds confused for a moment. “Wait- you crashed into me!”

“You-!”

“Don’t you you me! I clearly won this race anyway!”

“In your dreams hedgehog.”

“What's going on?!”

Sonic lifts his head and bounces up, leaving Shadow on the ground. Shadow picks himself up and dusts himself off with a sour expression. Over at the entrance to Sonic’s home is the fox, Tails.

“Who won this time?” Tails asks.

“Me!” Sonic points at himself.

“In your dreams hedgehog,” Shadow growls.

Tails laughs, “Sounds like it was another tie.”

“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Sonic with a casualness that makes Shadow freeze in place.

What did he just say?

“They went to the mart that sells walls,” Knuckles suck his head out the doorway and Shadow was not expecting to hear that voice come from Knuckles, nor with an accent he couldn’t put his finger on, what the hell?

“He means Walmart,” Tails added.

“Yeah, I got that.”

What’s a Walmart?

“Shadow says he has something important he wants to tell everyone.”

“Oh?” Tails lifted his eyes, “Should we wait for Tom and Maddie to get back then?”

Sonic looked at Shadow and Shadow had no idea how to respond to that. He’s still reeling from the whole 'Mom and Dad.' He shakes his head, eventually coming to terms that he might have to explain this twice like he thought.

“No, it’s fine, we’ll discuss this now.”

“Oh okay! Knuckles, Shadow wants to talk to us!” Tails calls into the house and heads in. Sonic zips over in a matter of seconds.

“Come on Shads, what are you waiting for?!” Sonic teases and then heads inside.

Shadow lets out an annoyed huff and heads in too. He hangs in the entryway for a quiet moment. The house is… normal. Grey walls, modern white furniture, it's clean and trendy. Shadow has seen furniture catalogs that Rouge will leave lying around her apartment sometimes, and this looks like the rooms in those categories. The kitchen is visible from the entryway, white with a floating island in the middle. Shadow spies pictures hung onto the stairwell, Sonic playing baseball, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles posing with a birthday cake. A family photo of two humans and the… Mobians (what word does he use?) in matching sweaters, awkwardly smiling into the camera.

It’s disgusting. (He doesn’t want to admit it’s charming, it reminds him too much of the photos he would take with Maria.)

It’s from upstairs that a creature makes its way downstairs. Shadow felt his back stiffen and he backs away from the thing that's panting, blinking at him with big, empty eyes.

Shadow could hear rifling in the kitchen, and Knuckles stepped into the entryway with a big handful of grapes.

“What are you doing, hedgehog? That’s Ozzy. He’s not a threat to anything except beef jerky.”

“What is it?” Shadow asks, with a creep of disgust coming over him.

Knuckles shakes his head, “A dog,” and he passes the dog with a pat on its head.

“A dog?” Shadow glared at it and then followed Knuckles into the living room where Sonic and Tails were waiting. “Why is it on all fours?”

“Huh?” Sonic asks.

“What?” says Tails.

Knuckles grumbles something through his mouthful of grapes.

“Wait, wait, wait- Why are you asking this? Does it have to do with the big important thing you need to tell us?”

“Yeah I mean, you’ve met Ozzy before,” Tails frowned.

Shadow sat onto the couch, with his arms crossed, “Alright, listen up, I’m not from this world, and not this dimension. Somehow I have switched bodies from the Shadow that is from this world. Any questions?”

He should have expected the clamoring of questions all at once.

“Are you serious Shadow?!”

“Switched bodies?!”

“Are you talking about Mobius?”

Shadow lifted his hand “Knuckles, what did you just say?”

“There are dogs in Mobius, that’s what I said.”

“Is that where you’re from Shadow?” Tails asks.

“H-hold on, guys,” Sonic stood up on the couch. “Guys, are we seriously believing that Shadow is from another dimension?”

“I don’t know, have we talked about Mobius in front of him before?” Tails looked at Knuckles.

“We don’t talk about our planet unless necessary,” that is to say, he also has no idea.

“Hm, but even then the Shadow we know wouldn’t pretend to be scared of Ozzy just so we’d believe something like that-”

“I was not. Afraid. Of Ozzy,” Shadow glared. “I simply haven’t ever encountered that… creature before.”

Even now, having Ozzy look at him from across the room is unsettling, he can’t describe what it is he’s feeling but Ozzy fills him with a sense of wrongness and dread that makes his stomach churn.

“Okay Shadow, I know you’re kidding so cut it out,” Sonic laughs and it sounds strained.

“I have better things to do than kid Sonic,” Shadow narrowed his eyes at him. “Frankly, I wouldn't be involving you if I believed I could get back home on my own. I don’t know anything about this world, or how it works.”

Sonic looked at him, “Are you saying… you need my help?”

Shadow sighed, “Fine, yes.”

Sonic plopped back on the couch, his eyes wide, “Woah it just got really serious in here. Hot Topic just said he needed my help.”

Tails and Knuckles agree.

Sonic was thinking, his nose twitching, and then his ears. “Well okay, if you are from another dimension… Do you, you know, have proof?”

“Hm.” Shadow had thought about this, and the conclusion he had was, “No. I came to this dimension with nothing on me. I’ve been transported to the body of your Shadow, therefore I have the same abilities and limitations as… him.” It feels weird talking in 3rd person, “There’s no way for me to prove things I know about my dimension, but yes… I don’t like that… Ozzy. Creatures like that don’t exist on Mobius, all dogs walk on two legs and have higher… intelligence.”

Ozzy barks.

“Don’t be rude to him, he didn’t like that,” Sonic tutted.

“What do you mean he didn’t like that?” Shadow scowls.

“Are we friends?” Tails asks, his Tails swishing behind him. “In the other dimension I mean, Sonic, Knuckles, and I, are we friends?”

“If you must know, yes. I don’t know how long you’ve known each other but it’s longer than you’ve known me.”

That made Tails happy, his face lit up.

“Okay, okay, I think I believe you. Are there other Mobians in that dimension that are friends with me?” Sonic asks.

“You have… plenty of friends hedgehog, but I’m not here for story time. What I’m here for is the master or the chaos emeralds, or whatever it is you have in this dimension that has the power to take me home. I’m not concerned with these… trivialities. “

“Jeez, you hot topics are pretty similar, no wonder I couldn't tell you apart.”

“Why do you keep calling me Hot Topic?”

“Listen Shadow, of course we’re going to help you, you’re our friend.” Tails explains, his hands gesturing as he talks. Shadow felt his ear twitch when he called them friends, he has no idea how to impress upon them that they didn’t know each other but this made things… easier for him.

“But we’re just… hm. I don’t know what kind of technology you have there, but here we do have rings that can transport us to other worlds-”

“Like the mushroom planet,” Sonic helpfully interjects.

“Like the mushroom planet,” Tails agrees, “Or Mobius, which used to be our original home before we were forced to relocate to Earth For… you know… reasons.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow at that.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s complicated," dismissed Sonic.

“It’s a long story, passed down in my tribe for generations,” Knuckles says.

Shadow is not going to ask.

“Anyway,” Tails continued, “Traveling dimensions, I don’t know if we can do that. I mean, we’ve never really tried to travel into an alternate dimension? Why would we?”

“Um, because it’s super awesome! We could have our own ‘Marvel What if…?’ episodes!” Sonic excitedly bounced.

“That does sound pretty cool,” Tails admitted, “But also really dangerous.”

“If anything could do it, it would be the master emerald,” Knuckles added, “It can turn your thoughts into pure power.”

“Oh my gosh guys, we could totally-”

“That is completely off the table,” Knuckles cuts Sonic off. “You know we cannot abuse the power of the emerald.’

Sonic slumped in his seat with a huff.

“So if the master emerald doesn’t work…” Tails trailed off.

“I understand what you’re saying fox. The master emerald works similarly in my world. The chaos emeralds can create a time portal with two emerald users, if I and one of you harness its powers, it could open a rift through dimensions.” Shadow recalls Sonic once mentioning the time stones when he was talking about Metal Sonic, but Sonic hasn't mentioned ever using them again. He wonders if they exist in other dimensions, or if they even exist in his dimension anymore.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are silent, and that worries Shadow. A long moment passes before Tails goes “Oh!”

“I see what you’re saying Shadow, in your world the chaos emeralds and the master emerald are two separate things right?” Tails makes two fists and has them side by side, “Like this? Well in our world,” he intertwines his fingers, making one big fist with his hands, “They’re the same, the chaos emeralds come together to make the master emerald. Your theory about two emerald users is interesting and probably could work, and we know you and Sonic can use their power at the same but uh, the master emerald is kind of it. If it doesn’t work, I’m not sure what else we could try to get you home. I might be able to tinker with something…” Tails starts getting into a long technobabble explanation that Shadow doesn’t have the energy to hear out.

“Damn,” Shadow murmured.

“Did I hear swearing over here?”

The door shut in the entryway and two human adults entered the room, carrying Walmart-branded grocery bags. The man, Tom, is a white guy with brown hair, wearing a flannel. Shadow is surprised he can’t find a singular feature of his that’s memorable. The woman, Maddie, has sepia-brown skin, and black hair that sits on her shoulder, wearing a purple knit sweater tucked into her medium-washed jeans.

Hm. He’s been around Rouge too much.

“It was Shadow!” The three of them pointed at Shadow and Maddie shook her head, turning away and stepping into the kitchen as she spoke.

“Shadow we’ve talked about this, as long as you’re under our roof you can’t use that language.”

Tom nodded, “Big no-no bud, one more time and we’re making a swear jar.”

Shadow frowned, crossing his arms.

“Do not patronize me, Tom. I am the ultimate lifeform, I don’t need a swear jar,” he said the words with pure disdain. “I have done things you couldn’t imagine, defeated tyrants from across space and time. Just because I am in this body and this world does not mean you can treat me like I am beneath you. I will accept these rules, but do not act like a child."

Knuckles stood up and was about to say something when Tails tugged his arm, shaking his head. Shadow feels perhaps he was... a little harsh, now everyone is staring at him. It's Sonic who breaks the silence.

“Um, I’m not sure what that’s about either, to be honest. But the tl;dr of the situation is this isn't the Shadow we know. He's a Shadow from a different dimension who swapped bodies with our Shadow.”

Tom pursed his lips, and finally nodded, “Cool, cool. You know,” he put his hands on his hips and stepped back, “Wasn’t I just saying the other day that things were too boring around here?”

“You did,” Maddie agreed.

“So I kinda brought this on myself.”

“You absolutely did.”

He looked at his feet and clicked his tongue, “Yep. Alright.” He put his hands together, “So what’s the plan for our Team?”

“Actually, we were just talking about that, our best bet is the master emerald. Shadow thinks that if two users harness its power at the same time, they can open a rift and he can travel home. Wait- you said you did that to time travel?!”

“Wait, that’s so cool!” Sonic jumped, “What was it like? What did you do?”

“...I don’t remember." Shadow says plainly, “I know I’ve time-traveled, but I don’t know why.” Maybe that has something to do with that weird mephilis… deity? What was he? Why did thing insist–

You forgot me?! AGAIN?!

Wasn’t even a hard fight, if you’re going to be angry I forgot you, at least be worthy of being remembered in the first place, Shadow thought to himself.

“Sounds like things are pretty complicated in your world… Shadow.” Maddie sat on the couch next to Sonic, “Do you know how or... Why this happened?”

“I don’t. Eggman and… another adversary of mine are out of the picture. I don’t know how either of them could have caused this.”

“Eggman?” Tails asks.

“Why am I not surprised?" Tom mutters to Maddie.

“Hmph, of course, there’s another Eggman,” Knuckles crosses his arms.

“Is he a Mobian too?” Tails asks.

“No, he’s human. Were you under the impression that humans don’t exist in my world?”

“Kinda?” Tails gave a sheepish smile.

“Humans do not exist in Mobius,” Knuckles chimes in.

Shadow chews on this, “I see.”

“I mean, dogs don’t exist there- You two” Sonic gestures at Tom and Maddie, “Should have seen the look on his face when he saw Ozzy! Ha! It’s like he saw a ghost!”

“Whatever hedgehog,” Shadow finally stands up, “I need the power of the master emerald to return home. Show me the emerald.”

“Couldn't you just use a ring to get home?” Tom asks.

“Of course I couldn't.” Shadow resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Never say never bud, we should at least give it a try.” Sonic reaches in his quills for a small punch and flicks a ring at Shadow that he catches without hesitation. “Give it a shot. Do you have these-”

“No.”

“They’re easy,” Tails explains, “Think of where you want to go, and then just, throw the ring!”

Shadow looked at the ring in his palm, it’s smaller than his pinkie. Whatever. Shadow closed his eyes and focused, he thought about… hm… Station Square. Focusing deeper, he placed his thoughts to the inside of Twinkle Park, where he babysat Cream last weekend. Sonic made a fool of himself when he showed up and got a 12-scoop cone that melted immediately.

But it was fun. If you’re into that sort of thing, that is.

“You don’t need to overthink it-”

Cutting Sonic off, Shadow threw the ring and enlarged itself, hovering in the air, shimmering in place. With bated breath, the ring flickered between different images, places he recognized, Station Square, Westopolis, Twinkle Park, Seaside Hill, and Radical Highway before the ring collapsed, shrinking to the size it was before.

“Woah I’ve never seen that before!” Tails quickly picked it up and turned it over, looking for something that wasn’t there.

“Very strange...” Knuckles frowned, “the rings… didn’t like where you were trying to go.”

“Yeah, we have no choice, we have to let Shadow use the emerald,” said Sonic.

"If it is the only way," Knuckles agreed.

“Okay! Mom, Dad, we’ll see you after we get the emerald from Wade!” Sonic chirps.

Shadow does wonder what kind of person this… Wade is for Knuckles especially to trust him with guardianship of the emerald, an honor he bestows only on a few people. He doesn’t believe he’s ever trusted even Sonic to do that (not that Sonic would, a few days on Angel Island, alone, guarding a big rock would drive him out of his mind. Sonic gets bored after sitting down for 2 minutes. He’s always checking the time and laying down the second something isn’t happening.)

He also wonders about Tom and Maddie, who are taking this in stride. What odd parents they are.

It feels so… discomforting to say that. Truth of the matter, he’s never thought about his parents that much. Vanilla is... nice, and her daughter Cream is innocent, but the fact that Tom and Maddie are taking care of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails feels weird, and… wrong. It feels wrong.

Before they go, Maddie promises to make chili dogs for dinner that night, and only Sonic is excited.

…

The moon is still the same, still swirling in the sky in a crumbled, splittered mess.

This sucks, then he curses himself for starting to sound like Sonic.

Speaking of which, the blue hedgehog zips up into the tree, sitting across from him in the branches, he notices that if he were his Sonic he’d be swinging his feet childishly, but this Sonic is content to sit like this, holding onto the tree branch casually.

“Ready to go Shads?”

“There’s no reason for you to call me that.”

“Hey don’t be like that, did you have fun at the party?”

“... I’m tired of being here.”

“Hey, hey I get it I get it, you were asked a lot of questions by people you don’t really know that well, thanks for sticking around.”

“I had no choice but to ‘stick around’.” he felt his eyes flash with anger. “What would I have done if I wandered off on my own, in a strange world that I don’t understand?”

Sonic frowned, “That doesn’t sound like you-”

“Don’t act like you know me!” Shadow snapped. Then he sighed, the pressure inside his head felt like it was about to burst, and his insides twisted, the energy inside him “No, never mind. I’m not angry with you.”

Sonic pauses, “...You aren’t?”

“No.”

Sonic grinned, “That's good enough for me. Come on, I wanna get to Tails place. Let's race!” he hopped down to his feet, but Shadow still watched him from above.

“You aren’t upset at me?” the words slipped out of Shadow before he could control them.

“No. Why would I be? What, does other me get angry with you?”

Shadow blinks, “No. he doesn’t.” Sonic, his Sonic, only got angry with him once, and that was because of reasons that he felt were perfectly justified. Tom is his father. He was right to get angry.

(A small part of him thinks that Sonic is stronger than him for not giving into that anger.)

“That’s good, I was worried for a sec.” Sonic’s expression didn’t change, he’s still smiling.

Shadow landed on his feet. “You said a race? I don't know where we’re racing to.”

“That's never stopped me before. You chicken?” Sonic smirks.

“Hmph. No. You wish.” He stands next to Sonic, he’s stretching with a big dopey grin on his face. Shadow watched him, a thought crossing his mind that slightly troubled him.

“...Do you have... parents?”

“Hm? Oh no.”

“...What about Longclaw?”

“Who?”

“Nevermind.” She doesn’t exist in this universe.

Sonic shrugs, “Well, to be honest, I don’t know what happened to them. For a long time, it was just me, then it was me and Tails. I’ve made a ton of friends since then. So... It’s worked out pretty well.”

“Was it really that surprising that another version of you could have parents?”

“Kinda. I mean, it’s not something I think about. There’s no point, I’ve been just fine without parents. Don’t need them y’know? Do you ever think about having parents?”

“No. I was created. I can’t have parents.” Shadow is relieved when he doesn't need to explain that.

“See? Parents, Shmarents. Who needs them?”

Shadow couldn’t imagine his Sonic saying that. But this Sonic is taller, and more... Self-assured, confident? He wasn’t sure that was the word. It’s not like his Sonic didn’t also have an annoyingly big head about everything.

“How old are you?”

“Just turned 16!” He beamed proudly, “I noticed you didn’t tell me happy birthday.”

“Why does that matter?”

“I guess it doesn’t,” he laughs.

“Whatever.”

“How old is your Sonic?”

“...13.” he decides, Shadow doesn’t actually know.

“Wow. Huh, that’s how old I was when I beat Eggman for the first time. Guess he got a head start if he’s already met you. Man, time flies when you’re having fun.” Sonic suddenly shook his head and got into position, kneeling on the ground, ready to run at a second notice. “Enough talking, let’s run!”

Shadow took no such position, running milliseconds after Sonic shouts “GO!’

Chapter Text

Shadow arrived at Tail’s workshop after a fight about who won the race. Shadow's shoes, fueled by his chaos energy he still didn’t have a grasp on, lost the race by seconds. It was humiliating, it’s never happened to him before. But he couldn’t stand the thought of letting Sonic have the victory without needing to fight over it.

Tails’ place is cluttered, bookshelves filled with books, tins of mints, random plants in spaces you would and wouldn’t expect, badges and awards Shadow doesn’t recognize, a chalkboard covered in mathematical scribbles, Lego pieces, completed Lego projects (other Tails is always talking on and on about Lego) and of course various mechanical parts and pieces, including a box with a destroyed ladybug robot. Part of Tails’ house is a big cozy airplane hangar. Large industrial pipes poke out of the ceiling and bright flood lights. Shadow would ask why he’s living in such a space but he didn’t need to. Parked out in the front is-

“The tornado!” Tails beamed, showing off the bright red paint and white stripes on the well-maintained aircraft. “I’m sure the other me has shown it off before-”

“No, I don’t recognize this.”

Somehow that spurned Tails into a long explanation of all the different pieces of the tornado that Shadow only half listened to. Tails in this world might be even geekier than the Tails he’s familiar with.

Shadow half-wonders about the history present in the rooms. There are photos of Sonic and tails in photo frames, some older than others. He pauses when he sees pictures of young Sonic and Tails, Sonic is a lot shorter in the photo, standing on the tornado with Tails driving the plane (who took this picture?). There's also a photo of the other Shadow. It looks like he’s standing in front of a white… building he’s not familiar with. Sonic smirks into the camera, taking up most of the frame, and Shadow is turned mostly away and standing further back, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable.

“Hehe, I don’t think you remember that. The president asked us to take a photo. He’s a fan! I think I heard he keeps a copy on his desk.”

“...The president? As in the United States?”

“Ah no, the president of the United Federation. They sound pretty similar, could they be the same thing?”

“No, I don’t think so. Natural loop-de-loops aren’t a thing on my planet, nor should they be possible in any universe.”

“The wonders of nature,” Sonic just grinned. “If you want an explanation you could ask Tails-”

“Why? This isn’t even my world. The only thing I care about is getting back home.”

“Well, you’re in luck! Tails and I have hunting the emeralds down to a science! We're probably going to have to run all over the world- oh we'll probably take the tornado! You'll see all the sights.”

“This isn't a fun trip for me.”

“Sure sure,” Sonic smiled. “but if you're already here might as well have fun yeah? Oh! Right. I'm taking the couch, you can have the guest bedroom. It's past the kitchen, down the hall, and to the right.”

Before Shadow could respond Sonic zipped out of the room. Shadow didn't argue, he's tired and wants to be alone. He walks to the guest room, crammed wall to wall with big plastic totes, labeled with “tools”, “nuts & bolts”, and “red legos.” There’s no room, just space between the door, and the bed in the middle of the room. It's just impractical, how could Tails find anything he wanted in here?

Shadow plopped himself onto the quilted bed and stared up at the ceiling fan over him. Eventually, his gaze drifted out the window. At this angle, at this time of night, he saw a gleam in the stars, a reflection that he recognized as belonging to the Eclipse Cannon.

It’s still there. He blinked. Shadow felt a pang in his chest, and he swallowed, fists tightening until it went away.

How can it still be up there? How can it be allowed to exist after all that has happened?

Shadow wants to believe it isn't the Eclipse Cannon, it could be a multitude of things out in space, but he knew deep in his heart that it wasn’t true. Just as he could feel, in the pit of his stomach that Maria existed in this world, and he wanted to know more than anything if the Maria of this world fared a better fate, if he had saved her, if she had been happy.

Shadow looked at his hands, they were shaking.

No. No. It’s not right for me to think about this. Maria would have wanted me to move on. She would have wanted me to be happy. She would have wanted to see this world and marvel at the creatures that are like me, the flowers that look too perfect to be real, the loop-de-loops, and the checkered patterns in the dirt. She would have loved all of it.

She loved what she had, and what she had was so little. Shadow sees what Sonic has, and knows that Maria didn’t have it. She didn’t have her parents. She didn’t have her grandfather when she needed him. All they had was each other, under the constant threat and worry of death, the scientists who scrutinized him, and the government that eventually killed her.

Shadow doesn’t have parents. Or a grandfather. All he has now is Sonic and Agent Stone, and they’re gone, worlds and dimensions apart. This Sonic doesn’t even know Longclaw, doesn’t even know what loss is.

A tear lands on his glove. With a growl, Shadow rips open the covers and curls up underneath them, turning away from the window.

The night is cool and quiet. He can hear the sounds of frogs chirping, grasshoppers singing, and the thrum of his heartbeat in his ears.

….

“Not again Knucklehead.”

Knuckles knocked on the door to the police station for reasons Shadow couldn’t understand, and predictably he didn’t know his strength, and the door caved in.

“Oh. Oops,” was Knuckle's only reply.

“Knuckles, Mom already said that the next time you broke a door…” Tails trailed off.

“It was not on purpose!” Knuckles raised his voice, “Do not tell Mom!”

“There's no way Wade isn’t going to tell Mom,” Tails warns.

“Wade is loyal to me!” Knuckles insists.

“Guys, can we argue about this later? Shadows already walked in,” said Sonic.

Shadow doesn’t have time to listen to the kids argue, he strides into the sheriff’s department. There's only one person in the cramped, dark green room, Shadow assumes it's Wade. Wade doesn’t react to Shadow’s appearance, he’s leaned back, tossing a tennis ball against the wall. It bounces back into his palm and he tosses it again.

“Oh hey.”

Shadow looked back with an unimpressed glance. Knuckles interpreted this look correctly and got all huffy.

“Wade is a responsible partner to our cause.”

“Yeah dude, I’m responsible.” Wade doesn’t catch the ball and he stumbles, falling out of the computer chair.

“Right.” Shadow doesn’t feel like arguing, Knuckles is the guardian of the master emerald, and he can decide however he wants it to be protected. It’s not his business, and he can feel that it’s in the room. Without receiving instruction, Shadow moves over to the filing cabinet in the room. On top is a horrible crocheted muppet plush that sort of looks like Tom. With repulsion, He holds it up for the brothers to see, and their reactions speak a thousand words.

“Ugh, I told Dad to get rid of that,” Sonic cringes.

“Maybe we can burn it the next time we have a fire,” Tails suggests.

“Whichever is most destructive,” Knuckles grimaces when Shadow throws The doll at him, and he picks up a large… Chaos emerald?

Shadow frowns, looking at them, emerald in hand. “You were supposed to take me to the master emerald.

“You're holding it,” says Tails.

“This?” Shadow's grip on the gem tightens, “this is not the master emerald. “

“It is.” Tails frowns.

“What did you expect? Is it supposed to be a different color or something?” asks Sonic.

“The master emerald is easily 10 times bigger than this,” Says Shadow, he tosses it up in the air, Sonic and his brothers (that will never feel less strange) flinch, and he catches it effortlessly.

“Don’t do that again,” Knuckles warns him with a growl.

“I know better than to break the emerald,” Shadow turns it in his hands. Although he could feel that the power of the emerald was strong, and he could feel the pull of its incredible energy, hanging in the air made his fur stand on end, it didn’t make sense for it to be so small, so weightless.

“Alright, guess you two will use it,” Tails gestures vaguely to Sonic and Shadow, “and you’ll go home right?”

“We shouldn’t do this here,” says Shadow.

“Yeah, this could probably release a lot of energy. I don’t want to cause another nationwide blackout.”

“The master emerald can do that?” Shadow frowned.

“Oh no,” Sonic chuckled, “I got too excited when I played a baseball game by myself.”

"...You… playing a baseball game that ended in a major blackout?"

"Yeah."

"Oh I remember that," Wade says lazily, "that's why Robotnik was looking for you right?"

"Yeah, Eggman wanted to use me as a power source, and then we started fighting because he was a huge jerk."

Sonic looked troubled after saying that, and Shadow did not mistake that Sonic said was not is. But this isn't what he wants to know.

"...How did you do that?" Shadow's look is serious.

"Um," Sonic gave Tails a 'help me' look.

"Oh, I can explain. It was a release of energy that triggered an electromagnetic pulse," explains Tails, "also he's exaggerating. It was only an outage in the Pacific Northwest."

"Still! That's a loooot of square footage."

"Oh no doubt!" Tails smiled, "It was sooo cool!"

Oh Gaia. That explained what Shadow was feeling when Sonic was up in the mountains, the spark of electricity, that gleam in Sonic’s eyes. He’s much more powerful than the Sonic he knows.

...Hm. Does that mean this form is more powerful too?

Shadow hands the emerald over to Tails who accepts it and then immediately looks confused.

“Chaos control!” Shadow commands and in a flash their surroundings change to somewhere in the mountains, miles away from the Police Station. Shadow not only was able to chaos control without the assistance of the emerald, but he was able to transport Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and the emerald with him.

Incredible. This is something worthy of feeling envious of. The power that his counterpart has far exceeds his own, without the emerald Shadow can only move forward a few feet, further if he focuses his intentions onto someone- but using chaos snap without the emerald is nothing like using chaos control without it. The ability to warp time and space itself comes naturally to this form, and Shadow is trying very hard to tamper down his jealousy.

“Dude, that was awesome!” Sonic whoops, “I had no idea it was called chaos control, that’s sick!"

…His counterpart did not have to even say chaos control?

Shadow’s ears folded back, and he snipped at Sonic, “Let’s just get this over.”

Sonic blinked at him with big eyes, the blue hedgehog looked wounded and that wasn’t a look he was used to seeing on his rival's face.

"Dude, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

Knuckles scoffs, "You expect us to believe that? Your ears-"

Shadow unclenched his jaw and his ears stood back up on his head.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just get this over with."

"...Well okay." Tails the emerald to him.

Shadow doesn’t understand what he just did that was so wrong, or why they are looking at him like that. But it doesn’t matter. Sonic places his hands on the emerald and Shadow closes his eyes.

“Um- What am I supposed to be doing?” Sonic breaks his concentration and Shadow sighs.

“Focus your intentions on opening a portal to Mobius.”

“What does that mean?”

“Imagine it happening and it will happen."

"Oh! Turning your thoughts into power- I get it! It's literal!"

Shadow is sick of this world, this dimension, and this form. He wants to be home.

Shadow focuses his thoughts on Radical Highway, he can feel the night's air, the red bridge, and his anger on that night, he can hear Black Doom taunting him and then it happens instantaneously. The energy of the master emerald pulls him in and he’s floating, weightless. There are voices but Shadow can’t hear them, his mind, his thoughts are consumed by Radical Highway. The voices wash away and he hears music that strums at his soul, that he's never heard but knows implicitly.

When he opens his eyes the music stops. The red bridge is a beacon in the skyline, and it’s night. The moon is shattered. The wind whips around him, and he feels it, feels the world beneath his feet and he knows he is home.

“What happened to San Francisco?”

Shadow whips his head around and Sonic is standing behind him, looking around with a sense of wonderment. His eyes open and wide, mouth slightly hanging open, he leans where he looks like a child would.

It's not his Sonic. It's the Sonic from the dimension he just left, and somehow he's tagged along with him. Shadow looks at his hands, he's still in the wrong body, and the master emerald is gone.

"Damn."

…

Shadow awakes to the smell of food. Foolishly, for a moment he expects to see Agent Stone bringing him a cup of coffee. But of course, his room is too bright, his quilt is too warm, and he’s still surrounded by storage totes of all sizes. He would have to be stupid to think that yesterday's events were all just a dream, that there are no human-sized crocodiles or bees or rabbits.

Taking a whiff, he can smell bacon and eggs, he’s surprised it’s not chili dogs, he remembers Sonic mentioning that Tails’ gift to him was a chili dog wrapped in a bow, so he knows Sonic is also obsessed with them.

Shadow walks out of the room, his air shoes feel bulky and clunky on his feet in a way they never did when he was home. He reaches the kitchen and Sonic is eating messily, shoving food down so fast Shadow can’t tell he’s chewing. When Sonic notices Shadow his face lights up.

“Morning Shads!”

He can't help but notice the strange bracelet on Sonic’s wrist, it’s like the gold inhibitor bands around his wrist, but with a large round green stone in the middle. He doesn’t ask.

He pulls up a chair and sits at the table. He realizes he’s sitting at a chair with the food already waiting.

“...Morning,” Shadow mumbles. “Is this for me?”

“Yeah, Tails already ate. I knew you’d be up, you get up earlier than me. Bet you already had a run huh?”

Shadow doesn’t want to admit he just woke up, so he just cuts into his egg, the yellow yolk leaks onto the plate, soaking the bacon next to the freshly buttered toast.

The table they’re eating at is a cluttered mess, Shadow can see receipts, letters, invitations, bills, and blueprints for the tornado, something that looked like an iPad, a mech, and pieces of other devices that he couldn’t figure out without pulling the piece of paper out from under the pile, and that sounded like a pain. Some of the papers were stained by food, others with visible coffee ringlets.

Coffee?

“Do you have any coffee at all?” Shadow raised his head.

“Dunno. Tails!”

“You don’t need to yell, I’m right here.” Tails walks in from the opposite way Shadow came in, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with pilot goggles sitting on the top of his head. His gloves are covered in black soot, and there’s a smudge above his nose.

“Shadow wants coffee,” says Sonic.

“Oh! I just made a pot! I don’t drink it very often, but it helps for late-night brainstorming. How do you drink it?” Tails lifts a coffee pot from the cluttered kitchen counter and pours it into a white mug that says 'genius at work.'

“Black. No sugar, no milk."

Tails half-smiled, “I thought so.” He hands him the mug and Shadow accepts it with a nod.

“...Thanks.”

“You’re welcome!”

It’s hot, burning against his gloved hand, too hot actually, he's sure the coffee has scalded. But that wasn’t the worst part. Shadow took a whiff of the mug, he could instantly tell it was instant, and stale at that. His lip curled at the thought.

“What’s wrong?” Tails asks.

“Instant coffee is nothing but a pale imitator of what real coffee should taste and smell like. Even if you are a child you should be able to tell the difference between this and the real stuff. It’s not that hard to grind the beans yourself. If you must, I suppose you can drip brew it,” he waved his hand dismissively. “Coffee amateurs like yourself like how quick and easy it is to do, but you need the right water temperature or else you lose the natural flavor. There’s nothing like using a real espresso machine, and if you do that the best way to get the most out of it is to use a frozen stainless steel ball over the glass while pulling the shot, it preserves the tannins and produces a more flavorful shot.”

Sonic laughed, talking with food in his mouth, covering his mouth with his hand, “I was not expecting both Shadows to be a total coffee nerd!”

“I was hoping he wasn’t, I know better than to give Shadow instant,” Tails shook his head. “He would have said the same thing.”

Shadow felt an itch of irritation, of course, they’re even similar in this regard. Whatever.

Still giggling, “Do you also eat the beans raw?” Sonic asked.

Shadow felt his face turn red and he turned away, “It’s one of the best ways to get the most flavor from your coffee, not that you understand.”

“I don’t but, it’s the most you’ve talked the entire time you’ve been here,” Sonic stabbed his bacon with his fork.

“It’s only natural I am knowledgeable about coffee, I live above a Cafe.”

Tail’s eyebrows lifted, “oh wow, how did that happen?”

“My caretaker is Agent Stone, he used to be Robotniks… Eggman's assistant. Do you know him?”

“Uh,” Sonic and Tails exchanged a glance, Sonic shook his head, “He has a couple of robot companions. Orbot and Cubot.”

“...Right,” Shadow continued, “He already had a Cafe from... when the Doctor disappeared. Something about a mushroom planet,” he dismissed. “He reopened it after Eggman… sacrificed himself to save the earth from the Eclipse Cannon. He is a normal human, well not normal but… he was… very odd. But I survived the fall to earth due to the power of chaos. He did not have that protection. He is… most likely dead.” of course, Sonic insisted he could still be alive, but Shadow doubted that. He knew firsthand that humans are too fragile to survive such an explosion, especially in the vacuum of space. He also knew that Sonic knew that. But unlike Sonic, he had no reason to deny the man's death.

It became so quiet in the room you could hear a pin drop. Sonic spoke first.

“He… sacrificed himself?”

Tails shook his head, “that doesn’t sound like the Eggman we know at all.”

“I mean, he teamed up with us to stop Gerald’s plan and stop the Eclipse Cannon but, you know, it was a team effort. Everyone helped. Me, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, even you.”

That explains what the bat was talking about.

“-I mean, we took down the biolizard together!”

“The what?”

“Oh chaos, we didn’t fight the biolizard?! How did you fall to earth then?”

“The eclipse cannon blew up, there was no time to escape. I either had to destroy it, or the earth would take its place,” Shadow explained.

“I guess that means your world doesn’t have the ARK in orbit anymore,” Tails said thoughtfully, “Sometimes when you look up, you can see it in the sky at night. Last night it was just a little visible, did you see it?”

Shadow was getting tired of this, “I thought that was the Eclipse Cannon. I don’t know what the ARK is.”

Tails frowned, “Then, how were you created?”

“I wasn’t created. GUN found me in a meteor that crashed to earth.”

“So,” Sonic scratched his head, “that means you weren’t created by Gerald Robotnik. Does that mean he never made that deal with the Black Arms?”

Shadow just stared at him.

“The Black Arms? Black Doom? They tried to destroy the earth?” Tails tried.

Shadow shook his head.

“Wow,” Sonic whistled, “your dimension is much more different than I thought.”

“I wonder what else is different…” Tails frowned in thought, scratching his chin. “Um… do you mind if I ask something a little… personal?”

“Get out with it Fox.”

“...Do… you know someone named Maria?”

Shadow stiffened. He glared at Tails, and Tails froze up.

“Y-you don’t- sorry, I was just curious-” he stammered.

Shadow cut him off, “Fine since you want to ask. What happened to her in this world?”

Again silence.

“Well?!” Shadow snapped.

Sonic bit his lip, sending a look to Tails that made him turn his head away.

“Okay… If you want to know… Maria was shot by GUN on the space colony ARK. Before she died… she sent our Shadow to Earth in an escape pod. After that, he was sealed away for 50 years. Eggman found you, and I think you can imagine the rest from there,” he nervously chuckled.

“I see.” Shadows' voice sounded flat to himself. Even if the details are different, the outcome is the same. Maria is gone.

His heart tugged. Even if it was a different Maria, even if she looked different, even if she didn’t like skating, watching the Brady Bunch, watching the stars, or making friendship bracelets... God, he was so stupid.

Of course, she was gone. How could he have even thought otherwise?

Breakfast passed by in awkward silence, Sonic finished his before Shadow even took a few bites, like usual, and clapped his hands together.

“OKAY our first stop is going to be Spagonia, Tails got a reading there. We’re going to take the Tornado, you cool with that Shadow?”

“Whatever. Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Cool!” Sonic gave a grin and thumbs up.

Shadow stood up, leaving his breakfast half-eaten on the table, “I need to make my quills presentable.”

“Oh yeah,” Tails pointed with his fork. "Bathrooms that way.”

As soon as Sonic thought Shadow was out of earshot, he heard Sonic frantically whisper to Tails, “Dude, that wasn’t cool.”

“I know, I'm sorry, I wish I could take it back…”

No, he wanted to say, I understand you asked.

Truthfully, he wasn’t even angry with Tails. Maybe he shouldn’t have glared at him, but… maybe he wasn’t… ready to ask, ready to know, because it hurts a lot more than he thought it would, and that’s stupid, asinine, inane.

He is the ultimate life form. He can handle the news. He wants to know if Maria is okay, what happened to her, and if she exists in this world at all. It is just a question of when and how he will ask.

Besides, even if Maria was okay, she could never have been his, she would have belonged to another Shadow, and that would have almost been worse. He would have had to leave her behind, again. It would have hurt, again. The other Shadow would have been happier than him, better than him.

And he still wanted that. A part of him wants to say he doesn’t care about that. He just wanted to see her again with his entire being.

Shadow took a long time to brush his quills, it took longer for his hands to stop shaking. He walked back to the dining room, past all the happy photos of Sonic, Tails, and his friends. He passed the photo of himself with Sonic again.

He did not linger at it for longer than he should have.

Shadow feels fine. He stepped into the kitchen, where Tails and Sonic were waiting for him and he strode forward without waiting for them.

“Come on, I don’t have all day.”

Shadow stiffened, Sonic suddenly threw his arm around him with a big smile. "That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Hmph.”

The cold bracelet pressed into his shoulder.

Chapter Text

A helicopter flew over Shadow and Sonic. Its bright light shone over them and Shadow grimaced, sheiling his eyes.

Shadow needed to leave, it feels... Too soon to return after his altercation with Black Doom.

“We need to go.”

“Well, where are we?” Sonic asks.

“We’re in my world now. This isn’t… whatever you just said it looked like.”

“Wooooahhh!” his eyes brightened. “That’s so cool! I can’t believe I’m in your world! Yes!" he fistbumped the air. "This place looks so much like San Fran.” Sonic babbled on, “You know my dad was thinking about moving there because he-”

“Why can’t you take this seriously?”

“Oh, let me try 'taking it seriously',” he cleared his throat. “So this is what your world looks like huh?” Sonic spun around in place, “pretty cool.”

Shadow isn’t amused, “We’re going to have to find the other me, he’s likely looking for the chaos emeralds and that’s our way back home.”

“Why do the roads have big loop de loops in it? That’s sick!”

“That doesn’t matter-” Shadow turns and Sonic zips to be in front of him,

“I think it does matter,” Sonic bounces, “Can we run through it? Can we race, can we race?! Pleasepleaseplease-”

“What are you, a child?”

Sonic stares at him, “I mean yeah, you saw me living with my parents. What else would I be? What, are you an adult?"

Shadow knows he's not. He didn’t count the 50 years of stasis as part of his age. He looked the same from the day he was frozen, to the day he was revived. The thought of counting those days made little sense to him.

“No,” Shadow admitted. “But I don’t want to be in this body, and you need to go home.”

“Dude, you’re being a party pooper! I’m in a new universe! I get to meet other me and other Tails and Knuckles!"

“You aren’t here for fun,” Shadow emphasized the word with as much venom as he could. “This is serious and you don’t understand that-”

“That what? It’s not like we’re time-traveling! Squishing a butterfly doesn’t mean- I don’t know… Hm, oh!” he snapped his fingers, “you know that episode of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror where it rains donuts? Nothing like that can happen, live a little!”

“No I should not live a little,” he mocked, “we have no idea what the consequences are for messing with dimensions- let alone who or what caused other me to switch places with me. Don’t you think that’s worthy of being treated as being something other than a game? You can be such a-”

Shadow blinks when Sonic’s face changes and Shadow doesn’t recognize his expression.

“If you were another Shadow, the Shadow I knew, you’d be willing to have fun with me. Even for a little bit. I don’t even think you’re talking about me, are you? You barely even know me.”

“It doesn’t matter what or who I’m thinking of. You and the Sonic I know are the same.”

“I doubt that’s true, you and the Shadow I know aren’t the same. You’ve been… kinda mean.”

Shadow blinked in surprise. He felt his expression tighten, he couldn’t stop it from shifting so he turned away from Sonic.

“I just- that's not what I-”

“Don't waste your breath. It's late. I'm taking you to my place and I'm getting you something to eat. Tomorrow we'll find Sonic and the other me, the Emeralds, and you'll go home."

There's no point in arguing. If Sonic considers him to be mean, fine, whatever.

He doesn’t need to care about this.

“...Can I get a chili dog?”

“Fine.”

“Thanks, Shadow! I mean, I don't have any money, so I'll pay you back-’

“Don’t-” Shadow dismisses him. “Don’t bother. I have no use for money.”

This is already giving him a headache.

…

The wind whistles in Shadow's ears. He can't believe Sonic is standing on the wings of the airplane. He thought it was something stupid he did for a photo but right now he's realizing he always does that.

Shadow thinks he's crazy, but also other Sonic would do the same and probably has done the same before his parents yelled at him to stop being so dangerous. The plane dipped and Tails yelled to Sonic to hang on, starting the slow descent down into the city below, the city was surrounded by walls, the roofs were bright orange, and from up high the clock tower looked so small, but the closer to the city they get the more he realizes the tower is massive. Tails ease the Tornado further and further down, and they land in a grassy meadow just outside the city limits. Sonic hops off and stretches, lifting his arms up and then squatting down, one leg out, he tries to hold the pose while touching his toes and he falls over.

Tails flies out of the plane with a laugh, his tails spin behind him and he gently lands behind Sonic. Shadow hops out of the plane.

Sonic pops back onto his feet. “Tails, you got an idea where the emerald is?”

Tails is already Holding what Shadow thinks is a big yellow iPad and tapping on it, brows furrowed in thought. “I'm seeing a reading for the center of the city.”

“Great! I’ll race you Shads!”

“That’s fine with me.” Shadow needed to avenge his loss. “I won’t lose this time.”

“If you say so,” Sonic smirks.

Tails shakes his head, “When you find the emerald, meet me back here.”

“Sure thing bud! Do you want a chili dog while I’m out?”

“Sonic we just ate."

Sonic shrugs, “Never stopped me before."

He gets into position not even a second later and shouts a countdown, "1-2-3 GO!”

A supersonic boom blew through the meadow, the trees and the flowers rustling, not that Shadow knew, because he was running right beside Sonic.

This world is so beautiful, even as it blurs past him he can see the detailed architecture, the flowers, and the cobblestone streets, this world is just brighter, and more colorful than the one he knows. He’s never seen a city that wasn’t dreary, that didn't have the taste of smog on his tongue and the grey sightline. When he first laid eyes on London, he only saw the grey skies and the unsightliness that is humanity. His vision was consumed only by how humanity hated itself, hated nature, and wanted to paint over the world in its image. He thought humanity was undeserving of the world they laid waste to. Even now, if he were to revisit London, Shadow doubted he could see its history, or the architecture, or how it could be beautiful. All he could see was guilt. But he doesn’t need to feel guilt here. Every inch of the city felt free and wonderful, and Sonic and Shadow ran through it naturally.

Sonic jumped onto a rail, shoes sparking, and with a ripple of speed, he charged forward, getting ahead. Shadow huffed and copied his movements, his shoes squealed with metal on metal, and he pushed at himself, feeling his shoes flare he commanded himself to go faster- and Shadow was rewarded. He could go at a speed that was effortless to contain, his feet didn’t touch the ground, pure power and energy propelled around him and he blasted through the city streets, catching up to Sonic easily.

But Sonic gave him a grin, and suddenly, he took a route Shadow couldn't take in time, and with the gong of the bell tower, the blue blur is standing on the clock face. Injustice filled Shadow’s chest- not fair- he cheated, and with a spark, with that outrage, he felt that unfamiliar energy swirl inside him, and come to life.

With a cry, Shadow felt his back strain, his skin felt like it was on fire, and his head pounded, the power surged and burned inside his chest and as soon as it happened, it was over and Shadow opened his eyes.

He floated above the city, the sights underneath his feet vanishing. He rose higher and higher into the air, when Shadow looked he saw the black, leather-like wings on his back, he reached back and felt that they were yes, a part of him and his blood felt cold, and despite the warm sun, his body felt like ice.

Shadow didn’t understand how this was possible, where did these wings come from?

His mind felt fuzzy, and it was only when Sonic shouted at him that Shadow realized that he was flying towards the clock tower.

“Dude! That’s so cool! Where did you get the wings!?” He shouted at him, with a big cheery smile that Shadow could hear in his voice.

Shadow looked down and commanded his wings to descend onto the top of the tower. His wings spun into the descent and he effortlessly landed next to Sonic. No matter how the wings came about, he couldn’t deny how natural they came to him, and how easy they were to use. Shadow stumbled and cried out, his back arched as the wings retreated into his skin. Sonic took his hands and squeezed holding him up as his body trembled.

“Are you okay?” Sonic’s voice sounded soft and Shadow felt embarrassed, he ripped his hands away.

Shadow shook his head, “That was- I don’t- what the hell was that?!”

Sonic lifted his hands in surrender, “Don’t ask me, I’ve never seen him do that Rouge did say though he went on a solo adventure while I was dealing with the time eater, so maybe it was during that?"

Shadow barely listened to him, “That’s not something I’ve ever done either! What the hell is this body's problem?! Why can’t I chaos control but I can use wings to fly?!”

“You can’t chaos control?” Sonic questioned.

“No.” He felt his jaw clench, and his voice sounded tight. He cannot lose his cool. Especially not now. “I cannot chaos control. I don’t understand how to use this body's abilities.”

“Don’t freak out, it’s alright Shads-”

“Stop calling me that.”

“We’re going to get the emerald, and then you can chaos control all you want!”

“Why do I need that?”

“You need an emerald to chaos control.”

Shadow stared at him. He felt himself shake his head. “I have enough chaos energy inside of me to chaos control. I don’t need an emerald.”

“Um, I’ve never seen Shadow do that without an emerald.”

Shadow stared out into the sky.

“Shadow you okay?”

“...” He sits down on top of the tower.

“...Was the race at least fun?”

“Racing is about winning, not fun.”

Sonic sits beside him. “You’re different from my Shadow you know? Except for that comment about racing not being about fun. Ugh, it gave me serious deja vu.”

“Does that bother you?” Shadow frowns.

“Nah. Part of the fun of having an adventure is meeting new people. I mean, it would stink if I never saw my Shadow again, but I'm not worried about that. I mean, it’s not going to happen. We haven’t gotten any of the emeralds.”

“Hm.” Shadow paused, his quills stood up on end and he whipped around. He could feel it- the emerald- before Sonic could ask Shadow felt his power propel him to the other end of the top of the clocktower and there it was, sparkling on top of the tower with nothing hiding it.

Sonic whooped, “Nice going Shads! I missed that one huh?”

“This is pretty big.”

“If you think that’s big you should see the master emerald. It’s bigger than both of us. Combined!”

“You’re kidding.”

“I never kid,” Sonic smirked, “Oh it’s the green emerald, Shadow is always carrying that one around.”

Shadow turned it around in his hand. It looks just like the master emerald at home, if only a little smaller “You said I can chaos control with this, right?”

“Wanna give it a try?” Sonic grinned.

Shadow lifted the emerald above his head and…

Nothing.

Shadow's face reddened and he gripped the emerald tightly, trying not to imagine himself throwing it.

“How come you didn't do it?” Sonic tilted his head to the side.

“I did, I visualized myself at the tornado.

“Well sure, that’s important n' all," Sonic says, "but you didn't say it."

“Say what?"

“Chaos control."

A pause. “You're kidding me.”

Sonic was most assuredly not, he could see it in his face.

Grumbling to himself, Shadow lifted the emerald once more and shouted, “Chaos control!”

He’s relieved and disappointed when it works.

…

Shadow is a little infuriated he has to bring Sonic into his home. He hasn’t let anyone around. If were to bring anyone into his space, it wouldn't be Sonic. Sonic wants to know where he lives too badly, and Shadow doesn’t want Sonic to see his living space. Sonic always makes up guesses and places he lives at, and they come out as jumbled word salad, adjectives and nouns mixed up into what’s anything like Shadow’s reality. For some reason, Sonic is fixated on the idea he lives in a cave. He finds that to be frankly, ridiculous. He does have money, unlike Sonic Shadow receives a salary from GUN. He lives in an apartment, like most people. Some people don’t sleep out in the wilderness every night, with no stable home, bumming off their friends' couches, and doing nothing but running when there isn’t a world-ending threat.

Not that Shadow particularly cares what Sonic does, he can make whatever decisions in lifestyle, but it doesn't concern him.

He can’t say why he’s so cagey about the idea of Sonic visiting. However, he sees that he is right to do so.

It feels too personal to have Sonic around it, he keeps looking at everything with big eyes and touching things he’s not supposed to. He flops onto Shadow’s black couch and then opens his refrigerator and then looks at his walls and then sits at his dining room table and then-

“Get away from that,” Shadow already knows what picture he’s leaning towards.

“That’s Maria, isn’t it?” Sonic ignores his demand and turns around to him.

That makes Shadow pause, and his heart tightens. He saw Maria too recently for that question to not hurt, and the pain feels sharp; which is frustrating.

“Yes.”

It’s a picture of Maria and Shadow, Maria is waving to the camera, sitting in their old classroom. Shadow had halfheartedly waved as well, but he just didn’t share Maria’s enthusiasm for being photographed.

“I saw a picture of her once. Before the whole base blew up,” says Sonic. He makes a face of pity.

“I don't need you to feel sorry for me. I knew that she was gone. There may be worlds where she lives, but I knew it wouldn't be yours.” If Maria had survived he wouldn't need whoever that man was who brought him coffee, and he never would have met Sonic. Other Shadow would have lived a completely different life, where their paths wouldn’t have needed to cross.

Sonic didn't seem to like what he said though.

“I don't feel pity dude. I feel uh… Uh… Oh! Empathy!”

Shadow heard Sonic mocking him, ‘I have a little something called em-pa-thy.’

He can be so loathsome.

“Whatever. You’re sleeping on the couch.”

“Cool! Where are we going tomorrow?”

“We’re going to find… the Shadow that you know, he’s likely working with my Sonic to find the emeralds, then we find the emeralds and you go home.”

“Nice! A world trotting adventure!”

Shadow shakes his head, “It’s not supposed to be an adventure.”

“Yeah yeah, I know I know, be serious. I can be excited to have some fun. I wonder what other me is like. What does he look like Shadow?”

“...If you must know he’s taller and older than you.”

“Huh.” Sonic's face scrunches up.

“I’m going to bed,” Shadow turned to the other room.

“Okay! Good night Shadow.”

Shadow murmured a good night to him. He shuts the bedroom door behind him. He feels at peace in the calm, quiet, sparsely decorated room where fresh bedsheets ironed this morning are waiting for him. He takes a moment to bask it in before he lies down and shuts his eyes for the night. Maybe it was a mistake to leave him alone in his place because the next morning he was greeted by the smell of something burning.

Shadow enters his kitchen, it was just spick and span, clean as a whistle, or whatever phrase you want to use- he didn’t particularly care Shadow never used the kitchen, it’s easier to order takeout. It’s easier to buy things that taste delicious than it is to make things that taste delicious. Besides, he's busy. He's the ultimate lifeform. He doesn't always have the time to cook. Shadow respects Vanilla’s skills in the kitchen, her food is always heavenly. There’s a difference between knowing how to cook and knowing how to cook.

So, this is all to say, Shadow has no idea where Sonic got the ingredients to make pancakes, and he’s not happy about them burning. His clean pristine kitchen, his white countertops are covered in flour and sticky batter. His anger starts to build- but it dissipates when he sees Sonic’s wide-eyed frightened expression.

Shadow blinks and then he sighs.

“Step aside hedgehog.”

Sonic silently steps aside and Shadow turns off the heat.

“You really are a child.” Sonic flinches, “What made you think it was a good idea?’

“I can tell you're not exactly psyched about having to hang out with me. I thought I could, you know, make up for it by making breakfast. Like in the movies! I just didn't think about the fact I hadn't made them on my own before. But I was going to clean it up!”

Shadow looks at the ruined burnt mistakes in his trash. The pancake that's still on the pan is still okay. Shadow takes the pan and shimmies the pancake around, before perfectly flipping it over. The still-hot pan crackles and hisses.

“Woah…” Sonic’s eyes widened. “How’d you do that?!”

“This is child's play for the ultimate lifeform.”

Sonic stifles a snicker, “I bet it is. I am going to clean it up, watch-” In a flash, the room was covered in Sonic’s blue after trail, and then the kitchen was the way it was before.

“Tada!”

“Good. Now don't do that again.”

“Aw come on, can we finish up the batter? We only have one good pancake.”

“Fine but sit down somewhere.”

Sonic sits up on the kitchen counter and Shadow is completely unamused. Whatever. Sonic kicks his feet, and they bounce on the cabinets underneath the counter with a thump.

Shadow turns on the heat, the electric surface glows bright red and Shadow slips the finished pancake onto a nearby plate. With a large spoon, he spoons up some of the batter and the pan hisses again.

Maria was very good at making pancakes on the ARK. He saw her do this time and time again.

Shadow clears his throat, crossing his arms, “I’m going to explain something to you. It doesn’t matter if you think I’m like your Shadow, it doesn’t matter if you think I’m mean, and it doesn’t matter if you do… whatever this is. What matters is that you go home and I return to my form. Nothing else.”

“This does matter because we're friends!”

“You’re not understanding. We are not friends. You're friends with a Shadow who is not me.”

“Yeah sure, another Shadow, But I'm another Sonic. And I want to be friends with you. “

“I don't see why, I'm not nice," Shadow narrows his eyes at him.

“You were being mean to Tails and Knuckles even though they just tried to help. But that doesn’t matter-”

“They were in my way.”

“Are you serious?” Sonic lifted an eyebrow at him. “Do you feel that they were in the way?”

No. “Yes. Frankly, I don’t consider the Sonic of my world to be my ‘friend.’ Sometimes our goals align, that’s all there is to it.”

“Oh yeah? What does he have to say about that?”

“It doesn’t matter what he says, I’m the one who decides the nature of our relationship.”

“So you don’t have any friends at all?”

Shadow shakes his head, he grabs the pan’s handle, ready to flip the next pancake.

“...No family?”

Shadow’s hand tightly grips the handle, he can feel his fingers making an indent into the solid plastic.

“I don't need a family.” Shadow’s voice is firm.

“Well… I mean… What about this world’s me? Wouldn't they-”

“Don't make me laugh. If they aren’t my friend, why would they be my family? Tch.” His annoyance grew, "you aren't listening to me. I don’t need anyone.”

“That is not true. If I know anything about you, and I think I do, you need at least a friend.”

“What would you know?” Shadow snaps at him, feeling his anger rise, the pan feels hot in his grip, he’s touching bare metal, the plastic handle is bent completely out of shape and he can feel his hand burning on the surface.

Sonic glanced at his hand and then his face. He swallows. “I know you. I helped you once, maybe it was another you, but… I was there for you and I know what it is like to lose someone-”

“Shut up!”

The flames flicker and rise up from underneath the pan and Sonic shifts back, keeping up an obvious brave face. Shadow’s anger feels hot, it pulses underneath his skin. He can't feel the pan burning him.

“I'm being as patient as I can with you Sonic,” Shadow speaks carefully. “ But don't assume anything about me. I’m not like your family. I’m not like your friends. I don’t need you to make me feel better, I don't need you to empathize with me. I need you to go home. Don’t bother me about this again.”

Sonic’s expression unexpectedly steels and turns serious. “Fine. I won’t. But… Let me try one more time to change your mind.”

“No.”

“Why don’t we fight over it? You win, I drop it, I win, you're officially my friend."

Shadow hesitates.

He… likes fighting with Sonic. They’re tense and evenly matched, and Sonic doesn’t mind playing dirty which makes it all the more rewarding when he… sometimes wins. The uncertainty of a win is also part of the fun. Sure, he can call it fun. It's an indulgence for the sake of indulgence, he fights for no reason other than the enjoyment of the game. He has to work for it and fight with everything he has, which isn’t something he has to do with most of Eggman’s creations, it’s all about timing. It’s about watching and waiting. It doesn't reward him in the same way fighting Sonic is rewarding. Sonic is fast and Shadow has to react even faster.

But he’s in a new body, a new form, new powers, new abilities he doesn’t know how to control. Not that he doesn't want to use these abilities, to feel the power. But besides, this Sonic is inexperienced. How many times has he fought Eggman? How many deities has he encountered? His eyes are not the eyes of Sonic, who has fought God and won, time and time again.

“Don’t be stupid. That isn't a good idea hedgehog. I can’t control the power in this body, and from the sounds of your little incident, you can barely control your power either.”

“Sounds like you’re chicken,” Sonic obnoxiously makes noises and puts his hands on his hips, like they are wings.

“You are so annoying. Fine. If you want to fight over something as stupid and insane as being my friend, we can fight about it. But don’t get upset when you get hurt.”

He shoves the hot finished pancakes that are on the plate into Sonic's hands, “and I’m not making another one of these damn things.”

“Thanks, Shadow!" he perks up like they were not just fighting, "What are you going to eat?”

“Coffee.”

“Dude, don’t tell me you also eat the coffee beans.”

“...”

“Oh my God! Why?!”

….

“You got the emerald?” Tails asks, not even looking up when Sonic and Shadow appear in the meadow, Tails is sitting on the wing of the plane, feet swinging as he tip-taps and types onto his little iPad.

“Yep!” Sonic gave a thumbs up. “Let’s roll Tails!”

“Alright,” Tails nodded, “I’m getting a reading from Windmill Isle.”

“Oh wow,” Sonic whistles, “been a while since I’ve been there. I told you I met Chip there right?”

“Is that why you’re wearing the Chip bracelet?” Tails asks.

Sonic shrugs, “I guess I felt like I would need it, and I was right.”

“Chip bracelet?” Shadow asks.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sonic grins, “Just a memento from an old friend.” Sonic holds up the bracelet like Shadow didn’t already see it. “I wonder if he’s doing okay?”

Tails makes a face, and Shadow sees a hint of pity in his eyes. “I’m sure he is.”

Shadow doesn’t know how to interpret their conversation and visualizes himself in the plane, he instantly appears in the seat.

“Wait, what? How did that work? I didn’t say chaos control,” Shadow grouses.

Tails gives Shadow a confused look. Sonic shrugs.

“That was just a chaos snap, even I could do that. If I wanted to. Listen, s’not really my style, it kind of takes a lot out of me.” Sonic catches Tails’ eye and continues talking, “In his dimension, Shadow can chaos control without an emerald.”

“Wow! That’s crazy!” Tails flies into the air and the cockpit, lowering his pilot glasses onto his face. “That means your body and maybe your whole dimension is a lot more attuned to chaos energy! That’s some incredible power you have access to.”

Sonic hops up onto the plane wing, “That’s what I said! More or less anyway. Let’s get going!”

Tails nods and starts up the plane again. They soar away from the city and Shadow’s stomach churns at being up this high, he can feel the twist of energy inside, and his back tingles. Sonic didn’t mention what happened to Tails, which he feels perplexed by but also relieved. Whatever happened felt wrong- these aren’t his powers, and he finds this body too limiting for his liking.

They aren’t up for the air for too long, and Shadow doesn’t get the chance to think over what’s happened. There’s a blast of chaos energy that Shadow can feel in his blood, his skin, and in the air. He can taste the zing of pure power, a swipe of red and blue move on the land below them, and the plane recoils with the shock.

“Woah! What’s happening Tails?!” Sonic shouts, stumbling a bit on the wing.

“I-I don’t know!” Tails pulls out his iPad and somehow handles driving the plane with one hand while frantically pressing buttons and tapping at the screen, “I’m getting readings of highly concentrated energy from under us!”

The plane recoils again, suddenly teetering to the side. Sonic lets out a ‘woah!’ and clings to the wing of the plane.

“We’re going to have to make an emergency landing!” Tails shouts. “Hold on everyone!”

The taste of chaos is too much for Shadow. Before Tails or Sonic could protest, Shadow stood up, staring out into the green grassy land below him. He listens to the air, and he feels implicitly that the source is him, his body battling the Sonic he knows. His quills stand up on end, and before he can think of his next actions he’s already jumped out of the plane, his wings sprouting off his back again. He knows with absolute certainty he will find himself.

Chapter Text

It felt amazing.

This power felt natural. Shadow struggled to control it, even as it ravaged around him, feeling like electricity in his blood, the taste of it sharp on his tongue, sour and bitter, he didn’t want to escape its pull. There's a fire in his veins that's bubbling over, pulsing inside his body. He doesn't need to see when Sonic comes near, he can feel the change in the air, and he’s prepared for the strike. He launches himself at Sonic, and they come to a standstill, electricity zaps and they launch backward and away from each other.

Shadow stands across from Sonic, he doesn’t know where they are anymore, and it doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the drive to fight, the push to win, the overwhelming chaos energy. He wonders what would happen if he took off the inhibitor rings and let more of it consume him. He’s barely holding on with the energy racking through this form, it feels tight in his throat and pounds inside his skull. Letting out a deep breath, he can feel his tongue graze over his fangs. He glares at Sonic, who smirks back.

And they go right back into the fray, none of their strikes connect, they are in sync, able to block the other before they can do anything. Shadow curls up into a ball and barrels right into him. Sonic holds his own, his feet digs into the earth underneath him but he's still standing. Shadow unfurls from a ball and strikes, his leg goes right into Sonic’s side and Sonic makes a small ‘oof’ sound as he’s flung across the battlefield. But he gets right back up with a cocky smirk and Shadow can only feel his determination to win rise, his heart squeezes tightly in his chest.

Streaks of blue and red criss-cross over the field, blow after blow, strike after strike and neither of them feels ready to let up. Their attacks become more vicious, and the energy in the air feels stronger, his head aches, and his limbs feel sore but he wants more. It’s hedonism, pure pleasure for the sake of it. He doesn’t know if he wants to win, or if he wants this fight to continue.

But the fight can’t continue forever.

Sonic’s head tilts up, his eyes widen and Shadow looks in turn. It’s like an angel of death, something black and red soaring through the air with wings that befit more of a demon than an angel- and then Shadow realizes with a shock that it's his body. He's viewing himself like he's staring in a mirror.

Shadow met eyes with Shadow, red against red.

Other Shadow exhales from his nose, “Hmph. What are you doing with my body?”

“What are you doing with my body?” Shadow retorts.

“I’m not fighting Sonic and making a mess. Can’t you see that this is pointless?”

“Of course it’s pointless. What about this isn't? But I didn’t ask for your opinion. Step aside.”

“Not until you return what is rightfully mine.” Other Shadow points at him. “Your body is stupid, and your abilities are weak.”

“Tch.” Shadow’s fists clenched. “Weak? You haven’t even seen my full power.”

Other Shadow scoffs, “I don’t need to. I don’t need your power.”

“Ha!” Shadow stands strong and takes a step toward him, “It sounds like you want to fight, other me.” A crackle of energy runs through his fur, and he can feel any exhaustion he has left him.

“From where I am standing, you are the other me,” Shadow responds, eyes narrowing. He tosses the green emerald into the air, it sparkles in the sun, and he shouts, “CHAOS CONTROL!” Vanishing in an instant.

Shadow responds in turn and teleports from his position, the air next to him ripples with the force of a kick that didn’t connect, and Shadow smirks with satisfaction.

“Is that all you got?”

“Not even close.” With a snarl, Other Shadow flaps the doom wings and launches straight into him, Shadow doesn’t have time to brace himself against the attack, and Other Shadow’s hand grips the fur on his chest, slamming him into a tree.

Shadow’s eyes flash, he lifts his arm and punches himself away. Other Shadow launches into the air and catches himself with the wings. He dives down for Shadow and Shadow chaos controls rapidly, appearing here then there, then right behind other Shadow- but his attack doesn’t connect. Other Shadow catches his fist with his palm and squeezes, twisting his arm. Shadow lets out a cry of pain and growls, grabbing onto Others' wings he pulls, hard. Other Shadow shouts and they go into a tailspin, smashing into the earth, breaking a crater into the dirt.

“STOP, STOP!” The Shadows untangle themselves from each other and sit up. Sonic, with tall, deep blue quills and emerald green eyes, hops out of the landed tornado and zips to them in a flash.

“What do you think you’re doing?!"

“He said-” Shadow starts.

“He said-” Other Shadow starts.

“A-bup-bup, I don’t care who said what! You’re the same person- I mean sort of? Not really I mean but- whatever! Cut that out and save it for some bad guys.” Sonic frowns, crossing his arms.

“THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!” Sonic flinches and comes eye-to-eye with Other Sonic, whooping and shouting and yelling. He’s grinning from ear to ear, “That was the best fight I’ve ever had! And when you two started fighting- that was EPIC!”

“Wait-” Sonic looked between Other Sonic and the two Shadows. “How did other me get here?”

“Hmph.” Shadow crossed his arms, “Don’t ask. It was… a miscalculation.”

“Whatever, it’s cool. Hi other me!” Sonic waves.

Other Sonic’s face lit up, and he stood on his tippy-toes waving before dashing over in a stretch of blue.

“Woah Shadow was right, you are taller than me! Dude, nice color quills, love the blue.”

“Oh thanks, you know I like your color too, love the blue,” Sonic winks.

Both Shadows roll their eyes. He didn’t think about how obnoxious Sonic could be when there were two of them, ugh.

“You’re like, a whole head taller than me! How old are you?”

“15, how old are you?”

“Oh, I’m 13! Hm. I don’t think I’m going to catch up with you anytime soon.” Sonic pouted.

“Eh who knows, I used to be a real shortie, then I grew. I think it’s all the chilidogs I eat.”

“I love chili dogs too! If there’s a whole multiverse of us out there, I wonder how common that is.”

Sonic scratched his chin thoughtfully, “huh, I wonder.”

“‘Cause I know both Shadows like to eat raw coffee beans.”

Sonic laughs, “That doesn’t surprise me, he gave me a whole lecture about coffee this morning.”

Other Sonic sends Other Shadow a smile, “I’m glad you’re okay Shadow- nice look! The wings are sick.”

“Tch.” The wings retract back into his skin. “The wings are stupid.”

Shadow growled and stood up, “Shut up before I make you shut up.” He wasn’t sure why he was defending the wings, it was a power thrust upon him by Black Doom, and he would rather eat glass than admit anything positive about him.

“Big talk from someone who can’t even chaos control without an emerald.”

Shadow’s face turned red. “You haven’t even seen half of the things I’ve seen. You don’t know anything. You couldn’t defeat me even if you tried.”

“Try me!”

Sonic gets between them, “That is enough you two!”

There was a rustle behind him and Tails came rushing in, Shadow noticed he is holding his Miles Electric, which was actually more comforting than he would have expected.

“Sorry, I was held back Sonic! I was trying to interpret the energy readings-”

“O-m-g!” Other Sonic zipped over to Sonic, “It’s Tails! Wow, you’re still so fluffy, between you and me, taller me is too smooth looking you know? He needs some fur. Those pilot goggles are adorable! Oh, and you sound the same as my Tails- that’s weird. Hey, are you two siblings in this world too???”

Tails blushed, flustered by all the questions, “Uh, yeah! Yeah, we are, Sonic’s my big bro, I’ve known him forever.”

“That’s crazy! I've only known Tails for like, 3 years. But he’s still my best bro in the whole wide world. Well, him and Knuckles. I have parents who adopted me now. Did Shadow tell you about that?” he bounces on his tippy-toes and fidgets. “I used to call them Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady and Donut Lord shot me with a tranquilizer gun and Robotnik, or uh, Eggman found me because I caused a huge power outage in Montana, and Donut Lord, and I went on this crazy road trip with the police and Eggman following, and I caused a bar fight and teleported by accident to San Francisco and- long story short, your boy got adopted.” Sonic gave finger guns, “Pew pew. Tails and I met after Robotnik sicced Knuckles on me. It was pretty sweet, he stole a police car."

Shadow is glad other Sonic wasn’t that excitable before.

Tails laughs, “Wow that’s crazy, I think you’re even more energetic than this guy over here, I didn’t think that was even possible?”

“Shadow didn’t tell me any of that,” taller Sonic rubbed the underneath of his nose, “but he’s not exactly the type to talk for longer than he has too. I'm not surprised to hear at all that Dr. Egghead tricked Knuckles into doing something for him, he tricked the Knuckles I know twice."

"Twice?! Didn't he learn the first time he's a bad guy?" Sonic frowned.

"Right?!"

Shadow couldn’t stand listening to this any longer. “While this is entertaining I don’t want to be stuck in this Faker’s body any longer.”

“Faker? What are you talking about?” Other Shadow hisses at him.

Shadow ignores him, “I want to find the 7 Chaos emeralds now. How many have you found?”

“1,” says Tails.

Shadow’s ear twitches, “You’re kidding.”

“I never kid—” both Sonics speak at the same time and then pause, both grinning from ear to ear. “JINX!” they yell in unison.

“Dude you’re awesome!” Shorter Sonic bounces on his feet again, “I didn’t know what to expect, Shadow didn’t exactly tell me anything about you, but you’re so cool!”

“Don’t I know it. You’re pretty cool too other me.”

This is starting to really get on his nerves. “Where is the next emerald? I’ll look for it on my own.”

“That’s not a bad idea Shadow,” Miles flicks through his Miles Electric. “If we split up, we can find them faster, and I know you’re pretty anxious about getting things back to normal.”

Shadow eases his expression a little because it’s Miles, the real one, but that much. "I'm not anxious about anything. I want things to return to the way they are supposed to be. That's all. I’ll go wherever you decide to send me, just don’t take too long deciding."

“Well, we don't know how we’ll split everyone up."

“That isn’t my problem, I want to be alone.”

He hears Sonic snort.

Tails half-smiles, “You can have it your way, there’s a reading on Angel Island.”

"I'm on it.”

In a flash, Shadow disappears, and he’s finally alone on Angel Island. he can hear the creatures chirp and the grass rustle, and everything sings in perfect harmony around him. It's Knuckle's paradise, he's surrounded by the thick vegetation, the flowers, and the quiet hum of the energy of the master emerald in the air. He can feel it stay in his body, swirling inside his chest. The energy burns.

He feels himself gasp and it hurts, everything burns. Taking a deep breath his head swam and he lays on the ground of Angel Island, his head pounding as he stared into the sky. The clouds darkened and it began to rain, the wild jungle of Angel Island mists over in a thick fog, and Shadow can’t get back up, he can’t.

His eyes droop and they close. He can feel his consciousness wane, and finally leave him, trapping him in darkness.

...

“Is he always like that?” Light blue Sonic asks.

“Oh yeah, pretty much. I hope he didn’t give you too much of a headache, he’s a nice guy for sure, but he’s grumpy about it. But you know, he's gotta go his own way y'know?" Sonic gestures with his hand, pointing between himself and the other Sonic. "We gotta go our own way too yeah?"

"I guess, how do you get along with him?" he pleads with big puppy-dog eyes that Shadow's seen before, whenever he's pleading with his parents, something like, 'oh just one more minute!' 'Please, I'll never ask for anything else!'

Sonic seems almost perturbed, and he scratches the back of his head, "I guess we don't? Depends on what you mean by ‘get along.’ I think fighting with him is fun. Isn't that why you two were fighting?"

"I mean, not exactly..."

Shadow didn't know how to differentiate the two Sonic's. He could say one of them is 'his Sonic' but that feels too awkward, and too much like the language used in the telenovelas he watches. It’s sickly intimate. He'll figure it out. But 'his Sonic' is the one nervously scratching the back of his head now. He doesn't get why, but Sonic doesn't want to talk about why he and other Shadow were fighting and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to lend him a hand. He'll get that information out of him later.

Shadow interrupts, "Did you tell Agent Stone where I am?”

Sonic nervously chuckled, and kept rubbing the back of his head, “Ahaha… about that…”

Shadow rolls his eyes, “Thanks.”

“I’m sure Mom and Dad will explain! Besides, it’s not like you've never run off and disappeared before."

“I exploded with the Eclipse Cannon, I didn’t ‘run off and disappear.’ I fell into the earth's stratosphere and crash landed.”

“Same difference.”

“I disagree. Whatever the reason for fighting was, both of you should have known how dangerous that was.”

“Yeah, he also said that but then I called him a chicken.”

Dark blue Sonic laughs, “That’s Shadow for you, when we fought for the first time he was all like ‘I’m the coolest.’ I guess being the ultimate lifeform gives you a big ego- er, no offense.”

“Am I going to believe that you don’t also have a big ego?” Shadow crosses his arms.

Dark blue Sonic wags his finger at him, “You got me there.”

"You two were putting out some crazy energy readings," Tails explains, "it almost crashed the Tornado.”

Sonic nervously smiles, "I did? Oops. Sorry. We were really into it. I don’t know how we ended up out here. Or where I am... Wait I'm in another dimension. Scratch that last part."

“You said you caused a power outage in… Montana? How big is that?” Tails asks.

“It was the um… North… West? Hold on… It was bigger than just Montana, um, I don’t know how much square footage that is buddy. It’s a lot though! Wait, what’s that thing you’re holding? An iPad? I’m so jealous, Mom won’t buy one for me, or a phone for that matter.”

“Oh! No no no,” Tails shakes his head, “I don’t know what an iPad is but this is my Miles Electric, it’s a handheld I made. It’s pretty handy for any readings or calculations I need to do on the fly. It can also translate wisp speech, which is pretty useful for when we run into them."

Shadow doesn't want to admit he also thought it was an iPad.

"-You know, it’s pretty weird for you to mention a Mom, I'm not gonna get used to that.”

“What's a wisp?” Sonic's eyes shine with excitement.

“They’re little alien creatures that I helped rescue from one of Eggman’s Amusement Parks," Other Sonic explains.

“One of?” Sonic blinks.

“Oh, I guess your Eggman doesn’t share the same penchant for making amusement parks as our Eggman does. How many Eggmanland’s has he made Sonic?” Tails turns to Sonic and he shrugs.

“No idea little buddy, every other plan of his involves a theme park.”

“Did Shadow tell you... you know what happened to the Eggman I know?"

“Yeah, that he sacrificed himself in the Eclipse Cannon.” Other Sonic nods.

“Our Eggman would never do that, I mean, he didn’t want to destroy the earth, he helped all of us to shut down the cannon but he would never, you know, do it if it meant dying,” says Tails.

“But also the ARK didn’t blow up, so I guess we wouldn’t know,” Tall Sonic shrugs.

“That’s true,” Tails muses, “But Eggman doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his robots.”

“Oh oh!" shorter Sonic bounced on his feet, "my Eggman- he cared about other things! He had his Grandpa, and he and Agent Stone had that weird thing going on.”

"Grandpa?!" tall Sonic's face turned into shock.

"Gerald Robotnik is alive in your world?"

"Oh you know that guy too? Yeah he's alive. I mean he's in prison now, but he's alive."

"He... uh... I guess we don't know what happened to him in our world... but he's been dead for at least 50 years," Tails says nervously.

"Big oof."

Tall Sonic laughs, "I'm going to remember that, that's hilarious."

Short Sonic beams.

"Tell me about this Agent Stone guy, we don't know anyone like that here," Sonic looks curious.

"To be honest I don't know much about him, he makes a really good Austrian goat milk latte. Not that I've had one," Light blue Sonic catches Shadow's eye. "How is Stone holding up? Since... you know."

Shadow grimaced, “I feel sympathy for Stone.”

“Yeah… I didn’t understand what ‘love is blind’ meant until I saw those two.” He paused, “Have you seen that on Netflix? It’s sooooo good.”

“I have better things to do than watch trash TV,” Shadow scoffs.

“What about the Spanish soap operas?”

“That’s different.”

“No, it isn’t! They’re both scripted.”

Shadow lets out a small chuckle, “true.”

Dark blue Sonic blinks at the pair.

“So um, yeah Agent Stone was Eggman's… henchman? Goon I guess? He totally had a crush on Eggman. I know, I know, it’s disturbing to me too, you don’t get to say it.”

Tall Sonic and Tails exchange a look.

“Huh.”

“Huh. There are some… strange differences between our world and yours,” Tails says thoughtfully. “Let’s just put it at that. Our Doctor is a…”

“Solo rider,” Tall Sonic nods, “he’s made a few robots here and there but they’re like, an orb, or a cube. Or a copy of me that thinks he’s the ‘real Sonic.’” he puts that into quotes.

“Man, I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with that. I think my Mom and Dad could only handle one Sonic,” he grins.

Tall Sonic shakes his head, “I’m never going to get used to you saying that little me.”

“I'm not little! You're just- older!”

"Sorry, it's a habit."

"A habit?! From what? How many Sonics do you know man?"

“While this is… fun,” Shadow is clearly sarcastic, “shouldn't we be doing something more productive?"

Tails nods. “Shadow- er, you and other Shadow had the right idea. We should split up, it will make the search for the emeralds easier. And while this is fun… we should be worried about the consequences of the two Shadows and Sonics being in the same world at the same time. It's probably fine but…”

“We don't know?” Tall Sonic finished Tails’ sentence.

“Right. There's too much uncertainty for something so serious. Until we have some definitive answers on how this happened and if this is safe for our worlds, it's for the best that we return everything to normal.”

“Booooo…” Sonic crossed his arms. “Why does everything have to be so world-ending all the time? Well, I call Tails! Can I ride in the airplane?”

“Of course! Er, if that's okay with you Sonic.”

Sonic shrugs, “Dude the tornado is pretty much yours, you don't gotta ask me if you want to fly it without me, you know that. ‘Sides, I like running.”

“‘Pretty much yours’?” Sonic echoes, looking between Sonic and Tails.

“Oh, “technically” the tornado is mine. But Tails does all the upkeep and the flying in it, I’d be pretty rusty if I tried to steer it.”

“Wh- How did you learn how to fly an airplane?!” Sonic spits out in shock.

“I was a kid, it probably wasn't that hard.”

“We’re both still a kid,” Short Sonic points out.

“Point still stands, if I could teach myself to fly I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”

Short Sonic and Shadow meet eyes, and Shadow completely agrees it was incredibly strange for Sonic to be so dismissive about flying an airplane. Did pilot school not exist in this world? Sure, Tails is a child prodigy and clear genius- Shadow has seen him invent and create things a normal person couldn't, (and he can't) he could feasibly fly a plane. But Sonic... isn't a genius. Shadow wonders if that means taller Sonic is smarter than he's letting on, but he can't help but seriously doubt it.

“Do you still want to head out to Windmill Isle Sonic?” Tails asks.

“Sure, I’ll call ya up when we find the emerald."

“Same here! See ya around Sonic!”

“See ya Tails!”

Shorter Sonic gleefully follows Tails to the Tornado. "See ya Shadow!" he waves, "it's plane time!"

Shadow watches, Sonic is so happy, and he’s so bright as usual. He doesn’t get the impression that their conversation has shaken him at all, not that Shadow necessarily thinks it should have shaken him. It’s just- him. Maybe it’s just all in his head. This universe feels… so confusing and it’s…Sonic doesn't think the same way. Then again, he’s not the one who grew wings and the ability to fly, he didn’t see the burning hatred in his body’s eyes. It was… unsettling to say the least. He didn’t understand how Sonic didn’t give up on him after seeing that look in his eyes, the look he recognized as being the same way he looked at Sonic, the way he looked at the world. He hated seeing that look in his eyes, taunting him and his mistakes.

Shadow feels exhausted. Suddenly it all weighs on him, that fight was… it burns in his shoulders and his legs, and a dull ache that he shouldn’t be feeling rests inside of him.

Shadow stiffens when he feels that cold bracelet on his shoulder again, he shoves Sonic’s arm away, and he just laughs.

“You and other me seem to be pretty good friends.”

Shadow huffs. “It may appear that way. I suppose I don’t… disagree.”

Sonic’s face shifts and Shadow is so offputted by that look he can't stop himself from feeling disgusted and it shows. That makes Sonic laugh again.

“Sorry sorry, I couldn’t hold back my surprise. I don’t think I could ever get Shadow to admit we’re friends.”

“He's so annoying." Shadow narrows his eyes at Sonic.

“Well, I don't not agree... But that’s how he is, he has to go his own way, it’s not like I don’t get it, I’m the same way. I don’t think you’re exactly happy about having to rely on me so much. Are ya?”

“It’s fine. It’s tolerable. If we leave now, it would be even more tolerable.”

“Want to race again?”

“Again? I don’t know where we’re going.”

“Chic-ken,” Sonic mocked.

“Tch. “ Irritation spread across his face, not in the least because he just played himself right into Sonic’s palm. “Fine, another race. I don't know what you're getting out of this, aren't you getting sick of beating me?"

“Come on, racing is a lot better than just riding around, even if it is a plane. I mean, it’s cool and the view is nice, but nothing can beat running!”

“You’re hopeless.”

“Ay, now you’re talking the Shadow talk! Let’s do it to it!”

“Do it to it?” Shadow mocked.

“Hey, don’t you start. Come on, you’re the one who wanted to head out!”

Shadow just shakes his head, “Fine, fine. You know I could chaos control-”

Sonic didn’t listen, he already sped off, and Shadow had to reluctantly follow under the guise of running. He is so exhausting…

...

Shadow wakes with a start, he jolts up, his stomach shifts and he feels sick all over again. His vision spins and he lies back down.

"What the heck is your problem?"

His vision focuses and Knuckles comes into view, leaning over him with an unimpressed look on his face.

"..." Shadow frowns. "I don't know." He tries to sit up again, and he's sitting on solid stone, he recognizes the ruins leading to the master emerald. Overgrown and covered in moss and vine and greenery. His chest feels sharp and he hisses as he slowly rises, he sees Knuckles frown.

"What's got you so hurt?"

Shadow shook his head, "it's nothing. Nothing happened."

"Hm." Knuckles frowns. "You feel different."

"What?"

"You got... too much chaos energy inside of you." His frown deepens, "You actually have way too much. What did you do?"

"I don't know how you didn't notice, but this isn't my body. This is a completely different form-"

"Oh, so that explains it. You should burn off some of that energy before you feel worse. You can't take in a bunch of energy like that and not do something with it. " Knuckles explains this in a way like he's trying to end his words with 'duh.'

"I know that," Shadow snaps and stands up too quickly, his head spins. "It's that emerald of yours," he realizes, "it's too much for this body." While the emerald of their world is powerful, it doesn't feel nearly as strong as the emerald of his world. Shadow supposes that this master emerald is strong enough to lift an island into the sky, the other emerald is as strong as the seven chaos emeralds combined, but the master emerald keeps the seven emeralds in check. It supersedes their power, a master emerald user could easily overpower the seven chaos emeralds. At least- in theory. Shadow hasn't seen it happen. In any case, he can just feel that the master emerald of the other world isn't as strong, he's very certain that's the case.

"Then get out of here, why are you here anyway?" Knuckles snaps.

"I need the chaos emerald on this island to return myself to my body."

"If that's all you need then here," Knuckles tosses it from, somewhere, and Shadow lifts his arm, catching the white emerald. It feels heavy in his palm, it doesn't feel familiar.

"Now get out of here, I'm trying to find more animal-shaped rocks and you're cramping my style. I can't find them if I'm worried about what you're doing."

"Don't be so defensive, if I desired that emerald of yours I would have taken it a long time ago."

"What did you just say to me?!" Knuckles snaps.

Shadow sighs, "This is a waste of time. I need to return everything to the way it is supposed to be. Don't try to get in my way."

"You're the one getting in my way!" Knuckles fumes.

Shadow can't listen to this anymore and he chaos controls away to somewhere- his thoughts are unfocused and his head still isn't all there. His face feels warm and his heartbeat feels sharp and painful. His fur is wet and it's disturbing to think that he just realized that.

He focuses on his surroundings and he's standing at Seaside Hill, the salty ocean air tickles his nose and Shadow sneezes. Looking down, his feet are submerged into the ocean water, and steps out of the sea with a growl, already feeling the sand in his shoes, gritting at the bottom of his soles.

Whatever, this is fine. He just needs to return to Sonic and Tails, and he can find the next emerald-

I don't know where they are.

Shadow sighs, his irritation sends an electric charge up his spine. The white emerald in his hand turns red for a moment.

Shadow then thinks about how he could have asked Knuckles to use the master emerald- that is- before he made Knuckles mad at him and the white emerald turns pure red.

Chapter Text

Tails has to stop himself from looking back and watching Sonic. He’s just… strange. His teeth are human-like, and his eyes are so separate, farther apart than Tails is comfortable with. Now that he thinks about it, Sonic’s face looks a lot closer to his. He doesn’t know how he feels about that. His hands tighten on the yoke of the plane. The more he thinks about it, the more he doesn't like it. And he knows that he shouldn't feel that way, because Sonic is friendly, and Sonic trusts him. He's overthinking this, he knows he is. He needs to distract himself.

“How come you wanted to come along with me? I thought you and Sonic were getting along.”

“No way, we only got along because you and’ Shads were there. There was like, what did Seventeen call it… a buffer you know? What would I and others talk about by ourselves? It is really awkward.”

Tails paused. “Huh.”

“Huh? Is that a good huh or bad huh?”

Tails shook his head, “it’s neither! I just- the Sonic I know… I guess he wouldn’t talk about how something is awkward. I don’t know if he’s ever felt awkward in his life.”

“There’s no way that’s true! I mean, hasn’t he ever sneezed in the library or waved at someone who he thought he was waving to but it turned out he didn’t know them?”

“I don’t know if he’s ever been in the library, at least, not since I was old enough to get my own library card. And if he did wave to someone they would know him, everyone knows him!”

“So he’s like- a celebrity?”

“Pretty much.”

“Wow, I’m only a celebrity at Green Hill. But that's just because I'm the only talking blue hedgehog there who's saved the world three times.”

Tails laughs, “Sounds like you're just as much of a celebrity then. “

“Heh, well, tell that to Mom and Dad, doesn't mean I get out of brushing my teeth or having a curfew.”

A chill goes up Tails’ spine, and he mutters under his breath, “a curfew.”

Sonic has always woken up whenever and gone to sleep whenever. Sometimes he's up with the sunrise, other times it's noon. Sometimes he goes to bed at 8 PM, sometimes he never goes to bed, and often in the summer Tails sees him taking cat naps under the shade of a tree. If he told Sonic he had to go to bed at a certain time, he probably wouldn't listen for the fun of it. Taking his eyes off the controls Tails glances back at Sonic and- he doesn't know. Suddenly he looks so young and that's even weirder. He's never thought of Sonic as being young- he's his big bro.

Sonic tilts his head, “Um buddy, you should focus on driving.”

“Sorry,” Tails turns back around. He can feel his tails flicking.

“It's all good, man! I didn't think this would be that well, weird. ”

The glimmering emerald meadows of Emerald Hill come into view.

“We’re coming in for a landing! Hold on!”

“Alright!” Sonic whoops! “Another loop-de-loop! Shadow wouldn’t let me run on the one in the city, can you believe it? Argh, I wanted to race on it so bad. Can we race? Canwecanwe?”

“It wouldn’t be much of a race,” Tails chuckled, “And I think Shadow would be mad if he knew we were goofing off.”

“Which one?”

“The Shadow I know. We’ve never gotten along.” There was that one time Shadow helped Tails collect rings from one of Eggmans amusement parks, but he thinks Shadow only did that to get the chaos emerald that was powering his plane. Of course, he’s moved on to other power sources. It‘s too much of a pain to try and keep a chaos emerald for more than a couple of months at a time. Other than that... Tails will admit that he thinks Shadow is rude to Sonic. Not that Sonic is blameless, Sonic loves to get under Shadow's skin, but Tails knows it's good-natured. Sonic only really gets annoyed around Jet, and Tails gets it. Wave gets under his skin. But when it comes down to it, Shadow will help them out, and that's good enough.

Tails flips a switch and the landing gear pops out from the bottom. They dip and the plane makes contact with the beautiful emerald green grass that mirrors Emerald Hill and skids to a stop. Tails lift the pilot goggles from his face and onto his head, he hops out, landing on his feet. Sonic follows suit.

Sonic carries on, “He’s not easy to get along with. I don’t know how other me does it.”

Tails shrug, “Shadow respects Sonic, even if he doesn’t want to admit it, and Sonic respects him. They are not friends… not really rivals… They’re just something else I guess. But you know, Sonic is just nice to everyone.” Tails catches a glimpse at his face, and suddenly he’s aware he’s explaining this to Sonic. It’s like meeting a stranger, but if the stranger was wearing his best friend's clothes and face.

Sonic grins, “I wonder if my Tails would say I’m ‘nice to everyone’ That be awesome. It’s kind of freaky how similar both of you Tails’ are. I’m serious when I said you have the exact same voice. I don’t think I sound anything like other me.”

“Not really no.” He can’t pinpoint what exactly is different about their voices besides how this Sonic sounds younger. “The Shadow’s though… they sort of sound alike?”

“My Shadow sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves. Your Shadow kind of sounds like an old man, no offense.”

“Who?”

Sonic gasps, “You are missing out. He’s an actor! And a national treasure... Speed is one of the greatest movies ever put to film.”

“I’ll have to take your word for it, I think Sonic would argue that one of the Chao In Space movies is better.”

“We have those too, but those are baby movies! Trust me, if he knew Keanu Reeves like I do he’d be saying the same thing.”

“I believe you,” Tails smiles. He glances down at his Miles Electric and zooms out on the readings, cross-referencing it with a topological map of the area. “Hm… I can’t be sure where the emerald is here, I’m just getting a reading, but I can’t tell... Maybe if I do this…”

“Sounds like we need to find it! That’s fun!” In a flash, Sonic runs off as a bright blue blur. In a moment Tails can trace the blue flash going through the loop-de-loop.

Maybe Sonic is Sonic is Sonic.

…

Windmill Isle is a stunning piece of paradise on the coast, Shadow hears soft violins playing on the radio somewhere as they stand with the salty sea air breezing by, and the chirp of seagulls. The isle is paved with white stone, and the buildings are bleach-white, with large spinning windmills in the distance. It’s quiet, with only soft music and the crash of the ocean waves.

“This reminds me of Greece,” Shadow realizes.

“Wha?” Sonic blinks at him.

“Nothing, just a country from my world.” It’s very beautiful on HGTV. Stone loves HGTV. But always cries at the end of a ‘Love it or List it’ episode. It’s made Shadow start to hide the remote from him, it’s a pain.

“I figured. They have pretty good chilidogs here too and I’m getting hungry. Do you want one?”

Shadow wants to turn it down but he feels the pang in his stomach. “Sure. I guess.”

Sonic’s ears twitch and he grins at him. In a flash he’s there and back, the scent of hot chili is bright and tangy. He hates that it makes his mouth water. Sonic sits by a nearby water fountain and hands off a chili dog to him before scarfing him down. Shadow wonders if he’s tasting it.

The fountain is cool, it’s made of marble, and sitting on it feels cold. Shadow lifts the chili dog to his mouth and takes a bite. It’s spicier than he thought. It sort of reminds him of a curry and less of a chili. It’s not bad though. He’s had worse. He will admit that the Wachowski’s make a pretty good chili, it’s better than this.

Not that he would say it to Sonic’s face. Hm. Maybe he should compliment Mrs. Wachowski when he’s out of earshot.

Sonic sighs and tilts his head back, drinking in the sun. “This is great. I haven’t been back here in ages.”

“Yeah, you said that already.” Or something like that, anyway.

Sonic chuckles, “Yeah, well, it was so nice I said it twice!”

“That was terrible,” Shadow deadpans, and Sonic just snickers.

“Don’t be mean to me Shads,” Sonic blinks at him all pitifully without a lick of sincerity and Shadow rolls his eyes, finishing his food with a final bite.

“Stop that and let’s find the emerald.”

“Yeah yeah, we are we are, we will.”

“Will?”

“Are. So let’s get to it! Do you think you could sense it at all?”

Shadow blinks at him, “What?”

“You know, you’re pretty good at sensing chaos energy aren’t cha?”

“What about you?” Shadow frowns at him.

“Me? I’m not that sensitive to it. I’m not like you or Knuckles. Or even Rouge for that matter… But I don’t think she senses the emerald, she’s just good at treasure hunting.”

“The bat girl?”

“Yeah her! She’s a jewel thief and a world-class treasure hunter- and a secret agent.”

“If you know all this he can’t be that good at keeping secrets. How hasn’t she been caught?” Sonic shrugs.

“Good question. No idea! But anyway, I can’t feel the chaos emerald energy, I don’t know where they are and I think you can figure it out.”

“Sounds like a skill issue.”

“Ha!” Sonic laughs.

Shadow hesitates, hums, and closes his eyes, trying to feel the energy, trying to reach for it… His eyebrows scrunched together as he focused. He felt a pang in his chest, something sharp, bright. He opened his eyes.

“It’s somewhere… over here. I’m taking the lead.”

“Sure, sure, go ahead.”

Sonic and Shadow move through the back streets of the Windmill Isle, Sonic keeps getting distracted by the townspeople who wave and want to talk to him. Sonic talks to some of them by name (“Oh Eric! Long time no see!”). Most of them don’t even acknowledge Shadow, and if they do they keep looking at him weirdly.

“Why are they staring at me like that?” Shadow asks Sonic after the fifth time they’ve been stopped, and Sonic lifts his palms out in a dramatic shrug.

“ I think it’s because Shadow keeps to himself a lot. I mean, you were on TV when the black arms invaded, and everyone thought you were me and locked me in prison. Outside of that though… it’s not like you’re on Twitter you know?”

Shadow frowns, “We don’t look that much alike.” Sure, when he and Sonic met he acknowledged they looked alike, but that was only because it was the first time in his life he met another being, another creature, another hedgehog that was like him. Come to think of it, it’s amazing that there’s a whole planet of creatures like him. He wondered what the Black Arms were like. Is that where he is from? Are they hedgehogs like him? What did Tails mean by… ‘scary black creatures?’

Shadow doubts he’ll find these answers anytime soon. If after 50 years nobody has come for him, who is to say they ever will? Or that he even from somewhere at all?

“Hey, you’re preaching to the choir. I don’t think I looked enough like you to be chased by GUN either.”

Shadow swallows at the mention of GUN, but forces himself to not react otherwise. “I can’t believe a website as horrible as Twitter exists in more than one dimension.”

“Ugh, I’m sorry dude. Did they also try to rename it to X in your world?”

“Why is that the same in both of our dimensions?”

“Are you serious? That’s the funniest thing I think I have ever heard.”

In any case, they continue down the streets of Apotos, Shadow letting the energy of the emerald guide him. And eventually, Shadow stopped in front of a storefront window, peering inside, because the setting on display was a glimmering purple chaos emerald, bigger than his fist.

“Are they seriously trying to sell an emerald?” Shadow blinks. Knowing and being able to feel its unlimited power, such a thing is priceless. He can’t imagine what its value could even look like.

Sonic shrugs, “They probably just don't know what is- c'mon, let me do my magic on ‘em, whoever they are.” Without hesitating, Sonic pushes open the door, and the bell over the door rings. The store is small and cluttered, with knick-knacks and second-hand items on all of the shelves, the floor is covered in multiple colored patterned rugs and so are the walls.

“Sonic the Hedgehog!”

It’s clear to Shadow that Sonic doesn’t recognize the man behind the counter but that doesn’t stop the man from coming over and stopping to shake Sonic’s hand. Even though they are both taller, the man still towers above both of them. Humans still outclass them in height. Despite how suddenly he came over, Sonic shook the man's hand with a bright smile.

“The one and only!”

“It’s a shame my daughters aren’t in or they would be freaking out!” he speaks in an accent that Shadow can’t pinpoint, it’s vaguely European. “Can I have your autograph?”

“Sure, what do you want me to sign? Oh- and I don’t have a pen, Shads what about you?”

“What makes you think I have a pen?” Shadow narrowed his eyes at him.

“Good point.”

“Oh don’t worry I have one right here,” the man leans from beneath the counter and presents a Polaroid-looking camera, to Shadow he offers, “Can you take a photo of us?”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes Shadow takes the camera and positions it, taking the photo with a click, he can hear the camera printing out the image, and he catches it before it falls onto the ground. Out of instinct he starts shaking it for it to develop- but stops when he sees Sonic staring at him weirdly. He hands the items over to the man grinning from ear to ear.

“It looks great! You’ve used one of these before, haven't you? I’m impressed. You young people don’t use these anymore.”

Shadow doesn’t bother to talk about how he was sealed away for 50 years. The man gets Sonic to sign the photo, and as Sonic leaves a note Shadow crosses his arms.

“You are aware that the emerald in your window is a chaos emerald, right?”

“Chaos- oh no I had no idea! No wonder you came in, you probably need that to save the world or something like that, am I right?”

Sonic shook his head, “Oh no, no not this time. For once. Heh. You don’t need to worry, the world is safe. Eggman should be occupied in an endless timeless white void right now.”

“What?”

Sonic glanced at Shadow, “Didn’t I say that before?”

“I think I would have remembered the endless white void if you had mentioned it.”

Sonic shrugs.

The man shook his head, “that’s too good for him. He deserves a lot worse… But thank you for always keeping our world safe Sonic. Go ahead and take the emerald, I don’t want to hold you up. I can't thank you enough for what you've done for Apotos. May Gaia protect you.”

Sonic’s smile is soft, “Thanks. Er, you too.”

Shadow takes the purple emerald out of the front display window and doesn't look behind him. The bell in the store door chimes and Sonic comes into view, stretching with a sigh.

“Who is Gaia?”

“He is talking about the Light Gaia, who is… the God that protects the planet. I met him.”

“...God?”

“Yeah?”

“...This world of yours… it keeps getting stranger.”

“What do you mean?”

“The concept of God exists of course,” Shadow explains, “But there’s no evidence that any Gods are real. And I wouldn’t believe it if anyone but you said they met one.”

“Heh, he’s not even the first God I met. The first one I met was Chaos, Eggman called him the ‘God of Destruction’ but that’s not true, Dark Gaia should be called the God of destruction,” Sonic babbled on, he hopped up on the railing right on the edge of the tall cliffside that if he fell from would drop him right onto the harsh stone of the town below. Sonic swung with each big step, clearly thinking the added danger was nothing to him. Shadow couldn’t help but tense.

“-But I turned Super Sonic and stopped him from destroying Station Square and the world. I met Light Gaia, or Chip back when I was able to turn into the werehog. He lost his memory so for a while I didn’t even know he was a God. He was just a goofy guy that liked to eat!”

“How did you stop that anyway?”

Sonic waved a hand and leaned back-

Shadow lept up and grabbed Sonic, forcing him onto solid land. Sonic stared at him with wide eyes, and his mouth hung open.

“You were making me nervous,” Shadow grunts. He looks at Sonic’s peach arm and releases his grip on it.

Sonic grins, “I wasn’t going to fall.”

“Who said I was worried you were going to fall?”

“Oh you can’t play tough guy with me, you were worried, don’t lie.

Shadow growls, “Whatever.”

“It’s sweet of you to worry about me Shads but it was cool, I’ve skidded down a ton of rails over deadly heights. I’ve gone on them upside down! You should try it, it’s a real rush. Eggman once built this base over a canyon that was connected with these rails- it was wild! It was so fun racing those armored trains. Oh, I should go back there sometime…” he trailed off and Shadow looked away from him.

“You alright?”

“...”

“Are you embarrassed?”

“No,” he lies.

“Dude, don’t worry about it. We’re friends. Friends worry about friends."

Shadow scoffs. “Some friendship this is. I go back to my world and then we never see each other again.”

“ Maybe we won’t get to hang out again but it’s fun for now right? Why worry about tomorrow when you can live life now? Besides, like, other me is cool.”

“Cool isn’t the word I would use. But he isn't a terrible companion. He has his moments. He's the reason why Earth isn't a big piece of rubble.” Shadow pauses. "You don’t know what it’s like.”

He left the rest of it unsaid.

“Maybe I don’t,” Sonic said truthfully, “And I didn't help my Shadow like that. Amy is the one who talked to him. But I do try my best. And I have lost people that I’ve cared about. But Chip said something before he left ‘I’ll always be part of the earth you tread.’ That’s true, like, literally, but I think that’s true for you too. Maria is always with you isn’t she?”

Shadow glances up at the cracked moon in the sky. It’s white against the pretty blue sky Maria loved.

“She would have loved this place.”

“I know.”

“It’s a shame you never met her. You would have been friends.”

“You think so?”

Shadow rolls his eyes, “She was friends with me, and you’re friends with everyone.”

“Not everyone- but yeah I guess I have a lot of friends. Hehe. I really can’t imagine Shadow saying any of this to me. It’s kind of weird for you to be so nice.”

Shadow leans over the railing overlooking Apotos. “I’m not being nice. I’m saying what I think. I don’t think we are very similar except in appearance. You and my Sonic… sometimes you're alike and sometimes you're not.”

“But we like the same things right?” Sonic looks at him curiously.

“That doesn’t mean anything. There's more to people than just liking the same things. I know that he knew that too. Otherwise, he would have chosen to go along with you instead of Tails.”

Sonic blinked.

“This isn’t important.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I should talk to Tails- at least getting the emerald was E-Z!”

“Do you have a phone?”

“Nah I keep breaking those. They’re just too fragile, they can’t handle getting slammed into a wall at the speed of sound. Can you believe it?”

“No,” Shadow replied sardonically.

“So I just have this if I need to talk to him on the fly.” Sonic pulled out a communicator-looking device that beeps when he presses the big blue button on the front.

“Hey, Sonic!” Tails’ voice crackles through. “Find anything?”

“Piece of cake. It was just in a guy's shop window.”

“Cool! We found the red emerald at Emerald Hill. Sonic er, other you found it after just running around for a bit. He was excited about the loop-de-loops.”

“That’s awesome, we HAVE to race through those.”

Other Sonic’s excited voice came through, “YES! Dude we HAVE to race omg it’s going to be my first real challenge!”

“I’m right here!” Shadow barks.

“Hey hey, you’re good too Shadow but you’re not exactly on par with the fastest thing alive without your futuristic hover shoes. I don't know if I can outrace me that's exciting!”

"Whatever Faker.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“What do you mean nuh-uh?”

“Alright, that's enough guys," Tails chuckles, “I’m going to Seaside Hill. You should head out to Westopolis.”

“Another city?”

“We can switch if you want,” Shadow hears Tails’ exasperation.

“You mean it?” Shadow sees Sonic’s tail waggle a little and it’s offputting. “Alright! Thanks bud. Westopolis still kinda freaks me out.”

“I get that. Those black creatures were really scary…”

“Black what?” Shadow makes a face.

“Woah!” Sonic gaped, “That’s freaky, don’t look at me like that.”

“What?” Tails sound incredibly confused.

“Nothing nothing. Listen, we’ll see you around alright?”

“Got it. See ya Sonic!”

Sonic puts the communicator away in his quills.

“Seaside hill time baby! It’s beautiful, and not too far away from here. Hey, are you okay with running on water?”

Shadow scoffs, “You’re asking me that? Please, I have you beat already.”

Sonic beams, “Then let’s do it to it!”

“Still cringe.”

“What?”

…

Tails holds his Miles Electric in one hand, it’s kind of disappointing to go from picturesque Emerald Hill to grey, dull GUN-ridden Westopolis, the capital of GUN. Besides that, Emerald Hill has always been special to him in a way that Green Hill has been special to Sonic. It was the first time he had his adventure with Sonic. It changed his life forever.

He looked over to Sonic who was standing on the plane wing and humming a song he recognized.

“Are you trying to sing the macarena?”

“No way how do you have that here?” he gaped at Tails, jumping down with the emerald in his hand. “That’s so random! Our dimensions are so different. Why is that the same?”

Tails laughs and shakes his head, “No idea. We don’t have a lot of experience with this so I really can’t say… This would be interesting to study… I wonder if I could get a research grant…” he hmms, mentally going over what a proposal report could look like.

Sonic suddenly looks over his shoulder, “Who’s that over there?”

Tails follows his gaze and lets out a surprised ‘Oh!’

“That’s our friends, the Chaotix!” Tails waves to them, Espio is first to notice and the trio rushes over shortly after.

“Hey guys!” Tails chirp.

“Nice t’see you Tails,” Vector greets.

“Greetings,” Espio nods.

“Hey, Tails!” Charmy’s eyes widen and he looks over Sonic, circling him curiously, Sonic spins around trying to keep up with his gaze. “Sonic looks a little… weird. Waiiit…” Charmy leaned in, buzzing as he invaded Sonic’s personal space. “You grew some hair!”

“You’re a really big bee.” Sonic looks cross-eyed trying to keep eye contact with Charmy.

“Charmy stop that!” Vector yanked Charmy back and Charmy whined.

“But he looks weird!”

“That’s because he’s Sonic from another dimension,” Tails explains.

“What?!” Vector yells.

“Impossible,” Espio’s eyes focus.

“No, no it’s possible, I mean, just the other day we were with a Sonic from the past.”

“I guess that’s true,” Espio reluctantly admits and Vector nods.

“Say something Sonic-y.” Vector demands.

“Yeah! Say something Sonic would say!” Charmy chimes in.

“Oh to like, prove I’m a Sonic?”

The two detectives lean in with a nod, a serious look in their eyes, and Sonic tilted back.

“Um….” Sonic blinked. “Gotta go fast?”

“Yeah that sounds like him, I believe it. Do you know me in this other dimension?” Vector pointed at himself.

Sonic shakes his head, “I’ve never met an alligator like you. The ones on my planet are silent deadly killers who hang out in swamp.”

“...Well I’m a crocodile.”

“Oh, still no. I don’t know a lot of people like me,” he admitted, “It’s just me Knuckles and Tails.”

“That’s weird. Well! I’m pleased to make your acquaintance new Sonic. I’m Vector, a world-class detective and leader of my agency, the Chaotix.”

“I’m Charmy! I’m Charmy!” He buzzed and flitted around Sonic’s head, “What’s your world like? Do you like honey cookies? Those are my favorites they’re soooo yummy! Do you watch cartoons? Do they have cartoons there?”

“Charmy, please calm down, You asking too many questions,” Espio nudged him away from Sonic.

“Hehe, sorry!” Tails isn't sure he means that, the way he said that sounded like he said ‘soggy.’

“No no, it’s cool! My world is cool, I’ve never had honey cookies, and I watch lots of cartoons! I love Spongebob, Shadow doesn’t want to admit it but he also really likes Spongebob,” Sonic quickly babbled.

“Hm. You two are birds of a feather. I’m Espio.” The chameleon bows slightly, “I’m a ninja.”

“A ninja?! What? That’s wild! Can you use nunchucks? Ooh, do you have 3 other chameleon brothers that you team up with to make a cool fighting superpower team”!”

“...No.” Espio balks.

“That’s like the plot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Humans! They’re so cool! But they’re not very ninja-like at all,” Charmy shakes his head. “Espio says they don’t have enough dis-a-pline and don’t have the ‘true ninja spirit.’"

“Wow you’re like the real deal,” Sonic’s eyes sparkled. “That’s so cool that’s so cool. Can you do something cool?”

Espio and Vector shared a concerned look and then looked over at Tails. He couldn’t do anything but offer a shrug and an awkward smile. Tails is aware of how this looks and feels, this is just- not what you would expect from Sonic.

“Please?” He put his hands together.

Espio sighs “Very well. Now you see me…” he vanishes before everyone's eyes, Tails has seen him do it before and is even used to it at this point, but this impresses Sonic.

“You’re invisible! Wait wait wait can you do that because you’re a chameleon?”

“Yes,” Espio responds simply, sounding tired.

“You’re too much like Charmy,” Vector grumbled. “You’re different from Sonic,” he scratched his head.

“I think so too,” Sonic agreed with a frown. “It’s probably because he knows all of you guys. Wonder what that would be like…” he scratches his chin and then shrugs, “Maybe I’ll meet someone like you guys one day.”

Espio reappears, “That would be nice, you’re a good friend to us. Well… other you is.”

“Yeah! Good friend!” Charmy cheers, “I think you’re way past cool!”

“Don’t get sappy you two,” Vector chastises them, “it was nice meeting you weird new younger Sonic, but we gotta get going now. We have a client.”

“Oh, you do?” Tails ask, trying not to sound surprised.

“What do you mean by that?” Vector looks irritated, so needless to say it didn't work.

“Nothing nothing,” Tails chuckles. “It’s just, well…”

Vector sighs, “Yeah well, I don’t get it, we are always behind. But this month is different!”

“Yeah, we’re going to be able to pay rent and buy takeout!” Charmy cheers. “I wanna hamburger!”

“Vector promised me sushi.”

“I don't like sushi!” Charmy pouted.

“We'll have enough money for both!” Vector snaps.

“It was nice getting to know you. We’ll see you later.”

“Smell ya later!” Charmy giggles.

“See ya!” Sonic grins and waves as the trio heads out, Charmy getting another reprimand from Vector that doesn’t seem to be sticking.

“Those guys are fun. Man, how many friends do you guys get?”

“Hm, that’s a tricky question. There’s Rouge, Amy, Silver, Blaze, Big, Cream, the Chaotix of course, hm…. I don’t think Sonic would consider the Babylon Rouge to be his friend necessarily... Especially not Jet."

“Hm, I don’t think my parents could adopt all of those guys- that is if they do exist in my universe.”

Tails shakes his head, “I’m sure they wouldn’t have to. Vector is an adult, it would be weird if they adopted him.”

“Yeah, but he could be like, 16 in my world! He would need someone to give him a helping hand. It’s tough growing up on your own- I wouldn’t want him to go through that, especially if I knew we could be friends.”

Tails couldn’t help but stare at him, Sonic stared back.

“I feel like this is another weird thing for you.”

“I-I mean it is,” Tails tries to explain. “Our friends are independent- they can take care of themselves. I think that’s what Sonic meant when he said he didn’t need parents. I mean, he’s always… I guess… he’s never really needed help growing up. Unlike me,” he chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head.

“Wasn’t he ever scared? Ever lonely? Didn't he need advice on what to do?” Sonic frowns, his face changed, looking conflicted.

“I know he has, but he never shows it.” Tails looked over Emerald Hill again. The swaying palm trees, the rich meadows and sparkling waterfalls, the corkscrews, and the sparkling caves. “You know… For 6 months Sonic was trapped in Eggmans base. Eggman took over almost the entire world. He almost…” he pauses. "He almost... ruined everything. All of our friends had to come together to fix everything. But Sonic came out with a smile. It’s like it never happened.” He didn't mention, he didn't want to mention how he fell apart. How he cried out for Sonic to help him when he should have been able to handle it on his own. he shouldn't have brought it up... it hurt to think about.

“That’s really crazy." Sonic's voice sounded soft. "I would have broken in like… eh… 5 hours? ...I guess we aren’t that much alike at all. I mean, besides the whole ‘having-the-same-name’ thing and both being blue hedgehogs.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. You two grew up different. If Sonic had grown up like you, he could have turned out the same. But-” Tails pulls his goggles onto his face. “We’ll never know, right? Because tons and tons of micro decisions and even big decisions changed this world so now it’s completely different from the worlds you know. I guess it would be weirder if you two weren’t so different.” He flies into the driver's seat of the plane.

“You’re not that different though, Tails and, uh, you. You’re both smart and a good brother,” Sonic slinks into the back seat of the plane, leaning his face against his open palm.

Tails smiled. “Thanks, Sonic.”

After a moment, Sonic’s eyes brightened and he smiled back. It’s kind of nice really, it sort of feels like he’s the older brother for once.

“Alright! It’s time to go to that, uh, place we were supposed to go before we got distracted!” Sonic fist pumps the air.

“Woo hoo!” Tails laughs, starting the plane back up with joy.

Sonic is always fun to be around, that’s why they’ve been best friends for so long. It is weird, he’s so different and strange, but... Tails doesn't know what to say. He's a cool guy, and he's nice. As long as Sonic's a good guy, the other things don't matter as much.