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Sonic breaks away from the embrace of his friends—no, family—no, team, and drags his gaze back to the remains of the Eclipse Cannon in the skies above. Tails’ voice echoes in his head, Shadow and Robotnik… they sacrificed themselves… to save everyone, and Sonic’s chest clenches.
“Huh? Sonic, what’s that?” Tails points ahead to a glint of gold, falling from the sky.
The three of them shield their eyes and ears when, with a cosmic-sized boom, the glint of gold hits Earth, a ways away from them.
Once the dust clears, Sonic is gone, having spin-dashed towards this glint of gold. Tails and Knuckles rush to his side, and he pulls the gold thing free, only for it to spin up into the air and hit him square on the forehead. He topples backward and falls on his butt. Still, he catches it with a single hand.
“That was an idiotic move, hedgehog,” Knuckles says, helping him up.
“A little funny, but yeah, that was dumb,” Tails scolds lightly, only to peer at Sonic’s hand. “What is it?” His hand opens up to reveal the gold bangle, curved into a perfect circle.
“It’s… Shadow’s ring. He must’ve taken it off before he…” Sonic swallows as he clenches it tight in his hand. It’s warm to the touch. It almost burns him.
“Sonic…” Tails gives him a puppy-eyed look, filled to the brim with concern and sympathy. “Maybe you should keep it to remember him.”
“You’re right,” Sonic says, and he tries to stand up straighter. “This is proof of Shadow’s choice. He… He wasn’t a bad hedgehog. He fixed it in the end.” He smiles, looking down at the bangle.
“Hedgehog,” Knuckles says, and a meaty paw lands on Sonic’s shoulder. “You’re crying.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I said, I’m not crying.”
“You are, Sonic,” Tails says, and wraps his arms around Sonic’s waist. “It’s okay.”
Sonic closes his eyes. He feels the warmth of his brothers and the hot metal of the ring press against his bruises.
He can’t bring himself to show Maddie or Tom the ring, so he ends up bringing it to the cave. It’s almost funny how much the ring sticks out in the cave, shining brightly even when the owner isn’t around or the sun isn’t overhead the cave’s opening.
It’s been a few days since everything’s happened. Despite the guilt weighing him down, he sneaks out the window while Tails and Knuckles snore away. Hiding out in his cave in the middle of the night isn’t something he’s done in a long, long time. Maybe years, since Tom initially found him and agreed to take care of him.
Sonic doesn’t really know what to do with the ring. He wishes he could keep it on him at all times, but Maddie and Tom would definitely say something if they saw it. Ask questions. He doesn’t want to think about, let alone talk about the recent events. It’s still settling in his head.
He looks between the ring, perched on top of his shabby shelves, and the artwork of him and Longclaw in Green Hill Zone.
With a long sigh, Sonic sits on the floor of his cave. If it wasn’t for his and Tom’s conversation before everything happened, he could’ve seriously hurt Shadow. Yet, Shadow’s the reason why Tom’s arm is in a sling right now. It’s like a weird, ironic twist of events.
No matter how he feels about it, the moon is high in the sky, and he has to go back home. He stands up, ready to climb out the hole, only to hear a rattling noise coming from… the ring.
“Huh…?”
The ring is shaking. Almost like there’s an earthquake happening, but everything else is stationary. Sonic reaches out to it, and it jumps up, like it’s alive. “Woah!”
Before it can run away (or something like that, it’s a ring,) Sonic grips it tight in his hand. Clearly, this was not normal, but he wasn’t about to lose the physical reminder of Shadow’s sacrifice after less than a week!
The ring shakes and jolts around in his hand, like it’s a terrified animal. Notably, it’s pulling in a direction, up and out the cave.
Sonic sighs. “Well, I gotta say I’ve been in crazier situations than this, so…”
He jumps out the cave into the cool night air, scanning his surroundings. It takes only a mere second for his eyes to adjust to the dark, but he doesn’t see-
“I need that,” Shadow says, voice gravelly. Sonic whirls around to see his familiar, grouchy enemy-turned-friend(?).
“Shadow?!” Sonic practically yells, and Shadow's expression turns dark and suspicious.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?” Shadow asks, and Sonic blinks. “Give me the Inhibitor Ring.”
“Inhibitor…” Sonic looks down at his hand, and the ring was pulling even harder now, like it was trying to escape him. “Oh. This?”
“Yes,” Shadow growls, but Sonic doesn’t let go of the ring. He holds it tighter. Don’t blame him, the entire situation is kind of making his head spin.
“Hold on, hold on, hold on!” He shakes his hands in front of him. “Shadow, you’re… alive?”
Shadow sends him a death glare. “Do I look dead? And how do you know my name?”
Sonic feels his quills curl in. “You don’t remember me? I’m Sonic! You don’t remember the, I don’t know, chat on the moon, turn super powerful, fighting in space together, save the world-ing we did together?”
Shadow’s brow furrows.
Sonic bites his lip. His entire face is getting hot. Not good. “Here,” Sonic holds out his free hand.
Shadow peers at it suspiciously, confusion clear on his face.
“Put your hand in mine,” Sonic says, impatiently.
Shadow slowly places his ring-free hand onto Sonic’s outstretched one.
So he’s not totally reverted to super-sad-evil-mode, Sonic thinks. He just… forgot everything. Great. With a single hand, Sonic opens the Inhibitor Ring and gently slides it onto Shadow’s wrist, just above his cuff. “You don’t… remember… that the love we feel for the ones we lost is what’s important?”
After gaining a little courage, Sonic flicks his gaze from Shadow’s hand to Shadow’s face, and flinches at his expression. Shadow looks like he just saw a dead body.
“Sonic,” Shadow mutters.
“That’s me.”
“I can’t… remember. Why can’t I remember?” Shadow shut his eyes tightly, and after a moment, opens them. He brings a hand to his forehead. “I can only remember my name and Maria… but you feel familiar.”
Sonic smiles. “That’s… that’s good enough, I think. Shadow, you might have forgotten, but I remember. I can’t say I know everything about you, but I’ll help you.”
Shadow’s guard raises once again, and he shifts slightly away from Sonic. They’re still holding hands, though. “Why?”
Sonic lets out a breathy chuckle. “Why? Shadow… you’re a hero. You were the real hero. You of all people should be allowed to know that.”
“How can you be sure? What if I’m a fake?”
“So what? If I feel familiar to you, then you’re probably the Shadow I know. And the Shadow I know is a hero. And even if you’re not… Well, you aren’t trying to kill me right now, so I figure you can’t be so bad.”
Shadow’s eyes are shaking. “What…”
“You said you only remember your name, right? Well, remember this. I’m… Sonic. We’re friends, and we saved the world together, because you made the right choice in the end.” Sonic grins. “There’s more to it, of course. I really wish you remembered the moon, because it was pretty up there. But, I’m really, really happy you’re alive.”
Sonic pulls Shadow into a tight, tight hug.
If this is a dream, he thinks with desperation, I don’t want to wake up. Shadow deserves to live. Shadow deserves the ability to move on. Shadow… should be happy.
After a moment, Shadow lifts his arms and hugs Sonic back.