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It was like the sun itself had exploded. The lights in the room were so bright even shutting his eyes closed didn’t ease the pain. Shadow fumbled blindly for Sonic’s hand, wanting to know he was okay. Rouge had said the Emeralds would react once put back together; she failed to mention the reaction akin to a neutron star that would occur. Shadow felt his hand latch on to Sonic’s, trying not to let the two of them get blown away by the sheer force of the explosion. Shadow felt Sonic squeeze his hand. Shadow squeezed his right back.
When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Shadow’s first thought was to check on his partner. He held Sonic’s face in his hands, checking for injuries or other signs he was in pain. Sonic laughed, coughing dust up as he did so.
“Shads, I’m okay,” He said, waving away his boyfriend’s worried expression.
Shadow sighed, “I’m not trying to be clingy, I just…”
“You worry, I know. We’ve been dating for awhile now ” Sonic squeezed his hand reassuringly.
Shadow shook his head, “I have some choice words for that sorceress when we get back,” he said, turning to face the now complete Master Emerald.
Something rustled behind the altar it was placed on.
Shadow flinched, going for his chaos spear but stopping himself.
“It’s probably another Chao, the chaos energy both attracts and creates life”
“I was just thinkin’ Shoya could use a sibling!” Sonic exclaimed, bounding in search of the little creature.
Shadow studied the Master Emerald. Chaos energy radiated off of it, this was more powerful than anything he’d ever come into contact with. It had to be kept safe and hidden, out of anyone else’s hands.
Shadow’s brooding was interrupted by his boyfriend’s high pitched scream.
He took little time flying over to where his partner was, Chaos spear summoned and ready to defend.
“What? What’s wrong?” He asked, adrenaline pumping as his red eyes grew wide.
Sonic slowly turned to face him, a small bundle in his arms and a stunned look on his face. His cloak was missing, now covering whatever he held so protectively to his chest.
Shadow called back his spear upon realizing there was no real threat. Sonic carefully and quietly handed him his cloak and whatever was inside.
Shadow searched for an answer, some clue as to what was going on in Sonic’s emerald green eyes yet found none. He carefully folded back the layers of cloth, stopping suddenly when it started squirming.
“Sonic, if this is another Chao I swear to-”
A tiny whine came from inside the cloak. Shadow pushed away the remaining fabric, coming face to face with another set of emerald green eyes.
They looked just like Sonic’s
Shadow carefully unwrapped the tiny hoglet, holding it close to his chest. It was so small, so fragile. Hoglet babies were one of the tiniest mobian species by far, who would leave such a small thing out here by itself?
The little one reached a lavender paw up to Shadow’s white chest fur, swatting at it with tiny peach paw pads.
“Who would leave a hoglet all alone?” Sonic asked, “She’s so small, she can’t be any more than a week old…”
“It’s a little girl?”
Sonic nodded.
Shadow thought back to the village he was raised in. He arrived there with no parents, no one who looked like him in an unfamiliar world.
I will not let another suffer my fate
“We’re taking her with us.” Shadow said, more of a command than anything, his mind made up.
“Yes, we can’t just leave her here, but what are we supposed to do about a baby, Shadow?”
“We’ve taken care of the little Chao just fine”
“That’s a Chao, this is a hoglet,” Sonic protested.
“When did you become the responsible one?”
Shadow eyed the lavender fur leading towards her quills, navy blue stripes running down them. He laid her on his chest gently. Sonic gasped.
“She has your wings”
Shadow tried not to startle the hoglet, taken back by Sonic’s words.
“Impossible, all of my family is dead,” he said, carefully holding her out to Sonic to hold.
Sonic did the same thing as Shadow, the little lavender hoglet nuzzled into Sonic’s longer fur for warmth.
A pair of dark blue lightly furred wings were tucked into her tiny back, her long, wolf like tail wagging happily as Sonic held her.
“She looks like you,” the pair said almost perfectly in unison.
Sonic held her tightly to his chest, swaddling her in his cloak.
“We’re taking her and the Emerald to Rouge, now,” he said, already starting to transform. He held his cloak gently in his canines.
Shadow panicked for a moment, worrying for the hoglet’s safety before remembering Sonic’s roots. Werehogs had much different practices with little ones than his kind did.
Shadow quickly grabbed the Master Emerald, placing it in his satchel before unfurling his wings with a snap.
He placed a kiss to the navy blue fur of his partner’s forehead, “Travel safe”
Sonic growled back in response before taking off and out of the temple. Shadow wasn’t far behind.
They arrived at Rouge’s cave just before nightfall, the stars slowly twinkling into view. Shadow watched Sonic bound through the woods, not far behind, his eyes illuminated by the moon. He trotted to a halt, tail wagging happily upon seeing Shadow. Shadow rolled his eyes with a smile.
“C’mon, no doubt Rouge is expecting us,” He said, ruffling his fur slightly.
Sonic rubbed his head against Shadow’s leg, grumbling happily. Shadow scritched behind his ears gently. The small hoglet in his mouth seemed to have fallen asleep on the way over, peacefully sleeping in her little makeshift hammock.
“She likes you,” Shadow said with a small smile.
Sonic nudged him forward with his snout, reminding him about the sorceress waiting for them.
“Alright alright, I get it,” He said, allowing Sonic to direct him into the cave.
“Boys? Is that you?” Her voice echoed through the cave.
“Who else would bother to come to this damp and dingy cave?” Shadow teased.
Rouge fluttered down from the roof of the cave, her dark wings landing her next to Shadow.
“Real funny, hedgehog, I’ll remember that when you ask me to make a speech at your union,” She said, rolling her green eyes. “Speaking of, here’s your husband to be” She said, scratching under Sonic’s chin.
“Now, let’s see that emerald you’ve got,” Rouge said, moving for the bundle in Sonic’s mouth.
Sonic growled, not a threat but a warning, backing away slightly from Rouge and towards Shadow.
Shadow reached into his satchel, “I’ve got it right here, what Sonic has is a separate can of worms entirely” Shadow said, protectively laying a hand on Sonic’s back.
“Fine fine, let’s see that Master Emerald of yours, huh?”
The emerald levitated towards Rouge, her powers taking it out of Shadow’s paws.
“You boys have found the key to not just infinite power, but to the forgotten world. Have you ever heard of Angel Island?”
Shadow nodded, “I’ve read many inscriptions or murals detailing the demise of the ancient city.”
“Well, you’ve been carrying the very thing that destroyed it in your satchel all this time. Once we restore it, the city will rise out of the depths it sank to.”
Rouge summoned a map before them, pointing to an area of ocean.
“Your next quest, restoring the island of the Echidnas,” Rouge said, handing over the marked scroll to Shadow.
“Now, what’s got Blue’s tail in a twist?”
Shadow gently pet Sonic’s head, signaling him it was okay to let go of the cloak. Shadow gently took the fabric out of Sonic’s mouth, making sure the young hoglet was still safe and snug in the cloak. Rouge fluttered over, ignoring Sonic’s low grumbles as she made her way over to Shadow. Sonic transformed back, standing up on his back feet and moving to stand next to the ebony hedgehog, setting his chin down on his partner’s shoulder.
Shadow held the hoglet close, gently removing them from Sonic’s coat. Rouge put a hand to her mouth, blocking a gasp as a tiny lavender hand started playing with his white chest fur again.
“Shadow… she-”
“Looks exactly like us?”
Rouge nodded. The tiny hoglet turned to face her, her little emerald eyes examining her. A tiny paw reached out to the albino sorceress. Shadow gently offered the baby to Rouge, the little one reaching toward her with curious open arms.
Rouge conjured up some spare fabric and a small syringe for milk, forming a makeshift diaper for her and handing the syringe to Sonic.
“Whoever trusted you boys with a baby is dumber than they look-” She said, flicking her finger and tying the diaper with a simple spell.
“That’s the problem, she was all alone when we found her with the emerald,” Sonic stated.
Rouge faltered for a second, “With the emerald?”
“We found her shortly after the Master Emerald was formed, I assumed she was a Chao at first…” Shadow added.
“Emerald’s create life…” Rouge muttered, mostly for herself.
Rouge took a deep breath, closing her eyes and focusing her energy on the little hoglet in her hands. Shadow had seen her read energy before, but it never failed to leave him awestruck. Rouge lifted off the ground slightly, her magic swirling around the two before fizzling out, her feet landing safely back on the ground.
“What’d you see? Can we find her parents? Oh, if I get my claws on them i’ll-”
“I couldn’t read her,” Rouge stated plainly.
“You, What?”
“I couldn’t place her energy. Everytime I tried to, I just kept picking up on…”
Rouge eyed the little hoglet in her arms. Her green eyes, her purple color, her small wings…
“You two,” She realized.
“You two made her”
“Rouge, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but given our whole situation I fear that’s not very possible,” Sonic said with a deadpan expression.
Shadow elbowed him lightly in the ribs, “He’s an idiot but he’s right, how on earth did we ‘make’ her?”
Rouge gently handed the hoglet back to Sonic, who was quickly set on trying to feed her from the syringe.
“Chaos energy creates life, we know this. My running theory is that when you two combined the emeralds, you combined your energies with the emerald’s, creating her,” Rouge gestured to the little hoglet Sonic was feeding.
Shadow gazed solemnly at his little family.
“So, she’s ours?”
“All yours. By the way, she really does need a name, Shads,” Rouge said, wrapping a wing around her brother of sorts.
Shadow made his way over to his partner and the young hoglet who would appear to be his daughter. Shadow laid his chin down gently on Sonic’s shoulder, watching their baby daughter finish the last of her syringe.
“You should name her, I’m not good with that sort of thing.”
“I don’t think I should be in charge of something so serious,” Sonic admitted sheepishly. He turned his head to kiss Shadow gently on the cheek.
“You pick, and if all else fails you can name her after someone else”
Someone else
“How do we like the sound of… Mari,” Shadow offered.
The lavender hoglet’s little ears perked up as she reached up for her fathers.
“I think she likes it,” Sonic whispered softly.
“It was the name of a dear friend of mine, I don’t think she’d mind sharing it,” Shadow said thoughtfully.
“A dear friend? You never spoke of someone named Mari?” Sonic cocked his head quizzically
“Maria, actually. She was… my first friend. I’ll tell you, and her, about it sometime. I’m not sure I’m ready to confront my past just yet,” He said, hiding his face in Sonic’s unruly navy fur. His partner placed a kiss on his ear.
“I won’t pry, and we have a while before she’ll want to know,”
Shadow grumbled something Sonic couldn’t quite make out.
“Use your words, Shads.”
Shadow groaned,” Shut up… I just don’t think I’m the one who should be raising a kid, let alone a little girl,” He said dejectedly.
Mari made a small noise, drawing Shadow’s attention. She made grabby hands, reaching up for Shadow, a soft paw landing on his nose.
“She seems to think otherwise,” Sonic said with a smile