Chapter Text
“Welcome to Green Hills, Shadow.” Sonic slowly motioned his hand across the area: at the ‘welcome to Green Hills’ sign, the grass behind it, the road that leads straight into town, and the trees on the other side of the road. “What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. You just pointed at the sign, the road, and the grass.”
Sonic looks around. “Oh, yeah,” he wraps his arm around Shadow's shoulders, who scowls and side-eyes him in annoyance. “Well, it only gets better from here, dude.”
Sonic dashes through the streets, Shadow following soon after. As much as he’d like to take the scenic route throughout the small town, he chooses not to because it’s late and he doesn’t want to disturb anyone.
He takes shortcuts: from backroads, to dirt roads, to the forest. They travel up the winding roads until the house Sonic has become so familiar with and loves appears in their view. He stops at the edge of the driveway.
“TA-DA! Your new home!” Sonic holds his arms out, gesturing to the house with an ecstatic expression. He walks down the driveway, practically bouncing out of his skin in excitement.
“I told you I only plan on staying for a little.” Shadow follows behind.
Instead of going to the front door, Sonic takes them to the side of the house where the skylight is visible. He zips up the house in a blur.
“What are you doing? The door is right there.” Shadow tilts his head to the side, gesturing at the front door, confused.
“Oh, right. My bad. You can’t read my mind.” He chuckles softly. “I was gonna sneak us through the skylight and surprise everyone with our arrival in the morning. Everyone will–”
Before Sonic can give his reasoning, Shadow cuts him off: “You do realize how stupid that sounds, right?”
“It’s not stupid.” He fires back defensively, climbing down the house so he’s standing in front of Shadow. “I was going to explain before you rudely cut me off.” He crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.
“No amount of explaining will ever justify this stupidity.”
“Well, okay, mister know-it-all,” he leans his face in and points a finger at Shadow’s chest, “tell me where else we’re supposed to stay the night.”
Shadow shoves Sonic away from his face, taking a few steps away from the house. “I never said we couldn’t stay here. I was saying that sneaking in was a bad idea since I’m with you.”
“What do you mean by ‘since I’m with you’?”
“I assume your family won’t be too fond of me since I beat up you and your friends, and almost killed…” Shadow’s voice trails off, but Sonic knows what he means.
Sonic’s mouth makes an ‘O’ shape before going silent. He knows Shadow makes a good point. It’s better to properly introduce him to his family than surprise them and get yelled at.
“I know a different place we can stay,” Sonic says quietly. “It won’t be as comfortable as the beds here, but it’ll work for the night.”
Shadow nods in response, and they leave the property.
—
“Welcome to Casa de Sonic,” Sonic says, yawning soon after, the exhaustion from the past few days catching up to him. “Well, it used to be.”
“This place looks like a junkyard.” Shadow’s eyes shift from the road signs on the wall to the makeshift table tennis table to other miscellaneous junk lying around with an unreadable expression.
“Way to be blunt, eh?” He frowns, his ears droop slightly as he scratches the back of his head.
While Shadow looks around the cave, Sonic rummages through his old stuff, hoping to find some old blankets he forgot to bring to his house. Unfortunately for him, Tom and Maddie were thorough whilst packing his things to take to his new room, so he didn’t find any.
“Aw, man. I don’t have any blankets for us to use tonight.” Sonic laments.
Shadow doesn’t complain at that, just sits on the ground with one knee up and an arm resting on it.
Sonic plops down onto the dusty, old beanbag chair sitting in the middle of the cave. “It’s a good thing it isn’t winter time, otherwise sleeping without blankets would be torture.” He laughs, closing his eyes.
He doesn’t get very far on his journey to fall asleep as he jolts upwards almost immediately, remembering that Shadow is a guest and he should’ve offered the beanbag chair to him.
“Oh, right, sorry. I should’ve asked if you wanted the chair before I made myself at home.” He grins, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
“You’re fine. I’m not sleeping anyway.”
Sonic quirks a brow, looking at the other like he’s lost his mind.
“Since G.U.N knows where you live, they’ll go to your residence to find me. I’m not risking getting captured in my sleep.” The darker hedgehog explains.
“Relax. G.U.N hasn’t visited us in forever. You’ll be safe here.” Sonic replies nonchalantly, lying back down, completely neglecting to mention how G.U.N showed up at his B-Earth-Day party to get Team Sonic to capture Shadow.
Shadow looks at him sceptically, but doesn’t say anything.
The cave falls silent. The sound of crickets chirping lulls Sonic into a relaxed state. He curls into a ball on the beanbag chair, ready to drift off to sleep.
“Hey.” Shadow whispers.
“Hm.”
“What’s your name?”
“Blue Justice. Patent pending.” Sonic slurs, sleepiness clouding his mind.
“No,” Shadow groans. “Your actual name.”
“I told you what it was already.”
“Just tell me your actual name, hedgehog.” Shadow sighs.
Between slow, sleepy breaths, the blue hedgehog breathes out, “Son…ic.” Then he succumbs to sleep that he so desperately needs.
—
Sonic feels himself being shaken. He groans, shutting his eyes tighter while swatting at whoever is shaking him.
“Wake up. It’s already past noon.”
“G’way,” he curls into a ball on the beanbag.
The hero yelps, his eyes jolting open, as he feels himself get thrown off the beanbag into the air, hitting the ground with a thump!
“OW! What was that for?” He looks up at the black and red hedgehog standing above him. The sunlight peaking through the cave blinded him until his eyes adjusted to the light.
“You’ve slept for long enough. Hurry up and take me to your family, so I can find other places to stay before it gets dark.” Shadow says bluntly.
“Whoa! Don’t say that. Why are you acting like you know my family won’t accept you?”
“I would rather accept the worst than get my hopes up only to be disappointed.”
“That’s a depressing way of thinking.” Sonic makes a mental note to change Shadow’s perspective of the world while he stays in town. That is, if he’s allowed to stay in his home. He hates how there is a very real possibility of Tom and Maddie not allowing Shadow to stay, but he knows they wouldn’t be so cruel as to leave a hurting hedgehog out in the streets.
“C’mon, Shadow. I promised you that they wouldn’t hold your actions against you. And I intend to keep that promise.” He steps through the cave opening. “Let’s go. If they say you can stay, we absolutely have to have a rematch for our fight in Tokyo. It was totally unfair back then.”
Shadow steps towards him and scoffs. “It wasn’t unfair. You were just weak.”
“Weak? Pssh. I’m anything but weak.” Sonic fires back.
“That’s not what your skill told me back then.”
“I was caught off guard, and also, I didn’t want to hurt you until you attacked Knuckles.”
“He had it coming to him. His attack was reckless anyway.”
Sonic groans. “Why are we just standing here? I said ‘let's go’ like fifteen hours ago.”
—
The two hedgehogs stand in front of the Wachowski home. One looks at it with hopeful anticipation, while the other looks with dread. The sun casts a yellow-orange glow on the home that gives it an aura, as if the people inside it hold one of their fates in their hands. Which they kind of do. Where would Shadow go if he were not accepted here?
Sonic steps in front of Shadow. “Well, we’re back. Now I can properly introduce you to my family.”
“I’m still not sure if I’m welcome here.” Shadow walks slightly behind Sonic down the driveway.
Sonic takes large strides down the driveway, resting his arms behind his head with his elbows poking out. “Relax, Shads, I promised you that my family wouldn’t hold what you did against you. Do I look like I break promises?” He points at himself and shoots Shadow a look that says, ‘The answer is obviously no.’
“First of all, don’t call me that. And second, you look like you make promises that you don’t know if you can keep or not.”
Sonic shoves Shadow in mock offence. “Wow, Shads. After everything we’ve been through together, you say that!”
Shadow rolls his eyes in response, continuing to walk down the entryway.
When they reach the front door, Sonic turns the handle only for him to realize that it’s locked.
“Seriously? Why would they lock me out?” He bemoans.
Shadow side-eyes him, “You cannot seriously be this stupid.”
Ignoring Shadow’s glare and comment, Sonic knocks on the door.”Hey guys! I think you forgot to unlock the door for me.” He calls out, peeking through the windows on the side.
They hear shuffling inside the house before Tails opens the door, face shifting from confusion to joy.
“Sonic!” Tails screams, pulling his brother into a tight hug.
The colbalt hedgehog hugs right back. “Hey, buddy. Long time no see.”
“Where have you been? Everyone thinks you died.” Tails pulls him inside, stopping when he sees that Sonic isn’t the only hedgehog at the door. He visibly tenses up upon realizing who this new hedgehog is.
Seeing his brother tense up, Sonic decides this is the perfect time to introduce the two. “Tails, this is Shadow.” He gestures at Shadow, then zips over so he’s standing next to the darker hedgehog. “Shadow, this is Tails.” He gestures at his brother, who’s looking at the black and red hedgehog in shock. “Now that we’ve gotten introductions over with, we can do the same with the other three.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is he doing here?” Tails points at Shadow, fear seeping into his voice.
“Shadow isn’t dangerous.” Sonic grabs both of their hands—Shadow giving him a look that screams that he wishes he never agreed to come—and pulls them further inside the house. “I’ll explain everything once I gather everyone in one place.”
Sonic brings everyone to the living room, sitting them down on the couch while he and Shadow stand, where he explains everything that happened, not bothering to go into detail about his talk on the moon with Shadow or how Shadow tried to push him out of their fused super form to push the Eclipse Cannon on his own, believing that those moments weren’t his to share. Instead, he briefly explains how Shadow had a change of heart on the moon and how they both fused with the Chaos Emeralds, going super golden god mode. Then he asked if Shadow could stay for a few days while he figures things out.
As he explained, he could see that Shadow was tense by his side, clearly worried about whether the family that stood before him would be accepting of him and forgive the things he’d done to them. While Sonic didn’t outwardly express his worry for his family’s acceptance of Shadow, his brain was in shambles. He couldn’t explain how badly he wanted Shadow to stay here. His family's disapproval would crush him.
Hell, they might even kick him out for even asking if Shadow can stay.
As fast as the thought came, he mentally slapped himself for thinking of it. His family would never do something that cruel. But Tom and Maddie did have the right to refuse to let Shadow stay, and that right terrified him.
He expected to hear angry responses. Asking him why he would ever want the hedgehog that hurt them to live in their home. But to his surprise, Tom and Maddie agree to let him stay. Shadow posture visibly relaxes hearing this, but he still has his guard up.
Sonic runs up to them and hugs them. “ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!”
“What? Did you expect us to say no?” Tom jests, punching him in the arm lightly with the one not in a sling. The sling that he needs because of Shadow.
Sonic pulls back, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Well, I thought you would be angry with him because of what happened in Tokyo, and… ” He loosely gestures at Tom’s arm that’s held in a sling. Shadow tenses up once more, seeing what Sonic did.
Tom doesn’t get a chance to respond as Knuckles speaks up: “Hedgehog, do you not remember our first encounter? I hurt you and destroyed this very room we are in. It would be very hypocritical of me, the Lord of Donuts, and Pretzel woman to refuse to let the more impressive hedgehog stay when you all have shown me this same kindness yourselves.” He steps closer to Shadow, looking him directly in the eyes. “I, too, know what it’s like to be tricked by a Robotnik. I do not know your entire story, but I do believe your previous actions were acted under poor influences. I harbor no ill-will towards you, and neither does the rest of this family.”
Shadow stays quiet for a moment before he quietly says, “Thank you.”
Sonic is so overjoyed that his new friend can stay that he completely ignores Knuckles' comment about Shadow being more impressive than him. He hugs his rival, who pushes him back but has a small smile gracing his lips.
After Sonic rejoices in his small victory for a few moments, Tails clears his throat. “Um, Sonic. You mentioned that you and Shadow fused using the Chaos Emeralds to save the world. How did you do that?”
“The fusion?” He puts his hand to his chin in thought before quickly responding, “I don’t know how. It felt like the first time I went golden god mode, but I was stronger because…” He pulls Shadow into a side hug, “I had him by my side. If you want to know more about the powers of the emeralds, you should ask the guardian next to you.”
“Oh, yeah!” Tails' face lights up. “Knuckles, do you know how their fusion was possible?”
“I apologize for leaving your question unanswered, fox, but I do not.”
Tails frowns, his ears flattening against his head. “Aww, man,” he laments.
“Hey, don’t be upset,” Sonic digs in his quills and pulls the plastic bag holding the Chaos Emeralds. “Maybe the answers might be in the emeralds.”
The kit’s mouth curves upward slightly. “Maybe.” His face lights up once more. “Hey! If you guys figure out how to fuse again, I could run some experiments to figure out exactly how you did it.”
“That sounds like a great id–”
“NO!”
The room is forced into silence at Shadow’s outburst. The fear Tails had in his eyes when he first saw him at the door is back. The rest of the family just stares at the dark hedgehog in shock.
After a long stretch of silence, Sonic says, “What do you mean, Shads? Tails is only trying to help us learn more about the emeralds.”
Shadow clears his throat. “I’m sorry, but I meant what I said. You will not run any experiments on me.”
“Ooookay…” Sonic presses his hands together. “That’s cool. Tails is the smartest person I know. He’ll figure something out.” He turns to the fox kit. “Right, little buddy?”
Tails nods in response.
Tom looks at Shadow. “It’s neat to have you here, Shadow. Make yourself at home.” He stands up, stretching his arms above his head. “Well, we can’t stay sitting here wasting the day away, can we?”
At that, the other four family members disperse throughout the house, leaving Sonic and Shadow alone in the living room.
“I told you my family would accept you.” Sonic smirks.
“That whole conversation was so underwhelming. I was expecting there to be some sort of push against me staying here, yet…” Shadow paused for a second, looking down at his hands. “They accepted me without a fight.”
“Yeah, accepting random space aliens to live in their house is kinda their thing,” Sonic replies, ignoring Shadow’s shocked, somber tone.
“Anyways, want a house tour? My room is the coolest!”
—
“Goodnight, Shads.”
“I told you not to call me that.” Shadow groans as he shuts the door to the guest room Maddie had prepared for him.
Sonic climbs up the attic steps into his shared bedroom. Tails is already tucked into his bed, reading a book. Knuckles is standing on the side of his bed, pulling the covers back. He climbs into his own racecar bed and pulls the covers onto himself.
Tails puts his book down and turns off the lamp by his bed. “G’night, guys.” He yawns, lying down and snuggling under the covers.
The other two brothers say their goodnights as they tuck themselves in.
Within five minutes, both of his brothers are out cold, Tails snoring softly and Knuckles doing the opposite.
Sonic can’t sleep. All he can think about while he lies in bed surrounded by his brothers is their last conversation in London. He was acting so selfish back then, blinded by rage. He wanted nothing more than to carry Shadow’s head on a stick for hurting Tom. So much so that he ignored the oath he, Tails, and Knuckles made, choosing to take the Master Emerald and go after Shadow himself. He can only imagine the hurt they felt when they saw him take off on his own, probably thinking that he didn’t trust them to work as a team to resolve this issue. If he were Tails, he wouldn’t have even opened the door for him when he came back.
What he did was terrible. He has to let them know he’s sorry and it won’t happen again. He needs to apologise to them. It should’ve been the first thing he’d done today, but he was distracted by getting Shadow here and worrying about whether they’d accept him or not that it completely slipped his mind.
He now has an objective for himself tomorrow.
In the morning, he’s going to apologise.