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“–as I was saying. I think you and Knuckles respected each other in silence, but your personalities made you clash constantly. I kept telling you that was just how he was and that you shouldn’t pay any mind to it, but–” Sonic snorts, “–you didn’t really like listening to me.”
Shadow hums. This has been his cue that he is listening during the last hour they have spent surveying the area—rocky, worn, and dilapidated. Just as Shadow elucidated, not a trace of life remains in the landscape. No trees. No plants. No insects. Only the intense sun that makes searching impossible during the day, the hot nights that are barely bearable in those thick suits, and a persistent breeze that whistles in their ears as it hits each body.
(And the ARK, orbiting the planet alongside the moon).
Sonic would be lying if he said that the deplorable state of the world didn’t sadden him in some way. Earth has always seemed majestic to him. Huge, powerful, and unstoppable. With so much to offer, and so much that he could offer in return. Seeing it like this is almost unfathomable to him.
He knows that everything comes to an end, however, and this is the conclusion of the planet he loves so much: many centuries in the future, with no one but one unfortunate inhabitant left to witness all that once was.
Shadow doesn’t remember much—scratch that, Shadow doesn’t remember anything. Nothing about his past, nothing about his friends, nothing about Sonic. About what they went through together. What they once shared.
(But he does remember Silver, of course he remembers Silver. Rest in peace, you lucky bastard.)
“Were you good friends?” Shadow raises his voice for the first time since Sonic began his tale. He makes his way through the rubble, but Sonic chooses to jump over it. “You and this ‘Knuckles’ you speak of?”
Sonic flashes a reminiscing smile. One that Shadow notices, though he doesn’t comment on it.
“He, Tails, and Amy are my family. It doesn’t matter where we come from. I’ve known them since we were kids,” he explains, effusively. He pauses on a pile of ruins and looks up at the stars flickering in the sky.
Back home, thanks to urban light pollution, this beautiful celestial vault began to fade. However, on a day like this—hundreds of years in the future—it’s breathtaking. It’s like looking at it through a telescope: he can appreciate details he never would have imagined, things he couldn’t even see in the most remote places on the planet, where the artificial doesn’t reach. It’s magnificent, it’s terrifying, and it’s the consequence of the absence of an ozone layer to protect them.
If planet Earth seemed massive to him, the entire universe is titanic in comparison. It’s everlasting and uncontrollable, vast beyond his wildest imagination.
(Would it even be possible to explore it all?)
“I see,” Shadow replies, lost in thought. Instead, he looks at the ground. He continues moving forward, forcing Sonic to follow him.
Obviously, it hurts that Shadow doesn’t remember him. Sonic has been studying him closely since he started telling him about his past. He searched diligently for a sign: didn’t his words evoke a sense of familiarity? Sonic can’t find anything, not even a glimmer of recognition. He wears the same expression that Shadow—his Shadow—used to wear when Sonic recounted some of his adventures that he didn’t participate in. It’s identical, so much so that it pierces his heart like a stake. It stings.
He listens attentively, but it’s all new information to him.
“You had something like that, by the way,” Sonic reveals, voice soothed, and Shadow raises his head to look at him in astonishment.
Maybe that will jog his memory.
“What do you mean?”
“Rouge and Omega,” he says, hoping that something in Shadow’s expression will change. From this point on, the terrain is flat but sandy, like a desert, so they walk side by side. “The three of you were a team. You used to describe them as coworkers, but I don’t know what coworker spends all day breathing the same air as their coworkers on their own free will.”
Shadow stares at him expectantly. Sonic sighs.
No luck, he guesses. They don’t ring a bell either.
“Were we close?” Shadow asks, engaged.
“As thick as thieves,” Sonic describes. A faint smile grazes his lips, trying to hide his affliction, “Which is funny, actually, because Rouge was a thief.”
Shadow’s face contorts into a puzzled grimace.
“And why would I hang out with a thief?”
Sonic stops in his tracks and looks at Shadow, completely dumbstruck, his mouth so wide open that if flies still existed, one could slip right in.
Shadow meets his gaze with a look of consternation, but before he can ask him what’s wrong, a boisterous burst of laughter echoes from Sonic’s chest. It’s light, it’s sincere (and it hurts a little). It fills the corners of his eyes with small tears.
He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down, but he can’t hide his huge, goofy grin.
“Y’know what?” he asks between giggles, “You used to ask yourself that same question every single day.”
***
The search was fruitless; they couldn’t find the temporal rift that brought him here in the first place. There’s no guarantee that it hasn’t fixed itself in some way or another (frankly, Sonic leaves that kind of thing to Tails; he has no business poking around in scientific matters), but giving up hope so quickly isn’t the ideal plan for either of them.
After revealing his plan to sleep forever, Shadow decided to call it a day, so he led them to a safe shelter. He assured that UV radiation would not reach them there. Sonic thought that kind of radiation only occurred during the day, from the sun and whatever, but apparently, he was wrong. Every day you learn something new, he supposed, even if it’s so far from his own time.
(That’s why he doesn’t try to understand Tails’ work.)
Sonic continued telling Shadow about Rouge and Omega, his former teammates, until they reached the shelter. He answered his questions and cleared up every doubt. Ultimately, Shadow doesn’t remember them, but there was still a sparkle in his eyes that Sonic couldn’t quite explain, as if he felt... at peace.
“Can I ask you something?” Sonic raises his voice. He’s sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, gaze fixed in Shadow as he prepares a makeshift bed for the night. Shadow stops and turns around to face Sonic.
“You answered my questions all night,” he explains calmly, “You don’t have to hold back.”
Sonic smiles. Of course, he has never had to hold back when it comes to Shadow.
“When I got here–” Sonic begins, “–you said it was your responsibility to protect me.”
A marked silence settles between them. Shadow narrows his eyes slightly, as Sonic has seen him do so many times before. If anything brings him comfort, it’s knowing that Shadow never stopped being himself.
“That’s not a question,” he points out, and Sonic presses his lips together.
But he doesn’t have to hold back. He never has. He shouldn’t start now.
“Why did you protect Earth all this time?” Sonic asks, suddenly solemn. It’s something that, although it makes him happy, he still doesn’t fully understand. Shadow doesn’t remember anything. He doesn’t remember his desires; he doesn’t remember his promises.
He doesn’t remember Maria.
Shadow’s breaths are deep, and the determination on his face is unmistakable.
“Because everyone deserves a chance to live,” he replies. The ironclad resolve in his voice echoes through the corridors of the abandoned shelter. Sonic hums.
How much more can he push?
“And why do you believe that?”
“Are you asking me to explain my morals?” Shadow retorts, frustrated (as always), “That’s nobody’s business but mine.”
“You don’t know, then?” He taunts, just as he would taunt the Shadow Sonic knows. It’s as easy as it is back home—Shadow falls into the rhythm they’ve always had as if it were second nature. He doesn’t have to remember Sonic; his body is more than accustomed to this dance.
Shadow clicks his tongue, “Keep that up, and you won’t get an answer.”
Sonic snorts. It’s just like it always has been.
“Hey, man, I’m just curious,” Sonic raises his hands to shoulder height, feigning innocence. Playing dumb has always gotten under Shadow’s skin, and now it’s no exception. “You don’t have to get so worked up.”
But something has changed. Shadow sighs and withdraws into himself. He thinks deeply about it. He looks out the window, straight up at the sky, as if consulting with an angel (and Sonic can think of one angel who would never abandon Shadow).
“I could answer that it’s the only thing I remember from my entire life,” Shadow replies softly, “The only thing I managed to drag along with me and that never left.”
“Uh-huh...”
“But I think there’s an explanation for that.” A faint smile spreads across Shadow’s lips. Sonic has no idea what Shadow is looking at right now; it’s something beyond, something he holds only in his heart. “Life fought so hard to continue.”
Sonic raises an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”
Shadow nods and continues.
“I’ve met a lot of people—many of them I can’t remember anymore, but they all had something they were passionate about, something that drove them to keep going. Even those who gave up could turn things around and find a new reason. I... I admired that ability. I still admire it. I admire the desire to keep fighting, to move forward no matter what. It’s not something I can easily forget. I had the power to give them a chance, so they could keep moving forward. I swore to protect that.”
Sonic raises his eyebrows, rendered speechless.
Just look at that, Shadow stole his ability to talk. Well, I’ll be damned, I never thought I’d live to see the day.
And this... This fills him with so many feelings: nostalgia, relief, pride, commotion. Shadow really did come this far on his own: so much so that Maria’s wish became his own. Uniquely and indisputably his. With his own motives, his own perspective. If this conversation is evidence of anything, it’s that Shadow doesn’t remember her either, but Sonic’s admiration for that girl he never knew grows exponentially.
She knew Shadow well—long before he knew himself in that way.
“Are you satisfied?” Shadow asks, huffing arrogantly. Sonic responds with a wide and childish smirk.
“Yep! Absolutely.”
“It’s my turn to ask you something else, then. Something you didn’t tell me.”
Sonic raises an eyebrow. What could it be? It’s not like he has any trouble answering any question Shadow has, no matter how difficult it is.
“Sure, I can play 20 questions with you. Shoot.”
“You told me a lot about the relationship I had with your friends– our friends,” Shadow corrects himself. With a lot of poetic irony, he remains silent. Sonic knows what he’s getting at, but he takes the bait anyway.
“Didn’t it bother you a second ago that I didn’t ask you a question when I said I wanted to ask you one?” He points with a mischievous grin that Shadow returns.
“You had to taste your own medicine,” Shadow exhales, sounding amused, “You didn’t tell me how I met them, how we met. What’s the story?”
Oh.
Sonic sighs. He stretches out his legs and lets his head fall back; he rests his hands on the floor behind his back.
“It’s a very long story,” he grumbles.
“I have time,” Shadow insists, “Much more than most people who ever lived here.”
Sonic smiles, poignant. He’s not lying.
“It was years ago, even for me,” Sonic begins the story that changed his life forever. One of the corners of his lips rises, “I was arrested because of you.”
Shadow’s eyes widen, and Sonic lets out a stifled chuckle.
“Don’t make that face, there’s a reasonable explanation,” he pauses.
He didn’t know whether to omit this story or not. This future version of Shadow doesn’t remember when he almost destroyed the planet he swore to protect. Sonic decided it would be best to keep it to himself unless Shadow asked.
And well. Shadow did ask. So here goes nothing.
“You wanted to collect the Chaos Emeralds. Do you remember them?” He asks, and Shadow nods, so he continues, “You stole one from a bank, and they mistook me for you—or, uh. I have friends who believe it was more than a mix-up. They think it was a smokescreen by the government. They didn’t want to give explanations about you, so they got the person who ‘looked’ most like you.”
“And that was you,” Shadow concludes, but his snout wrinkles. He’s still baffled, “Why did I do something like that? Why did the government want to hide me?”
This is where the real story begins.
Sonic tells him about his origins: that he was created aboard the space colony ARK as both a weapon and a cure. Salvation and destruction in equal parts. He tells how things went awry, and Shadow ended up suspended, frozen in time for 50 long years.
He tells how Shadow woke up with a plan: he needed the seven Chaos Emeralds, and that led them to meet. To fight on opposite teams. That Sonic’s goal was to stop Shadow and Eggman, but he saw something beyond that. Something deeper.
(He came to understand Shadow through racing and punching—strange as it may seem. He recognized his sorrow, the immense injustice he had undergone, and why Shadow felt he had no alternative but to reach such extremes.)
Shadow grows pale as he listens to each of the events that shaped their fateful encounter, but he lets Sonic continue, painstakingly absorbing every last detail Sonic relays.
“I wanted to destroy Earth.” Shadow whispers, and Sonic stops talking to stare at him with understanding, “…Why would I do something like that?”
“You were hurting,” he explains, “People you cared about died. You thought it was your only choice left.”
“Are we… enemies, then?”
Sonic chockes. He coughs, then looks at Shadow, bewildered.
“What? No! Of course not.”
“But why?” Shadow asks, and it feels… familiar. So familiar. This is a conversation they could very well have had hundreds of years ago. Maybe Sonic doesn’t remember it happening either, but he does remember how Shadow’s voice sounds when it cracks. He remembers his regret: “I tried to destroy the world you love so much, and yet…”
Sonic blinks once slowly. He… He didn’t tell Shadow that. Did Shadow pick up on it from their conversations, or did a part of Sonic survive in Shadow’s mind? Or… Perhaps Shadow forgot the faces, but he never forgot what people held dear. Shadow doesn’t recognize Sonic. He doesn’t remember his voice, his face, or the moments they once shared.
(Inside him, however, what Sonic once cherished still lived on.)
“I think there are feelings stronger than hatred or revenge,” Sonic says, “Forgiveness, for example, and… at the end of the day, I knew you had a change of heart.”
“How are you so sure?”
Sonic swallows thickly, feeling the lump forming in his throat, along with a keen pain that constricts his heart.
“You used everything you had left to stop the ARK from destroying Earth,” Sonic recalls. His mouth is dry from a sense of anxiety he rarely feels, but that doesn’t deter him. “And when I say everything, I mean everything. You were ready to sacrifice yourself, and you did. I saw you fall to Earth from space. I thought you died.”
It was the first time he’d lost someone that way. Maybe he was a little too cocky back then—or maybe he was just young and naive. What 15-year-old doesn’t feel like the king of the world? Like he can achieve anything, overcome anything. His intentions may have been noble in the eyes of others, but he never saw it that way—he did what he wanted because he could, and that was that.
It was a nasty low blow.
“You… seem like the type to be conceited,” Shadow raises his voice, drawing his attention back, “But you’re the complete opposite. You mourned the death of someone who was your enemy.”
Sonic smiles at him, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere, yet it tastes bittersweet.
“Enemy? Nah. The Shadow from where I come from pretends he doesn’t like me, but he’s always there when I need help. I wouldn’t exactly call that an enemy. I’d call that an ally.”
“You care deeply about the Shadow from your time,” Shadow realizes. His gaze is so intense—it always has been: it casts a spell on Sonic so powerful that he’s unable to focus on anything or anyone who isn’t Shadow. “I don’t understand why.”
“But it’s so clear to me,” As clear as a cloudless sky, as crystalline water flowing in a stream. There’s no room for doubt. He closes his eyes; he admires the images of the Shadow he knows. So passionate, as fiery as a blaze, “It doesn’t matter if we had a rough start, because… I’d never met anyone who could keep up with me like that– I mean, it’s not like I don’t have fun with my friends! I know any adventure with them will be worth it, but… My heart doesn’t speed up like that with anyone else.”
Sonic opens his eyes and immediately realizes he’s said too much. Shadow gapes at him, his face reddening.
“You…” Shadow swallows hard and wets his lips before continuing, “Do you lo–?”
“Hey, you’ve asked way too many questions already, and that’s not how the game works. It’s my turn to ask, ain’t it?” Sonic cuts him off swiftly. He moves closer to Shadow—closer than necessary. He points his finger at Shadow’s face. “How’d you get that scar?”
Shadow doesn’t look thrilled with Sonic’s lack of subtlety; he pouts, and his eyebrows knit together, but he rolls with it, “I was ambushed when I went to visit Silver’s grave. My guard was down. I wasn’t even the person they were looking for, but I was left with the reminder.”
Sonic studies the scar. He brings his hand to Shadow’s cheek, brushing the velvety skin that turns coarse with his thumb. It doesn’t look recent, but he says it was inflicted when he went to visit the place where Silver rests eternally. Shadow shivers, but doesn’t stop Sonic. His gaze drops to the covered body. “Do you have more scars under there?”
“It’s my turn,” Shadow hastens, and Sonic grunts.
Shadow asked him a lot of questions, but Sonic finds it hard to reproach him and refuse (and that’s part of the spell Shadow casts over him, obviously, even if he doesn’t realize the effect he has on Sonic).
Shadow takes Sonic’s hand. He presses the palm with his thumb. Sonic meets his gaze, taken aback. Shadow looks so serious.
“You love him,” Shadow blurts out point-blank, his words are small explosions meant to blast Sonic to pieces, “Don’t you? You… loved me.”
“Yeah,” he admits easily. There’s no point in keeping it to himself anymore, and he wants Shadow to tell him more about what’s hidden beneath that old, tattered rag. “What other scars do you have?”
“Why do you want to know?” Sonic could defend his pride and keep up that little game of pretending to care about order, of acting like he gives a damn about taking turns to answer, but he’s tired of it. He doesn’t have much left to hide, after all.
“My Shadow doesn’t have any,” he starts, lightly squeezing Shadow’s thumb in his fist, “Under normal circumstances, this is a side of him I would never have gotten to know. And I already told you, didn’t I?”
“You’re here now,” Shadow adds, understanding where Sonic is going with this.
“I was given the chance to know every part of you. Even those that I should have never got to see,” Their faces draw closer, he feels Shadow’s warm breath brushing against his lips, “The you from before, and who you are now… You’re still the same, aren’t you?”
Sonic still wants him, and he doesn’t need to say it out loud for Shadow to understand that.
“You’re very greedy.”
He presses his lips against Shadow’s.
Sometimes he is like that, greedy, but Sonic doesn’t understand what that’s got to do with this. This is still Shadow, after all. That same Shadow, who never hesitated to bite back when Sonic provoked him. So earnest and so sincere. Who felt such passion, even though he was buried under a thick layer of apathy.
His Shadow, who took a little piece of Sonic with him: his deepest desires, his love for everything that lived on the planet.
Shadow remembers what people once loved. Maybe that’s why he remembers himself at all.
***
Sonic stirs, still half-asleep. He sits up and stretches to shake off any remaining drowsiness. Shadow is no longer on his side of the makeshift bed. He’s standing halfway down the open entrance to the shelter, holding a device Sonic doesn’t recognize. Sonic squints and tries to figure out what Shadow is doing.
Shadow beats him to it, speaking up without even turning around.
“It’s cloudy today. UV radiation is low. We could keep searching during the day,” Shadow explains, and Sonic yawns in response.
“Oh, great. Are we doing that, then?”
“I have a different idea,” Shadow replies confidently. Sonic raises an eyebrow, curious. “It’s been a long time since I visited Silver’s grave. I need to do something there, and besides, I think he’d really appreciate an old friend stopping by to see him. We can keep searching around there.”
Sonic looks at the ground and curls his fingers under his chin. Silver’s grave, huh? Shadow mentioned it—Silver has been dead for quite a few years in this era. He died of old age, before things got as complicated as they are now.
He wonders if Silver traveled to the past while knowing that Shadow would end up like this: alone, without any of his original friends. Being a time traveler overloaded him with responsibilities; of course, he wouldn’t reveal anything that could destabilize the timeline, but…
He grumbles anyway, annoyed. For not warning them. Or something. It’s just nonsense.
“Yeah, why not?” Sonic replies. He shrugs and stands up. “Let’s go visit good ol’ Silver.”
***
“Hey, how did you meet Silver?” Sonic asks, kicking a pebble along the path. They’ve been running all the way here, but the ground is unstable in this area. Rushing could put them in danger, so they have no choice but to slow down.
“Silver found me. He recognized me, but I didn’t recognize him,” Shadow recalls. The nostalgic gleam in his eyes dazzles Sonic. “Apparently, he’d been looking for me for many years until he found me. He never left my side after that. We were… what word did you use? We were allies.”
Sonic sighs. He didn’t remember meeting Silver either, huh? Which means that, by that point, a lot of time had already passed. Enough for Shadow’s memory to start deteriorating. Enough for him not to recognize anyone else.
His lips tighten; Shadow doesn’t notice.
He was alone for many, many years.
***
Silver’s grave is somewhat crude: just a nameless headstone that could go unnoticed even back when the planet was still inhabited. The land is barren. Only infertile soil, ruins, and metal that looks like wood. He doesn’t understand the point of having metal shaped like a tree trunk. Did someone who missed trees make it?
Even so, there is something peaceful about this place. The air feels lighter. There was a stretch of the path where breathing was a struggle. The air back there was thick, as if he were trying to inhale jelly. This place has no foul or chemical odors.
(It’s still different from what he knows—he doesn’t smell the dew, he doesn’t smell life; there’s nothing left of that now.)
“It used to be a very beautiful place,” Shadow recounts. He crouches down in front of the grave. He gently runs his fingers along the edge of the slab.
“It’s better than what’s back there, if you ask me,” Sonic replies, shrugging. He wasn’t going to tell Shadow, but he was this close to passing out. He’s not exactly thrilled to return. “So… what do you need to do here?”
“Ask Silver for guidance,” he replies, and Sonic raises his eyebrows, confused. Okay, Sonic isn’t one to deny that some afterlife exists—he’s pretty sure he’s met ghosts before—but he didn’t expect Shadow to be in favor of asking the dead for help. “His domain is time, after all.”
“I see…”
Shadow’s ears twitch as if they’ve heard something. His eyes lock onto a massive ruin. Sonic squints; he didn’t hear a thing.
“I’ll give you some space to talk to Silver.” If something alerts Shadow, he doesn’t let on, instead offering the excuse that he’ll give them privacy. He stands up and walks away.
Sonic breathes out sharply.
Whatever, if he wants to do that, fine.
Sonic squats down, taking Shadow’s place, and observes. He wonders if there was ever a name carved into the headstone. Now there’s only a flat surface with a few indentations that don’t spell out anything.
And Shadow remembers where this is. Just as much as he remembers Silver. He wonders if Shadow ever visited Sonic’s grave this way—if he kept doing it for decades, until his memory began to fade like foam. If there was a day when he promised to return, but never did.
Sonic flashes a crooked smile.
“Hey, Silver. Long time no see, huh?” The smile doesn’t last. His expression clouds over. He clicks his tongue; it sounds dismissive, but the truth is, he feels deeply frustrated with himself. “It’s so ridiculous to feel jealous of a dead man, yet here I am. And I know it makes sense, okay? Shadow is right. I must have died many years before you two saw each other again. But…There’s something I’m grateful for, even if I’m irrationally upset. So. Thank you, Silver, for not leaving him alone when I couldn’t be there for him. I appreciate it tons.”
He always knew that falling in love with Shadow was a risky gamble. One of the riskiest, actually. Playing with fire is dangerous, but Sonic couldn’t settle for that and had to dive headfirst into the fucking depths of hell.
But, mortal or immortal, he believed that this is what being alive meant: everything is a risk. You never know when the ones you treasure will leave, when things will begin, or when they will end. That’s why he prefers to experience everything without any doubts or inhibitions. The only thing that would make him feel regret is letting fear get the better of him. It’d be never trying.
(And perhaps Shadow understood this at some point, if he allowed himself to fall in love with a mortal.)
“Sonic.”
Shadow calls out to him. He sounds calm, like a melody. Sonic stands up and prepares to join Shadow. Has he found something?
“Managing to find you so many years in the future is quite a feat,” Shadow says, with his back to him. Sonic’s limbs feel heavy, as if he were paralyzed. Before them is a portal: a dark nebula pulling a soft breeze, identical to the one he fell into a few days ago. “You should be proud of Tails.”
“Shadow–”
“You have to understand that time dilates, and it will not be the same for us as it is for them.” Shadow turns around. He looks at him sternly, blocking any avenue for Sonic to retort, “It may seem like it only took a few days to find you, but for him, months could have passed. Years, even.”
“Come with me.”
Shadow freezes. He can’t believe what he’s hearing.
The Shadow Sonic knows would have no qualms about growling and telling him don’t be stupid.
This version of Shadow—older, wiser, having mourned the deaths of countless beings—smiles with understanding.
“Don’t be stupid.” Well, at least that hasn’t changed. But he says it fondly, with wistfulness, as if Sonic were a child, “I know there’s nothing left to protect here, but changing the past would shatter the fabric of space-time. Silver warned me about that a long time ago.”
“So what? You’re just gonna stay here alone, then?!” Sonic shouts, rage rushing to his head and his fists trembling, “You’ve literally got nothing left to lose!”
“I would lose myself,” Shadow replies calmly, “I would lose the experiences that made me the person I am now.”
Sonic bares his teeth, but he can’t bring himself to answer. His voice catches in his throat.
He can’t even contradict him, even as Shadow takes a couple of steps closer. He lays a hand on Sonic’s cheek.
“There’s something else I’ve carried with me from my past, did you know that?” Shadow whispers. Sonic can barely hear him over his ragged breathing. “Whenever I look up at the night sky, I get the feeling that someone is waiting for me up there. I don’t know who it is, but they’ve been waiting for me for a long, long time. It would be unfair for me to leave now, wouldn’t it?”
Sonic snaps. He grabs Shadow’s shoulders forcefully, “I’ll stay with you, then! They always knew that someday I would–”
Shadow covers his mouth. He chuckles sadly.
“That’d be worse,” he insists. “Your friends know you. They know how reckless you are, but don’t punish them like this. They’ve already waited long enough for you.”
***
It’s not hard to overpower Sonic. He doesn’t see it coming. Shadow pulls him. They spin, and Shadow pushes Sonic into the portal. The look of betrayal on his face is painful, but Shadow knows this is for the best.
Sonic might have a hard time understanding it, but Shadow knows that if he succumbs to his own greed, there will be no turning back. He’ll want more of Sonic; he won’t want to go to sleep. He’ll never return to that person waiting for him up there.
Sonic fights with all his might. His drive is admirable—how he tries to escape a wormhole’s grip while shouting his name.
“Do you think you’re justified just because someday I’ll forget that you abandoned me?” Shadow attacks, and Sonic’s expression changes completely. It’s almost comical. He has such an honest face. He doesn’t falter for a moment to show how he really feels. Shadow presses a fist to his heart, “Understand that the people who care about you won’t forget it. Don’t take their friend away from them while they’re still alive, and I… I became the person I am because of the people I met, whether I remember them or not. Please… You still have so much ahead of you. The love you showed me tonight, you have to show it to him too.”
He feels like this is a scene he’s seen before. Centuries ago, millennia, even. He doesn’t know why.
The way Sonic struggles not to leave, the way he screams his name over and over as the portal sucks him in. He was once in that position, wasn’t he? Begging not to go, pounding on the tempered glass again and again while someone he held dear—someone faceless—smiled at him.
Shadow smiled at him without hesitation.
(She smiled at him without hesitation.)
And pushed him.
(And pulled the lever.)
Only a hand remains through the portal, trying to reach him.
Shadow feels no regret over this decision. Not even as a single tear rolls down his cheek, “Sayonara, Sonic the Hedgehog.”
***
“You’ve got some nerve—” Shadow spits with contempt, “—disappearing for a whole year and showing up here as if nothing ever happened.”
At their usual meeting spot, where they see each other every week. To spar, to race (or when they want to be together and isolated from the rest of the world).
Sonic smiles arrogantly.
“I didn’t expect to find you here. Were you waiting for me?”
Shadow ignores him and sits on the ground, among the tall grass and flowers, gazing at the starry sky. Sonic shrugs and lies down beside him, using his arms as pillows.
Just as future Shadow warned, time had stretched out: for Sonic, it was just a couple of days, but to them, he’d been missing for a whole year. They weren’t sure if Sonic was still alive, but they kept striving to bring him back. Tails spent day and night searching for him, Knuckles kept insisting that Sonic was too stubborn to die, and Amy never stopped praying for him. She never stopped encouraging Tails, especially when he was on the verge of giving up. She never lost faith.
It was an emotional reunion. More so for them than for Sonic. He was happy to see them, yes, but he was more pissed at Shadow for what he did. For his words. Because he’s right.
Shadow seems to understand Sonic’s ideology better than Sonic does.
Sonic doesn’t know when they’ll leave, which is why he has to make the most of every moment he can to be with them. If he disappears when he’s not supposed to, he’d be selfishly depriving them of all those experiences they still have to live through together.
Do you think you’re justified just because someday I’ll forget that you abandoned me?
Silver once told Shadow that, even if he doesn’t remember his past, that doesn’t mean it never existed. It may become irrelevant in the long run, but it’s important now.
They’re here now.
“Aren’t you going to ask me where I was?” Sonic asks. Shadow glances at him out of the corner of his eye for a second before looking away.
“You’re here now,” Shadow replies without missing a beat (and he’s completely right), “and I’m not your nanny. I’d rather not know what trouble you’ve gotten yourself into this time.”
“Ouch, that’s harsh.” He bursts out laughing while Shadow tries to suppress a smile.
When they calm down, a deep silence washes over them. Sonic focuses on the crickets chirping, the wind rustling the grass, and the owls hooting.
On this planet’s life, one that will someday be lost, but it will be long before that even happens. So much so that the person beside him won’t even remember him by then.
A shooting star passes by. He was never able to appreciate space’s true beauty until the world was on its last legs. It’s a sight unlike anything else. This planet has nothing to envy, but space isn’t half bad either. It’s full of splendor.
“It’s so beautiful,” Sonic whispers, “Don’t you think?”
He turns to look at Shadow. Shadow is already staring at him. Sonic didn’t notice when he’d lain down beside him.
Shadow will return up there someday—once everyone is gone—to sleep forever.
He knows his new desire will be difficult. It means there will be no grave Shadow can visit once he’s gone. It could be hard for Shadow to accept, because Sonic belongs right here, running in the soil, where his home is.
But Sonic wants to be there when that happens, so he can properly say good night to him.
“Hey, Shadow,” he calls, “When I die, could you take my ashes to space?”