Chapter Text
「Shh… what’s wrong? You were sleeping so well? Is it the letter?」
“…”
「Do not worry, Sparrow. I can wait. I won’t leave unless you request me to. I can wait as long as you need me to, my darling.」
“Don’t.”
「Whatever is the matter?」
“Stop looking at me like I’m so important. I…I caused the death of someone very dear to me. I do not want you to get hurt because of my faults.”
「You remember that but not…」
“Did you say something?”
「Hahah, no, no. I just recalled something from a long time ago. I only… haaah…」
She never asked if the someone was dearer than she was. Something that Sparrow had noticed but hadn’t brought up since he didn’t know what she might be thinking.
The air had been tense long before either of them had attempted to rest. All because of a single letter that refused to lighten the mood.
He was also tired, but he really should’ve asked her. Something. Anything, at this point. She might entertain his question with a response.
「I… also caused the death of someone close to me. It was never their fault. If only they stopped being my friends…」
“I do not believe it to be your fault.”
「Then it isn’t yours either. Aw, my flower gatherer is so sweet!」
“Stop mentioning that. I am not sweet. I’m not good at all.”
「All the more to prove your sweetness, if just to yourself!」
“…”
「…You know you do not have to obey the summons—」
“But I do! I am sorry, Oblivion, but I must. My kingdom beckons me, and I must be loyal to my homeland if just barely.”
「…I do not know what having a home is like, but if it is anything like how I feel when beside you, then it must be a wonderful thing.」
“I…I cannot even begin to fathom what occurs within your head. I cannot be dear to anyone.”
The air felt almost fuzzy around them as they spoke, muting their surroundings into blobs of colors and blurs. Sparrow’s face felt flush with Oblivion’s genuine emotions and affection, even if it was wholly undeserved.
「You too are dear. You mean the world to me, Sparrow. More than the world.」
“No. I don’t. You walk around wearing another man’s ring. Even if you wear the kumihimo I gave you.”
「That… oh, you would never fully comprehend why, even if I told you.」
“Then tell me anyway! Is it your deceased friend?”
「Look at you. You are already tired and grumpy from lack of sleep. Go to bed.」
“You never—Oblivion! Answer me!”
「Shhhh… it’s your bedtime.」
His eyelids grew heavy as he tried to fight the sleep.
“No. You never… answered…”
He struggled to maintain his awareness, as Oblivion’s touch was soothing and ever so sweet.
“Don’t leave me… Livy…”
Sparrow’s consciousness began to fade as he relaxed in her hold. Her comfort and gentle touches solely for him. She was always so warm to him, as if all the love she held was solely for him and him alone.
「I could never leave you. Even if we get separated, I will find you. Do not get hurt.」
No matter how much he doubted her, he loved her warmth.
He loved his Oblivion to death.
As his body grew sluggish, he locked eyes with her beautiful ones that sharply contrasted with his in color.
“I’ll stay… Livy… stay.”
He would die for Oblivion. If she ever asked of him.
His love, his home, and the only warmth he would forever cherish in his heart.
「Your wish is my command, my love.」
His mind slowly drifted off with all the accumulated fatigue, and he barely heard the words that came out of her mouth, which quickly slipped from his grasp.
「Don’t forget me again, my warrior. That hurt far more than you could ever know.」
「…I still hurt.」
Shadow was reading a book, too tense after a late-evening mission from G.U.N. over something so trivial. A missing persons case, and around Dr. Eggman’s laboratory. He couldn’t sleep tonight, not because of anything significant, but because outside his house—built for him by Sonic and Rouge and their friends—it was raining incessantly. Not because earlier he had had a vague dream that had forced him awake at the start of the rainfall.
Shadow didn’t usually mind the rain, but it sounded eerily identical to the rain in his dreams. He could never remember much of the details of his dreams other than there being another person—a female Mobian that refused to enter into focus—beside him, and the unceasing rain that constantly signaled the end. He knew they had had a conversation, but the actual topic never seemed to stick in his mind.
Every time he woke up from that type of dream, maybe it was labeled as a recurring dream, his heart pounded painfully with a feeling of grief that felt almost worse than when he lost Maria.
Shadow sighed and put down the book. He wasn’t going to get any sleep of his thoughts continued trying to catch the elusive details of his dreams.
A knock sounded on his door, far too late into the evening for it to be a casual visit. Definitely not Rouge or Omega, since neither of them would stop long enough for politeness and decency, and he would kick them out immediately whenever they did.
Just because they were the only ones he would call his friends didn’t mean he would spare them the same treatment he gave everyone else. That was too much to ask.
Shadow opened the door to see a frustrating blue hedgehog shivering at his doorstep and soaked by the rain. For a moment, he saw someone else standing there instead. A sharp sense of déjà vu hit every time he met Sonic. It wasn’t a normal type either, as if he met this ridiculous hedgehog far before he was ever created for Maria, and multiple times. Often. His eyes narrowed as he glared at the other hedgehog in irritation.
“Why are you here, Faker?” Shadow groaned irritably. It was late and he was tired after having his sleeping schedule messed up by Rouge’s tendencies and assignments from G.U.N., when she was the one who insisted he sleep regularly like a normal Mobian. At least that was what he excused it with whenever Rouge brought it up. She didn’t need to know that he was dreaming about a girl he had never met.
「“Sorry for the abrupt visit. I just… need a place to crash tonight. I…couldn’t sleep.” Sonic looked away from Shadow, who was staring at the hedgehog who had very recently been his enemy-turned-rival.
…If it was anyone else, Shadow would have immediately kicked them out. He just… Sonic was strange. The blue hedgehog kept making Shadow feel like something important was missing in his mind.
“You couldn’t have gone to the fox?” It was a question that slipped out before Shadow could rethink whether the phrasing sounded concerned about his rival or not. Hearing Sonic’s voice made his heart head hurt in a way that felt like he was coming closer to figuring out what he was missing.
Then Shadow noticed the book in the other’s hands, carefully covered with the coat Sonic was supposed to have been wearing during a stormy night. If there was one thing he knew well about Sonic, it was that the faker hated getting that notebook—or whatever the heck it was—damaged.
Shadow rubbed his face, knowing what he was going to do but still not wanting to do it. He could never turn this idiot away. Only because Sonic was the only clue to the strange dreams. “Did you have to come here?”
Livy— Sonic laughed awkwardly—what was he about to call him instead?—clutching that curious book tighter. The same book that had all of the faker’s friends curious about the contents. Shadow could never be so curious as to entertain the thought of investigating it himself.
“Well, Tails is all busy and stuff, and I couldn’t bother Amy since she’s busy baking—some sort of inspiration hit her or something, she hasn’t stopped since Vanilla brought something up and she’s all busy with Cream and Cheese—and Knuckles is somewhere else, and—” Shadow cut Sonic off before he could continue listing all his friends and reasons why he couldn’t stay with them instead.
“Alright, I get it! You don’t have to continue.” Shadow rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on. The only thing that being the ultimate life form couldn't stop. “You can stay—for now! If you do anything weird, I’m throwing you out.” He gave Sonic a threat he would keep, odd feelings or not.
Sonic’s death-grip on the book slackened as a big, goofy grin spread across his face. Shadow noticed the lines of tension that continued to linger. “Aw really? You actually care?”
Shadow glared at Sonic, and the lighter hedgehog laughed softly as the over-the-top grin melted into a smaller and less exaggerated one.
“Jokes aside, thanks Shadz. I owe you one.” Sonic stepped into Shadow’s house, eyes closing briefly with his soft smile.
He almost thought he saw someone else in Sonic’s place. That interaction left Shadow quiet for a moment. Shadow briefly considered that maybe he didn’t know as much about Sonic as he had initially thought because of the faker’s overly honest nature. He almost entertained the stretch of a possibility that maybe no one actually knew the real Sonic.
Lightning flashed across the sky in a blinding display, and Shadow flinched in surprise. Sonic didn’t even waver as he moved to Shadow’s couch where he had been trying to focus on his book.
“It might not make up for much, but I can show you this at least! Are you curious?” Sonic sat down and uncovered the leather-bound book that left so many mystified.
“Isn’t that some sort of secret?” Shadow asked but still moved next to Sonic since he was indeed mildly curious.
Sitting next to Sonic, he noticed two glinting golden earrings on the faker’s ear. The same ear. Both rings were thin gold bands that reminded Shadow of those rings he had seen G.U.N. agents wearing on their fingers when they were tied to a partner. Marriage, which was a topic that interested Maria endlessly.
Being so close, he thought he saw woven wristbands tucked under Sonic’s sleeves that accentuated his white gloves. If he had studied the colors for a moment longer, it might have looked a color similar to what his quills might be if he was capable of aging.
“No? No one ever asked about it. I thought everyone just thought it was some old storybook.” Sonic’s blank smile only showed a prevalent bewilderment at the question.
The whole interaction felt surreal and Shadow burst out laughing—the sound rough from a lack of use—at the absurdity of it all. “You’re ridiculous!”
He expected Sonic to snap back cheekily with a ‘what, excuse me’ but was only met with silence as his laughter died down. He realized he had his eyes closed and opened them to see Sonic looking at him with wide eyes and an unreadable expression painting his features.
Seeing that the faker had Shadow’s attention, Sonic snapped open his book and rapidly flipped through pages with a care that startled Shadow. The book looked ancient and extremely worn by time and a great amount of use.
The first couple—by a couple, probably almost a full quarter of the book—pages were filled to the brim by lines of… charcoal… that looked almost like tallies—around hundreds from the brief glimpse Shadow had before the pages turned too fast past them. All of a sudden, Sonic slammed the book shut and turned it over to the back. After reopening to the end of the book instead, Sonic paused at the sight of a page with scribbles of old notes that Shadow couldn’t even begin to decipher, before flipping back a few pages until it neared closer to the middle and the first blank page was seen. The book almost felt like a historical record of some sort, if one ignored how it technically started at both the beginning and the end.
Sonic glanced back at Shadow, again mutely studying the dark hedgehog, before turning back to his book and cautiously pulling out a stick of charcoal from a pocket Shadow had previously ignored.
“This page is what I wrote.” He gestured to the last page with writing from the end part of the book, still holding the stick of charcoal. “Everything else is from way before Tails and I met.” Sonic looked up after writing something Shadow couldn’t read.
Sonic stared at Shadow, waiting, and so the dark hedgehog reached toward the book, but paused at the oddly icy look coming from Sonic. Beneath his frozen smile. “Don’t crinkle the pages, and don’t smudge the charcoal.” It wasn’t a request, and Shadow didn’t feel like refusing it to figure out whatever consequences Sonic would bring him. A slight tilt of his head that resembled a nod seemed to satisfy the hedgehog beside him.
Shadow slowly and carefully moved about eight pages prior to the one Sonic had stopped at. There were more colors than just the black of the charcoal that was out of date. “What does this one say?”
No matter how much Shadow tried, he couldn’t translate whatever language these ancient inscriptions were in. A blank look was directed at Sonic, who frowned slightly before glancing at the book and back at Shadow.
“Well, what can you read then?” Sonic’s expression didn’t falter, like he never expected Shadow to be able to read it anyway. It irked him that Sonic didn’t expect anything more. He also seemed somewhat back to normal after that odd exchange from earlier. Somewhat protective—or perhaps possessive—about a book that wasn’t his.
His fist clenched, but he examined the page. Feeling another pang of familiarity as his gaze pored over the words. He only found one word somewhat familiar. “…Oblivion.”
Sonic twitched as he spoke the word out loud. No, it was a name. He didn’t know why, but he just knew it was a name. Her name. It felt right. The name of the elusive ghost haunting his dreams like the echo of a distant song in the back of his mind.
…What was the word he had said? It had just slipped his mind. An odd pang of discomfort filled Shadow as he tried to grasp at what he had just spoken a few moments earlier.
Sonic’s eyes were shaking when Shadow faced her—him again. “Y-yeah. I’m pretty sure that’s the original owner of the notebook. The rest of the pages up to my part is about her friends throughout her life…” Sonic trailed off and looked away, checking the window and frowning when the rain continued to pour outside.
“When do you think she died? Or how?” He didn’t ask how Sonic was sure the owner was female, since he had the same gut feeling.
Sonic’s response was immediate and startlingly cold for someone he didn’t know about. “Indefinitely; evermore.”
Then Sonic blinked, and he reverted back to his carefree demeanor as he chuckled and scratched his cheek awkwardly. Shadow frowned at the odd reply, so unlike the usual Sonic and further intensifying that feeling that maybe Sonic was hiding more than anyone thought. “Alright… how many friends did she make?” He wasn’t going to bother asking why the faker had responded the way he did, since Sonic would undoubtedly deflect.
Shadow couldn’t remember the name he had said. The name of the book’s previous owner. It was important, but he didn’t remember. He was trying to focus on the sound he had spoken, but his mind was drawing a blank. As if he never spoke it at all.
Sonic didn’t so much as glance at the page. “There was a fox with more tails than Tails, and a bunch of other Mobians, in her childhood. The page before if you want to check. There was a hedgehog, a lot of echidnas, several more hedgehogs that all looked oddly similar probably, and… altogether around two hundred friends? And those are only the ones briefly mentioned.”
Sonic didn’t even list their names. “What can you read from the pages? Or how? I’m not familiar with this language.” Shadow asked, his curiosity overriding his suspicions.
“You aren’t? Are you sure?” Sonic’s questions sounded… concerned. Or maybe it was distressed? Why would he be distressed? That made no sense.
Shadow shrugged, attempting to stealthily elbow Sonic to distract him from whatever was going on in his head, although he easily evaded the attack without counteracting with his own.
Sonic grinned, the expression almost tired in its wear, as he answered Shadow’s earlier question. “Almost everything, except the names and the majority of the descriptions are all smudged. Something important I wrote got smudged too.”
Sonic stared at the page the book was open to, a sadness settling in the air around them. He looked upset that he couldn’t get the full picture from something almost like an old storybook. “I’m tired. Don’t—please don’t touch my m—book, while I sleep. I… I’ll tell you more later. I just can’t—not right now, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Shadow.”
「I’m so sorry, my Sparrow. I’m sorry. Please. Why did you do that? Why? Why did you—why? You didn’t have to—I would have been fine! You—you! …Please don’t talk. Save your breath, please. I can’t—I can’t bear the sight of you so hurt. Sparrow—I take it back! Say something! Sparrow? Sparrow! No! Someone—help me stop the—」
Shadow frowned. It felt like he forgot something he had just remembered after a long time. What was that?
There had been… a lot of tears from someone. Something bad had happened… but he didn’t feel distressed. Like he had known… whatever that was.
Just as quickly as it arrived, the sensation was gone and the fragment of a memory had slipped away unbidden.
“…It’s fine, Sonic. Go to sleep.”
“Ah! Goodnight, Shadz! Next time, I’ll read whatever part you’re interested in! So let me know! Goodnight, Shadow!”
「Goodnight, Sparrow.」
Sonic waved exuberantly as Shadow got up from the couch. His enthusiasm felt weirdly off after his odd… withdrawal. Shadow hesitantly waved back before his face began to burn rapidly and he quickly turned away to grab his forgotten book and leave.
Sonic slept on the couch while Shadow went to his own room. He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but he had, and Sonic was gone when he woke up. Shadow shouldn’t have felt a creeping dissatisfaction. He didn’t feel anything at all when Sonic didn’t say goodbye in the morning. That was ridiculous. Of course he wouldn’t.
Shadow hadn’t dreamt at all throughout the time Sonic was around that night.
The rain passed long before the morning, so when Shadow went out to Amy’s for breakfast, it was still somewhat damp. She had insisted on it. An outdoor breakfast picnic. Although everyone was a bit hesitant since it recently rained, but Amy said it would be fine since a picnic table had been built in the area.
Some of Sonic’s companions had arrived before Shadow, all grouped together in conversation. Most of them were friends he typically saw hang out with Sonic regularly.
‘What are they even doing?’
Shadow’s last interaction with Sonic had left a bitter taste in his mouth. The kind of bitter he didn’t like. It left him with more curiosity than usual, and so he was curious about what the faker’s friends were up to. All gathered like they were going to be doing something stupid and probably supposed to be sneaky.
The fox, Sonic’s closest friend—that did not irritate Shadow in the slightest—Tails, was in the center of the ragtag group up. Heck, even Amy was hanging around for whatever they were going to do.
None of them noticed Shadow’s approach, and he listened to them as he got closer, just so he could figure out what it was they were up to.
“This is a really bad idea. We shouldn’t—” Amy began before being cut off by another companion that Shadow couldn’t bother to recall the name of.
“Come on! He never leaves it unattended for long! Who knows when Sonic’ll wake up?”
“Well, Sonic is a pretty light sleeper on most days,” Tails began, and Shadow couldn’t stop the thought that came up.
‘Light sleeper? He never seemed that way to me. He sleeps like a log…’
If anyone had heard that thought, they’d assume that Sonic slept around Shadow often, and that absurd line of thinking made the ultimate life form’s face heat up.
“Usually, we would never be able to get even a single glimpse of the book away from Sonic, but Sonic has it on the hammock. Pretty simple, eh?” Tails summarized exactly what Shadow had wanted to know. Their goal. They were all curious about the book Sonic had claimed wasn’t a secret.
Shadow came out of hiding from behind one of Sonic’s friends that was less familiar to the dark hedgehog. “What have we here?”
He stifled a smirk when that friend of Sonic’s absolutely screeched in terror. Although it was still terribly painful to hear directly in his ears.
“Shadow?!” Amy gasped in alarm or surprise.
“What are you doing here?!” Tails flinched from the suddenness of Shadow’s appearance.
Shadow didn’t answer, watching as they all sort of calmed down. From his new position, he could now see what they had all been looking at.
Sonic in a hammock swaying gently in the soft breeze. He looked so peaceful and relaxed, taking a nap outdoors. Then Shadow saw the book lying right on top of Sonic, resting on his jacket. That book.
Shadow crossed his arms as he looked between Sonic’s book and Sonic’s friends. The words slipped out before Shadow could even mentally authorize vocalizing it.
“The book? Is that what caught your interest?”
He leveled the bewildered Mobians with a serious look as they scrambled to explain themselves to someone who didn’t actually care. Just because he was curious, didn’t mean he cared.
With how Sonic had acted, Shadow had a feeling he would notice if someone messed with it. He had been very concerned about the words being illegible. To a degree that made him act strangely. Enough that even Shadow had noticed… or maybe only Shadow…
“You want to know about the book too?” Tails, the irritant that he was, appeared less guarded around Shadow as he asked the question. Stepping closer to the dark hedgehog as if Shadow had never thrown him into a wall before.
“Not really. It’s none of my business…” At least that was what he claimed before more words came out of their own accord. “But most of the pages are just lines, and the only words are indecipherable.”
Sonic had very explicitly stated that neither the book nor its contents were a secret.
The group seemed somewhat discouraged (which was just objective in Shadow’s point of view since Sonic’s friends were unbearably stubborn, just like the hedgehog they rallied behind), until they heard the rest of Shadow’s words. Tails came annoyingly close to Shadow’s face in his curiosity as he voiced what the others were apparently thinking.
“You’ve seen the contents of the book?!”
Shadow peeled Tails’ gloved fingers off his jacket, scowling as the fox’s grip remained strong.
“Obviously. How else would I know what was in it?” Shadow finally managed to wrestle Tails’ secure grip from his collar, flinging the little fox’s hands away dismissively.
Then Tails launched back into Shadow’s personal space, barraging Shadow with his endless questions.
“How many pages are in the book? Does the book have an actual title? Did it say how old it was? Wait—what language did it look like? Maybe I could find a reference for it! Wait a minute—how’d you get the book away from Sonic?!” Tails’ questions slowed to halt at the last one, the one he was most curious about, and the one that piqued the interest of the others around them.
“…I didn’t?”
That one somewhat uncertain statement left the others dumbfounded. Then a question came to mind that Shadow hadn’t even thought to ask because it was so obvious that it should have been the first thing they tried.
“Have none of you ever even asked Sonic?”
「Sometimes, my dear, we tend to forget what is most obvious in our pursuit for answers.」
“How does one just… forget the obvious? Would that not be the most basic thing to look for or ask?”
A soft laugh came from the sweet existence sitting across from him, one dipped painfully in an old despair.
「I, too, have once fallen victim to that situation.」
“What happened?”
「My… one of my dearest friends disappeared, while I was attempting to locate another. No one had any memory of the place my friend lived, or of any of the residents.」
“…That’s truly awful.”
「It is, isn’t it? I cannot even recall the name of the kingdom that vanished, nor the names of the friends I made there… nor their faces. Something strange occurred while I was investigating. Something foul was amiss, I knew. But I could not place what it could potentially be.」
“Did you ever find them?”
「No. But that is not what I was to tell you.」
“What is it?”
「Never lose sight of what you are searching for. Even if you cannot even remember why.」
It wasn’t a warranted reaction, but he burst out laughing anyway. Her stunned expression was as beautiful as she always was.
“At times similar to now, I remember that you are a very strange anomaly in life. A wonderful anomaly.”
She smiled, and his heart fluttered at the sight. She always caused him to blush, and he let her bask in his embarrassed expression.
「Be careful.」
“I will. You, too, be cautious.”
「I will be fine. It is you I am most concerned about. You tend to…」
“I know. But that habit is reserved solely for you.”
「You will die if you attempt that. You can’t—」
“I know, my love. I will not disappear again.”
She sucked in a breath, eyes welling up with unshed tears.
「You—you idiot! How—why?」
“Shhh… it’s alright. I am ashamed it took me so long to remember.”
「You—I can’t lose you. Not again. What happened?」
“…I don’t know. I’m sorry, Oblivion. I do not know.”
Shadow was amazed by these people. They completely overlooked ever asking Sonic directly about the book, if their sudden silence was any giveaway.
…Another odd memory slipped his mind, briefly appearing from the topic in his head. Maybe he should keep a book with him like Sonic did, to write down whatever it was before it disappeared.
How does one write a conversation that occurs with images in the same short moment it appears and vanishes?
“Well, every time I get around to asking Sonic, something always happens to interrupt me! Whether it’s Eggman or badniks or some other world-changing event, something always comes up. Sometimes it’s just someone taking Sonic’s attention elsewhere.” Tails stepped away from Shadow at last, leaving the hedgehog some breathing room. Although, as the ultimate life form, he didn’t actually need to breathe.
Shadow’s gaze drifted away from the conversation flowing around him—it was just them with their excuses as to why they hadn’t asked Sonic about the book—to the blue hedgehog resting in the hammock between the palm trees.
Sonic was awake now, and looking back at Shadow while swaying softly in the wind. Shadow could read the look in the faker’s eyes, even from this distance.
‘What in the world are you all doing?’
Shadow shrugged subtly, unsure of the proper response for that since he had tuned out most of their arguing a while ago.
‘I haven't the faintest clue.’