Archive of Our Own

Waking in the morning is an unpleasant thing. 

As much as he pretends, his mind doesn't just shut off when he sleeps. He treats it like it does, because it does quiet down. But sometimes he wakes up expecting to be at the facility, and instead gets crushed by the reality that he’s about fifty years late and she’s still dead. 

This is how he expects to wake up. Occasionally, he’ll sleep dreamlessly, and waking up on those days is the least difficult. But it doesn't happen often. 

This, though, is entirely new. 

Shadow stares at the wall, a fading memory still thinly rooted in his mind. He grasps at it, feelings draining between his fingers like sand, but he doesn’t try to keep it. He just tries to hold it as long as he can. Then, all that's left is the knowledge he was dreaming about Maria and the vague melancholy in the back of his throat. 

Despite it, he’s able to breathe. To swallow. To stare over at the wall and remember her and smile about it, even with the sad feeling coating his lungs. 

Then, when he’s eventually ready to drag himself out of the bed, that sadness that lingers is tinged with a certain sweetness he’s never experienced before. 

Odd. Maybe he’s having an off day. 

This theory solidifies after he leaves the guest room and heads downstairs for the kitchen. He doesn't feel quite as- as numb; There’s nothing making him feel bad, so he’s not pushing anything down. He could maybe even claim he’s in a good mood. That just doesn’t happen to him anymore. He hopes the others don’t pick up on it. 

The Wachowskis are in the kitchen already. The scent of something savoury sits in the air, sizzling coming from the stove. Maddie stands by one pan on the stove, and Tom stands at the other. Their three sons sit around the table in various states of wake; Tails is upright and bright eyed, Sonic is dozing off with his chin in his hand, and Knuckles is sleeping sprawled face-first on the table. 

For a second, Shadow hesitates. He has yet to feel any extent of comfortable around this family, and he never knows where to place himself. After a moment of indecision, he stutters for the table, pulling out the folding chair. Tails’ gaze lingers on him as he quietly settles. Sonic wakes just long enough to give him a small smile, then goes back to pretending not to be falling asleep. 

Shadow ignores the blue-eyed stare boring itself into his face. It digs under his skin, but he keeps his attention firmly in front of him. 

Upon closer inspection, Tom is flipping pancakes, and Maddie is cooking eggs and bacon. There are plates of each on the counters next to them. “We’re almost ready. Can one of you set the table? And we'll need whatever you want to put on them.” 

Shadow glances around the table.  Tails nods; The other two don't react in the slightest. Maddie gave them two jobs, but only one of her sons is currently awake. Tails could probably handle it himself – but he doesn’t want to leave it to him when he is perfectly capable. 

Tails gives him a look when he slips off the chair right after him. His expression is completely unreadable. Then, he turns to the fridge, leaving Shadow to get the dinnerware. 

He's not quite tall enough to reach the higher cupboards, but he’s seen the others use a stepping stool because Maddie doesn't like them climbing on the counters, and his fear of disobeying overrides his fear of overstepping. He takes plates, cups, and silverware from the cupboards, stepping back down and setting them out on the table. Tails is taking things from the fridge and setting them in the middle of the table. Maddie, however, is taking food to the table. 

She catches Shadow’s eye, smiling. “Thank you, Shadow. Sonic won’t need a cup, though, he has a Gatorade I want him to finish.” 

Shadow nods slowly. He picks the cup back up from where he’d set it in front of the other hedgehog, taking it back to the cupboard. Instead of stepping down from the stool, he hops off the top step, completely absentmindedly kicking on his shoes to make the landing soft. He doesn’t even think about it until the jets shudder and cut out underneath him, causing him to stumble. He quickly looks up, checking if anyone saw it; Yet the family’s attention is almost entirely on the table. 

Something is wrong. He has refrained from using his chaos energy since the crash – only breaking that rule occasionally for the least dangerous output of it. His air shoes. Even then, he uses them very rarely. He refuses to let out any energy for fear of it becoming dangerous. The last time he used his air shoes before now was that night Sonic caught him in the woods – and they were working just fine then. 

He knows there’s nothing wrong with his shoes. Not only have they survived practically everything else he’s ever been put through due to her genius design – but he can also feel an imbalance in his core. Something is causing an uncontrolled burst of energy in him. The last time he felt this sort of instability was before he was given his rings – but, fortunately, it’s not nearly that bad. Still, something is likely malfunctioning in one of his rings, and he knows that can spell bad things. He’ll need to take a look at it later, when he can get to be on his own. 

For now, he’s expected at the table for breakfast. So he swallows down the fear of losing control of his own energy and moves back to his spot at the table. 

As he does during all the meals – the ones he attends, anyway – he keeps his eyes on his plate and out of conversation. Sonic can occasionally manage to drag him into an argument, but that isn’t a problem today. The guy is barely still conscious, consistently managing to miss his mouth with a fork impaled with food. So Shadow navigates breakfast quietly, calculating how long it’ll take for him to be able to look at his rings, readjusting with every person that gets more food. 

After finishing his own plate, Tails breaks the comfortable silence in the room. “I feel like you don’t usually get us up this early on the weekends,” he says. “Any special reason you did?” 

“Actually, we were planning on going shopping today,” Tom says. “Shadow’s going to come with us, but you other three can come if you want to, too.” 

Knuckles, who woke up just long enough to eat and went right back to sleep against the table, doesn’t react. Neither does Sonic, though he seems to be a little more awake. Shadow, though, looks up with a start. “I’m coming?” he asks. “Why?” 

“We were thinking we could take you downtown, maybe get you some stuff for your room,” Maddie answers. “Your room is so blank, it’s a little freaky.” 

Shadow narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Is this another attempt at making me feel attached to something at this house?” To make him stay. 

Maddie smiles, winking at him. “Completely shamelessly, yes,” she tells him. “We were thinking we could start small. I think you could use some bedsheets and blankets.” 

Shadow wrinkles his nose. “Don’t tell me you’re going to make me get a racecar bed.” 

“’Scuse you,” Sonic says blearily, pointing a fork at him. Badly. “Racecar bed is great.” 

He makes a face. Maddie shakes her head, laughing. “No, you’d be picking it out. Don’t worry.” 

Slowly, Shadow nods. Maddie smiles at him. Tails, looking between them, pipes up cheerily, “I’ll come, too.” 

“Sure, buddy,” Tom says. “Hey, we’ll stop by the repair shop and see what Chris has for you.” 

“Cool!” the fox exclaims. “Where else are we going?” 

“Well, your mom wants to go through the quilt shop today. I’ve got to stop by the office for a quick second to take care of some paperwork. Then we need to pick up some groceries.” 

“Can we go to the cafe?” Tails asks, eyes wide. 

The two adults look at each other. “Sure,” Maddie says, shrugging. “If that’s what you want. Sounds like these other two boys aren’t coming, though, so we’ll probably have to bring something back.” 

“I wanna chocolate crossaint,” Sonic adds, lazily raising his hand. 

“You got it,” Tails chirps, yet rolls his eyes. 

Knuckles mumbles something into the table. 

“What was that, buddy?” Tom leans down towards him. 

He mumbles again. 

Tom sits up, giving Maddie an unimpressed look. “He says ‘sprinkles’.” 

Maddie nods understandingly. “I know what he means, don’t worry.” 

“Great, because I have no idea,” Tom jokes. 

After they pick up breakfast, Sonic and Knuckles head back upstairs, which Shadow is also prepared to do – but Tom is already grabbing his keys and Maddie is pulling coats out of the front closet. Shadow realizes they mean to leave now, and he’s not going to get a chance to look at his rings before they go out. He can still feel the imbalance swirling underneath his skin. It makes him uncomfortable – he'd really prefer to get this taken care of as quickly as possible, but he also is entirely uncomfortable letting any of the Wachowskis know that his rings may be malfunctioning. He has only just stopped feeling like he’s entirely here to be watched – he'd rather that feeling not come back again. He’d rather not give them a reason to believe him dangerous again. 

“Alright, boys, are we ready?” Tom calls out. Shadow has stopped uncertainly in the middle of the kitchen, while the fox is already leaving for the front door. 

“I’m ready!” Tails calls, sending another unreadable look back at Shadow. He follows the fox to the front door, already resolving to keep a few feet of distance between them. He knows the kid doesn’t trust him. That’s fine. It’s not like it hinders him too much. 

Besides, he has other things to worry about. The notion of going shopping is far more intimidating. Especially with who he is, what he looks like. This’ll be his first time out in public since Tokyo – and he remembers how the people on the streets looked at him. 

Maria used to talk about shopping. She’d mention going with her friends, with her parents – and she’d come back from the stores after buying new toys for them with stories of the people she’d seen on the way. She made it sound so fun, but he was mainly worried about the people. There were always people. And people are dangerous. 

He has enough faith that the Wachowskis won’t let anyone mistreat him. That doesn’t make him any more comfortable with the idea – especially with his rings likely malfunctioning. Still, it’s not like he can really tell them no. He’ll just have to keep his head down until they bring him back here. 

As he follows them out to Tom’s truck, he notices that Sonic’s bright red coat has been grabbed once again. Maddie catches him eyeing it as she lays the coats in the back – it's not quite cold enough to be wearing them, especially with both adults already wearing jackets. “We’ll add it to the list.” She smiles, winking. 

The drive into town places Shadow in the back of the truck, right across from Tails. Just as before, the fox watches him. His gaze is heavy, unreadable, and plainly on him. Shadow just does his best to not acknowledge him. Still, the weight of it presses on him, leaden on his limbs, suffocating in the air around him. He has to fight to keep his posture straight, his ears from tucking down against his skull. The fox is waiting for him to do something wrong, and that seems increasingly likely with his inhibitor rings malfunctioning. 

The first place Tom parks outside is a small shop downtown. Shadow can’t help himself, ducking down from the window until he can confirm that there are very few people on the streets outside. And there are very few; He sees one person getting into their car, another crossing the street to go into a separate store. The two adult Wachowskis and Tails get out of the truck easily, Tails not even reacting to suddenly being in public view. Shadow tries to shove his discomfort aside and reluctantly pushes open the truck door to step outside. 

Immediately, his skin prickles uncomfortably. Again, he has to fight to keep his ears from pressing down, from letting it show on his expression. Dangerously, his shoulders still tense, and he can’t help but keep his head down, from constantly darting his eyes around just to see if there’s anyone else around. He keeps as close behind Maddie as he can manage while still keeping distance between himself and Tails. 

The door makes a bell sound when Tom pushes it open. Shadow tries to brace himself for the inevitable human interaction. It happens nearly immediately; A slightly accented female voice calls out, “Tom! Nice to see you!” 

“Hey, Jian! Nice to see you, too. How’s your sink working?” Tom moves directly to a woman standing in the aisles of the small shop. 

“Well, it still is! I’d say your handiwork was pretty good.” A woman of Chinese features grins at him, pausing from her attention on the shelves to put a hand on her hip. Her gaze moves behind Tom. “Hi, Maddie. How are you liking that blanket of yours?” 

“It’s perfect. It’s very warm, and the colours are gorgeous in my room.” Maddie smiles back. “I love it.” 

“Good, good! I’m glad! Well, what are we in for today, folks?” 

“I actually wanted to talk shop with you,” Maddie says. “I’m thinking of starting a quilt.” 

“A quilt, really?” Jian’s eyebrows go up, her expression delighted and surprised. “It’s been a few years since the last one!” 

“I know, that’s exactly why I need your help,” she responds. “I’d like some recommendations on a good pattern to get back into it with.” 

“Yeah, of course!” The woman puts on a suave face, gesturing dramatically to the front desk. “If you’d like to step into my office...” 

Maddie laughs. “Of course.” 

She walks away, leaving Shadow untethered. Not for long, though, because Tom clicks his tongue at him and Tails and whispers, “She’s gonna be a minute. You guys can go ahead and look around.” He winks, nods further into the store, and turns to browse himself. 

Tails is gone almost immediately. Shadow’s skin itches, standing here in front of the display windows at the front of the store, so he ducks into the aisles just to get away from the exposure. 

Then, he has the chance to take a real look at the store. In the aisles he walks between are rows and rows of fabric. The left is the full range of the rainbow, all flat. The right, and both rows in the next aisle over, is fabric with a wide variety of patterns. They grab his attention easily, and he walks through them, looking at the patterns. They seem aesthetically different than he’s used to. His experience is, of course, based almost entirely on what she showed him or wore. Still. It feels different. 

One of the walls of the store is once more the full range of colour, but this time entirely in thread. Next to it is an entire section just for zippers. Then, a section of other crafts seemingly unrelated to quilting; Embroidery thread, embroidery kits, crocheting needles and kits, knitting needles, things called ‘looms’, books about other crafts including hand sewing. A small section of yarn. Interesting. 

Closer to the back on the wall, there’s a section of purely parts for sewing machines, as well as a few machines themselves. Then he steps into the back half of the store – the entire back half that is filled with quilts and blankets of various intricacy. 

He finds himself looking closely at the most complicated ones. There’s one hung proudly on the wall, an interesting array of geometric shapes in dozens and dozens of different colours and patterns of fabric; It almost tells a story, with the way the colours flow into each other yet suddenly clash in spots. Another appears like a tapestry – with identifiable shapes, looking almost painted, a long field of green hills with paths paved in grass and a stone loop as the focal point. 

Another one is hung landscape aligned on the wall. Vibrant colours and sharp pieces are stitched together to create an intricate, stained glass themed piece. It's impressive – and he notices, for the first time, a name tag stitched into the bottom border of the piece. Created by Matt Tucker. Hm. When he looks around, every other quilt has a name tag on it, and only most of them are labelled Jian Thompson. The one with green hills is labelled Dana Black. The first has the name Cathy Minter.  

The sound of footsteps approaching him are all that keep him from startling, but he still tenses, glancing behind him at an unfamiliar pair of legs. 

“Can’t say I’ve seen you around town before,” Jian says, stopping right next to him. Her gaze doesn't settle on him for long, though, instead flickering over the quilts. 

Shadow doesn’t allow his discomfort to show, except for the stiffness of his spine he can’t help. His chaos energy swirls inside him, prickling his fur on end. Ready to bolt. Eventually, he answers, “No. You wouldn’t have.” 

“Hm,” she says humourously. “I’ll admit, I’m a little surprised to see another alien pop up, much less one that looks so much like Sonic. Happy to have you, though, you Wachowski boys always end up so sweet. What’s your name?” 

With a furrowed brow, he shoots a look in her direction. “Shadow.” 

“Nice to meet you, Shadow. I see you’re lookin’ at the quilts. You like any in particular?” 

This conversation feels dangerous, but the woman is outwardly friendly enough and if there is a motivation behind her asking, he can’t pick it out. So he points at the first one he saw, the one with clashing colours. 

Jian moves in front of it, and after a second’s hesitation, Shadow does, too. “It’s pretty, huh?” she says. “Wish I could claim credit, but I can’t. My friend actually put this one together. She makes all her own patterns, and she’s basically a genius at it. A good chunk of these quilts aren’t mine, actually. I let people display quilts they want to sell in my store, take just a little bit for the wall space.” She glances back down at him for the first time; He can feel her gaze. It’s… light. Less intense than he would expect. “Maddie told me you guys are looking for some stuff for your room today. Any interest in a quilt?” 

Shadow is quiet for a few moments. “They are pretty,” he answers finally. “But I’m not sure it's what she had in mind.” 

“You’re worried about Maddie,” she guesses. A laugh surprises him. “I bet we could talk her into it. I know her pretty well, I don’t think she’d mind if you wanted a quilt. Though, this one is quite expensive. Maybe you’d want to take a look at the lower priced, simpler ones?” 

After a long, long moment of hesitation, he slowly nods. No harm in looking, right? Besides, if Maddie gets upset, he could easily pass the blame off himself. 

“Well, what color are you looking for?” Jian asks him as she moves to a shelf set against the wall. More quilts are folded neatly and stacked in it. 

Almost immediately, he responds, “Blue.” It’s not a hard decision. 

“Blue.” She nods in agreement. “A respectable choice. And lucky for you, I have a couple options. I have bright blue.” 

She pulls a quilt from the shelves, displaying it to him. Without his permission, Shadow’s nose wrinkles in a grimace. 

“No? Don’t like it, huh?” She laughs. The quilt rotates in her hands, a scrutinizing eye passing over it. “Ah. I think I see the issue. This shade is pretty close to that Sonic’s, isn’t it?” 

A small huff passing through his nose, Shadow nods. 

Jian grins down at him. “And I don’t suppose you’ve got a bit of a brotherly rivalry going on. Are you at least keeping it friendly?” 

Shadow takes a second to consider the question. Friendly. How would you describe friendly? He’s not sure that consistently having to keep himself from punching the blue hedgehog counts. In the end, he shrugs. 

Jian laughs heartily. “Me and my sister were just like that when we were younger,” she says fondly, tucking the quilt back in its place. “Now, I’d do anything for that kid. You remember that. Don’t be too mean to each other, or you’ll end up losing your best friend.” 

As Shadow blinks to process that information, she pulls out a second quilt. This one, she unfolds in front of him. “Alright, what do you think about this one?” 

His eyes widen. 

It’s a simple pattern, really. One large center rectangle separated into four sections, checkered with a pale, delicate blue and a more solid darker blue. This rectangle is bordered with a couple inches of a soft yellow cloth patterned with small, golden flowers. The rest of the quilt outside of that is the darker blue, then a simple black as the binding. 

It is, nearly exactly, her colours. 

“Yes?” Jian says, looking pleased. “This one is one of mine. Simple, but I liked the colour choices. It's a good choice, Shadow. Now, let's go talk to Maddie, aye?” 

The woman confidently takes the quilt and struts back towards the front of the shop, and Shadow follows behind. If this turns out badly, he'll shift the blame. He'll be fine. 

“Maddie!” Jian sings, slipping behind the counter where the mentioned is looking through a pattern. She looks up. “Your boy found a nice quilt.” 

Maddie’s confused gaze flickers around the store before landing on him, and he fights to keep his expression in check. 

Yet her eyes soften as Jian holds up the quilt, displaying it for her. “He's got a good eye,” Jian says. 

“Yeah,” Maddie, surprisingly, agrees. “It’s a very pretty colour palette.” She sets the pattern down on the counter, moving to crouch in front of him. She doesn’t seem upset that he’s asking for something – and it leaves him on uncertain footing. “I was thinking of getting you a comforter,” she says. “Quilts are a little thinner, and they can’t be washed. Just as long as you know that. Is this what you want?” 

Shadow hesitates for a long second. This feels like a trap, but he can’t see the usual signs. 

 “She won’t bite you, kid, I promise,” Jain says, winking. “’Sides, you’d both be doing me a favour. You know how hard it is to get my quilts to sell out here? Please, I’d love to have somebody get some use out of one!” 

“If this is what you want, it’s okay,” Maddie adds. 

So, reluctantly, he nods. 

“Alright.” She smiles at him, standing back up. “How much for it?” 

“Half,” Jian says decisively, half folding the quilt and laying it on the counter. “Yes, definitely half.” 

Maddie catches the price tag with furrowed eyebrows. After a glance, she says, “No way. I’m happy to pay in full.” 

“Please?” Jian whirls on her, clasping her hands at her chest and shaking them pleadingly. “He’s such a cute kid, and I see the way he’s looking at it. Besides, now I have more space! Now I can make another one! You’re doing me a favour, please!” 

Maddie grimaces, rolling her eyes. She looks… amused, though. “Alright, alright. But I’m gonna get you back,” she threatens. 

“Sure,” she says happily, moving behind the counter. “Can't wait to see it.” 

Shadow watches distrustfully even as Maddie pays for the quilt. Yet it ends up neatly folded in her hands – then passed into his hands. All without a rug pull. 

“Thank you, Jian,” Maddie says. “I appreciate it.” 

“You got it,” Jian responds, winking. After a second, Shadow nods at her, meeting her eyes for a quick second. 

After that, Maddie and Jian keep talking about patterns. Shadow can't stop looking at the quilt on his hands. It really is almost exactly her colours. She had a dress that looked exactly like the blue fabric; She only wore it a few times, because it was the nicest one she had. Still, she always looked beautiful and happy in it. It's one of her outfits he remembers the most. 

Some time later, the women behind the counter pick up. “Alright, boys, time to go!” Maddie calls to the rest of the shop. 

A fox and his father emerge from the aisles, summoned like dogs. Tom has a strange grin on his face, and Tails is covering his mouth and giggling. Maddie shares an amused look with her husband. Shadow just runs his fingers over the fabric in his hands. 

Jian yells them goodbye as they leave. In the truck, Tom says, “I better get to the station now, it’ll only take a few minutes.” 

The drive to said station takes less than a minute. Shadow sits quietly, quilt in his lap, thoughts stuck on Maria. 

“Anybody want to come in?” Tom asks after he’s parked, turning around in his seat. 

“I do!” Maddie pipes up, laughing. 

Shadow stays quiet. After a completely conspicuous glance sideways, Tails says, “I’m good.” 

“Alright. We’ll be back in a minute.” 

And they leave, placing Shadow in the truck alone with the fox that has been sending him shifty looks all day. Since Sonic first dragged him here, to be honest. Shadow tries not to show how much it bothers him – how much his gaze itches, how badly he wants to turn away and leave. Chaos power roils under his skin. It begs to be used – released – ready to tear him apart as soon as it gets the chance. He refuses to give it that. So he sits, uncomfortable, in the truck, and wills Maddie and Tom back faster. 

Tails’ eyes continue to bore into him. They might make a hole in his skull here soon. He’s sure he'd be left to silently bleed out on the pavement. 

Eventually, in the stifling silence, the fox asks, “What did you get?” Somehow, he manages to make the air thicker. 

Shadow gives him a guarded glance, avoiding his eyes. Looking, instead, at his chest. His posture is similarly guarded. “A quilt,” he says eventually. 

“Yeah, I can see that,” Tails says, shaking his head. “It doesn't look like your colours. Looks more like mine, actually.” 

“They’re not my colours,” he says distantly. 

“…Then whose colours are they?” 

Shadow swallows, looking down at the quilt. His throat closes. It’s not that he wants to keep her to himself – he’s already proved that he should not be solely trusted with her memory. He wants to talk about her, he wants to share her memory. She deserves that. But it hurts. And… Any piece of her that he gives out could easily be used against him. He supposes that if that's what the fox wants, he should have the option. 

“Hers,” he finally answers. He has to fight to push her name out of his throat. “She was my friend. She had a dress… She was blond. Her eyes were blue.” 

This seems to surprise the kid. He blinks, digesting it. Shadow keeps his eyes low, breathing slowly to settle his nauseas stomach. 

“Were?” Tails eventually repeats, careful. 

He closes his eyes for a second, nodding. “They killed her. Fifty years ago.” 

The fox’s eyes flicker. He looks away, ears flattening against his head. “Oh,” he whispers. 

Oh. Oh, this is what he tried to kill everyone over. Oh. 

“I’m sorry,” the fox says distantly, turning an expression dripping with sympathy on him. “I didn’t know.” 

Shadow sharply looks at him. “Sonic didn't tell you?” 

Tails shakes his head. “I guess not,” he says. “Nobody really did. Commander Walters told us that… there was an accident, at the facility, and that people had died. I didn’t know it was someone close to you.” 

“It wasn’t an accident,” Shadow says, a slight growl in his tone. He clears his throat to get rid of it; He doesn’t want it mistaken as aggression towards him. “They were shooting at us. The shots hit an energy tank instead. It exploded. She was right next to it.” 

“Oh,” Tails says softly. “We kind of thought… you were angry because they imprisoned you.” 

Shadow stares down at the quilt. “…No,” he says. “No.” 

The kid nods. “Can I see the quilt?” he asks plainly, looking at him. 

Shadow’s fingers tighten on the fabric automatically. Still, he carefully picks it up and holds it to the side, keeping his eyes on the seat in front of him. The quilt lifts off his hands. He tries not to feel too much loss. 

The fox has it for a second, and Shadow doesn’t look at what he’s doing. He just picks the dog hair off the seat underneath him. 

“It’s pretty,” Tails eventually comments. 

Shadow nods. “So was she.” 

“What was her name?” 

“Maria.” He says her name softly, delicately. 

“Maria,” the fox repeats. “I like that.” 

Then, he gives the quilt back. It’s still perfectly folded, wrinkle-free. Before either of them can say anything else, the front doors of the truck open. 

“Alright. Quick stop at the grocery store, boys?” Tom says, sending a smile back at them. 

Tails sends him one last indecipherable look – though it feels a lot kinder. Then he shoots a smile at the front. “Sure, Dad.” 

In the parking lot, Shadow almost thinks he’s going to get away with staying inside – but Maddie opens his door and nods outside with an encouraging smile. It doesn’t necessarily ease him any, but he gets out nonetheless. Leaves the quilt behind, its comforting colours and texture. 

That same weariness of eyes on him increases tenfold, because there are so many more people here. Five others just in the parking lot, a couple dozen cars parked outside – and he tucks himself back in behind Maddie before he registers doing so. 

Stepping into the store makes his skin crawl. Never before has he been so aware of the people around him – back in the labs, everyone he ever met was completely aware of what he was and what he looked like. Only some of them treated him like an exhibit, and only at first. He knew exactly what to expect out of them. Now – he doesn’t. 

Again, he keeps his head down and his eyes on the floor, keeping pace behind Maddie as she grabs a cart and they start through the store. Though, every now and then, he can’t help but sneak a few looks at his surroundings. 

The first time someone calls Tom’s name, Shadow tenses up and puts himself out of view. Yet as they talk – there's no discussion of him, not even a mention. He is left alone without even a stare. Then that happens a second time. Then a third time. 

He waits and he waits for someone to mention him. To freak out, ask what he’s doing here, ask if he’s that little alien freak that was on the news trying to blow up the Earth and what the hell he’s doing here. Eventually, someone does. 

“Hey, Tom!” says a younger man, waving and grinning down the aisle. Shadow’s heartrate picks up, and he places himself behind Maddie’s legs despite the weird look the fox gives him. 

“Hey, Andy! How’s it going?” Tom calls back. 

Against his hopes, the man approaches then down the aisle. “Good, pretty good! Picking up some groceries. My girl’s supposed to be picking out some cereal, but she’s been over there for ten minutes.” He laughs. “How're you guys doing?” 

“Pretty good, too. Just out running some errands. How is she, by the way?” Tom asks. 

“Oh, she's good. She's alright,” the man – Andy – says fondly. “We haven't had an ER visit in a while. And she’s been eating well recently.” 

“That's great,” Tom says, smile in his voice. “I’m glad. She's a sweet kid.” 

“She is, isn’t she?” Andy says softly. Then – there’s a bout of silence. Just long enough for him to know he’s been noticed. The man asks curiously, “Who’ve you got with you?” 

In a harrowing act of betrayal, Maddie steps aside for him to be seen. “This is Shadow,” she says, sounding inexplicably just as fond. “He’s living with us now.” 

Shadow can’t help his taught shoulders, his small grimace, the slight flattening of his ears. He turns away, completely prepared for the rejection he deserves from a man who could have been dead through no fault of his own. 

“Awesome,” Andy says. “Nice to meet you, Shadow. Welcome to Green Hills.” 

Shadow blinks, confused. 

The man is smiling down at him. He still looks friendly. Before he has a chance to try and work out what he's expected to say, there's a shout from behind them. 

“Tails!” 

A young girl comes barreling from the other end of the aisle, so fast it makes him tense. Yet she runs directly into the fox, nearly tackling him – and the kid catches her, picking her up into his arms and hugging her tight. 

“Sophie!” Tails cheers. “Hi!” 

“Look, look, look at my cereal,” the girl says, jumping back from his arms and waving a box around. She’s skinny, colourful leggings on her thin legs, a long-sleeved dress just a little loose on her arms. She looks younger than she sounds – seven, eight, nine; He wouldn't know, he's not good with ages. 

Tails giggles, catching her arm so he can look at the box. “I love that kind! Good choice!” 

“I’m going to eat all the pink ones first,” Sophie tells him. “My friend told me that if you shake the box, the pink ones go to the top and the yellow ones go to the bottom, so I’m going to do that.” 

“I’m not sure that would work. The two types of pieces would have to have separate densities, and since they’re both made out of cereal, they shouldn't be different enough to cause such a drastic difference,” Tails says. “But you should still tell me if it works! It's good to experiment!” 

“Pinky promise!” Sophie declares, holding out her pinky. Tails wraps his own around hers, and they shake. 

The girl then hops off to Andy's side, placing her box in the carrier he holds. “Here you go, Dad,” she says. She is now directly in view of Shadow. 

“Thanks, dear. Good job.” 

He almost thinks she’s not going to notice him – and then her gaze lands on him anyway. “Hi!” she says, ducking down to meet his eyes. “Who’re you?” 

“Shadow,” he answers quietly, flickering his eyes to her cheek. 

“That’s a cool name!” Sophie says. “I like your hair. You look cool. Do you want to look at the candy with me?” Without waiting for an answer, she whirls on Tails. “You too?” 

Andy sighs. “Three more minutes, okay? Sophie, okay?” 

“Okay, Dad,” she chirps back. 

“That's for you two, too,” Maddie says sternly. Tails nods. 

Then, the three adults are continuing on through the store, the girl walking the opposite direction. Leaving Shadow in the middle, confused, completely free to follow behind the girl. 

Tails beckons him to follow, running to catch up with the girl. Not really left with another choice, Shadow follows them silently. 

“Do you like candy?” Sophie asks, standing in front of the shelves. 

Shadow glances up at the stacks and stacks of candy. Such bright colours. “I suppose,” he says. 

“I like the sour ones,” she says, pointing to a green bag. “But they always make my mouth hurt. They claw up the roof of my mouth. Like how Garfield does to Jon’s couch.” 

Shadow’s mouth twitches down. “Who’s Garfield?” he wonders distantly. 

“He’s an orange cat!” Sophie exclaims. “He’s fat, and he eats a lot, especially lasagna, and he hates Mondays and dogs!” 

That certainly doesn’t clear anything up. At his increasingly confused expression, Tails says to him, “Pop culture reference,” like that explains it. And… he supposes it does. 

“Are you gonna get a candy?” the girl asks Tails, cocking her head to the side. 

“Yeah, but I don’t know what I want,” Tails answering. 

“Huh. Well, let’s look,” Sophie says, clearly parroting someone else. Likely her father. She puts her hands on her hips, looking back over the aisle. “Oh! You like cherry balls, right?” 

“I love cherry balls! That’s perfect!” Tails exclaims. Sophie grins, hopping up to grab it. She hands it over proudly. “Thanks! Are you gonna get a candy?” 

“I don't know which one to get either,” she pouts. 

“Well, what about cherry balls?” Tails lifts the bag. 

The girl shakes her head, leaning in close. “I can’t eat the red dye,” she whispers loudly behind her hand. “I usually give the red candy to my dad, but then he would just get all the candy.” 

Tails nods, turning back to the candy. “Hm. We’re almost out of time.” He taps his chin, tails swirling behind him. Then, he points. “What about those? They’re all blue.” 

“Sour strips. Good choice.” Sophie nods approvingly, scooping a pack out of the box. She turns, suddenly running off. “C’mon!” 

So much energy. Shadow hurries to keep up with her as she and Tails run back to the front of the store. 

Maddie and Tom are checking out, still talking with Andy. Sophie runs to her father, declaring, “Sour strips,” and slaps them on top of the kiosk. 

“Hey, Mom?” Tails joins her side. “Can I get cherry balls?” 

Maddie looks at him, then glances at Shadow. “Sure, as long as you share,” she answers. 

Tails looks back at him, yet nods and hands her the bag to scan. He joins Shadow’s side. “Do you like cherry balls?” he asks curiously. 

“I don’t know,” he says. 

Tails just nods. 

Sophie and her father don’t split from them until they’re out in the parking lot. When they do, Sophie waves largely at them, nearly jostling her father. “Bye, Tails!” she calls. “Bye, Shadow!” 

“Bye!” Tails calls back. Shadow just gives an uncertain small wave. 

Shadow falls behind Tails as they walk to the car, keeping his voice low. “Why is everyone so… nice to you? I don’t understand.” 

The fox shoots him a look. “Why wouldn’t they be? The people in this town are nice. Most of them love us.” 

“You’re an alien.” 

He shrugs. “They got used to Sonic for almost a year before me and Knuckles got here. Plus, we kind of saved the whole town before we started living with Tom and Maddie. That kinda put us on good terms with everyone.” He smiles humorously. 

“Then… Why are they nice to me?” Shadow asks quietly. “I expected… scorn.” 

Tails gives him an unreadable look. “They’re good people,” he says. “You’re no threat right now. They’ll treat you like they treat us as long as you stay that way.” 

Shadow has no response to that. He gets into the truck quietly. On the drive to the next stop, Tails opens the bag of cherry balls and silently offers it to him. After consideration, he takes a few. They’re… sour. Though he supposes they’re good. 

As they park again, Maddie turns around to look at him. “I'm staying in the truck while the boys go inside,” she says. “Do you want to stay with me?” 

He nods; They don't fight him on that decision, and Tom and Tails head in. They're in there for quite a while; Shadow just stares out the window and runs his hands over the quilt in his lap. 

When the fox comes back, he has a cardboard box in his hands that’s piled with junk parts. The kid seems happy about it, though – there’s a large, excited smile on his face as he sifts through jagged metal, random wires, and broken, rusted tools. 

At the next stop, Maddie gets out and pulls open his door again. “C’mon,” she says, smiling. “Time to pick your sheets.” 

Getting out the third time isn’t any easier. He, again, places himself behind Maddie’s legs. 

Walking into this store is… quieter. There’s no eccentric woman waiting to greet them. Just one large man sitting behind the counter quietly, looking up at them and turning his attention away without acknowledgement, and another person on the opposite side of the store. 

“This way,” Tom tells him, winking and tipping his head further in. 

Shadow follows to a shelf in the aisle stacked with plastic packages of fabric. On the outsides are displays of a variety of patterns. “They have different sheets for different bed sizes,” Tom says. “Yours is a full. So you can only pick one that says full on it.” 

Shadow nods, turning to the wall. Three gazes prickle his back, distracting him from really comprehending the choices in front of him. After a second, however, two of them disappear. Just Tails keeps looking at him. That, at least, is manageable. 

He turns his attention to the options. There are quite a few; The first, in front of him, is plain white. He assumes this is not one he’s supposed to choose, as it’s nearly identical to what is already on the bed. He looks, instead, at its packaging, finding no mention of a ‘full’ size on it. It does, however, say ‘queen’, and the bed pictured is slightly larger than the one he sleeps in. So he moves on, searching for labels that say ‘full’. 

Gray. Pale pink. White with blue patterned flowers. Pale yellow. Peach. Polka-dotted. Striped, with different shades of purple. None of these are really… appealing to him. The quilt was an almost instantaneous decision because it reminded him of her; None of these are doing the same, and none look quite like something she would choose. 

The other end of the aisle is full of character patterns. Most of them, he doesn’t recognize. Mickey Mouse, he knows. The rest… Not so much. 

“What about this one, Shadow?” Maddie says, pulling out one of the sheet packages and showing it to him. Light blue. “I think it would match your quilt.” 

It’s not quite her colour. As he looks it over, Maddie seems to understand; “Not so much, huh?” she says, smiling and putting it back. 

“This one’s cool,” Tom says, pulling out one with gray and green zig-zag stripes. After a second of Shadow just staring, he puts it back, laughing. “Alright, I hear you.” 

When Maddie presents him with one with red polka dots, he tentatively shakes his head. She just nods and puts it back. 

Tom pulls one out with a solid light yellow-green, but the texture is ruffled and looks uncomfortable, so he rejects that, too. 

“Alright, well, what are we looking for here?” Tom asks him, scanning the shelves. 

“I…” He pauses, eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t know.” 

“Suggestion?” Tails says from the other end of the aisle. The character aisle. After a moment, Shadow nods. “I think you should pick this one.” 

He moves to look at the pack the fox points to. Gray base with a pattern of black bats spread evenly on it, two pillowcases with a man in a mask on them. “I don't know who that is,” he says, shooting the kid a confused look. 

“That's Batman,” Tails says. “Sonic told me he had you read his Flash comics, right?” Shadow nods. “Well, the Flash works with Batman. He’s a superhero, too. I think you’d like him. He’s a lot like you.” 

Shadow quirks an eyebrow. “How so?” 

“Well, Sonic knows him a lot better than me,” he says, “but when he was a kid, Batman’s parents were killed in a mugging. He was there. He doesn’t actually have any powers, so he trained for a really long time in martial arts and stuff, and he did it all because of his parents. He fights crime and villains and stuff as vengeance, to make sure that what happened with him doesn’t happen to anyone else.” 

Shadow looks away. “That doesn’t sound like me.” 

“Does to me,” Tails says. “Batman’s also always grumpy. He broods, but he really cares about everyone anyways.” 

“And that’s what you think I am.” 

Tails shrugs. “I don’t know. I still think you should choose this one. Sonic has a couple Batman comics, I bet he’d let you read some of those.” 

Shadow contemplates the bedsheet set for a few moments. The colour scheme is pleasing, at least. He doesn’t believe the fox really sees all of that in him, but- but maybe he could. Maybe Shadow can work to be more like that. So he nods. “Okay.” 

“This is what you want?” Tom says. He nods. “Are you sure? You can pick what you want, you know. You don’t have to pick what Tails picked.” 

“I like this one,” he says. 

Tom nods. “Alright, bud. Grab it, we’ll go pay for it.” 

So he does. He pulls the set out of the shelf and follows behind Tom with it. Once at the counter, the man takes it from his hands, setting on the surface. He’s grateful for this; He could, realistically, get it there himself using his air shoes, but he doesn’t necessarily want to tempt fate and try with the imbalance within him. 

“Hey, Tom,” the man at the counter greets, smiling. “Haven’t seen you in here in a bit. Who’d you pick up this time?” 

Tom laughs. “I don’t know why everyone assumes I’ve adopted another kid every time I see them.” 

“So you haven’t?” 

“Ah, no,” Tom responds, rubbing his neck with a sheepish grin. “I have.” He nods down at Shadow. 

He grimaces at the attention placed yet again on him. The man at the counter stands and leans over to peer at him. “Hi,” he says. His voice is, generally, quite soft. “What’s your name?” 

“Shadow,” he responds for the third time that day. 

“Hello,” the man says. “Nice to meet you.” 

And… that’s it. The man doesn’t even expect a response, he just turns a smile on Tom and rings up the bedsheets. Then, as they walk out the door, the man waves and says, “Take care, guys.” 

Now he has bedsheets. And a quilt. They’re his, they belong specifically to him. He hasn’t really… had that before. Maria used to buy them toys, but they were always shared, or hers because he didn’t really have a place to put any belongings. But now he does. 

Hm. 

Maybe Maddie’s plan is working on him a little more than he expected. He’ll have to be careful; Materialistic attachments can get him into trouble. 

The next stop is a small bakery downtown. This is the last place that had been mentioned in the conversation that morning, and he hopes it truly is the last one. Despite the day’s distractions, the imbalance of power itches madly under his skin, and he would have preferred to be able to check his rings a long time ago. 

There are several more people in the café than there have been previously; He can see them in the windows. There had to be at least seven people there, not including the one behind the counter. 

When Maddie opens his door and he hesitates, she tips her head. “You coming?” 

It’s not really a question – he knows that. Staying in the truck would be direct disobedience. Still… He weighs the consequences of that against actually going into the café. Not that he actually knows what those would be – but it can't be that much worse. 

“We don't know what you want unless you come in with us,” Maddie says enticingly. Like she needs to bribe him inside. 

“I don't need anything,” he says quietly, taking the risk. 

Her expression softens. “Sure you do. I dragged you all around downtown with us, you deserve it for that.” 

Still, he hesitates. 

Tom comes up behind her. “What's up?” he asks. 

For a second, Shadow searches his face. Eventually, he says, “There's a lot of people in there.” 

Tom twists around to look. “Yeah, I guess there is,” he says. “It'll be okay. I know all of them. They're good people.” 

Shadow gives him a flat look. 

Shockingly, he laughs. “Tell you what,” he says. “You come in, you look at the options, pick something out. But if someone does something you don't like or you get uncomfortable, you can tell me, and we'll come back out here and let Maddie finish up. Deal?” 

So he's not getting out of it. Deciding not to push his luck any further, he nods and gets out of the truck. 

Once more, Shadow places himself behind the Wachowski’s legs. Imperceptibly… By the time they're pushing open the door, a bell sounding, there's a fox behind him, closing him in from view from the back, too. 

The line moves. No one talks to him or about him. He gets a couple looks, but they’re merely curious, and they pass quickly despite. The wait to get to the counter is just… tame. 

“Go ahead and look,” Maddie says, gesturing to the display case. “You can get whatever you want.” 

So he does. There are… a lot of options. There are three separate shelves of food, and most of them are sweets. He’s sick of sweets, so he passes them by. Eventually, his focus lands on a pastry, cut in half like a sandwich. He can’t remember the name, but he does remember that Maria used to say it with a silly accent. Not that he’d ever told her it was silly. 

“What is this?” he asks, but when he turns back to the Wachowskis, they’re all preoccupied. He looks between them for a second, trying to decide whether it’s worth interrupting. Definitely not. 

“Ham and cheese croissant,” a voice behind the glass says, startling him. The person it belongs to is… young. Not quite as young as Maria. He wouldn’t be able to guess how young, but they don’t look like an adult, either. He also can’t quite tell if they’re a boy or a girl. 

Deep eyes, a hairstyle that he’s never seen before, falling in black layers to frame their face. Just short enough that it could be a boy’s haircut or a girl’s. He gives up after a second, deciding he doesn’t care. 

“Had one before?” they ask when he doesn’t say anything. He shakes his head minutely, chest tightening at the feeling of eyes on him. “It’s pretty good. The cheese is a little strong, but I like it anyway.” 

Wishing for someone to come and take this interaction out of his hands, he leans forward, inspecting the sandwich a little closer. Croissant. She always turned the R into something that sounded more like a W, and dropped the T. 

“I haven’t seen you here before. What’s your name?” 

“Shadow.” 

“That’s cool. You look cool. I’m Namu.” 

They extend their hand across the counter, and for a moment, Shadow thinks they’re going to grab him. Or, maybe, try to draw him closer to do so. But their hand curls into a loose fist, waiting for him. After a second of looking between them and their fist, deliberating their intention, he curls his fingers and returns the fist bump. 

The distraction means he doesn’t realize Tom is behind him until he speaks. “Find something?” 

He jerks a look behind him, where Tom’s hand is hovering just above his quills. Not touching. He wonders, for a second, if the man is as gentle as his wife. “He’s eyeing the ham and cheese croissant,” Namu answers for him. “Hey, Tom. Already guessed it was you. You two are starting a habit.” 

“Oh, I’ve gotten enough crap for it,” Tom says, laughing good-naturedly. “How’s your partner?” 

“Lot better, lately,” Namu responds. “You guys start your order yet?” 

“Looks like Maddie’s picking it up now,” Tom says. 

“I’ll get this one in there too.” Namu smiles, reaching inside the case to pull out one of the croissants. They wrap it in crinkling paper, handing it off to the person behind the register. “It’s good, trust,” they tell Shadow. 

He follows Tom back to the front of the counter. There’s a bag holding all of their items, a sticker holding it shut. Maddie is taking her card back from the cashier. Tails is bouncing up and down on his toes, looking excited. He glances back at Shadow, grinning. “I’m getting a filled donut,” he tells him. He looks happy about that. “Did you find something?” 

Shadow gives him a single nod. Tails’ grin widens a little, like he’s glad about that, too. Before they turn to leave, Namu tells him, “See you later.” 

He doesn’t respond except for a blink. That’s all they seem to need, though, waving him out. 

Back in the truck, Maddie sighs as she buckles, seemingly relieved. “Home time,” she says, sending a smile back at them. 

Shadow loosens a little, running his hands over the quilt. Finally. He really needs to take a look at his rings. He hardly waits for Tom to pull the pickup into its spot to get out and take his quilt inside. 

After carefully setting the quilt on the bed and backing away from it, he takes a breath and turns his attention to his inhibitor rings. His skin itches underneath from the excess power sparking from his body. It was bearable when he had the emeralds; They absorbed some of the force, he thinks, and strengthened his own resistance against it. Now, however – not so much.  

He sets his jaw and braces himself, he prying open one of his rings. The second the electrodes leave his skin, red sparks crackle down his arm, shocking his nerves. The reaction is so unexpected and suddenly painful that he trips and falls sideways into the bed, his knee hitting the floor. The muscles of his arm spasm, his fingers tightening involuntarily. He sucks in a breath as his muscles seize, only for a moment; then, at once, the energy dies back down into a manageable but uncomfortable sizzling. 

That same breath blows slowly out of his lips. He forces his body to relax, picking himself back up. He turns the ring, now open in his fingers, looking at it closely for any sort of damage – anything that could cause this. 

A knock on the door startles him; It opens before he has the chance to snap his ring back on his wrist. 

“Hey, buddy, I heard somethin’ thump, what’re you doing?” Sonic barrels into his room like a freight train of energy and interruption. 

“I’m fine,” Shadow says testily. “Get out of my room.” 

But he’s not listening. His eyes have caught on the golden ring in Shadow’s hand. “Oo, you finally took it off! Why do you keep it on all the time? You don’t even take them off when you bathe, isn’t that uncomfortable? And gross.” 

“Sonic, leave.” 

“Oh, come on, drop the mystery act for a minute. You can trust us, you know?” Shadow hardly blinks and there’s a blue streak left behind, the ring in his hand gone. “Are these really just decoration?” 

Something sharp strikes his chest. “Give it back,” he snaps. 

“I’m just looking. I’ll give it back, but I’m not done yet.” 

The horror of having his raw power exposed in open air so close to the center of everything he depends on right now has him jerking forward, grabbing for it. “Sonic!” 

The hedgehog zips away into the hall, holding the ring away and above his head. “Come and get it, then,” he taunts, grinning wide. Like this is a game. Like Shadow isn’t capable of destruction, isn’t prone to violent power outbursts. 

He goes after it. He doesn’t have a choice. He does his very best to keep his energy in check, though. He can’t afford an outburst before he gets that ring back. 

Shadow doesn’t manage to make it to him before he’s all the way downstairs. He doesn’t have the mind anymore to feel bad about how loudly his air shoes pound against the floor as he gives chase. Sonic, ever irritatingly fair, notices he’s not using his speed, and stops using his, too. That doesn’t make it easy for Shadow. He’s quick without it, too, dodging out of the way as Shadow makes a grab for his ring. 

“Give it back,” he snarls. He’s shaking. His chest is tight. 

“Make me.” Sonic laughs, ducking out of his reach again and into the kitchen. 

Shadow follows him around the island, trying to corner him, but he flashes just out of reach every time. It’s hard to focus. He gets distracted, eyes flashing around to make sure there aren’t any Wachowkis watching him. Viewing the mistake he’s made. The mistake he is.  

He has eyes only for the ring. Somehow, Sonic manages to trip on the floor between the kitchen and the living room, and Shadow lunges for him. They tumble into the room together. He fights to make sure he comes out on top, exerting his strength to flip the other hedgehog on his back. 

He rips his ring from Sonic’s grip, shoving him into the floor. “You can’t do that!” he snarls, leaning down low. “Don’t you know what you could have done?” 

He doesn’t realize Sonic is already wincing until sharp, red sparks travel down his arm, crackling into the blue hedgehog’s body. Sonic yelps. 

“Hey!” he hears. Shadow snaps his head up. Every Wachowski is looking at him. Tails’ eyes are wide, Tom and Maddie look completely caught off-guard. Knuckles, the one who’d spoken, looks angry, jerking forward. 

Shadow lets go immediately, metal landing on the carpet with a dull thud. He stumbles back, losing his balance. 

When he hits the ground, there’s dirt underneath him. He picks himself up and he runs. 

That’s it. 

That’s it. He messed it up. 

He can’t go back. 

He promised. He promised. He didn’t want to hurt anyone again. 

Maddie trusted him. He knew she was wrong. 

He doesn’t deserve that. 

He thought he could control it. He thought he could handle it. 

Clearly, he was wrong. Clearly, he’s not stable. He knew that. He shouldn’t have let them talk him out of knowing that. 

What will he do now? 

Where is he supposed to go now? 

It’s built up inside of him. Now, it bursts from him, too much pressure trapped in too little space. 

He falls to his knees. His muscles contract, seizing. His body spasms uncontrollably. It hurts. It always hurts. 

As he writhes in the cold dirt and underbrush of the forest floor, unable to breathe, he watches red wisps of energy disappear into the air around him. It sinks into trees, leaves, bark, with the same sizzle ripping through his body. 

 When it stops, he tucks his head into his arms, running shaking fingers over his quills. 

What does he do? 

What does he do? 

His rings are broken. He dropped one, he left it behind. He hurt Sonic, they’ll be hunting him, they- They’ll come after him, he can’t-  

His own energy is already eating him alive, how long does he even have? 

What does he do? 

They’ll find him. Someone will find him. He can’t have good things, he should know that, he should’ve fought harder against their manipulation. He can’t do anything but hurt. They, in turn, can’t do anything but hurt him. 

Where does he go? 

He doesn’t know. He can’t go anywhere like this. He’ll hurt someone. He always does. 

He squeezes his eyes shut, buries his fingers in his quills, and tucks his head into his knees as chaos energy ravages his muscles. He pulls a memory from the dredges of his mind and wraps it around himself like a blanket. 

Her fingers run through his quills, smoothing them out. 

“It’s alright, Shadow.” 

Her touch still manages to get through his thick fur. He curls into himself further, shivering. 

“I’m sorry. I know it hurts.” 

His muscles ache as they tense and tighten. Still, her hands thumb over his ears, run down his back. 

“I’ll make Grandpa make them be nicer, okay? I’m here. You're alright.” 

After a couple moments, he can finally breathe again, sucking in air and gritting his teeth against the pain. 

“Shadow?” 

That is decidedly not Maria. 

They've come for him. 

Pushing through the lingering pain, he picks his head up, looking around. There, less than twenty feet from him, a flash of yellow. He locks eyes with bright blue. 

Chaos energy builds within him before he can remember how bad of an idea that is, and it snaps him away from the little fox. At once, he feels like he's being taken apart, ripped to pieces. He falls again with a yell, gripping himself like that will help hold him together. 

Footsteps. Yellow. He works to get back to his feet, to run, but his legs give out from under him and he falls. A hand on his back, and he's scrambling away from the touch, kicking until his back hits the rough bark of a tree. Even so little effort leaves him panting and exhausted. 

“Don't touch me,” he snarls weakly, pressing as far into the bark as he can manage. It bites into his spine. 

“Okay.” The little fox holds up his hands. “I won't. Sorry.” 

Instead of hostility in big blue eyes, there’s calculation. He almost distrusts that more. Hostility, he knows the outcome of. Calculation, the way the fox is observing him, always leads to someone manipulating him. Using him. He doesn’t have enough experience to try and parse out how, or to know how to avoid it. 

“Shadow, what’s going on?” 

“Leave me alone,” he grits, shuddering through another bout of pain wracking his body. If it would stop, he could leave. 

“You don’t really look well enough to be alone right now,” Tails points out. Shadow bares his teeth. With his opportunity thrown out the window, he no longer needs to worry about scaring him. If he does, it’ll only work in his advantage. 

Tails sighs, ear flicking. He turns, tapping into his left. “Found him. Volatile. Go back to the house.” 

Pale white fluff flickers behind him as he pauses. “I’ve got this. Don’t worry. Go back.” 

Half a pause. Shadow grits his teeth and braces to try and stand up. “Don’t make me scramble your phone, Sonic. It’ll be fine. I’ll update you in a minute.” 

Shadow doesn’t see him take his earpiece out; He’s busy trying to get his feet under him. He’s not quite quick enough to do it before the fox turns around, and in his effort to leave before his body has caught up, his legs give out. He hits the ground again, chaos energy sparking overtop his fur and frying his nerves. 

When the black spots clear from his vision and he looks up from the dirt, Tails is now sat on the ground, tails curled around his legs, hands folded neutrally in his lap. He’s still observing Shadow, unblinking. 

“Truce?” he offers. “I’ll stay right here if you stay there?” 

With a silent groan, Shadow picks himself up from the ground and sits back against the tree, wrapping his arms around his aching body. He huffs petulantly; Clearly, he can’t actually move. 

In the silence of the next few moments, Shadow does his best to breathe and relax the grip his own energy has on his body. Eventually, it feels less like he’s stuck his fingers in an electrical socket and more like static electricity. The entire time, that little fox is watching him, unnerving blue eyes never straying their attention. 

“What do you want?” he asks eventually, glaring. Tails remains irritatingly unaffected. 

“I have your bracelet,” he says in lieu of an answer. He produces it from seemingly nowhere, holding it out. 

Instead of taking it like he’s clearly meant to, Shadow just looks at it. It’s broken. He doesn’t have the slightest idea of how to fix it. He’s not sure he even could if he did, with the way his hands are shaking. 

“It’s not a bracelet,” he says eventually. 

Tails tips his head, still holding it out. “It’s not?” 

His arm is going to get tired. Shadow relents, wincing as he reaches out; Tails stretches to hand it to him, but doesn’t move from where he’s sat on the ground. His hands tremble as he turns the ring around in his lap, snapping it open again. 

“What is it?” Tails prods again. “It seems important to you.” 

“It is.” He thumbs over the seam on the inside of the ring, the probes lining it. 

“Is it why you’re all sparky now?” 

Shadow looks up at him, and there’s a genuine interest in his expression, a hungry spark in his eye. He recognizes the look. He used to see it in Maria whenever they let her get close enough to the technology inside the lab. “…Yes. They’re limiter rings.” 

“So they do have a function?” Tails asks eagerly, leaning forward. 

Dropping his gaze again, Shadow stares down at the ring like that will make it work again. “You should go back home.” 

“Why?” 

“I’m dangerous,” he states plainly. “I can’t control my power. Especially without my rings.” 

“Your rings help you control it?” 

“Go home.” 

“Not without you,” Tails counters. 

“I can’t go back.” 

“Why not?” 

Shadow stares at him for a minute, trying to figure out if he’s serious. “I hurt Sonic.” 

“Did he deserve it?” 

Blinking, he strategically decides to not answer that. 

Brightly, Tails laughs. “It's alright if he did. He’s obnoxious. But you didn't mean to, did you?” 

After a moment of hesitation, he shakes his head. 

“Then it was an accident,” the fox says, shrugging. “Nobody’s mad at you.” 

“I still hurt him,” Shadow counters. 

“And I accidentally knocked him down the stairs a week ago. They didn’t kick me out.” 

“You’re their son.” 

Tails laughs like that’s the funniest thing he’s ever heard. “You’ll see,” he hums cryptically. “We’re not mad at you, Shadow, I promise. Sonic is just worried. So are Mom and Dad.” 

“The echidna looked violent,” Shadow challenges, narrowing his eyes. 

“He always does. We won’t let him be mean to you. Promise. You can come back. We just want to help, we want to know what’s going on with you.” 

He shakes his head. “I can’t. I can’t control my power without my ring working. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” 

“I could fix it,” the fox offers. 

Immediately, Shadow gives him a suspicious eye. “I don't think I believe you.” 

Instead of being offended, Tails smiles. “Oh, come on. I’ve been working with my native tech for years, and I’ve been working with human tech since I got here. I’m probably the most qualified.” 

Shadow just looks at him. 

“Let me try? Please?” The kid clasps his hands together, tilting his head down to look up at him with big, begging eyes. “If it doesn’t work, I’ll help you leave. Wherever you want. Please? Please please please please please-” 

“Alright,” he snaps, nerves completely shot to hell. “Fine. Try. See all the good it does.” 

The fox brightens, grinning and practically bouncing against the ground. “Yay! Okay. I’ll be right back, I just need to get my tools.” With a streak of yellow behind him, he’s gone. 

Shadow barely has time to shift into a more comfortable position before the kid’s back, setting down a tool box that’s nearly as big as he is. He stretches out his hand with that same bright grin. Reluctantly, he hands it over. 

The kid opens his tool box, and a damn screen flips up from inside the lid. He pulls something out of it, and it would almost look like a gun if the barrel wasn’t so ridiculously short. And also bright yellow. He points it at the ring, light emanating from the muzzle in a wide, flat plane, scanning it. Information begins flipping through the screen, and the kid’s attention turns to it, looking through it for a bit. 

Shadow has never really been interested in the technical stuff. This was always more what Maria liked. He closes his eyes, leaning his head back against the bark to see if he can make any sort of change to the electricity running under his skin on his own. 

His entire body aches from the weight of it. He’s exhausted. So much so that he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is to drift off, to startle awake sometime later and have to remember where he is. 

A quick glance at Tails tells him the kid wouldn’t have noticed. He’s absorbed entirely in his screen; the ring has several probes attached to its side, and he has several tools lined up beside him as he reads through the information running across the screen. 

“This tech is amazing,” Tails wonders aloud, eyes bright and excited. “It’s so old, but it’s decades ahead of its time, utilizing energy that most of the scientific world still doesn’t know exists. Who built this? The elder Eggman?” 

“Yes,” Shadow responds tiredly. “But Maria designed it.” 

“She did?” he says, surprised. “How old was she?” 

“Thirteen, when she designed them.” 

“Oh, wow. I guess it’s genetic, this tech is awesome.” Tails blinks for the first time in twenty minutes, glancing at him. “Do you know what it does?” 

He shrugs. “I know they help me control my power.” 

“They’re channels,” Tails tells him. “Your body is constantly giving off levels of chaos energy that are off the charts, so much so that your body can’t handle it. That’s why it hurts, your cells are absorbing more of the energy than they can take. The sparking,” he gestures to the red energy crackling under his fur, “is your body’s attempt to get rid of excess energy, but it’s not fast enough. The rings take the energy from your body and absorb it, dispersing it out before you get to that point of overloading. They’re like mini versions of the tech that powered the lazer. The lazer took your energy, condensed it, and output it, right? Well, I think that’s what the ones on your ankles do. They take your energy and output it to your shoes, and that’s why they can hover. Theoretically, these ones could do it too, but with no output, it just disperses the energy into the air.” 

The kid shakes his head. “Sorry, I love this stuff. Anyway, even without opening it up, I can tell the nodes on the inside have been overused. They’re what’s taking your energy, and you can tell by the discolouring that they’re taking more energy at once than they really have the capacity for. They’ll still work, but we have to get the energy intake back down within its limits.” 

“You can fix it?” Shadow asks, surprised. 

Tails tips his head side to side. “There’s nothing really broken, it’s just overloaded and old,” he says. “We can fix it, yes, but that’s going to involve you more than the rings. The rings are overloaded, right? I think it’s because you have more energy than you usually do. What have you been doing recently that would cause that?” 

Shadow frowns, looking away. 

“I noticed you haven’t been using your powers at all around us,” Tails says leadingly. “When was the last time you used them?” 

He doesn’t answer. 

“The only way to fix it is to use your power more regularly.” 

“I can’t.” 

“Is it because of Maria?” Tails asks plainly. 

Shadow growls, baring his teeth. “I didn’t kill her.” 

“I know,” he answers simply. “I know that. It was an accident. Do you know that?” 

Shadow looks up at him sharply, a sharp pang cutting through his chest. Whatever Tails sees in his expression, it makes him soften. 

“It wasn’t your fault, Shadow,” he says. “It was an accident. You didn’t kill her.” 

“My energy did,” he mutters. 

“That’s not your fault. It’s not your energy’s fault, either.” 

“It’s destructive.” 

“But it doesn’t have to be,” Tails answers. “You choose what to do with it. It’s not inherently evil. You’re not inherently evil. Using your powers isn’t going to hurt us if that’s not what you do with it. You don’t want to hurt us, right?” 

He shakes his head smally. 

“Then don’t.” Tails shrugs. “That's all it is.” 

“I hurt Sonic.” 

“That was an accident, it happens. He aggravated you. Completely unrelated to your powers.” The kid picks up his ring and one of the tools, angling to press to one of the nodes. “I’m more worried about the damage you could do to yourself if you keep overloading your rings. Okay, I’m going to get them ready to take your energy again, and then you’ll have to  burn out the excess.” 

Shadow stays quiet as he works. He hasn’t talked to the kid much – today was more than they’ve spoken before combined. Now, though, he reminds Shadow so much of Maria that it’s startling. Her intelligence, her excitement, her long speeches and impressive vocabulary. She shone so brightly. Now, he sees that same light reflected back at him. He even has her colours, the same look in his blue eyes as he bends over the ring, his tongue slightly sticking out from his teeth. His chest aches so badly from it. 

“I shouldn’t have ran.” 

He doesn’t know why he says it. It only hurts more. Sharp, so sharp that he pulls his knees into his chest to relieve the pressure of it. His ears press back, and he runs his hands over his face to hide it. 

“I didn't kill her, but my energy did,” he mutters. “If I’d stayed– If I hadn’t run, she’d still be alive.” 

“Stayed?” Tails prompts carefully. “What were you running from?” 

“GUN,” he says. “Gerald said… they wanted to take me from them. We were only going to leave. If I’d just gone with them, they wouldn’t have shot the tank.” 

A couple seconds of silence. His gut twists. “Maybe,” Tails acknowledges. “I don’t think Maria would’ve wanted that, though. Here, put this on.” 

Shadow lifts his head to take the ring offered to him. Red energy races down his arm as he holds the open ring over his wrist; When he snaps ig closed, it races inside. 

“Feel better?” Tails prompts. 

He blinks. “Yes.” 

“Good. If you let me do the others, it’ll hurt less.” 

So he lets him take the next ring. To do all three of them takes less than ten minutes. When he’s done, he packs up, asking, “How’s it now?” 

“It hurts less.” 

“Good. Can you stand?” 

As he tries, Tails pulls a pair of hidden straps from the toolbox, picking it up. He slings it over his shoulders, like a backpack. 

His legs are slightly shaky beneath him, but it hurts marginally less to stand. After a second, he takes his weight off the trunk behind him. 

“Well, what do you want to do to get your energy out?” Tails asks brightly. When Shadow doesn’t have an answer, he grins, suggesting, “We could race.” 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Shadow grunts. “It hurts more to use my powers.” 

“Theoretically, it should hurt less the more you use them.” 

“Theoretically,” he says flatly. 

“Try something small,” Tails suggests. “Your shoes. They’ll take the strain off your body.” 

Shadow sighs, grimacing. After a second, he kicks his shoes on. 

Pain wracks through his body, making him shudder. Still, it’s not bad enough to make him fall, and it dies down to a low simmer after a couple seconds. 

“Huh,” he says. 

“Alright?” Tails asks. When he nods, the kid grins. “Then let’s race. You know where Crazy Carl lives?” 

He frowns. “No.” 

“Oh. It’s on the other side of town, it’s like a straight shot that way.” He points. “For bragging rights.” 

“You’ll beat me.” 

Tails grins at him. “What, are you saying you’ll let me win?” 

“Hm. You wish.” 

He drops down, getting into starting position next to the fox. The kid looks happy, holding up three fingers. “Ready? Three, two, one- Go!” 

Tails is fast, faster than one would think. Once he gets off the ground, he’s off, already ahead of Shadow as he takes the time to pick up enough momentum to kick on his shoes. Even after that, it takes him a minute to catch up – and he can tell Tails is going easy on him, making sure he stays in sights. 

He’ll have to fix that. 

Even though he’s exhausted, the run is kind of- relaxing. It doesn’t hurt nearly as much as he thought it would, and it does get better as he goes. He feels much less ill as they race through town – and Tails seems to be having fun. 

The race is much closer near the end, and he knows he’s making Tails work for it now. When he sees the house in the distance, the kid makes a final push for it, drawing out ahead – and instead of letting him win, Shadow pushes his energy and ends up on the roof a handful of seconds before Tails. 

The energy stings a little, but it’s much better. As Tails joins him on the roof, complaining about cheating, he only smirks and sits down on the shingles. They’re both breathing hard, and Tails sits next to him, only a few inches apart now. 

“Better?” Tails asks between breaths. 

He nods, and the kid says, “Good.” 

They sit for a minute, catching their breath. He looks up at the sun; It sits low in the sky now, shadows beginning to get long, the special glow of the transition from afternoon to evening lighting up the town. He thinks distantly that it's nearly dinner time, and his mood dims. 

He finds, suddenly, that he doesn't want to leave. He has no idea what to do with that. 

Tails glances at him and somehow reads his energy shift. “You still want to leave?” 

“I can’t go back,” Shadow answers. 

“Why not?” 

“They won't want me.” 

“I disagree,” Tails says. “Let’s just go talk to them, and find out who’s right.” 

Shadow only frowns. 

“I’ll be with you,” Tails offers. “We’ll go together. They won’t hurt you, you know that.” 

He only shakes his head. 

“They're worried about you,” Tails says quietly. “At least come let them know you’re okay.” 

He sighs. “Why are you so persistent? Why don’t you guve up?” 

The kid giggles a little. “It’s my job, as a younger brother,” he says. “That’s what Sonic says, anyway. Will you come back? Please? I’ll just keep asking. We can race again.” 

“I don’t want to race,” Shadow disagrees. 

“We can just run, then,” Tails says, already picking up off the roof. 

Shadow joins him on the grass, trying to ignore the dread in his stomach. He lets Tails lead, setting the pace fast enough to get to the house quickly but not enough to push him. 

“So,” Tails says hesitantly as they run the edge of town, “there’s something else. I just- I don’t want you to be mad, okay? We don’t have to do it, if you don’t want to. But…” He hesitates. “Your rings – they’re old. They’re alright for now, but eventually, they’re going to give up. If you wanted… I could redesign them. It would be like the difference between computers back then, and computers now. Genius for their time, but big, clunky, and with limited capabilities. I think you’re due for an upgrade. I just… I don’t know how you would feel about me working off Maria’s tech like that.” 

Shadow looks down at his rings. His knee-jerk reaction is no. But… If it would help him control his energy more… “I don’t know.” 

“That’s okay,” the kid says quickly. “You can think about it. I have all the information I need, but I won’t work on it unless you tell me, okay?” 

“You can’t just… make these better?” 

“Not really,” he says apologetically. “It would need completely new hardware. I could try to replace the parts, but that’s unlikely, and it would still be limited. Just think about it.” 

Faster than he’s ready, the house comes into view. He remembers the look in their eyes. 

“Hey,” Tails says softly, stopped at his side right before the path to the door. “It’ll be okay. I promise they're just worried.” His fingers slip into his palm, squeezing his hand. “There was one time we were fishing in the river. We aren't supposed to play in the river, but I was hopping rocks and looking at the species of waterlife. I fell in. I thought I was gonna get in trouble, but they just got me out and dried me off. They were more worried about me getting sick than anything. It's okay.” 

He tugs gently on his hand, leading him towards the door. Shadow lets him. 

At the door, the kid pushes it open, but lets him stay on the step. “Mom? Dad?” he calls. 

He can see Maddie in the living room. As soon as she locks eyes with him, she’s moving towards him. Shadow holds his breath, closing his eyes and bracing. He doesn't want to see the anger in her eyes as she kneels in front of him. 

There are hands on his face, and they’re kind. 

“Are you alright? Baby, you can't just do that.” 

He blinks, confused. Maddie’s frowning, but there’s a concerned twist to her lips as she looks him over. Behind her, Tom crouches, putting a hand on her shoulder – then a hand on his. 

“Thank you for coming back,” he says. “But you can’t just run away. You worried us, we're lucky Tails found you.” 

“Are you mad?” Shadow mutters as Maddie rubs a thumb over his cheek. 

“No, baby, we’re not mad,” she answers. “Not at all. Sonic told us what happened. It was an accident. We’re not mad.” 

“You wanna tell us what happened?” Tom asks gently. 

He hesitates. “Sonic took my ring,” he says. “It’s been malfunctioning since this morning, and I took it off to try to find out what was wrong. They help control my energy.” 

“That’s what the sparks are,” Tails supplies behind him. “Excess energy that the rings help contain.” 

Maddie nods. “Is it better now?” 

“Yeah, it’s okay.” 

“Are you okay, Shadow?” she asks him, tipping his chin up to look at her. 

“I’m okay,” he answers. “I thought you would be… upset.” 

“Accidents happen, buddy, we know that,” Tom says. “We’re just glad you came back.” 

“And that you’re safe,” Maddie adds. “Will you come inside?” 

He blinks, overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time. “Is that it?” 

“That’s it. You’re not in trouble,” she confirms. “We’re only worried.” 

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, ears trying to press down into his head. 

“It’s okay, we’ll make sure it doesn't happen again,” Tom reassures. “We’ll talk more later. But you’re not in trouble.” 

Maddie brushes her hand over his quills, standing up and gesturing inside. 

Shadow turns to give Tails a wide-eyed look. “Told you,” the kid says, smiling and nudging him inside. 

“Tails, will you go get your brother?” Maddie asks. “He has something to say.” 

Tails nods, running off. Barely ten seconds go by before a little blue blur appears at the top of the stairs. 

Wide green eyes lock onto his. A blue streak is all the warning he gets before Sonic crashes into him. 

“I’m sorry,” the kid says, his arms tightening around Shadow. Shadow can’t do anything but stand in shock. “I was teasing you, but I shouldn't have taken your stuff. I’m sorry. Please don’t leave.” 

He… doesn’t know how to respond to that. After a couple moments of still silence, Sonic pulls back to look at him. “I hurt you,” Shadow says distantly. “Why are you apologizing?” 

“I kinda deserved it.” Sonic shrugs. “Besides, you didn’t mean to. It’s okay. Are you okay?” 

“I’m- Fine.” 

“Are you sure? I didn’t know taking your rings would hurt you. I’m sorry.” 

“I’m fine,” Shadow repeats, baffled. “It’s okay. Just- If you take them, I can’t control my energy.” 

“I won’t do it again,” Sonic promises, looking cowed. 

Tom crouches next to them. “Are we good, boys?” 

After glancing at each other, the two nod. 

“You’re not gonna leave, right?” the little blue hedgehog asks, practically pleading. 

Shadow would feel bad to give him anything but a small nod. 

“Okay,” he breaths. “Okay, good.” 

“Yeah, good. Means you won’t miss dinner,” Maddie says, moving for the kitchen. 

“You’re making dinner?” Shadow echoes. 

“Well, yeah. We wanted to make sure you were safe.” 

Shadow frowns. “Can I help?” 

The smile Maddie gives him is bright but surprised. “Yeah, of course. Just make sure your hands are clean.” 

Sonic opens his mouth, but seems to reconsider. Instead, he says, “Do I have enough time to kick up my racing game?” 

“One game,” Maddie warns. Shadow follows her to the kitchen, and behind him, Tails. 

It feels… normal. More normal than he expected. They really aren’t mad at him, not punishing him in any way. Maddie treats him with the same kindness as she always does as they prepare dinner. 

He doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay here. The thought doesn’t make him as sick as it should, and that scares him. 

But he doesn’t want to leave. So he’ll just have to be careful. 

“Hey, baby, can you get me one of the measuring cups?” Maddie asks him, gesturing to a cupboard. 

He nods, turning for it. It’s too high for him to reach. Instead of getting the step stool, he kicks on his shoes to reach it. 

Tails nods at him and smiles. They keep cooking.