Archive of Our Own

Sonic could handle the unexpected no problem. With an enemy like Dr. Eggman he was kind of a pro at this point. Robots? Odd looking magical artifacts? Alliances with other weirdos? Yeah, Sonic could handle it.

Well, most of it.

For the first time in a good long while, Sonic was being forced to slow down and be cautious and it was so annoying. Eggman was acting strange, almost trying to provoke a direct strike to his shiny new mech. Sonic was antsy to wipe the smug grin off his face.

At first it appeared to be nothing more than a boastful show of power, but it didn’t take long before everyone there realized there was more to it than that. There were unusual colored lights that confused them, strange sounds that were loud and sharp, chemical scents that made it hard to breathe, just one new thing after another. It was like a whole machine dedicated exclusively to the task of driving them crazy.

So everyone seemed to agree all at once that it was a good time to be defensive and stay away from it.

Sonic had arrived to the fight with Tails and Amy, who were somewhere on the other side of the egg base, taking advantage of the cover of the woods while they escaped. Sonic was hiding between a supply crate and a wall, trying to figure out what was going on without getting blasted in the meantime.

Team Dark was already there when they’d arrived, adding to Sonic’s growing irritability. Shadow was covering Rouge as she tried to repair E-123 Omega enough so that they could retreat, and was already in a foul mood.

Outwardly Omega looked fine, he was shouting threats like there wasn’t a single thing wrong with him, but it didn’t look like he could actually move so he was essentially an angry sounding speaker. It was a little funny, seeing him asking Rouge to use him as a club, but the situation itself wasn’t so whimsical.

Shadow was also playing it safe, not getting too close. It was uncharacteristic of him, but he clearly knew something Sonic didn’t and seemed anxious to get out of there. He kept yelling at Rouge to hurry up.

When Sonic and his crew arrived, they split up so Tails could get Omega’s legs functioning again, while Amy and Rouge covered them from direct attacks.

Sonic and Shadow were doing a good job drawing the fire, though, and the others were able to slip away without much of a struggle beyond Omega’s protests.

Everyone besides him and Shadow were safe now, at least. All that was left to do was get past Eggman’s new mech and get outta there.

Normally Sonic would just make a break for it, and he was still considering it, but something told him that that was exactly what his enemy was waiting for.

Shadow wasn’t bolting either, muscles tense while he kept cover nearby. He was muttering plans to himself, trying to solve this weird riddle before it escalated, but he was clearly losing patience. Sonic understood how he felt.

Lacking any other ideas or information, Sonic knew he could handle the unexpected. No problem.

So if there wasn’t an opening he’d have to make one.

Shadow must have noticed him winding up to sprint, but Sonic only heard a small sound of protest just as he broke from cover, intending to simply circle the mech and maybe strike it a couple of times, just to see what would happen. Even if it didn’t create the opening the pair of them needed to escape, it would give them new information.

Eggman’s reaction was sluggish, like he wasn’t even trying to keep up. It would be so easy to just wind up a spin dash and knock the whole machine down to the ground in a heap, so that was what Sonic was going to do.

But he didn’t get the chance.

It wasn’t a strike from Eggman that got him, it was Shadow tackling him from the side, killing his momentum and sending him rolling into the dirt a few bounces before he could jump back onto his feet, confused.

Shadow could be a jerk sometimes, sure, but unprovoked friendly fire wasn’t really his angle.

Eggman’s obnoxious, cackle of a laugh rang out on loudspeaker, clearly delighted with this turn of events. More than that, though, it sounded like he was pleased with his victory, which was weird, because Sonic wasn’t hurt or anything, so why—

Shadow!

Sonic glanced back to see the dark hedgehog on the ground nearby, restrained by a device resembling a spider, pinning one of his arms to his body. His other arm and legs were both free, but he was completely still, lifeless.

Whatever that device was, it must have been intended for Sonic and Shadow got caught by it instead.

A low frustrated growl rumbled up in Sonic’s chest. He really screwed this one up.

All the while, Eggman continued to laugh, punctuated with snorts and sputters, oblivious to Sonic’s building frustration “Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me, hedgehog” he taunted, tone vibrating with mirth, “Shadow’s far too intelligent for such simple tricks; I hadn’t even considered the possibility of him getting caught. It’s my lucky day, and I have you to thank for it!”

Sonic lowered his stance, preparing to run, to try and turn things around “How do you feel about testing your luck a second time? For science?” he provoked.

“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” The mech lifted a short ways into the air, hovering on small rockets, “I have something better than luck on my side. So long, Sonic.” Once more with the annoying cackling.

Sonic started making his move to pursue the fleeing doctor when the ground violently heaved upwards, knocking him flat.

A muffled sound of controlled explosions rumbled below, deep underground and Sonic instantly recognized it as a simple pitfall trap activating.

Eggman hadn’t been here formulating some new master plan, Sonic realized, he must have been working on a demolition of an older base. Since he was destroying it anyway he could afford to make double use of it as a trap, just in case a lucky opportunity presented itself.

An opportunity Sonic handed right to him.

Even so, a classic pitfall was nothing more than a little sport, something Sonic could quickly run his way out of. Not just him, most of Sonic’s friends could escape such a trap, it was laughable that Eggman even thought he had a chance at catching him in one. He stumbled back to his feet and turned to Shadow.

He still wasn’t moving. Maybe Eggman’s confidence wasn’t so funny after all.

The sound of metal structures beginning to collapse reached his ears in the instant it took him to get to Shadow’s side, pulling the tangled spider’s leg restraints off of him with surprisingly little difficulty. The whole thing seemed to break at the joints and fall away with no effort, making Sonic more confused how this simple, frail machine had managed to completely incapacitate Shadow, of all people. So quickly, in fact, he never even had a chance to rip it off of himself.

Sonic didn’t really have time to inspect him for injury, he could see Shadow was bleeding but didn’t know where from. The terrain was too unsteady to tell if he was even breathing, but if he was bleeding then his heart was probably still beating at least. Sonic scooped him up over his shoulder and just started pushing off the ground into a run when the terrain crumbled under him and began to fall.

With Shadow’s dead weight, Sonic didn’t have the mobility to escape the trap on his own, and he realized he’d wasted his brief window by choosing to pull the machine off of Shadow rather than just grab him and go.

Hopeful eyes scanned upwards in search of any one of his flying allies, but the dirt and debris was already obscuring his view of the sky. He’d used up all his luck when Shadow pushed him out of danger earlier.

So he curled the best he could, preparing his quills to brace for the impact at the bottom of the pit.

With all the noise around him, he didn’t even realize that the bottom waiting for him was full of swirling, muddy water, and he only had a faint instinct to hold on to Shadow tighter as they were violently dragged down by a powerful current.

—

It took several attempts for Sonic to open his eyes before he realized that they were already open.

He was sprawled on his back on some sort of hard, uneven terrain— stone, he suspected. It felt too cold in some places, too hot in others, creating a spectrum of discomfort in his wet fur.

He didn’t even know if he was wet with water or with sweat, he couldn’t quite remember what happened. By the feel of his body, he was reasonably certain he’d just been absolutely crushed in combat though.

Every inhale brought with it a stab of pain, lancing up through his chest like lightning, so he decided not to test his mobility just yet. Being unable to see, it wasn’t as if he could just get up and run anywhere without consequences anyway.

His other senses were better off than his sight. He could hear a dull roar of rushing water off in one direction, the same direction as a distant odor of oil and rust.

The air was just cold enough that Sonic imagined each ragged exhale was punctuated with a foggy wisp. Cool, but not frigid, like the start of winter.

Timidly he reached out in front of him, up towards the ceiling, and his hand connected with stone. It was a good thing he hadn’t tried to blindly sit up, there simply wasn’t room for him to.

He brought his other hand up and brushed his fingers around the tight space. Directly above him and to his right were all stone. A small tunnel inside a cave maybe? The sound of rushing water wasn’t super muffled, despite the tight space, so there had to be more to it.

He didn’t even want to entertain the possibility that he was buried alive, so he shoved the thought aside. There was a way out of here, there had to be.

Sonic was about to start rolling onto his belly, but a gentle hand pushed his shoulder to the ground preventing it, making Sonic yelp in surprise.

The soft ‘plap’ of his wet quills puffing out and hitting the stone all around him seemed to echo around him, reinforcing his impression that he didn’t have any room to move.

“You’re alright.” A quiet voice assured.

Sonic stilled, heart still racing, “Shadow?” He sounded so close, and Sonic was able to gently nudge him with his fingertips to confirm. Lying right next to him, and he hadn’t even noticed.

Shadow just hummed in response before falling into silence again.

Now that Sonic was listening for it, he could pick up the soft sound of breathing, but Shadow’s nearly imperceivable presence felt haunting, “Are you hurt?”

Another short hum, nothing helpful.

“Can you tell me where we are at least?”

Silence, echoing on into the darkness, dragging Sonic’s mood down along with it. He could already tell that whatever adventure he’d just found himself in the middle of was gonna be a real drag.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, moving his hands along his body to check for injury.

Aside from the suspicion that he had a broken rib or two, he seemed otherwise unharmed.

Still, broken ribs sucked. There was no position that wasn’t painful to be in, no action that didn’t feel like a knife twisting in his side. Crawling out of the cave was going to be hell. His heart rate increased again, just making everything worse.

But he got in there somehow, so there had to be a way out at least? Again he ran his hand over the stone above him, no idea how deep down he actually was. They weren’t trapped, right?

“We’re under the sea cliffs, quite a ways north of Station Square.” Shadow’s sudden voice caused Sonic the jolt again. His voice was nearly a whisper, “I don’t know how we got here.” It sounded like he had something else to say, but he decided not to.

Not helpful.

“Okay, well, I dunno about you, but I think I’m ready to blow this pop rock stand.” Despite Sonic’s upbeat tone, his voice quivered as he started rolling painfully onto his belly, “If we follow the sound of water it’ll probably take us right out!”

“We can’t go out that way.” There was a small scraping sound as Shadow repositioned, scooting aside to give Sonic room to move, “I think our best bet is to follow this tunnel here. The air doesn’t smell as dirty.”

“What tunnel?” Sonic wheezed as his weight shifted fully, “I can’t see a thing.”

“You can’t?” Shadow sounded legitimately surprised, like this wasn’t something he’d considered.

“Can you?”

“Of course.”

“Oh.” Sonic rested his chin on the back of his folded hands, “Yeah, no, it’s pitch dark in here.” His ears perked, “Hold on, if you can see then why are you still here?”

A loud sigh echoed through the darkness, like the answer to that question was so obvious it was stupid to even ask. Shadow was waiting for him, of course.

A snarky response came to mind, but fizzled away on the tip of his tongue, leaving him with a simple, awkward, “Thank you.”

His gratitude hung dead in the air between them.

Shadow began moving, the sound of his shoes scraping against the stone grounding Sonic’s thoughts a little, “Stay close” he warned, before he started leading the way down the tunnel.

While there was room for the two of them side by side, Sonic stayed behind him, following the sound of Shadow’s movements. Every motion hurt, and it was difficult to keep up. The rocky terrain was scraping up his legs and belly, and there would probably be no salvaging his gloves when this was over.

The tunnel eventually got a little narrower on the sides, but it also became tall enough Sonic could crawl on his hands and knees rather than pull himself along his belly. It was still slow going, and he was sure Shadow was probably getting annoyed with the snail’s pace Sonic was setting, but if he was he didn’t voice it.

Actually Shadow was being unusually patient with him, stopping to wait when Sonic paused for breaks, for as long as he needed. Sometimes Sonic could even see the faint red glow of Shadow’s eyes looking back at him to check how he was doing, although he never outright asked.

It was simple, steady progress, slightly uphill, a little winding, but no branching paths so far.

After a while, Sonic could hear Shadow come to a halt slightly ahead, and then his shoes scraping as he stood upright. The soft clacking of his footsteps echoed through space, getting further away and then circling back.

They must have come out of the tunnel into a decent sized cavern. The air smelled damp, stale, and vaguely moldy.

Shadow returned to Sonic’s side when he started getting to his feet. A hand on his shoulder kept him steady, but it was difficult to straighten himself upright, aching muscles protesting alongside the angry, broken bones in his chest. His knees wobbled.

“We should take a break.” Shadow suggested softly.

“I’m fine.”

“Then a break won’t kill you.”

Shadow began insistently leading Sonic by his elbow into the open space, carefully guiding him forward. Each of Sonic’s steps was a stiff, awkward stagger.

Yeah, Shadow was actually right, he needed some rest. He’d barely gotten on his feet and he was already dizzy.

Shadow led him to where there was a flat wall he could lean against and helped him sit back down, settling down uncomfortably close beside him, almost on his lap it felt like. It was hard resisting the urge to push him away, but his body heat was a comfort. The air was starting to feel really cold.

“Just a few minutes” Sonic mumbled in compromise. They needed to keep moving, but already he was feeling dozy. How was he this tired already?

He felt Shadow turn to look at him, “Don’t push yourself.” He scolded, “If you don’t give yourself a chance to recover you’ll just slow us down more.”

Sonic flopped his head onto Shadow’s shoulder, smirking at the annoyed grunt if provoked, “It would help if I had some kind of idea what I was recovering from.” He prompted.

There was a long silence, and Sonic wasn’t really expecting an answer, but after taking a moment to think about it Shadow finally answered, “You drowned.”

“What?”

“When I woke up we were sort of tangled up underwater. I pulled you out but you weren’t moving.” Sonic could feel Shadow’s muscles tensing, “I managed to get you breathing again. I wasn’t sure how long you were gone for, so I didn’t know if you’d actually wake up.”

Involuntarily, Sonic’s hand came up to his chest, where the pain still blossomed in hot waves with every breath. He’d assumed it was a combat injury, but if Shadow actually had to revive him, then it was more likely that he had broken his ribs in the process.

“Wait so like… you did like, uh, mouth to mouth?” Sonic regretted his wording immediately.

“Is that really your take away? Seriously?” Sight wasn’t needed to know Shadow was rolling his eyes, “Yes. Mouth to mouth. Obviously.”

“Oh.” Sonic looked straight ahead, “Uh… thanks.”

It wasn’t really so much the ‘mouth-to-mouth’ that was bothering him. It was that it was Shadow. If what he said was true, and he had woken up in some kind of underground river with Sonic, it meant that, despite being lost and confused and probably even hurt, he prioritized Sonic’s wellbeing over everything else. It felt strangely personal for the broody hedgehog Sonic was familiar with.

But the odd gentleness was beginning to make a little more sense. Shadow was taking responsibility for the injuries he’d caused while saving Sonic’s life. He wasn’t taking it out on Sonic because he felt like it was his fault Sonic was injured.

Heavy eyelids drifted closed as Sonic began to doze off, all the fatigue from the recent hours finally catching up to him. Quiet images started to fill his mind, snippets of what was supposed to be a low stakes battle. The events that led to the two of them being down there.

Each second of the memory played in slow motion like syrup, dragging the time along, sometimes repeating and stuttering like the border of a dream.

But eventually his mind got to the point, with surprising clarity. Shadow had taken a direct hit from an unknown weapon because of Sonic’s impulsiveness. That’s how they got into this mess.

Sonic’s eyes opened a fraction, recalling the way Shadow had been knocked out. Bleeding.

“Hey, Shadow? Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Sonic lifted his head, hoping he could at least see the faint glow of red eyes looking back at him.

Shadow shifted, subconsciously pressing himself a little closer. He took a deep inhale, “No.” He admitted distantly, “I’m not sure.”

“Eggman hit you with some kind of weapon.”

“I’m aware.” Shadow shifted, “But I don’t think that’s it…” his voice tapered off in thought.

“Wanna talk about it?”

There was a soft scratching from Shadow’s quills moving against the stone, tilting his head to look away. “No.”

Sonic moved his gaze forward, choosing a more comfortable darkness to look into. “That’s fair.” While it didn’t feel like any time had passed, Sonic’s mind felt clearer and he had more energy so he knew he’d at least gotten some sleep. Maybe it was best if they stopped trying to talk and started moving again.

“It’s just that,” Shadow’s voice surprised him, the dark hedgehog apparently changing his mind about wanting to talk, “I thought I understood that there are times when you can do absolutely everything in your power to save someone, and they still die.” Shadow sighed, “But I wasn’t ready for it. That’s all.”

Sonic picked at his sock, unprepared for Shadow’s reluctant confession. It was hard to imagine something like that eating at Shadow, of all people, but in a way it made sense. Sonic hadn’t thought of it like that before.

“That’s kinda messed up, Shadow.” When Sonic looked from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the dim glow from Shadow, finally looking at him. After being in the dark this long they felt more beautiful than the stars. Sonic averted his gaze, “I’m still alive.”

“Barely.”

“Almost missing is still a hit.” Sonic quoted. He sat up straight and stretched his legs out, feeling stiff from sitting still for so long. The cold was so uncomfortable he quickly leaned back against Shadow to escape it, ignoring the displeased grunt it prompted, “Besides, it’s not like I’m just some innocent bystander. I’m a fighter too y’know. I can carry the burden of my own life. If you wanna help with it, that’s cool, but it’s still mine to carry, not yours.” He nodded twice, “Don’t sweat it right now! You know you have to work on being ready for next time, that’s a good thing.”

“You’re being unusually… profound” There was a hint of relief in Shadow’s voice.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’ve been down here too long, I must be starting to lose it.”

That got a chuckle, not the taunting kind Sonic was used to hearing from his rival, but something more casual and relaxed, “You might be right.”

“Oh geez, if you’re agreeing with me then it’s got you too!” Sonic smirked, teasingly shifting more of his weight onto his companion, trying to mask some of the pain his restrained laughter was causing. “There might be no recovering from this one!”

“I suppose not.”

Their light conversation drifted back into quiet for several minutes before Shadow once again initiated, “I’m sorry. For dragging you into this.”

“What do you mean? I’m the one who ran off and started all of this.”

Shadow’s apology was interesting and out of character for him. He would never choose to show remorse over something he had no part of, so why now?

“I knew about the weapon. Eggman already tried to use it once before you showed up.” Shadow’s voice was tinged with anger, “I chose not to say anything because I didn’t want to talk to you.” He drew in a large breath, “It was petty.”

Petty indeed. If Sonic had known about the trap then he wouldn’t have rushed Eggman and they wouldn’t be in this mess. Was that really the reason he was down here? Shadow not wanting to give him crucial information?

Sonic brought his knees up to his chest, closing himself off and ignoring the pain it caused. Anger coiled around his self control, trying to tempt him with ideas of payback, or some petty revenge to make it all even. But even if he wanted to, he couldn’t even find the willpower to create distance between himself and his rival, too drawn to the inviting warmth sheltering him from the rest of the cave.

He tried to take a deep breath and push his feelings down and let it go. Now wasn’t the time for petty thoughts. But then again, neither was a literal battlefield. And Shadow was aware of it! Shadow knew it was petty, that’s why he did it! That’s why he could confess to it.

That was why Shadow was being so talkative right now.

Petty silence got them into this mess, and Shadow wasn’t one who liked to make the same mistake a second time.

Actually, this was just Shadow’s style. An apology without change was a waste of words, but learning from the mistake, and proving he could change… It couldn’t get more sincere than that. That’s how Shadow had always done things.

It was such an earnest trait, one Shadow always had, but it was so easy to overlook it around the rough edges of his personality.

So as much as Sonic wanted to clamp down and make every second of this experience a living hell for his rival, he also had the potential to learn from this.

There was no more room for petty silence between them.

“I’m mad at you.” It felt weird being up front with his rival in such a way, “But it’s not all on you, so stop acting like the main character here. I didn’t have to rush Eggman. I suspected you knew something and I didn’t even try to ask. So it’s kinda on both of us.”

“You’re reckless. Everyone knows it and plans around it. Nobody expects you to ask.” Shadow retorted, his voice sounding a little lighter.

“And you are the most annoying hedgehog I’ve ever met. Seriously.”

A small sound, maybe a muted laugh? Shadow leaned on him a little more. He felt so, so warm. Sonic pushed back, making it clear that their rivalry was still on, at least for now. It seemed like he’d improved Shadow’s mood, which was quite the feat, actually.

Maybe everything would be okay after all.

“Very well, I’ll accept that.”

Shadow’s voice sounded closer than he expected, and when Sonic turned his head he was startled by how close the crimson glow of Shadow’s eyes was to his face. He’d only meant to jostle Shadow playfully, but he must have overdone it— their cheeks were practically touching. Sonic swallowed, “You’ll get us out of here, I trust you.” he quietly assured.

“I know.”

Maybe it was the darkness, or maybe Sonic really was going insane, but by complete impulse he turned his head and awkwardly placed his lips to Shadow’s cheek. It wasn’t until an instant after he pulled back that he even realized what he’d done, and he froze in panic.

They’d just had a moment, a pretty good one in Sonic’s opinion, and he had to go and ruin it with something mindless and stupid.

Maybe dying in a cave wasn’t so bad, actually.

His mind was rolling through every plausible excuse he could think of, some way to salvage this, but nothing was coming. He couldn’t even stutter a stupid apology.

Shadow didn’t react in anger though, he didn’t even seem to acknowledge the renegade kiss at first. Eventually, though, he turned his head, slow and careful. A warm puff of breath tickled Sonic’s face.

Sonic tried to ignore the pain of his heart rate picking up. Shadow wasn’t pushing him away in disgust like he expected. This was an invitation to continue, or a chance to back down with no judgment.

Perhaps it was because Shadow was the only source of warmth and light in this cold, lonely place, but the sense of acceptance Sonic felt was so profound it made it hard to breathe.

He was so overtaken he almost forgot to actually close the gap.

Romantic wasn’t really the right word to describe the simple kiss— but it certainly felt intimate. Feelings too complicated and personal to translate into words easily expressed themselves in the gesture; gratitude, fear, companionship, trust, understanding, forgivness. They’re not alone, they’re in this together.

They both hesitated after moving apart, neither hedgehog good enough with words to know what to do or say next. It felt like everything had been said already.

There wasn’t any real meaning Sonic could assign to it. It felt like something changed between them but he couldn’t identify what it was. At the same it felt like an extension of the same dynamic they’d always had. Like nothing had changed at all.

Shadow was the one to break the silence, “We need to get moving.” He didn’t wait for a reply before pulling away and hopping to his feet, leaving Sonic on the ground shivering in response to suddenly losing his heat supply.

The warmth coming off of Shadow had been a concern of Sonic’s this whole time, and at first he figured that the hybrid simply ran a little hotter than most, but now he knew for sure this wasn’t normal.

When he’d felt Shadow’s lips he could immediately tell.

“You have a fever.”

Each of Shadow’s footsteps made a hollow clack on the stone as he went around the room, investigating the offshoot tunnels, “I know. There’s nothing we can do about it right now.” His voice muffled slightly as he entered a tunnel, “It’s some kind of poison. If that trap had hit you, you’d be dead. I’ll be fine.”

“Oh. Guess that’s another one I owe you.”

It was easier for Sonic to stand up now that he’d had a little rest. His ribs still hurt, but it was a little more tolerable at least. He brushed the dust off his legs and felt scabs peeling away from all of the scrapes he got crawling around earlier.

He tried his best to stretch out his sore muscles while he waited for Shadow to finish his scouting, impatient to be moving, but also unable to go anywhere on his own without his guide.

“I smell sea water down the path ahead.”

The sound of Shadow’s voice suddenly next to him caused Sonic to yelp in surprise and jump aside, “You’re gonna give me a heart attack if you keep sneaking up on me like that, geez.”

Shadow didn’t acknowledge him, but, knowing what kind of jerk he was, he was probably pretty pleased with himself. Sonic tried to hide his smile, “Alright, so sea water ahead, what’s the hold-up?”

“There’s a drop off a short way through the tunnel and it looks like it becomes steep after that. I don’t want to have to carry you back up the tunnel if it turns out we can’t go that way.”

“So you want to go by yourself, first?” A shiver ran down Sonic’s spine. The endless darkness was already wearing on him, and the idea of being left alone in it with his thoughts as company didn’t sit well with him, “Didn’t think you were the type to kiss and run.”

“I don’t like it either, but I think it’s our best chance. Might be our only chance.” Once again those crimson eyes locked on Sonic’s, the last glimmer of light he’d see until Shadow came back for him.

A too warm hand gently squeezed Sonic’s shoulder, offering some final, wordless assurance before the sound of his shoes trailed off down the tunnel.

Sonic held on to every sound as long as possible, but his courage seemed to follow the echoes of Shadow’s footsteps until they could no longer be heard.

When he was sure he was actually on his own, Sonic sank down to the ground and curled up, focusing his thoughts on the softer, warmer company that had been with him only moments ago.

—

Shadow really didn’t want to leave Sonic alone, but the further down the tunnel he got, the more grateful he was that he did.

It was steep, as he’d suspected, and he found himself losing footing and sliding downwards more than he liked. The smell of salt water was getting stronger though, so he didn’t want to write the path off entirely.

He tried to keep his pace steady and his focus on the task, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Sonic. Something had happened between them, but Shadow didn’t exactly understand what it was.

His rolling fever had left him drained, and his thoughts had been spiraling in the darkness, clinging to “what ifs” surrounding a failure that never actually happened. Sonic had managed to ground his thoughts a little and bring him back to reality and make him feel less alone.

It had to be worse for Sonic too, he was clearly in a lot of pain, and couldn’t seem to see a thing. The darkness was oppressive even with Shadow’s refined senses, making the idea that it was even worse for Sonic unsettling.

His vision wasn’t actually that great in the pitch darkness, mostly picking up movement and the area directly in front of him with little detail.

His electroreception was doing the heavy lifting, a sense that was more commonly found in echidnas that utilizes electricity and chaos energy to map the world around him. It wasn’t perfect but it gave him something to work with.

The poison the Doctor had injected him with had done something to his personal chaos reserves, leaving his energy feeling stagnant and weak, so until now he’d actually been locating using the energy radiating off of Sonic rather than expending his own.

Now that he was by himself he could really feel how badly he was being affected. The energy required to navigate a cave was negligible, but Shadow was still struggling to release it in a steady manner.

Next to Sonic was like being in daylight, but by himself was like he was holding a weak, flickering candle.

While Shadow was Sonic’s only light in this darkness, Sonic, in a way, was the same for him.

After another short drop off, Shadow’s feet splashed down into knee deep water, flat and stagnant, but reeking of the sea. It felt colder than ice.

It wasn’t a great sign that the water was still, it meant that the source of the water wasn’t flowing. Despite being sea water, it wasn’t directly coming in from the ocean itself.

Droplets fell from the ceiling like rain, the echoing around him like a cruel taunt. He’d wasted so much time, all for nothing.

Disappointed, Shadow turned back to the tunnel he came from, getting ready for the return climb back to Sonic with bad news.

A faint tickle on his ear caused him to pause, however. He had to wait a moment to feel it again, but this time he was certain, he was feeling moving air. He also felt a flicker of hope.

It was coming in pulses, bringing with it a tiny sample of fresh air. There was no doubt about it, there really was a way out from here!

The passage was tricky to find, high up on the wall in the form of a large ragged crack. It was so narrow that it would still be a tight fit dragging himself on his belly. It wasn’t easy climbing up into it, and he wondered if it would even be possible to get Sonic through with his injury. But now that he’d wedged himself somewhat into it he was confident it led outside, the fresh smell of the sea breeze beckoning him forward.

The stone at his belly and back felt soothing against the unnatural heat his body was radiating, and he took a moment to press his cheek to the ground just to feel it.

Sonic had felt cold like this as well, it was comforting sitting close to him, as loathe as he was to admit it. The blue hedgehog was also drawn to his heat as the cold rock walls slowly drained away his own. Not enough to freeze to death, but still incredibly uncomfortable.

The kiss had felt ice cold to Shadow.

He didn’t understand it at all. The action seemed to be a mutual decision, he couldn’t say either of them initiated it, and it felt natural. Perhaps it was the darkness, or the mutual need of temperature control. Perhaps it was just the easiest way to talk in the moment.

It didn’t really even feel special, despite being Shadow’s first. There was no hint of promise, no sense of longing, no passionate fire. It carried so much meaning, but at the same time it didn’t feel like it actually changed anything between them. Not much different than a high five.

But Shadow’s mind was replaying it, over and over, wondering if it could be like that again. Not an anomaly in an emotional scenario, but something more casual and normal.

Being more, without changing a thing.

Shadow didn’t know how long he was lying there, but when his mind snapped back into alertness he knew a lot of time had passed. He’d gotten too comfortable, too distracted. Had he fallen asleep?

He’d left Sonic alone too long, his rival didn’t have the patience for this, he was gonna be annoyed with him and in turn would become annoying. He was tough enough to handle a little fear of the dark, but waiting any length of time was unacceptable. Shadow began backing his way out.

He didn’t remember the tunnel feeling this tight, and even though he was going back the way he came it felt like it was pressing on him tighter and tighter. It wasn’t until Shadow felt his quills pulling painfully around his skull that he realized what was happening.

In his haste he’d forgotten that he was, in fact, a hedgehog shaped hedgehog. Moving forward pushed his quills down, but going backwards gave them the opportunity to push back upwards, and unless he was focusing on keeping them flat, he was just wedging himself tighter.

Logic told him that the best solution was to move forward and then try again more carefully, but he was already too stuck, unable to advance. He tried to tilt his head a little and felt little jolts as some of his quills began to snap. He tried again and found he couldn’t move at all.

Stuck.

Every thought faded from Shadow’s head as a deep dread washed through him, almost as potent as the poison flowing through his veins. He was stuck.

Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.

The sense of danger just made his quills flare out harder, screeching against the stone and trapping him even tighter. Was he breathing? Could he breathe? It felt like he couldn’t breathe even though he knew he was pulling in fast, ragged breaths. His hands and feet slipped along the stone uselessly as he struggled to wiggle out movement in any direction, desperate for freedom.

Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.

Finally the instinct to fight came alive in him, strong, reliable, and familiar. He still couldn’t think clearly, but he knew he wasn’t going down so easily. He was tougher than that. It stopped being a question of if he was about to die, and more about how much destruction was he gonna need to cause to get out of this.

Shadow used all of his strength to push himself backwards, deliberate focus allowing him to find enough leverage to dislodge himself with a hard pull, quills be damned.

The fur on his chest was ripping out in patches, but he ignored it. His quills were snapping straight through, shooting sparks of pain as they clipped little scratches into his skin, like splashes of hot oil, just making him want to fight against it harder.

Then after a particularly hard push backwards, he finally broke free, falling from the ledge and splashing roughly into the frigid water below.

The cold was what he needed to snap out of his panic and he sat up with a gasp, mind both reeling and oddly blank.

The anger returned soon after and Shadow didn’t even think about what he was doing, he just got to his feet and focused every ounce of power he had into a violent chaos blast, ripping through that cursed passageway and crumbling stone, turning the narrow crack into a good sized hole and a pile of burning sand. A wrathful scream echoed in the aftermath, punctuating Shadow’s state-of-mind before it began to fade.

His vision swam and he felt a cord of nausea snaking up and tightening in his core before his knees buckled and he fell into the water with a weak splash. He was barely able to lift himself enough to keep his head out of the water.

Any energy he’d restored during his little cave nap was gone. Any recovery he’d made had been reversed. His ears were ringing. His vision had gone completely dark, his electroreception picked up faint traces of residual power from his attack but they faded quickly, plunging him into the horrible darkness he’d been trying not to imagine this whole time. He closed his eyes tightly, illogically feeling as if it would somehow make him unable to see the oppressive blackness.

For the first time since they got trapped down there, he felt cold. The sense of isolation felt just as crushing as being trapped in the tunnel. He was small, weak, wet, and shivering in an endless void of nothing, completely alone. He wanted to scream.

As the ringing in his ears began to subside, Shadow realized there was a new sound, and he sat up the best he could to try to hear it.

It was so faint, maybe even imaginary, but he was sure could hear Sonic calling him. Whether he was actually hearing it or not, he had to cling to it. He couldn’t afford to break down now. If Sonic could handle this darkness so could he. He had to get up and move.

He tried to reply to the distant voice, call back that it was fine, stay where you are, but his throat felt weak and his words stumbled out as a pathetic squeak.

But his legs weren’t useless. If Sonic didn’t get a response, he wouldn’t stay in place, there was no question about it. Shadow had to get up and get back to him before he went down that tunnel blind and got himself killed.

The path back wasn’t actually all that long, but it was tricky to navigate the winding and uneven terrain, and it would be even worse in complete darkness, fighting upwards against gravity. As soon as Shadow found his way back to it, he knew it would be a near impossible task climbing back up in his condition. But he had to try.

His fur was too wet, leaving the rock feeling slimy and slippery. He couldn’t find good places to grip, and over and over again his progress reversed, splashing him back down into the water and making it even more difficult to try again.

But the longer he tried, the easier it became to sense the path ahead. He knew it was because Sonic was slowly making his way through the tunnel to get to him, bringing with him his precious energy and the ‘light’ Shadow desperately needed.

As much as it conflicted his interests, Shadow was glad Sonic was coming for him. Reckless and stubborn, but quick to forgive and loyal to a fault.

With the sound of a shoe scraping and a fumbled “oops”, Sonic crashed feet first right into Shadow’s face as he slipped on the steep terrain, pushing him back several feet, but at least it didn’t knock him out of the tunnel entirely.

“Woah sorry, didn’t see you there Shadow!”

—

Sonic had fully intended to sit patiently and wait for Shadow’s return, as hard as that idea felt.

Even as it became more and more difficult as time ticked away in the slowest seconds he’d ever experienced.

He dozed off several times, unable to do much else. He couldn’t get any real sleep though, the stone was sucking away his body heat and the shivering hurt his injured ribs too much to let him properly rest.

He changed his mind about waiting when he heard Shadow’s yell echoing up the tunnel, faint, but ragged with fury. It was followed by a rumble, so intense it shook the ground around him.

It was eerily quiet after that, and although Sonic shouted until his voice hurt, he wasn’t getting a response.

He had no choice, circumstances had changed, he couldn’t afford to sit still and wait.

Sonic had an easier time getting back on his feet compared to earlier, and if he took it slow and careful he was sure he could make it through a tunnel. He just had to be careful, take his time, trust his other senses and Shadow’s warning about the steep terrain.

The initial drop off Shadow had mentioned was exactly what he expected, and ended up being a massive roadblock at first. Sonic had no idea how steep it was at the bottom, and he didn’t think he could hold his weight with his upper body to test the height of the ledge. He spent a long time going back and forth with himself, but eventually decided to take the chance.

He balled up and rolled himself off the ledge, trusting his quills to break the fall for him when he reached the bottom.

The landing ripped his breath from him, and for a moment the darkness was replaced with white hot pain. The flimsy healing his body had done during his rest period had probably been undone at this point, destroying his ability to advance and leaving him gasping on his back on the uneven ground.

But the pain dulled after some time, and Sonic gave himself a generous amount of it to recover. He needed to be more careful, if he hurt himself any more he’d only be making himself an extra burden by coming down here.

The rest of the way was actually easier than he expected, the steep terrain being more of a blessing than an obstacle. Instead of walking, he settled on one hip and let gravity do the work, like scooting himself across a really pathetic flat slide. It was actually a little fun in places where it got really steep, but it strained his injury a lot trying to throttle his speed, afraid of cutting himself going over something jagged.

Sonic was reunited with Shadow after accidentally sliding off a surprise ledge, propelling him downwards in a slight tumble.

He was so happy to be back with Shadow he was able to completely ignore the persistent ache that had been his companion all these hours. He was so glad he came down here to find him.

Shadow moved around a little after Sonic crashed into him, but stilled after a few moments without a word. Sonic was able to roll him onto his back, and his vitals seemed okay, but he was out cold.

Gentle prodding made it evident that whatever Shadow had been fighting down here got him pretty good before he probably blasted it into vapor. His quills were bent and broken, and he was speckled with little scabs that easily flaked off at Sonic’s light touch. His claws had torn through his gloves and all of them were either dull or broken, like he’d been trying to claw through the raw stone.

There was nothing Sonic could do for him right now but let him rest.

It didn’t feel like his fever had gotten worse at least. The warmth was comforting, and any respect he had for Shadow’s personal space was shoved aside in favor of cuddling up next to him, to absorb as much warmth as he could. It was probably helping cool Shadow down a little too, he reasoned, so it wasn’t exactly weird. Just two guys alone in a cave, dealing with temperature regulation issues.

He meant it to be for only a minute or two, long enough to get warm again, but he must have fallen asleep, because when he came to again Shadow was watching him. Sonic wondered if his rival was even aware that he was able to see the glow from his eyes.

One of Shadow’s arms was across him, like he was casually afraid Sonic would sneak off. It was cute, in a way, but Sonic decided to push it off of him anyway, acting like he didn’t even notice, but he froze when he felt just how hot Shadow’s wrist felt. His fever was getting worse.

“We need to get you out of here.”

Shadow scoffed, his reaction a little too delayed. “Obviously.”

“No, I mean you don’t look good.” Sonic shook his head, “Not like, look, look. I still can’t see you, but… you know what I mean. You’re getting worse.”

“…Not far.” Shadow’s voice was garbled, weak, “Steep. Don’t walk.”

Sonic was already halfway to his feet, but settled back down into a sit, “Did you find a way out?”

He just hummed in answer, unclear. Sonic wished he was still annoyed by it, but instead he just felt anxious.

As they carefully navigated down the steep tunnel, another thought began to trouble Sonic. Until now he’d been thinking that finding the way out of the cave would be the end of the ordeal, but he realized that Shadow’s illness didn’t end with the cave and its darkness. What were they going to do once they got out of here?

At the very end of the tunnel, Shadow directed him to slide down feet first on his belly, slowly lowering himself until his shoes met a pool of water, and then a little more until he could stand in it. It was the coldest water Sonic had ever felt, but his tail flicked up little splashes of water in gleeful swishes back and forth. The water was only about knee deep too, completely manageable. He could smell the fresh ocean breeze from here.

While Sonic managed to get to his feet, Shadow did not. Sonic could hear his inhibitor rings scraping rock as he made attempts, but he didn’t seem to be able to find his balance.

Sonic had to feel around a bit to get a hand on his back, “Grab on.”

He didn’t need sight to know Shadow was giving him an acidic glare, “You can’t.”

“Neither can you.” Sonic’s tone was sharp, “I need you to lead me out of here, we don’t have time for another power nap.”

Shadow took a moment to consider, and must have come to the conclusion that Sonic was right because eventually he leaned against Sonic’s chest, reaching his arms to wrap around his shoulders so he could scoop him out of the water in a bridal carry.

Shadow wasn’t actually all that heavy, and the sleep they’d gotten in the tunnel had worked wonders on Sonic’s broken ribs, but it was still incredibly painful carrying him. The frigid water had him shivering, making everything so much worse. He hissed in a breath, “Which way?”

Shadow guided him wordlessly, using his fingers on the side of Sonic’s head to tell him where to go. Each step had to be taken slow and careful; the stone floor under the water was slippery and uneven. One misstep and they’d both fall.

The water got shallower after some distance, covered with loose stones and sand that Sonic struggled to navigate around. It felt like something blasted through the wall here, and, remembering the rumbling from earlier, he knew it was Shadow’s doing.

The smell of fresh sea air was getting stronger, and honestly it’s what gave Sonic strength to keep going, past the awkward rubble and across another short pool of water.

Coming around a corner, Sonic realized that he could see faint traces of a dim glow illuminating the cave walls ahead.

He stumbled, and Shadow gripped him tighter out of reflex, causing a jolt of pain that almost caused Sonic to drop him completely before he could regain his balance. It was excruciating having to slow his pace when he was in sight of the finish line, but he had no choice, they were both exhausted.

As excited as he was to be able to see, Sonic held off on pointing it out until they were nearly there, afraid it might have been some sort of trick or illusion and not actually real. He didn’t think he could handle it if things weren’t as they seemed, not while he was at his limit.

The pale light was coming from a tiny opening, half buried with hard beach sand. It would be easy to dig through to the other side, but Sonic still set Shadow down and they both took a moment to rest.

Shadow was seeming less aware by the second. It was difficult to get his attention and he didn’t respond to any words. It looked like he had put the rest of everything he had into guiding Sonic this far, but it was going to be on Sonic to get them the rest of the way. That was fair, he guessed. They both got themselves into this mess, it made sense that they took turns getting out of it.

Eager to get to where the light was, Sonic gave up trying to rest and quickly started to burrow into the sand.

Shadow simply slept on, oblivious of their impending freedom.

Sand was easy to move, but sucked to dig through, even more so when he was hurt. It was quickly replaced with more sand, and he had to be careful where he moved it to so it wouldn’t fall right back into the hole, forcing him to start over.

But he made quick work of it anyway, squeezing his way through the opening to the other side, finally able to taste the fresh sea air.

He blinked sand from his eyelashes before he lifted his head to look around, wanting to take it all in as soon as possible.

But what he saw wasn’t what he expected, and it suddenly became difficult to breathe, not because of his injury, but because of the sudden rush of emotion.

His hopeful smile dropped from his face and his lip began to tremble slightly. He wasn’t prepared for this.

Quickly he turned away, back to the small opening, scrambling to get back inside, yelling frantically for Shadow to hurry and wake up.

“You’ve got to see this!”

—

It took a lot of work to get Shadow through the opening, he was incredibly reluctant to go through the narrow space, suggesting they go look for a different path. But Sonic managed to convince him it was worth it, and if he didn’t want to dig through himself then Sonic would pull him through from the other side so it would be over sooner. He agreed to that and let Sonic take his hand.

And it was worth the time convincing Shadow for his stunned reaction upon reaching the other side.

He’d never seen the black hedgehog in a state of wide-eyed wonder, and with his brow and jaw relaxed his face looked softer, kinder. Sonic noticed that Shadow forgot to let go of his hand.

Sonic really couldn’t blame him, and even he eventually had to turn his gaze from Shadow’s face back to what was in front of them.

The beach was bathed in brilliant silver light, sand sparkling in little flecks of colors Sonic had forgotten existed. The calm ocean waves reflected the moonlight, giving everything a sort of ethereal glow.

But it was the fragmented moon that drew his eye, rising slightly above the horizon, making it look huge in comparison to anything else in the sky. The debris ring that orbited the moon flickered like magic glitter. It was like it was shining just for them, welcoming them home.

Shadow squeezed his hand, getting his attention, “We need to go.”

Sonic returned the squeeze before gently lifting Shadow off of the sand. His fever didn’t feel so bad now, but it wouldn’t hurt to get it checked out at least. Shadow didn’t even pretend to protest being picked up.

Sonic started walking as soon as he was balanced, but only got a couple of steps before Shadow called his attention with a low hum, making eye contact as he looked down.

They didn’t have darkness as an excuse any more, just the feeling of a shared experience coming to a close, an adventure ending. Their worlds would go back to normal soon, and this would just become another memory left unspoken.

So really what was one more kiss? There was no need to think about it any further than that, and apparently Shadow didn’t need to think about it either because he didn’t hesitate to meet him halfway.

Their kiss carried closure. Acknowledgment of their experience before everything returned to as it was, rivals once more, another future challenge to overcome.

It felt like a bittersweet goodbye followed immediately by a warm welcome home.

It didn’t need to last more than a second, with no follow up, acting as though it never even happened. Neither of them was good enough with words to know what to say next anyway.

That was something they both needed to work on in the future. Perhaps, when they were a little better at it, they could try again with each other.

Shadow drifted back off to sleep, allowing Sonic to carry him along the beach while he scanned the silver tinted cliffs for a way back up. He needed to figure out where the heck they even were. Their friends were probably frantically searching for them.

He also hoped there would be somewhere open this late where he could get a chili dog. He was starving.