Chapter Text
“This is it, isn't it?”
Those words.. they were said with a tone Shadow has never heard from the azure hero before. It darkened the chatter of his friends in the distance, his vision floods with the bright blueness of the sky before he shifts it to something even more blinding: Sonic, looking down into a giant hole in a gigantic circular machine, the Death Egg. Despite this victory that will change all of their lives for the better, Sonic lingers in the moment as the wind blows through his quills, looking to be in a deeper level of thoughtfulness. Fresh wounds, blood glistening across his pelvis and legs where he was severely injured in the final effort. Shadow stays behind unlike the others who don't see this unusual behavior as… well unusual, but Shadow does. In all the time he's known this blue ball of speed never as it stopped moving.
He frowns trying to make sense of this, maybe it's his first time ending a life?
“It's the end of a long era.” Shadow tries to comfort, watching Sonic closely despite the irritation in his voice.
Then the azure turned to him and it was as if he had been looking into the sun itself. His own face twists in disgust at that too warm smile to mask the way his bodily functions ceased to work at the sight.
Sonic made to move past him, his atmosphere bubbly and bright as always, but the pat he left at Shadow's shoulder struggled to fit into that carefully crafted image, it was a cry for help and he felt it, even so he sat as still as a sculpture, feeling it the whole time while it slowly, invitingly slipped along his shoulder that is until it no longer did.
Maybe I should have followed him
Shadow groans as he uncovers his eyes and was immediately blinded by artificial yellow stained lights. “Fuck” he sighs, not even truly angry for the word to hold any meaning. He looks around his desk after coming to. The paperwork on the latest mobian trying desperately to fill the gaping hole of evil that was Dr Ivo Robotnik is what he finds. They barely even reached the title of ‘grocery nuisance’ but G.U.N these days are scrambling for crumbs. It's pathetic and the reason Shadow joined them in the first place no longer exists anymore yet he feels chained to this agency, forced into a state of limbo where he watches the world move on without him.
“Greedy leeches.” He snarls, with real emotion behind it this time. Only for it all to leave him when he throws himself back against his office chair strangled back into compliance. It's been actual years since Shadow has seen Sonic, and for some reason he’s feeling pressed for time. Life is moving on… leaving Shadow in its darker sides. Maybe it's because Sonic is on the light side, moving Mobius along.
Oxygen becomes a stranger to him at that moment, eyes quickly searching around the empty office room of team dark. He feels sluggish like his organs are too full, too heavy, to bear and the need to gag rushes for him and all of a sudden everything is too much, the room is too small, the temperature too hot, his skin too tight. Everything is so utterly wrong and it's killing him pretending it's not, he needs a breath of cold fresh air… briefly chemicals in his body fire off as the image of long sharp and blue quills fill his mind, the type of blue that you can only find in the world if you look up higher than the horizons.
Is he even still ali-
“Helloooo, Mobius to tall, brooding, and handsome!” A voice disturbingly close to Rouge's retches him from wherever the fuck he was just in. He looked down at her with a face of disbelief, he took a moment to process the last 30 minutes like ice had been dunked on him to wake him up. He hadn't even realized he was looking at the ceiling… feelings of deep grief fill him as he finds himself again.
Rouge leans in to place his coffee down right next to his older mouse, but she drags her hand over his as she sits up. He had requested dark coffee sometime into their routine working bullshit and had spiraled when he was left alone. Omega had left G.U.N around the time Ivo Robotnik had hit the bucket which was May 29 and everyone began to bloom from the pods the doctor was trying so desperately to keep closed. He turned to thank Rouge, both of their appearances had changed (Rouge had grown out her hair, not too much, but just enough to touch her shoulders and also style her bangs in a slice back manner, her fashion sense had also changed or adopted some new qualities - Shadow had just gotten fluffier, his chest fluff connecting to his crotch in a skinny line of white scruff, his shoulders slightly more covered now along with that he had gained more markings a darker red than his stripes on his forehead in the shape of a diamond at the end of his head stripe and the stripes on his legs grew up his legs and curled around his pelvis in the shape of his black arms insignia, most definitely from the re-connection to his black arms side of his heritage during the Time Eater event, it wasn’t anything to worry about).
“There are more opportunities in G.U.N than you realize you know.” She says in passing.
“And you know I'm not fit for things like that.”
She only nods with an analyzing purse to her lips before patting his head on her way back to her own desk. He returns to his work.
Day in and day out he repeats and repeats, like going through their system will set him free.
☆
Somewhere in a cottage at Mirage Island
June 23rd. A day filled with joy and laughter, a day to connect with the loved ones met along the way.. turned sour as they all gathered at her house to celebrate someone who isn't even present.
She worries her bottom lip with her teeth to try and centralize her racing mind. She is surrounded by people she considers family in her living room. They all look to her, for her opinion on the matter, the responsibilities of being the leader of the freedom fighters couldn't compare.
“I haven't been able to contact him.” She starts, looking around at all the familiar faces who carry her same emotions. “He's never been off the radar for so long.” She sighs with deep concern before looking to her hands held together for answers. “I thought he’d definitely be here to celebrate and enjoy some chilidogs, but maybe he’s just taking it differently..” She couldn't control how her voice wavers at the end. She feels like she was insensitive and she hates that she was so caught up to not notice Sonic wasn’t sharing the same feelings. Everyone can feel her self criticism at that moment. She takes deep breaths.
Tails is at her side in a flash, gently rubbing her back with hands that are so much larger than hers now, if only Sonic were here to see him. The thought makes her breath stumble even more.
“Amy, it's not your place, or anyone's for that matter, to keep tabs on Sonic, we all have things we are looking forward to now, trust me Sonic is probably fine!” Tails tries comforting her, but he too feels unease at the coincidence of the timing. “Sonic would want us to keep going, to grow into the mobians we've all been desperately trying to achieve, he must be doing the same, he'll come around..” He looks at Amy when she takes a deep breath like she's readying something to say.
“You're right… I just can't help but feel like something is different this time..” She whispers, tone weak. Knuckles, who had been flinching like he was being burned upon seeing Amy like this speaks up.
“Yeah, he'd kick our butts if he found out we were waiting on him anyway.” He tries to make light of the situation. Rouge who was seated next to him on the couch rests her head against his arm, looking on with concern.
Silver, who is here for himself and Blaze since she couldn't make it, nods along, head quills low set, his own expression solemn. Others join in, offering comfort to one another after losing such a friend's whereabouts.
☆
A week later Miles had found himself in Apotos, this was something he had been working for ever since he graduated early from university. He had scrounged up enough rings to buy another workshop, this one will be for business though. The fox wiped some sweat from his forehead, his gaze traveling up, having to tilt his head almost all the way back to take in the whole warehouse, just looking at it now had cold thrills shooting down his spine, he smiled big, his canines glinting in the hot Apotos sun.
Sonic would lose his shit!
“Sonic…” Tails takes a moment to really think about these past couple of years, his smile leaving him to be replaced by a frown, because, this situation… with his own brother just disappearing… the fox felt like something was up, he understood that Sonic was his own mobian, but wont stop him from worrying about his older brother. Tails shook his head, he'll stop by the library to help clear his mind later after he gets this place into shape. With that idea in mind the twin tailed fox debates a title for his new site while he strides into the building in question maybe something along the lines of ‘Miles Tech and Customs’
After what felt like hours if only for his extreme calculations and well… just waiting on certain things to arrive, the place of *’Miles’ tech’* - he settled for - has started to take a rough shape.
The place is still in desperate need of lights and a feather duster, but with the company van taking off, its employees with it, he sets his mind back onto this little expedition he has set upon himself. “Now, time to appreciate the streets of Apotos!” He says to himself with enthusiasm, quickly swinging open the large glass doors and letting in the light and the hustle bustle of the outside world.
He took to the sidewalks as he searched the street signs trying to navigate without his communicator. It was better that way, with all his time dealing with machines he had developed a pretty bad tech neck, he was still healing from it to this day. He chuckled to himself at the thought and pressed on past an elder who shot him a suspicious look at his sudden sound of amusement. Soon he spotted some signs with the name of the block, similar signs expressing the importance of other areas of the city. But finally he found what he was looking for, a historical library. He entered the large building quickly and instantly the rich smell of old books and illustrations slapped him in the face, the air pressure blowing his fur added effect as he scrunched his snout.
A sweet raven dress in a cozy green and tan sweater who was manning the front desk by himself waved at him, probably recognizing Miles. He waved back with a fond smile before letting his eyes guide him around the large space. He had been here a long time ago, back when a certain someone had shattered Mobius, guess the moon wasn't good enough for him. After that major event Apotos had taken to documenting Sonic's adventures and that's partially why he's here, to reminisce about the old days. With renewed determination Miles entered that section of the library first, it wasn't the hardest thing to find, in fact you'd have to be blind to miss it, it was a whole dedicated section just behind the front desk and to the left. When he stepped in front of the aisles he came face to face with a moral of Robotnik's defeat, it depicted everyone who had been there at the time of the battle all rising to greatness with Sonic in the middle and a decaying dark machine with bleak colors sinking to the bottom of the painting, it looked a little like a superhero comic - he thought as a entered the beginning days - but that is to be expected with how Ivo ruined countless lives on the daily. The team may have had times where they joked with him or even sided with him, but that doesn't excuse how he has tried to bring Mobius down and everyone on it just for his own inflated ego.
Miles eventually reaches the first few books and he wasted little time going through the ones that caught his attention, most of the books here were duplicates because many publishers send to this same place, they are never denied. He spends most of the day reading, it was easy to lose himself in the sauce when it was so quiet, it was strange to see how strangers described his brother's upbringing and early life, he also felt quite hurt when he learned Sonic had a younger brother and an older sister although there isn't nearly as much information on them, he wonders how they're doing and if they know where Sonic might be distantly. After hours of reading he comes up on the Chaos crisis and the book is 98% pictures 2% writing, all of it depicting Sonic as a kind of force of pure good all while worshiping his great feats and expressing curiosity towards the Azure blur’s creation, he frowns, noting the information down and carrying on. Most of the books here are dedicated to light and dark Gaia and how Sonic brought the deities to peace, effectively fixing the cycle of night and day itself, this one also speaks highly of Sonic describing him as the protector of Mobius, he mentally jots this down as well and continues on, feeling… slightly icky.
After Reading more books then his brain could keep track of and almost falling asleep in that one cozy section of the library he buys some language and history books with the oldest dates for later and heads for the exit in a hurry after giving an excitable kid a fist bump and waving goodbye to the raven at the front, too caught up to ask for his name.
Once he's back at ‘Miles Tech’ he quickly calls Amy on his communicator.
“Hello?” A tentative voice answers almost immediately, from what Miles can make out she sounds busy.
“Sorry, Amy, bad time?” He asks with an apologetic tone, wearing a sheepish smile despite the fact she couldn't see it and clutches the bag he's carrying the books in closely.
“Oh, no no, you're okay, I just came home, did you need something? How's your big opening day going?” She tries to lace her voice with enthusiasm near the end of her question, but it just shows how tired she probably is, his heart clenches at that.
“It's going great! Everything is just as I hoped it to be! But I called because I just… wanted to share some thoughts..” he hesitated, he might sound either completely crazy or extremely insensitive, Miles just hopes it's not the latter, his circle eyebrows furrow as he glances down to gather all the knowledge he collected. Amy hums to indicate he has her full attention. “I was at the library today and I found some books on Sonic and well a lot of them acted like he was a natural remedy of evil for Mubius.” He held off, just to let Amy process what he just said because now that he’s saying it out loud it sounds kinda silly.
She didn't respond for a hot minute, most likely thinking, “Like it was his fate?” She smiles fondly “Oh Sonic… he's always fussing about how he was just who he was, but I do get it.”
“I thought that too! But the more I read the more I started to look deeper into it, when I met Sonic, it was like a light was flipped, like, like a chain reaction! Suddenly I just felt this need to do, to move, to exist outside of where others put me.” He rambled, feeling his chest lighten but also squeeze at the memories.
“Yeah, I felt that way too.” She sounded like she was smiling and maybe looking off into the nothingness like he currently was. “I realized life was more than tall city buildings and one upping the other pretty girls.” She chuckled softly.
“I think Sonic is just fine - he abruptly states, pumping his fist like his claim was absolute - , he might just be traveling, like how he was when we all met him for the first time…” he trailed off as he thought out some of the potholes in his statement.
“I hope so, but that doesn't really explain why we can't contact him… maybe his communicator got damaged?”
“Possibly! If so, maybe we can ask someone who travels if they can try and find him? Just so we know he's safe.” He hesitated with a worried mumble before scuffing up his fur just to fix it again. “Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself…”
“Yeah, we all know well enough that Sonic can take care of himself… but that doesn't mean we just forget about him. Who knows, with how Sonic is, he probably is getting up to something.”
“Yeah… Yeah! Maybe we're just overreacting? After all, this is a big shift in our lives, Sonic must be feeling it too!” He punches his paw and Amy giggles at the sound as it travels over the line. After a drawn out pause Amy hums deeply, the sound sends comfy chills down Miles’ spine and into his two tails making them fluff up and wag slowly. “Gosh, I got so swept up in Sonic again… sometimes I feel like I'm back at square one… just a little kit again.” He frowns at the thought feeling slightly suffocated but shakes it off. “How is leading the Freedom Fighters going for you?” He asks quietly.
“Only about as good as it can be these days, all we do now is have pep talks with robbers and occasionally run a corrupt company out of business.”
He shook his head and mustered up some positive energy for his dear friend. “It's the little things that make a difference, oppression is still oppression no matter how small, it has huge waves on people just trying to live their lives.” He silently wished he could pat Amy's back. “Without the Freedom Fighters they wouldn't even be able to do that.” Amy snickered and he could feel that she wanted to punch his shoulder.
“You're growing up, Tails, I know the world is waiting to see your glow.” Her tone is tender and her words heavy, making him inhale sharply as they take effect, he squeezes his chest, but lets a shaky chuckle pass.
“We should hang out sometime.” He says openly, his answer a content chuckle and a hum of agreement.
He sighed and allowed himself to absorb the presence of that extinguished call, standing up from the table he had seated himself on some time into their call and made his way out the building, making sure to lock up before hopping in the tornado and setting a course for Mystic Ruins to add some new books to his collection.
☆
That was 19 years ago
Everything was black except for the speckles of light painting the inky void. It was cold and he could tell despite not being affected by the space around him at all.
He felt encouraged to look to his right, where he could feel a magnetic presence next to him, he didn't fight the urge when bright burning gold spilled into his vision making his eyes sting but he couldn't- no, wouldn't look away. Red connected with red except his red was some other shade than his, one he's never seen before, one the hybrid was sure didn't exist outside of him, it was the color and embodiment of determination it was so bold it spread to him without resistance, linking them together in a way he knows can never be severed.
The pure and raw energy of the Chaos emeralds surged through his being mixing with his own more quiet chaos; it filled him with satisfaction like never before, almost like this was what he was made for, what he was made to do, and he knew it, it was true.
“I'm a star” a gleeful all too familiar voice stated, out into the nothingness of the starving ink before them, arms spread wide like he was reaching out to embrace it, this monstrous thing that was so cold, it could kill. Shadow could only stare, frozen in astonishment. The way he moved, the way his mouth opened wide in a courageous grin, he- Sonic, Sonic was beautiful, the word felt too light to use as a descriptor, but then again, how is one supposed to label a living breathing thing? Shadow felt his lungs run dry as they struggled to function, all his bodily efforts going toward processing the being in front of him.
Sonic was a star and his name was the only thing that could describe all that he is.
The hybrid forced his body to move, pushing for the burning embodiment of chaos in front of him needing to feel with his hands and teeth, taste with his tongue, smell with his nose.
“Sonic” he gasped almost painfully, his ruby eyes blown wide even as they burned and wept and begged for mercy, he reached for this untouchable unfathomable enigma:
SONIC
Shadow jolted awake and threw himself off the front of the bed with the force of his shock, like a very very well spooked cat, he looked around his gray room frantically before finally processing the loud ringing that had woken him up in the first place. “Shoot!” He snarls as he quickly scrambles for his communicator on his humble desk all the while rubbing his bruising snout. It's… Rose?
Just as he was about to accept the call it sent him to voice mail, he stares blankly at the now dark screen before, in a fit of frustration throws his free paw up in the air and almost disconnects his wrist in the process with the force his inhibitor ring slams against it due to the damn thing not being snugly fitted to his gloves, - that he isn't wearing - , hunching over his desk on the floor and unsuccessfully trying to rub out the growing headache he calls her back. “What is it?” He grumbles darkly, sounding like he had recently eaten rocks and feeling as though he was trampled by a freight train.
“Oh forgive me, you weren't responding to my texts so I thought I'd give you a call…”
“What poor planning - he rolled his eyes and gestured before returning to rubbing out the headache - , did you stop to consider I could have been on a mission?” The pink hedgehog mumbles in some kind of embarrassment on the other side of the line.
“I'm sorry, I'm just really antsy right now.” She chuckles breathlessly, he imagined she'd be rubbing the back of her paw against her sweaty forehead with a bashful expression.
“What for?” He questions cautiously, the fur on his back standing to attention subtly as he waits for her response.
“Well, I saw this new open art studio and thought you'd enjoy it too, Art is a good way to express oneself after all, oh um, it can just be a us day, I won't bring anyone else along.” She added the last part to hopefully sweeten the offer. “And if it's okay with you, would you like to join the next vacation I plan?.” He felt somewhat warm at Amy's mindfulness, they had become quite close after the other hangout sessions she planned. He only released a grunt which Amy seemed to misread. “Oh uhm, you don't have to if you don't want to.” She chuckles again but with a reserved tone this time around.
Shadow shook his head, feeling as though he needed to clear up the misunderstanding. He stood to his bare paws and hummed quietly. Maybe he could use this as a chance to relieve some stress, the pink hedgehog seems to have that effect on him. He needed to break the monotony of his current life anyway and it was almost criminal how G.U.N had him locked in like some kind of lifeless tool of work, that's not who he was anymore...
On the other side of the line Amy crossed her paw beans, all of them, and even squeezed her eyes shut just in case, she understood that this was a big ask for someone as closed off and busy as Shadow, but she really wanted to hang out with him again, his (unintentional) humor always brightened her day right up.
“I see, then I accept this request.”
“Huh?!”
“I'll do it.” He answers simply, as he wanders over to his old computer, ready to check for an opening in his schedule.
“Really!?” There is a pause on the other end before a quiet but stern hum of agreement comes in.
Squeals of pure triumph and aspiration alike fill the line and Shadow isn't ashamed to say it was infecting him, her easy satisfaction was endearing. His pointed ears lowered slightly as the sounds of this familiar hedgehog - who he hasn't heard in any kind of joy in awhile - doses him in a sense of ease.
“Well what's a good time for you?”