Sonic X Fan Fiction ❯ Matter of Trust ❯ Sleep Talking ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

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Chapter 3 — Sleep Talking

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Ok chap 3 up, enjoy my faithful peeps!
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When Shadow reopened his eyes, it was an afternoon on a non-specified day; he took his left hand out of under the warm blanket and slowly rubbed his eyes.

"Hah! Sleeping beauty awakens!" Sonic closed the door behind him with his foot, arms somewhat full of light brown bags. "We weren't sure when you'd come around. Tails said we should let you sleep though." He set the bags down on the table and returned to the door, locking it. "Speaking of which, hey Tails!!! Back!!"

"Did you get it?" The voice of the vulpine sounded tired, but excited.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Though I don't get the attraction with you and this stuff..." He dug through the bags and the excited kit came rushing into the living room, overjoyed it seemed.

"Are you joking?! It's state of the art!" With an eye-roll, Sonic handed over a cardboard box with 'fragile' stamped on its side. The foxling snatched it in a second and with a short, "Thanks!" had disappeared back into his workshop.

"Crazy kid..." Sonic muttered after him.

Shadow weakly sat up feeling depleted of energies, "How long was I out?" He asked noticing that his voice was, even if still a whisper, better and there was no urge to cough at all.

"Two days or so, it was like someone turned you off or something..." He was rummaging through the bags again. "Tails said that you're not well enough for the super solid foods, but I decided to buy a few more soup brands so you can at least have some of a choice on what to eat..." After a few minutes struggle, he yanked out his prize.

"Darn clerks, always sticking everything you want right away at the bottom of the bag..."

The black hedgehog took the blanket away from him and noticed that his shoes and gloves were gone, "Is Tails a doctor?" He asked trying to get the bandages away from his left arm. They were kind of itchy.

Sonic noticed the tugging and reached over, peeling away the tape holding the bandage in place. "Sorry these were the only kind left... and no, Tails isn't. But he's a lot closer than I am. The kid's one of the few reasons both my legs are still attached... him and Knuckles, but Knux is a pain."

He continued unraveling the gauze until it was loose enough for Shadow to pull off by himself. "And don't scratch, your wounds finally healed over. Lil bro'll throw a fit if you start bleeding again. He's already amazed you're not dead."

Shadow nodded and freed his right arm from the bandage, noticing that the cuts were already covered by a thick crust, like his burnings; another few days and he would be able to move without worrying about opening them.

"He seems to know stuff that normal people don't... it is his hobby?"

"Hobby?" Sonic snorted, setting out the last few soup cans. "Try his life." He began checking the labels. "If you're hungry, we've got... cream of mushroom, yucky stuff, beef and vegetables, chicken and rice, more chicken noodle, cause the canned stuff is thicker and much better, and.... veggie."

Shadow laid down once again, "Everything will do for me, but what you mean by 'try his life'?"

"It's his life. He lives for the whole... learning thing... everything? How do I manage that?" Sonic blinked. "Unless I mixed it all together..." He pondered that, but cringed. "Ugh, mushrooms and beef! Blagh!" The imagined taste made him feel like gagging.

The black hedgehog closed his eyes and placed his right arm over his eyes to block the excessive light, "Everything as in ‘any of them will be ok’, just pick one. I never ate soups, so I don't know what I like."

Sonic's ears were pressed against his head in seconds. "You've... NEVER had soup before the other night? ... As in Never NEVER...?" He was astonished, and horrified. "What about chilidogs?! Don't tell me you've never had those!"

"Never. And never heard of them..." He whispered back.

"You can't be SERIOUS!!!" Sonic gaped, his brain unable to cope with 'never' and 'chilidogs' in the same sentence. Chilidogs were practically the gods of all food, how could you not have experienced their majestic wonders?! "This is an OUTRAGE! It's... it's a crime against the very laws the worlds revolves on!! It's not POSSIBLE!"

"What's not possible is the fact that I was all the way in my workshop when I suddenly became deaf..." Bright aquamarine eyes blinking, and large yellow ears twitching, the foxling stood a few feet away, not the happiest of looks on his faces. "What's all the shouting for?"

"He's never had CHILIDOGS!" Sonic accused, pointing at Shadow, his distaste clear. The fox blinked, then sighed.

"Wrong thing to say..." He directed at the dark hedgehog, while the sapphire hero continued his ranting.

Shadow was looking at him with a cold glare from under his arm, "It is not my fault if those bastards..." He said 'bastard' with such venom that if transformed into poison, it would have been far worse than the poison of a cobra, "... never let me eat nothing but that tasteless paste."

Since Sonic was off ranting in the kitchen, making soup for their guest, Tails was the only one who actually heard the comment. He touched the elder male's shoulder. "Hey it's not like you committed a horrible blasphemy... well in Sonic's eyes you did... but it's nothing really." He smiled absently.

"Chilidogs are… Sonic's favorite food. Actually, favorite doesn't describe it. He's obsessed and addicted to them. Can't go a day without one, even if I have to grind it up and let him eat it through a straw..." He rolled his eyes in an imitation of his older friend and housemate. "He practically dedicates his life to worshiping them."

The black hedgehog waved a hand to him, "No, it's my fault. That's all, I should have never snapped to the one that saved my life risking his."

"You sound like Knuckles." Tails commented, a smile still present. "Don't worry about it, we save people all the time, and lots of em just skidaddle without so much as a thank you. But, I'd watch out if I were you, cause now that Sonic knows you're handicapped in the ways of foods, the second you're better he won't let you leave until he's satisfied that you've tasted everything there is."

"Gah! Tails, the stove is against me again!" The kit sighed, the grin growing larger.

"Excuse me please, duty calls..." He patted the black hedgehog on the shoulder and straightened, hurrying into the kitchen which his twin tails swaying behind him. "What'd you do this time?"

The black hedgehog peeked out from under his arm, then sighing he sat back up, listening to what was happening in the kitchen.

"I did nothing! This was appliance’s fault!" Sonic defended himself. The kitling's voice was scolding.

"It looks to ME like you spilled water on the burner..."

"I did not! It's trying to kill me!"

"Sonic... go sit down, I'll cook..." In a huff, the hero trotted into the living room. After a few steps however, he glanced back and grinned. With silent 'yes!' and a little dance, Sonic made his way over to the couch and plopped down beside Shadow, the smile triumphant.

However, the black hedgehog wasn't smiling, after what happened just a few minutes ago made him remember his past and how horrible it was; he was so immersed into his thoughts that he didn't even felt Sonic sit down next to him.

Sonic titled his head slightly, trying to examine the full of Shadow's countenance. He didn't like the grimace his newly healed acquaintance was wearing. Made him think too much of Knuckles, and Knuckles was annoying to think about. Putting a hand on the farther shoulder, Sonic gently shook the streaked hedgehog.

"Hey, what's on your mind? You look like Tails said you needed more cough syrup."

The black one sighed, but not deeply enough to get a coughing fit, and laid on the back of the couch, "Nothing." He said cutting it short.

Sonic didn't fall for it for a second. "Liar." He was experienced in getting people to talk, and he planned on using said talent to make Shadow do so. "Spill."

"It's... none of your business..." He whispered in regret in his barely audible voice.

"I'm nosy." Sonic said with a shrug. "Besides, Robotnik's involved somewhere in there, so everything about you is technically no longer classified and now an open book. Start reading."

"I consider my past classified, and I don't know much about Robotnik's plans..."

He answered closing his eyes and praying to be left alone in his own little world of emotional pain and hate.

"You know, if you don't share willingly, I can always have Tails scan your brain or something. With a techno-genius on my side, I can succeed at a lot you normally wouldn't expect." The fox's voice drifted from the kitchen.

"Am I being mentioned out there?"

"No..." Sonic called back.

Shadow opened his eyes a little and glanced at the blue hedgehog, "Why do you want to know it so much?"

"As stated before, I'm nosy. Plus, Robotnik is one of my life's few problems, and the more I know about you, the better chance I can figure out Robotnik's...'new' plan for world domination. They're basically all the same, but you can never be too careful." Sonic leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees.

"Besides, we know each other now, and I can't make you feel better unless I know what's making you feel lousy, now can I?"

"You won't help me much... and if I tell you my past, you will probably be killed by the same people that came here looking for me. I do not want to be held responsible for more innocent’s deaths..."

"Listen Shadow, I'm well known for my tendency to accomplish the impossible, and I'm extremely hard to kill." He was nodding to himself, but to Shadow as well. "Eggman can attest to that, he's tried enough times."

Shadow snapped to attention a little, remembering a few sentences that the Doctor himself had said under his breath.

"So, you're that 'pesky little hedgehog' that he was referring to? If it is so, then some things are explained."

"... he called me 'pesky'?" Sonic blinked, processing that. "It's nice to know I'm doing my job... but... pesky?" A soft snort of laughter.

The black hedgehog, not knowing exactly what was going on between the two, just shrugged and thanked him for changing the topic of the discussion.

Sonic opened his mouth to say more, but before he could get out so much as a syllable, Tails' voice rang from in the kitchen.

"Food's done guys..." The yellow furred head peered out at them. "Are you two hungry?"

Shadow silently stood up, his body still weak, but enough strong to manage to wobble into the kitchen; with a little hidden yawn he sat on the same chair of two days ago, waiting for his meal and pondering what it was and how it would taste. Surely better than that tasteless obscenity the used to gave him.

Tails already had his bowl ready, filled with a thick, cream brown substance, rather than the golden brown from the chicken noodle soup. "I made you the beef and vegetables, since it's usually the favorite of just about every patient Sonic brings here..."

Sonic was already helping himself to a chilidog, and sat down opposite Shadow, but before digging in looked toward Tails, "Aren't you eating?" The kit waved it off.

"I've got work to do, and I already ate."

"Five hours ago."

"I'm fine Sonic, and the Tornado needs repairing besides..." The foxling was edging away from the table, toward the door to the workshop. Sonic was halfway out of his chair in a flash, and held the vulpine by the ear. "Ah!!"

"You're taking food down there and that's final. I'll check in an hour, and it had better be in your stomach by then."

The black creature stared a little perplexed by the behavior of the two, but quickly shrugged it off and went back to the bowl of soup that the fox had placed in front of him.

Again, the smell was wonderful.

He took a spoonful of the food and placed it in his mouth, and he drooled as the rich taste of the soup hit his tongue. His mind took a little time to ask why they denied him of such wonder in favor of a tasteless mass of who-knows-what containing only the essential proteins and all that a body needed to be healthy.

Sonic suspiciously watched his younger friend carry food into his workshop with a defeated sigh. For all Tails' maturity, the kit had a tendency to forgo meals in favor of working longer hours. When he turned back around, he almost fell out of his seat at the sight of Shadow practically melting over his food.

"Someone’s enjoying himself..." He grinned, taking a bite of his own messy meal. After swallowing, he continued. "Was the food you ate before that bad?"

Shadow gulped down the mouthful of soup, "They never told me its name, just to eat it. The first times I had a hard time to eat it, but as time went on, and since it was the only thing available for me, I got used to it." He answered not looking up from the bowl.

Sonic grimaced. "Ugh... sounds nasty. Bet it was worse than Therma-flu, and that stuff is just gross!" He shuddered and finished off the chilidog, pondering over his empty plate if he wanted another or not. "So who's they exactly? The people who were at the door?"

The black hedgehog pondered for a few moments if he should tell him or not; then he remembered that he owed him big time and decided to tell him whatever that didn't was too nearby his past.

"A special force called GUN."

"Gun?" Sonic stood and went to get another chilidog or three. "Kinda unoriginal, isn't it? Naming yourself after your choice weapon... ooo we have chili-peppers!" He returned with a sloppy stack of chillin buns and three of the red hot treats. "Tails may not chow down often, but he knows how eat."

"Gun as in Guardian Units of Nations. Have never heard of it?"

"Nope, can't say I have." Sonic answered, putting a pepper onto his chosen next meal. As he bit into it, a gasp escaped his mouth and he quickly chewed and swallowed. "Agh, hot!"

The black hedgehog raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to continue his talk.

"They are an organization that on the outside is under direct orders of the president, but in reality the heads of GUN think themselves to be over every law and the government itself."

"Only people from the military chosen by its general can access this special corp, and sometimes they are ordered to not care about civilians, or worse... kill them to cover up things not meant to be done or not meant to exist."

Sonic finished off the food in silence. Then, gazing at his clear plate, "Then... how do you know about it?" He tilted his head to the side at looked Shadow over. "I mean sure you've got the devil thing going somewhat with the looks, no offense..." He propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand.

"But you didn't help old Eggy out, so you can't be for world domination. And you don't look like much for a military goon, so I'd rule that out... you're not carrying a bomb or some sort of evil parasitic weapon, are you?" He raised an eyebrow.

Shadow sighed and took the time to finish his soup; when he was done he sighed again, but never looked up from the bowl, "Because... I was there when they did that... and they did that because of me." He whispered in regret.

"That? Another codey thing? What's it stand for?" Sonic asked, still examining his empty plate as though he expected it to just grow food for him.

The dark hedgehog just remained in silence, hoping that the other creature would leave it to be. It pained him to remember it all. A pain that he couldn't soothe in any way.

"Hey... Shadow...?" Sonic's brow furrowed, as he gazed at the expression the other wore. "... oh. It's that bad, huh?" He stood up, slowly, and crossed around the table.

The black one slowly raised his head and looked at Sonic, eyes filled with long repressed pain.

Sonic put both hands on Shadow's shoulders, fighting a wince at the agony he could tell the black hedgehog was in. "What'd they DO to you?"

The ebony creature looked away, "Like I said before, it's none of your business. Leave it be."

"I'm a hero, Shadow. It's practically my religion. I can't help you if I have no idea what's going on..." He frowned. "I mean, I hate seeing you like this..."

"Even heroes wont be able do undo what happened in the past."

Damn, why was he pressing into this matter? Couldn't he just let it alone?

"Maybe I can't... but I can try to give you a better future... right?" Sonic sighed. "Look, I know you really don't want to talk about this... and for now, I'll respect that, okay?" He took one hand off Shadow's shoulder and let it fall to his side. "I don't like it, but you are still healing mostly. I have a feeling I'll find out what you're so torn up about sooner or later..."

The black hedgehog nodded, grateful that the other had stopped asking for the near future, then he stood up and wobbled into the living room to reach the couch. However, during the short travel, he found himself starting to see spots all around; he was still to weak to walk around, and if he didn't reached the couch in time, he would be falling unconscious on the ground.

Sonic didn't wait for him to fall, his hands were there to steady and support seconds after he saw Shadow beginning to sway. With a gentle push here and there, he guided the hedgehog back to the couch and sat him down.

The moment Shadow was sitting, he felt better, but whatever energy was in his body at that point had vanished. Yet, he was not sleepy.

"You okay?" Sonic took his hands away from the tired hedgehog, blinking in question. "You look dead on your feet."

"Just... very tired... that's all." He answered back in his whispered tone.

"You sound it..." Sonic murmured, grabbing the disregarded blanket from the couch and offering it to the tired looking Shadow. "You look it too. Chances are you'll need a bit more sleep before feeling back up to strength, however strong you normally are."

Shadow nodded, "Maybe you're right. I'll lay down a little longer." He answered laying down on the couch on his back and placing an arm over his eyes; seconds later, he was already asleep.

"He's worse than Tails..." Sonic mumbled, shaking his head, affectionately recalling the numerous times Tails had fallen asleep over his projects and Sonic had been forced to move him to his cot.

"Which reminds me... hafta check and make sure he ate the food he took down..."

-*-

In the workshop, the fox was busy working on a blueprint, but at the same time, he was eating the almost cold food. His ears perked up as he heard someone walk down the stairs.

"I notice you're not finished with it..." Sonic reached over the fox's shoulder and stole a bean for the chilidog. "And it seems to be cold..." He gave the kit a reproachful look.

The fox smiled and scratched his head, "Sorry Sonic, been busy with this new blueprint." He said motioning the sheet of paper on the desk.

"So, how is our guest doing?"

"Blue print shmu-print, I refuse to let you starve yourself." He moved the papers out of the way and set the food directly in front of him. "And Shadow's asleep. Now eat, before you drop from malnutrition."

Tails sighed and took the spoon, "Ok, ok. I was going to eat anyway." He muttered starting to eat.

"So, Shadow is already asleep? I was wondering when he would collapse from exhaustion again. He's a wonder. I never saw someone manage to stand up on his own so early when two days before he was almost dying of blood loss and all..."

"Besides me? And Knuckles? Hell, Knuckles was sparring with me last time, remember? He was practically buried under all that rubble and his legs were gone. I almost LOST." Sonic held his head in shame.

Tails sighed, remembering well that episodes, "Well, I was talking about his healing rate. He is healing faster than anyone I've ever seen. Faster than you and Knuckles, which if I remember correctly, are both fast healers." He explained.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, "Faster than me? Well, that sucks. I mean it's good for him but... yeah. Maybe it has something to do with the whole mysterious past thing... which reminds me. You ever heard of something called GUN?"

Tails raised an eyebrow, "You mean the Guardian Units of Nations? Yes, they are a military faction that is directly under the president's orders. They won’t move without a word from him."

"According to Shadow, they're the people who're after him. And they don't follow the President. Some sort of evil conspiracy bit, or something 'long those lines." The hero shrugged. "And then old 'Botty in the Coocoo is after him too..." Sonic did a loop on the side of his head to indicate just how crazy he believed Robotnik to be.

The fox stopped eating the remains of the soup and looked at Sonic, "Are you serious? GUN is know for being highly dependent on the president's words."

"Then either Shadow's a crazed convict out for 'Botnick, which I sincerely doubt, or he's right and they're uncover lunatics." Another shrug. "Either way, it's crazy. Oh, and did you ever look up the 'nameless, shapeless, ancient evil-thing' that Shadow said was after him?"

Tails sighed deeply, "Yes, but I found little to nothing regarding it. It seems to be something like Chaos, but instead of controlling water, it appears to be able to control fire. I don't know how though. That..." He trailed off, searching for other informations he could have stored in his mind, but found nothing. "... is the only thing I found."

"So, we've got another Chaos? Ugh, of all the things... why doesn't Eggman just learn the past and give up... ah well." Sonic tugged on his own ear for a minute or two, thinking. "Whatever this thing is, Shadow did say there's an incantation for it... think you'll be able to find it? More than likely the good Doctor pilched it from a museum somewhere..."

Tails shrugged and took the bowl with the now cold soup back in his hands, "I can try, but I assure you nothing. It was already hard to find that little information on his creature..." He said before he started finishing his food once and for all.

Sonic took hold of the plates. "One of these days, I'm going to drag you out of this place and force you to start exercising more. You work too much, lil bro." He ruffled the foxling's hair.

"Awww..." Tails moaned, "You know me, Sonic. I love tinkering with machines."

"I know, I just think sometimes you prefer the machines to me. Ah, my greatest foe. I'm losing my best pal here!" Sonic grinned, and turned to go. "I'm going to go check on the patient. Something tells me he's probably chewing on my blanket."

"What makes you think so?" Was the quick answer/question coming from the fox.

Sonic's smile turned sheepish. "The fact that he eats, looks, and sleeps a lot like me, and if I know anything at all about myself, I'D be chewing on the blanket by now. Or at least talking in my sleep."

Tails dropped his ears and shook his head, then went back working on his blueprints.

-*-

Like Sonic had guessed, Shadow was now having a nightmare, and if he had the energy, he would be trashing around a lot. However, he could only twitching and morphing his face in a mask of pain, fear and rage.

Sonic almost dropped the dishes he was carrying when he saw Shadow, not expecting the other hedgehog to look like his death was bearing him into a corner. Rushing to the dark hedgehog's side, he shook him as gently as possible, just rough enough to try and rouse him before he fell off the couch and hurt himself.

"Shadow, wake up! It's a dream!!"

Shadow was too much in his dream to feel the shaking; he arched his back and let out a quiet cry of despair, then went still once again, but his eyes were slowly releasing tears of emotional pain.

Sonic drew back slowly, trying to figure out what to do. Tails didn't usually have nightmares, when the foxling slept, he was usually dead to the world, and Knuckles... well, he'd never even SEEN the Echidna actually sleep, for that ruled him out.

A thought jumped into his mind.

'Usually calms Tails down...' He reached out and gently rubbed Shadow's closest ear, pinning the hedgehog's shoulder to the couch so he wasn't squirming anymore.

"Shadow, can you hear me? Wake up, okay?"

The black hedgehog's ears twitched around; he didn't wake up, but he appeared to have stopped crying. He mumbled out something, but it was far too feeble and garbled to understand.

Moving his head to the side, he slightly leaned into the rubbing.

Sonic decided to settle for what he could get. A somewhat solemn smile crept its way onto his muzzle as he continued the ear rub, letting his fingers trail down a little ways to scratch the fur behind the ear.

It seemed that the black hedgehog was really enjoying the attention as it made him shift from nightmare state to a more peaceful slumber.

Sonic sunk down beside the couch, alternating between ears. The black hedgehog finally seemed more relaxed, but Sonic wanted to be sure before he stopped. Plus, the peaceful expression Shadow wore was… entertaining in a way...

Shadow sighed a little and mumbled out something incoherent; he seemed to be in a status where he could partially interact with Sonic, even if he was asleep.

Sonic paused in his ministrations, wondering what that last slew of words might have meant. Translating Shadow's mumbles was technically a dead end career, but it gave him something to do...

As he sensed that the stroking had stopped, the black creature mumbled out a protest accompanied by a frown on his face.

"Alright, alright…" Sonic smirked, returning to the previously halted tasked of scratching Shadow's ears. "But you owe me for this. If Knuckles even saw me, I'd be a laughing-stock."

Mumbling out something, Shadow seemed to ask him something.

"What was that?" Sonic leaned closer, ears perked in an attempt to hear better, switching between the ears again. "Come again, didn't quite catch..."

The black hedgehog, shifting around a little and letting his head fall sideways to face towards Sonic, mumbled out once again, asking him what he should owe him.

Sonic was startled, to say in the least. "You really owe me nothing, it's just a way of saying... well, I don't... really know what it says. Just a saying I guess..." He shrugged, and in doing so, removed his hand from the other's ear for a moment.

Shadow mumbled out an understanding, then shifted on his side and curled up under the blanket, unaware that the movement could open his wounds once again.

Sonic, however, was well aware, and gently uncurled the hedgehog. "You can't do that, Shadow. Sorry, but comfortable as in might be, we don't want you bleeding again..."

The black one mumbled out another protest and tried to stay curled up as best as he could.

"Shadow..." Sonic scolded, reaching up to scratch his ear again. "It's for your own good. You've been doing really well so far, and if you open your injuries, you'll hafta start all over. Which means sucking nothing but soup and falling down every time you stand."

Shadow curled a little more and started releasing tears of fear, "But they will come to get me..." He whined out so softly that it was almost impossible to hear.

"Shh... shh..." Sonic's free hand drifted down on the other's shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "Don't worry, we won't let anything happen. We kept them away before, didn't we? Shh..." He left the ear be and wiped the tears away, "Please stop crying, it's alright..."

"They wont stop..." He whispered releasing more tears; since he was asleep, he wasn't conscious to the fact that he was talking with the blue hedgehog. With his mind, he had gone back in time, back in his past, and maybe he believed to be talking with someone else he knew.

"Neither will we. We won't let anything happen, Shadow." Sonic tried to smile, though he knew the sleeping furry couldn't see. "Promise. They'll never get past us. We've taken down water monsters, robots, and the works. Nothing they can throw at us that we can't beat."

"They won’t stop... never... they want me back..."

Talk about talking when asleep; this was pure and simple conversation...

"They'll have to deal with the fact that we're not letting them take you then." Sonic titled his head slightly, trying to think of more to say. "I've told you before I'm hard to beat, Shadow. I doubt they can do anything I can't top."

Shadow relaxed more, but still couldn't stop his tears, "I don't want... to be... sealed away again..." He whispered.

"You won't be." He eased a little closer, still unsure of how to reassure the dark hedgehog. "It's my job to make sure that people like you never have to suffer. You know, as a hero and all..."

His ears disappeared into his quills and he sighed. "I'm just... sorry I didn't know about this sooner…I could've helped you before now… but whatever they did to you... I’ll make sure it never happens again, okay? Please… just don't cry… I hate that..."

Shadow went dead silent, accepting the fact that his interlocutor would do everything in its power to help him, yet, he couldn't stop those tears; it was like they were automatic, literally out of his control.

"Shh..." Sonic drew the hedgehog closer and, sitting on the couch's edge, getting move Shadow's head so he was leaning against him, proceeding to continue the ears scratching. "It's okay... everything's okay..."

The black hedgehog unconsciously slightly burrowed his head into Sonic and mumbled out something self-loathing about an incident.

"Don't think about it... whatever happened, I'm sure it wasn't your fault... just sleep, okay? The more rest you get... the better off you'll be later..." Sonic ran a hand through the other hedgehog's quills, finger-combing them gently. 'Note to self, never become a therapist...'

There were some seconds of silence before Shadow hid his face on the other hedgehog's chest, "You weren't there fifty years ago..."

That came out so muffled that to an untrained ear it would be just an incoherent mumble.

Sonic seemed to wilt. "Fifty... years?" Shadow couldn't be fifty years old. Sure, the speed issue seemed a little out-there, but being over fifty years, and still looking like a teen? Where'd he get the youth cream, cause Sonic was sure they didn't sell it in K-Mart.

"What happened, Shadow... fifty years ago...?"

"Ark... Incident..."

These were the last words before the dark creature closed his mind once again, thus falling into a deep dreamless state.

Before hearing that part about Shadow's past, Sonic would've been overjoyed that the hedgehog was finally sleeping peacefully. But now, running his fingers through the dark hedgehog's upturned quills, more questions about him coursed through his subconscious.

He almost got to his feet to ask Tails to search for info on the Ark Incident Shadow spoke of, but restrained himself. If Shadow broke out into another fit... well, Sonic wanted to be there to help. Since he wasn't there before...

As if he had heard his thoughts, Tails surfaced from his workshop to look for something in his room; when he was in the living room, the kit raised an eyebrow at the blue hedgehog in confusion.

Sonic was still looking downward at the sleeping hedgehog, and so didn't notice Tails, concentrating too hard on the questions in his mind, and continually playing in his charge's 'hair.'

The fox walked behind the blue hedgehog and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Sonic, what's up?" He asked concerned.

"Gah!!" The hero gave an immediate start. "Oh... it just you Tails... sorry bout that... wasn't paying attention..." He smiled sheepishly, forcing his hand to stop finger-combing.

Tails sighed, feeling somewhat relieved that Sonic was being his usual; but his curiosity was killing him. He had never seen the blue hedgehog so deep in thought.

"Sonic? Why were you so deep in thought?"

"He was having a nightmare Tails..." Sonic looked down at the slumbering furry. "He was talking in his sleep... he kept talking about how scared he was that he'd have to go back to those people who were after him..."

"He was... going on about something that happened fifty YEARS ago... but like it was only yesterday... I mean..." He flicked at one of Shadow's stray quills. "... he was CRYING, lil bro..." Sure enough, the smeared tears streaks were still visible on the dark tan muzzle.

Tails had to do a double take, "Wait. Did you say fifty years ago as in five decades, or half a century ago?" He asked trying to understand if he had heard correctly or wrong.

"Fifty years, yeah. Sounds crazy, I know. He sounded so scared Tails..." Sonic was still trying to get over it. "He was talking about an incident. 'Ark Incident.' Rings any bells? You're the researcher here..."

The fox subsided his shock and started searching his brain for something regarding this 'Ark Incident', "Ark, Ark, Ark... no, I don't think I've heard about something like that."

On the couch, Shadow jumped as he dreamed about something that made his nerves go on end.

"Gah! Watch your quills, Shadow!!" The hero growled toward the slumbering hedgehog. "Geez!!" He quickly resumed scratching behind Shadow's ears to calm him down again, speaking to Tails as he did so. "Yeah well, I'm not sure about it either... not sure how he lived for fifty years, but hey, weirder things have happened..."

Tails sighed discouraged, "Has he said more regarding this stuff?" He asked in hope to get more information about this whole story, "Even the smallest detail will help me a lot figure it out."

"Mostly, he implied something horrible happened before we met him. What, he didn't say, but it's prolly what make him so... uptight about talking..." Sonic turned a regretful gaze on the black and red furry. "It's... like he hates himself for it..."

"He didn't say anything about how he supposedly passed these fifty years?"

"He did say he didn't want them to 'seal him away' again." Sonic put a thoughtful finger to his mouth. "Whatever that means. Could be similar to what happened with Chaos and Tikal with the Emeralds though, remember?"

Tails put a hand under his chin and supported it with the other, "I don't think so. He's chased by humans, and humans don’t have that kind of power. But maybe... maybe..." He muttered as his tails moved frenetically behind him.

"Someone's about to start spouting techno-babble..." Sonic said, resting his elbow on his leg and chin on his fist. "Do me a favor, and translate it into English before-hand, okay?"

The fox looked at him a little hurt, but since it was Sonic, he sighed and sat on the coffee table, "In few words, it could be possible that Shadow was sealed into a cryogenic capsule for fifty years, and released only now. But there's a big problem with this theory."

"Cryogenic capsules are just a fantasy. Many have tried to place into a cryogenic sleep small animals, but they all died before even reaching the cryogenic status... Scientist couldn't keep the animals alive meanwhile they were frozen. Even if the body was in perfect status, the brain just went plain dead."

"Well, maybe these... GUN people found a way?" Sonic waved his hand absently. "I mean... cryo-gin-whastis... they can't be that hard to make right? You're worked miracles with the military and civilian transportation, and we know Robotnik's good with tapping into the most available energy sources, lame as his robots are..."

"There's probably some wacko scientist out there somewhere who's figured it out... or maybe they just threw him in an icebox?"

The fox kit looked at him in the eyes, then at the sleeping form of the black hedgehog, "Who knows, I'll be sure to do a research on all this. I might find something out. Or maybe Shadow here could tell us everything..."

"I dunno about that, lil bro..." Sonic sighed, sounding defeated. "The guy's more locked up than Knuckles, and you know how Red is when he doesn't want to talk to you. Shadow practically begged me to stop asking him about what had happened... threatened to have you brain probe him though..."

Tails smiled a little, "You should try to make him talk about it. Whatever happened, it will do only good for him to tell someone about it. However, you have to be careful. A wrong move and he’ll probably push you away."

"I noticed..." Sonic nodded absently, a frown on his face. "How long do you think it'll take? ... him getting better, I mean?"

"Depends on how much he was traumatized back then." The fox answered truthfully.

Shadow chose that moment to mumble out something else before shifting a little more and stretching the scrubs on his torso, nearly breaking them.

Sonic heaved a loud sigh, and shifted beneath Shadow, trying to move the quills from poking into him. "So you’re saying that he'll be the one who decides whether or not he comes through this without handicaps? Ouch! Man, these are sharp!" He lifted Shadow's head and upper back to reposition him. "You'd think he'd, I dunno, dull them or something..."

Tails only shrugged, not knowing what would happen in the near future with the black hedgehog; sighing one more time, the fox watched the clock on the wall in front of him, "Almost six in the afternoon," He said thoughtfully, then he returned his eyes on the blue hedgehog, "If you need me, I'm on my PC, trying to find something about this Ark Incident." He said trotting away.

'Wow... six already? Time flies when you're patient's depressed...' Sonic bit his lip looking down at the sleeping hedgehog. 'I wonder... if he's still dreaming...' Leaning a little closer, Sonic began to carefully examine the healing wounds, but suddenly noticed. 'The burns... and most of the scars! They're gone...?!'

Shadow mumbled out something else and moved his head so he was facing the blue hedgehog; a twitch here and there on his face confirmed the fact that he had returned to dreaming.

Sonic was still busy examining the chest area of Shadow's bandages, amazed that there was next to nothing marring the hedgehog's flesh. It didn't even look like he was half-dead when Sonic dragged him home a few days before...

'Tails was right, he's the fastest healer by fair. It's almost like he never got scarred...' Sonic ran a hand over the ebony fur, feeling only a few jagged remains of the once wide gashes. 'He's something all right, can almost tell why the military's after him... could take out an army and be ready again the next week...'

He withdrew his hand to watch Shadow dream restlessly, frown growing deeper and more thoughtful. 'I'll bet it's about what GUN did to him, whatever it was...' His arm involuntarily went to the ear, rubbing gently. "Don't worry, Shadow..." His voice was a low whisper, not really meant to be heard...

"I'll protect you..."

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NOW GO AND REVIEW I NEED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*twitches*