Sonic X Fan Fiction ❯ Matter of Trust ❯ Good Intentions, Bad Results ( Chapter 4 )

OMG I have cookie dough!! VICTORY!

Sonic: -.- Well, since she’s off being weird, I guess it's up to me to a) remind you that DragonXKS don't own the characters appearing in this story, except like...two, who 'll come much later, and 2) warn you that this chapter contains...um..........well.....

Shadow: Me making an utter fool of you.

Sonic: Shut up.

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Chapter 4 — Good Intentions, Bad Results

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Shadow mumbled out something as he brought his right hand over his eyes to rub them. The last thing he remembered was laying down on the couch, then nothing...

Sonic wasn't so lucky as to be there when Shadow awoke this time. Unlike the dark hedgehog, Sonic was a little slower at healing, thus the scrapes and burns up and down his arms still needed to be taken care of.

"Ow! Darnit, leggo!!!"

"Sit still hedgehog." And who better to help take care of him than one of his friends?

The black hedgehog mumbled out something along the lines of 'Shut up' as his brain was in light pain and his ears seemed to perceive sounds triple their volume.

Damned headaches. Annoying as hell...

"Agh!! That burns!!" Sonic's voice escalated, like he was truly in pain. A dark chuckle followed the noise, obviously belonging to someone new. "Oh, so you think this is funny?! Don't go to sleep tonight, Knuckles!"

"Is that supposed to be a threat?"

Getting fed up, the black hedgehog sat up, "Sonic!" He half-screamed in his now restored voice, which had a dark tone, well matching his looks.

Silence immediately reigned throughout the house. Then what sounded like a stampede of feet thundered up the stairs. The hero finally appeared, skidding to a stop on the bare wooden floor, before looking around, somewhat bewildered. Finally, his eyes rested on Shadow, and he gave an ashamed smile, a hand disappeared behind his head.

"Oh...um...hey Shadow.....you rang?"

The black one sighed and returned laying down, "Next time you complain about something, do it in a softer voice, please..." He said replacing his right arm over his eyes to block the stinging light and ease his headache.

"Ah… sorry about that… really…" Sonic truly did look like he meant what he said, his eyes downcast as he shifted somewhat nervously. Another person was coming up from the workshop, this one less rushed than Sonic had been.

"I see your guest has finally awoken." The crimson furry was looking Shadow over with a critical gaze. "Are you sure he was on the brink of death when you brought him here, Sonic? You've been known to over-emphasize injury..." A meaningful look toward the hero.

"Stuff it, Red." Sonic shot back, glaring.

Shadow sighed, even the smallest noise temporarily increased his headache, "Yes, I was on the brink of death, but I'm a fast healer." He said, cutting it short.

Sonic was grinning triumphantly at the Guardian, who didn't so much as flinch, nor lose his own smirk. "Well...I guess Sonic had to do something right at least once in his entire life." The hero's mouth fell open, gaping at the Echidna, as though the hedgehog would've liked nothing more than to skin and wear the fanged treasure-hunter as a coat.

"Come on, Sonic, let's finish up, quietly this time. And if I have to, I'll tell Tails the medicine needs to be administered by a needle again..."

Sonic paled visibly, and began slowly inching for the door. The Guardian didn't move, knowing that stepping even an inch forward would make the hedgehog run. And as tantalizing as making Sonic go crashing into the door was, he knew the hedgehog could be back on his feet and outside in an instant.

The dark one, sensing that Sonic was inching away, grabbed one of his legs, trapping him on the spot, "You don't know how bad burns are when they get infected. You should do as your friend asks. Trust me." He said seriously.

He knew that pretty well because he had a past experience with them.

"But Shaaaadooooow..." The sapphire whined, then hissing toward Knuckles, "...he's evil...." Sonic tried to tug his leg out of the other's grasp, only to lose his balance when the grip didn't loosen and fall into a seating position on the floor. "Agh..." He tried to push himself up before Knuckles took advantage, but it was too late.

"Need some help?" Sonic found himself up off the floor and over the Echidna's shoulder. "Ah!! No fair!!"

The black hedgehog hinted a small smile, then sighed and resumed dozing off.

Silently, the echidna dragged Sonic back downstairs, "So, you really did tell the truth..."

Sonic plucked grudgingly at the Echidna's dreadlocked quills, careful not to cut himself on the sharp edges. He was pouting, debating not answering, but gave in. "Of course I told the truth. When was the last time I actually lied to you? And the tree branch doesn't count, because you seriously were asking for that one."

Knuckles sighed and shook his head, ignoring the tugging on his dreadlocks, "But it is difficult to believe such thing... no one is capable of such healing..."

"Shadow is." He noticed the Guardian was ignoring his tries at annoying him and cautiously wrapped a hand around one particularly long, thick spine, pulling it gently. "I mean, unless his wounds and stuff are fake or something....doubt that though..."

The Guardian stopped in front of the table and placed the blue hedgehog on it, "Does he has other tricks up his sleeve or he has just that?"

Sonic felt the quill slip out of his hands and fought the urge to snatch it again. It would only bring about another fight, and as much as he enjoyed pushing Knuckles' buttons, he didn't want Tails to come home and have Knux pin him down for another shot. Better to take the lesser of the two evils...

Knuckles sighed, "Answer me, Sonic. Does Shadow has something else than just fast healing?" He asked again picking up the antiseptic.

Sonic looked away, pretending to not have heard. He swung his legs, trying to seem as though he was studying the ceiling. And the floor! Oh wow, how it looked interesting today...

Knuckles grabbed the blue hedgehog's left hand and started working on it with the antiseptic, "Answer me, Sonic." He said with a tone that negated everything but an answer.

Sonic flinched. "He told me he could break the sound barrier. There! Are you happy?" He turned his head toward the opposite wall and glared at it, wincing as the burns were taken care of.

The red echidna stopped momentarily, "He can break... the sound barrier?" As soon as he subsided his light shock, he resumed working on Sonic's burns.

"I thought that you were the only one to be able to do that."

"Guess not." Sonic shrug then gasped, "Geez! Watch it, Red!" He tried to tug the hand out of the Guardian's grip, but continued speaking. "Anyway, we don't really have a reason to distrust Shadow, and everything he's said so far hasn't really been countered....I think he's trustworthy..."

"I don't know, Sonic. He clearly hide something, and I don't like this at all... There seems to be a little too many coincidences in this story..."

"Hmmm...it was coincidence I met you. And Tails too. And that I happened to be the one who could run faster than both of you." Sonic grinned as much as he could while Knux cleaned his burns. "And again, it was coincidence that I was there in the right place to save Shadow."

The red echidna hummed, "Whatever, still.... he's hiding something." He said starting to bandage Sonic's left hand and forearm.

"This from the one who growls at anyone who asks about the weather?" Sonic teased. "I mean, you almost killed me........three times before actually telling me your name. At least with Shadow, I wasn't the one bed-ridden."

Knuckles shook his head and started working on Sonic's other hand, "No, Sonic. That hedgehog hide something important."

Sonic flexed his hand to keep the bandage from cutting off his circulation. Knuckles had a tendency to tie bandages too tightly, though it was half Sonic's fault, ever since the incident where he ripped his bandages off while neither Tails or Red was looking, simply because they were annoying.

"Tails said the same thing you know.....everyone seems to want Shadow to talk about this, but......."

Knuckles finally stopped cleaning the hedgehog's forearm and started bandaging it, "But?"

"Just leave him, Knux.....whatever it is....it's tearing him apart, and...." His shoulders slumped. "Let him decide when he wants to talk about it..."

"Mmmhh..." Was all that the echidna said before finishing bandaging, "There. Done. Don't take these apart, or I'll tie you to a bed until they're healed."

Sonic gave him a devilish grin. "Issat a promise?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows at him.

The Guardian looked at him in the eyes dead serious, "Yes."

"Fine." The hero crossed his arms and pouted. "But I don't understand how you can be so suspicious of me, though. I'm the epitome of innocence."

"I'm not sure of that, Sonic." Was the answer of the echidna, "Everything but innocent."

Fake disbelief. "How can you say that? I've never been anything more..." He hopped down off the table. "...than a sweet, sensitive, loveable, cuddly hero with a heart of gold! Unlike a certain conniving, sadist harpy of an Echidna we all know..." He poked the scarlet furry's chest, right on the crescent mark, for added emphasis.

"Yeah, yeah..." Knuckles said waving the hedgehog off and returning upstairs; he instantly noticed that Shadow was sitting normally on the couch, with his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin. His face was of one deep in thought.

Sonic stuck his tongue out at the Echidna's retreating back, and turned from the door, waiting for his footsteps to fade before turning to look after him, the mischievous smile returning. Without making a sound, because he knew the step like his own shoes, he crept up the stairs after the Guardian. 'This is what you get, sadist....'

The black hedgehog moved his eyes to look at the Guardian, "Yes?" He asked without shoving emotions.

"Sonic tells me...that you can break the sound barrier?" The Guardian crossed his arms, moving the spikes out of the way so he didn't puncture himself, and staring down the black and blood red hedgehog across the room.

Shadow didn't move a muscle, "Yes." It was his quick answer.

"How?" If Shadow wanted to be blunt, Knuckles would play the game. He had experience with hedgehogs, and though Shadow leaned less toward Sonic's more annoying, bright personality, Knuckles was fully prepared to take him on.

"On my own feet and legs. That's how."

If before he didn't think anything about the Guardian, now he quite disliked him.

"That's obvious enough. Sonic wouldn't be so shaken, if it were any other way." Knuckles' eyes glinted, though the sunlight didn't reach them from the window. "What I'm asking is how did you learn?"

"Was.... 'born' with it." He answered half truthfully.

"Then you're just like Sonic, are you?" Knuckles hid the surprise from his voice. He'd suspected that the hedgehog had been taught, perhaps pushed himself the limits until he broke through, as Tails, as Knuckles himself had done. 'He could still be lying...' Something about Shadow told the Guardian he wasn't though...

The black hedgehog closed his eyes, "Maybe I'm more, maybe I'm like him. Who knows." He muttered barely audible.

"I had hoped you did." Knuckles answered, his tone matching Shadow's, just as silent. He leaned against the doorframe to the stairs. "He's quite taken with you..."

"What you mean?" He asked a little curiously.

"Sonic." Knuckles was tugging at his own dreads, now realizing that Sonic had been tying them into a knot. 'When I get my hands on him.....'

"What about him?" He asked opening his eyes and looking at the echidna in the eyes.

"....Sonic....has a tendency to see the good in people." The red Guardian gave a tug on one of the tied dreadlocks to loosen it, and winced. "He trusts others very easily....tells me often that I'm too suspicious of strangers, and even the people I already know. I almost killed him when we first met, and at any time I could reach out and snap his neck."

"Do you know why I don't?"

"No, but why are you telling me these things? I have nothing to do with it."

Knuckles seemed to ignore him. "I don't because he trusts me. Trust is a very fragile bond, broken quickly, and one I have come to believe should be earned. Yet, Sonic gives it freely. And he trusts you." He shook the dreads loose. "I've called Sonic a fool...more than once....for giving such a valuable gift without cost. Such people are broken quickly, just like their bonds...."

He looked Shadow in the eyes fully. "I don't want Sonic broken."

The black hedgehog closed his eyes, "Then it is your duty to protect him from me. Even if I would never hurt him, he will be hurt the same for I am a bringer of despair and destruction." He said sounding a little regretful.

"I plan to." Knuckles might have said more, except for the fact that Sonic chose that exact moment to act out his evil plot.

"Gotcha!!" He yelled, tackling the Echidna to send them both rolling into the living room, a little ways away from the couch, Sonic landing on top, with the victim facedown. "Give up Red!" He noticed the treasure-hunter's free-flowing dreads. "Aww, you undid the braid..."

"Get off of me you little idiot!!" Knuckles growled, trying to roll over and dislodge the little beast on his back. "And if you mean that knot you put in my quills, yes I did!"

"Well then!" Sonic grinned, grabbing a handful of the crimson spines and yanking. "I'll just make you another!!"

"Don't you dar---Ow! Let go!"

Shadow hinted a small smile; as much as he wanted to remain with the blue hedgehog, he couldn't, and he would leave as soon as he was able to. Maybe in the night so he wouldn't be stopped or asked why.

"Say it!"

"Never you little monster! Get where I can reach you so I can wring your scrawny little neck!!" The Echidna made a backward grab, but Sonic moved in time.

"Now why would I do that? C'mon! Say it, you know I've won!" Another tug.

"You stop that Sonic, or there'll be a needle in you before this day is over!!!"

Tails chose that moment to return home; when he saw the two on the ground he sighed, "Sonic. Stop acting like a child." He admonished.

"This from you...." Sonic huffed and released Knuckles dreadlocks, pushing himself off of the fighter. Knuckles took a few minutes to straighten himself out a little then promptly jumped onto Sonic, twisting his arm behind his back.

"Your turn, hedgehog."

"Gah!!! Cheater!!"

"Not when you jumped me from behind. Say it."

"Ow! OW!! Dammit, Uncle! UNCLE!!" Knuckles pushed him, and though Sonic didn't pay attention, it was obvious the Guardian had done it as gently as possible.

"Knuckles! Not you too!" Tails exclaimed heatedly.

Shadow had his heart in pain; he wanted so much to be part of a family like that, but because of his origins, he would be never allowed to.

"Don't even pretend like he didn't deserve it, Tails." The Guardian pushed himself up, checking on Sonic, who glared at him from his spot on the floor. The treasure hunter shrugged absently.

"That's okay, Knux, cause now the hedgehogs in the house outnumber you." Sonic stuck his tongue out at the echidna. "You'll help me beat him up next time, won't you Shadow?" He grinned at the dark furry reclining on the couch.

The black hedgehog felt a pang of pain in his heart before closing his eyes, "I don’t think so, Sonic, for I’ll be going as soon as I can stand and you will never see me again." He said with dead flat voice.

Oh, how it pained him to say those words to the blue hedgehog, but since he couldn’t afford to have Sonic get attached to him, he decided to be cold hearted so he wouldn’t suffer when he would leave.

"Wha?" Sonic's ears fell flat. He stared for a while trying to understand, while the red furry standing nearby seemed indifferent. Sonic got his feet under him, groping slightly for a support, eyes wide in disbelief.

Shadow never opened his eyes as he would suffer upon seeing Sonic's expression, "It is... better for the both of us if I leave as soon as I'm able. I am... extremely dangerous."

"Shadow......hero here, hello." Sonic put his hands on his hips. "How many times have I said it now? Five, six?" He grinned. "You're my friend Shadow, but you've got a skull like a rock wall."

Knuckles coughed under his breath. "Says the ultimate climax in arrogance and stupidity...."

"I heard that...." Sonic growled at Knuckles. "But still, you don't have to keep worrying over me. And besides," A flash of mischief. "You can't hurt what you can't catch, now can you?"

The black hedgehog sighed inwardly, "You can't judge what you don't know, and since you don't know me and everything that surrounds me, I'll be leaving. It's better this way."

Sonic drooped slightly, but persisted. "And what about Robotnik? And the what-cha-macall-it he's sent after you? You said yourself that it, and those GUN people or whatever, are never going to stop coming after you..."

"I will find a good spot were to hide away from the world." He answered without moving a muscle.

"Here's a pretty good spot..." Sonic grumbled, crossing his arms and frowning deeply, his muzzle seeming somewhat marred by it. Knuckles shook his head slowly, dreads falling in front of his face, and reached out touching Tails on the shoulder.

"Lets leave them some time alone, alright?" He said to the kit in undertone, eyes fixed on Shadow, but flickering back to Sonic.

"Sonic, I wont change my mind. I will leave as soon as I'm able and that's it." He said, voice never faltering.

"Hey, I'm just pointing out facts. I'm practically a celebrity, so I have less chance to none of being searched, and my word stands good with the public. Also, all people resident can fully take care of themselves if something DOES happen, though it probably won't. And you've got a better percentage of survival here than just about anywhere else you pick."

"And while I know next to nothing about math, the equation of leaving here and roughing it on your own without at least a better plan than 'hiding somewhere' will equal sure suicide." His eyes narrowed. "And I don't want to turn on the news to hear a breaking story involving your mutilated body."

"Sonic, I told you before that you will never heard of me again. I'm unmovable on this decision. I prefer risking on my own that bringing here destruction and despair."

"And I mean it." He said after a small pause to prove his point.

"And I prefer not hearing the military gloat on having shot you down!" His hands came down onto the coffee table, his teeth gritted and eyes glaring. "And I mean it too."

Shadow never winced upon hearing the abrupt sound coming from the collision of Sonic's hands with the coffee table, "Even if they catch me, an improbable event, they wont spread the news as I am something that they wont let the world know of."

"Then how am I going to know you're alright?! You don't seem to get the fact that I'm worried about you! I find you half dead from burns and blood loss, and you expect me to let you walk out of here and not give it a second thought?!" Sonic was glaring a hole into the other hedgehog's eyes.

"What do you want me to think?! That you'll be just fine after you disappear out of here?!"

Shadow's eyes, even if fixed on the blue hedgehog's ones, never returned the gaze; they seemed focusing on nothing but thin air, "If that's the only thing that will make you let me go, then yes."

Sonic blinked for a little bit, trying to make sense of that answer. His confusion made his voice soften, and his edginess fade. "It's not something I can do, Shadow...I'm going to worry about you, whether you like it or not. And the same goes for you leaving....."

"You may be set on going, but as long as I have even the slightest doubt that you'll survive, I'll fight to keep you here, even if I have to break your legs and nail you to a wall."

Shadow closed his eyes, "You are resolute, Sonic, but like your red friend says, you trust unknown people too much... what makes you think that I'm a good guy?"

"You haven't killed me yet." Sonic shrugged, looking away, suddenly a little uncomfortable. "And when did you talk to Knuckles anyway? It was barely five minutes before I jumped him from downstairs, and Knuckles usually takes weeks to talk with other people."

"Your friend seems to talk a lot when he's concerned about his friends. And meanwhile I haven't killed you, my hands are already dirty with blood."

"Whose blood are we talking about? The only stuff I saw of it was pretty much all yours." Sonic tilted his head. "You've given me no reason to distrust you, haven't hurt or stolen anything, and you're not ticking are you? No worries!"

"Yet I never gave reason to trust me. So leave it be. And, even if I never hurt anyone in front of you, there's still the fact that I have killed many people. And they deserved it."

He sighed a little, "Like I said before, Sonic, I'm not a good guy."

"You can't make me believe that, until I see it." Sonic persisted. "You just like Knuckles, a bull-headed idiot who can't get it through his thick skull that he doesn't deserve the death sentence for accidentally stepping on a flower."

Shadow reopened his eyes, a cold death glare directed to the blue hedgehog, "Do you want me to kill someone to prove that? I have no problem in doing that."

Sonic faltered, surprised that Shadow was talking about it so casually, without any sign of withdrawing the offer, but hardened. He was sure Shadow wouldn't go through with it. No matter how much of a 'bad guy' he insisted he was. "Fine. Try killing me."

Shadow closed his eyes, "I won't do that. If I did, you would never know it. Besides, you don't deserve death."

"See? Not a bad guy." Sonic propped himself on the coffee table, smiling, but only a little. "If you were as wicked as you seem to like you are, me being a hero would be plenty of reasons to kill me. I would mess up all of your evil plots."

"Is killing to survive an evil plot?"

"Erm...no..." He thought about it. "Justifiable I'd say, though I'd prefer not to not kill anyone at all, really....Knuckles would hit me if he heard that..." He looked around, noting that the Guardian and his younger friend had disappeared.

"Still, it makes me a heartless killer, and you can't do anything about that."

"I don't think it makes you heartless...not if there's a gun pointed to your head or something." He paused. "Doing what some people do and just killing for no reason, and just for personal gain...that's more along those lines."

Shadow opened again his eyes, utter rage and hate added to the cold death glare, "I killed for personal gain, to be more precise, I killed for revenge, and I will do it again. Thanks to the doctor, I'm free, and I will not stop until the last man of GUN fall dead at my feet." He said with cold voice.

"As you see, I'm heartless enough to do that."

"Um...okay, that's a little too much killing, Shadow..." Sonic winced. "I mean, okay, so they're not the greatest of people. What could they have done to deserve manslaughter?"

"Again, like I said before, this does not concern you."

"See, that's kinda where you're wrong, especially if you leave, go on your manhunt for revenge, start ripping off people's heads, and I'm the one that gets called in to put a stop to it." Sonic shuddered. "I'd hate fighting you, Shadow. The way me and Knuckles fight...that's okay. But fighting you because you're out to kill people....that'd suck..."

"You wont fight me Sonic. GUN will never ask help outside its own organization, or they will spill secret after secret, and they don't want this."

"Then why go barging in after them?" Sonic asked. "That's like jumping into the spike-bottom pit and hoping you don't land on them."

"Because, Sonic, I do not care of what will happen to me or those secrets. As long as I get my revenge, I'm satisfied with it."

"And the people who do care about you? What are they going to think?" Sonic's ear twitched just barely, his annoyance with Shadow's fatalistic attitude rising.

"The only people that cared for me died in front of me, trying to protect an assassin like me. And as an heartless killer, I will get my revenge. No matter what."

"Oh...." Suddenly the attitude and actions were explained. "And it was GUN who killed them, I guess..."

"Yes." Was Shadow's quick and cold answer, "So leave it be and let me go without complaining so much. We do not know each other that much to let you care about me."

"It's not a matter of knowing you, so much as.....knowing you exist. I care about just about everyone I meet, and even the people I don't." Sonic gestured toward the window. "I don't save the world for kicks, though laughing in Eggman's face over his latest defeat is somewhat gratifying..."

"Point is, I wouldn't save this planet over and over if I didn't care...just a little bit."

Shadow sighed and slumped on the back of the couch, "Point is... that I was never meant to exist... thus never meant to be cared for, nor never meant to be saved." He whispered to himself.

"Then I guess I'm seriously breaking some great, cosmic rule here, aren't I?" Sonic looked thoughtful. "Hope I don't get struck by lightening..."

"You won't, but you will be struck by a bullet on your back by one of the many humans that you care about..."

He paused and looked at the ceiling, "That is called 'betrayal'. That is way you should never trust people who you just met."

Sonic shot Shadow a droll look. "I know what betrayal is, it happened before. But thank you for the advice, grim as it is." He burrowed his muzzle into his crossed arms. "You're so morbid, you act like you can't find at least one nice person to smile about."

"Leave it be, Sonic. Don't press the matter further or I will be leaving right now." Shadow answered tired of discussing with the blue hedgehog.

He closed his eyes and just remained there, wishing to have his revenge, to have never been brought to the world, to die and fade into darkness forever and forget everything. Even himself.

Sonic fell silent, dwelling on the topic in his head. Shadow seemed to enjoy being miserable, he resisted all efforts to be cheered, and insisted on thinking of the most horrid thoughts he could, and remained disclosed about anything but how much he despised himself and others....

The black hedgehog mentally sighed with relief as Sonic stopped his attempts to cheer him up and to have reason; he just wanted to be alone, as that it was his punishment for existing. Even if he disliked it.

Sonic gave a short huff before speaking again, suddenly unable to suppress the question. "It was the ARK Incident, wasn't it?"

Shadow's heart jumped abruptly as he heard those two fatal words; his eyes shot open at the maximum extent and he just looked onward, fixing his gaze on nothing but air. As soon as his shock subsided, he hunched over and hid his face in his hands and started shaking.

What would happen if Sonic knew his origins?

"How... how do you... know about it?" He managed to ask trough his fear filled mind.

Sonic was immediately infuriated with himself. He should've kept his mouth shut and walked away, should've let Shadow get himself killed. Dammit, why was he so stupid?! He chose to use the truth for now, Shadow looked like he was on the edge of a mental breakdown.

"You kinda...talk in your sleep..."

Shadow just remained silent and kept shaking visibly, trying hard to not move or think as that would result into unknown actions from his end.

He could simply break down and cry till there was no tear left in him, he could run away and kill himself or his targets in spite of his emotions that were running through his mind, or worse, he could snap out of rage and kill Sonic in a matter of a second without realizing it.

Sonic moved slowly, quietly toward the couch, sure that any second now, Shadow would start yelling at him for prying. Would get to his feet and walk out of the workshop, maybe toss Sonic down the steps a few times to teach him when was a good time to leave well enough alone.

Instead, Shadow just kept still, afraid that if he moved a muscle, his shocked mind would switch to instinct mode and do something that he would greatly regret.

"What's wrong....what happened, Shadow...?" Sonic reached out, slowly running his hand across Shadow's middle quill, though instinct told him that if he didn't move, his remains would be mailed of in a little envelope. Somehow, though, he didn't care. "You have to tell someone, sometime, Shadow...fifty years is a long time to keep things locked away.."

As he felt a hand on top of his quills, Shadow's mind unfroze by a little; he moved his mouth, but nothing came out of it. It was like everything was locked deep inside him.

"You don't have to talk now...and you don't have to talk to me...but, you'll have to let it out, Shadow, it already looks like it's trying to tear you apart at the seams..." Sonic continued, thoroughly ignoring the little voice in his head telling him to run like hell.

Shadow abruptly stood up, shoving the blue hedgehog to the ground without much care, then he closed his eyes, a small tear running down his cheek that faced Sonic, and just disappeared into green light.

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Teheeee… I deleted the last phrase so the suspense is greater, don’t you think so? MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Sonic: I vote we run, before they get to the scary chapters.

Shadow: I agree o.o