#tbh it wouldn't be ahrd to drop the sonadow aspect but um. <3

[gayemeralds]

alright heres the sonadow fic

word count: 3863

“What do you think that weird energy surge is?"

Shadow doesn't bother looking at Rouge. The Commander had asked him the same thing during the briefing for their mission, and Shadow had already told him he had no idea what could be going on. It wasn’t the same energy signal as a Chaos emerald. But Chaos energy was just as unpredictable as its name suggests, so it could quite literally be anything.

“I told you, I don’t know.” Shadow crosses his arms as Omega takes a sharp left to dodge a volcano. “Why did we let him steer the ship again?”

“I THREATENED TO BLOW IT UP IF YOU DID NOT.”

Rouge waves vaguely, and Shadow rubs his forehead, sensing a migraine forming. He’s a man-made super weapon but Omega’s terrible, jerky driving was enough to give even the most iron of stomachs at least a few flips. 

G.U.N. had noticed an intense surge of Chaos energy on the coast of some back water island Shadow had never even heard of. Some place called Christmas Island, on the outskirts of the other mainland islands like South and West Side. It was a quiet, unobtrusive place, and thus no one could figure out why there was a sudden surge of energy.

Rouge had initially been sent to do reconnaissance, before they decided to have Shadow tag along, considering his knowledge on Chaos energy. Omega eventually decided to join because he was hoping a fight would break out, and no one at G.U.N. really wanted to tell the giant robot prone to mass destruction “no.”

The shore of the island came not a second too soon. Shadow hopped off the motor boat as fast as he could, not exactly thrilled about the trip back home, and scans the perimeter. Rouge floats to his side, and Omega nearly tips the boat over trying to join them. Shadow tries to figure out where the source is coming from, but his ability to feel out Chaos energy is weaker than that of Sonic or even Knuckles. A man made connection to the energy, as it turns out, isn’t always up to snuff with the natural sort.

Shadow thinks it’s coming from within the forest, and motions for the others to follow after him, silently. Rouge, as an international super spy and jewel thief, stays as silent as nightfall. Not even the flap of her wings makes a sound as she floats above the foliage and dried leaves. Omega isn’t quite as graceful, though Shadow gives him some credit- he really is trying for some stealth.

The surge in energy becomes strong enough that Rouge seems to feel it. She shivers slightly, the hair on the back of her neck standing up. Chaos energy had the strange property of being like water, or electricity. Wild or still, the eye of a hurricane, the perfect blend of a thunderstorm. 

Shadow has them stop. The energy source is only a few feet away, and Shadow hesitantly creeps forward. Omega is charging up his weapons, while Rouge files her nails. Her eyes are sharp, however, and Shadow can see the tension amongst her shoulders, prepared to jump in when the moment’s right.

It’s radiating from a bush dead ahead. Shadow can feel it rolling like the waves of an unsteady tide, like the first time he stepped foot on the shores of an ocean. Jagged but fluid. 

He pushes the bush apart, separating it in half, and finds a bundle of blue on the other side. His brows furrow in recognition, noting the iconic shoes and even more iconic color of fur. “Sonic?”

Rouge perks, twirling the nail file as she takes a half step forward. Omega appears to contemplate, before asking, “IS HE A THREAT?”

“Not at all.” Shadow bends down, prodding at Sonic’s shoulder. He’s slumped face first in the ground, and Shadow really wants to make  stupid comment about that, but Sonic doesn’t react in the slightest to his podding. Shadow even moves to kick him, not hard, but not particularly kind, and that still doesn’t wake him. 

Shadow rolls Sonic onto his back while Rouge moves to his side. Sonic doesn’t appear injured, but he’s definitely unconscious. Rouge settles on his other side and presses a hand against his forehead, her lips twisting. “Oh, he’s definitely got a fever. He’s burning up.”

Shadow’s brows furrow even further. It’s… honestly never crossed his mind that Sonic could be sick, could get sick. They are identical in every way that matters, in speed, in power, in energy manipulation. Shadow just sort of assumed… Sonic would be like him in this way, too. That colds and sickness were essentially below the both of them. 

Shadow tilts his head. Sonic’s damp with sweat, but now he’s begun to shiver, curling in on himself a bit, and Shadow brushes some of his quills down. Well, he might be fine with looking like a wreck, but if Shadow has to be seen with him, he’d prefer it if he was able to maintain some class. Obviously.

“Let’s bring him back to Tails,” Shadow finally says. Shadow does have training on how to take care of sick people, of course, but Tails would probably be the better option, considering he has the same medical knowledge but more supplies, and Sonic would probably prefer him over Shadow. Shadow isn’t exactly known for his bedside manner.

Shadow hauls him into his arms. Sonic tucks his head into Shadow’s neck but doesn’t otherwise stir. He must be pretty sick; despite being a chronic napper, Sonic’s always been a pretty light sleeper. Must come with the territory of having defeated Eggman since he was a kid.

“So Baby Blue’s the cause of the energy signal?” Rouge muses as they walk back to the boat. “Chaos energy does require a lot of concentration to use, so I suppose it makes sense that it would become unbalanced if he fell sick. I wonder what he was up to that cause him to just collapse here.”

“I think Eggman was defeated yesterday,” Shadow admitted, trying to remember the news report. “Perhaps Sonic fought him while he was sick, and collapsed here before he could go home.”

“Hm, last I heard, Christmas Island was his home. Maybe he came here while he was under a spell of delirium.”

Shadow pauses while he steps inside the boat. Sonic was from here?

He stares back at the coast line, eyes scanning the forest. The island was insanely small, perhaps a fourth the size of the other islands in the area, and Shadow hasn't seen much signs of civilization here. If there were villagers here, there couldn’t be more than a handful, and none had even bothered to check out the energy source, or talk to Shadow and them when they arrived.

Shadow’s lips thin, and he goes back to boarding the boat, Rouge and Omega not far behind. Omega seems the most disappointed by this turn of events, pouting as he puts his hands on the wheel. “ARE WE CERTAIN THERE”S NOTHING I CAN BLOW UP BEFORE WE LEAVE?”

“Please don’t blow anything up,” Rouge practically begs. “Let’s just get out of here, alright?”

“I DEMAND TO BLOW SOMETHING UP ON THE NEXT MISSION OR I WILL DESTROY GOVERNMENT PROPERTY.”

“Sounds like a G.U.N. problem,” Shadow mutters, keeping a tight grip on Sonic as Omega takes off. The boat jets off at a blinding speed, and it wouldn’t do well for Shadow’s pride to drop his rival in the cold clutches of the ocean during a technical rescue mission. That’s obviously why he holds him as close to his chest as possible.

Rouge and Omega drop him off at a nearby port. As much as Shadow wanted to simply Chaos control to Tails’s, he wasn’t entirely sure how Sonic would react in this state, with his energy so heavily unbalanced. He’s always been Chaos sensitive, even if he claims to be just your average adventurer, and while Shadow has some expertise over the emeralds and their mystique, he doesn't have all the answers. They couldn’t really be called Chaos emeralds if they were so straightforward, after all.

It doesn’t take long to get to Tails’s, and he knocks on the door less than two minutes later. Sonic still hasn’t really stirred other than to shift a bit in his hold, hands clutching his chest fur in a way that’s making something stir in Shadow’s ribcage. Discomfort. That’s it. Obviously.

Tails opens the door a few moments later, hands covered in motor oil, rubbing the sweat on his forehead before his mouth drops into a small ‘o’. “You found him?”

“He was on Christmas Island. I fear he is unwell.”

Tails opens the door wider and invites Shadow inside. He leads him towards the lab, and Shadow carefully avoids some of the random parts strewn across the floor while they walk towards his medbay. Shadow sets Sonic on the bed, not at all gently, nope, and Tails immediately begins to work, humming as he takes in Sonic’s condition.

“I saw he defeated Eggman the other day,” Tails says, “And he was supposed to come visit me after he did, for a celebratory chili dog. He never showed up, so I assumed he forgot. He forgets stuff a lot, you know how he is.”

“Of course.” Shadow can’t even remember how many races Sonic ended up forgetting. Though, to be fair, he usually only misses them because of Eggman or an apocalypse. It was the principle of the matter, however. 

“He’s got a really nasty fever,” Tails murmurs, hand settled gently across Sonic’s head. “Watch him while I go check for my medicine.”

Tails doesn't give him a chance to refute, and immediately walks off. Shadow is left alone with Sonic, who’s started to curl in on himself again, shivering as he burrows into the sheets. His eyelids flutter, though he makes no inclination to wake up, and instead begins to shift a bit. Shadow wonders if he’s having a bad dream, frowning at the sight, and moves to smooth a few quills back into place. 

Tails walks in and Shadow snatches his hand away. The motor oil from his hands is gone, but there’s a dejected look on his face. “Sorry, Shadow. I don’t have the medicine to help him at the moment. I need to go to Angel Island to find the right herbs. Can you watch him while I’m gone? I just don’t like leaving him alone, if I don;t have to, but I don’t think I can really bring him along…”

Shadow could say no, of course. There’s plenty of other friends that could watch him. But Shadow is here, now, and he can’t quite get his eyes to leave the sight of his normally strong rival so vulnerable. He crosses his arms and looks away from Tails. “I guess. Why Angel Island, though?”

“Sonic’s got a super fast metabolism,” Tails explains, grabbing a backpack. “He’ll burn through normal medicine, so I have to make something special for him. I wish he told me he was feeling bad before it got to this, but he’s always been so stubborn about stupid things liken this.”

Tails sounds exasperated, and Shadow perks up a bit at what he’s learning. “Sonic… hides his sickness from you?”

“All the time. He always ends up getting worked into exhaustion, and then I usually end up finding him passed out somewhere. He doesn’t get sick often, but still. I hate it so much, but Sonic just doesn’t change. You know how he is. A little too independent at times, and always stubborn.”

“But… why?” Shadow can’t quite wrap his head around this. Sonic’s always preaching about friendship and working together. And Sonic doesn’t much care about being vulnerable or weak in front of others; it’s not necessarily a pride thing, despite him being prideful. “Why would he feel the need to hide these things from you?”

“I think he’s just so used to being alone, he doesn’t really think to ask for help for things like this.” The sentence makes Shadow’s stomach form a pout, and Tails himself appears sad, glancing over at Sonic with a soft, almost wistful expression. “Sonic can ask for help with the big things, you know, like adventures. He always thinks it's more fun to do those things with friends. But it’s always been the little things he can’t quite ask for help with.”

Tails pulls on his backpack, and seems to pause, eyes watching Shadow carefully, searching. He seems content with whatever he finds, because he says, a little quietly, “You found him on Christmas Island. Did you know that he’s from there? That tiny little island in the middle of an ocean…”

Tails gazes back at Sonic, frowning. “He doesn’t talk much about that time of his life, before meeting me and Amy and Knuckles. But he said enough. Or maybe it’s what he doesn't say. You know how it is. But he was all alone on that island for years. He didn’t have anyone. Not until Eggman showed up, wanting to test out his latest inventions on what was supposed to be an abandoned, remote island. Sonic challenges Eggman, because no one else would, because no one else could, because it was just him all alone on that island.”

Sonic burrows deeper into the blanket, curling up as tight as he could. Tails places a hand on his forehead, stroking his quills as gently as he could. “Everyone has someone in their life, you know? And at least, when we all started this fight against Eggman, we never joined all alone? Sonic was by all of us, step by step. But no one was there for him. And I think he just can’t shake that, no matter what. It makes me sad, sometimes.”

Tails finally looks at Shadow, long and hard. “Sonic’s always protecting, but no one really bothered to protect him. I don’t think he knows what it means to be protected, in the little ways that matter more than life or death battles.”

Shadow pauses.

Shadow was made to protect, that’s true. At first, he thought maybe he could understand Sonic’s predicament. After all, Shadow was literally made to protect. He was made to protect Maria, to give a cure, and to become a weapon, “to protect the world.” (He doesn’t believe that; G.U.N. didn’t want a hero.)

But then Shadow thinks a little bit more. Because sure, Shadow was made to protect, but he had been protected, hadn’t he? There had been people in his life who loved and adored him and wanted him safe and tried to protect him.

Gerald tried to protect him from G.U.N., tried to protect him from becoming a weapon. The other scientists were kind, and wanted to protect him from the truth of his birth. Maria protected him, ever since he was created- hell, she fucking died to protect him, to send him to earth.

Shadow might have had his loved ones snatched from him because of military brutality, but he still had loved ones to get snatched away from. Shadow does spend a few nights contemplating whether it’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved. In his heart, he knows it’s better to have loved.

But Sonic didn’t have that, did he?

Shadow had a family, even if they all ended up dead. But he still knew his family, still loved them dearly. And that family loved him back, loved him so much that they tried to protect him even though he was made to protect <em>them</em>. 

But Sonic didn’t have that.

Shadow frowns, peering down at Sonic. “I didn’t know that. I guess I’ve never really thought about his life before meeting the doctor.”

“That’s Sonic for you. Forgetting the past is the game he’s always playing.” Tails shakes his head. “You get why I don’t wanna leave him alone now? If he wakes up, he might end up bolting.”

“I’ll stay. I don't’ mind.”

“Oh, I figured you wouldn’t.”

Shadow blinks at the shift in tone. Tails is peering at him with an almost sly expression. “What?”

Tails waves vaguely. “I know how you are.”

“Again, what?”

Tails tilts his head, then point blanks states. “You know? I know you like him.” Something crosses his face, and seriousness shines in his eyes as he adds, “You’re going to have to make the first move, by the way.”

For a very long moment, Shadow’s entire brain stops functioning. Gerald’s hard work was for nothing, some Ultimate Lifeform he was, getting a brain freeze from the most inane accusation. The only thing he can manage to get out is another, “What?”

“Come on, I know you’re in love with him. Everyone does.” Tails rolls his eyes. “You don’t need a high IQ to see that.”

“Everyone...?”

“Well, except Sonic.” Tails sighs, his harsh expression softening. His gaze flitters back to Sonic, who remains blissfully unconscious. Shadow wishes that was him right now to avoid this conversation. “He’s... well, you know how he is. He’s love blind.”

Tails gave Shadow a mischievous look. “You know, it took a full year of Amy’s antics before Sonic realized she loved him.”

Shadow wanted to laugh, but the realization made the reality sting. “Oh Chaos, you’re joking?”

Tails shook his head, firmly. “So if you want to be in a relationship, you need to state it plainly and simply and broker no room for misinterpretation. Because Chaos knows, he won’t fucking confess to you.”

Shadow frowns. “Why? Isn’t this the same guy who waxes poetic about following his heart and doing what he wants, why doesn’t he, if he likes me back?”

Tails sits down on his work bench, clasping his hands together. He hums a bit, looking like he’s not sure how to word his next answer. Shadow waits, watching the cogs in Tails’s brain work. Shadow’s still trying to figure out how he feels about the fact apparently everyone knows about his (VERY MINUTE AND SMALL)... interest in that blue pest.

Sonic’s always had his respect, of course. From the moment Shadow saw his speed in motion, there had been a part of Shadow impressed by Sonic’s physical abilities. It was piqued further when they battled for the first time on Prison Island, and even more when Sonic proved himself able to use Chaos Control. Shadow’s respect for him, however, finally cemented when Sonic and his friends continued to try to find ways to stop the ARK from crashing into the earth, even though they were no doubt doomed.

He was going to give his all to save the planet he loved, even if he died in the process. It was something Shadow could respect, even before Amy convinced him to help the others. Shadow didn’t have plans on intervening, to help or hinder; it wasn’t likely that they would stop the ARK, but if they did…

Sonic had his respect, too, when they meet again after Shadow develops amnesia. His memories were few and far in between, but there was one that stuck in his brain, faded and weathered, but still there. A golden figure reaching out to him across the stars, radiating an energy that Shadow himself was losing. Sonic, reaching out to him as Shadow lost his super form, as the ARK floated harmlessly outside of the atmosphere, as Shadow descended to what he assumed was his grave.

And then that golden figure appeared again, this time to face off against some creature called Metal Sonic, Neo at the time. Shadow watched as he demolished a mechanical monstrosity that had copied all of their data and used the power of the emerald to transform into a disgusting creature. Shadow watched as Sonic saved the day once more.

Sonic continued to worm his way into Shadow’s life, following him through the invasion of the Black Arms, supporting him through his identity crisis (even if he was, at times, quite annoying). But Sonic taught him the most valuable lessons, despite his silly nature. To love and let live, to enjoy what once was, and to learn to enjoy what you have now.

Tails watches him carefully, and Shadow looks away, not daring to look back at Sonic, either. “I just don’t think he understands the idea of being cared for. He’s always done the caring. A partnership, a true partnership, romantic or platonic, where he’s not the provider, where he’s half of a whole… I don’t think it’s really crossed his mind.”

Tails watches his brother with gentle eyes. “He takes care of all of us. And I think he sees us all as equals. He knows I’m not his side kick, that we’re all partners. But it’s kind of like he’s the big brother and everyone’s his little sibling. Even Knuckles. He just… thinks that he needs to do all the caring. It doesn’t really cross his mind to be cared for.”

Tails pauses, then gives Shadow a strange look. “I think that’s why Amy’s romantic proposals sort of freaked him out, once he realized she was serious. A real partnership like that was completely foreign to him. But I think you could help him realize it’s not so scary. You’re one of the few people in the entire world he never has to slow down for. You can keep up with him, and you can protect him.”

Shadow looks away. He can’t stand the look of earnestness on Tails’s face. “I’ll do my best.”

Tails has a sly grin on his face. “I know. Now, I’ll give you a proper shovel talk once you and Sonic actually figure out what you’re doing. But I’ve got to get to Angel Island, so just keep an eye out for him, alright?”

It feels like a heavier question than it should be. Shadow has no problems bearing the weight, however. “Of course. I’ll keep him company.”

“Thanks again, Shadow.”

Tails walks out of the lab without a spare glance back. Shadow settles himself into the chair next to Sonic, who twists and turns in his sleep. It takes about half an hour before Sonic really wakes up, and even then, Shadow knows he’s not fully awake, eyes open halfway to peer at his surroundings, a yawn escaping his mouth. “Mmm, Shadow? What are you doin’ here?”

“You’re sick. Tails asked me to watch you.”

“That’s silly. I can take care of myself. I always have.”

It’s such a short sentence, but it says more than Tails did during their conversation. Shadow frowns, watching Sonic bury his head deeper into the pillow, sounding sleepier with every syllable. He lets out another yawn, and continues with, “I don’t need anyone else. I can take care of myself.”

Shadow opens his mouth to say something, but Sonic’s already drifting back to sleep. Shadow hesitates, before he runs his fingers through his quills. “Yeah, but now you don’t have to.”

Quietly, to himself, he adds, “And you’ll never have to again.”

#tbh it wouldn't be ahrd to drop the sonadow aspect but um. <3 #sonadow #sega official speaks #fic posting