Chapter Text
“Hey Sonic, come check this out.” Tails called from his desk, fixated on something the screen displayed. “My sensors are picking up a weak Eggnet signal coming from the northmost part of Holoska.”
The blue hedgehog strolled over behind his brother’s chair, leaning his hands on it and peering at the screen. There were a few paragraphs of text that he didn’t bother to read, his gaze instead focused on the red dot indicating the signal’s location.
“Think he’s planning something big?” Sonic asked, already stretching his legs in preparation to go investigate. Unfortunately the icy continent was across the ocean, so he’d be getting some cold sea-spray on his legs. But his nice winter coat would be enough to keep him warm, especially since Tails took the liberty of adding some synthetic, heat trapping fiber between the layers.
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen him make an appearance, so the chances are pretty high.” Tails supplied, extending his hands behind his back before standing from his chair. “I’m gonna get some lunch, try to be back soon, okay? I want to say goodbye before I go.”
Ah, right. He has to leave for that fancy internship today. Sonic reminded himself, a pang of sadness hitting his chest. Tails wasn’t normally gone for more than a day, so it was pretty jarring when he had told the hedgehog that he wouldn’t be home for two entire weeks. As proud as Sonic was of his little brother’s crazy achievements (for fucks sake, he was going to an place that built commercial airliners, and he would be suggesting improvements on them) sometimes he wondered when Tails would want to go out and explore on his own for a while.
“You got it bro. It should only take me until afternoon to trash his base.” Sonic said instead, disregarding the trivial feeling. He would never stop Tails from exploring more of the world on his own, how he felt about it wasn’t important.
To distract himself, the blue hedgehog opened the closet near the front door to get his winter coat. Funnily enough, over half of the contents inside were technically from Amy, which were only for formal occasions or parties. Sonic’s hands brushed past those gifts on the way to his bright red coat, feeling their varied textures before he snagged one of the puffy sleeves and yanked it off of the hanger.
Sonic was already outside as he put the coat on, closing the door with his foot as he slipped it over his peach furred arms. It had a nice weight to it, the kind that was reassuring but not enough to be an encumbrance. He chose to leave it unzipped for now, it wasn’t cold where they lived.
He took one last look at their shared house, built out of the way from most of society. Its foundation nestled closely by the surrounding forest on one side and the grassy field on the other. A gentle smile crossed his face before he took off in a blast of wind. It whipped around his fur, and everything around him slowed the faster he went. Soon enough, grass turned to rock, then to sand, and finally water. He left a trail of spray behind him, new waves forming from each push of his blurred legs.
The sun got lower and lower as Sonic approached his destination, chasing the day into night as he sped to the other side of the world. Once he saw the first signs of the northern lights iconic to the frosty continent, he zipped his coat up right before he was met with a blast of frigid air. It froze the seawater in his quills and turned it to tiny chunks of ice and snow that flaked off of him in uneven clusters.
Soon enough, water turned to solid ground. Sonic put a stop to his run for a moment, digging his heels into powdery snow that scattered like sand. His water soaked legs were already icing over like his quills at this point, so he shook them off to return some of the warmth. Wearing some snowpants would have completely eliminated this issue, but you’d catch Sonic dead before he wore those.
He gave his legs another few shakes before pulling the left sleeve of his coat up to reveal his communicator, double checking the coordinates of the base. Since he was at one of the more southern parts of Holoska, he would have to run for at least another few minutes to get there.
He took off again, each powerful stride invigorated by his eagerness to smash Eggman’s newest inventions. Truth be told, the hedgehog had been getting a bit bored with all this lack of action, so this was a nice change of pace.
The base wasn’t really hidden, tucking a giant concrete rectangle into a valley between two massive glaciers made it stick out like a sore thumb. Though the hostile weather that consisted of nothing but blizzards was an effective deterrent in itself.
Not that it mattered, because Sonic was already curling into a spindash to smash clean through a foot of solid wall.
The impact sent debris flying outward, and Sonic quickly unfurled his body into a fighting stance. As he predicted, a small group of typical badniks swarmed him immediately, claws and guns pointed with deadly intent. He danced a few circles around them before chaining a singular spindash through each of their cores. Their limbs dropped helplessly without a stable power source, clattering against the pale floor with an echo.
All right, eggface. Let's see what you’ve got here. Sonic thought to himself, taking speedy but cautious steps through the base. The design was new, with a strange emphasis on sameness and symmetry. The walls and floor were both an uncomfortable, washed out blue, lacking the usual green atmosphere and signature unorganized pipes on the ceiling.
Suddenly, a loud CLANG resonated on the floor behind Sonic, who whirled around with a blind kick, reacting to the sudden presence of an unknown threat. By the time his vision had caught up, the force of his blindly thrown leg had been halted completely, which wasn’t something a regular badnik was able to do. They were too slow and too weak, and only a few people he knew could react so quickly.
That could only mean…
Sonic’s newfound suspicions of who exactly snuck up behind him were only further confirmed by a certain black hedgehog suspending his attack, already looking incredibly aggravated.
“You’re jumpy.” Shadow commented unkindly, pushing Sonic’s leg away from his face roughly. He then brushed off the miniscule amount of dust on his legs, which Sonic assumed he had gained from crawling around in the vent above. After a moment, he inspected his legs to confirm his cleanliness, then turned his back and began to stalk in the opposite direction.
“Yeah, this place is- where are you going?” Sonic started, before realizing the other hedgehog was already leaving. He shook off the surprise and pushed himself into a light jog to catch up. He bumped Shadow’s black furred shoulder teasingly, already coming up with a way to rile him up. It would make this little adventure ten times more fun if he could successfully bait his rival into a friendly competition.
“Away from you. I have a mission.” Shadow hissed, recoiling from the contact like it had burned him. His quills were already beginning to rise defensively, jutting out in a way that interrupted his normally sleek appearance. Certainly not an inviting look, but Sonic could tell that the hybrid was already accepting his fate, judging by the resigned look on his face.
“Shads, we’ve been at this long enough to know we both want the same thing.” Sonic said with a smirk, zipping in front of Shadow and switching into a backpedal so that he could have a face to face conversation. He threw his arms behind his head as he did, eyes half lidded and full of mischief.
“Clearly not.” Shadow growled, refusing to meet the other hedgehog’s eyes as he looked for a way around him. His ears were flicking around as if he were listening for something, but Sonic didn’t have a guess as to what. “You already caused more than enough damage to ruin what I was here for.”
“What, the information?” Sonic asked with a hint of confusion, dropping the arms behind his back and folding them over his chest. Though the feeling was quickly replaced by amusement. “I’m flattered that you think I already broke his stuff, but I just-”
“No, you fool.” Shadow cut him off, seizing the short peach fur on Sonic’s chest and pulling him forward. The blue hedgehog winced in discomfort, ears pricking as the hybrid’s voice shifted to a deeper and more agitated rumble, the hot breath tickling his face. “This was supposed to be a stealth mission so that the doctor wouldn’t know I was on to him. I guarantee your ceaseless noisemaking and destruction has already alerted him of our presence.”
“All the more reason to work together if he already knows, eh?” Sonic retaliated after his rival let go, rubbing the place his fur had been grabbed. Then a sly grin spread across his face, the perfect opportunity to cast his biggest hook and catch the ultimate prize.
The black hedgehog glared at him with blood red eyes that harbored burning fury within. Had Sonic not known him for so long, he would have assumed that the hybrid was about to maul him.
So he continued, unbothered. “Unless, of course, you don’t want to come because you know I’ll find the control panel with all the goodies on it before you. And since you’re being a dick, I might not even let you in on what I find…”
Shadow, who clearly had a goal to meet, took the bait immediately. A gust of stale air hitting Sonic right in the face as he moved impossibly fast to stare the other hedgehog down in challenge. He looked positively livid at the suggestion, which only made Sonic deepen his grin.
“Fine. You want to work together so badly?” Shadow let out a clicky growl, squaring his well-muscled shoulders at the other hedgehog. “20 badniks before either of us can start looking for the panel. Hallways only.”
“You’re on.” Sonic flashed his teeth in a mischievous smile, then took off in one direction without even starting a countdown. Shadow was a formidable opponent, one of the rare few that could match his speed, so gaining even half a second of an advantage meant everything.
Thankfully, the route he had chosen at random presented him with 5 badniks right off the bat. He speed-blitzed them with ease, launching a flurry of kicks before piercing their metal with sharp quilled spindashes. Their hulls shredded and exploded from the impact, and then the blue hedgehog was running again.
Another left and right through the labyrinth of symmetrical tunnels, 9 more down. Another cluster of 5, and in under a minute Sonic was down to the last badnik he needed before he could find the control panel.
This time, he went straight, and was met with a much larger area. If he had to guess, it was probably an intersection for the hallways that led to other parts of Eggman’s base. To his absolute delight, it also housed a massive badnik. Clearly this is where most of Robotnik’s defensive budget went, because this robot was absolutely decked out in all sorts of life threatening weapons.
But that wasn’t even the best part of what he had stumbled on, because he could see Shadow across from him at the edge of another hallway. The black hedgehog must have noticed Sonic at the same time, because he was glaring daggers so sharp they could kill. He was willing to bet this was also Shadow’s last badnik, which made this competition all the more thrilling.
The two launched themselves towards the badnik with crackling chaos energy at the same time, dancing circles around bullets and lasers alike. Now that he was closer, Sonic quickly worked to identify any weakness on the robot.
It was at least 40 feet tall and half as wide, protected by a heavily armored red exterior, and had seven eyes scattered across its body to cut off any blind spots. There were six insectoid-like limbs coming from its sides, each equipped with a different weapon of destruction. One had a flamethrower, another a chainsaw, and a third had a regular hand that crackled with volts of electricity.
Sonic squinted his eyes, weaving under a stray swipe from the chainsaw arm with ease. The robot’s legs seemed rather weak compared to the rest of its body. There were four, but they were short and flimsy looking, judging by the exposed wiring peeking out from gaps between thin metal plating.
Aha. He thought, curling into a ball to slide underneath the robot, and burst through one of its legs like it was nothing more than a sheet of paper. The badnik’s internal machinery let out a groan at the damage, confirming that the legs were indeed its weakness.
Shadow picked up on Sonic’s discovery immediately, following his example and taking out a second leg. He made sure to target the limb on the same side as Sonic, causing the badnik’s balance to give out. The right side of its hull smashed against the ground, sparks flying as metal dragged against metal. It struggled to move now, the two functioning legs scrambling to pull its massive body only a few feet towards them.
With its underside exposed, Sonic charged a spindash to deliver the finishing blow. He would be able to tear up the vital components from underneath with enough force. Chaos energy sparked around him, concentrating within his core and sending currents of power through his veins. The feeling was exhilarating, but just as he was about to unleash hell on the badnik, a rough metal heel collided with his back.
Sonic gasped, the wind knocked from his chest as it pressed him down against the floor. The blue hedgehog turned his head, expecting another robot, only to be met with glowering red eyes and a crown of inky black quills.
“What the hell are you doing?” Sonic shouted at the hybrid in disbelief, hissing at the rapidly forming bruise on his chest. Shadow had driven him to the ground with excessive force, and the metallic floor did nothing to cushion him.
“You said you wouldn’t share the information, so I’m making sure that I’m the one who gets it.” Shadow spat back, shoving the blue hedgehog back down and turning to deliver the final blow to mark his badnik count at 20.
At that, Sonic’s patience wore thin. He stopped paying attention to the thrashing robot in front of him and snapped.
“Oh, come on. I was kidding! Why do you always have to take it so seriously?” He took a step toward the hybrid, emerald eyes locked on crimson with a deathly hold. “Did you seriously think I wasn’t going to share it with you anyways?”
Shadow opened and closed his mouth a few times, then looked away with a hmph.
At this point, they were both too caught up in their respective emotional turmoils to notice one of the robot’s limbs pivoting towards the blue hedgehog. It crackled with a deadly voltage, pulling back in a closed fist before shooting forward like a rocket.
In the blink of an eye, two things happened.
One, Shadow glanced back at Sonic just before the badnik’s massive fist collided with his face.
Two, Sonic’s world went dark.
—————————————————
Shadow reacted a second too late, rushing forward and plunging a chaos spear directly into one of the badnik’s glowing red eyes. He bared his teeth and held his weapon there, committing more of his energy while forcing it deeper and deeper until it fried circuits and sent sparks across its metallic hull. The badnik made a few shuddering noises before its still active arms fell down and shook the floor. They twitched a few more times as if trying to reboot, but ultimately gave up as the hybrid gave one final push before exploding the spear within, shattering its vital components.
His breath was erratic and uneven as he turned to his rival, expecting him to already be back up and ready to go. But his assumption was shattered when he noticed blue quills pressed roughly against a cracked wall, unmoving and unconscious.
“Shit.” Shadow cursed to himself, rushing over to Sonic’s body. Crouching down, he surveyed the damage. His rival had suffered a blow directly to the front of his head, strong enough to cause a slow stream of blood to trail down his face and paint his fur red.
It took an incredibly large amount of force to knock his rival out, let alone break skin, he would know. Being unresponsive was an immediate cause for alarm. Thankfully, Shadow didn’t think there was a skull fracture, his bones were borderline indestructible regardless of what hit him, but a concussion was highly likely.
Shadow chewed on his lip, weighing his options. On one hand, he could leave Sonic and grab what he needed, but there was no guarantee that they had gotten all of the badniks here, so that left him at risk. While on the other, he could simply take Sonic back to his home and forfeit the mission, which was much safer and didn’t leave his unconscious rival at the mercy of Eggman. There was no way the doctor wasn’t aware of their intrusion by now, and he was likely sending reinforcements.
He remembered what the hedgehog looked like the last time he returned from Eggman’s clutches during the war with Infinite, and quickly decided against leaving him vulnerable. That was not something he wanted a repeat of. While such a fate was the worst case scenario, it was much better not to risk it just for one G.U.N. mission. He’d take the extra paperwork, information be damned.
Confident with his choice, he pulled the green chaos emerald out of his quills. He then scooped Sonic’s body into his arms and invoked chaos control. Time and space blurred for a nonexistent moment, and then the gloomy atmosphere of the snow base was replaced by gentle sunlight in an instant.
He had teleported to the front steps of Sonic and Tails’s shared place of residence, a small two story house with a garage nestled beside a forest. There were no other buildings in sight, thankfully, so nobody would be snooping in private business.
Shadow shifted his grip on Sonic’s limp body to put the shimmering emerald away before knocking on the door three times. There was an immediate rustling that came from within the home, followed by a ‘coming!’ and a few loud crashing noises. The hybrid only raised his eyebrow, skeptical of what the kit could have possibly done in there to cause such a ruckus. Though his question was quickly answered once the fox opened the door. His small stature was unable to hide what appeared to be a cluster of broken glass and metal at the base of the stairs. Most likely an invention of his, but Shadow didn’t care to guess what it was for. The sooner he got out of here, the better.
“I have your brother.” Shadow stated simply, shuffling his arms to draw attention to the dangling mass of blue quills tucked against him. The blood from his damaged face was beginning to dry, now fading to a grimy brown. “He suffered a head injury at the base and went unconscious. I took the liberty of bringing him to you for aid.”
Tails looked dumbfounded for a moment, most likely from both Shadow’s presence at his house, and the fact that his brother was injured. The latter probably happened often enough to just be a minor inconvenience, but his appearance was a different story. He avoided coming to this place like it was a genuine plague. There were a plethora of reasons that, if in written form, could probably consume an entire tree’s worth of paper.
“Okay… You can put him on the couch.” Tails said slowly, gears in his head turning rapidly as he stepped to the side to allow the hybrid inside. He closed the door behind them, and twirled his namesakes around a few times in building anxiety.
Shadow made a beeline for the furniture, dumping Sonic on to it with some level of delicacy, mindful of the head injury. He also unzipped the winter coat that he was wearing and peeled it off of his arms, a second thought after assessing the house’s temperature.
The hybrid placed it on the backside of the couch, then turned to exit, confident that Tails would handle the rest. Though his tracks were halted once he noticed the closed door. His ear flicked in mild irritation, crimson red eyes just barely concealing a glare as he met the fox’s blue ones. The hybrid narrowed them, scrutinizing the kit’s suspicious body language to silently demand an answer.
“Um… small problem. I sorta have an internship I have to leave for in half an hour, and I won't be back for a while.” Tails said quietly, looking away with a wince. “I guess I could cancel it to-”
“No.” Shadow cut him off, holding his hand out with a grimace. Of all the days that fox has to leave for something serious. There was already a deep feeling in his gut that told him he was going to regret doing this, so he let out a long-winded sigh before he pronounced his fate. “Do not cancel, internships are important. I will stay here until I can find someone else to watch him.”
There was a moment of silence between the two, and neither of them attempted to meet the eyes of the other.
“Okay... Thank you.” The kit finally said, one ear flopping to the side by an inch, acutely aware of Shadow’s odd choice. He fidgeted with his gloves for a moment before quietly retreating to the hallway that led to his workshop. His absence left the air around the hybrid feeling even more awkward than before, almost like a suffocating slime that coated every strand of fur on his body.
Shadow stood there with a blank face for ten minutes straight, staring off into nothingness. His ear twitched at the sound of a plane engine starting from somewhere outside. The fox must be leaving earlier than he said if his internal clock was correct, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He was waiting for Sonic’s brother to depart before he made a few calls anyways, so it worked out in his favor.
Plus, making these calls right now also allowed him to continue to ignore that he had essentially agreed to watch over Sonic while he slept, which was incredibly weird.
The hybrid shook his head, pulling his phone out of his quills and made a few very un hedgehog-like clicking noises. With his thumb, he opened his contacts list and tapped on the one simply labeled Rose. It rang a few times before a rather excited voice sounded off from the speaker.
“Shadow? You’re calling me? Gaia, that's bold for you. What’s up?”
“Hello, Amy. I have a favor to ask of you.” He sighed, rubbing a finger between his brows, pacing back and forth in the middle of the living room.
“If it’s something you need right now, it’ll have to wait for a while.” Amy said as a random crash came from the background of her audio. “I’m kind of busy with the Chaotix right now, and I mean right now. I’m working with them on a missing person case but there is a lot more going on than they thought-”
Shadow winced at the loud screeching that followed the end of her explanation, ears pinning back slightly. He subconsciously turned down the volume in the interest of preserving his hearing. The audio cut out for a moment shortly after, only to be followed by another crashing noise paired with something that sounded like fragmented metal clattering against the ground.
“-hadow? Are you still there?” Amy’s voice cut back in, her speech more labored than before.
“Yes.” He answered, already preparing to hang up. Amy wasn’t able to help with his current predicament, and she was clearly preoccupied with something.
“Okay, good. Anyways, I just wanted to say sorry about not being able to help.” Then she paused for a second, the phone going static as she contemplated something. “Can… can I know what it is, though?”
Shadow was about to open his mouth to offer a brief explanation before one of his least favorite creatures to ever walk this earth aside from Sonic assaulted his ears.
“Amy? Who are you talking to?” Charmy asked, his voice rapidly increasing in volume as if he was flying head first towards the pink hedgehog. He probably was, knowing how obnoxiously loud and direct he was.
Absolutely not. Shadow hung up the second that bee started speaking. He was not making the headache he was going to get from this series of calls worse than it needed to be.
With his first choice being a resounding no, he scrolled down his small list of contacts to select Rouge’s number this time. The chance of her saying yes was smaller, and she would more than likely ask for compensation. However, she was reliable and trustworthy, and would actually put in the effort to look after the unconscious hedgehog properly.
He ignored the thoughts in the back of his head tauntingly asking why that mattered.
“Why hello handsome~” Rouge answered almost instantly, her sultry voice carrying intrigue behind it. “Now what could you possibly be calling me for?”
Shadow gritted his teeth, preparing for the inevitable. “I need a favor. Sonic got hurt, and he needs someone to watch him while he’s unconscious.”
The bat hummed, taking her time before answering. “I assume you’re still with him, then? That’s cute.”
“Rouge.” Shadow warned, and he could hear her laughing over the phone. She had been… rather persistent with her teasing when it came to Sonic as of late. He didn’t understand why she had changed her habits, but it was unwelcome all the same. The worst part was that he couldn’t even muster as much anger about it as he used to. On the surface, losing steam for an angry outburst may seem good, but to Shadow it was bad. It implied that he was starting to care about that stupid hedgehog more than his usual, limited amount.
Which he did not.
Perhaps Rouge had noticed a subtle change in his demeanor, being incredibly observant, and decided to test it by antagonizing him. Unfortunately for Shadow, today she seemed to be feeling much more bold than normal. Her next few words sent his already heavy regret even deeper into his stomach.
“I could come over, but…” Rouge trailed off for a moment, a trait of hers that she used for theatrics and drama when speaking. “You don’t have anything to offer me in return right now that I want. Besides, it might be good for you two to hang around in a setting that isn’t competitive.”
Shadow closed his eyes and fought the urge to squeeze his phone in half. “So you’re telling me that you could come over, but you’re choosing not to because you wish for me to suffer.”
“That’s one way to put it, yes.” Rouge said gleefully, clearly pleased with her choice. “I hope you two have fun. Text me if anything interesting happens, ok byeeee~”
A small series of beeps from his phone signaled that the bat had hung up. Shadow grumbled to himself for an entire minute afterwards, well aware of what she was trying to do. The room was filled with incoherent mumbles of complaint and irritation about his roommate’s propensity to be unhelpful. But he couldn’t go forever like this, and he was starting to get desperate. With some degree of reservation, he tapped on the contact listed as Red Imbecile, more commonly known as Knuckles.
As expected, the echidna did not pick up, as he rarely ever answered any calls he got regardless of who tried. Shadow didn’t bother with trying to call again, and he wasn’t above admitting he felt some degree of relief that the guardian hadn’t answered. Speaking to that oaf was the equivalent to raking claws against a chalkboard.
Unfortunately, he was nearing the end of his list of contacts. Silver was the only one who came to mind that he could call, as the rest of them were busy with their own affairs. Vanilla was still working, the Chaotix were busy along with Amy, Rouge had flat out refused despite being able to help, Omega was on a solo G.U.N. mission (and he wasn’t exactly a good caretaker), Knuckles didn’t answer, and Blaze was in another dimension.
The grim reality of his situation began to set further in Shadow’s bones after each person he listed off in his head. There was no one else he could ask, which meant he was the one stuck with Sonic if Silver said no.
He quickly selected the white hedgehog’s number and let it ring.
And ring.
And ring.
And ring.
“...Your call has been forwarded to voicemail. The person you are trying to reach is not available. At the tone, please reco-”
Shadow ended the call before the automated response could finish, not bothered to leave a message. He pinched the bridge of his muzzle, not quite ready to believe what he had gotten himself into.
Was he overreacting when all he had to do was watch the hedgehog for a few hours at most? Maybe. Was that hedgehog also the source of almost all of his ceaselessly complex emotional turmoil at this day and age? Absolutely. There was at least some level of justification to his actions, as trivial as it might seem.
Shadow eyed the blue hedgehog sleeping on the couch, utterly clueless of the bullshit that had transpired only a few feet away. Now that there was nobody else to call to distract him, the hybrid began to glare at the blood staining Sonic’s face. It was a rather ugly contrast, being filthy while lying on a mostly clean couch.
I could… clean it off, I suppose. Shadow thought slowly, the hesitance to act evident even in his mind. It’s unsanitary to leave it there, and it would only take a minute or two. He should still be asleep after I’m done.
Shadow weighed the risks in his mind for a bit longer before reluctantly entering the kitchen and snooping through the cabinets. He needed a wet rag to clean the blood off, and a bit of gauze with some medical disinfectant. The hybrid grabbed one of the clean dish towels and ran it under the sink until the water was warm, then squeezed the excess liquid out so that it wouldn’t drip on their floor. Then he located their medical supplies, poured a small amount of hydrogen peroxide onto the sterile fabric and quietly walked back to his slumbering rival.
The hybrid kneeled down at the side of the couch, extending the wet rag to wipe the blood off his rival’s blue fur. He applied a steady, gentle pressure against the other’s forehead, mussing up the fur a bit in the process. Satisfied that the main area had been thoroughly cleaned, he then moved the rag downward, where some of the crimson liquid had dripped.
Just as Shadow began to dab the cleaned surface with the gauze and disinfectant, the blue hedgehog began to shuffle around.
“Mmmugh. What happened…?” His rival sat up groggily, eyes scrunched shut as he rubbed his head in pain.
Shadow drew his hand away immediately and hurled the supplies into the kitchen with about as much grace as a newborn chicken. Fearful that he had been caught in his rare show of affection, the hybrid quickly scrambled to hide the fluster in his cheeks with the fury he still felt about the compromised mission.
“Your idiocy got us into unnecessary danger, then your insufferably dense head suffered a blow from that badnik.” Shadow answered with a growl, allowing the frustration from all of today to build in his chest. In fact, he was about four seconds away from pummeling the blue hedgehog to vent them, but he froze when Sonic opened his eyes.
There was something wrong with them.
They didn’t have the distinct focus that always seemed to be present regardless of Sonic’s mood. They were always sharp, alert, and deceptively intelligent. That noticeable difference was due to the fact that his irises were unusually milky and pale. It was a sincere lack of the rich emerald green that so often managed to startle Shadow for reasons he couldn’t describe.
“Can you turn the light on? I can’t see anything.” Sonic asked, squinting in the already illuminated space.
Shadow side eyed the blue hedgehog with growing anxiety. “…The lights are on, hedgehog."
An immense sense of wrongness hit both of them at the same time. Shadow watched helplessly as the other hedgehog tried opening and closing his eyes a few times, as if it was magically going to cure what was wrong with him.
“Shadow.” His voice wavered with uncertainty, hands trembling slightly. “I… I can’t see.”