Chapter Text
Shadow waited. He stayed put like the nice human said to do. He stayed seated while he watched everyone move about. He’d already finished the coffee drink. It tasted good and made him feel good too. It made him feel warm on the inside. It was nice.
He was used to feeling cold. It didn't bother him, but he didn’t like it. Not at all. He much preferred being warm. It felt a lot more comfortable. He wasn't sure how he felt about the stuff on his hands and feet yet. The one that looked like him gave them to him. It kept his hands and feet warm too, but they felt funny. They felt like they stuck to his fur.
Were they to punish him for hurting the one that looked like him. ‘Sonic?’ He didn’t look mad though. Not like the other humans at the other place. Last time they got really, really mad…. Would they be mad at him if he took them off?
“Would you like to try these, Shadow? We got them for Sonic, but they were the wrong size. We haven’t had a chance to take them back to the store yet.” The nice human with the long hair brought something. She knelt down to his level. Taking him out of his thoughts. Something’s for his feet she had said. Were they like what the other humans put on his feet? Those ones were heavy. Wearing them hurt, but these ones looked a lot lighter and softer. They looked like the kind that Sonic wore. Only it had white strings when Sonic’s did not.
He pulled his feet up close to him on the chair. Wrapping his arms around his ankles with uncertainty. He didn’t want to say ‘no’, but he didn’t know if he wanted to put those on his feet. She must’ve understood his hesitation. She put the foot things away and laid them next to her.
“You don’t have to put them on if you don’t want to. That’s alright. If you want to put them on, you are welcome to. They might help you a bit. I noticed you're having some trouble walking. Wearing shoes might help.”
‘Shoes’ that’s what they were called. He looked at the shoes before looking back at her. He pressed his lips into a line before shaking his head warily.
“Alright. Maybe we’ll try them later.” She stood back up straight before signaling him to follow. “Let’s go outside. The others are already in the front.” He hopped down. Landing onto the wooded floor.
He tried walking. Walking like the others did, but he couldn’t help but feel unbalanced. Maybe the long haired human was right about him having trouble walking. He felt like he’d fall over with each step. It was like walking on water. He had no stability when he walked. Should he put on the shoes she brought? He should be okay. Besides, he didn’t want to wait a second longer. He wanted to see outside.
He managed to make his way towards the front door. Following close behind the long haired human. She opened the door and light began spilling inside. The bright light flooded Shadow’s vision. His eyes immediately shut, but they quickly adjusted. The sky was so bright! Shadow’s jaw fell open as his eyes went wide. Taking in everything he could.
“Come on, sweetie.” The long haired human was already ahead of him. He didn’t realize he was still standing in the doorway. He took a step onto the next platform. This surface was less stable than the surface from inside. It creaked under his weighted slight, but he continued down to the next set of steps.
He held onto the railing with each step down. Mindfully moving his feet to each wood plank. Once he got to the hard rock ground, he felt the warmth enveloping his body. He was out of the shade and directly under the bright light. He felt the urge to look at it directly, but his eyes already felt sensitive to how brightly colored the sky was. It was the same color as Sonic too.
He knows he’s been outside before, but this was different. He couldn’t remember it before. He couldn't remember anything about it really. It was all a blur. He didn’t know how long he ran for. He just kept running until he couldn’t anymore. Then he woke up at this new place.
It was a lot nicer than the other place. When he woke up there, it was really dark. He can’t remember how he got out either, but he did know it looked nothing like this place. The other humans never let him see outside. They only kept him in one place. The part he will never forget was how cold it was. The place they left him wasn’t soft and squishy like where the nice humans put him. The other humans left him on a hard surface. Kind of like the thing they had the food that morning. Only the nice humans put the food on top. The others kept him on top of theirs. For a long time, too.
Shadow’s attention got drawn to the yellow two tailed fox. He held a device while facing the woods. A blue streak zigged and zagged while weaving through the woods before coming to an abrupt stop in front of the fox.
“And stop! Did I beat it! Hurry! What’s the time, Tails!” Shadow overheard their discussion. ‘Tails’ was what the fox was called, right? Then what about the other one that wasn’t a human? What was his name again?
“One minute and forty seven seconds, and your top speed was 379 miles per hour.” Tails reported. “That is about 25 miles per hour faster than your last speed on this route!” His tails flicked eagerly.
“Does that mean I'm faster than The Flash? Can I phase through walls yet? He might be ‘speed personified’, but I am ‘speed perfected’!” Sonic pointed a thumb to his chest while he stood with a fist on his hip. Tails shared an unamused expression.
“Where’s that from?” Tails tilted his head.
“I came up with it myself! Do you like it?!”
“Eh. I think you could’ve done better.”
“Oh! Hey, Shadow!” Sonic disrupted their conversation once he noticed Shadow watching them. He waved his arms frantically his way with excitement. Shadow’s ears pinned back from the sudden noise and attention that was now on him. Sonic appeared directly in front of him. He stood leaning forward . Getting even closer to Shadow. Shadow’s eyes immediately drifted to the covering on Sonic’s cheek. Hiding his scratch.
“Wanna see all my stats! I run through the trees on a specific route and we keep score.” Sonic said with a smile spread across his face. Shadow couldn’t understand how he wasn’t mad at him. He hurt the other human too. He didn’t remember hurting the human. It was all very confusing in his brain.
Sonic didn’t run this time. This time, he waited. He waited for him. Even when he didn’t say anything in response, he still waited. Shadow stepped off the hard rocky surface and onto the softer ground. It looked like Sonic’s eyes. It tickled his feet. It felt nice. He kept both feet planted together, but he moved them around along its fluffy surface.
“Oh, sweetie. I think we should take those off so they don’t get dirty in the grass.” The long haired human came from behind. She pointed to the white coverings on his feet.
“Can you take them off or would you like for me to do it for you?”
He answered her by lifting a foot up and peeling the covering off himself. The long haired human held her hand out to take them from him. Which he carefully laid them both in the palm of her hand. Watching her instead of her hands.
He went to follow Sonic, but quickly got distracted by the ‘grass’. It tickled the bottom of his feet. It felt cold and damp, but it didn’t bother him since the bright light shone on his dark fur. Keeping him fairly warm. His feet shuffled along the grass. Nearly digging them into the dirt in the process. He bent down and brushed his covered hand along the top as he watched the sway.
He couldn’t feel it like he could with his feet due to his hands being covered. Without considering what the consequence would be, he took off one of his coverings. He plucked one of the grasses and held it up to his face. He brought it to his nose and smelled it. The smell was different. It was bitter and smelt of earth. It felt squeaky in between his fingers. He carefully lowered the piece of grass down back where he had pulled it from the ground.
“Uh. Earth to Shadow? You coming, dude?” Sonic got his attention. He tried to slide the covering back over his hand as smoothly as he could. The fuzzy part kept getting caught on his claws, but he managed to get it on in the end.
He followed Sonic towards Tails. Tails’s face lit up when he saw that Shadow had taken interest in his device. He angled the screen so Shadow could see without there being a glare.
“This is a map of Sonic’s route. When you press this, it replays his run. It can track his chaos energy, so that’s how we can see him. And on this side, it shows all of his previous runs in order of fastest to slowest. His last run was his fastest yet!” Tails explained
“Awe yeah!” Sonic gave Tails a high five. “We should race one day, Shadow! Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. We can do it for fun. ‘Sides, no one can beat me! I’m the fastest thing alive!” He said with confidence. Suddenly, someone else emerged from the woods. It was the other one.
“Where you been, Knuckles? You disappeared as soon as we came out here.” Sonic crossed his arms. The other one, Knuckles, had dirt all over his coverings. His were different than theirs were. Did he only have two fingers? Shadow looked down at his own coverings to compare.
“I have been tending to my usual duties, hedgehog.” Knuckles dusted off his coverings. Leaving a cloud of dust misting the clear air.
“How’d you get so much dirt on your gloves? Ugh, never mind. I already know what your answer will be.” Sonic said, giving up before he even started, but he then jumped with enthusiasm in his tone. “Oh, Knux! Since we can’t go to Crazy Carl’s, do you want to be an obstacle? You can try and slow me down.” He added with a smirk.
“Very well. I will not hold back.” Knuckles said ominously before disappearing back into the woods. Sonic set himself up at a makeshift starting line. Crouching down into a starting position. Shadow stayed next to Tails. Not fully understanding what was happening. Sonic veered his head to glance back at Tails.
“Are you ready?”
Tails gave him a thumbs up. “Ready whenever you are!” Tails responded.
“Gotta go fast.” Shadow heard Sonic mutter before dashing off into the woods. He wanted to stay and watch, but something fell on top of his head. He reached up to grab whatever it was. It was like the grass stuff, only much bigger. It wasn’t straight either. Instead, it looked short at some edges, only it didn’t feel sharp.
Shadow looked up to find where it came from. Then he saw so many more above him. He followed the dark lines to where they met. It was connected to a big thing in the ground. That’s when he noticed these things surrounded them. They blocked out the warmth, but he liked the warm spots.
He walked around it and found a warm spot behind it. Somewhere that wasn’t as dark as the others. He could overhear Tails cheering Sonic on, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He sat down in the warm spot. He still wanted to look at the sky, but it was too bright. He instead closed his eyes and tilted his head upwards. Soaking in the warm feeling.
He loved it
“How. Was. That.” Sonic finished sounding more out of breath than his last round. He pulled a stick out from his quills. Knuckles came up from behind. Waiting to also hear the results.
“Uh. A little slower than your last run, but considering Knuckles was trying to slow you down at every turn, I think you did great, Sonic.” Tails tried to leave it on a positive note. Once Sonic caught his breath he turned to Knuckles.
“How the heck were you able to set up that many traps that fast!”
“They have always been there. I only activated them. You just never noticed them, hence why they are traps.” Knuckles explained simply. Before Sonic said anything else. He realized someone was missing.
“Hey, where’d Shadow go?” Sonic asked while looking around. That’s when he spotted Maddie sitting on the porch deck. All she did was point to the biggest tree at the end of the yard. Sonic immediately ran over in that direction. Tails and Knuckles followed not too far behind. Sonic let out a chuckle at the sight in front of him.
Shadow had accidentally dozed off while laying in the sun. He had curled up into a crescent shape with the sun rays shining down right on him. Sonic didn’t understand how he wasn’t overheating with all that dark fur, but he dismissed the thought after realized how relaxed he looked.
This was the most relaxed he’s seen him be since he’s been there. His jaw was slack instead of the tensed position he’s seen before. His ears twitched intermittently to any sound that occurred . Lastly, his hand was gripped around a leaf. Gripping it tightly, yet it never crumbled in his grasp.
“Ok, now that’s cute.” Sonic said what everyone else was thinking as the others amusingly nodded along with him. Who knew some random hedgehog who seemed terrified of everything around him could look so relaxed and comfortable. Especially considering what happened the night before. They left him to continue resting at the base of the tree.
“Alright Knux. Ready for round two?!” Sonic smirked. Knuckles mirrored the hedgehog's look. The three set themselves up once again. Knuckles took off before Sonic did. This time they gave Knuckles a few minutes to reset any of the traps he had previously activated. With a final countdown, Sonic ran through the course. They went through it a few more times that morning, all while Shadow took a well deserved rest.