seasonsrpg | Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow had disappeared on Sunday. He was gone for three days. 72 hours. For Shadow, it was maybe just as long. Maybe shorter. He didn't really know. He thought everything had been fixed. He thought they had won. He thought wrong.

The flower, a massive Siberian Blue Squill, appeared in the Winter flower garden. On the third day, it bloomed. Shadow stepped out of it, all the clothes he was wearing pure white. He took one step, then a second, then he stopped. He stared at the ground, eyes unfocused. Which, for Shadow, was a first. He just stood there. His mind trying to process what just happened.

He didn't even notice Sonic was there.

There's a very good reason for Shadow to have not noticed Sonic! The blue hedgehog was currently napping, wearing a thick jacket and wrapped in a snow covered blanket at the base of the flower. How long had he been here? Who knows! Long enough for his footprints to have been covered up by snow, at least.

The sound of something hitting the ground makes him stir, and he peeks out form under his blanket. A split second later he's launched himself off the ground, the blanket tossed into the air haphazardly to free up his arms. Said arms were, of course, slung around Shadow from behind with no warning, and the force with which he'd slammed into him was more than likely enough to knock his ass over in his disoriented state. He'll apologize later.

Shadow had no strength in his stance. Normally, Shadow would have been able to react in some way. He would brace himself or grab Sonic and flip him, or dodge. That was on a normal day. Today? Shadow crumbled as Sonic slammed into him. They toppled into the snow and Shadow just hit the ground. He didn't complaint, growl, or snap. All he did was grunt as he was forced down into the pure white snow.

Then he just laid there. He was breathing at least. His breath rolling out with every exhale.

Sucks to be you, nerd.

He's quick to notice that Shadow isn't uuuuuh, reacting at all. He quickly pushes himself off of Shadow and rolls him over, quickly retrieves his blanket from wherever it had landed and knocks the snow off before returning to Shadow.

"Ah geez, man, I'm sorry. I freaked out, I didn't-- here, can you sit up?"

He takes one of Shadow's arms and tries to tug him into a sitting position. Snow sucks dude oops.

Shadow didn't say anything just yet. He did sit up with the pull. He wasn't dead weight. He blinked and brushed some snow off his shoulders. He looked up at Sonic. His eyes just lacked that usual Shadowness. That constant confidence and drive. They were almost empty. Almost.

"It's fine," He said finally. His voice was neutral and almost robotic.

Hey that sucks??? Sonic quickly wraps that blanket around Shadow's shoulders and rubs at his arms to try to warm him up. There's more going on here than just Shadow being cold, though.

"I was about to start yellin' about how much it sucked without you here, buuuut I'm just gonna put that on the backburner. What happened, dude? You look like hell."

I'm fine is obviously bullshit, come on.

Shadow stared at Sonic's chest. At least, he was now since he was staring at the ground before Sonic was in front of him. The blanket helped to fight the cold but Shadow couldn't care less. His shoulders shook as he was shivering. Slowly his eyes looked up to meet Sonic's eyes. What happened? Why it happened was the question more on Shadow's mind. Why did it happen? As for what...

"My world is gone. I failed. I couldn't keep my promise..." Shadow grabbed either side of his head. Saying it out loud made it real. He had no world to return to anymore. There was no Green Hills, no Earth, nothing to protect.

"I failed her again."

The implications of that take a second to sink in. Sonic's expression shifts from confused to disbelief to horrified, words are completely failing him because he'd never considered that the good guys could actually fail. It's a lot to hear, but it's got to be so much worse for Shadow.

He doesn't ask him to elaborate, can't think of anything to say, all he can manage in the moment is wrapping his arms securely around Shadow and pulling him into a tight hug. What the fuck, man.

Shadow didn't pull away from the hug. He couldn't. In this moment, Sonic was one of the few things he had left. Ellipsa was the only world he had left now. The people here were all he had left. His promise broken. His mission failed. Sonic and all his friends, the shatterverse, and the prism all gone. Nothing left now but memories.

Slowly Sonic would feel Shadow's arms wrap around him. Shadow buried his face into Sonic's neck. The fur on Sonic's cheeks and down his neck would start to feel damp. Was it the snow? Was it raining? No. No it wasn't. Those were tears. Shadow's frame struggled against the shaking and he didn't make any noise. He couldn't fight or stop the tears though.

He can deal with a little damp fur, even if it is freezing out.

He can't think of a single thing to say. 'It'll be okay' just feels like a lie, how would anyone be okay after their world apparently went poof?

He's hit by a sudden, intense dislike for the Sonic from Shadow's universe for putting him in this kind of position in the first place, but hell tackle all that complicated semi-self loathing nonsense later. For now he holds Shadow closer and rub his back in an attempt to be soothing.

Shadow stayed close to Sonic. Any sort of hope or attempt to find a silver lining wouldn't help. Right now, what he needed was something to anchor him here and now. Sonic was his anchor. The shaking lessened and stopped. Slowly Shadow pulled back. His walls were down, the doors open, and it showed on his face. He looked at Sonic for a moment. Then he kissed his boyfriend. Just a simple soft kiss. Something to show his appreciation without using his words.

Sonic keeps his hands on Shadow's arms, giving them a gentle squeeze after Shadow pulls away. After Shadow kisses him, he affectionately bumps their foreheads together before rising to his feet, offering his hands to Shadow to help him up.

"C'mon, we should at least get out of the cold."

He's been spending several hours a day camped out here, he is done with all this cold.

Shadow looked into those eyes. He nodded and but didn't smile. He stood up and helped Sonic stand as well.

"Let's...go home," He said with a nod. His only home now.

"Yeah, you got it."

He takes Shadow's hand and starts walking, deciding to let Shadow set the pace. If he wants to run and make it a quick rip, Sonic will follow. If Shadow would rather walk and take time to gather his thoughts, Sonic's fine with that too.

Shadow started with walking. It was slow at first. Just them walking along. Then he picked up the pace and started skating. It wasn't a full out race but it was fast enough to not provoke impatience in either of them. Once they're in the apartment, Shadow moved right for the couch and just fell back onto it.

Once back to the apartment, Sonic tosses the wet blanket into the laundry and hangs his coat up, and then joins Shadow at the couch for a moment. He gives Shadow a quick peck on the forehead.

"I'm gonna go put some coffee on, you want any?"

Look he's still gotta warm up ok.

Shadow leaned into the kiss. He nodded.

"Just put the beans in a cup and bring me a spoon," He said simply.

"...Yeah, okay."

Any other time, Sonic would absolutely give him shit for being a coffee weirdo. Maybe he'll save it for later. For now though, he just nods and heads into the kitchen, putting on a normal pot of coffee for himself and coming back out with a CUP OF BEANS AND A SPOON FOR SHADOW, I GUESS.

"Here we go. You don't want any... I dunno, sugar or anything?"

"No," Shadow said as he took the cup and spoon. And yes. He got a spoonful, put it in his mouth, and started chewing the beans. This guy. One thing you can never say, Sonic. Well you can and sometimes you'd be right. But Shadow wasn't always boring.

Never a dull moment with the Ultimate Lifeform.

Sonic nods and silently takes a seat on the couch with Shadow to wait for the coffee to finish brewing. He's kind of at a loss, here. he wants more information, to be able to better understand what happened so maybe he could figure out the right thing to say? But Shadow probably still needs time to process it himself, sooooo. Patience. Not Sonic's best skill, but one he's going to be practicing as hard as he can until Shadow's ready to talk. In the meantime, he reaches over to rub behind Shadow's ear. At the very least he can try to be physically comforting?

Shadow ate his coffee. The silent, for once, was deafening. He expected Sonic to ask questions or ramble but he didn't. The only sound was the brewing coffee machine and it was so low, it was only audible because of said silence. The fingers on his ear did help to relax him. He leaned into it and sighed.

"The Shatterverse was decaying. Nine stole the prism shards after Sonic told him he wasn't the real Tails. Things escalated. Sonic had the last of the prism energy to complete it. I was thrown into a pit full of robotic Sonics. In the end, we fixed everything. I moved and hid the Paradox Prism so the Doctor wouldn't get it. Then...something came out of it. Something that deleted the entirety of Green Hills.

...Deleted me.

My world no longer exists. I failed."

Hey bro that's a lot??

Sonic's silent as he tries to make sense of all that, absently rubbing at Shadow's ear in the meantime.

"Wait, you're saying you guys fixed everything, and the Prism just decided to do it's own thing?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what caused it," Shadow said and the frustration was obvious. "...Nine might be able to figure it out or he might know already."

"Sure, I'll check in with him too."

He leans forward, trying to catch Shadow's gaze as he drops his hand to Shadow's shoulder, gripping firmly but not too hard.

"Look. If you can't even tell what caused it, how can you possibly sit there and think it was your fault?"

Shadow nodded. His eyes looked into Sonic's eyes. His gaze hardened a little.

"Because I should have stopped it. I promised I would stop it. I might not have caused it but I failed to stop it."

Shadow the Hedgehog | Perma Catch-All

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Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update

Re: Shadow and Sonic | Post Canon-Update