To most, it was cold in Tails' Warehouse. You couldn't see your own breath, but it was enough to make the common Mobian shiver. However, Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles Prower had their adventures to numb their perception of hot and cold. Years of adventuring does a lot to someone, especially when you camp out for days in a cold and wet cave in the Swiss Alps.
Now though, it was not just the hedgehog and the fox. There was a second, ebony and crimson, artificial hedgehog who also happened to be ultimate.
Apparently, too ultimate to do anything. Of course, he would say he was just recuperating for a move to someplace, getting his bearings of the world that he was so new to. A few months on the ARK, a fifty year gap, a week destroying the world, and a month of self loathing and alien fighting didn't count as living in a normal world.
And instead of going out and experiencing the world, Shadow took up reading, watching, and listening. Chaos skates on the coffee table, book in one hand, whiskey in the other, headphones over his ears and occasionally a movie playing on the flatscreen. He didn't even need to eat, just sleep every couple of days. So far, within the span of two weeks, he had gone through Catch-22 (both the movie and the book), twelve of the Ramage novels, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby; all of Pink Floyd, Wu Tang Clan, Johnny Cash, and the Beatles; both seasons of Dogfights and Greatest Tank Battles, the notorious documentary Super Size Me… the list goes on.
It was just after midnight, and the only light in the house was a lamp behind the living room couch. Rusty orange light looked as if it was painted on the wooden planked floor, and blended in seamlessly into the pages of yet another book . Ramage's Devil was apparently getting really dark.
A light flicked on behind him.
"Hey Shadow," Sonic called from the kitchen. "Why don't you take a break from those books?"
"Hmph, of course you wouldn't understand the appeal of a Nautical Fiction."
Sonic shook his head, a gloved hand holding the bridge of his nose; a move that was usually Shadow's warning of frustration. He, however, lived life as a parody.
Sonic walked over and looked over Shadow's shoulder, pretending to be interested in the book. After earning a glare, he vaulted onto the couch, sitting on the spine, causing him to spill a little of his drink.
"Watch it, faker!"
He ignored him. "Shads, you can't learn about the world just by reading books and watching movies."
"Why not?"
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Because we don't live on a freaking ship-of-the-line!"
He dropped from the spine onto the couch itself, his thighs briefly brushing against the other's. While sliding down, he winced.
"Yow!" he yelped. He turned in the couch, every move prickling him even more. Upon closer inspection, the leather was torn and black quills were seen towering out of the tears. His eyes went up to Shadow, who still payed no mind. His eyes going from left to right, back again. Head rocking back and forth to The Smiths. The lamp barely illuminated the pages of the tales of Lieutenant Ramage, most of the light being sucked into the back of Shadow's head. A black hole. Consuming everything around it and not letting any of it out. Nearly unobservable.
Sonic slowly realized what it meant, and felt his own quills rise off his head and back.
"...rough nights?" he said, barely audible to even himself. Shadow, however, didn't let it go unnoticed.
"I suppose you could call them nightmares," he deadpanned. His eyes did not stop reading, but they slowed. Sonic did not give up, his own staring into the other's.
"I have them too, you know." he said. "Nightmares, bad nights. I had one yesterday, actually."
Shadow's subtle headbanging slowly ceased, and so did the movement of his eyes. A hand went up to his head, pulling the headphones off. Morrissey's floaty, dreamlike voice could be heard. "...there is a light that never goes out… there is a light that never goes out… there is a light that never goes out..."
"...Sonic." he whispered. He turned towards him, somehow giving his doppelganger his full attention while also seeming so shut off. "What happened in that dream?"
Caught by surprise, Sonic's throat suddenly went dry, possible words becoming lead weights on his tongue.
Shit! I forgot that one!
"Um, well, eh… I usually don't, you know, remember them..."
Shadow nodded. "So bad that your brain shuts it off? A defense mechanism?"
"Yeah, I guess. I wouldn't know, not an anthropologist or anything." We'll go with that.
A sigh from Shadow. Now he folded the corner of a page, and put the book down on the coffee table. "I wish my brain would do that," he said. "Night after night, that sickening experience."
"What happened?" Sonic asked, then immediately recoiled. "I mean, only if you're comfortable… you know, only if you want-"
"Every time the same thing happens," Shadow started, cutting him off.
"I always have hold of Maria's hand as we were running aboard the Ark. Never felt in danger, just… running for the sake of running."
Sonic nodded, knowing the feeling all too well himself. Moving through an area in the blink of an eye gives a high that no other act can match. Not knowing quite what's ahead until it's in your face.
"We would run upon a full height window and stop, gazing at the Earth below. It would be nighttime on the Planet, so there would be city lights sprinkled on the surface. It was always interesting to compare the United Federation and Mobius. The Mobians would respect the night and keep the lights off to prevent light pollution. The humans would burn through all their light bulbs…" he said, droning off, ending with a soft chuckle.
A silence follows, and Sonic is not sure what whether he should leave the subject.
"H-hey, um, sorry for mocking you. You know, about the books and stuff. I don't read anything but comic books so… yeah."
No response. He sighs.
"You can get back to what you were doing, Shadow. Sorry for bothering you."
He gets up, passing in front of a silent Shadow. Lamp light flickers, an old bulb on its last legs. About to die and be replaced.
A hand took Sonic's arm, stopping him in his tracks. He turned and saw Shadow's wild, desperate, staring eyes. He's looking for something. Something he used to have, but has now lost. Something he doesn't know the feeling of anymore.
"...please, Sonic. I want you to listen to me."
Sonic's gaze caught a tiny change, and he looked down. Shadow's knees were shaking. Not in fear or exhaustion, or anticipation. For longing.
For the first time, Sonic felt the cold of the house, and shivered.
He sat back down, resisting the urge to jump from the needly couch. A slight nod, signalling Shadow to continue.
"She…" Shadow whispered. "She would always tell me that there would be more of my kind on the Planet… that I wouldn't be such an outlier on the Ark. I wouldn't only have one person to be my friend anymore."
And the irony. When Shadow finally did make it to Earth, he tried to destroy the world, and made no friends. He had been more lonely on a planet with a population of ten billion than he was on a lone space colony. Sonic's heart sank into his lap, and his eyes softened.
"Shadow, I'm… I'm so-"
He raised a hand in rejection. "Sorry. You can't possibly be sorry, Sonic. You've done far too much to apologize for my own failure," he said. He looked away, and shook his head. "She would tell me of wildlife… and all the forests and green…"
Shadow had blown up a jungle island within his first hours of living on the planet.
"Of all the people I would meet, and the cultures of those people."
He had eradicated the entire civilization of the Black Arms. Nearly destroyed all of human and Mobian kind.
"So that's why you go through all this stuff? To make up to that?" Sonic asked. Shadow nodded.
"I would say… I would say that I wanted to go down there. To that blue ball. And so I would. The glass window we stood at would shatter, and we would be pulled out into space. She would suffocate immediately and I would fall to Earth. For my entire life, listening and archiving the promises of that pale blue ball below, I would experience the exact opposite of all of it."
Another long moment of silence. Neither party wanting to come off distasteful. Sonic didn't have much experience with talking to people. Talking with, yes, but into another person is something the hero has never been. Despite the hurt coming from him, heat rose to his cheeks. He liked talking into him. He didn't even know Shadow talking at all was even a possibility.
"Shadow… I'm not sure how I can tell you how much I-"
He stutters. An uncertain hand reaches and retreats. Finally, resolved, he takes hold of other's hand.
"There's no way for me to say how glad I am that we found you. Even after all the things you've done. It's all worth it to have you here, right now."
Shadow turns his head back, and for the first time, they make eye contact. Scratch butterflies, these were jet engines in his stomach. Both of their mouths opened to speak, but neither said a word.
A mildly loud dong! comes from the grandfather clock in the corner. Midnight. After a brief glance, they both turn back towards each other, ignoring the ticks and tocks that they swore weren't as loud before. Shadow returns the gesture, taking hold of Sonic's hand himself as well.
"...You really think so. You think that me being here is beneficial to you."
Sonic nodded. He was no liar.
"I see."
Shadow stood up from the couch, leaving behind all of his things. He opened a drawer, which contained all of his things. Not much, mind. Which made it all the more baffling when he took out a button up dress shirt.
"Hm?" His eye ridges raised, questioning. The beginning of the song looped, and once again, Morrissey's voice came through the headphones.
"Take me out… tonight…"
Shadow couldn't help but laugh. "If you really do think that, prove it to me."
"Take me out, faker."
X-X
So I said I would write some more fluffy stuff at some point. While I work on rewriting most of Private Stripes (don't lose hope!), I did this little thing. I know, so many references to music and books and shows. I came up with this idea when I first listened to The Smiths' 'The Queen is Dead'. Stay tuned for more!