Don't Leave Me

By Soar318

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING STORY IS SONADOW, BOY/BOY, YAOI! IF YOU DON'T LIKE SONADOW THEN PLEASE CLICK THE BLUE BACK BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE SCREEN. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! And for those who like Sonadow, then enjoy!

"Where on Mobius have you've been?"

"On Mobius, that's where."

"You were making me SICK with worry, you IDIOT!"

"Well, I'm home now, so don't you get on my butt about what I can do."

"But two WHOLE WEEKS!"

"If you're so sensitive about it, why don't you actually come with me?"

Shadow blinked, surprised by Sonic's icy reply to his latest outburst in the one-on-one conversation. Sure, Sonic may get angry, and will go on a silent streak for hours, (his record is two days, before Shadow finally convinced him to race) but he had never spoken so frostily to Shadow before.

"Well, what if I don't want to? You know that I'm an indoors kind of person," Shadow replied, slightly nervous, and unsure what reaction it might have on his blue lover.

"Then don't nag me about it," was Sonic the Hedgehog's reply, turning away from the ebony and crimson hedgehog, but his tone was slightly warmer.

"I'm worried about you, Sonic. What if something happens to you? What if Eggman decides to send a robot to try to destroy you? What if you get injured? What if you actually die-"

"Shadow!" Sonic whirled around and grabbed the Ultimate Lifeform's shoulders and pulled him toward himself so that they were nose-to-nose. "I. AM. NOT. GONNA. GET. KILLED. I've been friggin living on my own since the age of ten, and I know my strengths and weaknesses!"

"But say-"

"I've fought a robotic clone, the God of Destruction, not to mention helping you with the Space Colony Ark, the Black Arms, and also fought the manifestation of darkness from the planet's center, a giant robot powered by aliens, and saved those aliens, plus their four or five planets, then fought their corrupted mother, and won, so why shouldn't I BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF?"

"…"

"Exactly!"

"Sonic, I'm just worried…"

"Well, you shouldn't be!"

"Why are so blunt toward me? I lost my only friend fifty years ago when a soldier shot her! And you stand here, yelling at me? Why can't you at least show some god friggin compassion?"

"Well, I have been showing compassion, but maybe because you're so thick-headed that you just can't realize it!"

"Then why don't you show more compassion?"

"I'm TIRED of giving you compassion when you just swat it away like an annoying fly!"

"THEN MAYBE WE SHOULD SPLIT UP!"

"FINE."

Shadow blinked once again at the icy tones of Sonic, while his now ex-boyfriend stormed to the front door, yanked it open, and within milliseconds disappeared, leaving just a dust cloud and a swinging door, which he didn't bother to slam shut.

The surprisingly confused ebony hedgehog walked over in a daze, and shut the door.

'Did Sonic and I just yell at each other? Did I really suggest we split up? Did he really just take the offer? What have I done?'

That night, Shadow was very aware of the empty, cold spot next to him on the bed, and that Sonic's once lingering scent was no more…

As he approached both the speed of sound and the edge of the city where Shadow lived, Sonic thought over what had happened.

'Shadow shouldn't have been so worried. Heck, it's not like he's never seen me fight before.'

'But you were a bit hard on him. After all, it's natural for lovers to be worried about each other,' a little voice piped up in his head.

'He'll get over it soon enough. You know, I think I should teach him a lesson.'

'But he did lose Maria on the Ark. Why teach him a lesson when he has already gone through so much pain?'

'Shut up. And thank you for giving me an idea for teaching Shadow a lesson. This is gonna be fun…"

'Excuse me? Wait…'

As Sonic sped over the many hills and plains that covered the Green Hill Zone, the little devil inside his head began to make some very special plans for Shadow, who was about to become far more miserable than the plan was special...

Tails was getting worried.

As he watched Shadow gazing out the window, eyes glazed and dull, he wondered what could have possibly made Shadow look so…lifeless. It was almost as if his very soul was gone. Sure, Shadow may not be the most emotional person on the planet, but he does show some feelings now and then, especially after he and Sonic had become lovers. Then again, Tails had heard some yelling in the entrance hall earlier…

He hesitantly approached Shadow, reached over and lightly tapped on the ebony hedgehog's shoulder. No response. "Um, Shadow?" No response.

He vaguely noticed Tails calling his name, but the words seemed to float through a fog that muffled all noise. After the fight that had occurred yesterday, Shadow had cut himself off from everyone else. He no longer cared what happened to him. And the one thing that would make him live once again was already far, far out of his reach…

It has been about a month since Shadow had cut himself off from the rest of the world.

Nowadays, he wouldn't come out of his locked bedroom, and didn't open it for anyone, not even for her or Omega. As far as Rouge knows, his only window was locked and the heavy velvet curtains were drawn. Occasionally, when she had crept downstairs around midnight to go on a mission for GUN, she had heard sounds of crying coming from inside the barred bedroom. Needless to say, Rouge was shocked beyond belief. Shadow never cried. Heck, he barely showed any goddamn emotion, for Chaos' sake! What could have happened to actually make the Ultimate Lifeform, master of Chaos, the one person who could actually match Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius, in speed, cry like a two-year-old?

Sobbing. Crying. Cutting. Slicing. Blood.

'Why? Why did you have to leave me, Sonic? Why is it that you won't come back? Will you ever come back to me? Where are you now? I need you…please…come back to me…I need you…'

Every day and every night has been like this. Sobbing and crying on his bed, just wishing and wishing that his one love will come back to him, to gently stroke his black and red quills, telling him that everything will be alright, and that he'll never leave Shadow alone ever again…

When the tears are all gone, he'll cry blood. When he just can't stand it anymore, he'll take the bloodstained, rusted dagger lying on the table and slice open his own wrists. The pain would always take a seemingly long time to reach his brain. He won't eat. He won't sleep. Every hour and every minute was all spent into making himself suffer, into punishing himself, because he had lost another loved one, and the second was even more crushing and more heavier than the first…

It has been nearly a month since that fight with Shadow.

The little devil in his head had gone after three weeks of running all over Mobius, and now Sonic the Hedgehog is bored.

And he misses Shadow so friggin bad, as he lay under a tree beneath a starry night sky.

Oh, sure they had a fight, but they could make up, right? 'If he wants to make up, that is, and he probably won't…'

After all, after a month Shadow would also miss him, right? 'He doesn't give a damn about you…'

Shadow would just forget about the whole fight and agree be lovers again, right? 'Oh, no he won't. He'll just shun you and completely forget about you…'

"SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!" Sonic now had tears streaming down his cheeks, and he ran, trying to get away from that evil whisper, the breathy voice that stayed curled up inside his spiky head.

'You can't run away from me, Sonic. And I'll always plague you with doubts, since-'

Whatever the voice had wanted to say was cut off, because Sonic was now staring through the window of Shadow the Hedgehog's bedroom, perched on a branch, and the sapphire hedgehog finally saw what he had made Shadow become, because the ebony hedgehog finally had pulled open the curtains to see the stars…

Once silky fur matted and tangled, wrists flowing with blood, and body so thin that the blue hedgehog could literally count all of the ebony hedgehog's ribs, but what really horrified Sonic was Shadow's eyes…

The once shining and piercing ruby red eyes were now dull and lifeless, glazed and hollow, like a deep, dark void that leads to hell. No longer bright, they stared out at the night sky, not seeing anything but tiny little pricks of brightness among the pitch black of the night.

After hearing Rouge plead from the other side of his still locked door, Shadow was finally persuaded to open his window and drew aside his heavy curtains. As he gazed at the brilliant stars that dotted the night sky, the onyx hedgehog suddenly noticed that these stars were no longer beautiful to him; that these stars held no warmth. They were simply cold, hard pricks of light against the darkness of the night, like holes in fabric. Fabric that was once shining like silk, soft as velvet. Like the fur of his long-gone lover…

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut as tears threatened to flow again. What use was beauty when all it reminded you of was your losses? As the grieving hedgehog opened his eyes to close the window, the once shining ruby orbs locked onto a certain spot on the oak tree that grew right in front of his window. Was there really movement in the tree? Were his wasted eyes playing tricks on him, when he saw a flash of brilliant blue fur and gleaming emerald eyes?

For the first time since the fight a month ago, Shadow finally whispered the name of the one creature on Mobius that had such fur and eyes…

"Sonic…"

Mentioned azure hedgehog shivered as sensitive ears perked up at their owner's name. And Sonic didn't shiver because of how the ebony hedgehog had whispered it, like there was nothing more important in the world than the blue hedgehog. It was the cracked, wasted voice of the hedgehog that had both horrified and terrified Sonic.

But in that exact millisecond that his name floated to his ears, Sonic made a decision.

The cobalt youth stepped out of the leaves that had so far concealed him, while the onyx hedgehog's eyes widened in shock. Sonic stepped delicately off of his branch and into Shadow's bedroom. He turned, and, giving the black hedgehog his trademark smirk and thumbs up, Sonic casually said:

"Hey, Shads. Miss me?"

Shadow all but burst into racking sobs as he flung his arms around the sapphire hedgehog's neck, and buried his face into the royal blue fur that he had missed so much.

As the trembling hedgehog cried his heart out on his shoulder, Sonic gently wrapped his arms around Shadow, whispering, "It's okay, Shadow. I'm here now…"

"Please, Sonic…Don't ever leave me again…"

"I won't, Shadow…I promise…I won't…"

End