Such Rare Tears

Let me be the one to take your fears apart.

Your tears, why?

If you cry, it must be because

There's something you cannot take.

Oh! How your heart is about to break.

But I will.

I will mend these tears, turning them to sun.

And when it's all said and done,

I swear you will cry no more.

The amusement park. The abandoned amusement park. At sundown. Where all the rides are rusted, corroded, fading away into dust? Where the smells of cotton candy and caramel popcorn sift through the tight oxygen like ghosts, meanwhile the rust and musty smell of rained-on plush velour seats make you wonder: Who? What? Where? When? And why?

Why here, of all places, would Sonic choose to meet him? Surely it wasn't the sort of thing Sonic would say, in a note on the black fridge in that illegible chicken scratch that passed as his handwriting.

Meet me at the old amusement park at sundown. Don't get lost!

Sonic

The note still smelled like him. Shadow took it out and sniffed it. Yep. The unique smell of Sonic's wind-tossed fur, mixed in with just a hint of chili. Even if he'd been starving for weeks, it seemed that smelling like chili (if a faint trace only detectable by the few who knew him well enough to detect it counted) was just, well…just Sonic. As if the world ending could not take away that hint of individuality.

The black and crimson hedgehog crumpled the note in his clenched fists. "You go and tell me not to get lost, and then you don't show up." He muttered angrily, tossing the note violently onto the ground and grinding it into the dirt with the toe of his rocket boot. "Serves you right." He told the note proudly, giving a slight nod in approval.

Suddenly, he heard a faint groan coming from under one of the destroyed roller coasters. It sounded ghostly, and at first Shadow dismissed it as a trick of the mind. It sounded like it was coming from beyond the grave, and he was completely done with spirits. He was about to give up and just go home, when it came again. This time louder, closer, more desperate…and familiar, too.

"Ugh…Shadoow?" The whimper still had a ghostliness to it, but familiarity that couldn't be dead. Not yet, at least. The owner of the voice itself was probably just barely clinging to life. "Damn!" Came the muffled curse, and then in a louder but hoarser voice came the cry: "Shadoooow!"

Shadow was not the heroic type, but he wasn't heartless. "Sonic?" He wondered, skating over to the overturned coaster and tearing through the fallen steel bars that once held this thing in place. "Sonic?!" His voice was inexplicably concerned now, wondering if he was too late…

"Sh-Shadow?" The voice was so faint, so weak…it hailed from underneath one of the rusted cars from the roller coaster. Shadow, his strength infinite, lifted the cart away with a single hand.

There, trying to devour an earthworm in the moist dirt, was Sonic. He was looking pretty pathetic, eyes wide and wet in the darkness, mange making his fur clot and fall out in many places. Mange in anthropomorphic animals can be caused by being starved for unusually long periods of time, or poison. Or a combination of the two.

"Sonic?" Shadow chuckled in his relief, lifting the blue one to his level. "Why are you eating worms?" He laid the poor hedgehog across his lap.

Blue flushed and turned his face into the black one's knee. "Because…"

"Because why?" Shadow teased affectionately, bending close to Sonic's ear.

Sonic blinked back a tear. "Because…that's the only food I've got strength enough to eat." He growled at a failed attempt to snag another pink creature from the ground and pounded his fist into the same spot where the creature had disappeared to. He groaned and choked back a sob at this. "Correction. I used to have the strength to eat. Now I can't do so much as catch one!"

Shadow turned Sonic over in his lap, inspecting the damage done to his perfect fur. "Well, our wild cousins may eat them, but they don't hold half the amount of protein that we need to keep our muscles working properly and our bodies strong. You'd have to eat millions of them to nutritionally survive for a few days!" He chuckled, ruffling Sonic's belly fur, to which Sonic curled up slightly, a small smile on his injured face.

"That tickles." Sonic rasped.

"Really?" Shadow teased, helping cobalt up. "Come on, why don't we go back to my place and then you can tell me what happened while I feed you for real, huh?"

"Hold on." Sonic gripped his wrist, forcing the darker one to spin around and face him. "You can't die by poison, right?"

The cause of the mange? "Um, no. Why?"

"Cause I'm definitely too weak to handle much more of this." Sonic pulled Shadow up against his body and closed his lips over the other's. Shadow was about to pull away, but then…he didn't want Sonic to die! One little kiss wouldn't hurt. Sonic licked Shadow's bottom lip with a sense of urgency. Shadow let him in.

To his surprise, something live and squiggly entered his mouth. Convulsively, Shadow swallowed. Whatever it was writhed as it traveled down his throat, but it didn't make him feel as if he was being poisoned. Even though he was immune, he would certainly be able to tell he was being poisoned!

Sonic pulled away from the kiss, leaving Shadow hungry for more. He liked the way Sonic's mouth tasted, and he wanted to get in for more. When Sonic saw him advancing, however, he held him off.

"That thing is only harmless in your body." He spoke quietly. If I digest that thing, I'll surely die."

"Is that why you were catching worms? To feed it?"

Sonic nodded, his tears coming fast now. Suddenly and without warning, he dove into Shadow's shoulder, promptly crying his eyes out.

Shadow, at a loss for words, lifted Sonic into his arms bridal style and sped off for his house, a frown crossing his lips.

Sonic…in tears?

That just didn't happen. Not in a million, billion years.

One trip to Shadow's house later…

Shadow placed Sonic, whose sobs had now died down a bit, on the couch and began to prepare some food for him. Sonic's mind was dealt a dizzying reel when the full extent of his hunger became evident at just the scent of his most favorite food. But, for the sake of him being Sonic, he had to banter about it.

"You're doin it wrong."

Shadow growled. "You can't even see what I'm doing!" Yet…he secretly liked the opposition. Sonic was the only one who had ever dared to oppose him. And, while that had seriously ticked him off in the past, it was now something he liked out Sonic. The blue one, much like himself, had no fear of opposition. He was going to do what he set his mind to do.

And, Shadow found that strangely…sexy.

"Yeaup, but I still know!" Sonic rubbed under his nose factually, reclining into the couch's pillows.

"You'd be surprised. I can actually cook." Shadow retorted lightly.

"Yeah, we'll just see about that." Sonic grinned, stealing a peek at Shadow's attractive ass. It swayed so seductively, when the black one himself had no recollection. Mmmm. That's two things that I'm hungry for. Sonic thought. Shadow's ass, and chilidogs.

After the food was all made, Shadow presented it to Sonic, only to watch the blue one promptly devour every last bite. Shadow got up and went to get two sodas, and when he came back, Sonic was licking his ungloved fingers (since when had his gloves been off?) clean. "Yum! That was delicious, Shadow!" Sonic admitted brightly. His eyes were shining like suns, and already his mange was beginning to heal.

Cute. He heals almost as fast as me. Indulged Shadow, smirking as he tossed Sonic the soda. "So…why were you crying before?"

Sonic snapped the can open, watching it spill out all over the top before licking it away, eyes lidded. He looked very sexy to Shadow, but when their eyes met again…Sonic's lively eyes were once again dead. "I…I was crying because…" he sniffled, trying to keep from crying. Shadow rose and took the spot behind him, automatically accepting Sonic's head to his lap. "…because Eggman poisoned me! With something alive! A fricken robotic parasite that only the strongest stomach's acids can devour and defeat! Oh, that's why I gave it to you." Sonic sat up and held Shadow's face in his hands. "Your stomach can digest anything!"

Shadow smiled, blushing at the contact. "Yes, that is true, I suppose."

Sonic gave Shadow a short peck before sinking to his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Shads. I'm just so tired. Please forgive me."

Shadow kissed his forehead. "It's okay. Just don't cry anymore, Sonic."

The blue hedgie wrapped his arms around his future lover. "Not that I wouldn't be happy to oblige, but why?"

Shadow hugged him back and looked down into his green eyes, his ruby red ones shining like stars. "Because. That's the only thing that hurts me."

Sonic yawned and closed his eyes. Soon, he was cutely sleeping, looking so innocent and beautiful and sexy.

"Goodnight, Sonic." Shadow smiled as he curled himself around the younger one and went to sleep as well.

Woo! Sonadow fic! I missed these! Drop me a review, will ya?