Yellow stopped and turned to glance back at the black hedgehog walking past. Wasn't that Feather?
No. Just a glance at the stranger's clenched hands confirmed it. No rings. And Feather had dents in his quills; he'd yelled at Green yesterday for pointing it out. The quills of the stranger's shell were pristine, and even swayed in the breeze somehow. A dull green scarf too plain for Feather hung around his neck.
Oh. It must be cold. Green won't like that. No snow yet, though. Orange would be happy once there was some. At least, Yellow thought so. He couldn't tell if all the time Orange put into creating tiny snowmen meant that he was enjoying himself.
The stranger was further away. Yellow shook his head to clear it and focus, then started into a clumsy run. His left leg dragged and kicked, wasn't cooperating. Start working, come on, he had to catch this guy! They could fit another android brother in the hidey-hole. It was crowded, but it was safe.
"Hey, you!" He cried out, stumbling along as fast as he could, "W-Wait!"
The weather nipped at the black hedgehog's nose, ears, fingers. He walked alone, heavy metal shoes falling with muffled clunks onto the sidewalk. Shadow stared ahead, eyes dull, scarcely seeing what was in front of him.
Unbidden images and sound swirled in his head. The sky churning from calm blue into a swirling vortex of scarlet. Monstrous black creatures hailing down upon the helpless humans of Westopolis. A dead, growling voice intoning coldly that Shadow himself was one of those monsters.
So much after that was blank. The moments of clarity pierced only briefly through an impenetrable fog.
What he retained raised more questions than answers.
In one, he woke from dying again- he'd lost count of how many times he'd been shot, crushed, and torn apart- and looked down to a green wound in his side. Green blood matted his fur, and oozed down his leg to the sidewalk. The sight lingered briefly, offering no explanation. Then Doom discovered he was awake again, and…
In another, a voice floated in and out, calling his name, most of the rest garbled. It was a boy's voice. He yelled louder, angry and alarmed, when he didn't get an answer. Shadow ran past him, the scenery blurring. The voice didn't fade; its owner could keep up with him. Shouting what was he doing; those soldiers were on their side.
What was left of his mind screamed to stop. The legs beneath him didn't even falter. Mind and body was no longer his.
And another, the clearest. He realized a rigor mortis grip on a smoking gun, arm rigid in its aim. Singed metal and sweat and smoke and blood attacked his senses. Every muscle was tense, damp. Gunshots and screaming echoed far ahead of him. He'd do something about that, something, once he knew what-
"Don't..." His own voice rasped. Mouth didn't move.
On the ground in front of him lay one of the doctor's copies in a shiny slick of oil. The android grimaced and shuddered. One hand tried to staunch the flow of oil and coolant and god knows what else from a ragged hole through its torso. The robot felt pain.
This one didn't look exactly like him. Yellow streaks. Yellow eyes, staring up at him. Scared. Shadow's arm drew back to his side, the movement remarkably calm. How does a machine feel fear?
"Don't…k-kill me…" The copy begged, tinny and on the verge of crying. It- no, he- groaned in pain, limbs making a jerked, abortive attempt at curling up. Shadow watched and heard the android's gasps catch in his throat.
Say something. Stop him from being so afraid.
"Please don't-…ki…" The word trailed off and the android's eyes closed. Streaked arms like his stopped twitching, and fake inhibitor ringed-wrists and hands fell limp.
Too late.
The gun in his hand clattered to the ground.
What happened after faded back into the fog, but he did recall one thing. As his mind was taken back, he obediently picked up the gun again. Metal remains crunched like a dead leaf under his feet. And he walked back into the war that never seemed to end…
Shadow started back into the present. He took a deep breath. The smell of smoke was gone. The air was cold and sharp. It hurt to inhale. Good. It kept him here.
He'd been walking. His legs were under his control again now. He was straining to hear something. Nothing was there. The distant screaming, destruction, and gunshots remained in the past when they belonged. Here were walls of buildings and cool silence.
Except for tromping behind him, getting louder.
Yellow pumped his legs harder and tried to ignore that one of them refused to work.
The malfunctioning left leg swung in front of the right. They connected and Yellow fell forward onto the cold, hard sidewalk. He cried out at the impact. Pain zinged through the jagged scar on his stomach.
"O-Ow ow ow…"
The pain took a moment to fade. He lay there with the concrete sidewalk in his face and sighed, his false breath fogging the air. Bad luck. The stranger was probably long gone.
Too bad. Yellow slowly pushed himself onto his knees, looked up, and squeaked.
The other black hedgehog loomed over him, crimson eyes boring into Yellow's weak ones.
Yellow froze. Breathing sped up. Felt sick. (In the back of his mind he knew that didn't make sense, he was a machine-) Had to run. Fight. Something.
The stranger was still. Stared. Yellow couldn't keep from breathing so hard, and shaking. Was this guy an advanced model? Was he there to drag him back to the creator?
Legs didn't want to work. Nothing bad had happened yet. Yellow decided on opening his mouth to ask, when the stranger held out his hand. The android stared up at it. It wasn't an aggressive gesture. But what did he want?
The fingers twitched. "Your hand." He had a slow, cool voice.
"Oh." Felt silly now. Yellow relaxed, and stopped shaking as much. "R-Right." Good thing his arms still worked properly. The stranger had a strong, warm grip. Strange. Didn't feel much like metal.
His left leg slipped out from under him, almost making Yellow fall again. He leaned very heavily on the stranger's hand, which didn't so much as dip down. Yellow held his leg still with his free left hand, and managed to finally get both his feet properly underneath him.
This guy must be patient. And really strong. Still just staring at him. What kind of antifreeze system kept even his fingers warm like that?
"Um, thank you." Yellow let go of the stranger's hand and managed a grateful but awkward smile. He'd been overreacting; this was another android! Like him!
Oh, right, that was why he'd run after him in the first place. "H-Hey," Yellow said, holding out his open hand, "you should c-come with me. Th-there's more of us. We're all, uh, hiding, so we're s-safe."
The stranger glanced at his hand and didn't take it. Yellow couldn't tell what they were thinking. "…What do you mean 'more of us'?"
Yellow stammered. "Y-You know, um, us androids…?" The gears turned in his head. Why the confusion? Maybe he thought they'd all been destroyed too? "There are m-more of us left, I-I promise," He said earnestly. "I was surprised th-that anyone was left, too," his voice quavered, "The m-monsters and S- S- uh, the death machine, k-killed a lot of us…"
"I saw the monsters. What death machine?"
Another question, huh. He must have been hidden away during that whole ordeal. Lucky. "Th-The guy we were built after…" Yellow swallowed. "Sh- Sha- Shadow." He shivered. "I don't like s-saying his name. Feels like he'll show up and…finish me off, or-"
The stranger abruptly turned around and walked away.
"Wh-" He'd been talking! Yellow started after him, "Where are you going?"
His stride didn't slow. "I'm not an android."
Yellow stumbled to a stop. "What?"
No answer. By the time he had presence of mind to call again the stranger had rounded a bend, out of sight.
What was that? If that guy hadn't been an android too, then why did he look like Shadow? Could it be-...?
He shuddered, his metal parts clattering together.
But at the same time, his fear didn't make sense. The death machine had shot him without hesitation, watched as he bled, and walked away, his foot casually crushing Yellow's leg. The stranger hadn't attacked him, and though he was somewhat rude and looked at him strangely, he'd helped Yellow stand up even though he didn't have to. There was no way they were the same person.
He hummed, now calm. Maybe they'd meet again.
For now, though…Yellow turned and jogged down the sidewalk. He'd go home. And tell his brothers about the nice person he met.