One minute. One minute had passed since he was confined, and Sonic couldn't handle it.
He couldn't move, not even to shift into a more comfortable position, and as sweat beaded and rolled down his brow he couldn't even raise his hand to wipe it away.
He wasn't alone, but he didn't know if that made him feel better or not. The two were in Eggman's base, where Tails had managed to hack into his security system and shut off power to his cameras and alarm systems. All was going well, Sonic and Shadow running carelessly through the halls to find what they needed and get out, when the backup motion sensors were suddenly thrown online and couldn't be shut off.
They would have been able to outrun them, but the suddeness of it all startled them and they froze for just a split second, leaving the two hedgehogs frozen in pretty uncomfortable positions.
Sonic was rather lucky, he had fallen into a half-kneel from the sound and left him partially comfortable, but Shadow was hunched forward and balanced mainly on the leg in front. His arms were up in defence and he currently stared straight ahead at nothing.
It was one of the world's most intense form of freeze tag.
"Tails?" Sonic spoke, aware that he could talk, and hoped that he was close enough to his communicator that the kit could hear him.
"I'm here." Tails spoke, voice tinny and far away. Sonic could barely see Shadow straining to hear him out the corner of his eye. "Sorry, you two. I really need to fix this and it's gonna take a while. I'll call you back, Sonic! Until then, just... don't move?"
Sonic gasped and stared at his communicator "Tails! Don't you dare leave me!" a pause. "Tails!?"
"He's hung up." Shadow spoke, and Sonic slowly looked over, body starting to ache. Shadows arms were by his sides, and the hedgehog becan to panic.
"Did you freaking move!? We could get killed!" He remembered the sound of those guns clicking clear as day "Are you crazy? I know you can't die and all but still--"
Shadow sighed "These are motion dectors, meaning they see movement. However, movement can be slow enough that it cannot be detected. If that wasn't the case, us simply breathing would have killed us already."
Sonic paused, taking the information in, then, slowly, centimeter by centimeter, his knee met the ground and he relaxed. "Oh."
The alien blinked, glad that the camera right next to them couldn't detect such small movements such as blinking and talking. "Oh is right."
"So, now what? I can't sit like this forever."
"Not forever, just long enough. The kit needs to fix this, you can sit still for that."
Sonic huffed "You can call him Tails, you know."
"I give people I enjoy nicknames." Shadow admitted, feeling that he was going to be in this for the long run. Sonic was bored and he was going to talk if he couldn't move, so Shadoe had to grit and bare through it.
Sonic began to turn his head, so slow that even Shadow was irritated as he spoke. "So that's why you called me faker all those years ago!"
"No, I did because I didn't much care to learn your name nor value you as a mobian on my level." The agent went to shrug, the sighed instead. He started on changing his position to sit instead. "Obviously, that's not my view now."
"...So what is your view?" Shadow hadn't called him anything in a while other than 'Sonic'. After becoming friends, they did throw Faker around on a daily, bug after years of having a strong friendship, or so he thought, Shadow was only calling Sonic by his name.
"Does it matter?" he dodged "I don't like being still as much as you do, so talking isn't helping my mood."
"What is your view of me?"
Great, now things were awkward. Halfway between a sit and a kneel, the hedgehog gave up on his original plan and leaned back to stay in this position for as long as he could bare it and tried to ignore Sonic staring at him. The ground was cold and hard, sure to take a while for him to adjust, and based on how he's heard nothing from the fox, he doubted the kit was anywhere close to saving them.
Cutting his losses, he frowned. "You know how whenever I bring up Maria, I never say a nickname?" he said instead, not willing to give a full answer. He so wanted to cross his arms, but with him bracing his hands to the floor, it would take too long to give effect.
It took a bit for the hedgehog to get it, but when he did, his head turned for fast to face head that there was a loud clicking of multiple turrets pointing at him. He panted, sweat now dripping from his shoulders to gather on the tile below. After a minute of held silence, the turrets pulled back into the wall, sure the sensors simply went off for no reason.
"Hell." He cursed, making Shadow almost laugh. "Does that mean you respect me or think of me as a friend?"
"I only call Rouge by her name or 'Bat'. I only call Tails by 'Kit'. I only call Knuckles 'Guardian' or 'Echidna', and I only call Amy 'Pink.' You have been Hedgehog, Faker, Blue, and Sonic. Is it that hard for you to tell that I think of you as a friend?" He seemed almost upset at this point "I don't like saying it aloud because whenever I do they end up dead."
"Oh, Shadow," Sonic whispered, concern lacing his voice "I... I'm sorry, I forgot that you felt that way. I--I mean,"
"That's alright, I know what you meant. That'a just something it's going to take me some time to get over." his voice was heavy "Just, let's be quiet for a while, I'm done with talking."
Following his request, Sonic closed his mouth and folded back his ears, tediously of course, and gave the ebony hedgehog his silence. He never thought Shadow would like him this much, to put him up with Maria's level of respect and friendship? He and Maria were basically family, and since her and Molly's sudden... departure, Shadow was always distant. So much so that even Rouge had difficulty talking to him whenever he was in a mood. And, speaking of moods, he was in one now. The alien had turned his head away and sagged down into his position, shoulders lightly shaking as he tried to stave off his emotions.
Shadow took a deep breath. This was not the time to be upset over anything. Maybe, if he managed to reach his arm up, he'd be able to teleport them both out? Sonic was a few feet away, so they'd have to crawl over to each other and abort the mission. The flash of light would most likely set off the sensors and cause the doctor to look for a reason why and possibly move the emeralds they were here for. But, patience was running thin and the kit still had yet to call back.
"Wanna talk?"
The question made Shadow sneer. He didn't answer, so Sonic started again.
"I mean, we usually never have time to talk. We're almost always doing something, and never just have any downtime, so... want to talk about it?"
"I don't, I'm the the quietest person you could have ever asked that question to." Shadow shot back, raising an eyeridge in confusion. "This isn't downtime, this is an unfortunate span of time we have to wait in order to not get fatally wounded."
"I know, and I don't mean talk as in talk, I mean talk as in talk." Sonic offered, relaxed as much as he could in this situation. He could tell Shadow was stumped by his offer and the way it was worded and went to correct himself, but when the other sighed, he shut up.
"I don't like being immortal." Oh. That was... sudden. "I want to be able to die." okay this seemed like a bad idea.
"Shadow?"
"No, correction, not in a bad way. I'm not suicidal, I just... wish I was mortal. I want to be able to get hurt and not heal twice as fast as I should. I want to have limits, not man-made ones." he looked down to his limitor rings "Just because I'm the way I am, I'm constantly used for it. Sent on missons that no normal person would come back alive from, working on things far more dangerous than this, being exposed to deadlier and deadlier forces just to see what works because everyone knows I can't die."
"I'm just a test subject, and always have been. I'm used to being use and have even used myself for days, weeks, months on end because I know I'll get over it. I'm supposed to be used to help people, but what good have I caused? I'm a weapon."
Sonic swallowed a lump in his throat. He was not prepared for a crisis right now, and didn't know all of what to say. He didn't have a manual on alien hedgehogs, and he wasn't the best with comfort. That was also the most Shadow had ever spoken in a long time, and he was rather awestruck just by that. "You have caused good, for many people." he started "You've saved so many people every single day ever since you've become friends with us. You've saved the world way too many times to count, from Biohazard to Metarex, Black Doom, Eggman so many times, and the list still goes on. I... I don't know what to say, really, but I know you have been useful. I don't know how to make you mortal, or if that'll even be good to do, but I like you just the way you are, Shadow."
The two were quiet for a long time. Then, there was a beep, and Tails' voice rang through "Alright! Cameras are off!" He chirped, sounding exhausted by happy. Shadow was the first to stand, followed by Sonic, and reached over to grab the hedgehog's wrist before he had a chance to respond. "Thank you, Tails. Signing off."
The kit sounded flustered as he hung up and Shadow sped off, Sonic right behind him. They didn't say anything for a while.
"Thank you, Sonic. I've never said that to anyone." he said, glancing back to the blue hedgehog as he slowed down. A bit startled, Sonic hurried to match pace with him and look on in worry, before two strong arms wrapped around him for no more than a second until Shadow pried himself away and sprinted further into the base. "Don't speak a word of this to anyone, Faker!" he called behind him, and Sonic couldn't help but laugh.
"Okay, Shads!"
xox
oneshot bc fuck i have writers block and i have so many unfinished oneshots and crap clogging this thing. i gotta get something posted, and my writing feels like shit again and i gotta get back into the mood
i have multiple ideas and stuff that is gonna be Long and I decided to make a fucking poll to whoever reads these
1.) Handcuffs- Sonic and Shadow are handcuffed to each other and cannot break the chain. Non-Sonadow. Humour, not serious. Possibly short.
2.) What You Do - Shadow is being secretive and is slowly going mad. No ships. Serious. Possibly long.
3.) In Common - Amy goes shopping with a certain person in mind. Ship. Not really serious, mostly fluff. Short.
4.) Tails Clone- that Sonic boom episode, essentially, but different. No ships. Serious with bits of humour. Unsure of length.
5.) Fuck all that entirely and make a new story involving any character (explain in review/pm)
F.) hivemind again, rewritten
aight, see y'all!!
idk is this is beta read or not, but i will post it anyway