Chapter 2: Welcome Back

Three months earlier …

Tap-tap-tap … tap-tap-tap … tap-tap-tap …

Shadow kept a steady rhythm as he touched his fingers against the chill surface of the break room table. The half-empty cup of coffee the hedgehog had was now cold, but Shadow hardly cared. He didn't even need coffee anyway, caffeine did nothing for him. As far as he was concerned, the drink was just another way to pass the time.

He glanced towards the clock. It had only been fifteen minutes … Lovely. Who knows how much longer he'd have to sit around doing nothing?

G.U.N. was usually pretty darn good at keeping its agents busy – particularly Shadow and Rouge, who were by far the most skilled. Shadow didn't necessarily care for the missions he was sent on, but at least they gave him something to do with his time. On the rare occasions where the Commander didn't have a task for the chaos being, Shadow was left to his own devices – which pretty much consisted of Shadow sitting around and waiting for something interesting to happen. He guessed that was one of the benefits of being a super-powered chaotic space being living in a world constantly under threat of being taken over by a robot-crazed genius: it never took too long for something interesting to happen. But, Shadow had been hanging around G.U.N.'s headquarters for at least four hours now, and still nothing even mildly amusing was going on.

Shadow sighed heavily and picked up the cup of coffee. He took a slow sip of the cold liquid. Cold coffee was absolutely disgusting, and Shadow scrunched his face into a scowl as he placed the cup back down. It was during times like these that his long-time teammate and perhaps only true friend Rouge would suggest that the hedgehog get a hobby to help fill his limited, but very boring, free time. The only problem was that very few things on Mobius truly interested Shadow. Rouge tried several times to take Shadow out to clubs and bars in order to have him 'lighten up and have fun', but such activities were more annoying than anything else to the hedgehog and eventually Rouge gave up trying once she discovered that Shadow was incapable of getting drunk. Shadow had taught himself how to cook and how to repair his motorcycle, but those felt more like choirs rather than something he would do for fun. There was a time when Rouge even recruited some of the members from Sonic's friend group to introduce Shadow to various hobbies, such as having Tails teach Shadow how to play video games and having Amy take Shadow out to the mall to get him to try shopping (though Shadow is now thoroughly convinced that Rouge only set up that last one in order to encourage Shadow to talk to girls …). Regardless of their efforts, however, Shadow simply was not entertained by most things that the city and Mobius in general had to offer.

Well, with the exception of gardening …

As unlikely as it sounds, the ebony hedgehog actually found that he really loved botany and caring for the plants on Mobius. When Shadow was on the ARK, there was no plant life. Everything around him was metallic and lifeless. But, he still remembers the way Maria used to talk about the life on Earth. She would go on and on about all the different flowers she remembered and even promised that she would open a flower shop once she returned to the world … Shadow was so bent on revenge when he arrived on Earth, that he never took the time to appreciate the nature that existed there. But now that he was on Mobius, he could finally understand what got Maria so excited. Having grown up surrounded by a cold, unfeeling metal space station, Shadow was reasonably amazed by the idea of living amongst the green, lively, and beautiful presence of nature. Though, unfortunately, gardening was the one hobby that Shadow could never reasonably pursue. His frequent G.U.N. missions would make it impossible for the hedgehog to give consistent and meaningful care to a fragile plant.

For now, the only plant Shadow owned was one given to him by Sonic. Without realizing it, a smile crept onto the ebony one's muzzle. He could still remember the day he told the blue hero about his passion for botany. He expected Sonic to laugh at him for having such a 'soft side', but instead …

"Hey, that's awesome!"

Shadow perked his ears up and stared at the hero in disbelief. That was not the response he was anticipating. Usually Sonic was quick to tease him every time he revealed his … well, more sentimental side.

"This planet is beautiful, I can see why you'd want to study the natural life on it! Take it from somebody who has seen his fair share of alien worlds and alternate dimensions – there's nothing prettier than what Mother Nature has to offer!" Sonic lifted his head in the air and tucked his arms behind his head as he walked. He looked like he was sniffing the air, almost as if he was taking in the scent of the life that surrounded them as they continued their journey through the forest.

Shadow cocked his head, but hummed in agreement nonetheless.

"Have you ever considered growing a few of your own plants sometime?" The hero asked. "I could help you find a good piece of land. You could grow whatever you liked." Sonic shot a smile at his companion, though Shadow merely shrugged.

"I had certainly thought about it before," he responded, his face returning to its usual resting frown. "Though I don't imagine I'd be able to properly take care of it while working for G.U.N."

Sonic groaned and let his arms fall so his hands were resting on his hips. "Those guys sure do find ways to keep you busy, don't they …?" He paused for a moment, though simply by his facial features alone Shadow could tell an idea was forming in that impulsive brain of his. "Ha-ah!" He finally declared, causing both hedgehogs to stop in their tracks. "I got to go real quick! Meet me at your place in ten! Don't be late!"

Before Shadow could even respond, Sonic vanished in a blue blur off towards the city. The ebony hedgehog merely groaned before he too took off in a flash, racing behind his partner.

Shadow, unsurprisingly, reached his home within a matter of a few minutes. He tapped his foot impatiently on the ground and glanced down at his communicator which showed him the time. Shadow lived outside the hub of the city, close enough where he could reach the downtown area in a minute, but far enough away that he wouldn't be bothered by the crowds or noise. He imagined that Sonic had travelled into the city to work out whatever plan he had conjured up, though Shadow was slightly confused on what was taking him so long. But, just like that, a streak of blue could be seen in the distance and it was racing towards Shadow fast. The blue blur slowed down significantly as it approached its destination, and soon the form of Sonic was standing in front of Shadow and he was holding … a mini cactus?

Sonic beamed brightly as he held out a small plastic holder that held a miniature cactus inside. The plant was small enough that it could be held with one hand, and Shadow could tell that the cactus was still in its earlier stages of growth. Shadow looked between the plant and the one offering it, a frown still on his face.

"Well, aren't you going to take it or am I going to have to stand here all day?" Sonic asked teasingly as he began to thump his foot on the ground.

"What is this, faker?" Shadow responded dryly, though his voice was not as cold as it usually was – it was hard for Shadow to keep his tough persona while around Sonic, one of the side effects of having dated the cobalt speedster for nearly three months now.

"Umm, I'm pretty sure it's a cactus? I thought you were supposed to be good at plant science." Sonic grinned widely at his own humor before continuing. "More importantly though, this is your new housemate. You said you couldn't grow a full garden due to your agent work, but I think I found a loophole. This little plant is one hardy guy, so he should be able to keep up even when you're away for a while on a mission. He only needs to be watered once a week, maybe even less than that if it comes to it. Cacti also live for years, so you don't have to worry about constantly replacing him."

Shadow moved his eyes between the plant and the hedgehog about fifty times before finally locking his crimson eyes with Sonic's emerald ones.

"Thank you…" was all Shadow added as he took the cactus from Sonic's hand. And Sonic developed the most ridiculous grin on his face.

Shadow let out another sigh, his eyes fixated on his distorted reflection that showed on the table surface. He wouldn't be this bored if Sonic had been around, but unfortunately the hero was almost always as busy as Shadow was. At the moment, the speedster was off with his young fox inventor friend as they were attempting to track down a Chaos Emerald that had appeared in the northern regions. It had been several days since they had left and there was no telling when they would return.

Just then, the door to the breakroom opened, breaking Shadow out of his thoughts. In walked a familiar white bat, whose hips swung as she walked. She held her head high with such confidence and only shifted her gaze so she could lock eyes with Shadow.

"I thought I'd find you in here. Is Mr. Sunshine enjoying his day off?" She asked, placing her finger against her lips as if she didn't already know the answer to her own question.

Shadow rolled his eyes and rested his head against his hand which was propped up by his elbow. "What do you need, Rouge?"

"Nothing, hun!" The bat placed her hands against her hips. "You know, it's actually normal for friends to want to talk to each other every now and then. Not everything needs an alternative motive."

"Everything you do has an alternative motive," Shadow responded passively. He mindlessly picked up his cup of coffee again and took another sip. His face once again scrunched at the unpleasant cold liquid. He needed to dump out this cup before he accidently took another sip …

"Hmph," the female replied. "Such little trust you have in me still … I just came to make small talk. You know, I'm just as bored as you during the days I don't have work to do." The bat made her way to the small kitchenette that was in the corner of the breakroom and pulled a cup from the top shelf. Shadow didn't bother to turn to face her, but he could hear her pressing the buttons on the coffee maker. "Want me to fill you a new cup?" she asked.

Shadow exhaled loudly and pushed his near empty cup to the edge of the table. "Sure," was all he said.

"You know," Rouge said as she grabbed Shadow's cup from the table and returned to the kitchenette. "I heard that Big Blue and his little buddy returned from their mission about an hour ago. I wonder if they got ahold of that beautiful Chaos Emerald."

Shadow's ears stood up straight at the sound of his boyfriend's name. So, that's why the bat wanted to find Shadow … Rouge may not know that Shadow and Sonic had been secretly seeing each other for the last few months, but she was definitely clever enough to figure out that something was up between the two of them. The two hedgehogs kept up the appearance that they were rivals in public, but Rouge was a better detective than even Shadow had predicted and quickly realized that Shadow was closer to Sonic than he let show. Because of this, the bat took pleasure in mentioning Sonic's name around her fellow agent whenever possible in order to watch him squirm and attempt to keep his façade.

"Hmm." Shadow tried to keep his tone as emotionless as possible, though he felt his heart skip a beat. "If they did successfully bring back the emerald, then that would make six, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, I believe so," Rouge responded. Shadow could hear the liquid pouring out of the coffee maker and into their cups. "Three would be with Sonic and his friends, one is with you, one is on Angel Island with Knuckles, and the last one …" Rouge walked over to the table with two cups of coffee in her hand, placing one in front of Shadow "… is still in Eggman's fortress, unfortunately. The last one still hasn't been found yet, though I was thinking of doing some snooping today now that I have the free time to see if I find anything out."

Shadow nodded slowly and took a sip of his new coffee. The warm beverage was more bearable than its cold counterpart, though it still didn't do anything for Shadow. Rouge sat down across from her teammate and eyed him carefully.

"You sure that the emeralds were what you really wanted to know about, though?" the bat examined Shadow closely to read any sign into how he would react, but he had gotten fairly good at hiding any hints as to what he was thinking.

"The fox and the hedgehog got back in one piece, didn't they? That's all I need to know about them. Any additional information is worthless to me," Shadow stated. With that, Shadow stood up and picked up his coffee. He took one more long sip before setting the cup near the sink. He took one last glance at Rouge, who was still trying to read his body language, before exiting the room and leaving G.U.N.'s base altogether.

As soon as Shadow got at least two blocks away from the headquarters, he pulled his Chaos Emerald out from his quills and mumbled a quick 'Chaos Control!' under his breath. In a bright flash, he disappeared and quickly reemerged on a hilltop that was miles away from the city. He glanced around and soon spotted the person he was looking for leaning against a tree only a few yards away. Sonic opened his eyes and smirked at the new visitor.

" 'Bout time you showed up," the speedster said. "I was wondering how long it would take you to hear about my return."

"Heh, you're lucky that I have the day off," Shadow scoffed. "There was a chance I wouldn't have been able to come at all." Shadow walked closer to his companion until they were practically touching noses. He placed his hands on the other's waist. Sonic lowered his eyelids, but never moved his eyes from Shadow's gaze. Now that they were standing this close, Shadow could feel the chaos energy radiating off the hedgehog, and he was certain that Sonic could feel his own energy. Shadow breathed it in, though this time something felt a bit … off?

The darker hedgehog shook away the feeling and whispered gently. "How was the emerald hunt?"

Sonic laughed lightly, though it was clearly a laugh of frustration rather than amusement. "A waste of time. A whole lot of nothin' happened." Shadow cocked his head and folded his ears back.

"You didn't find the emerald?" He asked quietly. Sonic shook his head.

"No, no luck. Once we got close to Frozen Forest, Tails' plane began to have some difficulties. We had to do an emergency landing just to avoid crashing. After searching around a little bit on foot, though, the chaos signature that Tails had been tracking just … vanished. Almost like the emerald had disappeared. There was nothing for us to do then besides fix up the plane and head on back here."

Shadow hummed curiously. So that meant there were actually two emeralds still missing … Though Shadow was finding it hard to focus on his thoughts right now or even his boyfriend. That little feeling of 'off-ness' about Sonic's chaos energy was beginning to take over his senses. Normally, chaos energy made Shadow feel great – it provided him with the power he needed to survive, and being exposed to it energized him and made him stronger. This was usually why Shadow felt so much more secure while around Sonic, since their energies strengthened each other. But for some reason, there was a slight hint of another feeling emerging from Sonic's energy … Something that made Shadow feel nauseous almost. It was only a faint feeling, but enough to alert Shadow's senses to the fact that something was definitely not right.

"What's the matter, Shads? Do I smell bad or something?" Shadow broke out of his trance at the other's question. He hadn't realized that he had started to make a disgusted face while staring at Sonic.

Shadow quickly removed his hands from Sonic's waist, causing the blue hedgehog to glance down before locking eye contact with Shadow again. "No, no," Shadow finally replied. "It's just … Did something happen while you were at Frozen Forest?"

Sonic cocked his head at the question, his eyes squinting in confusion. "No … Like I said, it was just a whole bunch of nothing."

"Your chaos energy. There is something about it that seems … different." Shadow looked over the hedgehog up and down. That horrid feeling still made his stomach turn and Shadow was tempted to take a step back just to get away from it.

"Hm?" Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I did use some of my energy to keep Tails and I warm while we were travelling around in the cold. I didn't think it was a big deal, though maybe that started messing with my system or something?"

Shadow lowered his brows. That explanation didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. Utilizing your own energy to radiate more body heat shouldn't cause this to happen. But, it seems like Sonic was in good condition in all other senses, so perhaps this is a temporary concern.

"Now," Sonic placed his gloved finger under Shadow's chin and lifted up his face so their noses where touching again. Shadow felt a light blush come to his muzzle. "I'd love to stay around and chit-chat more with my favorite 'hog, but I actually promised Amy I'd go see her once I got back."

Shadow scoffed. "You realize that going on these 'dates' with her will only make it harder for her to move on once she finds out that you're, well, not interested in her type?"

Sonic moaned and pushed his hand through his quills. Beyond not knowing that Shadow and Sonic were a couple, hardly anybody knew about Sonic's sexuality either. The only two who knew were Shadow and Tails, and the only reason Tails knew was because Sonic and he practically grew up together and thus Tails was around during the time Sonic even figured it out for himself. The little fox was understanding and highly supportive, so it wasn't ever an issue, but Sonic made him swear that he would never tell another soul. The only reason Sonic never told Tails about him and Shadow was because the fox could be rather protective of his older brother and Shadow knew that the fox kid never fully trusted him.

"This isn't a date though, it's just two friends getting together to have fun." Shadow rolled his eyes at Sonic's response. "Besides, Amy is actually a pretty open-minded person if you ever gave her a chance," Sonic continued. "She just has a lot of passion."

"Sure, but if her 'passion' results in a giant pink hammer crashing down on my head, then I'm blaming you," Shadow snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, yeah," Sonic tossed his hands up as he moved away from Shadow and started walking in the direction of the city. "Look, I gotta run. Catch you later, Shads." And with that, Sonic once again disappeared in a gust of blue wind.

Shadow watched as the blue streak raced towards the small speck of a city that could be seen in the distance. The agent breathed out heavily. He still couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about Sonic … Whatever was wrong with his energy signature, it wasn't normal. He could only hope that he could figure out what it was before it could cause any harm.

Ahhh, I'm on a role with writing! I think I've updated three times this week, which is something I didn't expect!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! Please, please feel free to leave reviews! I love hearing your guys' opinions and suggestions!

xx Whisper