Chapter 3 - Wayward Shadows

The Mobian Research Center was a place Chris had needed to visit on more than one occasion. At least this time it was nothing urgent. The only urgency to it was for easing his own mind about things. He was really concerned about the boy, though he had never seen Shadow so fiercely protective or oddly gentle, even with Mercury. Nothing was said en route, though the boy's apprehension stayed with him even after Shadow and Ash were admitted for testing.

The wait seemed to go on longer than it needed to, and Chris found himself checking the time every five minutes. He attempted to pass the time by reading the usual spread of magazines offered in the waiting room. Since the MRC was run by a research team dedicated to finding out as much as they could about Mobians, there was plenty of material Chris was unfamiliar with. He did have occasion to laugh inwardly about offering Sonic cat food the first time they met.

After a while, one of the Mobian Research Team representatives led the small, black-marked hedgehog into the waiting room. The woman sported black hair drawn up in a bun and specs seated on her nose through which dark black orbs peered out. "Well..." she said after a moment, looking around for someone to claim the boy while the father was still under investigation.

"Ohh...!" The young human looked up attentively and bolted to his feet. His eyes darted to the boy and then the woman holding his hand, "...Umm...are there any results yet...Miss?" he inquired tentatively.

"Ramirez, Anita Ramirez. As to your question, we do have...some results, mostly concerning the boy." She released Ash's hand, and the young hedgehog quickly darted to Christopher's side. "Shadow is undergoing a more thorough examination for obvious reasons."

"Is Papa all right?" the boy asked meekly, clinging to the human's pant leg.

"As far as we know, little one." Anita nodded to him, then looked back at the human man. "The findings on the boy are very conclusive... Shadow wasn't lying; this boy is his son."

Chris about staggered at that revelation, his eyes wide in astonishment. "For real?! This...this is his son?!" Ash looked a bit resentful at the statement.

"Yes, quite." Anita continued, "He isn't on any of our records, but after the sample we took, there's no doubt about it." She paused a bit before continuing. "We tried running a search for the mother, given what data we have available, and...well, aside Shadow the closest genetic match is Sonic."

"Weird!" Chris blinked in puzzlement. "I don't see how they could be related, but...I guess there's a lot I didn't know about all this time..."

"My mom is Sonic's cousin," Ash said firmly, daring to come out from behind Chris since letting go of Miss Ramirez.

The MRT doctor gave an apologetic look to the hedgehog boy. "As far as Sonic's family is concerned, all we have on record are him and his daughter Misty... Now, if you're able to look after the boy, Mister Thorndyke?"

"Oh, yes, of course!" Chris nodded. "Thank you, Miss." 'It's like Shadow's been living a double life all this time…I can hardly believe it.'

"Mommy is too related to Sonic!" Ash bristled, making a face at the MRT woman as she headed back inside.

Chris knelt down by the boy, placing him with a kindly look. The crimson eyes that looked back at him were shockingly mature and piercing, much like their apparent father's. "Ahh...your mom...she's related to Sonic, right?"

Ash gave a vigorous nod in reply. "My mama is Sara, my papa is Shadow, an' then there's Grandpa Chuck an' Sonic's mama's cousin but we call him 'Uncle.' Oh yeah! There's also my sister, but she doesn't count."

"A sister? Ohh...Shadow mentioned something about a daughter now that I think about it. Heh...how very strange," young Thorndyke said aloud, more to himself than the boy before him. "So...your name is...Ash, right?"

"Uh huh…." Ash replied, giving him a strange look. "Is this a game or something? Daddy said it was a joke...like Uncle Sonic not knowing us and strangers living in our house and I almost got eaten by a dog! It was this huge!" he exclaimed, opening his arms widely.

"A joke? ...No...I don't think so anyway. Heh...I'm a bit confused myself." There was something of an awkward silence between the two, Ash looking a little bored and annoyed, cranky was the word, while Chris was still trying to reason out what was going on. 'All I can seem to think of is Shadow living a secret life...a double life...like a secret agent! That would be cool but….' "So...how long have you been with your dad? Have you known him all your life?"

"Uh huh," the child replied in all seriousness.

"So...your mom's name is...?"

"Sara. But I already told you that," he voiced his displeasure at the repeated questioning, both fixing him with a stare and sticking his tongue out seconds later.

Chris chuckled a bit at that, getting to his feet and leading the boy over to a chair in the waiting room. "So you're looking for your mom, right?"

"I guess," the sky blue hedgehog replied, climbing into the waiting chair. He gave a yawn and frowned. "I miss Mama..."

"I'll help you find her, okay?" he replied, patting the child's head. "I can even ask my uncle to look out for her, how's that sound?"

"Okay!" Ash brightened and laughed. "I like your uncle, he's funny! What's his name today?"

Chris' confusion and surprise grew at that. "Y-you know my uncle?"

"Uh huh..." Ash replied, giving the human yet another weird look. "I think you have a bad memory, not Daddy," the child said with a yawn.

"Heh...I'm beginning to wonder myself…." Chris said, leaning back in one of the waiting chairs.

--

After the two had been settled in the waiting area and were starting to relax, a form appeared in the frosted glass pane in the door to the waiting area. It got larger quite hastily until the door was thrown open so violently, it threatened to shake apart. From it, Shadow burst out into the waiting area, flanked by a couple of concerned MRT staff.

Shadow whirled around angrily, tossing some IV needle and the tubing connected to it to the ground, his muzzle curled in a snarl. The two humans stopped dead in their tracks, looking nervously at their charge. "Are you quite finished?" he inquired in a menacing tone. One of them stammered about maybe having enough data to review. Shadow nodded sharply, keeping his crimson eyes planted on the two. "Then we're finished..." he said with a growl. "I will not be subjected to any more testing, got it?!" The MRT staff nodded dumbly while Shadow whirled back toward those in the waiting area and brushed himself off lightly.

...'Shit...' He sighed inwardly, attempting not to glare at the others in the room, though all eyes were clearly on him. He was pleased that his son seemed oblivious to this as he bolted from his seat to greet his dad.

"Ahh…Shadow!" Chris called with his usual enthusiasm, putting Shadow at some measure of ease. "I really have to apologize for earlier. I...had no idea you had another family all these years!"

One of Shadow's ears tilted to the side in agitation, the curl of his muzzle starting to appear again. "What's with this whole thing about 'another family'?" The dark and brooding hedgehog made his way to a chair and sat down while one of the MRT staff picked up the items Shadow had tossed carelessly. "I know who I am...I know..." he groaned, then sighed in relief as his son took up residence on his lap. At least he still had the comfort in knowing his son was still there, and at least Chris believed he was his now.

"Umm...we'll have results within a couple hours, if you'd like to wait," the MRT rep said as she headed back to the waiting area. She couldn't escape Shadow's dagger-like gaze quickly enough.

"Thanks..." Chris said, but it was a moment too late before he turned back to the black and red hedgehog.

"I don't have any secret life..." Shadow offered in a hushed tone, his fingers lightly stroking his boy's quills. It was the only thing that seemed to calm him.

"I wasn't aware of anyone besides Mercury all these years, so..." Chris responded, heading back to his chair to wait. "Not that it's a bad thing or anything, I mean, it's your life, but...what about Mercury?"

"I really don't know...I don't know him..." Shadow sighed. He turned his eyes on the human, attempting a neutral expression. "He's the boy in that picture, right? And he's mine and...Amy's?"

"Yeah...I think it'd be a good idea to find him and make sure he's all right...I'm a bit worried about him," Chris confessed.

Shadow's mind mulled some things over, trying to reconcile the two lives he was supposedly having. It didn't matter how many times he heard the name "Mercury," all he had was a picture and a name, and a strange feeling about the child he couldn't quite describe. The idea of connecting with Amy would sound absurd to him but for the fact she was one of the few who ever tried to give him more than the time of day. Still... "There was another picture...Amy and Sonic...with a kid?"

"Yeah. Misty," Chris confirmed.

Shadow laughed a little. "So blue-boy got the girl? Hmph...how? If Mercury's the first then...we had to have clashed at some point…."

"Actually...you did. I was so worried...I mean...you guys nearly killed each other!" He didn't feel like telling him that the hedgehog had come back for revenge later on, and kidnapped his son.

"Heh...at least I'm not a coward," Shadow replied after some thoughtful silence. "Hmmm...I wish I could tell you where the boy is, but I can't."

"We could probably check your apartment first, and ask Amy if he's not there," Chris suggested.

Shadow frowned at that. "...Apartment?" His tone was reflective of someone expecting a bit more than an apartment to call home. "We haven't been in an apartment since Ash was born..."

"Well, I'm not too surprised at that, since you don't remember Mercury," Chris replied, his tone slightly deflated. He didn't know what he wanted to find, other than some answers, and so far there was nothing but more questions. "We can leave after we get the results...sorry...this has been kind of weird for me too."

--

After a couple of hours had passed, Dr. Ramirez reentered the waiting room to deliver the results. In the meantime, Ash had fallen asleep on Shadow's lap, and he had fallen asleep in turn, hand in mid-stroke down his son's fine quills. Anita came to a stop in front of young Thorndyke, a clipboard in hand with a number of pages on it detailing the results of the testing.

"So...what did you find out?" Chris inquired as softly as possible so as not to disturb Shadow.

"A few interesting things," she replied in like tone, looking the two hedgehogs over. "I guess you could say that he both does and doesn't match our records..."

"Ash?"

She shook her head. "No, Shadow... In at least one very major, physical way, he differs from the one on record."

"How so?" Chris asked in a thoroughly curious tone.

Dr. Ramirez cleared her throat and double checked the charts before her. "We did some scans on his brain activity as well as x-ray…. There is no physical sign nor evidence that he has ever had an implant in his head."

Not for the first time today, Chris' blue eyes opened in shock. "How can that be?? Don't tell me...this isn't the real Shadow?"

"He's real, all right. From a genetic standpoint, he's right on the mark. Behaviorally, he also seems to exhibit similar behavior to what we've recorded in the past." She pursed her lips in a pensive, disapproving expression. "As well, he also has many of the same scars, but...there is one curious scar that stands out...evidence that he was shot in the chest some time ago, that is clearly not on file."

"Oh my gosh... It's...it's as if..." He really wanted to finish that statement, but he didn't know how. For all intents and purposes, this was Shadow, yet the life and stories he told were so far removed from the one he knew personally. "Oh well...anyhow...thank you so much for your help."

"Anytime." Anita smiled warmly, regarding the hedgehog with the first pleased expression she'd given toward him. "It's actually rare we find him so...compliant. I think this data will help our research beyond just verifying his identity." Chris nodded a bit. "Well, good day, Mr. Thorndyke," she finished and headed out of the room.

"...Happy?" Shadow quizzed after the human had left. His ears were on full alert, and one blood red eye was peering over at Chris ominously.

A nervous laugh was returned to him. "I think I'm more confused now than ever, actually. I don't know what's up, but I'll do what I can to help straighten things out. Umm...ready to go see about finding Mercury?"

Shadow gave a somewhat reluctant nod and sat up, gently rousing the boy in his lap. "Ready as I'll ever be... Maybe you should tell me a bit about...myself...while we're heading to...my apartment."

"Of course." Chris nodded firmly, wondering if they'd ever get things cleared up at this rate.

# - # - # - # - # - # - # - #

Crickets chirped as a small black hedgehog with red-tipped quills cautiously navigated the Amber Hills apartment complex under the overcast cloak of midnight. Having crossed through the portal from Mobius only hours ago, he ventured home knowing his father was scheduled to be at work through the night.

Following a quick glance over his shoulder, the boy carefully inserted his key into the door and, as quietly as possible, let himself in. There was no sense in taking any chances. The lights were left off as he tiptoed across the floor toward his bedroom. Along the way he reached for the flashlight that normally resided on the end of the kitchen bar nearest the wall, but his hand only found a canister of cooking utensils and what felt like a bag of flour. He grunted to himself as he continued on into his room. At the door, he paused nervously upon being greeted by the lime green glow of a digital clock. That was new.

"Cool," he whispered to himself, then went about his business. Though it was much easier securing one's meals on Mobius without money than on Earth, he preferred making do with some funds on hand. He felt the top of his dresser for his credit card and cash, where he always left them, but instead he bumped into a hard object, which then tipped over and shattered the silence with the racket of seemingly endless marbles spilling out across the dresser until they landed with dull thuds on the carpet. Seconds later, the boy froze again as a beside lamp, a butterfly made up of LEDs, suddenly illuminated the room. An adolescent orange lop-eared rabbit sat up in bed with her hand on the switch.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!!"

The hedgehog shared similar sentiment. "AAAAAAAAAAH!!"

Things were surprisingly quiet after that. Both Mobians stared for several moments, at a loss for words, until finally the girl voiced the only question running through her mind.

"Are you…a pervert??"

"I-I was just coming to get something out of my room! I didn't know anyone was in here!" the boy quickly stammered.

"Your room?" Her fear subsiding, the rabbit slipped out of bed and stepped past her unexpected guest to switch on the overhead light. The young hedgehog shielded his eyes briefly, until his vision adjusted to take in the teen bunny's modest powder blue nightgown. Just beside him, a turned over vase and a mess of opalescent glass pebbles lay scattered across the dresser and floor. None of the furniture, he suddenly realized, was his. His first inclination was to assume he'd entered the wrong apartment, but considering that his key had worked on the deadbolt, that was unlikely.

Tilting her head at the increasingly distraught boy, the rabbit gently pressed for answers. "Who are you?" He seemed to have difficulty tearing his attention from his surroundings before responding.

"…I…I'm Shadow's son Mercury…."

"Shadow's…?" She was silent for a moment but shook off her musings with a polite smile. "I'm Cream. Nice to meet you."

Mercury cracked a forced smile of his own in return. "I think we met before, a long time ago." A fleeting glance at the door assured him that his father was indeed absent. "…What happened to all my stuff?"

"Your stuff? What stuff?"

"My…bed, furniture…."

"Oh…umm…I don't know," Cream returned consolingly. "Your father only left a few things when he moved."

"He moved?!"

Wincing, she turned her eyes to the floor. "Yes, I live here now. I'm sorry…." With a hesitant breath, she looked to him again. "But you're welcome to stay here if you need a place to stay for the night!"

"Nnn…no," Mercury mumbled, making his way to the door. "I'm just gonna get going. Sorry for scaring you."

"Wait! Are you looking for Shadow? I can give you his new address." Cream's offer reached the metallic red quill tips now facing her as the boy paused once more. A hand reached up to wipe his eyes.

"No thanks…he obviously doesn't want me around." With that, he disappeared into the night. Cream's calls after him returned only empty echoes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

For Shadow, the midnight hour was spent gazing into the ceiling from the living room sofa of his other self's home. His return to Diamond Mill Mall earlier that day had provided him with unexpected answers that posed even more questions, starting with the moment he tracked down Sara and yanked her up to him for a whiff of her scent.

"What's with you today?!" she uttered at his unusually rough treatment. Maria reached out just in time to stop her mother's iced chocolate latte from being tipped off the food court table, while Amy merely gaped at the scene. Eyes comparably wide, Shadow soon released Sara's arm and staggered back into a neighboring table.

"…How can this be??"

Having followed Shadow after their encounter at 7-Eleven, Sonic wore a somewhat apologetic smirk as he stood by. "Sorry, he's gone a little nutsy today." All eyes fixed on the more alien than usual hedgehog struggling to make sense of things.

"How…why don't I remember? It's as though I recall the last ten years perfectly, and yet," his bewildered words targeted Sara, "I don't know you. What the hell is going on?"

"Shadow?" his other life's mate called to him gently, wavering in her mounting concern.

"Wait, hold up," Sonic needled, "when did you first start noticing that something wasn't right? Did anything weird happen to you recently?"

After a moment's thought, the dark hedgehog nodded. "I felt strange when I traveled through the portal from Mobius today…and everything's been messed up ever since."

"That's it!" An excited glint found Sonic's eye as he socked a fist into his other hand. "You've hopped dimensions is what you've done! You're not from this world!" Now everyone was gawking at him.

"You mean to tell me I'm in a world that's inhabited by another version of myself?" Shadow spat, though not quite out of disbelief. Sonic simply shrugged.

"Dunno if that's actually the case, but something pretty similar happened to me a couple times. It gets kinda fun!"

"So where's the other me? In my dimension?"

Another shrug. "I guess."

"What about Ash?" Sara spoke up. She'd long ago called her father and confirmed her son's pickup.

"I bet he's wherever the other Shadow is," Sonic mused. "I'm sure he won't let anything happen to the little guy."

Hardly listening at this point, Shadow's focus was instead directed at Maria. "…Of course…it's all starting to make sense now. The energy I felt coming from her," he said as he pointed, "was actually that of the Chaos Emeralds." The girl paused and blinked at him, quickly swallowing her mouthful of Bavarian cream-filled doughnut as his eyes narrowed on her. "She may be the key to this…."

Sara cleared her throat. "Umm…would you like to come back to the house with us? We can discuss it more there…." She shrank a bit at finding the intensity of his flustered gaze suddenly upon her.

"Is that where she'll be?" he asked, gesturing at the child. At Sara's nod, he answered. "Fine."

And so the hedgehogs went their ways, Sonic and Amy returning to their home while Shadow, Sara, and Maria headed to theirs. After granting a tour of the two-story house, Sara led Shadow into the den, where she pulled a large handmade book from the shelf. Taking a seat on the nearby couch, she patted the spot next to her.

"Oi, koi! --That means 'you, come,'" she translated. Shadow lingered where he stood a few moments before complying. His eyebrow arched as she opened the book to a collection of photographs depicting significant events within the family. On the first page were ultrasound images of Maria and Ash shortly before their births; on the next, the fledgling family was pictured just after Maria's arrival. "You insisted on being at my side…" she added of the scene, then grunted a correction, "err…he did."

Shadow couldn't take his eyes off the page. "……It really is me…."

Sara nodded. "Yeah." She continued as she flipped through the pages, "We named our first after the Maria of the ARK. My suggestion, but it just seemed...right. And the Chaos state you mentioned, she did that once before when she was a baby. I can't believe she's doing it again..."

"So she has no control over it?"

"No, it always seemed to happen at random. Knuckles called it 'inherent will.'" As Sara proceeded through more pages, they next encountered photos of Ash. "This is our son, the one who's missing." She watched as Shadow leaned in to see.

"Hm…he looks nothing like my son."

"You have a son?"

He nodded solemnly. "Mercury."

Sara was quiet for a while after the discovery. Turning a few more pages, she finally spoke her mind. "…Um…if you don't know me in your world…who is his mother?"

There was a tense pause. "…It doesn't matter."

"I was just wondering if it's anyone I knew," she returned quickly. "What's he look like?"

"He's black with red quills…red chest…about your daughter's age…."

"Sounds like he got a lot from you. With our kids…well, they got your eyes, definitely." A soft chuckle escaped her. "I think my Shadow mentioned wishing they had mine once…." Glancing at him, she noted that he was about to say something but held back. She cracked a smile and elbowed him lightly. "So who is his mom? Hmm?"

"That's not your concern!" he snapped, his lip in a hostile curl.

"…Is it really such a big deal?" Finding him increasingly adamant, Sara decided to shift the subject a bit. "Well, what about Sonic and Amy? Are they an item in your world too?"

"……Yes."

"Ahh! I had a bit of a hand in connecting them in this world. She kept masking her own scent with all that perfume." Oblivious to his waning composure, she chuckled to herself and went on, "My Shadow said she was kind to him. I know she ran interference between us a couple times. Ya know, I think if I wasn't around you might be good for her...well, assuming she could get over her Sonic obsession..." She blinked and looked up as her guest suddenly rose from the couch and proceeded to step out of the room. "Uh...did I say something wrong?"

"I need some water," was all he said, without so much as a glance back.

Frowning, Sara followed him out. "…You're a bad liar." She stumbled in surprise as he instantly spun around.

"Liar?!"

"Y-yeah...well, not that you lied directly, but the sudden need for water...I hit a sore spot, didn't I?"

"I have a bit of a sore spot for nosiness, yes! But I also happen to want some water, if that's not too absurd for you!" He turned from her with a sharp snort and made his way into the kitchen. After a brief hesitation, she trailed him inside. As he checked the cabinets for the one containing glasses, she quietly closed in and folded her arms around him from behind. Through the tension of his motionless body and the quills instinctively threatening to pierce her through, she whispered the sum of her distress.

"I'm sorry…."

Silence followed for what seemed to both an eternity. Sara dared nothing more than a few subtle strokes of the tuft on his chest, while he remained frozen. At last, the renewed calm of his voice emerged.

"………Where do you keep your glasses?"

With a reluctant release, Sara reached over and opened the appropriate cabinet, retrieving and handing a large tumbler to him.

"Thank you," he muttered softly, turning to the sink.

"You're welcome." Her voice was still a bit shaky, but she seemed notably more at ease than just moments prior. "…Sorry if I'm nosey……usually I've learned to let you tell me things, but...I guess I wanted a basis for comparison...no offense."

Another stretch of silence filled the room as he drank, finishing the entire glassful before his reply. "………My mate left me."

"...Sorry...I see why you don't wanna talk about her." She paused in thought. "Have you tried finding someone else?"

"It hasn't exactly been a top priority."

"Well, I can see that. …Umm...you act a lot like the Shadow I met originally...not saying you're a bad guy, but you're not exactly...open. You need someone who can take the time to let you in."

"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, annoyance returning to his voice.

"And...just one more thing...if I may..." She strode out of the kitchen, motioning for him to follow. "Come on." She glanced back as she reached the bathroom door, finding him hesitantly approaching. A warm smile crossed her lips. "Does Mercury have a fluffy chest like you?" she inquired, rummaging through a basket of hair accessories. Shadow eyed the contents warily.

"Yes...somewhat." His eyebrow lifted as she pulled out a thickly bristled brush and turned to him.

"Hold still, okay?" She giggled at his sudden disease. "Just humor me a minute…." With a quick but gentle motion, she pulled part of his chest tuft aside and began to brush the remaining portion of it. Shadow watched with widened eyes as she carefully worked out the tiny mats. "You've got so much grit in your fur, I'd think you and Sonic went at it again. You need to take better care of yourself, for your own sake, as well as Mercury's...and besides, it's the best pillow I've ever had." Her smile grew a bit, only to morph into a startled gape as she suddenly found his hand overlapping hers. Slowly, his touch ventured past her fingertips to the brush's wooden handle, gripping it and pulling it from her hand. He then turned from her toward the mirror and resumed brushing the fur himself. Sara looked on with a renewed smile.

"Umm…I'm going to go reheat some leftovers. You like spaghetti, right?"

His gaze remained on his work. "It's fine."

"All right, well...feel free to make yourself at home. Just don't touch the smoked eel in the fridge; it's for my sushi." Once she had departed for the kitchen, Shadow's rhythmic strokes slowed to a halt. His eyes lifted to meet themselves in the mirror before him, beholding for the first time something more within himself.