Hello, guys!

I'm back after a week as I promised last time! I've been quick :D

Well, in this chapter we have some flashbacks (be prepared, there are going to be a lot!) about Shadow, Molly and Abel. And of course Sonic and Shadow finally meet again! A strange kind of reunion for them, but things are different from the past...Will it be the beginning of a new kind of relationship? Who knows!

Thanks a lot to everyone for reading and favouriting! A special thanks to BlazePyro who has reviewed last chapter and has been really nice to me!

Please, read and review! All comments are more than appreciated!

Enjoy!

Warnings: the story will contain shonen-ai (Shadow x Sonic, Sonadow, meaning male x male), if you don't like, don't read, please! Rating is for future reference to violence!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic X or the characters. All characters are properties of Sega and Sonic Team.

Chapter 4 – Never solved matters

Eighteen months before, research station…

The room was completely white, apart from two details: the medical equipment and the figure connected to it. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the bed, the sheets, everything else were snow white. It almost troubled the eyes of the visitors. Not that there were some, apart from the doctor who was taking care of the unconscious patient and the young girl who came in and out for most part of the day. She had been the one who had found the creature fluctuating in the space, together with many rocks and other remains of goodness-knew-what. Try to imagine her huge surprise when she had realised that she knew well that black and red broken figure.

As Molly entered the white room, her eyes filled with sadness. Abel, the doctor who took care of the case, had said that he still didn't know if and when Shadow would emerge from his coma. It could take days or it could take years. He really couldn't get to understand the strange structure of the hedgehog's body. It was totally different from everything he had seen before. The only thing that he could do was monitoring his conditions day and night.

She sighed, sitting down on a chair next to the bed. After having left Cascade as a result of her people's betrayal, she had travelled around the galaxy, trying her best not to get caught by the Metarex, without a real destination. Then, one day, after three weeks of pointless wandering, she had been caught in the middle of an asteroid storm and her ship had crashed on that planet, near the city where the research station was located. Some of the inhabitants had found her by chance during a walk in the forest and had immediately brought her to the hospital, where she had spent about a week recovering. While there she had got to know that the planet was still free from the Metarex's invasion and had had her first encounter with the advanced technology that its people had been able to develop. At first this had led her to believe that she could convince them to use it against her enemies, but soon she had discovered that the planet had always lived in peace and, apart from some laser guns used by the local police, its people knew nothing about weapons. So she had had to give up and she had decided that maybe it was better that way. She was glad that a world untouched by war still existed.

Her meeting with Abel had also been almost fortuitous. At the time the doctor had just finished one of his projects and, as soon as he had heard about a girl fallen from the space, he had run to the hospital to see her. The two had quickly become close friends and the young man had taken Molly with him at the station once she had been discharged. Her bond with the scientist had been the reason that had stopped her from going back to her wandering. He had offered her the chance to have a new life and a new place to call "home", and he had in the end persuaded her to stay, even if not without effort. He wasn't a popular person, as the girl had discovered quickly, because of his great brilliance, which made him seemed a bit too crazy, and his weird manners. She had been the first person to genuinely like him after a long time. He felt the need to protect her and to hand her a new chance to be happy after all she had gone through. The unexpected but more than welcomed news of the Metarex's defeat had been the final push for Molly, who had agreed to live there with her new companion. Thanks to her skills, she had quickly also got a job at the station as a pilot responsible for the trials of the new space vehicles.

Her life had become peaceful, but not devoid of challanges, again. Then, two months before, she had found Shadow during one of the tests. It hadn't taken her too much effort to convince Abel to treat him, exploiting the scientist's natural curiosity and the strong affection that he had for her. And now there she was, praying for his dark saviour to wake up.

"Because you will wake up, Shadow. I'm sure you will" she whispered softly, briefly touching the gloved hand set upon the sheets.

There was a light knock on the opened door. "Molly?" Abel called quietly.

She turned to face him. "Yes?"

"It's almost lunch time. I was wondering if you wanted to come and eat something with me" the young man said with a light smile. "You have been up all night and you skipped breakfast. You need to eat something or you'll get weak."

"I'm not hungry actually" she answered, tormenting her hands. "And I'm not sleepy either. It's alright, I'm fine, really!"

"I don't think so". He approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Listen, Molly, I know you are worried for Shadow, but starving yourself won't help. I'm sure that if he was awake he would tell you to go to your lodgings and rest."

She gave a weak grin. "I know but I can't help it…". Her gaze went back to the sleeping figure. She was just asking for one last, small miracle. She had lost everything, but she had also been given a new chance. If the universe had offered her, who had done nothing special for it, such a big opportunity, it would have been extremely unfair if fate had let its saviour die or spend his whole existence in a coma. Shadow deserved to live.

In that very moment, one of the creature's eyes twitched. She blinked, shocked, and looked at Abel to see if she had just imagined it. But from the surprised expression on his face she immediately understood that it had happened for real. Under their gazed the dark creature started to stir, moving all his limbs as if he was checking that they were still there, and then lift his eyelids. Crimson globes focused on the two, still clouded by the long sleep.

"Shadow! You are awake!" Molly screamed, jumping on her feet, pure joy invading her chest. Her prayers had been heard.

The hedgehog blinked a few time, trying to clear his eyes, and slowly got in a seated position. 'Shadow?' he thought confused. 'Is that…my name?'. He observed the living beings that were standing in front of him, trying to recollect some information about who they were and where he was. But his memory was completely empty. 'Maria…'. The name crossed his mind. 'Could it be the name of this girl?' he wondered, focusing on the orange-haired figure. 'No, it's not her…But then…'. He blinked again and finally spoke, leaving the other two completely astonished: "Who the hell are you?". His hands clung on his quills. "And, first of all, who am I?"

§§§§§

Present time, Mobius…

Sonic ran faster and faster among the trees, trying to feel Shadow's presence and to locate him. He could sense a light trace, but it was so small that he didn't really know where it came from. So he just let his instinct guide him. It had never failed him after all. He let out a small laugh. That fake hedgehog brought him troubles even when he wasn't involved in his business. He was glad that he had saved them from that robot, but he wished that the other had stayed at least for the time to say hello. But, after all, if he had done it, it wouldn't have been the Shadow they knew.

Suddenly the forest became sparse and it opened on a big field. He walked towards the middle, observing the surroundings. There were strange grooves in the grass, as if some kind of big vehicle had landed there. On his left a road that led to his hometown could be seen. He crossed his arms, thinking hard. Shadow had gone lost in the space, so he surely had come on Mobius with the help of some sort of spaceship. But why using such a big one? Maybe he wasn't alone? He raised an eyebrow at the thought. That sounded strange. The black hedgehog didn't love company, so why joining somebody else? He was sure that finding a ship just for himself wouldn't have been a problem for him. If there was someone with him it was because Shadow had allowed them to come. But the question was still why he would have done such a thing.

Sonic shrugged. Shadow's ways of thinking were and maybe would always be a mystery for him. There was only a way to discover the truth. Find the said dark creature and ask him. A small satisfied grin appeared on his face and he raced towards the town, following the dirt road. His target was near, he had no doubt.

§§§§§

Fifteen months before, research station…

Shadow cursed silently, rubbing his temples in the vain attempt to sooth his headache. Three months had passed since he had woken up from his coma, finding himself in a bed in the undergrounds of an alien research station. He had apparently survived the explosion and Molly, the girl from Cascade that reminded him of Maria, had saved him. At first he had no memory of his past and even of his identity, but the doctor who was taking care of him had helped him to remember, thanks to some kind of strange technology they had on that place. The problem was that every time a memory came back it brought with it a huge pain in his head that could last for hours. Nothing could be done to avoid the unpleasant side effect. He had to hold on and wait for it to go away.

The time at the ARK after his creation had been the first thing he had started to remember. The pleasant memories came back during the day together with the migraines, while the bad ones emerged in the form of frightening and cruelly realistic nightmares that had turned his nights into a hell for almost a month. Then he had recalled the war against the Metarex, which also meant finally getting who Molly was and remembering Sonic, Rouge, Eggman and the rest of the Mobians. The lasts had been the ones about his first awakening and the ARK accident. He still didn't remember everything, but his flashbacks were becoming rarer and rarer, meaning that the picture was almost complete. For the first time after Maria's death he could say he knew every details of his past. The awful migraines were a small price compared to that.

He got up from the small chair where he had been sitting and approached Abel, who was writing a report for his boss. In those three months he had been somehow promoted by the scientist from "patient" to "personal assistant". The thing wasn't official but still the young man's colleagues seemed to have acknowledged his new role at the station, even if everybody still referred to him as the "alien of the research station".

The doctor lifted his gaze from the computer screen. "How are you doing, Shadow?" he asked, noting the slight pained winced on the hedgehog's face.

"Fine, apart from this damn headache" the latter answered, rubbing his temples once again. "But I can deal with it."

"I'm sorry for the inconvenient. But this is the safer and faster way to get your memory back" Abel smiled apologetically at him. "But don't worry, it will be over soon. Do you want some medication to ease the pain?"

"No. I hate that kind of things. Growing up as a lab product made me sick and tired of meds and vitamins" he snorted, crossing his arms. "I prefer the pain."

"As you wish! If you change your mind just let me know and I'll get you something!" the man chuckled at his stubbornness. "Listen. I'm almost done with the report. Molly asked me if I want to go shopping with her when I 'm finished. Do you want to come with us? Some fresh air would be good for you."

"I don't have anything better to do, so I guess I can join you" he agreed. "Even if I don't like crowded place."

The other's face lit up. "Great! So, give me five more minutes and we can go!"

Shadow gave a brief nod and went back to his chair. He held back a snort. He was really getting soft, he found hard to say no whenever his two new companions asked him something. But there was nothing he could do about it. The research station reminded him of his life at the ARK. The similarity between Maria and Molly increased everyday from his point of view, even if the two girls had different personalities, and Abel somehow reminded him of Gerald Robotnik. For the first time after Maria's death he felt safe and almost at home.

§§§§§

Present time, Mobius…

Shadow stopped abruptly, turning to look at the road they had left behind. His two companions glanced at him, taken aback by that sudden change of attitude, and they didn't fail to notice that their dark friend's body had become tensed, as if he was ready for a battle.

"Is something wrong, Shadow?" Molly asked, a bit worried, following his gaze, but she couldn't see anything on the horizon. "Are we in danger?"

"It's nothing you have to worry about" he answered calmly, but his body language didn't change. "We have guests. An old acquaintance of mine, specifically."

"Yeah?". Abel could have sworn that he had seen a small smirk appearing on the creature's face, and that fact didn't reassure him at all. "Who is it?"

"You'll see when he reaches us" the cryptic answer was.

The three stood in silence, waiting for the mysterious "guest" to show himself. In the end something appeared before them, moving so fast that it left a trail of dust behind it. The thing came to an abrupt stop at about three meters from them, revealing to be a blue hedgehog who looked a lot like the dark one.

The two creatures stared in each other eyes for some moments, then the new comer grinned almost triumphantly and spoke: "Hey, Shadow! It's been a while, isn't it? How come that you haven't invite us to your welcome back party?". His tone was playful. "But I'm not so surprised. After all you are like that. Coming out from nowhere, sacrificing yourself to save the world, disappearing again. Oh, did I mention losing your memory? You never change."

"Nor do you, Faker" Shadow retorted coldly. "You are the same cocky idiot I left more than a year and half ago."

"Oh, you remember everything this time? I'm glad!" Sonic commented, a small hint of relief in his voice. "I was worried about having to explain everything to you again. Especially because you wouldn't have listened to me and would have just tried to kill me again!"

"I remember everything since my creation now, including, unfortunately for me, you" the black hedgehog stated, with a trace of sarcasm. "Consider yourself lucky."

"Oh, I know that deep down in your icy cold heart you love me!" the other teased with a smirk. "But I'm glad to see that you haven't changed. Always the old, dark, surly Shadow!"

"Tsk. Good for you. Now, out of my way" he commanded. "I'm not here to play with you. So…"

"You must be Sonic!" Molly interrupted enthusiastically. "I was looking forward to meeting you! Shadow mentioned you almost as often as he talks about Maria!"

"Molly! Shut up!" Shadow growled, shooting her a nasty glare. The last thing he wanted was to let the girl embarrass him in front of his rival. "Don't talk nonsense!"

"Come on, Shadow! She was just trying to have a nice chat!" Abel interjected, trying to calm him down. He had understood from his dark friend's short tales that the two hedgehogs weren't in good terms with each other, especially from the Ultimate Life Form's part. "Don't get mad at her! Besides, she is telling the tru…"

"I'm warning you too, Abel". He stopped the man before he could conclude his speech. "No more nonsense. Have I made myself clear?"

"It's never a good sign when he uses my first name" the scientist whined, grabbing Molly's arm as a protection. "We made him angry again!"

"Easy, Shads! They are telling nothing new to me!" Sonic laughed, but internally frowned. Shadow was acting extremely harshly with his two companions, but from the way they had spoken to him he had got the feeling that he usually behaved differently with them. Besides, his rival had pronounced their names without a particular tone, as if he was used to it. And considering he was Shadow that meant a lot. "Anyway, I'm not here to waste your time, even if I wouldn't mind go for a race with you. I have something that belongs to you at home!"

"And what would that be?" the dark hedgehog questioned suspiciously. "And don't call me "Shads" ever again."

"Your Rings!" he answered cheerfully, crossing his arms and ignoring his curt tone. "I found them after the explosion, while I was looking for Cosmo. You always lose them at some point, don't you? I thought I should have taken care of them until your return."

"Shadow, that's great!" Abel exclaimed, regaining his natural enthusiasm. "We will solve our problems if you get them back!"

"It's true!" Molly agreed nodding in approval. "This way we all will be safer, Abel will stop scolding you and you could start that training to be finally able to get rid of them once and for all! It's perfect!"

The black creature put on a pensive expression, while the blue one raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding what the three were talking about. He wasn't sure of what they were referring to but he had grasped that those rings must have been much more important than he had thought.

"If you follow me I can give them back immediately" he offered. "I live in the same town where you seem to be going, so it doesn't even interfere with your schedule."

The last sentence was clearly directed to Shadow, who, feeling his friends' expecting eyes on him, just shrugged. "It's the most logical choice. We'll go with him. But only for the Rings". He turned and started to walk again without waiting for an answered.

Molly winked at the blue blur, who gave her and the scientist the thumbs up, and then they followed the black creature. Sonic eyed curiously the two who he presumed to be some sort of human beings. They had showed themselves to be quite sociable and cheerful, not exactly the kind of people you would expect as his rival's companions. He needed to investigate.

"So, you seem to know everything about me but I have never met you before!" he started. "I just grasp your names."

"Yeah, you are right! Sorry about that!" Abel answered, smiling a bit. "The whole story is quite long so let us give you the short version for now! I'm Abel and I'm a scientist from the nearest galaxy to this one. I was given the task to classify the inhabitants of some of the planets in this part of the universe and I decided to take Molly and Shadow with me. She is our pilot and takes care of the ship, while he…Well, let's say he is my assistant!"

"Assistant, uh?" the hero repeated, shooting a glance at Shadow who kept walking in front of them, pretending not to hear what they were saying. "So you guys came to study us and the other aliens around here! Sounds fun!"

"It is! Even if we had some accidents during the trip…But Shadow is also with us for that!" the orange-haired girl chuckled. "Anyway, I'm Molly. I met Shadow during the war against the Metarex. They destroyed my planet and my people. I'm the only survivor". Her voice filled with sadness at the memory but she immediately forced herself to smile again. "My ship crashed on Abel's planet more than two years ago and I decided to live there. I work as a pilot for the research station and I was the one who found Shadow after the battle a year and half ago."

"I see. So you two are his new companions" the blue hedgehog said slowly. "And tell me, does he act as a complete jerk with you too?". At that remark Shadow's shoulders tensed and he couldn't help but notice. 'Gotcha' he thought amused. Then went on: "He has never been really nice with me and my friends. Always growling at us to leave him alone, even trying to kill us at times! He didn't behave with Egghead either, even if he was actually working for him. Oh, and they way he treated his own teammates! I'll never understand how Rouge can put up with him!"

"Really?". Molly sounded surprised. "We knew that Shadow had a bad temper, but I have never thought he could behave that bad! I don't say he is usually nice, quite the contrary, but he respects and cares for us!"

"Are we talking about the same hedgehog?" Sonic asked, clearly to tease his dark counterpart, but the two humans seemed not to understand his goal. "It sounds so odd to me…"

"Of course we are! And, for the record, I think you are the one who is exaggerating the whole thing!" Abel exclaimed, coming in defence of his friend. "He may not have a strict moral, but he still has some principles!"

"Will you two stop letting him have his way with you?" the black hedgehog interjected, turning around. He had heard enough. "He is pulling your leg, don't you see it?". He had to put an end to that farce, even if it meant playing along with his rival. He couldn't allow the faker to tease him and his companions that much. His crimson eyes met emerald one. "Haven't you talked about a race before, fake hedgehog?"

"Feeling competitive now, Shadow?" Sonic asked with a grin holding his cold gaze. "That's the part of you I like most! Let's race! Down to this road, across the town and then straight to the cliff! How does it sound?"

"It sounds like you are going to lose, Faker" Shadow answered smirking in turn. "You can't win against me."

"We'll see that, Mr. Ultimate Life Form!" the other retorted cockily and taking some steps to stand by his counterpart's side. "Speed is my field, don't forget it!"

The two creatures exchanged glances and briefly nodded before speeding up at the same time and disappearing for the view of the two humans, who kept staring at the point where they were only a few seconds before.

"What has just happened?" Abel asked, still surprised by the sudden departure.

"Old rivalry, I guess!" Molly answered, patting his back. "Let them have their fun. They both love running. Maybe this will keep them from fighting for real! Shadow was getting quite pissed off. Again…"

"Yeah, you are right…" he nodded slowly. "I just hope that nothing happens."

She gave him a questioning look. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you probably hadn't noticed because Shadow is a good actor, but I've learnt to understand his body language too well to be fooled. He still hasn't completely recovered from using the chaos blast" he explained. "I'm a bit worried about it."

"Do you think he could faint for the lack of energy?" the girl asked, now really concerned. "I mean, come on, it's just a run!"

"Not actually fainting, he isn't that weak, but if he overdoes there's the risk that he ends up exhausting himself to his limits. And you know what happens when he does."

"Oh no! I haven't thought about that! What do we do?"

The young doctor crossed his arms. "Unfortunately there's nothing we could do. I should have stopped him when I could. But I didn't have the time…Let's just reach the town and hope that everything will be alright. I trust his self-control. The real problem is that he doesn't know anything about this small detail…"

"We need to tell him as soon as he comes back. We can't risk again like the other times! I told you more than once! Until we were at the station it was fine, you had the means to control him, but now other people could get involved!"

"I know and I apologise for delaying, but try to understand me, I don't even know what happens to him! I don't have an explanation for the phenomenon!"

Molly took a deep breath. "I'm not mad at you, Abel. Just…Let's talk to him later. We tell him what happens, we don't strictly need to give him a scientific explanation. It's just to prevent the problem from happening again."

"Alright, we'll do it. He will get mad at me because we waited so long before informing him! Oh, I hope he won't stop talking to me again…"

"Don't think about it. We'll survive that! The important thing is that everybody, including Shadow himself, will be safe around him."

"Yeah, I guess you are right…"

The two started to walk again, each lost in their own thoughts. Abel's mind was back to the data he had collected and was desperately trying to figure out what led to the inconvenient. Molly's considerations were much darker. She didn't understand the meaning of all that. What was the purpose of it? The doctor had told her that it had something to do with self-preservation, but she wasn't convinced. Fighting for your own survival was a thing, but…that was completely different. Maybe that famous Dr. Eggman whom their dark friend often mentioned could have helped them understand the true nature of the problem. They could pay him a visit after getting the Rings back. He lived on that planet as well after all. She lifted her gaze towards the still clouded sky. 'Please, Shadow, forgive us for keeping you in the dark about it. And be careful, my friend!'