Chapter 4: Dungeon Treasure Hunt!
"Look, can't we pretend I was broken? Then I wouldn't need a leash," Sonic suggested, eyeing the offensive item in Shadow's hand unwillingly.
Shadow looked at the blue hedgehog. Sonic stood there, head tilted to one side, his eyes and fur bright and shining, ears pricked forward and expression curious. Feet stuck in battered, bright red sneakers occasionally tapped the floor in impatience while his white-gloved hands were either gesturing animatedly, or crossed in front of his chest, shoulders either squared in challenge or relaxed in content, his posture always suggesting a self-assurance backed by an not unimpressive ego and even more fighting skill.
When Sonic raised his left eye ridge, asking "Well?", Shadow sighed.
"Faker, there is not one aspect of you that would suggest submission. Here are dignitaries running around looking more slave-like than you."
"Hey, can I help my good looks?" Sonic asked, grinning, before becoming serious again and more sombre. "So that means I can't take a step without some piece of leather dangling from my neck, yes?"
Shadow shrugged. "Not today, anyway. Maybe we can work something out later. But if you would finally come over here, maybe we'd find the Emerald in an hour's time and wouldn't even have to have this discussion. Meaning, move it."
Sonic huffed in displeasure, then sighed and stepped over to Shadow. He grimaced as the other one raised the leash, looking as if he had to receive another whipping, but turned his head aside obediently so Shadow could hook the thing in. Again, the gloved fingers of the other where they touched his throat and chest in the process sent shivers down his spine, but Sonic forced himself not to react. It was confusing him and he tried not to think about it, yet he couldn't help but breathe a tiny sigh of relief as the black hedgehog stepped back again.
Shadow gave the leash an experimental tug, at which Sonic scowled faintly, and when everything seemed to be in order, the pair made for the door.
Shadow led the way, Sonic walking slightly behind him, feeling uncomfortable with the leash around his neck, twisting his head involuntarily at times. Yet it was odd – he still didn't like neither the leash nor the collar, yet his resistance wasn't as great as it had been when it was the cat holding him. Somehow, when it was Shadow in possession of the leash, the urge to run became a bit fainter…
He looked at Shadow again and had to admit he liked what he saw – unlike the grey-furred, elderly cat servant, the black hedgehog carried himself with a certain pride and his stance suggested energy and refined strength, which Sonic always appreciated in both allies and opponents. Furthermore, while Jet, for example, always moved about with an aura of boastfulness bordering on arrogance (and Sonic had to admit he himself wasn't entirely innocent in that department, either), almost as if he had to challenge everyone he saw, Shadow was entirely different.
He walked with an air of assured calmness, the opposite to Sonic whose moods were as consistent and his temper as tranquil as a butterfly in a tornado. Sonic regarded Shadow as an equal, so while it was still a bit embarrassing to be led around like a pet it wasn't as bad as it had been with the aged cat.
The Ultimate Lifeform was a bit like Knuckles, the blue speedster mused, but Sonic liked the fact that Shadow, like himself, wasn't tied down by anything. He didn't need a giant green gem stone to cool down. Rather, the black hedgehog was his own resting place and Sonic, leashed and trotting along behind Shadow, wondered whether that might be why he often sought out the other's company…and right now didn't mind that terribly to have him holding him. Shadow, the calm eye of Sonic's tornado?
The blue hedgehog shook his head again, wondering whether there might have been something in the food that sent him rambling like that.
He strode a bit ahead of Shadow, remembering the direction of the dungeons from yesterday. Now it was the black hedgehog who got a good look at Sonic. Ever since he had hooked in the leash, he had felt a bit…peculiar.
He wasn't quite sure what to make of that warm feeling in his stomach (after all, without food there was not much that could reasonably generate it) but it was…nice.
Sonic for the most time annoyed him, yet for some reason, it was a lot more agreeable for Shadow when the other one was restrained a bit…
Usually, Sonic was darting around and about, a prankster always seeking to get the drop on Shadow, to challenge him or to get him involved in freak adventures always ending in near-catastrophes and/or thrill rides. Sometimes Shadow had gone along, because there were certain…addicting qualities about Sonic. The blue hedgehog was an enigma. Constantly changing, his emerald eyes always twinkling as if he'd just heard a joke Shadow didn't get, while being his rival in speed and at the same time also…beautiful…
Shadow watched the toned muscles underneath the sleek blue fur in Sonic's walking motion. It was entracing. He felt a sudden surge of irrational pride at holding the leash, as if Sonic was truly his property at the moment, as if he was the sole owner of this beautiful object and free to do with it what he wanted, watch it as he pleased. But looking at Sonic, that seemed so far-fetched…
The blue hedgehog was still occasionally twisting in his collar, straining against his leash and couldn't be further from the definition of 'tamed'. His head was still held high as if he owned the place. Comparing Sonic to the other Mobians that were slaves in this castle was like trying to compare a wild cheetah to crippled housecats.
Shadow briefly wondered whether he would like it if Sonic stopped being the cocky, grinning, unpredictable hero/mischief-maker and instead was something more like one of those pets of the castle, not constantly challenging but demure and obedient…but before he could pursue this line of thought further, a movement out of the corner of his eye attracted his attention and he yanked the leash on instinct. Sonic, who had been about to open a door to their right, stumbled backward, choking.
"Not through there, faker!" Shadow hissed, ignoring the glare Sonic sent him as he was trying to straighten his tight collar again, "That is Black Doom's throne room, remember? We need to take another way."
"Great!" Sonic shot back, "Next time, something like 'Stop, Sonic!' would suffice, y'know? If I didn't know better I'd say you were enjoying this."
Shadow didn't reply. Instead, he merely shrugged and tugged at the leash again, albeit a lot more gently.
"Just let me lead. We'll come into the more crowded areas of the castle now, so try to act a bit more genuine."
"You want me to grovel at your feet or is walking on all fours enough?"
Shadow, who had seen some slaves walking on all fours, didn't grace that with a reply. Instead, he resisted to yank Sonic's leash once more as the punishment he felt he deserved (which probably would have meant a brawl in the corridor before long) and just continued through another door, into the more public domains of the castle.
Sonic's eyes went wide. They were now walking along a sort of balcony, with a wide hall below. People hurried past them, and for the first time he could also see other slaves. Nearly all of them were without clothing and Sonic never caught a glimpse at their faces. Without exception, they all slumped down onto their knees as soon as they caught sight of Shadow, and Sonic felt bitter. He was pretty much the personification of freedom on Mobius, fighting against Robotnik and his world oppression schemes since he was twelve, and he had never liked the thought of people not being free to do what they wanted with their lives.
Of course, it was bitter irony that right now he was leashed as well, appearing to anyone but Shadow to be nothing more than another object to be treated as such. Sonic wondered briefly whether it would be possible to free them. After all, fighting tyrants was his job and Black Doom pretty much had that written all over his pretty face.
A few older, higher-ranking anthropomorphs, designated by their ornate clothing, bowed their heads politely when they went past Shadow, but gave Sonic, who was walking with quick strides and craning his neck in all possible directions to take in the sights of the castle, disapproving looks. One of them stared at his shoes in particular.
"Will you cut it!" Shadow mumbled under his breath as he let himself fall back next to Sonic, "For all they know, we're going to abuse you for the next few hours, so there's no need to look excited."
"What?!" Sonic looked at him, startled by this idea, but then they were already descending a staircase and the familiar coldness of the dungeon settled on his skin, making him shiver.
They reached a door, and even before Shadow could raise his free hand to knock, the heavy wood moved to open and the bulldog's head appeared, the jailer bowing.
"My Prince. I have been awaiting you."
"Quite." Shadow stepped through the door, pulling a Sonic who didn't have to fake his awkwardness this time around with him. Inside, he stopped, as his gaze fell onto an all-too-familiar figure.
"Lazar."
The lizard nodded, inclining his head. "Yesss. Your father wass assking me to check up on your sslave. Hass the punishment of yessterday had any effect?" he asked, shooting a side-long glance at Sonic, who tried (and failed) to look very broken. Everything about him still said something along the lines of 'just touch me, you over-grown newt and I'll take your tail off, see if it grows back' and Shadow was briefly wondering whether it would get them into trouble before long.
"We're making slow progress," he finally said, dryly. "But I'm not about to give up. I would like to use some devices today that won't leave any marks on the body. Or at least, not where they would marr my sight of him. Any suggestions?" He asked, looking from Lazar to the bulldog and back. Both nodded and Lazar hurried off. Gazing at the bulldog, Shadow also added: "And a gag. Bring me one."
Sonic felt a chill inside that had nothing to do with the outside temperatures. He could only imagine what this conversation would feel like if he wasn't here to search for an Emerald, but if the content of Shadow's speech actually applied to him for real…
The items were proffered to Shadow and Lazar explained how and where each of them was used in detail. The black hedgehog listened with outward polite interest while Sonic felt utterly repulsed by the sadistic smiles the purple reptile shot him from time to time, obviously already imagining the blue hedgehog screaming in pain only moments from now.
"And finally, there'ss thisss," Lazar finished his monologue, holding up one particular item. Shadow gave it a stare.
"It's a piece of ginger. I fail to see how anyone could be tortured by that, even if you added it to their food in very large quantities."
Sonic, who was standing next to the black hedgehog during the explanation, snorted. Or he would have, if Shadow (who had expected this reaction) hadn't pulled his leash abruptly downward, thereby hiding the amusement of his supposed slave. When the blue hedgehog uprighted himself, his expression was carefully neutral. Sonic was surprised that he didn't feel annoyed with Shadow for abusing his power over him this time around – instead, he found it rather delightful to discover the other had also a sense of humour, even if it was a dry sort.
"What funny quipss you make, my Prince," Lazar dead-panned instead, reinforcing Sonic's opinion that the lizard acted as something like Teflon in regards to jokes. "But let me asssure you that there are very interesssting uses for ginger indeed."
Shadow merely raised an eyebrow at this, while inwardly wishing they could finally begin with the search. However, Lazar seemed to be intent on sharing his secrets on plant roots and continued merrily.
"The ginger root containss some esssential oilss that will causse a highly unpleasssant, burning sssensation if applied to…ssenssitive sskin. If you peel it like thiss-" the purple lizard lectured, carving into the ginger piece with a dagger from his belt until the outer brown hull was completely gone, "It can be ussed for sssome rather humiliating punishment that iss alsso very effective esspecially in the breaking of bed ssslavess. You ssee," he said, grinning with his narrow tongue flicking at them like a miniature whip itself, "We will bend your blue hedgehog over the table, then lift his tail and insert-"
"I get the picture," Shadow interrupted, forcing his face not to twitch. Next to him, Sonic was mortified.
"You can leave it in there for hoursss."
"I am thrilled beyond belief," Shadow stated with all the enthusiasm of an undertaker. "And if you can leave me alone now, I will call for you when I'm finished," the black hedgehog said, his impatience and annoyance with the reptile growing.
Again the annoyed expression flashed across Lazar's face, and he was just about to say something, but Shadow cut him off.
"I will remind you that Sonic is my bed slave. As such, sights of him in vulnerable positions belong to me and to noone else. Leave."
"Of course, my Prince." This time, Lazar gave a small, understanding smile instead, even while he was looking at the floor and departed without resistance. The bulldog followed suit, and as soon as they were out the door, Sonic collapsed against the wall, a shudder running through his lithe form.
"Good grief, Shadow!"
"What?" The black hedgehog asked, stopping where he had just begun to unhook the leash from the blue neck again.
"How can you talk about that so…so callously? It's freaking me out - and I'm not even going anywhere near the ginger. You act like the real thing!"
Sonic opened his eyes and briefly made eye contact with the red gaze of his rival, almost pinning him against the wall to open the small hatch that connected the lead with the collar.
Sonic suddenly felt rather hot and tried a small, awkward sidestep with the little freedom that the leash allowed.
Shadow merely removed the thing with one final fumble and then shrugged.
"You forget where I grew up, Sonic. I am a scientific experiment of Professor Gerald Robotnik. I was alive five years before the ARK was raided by GUN and spent my entire childhood up there. And one thing I can tell you:" he said, crimson eyes suddenly ablaze, "The attitude of these people towards their slaves differs only very slightly to that of scientists to their "projects". I know all about how to act in environments like these."
Sonic winced as if Shadow had lashed him at this point. He shivered again.
"Geez, Shadow, that's really…" he began, not knowing how to put the next thoughts into words, but the black hedgehog waved him off, weary.
"What's past stays past. You can't change things that already happened."
Sonic swallowed. Whenever he remembered what Shadow had been through in his past he wondered anew how the black hedgehog still had come out almost sane. In these moments, the blue hero always felt obligated to comfort the other somehow…yet this time, there was also something new.
Shadow right now was the one who could protect both of them in this strange world, who understood the rules. Sonic could probably have fought his way out of the castle, yet this was a much easier way to remain undetected. He almost felt relaxed. It sure was nice not to be the one who always bore the responsibility for everyone, the one who had to bust everyone out when something went south…yes. He had probably felt calmer in Shadow's presence because right now in this world the black hedgehog also meant something that only very rarely featured in Sonic's personal microcosm.
Protection.
Feeling slightly better, the blue hero dislodged himself from the wall again.
"So, any charades at the beginning, or do we start to look for that Emerald now?"
Shadow smirked. "You underestimate me, faker. Why do you think I asked for a gag? It won't arise any suspicions without you screaming this time. Plus, those torture instruments were designed not to leave any marks, which means as long as you limp a bit when we emerge, it shouldn't pose any problem."
Sonic's eye ridges had risen. Never much of a planner himself, he was distinctly impressed.
"Okay. That means I'll look through the room on the left, you through this one?"
Shadow shrugged. "Suits me."
Both hedgehogs started digging through damp straw and crawling around under various devices, or opening drawers and peering in shelves in case someone had found the Emerald and put it away for later examination.
Sonic's hatred for Black Doom grew as he beheld the various contraptions of the chambers, always imagining himself chained in their manacles, screaming and probably pleading. Hell yeah, he would love to overthrow that despot…
The dungeon actually consisted of an entire series of rooms and therefore prolonged their search quite a bit, although once they had found their arrival spot, they still were empty-handed. None of them had seen anything that looked remotely like an Emerald, or even caught a flash of light refracted by a splinter of it.
A few hours later, a fatigued Sonic slumped down next to Shadow, who was leaning against a rack, his expression one of contemplation.
"It's not here," Sonic moaned, again annoyed by his collar which he now imagined was restricting his air supply.
Shadow shook his head. "No. It isn't."
"Then what do we do now? I'm sick and tired of this place and I'm starving."
"Well, first of all you let me think," Shadow shot back, yet some strange voice in his head also shouted that he was supposed to feed Sonic now, which was odd. Sonic could care for himself. But then again, in this world he couldn't, because he was supposed to be a slave, after all…
And you're his Master, the same voice said and Shadow scowled at nothing in particular. He wasn't Sonic's "Master". Sonic wasn't even behaving like a slave. He was probably fantasizing because this twisted world was driving everyone nuts before long. But when he looked at the tired blue form next to him, collared and with a drooping head, it was almost as if…
Sonic broke off this train of thought.
"Hey! Do you think this world had Chaos Emeralds of its own? Maybe we don't have to find out where the white one from our world went, we can find one of theirs!" he exclaimed, eyes shining with new energy.
Shadow tilted his head. "Hmm…I don't know. All I can say for sure is that there have to be one or more Emeralds, because otherwise there wouldn't be so much Chaos Energy in the atmosphere that I could live off it for a few months. But I can't determine whether that's just the one we came with or other ones, and I also can't sense where they are."
"Hmm." Sonic creased his face up again. "We need more information. But I guess we can't ask the others outright whether they've seen a giant white gem. Or at least," he added with a dry look, "I can't. You could probably command them to answer you, or something."
"Yes, though it will have to be subtle. I have a hunch Black Doom better not find out what we're looking for. After all, the last time that megalomaniac got his claws on them, we had a comet crash into the planet."
"Yeah." Sonic nodded. "Still, maybe I could talk to some cleaning slaves when nobody's looking. Maybe they would share some info with me."
"I'm not sure." Shadow said, suddenly smirking. "Who says I can let you run around loose?"
"Oh, come on!" The blue hedgehog punched his rival lightly into the shoulder, startling Shadow, who had never experienced any close companionship with Sonic before. Twinkling green eyes met surprised crimson ones, and the speedster continued: "There's slaves running around all over the place. Who will care about another one? Besides, if I have to wear this collar, I at least want to get some use out of it," he added, once more pulling at the choker in discomfort.
"Hmm…if you absolutely have to," Shadow acquitted, though he was reluctant to let Sonic out of his sight. "I will see who I can talk to as well. Or maybe see if there are any records where the finding of a Chaos Emerald might be written down. But I suggest tomorrow, because it is already late and you should have some food."
Surprised at the unusual consideration of the black hedgehog, Sonic raised an eye ridge, jumped off the rack and gave a small grin. "Suits me fine, Shads!"
"But first," - and here a hand suddenly grabbed his collar, yanking him back – "you do about a hundred push-ups. Now."
"What?!"
"We're coming from a torture chamber. I want to present you to them matted with sweat and trembling from exhaustion. I'll count them for you, if you want to."
Sonic looked at Shadow incredulously. But the black hedgehog merely smirked, in his eyes dancing sparks of a wicked amusement that Sonic before had glimpsed only ever so rarely. The blue hedgehog shook his head, but then got down reluctantly. Before he started, he just shot Shadow one last look.
"…as soon as we're home, I'll have horrible revenge. You know that, right?"
Shadow just smirked broader. Sonic was a worthy opponent and maybe, he thought, he even preferred someone with a bit of spite in him and a mind of his own instead of a brain-dead puppet like the other slaves seemed to him. So, he merely leaned back in content, and watched Sonic doing his forced work-out.
"Consider it payback for the Emerald you stole from me in the first place, faker. And don't talk back or I'll have to use that gag."
"…make that horrible, horrible revenge."
To be continued...
Well, well, well, that's looking awesome in the review section! :D Meaning, another long chappie. ;) Thanks so much for the feedback, just keep it coming! Fav lines, fav scenes, questions - anything. See ya next time!
