Chapter Four

Sonic woke up.

He turned to the side and looked for a trace of the black hedgie. He swore he felt someone hugging him before he fell asleep last night...

Seeing no one, the sick hedgehog sat up and searched for Shadow on the mattress at the end of his-well, Shadow's-bed. Still no one. Where the heck was he?

Sonic rubbed his eyes and walked out of the room. "Shads?" he croaked. His voice wasn't getting any better.

Blue ears twitched at the sound of footfalls. When he blinked and opened his eyes again, Shadow was in front of him. "Hold still," he said, some type of thermometer in his hand. Sonic stared at it. What is that?

"Where...are you going to put it?" asked Sonic instead.

"Your ear," Shadow replied. "It won't take long."

Sonic shivered at the coldness of the thermometer as it was pushed gently into his ear, but nonetheless kept still. He quickly warmed up, though, from the closeness of his counterpart. He lost himself in the warm body heat they shared. But suddenly, he was left cold, the thermometer out of him, and Shadow back away a few feet. "Hmm...107...that's not too good." Shadow felt his forehead. Hot.

But somehow, Sonic was still shivering. "What's wrong?" asked Blue's rival.

"C-cold..." Sonic hugged his arms and shrank a little.

Shadow's eyes darted a little. "Cold?" he asked, to no one in particular. "Oh...right. You have a fever, so of course you'll feel cold or hot...well, uhm, go back to bed, I'll bring the breakfast into your-err, MY room, and I'll head out to get medicine."

Sonic shook his head. "If you're going, I'm coming with you too..."

"Hedgehog, stop being so stubborn and wanting to join me in everything. You know it won't help," Shadow insisted. "Plus, you'll get everyone else in the store sick too."

"I..." Sonic wanted to say 'I don't care.' He really did. But that wouldn't be him..."I still want to go. Just do whatever you need to do. Make me wear a mask or something-anything. I just want to come." But who needs to be himself when he's got a fever?

Shadow, on the other hand, was a very annoyed hedgehog.

Shadow massaged the bridge of his nose. "Sonic, you're not coming with me, and that's final!" he didn't mean to sound so...angry. He just wanted to make sure Sonic knew he was serious. But when he saw Sonic flinch a bit, remembering his splitting headache, he sighed and suddenly wanted to pull him in a warm comforting embrace at the look on his face.

But that would be plain weird.

Instead, he put his hands on Sonic's shoulders as he steered him back to the bed. Ebony began speaking in a much gentler voice this time, "Sonic, your fever is really bad and you obviously can't run because of how sensitive your stomach is, and the sonic boom would put you in the hospital with a headache like yours. And because of the cold wind if we take my motorcycle, you'll get worse. Please, just stay here. We don't want you to get worse."

Sonic puffed. "We can w-w- ah- I'll be back-" Sonic suddenly bolted up and ran to the bathroom and Shadow sighed as he heard the terrible gagging noises. Sonic hasn't eaten anything, so he must be having trouble letting out whatever was left in his stomach.

When he arrived at the bathroom, Sonic was still throwing up in the toilet, gagging hard. Shadow kneeled beside him and hesitantly played with the quills on his back.

When he was finished, cobalt leaned back, not knowing he was laying right on Shadow's fluffy chest as he breathed heavily, trying to recover from his attack.

Shadow was about to push him off, but saw the hurt look on his blue counterparts face and just let him lay there, debating whether to hold him like the night before or leave him be.

"I guess that's a no," Sonic announced in a weak and small voice. He sighed as he made a move to get up and use the mouthwash. Shadow sighed. "Are...are you okay?"

Sonic shrugged and put on a fake smile. "As good as someone who just threw up their brains could be," he chuckled. "I'll be waiting here."

Shadow gave him a skeptical look before turning to leave. "Stay put." he announced firmly.

When the door closed, Sonics smile faded as he rushed to the bed.

When he lay down, Sonic slowly felt a...tear go down his face?

He made a face as if to say "What the hell?" as he wiped the tear confusingly. Why was he crying? Why was he suddenly feeling really sad over nothing? Sonic didn't get it and asked himself when the last time he had had a good cry was.

The poor sick boy felt his bottom lip quiver strongly, before he gave in.

He don't know why he was crying. It wasn't because he couldn't go with Shadow, and it wasn't because he had just thrown up; he's done that plenty of times.

Maybe it was because he's sick, confused, admittedly slightly scared, alone, had enough, unloved, and he hasn't cried in a long while...and even heroes need to cry.

He thought it was pretty crazy he was crying over nothing, but Shadow made him do crazy things.

XXX

A cold breeze picked up and played with the quills of a guilty hedgehog. Why couldn't he control his tone of voice? As the Ultimate Lifeform, almost everything should come out the way it should!...Almost...

"It's a good thing that I left him at home. It's really cold." Shadow said to himself. Then after two seconds, he muttered, "But he would've been a lot more happy if he came with me..."

"But he'd get worse."

"Then he wouldn't be feeling bad!"

"He'll be stuck with you for so long."

"I want him here though."

"His feelings doesn't matter as long as he gets well!"

Wait. Backtrack. He wanted him here? Shadow WANTED his overly annoying cocky rival to be here? What has gotten into him lately? The black hedgehog considered therapy a possibility after Sonic gets well.

But as much as he wanted to trudge on in the wind to the drug store, something just...doesn't seem right. He had to check on him.

But he was already halfway there! Sonic's home waiting for him to come back with the medicine! Surely, the blue speedster could wait a few measly minutes, right?

"...No," Shadow mumbled, annoyed by the fact that he was sometimes so caring. He set off back to his home which currently housed a very sick little hedgehog.

XXX

The door creaked, squeaked, and made a small sound when it closed. Thumps were made as the hedgehog climbed up the stairs.

Sonic heard nothing. He was too busy muttering insults to himself. "You're useless. You wretched right in front of him. You're crying! You're unstable. No one will ever like you! Sonic, you're just a pathetic idiot. All you do is eat, sleep, run...get taken care of. Even if you saved the world so many times, you're still nothing. You can't do anything without your friends."

Shadow stopped before the door and held his breath. Who was...Oh. Sonic's...talking to himself. The black hedgehog slowly opened the door and walked in. He sat down next to Sonic.

Hesitantly rubbing his back and shushing him, he asked, "What happened?"

Hearing the softness of Shadow's voice, Sonic's emotions threatened to go all out. But the hero bit down on his lip and held it in. Sonic shook his head to say 'nothing.' But Shadow wouldn't take that for an answer. "Did I do something? If you tell me, I won't do it again. Or is it because you're not comfortable? Should I get you some more blankets?"

Sonic's shoulders started shaking, and the bottom lip he was biting on quivered uncontrollably. He shut his eyes tightly, letting a few drops of tears drip down onto his lap. "No...ahhthing...juh...just leaf...me alone..." he managed to get out, facing away from the comforting hedgehog.

Shadow's ears drooped. If that's what he want...maybe he should do what he wants him to do. He's a little unstable anyway...Even if he tried to advance further, he wouldn't say anything. Shadow would only make the poor sick hedgehog cry even harder.

The ebony lifeform moved a little away from the sobbing hedgehog and looked at the quivering blue quills. He wanted to hug him...but it would just make things more awkward.

...What could a useless hedgehog like him do to comfort his rival?

Shadow stood there as Sonic's stability slowly went out of control. He was shivering as if he was freezing and he was starting to breathe heavily, like when you're trying not to cry but you just...can't stop.

'What do I do?!' Shadow thought to himself. It was obvious he couldn't leave him there. Shadow didn't think he could do his usual chores, or whatever Shadow does in his house with somebody crying their eyes out in his room... Especially Sonic.

For some reason, he felt his heart breaking with Sonic as he heard the tiniest of sobs. Shadow narrowed his eyes and walked up and sat in front of Sonic.

His heart shattered as he saw the broken look on the heroes face as he looked ashamed to have Shadow see him crying.

He did the unthinkable (in Sonic's mind) and hugged him.

That was it. The walls shattered as the dam broke, a loud sob erupting from his muzzle. Shadow held him tightly, not really sure why he was crying, but was going to destroy the cause of it, whether it was somebody else or his doing.

"Shh," Shadow shushed, gently pushing his face into his chest fur. "It's okay. Whatever it is, will hurt you no more."

Sonic cried, just feeling sad. And then he cried more realizing how...weak he must look. He wanted to pull away from Shadow and run out of his house because of his utter embarrassment, but didn't. He felt warm in Shadow's arms, like he was appreciated. Like he fit in, his arms like his personal castle to cry in. His chest fur was like his pillow, when he was exhausted. And his soft voice...

Told him somebody actually cared.

He cried harder, a new feeling overwhelming him as he pulled Shadow closer to him, aching for the comfort. Shadow complied, holding him closer as well.

Shadow was MAD. He may not know WHY Sonic was crying, but it made him mad. Why? Because he couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand not knowing what was hurting him so much, he couldn't stand not being able to do anything. If it was himself, then he may not live it down that easily. If Shadow was the cause of his tears, he didn't think he would forgive himself.

But if it WASN'T him, and it was SOMEBODY ELSE, or SOMETHING, they'd better hoped Shadow couldn't find them. Because he would TEAR them APART.

Sonic has now calmed down a bit, but clutching onto Shadow. Shadow ran his fingers through his vibrant quills, shushing him silently, hoping to give off an aura of comfort.

"Why...what made you...hurt so much?" Shadow asked softly, trying not to blurt out what he wanted to say, which was: "WHO HURT YOU?! I'LL HURT THEM!"

"I-if it was me, please tell me... I want to know what I did-"

"It wasn't you." Shadow gently pushed him off his chest so he could stare into emerald orbs. "What then?"

"I-I don't know, Shadow! I just- I just felt like crying all of a sudden and I'm confused which made me cry even more and now I'm really embarrassed! I-I can go now if you want, I'll leave right away-" Shadow stopped his chattering with a big hug, stroking his side. "I have a feeling, Shadow..." Sonic whispered.

Shadow looked down at him. "I'll listen, if you tell me..." he whispered to him, feeling a sudden protective urge and a strong sense of affection for the younger.

"T-That something bad is gonna happen and I'm scared. I never thought I'd admit it, but I'm SCARED, Shadow. I have a strong feeling that I'm going to get terribly hurt, or someone I care about very much is going to get hurt, and I can't stand not being able to prevent it! And I'm... I'm just...scared." Sonic whispered his last sentence.

It was true. He WAS scared, he had a feeling something would go terribly wrong. But he didn't know WHAT. Maybe that was part of the reason he was crying. But he had a feeling he was going to get hurt.

Or even worse...

Shadow.

Dudes, I swear I am on an editing role today. But that'll probably be the last chapter I'm posting today. See ya guys tomorrow then~

And yes...DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Shadow, beware!