And with this chapter you guys will have officially caught up. The next time a new chapter will be uploaded here is when I have posted the full chapter 3 on Inkbunny, after which I will once again divide it into three or four chapters to publish here.
One question: Should I post this story on DA aswell?
The Island: Chapter 7
Sonic's POV
"Shadow-"
"I'm fine. Just ran into some trouble, but I'm fine." He cut me off, gasping when he tried to face me.
Okay, I wanted to know just what the heck was up with him.
So grabbing his shoulder, I turned him around to face me and noticed a dark splotch of red on his grey t-shirt.
"You're bleeding?!" Dropping the torch, I pulled his hand away and pulled his shirt up to look at the damage.
"Sonic, wait, don't-" I didn't let him stop me.
Shadow's fur, because of how dark it was, never showed any bruising, but this one was so big and dark that it was even visible through his colour of pelt in this dim light of fire. Whatever had hit him there, it hit him hard enough to cause such a painful discolouration and even broke the skin, which is where that small spot of blood came from.
"Shadow, What-"
"Stop getting so worried! Sonic, I'm the Ultimate Lifeform and no uninhabited island is going to change that! I don't know why you're getting so worked up every time you think something's wrong with me, but stop it." He scolded me, pulling his shirt down and taking a good step away from me.
Just what was he saying? That I had to stop worrying?
"I was just in the process of healing myself. You know it takes a lot of Chaos energy out of me that I can't replenish so easily without an emerald. That's why I couldn't immediately answer. Sonic, I'm fine." Shadow spelled it out for me, felt like he had to.
"Why would you feel so worried about me that you'd blatantly ignore what you're already supposed to know for years already?" He asked, genuinely curious.
That's a good question, actually. Why would I feel so much concern when I'm supposed to know better?
Is it because of those feelings I've been having lately? Those that I don't really want to confront?
"Eh, no reason." I claimed instead of giving him a good answer, shrugging too casually.
Shadow was smart, too smart, for my own good and he used those brain cells to easily figure out what was bothering me after the talk we had not long ago. But for my sake, he played along.
"Well, if you must know, we weren't alone in here. I heard some noise in the dark and when I summoned a Chaos Spear to light my surroundings for a moment, I came face to face with an enormous boar. It got startled and ran right into me on its way out." He came clean about the situation that got him that injury, feeling slightly embarrassed about being the Ultimate Lifeform who got his ass handed to him by a wild animal.
So a boar was the one that did this? Just a boar?
"Than what was that explosion I heard?" I asked as that wasn't something Shadow had explained to me.
"Well... I didn't just startle the boar, but it also startled me. So when I held that Chaos Spear and saw the thing..." He had been a little hesitant to answer, but even more reluctant to finish and I could see why.
I snorted in amusement at the thought, although that could've also been caused by my adrenaline fading away.
Shadow seemed to forget his embarrassment and smiled ever so slightly now that the mood was a little lighter again.
"Sonic." He started, grabbing my hand. Shad was somehow being a little tender upon discovering just how much I apparently care and worry for him. It was having quite an affect on him.
"How about we return home? Or to our home away from home." He suggested and for once I couldn't agree more to put this exploration excursion on hold.
We could resume it once Shadow has fully healed.
Preferably not, though. Healed or not, I don't want to follow him into that dark, deep, and threatening underground lake. No way!
Keeping a tight grip on my hand, Shadow Chaos controlled us back to our camp.
Eventually the sun started setting and my dark companion cooked up some more fish for us to eat for dinner, but he didn't just bake it above a fire like he usually would. He's been getting a bit creative lately and was making a soup from some of the safest ingredients we could find from the explored parts of our island.
I can't say I was ever really fond of soup, I prefered the more spicy kinds of food, but I don't think I've longed for this recepy this much before today. It's been five months of nothing but fish and fruit, so if this liquid wasn't just as valuable and gold right now, than I didn't know what was.
A light sigh left Shadow, but it wasn't out of annoyence. The hedgehog noticed how I had been watching him prepare the meal expectantly, eager to have a taste already. It sounded like he was amused, something that he's been feeling a lot lately despites the circumstances.
"Don't worry, I think it's about done." He answered before I even got to ask him the question. Because of it, a smile couldn't help but tug the corners of my lips upwards.
"Awesome, I'm starving!" As if on cue with my words, I heard my stomach growl from hunger, which earned myself a soft chuckle from the other.
It was a light metal and deep bowl that Shadow was making the soup in. It was found amongst the stuff of the skeletal couple we had found a little while back.
Grave robbing wasn't exactly our favourite way of passing our free-time, here or on Mainland, but all the stuff was just lying there and Shadow believed it was a good idea to use any and all materials at our disposal. It'd be a shame to let all of that stuff just lie there and rot away otherwise.
Using a clean handkerchief he had found in our salvaged stuff, he protected his hands as he grabbed the bowl with hurry and got it off the fire, muttering something about trying to find a way to make this easier to handle.
"Just a question, but how exactly are we going to eat this?" I asked, clueless as I don't really know if we had spoons or not. Unless Shadow found silverware when I wasn't looking. That'd be nice if he did.
"Well..." His voice trailed off before he even started a proper sentence and he suddenly pulled out two bowls made out of... coconut halves? Really?
"I've been working on these for little over a week now, but turns out carving isn't quite my strong suit. With hands that usually destroy, it's apparently difficult to create." He said almost dismissively, like he didn't want to talk about the process that lead to these two.
As he filled in one bowl with the soup to hand over to me, something clicked in place in my mind and with a laugh I spoke up.
"So that's why you've been feeding me coconut all week!" All of a sudden that finally made sense.
Now knowing that I would be talking about it anyway, Shadow let out a deep sigh. This time, it was out of annoyence.
"Yes, I've been working on a few sideprojects while you were either out collecting wood, hunting, or sleeping. For the Fastest Thing Alive you're quite slow and that gave me enough time to work on them." He explained, handing over my meal for tonight.
"And fail at them too?" Letting that comment slide for now, I teased him back with a knowing look.
He huffed.
"I'm not going to answer that and I certainly won't refer to the disturbing pile of coconut shells lying somewhere hidden in a ditch behind our hut." Though feeling embarrassed with his failed attempts at crafting, he still managed to slip a joke in.
I just might be rubbing off on him.
Another laugh broke out and Shadow shot me a small smile as he poured some soup out for himself too.
"Made any attempts at spoons too?" I asked and this time he had to shake his head.
"I'm just happy to have finally finished these coconut bowls." He told me in what could only be described in a defeated kind of way.
A final chuckle left my vocals before I turned my attention to my meal. Or that's what I wanted to before I realised that it's probably a bit too hot right now. I mean, it did just get off the fire.
But I didn't strike up another conversation, though I was never the type of guy to stay silent for longer than a minute unless I was asleep. Instead I found myself thinking about these feelings I've been having, driven even further when my gaze met Shadow and the smile he was wearing.
It was small, just enough to be visible on his muzzle, one only spotted by someone who knew him as well as I did, as he sat there on his knees with his own bowl resting in his lap. Just like me, he was waiting for the soup to cool down a little. Meanwhile a hand came to rest where that ugly bruise and that small blotch of blood was.
Though the wound is still there, I'm sure it's already healed considerably since we left that cave. By tomorrow, unless Shad decides to use his new healing powers, not a trace should be left of that wild boar he nearly roasted.
Pain was obviously not on his mind, it'd be a bit weird if that was what he was smiling about, so what was?
And just why was I so curious?
I knew I liked Shadow, that was something I just could not ignore anymore, but maybe there was more going on than I realised?
"Sonic."
His voice coming out of nowhere caught me off guard as I stared at the fire in front of me. Startled, I quickly looked to my side to find Shadow sitting right next to me all of a sudden, wearing an expression I couldn't really read.
"Shadow-"
"Hedgehog, I was never really sure when I should be telling you this. I wasn't even sure if I would ever tell you this. But to see you so concerned for my well being lately, to see you care so much, I find myself unable to keep this a secret for much longer." What is Shadow trying to say? Is this it? Is this the moment Rouge and I have been waiting for?
I was prepared for it. Well, I used to be. But now?
Why is my heart suddenly beating faster in my chest? I can feel the organ pounding inside just listening to his words.
I knew I liked him. That's what the unbearable thought of him spending his life all alone on this island made me realise. But these past couple of months spend with solely him just might've made me feel a bit more than just 'like' for him.
Somehow, that was making this moment a lot more difficult than it needed to be.
"Sonic, I..." His voice trailed off then, like he suddenly lost his nerve and decided against coming clean.
Shad, why'd you suddenly stop?
Apparently I wasn't ready anymore, not now that I realised I actually felt something more than just friendship for him, but I didn't want him to stop either.
"Thank you for caring." Shadow drew away, shuffling to sit a little farther away from me, a full bowl of soup still in hand.
Is he chickening out? Is that even a word he was familiar with?
The defeated look in his eyes he tried to hide spoke volumes. Now that we knew eachother so well, putting up a mask and hiding what he felt suddenly wasn't possible anymore, though he tried.
"Uh, sure. That's what friends are for, right?"
He winced almost unnoticeably, but said nothing else. Shad didn't touch his own homemade soup either.
Turns out Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform himself, didn't have the guts to confess his true feelings.
Turns out I didn't either.
