CHAPTER 10

Later on, Shadow ventured his way around Knothole Village while his head was clouded with all kinds of thoughts.

It was quite a busy morning with all of the villagers walking around shopping and socializing with each other.

Though he walked through the crowd as if he was the only one there. 'God', he thought. 'What's wrong with me? Me? And Sally? We hated each other a few days ago and now when I see her, I want to slam her against a wall and fuck the shit out of her.' With a slight headache coming on, he placed his hand on his forehead as he slowly walked through the crowd of villagers. 'I need to get my shit together. I'm fucking married to the most beautiful woman I could ever ask for and we worked so hard to raise a family together. I can't just throw what I have away just so I can get my dick wet.' He sighed heavily, 'It's just tension. Sexual tension. Nothing more...' He snapped out of his thoughts and stopped in his tracks when he heard a familiar male voice call out to him from afar.

"Hey! Shadow!"

He scanned around him until he saw a familiar blue male hedgehog standing near a food cart.

With what it seemed a hot dog in one hand, he spotted the blue hedgehog waving towards him with a wide smile on his face. "Hey!"

He was both happy yet annoyed to see the blue hedgehog. When he recalled last time seeing him, he had a very outgoing and quite loud personality which he found really annoying. He decided to walk over to the hedgehog to see what he had wanted. "...Sonic?"

"Hey, stranger! Haven't see you since yesterday!" He placed the hot dog near his mouth and took a bite of it. "How you holding up? That robot sure did do a number on you!"

He made an annoyed look. He was sure he was just trying to make him feel inferior since Sonic did in fact save them all from Hao's robot. "I'm fine", he spoke in a bitter tone. "Obviously it didn't kill me."

He carelessly shrugged his shoulders, "Well I guess it's no surprise since Sally did tell me you were some kind of super demon."

Great. Sally did in fact tell Sonic that he wasn't a normal mortal being. But he was shocked that he didn't feel threatened by him. Perhaps Sally talked him up and spoke about how much good he had done despite him being a half demon. He arched an eyebrow, "Sally told you I'm a half demon?"

"...Half demon? Is that what it's called?"

He had hoped that she didn't tell him everything that had happened yesterday. More or less the kiss the two had shared before they were under attack. If that was the case, he would assume Sonic would be way more bitter towards him. "...What else did she say about me?"

"Nothing in particular. You two been work mates for years and you can be grouchy as hell."

He slightly sighed in relief, "...Oh good. Wait...she said I'm grouchy?" He then watched him raise the half eaten hot dog up to him.

"Well it is kinda true. You wanna chili dog? Maybe it'll tone down your grouchy attitude", he teased with a wide smile on his face.

He arched an eyebrow and nudged the hot dog that had chili on it away from him. "Are you crazy? I'm not eating that slop! Especially after when you've had your mouth all over it!" He was never really into eating anything that had meat in it or just meat in general. He realized he couldn't eat a lot of meat without it making him completely sick to his stomach. It would just remind him of the bloodthirsty monster that always lied deep inside of him. Which is why he always leaned towards vegan diets.

He laughed as he witnessed Shadow's reaction. "You're hilarious. No, dude! I was asking if you wanted to try one. I'm buying!"

As he stared at the chili that was piled on top of the hot dog, it couldn't help but to make him feel more and more disgusted by it. "...I'll pass."

He gently nudged his arm. "You sure? You don't know what you're missing", he once again teased.

He rolled his eyes in annoyance and stepped over to another food cart that was nearby and had bought an apple from a villager that was selling it to him. "Trust me", he replied blandly. "I can't be missing out on that much."

Sonic followed alongside him while Shadow continued to stroll through the busy village. "Well aren't you just full of sunshine", he spoke in a sarcastic tone. "Wonder where Sally found a fun guy like you at?"

His eyes flashed over to his, "Don't be stupid. We're just teammates. Besides I'm married..." He spoke bitterly before taking a bite of his apple.

A small laugh had escaped him, "Yeah I know. She already told me. Still it was a pretty easy assumption."

He arched an eyebrow towards him. "...How so?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders, "Come on. By the way she was crying over you when you got hurt. She looked like she really cared about you, dude."

His eyes slightly shifted away from him as he recalled how worried she was when he had gotten hurt. It made him feel even more like an asshole knowing that she did in fact care a lot about him.

"Besides, you know she has an apparent thing for hedgehogs..."

His heart skipped a beat as he suddenly remembered what had happened before he fell unconscious yesterday. Sally mentioned that she and Sonic had history together. Very close history. And everything was now making sense. Maybe Sonic was somewhat jealous over him? He could only imagine what was going through his head when he saw the two together and saw how caring and protective she was over him yesterday. He turned back to him, "Before I went unconscious, you did mention something about you being her ex?"

He made a small nod, "Yeah Sally and I go way back. We grew up together actually."

"...Really?" They knew each other since childhood. It was apparent they were a lot closer than he thought.

He again made a nod, "Yup!"

"But mind me asking why you two broke up in the first place?"

He took another bite of his chili dog and began to talk while chewing. "She dumped me because she said I was immature. Can you believe that?"

He then watched as he shoved the remainder of his chili dog into his mouth. A sweat drop formed on the side of his head. "You? Immature? No way" he spoke in a bland and sarcastic tone.

He laughed under his breath, "I know right! But it's cool I guess. Not long after that, she ended up moving to Future City. I suppose she moved on to bigger and better things..." He spoke as he flashed his eyes over to him.

He knew that Sally obviously didn't tell him about what happened between the two but he couldn't shake the feeling that Sonic knew something was up anyway. He just wanted to just assume that he was only simply jealous of him and thought the two were seeing each other nonetheless.

He slowly and sadly took his eyes away from him, "She's happy where she is and who she's with if she's found anyone...that's all that matters..."

When he saw the slight sadness in his expression, he had knew that Sonic clearly still had feelings for Sally. He suddenly got the idea if he could somehow reunite the two back together, it would get Sally off his back and everything would go back to being somewhat normal. He stopped in his tracks and spun around to him. "And when she left, you just let her go? Why didn't you chase after her?"

With Shadow's sudden change of attitude, he took a step back with unease. "Wha? What?"

He grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him slightly, "Didn't you love her at all? Do you even believe in love damn it!"

As he became more and more uneasy with Shadow's sudden outburst, a sweat drop appeared on the side of his head, "Goddamn...of course I loved her. I still do in all honesty but last time I checked, it takes two people to love each other and Sal...well...she completely changed. She turned super serious and bitter about everything. It was...it was almost as if she didn't even feel any sort of emotions at all."

He took his hands away from his shoulders and thought that this was sounding all too familiar. As he recalled, Elias had relayed him the same story. He couldn't help but to wonder what actually happened with Sally before she left Acorn Kingdom?

"Anyway enough about the past. I'm actually glad I ran into you."

He began to finish up the remainder of the apple he was eating. He was so confused by Sonic's mood towards him. He didn't know if he had hated him or liked him. "Why is that?"

"Well before I met up with you and Sal yesterday, I was trying to scope out some areas where Hao could be lounging around in. Was wondering if you wanted to tag along? That is if you're up for it?"

It was sudden but this was exactly what he needed. A day away from the castle so he could actually gather his thoughts. "Are you kidding? Any where's better than being cooped up in the castle", he spoke as he tossed the apple core into a nearby trashcan.

He placed his hand on his shoulder and formed a wide smile. "Shadow, my friend! You're definitely speaking my language!"

He casually took the blue hedgehog's hand off of his shoulder. "...Don't do that."

Back at the castle, Sally aimlessly ventured around the large and empty halls of the castle while she was lost in her thoughts. With her arms crossed in worry, she slowly walked through the halls. Her eyes shifted down to the red carpet of the floor. 'God what's wrong with me? Shadow? Shadow The Hedgehog? The half demon?' She stopped in her tracks as she thought about the heated and passionate kiss the two had shared earlier that morning. She gently placed her fingers to her lips while a slight blush forming on her face, 'He's married to Rouge. I know this but...why does my heart race every time I see him? I hated him before. Now I think I might...' She shook her head and placed her hand on her forehead. 'Damn it, Sally! No! Just no! Stop thinking like this! Get him out of your head!' She paused when she came to the door that led into the book room. She placed her hand on the handle and stepped inside of the room just knowing that the room would be empty but as soon as she stepped in and closed the door behind her, she was wrong. She looked over across the room and saw Elias sitting at a small table reading a black hardcover book.

He was dressed in causal wear. He was wearing a red long sleeve turtleneck shirt, black fitted jeans, and black boots. When he heard the door to the room opening and closing, he took his eyes away from the book he was reading and turned to Sally who stood at the doorway of the room. "Oh, Sally? There you are. I've barely seen you all morning." He watched as she slowly started to approach him. "How are you feeling from yesterday? I hope you slept decent."

She carelessly shrugged her shoulders, "I slept like a rock but you know. Still feeling pretty drained."

He leaned his back against the brown wooden chair he had sat in. "I suppose so. You and Shadow both had quite the day yesterday. I'm glad you're okay though. Thank God for your ex boyfriend showing up to save the day...again." He was already aware of Sonic always casually showing up to help him and the rest of the Freedom Fighters whenever they had needed it.

She made a nod, "Yeah well that's Sonic for you."

"Speaking of hedgehogs, have you seen Shadow? I haven't seen him all morning. I meant to see how he was doing."

Even hearing his name, her heart skipped a beat. "...He's fine."

He arched an eyebrow as he found it hard to believe that was actually doing well. "Really? Cause he was a bloody mess yesterday..."

"He's fucking fine, Elias", she snapped in a low tone.

He arched an eyebrow from her sudden attitude. It appeared that she had gotten touchy about the subject of Shadow but he figured it was because the two had gotten into another disagreement. So he tried not to think too much of it. "Okay I'll take your word for it. Geez..." He had then observed her wearing her usual work attire. He crossed his arms and gave her an annoyed look. "No dress today?"

She had given him the same annoyed look in return, "It needs to be washed. It's covered in blood", she spoke bitterly.

"You know damn well you have like a hundred dresses in your bedroom."

She sighed heavily and pulled out the chair that was set next to him around the table. "Not feeling much like a princess today, Elias."

He paused as he observed her worried and saddened expression. "...You've been acting strange since yesterday. You okay, Sal?"

She slowly shifted her eyes from his and looked down at the white tiled floor. She slightly bit her lip as she thought she should actually tell him what was exactly on her mind. "...If I tell you, you promise you won't tell anyone?"

He took his back from against the chair he leaned against and leaned against the table to get close to her. "Come on, Sal. I'm your big brother. You can tell me anything."

"...Okay", she took a deep breath and turned back to him. "It's...about me and Shadow..."

"...What? Did you two really get into it?" He had then saw her hesitating on continuing and it had worried him "...Did he...hurt you? Because I don't care if you two hate each other. If he's laid a hand on you, I'll fuck him up! I don't care what kind of super demon he is! I'll kick his fucking ass!"

He was already overreacting and he was making his own assumptions. She decided to go ahead and tell him before he really got upset over nothing. She shut her eyes tightly as she suddenly blurted her words out to him. "We kissed!"

The room they were in was suddenly filled in awkward silence. It was so silent, they could hear the birds chirping outside of the large window that was set behind them.

With a shocked yet confused expression on his face, Elias leaned his back against the chair in disbelief and crossed his arms as he tried to take in what had escaped from Sally's lips. "...You...what?"

"We...kissed each other..."

He placed a finger to his chin as he was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on. "...But you both hate each other?"

She slightly shook her head and clasped her hands together in her lap, "We made up. We're friends now."

He angrily made a nod towards her, "Oh yeah. You're both friends alright."

She could tell from the tone of his voice that he was not the least bit happy about the situation. "Elias..."

"Did you fuck him?"

"Wha? No we just kissed. I swear." Of course there was a few hand gestures here and there but none the less, their clothes stayed on.

He had then made a long pause, "Sally, he's married. I think he has a son too?"

"I...I know..."

"You're fucking around with a married man? That's...that's adultery!"

She didn't like how this was going at all. She was starting to regret telling him about what happened. She went to him for support. Not to get yelled at. "You're acting like we fucked and we didn't!"

"It doesn't matter if you fucked or not! You know this shit is all kinds of wrong!"

She placed her hand on her forehead and sighed heavily, "Christ..."

All kinds of thoughts and images were going through his head. When did this exactly happen? How did this happen? How long were they seeing each other? Were they still doing things with each other? "Are you two still..."

She slightly shook her head, "No. We actually got into it this morning about it. That's why he's not here in the castle. To get away from me..."

He couldn't believe that this was happening between the two and it was obviously effecting their already rocky friendship. "Goddamn it, Sally..."

"I know that what we did was wrong but...I don't understand. Why do I feel this way about him?"

He sighed heavily, "Look Sally, I can't tell you how to live your life but I'm saying this because I'm your brother and I want what's best for you. And you...having 'feelings' about someone who is supposedly spoken for...you don't wanna go there." He stood from his chair and slammed the book he was reading shut. "But hey if you two wanna fuck, then by all means." He pointed out towards the window behind him, "But once you two go back to Tech City, it could take weeks, months, maybe even years but shit will hit the fan and his family will fall to complete shit all because you two wanted to fuck around one good time."

She bit her lip and had to agree that his harsh words were in fact making sense. Would it be worth it if they did decide to take it that far?

"Think about it, Sal", he spoke in a firm tone. "Do yourself and him a favor and just stay away from him."

She had then watched as he stormed out of the room leaving her alone in her thoughts.

Author's Note: And here it is! All week long new chapter updates will be posted! So exciting! But oh wow! Sonic and Shadow formed quite the friendship huh? And Sally tried to confide in Elias for help and he is not the least bit happy! Wonder if he and Shadow will now have problems? And what kind of adventure is Sonic and Shadow in for? Find out in the next chapter being posted tomorrow! See you guys on the flipside! R&R please!

In The Next Chapter...

Sonic: Haha! Come on, Shadow! Why are you so slow?

Shadow: What a show off...

Sonic: Yeah! Adventure!

Sally: ...Shadow?

Shadow: I never wanted to hurt you, Sal...