Probably my favorite chapter so far. Heh. ;D Enjoy!
-Laz

As Shadow breathed the late morning air, a familiar, smooth scent caressed his nose. It was cinnamon, perhaps jasmine—or was it both? He stirred, eyelids heavy and limbs begging for him to stay where the deep, satisfying warmth was.

...Warmth?

The black hedgehog suddenly realized the strangeness of the sensation and his crimson eyes shot open, only to reveal ebony. That same smell encircled his nose again, and it sent his head whirling. Shadow found the ground beneath him and moved his hands there, ready to push himself up. That is, he would have pushed himself up if a pair of hands weren't holding his back loosely.

A sudden rush of heat washed over Shadow's face as he began to grasp that he had been sleeping—huddling, almost!—with Black Doom the night prior. The list of profanities that shot through his mind was endless; he ended up cursing himself more than Black Doom for having allowed such close contact in the first place. How degrading; how sickening; how inappropriate! He didn't care if it was for their own survival or not; Shadow pondered if ramming his head into a nearby tree would be enough to kill him.

Luckily, Shadow was freed soon enough. The alien hedgehog rolled over to his other side in his slumber, leaving Shadow to dig his face into his hands silently.

They were becoming something, Shadow chanted in his head; they were becoming a family, just as he wanted, but again, he wasn't ready.

The hybrid looked to the sky, gauging the approximate time. It was almost ten in the morning, he thought as he cringed. He couldn't believe that he fell asleep instead of standing guard; hell, he couldn't believe that Black Doom slept, either. Knowing him, he seldom trusts anyone with his life, let alone Shadow, yet he felt comfortable enough to rest in Shadow's presence. Then again, he realized, Black Doom was the true Ultimate Life Form; why did he need sleep? Shadow found that he needed to sleep occasionally (especially during these post-battle periods), but he blamed it on his hedgehog genetics. Could it be, he wondered, that Black Doom was the same now that he was a hedgehog himself?

He looked back to Black Doom, whose breathing was steady and even. He looked at ease now. Good, Shadow admitted; after all the hell I've put him through, he deserves to have a breather.

Shadow stood quietly, sneaking away carefully for a small walk in the area to wake himself up. When he got back, hopefully Black Doom would be up and they could change their bandages together. As his stomach rumbled, he sighed. There was also the matter of food.

At the seventh bush, Shadow cursed aloud. This forest was completely infertile when it came to edibles. Granted, Shadow didn't need food urgently, as his body was capable of lasting extended periods without it, but he wasn't open to taking risks at the time. He also didn't know about Black Doom; if he needed sleep, did he need food as well? He assumed so.

Unfortunately for the carnivorous Lord Black Doom, Shadow refused to eat anything with meat in it for personal reasons. He had seen death all his life and even the internal organs of living beings; they were enough to repel him from meat. The recent alien invasion was no help, either. He wasn't sure how the Black Arms fed, but they always acted ravenous in their killing ways, almost like sharks in a feeding frenzy. It unnerved him. He was content with eating vegetables or ramen as he did on the ARK fifty years ago. That diet was strange for a hedgehog, he knew; even he had seen the squeamish Amy Rose eat one of those "hamburger" things.

If they were ever granted the luxury of food, Shadow would no doubt get a lecture from Black Doom as to how eating meat was nutritionally superior and that his vegetarian diet was why he was on the slender side. His "weaker" strength would probably be blamed on the lack of protein—what inadequacy wouldn't be blamed on his eating style? Black Doom was so picky with everything...

"Shads!"

The black blur's ears twitched; he knew that happy-go-lucky, carefree voice anywhere.

Goddammit.

He cautiously brought his eyes up to see the source of the call and internally cringed. Indeed, it was the blue hedgehog known to the world as Sonic the Hedgehog, and he stood waving excitedly from afar. Shadow stood erect, frowning up at the other hedgehog. Of all times and of all places, Sonic had to show up here. No doubt he had already heard about the happenings at G.U.N.'s headquarters.

Just as he began to turn away, Sonic came running. Shadow growled beneath his breath, a feeling of dread and a hint of fear overtaking him. He continued to walk, albeit slowly and in a different direction than the campsite was, but his blue look-alike was relentless in his ways.

"Shads, wait up!" Sonic called again. "I gotta talk to you for a sec!"

Against his every instinct, Shadow halted. The blue hedgehog caught up with him quickly, but decided to keep his distance for the time being. Shadow faced Sonic, making sure to wipe his face clean of any guilty expression. Sonic looked happy and peppy as ever, he noted bitterly.

"Yes?" Shadow muttered. Sonic's smile suddenly turned concerned, his hands falling to his sides. The ebony hedgehog realized how poor he must look with his blood-stained bandages.

"H-how's it going, Shadow?"

Shadow looked away and shrugged in response. "Could be better."

Sonic frowned. "I haven't seen ya in a few days; I've—we've been worried."

"'We?'" Shadow repeated, furrowing his brow. Sonic nodded.

"Yeah. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream—everyone. But anyways," he explained, "I was just on my morning run and, whaddya know, I stumbled across you!" He stepped forward, approaching Shadow with a cautious air still about him. "I hate to say it, but you look like hell."

As Sonic reached for Shadow's wrapped arm—the very arm that Black Doom had tightened the bandage on—Shadow swatted his hand away. "I'm fine." Shadow wished he would leave, but there a lingering fear that Sonic was associated with the Commander and could confidently reveal his exact location. No doubt the military would be there in a heartbeat; he could consider Black Doom dead upon their arrival.

But it was obvious the blue hedgehog wasn't convinced. He shrugged it off, but leaned close to Shadow and lowered his voice to a whisper. The hedgehog froze.

"Listen, Shadow. Something weird is going on with G.U.N. right now," Sonic mumbled. Shadow's heart stopped; they had gotten to him after all. "They tracked me down and asked me if I've seen you or if I knew where you were. I told them I didn't, 'cuz I really didn't, and they left with the whole 'if you see him, let us know' spiel, but didn't tell me what was going on. It didn't sound like they were gonna shrug this off after a couple days, either; it sounded like this was serious."

Shadow fell silent. Those pitiful bastards, he cursed. They went to the extent of bothering others just to see if they could find a measly clue to Shadow's whereabouts.

"Shads, what's going—"

"Is this going public?" Shadow interrupted.

"I...well, I haven't seen anything on the news or in the paper..." Sonic trailed off, scanning his memories thoroughly for anything otherwise. Shadow breathed a sigh of relief; as long as this situation stayed private, he would be relatively safe. "But seriously, Shadow, what the heck is going on here? I haven't seen the Commander, but I can guess he's tearing out his hair over you by the sounds of it."

No joke, Shadow bitterly thought. He didn't want to think about what state of mind the Commander was in; skipped meals, sleepless nights—all over finding he and Black Doom. Shadow heard something about the Commander becoming a grandfather shortly after the invasion as well; he wondered if he took time from this business and bothered to visit the newborn yet. What a sick bastard, he cursed. He was just about as sick as Black Doom.

Sonic was about to repeat his question when Shadow cleared his throat to answer. "I can't tell you right now; it's too dangerous. You need to just stay ignorant for the time being." Shadow swallowed and turned his back to the blue hero once more. There was silence on Sonic's end, then suddenly he came to his senses.

"Hey," he said, raising his voice slightly, "no way, man, this isn't gonna cut it. I'm worried about you; I want to help, but I gotta know how deep you're in!"

"It's complicated, Sonic; I can't talk about it."

There was a heavy silence. A calm breeze rustled the leaves above.

"...Alright." Sonic finally sighed, azure ears falling a bit before he set his hands upon his hips. Shadow glared at the ground before him, half-kicking himself for so bluntly shrugging him off; perhaps he was being too paranoid. Sonic was benevolent to everyone and everything he met, save for Dr. Eggman, of course. He could be a help...a major help.

Yet, just how fond of G.U.N. was Sonic? He did ally himself and his teammates with them during the invasion, but that was, of course, a dire situation.

"I'm not with those guys. You oughta know that by now," Sonic said, chuckling as he kicked up dirt on the ground. Shadow knitted his brow at him, faking confusion, but Sonic merely winked back. "C'mon, Shadow! It was all over your face. It must've taken a boatload of guts to do whatever you did to those jerks, and I don't wanna spoil your fun. You know...whatever it is."

A smile tugged at the corner of Shadow's mouth. Thick as he was sometimes, Sonic did have the capabilities of understanding others and their emotions without so much as a word.

"Is there something I can at least do for you? I can't just leave you out here like this," Sonic frowned. Shadow felt the emptiness of his stomach again and silently wished it would growl loud enough for Sonic to hear. He wasn't one to ask favors.

"For starters, don't follow me," Shadow said, "not now, not ever."

"Well, yeah, that's a given." Sonic scoffed. Shadow shrugged, humbling himself enough to accept assistance from the blue hero. After a hesitant pause, Shadow spoke.

"...Food and water would be nice, I suppose."

Sonic beamed, overjoyed that he could help. Pathetic, Shadow bitterly remarked in his head; this hedgehog must really be bored.

"Sweet!" Sonic exclaimed. "You like ramen, right? I'll get you the instant stuff just for convenience...but hold up, if you don't want me to follow you, how are you gonna get the stuff I bring?"

It was a legitimate question indeed. Sonic was going to be treading in dangerous waters; if he didn't act secretive enough, he could be followed, and Black Doom and Shadow would be discovered. They needed a hiding spot. The ebony hybrid glanced over the bush he had combed through; there was plenty of shade at the roots, as well as a great number of leaves to cover up any evidence of a foreign object. Shadow hated taking such a risk, but he gestured toward the plant.

"Put it here, but make sure you're not being followed." Shadow instructed. Sonic scanned the environment, memorizing the exact location. He finally nodded.

"Sounds good, Shads. How much are you thinking you need?"

Shadow paused before answering beneath his breath. "Enough to feed two for a little less than a week." It was long, but it was best to have leftovers than not enough.

Sonic blinked at the response, but grinned widely. "Heh, I don't know what you're up to, Shadow, but I'll get everything you need and put it right here—no followers or tag-alongs." The blue blur turned on his heels and began to jog back in the way he came. "They'll be there in about an hour! See ya!"

Shadow made sure that Sonic was out of sight before he himself went back the way he came. An hour until a meal...instant or not, it sounded heavenly, and it would certainly break the ice between he and the alien warlord.