Boy things sure are heating up for Shadow. He's almost gotten killed, discovered that his slave, Silver is a telekinetic, been blamed for attempting to assassinate a duke, watched as the dukes bodyguards whip his slave, got flayed to save his slave, found out he's a prince, discovered he has a sister, found out he has strange powers, gotten a spinal operation, and has been spoken to by his kingdom's namesakes. Wow. That's actually quite a bit once you think about it.

Shadow: That. Is. How. Much. I've. Had. To. Tolerate.

Me: Yeah, so?

Shadow: I. Hate. You.

Me: I'm trying to be as much of a friend as I possibly can to a couple of anthropomorphic hedgehogs, but I'm finding it hard to keep up.

Shadow: Does it look like I care?

Me: -sighs- No. I don't know how Silver can live in such harmony with someone like you.

Shadow: -looks down-

Silver: Look what you've done! You've hurt his feelings! Apologize right now!

Me: Fine. Sorry Shadow.

Shadow: Hmph

Crimson Amber

Chapter 10: If this is Chaos...

It had been a day since they had arrived in Sonic's camp. A whole day! Where had all the time gone? Well it did seem like a short time to Shadow. So much had happened! He barely got any private time alone. When the day ended, they finally got some time for peace and quiet.

"Master! You're back!" Silver exclaimed as Shadow stepped into the shelter they were given. It had a homey feeling around it. Fashioned out of all things arboreal, it let in drafts, but at least it was waterproof.

Wordlessly, Shadow stayed faithful to his normal greeting, getting down on all fours (wincing quite a bit) and placed a kiss on Silvers lips. Silver once again returned it. Shadow deepened it, satisfied only when he heard Silver utter a loud moan. He broke.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I come back? After what happened to you, I would never abandon you." Shadow sat up, his deep usually expressionless bloodred eyes boring holes into Silver's forehead, as if hoping to find an answer there.

Now Silver could definitely see affection in those deep crimson eyes, which he had grown to love so much.

"I was afraid. After what you did for me, and what it cost you, I didn't want you out of my sight. Everytime you are out of my side, I fear that you may get seriously injured."

Shadow had to let loose a soft smile at his slave's innocence.

"So be it. You will stay with me at all times, then we won't have to worry about the other." Shadow realized that he was smiling a lot lately. He also realized a lot of the time, he was smiling because of Silver. Before he knew Silver, his eyes were always expressionless, and he never smiled, unless it was at the expense of someone else.

Silver hugged Shadow, and Shadow had to cry out, because of his back. Tails had come to a conclusion that no flesh or fur would ever grow back on the flayed parts of his back.

"Master...," Silver began to sob. "Y-y-your back it will never heal. All because you had to save me." He buried his head in the downy white chest fur of the other.

"Silver, we've already gone over this. It's not your fault. Please don't blame yourself. It hurts to see you like this." Shadow could feel hot tears fall onto his fur. He began to stroke Silver's headquills as he implanted a kiss on Silver's forehead. He could feel the younger hedgehog stop shaking, and start nuzzling into him. It was comforting.

"Prince Shadow, our sc- oh," Knuckles stood at the doorway, stopped at mid-sentence by the scene before him. "I-I didn't mean to interrupt anything important."

Silver's eyes snapped open, and he flushed a vibrant copper.

"No everything's okay now. What is it you want?" Shadow asked, a little embarrassed at how many times he had been caught kissing Silver.

"The scout group has recovered a chaos emerald." Knuckles replied a little hesitantly now. He had not meant to intrude, but now it seemed as though he had seen something he shouldn't have.

"Interesting. Have I permission to view it?" Shadow inquired. He remembered Blaze say something about him having some sort of power with chaos or something like that.

Prince Shadow, technically you do have permission to do whatever you want y'know."

Shadow smirked, "I'll just take that as a yes then," he said getting up and giving Knuckles a friendly elbow. Knuckles elbowed him back, and he had a hard time keeping his balance. Shadow liked this red echidna. He treated him like an equal.

Shadow looked at Silver, "Are you not coming?" His smirk turned into another smile as his slave padded up to him and rubbed against his legs.

"Prince Shadow, would you care to tell Silver that he should walk properly now?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow nodded.

"Silver, would you please walk on both feet for now? It may come by as strange to our hosts seeing you down on your hands and knees," He knew Silver would listen to only him.

Silver got up. He was a little shaky at first, but then began to walk normally. This would be a strange feeling for him, Shadow thought. Walking normally in public when he's so used to being down on all fours.

They made it to a clearing where a group of black clothed creatures were surrounding something that seemed to emit with a strange energy. Shadow felt tuned to this strange energy. It was as if it was a part of him. He stepped toward the power source ahead of him.

Ok here we stop. So this was a little ways into where I wanna go. Ok almost. So close! Ah well. Ciao for now!