Sword of Malnok challenged me in a review for the previous chapter to finish the next one before Sonic Mania's release tomorrow.
Of course, as is my habit, I stalled and stalled until the 10th of August arrived and I figured that I should probably start writing. So here it is! :'D
The Island: Chapter 12
Sonic's POV
I wasn't so lucky when it got to the pain from the sting that bug decided to give me after I hadn't provoked it in the least.
I hoped it wouldn't come in endless waves for the rest of the day and instead slowly fade away after about half an hour, like Shad said and reassured me could happen. I hoped it wouldn't start itching and swell up 'till it was about the size of my head.
'Course, that was exactly what happened.
And hours of pain coming in waves didn't only make me weep like a total baby for the rest of the day, what a sight that must've been for the hedgehog that had a crush on me for longer than a year now, but also didn't stop my arm from being sore for days to come and from swelling up like a water balloon that itched for hours on end. It even felt like it was kinda hard to move my left shoulder right aswell.
That soreness dragged on for a good few days afterwards, but I hardly noticed as my mind was obviously on more important things. Or people, I should say.
Shadow has constantly been on my mind lately.
Ever since we kissed that day, everything's been great. There was just no other way of putting it! Call it twitterpated or whatever, realizing that I did really, really like him and kissing him was taking a toll on me.
I used to get a rush of energy from running through the open fields. To feel the wind rushing through my quills, my heart pounding, pushing my legs until they cramped and my lungs burned, that was what gave me a true adrenaline kick. Battling Egghead's robots, saving the world time and again also never failed in making my blood boil with excitement.
But now just waking up and seeing Shadow was all I needed to get my heart pumping and pounding loudly in my chest.
He'd be standing there in the water to fish and I'd stand by the sidelines, admiring his slender and tight physique from afar. He could just be writing in that book of his by the fire and I would be sitting there and watching the light emphasize his face in just the right way. He'd get out of the water, maybe even get splashed by a wave, and I'd just take notice of the way his clothes stuck to his body, especially his white shirt.
And I swear it's not creepy in any way because he likes me back.
For some reason being stuck here with him as my only companion wasn't so bad anymore. Yeah, I'll always be missing my friends, like all the time, but that wouldn't stop me from feeling lucky that it was Shadow I had ended up with.
We were an official couple now. Realizing that time and again made me feel so much better than I ever thought possible. None of my exes, few as there were, ever made me feel this way before.
That was probably why I've never slept with any of them before either.
Yeah, I was a virgin, something that I don't think Shad was aware of. If he held any expectations for our first time together, than I hope I can still meet all of them when the time comes. Because yeah, I can see myself actually sleeping with this guy.
I guess it would only be fair. I did hold some for him aswell.
Like not hanging out with my attacker for example.
"I always thought you were the most afraid of bugs out of the two of us. Now I see you chilling here with one and I feel my skin crawling at just the sight of it." I stated, watching from a small distance as Shadow sat at our extinguished campfire in front of our modest home.
Chest bare and nose stuck in a notepad, he had one of those black scorpion bug things sitting next to him in a plastic container that used to hold expired food from the plane as stuff still occasionally came washing ashore from the crash four and a half months ago.
There he was, writing in a notepad I had never seen before and with the little prick who could possibly have been the one to sting me. And somehow Shadow did not see a single problem with that.
"I'm not particularly enjoying this either, Sonic, but it's important that we keep track of these animals. No one knows what might be living on Hedgehog Island, so we should at least know which are dangerous and which aren't. I have already added the boar, the fish we eat, and dedicated a still relatively empty page to the creature we were supposed to be checking out in the lake well over two weeks ago." Shad replied, clearly missing the point.
"And you had to bring it here?" I asked in turn, referring to that black little jerk chillaxing in that small plastic box, breathing through the holes Shadow made in it with his knife.
I understood why Shadow wanted a catalogue of all these animals, I really do get it. I mean, safety first right? But does it have to be here?
I could pretty much see it staring back at me with those callous black beady eyes.
Without a doubt it's plotting my murder.
"I brought it here because I thought it'd be a bad idea to stay away from the shore for too long." Shad replied a bit too nonchalantly, causing me to believe something a little different was going on in his mind right now.
"Oh yeah? And why can't you stay away from the shore for too long?" I asked, a smile appearing on my muzzle as I knew what this was really about and I didn't care enough to hide it.
"Well..." Shadow had never been the one to lie, always the kinda guy who told the truth no matter how harsh. So it wasn't a surprise he couldn't come up with a good excuse now either. He was a terrible liar.
"Scared you'd miss me too much?" So I asked and soon chuckled when Shadow didn't deny it even after a little while of silence.
His lips curled up in a slight smile aswell as he heard my question and the teasing tone attached to it.
"Okay, fine. I didn't want to stay too long away from you. Happy now?" He replied, placing the notepad down for a moment.
Another chuckle left me at his answer, after which I decided to lean back against this log we decided to place on two sides of our campfire.
It was for decoration and for slow days like today, when we'd simple sit around, do nothing useful, and enjoy the sun.
They were actually logs we found washed up aswell. Not here at the beach, but deeper in the jungle at the shore of a river, which was where we got our water from as you just can't drink sea water. Too salty and not the good kind.
Yeah, we took some risks, but Shadow ensured me it was safe. So far I don't experience any troubles with it.
Anyway, finding them did bring Shad to an idea, though. What it was I had absolutely no idea as he hasn't shared it with me yet and I hadn't bothered to ask either.
But there was something I wanted to ask him, though.
"Where did you get that notepad from anyway?" I asked, changing our subject to something a little different.
That thing did just appear out of thin air.
"This?" Shadow asked, referring to the thin book he held in his hand, to which I nodded.
"I found this a few days ago. It was amongst the stuff in that cave of the Two Lovers. While you were out wood hunting I took my chance to go back and see if there was stuff we might need. Turns out they had this laying around and I thought it might be useful. I am running out of space in our book, so it turns out it was." He explained and flipped through the pages, not knowing how I'd react.
When I frowned, I reacted exactly the way he'd think I would.
"I know you don't approve of me ransacking their stuff, but we could really use some of it." He added, making a bit of a good point.
Yeah, he's told me that before and that didn't make it any less true, but still it felt really wrong to be stealing from the dead. They might not need it anymore, but that didn't make me feel like any less of a jerk.
Shadow knew this and he understood how I could feel this way, but at the same time he couldn't understand how I could let that feeling get to me so much when there was clearly stuff we could use.
A deep sigh left me and I sank even deeper down the side of the log, arms crossing and my gaze cast upwards.
I guess a part of me just didn't want to get it either. That's pretty much the reason why Shadow, in some way, was tougher than me.
My boyfriend, still kinda gotta get used to calling him that, quickly caught onto my silence and decided to make a remark about it.
Putting the notepad and his pencil away on top of the small container with that creepy crawley, Shadow decided to get up and approach.
"Sonic... We need that stuff. If those two could look down on us now, they would've wanted us to use their belongings because they would know how hard it is to survive out here." He told me as he settled in front of the log next to me.
"We seem to be doing quite okay right now, but don't let quiet moments like these fool you. We hardly have a sanitary bathroom, we wash ourselves with freezing cold water, and I'm not even going to start on how I take care of my... monthly business, but anyway!" Shadow kept on talking, only quickly mentioning that last part as he really didn't want to elaborate on that.
"We are only getting by this fine because we're lucky. It's honestly a miracle that you're not skin and bones or caught some kind of illness yet. But things won't always go this smoothly and we will one day need everything we can find. That will include their stuff. They would've wanted us to use it if it would help us survive." He was a voice of reason right now, settling a hand on my thigh as I was being the grump for once.
Shadow was right. This was all about survival, about staying healthy and safe. if they had something we might someday need, we shouldn't let our feelings cloud our minds and keep our morals from taking that which we may need.
I didn't like it, but it was the truth.
"Fine, you win. We can take another look later, 'kay?" I asked, taking Shad's hand into my own and he gave me an ever so slight smile and a small squeez as a response.
"We'll go tomorrow. I want to finish my observation concerning that insect so I can get rid of it and fast. The thing's giving me the creeps and I want it gone." He stated, briefly glancing at the plastic container with the unmoving bug as it still continued to stare back at us with its callous gaze.
I could see Shadow grow visibly more uncomfortable the longer he stared at it form the corners of his eyes. He knew aswell as I did that it was scheming something.
"Okay, tomorrow. And this time I'll come with you and you won't have to sneak off behind my back, however the heck you managed to do that." I promised and set up a little straighter, his hand still in my hold.
"It actually isn't all that difficult, Sonic. All I need is to send you away for a chore or to wake up a little earlier than you usually do. It's quite easy actually." Shad replied, honest about how easy of a time he apparently always had sneaking away from me. He was a bit smug about it too, just for the sake of teasing me.
"Really? It's that easy? Clearly I need to step up my game." I returned the teasing, though I don't know for what I needed to step my game up for, it's not like Shad could leave me.
And even if he could, who would wanna leave this sexy hunk of a hedgehog behind?
"If you think that's going to help." After one last smile and a squeeze in my hand, Shadow got up and took back his original seat at the opposite side of the fire. Enough stalling, he wanted to continue on with his catalogue, so he could get rid of this bug spider thing still in our midst.
After all of this is over and done with, Shadow and I could figure out what to do with the rest of our day.