A quick spindash to the chest and the Commander went flying, Sonic catching Shadow on the way down. He glared at the headman of GUN, holding Shadow protectively in his arms.
Sonic sat on the ground, sitting Shadow in his lap and propping the ebony hedgehog's head on his chest, waiting until Shadow's ragged breath smoothed out.
The young antihero groaned, opening his eyes. "Why whenever I'm near you, I get hurt? Not you, just me. Are you cursed or something?" he croaked.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "No, you're just lucky. Now, are you okay bud? Seriously?"
Shadow grumbled, sitting up in Sonic's lap. "I'm… well, I'm not dead, so that's a good thing, right?"
Emerald eyes rolled, squeezing his arms on the smaller mobian in his grasp. "Shadow, you suck at giving me a straight answer. Again, are you okay?"
He shrugged. "My throat hurts, but I was just strangled so that's why."
"Better then saying your back hurts," he chuckled, kissing his ear.
A blast of green light appeared in front of them, the older Shadow stumbling out with the Robotniks behind him, arguing.
"I'm sorry, Grandfather! I didn't mean to blow up the microwave, honest! I was just trying to make some lunch," Eggman whined.
"It said two minutes, not twenty," Gerald growled. His hand went to his bald head, though it was now covered in a layer of mac and cheese. He wiped at it, wincing at the heat. His face was covered in soot from the mini explosion.
"I have bad eyesight!"
"Yes, I think I know that now," Gerald grumbled, wiping the cheese off of his glasses.
Before Eggman could say another thing, Maria bolted out of the house, spatula in hand, beating the Commander's head in. "Don't you DARE hurt my friend! Y-you're just a big BULLY! I will NOT let you hurt him, DO YOU HEAR ME?" she shrieked.
The Commander winced. "Maria? Is that really you? Ouch!" he yelped, grabbing the spatula.
She fumed. "Yes, it's me, Maria Robotnik. I don't know WHO you think you are, coming in here and trying to kill all my friends-"
"It's me!" he cried. "I was your friend back on the ARK!"
He jaw dropped, her aqua eyes staring at him in shock. "You?" she gasped. She shook her head. "So you've grown into a gigantic jerk?"
"What? But I'm not!"
She raised a brow at him, tapping her foot on the ground. She pointed to the younger Shadow, who was glaring at him and rubbing his head. She looked back at him, waiting for his explanation.
"… Good point," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
Maria wacked him once more, turning abruptly on her heels and racing to Shadow, picking him up out of Sonic's arms and hugging him so tightly his eyes began to bulge.
"Maria!" he choked out. "Maria, stop!"
While she was crying over him, hugging him, Sonic jumped to his feet and jogged to the older Shadow and the Robotniks.
"I mean, why not just eat something quick! A sandwich was sitting right there, but no, you had to try to be a 'big boy' and make a hot meal," the Professor scoffed, glaring at him.
"I said I was sorry, now can you do me a favor and drop it!" Eggman cried, sitting in a dejected pose.
"No way. They got even more stupid over the course of ten minutes," Sonic said with a grin, standing next to Shadow.
Shadow gave Sonic a withering glare. "YOU haven't been with them for the last half an hour. They're honestly, completely insane."
Gerald looked shocked. "Shadow! I am not insane! They had me tested for that a few months ago, remember?"
Eggman nodded. "I am, but that's what attracts the fans! How I am insane, yet in a funny way."
Sonic snorted. "Funny? More like stupid. And sadistic. Definitely sadistic."
"I thought the sadistic one was Shadow?"
"I'm standing right here. And I'm not sadistic," he snapped. He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at them. "We have to find a way to defeat the Black Arms without destroying the entire plant along with it."
Sonic frowned. Black Doom probably dreamed of Shadow's head on a silver platter now, and Sonic rather liked Shadow's head between his shoulders. He grabbed Shadow's hand, ignoring his questioning look and sighed, leaning his head on Shadow's shoulder. "I wish Black Doom would just bug off already…" he whispered.
Shadow rubbed his back affectionately. "Don't we all. Now let's get to it. Go hide Maria and … uh… younger me, and get Tails to cough up the emerald. Hit the Commander over the head and get going."
"What are you going to do?" he asked, his ears folding to his head as he looked over sadly to him.
Shadow smirked, tugging on his wrist and pulling him in for a quick kiss. "I'm going to repair the eclipse cannon with these two morons. Try to convince younger me to find more chaos emeralds or get GUN and Black doom off our trails."
Sonic nodded. "Got it. Don't kill them, okay?"
The ebony hedgehog grunted, muttering, "No promises," before grabbing both Robotniks' wrists and Chaos Controlling back to the ARK.
Sonic smiled, shaking his head. He turned and began running back to the house, 'accidentally' stepping on the Commander's foot.
xxXXxx
"I can TOTALLY put more marshmallows in my mouth!"
Sonic stared, dumbfounded at younger Shadow and Maria taking a bag of marshmallows.
Tails shook his head. "I'm the winner."
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Wanna bet?"
Maria stood between them, raising a scarf and yelling, "GO!" The two started chugging the bags, Maria counting them off.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "The fate of the Planet rests in your hands, guys, and you're sitting here, eating marshmallows?"
The blonde fox looked up, his blue eyes sparkling and the small white blobs flying out of his mouth. He blushed, scratching the back of his neck and sweat dropped. "Ugghn fllmth," he mumbled around his filled mouth. Sonic didn't even try to guess what the hell it meant.
Shadow was pretty nonchalant about it. He just nodded and shrugged, chewing before swallowing. "So who won?" he asked, patting his stomach.
Maria looked over the tally. "Um… Shadow!" she cried, raising his arm into the hair.
The younger Shadow burst into laughter at Tails' red face, singing 'I am the Champion!' He flicked a small white bud at his head, grinning as Tails passed out.
The hero held his head, a headache coming on. "Guys," he yelled, waving his arms frantically. "We have a WORLD to save!" he cried.
Maria blinked, her large azure eyes bright, before misting and tearing up. "I-I'm sorry…"
The Ultimate Lifeform rolled his eyes. "Nice going, Sonic. You're making a girl cry," he muttered, going over to rub her back. He eyed the sapphire hedgehog. "You have bags under your bags, Sonic. Think it's time to rest?"
Sonic grumbled at him. "Promise not to get killed while I pass out?"
"I promise," he said softly. His strong arms wrapped around his waist as he pulled him into a chair, the blue hedgehog blinking in surprise as he found himself in Shadow's lap. "Now go to sleep before I kill you."
Emerald orbs rolled. "Aww, with those sweet words, I'll be able to sleep peacefully. Dreaming about your gun to my head," he laughed, snuggling into Shadow's white chest fur.
"If I'm like that in your dream, can I have a moustache?" Shadow asked, kissing Sonic's forehead softly.
Sonic looked up, confused before remembering that this was the younger Shadow. He rolled his eyes, chuckling, "Sure Shads. Whatever you want."
"How many times do I have to tell you that isn't my name?" he demanded, poking Sonic's nose.
He batted his hand away, shrugging. "How many times have you told me?"
"Three hundred sixty four and standing. Why?"
"Then I'll have to call you the name you love so much at least Ten thousand times. Just because you like it that much," he chuckled, dodging Shadow's claws.
The ebony hedgehog growled. "Go to sleep now, Sonic." He paused. "Or, you know, I could call in Amy. I'm sure she'd be thrilled."
Sonic's emerald eyes widened as he imagined the scene. Amy, bursting in through the door of his private home, his sanctum, and beating his head in with her mallet while Shadow sat and watched. Laughing.
"Oh god, please no," he whined. He clung to his ebony lover, telling him how he would never call him Shads again and he'd go to sleep right away.
But he couldn't fall asleep.
"This will work Tails, I promise!" Sonic said.
The kitsune grimaced at his big brother. "I can't believe you're actually making me do this," he muttered.
"I can," Maria said, looking down. She was also involved in his master plan.
"I CAN'T," Shadow stated lamely. "Look at us! We look ridiculous!" he yelled.
It was true. Each one of them were dressed in sheep costumes, with bells, ribbons, and everything. Tails had a pink ribbon around his head, and even Shadow had to get in on it.
"But… Shadow's outfit is all tight and good looking. And mine is just fat!" Tails complained, his small head peeking over the mountains of fluff and ribbons. His small golden bell tingled.
"I got it just for him," Sonic said with an adoring smile, kissing Shadow's cheek. The other hedgehog snarled at him, saying, "I can't believe you're making me do this, Sonic. This is degrading! What will I look like with the other villains now?" he demanded.
"You aren't a villain," Sonic pointed out, ignoring the glower directed his way. He clapped his hands, relaxing into the couch and putting his feet onto the recliner. "Now get going. I need to sleep, and we aren't getting anywhere like this," he said lazily. "Get to it."
Shadow threw the remote at Sonic's head.
Maria looked up from the miniature fence he forced her to make, frowning. "Who died and made you king?" she asked finally, huffing as she put down her tools.
"I dunno. But the king is getting annoyed because he can't sleep." Maria glared at him, her sharp eyes piercing him. "Oh come on, help a dude out. Please?" he begged.
She sighed, her golden hair slipping out of the white hood. She stepped up to the mini fence and hopped over, beginning the cycle. Shadow followed, Sonic's eyes trained on his rear the whole way.
Earning him a shoe to the head.
Tails looked nervously to the fence. It was high for him, and he gained about two hundred pounds of fluff and ribbons. The bells wrapped around his frantic namesakes, he tried to float over the fence.
It was just too heavy! His foot snagged the fence and down he went, hard. The bigger they are the harder they fall, as he said. And man did he fall.
He crashed headfirst to the ground, bouncing a few feet from his enlarged stomach, the bells chiming loudly as he bounced into the wall, the fence tangled in his feet. Maria was sobbing, not for him, but for the fence. "I worked for HOURS on that!" she cried. Shadow tried comforting her, patting her back and telling her that they could make a new, better fence for Sonic the couch potato.
Tails was groaning into the wall, cracks forming around him. Maria rushed to his side, trying to tug him out and failing somewhat miserably. Shadow came over and pulled on his tails, making the small fox shriek.
Shadow laughed. "Hey, you sound like a girl!" he snickered.
Tails' responded with a moan, his voice- and curse – muffled by the wall smashing against his face. "How would you like it if I tried to rip YOUR tail off?"
"I'd like to see you try and keep your arm attached to your body," he responded with a shrug, sliding a hand to his chest and forcing him out of the wall.
Tails cried out as he fell, bashing his head into ground. "Oh man, I can hear my brain rattling around in my skull. Is that bad?"
"Oh, Tails!" Maria cried, picking him up and prying the costume off of him. The fox whimpered and rolled out of it, clinging to the young girl. "Maria?" he choked out. "Is that you? I… I can see a light… it's getting brighter…"
"That's the light in the lamp, idiot," Shadow sighed, turning it on and off to prove it. "You aren't dying. For a genius, you're pretty dumb."
Tails grimaced, his baby blue eyes sparking as he sat up. "What's Sonic doing?" he grunted.
They all looked over to the hero, jaws dropping in unison as their eyes settled on the azure hedgehog.
Sonic was sleeping peacefully under the thick blanket, his head tucked cutely into the pillow as he snored softly, curled up.
Tails almost attacked him.
"I nearly killed myself and he passes out!" he hissed, lunging forward. Maria was going to grab him, but Shadow beat her to it, his pinky wrapping around his tail, really no force being used by him at all to hold him back.
Shadow flung Tails back into the wall, hearing him yelp and the wall crack. He moved quickly to Sonic, stroking his quills and smiling. No matter how childish he was now, he saw himself grown. He – if possible – loved Sonic even more, an would give his life for him. He bent down, pressing his tan lips to Sonic's cheek softly. "Have a good night's rest, Sonic. I love you," he murmured.
xXXx
(Another weird dream, too lazy to type it out.)
Maria was pulling at Shadow's hand, whining how she wanted to go out. "Daddy, they're going to start soon!" she cried. Maria had grown out of her golden fur as it turned blue, like Sonic's, and had streaks of gold in her quills. Her sky blue eyes glowed as she whimpered up at her father.
"I know, honey. But Sonic is taking forever, and the others are with him," he sighed. His crimson eyes flashed as he craned his neck back to the bathroom, yelling, "Sonic! What is taking you so long?"
The door burst open, the blue hedgehog hopping out with Piper on his shoulders and Dash trailing behind them. Sonic was wearing Uncle Sam's outfit, complete with the suspenders and beard. The fluffy white beard trailed halfway down his chest, and he even taped fluffy white eyebrows on his eye ridges.
Shadow burst into laughter with Maria at the sight of Sonic, holding his stomach as Sonic started to dance, pulling a cane from his striped and starred top hat.
Dash and Piper were holding sparklers, the small lights fizzing off of them as they ran in circles around Sonic. They laughed as Sonic knocked himself on the head with his cane.
Shadow rolled his eyes, placing a hand on his hip. "That's great. Can we go out now?" he asked. "Maria's head may blow up if she doesn't see the fireworks."
Sonic grimaced. "Oh come on. 'Great' is all I get after slaving over this for hours?" he pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's the most wonderful thing I've ever gotten the pleasure to lay my eyes on. NOW can we go outside?" he asked.
Sonic laughed, picking up Piper and taking Dash's hand, following behind Shadow with a smile. He hummed happily, Piper doing the same as she giggled and nearly burnt his quills with the sparkler.
Shadow smiled down at Maria, lifting her up and placing her on his shoulders, grinning at her squeals of happiness as the bright colors burst into the sky, illuminating the black of night.
Shadow grabbed Sonic's free hand, pulling him over with a small smirk. Their fingers interlocked, Sonic looked up with a brilliant smile. "Hey, this night wasn't as bad as you thought it would be," he noted.
Shadow shrugged. "None of us got blown up with the firecrackers, so I guess that's a good thing.
"Definitely," Sonic said with a nod, scooting over to his side, laying his head down on the ebony hedgehog's shoulder. He closed his eyes. "Can you believe we're actually here?" he asked.
"No, I still think I'm dreaming from my fall from the ARK," Shadow admitted. "But it's a good dream."
The hero smiled, his face lighting up. "I'm glad it's a good dream," he said. He smacked Shadow's shoulder playfully. "And you aren't dreaming, for the eighteenth time."
They smiled at each other, leaning towards each other until their noses were touching, the last of the light from the fireworks going out before their lips touched.
xXXXx
Sonic woke up with a dreamy smile, his emerald eyes foggy. He looked around, stretching and yawning.
Tails was passed out from the heat of his sheep costume.
Maria was in a black dress with black shoes, and a black hat, holding a bouquet of roses over the mangled pieces of wire that was once a fence. She was holding a funeral ceremony for it, and Shadow was watching with an amused smirk.
"Made, on July 12, 2011, this fence once stood proud, beautiful. Now, because of what Tails has done to it, it is nothing but rubble. He tried to fly over it in a sheep costume, and failed miserably, his foot snagging on the top of it. He fell, taking this majestic fence down with him," she preached, dabbing at her large eyes with a hanky.
Shadow rolled his eyes and snorted, his hands glowing with chaos as he made his fingers into the shape of a gun, shooting the fence. It exploded, scorching under Chaos flames.
"There. Now it doesn't have to suffer anymore, and it's warm in here," he said pleasantly.
Maria shrieked, sobbing over the charred remains of the fence. "I spent so long on this! SO LONG!" she cried, shaking her fist to the sky. "Why must the good die young?"
"It was a wire fence you spent twenty minutes on, Maria. Get a hold on yourself," Shadow sighed, patting her shoulder.
She bit his hand.
"YOWCH! What was that for?" he demanded, wincing.
Maria glared at him. "For destroying my funeral. I was going to get the band to play!" she sobbed, gesturing to the men with their instruments.
"We're still getting paid, right?" the man with the trombone asked.
"You could be firewood if you don't leave," Shadow said pleasantly, his hands glowing with the flames of Chaos yet again.
They nearly trampled each other to get out the door.
Sonic reached for Shadow when a searing green light tore up the room, the Robotniks falling out, covered in a suspicious red liquid.
"Grandfather? Grandfather, what is that?" Maria gasped, shrieking as Shadow fell from the portal.
"GUN," Gerald gasped. "My Shadow… Shadow…"
Shadow fell to one knee, his chest fur covered in his own blood. Crimson eyes locked with emerald before they rolled and became hidden underneath his ebony lids. Sonic paled considerably as he stumbled forward, moving the fur.
A bullet hole ripped the right side of his chest.
I am SO sorry for not updating in a while.
Shadow: She forgot about us, Sonic.
Sonic: *Whimpers* I know, Shads. She is ignoring us.
I am NOT!
Shadow: You were too busy fooling around on the other site...
Well... yeah... Anyways, Tonight I'll be uploading a bunch of more stuff. Don't worry, I am BACK, baby!
Sonic: She's freaking me out, Shadow.
Shadow: Just smile and nod.