Chapter 25: Le Morte D'Arthur

"Shadow, are you alright? I heard a noise?" Jules asked.

Shadow looked to the doorway to the lounge and replied, "I'm fine. I just got another memory, is all."

"Okay..."

As Jules left, Shadow put his head in his hands and cried. He couldn't get that image out of his head.

"Why did they kill her? Why?" Shadow asked himself.

He sniffed and wiped his tears away, but kept on crying. Those damn humans had killed the person he cared about most! He clenched his fists together in anger. What should he do? Kill them? Was that the right thing to do? He didn't know. Shadow was thinking about getting revenge...but he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Shadow was thinking about getting revenge...but he wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Should he go doing the same thing the humans did go Maria? It didn't feel right to him.

A few minutes later, Jules walked in. He saw Shadow crying and blinked, wondering what was wrong.

"Shadow, is something wrong?" Jules asked the dark hedgehog.

This surprised Shadow and he wiped his tears away and shook his head. "No! I'm fine!"

Jules looked at him, concerned. Shadow glared at him, wanting to be left alone. Jules put up his hands and nodded, knowing by that look he wanted to be left alone. He left the kitchen and headed back to the lounge room. He saw that it was 10:00 at night and sighed, wondering what he should do. Now that he was a vampire, he had to sleep during the day and stay awake at night.

Jules lay down on the couch and stared at the ceiling. "This is going to take some getting used to..." He sighed and put a hand to his chest, but didn't feel a heartbeat. "Why did Sonic have to do that?" He looked up to his son's room and sighed to himself. "That boy is more trouble than he's worth."

The vampire stood up and walked upstairs to his son's room, wondering if Sonic was still awake. He opened the door and looked in.

"Son, are you awake?" Jules called into his son's room.

There was no answer. Jules walked in and saw Sonic sleeping on his bed, sprawled out on the covers in an awkward position. Jules chuckled at this and walked into the room and up to the bed. He stroked his son's quills affectionately. He had missed his son dearly and even though he was watching him, he had still wanted to see him. "Sonic, how much have been through without me?"

Sonic groaned and turned on his side, beginning to snore. Jules smiled and shook his head at this. He still snores. He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

The next day, Sonic woke up and yawned. He walked downstairs and saw his father sleeping on the couch. Sonic felt at fault that his Father had become a vampire because he couldn't ... didn't want him to leave him. His Father was now suffering vampirism thanks to him. Sonic sighed and looked at his father, then went into the kitchen. He saw Shadow sitting on the floor, looking distant. His eyes were wet, as if he had been crying.

"You okay, Shads?" Sonic asked.

Shadow stares at the ground and nodded at him, not answering the hedgehog that asked the question.

"Did you get any sleep? You look really tired." Shadow just stared at the ground and nodded at Sonic, not bothering to look up at him. This worried Sonic. What happened to make him look this worn out? "What happened, Shads?"

Shadow's eyes began to tear up. He muttered something, and Sonic thought it sounded like 'Maria'. He wiped his tears away. He didn't want to look vulnerable in front of Sonic. He hated being asked so many questions, especially right now. Sonic shrugged and opened the refrigerator to get some breakfast. He pulled out some yogurt and orange juice, then sat down at the table. His eyes kept drifting to the frozen Shadow on the floor, worry in his eyes. Did Shadow want anything? Or did he want to stay on the floor?

"Do you want anything to eat?" He asked.

Shadow shook his head at Sonic's question which made the hedgehog frown. What was wrong with him? He heard Shadow mutter 'Maria' again, and looked at Shadow in curiosity.

"Who's Maria?"

Shadow fell silent after that question and Sonic knew then, that it was best not to question him further.

He finished eating and walked into the family room. Sonic wondered what could make Shadow cry so much. He had heard something about someone called 'Maria', but that's all he had heard. Sonic shrugged, wondering what was wrong with Shadow. He wasn't like this yesterday. Did something happen to him? The blue hedgehog yawned and sat down, picking up a book he had been reading recently.

The book was about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He was reading it because he was curious to know more about his grandfather.

The book told of Arthur's childhood, how he was the son of Uther Pendragon and was taken by Sir Ector to be fostered in the country. He later became the king of a leaderless England when he removed the sword Excalibur from the stone. It also spoke of Lancelot, and how the knight had been enchanted into a deep sleep by the sorceress Morgan le Fay and having to escape her castle. Sonic was also shocked to learn that Lancelot had been having an affair with Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere.

So many things seemed to have happened before his Father was even born. Wait, Lancelot ... having an affair with Queen Guinevere? Did that mean that Arthur could possibly not be his real grandfather, but Lancelot? He shook his head at the thought, and continued to read. After Arthur had found out about the affair, he had burned Guinevere at the stake.

The book then told of a war between Mordred and Arthur. According to the book, Mordred had invaded Camelot and waged war against his nephew. Arthur impaled Mordred with a spear but at the last second, Mordred fatally wounded Arthur and they both died. As Arthur lay dying, his last request was that the sword Excalibur and the scabbard be thrown back into the lake. His knights placed Arthur's body on a barge, and sailed off with him to the mystical island of Avalon to cure him of his wounds. The part that intrigued Sonic the most was that Arthur would awaken one day to defend Britain, when Britain has need of him.

This got Sonic thinking. If both Queen Guinevere and Arthur died ... then how was his Father born? Unless Jules had already been born before they died. He wondered why it didn't say anything on his Father though. Did it just care more for Arthur and not his relatives? He looked at the summary on the back and saw that the book was mostly about Arthur and his knights. The title of the book, Le Morte D'Arthur, even translated to The Death Of Arthur.

Sonic smiled; he would have to show this book to his father. Though would his Father really want to read about the death of his own Father? Unless he already knew somehow. Sonic had never asked if Jules knew how Arthur died. He wondered how old his Father was when he died. Sonic could hardly remember his Mother, but his Father hardly spoke of Arthur, but when he did he always said he was a proud and respected King. Could he have been his age when Arthur died?

The immortal shrugged, still thinking about it. A few minutes later the phone rang. Sonic picked it up to see who was calling and saw that it was Amy.

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi Sonic ... how you doing?" She asked, feeling awkward talking to him after yesterday.

"I'm...okay," Sonic said. "What do you want?"

"I ... wanted to talk to Shadow? Is he around?" Amy asked. Sonic bit his lip at that. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk right now.

"Shadow's here, but I don't think he wants to talk to anyone right now. I don't know what's wrong with him. He's been crying and muttering something about someone named Maria."

"Crying?" Amy asked, confused. "What could have happened?"

"Like I said, I don't know. Do you think he regained one of his memories?" Sonic asked. "He wasn't like this yesterday."

"Possibly. It might have been a bad one. One that's traumatised him," Amy told Sonic.

"Should we do anything?"

"I don't know. Do you think there's anything we can do?"

"I'm not sure," Sonic said. "So, what did you want to talk to him about?"

"Umm ... Sonic, we felt really bad about yesterday, so we've decided to make another party for you," she told him. She just hoped Shadow and Jules would forgive her for spilling it out on Sonic. She just didn't want to upset him further.

"Really?" Sonic asked.

"Shadow had the idea, but your Father added more to it," Amy told him.

"Oh...all right. When's the party?"

"We don't know the exact time, but a week at the most," Amy told him.

"Okay. Well...thanks for telling me. I appreciate it," Sonic said.

"You're not mad?"

"I'm still mad about yesterday, but not about this. It's nice to hear that you're going to make it up to me."

"Thank you, Sonic."

Sonic smiled. "Hey, Amy...there's another thing about Shadow that I wanna ask you. Lately, he's been having memories of Lancelot. Do you know why?"

"Why are you asking me that? Should that be something to ask your Father not me? I wasn't around when Camelot was, so I would know," she huffed.

"Never mind," Sonic said. "I'll talk to you later, Amy."

He said goodbye and hung up. He sighed to himself and looked to the kitchen doorway. What was he to do? Shadow was upset about something and then another make-up party would be in a week. So much was happening. He hoped that Tails would come out of his coma in time for the party, but he didn't think that would happen. Sonic sighed, wondering if he should call the hospital to see how Tails' condition was.

Sonic held the phone in his hands, afraid of ringing the hospital. What if when he run up they'd tell him he was still in a coma and he got his hopes up for nothing? He hesitated and then set the phone down. Sonic didn't want any more bad news. He wouldn't be able to handle anymore bad news, especially if it considered Tails. The immortal sighed and sat down, hoping he would have fun at the party.