Chapter 34: What Is This 'Sleep' You Speak Of?

It was sleep that Gerald despised.

He didn't mind the actual sensation – that calming feeling of drowsyness, the replenished energy when he woke up in the morning, the therapeutic mattress balm for his tired body each evening. He liked that.

He just didn't like the eternity that came before, when he couldn't do anything but lie in the bed and nothing, nothing was there to distract him from his fear and guilt.

"I'm just trying to save lives," he whispered to nobody who was listening. "I can't join this war against Ivo…"

Do you know what he's doing down there? Did you hear about the Death Egg? No, you didn't. Only when it was too late…

"I did develop the technology to reverse the roboticization process!" Gerald protested feebly, knowing that if anybody was listening he would sound like he had lost his mind. Maybe he had.

You don't care. You've been floating between the moon and the stars for much too long…

"That is not true. I do care. I developed the cure for those poor sapients as soon as I had heard about their fate…!"

About the same time as your grandson stopped using that process for his mechs. Fat lot of good it did.

"But…I'm sure he stopped it because I came up with the antidote and rendered it useless…"

You don't know that.

And Gerald hated, hated his 300 IQ points with all his heart, since it meant that his brain never slept and always found a flaw in his own logic.

He had tried to reason with his grandson, long ago. Had contacted him and sent him a message when word got around about his war waged on South Island.

There had been no reply.

"Of course not. It was about pride," Gerald sighed to himself, "Blasted pride, that stupid, stupid flaw of our entire oh-so-ingenious family."

Gerald back then had suggested to his grandson that he should stop his aggressive schemes and instead turn himself over to GUN for attempted breach of world peace. Then, after he had served his sentence, he and Gerald could work together, profiting from each other's knowledge and proficiency.

He should have known better that no Robotnik would ever stoop to become a prisoner of his own free will and submit to demands of people beneath his level of intelligence. Ivo was proud.

So was I, the old scientist couldn't help but think. So was I, and because of that pride I could never admit that illegitimate son into my life, because it would have meant that Gerald the prodigy had made a mistake.

And now he couldn't bear to go against his own flesh and blood. Ivo's work was as awesome as it was terrifying and Gerald would never have been able to bear to see such a mind wither away in a life-sentence in prison, as much as his conscience screamed at him for admitting that feeling.

ooo

"It should scream at him allright," Sonic scathed at that, all humour from his previous jokes gone. "I thought the prof was a good guy! How can he think like that?!"

Shadow shrugged. "It's actually not too different from your own feelings, Sonic. You could not take a life, however sinful. The professor could not destroy a mind, however twisted."

"They should still lock him up. And I'll see to it that that happens," the blue hedgehog shot back, crossing his arms in front of his chest and scowling.

Shadow couldn't help a twitching of the lips. It didn't seem such a long way to go anymore, after all…

ooo

"Hi, Nate."

The small, elderly, dark-skinned cook looked up from the glass he was polishing in surprise.

"Hello, Shadow!" he exclaimed, his face crinkling into a smile. "Haven't seen you around in a while. I thought you weren't allowed to go out anymore?"

"I'm not." Shadow merely shrugged, slumping down on a seat in front of the counter where the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was usually spread out during mealtimes.

He was indeed supposed to be a prisoner the way Vincent had claimed, confined to Gerald's lab (and taken to GUN's training arenas) only. Maria's room was already a dangerous luxury and only possible because it was right next to the lab. However, there was little that could keep the Ultimate Lifeform from going where he wanted, and tonight, there had been a black shape flitting through the corridors effortlessly. GUN patrols were more frequent now, but only one soldier of them had crossed Shadow's path – and, after a quick strike of the hedgehog to his neck, would probably get yelled at tomorrow for falling asleep on duty.

"Then I wonder what brings you here, hedgehog kid," Nate replied easily, giving Shadow a grin with gleaming teeth.

Shadow snorted, letting the nickname pass for this time. The human had sometimes called him like that when he had still been smaller, and since Shadow still held some affection for the other, permission for that address was given. It was a plus that Nate was also an insommniac, so it was easy to talk to him alone, and there was always somebody else awake when Shadow roamed the place at night. Ever since GUN had forced him to Chaos Blast over half a year ago, he hadn't done that, though.

"I don't really know that myself," Shadow sighed, leaning on his elbows on the surface of the counter. "Maybe Maria."

Nate raised his eye brows as he noticed how tall Shadow now was in comparison to the bar – when he had met him nearly three years ago, it had only been the two black-furred ears that reached over the counter, nothing more.

"You've grown quite a bit, it seems. Your voice changed, too."

"Yeah. So did she," Shadow grunted, hoisting himself now onto the bar chair and resting his chin on one hand. "Why are girls complicated, Nate?"

Now he knew which way the wind was blowing. He had to suppress a grin and a relieved chuckle, though – at least this wasn't a horrible repetition of the scene when Shadow had asked him outright 'How does the human reproduction process work, Nate? The Professor told me to ask you', a sign that showed that Gerald had not only taught the hedgehog superb scientific vocabular, but that the old man also was a spineless recreant to boot.

"It is because they like confusing us," he offered up, "We don't have to understand them." He placed the polished glass in the rack, then cocked his head a little. "You like her?"

"What?! No! I mean, not in that way!" Shadow looked at him horrified, before mumbling, "…I just don't like seeing her hang around Vincent."

"Oh. I see." Nate pursed his lips for a moment, his eyes wandering to the ceiling. Secretly, he was glad that it was something so trivial and his hedgehog kid had apparently not taken permanent damage by that catastrophe seven months ago. Then, he grinned.

"Well, Shadow, on Earth we actually have a little helper when it comes to girl trouble."

"Oh yeah?" the black hedgehog perked up. "What is it?"

"I gotta warn ya, though. It only grants relief for the symptoms temporarily, the cause you must work on yourself."

"That's okay. I just want to be able to get to sleep without staring holes in the ceiling. What's it called?"

Nate reached under the counter and chuckled. "You know, before I became a cook I used to be a barman. And we called it," he said, putting a glass down in front of Shadow with force, "straight scotch."

xxx

It was a slightly wobblier Ultimate Lifeform that made his way back to Gerald's lab that night, but after three attempts at typing in 'Maweeah', 'Marihaa' and 'West Side Story', he finally managed to spell the password M-A-R-I-A correctly, dragged himself into the laboratory and fell asleep as soon as he hit the floor.

ooo

Sonic couldn't help but laugh a little, even if a part of the scene scared him. He had been thinking of drowning his agony in alcohol, too, and a six pack of beer in the corner that he'd half-heartedly bought testified that. He had never touched it since then, though, since not only the stuff tasted horrible to him, in hindsight he wondered whether that might have been the last spark of self-respect…

A spark that wouldn't have lasted for much longer if Shadow hadn't come, I'll bet, Sonic thought grimly. The thought of himself as a fat, stinking, weak drunkard passed out in his own living-room, empty booze bottles all around him, the odour of vomit and worse clinging to his sticky fur and permeating the entire air scared him. The thought-Sonic even opened tired, blood-shot eyes and slurred something angry in his general direction, before trying to stand up and only falling over to land on his bloated stomach in heap of mouldy food. He didn't stir anymore and the blue hedgehog's own eyes finally snapped open from the hellish vision, took in his (too) slim belly, unkempt (but vomit-free) fur and, most importantly, his still strong legs.

Horror. I'm so glad it didn't come to that. I'm so glad I might be a broken, but not a fallen hero. I guess I should be thankful to Shadow after all…

Then his nose twitched. It might not have been vomit, but Sonic suddenly noticed that he actually really didn't smell that good after weeks without washing.

"Errm, Shads?"

"Yeah?"

"Mind if take a shower for a moment?"

"Sure, go ahead. I'll tell the story from in front the bathroom door."

"What?!"

ooo

"Shadow. Wake up."

"Only if you promise to take all of those needles out of my head." The black hedgehog groaned. He was going to get Nate for this.

He struggled to raise himself and meet the professor's eyes, wondering whether he might be able to get some dark glasses, too, because all of the ARK's lights had suddenly become at least 300 percent brighter over night.

It said something for Gerald's expression that it sobered the hedgehog up immediately.

"This is no time for jokes, Shadow. I've just been told that Snively's experiment has been successful and you, as always, will have to bear the consequences."

"What…?"

"I'm sorry, Shadow. But I must ask you to come with me," Gerald said, wondering how many times he'd told that to the hedgehog yet and how much pain it would cause them both still.

What have you done, Snively?

To be continued…

Heeeh, almost in time for easter! ;) As you might have noticed, have NOT fallen off any volcanoes and am still very much alive and kicking, currently in Hervey Bay;). Hopefully, so will Shadow be in the next chapter, after three episodes of build-up for:

Chapter 35: Twisted Mirror...