Review Replies!
AngelofGrace96: Sorta. I like going through my music collection when I'm trying to come up with a fitting title for a chapter. No worries about the mix-up, btw, I often have to go back and check stuff myself. XD Thanks for the comment! :D
Magical Kirby: No worries, I'm laughing, too. :p Glad you like it, hope you enjoy the update!
Ri2: Hah, the later ones actually seem to be, I suppose. In Sonic's defence, though, it's been a while since SatSR came out, so he's probably thinking of the Sonic Adventure games, Sonic Heroes and Sonic 3 & Knuckles and the like :p
XxShadowxX: Aye. And isn't that just like we like him? XD Amy isn't always an easy character to get right (I've read a lot of cool Sonics, awesome Knuckles', smooth Shadows and adorable Tails', but Amy seems to be a tough case, even for fanfic) so I'm glad people enjoy her in this. Thanks for the review,and happy to hear you enjoy the references (and, as evidenced in 'He Is My Master' and 'Life...', the quote about him dancing in fire must come up at least once in every fic he's in XD!
CHCynder: Glad you like! :) And yeah, Sonic is in quite a pickle, isn't he? Let's see how he gets out of this one...(or IF he gets out of this one! ahahaha...I mean, thanks for the comment! ;p
EnderMagic979: Eyup, definitely Sonadow if you wear the shipping goggles (which I do XD) I have to balance out the Sonamy bits somehow...:p
SonicDude87: Oh how the mighty have fallen, huh? XD And yup, I like that quote entirely too much.^^° thanks for commenting!
You Can Call Me Nora: He does, no worries. No flame gonna keep that hedgehog down, you'll see...probably ;) As for the ending...heh, actually, I have something planned which I am looking forward to a lot, I think it's gonna be a thrilling finale! (when we eventually do get there, that is^^°) As always, thanks a lot for commenting, hope you like the new chapter, too!
DEV: Hah, ja, die Szene hat ziemlichen Anklang gefunden, das hat mich sehr gefreut. :) Und hah, ja, Shadows Reaktion - das hier ist eben nicht mein anderer Account, da hat der blaue Igel mit seinen romantischen Avancen bei der Ultimativen Lebensform Pech. XD Einmal Besuch beim Doc coming up (und keine Sorge, ist nicht das letzte Mal, dass er auftaucht...;)) Und oh Gott, ja, Night Palace. Wenn ich das Level schreibe, muss ich's ja nochmal spielen, noin! XD Präferenzen bei den Chara-Interaktionen duly noted :3 Ich muss zugeben, ich habe eine Schwäche für 'eigentlich nicht so fies'-Robotnik (wie in Sonic X) aber in meinen Fanfics ist er dann doch aufgrund von Spannungs- und psychologischen-Drama-Gründen jemand, mit dem man nicht Spaßen sollte...oder zumindest nicht zuviel ;) Vielen Dank wie immer für das wunderbare Review! :D
IHJTMQ: One helping of heartbreak, as ordered :D But hey, just because it costs him, Sonic's not gonna give up on his friends! :p Read on to find out how that works out for him...;)
Katiemonz: I try ;) Game adaptions are hard work! (But glad you like the fight scenes, they take effort to choreograph with so many characters! XD) Hope you enjoy the new chapter!
SerenaTheHedgehog: Errr...Tails' Sky Patrol? Maybe?^^° Or Shadow the Hedgehog? I have no idea...^^°
YumeTakato: Thanks! Hope you like!
Guest: Thanks! :D And yeah, Sonic's gonna pull through for sure...I think ;) Hope you enjoy the new chapter!
S2 Intelligence: Oh dear, that sounds familiar. XD But hey, welcome aboard! Thanks for commenting!
Katz4: Hah, reading a lot of Terry Pratchett helps me with my wording ;) But glad you like and thanks for all those reviews!
I am the Unknown: The story where Sonic gets that ring around his neck - hah, oh gods, in a WAY old two-shot of mine, 'That Special Day', aaaaaall the way on the bottom of my profile by now! :p
Draco Leo: Hah, yeah, there's not gonna be any 'real' sonadow in this story, but that doesn't mean I can't make jokes. XD Glad you like! Thanks for commenting :3
Telekinetic Moose: Ahahah, Tails as the Sean Bean of my stories, huh? XD Happy to hear the story makes you laugh, that's what I'm always aiming for :D Thanks for commenting!
St. Noof: aaah, he's gonna survive...I think ;p Explaining the unexplained is a kind of sport in this fic, I think that's a fun part of all game adaptions I've read so far :3 Glad you like!
Guest: That's how Sonic rolls all right! :D Thanks for the comment!
Landyx: As long as there's comments I will, no worries ;) And yeah, I also really like the Sonlaze pairing! Sonamy in here is mostly to keep it as close to canon as possible, though :p Hope you like the new chapter, too!
Guest: Read on to find out what happens! :P
Disclaimer: If I owned this game, Shahra at least once would have said "HEY! LISTEN!"...
Chapter 35: Bonds Never Broken
When Sonic returned to the camp fire, it would have been hard to tell that anything was off at all.
Or at least, he hoped so.
"Hey, whatsamatter, why is everyone so quiet around here? This is a camping night, they're supposed to be fun, right?"
Knuckles threw him a look.
"If you suggest a sing-song again, hedgehog, I'll bury you."
"Fine, I won't. But only because I'm worried Shads would probably suggest nothing but Metallica," Sonic said, cheerfully ignoring the flat stare this caused the Ultimate Lifeform to send him. "But if we're not gonna have a singalong, then I want some better suggestions. Anyone? What about you, Shadow?"
It didn't look like the black hedgehog was going to answer this, either, but Sonic also wasn't the type to give up easily.
"C'mon, what did you spend evenings with during your childhood? You had some fun in your life, right?" Sonic asked, and just when Knuckles thought he might actually have to bury the blue hedgehog later because Shadow had killed him, the Ultimate Lifeform then actually tilted his head as if he was seriously considering the question. Then:
"...sometimes I played chess."
"Gah! Boring!" Sonic threw himself backwards into the sand, covering his face with his hands as if the worst fate in the world was an evening without at least a small scale festival going on. Knuckles, however, had to admit that this actually did sound like an evening entertainment he wanted to participate in.
"I'll play you. If you want."
Red eyes flickered over to him. "You play?"
Knuckles nodded. "I learned it from Espio some time ago. Though he prefers Shogi." The echidna had already smoothed over an expanse of earth and was now carefully using a stick to draw out a playing board. "But both are a good exercise in strategy. Care for a game?"
"I wouldn't mind," Shadow replied, at the same time already picking out some stones and leaves which, with some modifications, would do as rudimentary playing pieces.
"Great," Sonic muttered. "Just when I thought the one thing this fairy tale world was missing were sleeping aids."
Nevertheless, both echidna and Ultimate Lifeform ignored him as they set up their playing board. And soon enough, Tails actually got interested in watching them play, while Shahra gave a small commentary as to the Arabian origins of chess, which had even Amy listening.
Knuckles was mostly absorbed in the game – Shadow, as it turned out, was not an easy opponent – but he did manage some side glances now and then, and felt himself involuntarily frowning when more than once he caught Sonic simply staring off into space, or sometimes gazing at Tails and Amy when they weren't looking, the strangest expression on his face, like the hedgehog was trying to suppress something he didn't want to show.
"Check, echidna."
Shadow's voice interrupted Knuckles' thought process and he turned his attention back to the board. As he saw what Shadow had done, he couldn't suppress a grin as he then simply moved his 'king' (if the piece of coal could be called that), and let his trap snap shut.
"Check. Shadow."
The black hedgehog blinked as he stared down at the board, at first taken aback, but then understanding slowly dawned as he was obviously rapidly working out Knuckles' strategy in hindsight.
"Well played." He reached out and tipped over his own king piece (which wasn't an easy task, since it happened to be a quail egg).
"Never underestimate the defence systems of an echidna," Knuckles quipped, glancing over at Sonic. "As a certain hedgehog might have found out before you. Isn't that so, Sonic?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure," the blue hedgehog replied with a small smile, but all it told Knuckles was that he hadn't been listening at all. Odd.
"I promise you I won't make that mistake again. Thank you for the game," Shadow said, the polite manner letting Knuckles raise an eye ridge. This was certainly the correct procedure after a game but he had not expected the black hedgehog to either know or to care.
"You're welcome," Knuckles replied. "It was a challenging match."
"Yes," Shadow agreed, now rising. "Though I think I might have been somewhat out of practice. It's been a while since I played with my usual partner." His voice went somewhat quiet then, and he turned to leave. "I think I'll take a break," was all he said before walking off into the night.
"Huh," Knuckles managed. "Do you think...?"
"Hey, Knuckles, can you teach me to play, too? I wanna try!" Tails interrupted his question then, and the echidna shook his head. He could guess what the black hedgehog might have been thinking, and if so, he deserved all the time alone he needed.
And so, their evening continued, with one young fox kit curiously trying to figure out the intricacies of chess with the Master of Angel Island as his teacher, while Sonic, still in that oddly quiet mood watched them play with a smile Knuckles tried to convince himself didn't look slightly sad at times. The only one completely oblivious to this was Amy, who had fallen asleep against Sonic's side some time ago, an arm of the blue hero wrapped around her shoulders evidently the only thing she needed for her private hedgehog heaven.
And none of them had noticed Shahra leaving at all.
xxx
"Um...Captain?"
The genie's voice sounded only ever so slightly nervous. At first, Shadow, sitting on top of a small earth hill, didn't turn around and Shahra seriously considered fleeing into the ring again. The black hedgehog seemed to be one of those people that you would never, ever, ask what they were thinking about, just in case they would turn around very slowly and say 'You.'
"Yes?" When he did answer and glanced over his shoulder at her, though, his tone was only slightly tired.
"They..." Shahra swallowed. "They said you 'danced in fire too much'..."
"Did they."
Shadow turned around some more, looking at her slightly more attentively. His eyes were a bit wary now, but not yet hostile. Shahra got the impression the black hedgehog, so different from Sonic for all they resembled each other on the surface, maybe didn't even know himself whether he wanted to be left alone or not.
"When we fought the golem," Shahra tried again. When this also didn't produce anything but silence from the midnight hedgehog, she finally steeled herself to ask the inevitable question.
Caring was a genie's undoing, but she was already damned anyway.
"Who did you play chess with...?"
Shadow looked at her for a heartbeat longer, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms and head resting atop them. Then he sighed.
"With my sister. Maria."
She was surprised when the next thing that happened was actually a small, nostalgic smile tugging at the edge of his mouth, perhaps the first one she had seen him give. "And I don't know why she bothered, because I always lost to her anyway."
He had been looking up at the stars as he spoke, but when his eyes had refocused on her again, the smile had dropped away, too.
"There was fire when she died."
A desert breeze moved the cold night air around them, but neither artificial life form nor genie even shivered. Shahra knew she could have asked him whether he missed her. Whether it still hurt. But the hedgehog's silence was already answer enough.
Life sometimes didn't write happy endings...
Shahra sighed. She let herself drift somewhat closer to the hedgehog and was glad this didn't seem to be met with hostility.
"I think I saw her in your memories when I returned them. She was beautiful."
"Yes," Shadow said, "She was."
And smart, and kind, and with a mind so vibrant when you looked into her eyes you could see the universe spinning in her head, was what he didn't say and it couldn't have been clearer if he'd yelled it.
"I am...only a genie of fairy tales and legends. I can't bring her back to life in your world. I'm sorry," Shahra said quietly. "My power ends at the last page of this book."
"Yeah, I figured." The hedgehog's voice was bitter now, his words laced with sadness but no longer red-hot anger, only a dull kind of resignation.
Shahra took a breath. "But..."
Shadow raised his head and the genie tried to give him a smile. "I can give her a monument. Make sure her memory isn't forgotten."
Red eyes creased in a frown, the black hedgehog's voice still flat as he replied. "All of the records of the Robotniks were erased. Already nobody remembers her but me."
Now Shahra waved a hand lightly. "Oh, the official records. Nobody reads those. But what people remember are the stories, Captain."
Shadow seemed to consider this. "Stories. Maria used to like those. She used to read them to me, anyway..."
There was another moment of silence, but when he at last looked back up at her, Shahra thought that maybe, just maybe, his eyes seemed just the slightest bit less sad when he asked, "So, tell me one?"
"Alright," Shahra said with a smile. "It's a tale of a beautiful and clever princess, in a faraway land between the stars. And...let's see." She paused briefly, thinking. "It's going to be a story about true friendship and high adventure, pirates, goblins, treasure and chases, utter chaos and rodents of unusual size."
Shadow raised an eye ridge and even if his expression hadn't changed, she wondered whether the way his eyes shone a little it could maybe mean he had smiled at this.
"...any sports in it?"
"Oh yes," Shahra nodded emphatically. "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Bad people. Good people. Mermaids. Death. Love. Brave warriors. Cowards. Magic. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."
Shadow snorted, and perhaps relaxed only the slightest bit, placing his hands on the earth behind him to support his upper body and stretching out his legs. "Alright. Bring on the lifetime movie, then."
"I will, Captain." Shahra could feel her lips stretching into a smile as the story came to her, weaving around them as all stories do who want to be heard. "For you see, once upon a time, there was a young and beautiful princess in a kingdom beneath the sea, whose mind as sharp as diamond was enough to hold the entire court of her father in dazzle and all of her suitors. But what she had already lost her heart to was the tribe of the people sailing the huge vessels above the surface of her father's realm," Shahra spoke, and Shadow wondered whether just for a moment he could hear the rolling of waves again, but perhaps that was just his imagination.
"Yet what she never would have expected was that one day, when she had swum too close to one of those wooden ships she would be captured by them – the soldiers of the marine never having seen a mermaid before, see? And she was scared, and alone, and fearing for her life in the bowels of the ship where they had put her in a barrel as a captured beast – right until she laid eyes on the other prisoner of the vessel," and now Shahra's eyes were definitely shining, "Who was a pirate Captain with fur as black as night and stripes as red as blood feared across the seven seas..."
"Was he, now?" Shadow asked, the corner of his mouth now hitching up in a somewhat dry smile, but there was something in his eyes that said he perhaps wasn't quite as detached as he pretended to be.
"Oh, yes," Shahra replied, her tone like she knew, "But let us start at the beginning..."
And in the Arabian Nights, stories became alive.
It was much later that night when the black hedgehog finally returned to their communal camp site and Sonic, who had volunteered for the night watch, for the first time could have sworn he had just seen the Ultimate Lifeform smiling.
xxx
"Good morning, Sonic," Robotnik said cordially. "Your flame has gotten somewhat smaller yet again, I see."
"No smaller than your chances of ever building a mech I won't trash, Buttnik," Sonic shot back without missing a beat, Knuckles wondering whether he was the only one who had noticed Shahra briefly flinching at the remark even if Sonic wasn't showing any reaction.
They had broken down the camp site quickly at sun rise, and then pretty much immediately took off running toward the palace. It hadn't taken long, the birds in the garden still not having stopped their morning song when they had arrived and basically not stopped until they had barrelled full tilt into the library where they successfully startled a human doctor who obviously hadn't expected his doors to implode inwards today and had leapt to his feet with impressive speed for his bulk. As soon as he had recognized just who had intruded into his private sanctuary here, he had relaxed almost insultingly quickly, though.
"May I ask what grants me the pleasure of your visit?" Robotnik was now asking slightly sourly through his teeth at the hedgehog's quip, and Shadow took that as a cue to step forward.
"We are looking for the location of the next World Ring, doctor. We have collected four so far," he said, looking up at the human scientist. "Have you found anything in these records?"
"Shadow?" Robotnik's eye brows rose behind his glasses, looking displeased. "So you've collected yet another one of your furry posse, Sonic? This book is starting to turn into a damn party game at this rate."
(Technically, it was true Robotnik could stand the Ultimate Lifeform somewhat better than his blue-furred doppelganger, yes, but ever since Shadow had shredded through his robots with the same single-minded determination with which he had also taken apart the Black Arms, GUN, and, on occasion, harmless street signs during Black Doom's invasion last year, the relationship between the black hedgehog and the grandson of his creator had considerably cooled down.)
"Doctor, call me part of the blue hedgehog's 'furry posse' again and any parties will be held with your carcass as a decorative pinata," Shadow informed him coolly and Robotnik threw his hands up and sighed.
"Alright, alright. As touchy as the echidna. Oh, very well..."
He opened a rather larger volume and put it on a table. Tails was immediately hovering above it, while Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow and Amy were either standing on tippy toes or had climbed atop the human-sized chairs (or simply taken to just kneeling on the table) to have a look at it. To anyone who hadn't personally tried to kill every single one of them at least once by now, Robotnik suspected the scene would probably have looked sickeningly cute.
He cleared his throat and stepped closer.
"This is a map of the Arabian Nights. I have not been able to find out where exactly the next world ring is located, but I believe I know where you will find the entity who would possess the knowledge." He pointed at a point of the map, thankfully not too far from the Palace. "You need to go to Skeleton Dome and talk to king Solomon."
"King Solomon?" Sonic echoed, shooting a glance at Shahra. "That name ring a bell for you?"
"Oh...yes, of course," the genie nodded, hesitantly. "He is the one who sealed away all the evil spirits ..."
"And you're remembering that now?" Shadow asked flatly from the back, but was ignored.
"Alright," Sonic nodded. "That place doesn't look too far away. If we leave now, we should be there within an hour. Let's go!"
xxx
In fact, they didn't go for another half an hour. Amy had discovered that there were bathing facilities in the palace and had insisted they all use them before they would step before a king to seek information from him. She had also dragged Tails (who had been the one least enthusiastic about this idea, trying to cite various excuses, including, but not limitied to 'But I already took a bath! A sandbath!' as well as 'You CAN'T put me in the tub! Shahra said I was a relative of a god!" and, finally, a slightly desperate 'Look over there! A distraction!") with her the moment she had had the thought. Sonic, who knew of the difficulties to get his kid brother to wash, had been grateful enough for the small reprieve that he hadn't protested. Now, him and Knuckles were the first ones out of the tubs again, standing at one of the palace windows waiting for the others – Tails would take slightly longer since he had a lot more fur than any of the rodent Mobians, and Amy was taking longer as a matter of course (in fact, the one thing Sonic actually found slightly amusing about this whole situation was that Shadow was seemingly also dragging his cleaning session out). Then the blue hedgehog sighed, though, levity of that thought gone. There was a conversation he needed to have and he wasn't looking forward to it.
"Hey...Knuckles?"
"Yeah? Is something wrong?" the echidna asked, and, when the hedgehog's face seemed to close off automatically at the question, quickly followed it up with, "And don't lie to me, Sonic. You've been off all morning and possibly yesterday night, too."
"Excuse me? What are you talking about?" The hedgehog crossed his arms. "I'm fine."
"Yeah, right. And your flame hasn't gotten smaller at all."
Sonic briefly mumbled something under his breath that sounded like a rather unpleasant thing he wished happened to Robotnik and his large mouth, but then at last looked at Knuckles again, green eyes perhaps slightly tired, but determined.
"I wasn't lying. I'm still fine for now. It's just..." and then his hands clenched briefly and he glanced away for a moment, before he looked back at Knuckles again. "You guys being here it...adds strain to it, apparently." The hedgehog scowled at the floor, but then met Knuckles' gaze again, irritation gone as if it had never been there, replaced only with sincerity for his words.
"So...if something happens. Promise me you'll take care of Amy and Tails."
Knuckles stared, for a moment dumbstruck at this revelation. "Sonic..."
"Promise me you won't leave them when they need you. Not even for the Master Emerald." Sonic steadily held his gaze even as violet eyes briefly widened. "Promise me you'll get them out of this book no matter what happens."
"I..." Knuckles wanted to say something, anything, but found any words died in his throat when he looked at the hedgehog's eyes, who were as serious as his friend and rival seldom was.
"Please, Knuckles."
And the master of Angel Island closed his eyes.
"...fine. I promise."
"Thanks, Knuckles," Sonic said, and then, for the first time since they had talked to Robotnik, a small smile could be seen creeping onto his face again, and it didn't even seem to have something to do with the noises of Amy and Tails which were now drawing closer from the bathing rooms. "And just so you know, I'm not exactly planning on croaking here, okay?" He gave Knuckles a grin. "But it's nice to know I can count on you anyway, red."
"Sonic..." Knuckles again tried to reply to this, even if his throat was now feeling strangely uncooperative, but Sonic cut him off.
"Nah, it's fine. It's like I told Shahra already, this is the one thing Erazor's never gonna get." The hedgehog crossed his arms behind his head, edge of his mouth twitching. "This right here's what friends are for."
To be continued...
Here we go! It's Christmas time, so I feel like sitting around candle flames and telling stories ;) The tale Shahra spins in this chapter is (as some of you might have guessed) based on an absolutely breathtaking fanart (that actually quite a few of you have PM'd me). Shows Captain Jack Shadow and Maria the Mermaid, and it's utterly gorgeous. Have a look! And if you read, leave me a review as an early Christmas present? ;) (or maybe even check out my new story 'Shadow the Hedgehog - First Class' if you liked the tale in this chapter!:p)