Recursion Error

Episode 59- Goodbye, Team Dark

"... Man, this is awkward."

The biggest surprise of all that day was when Sorun learned that Shadow was coming here to see him. Somehow, someway, he'd found out about Sorun. And Sorun only knew he found out when he was informed he was coming all the way out to New Mobotropolis just to see him. The initial surprise had been enough to stun Sorun for a few seconds, and after he got over it he decided that the most sensible thing to do was to go to the airfield and wait for Shadow to arrive.

So that's what Sorun did. Went to the airfield to wait for Shadow, inside of the hangar. Tens of minutes later a dark green shuttle had flown into view, had stopped over the runway, and softly touched down before powering down. Only one figure had exited from it: a figure Sorun had instantly recognized as Shadow. He remembered the red-striped hedgehog entering the hangar, and his eyes immediately being drawn to Sorun, who was sitting on top of a small stack of crates. It'd been strange to see how such a flurry of emotions had twitched across Shadow's face, as he'd seemed to try his hardest to stifle them all and maintain his neutral scowl that he ordinarily wore. Even he couldn't contain all that surprise, though. Sorun could have sworn he'd even seen hints of relief and joy that had flashed over the hedgehog's face for what was probably milliseconds. Then again, it could have just been the lighting. Or his imagination. Some combination of the two, perhaps.

Shadow, for his part, hadn't said a word. What he did do was wordlessly step over to where Sorun was, sit on a metal crate right next to him, and... simply continue to sit there. They probably spent minutes sitting next to each other in silence, with the mood becoming increasingly more uncomfortable by the second, at least for Sorun. The human had committed to glancing over at Shadow occasionally, though all he would find was his crimson eyes looking right at Sorun, his face set almost in slight wonder.

But even Sorun had a limit to his patience.

"You know, usually people use words for these sorts of things," Sorun said. Merely speaking had made Shadow look almost startled, though even so his eyes wouldn't leave Sorun's own. "You're free to speak, you know."

"... You're alive." It was a statement of fact, though Shadow's voice was unusually quiet compared to how he normally sounded. A bit less reserved, slightly softer. Sorun picked up on it, but didn't comment on it nor did he think much of it.

"Not for a lack of trying," Sorun replied. "I had to fight tooth and nail to get those Neo-Walkers to bring me back. Can you believe they had me go through this whole spectacle while keeping the fact I could come back in their back pocket?" He scoffed, faced forwards, and crossed his arms. "I really did have to fight them, too," he added. "I kind of downplayed it when I told everyone else, but... eh, I'm not gonna lie to you, Shadow, I kinda went a bit far with them."

"How far?" Shadow asked, tone simple and curious.

Sorun scoffed. "I reenacted the 'American History X' curb stomp on Aurora's face, so I don't- ah, wait, you wouldn't know what that is. It's this one movie where, uh... eh, you wouldn't be interested," Sorun said with a dismissive wave. "They regenerated, so it's not like I did any lasting damage. And honestly I couldn't care less seeing everything they... well, I don't know. Still my choice in the end to go after the Emeralds."

To his surprise, Shadow shook his head. "They shouldn't have kept you from speaking out. There's still fault that lies with them. I'm... relieved you were able to sort your differences with them and come back. You shouldn't have had to die just for the sake of a planet that isn't even yours." Shadow's eyes became half-lidded in regret, and he'd turned forwards and away from Sorun as his hands were folded into his lap. "I wanted to apologize to you."

Sorun cocked his head to the side as he looked back to Shadow. "Apologize? For what?"

"Back then, with that red Chaos Emerald," Shadow clarified. "I always knew you were hiding something, that your excuses for not wanting to touch that Emerald were nothing but just that: empty excuses. But I could never figure out what the issue was, and you dropped the matter after coming back, so I ceased thinking on it." His head dipped a bit lower. "I blame myself in part for you having to go so far. I should have noticed something. I should have picked apart the meaning behind your words, why you didn't want to be a Freedom Fighter. I don't blame you for having those feelings, knowing it would result in your death, but-"

"Shadow, it's not your fault." The black and red hedgehog looked back to Sorun in surprise as Sorun shook his head. "Even if I wasn't an idiot that never realized I coulda just used Yamato to separate that curse, I wouldn'ta done it. If I knew before I decided to go ahead with it all, well... that'd be a different story. Seeing as this one had a happy ending, I don't really want to focus on the what-if of it all," he said. "I don't hold any blame in you, and neither should you."

His words seemed to make Shadow relax a bit, which Sorun was thankful for. Nevertheless he still had a small, upset look to his otherwise calm eyes. "What made you decide to give your life up?" Shadow asked.

Softly exhaling, Sorun flattened his palms against the top of the crate and leaned back a bit as he looked up at the hangar ceiling. "Same reason as you, I guess," he said. "I like this planet too much to see it die."

"... I see." Shadow shifted his gaze back forwards. "You like it so much, and yet you're intent on leaving it."

"Aw, don't tell me you're gonna miss me."

With a roll of his eyes, Shadow scoffed. "Don't flatter yourself. It's unbecoming."

"Strong words for a guy that raced all the way out here when he heard I was back to being alive," Sorun pointed out. When he leaned back forwards in a normal sitting position and turned his eyes back at Shadow, he saw that the hedgehog had stiffened up and widened his eyes slightly, as if he'd just been caught doing something. "I didn't make you use a vacation day or something from work, did I?"

"No, you're fine." When he glanced to the side and saw Sorun's blue eyes curiously looking into Shadow's red, he sighed and turned away from Sorun once more. "You're on good terms with the others?"

"Mhm, yeah."

"You're healthy again? No lasting effects, no-?"

"Yes, Shadow, yes, sheesh." Sorun made a breathy chuckle as he shook his head. "No scars, nothing's missing, I'm all good. Quit worryin' so much over me."

"I-!" Shadow turned to Sorun to say something, but while he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Sorun glanced at Shadow as a result, though all the hedgehog did was close his mouth and looked down a bit. "I... I think you going home is the right decision," he said. Sorun didn't bother calling out the sudden shift in topic. "You told me you felt like you didn't belong here, not even with the Station Square humans. You should go back to those you can identify with." His eyes glanced to the side. "Back to a world you're less likely to be hurt in just because you don't have powers."

Sorun blinked a few times, and then quietly snorted in amusement. "The fact I'm so weak now compared to everybody else has been a bit... frustrating to live with again, I won't lie. But I'm used to it," he informed Shadow. "But you're probably right. It's not fun living in a place where children are stronger than me." He gave Shadow an inquisitive look. "Gonna miss me?"

"... Perhaps a bit," was all Shadow offered as he looked back up at Sorun. "I haven't encountered anybody who's as easy to talk with as you. Not since..."

Shadow cut himself off right there. He'd clamped his mouth shut, and after silently looking at Sorun for a few moments, turned back forwards to look ahead. Once more Sorun blinked, and then did the same thing. What felt like another minute of silence passed before Sorun spoke again, with the both of them still sitting forwards.

"Back then, you said, 'I don't want to lose you, too.'" From the corner of his eye he noticed Shadow flinch. "Who else were you referring to?"

"I don't wish to speak of it," was Shadow's immediate, clipped response.

"Fair enough." Far be it for Sorun to pry. He was curious, very much so admittedly, but he liked Shadow too much to try and breach his privacy. If it was something like he suspected it was, Sorun couldn't rightly blame him for wanting to keep it to himself. Not in the slightest. "Well, at the end of the day, nobody's letting me apologize for worrying them all so much, so you don't get to apologize for anything, either. It worked out."

Shadow relaxed some, and if the look on his face said anything, he was thankful for Sorun having shifted the conversation topic. "That it appears to have," Shadow agreed. "I'd say it all wrapped up rather nicely, but..." He stopped briefly to take a deep breath, looking like he was readying himself for something, and then continued. "There's something you should know. The reason Rouge didn't join us in that final battle is because she was attacked on the way to our position."

"Attacked?" Sorun repeated, growing a bit concerned. "By what? Is she okay?"

Shadow nodded. "Recovering back at G.U.N., yes. Others... weren't so fortunate. Whoever attacked them only spared Rouge and killed the G.U.N. personnel traveling with her." Sorun's face had grown even more concerned, while Shadow's expression had turned grim. "She spoke with the assailant briefly, though she said he wasn't giving up much. Not even a name. She couldn't even tell what kind of Mobian he was, either, since he was covered head to toe in clothing with not a single part of him exposed. But according to Rouge, he displayed physical prowess far above the norms of a Mobian, and even showed off a regenerative ability."

"So a Chaos energy user, then?" Sorun guessed.

Shadow nodded. "We're assuming so, but it doesn't leave us any suspects." He made a quiet exhale. "There's one other thing. He knew you were dying."

The room had chilled right there after that sentence was uttered, and Sorun couldn't tell if it was his mind playing tricks on him or if the temperature really did drop. He replayed the words in his head over and over in his head in what was less than a second, but no matter how many times he did it, it just didn't make any sense to Sorun. He would have said Shadow was messing around with him, but he didn't know Shadow to do something like that. He'd never joke about something this serious. He wouldn't joke about soldiers dying and Rouge being hurt. About any of this.

It was the truth. And it confused Sorun to no end.

"Shadow." Sorun's voice came out low, his eyes locked right onto the dark hedgehog's with a serious slant to them. "That's literally impossible. There's no way."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Shadow pressed. "You never told anybody about-?"

"I couldn't have if I wanted to!" Sorun shouted out, startling Shadow a bit. "Y-you're telling me- no, you're wrong. I knew, and the Neo-Walkers knew. That's it. You're telling me some random powered-up guy, a guy who I do not recall ever meeting since I'm pretty sure I'd remember someone like that, knew the Chaos Emeralds were killing me when I never told a soul?"

"Rouge said he said it right to her face," Shadow said. "The reason that outpost we went to was cleared of robots was because of this man. He confessed to Rouge he was the one that cleared that place just so you could acquire the final Emerald. He even gave a correct estimate as to how long it would take for you to die. He said around twenty minutes."

That was accurate. Off a bit, maybe, but in the general ball park. Sorun hadn't been keeping track of time when he'd been cutting through hundreds of Badniks so quickly in his mad dash through that ship. He'd been too focused on his goal to keep track of something as meaningless as time. Around twenty minutes sounded right, though.

But it didn't make sense. Nobody could have known. Especially... whoever it was Shadow was talking about. Somebody with powers who covered their entire body with clothes. That could have meant anything, anyone. But that shouldn't have mattered because there was no way they could have known! Sorun himself didn't even know how long it would have taken him to die after getting the seventh Emerald until it happened!

"Sorun... the Commander wanted me to escort you back to the command center. For questioning," Shadow said, making the human snap his eyes right to him. "They... they just want a statement from you so they can gather as much information as-"

"I refuse."

Shadow winced a bit. "Sorun, please-"

"I'm not going!" Sorun had raised his voice a bit, startling Shadow again, and after which he slid off the crate he'd been sitting on and began pacing back and forth. "Jesus Christ, Shadow, I'm-I'm leaving! I'm leaving literally tomorrow and you decide to drop this bomb on me!? And, and you want me to, to what, delay that just so I can go all the way to G.U.N. HQ and tell them I know nothing!?"

No. No, he wouldn't do it. He wasn't going to get wrapped up in another adventure, and he wasn't leaving the safety of the city just to go and do something as useless as that. He was leaving. He was done with it all. He wasn't going to be staying on this planet for a second longer than he needed to, and he surely wasn't going to get mixed into whatever this new mess was.

He couldn't do anything even if he wanted to. He was powerless. And he refused to gain that power yet again and lose his way home. He wasn't letting the world get an excuse to hold onto him any longer.

Shadow, for his part, didn't even so much as speak back to Sorun. He looked uncomfortable, if anything, even a bit guilty at seeing Sorun's outburst. "At least tell me if you know-"

"I don't!" Sorun interrupted, making Shadow flinch back. "I don't know who the guy is, okay? I don't know who he is, I don't know how in the world he knew that much about me, I don't know why he let us get that last Emerald, I-I don't know, Shadow." He sighed out, and let his arms go limp at his sides. "I don't know who he is. I just don't know, Shadow." He walked back to the crates, though instead of sitting back on top of them, he sat down onto the ground and pressed his back against the crates as Shadow watched. "I might have an idea, though."

"You do?" Shadow's eyes widened in surprise. "What do you mean?"

The back of Sorun's head thunked onto the surface of the crate he sat against. "It was when I first met the Neo-Walkers. They, uh... they said..." His head tilted up to the ceiling as he tried to remember what they said. "They said something, some entity, just... showed up out of nowhere. They said they couldn't use their god vision or whatever to see it, that it was blocked from their sight, and that... it's basically what threw everything off-kilter. Whatever that means." He threw his arms up in defeat. "I don't know. If I had to guess I'd say they were talking about your man, but that's all I got for you. For all I know it might not even be that."

Shadow had silently listened to Sorun throughout the entire explanation. He didn't appear to be very satisfied with the answer once Sorun had finished, and he continued staring down at Sorun even after he ceased speaking. "You're sure that's all they said?" he asked.

"That's all I have, Shadow," Sorun tiredly muttered out. "Did you really come here to see me because you wanted to, or were you ordered to?"

"I..." Shadow's face fell, partly in guilt, and partly in regret. "Both," he admitted to Sorun, making him scoff. "Sorun, I primarily came because I'm worried for you."

Sorun made a "tch" sound. "Sure you are."

"Sorun, I care about you. I truly mean that."

The sincerity behind Shadow's voice, along with how soft it had gone, caught Sorun off guard. He looked to his left and saw Shadow had slid down his own crate just to sit next to Sorun again, with concern written plainly on his face. And no matter how hard Sorun tried, he couldn't find any deceit in Shadow's face. He truly meant what he said. Sorun had relaxed immediately right after, feeling the barest twinge of guilt at having been so dismissive of Shadow's concern for that brief moment.

"... Forgive me for my outburst, Shadow," Sorun apologized. "It's... this is a lot."

"Already forgotten," Shadow said back. "Sorun, I came because I care, and I worry. It scares me knowing some unknown person powerful enough to do what he did to Rouge and kill a small squad of soldiers so effortlessly knows so much about you when it shouldn't be possible. It concerns me we know so little and he seems to know so much. It..." He looked down, his teeth grinding a bit. "It frustrates me greatly there's nothing I can do about this. Nothing but be here to make sure you're alright."

"Well... thank you for that," Sorun mumbled. "Listen, Shadow, I get it, but... I don't mean for this to sound callous, but it is what it is. I'm not going to be on Mobius after tomorrow. It's not my problem. I don't want it to be my problem." He shook his head in Shadow's direction. "I... I just can't, Shadow. I can't do this kind of thing anymore. I just can't. I'll fall apart if I try."

A look of understanding formed on Shadow's face. He reached out to place a hand on Sorun's shoulder. The exhausted, pitiable look on Sorun's face was enough to make Shadow's own expression turn gloomy. Out of worry for him, Sorun had assumed. Or maybe everything in general. He couldn't decide which was worse.

"... It's technically within my authority to detain you and bring you back to G.U.N. by force if I deem it necessary." Sorun stiffened up greatly, but relaxed at the calming look Shadow gave him. "I'm not going to," he assured Sorun. "What you said is more than enough. Beyond that, I... I want you to leave as soon as possible. Before something happens. In case he wants to try something. Just get away from all this. Please."

He almost sounded the same as he did when Sorun revealed he was dying, which only brought the human's mood down even more. He reached up to place his own hand over Shadow's, going as far as to give it a reassuring squeeze as he gently removed it. "I will. Don't worry," Sorun said. "I'm going home tomorrow."

"Good. That's... that's good." With a final nod, Shadow stood back up to his feet. "I'll be returning now," he said to Sorun. "For what it's worth, I..." Shadow trailed off, face scrunching in confusion as he became unsure as to what exactly to say. "I... just, be well, Sorun. Goodbye and farewell."

Looking at Sorun one last time, Shadow turned around and began to walk away towards the exit of the hangar. He'd only made it halfway before he stopped, and then turned around to look at Sorun once more. The human was still sitting with his back against that crate, his eyes having gone down to the ground. Shadow sighed a bit at the sight, offering Sorun one last, hopeful look, and then turned around and exited the hangar.

The sound of Shadow departing barely even reached Sorun's ears. He hadn't even registered the sound of the shuttle he came in taking off, or even the silence that surrounded him once he was gone. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to consider anything outside of himself at the moment.

"There's no possible way some kind of stranger could have not only known I was dying from the Emeralds, but could have known an accurate time estimate for when they'd kill me," Sorun thought. "It's impossible. I told no one. And how could he have known details I myself didn't even know? It makes no sense..."

It was like when he tried to figure out what the deal with that tablet was all over again. That wooden tablet that was responsible for bringing him here. A tablet with a set of numbers that lead to a world so far removed from the rest of the multiverse its own existence was called absurd by some here on Mobius. It made no sense how that tablet could have had those numbers when it was given to the ruler of the now-former kingdom so long ago. Why it pointed to that specific place on Earth, at that time, why Sorun had to be there right when it opened, none of it made sense. It made as little sense as how somebody Sorun had never even met knew all of that information.

"Maybe I shouldn't even worry about it. It's like I told Shadow: it's not my problem anymore. I'm leaving. I'm not in a position to worry about it." He shook his head and, slowly, started to get up to his feet. "I don't even want to think about it. It's gonna be one weird loose end I'll never solve once I get back, sure, but by this point it's out of my hands. It's probably nothing, anyw-... well, alright, it's something, but I don't see whatever it is being as bad as Eggman. Not my problem anymore. I'm going home."

Strange, to be sure. Everything about it was. But Sorun was less focused on thinking about it and more focused on just trying to forget about it entirely. Part of him was almost upset at Shadow for informing Sorun of all this in the first place, but he couldn't find it in his heart to blame him for what he did. He was just worried and trying to look out for Sorun. He could understand that. And he truly was grateful to Shadow for not forcing him to go with him all the way to the other side of the world for some ridiculous statement. He was a good person. Another person Sorun would miss.

"Ugh... this is all such a headache." Having finally stood up, Sorun had made a small sigh while clutching at his forehead with his hand. There was a painful throb in his head just from thinking about all of this. "I... I need some pancakes."