Well, this is the first update being added from my phone, so please excuse minor editing errors...

Also, omg. Thank you for all the reviews! That last chapter was a doozy, eh?

Anyway. Enjoy =)

REPERCUSSIONS

All the air in the room seems to have been sucked out, leaving Sonic at the epicentre of a vacuum; he struggles to breathe, his chest tightening as his eyes unfocus, pulse pounding in his ears. Amy continues to speak, but her voice doesn't reach him, lost in the abyss of emptiness outside of his body. Meanwhile, his mind reels, turning to interflection in a feeble attempt to escape reality.

Trapped in memories, it become compounded. Images of his little brother - as a baby, orphaned but unable to talk, as a russet-blonde youngster outdoing seasoned mechanic Rotor with invention and creativity, to the more recent pale gold teenager he'd left in Knothole's safe hands when he followed Sally halfway across the continent to support her growing, re-established monarchy - and he begins to feel lightheaded. In every memory, he's the same bubbly character he always was. The kid who always managed to stay cheerful, even in adversity. The brother so dedicated to his work and projects he would forget to eat.

Even today he was still an awkward, nerdy young man full of innocence and good intentions.

Long before Knothole was established, when Tails was as young as five, they had worked alone to keep the mad scientist then known as Doctor Robotnik in check. Before succumbing to an insanity that saw him rather destroy the planet than have dominion over it, the pair would counter his poorly-conceived attempts at world domination with an ease and humour that came to them naturally. The status quo remained as such until Robotnik kidnapped and proposed Tails as a bargaining chip, an attempt at forcing Sonic's surrender since defeating him was a pipe-dream.

At the time, the human was unaware of the hedgehog's fiery temper, as was his young ward. It would soon come to light that Tails served as Sonic's ground against more aggressive retaliation. Following his capture and Robotnik's flaunting of the boy's incarceration within his own fortress, the hedgehog's response was uncharacteristically violent, a direct threat against the madman that could have proved deadly if the kitsune's release had not been so swift.

No-one speak of that response thereafter. The sentient robots that attempted to bring the behaviour into question with Robotnik were scrapped before he lost his sanity and became Eggman. Similarly, Sonic fielded any queries his young ward had on the subject until it was forgotten; life carried on regardless, and Knothole was formed to keep those at risk safe. Most of those who've worked alongside the hedgehog since have no knowledge of that hair-trigger response to endangerment of the azure's closest friends, Tails and Sally keeping it under wraps to protect his heroic image.

His loyalty to his friends is stronger than his will to live. He would die freeing any one of them.

Now his undying loyalty to those he holds dear is fractured. Tails has been taken advantage of, sexually assaulted, a crime more serious than the simple kidnapping Eggman sometimes lapsed into. No, this time actual bodily harm has occurred. In all likelihood, the kit has been left with emotional scarring, something Sonic can't actually heal himself, and his immediate instinct is to track down the perpetrator and forcefully remove their kidneys through their urethra.

Except he can't, because the perpetrator is another of those he would protect with his life, the kind and gentle Amy Rose he'd known for as long as Knothole existed. The same Amy Rose that used to babysit Tails before she became old enough to join missions, who calmed him down when he was upset and read him bedtime stories while thunderstorms raged outside. The same callous Amy Rose he'd trusted with his life had abused him, assaulted him, then shacked up with Shadow in the city to escape her crimes.

All of a sudden, the world around him rushes back into focus. It's much too sudden. His stomach roils in response to all his senses becoming overstimulated at the same time; the apartment smells of burnt tea, chocolate and sweat, the tang of semen clinging to Amy's sweatshirt now making him nauseous. The traffic outside is louder than he remembers, heightened by adrenaline pumping through his veins. His muscles feels tight and agitated, the hairs on his arms raising to attention with his quills as goosebumps spread along his limbs, and he can feel anger building for the first time in decades, the heat of the emotion clouding his mind, making it hard to think.

Anger isn't a strong enough word. No, he's not angry, nor furious, he's livid.

Her hand lands on his bicep, likely supposed to be reassuring. Instead the contact repulses him, imagination swirling with possible things those hands have done to his younger brother. Amy continues to speak, her voice grating on every hypersensitive nerve, his body beginning to shake beneath his pelt with pent-up emotion. He balls his fists as a feeble attempt at calming down. He knows all too well he's already too far gone to succeed, but does it away, clenching his teeth beneath a benign frown as the pink hedgehog spouts excuses.

"I'm so s-sorry." Her voice wavers as words break through sobs. Even with his back to her, he knows tears stream down her face as she speaks. She's drowning in guilt, pouring her heart out to him as a form of apology, but only making the situation worse. Her remorse only grazes Sonic's consciousness, his fists tightening with every word until they're surely white below his gloves. "I was s-s-so a-angry, and the H-Heat wouldn't let up. I went to f-find you but you'd left, and he was t-there-"

But it's not her excuses that tip him over the edge, it's the subtle squeeze of his bicep, the familiarity she expresses in doing so when he is so repulsed by her. In that instant he loses his composure entirely, ripping his arm from her grasp and turning on her with the same speed alluded to in his name. Entirely outmatched in reaction times, she hasn't the chance to process his movement before his palm connects with her cheek, slapping her so hard her fur cannot subdue the sound and her head snaps sharply to the side.

Before she can recover he's on her, pushing her against the fridge with enough force for an audible bang to sound that echoes in the near-empty apartment. Amy is no longer sexually flustered. Her eyes are wide, pupils dilated to pinpricks and body shaking in fear. Not a millisecond later he has her pinned to the appliance by her neck. Amy squeaks in fear and her shuddering intensifies, her own hands coming up to grab his wrist, and he has to fight the sick grin that tries to curl his lips in satisfaction. The feeling of power through intimidation is something he's not familiar with but certainly enjoying in the moment.

This was, after all, Tails' retribution by his hand.

He presses his nose to hers and growls. "Save your excuses for someone who cares." She flinches away from the hard tone, turning her head and closing her eyes. It only angers him more. He adjusts his grip to her jaw and forces her to look at him, the other hand curling into a fist and slamming into the smooth plastic above her head. She cries out and tries to wrench her head away again, but he holds it in place, digging his fingers into the flesh hard enough to bruise as he raises his voice. "Open your eyes, Amy." She doesn't comply, so he slams her head back against the fridge once more. "Look at me!"

Emerald eyes similar to his own open to slits as he feels the grin he's trying to suppress finally crack his lips, twisting his face into an unfamiliar sneer, voice leveling out once more. "I don't care if you think what you did was even remotely fair. Tails did nothing to you. He trusted you." She whimpers with every accentuated word. Her legs seem to be failing, her body heavy in his grasp, and she slides very slightly down the fridge. Her sobbing has subsided to hiccups as she struggles against his grip, her own weak on his wrists.

"P-please… P-please, s-s-stop…" Her begging infuriates him further and he lifts her clean off the ground, slamming her back to the cool plastic and pinning her there with one hand. Initially, she cries out in pain when her head smacks into the appliance, but soon begins to struggle to breathe, hands desperately trying to relieve the pressure on her windpipe.

The sight of her struggle starts to simmer his anger, but still he holds her there, letting her feel as helpless as his little buddy must have felt. "Did Tails ask you to stop?" He gets no response so slams her against the fridge again, her whimper of protest enough to ensure she's still breathing before he continues. "If he had, would you have listened?" He doesn't expect answers to these question, he wants her to hurt. "Well?!" She becomes hysterical, using what little breath she can draw to beg him to stop in nonsensical, rapid pleas.

Finally, enough of his anger subsides to make way for common sense, and an ironic realisation comes to him that makes him feel queasy. Her anger at him for doing the exact same thing he was accusing her of, using someone before casting them aside while ignorant of the emotional and physical damage wrought, was the root of this entire situation. What is left of his fury bleeds out rapidly as memories of allowing instinct and desire to take over and use her for his own pleasure surface. His arm slowly goes limp, placing her back on the floor with unintentional care, as further memories of almost doing so again just minutes before make him feel ashamed.

If Amy hadn't repeatedly pushed him away, there was a very strong chance he would have marked her and fucked up everything he had going for him with Sally back in New Metropolis by now. Instead, he'd allowed his emotions to run wild - something he'd often chastised Shadow for - and attacked the woman who'd always believed in him, of the complete and utter goodness of his character.

He lets go of her neck and she sinks down the fridge door to the floor, curling in on herself and raising her hands defensively above her head, the shake in her limbs still evident as she spouts more hysterical apologises. The cheek he struck is beginning to bruise under her fur, staring at him, forcing him to acknowledge his recent actions. He wants to feel pity for the cowering female, maybe even sympathy, but his emotions have numbed in the aftermath of his outburst. He's exhausted from feeling grief and pain for Tails, a mild disdain for the fuschia hedgehog all he has left to give. It takes most of his energy to resist spitting on her and turn away to leave.

Except the door is already open, and Shadow's expression is twisted with rage.

oOoOo

He opens the apartment and freezes with keys still in the lock, taken by surprise not only by the azure's presence but also his aggressive stance. Sonic has his guest held against the fridge by her throat, and even from this distance he can see the bruise blossoming on her cheek. A nonchalant thought passes through his exhausted brain as it attempts to make sense of the scene before him.

Must be a Thursday. He only visits on Thursdays.

For a moment, he thinks the hero must have noticed him as he lowers Amy back to the ground slowly, but soon realises Sonic is currently absent, gaze staring through the fridge door where Amy had recently been held. Something has happened to make the other snap, though the agent cannot fathom what immediately. He didn't even know Sonic could snap until that moment.

He uses what little time the blue hedgehog's dissociation affords him to try and decipher what on Mobius is happening in his apartment, but it makes little sense at first. Sonic was not usually violent and Amy was his friend, yet here he was, threatening her to the point of complete emotional breakdown against Shadow's fridge.

Tails. The solution is obvious once he begins to think clearly. The kitsune was the Blue Blur's oldest friend, one he understood held a special place in the speedster's affections. Either he'd gone back to Knothole and heard the news of Tails' introduction to sex first-hand, or Amy had let the guilt he suspected she harboured about the incident get the better of her and blurted it out when Sonic turned up looking for him.

Certainly, he would have found out eventually, but there were better times and places to allow guilt to get the better of you. Such as any other time than when you find yourself alone with said individual's adoptive brother and parental figure, because that was plain idiotic.

But it's obviously too late to advise her otherwise, so that thought is disregarded in favour of focusing on the present.

As Amy slides down the fridge door close to hysterics, he glances to his television, wondering how much of the altercation the security camera embedded in its frame could have recorded from such a distance. More importantly, he can feel his own temper rising in response to her terrified rambling. He needs to gauge what an appropriate response to her assault should be, since it was going to be recorded.

After all, there was no doubt the data would be in Towers' hands by the morning. He didn't want any of the footage to be ammunition for his own detainment.

He looks back in time to see Sonic's face twist in disgust as Amy acts defensively, curling into a ball and raising her hands to protect her head. His own anger begins to boil over knowing his usually bubbly counterpart had caused all of what had occured between her and Tails, yet was treating her with disdain for something he himself had done to her, that same act directly causing Tails' own trauma.

Their eyes meet as Sonic turns to leave, and the younger hedgehog freezes. Not speaking, Shadow allows his expression to portray the sheer, unadulterated rage building beneath his skin. The plastic bag he's carrying is dropped unceremoniously to the floor as he takes a step forwards, and a shot of confidence flows through his veins as Sonic begins to backpedal in response to his advance.

The blue hedgehog raises his hands defensively and makes himself smaller on instinct, quills flattening and body hunching forwards. A loud thud emits from the kitchen counter when he drops the thick file he had tucked under his arm on the surface, and Sonic flinches at the sound. Any anger the other possessed seemingly flees his body under Shadow's hard glare as he begins to shake in fear, his mouth running in lieu of his feet.

"Shads! Look, I can explain!" A nervous version of his usual smile tries to curl his lips, but falters when his backside hits the sink. His ears fold back as the silent ebony hedgehog rapidly closes the short distance between them, and his voice raises in pitch. "C'mon, we're friends! Right? We can talk this out-"

The left hook is fast and connects with Sonic's cheekbone, the momentum snapping Sonic's head and upper body to the side. He gasps - from pain or surprise, Shadow can't tell - and catches himself on the kitchen counter rather than crumple to the floor. His hand comes to his cheek as he straightens again, eyes wide and anxious as their gaze locks once more.

Shadow really wants to beat the shit out of his doppelganger. Fists clench and unclench at his sides in the ensuing silence as he tightens his jaw, debating if another hit would be labelled as unnecessary force, but decides to play it safe. He takes a deep breath in, then steps slightly to the side to open an exit route.

"Out." His voice is low and dangerous. Sonic gladly takes the opportunity to escape the situation and dashes out at full speed, the blowback whipping the overstacked file open and scattering the top-most pages around the kitchen before slamming the door behind him.

The apartment complex has been startled into silence and, with no ambient noise to mask her, Amy's tears draw his focus once more. She's still curled in on herself at the foot of the fridge, arms now wrapped around her legs and head buried in her knees, a number of the cadet files decorating the floor around her.

While he doesn't know how to deal with a crying girl, he can deal with the disturbed files, so he focuses on returning them to order as he considers how to assist her; he gathers the papers with care, being sure not to cause further damage than they'd already taken from Sonic's sudden departure, and straightens the pile up before tucking them back into the folder.

Still Amy sobs, and he realises he's definitely going to have to do something, but still isn't sure what. After all, he has no experience with women bawling their eyes out; Rouge never cried in front of him, and would likely have hit him if he'd commented on it anyway. Would Amy do the same, or would she like reassurance?

She was her mate now, wasn't she? Did mates comfort each other?

Maria had not been his mate, but she used to comfort him. After difficult surgeries and tests or intense training sessions, she'd bundle him into her lap and sing softly until he either calmed down or succumbed to a rare bout of sleep. Abraham had always scoffed at the behaviour as doting on him, but Maria continued anyway, only withdrawing such support when Shadow himself asked her to stop to silence the other human child's teasing.

That being said, was it normal behaviour to give such support to others, or did you get too old for it, as Abraham would frequently suggest? Would Maria have encouraged him to attempt to calm Amy down if they weren't mates, even though they were both technically adults and potentially too old for such coddling?

Without his lost friend to guide him and unable to draw any other logical conclusions, he leaves the thick file on the breakfast bar and returns to Amy, deciding to sit beside her against the kitchen cabinets. He slides down the kitchen unit to the floor in silence, letting his leg touch hers to announce his presence but otherwise not interacting, unsure what to say.

The still-angry part of him wishes Sonic were still present, so he could punch him again for causing Amy such distress.

When she neither withdraws nor leans into that simple gesture, he swallows his inhibitions and lightly wraps an arm around her shoulder to draw her closer. At first she complies limply, allowing her body to be manipulated and leaning into his chest, her hands left in her lap and eyes closed, and they stay like that for some time.

Time passes slowly as the fuschia hedgehog sniffles, Shadow slowly rubbing her arm in an attempt at reassurance. Quietly, the darker hedgehog thanks his former friend for the compassion she shared with him, allowing him to do for Amy now what Maria did for him so frequently in the past.

Its Amy who moves next, curling into his side and resting her head on his collarbone, an arm hooking across his torso to hold the opposite shoulder as her face burrows into his chest. Allowing his instincts to take over, he does what feels natural and rests his cheek on her head, wrapping an arm around her to hold her close.

Comfortable despite sitting on the kitchen floor, he stays there without complaint, stroking his fingers lightly up and down her arm until her breathing slows and deepens, her limbs relaxing and eyes fluttering slightly as she slumbers against him.

It comes as a surprise to Shadow that he's comfortable with such intimacy, the sensation akin to the embraces Maria would offer him, and yet very different. This wasn't just a friendly reassurance but a deeper understanding of need, a drive to provide stability and a desire to protect, even if Amy usually didn't require someone to fight her battles for her.

Was that just the pheromones, or something more? His understanding of Mobian mating season was weak at best; it was something he never thought he'd care for since he hasn't been interested in the past. Whether that was due to the strange relationship he'd shared with Rouge warping his perception or an innate lack of attraction, he wasn't sure, but it was his reality nonetheless.

At least it was. Until yesterday.

Amy shifts slightly in her sleep, bringing his thoughts back to the present. He lifts his head from hers to regard her sleeping form and frowns slightly at the angle of her head. As much as he wants to stay in that embrace, if she slept in such an awkward position, she would likely crick her neck.

With a sigh, he slowly pulls her legs into his lap and braces them with an arm, keeping the other wrapped around her torso as he uses the kitchen cupboard behind them to stand. The pink hedgehog barely responds, nestling further into his chest fur for a moment before going silent once more.

Looking down as he carries her through the apartment, a small smile quirks at the edge of his lips. For whatever reason - whether it was entirely from necessity, or if she'd harboured some form of affection for him before her Heat got the better of her and she was embracing the opportunity to act upon it - Shadow found himself glad she ended up on his doorstep.

The life he'd had and believed was all he needed was actively evolving, moving from simple survival under GUN's watchful gaze to something more enjoyable. It wasn't just the sexual intimacy either. Her smile, the warmth of her body beside him, and the care she injected into each thought or action every day was beginning to fill a void he wasn't aware of, one Maria's loss had left in his heart long ago.

He lays her in bed gently and waits for her to settle, frowning slightly as Amy rolls on to the bruised cheek first, utters a light whimper and rolls onto her left instead. Once she seems comfortable, he draws the blankets over her still-clothed frame and gently tucks the edges around her for warmth.

When he's done, he settles on the edge of the mattress and lightly strokes the hair from her face, the serenity on her features a direct contrast to the angry purple bruising on her exposed cheek. Unable to willingly leave her in such a state, he skims his palm across her fur, allowing Chaos energy to flow from his own being into hers.

By the time his hand has passed over her entire cheek, the bruise has faded to nothing, the skin beneath fuschia fur as pink and healthy as it had been that morning. Content she's as comfortable as he can make her, he stands and leaves, glancing back a moment before closing the door behind him with a soft click.

With a grudging sigh he returns to the kitchen and flicks the kettle on, because if he has to spend all night annotating a new contract and reading cadet files, he was going to have coffee to keep him company.

It's as Shadow leans back against the counter to wait for that affirmative whistle he spots the cookies - still on a cooling rack he wasn't aware he owned - on the breakfast bar. He leans across the gap and snags the one closest to him and, as he brings the cookie back for inspection, the scent of chocolate hits his nose.

He wonders how he managed to ignore them for so long considering his recently-developed sweet tooth. He regards the cookie a few seconds before shrugging, attributing his lack of perception to the sensitive situation he returned to, and takes a bite.

Oh, sweet Mother of Chaos. Chocolate was delicious baked into things as well, it seemed. That was something he'd never bothered to try before, since he tried to mediate how much of the stuff he ate when it came on its own.

There were a lot of things with chocolate baked in, weren't there? This was going to make grocery shopping much more difficult...

The kettle begins to hiss, then whistle, pulling the ebony hedgehog out of his thoughts and back to the kitchen. Unwilling to put it down, he holds the cookie between his teeth to free up both hands and pours his coffee before retrieving the snack, taking both items to the breakfast bar. He takes a seat before the thick file calling his name, takes a sip of coffee, then opens the cover.

And there he stays, slowly reading through and making notes on the contract before starting the long haul that would be sifting through the cadet files, beginning the tedious task of internalising the face, name and ability of each individual under his command, all whilst trying to physically restrain himself from taking another cookie immediately after finishing the previous one.

It would to be very hard not to eat the entire batch in one night.