Chapter 10

"I can't believe this whole time, Terabithia has been real." Shadow shook his head as he and Sonic started to leave the forest.

"If you really thought all of this was pretend you have a very lively imagination." Sonic said back to him.

"I sure thought I did… Wait, did you know it was real all along?"

"Honestly, no." Sonic shook his head. "I thought it was all in my head too. I've been known to have a fantastic imagination, I thought you were just going along with it."

"Ugh, this is all starting to hurt my head." Shadow groaned, holding onto his head with both his hands. "Ok, so if Terabithia is real, why are we just now seeing everything? How has it been hidden this whole time?"

"I don't know Shadow." Sonic sighed as they reached the rope. "Maybe it really is all still in our heads. Maybe we're just overthinking this."

"Then explain Prince's reaction to the troll. Explain the land."

"I… I… I don't know."

"It wasn't in your heads."

The two hedgehogs yelped when a new voice spoke to them. They looked around for the source, seeing nothing until they heard a childish laugh above them. They looked up and finally noticed a little robotic child flying above them. "Bokkun!"

"Yep. It's me." Bokkun laughed as he hovered down to them. "I got you guys good, didn't I?"

"What are you doing here?" Shadow frowned at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I followed you." The little robot put it simply. "You've been sneaking away from home a lot recently, Shadow. And I was curious to see where you've been going. Never would've thought that you were playing pretend with Sonic."

Shadow shared a look with Sonic before looking back at Bokkun. "So Terabithia isn't real? It's all in our heads."

"Didn't you hear me? It's not in your heads." Bokkun frowned at them. "I saw it all for myself. I saw how you fought that giant troll. I saw that land and how scary it looks. I even saw your treehouse. Terabithia is real. And I'm gonna tell Eggman all about it."

"What, no!" Shadow gasped, grabbing onto the robot. "You can't do that!"

"Wha- why not?"

"Please, Bokkun. Don't tell Eggman." Shadow begged. "This is the only place where I can get away from him and his abusive nature. The only place where I feel like I can actually be myself, and just… play like a normal kid. Please Bokkun, I am begging you."

"Ok ok, I won't tell Eggman." Bokkun promised. wiggling out of Shadow's grip. "But keeping your secret is gonna cost ya."

"Cost me what?" Shadow asked him. "I know you like sweets but it's not like I can give you my desserts after dinner when I don't even get desserts."

"I got an idea." Sonic spoke up suddenly before looking at Bokkun. "Our treehouse castle needs a little improvement. Maybe, in exchange for keeping our secret, you can help us fix it up."

Bokkun gasped excitedly and did a few excited loops through the air. "Yes! Yes! That'll be so much fun! And I know just what it needs."

"And what's that?"

"Bells! The castle needs bells, to alert your subjects when there's danger."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Shadow admitted, looking at Sonic who also nodded in agreement.

"And don't you worry. I'll find you the best looking bells for your castle." Bokkun promised before he took off.

Shadow sighed in relief. "That was a close one." He looked at Sonic. "How did you know that would work?"

Sonic shrugged. "He's a kid. Kids like to help."

"Brilliant." Shadow nodded before looking back into the forest. "So what are we gonna do about our new discovery? We're kings of Terabithia. Our subjects are being kept as slaves. What do we do?"

"I don't know. But we'll figure something out… somehow."

…

The next day, Shadow was walking through the base, trying to think of ways that he and Sonic could save the Terabithians. He was passing by Eggman's lab when his cousin called his name. He looked into the lab to see Eggman working on a new machine, a type of Metal Vulture.

"Shadow, glad I could catch you." Eggman said when he looked up to the black and red hedgehog. "Here, I need you to take these keys and go into the storage room and get me a UB12500 battery for this new robot."

"Right away, sir." Shadow nodded as he grabbed the keys and took off, glad that Eggman was giving him a simple task that he surely could not fail and anger him in.

Shadow got to the storage room quickly and unlocked the door with the keys given to him. He opened the door, stepped inside, and immediately started to searched the shelves for the right battery needed for the vulture. "Let's see… UB… UB… ah, UB batteries. 12200… 12300… 12400… ah, here we are. UB12500… Damn, think these batteries are big enough, Eggman? Geez."

With a bit of a struggle, Shadow lifted the battery and took it out of the storage, using his foot to close the door behind him. As he was walking away, he didn't realize that he had accidentally left the keys behind in the keyhole.

Shadow brought the large battery all the way to Eggman's lab and gently set it down beside him. "There we go. One UB12500 battery."

"Excellent work, Shadow." The evil genius praised as he started to hook the battery into the vulture.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?" The black hedgehog asked hopefully.

"Nope. That'll be all. Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow lowered his ears. Again, he was being pushed away.

"I'm gonna go find Sonic again, then."

Eggman wasn't even listening anymore, too engrossed with his work. Shadow sighed and left the lab in search of his friend.

After a little bit of running, he heard a familiar laugh coming from the park. He skidded to a stop and looked over, smiling when he saw Sonic playing with his new Chao. With a chuckle, he walked over to them. "Hello you two. I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Hey Shadow." Sonic greeted back. "No. you're not interrupting at all. I'm just out here training Prince. I was thinking about getting us some ice cream afterwards. You're welcome to join."

"I guess that could be fun." Shadow nodded. "A day away from Terabithia could be a good idea. Not like there's much we can do now anyway without a plan."

"Right? Don't worry. I promise we'll have lots of fun."

…

Sonic managed to keep his promise to Shadow.

They had a lot of fun, training Prince, eating ice cream, and walking the shores of the beach.

At some point, Prince had managed to grab a Frisbee that a couple of humans were playing with and was running around, playing chase with them. Sonic and Shadow sat on the sand, laughing as they watched the entertainment in front of them as Prince and the humans playfully chased each other in the water.

"Just like you, Prince seems to make new friends easily." Shadow chuckled.

"Like owner like pet." Sonic giggled.

Shadow hummed a small laugh before looking back at Prince. Silence fell between them, and if the hedgehog was honest, it felt a little weird. He wasn't used to there being any silence between him and Sonic, it was kinda awkward. It made his skin crawl underneath his fur, so he decided to break it, giving a small cough, gaining Sonic's attention. "So… um.. any ideas on how we're gonna stop the Dark Master?"

Sonic sighed, lowering his ears a bit. "Honestly, I don't know. We're only two hedgehogs, Shadow, and the Dark Master has a whole army on his side. We don't really know what they're capable of."

"That's true, but we're kings." Shadow nodded. "Surely we can get an army on our side too."

"With what subjects? We haven't seen anyone in our kingdom that wasn't working for the Dark Master. The most we've seen are Shadow Spies, Scourgers, and trolls."

Shadow frowned in thought, licking his mint chocolate chip ice cream for a moment in hopes that it'll give him some ideas. "We'll figure something out. We're not quitters, Sonic, and we never will be. Especially you. It's in your blood." He looked back at the blue hedgehog. "I am confident that you will figure out a plan to help our enslaved subjects and defeat the Dark Master once and for all. You are a Hero, and Heroes never give up."

Sonic stared at Shadow with wide eyes, a light blush coming to his cheeks. The sun was starting to set, its purple-pinkish light shining on him, making his eyes glisten and his fur look vibrant. He finally smiled. "Thanks, Shadow."

Shadow was visibly blushing as he stared at Sonic and the way that the sunset reflected off of him. If he didn't know any better, he would've said that… that Sonic looked absolutely gorgeous in front of him. His throat tightened up and his heart beat faster in his chest. He suddenly felt very nervous and warm, his mouth cotton-dry no matter how much of his ice cream he ate. Finally, he spoke. "N-No problem, Sonic."

Sonic chuckled and looked back at the water as it gently splashed onto the shore of the beach. Prince, tired out from playing with the humans, flew over to them and gently snuggled into Sonic's lap for a peaceful rest. The hedgehog, already finished with his ice cream, softly petted the Chao as continued to stare into the ocean. His peaceful look in the setting light made Shadow feel even more nervous and clammy. How could it have possibly taken him this long to realize how beautiful his rival truly is?

And what was this feeling in his heart? This feeling of… longing? Could he actually be falling for the hedgehog in front of him? No. He couldn't possibly be. They were rivals. Bitter enemies.

Sure, they were friends and relying on each other when in Terabithia, but in the real world, they were fighting for opposite sides. Sonic for Mobias, and Shadow for Eggman.

Besides, he wasn't gay… right?

Shadow glanced down to the sand between him and Sonic, noticing that the blue hedgehog had his hand laying between them, slightly stretched out. The black and red hedgehog silently gulped as he felt the need to reach out and hold that hand. He hesitantly reached his hand out, slowly sliding it across the sand towards the other. Their fingers were just about touching when he stopped, wondering if it really was a good idea to do this.

What would Sonic think? Would he pull away? Would he think it was weird? Would he question what he was doing? … Or will he hold his hand in return?

Taking a slow breath, Shadow continued reaching before suddenly wrapping their fingers together in a gentle hold. A dark blush came to his cheeks when Sonic looked down at their hands before looking back at the hedgehog next to him.

Shadow's ears began to lower when Sonic didn't say or do anything. He was about to pull away when Sonic suddenly gave a soft smile before holding Shadow's hand back. Shadow smiled and the two looked back at the ocean, both feeling content as they watched the sunset together, holding the other's hand.