"Ow!" Sonic whispered under his breath, he brought his hand to the cut and when he brought it back saw the blood on his glove. 'That blade really is razor sharp,' he thought. He turned his head to look at Espio, still asleep. He grinned to himself as he slowly and silently got off the bed, and made his way over to the door. He crept across the room, trying his best to avoid any creaky floorboards; he had just reached the door when the floor beneath him gave a great groan. He gasped and turned quickly to Espio, but the chameleon did nothing but mumble incoherently under his breath again and shuffle a bit.
Sonic smiled in relief, then opened the door to the hallway.
Shadow also couldn't sleep, despite the warm covers, he just couldn't seem to get comfortable. He tossed and turned, frowning with closed eyes, trying to fall into a slumber for hours, but eventually, gave up, and made his way to the living room. He sat in the dark on the white sofa for a while, doing his best to observe the surroundings in the dark, he had been too caught up earlier to notice anything about Rouge's home.
Nearly everything was black or white, it was very minimalist, to be honest, there wasn't too much to notice. 'Hmm,' thought Shadow, 'I'd have thought there'd have been more clutter, with her loving jewels, and well, really expensive things in general'. He looked round again, there was too much white for his taste, like a hospital, it reminded him eerily of the space colony ark. 'But the walls were more of a grey there,' he thought, 'but grey is just dark white,' said a strange little part of his mind, 'what?' Said the logical part, 'the lack of sleep must be getting to me.' Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed a door leading outside, he went through onto a small balcony, Rouge's apartment was so high up, it gave a perfect view of the city. Shadow leant on his elbows, resting them on the rail of the balcony, admiring the small dots of colour that were the lights of the city. A small smile graced his lips, but it went as soon as it came when he began thinking of Sonic again. 'This would be perfect if he was here'. He shook his head and let the soft breeze blow through his quills, it was almost soothing, but he was much too worried to relax.
"Maybe a hot drink will calm my nerves." With that he went back into the pristine apartment of Rouge.
Sonic ran down several corridors, his tired limbs screamed at him for some rest, it was starting to break dawn and he'd still had no sleep, but still he went on. 'I'm used to pushing myself to the limit,' he thought, 'and besides, I can hardly stop until I get out of here.' He turned another corner, and went through a door into a room full of cameras. He decided it was safe enough to take a moment to look. There were several views of streets in the city, some of places he didn't recognise, he didn't really see anything that grabbed his attention.
It was just then he saw the image of Shadow standing on the balcony of Rouge's apartment, it was small and to the top of the TV, almost off-screen, but Shadow was unmistakeable to Sonic. He watched as the black and red figure stood for moment, shook his head, then went back into the room. He smiled, 'At least he's safe.' He went to leave when he saw a map on a nearby table. He leant over it and saw a maze of corridors, there was a cross that 'you are here' and there was another cross where the exit was. Sonic smiled, 'don't blame Espio for having one of these around, I've been running around for hours and I couldn't find the way out'
He picked up the map and took another glance at the screens. 'Don't see why I can't leave my mark, just to give my thanks to Espio.' Five minutes later, the shattered glass of the camera screens lay at Sonic's fist, 'I don't know what he was using them for, but whatever it was, he can't do it now.' He checked the map, it seemed simple enough to get to the exit. Memorising the route, he sped off in a blur of blue.
Espio woke up to the sound of smashing echoing through the halls of his base. He shot up into a sitting position and looked to his side. He growled in anger when he saw the place where Sonic had been empty. He quickly got up and sped off to where the sound had come from, he stood at the doorway, the remains of his intricate surveillance operation scattered all over the floor and Sonic nowhere to be seen. He smashed his fist on the wall.
"GODDAMNIT!"
Sonic was finally out the maze of Espio's base, but carried on running as fast as his feet could go, he didn't want to take the risk of the slightest off-chance of being caught again. When he finally thought it would be safe, he took a moment to think about the image on the camera. 'Where was that building? I'm sure I've seen it somewhere before.' He snapped his fingers and grinned.
"Rouge's place!" He sped off to find his black and red counterpart.
Shadow sat down to a soothing coffee, it helped him wake up a bit, so he could sort out his muddled thoughts. He glanced to his right and noticed a small clock on the wall, it was 5am. Out of the window the first rays of the sun were crawling at a snail's pace over the top of the city's buildings. It brought a little light into the room, Shadow hadn't actually noticed how dark it was until now. He turned on a small lamp, it gave enough light to fill his corner of the room. He sat on the couch, staring out the window. It was just then that he heard a knock on the door. His head turned so fast it could've almost snapped. He thought what to do for a moment, then approached the door slowly, he braced himself with his fists curled, ready to fight in necessary. He was shocked and relieved when Sonic rushed in and almost bulldozed him over in a bear hug. When Shadow realised what the hoo-hah was going on, he returned the hug tightly.
"Sonic!"
"Sonic"
The two hedgehogs just stood and hg for a while, they were both saying something but only God knows what since they were both talking so fast. Rouge and Knuckles came running in, expecting for guns to start going off with all the noise coming from the living room. They relaxed when they saw it was Sonic, then they suddenly realised, it was Sonic. They looked at him, Shadow, each other, him again.
"Oh whatever I'm going back to bed," Rouge finally said, and she did just that, she decided to leave coherent thought until morning. Knuckles just looked around and he himself plodded back to the guest room, he didn't 'do' early mornings. Shadow and Sonic didn't move, they had hardly acknowledged the other two's presence; they just stood and held each other, Sonic's head on Shadow's chest, Shadow's on the blue hedgehog's shoulder.
Sonic's mind was empty apart from one thing, and that was focusing on Shadow's warmth, he didn't need to think about anything else right now, the capture, the worry, Espio… He nuzzled deeper into his black counterpart's chest, trying to block out the memories, he just wanted to hold on to the sense of relief, a little longer.
Shadow's mind was doing the exact opposite though, his mind was far from empty, it was full of unanswered questions and answers to ones he wasn't sure had been asked in the first place. 'How did he escape? Is he OK? He doesn't seem hurt? 'He looks hungry.' Most of his thoughts didn't even make sense to him, in the end, he decided to stop trying to make sense of them and just be happy that Sonic was back and safe.
Sonic finally gave in to exhaustion as he fell asleep in Shadow's arms, Shadow smiled at him gently and he laid him on the guest bed. 'I'll sleep on the sofa tonight,' he thought, he was just about to leave when he felt a hand grip his arm. He looked to see the smaller hedgehog clinging fiercely onto him, trying to pull him back in his unconscious state. 'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to just stay with him tonight.' He climbed in bed next to Sonic and got comfy in the covers, one of his arms snaking around Sonic and holding him gently. Sonic was the last thing Shadow saw before he too, fell into a deep slumber.
Shadow woke the next morning to the smell of breakfast, and Sonic missing from beside him. His sleepy mind tried to sort out his puzzled thoughts before he jumped out of bedroom and strode into the living room, Sonic was sitting at the dining table at the far side, absent-mindedly eating a piece of toast, his eyes had a far off look as though he was in deep thought. Rouge was in the kitchen, cooking up the delicious smells that wafted through the door, and Knuckles had probably gone back to Angel Island to check up on the master emerald.
"Morning," Rouge greeted cheerfully, popping her head out from behind the kitchen door, "Have a good sleep? You and Sonic looked quite comfy," she smiled and gave a small laugh before going on, "breakfast will be ready in a few moments." With that he heard disappeared behind the door again and Shadow slumped into the chair beside Sonic. 'So she doesn't mind me and Sonic?' He thought, 'she didn't seem to, well, that makes things easier.' He looked at Sonic, who still spaced-out, he waved his hand in front of him and he jumped slightly and his eyes met Shadow's.
"Oh, hi Shadow," he smiled, "how long you been up?" "Only just woken up, you?" Sonic shrugged.
"Not really too well, but I got a couple of hours kip in." He averted his attention back to the toast he was eating as he drifted off again, Rouge choosing this opportune moment to bring in the rest of the breakfast.
"Everything you could possibly want, from bacon to beans (woo, go baked beans, the only vegetable I eat :D), enjoy and stuff yourselves, you both need it." She herself didn't eat much, just a toastie (toasties are cute!). Shadow didn't know how she could cook all that and not devour it all, which was the polite way of putting his eating skills. "Gotta keep me figure and stay fabulous." She replied before leaving for work. Shadow decided this reply was Rouge, then continued to clear the table.
Sonic himself didn't eat much either, he just didn't seem too hungry anymore. After a few more bites he went out to the balcony, leaning on the railing much like Shadow had done the night before when he was contemplating over the blue hedgehog. Shadow looked at him and sighed before getting up and standing on the balcony next to him. The view really was magnificent, you could see everything from the bustling streets of the city to the calm tides of the sea on the outskirts. The sky was a light blue with a blue fluffy white clouds and a breeze drifted through the air, not cold, but cool enough to be refreshing in the warm summer air.
They both stood silently, admiring the view, silence seemed a welcome accompaniment to both of them being in the same room, whenever they were together it seemed to hunt them down like a hawk, leaving them both in the quiet, stuck in their own thoughts, waiting for the stillness to be broken.
Both had noticed this, but stuck in their reflections, it didn't really seem to matter at the moment. And it didn't.
The sullen silence continued on, neither really wanted to break it, despite the bustle of the city below them, hardly a sound reached their ears, they could just enjoy a peaceful morning without fear or worry, just contentment and thought, but it seemed their current thoughts made them anything but happy. This was why Shadow finally decided to speak up.
"What's on your mind Sonic?" He slowly turned his head to look at the azure hedgehog, who was still gazing out at the city, emeralds searching the sky as though it would hold the answer to all his problems. Eventually, he gave up on the prospect and turned his attentions to Shadow, maybe he was the answer to his problems. Their eyes met in a searing gaze of pained emerald and questioning ruby, neither daring to break its hold. Shadow repeated the question as he moved slightly closer to Sonic.
The small movement broken the connection and Sonic found himself staring over the spectacular view again, but that was far from what was on his mind. He took a deep breath and whispered something indistinguishable under his breath. Shadow asked him to repeat it.
"Espio, he…" He trailed off and Shadow wrapped his arm comfortingly around him and waited patiently for him to go on. "He raped me Shadow." Sudden realisation dawned on the black hedgehog as Sonic burst into tears on his shoulder, all the pain and angst from the past couple of days pouring out of the emeralds. Shadow didn't know what to say, to hear that, it hurt, it hurt like hell, poor Sonic, but there was another emotion, and it was growing inside of him. Espio would pay.
These words repeated again and again in Shadow's mind as he held the shaking hedgehog in his arms, eyes narrowing.
Espio would pay.