sorry this took so fucking long. it's dead week and I am currently dead
also apologies in advance for my terrible romance writing. i realized while writing that the last time I actually attempted to write romance was for my supernatural hunger games au, which is a terrible sequence of words and I hate that they are now associated with me
Day 2: Heart to Heart
"Blaze? Blaze, wake up!"
Blaze swatted away the hands of her best friend as she sluggishly opened her eyes. "Silver?" She sat up. "What?"
Silver was sitting in front of her, Elise beside him. "It's morning." He rubbed his arm, where a gold ring was now around his wrist. "I think we switched sometime overnight."
Blaze looked down to see that she was no longer dressed in Knuckles' athletic wear, and was instead clad with the jacket and bandana of the Blue Blur. "I guess you're right." She glanced at the dark clothes covering Silver. "So, you're-"
"Shadow, yeah." He angled his head towards the other girl. "Elise here got your powers." Sure enough, the other girl was adorned with Blaze's purple coat.
"And it looks like I'm Sonic," Blaze said, standing. The other two followed suit.
Elise shyly raised a hand. "I think I've managed to sense an emerald. We can continue the way we were going yesterday."
Silver turned to Blaze, a glint of excitement in his eyes. "And since the two of us have super speed, we'll be able to cover a lot more ground."
"Sounds good." She made her way over to Elise. "May I?"
"Oh! Sure," Elise said as Blaze scooped her into her arms.
Silver and Blaze lined up in the direction they had been traveling the day before. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready!" Silver said, a grin on his face.
Together, the three sped off through the jungle.
"Oh man," Tails said, spinning with delight, "This outfit's so cool! I gotta wear rompers more often!" When he had woken up in the morning, he had been wearing the variation of Amy's dress that had previously been on Shadow. Unlike the other boy, however, he had been rather happy with the development.
Walking beside him, Sonic scoffed. "You feel cool?" He gestured down to the futuristic bodysuit he now wore. "I can lift things with my hands!" He held his hands out and pumped them back and forth. "Pew pew!"
"I'm glad you two are enjoying this," Shadow said, crossing his arms. He did not share his friends' enthusiasm, seemingly due to the set of powers he had been shackled with. He had gained the power of Princess Elise, complete with opera-length gloves, puffy sleeves, and a cape.
Sonic smirked. "Don't worry. I didn't forget about you, Shadow." He gave an exaggerated curtsy. "You're very pretty."
Shadow continued walking. "I fucking hate you," he muttered, "I hate this." He held his hands out. "What even are my abilities? Getting captured 18 times?"
Tails turned around. "That's not very nice, Shadow," he said seriously.
Sonic, on the other hand, chuckled. "That was good. But Elise said she's been learning magic, so I bet that transferred to you."
Shadow stopped walking to examine his hands, Sonic and Tails continuing ahead. Sonic was just about to turn around and tell him to hurry up when the boy in question said:
"That would be helpful if I had any fucking clue how it worked."
For the second day in a row, Rouge found herself in the arms of Knuckles. However, rather than being carried through the dense jungle of the island, they were high above it, propelled by the two red tails Knuckles had gained overnight. Keeping pace with him was Amy, sporting Rouge's own outfit and wings.
"I don't think it's very fair that you have to carry me again," Rouge said.
Knuckles smirked a bit at that. "It's not my fault that the powers you've gotten haven't come with a mode of transportation and mine do." He looked down at her. "What, are you complaining?"
She smiled back at him. "No."
"Besides, it's not like you haven't helped. Without you, we wouldn't even know where to go." He paused. "Speaking of, are we still going in the right direction?"
She closed her eyes and nodded. "Yeah. We haven't passed it yet." She directed her attention to the other girl. "How you doing, Amy?"'
At the sound of Rouge's voice, Amy flew closer to the two. "Pretty good. It's a lot easier to keep up with someone else flying than running at Sonic speeds." She glanced behind her. "I think I prefer flying with wings rather than tails, too."
Other than Shadow's comical anger over his outfit, it was rather silent as they inched closer and closer to the base of the mountain. The novelty of Silver's powers had worn out on Sonic and, like Tails, he had taken off the jacket to keep from overheating. He looked to their destination, hoping that they had made some significant progress, but to no avail. The mountain seemed just as far away as it had a few hours before, when they had continued their journey.
Tails, on the other hand, did not seem to be deterred by the apparent lack of progress. His focus was trained on a coconut that had fallen from one of the trees. He would kick it ahead, then chase it, kicking it again.
Realizing the distance he had gained, Sonic called, "Don't get too far ahead, Tails."
"I won't!"
Sonic chuckled as he watched his younger brother play. In his peripheral, he could see Shadow watching him as well. They walked in silence for a few more moments before he asked, "What is he doing?"
Sonic turned to him, bewildered at the question. "He's a kid, Shads. Sometimes he likes to do kid things."
Shadow looked back to the younger boy, raising an eyebrow. "And kicking coconuts is a kid thing?"
"Kinda. He's just playing a game." Sonic shrugged. "It's pretty common for kids his age."
"How old is he?" Shadow asked.
"He'll be eight later this month."
"I always forget how young he is," Shadow said quietly, "He seems so much older and mature when we're on missions."
"Well, life or death situations will do that," Sonic said lightly, "Besides, it's not like we're that much older. We're kids too."
"Speak for yourself."
Sonic scoffed. "Okay, Mr. Ultimate Lifeform, don't act so high and mighty. Just 'cause you were created 50 years ago or whatever doesn't mean you're an adult. You're still a kid too."
Shadow looked down, taking in the other boy's words. "I-" He laughed sharply and shook his head. "I don't feel like a kid. I wasn't born; I was created. I don't know what it's like to be a kid." There was a hint of bitterness in his voice, and something else that Sonic couldn't quite identify. "Not like you guys do."
Sonic thought for a moment and chuckled. "It's funny you think we know anything about being kids."
Shadow looked back at him. "What do you mean?"
"Shadow, I don't know if you've noticed, but the rest of us aren't exactly the poster children for a normal childhood, no pun intended." He counted off on his fingers as he spoke. "I've been fighting Eggman since I was ten, Tails since he was three. Knuckles lived alone on a floating island for years. Rouge is a government agent and she's barely an adult, and Silver and Blaze are time travelers from the future." He put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "You're no different than the rest of us."
The two had stopped walking, but neither had noticed. A small smile formed on Shadow's face. "I guess you're right." Sonic nodded and started to walk away, but Shadow grabbed his hand. "Hey." Sonic turned and met Shadow's eyes. "Thanks."
Sonic felt his face heat up. "Don't mention it. What're friends for, right?"
Shadow nodded. "Right."
A voice from ahead of them cut in. "Hey!" The two boys' heads snapped to the source, Shadow dropping the other's hand. Tails had stopped playing his game and was now facing them, his coconut forgotten beside him. "Are you guys coming or what?"
Sonic turned back to Shadow, a grin on his face. "Yep! Sorry, bud!" he called. He grabbed Shadow's hand. "C'mon," he said pulling him along.
He didn't notice the smile on Shadow's face.
Knuckles needed to sleep.
They had spent the past couple of days traveling through the island's lush jungle, and it didn't seem as though that status would change anytime soon. Not to mention, the island itself was enemy territory, developed by the man who created the situation. For all intents and purposes, a good night's sleep was a necessity.
Which was why it was particularly annoying that Knuckles couldn't stay asleep.
He had managed to fall asleep once or twice, but it would never stick. He would finally be lulled into a dream, only to be awoken by the ambient sounds of the jungle around him.
With a huff, he opened his eyes, giving up on resting for now. He stood up and drew closer to the fire he had pitched earlier, only to find Amy still staring into the flames. After a moment of hesitation, he took the place next to her and nudged the younger girl with his shoulder. "What're you doin' up?"
Amy didn't look up, but answered, "Just thinking." She sounded off, something in her voice that Knuckles couldn't quite identify. It seemed almost sad. She's probably just tired.
"The good news is you won't have to fly tomorrow." Amy finally looked over at him, confusion written on her face. "You've already gone through both Tails and Rouge's powers," he explained quickly.
Once given context, Amy chuckled a little. "What a relief. Honestly, it hasn't been too bad. A break would be nice, though." Despite her playful words, her tone remained the same.
"Is everything fine?" He finally asked, "What were you thinking about?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. It's stupid."
"You're talking to me."
"You're not actually stupid, Knuckles," she said, her voice rather sincere, "You just do and say dumb things sometimes."
"Thank you," Knuckles said, genuinely touched, "That was very nice of you to say, but off-topic." He shifted closer to his friend. "Tell me what's wrong."
For a moment, it seemed as though he had failed, but Amy sighed and said, "It's stupid, but I was thinking about how much time I've wasted on crushes, and none of them have worked out."
Knuckles thought for a second, taking in her words. "Wait, crushes? As in plural? I thought you liked Sonic?"
"I did," Amy said slowly, in a way that didn't exactly convince Knuckles that she thought he wasn't stupid, "That's just the one you know about." She shrugged matter of factly. "I don't tell you everything. I kinda gave up on Sonic after Soleanna."
"Well, yeah. He came out as gay after Elise kissed him. That seems like the right time to back off." Knuckles himself wasn't involved in the whole drama involving Sonic and Elise, but he remembered certain details well enough. He was present, along with the rest of their friends, when Elise had kissed Sonic during their attempt to revive him. It was an uncomfortable moment, especially during such an odd and upsetting situation, but it was quickly overshadowed by Sonic's resurrection. It wasn't until after Sonic, Shadow, and Silver had finished saving the world that it was brought up again, albeit indirectly. Sonic, while avoiding eye contact with Elise, came out to the mostly unsurprised group.
"Exactly, and then I asked Elise out, and that was a whole shitshow."
Knuckles strained to remember that particular detail, but a vague recollection of Amy chasing after Elise after Sonic's announcement came to him. "Wait, did you even end up going on that date?" he asked.
She looked down and shook her head. "No. I was going to, really, but then I realized that she was too old for me and that I only asked her out because Sonic rejected her, and it just didn't seem fair. So, I told her all that and she was chill about it, but it was awkward." She bit her lip. "It's still awkward. But, I moved on. I minded my own business, I even had a different crush for a while. But nothing's worked out." She sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I'll go to college, get my education. Ignore romance for a few years."
"Amy, you're twelve."
She laughed, but still sounded sad. "Yeah. But a girl can dream, right?"
Knuckles put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, you have plenty of time to get into a relationship. Don't rush into it, especially at your age. And I'm never one to discourage higher education, but maybe give it a few years."
"Yeah." Amy was smiling, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thanks, Knuckles."
"No problem!" he said brightly, "Now, about this other crush..."
"I will go to my grave before I tell you anything."
Although they had survived the previous night without a fire, Sonic was beginning to wish he had learned how to start one. The moonlight still provided sufficient light for their purposes, but the cold was the real problem. It was chillier than it had been the night before, biting at him even under Silver's thick jacket. Shadow hadn't voiced any discomfort, but Sonic had caught him fiddling with Elise's opera-length gloves a couple of times.
Sonic shifted his attention over to Tails, who had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had made camp. As expected, his younger brother was still asleep, but Sonic was alarmed to spot a tremor. He was shivering, his arms and legs pulled close to his chest. This wasn't exactly a surprise. Amy's attire was much more suited to the summer, which had worked out in the younger boy's favor during the day. However, left in the frigid night, it was no wonder it would be inadequate.
Without thinking, Sonic stood and pulled off the silver jacket. The movement caught Shadow's attention, who watched as he draped the jacket over his brother. "Is he alright?"
"He's fine," Sonic said softly, "He usually bundles up in his tails when he gets cold, so he's just not used to it." He took a seat beside the other boy.
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you cold?"
"Nah," he lied, "I'd try to start a fire, but without my speed, I think I'd be trying all night. Besides, the moon's plenty bright."
"Have you never gone camping?"
"I have, once or twice," Sonic said slowly, confused by the strangeness of the question, "But Knuckles always did the fire. He's better at all that survival shit." He turned to the other boy. "Why? Have you and Rouge gone camping?"
"No," he said matter of factly, "It just seemed like something you'd have done."
"How is that, by the way? Living with Rouge?" Sonic didn't really talk with either Shadow or Rouge all that often, but he had heard that Shadow had moved in with the older girl. In all honesty, Sonic had thought they were already living together, but it seemed he had been wrong. Of course, that begged the question of where Shadow had been living all this time, but Sonic figured he should stick with the more polite questions to start out.
"It's fine," Shadow said succinctly. The conversation fell into an odd silence, with no elaboration from Shadow and Sonic unsure of how to respond to the brief statement.
In the end, he decided to drop that conversation and move on to what he had wanted to say for most of the day. "Hey, I, uh-" He mentally cursed himself for stammering, but Shadow didn't seem to notice or care, so he continued. "I wanted to apologize for getting pissed at the start of the mission. You were only looking out for the team and I should've recognized that. And-" He couldn't help the guilt that crept into his voice. "You turned out to be right. I probably would've fucked the machine up even worse if you and Tails hadn't been there. I should've listened to you."
Shadow didn't seem to react, which was odd to Sonic, who felt the apology was rather simple and kind of shitty. But after a beat too long, he finally responded with, "No."
"No?"
"You didn't do anything wrong." Shadow paused. "I mean, you were kind of an asshole, but I've gotten used to that."
"Hey-"
"And it wasn't like you destroyed the machine for no reason," Shadow continued, paying no heed to Sonic's short protest, "Tails was in danger. You had to save your brother. I would've done the same thing."
Before Sonic could stop himself, his curiosity got the better of him and he asked, "For Rouge, you mean?" A flash of something Sonic couldn't quite discern passed over Shadow's face. "Is there something wrong with you two?"
Sonic half expected Shadow to tell him to fuck off and call it a night, but instead, the other boy shook his head and said, "No, nothing's wrong. Living with Rouge is great, I just..." He trailed off. After a moment of hesitation, he turned towards Sonic. "Rouge is my best friend, and she has been for years. She's offered to let me stay with her before, but I always turned her down. I didn't want- I worried she'd get sick of me. And even though it's great and I know, logically, that won't happen, I just can't stop thinking about it."
For once, Sonic was speechless. He considered himself to be friends with Shadow, but their relationship. Their conversations were usually limited to bickering and jokes as they tried to one-up the other. Shadow, in particular, was much better at their game, refusing to show even the slightest vulnerability. But, for some reason, that wasn't the case now. "Look," he started slowly, "I may not know Rouge all that well, but I do know one thing: she cares about you just as much as you care about her. She won't get sick of you, and even if she did, you have more than one friend." He nudged Shadow with his shoulder. "If something's wrong, just let me know. You're my friend. I'll help you."
A sincere smile tugged at Shadow's face. "You're pretty good at that."
"Good at what?"
Shadow rolled his eyes and nudged Sonic back. "Cheering people up."
A slight burst of heat spread across Sonic's cheeks, which he purposefully ignored. "Well, it's pretty easy when you're telling the truth." The moonlight must have been obscuring his vision because Sonic swore he could see a flush of red across Shadow's face. His eyes locked onto Shadow's and he vaguely registered how close they were sitting. He could almost just lean in and...
Shadow pulled away from Sonic and said, "It's late."
"Yeah. Yep." He hoped he didn't come off as flustered as he felt. What the fuck was that? He scooted further away from Shadow. "A lot to do tomorrow." He laid back and turned on his side, facing away from the other boy. After a few moments, he heard Shadow shifting as he settled in to fall asleep.
Sonic laid awake, unsure of what to make of the boy laying a few feet behind him.
sorry that i suck at writing. the good news is i'm almost done plotting out this monster, so I can continue to work on it during class instead of taking notes
I am once again begging for comments. rant about your hyperfixation. tell me about your dog. tell me to eat shit. idc I just like it when I get notifications ok I'm a simple person
