Chapter Seven

"Sonic! Sonic wake up!"

Sonic opened his eyes and gasped, forcing himself out of his nightmare. His chest started closing up in fright. He couldn't breathe. He had to sit up. Unable to comprehend his surroundings, the blue hedgehog sat up quickly, knocking his head against Shadow's face. The ebony hedgehog grunted and stepped back a bit, holding onto his nose and hissing in pain.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Sonic gasped. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine. Don't worry about it." He told him, rubbing the soreness away. It wasn't broken, nor was it bleeding, but it would definitely leave a mark. He sighed and looked back at the blue blur. "Are you alright?"

"I… I think so." Sonic said nervously. "Why do you ask?"

"You were screaming in your sleep. Sounded like you were having one of those nightmares you told me about."

"Oh." Sonic sighed, lowering his ears to his head in guilt. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Don't worry about it. I already said I wasn't gonna hold it against you." Shadow frowned, sitting beside him on the bed. As he did so, he got a better look at his face, more specifically, his eyes. "Sonic… your eyes."

"Huh?" The blue hedgehog was confused, until he suddenly realized that he wasn't wearing his contacts. He quickly looked away, putting a hand up to his face to shield his eyes. "D-Don't look!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing! Nothing happened! I-It's just the trick of the light!"

"Faker!"

Sonic cringed and lowered his ears, a few tears coming to his eyes.

"... Turn around."

"I don't want to."

"Turn around, now. Or I'll force you to."

Trembling, Sonic turned to look back at his ebony rival. Tears came to his eyes as his true blue irises and the tiny pupils were revealed.

"... Wow." Shadow said upon the sight of them.

"I know." Sonic sniffed. "They're hideous, aren't they?"

"Hideous?" Shadow questioned. "No Sonic. I don't think they're hideous."

"Questionable? Abnormal? Strange? Supernatural?" Sonic listed. "I've heard it all, Shadow."

"What about beautiful?"

Sonic's voice caught in his throat at that. He never suspected that Shadow would think his true eyes were beautiful.

"... Those contacts I found at the moonpool… those were yours… weren't they?"

"... No… they weren't… but I do wear contacts."

He reached under his pillow and pulled out his case. He unscrewed the lids and presented his emerald colored contacts to his rival. Shadow inspected them with a frown before looking back up at him. "Why?"

"You know why." Sonic said, lowering his ears. "I just listed them all."

"You started hiding your eyes because of a few insults from a bunch of nobodies?" Shadow frowned, not believing a word of it.

"Not just that." Sonic sighed. "... When I was younger… my guardian said that I would need to keep my eyes hidden. I don't know why, but apparently my type of eyes make big money on the Black Market." He looked up at him. "I would rather hide my eyes, than lose them forever."

Shadow nodded, understanding his fear. "I understand. As beautiful as they are, they're also a bit abnormal. I wouldn't be surprised if people thought that there were some magical qualities to them." He sighed and fixed him with a serious stare. "Don't worry. I won't tell a soul."

The blue hedgehog smiled and closed the case again. "Thank you, Shadow. That means a lot."

He sighed and pushed the case back underneath his pillow. As he did so, Shadow watched him curiously. "So here's another question."

"Hmm?"

"... Who's Ryn?"

Sonic froze upon that question. How in the world did Shadow know about Ryn?!

"W-What?"

"Ryn. You were screaming her name… sounded like she was pretty important to you."

Sonic lowered his ears and hung his head with a sigh. "She's… an old childhood friend. I've known her since I… we… were born."

"You two were born on the same day?"

"Yes… we practically grew up together."

"You care about her."

Sonic nodded. "The thought of something happening to her… scares me to death."

"And in your nightmare, something did?"

Sonic nodded again. He sighed and fell back in his bed. "It's dumb. I know she's safe. I don't have any reason to be worried."

"Or do you?"

The way he said it sent shivers down Sonic's spine. 'Don't give in to his bait, Sonic. He's just messing with you.'

Ryn was a big girl and a responsible Siren. She could take care of herself… so why wouldn't his stomach stop twisting?

"Sonic?" Shadow said in confusion as the blue hedgehog got up and pulled his shoes and gloves on. "Where are you going?"

"On a run." Sonic said simply, walking to the door.

"In the middle of the night?"

"I'll be fine. I just have to clear my head of some stuff." And with that said, without a second thought, he was gone.

Sonic ran from the house, ignoring Shadow's calls. The wind of the night breezed through his quills, the sand from the beachy shore flew behind him. He had no destination in mind. He just kept running.

He was being paranoid, freaking out over nothing. Of course Ryn was fine. Why wouldn't she be?

But then again, it was mating season tomorrow. What if something was wrong with the water? What if there would be no babies this year? It wouldn't be the first time something of the sorts had happened.

At last, Sonic came to a stop. He had not meant to come here, but his legs sometimes had minds of their own.

He was at the cave, with his moonpool hiding inside. There was absolutely no reason to be here. But for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to turn away.

Sonic sighed. "Just a quick checkup on her." He decided, and entered the cave.

However, unbeknownst to him, the Siren in disguise had been followed.

Out of the darkness, Shadow stepped forward. He watched in curiosity as his blue rival went inside the cave.

It was strange to him.

Why had Sonic decided to come here?

What had he meant when he said he was gonna do a quick checkup?

Was there something else that the blue hedgehog was hiding?

Driven by curiosity, and the tiniest bit of concern, Shadow stepped into the cave and followed the footsteps of his rival.