Chapter Eleven
"So let me get this straight." Shadow frowned as he gently cleaned the scratches on Sonic's face, said hedgehog holding an ice pack over the bruise on his head. "Ryn, your best friend from your childhood, is also a Siren and she's missing, caught by a net but you don't know by who. And you want to go and find her, but by doing so Tia, your Alpha, has banished you from the colony, and to make matters worse, it's also mating season this week and Ryn was supposed to mate with you?"
"Yep, that about sums it up." Sonic sighed.
"Sweet mother of Chaos."
"I know." Sonic sighed and placed the ice pack down, his head starting to feel better. "I don't know what to do, Shadow. Ryn's my best friend and my future mate. I can't bear the thought of something happening to her. I wanna save her, but I don't even know where to start."
Shadow frowned in thought as he placed a bandaid over the scratches Tia had given him. "Hmm, well whenever I'm trying to find something I usually start at the last place I've seen it, but I'm not sure if that'll work so well for your friend."
"... Or maybe it just might." Sonic frowned. "There could be clues that might tell us who took her, or at least which way they went."
"Where was the last place you saw her?"
"Not too far from the moonpool earlier today. Yes, I'll admit now, those contacts and clothes were mine. I had to leave them behind when I saw you snooping around."
Shadow frowned. "How did you…?"
"I have a friend in town that knows what I am, but that's not important right now. Ryn is."
"Alright, so if that's the last place you saw her then maybe we should start there."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, 'we'?" Sonic frowned at the ebony hedgehog in confusion. "Did you say 'we'?"
Shadow blushed and quickly looked away, unsure how to answer as he started stuttering his words. "I… well… we… you…" He growled and looked back at him, his blush still on his cheeks. "Look, if you don't want my help that's fine."
"No, no Shadow, it's ok." Sonic quickly assured. "I just wasn't expecting you to offer so easily."
Shadow huffed and picked up the ice pack, setting it and the first aid kit on the floor, out of the way so they wouldn't trip on them. He'll return them to their proper place in the morning. They've been out of their room enough for one night. "So then it's decided. In the morning, we'll go to the place you last saw your friend. I'll rent some scuba gear and follow you."
Sonic's ears pinned to his head. "I don't think that's a really good idea, Shadow. Don't get me wrong, I want your help… but after today… I don't trust myself around you in my merhog form. What if I attack you again?"
"You said you attacked because you were scared, right?" Shadow raised an eyebrow at him. "What reason would have to attack me next time?"
"It's instinctual, Shadow. I can't control it. There's a reason Sirens are known to be killers of the sea."
"You are not a killer." Shadow quickly said. "You never have been. You are a protector… it's in your blood. You attacked me to protect your family. That does not make you a killer."
Sonic kept his ears down and looked away sadly. "... But what if you're wrong?"
"When have I ever been wrong, Sonic?"
Sonic kept his head turned, refusing to answer his ebony… rival? Friend? He wasn't sure at this point. Shadow sighed, rubbing his hand on his neck, being mindful of the bite on his shoulder.
"Look, if you really don't want me to follow you then I won't. I'll stick by the shore until he come back."
"Promise?" Sonic challenged him, knowing it was the only way to be sure that he wouldn't follow. Shadow never breaks a promise.
Shadow sighed. He knew Sonic was gonna play that trick on him. "I promise."
Sonic nodded. "Ok. When the others are busy, that's when we'll sneak away. What's tomorrow's first activity?"
"Uh, breakfast in town and then we were gonna go on that tour of the Marine Life Search and Rescue."
Sonic nodded. He knew that there were some sea lions there that would make a perfect distraction. "Perfect. When we get to the sea lions that's when we'll sneak away."
"Why the sea lions specifically?"
"You'll see. Not every creature is oblivious to a Siren's presence."
…
The next morning, when Sonic and Shadow came out of their room, they were immediately bombarded with questions, all concerning the new injuries that they had. Both of them had scratches on their cheeks, Sonic's from Tia's claws, and Shadow's from Sonic's tail. And while Sonic's only other injury was the bruise on his head, Shadow was definitely worse with the bite on his shoulder.
"My goodness, what happened to you two?" Vanilla gasped upon seeing them. "Don't tell me you did this to each other!"
Both Sonic and Shadow started talking at once, trying to deny the fact.
"Well if you didn't do it to each other, then what happened?" Knuckles frowned.
The two hedgehogs looked at each other. They knew they would be asked this question, so that had forged up a story together.
"We couldn't sleep last night, so we raced." Sonic started.
"We were a little too close to the shoreline and Sonic slipped." Shadow added.
"I hit my head on a rock and went unconscious. By the time Shadow had realized, the tide was already pulling me out to sea."
"He didn't get very far without me noticing, but he was out far enough to get the attention of a reef shark. I dove in to save him but by the time I got to him, the shark was already on us. It bit my shoulder but I was able to kick it back and swim us to safety without any other major damage."
"And the scratches?" Rouge questioned, tilting her head to the side. She didn't believe a word they were saying.
"The scratches came from the rocks on the shore." Shadow quickly said. "I had lost my footing and tripped, bringing us both down."
"It's not like you to trip, hun."
Shadow shrugged. "Doesn't mean it can't happen."
"Are you sure you two are alright?" Amy asked them in concern. "If you need time to recover I'm sure you can stay here. Right Vanilla?"
"Of course." Vanilla nodded.
"Thanks, but we're fine. Right Faker?"
"Yep. Now come on, I'm starving and ready to check out the town. Let's go get some breakfast and explore!"
