Chapter Twenty-Two

In the dark depths of the sea, without a care in the world, Sonic and Ryn swam around to their heart's contempt. They laughed and played and sang to each other, happy to be free once more. They swam in spirals and loops, trying to impress one another, a basic instinct for mating season.

Ryn smiled and signed to Sonic. "You know, maybe your land friends aren't so bad after all."

"I told you." Sonic signed back with a cocky grin.

"You sure they can keep us a secret?"

"Shadow tried really hard to convince the people of Mobius that what they were seeing was not real, and the others went along with it. I'm sure we can trust them…" Sonic lowered his ears in guilt. "If only I had trusted them before, this never would've happened."

"Sonic, you cannot blame yourself. You didn't know."

"My distrust of the friends I've known for most my life got you captured."

"No Sonic. My own stupidity got me captured. I wasn't paying attention and I got caught in the net. But that's ok. It's in the past now. You and your friends saved me… saved us. And I will be forever grateful… especially to that handsome black one." Ryn smirked.

"You mean Shadow?" Sonic frowned. "You tried to kill him. You even sang to him. You realize that your song is gonna start driving him nuts now? He's gonna crave your voice. He's gonna want to hear it again and again until it's all that he can think about! You know that's how this works!"

"I know, and I regret my actions… I can see now why you love him."

That statement caught Sonic off guard. He was used to hearing that from Helen, but not from his childhood best friend. "What are you talking about?"

"The glow of a male never lies." Ryn frowned. "I know you're attracted to him. That's why you tried to lure him back in that… horrible place… I was jealous… that's why I attacked him."

"But I don't understand." Sonic frowned. "I didn't try to lure him. My chest never even glowed."

"Ah, but it did, Sonic. Your chest and your neck glowed as you were looking up at him. Your whole body language was asking him to mate with you. I saw it… but maybe you didn't realize it."

Sonic lowered his ears and looked away in thought. "I… have been having some… questionable feelings about him lately. We used to be rivals down to the bone… but these past few hours… after everything he's done for me to help me find you… I don't know what to call him anymore… He even kissed me when one of our friends started to get suspicious of our disappearances together. And he kissed me again to silence me when I was Siren Screaming in frustration. It was wonderful." He looked up at her in guilt. "Maybe you're right… maybe I am in love with him."

"And that's perfectly fine." Ryn smiled, running her hand through his quills. "Just because you're a male doesn't mean you can't love another."

"But I'm also in love with you!" Sonic quickly stated, putting a hand against her cheek lovingly. "I've loved you for a long time, Ryn. Just like you, I also couldn't wait for us to become of age… and now that we are, and we're in the water during mating season, I can't wait anymore. I have to have you… if you'll take me."

At that moment, Sonic swam back a little and started to glow. The bright, golden light filled his chest and neck, shining beautifully in temptation to the female in front of him. Ryn smirked and swam around him, circling him, looking him over. Sonic hissed at her, causing her to hiss back. This was standard procedure for the mating ritual, but Sonic couldn't help but have a sense of deja vu, like he had already done this.

Suddenly, his mind flashed back to his nightmare last night.

Attempting to mate with Ryn.

The net taking Ryn.

The invading Siren colony.

The underwater GUN drones.

And a mermaid from his own colony stabbing him in the back.

It was too much to handle.

"Wait!" The blue Siren cried out, dimming his glow.

"What's wrong?" Ryn questioned. "I thought you said you couldn't wait anymore."

"Before we do this, we should check on the colony."

"The colony?" Ryn frowned, a 'you can't be serious' look on her face. "The colony left me to die."

"I know, but they're still our people. We have to make sure that they're ok. Who knows? There's a slight chance that not everybody believed Shadow when he said that we don't exist. We have to make sure that nobody else is trying to capture one of us."

Ryn sighed and nodded.

"Ok. You have a point. We should check on them." She grinned mischievously. "I'd like to see the look on their faces when they see that I've returned."

"Me too." Sonic grinned back. "Especially after Tia banished me for wanting to rescue you."

"Ooh, this is gonna be fun!"

Back at the beach house, Sonic's friends had just finished telling Vanilla and Cream what had happened at Eggman's base. The two rabbits were in shock, unable to believe that Sirens were actually real, and their famous blue hedgehog friend was one of them.

"Unbelievable." Vanilla said, shaking her head. "To think, all this time, he kept a secret like this from us."

"You don't blame him for doing so, do you Ms. Vanilla?" Shadow cooly challenged her.

"Oh of course not, dear." The rabbit mother was quick to assure. She sighed, looking a bit crestfallen. "I understand he was afraid, but I really wish he would've told us. At least he could've told me. I would've made sure that all his needs as a merhog were met."

"He didn't want to risk his species being discovered." Shadow told her. "He was afraid that if his species was discovered, then they'd be in danger. His biggest fear was me finding out."

"Why specifically you?" Amy asked him.

Shadow lowered his ears and looked away, his eyes closed in shame that he was unaware of. "He was afraid that if I found out about the Sirens, I would go to GUN and inform them about it… then his species would be in danger of being captured and tested on… killed… They'd all go extinct… even Sonic himself."

"But you've been through that kind of pain before." Rouge frowned. "You'd never wish that upon anyone."

"He knows that now." Shadow nodded.

"There's just one thing I'm still confused about." Knuckles frowned.

"And what is that, echidna?"

"Well, clearly, you knew Sonic was a Siren before the whole fiasco with Eggman. If Sonic was so scared about you finding out, how did you know in the first place?"

"... I found out last night… we lied about what happened to us last night."

"I knew it." Rouge smirked.

Shadow sighed. "The truth is… Sonic was having a nightmare last night. A pretty bad one. I don't know what it was about but I do know Ryn was a part of it."

"Ryn…" Tails frowned. "You mean the purple female?"

"Yes. She is Sonic's childhood friend and… either as of now or later, his mate."

"Mate?" Knuckles frowned.

"... It's mating season for the Sirens this week." Shadow smirked.

"Geez, talk about timing." Amy frowned, crossing her arms in jealousy. "That Siren better treat my Sonic right."

"I'm unsure of how the mating ritual between Sirens are like." Shadow frowned. "We'd have to ask him when he comes back. Anyways, would you like me to continue?"

Everyone nodded silently,eager to hear what truly happened last night. Shadow sighed and continued.

"Anyways, he was screaming in his sleep because of this nightmare. I got worried so I woke him up. I comforted him and calmed him down… that's when I saw his Siren eyes."

"You mean his blue eyes with the tiny pupils?" Cream asked.

"Yes." Shadow nodded. "I tried to ask him about them… but he got ashamed and looked away from me. He said that others that see his eyes often have some nasty things to say about them, calling them hideous and abnormal."

"That's awful." Vanilla frowned.

"I, however, think that they are beautiful. I wish he wouldn't hide them with those colored contacts of his, but he told me that not only are his eyes strange, but they're also valuable in the Black Market. That's why he keeps them hidden."

"That's understandable." Knuckles nodded.

"After that, I got him to tell me a little bit about Ryn, only because he was screaming her name. He didn't tell me that she was Siren, only informed me of how important she is to him." Shadow lowered his ears in guilt. "I made him believe that she was in trouble based on his nightmare."

"But that's the thing." Amy frowned. "She was in trouble."

"He didn't know that until I planted it in his head."

"But think about it, hun, if you hadn't done so, he never would've known, and it may have been too late to save her." Rouge assured him.

"... Sonic left after that. He said he was going for a run… but I got worried and followed him. He went to the moonpool, the same place I found his spear." He looked over to the weapon, which was still sitting in the corner. "I'll have to return it. I was confused on why he would go to the moonpool so I continued to follow him… then I saw him jump in the water… and I saw him change… that's how I found out."

"If that's what truly happened, how did you two get those injuries?" Amy challenged.

Shadow frowned and looked up at the pink hedgehog, giving her the most coldest look ever. "You should know. After all, you're the one that so bluntly put it that his species are, and I quote, cold-hearted killers."

Amy blushed and looked down, feeling ashamed for what she had said.

If only she had known that Sonic was one of them, she never would've said it.