Chapter Twenty-Five

Back at the beach house, Sonic's friends sat around in the living room. Their attention was all trained on the old human woman with the grey hair and bright blue eyes. Bright and blue enough to be compared to Sonic's eyes.

"So you're… really a friend of Sonic's?" Knuckles asked with some skepticism.

Helen gave a warm smile to the red echidna as she placed down the cup of tea Vanilla had so kindly given her. "I am. In fact, I knew him before any of you did. I met him the day he first came onto land. Such a curious, but rather confused child."

"What was he like, the day you two met?" Shadow asked in prying curiosity.

Helen chuckled. "Nothing like how you know him today. The child knew nothing about our world, but he was eager to learn. He was a curious lad, but also protective of himself. Whenever he felt threatened he would attack, the basic instincts of a Siren. What made it worse was that he could barely speak, if at all, so whenever he needed something he would either hiss or sign frantically. So many hours were put into teaching him to speak, and walk as well."

"Like a mother teaching their toddler." Vanilla smiled warmly, gently petting her daughter's ears.

"Indeed." Helen nodded. "Teaching him was especially hard when he would start scaling."

"Scaling?" Tails frowned in confusion.

"Sonic told me about that." Shadow answered. "It's when a Siren's skin gets so dry that it starts to look like scales. It weakens the Siren until they are able to go back to the water and rehydrate."

"I wondered why there were times Big Blue looked like he was wearing makeup." Rouge smirked.

"But enough about the past." Helen said, suddenly looking very serious. "I'm actually here to talk about the present, and quite possibly, the future."

Shadow nodded. "I had the feeling you were. Listen, we all understand that what happened yesterday could put the Sirens in a lot of danger. We're willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe, especially Sonic."

"That makes me very happy to hear, Shadow." Helen nodded. "You know, Sonic is like a son to me. I taught him basically everything he knows about our world. I would hate for anything to happen to him."

"We feel the exact same way." Amy assured her. "He's our friend, and we care about him. Whether he's a Siren or not."

"Surprised to hear you say that." Shadow said coldly.

"Look I'm sorry! Ok?" Amy frowned at him. "I didn't mean to make it sound like that. Could you please just let it go?!"

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to!" Shadow snapped back. "And no! I won't let it go until you apologize to him!"

Helen seemed confused about the hostility between the two hedgehogs. She looked over at Vanilla with a questioning gaze. "Is there something I'm missing between those two?"

Vanilla sighed. "Before we knew that Sonic was a Siren, Amy had called them cold-hearted killers. We're afraid that it might've offended him."

"Ah." Helen nodded. "I don't think he was offended. In fact, I think he agrees with her. He's come to believe his species to be that way too."

"I don't understand why you even care!" Amy snapped at Shadow. "You two are rivals. Why should you care whether I hurt his feelings or not?"

"Just because we're rivals doesn't mean I don't care about him!" Shadow growled. "I'd die for that blue idiot if I had to!"

"Oh really? Care to explain why you care so much?"

"I don't have to explain anything to you!"

"Tell me Shadow! Tell me! Why do you care about someone half the time you can't stand?! Why do you care so much about someone who gets on your nerves 24/7?! Why do you care about Sonic the Hedgehog?!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"That's enough!" Vanilla hollered, standing up from her place on the couch, her face contorted of an angry mother about to scold her children. "I think you two need some time away from each other. Shadow, why don't you go see if Sonic is back yet? Take some clothes for him and his contacts if he is."

"Hmmph, with pleasure."

"Wow, what a shocker." Amy hissed with distaste.

"And Amy, when Sonic gets back you WILL give him a heartfelt apology, and you will leave the business between Sonic and Shadow alone."

Amy lowered her ears and sighed. "Yes ma'am."

Satisfied with the outcome, Shadow quickly gathered Sonic's belongings and left the house, running back to the moonpool in hopes that Sonic was back.

When Shadow got back to the moonpool, he was disheartened to see that it was still empty.

There was nothing to indicate that Sonic had been here. No tail fin left behind. No disturbance in the sand. Not even a single drop of water on the shore.

Shadow sighed and sat down, setting Sonic's stuff beside him. He placed his chin in his hands in a resting position and stared into the water.

He was getting sick with worry, and he didn't like it. More than anything he wanted to go in the water and find them. He wanted to make sure that they were ok, and practically beg them to come back.

The Alpha had banished them. And without a colony, they were defenseless.

"Sonic, Ryn… I hope you guys are ok." He sighed, hanging his head with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, Shadow's ear twitched when he heard a small splash in the water. He quickly looked up and he smiled, his tail wagging vigorously in joy as Sonic pulled himself out of the water. He got up and went over to the blue Siren to help pull him away from the water, and that's when he saw Ryn as well.

The condition the purple Siren was in had the ebony hedgehog baffled. She was bleeding badly all over her body. Her face looked especially damaged with the multiple scratches all over it. And her shoulder had a good chunk taken out of it… similar to his own injury.

"Sonic, what happened to you two?" He asked the blue hedgehog when he had calmed down from his transformation. Shadow could now see that even Sonic was injured. There were scratches and bites all over him, along with multiple bruises. "Did the colony attack you?"

Sonic looked up at his frenemy and smirked. "Nah. Most of them welcomed us with open arms. Only Tia had a problem with us."

"But you guys are so beat up! What happened?"

"Ah this?" Sonic chuckled, gesturing to himself as he started putting his belongings on. "This is nothing. Just standard mating procedure."

"Standard?!" Shadow's eyes widened. "You two look like you just came out of a war."

"Ah, well, she is a different story." Sonic nodded to Ryn, a proud smile on his face. "Shadow, why don't you show your respects and kneel to the new Alpha of the colony?"

"Alpha?!" The ebony's eyes widened more as he looked at the injured female. "She's the Alpha now?"

"Mmhmm."

"What happened to Tia?" He asked as he knelt down beside the purple merhog, bowing his head in respect.

Ryn smiled at the ebony hedgehog. Such a respectful gentleman for a land walker. She wouldn't mind kissing him again, and she had a feeling he wouldn't mind either.

"Dead." Sonic answered, putting his contacts in. "When an Alpha is challenged, the fight is to the death. Ryn killed her, and now she's the new Alpha."

"That's crazy."

"That's the way of the Sirens." Sonic sighed and walked back over to them, a noticeable limp in his step. "Though, she is badly injured. She'll need to be treated, and have some time to heal."

"Let's take her back to the house." Shadow suggested, looking up at him from the ground. "We can treat her there."

"We can't keep her at the beach, it's too open." Sonic frowned.

"She can stay in the house. You said all Sirens can change. I'm sure Vanilla wouldn't mind an extra guest."

Sonic's eyes widened and he frantically shook his head. "No! Absolutely not! She's already weakened enough, the change could kill her!"

"Are you sure? She seems pretty strong to me."

"I said no!" The blue hedgehog harshly hissed. He looked back at Ryn and signed to her. "Stay here in the water. Shadow and I will be back with someone who can treat your injuries."

Ryn smirked and signed back. "Hurry back, boys. And don't have too much fun without me."

Sonic blushed at the inquiry made by his mate and quickly grabbed Shadow by his arm, pulling him up and dragging him away from the female as they left the cave. Ryn giggled and blew a kiss at them as they left, leaving Shadow blushing brightly.