This chapter has been updated as of 09/08/2020
Friday, November 26th, 10:42pm, The mostly intact backroads
As Shadow makes his way to Robotnik's lair with Rouge and Manic, his thoughts continuously return to Amy. She hadn't so much as looked up when he left. He knows she's mad, but he'd hoped she'd see him off anyway. He's walking into danger and he might not come back, and it would have been nice if Amy had wished him luck. He thinks of the way he'd been holding her earlier, pressed up against him. What would have happened if Rouge hadn't interrupted? He'd wanted something to happen—still wants something to happen—and it's disconcerting. He isn't foolish enough to think he has a chance, even if she weren't in love with Sonic. It really doesn't matter now anyway. She'd made it clear that she's done with him. He almost laughs; all he'd needed to push her away was to admit he cared. There's something almost poetic about that.
As the building they're breaking into comes into view, the three teens stop and crouch in a nearby alley. It's a large, abandoned hotel that Manic swears he broke into a couple years ago while doing some urban exploring. It has large apartment buildings on either side of it. One side has a ten foot wide alley with a couple of dumpsters in it. There are a few robots patrolling outside, and every room is lit up.
Once the coast is clear, Manic runs across the road. Their plan is simple, as the best ones are: they'd sneak past the guards into the alley, where they'd then pick the lock of a side door Manic insists is there. They'd agreed to go one at a time, with Manic insisting on being first. He knew where the door was, after all, and it'd give him more time to pick the lock. When Rouge had pointed out that she could also pick locks Manic had shrugged.
"You're faster than me, which means you're less likely to be caught. We might as well get me out of the way first."
Rouge had accepted it, but Shadow still isn't sure he agrees with that logic.
When Manic is across they wait for a second opening, and then Rouge crosses. Even keeping his eyes glued to her, Shadow finds it hard to track her. Stealth is her specialty. Finally, a third opening comes. Where Manic had made a dash in plain sight and Rouge had slid from one bit of cover to the next, Shadow chooses to approach in three short dashes, not utilizing every bit of cover but using enough to pause and check his surroundings before continuing on. He makes it to the alley undetected.
That the alley itself is unguarded leaves Shadow feeling uneasy, but it's their only real option at the moment. Manic finishes picking the lock as Shadow arrives, and the door swings open.
Their entry point leads straight into a lit hallway. Shadow sees a patrol passing the far end, but by some miracle the robot doesn't glance in their direction. Perhaps Robotnik doesn't expect anyone to get in through a locked side door? Still, best to keep quiet and stick to the walls. They each hold their breath as they approach the crossing.
Cautiously, Shadow peeks into the next hallway. The walls are fairly standard for a dilapidated hotel: old wallpaper that may have been fancy once but is now flaking and discoloured. Along the ceiling, however, runs an assortment of pipes in varying sizes that occasionally branch off to enter side rooms and follow other hallways. No guards here, though. He wonders what they'd do if there were guards. He gestures for the attention of his companions and they start down the hall, silent and careful. They reach a stairwell and once inside, the majority of the pipes head up to the floor above while a select few head into the basement, surprising Shadow since the downstairs seems poorly lit, even in the stairwell itself. Perhaps the doctor's hiding something down there? What better way than to make it feel unimportant and uninhabited? He gestures for the attention of his companions.
"I'm going down," he mouths, pointing at himself and then the staircase descending into darkness. Rouge and Manic nod in understanding, and Shadow splits off.
The basement of the building is dank and musty, the lights dim and flickering. If not for the shiny tubing running deeper into the building, Shadow would swear no one had been down here in years. Sections of the floor had flooded at some point, causing the distinct smell of mould in the air. In short, not the sort of place one expects to find anything of value.
Still, there has to be a reason for the tubes. He follows them deeper, wandering through the labyrinthine bowels of the building for what feels like eternity. Eventually, there's a steady light source ahead of him. He's found no robots down here so far, but he's willing to bet there are some where that light is. Pressing himself against the wall, Shadow edges his way closer. Little by little, the light nears until he's at the doorway and can peek in. The room is well guarded, but he barely notices. The far wall of the room has some cells, and the only occupied one has a face he'd recognize anywhere. He feels his stomach churn.
Aziza sits in her cell cuffed to the wall, head held high. There's a proud defiance in her face that he's never seen before. She's wearing the same dress she'd been wearing the morning of the explosion: stained, torn, and even burnt in places. Her arms are bruised, and his anger grows, flooding his veins with ice as he feels cold rage building. How dare they? He is going to kill Robotnik.
But first, he needs to get the guards out of that room. Looking around, he sees mould and mouse droppings, some chunks of plaster. They'll have to do. He wedges himself in the corner nearest the door and tosses one just out in front of him hoping it'll attract attention. As he hears them approach, he tosses the next plaster chunk further down the hall into a puddle. The third he throws as hard as he can, causing it to bounce off the hall's far wall. He hopes it works, hopes the guards don't look right as they leave the prison.
They file out, marching down the hall to look for the intruder. He's surprised that they're all robots, but doesn't waste time speculating. He slips into the room and sees that they left one behind. With a wordless snarl, he charges it, taking the robot out with a hover skate enhanced kick before it even notices his presence. And then, he's at Aziza's cage.
"Habibi?" She'd seemed confident before but now terror haunts her face. "Why do you come to this place? It is not safe!"
"I'm getting you out," he tells her, looking around for a way to open the cell. The pipes run directly into a nearby console, maybe that?
"You must leave!" she insists. He stares. Leave? Without her? Is she insane? "If you are caught-"
"How do I open the door?" he asks, cutting her off.
"Ah, there is... the plastic card. With Robotnik. So now you must go! Without me!"
He opens his mouth to argue, but the room's lights go out, leaving them with only a faint glow from the doorway. In the distance, alarms sound.
"Leave now!" his mother insists, face frantic and panicked.
"I can't leave you," he protests. If it's an electric lock, then maybe it opened with the loss of power? He tugs at the door; it isn't.
"Habibi!" She sounds terrified and her English is worse than normal, but he ignores her to angle a foot against a cell bar, activating his skate again. It's a long shot, but perhaps he can heat the metal enough to warp the bar. "What good can do you if are caught?"
He continues holding his foot against the bar. It's slow, but the surface is heating up.
Metal feet clank into the room, but Shadow barely notices. Just a bit longer...
"Shadow Hassan!" That catches his attention; Aziza never uses his family name, and she never speaks in such sharp tones. "I am stuck, but you not. Go!" Dark eyes meet red and by the light of his skate, Shadow can just barely make out his mother's face. She's crying. Aziza never cries.
With another wordless snarl, Shadow tears himself away, sprinting as hard as he can and just barely dodging past the returning guards. He runs until he's out of the building, heedless of anyone he passes. He activates his skates and heads back to Manic's with frustrated tears of his own clouding his eyes. Never before has he failed so miserably. He doesn't stop moving until he collapses on the back porch, lungs burning with the effort of his breathing.
...
Friday, November 26th, 11:17pm, Robotnik's lair
Rouge slips silently into a room with a single large computer. She and Manic had split up a while ago and a large chunk of the building's tubing seemed to be entering this room. She wakes up the computer and gives silent thanks that whomever had used it last had left it in sleep mode. She cracks the password very quickly by looking at the most worn keys and a folder titled 'Project Shadow' immediately catches her eye; she's sure that's what the G.U.N. agent she'd overheard had said. She plugs in the USB she convinced Manic to lend her.
As she loads the data, she skims over some of the information. Project Shadow is some sort of medical marvel, a cure to all ailments. Or, as another document seems to indicate, a weapon? One of the documents says that Project Shadow is a living creature. There's a lot of conflicting data. A faded handwritten note in the margins of one scan mentions Aziza Hassan.
Shadow is not going to like that.
The data is only three quarters of the way through transferring when the hall lights go out and an alarm starts sounding. Not good. She prays that none of the robots she slipped past on the way up here come in. Just a little more...
Metallic feet clank by the doorway and she flinches. After an agonizingly long time, the file transfer finishes and she grabs the USB.
She considers leaving the way she came in, but she still hears a plethora of patrols running by. The room has windows, though. It will have to do. Limited as her options are, Rouge risks the noise and shatters the window with a solid kick. She peeks out, glancing around for a fire escape or something. There's nothing, so she's forced to climb down the wall one brick at a time. She's too high up for comfort, but there's nothing she can do about that. When she's only a few feet off the ground she kicks off the wall, landing gracefully, then sprints into the night. She reminds herself that they'd agreed to make their own ways back to the house if they got separated, so that's where she goes.
...
Friday, November 26th, 11:17pm, Robotnik's lair
After splitting from Rouge, Manic decides to follow the biggest of the weird ceiling tubes. Surely whatever it's attached to must be important. The room the tube leads to has guards on either side of the door, which only serves to reaffirm Manic's suspicions. He isn't as stealthy as Rouge or as fast as Shadow, but that's fine. Perhaps there's another way in?
Further inspection leads Manic to a ventilation duct, which is awesome! Manic has plenty of practise getting into ventilation ducts! Once he's in, it takes no time at all to get to his destination; he's blessed with excellent spatial memory. Of course, once above the room, another problem presents itself: he can't actually see what's below him. Still, beggars can't be choosers and all that.
Throwing his body back and forth inside the vent, Manic manages to knock it loose. It falls to the ground in a heap, and he considers that a success because, hey, it worked. Manic crawls out of the former ventilation system. Except wherever here is, it isn't the room he aimed for. There's no weird tubing in this room at all! Damn it, he'd been so sure. Instead he finds himself in a small bathroom. Well then. He cracks the door open and the massive pipe he'd been following is visible entering into a strange machine surrounded by robot guards. He resists whistling at the sight of the machine; those robots have large weapons attached to their arms and he does not want them to find him.
Whatever this thing does, it's most definitely important. Disabling it could be a huge boon. A better scan of the room reveals the power source to be... three coloured crystals? No way. But Manic can't find a different source. There's a green one, a red one, and a blue one, and each of them is larger than his fist. Hot damn.
After much debate on how to go about grabbing the crystals, Manic decides to just see how close he can get without being detected. None of the robots are looking directly at him, so it'll probably be fine. He slips out of the bathroom door, pressing his body tight to the wall, then slides to the ground onto his belly. Alright, time for the dangerous part. Slowly, making as little noise as possible and pausing often, Manic begins sliding his way across the floor. Eventually, he gets past the ring of guards. It doesn't actually look like they're capable of looking down, and none are looking behind.
Just have to grab those crystals and—
The second his hand touches the nearest one—the green one—the machine loses some of its power and an alarm starts sounding. Busted. Holding the gem tight, Manic bursts past the guards as they turn to him. Not good. He hears a shot go off, and dodges behind one of the other robots. The next shot turns his cover into a hunk of molten metal, but the bathroom is right there and he manages to get inside unscathed. He kicks the door closed behind him, not wasting time to lock it. As quickly as he can, he climbs into the hanging remains of the ventilation system, praying the guards don't have particularly good AI.
He hears the door get smashed in.
Against all odds, Manic finds his way to the first floor via the ventilation system. All the patrols have gone upstairs, so he's free to run to the door. As the brisk night air engulfs him, he lets out a victorious whoop. What a rush! He starts the lengthy run home, already planning how they'll get back in for the other two crystals.
...
Saturday, November 27th, 12:37am, Manic's dining room
Shadow stumbles in through the back door, sweaty and out of breath. Before he can say anything, Amy's arms are around him and squeezing him so tight that breathing becomes truly difficult.
"Oh Shadow, I was so worried!" she cries before loosening her grip and leaning back to look him in the eye. "Are you okay?" He's barely aware of anything but green eyes and pink hair. "Did anything happen? Are the others with you?"
It's too much. He'd been so sure she hated him, and then he had to leave Aziza… Dizzy with emotion, he pulls Amy to him and hides his face in her hair. She's so warm and bright, and at least he can protect her even if can't protect anything else.
"I thought you didn't care," he half-jokes so softy that he can't hear the words once they're off his tongue. Amy must hear it, though. Her arms tighten around him.
"Of course I care," she huffs, leaning into him and resting her chin on his shoulder. Shadow clings to Amy like a lifeline. He knows he shouldn't, but his mum is gone and he couldn't do anything about it, and now Amy is here, and if he just holds her tight enough then maybe he won't lose her too.
Eventually the door opens again and as soon as it does Shadow feels... something. A pulsing resonance that fills a hole he never noticed before. It's like the return of something integral, such as an arm or a leg, except he never knew it was missing. The feeling is so overwhelming that he doesn't notice Amy slipping out of his arms to greet Manic and Rouge with hugs of their own, nor does he notice himself taking a step towards them.
Whatever it is, it's coming from Manic. Shadow takes another step forward as Manic excitedly tells them about whatever it was he found. Shadow doesn't hear a word of it. Manic has pulled the source of the pulsing out of his pocket, revealing a large green gem that, when let go of, remains floating in the air.
Shadow can't stop himself from reaching out to touch it; he's barely in control of his body. The shock of the contact sends shivers along his spine. He thought the feeling was overwhelming before, but nothing could have prepared him for this. The energy radiating from the gem is... pure. It's power. Touching this, Shadow knows that he can do anything, that he is unstoppable. He feels time and space ready to mold themselves to his will. All he has to do is flex, and...
There's a strange pulling sensation and everything shifts. He's being squeezed and twisted, and then he's back in Robotnik's lair, in the basement cell with his mother. He reaches out to touch her and—
Pain.
Pain, like nothing he's ever felt before.
Pain, like Shadow's entire body is being pulled in a thousand different directions at once, but there's also great pressure, like he's being crushed by a mountain, his insides thrown into a blender to be shredded and mixed until all that's left of his vital organs is a thick, sludgy liquid. He feels like he'll burst any moment now. He can't scream, can't even breathe to get the required air to attempt it.
And then he's falling. Falling through eternity as angry claws rip and tear away pieces of his flesh and soul.
He blinks.
He's on the floor of Manic's dining room, the pain a fading memory. Five faces stare down at him, all with varying levels of alarm etched into their features. He attempts to sit up and represses the urge to empty his stomach.
"Easy," Amy says, hands darting out to hover near him. "How do you feel?"
Like he's been hit by a car, but Sonic and a plum-haired lady, who Shadow assumes is the triplets' mother, don't need to know that. "Fine," he answers. Everyone gives him a funny look.
"Ah, bro?" Manic begins. "You were gone."
They all nod and Shadow frowns. "How do you mean?"
"You disappeared, babe," Rouge answers.
"And then a minute later, you were back," Sonic continues.
"Like you—" Amy starts, but the plum-haired lady cuts her off.
"You tapped into the Chaos Emerald and you teleported," she says and everyone except Shadow looks at her. All he sees is the Emerald. It's still floating there as if nothing happened. He feels it pulsing and resonating as easily as he feels his own arm. It feels like the power source in Manic's hover board times a billion.
"But the Chaos Emeralds are a myth," Amy points out, though she doesn't sound very sure.
The lady shakes her head. "No, they aren't, and they're dangerous." She turns to Manic. "Was that the only one?"
He laughs nervously. "Ah, no. There were three."
Not good.
"We need to get the others away from Robotnik, then," Sonic decides.
"Absolutely not!" his mom protests.
Shadow shakes his head. "I loathe to admit it, but Sonic's right. If the Emeralds are real then they're way too powerful to leave in the hands of someone like him."
"You're just kids," she insists. "Leave this to G.U.N."
"No," Shadow says sharply. "He has my mother, and I will not leave her there." Everyone stares at him, much to his discomfort. "She's being held in the basement," he says awkwardly.
...
The six of them stay up well into the wee hours of the morning arguing about whether or not they should go. Eventually the triplets' mom—Aleena—agrees to let them, mainly because her sons point out that they'll be going with or without her blessing. After that, she retreats to Sonia's room and Shadow gets a sinking feeling in his stomach as it occurs to him that Sonia likes to involve herself in everything.
Shadow suggests that they use the Chaos Emerald to teleport in when they retrieve the other gems and liberate Aziza, but no one else seems comfortable with that plan; they don't even know if it actually can teleport people, and they don't want to risk Robotnik getting it back. There's also the fact that just touching the thing had knocked Shadow out for several minutes, which clearly means it's dangerous.
Sonic and Amy insist that not only should they be allowed to come along, but so should any of their friends who would be interested. Shadow relents, and it's decided that a big group will go after the Emeralds, and a smaller one will rescue Aziza while the bulk of the lair's security robots are distracted. Amy insists on going with Shadow and that's fine by him. Theoretically, there should be less danger in freeing his mother than in fighting through a storm of robots. Being able to personally keep an eye on her is just a perk.
Progress on the plan comes in sporadic leaps, when Shadow and Sonic stop posturing over who gets to be leader long enough to actually put their heads together. But eventually, even the leaps start dying down and Rouge approaches Shadow. "I need to show you something, can we go into Manic's room?" He frowns, but nods and lets Rouge lead the way.
Once the door is closed she pulls a laptop out of her bag and plugs a USB in. Then, she hesitates.
"What is it?" Shadow asks, not used to seeing such a nervous look on Rouge's face.
"You're not going to like this, but...," she begins opening various files on the USB, "you should probably read this. All of it. I... I think it might be about… you."
Shadow frowns, taking the laptop from Rouge's hands and perching at the foot of Manic's bed. The folder is titled 'Project Shadow'. As he reads, he feels his eyebrows climb into his hair.
Project Shadow had started as a medical program for researching immortality, and early research heavily focused on the Chaos Emeralds. The first prototype was based on a reptile with unfavourable results. The prototype, known as the Biolizard, exhibited many of the desired traits: regeneration of lost limbs, a functioning Chaos Control-inducing organ, restoration, and asexual self-reproduction. Unfortunately, it was very primitive in its behaviour and it grew at an unexpected and exponential rate.
While the prototype proved to be too dangerous, the research continued. They shifted their focus, deciding to experiment on living creatures instead of creating new life from scratch. As luck would have it, one of the civilians aboard the ARK had a sickly son back on Earth who would likely not survive the week. He was more than willing to let his son be used as an experiment if it meant the boy might survive. By all reports, the switch to a pre-existing organism seemed to be a success. Project Shadow grew at a normal rate, exhibited rapid regeneration from injuries, and had an increased capacity for learning. The child also became close friends with Professor Gerald Robotnik's granddaughter, Maria, showing that the experimenting hadn't damaged his ability to interact with and relate to other humans.
Along with this information, the folder contains various research notes and journal entries, as well as newspaper clippings reporting the eventual shutdown of the ARK due to an accident that killed all but one of the involved researchers. The final file is filled with notes, written out by Dr. Ivo Robotnik. According to him, Gerald had weaponized the project in his final days before it was put into stasis some fifty years ago. Eventually, human rights laws put pressure on G.U.N., and Project Shadow was released to the closest living relative of the child they'd experimented on, though its growth still needed to be monitored and reported on. There were whispers that G.U.N. had hopes of eventually recreating the results if Project Shadow continued to be stable. The name of the relative was Aziza Hassan.
Shadow feels numb as he rereads the contents of the folder for a third time. Every time he reads the note saying that Project Shadow was entrusted to Aziza, he feels a little colder inside. There's no way this is real. The files are wrong. He's misunderstanding somehow. Aziza will explain it when he rescues her. She'll tell him he's her son, and everything will be alright.
His throat feels tight as he removes the USB from the laptop. His body moves on autopilot. He makes his way to the living room, where one of the couches has been opened to reveal a hide-a-bed. Amy and Rouge are sitting on the bed with Manic's cat, listening to a story Manic is telling from his seat on the back of an armchair. Sonic is nowhere to be seen.
"So there I am in the holding cell," Manic is saying, "when this guy tries to pick a fight with me, and I'm just like 'Brah. This is a four-hundred dollar dress.'"
Shadow flops onto the other couch as Amy and Rouge start laughing. He wills sleep to take him. The last thing he hears is Rouge's voice.
"Wait, wasn't that the dress Sonia got for junior prom?"
...
Shadow wakes with a gasp. His heart is racing and breathing is difficult. He needs air. He gets up and makes his way to the back door, staggering a bit as he does so. He feels dizzy, light-headed. It's probably due to whatever is causing his difficulties breathing. He ignores it, and promptly bangs his shin on the coffee table. Letting out a muffled curse, he manages to make it the rest of the way without incident.
Once outside, it's a little easier to breathe but his heart is still pounding. He feels empty. He takes a seat on the back steps, resting his elbows on his knees and pressing his palms into his eyes.
"Are you alright?" a soft voice asks from the doorway, causing him to start. He turns and Amy is there, staring at him with those wide, green eyes, as if his inability to sleep has summoned her. In the grey of dawn, it's easy to pretend no one else exists.
"I am, yeah. I just needed some fresh air is all."
She nods, but doesn't seem entirely convinced. She wordlessly sits next to him, taking his hand in her own and giving it a squeeze. He returns the gesture, and they watch the sun begin climbing over the horizon together. His heart slows to a more comfortable rhythm.
After a while, Amy breaks the silence. "I won't ask what's wrong, because I don't think you'd answer me, but don't forget that I'm here for you."
A lump forms in Shadow's throat. He should push her away, should get rid of someone who is so obviously becoming a weakness. He wants to. But, he also wants to pull her closer and tell her everything, to admit that he's grown over-fond of her, that he wants her around no matter the danger, and that he's scared in ways he's never been before.
He can't, though. How could he tell her those things while Robotnik and G.U.N. are both looking for him? When he might not even be human? No. She probably still loves Sonic anyway. Which is for the best, Sonic is normal. He isn't a genetic freak from a long-ago experiment being hunted down by two incredibly dangerous powers. He's just a guy. Shadow would never admit it, not even to himself, but for a fleeting moment he envies the track team's star athlete.
He's distracted from his thoughts by a tremor in Amy's hand, and when he glances over, he can see that she's wrapped her free arm around herself to fend off shivering. He hadn't even noticed the cold. With a frown, he scoots closer to her, letting go of her hand so that he can instead wrap an arm around her shoulders. He tells himself he's just trying to keep her warm, and he knows that it's a lie. She doesn't hesitate to lean into him.
"Are you nervous?" he wonders, and she glances at him with a tilted head and slightly pursed lips. "About sneaking into Robotnik's lair," he clarifies.
"Oh. Yeah, my heart races just thinking about it," she admits.
"I'll protect you." The words had come unbidden to his lips, and he winces internally. Damnit. No good can come from being so open with his feelings.
She flashes him a cheeky smile before resting her head on his shoulder. "Don't be so sure I need you," she teases. "Maybe I'll be the one protecting you."
He chuckles softly and strokes her hair absentmindedly. She makes a contented noise and snuggles up against him, and again he wants to tell her everything, but his mouth has gone dry and he has to lick his lips twice before he feels ready to speak.
"Amelia," he begins, heart in his throat.
"You never did tell me why you insist on using my full name," she muses before he can continue. He freezes, a knot forming in his stomach. He's not sure whether he resents the interruption or is grateful for it, but either way he embraces it. Except, he knows the reason is stupid, and he wishes he'd never fallen into the habit. Amy twists to look at him during his hesitation. "Shadow?"
"You put it quite well yourself," he admits, and he can't meet her eyes. "'Amelia' is so formal, but 'Amy' could be your best friend."
She frowns. "I'm not sure I follow."
He sighs. "When we first met, I had no desire to befriend you. I assumed that by keeping things formal, we would never be more than acquaintances." He glances at her expression then, and sees that she has raised an eyebrow in a near-perfect imitation of his own favourite expression.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," she points out. "You know that, right?" He nods, and she continues. "I mean, for one thing, it clearly didn't work. Unless this is how you behave with all your acquaintances?" she asks, gesturing at his arm around her shoulders.
He smirks at the challenge in her voice and shakes his head. His palms grow sweaty, and he hopes she doesn't notice. "Only you," he murmurs, pulling her a bit closer.
"So, I'm special then?" She laughs, shifting her body to better face him. He likes her laugh, and his gaze drops incessantly to her lips. The hand that had been stroking her hair trails down, running across her cheek to cup her chin.
"You are the most special," he breathes. Her lips part slightly and she makes no move to pull away. He swallows and leans in.
The sound of clattering inside causes the teens to jump apart, and Shadow is on his feet and through the door immediately. Sonia is by the front door with Aleena, bending over to retrieve a pair of shoes she'd dropped. She's swaddled in a blanket, but Shadow doesn't miss the telltale sores forming on her exposed arm, or the blood at the corners of her mouth.
"What's going on?" Amy asks from beside him.
"I'm taking Sonia to the hospital," Aleena answers, helping Sonia to pull her shoes on.
Amy bites her lip. "What's wrong with her?"
"We don't know," Aleena admits. "She's had a fever for days, and tonight she started throwing up blood."
Amy steps forward. "We'll go with you," but Aleena shakes her head.
"Someone needs to tell the others if they don't find the note we left. Why don't you two go back to bed?" she suggests instead.
Once they've left, Amy leans against Shadow. "Do you think she'll be okay?" He doesn't have the heart to answer, so instead he guides her to the couch, where they sit together and he strokes her hair until they both fall asleep.
...
Saturday, November 27th, 9:56am, The triplets' living room
Amy wakes up with a groan, arm numb from laying on it funny. Her back is sore from sleeping in a mostly upright position, and she determines that falling asleep on the couch may have been a mistake. When she looks up, she's surprised to see Manic perched across from them on the hide-a-bed, his chin in his hands and his lips stretched out in a teasing grin.
"Morning, sleepyhead," he greets. His tone is casual, but she wishes she could sink through the couch. "How was your night?" She gives a nervous laugh. Shadow is still sleeping next to her, head lolling and limbs tangled with hers. "It seems I've caught you at a bad time, but I wanted to let you and Sleeping Beauty know that breakfast is ready, whenever you two want to come get it."
She nods and watches as he heads to the dining table, leaving her to wake Shadow. Not the easiest of tasks, she's learned. She shakes his shoulder and he shrugs her hand away. "Shadow, shouldn't you get up?" she whispers. He mumbles something unintelligible. "Breakfast is ready," she tries with no better luck. She pulls herself out of his arms and considers just leaving him on the couch, but there's no way they can figure out a plan without him. "Come on, you need to eat so you have enough energy to figure out how we're going to deal with Robotnik." He actually cracks an eye open at that, and she gives him an entreating smile. "Please?" He groans and covers his face for a minute before pulling himself into a sitting position.
"Yeah, okay," he grumps.
On the dining table are plates covered with eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Amy wastes no time piling food onto her plate and digging in. "How did you make it all?" she asks Manic as they eat.
He gestures at the fireplace between the dining and living rooms, which still has a low flame going. "We're running low on firewood, though," he says after finishing a mouthful of egg. "Soon we'll have to get more."
As the meal progresses, the four of them go over their plans again to refine various details. Sonic will go to Tails' workshop and try to convince him to help out, then go see if he can find other friends to help out. Rouge is going to head home to get some things, stopping by a few trusted friends' houses on the way to see if she can find anyone willing to come along. Tonight, Sonic will swing by Robotnik's lair to see if any changes in security have been made. Tomorrow, everyone will meet at Tails' workshop with supplies, go over the plan one final time with anyone else they manage to corral, and then set out.
As they discuss the plan, Amy's heart races and her palms sweat. She's terrified, but she needs to do this. Everyone else is doing their best, after all. Looking around the table, she sees different sets of emotions on everyone's faces. Manic looks excited, like he sees this all as some sort of grand adventure. Sonic has a seriousness to his face that she's never seen before, but he also seems eager. Not as excited as Manic by any means, but not afraid. Rouge is staring at Shadow with something akin to concern, and then there's Shadow himself, who looks angry and ready for violence. The expression on his face would have been terrifying on anyone else, but Shadow is safety and comfort. She knows he won't hurt her.
A traitorous voice in her head asks if she knows it like she'd known she and Sonic were meant to be together forever.
With the plan finalized, Rouge gets ready to head out, and Amy overhears Manic offering to walk her home. She politely declines.
"Are you sure? I'd hate to see something happen to such a lovely lady." He winks as he says it, and Rouge giggles.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you just want to be alone with me," she teases.
"And if I do?" he challenges. She grimaces.
"Oh honey, I don't swing that way," she says apologetically. Amy stares, surprised. She'd been so sure Rouge and Shadow were...
"Oh honey," Manic replies in a surprisingly decent imitation of Rouge's voice. "Neither do I." That one also comes as a surprise, though it occurs to Amy that she's never actually seen Manic express interest in girls. Oh, he flirts with them, but he flirts with literally everybody.
Rouge blinks, and a slow smile spreads across her lips. "Well in that case, I would love some company."
The two of them head out and Sonic follows shortly after, leaving Shadow and Amy alone together. Shadow puts Amy to work gathering supplies from around the house, and when Manic returns, he quickly joins her. Shadow spends the day back and forth between helping for half an hour, and focusing on the Chaos Emerald for an hour. When he's focusing on the Emerald, he alternates between staring at and touching it. From time to time, the Emerald flashes, or Shadow does. Sometimes they both do, but Amy can't tell what causes the reactions. It makes her uneasy, though. What if something happens again?
They're just beginning to prepare dinner—canned ravioli tonight—when Sonic arrives with bad news. "Ro-buttnik has at least tripled the guards outside, and the alley you mentioned is swarming with robots." Everyone grimaces at that, though Manic proves that they're not all grimacing for the same reason.
"Ro-buttnik? Really?" The look he gives Sonic is one of disappointment. "That's the kind of burn I woulda come up with when I was like... ten, or something." He shakes his head, and Amy stares. Sonic says getting in will be nearly impossible, and Manic's reaction is to be upset by his brother's choice of insult? Granted, this is Manic….
"I didn't have much to go on," Sonic replies in a defensive tone, shoving his hands into his pockets and shrugging.
Shadow looks entirely done with the twins. "Were there any places where the security didn't seem as tight?" he asks after letting out a deep breath.
Sonic shakes his head. "I mean, the roof looked okay. But I don't think the Tornado could fit all of us, so that's out." Shadow opens his mouth, but Sonic must see something in his eyes because he cuts him off. "And we're not using the Chaos Emerald. It's unsafe and we'd risk putting it right back into 'Buttnik's hands."
"Dude," Manic huffs. "Lay off the 'Buttnik. It's not gonna catch on." Sonic shoots him a glare, which Manic ignores. "Now, if y'all are ready to be done wallowing in anxiety, I might know a way in." Everyone stares expectantly and he grins. "There's an old tunnel system beneath the city and you can access just about any of the older buildings from it, including the hotel Ro-buttnik's using as a—Oh, God damn it, Sonic, now you've got me doing it."
Shadow turns his increasingly unimpressed expression on Manic. "And you didn't mention this before because...?"
Manic shrugs. "For one thing, the tunnels are super gross and I didn't think you'd want to crawl through them. For another, there could be guards down there too, and fighting in such close quarters seems suicidal. Also, we'd have to enter through Twinkle Park, which was swarming with G.U.N. operatives last I heard."
Shadow nods. "We'll just have to take extra precautions," he decides. No one has any arguments.
...
Apprehension settles in on everyone and dampens their moods. After eating, it doesn't take long for Sonic to retreat to his room, and not even an hour later, Manic follows. Then it's just Amy and Shadow, and the silence is oppressive. Amy watches Shadow get up to put out the fire, then listens as he returns to the couch to go to sleep, leaving her with the hide-a-bed. She tries to sleep and focuses on slowing her breathing. It doesn't work. She tries relaxing all of her muscles, one at a time, to no avail. After a while, she even tries counting sheep, but it's no use.
After an eternity of tossing and turning she gives up. "Shadow," she calls softly into the darkness, pulling herself into a sitting position. "Are you up?"
"How could I not be?" he replies in his velvet voice. It sends shivers up her spine, but she doesn't answer. Doesn't know how. She feels a presence shift around the room and she stiffens, but relaxes when a familiar body sits next to her. He wraps his arms around her, but he's stiff, awkward. Amy fits herself to him like a puzzle piece.
When she finds her words again, they're not an answer to Shadow's question. "I can't stop worrying about tomorrow," she admits, and he holds her tighter. "What if something happens?"
"Something probably will happen," he answers, and Amy's heart sinks. "The best you can do is make sure you won't have any regrets."
Is that supposed to be comforting? Because it isn't. "What do you mean, 'something probably will happen'?"
"Just that. We're breaking into a guarded facility. The more people we involve, the more targets there are to shoot at. Odds are someone is going to get hurt." His voice has the same flat tone it gets when he describes the bleaker parts of History. Just a cold statement of facts. And he's right, of course he's right. One way or another, someone will get hurt. She feels sick.
"How can you say that so calmly?" she demands, but she knows the answer before he speaks it.
"Because it's the truth."
"But, don't you care?" she asks, and she feels him tense up even further.
"No," he answers, and the word takes all the warmth out of her. "Everyone knows what they're getting into," he continues, leaning back and resting his head against the back of the couch-bed. "Getting worked up about maybes is pointless."
Her throat clenches, cutting off her air. No. She can feel herself shaking, but she makes no effort to stop. Pointless. Shaking hands come up to cover a face that's wet with tears, and she bets he doesn't care about that either. Sobs wrack her body, clawing up and out her throat in a convulsive fashion. She's barely aware of Shadow's hands fluttering about her shoulders, but in the still night air she can't miss his voice.
"Amelia, hey, I'm sorry. That came out wrong, please don't cry. I didn't—hey, could you look at me? Amy?"
And yet what heed should she give to pretty words when they fall from lips that have already admitted their disinterest? He doesn't care that something could happen. This time tomorrow someone could be hurt, or worse! She can barely complete the thought. A sharp wail tears itself from her, punctuated by her sobs. She must seem such a fool, but what else can she do? She had thought them friends, had thought them more. He's her safety net, and he doesn't care that she might... this is worse than Sonic. No. Pointless.
And then something is tugging her hands away from her face. Even with her eyes adjusted she can only just make out Shadow's features. His full lips are parted the slightest bit, and his thick eyebrows are raised. Both of them. His eyes are the most visible, their red clear even when all other colours are absorbed by the dark. Those striking eyes are nearly round right now. He looks alarmed and vulnerable.
"Amy," he repeats, and his voice is soft with promised comfort. She wants to give in, but his voice is still echoing its 'no' in her ears. Pointless. "Please," he insists, hot breath ghosting onto her face. "I never meant..." A pause as he swallows. "I didn't...," he shakes his head, once, twice. When he raises his eyes back to hers, she feels pinned. He opens his mouth and his words are careful, precise. "I am not always the best with my words, but I would like to try again. Whatever is going to happen will happen, and there's nothing I can do about it now, so rather than dwell on it, I am choosing to focus my mind on other things. Better things. Please do not think that I don't care for your well-being. If something were to happen to you tomorrow, I...," he swallows again, and there's something vulnerable in his voice when he continues. "I do not know what I would do. You are very important to me." He grimaces, and tries again. "More than important, Amelia. I am very fond of you."
Amy blinks. Surely he isn't saying what she thinks he is. Shadow doesn't have feelings for her, there's no way. Believing he does is a mistake and would lead to trouble. It would be Sonic all over again, only worse because Shadow would actually leave her. No, she just needs to figure out what he really means. Except, now he's staring at her expectantly, and now he's fidgeting and—
"Amy?" His voice is beyond vulnerable; raw and exposed.
"Yes?" she tries as she stalls.
"Did you hear me?"
"Ah, I don't think so," she admits.
Shadow closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "I like you. As more than a friend."
She tries desperately to come up with an alternate meaning to his words, but she's finding it very difficult to think. She's so hot all over. "Are you sure?" she finally manages to ask when Shadow's expression begins slipping into horror.
He frowns at that. Of course he's sure, Shadow is sure about everything. She licks her lips, again keenly aware of their proximity. All she'd have to do is lean forward... she flushes, because surely he doesn't want to—
He just told her he likes her, though. And she wants to. She thinks about how soft his lip had felt as she'd cleaned it up. She'd wanted to then, too. She swallows, because surely she's misunderstood somehow. Maybe he means he likes her like a sister or something. Still, she leans forward before she can think better of it.
"What—" Shadow starts to say, but then her lips press against his and his words halt. It's quick, chaste. As she pulls away, he catches her face in his hands and leans forwards, giving her a quick return kiss. They hesitate for a moment, neither quite sure what to do, and then they're kissing again. Amy feels Shadow's lips move against her own and she tentatively brushes her tongue along his lower lip in invitation. The kiss tastes like salt, and it doesn't occur to Amy that her tears, which coated her face and mouth previously, are the source of the flavour. One of the hands on her face moves to cradle the back of her head, the other going to her back, and then Shadow is pulling her closer. Crushing her against him. His tongue slides against her own and she shivers.
"Is this okay?" Shadow breathes against her mouth, and Amy swallows. Truthfully, it's more than okay. It feels right. She nods, yes!, and the hair's breadth he'd left for her to answer in is gone again. His fingers knot in her hair and his hand clutches at her back, and her own fingers begin questing up under his shirt, kneading his skin as they cross it. At some point, he takes her lip between his teeth and gives it a gentle and uncertain nip, and she pushes both of her hands into his hair and tries to pull him still closer. Their kisses are hungry, desperate, and Amy forgets her concerns as she thoroughly explores Shadow's mouth. His fingers trace patterns along her back and her skin pebbles at his touch. She leans back, pulling him with her so that he's on top of her, and he lets her guide him. She traces his teeth with her tongue and feels his breath hitch. They kiss until they're out of breath and then some, until they're both too light-headed and tired to continue. Shadow remains above her after, tracing her features with his feather-light touch. She rains small kisses on his fingertips when they ghost over her lips, and he presses a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose.
The night takes them eventually, as it takes all things, and for once Shadow's dreams are peaceful.
I know, I know. What about Knuxouge? I swear I ship it just like the rest of you. But, before there ever was a Rouge, there was Sonia. Sonia and Knuckles was my first ever ship in this fandom, when I was just seven years old. So why make Rouge gay? Well, I adore Rouge and Topaz. If I ever write the sequel fic to this, Rouge and Topaz would be one of the background ships because they don't get enough love.
So what about Manic? Well, even when I was little and had a big old crush on him, I knew that it would never work. Seven year old Mozie was like "I like Manic, but he likes boys :(" So. Gotta stay true to young Mozie's first interpretation of these characters, y'know? ;P