Damaged Goods
Chapter 2
Shadow's POV
I followed the blue hedgehog deeper into the woods, the rain going from a moderately heavy to a light drizzle. I don't know how long we walked for, I was too busy paying attention to our surroundings, listening and smelling past the rain as much as my senses would allow. There was nothing out of the ordinary for now, just the occasional deer and smell of wet earth. He suddenly made a left and started running, I easily followed in close pursuit albeit a bit confused as to why we were running. I closed my eyes and breathed in, listening to our footsteps as we ran on the firm but soft earth, and just as soon as we began he stopped. Even with my quick reflexes, I still couldn't avoid running into the blue hedgehog in front of me.
We were tumbling for maybe less than a minute, but once we stopped I felt a sharp pain in both the back of my head and my chest. Ultimate lifeform or not even I can still feel pain; I closed my eyes and took a breath on impact. I opened my eyes to see something that I never believed would be seen in my lifetime, Sonic the blue hero on my lap rubbing his forehead. "Ow, dammit Shadow watch where you're goin!" he opened his eyes and the color drained from his muzzle. Before I could say anything, he put his hands on my shoulders and I again flinched, I'm not really used to being touched. To be honest the only person who really touched me is Rouge but even then that was rarely, but he did it so effortlessly, and I don't understand why. His body felt warm on my lap, and his hands felt...familiar to an extent.
"Hey Shadow, are you alright?" I looked into his eyes, almost the same shade of green as the chaos emeralds. Looking into them almost made me forget the position we were in. I shook my head, what am I thinking? What am I doing? "Do you want to get off me anytime soon Faker?" he tilted his head to the left and then looked down, finally noticing that he was straddling my lap. His muzzle was a deep red but then he gave me his trademark smile, "What if I don't want to?" with that he enclosed the space between us with our noses touching, wrapping his arms around my neck, settling himself onto my lap even further.
Suddenly a feeling of warmth spread throughout my body and into my groin, I don't know what was happening but I was putting a stop to it. Placing my hands underneath his arms I easily lifted him off of me and threw him backwards. Landing on his backside he started laughing, "Aww whats the matter? The ultimate lifeform can't handle a little heat from the kitchen?" I had absolutely no idea what he meant, standing up I leaned back into the tree with my arms crossed. "What do you want Faker?"
He shrugged standing up himself, "Maybe I thought you could use the company." I rolled my eyes, "I prefer to be alone. My own company is more than enough." He turned around with his back to me and hands behind his back, "Those tears from earlier told me otherwise." I closed my eyes; there was no real point in denying it, "I'm not going to ask again Sonic." He flinched and sighed, he turned to face me, stepping closer. "I wanted to make sure you were alright, you cried then too ya know?"
I frowned deeper, "What I do on my spare time should be of no concern to you." I could feel my anger rising, he looked at me, furrowing his brow as he took another step closer. "You know Rouge cares about you; why not tell her when you come here? She's been looking for you for about 2 days, even asked me if I've seen you around. I told her to stay home and I'll go look." Damn bat, she never knows when to just leave things alone, "Hey Shadow can I ask you a question?" I shrugged, my annoyance blending in with the anger from earlier, "Would there be a point in saying no?" he looked down and shrugged, "Never mind then." He walked past me and leaned on the tree, sliding into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around his knees. As he closed his eyes, I looked at him in mild astonishment, Sonic the hedgehog dropping a subject? Not only that but he was quiet as well? Today is just full of surprises it seems. Minutes passed, with nothing but silence and the sound of rain between us. I close my eyes and think, after a few minutes of mental deliberation and a pros and cons list, I decided to feed my curiosity.
"What was the question?"
I could feel the blue hedgehog's gaze on me, I look back into those green eyes. They were searching for something, but what I don't know, more silence passed before he turned away, "Is caring about you really such a crime?" I didn't know how to answer, I don't know if I could answer his question. Other than Maria, no one has ever really cared about me. Now that he mentioned it though, Rouge is an excellent and fairly useful ally. Did she care for me? I just looked at the blue hero, "I don't know. Maybe it is. What do you care?" He stood up and grabbed my shoulders, I was prepared to fight but just as quickly he let me go and stared at the ground, why does he keep doing that? "Maybe it's because I care about you too. I really wish that…that…"There was a slight tightening in my chest, "Spit it out Faker."
He shook his head and turned on his heel, "Forget it." Before he could run though I grabbed his arm, "Just tell me dammit!" shaking his head he tried to snatch his arm but something in me said not to let go, why shouldn't I? I looked into his eyes, he was crying. Why was he crying? "Shadow, I just wish that you could see how much me and Rouge care. I wish you could see you're not as alone as you feel! Why?! Why can't you just talk to us!?" It was my turn to drop my gaze, and before I could stop myself I dropped his arm and held his face in my hands, I could feel the misery and anger flow into my answer as I looked into his eyes, "BECAUSE THE ONLY PERSON I EVER FUCKING LOVED DIED INFRONT OF ME!"
I let him go and fell to my knees, pounding the ground as all the emotions I've kept under lock and key for over 50 years finally spilled over. "Maria was the only person, the only one I had and she died while I sat in that stupid escape pod unable to do anything to help her!" I kept pounding the ground holding the tears behind my closed eyes, I felt his arms wrap around me, "Shadow…I'm so sorry for your loss." Just like that the tears fell through, I cried, I cried for Maria, I cried for me, I just cried because there was and still isn't anything I could do. All my defenses; gone all because of the pestering of a stupid blue hedgehog. My arms found him and he hugged me tighter, 50 years' worth of bottled tears, will I start a flood? No, of course not, what a stupid question to ask myself.
How long we were there for? I don't know, time seemed to just stand still for me. I felt like I was never going to stop crying but I did eventually. He let me go once the tears stopped, our gazes met and he gave me a small smile, "There, feeling better?" I couldn't say anything; I was still processing what just happened. Tired and slightly sore I stood up and nodded, he looked at his watch and then up to the sky. I followed suit and realized that the rain had stopped, although it was still fairly cloudy. "Hey Shadow, lets take you home." He grabbed my hand and I felt that tightening in my chest again. I was going to protest but I just nodded and followed his lead.