Weakness Chapter 6: Those Who Are Weak, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Me: Yes, I know, I took forever. The reason? My mother was once computer short for her class, so she used mine. I had no access to anything but the family computer, which is open for a grand total of 2 minutes a day, save homework. After I got it back, I had finals.

Now, they are over, and I can start updating regularly again. Sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy!

Shadow scowled at her, folding his arms. "I don't feel like it," he informed her.

Jasper rolled her eyes. "Not right this second! I'll help you later on today. I mean, you just woke up! Jeeze, how cruel do you think I am?" The wolf paused. "Don't answer that."

Shadow snapped his mouth shut and smirked. She'd set herself up for that one.

"Anyway," Jasper continued, rummaging through a cupboard, "You currently have no strength in your legs, so if you tried to walk right now, you'd just fall flat on your face." Then she smirked at him. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

Shadow just scowled at her.

"Ah-hah!" Jasper cried triumphantly, pulling out a strange looking knife. "There you are." She stood up and closed the cupboard with her foot, then walked toward the couch.

Shadow's eyes widened as she approached and he immediately pressed himself into the couch, scrambling backwards in horror. "What do you think you're doing?" he cried, his pitch rising a few octaves.

Jasper paused to stare at him for a moment, looking confused. Then, her eyes lit up with realization and she keeled over with laughter at his freaked out expression. "Stripes! Oh, gosh! W-Would you relax? This is a carving knife!" she giggled. Still chuckling, she continued toward the wood pile and began to examine the wood.

Shadow relaxed slightly. Oh. He knew that.

After choosing two logs around the same size, she glanced back up at him, grinning. His fur was still standing on end. "What did you think I was going to do?" she teased.

Shadow growled. "You were coming at me with a knife! What was I supposed to think?" he protested, still slightly flustered. Jasper just grinned, and he flushed with embarrassment. Shadow turned away to scowl at the couch, furious that he'd made a fool out of himself.

On normal circumstances, if someone had come at him with a knife, he wouldn't have lost his composure. Heck, someone could have a bazooka shoved in his face, and he wouldn't even bat an eye. But now, he was crippled. Helpless. Completely at the mercy of however might chance upon him. And he hated every second of it.

A strange rustling sound drew his attention back to Jasper. The silver wolf was currently laying out a tarp of some kind, spreading it across the floor in front of the couch. Then, she dragged a nearby chair on top of it.

Shadow was almost afraid to ask. "…What exactly are you doing?"

Jasper barely glanced up at him as she dragged the two logs over and leaned them against the chair. "Carving."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

The wolf ignored him. She took a seat on the chair, picked up the knife, and began to carve the wood. She carved slowly and carefully, sending long, thin ribbons of wood to the tarp below her. Shadow watched her, having nothing better to do.

After a few minutes of silence, Jasper spoke again, not looking up from her work. "While I'm doing this, you should start trying to move your legs."

Shadow scowled. He already had, and he could barely move them three inches. It was humiliating. The hedgehog pretended not to hear her.

A few moments later, Jasper looked up at him. "Stripes…"

Her patient glanced at her. "What?" he asked innocently.

"You're not moving," she pointed out.

"I'm paralyzed, remember?"

"Yeah, and do you want to stay that way?"

"I won't." Shadow told her stubbornly. "I'll heal."

"Not without exercising," Jasper insisted.

"I don't have to," he repeated, folding his arms.

Then, Jasper grinned. "Or, I could just drop you off three miles from here and watch you crawl back."

Shadow glared at her. "You wouldn't dare," he growled.

"Don't give me a reason to," Jasper warned, narrowing her eyes.

For a moment, there was a miniature standoff as the two locked eyes.

"You're bluffing," Shadow stated unsurely.

Jasper rolled her eyes. "I don't make threats that I don't mean, Stripes. If I did, I would've threatened to stab you with this knife if you didn't shut up."

Shadow glared at her. "I'd like to see you try."

Jasper shook her head. "Like I said before, I don't make threats I don't mean. If I did, no one would ever take my threats seriously."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "I never do that anyway."

"Stripes, if you don't start exercising your legs right now, I will personally drag your stubborn self off out that couch, out the door, and into the woods. Then, I'd go back for the video camera."

The hedgehog scoffed. "Exercising is for creatures who are too weak to take care of themselves.

Jasper smirked. "Like you."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then, Shadow scowled. Drat, she actually had a point with that one. It took him a moment to rephrase his argument. Jasper carved as she waited, looking slightly amused.

"I mean," Shadow corrected himself, "Creatures who started out that way. I've been able to defend myself since the moment I came into existence."

Jasper scoffed, focusing on her carving. "I doubt you needed it that long."

Shadow frowned slightly. "Actually…"

Jasper's head snapped up to look at him, her expression a mixture between disbelief and pity. Her guest had grown quiet, staring out into nothing. For a split second, a flash of pain entered his eyes. It was gone in an instant as his eyes hardened, his face shifting to it's usual scowl.

For a few moments, Jasper studied him. "Shadow…"

Shadow didn't look at her, but one of his ears swiveled in her direction. She'd never called him by his real name before.

"You never had a chance, did you?" she mused quietly. "A chance to live." Shadow said nothing. Jasper frowned, remembering what he'd said about the scientists. From the moment he was created, he'd been seen as nothing but an experiment. For a moment, as she watched the storm raging in his eyes, Jasper tried to imagine what that would be like. Then, she wondered how he could have any sense of morality at all. "It's not fair..."

"Life isn't fair," the ebony hedgehog spat, and Jasper was surprised at the amount of bitterness in his voice. He glared at the wall across from him with a burning hatred, as though it were the cause of everything that had happened to him.

His thoughts were currently on a little blond girl, drowning in her own blood. Since that day, the word 'fair' didn't exist in his vocabulary. She didn't deserve what had happened to her. None of them did.

For the first time since bringing Shadow into her own home, Jasper wondered what she'd gotten herself into. As far as she knew, the creature she saw before her had never had any good influence over his life. If that was the case, then the only reason she was still alive was that he needed her to survive. Once he had his strength back, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her. The wolf watched the hedgehog before her, with fur blacker than sin, eyes the color of blood, and a permanent scowl, glaring at his memories with more contempt and scorn than she'd thought possible. Suddenly, she was scared.

For a few eternities, Jasper stared at Shadow, and Shadow glared at the wall. Then, the hedgehog blinked. Suddenly, the hatred was gone, replaced by something else. Shadow closed his eyes and sighed, sinking into the couch, and staying there for a moment. When he finally glanced at Jasper again, he looked very old, very sad, and very, very tired.

Then, Jasper remembered his smile. She'd only seen him smile twice. The first time was right after she'd told him she cared about him. The second was while he was sleeping. His face had taken on a look of absolute peace.

"What were you dreaming about?" Shadow stared at her, startled by her question. Jasper felt like banging her head against something. Why did she ask him that? Watching his face transform into an annoyed scowl, the wolf knew she'd just metaphorically shot herself in the foot. Well, there was no taking it back now. She might as well shoot the other foot and be done with it. "You were smiling. While you were sleeping, I mean. I was just wondering because, well…"

Jasper hesitated, shifting uncomfortably at he glowered at her. "You're always so angry. From what you said about your past…and from what I see, I mean...I-it seems like you've never had any good in your life. So…I was wondering…what could possibly make you smile?"

For a few moments, the room was silent, and Jasper had to remind herself that Shadow was currently crippled and couldn't kill her. At least, not yet.

Her question seemed to have a great effect on Shadow. What made him smile…That brought back a lot. Images flashed through his mind, memories of things past. There was an old, mustached man hunched over his computer, and a young boy proudly presenting a crude drawing to his mother.

There was the ARK's strange version of holiday, when the whole station had been decorated in bright colors, and everyone was in good spirits. There was an eight-year-old boy, an experiment like him, who'd stood up for those who persecuted him, and saw the good in everyone. There was that one toddler who had latched onto an important and extremely fragile invention, stubbornly refusing to let go and giggling as panicked adults ran circles around him.

Then came the image of the dream: a beautiful, serene planet, glowing in the light of the sun, and his best friend's eyes lighting up as she told him all of the wonders of that world she wanted to show him. Would show him. Never showed him.

"I had a friend, once…," Shadow spoke quietly. Jasper started as she heard him speak. He'd been quiet for so long, staring out into space as countless emotions passed in front of his eyes. Jasper watched him, waiting for him to continue, but he stayed silent, completely ignoring her, lost in his memories.

A friend. He'd had a friend. A friend meant a good influence. It meant he had a sense of morality. It meant he was a person, not a monster. Jasper almost laughed in relief as her fear fell away in waves. The tension in the room practically dissipated, and the atmosphere became more friendly and open.

"Jeeze, Stripes! You really gave me a scare there…," Jasper laughed as she turned back to her carving. "For a moment, I was afraid you were….Anyway, I was wrong." She shook her head in amusement. She'd been so scared, and for nothing! She could be such a drama queen sometimes.

"You might not of been," Shadow informed her.

She looked up at him, smiling. "I know I was."

Shadow frowned. "What did you think I was?"

"I was wrong," The wolf repeated.

"What was it, Jasper?" Shadow demanded, leaning forward slightly. "Just a moment ago, what was I to you?"

Jasper's eyes softened. "Someone who never smiled," she replied. The two stared at each other in silence. Then she continued. "Someone who was selfish, dangerous, and just pure evil. Someone without a heart and soul, who wouldn't hesitate to kill. A weapon."

Shadow winced slightly at every description she gave, his eyes widening a fracture. Then, they narrowed. "What makes you think you're wrong," he challenged her. Without a heart and soul? No. Evil? No. Selfish and dangerous? A weapon? These he believed.

Jasper only smiled his implication, her eyes on her carving. "I know, without an ounce of doubt, that you are not who I thought who were." She stopped carving to look him in the eye. "Because you had a friend. You had a friend, and they made you sad." She smiled. "I meant what I said before, Stripes. I really do care."

Silence descended; the only sound was Jasper carving. Shadow stared at her, trying for the love of all things sane to understand her. That girl just didn't seem rational. "Your logic is flawed," he informed her.

Jasper giggled, holding up the wood for inspection as she replied. "Nope! You just don't understand it." She lowered her carving, smirking at him. "Some people are a bit slower than others. Don't worry, you'll catch up soon."

Shadow glared at her. "I could understand you perfectly if you actually spoke logically."

"You can't understand me because you don't have my intelligence!" Jasper jeered. "Admit it!"

"I was programmed with intelligence a thousand times grater than yours!" Shadow yelled indignantly. "I just can't possibly understand someone who refuses to make sense!"

Jasper laughed. Shadow wistfully pictured strangling her.

"Hey, what do you know!" the wolf cried jubilantly, holding up the carving. "It started taking shape while I wasn't paying attention."

"You have the attention span of a sparrow," Shadow retorted before half-heartedly examining the wood. It was narrow on one side and wide at the other. The wide part had the beginnings of two separate holes in it, and the top was slightly curved. In fact, it had a very unnerving resemblance to…. "Those had better not be what I think they are."

Jasper grinned holding up the object proudly, as though it were the most brilliant idea on the planet. "I'm making you crutches!" she announced.

Shadow stifled a groan. He was going to look ridiculous on those! "I don't need crutches!" he informed her. "Crutches are for the weak! I mean, those who started out that way.."

Jasper randomly leaned close, making a big show of studying him. Shadow leaned back, unnerved. She was in an odd mood. He hated it when she got like this.

"Hmmmm…." Jasper hummed, tapping her chin. Then, she leaned back. "You said you were programmed with intelligence, right? Did you ever have to learn anything? Or were you just programmed with the basic functions for living…"

Shadow folded his arms smugly. "Of course I never had to learn anything! That's for the weak."

"Like your friend?" Jasper asked, then stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. Because of this, she didn't see his glare, and had no idea she was treading on dangerous ground. "So it's no wonder then…" She looked back at him. "You've never been like this before. You've were always strong and able. You could take care of yourself. You didn't need to eat, drink, or sleep. Everything was always within reach, accessible. You never had to work a day in your life, did you?"

He glared at her. "Work is for the weak," he informed her.

She grinned. That's right, Stripes. Just keep digging yourself a bigger hole so I can bury you in it. "So," she continued, and Shadow didn't like the mischief in her eyes, "So far, you've said that exercising, learning, work, and crutches are for the week, right? Did I miss anything?"

Shadow just glared, feeling nervous. He knew that look. She was about to turn what he said against him.

"Well," Jasper shrugged, "You're weak now, so I guess you'll have to do all of that, won't you?"

"I meant those who start out weak-"

"I know what you meant, Stripes, but right now, you're weaker that all of us weak folks. Welcome to the club!" Then, her face turned serious and she leaned in slightly, demanding his attention. "You know what it's like to be strong. You've been spoiled rotten for a very long time, and that just takes all of the beauty out of life.

"You complain about everything and you mock us because you don't appreciate us or the 'little' that we can accomplish. You don't know how hard it is. You don't know how much we have to do just to get a little bit of that energy that you've had in abundance since you took your first breath."

Jasper leaned back in her chair and frowned at him, daring him to retaliate. He said nothing, so she continued. "Soon, you will have all of that at your disposal. However, until then, and for as long as you live under my roof, I am going to show you what it's like. Stripes, you know what it's like to have strength. Now, I am going to teach you how to be weak."

Me: Hence, the name: Weakness. Ta-da! Now that I've finally gotten to the point of the story, things should progress a bit faster. However, I will also be writing Gifted. I want do finish that before I finish this. Hopefully. Anyhow, press the inspiration button and VOTE ON MY POLL!