Sonic woke up first, and was not at all happy with what he found.
He'd been having a nice dream and when he woke up in the dark and the cold and the sort-of wet, by the light of the Chaos Emerald he realized.
He was cuddling Shadow the Hedgehog.
Sonic jumped up and backwards, hitting his head against the wall of the hole, slipping on the smooth, wet floor, and falling down again in the tiny space.
Shadow awoke to a loud crack. Dismissing it as lightning hitting a tree, she rolled over to see how Sonic was doing.
Not so well.
"Ow! Freakin'… Augh! Nng…"
Sonic was on the ground, holding his side and muttering mild curses. As far as Shadow knew, Sonic didn't curse. She was at his side in a second, pulling him over onto his back and looking at what he'd been covering up.
Shadow was awake. How long had Shadow been awake? Had Shadow actually been awake first? Did he know about the cuddling?
These and many other thoughts ran through Sonic's mind, releasing endorphins in his brain and making him forget about the pain in his side. Sonic was embarrassed, not to mention terrified of what Shadow might do to him if he knew what happened.
"Sit still. I think it's your hip. Hang on a minute."
Okay, so Shadow probably didn't know. Sonic relaxed a bit, before tensing up again in pain.
Shadow took the Chaos Emerald out of her apron pocket and held it near Sonic's injury, drawing out some energy to heal it. Sonic's breathing leveled out and he relaxed again, sitting up as Shadow put the Emerald away.
"You okay, now?"
Sonic nodded, looking in Shadow's general direction.
"Hey, we never did get you anything to eat," recalled Sonic, scratching at where Shadow had healed him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," responded Shadow, "now that I've got the Chaos Emerald… You don't mind if I hang on to it, do you?"
Sonic shrugged. "As long as it's in good hands. I think I can trust you."
"After I punched you in the face?"
"I said 'I think.' Doesn't mean I know what I'm talking about."
Sonic laughed. Shadow hadn't been joking, but she supposed that Sonic didn't really care about that anymore. He really did trust her…
"Seriously though, how does having the Chaos Emerald make you not hungry? I've had one, even all of them several times and I still had to eat."
"I'm designed to work with the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic. When I have one, I automatically start relying on it for energy, instead of my own digestive processes."
"Translation?" questioned Sonic, waving his hand for Shadow to continue.
"I don't need to eat if I have another source of energy. That work for you?"
"Sure," said Sonic, nodding his head and looking up toward the small entrance of the hole they were in. "It's getting late…"
"It's only around nine," shrugged Shadow. She was used to late nights.
Sonic sighed. "Sure. Nine… How do you know, anyways?"
"I just have a good sense of time."
Sonic nodded and shuffled back against a wall.
"Okay. So, we've been out all day. I'm wide awake after that nap. How about you?"
"Could be better. Could be worse."
"So-so. Okay. You know, you say a lot more words than you need to sometimes."
Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Do I?"
"Well, not right there, you didn't, but I mean, sometimes you-"
"Well, I'm not the only one guilty of doing so, am I," stated Shadow, getting Sonic with his own point.
"Ah," replied Sonic, realizing this was true.
"Never mind, Sonic."
"Do you want to go out and do something or what?" asked Sonic, remembering the original subject.
"Well, considering you're kind of blind right now, no. Not really."
"Oh, yeah. So, crazy weather we've been having, huh?"
Rouge pulled her blanket closer around herself. She had hurried back to her hotel room when it started raining, deciding to forget about Sonic and Shadow. She'd radioed HQ and told them that she'd completed the mission and that Sonic had been totally fine when she'd found him. Now she was curled up in bed, watching basic cable and finding herself wondering if those two hedgehogs were doing alright out in the woods under a rock in what the news was calling heavy rains and chance of a thunderstorm.