Oh no... Mom and Dad. Shadow clung to his oval-shaped Umbra charm. Please help me, Selene.
"Grandpa!" Dawn squeaked from the sliding door to the yellow once golden hedgehog. "Hi Grandpa! Silver's here, too!"
Silver? He hadn't run to his grandparents. He looked like a kid figiting uncomfortably in the principal's office. "Hi, Grandma and Grandpa," he mumbled, ducking his head. Looks like I'm not the only one who's got bad feelings about this.
Selene's parents didn't look like Selene's parents. Warm-colored fur, bright blue eyes. The only one who looks anything like her is her grandma, Minerva.
"Think of the devil, and she shall appear," scared the interior emotional Shadow, while his outer shell flinched. To his right was Minerva Phoenicia, an elderly psychic who was the only Phoenicia who knew about Shadow from the very beginning. She was, exactly, the closest one who looked anything like Selene. Gray fur, pale white skin and dark eyes-so dark you couldn't tell what color they were. She leaned in over her wooden cane, wearing a simple dress and multiple charms, as if she were a witch.
"Hello, Mrs. Phoenicia. Would you like to sit down?" She hummed laughter as she sat by him, mumbling, "Such a gentleman. Is it 'Beauty before Age' in your case?"
As they laughed, Silver scurried over to sit at their feet. Minerva stroked his hair, then rubbed his left ear. "He looks so much like his great-grandfather, Edward, with his big ears," she whispered. "Although, you've got big ears, so I suppose it came from you."
"Big ears, huh?"
"Yeah, and he was considered short. Irritated him to his deathbed. But I suppose he's spending time with our granddaughter up there."
Dawn had clammored up on her great-grannie's lap for a hug. "Uncle Shadow! Do you know Grannie? She's got a shop in the mall and sells a bunch of things!"
"That's right," Shadow said, patting his niece's soft head. "She sold me this necklace. That's when I met Grannie."
"And the knucklehead was so love-struck he took off without it," Grannie added, snickering.
"Silly Uncle Shadow!" Dawn squeaked. "Leaving things behind is bad. Mommy says that all the time."
In his periferal, Aurora's ice stare stabbed Shadow as she hugged her parents. That's my nephew. My sister's child, and you don't deserve either of them you #%*&%^.
"Hi Grannie," Helios said. "So you knew?"
"Of course I knew. I was practically the one who tied them together from the very beginning." Minerva rested her hand on Helios'. "Selene was safe and cared for, until the very end, sunshine. And she was in love."
With a monster like me, Shadow thought.
"Mom, Dad, there's someone we'd like you to meet," Aurora's bitter candy voice said. "This is Shadow."
The yellow hedgehog's steel blue eyes reflected his grandson's image as he stared into Shadow's. He knows.
"Hello, Mr. Shadow," the orange one greeted, unaware, or at least not showing it, not letting her anger and sorrow swarm into her eyes. "I'm Theia Phoenicia, and this is my husband, Hyperion."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Phoenicia. My full name is Shadow the Hedgehog. You've already met my son, Silver, correct?"
Her eyes looked like melting ice. "Yes, Silver's my grandson. So you're that boyfriend she wanted us to meet so badly."
"Yeah...She almost overdosed she was so heartbroken," he added. Her eyes widened.
"What?" was the faintest whisp out of her mouth. Her eyes searched his for the truth, and it was as if she could see from his eyes finding her whimpering in the bathroom, the pills rattling in the bottle from her shaking grip.
The ice became water. "So...you saved her..." Suddenly she was around his neck, buring her tears into his shoulder. "You saved her! Oh, thank you... Thank you..."
"What are you talking about, Mom?" Aurora hissed. "He took her away from us! He admitted it was his fault she died!"
"You can't just let it go, can you, Aurora?" Helios retorted. "Do you think that taking it out on Shadow will make sissy see- if she can, because she's gone now, that you love her?"
"I've been through a lot of relationships, and this I can say: there's not enough perfect men out there. Most of them will take advantage of a pushover, like Selene!"
"He's trying to be nice!"
"Because he's trying to get away with it!"
"SHUT UP!"
Even Shadow hadn't noticed how the anxious hog turned into a trembling one, with tears cascading down his cheeks. His fist was clenched and eyebrows in a harsh V.
"I don't get it! My whole life, it's been "Selene Selene Selene SELENE!" WHAT ABOUT "SILVER," HUH?! IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO THINK ABOUT ME?! WHAT ABOUT ME?! YOU GUYS ARE JUST TOO UPSET ABOUT HOW YOU TREATED MY MOTHER IN THE PAST THAT YOU'RE TOO BLIND TO HER SON, AREN'T YOU?!
"I brought my dad to show you how he cared about me," he whimpered, which stunned Shadow. "You see, before I was born, he remembered a time-traveler. And-and he tried really hard to keep us both safe, even if that meant never seeing Mom and I again. He was looking at me, and not the road...and Mom forgot to put on her seatbelt. Maybe if she had, you guys would be less concerned about Mom...
"He HAD to abandon me! He didn't WANT TO! WHAT KIND OF SICK HEDGEHOG DO YOU THINK MY FATHER IS?! HE'S BEEN THE BEST DAD HE COULD BE! Granted, I never thought he was before, but he looked after me as much as possible. Must've been hard to love a stubborn hog who keeps saying how much he hated you...
"But he's good enough for me. And no matter what you believe him to be, however horrible he is in your opinion, HE'S MY DAD."
Then the waterfall stopped and he tightened his fist. "And I love him. You'll never change that."
He loves me. He said it. He finally said it.
It'd been a long day for the hogs. Silver chewed his American Cheeseburger like he had been to his best friend's funeral.
"What's the matter?" Shadow asked. "Regret what you said?"
"I don't think so..." he muttered through the food in his mouth. "I meant it... Years of bottled-up emotion, and it chose to come out today."
"Sorry. That's my old bad habit. I learned there's things you've got to let go."
"Like the dead?" After another annoyed glare at his full cheeks, the silver hog swallowed. "Like Mom?"
"Well,"- he held the dark pendant in his palm, "I've always got her, right next to my heart, here."
"What now, Dad?"
Dad. It's got a nice ring. "I think we should go home, kiddo, and tick off Mephisto with the smell of burgers on us."
"What about dessert? Can we buy some shakes?"
"Haha. That sounds good. Then we can start fresh tomorrow."
"Why not right now? Hi Dad, how's work?"
"Another rejected novel, but another set of sold art. We'll eat for a week, maybe two."
"What's wrong with your books?"
"You tell me: I look them over every day..."