In Cosmo's Shadow
By Kellie Fay
Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.
Chapter 5
Visit to a Guardian
The next day Shadow decided to drop by the Master Emerald to see Knuckles. Knuckles didn't appear to be around when he arrived by the ruins, but if one needed an act of Chaos to keep Rouge away from the Master Emerald, it would take the destruction of the universe to get Knuckles to abandon his post, so he waited.
He couldn't help but fix his eyes on the giant glowing Master Emerald. The chaos energy felt different from the single chaos Emerald he kept in his home. They allowed him to keep one emerald, partially in thanks for saving the galaxy after the Metarex war, and partially for planning ahead. Once he decided to move here with the others Sonic and Knuckles presented him with the red emerald, 'just in case.' The little red emerald put out a small trickle of chaos energy that felt like a pleasant hum in the back of his mind. The Master Emerald radiated not a trickle of energy but huge waves that felt like basking in bright sunlight. He couldn't resist the urge to simply close his eyes and revel in the pulses of energy. He relaxed into the energy easily feeling his heartbeat begin to sync with the gentle throbbing of the emerald before him.
"What are you doing here?" Knuckles harsh suspicious voice woke Shadow from the spell of the Master Emerald. He opened his eyes to see Knuckles standing in front of him, his hands balled into fists. Shadow suspected that Knuckles didn't forget their last confrontation back on the Blue Typhoon.
Shadow decided quickly the less said about that fight the better. "I need to ask you something," he said. If Knuckles was going to be short and to the point he could be too."
Knuckles eyed Shadow suspiciously. "What," he asked.
"Rouge said that Tails told you that Sonic decided to adopt me back on the ARK, and you seemed to understand it. I would like you to explain it to me."
Knuckles eyes widened, and he almost laughed, when he took a second look at Shadow, and got tense. "Why do I get the feeling that Sonic's life is on the line if I say the wrong thing."
The 'maybe,' was tempting, but Shadow had a feeling that Knuckles didn't believe he had the ability to make a joke. "Considering that Sonic didn't say it, it would be illogical to take it out on him, but I would like to understand it better," he explained.
Knuckles sighed. "Rouge should have kept her mouth shut." He snarled. "It goes back to when I first met those two. Egg-man at first lied to me, told me that Sonic wanted to steal the Master Emerald. Once I figured out that it was Egg Man who wanted to steal the Master Emerald Sonic, Tails, and I worked together to save the Island. I thought I wouldn't see them again, but once a week Sonic would stop by for no reason. He started dropping off things like books and blankets. I don't know how he knew what I always needed, but he did. He'd never give me a straight answer when I asked him why, and I was starting to get suspicious that he was after the Master Emerald after all, but when I tried to get some information out of Tails he just laughed, and said Sonic decided that I spent way too much time alone up here and I needed a friend. He told me to consider myself adopted."
Shadow gave Knuckles an odd look, so the echidna continued. "He told me he'd seen Sonic do it before. Even if your rude, and tell Sonic to leave you alone he'll just back off a bit, but he won't stop checking on you, and letting you know he's there if you need help. If Sonic decides that you need a friend, he'll be your friend, and it's really hard to shake him once he's made up his mind."
Shadow thought about this. Did he want to shake Sonic loose? "So what do I do about it?" He asked.
Knuckles shrugged. "Hey he still comes to visit me," the echidna admitted. "I just got used to it. I don't think you're going to get rid of him anymore than I did. Consider yourself adopted."
Shadow sighed, and turned to leave when Knuckles said, "Now can I ask you something?"
Shadow had a bad feeling he knew what Knuckles wanted. "It wasn't intentional." He said, bracing himself for Knuckles' reaction."
"You did fight with him," Knuckles said, sounding angry.
"It wasn't a fight," Shadow answered.
Knuckles didn't answer for a few minutes. Shadow wondered if he shouldn't leave when Knuckles said, "Okay then explain what happened."
Shadow didn't want to talk about the nightmare, but Sonic and Rouge were trying to keep the others from interfering with him. He wondered what Knuckles would think about the nightmare. With a heavy sigh he said. "I dreamed that I could see myself falling under Black Doom's control until I became nothing more than his slave. When I woke up I saw something that looked like me in the darkness, so I attacked. It wasn't until he turned on his flashlight that I saw it was Sonic and not me."
Knuckles looked at Shadow a little perplexed. "You attacked Sonic thinking he was you?"
Feeling like he just made a mistake confiding in Knuckles he said sharply. "I just woke up from a dream. I wasn't thinking."
Knuckles kept silent for a few minutes looking thoughtful. "So that's why he wouldn't tell us how he got hurt," he finally said. He looked at Shadow directly. "Is that why Rouge built a tree house near your place?"
Shadow shrugged. "She was there when I woke up," Shadow admitted, "I suppose she wants to keep an eye on me."
"I hate to say it, but it's probably a good idea," Knuckles advised. "You might want to consider a roommate until you work those dreams out of your system."
Shadow raised an eyebrow and gave the echidna a dark look. "If you are suggesting that I room with Sonic I'd say that all that Chaos energy is deteriorating your brain."
Knuckles laughed. "I wouldn't suggest Sonic if you're going to mistake him for your evil self in the dark," he said. After a moment of thought he said. "Espio wouldn't mind spending a few days with you though. He'd respect your space, he's easy to get along with, and if your freak in the middle of the night he's one of the few people I think could at least hold you back for a few minutes."
Shadow thought about it. Knuckles sounded too much like he had been seriously considering this. He wondered what Knuckles would get out of it. "I'll consider it," he said deciding that answer would appease the guardian. "Thank you for helping me to understand." With that Shadow jumped down off of the island back to the lower parts of the planet.
Knuckles sighed watching Shadow leave. "That is one seriously messed up hedgehog," he concluded. The answer he gave when Knuckles suggested he spend some time with Espio sounded a little too neutral. He didn't say yes or no, only that he'd think about it. Hmmm definitely a cop out. Well he might not want Espio around, but I think I'll get a message to the Chaotix about what's going on. Espio helped with Sonic, and I have a feeling he'd like a real challenge.
Coming Soon
Chapter 6
The Gift
Shadow looked at Sonic carefully. Sonic acted like the gift was more of an afterthought than something of importance, but Shadow needed this information badly, and he knew that Sonic knew that. "How did you get this information from the Doctor?" He asked.
Sonic still looked disinterested grinning that infuriating all-knowing grin of his. "Oh I ran into him the other day we started talking, and he thought you might want the info."
Shadow eyed Sonic up and down. He wondered what Doctor Egg-man would say if Shadow asked him about the encounter. "Do you want to stay with that story, or are you trying to think of a better one?" Shadow asked him.