Hours passed and nothing happened. Sonic and Shadow sat down with their knees up due to the lack of space, leaning against the walls opposite to each other. Silence had fallen over the two of them, neither had anything to say, so they sat there in an awkward silence. Until Shadow spoke sounding tired and emotionally drained.
"Sonic… the day we fought Eggman and he put me in the grave… did he have Rouge captive by any chance?" The dark one looked down at his knees, dreading the answer he'd be given.
"No… she was at home waiting for you-"
"DAMN IT!" Shadow roared to the skies and banged his right fist on the wall. "I'm such an idiot!"
"Why, what's wrong?" Sonic exclaimed, having no clue about Shadow's sudden outburst.
Shadow sighed and looked at Sonic, deciding to tell him the story of how the ultimate life form managed to get himself buried alive. Sonic cringed as his comrade explained the excruciating agony he went through while he waited for someone to rescue him.
"And now… Eggman's free, without us to stop him from taking over the world… who know what he could have done in the 21st century!" Shadow exclaimed as he finished his story. Sonic smirked at him.
"No need to worry Shadow. He died."
Shadow looked into blank space, he couldn't believe it, Eggman was dead. Sonic continued to explain.
"I've worked it all out now. He buried you, then fell down another grave himself, his neck snapped and he died instantly," Sonic said with a slight smirk. Shadow cringed.
"Such a simple death… for someone who brought so much destruction and pain. If only it were that simple for me… I know that if I'm going to die one day, it's going to be gruesome."
"I thought the same thing. After all we've fought for, all the pain we've gone through trying to defeat him, and he trips over his own two feet and ends it all himself," Sonic said solemnly.
"How did you find out about his death? Did you find him?" Shadow asked. Sonic shook his head, it was his turn to tell the story of how he came to find Shadow and dug him up.
When the story was over, Shadow gave a smirk.
"Hmph, who would have thought that you could work it all out by yourself, Faker?" Shadow said. He noticed how close they were to each other, their arms and legs were touching each other's as they sat side by side. Sonic's clean and soft fur brushed with Shadow's fur, matted by centuries of pain and sweat.
"Shadow… you look really uncomfortable…" Sonic commented, noticing Shadow's distant face expression and his body language. The hedgehog was tensed up in all places.
"I'm… fine, Faker… I'm just…" Shadow began but he became silent before his sentence finished. Sonic turned to him, eagerly wanting to know. Shadow's worried eyes darted towards Sonic for a second then turned away again. "… a little claustrophobic…" The ultimate life form sounded ashamed.
"I'm not surprised, after what you went through. There's nothing wrong with being afraid of being trapped like this… I certainly don't like it," Sonic shivered.
"At least it's… warm in here. It was freezing in that box."
"Do they really expect us to reproduce in this little thing… there's hardly any space in here to stand let alone… ya' know…" Sonic darted his eyes elsewhere, not wanting to mention what they were expected to do.
"Maybe they only put us in here to force us to… improve our relationship… we're forced to make contact, something I haven't done in so long… I'm almost enjoying this," Shadow said shamefully. Sonic's eyes widened, Shadow noticed this in the corner of his eye. "Contact with anyone is a luxury to me right now. I'm a loner but I don't like being that distant."
Just then, they heard a click and the door in front of them opened.
"Today's bonding session is over… you may do what you need to, there are refreshments available. You have six hours," one of the humans said and got out of their way.
Sonic dashed for the bathroom and Shadow slowly walked over to the bed where his shoes were. "I thought you were going to keep us in there until we gave you what you wanted," Shadow said nonchalantly as he strapped his feet into his shoes. "Catering for our needs is a surprise."
The scientists left the room without a nod. Shadow death glared at their backs as they left the room. Sonic came out of the bathroom looking relieved. "Shadow, maybe you should take a shower while you have the chance," Sonic said.
Shadow's lips grew thin and straight as he stared at Sonic. "Why?"
Sonic was taken aback by this question, he became nervous. "Well, you kind of… stink-" he stopped talking as he noticed Shadow's anger.
"Hmph, probably because I was stuck with you for several hours!" Shadow roared and stormed into the bathroom.
Sonic sighed, then realised that they'd been in close contact for so long. The blue hedgehog took a sniff of the fur that skin that had come into contact with Shadow the most, and to no surprised, he smelt too. Sonic thought to himself, Shadow probably knew it was him who caused the smell, being the one trapped in a box for over two hundred years, but he was just too embarrassed to admit it.
Shadow felt comforted to be in a bathroom again. It was private, clean and quiet. He was finally away from that blue hedgehog and able to clean up two hundred years worth of sweat. There were a few white towels hung over a rail at the side of the room by the shower, above them was a shelf full of assorted cleaning products. Shadow had no idea which one to use, there were so many shower gels, soaps, perfumes, shampoos and more. They were all in different flavours, scents, purposes, brands. Shadow had no idea of which was best.
Shadow chose the simplest shower gel on the rack and hopped in the shower after taking his shoes, gloves and socks off. Inside the glass case with a shower head on the ceiling, was an assortment of scrubbing brushes and flannels. These could come in handy, Shadow thought to himself. By putting his hand over a button like sensor, he turned the shower on and was hit with a cascade of warmth and moist, it soothed his dry skin as it hit his body and burning throat as he opened his mouth and swallowed some.
Sonic waited outside as Shadow took his time in the shower. "Aww, come on Shadow. I'm bored… hurry up!" Sonic exclaimed and banged on the door.
"Go away, Faker!" Shadow's angry voice echoed from inside.
"Oh right… sorry. Remember to scrub behind the ears!" Sonic joked and chuckled as he heard Shadow's roars of frustration. "There is no chance we'd ever be close… I enjoy annoying him too much!"
The hedgehog smiled and went over to the wheeled table that had an assortment of foods and beverages on, and decided to indulge himself before he was chucked into the box with Shadow again.