Ready for chapter three? Of course you are, that's why you're here, ain't it?

Hm, excuses this time…mainly real life kept getting in the way. Damn you, life…also, I had a virus on my laptop, and it took a few days to resolve, PLUS I have to study for finals.

Anyways, I decided to do a timeskip this chapter. The previous two chapters were simply to show the first…well, almost full day of Shadow's life with Werehog.

Thanks for the reviews, everyone. To one of my recent reviewers, Lucian, I am aware the ending of the previous chapter was rushed. I was trying to finish it before I went to bed, as it was one in the morning and I was dead tired.

To HyperShanic…Heh, you would imagine Shadow as an adult, thanks to our RP. In a way, this kinda ties into it.

Anyway, as I said before, Sonic will make an appearance in this chapter.

Warnings: …Don't piss off Sonic or WereShadow.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears
Lost from within, pursuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again

"Lies"- Evanescence

Chapter 3

Ten years later…

Shadow groaned as he opened his eyes. Pain laced his entire body from his recent month-long stay with GUN.

True to his word, Werehog would ship him off to a nearby base whenever the kuroi 'hog would overstep his boundaries too much, intentionally or not, or whenever Werehog felt that Shadow needed to be reminded of his place.

Luckily, Werehog seemed to have grown a bit of a conscience over the years, as he would allow the boy to recuperate for a week or so depending on the seriousness of his injuries after a stay with GUN.

Carefully, Shadow attempted to stand, ignoring the pain, but froze when he heard his Master's voice.

"Don't move, damn it, unless you want to be punished so soon."

Wincing as he laid back down, Shadow lowered his ears in both submission and apology.

Werehog glared, somewhat, as he looked over the wounds covering his slave's body. Most were hidden beneath the dark fur, but he could see burns, stab wounds, cuts, and bruises, all in various stages of healing.

"What'd they do to you this time, runt?"

It was almost a ritual to ask. Mainly from curiosity, but he also felt a sliver of…worry. He couldn't figure out why, seeing as he was the one who sent Shadow there in the first place.

"Master…?" came the tentative question. Dull ruby eyes gazed up at him, only to quickly look away.

Knowing what the ebony male wanted to ask, Werehog simply said, "Go on."

Shadow shivered a little, but even so, he began to list off the reasons for his wounds. "Th-This time…at first, nothing was different…only beatings. But, then…they started talking about her."

A soft whimper escaped his throat as dark memories resurfaced.

Werehog instantly knew who he meant, and he growled softly. 'So, GUN is using that old trick? I thought by now they would've realized it won't work.'

Out loud, he asked, "Why did they do once they brought her up?"

Still shivering, Shadow slightly curled up into a ball of fur, before continuing. "Got worse. They used knives, bats, torches…"

Werehog felt a sliver of worry; he tried to ignore it, to no avail.

'I don't want to do this, but it seems I have no choice…Nothing I do will…help, so it looks like I'll have to take him back to that town.'

After picking up the smaller male by the scruff, with a tenderness he did not know he possessed, he quickly made his way to the small town they had left behind ten years earlier.

Although Werehog wouldn't admit it, he was slowly becoming more…protective when it came to his so called "slave".

At first, he thought it was it was from being inside Sonic's mind for so long, but when the protective feelings didn't diminish, he realized that those were his own emotions.

Shaking his head slightly to clear his thoughts, he tried to focus on the situation at hand, and sped up, knowing that every second counted when it came to any emergency.

Shadow wasn't sure where they were headed, and though his mind was too muddled to think properly, he had the feeling that wherever their destination was, it was someplace…safe.

The memories he had of his life before he had been made into nothing more than a fuck toy were faint at best.

Sometimes, however, he would have dreams. Where he would be held…where he felt…safe. And loved.

"No matter what, I'll always be there for you, pup. I promise."

The echo of a voice filled his mind.

He just wished he could remember who it belonged to.

Blinking a few times, as his vision was blurred slightly, he suddenly realized that they were no longer in the forest. Instead, they were in…a town?

Normally Shadow wouldn't dare question his Master's decisions, but his curiosity was piqued, so he used the mind link to transfer his feelings of confusion to his Master.

Werehog, since he couldn't exactly say anything due to carrying the brat using his fangs, responded in the same manner.

"I'll explain later. For now, if anyone asks about any of your punishments, tell them…tell them GUN was responsible for it all; that you had been captured and hidden away by them all this time, until I finally found you."

It took a few seconds for Shadow to understand the instructions, but he made a soft noise of confirmation, before closing his eyes as fatigue swept through him.

Werehog, sensing this, rushed over to the town's hospital; ignoring the soft gasps of recognition and horror that followed whenever he passed by one of the citizens.

Shadow wasn't sure how much time passed, but when he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in an unfamiliar place.

The walls were all white, and the sharp scent of disinfectant made him shudder.

He cringed when he saw the various needles taped to his skin to keep them in place. He wanted to remove them, but he was sure he would be punished if he did, so he tried to ignore them.

Then he noticed that he wasn't in pain anymore. 'Where…?'

A soft, yet sharp whistle got his attention, and he immediately turned his head in the direction it came from.

Werehog was standing there in the doorway.

"About time you woke up, my toy. You passed out on the way here, so I had to tell them what happened," he growled, reaching over and roughly cuffing his slave on the head.

Shadow flinched, fearing he would be punished harshly for causing so much trouble. "S-Sorry, Master," he whispered, instantly looking away.

It was then that he saw something on the bed next to his that confused him.

For the figure lying on the bed in a comatose state, was Sonic. As it was currently nighttime, he could easily pass as Werehog's twin.

Of course, Shadow didn't remember him.

And instead of trying to remember, his mind was whirling with this new information.

'Why does he look like Master?'

Werehog watched as shock and confusion flittered across the boy's face. He was just glad that they were in a private sector of the hospital, and the staff only came by unless they were needed.

'Although why they decided to put him in the same room as Sonic, I'll never know,' he sneered.

Shadow shivered, sensing the malice radiating from his Master. Despite his fear, however, he still glanced at Werehog, garnet eyes silently asking for an explanation.

Fangs bared slightly in a small snarl, Werehog decided to at least give his own opinion about Sonic. "That…is Sonic. More or less, he is my other half." A low growl rumbled from his throat. "I was created from his resentment, his anger at those who saw him as nothing but a guinea pig for their experiments…" A wicked smirk formed upon his muzzle. "I bet you don't even remember him…Am I right, my toy?"

Shadow tilted his head, frowning slightly as he searched his mind for any memories of Sonic. He found nothing, and shook his head. "Don't remember him, Master."

"Good. Damn nuisance; always interfering when I was punishing you. Tch, he wouldn't punish you properly, so I had to do it for him, otherwise you would have gotten weak."

Shadow briefly wondered if being nothing more than a fuck toy was the same as being weak, but he didn't dare ask. Instead, he gazed at figure who had interfered with his punishments. Then, his eyes caught the glimmer of the Ring on Sonic's right wrist. An old memory of himself wearing a similar Ring flickered in his mind, but it died away as quickly as it came.

He shook his head slightly. No use trying to understand. The only thing that mattered was doing his best to follow his Master's rules.

Werehog had seen Shadow's attention drawn towards the Ring, and he, too, remembered the other Inhibitor Ring that his slave had briefly worn on his left wrist. 'What ever happened to…? Oh wait, now I remember. It interfered with his punishments, so I tossed it away.'

He had wondered if it had been a good idea to remove the Ring, given the boy's unstable Chaos Energy, but there hadn't been any other incidents where it reacted to highly emotional stress.

Suddenly, a soft groan turned their attention back to Sonic. Shadow had an expression of uncertain curiosity and nervousness, while Werehog's was of his usual scorn.

Green irises slowly showed themselves for the first time in ten years. Blearily, they glanced around the room as Sonic tried to get his bearings together.

Recovering from the shock quickly, Werehog smirked at his former host. "Did you enjoy your extended nap?"

Eyes widening slightly, Sonic snapped his gaze to Werehog. "Werehog…But how-?"

"I decided it was time for me to escape your pathetic mind. Granted, I used some of your energy to do it, but it was worth it."

While he was talking, Werehog literally shoved Shadow off the hospital bed, causing the IVs to slip out as the boy fell to the floor, and sat down on it.

Sonic was too busy trying to grasp his mind around the fact that Werehog had his own body to really notice this. "How long?"

Werehog's smirk grew. "You've been in a coma for ten years."

Not bothering to wait for a response, he continued. "Yeah, me and the runt have had a lot of fun these past years, haven't we?" He directed the question towards Shadow, who hadn't been paying attention, as he was trying to ignore the pain as he stood.

When Werehog didn't get an answer right away, he aimed a kick at the boy's side, sending him sprawling to the ground yet again and eliciting a whimper of pain from the ebony male.

Unsure of what his Master wanted, Shadow looked up at him.

Before Sonic had the chance to intervene, Werehog narrowed his eyes and grabbed the boy, slamming him into the wall. "You just don't learn…Even after all these years, you still haven't learned to always pay attention, slave!"

Seeing Werehog's actions was enough to piss Sonic off, but hearing him call his pup "slave" sent him into a rage. Snarling so fiercely that one would have thought him rabid, he tackled Werehog to the floor, making him drop Shadow, and not only bit down on his shoulder hard enough to crack bone, but he also slashed him across the chest and abdomen deep enough to partially expose the sternum, ribs, and intestines.

For one split second, Shadow had been relieved that Sonic had interfered, but his relief was quickly replaced with fear as he watched the blood splatter onto the walls. 'Master!'

As quickly as the fear had come, it was gone, and anger started to take over.

'He…hurt Master…'

As he started growling, the pupils of his eyes vanished, leaving only the white area visible, and his charcoal fur was slowly turning the same shade of red as his streaks.

'He'll pay for hurting Master!'

Sonic and Werehog, sensing the change, both looked over to see something neither had seen in a long time.

The unofficial name they had come up with for it was Shadow's DarkWere form, which was derived from him going Dark Super in his permanent Werehog form. Shadow had only achieved this form three times in the past, and that was before he had been turned into a Werepup. (1)

'Oh shit…' Sonic thought, as the mass of crimson fur lunged.

Werehog, although feeling sluggish from blood loss, shoved Sonic aside, stood up and pinned the boy down, glaring. "Enough, Omega!" he snapped, as the growling mass of fur struggled underneath him. The authority in his voice was enough to snap Shadow back to his senses. But it wasn't enough to appease Werehog. "Submit to your Alpha."

Almost immediately, Shadow, who was already on his back, averted his gaze, pressed his ears back against his head, tilted his head back to expose his throat, and tucked his tail in between his legs, in the perfect Omega posture.

Sonic silently watched everything, sorrow in his eyes. 'Pup…'

Werehog, now satisfied that Shadow was back under his control, allowed himself to pass out from loss of blood.

This caused Shadow to panic slightly, but remembering that Sonic was also in the room, he warily glanced at him, eyes sending a silent message: Please, help him.

Sonic wanted to refuse; wanted to say "Why should I help the one who made our lives hell?"

But he didn't. He wasn't one who refused to help others when they needed it.

So, he nodded. "I'll go get someone. Wait here, pup." Despite having just woken up from a ten year coma, Sonic was able to walk on his own into the hallway.

Shadow, who had rolled over onto his stomach, was just about to get up, when the last word in Sonic's sentence rung in his mind. Pup…

"No matter what, I'll always be there for you, pup. I promise."

"It's him…" he whispered. "The one…from the dreams…"

Suddenly he felt guilty for getting angry the way he did. He should have realized that Sonic was just trying to…protect him.

Seconds ticked by as Shadow's anxiety grew.

Then, finally, Sonic and a doctor, a bushy-furred black cat with amber eyes, hurried into the room.

"You think you can keep all of this a secret?" Sonic asked. He had already explained everything to her on the way.

"Not to worry. Patient confidentially is part of the job."

Shadow backed away slightly, both from fear and to give the two some space to help his Master.

The doctor smiled softly at him. "I won't hurt you, Shadow."

Sonic helped her lift Werehog onto one of the beds.

Shadow, meanwhile, was surprised that she knew his name. He hadn't heard it very often, except when GUN referred to him as "Project: Shadow."

Even Sonic was surprised. "How did you…?"

"None of us have forgotten the day you two arrived here. I didn't believe the story he-" she inclined her head towards Werehog. "-gave us about GUN doing all the damage."

Sonic gave a half-shrug. "All I really know is from what he told me, but he didn't go into detail. He just said that he and Shadow had some…fun…" he trailed off, going slightly pale as he fully realized the full meaning of the words. "Oh Chaos…"

Doctor cat nodded solemnly. "When he was brought in, we found evidence of past sexual abuse in the initial exam."

Sonic gave the unconscious Werehog a dirty look, his hackles rising. "Bastard…"

Shadow started to wonder why they were dwelling on it when they needed to get to work on healing Werehog. He whined softly, wanting to sp something about it himself, but not wanting to risk being caught and punished.

Sonic, thinking he was the source of Shadow's distress, had to force himself to calm down. "Sorry, pup."

Black ears twitched. There it was again; that particular term. Even though Sonic was the one in his dreams…why did he feel an odd warmth in his chest when he heard it?

There was something about him that was familiar, but he wasn't sure what. Why couldn't he remember? He wanted to remember. Unknowingly, in his frustration, he clenched his paw into a fist so tightly, his claws dug deep into the skin.

Sonic, being the only other conscious being in the room, as the doctor had left to get some of the tools she needed to mend Werehog, looked over at him just in time to see the blood dripping to the floor. Reacting on reflex, he grabbed the youth's wrist. "Stop, Shadow."

Although he had somewhat expected it, he felt a pang of both anger and sadness when he saw Shadow tense as though preparing to be struck.

Sonic sighed softly, letting go of Shadow's wrist. "Sorry. I just don't want you hurting yourself. I don't care what Werehog says; you're my pup. That makes it my job to protect you, even if it means putting my life on the line."

Shadow's eyes widened as the words triggered something deep in his memory, causing a sharp pain in his head.

Images started flooding his mind, but he didn't fully understand them.

He did realize now, though, that his dreams were part of the memories he had lost...but he didn't know why he had forgotten them in the first place.

As the pain diminished, he glanced up at Sonic.

Garnet eyes locked with jade ones for the briefest of moments before Shadow looked away to gaze at the self-inflicted wounds.

Sonic sighed again. 'I need to do something,' he thought. 'I can't let him dwell on it. He needs a distraction...'

Then he remembered that hospital rooms now had a TV to keep the patients from becoming mad with boredom. With a grin, he quickly found the remote, turned on the TV that was mounted on the wall, and started channel surfing, making sure the volume was low as to not startle the abused youth.

Shadow did flinch slightly at the sudden noise, unsure of what was happening. However, his curiosity was rising again, so he looked over at Sonic. He wanted to know what he was doing.

Sonic, although sensing the other's gaze, didn't stop flipping through the various channels until he finally came across a movie he'd once heard about. 'Perfect,' he thought. He hadn't paid much attention to the advertisement; all he knew was that it was about a human raised by gorillas.

From the looks of things, it had started a few minutes ago, as the female gorilla had just taken the human child back to her group.

'This oughta be interesting for him to watch,' Sonic thought, as he sat down on the unoccupied bed. "Hey, Shadow, you want to watch this with me?" he asked, gesturing at the TV.

Shadow was surprised that he was given a choice, but before he could answer, there was a loud roar.

The ebony one cringed, but then he realized that it hadn't come from anyone around him. It had come from the movie. Blushing slightly from embarrassment, he glanced over at Sonic, who was still expecting an answer.

Ears still pressed against his head, he glanced over at his Master before looking at Sonic again and nodding. He then hesitantly jumped up and situated himself next to Sonic, before focusing his attention on the movie.

The female ape was currently trying to calm the human infant. She was doing so by singing a lullaby.

Without really thinking about it, Sonic was singing along.

"For one so small, you seem so strong. My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm. This bond between us cannot be broken. I will be here, don't you cry..."

He couldn't help thinking that those few lines were perfect for his and Shadow's relationship, especially now. His pup had been though so much over the years because of Werehog, and yet he could tell that it hadn't completely broken him. Somewhere deep inside, the Shadow he knew, the personality of his somewhat mischevious pup, was hidden.

Shadow, in spite of himself, was starting to doze off. Hearing the song had relaxed him, but when he heard Sonic sing it, he felt...safe. Content. Without realizing it, Shadow curled up next to Sonic, instinctively leaning against him.

When Sonic put a protective arm around him, Shadow didn't tense up, for his subconscious remembered that Sonic wouldn't hurt him.

This was the sight that the doctor found when she came back. Besides getting the tools she needed to patch up Werehog, she had needed to run some tests on a few of her other patients. With a soft smile, she quietly went to work cleaning and bandaging Werehog's wounds.

It seemed that things were slowly beginning to look up for Shadow, but there was still a long way to go before he was fully healed. Something needed to be done about Werehog, as well.

'We'll figure this out, pup,' Sonic thought. 'I'm not gonna lose you again.'

T.B.C.

I decided to end the chapter here, with something light. Why? …I don't know… *shrugs* Oh well.

(1)- Yes, I combined the Werehog and Dark Super forms, BUT this will only happen to Shadow, whenever his anger rises to extreme levels. I wasn't sure what else to call it, hence the name DarkWere. On a side note, when I imagined what it would look like, its appearance was similar to that of the Kyuubi from "Naruto."

I happened to be listening to "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins while writing the ending, and since I love the movie Tarzan (which I don't own, and I lost my copy of the movie a long time ago), I just had to write this scene in.

On a somewhat unrelated note, would you all like to see the story of Sonic's and Shadow's childhood abroad the ARK? I was thinking of writing it up soon, as a sort of prequel to "What Do I Believe? Who Should I Follow?" I'll just need help from my good friend, HyperShanic, who kinda helped start this fanfic and its predecessor, and I'll need some ideas for the shenanigans those two will come up with. Now, I don't want to spoil it, but I figure you won't hate me too much: As a twist, Sonic and Shadow will both be WerePuppies. =D

Let me know what you think.

Now that I have that settled, please click the fanfiction(dot)net "Review" button to give your opinion of this chapter. But, please, do not be too critical, as this author has low self-esteem, and harsh reviews will cause the quality of her writing to become poor.

…Wow, I kinda sounded like GLaDOS from "Portal"…

Anyway, as stated above, REVIEW, PLEASE!

ShidesuHejjihoggu