After weeks of no motivation, writer's block, and college prep, I finally got to work on this again.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! To HyperShanic, thanks for the correction lol, also, it's a little late to be changing Shiro's name, innit? To TheUnrulyWereHog, thanks! Also, if I didn't have a weird mind, I wouldn't be writing this, now would I?

Part of this chapter was inspired while I was listening to Linkin Park's "What I've Done".

Disclaimer: The plot belongs to me.

Chapter 5

Only a few hours had passed since Werehog had been knocked unconscious, but now he was regaining consciousness.

'What the fuck…?'

Due to the pain in his head, it took a few seconds for him to remember what had happened to him. When he did remember, he snarled. "That little shit!"

His temper boiling, Werehog quickly made his way to the window and scanned the small town for his insolent slave. Then, having spotted him and Sonic within a matter of minutes, he jumped out the window and ran towards them.

He hadn't expected Shiro to interfere, however.

"Leave him alone."

It wasn't the appearance of the pup that caused Werehog to stop, but the sheer coldness of his voice. Shiro's voice was low, accentuated with a growl. There was a faint orange aura around him, and his eyes were glowing red.

Shadow, who had been clinging to Sonic's back like a koala, whimpered softly; he had known this would be coming.

Sonic merely sighed as he set Shadow down. He then turned to face the youngest male. "Stay out of this."

By now, a small crowd was starting to form, but the four 'hogs weren't paying to the gatherers.

Shiro just ignored Sonic, his growls intensifying as the orange aura becoming more pronounced. "Too long…for too long, I have had to stand by and do nothing, while that basta-"

Werehog had heard more than enough from his unruly offspring, and promptly slapped him, catching Shiro and everyone else by surprise. "Mind your own business, puppy."

Stumbling from the force of the blow, Shiro instinctively lifted a paw to his injured muzzle. His eyes had shifted back into their normal golden color, but were still filled with hate.

As Shadow watched, something deep inside him was whispering for him to prevent further harm from befalling Shiro. Gathering up the little courage he had, he was about to step forward, when his Master glared at him with such ferocity, that he instead backed away.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your punishment…" Werehog growled, unfurling the whip.

Most of the crowd dispersed at this, not wanting to witness any more than they needed to.

Sonic, although wanting to drive Werehog away, knew that if he did, then Shadow would either be freed from Werehog and GUN's influences, taken away for good, or even killed.

He felt as though he never should have agreed to the deal, but it had been an ultimatum. Even before Werehog had freed himself from Sonic's mind, it had still been difficult to keep him from hurting Shadow…

'I've gotta do something!' the blue hedgehog thought as his rogue alter advanced towards the ebony male.

Quickly coming to a decision, Sonic darted in between the two, taking on a defensive stance.

To his left, he saw Shiro do the same.

Werehog paused momentarily, taken aback by their actions, before narrowing his eyes in irritation. "Tch, why waste your time protecting that worthless little weakling?"

Suddenly getting an idea, although he wasn't a hundred percent sure if it would work, Sonic gave Werehog a cocky smirk. "Worthless, huh? If he's as worthless and weak as you say he is, wouldn't you have killed him by now?"

Rather comically, Shiro and Werehog gave him identical confused looks. "What are you getting at?" they asked in unison, though Shiro chose to ignore that.

"We both know you can't stand weakness. So, instead of brainwashing him all these years, wouldn't it have been easier to just kill him? Unless, y'know, you actually care about him?"

"He doesn't," Shiro immediately retorted.

"Hush, I wasn't asking you, Shi."

The youngest of the four simply rolled his eyes and huffed, crossing his arms in a manner that reminded the rest of the group of the original Shadow the Hedgehog.

It also made Sonic wonder just what happened to the hedgehog, having not seen a sign of him in the past few hours.

He shook his head slightly; he had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. He looked back over at Werehog. "Well?" he prompted.

Werehog glanced at his slave and made eye contact; although he quickly averted his gaze, Shadow couldn't hide the small glimmer of hope that had appeared in his eyes.

There was a flutter of some emotion in Werehog's chest, but he couldn't identify it, and this frustrated him. As usual, when he was angered, he snapped. "Why would I care for that damn runt? He's nothing more than a slave!"

Shadow didn't know why he flinched. He had heard that same sentence every day, sans the weeks he was with GUN…

So why…?

Why did he feel a pain in his heart at the words?

…He didn't want it to hurt anymore…

Shiro, noticing that his Brother was trembling, glared at Werehog yet again, wanting to do something about it physically, but not being able to.

Unsure of just what to do, though he did try to think of a solution, he opted for reaching out for Shadow.

As soon as he made contact, Shadow flinched again, whimpering softly as he whispered, "Leave me alone…"

Undeterred, Shiro tried again. "Brother-"

He didn't get a chance to finish, as Shadow whirled around, simultaneously sinking his fangs into Shiro's arm and slashing his stomach. All of his confusion and hurt had given way to anger, his mindset had gone feral, and he momentarily had forgotten that the pup was part of the pack, and not an enemy.

Shiro winced slightly, but before he or Sonic could do anything about it, Werehog grabbed Shadow by the quills and yanked him away, which ended up causing more damage to Shiro's arm.

The pain from the rough treatment was enough to bring Shadow back to his senses, but he didn't remember what he had been doing, nor could he remember what had caused the memory lapse.

Werehog, of course, was busy trying to rant. "You stupid little-!"

While uncertain if he was yelling at Shadow or Shiro, Sonic still cut him off. "Now's not the time!"

Indeed it wasn't; Shadow's claws had gone deep into Shiro's abdominal cavity, nearly exposing his internal organs, and when he had been dragged away, Shadow's fangs nicked one of the veins in his arm. So, he was losing blood at a fast rate.

Already pale and feeling dizzy from blood loss, Shiro swayed on the spot, but stubbornly kept himself from falling over.

Feeling a surge of concern – and fear? – Werehog dropped Shadow to the ground and rushed over, nearly knocking Sonic over, as the hedgehog had been trying to stop the bleeding despite the boy's weak protests.

"G'way…" Shiro slurred when he noticed Werehog approach him.

Werehog smirked slightly, giving him a look that said "I'd like to see you try and make me"

Now, Sonic obviously didn't trust Werehog, but he knew that they needed to tend to Shiro's injuries fast before any major organs shut down from the blood loss. He also knew that he couldn't keep pressure on the wounds and make sure the pup didn't fall out of his grasp; since Shiro wouldn't be able to stem the bleeding himself, there was only one thing Sonic could do.

"Hey…help me with him, will ya?"

Shiro would have protested, but he had already passed out.

Shadow could only watch as the two adults rushed the pup to the clinic. Thankfully, the town was so small that everything was close by.

Although his mind was still reeling from seeing Shiro injured, Shadow rose and was about to follow them, when he finally noticed the taste of…

Blood…

He froze, not understanding.

…Wait…

If there was blood in his mouth, then…

Looking down at himself, Shadow flinched when he saw the blood on his claws, filled with shock and horror.

'No…No, I couldn't have…'

Unable to handle the overwhelming evidence, Shadow turned and ran, heading into the forest. Unknowingly, he left a small trail of blood thanks to the amount on his paws.

He ran until he didn't have enough stamina to move, which took an hour, and only then did he collapse into sobs, tears flowing down his face as guilt consuming him.

GUN was right…they had always been right…

'I really am a monster…'

Despite his muscles protesting to more running, the ebony male stood and ran deeper into the forest, heading, at least he hoped, towards a river.

'And monsters don't deserve to live…'

Meanwhile…

Within the hour that passed, Shiro's wounds had been cleaned and stitched up. Almost miraculously, although he had lost a lot of blood, it hadn't been enough to require a transfusion. He still hadn't awakened, however, so Sonic and Werehog were both watching him intently.

Glancing over at Werehog, Sonic grinned to himself as he noticed that, under the indifferent, slightly annoyed mask that the alter wore, there was a faint glint of worry in Werehog's yellow eyes.

Cobalt furred ears twitched as they caught the sound of a semi-familiar song that was coming from the TV, which Sonic had switched on only to have something to do while they waited.

"In this farewell, there's no blood. There's no alibi…"

A deep sense of foreboding settled in the pit of the hedgehog's stomach.

He didn't like to think about it, but when he and the older Shadow had traveled the world together, bonding as brothers, there had been…quite a lot of humans who didn't take kindly to the crimson-eyed hedgehog, still believing him to be a heartless murderer after the events of the Black Arms invasion.

There had been times where their accusations and scorn made Shadow relive the abuse he suffered at the hands of GUN; made him feel as though the only way he could atone for his actions was to end his own life.

The only flaw they discovered, after the fifth attempt, was that because of Shadow's being immortal, not only could he not die from age, but no manner of death could kill him, which included suicide.

Sonic never found out if the black hedgehog had accepted this fact, but he'd assumed so, since Shadow hadn't attempted to take his own life after that.

He looked around the room, hoping…

But alas, he didn't see Shadow anywhere. "Oh no…"

Upon hearing the realization and panic in his former host's voice, Werehog idly wondered what would cause it…until he, too, noticed that Shadow was nowhere to be found.

'Surely he wouldn't…'

Werehog hadn't considered that Shadow would try something like that…perhaps he should have…

After mashing the power button hard enough to nearly break the TV remote, Sonic rose, and headed for the door. "Stay here and keep an eye on him. I'll go look for Shadow; I can find him faster." With that, Sonic dashed out at top speed.

Although knowing that Sonic had a point, but not wanting to admit it, Werehog was surprised that Sonic was willing to trust him alone with Shiro.

Perhaps it was because he didn't have much of a choice…

Turning his gaze back onto the figure on the bed, Werehog couldn't help wondering, 'What the hell do I do if he wakes up?'

Out in the forest…

After finding the blood trail Shadow had left behind, Sonic had sped up slightly, and found the older pup on the bank of a river, about to jump in.

"Shadow, no!"

He was too late.

SPLASH!

"Shadow!"

T.B.C.

Dear lord, what did I just write? I actually hate it when people call Shadow "emo"! Ugh, stupid contradictions…

If this turned out badly, sorry. I was rushing, since I wanted to finish this before classes started (I take night classes, which start today, actually), but I kept getting distracted.

Before I manage to take too long with my rambling, REVIEW! Any questions/concerns will be answered next time.

ShidesuHejjihoggu