Shadow's POV

I opened the door to the house to see Rouge sitting on the couch. She was wearing her everyday attire but had no makeup on. The smell of tea filled the air as I stepped inside. I looked around and on the table was a teapot and four cups.

"Good morning Rouge,"I said as I closed the door behind me

"Morning honey," She replied and looked up from the book that she was reading.

Where are Leo and Ace?" I asked her looking around the house.

"Last time I checked Leo is getting cleaned up in the bathroom upstairs… I think Ace is still asleep in his room," Rouge replied and took another sip of her tea.

"So how long do you think they'll be living here with us?" I asked her as I sat down next to her.

"I don't know hun… But I think we need to take care of them for as long as Tails needs us to. Even if it's for a really long time" She said as she poured another cup of tea for herself.

I held my head in my hands and buried my face into my palms. How long will this really go to take? When will we see Sonic's smiling face again? When will I- When we all of us be able to see the blue hero? I looked down at the carpet trying to hold back my tears.

As I was going through my thought I could feel Rouge's eyes fall on me. I heard a quiet sigh and a gloved hand then landed on my shoulder. I let my head drop even more so Rouge couldn't see my face…. I thought that I looked pathetic.

"Are you alright? You've been acting weird ever since we got home with Ace and Leo. Did something happen?" Rouge asked me adjusting herself so she was facing me.

"No everything is fine… I totally fine Rouge! No need to worry about me," I lied still looking at the ground.

"I know when you are lying Shadow… Now tell me the truth. Are you alright?" She asked me again.

"No, I'm not alright! I can't handle all of this. Sonic being split apart is teasing me. I've always wanted to get answers from that Faker for years now! Then out of nowhere, there are people living with us that know the answers. I've wanted to ask them for answers... But I don't want to bug them about it," I told her louder then I should have.

"You know we are all fine about talking about these things… Some of us really need to get it off of our chests… Sonic has been putting the pain on all of us," I heard from the stairs.

I looked up and there was Leo standing there. He had taken off his bandana and there was a towel slung around his neck. He then sat down on the opposite couch from my and Rouge.

"Sonic is a really secretive boy… He thinks that keeping things to himself will protect you guys… But all he is doing is hurting you. He is a really good actor and can hide his true feelings pretty well. But I wonder how long he can keep the act together," Leo told us leaning back in the couch.

"What do you mean by 'Sonic is acting'... What's wrong with him?" I asked him eagerly.

"Sonic has been acting like he has always been happy. But that's not what he is really feeling. The only thing he usually feels is pain and fear. The reason he doesn't tell you all was because he was afraid," He told us and tied his bandana back around his neck.

I looked back down at the ground trying to hide my face while I held back my tears. Rouge took this as a sign. She knew that I couldn't handle asking questions anymore. She sighed and looked at Leo who had no emotion on his face.

"What was he afraid of?" Rouge asked him and looked over at me with a scared look.

"He is afraid of how you guys will act. How he would make you all feel. So he kept it to himself knowing how much it would hurt him. But he didn't care… He forced himself to feel happy to make you guys feel happy. But that just made the pain build even more"

"So Sonic had been holding in pain all this time? How bad is it?"

"The pain made Sonic cry in his room for hours. Crying helped him a little… To be honest it lessened the load a lot. To end the pain he even thought about letting Eggman take him away and use him in his own evil plans. But then he thought about you guys and what Eggman might make him do. So he didn't go on with the plan but kept it as an option… His acting was so good that it even fooled Tails sometimes… But we all know that he feels that something is wrong. That almost made Sonic break,"

"What did Sonic do when Tails started to worry?"

"Sonic didn't let any pain show. He just hid it all and it hurt even more than before. Him not being able to let it all out all the pain himself made the load heavier and heavier,"

"Was the pain always eating at him?"

"All the pain was there… But rarely it would be pushed aside. Especially when he was with you Shadow. All the worry would be forgotten but when you ran away all the pain came back,"

My eyes went wide… Did I make Sonic happy? Tears started to form in my eyes. I remembered all the times I had called him names. All the times I had beat him up to let out my anger and yet... the Faker kept coming back.

I let the tears fall from my eyes. I didn't care if others watched me cry… Rouge tried to calm me down but she had no luck.

"He loves you Shadow," I heard Leo say and I looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" I asked him with a slight crack in my voice.

"He loves you Shadow. He cares so much about you. You just haven't seen it yet," Leo told me with a small chuckle.

He walked to me slowly and stopped in front of me. He then kneeled down on one knee and wiped my tears with his gloved hand. He has me a smile and patted my head.

"Show me that smile Shads," Leo said with a giggle and stepped back.

I took a deep breath and looked up at Leo. A weak smile formed on my face. It took a while but it soon formed into a huge Smile. He nodded at me and looked up at the stairs and there was Ace just standing there.