Chapter Title: A Change of Heart

AN: Now that finals week is over I will now be able to post chapters weekly but I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's kind of boring but its leading to the next chapter where romance begins !

Chapter 2

The morning wasn't gray, but by soothing lavender and brilliant amber. The colors merged into neon pink and peach. Amy wakened early each morning in the stronghold to watch the sunrise. The rose pink hedgehog held the basket of laundry to her hip as she watched the sunset. It was beautiful and she couldn't help but smile though when she entered her home, only to be met with her husband, that smile dispersed.

Shadow was already up and awake as he sat in the dinner table with a coffee mug to his lips as he read a book. Amy pursed her lips into a frown. She hurried past him and to the sink as she took his dirty plate where he had eaten his morning breakfast.

"Are you going to take him to the Officials soon?" Amy asked, setting the basket on the table, glancing at him sternly. "I expect him gone by the end of day."

"I need him to help me around the farm first." Shadow said, setting his empty mug down. "After that I'll send him away since you don't want a son."

Amy's frown deepened as she felt her cheeks puff because of it."Do you really want a feral for a son?" She asked with distaste, washing the dishes. "You know what happens to them. They get tortured. Killed."

He paid no attention to her as he flipped a page. "Would you mind checking on him for me?" He asked, changing the topic.

"Why do I have to do it?" Amy glared as she dried her hands on the skirt of her dress. "You're the one who brought him!"

"Just do it," Shadow glared back as he stood and walked to the front door. "I need to go fix the broken fence so the chaos don't get out again."

"Wait!" Amy tugged at his shirt, ears folded back. "What if he attacks me? You know how dangerous they are. I hear they even practice cannibalism."

"That's absurd," Shadow said with a stoic expression as he yanked himself away from her. "Those are only rumors."

"They are dirty, disgusting creatures!" Any shrieked. "That's why they need to be taken away somewhere where they can't hurt us. The Officials said that they'd be taken to a Feral Sanctuary if we turn any in."

Shadow ignored her rambling as he took his jacket from the rack nearby and went to the door only to be stopped by his wife once more as she stood in front of him, arms crossed. "I already explained to you that I would turn him in as soon as he helped me a bit around the farm."

"How can you be do calm with having such a wild Feral in our property?" Amy argued, putting her hands on her hips and furrowing her brows. "It isn't safe. Just take him away. We don't have room for his kind here!"

"Rose, enough." Shadow snapped, shutting her up with a sharp glare.

Amy's lips tightened into a frown, following his orders, she was supposed to listen to her husband. Her voice and opinion meant nothing in this household. Shadow was the one in charge and that meant she had to be a good wife and listen.

She lowered her head, not wanting to look at him as he walked out, not bothering in talking with her further. She really hated it but at least he had promised to take the Feral away. That's all that mattered to her right now.

—•—

Amy held her breath as she entered the old shed they had let the Feral sleep in over the night with a a weary look in her face. Shadow had instructed she check on the azure hedgehog while he fixed the fence for the chaos and to call him out to help him. She didn't understand why he couldn't do it himself but since he had agreed to turn him in after they fixed the fence she agreed.

Now she couldn't help regretting that choice because that meant she would have to be alone with the feral. She gulped. She had heard many stories about how dirty, dangerous, and full of disease they were. She wondered if they were easily contagious or rather terminal. She shivered at the thought but those thoughts were broken when she stepped over a red puddle. She looked down.

Blood.

Amy's eyes widen at the sight as she turned to run until she saw the azure hedgehog.

Sonic leaned against the wall and held a ragged breath. This was the only time Amy was able to see his face. Innocent, scared, but always alert. She stood before him, with uneasiness and her eyes locked on him. It took her a while to realize that he was not alright when she saw his blood stain at his side.

The blood was his own.

Amy reached out to touch him and just then his eyes snapped open and the azure hedgehog growled out, slashing out at her as she jumped backing in surprise. He grimaced and his hand instantly went to his side in pain. The pink hedgehog could feel the thumping of her heart but she still wanted to help so she tried again only for his eyes to dart back to hers and snarl out, eyes barely open, weakly trying to protect himself.

"Please," Amy held out her open hand to him, worry filling her eyes. "Let me help you."

Sonic lifted his eyes to look at her better and his breath was taken away. He had seen her before but in his haziness he barely remembered. Right now, however, she looked angelic as she held out her hand to him with a such kind eyes as if to heal him from his suffering and so he leaned back against the wall, breathing hard as he observed her unsurely.

Her emotions were not easily hidden on her innocent face. Her pain was evident in the crease of her lovely brow and the down-curve of her full lips. But her eyes, her eyes showed her soul. They were a deep pool of restless green, an ocean of hopeless grief. As he looked into her eyes he knew, all the beauty of the universe could not even hope to compete with this simple thing: passion.

"Beautiful," he uttered as she reached out to open his jacket.

Her checks flushed and she looked up at him in surprise only to see him follow her gaze and stare intensely back at her wordlessly. She could feel her ears fold back in sudden shyness as she looked away from him, unsure if she had heard him right. After all, Ferals didn't speak. She lifted the jacket and her eyes widen at the wound he had in his body.

The bullet wound was a mess, as if he'd been hit with two different kinds of weapon at once. There was the usual dark red hole that oozed thickly, but also hundreds of different tiny wounds – like shrapnel.

The weapon would have had to been something large, military, going by the size of the wound. The bullet must have been close being some small missile. Someone had wanted this guy guaranteed irreparable.

Amy stared, unable to move, as blood gushed from his wounds. Then she came back to life and looked back up at him as his breathing began to slow. "No," she whispered, feeling the blood soak her shirt. "Stay with me!" She kept shouting as she searched frantically around the shed for a first aid kit. "Shadow!" She shouted.

Much to Sonic's luck she found and old one they kept hidden and ran back to him.

Blood soaked into Sonic's sleeve, radiating outward. Amy stripped the fabric away to show the dark hole in his never-seen-the-sun peachy skin. In seconds she had wedged a piece of thick fabric into his mouth and gone to work with long tweezers and just then Shadow came running in with his shotgun in hand as Sonic lost conscience.

—•—

Emerald green eyes began to slowly blink open, the Feral creature finally awaking from his sleep. Eyes searching his surroundings as the world slowly began to swirl into view. He groaned and pushed himself up only for his side to be stuck with pain. He hissed out and leaned his back against the cold wall behind him, breathing out hard as he immediately regretted his decision of moving.

"You're awake I see," A gruffly voice interjected.

Sonic's eyes snaped to the left side of the shed and he made out the outline of the ebony hedgehog with his back to him. Shadow washed his hands in a bowl of hot water, cleansing them from the blood, and dried them with a towel as he looked back at the azure hedgehog with wrapped bandages around his torso. He lay still over the hay. He wasn't shaking anymore and the bleeding had stopped but he was still weak. Shadow could see him gazing out the hole in the roof deep in thought.

"You should be fine now." Shadow said simply, drying his hands as he glanced at the azure hedgehog. "You should have told us you were wounded."

No reply.

Shadow lowered his gaze at him. "You're not going to talk?"

Sonic's eyes shifted back to Shadow and he watched him suspiciously as the ebony hedgehog turned to him expectantly. They stared each other in the eye with such intensity until the cobalt hedgehog looked away in defeat.

The hedgehog before him was older and more intimidating than him so it was Feral law to show submissiveness to your elders. That was unless you were going to battle over dominance but Sonic wasn't the least interested given his current state. Not to mention he was not an alpha himself but a simple omega, not that Shadow would know any of this since Normals did not categorize themselves anymore in rank.

The Ebony's voice cracked the silence, saying, "Had my wife not found you sooner you would have been dead by now." Sonic's ears flicked at the confession. He lowered his eyes, memories before he blacked out resurfacing, and he blinked. That girl was his wife?

He was sure he had seen her before and now he was proven correct. She had not been an angel like he had first thought. Though she very much resembled what one would look like and he was grateful for her.

"Thank you." Sonic said raw and coarsely.

"Hm," Shadow hummed unamusement, glancing back at Sonic as he exited the shed. "so you do speak?"

—•—

Amy sat at the kitchen table with her finger in her mouth as she chewed on it softly in worry. She had done what she could even after the Feral lost conscience from blood loss and pain.

It was so much blood.

Her dress was soaked from it and it looked like murder scene. Had he been like that the whole night? How did he not die? Her eyes lowered at the thought. He would have died alone that night and it was a miracle he was even alive right now. Then again last time she saw him he was pale and unconscious and she was sure she was losing him before Shadow took over.

Was the Feral going to die now?

Her thoughts were broken when the door creaked opened and her eyes shot to her husband who was entering the room calmly. That was a good sign. She let out a hopeful sigh as she turned to him. "Is he going to be alright?" She wondered.

"You caught him just in time," Shadow explained as he casually walked to the coat hanger and began putting his on. "he should recover within a few a few weeks."

Amy blinked at him. "Where are you going?"

"To the Officials," He said simply, walking back to the door and placing his hand on the handle as he turned to her expectantly. "you did say you wanted him gone, did you not?"

"Will they help him?" Amy wondered as she bit her thumb in worry. "That's a really bad wound he has there. The Officials can take him to the Feral Sanctuary they are keeping all the ones they catch in. Maybe they can have someone who can help him there."

Shadow gave a low chuckle. "Do you really believe that none sense."

Amy frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Who do you think gave him the wound in the first place?" He asked her with an annoyed look in his face. "That wound was not made with any ordinary gun but a military one."

The pink hedgehog remained silent for a moment as a look of denial crossed over her face. That couldn't be right. They only killed the ones that were dangerous and this one seemed far from it. The Officials did not kill the innocent. Maybe it was someone else who had done it.

Then again, Shadow had a point that the wound was proof enough that it was made by them. None of it made sense. Why would they do something like that?

"That can't be true," Amy said slowly, looking up at him with a frown. "they are just taking them to a sanctuary so they don't hurt us."

Shadow made no comment as he turned to open the front door only to be stopped just like in the morning. Amy was tugging at his arm but her head was hung low in what seemed like embarrassment. "Wait!" She said with a sigh. "Maybe we can keep him until he gets better and we set him free."

The ebony hedgehog yanked away from her with a huff and removed his hand from the handle. "If that is what you see best." He said simply, walking past her.

Amy bit her thumb as she watched him go upstairs with uneasiness. She had acted out on impulse earlier but had she made right choice in saving and now asking Shadow to save him? The pink hedgehog shook her head in thought knowing too well that things in their life had taken a turn with the Feral's arrival.

She only hoped things wouldn't end badly.

AN: As said above, I will now be able to post weekly but that all depends on reviews :) had I not gotten all the ones I did I might have not continued so keep reviewing please! It motivates me!