In case you thought Shadow was hiding something, here you go
"Quit squirming, you're only going to slow things down."
Silver's gold eyes slid open at the sound of Shadow's stern voice.
"I'm not squirming, I'm only adjusting myself."
Still feeling the blanket of sleep and drowsiness weighing on his mind, the hoglet rubbed at his eyes. It must had been a light sleep that he had awoken from, as the hoglet had no problems becoming aware of his surroundings. The night was still young, the auroras still danced brightly, and the stars twinkled softly in the pre-midnight dark.
"So, are you gonna tell me what's bothering you?"
"There is nothing bothering me."
"That is a lie."
A heavy inhale reached the hoglet's ears. Turning his eyes from the sky, he watched the light from the unobservable campfire flicker against his walls. The yellow and red lights cast a thin line across his partial ceiling, leaving the hoglet in complete darkness from the shadow of his floor.
"There is…nothing wrong." Shadow spoke, articulating himself precisely with every syllable crystal clear.
"Oh Shadow, you don't think I know you?" Tone asked, smile shining in his voice. "Your quills are tense and hard, your eyes are dull, and the kid was asking me about you."
The only thing piercing the silence was the steadily crackling fire.
"Kids don't lie, Shadow."
"Just because I feel stressed does not mean everything is out of order." Shadow huffed. "I have everythi-"
"You're getting tense trying to talk about it now." Tone interrupted. "Look at yourself - you're trying to reason with a rolling boulder."
"Why are you asking?" Shadow audibly frowned. "I'm trying to help you and you've done nothing but ask targeted questions from the moment you showed up."
"Is a guy allowed to care about the man who raised him?"
"..."
"I see you Shadow, I'm grown - I understand things I couldn't forty years ago." Tone sighed. "My questions wouldn't have bothered you if something wasn't wrong, and you're worrying me."
"There is no reason to worry."
"Shadow - you are defensive, abrasive, walking on eggshells, and volatile - it's bad enough for the kid to notice." Tone highlighted. "Should I keep going? You're watching the horizons, you keep looking at the sky, an-"
"I get it - I get it." Shadow interrupted, defeat sounding in his voice. "You've made your point, I am stressed."
Silence continued as the woken child sat up in his bed.
"...so what's bothering yo-"
"What isn't there to be bothered about." Shadow hissed, voice stopping Silver from stepping out from under his blankets. "Life sucks, the world is going to die, and I have to watch it all go down."
"That's not what's bothering you."
"Oh really-"
"Yes really. You've talked about that a hundred times over." Tone pointed out. "I know what you look like when the existential dread sets in, this is not that."
"Then, pray tell, what you think it is."
"Well, for one, the ki-"
Coughing and hacking filled the air as the elder cougar began to choke, wheezing through grunts and spitting on the ground.
"Hold it steady-" Shadow commanded, a brief light flashing brighter than the fire in response to his order.
Silver shrunk back under his sheets. Somehow, he felt as if he wasn't supposed to be here for this conversation. It was clearly a grown-up discussion and Tone was getting his lungs cleaned out. Fluffing his fur against a gust of wind, the hoglet pulled his blanket up to his nose. What an awful procedure…
"Y-you're stressed out about the…" Tone paused his sentence to cough a final cough, spitting on the ground once more in distaste. "You're stressed about the kid."
"Nonsense."
"You were just fine talking about Mephiles and mom-ing my grey fur until I started asking questions about him." Tone spoke, audibly laying back down with a brushing thump. "Then you got all whiny and huffy about his training."
"I do not 'mom' your-"
"Yes, you do."
Another huff reached Silver's eavesdropping ears.
"Look, Shadow." The cougar sighed. "Something about him is clearly making you upset."
"So did you." Shadow rebutted. "You were a nightmare to raise."
"He's young yet."
"..."
"He won't reach his nightmare phase for another few years."
The flickering fire crackled through the night as a heavy silence fell upon the duo for another long minute. Feeling uncomfortable, Silver laid his head on his pillow.
"I don't know if i have a few years…"
"What?"
"I don't know if I have a few years."
"Shadow?"
"Tone… It's complicated…"
"You're not gonna die…are you?"
"What?"
"You make it sound like-"
"You're being ridiculous." Shadow frowned, audibly shoving the cat back into a reclining position. "I am the Ultimate Life Form. I'm not just going to flat out pass away - I can't even blow my own brains out."
"Then what in Gaia's name are you talking about?"
"Silver…"
The hoglet in question felt his ears prick.
"We're on a time limit."
"A time limit?"
"There's a pattern…I've observed…when it comes to him."
"A pattern?"
"I…It's…How do I…"
Shadow trailed off, struggling with words and voice growing stressed. Feeling anxiety creeping up his spine, Silver brought his knees to his chest.
"I only have eight years." The ranger blurted.
"...eight years for what?"
"E-everything."
"I thought you said you weren't going to die."
"I-I'm not - it's just…"
Silver curled up tighter. The hoglet had known Shadow to hold some degree of stress before…but hearing it in his voice was entirely new. Even-voiced, blank-faced, and emotionally cold were words that the child would describe his mentor. But hearing Shadow upset made the hoglet feel a hole in his chest he desperately wanted to close.
"I knew… he said he came from the future…but he never specified how far…and I thought I had more time but I don't - now everything is at stake and I don't feel like he's ready…but it…but I…"
"...What are you going on about?"
"I only have two Emeralds." Shadow hissed, strenuously forcing his breath through his teeth. "I need all seven, but they're so much harder to find than back in the day - not to mention the more I have the easier it is for Mephiles to find me and the more dangerous it gets for him…I thought I had more time…"
"I never took you for one to be stressed about not having enough time." Tone frowned. "Usually you're lamenting about outliving everyone."
"You don't understand."
"Make me."
Crackling silence.
"I've known since the day the world died that my destiny was to find him…" Shadow said, voice cracking in the weight of repressed emotions. "I didn't think about it much at first but then I raided the early Syndicate for supplies and found Signal."
"Yeah, and we both know how that went."
"I failed so hard…" Shadow whimpered, audibly distressed yet still somewhat composed. "I-I didn't know the weight of my future until he slapped me in the face… spitting on my shoes and walking out of my life…"
"That doesn't define…"
"It does." Shadow snapped, interrupting the cougar.
Silver found himself flinching at the poisonous words.
"I am responsible for…for everyone."
"...you sound insane, Shadow."
"You don't think I know that?"
"You're overanalyzing the situation-"
"Tone, I promise you… for once I am not."
"Then make me understand."
"If I screw up…this entire timeline stays the same; everyone dies, Mephiles wins, and I walk the scorched sands of a lifeless desert for all eternity until the heat death of the universe - the only contingency plan I have is…is… I don't even want to think about that… All I know is-"
"Now you're talking nonsense."
"I promise you." Shadow growled, the fire flickering ominously against Silver's roof. "I am not talking nonsense, I am merely looking at the paradoxical nature of time itself."
"And going insane."
"He is the only thing that can save everything."
"What?"
"I-its a pattern." Shadow stammered. "Sonic dies, the world goes to crap, and … He shows up - It's like clockwork."
"What?"
"Something happened - something wrong happened." Shadow emphasized, "This timeline…shouldn't exist."
Silver couldn't help but frown. The adult wasn't making any sense, and if the hoglet was going to be honest with himself, it sounded like his mentor needed some professional help. Feeling confused, the hedgehog shuffled under his sheets.
"What are you talking about?"
"Sonic's died before - and every single time that fu-fr-fervent hedgehog screwed up… He showed up and fixed it."
"Yes…I know… You've told me the stories."
"Look at it harder."
"I know the tale by-"
"There's a pattern - He shows up, everything's fine. But the problem is - He died."
"...and?"
"None of that…none of anything… was supposed to happen - the last thing he said to me before burning alive was 'Find me Shadow' - and now I have and-"
"Wait." Tone snapped, voice bouncing off of Silver's walls like a ball on a moss path. "He's the ti-"
"Not so loud." Shadow hissed, voice dropping to a whisper in its intensity. "Do not wake him."
"You didn't tell me tha-"
"I don't want him to know."
"Bu-"
"Do you have any idea what knowing your destiny does to a person?" Shadow hissed. "In a time since erased I was told my best friend would lend me to a fate worse than death and I had to live with that until he was destroyed in the Chaos Bleed."
"You what?"
"That sort of foreknowledge will destroy an adult - can you imagine what it will do to a child?"
"I see your point…"
"I want to preserve his innocence as long as possible…I-I can't put him through the torture i've experienced…"
"You know that's impossible…"
"I can still try."
Silver found himself shuddering. He didn't fully understand what was going on, but Shadow mustn't be crazy because Tone sounded like he was agreeing with him. Feeling guilty, the hoglet pulled his covers over his ears. He definitely wasn't supposed to hear this conversation.
"Shadow…I didn't know…this…this must be terrible for you…"
"I've known the day was coming…It's alright Tone...I've had two hundred years to pre…prepare myself…"
"You don't sound prepared."
"I tried…"
"But eight years?" Why that specifically?"
"In the past - he was fourteen when he first started showing up." Shadow sighed, boots scraping on the stone ground. "In roughly eight years…he will be fourteen."
"Holy temple of Gaia…"
"I'm running out of time…"
"Shadow…what you're planning…"
"It has to be done…in the past he simply went back to a different future…but now…it's up to me to…to…"
"I think you're worrying too hard."
"What?"
"You're thinking in immortal science experiment years."
"...what?"
"Think of it this way - you found me when I was five, correct?"
"Correct."
"It took me one year to talk at a tolerable speaking voice." Tone continued. "Then it took me another five to gain full vocal control."
"Yes, but-"
"You have eight years." Tone explained. "That's more than enough ti-"
"Signal left eleven years after i found him, Breeze was in my care for fifteen years, and you were in mine for fourteen - eight is not enough time to get him up to par-"
"Shadow!' Tone scolded. "You're comparing him to one of us?"
"..."
"He was untrained and kicking Sonic's butt at fourteen." The cougar emphasized. "You didn't feel comfortable with me moving out until I was nineteen."
"Yes bu-"
"Can you imagine the stuff he could do with proper training?"
"That is exactly why I am worried."
"Elaborate."
"I don't think I can teach him the things he is capable of in eight years…" Shadow groaned. "I'm working him daily, driving his exercise, drilling him in Water Hand, and he's not progressing fast enough…I don-"
"Chaos, Shadow; you're beating him to death."
"I don't have a choice.."
"You do."
"..."
"Has he had any time to play?"
"Last time I gave him some, he beat up the schoolyard bully…"
"Did he win?"
"Not the point."
Silver found himself shrinking under the harsh tone.
"You need to let the kid live." Tone sighed. "Give him a break…not overwork him…"
"I don't have the ti-"
"You can't ruin this, Shadow." Tone sternly pointed out. "Don't make him resent you for not letting him be a kid."
"..."
"I know Signal did."
"Please…" Shadow sighed, tone of voice shifting from frustration to pleading. "Don't go there.."
"Let me take him out tomorrow." Tone offered, sitting up from the stone ground in shuffled movements. "I'll see how far along he is - give him a change of pace."
"I don't know…"
"Shadow." The cougar growled. "Look at yourself - you're a complete mess."
"It was your choice to uncork the bottle."
"Do you feel better?"
"A little…"
"See - you can't just hold that stuff in forever."
"I know…"
"Let me take him out."
"..."
"It's only a day." Tone pressed. "And it will give you a break from all this pressure."
"Alright..."