Author's Note 1: Five melancholic situations set months prior to the events of "Stormy Weather," recontextualizing Shadow's point of view as promised in 2021. This is a companion piece to the main series.
TEARS UNWIPED, VOWS UNSHARED
He didn't know why he had come.
Shadow looked down from the balcony, adorned with Christmas lights. The fireworks had long ceased, yet he and the host remained outside, silence charging the air as smoke once did.
A fancy residence Abraham Tower had.
He always offered having Shadow over. First as an apology when he had become a grandfather during the Black Arms invasion. Then over an awkward phone call mediated by Sonic; a forced courtesy. Finally, he accepted spending New Year's Eve with the Commander and his family. Rouge had stopped by too, spending longer in the matriarch's closet than the gathering itself, parting with shiny belongings that weren't hers.
"Wish Abe a 'Happy New Year' for me," she had snickered.
To this day, Shadow didn't understand the human tradition of kissing once the clock hit midnight. The way Abraham embraced his wife made him scorn the habit.
His champagne was still cold; time didn't fly as fast without Sonic's futile distractions.
"So, have you... got someone?"
He looked at the stars, but the moon wasn't there.
"No."
The Commander hummed. A rhetorical question.
"It astonished me to learn that Sonic from your group has settled."
"He hasn't settled," Shadow corrected.
That was a game. One Sonic was having fun playing.
"You're right. I saw her on the news," Abraham gave his champagne a sip. "Pretty."
His side eye implied it was only a matter of time. Shadow didn't speak. He couldn't deny Amy Rose's beauty.
"Life is short for us," he continued, acknowledging his own age. "You shouldn't let what Professor Gerald gave you go to waste."
Eternal life, he meant.
"It's nice… to have a woman waiting for you at home," he regarded Shadow, his lack of words bringing an old memory to the table. "Or… man. I never forgot about those adult magazines you stole and hid under Maria's bed."
"Still traumatized by hairy men?" Shadow's tone was neutral.
"Traumatized by a freak who stole that scientist's porno before I did."
Shadow snorted. Abraham smiled, too. The spoils of childlike curiosity.
"Maria got rid of the ones with women on the cover. I had to sleep on the floor that day."
He remembered being scolded in hushed whispers as they blushed, flustered and unsupervised. She knew those dirty photographs wouldn't help his human anatomy studies. He barely even turned a homework in.
"Thinking back now… I should've snitched on you," and as if there wasn't anything else to be said, he went on. "I even turned a blind eye to your endeavors with that soldier and Captain Andrews ten years ago. You never got the punishment you deserved."
So he knew. Shadow wondered if the Commander got the information through rumors or evidence. Doing his side of the bargain, he had to finish Herman off in a stall when dismissed soldiers entered the showers after training, fur and skin drenched and hot and sticky. As for Andrews, he didn't mind the cameras in the armory. He disliked that human so much he scrubbed his blood off his cock in the drinking fountain. Tower's pet freak. Idiot.
"You couldn't even pull the trigger, Abraham," he added to the list.
It was the Commander's turn not to respond. Shadow sighed.
"I don't pursue love… of any kind."
"But you deserve it."
Shadow scowled in disbelief once they made eye contact.
"…that's what she would have thought," Abraham looked away.
Have you made many friends? I saw you racing away in the distance with that blue hedgehog. He seemed nice!
Shadow remembered her assuming the last time he saw her. A few days before he kissed that blue hedgehog.
"Hmph," he let the subject drop. "Did you love her?"
"Of course."
Abraham moved from the balcony to head inside. He clasped Shadow's shoulder, no malice or resentment involved.
"And I know you did too."
The Commander went back to the family he made on Earth. Alone under the stars, memories of Sonic making a joke about him having hybrid children with Rouge resurfaced, proving to be a waste of time once he had revealed he was sterile.
Family matters, or whatever Abraham's wife had said earlier in the banquet.
He can't offer family. Can't offer love.
And he knows that, deep down, neither is what Sonic wants.
He wants the chase. The delirium of reaching and never climaxing. Chaos incarnate.
That he could offer.
He did offer.
He wished the moon wasn't hidden by the clouds tonight.
He knew Sonic wasn't unfaithful.
The blue hedgehog would never break someone's trust, loyalty a matter they fought and fucked about a decade ago.
He touched him again. The ghost of his fingers made the fur on Shadow's inner thigh stand on end. He didn't care about whatever Sonic was saying, big on himself about things he wasn't listening to. Sure, he had indulged in light conversation at first, until Sonic's palm wandered through his thigh, stroking it firmly or softly in levity and reminiscence.
An absentminded quirk.
The park was empty that afternoon. Debris of destroyed robots laid whizzing and leaking on the greenery in front of the bench they shared. Shadow was dealing with a horde of Egg Pawns when Sonic joined the fray uninvited from Orchardville, turning it into a competition. He was probably expected somewhere, considering the outfit. A white tuxedo with a pink bowtie and dress shoes. And a golden wristwatch. Charming if not annoying.
The pointers showed he could be thirty minutes late to whatever appointment he had.
Shadow's hand came to meet his in ultimatum. He intertwined their fingers when Sonic's rested dangerously close to his sheath, halting them there. It was clear the blue hedgehog didn't register what he was doing by the way his words died in his tongue and he stared, realization sparking in his features. Subtle but present. His fingers twitched over his mound.
Shadow dared him to dive further, fondling his knuckles in guidance. His blatant refusal in face of temptation insulted him. For someone who does as he pleases, Sonic definitely had some principles established. He respected and despised him for it in equal measure. Not a cheater. The glint in Sonic's eyes were gone, and so was the hand in his, teared away furtively during Shadow's tenuous moment of disgust and arousal.
Sonic stood up from the bench and checked the time.
"Sheesh, I gotta go," he tsked. "Amy gifted me this watch so I wouldn't be late."
Shadow seized his wrist, grip so strong it cracked the case and froze its pointers.
"Do you regret it?" he asked sternly.
This wasn't about the caress.
Sonic smirked, unusual hostility in his stance.
"No," he said sincerely. "Do you?"
A lump in his throat prevented Shadow from replying. He scoffed and let the blue hedgehog go, which he did, left to the wreck they have caused together. He just wanted Sonic out of his sight, vision a blur of scrap and unshed tears. He folded his arms over his chest, palms closing around the biceps as if to hold himself.
As he would do.
Shadow stayed like that for a moment, until he released an arm to relieve the frustration and misplaced anger from their root. He stroked his sheath with purpose, mind reprising each strike that brought their targets to ruin. His frown intensified; unblinking teary eyes fixated on the humanoid robots lying by his feet, broken and bare. Before he knew it, his cock was raw and aching from the rough treatment, driven by sadism.
"They're too dead to watch," the blue hedgehog stated a few meters away, his back turned to Shadow's.
Sonic didn't see, but he heard the friction of glove to flesh, ultimately departing with hands intertwined behind his spines and a mournful smile.
He didn't know how long he was there. Waiting for an answer.
Nor why he came.
"Wait. Isn't he here?"
"He barely stays in lately, handsome. He has more sex in two days than we do in a month."
"..."
"Is that normal?"
"Well, not for him, but what can I do? Tell him his dick will fall off if he keeps this up?"
"I knew it was a bad idea... I told Sonic–!"
"Hey! If you're so worried about Shadow, go be with him then! He might even teach you a thing or two!"
"What?!"
"Tch. Fools," Shadow closed his eyes, ready to be taken by slumber.
He didn't remember Knuckles and Rouge being this loud. The argument was short-lived, an introduction to a chain of events that remotely sounded like fighting or making out. Tearing fabric out, pushing the bed. Rouge's debaucherous laugh and a shocked moan. A slap in the echidna's face. In his quarters, Shadow was unamused by how slumber hadn't taken him yet, eyelids heavy and tired. They didn't know he was in the penthouse.
It wasn't a surprise he made their sex more interesting. A walking, surly aphrodisiac.
"Shadow... you know I'll always be here for you, right?" Rouge had said when they were at a café this morning.
He hadn't answered. He simply drank his coffee while fixing his gaze on her.
"I think he..." she had continued, palm over the back of his hand. "I think you're special to him, like you are to me."
Shadow had placed down his cup and broken the contact, gently holding her wrist to the table so she wouldn't try again. It wouldn't work.
"I already discussed it with Sonic. He made his choice," he leaned closer, speaking into her painted mouth before raising from his seat. "As I made mine with you long ago."
He couldn't talk to her about him. It wasn't... ideal.
Shadow sighed, turning in his bed. He knew the bat was trying to comfort him in a rather familiar way, though that kind of comfort wasn't something he particularly craved for – and neither did she. The echidna and her were exclusive like he and Sonic never were. Besides, it wasn't hard to get aroused with Rouge, until her damned, borderline desperate misunderstanding of his relationship with Maria.
Maria was his everything, a beloved friend; not an image to be desecrated. She was to be taken care of. Protected. And the blonde, human sex worker Rouge had once matched him up with reminded him a lot of that very last failure.
It made his blood boil.
Shadow frowned when Rouge whined in the distance. Knuckles was probably fucking her already. His scowl intensified at the idea of Amy using Sonic in the midnight hour. He was insatiable, even more than Rouge. With a kick to his duvet, Shadow faced the dark ceiling, naked except for his limiter rings.
He hadn't turned the neon lights on in forever.
The ground vibrated. Knuckles was definitely taking his job seriously, based on the bat's squeals of delight. Shadow glanced at the nightstand, lips parting once he found an article of clothing hanging in his coat rack. His fingers leisurely worked his pouch open, retracing memories sculptured in a pink sweatshirt that wasn't his. Shadow spat on his palm, coaxing his dick out to get it up in earnest.
Rouge swore profanities, countered by Knuckles' own, enough to cover the hedgehog's bare steps when snatching the soft fabric and lying back down to envelop it tightly around his member. He never washed it; fragrant of two men in a race. He breathed heavily and fucked the shirt harshly, mind conjuring himself in every hole and every crevice of one body. His tip brushed past the opening on the sweater's neck in a blur, claiming where Sonic's head would be from inside out.
Shadow bared his fangs, hips thrusting so fast his bed rocked like Rouge's in an incomplete orgy.
A tainted reverie had him knocking Sonic up if anything could ever make him stay. The notion was completely asinine. Unrealistic in both desire and nature. Impossible. He knew that wouldn't stop him. Nothing did. No one. Until he thought of Amy, their roles reversed. The sweater as her shape and his dick as Sonic's own, unprotected.
That made him go limp, confidence down the drain. He drew in a shaky breath, flinging the shirt as if cursed. It landed with a thud, silent and brief.
They were done then, Knuckles and Rouge.
Regret ate at his entrails. Shadow knew he was fighting against the wind, and it replied in kind; an invisible hand slid its gelid fingers down each bone of his spine once he curled into a fetal position, back exposed against the cold night air. The blue shadow coming from the water outside told Sonic wasn't there to watch, to record his orgasm in both memory and device. To praise and present as deserver of his load. Let the Ultimate Lifeform manhandle and conquer every arch and sound, in bed and under the shower.
Shadow got chills, moving to tuck himself in. He shouldn't have stayed tonight, secretly third-wheeling. Betrayed by his own mind. He was sure she would know what to say. Know how to help him get over his affliction. If only she was still alive.
But he was all alone. Again. How nice of him.
He wondered what Maria would think of Sonic now.
"You're sleeping upside down tonight?"
"How else will it stay in, hon...?"
"You're disgusting. Bye, bat-girl."
"Not even a goodbye kiss? You're such a brute."
"I already kissed you!"
"..."
"Don't bother me again!"
Blushing furiously, Knuckles stormed out of the chamber and wiped his mouth clean. He couldn't believe he had to kiss those lips again, fully creamed. It looked like porridge. The echidna almost stumbled on his way towards the pool section, black curtains casting eerie shadows in his departure. That hedgehog should keep the glass doors closed if he weren't going to come back.
And they call him a halfwit.
Knuckles was about to glide home when he sensed movement. It couldn't be Rouge.
Prepared to brawl, he spun around and saw a dark figure lying in bed.
The bastard was there! He knew it!
Despite the scare, Knuckles lowered his fists and cocked his head to the side. There was an indistinct tremble on Shadow's shoulders. He seemed to be in distress. The echidna couldn't spot his face, considering he was inclined with his back to the doors. For some reason, the scene left him uneasy. Why didn't Shadow teleport away? Was he cold, given how he held himself? It looked like there was something in his spine, fairer than his fur; a faded scar where something must've come out of his bones or entered him, visible only against the pool's neon lights, cobalt blue.
He blinked and it wasn't there anymore. It was late, so maybe his eyes were deceiving him.
Knuckles felt for Shadow. His heart wanted to go after Sonic, but his muscles drove him back to Angel Island.
Rouge was right. This... was none of his business.
He didn't consider himself hypersexual.
He just... needed to fuck.
"Proceed with caution..." E-123 Omega alerted.
"Then stay still," Shadow grasped the intakes of his twin jets.
The sirens covered their tracks, an early morning expedition to another base that ended in rampage. Reinforcements were dealt with, piles of abandoned research papers now ashes over melted robots, fated to Omega's flamethrower. For a laboratory of some kind, Dr. Eggman didn't spare an intricate defense system, but the overwhelming power of his army.
Child's play for living weapons like them, who turned it into a crypt.
And something else.
Omega fell to his hands and knees, senses damaged and energy supply low. Shadow stood on his kneecaps, thrusting his hips forward harshly into his rear plate, reduced to a dark hole by a sneaky projectile. He sucked in a breath before a low, menacing growl escaped from his throat, shards scratching his shaft like razors. His first time fucking a robot, and an already fucked up one at that.
He liked it. It was rushed, mechanical and devoid of care as only weapons understand.
Shadow's tip found exposed wires, tasing and locking his dick inside until the last drop of his load was forced out.
"Power levels optimal," Omega boasted.
Shadow only grunted.
Developing a preference for inserting metal objects into himself most likely steamed from experimentation. Sharp, sterile, cold; the majority of his sex toys could easily fit on a surgical tray. Shadow knew he was probed and pricked and studied, unconscious or not, memories fragmentated by self-preservation or erased by one's hand not to compromise his performance – as traumatic as they could be. The Professor was in charge of handling his brain personally; he created the perfect being after all, not some faulty monster.
Violated in the name of science and love, not human perversion.
His purpose had made it all worth it.
Shadow mounted on Omega's forearm, bringing a heavy claw to his mouth, hung open and waiting. He sucked it wantonly, control in each motion to lubricate the long-fantasized pointer even if it punctured his windpipe. Thermal sights recorded the constant bob of his head, sound returning with husky hums and a new order.
"Aim for it," Shadow guided his claw's tip to the wet entrance of his member, scarred by an ice pick the first time he tried sounding. "Put it in. Put it in," Omega complied, noting the change in his eye ridges and breathing. "Yes... slowly..."
Shadow gasped, familiar with the sensation. A third of the robot's claw spun inside his urethra, tight and welcoming.
"Warning: left minigun in risk of overheating. Unable to regulate. Shutdown recommended," Omega declared, indicating the end of the arm Shadow sat on.
"Increase the potency," the claw inside his length rotated faster. "I want it to sear," he scoffed through gritted teeth, grinding his sack on the overused weapon.
Omega approved. Merciless he was.
Shadow pumped his cock with an impenetrable gaze, showing nothing of substance. Stimulated by electric charges sent through his veins and the growing heat between his legs, a smug tone persuaded his body to push harder on a test of control and endurance.
Let's see how long you last.
Without me.
He burst prematurely. Reality knocked him over when a barrel burned the underside of his balls and thighs like a laser, making him lose his balance and display an ounce of emotion that wasn't apathy.
"Fuck! F-fuck you... dammit," he squirmed on the floor with a palm on his groin, chest heaving and ear twitching at a noise he didn't catch at first. "3 o'clock."
Omega fired with precision. A robot cut in half was dragging itself across the lab.
"Scanning area: no targets found," he leaned his build against a sturdy partition. "You are hallucinating."
"Your visors are compromised. We should've done this before they blew you up," Shadow hissed in pain, realizing his inner thighs were in bad condition.
"Ejection of seminal fluid detected," Omega announced beside him. "I, the Ultimate E-Series Robot, win. Success!" his wrists spun in triumph.
"Hmph. Your circuits wouldn't last how many rounds I can take in one day."
"Status: impressed. Is there a way to prove your theory?" Omega's visors would light up if they weren't broken.
"It's not a theory," it was a crude fact, verified when Sonic had fisted him under influence.
Omega examined his teammate's lack of movement, honed claws taking a hold of his quills.
"I'm fine... I'm fine," he laid his head on the robot's chest plate, spreading his wounded legs apart to cool down.
"Analysis complete," that made Shadow sit up in alarm. "You are injured... in here," Omega pointed at his head. "And here," then his chest. Heart. Shadow drew back before it was touched. "Your core is vandalized. Do not bear with the damage unassisted."
"This is ridiculous," he crossed his arms.
"You let your guard down," Omega insisted. "Is your bosom out of bounds?"
Shadow glared.
"Do not look at me like that. You are being hypersensitive."
"And you are being a nuisance."
The robot kept his vitals in check.
"I do not wish to harm you," he paused. "Initiating evidence recovery..." Shadow frowned. "Behavioral patterns indicate you have frequently engaged in unsafe and extreme sexual practices for the past two months. I suggest Cognitive Behavioral Therapy."
"Feh," Shadow couldn't believe it. In fact, he had to smirk; compared to what he and Sonic used to do with each other, unsafe and extreme were synonyms for mundane. "This isn't new, Omega."
"You are operating at 18% capacity," Omega remarked. He must have observed how his lower body hasn't healed yet. "Rest is not optional for meatbags. Do not obliterate yourself."
"Patch me up if it bothers you," he would warp away if Omega wasn't right. His Chaos energy reserves were at critical point, since the last time he slept was five days ago.
Not having a Chaos Emerald in hand didn't help either.
"Verdict: you are an imbecile. More data required. Researching: paraphilia..."
"I built up my endurance," Shadow cut him off. "It'll take more than that to bring me down," he gestured to the minigun with his snout.
Omega stared. He tensed under his scrutiny.
"Inquiry: is it worth to build endurance if you do not want to destroy its cause?"
Shadow pursed his lips when a person came to mind.
Sonic.
He was glad Omega was blinded in combat. He wouldn't be able to detect his fingers closing around his upper arms through thermal optics from that position. His silence prompted the robot to move, limping to the exit as cum leaked out of his hind among sparks. The sight was pitiful. Shadow couldn't dismantle the enemies from blasting at Omega's motor system in time.
"New priority objective: eliminate all lifeforms who threaten Shadow's safety. I will support you from now on," Omega informed.
He felt nothing. Perhaps relief if he were forced to be optimistic.
But he wasn't.
"...overruled," he said as a single tear slid down his muzzle.
He was an inherent vice. Sonic his entropy.
Non-contingent. Complementary.
"Whisky," Shadow knocked on the counter. "Neat."
He resorted to former habits that night. Breaking and entering Sonic's secret apartment used to be cathartic, an expensive gift from the President when he had spared the planet from the Black Comet. There, he would find a whisky bottle awaiting him like one would a lover, another of Sonic's many niceties that ended in ruffled sheets and unspoken admissions.
This time, the glass cellar was empty; a stark contrast to his weapon room.
He would make it his safehouse if Sonic didn't have other plans.
Shadow was getting impatient. He was taking too long.
They poured it. He drank. Not bad. Shadow lit up a cigarette and rested his elbows on the neon platform at the strip lounge, where men spun around the pole spread eagled for hungry gentlemen. The lights pulsated in a myriad of colors into his cup, since he had used their runway as his table. He watched a human get down, present his package, and go as rings were thrown, departure a veil uncovering the hedgehog standing right across from him.
Shadow exhaled the smoke evenly, red eyes on blue.
"Can't smoke here, Stripes," Scourge leaned over the narrow platform to steal his cigarette, take a long drag and puff it all onto his face.
'Stripes' didn't blink. Scourge placed the cigarette in between his lips, shark grin an obvious provocation. It was met with a rapid punch, leaving him to cough desperately after swallowing the tube.
Shadow lit up another cigarette. Nobody seemed to care.
"Zone Jail welcomes ya too, babe," the green hedgehog cursed, unfazed. "How's Blue?"
"Better than you," Shadow blew the smoke out into Scourge's bloodied mouth, flaunting a long, pierced tongue. No hard feelings.
He could tell someone was looking their way from a distance.
"I'd love to stay and chat, but guys like me are busy," Scourge opened the lid of his thick, golden band, spilling a line of white powder onto his forefinger before snorting it whole. "Got a thirsty fag to sate," then he lowered his sunglasses, saluted and dashed away.
Shadow shook his head, then downed the whisky. That ring reminded him of a promise he never got crafted.
"That hedgehog looked a little too much like an alien I knew, except he was blue. Does he have a twin?"
He glanced up at the source of that questioning. A tall man in his early forties. Blond, thick eyebrows, light eyes. No one important.
"Alien?" was the only thing that piqued Shadow's interest.
"It doesn't matter. That was a long time ago," the human brushed off, nonchalant. "You remind me of him, too."
Shadow put his cigarette out in the middle of his own tongue, fire hissing until extinguishing at last. He didn't care about small talk, nor redundant assumptions.
"Who?" his gruff tone spoke of peril.
"...if he were manly," the stranger gave him a conceited smirk. "My name is Hector, by the way. Hector Dragg," he extended his palm for a handshake.
But Shadow didn't take it.
At predawn hours, Shadow's palm landed a voluptuous smack on damp skin. Hector wasn't interesting; driving armed race cars and motorbikes didn't make the two of them alike, not even the existence of a rival who – in the human's words – proved to be faster than him, pride and tenacity his only consolation. They rode their motorcycles side by side, until Hector decided to turn the ride into a competition on who gets to his hotel first.
Shadow let the man win. He didn't want to race him or anyone else.
He fucked Dragg against the edge of his bed, deliberately knelt so he could do it standing. Shadow spanked him again; muscles firm due to arduous training. Although famous as a dragster driver in the past decade, his best achievement was being a part of S-Team, a specialized unit of the Station Square P.D. In short, Sam Speed must've been his leader at the time.
And his superior. Does that mean he knew Sonic personally?
Hector's moans urged for more. If anything, Shadow was rock hard, though not in the right state of mind to enjoy it. Regardless, that wasn't the best time to be dysfunctional. He had to get this over with and fast.
So, he jerked the human off to speed things up. That did it for Dragg.
"Shit," he panted, glinting with sweat. "You do fuck hard..." he came on the cushion and Shadow pulled out unceremoniously. "Hey! Where are you going?"
"I'm leaving," Shadow took his condom off and threw it in the trash can. Empty.
"That's it?" Hector turned around, halting Shadow on his way to the suite bathroom. "You didn't even finish. That's not fair, don't you think?"
"Why do you fucking care?" his patience was nearing its end.
"Relax. I'm just suggesting to get rid of it faster," he eyed Shadow's semi-erection.
"How?"
"Let me see... these will do!" the human went through his discarded clothes and found a pair of suspicious handcuffs. Probably stolen from where he was fired.
They looked like Control Collars. Cute. Those were nothing in comparison to the golden chains Super Sonic had immobilized him with once. Still, he decided to indulge in his little game. He didn't mind Dragg lending a hand after all.
"Want to know why I'm the third-fastest man alive?" Hector handcuffed his wrists around the headboard's central post. "I can make you cum untouched in five minutes or less."
Revealing he was third place turned Shadow off considerably already. Perhaps he was faster than he imagined.
Dragg's lips met his tightly closed ones. Shadow acknowledged his torso descending to his body, making his dick throb against his chest.
"Then who's the first?" Shadow only accepted the kiss to ask him that.
The man chuckled. "Forget it. You strike me as a versatile too," he sat on his heels and stroked his own member slowly. "But you don't bottom often, do you?"
Shadow looked from Dragg's crotch to his face. His hands curled into fists, cuffs rendering his Chaos powers inactive.
"No."
Not anymore.
"Neither do I," Hector reached for the lube Shadow had left haphazardly on the nightstand.
It was a miscalculation. He was aware of the signs, but instead of fighting, he simply waited for whatever Dragg would do next. He never got anyone this far before, and part of him wondered how they would fare if given hope only for it to be crushed afterwards.
Was it because he was laid-back like him? Or all about speed and making things fair?
"I didn't catch your name before," Hector smiled, digits wet and sticky. "Just to make sure I say it right when I fuck you," he grasped Shadow's legs and opened them wide, ankles pushed to each side of his head.
But he wasn't worthy of the view. And he was human.
He knew those handcuffs were built for another Chaos user. A natural being.
They weren't made for the Ultimate Lifeform.
"You won't need it."
Shadow never lost his flexibility. He headbutted Dragg so fast his nose fractured, momentum the key to his freedom. The human released his legs with a yelp, enabling Shadow to lift them above his head until metal soles connected to the post. With a loud snarl, he tugged at the link while pulling his wrists apart, raw strength breaking the chain in half and cracking its cuffs.
He bared his fangs, eyes shining gold over reclaimed power. The glow around the artificial rings waned, unable to contain the high surge of energy coursing through its fissures.
"You motherfuc–!" Hector lunged forward, but Shadow's hand closed around his neck and a jab to his stomach sent him flying out of the bed.
He walked around the man as if cornering a prey. Dragg held his torso while moving to get up. Something in his fist caught Shadow's sight.
"I'll teach you a lesson..."
Shadow stomped on the human's hand before he was restrained again. An obscure haze clouded his senses, breath coming in short takes as he unleashed a series of blows for Hector to remain down. The handcuffs burnt around Shadow's wrists, Chaos energy overflowing their capacity until they smashed onto Dragg's temple. An air shoe kicked his ribs multiple times, dark figure splattered with blood to match the darkness in his eyes, outburst misdirected.
He would teach him a lesson.
Shadow released the breath he was holding. A reflection stared back at him.
What an uninhibited display that was.
You gave something away.
He trembled with rage, trying to scrub Hector's blood off shaking hands in the sink. Some of it dug into his claws. In his mind, it was someone else's. The one infuriating him.
It was Sonic's fault. He should've been... faster. Make up his mind. Come to him.
Not fuel this madness.
There's nothing to stop when we have nothing going on.
Shadow felt nauseous. His irises and aura lit up red. The mirror shattered under his fist. The shower stall fell to pieces. Imperfect reflections scattered as portals to his soul. He was mad at Sonic. Mad at himself. At the circumstances. Anger and pain and frustration translated into a single cry from the heart.
He hyperventilated. With his back against the cold tiles, he crouched to find some ground. A headache made it worse.
"Stop it," he breathed.
Shadow hunched over, piercing grip around both arms in a self-hug to make up for a phantom's presence, inadequacy gnawing at his bones and flesh for thinking himself deserving of comfort. He did as Sonic would never do; constricting, blaming and punishing.
Get a hold of yourself! Shadow the Hedgehog!
Said a voice... very dear to him.
Her voice.
Time stopped. His hands tentatively trailed up his arms to stay on his shoulders.
And he held himself with care. As she would do.
Shadow blinked away a tear, landing on his thigh. Then another. He sniffled. The water from the sink began to overflow among the devastation en suite, like an open dam with all the thoughts and emotions he had bottled up until now. He closed his eyes, bloodshot in the aftermath. Everything grew steadier and calmer by the second.
A man gotta display some madness from time to time... makes him feel alive, ya know?
Shadow snorted, holding his shoulders slightly harder. He was right. Alive.
The devil on his shoulder. The angel in his heart. He could live with both.
Shadow unlocked the door once he looked presentable.
"That... was a little... dramatic, huh?" Hector weakly mumbled on the floor.
"911, what's your emergency?" came from the phone in his hand.
He must have dragged himself to it.
Shadow moved past his sprawled form and stepped on the screen, call going unanswered. He put his gloves on, fixing their cuffs before looking over his shoulder in contempt.
"You'll never be faster than Sonic."
Not in his world. Not anywhere.
Dragg was about to retort his mockery in a fit of temper, coughing out blood instead.
But Shadow was already gone. He jumped out the window, rocket shoes igniting as he ran down the building, determination hot in his tracks.
He would wait for him. No more useless chance encounters. No more wounds left untreated.
No more time to waste.
The morning rain prickled at his fur, yet he didn't phase, skating over the Red Gate Bridge in the golden hour. He had parked his motorcycle at a strategic point to retrieve it some other time. For now, he sprinted without destination.
Shadow wouldn't run after him.
"He will run after me," so he disappeared into the waking city.
Five months and two weeks later, he was there. Hitting him like lightning. Standing in his way. Kicking his door down and demolishing his emotional walls, only to punch his heart back to beating with a hug so strong it covered him wholly, pulse louder than thunder.
"I had to see you."
Blackout. The storm concealed the full moon in the sky, but it was fine.
It held him in its arms. Enfolded in a starry embrace.
Their reunion ended in ecstasy. In serenity.
"I never stopped thinking about you."
Sonic had to be satisfied. Shadow's eyes were moist from overstimulation. He hid them in Sonic's chest, soft and warm to the touch. His deathbed and accolade, scent a disease and its cure.
The blue hedgehog lifted his head and licked a teardrop away, his to claim and consume. A product of intense frotting.
There was never a reason to hide. Those weren't tears of true grief.
They were vows.
"By the way, you still owe me a wristwatch," he was reminded quietly, spines caressed and tail played with.
Shadow smirked. Sonic did too.
"Time is relative. I'll give you something better."
Author's Note 2: I like how Shadow is extremely cool but a little pathetic sometimes. If you're curious about what he gives Sonic, read "Until Eternity."
The selected theme songs for each part are Walking Away by Information Society (Abraham Tower & Sonic), Wicked Game by Chris Isaak (Knuckles & Rouge), Woke Up This Morning, the instrumental by The Brothas and Sistas (E-123 Omega), Wetwork by Le Castle Vania (Scourge & Hector Dragg) and Limestone Cave ...for Icecap from Sonic Adventure (deleted scene from "Stormy Weather").
You can message me on Tumblr (self-titled blog) or on Twitter (sugarcunty) if you want to know more about my thoughts on these characters or just talk to me in private. See you in the next update of "The Loop." XOXO, galsgeneration.