Review Replies!
Serein: Shhh, Spoilers! :p And yup, still going. I don't abandon any stories, it just might take a while :)
Guest: Hahah, yeah, it's sometimes crazy when I compare the earlier stuff to what I write now! What a journey, huh? :D
Fanofyours: Happy to hear that, here you go!
Just a person: Aww, thank you for such a nice review! :3 I try my best :)
DEV: Hahah, ja, der Name "Dexter" weckt Assoziationen, ne? XD Shadow malt sich allerdings vermutlich schon die furchtbarsten Szenarien aus^^ Ich muss ausserdem zugeben, dass das Worldbuilding mir hier tatsächlich einen unerhörten Spaß macht, ich finde es einfach faszinierend, sich auszumalen, wie wohl so ne Mischgesellschaft aussehen würde, wenn wir uns den Planeten mit so ner wilden Mischung aus anderen Spezies teilen würden. Die fic hier hat vll grad mal die Hälfte drin was mir alles an Ideen im Kopf rumschwirrt^^° Aber ich freue mich, dass es gefällt! :D Und ja, wer da wohl die Mülleimer gestohlen hat...;p (Wenn Robotnik allerdings zu dem Essen auftauchen würde, wär vermutlich danach nix mehr da...) Wie immer vielen Dank für den fantastischen Kommentar! :D
Guest: Well, they will TRY to keep it a secret, that's for sure. XD But yeah, that would be handy...
Givemeashadowfic: THANK YOU HERE YOU GO :P
Chapter 10: Prepare to Dine!
It was during home room on Shadow's fifth day of school the next morning that Ms Ebony announced the date of the homecoming prom.
"The what?" Shadow whispered to Amy, slightly confused.
"The DANCE!" the girl almost squealed back, by now seemingly vibrating at her desk. "It's a formal dance for the students at the beginning of the school year and it's gonna be with real ball gowns and everything and oh GODS, this year we're finally old enough and I'mgonnadancewithSONICohmyGODS!" she had gushed the entire sentence in basically a single breath and then already turned around and was now waving at the other hedgehog seated in the row behind them, also attempting to give him something like a flirtatious wink. Shadow turned in time to see the blue hedgehog having headdesked on his table, looking defeated.
During the lunch break (after Maths, another advanced placement class shared with Tails – was the fox kit in every AP-STEM course?), the topic was, of course, already predetermined. Shadow had deigned to join Amy's table this time, owing not only to the fact that Sticks was missing again, but also that Tails had turned out to be much more intelligent and polite than he had expected an eight-year-old to be and Sonic, in all fairness, perhaps wasn't such a nerve-grating show-off as he had so far thought. Besides, he still had business to take care of with the blue hedgehog – but as it seemed now, that probably would have to wait a bit.
"Oh my gods, Prom! I can't wait!" Amy's enthusiasm seemed to not have been dampened by her two hours of French class. "Who are you gonna take, everybody?!"
"Er..." Shadow hesitated for a moment, clearly not quite sure how Sonic could deal with this 365 days a year, but fortunately, was saved from having to partake in the conversation by Vector speaking up before anybody else.
"I'm going to ask sweet Ms Vanilla!"
Mighty groaned, interestingly not sounding too different as when Amy had often gone off in increasingly unrealistic (and worryingly ever more detailed) fantasies involving Sonic. "Vector, she is nearly twice as old as you," the armadillo pointed out. "You're basically jail bait."
"Excuse me?!" the reptile reared backwards theatrically in feigned shock. "This croc is a purebred gentlereptile and a hard-working business owner!"
"And she'd get arrested if she took you home or bought you a drink stronger than beer, yeah." Mighty smirked, leaving his boss to sputter.
"Oh man, poor guy." Sonic chuckled, then gave an amiable shrug. "But who knows, he might get lucky. Any girl you got your eye on, Shads?"
"I'll have your eye out of its socket if you call me Shads again," the black hedgehog replied calmly, but without real malice behind it. "And no."
"Hm..." Sonic pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I dunno, Sticks seemed like she might like you. I know she set up a snare trap this morning to capture you and was disappointed you didn't step in it. Wanna take her?"
Shadow stared at him, horrified. "What?!"
"Hey, just a suggestion!" Sonic grinned, giving another laugh. Then he turned to look at the girl at his side and added "And uh...Amy, if you cut off the circulation in my arm any longer, it's gonna fall off and then I won't be able to dance, either."
Amy (or rather, the pink anaconda that had had latched onto the hedgehog the moment they had left the classroom half an hour ago) shifted a bit. "Hrrrm." she replied a bit dreamily, but otherwise didnt seem inclined to move much. Sonic sighed, apparently resigning himself to continued one-handed eating.
"Aw, man..."
"Um. Hey, Sonic?"
Shadow, who had by now mostly watched the pink hedgehog's attempts to become one with the blue hedgehog by force of osmosis, was distracted when the sapient at Sonic's other side spoke up. Tails had nervously pulled at a strand of fur on Sonic's shoulder and was now poking the tips of his fingers together, staring at the table.
"I, I know only seniors and their dates get to go to the prom, but..." he started to stammer, his voice barely loud enough to be heard by anyone except for Shadow seated directly opposite him and Sonic to his right. On the other end of the table, Vector was still busy trying to convince Espio to deliver some 'secret admirer' bouquets to Vanilla's doorstep, something which the chameleon was trying to refuse to do, and Mighty seemed to be torn between common sense and suicidal amusement. Tails had brought one of his namesakes forward and was nervously fraying its tip.
"Do, do you maybe think I'd have a shot with Fiona...?"
And Sonic visibly winced. "Uh, li'l bro..."
Shadow glanced over. "I wouldn't bother. I don't think she's a person worth spending time with."
"What?!" Tails immediately cried, his little body at once assuming a defensive air. Even Sonic raised an eye ridge at the unexpected participation of the black hedgehog.
"I spent a lunch period with them," Shadow said, calmly. "I don't think they would have spoken about humans like they did if they had known of my family."
"But...maybe she was just joking..." Tails looked down, voice small, but his expression a mixture of confusion and denial. Sonic looked at Shadow a bit helplessly, silently mouthing the words 'Biggest Crush' at the black hedgehog, before then turning to his slightly upset kid brother again, trying to talk to him in a quiet, soothing voice.
"Yeah, that's a lost cause alright," Mighty mumbled at Shadow's side, apparently having overheard the thing after all. "Makes me glad that Amy is at least crushing on someone who treats her right - even if it is a little bit one-sided."
"Is not!"
"And it doesn't affect her hearing, either," Shadow noted with some amusement when Mighty winced as Amy had briefly lifted her head off Sonic's shoulder to snap the retort at him. "You partaking in the crazy, too?" the black hedgehog asked.
"To be honest, neither me nor Espio are really in the dating scene," Mighty replied with a shrug. "We'll have to take turns to watch Charmy for the night, anyway, so we figured to just come along as singles and maybe grab a dance here or there. And maybe see nobody gets taken advantage off, that sort of thing. This school is far too poor to spend much on security. You figure you'll attend as a single, too?"
Shadow drummed the surface of the table with his fingers in contemplation. "Actually, I thought I might take my sister. She'd probably enjoy the night, we haven't had anything like that growing up."
Mighty nodded. "Sounds cool. If she fancies a dance, I'm free."
Shadow found himself giving a smirk despite himself. "She's five foot three. You better wear stilts." Then he remembered something else and his expression abruptly turned drier. "Though I wouldn't mind her dancing with you, as opposed to what kind of 18-year-old cradle robber she's snagged herself."
Mighty laughed. "If you love them, you have to let them go, hedgehog!"
Shadow heaved a sigh. "Yes. I suppose you're right," he said, reluctantly. Trying to cage Maria up after she had been the one constantly fighting for his freedom would be the most biting of ironies.
Now for the other thing, though...
"Hey. Blue hedgehog." Shadow leaned across the table again and a harried Sonic looked up, apparently glad that someone was giving him an excuse to end his (obviously fruitless) conversation with a scowling and pouting Tails who had his ears folded flat against his head anyway.
"Yeah?"
"I told my family about the other day - about how you testified for me after the...altercation. They want to invite you for dinner tonight as thanks." Shadow looked at his hands. "I think Maria would be happy if you came. Of course, if you've already got plans and are too busy-" he quickly added, not sure whether the hopeful tone here was exactly appropriate, but Sonic cut him off.
"Home-cooked food that I don't have to make? Wouldn't miss it for the world." He gave a bright grin. "Seven?"
"...seven sounds fine," Shadow said, trying not to make this sound like a defeat.
"Cool," Sonic replied easily, before snipping his fingers, "That is, wait. Can I bring Tails? I don't like to leave him alone at night if I can help it…"
"'m not a kit any more, Sonic," the two-tail protested at this, and Sonic sighed.
"I know, kiddo." Turning to Shadow, he added more dryly, "I mean, Tails managed to save this place from a nuke aimed at it all on his own last year, but f – I mean, fudge me if I ever dare to leave him home alone, right?" he rolled his eyes. "Humans and their CPS…"
"…sure." Shadow agreed, maybe choosing simply not to question any more what anyone here spent their free time with. "I think Maria'll be happy to meet more students from my school."
"Awesome." Sonic smiled. "Y'know, despite the name, your family actually sounds pretty cool."
xxx
The second half of the day consisted of art. It also consisted of Sonic attempting to paint Shadow's quills blue until the black hedgehog threatened to store the brush somewhere very unpleasant for the sapient hero.
It was a little while after class when Shadow emerged from the building, having avoided the general madness that was Amy trying to take Sonic shopping for clothes for prom 'right now, Sonic, before all the good ones are gone!' and was surprised to find Maria waiting at the school gates in the afternoon sun.
"Maria? What are you doing here?"
"We need to go shopping for the dinner!" she announced brightly. "He did say yes, didn't he?"
"Yes." Shadow frowned. "And we did go shopping already."
"Yeah, but now we have sapients as guests!" Maria bounced excitedly "I read up all I could find about what to serve hedgehogs!"
"…I'm a hedgehog," Shadow found he couldn't help but point out. "You never serve me anything special."
"Yeah, but you're...my brother," Maria replied vaguely.
"...so?"
"Brothers are boring. You don't even need to eat."
"Gee, thanks. Don't you have some assignment?" Shadow asked flatly.
"No way, I've always wanted to go to a sapient supermarket!" Maria grabbed his hand again. "Come on!"
xxx
This time, the walk took somewhat longer than the one they had taken to the human supermarket or the one to the hairdresser's. They walked past the city centre of Station Square, away from the direction Emerald Coast and their house lay in and closer to where the large forest started at the other end of town. Gradually, Shadow started to notice how the houses, stores and buildings somehow got...smaller. The streets got narrower, too, and as a result the car traffic also dwindled. Despite the thinner lanes and broader sidewalks, however, the city planning here had seen it fit to incorporate trees into the sidewalks, shading the walkway and letting the street appear more like an avenue despite its small size. Back alleys started branching off more and more frequently, twisting away from the main street in increasingly bizarre angles, while the pedestrian traffic became busier. Shadow also noted that whereas earlier it had been a fair balance, by now the sapients were outnumbering the humans by far.
The houses around them had also started to gain a more...natural look, Shadow supposed would have been the right work for it. There were less straight lines and more colours for one thing, the houses often incorporating wood, sandstone, hand-formed bricks, or in some cases even reed roofs or loam in favour of steel, glass or cement. The Ultimate Lifeform briefly thought through some back alley he had also glimpsed one that looked like it had been built around a tree.
Even the ones that clearly were meant to house multiple families looked smaller than they should, the windows indicating the various storeys closer together than he was familiar with. Beneath their feet the sidewalk was cracked and had grass poking through it in the most various places, looking like municipal management clearly cared less about this part of town than for the other, more pristine shopping quarters. The street, too, had started to be plastered by cobblestones at some point.
But then again, the population here, just as colourful and diverse as their dwellings, scarcely seemed to mind. Shadow supposed a smooth pavement was perhaps less important when you weren't driving, which a lot of people here didn't seem to do. Shadow blinked as at the far end of the street, he thought he could even see an elderly sapient rat riding a feral pony.
"Wow," Maria whispered to him. "It's just like a different world, isn't it?"
"Hnh," Shadow found himself inclined to agree, but didn't quite know what else to say. He had started to notice how a few sapients had been giving Maria confused looks at first, but then mostly saw him at her side and switched to ignoring her.
"There!" Maria pointed to a small store front on the other side of the street littered with leaves. "That looks like a grocery store!"
As it turned out, she was right.
But only if you substituted 'grocery store' with 'contained, but absolute chaos' in Shadow's mind.
There were shelves stuffed with the strangest things everywhere. Shadow had once seen a human movie where the befuddled white protagonist had stumbled into a freaky Chinese store somewhere in Shanghai, and was now eerily reminded of the scene. There were unidentifiable wooden instruments and roots hanging from the ceiling. There were…things swimming in a barrel. There were plants growing in places where Shadow didn't know whether they were for sale or the owner just didn't care that a miniature forest was trying to take over the store. He almost jumped three feet in the air when he thought something on a shelf had just tried to grab him, and was almost glad when they finally came into a section where at least most of the wares seemed to be tinned or canned.
Though the descriptions on them reading 'sugared caterpillars, net weight 370 grams' didn't help him any.
"Hi!" Maria had meanwhile reached a glass counter at the back end of the store, where another rat was busy laying out cuts of meat and fish on the ice behind it. "We'd like half a kilo of fresh slugs, please!" she announced brightly.
"Uh..." the sapient behind the counter glanced up, somewhat uncertain, then spotted Shadow stumbling up behind her and cleared his throat, looking at the black hedgehog and ignoring the girl.
"...sure. Will those be seasoned or au naturale, sir?"
"Um. Er," Shadow looked at Maria, absolutely clueless.
"Au naturale. And in oil, not water, please," Maria added, cheerfully ignoring that the question hadn't been addressed to her, before giving Shadow a knowing glance. "That way they retain much more of their natural aroma, you know?"
"...right..." Shadow replied with some confusion, an emotion which he probably shared with the shop employee who also looked at the pair of them with some consternation, briefly apparently having some inner conflict as to whom he should give the bag to. Shadow took pity on him and took it. After that, they also bought crickets (which Shadow almost dropped with a slightly unmanly scream when he noticed they were still alive...), pickled larvae, a bag that was labelled 'Roasted Roaches!(tm) Nice and crunchy!' and quail eggs. Shadow looked at the contents of their shopping basket in horrified fascination.
"Hedgehogs...really eat this?"
"Oh yeah, totally!" Maria beamed.
"…Why?"
"I'm pretty sure it's really nutritious and totally biologically grown! When we get home, you should definitely try it. You'll probably like it!"
"Yeah, I think I'll stick with the takeaway leftovers from the Chinese place, if you don't mind," Shadow replied, trying not to pull a face. Then he grabbed his sister's wrist.
"Wait. Sonic said he was bringing his little brother. We also need to get something for a fox."
"Really? Oh, brilliant!" Maria clapped her hands. "I think they had a beheaded deer carcass somewhere back there, just wait here, I'll be right back at the checkout-!"
Shadow watched his sister disappear between the aisles again, and, not for the first time, wondered whether perhaps it would have made more sense if he had been created as a human and Maria born a hedgehog, seeing as so far, she was making a much better sapient than him.
xxx
"Very well," Gerald heaved a deep breath. "Just, one more time. What can't we talk about?"
There was a collective sigh from his two charges. Then Maria started counting off on her fingers.
"We can't talk about the fact that Shadow is an illegal experiment with Black Arms DNA and the result of you making a bargain with an evil alien overlord who will likely come back in 43 years to collect on his debts. We can't talk about the fact that Shadow's powers managed to kill scientists who experimented on him and are highly unstable without the suppressor rings you welded onto his wrists and ankles. And we can't talk about the fact that the GUN general Abraham Graves went crazy and staged a raid aboard the ARK to exterminate Shadow after finding out about your contract with Black Doom, where everyone who wasn't able to escape was killed. The public version is that there was a terrible accident on board."
All of this was delivered in a rather unimpressed monotone. For his part, Shadow was once again amazed at the endless patience of his sister, as well as her seemingly endless well of energy – almost as if her body, now cured of its autoimmune disease by virtue of a cell transplant from Shadow, was trying to make up for all those years spent sickly. The kitchen they were now standing in was where she had been working for the past three hours preparing food for the dinner, and no less than six different dishes to boot, now all of them arranged neatly on the table, set with five places tonight. Shadow, for his part, hadn't actually been able to look at the food yet - had, in fact, been unable to help with any of the actual cooking after carrying the groceries back home for her - mostly because, to his embarrassment, the homework had been piling up and was now demanding actual attention after having been shunted off to the side in favour of being dragged all over town for the past couple days by Maria.
And so, while his sister had been busy pottering all about the kitchen, the Ultimate Lifeform had actually been stuck at the kitchen table, trying to solve differential equations and...
("Maria?" Shadow had asked, "I have an assignment for Literature studies. We are supposed to write about our most exciting holiday experience."
"Oh?" his sister had asked back, clearly distracted by some sort of recipe print-out she was staring at, frowning. "That sounds...nice..."
Shadow had regarded her with a wry stare. "Why yes it does," he'd drawled, "So, should I talk about the time we were invaded by artifical chaos monsters or the time I was forced to fight my own clone to the death?"
"Oh." Maria had flinched a little, apparently only now catching up to the conversation. "Uh, right..."
"No, wait, I can write about the time that psychotic brat of the General managed to incinerate my right arm," Shadow continued mercilessly, "Or when he tried to drown me in my sleep. Or-"
"Shadow! Just write about our trip to the zoo, okay?!"
"Maria, that 'zoo' was the ARK lab of animal testing."
"Um. Make it sound more...cute, maybe?" Maria had tried, giving him a slightly lop-sided smile.
Shadow had heaved a very big sigh.)
Back in the present, there was a clearing of a throat, and Shadow abruptly realized that Gerald was now gazing at him expectantly. He took a resigned breath.
"We are also not allowed to talk about the fact that GUN captured Maria's and my escape pod and tried to put me into cryostasis for the next 43 years, delete my memory and turn me into their private weapon of mass destruction," he continued the recital. "The public version is that I don't have any powers at all and my parents gave me up for adoption at birth. Although…" He hesitated, briefly. "Sonic might have seen a bit of my…abilities. When those schoolyard bullies attacked me." Shadow grimaced at his creator's disapproving stare. "But I don't think he will tell anyone."
"…very well." Gerald ran a hand over his face, apparently deciding to let that one go. "And why can't we talk about that?"
"Because if we break the silencing order the government made us sign in exchange for making Shadow a legal person and citizen, they would try to hunt him down again and probably put you into jail or execute you for High Treason. We know all this, grandpa," Maria sighed.
"Exactly. I'm glad you do," Gerald said sternly. "So, during this dinner, try and keep conversation light and harmless."
"With that uplifting pitch, how couldn't we," Shadow muttered, the edge of his mouth at least twitching when Maria couldn't keep her face straight either and elbowed him into the shoulder for the remark.
(It was a curious feeling how the fact that he had been created as an experiment had earlier used to bother him and made him feel…less - especially because he knew the 22 hedgehogs Gerald had created before him had died early deaths and he was just standing here because he had been stronger and survived - but it was somehow…not painful to think about if it was Maria who talked about it, because he knew she never thought any less of him because of it, his origin just a fact without any particular meaning to her.)
Gerald cleared his throat, apparently deciding to ignore the antics of his charges. "Seeing as our guest is Sonic the Hedgehog, I fear…talking about my grandson might not be entirely avoidable," he said, looking grim. "But I suppose that is only deserved."
There was a hint of shame and even…fear? Shadow wondered, flitting across Gerald's face at the last word and Shadow felt a slight sting of sympathy. Gerald wasn't…exactly a father to him, but he knew the old man did care for him, still having memories of birthdays, Christmas celebrations and hours upon hours where the professor had tutored him as a kid, trying to help him learn new skills and giving him an education.
"I…don't think you need to worry about Sonic holding you in contempt for the deeds of your grandson, professor," Shadow replied, carefully. "He didn't strike me as the type to hold resentment."
"He…did not?" Gerald shot him a slightly hopeful look, blinking behind his glasses.
"Yes, I'm sure it'll be fine," Maria said, smiling. "I mean, he helped Shadow against those bird bullies even while knowing his family name, right? I think he must be a really nice-"
Which was as far as she got, because this was the point where the doorbell rang.
"Ah!" Maria's eyes went wide in shock. "Is that – they're early? Why are they early?! I need to go change!" she called, already whirling around and running up the staircase. "Keep them busy!"
"Ah. Yes. I also need to switch off a few things in the basement, then," Gerald cleared his throat, heading for the stairs leading down into the cellar where Shadow was suspecting some sort of home laboratory was in the process of being created – at least, judging from the heavy, strange machines Gerald had asked him to carry downstairs during the week – "I'll be back in a few minutes."
"…sure. Leave me alone with the magical menagerie," Shadow muttered, watching his fleeing family members right as the doorbell rang a second time, the blue hedgehog apparently just as impatient during his free time as he was during school. Shadow sighed and went to open the door.
To be continued…
Ohohoh, bet you didn't expect an update so soon, huh? :p I really hope you liked and are looking forward to the dinner (even if Shadow isn't XD) - and I'd love to hear what you thought, so if you read, please review! :D