A/N This fic is a sequel to my previous fic, From the Works of Yesterday. Some things will not make sense if you have not read it first. TLDR, the movie characters meet the game characters in the Sonic X Shadow Generations game, and it led to them becoming close and Shadow getting adopted as Sonic's twin. This fic is the aftermath of that in the movieverse.
Also, NO, I DO NOT WANT A COMMISSION! THIS WORK HAS ART ALREADY, AND I AM NOT BUYING SOMETHING I DIDN'T EVEN ASK FOR! DO NOT CONTACT ME ABOUT COMMISSIONS!
But if anyone wants to see the art I drew at least one picture for every chapter of this fic, please check out my Tumblr. I have the same user name, and I drew everyone in their costumes. There's one for every chapter in From the Works of Yesterday too.
Chapter 1: Return of the Jedi
"Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, things were peaceful in the small but beautiful town of Green Hills.
The sun was setting over glowing jack-o-lanterns as the people within its cozy houses prepared for one of the best holidays in the universe.
Soon, darkness will descend, and boys and girls of every age will set out to find something strange-"
"Sonic, are you monologuing over there?" called a confused voice.
The blue hedgehog in question immediately stopped talking from where he sat and excitedly looked out their front window for it to finally be dark enough to go trick-or-treating.
"Maddiiiiie," he whined, turning around to look at the woman. "You cut off my opening crawl! It's an integral part of my costume!"
Maddie smothered a giggle at his indignation as she placed a bowl of candy next to the front door for easy access. "I'm sorry, honey, I didn't mean to do that, but I don't think Luke Skywalker is the one who gives those things anyway."
Sonic huffed and straightened his second-hand white karate gi with a large tool belt he was using for his Halloween costume. "Then who does them? And why do they open every movie?" he asked.
Maddie thought it over, then said, "I'm pretty sure it was a stylistic choice to catch people up to speed without making a character exposition dump. And as for who gives it, I don't know, maybe the Force?"
That made a sort of sense. "Headcanon accepted," Sonic said.
At that moment, Knuckles entered the room. "Has the time for tricking and treating begun yet?" he asked.
Sonic glanced at his older brother and said, "Not yet, still too much daylight. So you still have time to change into your costume."
Knuckles gave him a strange look. "I am already within my costume, Blue Hedgehog," he said. "Do you not recognize me as the mighty Chewbacca?"
Sonic just blinked at him. In all honesty, Knuckles looked the same as he always did, with the one exception being that he now had a large utility belt slung from his waist across his chest to his shoulder.
"That's it?" Sonic asked. "Just the belt?"
"That is all the warrior Chewbacca wears," said Knuckles.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "Do you want me to at least frizz up your fur so you look fluffy like him?"
Knuckles glowered at him. "While I am currently dressed in homage to a different mighty warrior, Blue Hedgehog, do not forget that under this guise, I am still a proud Echidna Warrior. Echidna Warriors are not 'fluffy'."
Maddie smothered a laugh. Maybe it was just her opinion, but all of her kids were very fluffy and she liked them that way.
However, she then noticed the bag Knuckles had slung over his shoulder was not a pillow case like she'd first thought.
"Is that the back-up cover for Ozzy's dog bed?" she asked as she recognized the pattern.
"Of course," said Knuckles, holding out the dog bed cover, which, for a full-grown Golden Retriever, was far bigger than a pillowcase. "While other tricksters-or-treaters may be content with a small bucket or flimsy pillow case, I would not be satisfied unless I get enough candy to fill the bedding of my brother-in-arms for defending this house."
Sonic's eyes widened as he saw the size of it. "Genius! I'll go get the one on his bed, too!"
"Sonic, no, that hasn't been washed!" Maddie called quickly to stop him.
"Aw," Sonic groaned, knowing they didn't have anything else that size.
"HaHa! Snooze you lose, Blue Hedgehog," Knuckles taunted as he swung the dog bed case around.
Sonic gave him a sour look, so Maddie leaned down and patted him on the shoulder. "You're all going to the same number of houses, so even if his bag is bigger, you still get the same amount of candy," she whispered, and this made the hedgehog brighten.
She then straightened up and asked, "Where are the others?"
Sonic was quick to answer. "Well, Tom is still getting his hair right, and Tails is-"
"Right here!" came Tails' voice, though it had a slight echo to it, and into the room rolled an exact replica of R2D2 with a jack-o-lantern candy bucket attached to the front.
Sonic whistled in appreciation. "Now that is committing to the bit."
"Most impressive," agreed Knuckles.
"You look great, baby," said Maddie, always amazed by her youngest's work.
The top of the droid popped open, revealing Tails sitting within it and a small controller in his hand to drive it. "Thanks," he said bashfully. "I thought R2 was really cool, and I wanted to know if I could make him."
"Tails, you're smart enough to make an entire Death Star if you wanted to," Sonic told him. "You're just nice enough not to do it."
Tails grinned and closed the hatch of his costume, and it let out a very R2D2 beep.
Tom then walked in dressed as Anakin Skywalker (the version from the cartoon, which the boys had all voted as better than in the movies). "Is everyone ready? It's about time to go."
"Just about," Sonic said, before zipping over to the stairs to call up it. "Hey, Shadow? You coming? We're waiting on you!"
In response, the newest addition to their family suddenly appeared in the middle of the room and made everyone jump as Shadow the Hedgehog suddenly stood before them in a long white gown, and his expression set in what Sonic had aptly named his 'resting Grumpy Cat face'.
Sonic recovered from his surprise first and darted over to his 'twin'. "Great, you're here! Let me get your quills," he said, reaching up for Shadow's head, and quickly styling them into a spiky, but recognizable set of space buns on the sides of his head.
He'd barely finished before Shadow ducked away from his hands and glanced at his reflection in a nearby mirror, and scowled. "I look stupid," he said bluntly.
Personally, Maddie thought he looked adorable, but knew he wouldn't appreciate hearing that. Instead, she said, "No, you don't, you look great."
"Yeah, why would you think that? Princess Leia is your favorite?" added Tom.
"I'm wearing a dress," Shadow said, like that answer should be obvious.
"So? It's just clothes. Some would say it's an improvement. Normally, we just wear gloves and shoes," said Sonic, not seeing a problem. "Do you want to switch? Because I don't mind, I'll wear a dress."
Shadow shrank away from him and said, "No, I want to be Leia. And you couldn't be more Luke if you tried."
"Thanks?" Sonic said in an unsure tone, because Shadow hadn't said that in a way that made it sound like a compliment.
"I'm sorry they didn't have her other outfits, sweetie. This was the only one that fit you," Maddie apologized. She had scoured the costume section of the store from top to bottom, and the only thing in Shadow's size was the iconic white dress.
Knuckles scoffed at Shadow's reasoning. "You are not going to let something so foolish as human gender perceptions of what garments they must wear keep you from paying homage to the great General Organa, Black Hedgehog?" he asked.
Tom and Maddie had finally convinced him to stop referring to Shadow as the more impressive one of the two (and he had somewhat stopped seeing him that way after seeing Shadow walk into a glass door while arguing with Sonic one time), and had started to differentiate them by colors.
"I mean, he did grow up in the early 70s," said Tom in understanding.
Fortunately, Tails was there to save the day as he popped back out of his R2D2 costume with a blaster in his hands. "Here," he said, handing it to Shadow. "I remade her weapon from that movie for you."
The sight of the weapon immediately perked Shadow up, and he took it from the fox. "Does it fire?" he asked, testing its weight.
Tails gave him a deadpan look. "Who do you think you're asking? Of course it does," he said, insulted that Shadow would think otherwise.
A small smile crossed Shadow's face, and it seemed with this 'accessory' he now felt better about his costume.
"Wait, does that mean you can make me a real lightsaber?" Sonic asked, pulling the toy one he had for his costume from his belt and lighting it up with a recorded sound-effect.
"Sure," said Tails.
Sonic bounced excitedly. "Will you?"
Maddie answered before Tails could. "NO!" she said firmly.
Sonic's excitement turned into a pout. "Aw, why not?"
"Because I am qualified to give gun safety lessons, and Shadow is the most diligent person I've ever seen in following them. Tails, a little less so, but that's more in the lines of building and designing them. He's very careful when using them, " Tom replied. "However, I am not qualified to give lightsaber safety lessons, and I'm not convinced you wouldn't nap through the lecture even if I were."
Sonic gave him a betrayed look, but couldn't deny it. "Why you gotta call me out like this?"
"I'm your dad, it's my job," Tom replied without missing a beat, and making Sonic smile.
"I made you a blaster too, Knuckles," Tails said, holding one out for his oldest brother.
"Thank you, Fox, but an Echidna Warrior has no need for such uncivilized weapons," said Knuckles, turning it away.
Sonic snorted. "Alright, Obi-Wan."
"Okay!" said Tom quickly before an argument could start, and ushered them to the door. "The sun is down, and trick-or-treating is a go."
"Wait, we need a picture," Maddie insisted, darting ahead of them so she could take their picture on the front steps among their Halloween decorations. Holding her phone up to take the picture, she said, "Now everyone say 'Trick-r-Treat!'"
"Trick-r-Treat!" said Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles with wide smiles while Shadow tried to hide his face in the hood of his costume (it didn't work, the hood was designed for a human head, not a hedgehog, so his grumpy face was still fully visible).
"Alright, kids, trick-r-treating starts now," Tom said once Maddie had taken her fill of pictures, and he led the way down their driveway and towards the neighbor's houses.
"Let's get some candy, Team Heroes!" Sonic cheered as they went.
"Team Heroes?" asked Tom, amused. "I thought you were called Team Sonic."
"That name got vetoed by everyone else. Team Heroes was the only compromise everyone could agree on after names like Team Knuckles and Team Shadow were similarly voted out," Tails explained.
"I like it, Team Heroes, it is," Tom said.
"You know, we don't actually need you to babysit us. We're more than capable of doing this on our own," Shadow told Tom as they reached the end of the driveway.
"I know, but it's the neighborhood's rules say you have to be yay tall to trick-r-treat without an adult, and we're already on thin ice with Susan at the HOA for all the home renovations we've had to do over the last few years," said Tom, holding a hand up to show how tall they would have to be to go alone, which was still a few inches higher than any of them.
"Typical, save the whole town from a mad doctor twice, and we're still subject to height restrictions," Sonic grumbled.
"I could challenge her to armed combat to prove we are worthy to both trick and treat on our own," Knuckles offered.
"Nah, it's fine. I like spending father-son time with my boys," said Tom.
"Besides, I think the height thing is more so cars can see us more than anything else," Tails called out from inside R2D2.
Maddie smiled as they disappeared behind the trees hiding their driveway, and prepared herself for any coming trick-or-treaters. Wholesome moments like this made parenting super-powered alien children totally worth it.
Unlike most things he'd gotten to do since he started living with the Wachowskis, Shadow had gone trick-or-treating before.
Well, sort of. He and Maria would make their own costumes from craft supplies and go from desk to desk in the office section of the lab to get candy from the friendlier people working there (there were no treats in the laboratory area for contamination reasons, or at least there wasn't supposed to be). They'd always gotten comments about how cute they were, and the candy was usually just sticks of gum or a spare apple, but it was still fun. One year, Maria's grandfather had even snuck a pumpkin in for them to carve, and they did so in his likeness as thanks.
As such, Halloween was always a holiday he looked forward to. He was happy to see that not much had changed about it over the last fifty years. There was more walking required to go from house to house, and the candy was in greater variety, but the comments about how cute he was in his costume remained.
"Aw, what perfect twin costumes," a sweet older lady told him and Sonic as she placed candy into their bags. "It's adorable that all of you teamed up for your costumes."
"Thanks, Ms. Ella, say hi to Chris, the Thorndykes, and Mr. Tanaka for me," Sonic said to her brightly as the four of them stepped away.
"Do you know the name of everyone in town?" Shadow had to ask as they started walking to the next house.
"Uh, yes," said Sonic. "I stalked this whole town for years when I was the local cryptid. I might know some of them better than their own families."
"Really? Then who's that?" asked Tail, popping out of his costume to point at a girl across the street walking alone (Susan from the HOA, eat your heart out). She was dressed as a Jawa with a long brown cloak covering her from head to toe, and carrying a large bag of candy.
Sonic studied the girl for a moment, and said, "She looks familiar, but I can't tell, her costume is too good. But I guarantee that if she took that hood off, I could tell you her name and at least three fun facts about her."
"Oh really, if you know people by name, then why did you call me nothing but Donut Lord when we met? And for the record, you're still the local cryptid," Tom teased.
"I told you why, because you talk to donuts and eat them when they get out of line," Sonic told him.
"Truly the actions of a cruel despot," said Knuckles.
"How do donuts get out of line?" Tails asked.
Shadow watched as his new family bantered amongst themselves, and had to marvel at his position in life. If someone told him at the start of that night in Tokyo that this was where he'd find himself, he would never have believed them. But while there had been a few bumps here and there since he was adopted by the Wachowskis, dare he say it, he was actually sort of happy.
However, it never took much for that happiness to come crashing down. And a flash of blue with blonde hair made Shadow stop dead in his tracks, and his head whipped around.
"Maria?" he couldn't help but whisper.
But of course it wasn't her. Instead, a young girl dressed as Alice walked by with her Mad Hatter father, the two chatting happily and not even noticing Shadow staring at them.
Just like that, Shadow was reminded all over again that Maria was gone.
Sonic noticed Shadow had fallen behind and stopped, making the others pause as well. "Shadow?" his new 'twin' called to him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said, and teleported over to catch up to them. "I just… thought I saw something."
"It wasn't Michael Myers, was it?" joked Sonic. "Because I don't know if you're final girl material."
"At least I'm not the goofball who stumbles into trouble and dies first," Shadow replied pointedly.
"Actually, Cabin in the Woods logic says my death wouldn't happen until after the hot one dies. Unless you're saying I am the hot one," said Sonic, striking a pose and batting his eyes.
"Didn't I tell you you're not old enough to watch that movie?" said Tom disapprovingly, making Sonic wince.
"Oooh, he's got you there," said Tails with a laugh.
"It was in the trailers! You never said I couldn't watch the trailers," Sonic defended himself, even though he was clearly lying.
Tails giggled before saying, "I think I would be the final girl. I have brains and cuteness on my side."
"I would be the one to bravely fight the killer," said Knuckles.
"Which means you'd get some good licks in towards the middle of the movie, think you beat him, then he'd pop up behind you and murder you worse than anyone else," pointed out Sonic.
"I would not die, I am too strong, but that the killer would attempt to kill me after they are beaten shows they view me as their greatest threat," said Knuckles, which set off an entirely new argument over what they would do to survive a horror movie.
Shadow watched them banter, and gritted his teeth as he tried to force the pain away.
Maria wanted him to be happy, so he would be happy.
But why did it always feel like he was failing?
Halloween was a blast! Having all their costumes have a group theme worked out great, and they got way more candy than last year.
But all the excitement left Sonic and his brothers pooped, so it didn't take much coaxing for Tom and Maddie to get them upstairs and into bed.
But just as Sonic was about to drift off, he heard a slight movement above his head that woke him back up.
Slowly, most likely hoping to go undetected, Shadow slipped down from the rocketship-shaped bunk that was suspended from the ceiling over top of Sonic's race car bed.
Sonic closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but watched from under a cracked eyelid as Shadow snuck across the room to the skylight window and crawled out onto the roof.
Only when he was out of eyesight did Sonic sit up and see his other brothers doing the same.
"Where's Shadow going?" asked Tails softly from his own airplane top bunk over Knuckles' truck-shaped bed.
"He needs more training," muttered Knuckles. "It will take far more stealth for him to hope to sneak past me."
Sonic climbed out of bed and looked up through the skylight above him, seeing nothing but the clear navy sky full of twinkling stars.
"I think I know," said Sonic, and he jumped up through the skylight after him.
Behind him, Tails and Knuckles exchanged a glance and followed behind.
It wasn't hard to find Shadow once they were through the skylight. He was sitting right there atop the highest point of the house, just looking up at the stars.
To the casual observer, it would seem like he had just wanted to stargaze, but Sonic knew better. He remembered that mess on the weird space station from another dimension and time when Shadow had been trapped in a flashback, and the only thing that brought him out of it was when his counterpart showed him the stars. Stars meant something important to Shadow.
They reminded him of Maria.
"Beautiful night," Sonic said, trying to sound casual as he took a seat next to Shadow.
"Wow, look at all the stars," said Tails in awe as he sat on Shadow's other side.
"They are most astounding," Knuckles said as he remained standing behind them in a way that made it clear he was guarding their backs. "In all my travels, even I have not been to them all."
"You should be in bed," Shadow said softly to them, shifting uncomfortably.
"Yeah, hi pot, I'm kettle," Sonic teased gently, but shifted back a bit to give him more space. "If we should be asleep, so should you."
Shadow shot him a look, but quickly went back to looking at the stars.
So the subtle approach wasn't working, looks like Sonic might have to be more direct. "It's okay to miss her, you know," he said.
Shadow tensed and avoided his gaze, and it took a second for Tails and Knuckles to catch on.
"Her? Oh! Maria," Tails said as he realized what Sonic meant. "The version of her we met was so nice. I wish we could have met the one from our world, too."
"Indeed, she was most kind and compassionate," Knuckles praised. "I have no doubt the Maria you held dear was much the same."
Shadow's eyes remained locked on the stars, but eventually he said, "I just… I wish she were here. I keep thinking of what she would have done if she were with me now."
"Like what?" asked Tails.
Shadow thought it over before replying. "She would have wanted to be Rey for Halloween. And she would have been so happy about how much candy we got, since it was more than we would get in the lab. And she would have wanted to play at least one trick before the night ended. Maybe TP Mr. Kintobor's house for being a jerk."
"Wouldn't blame her, who threatens to call the police on kids for going to his door on Halloween? If Ol' Snively didn't want people there, he just needed to turn off his porch light. It's basic Halloween etiquette," Sonic said with a roll of his eyes. It had taken Tom reminding the grouchy old man that he was the police to get him to back off.
"Disgraceful," agreed Knuckles. "The man has no holiday spirit. I dearly hope he will be visited by three ghosts tonight to frighten him into learning the error of his ways."
His words finally pulled Shadow's gaze from the stars as he gave the echidna a strange look. "Knuckles, that's from A Christmas Carol. It has nothing to do with Halloween."
"If the ghosts are so intent on turning bitter old misers good, then they should not limit themselves to one holiday. They should do it for every holiday and increase their productivity," Knuckles said firmly.
Sonic laughed. "Oh, now there's a movie I'd like to see. A Christmas Carol, Pie Day edition. Or a Talk Like a Pirate Day one."
"I'd say Groundhog Day, but I think that one technically already exists," said Tails. "There's no ghosts, but the mean guy did learn to be nicer, and there was time travel involved."
Shadow rolled his eyes at their antics, but he was looking less glum, so Sonic counted it as a win.
Unfortunately, it only lasted for a moment until Shadow's face fell again. "I just… sometimes I worry I might one day forget about her."
"You won't," Sonic assured him.
"I speak from experience when I say the memories might fade a small amount, but you never forget them," Knuckles agreed.
Unfortunately, their words had the opposite effect. "I don't want them to fade," Shadow insisted. "Memories are all I have left."
"What about if it isn't?" Tails suggested.
The rest of them all turned to look at him in confusion.
"Well, that lab you lived in is somewhere on this planet, right?" Tails said. "I know it has bad memories from near the end, but maybe there's something left there from your good memories too."
"Oh, like a keepsake," said Sonic, getting what he meant. "I still have a feather that belonged to Longclaw. It helps a lot."
"I suppose the Master Emerald is my keepsake," Knuckles said thoughtfully. "It is the most prized possession of my people, and having it lets me know I do them proud."
Shadow looked like he was considering it, but still hesitated. "When GUN attacked, the lab was burned. What if there's nothing left?" he asked.
"But what if there is?" Sonic said encouragingly. "It might be worth a look, but only if you feel up for it."
Shadow turned to look back up at the stars again, before saying, "I'll think about it."
"Take your time," Sonic told him. He then muffled a yawn that reminded him just how late it was. "Do you want to go back in?"
"Do you wish to go throw toilet paper at the sniveling old man's house?" suggested Knuckles.
"No, no, just… give me a minute. I want to watch the stars just a little longer," said Shadow.
"Sure thing," said Sonic, and he and the others stayed to watch them, too.
The next morning dawned with the four of them still sprawled across the roof, fast asleep.
At least until Tails rolled over in his sleep and fell off. That was a rude awakening for all of them, but fortunately, Tails was able to catch himself in time and fly back down safely.
Tom and Maddie were not amused, and they were told all their stargazing had to be done from solid ground from now on.
Little did the four brothers know, their house had been under surveillance since Shadow had come to live with them.
In a secret location, a figure sat hunched over a workbench, wiring his latest creation together when his workflow was interrupted by a buzzing on his phone. He looked at it to see an emoji of a rock with heart-eyes as the caller ID. With a roll of his eyes, he promptly blocked the call.
Thrown off his game by the call, he decided to check the surveillance before going back to work.
When the hidden cameras caught a certain late-night conversation on the roof, the owner of the camera smirked wickedly.
"Oh, Ojii-Sanrio, looks like your cue will be coming up sooner than our calculations expected. Is there anything we need to put a rush order on before your grand debut?" he called across the room.
His partner in crime looked up from where he was welding machines together, and grinned with all his teeth. "Oh, a few things here and there, but you know what they say. The show must go on."
A/N Yes, Jawa Girl is Amy Rose. No, they haven't met her yet. I just included her to show she is around but she's not swooping in to save Sonic from Metal just yet.
Honestly, one of my greatest motivators to write the fic was this chapter. I just had a vision of all of them dressed up as Star Wars characters for Halloween and just had to write it into existence. It was fun coming up with who would dress as who. And yes, there is some meaning behind all my picks. I also got to sneak references in, so that's also always a joy.
SSSSS
Shadow: Also, I am definitely a Final Girl.
Sonic: How do you know?
Shadow: Because, unlike you, I have the common sense to stay out of the creepy basement.
Tails: Rock, Paper, Scissors you for the role.
SSSSS
Meanwhile, Long ago in another universe far, far away, on their equivalent of Halloween.
Luke Skywalker in a Sonic the Hedgehog onesie: Leia, are you ready?
Princess Leia walks out in a Shadow the Hedgehog onesie and looks at her reflection: ... I look stupid.