Chapter Text
Shadow inhaled deeply, the scent of iron and forest filling his nostrils. Turning his head, his eyes found a hand covered by a dirty white glove, the usually pristine fabric stained with dirt and something faintly red.
Groaning, he tried to push himself up, only for a hand to move to his chest. “Hey, big guy…”
The hedgehog blinked slowly, trying to clear the fog from his vision. “Yeah- took a bad hit. Glad to see you’re up, sunshine.”
He grunted. “Sonic.”
Hands cupped his face, planting a firm kiss to his forehead with an exaggerated ‘mwa,’ which made Shadow realize that he was being… straddled. “Yes, that's me. I’m glad you remembered.”
A slow inhale. His head hurt. “Yes. How could I forget? I wake up to your annoying face every day.”
Sonic laughed, but it devolved into something more of a sob. Shadow himself reached up this time, thumbs under Sonic’s eyes. “What’s wrong? Sonic, why are you…” His eyes drifted downwards and his brain decided to take note of the fact that Sonic was actually on top of him. Legs around his hips. He’s pretty sure he felt his face heat up.
“You’re sitting on me.”
Sonic quickly shoved his palms into his eyes. “Shadow- we- I thought you were dead! I’m sorry for sitting on you or whatever, but I thought they killed you, man!”
Shadow blinked again. “So you sat on me?”
The blue hedgehog flicked Shadow’s ear. “I don’t know! You got hit upside the head and then just- you just went down! I thought you were tougher than that!” He snapped, but his voice shook.
“Who hit me?”
“Who- SHADOW!” Sonic yelped, throwing his hands up. “Do you even know where we are?”
No. Not really. A… forest?
He shook his head slightly.
“SHADOW, WHAT THE FUCK!?”
The ebony hedgehog’s ears flicked back, the volume adding to his pounding headache. “You said I hit my head. I believe that I… forgot.”
Hands found his face again, this time much more aggressively. “Shadow, you have fucking nightmares about this place. I’m going to, as well.”
As he pulled away, Shadow heard him mumble something about a ‘goddamn island.’
…island. He felt as if the memories were on the tip of his claws, but he just couldn’t quite hook them.
“This isn’t the time for this- the beach. You said we’re safe on the beach, right?” He leaned forward but his expression quickly changed to annoyance as he realized the chances of him getting the correct answer out of Shadow were currently slim to none. “Right, why am I asking you? You just got your skull bashed in and then miraculously healed out of nowhere. How could I forget, hah…” He scrubbed a hand over his face, smearing blood and dirt over his fuzzy cheeks.
Shadow reached up once more, but Sonic simply took his hand and dragged him to his feet.
“We’re going to the beach, alright? Real romantic. Moonlight walk along the shore. Just stay calm, Shads. Don’t want old injuries flaring up and leaving you unable to walk or anything. That’d be unfortunate.”
The striped mobian stumbled slightly as he was tugged upwards, but Sonic wrapped an arm around his shoulders to keep him standing. “Just tell me if you see anything weird, alright?”
Sonic shook Shadow slightly. “It’s like you told me, don’t listen to the fog. Or the radios. Or… anything. Just listen to me, okay?”
He stepped forward, dragging Shadow with him.