#usually i dont like stuff that does super in depth into sonics backstory or whatever but i thought up this idea and found it compelling

[heliianth]

longest thing ive written in forever & despite it being unedited and also like 3AM im proud of it so im posting it without a readmore........ be niceys to me

The grass crunched. A cool shade fell over his back, he could feel the presence there. Shadow only hugged his knees tighter.

Sonic sat down, of course it was him. His feet kicked against the cliff face, small rocks bounced away and into the swirling sea. The setting sun lit up his face and turned his eyes golden. He paid Shadow no mind, staring out onto the horizon with an unfamiliar expression.

“What do you want?“ Shadow's voice came hoarse in his throat.

Sonic only glanced his way. ”To sit with you for a bit. That okay?”

“Do as you wish.”

“Alright.”

The waves churned beneath them, the radiant and otherworldly hum of Angel Island an ambient backdrop. The dusk light embraced the water gently, orange glow wavering, before slowly creeping beyond and leaving the world with blackness. Already the nighttime was cold. A light breeze bit into Shadow's skin. It split him open, peeled something off and carried it out of reach. Small layers of protection shed with the slightest nudge. He had company. What was wrong with him?

He found himself counting, five in through his nose and five out through his mouth. But the air was so thick despite the altitude, he felt his nose and esophagus clogging.

“Shadow,” Sonic's voice cut through it all like a hot knife. He shifted and it drew Shadow's head up. “I've never told anyone this, okay? Not even Tails. So promise you won't snitch.”

Sonic held up a gloveless paw, head still turned away and pinkie outstretched. Shadow frowned. The fur on his palms was darker, almost cream, compared to the peach on the rest of his arms. His pads were darker than that, a brown that looked black in the low lighting.

Shadow looked down at his own bare paws where they clenched the fur on his legs. Slowly, he pried one of them away and linked a red pinkie with Sonic's.

Sonic hid his profile. Cold air separated them again. But after a few seconds, he shrugged to himself, and admitted, “I know who my parents are.”

The breeze picked up, adopting a slight howl.

“I've had lots of people come to me and tell me they're my parents.“ Sonic laughed, but it came out heavy. Bitter in a way he'd never heard, almost alien coming from the blue hedgehog's mouth. ”Comes with being famously orphaned, y’know? Whatever.“

Shadow stayed silent.

“She emailed me, with the, um,” he waved a paw around, “the public address Tails set up. For fans. He assumed it was like the other times: someone making something up for attention. So I ignored it.“

His brows furrowed, eyes tracking Sonic's arm as it lowered so he could tear up a handful of grass and toss it over the cliff. It fluttered away in the wind. He could feel its fingers, its breath, climb between his teeth; ”How'd you figure out she wasn't lying?“

”It was mostly a gut feeling.” Another shrug. “There were also pictures. She asked if I wanted to meet up. Promised she wouldn't go public with it either way, told me she just wanted to see if I was doing alright and... apologize in person.”

“Did you go?” Shadow felt his body lean forward, eagerly listening despite himself.

A second clump of grass went into the sky. “Nah.”

Something molten welled up inside of him. He couldn't keep the venom off his tongue when he snapped, “Why not? She clearly loved you if she reached out.”

”I don't remember a lot of my life, before Eggman. Maybe she loved me.“ Their eyes finally met. ”But that didn't matter to her then. It wasn't enough.“

Shadow tore his gaze away, back onto the water. His paw, the one he'd used to linked pinkies, dug into the dirt. His talons gouged a chunk out. ”You don't forgive her.“

Sonic went quiet for a moment. “The way I see it what's done is done, yeah? I'm over it.”

Shadow could tell Sonic was trying to regain eye contact, felt his paw meet his shoulder like a gunshot. He flinched away, vision blurring. Sonic didn't chase it.

“I'm just telling you... you're not alone, Shadow.”

Shadow squeezed the muddy clod of earth in his fist so hard he could feel it ooze. His breaths came quick and sharp, he wanted to do something. Turn and scream at Sonic for doing this to him. He'd rejected his responsibility, the one Shadow gave him, Shadow's whole life, like it was an unsavoury article of clothing. And then he sat down and talked to him like he could understand. What could he know about loneliness? Adored by humanity, revered as a hero. Successful in all the ways Shadow would not be, even as the Ultimate Lifeform.

He wanted to kill him. The yearning was horribly safe, it buzzed in his head like a heater.

Instead, he curled up into a pathetic ball. And this time, when the nighttime wind blew in from a new direction, Sonic shielded him from the chill.