From Enemies to Friends and Friends to C3

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Chapter 3



When he was satisfied with his choice of words, Sonic left to see Shadow. For better or for worse, he couldn't find him. In the afternoon, he tried again but still couldn't find him. It wasn’t until night time, when he was headed home that he ran into someone on the way.

“Hello, Faker”, greeted the hedgehog, standing elegantly before him with his arms crossed.

“Shadow! I went to your house three times! Where were you?”

“I told you I had some things to attend to… Besides I don’t have to explain anything to you!”

“Yeah yeah. I’m the ultimate life form and I don’t have to tell anyone anything blah blah”, he said jokingly, trying to ease his own nerves.

“Hmph”, was Shadow’s simple answer before heading off to his house, leaving the blue hedgehog behind.

“Hey, wait!” he ran after him. “Geez, someone’s angry. Did ya have a bad day?”

“Go away”

“But I need to talk to you”

Somehow, their walk quickly turned into a race to Shadow’s house. The road proved to be too short as both arrived at the same time within seconds.

“What do you want now?” Shadow spat, frustrated now. Sonic knew far too well how easy it was to offend the other, considering how often he had done it.

“Can I come in?” he asked, moving towards the door.

“No”

“Pleeeeaasse”, Sonic begged, making puppy eyes.

“Shut up”, Shadow muttered with a glare

“Ok! Ok! Quit glaring at me. It was worth a try”, he scratched his head as he looked away. “Besides, I…wanted to give this back…” he said as he handed back the manga.

“Did you read it?” the other asked, trying to not let his surprise show.

“Of course I did! Well, you know since you let me borrow it and…” he trailed off. This was not going as planned, but at least nothing bad had happened yet.

“What did you think?” the black hedgehog asked, now feeling a bit nervous.

“Well, the pictures were nice and colorful! Haha”, he said hastily, not sure if there was anything better he could say.

“I see”, the other answered, disillusioned, and headed into the house. “If that is all, bye”, he said, closing the door.

“No, wait!” Sonic held the door open. “I wanted to tell you something else.”

“What?”

“I…”

“Just say it. I don’t have time for your games”

Sonic breathed deeply, clenching his eyes shut as the words spilled out of his mouth.

“I read something on your laptop. I know you don’t like it when I look through your stuff, but it was an accident! The other day I came to ask you what it was but I don’t think you understood and you gave me the manga instead. I read that too, but it was because I was bored. What I really want to know is what I read on your laptop”. When he finished, Sonic finally took a breath and waited for an insult, a fist or any reaction.

Nothing happened.

“What did you read?” a now surprised Shadow asked, his full attention on Sonic.

“Something about…I don’t know someone moaning and stuff”, he muttered, not sure what else to say.

“What else?” Shadow stepped closer to Sonic, now ready to force him to talk if need be.

“Nothing else!” the other yelled, a bit embarrassed. “Actually it kind of reminded me of one of a scene from that manga”

Shadow then turned away from the blue hedgehog, an awkward silence falling over both of them that felt like an eternity to Sonic.

“Shadow, I...” he started, wanting to apologize.

“Leave”, Shadow muttered, not bothering to look at him.

“Don’t get so worked up over this! I know it was wrong, but you're exaggerat-“

“What you read wasn’t a book. I can’t give it to you. That's it. That’s why you came, right? Now, go home”, he went back into his house. Sonic didn't stop him this time.

The hero knew what would happen now. If he kept insisting, he would only make the other more upset. He’d have to leave and give him some time to calm down. He’d try to apologize again later.

When he got home, Sonic climbed onto the roof. As he gazed at the stars, he reflected on what had happened today. He felt like an idiot for letting his curiosity get the better of him and thought of how Shadow needed to learn to control his temper. It only made it that much harder to talk to him at times like these.

“Still, it was fun hanging out with him”, he lamented. “I shouldn't have pressured him”, he said as he felt guilt set in.

“What if he never forgives me? What if he won’t trust me anymore since I snooped through his stuff?” Sonic hit himself mentally. “And it took so long to gain his trust!”

In the end, he skipped dinner and went straight to bed; his appetite was the last thing on his mind. That night he was plagued by terrible nightmares of Shadow and him going back to being enemies. As the wonderful memories of their friendship faded, he could only watch as Shadow went back to his dark times. The dark hedgehog in his dream would no longer open his heart to anyone.

When he woke up, he could only comfort himself with the thought that it was only a bad dream, nothing more. In a few days everything would go back to normal like always.

When three days passed, Sonic, armed with an apple pie as a peace offering went to visit Shadow. As he approached the door to knock, he noticed the door was open.

“The door’s open so I’m coming in!” he announced as he entered the small house. “Shadow?” he called, surprised to find the house was completely empty.

Sonic placed the pie on the floor and ran through all the rooms looking for an explanation of what had happened. Finally giving up, he went back to the front door only to find a note on the floor. He quickly took the paper, hoping to find answers.

“Faker,
I know you are the only who would think of ‘visiting’ me at any moment. You won’t have to come back though. I don’t live here anymore. I have decided it would be best for everyone if I left and moved...somewhere far. Even though it was your own insolence for getting into my private affairs, I apologize for anything you read that day. I really do. But don’t worry, you won’t have to see me again.
Good bye”

“Shadow…”

Sonic read the note twice more before crushing it and throwing it aside. He took off at full speed, running every which way around the surrounding area to try and find Shadow. Not having much luck, he ran to get help.

“Tails!” he yelled as he ran into the garage and climbed onto one of the airplane’s wing.

“Hi, Sonic!” Tails greeted as he took off his goggles.

“Get on the Tornado!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll explain later. Come on!”

Without another word, the small fox got on and they both took off, not sure where he was suppose to go.

“What are we doing?”

“Shadow left. We need to find him.”

“What do you mean he left?”

“He moved somewhere far away from here”

“Why would he do that? I thought we were getting along-”

“I know. I did something stupid!” Sonic answered sharply, still mad at himself. “I need to find him, to make things right and bring him back.”

“Okay!” Tails said, ready to support his big brother in this. “I’ll do my best to find him!”

They looked all day, flying over every place twice. Soon Tails realized that when Shadow said he was going far away, he actually meant it. He knew that if Shadow didn't want to be found, he would make sure of it. Even so, the fox kept going, knowing Sonic wouldn't give up and not really wanting to leave him alone to look.

After several hours, both were exhausted. Sonic, after trying to get the fox to return home, gave up as well. He would keep looking tomorrow, bent on finding Shadow no matter how long it would take.

He wasn’t going to let those nightmares come true, not if he had anything to say about it. No, he’d find Shadow, talk to him and fix this whole mess. He wasn’t going to let his own mistakes be the cause of Shadow leaving.


Meanwhile, Shadow stood outside as he admired the scenery of what would be his new home.

“It’s beautiful”, he thought, looking at the large forest before him. He then sighed, sorrowfully. “I ruined it all…”