[Şmøöţh Śăīłįñğ]

[21]

The room fell silent, looks of shock on everyone's face aside from Shadow. Sonic could tell Shadow was thinking, which made him think too.

There couldn't be a genuine attraction there? That thought was immediatley ruled out; he was around thirty-seven (if he was ten years older than Shadow) and would make him nine years older than Silver. Sonic shivered at the age gap. Maybe he was using him to get to Shadow? There was the possibility he knew Silver was part of Shadow's crew, but how would he recognise them? Maybe he knew Sonic was there? He could possibly know about Sonic and Shadow's relationship.

Shadow shook his head in defeat with a long sigh. Sonic snapped out of his thoughts, accepting defeat just as Shadow had.

"It's impossible to know why he's pretending to like Silver." Shadow grumbled "I had hoped switching me out for him would keep him away from us, but your mother had other plans." Shadow explained. Rouge perked up, gasping. "I 'ear somethin'!" She hissed to the group. The group remained quiet and allowed Rouge to keep listening.

The white bat wiggled her hears for a few moments before speaking again. "Walks just like Shadow." She confirmed everyone's fears. Mephiles had followed Sonic and Shadow there. The tension grew as the group remained quiet, footsteps soon becomming audible for each crewmate. "What do we do?" Tails asked, looking to Sonic with eyes full of worry. Sonic shook his head; he had no idea what to do.

Shadow stood up and quietly walked towards the door, standing at its side. He raised a hand and signalled for the group to be quiet. The crew obliged and watched Shadow nervously, Tails sitting by Sonic as his fear grew. Sonic, of course, comforted the small fox as quietly as he could in hopes of quieting said fox. Whoever was roaming the hallways took it as an invitation to walk into the room.

The door swung open and a hedgehog ran inside. Before anyone could get a proper look at the hedgehog, Shadow jumped onto the mysterious figure and forced them to the ground. "Hey!" The figure shouted. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, realising it was merely Silver. Shadow, embarrassed, slowly got up before helping the ivory hedgehog up. "Sorry." He stated, blushing and looking away in embarrassment. Sonic couldn't help but laugh.

"It's fine." Silver grumbled as he dusted himself off. "Why so weary?" He asked, looking to the crew and then back at Shadow. His question was met with silence until Sonic decided to speak up.

"Say.... Silver." He began, nervousness building as he asked. "Do you like Mephiles - as in a lovers way?" Sonic sheepishly asked. Silver raised a brow and began to blush. He tried to conceal his face by looking around in confusion. Sonic gulped.

This had just made things a lot harder. Mephiles was - presumably - an enemy and Silver liked him!? Sonic knew it was best to tell Silver everything as a crewmate, but as a friend he didn't want to tell him and break his heart.

"Why does it matter?" Silver asked. He was becomming defensive. "There's no need for the plan now, is there?" He asked, not expecting an answer. Sonic still shook his head, biting his lip and looking down as he contemplated what to say. "Silver." Shadow stepped in, walking up to Sonic and placing a hand on his shoulder. He was facing Silver  with a stern expression on his face.

"There's things you don't know." He cryptically stated. "Things that involve the unlikeliest of people. This and the fact the man is thirty-seven." Silver tilted his head. "What do you mean by the former?" He asked. Shadow remained silent, a chalant expression on his face. "He is my brother." He merely stated. Silver understood almost immediatley. His gold eyes widened and filled with shock and he gasped.

"No..." he whispered. The shock mixed with sadness and Sonic watched as his heart broke. He felt sorry for Silver. The two would stay up in their cabin and often talk about their dream lives. Silver had always wanted to find and marry a person of his choosing and not on his father's accord. Yet, the first person he showed interest in was an enemy of the SS. ARK.

"I'm sorry, Silver." Shadow said sternly "But I'm afraid you can't be near him unless someone is supervising him. We don't know why he is showing interest in you, and it could be just to harm you." Silver nodded in understanding, choosing not to say a word. "I'll return back to the restaurant and tell them you two are shopping. Sonic will probably fill me in on the plan later."

With that, the ivory hedgehog left in a pitiful state.