"But isn't it better like this? I mean him not throwing a temper tantrum every few minutes will definitely make things much easier in the long run," Sonic argued, not understanding why this was such an issue.
Tails sighed. "It's not better, Sonic. His hypothalamus is in overdrive and yet he's not having mood swings — something is clearly wrong here — and if we don't know what this something is, we might not know how to react once it manifests itself fully."
"Or maybe is Shadow just really good at dealing with his emotions," the cobalt hero suggested as an explanation.
Tails just gave him the 'Are you being serious?' look. "Should I remind you that he almost blew up the planet at one point? And that he attacks you out of anger at least once a week?"
"He was grieving his best-friend's death during the Eclipse cannon incident — I higly doubt that is something that can be hold against him," the older hero argued; he was absolutely sure no one would be able to stay level-headed if the same happened to their friend.
Or at least he wouldn't be able to do so if Tails died.
(Though at least now he knew he better hide all gigantic cannons that could possibly obliterate the planet in case something like this happened again.)
"-And I provoke him on purpose so him throwing anger fits is probably my fault," Sonic added with a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. He knew it was kind of childish of him but he really enjoyed riling up people; and, unfortunately for Shadow, the ebony agent (along with Knuckles) was one of his first choices to go to when he wanted to play the mischief-maker.
Tails sighed, shaking his head. "Let's just hope you're right about this one — but I'll make some more tests just in case."
"I guess that's fair enough," the cobalt hero replied, shrugging his shoulders, as he looked over to where his ebony counterpart should be standing only to find the spot devoid of Shadow's presence and the once-damaged door replaced with its identical replica. Sonic blinked slowly; he hadn't even heard Shadow leave.
Shadow really knew how to sneak around without getting noticed.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later then. I'm gonna check on Amy and then possibly try to find where Shadow has gone," Sonic commented, waving his hand as sign of goodbye as he started to walk away from the other.
"Send him here once you find him! I need to make few more tests!" Tails called after him.
"Sure!" Sonic called back, the door clicking shut right after his shout.
Tails sighed and then, once again, glued his gaze to the neuro-scientific book on his lap to search for the answers to his questions.
Which he knew he most likely wouldn't find but he was willing to try.
~O~
Upon entering the kitchen, Sonic raised his brow not sure what to think of the sight before him. By the stove, both Amy and Shadow were standing, the ebony hedgehog looking at female with a look of intense suspicion, while the pink heroine had the expression of a deer caught in the headlights.
"Is there some problem here?" the hero asked, the question making Amy let out a startled squeak — she clearly hadn't noticed him.
"W-what? A problem? Of course not!" Amy replied hurriedly with a clearly forced laugh, tripping over her own words as she quickly stuffed something glassy into the pocket of her dress, forcing a smile on her face just a moment later.
Sonic furrowed his brows at the female's strange behavior, trying to determine whether he should question it or leave it be. Then he shook his head, coming to the assumption that Amy was probably just being jumpy because of Shadow's momentary attitude; when you didn't know Shadow well enough, it was sometimes hard to determine from the agent's body-language alone whether he was just in bad mood or silently plotting your murder for something you had done.
"Alright then." Sonic shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to the duo. He patted his ebony rival's right shoulder to get his attention, the action finally making Shadow switch from watching Amy like a hawk to gazing at him. "Tails said he needs to do few more tests. Do you think you'd mind...?"
"...Watch her," was all he got as a response from Shadow, the ebony agent shooting Amy a warning look before he walked past him and out of the kitchen, most likely for heading Tails' workshop as had been asked of him.
Sonic raised a curious eye-ridge at the seemingly random remark, not sure how to interpret it. Rubbing the back of his neck in thought, the speedster turned to Amy, a questioning look on his face. "So...what was that about?"
"Who knows," Amy replied quickly, moving to the kitchen counter and then starting to remove all the dishes and kitchen utensils that were no longer necessary.
Sonic frowned lightly at the clearly rushed reply, sensing Amy was wasn't being completely honest with him. But he didn't call her on that as she continued speaking.
"He just came and started to give me this really mean eye," Amy said, a small frown on her face as she turned her head to look at him again. "Why is he even here? Shouldn't Rouge be the one looking after him when she works with him?"
"She's busy — trying to get Shadow's blood-sample from GUN so that Tails could find an antidote to the serum," Sonic explained, giving her a helping hand with moving the dishes to the sink.
"And how long is he going to stay with you?"
"Dunno. Probably few days." Sonic shrugged his shoulders, now turned to the dish-filled sink and thus missing the discontented look that flashed across the female's face. "Maybe more. It really depends on when Tails finishes the antidote."
"I see..." Amy muttered quietly, not sounding exactly enthusiastic about this fact. Sonic wasn't either, but he didn't let it show anyhow and instead focused his attention on helping Amy finish their lunch.
The less he thought about it, the better.
~O~
"This is a very late lunch..." Tails commented as he sat down at the kitchen table, looking over to the pink and blue duo that were just placing the food on the plates.
"Or you can look at it as an early dinner!" Sonic commented with a chuckle and a light jab to the fox's ribs as he placed a food-filled plate before the fox."Eat up!"
As he plopped himself down onto his own seat, Sonic placed his own plate onto the table. "By the way, where's Shads?"
"He should be here in a minute," Tails replied in between his bites, "I ran few tests to ensure the serum doesn't have any negative effects on his stamina or senses, so he's getting a shower to freshen up."
"Oh, alright then."
"You two could have waited for me, you know," Amy commented with a frown as she sat down next to the already dining heroes, clearly considering the fact that they had started to eat before she even had the chance to seat herself as rude.
Sonic gave a light laugh. "Sorry, Ames, but if you got attacked by Eggman as often as we do, you would know eating fast is the key – otherwise you could end up having to fight hundreds of robots with an empty stomach for the rest of the day," Sonic explained, Tails giving a hum of agreement as with his mouth full he couldn't give an proper answer. "-And, besides, it's better to eat while the food's still warm!"
"Food doesn't get cold in a single minute," she commented, still giving them a disapproving look.
However, Amy's remark was ignored as at that moment a clinking of metal shoes against kitchen tiles sounded, announcing Shadow's arrival.
Sonic immediately turned his gaze from Amy towards the kitchen entrance. "Food's on the counter! Help your-...self..." the hero's voice trailed off into silence as his gaze fell onto Shadow, the agent's fur still partly damp from his recent shower, the moistness of his black pelt allowing Sonic to admire the prominent lines of the strong muscles hidden underneath-
"Sonic!" Sonic jerked as he was roughly brought back into reality by Amy's loud call. The hero blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
"You spaced out a bit there," Tails explained, a worried expression on his face. "Are you feeling well?"
"Well?" Sonic repeated, his mind still trying to catch up with the current events. He shook his head to clear it. "Yeah, sure. I just got lost in thought," he replied with a wave of hand as he lowered his head and returned to stuffing his slowly reddening face with food.
Amy and Tails exchanged a confused glance at the strange reply but did not question the hero further.
I've just been mesmerized by Shadow's body. This better be a new way to seduce me because, hell, otherwise I'm really going to fail once he starts trying again... Sonic mused internally, daring to take a quick look at the ebony agent who had just sat down to his right and, in much less hurried manner than the duo of brothers had done, began to silently eat his own portion while Tails and Amy chatted about something that Sonic's ears didn't bother to register.
Though it's still bugging me why he has stopped with that so suddenly...
Maybe was the serum leaving Shadow's system for real this time; and thus making Shadow return back to his avoidant self? Or was it just another false alarm?
...or maybe was Shadow plotting something on him?
However, Sonic didn't even have any opportunity to mull over this theory as his train of thought was interrupted by an insistent tap to his left shoulder. "Sonic, you're not listening to me at all!"
"Hm?" The cobalt hero turned his gaze to the speaker, seeing Amy standing there with three already empty plates and, from the periphery of his vision, Tails and Shadow talking about something — well, Tails really did most of the talking as Shadow just nodded or shook his head in response — but neither had a plate before them.
Just how long had he been lost in thought?
Amy gave a tired sigh. "I asked you if you'll finish that or if I should throw it away, I'd like to wash the dishes now."
"Oh, just give me a second," Sonic said, the food disappearing from the plate faster than Amy could blink. Then he got up and with sonic-speed swept the other plates from Amy's hands.
He was already standing by the sink when Amy realized what just happened. The pink heroine gave him a surprised look at which Sonic responded with a smile and short "I'll handle this." He placed the dirty plates next to the sink. "You've already done a lot today. Take a minute to relax."
"I'll take a break once we finish this," Amy replied, looking eager to help him, taking the dish towel. "It'll take less time if we do it together!"
"...Well, if you insist," the speedster said in the end, shrugging his shoulders.
Sonic slowly took off his gloves so he could wash the dishes, revealing his fawn colored hands, now tainted by a purplish marring. The cobalt hero blinked slowly, the fingers of his right hand coming up to trace the dark bruises on his left, the discolored skin only on his wrists and partly on his fingers.
Where did he get them?
Oh, yeah...Shadow, he realized just a moment later, recalling the memory how violently Shadow had pushed him against the wall back in the cell; that must be when it happened.
"Chaos, what happened to your hands?!"
Blinking as he returned to the present moment, Sonic turned his head towards the voice, Amy worriedly looking over his bruised hands.
Feeling kind of self-conscious, the hero drew his hands closer to his body, deciding to go for a truth stripped of details once again. "...Shadow did them back at Egghead's base," the speedster replied and after seeing how Amy's face twisted in plethora of negative emotions, he quickly added, "-It was purely by accident, though!"
The female lowered her gaze. "But still..."
Amy softly grasped his right hand with both of hers, running her fingers over the bruises situated there. "Are you sure you'll be safe? You said he's not fully himself at the moment-" She gave the ebony agent a quick look over her shoulder and then she continued in whisper, "-What if he becomes violent? I don't want you to get hurt more — You should keep away from him..."
Sonic sighed. "Bruises are nothing I couldn't handle, Amy, don't worry," he said, drawing his hand from hers to start washing the dishes. "They'll heal soon."
Amy only gave him an unconvinced stare.
And Tails wondered why the ebony hedgehog before him looked so dispirited suddenly.
~O~
"Um, are you sure you want to stay?" Sonic asked, trying not to show how reluctant he was about letting the girl stay at his house; it was really late he knew that — but he would gladly take Amy home if she wanted to. "I mean you'd surely-"
"Of course, I want to stay!" Amy replied even before he could finish his sentence, the loudness of her voice making him flinch involuntarily; she usually raised her voice like this when she was about to start chasing him with a hammer.
Forcing himself to relax as he let out a tired sight, the cobalt hero rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay then. But just so you know, we don't really have any extra beds – only couch..."
"I can sleep on the bed in my workshop," Tails offered as he emerged from around the corner. "I find it more comfortable than my own bed anyway."
"Thanks, Tails!" Amy clapped her hands happily as she skipped over to the staircase, halting there and turning back to them. "It's the second door on the left, right?"
"Yeah, that's the one," the young genius nodded. "Goodnight, Amy!"
"Goodnight to you too, Tails!" she said with a smile, practically flying up the stairs, where she then added, "You too, Sonic!" and then disappeared from their sight - all in a span of mere two seconds.
Sonic waited for a moment just in case Amy remembered she wanted to tell them something and returned; but when it didn't happen, he just turned to the younger Mobian, putting on a serious face. "Don't think you sleeping in the workshop means you can work deep into the night. You are still going to bed at acceptable hours," he warned him. "By the time I'll check up on you, you better be in the bed already."
"Yeah, yeah," Tails replied, waving him off, knowing that despite the 'disobey me and consequences shall be dire' act Sonic was trying to pull off, there was no real threat; just the possibility of slightly embarrassing instance of getting carried into a bed and then being tucked in like a small child. "You always give me this speech, Sonic, I already know it by heart."
"But you still barely follow it."
"I'm getting better," Tails argued, mimicking his brother's serious face and tone.
Sonic laughed at the other's imitation of him and then messed the other's head-fur fondly. "You've still got a long way to go, buddy."
Tails sighed as he fixed the head-fur Sonic had messed. "Goodnight, Sonic."
"Yeah, goodnight to you too, Tails," the hero replied as he watched Tails walk away towards his workshop, the young fox disappearing behind the recently-changed door just a moment later.
I guess it's the time...
Sighing, Sonic started to approach the living room, not really looking forward to interacting with Shadow without other people around; he still wasn't sure whether the ebony agent had been just following Rule 2 all the afternoon and evening or if there was some other reason behind his behavior.
So, yeah, he honestly had no idea whether he should expect sudden attack the moment he walked into the living room or if he should expect something completely different.
—Though this completely different category definitely didn't involve seeing Shadow silently dozing off on the couch.
The cobalt speedster watched the other hedgehog from his spot by the doorway, surprised. Shadow looked...peaceful. It was strange seeing the usually uptight agent looking so relaxed and carefree.
Though it's definitely not as strange as his today behavior, he mused internally. Shadow's sudden behavior change still bugged him. Could it because of what I've said before we left with Amy?
The cobalt hero slowly approached the sleeping hedgehog, black ears weakly twisting in his vague direction as he came closer, the small movement showing that the ebony agent was sleeping lightly and thus could easily be woken up if he was too loud.
Maybe I've hurt his feelings somehow? He has been looking quite low in spirits for the rest of the day now when I think about it...
Sonic unfolded a blanket which he had taken from a nearby cabinet, draping the cloth around Shadow's form as he did not wish for him to get cold during the night.
I'll apologize to him tomorrow, the hero decided once he finished adjusting the blanket, turning to walk away just a moment later.
Hopefully, that'll be enough to set things right between us once again.