Why Should I Help Him - Chapter 3

Sonic struggled in his sleep as he tried in vain to keep his eyes shut. He finally gave up and opened his eyelids, his innocent emerald eyes staring at his ebony partner. From Shadow’s weak snores, he could guess that he was fast asleep. That calmed down the azure hedgehog, but just a bit.

What was going to happen once the day came by? What was Shadow going to do with him? From the first day he stayed with him, Sonic already understood that the black hedgehog didn’t like him at all, and if he was helping him, it was just to get over with the matter quickly, then he would walk alone as he usually enjoyed doing. However, Sonic wasn’t sure when he would get his memories back. He just could hope that it didn’t take long, because he didn’t want to stay much longer.

That thought tormented his mind the whole night and kept him fully awake, forcing his glance to be focused on Shadow all the time.

After a while he could see some sunrays going through the clear window, but they were so weak to illuminate the dark forest they were in. In fear, Sonic curled up a bit and hugged Shadow to search for comfort. The black hedgehog stirred as he was awoke from his deep sleep. His cold crimson stare stared into Sonic’s eyes.

“Stop doing that.” He growled and showed a bit his white teeth in anger as a way to intimidate the poor hedgehog. Sonic frowned in confusion, yet deep inside he was getting more and more scared.

“W-What am I doing Shadow?” He asked shyly as he cuddled more against Shadow’s body when a shiver went through all his body. A weak wind had flown through a window and made Sonic feel cold. The ebony hedgehog got immediately pissed off and pushed Sonic aside with strength.

“Touching me, you stupid hedgehog!” He cursed and pushed more Sonic until he had fallen off the bed. Sonic whimpered weakly as his ribs touched the cold ground beneath him. What had he done wrong to get that? Sonic couldn’t stop asking himself, but he didn’t dare to move from the ground, fearing that Shadow would yell at him again.

“When are you going to stand up, Sonic? I thought you didn’t like the ground?” Shadow asked in such a way that the blue hedgehog understood that his partner was mocking him. Another whimper escaped his lips as he shakily stood up and dusted off with cobalt fur.

“Sorry Shadow, my body felt numb with the cold and I couldn’t move at first.” He excused himself as his ears pinned to his skull. Shadow just raised a frown.

“Whatever, I wasn’t going to harm you if you stood up.” He then removed the blankets from his body and crawled a bit towards a corner of the bed. Shadow was feeling a bit lazy to do a thing that day; he didn’t feel happy about staying with Sonic either.

After a while, he stood up and stretched himself. He turned to look at the scared hedgehog at the other side of the bed, and then started walking towards the door, without pronouncing another word. Sonic felt tempted to follow him and touch his shoulders to stop him, but the fear forced him to stay in his place, watching as Shadow left him alone.

And to add Sonic’s bad luck, Shadow decided to lock the door from outside to keep Sonic in the house and to ensure that he wouldn’t escape and follow him. The hedgehog didn’t feel any more relieved with the loneliness surrounding him in every corner of the house. He didn’t understand why Shadow had left him there. Wasn’t he supposed to help him recover his memories?

The cobalt hedgehog sat down on the bed, crawled towards the center of it, and hugged his legs as tight as he could to gain warmth. The day was not as warm as he had thought. Maybe it was the fact that he was inside a forest with thick and tall trees that didn’t allow the sun rays to come through fully.

There was nothing interesting to do at that small place since there were useless movables. What he could do there? He sighed as he hugged his legs more to his body. Why he wasn’t outside with his ebony partner? He was forced to stare at all the things, yet there was nothing he could do.

In frustration, he suddenly curled up and tackled the door, in hopes on knocking it down. However the door stayed firm on its place.

The blue hedgehog screamed in anger as he curled up his fists and punched the door in vain to be free. Tears ran down his muzzle; he begged loudly and screamed Shadow’s name, but the other hedgehog was too far away to hear his yells. However, that didn’t stop Sonic from continuing his desperate actions for more than one hour.

He finally stopped, panting hard and his eyes red from all the crying. He was missing Shadow’s company, even if the ebony partner was very mean to him. Feeling down, Sonic had no other option but to return back to the comfortable bed and hide between the covers. His sobs didn’t stop all the time; he could just play bored with the blankets.

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Not many hours had passed until Shadow opened the door with his key and walked inside. The serious expression wouldn’t leave his face.

Sonic felt brave enough now to take a glance from under the covers, but not as much as to let himself visible. His eyes widened when they noticed Shadow’s ruby eyes staring at him. The ebony hedgehog’s face was just inches apart from his, and that made him blush hard.

“What are you doing there?” With that question coming from Shadow’s lips, the blush disappeared from his peach muzzle.

“I was sleeping.” He lied shyly and his ears pinned to his skull, fearing that Shadow would harm him. His scared expression only made him angrier.

“Could you stop giving me that look already?!” He spat out. “I am not going to raise my fist against you, don’t think I am like that.” The hedgehog sighed as he separated from the cobalt hedgehog and crossed his arms. His mind was lost in thoughts, and Sonic could clearly notice it on Shadow’s movements.

And so, after a while of a deep silence, Shadow went over Sonic and took away the blanks from his body, leaving him totally shocked.

“Stop hiding already, it’s pointless.” He grabbed his hand. “Follow me.” They both walked outside into the dark forest. The innocent hedgehog didn’t know what to think in that moment, whether he should be excited to finally step out of the small house, or more scared because there could be creatures hiding between the trees. He, however, followed Shadow wherever he took him.

“I am going to show you a place you like.” The black hedgehog dryly replied as he pulled the blue hedgehog closer to himself, since Sonic was, at the moment, refusing to walk once they entered Sonic’s most visited place, Green Hill.

“Please don’t take me here! Let’s get out of here!” He whimpered as he tried to release from Shadow’s grasp. The ebony hedgehog frowned in confusion. Why Sonic seemed scared about his favorite place in which he loved running through?

“Why do you want to leave already? I thought you disliked being at my home.” He said seriously, trying to make the blue hedgehog shut up for once and follow him. Instead, he got another whimper from him.

“But why do we have to go here?! This place is too big! We will get lost!” Shadow chuckled darkly. He never expected such a big change on his behavior to the point that the hedgehog feared a big place.

“You know this place, Sonic.” He pulled him with more strength, forcing Sonic’s legs to move forwards, even if the cobalt hedgehog was not happy about the idea. He thought that more monsters lived in the grass and would come out to attack at any moment. The mere thought made his whole body shiver. Shadow felt it and growled.

“Stop acting like a little kid, Sonic! You are 15 years old!” The blue hedgehog lowered his ears in fear as he felt Shadow shaking his hand violently. He slowly understood that Shadow wasn’t very tolerant to his childish attitude, but what could he do? Sonic didn’t remember how he used to be before, and Shadow wasn’t telling him exactly his usual attitude.

In fact, the ebony hedgehog wasn’t being of help as Sonic had wished. He had pushed him out of the bed, locked him at home, and taken him to a scary place. Where was the help that he was so desperately searching for? Why Shadow was being so mean? Had he done a bad thing to him before? Sonic sighed. With so many questions on his mind, he got a small headache. He thought that maybe that headache was normal on him when several questions bothered him.

After a while of walking around, Sonic’s frustration increased. The tall grass covering the ground, big natural loops located all around. His eyes were locked on the blue liquid that was far away in the coast of the isle. He managed to release from Shadow’s grip and walk slowly towards it, without taking his eyes from it. He even ignored Shadow’s yells.

Shadow was so confused. He had thought that Sonic was going to shiver and hide behind his back. But instead, the blue hedgehog was going into the water, and when he got there, he took off one of his gloves and touched with his fingers the liquid very curiously, and when he did, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Shadow, what is this?” He asked. The ebony hedgehog went to his knees once he was with Sonic and played gently with the water, having a relaxed expression on his face, much to the cobalt hedgehog’s surprise.

“It’s called water. It’s the most abundant substance on this planet, and other life forms subsist inside.” His eyes stared at Sonic’s. “You hate water since it doesn’t let you run as much as you want, so it greatly confused me when you went towards it as if it was your favorite thing to look at.” His deep voice rang on Sonic’s ears, but the blue hedgehog didn’t reply.

‘So other living things are there? What could they be like? Are they like us?’ He was so curious to find out the answers. He couldn’t just stay there and gaze down at the sea. He felt very eager to jump and check out what could be lying below. A firm hand grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the sea.

“What do you think you are doing Sonic?” He asked completely perplex at what Sonic was intending to do. The hedgehog struggled to release himself from Shadow’s grasp.

“I only want to see those life forms you are telling me about. I will be quick, I promise.” As soon as he quickly got free, Shadow wrapped his hands around Sonic’s chest and walked away.

“Sonic, the other reason you hate water is because you can’t swim. That means, in the exact moment your feet touch the deep part you will drown.” Sonic stopped struggling and gave another innocent look at the ebony hedgehog. How could it be possible that he feared water, if the liquid was a very beautiful thing to stare at? That was in no way possible.

“Please! I promise I will be careful so I don’t drown!” He pleaded with whimpers, in hopes of convincing Shadow to let him go. However, the older hedgehog just held him closer and tighter so he couldn’t escape.

“Sonic, when I tell you that you can’t do a thing, you must listen to me. I am just doing this for your sake.” He started walking away without allowing any more words from the cobalt hedgehog. Shadow was already starting to get fed up of Sonic’s attitude, and he wasn’t sure how much he could stand of it.

Since Sonic was being hugged so tight, he couldn’t do a single move. Why he had to get separated from the sea he was starting to enjoy? Why was Shadow saying mean lies? He couldn’t understand anything, but he only wanted to touch the water and stare at the sky, which was orange colored due to the Sun rays. Sonic could see that the Sun was about to hide and make the beautiful place a dark one.

It only took Shadow some minutes before he was finally back to his home. He was happy that the younger hedgehog had been so focused on looking at the sea and the sky the whole time that he had forgot to escape. That only made Shadow’s task easier.

He put Sonic inside home and also walked inside before locking the main door with the key.

Now it was Sonic’s turn to complain about his sad experience in the morning. He crossed his arms and grumped. “Why you left me totally alone here for hours?! Do you understand how scared I felt?!” Shadow blinked, yet he wasn’t going to let Sonic screw up his recent good mood.

“Sonic, you are complaining for no reason at all-” Sonic covered the tan muzzle for few seconds.

“I only wanted you to stay by my side! The forest is wide and cold! Besides, it is your obligation to take care of me until I recover my memory!” Shadow growled as he slapped Sonic’s hand away from his face.

“Idiot! Do you think I would leave you alone here for no reason?!” He spat out. “I was searching for a place that you actually liked, but it is so difficult since you have run all around the world!” He shook Sonic by grabbing him from his peach arms. “I am taking care of you, so don’t dare to yell at me for a thing I am doing right!”

And for second time, he was forced to slap Sonic’s cheek to make him shut up. The hedgehog fell to the ground again, and as Shadow wished, he didn’t mention another word.

The ebony hedgehog calmed down soon after that and went to his comfortable bed. This time, he didn’t tell Sonic to go to the bed since he knew that the cobalt hedgehog would go to his side eventually. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

Sonic massaged his hurt face and let hidden tears fall from his beautiful eyes. He preferred to be on the boring hospital with his kind friends that had truly tried helping him. Now he felt stupid for ignoring them before, but he couldn’t go back anymore.

Since his cheek still burned from the hard slap, he decided to put it on the cold ground. Even if he started shaking violently, he didn’t move. But he allowed more tears to flow freely. Just at the look of the teardrops he whimpered.

‘Why Shadow… Why are you denying me? Where is the help you were supposed to give to me? Why you only hit me and yell at me? Even if a headache was starting to bother his head, he ignored it. He only wanted to keep on asking himself questions, no matter how many answers he had to find out.

His emerald eyes turned to look at the other hedgehog, who was still pretending to sleep on the bed. A new feeling that Sonic had never experienced before, or not that he remembered, invaded his mind. Anger.

Anger, accompanied by sadness. It was not much anger, but he still could feel it deep inside his heart, slowly burning. Since it was very weak still, Sonic couldn’t exactly understand what it was trying to tell him, but it wasn’t going to take much until he was sure.

The cold that invaded his body was too much for him after some minutes; no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t stand it. He shakily looked at Shadow and sighed. The ebony hedgehog was making him suffer with his silence, almost if he was expecting Sonic to go with him to torture him in unimaginable ways, and that was the most probable thing in Sonic’s mind.

He sighed as he stood up and, finally, went towards the bed. Shadow opened one of his ruby eyes and stared at Sonic. Their eyes met and Sonic froze; he couldn’t move from his place at all.

“You took long.” Shadow shifted himself until he was lying down on his side and now looking fully at Sonic. The poor hedgehog’s eyes were shaking a bit as he gulped nervously.

“S-Sorry… My mind was lost…” Was all Sonic said and he laid down besides Shadow, but still trying to be as far from his as possible. Shadow chuckled, believing in Sonic, since he knew he couldn’t go anyway because the ebony hedgehog was hiding the key on his gloves. And besides, it was fun to him that Sonic was having troubles inside his mind.

“Well, next time don’t take long.” He yawned and turned his back into him once more. “Now sleep.” Sonic’s ears perked up at a weak snore that came after that. He was more comfortable now that Shadow was truly asleep. He was still a bit scared to hide his eyes behind his blue eyelids, but at the same tired he was very tired to think anything else.

He finally fell asleep after staring at Shadow’s back for long. He just hoped he could sleep well that night, and that Shadow could take him to the coast. He would love to see the mysterious water again.