The further I got into this I felt that I had made it a lot longer than intended. This was originally going to be a oneshot but I found it to be way too long, so I cut it in half. I'm all welcome for criticisms! Just as long as...you know...you're not being a jerk about it. I'm a little rusty, so...

Sonic was going mad.

He forgot how long he had been in Camelot since he had saved the land from corruption. He knew well, though, that he had been there long enough. A day seemed like a week, and a week seemed like a month—that is, if he had even been there that long. He wasn't sure. It wasn't exactly the land itself that was bothering him, no. No, he found it to be a beautiful place, much as he loved wide open plains decorated with flowers. Sonic had always had an admiration to nature and all that it held. He had plenty of places here to run, especially if he needed to clear his mind. He also had to admire the buildings of the medieval era, built of stone and strong. He had seen many things in his life, and would continue to see even more, he had only wished that Tails could have seen all of this, maybe even Knuckles.

...Or maybe not. He imagined it'd be rather embarrassing with him in his current state.

The thought of it just drew him back to his current problem, and it didn't lie with him being stranded in a medieval world waiting on a sorceress to find a way to transport him back home. As much as that should've frustrated him, seeing as she managed to bring him here without breaking a sweat.

It could be worse, he'd think.

He thought of the chili dog he'd lost and one of his ears flicked irritatedly. He didn't mind the food here, though. He doubted the royal cook would understand what a chili dog was, let alone a hot-dog. Perhaps he was feeling a little alone? He shook his head slightly, he was sure Tails and the others were handling themselves alright, and depending upon the time span, hopefully he wasn't gone as long as he had convinced himself. And at least the people here resembled his comrades in his own realm.

He choked.

Yeah that's the problem.

Sonic had always been a carefree person. Though, even he had to admit there were times when he would feel the weight of the world on his chest. Being a hero wasn't easy, there were people who admired him, idolized him, and then there were the people who hated him, and after two very disturbing and awkward incidents, stalked him. But he never let down his title. He had always done his job.

Paying too much attention to emotions wasn't exactly his thing. He spent his life on the edge, it was difficult to ever bring him down. He was an optimist, outgoing, alive. When a friend of his was down, he usually did well in cheering them up. He was very easy to get along with. Burdening himself with negative emotions was very rare, and in those scarce situations in which they did catch up to him, they tripped him up, and hard. He hated that feeling. He had always been the one wearing a grin on his face, always ready for action. He hated feeling sad, or depressed, all those melancholy feelings that made him waste his time moping around like—

His muzzle twisted angrily.

Like that faker.

That was his problem. His ebony counterpart.

At the moment Sonic was racing through open plains, leaving a long trail of bent grass behind him. He had to clear his head. He didn't like thinking too much, and that was exactly what he was doing right now. That was another thing he hated. His mind kept babbling to him like Amy when trying to force the details of her dream date into his head. As much as he tried to push it away, it kept coming back stronger and louder, like the more he tried to fight it off, the more he fed it what it wanted. ...Definitely like Amy. He could almost laugh.

That was what made him feel the long amount of time he had been in Camelot. Someone there had made him think. Had unintentionally caused him to feel certain emotions that he wasn't even sure he wanted to feel, had caused him to develop a nervous habit of pacing, fidgeting, and, again, thinking.

Need to stop thinking.

When he realized who the person was when he encountered him long before the Dark Queen's defeat, he assumed they'd be just like their doppelganger from Sonic's realm. He expected a foul temper, sharp tongue, an ego that somehow eclipsed Sonic's own. While he was partially right, the other half surprised him. This world's version seemed to have more manners than the one Sonic knew, though he had to remember he was in a medieval era...the people here were bound to have more politeness than the modern world. This place had its fair share of rudeness, too, however.

It was how Sonic was starting to have a difficult time trying to not call the familiars by the names they were characterized with. Every now and then he'd slip up and say "Tails", or "Knuckles" or...

Shadow.

Errgh.

The black hedgehog never bothered him like this before, never made him this irritated and confused. For a while, Sonic couldn't lie and say that Shadow was a bad person, just sometimes he got his morals and priorities a little mixed up—he always fought for what he deemed was right, and Sonic couldn't put him down for that, it was what he himself did as well, only he did it for good, whereas Shadow would try to stop him if he tried getting in his way 'for the good of the world' or some other ridiculously cheesy line that Shadow didn't see to fit. But it wasn't as if Sonic hated him for this, not at all—the two of them were rivals, not sworn enemies. Sonic simply displayed a more friendly approach to him, and it was kind of amusing at times to see Shadow get flustered and irritated at Sonic's behavior.

Maybe Sonic simply didn't want to admit the other part that had, and still, made him slightly uncomfortable. He wouldn't deny being confused, this was something he hadn't paid much attention to before, these...aforementioned emotions that never got in the way of his lighthearted approach on life. When he thought about it...and this was completely going against the purpose of his run around the plains...he did in fact realize that he was, in some way, drawn to Shadow. Perhaps it was mostly due to him being a damn good racing partner, that he was the other half of the yin-yang, that he was almost like Sonic in every way. He was the other whole to the circle. Neither of them were two halves. They were simply two wholes that, when put together, made an even bigger whole.

Maybe just...once, he decided. Just this one time he decided that there was indeed something about his streaked counterpart that he found intriguing, that he was—dear Chaos he couldn't believe he was thinking this—perhaps even attracted to him in a certain fashion. Sonic never bore any physical desires for anyone, that wasn't his sort of thing. But if someone had an air of adventure, had the exciting, insatiable desire for a challenge, being only needle's-distance from death and enjoying every second of it, the elation and excitement being that close and coming out of it alive...that was something that would automatically claim Sonic's attention. He loved it. He adored it. It was in his blood, it was what he lived for.

And a very large quantity of it lead a trail straight towards Shadow.

A memory suddenly came back to him. It wasn't very long ago, when the two of them were racing together on a mission. It was unfortunate for them that they had to run through a snow storm to get to their destination. They had managed to make it through, only that Shadow had to practically drag Sonic about half of the rest of the way to the base due to Sonic nearly passing out from the cold. Shadow had actually gone out of his way to get Sonic to safety.

Sonic remembered his face dazedly pressed against Shadow's shoulder and the smell of sandalwood on his fur.

He suddenly smacked a hand over his face. He couldn't believe he was really thinking all of this. Yet at the same time, he wasn't trying to abrasively deny it. He knew there was something going on, something out of place with his emotions. But he couldn't exactly understand it, didn't know what it was, what it was doing...or perhaps why it even arose within him in the first place. Shadow was a male, for starters. That certainly confused the daylights out of Sonic.

He had also contemplated on what Shadow's thoughts were. The other never seemed to show any sign of discomfort or uneasiness around the azure hedgehog, though, Shadow was never really one to show anything more than an unimpressed frown to begin with. It was hard to tell. He had always been a bit of a mystery to Sonic, maybe that was another reason why he was intrigued by him. There was so much about him to explore, and there was even the tiniest, barest hint of Shadow actually loosening up around him before. Getting more comfortable. Sonic had welcomed it, appreciated it. Sometimes he honestly wished he could understand what was beneath the streaked one, maybe even see if he had been feeling the same strange things as Sonic. But just him simply lightening up, even just barely, was enough. Saying he didn't care about Shadow would be a lie, and the two had seemed to grow more trustworthy of each other over time. Shadow had shown more than once that he would gladly readily come to Sonic's aid should he need it.

Sonic had been told before that when paired up with Shadow in battle, they became a very formidable force. The sapphire hero had no doubt of this, his most notable memory being going up against Biolizard. They were equal energies, equal forces, except Sonic was faster and Shadow was more destructive. Sonic could take anything Shadow could dish out, and vice versa.

This...other Shadow, however...was a whole other ballpark.

Sonic came to a skidding halt to the top of a hill, where he got a perfect view of Camelot Castle. The wind against his fur felt wonderful, though he wished he could pay more attention to his surroundings had his thoughts not decided to wander.

It was his first time actually contemplating walking the rest of the way there.

He turned his head out towards the horizon and saw that it was getting darker. It would be nighttime soon. He simply sighed, deciding that perhaps he could check on Merlina. With a slight nod, he dashed off the hill and towards the castle.

Sonic arrived at the castle in time before nightfall, for once not really in a rush to get anywhere. Citizens inside its walls greeted him kindly, some surprised at him due to their former king not having been as nonchalant with them. In this day and age, class meant almost everything—royalty rarely ever spoke to the common folk, or the stuck-up ones at least. Sonic didn't care for this at all. He much less cared for being called 'king' or any other title that beheld him as some type of royalty. He was simply Sonic, nothing more, nothing less.

He had visited Merlina, who was, as presumed, in the library researching spells to send him home. He didn't think she could apologize enough to him for the inconvenience of being unable to send him home. It was guessed that she had thought that the hero she brought into this world would stay with them as their new king. Not that he minded, of course.

Well...he rewound that statement—thinking back on how his mind had gone wild during his run around the plains, he was starting to crave distractions. Sparring became somewhat of a therapy session and it worked to relieve any stress he had pent up. It was odd since running had always helped him in, well, everything. He really wished Tails were here right now. Granted, the local blacksmith was practically a copy of Tails, just without the name. It still felt a little odd. He almost wished even Amy had been here too. ...Or not. He at one point found himself preferring Nimue, being she lacked a giant hammer and wasn't chasing him obsessively across the earth. Not that he liked Amy any less, of course—she was a sweet girl. He just liked to be able to breathe.

He exited the library and gave a heavy sigh, resting a hand on his hip and looking out one of the openings in the outer hall that showed the starlit night sky. Merlina was still digging in books, and was having help from Sir Percival as well. He debated whether to find Gawain and spar again, but it was late already and he had sparred with him enough. Not to mention he found it very odd to see Knuckles talk and act like he did, even though it wasn't really his echidna friend.

"My lord."

Sonic immediately froze and areas of his fur stood on end. He debated whether he should just bolt in the other direction and not acknowledge who had just spoke to him, but he had already acted against this before he could choose otherwise.

He turned to find Lancelot, Shadow's persona, still clad in his armor, regarding him as he stopped a few or more feet away from the blue hero. Sonic had wished he had simply gone straight to his quarters. Deciding to try and be as nonchalant as possible to make it through another night, he simply waved a hand and replaced the other hand on his hip.

"Heya, Lance. Nice night, isn't it?" He didn't have to see Lancelot's face to know that he had raised a brow at Sonic's nickname for him.

"Indeed. I take it your lap around the lake was refreshing?" A short laugh struck Sonic's mind at this question, but he shrugged lightly.

"Not really, which is strange because it usually helps. Maybe I just need sleep."

The knight raised his chin just slightly. "You have been lacking a lot of rest, as I've seen. ...Has Merlina made any progress in her research?" The ebony one inquired. Sonic halted the urge to twist his muzzle a little; this Shadow was even more formal than the one he knew. Always business with him.

He shook his head. "No, none yet. Percival is helping her out though for tonight."

"They will find something, in the meantime I would suggest resting for the nights you have skipped, my lord."

Sonic pressed a finger to his temple and rubbed it slightly, sighing aggravatingly. "That's the problem, though—I hate not being able to do anything. And I hate even more when I can't sleep because of something else bothering me."

Lancelot studied him. This next part, which Sonic was getting good at predicting, was something that the speedster was starting to really hate. The dreaded silence. He opened his eyes and let his hands rest at his sides, suddenly finding it difficult to look at the knight across from him, who appeared to be calculating a proper response in his head. For a moment, he thought that he might've said just a little too much to spark curiosity in the other's mind. Sometimes he hated not being able to see the ebony one's face, even though all he was probably doing was glaring.

"My lord, if I might inquire," He started; a very minor flicker of annoyance flew across Sonic and diminished as quickly as it arrived—no matter how many times he had asked, Lancelot, out of the others, was the only one that simply insisted on calling him by his royal title. "but what exactly is bothering you? You've been rather...stressed these last few days."

For a split second, Sonic thought he had caught a hint of regret in Lancelot's body language as he spoke those words, almost as if he was mentally telling himself that he shouldn't have asked. Sonic gave a weak, but warm smile at him.

"Ah, it's...eh...kind of complicated." Before Lancelot could respond, Sonic blurted: "Hey, are you free to spar for a little while? If you want to, that is."

The knight paused, blinking under his helmet. Watching him, Sonic wasn't sure if he had seen a tiny smile almost break out onto the streaked one's muzzle. If it was, it was gone within a second. "I would be honored to spar with you, my lord."

Chaos. Well, at least he's not calling me 'king'.

There was a bit of a walk over towards the barracks. Sonic saw no point in rushing there; maybe this was what he needed to help relieve his tension? Go to the source of the problem and sort it out from there. Except Lancelot wasn't exactly the source, he was just a branch off the main one. But perhaps if he could somehow sort out his uneasiness with Lancelot, perhaps that would help him with any further approach on Shadow himself.

He wasn't very sleepy yet anyway. Another good exercise would perhaps tire him out.

Once again, the silence seemed to stretch, with only an occasional attempt at conversation, and even that wasn't very much. At this point he figured the shorter the attempt, the more awkward it became, and he was positive this time that Lancelot had the mutual feeling as well. He regretted choosing to let the silence linger a little longer this time. After a few minutes passed, he was starting to really regret it: his thoughts began to wander once again.

Lancelot was walking ahead of him now, and all of a sudden Sonic was all the more aware of tiny, insignificant details, and found himself staring at the ebony hedgehog's back. The darkness of his fur and the jaggedness of his spikes against the night for some unknown reason reminded him of a wraith; both versions of Shadow were forces not to be trifled with, they were the embodiments of death if they wanted to be. The wish for Lancelot to not wear all that armor at the moment arose, so that he could admire him as he was and in fact even gave a tiny speck of frustration that he couldn't look at his face due to constantly being hid behind a shining mask. His eyes trailed over the two spikes on the knight's back, up towards the streaks atop the six main, larger spikes on his head, curved upwards ever so elegantly and bobbing gently with the steps he took as he walked. He had a grace about the way he walked and the way he fought and he was almost exactly like Shadow and Chaos Sonic slipped again and let himself admit that both of these creatures were in some way a work of art.

Sonic emitted a frustrated groan at himself.

"What is it?" Lancelot glanced back at him, to which Sonic immediately came back into reality.

"N-Nothing."

"You're stammering."

"Yeah I'm...just a little cold. That's all." He rushed to pick himself up from his stumbling words. "Hey how about a race to the rest of the way there?"

Lancelot stopped and turned to look at him, and again, Sonic could feel him raising a brow underneath his helm. "I do not think that will be necessary."

The azure one blinked and then looked up past his counterpart, noticing the barracks directly behind him. He chuckled sheepishly. "...Oh. Yeah. Right."

He mentally scolded himself harshly. Sonic could get along with just about anyone, could talk to almost anyone. Except this was the only time his tongue had to get tied. He felt ridiculous.

But, he was the one who initiated this. He'd have to be the one to work himself out of it.