Sharing Secrets

By: The Andromeda Rose

XXX

An ebony hedgehog was standing on the side of a mountain, overlooking a valley with snow that had fallen overnight, and was continuing to fall. He went cross-eyed when a snowflake landed atop his nose. Brushing the annoying little piece of frozen water off, the ebony creature sighed, watching his breath take the form of vapour. It was very lonely where he was at, not a single bird singing, or any other type of tree besides firs and pines. It's not that he didn't like to be lonesome, he enjoyed other people's company very much, especially Amy Rose, Hope, and Maria.

"Maria…" he closed his eyes, fighting the tears that wanted to start at any moment now. He missed Maria very much. The two had a very special relationship that not one could tear them apart. He let his mind wander through several memories of the two of them together-thud!-his eyes fluttered open, allowing them to take control and look around the area to see snow flying up and into his face. He grunted, wiping it off when the snow cleared, then peered down the side of the cliff to see a blue glob and a green knapsack in the deep snow below him.

Sliding down the slope of the cliff he was on, the male approached the blue glob cautiously, "What the-?" he stepped back when the thing started moving, "Sonic?" he reached toward the glob, expecting his blue doppelganger to pop right out of the hole when he would do so...but unfortunately, the glob didn't jump out immediately when he touched it, it just continued moving around frantically, attempting to pull itself from the deep snow. He gently put his gloved hands around the glob, and pulled it up out of the snow. Putting the creature on the ground, he let out a soft chuckle when he noticed that the thing had a tail, then ears that were flattened against their owner's skull, "Sonic? What happened?"

"Whuh?" the blue creature turned toward the sound of the other's voice, "How'd I…? Shadow?"

"You okay? You hit the deep part of the snow...then the side of this mountain."

Sonic opened his eyes, though, everything had a double, and it was flat out blurry...and boy, did he have a headache fit for a king! "Oh...crud."

"Hey, Sonic," Shadow waved his hand in front of the unresponsive hedgehog, "are you okay?"
"No..." with that, the said hedgehog lost all consciousness, and went into a numb, dreamless sleep.

Shadow's eyebrows raised in partial amusement, "...You aren't okay." he sighed, knowing that his...ally...wouldn't survive out here in the cold climate unless he re-moved him to somewhere with warmth, and he knew just the place to go.

XXX

A log bounced when it was thrown onto other logs in a fire in a fireplace. Shadow turned away from the fire to check on his friend, who was still out cold from hitting the mountainside at high speeds. Laying his hand on the Sonic's sweaty forehead had obviously proven useless, since the cobalt hedgehog's fever hadn't gone down yet, "Two days, and you have yet to come to."

Shadow's best guess was that Sonic had gotten lost out in the Swiss mountains and wasn't sure whether he had caught pneumonia, or influenza, then wandered to the area Shadow lived in without realising he had done so. He cringed as he watched the blue creature writhe in pain in his sleepless slumber. He rubbed Sonic's shoulder, and tried talking soothingly as a father would do to his son or daughter when in pain, "It's okay; don't move so much, or it will hurt even more."

As if in response, Sonic let out a soft groan and tried to reach toward whatever was touching him. Sonic's breathing seemed to become quick, short breaths-as sign that he might be coming to.

"Sonic?" Shadow felt Sonic's forehead once again.

"Huh?" Sonic's throat, severely irritated and dry, forced him to strain to take in longer breaths, but failed when he began coughing for an extended amount of time. After a moment, he opened his eyes to see a black and red figure in front of him, then squeezed them shut again, "Shadow? What's going on?"

"I'm glad you're awake, Sonic, or you might have died."

"Died?" he gasped, pronouncing his words hoarsely.
"Yes. You have pneumonia, that or the flu, and a severe concussion that's kept you in bed for two days."
"Oh...well, I don't think I have pneumonia."

"Why is that?"
"I have...trouble breathing."
"I don't understand what you mean, Sonic."
"Eh...well, I actually have...asthma."
"Wait. You mean to tell me that you can run at super sonic speeds with asthma?"

"Yeah, but I u-...usually only get asthma attacks when I'm in some unventilated area, when someone's smoking, or in extremely cold or hot weather-" he began wheezing, and struggling to breathe, "Sha-" his anxiety and his eyes grew as he now realised that he couldn't breathe. Sonic instinctively sat upright from his spot on the bed, and leaned forward, gasping for air.

Shadow, now unsure of what to do, reached for Sonic's knapsack in hopes of finding an inhaler in it. Fumbling around with an oddly shaped object, Shadow pulled out what he hoped was an inhaler, "Found it! Son-Sonic-here." he handed the blue hedgehog the copper-coloured inhaler, and waited anxiously as Sonic triggered the internal device of the inhaler to release the medicine, "You okay?" he waited patiently until Sonic could talk more easily.

"Kinda…" he smiled, panting, "Thanks, Shadow. I wouldn't have been able stopped that attack if you hadn't found my inhaler."
"Well, I would have never known that you had asthma if you hadn't told me, Sonic, so thank you, for telling me."
"Geesh, Shads, you're the one who found my inhaler in my sack."

"I guess you're right…"
"Heh." he gave a thumbs up, "Uh...Shadow?"
"Yes?"
"Can you promise me that you won't tell anyone about my asthma problems? Tails and Amy already know, but Knux, Egghead, Rouge and the others...I'd rather they not know."

"Sure. You have my word that I won't tell a living soul save for Amy or Tails."

"Thanks, Shads…" he smiled sheepishly.

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about. There's a lot of other stuff out there that's a bit more embarrassing." he glanced away.

"Yeah? Like what?" he playfully taunted.

"Well, I...it's nothing."

"Aw, c'mon, Shadow. What happened?"

"It's not exactly what happened, it's more of…"

"It's more of...what?" he urged.

"Sonic, don't get upset with me, but it's similar to what happened between you and Shahra."

"Me and Shahra?" he blushed, "How'd you...know that?"

"I kinda sensed that you liked her as more than a friend."

"Oh…" he glanced away, thinking, "So you're saying that...you have had a similar event like mine?"
"Yeah..."

"Is it Maria?"

As if in answer, Shadow blushed redder than a tomato.

"So it is Maria." he grinned smugly.

"Sonic, don't you dare tell a living soul about this! You'll regret it if you ever do!"

"I won't! I won't! I promise!"

"Promise?"
"Promise."

"Okay…"

Sonic watched as his friend suddenly became very insecure about the situation by his body language: his hands were folded together, knees close together, feet tucked under the bed, and his head down and looking away from him, "What...happened?"

The ebony hedgehog stiffened, and cleared his throat nervously, "I...fell in love with Maria, but I never told anyone about it-not even Maria." he looked toward Sonic, trustingly, "You're the first, and only one to know this, and I don't want you to tell a living soul on this planet or in the Universe for as long as you live."
"I know. It's easy to fall in love with your best friend…like me and Shahra."

"Yeah."

"And neither of us ever told the girl that we loved them, because it's bestiality."

"No! I didn't love her in a wrong way-just-I kinda-no, not marriage type of love, nor sexual, nor boyfriend and girlfriend, nor as a mother, or a sister. I just….loved her so much."
"Same here. You didn't want to tell her because you thought she'd think you loved her as a girlfriend or sister, or somethin'."

"Exactly. I didn't know how to tell her without making her offended, so I just kept it to myself."

"It's the price being aware, but too afraid it al might die. Some things they never change, I know I'm never the same again…"

Shadow smiled, "Yeah." he paused, "Sometimes I wonder what she would have said if I had told her-did she feel the same, or what?"

"I think she did. She loved you a lot Shadow. She sacrificed herself so that you could be safely sent to Earth."

"I should have been the one to take her place so she could live! I failed to do that, and now she's gone!"

"Shads, listen, if one loves the other enough, he or she will sacrifice themselves to save the one they love, and Maria did just that. She took your place so that you could live."

"Just like you took the arrow that Shahra should have had instead."

"Exactly. I didn't care about the consequences, just as long as she was safe, was all that mattered. Same thing with Maria."
"Yeah...but, still…" he trailed off.

"That's the best kind of love, Shadow. Protecting the one you love most, no matter the consequences."

Shadow smiled at his friend, "You've answered my question: Maria did love me the same way I did her. Thank you Sonic."
Sonic reached toward Shadow, wrapping his arms around his friend and gave him a bear hug, "You're welcome, Shads."

Though Shadow stiffened slightly when Sonic hugged him, he soon returned the hug by hugging Sonic back, but not a tight, "All right, enough of the "Shads," stuff." he grabbed another blanket from his own bed, and spread it over Sonic abruptly, "My name's "Shadow."

"Heh, okay, Shadow."

"Now lie back down, you're still not well enough yet."

"Okay, okay." Sonic slipped back under the blanket, "Bring on the flu!"

"Don't test your luck, kid."

"I'm no kid!"

Shadow raised an eyebrow, "I'm forty-one years older than you are, and you have yet to reach proper mental maturity."

"Ah, humbug! So what if you're fifty-seven? I'm proud to be a teen!"

The ebony hedgehog rolled his eyes at the other's sudden burst of immaturity, "Sometimes I wonder if you're really sick."

"Phfbt! So what?"

"You're taking this medicine anyway." he held the medicine bottle ominously above the other, "Open wide!"

"Shads! No! Not that nasty tasting stuff!"
"You don't even know what it tastes like!"
"And I'd prefer to not find out!"

"You're gonna!" he tried to pin the other down, but failed, "Authoress! Do you mind making this blue pain sit still and take his medicine?"

"Sure thing, Shadow." I wink at the ebony hedgehog, then I type the next sentence, which gives Sonic the worse moment of his life.

"Sonic, sit still or I'll tell Eggman about you and Shahra!"

"You wouldn't dar-" he choked as I shoved the spoon with the grape-flavoured medicine into his mouth and to the back of his throat, "Augh! That's nasty!"

"Thank you, Authoress."
"No problem, Shads. Glad to add some humour to the story." I smile, grinning about my next story.

"Now don't you start this, "Shads," business, Authoress!"

"Phfbt! I'm the authoress, so I may-what? Don't! No! Not the medicine!"

"Too late!"

"Aw, crimany! I agree with Sonic, that's nasty!"

"Don't forget, Authoress, you're sick just like Sonic is." Shadow taunts.

"Aw, shuddup! I just gotta a cold or something, not the flu!" (A/N: No, seriously, I am sick as we speak ¬¬ Bronchitis to be exact.)

"Well, to end this story, since our Authoress may not be able to since I put her to bed with Sonic, I shall end this story, fellow reader."

"Don't count on it, Pricklepants!" I shout, but I accidentally get pricked by a quill under the sheet, "Ouchie!"

"What she said! Er, the first thing!"

"Guys, enough!" Shadow scolds the two arguing creatures, "We'll see you guys next time, 'kay?" he shudders when he hears the sounds of arguing behind him, "Would you guys shut up already?"

XXX

A/N: Ah, yes, another story complete. I sorta enjoyed that last part...but then again, I didn't, since it seems a bit long...ah, well. It's finished, and it's not gonna be changed at anytime soon! ;D

Ciao, for now!

Andi