From Enemies to Friends and Friends to…

Translated by leonardo408

Chapter 4

Days went by and still there was no sign of Shadow. In fact, they didn't know which direction to even start looking. Sonic tried asking anyone who talked to the black hedgehog but no one seemed to know. Not even Rouge who regularly had missions with him!

"I'm sorry, Sonic", was all the little fox could say.

"Ah…" the hero sighed, exhausted. "All this just for looking through that stupid laptop:

"His laptop? That's it!" the small fox quickly jumped up and ran to his garage to look for something through his stuff.

"What are you doing, Tails?" Sonic asked, curiously looking on as he moved about.

"I made that laptop for Shadow", he explained as he continued searching. "It wasn't much, just a welcome gift. I didn't think he'd keep it for so long though."

"So you have one of your boy genius ideas?" Sonic asked as a hopeful smile spread across his face.

"Sort of", Tails finally found what he was looking for and approached his friend. "Everything I make usually has something added to it, like a tracker for security. With this radar, maybe we could find him."

"Alright, Tails!" he exclaimed, ruffling the boy's hair.

"Let's see if it works"

Tails turned on the device, but nothing appeared on screen. After a few minutes, the screen was still blank. Tails lowered his ears, disappointed that his plan had failed.

"It's okay, Tails, it was a good try", Sonic said encouragingly.

"…Wait!" he said as he again darted towards his machines. "We can still do something, Sonic!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's possible that the radar doesn't pick up the signal since it's too far away. If I can make a better radar, it could pick up the laptop's signal."

"Can you do that?" he asked, though it was obvious he could. It was Tails after all!

"Of course! But it may take a few days"

"It's worth a try! I'll help", Sonic said, making his signature pose.

"Okay! I'll get to work right away!"

And so he did. Tails worked hard for one week. Sonic tried helping, though he felt he got more in the way of things. Instead, he decided to keep searching on his own. He doubted he'd find anything, but it was better than standing around doing nothing. Besides running always helped him feel better. His runs took up days and nights as he tried to avoid sleeping. Every time he would sleep, nightmares would ensue or dreams of Shadow coming back only made the reality seem worst.

Throughout the whole week, Sonic took Tails' job of making the food. He was currently making breakfast when said fox called him.

"Sonic!" he yelled from the garage.

In two seconds, the hedgehog was before him.

"What's up, Tails?"

"It's ready", he said, showing him a strange television with an assortment of antennas attached to it. "This will tell us with precision where he is. Well, if it picks up any signal. It's possible that the transmitter is broken and-" he stopped when he felt Sonic place a hand over his shoulder.

"It'll work, Tails. I believe in you." he said with a big smile.

"Yeah!" Tails took the controls. "Let's try it!" the screen flashed on, instantly showing a red dot on the map with coordinates appearing on the sides. Sonic scanned the screen, memorizing the information as best he could before running off.

"Thanks, Tails!" he yelled as he sped off.

"Wait, Sonic!" he tried. The fox sighed. Typical of his brother. "I hope they get back soon."

It took Sonic a day and a half to arrive where Shadow supposedly was. When he arrived, he found himself in the middle of a forest that was beside a mountain. It wasn't until he stopped running that he realized how tired and hungry he was, but he ignored it as best he could and kept going.

After a while, he heard the sound of water and went in that direction, finding a beautiful waterfall. He was about to leave, when he noticed a figure near the waterfall.

"Is that Shadow?" he asked himself. Rather than approach the figure, he hid himself behind a tree like a crazy stalker.

Indeed, it was the black hedgehog. He had his Air shoes, gloves and even Inhibitor Rings removed.

"He must be taking a shower or something", Sonic thought, as he hid more behind the tree. He'd never had an opportunity to see Shadow like this; it was rare sight. "I didn't know he could take those things off without having his energy overflow."

Shadow had his eyes closed, enjoying the spray of the water as it helped his muscles relax. Finally he moved out and onto the shore, grabbing a towel to dry himself. After he finished dressing, he walked back to his new home.

Sonic, like any good stalker, followed him at a safe distance, until Shadow stopped in the middle of a clearing.

"I know you're there. If you want something, come out now or leave", he warned. "Otherwise, I'll be forced to attack first."

Embarrassed, Sonic came out of hiding and approached Shadow.

"It's you!" the black hedgehog exclaimed. "How?"

"Hi, Shadow!" Sonic greeted as usual. "Well, Tails can do some pretty amazing things."

"So, it was his doing", he pondered for a second. "Either way, what are you doing here? What do you want?"

"I came to talk to you, fix this and make you come back with us", Sonic said with a serious tone.

"There's nothing to fix, Sonic. I came here on my own." he answered curtly. "It's better if you leave now."

"No, Shadow. I'm not leaving without you. You left because of me. I'm not letting you leave all your other friends just because you're mad at me."

"I left because I thought it was for the best."

"Why? How can it be good to be miles away from your friends?"

"You didn't read the note?" he asked. "It was so we wouldn't see each other". His answer only made Sonic feel worst.

"You hate me that much?!" he yelled, a bit hurt.

"No"

"Then explain this to me because I don't understand, Shadow! I don't understand why all this over something so stupid!" he shouted.

"You really don't understand?"

"No!"

"Fine. I'll explain." Shadow begin walking, Sonic following close behind.

They arrived at a small, old cabin. Shadow went in, signaling the other to follow. Inside, he took the laptop and handed it to Sonic.

"What am I suppose to do with this?" Sonic asked, holding it up.

"Finish what you started, if you want", he muttered as he turned away from him.

"No", Sonic said, placing the device on a table. "I want you to tell me."

"I can't"

"Yes you can, Shadow. Do it, please." Sonic softened his tone. Shadow sighed.

"I think you will hate me more if I tell you", he answered with sincerity. Shocked, Sonic instantly answered him.

"I can't hate you. I'm your friend, Shadow. None of your friends could ever hate you." He explained in a friendly tone "You're a hero to this world." Shadow gave a sad smile.

"You only say that because you don't understand"

"I promise that no matter what you say I will never hate you."

"We'll see", Shadow sighed again and begin. "I wrote what was on my laptop, Sonic."

"You're writing a book?" he asked, naively

"No, you idiot!" he growled back at the dumb question.

"Alright, don't get worked up", he said sheepishly between a laugh. He now realized how much he missed him all these days.

"As I was saying, I wrote that because it was a dream I had the night before your visit."

"A dream?" thought Sonic, covering his mouth to keep from laughing. "I didn't know you had those types of dreams, Shadow"

"I don't!" he felt his face heat up in embarrassment. "That's why I felt it was strange, so I wrote it down. At first I thought it was because of that strange book that I-"

"Oh! You mean the manga. Then again it did seem like one of the scenes that I read-"he said as he tried to remember. "But so what? Everyone has weird dreams sometimes, Shadow. It's normal." Sonic felt more comfortable, moving easily to sit on one of the chairs.

"You have dreams like that?" the still-embarrassed black hedgehog asked curiously.

"Huh! Me?" he was thrown off by the question, almost falling off the chair. "Well, yeah, a couple of times-". Now he was embarrassed, he never talked about this stuff with anyone.

"I see", Shadow said, deep in thought.

"Well, let's not think about that", he responded nervously. "Let's get back to what's important."

"Right!" Shadow answered, trying to recall where he left off. "The problem wasn't really what I dreamed but with whom it was". He stared at the blue hedgehog hoping he'd understand what he meant.

"Huh?"

Sonic could be so innocent sometimes, or a complete idiot. This only made him insufferable to Shadow, though sometimes he found it cute…sometimes.

"It was you!"

"So?"

"That strange dream was with you! That can't be good!" he yelled, exasperated.

"Oh…"Sonic wasn't even trying to be funny. The news was such a shock that it took him a while to actually react. "What?!"

"That…"Shadow turned away again, not wanting to see the hatred and disgust that would be there.

"Oh…"he thought for a bit. "Well, it was just a dream. We don't have control over them and sometimes they don't mean anything, Shadow. Don't worry about that." Sonic got up, making his way to comfort the other, but froze when Shadow spoke again.

"But it did mean something…"

Suddenly, Sonic understood what Shadow had meant.

"You have feelings for me, Shadow?" he asked in a serious tone, yet calm tone.

"Yes, Sonic" he turned slightly to glance at Sonic. Saying this was harder than he expected.

"Shadow, I…" he wasn't sure what to say.

"Just leave", Shadow said.

"No!" Sonic grabbed him by the arm and made him meet his eyes. "Shadow, I told you. I'm not leaving without you coming home. Listen." He thought for a minute, choosing his words carefully before saying with confidence, "I'm your friend, really. Nobody that calls you their friend would stop talking to you or hate you over something like this. In fact, I feel honored that you feel that way towards me." Sonic offered a smile "Please, come back with us. I promise nothing will change."

"Are you sure about this?" he asked a bit skeptical.

"Of course!"

"Are you sure you understand what just happened?" he asked again, starting to think the blue hedgehog had somehow misunderstood.

"Sure I do, Shadow! You like me!" he answered with the same big smile. To which Shadow nearly responds with a punch.

"Don't just say it like that!" To think all the trouble he went to say it. Just hearing Sonic say it, he felt embarrassed, humiliated, his pride stripped of him.

"Why not?"

"Because I said so, faker!"

"Fine, fine. Then…You'll come back?"

"On one condition"

"Yeah, yeah. I won't tell anyone. You'll still be the lonely and mysterious-"

"Fine. I don't want any jokes about it either."

"Oh come on!" he said, jokingly. Of course he wouldn't actually do such a thing. Playing with another person's feelings was something cowardly.

They carried on with their conversation, Shadow finally believing Sonic. It really felt like nothing had happened, but he still wasn't completely comfortable with this whole situation. He wasn't sure how things would be once they got back. Even so, he was happy to at least go back to his other friends. The other may not have the best tact, but he had known how to respond without hurting Shadow's feelings. That to Shadow was more than enough. Sonic really was a good friend.

As soon as Shadow agreed to go back, Sonic begin helping bring his stuff back to his "real home", as he put it. Chaos Control definitely made this easier.

Now he was back. Sonic sighed with exhaustion, sitting down on the sofa again, while Shadow was in the kitchen. He was really happy. Everything was back to how it should be and the universe was in order again. He was sure there would be no more nightmares, but he was still starving.

Shadow had gone to get some drinks and make something to eat, but when he came back he found the hero fast asleep. He wasn't aware of the fact that Sonic hadn't slept the last few days. Still, he chose not to wake him, deciding he deserved the rest.

He left and came back with a blanket and pillow. Moving him gently, he let him lay down on the sofa, positioning the pillow under his head and the blanket over him.

"Sleep well, faker" he whispered in an almost gentle tone. "Thank you" he gave him an innocent kiss on the forehead and went back to his own room.