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Summary - Shadow is told he's going to have a new trainee at G.U.N. - something he's completely against until he meets him. He normally wants nothing to do with anyone, but for some reason he falls for the trainee instantly. While hunting the mysterious Dr. Robotnik down, he realizes this "trainee" is more than he could have ever guessed. Sonadow.

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We All Danced In Fire

Written by Shadow

Prologue -
The New Trainee

"What?"

The sound of a ticking clock on the wall was the hedgehog's only answer for a dull, brief moment. The room he stood in was small, but sophisticated - lined with shiny black furniture and grey, smooth floors. There's a lightbulb in the far back of the room that's gone out (the damned janitors were all so slow), casting an almost ominous atmosphere in the slightly darkened room.

The one whom he was addressing sat in a large computer chair, behind a sharp, modern black desk, its top made of a computer screen where the owner could work without needing an actual monitor. This person was a tall, elder human, wearing a pristine grey uniform with the highest ranking military badges adorned on its front. The man's age was unknown, but anyone could guess he was in his late sixties. His hair was silver and his face was aged considerably, despite the hard glare that was etched permanently on it.

The man's hard look falters if for but a mere second, before his large brows furrow and he leans back comfortably in his seat, mouth pulled into a deep frown.

"I understand you may be strongly against this decision," he starts, his voice holding more power than his age should have. "...but it has already been decided."

The hedgehog was about three feet and a little more tall, his sharp quills making up for some of his height. His fur was onyx black, and he sported a white, soft patch of fluff on his chest that softened his looks only slightly. Red stripes painted his quills, arms, and sides of his legs, and he wore large, golden rings over black cuffs and white gloves. His shoes were made of white and red metal - hover shoes that could manipulate the power of Chaos, enabling him to reach unseen speeds on ground.

He was the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. Immortal at age eighteen, forever and always. The perfect weapon. The cure to all diseases. There was no living creature on the planet that could stand against him.

...but even he had to listen to his old and grumpy boss, Commander of the Guardian Units of Nations: Abraham Towers.

He clenches his hands into fists, eyes narrowing as his head tilts down, glaring at said Commander. "I thought it was already established I would work alone."

Towers gives him an annoyed look, one a parent might have for their troublesome kid. "You've worked with both Agent Rouge and E-123 Omega numerous occasions before without problem. This shouldn't be any different."

A tsk of air leaves the black hedgehog, his right eye twitching as he responds irritably; "This is different. Both Rouge and Omega are trained agents, and know how to hold their own. This is a trainee. A kid that doesn't know how to do that."

There's a small twitch to Tower's lips at Shadow's argument, the man smirking slightly as he crosses one leg over the other, his arms resting comfortably on either side of him on the arms of his chair. "Don't underestimate this kid, Agent Shadow. He's more than capable of holding his own. You will train him," he states firmly, a bit of a bite to his words for emphasis, "and that's it. You're the only one capable of doing so."

Shadow's frown deepens as he raises an eye ridge. He was the only one?

Towers continues, not giving him time to respond.

"You do know sign language, correct?"

This makes a slight look of surprise take over the Ultimate Lifeform's face, if only for a small second. "Is he deaf?"

Towers shakes his head. "He's not deaf, but he is recovering from a vocal cord problem. He can't talk for a while, so he has to communicate with sign language."

A trainee that couldn't speak? "Isn't that a liability?" There was heavy doubt lining his tone.

The G.U.N. Commander only gives him a small smile. "Not for him, at least. Don't have such a negative view of him already, Agent Shadow. I wouldn't have assigned him to you if there wasn't a very good reason behind it."

That at least was true, Shadow thinks glumly. It wasn't like he had any choice in the matter, anyway. Besides, this kid had to be worth something, right? ...if he was being assigned the Ultimate Lifeform as his trainer.

He would accept it for now and deal with it later, he decided.

"Fine," he huffs, turning his head away and avoiding eye contact. "He won't last long."

The Commander chuckles under his breath, as if he knew some kind of inside joke with Shadow's answer. "He'll be here Saturday. You have a week to prepare. He'll be living with you and within your sight twenty-four/seven."

"I'm not a babysitter," the hedgehog snaps, crossing his arms.

Towers frowns deeply back at him. "You will keep an eye on him. He's already been a target of Dr. Robotnik. I don't want him going missing."

At that Shadow goes quiet, looking away again with a small scowl.

"You are dismissed," the human waves at him, turning to his computer monitor topped desk. "You will have no missions for the week to prepare for your trainee's arrival."

The door slammed shut as he stepped out into the grey hallways, his irritation practically radiating off of him in waves. The white bat waiting for him there has her hands crossed over her large chest, her voluptuous figure leaning back against the metallic wall behind her. She's sporting a black jumpsuit with bright pink hearts marking it, her boots and gloves white and pink, her teal eyes halfway concealed by pink lids and lush lashes.

"Bad time?" she asks, her voice light and teasing, but her tone always with a purpose behind it. Shadow doesn't even use the energy to direct a glare at her, but instead keeps his gaze forward as he stormed down the hallway, the girly bat following close behind.

"Do you have any idea who this trainee is?" he asks instead of answering her question, his tone demanding any answers she might hide from him. She smiles, shrugging nonchalantly with her hands folded behind her back.

"I have no idea," she hums watching her friend's quills raise sharply in response. "Honestly no one but the Commander knows. I've already tried to do my research and came up with nothing."

"I find that hard to believe," the ebony hedgehog huffs, the two turning a corner down another hall. "He's just a trainee, how special can he be?"

They slow down and enter a room on the right side, one filled with large lockers for the top soldiers in the military. Shadow walks up to one in particular, putting in a combination and opening it, just to grab a dark blue jacket and throw it over his shoulders, shutting the locker with his elbow as he got comfortable in his new clothing item. Rouge stands back and watches, her expression neutral save for a tiny downward twitch of her lips.

"All I know is that he was being hunted down at one point by Robotnik," she says as they both turn and leave the room, continuing their trek down the hallway towards the exit. "He was able to hold off a hold squad of robots until G.U.N. showed up to help him. Other than that, I don't even know what he looks like, what his name is, or anything else pertaining to him." They stop at the exit, Shadow turning to face her with raised brows as she continues. "They've been keeping anything about him very, very confidential. He might be important," she explains.

Shadow takes that into consideration, but still isn't happy. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be happy with any of this. He could be out there, hunting Chaos Emeralds or the psychotic Dr. Robotnik, but here he was, getting ready to babysit some kid. Why couldn't Rouge or any other qualified agent do this? Why did it have to be him?

He turns from her, pausing to stop and look back at her. "Try to find out anything you can," is all he says before leaving. Rouge watches him go, putting a hand on her hip.

"Oh, so you order me around, too now?"

He was created a little over twenty years ago, by a man named Professor Gerald. He was to be the Ultimate Lifeform, created to cure all diseases and be a perfect weapon for the military. He was meant to cure Gerald's granddaughter, Maria, who suffered from a very contagious, incurable and deadly disease. He grew up with her, learning how to take care of her while G.U.N. tortured and used him on the side as a weapon of mass destruction. Gerald had no choice but to let them...they said they would take everything away from him if he didn't let them use Shadow.

Gerald had started coming up with a plan to hide Shadow and Maria from them, and expose G.U.N. for the monsters they were. Somehow in the midst of things, they discovered this plan, and raided the ARK; a space colony where both Maria and Shadow, as well as all of Gerald's work, resided. They mass murdered everyone that had anything to do with Project Shadow, including Maria herself.

Watching Maria die right before his very eyes gave him a scar across his heart that would last forever. She was everything to him, and losing her was more than he could bare.

Gerald went insane, and G.U.N. executed him on live television. Right as Shadow was being taken to be put away on Prison Island, locked away forever, a man named Abraham Towers stepped up and took him for himself. He hid Shadow where he could be safe, while he became Commander of G.U.N. and put everyone responsible for the pain of the ARK incident away for life. He had grown to love Maria as well, somehow immune to her sickness. He was the only one that had gotten to know her out of everyone in the military, and the only one to show Shadow kindness when he was training to become a weapon.

Once G.U.N. was fully under his thumb he let Shadow become the top agent, his go to person for heavy missions. He became like a father to the black hedgehog, and they both shared the pain of losing Maria together.

It's been five years exact since the ARK accident. The space colony had been shut down for good, out of respect for Shadow and the ones who passed there. Shadow had only been fifteen when it happened. He started working for G.U.N. as a fully trained agent at seventeen, and stopped aging at eighteen. Now he was technically twenty, although age no longer mattered to him.

He was upset that one day, Towers would pass away, and he would be alone. Rouge was sort of a friend, but he didn't trust her enough to be that close with her. Omega was cool to go on some missions with, but he wasn't exactly the friend Shadow needed.

The thought of getting to know someone else and getting close to them scared him. He didn't want to keep losing people, so he decided he would just rather be alone than feel that pain again. It was the reason he was so bitter, so mean, and so against having to train someone. Look after someone.

Standing in his home, he stares into the room he had cleaned out to be a second bedroom. It was a small room, since it was only made for storage. The bed was a small twin, and there was only enough room for a medium sized dresser, nightstand, and small shelf. There wasn't even a window in here. The room was white and had hardwood floors, and he had to install a better light so the guest could actually see in there. He bought the bed light blue blankets and a small rug to match, but he didn't really care how cozy it was.

He didn't want the trainee to stay for long. He hoped he would either make him unhappy enough to convince him to leave, or somehow convince Towers to change his mind.

There was a weird feeling, however. One he couldn't describe. It was almost like deja vu, but told him something big was going to happen soon. He couldn't tell if it was a good or bad thing, but he certainly didn't like the feeling.

Dr. Robotnik was a menace that appeared out of nowhere one day, but the odd thing about him was that no one has ever seen him. No one even knows if he's human or mobian, with him using both technologies in the robots he produces and sets out on the world. He came up two years ago, and since then, people of all shapes, species, and sizes have gone missing.

Small animals around Mobius were also being taken, and their life force being used to power the seemingly endless supply of powerful robots the doctor created. These robots were then being sent to capture more people, sometimes without a trace, other times with as much as twenty people at a time. No one could track him down, no one could locate where the robots disappeared to. All the robots seemed to be able to teleport, so not even Shadow could keep up with them.

Ever since Robotnik made a name for himself (or herself, no one even knew if it was a male or not), Mobius has been living in fear. People were afraid to be alone or leave their houses out of risk of being taken, and riots were starting against the military and police forces, as if people believed they weren't working hard enough. Whatever Robotnik's plan was, it seemed to be going well for him.

Shadow was determined to stop it. He wasn't going to let the world fall to some coward that couldn't even show his face.

It was another reason behind his hate towards his new trainee, who he would be meeting today. Over a week of brooding about it and no intel from Rouge, he decided he was going to hate this more than anything. Why waste his time training some kid when he could be out there, solving the world's biggest mystery: who and where was Robotnik?

Without being allowed on missions for the entirety of the week, Shadow had to get his home ready for its newest guest, who would be staying as short a time as he could make it. He was going to try and convince Towers that this was a horrible idea, that this kid would be better off with someone else. As he made his way to the Commander's office, he worked up a good enough speech that should definitely convince the man to let this go. He stops by the door and knocks on it, his patience far and gone.

It takes a second for Towers to answer, and in that short amount of time Shadow was already at the end of his fuse. He steps in the room, shutting the door behind him as he examines that Towers was the only one in here. He gives the man a questioning look, wondering where this supposed trainee was.

"Agent Shadow," the Commander greets. "Rouge has expressed how excited you are about this." His voice is full of sarcasm, only worsening the ebony hedgehog's mood.

"I should be out there hunting Robotnik," Shadow's tone is snarky. "Not training some kid."

"You can do both," Towers says sternly, giving the agent a warning glare.

The sound of knocking cut him off before he could argue. Shadow turns and scowls at the door, crossing his arms offensively. Towers calls for the person to enter, and two people step in.

The first one was a tall human with lavender eyes and blonde hair. Topaz was her name, and she herself was training to become the next G.U.N. Commander once Towers retired.

Shadow's eyes fell on the second guest, and a huge mix of feelings ran him over like a truck.

It was a cobalt blue hedgehog about the same height, if not a little shorter than himself. His quills were swept back downward, sharp and smooth, and he wore a dark green jacket with a G.U.N. symbol embroidered on the front of it. He wore red shoes with white straps on them, gold buckles holding them in place. His white gloved hands were tucked inside the pockets of his jacket, and he stood almost timid next to Topaz. His eyes stood out the most; a brilliant bright, emerald green that could make even a Chaos Emerald falter in radiance. His soft fawn muzzle sported a small frown, while those emerald eyes stared back at his own ruby ones in a curious manner.

Shadow wasn't one to see a person and feel some sort of attraction towards them. He was pretty sure he never even once felt such a thing, but looking at this blue hedgehog made his heart pound and a strange, butterfly like sensation flutter around in his stomach.

A second thing he noticed was the strong feel of Chaos Energy, and not just any Chaos. It felt like a mix between both Light and Dark Chaos Energy; something that should be impossible in any mortal being. It was powerful, raw, and possibly unmatched, and Shadow felt almost drawn to it.

All thoughts of hatred and bitterness towards the trainee were wiped immediately. A sense of attraction took over, and he decided he wanted to know everything about this hedgehog.

"Agent Shadow," Towers starts, almost smirking from his chair. "This is your trainee...Sonic. Sonic, this is Agent Shadow."

Sonic.

The name sounded almost familiar to him, and as they studied each other more clearly, another strange sense of deja vu took over him. He reaches out a hand, and Sonic shakes it, and the moment they touch a shock of Chaos Energy surges between them, invisible to all but the two of them. Sonic's eyes widened slightly, pulling away and nodding towards him respectively.

That's right, he couldn't talk, Shadow thinks.

"Will there be any problems?" the Commander breaks the tension, watching the interaction between the two hedgehog's with interest. Shadow doesn't even look back at him as he answers.

"No, this will be fine," he says, almost quietly, to both Towers and Topaz's surprise. The Commander takes it, however, not one to question it.

"Good. I want you to teach Sonic everything you know. You may resume your missions, but he is to be with you at all times. You are both dismissed."

Shadow breaks his trance from the blue hedgehog and turns to nod at his boss, before Topaz ushers the two out and closes them out in the hallway. They meet eyes, blinking in surprise at the hasty push, before Shadow gathers himself back up and turns around, motioning for Sonic to follow.

"Where are you from?" he has to ask. He's never seen a blue mobian before in his life, much less one with such a deep, cobalt color. He also can't help but feel ridiculously attracted to him, despite how much he racked his mind about it.

Sonic frowns, looking away. Just like Towers had said, he signs with his hands, and Shadow almost forgets he has to pay attention to him while he does it.

'It's not important,' is what he signs, making Shadow stop and frown at him.

"I find that hard to believe," he says, his tone of voice evident of that. "You're a powerful Chaos user. That isn't something that's particularly normal or unimportant." That had to be why Towers assigned him to train him in the first place.

Sonic looks uncomfortable, and Shadow almost feels bad because of it. He wanted to know, though, and so he raises a brow at him, pushing for an answer.

The green eyed hedgehog sighs after a moment, signing again.

'Christmas Island.'

Christmas Island? Shadow couldn't think of such a place on Mobius. He would have to look into it himself.

"How old are you?" he asks, then, mildly curious. The hedgehog looked young, but not much younger than he (technically).

Sonic looks uncomfortable with all these questions, but signs the number seventeen anyway.

So he really wasn't much younger, Shadow confirms. He's not sure why that made him feel better, but he pushes that thought aside as he continues their walk down the hallway.

"I don't mean to over-inquire," he decides to say, slightly apologetic. "I'm just curious as to who you are, and why I was assigned to train you out of anybody here."

Sonic shrugs, following him through a door that led into a garage. They walk over to a motorcycle that's black with red markings on it, and Shadow gets on, motioning for the hedgehog to as well. Sonic makes an interesting face then, a small smirk pulling his lips up as if he thought something was funny.

"What?" Shadow asks, almost irritably. The cobalt mobian only shrugs again and gets on lazily behind him, still smirking. It seemed like he was trying to hide his mirth but was failing miserably at it.

Pushing his questions aside for later, Shadow turns the key and presses a button on it, opening the garage. He revs the engine and they take off, speeding through the streets faster than any normal vehicle could.

By the time they arrive at Shadow's house, which sat practically in the middle of a large forest (about thirty minutes away from Station Square by normal speeds), it was dark out. G.U.N.'s headquarters were located in Central City, which was quite a ways away from where he lived. He knew the ride back would be a bit long, but they didn't have to make any stops, and Sonic seemed content with it.

He was now filling the fridge with food he had gone out to get while Sonic got situated at his new home. He felt kind of bad he didn't do much else with the room besides what he had, considering Sonic had no personal belongings at all, besides the socks, shoes, and gloves he wore, and the military jacket he learned that Topaz had given him.

What kind of person didn't have personal belongings, Shadow had wondered. Even he, with his confusing past, was able to pick up a couple pictures of Maria and Gerald, and save a few momentos from his missions around the world. Sonic had nothing at all.

He had messaged Rouge, asking if she knew of any Christmas Island, and she said there wasn't even such a place on any map in G.U.N.. Either Sonic had lied, or the place he was from no longer existed. He really wasn't sure what to think of it.

As he shuts the fridge, there's a knock on the doorway to the kitchen behind him, and he turns to see Sonic there, holding up a towel. There was only one bathroom, and it was in Shadow's room, so he sent him in there to shower while he was busy setting things up for his guest. He was surprised to see Sonic had fawn arms the same color as his muzzle, as well as a fawn belly. He was only wearing his socks and gloves, his one hand rubbing his left ear as if there was water in it annoying him.

Again, there's butterflies in Shadow's stomach and he doesn't understand why, or how he could even feel such a way. He realizes Sonic is trying to tell him he's finished in the bathroom, and turns away, feeling his face heat up.

"You can do whatever," he says, catching the blue hedgehog's full attention. "I don't need to eat much, so if there's anything you want, just write it down somewhere for me." He sees Sonic nod as he looks back at him, and feels slightly bad that he can't speak. That had to be hard. "We'll go out and see what you're capable of tomorrow morning."

The smirk that grows across Sonic's face then seems to be filled with both excitement and...cockiness? He hoped to Gaia this hedgehog wasn't stupidly arrogant. He's seen a lot of new soldiers think they're better than anyone, until they get their asses handed to them by yours truly. He didn't want to beat the sense into this kid, especially since he kind of liked him.

...that was a strange thought. Liking him. He didn't like anyone.

"Just don't go out anywhere by yourself," he says in a tone that's a bit more stern. "I tried to pick a place Robotnik wouldn't find me, but I don't want to risk anything."

Sonic's smile is gone in an instant, and is replaced by an uncomfortable frown. He nods again, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He seemed to not like the mention of Robotnik, Shadow noticed. Probably because of his close encounter with the doctor's robots.

Deciding to get off the subject for now, Shadow leaves the kitchen, walking passed the hedgehog as he steps out into the hallway. He stops to look back at him one last time. "I'll see you in the morning. Be up by seven."

The blue male gives only a tiny smile to that, signing a goodnight to him. Shadow turns, holding the small white fluff of fur on his chest, trying to ignore the butterflies going higher.