Bad Kids

Chapter 66

Shadow this time was sent to the hospital to recover from his sudden burst of attacks. Rouge and the others sat in his room waiting for something to change while letting their injuries heal. All of them were worn out from the battle that left Mobius in the rubble. Still, there were no casualties thanks to Shadow.

In the Council meeting though, it was a different story. "Cream, that was really stupid of you. Why would you go back to the prison and release him into the public?! Especially amid an attack from their own town? Do you realize how bad that could've turned out? I'm sorry but if it hadn't been for him being worn out right now, we all might be in a worse spot than we actually are." Sonic snapped, giving her a good scolding. Cream huffed. "I don't know about you or anyone else, but we weren't exactly winning that fight. We depended on the ones when trapped here to help us win. We were running out of options! Tails gave us a solution and we took it! I'm not sorry for doing what was right for Mobius."

No one expected that coming from her. Tails wasn't even sure what to say about the whole ordeal. "To be frank Sonic, you're childish. You saw exactly what I saw in their town and you had the same feelings we did when we did all there. The fact that you're still holding these grudges despite them proving they can be good is embarrassing. I'm tired of this crap and so are they. And I know the rest of you are too. Shadow's good deep down. They all are. I'm done here. If you feel the need to remove me from the Council honestly do it. I don't want to be part of a group that doesn't change anything about their situation. I have my two kids to get back to after this scary ordeal."

Cream got up from her seat and left them all stunned. No one said anything because they all wanted to see what Sonic or Queen Elise would say. Queen Elise sighed. "Cream is a valued membered of Mobius. Though she might've been reckless, I doubt she would've made the decision she made without knowing the risks of it. Nor would she do anything to endanger this city further. Clearly what she did saved all of us and cannot be ignored. She did bring up a good point Sonic. You've held onto this far too long. Maybe it's time to give this thing a try. For the sake of everyone."

Sonic's ears folded somewhat disappointed. He knew Cream and Queen Elise were right. But he'd never admit it. Glimpsing at the rest of his friends, they just gave him questionable looks, wondering if he would actually change.

In the hospital, Shadow started stirring around, opening up his eyes. The room was somewhat bright but didn't bother his eyes. The first one he saw was Mephiles. He chuckled as the dark entity glanced up for a second. "Oh, you're awake. How do you feel?" Mephiles asked. Shadow took a deep breath as he sat up in his bed. He smirked while shaking his head. "Like I got run over by a truck." he stated, rubbing his head. Mephiles chuckled silently. "Where am I? Where is everyone?" Shadow asked him while readjusting to his surroundings.

"You're in a hospital Shadow. We're still in Mobius. Our friends went off to help themselves to the vending machines and cafeteria. I wanted to leave to go see someone else but they insisted you should have someone here so that you wouldn't be confused when you woke up. Now that you are, I just have to wait for them to show up. Did you understand all of that?" Seeing that Mephiles was slightly annoyed made Shadow relieved that there was someone who cared about him enough to stick with him.

"Sure." Mephiles rolled his eyes and patted Shadow on his shoulder. "You'll be fine. Cream was worried about you more than anyone to be honest. Now, you have the option of lime or cherry jello. Choose now or I choose for you and eat the other." Mephiles added.

Shadow ate the lime while Mephiles ate the cherry and both of them waited in their room for their friends to come back.

After what felt like an hour, there was a knock at the side of the door. Mephiles opened his eyes after shutting them briefly to see who it was. To his shock, Sonic stood there waiting to get a response. Mephiles grumbled as he stood up to answer. "What do you want hedgehog? The Ultimate Lifeform is trying to rest. And truthfully, he doesn't need you to disrupt any more of his recovery from the attack that he saved all of you from."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Look, I didn't come to talk to you. I came to make up things with Shadow so we can move on from this crap. Now is he awake or not?" he snapped. Mephiles chuckled evilly as his power activated. "You have a lot of nerve talking to us like we owe you something." His dark power surrounded the ground around Sonic's feet. "Please, I can outdo you any day. Plus if you're not an idiot, you'll know not to do a damn thing." Sonic snapped. The two glared at each other waiting for one or the other to make a move. "Mephiles," Shadow alerted. "It's okay. Let him come in." Mephiles glared back briefly and moved out of the way to make room for Sonic to pass through.

The blue hedgehog walked inside the room while Mephiles stood outside waiting for the others to come back. Once the two had the room to themselves, Sonic let his ears drop as he felt the feeling come back to him. Shadow raised an eyebrow unsure of where this was going. "Please don't waste my time. I don't want to hear what you've already told me fifty times. Okay..? I'm mentally and physically exhausted. And if not for Cream I'm not sure either of us would be here. My friends are tired. I'm tired. Make it quick."

Sonic took a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry." Those words made Shadow perk up. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I just threw you guys out... I'm sorry I've done nothing to help you guys... I'm sorry we caused a lot of your suffering... I was shitty to you and you definitely didn't deserve it after you and the others were trying to change. It wasn't fair then and continuing to do it doesn't help anything. I should've known that. All I can do now is continue to make up for it. There's not a lot I can say to even make up for all the pain and struggle you had to deal with for years. Let me at least try to fix this..."

Shadow was somewhat skeptical. "You've never apologized for anything... What changed?" he asked him. Sonic wiped away a tear about to escape down his cheek. "I almost lost everything today... I could've lost everything... Then you came along despite everything we've done... Sure it was only because Cream persuaded you... But I know you did that to protect innocent citizens... I'm only happy you did. I ran out of options and you gave me the answers I needed. Of course, I knew you were capable. I was only worried about retaliation. That's when I knew you were true to yourself... You're good underneath all this gruffness. So that's why Shads..."

Those words made Shadow smile. He chuckled. "It just proves that I'm still better than you. I'm sorry too... I guess I just never thought we could be better again... But after everything today, I think we all need to forgive and forget. Don't you think?" he replied. Sonic smiled softly, a bit of pink forming on his cheeks. Then they started laughing. Both forgave the other. "Geez if I knew it was this easy we wouldn't have to go through all this drama." Sonic sighed. "I am a dick."

Shadow huffed and waved a hand at him. "You're not the only one. We both made some pretty fucked decisions. But... there's one thing we have to do..."

They made eye contact before looking back out the window to Shadow's side. There the shield flowers brightly in the night, the teens of Dark Side waiting for their loved ones to be returned.