~Ğøōđbýę~

~12~

Sonic blinked a few times, looking to Shadow in shock. Shadow looked at Sonic and patiently awaited an answer. If these people weren't being incredibly cryptic, they were being ridiculously quiet. Honestly, it was beginning to get on Shadow's nerves.

"No?" Sonic finally replied, his face devoid of any emotion but also appearing shocked. "He was a friend of yours." Shadow wasn't pleased with the answer, but decided Sonic's love life was as dramatic as it was none of Shadow's business and so left it at that.

Sonic opened up the photo album once again. He turned it away from Shadow however, which was very annoying, and began to mumble to himself as he quickly skimmed a few pages. "Ah hah!" He exclaimed, showing Shadow a page. He suspiciously kept one gloved hand over a certain picture but Shadow didn't let curiosity get the best of him. He instead focused on the picture he was shown.

In the photo, he and Sonic were passed out on the couch side by side. It was unclear if Sonic had his hands wrapped around him or not as a blanket was obscuring it, but he seemed quite comfortably snuggled into Sonic within the photo. A stray, uncapped marker was on the floor and the two had random drawings on them.

Sonic had a large moustache and the words 'pest' written on his forehead. His ear was also lazily coloured in. From what Shadow could see in the image, he had marker smudgings on his cheeks and his ruby streaks were terribly coloured in with a black sharpie. Sonic laughed as he looked at the image, causing the other to look at him in confusion.

"We were babysitting Tails and Cream, a small rabbit who might be visiting later, and we ended up passing out on the couch." Sonic broke into a fit of laughter. "Yeah, anyways, we thought Tails and Cream were asleep but they came down and drew on us. Vanilla - Cream's mom - walked in that morning and took a picture."

Shadow looked at the picture once more. "Why are we so close in the picture?" He asked, looking back at Sonic. Sonic's smile soon faded and his eyes widened. He paused for awhile, clicking his tounge. "There was only one couch at Vanilla's." Sonic reasoned. Shadow just nodded. It didn't explain why Sonic was presumably hugging him in the photo, but it atleast explained why they were sharing the couch.

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Shadow was sat in in the living room with Rouge and Tails. The three were just chatting about old memories. Shadow could only ask questions instead of reminisce with the two but it was quite interesting to learn about his past.

A knock halted the conversation and Tails quickly jumped up. Rouge laughed at the small fox as he flew to the door. "I'll get it!" Sonic called from upstairs. "Loverboy." The white bat chuckled. "Who?" Shadow asked, looking at Rouge. "Tails." She answered with a smug smile. "The kids chased this girl since he was eight." She explained. Shadow nodded.

After a minute or two, a small rabbit and her mother walked into the living room. Shadow recognised the small girl from a few of the memories he had aswell as from a few pictured within the photo album Sonic had shown him earlier. She was just taller, and looked far more mature He stood up from the sofa and faced her.

The young rabbit gasped, raising her hands to her mouth as tears flooded from her eyes. Shadow had experienced many of these meetings with people from his past, but he couldn't help but share her sadness. He didn't know her like he once did, but he felt some form of closeness - similiar to the kind he felt with Sonic. He couldn't explain it.

"Mr Shadow..." The small rabbit whispered. Her chocolate brown eyes widened as she slowly approached. She stared at his face, then hesitantly lifted his arm and inspected his ring. She turned the ring, revealing the initials 'C.R'. Shadow's eyes widened. How hadn't he noticed that was there before? The rabbit looked up to Shadow and smiled, tears in her eyes. She wasted no time in engulfing him into a hug. Shadow hugged her back reluctantly.

The rabbit's mother also approached Shadow. She smiled warmly at him and cupped his face to inspect it. "We thought we lost you. Cream was so upset - I dare say more upset than Sonic." She practically whispered. She kept her eyes firmly on Shadow, as if she had no idea what to do next.

"He doesn't remember us..." Sonic stepped in, the pain evident on his face. Cream broke the hug and nodded sadly to the lapiz hedgehog. "It does explain why he isn't glued to your side..." she sighed, giving Shadow a seemingly pitied glance.

Tails placed a reassuring hand on the rabbit's shoulder and smiled at her. "We do have a solution." He smiled "I've found a way to download memories, adjust them to Shadow's view and reimpliment them into Shadow's mind."

The rabbit gasped and hugged Tails. The fox, clearly pleased with himself, hugged the rabbit back. The hug didn't last long as the rabbit pulled away from the hug quickly and jumped towards her mother, begging the woman to allow her to give Shadow her memories. The woman agreed, asking Tails how safe the machine was. The two-tailed fox was very quick to defend his creation. Shadow was sure he took offense at the thought of one of his inventions being unintentionally dangerous.

"If it wasn't safe, Sonic would be dead." Tails pointed out. The attention was turned to Sonic, who on instinct put his hands up in defense. "Oh, so he remembers you two were bo-" Cream began to ask before Sonic sharply cut her off. "No. We're going in chronological order." He sternly stared at Cream.

Shadow was intruiged at this. He was aware Sonic and him had a very close bond, but he didn't know what that bond entailed. All he really had to go on was the beach memory he was given first - and it wasn't very much. There was clearly something there, Sonic was always hinting at something and everyone who learned Shadow was back would always ask something and be immediatley cut off by Sonic. All he wanted was to know, but Sonic was clearly holding back key information of his past.

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Cream stood on the small stool, her head just visible over the counter. Shadow couldn't help but laugh slightly at her height.

"What're you making, Mr Shadow?" The young rabbit asked. "Just something quick for supper." Shadow replied, focused on the sizzling pan on the stove. He flipped its contents with a spatula. "Well Mr Sonic said he wants chillidogs." Shadow rolled his eyes, placing the spatula on the counter and turning to the small girl.

"Tell Mr. Sonic I said f-ck off." Shadow smirked. Cream gasped, almost falling off of the stool. Her shock soon turned into Anger as she stared at Shadow, appalled. "That's a bad word Mr Shadow!" Shadow had to hold back the urge to laugh - which was very hard. "Put it in your own words." Shadow carelessly told Cream. He quickly returned to the food, cussing under his breath as he realised it had almost burned while he had left it unattended. Cream left the kitchen soon after and Sonic entered.

"Shads." He whined, wrapping his arms around Shadow's waist. Shadow payed him no mind as he began plating the food. Sonic was less than pleased with the lack of attention he was recieving. "I haven't had a chillidog in a week!" Shadow hummed in agreement. "A week and a day, actually." He corrected smugly. The blue blur groaned, resting his head on Shadow's shoulder from behind to look at the food. "Really?" He asked, unamused. "I thought my cooking was 'the best'." Shadow quoted, prying his lover's arms from his waste so he could place the food at the table.

"Cream! Tails!" He called and handed Sonic his plate. The fox and rabbit soon ran in and sat at the table to eat. Sonic sat with the two whereas Shadow ate leaning over a kitchen counter nearby. The ebony hedgehog finished faster than the other three and washed his plate.

Shadow turned to the two kids and began drying his hands with a stray towel. "When you two finish; wash your plates, brush your teeth, change and go to bed." He said sternly. Shadow didn't glare at Cream, instead he glared at Tails. Tails just stared back in an uncaring manner. "Alright Mr Shadow!" Cream chirped.

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