FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch33

"I messed up, doctor...," Shadow said quietly, currently sitting by a dining table in Eggman's kitchen with the man sitting on a chair next to him. The hybrid had an appetizing chocolate cake in front of him, but he did not touch it yet, because his stomach turned into a tight knot from the guilt and shame.
"Shadow, we sometimes make mistakes in life and the regrets live with us, but what we have to do is to not give up," Robotnik tried to comfort him as he took a small bite of his own piece of the cake.
"I am not giving up, doctor," Shadow sighed and lowered his ears in sadness as he finally took the small spoon to his hand and gently cut off a little piece of the cake and leaning his head on his other hand he put the piece to his mouth before slowly munching it. The chocolate immediately melted in his mouth and soothed his taste buds with its balanced sweetness. Milk chocolate was just the best. His chao was there with him, sitting on the table it watched its new owner curiously and so badly wanted to taste the cake, but did not dare to do anything, not wanting to upset the hedgehog.
"I am sure, that the blue rodent won't be mad at you forever," Eggman replied calmly and emptied his plate, as he truly enjoyed the good dessert. Shadow still proceeded to just eat his second piece, being pretty slow, since his appetite was nearly absent at the moment.
"Hmpf, what do you know, doctor? You should have seen his face, he was... very upset," Shadow retorted and noticing the look on the chao's face he got a little piece on the spoon and held it out towards the creature, who gladly opened its mouth and accepted the offered piece, munching it it showed heart above its head.
"Give him some time, Shadow. Later on, you will be able to explain everything to him and hopefully he will at least try to see it from your point of view," the mustached human shrugged before standing up to wash the plate.
"And if he doesn't?" Shadow raised a brow and fed the chao with another piece of the dessert. Thanks to taking such care of it, the chao's color was gradually becoming darker and Shadow just now noticed it, finding it alarming.
"Then we will find some way, I know we will," Eggman replied, sounding still pretty optimistic about it despite the situation.
"I wish I could share your enthusiasm, doctor," Shadow released yet another sigh and finally took the next piece of the cake himself, enjoying the sweetness spreading through his mouth.

"You'll come around," Eggman patted the hedgehog's shoulder in gentle, caring manner.
"Yet.. I don't- I can't tell him about Maria," Shadow said a bit sadly.
"Why?" Eggman raised a brow and sat next to him again.
"Because... it's still so heavy on my heart and.. i-if I tell him, that I did all that only so I could have Maria brought back to life.. or well, we could have her back...," Shadow trailed off, also correcting himself, for he knew, that Eggman had the very same goal. What he was unaware of, however, Eggman was hiding a secret regarding their lost family member. A secret, which he couldn't bring himself to tell Shadow about, unsure of what his reaction might be. Eggman frowned upon the thoughts filling his mind. Maria was actually still somewhat alive, Eggman kept her in a secret cave, locked up in an ancient capsule, where she was stabilized and just needed to be cured of her illness before she could be revived and brought back.
"...but he probably already knows, that I am selfish," Shadow shrugged and took one more piece of the cake before giving the spoon to the chao, letting it eat on its own.
"The way I see it, you are actually generous, Shadow," Eggman opposed, earning a glare from the hedgehog.
"Where?" Shadow raised a brow in doubtful manner.
"You do regret your actions, don't you? If you were selfish, you wouldn't even have those regrets. So, in fact, you care about that hedgehog and it hurts you to see him so upset," Eggman elaborated and Shadow had to admit, the human made a good point.
"Yeah, guess you're right," Shadow returned his glance to the chao and saw it happily rubbing its belly while having the heart constantly above its head.

"Is it just me, or did the blue creature turn a little.... darker?" Eggman raised a brow in confusion, whilst Shadow nodded in agreement.
"It did turn darker, I don't know why," he replied honestly.
"Hmmm, we should run a few tests on it," Eggman suggested, wanting to know more about the creature's kind. Shadow grabbed the chao and held it close to his chest while looking up at the doctor seriously.
"Are you crazy? We could see, how scared and stressed it was the last time you put it to the mini-capsule! I.. I don't want it to go through that again," he said seriously, the chao turned the heart back to the ball above its head and tilted its head curiously. It could sense Shadow getting protective over it, which made the chao giggle cutely.
"Chao-ooo!" it basically sang in joyful manner while nuzzling the ebony hedgehog's chest fur under the scarf. It seemed to be the chao's favourite part of the hedgehog's body.