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Shadow and the Beast

Summary:

Sonic has been sad the past few days, and Shadow wants to cheer him up! He figures a nice run around the country should do the trick. But when Sonic doesn't pay attention to where he's going, this fun day takes a turn.

Notes:

HEEEEEEEEEY! So, it's been a minute. Sorry about that. But I'm back with a new story! Hope you all enjoy!
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Main character death (don't worry, he gets better), drowning, deceptions of suffocation, medical trauma ( Shadow), death of a family member grief.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: A Trip to the Tar Pits

Chapter Text

            Shadow took his responsibility as the Wachowski family protector very seriously. He made a ‘watchtower’ on the roof (which was a two-foot-tall platform with a pair of binoculars), joined Wade on occasional nightly patrols, and even worked with Ozzie on protective techniques (more barking at intruders than actual attacks). He kept his promise to Knuckles and was proving to be a capable and dependable member of the family.

            Sonic smiled as he watched his boyfriend use his old stopwatch to time Ozzie’s laps around the house. He had no idea what this training was for or if they were training at all. Shadow would never admit he was playing with the dog just to have fun, though Sonic wondered what strategic value all those belly rubs had. The blue hedgehog sighed as he looked back into his room. The beanbag chair, racecar bed, the fairy lights, and the many photos hanging on the wall comforted him. He kept his eyes fixed on one photo, one of him and Knuckles. He can’t remember when it was taken, but it was during one of their many camping trips. The two of them laughing next to a campfire, marshmallow sticks in hand. Sonic couldn’t help the tears that formed in his eye.

            A month later and it still hurts. Knuckles leaving left the house feeling colder. Sonic didn’t realize how much that serious, formal-talking, warrior warmed the place until he was gone.

            He talked to Knuckles often. He and Amy had already found one chaos emerald and were close on the trail of another. But talking through a screen was no substitute for his big brother being home. Beside him. Where he belonged.

            “Sonic? What’s wrong?”

            Sonic jumped at Shadow’s low baritone voice. Shadow stood in the doorway; his eyebrows raised in worry.

            “You’re crying.” Shadow stated as he stepped into the room, joining Sonic by the window sill.

            Sonic wiped at his eyes, trying to remove the evidence of his emotions, “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

            Shadow nodded, “I won’t pry, but if…” Shadow stopped and looked off to the side as if he was reading off a script in his head, “…you need to talk, I’m here.”

            Sonic looked at him with a soft smile, “Thank you for trying. Maddie’s been teaching you how to be comforting, hasn’t she?”

            Shadow blushed and his scowl returned, “She may have given me tips. But I am your boyfriend, and it is my responsibility to make sure you are well.”

            Sonic sighed, allowing his smile to fade, “I guess I’m just sad about Knuckles. I miss him.”

            Shadow lost his scowl and returned to his worried look, “Do you want to call him? Tom’s been teaching me how to use a ‘cell phone’. Tails’ tutorial was a little…”

0o0

            A few weeks ago, Tails stood in front of a white board with a bunch of formulas written all over it, and a confused Shadow sat on the sofa with a worn-out pencil and a torn-up notebook.

            “…andthat’snotevencoveringthewaythesignalgetsfromyourmobiledevicetothecelltower…” Tails rambled on very quickly.

            Shadow groaned as his head fell backwards.

0o0

            “…technical.” Shadow concluded.

            Sonic let out a breathy little laugh, “No, I’ll talk to him tonight when he talks to Tails. It’s just not the same as talking to him in person.” Sonic stood up and looked around the room.

            Shadow kept his eyes on Sonic, watching as he examined the other pictures on the wall with Knuckles in them.

            Sonic shook his head, “Guess I’m just selfish. I want all my friends to be around me all the time.”

            Shadow nodded, “It is a selfish want, but understandable. The echidna will return some day. In the meantime, how about a race?”

            Sonic stopped and turned to Shadow with a smile, “You may still have a lot to learn about comforting people, but you always know how to make me smile.”

            Shadow folded his arms and let out a contented sigh, “You’re just predictable.”

            Sonic scoffed, “Just for that, the race begins now!” The blue fuzzball then raced out of the room before Shadow could process that he had gone.

            Shadow sighed with a smile and teleported outside.

0o0

            It had been an hour since the two hedgehogs left for their race, and Shadow was growing concerned. They had done five laps of the United States and Canada, and Sonic showed no signs of slowing down. Well, Sonic was showing no signs of slowing down, Shadow was growing tired.

            Shadow knew that he was just as fast as Sonic, but when it came to maintaining a sprint, Sonic was the clear winner, and the longer they went, the more Shadow fell behind.

            “Sonic!” Shadow called as loud as his voice could go, “Why don’t we head back? It’ll be dinner soon!”

            Sonic, about half a mile ahead, called back, “Oh c’mon, one more lap! I want to get another look at the French Quarter!”

            Shadow sighed, “Alright, one more, then home!”

            Sonic smiled as he raced on.

            Shadow grunted under his breath, “He’s avoiding being at home.”

            The pair made their way down the Pacific coast, and entering the Los Angeles area, that’s when things went wrong.

            Sonic wasn’t paying attention. He should’ve seen the fences, the big signs warning to keep out, the tourists gathered around to see the long dead animals.

            Sonic fell into the La Brea Tar Pits.

            The blue hedgehog was still vibrating with excess blue energy when he impacted the tar, causing blue lightning bolts to shoot out in all directions. One of them hit the still undiscovered fossil of a mammoth, which sent the energy back into Sonic. He couldn’t see anything, but he knew he couldn’t breathe. He could barely move. He used all his energy to try to return to the surface, but he didn’t know which way that was. He only had one hope.

            And he felt that one hope grab his hand. With a flicker, he was back on solid ground, but his face and body were still covered in tar. He moved his hands to his face, trying to clear his mouth and nose to be able to breathe. Finally, he was able to open his mouth and breathe.

            He still couldn’t hear or see anything. His eyes and ears were still covered by tar. He couldn’t know, but he imagined that Shadow was in a similar situation.

            Sonic found a patch of grass and started wiping his face on it, trying to clear his eyes. At last he opened them and finally saw what happened. Shadow teleported them further away from where the crowd had gathered to see what that blue blur was that crashed into the pits. Sonic looked around frantically and saw Shadow rolling around in the grass, trying to clear the tar as well.

            Sonic crawled toward him and helped clear out his ears so he could hear him. Once those were clear, Sonic cleaned out his own ears.

            “Shadow?! Are you alright!?” Sonic shouted through the remaining tar clogs.

            Shadow looked at him with anger boiling, “What the hell were you doing?! You weren’t paying attention as usual!”

            Sonic felt his mouth cast downward and he looked away shamefully, “I’m sorry. I really didn’t see it.”

            “If I hadn’t been here,” Shadow continued his rant as he frantically tried to wipe the tar off his face, “you would’ve drowned, and we would’ve never found you!”

            “I know, I…I don’t…know…” Sonic started taking shallow breaths, as the world darkened.

            “Sonic?” Shadow said, anger being replaced with concern.

            “I don’t…feel…good…” Sonic said as he started passing out.

            Shadow caught Sonic’s head before it could hit the ground, and he carried the tar covered alien in his arms.

            “Sonic?” Shadow shook him, trying to bring him back.

            Sonic’s eyes opened and shut randomly, “Shad…I…breathe…”

            Shadow’s eyes widened. Sonic was still drowning. The tar got into his lungs.

            “I…I don’t know what to…” Shadow started to panic.

            Sonic’s eyes went bloodshot as he weakly said, “I’m sorry.”

            Shadow set him down on the ground and started chest compressions, “Hold on…please…don’t go…”

            Sonic let out several gasps but then went silent.

            Shadow looked toward Sonic’s motionless body. His chest didn’t rise. His eyes didn’t blink. His mouth was still. Her blonde hair was filled with dirt. Her skin was burned and bruised.

            Shadow tried to blink the vision away, but he couldn’t. It merged in. He couldn’t stop it. The hyperventilating came next.

            Before he could stop himself, he teleported away. And kept teleporting as he panicked, screaming and kicking the visions away.

            He couldn’t stop. He didn’t stop.

0o0

            It was another hour before Shadow finally came back to himself. He teleported immediately back to where Sonic had been.

            When he got there, he was gone.

            The grass was still covered in tar, but something much bigger had been there. Shadow quickly searched the surrounding area. Sonic might’ve been carried away by a bear, a robot, or GUN had turned on them and taken the opportunity to steal the hedgehog’s body.

            Shadow searched everywhere but found nothing. He had to return home. He had to tell Maddie and Tom. He had to tell them that…

            …their son was dead.

0o0

            At the GUN headquarters in London, General Grayson starred at various computer screens that flashed red.

            “It appears we lost Sonic Wachowski’s vital readings sir.” One of the technicians called.

            “Where’s Shadow?” The general responded.

            “It’s erratic sir, he seems to be teleporting at random. The Chaos tracking system is barely able to keep up.” A third technician answered.

            The General looked to his assistant, “Call the Wachowski residence. Ask them if they have Sonic. The readings may be faulty.”

            The assistant left quickly, as the first technician spoke up, “Sir, we’re getting a lot of unusual readings.”

            “What kind?” The General asked as he walked to the screen.

            “Sir, according to this…Sonic’s become…something else.”

            The General looked confused, “Your readings must be faulty.”

            The technician nodded, “It is new tech sir, made just to track the Mobians.”

            The General nodded, “The name’s sticking. Glad to hear it.”

            “Shadow has returned to the scene sir. He appears to be looking for something.” The second technician observed.

            The General shook his head, “What’s going on?”

0o0

            Shadow teleported back home. The normal welcoming exterior of the house suddenly looked daunting, especially in the setting sunlight.

            He approached the front door and entered.

            He saw the three remaining Wachowski’s sitting together gathered around Tails’ phone.

            “Did you manage to find that second chaos emerald?” Tails asked.

            Knuckles’ voice cracked through, “Not yet. We are making good progress. Your scanner device is proving useful!”

            “Oh good! I’m…oh Shadow’s back.” Tails announced.

            The three looked at Shadow with confused faces.

            “What happened?” Tom asked, “You run through road construction?”

            Shadow looked at them with a petrified gaze, then broke it looking down, clasping his eyes shut.

            “Shadow? What’s wrong?” Maddie asked.

            Shadow let out a weak voice, “It was an accident…”

            Tom stood up and walked over to him, “Shadow…what happened?”

            Maddie was about to speak up when the phone rang. She answered, “Hello?”

            “Shadow?” Tom continued, “Where’s Sonic?”

            “I think Sonic’s in his room.” Maddie replied in the phone, “I’ll go check.”

            Shadow met Tom’s face, tears stinging his irritated eyes, “He’s dead.”

            The silence that hit the room was deafening. The only sound was Knuckles and Amy’s call crackling as the signal deteriorated.

            Tom broke the silence, “What are you…what are you talking about?”

            Shadow stared at him with a terrified expression, “He was running ahead of me, and he fell into the tar pits.”

            Maddie dropped the phone as she turned and faced Shadow, “…Wh…What?”

            Shadow started shacking, “I…I got him out…I thought he was okay…but then he collapsed…and…and…he couldn’t…breathe…and I tried to…to…oh my god.”

            Shadow collapsed on the ground and started to sob.

            “Shadow, where is he? Where is his body?” Tom said, his voice rising.

            Shadow placed his gloved hands on his head, “I…I don’t know…I went back…and it looked like something had…stolen him…”

            “Went back? You left?!” Tom shouted.

            Shadow shook even more violently, “I didn’t mean to…I couldn't stop myself…”

            “Where is my son?!” Tom grabbed the sides of Shadow’s head and lifted his face to meet his.

            Shadow pushed Tom away, “I don’t know! If I knew I would’ve brought him here!”

            Maddie sat on the couch with tears running down her face.

            Tails sat on the opposite couch, in a state of disbelief and shook.

            “Tails?! Tails?! What’s happening?!” Amy shouted.

            There was some murmuring between Knuckles and Amy before Knuckles said, “We’re coming home.” The call then ended.

            Tom stood up and eyed Shadow, “Where is my son?”

            Shadow again lowered his gaze, “I don’t know.”

            Tom then let the tears flow as he fell back down to his knees, “Oh god. Why?”

            Shadow crawled closer to him, “…Tom…I’m so…”

            Tom didn’t let Shadow finish as he wrapped him in a hug.

            Shadow didn’t fight it as he began to sob again.

            Maddie joined the hug, and Tails, once he recovered from his stupor, joined them.

            They didn’t break the hug all night. Calls from GUN went unanswered. The house was quiet, apart from the occasional cry for grief.

0o0

            In the night, by a flowing stream in the California redwood forest, there was a creature, a blue creature. He was staring at himself in the flowing water, trying to figure out what he was looking at. The tusks that protruded from his lower jaw suggested a hunter. The long claws indicated survival. The massive bulk showed power. And the blue needles? Why did he need those?

            “I…I think I’m Sonic?” The creature said in a husky tone, “But I don’t look like Sonic.”

            The creature looked at the full moon, still cut in half, and gazed in confusion.

            “Shadow…what happened? Who am I?”

Chapter 2: A Trip to the Coast

Notes:

On we go!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

            Shadow went over the memories again and again. They wouldn’t leave him. Blue fur covered in black. Those beautiful emerald eyes surrounded by red. The sound of struggling breath. Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t he switch places? Sonic was loved by this family. He was a brother, a son, a cherished member of the Green Hills community. What was Shadow? A reminder. A relic. The one to blame.

            That night, the hug pile only grew when Amy and Knuckles returned home. It wasn’t the joyful occasion any of them envisioned. Eventually, everyone retreated to Tom and Maddie’s bedroom, all sleeping, or not, in each other’s arms.

            Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, Shadow walked down the household stairs as quietly as he could. In his distraction, he didn’t notice Maddie standing in the kitchen.

            “Where are you going?” Maddie asked, voice tired and gravely.

            Shadow jumped at her voice and turned to face her, “I…I don’t know. I have to…”

            Maddie set her mug of tea down on the counter and walked toward Shadow, “You don’t have to do anything.”

            Shadow shook his head, “I might be able to find him. I could-”

            “GUN is tracking him Shadow. They already have a team out to bring…to…bring back my baby.” Maddie broke down again.

            Shadow stared at her for a second before placing a hand on her shoulder. She pulled him into a hug.

            “Please…don’t leave too. I know we haven’t known each other for too long but…please. I can’t say goodbye to another one of my sons.”

            Shadow wrapped his arms around her and nodded, “I think…he would’ve wanted me here. I’ll stay with you.”

            Maddie nodded into Shadow’s shoulder, “Thank you.”

0o0

            A helicopter flew low over the red wood forest, shining its spotlight down below.

            “He’s in this area. Keep an eye out.” General Grayson said from the flight deck.

            “The canopy is very thick sir.” A GUN agent responded, “The ground team has reported very strange looking tracks.”

            “Tell them to keep their weapons ready. We don’t know what creature this is.” The general warned.

            The ground team kept their search slow and methodical. The tracks they were following were getting fresher by the foot.

            Then, a flash of dark blue in one of the spotlights.

            “What was that?” The soldier asked.

            “What was what?” Another asked.

            “I saw something blue move.” He responded.

            “That’s gotta be him.” She concluded.

            The soldier shook his head, “I don’t remember the fuzzball being that big.”

            “Hey, who you callin’ a fuzzball?” A deep but friendly voice said.

            All the soldiers pointed their guns and spotlights on the source of the voice.

            “I’m way to prickly to be a fuzzball. Maybe a needle ball?” The giant blue hedgehog said.

            The soldier blinked at what he looked at, “Sonic?”

            Big, blue, and pointy nodded his head, “Yep! At least, I think so? I don’t really look like him, and I can’t run super-fast. Do you know where Shadow is? I remember he was with me, but then he wasn’t…”

            The other soldier joined her partner in disbelief, “Um…what happened to you?”

            Sonic shrugged, “I don’t know. I was running, everything went black, and I woke up in the woods, looking like this.”

            The soldiers nodded, “Um…general, you may want to land and see this.”

0o0

            As Shadow and Maddie hugged, the phone rang again.

            Maddie groaned as she broke the hug and went to the receiver, “Hello?”

            Shadow could easily hear the other side of the phone conversation with his advanced senses.

            “Hello Mrs. Wachowski, I, um, don’t know how to explain this…” General Grayson started.

            “General?” Maddie asked.

            Shadow rushed next to her.

            “Um…we found Sonic, and…um…”

            Maddie grabbed the hem of her pajama shirt, “What is it?!”

            “He’s alive-” The General was cut off by Maddie’s cry of joy and Shadow’s relieved sighing.

            It took a minute for them to realize that the General was still talking.

            “But there’s a problem.” The General stated.

            “What is it?” Maddie asked.

            At this point, the whole family had heard and gathered around the phone, Knuckles carrying Tom down the stairs so he could hear with the others.

            “Well…” The General began, “he appears to be seven feet tall, excess of four hundred pounds, and has tusks like a sabretooth tiger.”

            There was a beat of silence before Maddie, Tom, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow all responded with, “What?!”

0o0

            The GUN helicopter carrying the Wachowski’s landed safely at the headquarters in Seattle. General Grayson stood on the rooftop to meet them.

            The colorful assortment of animals emerged from the craft first, followed by their human guardians.

            “Good morning.” General Grayson stated.

            Shadow gave a nod to the General, though it was Tom that spoke first, “Where is he?”

            Grayson nodded, “Follow me.”

            He led the family over to the service elevator, which brought them far underground.

            “We are not sure what caused this transformation, so we’re keeping Sonic in an isolation tank.” General Grayson explained.

            “So, we won’t be able to…” Shadow began before cutting himself off, remembering he was with Sonic’s parents and siblings.

            Maddie smiled at him, “It’s okay Shadow, we all want to give him a big hug. Especially after the emotional roller-coaster we’ve been through.”

            The elevator dinged when they arrived, and the General led them through the maze of metal hallways. GUN went overboard designing this new headquarters after their London operation was broken into.

            They eventually made it to room 1991. The door opened to reveal a large lab with various medical equipment lining the walls, along with screens showing various readings.

            Most prominent was the floor to ceiling glass wall that revealed the large blue creature claiming to be Sonic.

            The whole family stared at this large creature. He was sitting on an oversized bed, reading an old Flash comic that GUN had acquired for him. He met his family’s eyes and flashed a toothy grin, but none of them responded.

            Sonic frowned and placed the comic on the bed, walking over toward them, then sitting when he reached the glass.

            “Um…I don’t know what to say…hi?” Sonic started.

            Shadow was the first of the pack to approach. He kept his eyes locked on Sonic’s, trying to find a defect. This could be a trick, a way to lure him into GUN so they could capture him again. But why do it like this? Why let him bring his friends? Why invent a giant monster version of Sonic.

            When he got close, he saw those emerald eyes. The same ones that he knew. They were no longer outlined in red to indicate his suffering. Now, they were bright, happy, but also worried. That worry of if he could change back. If his family would accept him.

            If his mate would.

            Shadow placed his hand on the glass, just as Maria had done all those years ago. Sonic matched him, giving a small smile around his protruding teeth.

            Shadow returned the smile, feeling tears well up in his own eyes, “It’s you. You’re okay.”

            Sonic nodded, “Well, if you can call being turned into a were-hog okay, but better than being dead!”

            Shadow nodded, “So much better.”

            Sonic lifted his gaze to the rest of the family who slowly moved toward him.

            “Sonic?” Tom asked.

            Sonic smile grew even bigger, and his tail wagged, “Hey dad.”

            Tom smiled back, letting his tears fall freely, “That’s you. I know it is.”

            “Welcome back from death brother!” Knuckles exclaimed.

            Amy began bawling along with Tails, “Don’t ever die like that again!”

            “Yeah,” Tails managed between blubbers, “you really scared us!”

            Sonic looked confused at the family, “I died?”

            Shadow looked down, feeling his guilt rise, “I’m so sorry. I…when I saw you lying there like that…I…I panicked and ran away. I couldn’t stop myself. When I finally got control again, you were gone, and I assumed the worse.”

            Sonic nodded, “Shadow, it’s okay. I’m still here, but about three hundred pounds heavier.”

            Tails spoke up, wiping his eyes, “You went into the tar pits, right?”

            Sonic nodded, “They taste awful by the way.”

            Shadow nodded in agreement.

            Sonic then shifted his attention to Knuckles, “You’re back!”

            Knuckles puffed out his chest slightly as he spoke, “The search for the emeralds had to be put on hold so we could be of comfort to our family.”

            Sonic smiled, “I’m sorry, but I am happy to see you. It was…different without you.”

            Knuckles smiled, “We will return more permanently when the emerald is recovered.”

            “If I may?” General Grayson spoke up and the family turned to face him, “Regarding Sonic’s condition, our doctors have determined that his DNA has been altered.”

            “Altered?” Tails repeated, “How?”

            “It appears to be crossed with Mammoth DNA.” Grayson explained.

            Maddie let out a confused grunt, “When would he-”

            “The tar pits.” Shadow answered.

            Grayson nodded, “We believe that Sonic’s chaos energy discharge when he fell into the pits, awakened the Mammoth DNA and caused it to jump to him. There’s a lot we don’t know about Sonic’s biology. It could be the stress of almost dying caused the change.”

            Tom blinked, “Are we sure that’s scientifically possible?”

            Sonic spoke up, “Tom, I’m a talking blue hedgehog that runs really fast dating an emo black and red hedgehog that can teleport. I’m pretty sure anything is scientifically possible at this point.”

            Shadow crossed his arms, “I’m not emo.”

            Sonic smiled at him, “Of course you’re not, hon.”

            Shadow blushed at the new nickname and looked away from Sonic.

            General Grayson continued, “However, there is a treatment. Using Sonic’s old quils that we have stored for testing, we can restabilize his DNA and bring him back to normal.”

            Maddie smiled, “That’s amazing!”

            “That’s a relief.” Sonic stated, “This Mammoth fur is very itchy.”

            “But, there is an issue.” Grayson stated, before pulling up a scan of Sonic’s lungs.

            Maddie studied it, “The tar is still in there.”

            Grayson nodded, “If Sonic were to shrink back down to his normal size…”

            “He would drown.” Shadow finished.

            The family looked toward Sonic.

            He smiled at them, “I don’t want to stay like this. I want to be myself. General? Is there anything we can do?”

            Grayson nodded, “There’s a surgery we can try. It’s experimental, using nanobots to get into the Alveoli of your lungs and clear them out.”

            Sonic nodded, “Perfect! Let’s do it!”

            Grayson nodded, “Again, it’s experimental. You would be the first live patient to receive this treatment. It’s only been done on equipment and cadavers.”

            Sonic nodded, “I understand the risks. I want to be myself again.”

            “We’ll let you meet the scientists who developed the robots. He is quite clever.” Grayson stated as the doors to the room opened to reveal a man in a dark suit, holding a carrier of coffee cups.

            “I hope I made everyone’s the way they like them-” The man stated as he started handing out cups before dropping the carrier when he saw all the creatures before him.

            Knuckles’ eyes widened and mouth hung agape, “It’s the goat-milker!”  

Notes:

Thank you all so much for reading! Please leave a comment or a kudos and I'll see you all for the next one!
R&R!

Notes:

Ohhh? What's going on?! Sonic's looking a little...werehog-y!
Hope you all enjoyed!
Please leave a comment and a kudos if you did!
R&R

Series this work belongs to: