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Shadow wasn’t planning on going out today. But an hour ago, Rouge had commented how they didn’t have the rice crackers she was craving. An hour later and one impromptu trip to the store, Shadow returned to their apartment with a plastic grocery bag in his hand.
But his surprises didn’t end there, because Amy Rose was on his couch, chatting with Rouge.
Both women took notice of his presence immediately. “Hi, Shadow!” Amy greeted cheerfully, her smile warm and inviting, even though it was his house and he should have been the one inviting her.
“Hey there, handsome,” Rouge greeted him as well, her silver tongue present as always, even in her tone. She nodded towards the bag in his hand. “Did you do some shopping?”
Nodding his head, Shadow made it to the coffee table in a few quick strides. “You said you wanted these rice crackers but we didn’t have them,” he explained as he revealed the snack bag, “so I bought some.”
As he put the rice crackers on the table, Rouge’s expression changed from its usual flirtatiousness, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. The strange, apparent shock flipped to sheepishness as she said, “That’s sweet of you, Shadow, but you didn’t have to do all that. I didn’t even ask you to get them.”
“Nonsense,” Shadow replied, crossing his arms before turning to their house guest. “What are you doing here?”
Amy looked up at the sudden interest in her, but she looked unfazed. “Oh, I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and say hello,” she answered, smoothing out her dress as she shifted on the couch cushions. Before Shadow could ask how long it takes for her to say hello to someone, a spark was set off in her. “Hey!” She shook Rouge’s shoulder, radiating excitement. “You guys should come camping with us next week!”
“Ooo, camping?” Rouge sounded interested.
Shadow was less enthused. “Camping?” he questioned, completed with a raised brow.
“Yeah!” Amy nodded eagerly. “Casey’s is having a big sale, so we’re going to go camping!”
“So, Casey’s having a sale on camping equipment?” Shadow asked, his brow furrowed.
Amy and Rouge both looked at him like he’d grown a third eye. “Wha?” They stared at him for a long ten seconds before a light bulb turned on in Amy’s head. “Oooh, no, they’re not having a sale on camping equipment,” she explained, waving her hands about in a dismissive manner. “It’s a big store sale, and we’re going to camp out on the sidewalk all night so we can be the first ones there.”
“Is that legal?”
“Sure it is, hon,” Rouge interjected. “I’ve seen my fair share of fans lining up all night to buy concert tickets.”
“Sooo—” Shadow jumped. When did Amy get off the couch (and up in his face)? “You guys want to come? It’ll be us three, Sonic, and Tails. We’ll play games, roast hogdogs, and make s’mores!”
Shadow’s eyes narrowed. “What are s’mores?”
It was like he set off a bomb. “You don’t know what a s’more is?!” she screeched.
After Amy didn’t answer his question, Shadow turned to Rouge. “It’s like a sandwich made with graham crackers, chocolate, and a roasted marshmallow.”
“It’s more than just a sandwich!” Amy insisted. “It’s the iconic summer treat!” Her gaze became glossed over, swallowing the excess saliva forming in her mouth. “You take a crunchy, sweet graham cracker, topping it with a square of velvety, bittersweet chocolate. Then you get a sweet, pillowy marshmallow and roast it over an open fire. It gets all melty, and the fire gives it a new caramelly, campfire taste. When you put it all together, the heat from the marshmallow melts the chocolate, and it’s just…” She couldn’t finish her thought. She became locked in a dream of sweets, drooling over her beloved dessert. Shadow wondered if she would wake up if he had a s’more in his hand.
But she woke up and grabbed him, a crazed look in her eyes. “You have to come camping with us!” But suddenly that crazed look died and she looked sane. “I-I mean, you don’t have to come camping with us if you don’t want to. It’s totally your choice.”
Quite frankly, Shadow did not want to come camping. Casey’s was a popular store, and if the sale was as big as Amy was making it sound, then there was going to be a line a mile long. Having to sleep on the cold concrete in the dark of night, surrounded by crowds of rowdy shoppers? Unsavory.
But…
“Of course! It sounds fun,” Rouge answered, as casually as if she were talking about the weather.
“Great!” Amy turned to him. “What about you, Shadow?”
Big round eyes staring into his soul, pleading.
His mind was strong, but his heart was weak.
“Fine,” he conceded finally, as Amy squealed and jumped around.
“This’ll be the best camping trip of your life, Shadow, just you wait!” she cheered.
Of course. He’s the Ultimate Lifeform. He’ll make this the best camping trip ever.
Wind danced around Shadow’s face, blowing his spines around as settlements and businesses left as soon as they arrived. It was one of the few comforts he had, seeing how he was crushed in the backseat with Sonic, Tails, and half of the camping equipment. At least without the car’s top, he could pretend that the whole thing wasn’t making him claustrophobic and cramping his arms and legs. He had briefly wondered why he and Sonic didn’t just run everything to and fro from the store—but thinking about it, even with their super speed, it would’ve been irritating to make all those trips. Shoving everything into Amy’s car it is, then.
Casey’s came up beside the main road, the shopping plaza sign boasting its name for all to see. Shadow’s eyes drifted towards the parking wasteland in front, not yet drowned in the inky black of night but it had begun to bathe in the streetlights buried in the asphalt. In fact, it was still light enough outside that something took Shadow’s attention:
“Amy,” he said, waiting until he saw her eyes flick over to him in the car mirror.
“Hm?” She turned down the radio.
“Were we supposed to be the first ones in line, or just on the front sidewalk?” he asked.
Before she could ask why, her car pulled into the parking lot and they all saw.
A line had already begun to form at the front door.
“Dangit!”
His spine jumped out.
Was this that important to her?
Amy took a deep breath. “That’s okay,” she said, resting her hands on the steering wheel. “We’re still near the front.”
She turned off the engine—when did she park? “If you boys take care of the tents, me and Rouge will get the rest.”
After opening the side door and nearly falling flat on his face, he joined Sonic and Tails in dragging their tent bags onto the sidewalk. Before they reached there, Sonic asked, “Think you can take care of that tent while me and Tails deal with this one?”
“I had assumed so,” Shadow had replied. At the time, it seemed like a stupid question. He picked this tent out himself, after all. Why wouldn’t he be able to assemble it?
Ten minutes after they started setting up, though, Shadow was struck with the flaming meteor that hits when you realize you’re about to swallow your own words.
Ten minutes later, Shadow’s tent was still a crumpled heap on the sidewalk. Whenever he looked over his shoulder, his stomach sank to the ground as he saw the brothers well on their way to finishing their tent.
Panic swept over him as he desperately tried to finish his tent. Jamming sticks into holes and straightening the fabric, only for it to fall apart again.
And again.
And again.
“Was that the last of it?”
Oh no.
“Yep, we’re all good.”
Just fix the tent, fix the tent, fix the tent—
“Hey, Shadow!”
[][][][][]
Paralysis seeped into his bones.
He tried to move.
It got harder when was Sonic on top of him, glaring at the indistinguishable mess at his feet.
“How’re you doing, buddy?”
Passive-aggressive.
“You need some help?”
Insulting, judgemental, no doubt laughing at him.
The other one came over.
Getting his hands into the repulsive fabric-y soup.
If they saw the way he was freezing and melting all at once, they didn’t say anything.
“Ooohhhhh, I see,” Tails murmured as he dirtied his little hands in Shadow’s mess.
“What?” Sonic butt in. Shadow shrank under the weight of the scrutiny, as well as Sonic leaning on him like a table.
The tent fabric went up in Tails’s grip like a tourist attraction, announcing his failure to the world.
“This the regular kind of tent, the ones that are designed for camping in the woods.”
What’s that sound?
“You idiot!”
It was a stake.
“We can’t use this! Now we only have one tent!”
Hammered into his back.
“Do you ever think?!”
Something broke.
He didn’t know what.
The pain left a ringing in his ears. He couldn’t hear anything.
He wasn’t quite sure what happened after that.
He thought that Amy and Rouge came over at some point?
The brothers no doubt teamed up against him to retail the thrilling story of how he royally screwed up by bringing a tent for the woods instead of something that can be used on the freaking sidewalk why didn’t wasn’t he thinking why would he think this would work—
The tent disappeared. He has a vague memory of someone taking it from him. Probably because it takes up space and while it was great to laugh at him, they’re in public and it wasn’t ideal to make him a circus attraction here. Maybe later.
When he regained his hearing and his vision was no longer a tunnel, the sun had fallen closer to the horizon and the sidewalk’s population had grown tenfold. Looking around, his friends had set up chairs around their territory.
Apparently, he had sat down in a chair at some point.
“Feeling better, Shadow?” He turned his head at the sound of a voice. Amy was at his side, smiling but there was a hint of something else there. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think it was concern. “You kind of spaced out a little, there.”
A pause. “… Ye—… I’m fine.” He was fine. Nothing was wrong. To prove it, he folded his arms over his chest in a resting, nonchalant manner.
“That’s good, I’m glad,” Amy replied. She acted relieved, though not entirely right. She was still mad at him.
“Hey, you guys want to play Fishing?” Sonic asked from where he reclined in his lawn chair.
Shadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic, a slight unease in his chest. “Fishing?” he questioned carefully.
In the blink of an eye, Sonic went from his chair to standing and holding a fishing rod and a trinket. “Yeah, we get a kiddie pool full of these toys and we fish them out,” he explained, showing off the small loop attached to the toy.
Seemed simple enough.
Even if he’d never gone fishing in his life and Sonic has probably gone fishing with Big every summer since he was born.
Sonic handed him a fishing rod and started setting up the kiddie pool as Shadow inspected his new tool. It looked like the kind he’d seen in books, though more plastic-y despite the real hook on the end. He tugged on the line, fiddled with the spinning spool thing that you use to reel in fish, tried to discreetly test it out by lowering the hook and bringing it back up.
It seemed simple enough.
By the time the kiddle pool was blown up and loaded with toys, it was almost like he was one of the guys, fishing like grandpas on Father’s Day. They were all hooking toys and piling them up in their laps. It was a quiet, relaxing game, and one Shadow found he enjoyed. It was almost like everything was okay.
As he fished up another toy, he glanced over at his fellow campgoers. “Hey, guys,” Sonic was saying, “you want to see something cool?”
The others conceded to his proposition. So Sonic reached back, reeling his fishing back behind his head—
And launching it forward, sending the hook into the pool—
And ripping a toy out immediately, back into his hands in seconds.
Truly a trick fitting for the fastest thing alive.
The others applauded, and even a few strangers complimented Sonic on his performance.
Shadow gazed upon it all in wonder.
And he remembered their outburst at him.
They were no doubt still mad at him.
The gears in his head started turning.
Cool trick = makes people happy
He screwed up = made them mad, so + doing a cool trick himself = (-) cancel out their anger at him and all will be forgiven.
Shadow focused on the kiddie pool before him, searching for something.
There. A little plush duck near the furthest edge. Rouge was struggling to hook it earlier.
Win her a duck.
Win her trust.
Win her love again.
He leaned back, throwing his hook into the air, ready to win Rouge’s love a duck for Rouge—
But when he threw the hook back towards the pool, all he got was a scream. And the hook was gone.
“What the—?!”
In complete and utter horror, Shadow turned to the sound of the voice behind him.
His hook got caught in someone’s shirt.
And ripped the shirt.
And now he had a giant gaping hole in his shirt.
Shadow’s face and body burned as though he had been buried in hot coals, paralyzed, only able to stare in his mortification.
“What the heck, Shadow?!”
No.
“Great, now we’re in trouble with this guy!”
“Oh my gosh, you are such an embarrassment.”
Don’t cry.
“I can’t believe we’re friends.”
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry—
The man with the ruined shirt had left at some point, Shadow didn’t know when, though he was almost certain it was because of what he did. The others didn’t talk to him, didn’t touch him, didn’t even look at him.
He deserved it…
“...s’mores…”
… wait, s’mores? He looked up, “What?”
Amy did not comment on his behavior, so she probably didn’t care anymore. “I think it’s about time we start making s’mores!”
At first, he was going to ask, shouldn’t we eat dinner first? Only to realize that the electric campfire was sitting out and everyone was roasting hotdogs.
For some reason, there was a plate of sausages sitting next to him. No doubt put there because he was being an idiot and wallowing in self-pity instead of eating.
But now, s’mores. The highlight of the evening.
His one. Saving. Grace.
“Yeah, and we can tell scary campfire stories while we eat!”
Wait, scary stories?
He looked around, his pulse picking up the pace as he realized how dark it had gotten. How long did he glaze over?
“Ooo, I’ve got one,” Rouge piped up, a devious smile gracing her face.
Shadow’s stomach started jumping hurdles. Despite the slight tremble in his legs, he stood up. Despite the ghost in his throat, he forced out, “I’ll get the s’more stuff from the car.”
He turned to walk.
In the dark.
The streetlights offered little comfort.
Rouge started talking.
“So a bunch of kids decide to hang out in an abandoned mall… at night.”
He walked faster.
“They’re screwing around and they start playing hide and seek in the dark.”
His heart fluttered against his ribcage.
“One guy had hid in one of the stores, but after a while, no one came to get him. So he’s like, what the heck? What happened?”
By now, Shadow had reached Amy’s car and he was deeply mildly considering locking himself in the trunk.
But that’s hardly fitting for the Ultimate Lifeform, who was already on thin ice and about to lose his title and his friends.
So he grabbed all the s’more supplies, turned around, and braced himself.
“The guy gets out of his hiding place and starts looking around for his friends, and he remembers one of them saying that he was going to hide in the food court.”
Shadow walked a little faster. Against his will.
“So he goes to the food court and he ends up in a backroom for a burger joint, walking around the freezer.”
Maybe it would be okay.
Despite the fluttering in his chest getting frantic.
“And he’s getting lost and seeing these giant slabs of meat, hanging from the ceiling.”
His grip tightened on the s’more ingredients.
“He’s thinking about turning back when he sees some of his friends’ clothes crumpled up on the floor. So he thinks, okay, they’re here. Running around a freezer naked was weird, but he figured they were being stupid.”
The butterflies in his chest were trying to break out. They might have been wasps.
He couldn’t breathe.
“He walks further into the freezer. It’s dark and he can’t see, but there’s these weird red jars showing up.”
I̶n̸a̵h̷l̶e̸
̸͎͝ê̶̟x̷͂͜h̷͖̅a̶̠͋l̷̯͝e̷̼̿
̷̜͚̓̚e̵͈̲̖̿̈x̷̱͐͘͠h̶̢͙̅̏̕á̵̡̻̀l̵̡̦͊͋͘͜ĕ̴̹
̶͔̟̓c̶̜͛a̸̧̨͝n̸͎͈͘̚'̷͇̐̃t̴̩̱͗͑ ̶̦̈͋i̶̡̹̐ṉ̷̈͝ͅh̸̥͊͂͜ạ̸̤̎̚l̸̳̈e̵͚̐͌
“Finally he finds his friends, he’s freezing and he tells them that they should leave. At first, it seems like they weren’t listening, but he got closer—”
ḟ̴̯̚ ̸̪̗̽l̴̠̔͐ ̶̼̯͝u̷͉̇ ̴̣̞̆̀ẗ̷̤́̑ ̷̰̹̊͝ẗ̷̼́͛ ̸̮̀̌e̸̳̜̾ ̷͉͔̊ŕ̵̞
“—and they weren’t moving—”
ȉ̷̛͙ ̵̙̀'̴̪̬̅́ ̷̥̏m̷̖̄͗͜ ̶̟̲̊ģ̷̝̀̏ ̴̩̱͆̋o̶͍͑ ̸̟̤͘ỉ̴̫̳̀ ̴̠̑̇ṅ̴̺̖ ̵̤̈g̶̡͖̓ ̵̧͌̒t̸̙͗ ̵̘̻̂o̸̼̞͛̅ ̶̗͎͝d̸͓̈́̒ ̸̜̊͛i̵̬̗͐̌ ̸̲̑̃e̵͍͋
“—and by the time he realized that they were sitting in a pool of a viscous red fluid—”
Ḯ̴̘͂ ̸̋͜'̷̡̀ ̵̢̢̍M̶̛̝ ̷̥̔̓͜G̶̟̮̎ ̶̱͝Ó̸̠͉͝ ̸̰̾͜Ĩ̵̛̳͎ ̵̢̡̿N̶͚̑̓G̴͈̳̏ ̷̪͚̾͒T̷̖̲̃ ̴̝̓̀Ȏ̸͕̹ ̸̣̱̒͘D̴̙̊ ̵͚̄Ȋ̵̪ ̶̣̆E̷̦̰͝
“SPLAT!”
Shadow blinked.
He was kneeling on the sidewalk. There were still wasps in his lungs, but he could breathe now.
But everyone was staring at him.
Because in his lap was the evidence for a murder.
Sticky white marshmallows exploded and glued to his fur.
Graham crackers destroyed beyond saving, coating his body and the ground like sawdust.
Bitter chocolate, reduced to scorching lava, singed his fur, leaving stains in his gloves that would never come out.
Forever reminding him that he ruined everything.
He didn’t hear his former friends complain and yell at him.
His heart felt heavy as he slowly dragged himself away to the strip mall across the street.
After locking himself in the restroom, he couldn’t help but stare at the mirror.
A disgrace.
An abomination.
A failure.
A heavy sigh dripped out his mouth. I need to leave before I screw up something else.
With numb hands, he did his best to scrub the remnants of carnage from his body. A difficult task in a tiny strip mall bathroom, in which his only resources were hand soap and paper towels. He was still left sticky and his clothes stained.
He didn’t complain about getting what he deserved.
Shadow escaped to the street, but stopped. Every atom in his body screamed, longing for the safety and comfort of home, where he could hide under his bed forever—
—but he couldn’t because he left his stuff at the campsite.
He heaved another sigh as he dragged his hands across his face. Grab my stuff and go.
His shoes scraped against asphalt as he ran across the road, but he slowed when he reached the other side.
The thought of his beloved… He shook his head. It was a thought he couldn’t bear.
Grab his stuff and leave before anyone sees him.
He slid up to the side of the building, swift and silent, nothing more than a faceless silhouette.
He neared the group and Amy’s car, and his breath quickened.
I just want to leave.
He saw his bag sitting in the car, waiting for him to rescue it.
He ran over to the open, unguarded car, ready to escape—
“Man, it’s so nice out tonight.”
“I know, it kinda makes me glad we’re sleeping outside instead of in a tent.”
Shadow’s ear twitched. It sounded like Sonic and Tails. Glad they’re sleeping without a tent?
He gingerly touched the strap of his bag to pull it out—
“Well, you better thank Shadow when he gets back!”
“While you’re at it, you can thank him for ripping that one guy’s shirt.”
“Oh, yeah, that was hilarious. I mean, I know it was an accident, but it was a great one!”
Slowly, Shadow finally looked up.
Amy, Rouge, Sonic, and Tails… They were smiling. They were smiling and laughing and… having a good time? He didn’t ruin everything and they still love him?
He could only stare in confusion, in wonder, in astonishment.
He could have choked from the bittersweet love swelling up in his chest.
“Oh, hey, Shadow! Welcome back!”
Ripped from his thoughts, he realized they finally noticed him standing next to Amy’s car.
He should say something. “Hi,” he said quietly, feeling shy all of a sudden.
“Are you getting your nightlight?” Rouge asked, acting as though nothing had happened. Maybe because nothing happened.
After a split second of his brain short-circuiting, he found himself digging in his bag and pulled out the Chao nightlight that, unbeknownst to him, Rouge had packed. Would’ve been nice to know earlier. “… Yes.”
He awkwardly stepped back towards the group.
“Oh, and sorry about giving you a scare,” Rouge apologized, looking sheepish. “I forgot you don’t like those kinds of stories.”
“... it’s fine.”
“On the bright side, it gave us a great photo opportunity,” Sonic input, showing off
his phone to everyone.
There was a photograph of him from a few minutes ago. He looked like a giant burnt marshmallow, his eyes the size of satellites and everything else lost in the void of dark fur. He looked ridiculous. Part of him wanted to hate it, but their laughter was too contagious and he found himself chuckling at how stupid he looked.
“So, are there any campfire stories that you like?” Sonic asked after they had their laugh.
These four, ground-breaking, otherworldly, amazing friends all gazed upon in him love, eagerly awaiting his answer.
Shadow sat down in his chair with his nightlight, before saying, “Well, there’s this story that Maria used to tell me…”