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Hold On	By : blazingskies Category: +S through Z > Sonic Views: 3739 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic The Hedgehog game series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Chapter Nine - The Damage Done

You can mend the wires

You can feed the soul apart

You reach
It can happen

Shadow stood uncertainly in the middle of the clearing with
an unconscious blue hedgehog slumped in his arms, his forehead was dipped against
Shadow's shoulder and he could feel Sonic's heartbeat
against his chest. He frowned in concern, despite his unconscious state, Sonic's pulse still felt too rapid and erratic for his
tastes. The best bet was probably to take him back to the village, though he
would have to steel himself for the accusations that would be thrown his way -
the suspicious Freedom Fighters were bound to accuse him of being responsible
for Sonic's current state.

After a moment's thought, he gently lowered Sonic to the ground,
taking a moment to check the cobalt hedgehog for severe injuries such as broken
bones or sprained joints that would make it better to refrain from moving him.
Luckily, it seemed Sonic had managed to escape from whatever
he'd been involved in with mostly minor injuries, save for the angry burn on
his arm. Narrowing his eyes, Shadow held a hand over Sonic's
breastbone, feeling for Sonic's chaos presence. It
was there, but erratic and weak, as though he had drained himself to the utter
limit. How could Sonic have managed that?

With a sigh, Shadow knelt to scoop Sonic up and carry him
back to Knothole, but before he could, he felt a sudden surge of Chaos energy
coming from right behind him. Spinning around, his eyes widened as he saw the
pool light up with a golden radiance that almost blinded him with its vivid
brightness.
Squinting to peer through the glare, Shadow saw a small,
round object rise up from the rippling surface of the pool and hang in the air.
The light faded slightly, and Shadow realised the object was a gold ring. It
hung there, still shining slightly, as if waiting for something. Approaching
cautiously, Shadow snagged it with a stick he found lying on the floor. He
peered at it. In diameter it was about as wide as he could stretch his hand,
perfectly round and polished to a mirror finish. It also had the feeling of
chaos energy tightly contained within the metal, nowhere near as much as would
be held in a Chaos Emerald, but certainly enough to make them very useful.�

Carefully, he reached out with one gloved hand to grasp the
shining object. He could feel the chaos power roiling just below the metallic
surface, but for some reason the energy refused to yield to him. With a shrug,
Shadow pulled the ring over his hand to hang on his wrist like a bangle, where
it chimed gently as it rattled against his own gold wrist-cuffs. Then he turned
his attention back to Sonic, pulling him carefully up into his arms.

With one last glance at the pool, Shadow headed back into
the village, Sonic cradled in his arms.

---
An hour or so later, Shadow stood in a corner of the medical
hut, affecting his best pose of nonchalance, arms folded, leaning casually
against the wall, maintaining his attitude of indifference despite the chorus
of accusation still ringing dully in his ears.

Thankfully, most of the Freedom Fighters had already sought
their beds by this late hour. Only Sally, Bunnie and
an unfamiliar coyote with a distinctive accent had still been awake.
The coyote was currently posted in the opposite corner of
the hut, shooting hostile glares in Shadow's direction and toying with the hilt
of the ornate sabre hung from his waist in an obvious and somewhat pathetic
threat. Shadow pointedly ignored him.
Bunnie was busily fussing over
Sonic, adjusting his pillow, checking on the bindings on his wounds and
carefully smoothing his bent quills. Shadow noted curiously that she was
careful to only use her organic hand when in contact with Sonic's
fur, avoiding getting her metallic limb near him where she could.
Sally, meanwhile, was bent over the screen of one of the
computers, apparently examining the readings she had taken from Sonic earlier.
Eventually, she stirred and fixed Shadow with a penetrating glance.

"Tell me what happened again." She demanded flatly.
Shadow sighed in frustration.

"I told you. He stumbled into the clearing, babbled
something about us being more alike than he thought, then he passed out. I
managed to catch him before his nose hit the floor. That's all."

"You don't know where he went, or who he was
fighting?" She questioned pointedly.

"No." Shadow all but growled back, barely hiding
his frustration and impatience. His eyes lingered on Sonic, who looked
exhausted and pale beneath his fur. This was more than just physical, he was certain.
Sonic had insane stamina and willpower to match. Added together and Shadow was
willing to bet that whatever had caused this state was rooted in a trauma more
mental and emotional than physical. It was the state of his chaos presence that
convinced him, mainly. Sonic usually shone like a blue star to Shadow's chaos
sense, and chaos was power fuelled by emotion - power enriched by the heart as
the Ancient Echidnas had put it.

Sally shook her head, her stare still confused, unhappy and
suspicious. "I've seen Sonic worn out before, but never like this. The
computers can't find anything wrong with him, apart from exhaustion, but I
can't get him to stir!"

Bunnie wandered over and put her
flesh-and-blood hand on Sally's shoulder in comfort, "Maybe the Sugarhog just needs to sleep it off, Sally-girl. You
shouldn't start borrowing trouble just yet."

The coyote snorted, "If zat fyoolish hedgehog iz getting himzelf in trouble once more, we are not to being
responsible," The coyote fixed that hostile stare on Shadow once more,
"But if he has been, how you say, busheled, zen we must be taking action." He drew himself
straight, as if waiting for an imminent order to organise a firing squad to
shoot Shadow at dawn. Shadow rolled his eyes.

Sally groaned, "First, it's ambushed, Antoine.
Second, Sonic's injuries are from metallic debris and
SWATBot fire, not from an attack by another Mobian." Her eyes swept across Sonic's
unconscious form again, "But his injuries aren't extensive enough to cause
that state he's in, so something else must have happened,"

"Like what, Sally-girl?" Bunnie
asked curiously.

Sally shook her head, "I don't know, Bunnie," She replied, frustrated.

Shadow walked up to Sonic's inert
body and again held a hand over his chest, feeling for his Chaos Presence,

"What are you doing?" Antoine asked him sharply.
Shadow ignored him and addressed Sally.

"I think I might have an idea," He said, slipping
the strange gold ring off his arm.

"A power ring?" Sally
questioned, "What good will that do?"

"If I'm right, you'll see," Shadow replied, filing
away the name of the object for future reference and making a mental note to
ask her for more information regarding these 'Power Rings'. Gently taking Sonic's limp hand, Shadow pressed the shining gold ring
into Sonic's hand.

The effect was as immediate as it was electric. Burning gold
light surrounded Sonic's body like a halo for a
moment as he absorbed the chaos power contained in the ring. The ring itself
shimmered for a moment before vanishing, it's power completely absorbed into Sonic's body.

When the light had faded, Sally glared at Shadow, demanding
an explanation without needing to speak. Shadow gestured towards the machinery
that had been recording Sonic's slightly erratic life
signs. Sure enough, when Sally checked them, there were much stronger. Shadow
leaned back with a slightly smug smile, feeling Sonic's
chaos presence burning brighter, now.

"What�what was zhat?"
Antoine demanded.

Shadow shrugged, "He was drained of chaos energy. That 'power
ring' was a source of chaos energy, so it stabilised his energy levels."

"Chaos energy, again?"
Sally said with a raised eyebrow. She shook her head as she turned back to the
others, "Even assuming he's right, this is beyond my experience. I think we're
gonna need Sir Charles."

"One problem with that there, Sally-Girl - he's inside Robotropolis. How're we gonna get
him outta there without the ole' Suger-hog
and his speed?"

Three pairs of eyes - two speculative and one incredulous -
focussed on Shadow.

"You cannot be being serious, my Princess!"
Antoine exploded, "We cannot be trusting
him!"

"Bunnie's right,
Antoine," Sally replied calmly, "We've always needed Sonic's speed to get Chuck out of Robotropolis
without blowing his cover, I doubt it's going to be any different now."

Bunnie held her tongue, but the
look she shot at Shadow was made of equal parts hope and challenge.

"Fine," Shadow sighed, "But I'll need to
study some maps of the area."

Sally nodded, then stepped up to Shadow until she stood
almost nose-to-nose with him, "If this were one of our usual hit-and-fade
raids, that would be one thing, but the lives of two of my people might be on
the line here. So allow me to make one thing perfectly clear; If you turn on us, in any way at all, I will kill you
myself." Her blue eyes were fierce, flashing with protective fury and
Shadow absolutely believed she meant every word she said.

At that moment, Sonic began to stir, moving sluggishly like
something half-waking from a deep sleep, his eyelids flickered an he linked, eyes vaguely scanning the room until they
locked on Shadow stood beside his bed. Sonic smiled slightly, the hand that
Shadow had pressed the Power Ring into now idly curled around Shadow's wrist.
Sonic blinked drowsily again, before he slipped back into a deep slumber.

Shadow looked down at the hand lazily wrapped around his
arm, feeling a surge of some unfamiliar emotion suddenly wash over him in a
powerful wave. He inhaled slowly, trying to keep a grip on his emotions.

He looked up at Sally, who was now staring at Sonic with a
look of confusion and surprise.

"Then allow me to make another thing clear - I am not
doing this for you, or for your Freedom Fighters. I am doing this for
him," He gestured at the unconscious blue hedgehog on the cot.

With a gentle tug, he pulled Sonic's
hand from his wrist and marched out of the hut before any of his conflicted
emotions could be displayed on his face.

He stopped on the edge of the village and stared up at the
stars, trying to gather his thoughts. Just before Sonic had lapsed back into unconsciousness,
Shadow had again seen that emerald green flicker deep within Sonic's eyes.

And for some reason, that sight had filled him with a
terrible sense of foreboding.

To Be Continued in Ch. 10 -� True Reflections
- 8
- 9
- 10
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