Chapter Text
Humming a tune, Sonic jumped over another fallen trunk, his feet safely connecting with the soft forest ground on the other side with a quiet, barely audible thud. He looked at the overgrown road ahead, jogging along it at a quick but light pace. His eyes darted around the area, trying to determine from the various slashes and colorful markings on the trees how far could the next village be.
The messy state of the path and the very sporadic blue and red markings on the trees suggested that he had to be somewhere at the limits of Acorns' territory already, possibly off the bounds even. He was just a couple of yards away from the river and considering that Acorns—like most other tribes—respected the notion that the riverside shouldn't belong to anyone, they surely didn't deem it their territory.
Sonic's lips pressed into a thin line. To be honest, he wasn't sure with what territories the Acorns' neighbored. He had never had the chance to travel this far before and until now he, honestly, hadn't believed he would need to; the five closest villages hosted hundreds of people in total—others would have found dozens of good potential matches for themselves and he had thought that he'd had enough luck to find at least one person who wouldn't be immediately repelled by his 'unconventionality' and be willing to at least try if it could work between them.
But apparently his extraordinary luck worked only when he was seconds from getting killed by one of Eggman's metallic beasts. Any other time he needed it—like for example now—it clearly couldn't be bothered to help him.
Sonic sighed as he covered his aching stomach, the pain a constant reminder that he had only a few days left.
And if he doesn't manage to find someone by then...
He shook his head to chase the thought away. It was pointless to think about this now; just thinking about his problem was not going to help him. He needed to focus all of his attention on—
With a surprised yell, Sonic's slipped, just now realizing he had been walking a bit too close to the edge of the road. His arms shot up, trying to grab something—a branch, a protruding root, anything—but his hands came out empty; he began to fall, feeling nothing but air under his feet.
The howling wind rushed around him and he forced his body to twist in the air to see where he was even falling—and he felt terror fill him as there was only river underneath him.
And he didn't know how to swim.
On instinct, he forced his body to curl into a ball, blocking his vision from watching him fall to his inevitable doom. However, there was little he could do to block out the screeching of the element that seemed to grow in volume with every beat his heart took.
And just then, his body broke through the water surface, the unforgiving element immediately reaching into his protective coat of fur and quills to stab his skin with its pure cold. On reflex his body jerked and he pushed his body from its stiff position, his head breaking the surface for a moment before a big wave forced it back into the depths, the river clearly determined to keep him in its grasp.
He tried to fight the element; he kicked his legs and flailed his arms blindly, desperately trying to find something to hold onto—but each time he came out empty-handed with only scratches from sharps stones to show for his efforts.
Suddenly, Sonic felt himself hitting something, his body becoming tangled in the unknown mass as long thin strands curled around him and dug into his flesh painfully. In his panicked state, he tried to twist and raise his quills, so they would cut through the unknown threat and free him—but this only caused the strands to tighten around his form more, entrapping his limbs close to his body and squeezing even the last remains of air from his chest.
He gasped for the breath that had escaped him but no air, only water filled his lungs. The liquid burned as it went down his throat and his chest became heavy. On reflex, he tried coughing it out—but the action did exactly the opposite; more water flowed into his lungs, filling them up to drown him.
With a last desperate gasp for air that only served to fill his lungs more, his vision started to darken. He felt the water weighing him down, dragging him, making him slowly sink into the dark depths of the river from which he would not be able to escape even if he was not immobilized.
Feeling his strength and consciousness leaving him, he forced his eyes to open and look at the distorted image of the sun that shone above, for the last time witnessing the sight before darkness claimed his vision, the muffled sound of something heavy breaking through the water surface and the sensation of arms wrapping around him being the last things to reach him before nothingness swallowed his mind.
oOo
"You're a lucky one, you know that?" Shadow commented aloud as he re-adjusted the unconscious hedgehog in his arms, making it so the stranger's head would be laid against his shoulder more comfortably. He was not sure how the hedgehog had ended up in the river in the first place but it was obvious it had not been out of his own volition; no no-swimmer would dare to enter such a wild river as this one.
Well, unless they wanted to die—but, judging by how wildly had the blue male behaved when trying to escape, that had not been his intention.
Crimson eyes slowly traveled over the other's form, checking everything was still in norm. The shallow rising and falling of the stranger's chest showed that the hedgehog's state was stabilized at the moment, but Shadow still preferred to check regularly. After all, all the water and who-knows-what-else that had gotten into his lungs while he was underwater might cause the other to develop pulmonary edema over time.
Shadow sighed as he entered the cave that served him both as a home and a hideaway, noting that the campfire had gone out while he was out fishing. He walked over to his make-shift bed and laid the still unresponsive stranger onto it, arranging the blue hedgehog so he would be in the recovery position and thus could easily cough out any remaining water that might have stayed in his lungs. Shadow covered the other's trembling form with one of the furs and then moved to collect some wood to relight the fire.
Shadow sighed as he dropped the fishing equipment onto the ground next to the burnt-out campfire and then began to stack the wood atop of each other. The task took barely a few seconds to do and once done, he only needed to flick his finger and add a bit of chaos energy to the motion to make the wood start burning; it was an easy trick to master but considering having any sort of chaos powers was frowned among Mobians, he definitely wasn't teaching it to anyone anytime soon. No that he minded. He had always preferred to be alone and the less traces he left the better.
Sure, it was not likely that the military would search for him in Soumerca in the middle of Azamonian jungle—it had been years since his escape—but he still made sure to lie low just in case.
He blew gently at the small flame to make it grow, the red and orange flame soon licking its way up the broken branches and destroying them with searing heat.
oOo
Pain.
It was the first thing that Sonic noticed when he felt himself re-gaining consciousness. It was also the thing that made him actually open his eyes in confusion—as since when did the dead feel pain?
He blinked a couple of times, his sluggish mind taking a few moments to name what he was looking at; a stone. A firm stone ceiling that did not look familiar in any way. He looked down, even more perplexed to find himself lying on what appeared to be a bed made of wild-animal furs, one of them draped over his lower half to keep him warm.
He furrowed his brows, racking his mind for an explanation to what he was doing here—wherever that was—as the last thing he remembered was falling into the river...
However, the effort was in vain as it only made his head hurt horribly and make his almost-last moments flash before his eyes again. A pain-filled moan left him as he gripped his head to ease the torturous headache that was thrumming inside; it was as if some tiny creature was trying to hammer its way through his skull. Squeezing his eyes shut, he rolled onto his side, planning to return back to sleep to escape the pain, and instinctively tried to curl into a ball once again, hissing when it made an unexpected wave of dull pain shoot through his leg; he must have hurt it at some point while in the river.
It took a bit of work, but, in the end, he managed to get into the position. He took a deep breath through his nose and nuzzled into the bed, the scent of vaguely familiar spices that clung to it oddly comforting.
But, suddenly, there was a hand on his side urging him to uncurl and a voice demanding something, Sonic's scrambled mind not really able to make out the words but only derive their likely meaning from the stranger's tone.
Giving an unhappy grumble, Sonic tried to bat the hand away, not in the mood to do anything beside returning to sleep—and not really realizing he should be at least a bit preoccupied with who the stranger was—and so he only tried to curl in further, trying to ignore the insistent voice that kept speaking to him.
But the stranger—obviously a male, judging by the deepness of the voice—was relentless and kept bugging him until he rolled onto his back and actually looked at the person.
The male was a hedgehog just like him and seemed to be roughly the same age as well. His fur was dark with red stripes on his legs, arms and head quills. His torso was adorned by a small patch of white chest-hair and his eyes were crimson—an eye-color Sonic honestly hadn't ever seen before in his life.
They looked really nice...
"Huh?" Sonic voiced as he realized that he had not paid attention to a single thing the stranger had said while he'd been studying the other's visage. The unknown male—his rescuer Sonic presumed—sighed exasperatedly but repeated his question. And despite the fact that Sonic had paid his full attention to the other's words this time, he still couldn't answer.
Because he literally had no idea what the guy was asking him.
"Um, do you speak Southern Azamonian by any chance...?" Sonic tried, forcing his mind to focus on the male next to him while at the same time trying to resist the urge to just close his eyes and sleep away the rest of the day.
The stranger stared at him for a long time, his red eyes contemplative and thoughtful, but no other words left him.
I guess that means no, Sonic mused internally as he rolled onto his side tiredly so he would be facing the ebony male, at the same time trying to ignore the ache that was slowly spreading through his leg from his, as it seemed, sprained ankle. The injury was definitely going to make traveling more troublesome for him, but Sonic didn't really preoccupy himself with the thought too much; given the fact he still felt as if he was about to fall asleep any minute now, he definitely wasn't going anywhere yet, let alone standing up.
Plus he had no real desire to even get up as wrapped up like this he felt really warm and cozy...
And the scent surrounding him was really nice...
"I'm just gonna take a nap...You don't mind, right, pal...?" he asked drowsily, fighting the sleepiness to wait for an answer from the foreigner—even though it was obvious that the male did not understand him.
But despite Sonic's best efforts, his eyes still slipped shut before he could receive his answer.
oOo
Shadow gazed at the once-again unconscious hedgehog with frown. A language barrier. He should have thought about that. It had been years since he had last talked with anyone and that have been hundreds of miles away. The little that he had managed to learn there was definitely not going to help him communicate with this stranger in any way—usually it took just fifty miles of distance for the local language to start sounding completely foreign to his ears and this one did not sound like anything he knew.
Of course, with a bit of time—he was a fast learner—he could learn the language but he doubted the blue hedgehog would stick around for long enough to teach him. However, he also doubted that would be necessary in the first place; it would take few days at most for the stranger to recover from his almost-drowning experience and they'd surely manage to communicate in some different way during the time.
Plus it was not like Shadow planned to keep in touch with the blue male. The only reason he had for saving and nursing the stranger back to health was because of a promise that he'd given to his sister the last time he had seen her—a promise to give a help to any person in a need of it.
However, he didn't plan to do anything else; the moment the hedgehog was well, Shadow was going to point him to the nearest village and leave him to his own devices—nothing more, nothing less.
oOo
When Sonic woke up a few hours later—or at least he believed it had been hours—he found himself headache-less and company-less. To be honest, he was very glad for the former but not really for the later.
He slowly pushed himself to sit up, mindful of his injured leg. Curious green eyes immediately swept over the area, Sonic just now realizing it was in fact a cave.
The cave was not small but not huge either; it was spacious enough to fit all necessities inside while at the same time leaving plenty of space to move around.
There was a campfire in the center of the cave, the bed, which he was occupying at the moment, only about four feet from it which allowed him to bask in its warmth while he slept. Two large fishes were roasting above the fire, their raw state showing that his rescuer must have left not long ago.
On the furthest side of the cave was stacked wood and various barrels and pots that Sonic presumed held either food or water. There was a hole carved into the left wall, various useful tools like knives lying on the makeshift shelf.
He looked over his shoulder to see what was behind him and saw that it was where the entrance of the cave was. A leather curtain covered half of it, the big piece of material most likely used during thunderstorms to keep the cold air from entering the cave. However, through the half that was not covered, Sonic could see it was dark outside, the moonshine barely tearing through the haze of the night drizzle. The air that was flowing into the cave felt heavy and humid, wordlessly telling him the drizzle would be changing into a storm very soon.
A frown edged its way onto his face, both on the idea that he could have possibly gotten stuck in this storm if he had not slipped and continued his journey to the next village—and also on the idea that the ebony hedgehog that had saved him was undoubtedly somewhere out here, high at risk of getting caught in the middle of the Nature's thunderous wrath.
And just as if he'd heard him, the foreign hedgehog appeared in the doorway at that very moment, a load of wood held in his arms. The stranger entered the cave a moment later, shaking himself at the doorway like a wild dog to free his fur of the excess water that had gotten stuck to it during his short trip outside.
Sonic moved into a full sit-up, deciding he should try to appear at least a bit presentable instead of continuing with slouching on the floor. "Um, good evening," he said aloud to notify the other of his awakening, smiling to show he had no hostile intentions.
The foreigner turned to him in visible alarm, crimson eyes hard and calculating. However, they softened when the stranger realized it was just him who had spoken; the guy probably hadn't expected him to wake up until tomorrow and had thought there was an intruder. Or simply wasn't used to having company. It could be either really.
The foreigner nodded in acknowledgment to his greeting, muttering a few words of his own in return. What they were Sonic didn't know, but he understood the message they carried.
The stranger dropped the wood into a nearby corner, leaving it there to dry itself at the air. Then he turned back to the entrance and covered it with the curtain, the leather muffling the distant thundering from outside. Then he turned around and began to walk towards Sonic.
The foreigner sat cross-legged about three feet from Sonic, keeping a respectful distance while he silently kept eye on the roasting fishes, turning them as needed.
Sonic watched the other for a while, unsure what to do. Normally, he would try to strike a conversation but with the language barrier in place, it wouldn't be very intellectually stimulating.
Well, he supposed at least introductions were in order.
"...My name is Sonic, by the way. So-ni-c," he said as clearly as possible, tapping his chest lightly to emphasize the message. "Sonic."
The foreigner had looked up from his work at the sound of his voice, gazing at him from the corner of his eyes. "...Sonic," the male repeated after him, his heavy accent lacing the word but not making it incomprehensible to Sonic's ears—just a bit odd sounding. Grinning, Sonic nodded in approval to the pronunciation to show the other that he had gotten the gist of it.
"...Shadow," the foreigner muttered in response after a small pause, gesturing to himself with his hand as well to make it clear he was referring to himself.
"Shadow?" Sonic repeated, surprised to hear such a normal sounding name from the foreigner. He had expected some name that would break his tongue, not a name like 'Shadow'.
Though maybe it wasn't even 'Shadow', maybe it just sounded like it to his ears. The language that the other had spoken to him in earlier sounded like nothing he had ever heard before, so the similarity of this particular word was most likely accidental...
"Well, thank you for saving me, Shadow," Sonic said with a smile on his face, trying to convey his message with his tone and body language when it could not be done with words.
Shadow looked at him with that contemplative thoughtful look again and then nodded, muttering something that sounded like it could mean 'You're welcome,' before focusing his attention back on the campfire that was quietly crackling about three feet from them. The two big fishes were still roasting above it, Sonic just now noticing that the fishing equipment with which they were most likely caught was lying just a few feet further, a heavily damaged fishing net among the items.
Sonic blinked, confused at why Shadow would even keep such thing. It was clearly no longer usable as its ropes seemed to be cut in various places as if something sharp had sliced it into pieces—
It was at the moment that Sonic realized who could have been the culprit.
Well, it seems I owe Shadow a fishing net, the cobalt male noted with a sheepish smile, rubbing his neck. So, that was what he had managed to get himself tangled into while in the river...
"Um, sorry about your net," Sonic started, a regretful expression on his face when Shadow turned to look at him. "I haven't meant to destroy it."
Shadow stared at him for a moment and then raised a questioning brow, clearly having no idea what he was saying.
I guess I'll have to be a bit more expressive, Sonic realized. "Um, your net." Sonic pointed at said item, the other's eyes briefly darting to see what he was pointing at. "I'm sorry—" Sonic made the most apologetic expression he could muster. "—for destroying it."
Crimson gaze darted from his face to the damaged net and back, Shadow clearly trying to make sense of his show. But then a short 'Oh,' left him, Shadow obviously realizing what he had been saying.
The ebony hedgehog gazed at him for a moment longer, but then he shook his head in the 'It doesn't matter,' manner and focused back on the fishes, wordlessly telling him to forget the issue.
Sonic felt his shoulders sag a bit, a bit of tension leaving him. So, Shadow wasn't angry about him accidentally destroying his net. That was good to know.
He shifted a bit in his spot, moving to sit cross-legged like Shadow and surprised when he felt no pain in his leg because of the movement; his leg actually felt...numb.
Sonic threw aside the fur that was covering his lower half, surprised to find his ankle bandaged up and a strong smell of herbs assaulting his nose. He touched his injured leg tenderly, amazed he could no feel any pain at all; Shadow must have applied some kind of numbing salve to his ankle while he'd slept.
Blue brows furrowed in thought. Did this mean Shadow was a shaman? It was not usual for common folk to have knowledge of this kind. Though Shadow didn't really look like a shaman; sure, he lived alone, as shamans generally did, and even had those golden rings around his wrists and ankles, but otherwise had non of the other usual shaman decorations like tattoos or talismans, so he probably wasn't one...
Though that didn't mean giving thanks for the help wasn't in order.
"Huh?" Sonic's ears perked up at hearing Shadow's voice suddenly sound, the green eyes turning to stare at said hedgehog just a moment later to see that Shadow was now offering him one of the fishes that had been roasting over the fire for some time now. "Oh, thanks," Sonic said as he accepted the offered food, smiling again. "Oh, and for this as well," he said, tapping his bandaged ankle. Shadow gave another nod and turned his focus back to his own meal, turning the fish around so it could finish cooking.
Sonic looked at the undoubtedly delicious fish and a small frown found its way to his lips. Any other time he would have dug in without a second thought but his stomach was starting to hurt rather bad—and he rather not waste Shadow's food by possibly throwing it up later—but at the same time he knew this might as well be the last meal he'd be capable of stomaching before his heat rendered him incapable of even that; during his heats he tended to lose a bit of weight as his body simply refused any kind of nutrition during that time. Regardless of what kind of food it was, he would just end up throwing it all up a few minutes after eating it, his own body making him unwillingly starve himself.
But maybe, just maybe, he could manage this if he ate slow enough...
Deciding that it was worth a try, he started to nibble at the fish, the savory taste of the meat dancing across his tongue as he chewed; the fish was truly delicious as he had expected it to be, but Sonic couldn't really bring himself to enjoy it as his mind reminded him of his predicament.
His heat was barely two days away and he still had no one to spend the time period with. He had visited six villages in total, but so far all the alphas and betas had refused him. Though surprisingly, there were also some omegas who actually tried to woo him believing he was an alpha looking for a mate, the omegas misguided by his demeanor and scent.
And Sonic understood the confusion. He did not fit the mold of what an omega was supposed to be but fit that of an alpha—He was not meek and did not yield to another's will easily. Instead of chubby curves, hard lines adorned his physique. He could easily go toe to toe with any of his village fighters and very often did.
But all that did not make him an alpha. Just undesirable omega.
Alphas, betas, omegas—that was how the natural order went. Alphas were the strongest and most dominant ones, omegas were the weakest and most submissive ones, and betas were in the middle. But Sonic did not fit that mold. He wasn't weak in mind nor body and the mere idea of forcing himself to conform to the image of a normal omega made his skin crawl.
Because he knew that path would not lead him to happiness—he'd seen it again and again. And even if he were to change his behavior, his body and scent would remain the same—too alpha-like. And having a mate who in any way went against this hierarchy (even if it was by smelling more dominant than his supposedly more dominant partner) was considered shameful—which was completely ridiculous in Sonic's opinion, but he had learned long ago that most people got hung up on stupid stuff like that and their opinion could not be changed even with good arguments—and very few people were up to dealing with the taunts that were sure to follow.
Which, of course, meant that his only way to acquire a 'more dominant' mate was to find some kind of an 'ultimate alpha' or at least a guy who absolutely did not care about other people's opinion, and even he, with his optimistic outlook on life, had to admit that the chances of that happening were close to none—as his struggle now showed—and that was why he had simply learned to live his life—and endure his heats—without a mate.
But he couldn't risk living such life anymore. His heats were progressively getting worse as he grew older and, considering what his last heat had looked like, his next one can very well be his final one....
Sonic frowned, frustrated that despite starting so early—at the end of his last heat, two months ago—he still had not found a willing partner. Which was horrible as he was already short of time; while he had slept his body had already started producing the smell of pre-heat that announced to the world his heat was just around the corner. Sure, it was really weak currently but it still meant that he had at most three days until his actual heat came, and if he did not find a suitable partner until then...
The emerald eyes looked down at his injured leg and then at the storm raging outside, aware that both of those were sure to cut his time even shorter.
Discarding the inedible remains of the fish into the fire, Sonic let out a weary sigh and lay down on the bed, muffling himself up in one of the furs. Shadow raised a brow at him, clearly puzzled by his abrupt change of mood. But Sonic choose to ignore the unvoiced question. It was not like he could explain his situation to Shadow anyway.
He just closed his eyes and hoped that sleep would claim his mind and make him forget the world at least for a few hours. And soon his wish truly was fulfilled, the scent of spices which names he still struggled to recall following him into his dreams.
oOo
Emerald eyes blinked open, their owner squinting a bit into the dark surrounding him. The fire was burning low, barely lighting up the surrounding area within a five feet radius. The rhythmic sound of raindrops hitting the ground could still be heard from the outside, but otherwise there was almost no sound, making Sonic realize it must be either late in the night or very early in the morning.
Curious green eyes looked around the cave, trying to pinpoint Shadow in the dark. Seeing the obsidian hedgehog was not on that side of the cave, Sonic rolled onto his other side, surprised to see the dark hedgehog lying just two feet from him. Shadow was lying on his side, with his back to the fire and front to him, his silhouette being the only thing Sonic could make out in the darkness of the cave.
Sonic shifted so he would be lying on his side, facing Shadow and watching the...wait, what actually was Shadow's dynamic?
The cobalt speedster furrowed his brows, surprised he didn't know this information yet. Usually, it was one of the first things he noticed about person—well, what most people noticed about a new person—as it was essential to know so there wouldn't be any accidental misunderstandings while interacting; after all, what was fine between omegas could be considered inappropriate among alphas and vice-versa.
Not wanting to accidentally wake his host up, Sonic made sure to be as quiet as possible as he sat up and leaned over Shadow. He sniffed a few times and then inhaled deeply through his nose to catch and analyze the other's scent.
The first he noticed was that it was unusually weak for a Mobian but it made up in the richness department for this flaw. It was...unique and incredibly pleasant; a mixture of the traditional alpha musk and exotic spices, which he recognized as the ones that a foreign merchant from Efrika once brought into his village when he had been barely ten years old.
The same spices that he could smell from the make-shift bed he was still lying on.
...so it was Shadow's scent he had been smelling all this time. He supposed that made sense considering this was Shadow's home, after all.
...yeah, it sometimes took him long to connect the dots. Give him a break. No one was the brightest when any kind of heat was knocking on their door.
Sighing, Sonic slowly lay down next to the black hedgehog. Then he closed his eyes again, letting the warmth of the fire and Shadow's presence lull him back into the world of dreams, somehow still not finding it odd he felt at ease around this unfamiliar male.
oOo
Since Shadow started living in the cave, there had been various interesting things that he had woken up to—a whole family of wild white-headed capuchins swarming his cave, the cave being flooded that considering the altitude from the rest of the at the time dry terrain was just baffling and a music band consisting of crocodile, armadillo, chameleon and a bee that had all decided this part of forest was excellent for rehearsing their music—which Shadow had not agreed too as their horrible music almost teared his ear-drums the moment they had started playing and so he had went to them and made couple of threatening gestures, which clearly were understood even around this part of the world, as the musicians almost immediately left the area and never came back.
Because of situations like these, Shadow had learned to live with the ridiculousness of the Universe and had believed there was nothing that could surprise him upon waking anymore.
But seeing that he was still very much surprised by the situation at hand, this belief had apparently been wrong all this time.
And what was this situation at hand?
Sonic cuddling up to him in his sleep.
However, the mere fact of cuddling was not what was baffling him—a lot of people did that while they slept, his sister Maria had used to do that too—not, it was the fact that it had not waken him up.
He had became an extremely light sleeper since his escape from the army's clutches and even a tiny branch snapping twenty yards away would wake him up; if somebody dared to even fleetingly touch him, they were practically guaranteed to get at least quarter of their teeth knocked out due to his survival reflexes—before he was even fully awake. How had Sonic thus managed to snuggle up to him without facing such fate escaped Shadow.
The hedgehog had not been around for long enough to not be deemed as a threat by his unconscious mind; the only thing Shadow knew about Sonic was the hedgehog's name and that, in comparison to the other Mobians he had met, this hedgehog actually seemed to have some kind of social manners.
Well, definitely not those about personal space, but that term itself seemed to be something nonexistent among Mobians, so he couldn't really hold that against Sonic.
And he honestly didn't want to, because, Chaos, it had been decades since he had slept this well; sleeping with someone by his side clearly had a therapeutic effect on his frayed nerves.
Shadow sighed as he half-closed his eyes again, contemplating if he should try to disentangle himself from the hedgehog's limbs and go find something fresh for breakfast, or if he should just continue sleeping and then just get something from the storage barrels.
However, before Shadow could reach his decision, Sonic started to shift in his sleep and for a moment Shadow thought the hedgehog would solve his dilemma for him; but just a moment later, Sonic ceased moving, his sleepy mind clearly considering the new position as acceptable. The cobalt male was now lying on his side with his back plastered to Shadow's front. Fortunately, hedgehog quills went lax while their owner slept, so Shadow didn't have to worry about possibly getting hurt on them.
And Shadow believing that the breakfast wasn't such an important meal anyway, decided that, yes, he wanted to sleep some more.
Pushing Sonic's head-quills to the side, Shadow fitted his face against the curve of Sonic's neck, the sleeping hedgehog leaning into the contact weakly. Eyes slipping shut, Shadow let out a deep exhale and then inhaled again, his nose becoming filled with a strong scent that his conscious mind vaguely recognized as Sonic's.
Shadow found himself wondering what exactly it was.
It was...a distinct earthy scent mixing with the smell of rain. Those were definitely the most pronounced features. It was underlined with male musk and there was also a trace of a sharp fragrance that Shadow couldn't quite place but was sure he had smelled somewhere before already.
He was also pretty sure that this particular feature wasn't in Sonic's scent yesterday.
Though it definitely mixed well with the rest of the other's natural scent; it helped to make Sonic's smell into a rich, inviting fragrance that made his senses sharpen, his blood slowly start to boil and thrill shoot down to his—
Heat pheromones.
Shadow's whole body stiffened, the thought hitting him like a lightning from clear sky.
It were freaking heat pheromones he was smelling.
Growling out low in frustration, Shadow snapped his eyes open and forcefully turned his head away, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He forced himself to peel away from the other hedgehog's warm body and stand up as he felt a bit too awake to sleep anymore.
Ignoring the quiet whine of protest that sounded from sleeping Sonic at the sudden loss of his personal heater, Shadow headed for the cave entrance, figuring it would be better for him to go out and clear his head before he could do anything foolish like letting himself get too wrapped up in Sonic's scent.
Because he couldn't allow himself to be weak.
Because he couldn't allow himself to get...attached.
oOo
"Water?" Sonic asked and offered a wooden bowl with said liquid to the hedgehog sitting by the fire-place, Shadow's dark form now only illuminated by the small camp-fire before them as the sun simply wasn't strong enough to tear through the storm clouds and reach into the cave.
Shadow spared him a look but then shook his head in denial and then muttered a few words that sounded like a complete gibberish to Sonic's ears but which the cobalt Mobian believed meant something like 'But thank you for the offer,' in Shadow's native language.
"Alright," Sonic muttered quietly and brought the bowl to his own lips, emptying it of even the last droplet of the refreshing liquid before returning it outside; he placed the bowl back onto the elevated stone right outside the cave to collect the rainwater that was surprisingly still falling from the sky even though it had already been a full day since the storm had started.
Slowly, green eyes turned from the raging storm outside back to the dark hedgehog sitting before another as devastating element, Shadow's fur still damp from his short trip outside to acquire some food—three fishes, which the ebony male was in the process of gutting and a couple of fruits and mushrooms Sonic supposed the ebony hedgehog must have stumbled upon on his way back; he had been sleeping when Shadow went out so he couldn't be sure. However, the items looked pretty fresh so it was likely that they weren't items from Shadow's personal stock.
Green eyes turned to the owner of the cave, watching the other as he gutted the fish. Shadow handled the task with ease, always cutting the fish's stomach open in one smooth motion and then removing the entrails just as swiftly; it was obvious that Shadow had done this at least thousands of times already.
It made Sonic wonder how long Shadow might have been living here all alone. The cave looked quite lived-in and the amount of food supplies Shadow had also suggested the cave was meant as a long-term habitation.
Why have you come here, Shadow? Have you been exiled for something? Sonic wondered internally, knowing that asking aloud was pointless with the language barrier in place. Or have you decided to leave your tribe on your own?
He slowly approached the sitting male, limping slightly because of his injured leg. He joined the other on the ground and grabbed another nearby knife so he could made some shallow cuts in the sides of the gutted fish so he could remove the spine and ribs; he preferred eating his food without having to worry about choking on a bone and he supposed that Shadow might too.
Said male spared him a look but did not really protest about his doing anyhow; if he simply did not want to or if he realized his complaints would not be understood, Sonic did not know.
Sonic chuckled quietly at the thought. Any other alpha surely would have protested loudly and even try to shove him away; when alphas caught something on their own, they also insisted on cooking it on their own, which was quite strange as usually alphas avoided 'domestic work' as him water in all other cases. It was probably some typical alpha need to show of their 'superior' hunting and cooking skills—of which the latter was usually just a very imaginary skill.
However, it was true that alphas were excellent hunters and fishers. They were also very competitive and were extremely displeased when they weren't the best.
...and then he, an omega, came by, caught more fish than all of them combined and all of their egos were suddenly in crisis that people were praising an omega instead of them.
Of course, that was not his only offense against the long-established roles; there was one time when the tribe had been attacked by rogue raiders and, instead of fleeing with other omegas and children, he had gone to fight alongside the alphas and had forced the invaders to flee very much on his own—by using his extraordinary speed to attack them so quickly they hadn't even had the time to fight back.
He guessed that had been probably the moment that alphas and most of the betas of his tribe had decided they did not want him for a mate; omegas weren't supposed to be strong or praised for hunting and fighting. Omegas were supposed to be mothers and caretakers, not hunters or warriors. That was how it worked—an unspoken rule that he kept on defying thorough his whole life.
Just like many other unspoken rules of Mobian societies.
Emerald eyes turned to gaze back at Shadow, watching the hedgehog as he began to arrange the fishes onto the cooking grate. Come to think of it, Shadow wasn't really following certain rules himself.
For example, their meals. Among Mobians, there was a rule that alphas ate first, and only once they were finished, were betas allowed to dine as well, and after them omegas ate. It didn't matter who prepared the food, what age the present Mobians were or if omegas being the last meant there would be no food left for them.
It was a stupid rule that Sonic had always undermined as much as he could; he was not gonna let himself or others get treated unfairly just because of their dynamic. Unfortunately, this rule was considered the norm among by Mobians and there were only a few people who actually believed it to be unfair—it was one of those things that people believed to simply be normal.
Sure, Shadow might be one of the few who believed it to be unfair—or he might simply not be bothering with it as there was always enough food for both of them. Though, it was still odd for him to ignore this custom so blatantly when they didn't really know each other well; such behavior was commonly considered acceptable only in families, among mated pairs or during diplomatic talks.
Could it be that Shadow believed he was also an alpha? Like others? Was he doing this to avoid possible violent confrontation? To silently tell him he considered him an equal and thus there was no reason to fight?
Well, many have told me I smell like an alpha in rut when I go into heat so that theory is pretty likely... Sonic noted internally, a frown forming on his face. Ruts were alphas' equivalent to omegas' heats. Not all alphas suffered from them and apart from heats, ruts were much milder than heats and the affected alphas usually got just significantly more irritable—but unlike omegas they still were able to go on with their daily lives without much trouble; they just had a lot of pent up frustration during the time.
Quite useful on the battlefield, not as much appreciated back at the settlements.
Everybody knew since young age that it was better not to anger rutting alpha, so theoretically Shadow could be just taking precautions, so Sonic wouldn't get angry over something so trivial and attack him over it.
Sonic wasn't sure what frustrated him more; the thought that even Shadow believed he was an alpha or that he couldn't ask Shadow whether this assumption was true or not.
It'd be nice to know if Shadow was watching out for his own hide or if Sonic finally found a decent person that refused to perpetuate stupid traditions.
oOo
Shadow honestly couldn't decided what was worse; omegas in heat or PMS-ing human women.
Thorough the years, he had spent a lot of time around both and even after so many years, he still wasn't sure which was better and which was worse. Both had constant abrupt mood changes, produced way too much pheromones for his sensitive nose and were too demanding for his attention.
He honestly had hoped he wouldn't ever again have to deal with omega in heat—which was also one of the main reasons why he had chosen to live alone instead of permanently joining a tribe—but as it seemed the Universe had a sick sense of humor and loved to make him the butt of its jokes.
Sure, Sonic was not that bad as he was only in the pre-heat stage at the moment, but he knew worse things would come. As Sonic's heat would continue to grow closer, the hedgehog would start to seek affection and try to woo him into a relationship.
And Shadow just didn't do affection or relationships. Many had tried and failed to get him to be their 'mate' as Mobians called it. He wasn't against romantic relationship in general but he couldn't allow himself to get attached in such way. The military was after him and that meant even his potential partner would be in danger if the GUN found out about them—his partner would definitely be taken as a hostage to get him to cooperate and he truly didn't wish anyone such fate.
But this hedgehog was making it very hard not to be interested. Sonic's scent was just incredible and oh, so, tempting.
And it was growing stronger, gradually spreading through the cave and teasing him with the idea of what he couldn't have; that he couldn't just lean over, bury his nose in the crook of Sonic's neck, push the hedgehog to the ground and then do obscene things to—
Shadow squeezed the bridge of his nose to force the images away. He couldn't allow himself to get carried away both because of GUN, as well as his pride—he wasn't some kind of horny animal that was ruled by its hormones, dammit—and also because he didn't want to startle Sonic and possibly make him mistakenly assume that he expected payment for his hospitality.
Plus there were other ideas this undoubtedly way too intimate gesture could possibly give to Sonic; and he definitely didn't want Sonic to think that he was trying 'to court' him—or whatever it was called among Mobians—either. He honestly had no idea what the Mobian courting practices even looked like; this topic wasn't covered in his studies and, during the time he spent around various tribes, he was more focused on learning the language than on observing the courting practices of Mobians.
Though he was pretty sure a gesture like this would fall into this category.
Shadow turned his gaze to his blue-furred guest. Sonic was looking at the campfire with furrowed brows, looking as if he was deep in thought. Crimson eyes studied the other male for a minute or so, looking for any kind of adornment he might have missed before. But he came out empty-handed just like all those past times.
Normally, mated Mobians had some kind of ornament that acted as a substitute for a wedding ring—an intricate tattoo, a big scar or a complex piece of jewelery that showed to all they were taken. However, Sonic didn't have either and he didn't even carry any distinct smell of another adult person on him, so it was obvious Sonic didn't have a partner.
Which was very much baffling as Sonic appeared to be in an excellent health and one of the most physically fit Mobians that he had ever seen, and from Sonic's looks, he guessed the hedgehog was twenty-five at most—and his scent, heavens; Sonic was a perfect candidate for a mate in every way—young, healthy and attractive—and Shadow honestly didn't understand how the hedgehog could still be without a partner.
Maybe everybody in his tribe was already paired up and so he had had to to search for partner in other tribes but had accidentally fallen into the river on his way there? Shadow supposed that was a plausible scenario.
He should probably help Sonic into the nearest village to find a match once the storm ends. He had originally planned to wait until Sonic's leg was alright and then just point him towards a village as the less he was seen by locals, the slimmer was the chance of GUN finding out about his presence.
But that was before he knew Sonic was about to go in heat.
From his studies, he knew that heats were very taxing on omega's body and mental health when they were forced to spend them without a mate; their endocrine system went completely haywire during the time period and the only way to get it back to working somehow properly was by allowing the omega to be around other male non-omega Mobians.
As far as Shadow knew, it had something to do with the body odor of alphas and betas; there was some kind of substance that if omega smelled, their body would immediately start secreting all necessary hormones and even tweak the person's scent to be more appealing to the specific partner they were spending their heat with—it was hypothesized by human scientists that this mechanism was meant to ensure the pair would form an emotional bond.
Of course, considering these facts, for Sonic to have a non-devastating heat, it would only require him to stick around Sonic. And even though, Shadow's self control was immense, he doubted he would be able to last full seven days surrounded by fertile omega's heat pheromones without trying to jump Sonic's bones at least once in this time frame—which even if Sonic was not against such arrangement, wouldn't end in anything good—only in inevitable disappointment on Sonic's side.
Therefore, logically, the most rational thing to do was to take Sonic into a nearest village, let him find a potential partner there and then leave and forget about the hedgehog's existence altogether.
Which was exactly what he was going to do—once this damned storm finally decided to end.
oOo
Sonic stared at the flickering flame so intensely as if it held all the answers he sought.
Why was he even getting frustrated about Shadow possibly mistaking him for an alpha? People had been doing that since he was a child, not understanding that even omega might enjoy brawling like other dynamics. He should be used to it already and he had believed he was until Shadow. His scent—even his pre-heat scent—and physique were simply alpha-like, of course, Shadow could jump into the same assumptions as other people.
But...why did it bother him then?
Maybe because he couldn't tell him like to other that he was in fact omega? Considering the language barrier, such explanation would require for him to show his anatomy wasn't one of an alpha and he doubted either of them would feel comfortable with such display.
He supposed he could use other means to show Shadow that he was not an alpha; there were various gestures that were commonly used in alpha and omega interaction, all of them meant to show omega's submissiveness. Sonic would hardly call himself a submissive person and he honestly didn't see a reason to act submissive just because it was expected of him as an omega. If he bowed, he bowed only out of respect for that particular person; if there was none, he wasn't going to bow.
Though if I need to do this to make Shadow understand then I supposed he could—Wait, why did it even matter if Shadow knew he was an omega or not? It wasn't a piece of vital information he needed to share to ensure the continuation of their peaceful coexistence, just—
Sonic's eyes widened in realization. Chaos, he wanted Shadow to pursue him. That was why he wanted him to know.
He wanted Shadow to be his mate. He wanted this complete ridiculously attractive stranger that he knew only for a day and who didn't even speak the same language to be his mate.
Funny how staring into a fire for a few minutes can make you realize such things about yourself.
If Shadow believed he was an alpha, he might not try to pursue him for this sole fact. Mobians rarely formed pairs that weren't able to produce off-springs. Most people preferred to find a partner with which they could potentially have children and, considering no female alpha could exist, pair consisting of two alphas simply wouldn't be able to have children together.
And he wanted Shadow to know that was not the case here. That his body was capable of the feat. That they were physically compatible and could potentially be mates if Shadow wanted.
Because he definitely would like Shadow as his mate.
One might think it was just because of his nearing heat—and Sonic was not going to deny that it might have a bit of—alright a big influence on his decision-making—but he honestly believed Shadow was a great potential match. Sure, he didn't know much about Shadow because of the language barrier but he had been able to learn a few things about Shadow just by observing the alpha.
For example, Shadow had a great deal of patience but got visibly antsy when things weren't kept in order. Shadow was also highly intelligent. Sure, Sonic had no proof for this particular claim but thanks to having a genius younger brother he learned how to pick these things up just by observing people; and Shadow was without a doubt smarter than most of the people he had met so far. He was physically strong and in perfect health. He actually knew how to make good food. Shadow cared about him even though he was a stranger—otherwise, Shadow would have not saved him from drowning, right?—and was considerate of his needs for food and warmth.
Simply said, Shadow was an extraordinary example of an alpha and would definitely be a great partner if given a chance.
And Shadow even smelled good. Sonic rarely trusted old wives tales, but he had to admit there had to be some kind of truth about scent compatibility; most Mobians believed that personal scent was a shapeless image that showed to others who the person was; their personality, their current health and emotional state—the moment two people knew each other's scent, they also knew each other's soul. If a person liked another person's scent, it meant they were a suitable match for them.
However, only if the sympathies were reciprocated could the two have a successful and satisfying relationship.
And, yes, Sonic was aware this might be just a first impression thing on his side—and his heat clouding his mind—but most of his spontaneous decisions had been the best decision of his life, so he didn't see why he shouldn't dive head first into this as well—he knew couples that became mates just a few hours after meeting each other and they were still together and happy.
Of course, the question was what was Shadow's opinion on the matter as well. Did his scent smell pleasant Shadow? Did Shadow want him as well? Did he not? Did Shadow even want a mate? Did he even realize there was a chance to obtain one, right now?
Well, Sonic supposed he might as well try to make him understand. There was nothing to lose just by trying, right?