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“Okaaaay, open your eyes!”
Before he did, he took a second to do literally everything else. He listened; the chirps and songs of insects echoed around him, nearly deafening in their volume but still gentle enough to hear running water behind him. He felt; the wind was arid, dry, and warm. Unfamiliar.
Only then did Shadow open his eyes to an utterly alien landscape. The mountain range in the distance wasn’t new, but the grass and woodlands of Green Hills, Montana, were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the ground underneath them was a strange mixture of rocks and sand. Sonic stood in front of him, smiling victoriously. “Ta-dah!” he sang, gesturing to the dry bits of brush and dead grass stretching before them. “Big Bend, Texas, courtesy of the Blue Blur Express!”
“You do not call yourself the ‘Blue Blur’,” Shadow said.
“The name’s catching on.”
“I have never heard anyone else call you that.”
“It’s catching on!” Sonic argued, resting his hands on his hips. Shadow grunted dismissively, looking out to the horizon. The sun was setting behind them, washing the desert before them in an orange glow. “Oops. We overshot it a bit. Oh well.” Sonic flopped onto the ground, digging a thermos and two small travel cups out of his quills. “We can hang out until it gets dark.”
“What happens when it gets dark?”
“You’ll see.” Sonic looked up at him with a cheeky grin, pouring two cups of hot chocolate. It steamed in the night air as he handed one up to Shadow, who remained standing for now. “…Do you have the marshmallows?” Shadow pulled a shaker of marbits from his own quills, watching Sonic put a good couple of tablespoons’ worth into his cup. He opted for a light dusting, himself, and took a sip, the heat barely registering on his tongue. “Owww!” Shadow glanced over to see Sonic holding a hand over his mouth with a grimace. Seemed he’d tried to do the same thing. “How do you do that? This is like molten!”
Shadow scanned his recent memory for a good retort and eventually settled on: “Skill issue.”
Sonic gasped dramatically, clutching his chest and everything as he looked up. “Who taught you such language?” He settled back down with a chuckle. Then he gasped again, marginally less dramatic, and pointed at the sky. “Whoa! Shadow, look.”
Shadow followed Sonic’s gaze upward. The sun had finished setting, revealing a purple canvas of twinkling stars. They completely blanketed the sky, gleaming and burning brightly. As darkness encroached and his eyes adjusted, he could spot parts where the sky lightened and darkened through the presence of the Milky Way. “What…”
“That’s amazing,” Sonic said, setting his mug down to watch. “This place is, uh… oh, what’s it called -” He gesticulated wildly in thought. “They don’t let people bring bright lights out here.” Shadow sunk down to the ground, staring up at the galaxy shining brightly above him. Sonic’s voice grew softer as he said, “Guess I just wanted to, uh… give you another view. The moon was pretty cool, but there’s cool places on Earth, too.”
“Stop talking,” Shadow replied softly.
“Got it.” He could see Sonic gesture like he was zipping his mouth shut from the corner of his eye. He could be so annoying, but at least he knew when to actually listen… sometimes. When he was at home, relaxed and speaking to his so-called ‘siblings’ and ‘parents’, he was a chatterbox, jumping from one topic to the next. The worst offenses came in battle or when they’d sneak off to spar at night; it was amazing how he could fight even when he seemed too busy trying to come up with quips.
Shadow sipped his hot chocolate. On the moon, he listened. It was a proper conversation instead of his usual verbal barrage. As annoying as he was, Sonic seemed to be an unlikely kindred spirit, the closest thing Shadow could find 50 years ahead of where he should be. He watched the galaxy above them; something about the dark strands and splotches seemed oddly familiar (echoed silhouettes of black-on-red, churning and twisting around him, conscious but not yet awake), and he tightened his grip on his mug.
“…That’s the galaxy,” Sonic said, breaking the silence in his revelation. “This whole galaxy, just… up there.”
“You were thinking of dark-sky reserves.” Shadow finished his hot chocolate, setting the mug down. “Light pollution. There were a few reports about it that the doctor had been reading before the base…” He trailed off, frowning to himself.
“Yeah, light pollution, that sounds right.” Sonic set his mug aside, too, drawing his knees up to his chest. “This is so cool.”
Shadow glanced down at his empty mug, then at Sonic’s. “…How are you going to clean those for the trip back?”
Sonic’s expression froze. “And you’ve ruined it.”
“How did I ruin it? I asked a question.”
“You got all practical on me!” From anyone else’s perspective, it would look like Sonic flickered, but Shadow wasn’t anyone else. He could see Sonic zip away to the river to wash out the mugs in the water before stashing them back in his quills. “There. Happy?”
“No.”
“Yeah, that was a trick question, I walked into that one.” Sonic laughed weakly, turning his gaze back up to the sky. “Lemme know when you wanna head back. I told Tom and Maddie that you weren’t planning on nuking the planet anymore, but they still don’t want you left alone. ‘Rents, right?”
Shadow grunted again. Of course that was a caveat. He offered one more look up, taking in the hues of light browns against the now-black sky. “Thank you. This view was nice.”
He could hear Sonic whisper “Nailed it!” beside him before they stood together, dusting off the sand and rocks from their legs. “All aboard the Blue Blur Express, heading outbound to Green Hills, Montana!”
“I’m not calling you that.”
“I’ll win you over eventually.”
Shadow took position to start their run back to Montana with a derisive snort. “No, you won’t.”
“Yes, I will!” Sonic taunted, settling right next to him. “On three. One, two -” They both went on two; they’d learned pretty early on that they were both too proud not to take a clear advantage when they could. As they zipped over the mountainous terrain of the desert, which gave way to smooth sands and then the snowy terrain of Colorado before he knew it, Shadow spared one more glance at the Milky Way, unable to hide his smile.