6
Joline was thinking about the little hedgehog she met the other day, since then she met another one, the sheriff's son, sonic. He was a fast blur if blue and had a vibrant personality, a lot like Olivia, with her blonde hair and blue highlights, always active and energetic. Oh how she missed her Olivia. It was so unfair, the way her sickness stole her life from her, at least she got to be happy while she was around.
Shaking away the sad thoughts, Joline finished setting up her room, the moving company had gotten all her bigger furniture over yesterday so she finally had a couch and a bedframe rather than just a mattress. Her dressers were set up where she wanted them and her clothes were all put away. Now all she needed was some food for her kitchen. Poe ran up to her as she grabbed her keys and she patted him on the head,crouching down to put his leash on.
"C'mon boy, let's get some food." He followed her happily as she walked to her car.
_
"He came here?" Tom's voice was low so the kids wouldn't hear him.
"Yes Tom, he knocked on the window while you guys were out and I let him in. He took a shower, let me redo his leg, I gave him some more chocolate coffee beans and then he left. I'm worried about him Tom, it's gonna be winter soon and he's out there in a flimsy fort we made last minute."
"Then we'll see what we can do about his living situation, but right now I feel like we should be worrying about if he's good or bad." This just made Maddie roll her eyes at her husband.
"C'mon Tom, He was obviously just confused back then, sonic told us about their talk on the moon, and you told us about how you were disguised as walters when he hit you." The pleading look on her face made him falter for a second.
"Alright so he might be good, what are we supposed to do to help him? The kids still have no idea about him, we can't just bring him inside and tell the kids he's staying. Im pretty sure they'll lose their minds and I'm not even sure he'll agree to stay with us."
"He is pretty stubborn. And the kids would lose it." She paused to think for a moment.
"Maybe we tell the kids now and we can all ease him into being comfortable around us?" She suggested
"The chances of that working are low but I guess it's worth a try."
_
Sonic and Tails were watching the wicked movie while Knuckles was getting angrier and angrier at a puzzle he couldn't complete when their parents walked in the living room, looking nervous. Tails paused the TV and asked them what was wrong.
"We have something we think you kids should know," Tom started, making the three of them sit up straighter. "We don't want you guys to overreact or freakout, but Shadow is alive." As Maddie finished all three mobians froze in place.
"Shadow's... alive." Sonic whispered to himself before breaking into laughter.
The other looked at him worriedly.
"Funny one guys but I know you're just messing with me!" Despite the laughs he had tears streaming down his face.
"Sonic, we're serious. Tom saw him the other day and ever since we've been making sure he heals alright and gets fed."
This made Sonic's laughter come to a stop. "What do you mean 'the other day'. He's been alive this whole time and you just let me be upset about it!" He wasn't quite yelling but his voice definitely went up in volume.
"We didn't tell you right away because we didn't want you three to overreact or go looking for him. We need to give him time, and we're telling you now cause it's almost winter and he doesn't have a place to stay. Maddie is gonna try and convince him to stay here if that's alright with you three?" Tom looked around at them.
"Of course!" Sonic yelled before Tails and Knuckles could answer.
"I..I wouldn't mind if he were to stay here. He did sacrifice himself to save the world, he can't be that bad right?"
"Yes, a true warrior. He has my respect. He may stay"
Both adults let out a breath of relief at their responses. "I'm glad you guys understand." Maddie smiled at them before getting her phone out, "Now how about dinner?"
_
Shadow was walking around the forest, bored, when he saw a medium leather ring with a gold circle connected to, when he turned it over there was the name 'POE' in big bold letters. He's pretty sure that's what the lady from before called the dog, so putting it in his quills he made his way in the direction he remembered her house being.
Upon arriving he knocked on her door, put the thing he found in front if it, and hid in a nearby bush to watch. After a couple minutes no one answered he he rang the doorbell and hid again. Again no answer, so he picked the thing up and looked through one of the windows, there was actually furniture in it this time but still no blinds for the windows.
He opened the window (she really needed to start locking those) and climbed inside. He set the thing on the kitchen counter and grabbed a rock he found and thought looked cool so he put it in his quills by it. He also left a note saying he thought it was her's. After escaping back out the window he shut it and started walking back to his fort.
It got a bit lonely but it was nothing he wasn't used to at this point. Something new though was the note left by his water.
Hey!😁
Who could have left this, they had to have the ability to write so it wasn't an animal but with such messy writing so there was no way it was Maddie. He poked his head out of the fort and looked around but saw nothing. Weird.
He decided to ignore it and sleep for the time being, it seemed to help his healing.
For some reason he dreamt of the blue hedgehog.