10
Shadow couldn't sleep.
He's not sure why, he's been so tired lately yet now that it's night he can't sleep? That seems unfair, but that's how life is sometimes.
He laid there, occasionally turning over on the couch or sniffling. Why was it so hot in here? He was the ultimate lifeform, he shouldn't be feeling like this.
_
He didn't sleep last night so he's sure he looks like crap, but the look Sonic gave him the next morning was unnecessary.
"Whoa!" Sonic basically shouted as he came down the stairs and saw Shadow sitting at the kitchen table, eating more coffee beans while Maddie cooked pancakes for everyone.
"That's an exaggeration." Even his voice sounded tired, how odd, he can usually go weeks without sleeping and be fine.
"Did you even sleep?!" Sonic sped to him and cupped his chin in his hands, examining Shadow's face.
"I do not need sleep." He grunted while pushing Sonic's hands away from his face.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't try and sleep, it could help you heal faster." Maddie pointed out.
Now that she mentioned it his leg was getting a bit better before he broke it.
"Perhaps." And that was it, he stopped talking and after Sonic realized he was done talking he crossed his arms and huffed before sitting in the chair next to Shadow and swinging his legs, waiting for breakfast.
"Where's Knuckles?" Sonic asked after a few minutes of silence.
"He said he was going to train Wade today."
"Really? I can't believe he still trusts him to guard, he wasn't very good at protecting the gem."
"The gem?" Shadow tilted his head at Sonic.
"Yeah, the ones we went super with, they combine into one big one and Knuckles put Wade in charge of guarding it. Now it's gone though, we couldn't find it after me and you stopped the eclipse cannon." He explained to the ebony hedgehog.
"These things?" Shadow pulled a old and damaged brown sack from his quills but when he dumped the contents out, right there in the table were the chaos emeralds.
"Oh my god! You've had them the whole time!" Sonic shouted, scooping the gems up and holding them out for Maddie to look at.
"I wasn't sure what to do with them." He explained as he stuffed the bag back in his quills.
Maddie hummed in acknowledgement as she set a couple plates of pancakes in the center of the table by extra plates. Sonic eagerly grabbed one of the plates and three pancakes, Maddie stopped him before he could grab anymore, "Finish those first."
Shadow didn't grab any thought and kept to his coffee beans.
"Shadow, are you hungry hunny?" Maddie's voice seemed overly affectionate, like he was some kind of frightened animal, he hated it but loved it at the same time.
He didn't want to be babied but he loved the thought of her caring about him enough to make sure he ate.
"I'm fine." He mumbled
She gave him a sad look but went back to eating her own pancakes. It was only a couple minutes later when Tails came down the stairs, looking like he had only gotten about two hours of sleep.
"How late did you stay up this time?" Sonic gave him a grin as Tails yawned and sat next to Maddie.
"Not too late, just working on my tracker, it keeps saying the gems are here." Tails rubbed his eyes before grabbing a plate and two pancakes.
"Well boy oh boy, do I have a surprise for you!" Sonic smiled as he handed the emeralds to Tails who started at them for a second, just blinking before he seemed to actually register what he was holding.
"What! Where were they!" He stood in his chair and put his hands on the table. The gems laying in front of him.
"First of all manners." Maddie started, "Second if all, shadow was holding them since the fight."
Suddenly Tails was in Shadow's face, smiling wide. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"It's not that big a deal." He grunted.
"Oh but it is!" Tails sat back down, eating a bite happily before talking again. "Those emeralds are seriously powerful and if they got lost or landed in the wrong hands, we could have been seriously screwed. It means a lot that you had them!"
Shadow shifted uncomfortably in his seat, feeling the weight of Tails' gratitude pressing down on him like a heavy blanket. He wasn't used to being thanked; in his world, people often expected him to act out of duty, not kindness. "I just did what anyone would do," he muttered, turning his gaze to the table.
Sonic chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Yeah, but Shadow's not just anyone! He's the ultimate lifeform, remember? The one who saves the day while brooding."
Maddie shot Sonic a playful glare, but Shadow couldn't help the faintest hint of a smirk that tugged at the corners of his lips. "I don't brood," he protested, though the statement lacked its usual bite.
"Sure you don't," Sonic teased, "but it’s okay. We all have our quirks." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms with a satisfied grin. "And yours just happens to be being a total mystery wrapped in a dark cloud."
Before Shadow could respond he felt an itch in the back of his nose, making it twitch. Sonic paused and looked at him, pretty confused until Shadow sneezed, five times in a row.
"Jeez. That was a lot." Maddie chuckled as Shadow felt his face heat up from embarrassment. "That was not supposed to happen, I don't usually do that." He hung his head as Sonic started snickering to himself.
"Ooh, does Mr. Ultimate lifeform have allergies? Maybe he's sick." This made Shadow glare at him, "I do not get sick." He spat the word sick as if it was poison.
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say." Sonic went back to eating his pancakes but he had a smirk on his face that really made Shadow's blood boil.
He calmed himself, not wanting to explode in front of Maddie, she had been nothing but nice to him, he's not low enough to return the favor by fighting her kid in the kitchen. Oh how he wished he could though.