♡ 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂 𝐁𝐎𝐘𝐒 𝐱 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐒 ♡

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐉𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃 → 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖

🖤

Bloody hands jiggled the keys into the front door, the light tinkle as intrusive and deafening as an explosion through the black eyes of the silent night. Dead twilight screamed noiselessly, hundreds of tiny stars shimmering over the deep navy like a glittered varnish and watching from lightyears away with a beady twinkle of interest. Like millions of eyes, and the cloak of darkness shrouded over every tiny breeze sent a cold flutter through Shadow's spine at the very core.

Nervously, he jammed the keys deeper into the door in a mannerism of desperation, and in a way that didn't seem to benefit him. Taking it hastily rather than slowly didn't hurry the entrance to the house, only dragging it on and sparking more annoyance in his already tiresome chest. His heart pumped only faintly, and for once Shadow felt scared. His failed mission haunted him like a deadly ghost, hovering inches behind him and breathing steam across his chilled collarbone, and he felt like someone was ready to pounce from behind.

It was greatly unlikely, and was all in his mind, but the bedevilled hedgehog craved to enter just in case, and see to the pain bolting down his arm and torso. Evening's events were a blur, but the shudder of shotguns bled into night with a phantom-like smirk. It enjoyed torturing Shadow from gorgeously close behind, tickling his shoulders and tensing them up. With a hard push into the door, the keys fitted in, his iced garnets unable to figure out the puzzle through the darkness making the lock near to invisible.

He breathed softly from a tsunami of relief as mild light pierced from the open door, bolting in and slamming it shut. It felt like a cut off from the poison draining the air outside of its sweetened taste, leaving a ghastly flavour ready to stir up illness. Shadow took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment, detecting the foul scent of his fresh blood through his nose left dry from the bleak cold. He leant his throbbing back to the door and held the cleanest of his gloved hands to his chest.

He slimly avoided leaving hideous stains to his white patch of fur, although dirt from the mission already left it grubby. His breaths shivered, and his lungs were starved. The air in the room was thankfully nice and warm, and deep inside his chest it felt like a massage to the interior aches with every tender intake. His knees quivered, a bolt of foreign weakness crawling over the bones and stabbing the muscle. He felt he could collapse, but leant harder to the front door to stabilise himself as the keys dropped to the floor from his numb fingers.

He flickered his fierce rubies open, and his vision was left damp from the tears born through the frost. It was blurred only a little, and he blinked a couple times to clear it. The light in the house was so feeble it was like it came from a single candle buried deep inside, but Shadow could tell from the faint glint's location it was a dying bulb. It brought a tiny smile to his grazed face, the lamp glowing with an aura of kindness that although this house seemed empty, it was left on ready for him to return.

That rare shine of pleasure was murdered in seconds as Shadow crouched lower to the door, leaning so hard it could crash back into the night. Lightning of agony shot down one arm in particular, and his entire torso ached harder than any part of his ultimate body had before. Well, he didn't feel too ultimate for the time being, his failure during this mission ominously close behind him still with a chill through his shoulders. Guilt dragged him down harder, and he hissed lightly to the growing pain.

Damn, he felt like a loser. It was like chains strangled his neck or the debt he had to pay for his failure were iron weights tied to his back. His shoulders shivered although the cold was eliminated, and his eyes felt stitched closed so his mind could make him feel even lower by reminding him of where he should be. And more importantly, what he should have, whenever he had ended up. He scrunched a hand into a tight fist and gave a gravely sigh, the ability to do so already tarnishing the outcome that should have unfolded.