Whispers in the Dark (A Sonic Fanfiction)

Chapter 4: Silent Night

{A/N: The angst begins! Trigger warnings from this point forward for trauma, PTSD, and mild violence/ mentions of blood and death}
{Recommended song: Whispers in the Dark by Skillet}

Shadow, Whisper, and Tangle continued their journey until the sky began to glow pink and orange with the sunset. Shadow narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the darkening landscape. He was willing to keep going through the night, but the other two would need rest.

Besides, it generally wasn't the safest to wander around when you couldn't see well. Rouge was usually his navigation at night. Whisper would probably have pretty good night vision since she was a wolf, but he wasn't going to risk it. They'd need shelter until morning.

Fortunately, he'd been around this area before. Shadow guided them towards a nearby clearing. "There's an old factory over here where we can spend the night." Team Dark had used it as a emergency base plenty of times. It should be safe.

They checked the building thoroughly, but there were no signs of life. Shadow led them to the "barracks" the team had created from an old storage room. He flicked on the single lightbulb, illuminating the cold, concrete walls. A few cots and some random crates and things lined them. A shelf in the corner held the stockpile of gray blankets and pillows. Not exactly cozy, but safe.

Shadow walked over to the shelf and pulled out a blanket. "Here." He tossed it to Whisper. She flinched at the quick movement, but caught it. Nice reflexes. "Pick whichever cot you want."

He started to grab a blanket for Tangle, but she zoomed over before he could and grabbed a whole armload. "This'll be like a sleepover!" she said happily from beneath her blanket lump. "Jewel and me used to have them all the time!"

He'd worked hard on folding those... Why must she be like this? "This isn't a sleepover. We're on a mission," Shadow growled.

"We can do both." Tangle tossed the blankets in a pile on the floor and flopped on top of them.

Whisper made a tiny amused noise, swishing her tail as she laid out her blanket on a cot. Neatly. Like a decent person.

Shadow grabbed his own blanket and pillow and headed for a cot on the other side of the room. Give the girls some space.

As he made his bed very, very carefully, he couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Not by an intruder.

By Whisper.

He side-eyed her as he smoothed his blanket. She had moved to join Tangle's blanket pile, but even as the two girls chatted, she kept glaring at him from underneath her dark eyelashes. The way he'd caught her doing the whole trip. At least, he was pretty sure she'd been staring at him. It could be a little hard to tell with the way she always squinted.

What was with that? She seemed cooperative enough. Not chatty, but then, neither was he. But she seemed like a decent person. A skilled fighter. Patient with Tangle's chaotic personality.

So what was it she was holding against him?

Tangle seemed to catch Whisper staring at him. Her voice quieted. She too stared at him, although not with quite the same discretion as Whisper. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened into a frown. She leaned in to say something to Whisper. Whisper's ears flattened a little. She mumbled something back and glanced away. Tangle shot him another weird look before returning to her cheery, "sleepover" chatter.

Great. He was on a chase to find a dangerous faker with two people who obviously didn't trust him. Fine. He didn't trust them either.

Once his bed was as neat and wrinkle-free as he could make it in a place like this, he headed over to a crate beside the shelf and opened it. "There's some rations in here," he told the girls, pulling out some jerky and a package of dried fruit for himself. Not that he really needed the food as the Ultimate Life Form, but it was good to replenish himself once in a while. And the others would need to eat. "Take what you want."