Youth ~ Sonadow High School Fanfic

Part 20: Can't Sleep

~Sonic's P.O.V~

Sonic woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't keep his thoughts together enough so he could sleep. He hadn't been sleeping properly in a long time. It had been a few months since Maria's concert, which he, Shadow, Rouge and Amy all went to. They were able to go backstage, but the only reason for it was so that Shadow could see her. Sonic still felt upset that she had to leave so soon; he could tell how heartbroken Shadow was by that before they left. He couldn't hide that memory, it was almost haunting both of them. This was the only reason Sonic couldn't raise himself to a sound sleeping level. The only other reason he wasn't able to rest was he was expecting his child soon, his stomach had been hurting a lot more now that these months have passed, and he knew he/she would be ready to see the world before they knew it.
Sonic finally decided to get up and go find Shadow, since he wasn't in bed with him. Normally on nights like this, Shadow would be out in the backyard. Sonic only knew that because that's where he was normally, he didn't feel comfortable downstairs for some reason. He got up and opened the door to his room, making sure nobody else was up. He saw the light was on in his mother's room, so she probably couldn't sleep either. Probably worrying about me, Sonic thought. And the baby. He slipped his shoes on along with his gloves, but didn't bother putting anything else on. He slipped through the crack he left in the door and shut the door quietly behind him. He jumped down the stairs quietly and then walked to the backdoor, opening it and stepping out into the backyard. The whole plain was covered in all different shades of colors and species of small flowers. A large pond was at the edge of the fence, surrounded in large sitting rocks.
Sonic walked over to the dark figure atop one of them. He seemed lost in thought for the moment. Sonic crossed his arms as he stood a few feet behind him. "You can't sleep either, Shadow?"
Shadow's ears twitched. "No." It didn't seem like he wanted to talk.
Sonic padded over and sat next to him, even though he felt fear of the water below his feet. He knew it was there and he hated it, the pond was fairly deep as well, but even in shallow water where his feet were, he still felt afraid.
"Are you still thinking about Maria?" Sonic whimpered a little mentioning her.
"How'd you know?"
Sonic chuckled, deciding to try and cheer up the other hedgehog. "Maybe I'm taking after you, wonder if I can read minds now too?" They both laughed a little at this.
"Yea, you wish you could."
"Actually, I don't, but it would be pretty cool. Which reminds me, I have a quick question to ask you."
"What's that?"
"Well, it's about your mind-reading abilities."
"And?"
"Well I was just wondering... How did you manage to control them when you learned you had them? Did your dad tell you or did you find out yourself?"
"Heh, good question." Shadow paused for a moment. "I found out I had the powers myself, but he had to teach me to use them since he, well, created the ability. It was hard for me to learn because I was so young when I figured it out. I had been reading minds for ages and didn't even know." He laughed a little. "It was funny, people kept asking me how I knew what they were thinking and I always got confused. That's part of the reason I hate being out in public. My fears... Well, my fear of being in public, it causes my powers to lose control a bit." He lifted his hand, staring down at the rings on his wrists. "That's why these were made."
"What are they..?" Sonic tilted his head as he looked at them.
"These are the Inhibitor Rings. Gerald gave them to me to help me contain my power. He made them when I was first created but let me try to handle the power on my own. Then when he saw doing that was actually hurting me, he let me wear them. I... haven't really taken them off. Gerald said if I twist them off right, they glow and pop off themselves, even if only one is taken off. That's part of the reason I don't remove them. There's sacred power kept within them that only I can control, but doing so could put me in danger."
"Why?"
"Have that much power released? That could kill me in seconds if I don't manage to put the rings back on in time. But that isn't always the case. If there's enough energy left, then I can easily put the rings back on. If there's very little, only one can fit and the others have to regrow themselves."
"Others...?" Sonic tilted his head in confusion. What others?
Shadow crossed one leg over his knee. "I have the same rings on my ankles as well as my wrists. Gerald accidentally put too much energy that I couldn't contain with just the wrist rings, so he made the anklets as well. That's the only reason I'm alive. Is because of these."
"Can your emotions be affected by them?"
Shadow chuckled. "Of course they can. When I'm upset, their color becomes a pale gold. When I'm excited, then you can see them glow, but it's a little dangerous for some because they're so bright. When I get angered, they glow red. I'm not normally afraid of anything, but if I am, then they glow white. It isn't very visible, however."
Sonic looked closely at Shadow's rings, trying to see if any emotion was on them. The rings looked a little pale, so Sonic was able to tell Shadow was upset. He held one of Shadow's hands with both of his. They didn't say anything for a while, but then Sonic got an idea, and Shadow wouldn't be able to see it since he was staring out into the pond. Sonic took his hands back and took off one of his gloves, which he had hidden their MP3 player in. He had a small pair of earphones for both of them, so he was prepared.
"If you need help calming down, I have a solution," Shadow looked to Sonic as he said that, and looked down to the MP3 player as Sonic put one earphone in and smiled. Shadow chuckled, taking one earphone and putting it in. He leaned up against Sonic as he played their favorite song. Before Sonic knew, Shadow had fallen asleep leaned up against him. Sonic chuckled when he finally noticed, and looked up to the sky. He knew it would be dawn in a few hours, he could tell by the change in the air. Sonic had always been good at telling the time without looking at a clock, he didn't know why or how though.
Sonic looked back down to Shadow and nudged him a little. Shadow's eyes opened a little and he looked up to Sonic. "You can't be very comfortable sleeping here, we should go back to my room."
Shadow chuckled at this. "You want me to carry you up there?"
Sonic's face lit up bright red, and he looked away. "Maybe," he mumbled. Sonic didn't want to admit how tired he was, and he didn't really want to walk either. He could, he just felt a lot of comfort having Shadow carry him, it actually made him feel safer. Before he knew it, he felt himself being lifted off the ground, and soon he had his head up against Shadow's shoulder.
"Don't try and be cute with me, now," He chuckled. "You need to stop forgetting I can read your thoughts when I choose."
Sonic gave an almost girlish giggle at this. "Just go." Shadow nuzzled Sonic before finally turning to head back in the house to Sonic's room.