Time Heals All Things

Chapter Two: A Shadow of Truth

The next morning Sonic woke to find himself in a strange room. For the first few moments he was groggy and confused but the more he came to his memories began to return of last night and he remembered that he was in Shadow's spare room. Yawning the blue adult sat up and stretched before gazing around the simple room. It was modestly decorated with clean lines and modern furniture. Unlike his marital home with Amy which had a country home feel this felt very masculine and neat and the blue hedgehog liked it much more. His cobalt pointed ears twitched, now that he was awake he could hear what sounded like chinking metal and grunting coming from the room opposite his. Sonic swivelled his blue-furred legs out of bed and pulled out a set of socks and gloves. As he dressed in these items of clothing on his curiosity was peaked by what Shadow could possibly be doing in the room opposite him, especially when he had told Sonic that his room was the one at the very end of the hall.

"Hey Shadow, what are you- doing in here..?" The blue adult hedgehog asked as he poked his head into the third bedroom in the house but tailed off looking stunned. Inside this last room was a home gym. The walls were a plain soft magnolia with the same grey carpet that went through most of the home. There was a large black gym mat with a treadmill, a weight bench and power tower set with several heavy looking weight discs behind it and a full-body martial arts training system. At this moment Shadow had been laid down on the workbench pumping reps. He grunted in response to Sonic's words before sliding the weight bar holding two large weight discs back into it's resting place.

"Woah!! Shad you have a home gym!" Sonic declared stepping inside properly and looking around impressed at all the things inside the room.

"Yeh, gotta stay in shape somehow.." Shadow responded slightly out of breath from his workout, he picked up the sports towel that had been resting by him and dabbed his sweating brow. His red eyes looked up at Sonic in concern. "I didn't wake you, did I?" He added setting the towel back down.

"No, you didn't.." Sonic replied still looking distracted as he now studied the martial arts training system. "This is pretty cool. I don't know anyone with a home gym.." He let one gloved finger poke one of the punch pads curiously.

"Well now you do.." Shadow responded as he picked up his sweaty towel to throw into the laundry hamper in the bathroom. "I'm gonna go take a shower, feel free to use this stuff anytime while your here.. Do you know how to use that?" The black hedgehog with red stripes kinked an eye-ridge causing Sonic to give a slight start then looking at the reflection of Shadow's eyes in the long mirror

"It's for punches and kicks, right?" Sonic said with a slight smirk before it dropped a little once more with a sad edge. "Heh, I'm a little out of practise with that now. I don't have robots coming after me on a semi-weekly basis anymore.."

"You sound like you miss it." Shadow said looking curiously.

"Well, sometimes I do. I mean I don't have to look over my shoulders anymore but at the same time I-" Sonic began but his black counterpart cut him off.

"Feel like you have lost your purpose?" Shadow threw him an understanding look.

"Yeh." The middle-aged blue adult sighed rubbing his quills.

"I know how that feels Hedgehog, you'll find yourself again, it'll just take some time." The black hedgehog replied narrowing his eyes in a warm expression. The two of them gazed at each other for a short moment before Shadow cleared his throat looking briefly awkward, fighting the rush of heat that seemed to want to cover his muzzle. "I um, I'll just go for that shower then fix us breakfast. You like waffles?"

"Uh... Sure. Waffles sound great.." Sonic blinked in surprise as the black hedgehog left the room and headed towards his en-suite bathroom. What had just happened between them? It was almost like a brief connection. The blue hedgehog shook his head, that was ridiculous. Shadow was only empathising with his situation right now, that was all...