The Shadow of Winter

Chapter 6

       "Can I visit my friend?" (Name) asked over her breakfast of buttered toast, watching as the black and red hedgehog scampered from room to room gathering various objects deemed important.

        It was the weekend, and the human girl wanted to be let out after spending so long in the G.U.N. lounge behind a laptop. But it seemed her assigned caretaker was to return to work today despite having had no apparent day off during the week. He was agitated, rushing between his bedroom, the small office beside it, and the living room which had an open briefcase on the couch nearly spilling with documents. Ultimate Lifeform or not, he was required to present his case findings just as the other agents were.

        "No," said Shadow dismissively. "You will be spending the day with Sonic and his unbearable friends while I present this case to the Commander. Don't forget, you aren't allowed to contact friends or family. How would you feel if someone else were to die because of your choices?" He glanced at her shortly, enough time to see the pain appear on the girl's face, and then he placed the last items he needed in the briefcase and slammed it shut.

        "Sonic will be here at 8 o'clock. Don't leave the apartment or open any windows until then."

        He left.

        When the blue hedgehog arrived, he could only wonder why (Name) was dead silent while she followed him to the car. He tried not to mention Shadow—most certainly the cause of this behavior—but it was brought up anyway by someone other than himself.

        A young, anthropomorphic fox sat in the back seat of the vehicle. His impressionable, yet highly intelligent, light blue gaze glued to (Name) the moment the girl entered the passenger's side. He formally introduced himself as Miles Prower, suggesting to be called by a nickname, Tails. (Name) nodded, seeing the two fluffy tails on each side of the boy. She was rather impressed by his formality and manners for being of such a young age. At least she was before he started asking questions.

        "So, what's it like living with Shadow? He must be a difficult personality to deal with on a daily basis. I assume that because you were looking pretty sour when you came out of the apartment. Did he go off on a wild tangent? Or was he just being Shadow and ordering you to do things so you'd be out of his way..." He trailed off when the girl gave him a ferocious scowl, and Sonic slapped a palm to the side of his head in embarrassment.

        "I'm sorry for that, (Name), just ignore him. He's a kid with a curiosity that needs to be manhandled in order for him to realize that some questions shouldn't be asked." The hedgehog frowned back at him, causing the younger boy to shrink in his seat with a shameful grimace.

        Sonic sighed and shook his head, shifting the car into reverse. "Anyway, we'll be heading into town to meet up with a couple other friends to check out shops and stuff. It should be fun." He pulled away from the parking lot when (Name) stayed quiet.

        After her brief time with Tails, she wasn't so sure she would like to meet more of the hedgehog's friends. Sonic himself was nice, but he was a boy and liked boy things. They had few interests in common and a lot more differences. It didn't help that (Name) was not very social to begin with—her only go-to friend being (Friend). But she would suffer through the day just as she had the past week. Things weren't going to change anytime soon, she had best get used to it.

        The streets were salted, allowing for traffic to pass through with less chance of an accident. Sonic was able to drive to their destination without much problem, sans the single occurrence where he had decided to take a right turn at an intersection when the opposite side had been given the left turn signal. He had barely slipped through that one. Other than that, the journey was safe.