Time Heals All Things

Chapter Thirty Four: It's Time..

"Your blood?" Sonic choked giving a slightly squeamish look having never been fond of the sight of blood, more so his own than anyone else's but the thought of seeing Shadow's blood still make his fork slip a little from his grip. He thickly swallowed the mouthful of chili con carne and felt it move in an uncomfortable gulp down his throat. His black furred boyfriend looked around from his own forkful of grilled skirt steak fajitas with red pepper tapas and guacamole. The black hedgehog had unpacked the silver aluminium foil trays onto plates and brought everything upstairs

"I did not take you for the type to be uncomfortable about blood, especially since you were knocked around by Ivo's machinery often enough. Tell me, is this when it first manifested itself?" Shadow murmured back as surprise glinted in those brilliant red eyes. He sounded like some well meaning therapist with that deeply calming timbre and it was almost like being in session right now to Sonic. He had never known anyone else to have this instant soothing quality about them that could actually work on him.

"Yeh, mostly I was left with heavy bruising, a couple of broken ribs and arms and some sprains that have since healed up. It was rare that his robots could actually do more than graze me, I was too fast for them." Sonic flashed a boyish grin. "Everyone always saw me as unstoppable so I always played up to it and seeing my own blood.."

"—reminds you of your mortality. I get it." The black hedgehog finished with a sympathetic hum before finally taking the bite that had been hovering on his fork. He chewed carefully before swallowing it before flashing Sonic one of his rare debonair smiles. "Hopefully I will be able to help you with that."

"So you really think the answer is in your blood?" Sonic continued as he continued eating his chili con carne and rice dish between polishing off the remaining nachos, licking his peach fingers then mixing some refried beans into his chili. No-one could deny that Sonic The Hedgehog liked his food, he never left a scrap on his plate as it was soon completely clean. Had it not been for the disapproving glare the blue hedgehog knew he would get he would actually lick his plate clean.

"It has to be. Part of Gerald's research was about creating a universal antibody that could not only cure illness but prevent ageing. Stop mortality in it's tracks literally." Shadow replied, pausing from his half eaten plate once more to explain his theory properly. "You can see the appeal to G.U.N and the Federation President, legions of soldiers that would not question orders, not fall and keep on fighting with little rest."

"Yeh but that idea is not foolproof. You prove that Shadow. You question orders all the time and you only do things because you consider them right, not because someone ordered you to do it." Sonic murmured back with a kind smile.

"Now I do. I never used to, remember?" The black hedgehog spoke sombrely before continuing to eat another mouthful. "When you and I met I was carrying out orders from Ivo before I then switched to G.U.N thinking that their ideas were more in line with what Maria wanted. When I sought out my own identity it was because I was tired of being used as a tool to do the bidding of others. I wanted to be my own being, to have my own sense of identity. It's something that the world takes for granted. That freedom to go somewhere just because you want to, to not have to always answer to someone else or to tell others every little thing you do. There were times when I felt like I was nothing more than a machine to them, to use then put away until I was needed again."

"Geez Shad, I'm sorry. Didn't you tell them how you felt?"

"I wasn't supposed to have feelings. I was supposed to be emotionless. I was legally property, who cared what I thought? I was given the assignment and I was to carry it out with no questions. It was Maria who taught me about love, kindness and compassion for others. She instilled all those things in me before she died and Rouge and Amy brought them back out after I had repressed them for so long." Shadow sighed heavily taking another mouthful as the green eyes of his boyfriend watched in concern. "They were the only two for a long time that treated me as my own being."