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The morning sun shone brightly, almost blinding Shadow as he strolled over the grassy hill. Rouge was just in front, her flapping wings providing a gentle breeze for the ebony hedgehog.
Shadow would've preferred to stay inside, curl up on the couch and devour a bag of coffee beans, but all mobians were outside, waiting for the special event. Indestructible red strings made of chaos energy were prophesied to appear on every mobian's wrist, guiding them to their soulmate.
Shadow had no belief in such things. The only soulmate he'd ever had was Maria. But she was a best friend, a sister. These soulmate strings were said to lead you to your romantic partner.
There were others nearby, huddled into small groups awaiting the crimson string that would lead them to their true love. Some couples held each other's hands fearfully, worried that fate would separate them.
Rouge landed her heels on the ground, and flopped onto the grass. She sat hugging her knees, watching all kinds of folks making their way around on the lush, green grass. Shadow followed suit, sitting down next to his friend with his legs crossed. He leaned his elbow on his knee, with his chin in his hand.
"I know who you're hoping for," Shadow murmured watching the hopeful spark in the bat's eyes.
The glimmer in Rouge's teal eyes dissipated and she turned her head sharply to Shadow, saying in defiance, "I don't know what you mean."
A small smirk appeared on the dark hedgehog's tan muzzle, "No?"
"...No," Rouge turned away to pluck a small daisy from the grass.
"Didn't he get you a bouquet of daisies?" Shadow raised an eyebrow, watching Rouge twiddle the flower in her fingers.
The white bat bit her lip and looked up to gaze out over the field of green, covered in a sea of excited mobians.
"Fine, I hope it's him. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Rouge glanced at Shadow with a red tinted face.
Shadow closed his eyes, absorbing the sun and the cool summer breeze.
"I wish the best for you, even if Knuckles isn't your soulmate."
Rouge smiled warmly, before her smile turned into a teasing smirk.
"Who do you think your soulmate is?"
Shadow cracked one eye open, furrowing his brows at Rouge, "I don't think I'll get one, even if I do, I'm not pursuing romance."
Rouge rolled her eyes, "I thought you'd say that. Y'know a little romance might do you some good. Get you out of the house more and have you brooding less."
Both of Shadow's eyes were open now, glaring at Rouge with an unamused expression. Just when they were getting along and sharing a friendly moment. He had half a mind to not get up and walk off.
Excited squeals and a flood of sobbing voices broke Shadow and Rouge from their conversation, darting their heads around wildly to see what was happening. It was time. Strings of red could be seen at every angle, some even passing through Shadow and Rouge like a ghost.
"Gosh, are we going to have see strings everywhere for the rest of time?" Shadow grumbled as he stood up.
Rouge clambered to her feet, "No hun, everyone else's but your own will be invisible after 24 hours. It's just the first day that we can see everybody's."
The white bat looked down in awe at her wrist, a small gasp from her bubblegum pink lips causing Shadow to notice too. A red, slightly translucent string wrapped itself around the bat's wrist and trailed diagonally. Rouge watched with hope as she noticed the direction it was heading. Angel Island.
Shadow knew it too, just from looking at the pure joy and overwhelming relief in his friend's face. It was a shame no one would ever look at him that way. With love.
Rouge - being the good friend she is - whipped her head back to Shadow, glancing down at his wrist. Nothing. As expected.
"Shadow!" Rouge gasped.
A small rose coloured string lit up around the Ultimate Lifeform's wrist, tying itself into place. The shock in Shadow's eyes and the delight in Rouge's eyes was short-lived. The string flew high into the sky. Up to the beautiful blue sky and through the white cotton clouds. Did he have no soulmate and the string had nowhere to go? Or was his soulmate in an unreachable place, beyond the living realm?
Shadow immediately thought of Maria, though that couldn't be true. He loved her dearly, but not like that.
"Perhaps the soulmate strings are platonic, too," Shadow muttered his thought aloud.
"Shadow, I'm... I'm so sorry," Rouge's starry eyes went bleak and her gaze was filled with sympathy and pity.
Shadow shrugged, "I didn't want a soulmate anyway. Besides you have to go find yours. Even though it's obvious already."
A small grin found itself on Shadow's face, which relieved Rouge slightly.
"Call me if you need me," Rouge spread her wings and launched into the sky.
Shadow watched fondly from where he stood on the grassy hill, as Rouge held out her wrist and followed her string. The busy atmosphere of cheerful mobians and devastated mobians filled Shadow's ears and he didn't like it one bit. He reached into his quills, drawing out the green chaos emerald.
"Chaos Control."
~~~ Meanwhile ~~~
"WOOOOHOOOOOOO!"
The fox flying the plane called out, "Be careful Sonic!"
The yellow fox watched with sweat beading on his forehead as his best friend did a handstand on the wing of the plane.
"Careful? Where's the fun in that?" The blue hedgehog collapsed out of his handstand, laying on his back, "You gotta relax Tails!"
Tails winced at every sudden, daring movement Sonic made. Returning his sight to the sky and focus to the controls, he noticed his wrist.
"Hey Sonic, I think that soulmate thing is today!" Tails yelled out, the plane engine drowning out his voice.
"What?"
"The soulmate strings!" Tails tried again.
"Ohh!" Sonic looked at his wrist, watching the glowing crimson string trail below him.
The blue hedgehog snapped his view to Tails, who also had a string adorning his wrist. Because they were so high up, their strings went nowhere but down. Though Tails' was slightly angled to their left.
"You want to go find your soulmate?" Sonic shouted from the wing.
Tails glanced at him anxiously and called out, "I don't know."
Sonic shrugged, a casual smile on his face as always, "You done testing the new engine?"
"Yeah, I think I'm ready to head back to the workshop. You?"
Sonic grinned, sitting upright, "Sounds good!"
~~~ Later ~~~
Shadow stood in the corner of the room, watching the Chaotix, Whisper, Tangle, Silver, Blaze, Amy and a few others gush over Rouge and Knuckles. When they found each other, their strings had pulled them together, looping into a heart and changing to bright pink. Rouge's left hand was tied to Knuckles' right hand for the next hour. Rouge had a hard time explaining it to Shadow, but from what he understood, the minimum time your hand was tied to your soulmate was an hour, but it could go for longer. If you or your soulmate can't accept the other, you could be tied together for weeks, even months until you accepted it.
Shadow grunted. It sounded awfully forced and honestly slightly dystopian.
The sound of the door clicking open caught Shadow's attention. He peaked his head around the wall and saw two figures waltz into the room. That annoying hedgehog and Tails. Tails wasn't bad, he was a good kid, but Sonic? That blue hedgehog always knew what to say or do to get on Shadow's nerves and it frustrated the raven hedgehog to no end.
Sonic dashed up next to Shadow, who groaned and shuffled to the side, putting distance between the two of them. The black and red hedgehog placed his gloved hands on a nearby box, hoisting himself up to sit on it.
"What's going on? Amy called and said to come as fast as we could."
Tails ran up behind Sonic, bent over and gripping his knees as he panted for air.
"Rouge and Knuckles are soulmates," Shadow stated.
The three mobians by the wall looked over at the commotion, everyone fussing over the pink string that tied the lovebirds together. Knuckles didn't seem to like all the attention, his large hand held over his burning red muzzle. Rouge giggled and answered a few questions, playing along with some of the jokes and nudging Knuckles.
"Oh, well that's cool. Good for them," Sonic smiled, grateful that one of his best pals had managed to find love.
"Uh..." The blue-eyed fox spoke up.
"I think they're making a bigger deal out of it then it actually is," Shadow sighed, bringing his leg up to rest his head on his knee.
"Guys?" Tails' voice was drowned out.
"I know right, soulmates are overrated. Like, I don't want to be tied down to anything or anyone. I just want to be free."
"As cliche as that is with how much you talk about it, I get it. I feel the same," Shadow muttered.
Both hedgehog's eyes were on the new couple, not realising the tug on their wrists.
"Guys, you should really-" Tails murmured before cutting himself off.
The twin-tailed fox couldn't believe his eyes.
"What's wrong buddy?" Sonic turned to look at Tails.
"Look!" Tails gasped pointing at Sonic's wrist.
When the cerulean hedgehog looked down, he only had a second to be surprised, before the string pulled him. Right to Shadow.
Shadow flailed, trying to regain his balance as his side of the string jerked towards Sonic.
"Oof!" Both hedgehogs gasped in surprise when the backs of their hands collided.
Shadow glared at Sonic, who just stared at their string in confusion and astonishment. The translucent string faded from red to pink and twirled into a heart, connecting the two like handcuffs.
"Is this your idea of a joke? Let go," Shadow ordered, his voice much deeper and intimidating than before.
Though Sonic was not at all intimidated when he spat, "I didn't do it, it was the string!"
"Don't lie to me, there's no way you and I could..." his voice trailed off in embarrassment.
Shadow tugged his hand away from Sonic's, which just pulled the blue hedgehog towards him.
"Dude, could you not? Let's just talk this out," Sonic pushed himself off of Shadow.
Tails watched as though in a stupor, jaw on the floor and his eyes wide open as the two hedgehogs continued to shove each other.
Thankfully no one else seemed to take much notice, even when Sonic jerked his hand back to himself, almost causing Shadow to fall onto the floor. Sonic caught the black and red hedgehog, who quickly found his footing and shoved Sonic away.
Sonic opted to pulling Shadow towards him, stepping back and heaving the magenta string back. Shadow crouched pulling the string away as well. Both just heaved and tried to pull away from the other, pushing, yanking, thrusting and wrenching.
Soon, all eyes were on them as they glared daggers at each other. Shadow yanked his hand back, causing Sonic to fumble forward. The azure hedgehog took this to his advantage, dashing forward past Shadow.
Shadow felt his hand wrench back as he fell to the floor, bringing Sonic down with him.
The two heard murmurs and whispers about their string. Neither was about to back down from a fight, even if being tied together made it more difficult. Their fight was like a sloppy dance, tumbling over each other every second.
Soon, Amy got in the way.
Her hammer hit the floor with a loud bang, resulting in silence to stretch throughout the room. Sonic and Shadow froze, looking up at Amy, then at everyone else watching them. Rouge held her hand over her mouth, her aquamarine eyes creased into a grin.
Everyone's eyes widened when they were finally able to get a good look at the hot pink string. The hedgehogs tied to it panted and heaved as they sat slouched on the floor, exhausted from their tussle.
"We're supposed to be celebrating Rouge and Knuckles' relationship. Now yours too, apparently," Amy added awkwardly.
Both hedgehogs' faces blushed red as they said in sync, "We are not in a relationship!"
Amy furrowed her brows, with an expression that read clear as day, "Really?"
"Not yet at least," Charmy spoke up from the small crowd with a smug grin and a sly chuckle.
"Charmy!" Vector whisper-shouted.
"What? The string says so."
Both Sonic and Shadow slowly looked down at the string with the heart looped into it. Their eyes shifted up, looking into the other's eyes. Ruby stared into emerald, and emerald stared into ruby. Shadow gave one last tug towards himself defensively, as he stood up, grumbled and walked off. Sonic scrambled to his feet and followed after him. Not like there was much else he could do when they were tied together.
Shadow used his other hand to push open the door, listening to the hushed voices of the others they'd left behind.
One last, "Sonic!" from Tails and they were outside. The blue hedgehog waved apologetically with his free hand to the fox, before shutting the door behind himself.
Now that they were outside, Sonic expected Shadow to say something, but he didn't. Both were silent as Sonic let Shadow lead him out to the same hill Shadow and Rouge had been at earlier that day.
When the two made it to the top, Shadow slumped down onto the grass, pulling Sonic down with him.
"So, why'd you come all the way out here?" Sonic started gently, not wanting to provoke Shadow into another fight.
Shadow was completely silent as his eyes drooped down, his gaze looking out over the grass. All mobians had gone off to find their soulmate, or spend time with their new lover. Sonic's hand was balled into a fist uncomfortably, not wanting to touch hands with Shadow in case the hedgehog snapped at him. But his wrist was screaming in pain at the awkward position so he relaxed his hand, setting it atop Shadow's. He watched warily as Shadow flinched slightly and his eyes darted down to their hands.
"Okay, now that we're not fighting I suppose we should... talk... about our... feelings?" Sonic had a hard time getting the words out, cringing at himself for sounding like Amy.
Shadow turned his head away, trying to hide the reddening of his muzzle.
"Hey," Sonic demanded, shuffling closer to Shadow.
"You can't hate me that much. Not when we're supposed to be, uhm... soulmates," the last word sounded bitter and uncomfortable on his tongue.
Sonic didn't want to be tied to Shadow anymore than he did, which was why he was trying to communicate with him. To accept it and move on. They didn't need to be lovers, but they had to talk it out so they could be freed.
Shadow's head still hung low, but at least now he had turned to face Sonic.
"Do you hate me?" He asked cautiously.
"What? No. I don't hate you," Sonic assured his jet black counterpart.
Shadow's eyes trailed away from the lime green eyes that were still on him. He had a thoughtful look on his face, as though he was scrutinizing something only he could see.
"We don't have to date or anything, if you don't want to," Sonic shrugged.
"Is that what you want?" Shadow muttered.
Sonic paused, taking a deep breath, "Well..."
Now it was Sonic's turn to look away and feel the burning gaze of the other on him.
"I don't know."
Shadow watched Sonic's hesitation, as he tried to decipher the thoughts and feelings in his head. He recalled memories he had of Sonic, analysed how his heart thumped and drummed against his rib cage. He tried to make sense of his emotions from a logical viewpoint, though it definitely wasn't his head that was in control when he acted next.
The black and red hedgehog reached up to cup Sonic's face, who froze, thinking Shadow was about to punch him. The azure hedgehog definitely didn't expect to feel tan lips press against his own peach lips. The shock and discomfort soon slipped away, and it felt like all of his fears became foolish and unnecessary. Both acted on impulse, surprised at their own actions.
Sonic wrapped one of his arms around Shadow's back, rubbing his back quills and leaning further into the kiss. Sonic never would've thought kissing Shadow would feel so good. Yet it did. Their hands that had been locked together by the string were now intertwined, their hearts beat in sync and their lips moved together in a rhythm. It felt like a magical, cliche, fairytale moment. Yuck.
Sonic soon found himself enjoying the kiss a bit too much, pushing Shadow lightly - the lighest he'd ever - onto the grass beneath them. When their lips parted for a few seconds, gasping and gulping in air, Sonic positioned himself above Shadow. His eyes scanned the hedgehog below him. Yeah, he was hot, but he'd never looked this hot before.
Words were not needed as they connected their lips again, Shadow using his unrestrained hand to glide through Sonic's fur and quills. The next time they parted for air, both their eyes widened in realisation of what just happened. Sonic quickly lifted himself off of the ebony hedgehog and crawled on the grass to sit a bit away from him. Still close enough that their bound hands could almost touch.
Shadow sat up, clasping his other hand to his lips. His gloved fingers traced his lips delicately, remembering the feeling of that annoying mouth that never shut up, on his. He licked his lips and shuddered, gazing over at the other.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Shadow began.
Sonic turned around, a cheeky smirk on his face, "I guess the string was right."
Silence. Shadow's face turned a bright pink, similar to the string that secured them together.
Sonic wriggled back over to Shadow, crawling on top of the flustered hedgehog to join their lips together again.