(THIS CHAPTER GETS DARK! So, prepare T>T I try to keep it light-hearted, but erm... I dont wanna spoil, but the past repeats itself, you can say. Don't slime me st plz) The stage lights were blinding. Sonic blinked a couple of times, trying to get his vision to adjust. Four bands stood on the stage. For the past week, everyone had been buzzing about who would win. And a couple of hours ago, the top five candidates were announced, and the people behind the voting were revealed and were standing off to the side of the stage holding the awards. Sonic recognized two of the judges, Haven and that moth, Loom was her name. Haven wore a glittering black cocktail dress, and Loom wore a dress underneath a black and gold poncho. And lastly was a large purple cat who just radiated chill fisherman vibes. A green frog sat atop the cat's head, judgment in its yellow eyes. Sonic looked away from the judges and towards Raven, who was announcing the places. Sonic shook the hand of each eliminated band member that passed; it was tradition, and overall good sportsmanship. "Fourth place goes to Hot Honey!" Raen announced, handing each member of the band a green ribbon with large golden letters, "4th in BoB". "Your songs were really good, better luck next year," Sonic said as he shook Manic's hand. Manic rolled his eyes, "You'd better win this." "I hope," Sonic chuckled as Manic walked away. "Now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The winner of this year's BoB isss~." Raven gave a dramatic pause as he looked down at his notepad. He blinked as he flipped around the pages, "What the..." He turned to the judges, "Is this updated or...." Haven nodded, and Raven looked back at his notepad, "Ok, so the judges dont know how to agree..." Laughter came from the audience as well as some shocked muttering. Sonic glanced at the others, his heart beat hammering in his ears. Raven put his finger up to shush them before he spoke, "The winners of BoB, according to my list, are Sakura and Dudetude!" Sonic's jaw dropped at the announcement. Tails grabbed Sonic's arm and jumped up and down, "We won! We actually won!" Knuckles lifted Tails onto his shoulders and hurraed in victory, "It may be a tie, but we did it!" Sonic looked over to Tus demonios, who were clapping and looked glad for them. Sonic ran up to Shadow and wrapped his arms around his neck, a smirk plastered on his face. Shadow was about to speak, but Sonic cut him off, his voice a little too loud, "Shut up and kiss me, you fool!" Without a second thought, Sonic kissed Shadow. The crowd exploded in cheers as the two kissed. When the two broke apart, Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the redness in Shadow's face. "Who would have seen that coming..." Raven said, some sarcasm in his tone. "I did." Blaze, Knuckles, Tails, Silver, Rouge, Omega, and nearly a third of the stadium said at once. Shadow's eyes softened as he looked down at Sonic and spoke, "Told you that you'd need to be more secretive, Faker." Sonic scoffed playfully, "The only thing fake here is the fact that you didn't like it, Faker." "Oh? Well, if I were pretending not to like it, would I do this?" Shadow said before kissing Sonic again. The moment didn't last long. (Shadow POV) Screams erupted in the stadium. His ears rang from the sound of the shot. Everything was moving in slow motion. Sonic was in his arms, his hands gripping the back of his suit tightly. Shadow scooped Sonic into his arms, carrying the bleeding blue hedgehog back stage as fast as he could. People were scrambling around them, trying to take cover. But after the second shot, Shadow didn't hear anything anymore. Shadow looked around the maze-like interior of backstage. Shadow kicked one of the doors open and hurriedly shut it before he lay Sonic down on the floor behind a shelving unit that was filled with boxes. His hands shook as he looked down at Sonic. Not again. Not again! Shadows' mind was filled with the buzzing pain and fear of a repeated past. Snaping out of his trance, he unbuttoned Sonic's shirt to see the wound better, quickly spotting the gushing wound. Shadow took his suit jacket off and started to try to stop the bleeding from Sonic's side, pressing the jacket's cloth into the wound. (btw, this is how you actually stop bleeding from a bullet wound in situations like this) Shadow didn't realise he was panicly muttering until Sonic spoke, his voice pained as he shakily put a bloody palm to Shadow's cheek, "S-Shadow. I'm fine, just a little banged up is all." Shadow felt tears welling. Shadow shook his head and applied more pressure to the wound, "Oh, shut up!" Sonic hissed in pain, and Shadow spoke again, "Don't actually. Don't stop talking." "Glad you care, Shadow," Sonic chuckled. The smile on his face was all too familiar to Shadow in too many ways.
Light streamed across the dark room as the door creaked open. Shadow forced his gaze off Sonic towards the door. Through the space between the top of the box and the shelves of the shelving units, he spotted someone walking inside, closing the door behind them promptly. They wore a dark brown trench coat and blue jeans. They had a long black tail with a choppy white tip. Shadow froze when he heard them speak, "I know you're in here. You know, your uncle wouldn't mind if the one he wants gone and his nephew both were lost. Right?" That haunting voice was engraved into his mind. The jackal walked around, going away from where Shadow and Sonic were hiding, "I hope you remember me. You know, I remember you, Shadow. I'm lucky that I'm not totally blind in my right eye. It's hard to forget some things. Such as who hit you in the eye with a dictionary or your first kill." The jackle laughed as he looked under a table. That stupid laugh, "It's nice to be killing for him again. Good trip down memory lane, wouldn't you say?" Shadow blinked and felt his quills stand on end as the jackal looked right at him and Sonic. That horrible grin on his white, fluffy cheeks. Shadow clenched his jaw as the jackal looked right at Sonic. Sonic spoke, breaking the silence, "Isn't this just a beautiful reunion. Who are you, Mr. Mersonary?" The jackal hit himself in the forehead with the base of his palm, "Yes, yes. You should at least know my name before you die. Thanks for reminding me, Sonic," The Jackal started approaching, Shadow felt his heartbeat hammering in his chest, "Infinite the Jackal is my name. Not that you'll have much time to remember it," He chuckled as he raised one hand, revealing the knife he had in his grasp. Shadow stood up, standing in the way between Sonic and Infinite. His hands were balled up into fists. (Sonic POV) His vision was blurry, and pain was crawling over his body from the wound in his stomach. He was about to pass out; he could feel it. He could feel warpth leaving his body. Today was going so well. He won BoB, he kissed Shadow in front of all of South Island and beyond, and he was about to receive enough money to keep him and his brothers stable for a little bit. But then he was shot, and now he was watching someone who was sent to off him by someone he had no idea why they were beefing with him, and was the one who also knew Shadow, somehow, and was almost blinded by Shadow with a dictionary. What was his life? Sonic felt his eyes drifting shut. His eyelids felt heavy, like bricks. As his eyes shut for longer than what Sonic thought was two seconds, but was probably longer, he heard Shadow yell at him, the fear and emotion in his voice making him open his eyes once more. He couldn't understand what he said, or he couldn't remember. Everything was so confusing. Sonic looked over towards Shadow and Infinite. Shadow kneed the jackal in the gut before slamming him into the wall. Sonic couldn't focus on one thing at a time; it was too fast, but also seemed to be moving in slow motion. Is this how Mom and Dad felt? A memory flooded back to Sonic, one his mind had forcibly forgotten years ago. He was about 16 at the time. He had stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time. A large human man stood over Sonic's parents, who were gone. Sonic had fled, running as fast as he could when he and the man made eye contact. The memory was pushed aside when Shadow let out a pained gasp. Sonic blinked his eyes so they could focus on the present. Infinit's knife was stabbed into Shadow's side, red staining the pink-red undershirt. Shadow swiftly kicked Infinit before he harshly grabbed his head and, with all his might, slammed their head into the wall. It went silent, only being broken by Shadow's deep breaths. Shadow looked away from Infinit's unconscious body (I can't kill the huz off), his red eyes locking onto Sonic's body. "S-shadow. You're hurt!" Sonic said in a pained gasp as Shadow limped over and kneeled over Sonic. Shadow shook his head, "It's just a scratch. Don't worry, please, just stay awake, keep your eyes open." Sonic groaned as Shadow picked him up, holding him close to his chest. As if holding him as close to his heart as he could.
