*Sonic's POV*
"Shadow? What are you doing here?" I asked, confused when I walked down the stairs, and I saw my mother walking inside the house beside Shadow and Cream.

"Your friend here wanted to return your shirt and explained to me what happened at school. You're not grounded anymore, sweetie. I'm sorry. I should have heard the whole story." My mother spoke.

Cream ran to me and hugged me immediately, almost taking me off balance. I laughed and hugged her back, then looked up at Shadow. Something told me he wanted to talk to me. "Hey, Cream. My mom makes the best cookies. Why don't you go with her and try some out?"

"Really? Can I?" She giggled and then left to the kitchen with my mother. I smiled at Shadow, then motioned for him to follow me as I walked to my room. "Is everything okay?" I asked after I closed the door.

"I told you to stay away from him, and you took the hit for me, Hedgehog. Why would you do that?" He crossed his arms, almost as if he was mad.

"Are you seriously mad at me for taking the hit?" I scoffed and playfully rolled my eyes as I sat down on my bed.

Shadow gritted his teeth, then walked closer to me, standing in front of me now. "You know there's something wrong with him. The way he was asking about your speed."

"Are you going to tell me about it?" I knew not to expect him to.

"No." Shadow crossed his arms.

"So you expect me to listen to you without any reason? No explanation whatsoever?" I wasn't in the greatest of moods at the moment, thanks to seeing Sally, so I was kind of on edge.

"Yes." Shadow said plainly. His cold and serious expression still remained.

"Are you serious? You know what? I don't even have the energy to deal with this right now. Get out of my room." I stood up and pointed at the door. "Thanks for giving my shirt back, but I think I'm done here."

Shadows' expression changed. He looked rather surprised at the way I talked to him. Almost as if no one else had ever dared to go against what he had to say. He rested his weight on his other foot and stayed still.

"I'm serious, Shadow. Leave. Now." I narrowed my eyes. I knew I would end up regretting this, but I was still in my head after seeing Sally. I couldn't stop thinking about my old school, my old classmates, about her and how I should have stood up for myself a long time ago. I wasn't going to let anyone step all over me again. Not again. Not now. Not ever.

"No." Shadow growled, taking me off guard and scaring me a bit. He suddenly looked furious. "Sit down. I am talking."

I almost listened. I almost sat down, I almost let Shadow take control of the situation, but I snapped out of it and fought back.

"If you're not going to tell me what is going on, then you better get out of my house." I glared at him, crossing my arms as I remained standing up. "I know you and Eggman can't be in the same room, so I went in instead of you. I wouldn't have gone there if you hadn't kicked Knuckles away in the first place if YOU would have given me my shirt back yourself instead of giving it to Rouge. So if ANYONE is to blame about this, it is you." I poked his chest as I said the last part. "So talk."

Shadow remained quiet for a bit longer than usual. I may not know him very much, but I knew he was debating on whether or not to confide something with me. When I realized just how long he was taking to reach a decision, I took a few steps forward towards my bedroom door. As I reached for the door handle, Shadow grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Fine. I'll tell you." He gave in. My ear twitched, I was genuinely surprised but nodded and went to sit down in the bed once again. Shadow locked the door and glanced around my room. He saw my chair beside my gaming computer and sat down there, resting back and crossing his arms.

"What's going on?" I asked so he could start talking.

"I -" Shadow immediately stopped, then sighed. I could tell what he wanted to tell me was hard for him to talk about. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breathe and then he started talking. Shadows' voice remained calm, almost quiet as he spoke and explained to me everything.

How he used to live with Eggman, and he had a sister named Maria. How he wasn't even someone like the rest of us, but he was created instead to help Maria. Shadow told me everything, how his sister died because of Eggman and how Eggman mistreated him, hurt him, did experiments on him. How Maria died right in front of him and couldn't save her, how he ended up under Vanillas care and what Eggman wanted from him and what Shadow thought he now wanted from me. Power. My speed. All of my energy. But he didn't know for what.

Shadow wasn't looking at me. He didn't look at me the entire time he spoke. He looked hurt, and I didn't blame him, I wanted to help him. I clenched my fists and nodded at him.

"Okay." I said softly. Everything else that had happened today seemed to be out of my mind. "I'll stay away from him, but I won't let you be near him either, Shadz."

"You're insufferable. Stop it with that nickname, Faker." I smiled at him. He was looking at me again. I knew exactly what I was doing. It kept him from being sad.

"Why? You have a nickname for me, I should have one for you, don't you think?" I grinned, softly laughing at his glare. I dropped my hands to my sides as I stood up and walked closer to Shadow, then reached out my hand to help him stand up. He hesitated but took it and stood up. "Your secrets are safe with me, Shadow."

His ear flickered a few times at that, but he remained quiet and looked away again. He nodded and walked to the door.

"Oh. Before you go. Here." I walked to my closet and grabbed the shirt Shadow had let me borrow. "Thanks for lending it to me."

"Well, I certainly didn't need you making a bigger mess nor to see you shirtless." Shadow rolled his eyes and grabbed the shirt back from me.

"Are you sure, darling? I bet you'd like what you'd see." I smirked playfully, causing Shadow to raise a brow at me and roll his eyes at me yet again. I couldn't help but laugh and playfully punched his shoulder. "Come on. Go on. I am sure Cream is ready to go home. I'll see yah at school tomorrow."

Shadow nodded and grabbed the door handle , and opened the door. He stopped after he took one foot out the door and looked at me again. "Whyd you take the blame today?"

"It's what friends do, Shadz." I shrugged. Shadow remained silent, then with a quiet huff, he walked away. Soon, leaving the house with Cream.