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“When were you born again?” Sonic asked. The question had popped into his mind, no real reason or motive behind it, Sonic just didn’t remember. Shadow hummed, crossing his arms and looking towards the sunset. It was the end of one of their races, Sonic had decided to take the other to his favorite cliff this time around.
“I wasn't exactly ‘born’ Sonic. Hatched or awoken is more accurate.” Shadow said, continuing to gaze into the sun. Sonic huffed, crossing his arms and sending a pointed look to the dark hedgehog.
“Whatever, you didn’t answer my question.” He said, a light joking to his accusatory statement. The blue hedgehog heard the other chuckle before turning to look towards Sonic again, a light grin on his face.
“June 19th, 1970.” Shadow answered, turning back to the sunset. Sonic hummed in acknowledgement, waking up beside the other and sitting criss crossed next to him. 1970 huh? Sonic wondered what it was like for Shadow back then, the tonal shift of 50 years must have been sour to him.
“What was it like back then?” Sonic asked, Shadow hummed, smiling slightly.
“Different, that’s for sure.” Shadow chuckled out, Sonic doing so as well. Sonic listened to Shadow ramble about the 70’s, the things Maria wanted to enjoy, but couldn't because she would have been away from doctors, the movies, the songs…
“- Maria always wanted to go to the twin towers, said they were the best malls out there, I don’t know about that, but she always made things sound nice.”
Sonic stiffened, Shadow’s ramblings muffled by his own thoughts. There was no way he didn’t know. He had to have known… Gerald or Eggman or… Hell, even Stone would have told him.
“I should visit New York sometime… maybe buy something from the mall for her…”
Oh my god, Shadow didn’t know the twin towers fell. Sonic suddenly felt overwhelmed by the knowledge of something he had been lectured about, laughed at, made jokes of for years, and universal karma took physical form and was slapping him in the face.
“Sonic? Are you even listening?” Shadow asked, snapping his fingers in front of the blue blur’s face. Sonic jumped, looking to Shadow before standing up quickly, nervously laughing.
“Yeah! Yeah! Uhm… does the date September 11th mean anything… and I mean ANYTHING to you?” Sonic asked, almost panicked. Shadow looked at Sonic Confused.
“No? Why would September 11th mean anything?” He asked, a tenseness lacing his tone. Sonic took a deep inhale, trying to think of how to explain this, a loud raging virus of voices yelling millions of suggestions per minute.
“The… uh… they…” Sonic started, before shaking his head.
“You know what? Never mind, come on-“ he said, grabbing the dark hedgehog by the wrist, dragging him along as Sonic raced to his house. Shadow was yelling and protesting at him the entire time, but Sonic didn’t hear any of it, simply focusing on the task at hand.
Once the two arrived at Sonic’s house, the blue hedgehog walked in unceremoniously, shoving Shadow onto the couch in the living room, much to the surprise of his family, who were all lounging about in there.
“Sonic? Shadow? What’s-“ Maddie started, before Sonic sent her a pleading look, asking her to talk. She raised her eyebrow, sending Tom a look, him looking back to her with a shrug. She stood up, walking over to him, he quickly led her towards the attic. Once both were in Sonic’s room, Maddie asked.
“Alright Kiddo, what’s wrong?” Sonic placed his hands on his head, gripping the quills in his fists gently.
“Shadow doesn't know about 9/11!” He whisper-yelled. Maddie’s eyes raised in surprise, below her mouth contorted into a straight line as she began to suppress a laugh. Sonic made a distressed sound, shaking his head.
“Don't laugh! This isn’t funny mom!!” He cried softly. Maddie nodded, taking a deep breath, and bringing her hands to her hips.
“No- no, you’re right, it isn’t.” She said, looking at Sonic once again. “And we should tell him.” She finished. Sonic nodded, but brought his hands from its spot atop his head to drag down his face and eyes.
“But HOW do we tell him?” He asked, his face in his hands. Maddie must have been thinking, before making an “aha” sound.
“We'll show him an educational video! One that parents show their kids you know?” She offered, Sonic looked through his fingers to his mom.
“Do you think that would work? Would Shadow even believe that?” Sonic asked, Maddie shrugged.
“Worth a shot? If not, can’t he teleport there?” She said, Sonic nodded. Maddie walked over to Sonic, patting his shoulder.
“Don’t get stressed about this, no one’s prepared for this type of stuff.” She said, Sonic nodded, sighing after a few seconds.
“Well… let’s face the music., I guess.” He said, Maddie nodded, opening Sonic’s door for him. Slowly, he began climbing down, Maddie not far after.
The two walked down the hallway, suprised to find a horrified looking Shadow, holding his head as he looked at the family’s TV. Sonic looked from the shocked Shadow, to the apprehensive Tails and Knuckles, who looked somewhat terrified but intrigued at what was on the Tv. Sonic slowly entered the room, looking towards the screen, groaning in embarrassment as he saw videos from different people as the towers fell. Maddie followed not far after, looking at Tom with that look that sent shivers down any of the kids' spines.
“Thomas Wachowski, what on earth are you doing?!” Tom brought his hands up defensively, looking at Maddie with nothing but good intentions in his eyes.
“What? He asked what 9/11 was about… so I’m showing him..” Maddie sighed.
What a day to be a hedgehog from the 70’s.