Sonic was the first one to wake up as he smelled the fresh scent of breakfast. He sat down and stretched himself with a small yawn. The blue hedgehog then looked over his bed, seeing Shadow still sleeping, with a peaceful look on his face. Sonic gently got up to go downstairs.

"Morning!" Sonic announced his presence in the kitchen with an happy face, and sat down on his chair. This made Tom and Maddie turn around to see his arrival.

"Morning Sonic. You looks like you slept well, you look happy today." Maddie said with a smile, preparing a plate for him. "Shadow is still sleeping?" She then added, seeing that the blue hedgehog was alone.

"Yes, he had some trouble to sleep last night, so we talked for a bit until he got ready to sleep." Sonic smiled and waited for his breakfast to be ready.

"Oh, really? What you did talk about?" Tom asked curiously.

"It seems that he is fascinated of the world around him. He was looking the sky and I tried to explain him what stars was." Sonic smiling face became sad as he remembered theirs conversation. "His life seems miserable... How people could treat him like that?.."

Tom sighed a little. "Sonic... Not everyone can be good. There is some bad people in the world too..."

"But that's just... How people could treat him like an object? That's why humans tried to capture me as well?" The blue hedgehog looked serious, and a little angry. He knows that there's good and bad people in the world, but what Shadow had lived shouldn't never happens for him. It wasn't right...

"That's not like that, Sonic... But since we never saw a hedgehog like you before, some people were scared... But you're right. Shadow didn't deserved this. He is not a lab rat or anyone's property, he is a living and sentient being, like any humans." Tom continued with a serious look. Sonic's reaction didn't surprised him, it was normal, but he knew why the military tried to capture him. Sonic, and now Shadow, were aliens for them. It is the first time that humans discover sentients being coming from another world after all...

Sonic just sighed at this, knowing very well that Tom would never hurt him, or Shadow, and would do anything he could to protect them. "That's doesn't matter anymore. I am here to protect Shadow now, and I'll make him have a good life." He said as Maddie put his plate in front of him. He thanked her quickly before starting to eat.

"And we are here too to protect you and Shadow, right Tom?" Maddie said with a smile towards the male human next to her.

"Of course." Tom smiled as well. "Even the town likes you now, since you fought this Robotnik. You're like our town symbol or something." He then added with a chuckle. Sonic laughed at this, kinda liking the idea, it feels like he was a hero, and his job was to protect this town and the people living here...

~~~

Shadow slowly woke up, it tooks him some seconds to remember where he was. He slowly opened his eyes, seeing that he was alone in the room, but he then heard some voice, this means that Sonic was back with the humans... He gently got up from the bed, suddenly seeing that sleeping in it was a bad idea. The bed was all messy, covered with some dirt and dried blood that obviously came from him. The black hedgehog looked at himself a bit, yes, he was all dirty, his fur was dull and his stripes looked more maroon than red as they should be. Even his chest fur was more grey that the white it once was. He sighed before getting up, he will have to explain to Sonic that his bed is not usable anymore...

Shadow slowly descended the stairs, making his way towards the kitchen as he saw Sonic and the humans talking together. As he made his way to the living room, Ozzy immediately saw him and goes to him happily. Shadow froze a bit, still a little scared of this strange creature...

"Oh, Shadow! You're awake! Calm down Ozzy, let him go." Sonic immediately got up from his chair when he heard Ozzy moving, and quickly saw Shadow coming. Ozzy obeyed and goes back to lay on the couch.

"Umm yeah, I am..." The black hedgehog said after the dog got away from him. "I'm still not used to this... Thing..." He added somewhat nervously.

"Ozzy is just our dog he won't hurt you, I promise." The speedy hedgehog said with a smile. "Now come on, it's breakfast time. I'm sure you're hungry." He walked back to the kitchen, with Shadow following him closely, eager to see what kind of food he will be able to eat this time, as Maddie prepared another plate for Shadow, smiling at the two hedgehog...

~~~

Here's another chapter! I hope you will like it. ^^