Author’s P.O.V. 
The azure hedgehog had stayed in his house for over a week already, he was trying his hardest not to go look for Shadow knowing that if he did, he would be mad at him. 

As he paced around his room, he kept glancing at his phone, hoping he would get a message from his boyfriend telling him that he was home. He refused to answer any calls from anyone else, even yelled at his siblings to not call him. 

The prince was still wondering who told GUN about them.

~~~
“Great job on your mission, agent Shadow.” The Commander hummed as he looked at the papers. “Did your wound bother you?”

“No, sir.” 

“That’s what I thought. You were just whining before.” He scoffed and put the papers down. “You can go, your next mission is tomorrow.” 

Shadow nodded and walked out of the office, his movements were just like a robot’s, his face emotionless, his voice as well. He had a speaker in one ear, the same noise coming out of it.

He wasn’t responding to anyone else, just the Commander. He would simply ignore everyone, never flinch or show fear or pain. 

He was truly acting like the Ultimate Lifeform would. 

Meanwhile, the azure one broke down one more time in his room. He couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened to his boyfriend or if GUN did something to him. 

The smaller one was curled up under his blankets, his phone charging beside him in case his boyfriend would call as he cried on the pillow like he had been doing for the past week. 

His best friend started calling him, being worried since he hadn’t seen him for so long, he didn’t stop calling him at all, thinking that his boyfriend had used him and left him. 

This annoyed the hero and answered the phone furiously. "What?!" He wasn't surprised if Dark were to show up even though he had gotten rid of him already. He was mad and hurt about what was happening.

“Sonic! What happened?! Why aren’t you answering?! Everyone is worried about you!” Tails quickly asked and dropped his ears. 

“Sonic?!” Amy’s voice could be heard from the phone as well. “Thank chaos! I thought Shadow had killed you!” 

The azure hero had his ears pinned down. "Leave me alone. Stop calling me." The azure one was going to hang up when he realized something and his ear flickered. "What did you say about Shadow?" He knew he had only told Tails about them dating. 

“Did he leave you? Hurt you?” Rose kept asking questions and grabbed the phone from the young fox. “Why have you been ignoring everyone?” 

"Amy… how do you know about us…?" He tried to sound calm but he knew she must have had something to do with what happened.

“Tails told me. Now answer me!” Amy whined. “Why are you ignoring me…!” 

"No! Did you tell GUN?!" The hero snapped.

“What?! No! I told a friend that works for them, why?” 

“Amy!” Tails gasped when he heard that, he had no idea. 

The hero couldn't take this anymore. "DON'T. EVER. EVER. TALK TO ME AGAIN! EITHER OF YOU!" He quickly hung up and dashed to Shadow's house. He couldn't take it anymore, wanting to see Shadow.

The dark hedgehog was just about to open the door to his house, he never ran anymore, unless he was training or in a mission. 

The smaller one saw him and quickly hugged him. "Shadow! Oh my chaos! You had me so worried!" He had his ears pinned down. 

This made the Ultimate Lifeform gasp and he quickly grabbed the hero by his neck and pinned him on the wall as he growled loudly. “Who are you?!” He tightened his grip on his neck and put more pressure on it. “And how do you know my name?!” 

The smaller one gasped and tried to get his hand away from his neck. He kept his ears pinned down and tried to breathe. "Sh-Shadow… I-It's m-me… S-Sonic… Y-your b-boyfriend… s-stop… you're hurting me…" He let a few tears roll down his cheeks as he tried to get away from his grip.

“My what?” The dark head asked his confused. “I don’t know who you think I am, but I am not anyone’s boyfriend. So you better back off if you want to live, am I clear?” He said in a very threatening way, his grip tightened even more. 

"W-what…?" There were more tears streaming down his muzzle by now. He tried to say something but he could barely talk now and his vision began getting blurry.

Just before he fainted, Shadow let go and crossed his arms. “You have five seconds to leave.” He said coldly, clear that he wasn’t joking. “One…” 

The smaller one coughed lightly and panted heavily. "W-wait… w-what did I… d-do wrong…?" The prince thought Shadow was saying all of those things as a way to break up with him. 

“Two…” Shadow ignored him and growled lowly, getting impatient. 

"Were you using me…?" The hero felt himself crying again. 

“Three..!” The dark hedgehog started charging up a chaos spear as a threat, he started wondering what the smaller one was talking about, but he didn’t show any sympathy. 

The smaller one glanced at his hand, already knowing Shadows moves from the time they were rivals. It broke his heart to see him acting that way again. "I can't… believe I fell for you… I should have known you would just hurt me… I wanted to believe that you actually had changed… But I guess the Ultimate Lifeform will just keep hurting and pushing others for the rest of his life… I hate you… I don't ever want to see you again…" His voice broke a few times so he stopped talking for a bit then he shouted one last thing. "I HATE YOU SHADOW!" He snapped then dashed off. 

Shadow scoffed at that and walked into his house. “There are some strange people in this world...” He mumbled to himself as he made tea for himself, trying to remember where he had seen that hedgehog before, but his mind was blank, nothing came up. Everything was blurry, suddenly, when he was close to remembering, he gasped and hissed loudly when the noise got louder. “Shit…” He growled lowly and tried to take off the speaker, but only made the noise louder. 

The prince dashed off inside his house. He locked all doors and windows as he closed all the curtains as well. He hated himself for falling for Shadow. He knew he shouldn't have trusted him to begin with. 

"I hate you!" The azure one punched a wall then plopped in his bed as he broke down, he cried and cried for hours trying to forget the pain in his heart. Trying to forget the feelings he still had for the ebony one. 

He looked at his phone and quickly grabbed it then threw it out the window out of anger and sadness. Sonic didn't want to talk to anyone or for anyone to see him. He knew he shouldn't have trusted to tell Tails either or even his family.

~~~
“Tails! Tails!” Rouge banged on the door as she shouted. “Open the door!” 

"Rouge?" The twin-tailed fox said once he answered the door. "What's going on?" He asked confused.

“Hun! I just found out what happened with Shadow!” The bat dropped her ears. “You have to help me!” 

"What do you mean what happened to Shadow?" The fox let Rouge in his house. "Rouge, what's going on. Sonic hasn't answered my calls, nor does he even open the door. I haven't heard from Shadow and I'm scared he used Sonic!" 

“No! No, he didn’t Shadow is being controlled by G.U.N., they used Eggman’s invention!” Rouge quickly shook her head. “He can’t remember anything! That’s why I’m in a hurry because I don’t know what else the Commander is going to do to him! He’s in pain!” 

Tails dropped his ears at hearing this and nodded. "Well the first time, we destroyed the main machine that Eggman built. Maybe the commander has it hidden in his office. You need to look for it and destroy it. If that doesn't work then there must be another way that Shadow is being controlled from all the time. I need to talk to Sonic and tell him what is happening. Maybe his family can help us with G.U.N."

“Alright, I’ll go look for the machine, you go tell Sonic what’s going on.” The agent nodded and walked outside the house. “Poor Sonic…” She sighed and flew away. 

The fox quickly ran to his best friend's house and tried to go in. He called the azure one's name but when he didn't answer, he quickly got mad and broke a window, getting the hero's attention. 

Rouge sneaked in the Commander’s office when she noticed that he wasn’t in there and looked around for the machine that was controlling her best friend. 

As the fox had a long conversation with his best friend over what had happened, the hero could not stop thinking that it was his fault. The azure one nodded and stood up as he tried to stop crying. 

"I'll need to talk to my mother about what G.U.N. has done." Was all he said before he started walking to the door so he could go to the castle.

Rouge was still looking for the machine, when she found it, she smiled and walked to it. “Bingo~” She whispered and tried to block the system. 

"What are you doing, Bat?"

~~~
While Rouge tried to block the system, the azure hero dashed off to the castle and jumped over the gates without caring. He dashed in and immediately found his mother. It was clear that he had been crying and he was clearly hurt. 

"Mom. I need to talk to you."

Aleena looked at her son and dropped her ears. “Maurice? What’s wrong?” She asked in worry.

"G.U.N… Is controlling Shadow the same way Eggman controlled all of you…" His voice broke lightly but he tried to stay calm and act as if he was fine. 

“What? How? I thought doctor Eggman was the one behind this…” She lowered her ears and walked to her son. “ I can make them release him and bring him here if you want…” She wanted him to be happy. 

"Please, Mom… Get G.U.N. to leave him alone and the doctors here to make sure he is okay…" The azure one let a tear roll down his muzzle as he said that but his voice didn't break. There were times he would cry without noticing. "Help him please…" 

“Alright. I’ll do whatever I can to bring him back. Don’t worry.” Aleena kissed Sonic’s forehead. “Everything’s going to be fine.” She said softy.

"T-thanks… I'll wait here until he's back and then I'll leave…" He said lowly, still hurt about what he had done. He had a bruise on his neck from when Shadow had tried to choke him but he had it covered with a scarf since it was winter and he didn't think anyone would question him about it. 

He knew he couldn't see Shadow yet, he knew Shadow didn't mean what he did or said since he was being controlled but he was still hurt. He didn't know if he was ready to see him either. He still loved him but the azure one knew it would hurt to see his now ex after the accident.

"Leave? But… He needs someone to look after him." The Queen held Sonic's hand. "Sonic… What's wrong…?" She knew something was wrong.

"Nothing Mom. Just please call GUN, who knows what else they are capable of." He sighed and looked down.

"Alright…" Aleena slowly nodded and walked out of the room. 

"Sonic…?" Sonia hesitantly spoke up. "Did something happen with Shadow…?" 

The hero looked up to see his sister then shook his head and began walking away, he was still mad at his sister for what she had done. The azure one knew that if he were to tell Sonia, she will tell him that he shouldn't have trusted him. 

"Sonic. I'm sorry." The Princess sighed and grabbed her brother's wrist. "Please don't ignore me…" She sounded depressed. 

Sonic looked at his sister and stayed quiet for a few seconds then took a deep breath and sighed. "What you did wasn't okay Sonia." He said softly since he knew he wanted to break down again.

"I know, I'm sorry. But I was just scared. I wanted to protect you…" Sonia let a few tears roll down her muzzle. "I don't want to lose you…" 

The prince looked at his sister and sighed then hugged her. He could never stand seeing his family crying. "Just… Don't try to control us… On the people we see or the friends we have… Please, Sonia, that's our decision. I forgive you if you promise me that."

"I promise. I will." The pink hedgehog hugged back, after a bit she sighed. "Manic ran away…" 

"What?!" He rubbed his face after he pulled away. "I- He- Just let him be… He will be back soon, just let him be."

"I hope so. He didn't take the breakup lightly…" The Princess mumbled. "I just hope he's okay…" She rubbed her arm. 

Sonic nodded. "He will be okay, you know Manic, he was born in the streets, he knows how to take care of himself." He smiled slightly and glanced at the door where Aleena had left hoping she'd talked to G.U.N. already. 

"Um… Maurice…?" Aleena walked into the room with a puzzled expression. "The Commander says that Shadow doesn't want to come back and they deny my accusations." She said softly. "I don't trust them, if I'm honest. But I can't do anything without proof. I can't press charges against them." 

The hero dropped his ears, feeling more heartbroken than ever. "Mom… You met Shadow… You saw the way he acted towards me… He was happy, gentle, caring with me… He wouldn't hurt me…" He took off the scarf to shoe the bruise. "But he did this time… At first, I thought he used me but then Rouge told Tails what happened and it makes sense. That wasn't Shadow… We need to do something… Please… Anything…" His voice broke a couple of times as he talked. 

Sonia and Aleena lowered their ears at the bruise.

"I will try, I'll send the guards to check the place. Maybe we should go there as well." The Queen tried to think of a way to take the Ultimate Lifeform from them. "I'll talk to Chuck about it."

"Tails told me that Rouge went to find the machine that controls Shadow and to destroy it. We will need Manic to help us find that without getting caught. And wear something in your ears in case G.U.N. tries anything." 

"But Manic isn't here." The mother dropped her ears. 

"Sonia told me, I will try to call. He isn't so mad at me, and he loves his family, he will help us." The azure hero said and looked at Sonia. "Let me borrow your phone, I broke mine." 

Sonia nodded and gave the Prince her phone, not caring about why or how he broke his phone since now wasn't the time. 

The hero called his brother hoping he would answer. He would usually spam his brother until he were to answer him back. 

"What do you want?" Manic asked in annoyance. "I have work to do." 

"Hey bro, it's Sonic." His voice broke lightly, clear he was crying. "I need your help stealing something from GUN, one of the most secure places in the world." He knew that would get his brother's attention.

The green hedgehog stayed quiet for a bit. "I'm listening…"

"GUN has the best security system around, and I need you to find, steal and destroy a control that G.U.N. has been using to control Shadow." He stopped for a bit and quietly chuckled. "I mean… I don't know if you can steal it… It looks like a lot of trouble for you…" He teased.

Manic chuckled. "Alright then. I see you, bro. Are you gonna come and get me?" He rolled his eyes playfully. "Or are you too slow for that?" He did the same thing Sonic did. 

The azure prince laughed softly, finally genuinely smiling. "Where you at? I'll get you in a second."

"Close to the park. I'll count to three, you better be here." Manic smirked. "One…" 

Sonic quickly gave the phone back to Sonia and dashed off to where Manic was. He quickly picked him up and dashed back to the castle and put him down when they were in front of the gates. "Don't test me." His bruise around his neck was visible.

"Gah!" The green Prince gasped and tensed up when he felt that then looked at his brother. "Chill, dude." He chuckled then raised a brow at the bruise. "Either you had a crazy night with Shadow, or you got in a pretty bad fight."

"G.U.N. controls Shadow, I didn't know and went to see him, he tried to choke me." He quickly explained. "I need your help getting the control from GUN and destroy it." He sighed. "Let's go inside." 

"Damn. Alright then." The green Prince hummed. "Actually, I'll wait in here, you can go get the others. Or even better! We can go by ourselves." He didn't want to face the rest of his family. 

"Sonia apologized, come on bro, I know you love them just as much as I do. Give them another chance man." He said softly.

"I'm not mad at them, I'm just ashamed." Manic shook his head. "They were right about him, I should've listened." 

The smaller one patted his brother's shoulder and shook his head. "Don't be ashamed Manic. It's fine. We are family." 

"Just get the others here." The green Prince sighed. 

The azure hero nodded and dashed inside. After a while, the others walked out. Sonic had given them earplugs, in case of G.U.N. Trying to do something. 

"Let's get going." Manic started walking. "I've never sneaked in a building with that many people before, let alone in a building with such high security." 

"Are you scared~?" The azure brother asked and gave him some earplugs. "Put these on when we are close to GUN." 

"I. Am. Not. Scared." The green Prince chuckled and nodded. "Let's just go."