When a G.U.N mission goes wrong, Shadow is captured and used for their captors entertainment.
Contains: Shadow uke, tentacle, oviposition, Shadow hermaphrodite, pregnancy
Tentacles

Shadow's POV

My eyes peered into the dark as I moved soundlessly through the long corridor. I had lost my team quite a while ago. I don't know where they had gone or what had taken them, but what I do know is that I'm alone.
The reason for my presence in this decrepit building was another mission for G.U.N. Apparently in a town far, far away strange things had begun to happen in this building and I was called in with a team to look at what caused the strange occurences.
That was a few days ago and now I have been spending hours here in the dark.
This old, and presumably abandoned, building was the place the inhabitents of the village had pointed me towards, however, with alot of apprehension. The villagers seemed to hate and even fear this place because of the dissapearances over the years. Allegedly anyone who dares visit the building is fated to never return. Most likely they were killed. Or that was what we thought.
That's why my team, because I apparently need back up, and I were send here to investigate. And although the villagers weren't exactly so keen on letting us go there, we didn't listen and went anyway.
And now I was alone with my teammates missing and no way to contact anyone from the outside. Not without Chaos Control and I wasn't about to abandon my mission. Not yet.
I wandered around the deceptively huge building for hours and found not a single trace of anything suspicious or any of my colleagues for that matter. All I found was dust, cobwebs and more dust.
I tried calling their names, but received no reply. All I heard was silence, just like I have for the past couple of hours.
Well, that's what I heard until the silence was suddenly interrupted by this loud rumbling noise all around me. On instinct I held onto the wall for support. It wouldn't do me any good as the floor crumbled from underneath me and I fell.
As soon as I hit the ground, I blacked out.

I don't know for how long I had been I lying here on the dust covered ground, but something in the back of my mind told me that it had to have been hours already.
I pushed myself up with a groan and sat with my legs folded beneath me. I checked for any injuries, but expect for the minor wound on my head, I had nothing. I looked up to see where I had fallen from and noticed that I had instantly descended two floors.
Of course alot of people die in this place. With the state this building was in it collapsed very easily with every wrong step. That and the endless corridors and infinite rooms of this building made it a true labyrinth. No wonder people never returned from this place.
Shakingly I got up from my feet and looked around, my hand placed on the wall for support. Hours had gone by while I was out and it was still as dark as it was before. It was kind of disorientating. The constant darkness and the identical hallways and rooms really didn't help me.
I felt like I was wandering deeper and deeper into the maze of dirt covered corridors, which only served to make me feel even more nervous than I already felt.
I had to stop a couple of times to take a break for my pounding head, but thankfully my advanced healing took care of it quickly and now, another couple of hours later, my head wound was already healed. Atleast that was one plus.
My feet hurt by now. The last time they hurt this bad was when Rouge and I got stuck in the desert for longer than a week, the only reason for our prolonged stay was because of my stubborn will to finish the mission. So to feel how much they hurt now was saying something.
Corridor after corridor, door after door, stairwell after stairwell. It stretched on endlessly and yet there was not a single sign of any of my co-workers or the missing villagers. Not even any skeletal remains, torn clothes or any other kind of belongings.
But what I did find was this strange green light coming from down the hall.
Cautiously I approached it and found another stairway leading downward. I followed it and descended even farther down. I could only guess how deep underground I must be already and I was still descending.
the stairs led to this huge room. There were these green coloured crystals on the ceiling, they were the ones creating the greenish light. At the bottom of the curving steps was this large flat surface that dipped into this body of water at the edge.
I descended the last of the steps and looked around as I walked to the middle of the platform. There were three cufs on chains linked to the nearest wall opposite to the lake. Two of the cufs were just large enough for the wrists, but the middle one seemed wide enough for someone's neck, just wide enough not to choke the prisoner.
I turned my attention to the water, which had this greenish glow to it because of the light. I approached it and looked down into the water.
Suddenly I was hit on the back of my head and blacked out once more.

I groaned at the pain of my pounding head as I woke up once again. That was twice in one mission that I blacked out. That wasn't acceptable.
"I knew we shouldn't have showed those outsiders where to go. Now see what happened." I heard a voice say. Apparently they hadn't heard me groan.
"See what happened? What I see is the first surrogate this decade!" The other voice replied, both male.
Wait.
Surrogate?
Okay, the two of them are whispering, but I'm one-hundred percent sure one of them called someone a surrogate. And I know they are refering to me.
I opened my eyes and looked at the two. They were hiding their faces with a hood as to not be recognised. But I know I heard their voice in that pub I visited when I searched for some locals to talk to.
"Surrogate? Surrogate for what?" I asked, alerting the two of them.
They turned around and looked at me.
"We told you and your team to stay away from us and this place. What happens to you and your teammates is entirely your fault, agent Shadow." The second man, the one who holds the most authority, stated instead of answering my question.
I growled, I hated not being answered. And what did he say about my team?
"What happened to my colleagues? You obviously know something." I growled.
"What do you think happened? They all met a horrific death or will meet it soon. What you should be wondering is what will happen to you. Have you taken a look at yourself yet? The second man answered, gesturing to me.
I did as he said and looked down at myself.
I was shocked to discover that I was naked. Naked and chained with the very same cuffs I had found before I was knocked out for a second time. The widest cuff around my neck like a metal collar and the two smaller ones around my wrists.
And where were my clothes? They were burning in a fire at one end of the room.
Okay, I was convinced. Something bad was about to happen to me. And not just held captive in this underground cave-like room under a building that threatened to collapse at any moment.
Yes, I was worried now.
"Okay, I'm convinced. And what exactly awaits me in the very near future? What am I going to be the surrogate off?" I asked, trying not to sound as worried as I really was.
"You'll find out. All I'm willing to tell you is that you will be spending alot of time with him. You'll discover just how much of a curse your immortality will be." The first man answered with much satisfaction.
Then the two of them left, leaving me alone in here despites my cries and demands for them to come back and get me out of here.
Of course, they didn't answer.
And I was let alone.
But the most concerning thing? The pebble the first guy kicked into the body of water before dissapearing out of my sight, creating ripples in the water.
I didn't think much of it until I realised that people, and now I, were chained here in front of the water for a reason.
With growing suspense and worry I watched as the water began to move. Obviously, that pebble, as small as it was, disturbed something hidden in the water.
I hope it wasn't too big because, for some reason, I can't Chaos Control out of here.
Something dark and long slipped out of the water. It immediatly, out of memory, knew where I was. The slippery appendage reached me and took a hold of one of my legs, rubbing and stroking it gently as if exploring it with soft caressing touches.
It felt so slimy and wet. I think this thing is.... a tentacle?
As soon as I finished that thought, others followed.
I tried to move away as far as I could. But not only did the chains stop me, but the tentacle that already had a grip on my leg suddenly tightened and pulled me back. It was a harsh tug and the chain around my neck didn't exactly agree. Thankfully, he let go as soon as I stopped struggling.
The other tentacles began to touch me aswell. They began to stroke, rub and grope my body every spot they could reach, covering me with the slimy substance that covered them. My arms, legs, torso, they left nothing alone. It was strangely... enticing.
"W...What're you..." Something similar to a moan left my lips as the gentle caressing of the tentacles was quickly arousing me. And so it didn't take long before I showed how aroused I already was.
"No, don't touch it." I moaned as one of the tentacles stroked the erection I sported on my crotch. The touch had send a chill up my spine. The pleasant kind.
Two of the tentacles wrapped around my thighs and pulled them apart, spreading them and exposing all I had to offer. It had felt I was male and so it tried to search for something that might actually be of use to it.
And it found exactly what it was looking for.
"No, not there!" I said as I felt one of the tentacles prodding and rubbing something particularly sensitive that had been hidden by fur and two vaginal lips. My vagina. I was an hermaphrodite.
The slimy touch made me shiver. I took a hold of the tentacle and tried to pull it away from me, but because of the slime covering it, my grip quickly slipped away. It just continued to do what it liked. It stroked over a small, sensitive nub and the small opening that lead to my birth canal, teasing me however it wanted.
"No... I don't want this." I tried to growl and deny the pleasure those slimy appendages gave me, but it was no use.
They just kept sending chill after chill down my spine and my whole body began to tremble with need. I don't like to admit it, but both my manhood and pussy were longing for this. This tentacled creature definitely knew what it was doing. It touched, rubbed and squeezed all of the right places.
I moaned, panted and writhed in it's hold as it stroked through my fur. The appendage wrapped around my erection stroked and squeezed my shaft, trying its best to work me to an orgasm as the tip of the tentacle stroked my own tip.
Suddenly one of the tentacles began to prod my lips. Since I moaning my head off, it easily slipped past and muffled the sounds I made.
"Hmmpf!" I moaned as the tentacle made me deepthroat the thing. And I didn't fight it.
This creature felt how wet I was and decided to act on it, the tentacle that kept itself busy rubbing my clitoris and teasing my entrance began to penetrate that very small opening.
I immediatly came upon the feeling of being stretched and entered by something so foreign, semen shooting out of my member and coating both my belly and the tentacle wrapped around it. Even though my body was writhing and convulsing because of the orgasmic feeling washing over every inch of me, it still kept pumping my shaft.
The tentacle inside my vagina kept itself busy aswell. The tip reached my cervix and prodded and rubbed it, making my toes and fingers curl. That tentacle wasn't like the others that amused themselves with my body. It had a slightly lighter colour and it was thinner aswell. This one was specifically made for mating.
No need guessing twice about what it wanted from me. And yet, I didn't care. Not right now.
"Hmm! Ah, yes!" I moaned, able to speak words for just a moment before the tentacle forced itself in my mouth again.
The tentacle began to move inside my vagina, pulling out and thrusting back in. Now that I already had my climax, it was its turn.
They were pulling me down and I let them, lying on my back as they wanted. The chains were thankfully long enough for that. My legs were kept seperated as the one different tentacle pumped in and out of me at a steady pace, my body rocking along with the movement.
My head reeled back and my back arched as I squeezed down on the intruder inside. The tentacle inside my mouth left me alone and allowed me to moan the room down.
The creature sensed I was more than ready and willing and let itself go.
My body tensed up in surprise and minor orgasm as I felt the inside of me being filled up. The creature was getting what it wanted, a chance to fill my womb with every drop of semen he had to offer and I just let it. I moaned as my lower belly suddenly felt so hot inside as it poured its seed into me.
That's why people were chained here. To be bred by this creature and keep it satisfied. And I was its newest mate.
By the time it pulled out, I had a belly filled with so much cephalopod sperm that I had quite a bump. Strangely enough, nothing came pouring out. I think my cervix was somehow sealed shut to keep everything inside and let it do its work.
Pff, with how much difference of a species we were, like hell anything was going to happen.
I let my head fall back after taking a look at my belly and let exhaustion take me over. I fell asleep on the spot.

I woke up hours later to find myself still in the room, still covered with the slime and my lower body and the floor beneath me soaked with semen and it was still pouring out in a thick, slow stream. I must've been out long enough for the seal to disolve.
With a groan I pushed myself up in a sitting position. My body ached because of the ground it had been lying on and felt a little sore having such a strange love making.
I seperated my legs and looked at my doubly gender. My penis was soft and back in its sheath again and my vagina didn't seem to have gotten damaged in any way. I was completely fine.
Next I decided to test the chains. There was a pool of water right in front of me and yet I couldn't get to it. That frustrated me as I was in a real need of a wash.
Out of nowhere I got a whole a whole bucket of water thrown onto me. In my attempts to get free of the cuffs I had failed to notice one of the men from before returning with a whole bucket of water to rinse me down of any filth.
I looked up to see that it was the second man who had returned.
"I assume you now know your role in this?" He asked.
"My role? You mean keeping that thing sexualy satisfied? Sorry, but I'm getting out of here. You can keep the thing satisfied yourself." I said as I began to pull on the chains once more. But no matter how much I pulled, none of them would budge.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but you cannot leave this place. This place was made to drain you of your energy enough to keep you here. You cannot escape, Shadow." He said.
"Wait, made? This room was made? How?" I asked. Obviously there was something I did not know yet.
"We don't know. We found this cave decades ago and build the labyrinth on top of it to confuse outsiders and keep them from disturbing the creature we found within." He answered. Atleast he was willing to do that.
"Unfortunatly, the outsiders weren't the problem. After years of keeping it safe and provided with all it needed, food and mates mostly, some of the villagers began to question our motives and called it a monster. We got rid of them by leading them here and let the building and the creature take care of it." The man added, he didn't see the reason to hide this from me now that I was unable to escape. Well, he thought I was unable to escape.
"Your little cult got rid of opposing villagers and that's why, after decades of dissapearances, G.U.N was alerted? Looks like this whole unidentified-monsterpet-thing is going to end very soon." I said, smirking. Of course, G.U.N would come looking for me as soon as I was officially reported missing. They knew my last mission was here.
But they knew I could take care of myself. So how long would it take for them to report me missing?
No, it wouldn't take long. Sonic can't miss me for very long. He'll come looking for me soon.
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. The one who alerted your superiors was our leader. You see, at first we didn't understand what he was playing at, but he's sick of using the villagers for this and wants to ease their hearts with an alternative." The man informed me, his hood still very much concealing any and all features on his face.
"An... An alternative... And I guess, that's me?" I asked, my smirk immediatly wiped off of my face.
"Yes, that was you. And both you and your superiors played right into our hands." I swear I could see the glint of a smirk on his face.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to tell the chief that the mating was succesful. Good luck, Ultimate Lifeform." The man said before he turned around and left the cave again.
"Wait! The thing that molested me had tentacles! What was it?!" I yelled after him, hoping he could still hear me.
I received no answer. Guess I'll just have to pay more attention next time it poppd up when I had to fulfill his sexual desires.
I didn't see it ever again.

"Damn... I... I need to get out of here... I need to... I need to get to a hospital." I groaned as I pulled on the restraints with all my might like I have been all day. Once again, my attempts were in vain. Just like yesterday. And the day before. And the day before that. And the day before that.
My wrists were hurt and bleeding already, but that wasn't the reason why I was so desperate to get to a hospital.
The growing bump on my belly was.
I never would've imagined it to be possible, but that tentacle creature from two months ago had actualled managed to knock me up. I was carrying the offspring of some unidentified creature. That's why I wanted to go to the hospital so badly.
I wanted this thing out of me. I wanted to go back home. I wanted to see Rouge, Omega and Sonic. Although, I don't know what they will think of me now that I have a baby of some kind growing inside me.
Thankfully, the bump I now sported had the size of a four month far pregnant lady. Easily hidden by clothes when I can get my hands on some. Although, I would have to get out of here first.
My captors came nearly everyday to keep me fed and check on the... Baby, I guess I can call it. But instead of the two men I had seen in the beginning, the only people I saw now were all women. The reason for that was some bull about me being more comfortable around women in my condition.
They kept me updated about things. Not much, just meaningless gossip and constant reminder about G.U.N still not sending anyone, not even a single agent, to come search for me or any other colleague.
I know Rouge must be worried now that I was already gone for two months. But that didn't necessarily mean she went to search for me. She wanted to give me the benefit of the doubt first.
Sonic will get worried soon, though. I know he will. He'll come find me. He'll come get me out of here and bring me home. And I can't wait to see him again.
There was no sight of the bastard who secuded me and knocked me up. He had a valid reason not to be here, though.
It was dead.
Apparently this thing, whatever it was, dies shortly after mating. What I had been forced to mate with wasn't the original creature, but the son of one of the previous prisoners. Or mates as these people like to call us.
I gave up on struggling and hurting myself even more and sat back against the wall again. My chest heaving as I panted.
I gave up. Atleast for today.

"You better be a mobian." I told whatever was growing inside of me, my hand resting on my belly. I truly hoped with all my heart that it would take after me and be born a mobian. Maybe that way they would deem me useless and let me go home. Or atleast allow me to leave this place.
I don't even care anymore. Even if I spend the rest of my life in that village, anything was better than this cave.
I adjusted my sitting position against the wall to be more comfortable, which wasn't easy with the size my belly had now.
Another two months had passed and my belly had grown to the size of a six month far pregnant lady. That was alot of growth in just four months, but this wasn't exactly a normal pregnancy, either. With a normal pregnancy I would've only had a small bump now.
What did bother me was the reason behind the growth. Was it just because the thing inside grew so fast or because there was more than one?
"Ah!" I yelped as I placed both of my hands on my stomach. It wasn't out of pain, but more out of surprise.
I felt something move. It was brief, but it was definitely there. Not the stereotypical kick, but just something brushing against the walls of my womb.
And as the hour passed, the movement picked up aswell.
It was creepy to feel something move around in there. It didn't feel like the kick or pushing a normal mobian unborn would do. This movement felt like something was slithering on the inside. It was creepy and I don't like it at all.
"Judging by the look on your face I'd say he started moving. You have the exact same face as the last girl five years ago." One of my female caretakers said as she came with a platter of food.
"I know it must feel strange to feel so much movement inside all of a sudden, but that's because they just hatched inside you. That's how they grow up in there. First in eggs and after that in the mother alone. I wish I could know what that feels like." She told me, a giggle leaving her lips as she thought about being pregnant of the tentacle thing herself.
I should've been disturbed by that but I found myself more interested in this girl she mentioned.
"Five years ago? What happened to the girl?" I asked, dreading the answer that might come.
"She gave birth to two beautiful baby boys. We came here to greet them and found that she had killed one of them in a fury. Because of this she wasn't found suitable to be a mother and was taken care of accordingly." She answered and handed me my food.
Any hunger I might've had after my creepy experience, the moving was still going on, was completely gone. Taking care of that one broken woman meant only one thing.
They killed her.
They killed her and had me mate with her surviving child. Which was dead now too.
"I...I'm not hungry..." I stated and pushed the platter away from me, feeling kind of nauseous instead.
"Shadow, why don't you eat your dinner like a good boy and take care of yourself and the baby? Death isn't the only way we take care of unfit mothers." She said with that same smile still visible on her muzzle.
She walked away, leaving me behind with an unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.

One month later, my water broke.
I was facing the wall with my hands pressed against its surface, kneeling in front of it as I searched for some kind of support. Which was very hard to find here on my own.
"Why does this hurt so much?" I groaned, my eyes squeezed close as my head hung low.
Pain was ripping through my body as contraction after contraction ran through my system. It hurt so bad. Do contractions always hurt this badly or was that just in my case?
My amniotic fluid had soaked the fur between my legs and the floor beneath me. It had only served to relief the pressure inside for just a bit. It was clear that I would have to give birth in order to get rid of the pain and pressure completely, but I was still glad the pressure inside was reliefed for atleast a little bit.
I turned to face the water again and reached for it. Water baths were often used to help ease someone's labour. My body was ridden with pain and here was a whole lake. I wanted to use it. Unfortunatly, my limited mobility didn't allow me to even touch the water, much to my dismay.
I pushed again as the need had arisen well over an hour ago. I could feel something trying to move downward, but I just wish it was out of me already. I don't care whatever what it is, I just want it out of me already.
I took a moment to breathe before I pushed again and again. I was crouching on the ground with my hands resting on my knees. I could feel it moving, almost as if it was distressed by the unusual situation.
As its mother, it probably wanted me to make sure it was safe and comforted.
"Damn, don't think that way!" I scolded myself. I didn't exactly want to develop maternal feelings for it. As soon as it was born, I want to try Chaos Spear myself loose from these chains. Last time I tried I only managed to hurt my own hand.
Weither it was because of this room or my pregnancy, the power of Chaos was currently not my friend. I wanted to try Chaos Spear again as soon as this thing was out of me.
I pushed again and again with each contraction. I could feel something stretch my entrance rather painfully. It wouldn't take long anymore. Soon enough it would finally get out of me. Soon enough I could finally escape this place. I could finally go home. I could finally see my friends again. Rouge, Sonic, Omega, all of them.
After one last push I could feel it slip out of me. Both a deep sigh and a whimper left me out of relief. Alot of pressure had vanished and the pain left me alone now.
My eyes were closed. I felt nervous, scared even. I feared that, if I were to open my eyes, I'd see an abomination instead of the mobian baby I was sincerely hoping to have.
I panted and took a moment for myself, trying to come to terms with the fact that I had just given birth. I grimaced in disgust as I felt something wet and slimy moving between my legs.
When I felt ready, I opened my eyes to look at it.
With eight legs and a round head, it looked exactly like its father.
I can't believe it.
This thing was an octopus.
I had sex with an unknown species of octopus.
I gave birth to an octopus!
"You've got to be kidding..." I huffed in disbelieve.
First, I'm the very first mobian being to be given life artificially. Then I try to destroy my homeplanet, Mobius, through the use of my home, The Space Colony Ark. Thirdly, I discover that I'm the devil spawn of an alien overlord and after that the darker half of a god has tried to make me join him in the destruction of Mobius and time itself or face being frozen for the remainder of my life. And now I have just given birth to an eight-legged sea creature after being forced to have sex with its father!
Can absolutely nothing in my life be normal for once?!
As I stared at the newborn and discovered that I wasn't as disturbed as I thought I would be. In fact I wasn't disturbed at all. Or digusted. I simply felt... strange.
He didn't take completely after his father. His skin, as slimy and wet as it was, actually took more after me. He, well I assume it was a he, had a black skin with a reddish pattern on his body.
It looked kind of like some sort of Black Arms.
Was this unknown octopi species a species of alien?
Black Doom said he had returned to Mobius after fifty years. Of course, he'd been here to help with my birth. Could it be that this species of alien had been left here when the Black Comet left fifty years ago for the villagers to find and care for it like some sort of deity?
It certainly would explain its sudden appearance and why no one expect for these visitors know about it. And it would explain why I got pregnant so easily.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but... You're actually kind of cute. In a strange kind of manner, of course..." I admitted, although I blamed the more alien part of myself. I reached one hand to him hesitantly, legitimately curious about wanting to touch what I had carried inside for five months.
I was just an inch or two from touching him when one of the newborn's tentacles wrapped around my hand and wrist. All of a sudden I felt odd. As soon as we made contact, my heart fluttered. I was suddenly mesmerised by it.
Since we touched, my view had changed completely. This wasn't just some weird, alien octopus lying here in front of me. Now this looked genuinely like something I had given birth too. Something that was mine. Something that I had part of in making.
"You, huh... You, well octopi in general, need water. So..." I snapped out of my trance, still muttering unlike myself. I got the small and thin tentacle off of my wrist and hand as gentle as I could and picked it up.
"Oh Chaos... I can't believe it... I don't think I can leave you..." I muttered as I held it. I had intended to throw it into the water because his species needed that liquid and I just couldn't get close enough to the lake to place him in it, but instead I found myself hesitating. It had wrapped all of it's long tentacles around my arms.
It didn't want me to let go.
"You are really not making this any easier on me, you know. All I want is get you in the water where you belong." I spoke to it despites the fact that it couldn't possibly understand me. Well, not so soon after birth, that is.
Carefully I got the eight tentacles loose from me and got as close to the water as I could get before I threw him into the water, though not as gentle as I would've wanted. Just as expected from an alien marine creature, it adapted quickly. It would do better in the lake than here with me.
I got into a comfortable sitting position, well as comfortable as you could get on the hard ground, but it didn't take long before my peace was interrupted.
By another contraction.
"I knew that couldn't have been the only one." I groaned and wrapped my arms around my belly.
Before I had given birth, my belly looked just a tad smaller than that of a nine month pregnant woman. Now it looked quite a bit smaller, but it was obvious that this wasn't just a single birth.
I should've known I'd be having twins or more. My caretakers had often insinuated that I might be having more. I'm actually surprised at being surprised for having more than one.
"Okay... Okay... Now let's get you out of there." I winced, feeling a contraction run through me as I sat back against the wall I was chained and spread my legs.

Alot of contractions, pushing and two more birth laters, I sat panting against the wall, exhausted and sore beyond believe despites the beings I had given birth to lacked a skeleton. Well, atleast I have my body back.
Three octopi. I had given birth to three octopi. If one wasn't weird enough, I had to have been carrying three of them. And they looked exactly the same as my first.
I had gotten them in the water where they could continue to live and thrive. I sat back against the wall after putting the two in the water where their brother already resided and just looked at the transparent liquid.
I could see them getting used to the water and swimming around. They stayed near the surface, near me. They did not dare to stray too far from me. Unlike they're counterparts in the vast ocean of Mobius, they stayed close to their mother.
A yawn left my lips and I covered it with my hand. I was so tired. As I looked at the cuffs around my wrists I contemplated about removing them. My Chaos Energy should be up a little again, right? Maybe I can use my Chaos Spear to get free?
I sighed and let my hands rest on my lap. No, I was much too tired. It would be better to try using Chaos Spear when I wasn't so tired. It would be safer.
So I laid down on the hard ground, curling up now that I could finally do so without my abdomen in the way. I let my head rest on my arm and fell asleep almost instantly.

Somewhere in between conciousness and unconciousness, I heard movement in the cave. It sounded like footsteps. Footsteps and two familiar voices. Two people. A man and a woman. Did two of those cult people come to check up on me? One of them was here when my water broke, but she left to tell the 'master' all about it and didn't return.
I may not have a good sense of time here in the dark, but I know it's been hours since she left. I guess it's also customary for them to leave birthing mothers completely alone.
I could hear them calling my name and the rattling sound of cuffs as my body was moved while they were removed. Wait, why were they removing them?
"Don't worry, Shad, you'll be okay." The male voice reassured me as I was picked up and carried off. When my rescuers ascended the stairs was when I lost my conciousness completely again.
As I was being picked up, I could feel something wet and slippery wrapped around my ankle before it slipped off and back into the water.

When I regained my full conciousness, the first thing I noticed was the room I was in.
Everything was either white, grey or beige colored. The smell of sick people, medication and sterilisers. The sound of people hushing eachother but still continue to talk loudly as they walk up and down the hall right outside the door. The IV stuck in my arm.
I was most definitely in the hospital. Not my most favourite place in the world, but definitely better than that cave I spend the last five months of my life in.
"Shadow, you're awake. I'm so glad to see you're okay!" Rouge wrapped her arms around me in a tight embrace. She was so reliefed to have me safe and sound with her again. I returned the hug. She was the only one who's hugs I returned. Well, she and Sonic.
"I'm glad to see you again too." I replied, not letting go of her for just a little while longer. After five months spend alone in a dim light, this hug was very, very welcome.
"How're you feeling, hun?" Rouge asked as we pulled away and took her seat on the chair I assume she had been sitting on while she waited for me to wake up.
"Tired." I simply answered, which I emphasized with a deep, tired sigh.
"Just tired? Nothing else? Pain for example?" She asked, insisting that I might feel something I wasn't telling her.
"No, just tired." I insisted, although that couldn't be farther from the truth. The truth was that I felt incredibly sore. Sore and, strangely enough, empty. I would've admitted to Rouge what I really felt if giving birth to an alien octopus' offspring wasn't something out of a weird, sci-fi fetish movie.
Rouge decided to accept my answer. For now.
"Where's Sonic?" I asked. I have been dying to see him again.
"I told him to go home and get some rest. He had been sitting here for hours and had barely slept. Not to mention all the sleepless nights and hours of searching for a single sign from you. We had spend weeks in that village before we finally got a clue where you had run off too. Sonic needed some rest." Rouge answered, taking my hand into hers.
"Okay." I simply muttered as a response and look up to the ceiling.
I still felt so tired. I wanted to fall asleep again. So I closed my eyes.
"Shadow?"
"Yes?" I replied, not bothering to open my eyes. I already felt myself becoming drowsy again.
Rouge was hesitant to answer. She wanted to ask me a question, I know she wanted too, but she was hesitating, having second thoughts.
"Nevermind." She muttered and turned her gaze to look outside.
I glanced her briefly and wondered why she had suddenly decided to keep her question to herself, but soon enough I stopped wondering and fell asleep instead.

"And here we are! Home sweet home!" Sonic exclaimed as he carried me inside the hotel room he had rented for a few weeks.
After getting discharged from the hospital, Sonic insisted that we go away for a little while. He had to miss me for five long months. He wanted some time to ourselves. He wanted some time away from his friends and spend his every waking moment with me as I spend it with him.
"Well, not really home, but it does beat the cave I was stuck in before." I stated in response as I was being carried inside, my eyes scanning over every little detail of the room.
It was very luxurious and spacious. There was one large king-sized bed, a dresser with a tv on top of it, two nightstands at each side of the bed, a small freezer, a closeth and two doors. One leading to the hallway and one leading to the bathroom. It was worth every ring Sonic had spend on it.
"Yeah, it does and this will too." Sonic said as he lowered me on the bed gently and kissed me full on the mouth as his body hovered over me.
I returned the kiss, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him closer to me. Sonic let me and crawled up on the bed, lowering his body on top of mine as he deepened the kiss, letting his tongue slipped between my lips as his hands wandered over my sides and sneaked up underneath the shirt I wore.
I wrapped my legs around him too, but that was when he decided to pull away and just look at me instead. Doubt was clear in his eyes.
"Sonic?" I called his name in concern.
"You know... I... I understand if this is too uncomfortable for you." Sonic said. Apparently he thought for some reason that it might be awkward for me to have sex with him.
"Sonic, why would this be uncomfortable for me?" I asked, oblivious to the reasonong behind his thinking.
Sonic pulled away from me and sat up. It looked like he was thinking about somthing. I sat up too, my back resting at the headboard.
"Sonic, please tell me. Rouge was being so secretive and careful around me too. I hate it." I said as I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
Sonic didn't answer at first. He was thinking about it first. He wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about it.
He turned to face me. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times, like he was trying to tell me something, but didn't really know how to start.
"We know, Shad." He simply said after failing to come up with a better way to speak.
I shifted uncomfortably in my position.
What exactly did he mean with "we know"? I assume that he means that he and Rouge know. But what do they know? Do they know what I had to go through in that cave? They couldn't, right? I didn't tell them.
"We know you gave birth, Shadow." He answered my question before I even got to ask it.
I just stared at him. Silent. For once in our relationship, I was speechless.
Sonic noticed my silence and continued to speak.
"When we got you in the hospital, I asked a gynaecologist look at you. I mean, a weird village like that holding you captive in a cave underneath a labyrinth... Who knows what they did to you. That's why, when you were still out cold, I asked a gynaecologist to check you out." Sonic explained, trying not to sound as guilty as he really felt. He knew that having someone look at something so private without my consent or even my knowledge was wrong. Even if he had the right intentions.
"I was glad to hear that there were no signs of rape or abuse of any kind. But the signs they did see told them that you had given birth. Very recently. Hours before we brought you in even. And yet... I didn't see a baby..." Sonic finished speaking. Finally he managed to say what he had been wanting to say ever since I woke up in the hospital days earlier.
Carefully Sonic took my hand into his own, squeezing it gently to tell me that it was okay to speak. Unfortunatly for him, I didn't know what to say. I know what he wanted to hear, though.
He wanted answers.
He wanted to know if the baby I had was his. He wanted to know if the baby I had passed away and that's why they found me all alone and passed out on the floor. He wanted to know if the baby I had was taken away and raised by those sick villagers.
Of course, he couldn't be more wrong. The baby, well babies, wasn't his. And they weren't taken away from me, but I was taken away from them.
Not that those octopi would care. Their dad survived without his mother. They don't need a mother to protect them. Not in the predatory-free environment like that cave they lived in. I was completely useless to them. Only useful again when they were grown up.
That's how I rationalised out parting. But it still hurt. People might disagree because what I had birthed wasn't mobian. Or human for that matter. But five months I carried them and five months my life was solely revolved around them. I had and felt them grow inside me, no matter how creepy I found it at first.
I rationalised it by convincing myself that they didn't need me. And it worked because it was true.
But what was I going to tell him?
I got to my feet and left for the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Sonic didn't follow me. He knew I needed some time to myself.
I sat down on the ground with my back leaning against the door.
When I woke up to find myself in the hospital, I thought everything was going to be okay. I thought I could just forget those five months of my life and move on. But now it was obvious those five months would haunt me for a long, long time.