"Shadow?" Sonic whispered a brief moment of silence.

"Hmm?" said the king, opening a closed eye as he held his loved one close.

"If…if sharing memories is part of the marking process as you said, then…why don't I know anything about you?"

Shadow held the azure male closer and sighed.

"Well," he began, "I don't know how you'll take it, but…since you were the one marked…you can only receive my memories if we were to mate."

Sonic's quills bristled as he instantly grew tense. He looked into the eyes of his Alpha with fear and uncertainty.

"Seriously?" he asked, raising a brow.

"I'm afraid so," Shadow replied.

Sonic frowned slightly and rested his head back on the king's well-toned chest, looking away in slight embarrassment.

"But," Shadow added, making Sonic's ears perk.

"If it'll make you feel better, I think it'd be better if I just tell you about my past. How's that sound?"

Sonic smiled and snuggled closer into Shadow's cold body. The fact that he was dead didn't seem to faze him at all.

"I'd like that."

"Very well, then," Shadow smiled. "What would you like to know first?"

Sonic thought for a moment and replied, "How old are you?"

Shadow chuckled, "I am a very, very, old man, Sonic; do you really want to know?"

Sonic looked up at him and pouted, crossing his arms, "If you know when I was born, then I want to know the same."

Shadow snickered, "Alright, then. But, I'm going to make this a little interesting. I'll give you my birthday and I'll let you do the math. If you're wrong, then I'll tell you my age."

"Seems fair enough, I guess."

"Mephiles and I were born on June 19, 1155, which was the 12th century during the High Middle Ages. Since this is June 2011, how old am I?"

Sonic blinked in confusion, before furrowing his brow, deep in thought. Sonic slid out of Shadow's lap and plopped on the floor in front of him, his back to the king. Shadow smiled, resting his cheek on his knuckles as he watched Sonikuu count on his fingers,  his legs on either side of the blue blur with one knee drawn up to rest his elbow on. He snickered each time the blue blur lost count and had to start over.

"Give up?" he laughed.

Sonic glared playfully back at him. "Yeah, why not?"

"I am eight hundred and fifty-five years old, Sonikuu," he finally answered with a proud smile. "My next birthday is in a couple of days."

Sonic eyes grew wide and he just stared at the Alpha both in shock and in awe.

"Damn, you really are old."

Shadow sniggered. "To you, maybe. But to us vampires, I would still be considered a young adult, probably around in my mid-twenties. The oldest vampire to ever live just so happened to be an Alpha Queen, actually."

"How old was she?"

"She was born back in the A.D.s and lived for just about 7,000 years."

"Dang, she lived to be one pretty old hag, didn't she?" Sonic laughed.

"That hag just so happened to be my 27th great-grandmother, Sonikuu. She was one of our most powerful rulers," Shadow playfully glared, crossing his arms.

Sonic sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Oops, sorry about that, Shads," he chuckled sheepishly.

Shadow smiled, wrapping his arms around Sonic's waist, pulling his closer so that his back was on his chest, nuzzling into his quills. He purred into Sonic's ear, chuckling, "No harm done. Just be glad that you're so damn cute, otherwise you'd have been dead meat."

Sonic blushed at Shadow's cold claws when they wrapped around him. He smiled a little, still new to all this and a bit hesitant, placing his hands over Shadow's own. So, when Shadow started to purr, it was like a lullaby to him and he leaned back with a content sigh so that his head rested on Shadow's shoulder blade, their faces inches apart.

"Tell me more about yourself," the azure asked.

"As you wish," he smiled.

"Like I was saying, I was born during the 12th century, being the oldest of my brother and me.  Our mother was the Alpha Queen, named Raven.  She marked our father, who was her opposite. Our mother was a kind and beautiful yet extremely powerful woman, just like countless other Alphas. Our father was a mortal, however, and her Contra Attraction. He was known as Black Doom. He only seemed to crave destruction. He was portrayed as a cold, ruthless man with no sense of compassion whatsoever. He would do anything to accomplish his goals, even if it means taking innocent lives. Black Doom happened to take great pleasure and delight in hurting others, making him almost sadistic and psychotic, once our mother claimed, or bit, him."

"Well, what happened?"

"Heh, she made sure to fix that problem, of course," he smiled.

"What did she do to him?"

"She put him in his place," he laughed. "You must always remember, Sonikuu, that an Alpha Queen, regardless of their gender or bloodline, has more authority than a King. The reason why being that the Alpha Queen gives birth to the next Alpha. Since females and ukes give birth to the next generation, if it weren't for them, we all wouldn't be here.  No Queen means no new Alpha, Sonikuu, which gives him/her more respect than the king automatically, whether they bear offspring or not. Never forget that, my dear."

"So…" Sonic paused to think, "what you're saying is that - -"

"If we were to marry, the entire pack would obey your orders before my own," he grinned.

Sonic blushed before snickering, saying, "I like the sound of that."

"Heh, I'll bet," Shadow smirked. "Anyway, he calmed down a bit, but even that didn't work for long. There was only one thing that managed to stop him for good."

"And what was that?"

"The birth of the new Alpha," the Alpha smiled sincerely.

Sonic blinked before a smile also adorned his face as well.

"He was so proud to be a father. I can remember him saying that he always wanted someone to follow in his footsteps, to be a stronger and more powerful ruler than himself. And with my birth, he had the privilege of training the greatest Alpha the world would ever see. As soon as I was old enough, I started training; I hadn't even grown into my stripes yet and I was doing anything from hand-to-hand combat to harnessing the power of chaos. He no longer had an obsession with power for his own gain; he was obsessed with making me powerful."

"But, what about Mephiles?" Sonic asked curiously. "What did he do?"

"My father spent little time with him and barely wanted anything to do with him. I was his main priority. But, my beloved brother made sure that he was at every training session, wanting to train right by my side, no matter how much our father protested. Black Doom said that he only had time for the Alpha, not a mere Beta. But, when he was almost impaled with a crystal spear for making Meph so upset, he saw that he was as equally powerful as me and quickly changed his mind. A Beta that powerful could've become a threat and deadly rival to me instead of a brother and that would have led to serious competition for the throne. So, at times our father would put us up against one another, pointing out our weaknesses along the way and we'd fight till we could no longer stand. Or at least until our mother intervened, that is."

"Mephiles sounds like a pretty nice guy," Sonic thought out loud.

"Heh, he is," Shadow answered. "And twice as annoying."

"Annoying?" Sonic scoffed.

"Yes, my dear, annoying as hell," Shadow chuckled, helping Sonikuu to his feet after he himself stood. "My brother was the ultimate prankster when we were younger, always sneaking up on me and scaring the living daylights outta me. And the fact that he can turn into someone's shadow made it all the more worse."

Sonic laughed at the thought.

"My brother and I did everything together, Sonikuu," he reminisced, hooking his arm under Sonic's and escorting him out the door and down the palace hallway, going for an evening stroll.

"Mephiles copied my every move and followed me everywhere to the point that the entire palace staff called him Shadow's shadow. But, at one time I'd gotten so sick and tired of him following my every move that I wished that he could be somewhere else for a change," Shadow's smirk having since been replaced with a look of sadness. "It was too late to realize that my wish was about to come true."

Sonic could already feel the pain in his heart before Shadow spoke any further. He could tell this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Sonikuu," Shadow sighed as he stopped to sadly gaze into his lover's eyes, "You may not believe me when I say this but…you weren't the only one to lose your loved ones at a young age."

The azure male gasped as the Vampire King continued.

"One fateful night, my brother and I had gotten into a very serious argument. About what, I cannot remember. But, what I did remember were my own words that shall haunt me for the rest of eternity."

Flashback…

"I cannot stand you, Mephiles. I hate you and I always have! We may be twins but we will NEVER be brothers!!!" a 6-year-old Prince Shadow shouted.

End flashback….

"Just the look of hurt and betrayal in his eyes were enough to kill me a thousand times over. Out of all the powers that I possess, Sonic, the one that I truly wish I had was the ability to travel back in time. If I could, I would stop myself from saying it and everything else that followed afterwards."

Shadow sighed deeply as he stared out a moonlit window to the stars above and continued. Sonic helplessly listened on.

"All of a sudden, our parents burst into the room. Looks of fear and distress were evident in their eyes, especially our mother's. They kept looking over their shoulders as if we were being followed when they lifted us into their arms and ran down one of the many corridors of our palace home and out into the garden. We could easily sense that something was very wrong. I was scared, but I was more concerned about my brother, even after the things I said. He was crying, and it always broke my heart to see him cry. I was his big brother and I wanted to reach out to him and tell him that everything would be alright, but I was wrong. Neither Mephiles or I knew that that would be the last time we would ever see each other."

Flashback…

Two horses awaited the royal family, their hot breath easily visible in the winter cold, saddled up and ready for a night's journey. The Alpha Queen put Shadow down and Black Doom did the same with Mephiles, both parents quickly taking black cloaks from their saddles and putting them on, placing the hoods over their heads to conceal their faces.

"Mommy, what's going on?" Shadow asked, his voice shaky and on the verge of tears.

The Alpha Queen knelt in front of her eldest ebony-furred son, placing a cloak around her son, her fur drenched with tears.

"Mephiles, come say goodbye to your brother," Raven sniffed, reaching her arm out for her younger son. Young Mephiles had been holding onto and hiding behind Black Doom's legs as the king hastily readied his saddle. He ran over to his mother and she made them hold hands.

"Why?" the ebony male sniffed. "Where is he going?"

"We don't have much time," their father announced, the urgency radiating from his voice.

"Sweethearts," the green-eyed female sadly smiled. "Say goodbye to one another. We hope that you will see each other again someday."

Shadow gasped. "No, no!! Mom, please! If this is about what I said, I didn't mean it! I'll be a better brother to Mephy, I promise!!!"

Black Doom knelt down beside his wife to be level with their sons.

"My sons, there is so much that you two don't know," his voice deep and low, his red eyes glazed over with tears as he wrapped Mephiles in his own cloak. "But, I'm afraid that it is too late to explain. All I can say is that there are very bad people out here to get you. They want to hurt you both and want to do away with our kind. That is why we must leave. Your mother and I have to protect you, which is why we are sending you away."

"No!!!" Mephiles cried, wrapping his arms around his brother, clinging onto him with all his might. "I won't leave Shadow!! I can't!! I still love him and he's my brother no matter what he said!!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US!!!" Shadow yelled, embracing his brother as well, not wanting to leave as badly as he did. His bloodied tears drenched his brother's still-soft quills as he angrily growled at his parents, baring his small fangs at them, although it was a helpless attempt at a threat. Even Raven could not hold back her tears any longer. What they were about to do would break any mother's heart.

"Shadow, Mephiles, your mother and I love you two very much," Black Doom sighed, wrapping both his wife and his sons in his arms, holding onto them all for one last time.

"Farewell, my love," he whispered, letting tears fall and kissing the lips of his wife that he would never hold again. She kissed back with twice as much passion, never to see her mate or sons again.

"I love you," she whispered back.

"Goodbye, my son," Black Doom said to Shadow, kissing his son on his forehead. "Remember your training and never forget who you are or where you came from," he said, pulling a distraught Mephiles from his brother's grasp.

"NO, SHADOW!!!" he screamed and kicked as his father wrapped his arm around him and mounted his horse, his arms reaching out to his brother.

"NO, MEPH!! MOM, DAD, PLEASE!!!" the young Alpha-to-be ran towards them, when Raven scooped him up and mounted her own steed, his arms outstretched as well.

"Farewell, my little one," cried Raven, bringing her horse closer to her husband's, kissing the younger prince on his forehead. "Remember that we all love you, Mephiles. Shadow loves you. Even when you two can longer see us, we are still your parents and will always be with you both."

"Shadow," Mephiles whimpered, his head pressed into his father's ebony chest, tears continuing to stream down his pale muzzle.

"Mephiles," Shadow whimpered, holding back a choked sob as his head rested on his mother's shoulder.

The Alphas both stared into the other's eyes once more before, a shout rang out into the night.

"THERE THEY ARE!!!!"

They whipped their heads around to see a large group of mortals, knights, on horseback coming straight towards them, with bloodhounds leading the way.

"WE HAVE TO MOVE, NOW!!!" the Vampire King shouted, both monarchs getting tighter grips on their precious cargo before bolting off in separate directions.

"SHADOOOOOWW!!!" his brother's voice echoed in winter night sky as they disappeared from view.

"MEEEEPPPHHH!!!" the boy's voice carried on the wind on that unforgettable, harsh winter night.

End Flashback

The Vampire Alpha placed a clawed hand over his eyes and inhaled deeply, letting out a shaky exhale as he tried to calm himself in front of his mate. But, Sonic could still see when a lone bloodied tear streaked down his face.

"Shadow," Sonic sobbed. "I am so sorry for you loss. I…I don't know what to say. "

Shadow removed his hand and sadly smiled at his love, but Sonic could see that other blackened tears had indeed fallen. He approached the depressed king and cupped his face in his hands, thumbing away his tears before kissing a dampened cheek. Shadow's smile grew slightly and he placed his own hand over one of Sonic's.

"Thank you, my love," he replied.

"Anytime," Sonic sniffed, his own tears threating to fall again.

The two males just stayed that way for a couple of minutes, lost in each other's eyes, before Sonic looked away, blushing again.

"If…" he began hesitantly, "If you don't mind, Shadow, could…could you tell me what happened next?"

Shadow smiled, saying, "As you wish."