Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Code by Layouttesst

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"I know I'll see you again, and if fate draws us apart, I will always be in your heart."

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―BANG―

"MARIA!"

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Pain. 

Searing, endless pain.

His flashback bled with it.

His eyes flew open as he shuddered with it.

No matter what he did―no matter where he went―it gripped him by his throat, demanding him to look it in the eyes and break one teardrop at a time. He had squirmed in its clawed grasp for weeks, nightmare after nightmare, until it drove him to the ends of the Earth. He had thought he could escape it by skating as fast as possible, but the memory of gunfire followed him like his own shadow, tethering him to the past. Even the sun pressing down on him with its heat had reminded him of the color of Maria's bloodstained hair in his dreams―hair he hadn't been able to touch before she returned with the Professor to a timeline that would steal the roses from her cheeks. He had tightly closed his eyes at that moment, resisting the tears that fought to burst forth. 

But skating with his eyes pressed shut on his way back to Central City had led him straight to Maria. He had been speeding through the hills blindly until he opened his bloodshot eyes and realized he was in a sea of tombstones. Fate's taloned hand had turned his head in the direction of Maria's customized one, and he paused in shock, shaking. The weathered tombstone had stared at him from beneath a red maple tree as if it had been waiting for him to come all along. Pulled by an otherworldly gravitational force, he had approached it with a sharp ache embedded in his chest like shrapnel, yearning to reverse the hands of time and gaze upon her rosy face again.

Shadow's fists trembled as he stared at what he had left of Maria now. Two bouquets of dead lilies dressed her grave, most likely put there by Commander Abraham Tower and his wife. He gritted his teeth as his heart pounded against his sternum. Maria and Gerald were buried beneath the earth, yet he had held their warm hands only a month ago. If he had used Chaos Control, he could've kept their bodies frozen in time, where they'd be safe from fate's bloodlust.  

"Shadow, no," Maria had said, rejecting his desperate plan. "We don't want to be frozen in one place in time." Her peaceful eyes―eyes as blue as Neptune―had looked at him with all the love in the world, but they were ignorant of the hell that would be unleashed upon her. 

A tear fell from Shadow's eye, squiggling down his cheek until it kissed his gritted fang and filled his mouth with the taste of salt. The world around him blurred, its colors bleeding into each other like a painting in the rain. The sounds of a gunshot and his bloodcurdling scream echoed in his mind once more. His pain began to spread, curling around his throat and squeezing tighter than an anaconda. He couldn't breathe.

He could only fall to his knees and grip the grass at the foot of Maria's tombstone, pushing back the sob that wanted to burn through his throat like wildfire. More tears streamed down his scrunched face during his fight against that searing, endless pain. He didn't care who saw him on his hands and knees while he convulsed. His very soul was being flayed from his bones.

'Maria...' Shadow's teeth ached from being clenched so tightly. "I could've stopped it," he hoarsely spluttered, his grip on the grass tightening, though he didn't sob. "I could've stopped it from happening. I could've saved you! Both you and the Professor!" 

Something warmer than sunshine touched Shadow's knuckles, making his imploding heart skip a beat. He opened his clouded eyes to rest them on the gloved fingers caressing his. Attached to that hand was a beige wrist with a gold bracelet. His gaze climbed up the ramp of the owner's arm until it met Amy Rose's heartbroken face. The pink bouquet of white lilies in her other hand revealed who had been leaving extra flowers at the base of Maria's tombstone.

Shock bulldozed the black hedgehog, rendering him speechless. 'Impossible...' 

Amy placed the bouquet on the grass and held his hand between hers, eyes brimming with feeling. "Please don't hate yourself, Shadow," she pleaded, her normally cheerful voice lowered to a soft key. Waves of emotion flooded that voice as she added, "Give yourself a chance to heal." 

Shadow had no words to respond with. His wide eyes simply bore into hers as tears leaked from his chin and patted the grass. 

Amy squeezed Shadow's hand gently, sending warmth through his fingers. "I know I didn't know her like you did, but I don't think Maria would've wanted you to stay frozen in time like this. You deserve to be happy! You deserve peace."

Shadow's knitted eyebrows twitched as Maria's words visited him: 

"I don't want you to be driven by darkness. I want you to be happy. Stand in the light with peace in your heart." 

Shadow the Hedgehog gazed into Amy Rose's face with dilated pupils, the weight of the moment unraveling him at the tightly sewn seams. His hand trembled in her grasp while she gazed back at him with compassion shining in her jade eyes. He suddenly stood up and turned away from her, clenching his shaking fists and baring his teeth. 

"Shadow?" Amy called, reaching for him. 

Shadow squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to stop fresh tears from spilling, but he couldn't. He couldn’t control any part of himself—not even the guttural whimpers gated behind his teeth. Before he could attempt to leave, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. His breath hitched in his throat and his mind blanked when he felt Amy's body heat press against his back. 

“Everything's gonna be okay in the end, Shadow. I promise," Amy told him, holding his body like it was precious instead of dangerous. "And Maria will always watch over you just like my parents do for me. She’ll never abandon you. Even when it feels like everything is falling apart, she'll still be here, right by your side. Love never dies and neither do souls; that's what my parents taught me.” 

Shadow stood rigidly for a time as tears dripped from his muzzle. Her words wrapped around him like a blanket in a field of lilies, their warmth seeping into his heart and dulling the sharp edges of his grief just a bit. The sun's rays reached through the red maple tree's leaves, hugging Shadow and Amy from behind as if they were the arms of Maria's spirit. 

"Stand in the light with peace in your heart," Maria's voice reverberated in Shadow's head. 

The muscles in Shadow's face relaxed tendon by tendon as he let his trembling fingers fall open—let his tears slide down his cheeks. He closed his eyes, allowing the sunlight to embrace him in the silence. Amy held him tighter, holding space for him. Then the clouds covered the sun—hiding its rays behind their gray—but he knew it still shone.

Slowly, Shadow turned around and faced Amy, who stepped back. Her expression was a mixture of surprise and concern as she held his gaze with both hands clasped in front of her heart. The vulnerability in her eyes revealed the battles she had fought in her quest not to let grief conquer her, but the strength in them spoke of her daily victories. Shadow's gaze softened a little as he looked at her. He had always carried the bladed weight of grief alone, never knowing what it would feel like to have someone share it with him.

Yet unlike him, Amy had lost her parents and was still courageously facing the sun—the light. 

'Just as Maria had wished for me,' Shadow thought bittersweetly.

Amy, unbroken and unguarded, stepped forward and touched his arm. “You don't have to carry it all alone, Shadow," she said, her voice steady with conviction. The pink hedgehog picked up the bouquet on the grass and held it out to him. "Here. I bought them for Maria. The commander told me she liked white lilies."

Shadow's heart thumped in his chest as he watched the white petals quiver in the wind. The black hedgehog's hesitant hand reached for the bouquet, his fingers brushing against Amy's momentarily. She released her hold on the flowers just as his hand closed around the stems, his grip gentle as though holding onto something fragile and sacred. He walked to Maria's grave, breath bated, and replaced the wilted lilies at the base of her tombstone with Amy's fresh ones. He stood up, staring at the name on the stone with unshed tears in his eyes. 

Shadow closed those eyes. 'I will do as you wish, Maria.' His fingers dug into his palms as he imagined her hand touching his heart. He looked up at the cloudless sky and blocked the sun's blinding rays from his vision before letting them shine down on him. 'No matter how long it takes, I'll learn to stand in the light with peace in my heart.'  

Amy stepped beside him, her presence a promise of support. "Maria must be so proud of you," she said, her voice breaking the silence between them. "She has to be."

The silence returned heavier this time. Shadow wanted to believe that Maria's spirit was proud of him, but he had his doubts. Nonetheless, Amy had been an anchor in his seastorm―a beacon of light wrapped in pink―and he was grateful for her. 

Shadow shut his eyes again and said just above a whisper, "Thank you, Amy...for being a part of this planet." 

Amy froze, gasping lightly with her hands gripping the hem of her hoop dress. By the time she finally turned her head to look at him, he had rocketed forward and sped toward the sun.

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"I want you to be happy. Stand in the light with peace in your heart." 

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'Maria...' 

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Peace.  

Indescribable, soothing peace.

He hoped for it.

And although his pain hadn't left, the world felt a little brighter.  

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'Thanks to Amy.'

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Code by Layouttesst

Chapter Text

Code by Layouttesst

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"Thank you, Amy...for being a part of this planet."

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Warmth. 

Unexpected, overwhelming warmth. 

Her cheeks burned with it.

Her hands held her face as she shuddered with it.

No matter how hard she shook her head―no matter how aggressively she blinked―it clung to her muzzle, turning her beige fur the color of a fire truck. She stood in shock with her heart racing a mile a second while Shadow's silhouette shrank into a dot on the horizon. The dot transformed into a green star that blinked once before vanishing.

Amy's eyelids drooped as she muttered to the sun, "What's going on with me?" The warmth that had eclipsed her face was now haloing across her heart like a sunrise, tightening her throat and leaving her breathless from its reach. She shifted her attention to the angel statue caressing Maria's headstone in an attempt to ground herself in her surroundings. 

One of the crows nesting in the red maple tree perched on the angel's head and preened its glossy feathers. 

Amy's shoulders slumped as she sighed and lowered her hands. Her half-open eyes traced the cursive letters of the name carved into the headstone. "Goodbye, Maria," she said gently. "Until next time, okay?”

A playful breeze blew against Amy's body, making the teenager shiver, but it didn't kill the heat in her cheeks. The pink hedgehog turned around and walked among the graves with her hands rubbing her face. She kept her head down on her journey back to the train station, where she boarded the Yellow Star and sat quietly by her window, trying to make sense of what she was feeling. Instead of simply uttering his gratitude, Shadow had acknowledged her value as a person, implying that her mere presence on Earth was both irreplaceable and impactful to him. She wrapped her arms around her body as his sentence looped in her mind sweetly.

For so long, Amy had been the one making others feel seen or heard, but Shadow the Hedgehog had reversed the roles with his words. They radiated with the warm energy behind the promise he had made to her years ago before he saved the world with Sonic, a time she had believed he no longer remembered. But now, sitting alone on the Yellow Star, Amy felt the memory was alive in Shadow's mind, dwelling silently beneath the surface of his stoic demeanor. The black hedgehog had given her two gifts she didn't know what to do with: his vow and recognition. She cupped her inflamed cheek and looked at her reflection in her window.

Someone had drawn a heart in the fog (or breath) kissing the glass, which perfectly framed her flushed face. She gasped at the sight of God laughing at her and grew redder around the muzzle. Amy considered scrubbing off the heart until a hand waving at her from the train station distracted her. The pale palm belonged to a blonde toddler donning a blue dress that matched her doll-like eyes. Her oval face was cuter than a basket of ribboned kittens and her smile could've made the glumest soul squeal.

"What a cutie pie!" Amy chirped, finally beaming. 

The tot stopped waving, pointed at Amy's window, and then created a heart symbol with her fingers for the pink hedgehog to see. Amy smiled wider and made the same symbol in response, winking. Her admirer giggled behind her hands adorably. The pink hedgehog heard the station's PA system announcing the departure of the Yellow Star before the train started moving. The blonde cutie outside waved to her one last time as the distance between them widened.

Amy pressed her hand against the cool glass of her window and waved back with the other. "Bye now! Bye, little cutie!" she said almost sadly. Once the child was too far away to be seen, she sank back into her seat and placed her hands on her knees.

A distant smile crept onto Amy's lips as the rhythmic click-clack of the train's wheels on the tracks met her ears. The tot reminded her of Maria in beauty, making her think about the baby photos she had seen online of the blonde Robotnik. Shadow's promise and Professor Gerald's diary had fueled her interest in the sick little girl who had lived and died amongst the stars, leading her to sift through articles and images of her after she left the ARK. It had been two years since she last rested her sad eyes on her pictures. Google had so few of them scattered across the internet; even her poetic funeral card, which her family made public, contained little traces of her childhood. Yet what Amy could find, such as the grainy photo of Maria in Spagonia with her big, innocent eyes full of wonder and joy, had never left her heart. 

Amy had spent many nights wondering what kind of person Maria had been and what dreams she might have held before she gained her wings. Commander Abraham Tower had shared his version of Maria with her when she met him on a cold Sunday in March inside Eden Memorial Park last year. She had entered to see Maria, as was her custom every Sunday since disembarking from the ARK, but who she found was a silver-haired man with bicolored eyes and tears gleaming on his cheeks. She had learned that the man had been broken in two by her death. No amount of hugs could have repaired him, but Amy had reached for the pieces of his spirit regardless, hoping her special superglue would do the trick.

Abraham had resisted her kindness at first, badly explaining why he couldn't have a latte in the café she dragged him to, but as the afternoon gave way to the evening, his battle-worn heart opened its door slowly, permitting her to see the little child peeking out from behind it.

"Maria was my home," he had revealed as he clutched the foamy latte she bought for him. "She was like a sister to me. She lit up every room she entered like a ray of sunshine coming through a window. She could've been an author if she had survived G.U.N.'s raid." 

Amy had touched his wrist, her heart heavy with empathy. She had lost her parents when she was eight to an attack they couldn't escape, giving her the capacity to understand his pain. The human who had taken their lives showed no remorse during his public trial, and she wondered out loud if the G.U.N. soldier who had taken Maria's carried any himself. The commander had gone on to explain how he once believed Shadow had been the reason Maria was killed in cold blood until he discovered the hard truth. From that moment on, he had begun revisiting his childhood memories of Shadow's interactions with her, choosing to look past his childish jealousy and see just how much they had loved each other. 

"Maria would've done anything for Shadow," Abraham had murmured to Amy. "They were inseparable." 

Amy had smiled warmly at his confession as her imagination painted pictures of Shadow and Maria living happily together aboard Space Colony ARK. Perhaps Maria had read fairytales to Shadow in makeshift tents inside her bedroom, or maybe they listened to their favorite songs on an old record player. Amy's portraits of their closeness had made her heart swell with bliss. Abraham had taken a break from his story to sip his latte while vignetted footage of Shadow and Maria being innocent goofballs played in her head. 

"Did Shadow ever smile?" Amy had asked Abraham after a long pause. 

"Not often, but when he did, Maria was always right there beside him," Abraham had shared. 

The memory of Amy's day with Abraham faded as she fidgeted in her seat, comparing the Shadow he once knew to the one she saw on his hands and knees before Maria's tombstone this afternoon. That Shadow was hurting. That Shadow was drowning. That Shadow needed a lifeline—an embrace—love. Some people said Amy overflowed with love because it poured out of her being with the force of a roaring waterfall; yet Shadow, whose love for Maria held up the world, was in desperate need of it. 

Amy had wrapped her love around Shadow as tightly as she could in the cemetery, wanting him to feel her support and understanding. His crying form had brought back memories of her eight-year-old self sobbing alone in front of her parents' graves, and she didn't want Shadow to be alone as she had been. Amy had given him the same speech she told herself whenever lonely nights wrung tears from her eyes, and he just stood there, soaking it in. She had felt him exhale as if he had been holding his breath for over fifty years before he turned around and looked inside of her. Glimmering in those red eyes had been flickers of tenderness and something else she couldn't name.  

The pink hedgehog had hoped that offering him Maria's bouquet of lilies—lilies the commander had said she liked—would make him feel closer to her soul. Then had come his soft words—

"Thank you, Amy...for being a part of this planet."

—and the unexpected, overwhelming warmth that gripped her heart. She still wrestled with its presence in her chest as she watched the world blur past her window. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel it deepen. An hour passed, and she spent it praying the silly sensation in her body would go away, but it devoured her with each minute. It only dissipated when she realized she was close to her destination. 

Amy's pulse quickened as the train slowed to a stop. She abruptly stood up and gathered her senses like fallen fruit. The second the doors opened, she stepped off the train and melted into a crowd of indifferent humans, immediately spacing out. A blonde vendor with blue eyes begged Amy to accept a red rose from her flower stall as she passed her. Amy graciously took the black-ribboned gift and thanked the sweetheart for being so nice. The woman thanked her for being such a ray of sunshine.  

On her way home, Amy passed the gilded gate of Evergreen Cemetery as she had anticipated. She had been inside earlier today, but that didn't stop her from feeling drawn to it again. As she paused to grip the gate and peer at the heart-shaped headstone shared by her parents, she noticed two rose bouquets resting on their graves. The pink flowers were young, radiant, and immaculate—a pair of freshly picked beauties someone had bought just for them. 

Amy's heart lurched as her thoughts raced, each one jackknifing the next. Suddenly, a large green orb flickered in the sycamore tree looming over the tombstones in the cemetery.

The glowing rings of light surrounding the orb brought one name to Amy's mind, causing her to drop her rose and cover her mouth. 'Shadow!' 

The orb died in a flash, completing Shadow's teleportation, but Amy still gaped at the tree. A tear fell from her eye, squiggling down her cheek until it leaked off her chin and hit her hoop dress. She smiled as the warmth in her heart haloed across her soul like a sunrise. 

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Love. 

Warm, enveloping love. 

Some people said she overflowed with it.

But Shadow embodied it.

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Code by Layouttesst