Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I had come to Earth because of one thing; the master emerald was found. Before my village was destroyed, the responsibility given to my people by a wise owl was passed onto me. It was my purpose. Though, I didn't think it'd actually ever be found. The instructions were unclear, but there was one thing of importance; once it was found, ensure it falls into the hands of the one named Sonic. Nobody else could be trusted with it. So I went to earth where I met a colorful group of characters, fought a giant robot, and failed my only responsibility. Well, failed is a strong word. It was in the hands of Sonic... and friends. Namely an echidna named Knuckles. An echidna who's tribe was the sworn enemies of Longclaw, the wise owl that placed this responsibility upon my village's shoulders. Not a great start, but if Sonic trusted him, I would too. Being alone since the destruction of my village, I decided to stay on Earth. And, boy, would that decision turn my life upside down. Or rather, right-side up.

-Prison Island, Tokyo Bay, Japan-

"Oh, yes! You got donuts!" A soldier said as he walked into the screening room and placed his work tablet down.

"I already ate all the Boston Cream." His comrade said, chewing a donut and sipping his coffee. 

"Kyle..." The first soldier said in a disappointed and stern tone. Kyle looked away from the entity he was surveilling and shrugged, uncaring of his great offense.

They both looked back to the entity floating gently in a red liquid filled container, eyes closed and unmoving. "This place gives me the creeps." The first soldier stated, squinting to get a better look.

"Relax. That popsicle hasn't moved in fifty years." Kyle said, not worried in the slightest.

They both watched the entity. The overall form of the small creature wasn't too threatening with it being a small, three foot, anthropomorphic hedgehog. But the jet black and cherry red fur made it look just as dangerous as it truly was. Do not underestimate the small being, if given the chance it would kill you before you could even register that you were its next target. That's what their commander had told them when assigned to this job. The ominous red glow from the tank it resided in didn't help much to brighten up the place either.

It was eerily quiet and the feeling of dread in the first soldier's stomach grew. Something wasn't right, his gut told him. And he learned to always listen to his gut. Just then, they saw it twitch, its eyes weakly squeezing shut. Then, not a moment later, a heartbeat. 

The first soldier looked over at the monitor displaying the entity's newfound heartbeat. His brows furrowed as he asked Kyle, "Is that normal?"

Kyle shot forward, suddenly losing his laid back demeanor. "No." He rolled his chair over to the screen, attempting to interact with it but only being bombarded by glitches and pop-ups, his efforts fruitless. "Someone's hacking the system. The containment tank is destabilizing." He said urgently, turning to his comrade. "He's waking up."

The first soldier couldn't believe his ears and after a short moment rushed to sound the alarm. It blared through the building and soldiers rushed into the room the containment tank was held in. They powered up their weapons and got into formation, aiming at the tank ready for any sudden movement. The entity's heartbeat increased and it clenched it's fists, on the precipice of waking up again for the first time in fifty years. It's heartbeat thudded faster and faster until-

It stopped.

The entity relaxed and there was no movement from it for a long tense moment. The soldiers began to relax slightly, but it was short-lived. The entity opened it's eyes and punched through the glass in one swift motion. The containment tank shattered, sending glass and water flooding onto the concrete floor. It stepped forward, muscles and joints feeling stiff from underuse, but that wouldn't hold it back. It looked angry- no, furious. Then, in an instant, it was gone. Leaving nothing but sparks of orange electricity in it's wake. One moment it was nowhere to be seen then the next it was flashing behind every soldier taking them out one by one, never staying in one place long enough to be seen for more than a second. 

Every soldier went down in less than thirty seconds, the last one being hit so hard he was thrown back and smashed against the window of the screening room where Kyle and the first soldier resided. They flinched back, looking at the damage.

"We need more guys." Kyle said nervously.

"That is all the guys." The first soldier stated, dumbfounded as he looked out at all the bodies.

The entity fought its way out of the island facility and raced across the sea to the nearby city, gliding across the water at speeds nearly unimaginable. 

Chapter Text

Ready at the starting line, Miles "Tails" Prower, the two-tailed brain of a fox! Knuckles the Echidna, self-proclaimed "one-million percent muscle"! And finally, Duck Duck, the inflatable duck floatie... with... really cool sunglasses? Oh wait, no it's just Sonic who has no idea how fooled he's about to be.

I watched the campground from a treetop, hidden from view. You see, with G.U.N's very hesitant permission, I had taken it upon myself to do a bit of traveling. I haven't been back in Green Hills, Montana in a few weeks and when I got a message from Tom and Maddie explaining that they were holding a surprise party for Sonic's one-year on Earth, I just had to come by. Also, G.U.N got sick of me turning off my tracker and took away my traveling privileges. But anyway, staying out of sight I watch as the three younger aliens lined up for a race. Although, Sonic looked unprepared.

"Wait a second, I thought we were going tubing." Sonic said, mouth full of chili-dog. He put his sunglasses on top of his head, getting a better read on the situation. "Hold on, is this a race!?"

"You're going down!" Said Tails, looking determined.

"It is my destiny to claim the throne of Family Champion, hedgehog." Said Knuckles just being Knuckles.

Sonic laughed. "Cute. Are you sure you want to challenge the fastest creature in the universe? I mean, that's kind of my whole brand." In less than a millisecond, Duck Duck was old news and Sonic readied himself at the starting line. "Okay, Tom and Maddie, count us down!"

Tom clapped his hands, standing beside Maddie ahead of the three aliens. "Right!" He muttered something to Maddie that I couldn't make out and she whispered back. Tom agreed to something and pointed at the aliens, "Did you hear that, boys? No cataclysmic events, okay? Let's keep this cataclysmic-less." The boys all agreed in their own ways.

Maddie raised the flag she was holding, satisfied with their answers. "Then on your marks, get set... Go!" Maddie waved her flag and in a flash, they were gone. I climbed down from my hiding spot and approached Tom and Maddie. 

"How long do you think it'll take him to notice?" Tom asked as we all stared out into the forest they ran into.

"Too long." I said but was cut off by Maddie.

"Long enough." She said, dropping the flag and clapping her hands. "C'mon. Lots to do." Just as we were pulling out the decorations, Tails and Knuckles rejoined us.

"The holograms are all good to go. We have a few minutes until he comes back." Tails said as we rushed to set everything up.

We all got into position in front of our work just as we saw a blue blur approaching. Sonic stopped right before us, looking utterly dumbfounded.

"Surprise!" We all shouted.

"Wait a sec, guys, w- what is all this?" Sonic stammered, looking confused yet flattered. He pointed at the sign I helped Maddie paint earlier in the day behind us. "Happy Bea-Arthur Day?"

"Oh, it's Happy B-Earth-Day." Maddie clarified.

"Today's the anniversary of the day you came to Earth, bud." Tom said. "It's your Earth Day-Birthday."

"So the race was just a distraction-- which I totally didn't fall for by the way good try though-- so you could throw a party for me?" Sonic asked, looking genuinely touched by the idea. He looked at me and said my name. "You came all the way here, too? Weren't you just in Maine or something?"

"When Tom and Maddie let me know what was going on, I had to come. I couldn't miss the day your actions brought us all together." I said, stepping forward.

"Today we honor you, hedgehog." Knuckles said, following suit.

Tails joined in. "If it wasn't for you, none of us would be here right now."

"They're right, bud." Tom and Maddie stepped forward and kneeled to our level. "You know, the day you came to this planet is the day all our lives changed forever."

"And we became a family." Maddie finished for him.

Ozzie even joined in, barking. Although the meaning behind it flew past all of us. Jealous boy.

"You guys, I don't... I don't know what to say." Sonic said, looking like he might just tear up. Then his demeanor changed and he jumped and pumped his fist. "Except, lets party!"

We all cheered along with him getting ready to have some fun. The day flew by in a blur, filled with all kinds of activities. We played games, went tubing, ate some delicious grilled food, and more. 

As the sun began to set we started roasting marshmallows. Knuckles' marshmallow caught flame and he pulled it away from the campfire. "I have dishonored my marshmallow." 

Tails used a blowtorch to roast his. "It's really just a question of temperature and distance."

"It's not a competition." Maddie said playfully.

"A little fire isn't so bad. Just peel off the skin and you've got a perfectly melty smore." I said, blowing the flame off of mine and peeling the charred bit away to reveal exactly what I had described. 

Knuckles hummed and attempted to do the same with his but ended up dropping it on the floor. "You fooled me." He said, disappointed.

"No, you just did it wrong." I responded, handing him a new one. He took it warily and began roasting it again.

Just as Tom and Maddie began talking about how peaceful it finally was, we started to hear the sound of a helicopter. A spotlight beamed down at us and the blades of the copter blew wind in every which direction.

We all stood and watched the helicopter begin to land as Sonic yelled, "Hey! We're trying to have a family moment down here!"

We approached the helicopter with the G.U.N logo plastered on the side. G.U.N agents began filing out of the vehicle.

"What did you do?" Tails whispered to Sonic. 

"I dunno. I do a lot of stuff." Sonic replied.

A pale woman with dark hair stepped out, her presence demanding authority. She approached us, head high. "Mr. and Mrs. Wachowski." She took off her sunglasses and looked down her nose at us. "Aliens." 

We all looked at her, offended. "'Aliens' Excuse me? It's not like we're from a different planet-- Oh yeah we are. I guess we are aliens. Please continue." Sonic said.

"I'm Director Rockwell. There is a very dangerous situation unfolding right now in Tokyo. Commander Walters is requesting Team Sonic's immediate assistance." She informed us as if she really hated to be the one to ask this of us.

"'Team Sonic'? Who picked that name?" Knuckles asked, disgusted.

"Right? It should be named after me. I'm the oldest." I chipped in.

"Love it! Ten out of ten, no notes!" Sonic said. "Tom and Maddie, put the smores on ice because Team Sonic is off to save the day!"

As we boarded the helicopter Sonic said to me, "You're not even that much older."

I responded with, "I literally am."

As the helicopter took off, Maddie shouted, "Remember, make good choices!"

Chapter Text

-Tokyo, Japan-

The entity walked down the streets of Tokyo in the pouring rain, looking more furious than ever. A car nearly hit it, swerving around it and splashing street water all over it's small form. It looked around, seeing all kinds of lit-up billboards and screens. On one of them it read the date.

"2024? I've been trapped for fifty years?" It said, dumbfounded and somehow even more furious than before.

The citizens around it watched it warily before screaming and getting out of the way of armored vehicles that barreled down the street, sporting a very familiar logo. Soldiers filed out into the street, guarding themselves with ballistic shields and aiming their powered weapons at the entity. They surrounded it on all sides, giving it no options.

"Why won't you leave me alone!" It's voice boomed angrily.

Just as they were ready to take it down, it decided it's only option was violence.

We threw a ring and warped to Tokyo where the sun was setting and the sky was dark with rain clouds. I sat in one of the many seats in the military helicopter, readying myself for whatever laid ahead. All I had to do was not get separated from the boys. My strength depends on them. 

My energy is not your usual type. I backpack off of others. Depending on how strong their energy is, I can use that energy for myself. Though, I will never be able to match it. Sonic's energy is incredibly strong, but I will never be able to match his speed for example. I will just gain a boost. I'm not weak in combat by any means, but I'm not the strongest either. I've been able to make myself useful in other ways too, though. Call me the medic, because I can redirect your own energy to focus on healing any injured part of your body! The stronger your energy is, the quicker you heal. My village was renowned for our ability to heal others. That's my deal. It doesn't make me any less afraid, though. Anything could happen.

I took a breath and steadied myself before anyone noticed. Just stay on your toes. You've got this. I said to myself. I turned to look out one of the small windows as I heard a large boom. Down below a large red fireball bloomed from a part of the city. I saw Sonic and Tails approaching the door and followed suit. 

Knuckles was practicing some punches, seeming excited. "Finally, some action!"

"Okay, time to gear up." Tails nodded at us, looking determined as ever. He pulled out a yellow object from his bag, powering them up. "Titanium handcuffs, completely indestructible." I felt the weight of my own pair in my pocket.

"I don't need your silly gizmos, Fox." Knuckles said confidently. "You know why? Because I am..."

"One million percent muscle." We all finished along with him, annoyed.

"Yes, good. You've been listening." Knuckles said, looking proud.

An alarm blares. "We're over the drop zone." The pilot states.

"Alright, here we go. Showtime!" Sonic opened the door and looked down at the city.

I stepped beside him. "Guys, remember, we don't know what to expect down there, so stay alert. Let's do this as a team." I eyed Sonic at that last part.

Sonic nodded. "I'm with you on that. It could be Godzilla down there for all we know, but as long as we stick together, there is nothing we can't handle." He looked between all of us. "Team Sonic on three!"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that." I said, jumping out of the aircraft. "I've always wanted to go skydiving!"

The three boys followed after me, Sonic yelling in a teasing manner, "It's Team Sonic whether you like it or not!" 

"Team Knuckles!" Knuckles yelled.

We fell into formation, Tails in the back ready to catch us once we got low enough to the ground. Tails slowed us down and we landed like unstoppable superheroes, ready to save the day. The confidence dwindled when we got a look at the wreckage around us. Civilians were screaming and running from the burning vehicles that laid littered about. It was utter chaos.

"What happened here?" I asked, appalled.

"Looks like G.U.N got their butts kicked." Sonic replied. "Keep your eyes open." Sonic looked between Tails and I. "You guys getting anything."

My fur stood on end. Did I mention I'm practically a living energy detector? I could feel it buzzing in the air. A mixture of heartbreak and rage. I'd felt it once before when it was my own, but this power was stronger than anything I'd felt yet. I shook my head. "It's not good."

Tails received the readings on his device. "Woah! These energy readings are off the charts!"

Suddenly an armored truck flew overhead. Sonic yelled to warn us and Knuckles managed to catch it on time before it crushed us. He held it up with one hand. "One million percent." He winked at us and threw the truck to the side.

We heard footsteps within the flames and turned around to see who was approaching. With every sounding step, the energy doubled, nearly overloading my system. My fur stood on end and my hands began to shake with the buzzing electricity. A hedgehog who looked nearly identical to Sonic save for the color of his fur stood above us on a toppled over truck.

"Woah... are you guys seeing this?" Sonic asked.

"He looks just like you." Tails stated as we stepped closer together.

"Impossible!" Said Knuckles.

"He's almost an exact match." I said, but they couldn't be more different. Judging by their energies, Sonic is playful and witty, but this guy, he's full of rage.

"You're a colorful bunch." He said, looking between all of us.

"Um, excuse me. Why do you look like me?" Sonic asked.

"I don't look like you, you look like me. Why do you look like me?" The new alien responded.

"Hey, you know what? I'll ask the questions, new hedgehog! Who are you? Why do you look like me!?" Sonic shouted.

"This is a waste of time. Walk away, before you get hurt." The new hedgehog said, clenching his fist.

"Y'know, based on what I'm getting from this guy, maybe that's a good idea." I said, clenching my own trembling fist, eyes flashing the same orange as his for a split second. He seemed to catch this, narrowing his eyes at me before looking back at Sonic as he began to speak.

"Woah, woah, easy buddy." Sonic powered up his handcuffs. Not the best move in my opinion if he was trying to calm him down. "We don't want to fight you."

"Actually, Sonic, I would like to fight." Knuckles leaned over and muttered.

Sonic pushed him away. "Not now."

I smacked Knuckles on the arm with the back of my hand. "This dude looks like he's about to murder us. Let's try talking to him first."

"You jumped out of a G.U.N helicopter, there's nothing to talk about." The new hedgehog glared at us angrily before he turned to walk away

"Alright then. Enough!" Knuckles shouted and dashed forward.

"Knuckles, no!" Both Sonic and I shouted reaching for him.

"Let us talk with our fists!" Knuckles roared, jumping from the ground to the new hedgehog. He readied a fist but was caught off guard as the new hedgehog seemed to teleport in front of him, grabbing his fist and twisting it painfully. Knuckles yelled out before the new hedgehog zipped every which way, kicking Knuckles in the air so he couldn't gain footing before punching him to the ground. Knuckles hit the ground, bounced, and landed in a nearby magazine stall.

We yelled out for Knuckles, racing over to him worriedly. I got there nearly as soon as Sonic did and immediately began working my magic as Sonic asked if he was okay.

"No, not really. Ow!" He winced as I relocated and healed his wrist. I focused his energy to the main places of injury, leaving the little ones for later, as Tails and Sonic took a defensive stance in front of us.

"Who is this guy?" Tails asked as I helped Knuckles stand and we took our own defensive stances.

"He is much more impressive than the hedgehog I fought previously." Knuckles said, wiping his brow of dirt.

"Dude, I'm standing right here." Sonic said, throwing his hands up before getting ready to fight again. "Now, come on. He can't take us all at once."

Suddenly the new hedgehog zipped behind us and kicked Tails to the ground before zipping forward and doing the same to Knuckles. I saw him glance at me and knew I was next. But I could feel his energy. Even as he zipped through time and space I was able to track him and move to the side in time for his fist to just graze my cheek. It was a miniscule moment where his eyes widened before he recovered and kicked me in the stomach, sending me flying past Sonic. The new hedgehog zipped in front of Sonic and picked him up by his throat, taking him high into the air before forcing him back down to the ground at high speeds. They hit the ground, destroying the asphalt below and kicking up dust and rubble.

Sonic attempted to stand but ended up back on the ground in no time. "Okay, he took us all at once."

The new hedgehog stepped over Sonic, muttering to him, "Weakling." We sat up to see him pick up a motorcycle and hop on. He revved it before kicking a gun up from the floor and catching it, looking back at us. "Don't try to follow me."

Tails approached Sonic as he stood. "Sonic, I know that look. Going after him is a bad idea."

I approached his other side. "Seriously, his power is unmatched. Maybe we should leave him alone until we have a better plan. Right now we've got nothing."

"When has that ever stopped me?" Sonic said before speeding off on his own.

"Of course." I sighed and turned around to Knuckles who was still trying to stand. "Knuckles, you good? We have to follow them, Sonic is gonna get himself killed." I looked back at where they took off. "And I really don't want to explain that to Tom and Maddie."

Once everyone confirmed they were doing okay, I was used as a tracking device to find which direction they were in based off their energy. Basically sniffing them out like a tracker dog. We sped through the streets of Tokyo attempting to keep up with the impossibly fast hedgehogs. Until we saw a red and blue streak heading up one of the tallest buildings in sight. I groaned as we made our way there. We watched the streaks of opposing colors bounce off one another before shooting towards each other in the air. There was a large boom in the sky and I felt a surge of energy shoot through me, causing me to trip and roll until I came to a stop. I sat up quickly, curling in on myself until the pain passed. I heard Tails call my name and I looked up to see only darkness.

"Are you okay!?" Tails called to me, attempting to find me in the blackout. 

"Yeah! I'm over here!" I said. "We're close, but we aren't getting anywhere in the dark. Let's wait it out."

"Do you think Sonic is okay?" Tails asked, finding me and kneeling next to me. 

"I still feel him, so... that's something." I said, rubbing my sternum.

"Fox and Girl, I cannot see." We heard Knuckles' voice say and we got up to go find him. 

The lights came on shortly after we found him and we started making our way to Sonic. Tails flew us up a building and there we found him handcuffed to the roof. Tails dropped us and we raced to Sonic.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails called worriedly.

"I'm fine, guys, and before you ask, I handcuffed myself for tactical reasons that I do not have time to explain." Sonic said as I checked him over for any major injuries and Tails unlocked his handcuffs.

"You shouldn't have gone off on your own." Tails said sternly. "We're supposed to be a team."

"What were you thinking?" I said, smacking his arm once I confirmed he was uninjured.

Sonic looked genuinely apologetic as he said, "Sorry, guys. I'm still working on this teamwork thing."

Sonic stood as Knuckles asked, "So, now what?"

"Well, I'm not jumping out of anymore helicopters until we get some answers from G.U.N." Sonic said and I nodded in agreement. I never trusted G.U.N to begin with. "We need somewhere to regroup."

Tails thought for a moment before smiling. "I know just the place."

Chapter Text

The sound of kids music bumped around the colorful space we were in. Kids ran and played in every direction, interacting with the workers in large but undeniably adorable alien suits. We were sat at a table when a worker came to us with a polaroid camera, snapping our picture with a bright flash. 

Knuckles yelped, blinded by the flash. "It's an ambush! You'll never take us alive, foul beasts!" He shouted and squared up to the fake aliens surrounding us.

"Calm down, Knuckles. This is a Chao Garden. One of the top ten must see spots in all of Tokyo!" Tails explained as I looked around. The place was brightly colored, almost too bright, and extremely loud. "It's a perfect place for us to blend in."

A kid and her sister interrupted Tails asking, "Are you Detective Pikachu?"

I snorted as Sonic said, "Yes, he is!"

Knuckles cackled. "He does look like a Pokemon! Pika Pika!" He teased and laughed again.

Our table was approached by another human, this one much older and well-dressed with all kinds of military badges and awards pinned to his jacket. Sonic called out to him as he sat down. "Commander Walters!"

"Sonic." Commander Walters said as he settled in and looked between us. "Thank God you're all okay. I'm sure you have questions."

"Just a big ticked-off red and black one." Sonic said, perturbed by the thought of him. "Who was that guy?"

"Shadow's story began a lot like yours, Sonic." Commander Walters explained. "But where you found family and friends on this planet, Shadow found only pain and loss." I nodded my head, looking down at the table sadly. I noticed that much based off his energy. It was being fueled by anger and hatred, but mostly grief. He'd lost someone close to him, that's for sure. "It begins over fifty years ago, with a meteor crash in a quiet corner of Oklahoma. The meteorite contained a life-form... the ultimate life-form. Shadow's power-- his 'chaos energy'-- went far beyond any living creature. The scientist who discovered him believed this power would usher in a new era for humanity. But Shadow's power proved too dangerous. A terrible accident destroyed the lab, taking human lives with it. The project leader was blamed for the incident and imprisoned. With the program canceled, Shadow was a loose end no one knew how to deal with. Too dangerous to be walking free, too valuable to destroy. So I had him placed into stasis. Indefinitely." Commander Walters explained. I felt as if something wasn't quite right about this story. Before I could think more on it, Sonic began asking questions.

"Wait a second. If Shadow's been on ice for fifty years, someone had to help him escape." Sonic said.

"True, but there's only a few people in the world who even know of Shadow's existence." Commander Walters said and before we could ask any more questions, the lights suddenly went out. We looked around warily until the stage nearby lit up and music began to play with three chao dancing on stage.

Children cheered and clapped for the dancing chao as Tails yelled out excitedly. "A live show? Yeah!"

Commander Walters put his head in his hand, soothing a headache. I sighed and looked back down at my hands. Shadow's story reminded me of my own. I heard a gravelly voice in my head calling my name. 'I wanted your power. It's your fault.' I could still feel my hands around it's goopy throat as I looked down at it's mocking smirk. Anger coursed through me, but I shook my head to push the memory away. Suddenly the fur on the back of my neck stood on end and I slowly turned around to see out the window tens of familiar-looking bots. 

My stomach dropped as I shouted, "Get down!" One of the bots shot missiles at our table and I rolled away before the fire could touch me. The civilians fled the scene as we were surrounded, lasers pointing at us and watching out every move. We stood and looked around at them, confused.

"Egg drones?" Sonic asked, saying what we were all thinking.

"Isn't Robotnik supposed to be dead?" I asked before I was cut off by one of the egg drones scanning me specifically. I prickled, glaring at the thing. 

Once it was done there was a sound of a motorcycle revving outside. A man with a helmet crashed through the window on his motorbike, volunteering to be the egg drones' next target. One of the drones shot a missile at his head but he simply leaned to the side, dodging it and letting it explode behind him.

"Konnichi-whaaat?" Sonic said as we all stared at the guy in slight amazement. He powered up his wrist devices and drove forward, doing a spinning wheelie and shooting things that stuck to the egg drones one by one. Once he was done, he settled back down and pressed something on his glove. The egg drones sparked with electricity and dropped. "I'm sorry we already had our big motorcycle chase for the evening." Sonic quipped. The man on the motorcycle turned and took a rubble ramp up and out of the window, driving off.

We looked around for a short moment until I spotted something. "Commander Walters!" I rushed to him, immediately getting ready to heal him. I knew it would be no use though. Humans don't have much energy of their own so it takes a while to heal them and he was too injured to wait very long. He seemed to know it too, knowing the context of each of our powers after studying our files down to the letter.

"Commander Walters! Are you okay?" Sonic asked as the three boys crouched beside us.

Commander Walters gently pushed my hands away, knowing it would be of no use and wanting me to conserve my energy. I sighed and gave in. He looked at Sonic. "Sonic..." He lifted his hand painfully and dug in his jacket pocket, taking out what looked like a sleeve for a card of some sort. "Take this." He handed it to Sonic.

"What is it?" Sonic asked as he took the item.

"A key..." Commander Walters winced in pain. "To the most powerful weapon G.U.N has ever built. You're the only one I trust to keep it safe." And with those last words, Commander Walters went limp, eyes closing softly.

"Walters..." Sonic said sadly but was cut off by sirens.

After a short moment of silence for Commander Walters, one of the kinder G.U.N agents, we made a run for it. Picking up abandoned chao heads on the way as a disguise. We bumped into each other once outside, visibility low in the chao heads.

"Why are we running from G.U.N? Aren't we on the same team?" Tails asked as we shoved the heads off.

"Until we get more information, we're not trusting anyone." Sonic said and I nodded in agreement, throwing my head aside.

"We should have never trusted them in the first place." I muttered.

"Follow me." Sonic said before speeding off.

We followed Sonic, eventually catching up with the motorcycle guy and chasing him through the city down to some docks. He stopped at the edge of the dock, cornered.

"Hold it right there Tokyo Drift!" Sonic said as we came to a stop in front of him and got ready to fight if necessary. "Who are you?"

The man took off his helmet to reveal, "It's the Goat Milker!" Knuckles shouted, pointing at Agent Stone.

Stone mocked him. "It's the Goat Milker! Relax. I'm not here to fight."

"Then why are you here?" Sonic asked, not letting his guard down. 

"And why did you free Shadow?" Tails chipped in.

"Are you kidding?" Stone asked looking at us like we were stupid. "The last thing we want is more super-powered hedgehogs running around. The doctor had nothing to do with it." He plucked something from one of the pouches on his forearm. "And I can prove it." He pressed a button on the item and a large crab-shaped bot lifted itself from the water, climbing onto the docks. We all stepped back, ready for the thing to attack. "Please, join me in the crab."

Chapter Text

The view in front of us was one that I will never be able to forget. It burned into my brain and even as I covered my eyes I could still see him slapping his large belly to the beat of Spanish music, trilling along with it, the action causing small bits of chewed food to spit from his mouth. Once he realized we were behind him, he screamed in pure terror, covering his belly up to the relief of most of us.

"Doctor, we have visitors." Stone announced much too late as we stared at Robotnik in disgust.

"Really?" Robotnik asked as if it was obvious. "I thought I was having an anthropomorphic nightmare where the only person I could trust in the world showed up with all my worst enemies, while I was in a bathrobe, playing congas on my big, fat belly!" He shouted, slapping his belly three times more.

"Sorry, sir." Stone said, looking genuinely apologetic.

"I don't believe it. Eggman's alive?" Sonic said, once again speaking what we were all thinking.

"And he's never looked... worse." Tails said.

"You call that alive? Smells like something died in here." I said, cringing in disgust.

Eggman cackled. "Well, maybe, this is what not giving a damn what you think I look like looks like." He said. It was obvious he did give a damn what we think he looks like but he had no energy to fix the issue.

"Sir, right now we have an even bigger problem." Stone said, getting back on topic. He showed Eggman a drive as Eggman voiced his aversion to pay attention to anything in the mental state he was in. Stone inserted the drive into a computer by the wall. "There's an imposter out there using your technology."

"Imposter. That's impossi-- what!?" He shouted as he turned back to his screen that displayed an image of us being attacked by the egg drones. "My sweet mechanized spawn! Whomever this party-pooping posse is looking for has stolen my persona and the precious babies from my egg sac. Well... I'll soon egg-xact my revenge." Eggman declared as he stood, bits of food falling off his lap and onto the floor. "You see what I did there?" Stone laughed at his joke to please him as Eggman turned to us dramatically. "It's time for the dramatic soap-opera twist, where this Pablo reveals his Juan!"

"Please don't reveal your Juan..." I grumbled, desperate to get out of this stinking crab.

Eggman glared at me before moving to a different computer and sweeping the wrappers and takeout boxes off the keyboard to our feet. Knuckles stepped back as Sonic rolled his eyes. "By cross-referencing the precise coordinates of each drone's energy spikes, I can track my babies to the imposter's base of operations, right about..." He pointed to a pin on the map. "There!"

"Sonic, I hate to say it, but I think we're both after the same person." Tails said.

"Hold on, hold on. You're not suggesting we team up with Doctor Ro-Butt-Stink, are you?" Sonic said as we looked at said stink tapping the pin on the map repeatedly like a crazed man.

"Perhaps the fox is right." Knuckles stated. "It could be our only chance to find this mysterious, more impressive hedgehog."

Sonic groaned at that as I spoke up. "Yeah, plus he's a genius. We don't have to trust him, but we can work with him for now. He's the best asset we'll have in locating Shadow."

Sonic sighed and turned back to Eggman. "Alright, Egghead. I hate to say it, but it looks like we're partners."

"On one condition..." Eggman held his hand out to Sonic.

"Dude, you have serious issues." Sonic said, plucking a quill from his head and handing it to Eggman. 

Eggman pressed the quill to his tongue and it zapped him awake. He pulled Stone in close by his collar. "Lets do this!" He shouted.

The record slowed as the memory faded. Shadow walked through the halls of his old home, but it wasn't home anymore. Not without Maria. He moved through the now decrepit halls slowly, taking everything in but being unable to process any of it. It felt as if he was a ghost floating outside of his body, spectating as his feet brought him to a familiar room. The center of the room held the shattered remnants of his old containment tank. He remembered the bunny face she'd drawn there. That was the first time they met. Now he was staring at his own sad expression in the reflection. He pressed his hand to the glass, imagining hers on the other side.

His moment was interrupted by footsteps coming in behind him. He readied himself for an attack, turning quickly to see who the threat was. A familiar face greeted him, looking as if he hadn't aged a day. "Professor?" Shadow asked, shocked and beginning to stand down.

"It's good to see you, Shadow." The older man said. "I knew you'd come home."

"I can't get her out of my head." Shadow said, feeling his heart hurt. "The pain... it's too much."

"And that is why we have to punish them." The Professor stated. A large thud came from somewhere in the facility and Shadow prepared to fight again. The Professor held out his hand in a calming manner. "Easy, Shadow. Those are the guests I've been expecting. Let's give them a warm welcome. I need you to bring them to me. They have the key to our revenge. Two, to be exact. Find the key, and bring me the girl."

After a not-so-quick Eggman makeover we warped to the location Eggman tracked his bots to. Eggman and Sonic bickered as we made our way to the entrance of a secret underground G.U.N base. Eggman tapped on the steel door, assessing it's material.

"This door is six inch thick solid steel on a pressurized latch. I'll need a moment to calculate the molecular density and invert the venting mechanics." Eggman said. 

Meanwhile Knuckles stepped up to the door and after a moment, punched them down. "I unlocked it."

"Subtle as always, fist-for-brains." Eggman said as we made our way in.

"What is this place?" I asked as we all looked around.

"It looks like a military base, but nobody's been here for years." Sonic answered.

"It looks haunted." I said, looking around for any ghosts that may be lurking nearby.

"Haunted? Nobody said anything about being haunted." Knuckles said, looking around as well, seeming more freaked out than I was.

"What's the matter? You afraid of g-g-g-ghosts?" Stone asked mockingly.

"Nothing scares an Echidna warrior." Knuckles responded, raising his fist to him.

"Uh, yeah. Do you remember what happened last movie night?" Sonic said in a teasing manner. I recalled healing Sonic and Tails' crushed hands because they had put on Casper the Friendly Ghost and Knuckles wasn't a fan.

"There is no such thing as a friendly ghost." Knuckles said.

We came up on a three way fork in the road and Sonic asked, "So which way do we go?"

"I know! We should split up. Everyone with hideous, brightly-colored fur take the left and the middle. Stone and I will go right." Eggman 'suggested', ready to go.

"No, no, no. I'm not letting you out of my sight. Tails, you and Stone go left." Sonic ordered before turning to Knuckles and I. "You guys take the middle. Eggman, you and me go right."

"By all means." Eggman said. "We could use some time together. To work on your trust issues."

"You know what? You're right. I should be more trusting." Sonic said as we began to split up. "I mean you've only tried to kill me twice!"

Knuckles and I used the flashlight Tails gave us to light up our surroundings and began walking down the hallway. Sonic and Eggman's bickering faded into the distance as we walked further and further into the facility.

"Man, it's dark in here." I said, carefully stepping over debris. It felt like the further we walked the darker it got. There was something sad about the energy here though. My foot crunched on some paper and I looked down at it. I noticed one thing immediately, a picture of Shadow. It was a document on his power with his photo in the top left corner. Written in pink ink, now faded, were the words "and Maria!" with a smiley face after the words "Project Shadow". 

"Maria." I muttered before whipping around, hearing a scraping noise behind us.

Knuckles and I stared into the darkness, waiting for something to step out. "Just a dark, creepy hallway. Nothing to be afraid of." Knuckles stated after a moment of pure silence. "You hear that, ghost! You don't frighten me!" 

A pipe busted open behind us and steam poured into the hallway. Knuckles and I nearly jumped out of our skins at the sound. Once we confirmed that it was nothing paranormal Knuckles muttered, "Get a grip!"

I grabbed his arm as I felt a sudden, extremely strong, and familiar presence. "Knuckles-" We whipped around and-

"Boo." Shadow stated before knocking Knuckles out cold with one swift kick.

How did I not feel his presence before? His energy was undeniable. I took the moment to make a run for it. I'd save Knuckles later. Right now I have to focus on not getting caught. As I ran I stumbled on cement and realized we were completely enclosed in concrete. That could explain why I didn't sense him sooner. But now that he was in the same hallway as me I could sense his energy fly past me at light speed before he reappeared in front of me. I dropped like a bag of rocks as he attempted to throw a punch. I crawled underfoot and attempted to run again but his foot caught mine and I fell back to the ground. I turned back to look at him as he stood over me.

"You're evasive." He said. "The Professor was right. You can sense me." I stumbled to stand up, backing away from him. My eyes flashed the same orange as his, feeling his energy strong as ever. "We need you for our plan. You can come with me willingly or by force."

I glanced behind him at Knuckles who was still out cold then looked back at Shadow and readied myself for another attack. Shadow clocked my choice and before I could even blink I was in the same state as Knuckles.

Chapter Text

"There's two Eggmen now!?" I woke to the sound of Sonic's voice, head pounding. Looking up I see Eggman and an older man who looks near identical to him walking towards us side by side.

"Double your villains, double your fun!" Eggman said, grinning like a kid in a candy shop.

"Two Robotniks are way worse than one." The older Eggman finished.

"Chest bump?" Eggman puffed his chest out, the older man not moving to reciprocate and Eggman redirected, awkwardly looking away. "No."

I took a look at my surroundings finding the three boys tied up to a pole. Stone was tied up across from me and Shadow was watching us closely from behind me. I attempted to break out of the rope that bound my arms down to no avail.

Eggman looked at Stone in disgust. "Stone, why are you tied up? Do that on your own time. You sicken me." Stone made a face at the strange comment.

"You must be the long-lost grandson." Shadow said, looking Eggman up and down and not looking impressed.

Eggman looked at Shadow with the same disdain he held for Sonic. "And you must be another stinking hedgehog."

"So, you're the one behind all this." Sonic said, waking Knuckles and Tails. "The Shadow breakout."

"The attack on Walters." Tails added.

"That musty old man smell." Knuckles quipped.

"How dare you insult me with your unsolicited exposition!" The older Egg said, offended.

"The smell must be genetic." I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"Enough of this! Shadow, get the key." The older Egg commanded.

Shadow turned to the three, holding out his hand expectantly. "Where is it?" He asked in a low voice, glaring at them in an effort to intimidate them.

"Ha! Good one Hot Topic. Do you really think we'd be that stupid to bring the key right to you?" Sonic bluffed and as he spoke Shadow dug into Tails' backpack and pulled out the key. "Yep, we're that stupid." Sonic said, giving up. I dropped my head with a sigh.

"G.U.N took everything from us. And now we are going to take everything from them." Shadow said, holding the keycard close.

"With this." The older Egg showed us a hologram of a ship. "My masterpiece of malevolence. The Eclipse Cannon. In exchange for my freedom, I gave G.U.N the most powerful weapon mankind has ever seen, capable of delivering a precision strike anywhere on Earth. Our first target, G.U.N headquarters."

"But firing a weapon that powerful could threaten millions of innocent lives!" Sonic argued as the old Egg took the keycard from Shadow.

"Yeah, tera-bite me." The older Egg said, making the younger laugh. "This is one of two keys required to launch the Eclipse Cannon. And," The older Egg turned to Shadow and I, "We already have the two keys required to fire it."

I glared at him. "What do I have to do with this!?" I shouted.

"The last key we need is locked inside G.U.N headquarters. Once we have it, I will take rightful control of my weapon." The older Egg said, ignoring my question as if I was nothing but a useful tool to him.

"I'm in." Eggman said happy to get revenge on G.U.N.

The crab ship from before hovered through the hole in the ceiling and landed nearby. The older Egg ordered Stone to transport me to the ship as they all began walking towards it. I squirmed as he threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Sonic called my name worriedly. "What are you going to do with her?!" All three boys squirmed in their bindings fruitlessly.

I heard Sonic trying to talk Shadow down as we entered the crab. Stone set me down on the floor. After a moment I felt the ship begin to take off and Shadow zipped in nearby. I struggled in my bindings as Eggman made his way back over to me after being handed a device. He crouched down and despite my efforts to get away, he clipped something around my neck. I felt a shift in my energy as I growled at him.

"Snappy." He said as he cut my bindings then stood and backed away.

"What is this? What do you want with me?" I asked as I stood, glaring at the four surrounding me.

The older Egg began to explain. "That, my dear, is an adjustable inhibitor collar. With this," He pulled out a device with a knob on it. "I will be able to adjust your energy input and output. For now, lets set them to low so you wont even think about escaping."

As he turned the knob I felt nearly every ounce of energy drain from me. My legs shook, hardly able to hold up my weight before I dropped with a groan. "What is this..." All energies I once felt around me faded as well, my power diminishing almost entirely.

"It works." Shadow said, fiddling with the gold rings around his wrists.

"Of course it does. I made it." The older Egg stated, putting the device back into his pocket and crouching to my level. "And to answer your previous question, you are a key component to our plan. Although Shadow is strong, his power alone is not enough to accomplish our vision. You, my dear, have a special kind of energy. One that allows others' to flow through you and amplify it. Like a magnifying glass."

I shook my head. "No... you don't know anything about me. That's not how it works!" I shouted weakly and groaned feeling my body weaken with the action.

"Oh, but it is. You just haven't realized it yet. Your full potential has yet to be touched upon and with this," He tapped the side of the collar around my neck that felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, "We can get you there." I was too weak to respond. "And for the record," He started to whisper maliciously, "I know everything about you and your little friends thanks to G.U.N. Although," He turned to the screen Eggman had pulled up showing outside surveillance of the mountain seemingly collapsing in on itself and disappearing, leaving nothing but a crater in it's wake. A flashing notification came up on the screen indicating a scan had been completed with the results showing 'No lifeforms detected'. "We won't have to worry about them anymore, will we?"

My stomach plummeted and I felt dizzy. "No..." My eyes, slowly filled with tears as I watched the screen. It was all coming back again. I had lost them. First my blood siblings, now my new found ones. I didn't want to go through it again, but it was happening. My chest heaved with anger as I clenched my fists against the floor. I could feel it coming back. The rage. I looked back at the older man with murderous eyes. "Your plan will fail, and the only thing being destroyed here will be all of you!" I shouted with all of the strength I could possibly muster.

"Oh, look, Shadow. She's just like us." The older Egg muttered pitifully before standing and moving to his grandson who stared at the screen in front of him in amazement.

My lungs forced out an airy sob as I let my head hang. Shadow narrowed his eyes at me, looking between me and the screen, an unknown emotion rising in his eyes before he pushed it away and his gaze became steely again. What he was doing was for Maria. He didn't care about anything else, whether he caused the same pain he was feeling to others or not. He needed his revenge. 

So why was that feeling sticking around?

"I've spent years trying to cleanse the cosmos of that spiny blue speed freak. And you did it... in one afternoon." Eggman said, absolutely amazed if not slightly jealous that he didn't get the honors of being the one to erase Sonic.

"There's nothing we can't destroy together, my boy." The older said.

"Charting route to G.U.N headquarters in London, sirs." Stone announced tapping on a keyboard to the side. He turned around in his chair to look at them. "ETA four hours. As the crab flies." Four hours to think of a plan to escape. If the boys were truly gone, then there would be nobody coming after me. I was on my own. The first order of business would be getting that remote. But judging by my inability to even hold myself up, it would be a challenge.

"By all accounts, we're ahead of schedule." The older Egg said before turning to his grandson and putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should take this time to get to know each other better."

I stopped listening when Eggman began gushing over his grandfather. I turned my gaze down to Shadow's shoes as he stood near me, making sure I didn't try anything if I even could. There would be no way to get that remote without someone noticing. Maybe if I could get the collar off. I began feeling around the collar for any weak points, but it was smooth and seamless. 

"That won't get you anywhere." Shadow said, stepping towards me to glare down at me.

I looked up at him, almost snarling as I scooted back the best I could. My back hit the cool, metal wall behind me and the support felt amazing. I sighed, giving up my defense and pulling my knees to my chest. Even that slight movement was difficult.

Shadow was still feeling that irk in the back of his mind and without thinking much of it, shared what he was going through his own mind when seeing the results of the scan. "I doubt your friends are gone." He looked back to Eggman and his grandfather, speaking lowly. "I think it's foolish for the Professor to write them off that easily."

I narrowed my eyes up at him, suspicious. "Why are you telling me this?" I muttered. He looked back down at me but it was as if he was looking through me, lost in a confusing train of thought, and ultimately decided not to answer my question. Though it made me think. Sonic and the others have always managed to find ways out of even the most dangerous situations. Even if all odds are stacked against them, they always manage to scrape through. It seemed as if the luck balance of the universe was always tipped heavily in their favor. Hopefully it was tipped in mine too.

Chapter Text

As Eggman and the Professor had their perfect day, I sat under the watchful eye of Shadow. I ran through plenty of scenarios to get my hands on that remote, but every time I moved it reminded me that nothing I thought of would be possible because of the physical state I was in. So instead, I looked up at Shadow who sat nearby, staring at the ground in thought. Might as well try to get some useful information.

"Shadow." I called in a low, weak voice. He looked up at me, wondering what I had to say but staying cautious. He didn't say anything so I took that as my cue to continue. "Who's Maria?" 

That seemed to strike him as he narrowed his eyes at me. "None of your business."

"I saw her name on an old report about you." I said, trying to get him to crack. "Who was she?"

He looked away and mumbled, "She was the Professor's granddaughter."

I clocked the word 'was' and took a moment before asking, "And who was she to you?"

He frowned. "Who is Sonic to you?"

I halted for a moment before answering. "Well, he's like a brother to me. They all are." He looked me in the eyes, not saying anything more. I got the message after a moment. "Oh."

"She was kind, but G.U.N. took her from us. So we are going to take everything from them." He said, looking down at his hands. For some reason, I felt like he was leaving something out.

There was a moment of silence before I decided to speak. He was going through the same thing I had. Maybe I could convince him that revenge wouldn't help. "I lost someone too."

He looked at me, confused. "Sonic?"

I shook my head, not wanting to think about whether or not the boys were alive. "No." I took a moment before I let the words escape my lips, my eyes darkening. "I lost everyone I ever knew. As well as my little brother and sister." Shadow watched me, something stirring in his eyes. "I thought revenge would make the pain go away, but after I had gotten it, there was nothing left for me." Before I knew it, words I'd never uttered to anyone spilled out. "So I tried to make it go away on my own. I didn't want to feel anymore... I didn't want to be."

Shadow was quiet for a moment. "Does... does the pain ever go away?" He asked, showing a rare case of vulnerability. 

"No." I stated and that seemed like something he didn't want to hear. "The revenge didn't make it any easier."

He looked at me, narrowing his eyes. "What are you suggesting?"

"Think about what Maria would have wanted." Perhaps that was the wrong choice of words. Before I could explain more he cut me off.

"You know nothing about her." Shadow snapped, eyes turning cold again. "Do not tell me what she would have wanted." He stood and began walking to where Stone was sitting.

"Shadow, wait, I..." I tried to reach a hand out to him but my arm felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. I sighed and gave up, too exhausted to speak any further. I was so close. But now I know there's something in him I may be able to reach. I saw it. 

Eventually we arrived in London, using the sewer systems to hide the crab. Shadow approached me and without warning lifted me by my arm. "Hey!" I yelped as he threw my arm over his shoulders and practically dragged me towards the bathroom. His quills pricked me, but my body rejected the electricity. He set me down against the wall next to the bathroom and I couldn't help but slide down to the floor again with a grunt. "Seriously?" I asked as I watched him back away.

Stone approached with a case, setting it down in front of me. "The Professor wants you to put this on."

"Why would I do that?" I asked with no intention to comply with anything they say.

"If it's on by the time we get back, I may allow you some of your energy back." The Professor stated, dangling the remote, tempting me.

I grumbled after mulling it over for a moment and took the case, opening it sluggishly. Even a little bit of energy could be useful. Inside the case was a black bodysuit made of hundreds of metal hexagons laid over a stretchy fabric. The fabric shielded me from the tech that laid under the hexagons. I looked back up at the Professor. "Give me the energy now so I can actually put it on."

The Professor thought for a moment, humming. "Oh, alright." He turned the knob by barely a millimeter before beginning to head out of the crab behind Stone and Shadow. I felt the small bit of energy come over me, but it wasn't nearly enough. 

"Seriously!?" I yelled out weakly.

Eggman followed suit, laughing mockingly at me before the door shut behind him. I groaned and stumbled to my feet. My legs shook, but I was able to stay upright. Slowly, I shuffled to the bathroom and stumbled inside. It was a process putting on the bodysuit to say the least. It covered the entirety of my body except for my feet, hands, and head, coming up into a turtleneck. The back had four metal circles that looked as if something could be attached to them.

I shuffled my way out of the bathroom and slowly to one of the chairs in front of one of the computers. I fell into it and sighed. Right now would be prime time to take a look around, but my legs could only carry me so far. Still, I used my eyes, not finding anything useful. I looked down at my hands, feeling helpless. I'd never felt so weak. I balled my hands into fists, feeling anger and frustration come over me. Was there really nothing I could do? In a fit of anger, I forced myself to stand, to stop being so useless. If the boys were gone, that meant it was up to me. Innocent lives were in my hands. I couldn't let them beat me this way. 

I shuffled over to another computer, analyzing it for anything useful before moving on. I moved over to a cabinet and opened it up. Inside were many tools and gadgets. I spotted what looked like a pair of loppers. I grabbed them and looked behind me at the door, listening for any movement. Once I presumed it was clear, I brought them up to my neck and hooked one part of the blade around the collar. With all the strength I could muster, I squeezed the handles closed. Grunting with the effort, the loppers squeezed against the metal of the collar. I drew my head back as if that would help, but my efforts were wasted as the door behind me opened up and in a fraction of a second the loppers were across the room and I was pushed against the cabinet. Shadow's arm was pressing against my shoulders as he examined the new scratches in my collar, but it was overall was unscathed. 

I narrowed my eyes at him as he pushed away with a click of his tongue. "Did you really think that would work?"

"I had to try." I said quietly. I shuffled over to the wall to the right of the main screen and slid down it to sit. I was frustrated with the lack of mobility I had. Every time I made an effort, it would be for nothing. Shadow watched my every move, sensing my hopelessness. He looked away, something stirring within him and his previous annoyance faded.

Stone got everything set to make guacamole as Shadow shuffled to stand near me. I looked up at him, wondering what he wanted now. He didn't look at me, staring at the ground in thought. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated. I took on a more patient look, wanting him to open up to me a little more. He could be my ticket out of here. Finally, he spoke.

"What were their names?"

My eyes widened, not expecting a question like that. I opened my mouth to answer, but the words wouldn't form. I hadn't said their names in years. "I..." I closed my mouth and looked down at my hands. Finally with one more push, their names slipped out, feeling foreign on my tongue. "I was supposed to be the one to protect them. But I failed." I squeezed my eyes shut as Shadow watched me, seeing more of himself in me with every action and every word. I opened my eyes again. "I still blame myself sometimes. But..." I looked up at him, wanting to say what I meant to say earlier. "With time, I was able to grow around the pain." I smiled. "And with my family by my side I was able to take a better path."

Shadow looked away, mulling over my words. Family, huh? He didn't have one of those. The closest thing he had to family was the Professor and the Professor wanted revenge just as badly as he did. They deserved it, didn't they? There was no right path except the one in front of him. At least that was the only one he could see at the moment.

"I'm starting on the guac. You guys want to watch something while you wait?" Stone asked, turning on a spanish soap opera without waiting for our answer.

It didn't take long for Shadow and I to get sucked into the drama. Shadow was happy with the change of topic, not wanting to doubt his own choices any longer. That wouldn't last long though.

"Ultima Pasion... can only belong to one." Gabriella said, handing Pablo a large crossbow and Juan a smaller bite-sized one.

"No. It can only belong to Juan!" Juan stated.

"Gabriella should kill them both. She's not a prize to be won." Shadow said, looking invested in the show.

"I think Juan deserves someone who will cherish him. Gabriella obviously already chose Pablo so he should move on." I said.

"Kill this, murder that. You need to lighten up, Shadow. We're about to rule the world." Stone said, waving his guacamole spoon around.

Shadow turned around to Stone. "When we're done, there won't be anything left to rule."

My head snapped to Shadow as he said this. Stone replied, taking up a more serious demeanor, "That is dark. Even for you. What are you and the Professor up to?"

"What do you mean there won't be anything left?" I asked with urgency. I thought they were only going to destroy G.U.N. Is he implying that they actually plan on destroying... everything?

"Cheerio!" Suddenly Tails faded into the screen and my heart began to beat wildly. He was alive. They were alive! "I guess someone forgot to flush." Uh oh.

Suddenly the crab began to rumble and the world turned every which way. Stone yelled as I tried my hardest to not get struck by anything. The crab slammed against the walls of the sewer as water flooded the inside from the damaged parts of the ship. The crab steadied slightly on it's side as I hung on to one of the chairs bolted to the floor for dear life. Shadow had the same idea on the chair above mine. Stone surfaced from the water filling the ship, trying his best to hang on to something. My already weak grip was slipping. I looked up at Shadow to see him already watching my fingers give up on me. I yelped as I fell into the water, becoming increasingly worried when all I did was sink. The water felt like a thousand pounds on top of me and I was hardly able to move with the drag it created. I used every ounce of energy I could, feeling my own energy sparking up within me. Before I thought I was done for, I saw Shadow splash in above me. My lungs forced air out as I reached up for him. He swam towards me and as soon as he had my hand, my eyes as well as his flashed orange and with a wave of nausea I realized that suddenly we were falling. Shadow actually yelped in surprise while I just started screaming. We were falling from the sky. I crushed his hand, terrified as we fell through clouds.

Shadow looked at me with anger. "What did you do!?"

"Me!?" I was shocked he would blame me for this.

"You messed up my chaos control!" He gripped my hand harder. "Let me do it."

With another wave of nausea we crashed through concrete. Shadow's landing was much more graceful than mine. Shadow stood and looked ahead of us and I followed his gaze to see, "Commander Walters?"

"Commander Walters." Shadow said at the same time as me only with a lot more anger.

"No, no, no. Wait!" Commander Walters raised his hands trying to tell Shadow to stop but it was useless.

Shadow zipped forward and punched Walters straight in the stomach, sending him flying backwards. He landed, unconscious, dropping a very special keycard that Shadow picked up. Suddenly Commander Walters became a very familiar face as his disguise slipped away.

"Tom!" I shouted, using any strength I had to stumble towards him and fall to his side.

"What?" Shadow muttered in confusion as Sonic rushed in.

"Tom! Everyone's clear! Come on, let's go!" Sonic shouted before turning to us. He noticed Shadow first, taking up a defensive stance. "You, what are you-" Sonic then spotted me and called my name. Seeing me trying and failing to heal the body in front of me, he took a closer look. "Tom!" He shouted in realization and was across from me in less than an millisecond. "Tom. Tom, what happened?" He shook Tom's body, trying to wake him up. "Speak to me. Come on, come on, its gonna be okay." Sonic looked up at me with desperation. "Heal him!"

"I'm trying!" I cried out but there was no energy flowing through my shaking hands. I sucked in a sob, pushing my limits, but it was no use. Sonic begged and begged for Tom to wake up and all the while Shadow watched us, eyes stirring with emotion.

Suddenly Sonic turned to Shadow with anger. "What did you do?"

Shadow looked down at the keycard before walking over to me and grabbing my arm. "What I had to."

"No!" Both Sonic and I shouted, reaching out for each other as Shadow took me away. 

Chapter Text

I fell to the floor at the feet of the Professor and Eggman as Shadow took out the guards around us so quickly I barely registered that they were a threat at all. I attempted to crawl away, needing to find my way back to Tom before it was too late

"We got what we came for." Shadow said to the Professor, holding up the keycard.

"Great job, Shadow." The Professor responded as he took the keycard, paying no mind to my feeble attempt at escape. We all knew I wouldn't get far, but I had to try.

"We have both keys." Eggman said, delighted. "So where's your little science project?"

"It's closer than you think, my boy." The Professor turned to him slowly as Shadow stepped closer to me and grabbed my arm to keep me from going any further. I glared at him, angry at him for what he had done to Tom. I knew it wasn't purposeful. Tom was disguised as Commander Walters, the man who put Shadow on ice for fifty years, but I wanted somebody to blame other than my own weakness. Something flashed in Shadow's eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

The sensation of weightlessness was back as Shadow teleported all of us to a large, dark room. Eggman screamed at the sudden change in environment as the Professor welcomed us. The lights flickered on to reveal the inside of what looked like a large ship. "Welcome, to my masterpiece. I must hand it to G.U.N. They built her to my exact specifications."

Eggman marveled at his surroundings as I tugged my arm out of Shadow's relentless grip. He seemed to only let go once he realized he was still holding onto me and decided I wouldn't be going anywhere. I wiped the wetness from my eyes, trying to think of a plan of escape. This was the endgame. If the Professor launched this ship, it was over. An idea sparked inside my mind as I looked at the low railing nearby. We were in the middle of some kind of four-way bridge. There was nothing but darkness underneath us. The keycards would launch the ship, but that wouldn't be the end. They still needed Shadow and I to fire it. I stared at the railing a bit longer. Maybe if I... 

As the Professor and Eggman were distracted with the ship and their new outfits, my hand slid forward a little bit, but something grabbed my arm once again. Shadow glared down at me as if he knew what I was thinking. I glared back at him. I'd gladly give my life if it meant the Earth would survive. But it looked like Shadow wasn't about to let that happen if it meant his revenge would be compromised. Our glaring match was put on hold as we both refocused our attention to Eggman army crawling across the floor and kissing the Professor's shoe to thank him for the new suit. 

The Professor and Eggman went to go put on their new evil suits as I wracked my brain to figure out a plan to get away from Shadow. His grip was like iron on my forearm. Not tight enough to hurt, but sturdy enough to let me know I wasn't going anywhere. I looked at my arm locked in his hand and muttered, "You still want to go through with this?"

He glanced down at me and took a moment before answering. "More than anything."

I thought about Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. They were my last hope. With this inhibitor collar on, I was utterly useless. The best thing I had were my words and they didn't seem to be reaching Shadow. Or so I thought. "With Sonic still around, it won't be so easy." I muttered, a flicker of hope rising within me. They had to be thinking of something.

Shadow's eyes narrowed, but he didn't respond. I took the silence as agreement. Shadow wasn't dumb enough to underestimate the other blue hedgehog. Sonic may not be as strong as Shadow, but his will to persevere made up for it.

I looked back at Eggman as a tune went off. It was quickly cut off as Eggman raised his thumb and pinky finger to his face like a telephone. "What do you want, Stone? I'm busy." My eyes widened. Stone was still alive. And Eggman has no idea what the Professor and Shadow's true plans were. I tried changing Shadow's mind but he was too set on revenge. Maybe I could help Stone plant a seed of distrust between Eggman and his grandfather instead. 

I couldn't quite make out exactly what Stone was saying on the other end, but I caught the last part. "There's more to their plan."

"How dare you!" Eggman spat, insulted. "You've been jealous of my long lost grand-pop-tart since the very beginning! I no longer require your obsequious groveling. Consider this your notice of termination. Your letter of reference will be L for loser." Eggman made a face at the phone and the Professor grinned. "Of course I expect you to stay on until you've been successfully cloned. But you and I are done! Like a blackened catfish dinner!" Stone attempted to reason with him but Eggman hung up.

"He's telling the truth." I shouted over to them weakly. "There's something they aren't telling you."

Eggman swiveled his head towards me, looking disgusted. "Why would I listen to anything a filthy rat has to say?"

I growled, but decided to ignore the insult. "Because once they're done, there will be nothing left for you to rule. That's what you want right? To rule the world? They're going to destroy it!" I felt Shadow's grip tighten on my arm.

Eggman slowly focused his narrowed eyes onto his grandfather, but the Professor was quick with an excuse. "She's trying a desperate attempt to drive a wedge between us, my boy. Ignore her incessant howling and let us dominate the world." He held up the keycard. "Do the honors, grandson?" The Professor said, driving it home by manipulating Eggman's yearning for familial connection.

Any suspicion in Eggman's gaze faded away as he helped his grandfather insert one of the keycards into its place on the console. The lights faded to red and the ship rumbled beneath us. I could feel gravity weigh down on me as we began to rise from beneath a secret bunker laid under the river just outside of G.U.N headquarters. As Eggman and the Professor moved to one of the many windows around us, Shadow tugged my arm up until I was in a standing position and dragged me along to stand next to them. We watched as the people of London stared up at us in fear. Rising at a fast rate, we left a large cloud of dust and smoke beneath us to cover the city. I stared down at the city in fear, my heart racing as the time came closer. I glanced at Shadow beside me, catching him give a small sigh as he watched the city grow smaller and smaller. He was deep in thought and I could only hope he was having second thoughts.

I could only watch as we rose out of the atmosphere and into Earth's orbit. The blue sky became dark and speckled with stars and I couldn't help but find the sight beautiful. Eggman left to tend to the console as the Professor spoke. "It's time, Shadow." 

Shadow's grip flinched on my arm and he looked up at the Professor. "Professor, is this really what Maria would have wanted?"

"The question isn't what Maria would have wanted. It's what do they deserve." The Professor said angrily before crouching down to Shadow's height and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Remember what she meant to us. Remember what they took from us."

Shadow dropped my arm as he walked towards the bridge. He closed his eyes and remembered that night. The shot that caused the explosion. Her lifeless body, unnaturally still. They deserved it. With a newfound vigor, bolts of orange electricity shot from his body and he teleported to the running track that would allow him to play his part and build up half of the energy needed to fire the machine.

"Oh, Shadow." I muttered weakly as I watched him, knowing the Professor was using his grief to manipulate him. I glared up at the Professor. "You are true evil."

The Professor grinned down at me. "Why, thank you, dear." He patted my head roughly, giving me a slight shove so that my weakened legs would give out from under me. I grunted as he walked past me to the console where Eggman was standing, watching Shadow. "How is that collar treating you?" I growled at him in response.

"Excuse me, Grand Paso Doble. What is that thermonuclear gerbil doing?" Eggman asked, staring up at Shadow cautiously.

"Infusing the core with chaos energy. That's my little secret." He turned back to the window I was at and walked over to stare at the planet below. Eggman followed behind. "The eclipse cannon is about to turn this planet into a flaming pile of rubble, wiping out everything in a twenty-five thousand mile radius." The Professor turned Eggaman's head to look him in the eye. "Including us."

Eggman stared in shock for a moment before shouting, "What!?"

"I told you, egg for brains." I grumbled.

"We can't annihilate the Earth!" Eggman said as if it was laughable, ignoring my comment. "By combining our genius, we can rule humanity. Together!"

"Humanity is a failed experiment. If anyone should know that, it's you." The Professor said. "All your life you've been rejected by this world. You have nothing down there. No one who cares about you."

Eggman looked saddened by his grandfather's words. "But I have you now." He said hesitantly. "We're family. We have each other." He said and the hope in his voice almost made me feel bad for him. 

Eggman's illusion of his perfect grandpappy was broken as the Professor said, "Oh, Ivo... You're no Maria." The Professor walked past Eggman's broken expression, back to the console. "The moment I lost her my family was gone forever! The only way to give Maria's life meaning is to destroy the world that took her from me. So I'm burning it all down!" He shouted in a flare of anger.

I flinched when Shadow zipped in beside me. "It's done."

"Good work Shadow." The Professor said proudly. "Bring the girl to the center bridge to begin the next sequence." The Professor turned to me as Shadow grabbed my arm rougher than before. "This will hurt." He turned back to the console and pressed a few buttons.

My heart dropped as Shadow began tugging me towards the bridge. I stumbled to my feet, trying to fight back but that only caused Shadow to pull me along harder. His grip hurt this time as we approached the center of the bridge. The center lit up as four snake-like tubes lowered from above where the core was, stopping halfway. Shadow positioned me into the very center circle and I felt gravity immediately leave me. My feet left the floor but before I could go high enough, I grabbed Shadow's hand with a strong yet gentle grip.

I stared him in the eyes pleadingly. "Shadow, please. You don't have to do this. The Professor is manipulating you. This isn't what Maria would have wanted!" Shadow held my gaze, his hand twitching like it wanted to wrap back around mine. 

"Shadow!" The Professor shouted from the console.

Shadow flinched and went to pull his hand away but I gripped it tighter. "Shadow, please." I hesitated before trying one last time. My hands shook and my heart raced. I looked him in the eyes desperately and with a weak voice I pleaded, "I'm scared."

His eyes locked with mine and finally it seemed there was a connection. His hand went to wrap back around mine but we were separated by the Professor budging in between us and breaking our hands apart. I yelped as I was pulled upwards towards the snake-like tubes waiting to bite me. The Professor scolded Shadow and was telling him something, likely more lies. I couldn't hear it but I could see the way Shadow squeezed his eyes shut, fists clenched in frustration with his uncertainty. 

The tubes clipped into the slots on the back of my suit and I felt a testing surge flow through me before being sucked out like a wave. The Professor walked back to the console and pressed a few more buttons. I tried to make eye contact with Shadow but he refused to look up at me. The Professor turned around and pulled the remote to my collar from his sleeve. He cranked it from zero to one hundred and I could feel the energy around me burst though my senses, burning my very nerves. My eyes flashed as electricity crackled around my body. The feeling was debilitating. I could feel everything in the universe at once. And as if it couldn't get any worse, the Professor released the storm of Shadow's energy to consume me. Flowing through two of the tubes connected to me, using my energy to dilate it within my body and flowing out through the other two tubes back into the core.

Every hair stood on end as white hot pain set my nerves on fire. I didn't know I was screaming until I felt a warm liquid that tasted like iron fill my throat and my I couldn't scream anymore. My mind drew my consciousness back to escape the horrific pain. 

My vison faded and was replaced with the scene of a faded forest. The forest was a soft green and the wind was cool on my smoldering skin. A small voice called my name and I turned around to see the bright faces of my siblings. I smiled as they handed me a ball. Dropping it on the floor, we began kicking it around as some of the other village kids joined us. I was home. This is where I should have been all along.

The screaming stopped and the electricity crackling dangerously close to the edges of the ship seemed to control itself. Even so, her eyes were white and the suit she was wearing was barely holding up as it smoldered at the edges. Shadow watched her, horrified. Maria wouldn't have wanted this. The Professor said they deserved it but... she didn't deserve this. The energy burned through her skin, climbing up the left side of her face burning away the soft fur that laid there and reaching out to take her eye next. Her hands and feet weren't faring much better. He could only imagine what it was doing to the rest of her. He squeezed his eyes shut. It would all be over soon. Her pain would end and so would his.

Chapter Text

Unable to watch her suffering any longer, Shadow moved to the window overlooking the Earth. He placed a hand on it and closed his eyes. "It's almost finished, Maria. You will have justice." Suddenly something bright gold shot up from the earth, heading straight for them.

The Professor stepped in beside Shadow to examine the unknown object. "What is that?"

"Is G.U.N launching missiles at us?" Shadow asked, equally confused.

"Impossible. It's moving too fast."

Behind them Eggman held up the quill he had taken from Sonic back in the crab, the blue fading into a brilliant gold. "It's him."

In a matter of seconds the missile shot through the glass and through the other side of the ship out into space, taking Shadow with it. The vacuum of space attempted to suck Eggman and the Professor out of the ship through the damaged glass before shields slid over the windows and sealed them inside. They got up and watched beams of gold and white light shoot all across the Earth.

"What's happening? Where are they!" The Professor said, watching anxiously.

"Up there." Eggman said, pointing out into space.

"Where?"

"Higher." When the Professor tilted his head up to look, Eggman chopped him in the throat and sent him to his knees. "Left yourself open." He said as he started running across the room towards the control console.

"Ivo, what are you doing!?" The Professor shouted, his voice strangled as he soothed his throat.

"Thwarting your evil plan!"

The Professor used his suit's jetpack system to boost him towards Eggman, tackling him to the ground right underneath the girl suspended in the air giving power to the megaweapon they were standing in. They each grabbed the other's mustache and began tugging. Truly a dirty move. So they both agreed not to touch the mustache and instead fought using their suit's nano weapon upgrades. 

As Eggman and the Professor slapped each other around, Sonic and Shadow battled it out on earth, sharing the Master Emerald's capabilities after Shadow had knocked the emeralds out of Sonic. Sonic was thrown to the ground and as he tried to recover, Shadow began speaking.

"Why are you alone? Where are your friends?" Shadow asked and Sonic glared at him loathingly as he tried to hold back his groans of pain. "They tried to stop you, didn't they? But you came anyway. Your anger was too much. What kind of hero abandons his friends to pursue revenge? Abandons his family?" His hand shot up to the new shining star in the sky that was the Eclipse Cannon. There was an irk inside Shadow that stirred because with all this power, Sonic went after Shadow instead of saving her. 

"Don't you dare talk about my family." Sonic shouted, readying to fight again. His head was clouded with grief and the need for revenge. His Judgement was scattered and he only had one goal; to make Shadow pay.

"And here I thought you cared for them. Especially the one... what's his name? Tom?" Shadow said and in a split second he was sent into the sky, up through the atmosphere and heading straight for the moon.

He skipped across the grey surface until he finally settled on his back. The powered white of his fur faded back to black before he noticed Sonic coming straight for him. He yelped and covered his head as Sonic ran into him and dragged him across the surface of the moon. Sonic grabbed the fur of Shadow's chest and readied a punch.

Shadow glared at him. "Go ahead. Finish it!" Sonic hesitated, wanting so badly to to it, but something was stopping him. "What are you waiting for? Do it!" Shadow pointed at his own chest. "I'm right here!" The action sent Sonic back and he heard Tom's voice as his mind forcefully brought up a memory.

"You didn't let your pain change who you are." Tom poked Sonic in the chest. "In here."

Sonic looked at his own superpowered fist, rage turning into sadness and regret. He let go of Shadow and sat up. "This is not who I am." He walked away and took a seat on the ground.

Shadow sat up, confused. "What are you doing? You won. Take your revenge."

Sonic's golden power faded as he brought his knees to his chest. "There are no winners with revenge."

Shadow looked away, thinking about his words. It brought him back to something she had said. 

"Does... does the pain ever go away?" He asked.

"No." She stated, brows scrunching as she curled in on herself. "The revenge didn't make it any easier."

She had been trying to tell him the same thing. Whatever had happened in her past, she had gotten her revenge and it wasn't worth it. But she survived. After losing everything she was still here. Could he do the same after losing Maria? He wasn't sure if he was strong enough. He looked up at the stars and recalled the night they snuck out of the lab, her voice echoing in his mind. "The last time I sat beneath stars like this... I was with her. I've felt this pain for so long. It's all I know."

"When I lost Longclaw, I felt the same way." Sonic said.

Shadow decided to ask the same question he asked her. "Did your pain eventually go away?"

"No. But in time, I learned there's something even more powerful than pain. The love we felt for each other." Sonic said as he turned to look at him and Shadow listened intently. "That's what you have to hold onto, Shadow. Maria might be gone, but your love will always remain." Ahead of him, the sun rose behind the Earth.

Shadow recalled something Maria had said. "The light shines even though the star is gone." He restated as Sonic looked at him softly, seeing him for who he really was beneath the anger and grief.

The moment was cut short when they heard a rumbling coming from the Eclipse Cannon not too far away. Sonic said his friend's name softly as he remembered. "Is she okay?"

Shadow's brows furrowed in realization. "I don't know." Guilt invaded him as he remembered the sound of her screams. "This whole mess is my fault. I've been so blinded by rage I thought... I had no choice." A hand showed up in his peripheral and he looked at Sonic who held his hand out to him with a kind smile. 

"You always have a choice." Shadow hesitated before grabbing his hand and standing as Sonic continued. "But making the right one is never easy. One more thing I learned is that when you really screw something up, you can't fix it on your own." 

Sonic smirked and Shadow followed. They clapped their hands together and their shared power of the Master Emerald returned. Readying to fight Sonic suddenly said, "Gotta go fast."

"Don't tell me you've got a catchphrase." Shadow said with a mocking smile.

"That's right, new hedgehog. And everyone loves it." Sonic said with a grin before they took off towards the Eclipse Cannon.

Inside the Cannon the Professor spanked Eggman for trying to thwart his evil plan. Eggman used his nano tech to build a drill and drilled into the Professor's foot. The Professor screamed as Eggman rolled away. They continued to fight using various bug-related weapons until the Professor managed to knock Eggman off the bridge. Eggman clung to the low railing so he wouldn't fall into the glass windows below. The Professor was distracted by an alert that stated there were incoming objects headed towards the ship. The ship's camera zoomed in to analyze the objects to show Sonic and Shadow heading for them at high speeds. 

"Shadow, I see you've chosen betrayal." The Professor said, mildly perturbed by the new obstacle in his path to revenge. "And you were once so useful to me." He pressed a button on his wrist and sent out the ship's defense system. Hundreds of large robots left their hangars, heading straight for the two hedgehogs.

"Ready to recycle some tin cans?" Sonic asked as Shadow rolled his shoulder in preparation.

"Just try to keep up." Shadow said with a smirk then they were off. They fought in sync, taking out each robot with ease. 

Meanwhile, the Professor refocused his attention onto Eggman who was still clinging onto the edge of the platform. Eggman shouted, "Please, Grampsy! Don't do this!"

"Sorry, kiddo. Bring your grandchild to work day is over." The Professor stated before pressing a sequence of buttons on his gloves, sending a signal to the ship to open the ship windows below. The vacuum of space threatened to take Eggman once again. "Any last words?"

"Just one thing that I never thought I'd say." Eggman said emotionally.

"What is it? 'I love you'?" The Professor said mockingly.

"...No. It was something even better. But I'm not gonna say it if that's the way you're gonna be." Eggman said, looking away embarrassed.

"Okay. Bye." The Professor said before kicking Eggman's fingers off of the railing. Eggman screamed as he fell through the doors. The Professor cackled victoriously as he looked up at the girl suspended in the air that had just finished fueling his weapon. Too caught up in his victory, he didn't see her finger twitch. "Grandchildren. All the fun and none of the responsibility." He said, back turned to the incoming threat.

Rising from a ring portal, Tails held Eggman's arm as Knuckles clung to his feet. Eggman held Sonic's golden quill in his hand as they hovered closer.

"Who said life was pointless?" Eggman asked, getting his grandfather's attention. "Oh, right. You did." He stabbed the quill into the Professor's butt, the energy sending the Professor flying into the girl who was suspended in the air, knocking her out of the gravity field she was in. They both fell to the other side of the platform and as the Professor groaned he suddenly felt someone grab the collar of his shirt. Hovering over him was the subject of his torture, white hot energy steaming off of her. The electric burns in her skin shone a bright white along with her eyes. Her suit was charred, the sleeves and legs of it had shrunken up to her elbows and knees from being burned away. She dug through his suit pocket and plucked out the remote to her collar before, with a flash of anger, she threw him up into the large amount of swirling energy Shadow had created. The power turned him to ash in an instant. Tails and Knuckles cheered as Eggman said, "Say what you want about my granddad, he made one hell of a bug zapper."

Tails brought them back down to the platform as an alarm went off signaling that the Cannon was about to be fired. "We gotta stop that laser!" Tails said as he rushed to the control console.

Knuckles rushed to the girl who shakily held up the remote. Her vison was blurry but she managed to turn the knob the correct way, blocking out all energy coming in and out of her. The excess energy that was cut off came out of her in a small blast, causing Knuckles to hesitate before catching her as her legs gave out. Knuckles looked over her injuries and his heart ached. Her burns were no longer glowing and the energy that had crawled up her face had gotten to her eye, surely blinding her.

"You are a true warrior. Rest now. I am sorry we could not get to you sooner." He said as he picked her up and rushed back to Tails and Eggman at the console.

Outside Shadow punched through a robot before focusing on the Cannon preparing to fire in front of him. "We're out of time. The cannon is about to fire! Where are you?" He looked around for Sonic, spotting him coming in behind with plenty of robots chasing after him.

"Oh, you know. Just making friends. They're all yours." Sonic said as he dove out of the way.

Shadow summoned projectiles that took out the hoard of robots in less than ten seconds. They then headed straight for the Cannon and just as it was about to fire, they intercepted the beam, keeping it from harming Earth.

"So this was your plan?" Shadow grunted.

"Yeah- would someone mind shutting down the giant death ray!?" Sonic shouted, voice strained.

"We can't stop the cannon from firing..." Tails said.

"But we can steer it away from the Earth." Eggman finished. "Coming around to starboard."

"Aye aye, Doc." Tails said as they worked together to steer the Cannon away from Earth. 

Just as they cleared the planet, Shadow and Sonic fell away from the laser, unable to hold it any longer. "I did it! I did it!" Eggman shouted. Unfortunately it did hit the moon, cutting a chunk off of it. Tails, Knuckles, and Eggman cringed and Eggman blamed the others. "Look what you did!"

Something flickering below caught their attention as Tails called it out. An unconscious Sonic began to reenter the atmosphere. Tails turned to Knuckles. "Oh, Knuckles. Please tell me you have a-"

Knuckles shifted the girl in his arms to pull out a golden ring. "Last one." 

Tails grabbed it. "Let's make it count." They rushed to the exit airlock, Eggman staying behind. Knuckles put the barely-conscious girl down against the wall. "Ready for a little base of ball?" Tails asked as he pulled the lever to open the airlock. An alarm sounded to prepare them. "Deep breath." Tails rolled into a ball and jumped into Knuckles' hand. As the doors opened, Knuckles threw Tails towards Sonic. The ship rumbled as it began falling apart.

Inside, Eggman watched the Earth from the window, jumping when Shadow suddenly appeared next to him. Shadow instinctively looked to where the girl was suspended in the air, relieved to see that she was no longer there and judging by the sight below of one of Sonic's friends rushing to save him, he knew she was in good hands. The ship rumbled again and he looked back to Eggman. "What's happening?"

"The reactor core is overloading." Eggman said blankly. "It's only a matter of time before it blows."

Shadow's heart dropped. "So what does that mean for Earth?"

"A radioactive atmosphere, rain that kills the crops and melts your flesh. Other than that..." Eggman shrugged.

Shadow grabbed his shoulder and shoved him against the wall. "We're not done here! you try to stabilize the reactor. Buy me some time. I'll push the station away from Earth before it explodes. This is our last chance to do the right thing."

Taking this opportunity to be a valiant hero, Eggman saluted Shadow. "Vaya con dios erizo apestoso."

Not wasting any more time, Shadow teleported outside. After taking off his inhibitor rings he felt a painful amount of energy flow through him. He began pushing the Cannon away from Earth no matter how painful it was to do so. As he did, he imagined his time with Maria. This is what she would have wanted. So he would do it for her.

Knuckles watched as Tails' consciousness faded and grabbed the girl before jumping out of the airlock as well. On the way down, she opened her good eye. Her vision focused in and out before settling on a white figure at the edge of the Cannon. It was Shadow, but where his fur used to be black, it was now a blinding white, teeming with power. She watched the Cannon become unstable as he pushed it from Earth and she understood.

"Shadow..." She mumbled, voice nothing but a few crackles through her shredded vocal chords. As if he heard her, he turned his head and they caught eyes. There was a softness between them. She reached out weakly, not wanting him to go just yet. He smiled softly at her, feeling even more empowered to save Earth. He wished he could have had more time to get to know her, but he was out of time. She wasn't though, so he would do anything to make sure she was safe. He owed it to her after all that he put her through. He focused back onto the task at hand, using all of his energy to propel the Cannon further. Knuckles caught the ring that Tails had dropped and threw it ahead of his falling friends. They all fell through the portal to safety as Shadow closed his eyes and the Cannon exploded.

Chapter Text

The last thing I saw were his eyes. I don't remember much after that. I drifted in and out of consciousness until my eyes finally fluttered open, more alert than they'd been in the last few days. I heard the beeping of a monitor quicken pace as I panicked. My sight was blurry and I blinked rapidly to clear it up. I heard voices and once my vison focused I saw my family standing around me.

"She's awake." Sonic said with relief palpable in the air around him.

Maddie, noticing my panicked state, brushed her hand over my head. "Hey, you're okay. You're safe now." She said in a soft voice.

The beeping slowed as I relaxed slightly. Sitting up, I looked around the room and took the chance to try to speak. "Wh-" My voice cracked and failed me. I winced in discomfort and tried again, my voice coming out in a scratchy whisper. "Where are we?"

"We're in a G.U.N medical ward. They couldn't figure out how to help you, but after I scanned that thing on your neck we realized it was holding you back from healing yourself so we took it off. Turns out you just needed a little energy." Tails said, grinning with pride at being the one to figure out how to help me.

My hand shot up to my neck only to feel soft fur and I realized I could feel the energies around me again just like normal. But even so, the feeling of any type of energy made my heart race again. Breathing to calm myself I looked back at Tails who, like everyone else, looked slightly concerned. I opened my mouth to speak but my voice only came out in a squeak. Annoyed, I focused my energy to my vocal chords so they would heal quicker and tried again. "C-could you replicate that? The collar?"

Tails looked confused. "Why?"

"It helped... control the energy I take in." I responded to the best of my ability.

Tails nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I can do that."

I looked between Sonic and Maddie, a new concern entering my mind. "Tom?"

Maddie smiled. "He's recovering. He'll be okay."

"He fought tooth and nail to try to be here for you, but the doc wouldn't let him." Sonic said with a grin.

I smiled slightly and there was a moment of silence until I broke it again. "Shadow?"

The mood turned grim. I knew the answer but I needed to know for sure. Sonic's smile faded and he shook his head. Tails spoke up for him. "He and Robotnik sacrificed themselves to save Earth."

I sighed, looking down at my hands. My fingers traced the electric burns in my fur, surprised that I wasn't in any pain. I didn't think about them much longer.

"They passed on valiantly and are heroes to all mankind." Knuckles chipped in in an effort to lift the mood. Sonic and Tails nodded in agreement. 

Even as I sat here, safe and sound, I couldn't feel relieved. It felt as if someone else should have been here with us. Maddie changed the subject, rubbing my shoulder. I offhandedly noticed the scarf she wore tied around her wrist. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I responded automatically. I wasn't in any pain but everything felt repressed. Like there was something my brain didn't want me thinking about.

"You're not in any pain? How is your eye feeling?" She asked, more concerned.

I shook my head before stopping. "My eye?" I asked in confusion, hand reaching for my right eye first then my left. I was surprised to feel bandages there. There was no pain and no usual blackness that you'd typically see with a closed eye. "I can't, there's nothing." I picked at the bandages, itching to take them off.

"Here, let me do it." Maddie offered and helped unwrap the bandages from around my head. Even as the cloth fell away, there was nothing. I could feel myself blinking, but it was as if my eye was no longer there.

There was a quiet resounding gasp as I looked between everybody. "What is it?"

Sonic took out his phone and turned on the selfie camera before handing it to me. Hesitantly, I looked at myself. The electric burns reached up my neck along my cheek and... my eye. It was milky white and looked scarred. I gasped once I caught a glimpse of it and dropped the phone, hurrying to cover my eye. Seeing it brought it all back. Shadow letting go. The white hot pain. The sensations of the energy of everything that had ever been. I didn't hear the monitor next to my bed beeping erratically, too desperate to fill my lungs with air. My family panicked around me as I felt something cover up that side of my face and be tied around the back of my head. Maddie sat on the bed next to me after tying the scarf she had around her wrist over my eye and held me close despite the electricity that tempted to burn her. I focused on her voice, trying not to remember what had happened.

After a moment I calmed down, feeling my lungs accept the air I breathed in once again. I caught a glimpse of Sonic's face drenched in guilt and remorse. "I'm sorry we couldn't get to you sooner. We were so focused on the key, we thought we'd be able to rescue you after. It was a stupid plan." Sonic said, unable to look me in the eye. 

Tails and Knuckles looked the same as Maddie spoke. "You guys did what you could with the time you had. Don't blame yourselves."

I couldn't say anything. Despite wanting so badly to forgive them, I couldn't. I felt abandoned, forgotten. I was happy we were all safe, but I couldn't help the feeling. So I held my words. If I said it was okay, I'd be lying.

The rest of they day went by in a blur. All I wanted was to get home and sleep in my own bed. And that's exactly what I did after I had gotten discharged and brought back to Green Hills. Kicking the door open to the shed that had become mine in Tom and Maddie's backyard I walked into the room I missed so much. I let the door close behind me as I changed out of the scrubs I was given and into my own pajamas. Slumping into my bed was one of the best feelings in the world, but it was short lived as the emptiness returned in the silence. I refused to think about all that had happened so to distract myself I opened up the phone that I had just learned how to use. Every app I could scroll on to distract myself was filled with news about what had happened. It was all coverup facts, but it was still all I saw. Theories about what had happened, alien sightings, warnings to evacuate meteorite debris zones. Annoyed, I turned my phone off and closed my eyes, drifting into a deep slumber. 

"Does the pain ever go away?"

"Think about what Maria would have wanted."

"What were their names?"

"I was supposed to be the one to protect them, but I failed."

"When we're done, there won't be anything left to rule."

"You still want to go through with this?"

"More than anything."

"I'm scared."

Dreamland wasn't as calming as it could have been as I shot awake just in time to see the blast of energy I had excreted in my panic. It was orange. Like Shadow's. I gasped for air and put my head in my hands, unable to contain the sob that escaped me. It all came erupting out of me at once. The moonlight filtered through the window next to my bed and in a desperate attempt to get fresh air I threw it open. Only then did I realize it wasn't just the moonlight shining into my window. It was what was left of the Eclipse Cannon. A bright smear of oranges and blues streaking across the sky. The sight of it should have left me horrified, but for some reason, it was comforting. Tears fell from my eyes as I watched it among the stars, only broken out of my trance when I noticed a bright light streaking across the sky. It looked like shooting star but only got brighter the closer it came to the ground. I watched it warily as it refused to burn out until it disappeared behind the tree line. A quiet boom resounded through the forest and on a whim I quickly leaped out of the window to chase it down.

The night was cold but I kept running, ignoring the strange lack of pain in my feet from running through a forest barefoot. I caught the scent of smoke in the distance and picked up the pace. Eventually I came upon a small crater with something red glowing in the center of it. My heart skipped a beat as I slowly approached it. A part of me was expecting something, or someone. But as I swept the dirt away and picked up the too-small-to-be-an-alien-hedgehog object I realized it was a chaos emerald. With my hopes crushed I examined it. Shiny as ever, teeming with power, and relatively unscathed.

I thought back to the last time I saw Shadow. His glowing white fur where it should have been black. He had somehow had the Master Emerald. And when the Eclipse Cannon exploded they were likely knocked out of him left to rain down on Earth. Just then another thought floated through my mind. If he had the emeralds when the Cannon exploded, could he have taken the blast? I shook my head, not wanting to get my hopes up.

On the walk home my thoughts wandered. Why was my mind so stuck on him? He let go. He let me take on all of that pain and did nothing to help. This was all partially his fault. I shook my head. He was being manipulated by the Professor. Would I have done the same to get my own revenge? I was unsure. But if there was a worm in my ear telling me it was the only way then I suppose I would. That didn't explain why he was stuck in my head. Maybe because I could see so much of myself in him. Maybe because I knew he had a good heart. If only I had more time.

I looked down at the emerald in my hand. I needed to find the rest to fulfill my duty of keeping the Master Emerald safe and out of the wrong hands. So I made a plan. One without Sonic and the others in it. I needed to do this on my own to make up for how useless I was with the Professor. I would search debris zones that people were being evacuated from and be the first to any meteorites that hit the earth. I didn't want an emerald in G.U.N's hands or anyone else's. So I'll do what it takes to retrieve all of them.

Chapter Text

When I got back I immediately began packing my bags. Warm clothes and cold clothes. First alien aid. Food. Anything I'd need. I had to be out of here and headed to Louisiana where the next debris field was as quickly as possible. After getting dressed and grabbing my things I looked into the mirror next to the door as I threw my backpack over my shoulder. The scarf Maddie gave me hid my eye but the lightning shaped scars all over my body were noticeable. At least they kind of looked cool. 

I sighed and shook my head, heading out of the shed and towards the house. I snuck inside and made for the garage where Tails' lab was. He said he'd get started on a more discreet replica of the Professor's collar as soon as we got home and as I walked into the garage I froze. He was still working on it. But, his head was down and he was snoring softly.

I tiptoed over to him and in front of him laid two bands and blueprints for the inhibitors. It was a sketch of me with them clasped onto my upper arms. The notebook in front of Tails had a note stating they were complete and ready for testing. The page also contained how to use them so I carefully tore it out of the notebook and discreetly snatched the inhibitors. I couldn't leave him with nothing though so in a new page of his notebook I wrote him a note.

"Thank you, Tails. See you soon."

After setting a blanket over Tails, snatching a few more useful gadgets, and clasping the inhibitors onto my arms I was off. The inhibitors helped block out however much energy I wanted without simultaneously exhausting me and it made me let out a sigh of relief. I waited until I got outside to throw one of the limited amount of rings that we had and stepped through the portal. 

My shoes squished under the swampy marshland of the Louisiana wild as the portal closed behind me. I noticed city and police lights in the far distance and after drawing the hood of my jacket up I began making my way there. This town was being evacuated as it was in the direct estimated line of Eclipse Cannon debris and hopefully an emerald or two. As I reached the edge of the town I looked up to see the beginning of the meteor shower. Using one of Tails' tablets, I pointed it up at the sky, letting it estimate which ones would burn up and which ones would survive and hit the ground. It also told me where they would hit. Luckily they were off the estimated course and would end up just missing the town.

I made my way over to the area they would hit, but stayed a safe distance away as to not get pummeled. After a moment of waiting, the first one hit followed by two more. After scanning the sky and waiting for another moment, there was none left to endanger me. I made my way towards the closest crater and looked inside. The mud created excessive amounts of steam so I used the tablet to scan it. Nothing but a melted piece of metal. The same went for the next two and I sighed.

I could see police lights nearing closer so I quickly left the area. The next few searches went the same. Until somewhere in Wyoming. I expected the same molten pieces of metal, but as I looked into one crater, I noticed a hint of gold. Picking it up I realized it was a large, scuffed, golden ring. My mind flashed back to Shadow and the rings around his wrists and ankles and I fell to my knees. I stared blankly at it as it laid in my hands. I couldn't remember if he was wearing them the last time I saw him but if he was... this was confirmation that he was truly gone. I decided to hold onto it, shoving it into my backpack before taking off.

A few days had passed since I had left, and I wondered how the others were doing. Were they looking for me? Were they worried? Knowing them they were probably in a panic. I sighed as I poked at my diner breakfast. I kept my hood up so nobody would notice my alien appearance, instead assuming I was just some kid. I watched the news on the old TV mounted in the corner. They weren't describing the next place the meteors would hit, likely because it wouldn't be near civilization and they didn't want people going to see it and potentially lose their lives for getting too close. Luckily I knew exactly where the next zone was thanks to Tails' tablet.

I left the diner and began my walk. The next zone was less that thirty miles from here in the heart of a Colorado forest. I had time and was running low on rings so I wouldn't use one unless I had to. The air was cool as I walked on the side of a highway. Cars passed me occasionally but it was overall peaceful. It reminded me of the old days before Sonic. I had nowhere that I belonged, so I travelled. I walked and walked, trying to find myself again. Then I trained to pursue my revenge. I thought it was the only thing that would make me whole again, but even after that grueling battle and my victory, I was still broken. The only thing that put me back together was Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as well as Tom and Maddie. I thought I could do the same for Shadow.

The trek was long but as the sun set I came upon the soon-to-be crash site. The objects wouldn't enter the atmosphere for another hour so I decided to sit and have a snack. The stars twinkled above me as I sat against a tree. The night was clear and calm, but I could see a storm rolling in in the far distance. I hoped I could avoid it.

As my mind wandered, Tails' tablet began to alert me that the meteors were entering the atmosphere. I stood up to watch them. Most burned up but one made it through. I gasped as it shined brighter than all of the others I had seen before explosively crashing to the ground in the clearing in front of me. I hesitated to get any closer before I willed my legs to move and jogged over to the large crater. I swatted dust from my face and peeked inside. As the dust cleared I scanned the inside of the crater. The last thing I expected was the results of the scan telling me there was a life form inside.

I quickly put the tablet away and jumped inside. Whoever it was was curled up and covered in ash and grime, the edges of them smoldering from their entrance into the atmosphere. My heart raced, mind only thinking of one person. As my shaking hand touched their shoulder and I turned them over, my heart stopped completely. I quickly turned his face to me, rubbing the grime off of his cheek with my thumb.

"Shadow..." He was unnervingly still so I put my ear to his chest to listen for... anything. I waited and waited and waited until.

Thump.

I felt like all of the air had been knocked out of me as I quickly turned up the inhibitors around my arms. I could hardly feel his energy, but it was there. I tried not letting the feeling take me back to the Eclipse Cannon, focusing on diverting his energy to healing his vitals, even giving him some of my own energy to use. I could hear helicopters thumping in the distance and I knew I had to leave this area now. I took off my backpack and put it on backwards to free up my back before trying my best to gently shift Shadow into a piggy back position. I wrapped his limp arms around my neck and held the back of his legs with my hands before clambering out of the crater. I huffed, noticing the helicopters growing closer. Without much thought, I took off into the forest.

I ran as quickly as I could. I wasn't as fast as Sonic but I was pretty quick when I put my mind to it. I made sure Shadow was getting a steady amount of energy without exhausting myself. He was alive and I wasn't about to let him go.

Chapter Text

I ran for what felt like hours, not wanting to risk the authorities catching up to us. The storm I caught brewing reached us quickly, but I kept running. My legs felt weak but there was a strange lack of the usual burning sensation that came with overusing muscles that kept me going. Every once in a while I would stop to listen for Shadow's breathing to make sure he was still alive before starting again. It didn't take long to start feeling his energy become stronger the more I gave to him. It was still much weaker than it needed to be, but I was searching for anything to tell me he was going to be okay. The rain drenched us from head to toe, rinsing the grime off of Shadow and revealing his color once again.

At some point after the rain had stopped, I knew I had gone on too long. My legs were ready to give out from under me and my arms were no different. Luckily I seemed to have stumbled into a cliffside hiking trail and as I followed that, I made it to a rest area with a run down picnic table. Aching to rest, I made a beeline for the table. I managed to maneuver Shadow onto the table and practically collapsed onto the bench. The stars above me shined brightly, soon to be faded by the rising sun.

With a sigh I turned back to where Shadow rested on the table. His face was turned away from me and he looked deathly still. The only thing that indicated he was alive was the slight rise and fall of his chest. I gently cupped his hand into mine took the time to focus my energy on healing him as quickly as I could, but with the amount of energy he had it would be difficult. The wind shuffled the leaves of the trees around us as birds began to sing their morning song. 

I hadn't realized how much time had passed before Shadow began to shift. The sun was peeking over the horizon so it hadn't of been long. My eyes snapped open to watch him as his face scrunched and his crimson eyes fluttered open. He blinked the exhaustion from his eyes with a soft groan and hazily took in his surroundings. It took him a moment to register there was another person next to him but when his eyes caught mine he stilled. 

There was an awkward silence for a moment before I broke it, speaking softly so I didn't startle him. "Try not to move around too much. You're still weak."

He watched me for a moment longer before letting out a weak, "I'm... alive?"

I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face. "Yeah." Despite running through every possible thing I could say in this moment as I healed him, that was all I could come up with. He didn't seem to share the same joy I felt, face blank. My smile fell slowly the longer he stayed silent. His eyes ran over the scarring on my face and the cloth around my eye, the memories flooding back. There was something in his eyes, something angry. Not at me or at the circumstance, but at himself. All of the pain he saw on and in me was his fault. It was all his fault.

Suddenly he took notice of the pressure around his hand and glanced down to see his hand encased in mine. "I'm healing you." I said quickly so he didn't get any weird ideas. He took a moment to register what I had said before ripping his hand away from mine and attempting to get up. He stumbled off of the table, legs weak and hardly able to hold his weight. I jumped up quickly, leaping over the table to his side to steady him. "Hey, I said not to move around too much. You need to rest." I scolded before he ripped his arm out of my grasp.

Shaking the dizziness out of his head, he steadied himself. "Don't waste your energy on me."

I held back from touching him but kept my hands raised and ready in case his legs gave out on him. "It's not a waste if it's helping you."

"I don't d- need your help." I could tell he meant to say something else, but didn't dwell on it as he quickly changed the subject, looking at his wrists. "Where are my inhibitors?"

I took a moment before remembering what he meant. "Those gold rings?" I turned back to where I had left my bag and rushed over to it. "I found one the other night not too far from where you landed." I rummaged through my bag until my fingers curled around the metal and I pulled it out. He shuffled over to me and I handed it to him. He clasped it onto his wrist and I could feel his chaos energy stabilize even just slightly.

"Just one?" He asked, inspecting the metal.

"For now. The other ones are bound to land somewhere." I responded, pulling out Tails' tablet and fiddling with it.

"You keep saying land." He said, wanting me to clarify. "How did I get here? How am I..."

I looked back at him and prepared my words. "I've been tracking Eclipse Cannon debris sites. I watched you come down. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. If I wasn't there, G.U.N would have found you instead."

His brows furrowed at the thought of being stuck with G.U.N again but then he looked back at me and shook his head. "You could have just let them take me. Why..."

I took a moment before responding. "Because you don't deserve to be put back into captivity."

He looked at me like I grew another head. "I nearly destroyed humanity. I deserve worse." He said, slumping back onto the bench and looking away from me.

I took a seat beside him but was sure to give him space. "Someone you trusted used your grief to manipulate you and in the end you saved humanity. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish." I said, looking out into the rising sun. "And now it's a new day and you're still here whether you like it or not. You have a chance to start fresh. It's up to you how you choose to do it."

He looked away from me and into the horizon. He had a second chance and it was in his hands how he decided to use it. He looked back at me, eyes tracing the scarring. "How can you not hate me?" He muttered before he could think.

I looked back at him, realizing what he meant. "I don't hate you. Sure I'm not exactly happy with you, but I don't blame you entirely."

He looked down at his hands, troubled. "But you still blame me."

I watched him for a moment, thinking about my words carefully. "I can't not. But I can forgive you. With time. If you want to try."

He was silent for a long moment before looking at me with determination. "How?"

I smiled and opened up the tablet again. "Well you can help me with my little project that's most definitely going to get me into trouble with G.U.N." He seemed unfazed by that last part, looking at the tablet curiously as I showed him estimated impact times of showering debris all over the world. "I'm tracking down Eclipse Cannon debris sights as I said before. But not for no reason." I set the tablet aside and reached into my bag once more, deciding to trust him with this knowledge. I pulled out the ruby red emerald that had been sitting like a rock in my backpack this whole journey. It glowed brightly in my hand. "I'm tracking down the emeralds before G.U.N can get to them." Shadow looked at the emerald, nearly mesmerized by its ethereal glow.

He broke his trance and looked back at me. "How many do you have?"

"Just this one so far." I responded, putting it away.

"How do you know G.U.N doesn't already have the others?" He asked.

"I've gotten to every debris sight before them. And I've been tracking their comms." I smirked, tapping the tablet until sound began to filter through. Various voices gave updates on their situations, sounding defeated. "They know it's me and they're suggesting getting Sonic to track me down."

"Sonic doesn't know you're doing this?" Shadow asked, surprised.

I cringed, not intending to let that information slip so soon. "Yeah. I... wanted to do this on my own." Shadow looked at me a second longer and before he could say anything I hopped up and threw my backpack over my shoulder. "Right! Well, let's get this show on the road."

Shadow shook his head and shakily stood up. I watched him with concern but he brushed it off, standing taller to mask the exhaustion he felt. Despite that, he caught me still staring at him and he narrowed his eyes. "I'm fine."

I raised my hands in defense and turned to begin walking. I spoke when I knew he was following. "You're welcome by the way. For healing you."

"I didn't ask for your help." He responded cooly.

"And here I thought we had a moment back there. Now you're all tough guy again." I said, trying to break the sudden tension he was creating.

I heard him sigh and after a long moment he muttered a begrudging, "Thanks."

I smiled back at him and he seemed to relax slightly, expecting more teasing out of me but receiving none to his relief.

"Alright, let's go break the law!"