"Will you dance with me, shadow?"
On the rare occasion that he finds himself lulled by the setting sky, he dreams of a maiden in blue atop a a green planet, smiling and dancing and asking him Will you dance with me, Shadow?
When he wakes, he'll have the faintest memory of his feet tangled in mess beneath him the echo of laughter in his ears and the faintest moisture in his eyes.
"Shadow! I beg of you, give them a chance to be happy!"
He wants to remember, remember the name to the face, but can't. Not by memory. So he rubs his eyes and stands, for he is a GUN agent, and he has work to do.
"Will you run with me, Shadow?"
It is years, practically a century later, that dreams meet him again, this time in the form of a blue mirror with green eyes and an attitude. There's a grin and the feel of a strong but gentle hand on his shoulder, asking, pleading, whining even, Will you run with me, Shadow?
When he wakes, he'll be jolted out of his sleep by the sound of barriers breaking and red sneakers fighting, as blue turns to gold and black turns to silver. He'll wipe the tip of his eyes to find his cheeks wet before scrubbing at them ferociously.
"Please, Shadow. Live. Live…and protect those precious to you."
He doesn't want to remember, doesn't want to see the light dying from those eyes, never again, but he does. So he'll get up and put his mind to something else. He is the Ultimate Lifeform and he shall continue living and leaving the past in the ruins behind him.
It is centuries later that he meets a silver hedgehog unlike any other he's ever met in this desolated world. He's young, too young, with eyes too bright and fists too rough and powers too powerful for him to understand.
The chaos emeralds are gone, Shadow knows, so he doesn't understand where his powers come from. But when they flash once in an effort to protect him, Shadow feels more than sees its' blue with a hint of green light.
"I've heard of you." The hedgehog shouts at him over the flame ridden armies that surround him. "You have powers too, right?"
Shadow coughs, staring at the silver hedgehog. How long, his mind speaks, how long has it been since I've bothered using them? He shakes his head, stands, ready to run away. No use for him being here.
But just as he is about to push himself off the ground, a blue-green hand glows before him, and he follows that hand to the face. It is grimacing with concentration, looking towards the army before them.
"We're probably the only ones who can finish them off." he says, chest heaving. "my village is close; we can give you water and shelter if you help me defend it."
He pauses and takes a split second to look him in the eye, gold to red.
"I can give you something to protect." He says, and Shadow's eyes widen. "Will you fight with me?"
"Will you dance with me, Shadow?"
A smile.
"Anything for you, Maria."
"Will you run with me, Shadow?"
A smirk.
"Don't get left behind, Faker."
"Will you fight with me?" Silver repeats.
A nod.
"We won't just fight." He replies, taking the outstretched hand and standing up. "We win."
I headcannon Shadow and Silver as friends or archrivals in the future. Mostly like how Shadow and Sonic are. I'm trying to come back. Slowly. Hope this is a good start.