Shadow the Hedgehog was dying.
The correct medical terminology for his condition would be hypovolemic shock which is caused by severe blood loss. The source of the blood was several deep gashes than ran across the hedgehog's forehead and back. The less detail given about these wounds, the better, but there were many of them. They would be stitched up later. But now his blood had to be replaced, a fact which had doctors scrambling for how to do it. They certainly were never donated hedgehog blood before and even they didn't know Shadow's blood type or if hedgehogs and humans even had the same blood type. (Shadow's Black Arm-originated blood certainly didn't help the matter.)
The hedgehog himself lay confused in a hospital bed, watching over doctors who argued with each other on how to carry this out. He was weak, both from the blood loss and the fight that caused it. He breathed heavily and sweated. The temperature of his body was steadily decreasing. Each strand of consciousness he had was slowly being plucked, taken away and it made the hedgehog's eyes become heavy. That is to say heavy as in 200 pound weight heavy.
His vision was getting blurrier and it became harder and harder to move. All feeling was gone in his body and his eyes were getting heavier and started to close. His hearing went shortly after. Therefore, he couldn't hear the sound of the heart monitor's decreasing frequency of beeps. He couldn't hear the mad rush of doctors trying to resuscitate him. It was too late for any treatment now. Shadow's opponent was victorious, a fact the world would soon know. But now, the hedgehog closed his eyes for the last time, never to reopen them ever again.
In the process of dying, he never noticed he had a visitor. This was probably due to the doctors surrounding him and obscuring his view, when he still had one. The visitor now stood in the corner, motionless, and on the verge of crying. And yet, he didn't want to wet his red fur with tears.
Knuckles the Echidna waited for the doctors to clear before approaching his dead would-be lover on what became a literal deathbed. A multitude of questions shot through his mind, most of which he resolved by blaming himself for the matter. If only he had tried to help the poor hedgehog. But now it was too late for any help to be given. The Guardian grabbed the once lively hedgehogs hand in his own. So warm and lively, now it was cold and lifeless. He buried his face in Shadow's, also cold, chest fur. Even after passing, it was still soft and comfortable. But now, it became wet with the echidna's tears. And he would continue to do this until the doctors carried the hedgehog's body away, leaving the poor grieving echidna to watch.
Knuckles returned to the Master Emerald shrine with even more questions. Shadow was the Ultimate Lifeform. He was immortal. How did he become the one to go first? The two had always assumed it would be Knuckles, the mortal Guardian. How did it end up being the other way around? Well… it wasn't like it mattered now.
The island seemed lifeless without the hedgehog's presence on it. There were other beings there of course. Of which included the being that killed Shadow. He lounged about in his Red Mountain "home" if one can call it that, finally glad to get the vengeance he thought his dead father deserved. But that wasn't important now. All of these were just background events. For, unbeknown to the rest of the world, Knuckles had a deep secret brewing inside that his recent actions only helped reveal.
The truth was the echidna was in mad love with his hedgehog companion. It didn't matter how they acted when the other was alive. Knuckles could toss him off the Master Emerald shrine, have him land on his head and the echidna would instantly feel regret for his actions. And yet due to Guardian keeping his love a secret, they would have no other choice but to continue fighting. It was a painful idea to think about but oh was it present. And oh was it not going away. Why couldn't he have just told him? Was that really such a hard thing to do? Knuckles slapped his head and growled in frustration.
And yet, the hedgehog's presence never seemed to leave him. It was a pleasing thought but irrational. Shadow was dead. Did he become a ghost or something? After all, it wasn't like the echidna hadn't seen ghosts before. But then again, who knows where they came from. Perhaps it worked differently for them that it did for Mobians. And besides, he would be able to see it anyway if the hedgehog had truly taken that route. And yet, the feeling of being with someone never went away. Who could possibly be there?
And then he turned his head around and found all his questions answered. Sitting next to him was very much indeed the spirit of Shadow the Hedgehog. He sat cross-legged, one hand on the Master Emerald which was presumably allowing this encounter to happen. The hedgehog had a sullen but not grumpy look on his face and his eyes were making direct contact with the other. No words were spoken. No words needed to be spoken. The hedgehog had witnessed all. The echidna was beginning to realize this. Shadow knew of the other's feelings towards him. Feelings which, though he never admitted to it, he also shared.
The hedgehog's spirit moved closer to Knuckles, his hand still on the Master Emerald. His free hand took was placed on the back of the other's head, an action which the echidna certainly did not mind. In fact, said echidna repeated this action by placing his own hands around the spirit's back which was surprisingly solid. Perhaps the energy of the emerald was responsible for this too. They stared into each other's eyes a little more before they finally locked their lips together in pure, romantic embrace. So little tension had built up to this moment and yet their kiss was so long, so passionate, and so breathtaking (for Knuckles that is) that it would be hard to believe that this was both their first. Eventually, though they had to split, to let the Guardian catch his breath. But that only lasted for a short while as they were quickly pulled back together for even more kissing. So lively were their activities and yet so lifeless was one of the partners. And they both wanted it to linger. Linger out as long as they could possibly make it.
They would build a relationship no matter what had happened. No one was going to stop them. No one could tear them apart. Death tried and failed. In that sense, Shadow's fighting opponent wasn't victorious because while he did kill a body, there was one thing he didn't kill and could never kill.
Love.