WISHES ARE ETERNAL PROLOGUE
Prologue: Do You Remember Your Dream? Your Wish?

Sonic panted as he battled against an army of robots while his enemy continued to cackle at his attempts to minimize the robot army. They just kept coming, one after another, and Sonic was growing tired. Of course, by now, he'd be receiving some help by his friends, but they all were taken down and out by Sonic's former ally, Shadow the Hedgehog. He knew this because he had lost all connection with his pals positioned in different areas of the megalomaniac's fortress, and his friends were all but surprised to find Shadow with them. Sonic felt like an idiot for trusting Shadow...ever! He'd never felt so betrayed in his life. It hurt him, nearly killed him. Sonic was close to Shadow, just thinking about him had fueled anger from within Sonic. His hits against the robots became fiercer, taking out his rage against the mechanical beings when it should've been reserved for the black and red-streaked male hedgehog.

"It's no use Sonic the Hedgehog, this will be the end of you and your little team of heroes!" Eggman exclaimed from above, the mad scientist was sat in his hovercraft, watching Sonic being surrounded by his robots, fighting alone. He felt he had nothing to worry about since Shadow was on his side, though he didn't even think about what Shadow's true intentions were for returning to his side. "I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner... Shadow working as a spy, collecting all needed information on Sonic and his friends and one by one taking the emeralds from them, always being one step ahead of them," Eggman muttered to himself. "Hah, the best plan ever to come to me! I've never felt so happy!"

Dr. Eggman stopped his musings and returned his attention back to the battle below him. The robots were slowly closing in on Sonic. The blue hedgehog was beaten and covered in bruises, matted fur and cuts were splayed in places on his body. Eggman nearly squealed in delight when a laser, coming from the tattered robot standing behind the hero, shot down Sonic.

The said hedgehog yelped and fell to the cold metal floor, holding his bleeding and burning shoulder. He whimpered softly, tears emerging in his eyes. "Why Shadow? I thought you loved me; I loved you... Was everything about us a fake?" Sonic thought, staring at the ground and hoping to find a solution from it. He didn't want to believe this was going to be the end of him. He wished he had the seven Chaos Emeralds with him so that he could tear this place apart and be over and done with the mission then go to Shadow and give him a heart full of stabbing pain, but he didn't know where they were, plus their Chaos energy signatures were being covered.

Sonic groaned in pain when he felt a giant, heavy and cold foot place itself on his back, pressing down on his back quills. He glanced up and found that same robot that had shot him with the laser to be above him, who was now pointing a beam cannon to his head. His blue ears twitched when he heard Eggman's voice cut through the ringing in his eardrums. He growled dangerously, giving himself some reassurance that he still had some fight left in him as he tried to wriggle his way out from under robot.

"Do it, you have him right underneath you!" Eggman yelled, shaking his fist in the air with anticipation. Just as the Doctor had said that, the robot charged its beam. The mad scientist was thrilled that he finally got Sonic restrained and would've loved to cherish the moment by giving a meaningful speech but knew that it'd take up more time, so he didn't. He was tired of having the blue hedgehog get in the way of his plans of world domination; this was going to be the time and day that Sonic the Hedgehog was going to give in to his enemy.

On the other hand, Sonic, with all his might, pressed his hands against the floor and struggled to push himself upward to have some space between him and the metal floor. His vision was becoming a bit hazy, but he didn't care; he was going to continue fighting. "C'mon, just a bit more Sonic, and you'll be out'ta here!" Sonic told himself, trying to keep himself motivated. He was panting and hissing as he tried to get himself up with the robot foot still pressed on his back, along with the blood covering his right arm. It was tiring him out very quickly.

"Just how long does it take for this robot to charge its cannon?!" Eggman's thoughts shouted in impatience. The megalomaniac decided to take matters into his own hands and pressed pattern of buttons into his computer on his hovercraft, and not too long after typing in his command, a laser popped from under his round hovercraft, pointing it at the robot and Sonic. "Never send a robot to finish your job," he muttered to himself as his laser was preparing itself to shoot in a few seconds, still not noticing the movement from underneath the robot.

"Yes!" Sonic exclaimed and quickly rolled out from underneath the robot just in time, his blue quills nearly getting caught in the laser's line of fire. In addition, the blue hedgehog didn't waste any more time steering himself around to face the robot that got caught in Eggman's laser. The explosion that took place after had caused Sonic to stumble backward and onto the floor again. Eggman roared angrily as he started banging his fists against the keyboard. Dr. Eggman's anger was rising ever so high; he had never hated the blue hedgehog more than now. Just as the mad scientist had a tiny taste of victory, the hero just had to manage to get out from captivity, crushing Eggman's hopes of winning.

"When will you ever give up, you blue rodent?!" Dr. Eggman howled as spit made its way out of his mouth.

Sonic chuckled as he looked up where Eggman sat, ignoring the robot army that had surrounded him, "In your dreams...Eggman." The hero shuddered, as he was able to get himself up onto his knees, one leg propped up to his chest, his good arm wrapped over his bleeding one. Sonic had wasted a lot of his remaining energy trying to get himself out from underneath that other robot. He lazily looked around and found the robots to have stopped moving. He was confused. Why didn't they raise their weapons at him? He squinted and noticed that their eyes were glowing, that meant that they were shut down, but by who? He knew it couldn't have been Eggman. Could it have been one of his friends? Could one of them have woken up from their unconsciousness?

"What the–?! What's wrong with my robots?!" Eggman's voice rang out again. "Oh forget it! I'm going to kill you myself!" The mad man twisted his hovercraft around and, once again, aimed his laser at Sonic. Just as the megalomaniac had did that, an explosion erupted from the glass ceiling above him, and in came Shadow the Hedgehog.

Sonic looked up, and his eyes widened. "Shadow..." he thought. He curled himself as best as he could so the debris from the explosion wouldn't hurt him all too much. As for the robots around him, they either fell or exploded depending on the size of the shattered glass or metal that fell on them. The pain... It was returning. Betrayal. Love. Anger. Stupidity. It gave him a headache. He then looked at the white metal tower to distract himself from his distraught feelings, which was in the center of the room. Sonic had no idea what it would do, but Eggman said that it was some kind reactor, and it needed all seven Chaos Emeralds. There were so many things he wanted to ask of Shadow...

The doctor watched Shadow twist himself in the air, seeing energy develop in his hand. Eggman's pupils shrunk behind his lens when he saw Shadow gaze upon him. The mystery hedgehog's eyes narrowed dangerously, and if you looked closely, you could see a hint of protectiveness in them—Eggman was too far to see it. Right then and there, he got the final piece of his curious puzzle of Shadow. He was, once again, double-crossed by the black hedgehog.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow hollered. He swung his arm back, which sent forward a spear of energy towards the doctor. Eggman, on the other hand, responded too slowly and was killed by the spear, his hovercraft exploding. Blood and burnt body parts, or remaining, flew all over the place. Shadow continued to fall to the ground below him, landing a distance from his former love. The red streaked hedgehog hesitated to move, wondering in his mind how Sonic had felt for him. Slowly, he risked to look over at the blue hedgehog only to find shocked, teary and pained emerald orbs looking back at him.

"What the Hell did you do that for?!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow felt a lump form in his throat. A big one, too. He felt horrible for putting Sonic into such a mess, but he wanted to carry something out, something that would make his love's life better and everyone else's. No one was going to stop him from carrying out his solo mission, and the white tower was going to help him. The black hedgehog stood up and walked over to Sonic, keeping his face as neutral as possible. "I'm sorry, Sonic," Shadow said, a bit surprised that his voice didn't crack or falter.

More tears streamed down the blue hedgehog's voice when he heard Shadow apologize, he felt like the biggest idiot in the universe. He just couldn't stay mad at Shadow forever. He forgave too easily, whether or not someone would apologize to him. There was always a reason behind what they did, and he was sure that whatever Shadow did was no different. Sonic raised his hand up to his eyes and wiped away the tears, but they just kept on coming. A small puddle was made from the previous tears that had fallen from his eyes. He was tired, and everything in his body hurt and ached. "I hate you..." Sonic croaked dryly. He didn't really hate Shadow; he just hated the way the black hedgehog stabbed him. How he betrayed his friends and him.

"Look at me, please..." Shadow cooed, taking a hold of Sonic's now wet hand, and moved ever so closely to his hedgehog. The said hero raised his eyes at Shadow. Those emerald eyes, Shadow never got tired of staring into them. Right now, they glimmered beautifully due to the tears that had formed in them. The dark hedgehog moved his head in close to lay his lips on Sonic's for the last time.

Sonic was the first to pull away, but then he leaned against Shadow. Pressing his head against Shadow's shoulder, he tried his best to stay awake. His blue ears twitched as he heard Shadow speak again, "If I could, I would redo all the things I did over again with you...and everything else I've come into contact with but differently. And I have a plan that just might work Sonic." The blue hedgehog became confused for a second before two strong hands held him by the shoulders.

"Shadow?" Sonic called quietly.

"Sonic, do you remember what you told me well over a month ago? About your dream, about your wish?" Shadow asked, gazing softly into emerald eyes with passion, but also with a sense of seriousness.

"O-Of course, Shadow..."

Shadow smiled. He took his hands off Sonic's shoulders and glanced at his wrist, which had a little comm on it. Shadow typed a command into it. Then, the room's lights started dimming a bit. The white tower that sat in the middle of everything started making sounds. Sonic could feel large amounts of energy swirling within it and saw a ray of colorful lights shooting out of the tower and into the sky outside. It felt familiar, like whenever he would turn into Super Sonic. Sonic thought it was the most beautiful thing in saw. Then, his eyes turned their attention back to Shadow. He was confused to find Shadow with a sad and lonesome face.

"Shadow, what did you do?" Sonic asked, now a bit worried, and very tired. The blue hedgehog felt that his body was about to give out on him, due to exhaustion. Sonic then felt a small tinge in his head...

"I love you, Sonic the Hedgehog."

...before falling into total blackness.