I've had the idea for this story lingering in my head for quite some time now. At first, it was supposed to be a oneshot, but I divided it into chapters, since the whole thing was huge. And I really mean huge. I mean, just look at the lenght of this chapter. Anyway, I hope you'll like it!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Shattered Memories

Chapter I.

Illusion

"Oy, Shads! Glad you came to my party!", a certain Blue Hero approached me with a wide smile.

"It's not like I wanted to come. Rouge made me", I answered and went to sit on a green sofa in Sonic's living room, "Being anywhere near you is the last thing I'd ever want to do", I added as I sat down.

Two days ago, Sonic managed to defeat some kind of an ancient monster Eggman decided to wake up. The thing almost succeeded in destroying the world, and Sonic, being the 'Oh-so-couragious' hero, defeated it in the last minute. And of course, the whole friggin world keeps plastering his face in every form of media, everywhere. I'm literally expecting to find his image on a piece of toilet paper. Of course, all of his friends began sucking up to him again and organised a surprise party in his apartment, like they always do, so it wasn't that much of a surprise when you think about it. Still, Sonic acted he was surprised. I think he was growing tired of all these 'surprise parties' every time he defeats Eggman, but still he says nothing about it.

The party was populated by the usual guests, the most obvious ones being Tails, Amy and Knuckles, the others being Silver and Blaze (for who I have no friggin idea how they got here, nor give a damn actually), Rouge and me. We were all seated on the two sofas around a glass coffee table, which had some kind of a board game set up.

Sonic chuckled as he sat down next to me, "Yeah right. Keep telling yourself that", he said, "I bet that deep inside you wanted to come here and hang out with me", he gave me an annoying wink and turned to speak to the rest of the guests, "Alright folks, before this evening becomes dull, how about we play some Monopoly?", of course, everyone agreed, much to no one's surprise.

Silver cleared his throat and said in a shy voice, "I have to use the bathroom first, can you wait a little before we start the game?"

"Sure buddy, no need to ask twice!", Sonic smiled to him as Silver stood up and left.

Rouge got bored waiting and scooted closer to Knuckles in order to tease him a little, "Hey hun, how's my Master Emerald? I could keep an eye on it if you grew tired of guarding it every day", she told him with a wide grin.

"As first, the Master Emerald is mine, not yours, and second, there's no way you'll ever be getting it. So go away!", the echidna gave a sharp reply.

"Gee, you sure know how to talk to the ladies", Rouge said sarcastically and went back to the spot where she was sitting earlier, "You're no fun."

"I'm not trying to be", the echidna replied, trying to keep his temper under control.

"Yeah, you're only fun when I try to take the Master Emerald away from you, so I guess I'll go and...", Rouge started, but Knuckles interrupted her mid-sentence.

"Don't you dare to even get close to the Master Emerald or I'll...", the echidna yelled and stood up to face the bat.

"Or you'll what?", the thief asked, amused by echidna's reaction.

Sonic intervened and tried to stop the fight before it happens, "Guys, chill", he stood between them, "Let's just play the game". After a few seconds, the bat and the echidna finally sat down, so Sonic went back to his spot and took the dice in his hand, "I'll go first", he said and everyone prepared their playing figures.

"Wait", I stopped him, "You promised Silver you were going to wait until he returns from the bathroom."

As a response, I got everyone's blank stares.

"Who?"

I'm not sure who asked the question, but their gazes annoyed the heck out of me.

"Silver. Silver the hedgehog", they still acted like they don't know who I was talking about, "The Future Boy?", still nothing, "The Pothead?", okay, now they stared at me like I grew a third arm.

"Shadow, who is Silver?", Sonic asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

I was starting to get irritated now. They were playing games with me, probably just to make me angry. Deciding not to give them the pleasure, I took a deep breath to calm down.

"Silver, the white hedgehog from the future, where he lives with this cat right here", I said and motioned to Blaze.

Blaze only gave me a weirded out look, "Shadow, I have no idea what you're talking about."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on, Blaze. You too? I thought you were mature enough not to go with their stupid plan, which isn't even remotely funny, by the way", I crossed my arms and looked at her.

Blaze looked worried, "Plan? Future? Shadow, I live at Amy's place as a roommate, and I have no idea who this Silver guy is."

Knuckles smirked at me, "Maybe he's just messing with us, guys. Look at him, he must be enjoying to see us all weirded out like this."

I began to lose my temper, "I am not messing with you! You are messing with me!", I breathed heavily from the anger that was building up inside me.

Sonic tried to calm me down, "It's okay, Shadow! We believe you!", he put a hand on my shoulder, "Just calm down."

I shook his arm off, "Stop acting like I'm crazy! Silver is in the bathroom and it's only a matter of seconds until he comes back and proves I'm right!"

Amy smiled at me with concern, "Shadow, we don't think you're crazy", she tried to reassure me, "You probably just brought someone along to the party and we still haven't met him properly. We'll wait for him if you want us to."

"No! You've already met him! He was sitting right there next to Blaze and he asked Sonic if he could go to the bathroom, to which Sonic replied that he doesn't have to ask twice, remember?", great, now Sonic's the one giving me a weird look.

"Shadow, I never said that", he said suspiciously, "But if you really think that Sean guy is here..."

"Silver. His name is Silver", I corrected him.

"I'm sorry. Silver. If you think Silver's in the bathroom, then go bring him here so we can meet him", Sonic suggested.

I growled at his stubborness, but decided to play along, "Fine, I will. Come with me", I stood up and motioned Sonic to follow me to the bathroom door.

As we stood in front of the door, I knocked and called, "Hey Silver, the game's over, get out of there!", I waited for his response, but got none, "If you don't answer, I'll come inside and kick your ass for even thinking of trying to play jokes on me!", still no answer. I grabbed the doorhandle, "Fine then!", and tried to open the door, only to find it locked.

I smirked and turned to Sonic, "See? If no one was in there, the door wouldn't be locked, now would they?"

Sonic looked curious, "I guess you're right...", he looked at the door, "But why isn't he answering then?"

I breathed out in annoyance, "Because you told him so?"

"I assure you I did no such thing, as I've already told you", Sonic replied with a hint of annoyance.

I knocked once more. Nothing.

"Do you have a spare key to the bathroom?", I asked.

Sonic nodded, "Sure, I'll go get it."

I watched as Sonic went to his bedroom and came back five minutes later with a key in his hands.

I took the key, "Now this stupid act of yours will finally be over", I said and got a groan as a response. I ignored it and unlocked the door.

What I saw inside made my stomach churn.

The bathroom was completely red with blood, everything was a complete mess and a window was opened. Most importanly, Silver was nowhere to be seen. I screamed at the sight and stumbled a few feet backwards.

"Shadow!? What's wrong!?", I heard Sonic as he caught me before I could fall, and looked inside, "OH MY GOD!", he yelled at the bloody nightmare he saw inside.

Everyone then rushed to see what the commotion was all about.

The second Amy saw the blood, she fainted. Knuckles and Rouge pushed Tails away so he wouldn't see what's inside, and Blaze just stared in horror.

Sonic looked at me, horrified, "What the hell happened in here!?", he asked like he expected me to know.

"The hell I know! All I know is that Silver went in here and hadn't returned since!", I replied.

Knuckles carried Amy to the living room and ordered Tails to stay with her, and then returned to us, "We have to call the cops", he said, "Something serious happened in there."

Rouge asked me, "Hun, are you sure Silver was in there?"

I replied, for the upteenth time that day, "Yes, I'm sure! Why won't anyone believe me?"

Sonic tried to calm me down, "Shadow, we believe you. All this blood couldn't be no one's."

I tried to enter the bathroom to look through the window, in case the poor white hedgehog ended up falling from the tenth floor. Sonic stopped me from entering, though.

"You can't go in there, buddy. You could compromise the evidence. Wait until the cops arrive", he said.

I opened my mouth to protest, but a sudden dizzyness overcame me. My knees buckled, and I almost collapsed to the floor. Luckily, Sonic caught me.

"Hey, are you alright?", he asked in concern, "You should get some rest, we'll wait for the cops."

I didn't say anything, nor was I capable to, as Sonic brought me to his bedroom and let me lay on his bed.

"Stay here and get some sleep. I'll check up on you later", he said and left the room, leaving me alone.

It didn't take me too long to fall asleep, and I don't know how long I've slept, but when I woke up, I found that I was completely alone. I was still in Sonic's apartment, but nobody else was there. I figured they were at the police station under interrogation and would return any moment. I stood up from the bed and went to take another look at the mess in the bathroom. As expected, everything was the same, and I entered despite Sonic's earlier warnings.

The bathroom looked even worse once I entered it. The blood was all over the place, smeared on the walls and the floor. I looked through the window, expecting to see yellow police lines down on the street, but saw nothing. Perhaps Silver didn't fall down? Maybe one of Eggman's robots came to kidnap him? Silver obviously fought back, but lost due to exhaustion and blood loss. I looked at the floor and saw something shining behind the toilet. It looked like a piece of metal. I picked it up to see what it was. My eyes widened at the realisation. A razorblade. Silver wasn't kidnapped, he commited suicide? But... Why?

Before I could give it any more thought, I felt a sharp pain in my head.

Still holding the razorblade, I screamed at the pain and collapsed to the floor.

When I woke up, I was laying on an unfamiliar bed. I took a deep breath as I registered the sounds around me. When I heard a beeping noise, I looked around only to realise where I was. A hospital. I wanted to get up, but I stopped when I saw a doctor, a young woman probably in her twenties, talking to Sonic. When I noticed Sonic was turning to look at me, I closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious. I heard them approaching me, and felt the doctor turning over my wrists. I peeked a little and saw the doctor's name on her card, Dr. Blossom. I have no idea why I read that. I heard them distance away from me again and resume their conversation. I managed to hear only parts of the conversation.

"... alone..."

"... attempted suicide..."

"... neighbour heard him screaming..."

Wait wait wait. That's not right. I wasn't trying to commit suicide! I was checking what happened to Silver! Just what the hell's going on?

When I heard the door opening and sounds of steps leaving, I peeked through my eyelids to see that the doctor was gone and that Sonic was sitting next to my bed.

I pretended to wake up, and looked around, acting confused.

"Hey Shads, you feelin' any better?", I heard Sonic's voice and turned to him, acting as if I haven't noticed him till this moment.

"Hey...", I said in a tired voice which, to be honest, I didn't have to pretend.

"I was so worried", he said with a concerned smile.

"You didn't have to be", I said.

Sonic just gave a half-hearted chuckle, "How are you feeling?"

"Could be better. Where are Knuckles and Rouge? And Amy and Tails? Did you find out what happened to Silver?", I asked.

Sonic gave me an uncomfortable gaze, "Who?"

Oh fuck, not this again...

"Our friends. They were at your party", I sighed, "Did you find Silver?"

"Shadow, I have no idea who are those people", Sonic said warily.

"Sonic, don't do this to me again. I had enough of your games at the party", I told him, already losing patience.

"What party?", he stared in even more wonder.

"The surprise party that was organised by your best friend Tails and your girlfriend Amy, for stopping another plan of Eggman's", I explained, deciding it's better to just play along and hope that Sonic's going to quit the act.

"Shadow, I don't have a girfriend, I never heard of Tails nor Amy before, and that Tails guy isn't my best friend, you are", he tried to explain, "And I never heard of that Eggman guy, either."

"Never heard of them? You've been fighting the mad scientist Eggman for years, trying to stop him from conquering the world, thus becoming the world's hero. Tails had been your sidekick, building all those crazy gadgets to help you out, and ever since you saved Amy from Metal Sonic, the robot version of you created by Eggman, she's been stalking you and trying to be your girlfriend ever since! How can't you remember?", I breathed heavily from the air loss caused by the rant.

Sonic still looked at me like I was batshit insane.

"Shadow, I'm not a hero and I don't fight mad scientists. I don't have a stalker, nor a sidekick", he explained, "You and I are just a couple of high school students living in a world that isn't attacked by robot versions of me", he chuckled, "I think the blood loss got you a little confused, but I'm sure you'll get better soon, and we'll be back on working on our Biology project in no time."

"High school? Biology project? What are you talking about?", now was my turn to be confused.

Sonic just sighed and chuckled, still believing in his blood loss theory.

"Our Biology teacher told me to pick a partner for a project involving growing a few plants and writing notes about its growth. I decided that I would choose my best friend as my partner, and that happens to be you", he smiled, probably hoping he managed to push my memory in the 'right' direction.

"Best friend? Since when am I your best friend?", I asked in shock. Knowing myself, I would never have that blue faker as a friend, much less best friend.

"Since we were kids, Shadow. We grew up together, remember?", Sonic gave me a hopeful smile.

I snapped, "No we didn't! I was created as The Ultimate Lifeform project on the Space Colony ARK fifty years ago, then put in a capsule and sent to Earth when the ARK was being evaded by the army to cancel the project!", I tried to explain, "I met you fifty years later, when Eggman released me from suspended animation, and we became rivals, not friends!", I noticed Sonic had a hurt expression when he heard the last part.

"What do you mean, rivals? We are friends...", he sounded hurt.

"We never were friends, Sonic. We were and always will be rivals. And that's how it is ever since the day I teamed up with Eggman to conquer the world thinking I would avenge Maria that way, even though I later discovered I was wrong, but that's not important", I explained.

Sonic sighed, probably still thinking I was having memory issues, and told me with a smile, "Okay, if that's what you say...", he chuckled, "But that doesn't change the fact that here, in the real world, you certainly are and always will be my best friend."

I groaned in response. Why is he so stubborn? And why is he acting so different? When is he finally going to grow tired of this stupid act?

Just as I wanted to ask him about Silver one more time, a nurse entered the room to inform Sonic that visit time was over.

He stood up, "Bye, Shads!"

"Wait, Sonic!", I called and he stopped. "Will you please tell me if Silver is okay?", I asked. Ugh, I hate saying 'please', especially to him. But if that's going to get me any kind of an answer, might as well suck it up and say the damn word.

As he heard the question, Sonic's face fell. He sighed and waved his head lightly, "Look Shadow, whoever this Silver guy is, I'm sure he's fine. Same for that Amy chick and the Taylor guy you mentioned earlier."

"You mean Tails."

"Yeah, him."

I sighed and watched as Sonic exited the room with the nurse, leaving me alone once more.

I don't understand. If this was just another game of Sonic's, I'm sure he'd give it up by now. It isn't like him to play jokes on people who were hurt. Sure, he'd sometimes joke on my amnesia, but he wouldn't push it too much, since he told me he's aware of how horrible amnesia could be. Looking back at the events that happened at the party, and the reactions Silver's dissapearance caused... I have a feeling all of this couldn't be just an act. I mean, Amy actually fainted, and everyone else was absolutely horrified. Sonic acted like he was going to go crazy that very moment, seeing all the blood in his bathroom. I think he was feeling guilty for whatever happened to Silver. But that still doesn't explain why they kept claiming they never knew who Silver is. And what Sonic said twenty minutes ago, that he never heard of anyone else? He actually claimed he never heard of Tails, his longtime friend and 'brother'. He even forgot his name and called him Taylor. Sonic would never do that, not even as a joke. And that story about me and him going to high school and being best friends?

Something is terribly wrong here.

I should ask Sonic more about all of this. Perhaps his... Side of the story could help me to figure out what's going on.

Just as I thought about it, the nurse from earlier today entered the room.

"Excuse me", I called her.

She smiled at me and approached my bed, "Yes? Do you need anything?", she asked.

"Well... I was wondering if you could call the guy who visited me half an hour ago. I wanted to talk to him about something", I said.

She looked at me with a frown, "What guy?"

Oh fuck.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Okay, chapter 1 posted. I'm not telling how many more to go, heheh. Review and tell me what you think, and tell me some of your theories, too! :)