Julie started, surprised. She hadnt heard him approch.
Offsetting, once you considered her prothetic enhancements.
He was a black headehog, with red highlighting that didnt look natural, but who was to tell these days. His eyes were a of ruby, and almond shaped, alot like Knuckles was.
She had scene him before, on the news. He was Shadow, a crazed hedgehog that tried to destroy Mobius about a year back but ironicly, died saving it instead...(She realized with a start that that was another thing they had in commen).
He was also Knuckles enemy, or former one anyway.
'I had only met up with him once, Julie, and he radiated chaos power...'
"Im part of Angel Islands First Wave, I came with the others, readying for the front."
Shadow nodded, "So am I. We are to be comrads it seems."
Julie nodded.
A silence passed, the two standing awkwardly together along an empty corridor. Julie didnt know what to say, and neither did Shadow, and it hurt a little bit, cause it reminded her of Knux again.
"Who are you affiliated with?"
"Huh? Oh! Uh, the Chaotix I suppose, but all my training is of the Dark Legion, so Im not..."
"Dark Legion?"
Julie was surprised, how could he not have-"oh, thats right. We wernt in this zone 50 years ago. The Dark legion is a echidna only orgization that was only reveiled to the public a few years ago...We were in hiding, along with all of echinaapolis. I beleive this was after the Ark affair."
"You know of the Ark?"
"Who dosnt these days?"
"Oh, right."
Julie felt ameditly guilty when Shadow looked, surprisingly, ashamed. Emberressed, ashamed and guilty.
"Well, I guess I got some inside info too, you know, cause of Knuckles."
Shadow looked up at the name, as if trying to remember.
"You mean that red guy, the one that Rouge was always complaining about during the incident?"
Julie felt her eye twitch at the bats name, "Yeah, thats him."
"Oh, so you know eatchother?" Shadow shook his head, "Small world!" "Yeah..."
"I was impressed by him then, you know? I remember worring that he may be more of a threat then Sonic."
'...what?'
"We never even faced eatchother, just passed by a few times...But even far away I could feel the
Chaos power that just seemed stressed in his body. I dont know how he can keep it all in there. Energy levels like that,
its a miricle that he didnt just go Super Nova..."
Julie could feel knots forming in her stomach..."Y-yah."
She noticed Shadow studying her after that. 'I studdered, is why. Warriers just dont 'studder' over nothing.'
Thats when shocked realization cameover his face.
"Thats right, the transmission..."
'Sonic, Knuckles is dead.'
"I. I'm sorry...I didnt..."
"Its ok...It was awhile ago."
"And he was your teammate too, in the Chaotix?"
"He was my boyfriend actully...We were...close."
Shadow stayed quite this time.
And then, he started to laugh.
A small broken chuckle, that grew stronger and louder until it was a series of gauafs that shook his body.
Julie wondered just how well the BEM but him together again.
"The once in a life time shot at trying to make a decent conversation with a girl before I die, and i choose the girlfriend of a recently deceased comrade!" Shadow laughs harder, and Julie see's the sardonic humor, and giggles a little bit alongside him.
It was funny, in a heartbreaking way.
Two heartbroken misfits and their last ditch efforts for normalicy, and what did it get them?
Awkward reaizations, and the sudden awareness that your dead lovers former enemy is so hauntingly familier.
A while passed, and he scrounged up the courage to ask how, and she said 'He went Super Nova.' Shadow said he felt like a heel, and Julie laughed.
Thats when they got their orders to the front, and with smiles on their faces, they marched ahead to die.