Into nightmares along darkness

A fan fiction by Oddshipper292

Authors note: Void is a character from Sonic Shuffle, not a fan made character. He was the "bad guy" of the game, however, he wasn't really evil at all, he was just made/full of negative dark energy. He is from somewhere called "Maginary world" a world where all dreams occur. Void is simply sad and lonely, and seeks a purpose and friendship...

Chapter one: When black meets dark

Shadow the hedgehog had always wallowed in the darkness... but never until now had it been so intense...

Darkness... pure pitch black darkness... he stood in place as it circled around him, as if it were trying to trap him. He saw no floor under his feet, but he still felt as if he were standing on solid ground... But seeing nothing but black around him and the mysterious breeze flowing around his body, it felt as though he was floating in mid air... He had always felt as though he was trapped in the darkness with his mysterious tragic origins and angry unfriendly attitude, but now it was for real... Where was he? In the dark depths of his own mind, or had he wandered into the depths of a creeping cavern? Or was he in the shadow of a powerful figure who's very essence blocked out all light from around him?

There was no real explanation for his whereabouts... he could have been sucked into a black hole for all he knew, but something did not feel right... the darkness around Shadow felt as if it were alive... No, it was not fear or paranoia, it was an actual feeling... the cold air that pushed down on Shadow, making him feel as though the darkness was breathing on him...

He grew annoyed, he did not feel like just staying in place and wasting time... He was going to escape this darkness... if he had a chaos emerald on him, he could easily use chaos control to warp out of here, but unfortunately for him, he didn't have one on him, so he decided to try things the old fashioned way... using brute force. It was never in Shadow's style to do things recklessly, but in this case where it appeared nothing of importance could be damaged and there was nothing to loose, he decided to make an exception. From his hand, small bits of energy lit up in his palms, and he threw them in the form of energy blades into the darkness to see if they would hit a hard surface... However, just a second after he threw them, they simply fizzled out.

Shadow tried again to make energy from his hand to at least try to light the area around him, but it was of no use. He looked around, and still with the light he generated, he could not tell where he was. The light he was making started to dim. He looked down to his hand as the light that it was making continued to shrink until nothing was left. Apparently, this was a void where no light could ever exist... However, the light shadow produced was not sucked away into the darkness, it was more like it got withdrawn into his body. Another thing he noticed was despite the fact that he could not see his surroundings, he could clearly see his own hand, as well as the rest of his own body, when oddly, there was no source of light whatsoever.

He then decided it was time to get moving and run. Shadow started dashing and going foward, reaching maximum speed in only a few seconds. His shoes charged with energy and made him levitate a bit, allowing him to glide as he ran and making it look like he was skating in mid air. However, despite his efforts, he still felt he was in the same area. He didn't even feel the air blow through his face as he dashed, it just continued to breath down on him normally as if her were standing still. He decided to pick up the pace and run even faster, surpassing his maximum speed. However, this did him no good either... Shadow then stopped in place after awhile, it was clear he wasn't accomplishing anything. Shadow clenched his fists, now irritated

"Where the hell am I..." He thought. This was worse than he imagined... was it possible he could be stuck here for all eternity? No, there had to be a way out. He tried escaping already, and he doubted attacking the darkness head on would do him any good, since his attacks would have nowhere to land. However, this darkness felt alive, unlike any other darkness he had experienced in his life time... He decided he'd be better off trying to interact with it... It was his best bet.

"Well? You've gotten my attention... Now what do you want from me?" He called. His voice then echoed forawhile until it disappeared completely. There was no responce... Shadow was not about to give up here though... He knew that this darkness was living, or that it was at least being
generated by some living entity.

"I KNOW YOU'RE HERE! I CAN FEEL YOU ALL AROUND ME! IS THIS SOME RIDICULOUS TRICK FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT? WELL? ANSWER ME!" Shadow yelled out with all his might. He then took a few deep breaths as he listened to the echo of what he just said. At last, he felt like he just accomplished something... although he still could not see his surrondings, he could feel the darkness, moving away and the air breathing down on him fade, as if the darkness were backing away from him a bit.

"I'm so sorry..." he heard. It sounded like a depressed voice of a young person, but it was hard to tell if the voice was that of a young boy or a young girl... Just then, the small portion of the darkness infront of him changed color, from black to a dark blue. Was this Sonic?

No... It was some one else... The blue darkness took shape of being... an unusual one at that. This being had a dark blue body with what appeared to be Crystals on it's wrists and ankles. It had a green and orange-ish yellow design on it's abdomen, and a short purple cape. It's body structure was slim and slightly feminine becuase it had a strange elegance to it. This being had a pale colored face, green hair, and long eye lashes over it's dark blue eyes that had no pupils or Iris's in them.

Shadow had never seen a being like this before... But he wasn't imtimidated in the least... He had an unfreindly look on his face, showing that he had no interest in this particular being, just answers. He crossed his arms and cocked a brow, he noticed this being just floated there, looking sad and pitiful with it's head facing downward.

"So it was you who put me here?" Asked Shadow.

"Yes... again, I apologize... my name is Void..." the being said.

"I didn't ask for your name, now tell me, where am I and why did you put me here?"

"I... I was only trying to help..."

"I'm starting to get impatient"

"Please don't be angry! Look, you're in Maginary world, the world of dreams..." Said Void.

"Maginary world? dreams? So you're telling me I'm just asleep?"

"Yes... but... it's not that simple... You see, Maginary world has many sections in it... and well, we're currently in the land of nightmares"

"Hmph... the land of nightmares? You expect me to believe that this is a nightmare created from my own mind?"

"Actually, this isn't the nightmare... You see..." Void hesitated to speak for a few seconds, now looking more nervous than before.

"Well? If you don't tell me what's going on, I'll become your nightmare..." Shadow threatened. Void sighed and looked back toward Shadow, and floated toward him.

"I was watching your nightmare... it was just... so awful. I couldn't bare to see you suffering, so I pulled you out and into here so you'd be safe... and unless you return back to your nightmare, you won't be able to wake up and return to reality..." Void explained. Shadow walked toward Void, and then continued walking until he went passed him and came to a stop. With out bothering to turn his head back and face Void, he spoke:

"My nightmares are none of your concern... You had no business ripping me from my nightmare. What ever it was, I'm sure I could have endured it just fine, and I'm also sure that I've been through worse in the real world..." Shadow then turned his head towards Void. "Now return me to my nightmare, let me finish it, and then wake up... I have no interest in this "Maginary" world of yours..." He said.

"Well, that's going to be a problem... you know how planets orbit around the sun? Well, Nightmares orbit around other nightmares and are always moving around... in the time you'd been in here, I'm afraid your nightmare has moved on with out you." Said Void.

"WHAT? Are you telling me I'm stuck here forever?" Shadow exclaimed, looking and sounding like he was going to attack.

"NO! Not at all! But we'd have to travel through other people's dreams until we reach yours again... even though the dreams orbit, they all still go in a certain order and are connected like a chain. Not to mention it could not have gone away too far, so if we get going now, we might have a chance to catch it!" Void explained.

"Fine then, release me from here so I could get moving." Said Shadow. Void nodded, and the Darkness around them started to go inside of Void's body. Under the darkness revealed itself to be a battle field... a complete war zone filled with fire that burnt down homes and corpses. It appeared to be an apocalyptic war between humans and creatures that came in different shapes and sizes, much like the aliens Black Arms'' only more fierce and demonic looking, as if they had come back from hell in the form of imps and devils to have another try at humanity's destruction.

The war was set in a desert waste land of nothing but rocks, canyons, and rubble. The sky was red with toxic black clouds, and the whistling of missiles being fired before they exploded rung in Shadow's ears. Every direction he looked, it was soldiers going berserk, firing of hundreds of explosive weapons and cursing out the beasts that ripped out their entrails, bit off their heads, pulled out their spines, or just plain ripped off their limbs and threw them all over the ground. The soldiers were panicked and fighting to recklessly, some of them were even blowing some of their own to smithereens by accident.

"You call this a nightmare?" Asked Shadow. He sighed and started running. Void flew after him, instantly catching up.

"Wait! You'll need my help! You can't jump from dream to dream by yourself!" Said Void.

"You've helped enough; this was your fault to begin with! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be in this mess!" Said Shadow. Shadow then dashed a little faster and avoided a missile which ended up blew up behind him. Void, nearly getting caught in the explosion, flew over and landed on the ground. Shadow continued running, actually managing to dodge over a few incoming bombs and run past and through various people and demons fighting in the war. The fire, screams, and blood shed did not phase him in the least.

That's when he realized... it's all some one's dream anyway, and it couldn't possibly hurt him...

Right infront of Shadow was a giant demonic figure with arms like a praying mantis, only with scythe blades at the end of it's arms. It saw Shadow coming and got ready to attack, and instantly swung it's sharp scythe arm toward Shadow. Shadow just kept running toward it, having no fear since he was not in any danger. Just then, Shadow found himself with his arm cut off and the giant curved blade cutting into his abdomen.

Then for a few seconds, Shadow's eye pupils shrunk, as a jolt of pain, no, not just any pain... horrible pain... pain that cuased every nerve ending in his body to erupt into pure agony... Disturbing images ran through his head, as well as emotions... emotions and visions that didn't belong to him, but rather to the person who's dream he was in. He saw this world through the eyes of some one else, and he felt something he had not felt for a very long time...

Fear... Intense fear to the point where it felt like he had been tormented by the devil himself... Although these feeling was breif, it felt like an eternity.

The blade continued to hack through Shadow until he was fully cut in half. His body was now in two pieces with his entrails and loads of blood leaking with his arms also cut off as well. but he remained alive... but he the pain that he felt... he couldn't forget it... he was paralyzed not only becuase he had been chopped in two, but even if he was whole, he'd still be unable to move from what he experienced... it was truly horrible...

Next thing Shadow knew, he found himself back together and laying down on his stomach. His torso back in one whole and his arms still connected to him. But he could not stand up, he could only find the strength to get onto his knees. Suddenly, he found himself vomiting from what he had just experienced. The demon raised it's scythe arm once more, and was about to drive it into Shadow's head. Sure it would not kill him, but he could not endure the same shocking pain twice... He tried his best to move, but he was still frozen in place...

The demon thrusted it's blade onto his head, but missed... Shadow had been pulled out of the way by some one, who held him and flew away from the demon and into a safer location. Although there is no such thing as a safe place in a war zone, it was an area with less people fighting and less bombs landing on it because everyone in this area was already dead. Void put Shadow down, and Shadow slowly got up and retained his balance and noticed the one who saved him was Void... Void put his hand on Shadow's head, and slowly, Void absorbed all the pain going through Shadow's body into his own.

"What the hell was that? This is someone else's dream... Why was I affected?" Asked Shadow, followed by a cough.

"In Maginary world, one cannot die... however, the moment you got hurt, you experienced the same pain that the one having this nightmare is feeling, and you also felt it through his perspective. And the only way to escape it to get all the way to the other side of this dream, and only I could link you to another dream..." Void explained.

"... I see, so I can't make a mistake or else I'll endure this again? And I need YOU to get me out of here? Damn it... alright, fine... but If I'm to get through here with out making another mistake such as that one, I'll need something... being that this is a dream, can I create something from my thoughts?" Asked Shadow.

"Yes, but you really need to concentrate..." Said Void. Shadow looked over to a pile of scrap metal and reached out toward it. Using his mind, he started creating a weapon of choice. The pieces of scrap metal floated toward him, and reshaped and connected together to form what appeared to be a hand gun. A simple but effective weapon, and being that this was a dream world, the gun would not be able to run out of bullets.

"If I hurt one of these things, will they feel the same pain too?" Asked Shadow, looking foward at all the chaos and destruction. Another giant explosion that blew rubble all over the place was set
off in front of Shadow and Void, as it blew away more soldiers and demons.

"Yes, I'm afraid so..." Said Void.

"That's just fine with me..." Said Shadow. He cocked his gun and looked ready to go on, but it seemed there was another question on his mind.

"Before we continue... was the nightmare I was having... worse than this?" Asked Shadow. Void gulped and looked downward, hesitating to answer at first, but managed to force the word "yes..." from his body. Shadow stood still, looking ahead toward the infernal war going on infront of him. What could his nightmare have possibly been? At this point, his curiousity and determination were in unison, wanting to go back to his nightmare, find out what it was, and finish it...

"That's all you have to tell me... Try to keep up, but don't get in my way..." Said Shadow. Void then floated up to Shadow and put his hands on Shadow's shoulders. Shadow glared and looked back at Void, not liking the physical contact at all...

"... What are you doing?" Asked Shadow, his tone of voice showing he was not at all thrilled. Void blushed a bit, but kept his grip on Shadow's shoulders.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with you if you're going at maximum speed... I don't want to risk we get seperated and lost..." Said Void, still blushing. He then wrapped his arms around Shadow's shoulders and held on to him in an affectionette way that made the black hedgehog feel REALLY uncomfortable.

"... Get off me..." Shadow said with a dark threatening tone. Void unwrapped his arms from Shadow and backed away instantly out of reflex.

if you don't want to get separated, you're going to have to keep up... if you get lost, it will be your own fault..." Said Shadow, and with that he dashed into battle field, now prepared and not about to make the same mistake twice. Void sighed sadly...

"How can some one as lonely as him... want to go on being all by himself?" He thought out loud. He then flew after Shadow.

(To be continued)