Hey yeah! So I know it's been a while since I've done anything productive like FinishAllTheOtherFuckinFicsI'veStarted! Recently I've been re-watching Sailor Moon and Soinc X and it sparked a mood to re-write/revise a few fics of mine. Also I've been very bored and inspired to write. So to all the people that are disappointed with me that I disappeared *shrug emoji* and to all that have waited and been patient *KISSKISSKISS!* So please enjoy my re-written fic!
"Hang on, Shadow!"
Shouted a worried super hedgehog, "There's still so much for you to live for, you can't just give up now!" his expression panicked and distressed, Super Sonic stretched his arm out to another super hedgehog, which was constantly losing energy. That battle with Biolizard had taken more out of him than he thought, and not only that, the rings that he had collected before hand, were rapidly depleting. To make matters worse Super Sonic too was losing power, for both of the hedgehogs had performed Chaos Control to set the Space Colony ARK back into place, and now they were both heading for a crash course to Earth.
"I…To live for..?" questioned a weak Super Shadow, the plea played in his mind for a bit. To live for, to do as he pleased…he hadn't really thought about it like that. It wasn't long before a feeble smirk found its way on his muzzle; it was a little too late to late think about living a fulfilling life on Earth now. He could feel it. However, his heroic counterpart's words sounded as promising as they did desperate.
The radiant glow his fur was giving off, caused by the Chaos Emeralds, had begun to fade in and out reverting back to his original black fur and red stripes. Time was running out, this Sonic and Shadow both knew and now was the time to make a final decision. To live or die. Sonic's plea was on repeat in Shadow's mind as his arm stretched toward Super Sonic only for his hand to smack the other's away. Sonic flinched as tears welled up in the corner of his eyes. He was so close.
"No, fa-," he corrected himself, "Sonic. I've fulfilled my promise, her wish…!" and to him that was enough. Sonic had begged once more, a final attempt to try to change the striped hedgehog's mind, but Shadow kept going on, "This was my purpose. That was what I lived for…" Shadow was getting weaker by the second, "but…you…" Shadow couldn't finish, the Earth's gravity was taking effect on him and he knew that he had to save Sonic with what little power he had left.
The heroic hedgehog had seen something in his dark counterpart's eyes that he had never seen before, and it burned with such fury that he just knew that he wouldn't see Shadow for a long, long time. It was resolve.
"CHAOS…CONTROL…!"
"SHADOW, NO!"
And Sonic had disappeared.
"Maria, this is what you wanted…right…?" Shadow questioned weakly as he hurled toward Earth. By now, Shadow had reverted back to his original self as he let his half lidded hues gaze upon the ARK one last time.
'Maria,' saying her name alone brought him a sense of peace, 'if only...just one more time. If only I could see your face-your eyes, just once more.' the ebony hedgehog mentally wished. Feeling that his own hope would be in vain, he finally let his lids cover those tired, crimson eyes of his. It was a long way down to Earth and he was just waiting to enter its atmosphere, would he burn up like space debris or would he perish once he crash landed? Either way, he was prepared.
Not too long after accepting his own demise a familiar presence had disturbed him, it couldn't have been Sonic's, his presence was energetic, and to Shadow, vaguely annoying. However this existence was warm and loving causing him to curiously crack his eyes open. He winced as he was blinded by a glow.
'Am I..?' His thought was cut off by a heavenly voice.
'No, Shadow. You are alive. And whatever you do, no matter what, please remember…'
The voice echoed, and the hedgehog's ears perked. He wasn't imagining it and now he had to wonder, did his wish come true? By now this light had taken form of a human figure. Shadow blinked a few times as his eyes widened in wonder, he could make out a female's face, and blonde hairs, but what had captivated him the most, were those beautiful soft, blue eyes. The blue that he had long to see in the Earth's sky. It was then he knew that it had to be her, it just had to be.
"Maria!" the black hedgehog called out, even at how weak he was. By now the female figure was very close, so close that her forehead was now resting against his, and that smile that Shadow had longed to see, now gracing her lips. Her arms had finally caught up with her and gently wrapped themselves around her hedgehog, into an affectionate embrace.
"I'm always with you…"
In an instant Shadow wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly while closing his eyes. There were tears, his tears. He wanted this to last forever, but sadly the figure began to fade away into warm sparkles of light and surround the hedgehog's body and in a flash of light, Shadow had vanished.
Meanwhile, on a rather large island in the far east of the world, a young female cheered, to no one in particular, about summer vacation. Between fighting monsters by moonlight and being late for school by daylight, for the past nine months, could really take a toll on a growing young woman. Needless to say, she was very grateful that one of these things was out of the way for a while.
"Hahaa!" The teen squealed, "Oh yeah! Time for summer, time for the beach!" she giggled. The teen was alone, her date had promised to meet up with her but to her dismay he hadn't made it yet. She hummed in disappointment, he had been acting strange lately but she was sure that his promise was sincere. Her fist curled with determination, "I have to stay positive!" she reminded herself, a smile following suit. A gentle breeze crossed her path, flowing through her blonde, meatball twin tails. The crashing of the waves and the serenity of the wind caused her to briefly close her eyes and face the sun, its radiant shine felt amazing on her face and after a while she began to gaze at the scattered clouds and blue sky, absorbing its beautiful coloring into her own sky blue eyes.
Her tranquil moment was interrupted once she noticed something was hurling from the sky, parting through the clouds as it did, "O-Oh my God!" she was startled by the sight, "A meteor?" the female questioned to herself. Not a moment went by and she finally witnessed the 'meteor' crash into the ocean causing a major splash, a misty shower dampened the girl, causing her to shiver and cross her arms. "Strange," she mused to herself, "now that I think about it, it seemed too small to be a hunk of space rock."
The figure floated to the surface and our young heroine ran toward the water to catch a better glimpse of what had crashed into the ocean. Waist deep in the water, she was finally able to make out something, "A shark fin?" she mentally slapped herself, "Really? A shark falling from the sky?" she moved closer and noticed the figure was floating toward her. Whatever it was she concluded that it was faced down, which caused her to rush further into the water; when she was close enough she let out a horrified gasp. Whatever was floating toward her had more of a humanoid shape, despite its 'fins'.
The teen wasn't a strong swimmer but luckily the figure was floating closer and closer, 'W-What is this?' her arms were stretched open for Shadow's body to float right into and once he did she quickly flipped him over, 'A monster?!' her eyes widened.
Realizing that she was still in the ocean, she carefully began dragging the unconscious hedgehog to shore; careful to keep him afloat. Shadow's head was carefully lain in the sand, 'this isn't like any monster we've ever encountered.' she observed as she sat on her knees. Her enemies were bigger, essentially more human looking than this overgrown hedgehog. After a moment of pondering, the teen placed an ear close to his muzzle and to her surprise he was still breathing. A hand found its way on Shadow's chest as she listened closely to his shallow breathing but something more interesting caught her attention, "Oh my—it's so soft!" she gasped while brushing the hedgehog's chest fluff. She could have played with that tuft of fur forever but a gloved hand prevented her from doing so, in fact the sudden grip of her wrist caused the girl to shriek as she tried to pull away, "I-I'm so sorry!"
His lids were heavy and vision blurry, but they slowly began to open to something obscuring his view of the blinding sun. Even though he couldn't see well, he could make out a feminine figure before him and blonde hair, "Maria." he croaked the first thing that came to his mind.
Did she just imagine that? "Maria?" the teen repeated before responding, fully amazed that the hedgehog may have spoke, "Oh n-no, my name's Usagi. Usagi Tsukino." She introduced while never taking her cerulean eyes off of his half-lidded cherry ones.
"Usagi?" his voice was low and groggy, kind of like a mumble. His red hues were finally adjusting on Usagi's face, his vision coming back to him. He scanned her features, her hair certainly was blonde but it was much longer than his beloved Maria's; not only that it was pinned up in a goofy fashion, it made the top of her hair look like a pair of meatballs! He scanned her lips and her cheeks to notice her skin tone also had a bit more color than his old friend's pale skin. And then he saw them clear as day—her eyes, they were staring back at him intently. They were almost enough to make his heart skip a beat but his expression would never show it. Truthfully, he couldn't help but feel some nostalgia in those blue orbs. After his brief observation he finally let her wrist go.
"Oh! You spoke!" A smile now replacing her previous expression, causing Shadow to stare in subtle wonder, but he knew that this was too good to be true. This wasn't his friend no matter how much he wished it. The hedgehog slowly sat up and rested his wrist on his knee, as he heard Usagi continue on, "You fell from the sky, like some kind of meteor! Are you alright?" her voice became soft and concerned, worried if he had any injuries.
Shadow just shook his head; "I'm fine." was his response. It was then he noticed the subtle difference in his wrist, his inhibitor rings were missing. Did they fall into the ocean? Or maybe they were lost somewhere in space. Nonetheless, Shadow effortlessly rose to his feet and moved toward the ocean, feeling a sense of calm wash over him. He felt different since his last encounter with Sonic and his fall from the ARK, he felt as if his tension and hatred towards human had died. The hedgehog felt peace. He shut his eyes for just a moment, and listened as the waves gently crashed against the shore.
"I'm always with you."
Usagi stared with fascination, she'd never seen a creature like the one before her and that says a lot for someone who fights monsters on a daily basis. She had long since stop wondering what he was and decided to give who he was a chance; after all it couldn't hurt to have another friend. Right? Timid, but curious, she asked, "Can I have your name?"
This broke his mini trance, arms now folded across each other, "I'm Shadow, Shadow the hedgehog." He introduced in his usual dark tone before turning to face her.
"Shadow the hedgehog..wow!" she gasped. "Well, Shadow" she rose to her feet, brushing the sand from her legs, "what brings you to Earth? Where did you come from?" she wanted to gain as much information about the hedgehog as she could. Funny, she wasn't even this invested in Luna when they first met.
The hedgehog remained quiet, clearly not wanting to talk about his past or the events that led him here a few minutes…hours…days ago? How much time had passed since his fight with the Biolizard? His lids lowered slightly and his gaze shifted away from Usagi to gather his thoughts, a low groan had sounded off in his throat, "…"
Usagi decided it would be for the best to change the subject. "Uh! Hey, it's OK we don't have to talk about it." She managed to smile and bent down a bit so the two were now at eye level, "Um do you like food? We have ice-cream at home!" she made a gesture, did hedgehog's like ice-cream? "Do you have a home, Shadow?"
Chatty. He remembered Maria was more or less the same, it caused him to chortle to himself, something Usagi caught onto but before she could ask 'what was so funny', the striped hedgehog replied to only one answer, "A home? I suppose not." not for a long time anyway.
"Well I guess that settles it," Shadow's meatball headed acquaintance had linked their hands together; "you can stay with me!" Seems like she had a natural habit for taking in strays. His gaze had snapped to their conjoined hands, as soon as their palms touched he felt a familiar warmth surge through his body. 'Who is this girl?' he mentally pondered before verbally accepting her offer, "If you insist."
Night had fallen and Mamoru never showed up to the beach. While Usagi was bummed out about being stood up, she was glad that she had Shadow there with her. The heroine had explained to the anti-hero why it was best to wait until night fall before they could make their move. Seeing a giant hedgehog might not be the thing this city needs right now, so in their spare time Usagi began on her interest and hobbies and how she wasn't doing so hot in school. After a while she got onto the subject of her friends and how she wouldn't be the person she is today without them. She closed her eyes and smiled fondly, 'Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako.'
"Do you have any friends?" Here she was, rambling on about video games and school and not once did she get anything out of the hedgehog.
"…At one point I did," he finally spoke, a bit hesitant, "but she died..a long time ago." It was a struggle to admit, but he had come to terms with it.
Usagi let out an audible gasp, earning Shadow's attention, "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to bring up anything painful!" and boy were they painful, but he would never let it show. He dismissed her apology with the slight shake of his head. He knew she meant no harm.
"Usagi, we should get going." To her, his voice was firm but maybe that was how he always spoke. Even so she agreed, it shouldn't be too hard to sneak into her home everyone should be asleep by now (or at least in their rooms).
It was a bit of a journey, but the pair finally made it to the Tsukino residence. Shadow didn't bother to gaze at her fenced in, two story abode. "Welcome home, Shadow the Hedgehog!" she cheerfully whispered before opening the front door. All the lights were off, they were in the clear! With the exception of one smaller animal that had a crescent shaped marking on her forehead, "Mrow?!"
"O-Oh Luna!" Embarrassed, Usagi wasn't sure if she should speak to the cat; she still kept her true identity, and everything else, a secret.
Eventually, the three had made it to the room undetected and Usagi had disappeared for a while, with Luna staying in her room, accompanying (more of keeping an eye on) the anthromorphic hedgehog. A waning moon had appeared in the girl's window, drawing Shadow towards it. He noticed the moon and stars looked the same as it did in his world, even Usagi had some sort of familiarness to her.
Luna gazed at Shadow, almost in the same way as her owner did. He was such a fascinating creature to look at; mysterious, so docile and yet, he seemed as though he could snap your neck in a second if you pushed him to that level. The cat quickly became attached to him, it wasn't like her but something drew her in and caused her to rub against his leg, "Meow," earning the hedgehog's attention and possibly a little more.
"Hmph," a smirk appeared on his muzzle.
"Aaah..that was nice!" the teen sighed while towel drying her hair. She had yet to put on her PJs; she just stared at herself in the mirror with the look of a million things going on in her head. Her thoughts mainly on her love, Mamoru. "Positive!" she reminded herself.
Meanwhile, our anti-hero was perched in our heroine's window sill, Luna purring and resting peacefully in his lap. While Shadow himself was still gazing at the stars, his former, beloved friend heavy on his mind.
The room door had opened and closed, but the hedgehog didn't bother to look up. He was lost in his thoughts, and he knew that it was only Usagi. A fresh scent came from her and he knew she had just got done showering she entered inside her room in her purple pajama pants, printed with bunnies and crescent moons, and a matching spaghetti strap top. She gently rubbed her towel on her head, while gazing at Shadow. His mysterious demeanor brought about something familiar to the teen, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"Shadow…?" He didn't take his gaze from the window, but he let her know that he was listening. Usagi felt as if heat had just risen to her cheeks, this caused her to blush a little and falter, until she finally just gave up.
"Um…Never mind…"
Usagi looked to see a sleeping Luna in Shadow's lap. "Luna…" she called softly to her guardian kitty, and soon after, the black cat stretched and hopped onto her owner's bed. Usagi also took a seat on her bed and began crisscrossing her hair into one giant braid; she finished with a smug, impressed look on her face, "How does it look?"
The hedgehog glanced at her blonde hair for a moment before resuming his gaze to the heavens, "Not too bad." The cheerful girl squealed a bit; just about any praise put her in a giddy mood, but this quickly passed as she noticed a hint of forlorn on Shadow's face. 'Is he thinking of someone too?'
Her soft smile had graced her lips again, "Are you going to stare out that window all day, Shadow?" this broke the hedgehog's concentration. He felt tingles, he had heard those exact words before, and the way she said his name. Shadow turned to Usagi to see that innocent smile of hers.
"You…" he sighed, "you should get some sleep."
There was that firm tone of his again…whatever, she couldn't argue against getting some sleep. She nodded as she slid under her blanket, giving her new friend one final look before drifting off to sleep.
"Good night."
Shadow closed his eyes and leaned his head back and began to dream, but like all the others, this was no different. It wasn't a dream at all.
"Huff…phew…!"
"Wheeze, wheeze…!"
And the mixed sound of light and heavy footsteps was all that could be heard as the ebony hedgehog and his fragile friend tried to make their escape.
A flash goes by and it's now shown that Shadow was in one of the escape pods, but Maria…
"W-Wait!" He shouted nervously from the other side of the pod, he dreaded the fact that she was on the outside when the roles should have been reversed. She was in grave danger and there was nothing he could do about it. "Maria, don't!"
A soldier had made his way into the escape room, his gun pointed directly at Maria. The girl had a grip on the lever that would soon plunge Shadow to Earth; all she could do was turn and smile that sweet smile to him, but as this occurred her eyes seemed to change and her hair grew increasingly long. She was starting to look like Usagi, but he heard Maria's soft spoken voice.
"Shadow, promise me that you'll give them chance to be happy…"
Shadow watched in horror as she let her delicate hands pull the lever that determined their fate, followed by the sound of a gunshot.
"Hah…!" Shadow gasped as he awoke from his nightmare. A few hours had gone by since they both had fallen asleep, but the sun was nowhere in sight. Usagi was already awake, or either just waking up due to Shadow's incoherent mumbling in his sleep. "Are you ok?" she asked softly, her voice a bit groggy, "Did you have a bad dream?" she asked again.
Seemingly embarrassed, Shadow made a certain body gesture and Usagi smiled, "You can come sleep with me." she said while patting space big enough for him. He silently complied by removing his shoes and climbing into her bed. She was already back under her blanket, lazily stroking Shadow's quills after he adjusted himself to get comfortable. It was a sudden motion, but it helped him relax.
"Was her name Maria?"
Shadow figured that she was still curious and nodded, a moment later, he had shift position of where he was now facing Usagi.
"Yes. Maria Robotnik. Somehow, you remind me of her." He finally confessed.
Usagi had already drifted back to sleep, and Shadow's tired eyes had one more chance to briefly observe her before they would shut.
He whispered, "It's your eyes."
