IMPORTANT! Read this before you read the story, or you may be lost!
Author's Note/Disclaimer: Oh, finally, a sequel! Just a few notes here!
**This story is a sequel to Merging Lies and Splitting Truth. It is *highly, highly, highly* recommended that you read Splitting Truth first! (And just as highly recommended you read Merging Lies afterward.)** I appologize for forgetting to mention this earlier. Some characters mayseem OOC due to certain unmentioned circumstances. Shadow and Rouge especially, so pay close attention. Over all, I did my best to keep them in character…
Do not be intimidated by the three (four if you count Voice) fan characters that pop up in Chapters 2 and 3. Two of them were just to fill the space! I didn't think any official characters would fit the bill, but I hope you'll find them entertaining in some way. This will be different from the two prequels, of course. It's a genuine sequel, not an alternate reality. There'll be another sequel to come after this. :) Please read, rate, and enjoy! Also note that unlike the prequels, this would not be canon against my main series.
Sarah and Liz © Angyll /Boospar of youtube. Voice and all other briefly appearing characters belong to me. (Why use nameless nobodies for short roles anyway?) All other characters © Sega! That's Shadow, Rouge, Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Cream, Cheese, Big, Omega, Espio, Charmy, Vector, Shade, and anyone else I forgot! And Robotnick. Let's not forget him!
Unabridged Thoughts
By Maria Springer (ShootingStarz01)
Dreams. He was not a dreamer. Why should he ever have dreams? But alas, they haunted him like ghosts and plagued his mind with uncertainty. Not only uncertainty, but fear.
How had fear come to this fearless heart? Shudders would course through his tainted mind, but not through his formless body. He saw her.
He saw…
He wished he could see, but all he had were feelings. Vague, yet overwhelmingly strong emotions, as if something tremendous had happened and he had forgotten. The only image that would come at his beckoning was hers. The instant it would form, it would fade away and die. He could not keep her face in his mind. She was forgotten immediately. Nothing could revive her memory. Nothing.
It was unexplainable. It happened every so often over the months, on very rare instances. There was no visible trigger, just mystery and deep unsettlement within his soul.
What was this?
At first he did all he could to reach desperately for her memory, but unlike all other memories, hers hid itself. It resisted. Whatever was connected with her was even more rebellious. He was infuriated… so he gave up. When the dreams would flicker, he would do all in his power to push them away from him. To forget them. To forget her…
Who was she?
Shadow the hedgehog awoke at the familiar, yet entirely unwelcome ringing of a mechanical alarm clock. He silenced it immediately, lightly startled and disgruntled. He shut his eyes against the soft sunlight sifting through the bedroom window.
Rise and shine, Annie. The Voice purred. The sun's out.
Yeah, yeah. Shadow practically growled back at him, burying himself a bit more in the bed sheets.
Snappish today, are we? Well brilliant, because you have 10 missions in the next five days!
The black and red hedgehog sprang up quicker than a rabbit from its hole. What?!
There were some faxes last night! I bet you'll have so much fun!
Shadow ignored the Voice's jeering, leaping out of bed and dashing to the fax machine in the cluttered downstairs office. Indeed, there were some faxes… ten of them. He quickly flipped through them. The Voice was right.
…But the hedgehog heaved a slight sigh of relief. Rouge the bat would be with him. That would make things a lot easier. The pair made a wonderful team. 10 missions in five days was no picnic, but at least with a partner, they wouldn't be nearly so hard. He flipped through the last of the assignments, then stopped. There was an 11th. He hadn't seen it because the page was smaller than the others. His eyes scanned over the large newspaper cutout letters. It looked like it should be a ransom note, which was mildly unnerving. He stumbled on the first word but pressed on to read the entire message, "Project Shadow the Hedgehog and Agent Rouge the Bat, you're invited to Greystone Manor for dinner and fine company? Please come to 68 Weeping Willow in Kingdom Valley this afternoon at 4:30… all your friends will be there." Followed was some writing he couldn't read. It seemed to be in another language.
The Voice was curiously silent.
Shadow paused. All he could guess was that Sonic or one of the others had arranged this, though the writing at the bottom threw him off. How many others knew that Rouge was an agent? Or who knew all her and his friends? He hated to skip out on Sonic or one of the others after all they had done for him; their mercy and forgiveness was almost more than he could take. But he had work to do. He flipped through his missions again, then paused in wonder.
The earliest of them wasn't until very late tonight. Though it'd be ideal to sleep the afternoon and be prepared for five days of possibly nonstop work, he and Rouge could make it to the dinner beforehand if she agreed to it. He did owe Sonic and his friends much, after all. He glanced down the page of the first mission, this time looking at what it actually was. He froze.
Find and recover Project 666.
At first he didn't know what to think. He felt confusion and confliction. Then the Voice began to laugh. Why look, it's one of your countless 'sisters'! Astounding that they would dare choose you to go after her… The one with the devil's number on her, is it? Wasn't she shut down years ago because of her psychopathic nature? The Voice laughed some more, clearly enjoying the situation. Yes, she was! For attacking both the scientists and other experiments! Well, well… Looks like she escaped. Doubtlessly she's off subjecting innocents to torture right at this moment!
Shadow shook his head. "This isn't good…"
What do you mean, it's not good?! This will be the most fun we've had in so long!
"Fun for you!" Shadow began to flip through the other assignments. "Really? Are Rouge and I the protagonists of X-files? They're having us set out on monster quests! Don't they have anything better to-"
This is Halloween! Everybody make a scene! Aren't you scared~? Well that's just fine! The Voice sang just barely on-key.
"Where did you even-" Shadow stopped and blinked, looking at the calendar on the office room's wall. Today was the 28th of October. The missions would continue through Halloween and hopefully the last would be completed on November 1st, Day of the Dead. "…Irony."
"What is…?" A voice came from behind him. Shadow turned, and there stood Rouge. He held up the faxes for her to see. Once her mind registered what she was looking at, gave a disappointed moan. "I was going to do some shopping today! How many are for me?"
"All of them. They're for us both. And we also received this." Shadow held up the smaller paper for her viewing.
Rouge read the paper, smiling a bit. "That sounds like a lot of fun! But we can't-"
"Actually, we can. But we may not get much sleep for awhile… These missions aren't our usual cup of tea."
The white bat looked thoughtful, deeply considering the flyer as she looked over it again. "Well… We haven't done anything fun like this for a long time, Shadow… I know we'll be alright. We're the best agents GUN has." She looked up, winking at him. "I'm sure there'll be time to fit sleep in somewhere."
"So you would like to go?" Shadow asked a bit slowly.
"Of course, sugar! Wait, what time is it in Kingdom Valley?"
The black and red hedgehog smiled and looked at his watch, briefly calculating. "4:08." Then he glanced at the flier.
4:30 PM.
"…"
Shadow rapidly swept his best friend off her feet. "Hold on, Rouge!" He took off, abandoning home and straining to break the sound barrier. Rouge held on for dear life, folding her ears back as tightly as she could for fear of the wind harming them.
"…Hey, I didn't get to change!" Rouge grinned, her voice almost lost under the roar of the air.
"You're dressed for a day out! That's good enough!" Her best friend skated on, jumping over and swerving around obstacles whenever necessary.
"Says you!"
"We don't have the time anyway!"
"There's always time for a woman to look her best!"
Women. The Voice scoffed. The black and red hedgehog didn't appear to hear him.
…To learn to love? What a waste of time when he was trapped in someone else's mind! Who was he trying to fool? The Child he resided within? No, he had not even told the Child, and the Child would never know. Love was agony; the Voice remembered. Love was pain…
Love was so frustrating when women were filled with vanity, snobbish behavior, thoughts of men and idolization of Hollywood stars. Men were drenched in dissatisfaction and lust and conceit and silly obsessions with professional sports. Mortals looked at the smallest, most insignificant details and wept and moaned. They fought one another like wild lions. They all created waste to destroy and corrupt all of nature's beauty. He didn't want to love any of it.
… Yet jealousy welled up inside of him. Shadow's love seemed so painless. He had friends. Many friends. Rouge, he saw every day. Love was effortless for him. If he ever fell in love, the Voice assumed all would go well in the long run. It wasn't fair. Shadow the hedgehog, a mortal, had the world…
The Voice was confined to him. Planet Shadow was where he was stranded, and he couldn't breach the atmosphere. He had nothing.
"But there's not always time…" Shadow trailed off into laughter. Rouge giggled.
"Okay, okay! I guess I look alright." The bat continued to cling, daring to look around. However, when she glanced she found herself dizzy due to their astonishing speed that blurred trees, humans, buildings, and mountains into one. She shut her eyes.
"Good, because we're going to be late!" The hedgehog called above the wind, still pushing himself forward to go as quickly as possible. Away they sped to kingdom Valley to start their five-day adventure. The Voice suffered in silence, his heart hardening.
Rebellion was the only path for him.
Shadow leapt onto train tracks. Rouge noticed a difference in the way his running felt and looked up. "Shadow!" Rouge gasped, her muscles seizing up. A train was speeding toward them, partly because of it's own speed and partly because of Shadow's. Shadow rocketed through a tunnel, continuing to speed right toward it. The headlights grew blinding. All in one second, Shadow ran through, made it to the other side, and squeezed between the train and the tunnel's exit. By mere inches, they both were spared the impact. Rouge felt her heart momentarily stop…
Shadow, however, didn't seem bothered by how close to death he had just come. He kept running. Rouge could see the dreary autumn appearance of Kingdom Valley all around her. Towering ruins and ancient woodlands intertwined. She was not really seeing it, however, for she was still very of the previous event. Still tense in his arms, he closed her eyes again, resting her head on Shadow's shoulder. The black and red hedgehog looked at his watch.
4:29.
Thank whatever higher entity there was for the natural portals that pocketed the Earth's space. If not for them, they never would have made it even remotely on time. The tunnel behind them was a perfect portal between Soleanna and Ivaysa, the nation of justice. It was much easier to take portals than try to get across the sea by plane or even with his air shoes.
He looked around for Weeping Willow road. It took several moments of navigating through ruins, wilderness, and few large lakes, but soon the road was found. A wooden stake with a sign labeled 'Weeping Willow' marked the street. He turned sharply down it as Rouge finally began to relax again. Now to find 68... 68... Being used to suburban and rural communities, he expected to see other manors. However, he found none. This made him realize that Greystone Manor was likely the only residence down the entire weather-worn stone path. Ruins quickly faded out of sight. This was a more forested area of kingdom valley; the cold grey sky served as a stark backdrop against the autumn-kissed trees. Some were bare, others had few leaves. Still others had yet to shed themselves of color. The grass seemed ready to die; all of nature was prepared for the frosty winter to come.
It seemed all too sudden that a large manor popped into sight at the end of the road. Shadow ran through the open, rusted old gates, and slid to a halt at the front door.
"Is this it?" Rouge asked, glancing about as Shadow set her down. The eerie manor loomed over them, a stone giant. In the distance, a giant eagle screeched. It was likely on the hunt for prey…
Shadow simply gave a nod. The road had ended. There was no other house he had seen. He reached up to knock on the rotting wooden door, using the stylish old door knocker that sat dead in the center of the door.
Rouge turned her attention to the door immediately, not wanting to seem distracted. For a moment, there was utter silence. Not even the wind swept through the trees to evoke their whispering voices. Shadow realized how silent even The Voice had been.
Then, the door slowly opened.
A/N: To be continued…