Chapter 2 - A unwanted guest

Shadow was awakened suddenly from his deep slumber. The house shook for a moment… he sat up, ears perked up listening carefully. He heard rain dripping off the window behind him.

Shit, just thunder.

He looked over as lightning lit up the room, Rouge was curled up sound asleep.

How did I get so lucky? He said with a smirk.

He glanced over to the clock… 3am. Shadow normally wasn't the jumpy type, but he wasn't the same since he killed Eggman. Admittedly, he did do it protecting himself and his family, but it was like killing a old friend, if it wasn't for Eggman, Shadow would likely still be in a cryogenic slumber in the pod. Even if the doctor did manipulate him, he did a lot more good than most realized, for Shadow at least. Shadow felt the guilt deep down, he hadn't admitted it to Rouge, but he had been having nightmares, Eggman was haunting him.

What goes around comes around Shadow.

You're next.

Do you really care about your family? Turn yourself in.

He could hear Eggman's voice in his head.

So much for sleep.

Shadow rolled out of bed and walked into Brie's room, she was still snoozing to his surprise. How did the storm only wake him up? He then crossed the hallway and heard Sebastian snoring. Everyone was accounted for, everyone was sleeping. He then decided he should just go sit on the couch. He grabbed a banana from the basket, then sat down and turned on the TV. The news was still on.

In other news, Sonic the Hedgehog finally spoke out about the actions of his rival Shadow, here's what he said: "Shadow may have been protecting his family, but we both signed an agreement with the President to allow us to stay on this planet, the agreement clearly said NO KILLING. Shadow, if you hear this, just turn yourself in buddy, they're really gunning for you."

Shadow muted the tv, sitting there deep in thought. Eggman had told him to turn himself in during one of his dreams. Was it a sign, or just coincidence? Shadow sat there flipping through the channels, when he found nothing amusing he just turned it back off. He laid back rubbing his quills.

I need to do something, if I don't act, those bounty hunters and GUN will… I need to talk to Rouge about this.

He got up to go to their room, then realized it's still early in the morning, she was still asleep.

Hmph, guess a walk won't hurt.

He grabbed his leather jacket to keep him from getting cold, he didn't mind the water though. He headed out the door and walked onto the sand, the sky would light up every few minutes, the storm was dying down. He walked for over an hour, trying to decide what he should do.

Should I really consider turning myself in? Maybe I'll build a shelter underground to hide my family in, just in case of an attack. Maybe I'll-

"Well well, a island getaway aye Shadow?" The voice wasn't familiar, mainly because whoever it was used a voice scrambler, but it made him freeze in his tracks. It was still dark, he couldn't see who was talking.

"If you wanted me dead I guess I already would be, show yourself." Shadow called out.

After a moment, the figure dropped down from a palm tree. The figure lit a flare and tossed it between them. Though the area was now lit, Shadow still couldn't make out much, the figure was covered from head to toe, but appeared female. All he could see for sure was bright yellow eyes, they resembled Brie's in a way…

"Lose the voice scrambler, I'd like to know who's dumb enough to challenge me on my own turf."

The figure removed a small device, then removed the balaclava covering its face altogether.

"Blaze…?" Shadow had trouble getting out the words.

"Indeed. I wish we would've met under better circumstances Shadow the Hedgehog, but I think you know why I'm here." She said approaching cautiously.

"Blaze, listen… you and Rouge are really good friends, please don't make me do this." Shadow said backing away slowly, yet she continued to approach. As she got closer to the light from the flare, he could clearly see her now.

She wore a black jumpsuit and black combat boots, yet he could clearly see the lavender fur. She also wore a holster on his waist, she was carrying a silver pistol. A flame had also ignited in her hand.

"Shadow, I don't wanna fight you, let alone have to kill you, so please make this easy on us both… come with me and I promise you'll get a fair trial to defend your actions." In the blink of an eye, she held her hand out for him to grab, the flame that was once in it dying almost instantly.

Hm… I can't just give up… but maybe I can trick her.

He placed a hand on his hip. "Blaze, let's make a deal."

She put her hand back by her side before answering. "I'm all ears Shad."

He pointed to a log laid out in the sand, and the two cautiously sat down on opposite ends. "I'll turn myself in if you guarantee immunity for my family."

She raised a brow. "Hmmm, I'm not supposed to, but how about this, you turn yourself in and I'll tell them you were alone."

Shadow studied her, she was hard to read, but he didn't know her to be deceptive. Unlike him…

"Deal, so, do you gotta cuff me?" He said holding out his hands for her to cuff.

"Yeah, thanks for not putting up a fight." She said with a warming smile.

Hope we can still be friends after this Blaze… because you're not gonna like this.

As soon as the cuffs were on, Shadow threw his arms around her neck and brought her down, choking her with the cuffs.

"Gah- Sha- you bastard!" She struggled, but eventually got out and rolled into a battle stance. Shadow broke the cuffs and cracked his neck.

"I don't have all night cat, let's get this over with." Shadow said, almost smiling.

"I didn't want it to come to this, but you pushed it Shadow. NOW!"

Out of nowhere, Silver and Omega attacked from behind. Shadow rolled for a moment, laying face down in the ocean water before he regained himself and stood.

3 on 1… now that evens the odds.

"GIVE UP SHADOW, WE DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU." Omega said in his robotic tone.

"Yeah Shadow, it's three of us against you, use your head." Silver jumped in.

Enough of this shit.

"Chaos… BLAST!" Shadow sent yellow darts out in all directions.

Blaze managed to get into cover before it hit, but Omega and Silver took a big hit. It affected Silver greatly, leaving him unconscious. Omega was left with a few dents, nothing more.

"SHADOW, I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU, YOUR CHANCES OF DEFEATING ME ARE APPROXIMATELY 2.6%." Shadows former robotic companion responded.

"We will see about that, tincan." Shadow growled, he was about to lunge when he was hit with a kick to the back of the head.

"Stay down Shadow." it was Blaze, using her cat like sneakiness to get behind him. Shadow didn't like the way this was going, he could win two on one, but he would fair better if he could separate them.

He landed a quick kick to blaze, then jumped up and spindashed Omega repeatedly. It did little at first, but Shadow kept targeting the same spot, causing substantial damage to the robots battery pack.

"LOW POWER MODE ACTIVATED."

Hm, that leaves the cat.

Shadow turned and was met with an uppercut. He could feel blood roll out of his mouth. Before he could react, Blaze had jumped on him, raining down fists of fury. Shadow starting going numb, he was about to unleash his dark side, his anger was about to go over the limit. Within the next few hits, he began to glow with red mist emitting off his fur. Blaze stopped and backed off, but the damage had been done. Shadow leapt up and grabbed her by the throat.

"YOU'LL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE CAT!" he squeezed harder, he saw her eyes begin to fade… her eyes. Almost immediately he was calm. He looked into Blazes eyes and saw his daughter, her eyes were so similar to Brie's.

"Get lost cat, before I change my mind."

With nothing hurt more than her pride, she wobbled over to Silver and began to drag him off.

"This isn't over, Shadow."

"Hmph, if you had a brain you'd stay the hell away from me, next time we meet one of us might leave in a bodybag." he responded in a harsh tone.

Blaze studied the wounded hedgehog before carrying Silver away. Omega was still in low power mode, he was no threat.

Shadow took a moment to regain himself, then began to dash home.

Meanwhile… *Rouge's POV*

She felt the sun hit her eyes through the blinds. She decided rolled over to grab Shadow, but felt nothing but a pillow. As she opened her emerald eyes, she met the clock. 5:30. Guess I should get up and feed Brie. She thought to herself with a long stretch. As she was getting up she sat in front of her mirror, glancing over her appearance. Jeez, bed head much? I need a shower. She brushed her white hair back, then put on a pink, silk bathrobe. She walked down the hall and peered in on Brie, who was wiggling around in her crib.

"C'mon baby girl, lets get you some milk."

She grabbed her baby, then went into the kitchen and was about to sit her down to grab some milk when she heard the door fly open. She turned and shielded her baby, expecting the worse, only to find her husband, bruised and bloody. His leather jacket was torn, as were his gloves. His eyes were heavy, he looked like he was going to pass out.

"BABE! What the hell? Are you okay?"

Shadow opened his mouth to respond, but was too weak. He collapsed onto the tile floor, leaving a pool of blood around him. Rouge, in total panic mode, ran and out Brie back in her crib, then ran back to shadow with a towel.

"Baby, wake up, let me clean you up."

No response, she rolled him over to survey the damage. He had a cut across his stomach, and was bleeding from his lip.

"This looks like Omega's doing." Rouge said, cleaning up the wound on his stomach.

Shadow awoke feeling the pressure against the wound.

"Fuck Rouge, be careful." he winced in pain.

"Sorry Shady, I don't want it getting infected." She glanced into his red eyes, he didn't have to say a word, she read him like a book. He was scared, which made her scared, because he was never scared.

He responded with a simple nod, leaning back and letting her do her magic.

"So, wanna tell me who's responsible for making you look like shit?" she said with concern, rubbing a hand across his head.

"Heh, look like shit huh? You should see the other guys." He said with a smirk. "Omega, Silver, and Blaze."

"Blaze? She's even after you? Jesus, I hope this doesn't hurt our friendship after this."

"She won't be around for awhile, unless she's crazy." he responded.

"You know she is." Rouge let out a chuckle as she finished cleaning the wound. "Let's get you a shower."

"No shower, wake Sebastian and get Brie, we're leaving. It's no longer safe here." Shadow said, grabbing his red chaos emerald off the table. "Nice robe by the way."

She blushed a little "Awe babe, compliment me later, let's get this figured out now."

With a nod, Shadow went to pack the bags while Rouge got the kids ready.

After a few minutes, Shadow returned with bags full of clothes, while Rouge returned with Brie in her arms and Sebastian by her side.

"Dad, where are we going?" Sebastian asked as he walked over to help his dad carry the bags.

"You'll see when we get there, we gotta be careful now Sebastian. Go grab your coat and we can leave."

He left and returned a moment later, wearing his black hoodie along with his red shorts.

The family all looked at each other with nods, then they all grabbed hands. Everyone was linked, and with Shadow's free hand, he caused chaos control. Everything went white, but something was wrong. Everything stayed white, then it went pitch black dark.

"Sebastian, Rouge?" Shadow called out.

"Shadow, how come everyone you've ever been close to ends up dead?" a very familiar voice called to him.

"Maria?" Shadow tried to look around for her, but it was pitch black.

"Shadow, don't you regret it?" another familiar voice appeared.

"Eggman? Am I… dead?" Shadow was shaken up, his words were struggling to leave his lips.

"You're just a murderer to them, Earth never loved you Shadow." This time it was knuckles speaking.

"You should've joined us Shadow." Black Doom, his voice sent chills down Shadows spine.

"You're a failed experiment Shadow." Gerald Robotnik, Shadow's creator joined in.

"ENOUGH!" Shadow screamed, now on his knees. The darkness lit up, and he could now see his fallen friends/rivals surrounding him.

"We all died by your hand or because of you Shadow, you're evil, you're a piece of shit." They all said in unison. Shadow was used to hearing such harsh things, but coming from Maria… he was broken.

Everything went dark again, then he flashed out of chaos control. He looked around, he was alone. "What the…" He looked around, tears dropping off his cheeks.

"Why am I back here?"

Cliffhanger! Hope you guys enjoyed chapter 2, got a little action and a bit on internal conflict going on with Shadow. I'm very excited for this story, I think you guys will enjoy the next chapter, without spoiling anything, you can expect a major twist. Can ya guess where he landed? Stick around, CH3 will be out within the next few days. Reviews are welcome, thanks for reading and see ya soon!