Chapter 3


Space Colony Ark,6:00pm


"50 years...it's been something like that hasn't it? Dr. Gerald did promise you greatness, however we've been keeping something else rather interesting up here. Something that could be of help to you."

A man with a large pointed nose, untidy lab coat and unkept moustache walked down the hallway, by his side was a sinister yet aged looking creature, it had three eyes and twin horns sticking out of either side of its' head; it was decorated with a worn robe, chains with spiked ornaments and jewels around the top of its' robe.

"The time of reckoning is upon us, you musn't waste my time bringing me up here, Dr. Snively,"the creature spoke, its' voice was very deep and presented an echoing effect.

"I assure you, Black Doom, if anything will convince Shadow to join your army, it will be this," said Snively, keying in a password to open the door before them, revealing a large and cold room.

"We've managed to keep her body well preserved thus far," Snively added, guiding Black Doom towards a large capsule in the middle of the room. Inside lay the mummifed body of a young girl, her face was rough and skeletal looking, yet her blonde hair still looked as full as the day she was alive.

"Dr. Gerald's granddaughter?" Black Doom questioned.

"That's correct. After the incident at Space Colony Ark, a team of G.U.N scientists managed to steal the bodies lost after the accident - wanting to keep them preserved and buried here as a reminder of what happened. One of them so happened to be the Gerald's grandaughter, Maria. No one had any idea the bodies were still here, up until Dr. Eggman and I discovered them, " Snively explained.

"If my theory is correct, combining your Black Arms' blood with her human form should help regenerate her cells, replacing the dead ones with new and stronger cells. She will no longer be fully human, but a weapon for you to use as you please, and also the perfect bait for Shadow to finally join you. I am certain this experiment will be a success!"

"If it proves to be a success, this would be most interesting. A human to help destroy all humans, what sweet irony," said Black Doom.

"Our plan to conquer this planet would be almost certain if this goes well. Shall we begin?" said Snively, smirking.

"Very well."

Snively pulled out a syringe, injecting the needle into Black Doom's arm and drawing the blood out from him. He punched in the password and opened up the capsule, positioning the needle near Maria's lifeless arm and piercing her veins. He pushed the syringe down and slowly released Black Doom's blood into her body. They waited, watching as her veins throbbed and pulsated with the Black Arms' blood, the process was quick as Snively had predicted.

"Her cells are regenerating at an incredible speed, her recovery is remarkable! The regeneration of both organs and tissue is simpy off the scale!" said Snively, excitedly. "Her being, both physical and mental, seem to be developing at a geometric rate."

Her appearance changed from that of a skeletal and worn away being, to fresh faced and alive in a matter of minutes, her skin no longer grey and rough, but white and smooth. Her lips red in color, her body filling out her former skeletal form, she no longer had the appearance or body of a twelve year old, the alien blood had aged her to sport a more mature physique. That of someone who was at least nineteen or twenty. Suddenly the young woman's eyes shot open and she gasped loudly for air, the contractions in her body slowly becoming less frequent.

Maria scanned her surroundings, a look of confusion plastered on her face as she shivered in the capsule. She looked frightened as she looked up at Snively and Black Doom, unaware of what was happening around her and who these people were. She slowly sat up, blinking rapidly, a sharp pain suddenly piercing her head and causing her to hold onto it.

"There, there, my child. There's no need to be afraid," said Snively, he shrugged off his lab coat and threw it over Maria's naked form. She clutched onto it, shivering violently.

"Wh...wh...wher..." she stuttered, trying to speak.

"Where are you? You're in Space Colony Ark, your home. Do you remember your name?" Snively asked.

"M...My... N-na-me..."

"Yes, child. Your name is Maria."

"Ma-ri-a..." Maria whispered, she tried to stand up but her feet gave way beneath her, causing her to fall to her knees.

"Careful child, you're still getting used to your new body. I'm Dr. Snively, I helped bring you back. Do you remember anything, Maria?"

Maria stared blankly at Snively, before shaking her head in response.

"You were killed in this very place 57 years ago, by those horrible humans. But I brought you back to life," Snively looked over at Black Doom. "We helped bring you back to life."

Maria looked up at Black Doom, still shivering.

"My dear child, you have been wronged by those disgusting humans. They have taken everything away from you. I, as your creator, will make sure you are never harmed again," said Black Doom, his eyes shining brightly.

He placed a clawed hand on Maria's shoulder.

"Let us make the humans suffer."


Belina's apartment was on the other side of town, they walked up to the front door and Shadow couldn't help but notice, from the outside, that it didn't look as nice as Rouge's place. They could hear loud talking and music from the other side of the door.

"Sounds like they're having fun in there," said Rouge, knocking on the door.

"Coming!" Belina called from inside, she then opened the door and grinned when she saw the two. "Hey guys, glad you made it over! Excuse the mess, Manic was trying to find his drumsticks again."

"It's fine, I can imagine having Manic as a roommate is quite a handful," Rouge teased, winking at the green hedgehog himself.

"Hey, I'm not that much of a handful thank you very much," said Manic, sticking his tongue.

"The rest of them should be here soon, but in the meantime would you guys like anything to drink? Tea? Coffee? Something stronger? said Belina, gesturing for them to take a seat at the couch.

Rouge couldn't help but think back on last night's antics with the alcohol, but decided it shouldn't hurt to have another drink. "Something stronger is always a nice choice. What d'you have?"

"Vodka, rum, whiskey, wine, gin, beer, a few ciders...think that's about it?" said Belina, glancing at Manic.

"Sounds about right," said Manic, twirling his drumstick.

"Wine would be lovely, thank you," said Rouge, sitting down.

Belina turned to Shadow. "And yourself?"

"Gin, thank you Belina." Shadow also couldn't help but think back to the amount of alcohol he drank last night, and the fact that he had to be in work tomorrow morning, but surely one drink wouldn't hurt?

"Be a dear and get me a cider, Belina," said Manic, grinning.

Belina shot him a sour look. "I'm not your maid!" she spat, but proceeded to get Manic his cider as well.

She came back into the room and handed them all their drinks, and sat down on the couch with a drink herself. Rum and coke to be precise.

Manic took a sip from his cider and turned to Shadow. "So...you're this Shadow everyone's been talking about?"

"Yes," said Shadow, taking a drink of gin.

"Niiiice. They weren't lying y'know, you do look exactly like my brother!"

"Oh I don't think they're exactly alike, Shadow's cuter," said Rouge, winking.

Shadow raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything.

"There are some differences, like. Sonic's blue, Shadow's black. Sonic smiles, Shadow doesn't," said Belina, drawing laughter from Manic and Rouge.

"Hey. Watch it," said Shadow, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Oh c'mon, it's true though!" said Belina.

"I mean, I smile sometimes," said Shadow, shrugging.

"Yeah, yeah."

There was a knock on the door, interrupting their conversation. Belina jumped up from the couch and went to answer it, she opened the door to find Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy and Sonia standing there.

"Hey guys! It's about time you got here, Shadow and Rouge are already here," said Belina, leading them into the living room.

It was Tails' and Amy's turn to look shocked, both at the mention of Shadow's name and seeing him sitting on the couch in front of them, they weren't sure what to say.

"Shadow?! You're back?!" said Amy, in disbelief.

"I can't believe it!" said Tails, his eyes wide.

Sonia looked at the two, utterly confused as to what was going on here. "Um, am I missing something?"

"Shadow's our old friend, he disappeared for 7 years and now he's back," Sonic explained quickly. "Well nice to see you decided to drop by anyway, Shadow!" he added, grinning. Sonic took a seat next to Shadow and threw his arm around him.

"We thought after last night you'd just run off again!" said Sonic, chuckling.

"I feel like I want to now," said Shadow, shrugging Sonic's arm off him.

"Oh let's not get grumpy now," said Belina. She looked over at Tails and Amy, they were still standing and staring at Shadow. "C'mon you guys, take a seat!"

They both snapped out of it and sat down next to Belina. Knuckles placed a plastic bag on the table and began pulling different bottles of alcohol out of it.

"We didn't wanna show up empty handed, so we brought some booze with us," said Knuckles, throwing Belina a bottle.

"Drinking again? After last night?" said Belina, laughing and catching the bottle.

"Yeah we did go a little nuts, but this is only a get together - a few drinks shouldn't hurt!" said Knuckles.

"I suppose - hey, let me get some glasses for you guys. Sonic, Amy, Sonia, what are you guys having?" Belina asked, getting up from the couch and heading towards the kitchen with Knuckles.

"Cider please, Bel," said Sonic.

"I guess I'll just have some wine, please," said Amy.

"Whiskey would be great, thanks Belina," said Sonia, taking a seat next to Manic.

Belina came back and handed them their drinks, she handed Tails a glass of orange juice and turned to Sonic. "Don't even think about giving Tails any of your booze," said warned, pointing a finger at him.

"Hey, I'm fifteen, quit treating me like a kid," said Tails, frowning at Belina.

"Fifteen is when the booze and drugs starts," said Belina.

"Maybe for you, but not me," said Tails, taking a sip from his glass.

After a while they all began to settle down, chatting about different things and laughing at some bad jokes. Stories from the past were then brought up, much to Shadow's dismay.

"So, when did you guys meet Shadow?" Sonia spoke up, glancing over at the ebony hedgehog.

"God, it's weird to think how long ago it was now, that was back when G.U.N mistook me for Shadow and tried to hunt me down," said Sonic. "Weird how time flies, eh buddy?"

"Hmph. Yeah, something like that," said Shadow, knocking back his gin.

"It's kinda crazy, after the Metarix it's been so quiet these past couple of years," said Sonic, he turned to Shadow. "Twice you've disappeared on us...we've missed you, man."

"Shadow...what happened after all these years? Where did you go?" Amy asked, gripping her glass.

Shadow felt his heart rise to his throat, all he could do was stare at his drink. "I..."

His heart was beating fast, he didn't want to remember, but he knew he had to tell the truth eventually. Shadow looked up at the nervous faces staring back at him, it made him feel awful. "It's a long story..." said Shadow.

Rouge raised her eyebrows at him, surprised by what he said. A long story? So there was more to him just needing time alone for seven years?

"It's ok Shadow, you can tell us," said Sonic.

Shadow sighed. "All right then... Yes, I ran away because my memories coming back was just too much for me to handle, I wanted to be alone for a while. I didn't actually plan to be gone for so long, maybe a a month at most. I ended up in this far off planet, it felt like our own world so I stuck around for a while, trying to make sense of everything.

Then I met this girl, Sarah. She explained that something terrible was gonna happen to her world, that paradoxes had erupted throughout time, warping the timeline. She was approached by an oracle and was shown a vision of her world getting destroyed by these black creatures and that this was the cause of it, the only way she was going to stop this from happening was to travel back through the different timelines and resolve the paradoxes through the power of chaos. Sarah couldn't control that power, but I could. At first I didn't believe her, the entire thing sounded so far fetched, but she was desperate for my help - and I was worried the disruption of the timeline would affect our world too, that these black creatures would target us next if we didn't stop them.

We went through each timeline in this galaxy, the past, present and future; and managed to resolve the paradoxes. We thought we had saved this world's future. That the galaxy was safe. We hadn't realize the damage we'd done, that by using the power of chaos we'd given the creatures a free pass into destroying her world, they absorbed that power and were able to become stronger; and it only resulted in the inevitable."

In his mind's eye he could see Sarah in front of him, smiling and laughing, happy that they had saved her planet.

"Looks like we did it, thank you Shadow..."

He could see a dark cloud circling above, the sounds of people screaming, Sarah's worried expression before she was struck by that black creature. The blade piercing through her chest.

"SARAH!"

Everything went white.

Shadow clutched his glass, his hand shaking. "They killed her. The oracle tricked her into altering the timeline, and it killed her. I couldn't do anything to save her. I thought everything was going to be ok. It felt like only a couple of months we were travelling through time, when in reality it had taken seven years off our lives, only to result in making that vision come true, and those black creatures are still out there somewhere."

The whole room was silent, taking in the story Shadow had told them, finding it difficult to comprehend. Shadow glanced over at Rouge, she had an anxious expression plastered upon her face, something Shadow wasn't so used to seeing.

Rouge cleared her throat. "Fuck...Shadow...that's some story," she said, taking a large gulp of her wine.

"I mean...it makes sense why you disappeared for so long," said Sonic, also taking a drink.

"Now you know. I'm sorry, I didn't want to dampen the mood with all this, but I did at the very least owe you guys the truth," said Shadow.

"Hey man, it's ok! I mean, it's a crazy story...but we're just glad you're back," said Sonic, giving Shadow a pat on the shoulder.

"And even if these black creatures do come to our world, you have us to help you out!" said Amy.

"Changing the past...that could have been really dangerous!" said Tails, suddenly in deep thought.

"Hey now, I think that's enough talking about the past for today, we might as well just kick back and enjoy living in the moment y'know?" said Belina, standing up from the couch.

"Belina's right, we should just celebrate having you back with us, Shadow!" said Rouge, also getting up. "And you guys look like you need refills, I'll go help you, Belina."

They both sauntered off into the kitchen, leaving the rest to carry on changing the topic onto something more light-hearted. Shadow almost wished he hadn't told them the story, not because of their reaction, but having to talk about it meant having to remember it all. It was only a month ago, yet it felt like it happened years ago, that familiar feeling of losing someone was almost unbearable. After the Metarix he didn't want that, after losing Molly, after what happened 57 years ago...

Shadow downed the rest of his drink, wanting to forget about it all. He wanted to put his past behind him; yet why with every effort to forget about it all, did something have to go wrong and trigger it once again? It was painfully infuriating.

Drink, after drink, the atmosphere slowly became more enjoyable, the alcohol soothing his mind slowly but surely. Everyone else seemed happier too, but that also could have been the alcohol going straight to their heads, Sonic joked around with Shadow, surprsingly enough Shadow played along, it was different to how they usually behaved around each other. Normally Shadow was calm and collected, not participating in Sonic's playful banter. Now here they were, cracking bad jokes and laughing just as hard at them.

"So Shadow, you're staying with Rouge right?" Sonic asked, smirking.

"Yep," said Shadow.

"So last night...did you guys, like, do anything nasty?" Sonic's grin widened.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Shadow.

"I mean, did you guys fuck or what?" said Sonic, taking a sip of his drink.

Ah. It was Shadow's turn to be vague now. "Wouldn't you like to know," said Shadow, also taking a drink.

"Oh c'mon, tell me!" said Sonic.

Shadow smirked. "We're adults, Sonic. That's all I'm saying."

"Well then you might wanna watch out for my brother, looks like he has his eyes on Rouge too," Sonic teased, nodding over at Manic.

Shadow looked over to see Manic joking around with Rouge, occasionally he'd place his arm on her shoulder and inch closer to her. She was laughing, batting her eyelashes at him and gently slapping him on the chest, causing him to slide his hand down a bit lower. Shadow couldn't help but feel weird about it, a surge of jealousy and anger rising up inside him, he didn't understand why he was feeling like this. Shadow downed the rest of his drink, trying his best to ignore it. He didn't own Rouge, she could do what she wanted, and who she wanted for that matter; why should it bother him?

"I need some fresh air," said Shadow.

He turned and made his way towards the back door, walking passed Manic and Rouge and purposefully not looking at them. He opened the door and stepped out into the cool night, the fresh air hitting his face and making him feel a little more relaxed, he reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Shadow never used to be one for smoking, but with recent events he had decided to take it up, enjoying the sensation it gave him. The combination of smoke and alcohol felt amazing if anything, Shadow raised the cigarette up to his lips and lit it, breathing in deeply.

Shadow was enjoying the small time he had to himself, up until Rouge appeared behind him.

"Didn't know you smoked," she spoke up, crossing her arms.

Shadow glanced back at her. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Rouge."

Rouge narrowed her eyes at him, she smirked and began walking towards him. "Well, maybe I want to know a lot more about you..."

Rouge slid her arm around his waist and brushed her hand against his crotch, causing Shadow's breath to get caught in his throat.

"R-Rouge," Shadow stuttered. He let out a small groan as Rouge rubbed two slender fingers across his growing bulge.

"Horny already? You're such a dirty boy," she purred.

"Rouge, stop that right now or I'm bending you over this wall and fucking you there and then, and I don't care who sees," Shadow hissed, gritting his teeth.

Rouge gave one last squeeze before snatching her hand away. "As fun as that sounds, I'd rather not scar Belina for life. Or have Tails walk in on us, that'd be totally embarrassing," said Rouge, chuckling.

She reached up and took the cigarette out of Shadow's hand, bringing it up to her lips and taking a long drag from it. She blew out a puff of smoke and stubbed out the cigarette.

"Try to not get into this bad habit," Rouge added, teasingly. She stepped away from Shadow and made her way back inside the house, leaving Shadow both sexually frustrated, and without a smoke.

He sighed, exasperated.

Shadow headed back inside, where a drunken Sonic greeted him. "Hey Shads, where you been buddy?" he asked, handing him a glass of gin.

"Well, I was outside and I wanted to enjoy a nice smoke. But all I got was my cigarette taken off me, and my dick grabbed," said Shadow, blankly.

Sonic blinked at him. "...Oh."

Shadow looked over to see Rouge flirting with Manic again, she glanced back and caught Shadow's gaze, giving him a wink before turning back to Manic. Shadow frowned and knocked back his gin in one gulp, Rouge knew just how to get on his nerves. He tried to distract himself by making conversation with Belina instead.

"So, you and Manic have a band?" said Shadow.

"Yeaaah, it's a little thing we started a couple of years ago, it's pretty fun!" said Belina, sipping some rum. "Doesn't really pay the bills, so I also work part time as a waitress in some fancy hotel. I hate it."

"I only heard you guys play for a bit last night, but you sound really good. You should keep it up," said Shadow, giving Belina a small smile.

"Thanks Shadow! I'm hoping it goes somewhere so I don't have to be stuck being a waitress," said Belina, pulling a face.

"I'm sure it will," said Shadow.

"What about yourself? Have you anything lined up at the moment now that you're back?" Belina asked.

"I got my old job in G.U.N back just today actually, took quite a bit of convincing but I managed to do it, which reminds me I probably shouldn't have started drinking again," said Shadow, staring down at his empty glass.

"Pfffft, you'll be fiiiine!"

Shadow kept the conversation going for a while, it felt good being able to reconnect with old friends and keep his mind occupied for a bit, that was until Rouge sauntered up to them.

"I hate to interrupt, but I think it's about time we head home, don't you think Shadow?" said Rouge, smirking.

Shadow glanced at the clock, it read 12:01am. "Oh right...yeah I think it's time we head back," he said.

"Awww damn, well it was fun while it lasted! We're gonna have to get you guys back for proper shenanigans when you're off work," said Belina.

"Sounds like a plan, doll! See you guys later!" said Rouge, waving at the rest of them.

"We gotta hang out more now that you're back, Shads!" said Sonic, giving Shadow a pat on the back.

"Of course, see you later. Thanks for having us Belina," said Shadow, giving them a small wave and heading out the door with Rouge.

The walk home was a quiet one, which was quite strange for Rouge as she was usually the one chattering away about anything and everything, for Shadow - he was normally like this. Rouge opened the door and threw her handbag down on the couch, she gave a long and audible stretch.

"Phew, that was pretty fun don't you think?" Rouge asked. She waited to hear the usual casual response from Shadow; 'it was fine', 'hmph', just to name a few.

Being slammed into the nearest wall by a sexually frustrated Shadow was...not the response she had been expecting. Rouge couldn't help but squeak in surprise. She had seen the looks he'd been shooting her after her little teasing session, the entire time they were at Belina's. In a way, she shouldn't really be surprised that this was his reaction in accordance to that.

Now that they were alone, Shadow had her right where he wanted her.

"Yeah it was fun-" Shadow panted in between wild kisses, saliva beading on his tongue, "but just what was that little stunt about back there, huh?"

"Just giving you- ah - something to look forward to," Rouge answered, back arching as one of his hands crept under her top to pinch a nipple.

"More like it provided hours and hours of torture in which I imagined various ways I could make you scream my name," Shadow said huskily against her mouth.

"Various ways huh? Well, show me what you had in mind," said Rouge, smirking.

"Of course - but I'd rather take this somewhere a little more appropriate," said Shadow, smiling back.

He picked up Rouge and barged into her large bedroom, he eagerly dropped her down on the bed and soon enough joined her, pinning her arms down as he planted wet kisses along her jaw and down her neck. Rouge gasped as she felt his teeth sink into her neck as he bit down, sucking it gently. Shadow yanked Rouge's clothes off as well as his own, not wanting to wait a moment longer, the need to make her his was just clawing at him he could barely stand it.

Gripping Rouge's hips, he suddenly rammed himself into her, drawing a loud gasp from the young woman below him. Shadow let out a small growl, feeling her walls tighten around him as he thrusted ryhtmically.

"A-Ah - Christ, yes-!" Rouge moaned loudly, gripping onto Shadow's strong shoulders.

Shadow grabbed hold of Rouge's wrists and pinned her arms above her head with one hand, while the other held onto her hips as he continued thrusting deeper and harder, he felt his mind begin to wander - thinking about the story he had told them today. Flashbacks of different memories lit up in his mind, Sarah's face, Molly, and...gunfire. A young girl's pleading voice ringing in his ears.

'F-fuck...I can't think about this. Get out of my head!'

Shadow moved his hand up around Rouge's neck, squeezing it tightly as he began pounding into her, he didn't know what was happening but he wanted it all to go away, it felt like he was losing control.

"Sh-Shadow...you're hurting me...!" Rouge choked, trying to pry Shadow's hand off of her neck.

Shadow paid no heed, instead he tightened his grip and continued thrusting into Rouge until he felt himself near his peak.

"Ah, hell!" he cried, emptying himself into Rouge.

He released his grip from her throat, breathing heavily. Rouge gasped for air, coughing loudly and rolling over onto her side. Shadow looked at her, suddenly coming back to his senses.

"Oh shit, Rouge...I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me," said Shadow, his heart beating fast.

"It...it's fine...damn, what happened to you back there?" said Rouge, slowly regaining her breath.

"I don't know, I just...didn't know how to control myself anymore," said Shadow, running his fingers through his quills.

Rouge hugged her knees to her chest. "Did something just, trigger you to get like that?"

"I was just...it's gonna sound awful, but I suddenly started thinking about Sarah, and then...God, I don't even want to think about it," said Shadow, gripping his forehead.

Rouge bit her lip, and gently placed a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Hey, it's ok..." She paused. "Sarah must have meant a lot to you."

"It's not that, she was a good friend. But...its just what happened, it made me think about what happened on Space Coloney Ark," said Shadow. "Just that gruesome image in my head..."

"I know...well, we're all here for you Shadow. You don't need to go through this alone," said Rouge.

"Thanks, Rouge. I appreciate that, I'm just trying my hardest to put my past behind me...but I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is gonna happen," said Shadow, clenching his fist.

"Everything's gonna be ok Shadow, you're just still shaken up over what happened, don't beat yourself up so much. Just give it time," said Rouge, rubbing Shadow's back. "For now, you need sleep."

Shadow nodded. "I suppose you're right." He turned to Rouge. "Do you want me to take the couch?"

"Shadow, I think it's a bit too late to be getting bashful now. No, you're sleeping in the bed with me," said Rouge, smirking.

"If you say so."

Shadow crawled under the covers with Rouge and tried to get some sleep, even though he had to be up in five hours. Rouge closed her eyes, attempting to get some rest as well, though she couldn't help but think back on how Shadow behaved. In a way it frightened her, even though she knew he didn't mean it. 'Was this whole thing even a good idea at all? And what did he mean by something bad about to happen?'

The very thought sent chills down her spine.