Chapter 5: Nightmeres and The Ark

(Station square)

"CHAOS PUNIS-"Shadow was silenced as "it" knocked the air out of him.

"This is the ultimate life form? Ludicrous!" It roared as it throw Shadow across the room. Shadow Groaned as he pulled himself from the ground.

"Why? Why do you continue to fight knowing you can't win? Because of your pride, or is it because of your arrogance? " Shadow smirked. "I doubt a creature like you could understand, I fight not to protect myself but to protect the one I love".

"Oh, you mean the pink hedgehog don't you?" He said darkly as he raised his hand. "Do you see this hand? This hand ripped through her skin, tore through her flesh and yanked out her heart"

"LIES!" Shadow roared as he launched himself towards the demon, who simple planted his fist in Shadows face. "There not lies, I can prove it" the dark figure laughed as he placed his hand on the ebony hedgehogs head. Shadow felt a rush of memories enter his head, Amy's face twisted in fear, he could see blood start to pour out of her chest. He couldn't take it.

"NO! AMY!" Shadow shook his head, hoping to remove the memories but to no avail. He could feel the sadistic, twisted amusement the dark figure before him felt as he drew closer to Amy's heart…

"AMY!"

"I'm here Shadow." The dark hedgehog snapped his head around; Amy was sat on the bed next to him, smiling. Shadow grabbed hold of her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Don't ever go anywhere unless I'm with you, please promise you won't!"

"I-I Promise, b-but Shadow, I can't breathe…"

(Amy's living room)

"I don't know what that dream was about, but I've never seen Shadow so scared" Amy mumbled as she sat down on the sofa. "Is he ok?" Tails asked, his voice laden with concern.

"Yeah, he'll be down in a minuet…"

"That must have been a pretty powerful blast to take Shadow out" Sonic chuckled. He looked over at Amy; she was just sitting there staring at her lap.

"Ames, I swear that wasn't me who said those things to you"

"Who did then? How come an exact duplicate of you would come and say those things to me?"

"I don't know Amy, you have been and always will be one of my closest friends, and do you really think I would be that heartless and cruel? You still consider me your friend don't you?" Amy raised her head and stared into his eyes. He was being sincere. "Of course I do" She smiled.

"Besides, you have Shadow now"

"And she always will" Amy looked over at the door way to see Shadow Stumble into the room. She ran to him. "Don't you dare ever scare me like that again Shadow the hedgehog, do you hear me!" Amy shouted as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss. "I'm sorry Amy, I didn't mean to scare you..."

Sonic stood. "We cool Shadow?"

"For now faker. I will finish you next time" Shadow smirked.

"I look forward to it" Sonic smirked back.

"Guys, you might want to see this" Everybody turned their heads towards Tails, who was flicking through the news channels.

"What is it Tails?" Sonic asked as he sat down next to the kitsune.

"Just watch…"

Sonic stared in sheer disbelief as pictures of himself committing various crimes where plastered all over the evening news.

"Oh come on! Give me a break!" Sonic shouted at the television. "I didn't do that! Or that!"

Tails grabbed the remote and hit the pause button. "Relax Sonic; we all know you're innocent. Besides most of those images on there are blurred, they could easily be fakes."

"Wouldn't they know the difference between real photos and fake photos?" Knuckles asked as he strolled up to the sofa.

"Depends how good it was," Tails rebutted.

"Tails, would you mind meeting cream? It's just we were supposed to be going out later and she doesn't know what's happened". Amy asked the young kitsune as she sat down next to shadow on the sofa.

"Ok, I'll be back in a few minutes," Tails stated as he dashed out of the room. 'One down, two to go' Amy thought as she glanced at sonic and knuckles. "Guys?" they both looked up. "Would you mind going and making some sandwiches for when cream and tails get back?" Amy asked politely.

"Sure, it gives me another opportunity to prove how much better I am at something than knuckles," Sonic chuckled as he sped out of the room. "Oh no you don't!" Knuckles bellowed as he chased after the blue blur.

Amy sighed, it had been a long day and she was getting tired. All she wanted was a few minutes with Shadow. Her hand rose to shadows cheek, she had the full intension of kissing him. But his cheek was wet. Her eyes gazed up at his, he was crying.

"What is it Shadow? You can tell me," The pink hedgehog said as she grabbed his hand. Shadow took a shaky breath and squeezed her hand. "Th-That nightmare I had, Y-You were di-"The ebony hedgehog had to swallow the lump in his throat "-Dyeing, I couldn't stop it from happening. I can see your blood all over my hands. I tried but I couldn't…"

For Amy this was heart-breaking, she had never seen Shadow break down like this before. "It's okay Shadow, it was just a dream" Amy tried to reassure him, but he just sat there, silent. After a few moments he spoke up, "Amy, would you mind if I took us somewhere?" Amy looked at him quizzically but agreed. "Sure." The dark hedgehog pulled out his chaos emerald and grabbed Amy's hand, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Cream looked over at the clock that hovered over her table, twenty minutes she had been sat here waiting for Amy. "Maybe I should go and make sure everything's alright" Cream mumbled to herself as she left her money on the counter and made for the exit.

Tails welcomed the warmth of the café as he closed the door. He turned to look for his girlfriend, this did not take long however as she crashed into him.

"Hey there cream, I was just looking for you," The young kitsune smiled as he helped her up from the floor. "I'm so sorry Tails, I tried to stop but I couldn't"

"No worries, let's just have a coffee" Tails said as he took creams hand and led her to a table. "Oh I see, is Shadow alright?" Tails had filled Cream in on the details. "Well when I left I noticed tears on Shadows cheeks but I don't know if anybody else noticed. It must have been a pretty bad experience to break down in front of other people," Tails replied. "Can I ask you a question?" Cream looked up from her coffee "sure." She said sweetly.

"Do you think Shadow and Amy have fallen in love too fast? I mean it's been less than a week" Cream looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not really Tails, I've noticed the way she acts when he's been around before and the way her eyes light up. In her heart it's always been Shadow, it just took him to make her realise that," Cream stated as she took a drink from her coffee.

Amy tried to gain her balance as the green light disapated, she had never really gotten use to teleportation of any kind. Her eyes scanned the dark room, "Shadow, where are we?"

"Hold on," his comforting voice cut through the darkness. "Here we go, close your eyes." The ground shook for a moment before light filled the room.

"Ok, open them." Amy slowley opened her eyes. The earth spun slowley through space beneath her feet, the colourful exspance of space lineing her eyes.

"Space coloney ark!" Amy gasped.

"The Ark" Shadow confirmed as he stared at the breath-takeing view...