Chapter 7 - Hero or Villain?

Hey guys, this chapter is special for Shadows development not only for this story but for the stories I will write after, that's all I'm gonna say before I spoil too much! Enjoy!

On the way to the Mystic Ruins, I did lots of thinking. More thinking than I had done since I first woke up a few weeks ago honestly.

I'm finally gonna do it Maria… I'll get your revenge. I sat there finding myself almost smiling, knowing my journey was almost complete. Then other thoughts entered my brain. I closed my eyes and began to let my mind do it's own thing. Super weapon? Hmph, nothing will stop me. Rouge did seem worried though… Rouge… My eyes shot open, realizing who I was thinking about. Why do I find myself thinking about her so often? She's fine to be around, sure, but this is something I've never felt before… Maria used to tell me when I was on the ARK that I would make friends one day, but if this is what having a friend is like, I don't know if I'm ready. Maybe when all this is finished I'll be able to have a better understanding of why I think of her so often… I closed my eyes once more, leaning back on the train I was in, heading towards the Mystic Ruins. I felt myself doze off, and before I knew it I was dreaming.

*Dream Sequence*

"Shadow!"

I opened my eyes and found myself in a green field, the wind steadily blowing and the sun setting in the distance. I turned to find a blond haired girl with a blue dress and bright blue eyes standing behind me.

"Maria?" my jaw practically hit the floor.

"Shadow, I know you're surprised but I don't have long, so please focus."

I snapped myself out of the trance I was in and locked in on her. "I'm listening."

"I know what you're about to do… you're so stubborn so I won't even try to stop you, but I want you to promise me one last thing… please."

"Anything for you Maria."

"I want you to prioritize the people of this planet over a personal blood feud, help people Shadow, show them the real you! The side only I got to see, well, me and you're new friend Rouge."

My ears perked up. "Rouge, how do you know her?"

Maria giggled and walked over to me. "Shadow, I watch over you all the time. You and her are truly something to see."

"So, what I feel when I'm around her, that's what friendship is?"

"Well, every friendship is different Shadow, not everyone will be what we had, but if you really want my opinion, then I'll happily tell you."

"Please?" I asked, grabbing her hand.

"Actually… you need to figure it out, I don't wanna spoil your feelings. Just do one thing, don't push her away because you're afraid of certain feelings, be open with her Shadow, show her some trust, I know it sounds crazy but you've got a long life ahead of you, you're gonna need someone to have your back. My time with you is up, remember what I told you, help people Shadow!"

"Maria, WAIT!"

*Back in reality*

I woke up dripping sweat. I found the train stopped in the middle of the desert. Guess I should get moving… that dream was a little too real for my liking. Could it be a sign? Nah, stop Shadow, don't be foolish.

I glanced down at a tiny journal I had with me, Rouge had written down directions to this portal she spoke of. After some walking and difficulty finding what she wrote about, I eventually found the portal. It was glowing red and purple, it was actually pulsating in a way. This will be interesting. I took a step in and before I knew it my body went from hot to freezing in a matter of seconds, I was on the mountain, and no more than 100 feet away from me was the tiny cabin where the former commander had been hiding. The wind on the mountain was whipping loudly, the snow fell at an absurd rate, I struggled to see as it fell faster and harder. I kept moving in the direction towards the cabin, eventually reaching the front door. I didn't bother knocking, I kicked it in and met Towers almost instantly. He was seated by a fire, wearing a big black winter coat, some green cargo pants, and black combat boots.

"I knew you'd come for me eventually." He said with a chuckle, offering me a seat next to him.

"That won't be necessary, this will be over quickly." I walked over and grabbed him by the jacket, yet he began laughing wildly. I stared at the madman, not knowing what the hell was going on.

"Oh Shadow… all this time you wanted revenge, 50 years later you're about to get it, isn't revenge sweet?"

"Revenge is the sweetest joy next to victory." i barked harshly.

"Ah you don't scare me hedgehog, you have no idea how fucked you truly are."

My grip grew tighter on him. "You talk big for a defenseless man!"

He laughed again. "Defenseless? I have the best defense imaginable."

I loosened up and studied the man. "Explain yourself."

"You know I used to be the GUN commander, some people still believe in me… in fact, some people that work at GUN right now still believe in me, while you came here to kill me, they're stealing the emeralds from GUN and taking them to Space Colony Ark, where they will use The Eclipse Cannon I made Gerald make over 50 years ago. I don't need all 7 to blow up the earth, I had the red emerald all along, and GUN had 4 of them, stealing from Tails wasn't hard at all with you injuring Sonic, and you have the final emerald. 6 are on the ARK powering a cannon that will destroy the planet, so, will you take this time to kill me and die along with everyone on this planet, or will you attempt to stop the strike and save the world?"

I felt my stomach start flipping, surely he was bluffing, but something so big, a threat so large, I couldn't take a chance. I grabbed him and chaos controlled back to the GUN HQ, sure enough as soon as the light died down, the alarm was going off. I saw Rouge flying over towards me with about 10 GUN agents behind her.

"ARREST TOWERS, Shadow, with me now!"

I didn't bother arguing, if she was freaking out then this had to be real.

I followed her into a room labeled "the situation room." inside Topaz, Rouge, and a few other high ranking GUN operatives were inside gathered around the projector. I followed close behind, the images on the wall showed the ARK.

"Shadow, he had people working for him on the inside, he's got 6 of the 7 emeralds and he's got a super cannon charging up as we speak. I know you have a personal vendetta against him but I need you to drop it and help us! We all need your help Shadow!"

Help them Shadow, promise me!

I stood silently for a moment, all eyes on me in the center of the room.

"I'll do it. How long do I have?"

Rouge quickly grabbed a laptop and glanced over at the timer.

"Our best calculations land it at 2 hours before it fires, you're gonna have to hurry because we're not sure how accurate that truly is."

I nodded and walked out, in the hallway I was greeted by some unlikely help.

"Shadow!" the blue blur yelled out to me.

I glanced to find Sonic, Silver, Knuckles, Tails and Amy all standing by.

Rouge walked behind me and saw the group.

"What's going on guys?" Rouge asked

"We came to help, why's he here?" Knuckles said, pointing at me.

"I'm here to save your pathetic planet, now get out of the way or help me!" I shouted coldly.

Surprisingly, Sonic was the first person to stand next to me.

"Shadow, we will bury our problems later, right now we got bigger things to worry about."

I nodded glancing over at the others.

Silver, Tails and Amy soon followed, leaving Knuckles standing alone.

"Knuckie, why don't you help them?" Rouge called out from behind me.

I watched him run the back of his head, then glaring at me.

"I'll help Sonic, not you."

"Hmph, if it were up to me you wouldn't even be here."

"BOYS! Now's not the time, Shadow, I need you to focus and get these guys onto the ARK, you know what to do."

Tails backed off from the group.

"I'll prepare the X-Tornado and meet you guys there!"

I nodded then grabbed Sonic's arm. He grabbed Amy's, she grabbed Knuckles, he grabbed Silvers, then Silver grabbed mine.

"Chaos control now!" I shouted, sending us all into the ARK. Once we arrived we realized just how bad the situation was.

"We need a plan!" Sonic called out, the ARK was shaking violently.

I went strictly off instinct. "Silver, take Knuckles and Amy and work on getting those emeralds loose, me and Sonic will work on a way to stop the cannon, but we likely need to get those emeralds out first." Nobody questioned the plan, everyone nodded and took off, me and Sonic began running off towards the control room.

"You know Shadow, I may have pegged you the wrong way, you're not as bad as you appear to be."

I glanced over at him as we ran, he was smiling and giving me a thumbs up.

"Sonic, you're oddly optimistic in a situation like this." I said, speeding up.

"The way I see it, we have no choice but to stop this thing, or everyone on that planet is dead."

He was right, we had to do something, and we had to do it quickly. We were both moving as fast as we could, neck and neck the entire way. Once we arrived at the end of the long hallway, I turned and led him into the control room. I was hit with so many memories upon entering. I felt myself becoming lost in my thoughts, but Sonic snapped me out of it.

"Shadow, focus up buddy, we gotta hurry."

"Right." I walked over and glanced up at the large computer, then glanced back over to Sonic, who was staring at me, just as lost as I was.

"We need Rouge." I said, breaking the silence as he tried to hack the computer. "I'll be back." I chaos controlled back to GUN HQ, everyone was staring at me shocked.

"Where's Rouge." I asked, glancing around the room.

"I'll get her sir!" one of the agents yelled out, running out of the room. Sure enough not even a minute later, she returned with Rouge.

"Shadow what's wrong?" She ran over meeting me, I quickly grabbed her and chaos controlled, leaving the room silent and confused.

We appeared back with Sonic in the control room, after she caught her balance, she punched me in the arm.

"What the hell was that for!" I stepped back, staring at the angry bat.

"That's for not telling me you were gonna do that, it makes me dizzy!" She shook her head and glanced over at Sonic.

"Rouge, we need your hacking skills." Sonic called out, grabbing the bat and pulling her to the computer.

I watched her glance over at the computer then back at me.

"What?" I asked, confused why she was acting weird.

"You could've just asked, you know?" She said as she took Sonic's seat, she began typing away at the computer. I didn't bother answering, I just crossed my arms and walked over to a window, glaring out at the cannon. The ARK was still shaking, but not as bad. Rouge was typing away on the keyboard when there was a sudden explosion, I felt energy start to coarse through my veins. I realized I wasn't the only one feeling it, Sonic had visibly changed. I glanced down at the green emerald, it was shining brightly.

"Sonic, I have an idea, follow me." I darted off, him following close behind. I led him towards the central mainframe, where the emeralds would be held. Sure enough once we had arrived, the emeralds were out and on the floor.

"Shit, good job guys, we stopped it right?" I asked, glancing at the many worried faces.

"Shadow, a video popped up from Towers, he said something along the lines of the ARK is gonna crash into the Earth!" Silver called out, I glanced over and Sonic then back to Silver.

"Well, I don't know if this will work for you guys but it'll work for me." I threw my emerald into the pile, all 7 began to glow brightly, then they began to float. I felt the energy pumping in my veins. I closed my eyes and felt myself begin to float with the emeralds. After a moment, I gained control of the power, I opened my eyes to find out that I wasn't the only one with chaos abilities. Silver, Sonic and I all were in our super forms.

"It appears we all have more in common than meets the eye, let's stop this tin can once and for all!" Silver called out, me and Sonic both nodded and we exited the ARK, using as much strength as we could to stop the ARK.

"SHADOW! ITS SLOWING DOWN BUT I DON'T THINK WE CAN STOP IT LIKE THIS." Sonic yelled out to me, he had to yell because of how loud the ARK was.

I didn't reply, I was focusing all my energy on holding the ARK. Silver was also very focused, I could see him out of the corner of my eye.

"Shadow, we might have to have a plan b." Sonic called out again, this time I answered.

"Like what?"

The three of us visibly struggling, the ARK was moving at such a speed that even with our full strength combined, we weren't stopping it.

"We will have to cause chaos control!"

"Do you seriously think that'll work?" I called back to Sonic, he simply nodded.

I glanced over at Silver before deciding to speak again.

"Silver, go back inside and make sure you get the others to safety, I don't want them around when this happens."

"Shadow are you-"

"I'M SURE, GO SILVER." I yelled out, struggling to slow the ARK."

Silver left in a blaze, quickly moving off to get the others off the ARK.

"Shadow, you ready buddy?" Sonic called out.

"I was created for moments like this Sonic." I replied, moving closer to the glowing hedgehog.

"Okay then, chaos - WOAH!"

I landed a hard gut punch to Sonic, causing him to float back away from the ARK.

"SHADOW WHAT'RE YOU DOING?"

"Don't worry Sonic, somebody has to be around to protect the planet after this." I smiled, for the first time since I had seen Maria. Maria, I'll be with you soon!

"ARGHHH!" I yelled as my inhibitor rings flew off, letting my power reach maximum capability. I knew what I was about to do wasn't smart, but somebody had to do it.

"CHAOS CONTROL NOW!"

*Rouges POV*

Silver flew into the room in a haste.

"GUY WE GOTTA GO!" He yelled, trying to catch his breath.

"Where's Sonic and Shadow?" I asked, I wouldn't admit it out loud but I was really worried about Shadow. Don't you dare do anything stupid Shadow.

"They're gonna chaos control, but they don't know what's gonna happen when they do it. We gotta-"

Suddenly the bright light from chaos control blinded all of us, and after a few moments the violent shaking of the ARK stopped. We all stood around, we noticed Silver was no longer in his super form.

"The shaking stopped! They stopped it!" Knuckles yelled out.

We all ran out of the mainframe and into the long hallway, we ran towards the doorways and anxiously waited for them to open.

Cmon Shadow… I know you're gonna be okay! He has to be okay, he's the ultimate life form.

Everything stopped once the doors opened and a tired looking hedgehog stepped through, except it wasn't the one I was looking for.

"Sonic!" Amy screamed out and ran over to him, greeting him with a big hug. He returned it weakly before glancing around at everyone else.

"Where's Shadow?" Silver called our.

My heart stopped, don't say it Sonic… please.

"He's gone…"

I felt my heart start beating rapidly, I felt my face start getting hot and tears began to build. I felt light headed, I couldn't breath. This has to be some sort of fucked up dream right?"

Sonic walked slowly over towards our group and sat down for a moment, then he held his hand out towards me.

"What… what is it?" I asked, trying to hold back the tears.

He didn't answer, he simply dropped whatever he was holding into my hands. I glanced and my heart busted into a billion pieces. It's his rings… this can't be real. The tears could no longer be held back… I felt myself getting weak in the knees and everyone was staring at me.

"Rouge… you really cared about him didn't you?" Silver asked, grabbing my arm and sitting me down in a chair so I wouldn't collapse.

"I didn't know him long… but he had such an impact on me… he can't be gone." I felt my voice begin to crack, I knew how horrible I must sound. Amy walked over and sat next to me.

"Can you guys give her some space, let me talk to her for a little bit."

After a few awkward seconds, everyone slowly cleared out. Knuckles hesitated but I waved him out, I wanted nothing to do with him at the moment.

"Rouge… did you love him?"

I felt my heart break again. Love? No… that would be crazy.. but why am I acting like this then?

"Amy… I- I honestly don't know… I feel like I shouldn't but look at me… I'm a mess." I placed my face into my hands and felt the tears rolling off my palms. Soon after I felt Amy pat me on the back.

"There's nothing wrong with that Rouge, so what if it was a short amount of time? He made you happy didn't he?"

I thought for a second. He was a hard ass, but I loved that, I loved how he was distant yet playful at times, he was so serious but that would make it that much better when he did crack a joke or open up a little. He also showed he cared.. fuck Shadow… why'd you have to leave me? I felt my heart crumbling.

"I know this'll sound crazy… but he made me happier in the short amount of time than Knuckles ever did… he… he never hurt me, the closest her ever came to hurting me was making me dizzy a few times, he didn't show it, but he cared about me Amy… and I don't know why… I wish he was here… I never got to appreciate him like I should've, I never got to tell him how I feel."

I saw Amy's facial expression change, she looked a bit sad now too.

"I didn't have a lot of good experience with Shadow… but he saved everyone, and it sounds like he treated you right… I'm sorry Rouge, you know I'll be here if you need me."

I nodded. I truly did love that Amy would be there for me, but deep down I wanted Shadow to be there. Everything about him was a damn mystery, he could be caring one second and cold the next, and… I miss it already. I missed it when he told me to go back to GUN, I'll never forget how scared I was… and now it's true… I have to live in a world without Shadow around anymore…

Meanwhile…

"Oh those blasted hedgehogs, no telling what they're up to now!" Eggman yelled, watching the news report on the stopping of the ARK.

Suddenly a loud crash was heard nearby, shaking the secret base of Eggman.

"What the bloody hell could that have been?" The odd man stood up and ran to his testing facility, where he hopped on his hovercraft and flew off to investigate the noise. He saw a large smoke cloud out in the distance, so he quickly flew closer to find out what caused all the commotion. Eggman was beyond shocked to say the least when he found what caused the loud explosion.

"OH MY GOD, SHADOW?!"

2 weeks after the events on Space Colony Ark. Everyone had returned to their normal lives, well, almost everyone. Sonic and Tails still went on adventures daily, Amy watched Sonic and day dreamed about him all the time. Knuckles spent a lot of time trying to rekindle his fire with Rouge, only to be rejected multiple times. He decided to give up and go back to guarding the master emerald. Silver vanished about a week after the events of the ARK, nobody is truly sure what happened to him, but a certain cat just happens to know where he's at. Rouge… well, she was the only one not so normal after the events of the ARK. She took a leave of absence from GUN to get over Shadow, only to find herself crying herself to sleep every night. She dreamed about the nights they spent together, the couple of times she convinced him to let her sleep with him, she missed it, she truly missed him. She tried lots of things, she eventually sold her apartment and bought a club with a top floor living area, where she used her time to make other people happy. She called it Club Rouge, and she held big parties to distract her from thinking of Shadow, she had fun, yet when the time came to sleep, Shadow was always on her mind. Eggman, well he struck gold. Once Shadow caused chaos control, he crashed down to Earth, barely surviving the crash, and if Eggman hadn't found him, he would likely be dead. Eggman kept the secret well hidden, even Eggman's robots had no clue Shadow was still alive. Shadow on the other hand, well Shadow hasn't woken up yet. He's been put into a cryogenic sleep, much like the one he was in when Maria released him from the ARK so many years ago… the question now is, will it be another 50 years before he's awakened once more?

Of course not!

1 month after the events of the ARK, Rouge finally returned to work. She gave Topaz full control as Commander and returned to being a field agent.

*Rouges POV*

-bzzz bzzz-

Hm, great. It's only 8am and GUN is already calling me. This better be worth my time. I stood and slowly walked over to the table next to my bed, grabbing the tiny communication device that was buzzing.

"This is Agent Rouge speaking."

"Rouge, it's Topaz, I need you here within the hour, Eggman's base has been found and he's been too quiet lately, I need you to infiltrate and see what you can find!"

"Will do, let me get dressed."

I hung up and tossed it over to the table, something shiny catching my eye. It was Shadow's inhibitor rings. Shadow… god I miss you more and more everyday. I wish you would come back, I wish you would just show up out of the blue… I walked over and slid his rings on. I'll need some good luck today, wearing these make me feel safe…

I walked over to the mirror and was disgusted at myself. It looked as though I hadn't slept in days. (which was somewhat true, I found it hard to sleep with the nightmares I had been having.)

"Jeez I look like a train wreck, I need to do something with this hair."

After some makeup and some hair touch ups, I was prepared for whatever lies ahead of me.

Later, Rouge was given the location of the secret base by Topaz. She did her stretching so she was loose and ready to move, then she headed out to the location. Once she arrived, she noticed he had greatly upgraded his security. Okay, so my mission is to arrest Eggman and to figure out what he's been working on. Should be simple enough.

I flew around the base until I found a point of entry. An air vent should do wonders.

I climbed into the air vent and went on my way, taking my time and quietly crawling, peeking through every cover I came across. There were all sorts of things, weird test chambers, a large server room next to a control center, a security room, and finally a bedroom. There has to be more here, I haven't seen or heard Eggman yet. I climb closer to the bedroom and remove the vent cover, quietly floating down to the floor below me. I stood very still listening for any type of noise, but all the noises I could pick up were natural. I took the time to search around the room for clues, this clearly wasn't Eggman's room, so who's was it? I glanced around and noticed no pictures or any clothing in the room, I also found so signs of food or water bottles anywhere in the room. The only thing I found was an oil can. That's it! A robot lives here, but why does a robot need its own room? I suddenly heard two sets of footsteps approaching the room. I quickly ran and hid under the bed. In walker two pairs of feet, one was clearly Eggman and the other appeared to be a robot.

"Alright Bocoe, where's E-123 Omega? I left him in here to charge up to spar with my test subject."

Test subject, E-123 Omega? Sounds complex.

"Sorry doctor, I locked him in but maybe he went to investigate on his own."

I watched Eggman shift and walk over to the window.

"Bocoe, please locate Omega, I need to think." The robot didn't respond, he just walked out.

"Ughhh, shit. Omega isn't ready to spar Shadow yet. Hopefully he didn't get destroyed."

SHADOW? No, I gotta be tripping, no way he just said Shadow. I felt my heart beating out of my chest. It was so loud, I swear Eggman was gonna hear it any second. He eventually walked out, yet I found myself frozen under the bed. This can't be real, I gotta find out if this Shadow is the same Shadow I knew. I crawled out and composed myself, then I began walking towards the door when I felt someone grab me from behind. Shit… Out of instinct, I quickly turned and threw a kick, which to my surprise was caught out of mid air.

"You've got a lot of nerve bat." a cold, familiar voice filled my eardrums.

I met the crimson red eyes of Shadow himself, it truly was the same Shadow I knew. I felt like my heart was gonna explode, I felt tears of joy start rolling off my face.

"Shadow! Oh my god I missed you so much! Where the hell have you been?" I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. I noticed how tense he was, then suddenly felt him push me off. I caught my balance and glanced into his burning eyes.

"I work for the doctor now, I've been told you're not to be trusted so I suggest you leave before you have to deal with me and Omega!"

My heart went from beating happily to dropping out of my chest. He… he doesn't even care to see me?

"Shadow…? Are you okay?" I reached out to grab his hand but he quickly smacked my hand away.

"Last warning bat, get lost. I normally don't give others this many chances so take it like it is, get the hell out!" I saw his fists begin to ball up as he spoke, I quickly flew up into the vent, crawling away. Shadow… what the hell happened to you?

Hey guys, this chapter was probably 50/50 between Shadow and Rouge's POVS, next chapter will be back to strictly Shadow, just needed to use Rouge to show how Shadow had changed in such a short period of time. Is this truly who Shadow is now, or is this all some sort of game? Stay tuned, Chapter 8 will have the answer!