Chapter 9-Falling Inside the Black

I knew I was being followed; it was a natural instinct. I quickened my pace to try to escape, but soon enough found it had been pointless. In the alley, I pulled out my hammer at an attempt the defend myself, but it was swiped from my hands before I knew what was happening, being thrown aside on the slimy wet pavement. A strong body pinned me against the wall and my lip began to quiver as the dark face smirked, eyes a piercing red that burned into mine.

''I believe you had a little story for me.'' said the dark form.

''I...I don't understand.'' I tried to keep my voice from shaking, but found it much harder than I had thought.

''You know what I mean!'' his grip tightened to a strangle as he held my arms to my sides. ''What did they do to her?'' he demanded.

''Who?'' I asked frantically.

''Maria! I know you know, but I DON'T! So you'd better tell me or I SWEAR I'll...''

''I don't know what you're talking about!''

''I know you do! You can see it, so just tell me!''

''I don't know anything about Maria; I wasn't there!''

''Well I was, but I can't seem to remember anything, so either you tell me or I'll make sure you know how I feel.''

''But I really don't know!'' my words choked out as a few tears slipped down my horrified face. Why would Shadow come and demand information from me that I didn't even have? Yes, I had heard of Maria, but only from either Sonic or him; I didn't know what happened to her!

''Look, I know you can see things; even if you weren't there or it happened long ago. I was there, I know I was, but I can't remember any of it! So I need you to take a little peak back into the past and tell me what I want to know; if you don't, I'll be forced to take...desperate measures.'' his voice was dripping with venom; how could he know all this?

''It's not like that! I can't just summon some event in history and watch a re-run; I don't even know how to do it!'' I said, trying to defend myself.

''Look, I gave you a chance and if you're not gonna take it-''

''I CAN'T DO IT!'' I yelled, slipping out of his harsh grip before he could tighten it around me and instantly grabbing my piko-piko off the ground.

Before I could swing, however, he used his super fast chaos control teleportation to move behind me, once again removing the hammer from my grasp and knocking me to the ground. It collided with my head and things were instantly black. I tried to resist, but blackness had swallowed me into it before I could even oppose. I fought to maintain consciousness, trying to move or yell or do anything, but all I could do was struggle.

''Amy...'' the darkness spoke soft and distantly, like maybe someone far away in the black. ''Amy...Amy...'' the words seemed to get a little closer each time until my eyes shot opened and I sat upright, my clenched fist colliding with something on the way up.

''Ouch! You've really gotta stop doing that!'' I blinked to get my eyes adjusted, looking over to see Sonic rubbing his cheek tenderly.

''What? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?'' I asked, immediately relieved that it was just a dream, though one that did recap a certain event.

''I'm fine, are you? You were shaking and you looked like you were having a nightmare.''
The world was dull, but sunrise had to be close, as a light shone behind the dark clouds, creating a morning fog at the reaches of me and Sonic's little campsite.

''Well...it was sort of a nightmare, only...''

''Do you remember anything else about Shadow now?''

I nodded, closing my eyes to inspect all memories and make sure I wasn't missing anything. His face brightened a bit and I assumed this meant sleep-time was over.
''I remember what he said to me in the alley...''

''When in the alley?''

''It was...the night I lost my memory.'' he nodded, understanding though he grit his teeth in an effort to not look too frustrated. ''Well...you know how after that big chaos control thing a while back Shadow couldn't remember anything?'' Sonic nodded again, ''He still kind of remembered Maria, but he said he couldn't remember what had happened to her. He thought...I would know.''

''That's crazy; how would you know about something like that that happened over 50 years ago?''

''Umm...have I ever told you that sometimes, and I'm not even sure how, I can...see memories from the past? They don't have to be mine or even someone's whose alive, but...'' Sonic's mouth dropped opened slightly. ''I can't do it all the time, in fact, I don't even know how to do it, but sometimes it just...comes. Usually in a dream, but once or twice it was different.''

''For how long?''

''Forever I guess; but it's not really common at all! It's only happened like 20 or 30 times in my life!''

''What kinds of things do you see?''

''Sometimes they're just random, like a kids birthday party from the 1960's, or a couple buying a new TV, but sometimes they help me prepare for something that might've been a lot more unexpected otherwise. A few times, on the night before a big battle with Eggman, I'll see things, like, from World War I or something; like just a heads up. Or sometimes when I was upset I'd see one of the nice times you and I had had together or my mom or whatever. Just things that have happened and someone witnessed whether it was me or someone else.''

''But...why didn't you ever tell me?''

''They were never really very important to anything now, plus it's so uncommon that it wouldn't even matter.''

''So...Shadow thinks you can look back and tell him what happened to Maria?''

I nodded, ''He threatened me if I didn't and said he'd take away my memory too, and he did. Mine just somehow came back after about a week, only I guess selective amnesia blocked that little part out of my mind; I didn't remember who it was in the alley until just last night.''

''So Shadow wants you to take away until you tell him what happened and, if I had to guess, I'd say he wanted me to hand over to Eggman or something.''

''Small world.'' I joked.

''Very.''

A/N: Well, that was harder than I thought; two updates in one day! But you guys deserve it! You met my quota, so here's your reward! Hope you guys like this chapter; know I LOVED it! Explains a lot, huh? As far as the plot and everything? Yeah, pretty epic stuff, right? Okay, sorry for being so conceded. Anyway, drop in a review and I'll get the next chapter up!

By the way, here's a little random question to the most anonymous reviewer I've ever seen: How'd you get those star thingies to not just look like * but an actual star? Sorr, that was totally random to most of you, but I'm curious. You know who you are, so mind letting me in on the mystery of the awesome star thingy? Lolz; two or three reviews and next chapter will be UP! Thanks everyone! :)