Chapter 10

Yikes! I haven't had ANY time to work on this until late Friday and Saturday night! Can it just be summer already? *whimper* Just one more year of high school! I can do this!

I'd like to thank Hazel the Cat for the review! My main concern about this story is the fact that it is an OC story, but your review actually gave me some relief! And, of course, thanks to Christian Ape99, whose reviews always make my day!

A little over a month and I already have nearly 1000 views! Sweet! For you Shadow fans, these next few chapters we will be getting closer to Shadow. Continuing on now!

I own Amara, the name Shadykins, and this story. The Sonic crew belongs to Sega.

Shadow's P.O.V.

There are two reasons why I do not let my mind sleep: it is unnecessary and I always have nightmares. Not dreams, nightmares. Usually it is having to relive the memory of Maria's death, but, of course, this time is different.

Instead of being on the Ark, I am standing in the middle of Amy's Field, the sun shining its warm morning rays on the grasses. I hear a whimper behind me and I turn. There, standing in a straight line, are cloaked, hooded figures that are tied up at the wrists and are being held at gun-point by human soldiers. The leader of the soldiers looks at me and laughs a cruel laugh.

"Some Ultimate Lifeform you are. You can't even save your friends." With that said, he walks up to a hooded figure at the end of the line, and he yanks back their hood, revealing Tails. "So now you get to watch them die." He quickly pulls out his gun and shoots Tails, killing him instantly. I try to move, but I find my body paralyzed. I cannot even utter a single sound. The leader continues to reveal and kill the hooded people, all people I know, while I focus every ounce of my mental abilities on moving. Rouge, young Cream, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, and Faker himself, are all lying on the ground, lifeless. Finally, I manage to let a growl loose. If I could only move! There are three figures left now. The leader pulls back another hood and Rose's tear-stained face appears.

"No!" I growl, still unable to move. The man grins, then shoots her. I feel a sharp pang in my chest, and I fight my immobile state even more, full of fury. He goes to the next hood and uncovers Amara. She meets my eyes with her calm, brown ones, and she smiles at me softly.

"Goodbye Shadykins." A shot sounds and she slumps to the ground. My growl this time is animalistic, the sharp pain in my chest intensifying. Move damn it! The leader removes the last hood, uncovering Maria.

"NO!" I shout and take a step forward. Faster! The man raises his gun and aims. He goes to pull the trigger, when everything freezes.

"Leave this room, now!" A familiar, but unrecognizable, female voice commands, sounding like it came from everywhere. I blink, and I find everyone is gone when I open my eyes again. Not a single sign of the bloody and horrific event remains. It is just me in a now-peaceful meadow.

"Finally! I got through!" I whirl around and find Tikal, the echidna princess that resides inside the Master Emerald, right behind me.

"Tikal, what is going on?" I demand, needing to know what this madness is about. Tikal shakes her head confused.

"I do not know. Some darkness was just giving you a nightmare, when it just suddenly completely disappeared, giving me the chance to visit you in your dream. Almost like something chased it away." She rubs her chin thoughtfully.

"Darkness? What do you mean by that?"

"I do not have enough time to tell you everything, but I can tell you it is what gives you nightmares and also what prevents me from entering your dreams."

"Why are you here then?" I ask, deciding to get to the point and voice my questions later.

"No one has a chaos emerald on them except for you. I can only communicate with someone if they touch the Master Emerald or a chaos emerald. Since you have two emeralds hiding in your quills, therefore touching a chaos emerald, you are the only person I can communicate with. I lucked out with the darkness abruptly disappearing from your dreams like that, normally it does not leave someone completely alone like that, but I am positive it will not be long before it returns. I need you and the others to come to the Master Emerald after you are all healed so I can tell you some vital information. I shall give you a piece of the information now, in case something should happen before our next meeting." She looks at me in complete seriousness, and, in a almost chant-like voice, she says:

"One named for darkness, yet heart full of humanity

Controls both the ancient powers of Chaos

Destined to awaken His Darkness

Converted to serve and obey for eternity

A sentenced world to be forever lightless

Another controls the ancient powers of the world

A heart made of gold, dangerous to all foes

Their lover temps them, 'Join the darkness'

Forced to make a choice, the world's fate to be determined

The world's only hope from escaping darkness"

The meadow begins to flicker around me. "Alas, we have run out of time. You are waking up. Remember what I have said Shadow." With that, Tikal and what was left of my dream ends and I bolt up into a sitting position, barely able to ignore my aching body's painful protests. Breathing heavily, I look around and see I am in a hospital room. I look at myself next and find a broken left leg, a broken right arm, what feels like some broken ribs, and many sore spots and bruises. I groan and gently lay back down. This is the first time I have had multiple broken bones. I hear soft breathing to my left, and I look, only to find Amara, curled up in a chair right next to my bed, deeply asleep. Seeing her so peaceful now reminds me of her dark form. How unnatural she looked in that form. Seeing her like that actually gave me chills. She was nowhere near the cheery, annoying girl I have come to know. And she was a second away from taking the doctor's life. Dark Sonic would have beaten up the doctor for sure, but I am certain he would not kill him, unless the doctor killed one of Sonic's friends. Amara was really going to do it though, if I had not stopped her. A realization hits me. The mist surrounding her was about ten times bigger than it should have been. The pain I was in then prevented me from witnessing what caused this to happen, but I do remember the mist being normal-sized when she first transformed.

Deciding to ask her about it after she wakes up, I shake my head clear of the image, hoping I would not have to see that again for a very long time. I focus back on the sleeping magenta hedgehog. This girl has not only saved my life, but everyone else's too. Now we all are in her debt. I notice her curl in on herself, trying to get warmer. I peel off one of the unnecessary layers of blankets from my bed and lay it over her the best I can with my left arm. She sighs and takes the blanket, wrapping it tighter around herself. I look at the time and find it is 3 a.m. Seeing I have nothing better to do, I return to my normal slumber: my body resting while my mind stays awake. No way am I going to risk dreaming again.

XXXXX

Five hours later, I hear Amara finally start to wake up, so I awake my body. I open my eyes and watch her sit up groggily.

"That is quite the case of bed head you have." I smirk at her. She shoots me a glare. She shifts her gaze to something on the other side of me and her eyes widen in shock and... is that fear? I whip my head to the direction of her gaze and find only a vase of sun flowers on a bedside table. Confused, I look back at her. "What is it?" She tears her gaze away from whatever she is looking at and looks back at me, a little sheepish.

"Sorry. I just realized I have not once asked about, or even know, how any of the others are doing. I'm just really worried." She looks away and scoffs. "Now I worry about them, after hours of being here." She shakes her head, ashamed. "I'm not a very good friend."

"Well, what kept you from checking up on them?" I ask, indifferent to her self-chastising.

"I have stayed by your side since you teleported us here. Then, after you got bandaged up, I fell asleep. Now here we are."

"Out of everyone else you could have chosen to stick to, why me?" I ask her. Uncertainty crosses her face.

"Because... I... Hmm." She gets lost in thought, trying to find an answer. Annoyance suddenly flares within me.

"Well?" I huff.

Finding her answer, she straightens up and meets my gaze head-on. "Because, whether you like it or not, you are, indeed, my friend. You were in a very bad shape earlier, and I was worried sick. Also, I thought you would need my company more. Since the crew is also hospitalized, I don't know anyone else that would visit you. So here I am."

She considers me a friend? If she were anybody else, she would have given up long ago. But she did not, and she even saved my life, something I will not forget until I repay the favor. She even has earned some of my trust. No one has all of my trust, not even Rose, but Amara's past actions have proven her to be trustworthy enough for me. She is now the third most trusted person I know right now.

A thought occurs to me. "How did you get to stay the night? The hospital only allows one family member to do that." Amara shifts, a look of uneasiness on her face.

"Well, I made a deal with the owner."

"Which was?" I raise an eyebrow.

"That if I got you to promise to stay here until you get discharged, I could stay with you until you woke up." She smiles nervously.

I narrow my eyes. "Not happening."

"Please, Shadow? It's not so bad here. And I would actually prefer you staying here, like you are supposed to, deal or no deal."

"Well you are not the one who has to stay here, are you?" I glare at her.

"I would if I could! But I can't. They wouldn't allow that."

"Really." I cock an eyebrow, dubious. She nods. We will see about that. A brown dog knocks and enters the room.

"Nice to see you awake and still here Shadow." The doctor greets me. He turns his attention to Amara. "I'm guessing you succeeded?"

I answer for her. "No. We were just discussing it, as a matter of fact. I do not like the outcome. Instead, I will agree to stay here until I am discharged only if she gets to come and stay here at anytime during my stay, visiting hours or not." The doctor looks at me to see if I am serious. Fool. Out of the corner of my eye I see Amara looking at everything in the room.

Finally he answers, "Only if she follows the visiting hour rules with the rest of your friends and if she signs in every time she comes to visit you."

"Very well. I will stay until you say I can leave, and Amara here is free to come and stay only in this room at any time until I leave." I then smirk at Amara. "Does that work for you?"

She looks back at me and raises her chin. "Yup."

Shaking my head at her stubbornness, I turn my attention back to the doctor. "What are the conditions of the others?"

"Ah, yes." He pulls out his clipboard and flips through some pages. "Miles has suffered some blood loss, has a broken arm, a cracked rib, and has some major bruising. Knuckles has a concussion, 5 broken ribs, and both of his legs broken. Rouge has a serious case of whiplash and 3 broken ribs. Blaze has a broken leg, a concussion, and suffered blood loss. Silver has a crack in his skull, 3 cracked ribs, and a broken arm. Sonic has a concussion, 4 broken ribs, a broken arm, and suffered some major blood loss. And Amy has a two broken ribs and has suffered some blood loss and head trauma. Her head was hit hard enough to where she is now in a small coma. But not to worry, the signs now show she should wake up in maybe a few days or so. Then she should be fine. Other than Amy, everyone else has woken up at least once." The doctor tries to say reassuringly. But I do not fall for it. Poor Rose.

Guessing my thoughts, Amara says warningly, "Shadow." I look at her. "Don't go running off when you are in no shape to do so at the moment. You need to wait to see Amy until you can move, or, if it is really urgent, I can go and see her for you." I narrow my eyes.

"What gives you the right to tell me what to do?" I half growl.

"You want to get out of here sooner? Then I suggest you be smart and focus on healing before you go and make things worse." She says in a stern voice. Once again, she has a point. I growl and comply, knowing she will not budge on this matter. Amara turns to the doctor. "What's Shadow's condition?"

"You, Shadow, have one broken leg and arm, 5 broken ribs, 2 cracked ribs, a crack in your skull, and some major bruising." Hmph. I could have told him that. "You and the rest of your friends are lucky you came in when you did, otherwise things could have been much worse." Remembering who is responsible for that, I look over at Amara. She does not meet my eyes. "Well, I just need to check up on you and then I'll leave." The doctor informs us, probably sensing my need to have a private conversation with Amara. It actually doesn't take long for him to do his check up. He departs, leaving me and Amara alone again.

"Amara." She turns her head towards me, still not meeting my eyes. "What happened yesterday?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what happened to make your dark form that strong?" Her gaze goes back to the area where the sunflowers are, and she stays silent for a couple seconds.

"I'm not sure why that happened." She eventually whispers. "I was just so angry. It was like I've done it hundreds of times before, yet it was my first time being dark."

"Hmm. That is something we need to figure out and see if it is a lot more dangerous than we realize." I tell her. She nods. A couple moments of awkward silence passes before Amara breaks it.

"Sooo... do you want hospital food, or do you want me cooking all your meals?" She asks me, changing the subject. "I don't mind cooking, I just don't want to eat the hospital food." She grimaces.

"Cooking would be good then." I nod.

"Well then, I'll go make some food. Do you need anything from home?"

After telling her what I wanted, Amara leaves, also promising to visit Rose as well. Having Rose in that nightmare and then learning she is in a coma makes it really hard not to just push my way through the staff and find a way to wake her up. But Amara is right, I would not be doing any good by doing that. She is almost just as bossy and annoyingly cheery as Rose can be though. And I just made it possible for her to practically live here for a little while if she wanted. What have I done?

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