Hey everyone!

I finally got this chapter done for you all and I must say, this story wouldn't have gotten this far without your support. I sincerely thank you all for it and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

As always, I will see you soon!

Arby xx

From the second they landed, the roar of bullets began annihilating anything in its path. Omega didn't stop for anything, leaving a carpet of infected in his wake. Charmy flew up to get a better vantage point and began to pop heads with little effort.

Shadow was being creative with his kills. He would, of course, blow the torso's off of anything that got close, but he would also use his shotgun as a melee weapon, literally knocking their heads into the distance. The flying teen was impressed by Shadow's 'unique' way of killing and decided to get his blade involved. He would hover behind an infected, pull its head back and slice it off. Despite the dozens that were being wiped out, they kept coming and were able to replenish the losses.

"Charmy! Get Jet to move the ship! It'll draw these fuckers away from here!" Shadow yelled. Charmy nodded and flew off to inform Jet. The hawk agreed and flew back up to the ship while Wave and Storm stayed to provide air support. It began to move, but because of its size, it was very slow.

The others were forced to keep fighting despite the ammo situation getting more and more desperate. The Ultimate Lifeform was now using both his pistols because his shotgun had run out. Omega was still going strong, while Charmy was using his knife more and more to conserve what little ammo he had. To their surprise, infected began to gang up on Omega more than anyone else. It was the robot who was the killing the most and the infected knew it!

"Fuck, they're getting smarter?!" Shadow panicked as he went to get the infected off of his back. The two remaining rogues also saw this and helped free Omega in a few minutes, allowing the robot to get back to what he did best. However, once the rogues had moved off, the infected came back and swarmed the mammal.

"Shadow!" Charmy cried as he lost sight of the black hedgehog. Both Omega and Charmy began firing upon where Shadow was in a hope of killing them all before any damage was done.

"I'm right here, Charms. Don't worry." Shadow suddenly said from behind him. The bee looked at him speechless and just stared at him in complete bewilderment. "Uh, Chaos Control, remember?" Charmy was still frozen. "Just kill them, alright?!" Shadow ordered. The insect snapped out of his trance and got back to it. All of a sudden both Babylon Rogues went back up to the ship and Jet came back out.

"What's going on?" Charmy asked.

"Their boards were running low on fuel, so they switched places with me." Jet told them, Shadow raised a brow and questioned the hawk further.

"Fuel? How the hell do you guys have fuel?"

"Well, not fuel, more like Chaos energy." He explained.

"You have an emerald?" Shadow seemed shocked but soon calmed.

"Well duh, we wouldn't have an airship or boards at all if it wasn't for that gem." He then went straight back to attacking the horde. In the distance, they could see many of the infected being surrounded by a bright blue aura and then being thrown miles away.

"Hey! That's got to be Silver over there!" Charmy yelled excitedly.

"Yeah, and the ones being burnt to a crisp must be Blaze." Shadow replied.

"What about Knuckles?" Charmy asked.

"Fuck knows." Shadow said bluntly. Espio suddenly entered the hedgehog's mind once more. He tossed both his pistols aside since they were out of ammo anyway and charged into the middle of the horde.

"What the fuck is he doing?!" Charmy panicked. A red aura began to surround the hedgehog. He allowed himself to think that Espio was dead just so he could get enraged. His breathing got quicker and quicker and his eyes began glowing bright red. The bee watched in amazement as a shield of energy allowed the hedgehog to charge up a colossal Chaos Blast without fear of being bitten. A few seconds later, the sky lit up with a blood red and the infected began charging at the hedgehog, ignoring everyone else.

"It's too late for you…" Shadow mocked with a very sly grin as he could feel the power building up inside of him. "Chaos… BLAST!" He screamed allowing the Chaos energy to incinerate the vast majority of infected.

"Yeah! That's how you fucking do it!" Charmy yelled, allowing his childish enthusiasm to return for a few moments. Bodies and limbs exploded into the sky like fireworks, while everyone had stopped attacking and watched hypnotically. A few dozen still remained, which everyone got to work taking out. Shadow needed a minute to catch his breath and gather his surroundings. Everything was still dark, but his eyes soon managed to adjust. There were scattered limbs as far as he could see. He almost couldn't believe the amount of power he could summon. While it was still quiet, Shadow took the opportunity to be by himself and ponder everything that had just happened. Charmy watched as the hedgehog slowly began walking away, he knew he needed to be alone and it caused a sudden sadness to come over him.

There was a steep hill nearby that the full moon had brightened up perfectly. The grass seemed to shine against its cool, white glow. The black hedgehog got to the top and sat down, allowing himself to take a few deep breaths. His gaze gradually looked further up until he saw the stars yet again.

"We did well today." He spoke despite there being no one nearby to hear. It somehow eased his pain speaking the thoughts out loud rather than just thinking them. "I thought of you during that Chaos Blast." He continued. "Your death fuelled my rage, which in turn saved everyone here. I saved lives, but I don't feel happy. This was the pain I was trying to protect myself from, but you've managed it anyway. The only difference is… it feels so much worse because I never got to see you again, never got to tell you everything that I was too afraid to tell you 10 years ago." Shadow looked down, originally planning to look at his feet, but something else caught his eye. The moonlight was reflecting off of the shuriken star he was still wearing. He took it off and stared at it within the palm of his hand. His fingers gently closed around it as unexpected tears fell from his eyes. He wanted to speak more, but his bottom lip began to tremble. The break down was inevitable, but he fought with everything he had to stop it. Another glance at the star was enough to send him over the edge. His free hand covered his face and he allowed himself to cry into it.

"Espio…" He whimpered. "…I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for not being honest from the start. I'm sorry for hurting you as much as I did. I'm sorry that you were so broken that you had to rely on a child to keep you sane… and I'm sorry I couldn't reach you in time." The hedgehog was so overwhelmed by his sorrow that he didn't notice Charmy at the bottom of the hill. The bee knew he shouldn't be there listening in, but part of him couldn't believe Shadow's pain was real. Only through hearing it first-hand did Charmy finally admit that Shadow had meant everything he said.

"Dad…" The bee whispered before leaving Shadow to be alone.

He came back down to where the searchlight was to find everyone chatting and catching up. Wave had moved the ship back overhead and joined Jet, who was talking to Silver, Blaze and Knuckles, while Storm was somehow making conversation with Omega.

"Charmy!" Knuckles, Silver and Blaze all cheered once they noticed the teen approaching them. They each gave the bee a welcoming hug before Knuckles began talking to him.

"We thought you were a goner, little guy."

"Pfft, please, I can take care of myself just fine. Have some faith in me for once." His comment earned him some weird looks from all of them. The three knew what he meant and even apologised, which caught the bee slightly off-guard. "So, where's dad?" He asked despite knowing the answer already. The three looked at each other awkwardly. In the end, Knuckles was the one to talk.

"Well, we were going to set up a small camp a few miles back so that we could rest for the night. Espio volunteered to go get fire wood and while he was gone this horde just showed up and came charging at us. There was no way we could take them all on, so we just ran and now we're here."

"So, wait, you don't actually know where he is?" His voice sounded hopeful, which the others didn't understand.

"No. Sorry, Charms." Knuckles said as he scratched his head expecting the insect to be upset or angry.

"I've got to tell Shadow!" But before the teen could sprint off to where Shadow was, the echidna stopped him.

"Hold up, Shadow is here?!" His voice was clearly irritated and Charmy knew he at least owed them an explanation.

"Of course he is! Didn't you see that Chaos Blast?"

"Oh, is that what that was?" Knuckles got lost in thought for a second, but soon got back on track. "Anyway, wasn't this the same Shadow that both you and Espio hated? Are you forgetting how much that hedgehog completely screwed up your father?" Charmy was getting wound up. He remembered everything he said and now he had to prove the opposite.

"No, I haven't forgotten what he did and no, I won't ever forgive him for it, but that was 10 years ago! I'd be dead right now if it wasn't for him! It is that hedgehog that saved my life, more than once I might add! It is that hedgehog that has been searching for Espio all this time and it is that hedgehog that is sat on the hill over there crying his eyes out, because of how much he misses him!" He paused to calm himself. Everyone around him was speechless, especially the Babylon Rogues who had no idea about the situation. "I shouldn't even have to explain myself to you guys, since this isn't your choice to make, but I did anyway because he genuinely cares for Espio more than any of you ever could." His voice was more stern than angry, which proved to the others that he meant every word. "Now then…" He continued. "You guys are going to go look for him while I talk to Shadow. Do I make myself clear?" They all nodded and quickly ran off, leaving the Rogues stunned and staring at the bee. "What? It feels good to be giving the orders instead of just taking them." Charmy smiled before he hurried to inform Shadow.

The hedgehog had managed to stop himself crying. He was sat in the same spot looking up at the stars while fiddling with the shuriken in his hand.

"Shadow! Shadow! Shadow!" The insect repeated excitedly. Shadow sighed heavily.

"Charmy, I'm not in the mood right now, okay?" His voice was tired and lacked any emotion, but Charmy knew that would all change in the next few moments.

"You don't understand! Espio could be alive!" He was practically jumping around the hedgehog, who was now staring at the bee.

"What are you talking about?" Shadow asked.

"He wasn't with them when the horde attacked! He was getting fire wood! Come on, we gotta go find him!" Shadow wasn't sure how to react at first; he didn't want to get his hopes up in case something bad did happen. He looked to the star in his hand once more before putting it back around his neck.

"Right behind you." Shadow said calmly before they both sped off. They eventually came to a heavily wooded area. Small gaps between the leaves were the only things that allowed the moonlight to shine through. Darkness and trees surrounded them otherwise. It was silent with their footsteps and breathing being the only disturbance. They never said a word in case there were more infected nearby, they'd rather be patient than eaten.

"How ya feelin'?" Charmy whispered. Shadow was secretly thankful that he asked since he was certain that his mind was about to explode.

"I'm uh… nervous." He admitted.

"Nervous? Why?" Charmy looked puzzled, he wasn't sure if he had ever seen Shadow nervous before.

"Because I never thought of this moment actually happening. I never thought in a million years that I'd see him again and even if I did, he'd probably hate me for what I did. I know I'd hate me." The bee turned and stopped Shadow in his tracks.

"Are you having second thoughts?" His voice had an underlying growl which didn't make the hedgehog feel any better. He scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders not knowing how to answer, but his body language was enough for Charmy to figure it out. "After all we've been through to get to this point, you're just gonna turn your back on it now?" Shadow simply looked away and crossed his arms. "How many times do I have to tell you that Espio was a wreck without you? He may have expressed hate for your actions, but there is no doubt in my mind that you are the one who should be at his side." The hedgehog turned to the bee with his mouth half open.

"What would I even say to him?" His voice was low and calm which gave the impression that he wasn't nervous at all, but Charmy knew better.

"You admit everything just like you told me you would. You stare your fear in the eyes and you tell it to fuck off. Tell him what you should've done 10 years ago and you make damn sure that you don't lose him again." His words shot down any new doubts that he had and a small grin appeared. The bee smiled in return before he kept walking with Shadow close behind.

Not even five minutes passed when Charmy came to a halt once again. It was so sudden that Shadow walked into the back of him.

"What is it, Charmy?" The hedgehog asked him.

"Did you hear something just then?" The bee whispered.

"No, I don't hear anything." He replied honestly, but Charmy was certain that his mind wasn't messing with him.

"I'm telling you, I heard something. Come on." Before Shadow could say a word, the curious teen ran off further into the woods.

"Fuck sake, Charmy! Wait up!" Shadow whispered loudly in annoyance. He quickly chased after him only to see another shadowy figure charging after the bee to his right. "Charmy! Look out!" The hedgehog yelled in a panic. He skated as fast as he could, catching up with the bee who had now stopped after Shadow's warning. He knocked the teen out of the way, making the infected jump on him instead. Shadow was forced to the ground with a loud thud as the infected tried its best to get at him. A few seconds later, a gunshot echoed through the eerie landscape causing everyone to worry.

Shadow pushed the corpse off of him before trying to catch his breath.

"Uncle Shadow! Are you ok?!" Charmy's voice was shaken and scared, so the hedgehog tried his best to reassure him.

"I'm alright, Charms. Just don't run off like that again, alright? That could've been your end." Shadow warned him and the bee was sure to pay attention. The black mammal got up and dusted himself off before walking along with the teen right next to him.

"So, Shadow, what are you going to say to him?" Charmy asked in a teasing voice. Shadow gave him a strange glance and decided not to answer. "Seriously, how would you start off, like, what would you say?" The hedgehog took him seriously this time and thought about his answer thoroughly before he replied.

"Okay, if I was talking to him right now, then I would start by apologising for being such an asshole to him." Shadow saddened more and more as he spoke. "I would tell him how much of an idiot I am for letting him go in the first place and how sorry I am for hurting him." The hedgehog stopped and took several deep breaths. Each one was shaken, but he managed to pull it together before the tears broke out yet again. He looked back up and stared Charmy in the eyes. The teen could see desperation; he could see Shadow's need to be near the chameleon once again. "I could tell you everything that I would say right now, but none of it will matter until we find him."

"Then you don't have very far to look." A deep voice said to the right of him. Shadow looked around in shock only to see a figure materialise out of nowhere. Every fibre of his being was begging for it to be the one he had been looking for; the one chameleon he longed for more than anything else. The mammal's eyes widened as his 10 year search finally came to an end. Stood before him was the reptile that had caused him the greatest pain and the deepest desire.

"It's him…" Shadow thought as his mind could only think of one thing. "It's Espio."