What A Long Hard Life: Bless' Story

Chapter 13

If you haven't already I think you should check out my other story that I'm in progress with at the moment too: 'It Isn't The End: Second Chance'.

As it was said, the four of them were taken out of the cell, they were about to be transported to Prison Island. They walked through many corridors and halls, and as they were doing so, Bless and Shadow stopped in their tracks and Darkness started crying. Shade had carried on walking with the soldiers, he soon noticed that they had stopped. "What are you all doing?" he called back to them, the soldiers also noticed their absence and looked back.

"Follow us now, or we'll shoot!" said one of the soldiers. The two of them had a look of uneasiness and discomfort on their face while Darkness continued to cry, going against their anxiety, they did as they were told. When they had left the room and travelled a short distance, the feeling went.

"What was that?" Shade asked them. The two of them shrugged, looking worried and confused.

"We just sensed this… strange energy… it didn't tell us to stop or control us or anything it was just so… strange and kind of painful… in a way… it stopped us completely…" Shadow said.

None of them had any idea of what it was and what had caused it, but they were leaving the building now, ready to get into a jet, helicopter or other vehicle to take them over seas to prison island. What they didn't know was that, as they had felt the need to stop and the strange energy, they were walking over the very space The Shadow The Hedgehog was being held, several floors below, in his cold storage chamber, not to be released for roughly another 165 years.

Bless was expecting the journey to take a long time, although despite travelling hundreds of miles they were there within half an hour. GUN certainly had fast vehicles, they had flown there in a s jet plane so it wasn't that surprising.

"Here we are… you new, permanent home… this is going to be fun…" The Commander said as they were being pushed out of the landed jet, in thick cuffs around their wrists so that they wouldn't try to run away.

They were brought down several floors underground, this made Bless feel very uneasy, she could hear the ocean water above them, they were underwater! However, if the place had lasted this long, through over a century of existing and the fames of disaster, then it wouldn't collapse on them.

Bless felt lost already, it would take hours of searching to get out of this place, and this was without masses of soldiers chasing her, she could see that this was the end. They came across a corridor of small cells, rows of them on both sides of the corridor, but the opposite cells weren't Parallel to each other, it was more like layers of bricks, the middle of one cell was parallel with the edges of two other cells opposite it. They were lucky enough to be put into the cells surrounding each other.

Their cuffs were taken off, one by one and they were shoved into their cells. In one cell, Bless on her own, on the opposite side Shadow and Darkness in one cell and Shade in the other, it was like a triangle formation, but Shadow and Shadow couldn't see each other.

Inside each of the cells there was one bed, a sink and a toilet. The toilet was not in a separate room though, and Bless did not like the fact that she was in full view of both boys. The three of them were alone, in their cells, stuck behind thick bars which were to close together to fit through or break.

At least not for Darkness. Shadow realised this as she crawled across the floor and over to the bars. "Darkness, no, don't go out there!" Shadow exclaimed in shock, getting up from his bed and running to her but she was already through. "Bless, she's gone to your side, reach her!" he said urgently.

Bless ran over to the bars, got hold of Darkness and gently pulled her through before she could crawl away. Luckily the corridor between them was thin enough, so as both young Shadow and Bless reached out their arms through the bars, Bless was able to pass Darkness to her nephew.

Darkness began to kick up a fuss, screaming and kicking and Shadow's arms, wanting to get out of the cell. "Look, I want to get out too… but we're stuck here." Shadow said to her, wishing she could understand. "Bless… when was the last time you fed her?"

"A few hours before our capture. I wouldn't have even done it then if she wasn't restless in the night." Bless said.

"She's fine then… but still, for her sake I hope we're brought some food." Shadow said, looking into his baby daughter's sad eyes. Seeing this, he began to cry himself, falling to his knees with the baby in his arms, sobbing his eyes out. "Why us… what have we done to deserve this? Is this because I killed mum? Is this all my fault? I'm a monster!" he cried out, not holding back his tears.

"Shadow, it's not your fault! This was going on even before you were born, I don't even think they know what you did… they wouldn't care! Calm down, we'll think of a way out!" he heard Shade call from his cell.

"You will not!" They heard the Commander say in triumph as he came into their view. Shade's blood started to boil,

"You're so smug while we're behind bars! But when we get out you'll regret everything you've ever done to me and my family! We'll fight it out! Man to man!" Shade roared, kicking at the bars.

"Oh really? And when will this be? Not during my life time, that's for sure!" The Commander teased. Shade continued to hit at the bars in anger but fell back, clutching his stomach as he felt weak. "Hungry are you… too bad because none of you will be getting any food, enjoy your eternity of pain!" he said with an short evil laugh.

"I'm not even immortal you know! Remember!" Shade said

"Wow… I completely forgot about that… so, last of your family to be mortal… I could kill you here and now so that it's only these freaks left!" The Commander said, getting his gun out of his back pocket. Shade stepped backwards and pressed himself against the back of his cell.

"Please don't kill me… I have family who need me…" Shade pleaded.

"They don't need you! Look at them! They're immortal black arms spawn with superpowers! Having a regular Mobian on their side probably slows them down! They won't miss you when you're gone!"

"No! Don't kill him Please!" Bless screamed out desperately. "He's my brother! I need him!"

"What do you think we are? Savages! He's family to us, not a worthless ally!" Shadow said in hatred, feeling his mind going blank again. He reached out of the cell and grabbed The Commander's leg. He pulled it so he would trip over. The corridor was so thin, he tripped, his legs against Shadow's side and his face banging into Bless' side. Bless conjured the strength and courage to kick him in the face while Shadow pulled on his legs to get him upright, it was a struggle since he was stuck behind bars.

Shadow had a firm grip on The Commander's arm "Say goodbye!" he hissed and started yanking his arm. The Commander was smashed against the hard metal bars many times. Gaining bigger and bigger bruises each time, his skull was cracked and after about 30 seconds of pain, it was all over.

Shadow stood looking down on the dead body, breathing heavily still in pure anger until his thoughts returned to his head. He then stepped back in shock, as if he was shocked with what he had done as if he had come to his senses and realised everything he'd just done. He began to whimper like he did when had when he'd killed his mother, he then curled up in a foetal position.

"Shadow… do you realise the irony of that sentence you just said." Shade said breathlessly. "You killed him!"

"I'm so sorry…" he said, rocking on the floor, as if he was going mad. His baby daughter curling up beside him and rocking too, playfully mimicking his movements having no idea of what just happened.

"I wanted to kill him!" Shade said in anger. "Boy, when I get in there-"

"Shade… that's a stupid excuse to punish him…" Bless said, stepping in to defend her nephew.

Suddenly they heard heavy and fast footsteps and the door at the far end of the corridor open. "Commander! You're needed!" an armed soldier said running towards him, stopping in his tracks when he noticed he was on the floor bleeding from many places. "Wha- what have you done to him!" he yelled, pointing his gun at Shadow, who the dead body was nearest to.

"I didn't do anything!" Shadow's muffled voice came from the curled up body in the middle of the cell.

"Well why are you doing that then!" The Soldier said, his voice breaking in fear. There was no answer from him. "Answer me or I'll shoot!" he said, reluctantly aiming his long gun at him, ready to shoot. Shadow just whimpered from his curled up position. Shade saw him get ready to shoot.

"Don't you dare hurt him! He's innocent… I did it… he's just traumatised…" Shade said, taking the blame for his son. "He had it coming… he killed my mother… all he wants to do is torment us… I just wanted our pain to end." he said sounding nervous. "Please… just let my family go… and take me."

"I can't do that, we need permission from the highest authority to do that and you killed him!" The Soldier said, now pointing the gun over to Shade. "What I do know is that you Black Arms hedgehogs no longer have any rights and that the penalty for murder is to be shot… but since your immortal I guess you won't mind it." he said ignorantly. Shade's eyes widened, he opened his mouth ready to scream but no sound ever came out, the soldier was to quick to shoot.

The many bullets blasted through his torso and neck, the blood splattering across the wall behind him.

"Sh-shade… no… SHADE!" Bless screamed out. "How could you… NO!"

Shadow could hear the blood of his father splatter in the cell next to him and his eyes widened, he had been killed. By the look of horror on Bless' face he knew the worst had happened. Once again his mind went blank, his fur bristled and his was ready to explode. "Y-you bastard… you just killed my only parent… you're going to pay for this… immediately!" Shadow roared. A large blast of red chaos energy was expelled from his body, it wasn't as big as a chaos blast but it was powerful enough to destroy the soldier completely. Though it hadn't hurt Bless of his baby.

"Oh no … I've done it again… I am a monster… j-just… kill me now…" Shadow said, breaking down physically. "I only bring bad to the world!" he cried out.

"They deserved it… you're alright… now can you get us out of here?" Bless said urgently, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Shadow looked clueless. "Well if you can do chaos blast then surely you can do chaos control!" she said feeling the tension build up inside her.

"Chaos… what now? I have no idea what I just did!" he exclaimed. "Oh… my head…" he said slowly and shakily, slowly falling back onto his bed.

"SHADOW!" Bless cried out in desperation. Shadow had passed out, the bottom half of his body hanging off of the bed. "Wake up!" she screamed.

Then many soldiers flooded into the room. Bless braced herself for what was about to come.

Let us all review in memory of Shade. Shade: You can't gain from my tragic death! *Angry Face*

I think I can…

Lucy Labrador