Shadow Saves Them All
Chapter 14
Author's Note: Hello Peoples! Sorry I've been off the site for about a week but now I'm ready to get back in the game and finish this story! :) This chapter is another song chapter so if you, queue up 'Morphogenetic Sorrow' yes the same one from Chapter 7. Don't worry though, it's not filled with gore or anything, just two curse words and that's it. Play the song when it says (Now) and you'll really get the full experience. Enjoy!
The cold wind rushed past the four heroes as they ran north towards their goal, the North Pole. Silver flew, the white snow blending right in with his silver fur, the only thing that stood out was his light blue backpack. Sonic ran, his scarf flapping in the wind as he ran at super-sonic speeds. Shadow rocketed forward with determination in his eyes. Dylan lead the pack running just as fast as Sonic.
"So," Dylan said looking back at them.
"Do you guys think that Rouge and Knuckles are a good couple?" they all looked at him unusually.
"Hey I'm just trying to make conversation," he said turning back.
"Yeah," Sonic said, Dylan looked back.
"I think they're a pretty good couple, but I think the whole master emerald thing is a bit of a roadblock," he said to the group.
"Well," Shadow entered the conversation.
"I think we've all been paired up with someone in our social circle," he said with his eyes shut. He acted as if he didn't care, but in reality it really fascinated him. The idea of paring up certain people, or shipping them, was an interesting concept, at least to Shadow.
"Yeah, I've seen people ship you and rouge, Shadow. And then there's you and Maria…" Dylan began to trail off while shadows face turned a thick red at the mention of him being shipped. Sonic and Silver snickered at the hedgehog.
"Then there's the only couple anyone's ever really shipped Silver with and that was Blaze," he said looking up trying to think. Shadow cracked a smile and began to laugh uncontrollably. He mainly disliked Silver because he was optimistic. He had learned to tolerate Sonic's optimism but Silvers was too much, so he laughed it off whenever it was at Silver's expense. Nothing personal, he just doesn't like too much happy. Shadow gripped his sides as his laughter carried on.
"Finally there's Sonic whose been paired up with pretty much every girl," Shadows laughter reached a new level of ridicule.
"Stop! Stop it! I can't stop laughing!" he said with some puffs of breath. Dylan had to shut up Shadow, and he knew exactly how.
"Then again, all of you guys have been paired up with each other from time to time," Shadow's laughter and the others snickering stopped immediately when they heard this.
"The same goes for several other guys in the series…" Sonic stopped him immediately.
"AAA! Heh heh!" he shouted interrupting Dylan.
"We don't talk about that stuff anymore!, heh heh," Sonic chuckled nervously. It was a frightening thought to all of them when it first came up, but now they've all gotten used to it. But now it was like 'Sonic 06' not something you talk about much. Silver decided to turn the conversation around.
"So then Dylan," Dylan looked back again at Silver.
"Do you have a girlfriend back where you live,"
"…" a suddenly dark aura surrounded him. No one spoke, Dylan opened his mouth to speak, but only said a few words;
"Alice isn't my girlfriend, someone else was," Sonic sensed something wrong, but wasn't about to pry. Their surroundings had changed greatly, the mountains and forests of the world were replaced with open fields covered in thick layers of snow. They had clearly covered plenty of ground since they first ventured off. A lot of snow covered ground.
"The north pole is about fifty miles ahead, get ready," Dylan said breaking the silence that had been sustained by the group. Dylan's dark mood was once again immediately replaced with his usual friendly one. He looked at the hedgehogs and smiled, letting them know everything was okay. Silver bought it, Shadow disregarded it, but Sonic could see through it. Behind that smile was a deep frown, and he had something on his mind.
"Who?" Sonic asked.
"Who what?" Dylan asked.
"Who was she… your girlfriend?" Sonic asked, trying to tread lightly.
"…" no response, and the dark mood had returned. Dylan stopped on the dime, which took the others a second to see, they all stopped as well and ran over to him. He had his head down, looking at the ground, as if to hide his face from meeting their eyes. Sonic slowly walked up to Dylan and put his hand on his friends shoulder, Dylan was starting to tear up.
"I wanna understand what you feel Dylan. What happened?" he asked.
"We don't have time for this!" Shadow interrupted. They looked over at him, and he was already half a step in the direction of the north pole.
"We have to investigate, pronto!" he was ready to for some action, you could see it in his eyes. Sonic was about to speak when Dylan put his hand up to stop him.
"I guess, I'll tell you guys," he said.
"It started… with my education, everyone I knew was put into a very focused educational system. No one was left behind, and everyone was at the top of their mental capacity," he began to tell the story slowly, as if painfully extracting the memory from his mind.
"Her name was… Becca. Blonde, green eyes, and beautiful. She was one of my few friends. I had three others but that's not important. She was lovely in every way you could imagine," His mind began to enter a state of nostalgia.
(Now)
"She was lovely, in body and in spirit. I remembered spending some days after school walking around the outskirts of my home. It was always so beautiful, she loved going there, and so did I," Sonic, Shadow, and Silver listened more intently. Dylan's tone began to sadden.
"One day after a harsh mission, long after we got out of school," a tear trickled down his cheek. The pain got worse and worse. The closer he got to concluding his story, the closer he got to snapping into insanity.
"She walked up the hill with me, to our favorite spot. We talked for hours about getting married, maybe having kids. This surprised them all, he was seventeen, and talking about kids.
"You're seventeen and talking about kids!" Silver shouted.
"I look seventeen here, no use looking my real age here," he said.
Sonic's eyebrow rose in interest.
"How old are you?" he asked.
"Twenty Five," he said plainly. The pain had stopped, at least for a little bit. Now it was coming back.
"Anyway, we discussed ideas about a family. We had been in love for ages. I remember some days we would cuddle under a tree and watch the sunset…" The pain was reaching its peak.
"The day after that, I was going to propose. I went out, sold some old valuables and got enough money for an engagement ring. I packed a picnic lunch for us, I was going to ask her on the hilltop where we always were. My friends even helped me out with the money, they all worked double missions to help me accomplish my goal. They are such goods friends…" This was it, if he told them, he would snap, or…
"I walked up the hill with her… She was so excited, she was a little bandaged, but okay. We sat down… and we got to talking as I opened up the basket. I pulled out the ring… I turned to make sure it was presentable… and then when I turned around…" he started croaking, his voice was cracking slightly and he began to sob, more tears running down his face.
"She collapsed into my arms… gone," he fell to his knees, tears running down his face like a waterfall of pain.
"Her… (sniff) last words to me were… 'Kiss me goodbye…' only after she left did I realize what they meant. Before I got the chance she was snatched away from me, and everyone who she ever made happy," his sadness converted to rage as he continued to speak.
"I brought her to medical attention but… she was already gone… She had been POISONED by a monster in her last mission. No one knew it except her, and she didn't tell anyone because she didn't want them to feel sad…but…" he began to angrily clench his fists and grind his teeth.
"She was a peaceful agent like myself, her warlord partner was responsible for her safety… and he let her get killed…" he snapped his head up and looked them in the eyes. His eyes were no longer filled with tears and sorrow, but instead a glowing intense red with anger and fury.
"HER WARLORD PARTNER WAS JOHN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs! He screamed bloody murder continuously to rid his body of the pent up anger and destruction.
"HIS IGNORANCE AND SELF ABSORBED EGO PREVENTED HIM FROM SAVING AN INNOCENT GIRL'S LIFE!" Sonic could sense his hostility rising to a dangerous level and had to stop it. Silver and Shadow felt it too.
"THAT GOD DAMNED BASTARD LET HER DIE!" He screamed in a voice that didn't sound entirely human. He kept shouting and screaming until a punch landed on his right cheek. Shadow knocked Dylan back about five feet and he hit the ground. Shadow landed on the ground from the leaping punch and shouted;
"GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!" they both immediately regained their calm composure and relaxed a little more. Dylan got up out of the snow and breathed heavily for a little bit. He closed his eyes and walked forward towards the others and sighed.
"I'm sorry to have unloaded that on you guys… it's just," Dylan didn't know what to say, he expected someone to say something he could identify with, but didn't expect it to be from Shadow.
"Losing someone close to you is the hardest thing you a person can experience. You feel lost… weak… like nothing you do matters anymore. Even if you held the name of Ultimate Life Form, losing a friend and knowing there's nothing you can do… It's a horrible feeling," Dylan… smiled. He felt a connection between him and Shadow for the first time, and it didn't really feel bad, if anything it helped him a lot. Dylan shook Shadow's hand and said;
"Thanks Shadow," Shadow smiled back and shook his hand.
"Well this is really nice and everything but we kinda have a mission to do," Sonic said pointing North. Dylan put his smile back and and said;
"Yeah, let's do it to this!" they all nodded their heads in agreement and then bursted off for the North Pole once again. Sonic looked up at Dylan and saw him smiling again… but this time it was sincere.