To Catch a Blue bird
By Kellie Fay
CHAPTER 24 Shadow: Into his dreams
One week later
Shadow sighed and flipped through the last few pages of the book looking at the illustrations more than the final words. He knew the story by heart. ...and the king removed the sentence of death from Shahrazard and he with his clever wife were happy to the end of their days. Maria loved that story. Would that all stories had a happy ending. Shadow didn't know if Sonic was having such a happy ending. The evil Djinn was vanquished, and his family safe, but Shadow knew that nightmares still plagued the blue hero, and stubborn Sonic still refused to deal with whatever troubled him. I understand his whole don't look back philosophy, but something in his own subconscious is not with that program. Sonic has to deal with this issue plaguing him, or he's going to have more problems than we all can deal with.
Shadow closed his eyes and remembered back to early this morning when he found Sonic sneaking out of Amy's house to go back to his own. Shadow knew that something new in Sonic's dreams was causing him to go check on Amy in the middle of the night. Amy always seemed to be up and almost waiting for him, and, once Sonic entered her home, he would not be seen until dawn. Shadow suspected that Sonic kept flashing back to when Amy almost died, and he could not sleep unless he knew she was safe.
In a huge role reversal, he sat on Sonic's porch waiting for the truant hedgehog to return home. Sonic pulled up short at seeing Shadow. "Uh hi Shadow. What's up?"
"You apparently," Shadow answered smoothly not appearing to care. Knuckles and Rouge were also in on this little conspiracy. Rouge needed to talk to Amy, but Knuckles and Shadow both agreed that Shadow could pull off the following conversation without blushing or feeling embarrassed.
Giving Sonic his cold "I really don't want to be bothered" look he said casually, "not that I particularly care where you're sleeping, but you may want to rethink your current arrangements before Amy gets old enough to come into season. From what I hear when it happens your instincts will say to hell with your desire not to be a father, and they will do what comes naturally." Before Sonic could stop sputtering a denial Shadow rose to his feet and walked past Sonic, and added, "oh and Sonic, if you break her heart I will break your neck."
Whether or not that would solve or prevent that problem remained to be seen, but like Shadow reminded Knuckles, it wasn't any of their business. He just wished he could figure out what he could do to restore Sonic's peace of mind.
Shadow opened the book again and on impulse chose to read Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, but before he could get ten pages into the book the black and red hedgehog fell fast asleep.
Shadow wondered if reading the stories crafted the dream before him. This grand palace looked like it had been taken straight out of the Arabian nights. He saw Sonic with a strange beautiful girl who could have passed for a human being except for the cotton candy pink hair, the delicate elfin pointed ears, and the fact that she hovered six inches off the ground.
The Erazor Djinn stood before them with a wicked grin on his face. He beckoned to the female who, with tears streaming down her face floated forward carrying seven rings with her.
"Shara what are you doing?" Sonic's voice was thick with panic. "Think about what will happen!"
The Dark Djinn beckoned to the Genie of the ring. "Shara, please, let us rule this world together."
Weeping the beautiful Genie said. "I'm sorry. I have no choice...I just want to be back with him."
The scene sped up, and Shadow heard the Djinn say, "but the life of the collector of the rings shall be offered as a sacrifice for key to that control. I offer up your life blue hedgehog!"
"What? No!"
A slash a strike and the girl lay at the blue hedgehog's feet dead. Three of the rings erupted out of the creature that used to be Erazor Djinn, and Sonic absorbed them transforming into something he never saw before. His fur became a deep indigo with white stripes and eyes glowed white minus the pupil and iris. He saw Sonic strangle the Dark Djinn and, rip the creature apart.
"You see," the creature that should have been Sonic said. It turned to the left and Shadow looked to see Sonic, the true Sonic, looking small and ill on the floor at the feet of the darker version of himself. "Only like this are we strong! Only like this can we win! If you stay weak if you do not release us you will fail!"
Other images formed around Sonic. Shadow saw Sonic and Black Narcissist aboard the Meterex ship The boy Chris and Cosmo entrapped and imprisoned. He saw Erazor Djinn again this time Amy dead at Sonic's feet. Now Shadow understood what he saw.
This is Sonic's nightmare! Shadow thought to himself. It's these dark versions of himself that have been plaguing him. No wonder he wants nothing to do with dark energy!
Shadow watched different dark versions of Sonic berate the true Sonic. One looked like the werehog form Jayce and his gang wore from Erazor Djinn. Another incarnation was the blue and white dark Sonic from the beginning of the dream. A third truly frightening being, a Sonic his fur a blue black and white glowing eyes without iris or pupils like some dark spirit. Shadow suspected that it was this dark version of Sonic that frightened Eggman.
"You're going to get your friends killed!"
"What makes you think you're a hero?"
"You couldn't keep them safe"
"You're going to fail"
On one hand, Shadow finally understood the torment Sonic put himself through night after night. How many times did he struggle with his own dark emotions? On the other hand Shadow knew that Amy was alive. Granted Sonic had nothing to do with it, but she still lived. The boy Chris Thorndyke and Cosmo had a few injuries, but they were fine when he rescued them. Even the girl Genie ultimately survived the encounter. Sonic may not have rescued them, but Shadow did not consider these exploits a failure.
Sonic never failed.
Shadow had failed, and he didn't have a magic lamp or a powerful guardian spirit to clean up his messes. Molly died. Maria died, and he did not get any second chances or wishes to make it otherwise.
What the hell was Sonic so upset about?
Suddenly angry, and somehow knowing that neither he nor Sonic could be truly harmed in this place savagely jumped into the circle of Dark Sonics and fought them until they dissipated back into the formlessness of the dreamscape. Then he turned on Sonic, and landed a left cross across the blue hedgehog's jaw.
"You moron," he shouted, "You selfish blue idiot! Nobody died! Nobody even got seriously hurt! How did you fail? You never failed! Molly and Maria are dead and I didn't get any wishes or guardian spirits to bring them back! You've had Amy in your arms every night, and I will always be alone!"
Sonic at first surprised and hurt, now looked back at Shadow guilty. "Shadow," he said sadly.
Shadow didn't care. All he felt was his frustration and rage, and again without understanding how he knew that he could not truly hurt Sonic here. He was free to release all his anger at Sonic without consequence.
Shadow attacked.
"Shadow woke with a massive headache, and an angry guardian spirit scolding him as best she could considering he could not hear or see her. He shouldn't be angry with Sonic. None of this was his fault. How dare he blame Sonic for things that happened when he wasn't around and wasn't even born yet.
"That's not the point!" Shadow shouted at the air begging with his thoughts for her to remove the headache. "He was freaking out over nothing. None of his friends were even seriously hurt! He can hold Amy and hug her and I...I can't hold you!" With that, Shadow curled up into a ball and began to cry.
The annoyance In the air turned to concern. Shadow felt the air in the room change as his spirit guardian tried to wrap him in her love until he fell asleep again.
Coming Soon
Less than a minute later, the door flew open and an extremely angry Shadow glared back at him. Tails easily assessed that the spirit must have awakened Shadow. He looked like a bristle brush with his quills all in disarray, and dark rings around his eyes.
Had Shadow been crying?
Ignore it. Tails instantly told himself. Shadow would not want that particular observation spoken of. Instead, he said firmly and business like. "We need to talk."
Shadow with a furious scowl began to close the door. Tails stuck his foot in and addressed the angry hedgehog. "You and Sonic were both in the dreamscape together! I know it because otherwise Sonic would not have woken up with spirit wounds, telling me that you punched him. That means you saw inside his dream! None of us including Sonic knows what he's dreaming of, or why it scares him. You have to tell me what you saw in his dream or...or so help me I will get Vector, Espio, and Knuckles to drag both of you to Cobbler!"