=Chapter 34=
Sonic and Knuckles rushed through the halls of the opera house when they saw bomber jets through the windows flying overhead. They managed to find Rouge near the elevators trying to tend to Dr. Finitevus in spite of the fact that he was already dead.
"What the hell happened to him?!" Sonic exclaimed.
"He grabbed ahold of my weapon and shot himself." Rouge told him.
"Cowardly bastard..." Knuckles muttered.
"We need to get the hell out of here." the ivory bat continued. "Just before he killed himself Finitevus rambled something about the government initiating Option D."
Knuckles' face instantly went pale.
"Oh damn..."
"Option D? What's that?" Sonic asked. "Should we be worried?"
"They're going to bomb this place to hell. Wipe everything out, chiropteras and all." Knuckles said.
Like the ruby echidna, Sonic's face also went white.
"Oh shit..."
XXXXXXX
Back in the auditorium, Dr. Eggman and Snively, who had been in their box seats all this time, allowed relief to temporarily take hold of their minds. Mephiles was dead. The threat of chiropteras to mobian and humankind was finally gone. Now the issue was with the new set of Kings.
"Going to let them live will he? Bah..." Eggman whined.
"Well it's Shadow's choice." Snively countered. "And perhaps we could learn more about the species through observations."
"One thing's for certain, I'm not going to make the same mistake my grandfather made a generation ago. By causing one to become an animalistic lunatic."
On the stage, Shadow and Amy bundled each of the newborn twins up in their arms as Mina approached them.
"What are you going to do with yourself, Mina?" Shadow asked softly.
"Oh well, I don't know." the saffron mongoose said. "Maybe go into exile and live in the country."
"I see..."
Then, Sonic rushed into the auditorium in a frantic manner.
"Yo! We gotta book it! Big Brother's gonna pull a thing called Option D." the Blue Blur shouted.
"WHAT?!" Eggman exclaimed,
"They're going to destroy everything in fear of being exposed of their part in this." Snively added angrily.
"BAH! This is why I never get involved in politics, come on!"
As the pair vacated their box seats, Shadow quickly and gently draped his jacket around Amy before grabbing ahold of Mephiles' and pulled it over his remains.
"Goodbye, Mephiles." the ebony hedgehog said somberly. "I will make sure they are well cared for."
As he, Amy, Mina, and Sonic prepared to escape, something large crashed through the roof and ceiling of the auditorium, landing in the seats.
"Oh great, what now?!" Sonic ranted.
When the smoke and dust cloud cleared, Alicia, now partially transformed, had managed to free herself from the needle of the skyscraper.
"Mephiles may be gone, but I can still continue my plans with his offspring." she cackled.
"I won't let you have them." Shadow growled. "These children deserve a happy life, Alicia!"
The crimson-splashed male's eyes started to glow furiously as Alicia prepared to attack.
"HAND OVER MY LITTLE DARLINGS!"
The auburn squirrel turned loose an energy beam at the group as they quickly dove under the seats for cover. Shadow took a very defensive stance over Amy as she and the midnight warrior carefully clutched the infants.
"Shadow..." the cherry-pink female whimpered.
"It's alright." Shadow assured her. "I'll dispatch her quickly."
With one hand, the ebony hedgehog let his blood on the blade of the katanna and prepared to attack. But just as he was charging at Alicia, Mina whirled in front of Shadow and managed to get his sword out of his hand, causing Shadow to fall into the seats. As Alicia was momentarily distracted, Mina was able to stab her with Shadow's blood coated sword. Seconds later, the auburn squirrel's monstrous form started crystallizing.
"I'LL...I'LL KILL YOU!" Alicia shrieked.
Mina threw her head back towards a thoroughly shocked Shadow, Amy, and Sonic."
"GO!" the violet-haired female shouted. "GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"
Shadow hesitated at first, but nodded and fled the auditorium as it began to crumble and fall apart around them. A huge chunk of rubble and debris fell on both Alicia and Mina.
Then the bomber jets unleashed their heavy artillery upon the whole opera house...
XXXXXXX
-One Month Later-
Since the incident at Station Square, the government denied any involvement and presented a cover story explaining the bombing of the opera house as well as everything else was the work of anarchist terrorists, trying to assassinate the Governor. As unbelievable as it sounded, people accepted the story.
Nevertheless, it proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Red Griffin Syndicate. At the very least, the existence of chiroptera would never be made public. And the Syndicate would ensure that it would remain that way. Since the death of Mephiles, and the destruction of Sept Flèche, the rate of random chiroptera sightings and appearances had dropped dramatically to almost nothing. Dr. Eggman and Snively had since returned to the main HQ, which was a newly christened sea liner. The huge rounded man was behind his desk when his stout nephew came in with recent developments.
"Well? Report." Eggman demanded.
"Rouge, Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, and Miss Rose have all relocated to Wave Ocean, uncle. Rouge and Knuckles will be going to Apotos for their honeymoon shortly though." Snively explained.
"Waiting until Shadow goes into hibernation no doubt."
"Well, it is a miracle that he's stayed awake for this long, but..."
"Fine, fine. So I take it Sonic and the young lady will be taking charge of the brats then?"
"For the most part. Rouge will be keeping tabs on them as well and give regular blood transfusions of course."
xxxxxxx
On the islands of Wave Ocean, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the air was so clean and clear. Vastly different than the city. It was truly a paradise to any who cared to visit.
Keeping her promise to Mephiles, Amy convinced Shadow to move there so they could have pleasant and quiet home to raise the infants. The twins were also given names. The bluish-green eyed King was Satoshi and his red-crimson eyed brother was named Aaron.
Thus, they all boarded in a previously vacant and large beach house that was quite lovely. Also convenient, was that there happened to be an empty tomb nearby. Apparently, its previous owner had all of the family remains removed and buried elsewhere. It was ideal for Shadow to hibernate in.
Presently, Amy was in the house, nursing the twins while Sonic and Shadow were outdoors chopping firewood.
"When did Knuckles and Rouge say they were coming back again?" the cerulean speedster nagged.
"Come off it." Shadow ranted. "They've only been gone for an hour. Besides, they're making important plans right now."
"Sure..."
They continued chopping wood until a few minutes later, they sat down on the porch of the house to take a break.
"I hope the winters here are just as good as the summers." Sonic commented.
There was a pause between them.
"Sonic..." Shadow began. "I...want to apologize to you."
"...For what?" the cascade hedgehog asked, blinking in surprise.
"All that time, you never gave up hope that Amy might still be alive, while I thought her to be dead. I felt immense guilt over not being able to fully protect her...and I'm even a lesser man at giving up on everything."
"Hey man, you had a lot on your plate. So it's not totally unjustified of you to feel that way."
"It's still inexcusable..."
There was another pause.
"Sonic, you will look after Amelia after I-" Shadow began again.
"Of course I will. I'll take care of the kids too." Sonic replied. "You can rest easy, Shads. No pun intended."
A small smirk stretched across the ebony hedgehog's muzzle.
"Yes..."
Then, the cerulean speedster started to rummage through his pockets and pulled out two cigars.
"Hey, we never did get to smoke these back there." he said.
Shadow stared at them for a second before letting out a sigh.
"Amy won't be happy about this." he murmured as he took one cigar from his companion and placed it his mouth.
"Aaah, she'll get over it." Sonic quipped as he mouthed the other cigar. "Besides, we're not smoking 'em anywhere near the youngin's."
The Blue Blur next pulled out a silver lighter and lit the two cigars.
XXXXXXX
That night, Knuckles and Rouge returned from their errand and they all sat down to dinner. Amy had put the twins to bed before cooking their evening meal. A little later, Shadow went outside. He thought about all that had happened as he gazed up at the crescent moon. He was actually grateful to Amy for convincing him to spare himself and the newborn twins. The midnight warrior wondered what had become of Mina. It couldn't have been possible for her to survive the bombing, but anything could happen he supposed.
Suddenly, Shadow's vision started to blur and black out. He nearly dropped to the ground but was caught by Sonic who had gone outdoors himself to see where the crimson-splashed male had wandered off to.
"Are you alright?" Sonic asked as he tried to help his friend up.
"Sonic...I...believe...it's time..." Shadow weakly replied.
"...Let me go get Rouge."
"No...don't tell...anyone. Just...take me...to the..."
He didn't get to finish his sentence, but the cerulean speedster understood.
Sonic helped Shadow walk all the way to the tomb. When they finally reached it, Shadow's grip on his companion became somewhat looser.
"Sonic...thank you...for...everything..." the ebony hedgehog whispered.
"You don't need to thank me, Shads." Sonic replied with a grin.
"I know..."
A few moments later, Shadow's form went completely limp, prompting Sonic to look on him. He saw that Shadow had finally gone into full hibernation. A bitter sweet expression came over the Blue Blur's features as he carried Shadow the rest of the way.
"Pleasant dreams, Shadow..."