"Look out!!"

Sonic barely heard her, his attention focused entirely on the next wave of badniks coming their way. The hero dashed through the crowd of robots just in time and narrowly missed the giant metallic claw, scooping a ragged hole in the ground where he once stood. Green determined eyes gazed upward at the titan, trying to figure out how to get up to its exposed glass head.

Tails had said the only way to disable the Egg Giant (As Eggman had called it) was to destroy its exposed solar panels under the glass at the top of its head. However, even with all their forces together, Sonic and his friends were having trouble getting up that high without being attacked by the smaller robots flying nearby.

Amy's hammer caught his attention as it crashed into another robot coming in on his left. The pink hedgehog stumbled beside him and paused to catch her breath, leaning on her weapon for support.

"Sonic..!" She gasped.

"Sonic, have you made any progress yet?!"

"Not at all, I was waiting for Tails' signal, is he okay?"

She nodded quickly, tired, teal pupils shaking with exhaustion. The hero felt a pang of guilt asking her ditch her college classes and come to Metropolis to fight. He knew she hadn't been training lately and this battle was harder on her than normal, but he needed all the help he could get right now.

"He's fine, but the Tornado was shot down! Knuckles and Rouge have been trying to pick their way to the top and Shadow's been getting rid of some of the drones, but this giant piece of crap just won't stay still!"

The hero sucked his teeth and glanced around quickly, making a rough estimate about how many robots were still around. Every time he tried to focus on the task at hand, more civilians needed to be shooed out of the way or saved from rampaging badniks attacking anything in sight. Team Chaotix were doing a relatively good job at moving the citizens of Metropolis further North but three people could only do so much, and there were so many stragglers...

"I'll give you a boost, let's see if we can be quick and strike it head on!" Amy pipped up, pulling her hammer back into hands.

Sonic gave her a wry smile as he crouched low, preparing himself for a spin dash.

"I ain't as little as I use to be, Ames, you think you can still smack me up there?"

The pink hedgehog scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the cheeky hero.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to? Get to spinning!"

Quickly, Sonic curled into a ball, holding his position and spinning in place as fast as he could. Amy gripped her hammer tight with both hands and wound up her swing, a loud 'smack' resounding as the young woman hit her target with all her remaining strength.

She didn't see the giant claw heading in her direction before it was too late.

Sonic slapped harshly into the thick glass on the robot's head, shaking the entire mech with the force. The surface was slippery and the blue hedgehog scrambled trying to get a good hold as he slid downward. Worry flashed in his eyes at the realization that his spin dash had only cracked the glass, instead of sending him through entirely. He needed to propel himself harder into it--

"Sonic!"

The hero whipped around quickly, eyes going wide as the Egg Giant's arm held Amy high above the ground, the pink hedgehog tiny and fragile in its mighty grasp. The clawed hand kept moving upward as it made its way closer to the top and Sonic strained his muscles, ready to jump on the arm and pull Amy to safety.

One of its fingers uncurled slowly as the arm kept moving.

Then another.

The hero's heart leaped into his throat.

The Egg Giant was going to drop her so it could grab him.

"Amy!!!"

Sonic pushed himself off the glass dome with as much effort as he could muster, but without a good hold on the surface he had very little momentum to reach her. Desperately he extended his hand to the pink hedgehog, hoping that by some miracle he would catch her in time. She was right there, even if he fell with her, he could still break her fall, her fingertips brushed his briefly...

he missed.

A flying drone came barreling in Sonic's direction and slammed into him in midair. The harsh impact alone was enough to send his body ricocheting straight through a nearby building. The hero grit his teeth, feeling metal and wood scrape through his flesh until he slowed down, leaving a dent in one of the structure's inner metal walls.

Sonic's muscles were on fire and he grunted in pain, pulling himself out of the dent. Once he managed to free himself the hero made a mad dash back to the scene, praying that Shadow or someone, anyone, had seen Amy fall in time to catch her when he couldn't.

Hope fluttered in his chest seeing the ultimate life form crouched over Amy, cradling her head carefully.

"Shadow! Shad--"

The hero's hopes were immediately crushed when he saw Shadow's hands were covered in blood.

Sonic stumbled as all the strength left his legs, skidding on his knees as he hurriedly crouched beside the dark hedgehog over his injured friend. Amy's body was limp, her eyes closed and blood spattered on the back of her head, trickling over the pavement.

"Amy...!!" Sonic cried hoarsely, large wet tears welling in his eyes when she didn't respond. Shakily he picked up one of her delicate hands and held it to his chest, the world suddenly stopping around him and making it harder to breathe.

He made this happen to her.

He forced her to come here knowing she wasn't prepared for this...

"I have to get her to a hospital." Shadow said urgently, breaking the hedgehog out of his panic attack. He put a hand on the hero's shoulder, red eyes boring into green and bringing Sonic back to reality.

"She's still breathing, I have time. Go stop that thing. Now!"

The blue hedgehog nodded quickly, the world slowly coming back to life around him as Shadow's voice rang in his ears.

Without another word, the ultimate life form pulled out his green Chaos emerald and vanished, taking Amy's unconscious body along with him. Sonic got to his feet slowly and tried to steady his breathing.

This wasn't over. He still had a job to do.

'Amy! Where's Shadow? Is everything okay?'

Tails' urgent voice sounded nearby, Amy's pink wrist communicator sitting slightly cracked on the ground. Sonic picked it up gingerly, wincing at the droplets of blood staining the bright pink wrist straps.

"It's me, Sonic." He said evenly.

"Amy had an accident, but Shadow's got her. What's the news?"

'I've got the Tornado running again, and I think I can drop you on this thing hard enough to shatter it! Are you ready?'

"Yeah." The hero growled harshly as he gazed up at the Egg Giant once more, nothing but pure rage burning in his fiery emerald eyes.

"Let's take this motherfucker down."

"Sonic," Shadow said softly.

"I know what caused Amy's death."

The blue hero tilted his head, puzzled by the weight Shadow seemed to be putting on his words. He took a step forward, a hesitant smile on his lips as he tried to close the gap between them.

"Shads...you already told me how she died. You said she had a brain...thing. That she was sick. Did you forget?"

The dark hedgehog took a pace back, avoiding his partner's embrace. Shadow knew that the moment Sonic touched him, the moment that warm, inviting chaos energy enveloped him, he would be reluctant to say what he needed to say.

"I know I told you that she had a ruptured brain aneurysm...but I didn't tell you why she had an aneurysm in the first place."

Blue ears tilted forward, suddenly alert.

"You said you didn't know why. That nobody knew why and that there may not even be a reason why." Sonic's smile became less genuine, seeming to falter a bit as he spoke.

"I may not have been entirely truthful."

The room was quiet. The only sounds in the base were muffled winds blowing outside, and a quiet trickling of water in the small natural pool. The flickies had gone silent some time ago, huddling anxiously away from the two hedgehogs in their little tranquil paradise.

Sonic said nothing, eyes focused intensely on his partner as he waited for him to continue. The loving smile that Shadow had seen only moments ago disappeared, replaced by a thin, tight lipped frown. The ultimate life form sighed heavily, running a hand anxiously through black quills as he continued.

"I...had Rouge look up Amy's medical records before I could confirm my theory." He started evenly, avoiding direct eye contact with the blue hero.

"Apparently the risk of surgery to fix the blood clot was too high. She had been taking blood pressure medications and regular MRI scans of her brain at her doctor's advice to watch over the aneurysm and its progress. This had been going on for several years."

Green eyes suddenly widened, and Shadow could see the gears turning in the hero's head.

"How many years...?"

"Exactly four."

Sonic stood stock still, his chaos energy running colder than the dark hedgehog had ever felt.

"As I told you before, brain aneurysms are random clots that can develop entirely by chance...but the risk of developing one is extremely high when someone...experiences severe trauma to the head."

"She knew..." The hero whispered softly.

Shadow nodded.

"She did."

"You knew." Sonic's voice dropped an octave.

"No. I told you, I had assumptions, but I didn't know--"

A peach hand lashed out and grabbed Shadow's chest fur roughly, pulling the ultimate life form close until he could feel Sonic's hot, angry breath on his face. Shadow flinched at the pain but he refused to let his discomfort show, eyeing his partner completely stone faced.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"What good would it have done? Why would I get you worked up over something if I didn't even know if it was true?"

He shoved the dark hedgehog away, his chaos energy suddenly crackling violently with anger.

"Why keep it a secret at all? Why wait to tell me? Because you know its my fault!?"

"Hedgehog, its not your--"

"It is my fault..!" Sonic yelled desperately.

"She got hurt because of me, I ruined her for life, and you knew it and this whole time; you've been lying to me."

Shadow shook his head slowly and inched closer to the hero, hoping to get close enough to calm him down. Gently, he felt out Sonic's energy and tried to stroke it with his own but the hero's wavelength bristled at the contact. Shadow was assaulted with loud, unintelligible thoughts springing into his mind as waves of hatred and sadness washing over him. The dark hedgehog winced back under the onslaught but Sonic had hardly noticed, his back now turned on his partner.

"I didn't lie to you." Shadow said roughly as he tried to get his own emotions under control. Their bond was making Sonic's own mood infectious and the last thing Shadow wanted to do was give into that raw anger like he use to.

A dreadful, black aura began seeping into the brightly lit room and the ultimate life form looked around hesitantly for the source. Where was it coming from? Had an enemy snuck inside while they had been talking?

The air became colder around him as the darkness thickened and Shadow's eyes narrowed on his rival, slowly realizing that the black aura wasn't coming into the room.

It was coming out of Sonic.

bright azure quills began to fade into a deep glossy navy, the formerly blue hedgehog's shoulders shaking as he let out small, pained whimpers. Slowly his quills raised as the dark aura increased, his chaos wavelength, once a lively warm heat, was now warped into a stagnant, bitter cold.

This wasn't good.

Shadow had to calm him down. Fast.

"Sonic, listen to me. You know for a fact I would never lie to you, but--"

"BULLSHIT!" Sonic roared, his distorted voice was deep and low, yet somehow resounding violently through the metal base. He turned to the ultimate life form, pupils flickering in and out rapidly.

Shadow was barely able to ready himself for the attack, Sonic's speed skyrocketing so high the ultimate life form could hardly keep track of his movements. Dark blue shapes flashed violently in all directions, as if Sonic was unable to control his own body, let alone calm himself. A harsh blow to the temple had Shadow seeing stars as he crashed into a pile of junk in the corner of the room.

"Faker...!" He shouted angrily, trying to shake off the loose scraps of metal slicing into his skin. He shifted on the pile and threw a random scrap dismissively in the hero's direction, the metal bouncing off his aura before even making contact.

"Calm yourself down! Pissing me off isn't going to solve anything!"

The hero didn't reply, curling his body into a ball instead as he prepared for a spin dash. Shadow did the same and managed to launch himself first, slamming into the navy hedgehog and sending him barreling through the opposite wall.

The ultimate life form waited, staring at dark hole where Sonic landed and preparing himself for the next attack. The hero was faster and stronger than normal, and Shadow was trying his best to adapt under the circumstances.

He didn't want to have to use his chaos emerald but--

Oh crap.

Sonic still had the chaos emerald.

As if on queue, a green glow illuminated the pitch black space in the wall and a hazy outline of the enraged hero, barely visible in the dim light.

Shadow was starting to wonder they could read each others minds after all.

On instinct he lifted a his hand, bright chaos energy crackling as he began to form a chaos spear. Shadow hesitated as he saw Sonic climb out of the hole in the wall, making slow deliberate steps straight toward him. The green chaos emerald was clutched in his left hand as its light green aura flowed into Sonic's own.

"...Soni--"

The hero rocketed toward Shadow and the ground tore apart violently in his wake. Shadow braced himself just in time, their energies clashing as he held Sonic's fists back with all his strength. The ultimate life form growled in frustration as he stared into his partner's blank white eyes.

"Stop and just listen to me for a second, dammit!"

"LIAR...!" Sonic shouted back, Shadow's ears flattening at the sheer volume of his warped voice.

The ground began to buckle beneath them and Shadow shifted his stance, trying to push the hero away so he could get his bearings. Sonic tightened his grip on the chaos emerald still in his fist, and picked the dark hedgehog up, throwing him violently into the lower half of the fallen Egg Giant. Water and dirt caked Shadow's quills, the frantic tweeting of flickies ringing around them as they flew away from the fight.

Sonic grabbed him by the shoulders again and slammed him repeatedly into the ground, Shadow bracing himself each time he hit the floor. The impact didn't hurt him as much as the motion itself, rattling his head with each thrust and blurring his vision. Frantically he reached out and grabbed Sonic's head, holding it in place as Chaos energy flowed into his palms.

But he didn't use it. He didn't need to.

The hero, even in this form, could feel the latent energy buzzing in Shadow's hands, and if the ultimate life form wanted to, he could easily form a chaos spear between them. The threat alone was enough to cease Sonic's rampage and he froze, completely still as he crouched above his rival's body.

Shadow's vision cleared and he looked over Sonic's head, shocked to discover they were several feet down into the ground as walls of dirt towered high above them. The sheer force of Sonic slamming him had formed crater after crater and tunneled them deep into the floor.

He glanced back at the navy hedgehog's face, eyes still blank and huffing in frustration as he realized he was trapped in place.

"Sonic," the ultimate life form started quietly.

"Listen to me. I would never lie to you. There was no point in telling you something I had no proof of."

The chaos energy in Shadow's palms dissipated, his grip on the hero's head loosening into a gentle caress.

"WHY...?" The hero asked slowly, his voice loud but not as rough as before.

"Because I didn't want you to turn into this."

Blank eyes stared at the dark hedgehog in disbelief, and Shadow was worried the hero might start up his rampage again. A stray drop of water landed on Sonic's head and he growled, snapping his gaze upward to see where it came from.

Loose clumps of grass and flowers hug over the edge of the hole, as the panicked chirps of flickies continued overhead. chips of concrete and twigs from nests littered the bottom of the hole, and Shadow noticed with dismay a few of delicate flickie bodies sat unmoving around them as well.

The enraged hero leaned off of him, his grip relaxing as he kneeled beside Shadow and slowly shook his head.

"I-I didn't..."

"It's okay, just calm down..." he replied softly.

The dark hedgehog sighed with relief as he noticed Sonic's pupils coming back into view, the dark aura slowly fade away and his navy quills lowering, changing back to his signature bright blue. Shadow took this opportunity to swipe the green emerald out of Sonic's hands, but the blue hedgehog hardly cared, his eyes locked onto one of the tiny birds lying still beside him.

"I'm sorry..." He said hoarsely.

Shadow stroked his quills and planted a gentle kiss on Sonic's forehead. The dark hedgehog got the distinct feeling his partner wasn't apologizing only to him.

Gingerly he slipped an arm around the blue hedgehog's waist, supporting him as Sonic got to his feet. Shadow used Chaos control to transport them above ground, eager to get them out of the hole as quick as possible. A light gasp left the hero's lips and Shadow looked up, following his gaze behind them at what remained of the Flickie paradise.

The robot's lower half had been torn away and pushed violently toward the end of the room, stray vines and dirt trailing along with it. The mound of earth that was once covered in flowers caved in on itself and half of it had poured into the hole along with much of the Flickie nests. The pipe that had an endless flow of water was nowhere to be found, and Shadow didn't even want to know what happened to the fish.

Violent tweets still rang in the air, the tiny birds unable to sort themselves out after the frightening battle, and Sonic's ears flattened at their pained, stressed cries.

"Shadow--"

"Let's go." The ultimate life form interrupted him, anticipating what his rival was going to say. He tightened his grip on a blue hip, hoisting Sonic up a little higher on his shoulder and turned them toward the Egg Base entrance.

"No more apologizing. Come on."

Shadow was genuinely surprised to find a hotel at the entrance of Metropolis, and even more surprised to find that they actually had guests. The ramshackle building had apparently once been an industrial plant, the savvy owner deciding to change it into a hotel for scalpers and thieves that occasionally came by to raid what was left of the abandoned city.

The man himself seemed rather kind and the building, for what it was worth, seemed decent enough to stay in for the night. Though Shadow grimaced when the owner gave the heroes his 'best' and most expensive room for a 12 percent discount.

Money was no object to the ultimate life form, but it definitely was to others.

The room they were given was clean though a tad shabby, it's pale green walls and cream colored sheets leaving a lot to be desired when it came to home decor. Sour yellow curtains covered the windows and a greyish brown side table sat at the edge of the room, a lone vase with an artificial flower placed in it for decoration.

Sonic hardly stopped to sit down and dragged Shadow into the bathroom without a word. The dark hedgehog didn't argue and followed him in, realizing that the two of them were caked in dried mud and bruises from the scuffle in the Egg Base. Shadow leaned on the sink while his partner turned on the shower, a rusty groan breaking the silence as hot water blasted through.

The hero pulled out the letter marked 'Later' and placed it on the sink, pushing the plastic shower curtains further apart as he began to step in. Sonic winced at the heat of the water but gradually adjusted as it rolled over his back. He held his hand out to Shadow and smiled weakly, inclining his head toward the shower with a quick nod.

"Oh..."

Shadow assumed they were going to take turns, but this worked too.

He took Sonic's hand and stepped in, sighing with relief as the hot water trailed over his tired, bruised muscles. Sonic reached into Shadow's quills and pulled out the notebook, setting it beside the letter far away from the shower. The last thing they needed were those precious items getting wet.

Dark, stripped hands pulled the hero back in impatiently, and Sonic hid a tired smile, relishing in the warmth of Shadow's chaos energy prodding eagerly at his own. He leaned back into the shower and hugged his rival close, running a hand down his back and scratching the short black fur.

Shadow buried his face in the hero's shoulder, a low purr rumbling in his chest as peach hands roamed his body and scrubbed deep into his skin, washing the caked dirt out of his pelt.

"Ah, soap." Sonic said softly, nudging the ultimate life form out his fuzzy haze to grab the bar of soap on the wall behind him. Shadow growled sleepily in protest but retrieved it anyway, holding it behind his back. Sonic huffed a breathy chuckle in response and took it gratefully, lathering fragrant bubbles into Shadow's fur.

"It smells nice..." The dark hedgehog commented, leaving kisses along the hero's neck. He raked his long black claws through blue fur slowly, figuring he should do his part and help Sonic get a little cleaner too. The hero pushed away so he could face Shadow directly, eyes cloudy as he pulled a strained smile. He wanted to apologize again, but he knew his partner wouldn't allow it.

A pink tinge made its way onto Shadow's cheeks, his breath hitching as Sonic nuzzled and kissed his face to convey with his actions what he couldn't say with words. The ultimate life form decided to allow it, giving a low grunt in response as he cleaned his partner's fur, healing any scrapes or cuts he felt along the way.

However, he remembered to leave the bruises on Sonic's neck untouched.

After they were relatively clean, Shadow leaned over and turned the water off, the showerhead making another loud screech in reply. Sonic tossed him a towel as he stepped out and he nodded a thanks, drying his head quills before tucking the notebook and the letter away for safe keeping.

"There's no TV." The blue hedgehog commented sitting on the bed as he dried himself off.

"The only signal for miles is the Eggman Channel. It's probably for the best."

"Good point. Its probably reruns at that. I'd toss my TV too."

The bed creaked slightly as Shadow sat on the edge, leaning back and pulling the worn blanket over his tired form. Sonic sat still for a few minutes deep in thought, before turning off the light and crawling in beside his partner.

"I messed up today..." He said softly as he laid on his back facing the ceiling. Shadow turned toward him, red pupils giving off a dim glow in the darkness.

"Don't dwell on it now. All we can do is push forward. We still have to finish Amy's trip." The dark hedgehog closed his eyes briefly.

"That is, if you still want to."

"I do."

The hero scooted closer to Shadow until they were face to face, gentle hands and strong blue legs wrapping around him until every inch of their bodies were touching. Their chaos wavelengths were caught in a loop of hurt and comfort, Sonic's anxiousness slipping into his energy as Shadow soothed it over with the secure heat of his own. Rich lavender from the hotel soap wafted into his nose, mingling with his rival's natural earthy scent. The ultimate life form sighed and pressed his forehead against Sonic's, relishing the atmosphere as long as he could.

"Night, Shadow." The hero whispered into a soft black ear.

"Goodnight, Sonic."