Yes I still live. Please, try to contain your excitement.
Disclaimer: I only own Kate, the rest belongs to Sonic Team SEGA
Anyway, enjoy :)
"What do you mean she's "gone"?!"
Nicole shrunk away as a blue hedgehog jabbed an angry index finger directly towards her, even though she knew that Sonic would not, under any circumstances, cause any harm to her intentionally. However, just in case anything escalated, she deactivated her hardlight feature in order to become a regular hologram.
"Sonic, please calm down," she answered firmly, standing her ground "I mean I'm failing to pick up any trace of her in the Sol Dimension,"
Sonic opened his mouth to angrily retort, but he couldn't. After all, she had actually answered his question. The index finger pointed at her face clenched into a fist and shook in annoyance before the peach arm supporting it dropped down to Sonic's side.
He stepped away to rejoin the others, who had taken a less aggressive approach to questioning Nicole. After hearing what the A.I had to tell him, Tails had immediately rushed out to gather up anyone he could find. Unfortunately, all that seemed to consist of was Sonic, Silver and Sally. Antoine, Bunnie, everybody else well, there had been virtually no contact since Naugus had been defeated. Why? They guessed that they were all too far away to be able to make contact with the limited technology they had managed to take. Plus, for the past week or so, Nicole had been in no state to receive and long range transmissions. With everything that had been happened recently, they had little time to worry about it. The whole city was on the verge of revolution.
Anyway, that wasn't the focus at the moment.
Kate had disappeared. According to Nicole, there was absolutely zero trace of her in the Sol Dimension. She had found this out merely an hour after Kate had left, and had since been constantly sweeping the place to look for her, but there was nothing. No power signature, no monitor signal. Nothing. She had somehow managed to completely fall off the radar.
For the past few minutes, the five of them had been trying to muster up an explanation that didn't involve Kate's demise, as both Tails and Sally had been adamant that their life monitor had remained intact, which would mean that Kate had somehow died. Sonic had no idea what to think, caught between optimism and logic. Silver was having none of it.
"Well, scan again! Scan as many times as you can!" he demanded, his voice and temper beginning to steadily rise "she has to be there somewhere!"
He crossed his arms, staring Nicole down. The lynx, in response, leaned back against the console, doing her best to appear unfazed. She really wasn't used to this amount of confrontation.
"Silver, I've scanned the place twenty-seven times," she explained somewhat calmly "it takes up a lot of energy just to do it once-!"
She didn't get the finish her sentence as Silver suddenly lost it. This was unexpected, as the ivory hedgehog's temper was usually anything but short and it was very rare that he would blow up so abruptly and so soon. His temper was rarely unpredictable at it was evident that he had clearly surprised himself with how quickly he snapped as, whilst he did look very annoyed indeed, there was a slight element of surprise.
"Well try again!" he bellowed, much louder than he intended "she has to be there!"
His voice quickly lowered again. Right now, he didn't have the energy to keep shouting, and he began to trail off.
"She can't...she can't be..."
He fell silent, shivering as he reeled from his outburst. It seemed to take a few seconds for Silver to realise how badly he had just lost it. When he did, he looked away, embarrassed and slightly ashamed of his abnormal behaviour, still taking deep breaths to calm himself down.
Sally watched him, partly in pity and partly in sympathy. Very few people shared Silver's undying sense of optimism. In fact, to simply call Silver an optimist would, quite frankly, be an understatement. He had some kind of unnameable uniqueness in his view of the world that made everyone around him have the exact same outlook. It was probably the lack of like-minded people, Sally thought, that made him incredibly temperamental sometimes. In situations such as these, when logic was stacked up against any alternate positive outcome, it was best to humour him.
With this in mind, Sally sighed and bit her lip in thought. She spoke to Nicole, much calmer than the hedgehogs had done.
"It's probably best to have one last look, just in case," she said, before adding quickly "Oh! And maybe have a look on Anti-Mobius too, in case the coordinates slipped somehow,"
Nicole nodded in understanding, but her head remained bowed, as if agreeing to carry out Sally's request was the last thing she wanted to do. Like a child being told to tidy their room. However, the holo-lynx said nothing in protest, and flickered twice as she disappeared from view.
The monitor promptly became somewhat louder as Nicole commenced her scans. Instead of an ignorable buzzing in the background, similar to that of a small fly, the monitor now produced a more noticeable humming.
At this, Silver's mood seemed to lift immediately, like he was a tantruming toddler that had finally managed to get his way. However, all it took was a simple smile of appreciation in Sally's direction to put him right back in the sour mood that he had abandoned just seconds earlier.
Despite supporting Silver's with for another scan, Sally was wearing a look that suggested that Silver's protests were in vain, or like she was about to break bad news to him. The white hedgehog, despite being obviously annoyed, didn't react straight away. One bad look he could deal with.
However, after seeing the exact same expression mirrored on both Sonic's and Tails' faces, he felt his stomach drop like a brick. He knew exactly what they were trying to tell him: that this was all useless, Kate was dead, but Silver refused to accept it.
He looked away, shaking his head and muttering the word "no" repeatedly to himself, though loud enough for the others to hear. Once again, a furrowed brow caused by pity was sent his way from Sally. There was only so much humouring one could do, and Silver's current level of optimism was likely going to make the disappointment he felt after the acceptance of reality much more painful.
She stepped forwards towards him.
"Silver-"
As soon as his name was mentioned, Silver whipped back around, gesturing angrily towards Sally, somehow knowing exactly what she was about to say.
"No! No! I dont care what you say!" he snarled "I don't buy into that crap about that thing being indestructable! Face it! It broke! She's not dead!"
In response, Sally let out a short, impatient sigh, finding it increasingly difficult to remain patient with the hedgehog.
"Silver, please! You have to accept that it isn't possible!"
She paused as she struggled to find a valid argument that hadn't already been used. She stared around hoping that the room would offer her some advice. Then, her focus landed on the monitor screen.
It was switched on. It had been for the entire time they had been in the HQ. On it, was Kate's profile. Nicole kept a profile of every Freedom Fighter; general information, including medical (somehow Sonic's fear of water came under this, as he had stressed that he had a genuine allergy to water instead of being completely irrational). Each profile also showed current coordinates and, if one was wearing a life monitor, their life signs. In cases like Kate, power signatures were also shown.
The wolf's coordinates on the screen were currently showing "unknown", no power signatures were registering. There was also a heart monitor, but instead of peaking at regular intervals, it was flatlining. It was these readings (or rather, lack of) that Sally ended up gesturing to.
"Look," she said sternly, drawing Silver's attention towards the screen "even if that thing wasn't broken we'd still be able to pick up her signature. She's a demigod, Silver, you don't just lose a signal that strong,"
Silver's head jerked, as if he was about to retort, but he said nothing. Instead, he appeared to shrink away, as if the chipmunk's words were finally getting through to him, but he wasn't done yet. He turned to Sonic, who had been listening quietly but finally looked up as Silver addressed him.
"What do you think about all of this?"
Cobalt shrugged, and shook his head sadly. He didn't meet Silver's eye.
"It it doesn't look good, dude,"
Evidently Sonic was the one that Silver believed would support him, as his mouth dropped open in surprise at the blue hedgehog's negativity. He shook his head, staring round at the other three in turn. Unfortunately, whether he liked it or not, his resolve was beginning to weaken. Was it possible that maybe, just maybe, they were right?
No. He couldn't admit it. There had to be someone that still had faith. Kate couldn't be dead! She was too stubborn!
He scowled.
"Why're you all so eager to give up on her?"
There was silence as his friends attempted to digest the rather astound accusation Silver had just made. The young fox kit stepped forwards, having not spoken for a while, he too was becoming impatient at Silver's irrationality.
"We're not, Silver," Tails answered "we're just trying to be logical about this!"
Of course, Silver was ready to shut down whatever argument was thrown his way, no matter how pathetic his response was.
"Well, maybe just-!"
"No!"
As if by instinct, Silver looked at Sally, thinking that she was responsible for the interruption. Strangely, however, the chipmunk was making the exact same face Silver was, but was instead directing it at Sonic.
The blue hedgehog, just like Silver had done (on two occasions, now) had snapped. At first, Silver was rather shocked, but then he realised it was only a matter of time before Sonic blew. In fact, in hindsight, Silver was surprised that his friend didn't lose it earlier, given that his temper was usually shorter than a tree stump.
He stepped forwards, taking deep breaths to calm himself down, and placed his hands on Silver's shoulders in sympathy. His voice lowered to the point where the others wouldn't be able to hear him.
"Look, man, I get it, I really do, but no," he muttered "I know you and Kate you were you were close, but you can't argue with facts. It will just make it worse, okay?"
The unusual sincerity of Sonic's voice was enough to finally get the message into Silver. The white hedgehog removed himself from Sonic's grip, stepping backwards. A sad frown of acceptance became etched on his muzzle.
"I...I know..." he breathed "...I know..."
He let out a deep breath, and placed his hands over his eyes, as if making some meagre attempt to block out all the bad things that seemed to be relentlessly pounding them all down recently. Dragging his hands down his face slowly so they then rested on his muzzle, gold eyes shifted up to the monitor screen where the picture of his best friend (or, quite possibly, more than that) smiled down at him. He hated to let her go. He hated to admit he was wrong. But, unfortunately, Sonic's words rang with truth. He would make it worse for himself. What if he continued this belief, only to be crushed even more when he eventually, inevitably realised the truth? No, he would save himself from that added pain. Of course, his decision was not a hundred percent definite. He'd keep some hope just in case Kate was somehow alright.
Hands that were clamped around his muzzle dropped down and rested on his waist, but his eyes remained firmly on the monitor screen. Silver, just like the others, was awaiting Nicole's final report, even though they all knew it would be the same grim news they had already heard many times now.
Despite this, when the A.I. spoke, it still hit them all like a blow to the stomach.
"I'm getting nothing, from either world," she told them all quietly "I'm sorry, but she's gone,"
That was it. The confirmation. The next thing that happened only sealed it further. The heart monitor and power signal measurements on the screen disappeared, and big, block capitals coloured with an almost angry red font appeared next to the picture of the white and cyan wolf:
"DECEASED."
Seeing this, Silver began to tremble, feeling a burning sensation rise in his throat. The others were staring at him, ready to console him at a moment's notice. He couldn't stay here, he just couldn't.
He stormed past the others, his footfalls heavy despite them making contact with a soft surface. Someone said his name, quite possible Sonic, but he wasn't listening. He yanked the door open so hard it was a surprise it didn't come off its hinges completely, and stomped out. He slammed that poor wooden door behind him, determined to put a barrier between him and that horrible, angry red word.
***A few hours later, G.U.N HQ, Station Square***
"So you managed to shut down the operation?"
"Yes. everything illegal was siezed or destroyed on-site,"
Commander Abraham sat back in his chair, clasping his hands together and nodding in approval at the two agents sat across from him on the circular meeting table. Whilst Shadow remained his regular neutral self, the bat besides him suppressed a pride-filled beam, although rather unsuccessfully.
The operation that was the topic of this conversation had been an incredibly organised and unbelievably hard to catch crime organisation whose speciality was the illegal dealing of weapons, especially to some dangerous Egg Legion groups around the globe. The hard-to-find location of the main headquarters had recently been accidentally revealed by an unwitting inner member who had one too many drinks and had an unfortunate drunken conversation with a G.U.N agent that, luckily, happened to be in the same bar at the same time during a day off. The base had been raided that afternoon by Shadow, Rouge, and a few other agents. Everyone who was present was arrested, all weapons there were destroyed or siezed, and documents were found that told the location of every other outpost the organisation had. It was a huge relief, and there were actually mini celebrations occurring as they spoke. Even Rouge, who usually remained rather breezy following a victory, was very ecstatic.
Not a bad day at all.
Right now, being the leaders of the operation, Rouge and Shadow were sat in one of the many meeting rooms, going through a few extra details that Abraham had deemed important for whatever reason. Of course, what both of them were waiting for was for the dreaded "R" word to pop up. Report.
Attempting to ignore Rouge's happy jitter next to him, Shadow leaned forwards to listen to what Abraham had to say next.
"Your work concerning this case is finished now. Stealth teams are currently being dispatched to each outpost to clear everything up, but that should be the end of it. You two can have the rest of the week off,"
For some reason, this did nothing to improve Rouge's happiness, as she was always complaining that they rarely got time off. In fact, it actually killed off her good mood, and she pulled her face, lowering her voice to a grumpy mumble.
"That would have more substance if there wasn't only one day left in the week..."
She said it very quietly, but Abraham heard, and he raised an amused brow. Once again ignoring Rouge, Shadow frowned.
"I'm not trying to bring down the high spirits, Commander," he said, even though, despite his best efforts, what he was going to ask would almost definitely have that effect "but I'm curious, has there been any improvements in the attempts to gain contact with other governments?"
Down the spirits went. They went down like a lead balloon. No, they went down like a lead balloon tethered to a 100-tonne weight falling at a hundred miles per hour. Abraham's calm smile drop down into a grimace, and he bit his lip. Ever since Naugus' downfall, there had been no contact with other governments around Mobius but, with the wizard's threats likely to be still hanging over them if they hadn't heard the news of his defeat, it was understood. What made the matter worse was that the Freedom Fighters had been having a similar issue with their members but whether this was related was still unknown.
"No. There's been nothing, I'm afraid," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck stressfully "we can only assume that the news of Elias regaining control of Mobotropolis hasn't reached them yet, so they aren't responding. But of course, we will keep trying,"
He fell silent, evidently doubting his own words, but not saying it outright. No one spoke for a while, and Shadow began to regret speaking, as there was now a very uncomfortable feel in the room. He rolled his eyes as he heard a quiet "nice one, Shads" from the bat next to him.
Then, suddenly, Abraham clapped his hands together, startling the two agents. He leaped out of his chair like he had recieved an electric shock, nearly knocking the thing over. He put on an artificial smile, and looked down at his two best agents. His hands clasped together once again.
"But let's not dwell on the negatives, eh? Many of countries have been under threat, so it's understandable if they don't respond straight away. For now, let's focus on the fact that we managed to shut down one of the most dangerous arms' dealers on the planet, alright?"
His words were met with nods from the bat and hedgehog, and his smile became more genuine as his clasped hands moved round to rest behind his back. He bid them farewell, telling them that's all he had to say, before stepping away from the table and towards the glass door to the corridors and other offices outside.
Meanwhile, the two agents had a quiet celebration behind their commander's back. Abraham was apparently in too good a mood to commission them to write up a report. Rouge suppressed a loud sigh of relief whilst Shadow made a mini fist pump under the table, smirking at Rouge victoriously. Whilst both of them enjoyed their work, they despised writing up reports, which they were both unfortunately good at. However, both of them were also incredibly sceptical. The mention of needing to write up a report was likely to come up at some point. When it was going to come up, neither of them knew.
Their celebration was interrupted by Abraham turning around just as he was about to leave. He grinned with an unusual mischevious nature, and Shadow and Rouge felt dread build up within them.
"Oh, and I do expect a full report on this. Let's say by, this time next week?" he told them, holding back a chuckle at the agents' gobsmacked faces "I'll let you decide who writes it up,"
One day they would get away with it. One day...
He left before they had a chance to object. Rouge groaned, and flumped back in her chair. She then stomped her feet repeatedly on the floor for a few seconds in a mini tantrum.
"Why? Why us?" she questioned the ebony hedgehog, scowling "how many agents came with us? Like ten! Why can't one of them do it?"
Shadow raised his brow at his companion, and opened his mouth to speak. The ivory bat, however, hadn't finished her rant yet.
"There's tonnes of people in this place. Isn't there people whose job it is to write them?"
The hedgehog interjected again, this time making more progress. He managed to get out a strained "Rouge" before he was cut off.
"Maybe we can hire a secretary or something do you know if that's allowed-?"
This time, Shadow shifted so Rouge could clearly see him holding up a gloved hand to tell her to stop. She did so, despite obviously having much more to say, and looked at Shadow expectantly.
"Rouge," he said, lowering his hand "don't worry about it, I'll write the report,"
This wasn't was Rouge was expecting, it seemed. With the cranky mood Shadow had been in recently, she was surprised he didn't tell her to shut up and put up. She smirked, before looking at Shadow like he had lost his mind.
"Are you sure, Shadow?" she chuckled "I know you hate those things more than me,"
That was true. Shadow rarely had the patience or the temperament to put up with writing an a thousand word plus report. He shrugged.
"And I know you need a break more than I do," he told her "it's no problem, honestly,"
Rouge sat back, still surprised by Shadow's decision to take one for the team. It was very unlike him. Although, Shadow had recently been more friendly, towards her. Why? She couldn't tell. The presence of Kate who, in Shadow's eyes, apparently had an uncanny resemblance Maria, was almost definitely a reason but probably not as important as Rouge first thought. What else could have brought on this odd change in behaviour, she could only guess, but not know for sure. One particular theory crossed her mind rather frequently, but this was regularly shooed away and deemed as nearly impossible and merely a daydream of a ditsy schoolgirl.
However, she could (and did) live in hope.
Whilst this small kind gesture from Shadow had made Rouge almost hyper, she outwardly managed to keep a calm and grateful expression. Overreacting at such a seemingly friendly gesture would either A) make Shadow suspicious and potentially avoid her or B) just freak him out which would probably still result in him avoiding her. So, she played it cool.
"Alright," she sighed "if you're sure you're okay with it, I'll be off,"
She stood, moving out and stepping behind the chair so she could neatly tuck it in under the table. She patted Shadow on the shoulder in a motivational kind of way as she walked past him and around the end of the table to the door, which was slightly ajar, having not shut properly after Abraham had left.
Turning around as she reached the door, Rouge bit her lip, and scanned the dark hedgehog still seated at the table carefully, trying to find something behind that blank, concealing expression he was wearing. She could tell something was going through his mind but she just couldn't figure out what. Sometimes, Shadow's ability to hide his thoughts from even the most perceptive eye was unreal.
The bat gave up after just a few seconds, shrugged and turned to her right to leave. She pushed the door open into the corridor outside, letting the noise of the bustling offices inside the small meeting room. She was about to step out, but Shadow called her back.
"Rouge, perhaps you should go and see the Commander, now that I think about it,"
Rouge turned her head over her shoulder to look at him, using her foot to prop the door open as she responded to her friend.
"What for?" she asked, wondering what, if anything, she could have possibly done wrong.
Shadow's raised brow and smirk made her panic slightly, even though she was almost certain that she hadn't done anything that warranted her a trip to the Commander's office. It was similar to the feeling of getting anxious at an airport for no reason. Like a bomb had somehow magically apparated into their luggage.
Luckily, it seemed that this time, she was in the clear.
"To ask if it's too much trouble hiring a secretary," he said, chuckling slightly "I'm one report away from losing my mind,"
Rouge laughed slightly, nodding her head and smiling.
"Ditto to that I'll go and see him now. Lucky for us, he's in a good mood," she turned her head back to the corridor outside, and waved to Shadow over her shoulder "I'll see you later, Shadow,"
"See you then," came the reply
After one more quick smile at Shadow, Rouge stepped outside, letting the door shut softly by itself, looking forward to a long, relaxing weekend.
**later**
Shadow had never thought if himself as a procrastinator. He was more of the "might as well get it done now" type. However, when he was writing, he nearly always found the temptation of procrastination far too difficult to resist.
Currently, the dark agent was leaning as far back as the computer chair would let him, staring up at the plain ceiling with his arms crossed on his chest. On the computer screen in front of him, the page was blank except for a single black line of text that had been there for the past twenty-five minutes.
He'd get round to it eventually, he told himself, he had the whole of tomorrow to get started and, if he actually committed, finished. Although, he had said that to himself every time he was previously in that situation, and almost every time, he had failed for one reason or another and ended up leaving it until the last minute.
He continued to stare upwards, listening to the almost hypnotising whirring of the computer, wondering what he could do to waste more time. His mind began to wander as he drifted into a stupor.
Recently, Shadow had found it much easier to just "drift off" into his own thoughts. This was a big surprise to both himself and Rouge, as it was customary for Shadow to be incredibly on edge whenever something bad happened, much more than an ordinary person. One wrong word said, and the hedgehog would flip out and either be silent for days on end or be missing in action for a few days until he cooled off.
Something bad had happened again. Kate's exile, he couldn't deny, had hit him hard. At first he had been reluctant to open up to his new (and rather unexpected) sister in fear that she would somehow suffer the same fate as Maria, and as soon as he was willing to accept the result of those events in White Acropolis, she was taken from him.
But that didn't seem to matter in Shadow's mind at the moment. Kate wasn't Maria, and he knew he had to stop seeing her that way. She was in no immediate danger. She was safe in the Sol Dimension, perfectly able to take care of herself and, after all, he would be seeing her again in ten years. Perhaps less, if the UN were kind enough to lessen the sentence. Still, he missed her. He had every right to.
He had told all of this to Rouge. Of course he did, although in retrospect he wasn't sure why he did. He rarely opened up to anyone, not even his closest teammate in normal circumstances. But recently it was like something had changed. He found it easier. Rouge seemed better able to listen intently to his issues, and he had been better able to tell her. Whenever they spoke, whenever she smiled there was an alarming yet pleasant fuzzy sensation which, at first, he had elected to ignore. But this had become more difficult as each day passed. Whilst it was a nice (albeit odd) feeling, a part of him hoped that it would go away in time. Although it never did, even when he was sure it was fine it would flare up again the moment he saw his fellow agent. He had, for some reason, never been able to speak to Rouge about it despite knowing she was obviously the best person to tell. Why? He had no idea. Maybe one day he'd stop chickening out of it every time he opened his mouth. It wasn't like him at all...
The ceiling had begun to swirl.
Seeing the strange yellow spirals spinning around above him as a result of too much staring was enough to snap himself out of his stupor. He grunted, and blinked, bringing refreshment to his dried out eyes. He stretched his stiff limbs whilst simultaneously bending his neck first left and right and then in a full circle.
The computer screen was still on, and had merely turned slightly darker due to the lack of activity in the past half hour? Had Shadow really been in a daze for that long? He frowned at the time the little digital clock was showing on the screen. Probably best to return to work, now.
So, scooting the chair closer and rubbing his dry, itchy eyes, Shadow began to type away at the neglected keyboard, finally adding to that one tiny line of text.
A mere thirty seconds later, he was already feeling his eyelids drooping as they suddenly became heavier than steel. He shook his head rapidly to wake himself up and widened his eyes at the screen, willing them to stay open. He only had himself to blame, though. Working late everyday for the past week had completely drained him.
A paragraph was done. Thank Chaos. To him, getting a single detailed paragraph done was a huge milestone. He sat back. Merely ten minutes since his last stupor, he was about to slip into another one, though this time he was idly planning. Perhaps, he thought, he would get an early start tomorrow, dose himself up with coffee and then get his work done. Besides, how much was he going to get done if he could barely focus on what he was doing?
With this reasoning in his head, he once again leaned forwards, not with the intention of continuing but with shutting everything down and getting (for once) a decent amount of rest. He saved and closed his work, and was about to shut the system down entirely before something popped up in the corner of the screen.
It was a message. A message from Sonic, from the look of it. Seeing the cheesy username of G2GFST made him cringe and curse. Why? Why did he have to give his contact details to every Freedom Fighter? Just Sally or Kate alone would have sufficed. But no, he had let all of them get their hands on it.
He moved the mouse to the message. This wasn't the first time the blue hedgehog had pestered him. Usually it was to send him stupid jokes that he wasn't able to tell Shadow in person. Multiple times, the dark agent had attempted to block Sonic from sending him messages but, considering this was an emergency contact, it wasn't possible.
He opened it up, getting ready to type back his customary "leave me the Hell alone" response, but something was different.
He was able to tell without reading it that it was a serious message for once. The lack of exclamation marks and smiley faces gave it away. His hands moved away from the keyboard, and his head moved closer to the screen to read what Sonic had sent him:
"Kate's gone."
This took Shadow by surprise, and he stared at the two words for a minute, trying to find a deeper meaning somehow. What was Sonic playing at? Shadow knew Kate was gone, he watched her leave. Sonic was there too did he just fall asleep or something?
Sensing this to be another (although unusually cruel) joke, Shadow typed and sent his annoyed response rapidly, wanting Sonic to just leave him alone.
"She's been gone for nearly a week. Have you only just noticed?"
He punched enter to send, much harder than he had expected to. He really did not have the patience right now.
The reply came about thirty seconds later, still in the same serious manner.
"No, I mean she's gone. From the Sol Dimension. From everywhere. There's no trace of her at all."
No trace?
He had to reread the message a few times just to make sure. No trace at all? Not just no trace from the Sol Dimension, but nothing at all? That wasn't possible. It couldn't be. Kate wasn't just wearing a regular tracker. It was a life monitor. An indestructible life monitor but that would mean she was-
No. No! It had to be a mistake. They just hadn't scanned enough, that's all. She was alive. Alive and well. Shadow knew it.
He began to rapidly type back, sloppily punching in letters and making an unbelievable about of typos and he desperately tried to get an answer quickly:
"Well sxan for her agaun."
Sonic's reply took another minute, in which time an increasingly impatient Shadow began to tap furiously on the wooden desk.
"We have. 28 times."
Shadow went to type a response, but he hesitated, gloved fingers hovering over the keys. He wanted to argue. Oh Chaos, did he want to argue. He wanted to storm down there and yell in that stupid hedgehog's face just how wrong he was.
But he couldn't.
As much as he hated the idea of Kate's death, as much as he hated Sonic's words on the screen, something within him knew that Sonic was speaking the absolute truth. He wouldn't lie to Shadow about Kate, not unless he wanted to end up face down in a ditch.
There was a ringing in his ears as he typed. He had a familiar although unusual feeling coursing through him, like desperation mixed with dread.
"She can't be dead."
The ringing got louder, and it began to sound like voices. The computer screen became horrifically blurry, but he still managed to read the next message.
"I'm so sorry, dude, but she's gone."
The words swirled, forming a sickening spiral which refused to stop no matter how much Shadow tried to shake it out of his head. She was gone. Kate was gone. His sister was gone.
He had lost another one.
There was shouting. Whether it was him or something going on in his head, Shadow didn't know. The next thing he knew was that he was stood up, hunched over his desk, his fist pounding the keyboard as if that was the thing responsible. The words were still on the screen, so he started to punch that, too.
But the words wouldn't go.
They were branded under his eyelids, adding to the throbbing pain in his head and the burning outrage coursing through him. They were mocking him, laughing at him, saying it was his fault, whispering it constantly into his head. He had let her go. This was his fault. He had let her go
His hand was sore, having now finished it's work. The keyboard was a mangled mess on the desktop, the computer screen flickering due to several large cracks in its surface, causing a spasm of colour. He didn't care.
The destruction of the cause of his anger hadn't been enough to stop the unbelievable amount of noise and the sensation that everything was suddenly heating up, like the room around him was burning with invisible fire. A torrent of emotion and fragmented, irrational thought was pouring through his head, but something somewhere was screaming out to him that he had to leave. The room appeared to be ten times smaller, and he could barely breathe. He had to get out.
****?****
He was running. Not down the small corridors outside of his office, but down cold steel halls that screamed familiarity. There was a weight behind him that he was dragging along. A hand was clasped tightly in his own. Behind him were yells accompanying frequent gunshots
"Shadow they're getting closer!"
"I know...I know! Just keep running! Don't let go!"
Shadow gave another harsh tug on Maria's arm as she began to slow down fatigue, willing her to follow his fast pace. Adrenaline coursed through him as the shouts from the soldiers grew ever closer and as bullets occasionally shot past them.
He never let go of her hand. He had to get her to safety above all costs, he couldn't lose her.
Shadow rapidly skidded around a corner, Maria swinging around behind him, bullets clattering against the steal wall where their heads would have been. It wasn't much further now. He glanced behind him, looking past Maria to see how close the soldiers were. He saw nothing. Evidently they hadn't rounded the corner yet. That was good. Maybe they had started to give up.
Why had they come for them? What had he done wrong? What had any of them done wrong? They were afraid of him why? All he had done so far was to help them, to protect them, just as his creator wanted. How could they be so ungrateful?
Shadow finally stopped as he dragged Maria into a large, circular room. There were no walls, just glass, allowing a beautiful view of Mobius and the infinite space beyond. Shadow had a fleeting moment of sadness as he already starred to miss the times he and Maria shared there, staring down at the planet, wondering what life was like down there.
In the middle of the room was a circular base plate that formed part of the escape capsule. This is what they had been running towards. He would keep her safe.
Unfortunately, he wasn't entirely sure how to activate it.
The shouts were getting louder again. The soldiers had caught up. Shadow let go of Maria's hand and dashed forwards to the baseplate, frantically looking for some kind of mechanism for it to activate.
First, he stamped around, seeing if it was motion activated. It was when he crouched down to get a closer look that it happened.
There was a woosh of air as something shot upwards around Shadow, which was shortly followed by a clunk. His head snapped up, and he spun around only to find himself encircled in a glass cylinder and Maria stood by a control panel Shadow must have missed with her finger pulling away from a button.
He leapt up, gloved palms resting on the glass.
"Maria what's going on? What are you doing?"
The small girl smiled sadly, and opened her mouth to answer him, before she suddenly clutched her abdomen and gasped in horror following a single, loud gunshot.
She collapsed, clutching the side of the control panel for support, revealing a gaping red bullet wound pouring with blood.
Seeing this, Shadow lost control, pounding on the glass to get it to break so he could help her. He had to keep her safe. He called out her name, trying to get her to stay awake as she fell to her knees, using everything he had to try and break the stupid glass. But he could already tell he would be too late.
"Maria!"
He could see the soldiers now, and could hear their footfalls, even from within the glass cylinder. He felt himself being brought onto the verge of tears as he have one more fruitless punch of the glass.
Maria looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears, a single, useless hand pressed on her wound. Her frail, trembling body made attempts to rise as she spoke to him softly.
"Shadow I beg of you, please do it for me... for a better future! For all the people who live on that planet...give them a chance to be happy...let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. that's the reason why you were brought into this world,"
She somehow managed to stand up, her free hand resting on a handle on the control panel. Shadow glanced towards the soldiers whilst screaming at Maria to hide, willing her not to pull the lever. She couldn't leave him!
He looked back, realising Maria's fate as well as his own and wanting to say one last goodbye.
But it wasn't Maria.
It was now Kate who stood hunched over the control panel, hand resting on the lever that would send him hurtling through space. She smiled at him, speaking in the softest whisper that was imaginable.
"Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog,"
She pulled the lever, and then Shadow was falling
"Shadow!"
Still falling
"Shadow! What's the matter with you?"
Shadow opened his eyes.
He was crouched down, staring at a navy blue carpet. His hands were clamped over his head. He had stopped falling. He had stopped running. Initially, he felt safe.
There were murmurs instead of shouts. Concerned ones. Oddly, there appeared to be a third hand on the side of his face, and a fourth on his left shoulder. His pulse was beating wildly, and he struggled to catch his breath. His hands dropped down from his head, and he looked up.
He was kneeling down near the entrance of the GUN Headquarters where most of the other corridors joined together. There was a small crowd around him, staring down at him with confusion but also with alertness. The third and fourth hands on him turned out to be Rouge's. Her bright aquamarine eyes were very close, and were scanning him thoroughly and appeared to be full of worry. Although, she became more hopeful when Shadow responded to her.
"Shadow?" she said, speaking incredibly softly and carefully "are you alright? You just came crashing through here, yelling something about Maria,"
Shadow let out a deep, shakey breath at the name as it brought back every detail of his episode. His hand, trembling, moved up to grasp the hand that was resting on his shoulder.
"She's gone,"
The bat frowned at Shadow's words. She may not have known what Shadow had just seen, but she knew that Maria was dead.
"I...I know, hon'," she replied, speaking ever so carefully "she's been gone for over fifty years,"
Once again, Shadow's mind flashed back to seeing Kate in Maria's place, saying goodbye to him forever before he plunged into darkness.
"No...no Kate..." he muttered "...she's gone...she died "
Rouge leaned back slightly, though kept a tight hold of Shadow. She bit her lip, and her face became covered with a look of pure sympathy. She never knew the wolf that well, but she knew more than anyone what she had meant to Shadow, and she knew that this was undoubtedly going to have a similar, if not the same effect as Maria's death had.
"Oh no " she murmured, before adding " Shadow, look at me I'll help you through this, alright? Shadow?"
But Shadow wasn't listening.
There was one question constantly being repeated through his throbbing mind, drowning out whatever Rouge was saying: "She's dead. They're both dead. And who's fault is that?"
He stared around at all the gawking faces, at the entrance, at the GUN logo emblazoned on the wall. It was them who had stormed the Space Colony ARK, destroying everything he had known and had come to love. It was them who stood up for the United Nations when exiling Kate, who had now died from travelling in a Star Post which their scientists had supposedly made safe. He was in the belly of the beast, and he had to get out of there. He couldn't wait around for when they came for him.
He tore himself away from Rouge, standing up at last and stepping away from her. She wasn't one of them, he knew that. He trusted her with all his being, which is why he had to leave her, just in case they hurt her because of him.
Rouge quickly followed suit, watching Shadow carefully as he looked around desperately, as if expecting everyone around him to suddenly pounce on him. Rouge's brow furrowed. The dark hedgehog looked as if the slightest movement from his onlookers would cause him to completely lose it. She stepped forwards, hands held out in front of her, making sure she didn't accidentally present herself as a threat to Shadow.
"Alright, Shadow, I know how you must be feeling right now, but you have to calm down, okay?" she said, her voice trembling.
What Shadow said next, however, took Rouge completely by surprise.
"I can't stay here," he muttered, rejecting Rouge's olive branch and moving away from her as if his sheer proximity to her would cause her to drop dead.
Rouge's arms dropped down to her sides.
"What?"
"I can't stay here," Shadow repeated, this time scanning everyone around him carefully, almost daring them to come at him "I...I need to go...clear my head I can't stay here "
The shouts in his head had started again, and Shadow realised that, if he stayed even a few more seconds, he would be back in that awful place, losing everything he loved. He backed away from Rouge as she advanced closer, still trying to console her friend.
"No...no...no, Shadow. Stay here. I can get you through this. I promise," she pleaded, knowing that when Shadow needed to "clear his head", it wouldn't take a few days. He could be missing for weeks, months on end, and it was always incredibly difficult to gain contact. She knew it would be best for both of them if he just stay put.
However, despite her pleas, Rouge already knew there was nothing that she could say that would change Shadow's mind. The fear in his eyes was so rare and unique, she knew exactly what it meant. The dark hedgehog shook his head again, this time with finality, and turned away from her. He disappeared in a familiar flash of green light, leaving the bat standing in the middle of a sea of onlookers, utterly helpless. Her head bowed, and she scowled at the ground, before directing her glare towards the gawkers.
"Show's over, folks," she said darkly "so get lost,"
**New Mobotropolis, the Lake of Rings, a few hours later**
It was evening. The sky was a deep, burnt orange tinted with light blue. It was an oddly pleasant evening given the cold weather that had been sweeping the city recently. The peaceful air was only occasionally interrupted by a gentle breeze, which caused the leaves on the trees and the surface of the lake to ripple lazily. Most people were still out and about, taking the opportunity to enjoy the mild dusk. They were laughing. They were happy.
But Silver was watching them with contempt.
He knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't help it. Seeing everyone else so joyful only just reminded him of his own unhappiness. Of course, it wasn't their fault. They had absolutely nothing to do with his mood. More than likely, he was just jealous. He usually prided himself on his regular light-heartedness, and seeing everyone else enjoying themselves whilst he was so down was almost like a kick in the face due to the sheer irony of him being the one always trying to get everyone else's spirits up.
He stretched out on the bench. He had been sat there for a good hour, and his limbs were stiff, but he didn't really have the energy to move at the moment. Despite himself, he felt quite at peace staring at his surroundings. It was almost like a dreamscape, providing a decent distraction from real life for a short period of time before he would be dragged back down to earth by the crushing sadness at losing Kate.
He kept expecting her to be there when to be there when he went down to the Headquarters. She always woke early, and was down there before anyone else was, just so she could be the first to greet whoever showed up after her. He still listened out for her footsteps coming down the long wooden spiral staircase so the two of them could spend hours talking about absolutely nothing in particular. He only wished that they could have spent more time together, and that they never had to put up with so many interruptions in their lives. He had never felt about anyone like he did about her. Losing her was like losing a part of himself.
He could almost hear her laughing, telling him to get over it, before she would rest her head on his shoulder and join his staring contest with the lake. He would put her arm around her shoulder, determined to keep her by his side forever...
He heard footsteps.
As usual, he perked up, but then scowled as he realised it was highly unlikely Kate would be walking down to join him at the bench (they had both agreed that, whilst the bench was very powerful, it probably wasn't capable of ressurection).
The newcomer flumped down besides him, and he was able to tell from the corner of his eye that it was Sonic. The blue one sighed, and leaned back, admiring the view of the beautiful lake.
"Man, I can see why you guys liked this spot so much," he said, somewhat cheerfully.
Silver said nothing, not tearing his gaze away from the lake. He could tell Sonic was staring at him, trying to figure out a way to get him to talk. Although he wasn't in the mood for a conversation, he was kind of curious to see what Sonic would come up with.
Sonic exhaled slowly, whistling a little.
"So...Rouge told me Shadow bailed," he said after a second's silence. This worked, and Silver raised an eye ridge.
"Really?"
The blue hedgehog nodded, happy that Silver had responded.
"Yup," he said solemnly "apparently he stormed through the place, going on about Maria and Kate before he freaked out again and left," he paused before adding quietly "...man, I shouldn't have told him yet..."
Silver still didn't look at Sonic, his interest fading quickly.
"Perhaps not,"
Sonic fell silent, frowning, still determined to find a way to get Silver to talk, he leaned forwards so he was able to invade Silver's line of sight.
"Look," he began, talking softly "I know you're hurting, dude, but you gotta give me something. I know what I said before...but maybe you're right. Maybe there is a way she survived,"
He was trying to tempt Silver with optimism. The ivory hedgehog had realised this almost as soon as Sonic had started speaking. Usually, he would immediatly jump on the bandwagon, happy that someone finally shared his viewpoint. Right now, however, every word Sonic spoke seemed completely irrational. He ignored him, hoping beyond hope that Sonic would give up and just leave him alone.
Meanwhile, Sonic could feel himself becoming agitated by Silver's lack of co-operation. In regular circumstances, he would sense Silver's reluctance and leave him alone. But this wasn't exactly normal. His temper wasn't great at the best of times, and since the sudden and devastating turn of events that same morning, he felt like he was constantly on the verge of tipping over the edge.
He scowled.
"Look, can you give me something?" he snapped "say something, please! I hate seeing you like this!"
This was finally enough to tick Silver off to the point that he finally spun around to confront Sonic. His golden eyes were ablaze with anger, and he jabbed his finger at Sonic, almost threateningly.
"What do you want me to say, Sonic?" he snarled visciously "that she's magically survived? That everything will be great and sunny again tomorrow? Well, I'm not going to! Because it won't be, Sonic. She'll still be gone tomorrow, and the next day, and the next! So what do you want me to say?"
He fell silent as he reeled from his outburst, taking heavy breaths to steady himself. Sonic was too shocked to respond, so he said nothing. Around half a minute passed, in which time Silver placed both hands over his face in an attempt to calm down. When he next spoke, it was slighly muffled.
"I'm...I'm sorry..." he apologised, removing his hands to reveal slightly pink eyes "...I appreciate that you're trying to make me feel better, I really do, but..." he took a deep breath, and shuddered a little as he exhaled "...no one knew how much I loved her more than you did,"
He paused to release a small choking cough to relieve the pressure building in his throat. Sonic nodded, saying nothing, sensing that Silver wasn't finished. It was true. Sonic had been the only one that Silver had confided to about his feelings for the wolf. The blue hedgehog had also been the only one to hear him, quite clearly, say "I love you" in order to derobotisize her.
Silver continued after he took half a minute to compose himself.
"And...I just want to ask you something...just so you properly understand..." he hesitated, before looking Sonic dead in the eye and saying "...what if was Sally?"
This caught Sonic completely by surprise, and his expression softened into one of complete and utter sympathy. He breathed out slowly, rubbing a strained hand against his head as he tried to comprehend the horrifying thought.
"You...you mean...what if it was Sally who...who..." he swallowed the lump in his throat "...who died?"
Silver nodded slowly.
"Yeah...what if it was her who had gone? What if I came up to you and tried to make you feel better?" he asked quietly "would you?"
Sonic didn't respond straight away, caught up in deep thought and emotion. For the third time that conversation, he sighed deeply, and looked away from Silver to watch the rippling surface of the lake. Eventually, he shook his head slowly.
"No...no I wouldn't," he answered honestly, scratching his ear "I don't think I ever could feel better about that..."
The white hedgehog nodded in acceptance. Having recieved a satisfying answer, he said nothing in response, not wanting to push Sonic on the sensitive subject any further. There was no point making both of them feel as down as he did. Cobalt, however, apparently wasn't finished, and he tapped Silver on the shoulder to get his attention.
"But you know what I would do, though?" he asked, eyeing Silver sternly, eliciting a raised brow from his friend "I'd keep going, everyday as normal as I could, for her...because I know that's what she would want me to do,"
Silver nodded again sadly, closing his eyes. Sonic's tone turned soft and quiet.
"And I know that's what Kate would want you to do,"
He heard Ivory sniff, and saw him wipe his eyes. He looked away from Sonic, staring at the lake, the darkening sky, the rustling leaves, anything that might provide a temporary distraction that would allow him to regain composure. Unfortunately, nothing worked, and he felt the first tear slip down his muzzle.
"I know..." he muttered, sniffing up again "...I know she would..."
He sat back, taking slow and steady breaths. Sonic placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
The two best friends sat in silence for a while. The sky had deepended to indigo blue, with golden hints of the dying sun still glinting near the horizon. There were fewer people around, now that the breeze had picked up and had escalated into a frequent blast of somewhat chilly wind. The birds had quietnened down as they settled in for the night, and crickets had instead taken their place, chirping into the night air.
By the time Sonic left, the sun had completely disappeared, leaving an inky blue sheet in its place. The moon was merely a diamond slither in the sky, allowing more opportunity for the smaller stars to twinkle brightly and for the biggest ones to shine. There were no clouds, and so it was easy to see massive clumps of tiny stars in between their larger siblings.
Silver found himself gazing at them, focusing on the ones that were visible without the need to squint his eyes and give himself a headache. He recognised some of the constellations. Kate had explained them too him on one of their many nights sat together. He smiled at the one Kate had named as her father, before looking elsewhere.
Perhaps she was up there somewhere. The only things he knew about celestials was what she had told him, and he wasn't too sure if she now had a place up there in the sky. Whether she did, or whether she didn't, he swore he would look up at the stars every night, just in case she was.
Okay, I promise, the next chaper will definitely be the last one.
Oh by the way, if someone is reading this, feel free to drop me a review ^.^
Oh! And I know it's a day late, but I hope y'all had a great Valentine's Day! 3
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! :D
Rate and Review!
~W.O.T~
