Remember how I said that some of these would be loosely connected. This one is a bit MORE loose than the others. Enjoy!

Promises

A flash of light in a dark room striped with sunset shadows revealed a young black hedgehog. Too soon, the room was encased with it's original dark glow and the boy practically hissed at his surroundings. The cyberspace port had brought him to yet another metal room full of computers and other man-made paraphernalia.

Shadow was getting so VERY sick of having to look at cold metal and unrelenting concrete. He'd been surrounded by it in Westopolis and had been entirely enveloped by it in Cyberspace trying to take down the human's defenses. How those pathetic humans found such comfort in something that could (and had) crushed them so easily with few obvious advantages (beyond vanity) to offer back in return. Still, Shadow had to laugh. It was oddly fitting that the lies that humans told each other were so perfectly reflected in the lies they built for themselves.

"They hide themselves from the truth, to their detriment," he murmured to himself, "And yet I am the monster for actively seeking my truth."

"What are you-. Shadow, no! You have to stop!"

Shadow snarled as he shook the memory of Rouge's cries assaulted him. He swung around the room, trying to find something to do. To his dismay, Doom's eye had abandoned him, and for once, Shadow wasn't being surrounded by demands for help or favors. He'd been left to his own devices and now he had to stew in his own thoughts until he was summoned again.

Alone

Shadow's fists clenched and he punched the console behind him. He was saved from his guilt when ears twitched as he heard the whisper of a machine moving near him. He turned to follow the sound, looking up through the slats of the room he was in. He was shocked to see a familiar floating capsule.

"Is that-" Shadow's eyes widened, "Dr. Eggman?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he watched the doctor float away. He'd considered asking the doctor about his memories. The one time he had…

Shadow shook his head, "That wasn't the Doctor. That was his crazy Sonic clone, Metal Sonic."

Still, Shadow was loath to admit, he was afraid of Eggman confirming what Metal said.

Shadow growled and forced himself to step off of the platform and follow Eggman, "At the very least he should know something about those black creatures."

It was good enough for him. Shadow ran full tilt out of the room and found himself in the outskirts of a large, mysterious castle. His head tilted back and was confounded by the heights the turrets reached above him, scraping at an ominous cloudy sky. Ancient clay colored stone amid wrought iron accents taunted him from a distance. Shadow couldn't help but scoff at the display, "Speaking of the lies we build for ourselves."

Still, he frowned in confusion, this was… not a usual haunt for the doctor.

"Although, come to think of it," Shadow thought, "He had that other castle the team and I tore through a while back. This can't be that same castle, though. I'll have to proceed with caution."

"Shadow! I thought that was you!"

Shadow closed his eyes, his annoyance increasing ten-fold at the sound of yet another beggar in his midst. He took a breath, allowing a sense of resignation to wash over and cool his frustration before he looked to face this new stranger, no doubt another of Sonic's friends. He had to admit, this one he honestly didn't recognize- a pink hedgehog in a red dress with white trim. Bright green eyes sparkled with relief at seeing him.

He sneered down his nose at her. She would learn better soon enough.

He purposefully turned to ignore her, facing down the door of the castle. He pressed on it tentatively, finding himself oddly pleased that it was locked.

"Good," he thought, "Maybe I can scare her off."

Shadow smirked as he summoned a bit of the chaos energy from the three he already carried. Pulling back his fist, he punched the door with such an explosive force the door shattered to pieces on impact. He strutted into the room, only to find another door in his way. Even worse, the interloper beside him not only seemed entirely unphased by his display, she'd continued with her request.

"Thanks for getting the door!" she chimed, "But listen! Cream and I went looking for Dr. Eggman earlier and-"

Shadow punched at the next door, harder this time. The pieces that exploded out glowed with an unnatural red ember. To his pleasure, the pink hedgehog had stopped talking and he was no longer met with a dead end, but a long corridor leading to the next turret. Immediately he flew forward at full speed, putting as much distance as he could between himself and yet another self-righteous stranger who claimed to know him.

After everything he'd done, living his first moments of existence for the sake of others, his new team, the world, they offered him nothing but selfish, off-hand platitudes and nothing about his past. So much of himself lost to time, trauma, and classified files. For all that he gave, for all that was demanded of him, he was given not one iota of information on who he was before he woke up in that capsule that Rouge found him in. And they had the gall to make demands of him?

Shadow screeched to a halt as he realized the next turret was nothing but another dead end. His breathing fast, not from exertion but from vexation, he swung around the room, looking for the next way out, only to find nothing.

"Typical," he thought, a bitter laugh grumbling out of his throat, "Of course. It could never be this damn easy."

Anger boiled under his skin and set his quills on edge. He was under no illusions about the Black Arms aliens either. They were just the same as his so-called 'friends'. They'd yet to offer so much as a crumb of information themselves. They, unlike Sonic and his minions, offered him something at least. He could feel the power, newly introduced by Black Doom, already threatening a greater explosion the likes of which would surely destroy this turret.

"Good," he smiled contemptuously, "Let my rage destroy all obstacles. Let the world know what happens when they stand in my way."

He heard the tell-tale tapping of go-go boots behind him and his rage doubled over, "But first."

"Shadow!" the pink hedgehog cried, "Wait for me! You're being so rude, you know!"

The girl gasped as she no doubt just noticed Shadow glowing in the same ominous red the fire had earlier. Shadow practically preened under her fearful gaze as he stalked closer to her.

"I. Don't. Know. You," Shadow emphasized each word with a stomp of his feet, "I. Am. SICK. Of you. And your STUPID. Friends. Demanding help. When I Get. NOTHING. BACK!"

The energy erupted out of him shaking the building and shattering the boxes in the room. He didn't wait for the dust to settle. He continued, feeling his eyes burn with the power of his fury, "Why should I care about the insipid BULLSHIT you all keep foisting on me!? Each and every one of you fools keep insisting we are friends. But all I see is a group of selfish, useless whelps who can't seem to do anything on their own without my help. If you degenerate, ungrateful little brats aren't going to help me, then at least have the decency to stay out of my way!"

Another wave of chaos energy crashed into the walls around him and the tower shook from his power. When the dust settled, however, he was unsettled to see that the other hedgehog had only just been pushed back a few feet. She hadn't been so much as scratched up in the explosion.

In fact, when she looked up, she was not only not scared anymore, but she looked about as angry as Shadow felt. Her green eyes burned like poison lakes and Shadow wondered at why such a reflection of his rage felt so gratifying. She reached behind her and pulled something seemingly out of thin air- a large red and yellow hammer. She lunged towards him at a speed that Shadow was only barely prepared for. But as she swung, almost too late, Shadow realized she wasn't aiming for him. Just behind him was a large slab of marble on the floor that she rammed away, revealing a steep drop below. Before he could react, she'd grabbed his arm and pulled him down with her, just as he realized the rumbling of the tower around them hadn't stopped. Both landed somewhat unsteadily down below, but it was Amy who pushed him still further into the depths of the castle, screaming at him to 'Look out!' as the rubble followed them from above.

All this happened in the span of several seconds, but as Shadow took in the pink hedgehog again, he realized that, for the first time since he met Rouge, someone had gone out of their way to look out for him.

He felt his quills settle slightly as she brushed the dust off her skirt, her grumbling only just making his ears twitch. He took her in more seriously and realized that he felt an imploring sense of familiarity about her.

"Does she…" he wondered, "Does she really know who I am?"

The thought was quickly pushed aside as radiation green eyes zeroed in on him, her rage now dwarfing his own, "NOW YOU LISTEN HERE, BUSTER!

The girl slammed her hammer down, and while Shadow wasn't afraid of her, he felt much more inclined to listen to what she had to say.

"I am NOT going to deal with your temper tantrum just because you're a friend!" she exploded as she waved her hammer to emphasize Shadow's destruction, "If you hadn't noticed, there's a whole alien invasion going on right now. We have bigger things to deal with right now. I'm looking for my friend, who is LOST, scared, and alone in this giant vanity project Eggman calls a base and THEN I'm looking for him so he can help clean up this stupid mess that those monsters are making of our home!

"NOW!" she growled, "You can either get your act together and help me find Cream without bringing a whole castle crashing down on us. OR. You can wait here until I'm done talking to Eggman…

"Then, I can help you, too."

Shadow watched as her eyes fell and just seemed to look so tired. He could feel the sincerity flowing off of her, even as she lowered her hammer and let it disappear from her hands. She came closer to him, almost too close. But as she came within his personal sphere, Shadow was left with an odd feeling of ease. There was no doubt in his mind that he knew her once and that in that time where he had known her, she was trusted. So much so that Shadow allowed her to rest a hand on his shoulder.

"I didn't know you didn't remember me," the girl murmured, "I'm Amy. Amy Rose. Sonic told me that you had lost your memory. I thought, since I saw you with Rouge, that maybe that didn't mean everyone. I know this is scary, and I will help you. But Cream is so little, and she's part of my team."

Amy's eyes lit up in a small, hesitant smile, "Do you remember? On Metal Sonic's battleship? The little rabbit that was with me?"

Shadow's eyes narrowed as he searched back. His eyes eased as he vaguely remembered a small brown and beige rabbit that had held a yellow chaos emerald in her hands. He nodded.

"That's Cream," Amy continued, "You never met her. You'll like her, though. She's really sweet. But she's in danger on her own and we-

She paused and shook her head, "-I need to help her. But we are going to find Eggman too. Is that why you're here?"

Shadow nodded, "I thought… he must know something about my past."

Amy smiled back reassuringly, "He probably would. He and Rouge were part of your team."

Shadow's eyes widened at that. He hadn't known that little tidbit.

"So why don't you come with me!" Amy beamed, "You can ask Eggman your questions and then we can make him help us against the Black Arms!"

Shadow scoffed as he rolled Amy's hand off his shoulder and walked forward towards the rest of the castle. Guilt rolled off of him as easily as her reassurances rolled off of her. Switching sides against the Black Arms, after everything he'd already done? He'd already destroyed the cybernetic defenses. He'd already decimated a large chunk of their physical forces as well. Could he really change sides so easily? Sure, he had no illusions about the Black Arms, it was clear their mission on Earth wasn't a peaceful one. He didn't care about any of that…

He thought of poison green eyes and tiny cream rabbits, "I didn't," he realized.

"I'm serious!" Amy pleaded, "And… even if Eggman doesn't have all the answers. Even if I don't have all of them, I'll find a way to get them for you. We can figure it out together!

"I promise!"

That stopped him in his tracks and for the first time since Shadow found himself on Eggman's battleship, he felt an almost overwhelming sense of deja vu that pulled at him ceaselessly. He swerved to face Amy, who had a knowing look on her face.

"You do know me," Shadow murmured in wonder, "Don't you?"

Amy's eyes fell, "Not that well. I can tell you what I know while we look for Cream though! Come on!"

This time she grabbed his hand, and for once, Shadow really felt like he was going somewhere. No longer was he lost, for once, he felt a true sense of security and faith in the person he was helping.

Finally, FINALLY, there was a give in offer to his need to take.

"The first time I met you was in a place called Prison Island," Amy began.