Chapter Twelve – Ouroboros
It was several months before Shadow saw Sonic again. Just because the Brotherhood was complete didn't mean that they had to stay glued to each other. Shadow had his own work to do, plus if Mobius needed them, then they would be there. They could always find each other.
Blaze and Silver had gone since home, and Amy had settled down with Charlie. This time, however, it was Shadow searching Sonic out, as he had a mission for him from G.U.N.. A direct request from Frank. His cousin Charlie had found the evidence needed and had absolutely nailed Lionel in court. He now spending a life sentence in prison. But with Eggman's surrender, the assets seized from his estate more then covered the costs of Lionel's deception. The Human was incredible wealthy, much beyond what the Lion had paid him. After Sonic had left, Eggman was taken to hospital, where he made a full recovery, and was then tried and sent to court.
It was very damming, and the Human was sent to a maximum security jail for the rest of his life. His territory, and all of robots, bases, and assets, were dismantled and destroyed. G.U.N. was in charge of this and Shadow did a lot of the work himself, at his own request. He personally wanted to make absolutely sure that the Human had no opportunity, whatsoever, to return, especially if he literately had nothing left. Plus he took infinite pleasure in doing it, considering what the Human had done to him in the past. He had been rather busy but somewhat lonely. He was confused. Rouge was with him, during every job, but that was not the issue here. He was missing his balance. He rolled his eyes. Despite everything, he was never going to get rid of that annoying Blue Blur, but nowadays, he didn't want to.
With Frank's request, he decided to go to Angel Island alone. Rouge wasn't exactly welcome on the Island. It was simple to get to via the Ark, using his Portable Teleporter. He just used the Master Emerald as a beacon. Suddenly, he instantly appeared stood atop of the mighty green gemstone, only to be attacked by Knuckles, who, upon realising his mistake, immediately back away.
"Oh. Sorry." He stammered. "I thought you were that Bat after my Master Emerald again." He apologised. Shadow smirked, and nodded, accepting it, and then rolled his eyes. Nothing ever changed with Rouge. Knuckles stood aside to allow Shadow to jump down. But suddenly, he stopped. Immediately, he felt it. A humming of pure energy that was so incredibly familiar, that it instantly distracted Shadow, making him look around. Surrounding the alter of the Master Emerald, were very tall, narrow columns. Seven in total, and sat upon one of them was the large pure peridot (green)gemstone, back home, where it should be. Shadow gulped.
"Chaos Emerald!" He gasped. Knuckles smirked.
"Yep." He said, proudly. "A guy from the Mobian Authorities brought it here, for safe-keeping. With Eggman gone, there was no need for the maximum security. He told me to guard it along side the Master Emerald." He shrugged. Shadow raised an eyebrow. Well, that explained the prompt but somewhat aggressive welcome from the Echidna. He continued. "But the other six are still missing. When they are eventually found, they to will be brought here. This is where they belong." He smiled, but he then realised that Shadow hadn't really been listening. The Black Hedgehog had been staring at the Chaos Emerald, almost desperate to have it back in his hands once again. Knuckles rolled his eyes, and clapped his hand in front of Shadow's face to snap him out of it. The Echidna growled.
"Oh no, you don't." He spat. Shadow hissed back, rather coldly. But Knuckles stood his ground, folding his arms. He sighed. "Hey. I saw you fight that Death Egg Robot." He heaved. "You don't need it." He smiled. Shadow stared. Knuckles had just made both, one, a very good point and two, an enormouscompliment with that statement. But the Echidna was right. Shadow's abilities were so good, even at the height of war, that he actually didn't need the Chaos Emerald to enhance them. He was stunned. So stunned, in fact, that the Ultimate Lifeform backed right down, leaving the Chaos Emerald exactly where it was. He never believed people would ever think so highly of him, especially Knuckles, an Echidna whom he deeply respected. Shadow heaved. Knuckles smiled but frowned.
"So, what brings you to Angel Island anyway?" He asked. "It's not the Chaos Emerald. You didn't know it was here, before you arrived." He added. The Ultimate Lifeform was one of his less frequent visitors. Shadow's smirk broadened.
"G.U.N." He said, flatly. "Sonic's been requested for a mission." He shrugged. Knuckles growled. He was very defensive about Sonic working for G.U.N., he was never keen on the idea.
"What kind of mission?" He spat. But Shadow sighed, rolling his eyes again. He didn't normally tell on his G.U.N. missions, but this was no ordinary assignment. He leered.
"Due to the success of both the case again Lionel and Eggman, G.U.N. are throwing a party in Sonic's honour." He hissed. Shadow still hated parties, and only agreed to get the Blue Blur so long as he didn't have to stay for it. But he knew he'd get dragged along for the ride anyway, Rouge would insist on it. Knuckles smiled, somewhat relieved.
"Yeah. I know where you'll find him." He announced, and he took Shadow down the alter of the Master Emerald, and across a good chunk of Angel Island. Until, finally, he brought Shadow to a brick built house, remarkably resembling Tails' old house, right in the heart of Angel Island. Shadow gave the Echidna a sideways glance.
"I thought you said 'temporary'?" He sneered. Knuckles bit his lip, put his hands behind his back, and looked down.
"I changed my mind." He said, sheepishly. Shadow was about to ask why, but immediately got his answer. Sonic came bouncing out of the house, right towards Knuckles. The two then proceeded to play-fight each other to the floor, the Blue Blur being very child-like and extremely endearing, before bouncing off back to Tails again, completely failing to notice Shadow. There were no pale blue sparks of Static Electricity at all. Shadow was impressed, but he also got the impression that the two of the them had worked extremely hard with Sonic to get him to improve his control over it. It seemed to be working. The whole thing left Knuckles with a big grin on his face. Shadow smirked, his lip curling.
"You couldn't let him go, could you?" He hissed. Knuckles sighed. He'd lost Sonic, five years ago, and absolutely hated every minute of it. Because of his own stupidity, the Blue Blur walked out on him. But now all was forgiven and he wasn't going to let that happen again. But then he huffed rounding on the Black Hedgehog.
"Could you?" He spat back at him. Shadow immediately stopped, and looked back at Sonic. He sighed. The Blue Blur did indeed mean a great deal to him. Especially now.
"No." He admitted. It was simply because that he, and in fact, everyone there, were all there, because of that Blue Hedgehog's amazing talent to bring people together and then proceed to fight to the death for them. This brought out loyalty in everyone, including Shadow. Now finally he was happy to have that loyalty, considering what the Blue Blur had done for him. In return, Shadow had brought Sonic back to his friends. A fair trade, in his opinion. Suddenly, Sonic went inside the house, and suddenly a very controlled explosion of electricity which ran out through wires, out from the house to an enormousbattery outside. Tails then used this to run his Workshop, as Angel Island wasn't on the Mobius International Electricity Grid. Shadow's eyes widened. Knuckles noticed and giggled.
"What that Fox had done with the Blue Blur had been absolutely astounding. He can control Sonic's Static Electricity enough to run that house of his. Sonic is who he is because of the Fox, and yet the kid takes no credit for it." He beamed, extremely proud to be part of the trio again. Shadow smirked. He agreed. But then the Echidna sighed.
"So what about this party?" He asked. Shadow smirked.
It was a good party.
Absolutely everyone was there, including Sonic, Tail, Rouge, Amy and Charlie. Knuckles stayed on Angel Island but even Shadow was there. He did get dragged along, but even he had to admit, he did enjoy it. He spent the entire party, sat in corner, getting quietly drunk on whisky, watching proceedings, getting very amused. Sonic was the centre of attention and so he should have been. His excitement got the better of him and the resulting Static Electricity, blow the electrics. This time G.U.N. had learned and had a backup generator, but when Sonic eventually fired that as well, that was the end of the party.
Good times.
That was three years ago. Shadow smiled as he stood there leaning against the tree, the memories still fresh in his mind. He smirked. He did enjoy reminiscing happy events, since there had been so much suffering in his life. The Blue Blur was curled up by his feet, still in his red shoes with the white stripes. He saved the black shoes for G.U.N. missions only, which were few and far between nowadays. Shadow could sense he was slowly waking up. They had both been there all night. Thankfully, it had been at clear, so didn't get drenched with the rain. There were stood outside the front doors of a very large white building, in the big city. The previous day, Sonic had been so excited, sending way to much Static Electricity everywhere that neither Tails, nor Charlie could control him, so they had sent for Shadow.
It got so bad, that the Ultimate Lifeform was forced to take him outside, where they had been ever since. Shadow had been awake the entire time, quietly resting, but now he had his eyes plastered on that white building, looking for any signal as to events happening inside. Sonic had woken up, and had uncurled himself. He yawned and stretched. He got to his feet, looking in the same direction as Shadow.
"Anything?" He asked, his voice very groggy and cracked. Shadow shock his head. Sonic took a deep sigh, looking very disappointed. He hated waiting, especially for news like this. Suddenly, Shadow grabbed him, as Tails appeared at one of the topmost windows of the large white building. He caught their attention and then proceeded to give them a double thumbs up, an enormous smile on his face. Sonic exploded in pure excitement sending Static Electricity everywhere, crying in absolute delight. Shadow had to duck for cover, but didn't stop him. He grinned.
"That's my girl, Ames." He squealed. Even Shadow himself was pleased. They were stood outside the Westopolis County General Hospital and Amy had just successfully given birth. Any and all past transgressions between herself and Sonic were long since gone, especially considering who the father was. Shadow smirked.
"I take it the signal from Tails means that both mother and baby are fine." He wondered. Sonic giggled.
"I hope so." He smiled. "Oh, Amy, your an absolute star. Charlie must be delighted." He grinned, and then he started dancing about. "A new addition to the family. It's the first good news we have had in a while." He added. Shadow agreed. Since Eggman's defeat, the last few years had been rather boring. They had successfully repaired and upgraded the Ark with new solar panels, the space colony now able to fully power itself, but with peace, there was no real threat to the planet anymore. However, a new baby would make life interesting again. But Shadow wondered. The whole process of pregnancy and birth were still a little alien to him, having been created in a lab. What these girls went through to bring new life into the world was staggering, and Shadow found himself deeply respecting any girl who had successfully achieved it. In other words, mothers. This now included Amy. But now he began to frown.
"I wonder what it is?" He asked. Sonic giggled.
"Er. A baby." He said, sarcastically. But Shadow growled, his temper flaring slightly at Sonic's utter stupidity. He made a beeline for him in order to hit him but missed. But truthfully, Shadow wasn't really trying. The Blue Blur looked somewhat shocked. Shadow growled.
"No." He spat. "Gender!" He hissed. Sonic gulped, realising his mistake.
"Oh, sorry." He apologised. He had been rather idiotic. He knew better. He smirked. "Er. I don't know, but I don't really care." He shrugged. "Hey, let's go in and find out." He added, pointing to the hospital. He'd calmed right down, and the Static Electricity had all but gone. Shadow stopped and stared at the large white building. He gulped.
"Me." He hissed. "Go, in there." He stammered. Dragging a over-excited Blue Blur from a hospital foyer was just about tolerable but what Sonic was asking was something else. Shadow hated hospitals, and he wasn't exact welcome in them either. The bright white walls, glass doors and partitions heavily reminded him of how the Ark used to look just after he was created, during his very short and somewhat none existent childhood. It was a time in his life, where he was grotesquely experimented on, and painfully poked and prodded. Hospitals always brought back unpleasant flashbacks, and Shadow often did everything he could to avoid them. Sonic, however, was aware of this. He smiled.
"Hey, you'll be alight." He grinned. "I've got you." He added, holding out a hand. Shadow immediately looked up and was absolutely stunned. It was almost as word-for-word repeat of the exact same phase he told Tails, eight years ago, back when Sonic told the world he was sterile. Right back of the beginning of their journey together. Shadow couldn't help but get the feeling of coming full circle, and it meant the world to him. They truly has each other's back. Shadow nodded, but didn't take the hand, and walked passed Sonic towards the hospital, the Blue Blur bouncing behind him. Not only was Sonic trusting him with the Brotherhood, the Chaos balance between them, but now with his own family, and the rest of eternity. If Mobius needed them. Then they would be there. Together. Always. Immortal, for all time. Shadow sighed as he stood at the doors of the hospital, side-by-side with the Hero of Mobius. He smirked as he began to wonder, as there was only ever one kind of person who earned that level of trust.
Maybe he was the Black Wind after all.