Summary:

Since the events of the metal-virus Shadow has sunk into a depression over his failures and has been doubting if he truly is worthy of the title 'Ultimate lifeform'. Rouge has a plan to pull him out of this despair. But will Shadow's demons prove to be too much? And what of the actual demon lurking just out of sight..?

Hi. I've been a sonic fan for god knows how long. I've played the games, I've read the comics, and I've seen the shows. Over the years I'd jot down an idea or two that I thought would make for a good story, but it never got any further than that. And when I was passionate about an idea I'd always have an excuse ready to put off ever pursuing actually writing something. I'd say to myself that I'm too busy with school, or that I have a home project that needs my time, or literally anything else in the world to stop me from actually trying to put to words the scenario that is in my heart [Haha forgive me if that sounded too cheesy]. I was a bright and shiny 12-year-old when I found , and now I'm…. much much older lol. I think that's enough of a monologue for now, so all that's left to say is…. I hope you enjoy.

Oh! And if it matters, I try to image the character voices from Sonic Heros. That set of voices is my favorite :1

So uh, yeah. I hope you enjoy my fanfic!

Please let me know if you liked it and want to read more.

Chapter 1- Waking Up

It has been a little over a year since the metal virus ravaged the world of Mobius. After a tragedy of such magnitude, it's only natural that the world never quite returned to the way it was. Sure, there were people who pushed for a return to normalcy, but the trauma caused by the metal virus forever scarred the heart of the masses. In some form or another, the aftermath of the metal virus affected how everyone lived their daily lives. For some, a fear of contact developed into self-imposed quarantine out of worry for another wave of the virus. On the other side of the reactionary spectrum were people who, upon facing the fragility of their own mortality, found a response in the form of excess. Parties and celebrations were on the rise worldwide, even for festivals and traditions long abandoned, as people wanted any excuse to drink, eat, and overall have a good time.

And then there was Shadow.

When looking back at the events of the metal virus, nearly everyone in the whole world would rightly associate it with feelings of fear and terror.

But not Shadow.

No.

For him, when thinking back to it, all he feels is his wounded pride.

The ultimate lifeform, a genetically engineered hybrid of ancient hedgehog DNA and the genetic material of an alien demon overlord, was meant to be immune to all forms of virus and disease. The supposed pinnacle of biologic life was bested by a madman's mechanical plague. Despite his formidable immune response, Shadow succumbed to the metal virus like all the rest.

He hadn't proved himself ultimate, only arrogant, and foolish.

He failed to save the world from the metal virus. Just as he had failed to stop metal sonic from once again becoming metal overlord. And as he had failed to stop Infinite before he plunged the world into chaos with his illusions. Illusions of himself no less! A grievous insult that only worsened public opinion of the alien hybrid hedgehog.

His ego was shattered, but he'd never admit out loud how badly his failures continue to affect him. He can hide the pain of his injured self-worth well. Only the people who truly know him would even suspect that something is wrong. And only one person noticed that something was eating away at his mental health.

Which is exactly why he pushed away everyone close to him.

Shadow, like many others, tried to return to the life he once had. Which entailed missions from GUN, stopping bad guys, and occasionally crossing paths with Sonic and his pals on their adventures. And for a time, Shadow thought that he could let go of his folly, as he had let go of so many other mistakes from his past.

But he just couldn't.

Not this one.

Mission after mission.

Adventure after adventure.

Shadow was unable to shake this unrelenting feeling of self-doubt. Every mistake he made, no matter how small, was magnified exponentially by his psyche. He just couldn't let go of this feeling of inadequacy. Now believing himself unworthy of the title ultimate life form, Shadow once again fell into a crisis of identity. Except this time, there were no secrets of his past to uncover that could bring him answers.

At some point it just became too much, and so he shut himself out from the world.

On one random day, after just leaving GUN headquarters in order to submit a report of his near flawless execution of a rudimentary GUN mission, Shadow just felt like he had enough. He wanted to be left totally alone, but he was tired of moving. He looked around the cityscape from atop the stairs of the government building and realized that he didn't actually have a place of his own to let his guard down. Not here, not anywhere.

Shadow never really had a place of residence to call his own. Everything from his past he left on the space colony ARK, and not one for sentimentality Shadow never amassed much of anything in the way of worldly possessions. At most he has communication devices and micro-computers issued by GUN that he usually keeps on his person. Given that he didn't actually need to sleep Shadow never really saw a need for a permanent place of residence, a place to call home. Until now that is. In the past he would occasionally spend a day or two at Club Rouge, usually at her insistence. But he didn't want to see her right now, especially after their last fight.

Theoretically he could hide away at the Ark, but he didn't feel quite right using that place as a mere hideaway, nor did he want to consider himself 'running away' from anything.

So, when choosing a suitable place to isolate himself from the world, Shadow chose what he thought was the most sensible option.

He kicked in the door to the GUN archive building, pushed aside anyone that nagged him about 'clearance levels' as he made a beeline towards the archive keeper's break room, slammed the door behind him, jumped into a bed twin sized bed, and readied himself to sleep for a hundred years or however long it would take for these feelings to pass.

And so, time did pass.

Days, weeks, very shortly it all became a blur to Shadow as time began to lose meaning. The only evidence Shadow had that time was moving at all was a little barred window where the wall met the ceiling, where a little bit of daylight and occasionally moonlight beamed into his room. Illuminating the small room Shadow was in, you would see many boxes of files and paperwork stacked against the wall, leaving just enough room for a small desk beside an equally small bed. Currently in use by one broody hedgehog.

Occasionally he would have visitors. For the first few days it was primarily GUN employees that cited codes and penalties at him, but they soon shut up and stopped appearing altogether as Shadow would only turn away and launch chaos spears at the door in response.

Next to arrive were people who considered themselves Shadow's 'friends', or at the very least on good terms with the guy. A few GUN members, primarily scientists and communications staff, that genuinely liked Shadow would sometimes stop by and ask if they could get him anything. But he never responded. Sometimes they would slip in 'Get well soon!' cards under the door, but they were just left to pile up on the ground.

One day Omega barged in and demanded to know why Shadow has been taking such a long hiatus. Shadow was almost surprised by this display of compassion from his mechanical ally, but that soon went away when Omega said aloud:

"IMMORTAL YOU MAY BE, BUT YOUR ORGANIC MUSCLES WILL ATROPHY IF LEFT UNUSED AND UNTESTED."

After which Omega proceeded to pull shadow out of bed by his leg and drag him down the floor the archives hallway.

Almost indifferent to this indignity, Shadow opted not to fight back and simply teleported himself into bed as though he was never disturbed. Only for Omega to backtrack once he noticed he was no longer dragging Shadow behind him.

They would go on to repeat this a dozen or so times, at a stalemate of patience.

Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly if you knew him) the machine lost his cool first, and in a fit of rage Omega shoved Shadow into his arm cannon and shot him out of the building through the roof using the highest velocity blast he could muster.

After a few second of nothing happening, Omega was just about to walk away feeling rather pleased with himself. Only for Shadow to materialize right behind him with a less than amused look on his face and an outstretched hand.

Unamused, Shadow muttered, "Go count sand or something."

A green flash, and Omega was gone. Shadow then gently closed the busted-up door to his room and laid himself back into bed.

Somewhere, in a desert far away, Omega was stuck in a dune cursing to himself that he was going to unleash a hellfire of missiles on that infernal hedgehog.

It had been seven months now since Shadow decided to disappear from the world.

For a while, that interaction with Omega was the last time anyone dared to bother Shadow. That was until a brave, but obviously scared delivery girl made her way into his room. Since it had been a while anyone visited, Shadow was actually curious enough to turn around and see who it was. When he looked over he saw a yellow furred mongoose with purple hair, wearing a hat with a logo of one of those food deliveries services. And as her hat would imply she was indeed delivering food, a bucket of Mobius Fried Chicken to be exact. Her hands were shaking as she approached Shadow's bedside. The little mongoose never looked away from Shadow's piercing red eyes. She laid the bucket down as gently as she could, as though she were transporting highly unstable nitroglycerin. Slowly, she backed away, never turning her back. As soon as she got into the hallway she softly closed the door; and immediately after, the little mongoose booked it as fast as her little legs to go. Shadow heard her platform books making an almost comical 'thunk-thunk-thunk' with each step.

The sadistic hedgehog couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the poor girl's fear, especially since no one else was around to see his amusement. He fully turned around to get a better look at the delivery and picked up the bucket that had been left on the floor. He smelled the chicken when the delivery girl walked into his room, but as soon as he lifted the paper lid off the bucket his nose was blasted with the scent of chicken grease, an assortment of spices, and an overabundance of saturated fats.

*.. how yummy..*, he thought to himself sarcastically.

One of the perks of being him was that Shadow didn't actually need to eat. As long as he had a stable source of chaos energy, which his body produced naturally, his cells could function at their fullest potential without the need for sustenance. And as it so happened, Shadow was in possession of the green chaos emerald, keeping it by his bedside, allowing him to be fully sustained by the supplemental chaos energy radiating from it. Although being honest with himself, Shadow did occasionally miss the sensation of taste.

Just as Shadow was about to teleport the chicken away so the smell would stop flooding his room, he noticed a pink and blue card that was attached to the delivery.

He gave a small laugh; the nostalgia was too much.

It was a calling card that he had not seen in ages.

On the top of the card was the usual giant pink heart with the words 'thank you 3' underneath, and at the bottom of the card was the silhouette of a bat he was all too familiar with. But what was different was that someone had written with permanent marker 'you better say' over the pink heart and scribbled out the smaller heart next to 'thank you'. Leading anyone to conclude that the full message was 'You better say thank you".

Knowing full well who sent it, Shadow couldn't help but give a small smile, and chose to keep the gift after all. Laying back down and munching away one chicken piece at a time.

Three days later.

He didn't even need to turn around. He knew she was there. Standing just right outside of his door. Rouge.

He was surprised she was there, but not really. He knew she'd come see him one day. Or at least he had hoped.

So, he stayed still in bed, and he waited. Patiently he waited until she was ready to open the door and see him on her own terms.

And then she did. She finally opened the door and for six minutes she only stood at the doorframe, presumably either waiting for a response or still deliberating on what to say.

Overlooking the moonlit room, she finally broke the silence.

"..Sooo" she trailed on. "Is that you Shadow? Are you awake?... Are you in a good mindset to talk?."

*What? Has it been so long that you forgot what I look like already?* He wanted to say, but since it was pretty dark in his room he decided to let that slide.

Shadow sat up from his bed and turned to see her.

And there she was.

Crimson red met aquamarine as they once again locked eyes.

Her blue eyes shined like gems, illuminated by what little moonlight that seemed to beam into the room just for her.

In contrast, his red eyes unnaturally pierced through the darkness he took refuge in. Red eyes glowing in the dark is normally a haunting sight that would scare most people. And while she'd never admit it, Rouge was scared, but not because she feared him; just what he might say, and what it would mean for their relationship.

It may have been a year, but they both looked just the same as when they last spoke.

After a moment of pause, Shadow finally replied, "Yeah.. yeah. And yeah.."

Her ears involuntarily twitched at hearing her old beat friend's voice.

She tired her best to keep her face unreadable. Taking in a sharp inhale, and a soft exhale.

Rouge walked towards his bed and sat herself at the opposite edge, turning her head towards him to still allow for eye contact.

"That's good, that's good," She feigned with a cheerful tone.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at her, insulted that she started this off so disingenuously.

And of course, she caught that reaction. For anyone else that tone of hers would have gone unnoticed. But he wasn't just anyone. Even though they hadn't talked in over a year they still knew each other so well to the point of it being instinct.

"Ah…heh," she sighed.

Another pause.

She looked away, resting her eyes on the slightly visible moon.

"I've been thinking about what to say to you for so long… And even now I still don't really know."

His eyes softened at her sincerity.

"When we last spoke.. that big fight we had.. We both said some shitty things to each other. And honestly? I don't think I care about that anymore. I just.. miss my best friend. And it hurts seeing you push the world away. Especially after all you went through to move on from your past," Rouge said as her ears lowered, her face conveying the sadness in her heart.

"You're too hard on yourself. Harder than you have any right to be. How you reacted to the virus wasn't your fault, and doesn't mean you were weak… But… I've said this already.. But this time please, give yourself a break and stop being so hard on yourself.

She turned her to face her hedgehog companion once again. To try and get a read off him. But as usual, he kept to his poker face. Even for her, someone who knew him so well Shadow was renowned for being emotionally guarded. Right now she wished more than anything to be able to read his mind.

And then he did something that surprised even her.

He looked sad.

He dropped his guard for her.

"I.. have been thinking a lot too. About what, and who I really am.. And. About you too. You were my ally and I pushed you away. And. You didn't deserve that. I'm sorry," He apologized, looking directly into her eyes.

The ivory bat was shocked, especially at hearing an apology from him of all people. But she let him continue.

"And after everything, after all my time spent in contemplation, I suppose I only have three questions weighing me down... Could you answer them for me?"

Her eyes widened a bit. Surprised, she responded, "Uh.. Yeah? I'll do my best," feeling unsure of what the Ebony hedgehog would ask.

"…Why.. Now? After all the time that has gone by, what made you want to try talking sense into me again?"

Rouge wasn't too surprised about this question; in fact, she had been expecting it to some capacity.

"I.. wanted to reach out to you for a while if I'm being honest. But like I said. Even now, I still don't know what I want to say. Just… that I needed to say something. And.." She trailed off. A little hesitant to say this next part because she knew it wouldn't sound great and would likely be misconstrued.

"…There's this mission-"

"Mission." He interjected. His tone making it obvious he didn't like where she was going.

"Okay hear me out," Rouge said as she slightly raised her hands, trying to convey body language of sincerity.

Shadow reclined from his sitting position, his head and back pressed against the bed's headboard, signaling for her to elaborate.

"This mission… I could do it without you. Obviously I knew from the start that it would be easier with your help. But given how things are-" She stumbled. "Er.. were?" Rouge wondered out loud, phrasing it as her own kind of question. "I was actually planning on doing it alone. But after being assigned to it, there were so many coincidences that popped up that made me think of you. And at some point I realized that I wanted you there with me. And that we may even have a lot of fun." She said with a small but hopeful smile.

Shadow took a moment to soak in her answer. And responded with, "What kind of coincidences?"

Her smile widened. She giggled,"Is that one of your questions?" She couldn't help but tease.

"Hmph. No I guess not," He scoffed in slight amusement.

The little bat gave a little laugh. "Okay, next question."

Shadow took a deep inhale, sat himself upright, exhaled. He looked sadder than before. "Why did you abandon me. You told me before we were allies. And I believed you. So why did it take till now to reach out to me. You never even called… Actually. You did call once. But didn't say anything on the other line. And when I called back you didn't answer. You called just to ignore me. What the hell was that about? Was it just to taunt me? I thought you were in trouble. That somewhere in the world you could be dying, and I'd be powerless to help you."

Guilt washed over the little white bat's face.

"After an hour of no reply, I even checked with Omega if you were alright. And after an earful of him promising vengeance for his 'impromptu trip to Egypt'" Shadow mocked with air quotes. "He finally told me that you hadn't been on a mission in a while.. but. He Told me you were fine.. Which was. Good to know."

Taken aback by the sudden burst of raw emotion, Rouge couldn't help but reply with a bit of sass, "…That was.. a lot more than one question." However, she quickly decided to choose her next words a tad more carefully. "But I'll allow it… I kinda owe you that much after all."

She fumbled a bit with her hands, finding it a little easier to reply while she looked at her twiddling thumbs.

A somber look overtook her face. "I was.." She sighed. "I was mad at you. What you said a year ago, it made me so mad. And had me reassessing our whole relationship. And for a while I thought my life would be easier, maybe even better, without you in it."

Her words were harsh. But at least they were honest, thought Shadow.

"And as for why I called but didn't reply… Its just…I wanted answers too. Ya know? Although I.. hadn't quite figured out what those questions were.. exactly." She still hadn't turned to look at him, a little scared to see his reaction. "And I'm so sorry, I had no idea that you'd think something like that. And to be honest.." She gave a dry laugh. "I had actually blocked your number, so I had no idea that you had called. Oops." Trailing off with another wry laugh.

"…"

"…"

For a minute that felt like an eternity, neither said a word.

Ultimately, it was Shadow that broke the silence.

"I get it. I was a jerk. But did you really have to block my number? Considering we weren't even talking?"

She gave another laugh, although this one sounded genuine, "I don't know. Can you blame a girl for getting emotional after cutting out her best friend from her life?"

And there it was. The word he didn't know he needed to hear. Friend.

Bravely, the white bat asked, "..Are we?"

"Are we what?

"Still friends?"

He deliberated.

And then replied, "If you wouldn't mind.. please answer my last question."

A melancholy look overtook Rouge's face after having her genuine question dismissed. "Yeah. Okay."

Shadow got up from the side of the bed he was laying on and sat himself down next to Rouge.

He noticed the moonlight reflect off of the metal rims of his shoes, and the pink heart of Rouge's boots.

He faced forward, but took a sideways glance to say to her, "Why do you still want to be friends? I'm.. not the ultimate lifeform I thought I was. I'm not worth the trouble. I'm not worth-"

And before he knew what just happened.

She hugged him.

"God you're so stupid," she laughed, the tears starting to form. "Of course you're worth something."

*You're worth more than all the gems of the world.* She thought but didn't say.

Still embracing him, Rouge continued. "You're incredibly smart, talented, maybe the strongest person I've ever met." She hugged tighter. "And more than that… You have the most compassionate heart I've ever seen." She gave a small laugh. "I know most people wouldn't believe it, but you are the most heroic person I have ever met. Even if everyone on the planet was against you, I know you'd save the world a thousand times over. And that's why.. I want to always stay by your side. Remember that."

His face remained stoic. But in his heart. He felt it.

A spark flared in his chest, reigniting a passion for life unique to Shadow.

His heart beat faster. And Shadow felt as though he had just been brought back to life.

His mind may not have known how to reply, but his instincts knew the right answer.

He hugged her back. And hugged her tightly.

She flinched a little in surprise.

And then she heard it. Just two simple words brought a heartfelt smile to her face, and a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I will."

Aaaaaaand there we go folks. That was chapter 1! Tbh I had planned it to be a little longer… but I've been wanting to post something for long enough. And I wanted today to be the day that I finally posted my story here. I have a lot of cool ideas I really want to make real onto text. And I hope one day I will. I'm about to start a new and busy chapter of my life, so I hope I'll have the time… and even if I don't. Ill make time. Hah. At least. Ill try. So if you liked the story so far. Thanks. And Please dear reader, take care out there.