Chapter 18

Shadow and Omega warped onto the observation deck of the Space Colony Ark. They were greeted by a legion of Alodiad warriors and Omega readied his guns.

Shadow raised his arm to conjure a Chaos spear. "Get out of my home."

Suddenly, the pink emerald disintegrated in his hand, and he fell to the ground. "What's going on?"

"Gamma radiation levels rising." Omega brandished his guns and unleashed a flurry of bullets. "Initiating operation: Save Shadow."

"It was a trap." He slammed his fist against the floor. "I just need a minute, Omega. . . . Let my cells regenerate."

"In a minute, you will be deceased. More hostiles are inbound from the aft corridor. We will be overwhelmed."

Shadow grunted. "If I removed my rings, maybe I could manage a Chaos blast, but—"

He felt a slight tremor in the floor.

"Explosions detected in the aft corridor. . . . It is being sealed. Shadow, what did you do?"

He scowled at Omega. "Do I look like I can do anything from this position?"

"No. In fact, my auto receptors have never recorded such a pitiful sight. I will save it in my memory banks. . . . Save complete."

Just as the door to the corridor seal shut, Rouge flew threw the gap and barely landed inside the observation deck.

She stood up and her face contorted in pain. "You two . . . can't do anything without me, huh?"

"Rouge!" Shadow gasped and pushed himself off the ground. "Why are you standing there and why are you making that awful face?"

She managed a smile. "Well, it's not because my wing's stuck in the door. I can tell you that."

"Oh, let me help," he took a few steps forward and collapsed, "in a second."

She glared at Omega. "You wanna help me?"

"Negative. Shadow's struggles bring me far too much joy to interfere."

He leaned against the corpse of an Alodiad and pulled himself up. "I'm so glad Rouge is safe that I don't care what you say to me."

She crossed her arms. "Yeah, I'm sure you thought I'd be trapped in a cell, waiting for you to rescue me like some damsel in distress." She looked back at her wing clamped in the door. "Okay. Maybe I picked the wrong time to say that. You guys better be grateful I gave up a wing to—"

Shadow kissed her and pried open the door with one hand. Somewhat taken aback, she closed her eyes and leaned into his kiss.

"Thanks, dear." She smiled and stroked his quills. "I missed you."

"Did you miss this?" He held out her inhibitor ring.

"My ring!" she exclaimed. "That ugly android stole it after she took me here. . . . You didn't do anything with her, right?"

He shook his head. "It tried to seduce me, but I knew something was amiss."

Rouge laughed and touched his face. "I think that deserves another kiss."

"May I suggest we continue the mission?" Omega said as he approached them. "Every moment we waste, Hope's plan approaches its terminus, whatever that may be."

"Alright, but my wing's broken, so I'm useless." She sighed. "Without my wings, I'm just a cunningly beautiful woman."

"That's wrong." Shadow slid the ring onto her wrist. "You're not just a woman. You're Rouge the Bat, the most cunningly beautiful woman in the world. You are the ultimate woman."

"You're so weird." She smiled. "But coming from you, that almost sounds like a proposal. You even gave me a ring."

He nodded firmly. "Then consider it one. When we return to Mobius, we'll—"

Omega pushed them aside and blew open the door, sending mangled robot parts flying through the air. Shadow and Rouge stared at each other for a moment before following him. He marched down the corridor, unleashing his full salvo to clear a path to the Ark's central control room. While they ran, Shadow glanced over at Rouge. She would have been flying if not for her broken wing. Running through these corridors with a dear friend at his side brought back many painful memories.

He grabbed Rouge's hand and she winked at him. "Don't worry, Shadow. I'll watch your back."

He nodded. "And Maria will watch over me."

When they reached the end of the corridor, they found the entrance to the control room. The door was magnetically sealed, so Omega used his arm cannon to launch Shadow through it. He then grabbed the edges of the hole and tore it open so he and Rouge could get through.

Once he gained his footing, Shadow looked up to the familiar platform where he had once stood, showcasing the Eclipse Cannon to Dr. Eggman. Now Hope was standing there, leaning against the control panel as she stroked her quills.

"Shadow, I'm glad you could make it for the finale." She sighed. "But did you have to bring your friends?"

"Target acquired." Omega leveled his guns at her. "Venting excess heat. Shadow, give me the command."

Hope slid her hand across the control panel. "Sorry, Omega, but I'm the only robot allowed in here."

A bolt of red lightning descended from the darkness above and struck him in the head. "Red sprite discharge detected." His torso spun around wildly. "Central processor corroded. Initiating emergency shutdown."

He collapsed onto the metal walkway, his upper body hanging over the abyss.

"Omega!" Rouge ran to him and pulled him away from the edge. "This isn't good. His brain's fried."

Shadow grimaced and walked towards Hope. "You'll pay for hurting my friends."

She smiled. "I thought I was your friend."

"You were. Now stand aside if you don't want to get hurt. I'm destroying the cannon."

She sat on the edge of the platform and stared at him. "But if you do, then everyone on Mobius will continue suffering through their pointless lives."

Shadow crossed his arms. "Then you're going to end their suffering by killing them?"

"Of course not." She frowned. "I don't want revenge. I'm trying to help them. With the Eclipse Cannon connected to the Alodiad mainframe on Xeros, I can upload everyone's collective conscious to the network. Then they can leave behind their miserable bodies and live forever just like me."

"That's not living. That's running away. Humans need adversity. It motivates them to improve and make the world a better place for their successors. You're only offering a comfortable stagnation—a sort of field of Asphodel where we all sit around waiting for the universe to end."

Hope shrugged. "If you want to call it that, fine, but I think it will be a paradise. We can be together forever and watch time itself pass away."

Rouge ran over to Shadow. "Yeah, yeah, you just want the power. Those robots think you're their creator, so you'll be the queen of a boring, empty world. I'm sure that'll be loads of fun."

Hope glared at her. "What are you even doing here? I told those androids to throw you out the airlock."

"Honey, I've been destroying robots my whole life. . . . Actually, we all have."

"Enough talk." Shadow stepped forward. "I don't want to hurt you, Hope, but I will if you don't move and let me destroy the cannon."

She hopped down and landed in front of him. They were the same height now, so he wasn't intimidated in the slightest.

"If you don't want to hurt me then let's settle this in a race. If you win, then I'll shut down the cannon and my entire army, but if I win, then I save the planet and you get to live on the Ark with me forever."

His eyes widened. "Are you serious? You know you can't win."

"Let's see if that's true." She grabbed his arm. "Sorry, Rouge. He's coming with me."

There was a flash of purple light and Shadow found himself on the outer face of the Ark. He remembered this place well. It was where he fought Sonic over ten years ago.

Hope let him go and threw off her coat. "We'll race to the end of the cannon. If you win, you can destroy it right there."

He laughed. "This is what Sonic was doing all those years ago. I was in your position then. Well, I'll go on ahead."

He took off down the cannon's barrel, but in a few seconds, Hope caught up to him. She was flying through the air with a pair of rocket boots similar to Shadow's.

"Impressive." he said. "You were fast for a human, but this is a whole different level of speed. Still, you can't expect to beat me with mimicry."

She smiled madly. "I trained all those years so I could run by your side. Now I've finally made it. If only you would let me love you. Then we could be together in paradise."

He scoffed at her. "Your paradise is another man's hell. You speak of love, but your vision would deny it from everyone. All the people on that planet have friends and loved ones. They've toiled for years to form those bonds, and you would destroy them all in exchange for a detached, meaningless existence—a life of sentience but not living."

She frowned. "And some of those people are in so much despair, they don't want to go on living. They're crying out for a savior to lead them to a better world, and I will answer that call."

"That's ridiculous. Humans don't need a better world. They need to be better people."

Hope ignored him and warped to get further down the cannon. Shadow did the same and caught up with her.

"This is pointless." he said. "No matter how fast you go, I can remove my inhibitor rings and approach the speed of light."

She reached out to him. "Please, give me a chance to show you the depths of my love—to show you how much I'm willing to suffer to be with you."

"I saw all of that while you were alive, and I was content to remember you fondly. Whatever you do now means nothing to me. You're just an apparition of an old friend."

Shadow removed two of his rings and reached the end of the cannon in an instant. About two minutes later, Hope arrived and slammed her fist against the metal railing.

"It's not fair." Her voice was trembling. "I just wanted to stay with you forever. Why won't you let me? Forget changing the world. I just want you."

He shook his head. "You're not the Hope I knew, and I won't let you replace the memories I had with her. I'll treasure her final moments forever."

"Then my worst fears are true. You only loved me because I looked like Maria. I'm like an alien in this form." She clenched her fists. "But I don't want to be a memory like her. I'm going to live forever like you!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his embrace.

"Sh-Shadow?" Hope whispered. "What are you doing?"

"Apologizing. . . . If not for me, you'd still be alive. I was reckless. I should have never taken you into battle with me, but I wanted to see how far you could go."

She smiled. "And that's exactly what I wanted—one moment of greatness."

He trembled slightly. "Yeah, you had it, and now it's over."

She hugged him and kissed his forehead. "I love you, Shadow."

"I'm sorry."

He tore her in half, splattering oil and circuitry along the platform. Hope looked down at her mangled body and smiled.

"I'll never stop. Even if you destroy this body a thousand times, I'll keep coming back, and one day, you'll accept me. Then I'll stay by your side forever."

The light left her eyes and Shadow threw her body into space. He watched it drift into the orbit of Mobius and slowly enter the atmosphere. For a moment, her form glowed bright red like a burning ember before it vanished into the clouds.

Shadow waited a moment, then picked up his rings and made his way back to the control room. He found Rouge sitting by Omega's body. Her ears perked up when he entered the room.

She walked toward him. "Where's Hope?"

He stared at the floor. "I destroyed her body, but she'll be back."

"Oh," she clasped his shoulder, "I'm sorry. I shut down the cannon and called for a shuttle to pick us up. Omega needs repairs fast."

Shadow pointed to her wing. "You need medical attention as well. I can take care of that."

She blushed slightly. "You don't have to do that. I can wait for the shuttle."

"Nonsense." He grabbed her hand. "You took care of me when I was injured and if that wing doesn't heal properly, you might never fly again."

"Well, if you insist." she said with an impish grin.

He took her to the Ark's infirmary and started making a splint for her wing. Rouge sat down on one of the beds and crossed her legs. She looked around the room and smiled.

"I bet you spent a lot of time here with Maria."

Shadow walked over to her and started tying the splint to the top bone of her wing. "She was sick a lot. The staff was overworked, so I had to take care of her sometimes."

"I can tell. You're very gentle." She rubbed her wing and sighed. "You just can't catch a break, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been through so much. You had to watch your friends die, you struggled to figure out who you were and why you were created, and now you had to kill your best friend." She stroked his arm. "I wish you didn't have to suffer so much."

"I don't. It's made me who I am, and Hope isn't dead. . . . She might haunt me until the end of time."

"Don't worry about that right now." She kissed his neck. "I just hate to watch you suffer."

She pulled him onto the bed and ran her fingers through his chest fur. "I've missed you these past few days. I was so lonely up here by myself. Why don't we have some fun while we wait for the shuttle?"

He stood up. "No, not while you're injured."

"Oh, come on. I've had worse than this. Remember when that Eclipse guy dislocated my shoulder?"

"No, not really."

"Well, it happened." She held out her arms. "Now, come here. You're not gonna hurt me."

"No. You need rest."

She crossed her arms. "I know what I need, and it's you."

He stared at the floor. "Is that so?"

"Okay. What's going on? Is it too soon after what happened with Hope?"

"No." He looked up at her. "I'm worried about where our relationship may lead."

She shrugged. "You mean our shared happiness? Where else could it go?"

"Tragedy." he said flatly. "Having children with me could put your life at risk, and what's more, I would outlive anyone we brought into this world."

Rouge hugged herself and glanced at the wall. "I guess that's true, but the tragedy isn't our relationship. It's living forever."

He nodded. "That's my burden to bear."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Then no more sex?"

He stared at her for a moment. "I can live without it."

"Well, I can't!" She yelled, grabbing his arm. "Maybe this is hard for you ultimate-lifeform types to understand, but having kids is how we peasants try to live forever. Even if we have to die, we can leave a part of us behind—something that will outlast us."

He fell silent and held her hand. "I had not considered that, but it's true. Even if you die, I can watch over our children and make sure that you live on through the generations. Then, in a thousand years, I can tell them stories of their ancestor, Rouge the Bat, who was the kindest, most brilliant woman I ever knew who always supported me—"

"Let's not get in a rush." She said, putting a finger to his lips. "I'm still here."

"And you always will be, even after the universe fades and my consciousness is floating alone in the void. You'll be there in my memory, and you'll accompany me until the end of time or until reality takes on some new form—whatever that may be."

"Well, I guess that's pretty romantic for you." She pulled him into her lap. "Now, come here. We don't have much time."

She kissed him and pushed him down onto the bed. "I know you've been through a lot but try to relax. No matter what happens with Hope, I'll be here for you."

"I know." He ran his fingers through her hair. "If we have a child, what should we name it? If it's a girl, I say we name it Maria."

She smiled. "Yeah, let's go with that, but I like the name, Ruby."

He laughed slightly. "Of course you would. What if it's a boy?"

She put a finger to her chin. "How about Jasper?"

"Do you want him to be ridiculed his entire life? He needs a strong, imposing name like Ivan, or Alistair, or Cyrus."

She sighed and kissed him again. "Let's just hope we have a girl."

She started taking off her boots when she received a call on her communicator. "That's the shuttle. . . . Sorry, Shadow."

"Don't apologize." He jumped off the bed and grabbed her hand. "Let's get Omega back to HQ."