'With You' chapter 2
By T. 'RockChick' Evans
Original idea by Pyro Angel
Authors note: I've never had this many reviews. Thanks everyone! I'm happy now!
…actually, Bon Jovi's new single may have had something to do with my unusual chirpyness, too. (it'll work its way into this fic if I'm not careful…)
Wow, I don't have writer's block yet. And Lighthawk, in answer to your question, the moon was blown up over 15 years ago. It's not exactly headline news! People haven't forgotten though, they just haven't told Shadow… :)
(Fleetway alert, Fleetway alert! Spot the Fleetway character! Heheh…)
--RockChick
* * * *
The girl stared at him and spoke his name in a familiar voice. Her blue eyes were wide and sad, as if pleading for him to do something…to remember… she said something else, but he couldn't make it out.
The face faded away into the dark and Shadow had a sudden, inexplicable feeling of loss…and guilt. What had happened to her? Was it his fault?
Loss, guilt and…revenge?
The guilt came from there, too. He had done something.
Something to avenge… what? Who?
Her?
He couldn't bear it any more--
His mental voice screamed in anguish as his feelings solidified into another image that emerged from the blackness. It had an orange-red hide and a crushing jaw, and no eyes. Just metal plates where they should have been.
The great reptile screeched right back, thrusting its huge ugly head towards him. The gaping, toothless mouth opened wide to engulf the defenceless hedgehog.
And then he was falling. It was so high up, and so hot… searing, burning pain, then everything went black and silent…
* * * *
…Shadow gasped and sat up in bed, panting. He shook his head hard, and willed his body to stop trembling.
Just a dream… worse than usual, but just a dream…
The hedgehog took a deep breath, succeeding in calming himself down a little. For a moment he couldn't remember where he was--
--Of course. He was at home, and it was Sunday morning. Quite late Sunday morning, judging by the light coming through the window. He frowned. As the recurring dream often did, it had given him an urge to write.
Shadow swung his legs out of bed and grabbed the sketchpad and pencil from the bedside table, wanting to get it down in writing when it was still fresh in his mind. He scanned the lyrics he had written the night before, and smiled grimly at how fitting they were. Now he had the chorus to go with them.
His hand hovered over the paper for an instant. Then, all in a rush, he scribbled down a few more lines beneath the existing ones.
"It's true the way I feel
was promised by your face
the sound of your voice
painted on my memories
even if you're not with me
I'm with you…
You, now I see, keeping everything inside
You, now I see, even when I close my eyes…"
Shadow frowned; he could remember a lot more of the dream this time. He looked over the words on the page. Sometimes it was the nightmare that triggered the writing, sometimes the other way around. It was like… like there was something inside him that needed to come to the surface. In any way possible. And those dreams were so real- almost like memories! It reminded him of stories he had heard about amnesia victims…
But that wasn't possible, he had never had amnesia. Maybe it was something to do with his mysterious origins… Shadow had been found as a small baby, and obviously couldn't remember much from back then.
…but babies don't go looking for revenge, do they?! And if he had fallen from somewhere, on fire- as he had in the dream- shouldn't he still have burn scars?
Now he was getting a headache. The dark hedgehog rubbed his forehead ruefully; it was all so confusing! He couldn't be imagining things, could he?
But maybe he wouldn't have to wonder after today, if Sid had found something out…
Shadow grinned to himself. He'd go visit his friend right now! Of course, the cat would probably have a lot to say about Shadow turning up so soon- it was only…eleven o clock? He had slept late.
His parents would have something to say about that, too.
The hedgehog sighed. Then again, Sid, being the lazy creature that he was, probably wasn't even up yet either. Shadow decided to give him a few hours before paying him a visit… in the meantime he would find something else to do.
He yawned and stretched before ransacking his teen mess of a bedroom for something to wear.
One pair of gloves, some black and red trainers and a silver hoop earring later, Shadow headed for the door. As an afterthought he grabbed his backpack and stuffed his sketchpad and pencil into it.
* * * *
"Hey dad. What's up?" Shadow said, after emerging from the bathroom.
Sonic looked away from the TV and grinned.
"Huh? The usual… saving the world, etc…"
"Riiight. What from, bad soap operas?"
The blue hedgehog chuckled.
"Hey. I'm supposed to be the one with the attitude around here, okay?"
Now in his thirties, Sonic hadn't really changed much. He had the look of someone with experience, but was still just an overgrown 17-year-old at heart. And he was most definitely still in the hero business; Robotnik may have gone into early retirement but there were always other villains to be battled.
But right now, it was Sunday morning and he was relaxing.
"You should see the latest nutcase out for world domination," Sonic continued, as matter-of-factly as if he was discussing what he'd had for breakfast. "What's his name… Sidewinder or something. I'm telling you, he's crazy." The hedgehog smirked and shook his head, amused. "And I'll give you three guesses what he's after."
Shadow sat down on the couch. The two hedgehogs looked at each other and grinned.
"The Chaos Emeralds," they said simultaneously.
"Predictable, huh?" Sonic smirked.
"Yeah, there's always some idiot looking for those things…" Shadow paused, thoughtfully. "Why don't you let me help out for a change? I'm just as fast as you are, and I--"
"You're also fifteen years old," the older hedgehog interrupted. "You could get hurt."
Silently, he added: 'and I don't want you to end up fighting for the rest of your life again…'
Shadow rolled his eyes.
"Oh, please. I can look after myself and you know it. Besides, I bet you were out getting into trouble when you were younger than me…"
The blue one snorted.
"Huh, that's not the point. We've had this conversation before, and you know I'm not gonna change my mind on this one."
"Yeah…" the teen sighed, defeated. For the umpteenth time. There was a short silence.
"I had that dream again," the ebony hedgehog remarked after a while, frowning.
Sonic was suddenly dead serious, green eyes intently regarding his 'son'.
"Forget about it. It's only a dream, Shadow."
Shadow narrowed his eyes.
"Are you sure?" he gave his father a crimson-eyed glare. "Because I get the feeling that there's more to this than you or my mother are letting on."
"It's nothing," Sonic said quietly. The blue hedgehog looked down, unable to meet his stare.
"I knew it," Shadow said darkly. "There is something going on. There's a reason why I keep having these nightmares, and why I'm scared of some things. Something happened to me, and I want to know what it was."
Sonic shook his head gravely, still not looking the fifteen year old in the eye.
"No, you don't." He whispered. The hedgehog's voice sounded weary for once, as if he knew he was trying to explain something that his son couldn't possibly understand.
He was right about that.
The black hedgehog scowled and sprang to his feet.
"Have you got any idea how frustrating this is?!" Shadow snapped like a typical teen, incensed. "Why do you always have to keep things from me? I hate this!" infuriated, he grabbed his bag and stormed out the door, pausing only to mutter that he was "goin' out". Sonic didn't bother to follow him, knowing it was better to let Shadow cool off by himself. The blue hedgehog listened to the door slam and sighed.
"It's for your own good…" he murmured sadly.
There was the sound of someone clearing their throat. Sonic looked around, to see an attractive pink hedgehog standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hi, Aims." Sonic greeted his wife with a small smile as Amy walked over.
"What was that all about?" she asked, sitting down. "I heard shouting."
Sonic shrugged.
"Teenagers, huh?" he said, faking a grin. Amy Rose regarded him sceptically.
"I think it was more than that," she observed softly. The blue hedgehog sighed.
"Yeah," he replied. "I guess it was. Shadow is starting to ask questions about, well, you know…"
Amy nodded in understanding.
"He might be starting to remember things. I've noticed it too," she sighed and brushed her fringe, now a lot longer than in her teenage years, away from her eyes. "He's had a sheltered life. We've tried… but his band business seems to be bringing his memory back to the surface. Or maybe it's supposed to be this way, and Shadow was programmed to get his memory back when he reached a certain age."
Sonic looked down.
"I… I feel pretty bad about keeping things from him, but it's for the best, right?" he looked back up at Amy for support, and she smiled and nodded.
"Yes, it's for the best."
They had both agreed from the beginning to shield Shadow from the events of his past life for as long as possible. Sonic and Amy were determined to give him as normal and happy a childhood as they could; not many people got a second chance as Shadow had, and this time it would not be a living hell.
So far, they had succeeded.
"I suppose it was going to happen someday," Sonic mused quietly. "The first thing Shadow did when he saw me was hit me over the head with his rattle." The hedgehog smirked at the memory. "…The 'old' Shadow was still in there somewhere, even then."
Amy smirked back, but the smile didn't last long.
"If he does remember, imagine what it'll do to him…" she shuddered. Sonic didn't much like the thought either. Shadow was so different now, so much more emotional-- as he had just demonstrated. He was adventurous, maybe a little wild…
Exactly like me, Sonic realised with a start.
If he remembered, would that change? Would he become the cold, near-emotionless person that he had been before?
"I… I don't want to lose him," Amy sniffed, echoing Sonic's thoughts. The blue hedgehog glanced at her and realised she was close to tears.
"Hey, don't…" Sonic slipped a peach-furred arm around her shoulders. "It'll be okay…" he murmured, his own voice sounding a little choked.
"…I hope," he thought.
* * * *
Shadow's feet pounded the ground as he ran, not really heading anywhere in particular. He needed to calm down, and running helped. It was one of many things he was good at; he had even beaten Sonic!
People dived out of the way of the black and red blur. Most of them were used to either Sonic or Shadow bombing through the area quite regularly, so few complained anymore- not that the hedgehog could have heard their shouts anyway at the speed he was going.
He had never heard them complain, and had never heard them talk about anything relating to himself either, he realised. Or anything about the moon, for that matter. Weird… perhaps Sonic or Amy were exerting their considerable influence to shut people up.
That annoyed the young hedgehog even more. Obviously running was not going to be enough.
He slowed to a halt, finding himself near the entrance of a large and familiar park. Shadow walked over to the gate and paused to read the sign: skateboarding, roller blading and cycling prohibited.
A small and dangerous smirk appeared on his face. He leaned casually against the signpost and pushed a button on each of his trainers; they were the type with little retractable wheels underneath which turned them into roller blades.
Shadow was good at running. But when it came to skating, he was a natural. The hedgehog tore through the park, whipping past other kids who were doing things they weren't allowed to, and saw a set of steps leading down.
Well, that was no problem. There was a rail to grind.
He reached the end of the rail and leaped into a somersault, landing perfectly on his feet without losing his balance. Shadow grinned to himself as he rolled to a stop.
"Show off," a voice tutted. The black hedgehog glanced over his shoulder to see someone descending the stairs behind him; a feline whose fur was a mixture of dark brown, black and ginger.
"Who, me?" the hedgehog smirked.
"I've been looking for you everywhere," Toots said. "C'mon, me and Sid have got some stuff to show you."
* * * *
Sid was waiting outside his home as his sister arrived with Shadow.
"Hi, spaceman," the tabby grinned as Shadow glided to a halt in front of the house. The hedgehog rolled his eyes at Sid's remark, deciding not to give him the satisfaction of an answer. He fiddled with his shoes so that the wheels retracted back into the soles.
"So, what'd you find out?" Shadow asked curiously.
"You mean, what did I find out." Toots shot her brother a glare. "While he was lazing about in bed, I was looking things up on the Internet."
Sid chuckled.
"Hey sis, you're the one who knows her way around a computer, not me."
"And?" the black hedgehog impatiently demanded.
"And," the tortoiseshell chided, "You're lucky I was able to find anything at all. Would you believe that some of that stuff was classified?"
Sid nodded to emphasise the point. When he spoke, his voice was hushed.
"She even had to hack into the server of some old military group that was disbanded years ago. What were they called… 'Cannon?'"
"G.U.N," Toots supplied. "And I couldn't read the files anyway, they were encrypted."
"Hmmm…" Shadow frowned. "G.U.N… that sounds familiar…"
Toots regarded him gravely.
"What kind of trouble are you in, Shadow?" Two pairs of eyes, one yellow and one greenish brown, stared at the ebony hedgehog with concern.
"None that I know of," he shrugged, bewildered. "I just wanted to know how the moon got blown up. Just a… a hunch, I suppose."
The two cats looked at each other. Sid raised an eyebrow and tapped the side of his head with a forefinger- 'he's crazy'- then shrugged.
"Dunno why you're getting into this stuff," he said, turning back to the hedgehog. "I mean, it's old news. But we printed out everything we could find, anyway- there's some old newspaper articles, stuff like that…"
Shadow's eyes seemed to light up.
"Thanks, guys," he interrupted eagerly. "Can I see them?"
Sid looked at his sister with a sly little grin on his face.
"Well, now that all depends…" he smirked. Toots grinned back.
Shadow frowned, sensing something fishy going on. Now what were they up to…
"Depends on what?" he asked, slowly and suspiciously.
"On how much you want them," Toots replied, pointing up.
Red eyes tracked upwards until they picked out the fat cardboard folder.
…Which was on the roof.
"You must be joking," muttered Shadow. He shook his head. "I'm not climbing up there. No way."
"You'll have to if you want that information," Toots grinned. "It's about time you got over your fear of heights…"
"I am not going up there."
Sid chuckled.
"You said it yourself- it's not the heights, it's falling from them. And you won't fall."
"I don't care," the black hedgehog growled. "There's absolutely no way I'm gonna climb up on that roof. No chance."
* * * *
…Shadow grabbed the sill of the upstairs window, then released his grip on the drainpipe and swung onto the narrow ledge. He pulled himself up and sat there for a moment, before risking a glance down.
The ground wasn't really that far away…
Who was he kidding?! Of course it was. The hedgehog gulped, and froze for a moment.
What the heck was he doing up here anyway? He could have looked up that information for himself… he didn't need to risk breaking his neck.
But he wanted that file, wanted it badly. And even though his better judgement told him otherwise, some scathing inner voice had urged him to climb. He was being totally pathetic, it hissed. What kind of sorry excuse for a hedgehog was he, if he didn't even have the nerve to climb a two- story building to retrieve a folder which possibly contained life-changing information?
And what was worse, he was chickening out in front of his best friends.
How pathetic.
Shadow looked down again, and shuddered as he fought off a bought of vertigo. He made a mental note to tell his inner voice to shut up and leave him alone.
Below, Sid lifted his striped head and raised an eyebrow.
"Well? You're not there yet. Keep going!"
Shadow scowled.
"…Those two are gonna get it when I get down from here… stupid cats…" he muttered quietly to himself, his voice trailing off into a string of incoherent grumbles as he stood, balancing precariously on the windowsill. The teenager looked up to see the cardboard file, hanging over the edge of the roof. So close, yet so far.
How to get up there, he wondered. There were no more handy window ledges to catch hold of, so it would be quickest to jump. Then he could get out of here.
Shadow managed to turn so that he faced the window. He took a deep breath, pausing for a moment to collect himself.
"Here goes nothing…"
He tensed, crouched, leaped. His fingers scrabbled for purchase on the guttering.
Shadow hung from the edge, breathing hard. His nose was centimetres from the brick wall.
So far, so good. Now he just had to pull himself up…
The hedgehog shifted his grip.
His right hand slipped off the edge.
"Yahhh!" Shadow panicked, loudly. A quick scramble and flurry of legs later, he was sitting on the roof with his feet hanging over the edge, staring incredulously at the ground below.
That was a close one. And, whoa, it was a long way down. He ran a shaky hand over his black and red quills, trembling.
But, he realised with a grin, he had done it.
The hedgehog picked up the folder which was lying next to him, and held it up triumphantly.
"This had better be worth it!" he yelled at the small figures of the two cats below.
Shadow opened the file and eyed the hefty wad of printouts inside. There was more there than he had expected… he decided to have a quick look now, giving himself time to steady his nerves before attempting the climb down.
He flicked through the mass of paper, noting that there were indeed quite a lot of pages.
"Did you read this stuff?" the hedgehog called down, momentarily forgetting his precarious position.
"No way," Toots shouted back. "I have enough history homework as it is, without having to plough through that lot." The tortoiseshell cat grinned.
Shadow nodded and thumbed through the first few sheets. It looked like his friend had used a search engine and printed out everything she could find about the moon's fate, without really paying much attention to the actual content. No wonder there was so much stuff.
He paused at a pair of photographs; the first showing the moon as an intact sphere, the second depicting it fragmented. They must have been very old photos… the one showing the broken moon lacked the hazy ring of debris that had formed in its wake over the years. The broken pieces were all concentrated near the big crater, which had a dim reddish glow- the damage had only just been done…
Shadow frowned at the images. He had seen this before, but where? The harder he thought about it, the more unreal and distant the feeling of déjà vu became. He just couldn't seem to pin it down.
Scanning the text below the photos, he picked out the words 'Eclipse Cannon' and 'ARK.' Those words also had some sort of meaning for him, but it remained maddeningly elusive. Robotnik's name was there too… had Dr. Eggman blown up the moon? Maybe… but there was still something missing…
The hedgehog sighed in frustration as he felt the beginnings of another headache.
The following pages were mostly geographical and weather reports, stuff about how the damaged moon was affecting the tides and so on. Shadow put those sheets aside when there was no spark of recognition; obviously they didn't concern him.
Then there were some newspaper articles, mostly dated June 2002.
"Dr. Robotnik proclaims Eggman Empire… moon destroyed by the Eclipse cannon…" Shadow read quietly to himself. "…Space Colony ARK, shut down over 50 years ago…" The hedgehog frowned. So Robotnik had blown up the moon using some kind of weapon on a disused space colony. That was definitely familiar… especially the part about ARK. The man-made satellite was important somehow.
Shadow flicked through the remaining pages, looking for more about ARK. Eventually he came across an item with a picture of his father, and a headline reading 'Heroic Hedgehog Saves World Again'.
The story went on to describe how Sonic had triumphed against overwhelming odds once more, preventing the Space Colony ARK from crashing into the planet. A paragraph caught the young hedgehog's eye.
"…Using the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic defeated the creature known as the Ultimate Life Form prototype…"
Ultimate Life Form…?
"…And was able to transport the Space Colony back into orbit, aided by the mysterious black hedgehog…"
Shadow looked up. Black hedgehog?
He scrutinised the printout again, excitement building. Further down, another block of text seemingly jumped out at him.
"In an exclusive interview," it ran, "Sonic the Hedgehog described this adventure as his 'toughest ever'. He also stated that the people of this planet owe their lives to one hedgehog who made the ultimate sacrifice, and his name was Shadow…"
He put the page down and stared into space, unable to read any more.
Shadow…?
His mind whirled… the possibilities were mind-boggling. It couldn't have been another black hedgehog, because there weren't any. Perhaps the hedgehog in the article was his real father, and Shadow had been named after him… or maybe he was….
"…Me…?"
It would explain those fragmented memories, but how was it possible? He hadn't even been born then! The explanations were all in the realm of science fiction… how could that be?
It was just… impossible…
Suddenly, something seemed to shift in the teenager's mind; the nightmare flashed in his head again… he felt the pain, saw the planet so far below him… then he was really falling, and everything went black…
* * * *
"…When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real
Now I'm trapped in this memory
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake, slow to react
Even though you're close to me
You're still so distant and I can't bring you back…"
Voices intruded on the song that was playing in Shadow's head. He let out a low groan and wished they would go away; his headache was bad enough already…
"I think he's waking up," a concerned male voice said.
"Shadow? Can you hear me?" asked another voice, this time female.
"Urgghh."
His eyes fluttered open. After a few moments the hedgehog sat up and rubbed his forehead, wincing.
"Gahh… my head. What… what happened?" he looked around to see that he was lying on the lawn in front of Sid and Toots' house. The cats themselves were hanging over him, worried expressions on their furred faces.
"You fell off the roof, remember?" Sid reminded him.
"I fell?"
Toots nodded.
"Yeah, you just seemed to collapse all of a sudden… Are you okay?"
Shadow blinked a couple of times.
"I… think so…" the ebony hedgehog shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Yes, he had fallen off the roof, he remembered that now.
Sid helped the dazed teen to his feet, where he staggered slightly before regaining his balance. He then shot a glare at the two feline siblings.
"Now do you see why I hate heights?" he muttered, and brushed a few blades of grass off his black jacket.
"Sorry, Shad…" Toots apologised. "I guess it was a stupid idea."
Sid nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, we thought it would do you good. The best way to conquer your fear is to face it, right?"
Shadow saw how dejected they were, and smiled reassuringly.
"It's okay… you were just trying to help. Lucky I have a hard head, right?"
"Solid bone," sniggered the tabby, relieved that the hedgehog wasn't really mad at him.
"Shut it, pal." Shadow smirked back. "So how long was I out?"
"Only about ten minutes." Toots frowned. "What spooked you, anyway?"
The hedgehog glanced around at the sheets of paper which now littered the grass. He thought about what he had found, and shivered.
"You haven't read any of those printouts, have you?" he asked again.
"No…"
"Well, something must have upset you," Sid frowned. "When you were knocked out… it was like you were having a nightmare or something."
"Yeah, I…" Shadow's hand went to his head again, and his eyes closed. "…I saw…" he trailed off.
"Saw what?" questioned Sid's sister.
The ruby eyes opened, slightly unfocused.
"That lizard again."
Sid frowned puzzledly.
"You mean Dave's iguana?"
"No." Shadow shook his head. "It was orange and red. And huge." He paused. "I think… my father was there too, only he was younger. At least I think it was Sonic, but he looked more like me- except he was gold instead of black."
The cats looked at each other and shrugged.
"Weird," Toots murmured. "It must have been a really bad dream, because you were yelling things…"
"I was?"
Sid nodded.
"Yeah, it was kind of scary…" The tabby paused, then looked at his friend curiously. "Who is this 'Maria', anyway?"
To be continued!
* * * *
Dun-dun-dunnn! (dramatic music)
Uh oh! Looks like the cack has hit the ventilator, as they say. You'll have to wait for chapter 3 to see what happens. I just love leaving people in suspense! Hahahaha--- ACKK!
Shadow: Gotcha!
Sonic: Was that necessary?! Now I have to do the end note…
Shadow: *uncharacteristic snigger*
Sonic: (Sighs) *bored monotone* Uh oh. Looks like the poo his hit the propeller. You'll have to wait for chapter 3. If there is a chapter 3, seeing as Shadow just hit the author over the head with a crowbar and there's no telling if she'll ever regain consciousness. Did you have to do that, stripes?!
Shadow: First she totally butchers my personality, and then she goes around saying the M-word. Yes, of course I had to do that.
Sonic: So she mentioned Maria once. Big deal.
Shadow: …..
Sonic: …Why do I get the feeling I just made a little mistake…
*KRANGG!*
Review, please??