Crimson Vision

Chapter 19: Journal of Truth

Sonic was left speechless. He had just witnessed Amy, a kind girl of innocence and pure of heart, murder Shadow in such a cold manner. It was hard for him to move from the shock and Amy was in a state no better than Sonic. Tears flooded down from her eyes and slowly her hands began to tremble. The silver pistol dropped to the ground and then Amy fell crying in her hands. Sonic approached her slowly kneeling down to her said and patting her back.

"Why Amy?" he asked. "Why'd you kill him?"

The pink hedgehog lifted her head and stared at Sonic with her grieving eyes. She was still a bit pale from the serpent's attack on her but was slowly regaining her strength. Amy moved closer to Sonic wrapping his arms around him and wept some more.

"I had to Sonic." she managed to say. "It's what he wanted and… and if I didn't… we would probably be dead by now."

Amy continued to cry as Sonic held her close. He didn't understand fully but he knew that there had to have been some way Amy could've found out about this unknown information. Without saying a word Sonic picked up Amy and took one last look at Shadow's corpse. Blood was running out of his head from where the gun had hit him. His eyes were shut and his body had a cold appearance to it. Sonic shook off the uneasy feeling and headed back for the old house. One inside he took Amy to the living room and sat her down on the couch. Morning was beginning to breakthrough the cracks in the boarded up windows. Sonic handed Amy a handkerchief and she wiped her face with it.

"What are you going on about Amy? I'm not understanding this at all." Sonic said.

Amy sighed and picked up what looked like an old log book off the coffee table in front of them. Silently she handed it to Sonic still wiping her tears.

"When we went up to the room to see what happened to Shadow I found this on the floor." she said. "I read a few entries… and it explained how Shadow was created. It seemed to belong to someone named Professor Gerald."

Sonic didn't reply but opened the journal and began to read a few entries.

November 12; 12:15 AM

After spending almost 2 years on this project my colleagues and I have finally finished. Using our great technology and our extensive knowledge of different power sources of the world we may have created what can only be described as the perfect creature. Bearing such powers that cannot be matched and an intelligent mind that can think for itself I'd have to say this is my most prized creation and I will cherish it till I die. Although we weren't able to give it any information on anything we hope it's learning capabilities are sharp and quick so that it can pick up on anything easily.

Right now it's still inactive in it's capsule. I feel that everyone here in the institute should see the awakening of it and experience the joy I will have along with my colleagues and my granddaughter. A name I have not decided on yet but perhaps Maria can think of one tomorrow. For now I'll just let it rest in my mind and hope all goes well tomorrow.

November 13; 6:30 PM

The awakening of our project was a success. After I demonstrated to the audience the project's learning capabilities and other powers it harnessed we had placed him back into the capsule. Maria properly named him Shadow for his red and black colors and right away I could see that those two would grow a strong bond together. I've taken into consideration that Shadow could serve as a sibling to Maria whenever he's not helping out in the laboratory. It's for the best seeing how ill Maria is. She's not in the best state to be running around outside with other children making friends and having her locked up inside the institute like this puts a burden on my heart. Perhaps a trip to my summer cottage this summer is called for. That way Shadow can learn more about human life and Maria can get out some more. That seems to be what they both need.

November 30; 4:47 PM

Just a couple of weeks ago on the night of Shadow's awakening something terrible had happened. It seems that Shadow had transformed into some sort of beast-like monster and destroyed the lab. But we were able to stop him before too much damage was made and he was placed back into his capsule. There was a fright among the those who lived within the institute. Some were angry at me and approached me saying they would leave if that beast attacked again. But of all the alarmed people there were Maria was my only concern. She was terrified of the fact that Shadow could change into such a monster. I wasn't sure if she took it well but Maria seems to be recovering from it. In any case I'll have a few others look into the matter and see what could've caused such a transformation.

December 9; 8:15 AM

After some heavy research over the past few days we've learned that Shadow's anger is what caused his transformation. It appears that whenever Shadow's blood pressure rise his body temperature doe as well. Thus causing him to transform into that beast although… this all could've been predicted long before Shadow was awakened. I remember back when the first version of Shadow was made.

I recall not being there at the time but my colleagues informed me that he was a very large creature. They did try to bring Shadow to life but he had so much power within him it caused him to be very aggressive. So they put him in a smaller less intimidating form hopefully a form that would be able to hold Shadow's true form. But after this incident I fear that we may have created something that not even we would be able to handle unless we took dire precautions.

December 9; 7;05 PM

New information has just developed about Shadow's transformation. It appears that his powers have risen since and there's no way of lowering them without removing some of Shadow's powers. My colleagues are urging that we remove some of Shadow's abilities even though we have no control over which ones are removed. But I'll stand my ground and refuse to. He is my creation, my pride and joy, he is also the new friend of my granddaughter. How can I take something so dear away from her? She would be heartbroken if something went wrong during the procedure. That is why I trust that we will find a way to keep Shadow's blood pressure at a steady rate. I know we can.

January 10; 5:18 PM

The holidays have come and gone but they were not merry. The feared has happened and we have lost a few here at the institute but they were not deaths. Some families and even workers left because of Shadow's recent attack on Christmas day. All seemed to be going well that morning until word got out that Shadow had transformed and escape. Our security was no use, they could not stop Shadow from overpowering them as he went on his rampage. Much more damage was suffered this time but my Maria suffered the most. We had taken cover in my quarters when Shadow came in destroying nearly all of it. I protected Maria the best that I could be the fear that was in her eyes when she looked at Shadow is something I will never forget. He glanced at us before moving on to the next rooms and then Maria fainted.

Eventually we were able to gain control over Shadow again and he is still in his capsule. Maria on the other hand is still in the hospital ward recovering from the shock. Then there was a conversation I had with Shadow a few days afterwards while he was in his capsule. It was my daily check up on his life status when he began to talk to me. He just started to pour out his feelings on how he felt both times he transformed. He told me that he was unhappy and there was much pain and anger within him that he disliked very much. I said very little and focused on his words.

He tells me that the only reason he transformed was that some of my colleagues would get on his nerves and he wished that they would treat him more fairly. I assured Shadow that they would be either fired or relocated to another section. Shadow knew that he could trust me. Just for his reference I explained to him about his powers and how with each transformation they would slowly rise. Then eventually when they were at his peak he would change back into his original for perhaps for good. Shadow understood this but when I brought up Maria Shadow showed great emotion for the first time. He cried. Shadow went into detail of how much guilt he had once he was back into his capsule. I found out that he cherished Maria as much or even more than I did. He also made a promise to Maria and I quote:

"If I ever changed into that hideous monster again I would do whatever I can with my powers to prevent myself from becoming that monster… for good."

He was in a state of grief and I left him alone. I knew Shadow sincerely meant what he said and that I could trust him to keep his promise… but only time will tell.

Sonic flipped through some more pages to see if there were any more entries but that appeared to be the last of them. Silently he closed the book and set it back onto the table. Amy still continued to cry into the handkerchief while Sonic reflected on what he had just read. There was absolutely no way of knowing that Shadow wanted to die and even though he didn't know exactly where the serpent and the crow came from, Sonic had a feeling that they were Shadow's doing. He took Amy in his arms and began to calm her down. She, in reply, moved closer to Sonic and began to calm down.

"Was it the right thing to do Sonic?" she asked her voice sounding broken.

"I… I don't know." Sonic replied quietly. "But if it was to save us all… then maybe it was."

Some time had gone by and Amy quietly fell asleep. Sonic sat her in his lap and sat back. He may not have been friends with Shadow for so long but one thing he hated was seeing someone losing their life for freedom. A tear rolled down his cheek.