This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.

Chapter 3: Defeated

A darkness suddenly swept over the forest, a dark shadow. Shadow had to know, he had to find out for himself, but deep down, he knew.

Like a sixth sense, Shadow locked on to the exact spot, and within a minute was there. What he saw he could not believe. On the ground was a blue mass, surrounded by two SWATbots, with more coming from behind.

He stood there, out of sight of the mechanical monsters, but close enough to get angry.

* * *

In the depths of Robotropolis, a maniacal laughing is heard.

"I've done it! I've finally destroyed that miserable blue hedgehog!"

Before him, a screen displaying a series of life signs, or lack thereof.

"SWATbots, bring me the body. Perhaps I'll mount the head on my wall, and send the rest to those foolish Freedom Fighters."

* * *

Back in the forest, Shadow's anger continued to flare.

"He was mine, I was supposed to defeat him. Not you!" His voice took on an almost demonic rumble.

Clenching his fist, he charged at the robots, his phase run making him almost invisible to the robots. One SWATbot barely saw a whisper in front of him as his rifle was taken; the other lost its firearm without noticing the thief. The other robots caught up with them when Shadow struck. From the darkness, the SWATbots were mowed down with their own weapons.

With the robotic menace dispatched, Shadow emerged from his hiding place, carrying a rifle in each hand. He tossed the weapons to one side, and then went to check his adversary. Turning Sonic on his side, he could see the entry wounds in his front; one in his stomach, the other in his chest, either one could have been fatal. Sonic wasn't breathing, and no pulse registered.

"No… NO!!!"

"You filthy rust buckets!" Shadow ran up to one and gave it a sturdy kick, almost breaking his foot in the process, but he wouldn't pay attention to any pain.

"I was to defeat him! I was to grind his face into the dirt! I was going to humiliate him until he felt lower than pond scum! And then I was going to crush him! Me! ME!!!"

Shadow picked up the guns again, and in his rage, started firing into the metal carcasses randomly.

"If it was Robotnik who sent you, then he'll pay! I'll do to him, what he has denied me!"

Shadow screamed and threw the guns at the nearest robot, hitting with a sharp "chank".

In a fit of rage, Shadow ran off, completely without direction.

* * *

"Destroyed?! What do you mean my robots were destroyed?"

"Units RJ6044, RJ6045, RJ6046, RJ6047, RJ6112, and RJ6113 have not responded. The last information collected from them indicated they suffered quick and severe damage. Likely conclusion from analysis is that they were destroyed by gunfire."

"Just my luck. I finally defeat that hedgehog, and I am denied my prize!" Robotnik grumbled. "Send some drones to that area to recover the SWATbots. Hopefully my trophy is still waiting; it's not like he can get up and run away."

Robotnik started to laugh again.

* * *

Almost half an hour would pass before anyone else would come to this spot. A scouting party from Knothole had heard the gunfire and took this long to arrive. The scene that awaited them sent shivers through them.

* * *

The news hit Knothole like a thousand tonnes of bricks. No one would believe that their great hero was dead, but a quick examination of the body would send even the most faithful to tears.

Shadow followed the scouts to Knothole and waited in the woods, watching the events as they unfolded. For almost an hour, there seemed to be nothing but crying, as everyone gathered around the body of their great hero. Occasionally, the scouts would try to move the body to a more noble place, like his hut as opposed to out in the open, but such progression was slow going with the hordes surrounding them.

It wasn't until princess Sally came and ordered the body moved indoors that they were finally able to move. Sonic was placed in his hut and Geoffrey had placed two guards at the door. Sally had spent the whole day there from morning to dusk. Dr. Quack had come and gone a few times, the first to confirm his death; the others were to make sure the body was prepared for his funeral. Geoffrey had come once, though it was to comfort Sally, and hopefully try to get her to come out, but she refused. Any increased effort on his part was met with a scowl from his liege, so he left her alone.

Shadow skulked around Knothole, making sure he wasn't spotted. All he could see was the frowns and tears of the villagers. In one corner, several carpenters were using their best wood to fashion a simple box. Though not as lavish a box could be for it's purpose, it was obvious that they were putting their best effort into what they had to work with.

He continued to surround the village, when he came to a small enclave behind one of the huts. There sat a very lonely individual, a small orange fox. He didn't move, except for the odd twitch of his tail, or the other tail. Shadow was at first shocked by the odd mutation, but soon he forgot it, and to him, Tails was nothing more than another lost soul in this decrepit wasteland.

Laving the kitsune behind, Shadow eventually made his way behind Sonic's hut, and looked in a window. The small dome of sticks and straw had a very simple interior; no walls other than the outside, a small table sat on one side, big enough for maybe four people, a couple of more windows aside from the one Shadow was at, a single wooden door, a few chairs scattered here and there, and just to his left, almost invisible from the angle, was a simple hammock, occupied with a sheet draped over it. Just behind the hammock was a lone figure seated as a bedside vigil.

There was Sally, whom Shadow had seen only once previous to this occasion, now a totally different person. All joy had been taken from her, and she sat mostly silent. Occasionally she would wipe a way a tear or say something, but the hut's walls muted whatever she said, and Shadow couldn't see her lips to read them. He didn't really need to know the words to know their meaning, she was heart broken, and nothing anyone could do would ever fix it.

Over the next few hours, Shadow silently watched the distraught woman. As long as only Sally was there, he felt he could stay at the window without being noticed, the moment anyone came in, he moved away. Occasionally someone would come in and bring her something to eat, but she just told them to place it on the table, and then ignored it.

It would be well into the night before Sally would finally leave. Slowly she trudged to the door, and stopped in front of it. She wiped a few last tears and took a deep breath. Before leaving, she took one last look at the makeshift bed, hoping against all hope that there would be some movement under the sheet.

Then something seemed to beckon her, taking her eyes of the bed, she looked over at the window. Shadow saw it and quickly moved before she could make him out. Sally didn't understand what she saw or thought she saw; her mind was just too muddled to care. She took another deep breath, and with the dignified steps of royalty, she stepped out.

Shadow had pulled away, using the night to mask his motions. He followed Sally to her hut, and watched the façade she perpetrated; just in case anyone saw her, she wanted to exhume a feeling of strength. He thought it silly; being a creature of darkness, showing off was a pointless gesture. In the dark, display meant nothing; there would be no point in putting on a strong face when no one could see it. Shadow used the darkness to hide, but many more people used the light to create false pretence.

* * *

The funeral was held the next day. Sally thought it best to do it quickly instead of keeping everyone off guard for fear of an attack by Robotnik, which she knew would come quickly. Activity from his robotic army was on the increase, hoping to use the distress now caused by Sonic's end to flush them out once and for all.

Shadow stayed to watch, he had to see the final resting place of his adversary.

* * *

As if on cue, the weather had turned most miserable; it was cold, and the fog was thick. If he was careful, Shadow could have stood within a few feet of the crowd and not be seen. But he didn't like the white fog, instead retreating to the shadows under the trees. Watching the proceedings, Shadow took out an apple and started to eat it.

"Dearly beloved, we have gathered here to bid farewell to one of our own…"

Shadow really didn't pay all that much attention to the speech, nor did he really look at the congregation. From his distance he couldn't see the distressed faces of everyone that had gathered, but he could feel it. Everyone was cold and dark; the light that once shone in their eyes had been extinguished. Shadow had no idea what they were like before, but he knew they would have been nothing like this.

As the funeral progressed, Shadow would watch as several people stepped forward individually to say something to the ground beneath the cross. Some would leave flowers on the fresh dirt; others would simply stand and cry. From his distance, Shadow could make out few of the words, which were already too soaked in grief and sadness to be legible at close range. He also could not see any more than basic forms through the fog, so identifying any of them, save for the mutant fox, was totally out of the question, not that he knew any of them to begin with.

After almost an hour, pretty much everyone had made some last peace with Sonic, except two. Shadow risked it and moved a little closer to see. Left standing at the grave were a small group, including Sally and Geoffrey. Sally made one step forward, and looked down to the earth.

"Sonic. How could this have happened? I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye. We all knew that fighting Robotnik would be dangerous, but we had to do it. We couldn't just surrender to him and become his slaves. We all knew the risks, and that many would die, but never in my worst dreams, did I even consider losing you."

Sally stifled back some tears.

"Sometimes, I think about Robotnik's ultimatums: surrender and have peaceful lives as his servants, as mindless robots without a care in the world. He even said he would let me be, probably as his queen of all the repulsive things. If I had accepted, then perhaps I could have worked it so that I could still have you with me. All I had to do was abandon my people and my responsibility to them. If knew then what I know now, I'm scared that I might have considered it; I'm terrified that I might have accepted it."

"Sonic, I'm sorry that I can't have you. I chose my people over anything that I wanted for myself a long time ago. And now it seems my people are all I have. One day, I'll be joining you; I only hope that you can forgive for not choosing you then, or now. I have to help my people, I will not forget you, please don't forget me."

Tears flowed freely from Sally's eyes. Shadow couldn't see it from his distance, but he was mesmerized by Sally nonetheless.

* * *

For several more minutes, Sally stood there silently while everyone else had quietly left for Knothole. She probably would have stayed longer if Geoffrey hadn't taken her away. With the funeral procession gone, Shadow moved in.

He stood beside the small wooden cross with Sonic's name etched in it.

"So, I guess you couldn't be bothered to give me that rematch, after all. Coward."

Shadow stood there, waiting for an answer he knew wouldn't come.

"What an idiot, going off and getting yourself killed. You sure let down your friends, now what are they going to do? It would serve you right if they totally forgot you, or worse, if they did remember how you failed them."

Shadow paused again, waiting for some words to come from his rage.

"You bastard! How dare you deny me my right to revenge?!"

Shadow stood there, his eyes gleaming hatefully upon the fresh grave. After a minute, he looked up to see that someone had taken notice of him.

"So, you must be this 'Shadow' character."

"And you are Geoffrey St. John, former royal guard. My, how far the mighty have fallen."

"Bite your tongue. You've got some nerve to come here screaming at a grave. Have you no respect for the dead?"

"On the contrary, I have ultimate respect for the dead, I treat them as if they were alive. That's why I can scream at them."

"You are seriously warped. Get out of here!"

"Yes, I suppose I am at that. Tell me, just what feelings did you have for the deceased before his demise?"

"That's no business of yours."

"I figured as much. Well, I can see I've wasted your time, but more importantly, I've wasted mine." Shadow started to leave. "I'll be going. Pray that we never meet again."

Before Geoffrey could respond, though he really didn't have a response, Shadow ran off.

"Good riddance to you. Good riddance to you both."

To be continued