Disclaimer: I never will own Sonic so don't complain. Nor do I own "Somewhere I Belong" By Linkin Park.

I've been thinking on how this is going so far. Everyone seems to enjoy my story, but I've been fixing my chapters for a while now. I realized how hyped up over caffeine I was... Causing me to do not-really-funny oocish humor before, or after the chapters. Maybe I should lay off of caffeine… for a while, anyways. Here's something brought to you by me.

Broken Hope

[Shadow's point of View]

I ran, …well, skated. It was all I could think about, with the searing pain in my arm eating away at me. I didn't give a flying fuck. Hell, who would give a shit besides those morons back there? It's not like they even start caring for me, only because that most of them came for Amy's well-being, and safe return. The rain was lightly showering, a bit refreshing to me as the liquid poured from the clouds overhanging the skies. That little moment took my thoughts away for a little amount of time before I return to my reality right quick as I remembered it.

I felt as if I couldn't be near any living being without having destruction following me everywhere I went. It was like that when I had been freed two years ago, from my icy prison. I thought that destruction was the only way to have what I wanted. Somehow, someway I was wronged in the beginning. I thought my own sister had died aboard ARK, along with Maria… that was what fueled my belief for revenge, with the, purely thorough revenge against all of these pitiful humans on the planet.

// ( When this began ) \\

// I had nothing to say and I get lost in the nothingness inside of me \\

Pain. Is it all I can feel? Through my nervous system, and my heart? Why had I felt a pain through my heart? Why?! Why had I even bothered to care for pinkie to have more pain dealt to me through physical force?!? WHY?! I can't be acting this way! I don't care for her. I don't CARE for her, god fucking damn it. The thought of not caring makes my emotions seethe with a rage unconfined. Must it be this way, which I, the Ultimate Life Form, care for such a lowlife …pink … hedgehog that had only helped me within the abandoned lab, for the real memory of Maria's last words…?

I manage to remember my faintest memory of back then in the past… I thought I had almost completed my revenge. I purely hated the cobalt hedgehog that was mistaken by the military, over me, for being the one that stole the Chaos Emerald, which I took. I thought he was a weak opponent I shouldn't have worried about. But in that forestry, he and I were battling it out as if it were to the death. I almost admitted he wasn't that bad for a fighter, but I withheld such talk. I hadn't any time until the island had blown up.

// ( I was confused ) \\

// And I live it all out to find I'm not the only person with these things in mind \\

The cooled air around me touched my injury I sustained while fighting with Metal Sonic. I had ignored it for the past three hours since I fled. More importantly, it seemed to heal faster than I thought. How could I have let that thing hurt me easily?  I pause near a rock sticking up though the sand itself. Perring around, I check to make sure no one had followed me, though something was telling me I should have not left. My thoughts drift back to my only 'relative' as a distraction… my sister, Blizzard. It is strange to know that I, and the professor really knew where she originated. Odd as it may seem, the Professor had needed me for something. I wasn't sure what at the time, but the memory of how she came to be with the small 'family' was vague.

[Partial Flashback]

That day aboard the space colony, I had spent my hour with Maria, to head back to the laboratory where Professor Robotnik tested my power, and, for various reasons, studied how I could use the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Earlier, my ears picked up a loud scream ringing throughout the colony, but I brushed it off. I had stood in the laboratory, awaiting the daily schedule, but this time I was having a feeling that this time it was going to be different… in a way. Quietness gave me the clue Robotnik was taking longer than expected. I began to truly ponder the delay on the professor's behalf, until the shutter doors opened, with a few assistants following him, but… I clearly see something within one of the assistants' arms. A severely injured blue hedgehog, apparently freshly wounded somehow, bandaged heavily at the arms, and the head. Inquisitively, I stand there in question.

"The tests are not going to be performed today, if that is what you're thinking, Shadow." Was all the old man said, before the mauled hedgehog was placed upon a metal table. The tests weren't going to be carried out now? And how did that blue hedgehog get those types of injuries, I ask that question to myself as I had carefully examined it. There were a ton of bruises… and most of all, either burns, or large charred areas, and most notably, this it was a she. I pitied the creature.

// ( Inside of me ) \\

// But all that they can see the words revealed is the only real thing that I've got left to feel \\

"Keep the patient at bay. I was awed at the results of my other Project, but I had wanted a robotic subject, not a live subject for the lizard to battle. Next time, keep mind that we will no longer use live organic living beings to fight it. Is that clear?" He had made his point clear across, as the Professor approached me… well, he had intended on going to the patient in the first place. Assistants, or rather, his colleagues, hook things up to her to monitor her condition. They checked her pulse, her heart rate, and the dilation of her eyes, by sticking a small light up near her pupils to see if they will change size to block out the bright light.

"Robotnik, this isn't going very well. Her pulse and heart rate are very weak. The fight with the experimental project must have been too hard, and punishing for her. It doesn't look like she will make it… we're sincerely sorry for discretely choosing a living subject." One of the assistants looked at me, as I approached the female hedgehog. I still pitied the poor thing, as if it didn't really deserve this. But what was this about an experimental project? I finally decide to speak up.

// ( Nothing to lose ) \\

// Just stuck, hollow, and alone and the fault is my own, and the fault is my own. \\

"Is there a way you could save her, at least?" Maria would not have approved of this innocent-bound hedgehog dying because of her grandfather's experiments. I felt the same way, a little. Grunting, the old professor looked at me, then to the hedgehog upon the metallic table. Giving it thought, he pondered the possibilities of what could actually save the female hedgehog… and why I even cared.

"Yes, but, I will tell you now, Shadow. It is very risky, and very highly that she may not survive after the procedure you will have to agree to do." The man slowly turned his back towards my face, as if he were displeased of my actions of trying to save an innocent life, but it was also as if he, too, felt that the girl needed to be saved. "You have the option of blood transfusion, but your blood has to be compatible with hers in order to save her life."

My eyes dart away from his back, back to the girl. Was she worth so much to save? Maria would have wanted to, she being kind, and gentle. I take my time to think, as I look at the bloody-red bandages being removed by the assistants that sometimes crowd the table. "I comply. I will do the transfusion, Professor, even if my blood does not match her type." I only hoped then, I was doing the right thing.

Surely enough I was sitting down upon a chair the professor brought five minutes later after he ordered the transfusion to take place. He hooked up a needle into my right wris after applying some alcohol to clean the area where the thin metal item was to be inserted, a feeling like something poked me the instant the needle pierced my skin, and into my blood vessel. It felt a bit weird, but I didn't notice anything until the red liquid from my own body was coming into a long, clear, plastic tube leading to a machine, and then another snake-like tube extending from the machine, and into the girl's own wrist. After a while, I began to notice that I felt the drainage beginning to affect myself. My eyelids were trying to drop slightly. I was exhausted all of a sudden.

"Stop the machine. That is enough." I hear the professor call out to a closer colleague. The man shut the down the operating machine, and the flow stopped. Almost immediately as the needle was removed I was relieved to have that thing out of my wrist. I got out of the chair, and looked as another man removed the needle from her wrist. Did I save her, or did I just bought her more time to suffer until she truly dies a death from the differentiation of blood types along with the bad wounds inflicted upon her? I wasn't sure until I left.

// I wanna heal, I wanna feel what I thought was never real \\

// I wanna let go of the pain I've felt so long \\

// ( Erase all the pain till it's gone ) \\

[End Partial Flashback]

My mind snaps open back to reality again. The rain had stopped. I didn't care… A tiny light of hope was blinking off and on, that I could sense it wanted to pray for Amy to be safe, and alright. I shoved it aside; my solitary needs attempting to overwhelm the light. Why do I still care? Is that an answer I have to truly find out for myself in the near future? But I had noticed something… within. There are gaping mental holes upon my heart. The largest was of Maria, but there was another hole, and I couldn't quite place what had made that one.

I get up, knowing that I will not return, unless I have my way of explaining my actions from before. Maybe… that Amy noticed that I left without notice. I shake the thought away quickly before it can snag me. I couldn't go near her. Not unless she was going to be hurt, again. My eyes drift towards the sandy ground. I began to curse mentally, swearing that Eggman would die for his crime. Yet again, I catch myself in the act of having a connection with Amy's injuries, or Amy herself.

Why couldn't I think of something else besides her? As if an answer were provided, I began to feel soothed by a voice… familiar, and gentle voice from within. The tone was clearly recognizable. I gasped quietly to myself in a surprised reaction. I didn't expect the voice to appear so soon.

"Maria?… Is that you?… "

"Shadow. Please… Do not be frightened of your plight. Conquer it, and you will not be afraid anymore, my dear friend."

"…What plight are you talking about? I do not have a problem, Maria…"

"Please, don't try to hide it from me… I always trusted you, and you always trusted me. You don't have to tell me because I know."

There was a warm sensation upon my hands, as if something or someone were holding them very lightly. I try not to get nervous, or think that this is an illusion, or a complete hallucination… typically that from what I've heard, that you can hallucinate out in the desert from lack of water, but it wasn't too hot, nor was I thirsty at the particular time.

"I… I can't explain it… but since you know, I'm sure you know what I might of tried to say… I can't be near her… I just can't…"

"I ask of you to give yourself time to calm down. You must not let yourself be overwhelmed with the prospect of fearing for her safety all the time. She is always safe as long as you're around. But when the time is right, come to her aid, and show your friendship means something more than just rescuing her all the time… even that will expand into something you will see later, my dear friend. For now, I must depart you. Don't worry; I will always be with you, in your heart. Do not despair from loneliness' hardships, for you have friends, and a close one who care about you. Sayonara… Shadow… my friend… I will see you when the time comes… in the far futures of time."

I was distraught as the warmth left me in a sudden instant, as I was about to protest against her leaving me alone. The coldness resumed its position over me, and I merely shivered in a response. What did she mean my 'friendship' with Amy would expand? I sat there, underneath the dark clouds that hung above myself. What exactly did she mean by those words? Of course I don't have any friends… but… she said that I have friends… she couldn't be talking about those pathetic excuses of morons, and Blizzard, could she have? Well, I think it was that obvious, that I needed to leave this spot to go on… alone.

// I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm close to something real \\

// I wanna find something I've wanted all along \\

// Somewhere I belong \\

Maybe my own sister was right… or well, I technically always called her my sister. She had my blood running through her, and she was always thankful I had saved her from just millimeters away from death by blood loss. I try to remember what had happened after I left… well, the hours after I left. It was typically hard to remember since your head hurts like hell in the attempt of reading one of your own memories, but hell, falling down to the earth like a meteor and smashing meters into the soft earthy ground for about a mile in length, sure didn't really feel exactly pleasant, either.

I could say that. But I hadn't a clue to how I was able to survive such a catastrophe after just almost depleting my energy for the final chaos control, to halt the ARK from dropping to the planet's surface. Why didn't I just die? How was it even possible for me to survive? It must have had to do something with my alternate, stronger form. I had been hit by many laser beams, and small little floating balls the monstrous Finalhazard threw at me out of defense, but those only pushed me back… I felt no pain. Nothing. But I was beginning to feel the heat rise on me when I thought I was trapped in some oven for a while… a.k.a. I had probably been rocketing towards the surface at a high speed…made me look like I was a shooting star or something. I didn't even know if I was alive or not…

Speaking of which, I was glad I had annihilated that robot. It was nothing but an annoyance… and it was he who had angered me in the first place. This just stinks. Plain stinks that I had ran. Ran from people who actually gave a shit about me at all. My mind was lost, and just dazed. I tried not to think of Amy at that point in time. I sighed. There was no hope to this, was there?

// And I've got nothing to say \\

// I can't believe I didn't fall right down on my face \\

[Another Flashback, 'Two days after the Transfusion'.]

I had sat alone, in a chair, within a different laboratory. Maria had stepped in and I was glad. Should I tell her about the other hedgehog that had been injured? She might have known already, but I ask anyways. "Maria… do you know of the cobalt hedgehog within this facility?"

I didn't turn around, but I didn't know what her facial expression was at the time, either. Maria approached my chair, and knelt down beside me, and held my left hand underneath her soft grasp for a while. The only reason I had been in that chair was because I was tired after I had left the lab where the Professor had been. Regaining enough consciousness to know Maria had come in was a good sign I was recovering from the blood transfusion…

"Shadow, what you did was very brave, and courageous of you to do for her. I'm so happy that you saved her. She's okay, and apparently she's also up and about, looking for you… I'll add she's stubborn on the fact she isn't going to stop looking…"

At that moment, footsteps were heard coming into the room. Maria looked back, but I couldn't. I was pretty much flat-out of energy to move a lot. I could hear a panting noise, as if this person had been running around the colony for quite some time. I hear Maria gesture for the panting personage to come over here… I almost fell out of my chair, from being startled by the rather… fast blue hedgehog in front of me… wait… she was totally blue from the start… her quills had taken on shading towards black to the ends of her quills. The small protruding tuft upon her forehead…or bang, whatever… had also changed colors, with the back tips of the ears, too. Even the wrists and lower halves of her legs were toned towards shading into black. When I first saw her, she was a little on the lighter bluish hue… almost like faker's fur color, but that apparently changed to a darker blue. I just stared at her for one moment… and when I did, she gave me this funny look.

"Um… what's got your tongue? Hey wait a minute; you're that black hedgehog that saved me… Shadow, is it? Um… thanks for saving me. I had no idea someone as kind as you was on this floating space… thingy…" The dark cobalt hedgehog glanced downwards with her sapphire eyes; a sign that I should be questioning… though… where did she come from? I don't even know her name.

"You're welcome…" That got her perked up with a small smile on her face. But I continued with my talking. "Although you had been saved… who are you? And where did you come from? I would have known of your presence upon this colony. " I had remembered being a bit stern with this sudden newcomer… maybe she was another creation, like me?

// ( I was confused ) \\

// Looking everywhere only to find \\

That, apparently, silenced her immediately. It was as if she was shutting down, and became less willing to say, or talk about it. I occasionally felt the same way… shutting down automatically, but that became different when I met Maria. Maria seems to worry about her now, and she leaves my side. I do not feel any prick of jealousy as she kneels down beside the cobalt hedgehog, and gave her warmest smile.

"It's alright… You can tell us. We're not going to bite."

That forced out a stifled giggle from the hedgehog, but that cut off quicker than expected. Lifting her head slowly, to reveal small tears towards me, then to Maria, I blink several times. Why was she crying? Had I guessed right?

It was when she began to speak, was when Maria and I were shocked afterwards…

"I don't have a name… I used to live upon the earth's surface... but then, it was a few weeks ago. A dark time when rain was comin' down lightly enough, but it didn't cancel the shuttle launch to the colony… I was dared to go aboard the spaceship, and stay there before the launch, which was in fifteen minutes." I found that she was going to cry harder, sounding as if she were sorry for coming aboard the space colony at all. "I was too rambunctious and I had run aboard without guards noticing my sneaky entry. My so-called' friends' cheered me on at a fence post once I was at the shuttle doorway. I climbed inside, being curious as to what a space ship looked like… which got my friends to try and call me away, but I didn't listen. The door shot at five minutes when I was just about four feet from the door. I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Someone was coming down to see what had caused a little commotion, since I yelped kinda loudly. All I knew was that I had to hide, very fast. This compartment door I found was big enough, so I squeezed myself into it, and shut it quickly before the operator aboard the spacecraft could notice.

I didn't like it when the shuttle had already taken off, for I could feel the vibration literally shaking the daylights out of me, and I even felt like the force of the blastoff was squeezing me further. About an hour later, the shuttle was in space, headin' towards this colony... Well, actually it was right about to dock at it. I used the opportune time to pop myself out of the compartment, and head for the door. I escaped after the door opened. I… I didn't know where to go, so I ran down some hallways. I found myself a hiding spot… I know where it is still, but now I don't have to hide… I guess… I used my hiding spot when I usually raided what seemed to be the food storage area…"

So that's why there had been reports of food items being missing… she stole them so she could survive onboard.

"Three days ago, I was going to raid the food storage area again, but this time someone had caught me in the middle of thieving the items, and I dropped them. I tried to run away, because… I was so scared… this place was strange and new to me. A couple of guards managed to capture me and tie me down so I could not get away. Then this man with black hair, and a black moustache came to me. I looked pretty scared enough, so he took me to a strange room… I could hear him say that he had found a live test subject. I didn't know what he had been talking about until I was placed into a small container, a glass tube wide enough for me to fit in. I had been untied before I had been shoved into it. This tube thing suddenly plummeted below the floor, and I found myself in another room once it had submerged above a different floor.

The tube opened up over me, and it uplifted into the air, leaving me to sit on the ground freely. But… it was when I heard heavy breathin' I started getting' scared again. There was this big shadow in front of me, and it towered right over me. Once a light was able to be shone on it, all I could do was gape at its real look, and… and… an-and…. sc-scream…" I was tilting my head in wide shock. Even my eyes were wide with surprise. Maria was hugging the crying girl.

"T-h-the thing tried to eat me. It hissed and roared at me, and it attacked me ruthlessly, launchin' these blackish-looking electrical-like balls. I couldn't evade them, and I was shocked, or burnt. Then I tried to fight back, but all that went down the d-drain when the skin seemed t-t-to make it look all-invincible. It even smashed me several times with its tail, and then used it like a golf club to hit me in a distance. I fought back harder, but… I couldn't win…I felt like my bones was broken and stuff so it was jus' looming over, 'bout to eat me, then this old man came and stopped the Lizard with stun machines after distractin' it… I… don't remember much after that…"

// That it's not the way I imagined it all in my mind \\

She was crying... Literally, almost to death. This creature, or whatever it was, had been brutally beating this harmless hedgehog up. I struggled out of my seat, and slowly approached her. Those were real tears of pain, and Maria knew it, as well as I did. I could understand how sorry she felt having coming aboard this colony, and how she never meant to be here in the first place. Hm. No name…

"I understand. We… forgive you for coming aboard." I managed to choke out. "But it was foolish of you to accept something like that." I added harshly.

// ( So what am I ) \\

// What do I have but negativity \\

"Oh…wait… you said you didn't have a name, right?… well, why don't we choose out a name for you?" Maria managed to chip away at my negative attitude for the moment. I could tell Maria didn't want her to be hurt further than she already was, and I pushed my coldness back. I didn't mean it, but it had to be done.

She managed to stop crying for a while… well, she did say she did not have a name… And Maria looked at me for an idea. I didn't know.. I was not good at naming things… well, giving them names, in the case. I looked around, and I saw a small hanging picture upon the wall. Maria had told me she always loved snow, the way it looked with its patterns of snowflakes. There were a ton of white dots upon the picture…so I thought of the condition… snow… snowy… snowing… ice… icysnow… flurry… flurries… icicle… blizzard… frost… wait a moment. Blizzard. Why did that have a touching thing to it?

"..How about… Blizzard?" I shrugged.

"That's wonderful!"

"I like that name, Mr. Shadow…" 'Blizzard' managed to dry her tears, and put on a smile.

I found out later, that my blood, somehow, infused with hers to create a hybrid capable of competing with me, but she was never the type to fight unless provoked. Maria said that since her blood was fusing with mine, that technically made Blizzard my 'sister'.

[End second flashback]

Maybe I am putting down my sense of trust. Everything has been bringing me wrong these days, and all I do was get into trouble, and have it follow me.

// 'Cause I can't trust to find the way, everyone is looking at me \\

// Nothing to gain, hollow and alone \\

// ( Nothing to lose ) \\

// And the fault is my own, and the fault is my own \\

"Amy, I'm sorry for abandoning you, but I can't see you… just yet.  I have to deal with myself. Knowing you, you won't give up hope. You never have." I say this aloud, to no one, but Amy. I never cry, but there's always a first for everything… just only a small tiny tear.

// I will never know myself until I do this on my own\\

// And I will never feel anything else until my wounds are healed \\

// I will never be anything till I break away and find myself today \\

I decide against going back, because I wouldn't want to get her into any more trouble, but she needs me. I do not know what this new feelings are, and I've already begun to figure out what it really means. Maybe it has to do something with what Maria said… with Amy's and my friendship expanding into something… something more than that, perhaps?

// I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong \\

// I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I'm somewhere I belong \\

I don't have to feel like I'm being hated anymore. Those that do care… like the gang, actually try to show that I, and they are friends. All I ever did was act like a fucked-up jerk. I even felt the same way with my own sister… I acted like a moron. I will go back, but now I have other things to attend to.

// Somewhere I belong \\