Author's note: I'm so sorry, dear adoring (?) readers, but my series "Amy's Wish Come True" has been deleted by the admin. So that series won't be on that site anymore, but maybe I can find a different one to host it. So here is a compensation story instead:

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A Melancholy Rambling: I'm So Sorry

The ebony and maroon hedgehog leaned over the crumbling staircase, contemplating. 'It could all be over...' He thought. 'Just one little jump. No one loves me...cares for me. And I could end it all.' The chasm below looked more than five hundred feet deep; the end was interminable, mingling with the mist below. 'Why shouldn't I? My one childhood love, Maria... She left me. I feel happy for her, though. At least she went to a better place. Locked up on that spaceship...together, we both wondered what it would be like there...down on Earth. A piece of crap, that's what, just like everything else.'

Shadow sighed, laying his arms down on a rail. 'Faker's finally found that he likes Amy, Rouge has settled down with Knuckles...and quit her treasure hunting. Tails and Cream are friends...Big is...just Big. Eggman has finally been defeated, for the last time, and Metal Sonic stopped being quite so evil. Everyone is just relaxing now, but somehow...the world seems emptier. Like there's nothing left to do. What's the point of having magical powers if there's no one left to fight, anyway?' Shadow asked metaphorically, quills blowing in the wind.

He resumed once again staring into the dark abyss. 'Everyone is happy; they have someone to love. And now they shun me, because I still am not happy, am not satisfied; I am, and always will be, an outcast. They don't like me anymore, even if I did help to save the world. Now, instead of greeting me cutely, all that Cream does when I come near is stare sadly down at her shoelaces.' Shadow thought, and clenched his fist. 'I'm the only one of their kind now, and if they shun me, who the hell am I supposed to....'be' with now?! What did I do, besides being evil and all....that makes them reject me so? Am I so mysterious? Angsty? I have nowhere left to go.' Shadow sat still, thinking about how he met them.

'I remember...being awoken by Eggman. Not Prof. Gerald, but his grandson, I think. In return for him releasing me, I helped him. But I soon realized that I had a heart, and joined the good side in the end. Sonic and me...together. Our powers blending, we felt as one. Everyone thought I had sacrificed my life to save Earth, but in actuality I had used the last of my powers to do one more Chaos Control. All in all, they found out that I was still alive, but had amnesia. I forgot everything... but soon, after another adventure, my memory was regained. Everyone went back to their respective lives, and then Eggman was defeated. Everyone rejoiced, but I was all alone, even the people that I thought cared for me, walked away. Everything was quiet.'

Shadow looked up to the sky; a dark brown-red, muddled together with the milky white stars and two twilight moons, dully shining smothered glares down onto this god forsaken planet. 'And since no one cared for me, and I was such a 'nuisance', they gave me a choice: stay on that planet, sulking for the rest of my life, or live on this planet, that used to belong to Eggman. I had missed the stars, and felt nostalgic about the ARK, so I decided to go to this planet. But it doesn't ease my pain about Maria. Quite to the contrary, I'm having more and more nightmares every night, waking up in a cold sweat. It just....is so lonely here. And I doubt that I could ever go back to Earth now. I wouldn't know how to communicate with them, as I realized when they flew back to Earth. They left no means of communication, just me alone on this stupid planet.'

Shadow backed up against his bedroom door twenty feet away on the balcony, preparing for a running jump. 'I have nothing left to go on. I must do this now, before I chicken out, cowering like a little baby. I have to have courage......and I shall finally be able to see Maria. Goodbye, cruel world. And fuck you all.' Shadow swore, and started running quickly towards the edge. 'Maria, I'm coming!!" Shadow screamed, and jumped. Wind was brushing through his body, and he felt as if he were flying, a quick descent into heaven. But all of a sudden-

"Shadow, stop!" Said Sonic, grabbing Shadow by the waist. "I'm so sorry." Sonic was being carried by Tails, with Knuckles flying behind, Cream right behind him, and Big following closely after. Shadow's eyes widened.

"You're....back?" He asked, barely able to speak, touched and yet disgusted at the same time.

"Yeah. And we're all sorry about what we've done. Right everyone?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah! We're really sorry, Shadow!" They screamed merrily in chorus.

So...will you forgive us?" Sonic held out his hand.

A tear silently formed in Shadow's eye, so he faced the opposite way and wiped it off. "Yeah....I think I will." Shadow says, and took his hand. They shook hands, and went back to Earth on a spaceship, while Shadow looked out the window. He realized how much happier he was now. Arriving back to the friendly blue sphere, Shadow wasn't so alone any more, and everyone was joyous. They all had a big celebration, and became best of friends once again.

"I'll see you soon, Maria....." Shadow said, looking to the stars.

The End

by AngelfyreShadowLover, Dec. 29, 2004