Being Free

Seriously, I love SEGA and Sonic Team, so I would never dare to state that they didn't own the characters used in this fan-fiction. Full desclaimer can be found in the Prologue chapter.

Chapter 2 - Preperation

"Destiny - A predetermined course of events considered as something beyond regular power or control."

Shadow had been smiling from ear-to-ear ever since Tails had told him of his hero status.

When they had arrived at Tails' house, Tails had shown Shadow a collection of newspapers published ever since ARK, and Shadow hadn't stopped reading through them. Tails was busy calling up the others and Shadow again read the headlines aloud to himself:
"Hero Shadow Gives Life to Save World..."
"Shadow: Died a Hero's Death..."
"The World pays Tribute to heroics of Shadow..."

This was way too much for Shadow to take in at once. He had pulled out a paper from underneath the sofa he'd been sitting on from the day before ARK that referred to him as a 'Villain' and 'Evil', but only a while later, the same newspaper has him as a hero! That solved the question of people forgiving him for his actions, but how would the others react, that would be the real test to see if he could live in this world. Shadow had no friends, no place to stay, he was now a loner, and he knew himself he couldn't survive like that, he needed to change himself.

"Okay Shadow, the guys are heading this way! They're in for a BIG surprise when they see you!" Tails had just gotten off the phone and had come through to where Shadow was.
"You didn't tell them that I'm not..."
"What? And spoil the surprise? Where would the fun be in that?" Tails grinned as his trademark tails twirled happily behind him.

"Surprise..." Shadow thought back to when Maria surprised him a long time ago, something called a... birthday party... Shadow remembered that it was one of the most times he and Maria had been happy together, so this surprise should be happy as well. "Miles, how long until they will be here?" Shadow asked.
"Oh, the train service is pretty fast, so maybe in about half an hour for the guys who live in town. Knuckles was in town, talking to Sonic about the Chaos Emeralds as well, so he'll be coming over, and Amy's bringing a new friend she made after the ARK battle!"
"How long has it been since the battle on ARK?"
"Why... it's been about a couple of weeks or so, why?"

"Really?" This shocked shadow; it felt only like a few minutes that he had been in that light after ARK. "Well, I expected it only to be a few days, not weeks..."
Tails was confused as to why Shadow thought this, the look on his face proved this. Shadow noticed this, as Tails tried to hide his thoughts.
Shadow smirked a little at this. "Don't worry Miles, I'll explain more fully when the others get here, so everybody knows."
"Um...okay, sure Shadow." Tails went to do something, but turned back. "Hey Shadow, why do you keep calling me Miles, everybody else..."
Shadow again smiled. "That's easy to explain: I've always like to call people by their real names and titles. I always called Professor Gerald just Professor, even though most people spoke to him as Gerald, and you always call Doctor Robotnik 'Eggman', when I used to call him Doctor."
"Oh, right. Do you always speak to people formally?"
"Well, I guess I was brought up to be polite, sort of like a gentleman. It didn't exactly turn out that way though..."

Tails giggled at this.
"Huh? What's so funny?" Shadow seemed confused by this laughter.
"What? You made a funny joke about yourself Shadow!"
"...Joke?"
"Yeah! I didn't think you had that in you, but you used that irony well. You know, you sort of used bathos."
"...Bathos?"
"You know! The technique of lowering the tone of something for comical effect! People usually use that in writing though. Sorry, but I'll have to get the stuff ready for the guys coming, they can get pretty hungry on the way here, so I always make sure to have snacks ready for them. I don't want them leaving on an empty stomach!"

Tails turned away to the kitchen area, leaving a perplexed Shadow behind him. The truth was, he DIDN'T know. The only other person he had made laugh was Maria, and Shadow wasn't sure what he had done to make her do that. She always called him 'silly' and words to that effect, so Shadow didn't understand why laughing was such a good thing if it was considered 'silly'. Perhaps that was a reason why Shadow had rarely smiled, since to him smiling and laughing seemed very similar, they had they same kind of facial expression. But Shadow did know that to smile and to laugh meant that the person was 'happy' – a feeling Shadow had never truly experienced. Until today.

Shadow felt as if a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders, a burden removed from his heart and soul. A revelation of having such a feeling of happiness inside, such a warm glow from within. Something he had only felt before when he was with her. But he was now without her, yet feeling. He was experiencing emotion, far different than from the pain, heartache and sorrow he had almost drowned in for the past 50 years.

'Is this what it is like to be free?' Shadow thought, 'Is being free and being happy one and the same thing? Could they be related?' Tails had spent the last 25 or so minutes getting things ready for the arrival of the others. Shadow had seen him scurry around as fast as his feet and tails could carry him, and found such a hyperactive child very interesting, yet somehow disturbing at the same time. Shadow had remembered how Tails mood had evolved from shock, to depression, and then to overjoyed in around a minute when he had first met back at Emerald Hill. It seemed that it didn't take much to change this fox's feelings at all. Shadow assumed this was due to young age, Miles looked around 10 years old, but from what he recalled from the Doctor's files, his mental skills were even greater than a normal adult's. It was odd how someone of this IQ could have such sudden mood changes, which was quite incomprehensible to Shadow. There had only ever been 2 mood changes in his life before – when Maria had died, and when Miles had told him he was a hero. 50 years of his life, and only 2 changes. If Shadow was going to live a 'free life', he was going to have to adapt to such changes in himself, perhaps even rapid changes.

"Hey! They're here Shadow! You stay in there while I'll get them, OK?" Tails was calling from a room above, where he had said he'd been keeping watch for their arrival.
"...Sure, no problem." Was Shadow's only reply.
"Okay, just make sure you don't touch anything, especially not the camera! I'll be back soon!" Shadow then heard a window open, and what sounded like someone jumping out of the window. Since no sound of someone landing on the ground outside had occurred, Shadow assumed that Miles was flying to meet the others.
Shadow smirked. "Strangely energetic... very strange..." Shadow then turned and looked straight into the video camera that Miles had set up. Miles had mentioned something about it being 'remote-controlled' and about 'catching the look on their faces'. Shadow guessed that when it started recorded, the fun would begin...

Not too far way, the group of Tails' friends were making their way to his house, but a little too slow for someone's liking.

"Man, I could be there in a second if I..."
Sonic's usual speed rant was interrupted by a shove by Knuckles. "You never did listen well did you? Tails said we all had to be there together." Knuckles gave a light chuckle as Sonic looked 'round at him, slightly annoyed that Knuckles had actually proved Sonic wrong for once.
What didn't help matters was Amy's intervention in the matter. "Come on Knuckles, Sonic always rushes, just wait until he runs to church on our wedding day!" Knuckles could tell by the look on Sonic's what he thought of such a suggestion, and didn't even bother to hold his laughter back.

Which brought him a one-way ticket to Piko-City when he caught a harsh blow to the back of the head by Amy's hammer. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT MY MARRAGE TO SONIC?!!??!!" Amy screamed so loud that you could hear it all the way from the Hidden Palace. Sonic slowly was backing away from the situation as Knuckles lay on the ground, clutching his head.
"Please Amy... please don't be so mean to your friends..." The soft voice of a young rabbit calmed the situation down, as she looked at the still angry Amy.
"Chao! Chao-chao!" was also the response from a small Chao flying around the rabbit, which was wearing a small bow tie. Amy expression then changed, so that she looked remorseful for her actions.
"Sorry Cream, sorry Cheese, I guess I just got to caught up in the situation"
"Well I'm glad someone did..." Knuckles called, getting up but still holding his head.

"HEY! You guys!! How are you??" Tails was calling out to the others as he landed beside them.
"Yo Tails! Long time no see buddy! What's this 'surprise' about ARK that you wanted to show us?" Sonic greeting was straight to the point, as he always wanted to get things done as quickly as possible.
"Yeah, come on Tails, this had better be good, I'm missing a lot of time guarding the Master Emerald to be here..."
"Oh, it's good! It's VERY good!! Come on, I'll show you, it's in my house, this way!" Tails led the way as the group of friends headed off again towards his home. Tails had a huge grin on his face as he took the lead for the short trip back.
'Oh this is going to be great,' Tails thought, 'I can't WAIT to get the look on Sonic's face when he sees Shadow!'
"Aww, please tell us Tails, come onnnnn"
"Sorry Amy, but you'll just have to wait and see, look! We're just at my house now guys!"

Shadow had barely heard the noise from outside, and had just caught the last few words from Miles. They were here.
"So begins my new life in this world." Shadow gave one last look at the newspapers before standing up to face the door.

"I guess my destiny awaits me..."

That's Chapter two for you all! Feedback is always welcome, so send in your reviews and so-on, so I can see how I'm doing. Also, I know that I've changed how I show the dialogue here, so let me know if you find the style I use here easy to use or what. Also feel free to check out my webpage for Being Free, the link to which is in my profile as always! Thank you in advance.

N.B. Edited 29-11-04 for paragraphing