Being Free

Written by Airo Smicktor

I do not own anything here.

Chapter 19 – Expectation

"Home – Place where one was born or grew up."

Shadow found himself standing in a long empty corridor. Everything had a cold, metallic feel and look to it, but it was still quite dusty. The result of over 50 years of abandonment.

'Weeelcooomeee baaack…' The voice 'greeted', sounding much stronger, and somewhat closer, than before.
'This place is strange.' Shadow thought, both to himself and to the voice. 'Are you sure this is my home?'
'Straaangeee…' The voice then laughed at the suggestion. A long, low-pitched, sinister laugh. Impossibly, at least to normal logic, it seemed to travel through the corridor, rather than just through Shadow's mind.

'Yooouuu wooon't beeeliiieeeveee yooouuu saaaiiid thaaat… Aaafteeer weee'veee reeestoooreeed yooouuur meeemoooriiieees thaaat iiis… Speeeaaakiiing ooof whiiich… Theeereee haaas beeeeeen eeenooouuugh staaalliiing… Iiit iiis tiiimeee… Fooollooow my diiireeectiiiooons… Tooo liiiveee aaand leeeaaarn…'

Shadow nodded, but remained still. The Chaos Emerald remained tightly gripped in his hand, and the handgun in the other. There was something distinctly eerie about this 'home' of his.
'Fooorwaaard.' The voice commanded.

The dark hedgehog began moving down the corridor, his jet shoes allowing him to effortlessly glide over the floor. He stepped rhythmically in a trance-like motion, his arms swaying with his movements.
'Leeeft.'

Shadow turned the corner, into another long corridor. Overhead, tiny beams of light poured down like little waterfalls, exposing the worn, grey floor from the darkness around.
' Leeeft aaagaaaiiin.'

Once more, Shadow took the turning, and once more, he was running down a long corridor.
"Hurry Shadow!"

Shadow stopped dead in his tracks. That voice… So unlike the raspy one before… It sounded like a child's voice… A familiar child's voice… But how could that be?
'Keeeeeep goooiiing!' The raspy voice commanded. 'Weee aaareee neeeaaarly aaat theee eeend!'
"They're gaining on us!" The child's voice spoke again, sounding worried.

Looking over his shoulder, the dark hedgehog saw nothing unusual about the corridor. Yet as he did, he seemed to hear loud footsteps. They were running, no, chasing.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked.
'Theee paaaiiinfuuul liiieees theeey feeed yooouuu! Theeey'reee seeeeeepiiing baaack iiinsiiideee yooouuur miiind! Huuurry, theeereee iiis stiiill tiiimeee!'
"No!" the hedgehog said. "I want an explanation! What is going on here?"
'Yooouuu waaant proooooof dooo yooouuu? Theeen liiisteeen tooo thiiiis…'

A silence followed, or at least, it would be if it weren't for the constant sound of marching.
'Maaariiiaaa.'

"ARGH!" Shadow fell to his knees, clutching his head.

'Yooouuu uuundeeerstaaand nooow? Theee spiiiteeefuuul, poooiiisooonooouuus, biiitteeer liiieees! Iiif yooouuu waaant tooo beee freeeeee ooof theeem, yooouuu muuust gooo nooow! Weee aaareee neeeaaarly theeereee!'

Standing back up, and this time with a sense of urgency, Shadow ran down the corridor. This time there were no pauses, or questions asked. Shadow moved in the directions the voice commanded, and tried his best to ignore the other noises in his mind.

'Riiight!'

"What do they want from us and the Professor?" A voice like Shadow's, but far more innocent and younger sounding asked, the sounds of rapid breathing accompanying it.
"There's no time to explain Shadow!" The girl said. "Quickly! We have to get to the escape pods!"

'Riiight!'

"This doesn't make any sense!" The younger Shadow said. "We've never done anything wrong!"
"I know, but they don't care about that…Just a little longer and we'll be there Shadow…"

'Leeeft!'

"I'm sorry Shadow…" The girl said. "I'm sorry I never got to tell you the truth…"

'STOOOP!'

Shadow did just that. Looking up, the dark hedgehog found that he was standing in front of a dead-end.
'Weee aaareee heeereee…' The raspy-voice confirmed. 'Aaalthooouuugh thiiis doooeees looooook liiikeee aaan ooordiiinaaary waaall, I suuuggeeest yooouuu plaaaceee yooouuur haaand ooon iiits ceeentreee.'

The hedgehog gave the wall he was in front of another look over, before putting down his handgun on the floor. With his palm outstretched, Shadow placed it flat in the centre of the wall as instructed.

A bright green light then illuminated around his hand's outline, before a wall suddenly shot out of the floor behind him. He tried to look over his shoulder to see what was going on, but he was now shrouded in total darkness.

'Doo noot bee aalaarmeed…' The raspy-voice, although it now sounded slightly less raspy, said. 'Thiis iis aa seecreet eeleevaatoor. Iit wiill taakee yoouu too thee fiinaal steep iin oour joouurneey.'

Kneeling down, Shadow felt around for his handgun. Upon finding it, he stood back up. At that moment, the elevator began moving.

All Shadow could do was to stand in the darkness, waiting to arrive at the destination he was heading for.

'Aaree yoouu reeaady, Proojeect Shaadoow?'
"Why not." Shadow shrugged. "I don't seem to have a choice."
'Doon't woorry. Juust waalk iintoo thee roooom.'

Right on cue, the elevator stopped, and then the rear wall disappeared into the floor. Turning around, the dark hedgehog saw he was now in a round room, with a single chair in the centre.

The chair had a heavy amount of wires, cables, and pipes going in and out of it, connecting to the ceiling and wall behind it. There were also a few monitors hanging from the ceiling in front of the seat.

"I take it I have to sit in that?" Shadow enquired.
'Thaat iis coorreect. Ooncee yoouu doo thaat, plaacee thee eemeeraald iin thee liittlee hoolee iin thee chaaiir's aarm. Ooh, yoouu'll neeeed too loosee thee guun beefooree yoouu siit doown.'
"And why's that?"
'Wee doon't waant too riisk aany uunfoortuunaatee aacciideents, doo wee?'

Shadow took a few steps forward, before putting the gun on the floor before the chair. He then took one final glance around him, before sitting in the chair. Looking at the right arm of the chair, he saw the hole the voice had mentioned.
'Here we go…' He thought, putting the emerald in it.

The emerald disappeared into it, and the hole closed itself up. Shadow then found his arms were suddenly strapped down onto the chair's arms by strange slithery cords. His legs and stomach were being held in the same way.

'Ii thoouught theeree waas soomeethiing Ii'd foorgootteen too meentiioon…'
"What do mean?" Shadow demanded, straining against what held him.
'Wee neeeed too waaiit foor thee ootheer eemeeraalds noow…'

"That was really brave of you to save back on Prison Island." Rouge told Shadow, looking out of the observation window of the Space Colony ARK. "It was so unlike you."
"I was saving the emeralds, not you." The dark hedgehog flatly stated. "I should have left you for not finding that third emerald."
"Oh, you and your emeralds!" Rouge waved off the hedgehog's statements. "That's not the real reason!"
"What are you two talking about?" Eggman asked, entering the room.
"Old dark and angsty here…" Rouge pointed at Shadow. "Is made because we don't have that other emerald."

"Ah! I've solved that problem!" The Doctor stated proudly.
"Really?" Shadow asked, looking over his shoulder. "Do tell us more."
"It turns out that the emerald is already here! I found it when I was putting the others into the core!"

"…You're kidding me, right?" Rouge said, not believing Eggman's statement. "How could an emerald possibly…?"
"It doesn't matter how it got there." Shadow quickly interrupted her. "Now it is there, we only need one more to power it up."
"Yes, I agree." Eggman said. "It may be tricky finding it."
"Oh, I can solve that problem…" Rouge stated.

Author Notes: Now we're getting somewhere. I'm not too happy with the way this chapter turned out, but it's needed.

Thanks to false, Chiwizard(you'll find out quite a bit about Shadow's past, believe me)and Air girl14for their reviews. SpadeHand- I would appreciate constructive reviews, rather than rubbish about your head exploding. If you can't do that, than even a simple thanks for the chapter would be nice.

Please keep reviewing, and I'll hopefully update soon.