Chapter 10: Flashback pt. 5
(At Ocean near Station Square; two hours after battle)
Note: Remember that it is 15 years in the future. Everyone is way older! (I suppose except Shadow because he has eternal youth)
A rusty tattered plane flew overhead. The paint was scraped off and black smoke oozed out of its wings. Shadow smashed his fist on the dials, which shook out of control. Several hours earlier, a dark thunderstorm raged on the horizon. Shadow was certain the weather was hovering over Station Square. Impatience consumed him. However, as he approached the city, all appeared quiet. Shadow instantly leaped out of the jet and onto the beach, letting the Tornado spin out of control and plummet into the water.
Planks of wood drifted among the bloody waves, lapping against Shadow's feet. He cautiously crept along the wreckage. Ash and glass littered the black sand. A dead silence hovered over the dark hedgehog. The shattered skies above him were outlined in black and scarlet. A cold breeze blew from the heavens, across Shadow's feet, and led to the city. Following the wind, Shadow was escorted to an overturned boat. Etched on it, were the chiseled words, 'Blue Thunder.' A weak whimper came from underneath the destroyed vessel. Shadow situated his hands on the rusted railing. He flipped it over to reveal Amy and a third of the children from the nursery. Amy, in a catatonic state, squeezed a crying child and rocked back and forth. Her eyes blankly stared forward. Confused, he shook the distraught hedgehog. She was shivering uncontrollably, but to Shadow's surprise, did not have tears in her petrified eyes. He slapped her face several times until she gasped in surprise.
"Sonic?" She murmured out of instinct. Seeing the dark hedgehog's expression, she realized who the figure was. "Shadow? W-where were you?" He did not respond, remembering his battle with the warrior from earlier.
Shoving the memory off, he asked, "What happened here?" Amy closed her eyes and swallowed hard.
"I was really angry at Tikal and Knuckles," she began, "And when I searched for Tails, I found him here at the docks. I tried to get him to return and do as Knuckles asked, but Tails refused. He said that he couldn't stand fighting by Sonic's killer's side." Amy sighed, patting the child in her arms. "Tails was going to wade out in the sea until the battle was over. Then, he would come back and finish off the warrior himself. I was going to follow him when this girl ran after us. She carried many children with her, and begged us to take them with us. We almost boarded the boat when the girl panicked. She forgot one of the children, and before I could stop her, she was gone. I held the children, while Tails unhooked the anchor. Suddenly, there was this huge earthquake and lightning. Nearly all the children fell out of the boat. Then, suddenly the world around us vanished. When it reappeared, the boat was gone and we were swimming in the turbulent water. Tails and I could only save so many children. We barely reached the beach. However, once the clouds disappeared," Amy closed her eyes, "The girl never came back." Shadow sensed that Amy was speaking of Roxie, and suddenly became concerned. "Tails yelled at me to remain here, while he went to check on everyone else. He hasn't come back yet, though." Amy took several deep breaths, forcing back tears. She succeeded and gazed at Shadow.
"I am going to check out the battlefield as well. You will stay here, right?" Amy slowly nodded. "Good. Watch over the children."
"There is a horrifying feeling in me that their parents are... gone. If so, then I will not only watch them, but I will raise them." Amy promised to herself as Shadow walked away.
Puddles of dark blood rested on the cracked earth. A breeze softly blew dust and sorrow across Shadow's shocked face, now sweating. He stood on a hill, allowing him to see the valley of ruins below. Every skyscraper was disintegrated into the ground. The leftover standing cement walls were splattered with fresh blood. Surrounding the twisted wreckage were dozens of deep craters, all of which contained Knuckles' forces. Not knowing how to react to such tragedy, Shadow froze with a twisted expression of disgust, turmoil, and indifference. After releasing himself from his immobilization, Shadow slogged his way through the crowd of corpses.
Each creature's appearance varied. A fraction possessed frozen faces of horror, while many lay peacefully, with their eyes closed. Some were crawling with blood, and others suffered internal injuries and thus appeared hygienic. Hundreds of the rebels lay on top of each other, as if they plummeted to their deaths from the sky. However, others rested in isolation, elevated on uprooted pieces of earth. A few of them lay limp over steel poles, which were staked to the remaining structure of torn buildings. Shadow sprinted to each creature, checking their pulses, all of which were nonexistent. The gore was too gruesome for the dark hedgehog, and he shut his eyes as he continued entering the heart of the annihilated city.
A faint noise came from behind. Shadow, anxious to witness life, turned to see Cream and Tikal. The echidna, lifeless, rested on the weak rabbit. Cream eyed Shadow and moaned in pain. Her eyelids were too heavy, making it strenuous to look at the hedgehog. She remained silent, breathing shallow raspy mouthfuls of air. A smile flickered on her clammy face. Shadow rested his palm on her burning forehead. Breathing awkwardly, Cream laughed uneasily. "What a huge m-mis-calcu-la-tion, h-huh?"
Ignoring her, Shadow half-lied, "Your children are safe. Amy will take care of them." Of course, he only saw Cheese, but it would be best to let Cream think both of the twins were alright. The rabbit weakly smiled, sighing in relief. Her eyes twitched closed as her head became limp.
Shadow came across similar situations. He found Sally, Charmy, and Espio alive. However, their injuries were too great, and they passed away shortly after. Grudgingly, Shadow continued walking to the heart of the ruins. Never had he seen immense carnage of this magnitude. Limping from his wounded ankle, Shadow felt the physical pain from his wound and searing remorse for not arriving in time. Not only did he fail to be helpful, Shadow revealed the base's location to the warrior. Knuckles was right; they were not ready. Now, the dark hedgehog would live the rest of his life with Maria's as well as an entire population's death on his hands. "Maria," he thought, "What have I done?"
He strolled across the wreckage with his head down. A rock twitched as he stepped on it. Shadow stopped, realizing that someone was underneath it, possibly alive. The dirt clod crumbled as Knuckles appeared beneath, with his fist thrust upwards. Crawling to his feet, the echidna moaned. Shadow appeared indifferent, despite his true feelings of limitless relief. "You look as if you've been hit by a truck," Shadow smiled, attempting to sound funny. Knuckles, however, did not return the enthusiasm, falling onto Shadow. "Hey! Get off," the dark hedgehog exclaimed until he felt blood trickling onto his arms. Knuckles, regaining his strength, stood on his feet. "Sorry. Your red fur makes it hard to see the blood."
"Relax, Shadow," Knuckles replied with ease, "I am fine. They are just skin deep wounds..." He felt his forehead, finding a thin scar which spread across his eyelid. "But I am still kind of weak."
"What happened?"
Knuckles rubbed his head with both hands. "Not really sure. I remember speaking to the warrior, and then everything went dark." Shadow looked at Knuckles, hinting him to continue. "She said that her name was... Dice. However, there was something odd about her. It was as though, she didn't like her job."
Shadow rolled his eyes. "I fought her already. Believe me; she was having a lot of fun, harassing the kid's sister." Suddenly, Shadow gasped. "Oh shit! Where are Roxie and Rogue?" Knuckles looked away and shrugged. This time, it was Knuckles' turn to gasp. "What?" Shadow casually asked, turning to see where Knuckles was looking. His eyes grew wide in astonishment.
"Rouge!" Knuckles exclaimed, running past Shadow. A pole pinned her wing to a levitated piece of wreckage, making the bat hover over the ground. Her limp arm hung over the metal stick. Rouge's head slanted at an angle, which put her face in shadow. Knuckles rested his forehead against hers. "Wake up," he whispered, "Please." Meanwhile, Shadow sympathetically stood behind the echidna with his eyes and mouth half open.
Suddenly, Rouge's eyelids began to twitch open. Surprised, Knuckles reared his head back, and then sighed in relief. "Hey, knuckle-head," she softly wheezed. A frail smile appeared when her eyes focused and saw both Knuckles and Shadow. "You aren't both here to talk to little old me, are you?" Shadow smirked, but Knuckles held his breath, hoping Rouge would survive. "Knux, I'm... sorry, about earlier."
"Hey, stop making it sound like you are on your deathbed!" Knuckles panicked. She grimaced in pain and felt Knuckles' bruised cheek with her palm. "Stop it!" Despite the echidna's denial, Rouge knew that her death was nigh.
"Shadow, I know that you were always fond of Rogue. Tell him and Roxie, I'm sorry for always being too busy treasure hunting and not spending time with them. Could you do that for me?"
"Yes," Shadow responded, "I will."
"As for you, echidna," She thought out loud, carefully choosing her last words. "I never really told you this... but I..." Knuckles placed his glove over her mouth, and smiled, knowing what she wanted to confess.
"I think I will leave you two alone," Shadow sighed. "Rouge, you have been a..." The hedgehog was having troubles saying his thoughts, "Uh, an awesome teammate and friend. Farewell." Rouge smiled and closed her eyes, as Shadow walked away, in search of her son.
Several minutes passed as Shadow walked aimlessly. The scenery was repetitive. More ruins. More blood. And more cracked, elevated pieces of earth. Rogue and Roxie were nowhere to be found.
He sat on a fallen tree, taking a break from the hopeless mission. Shadow exhaled into a warm breeze, which pulled dirt fragments and glass shards across his feet. Along with the debris was a torn photograph. "Wha-?" Curious, Shadow hoisted it up, revealing Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, and Tails sitting at a table with a large birthday cake. Knuckles held the knife, while Amy, who was smiling, jokingly slapped a cheerful Tails for stealing a cake morsel before Sonic blew out the candles.
Shadow quickly searched the horizon, looking for where the picture originated from. With incredible luck, he found a dark figure hovered over a body. The figure, however, quickly saw him and disappeared. Sprinting to the body, Shadow was horrified to discover Rogue with a deep gash in his stomach. The distressed hedgehog rested one hand on the bat's stomach and used the other to prop up Rogue's head. The boy was overjoyed to see Shadow.
"Rogue!"
The bat paused after each word, gasping for air. "Hey, that's ...the... first... time... you... didn't... call me... 'kid.' Who... are you, and... what have... you done... with the... real Shadow?"
"This is no time for jokes, Rogue. Hey listen, your mom, she wanted me to tell you and Roxie that she... uh, loves you."
"Yeah, yeah." Tears of blood poured out of his eyes. The boy sobbed and then, stammered, "...Roxie is... gone." Stunned, Shadow did not respond. Rogue closed his eyes, shaking violently from blood loss. His lungs burned, while his skin was icy cold. At last, Rogue choked out after seeing the photograph in Shadow's hands, "Could you... tell me ...your... version... of Sonic?"
"What?"
"Remember, you ...asked me... to talk... to... everyone... else. Well, I am... asking... you now." Shadow bit his lip, not desiring in any way to disclose information of his past. However, this might be Rogue's last request, and like Maria, Shadow refused to fail him.
"Sonic and I ...were originally enemies. I misinterpreted my friend's wishes and almost did something terrible, so Sonic intended to stop me. It took one of Sonic's friends to help me realize the mistake I made. So, in return and to truly fulfill my friend's desire, I helped Sonic save this world. However, during the battle, I was low on rings, and Sonic gave me most of his. When we performed chaos control, it teleported both of us to another dimension. He was unconscious, so I used the last of my power and rings to teleport him back. Sonic and his friends saved me, so I had to help him in return." Shadow closed his eyes. "He saved me in so many ways, yet when I returned to this world, he was already dead. Of course, now that I think about it, I never really thanked him."
"You... did something... bad, but... they... forgave you?" Rogue repeated as confirmation. Shadow stopped himself from rolling his eyes and nodded. "The warrior, she... is just like... you, but now... you need to... forgive her." Shadow squinted his eyes, not wanting to be a part of another person's dying wishes, let alone help the enemy who annihilated countless worlds. Rogue winced, his lethal injuries were growing worse. "Please? Someone ...needs to... save her from... Eggman. You never... promised me or ...my sister... anything; will... you promise now?"
Shadow paused for several moments, rethinking exactly what he might agree to. Although he let down Maria, Shadow would be able to help his dying friend. "I promise I will save her, Rogue. I promise."
"Good," he weakly smiled, "I... never told you, but... you are... my hero... not Sonic... and... I hated it... when you... called me, 'kid.' ...Thanks for... treating me like... an adult, Shadow."
"No prob." The boy did not respond, and Shadow closed the bat's eyes with his bloody paw. "Sayonara my friend, Rogue the Bat."
(PRESENT)- Ok, technically speaking, it is sixteen years in the future, but you guys know what I mean.
Shadow hovered in a tree above a base. "Why does Dice always have to be late? Damn, I really needed that map layout, but I just couldn't wait at Angel Island any longer," He muttered.
Her incompetence and tardiness was beginning to irritate the dark hedgehog all over again. Out of irritation he spit out, "At least Rogue kept his promises..." The thought triggered a wave of sadness, so Shadow quickly tried to shake the image off.
"I am not sure where the portal would be and how long it will remain there. Damn, I really need that layout! At least I am certain; Robotnik will be on the other side. However, this time I will not fail. Maria: I will make Rogue happy."
He hopped to the ground, basking in moonlight. "Rogue: I will save Dice. I will destroy the master emerald!"
A/N: Thank you all for reading Chapter 9: the last part of the really, really long flashback. Poor Rogue, I kind of began to like him...even though he was a kid. Eww, kids. Anyway, I'll try to make this author's note short and sweet, since all my other ones are unbelievably long...so I shall leave you with this final message: please review!