Some of you people actually thought the last chapter was the ending? Ha, ha, think again. We're only half way done. I've got the entire thing written and saved neatly onto my computer already. It's just a matter of slowly posting chapters and teasing you all! God, I love surprises.
It had been much too long of a time since Shadow didn't feel so gloomy and solitary during those long, dragging nights, and once again, his body was coursing with the energy and mixed feelings of unconditional love. Hundreds of wild questions started to fill his head as he thought about the present situation and his and Amy's future. He wondered if their lives would always be like this: very passionate, new, and wakeless. Would he feel the same unique feelings he had felt with her tomorrow? A week from now? Months, years, or even forever? He wondered if heartbreak and human error should ever happen to plague their relationship and they should split, years from now, and he wondered if that ever did happen, would they be willing to try it again, or would they simply become a foregone memory to the other? And the longer he lay there, his heart simply outpouring with happiness and his mind going over the millions of possible events and adventures that were to come of their love, the questions that lingered didn't bother him to any great extent, and they began to disperse, and for one of the few times in his life, his mind was as clear as the sky full of millions of white, minute stars on a warm, summer night. So, he let it take him on a journey.
He remembered one particular time on the ARK, when he was a much younger hedgehog than now. The little hedgehog had had a tiring day, the subject of ongoing experimentation in which a few tests probably would have been considered too harsh for such a young animal of his species, had he not possessed superhuman strength and endurance. Once he was let go, night had fallen and the poor thing was exhausted, even though he didn't want to admit it to anyone. After insisting to go to sleep wasn't enough, Maria decided to tell him a story. She didn't know too many, and the ones she did know he had heard plenty of times before, so she made up a grand tale of bravery, action, and of course, the cliche' happy ending off the top of her head, all the while tucking the little furball in. He had fallen asleep just before the "and they lived happily ever after", but he did remember receiving a small kiss on his forehead. She even sung him a short lullaby, fixing his fur and rubbing his head in such a motherly way that it touched Gerald when he watched her and every time he thought of the beautiful event up until the day he died. Even at the young age that he was, Shadow then knew the true meaning of love in its strongest form, and it was one of the few feelings that the hedgehog was sure to desire and understand for the rest of his days.
Shadow gave a prolonged, heavy sigh, comfortable and drowsy, and the hedgehog soon found out that fighting against the sandman's spell was a futile effort and, in his current mind set, it was a battle not worth fighting for. With the ever-lasting peace, the fanciful, dreamy effects of sleepiness were all the more apparent to him, so he closed his eyes and slowly laid back down on the pillow, letting himself go limp. As he did this, he noticed the certain feeling of weight and pressure on his chest that traveled down with him, making it a little difficult to breathe. He opened an eye and looked down, noticing Amy, who was still asleep from their prior nap together that had come about from simply lazing around and watching TV. It seemed as if she had found a comfortable spot amidst the warmth from his body, the couch and comforter, and his downy chest fur, and she wasn't going to move at all by any means of force. He laughed at the thought and began rubbing her shoulder after noticing the fur was standing up in defense of the cold that was closing in, and she snuggled closer to him. He shook his head playfully and chuckled when she did, kissing her softly on the cheek a few times and moving a few hair strands out of her face. He then slid down farther on the couch, nearly parallel with it, and leaned his head on hers. With a smirk of happiness and a mental vow of eternal love, he closed his eyes once more for the rest of the night.
At an amazing coincidence, both hedgehogs woke up at the exact same time. As Amy began to stir, she unknowingly nudged him in his stomach. It didn't hurt, but it was enough of a disturbance to wake him from a very deep sleep. As she realized that she had spent all night with him, she quickly got up, waking Shadow even more. Before she could get up all the way, Shadow, in his drowsy state, sat up very quickly, nearly bumping heads with her. After another quick eye stare, he broke away by laughing, inducing his love to laugh along with him also. She then quieted him down with a finger to his lips like last time.
"So... do you want anything to eat?"
"Mm-mmm," he shrugged.
"Knowing you, I'm sure you're starving."
"Little bit... You can make... whatever... Not in the mood for anything particular... heck, even a bowl of cereal will do..."
"Alright then, Shadow. I'll find something for that bottomless pit of yours," she said, poking him on the stomach.
"Oh! Oh... hey..."
"Heh, heh, don't worry. I'll fix you up something," she said, getting off of the couch and walking into the kitchen.
As she left him, Shadow turned over on his stomach, ignoring his troubled leg, and was immediately stranded in a colorful euphoria of pleasing repose. He was again flung from this dimension as time slowed down considerably to the point where he could clearly see an after image after everything that moved in the slightest, but he wasn't concerned about that. All of his attention was on Amy Rose, the most beautiful girl to grace the earth. It seemed his staring was having consequences, for the longer he continued to look on, the more strength he was robbed of, until his arms gave way and he collapsed on the couch. After a drawn-out moan of contentedness, Amy ceased her cooking and looked down on the couch to see Shadow sprawled out over the arm of the couch. He looked like an even bigger mess than he was already: his fur was out of place, his eyes were half closed, and one eared drooped to one side, and she burst out laughing, dropping the pan from her hands, the loud, hollow clanging waking up her dreaming boyfriend.
Well, this day was going well for both of them. Shadow and Amy were in extremely high spirits for the entire time, and their bliss only heightened when they were near each other. It had taken about an hour for Amy to finish her daily rounds, and while she was working, Shadow would watch her intently as she went about the kitchen and cleaned, a smile on his face, thinking of the fact that Amy was his for eternity. From the way Amy had described her love and feelings about Sonic and his responses back to her, Shadow figured that Sonic would be none too envious of his and Amy's love, but more so thankful for the fact that he was truly a free hedgehog again like before he reached the Little Planet, and sure, Shadow would probably have to suffer a little teasing for a good, long while, but the fact was Sonic was now in even more debt to him. Also, Sonic had not lived through the things Shadow had been forced to live through, and he was younger. Therefore, he was more immature and didn't understand a true, loving relationship with a girl. So, Shadow knew that when Sonic was an adult, still single, and looking for a girl himself, he'd probably be filled up to the brim with jealousy, and then, Shadow would truly have one up on his rival. Everything was going perfect.
The couple didn't spend the entire day in a seemingly all-knowing silence, but they took the time and opportunity to learn more about each other once Amy was done. Their talks ranged greatly over nearly every single subject that comes up worth talking about when you encounter a new girlfriend, or boyfriend in some cases. Amy did a lot of talking for most of the time. Shadow's answers were pretty straightforward and added little information about his overall character that she hadn't picked up on before; however, his constant jokes and one-liners convinced Amy that he had a unforced, natural sense of humor and wanted to know more about the people he really trusted. Overall, the hedgehogs loved to hear the amusing stories about each other and had a very good time, but there was one thing that Shadow was having second thoughts on about keeping secret: his life on the ARK. He never did admit to her that that was what had been bothering him in the past, and he could tell right off the bat that not only did she want to know simply out of curiosity, but she had worried greatly about him in that worrisome state and wanted some power to console him, but she couldn't do that if she didn't know what was hurting him so much. However, he had mostly moved on in the sense that he had finally come to terms with her death and that was the way things were, so there really wasn't a reason to spurt it out. But he had heard from Maria herself that if you were a true companion to your loved one, you would never keep immense secrets...
"Shadow? Shadow. Hello? Earth to Shadow?"
"Huh! Huh, wha-what? What?"
"You just zoned out. I asked if you wanted a bit to drink.. After the work I did, I'm pretty parched myself."
"Huh? Oh! Oh, no thanks."
"Is something wrong?"
Shadow gulped. He didn't want to lie to her anymore. But what was he to say? After all, it was his problem to deal with and he was doing just fine in dealing with it, thank you very much. Well, he thought that if he was doing as good a job as he said he was with dealing with his losses, he wouldn't be thinking about it right now. In fact, he probably would have either forgotten all about it, except on a few special occasions. He knew what the problem was. He needed to vent, and badly. He barely got anywhere when he kept things to himself. He knew that, but he never knew why he was never willing to talk about his innermost feelings, his wildest dreams, and his aspirations with the people he knew. He guessed that the habit of reputation had taken over a large portion of his mind, and whatever people saw him as, that was what he was. Sonic once saw him as something very formidable, only winning one battle in their duels together, and his win was really a draw. His father and Eggman saw him as an all-powerful weapon of mass destruction that they could use to accomplish their own twisted goals, and he obeyed them willingly. And Maria, saw him as a wonderful friend, almost like a brother, and a brother who adored his sister and everything about her to no end was bound to tell her everything. That was his situation now. He loved this person. And she loved him back. They weren't rivals. They weren't pawns in someone's plan. They were lovers...
"Naw, nothing's wrong with me!"
"Well, alright. If you say so, I guess. As for me, I need something cool and carbonated," she got up off of the couch.
Shadow feigned a laugh as he watched a thirsty Amy walk around slowly to the kitchen as if she had just been dumped in the middle of the Sahara. He watched her solemnly as she took a can of soda out of the refrigerator, and turned around.
"It was 50 years ago..."
Amy stopped gulping down her soda and recovered enough from the burning in her throat and chest to say: "What was that?"
"50 years ago, I was living aboard the space station. Life wasn't as good as I'd liked it to have been; Nowhere near... I was constantly subject to these... experiments some whacked-out team of scientists decided to try out on me. They did several things, but I can't seem to recall most. I vaguely remember one in which they put a tube down my throat, and that one I hated to death. There was one I did remember clearly though, in which they placed these cuffs and wires on me and fed me Chaos energy... And I must say... it hurt. Badly. But I always knew that they were doing it for some reason. They had to be. They... they looked nice enough... and it was the fact that... they always told me good things afterwards and let me play... that I held back my tears and never complained to Gerald. He would be on the same train of thought as they were when they came to a conclusion that pushed them one step further to their goals, which was very often, and it probably would have been useless if I did tell him so I never did. Like I said, I never fully understood why they did those things to me, except to "help people". That was the most I got from them, even Gerald, when I was a kid, and I never did figure out why he waited a long time to tell me the entire story... I guess he had that... parental instinct to protect me and everything."
"Anyways, I had one little hobby, if you could call it that. I was very curious about this place you guys call Earth. Until now, I've never had the pleasure of coming down here and experiencing some of the things that a lot of you take for granted, uh, no offense. My only experience of this place were the stories my father used to tell me, and the things I read up on in books, encyclopedias, and things like that. Heh, when it came to me reading about the continents, habitats, places, animals and things, they could never pull me away. I was mad in a search for knowledge and I tried to gain as much of it as I could, because I was determined to go down there and visit it one day. And I felt the more I knew, the more I'd be prepared, and it'd be all the more better when experiencing these things first hand once I did. But even with all of the studying I did, I still felt ensnared... like a guiltless prisoner... trapped behind those the gloomy, bleak, metal walls while watching over all of the people who could enjoy everything this planet had to offer, and who could live the life and do the things that I was soon beginning to think would always be out of my grasp. I felt like I was doomed forever. During the nights that fact would drive me mad, and sometimes I thought I lost concept of everything. I barely knew myself anymore. I didn't know why I was created, why anyone would want me here, and why I couldn't have the things I felt were most important to me. I must say, it was questions like those that made me think that I was slowly, but surely becoming insane. But even throughout all of that, there's one person who I could really rely on–..."
"Are you referring to this... Maria?"
"Yes. That's who I was talking about awhile ago–" he paused, smiling, "God, she was a such beautiful little girl. And she was so sweet... very kind... very gentle... and very wise beyond her years... She didn't have a mean bone in her body. She was like an angel sent for me... She knew I was troubled a lot... and she always knew what to do or say to put me in the highest of spirits again. She was pretty much the only light in my life that I had, and I felt that there was someone who was watching over me again, and that that someone would do His best to make sure I ended up all right. And I did. For the next few years, life was pretty much the same. It got very routine, and I loved it. Me and Maria spent tons of time together, talking, playing... just making the most of life. And as my dad got closer to completing his project, the fewer times those scientists would call me away, and sometimes I thought they barely cared about me as a person, but more like some dumb, impervious animal without feelings. As I started to get more mature, I decided that I didn't like them as much as I had previously thought and frankly, I didn't care what happened to them. We stayed as far away as possible and minded our own business... Well, anyways, life was nice for the most part, except when Gerald pulled me from one of our little play dates one day. He told me the reasons why I had been created... to "bring hope to humanity" but humanity was not as important as Maria was, and she became an even more significant part of my life when Gerald told me of how far her illness had progressed..."
"Illness?"
"Gerald told me it was NIDS, some neurological condition that had been eating away at her all those years. I never really knew what was wrong with her until that point... Sure, she would tire out very easily sometimes during the times we played, but I–..." he paused to wipe his eyes, his face already wet with tears, "It never really bothered me... and when Gerald told me that... it really hit home. From that moment on, I promised my life to that little girl. I wanted to always be there and make her happy... just as she had been there for me during the times when I was down. It took me some time to recover from that talk, and in the meantime I started to devote all of my time and energy to her, but she resented that and wanted me to treat her like the normal little girl I had always been treating her. So after awhile, things resumed as normal... but me and Maria began to notice strange, erratic behaviors slowly come about in Gerald... He never really seemed to be around us anymore... and when he was around, he felt so impatient to get away from us and get back to his research... He wasn't the quiet, humble man I had taken him for, but he had transformed into the complete opposite. He became very nervous... and extremely temperamental, but never around us. It was mostly with his colleagues, and always behind closed doors. But we never strayed far when he had those arguments. We would always listen to his conversations, looking at each other, and looking back at the door... and I noticed something that Maria may or may not have picked up on... He always mentioned the word 'raid'."
Amy looked up at him worriedly, her eyes damp and red, when he said that. She had heard of the ARK raid and the tragedies that resulted from it after they all had come back down to Earth.
"Oh no... Shadow–"
His tone of voice transformed from a calm, steady tone to that of a vengeful growl.
"That government facility came up there... and destroyed the only home I ever had! And then... they had the nerve to come after me... when I was not the real problem... So, when we heard the door come open... I took Maria by the hand... and ran. I ran as fast as I could with her in tow... going to the only place I knew I could escape... and not only would I be with my family and away from the perils of my previous life... but finally, I could visit the place I had longed for since the day I laid eyes on it below me... And so we finally got in the room... and I heard a loud bang... It was as if the entire world had been broken and smashed into little pieces... I had never heard the sound before, so naturally... I was frightened beyond reason... And I turned around... and there she was–" He put a hand across his eyes, attempting to stop himself from crying, but he had already lost control over himself, "... She was on the floor... a wound on her back... She was in so much pain... and she–... she left me with the words to bring hope to Earth and sent me here... She gave the ultimate sacrifice for me... It was then... that I questioned whether I was really supposed to be happy... and whether I was supposed to live like a normal being... That's why I didn't tell you before... That's why I kept it to-... myself... because you don't know... what it's like... living with the fact that you were the cause of someone's death who did not deserve to die!" he turned away from her.
"Oh my God, Shadow..." Amy went over and embraced him, as he did her, and neither would let go, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Shadow..."
"I want to forgive myself... but I can't..."
"It wasn't your fault, Shadow... It was not your fault."
"God," he sighed, "I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders... and I don't want to anymore."
"Oh, Shadow..." She parted from him, held his shoulders, and looked him in the eyes.
"I know that Maria's proud of you. And she would not want you to feel this way about something that was not your fault. You were never the cause of what happened to her and you could not help what happened."
Shadow sighed uneasily and hugged her again, silent in all of this. It's exactly what Maria would have done if he had ever mentioned something like this. It was this moment that made him into a true believer again. She was alive. She was very much alive, indeed. And finally, Shadow was free of the doubt that had been plaguing him since the day he arrived, and now, he didn't have to worry about Maria, the ARK, or anything else anymore...
No more...