Author Note: I apologize once more for the crappy spacing. But I am (and plan to continue) updating from my university's computer lab. I've tried at least 6 other different computer locations throughout the campus to fix the spacing (and punctuation; my ellipses only appear as one period when I intend for at least 3 to follow a thought), and this is the only place where I can save the file on the hard drive and upload the chapters. So, please bear with how they look now, so I can fix them at my local library in the future.
As he and Aozora sped off in the direction of the cottage, Shadow's mind had wandered back into his vision of Sara. Aozora noticed his distraction and slowed down, until the both of them were at a complete stop. "Is something troubling you?" she inquired. She had noticed that he had been in thought like this before, like the night that they first met.
"A returning and troublesome thought", the black hedgehog finally admitted. "It concerns our hostess, Sara. For the past few days, I've been having these visions of her." He proceeded to describe the first vision in which he had seen her racing through the same woods they stood in, trying to defend a child that was later taken away by a dark figure. "I think I made a mistake by telling her of it" he sighed. "She was rather shaken…"
Sara was in the kitchen preparing some food to be taken into Amy's room when Shadow stepped in. Without turning around, she gave him a friendly salutation. "Hello Shadow." she said softly, in a cheery tone. "After I'm done with this, I'll make you something if you want." He sat down at the little wooden table within the room. "No, thank you." He said politely. "I'm not regularly accustomed to another's kindness outside of what Maria used to show me…"
She reached over for a glass mug to pour in the steaming hot water she was preparing for a special brew. "You know", she started, "what we went up against a few days back wasn't anything ordinary."
"Really?" asked Shadow, who found an interest in it. "Yes", she replied. "I was sensing negative energies as we fought against it. So, I referenced through my ancient texts and discovered that it is known Oni, the spirit of darkness. On the other side of the spectrum, our new friend Aozora happens to be inhabited with the spirit of light. Light and darkness are naturally attracted and repelling unto one another, so that easily gives explanation to why that possessed squirrel wanted to kill Aozora before she had a chance to awaken on her own."
"That explains that", said Shadow. He let out a small sigh, which he believed no one, would have been able to hear. But Sara must have heard it because she said next: "Is something the matter?" in a concerned tone.
"It's these visions I keep having...", he said finally. "Even though I've only know you a short while, they seem to center around you. You and this child..." He was interrupted by the crash of something hitting the ground. Sara quickly bent down to pick up the pieces of the now shattered mug. He remembered that he went down beside her to try and help, and noticed that she was trembling. " I didn't mean to upset you...I..." She slowly got back up on her feet and shot him a smile as if all that he previously said hadn't mattered. "It's alright…I just got a bit clumsy. But I think you should go. I'll finish cleaning up.", she said while she started to clean up the fractured mug and its now spoiled contents.
He remembered watching as her emerald eyes began to shed tears as he exited.
"And I've had a new vision of late", he said once he finished. And it's more disturbing that the one before..."
He once again saw Sara running for her life in the forest, carefully cradling and protecting the small child that she held in her arms, underneath a bundle of blankets that concealed it from his view. He could hear her heart beat rapidly; the amount of fear that she felt was 100x amplified to what he had felt when he was running with Maria that fateful day back on the ARK. He could hear her say: "I'm not letting anyone hurt you..." to the crying child. She glowed for a second, then reappeared somewhere else within the forest. "She must be teleporting to throw them off", he thought as he watched on. The G.U.N. beetles finally surrounded her once more, as she threw kicks and punches in a desperate attempt to scare them off. The fear that he felt as she missed each target grew worse; he knew that she couldn't teleport at this point because she was now acting out of instinct: which was just to protect her child by any means necessary, even if it meant that losing her very life.
The same dark figure jumped in front of her, saying the same thing that he couldn't hear before that had made her grimace and grow more upset. But there was a new figure, one that he could make out clearly, behind all of the G.U.N. beetles stood his creator, Dr. Gerald, waiting patiently for the dark figure to convince Sara to give him the child. "I want to save my granddaughter, as well as your child..." He heard the dark figure say something as well: "You've done all you can, Sara. Let him take it. At least he would have died for a good cause."
He then noticed Sara erupt into anger, screaming at the dark figure for even suggesting such a notion. The last thing he heard was Sara say: "I've lost many close to me..." She fell to her knees, tenderly nestling the child within her arms. I've lost friends...family...too many things to count. I can't bare to lose one more."
"I had that one directly after I spoke with her." He finished. "I know what it is to lose someone dear to you..." Kitty nodded her head in agreement. Shadow continued: "What upsets me is that my creator was actively in this one. I've witnessed first hand that many of the things he's done were meant to cause pain, but this has to be the worst I can think of. I know Maria- she wouldn't have wanted an innocent child to die for a cure. She would have rather died in its place. Sara must feel horrible... She gave it up with the hopes of saving its life. Yet from how she was in the kitchen, I don't believe that happened."
"That's horrible!", said Kitty finally. "But didn't you also say that someone said, "You've done all you can. You mentioned that Sara is an expert when it comes to dealing with medicine. If she wasn't able to help it, then she might have been desperate to try anything."
Shadow sighed. "You might be right. But it's something that bothers me, and I wish to look further into it. After all of this is over, I want to help her find the child, or at least uncover what Professor Gerald required him to take it away from her. It may not be what she hoped for, but at least she'll have the answers."
"But Shadow," Kitty started, "what if she doesn't want your help?" The smoke hedgehog froze in his tracks to face his feline companion, and frowned. "I know there's such a possibility", he said plainly. "But regardless, I'm going to help her. The kindness she's shown me is only secondary to that of Maria." And with that, he sped off in the direction of the cottage.
Kitty began to start running in the direction of the cottage again. The beige feline's face lit up with a warm smile.
"Sara is fortunate to have someone care for her the way Shadow does."