On Broken Wings chapter 16

Shadow stood in front of Eggman's base. He had collected all chaos emeralds now and needed to report it to Eggman. Shadow walked to an entrance and began to walk the halls of the base.

The whole time he walked, he kept his eyes on the ground and walked as though he were in a trance. He looked at the chaos emerald he was holding.

'I wonder what the rest of Eggman's plan is...' he thought. Shadow came upon the breifing room which was where he was before when he talked to Eggman.

He opened the door and stepped into the room. No-one was there. The emeralds which he had left there were gone as well. It must have been Eggman, Shadow thought.

Shadow decided to wonder and try to find where all the emeralds had disappeared to along with Eggman.

It felt as though he searched every room before he found Eggman in a dark, metal room. Shadow walked in. "Doctor, I have the..." he stopped. Eggman stood in front of his friends who were battered and beaten and now chained to the walls. Sonic, Tails, Omega, Knuckles, Rouge, Cream, Amy, Cheese and Katana were all there.

"Ah, good Shadow. The last chaos emeralds."

"Sh-Shadow?" Sonic spoke weakly with one eye half open. Eggman took the chaos emerald from him then put them in a robot where the rest were. The robot was much taller then Omega and had a container with the chaos emeralds in it. It was bulky and fierce looking yet quite fast.

"What are you doing, Eggman? You said-" Eggman laughed at Shadow.

"Stupid hedgehog! You are so gullible! You really thought I wouldn't try to get rid of them once and for all?" Shadow walked in front of his friends as the robot began to move. "You helped me kill your own friends!" Shadow's eyes widened. "Just like Maria."

Shadow shook his head then turned to look at his friends, they were too hurt to fight anymore. "Stop it!" he yelled as the robot approached him. 'This is all my fault...' the robot swung an arm to push Shadow out of the way, he landed on the floor. The robot was about to try and hit Sonic next but was thrown back when Shadow hit it.

The robot extended one of it's arms at Shadow so he was now pinned against the wall. Shadow struggled to get out of it's grip as the robot slowly walked closer. Right before the robot tried to hit him again, Shadow broke free and dodged downwards.

Shadow lunged at his enemy again and broke one of it's arms but unfortunately, the robot grew it back with the help of the chaos emeralds.

This caught Shadow by surprise and his enemy saw the chance to attack. Shadow was smacked around and thrown against walls. Shadow couldn't take much more while he now sat on the floor against a wall which he had just been thrown into seconds before.

The robot approached once again when Shadow saw his chance. A small glass-like window in the robot. It shined with the light of the emeralds, it was it's core. Shadow waited for just the right moment to attack then drew up the last of his strength to bring down his foe.

The emeralds lay scattered on the floor and Shadow now turned to Eggman. "Shadow! Wait!" Eggman begged. "This was just a miss understanding!" Shadow looked like he was ready to kill, which was exactly what he was about to do when the others stopped him.

"Shadow! Don't!" Rouge yelled.

"You'll be no better then him!" Sonic added. Shadow looked down at his fist, then back at his injured friends. Eggman took this moment to escape and Shadow didn't chase after him.

He put down his fist and turned to his friends. He slowly walked over and un-chained them all. "Good think everyone's ok, for the most part." Sonic said.

"I think I need to repair Omega." Tails told them.

"Cheese! Katana! You ok?" Amy asked the chaos.

"Chao!" they told her happily.

"Cream?" Amy asked the rabbit who she noticed was unconscious. "Cream!" they were all quiet.

"Don't worry, Amy. She doesn't have serious injury; she'll be fine. Probably just needs rest." Knuckles told her.

"If you're sure..."

Shadow walked over to the destroyed robot away from the others, he saw his reflection in the emeralds. He picked up a sharp, metal piece of the broken robot. 'This was my fault...Every time they get hurt...Maria's death...I'm a danger to them. They always help me but I never help them...it's better if I...' Shadow held up the sharp object to his neck.

"Shadow? What are you doing?" Rouge asked. Shadow turned to them while still holding the metal to his neck. "Shadow!"

"This is for all of you..." Shadow was about to slit his throat when Rouge who was closest to him knocked it out of his hands. It slid across the floor.

Shadow looked at Rouge emotionlessly. Rouge looked at Shadow as though she was furious then without warning, slapped Shadow across the face. Shadow didn't move from being hit by Rouge and neither did anyone else. It was dead silent.

"There was something I wanted to say as I fell from ARK..."

"What was it?" Rouge said calmly.

"Help me...please...It was selfish but...I'm sorry...but...I want to live and make people happy...I haven't been doing that..."Shadow fell to his knees. "If I die...maybe you can be happy..."

"Shadow, you being with us makes us happy." Rouge said. "It would hurt us if you died. Let's go home together."

"Thank you..." Shadow fell forward and now lay on the ground, passed out.

"I see that Shadow will always hurt and regret his past. His memory hurts him." Cream spoke.

"Cream? You ok?" Amy asked. Rouge was at Shadow's side on the floor.

"This is Maria."

"Maria!" Sonic shouted.

"Sonic and everyone, will you protect Shadow from his past if he forgot the misery?"

"What do you mean?"

"If I were to alter his memory...so that he never saw me die...so that he never fought you or tried to destroy the world...would you protect him?"

"But why change his memory?"

"He will destroy himself if I don't. He won't be happy."

"Destroy himself?"

"Yes. He will continue in a circle of sorrow until he brakes his own spirit." Everyone was silent.

"Yes Maria. We will protect him." the others nodded.

"You can count on us!" Amy said.

"Thank you...when he wakes up, he won't remember fighting you, my death of anything like that. You'll find out the rest. Farwell...and thank you..." the yellow wings disappeared from Katana's back and Cream returned to sleep.

FeatherWings: I think the next chapter is the last but don't worry, I promise a sequel!

dArkliTe-sPirit- there's your update, hope you enjoyed it!

Sonica-Sillya- hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the others!

Shadouge-lover-4eva-maybe I'll put it in the sequal! You gave me a great idea!

Chaotic Shadow of Souls- that's what Eggman planned! Hope you enjoyed!