-Shadow-
I look up as Sonic walks into the room, hearing his footsteps. It still feels a little strange to see him walking in, still surprises me slightly to see his face in an attitude of anything other than deep and dreamless sleep. Tails follows him in, a smile on his face, excited about something, looking eager to do something. What? Sonic's reckless grin throws my memory back through the years for a moment, to the times before this ever began, when I remember seeing that expression before… normally right before he was about to try something daring, regardless of the risk, and I wonder what he's thinking now.
"Shadow?"
I stand.
"What is it, Sonic?" It still feels a little strange to be talking to him again… after so long of his seeming all but dead…
"The Chaos Emeralds, the ones that Robotnik has – I took a look through the information Tails got from the network, and the robots guarding them all look pretty easy to beat! The only ones that could be any real danger to us are inactive!"
He's planning to go after Robotnik's last three Emeralds?! The idea shocks me, more than I think it ought to. No… not that idea… the thought of them being so easy to get at… I glance down to my mechanical hand. Robotnik did this to me before he even managed to gain control of the world… there's no way it could be so easy. Is there? Has he grown overconfident? Have we come to fear him too much?
Or is it a trap?
Sonic looks at me, head tilted slightly to one side, waiting for my response. His gaze, too, flicks to my arm for a brief moment, and for a moment, his expression changes, startled, maybe even a little afraid – then he blinks, and returns to normal. I saw him do that earlier, too, again when he was looking at me… what is it? What can he be seeing? It's not my failure, not my pain… it's something else, something of his own. Why? What do I – or my mechanical left hand – remind him of?
Tails saw Sonic's expression change, too. He's looking at Sonic with a worried expression now, as if that brief flicker meant something to him, something to be concerned about. As if it could mean something very bad was happening, behind Sonic's green eyes.
"It's – it's nothing, Shadow. I'm fine." I must have looked concerned, or maybe simply puzzled; whatever it was, he noticed it. He asks me a question, maybe changing the subject before either Tails or I can say anything about it.
"So, Shadow… you coming with us?"
I nod. I'm coming. We've none of us had hope in such a long time, though it's only a thin ray, this is our chance. And I think I was right… after what he did to me, after how easily I was defeated, I've come to fear Robotnik too much. After what he's done to the world, I think we all have. Sonic's the only one among us now who doesn't know that fear.
It's time I realised my fear… time I faced it… time I defeated it. To give everyone a chance…