-Amy-

I walk behind Shadow. He doesn't appear to be moving fast, but I keep having to run to catch up. I've tried talking to him, and he hears, but he won't listen... it's as if there's some kind of invisible wall between us, as if everyone and everything has been shut out, as if we're in different worlds. I think if I ran in front of Shadow now, if I was lucky, he'd brush me aside... if I wasn't, he'd ignore me and keep on walking. I've known him so long, and I never saw this in him... never...

I speed to a run again, feeling like a child being left behind. Crossfire seems to be perfectly able to keep up, walking alongside Shadow as if it were his natural position, but I can't.

I thought I knew him so well... and I suppose I did. We both knew there were still veils over his past, things neither of us could see – but why this? It's as if whatever has come back to him has erased everything, everything except the drive for vengeance that burned in him when we first met, only this time I can't stop it, can't stop him. And I don't even know why! I don't know why, because he won't tell me and I'm afraid to ask him, afraid he'll turn on me next, on us! How can I possibly be afraid of Shadow like that!

Calm down, Amy, I say to myself, trying to calm my thoughts, to at least get my mind in some semblance of order. I'm in charge; I have to be in control. Everyone depends on me. And that's another reason why this scares me... because I'm out of control now, and all I can do is follow Shadow. Because there's a little voice in the back of my mind telling me that maybe it's wrong to bring everyone, wrong to go at all, that I should turn back, order the others to turn back, and leave Shadow... leave Shadow to walk to his death. But I can't do that... so I'm trying to turn this into a rescue mission, a mission to save Sonic. To my own ears, every word, every thought, is hollow. I know what I'm doing, and it's not to save Sonic. I'm putting us all in danger because I can't bear to let Shadow go, because I can't stand to look away and let him die.

I knew I should never have let myself become so attached to him, and so did he. But it's hard, so hard, when there's nothing left to keep you going, when your hope is so faint that not even you can see it, when the world seems so empty and so unbearably hostile, when you know you'll die without changing a single thing. When... when we begin to despair, any of us, we find strength and hope in one another. With the possible exception of Blaze – does he ever even feel doubt? – and Crossfire – does he even know what hope is? – everyone looks up to me. They find their strength in mine... and when I have none of my own, when I can't see anything worth continuing the hopeless fight for, I fight on anyway for them, and most of all for Shadow.

But now he's changed, and it's as if my feet have been knocked out from underneath me. I don't know what's best any more. I'm afraid I'm making the wrong decision... but I can't let him go alone. I – I can't, I just can't.

I try to turn my thoughts away from my own problems. You made the decision, Amy; you can live with it later, but for now, it's been made. No going back.

If I'm to lead us now, if I'm going to get us through this, I have to know what's wrong. I have to know why, and I have to know how. I have to know so I can deal with it. So I can plan around it, compensate for it, so I can try to help... and so I can try to keep us all alive. And so... so I know that my Shadow is still in there somewhere...

It was seeing Sonic that triggered it. It has to have been. There's nothing else that makes sense. The moment he knew Sonic was gone, he was afraid for him. Those scars of his – he kept thinking about them. I remember clearly, right after he woke up and I told him Sonic had gone missing, lifting his hand away from his arm, trying to reassure him.

Sonic's injuries, minor though they are, Shadow's scars... Sonic's torn ear, the way Shadow's always flinched away from anyone touching his ears, even me...

Oh, Shadow... no…

Somebody hurt him once, more than I ever knew... and now he's going to strike back...

Shadow, my Shadow... is this why you turned on the world...?