Chapter Eleven: Never Look Back
Author's note: This chapter is a bit heavy. Enjoy!
"Shadow?"
I heard it, but I wasn't believing it. "Alive?" I whispered. If don't even know if I said it out loud. I don't really remember much about what happened, I just knew, at that point, I wasn't suppose to be alive.
"Yes, alive," a voice answered.
"But, how?" I asked, still keeping my eyes closed.
"Look, Shadow, you are burned from head-to-toe. What ever Chanic did to you, you are lucky to be alive." It was Tails speaking to me. Suddenly, it all came flooding back. Chanic was Sonic and he had nearly killed me, again.
"Sonic..." I whispered.
Tails sighed. "No, we are still in the past, Shadow. Sonic's dead," Tails said with a sigh.
My eyes snapped open and I sat up, ignoring the blinding pain that shot through my entire body. "No!" I yelled.
Tails placed his hand on my chest and gently pushed me back into a laying position. I struggled against him, but knew I was no match for him at the moment. "Shadow, just calm down. You aren't fit to do anything but rest. Chanic nearly killed you!"
"Sonic nearly killed me!" I yelled, but it was still weak.
"Sonic is dead!" Tails said.
"Yeah, you weren't in that room with him. Sonic is Chanic! Or vise versa, either way, your best friend has become your worst enemy." I said, not really caring what I sounded like to him any more.
"Shadow, I kn ow you've been through a lot, but that gives you no right..."
"Rights? RIGHTS! Don't talk to me about rights, kid! I'm sitting here, on the verge of death because your best friend is a psycho path!" I yelled.
Tails growled, but didn't speak. He stood up and took a step towards me. "Shadow, is that what you have been dreaming about?"
I glared at him. "Yes... No!" I grabbed my head. "Tails, he killed you!"
I let out a yell of pain as the fox struck me across the face. I shook my head and closed my eyes. "Tails, it's true," I muttered.
He didn't speak. I looked up to see him walking to the other side of the large cell we were in. "Where's Cream and Mighty?" I asked.
Tails glared at me. "Cream's over there, sleeping. Mighty is gone, as far as we know."
"Gone as in dead?" I asked. Tails nodded. I bowed my head. "Great," I whispered. "How?"
"The guards came back after you were taken away. We heard a few snaps of bones and figured it was his neck. A few hours later, you were brought back here. At first we thought you were dead, but then you started mumbling in your sleep. Cream went to sleep and told me to tell you what happened if and when you woke up. So there, that's what happened!"
"Mighty's dead?" I asked again.
"As far as we know, Shadow," Tails snapped. "But who is Chanic?"
I growled. "I told you." I said.
"I want the truth!"
"I gave you the truth!"
"I want the truth!" Tails screamed. Cream sat up quickly.
"About what?" She asked.
"About who Chanic is," Tails and I said at the same time.
"Well, his real name is Sonic, but we mostly call him Dictator because he doesn't like to be called either, as you clearly saw with Mighty," Cream answered.
I looked at Tails. The visible skin beneath his fur paled and he sat by the back wall. I tried to stand, but was instantly stopped by pain through out my entire body. I looked down at my arm. Well, I thought, if I wasn't black before, I'm sure as rain black now. Groaning I lowered myself back into a laying position and slipped into the darkness again.
Once again, I was standing in the middle of a field of "dead" robots. I groaned, feeling the burns and found myself with many open wounds. The worst was the one on my arm. My bone was clearly visible under the ripped skin and muscle."Now what?" I growled, but I was alone this time. "Hey!" I yelled, but there was no answer. What was going on? I looked around, but found no one. "Some one want to explain what I'm doing here?" No answerer. "HELLO?" My voice echoed through the barren world. Suddenly, coming over the hill was the cloaked figure from my first dream. I sighed. At least some one was in this dream. He walked over to me, keeping his hood on. I gulped, preparing myself to see my face under that hood, but he never took the hood off. "Are you here to explain this dream?" I asked. The hooded figure shook his head. "Ok, so why are you here?"
"Run," the figure whispered.
"Run?" I asked. This was new for these dreams. Mostly they were about me trying to save Tails, but 'run'?
"Run," this time the command was a hiss. I backed up.
"Why?" I asked, getting a bit uncomfortable. "What about Tails?"
"You are too late," the figure growled. He pointed to a tiny skeleton. It was one of a young twin-tailed fox. The body was tiny and I knew it was a baby.
"But that isn't him!" I said. "None of this is real! This is an alternate reality! He is alive!"
The figure laughed. "Wanna bet?" He pointed past the skeleton of the fox to a mauled body of an older version of the skeleton. The fox was no longer yellow-ish orange, but was blood red. I shivered and looked at the large gash in my arm, and then looked at Tails. In his hand was a sharp edge of a weapon. Had we fought? Why was this happening?
"What do you want from me?" I screamed.
"RUN!"
I turned and fled. I ran ten feet and tripped over something. I looked and screamed. It was the mauled bodies of Cream and Mighty. "What do you want from me?" I screamed again and continued running. I wasn't sure how long I had been running, but I had to stop. I wasn't suppose to feel anything, but I felt exhausted and felt the blood loss.
I placed my hand on something and stood there, trying to catch my breath. The thing I placed my hand on was cold and smooth. I looked up to see a capsule. I felt sick. Taking my hand I wiped away the dirt from the glass capsule. When I saw what was in there, I let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. . .
"SHADOW!" I woke with a start. There were robots all in the cell. They were all staring at me. I looked at them. Tails and Cream were staring wide-eyed at me. Cream cautiously walked over to me. "Are you ok?"
I was in a cold sweat and was panting. "Yes, I'm fine."
"Good," One of the robots said. "Then you will come with us."
"What?" Cream and Tails asked together.
"Exactly like they said. 'What?'" I asked.
"Our leader would like to have a few more words with you." The robot answered
"Over our dead bodies," Cream growled. Tails nodded.
"Very well. If that is how you wish to have it." The robot lunged. I quickly jumped up and kicked the bot to the wall. It exploded, leaving a large hole in the wall.
"Let's go!" I yelled. Cream and Tails smiled and we ran out of the lair. I winced at the blinding pain in my body as we ran. Tears were slipping silently down my face as I reopened the wounds and burns. Cursing I picked up speed.
After about ten minutes of running, we were out of the city and into the outskirts. I stopped dead. We were in a clearing with a hill near the end. There, standing on top of the hill was Sonic in a black cloak. I inhaled sharply. "Oh, gosh," I whispered.
"Shadow, hurry up!" Tails yelled. I was frozen. My eyes darted around. My breath was coming out very fast and short.
"No," I whispered. "NO!" Tails and Cream halted.
"Are you ok?" They asked.
"Run," I whispered.
Tails looked at me. "Run?"
"RUN!" I yelled, but it was too late. Robots were closing in on us from all sides.
"Stand and fight!" Cream yelled. I nodded and the battle begun. A robot ran at me. I jumped and let it go underneath me. When it's head got right under me, I kicked through it, hoping for an explosion. I got none. The bot collapsed and that was the end of it's life.
Soon, I found myself back to back with Cream. "Having fun yet?" I asked.
She shrugged. "At least some idiots have the nerve to revolt."
"Ever thought it would be you?" I asked.
She smiled. "Never."
I nodded and we fought.
A robot lunged at me. I ducked and the robot sailed over me, but they were smart. Another one was lunging down at the same time. I was pinned. "Cream!" I yelled but she was standing up against three more. I struggled but my burns were too much and the pain was too great.
The robot's arm became a blade. "Oh shoot," I muttered and looked up at the sky. "Anything else you want to do to me today?" I screamed. "Maybe like kill me? Or, here's something new, break my back and leave me to starve to death? Want to do that?"
The bot sliced down into the wound Mighty had already inflicted. I screamed bloody murder. (No pun intended). With a quick kick, the robot went flying. By the time I stood up, Cream and I were standing in the middle of thousands of dead robots. "Where's Tails?" I whispered.
Cream pointed to the hill. Tails and Sonic were fighting. I gulped, but what Cream said made my blood run cold.
"Help him!"
