Author's note: Sorry guys, but this is the last chapter! Hope ya'll like it!
Chapter Thirteen: After Math
The base itself was the largest thing I had ever seen. Now that we didn't have anywhere to be, or anyone to hide from, exploring the place was no problem. The robots had found out about Sonic's death and hid when ever we came by. One actually self destructed at the site of me. I looked at Cream. "Rough day for them, I guess," I muttered.
She smiled and shoved me. "You're terrible!"
I shrugged. We had left Tails and Mighty outside. The fox was still nervous and under a lot of shock. I was surprised about the fact that I was joking about this. I became serious again. "Do you want to know what you are like where I'm from?" I asked suddenly.
She shook her head. "No. I know what I am now. I don't want to feel any worse then a I do."
"You know, I still have a head-ache from our first meeting," I said with a slight laugh.
Cream smiled. "Yeah, well, my back still hurts from that, Chaos thingy!"
"Chaos Spear, Cream," I said. I looked at her. "Where do you think it is?"
"What, the Master Emerald? No idea. If it's as powerful as you say it is, then I would think he would keep it somewhere where no one could get it, or use it. The center, or the control room."
"This place isn't powered by Chaos Energy," I muttered. Cream didn't answer. "Cream?" I turned to see an open door. "Cream! We are not here to snoop!"
"You might want to see this..." She said. I walked into the room.
"Oh... My... Gosh," I breathed. The room was covered, ceiling to floor, with pictures, x-rays, and thousands of what looked like recon photos. I gulped. "I can't believe he did this," I whispered. Some pictures were of living creatures, but others were dissections and tests. I looked away. "What is this?" But what stood out more then muscle showing and strange pictures of disgusting tests, was a picture of a black figure on a hill. I stepped over to the picture. "No way," I whispered, stepping away like I had been struck. It was a picture of an echidna. "Knuckles?" It was impossible, but he was the last. "Ceaira?" Cream wasn't paying any attention. I was sweating. The figure looked so familiar. "Why? Why would he care about an echidna?"
"Is that what this thing is?" I spun around at Cream's voice. She was holding up a poster of an echidna's anatomy. It was labeled in messing hand writing and things were scratched out. One thing was circled, though. I snatched the poster from Cream and looked. The circled item chilled me. It was a few letters written in frustration, but what could be read said Who are you? I shivered. My words exactly. "Why would he have this? The Echidna is extinct. Why would he care. And who is that in that picture?"
"It has to be doctored, but he has other notes on this creature you call an Echidna." She handed me a dozen or so note cards, a large profile binder and about ten pictures very much like the one on the wall. I began reading a note card.
It makes no sense. I know I allowed that rabbit to live, but the echidna race has been dead for hundreds of years? I tend to see it in the field outside of the Ruins of Station Square. I do believe it may be female, but the study of this creature has never been recorded, if at all been done. It may be a male. These recon photos aren't helping me. How did this thing slip through? Why hasn't it attacked? Is it friend or foe. I must find it! And it must be destroyed, NOW!
Chanic January 25 2017
I skimmed the other cards. That one was the most recent. I felt sick. "Let's go," I whispered. Cream didn't question my escape, but another picture caught my eye. I felt like throwing up when I saw it. It was my capsule, with me still in it. I closed my eyes. The junk in it was pale green and my skin was so pale, I was white and pink. "Let's go," I repeated. So that's how you met your end, Shadow? I thought. I didn't wait for Cream, I just left.
"You have some explaining to do," Cream said when we got away from the room.
"Huh?"
"Who are you?"
"Shadow."
"No! Where are you from?"
"Cream, I told you, I'm from the past..."
She cut me off and stopped. "How far back?"
"You want a story? Ok, here goes nothing. About a year ago, in my time, some guy I knew was attacked by a girl named Ceaira. It's a long story, but to make it short, let's just say he sort of fell for this girl before he knew she was evil. Well, when he found out, he was crushed and hid himself for a year. His friend, the fox, forced me onto this guy's island so Tails could knock some sense into him..." I continued, keeping my eyes on her. She didn't once waver in disbelief like she had when I told her I was Shadow, but she didn't show that she believed me either. "... and well, here we are." I finished with a shrug.
"Shadow, from what I've been through, you would think I would believe anything, but that is the hardest thing to believe I've ever heard."
I smiled. For the first time, I didn't care what anyone thought. "You know what Cream? You don't have to believe me, because I know that what I told you is the truth. Just because you don't believe something doesn't make it false."
She nodded. "Let's get you're emerald and get you home," She said and continued walking. I shook my head. That was the last thing we said to each other. I guess I wasn't meant to have friends. Whatever the reason, we didn't say another word to each other.
The room the Master Emerald was wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Surprisingly, it was small! All seven of the Chaos emeralds were in glass cases and the Master Emerald was in the center. He had access to this kind of power all along. I nodded to Cream and we began taking the Emeralds out of the room. Neither of us spoke. Maybe we should have, but for whatever reason, we kept silent.
Mighty and Tails were sitting where we had left them, but I could tell by Mighty's dirt covered belly that he went somewhere. "You ready?" I asked Tails. The fox nodded. I looked off in the direction of Sonic's body. "Let's fix this," I whispered. I bent down in front of Mighty.
"Look me up, will ya?" He asked.
"I'll try, kid." He took my hand and shook it. When he pulled it away the emerald shard, now stained a deep red, was placed firmly in my hand. "What's this?"
"Parting gift." He said. "No more nightmares Shadow. I'm not going to be there to pull you back."
I smiled and gently patted him on the back. "I'm ok," I whispered. He smiled.
I turned and never saw them again.
"Come on, Tails," I muttered. My arm was killing me, my heart was breaking, and I knew his was too, but all things considered, I was doing great. We took the Emeralds far away from where the base was and Cream and Mighty. Silently, we placed the Master Emerald on top of one of the many hills in the waste land. We place all seven emeralds around it in a circle. I gripped the shard and placed my hand on the Master Emerald. "Here goes everything," I whispered.
Tails nodded. "Here goes nothing."
"Chaos Control!"
"Shadow! We're being robbed!" I jolted awake.
"What?" I yelled.
"I called the police. Go! He's getting away!"
I looked around. I was in the room I had been living in for almost a month. We were being robbed? I smiled. It worked! Jumping out of the bed I flew downstairs. It was four in the morning. I remembered this day well. I took and alley way and cut him off.
"Going somewhere?" I asked with a twisted grin on my face. He turned, but I jumped behind him. Now he was cut off. "So, wanna try this again?" I asked.
"Again?"
I shrugged. "Nothing you would understand, so why don't we just calmly wait for the police?"
Like last time, it took the cops more than an hour to get there, but by that time, the robber and I were having a rather interesting conversation. I nodded to the police and walked out of the alley way. Sighing, I went to Tails' house. It was great to see Station Square again and even better to see the Ruins, in Ruins.
I knocked. I understood that it was about six in the morning. Tails came quickly to the door. "You did it," he said with a slight smile. I wondered if we would ever see him the same again.
"Yeah. How do you think Knux is doing?"
"Turn-tables?" I nodded. "Let's go then."
Needless to say, we did not use Chaos Control to get to Angel Island. Tails' tail was still broken, se we took Sonic's plane, that Tails had completely forgotten about when this whole journey started.
We crept up to the shrine. Knuckles was staring with a confused and dazed look into oblivion. "Knuckles!" Tails called and ran up to the shrine. Knuckles looked at him.
"What happened? Why are we here?"
I turned and left the fox to explain. Sighing, I made me way to the red plane. I pondered as to why Sonic's plane was red and Tails' was blue, but the thought died as I listened to the sound of the waves beneath the island.
After a good hour, Knuckles walked up to me. "Thanks," he whispered.
"Huh?"
"For bringing me back. This is my home, Shadow. I went searching for you guys after you left, but found out that you guys had left already."
"I thought you had nothing to live for in this world." I said.
He smiled. "You know what, Shadow? I'd rather live completely alone in terms of race just to relive this life over and over."
Later, I found myself on the beach. Tails was standing beside me. An odd duo. A twelve year old fox with a cast on his left tail and an emo hedgehog with a bandage on his right arm. We were staring silently into the ocean. The breeze was soft and for the first time in my life, I appreciated the sound of crashing waves and the site of the blue green ocean. The sun was setting by that time. I figured we had been standing there, rigid, for almost 3 hours. There was no talking to be done and no movement required. Why do humans hate silence so much? Have we ever just stopped to listen to the silence of the world? Maybe we are too afraid to hear something in the wind. Whatever the reason, I don't get it. Silence is probably the only thing on this Earth that is close to perfect.
"You guys ok?"
I turned my head and exhaled. Tails yelled and ran to the blue hedgehog while I just watched. He was crying his eyes out within seconds and begging for forgiveness. Sonic looked at me and lifted an eyebrow. I shrugged and gave a small smile. Turning away, I let them reunite.
"So, what was the deal with that?"
Sonic had come over. Tails was running toward the Train Station. He was happy at last. "The smile or the fox?"
"Both."
I sighed. "Sonic, what would you say if I told you that you took over the world."
"I'd say you were insane, Shadow."
"I am insane," I muttered. "What would you say if I told you Tails killed you?"
"I'd probably be really mad that you would think something like that."
I smiled and shook my head. "Want some advice from an old timer?" I whispered.
"Sure," Sonic said, giving me a strange look.
"Listen kid, you have it made. Two great friends and the whole hero thing down, but you have an evil inside of you, as do I and everyone living on this planet. Don't give into it."
He looked at me. "Whatever you say Shadow." Sonic said and we lapsed into silence, watching the sun color the water a fiery red color. Silence. The world runs on it. We need to be silent to be heard. Maybe one day, the world will see that we need to stop and look at what we may lose at any minute. Maybe when we learn to be silent, we will learn to listen, and overall, learn to tell.
"Sonic?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the setting sun.
"Yeah?" He answered.
I imagined what we looked like right then. Two figures, colored black from the sun, standing a good four, five feet from each other, staring out into the ocean, something we never take time to appreciate. "Don't ever change, kid," I whispered. "For your sake, Tails' sake and the world's, don't ever change."
Author's note: The end! Ok guys, the story you all have been waiting for is coming! Knuckles Adventure 3: Ceaira. HA! Ceaira's full story! Coming soon to a computer near you! I really hope you enjoyed KA2! KA3 will be up tomorrow or Monday! Thanks for sticking with the series!
