When the bright light faded, Shadow found that he was was no longer in the desert temple, but in a black void, standing on a floating fragment of Soleanna. Taking in his surroundings, he noticed that he was joined by his team, Rouge and Omega, but also some of Sonic's friends, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Silver. Oddly enough, Eggman was there too.
"What is this?" Tails asked, looking around in wonder and confusion.
"Where are we? What's going on?" Amy questioned, just as confused as Tails.
"Is this because of that light?" Knuckles asked.
"The Chaos Emerald has disappeared..." Silver muttered, staring at his empty hands. He seemed to not have noticed the others just yet.
"Silver?" Amy addressed him.
"What are doing here? This is all so confusing..."
"It's all because of Solaris." Rouge spoke up, informing everyone of the problem at hand.
"It seems we were all caught by the spatial distortion." Eggman added to what Rouge had said. The others seemed alarmed and threatened by his presences, but that was justified. "Iblis' seal has been broken. Due to Mephiles manipulation." He explained. He then turned around, and the group followed his gaze. What they saw shocked everyone right to the core.
Shadow couldn't believe what he was seeing... He didn't want to believe it. Princess Elise was on the ground, cradling Sonic in her arms. He wasn't breathing.
"Sonic?" Amy cried, quickly approaching him.
"No... You don't think..." Tails trailed off, simply stating down at his friend in disblief.
"Sonic!" Knuckles exclaimed.
Amy collapsed onto her knees and buried her face in her hands, and began to sob. The others also showed their grief by lowering their heads in respect for their dead friend. Shadow closed his eyes and unfolded his arms. Sonic couldn't be dead... Could he?
"Mephiles played us all for fools! His plan all along was to cause the Princess to be so consumed with despair that she'd cry." Eggman commented.
"So that's why he wanted me to kill Sonic before..." Silver muttered.
Shadow opened his eyes and turned away, crossing his arms. Mephiles had done this... He had taken Sonic from them... From him. He should've stopped him, he should've been there... But he hadn't. Was it his fault? Was Sonic gone because of him?
His thoughts were interrupted when the world around them began to quake, and a loud shriek erupted from above, echoing throughout the black void.
"Solaris!" Silver exclaimed, looking up at the bright light above them. The others turned their attention away from Sonic to also look at the creature above them.
"This creature will consume all existing timelines. And time itself will collsapse and disappear into nothingness." Eggman stated.
Shadow tried his best make sense of what was going on, but his thoughts were filled with regret, grief and anger. He looked up, and added to what the Doctor had said "The instability of time caused this time-space rift."
"It won't remain for much longer." Eggman told them.
"We've no time to waste. We've got to defeat it now!" Knuckles yelled.
"No, it is a transcendent life form that exists in the past, present and future. Defeating it here, now, would do nothing." he responded.
"No, I won't give up. There has to be a way. If you say it exists in the past, present and future, I'll destroy them all at once!" Silver exclaimed, lifting his hand and curling it into a fist, a look of determination in his eyes.
Shadow turned to him. "Certainly, it might have been possible, if he was still alive." He then looked back at Sonic... He wished he could go to him, to hold him in his arms. But he couldn't... He had to stay strong, for everyone else's sakes. He couldn't give in to his emotions, despite the fact that losing Sonic hurt him so much inside. If only he was still here, they could've stopped Solaris together, just like old times, back on the ARK... When they first met.
"Sonic! Sonic!" Amy continued to sob.
All hope seemed lost. All they could really do now was mourn Sonic's death and wait for the inevitable. Shadow stared at his dead friend, so many thoughts rushing through his head, so many things that he never got to tell him, things that he should've said... He had taken Sonic for granted, and now that he was gone, all he was left with was heartbreak and regret.
"Sonic..." Elise murmured. That was the first thing she had said ever since they had arrived here. She had been silently grieving all this time... She must have truly cared about him. Shadow wondered if she cared about him as much as he did.
"What's the matter?" Silver asked her.
"I feel... Sonic's presence in the wind. I don't think he's dead yet! I'm sure of it. It's not too late!" Elise cried. Shadow looked at her with curiosity. He felt a sense of hope spark within him. Could it really be true? Could Sonic really be saved?
Amy stopped crying and moved her hands away from her face. The others had their full attention on Elise now.
"Of course! Let's call him back with power of the Chaos Emeralds!" Silver suggested. The others turned towards him. Shadow also turned his attention towards Silver. He could feel a fire burning within him, a sense of hope and belief. "Focus your thoughts on using its power to perform this miracle..." Silver encouraged her. He then walked up and knelt down in front of her "You can do it, Princess!"
"I can?" Elise asked him.
"You were the vessel that was used to seal Iblis. You should be able to use the gems' power to rescue Sonic's soul!"
Elise nodded "I'll... Do it!"
The others nodded in agreement. Shadow was beginning to believe in this more and more. With Elise and the chaos emeralds, then perhaps it was truly possible. They could bring Sonic back.
Eggman adjusted his glasses into a radar "Solaris flung the Chaos Emeralds to the distant corners of this distorted world." He informed them.
"To collect them all in time, we'll have to split up!" Tails stated. Knuckles, who was standing beside the two-tailed fox, jumped in the air with enthusiasm.
"I'll go, too! Because it's for Sonic!" Amy said, climbing to her feet with a look of determination in her eyes. She then turned her attention to Elise "So Elise... Watch over him!" She instructed her, before running off in the other direction.
Tails, Knuckles and Silver went off in a similar direction to Amy, while Shadow, Rouge and Omega went the opposite way, leaving Elise alone with Sonic. Shadow was determined, now more than ever. He was going to find that chaos emerald, and he was going to save Sonic. No matter what it took, he would do it. For Sonic.
Shadow sped through what seemed to be Kingdom Valley. Everyone else had found their appointed chaos emerald, and it was down to him to find the last one. There were death traps all around him, gravity wells appearing out of nowhere. But he didn't care. Nothing was going to get in his way.
Sonic was all that mattered to him right now. He had showed him so much kindness and care over the years, and Shadow hadn't really shown him any in return. This was his chance to put things right. To show him how much he truly cared. To tell him everything that he had never gotten to say. To tell him how much he meant to him.
The chaos emerald was in sight now. He was almost there, he had almost made it. He quickly homing attacked into a switch and began to grind towards the gem. It was pure white and glowing brightly.
He landed on the platform and began to skate towards it "Okay, this is it! Sonic... Here I come." He stated aloud. He hoped that maybe, somehow, Sonic would be able to hear him. That he would know what he had done for him.
He rushed at the chaos emerald and grabbed it. He gripped it tightly in his hand, and held it close to his chest. He did it... He had won this battle.
"I'm going to save you, Sonic" he whispered softly, gripping the emerald tighter.
The group gathered together once again on the ruin of Soleanna and made a circle around Sonic with the chaos emeralds. As Shadow placed his emerald down, he walked up to Sonic and touched his hand. He was ice cold. But he wouldn't be that way for long. They were going to bring him back, he was sure of it. He then moved away from him and took his place beside Rouge and Omega, but also quite close behind Elise, and allowed the ritual to begin.
Elise was knelt down, with her hands together as if she were praying "Oh Chaos Emeralds, gems of miracles. Please heed my call." The Chaos Emeralds started to glow brighter. Shadow watched closely, he do was praying that this would work. "I wish to save this world. I wish to cleanse my father's sin. And, I wish to talk to Sonic... once again!" The Chaos Emeralds and Sonic's lifeless body began to lift up and levitate in the air. Elise slowly got to her feet and began to approach the blue hedgehog "You have given me so many things. Now it is my time to return the favor. I care not what happens to me. But please heed my voice." Elise took a step closer and placed her hand on Sonic's "Sonic, come back! To me... To us!"
A single tear rolled down Elise's cheek and landed on Sonic's face. From that tear came a bright white light that blinded the group. When the light faded, Sonic stood before them, now in his super form. He was alive. Shadow stared at him in awe, much like the others. The feeling of relief washed over him. He was so happy to see that he was back, despite not wanting to show it. Elise cracked a smile, but then collapsed from exhaustion. Luckily, Sonic was there to catch her.
"Thank you, Elise." Sonic said gratefully.
Sonic locked eye contact with Shadow. And for a brief moment, it felt like it was just them, alone together. Nothing needed to be said. Sonic simply nodded his way in gratitude. Shadow smiled in response. That was enough for him. Enough for both of them. They both knew the lengths that they would and had gone to in order to save him. They knew the sacrifices that they would make for each other.
That was enough.
A/N: Remind me to never write in game cutscenes. I had to watch the last story of Sonic 06 several times. Never again. Also, do you like my censorship? I'm 4kids now. Seriously, though, I didn't want to write Shadow's reaction to Sonic getting kissed by a 17 year old human girl. Besides, I think what I put was much more creative. This chapter has the most characters in it out of all my chapters so far, so, hooray!
Anyway, I'll be uploading another chapter that I wrote about a week ago today. And I finished writing the Christmas special yesterday, so that will be uploaded on... Well, Christmas Day. Festive!
Part 2 to chapter 7 will be put up very soon. I'll make sure to label it as part 2.
That's it for now. Let me know what you thought of the chapter. If you have any requests, just go ahead and ask and I'll look into them.