It was hard getting through each day, knowing that Sonic was no longer there. It had been 4 months since his passing, but Shadow had still not recovered from his loss, and it was doubtful that he ever would. Day after day, all he could think about was how he had not been there for the last few years of Sonic's life, that he had shut himself away for his own selfish needs.
The one thing that remained in his thoughts the most was just how much he missed him. He had never realised how much he had taken their love for granted, and now that he was gone, it was like there was an empty void that could never be filled. Shadow had never felt so truly alone till now, he was broken hearted, and felt so lost without him.
On the anniversary of Sonic's death, Shadow decided that he was going to do something incredibly stupid. Grief and regret had finally gotten to him, he wanted to fix his past mistakes. He just had to do this, he had to make it right, and he knew exactly how. It was a huge risk, but that didn't really matter to him anymore. Sonic mattered, he wanted to do right by him, he wanted to see him again, for one last time. If it meant tearing apart the fabric of space and time, then he would do it. He didn't have much else to lose.
Shadow got in contact with Omega and planned on meeting him outside of GUN. He didn't want to get caught doing suspicious activity on site, so getting as far away as possible was the best option.
Shadow was currently sitting in the shade of a tree, with his eyes closed and head rested on the trunk, taking in the scent of fresh grass, and spring flowers. He could feel patches of sunlight shining through the gaps in the branches of the tree, and warming his fur. It was... Peaceful. It was almost as if he could forget all about his recent troubles and simply sit there and let time pass him by. Time... He had enough of that already.
His thought process was brought to a sudden halt when he heard the clunking of metal joints. He opened his eyes and sat up, watching as Omega walked up the small hill towards him. The robot stopped a fair distance away once he reached the top.
"Greetings, Shadow." Omega said in his usual robotic voice.
"Hello, Omega." Shadow responded, climbing to his feet and approaching the robot.
"How are you feeling?" He questioned.
"I could be better." Shadow admitted. "Did you get what I asked you for?" He asked, changing the subject. He didn't really want to talk about his feelings. Even if he did, he wouldn't want to discuss them with Omega. You couldn't exactly open up to a robot.
"Yes. Two chaos emeralds were retrieved as requested." Omega informed him. A compartment in his lower body opened up to reveal two chaos emeralds within. Omega took them out and then held out his hand to Shadow. He then took the emeralds from him.
"Thank you, Omega. You did well." Shadow told him, looking down at the chaos emeralds in both hands. He had discovered some time ago that the chaos emeralds had the potential energy to make time travel possible. He had kept this discovery a secret from his friends, since he didn't want the information to fall into the wrong hands.
Now that he had the chaos emeralds he needed, he could finally make things right. He just hoped that he only would be able to perform the act.
"You have a strong desire to do this." Omega commented "Are you sure this is wise?" He asked.
"I want to do this. I have to make it right, or else I'll never be able to move on."
"Don't cause a paradox." he warned.
"Don't worry. I know what's at stake here. I'm not going to change time. At least, I won't try to." Shadow told him.
Shadow took a step back and began to picture the place he wanted to go back to. Hopefully the chaos emeralds would take him there. They were already starting to glow brighter. "Thank you for your help Omega. I'll be back as soon as I can."
Omega didn't respond.
Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated harder on exactly when and where he wanted to go. Now that he had a clear picture in his head, he felt ready. "Chaos..." He began, feeling the power of the emeralds beginning to build up "Control!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, and opening his eyes once again.
A bright light erupted from the emeralds, blinding Shadow with it's intensity. When the light cleared, he needed some time to allow his eyes to adjust. Once he eventually regained his sight, he began to take in his surroundings. He was still outside, although the sky was now dark and clouded, mostly likely because it was nighttime. It was cold, and autumn leaves were scattered by his feet.
He looked up, seeing the care home in front of him. Shadow was amazed. He had done it, he had time travelled. Not only that, but the chaos emeralds had taken him where he had wanted to go. He rushed towards the care home, briefly glancing at the bench he and Sonic had sat on as he ran. He paused outside, remembering what he had told Omega.
He had to be careful. He couldn't let the nurses see him. He was messing with his own timeline. He had to make sure that nothing changed for the Shadow of this point in time, or else there could be major consequences.
Instead of going through the front entrance, he snuck in through one of the downstairs windows. Once he was inside, he made his way upstairs and paused outside Sonic's room, pressing his ear up against the door.
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Shadow heard the nurse ask.
"I'm sure." he heard Sonic reply. It was so good to hear his voice after all this time.
"In that case... Goodnight, Sonic."
Shadow pulled back from the door and quickly ducked into a room on his left. The person staying in that room was thankfully asleep. He opened the door slightly, and peaked out through the gap. Sonic's nurse walked by and made her way downstairs.
Once he was in the clear, he exited the room and entered Sonic's. Sonic was lying in bed with his eyes closed. He was breathing loudly, with every rise and fall of his stomach making a rattle.
Shadow watched him for a moment, before gently shutting the door behind him. Sonic did not stir. He approached the bed and took hold of Sonic's hand, squeezing it tightly, and then lifting it up and kissing it.
"Uhhh..." Sonic groaned, opening his eyes. He looked up at Shadow and then blinked a couple of times. "Shadow...?" He murmured. "What are you... doing here?" he asked.
"I wanted to see you." Shadow told him. His eyes were beginning to sting, but he couldn't allow himself to cry. Not yet.
Sonic chuckled "You saw me two days ago."
"I had feeling that something might be wrong."
"Nothing's wrong," Sonic assured him. Even in person he didn't want to admit what was happening, even if these were his final moments. "Though it's good to know that you were worried about me." He added "Come on, join me, sit down on the bed." He said, patting an empty space with his free hand.
Shadow sat down and got as close as he could to Sonic, forever keeping hold of his hand. Sonic smiled at him weakly.
That smile. That smile was enough to bring back 4 months of grief all at once. The time they had together right now was short, and there were so many things that he had never gotten to say. He had to make all of this count.
"I love you, you know that, right?" Shadow asked, almost choking on his words.
"Of course I do." Sonic replied, lifting his other hand and touching Shadow's face. "And I love you too."
"I'm so sorry." he apologised.
"For what?" Sonic questioned. "Shadow, what's going on with you, is everything alright?" He asked.
Shadow shook his head "No, everything is not alright" he replied "I've been so selfish. I haven't been putting you first, I left you alone here for so long, just because I was too scared to face you. I should've been here, I should've been by your side, but I wasn't, and it's all my fault because I shut everyone out." He paused for a moment "I'm so sorry if I hurt you in any way."
"Oh Shadow" Sonic said softly "You're not selfish. If you were, then you wouldn't have come back. But you did, because you wanted to make up for your mistakes, and to make it right. You've always put me first, Shadow. But not just me, but our friends too. Why would I be hurt? You don't need to be sorry, I understand why you didn't come see me for so long. It's so hard for you, but you were strong, and you were brave enough to do something you were afraid of. You've always been there for me Shadow, even when you weren't by my side. I'm eternally grateful for that."
They stared at one another for a brief moment, before Sonic opened up his arms to him "Come here."
Shadow moved in close and hugged Sonic. The blue hedgehog wrapped his arms around Shadow, putting one hand by his head and running his fingers through his quills. Shadow gripped Sonic tightly, burying his face in Sonic's chest as tears began to run down his cheeks. He couldn't bare to look at him anymore.
"Promise me something," Shadow began. He knew he was going to regret this. "Promise me that you won't leave me. I can't- I can't lose you too." He looked up at Sonic with teary eyes, something he didn't expect he would do.
Sonic gazed down at him, meeting eye contact "I'll never leave you, Shadow. I'll always be here for you, like you were there for me."
They held their embrace for what felt like forever, before Sonic spoke up once again "I'm feeling a little tired... I think... I think I'm going to have a little rest."
This was it. Shadow could feel it. He pulled away, but took hold of Sonic's hand once again. One last time. "You rest, Sonic." He told him comfortingly.
The corners of Sonic's mouth twitched, but he wasn't able to form a smile "You won't go anywhere, will you?" He asked.
"No. I'll be right here."
"That's good... Because the truth is... I don't want to be alone either."
"You'll never be alone." Shadow told him.
"And neither will you" Sonic replied.
He laid his head back on the pillow, his eyelids fluttering "Do you remember when we had a race on the ARK?" he asked.
"How could I forget?"
"You forgot a lot of things back then." Sonic quipped "Even still... I never felt so evenly matched until that moment. It was as if... We were made for each other."
Shadow smiled. That was something he hadn't done in a long time. "It wasn't exactly love at first sight, though."
Sonic chuckled lightly, but then proceeded to cough "That's true. Anyway, I better get some shut eye... I'll see you in the morning, Shadow."
"Sleep well, Sonic."
Shadow leaned over and kissed Sonic on the head. Sonic closed his eyes and smiled as he drifted off into sleep. "I'll miss you." Shadow whispered softly.
Moments later, Sonic's grip on Shadow's hand loosened and his breathing stopped.
Shadow sat outside on the bench, staring down at Sonic's letter to him, which he had kept all this time. His eyes were red and puffy, with tear streaks still on his cheeks, so he doubted that he would be reading it. Not that he wanted to. He had lost track of the amount of times he had read it.
He thought that doing this would make him feel better, knowing that Sonic hadn't died alone. Why did he feel so much worse? What more could he possibly do? He looked over at the two chaos emeralds and then back down at Sonic's letter. Maybe... Maybe he had one more stop to make.
"Sonic?" Shadow called out to him.
A younger version of Sonic was laying down on some grass. He opened his eyes and looked up at Shadow, who was standing over him and casting a shadow on his face.
"Oh hey, Shadow." Sonic greeted, climbing to his feet. "Haven't seen you in a while, what's up?" He asked.
The Shadow of this point in time was out of the picture. Good.
"Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you." He informed him. He was still taking in Sonic's face. It had been so long since he had seen this Sonic, the Sonic he had fell in love with. He had missed this.
"You came all this way just to talk to me? Wow, I'm flattered!" Sonic replied cheerfully, despite it being a snarky remark "So what do you want to talk about?"
"I need some advice. I'm going through I tough time at the moment... I um... I lost someone close to me."
"Anyone I would know?" Sonic asked.
"Not really." Shadow lied.
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Shadow. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I don't really want to talk about it. I just wanted to ask... How do you do it? Move on all the time, and just leave bad things behind. How do you make it so easy?"
"It's never easy." Sonic stated simply "I just figure that I should try and be happy, and stay strong for my friends. I think it's what they, and even the people that we've lost, would want." he explained.
"Is it what you would want?" Shadow asked.
"Well, sure. I'd want you to be happy. It's important that you are, so that you can keep moving forward and stay strong. That's what matters to me. I wouldn't want you to look back at all the good times we had and be sad, I would want you to be happy that we got to spend so much time together. You can't grieve forever, you just have to cherish their memory instead. Do you understand?"
Shadow nodded. There it was, everything he ever needed, right from the deceased himself. "Yes. Thank you, Sonic" he said gratefully.
"No problem. Anything for you, Shadow"
Shadow paused for a moment, taking in Sonic's face. He looked so young... He was probably in the early stages of his and Shadow's relationship... He sure had a wild ride ahead of him. He still wasn't used to it, even though he would be leaving soon. Even still... After everything that he had been through, perhaps he could... If time itself would allow it...
To hell with it.
Shadow took a step forward and embraced Sonic in a hug. Seeing this Sonic again, being able to hold in his arms... Was enough to help him forget 4 months of grief and loss. He just had one more thing to say. "I want you to remember, no matter what happens between us, I'll always be there for you" Shadow told him.
Sonic patted his back "Same here"
Shadow returned to his own time. Omega was there, ready and waiting, though it was unclear how long he had actually been there. Shadow silently handed the chaos emeralds to the robot, and he put them away in his compartment. "How are you feeling now?" Omega questioned.
Shadow looked up at him and gave him a small smile "Much better"
He was going to take Sonic's advice. He would never forget him and always cherish his memory. After all, love never dies.
A/N: A follow up to the aged Sonic short (chapter 9). This is probably the longest out of all of the shorts. I hope you like it.
I've been looking at my ideas list (I keep one) and I noticed that there are less emotional ones after this one, yay! Honestly, the chapters aren't going to be as heavy as they have been recently.
Thanks for for the support for yesterday's chapter, it was really nice to read the reviews. And just thanks for the support in general. I don't know why I went down this emotional, sad path. I never intended for these to get so sad, I just saw potential to tell good stories based around who Shadow is and how that affects Sonic. There's a lot to work with.
Anyway, the next chapter will be pretty happy, no death or anything which is always a bonus.
I'll see you then. Thanks for reading, I hope the sad stuff didn't put you off.