Author's note: E-Rank, Noonui, and lysandras2018 get gold trophies. Which is also me saying a big THANK YOU! for your encouragement. Especially because this chapter killed me. x.x
Chapter 17: Heavy
"Anything?"
Rouge side-eyed Shadow. "Didn't you ask me that a minute ago?"
He didn't respond and waited expectantly.
"Hon, I hope you realize that I'm not a fox genius, here."
"You are adept with the G.U.N. database, however."
"Sure, but—" she hesitated, scanning over the massive amount of data on the computer screen. "While this is great intel and all, it's slightly over my paygrade."
The black hedgehog did not ease up. "What can you confirm?"
She let out a perturbed humph at his persistence, but obliged anyways. "I see Eggman's blueprints here, and what he tweaked on the Artificial Chaos' mechanics to allow an unlimited influx of this negative energy. There's also some detailed information from Dr. Gerald Robotnik on how this wormhole was manipulated in the first place, to supply the energy to these creatures."
She paused long enough to open another file. "I even see how our artificial frenemies adjusted the course of the ARK to head away from Mobius."
Scrolling through the newly opened log, she silently skimmed the information while Shadow tried to do the same from over her shoulder. Reaching the end of the file, Rouge clicked out of it with a drawn-out breath. "But while I might understand what was done, I certainly don't know what to do next."
Her sight travelled to the other three Mobians in the room. "Without the kid, there's no way to stop the influx. Not this way. And even if we did—"
"The energy is still accumulated," Shadow finished.
"Yes." Rouge rested her hands on the edge of the table, stretching from side to side. The exhaustion was evident in her demeanor. "Like Eggman said, the physics here is infallible: once a blackhole, always a blackhole, hmm?"
She was trying to make light of the situation, but her expression read the exact opposite. Shadow broke eye contact to study the computer screen.
"Just—"
"I know, honey," she cut off, finishing up her stretch and focusing on the monitor. "I'll keep trying." She couldn't help but steal another glance across the way. "Better than watching this depressing scene unfold."
Shadow had been actively avoiding the other side of their temporary headquarters, never mind his G.U.N. partner's recurrent glimpses in that direction. He supposed he didn't have much choice anymore.
It had been about an hour since they moved Tails to another nearby desk to lean against, allowing Rouge access to the computer to continue what the fox no longer could.
Knuckles was now against the same desk, sitting upright but hunched over. His face was hidden behind hanging locks, making it hard to tell if he was even awake. Tails lay next to the echidna, head in his lap, and by all accounts appeared to be asleep.
But the fox had lost consciousness some time ago.
The gray tint resting on both Mobians was not from the ARK's dismal lighting.
Sonic was currently kneeling next to both of them, one of his hands on the Guardian's shoulders. As Shadow watched, the blue hedgehog said something too softly to hear, and it took a moment before there was the faintest hint of head movement from the echidna.
So he was still conscious, at least.
As Sonic spoke, his hand lowered to gently ruffle the fox kid's bangs. It rested there for a few more murmurs, Knuckles supposedly responding since Sonic shook his head during some points of the exchange. The fox did not acknowledge the touch and remained motionless throughout, as expected, although the echidna did rest his own large mitt on the child's shoulder.
That seemed to end the conversation, then, as Sonic gave one last fur muss to his protégé before slowly standing and walking away.
The blue hedgehog headed towards one of the distant windows, which happened to have an impressive view of Mobius in the distance. The ARK had orbited around the planet as planned, and was currently on its new course towards the end of the solar system.
Shadow mentally swallowed his own discomfort and trailed after him. It was obvious that Sonic was not far off from a similar fate as his friends, considering his unstable gait and occasional stumble. Shadow would have probably found it amusing, if not for the surrounding circumstances.
After a painfully lengthy walk, Sonic ended up sitting down on the floor along the opposite side of the deck, back facing the rest of the group and knees bent to his chest.
The black hedgehog cautiously approached, not even remotely aware of what he was doing. He ultimately stood a few feet beside Sonic and watched the planet gradually shrink from view.
Sonic didn't acknowledge Shadow's presence, and for a few stretched minutes neither said anything. Pressure began to settle in from the awkward silence, and Shadow felt a twinge of startlement when Sonic abruptly shifted.
But the only thing he did was discreetly rub an arm across his eyes.
Shadow inwardly chastised himself over his unfounded hesitation. This was stupid. Why was he uneasy about this? He cleared his throat and voiced, "Are you—"
"Yes, Shadow," Sonic interrupted. His tone was icy, but drained. "I feel it." Eyes closing, one of the hedgehog's hands went up to massage his forehead. "It's … like this weight that's smothering you. It feels okay for a while, but then it gets heavier and…"
He stopped. Shadow had been listening intently, but kept his gaze out the window. From the corner of his eye he could see Sonic looking at him.
"I don't think it'll be long," the blue hedgehog finished shortly.
Shadow wasn't sure if the statement warranted a response. So he merely nodded. Both were silent again, allowing the eerie atmosphere to take over. At some point Shadow's ear twitched, hearing Rouge's distant typing.
"I'm sorry."
The voice was still rough, but it cut through the air so harshly that Shadow whipped his head towards it. "What?"
Sonic offered the smallest of shrugs. "I'm sorry that you and Rouge are stuck here."
They briefly made eye contact, and Shadow could see the gray in Sonic's normally emerald irises. It was unsettling. But the blue hedgehog did not let the observation linger, instead turning towards the empty void of space and stars beyond.
Sonic's focus was far more detached than that, though. Eventually he let out a dejected sigh. "I just don't know what else to do."
The normally carefree attitude of the supposed hero of Mobius had vanished, and what was left was the cracked, hollow shell of one. Everything about Sonic's grating personality—the jokes, the reckless optimism, the tongue-in-cheek hubris—all of it was what Shadow had long ago labeled as petty defense mechanisms. And all of it had floundered with what little hope remained.
Rouge was right: it was depressing.
Crossing his arms defiantly, Shadow stared ahead with growing annoyance. "We will be fine." In his periphery he could see Sonic gaping at him, so he doubled down with, "So will you."
"You can't say that," Sonic argued. His hands went up into the air, as if presenting their case for the first time. "Look around, dude. What exactly is 'fine' about this?!"
"You are dysregulated with your emotions."
"What does—those words don't even go together!"
"You are letting their current predicament dictate your thought processes, and are not thinking logically."
When Shadow said 'their' he motioned towards Knuckles and Tails.
And whatever small bit of fury Shadow had caused instantly dissipated when Sonic's attention followed. He shut down again, releasing another, longer sigh before his spine curled and he hid his face on clutched knees.
Shadow growled in frustration. "So be it. Wallow in your self-pity." He didn't wait and headed back to Rouge.
"Okay smart aleck, what do you propose we do, then?" Sonic spat out at his departure.
"Not this," Shadow snapped. Rouge looked up from her workstation, arching a brow at the venom in his voice. She added a pointed glare, purposely glimpsing at Sonic's two fallen teammates. Rouge was an expert at wordless condescension. The black hedgehog felt multiple choice words come to mind, but chose to take a deep breath, trying to remind himself of the other's position.
He stopped his retreat to glance in Sonic's direction and—realizing his G.U.N. partner was also listening—provided a reasonable (but unhelpful), "I … do not know, yet."
Sonic snorted at the response. Rouge let out a scornful huff and begrudgingly returned to her research on the computer.
Shadow watched her for a moment, considering his next words. Opting to avoid that sort of confrontation, he walked over to Sonic's side, causing the blue hedgehog to glower at him.
"What now?" he grumpily asked.
"There is one other option." Shadow kept his voice low, emphasizing his words with fisted hands and twisting the inhibitor rings clasped to his wrists. "I must use this power, as the Artificial Chaos did."
"You do realize that's a blackhole down there, right?"
"They were able to contain it. There is no reason I cannot do the same."
Sonic was staring incredulously at him, but he eventually waved Shadow off and shook his head. "Normally I'd try and talk you out of doing anything stupid," he let out a hollow laugh, "but I really don't think there's much worse that can happen, at this point." He paused with a smirk before adding, "Even if it is narcissistic of you."
He wasn't necessarily wrong, but Shadow shot him an arrogant glare anyways. Another silence trailed Sonic's statement, but was slightly less strained as the two hedgehogs simply took in the scenery.
Their present view was admirably galactic, half-occupied by Mobius' blue-green-yellow glow and mesmerizing to behold.
Its iconic appearance was unnervingly familiar to Shadow, however, and caused a surge of old memories to bubble to the surface. The planet had been younger, then, and naively promising when his companion had been so enamored with it, longing to experience its unending opportunities.
Now, though ... it was a harsh and bitter reminder of the past. What should've been an idyllic scene was instead becoming a stinging reminder of their current problem, and Shadow grew discouraged as he watched. The ARK hadn't even moved a fraction away from the planet, despite the ship's propulsion maxed out.
The blackhole was growing, and they were moving too slow. Mobius would not stand a chance.
The Artificial Chaos knew what they were doing, and while Shadow was likely stronger than they had been, he had no training. No direction. And every being that ever possibly knew what to do was now gone.
Because of him.
"Can … can I ask a question?"
Shadow was already edgy from his spiraling introspection, so the hesitancy in Sonic's tone instantly put the black hedgehog's guard up. He remained silent, but ultimately provided a curt nod.
Out of the corner of his vision, Sonic seemed to consider his next words carefully. Shadow's brow furrowed. What could he possibly be—
"Was she important to you?"
All thoughts stopped. A barrage of images flashed before Shadow's eyes, even before Sonic felt the absurd need to clarify.
"Maria, I mean."
The name aggravated the onslaught of memories and Shadow was ashamed of the flinch that followed.
Sonic noticed and cringed with him. "Sorry, I didn't—"
"Yes," Shadow cut off gruffly, answering the previous question. He shouldn't have been surprised that Sonic knew of Maria, but indignation hit him regardless. When the pause after his reply lingered, Shadow saw that Sonic was waiting, clearly expecting some sort of elaboration.
Shadow had no interest in doing so.
Tense silence continued to tail his response before Sonic finally said, "I'm sorry," and lowered his head. "About what happened."
Her small frame jolted from the impact of the gunshot.
She leaned heavily on the console, the life inside leaving steadily.
And still she silently implored him, with nothing but shining eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks.
The images were burned into his vision, overlaid with the black backdrop of distant stars. Shadow locked his jaw and dared not look away from the window. "She did not deserve it."
He had tried to keep his voice neutral, but fine cracks in its tone betrayed his emotions.
"No," Sonic agreed quietly, "she didn't." He fidgeted in his seated position, struggling to pull himself straighter. "I … saw you with her."
Shadow glanced down.
"She was sick," Sonic added, staring at the ground. "I saw … things, when I was fighting that A.C. off Chaos. …Its memories, I think? Or someone's, maybe. I dunno." He found the courage, or energy, to look up. "You're a good guy, Shads."
It was Shadow's turn to scoff. "I threatened you into this situation."
"Heh, maybe. But we didn't have to go. And the world was bust for us anyway, all things considerin'."
A hint of mirth materialized when the blue hedgehog declared, "Besides, we've been in worse jams before."
Despite the ridiculousness of the statement, Shadow had to suppress a smirk at the fresher (and weirdly welcoming) attitude from the blue hedgehog.
But, for prosperity, he rolled his eyes.
"Like, remember the Biolizard?" Sonic mentioned.
"That was not long ago."
Sonic ignored him, already reliving the moment in his mind. "That dude was crazy hard. And then when it merged with the ARK—even Super, I'm still not quite sure how we were able to destroy it."
"Its life support had been damaged."
"Maybe," he replied, shrugging. "But things seemed pretty dismal then, too."
The ARK jostled, as if it had hit turbulence. Shadow felt a pang of fatigue wash over him briefly, enough to grimace from it, but it was too swift to dwell on.
Sonic, however, hissed sharply where he sat, hands wrapping tightly over his torso as his face contorted in pain.
Shadow heard an alarm from Rouge's station, checking concernedly in that direction before returning his attention to Sonic.
Before he could say anything, however, the blue hedgehog released a shaky exhale, forcing the tension off his muscles. Muddy gray eyes opened, blinking multiple times as he sluggishly surveyed his surroundings. Shadow was beginning to question how cognizant Sonic was anymore, but the blue hedgehog did eventually peer up at him.
"Can—can you help me back over there?"
Not really knowing what else to say, Shadow only nodded. He reached a hand under Sonic's arm, supporting nearly all of the hedgehog's weight as he brought him to his feet.
With arduously slow steps—something Shadow never thought would be an adjective attached to his hyperactive rival—he helped Sonic walk over and slump down next to Knuckles.
The echidna's head was somehow hanging lower than before, but he did briefly open his eyes at Sonic's appearance next to him. No words were exchanged, and Sonic merely gave Shadow a weak thumbs up. He smiled tiredly.
"Go save the world, Shads."
"Everyone's fate depends on you."
Maria's voice echoed immediately after Sonic's, instinctually causing Shadow to step back. He shook off the haunting replay, steeling himself, but saw that Sonic hadn't even noticed: his head was already propped against the desk, eyes shut.
By outward appearances, the trio could have easily been taking a nap.
But that unnatural, dusky color in their fur was impossible to overlook.
The three classic heroes of Mobius had officially succumbed to the loss of Chaos energy and, despite it all, Shadow felt anxious over that simple fact. Fists clenching in anger, he pushed down the obscure feeling and returned to Rouge.
She was frazzled, rapidly clicking through a bunch of screens and frowning at what she was reading. The alarm from earlier still blared.
"Are you all right?" Shadow asked as he approached.
"It's becoming more unstable," she answered, not even tearing her eyes away to acknowledge her partner's presence. "The numbers are fluctuating, and—granted, I'm no astrophysicist—but the system is showing a bunch of flashing red, 'Warning!' screens, so…"
True to word, large red exclamation points with circles surrounding them flashed on multiple pop-ups.
"But you are without side effects?"
Rouge paused, frown furthering at the question. She did look at Shadow, then. "You mean from the Chaos energy? Yes, I don't feel any different." Her scrutinizing features softened at seeing their other three companions in the distance. A thought occurred as she studied Shadow again. "What about you?"
"I felt the decrease momentarily, but the negative energy must be protecting me."
"Even with those bracelets of yours?"
Shadow glanced at the inhibitor rings. "For now."
Rouge was clearly apprehensive from that response when she probed, "What does that mean?"
Shadow let out a steady breath, shooting his partner what he hoped was an apologetic expression. "Stay here," was all he said, zipping towards the exit.
"Wait!" Rouge called out, whirling around and set to follow. "What are you going to do?"
He stopped in the doorway of the room, hand out to stop her approach, but halted his response when he saw that she was staring past him.
"Chaos?" she worriedly asked.
Shadow barely had time to turn, Chaos 0 all at once blocking his path out. The creature was doubled over and practically invisible with how ... misty its normally aqueous body had become.
Regardless of appearance, Chaos 0 had no issues thrusting its arm forward and into Shadow's chest.
The black hedgehog's strangled holler of pain echoed in his own ears, as if it originated from someone else on the other side of the ARK. Rouge's horrified yell could be heard, but it was less than a murmur; almost like an afterthought of sound.
Emotionless yellow-green eyes bore into Shadow, even as his vision tunneled into blackness.
Shadow blinked, and suddenly he was surrounded by images.
Blue negative energy and yellow Chaos energy collided into one another, disappearing into darkness ... Gerald Robotnik fastened Shadow's inhibitor rings on his pre-awoken form … and himself, next to Maria in the infirmary...
Statements from an era ago erupted, overlapping with each other and yet succinct enough to remind Shadow of their origin.
"The shadow of Chaos energy—"
"Time-travelling Chaos energy—"
"You can touch that power, wherever or whenever it is—"
And then everything went silent. Maria was suddenly smiling at his past self, resting in bed and holding his hand as he sat beside her.
"You saved the world."
"How did I do that?"
"By existing in two places at once."
The flashback slowed, and Shadow was no longer watching himself have a conversation with his old friend: he was a part of it, reliving the Shadow of the past and peering directly into those kind blue irises once more.
Her small hand was gripping his tightly, and even as a part of him could only relish in the connection he hadn't experienced in over fifty years, he heard himself speak.
"That's impossible."
"Not when it's the past, silly."
"Would that not be the future?" he debated. "My past is here."
Her features softened into something unreadable. "There's a lot in store for you, Shadow."
"Maria?" he questioned worriedly. Her eyes closed, even as a small smile adorned her lips.
And just like that, the vision snapped out of existence. Shadow was left standing in a pool of crisp, blue water, surrounding foliage rustling from an unfelt breeze.
A hand grasped his shoulder and he whirled around. An orange echidna looked up at him with a gentle smile.
"Tikal?"
"You have not yet reached your zenith."
The confusion of the random statement compounded his anger, and he yelled out "How?!" louder than was necessary.
Blurbs of color came into focus, showing Chaos 0 in the background, surrounded by flying chao. Shadow frowned at the peaceful scene, so out-of-place compared to the dismal situation on the ARK, or his short recollection of Maria in the infirmary.
He was jealous of its serenity.
Tikal was not fazed by Shadow's earlier outburst, following his view and smiling at the water monster. The creature seemed content, standing in the pond and allowing the tiny chao to perch on his liquidous appendages.
"Go now, Shadow."
Dismay rose steadily. "But what do I do?"
"Channel your strength – the Chaos of the past is with you."
"Shadow!"
The voice called from far away. Shadow searched around for its source but saw nothing but calm waters, dense jungle, and a cloudless blue sky. Temples could be seen in the distance, and Shadow finally recognized the familiarity of Angel Island, when it used to be more than the forsaken land of the Master Emerald.
With no owner to the voice, he looked to Tikal, but she was gone.
The world faded.
"Shadow!"
The black hedgehog grunted at the repeated call, his ears jerking at the sudden loudness. He wearily opened his eyes, finding the blurry image of Rouge staring down at him.
Down? He paused in his thinking, noting his supine position, and finding the half-broken white fluorescent lighting of the ARK straight above him. It was ironically blinding.
"Are you okay?" she asked, noting his lack of commentary.
A groan escaped, the remnants of a strange energy permeating his senses. "What … happened."
"Chaos, it—" she paused and made a face, "um, stabbed you?" Her expression dissolved into bewilderment as she inspected the room as if it were haunted. "And then just … evaporated?"
That was the sensation Shadow was experiencing. Chaos 0 was always suspected to be composed of nothing but concentrated Chaos energy, after all. As their surrounding Chaos energy continued to dwindle, it was possible that the water creature used its last semblance of self to communicate with Shadow the only way it could.
Was that energy truly a part of him, now?
"You've been out for minutes," Rouge said, catching Shadow's attention. "There was more shaking after Chaos disappeared and," she stopped, motioning with her head to the other three Mobians, "I can't wake any of them."
Shadow would have had to sit up to see, but didn't need to. With Chaos 0 gone, he knew the others were beyond help, too.
His G.U.N. partner let out a shaky sigh. "I guess we're on our own."