Chapter Eight
"NO I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS. YOU ARE WRONG, THE TESTS ARE WRONG!" I can't be, I just can't be.
"Shadow please the tests are not wrong. There is no signs of healing and there never will be. The nerves are too damaged and dead, not even your own chaos energy supply is going near them."
No this is a bad dream, I am still unconscious and this is my mind being cruel and negative. Oh great now I am crying like a damn baby.
"N-no, you are wrong…d-do them again, please." My hope is shattered, my future forever broken and I am going to be stuck in this chair for all eternity.
"Oh sweetie, I am so very sorry. I'll give Sonic a call and let him know. I will only be outside the room ok."
Come on Shadow wake up, wake up and then, then all will be as it was.
"I will leave you alone so you have time for all this to sink in. Call the buzzer if you need anything."
I can only nod to him as a reply right now, I can't even master up enough energy to utter a single word. This is just the worse thing ever, losing Maria was easier to manage compared to this. Sonic is going to leave me for sure now I will never walk again. He will get so stressed that he will take longer breaks until he finally drops the penny and announces that he is leaving me. I can't take it, I just can't…
"W-why?" My voice sounds so broken, I feel so broken.
I have nothing now, what is the point in carrying on when I have nothing? I just want to be alone and just drown in my sorrow until death claims me. They can have this chaos emerald back, I wont need it where I am going anyway. Oh good it didnt make too much of a noise when hitting the floor. They can keep my rings too, yeah each and every one of them. They can keep them and do whatever they want with them, damn taking the ankle ones off is tricky.
Finally the ankle ones are off and on the floor near the emerald I just dropped beside me, now for my wrists. One off and discarded now for the…
"Shadow stop that right now!" Oh great Vanilla just had to walk in right when I start to remove my last inhibitor ring. What rotten luck.
"Do I have to have you watched day and night just so you don't get the opportunity to do something very silly?"
Good luck with that, I'll just chaos control away and…not a bad idea I just need to send Vanilla away then teleport with the remaining amount of energy I have and that should do it.
"Well young man?" Why bother putting my rings back on, I'll only take them off again.
"No." Ok I did not mean for that to sound so aggressive and bitter.
"Shadow I know you are hurting and got the news you really didn't want to get but throwing your life away will not be the answer." How does she know if I run dry on chaos energy I risk death?
"Oh don't look so surprised sweetie, I know if you run out of chaos energy you will die especially when you purposely drain your supply until there is nothing left." Just how does she know? Unless Rouge or Sonic told her.
"Did you get hold of Sonic?" I knew I would end up being the reason he had to come back early.
There is no denying it, he will drop his camping trip and come rushing here out of worry.
"I did and he said he will come back as fast as he can. I did say you were fine and can wait but he insisted." So she also knew I didn't want him to come back early too, Rouge probably told her.
"Typical Sonic, always worrying about me when he doesn't have to."
"Considering I just caught you trying to drain your chaos energy, I would say he is right to worry." Oh no, she is going to tell him and then I will be extra screwed.
"I am sorry but I will have to tell him what you tried to do and I will have to say something to Doctor Stine as well. No one wants you to die Shadow and I don't think you want to die either."
"Technically I would have an hour after draining my energy before I am officially dead. If I do not get chaos energy within that time span then I would die. Of course that is also a theory since it has not been tested out of fear of it being correct. Gerald clearly didn't want to risk things and he had his reasons." Maybe I shouldn't be saying all of this, it could end badly for me in some way.
"And I think it should stay untested. Now is there anything I can get you?"
"Well since they put a drip in me and I will be unwillingly going to the bathroom while lying in bed, a coffee would be nice." I have half missed the taste of my coffee.
"I am trusting you to not do anything stupid Shadow…black with two sugars still?" great I will be forever mothered now.
"I promise I will still be here when you return and please." If she knows me as well as she seems then she will know I never break a promise.
"Good I wont be but a minute, just relax." Yeah relax, easier said than done.
Well while she is gone I might as well move the bed to sit up and drink my coffee. So where are the buttons to do that? I don't see the remote close by…maybe this isn't that kind of bed. Guess I will have to do this the hard way while also being careful to not disturb the catheter or the drip attached to my arm vein. Challenge excepted.
"Ow, ow, ow, damn needle in my arm, I swear it is not in right." Come on legs stop being so chaos damn heavy to move.
Why is this so hard all of a sudden?
"Shadow do you need a hand sitting up?" Huh wow she was fast or I was slow, nope she was fast. I refuse to admit I was slow.
"Pl-please, this is somehow harder than it used to be."
"That might have something to do with you not having enough energy or strength to move much." Fast at getting coffee and wise.
"I must have a concussion for I did not think of that, I didn't like fall out of my chair and hit my head right?" Yep a light joke will help put me in a better mood and hopefully this fake smile will too.
"There we are and here is your coffee. Careful it is hot."
"Thank you…ah coffee, how I have missed your bitter-sweet smell." I said that out loud didn't I?
Yep the grin on Vanillas face confirms that.
"I meant to think that last part." Yeah she knows I did, mothers must be like totally on the ball or have psychic mind reading powers.
Good luck with getting away with things Cream, your mother will know before the lie even leaves your mouth. Oh damn this coffee is so good, shame they only have these small cups. Four sips and this will be gone, why can't they get in bigger cups?
"You look as if you are enjoying that coffee Shadow, you missed it that much?" Damn straight I have and have come close to screw my logical fasting just for a sip.
"You have no idea but this will be the only one I will have for the time being. I suppose now that I am officially…officially wheelchair bound I should come up with some kind o-of…" Oh great now I am beginning to cry again.
"It will be alright Shadow, you will over come this. How about not thinking of what you now need to do and just enjoy your drink." A plan I will gladly follow right now.
"Y-yeah ok." Not even this coffee is helping now, stupid, stupid tears, stop gathering in my eyes and falling.
I must look so pathetic and weak to Vanilla, I am not the Ultimate Life form any more, I am no one. I am nothing but a weak, broken hedgehog who can't even…
"What did I do to deserve all this?" I-I paid my penance for almost destroying the world, I gave back a lot, did a lot of good, so why?"
"I am supposed to be the Ultimate Lifeform, able to over come anything, heal any injury so why is this one so different?" Cry it all out Shadow just cry until there is nothing left.
I just really don't care how I look anymore and I am going to let it all out before Sonic gets here. He does not need to see me like this, it will upset him. I don't want him to be upset and once again blame himself. This is not his fault it is my own and I know it. I was the one holding onto hope, I was the one that should have been faster getting to him, I am the one who will suffer because of my stupid dumb brain.
"Why didn't I just stop time then ran over to Sonic? This is Maria all over again and I cannot stand it! why don't I ever take time out to think things through logically?"
"Because you didn't have the time to do that Shads and deep down you know that." Huh? Oh no Sonic is here and he cannot see me in such a state.
Just go away, all of you, just leave me alone please.
"I-I'm sorry S-Sonic, I-I didn't mean to, to disturb your break."
"Don't be, you have done nothing wrong to be sorry for. Let me just take that out of your hands before it gets everywhere ok." Why is he so good to me after everything that has happened?
"I-I tried s-so hard…and, and I still couldn't…" Calm down Shadow get it together, we have been through this already.
"I know babe I know. Come here." Yeah I need this hug, so badly…he smells like bonfire and earth.
"I better get going and please call me if you need anything. I'll come by and visit you when you get home Shadow ok sweetie."
"O-ok and thank you." wow this hug is doing wonders.
"Yeah thanks Vanilla for being here with Shadow. See you soon yeah?"
An hour later…
"Sonic, I think it would be best if you find someone else." Ok now even I don't know where that came from.
"What? No Shadow just no." No matter what I do I always hurt him.
"Think about this Sonic, I am never going to walk again, I am never going to stop being a burden to you." Ok I seriously should just stop right here, he is looking quite pissed with me.
"You were, are, never a burden to me Shadow, how could you think that? How could you say that to me?" Oh boy I am in for it now.
"Not once have I ever thought you were, not once has it ever crossed my mind that life would be simpler without you because it wouldn't. Fact is Shadow I can't live without you and I wont live without you. I love you regardless to the fact you are stuck in that wheelchair. I will never stop loving you and I will never start thinking of leaving you." Wow, I actually have no words right now.
"So please Shadow stop thinking like this, stop convincing yourself I am one step away from ditching your ass and going off with someone else because I wont, I promise I wont." Well done Sonic you are making me cry, you big blue, adorable, dumb hedgehog.
"I…I am sorry."
I want another hug…mind reader or what? Nice and warm and cosy and all mine.
"Just remember Shadow you are not alone and I will be there every step of the way for as long as I shall live." Oooo his breath in my ear makes tingles run down my upper spine, go on do it again.
"Well I can tell you are really enjoying our hug babe, the purring is a dead give away." Yeah there goes the tingles again, wish it would go all the way down and not just stop half way.
"You make me happy so keep whispering in my ear." Do it Sonic or I will change my mood.
"What like this?" Such a damn tease, I want more than a few damn words.
"More I want more, I want you." Wow I sound totally desperate.
"Easy love we are still in the hospital but when we get home then we will have an early night together." Ahh the whispering is so good…man I must seem such a desperate fool to him right now but he isn't complaining so who the hell cares.
(Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed the update. I am still debating upon whether or not Shadow will heal fully or partly…but of course he will finally begin to feel his legs as the title suggests. Until the next update…)
