Alternate ending, courtesy of my brother:
Sonic's Emeralds and Shadow's Emeralds commingle into Emeraldy goodness, as they float off to Emerald heaven where they can be Emeralds in peace, far from the Emerald thieving hedgehogs.
...Emeralds.
Mind the time stamps
Tuesday, November 1st, 10:27am, Station Square Academy
Amy waits, fingers crossed. This test is worth thirty percent of her grade, she can't afford to fail it; she's just scraping by as it is. Plus, if she fails this one her parents will be seriously ticked off, which will mean she can't go out with Sonic this weekend!
She blinks, hit with a wave of déjà vu, like she's been here before. But that doesn't make any sense because of course she's been here before. She sits here every day. Mr. Bailey passes the tests out upside down and the feeling of déjà vu refuses to subside. Then he tells the class they may flip over their papers, and she feels the disappointment before she even sees the big, red 'D' at the top of her page. Under it are the words 'see me after class' in her teacher's hasty scrawl. She slumps in her seat because, regardless of the freaky déjà vu, this is bad.
She goes through the motions in class and doesn't perk up until lunch when she gets to see Sonic run, which is just so amazing to watch. The rest of her day passes uneventfully, and before she knows it school has ended and she's returning to her History classroom.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she manages to squeak out when she reaches the door.
"Ah, Amy. Come in, come in," he greets, beckoning her over and gesturing to the seat next to his desk. She hastens to be seated; the quicker it's done with, the better. "Amy, the reason I asked to see you is because your latest test result was, well, less than satisfactory. At this rate, I'm afraid you may fail my course completely. You're a bright girl and I have trouble believing that you would want to be held back a year."
Amy hangs her head as the gravity of the situation hits her. "No sir," she whispers.
"That's why I want to recommend you get a tutor."
Amy looks back up with a start. "Didn't we try that before?" Even as she says it she knows the answer is no. She doesn't know why she asked.
Mr Bailey blinks, then furrows his brow. "No?" he answers, but it sounds more like a question. There's an awkward pause before he continues. "I was thinking of an older student who did well in this course as your tutor. They would go to your house twice a week and help you study. What do you think?"
Shaking off the weirdness that just happened, Amy finds herself perking right up. "Do you really think that'll work, sir?"
"If I didn't, do you think I'd be recommending it?" her teacher asks with a good-natured smile. Amy returns that smile with a grin of her own, and they set about filling the paperwork required to find a suitable tutor based on her address and availability.
When Amy gets home, her parents are quite disappointed by her grade and tell her that she's not allowed to go out, but she follows a suggestion Blaze gave her at lunch and promises to spend her weekend studying and doing homework if she can just please please go out with Sonic on Friday? She gives her best puppy-dog eyes and her father gives in.
...
Sunday, December 12th, 9:47am, Mystic Ruins
The seconds drag by. Shadow is too stunned to do anything but cradle Amy's still form in his arms. Her eyes stare unblinkingly and that should register as odd, but it doesn't.
And then Sonic lands in front of Shadow and everything clicks into place.
"You killed her," Shadow says as the realization hits.
Sonic steps forward, and Shadow remembers that they're in the middle of a battle. "No, I—" Whatever half formed protest Sonic is about to utter is cut off by a Chaos Spear slamming into him and knocking him away. It's Sonic's turn to crash into the ground, and he finally releases the energy he was holding onto, which Shadow is quick to siphon. When Sonic sits up, his skin and hair are back to normal, but his eyes have taken on a vibrant cyan hue. "No," he repeats, getting shakily to his feet. "No no no no no," he continues, on and on. Blood stains his shirt where the Spear hit him, but Shadow barely pays it any mind. With Sonic out of his super form, he isn't a threat. Instead, Shadow focuses on Amy, tries to find any traces of life in her burnt and broken body.
There are none, but that's not right. She can't be dead; he hasn't told her he loves her yet. She can't die without knowing he loves her.
Except, she has. He should be crying, he thinks. He cried when he held Manic, and he hadn't loved Manic the way he loves Amy. So, he should definitely be crying.
He isn't, though. Instead of feeling sorrow, he feels hollow. Instead of crying, he can only stare.
...
Friday, November 4th, 2:18pm, Station Square Academy
Wednesday comes, then Thursday, and the whole time Amy feels a nagging sense in the back of her mind that she's done all this before. She remembers things the moment they happen—as if they'd already happened—constantly, and though it leaves her feeling more than a little frayed she doesn't want to tell anybody about it; doesn't want to seem... weird.
By Friday, Amy is much too frazzled to focus on her schoolwork. Between the excitement about her date and the constant déjà vu, sleep has been eluding her. As a result the entire day passes in a dreamlike haze, but when school ends Amy's energy picks up and she rushes home to get ready. She pushes her hair back with a red hairband and puts on the new outfit she'd bought just for this occasion; a red halter-dress with white trim, and some matching boots. She re-does her makeup and spends the next couple hours fretting over how she looks until it's time to head out.
She gets to Twinkle Park about fifteen minutes early, heart racing. She can do this, she's done this before. Or, no, she hasn't done this before. That's the issue. But, she's fine, and this is fine. Great, actually, because she is about to go on a date with Sonic, her soulmate. Deep breaths, in and out. Just breathe. She's known Sonic her entire life, she can do this. Breathe.
Fifteen minutes pass, and Sonic arrives right on time. Amy blinks. "You're here," she says wonderingly, and Sonic gives her a funny look.
"Of course I am," he replies. "Six o'clock, right?"
Amy nods. "Yeah but— I thought— Your friend—" Even as she speaks, Amy realizes she doesn't know what she thought, or why she thought it, and worse; She realizes she sounds totally crazy. Going by the way Sonic is side-eyeing her, he thinks so too. She shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "Never mind, today's been weird, let's hurry inside!"
She latches onto his arm, dragging him into the park to officially start their first date, which goes off without a hitch and culminates with them becoming an official couple on the ferris wheel.
Amy spends the rest of her weekend doing homework and studying just like she promised she would, but what had once seemed like a gaping chasm of drudgery is now completely worth it. Sonic is her boyfriend!
She tries to ignore the tickle in the back of her head telling her he didn't seem too thrilled.
...
Despite the brief reprieve in déjà vu at the beginning of her date, it returns quickly. Amy remembers things right before they happen right up until Tuesday when it's time to meet her tutor. Because of this, when her buzzer rings on Tuesday for her first tutoring session she's ready for it.
"Rose residence, this is Amy. Can I ask who's calling?" she greets, feeling the insane urge to come across as serious and responsible. She has to make a better first impression this time.
"This is Espio," an entirely unexpected voice replies, and Amy feels a wave of disappointment that it isn't—
The thought is gone before she can grasp it.
"I'm here to tutor you," Espio finishes.
"Alright, come on up," Amy answers with false cheer, buzzing him in. She heads downstairs and grabs them each a slice of pie. He likes sweets, after all.
Wait. Who likes sweets?
She's just finished plating the snacks when a knock comes at the door. "Coming," she hollers. For a heartbeat, she expects dark hair that refuses to be tamed, but when she answers the door she gets a very well maintained magenta undercut.
"Hello," Espio greets in his surprisingly deep voice. "Amy, right?"
Amy forces a smile, because it isn't his fault that, for some reason, she'd been expecting somebody else. "Yeah. Pleased to meet you, Espio."
...
Two more weeks of déjà vu pass, and Amy's finally starting to get used to it, though she can't help but wonder if this is the universe's way of telling her something. Along with the déjà vu is a weird sense of urgency, like there's a train she needs to catch, but she can't remember where the station is. It gets to the point that she decides to buy a tarot deck after school the Friday before Rouge's pool party, fully intent on using it after the party. But then the party happens and she can't bring herself to use them. How can she think of the future when she's being forced to come to terms with the fact that Sonic has been lying to her?
Not that anyone had told her, but after spin-the-bottle it's obvious. Should have been obvious sooner, but she hadn't wanted to see it. She still doesn't, but a voice in the back of her head won't let her pretend any longer. Which means Amy has to do the unthinkable.
She has to break up with Sonic.
She avoids him instead.
...
Sunday, December 12th, 9:53am, Mystic Ruins
Dimly, Shadow considers reversing time. He can do that. He could stop her from getting hit. Or, he could go back further. With the sheer volume of Chaos infusing his every cell, it's certainly possible. He could go to before the ambush and stop it all.
Green hair and shitty band tees flash in his mind.
He could go further.
He reaches inside himself, reaches outside too, focuses on grabbing all the energy. And then, as he does when teleporting, he twists. Only, instead of twisting the where he twists the when, folds time like an accordion, until now and two weeks ago are touching. The energy in his veins burns but he presses on. He's in that basement with Amy all over again, and he can save Manic.
...
Tuesday, November 23rd, 6:30am, Amy's Bedroom
It's a Tuesday when it finally happens. Amy wakes up and knows. Except, she doesn't know anything, can't possibly know anything, because there's nothing to know.
But, today the world as she knows it is going to end, she feels it in every fibre of her being.
Except that's crazy.
Except, except, except...!
Amy ignores the urgency in her heart and gets ready for school like she does every Tuesday. She puts on her uniform and does her hair and makeup. She grabs her bag, meets Cream, and suppresses her fears.
When they meet the others, Sonic is there. She gives him a tight smile, and tucks her arm through his because if she doesn't then he'll know something's up, and she understands now why he doesn't want to have that conversation. It's going to be hard and messy and upsetting.
Maybe that's what today is, the day she breaks up with Sonic.
He makes his escape when they reach the school and she lets him, and then doesn't see him again until she's meeting him, Manic, and Espio for the walk home.
Every step fills Amy with a quiet dread. It's going to be soon, whatever it is.
Espio is in the middle of trying to explain something to Amy when it happens. The feeling of wrong inside her lurches, and everything inside her lurches alongside it. For a second she thinks she's staring into the sun and being burnt away. She hears Espio's sharp intake of breath from across the table.
The world re-orients and it doesn't look like anything has changed at all, until she glances at her tutor. His eyes are wide and unfocused, his breathing is heavy, and all the blood has drained from his face.
"You felt that too?" Amy asks, because she needs to know for sure that she isn't crazy. Espio nods. "What was it?"
"I don't—" He cuts himself off to swallow. "I—" He shakes his head. "For a split second I thought I was on fire," he finally admits.
Amy hesitates. "Do you—" it's her turn to swallow. "Do you think we should, ah... would the news...?" Espio nods again and she takes him up to her bedroom so they can sit at the foot of her bed and watch the news, like her and Cream sometimes do when working on school projects.
The news doesn't have anything yet, but checking social media reveals that the entire city is in an uproar. Whatever they'd experienced, they aren't the only ones, and the resulting shock people felt over seemingly nothing is having devastating results. Huge, multi car pile-ups at major intersections, young, healthy people having heart attacks and seizures, and large-scale panic responses are all popping up at the top of every news feed. It isn't long until Espio's phone starts ringing, his mum wanting to know if he's okay. Amy wonders why her own mother isn't calling, but that's eventually answered when a call comes on the landline. Her parents were in one of the accidents and are in the ICU. She feels a sinking sensation, and turns to Espio.
"I have to go," she tells him.
"Okay. Do you need a ride?"
She blinks owlishly at him. She should say no, she should let him go home to his family and see that they're safe. "Yes, please," she says as the inexplicable image of her father's body being tossed aside in an overcrowded hallway flashes through her thoughts.
Espio's car might be older than Amy and it reminds her that he's a scholarship kid, which explains why he's such a good tutor. If he's smart enough to get into the most prestigious school in the city for free, then he's smart enough to teach someone as hopeless as Amy. Amy ponders this for longer than it merits in an attempt to keep distracted.
The drive is spent in silence, each teen focused on their own internal monologue. For Amy, it's the fear of what comes next, and the dawning realization that the déjà vu has finally stopped. None of this is familiar, and Amy is surprised by how terrifying that is. She only had it for three weeks, but that was enough for it to become a strange comfort. There was something nice about a life free of surprises, but now? Now she has no idea what to expect.
...
Sunday, November 28th, 8:32pm, Robotnik's Lair
Time stretches out in front of Shadow, and he can taste every potential future. If Manic doesn't die here, he dies in the escape. Or he dies in the tunnels under Angel Island. A thousand timelines laid out before Shadow, and a thousand deaths with them. As long as Robotnik bombs the city, Manic dies. He's too reckless not to. And in every timeline that Manic dies in, Amy joins him. Or Aziza does. Or, they both do.
Further, then. Before the attack.
Shadow's wrists are boiling, but he has to go further. He tries and tries, but every time the burning in his wrists flares up, and it's like a wall is sitting between him and his true potential.
Desperate, he drives Chaos-sharpened nails into his flesh, tears past skin and veins looking for the source of the burning. Inside, nestled in the soft tissue of Shadow's wrists, he finds a pair of golden chips. They're attached to his arteries, and they're hot.
Shadow tears them out without second thought for his own well-being, and power like nothing he has ever known floods into him, enough to completely negate the sudden failing of his mortal form.
With the power comes clarity.
As long as Project Shadow is allowed to live an ordinary life, Dr. Ivo Robotnik will try to retrieve it.
...
Sunday, November 28th, 8:29pm, Amy's Bedroom
A week passes, and things start returning to normal. The event that threw the entire city into chaos starts being referred to as 'The Glitch'. The general consensus is that, while inexplicably weird, it was harmless. Amy tries to believe that, tries to ignore the rumours that the people most affected have all become hollow versions of themselves. She ignores them about as well as she ignores the rumours that more people are succumbing to the strange fits it caused every day.
She's painting her toenails in bed when she feels the same fear that had preceded the Glitch lance through her chest.
Manic.
Amy is out the door and halfway down her building before she even registers that she's running. The trip to Manic's house usually takes twenty minutes. Tonight she makes it in under five, heedless of the way the paved streets tear up her soft feet. She grabs the spare key from its hiding spot in the bush on her way up the stairs and lets herself in without knocking. As she rushes down the hall, she hears Aleena shouting after her, but the words don't make any sense through her panic. All she knows is that Manic is dying and she needs to get to him.
Her heart stops when she reaches his door and finds it locked, because she's so close! She can save him this time! Without a second thought, Amy lifts her leg and delivers three sturdy kicks to the door, next to the handle.
"What are you doing!?" Aleena demands as the lock breaks and the door flies open, revealing Manic, crumpled on the ground, twitching and choking. Amy rushes to his side, ignoring Aleena's "Oh sweet Chaos..."
"Manic?" Amy chokes out, hands hovering over him, unsure what to do.
"We need an ambulance," Aleena says in the background as Manic's face turns blue.
"Manic, please," Amy tries as the tears fall down her face. His eyes are glazed, and he seems a thousand miles away.
Aleena's voice fades in and out as she paces. "My son is..., a seizure, I think..., choking..."
Some half remembered lessons come to mind and Amy tries to administer CPR. "Breathe, damn it," she sobs.
For the first time in his life, Manic listens. As if awoken from a deep sleep, he sits up with a gasp. His eyes dart around frantically before finally focusing on Amy. There's a few seconds of awkward silence as reality settles in around the two teens, and Amy becomes aware of her struggling lungs and heart. The silence is broken by a forced laugh from Manic.
"Ya know," he starts, voice weak as he gives her his sleaziest eyebrow waggle. "If you wanted me that bad, you could have said something."
Amy's entire face turns beet-red as she realizes that, at some point in her panic, she'd climbed onto him and is now straddling him in nothing but flimsy cotton shorts and a matching tanktop. "Manic!" she shrieks, mortified. She shoves his shoulders firmly enough to knock him back down and scrambles off of him. "Ewwwww!"
Sonic shows up before the ambulance, gasping and near tears. "Manic?" he calls from the doorway, looking around frantically before catching sight of Manic and Amy sitting together in the living room.
"Hey," Manic greets, but his voice lacks its usual energy. That doesn't deter Sonic, though. He kicks his shoes off and rushes into the living room, all but throwing himself at his brother.
"I— I thought you were gone," Sonic admits as he clings to Manic, and Amy wonders if she should leave.
"I was," Manic replies in a strangely distant voice. "Amy saved me."
Sonic looks at Amy then, as if noticing her presence for the first time. "You?" She nods. "How?"
"I don't know," she admits. "I just... I had this feeling, and—"
Before she can finish the thought, Sonic's lips are pressing against hers, clumsy and urgent. And then they're gone and he's collapsed against her sobbing, and she is entirely unsure of how to react. "Thank you," he whispers, before moving to cling to Manic all over again.
"No problem," she breathes. "I'll just, ah, I'm gonna..." She gestures vaguely at the front door before wandering out to the deck in a daze. Sonic kissed her. He kissed her. Sonic! She was going to break up with him and he kissed her and she should be elated but she's just confused.
She's still trying to figure out how to process things when the ambulance pulls in.
...
?
The years flow like a river, bypassing Shadow in reverse. Ten, then twenty, then thirty. Back to the first days when he was in stasis, long before they'd hunted down his last remaining blood relative.
Shadow looks at himself. He's frozen at nine, maybe ten years old. At that age, asleep in a pod, he doesn't look like a weapon. He looks like a child.
He gathers his energy, and for the first time in living memory he says a prayer, one he often heard Aziza whisper into the stillness of night. "A'udhu bi kalimaa ti-llaahi taam-maati min sharri ma khalaq," he recites, hoping that his next actions will be enough to change the fates of his loved ones.
With a silent farewell, Shadow unleashes the combined might of seven Chaos Emeralds in one final blast, powerful enough to destroy everything in the room. As life-support systems fail and the machines maintaining true stasis malfunction, his younger self's eyes snap open to meet his own, red meeting red as the child struggles for breath in a body that isn't ready to sustain itself.
Shadow watches, and remembers. He remembers waking up to see a horrible golden man floating before him, remembers suffocating as his drug-laden body failed to respond. And, with those memories come earlier ones. Growing up with Maria, discussing their plans for the day they could live among the people on Earth rather than floating separate from them where illness can't ravage her weakened body.
Maria would have hated what he's become. All she'd ever wanted was to make others happy. All he'd ever caused was misery and destruction. As the child before him fades, so too does Shadow, and he's glad for it. The world will be better off without him. The last thing he's aware of is darkness, and then, blessed nothing.
...
Sunday, December 12th, 9:47am, In transit
Sonic is sitting on the bus to his final track meet of the semester with Amy when she unexpectedly stiffens, then collapses against him, eyes empty. His heart lurches. Two weeks ago the little pulse inside of him that he'd always associated with Manic had sputtered and died, but Amy had saved him. Last night, Sonia's pulse had also faded out. They're still alive and he's so glad, but he doesn't feel them anymore and there's something off about them; he feels like he's lost them anyways, and he can't lose Amy too. He can't!
"Amy!" he shouts, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a light shake. She doesn't respond at all, and the way her head flops uselessly forward is terrifying. Manic is alive because of Amy, Sonic owes her! He owes her, and she's dying because of him! A sharp pain lances through his gut at the thought, and he shakes her more urgently, heedless of the crowd forming around their seat. "Amy, please! Come back to me, I can't lose you, I—"
A shudder runs through her body. She lifts her head to peer at him through pink bangs and black eyelashes. "Sonic?" she asks, and his heart soars. His name has never sounded so sweet on her lips.
"Amy! Thank God, I was so worried, I thought you were—"
As he's speaking, her eyes widen, and before he can finish she cuts him off. "We need to break up. Now."
His entire world lurches sideways.
This isn't right.