I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.
Fear
Shadow's left fist crashed into the side of Omega's head, sending him back one step. But when Shadow spun, swinging a windmill kick at Omega with his right foot, Omega's right hand snapped up, catching Shadow's leg before his heel could connect. Then, Omega's upper body spun in a complete clockwise circle, slamming Shadow to the ground and releasing him, sending him bouncing away. Shadow rolled to a stop and grit his teeth, pressing a fist to the ground.
Something was wrong. He should be stronger. He knew he was stronger than this. And yet, Omega was throwing him around easily. This was far from the first time that sparring match that he'd ended up on the ground. Omega, on the other than, had yet to go down once. It wasn't fair. He had to be stronger. He had to prove that he was real. That he was stronger than their Shadow. Better. He had to prove he wasn't just some replacement.
Crimson energy began to race over his body as his anger and self-loathing grew. He slowly pushed himself up groaning as pressure began to build up inside of himself, pounding in his head like a fist, beating down a door. Something was building in him, and it demanded to be released. He staggered backward as the pressure turned to pain, a splitting migraine growing rapidly. He clutched at his head, groaning louder. Omega was speaking, asking him if he was okay. Asking what was going on.
Annoyance flashed through Shadow. How the hell should he know what was going on? If he knew, wouldn't he have done something about it by now? Just how fucking stupid was Omega?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Was he really so stupid as to not be able to see Shadow was in pain, barely staying on his feet?
Ba-bang! Ba-bang! Ba-bang!
Shadow fell to the ground, folding forward and pressing his forehead to the ground, a strangled cry of pain forcing its way out of his mouth as the agony grew to an excruciating, all-consuming crescendo.
BANG-BANG! ! ! BANG-BANG! ! ! BANG-BANG! ! ! BOOM! ! ! ! ! !
An explosion rocked the building as the pressure suddenly exploded out of him in a massive wave of bloody energy, sending Omega exploding through the wall just before blasting through the walls of the room, the energy obliterating the floor of two levels of the building on the way down, and two more on the way up, fortunately not hurting anyone, besides Omega, though it did erase the training room, a conference room downstairs, a lounge below that, a supply closet and hallway one level up, and a file storage room at the top.
Shadow lay in the demolished remains of the lounge, trembling from fear and the lasting pain of whatever had just happened, papers and manila folders fluttering down around him, hopelessly scattered and intermixed, most charred from the explosion. It was impossible. That had been a Chaos Blast. But he didn't have any Chaos Emeralds. He shouldn't be able to use Chaos Blasts without a Chaos Emerald. It wasn't possible. He didn't have that kind of power on his own.
"Shadow!" Sonic's voice shouted from above. "Don't move!"
Don't move? Was Sonic planning to arrest him? But why? It hadn't been intentional. What was Sonic even doing there? He hadn't meant to hurt Omega. He hadn't meant to damage the building. He didn't even know how he did it.
"Freeze!" one of G.U.N.'s soldiers shouted, several running in, aiming at Shadow.
"Wait!" Rouge shouted, running into the room. "Wait! Don't hurt him!"
"Stay back, Rouge!" Sonic ordered, stepping into the room. "He's dangerous!"
"He's scared!" Rouge snapped.
"He could explode again at any minute!" Sonic argued.
Why? Why was this happening? Why were the people who were supposed to be his friends and allies turning on him? Why couldn't anyone besides Rouge see how scared he was? But then, maybe they didn't care. After all, they weren't his friends, were they? They were the other Shadow's friends. He wasn't the right Shadow. He wasn't anything. He was just a time bomb, apparently. Fear flashed through him in an even bigger spike. He couldn't be a time bomb. He was alive. He was Shadow. Right?
"Rouge, get out of the way!" Sonic said. "We have to stop Shadow from hurting anyone else! He already blasted Omega!"
"Omega is fine!" Rouge snapped. "He's already repairing the damage!"
Guilt stabbed Shadow in the gut. He had hurt Omega. He couldn't stay. He might hurt the others. He might hurt his apparent only friend, Rouge. He shoved himself up and blurred out of the building, wiping the fearful tears from his eyes as he fled, Rouge holding Sonic back to keep him from chasing Shadow until it was too late. Shadow sped away from the city, running for what felt like forever before finally slowing to a stop in a forest, icy rain pounding down around him, arms wrapped around his trembling body as he crawled under the roots of a partially-fallen tree. He curled into a ball, the fear, guilt, and pain finally getting the better of him, pulling tears from his eyes, and sobs from his chest.
He hated this. He wasn't supposed to cry. He was stronger than that. Crying was pathetic. And yet, the more he tried to regain control, the more impossible that task became. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone. He hadn't meant to destroy anything. He didn't even know how he did it. It had just happened. He couldn't control it.
"Shadow?" Rouge's voice called. "Shadow!" She stopped as she found him, eyes widening slowly before she knelt, sighing. "Found you. Are you alright?"
"What am I?" Shadow asked, voice as broken and frail as he felt.
"You are Shadow the Hedgehog," Rouge said. "You're my friend. And maybe you're not the same Shadow the Hedgehog that we were friends with before, but that one's gone, and you're here. I know you're scared, but I'm not going to hurt you. I'm your friend, Shadow. I want to help."
Shadow slowly began to stand, only to stop as Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver all appeared around the two of them in a semi-circle. Rouge turned to them, but before she could say or do anything, Knuckles shot past her, throwing a punch at Shadow, only for Shadow to launch himself to the side, out of the way. he flipped, landing on his feet as Sonic reached him. Shadow's body reacted on instinct, leaping over Sonic, who had curled himself into a ball, then flipped, kicking downward and slamming his foot into Silver's head, blasting him into the ground. He landed lightly on his feet and spun, leaning out of the way of Knuckle's fist once again before slamming several blisteringly quick punches into Knuckles, then spun, slamming a windmill kick into the echidna's head, throwing him away. Sonic moved to charge, only for Rouge to step into his way, stopping him, even as Shadow retreated from Silver.
"Stop it, all of you!" Rouge snapped. "You all promised to let me handle it!"
Shadow stopped, staring at her, eyes wide. "You...You brought them with you?"
Rouge's eyes widened and she spun, seeing the betrayal shining from his eyes. "Shadow, I...I just want to help you. We all want to help! We're your friends, Shadow! Please, come back with us. We'll figure out what's happening to you and find a way to fix it."
Shadow opened his mouth to respond, only for red energy to begin to cover him again. Again his head throbbed, much worse this time, and he groaned, clutching his head.
"No!" Shadow groaned. "You have to run! I can't...I can't stop it!"
"Shadow!" Rouge said. "You have to calm down! Please! Everything's going to be okay!" She took a step forward, but stopped as Sonic caught her hand.
"Stay away from me!" Shadow snapped, anger flooding him. "I trusted you! I trusted you and you brought them here, knowing they wanted to arrest me for something I didn't mean to do!"
"I'm sorry!" Rouge said. "Shadow, please! If you calm down you'll be able to control it!" She took another step forward.
"I said stay away from me!" Shadow shouted, swinging his arms downward, a small explosion of red energy shooting outward, not reaching her but sending a wall of rubble and chunks of trees at all of the others, only for Sonic to get Rouge out of the way and the others to escape on their own. "Fuck! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"It's okay!" Rouge said.
"Knuckles, hold Rouge," Sonic said, tossing her to the echidna. "Silver, let's take him down fast."
Silver nodded, both preparing to attack.
"No!" Shadow said, staggering backward. "Stay away!"
He turned and fled, speeding across the ground, only for both to catch up. They both moved to attack him, but as he shouted in fear and crossed his arms in front of his face, a massive blast of red energy exploded off of him, blasting the area into a smoking crater and blasting both of the other hedgehogs, sending them bouncing away from the crater, both of them burned and injured. Shadow stared at the pair in surprise, before tears began to fall again.
"I'm sorry!" he said, speeding away again, desperate to find a place where no one would find him, where he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.
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