I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters.
Preparing
Shadow watched Rouge and Blaze as they argued. They believed they were far enough away that he wouldn't hear them discussing how to decide which of them would get to be with him and which would be a friend, however, likely because of being an android, Shadow's hearing was sharp enough that he could hear their entire conversation. Well, maybe argument was more accurate. After a while, however, they gave up arguing for the time being and agreed to settle the argument later. Shadow, having moved toward the back of the cave, ignored both as they walked into the cave.
He frowned as he stared at his hands. His stomach was twisting into knots, and his heartbeat felt like shredded glass. He didn't understand. He should be happy, right? Not only had both promised to choose him over the rest of their friends, but they had both basically told him that they had feelings for him, enough to actually argue with each other over who should get to act on those feelings. He should be happy that he had two beautiful women fighting over him. And he was. Except...he wasn't. Something about it just...wasn't sitting well. He couldn't figure out what, though.
"Are you alright?" Rouge asked, kneeling beside him.
"I...Zeta, the echidna, said that she was sent by something called Mephiles," Shadow said, Rouge tensing. "I assume that's bad?"
"Very," Blaze said. "We barely managed to beat him before. He was stronger than Sonic."
"Well, I think it's probably worse now," Shadow said. "According to Zeta, he absorbed something called Dark Gaia, the Time Eater, and the Phantom Ruby."
"What!?" Rouge gasped. "Oh shit!"
"How do we beat that?" Blaze asked.
"We'll need the Chaos Emeralds," Rouge said. "Sonic, Silver, and Shadow will have to use their super states."
"I don't even know how," Shadow said.
"Sonic can explain it," Blaze said. "But we need to warn them about what we're up against."
Shadow nodded. "I don't think I can run that far right now." He lifted a hand to his face. "I'm still not fully healed."
"I'll go," Blaze said. "I'll tell them what we're up against. Then as soon as you're rested, you and Rouge can join us."
Shadow glanced up at her, fear gripping him, but nodded. This was more important than whatever insecurity and obsessive codependence he'd obviously developed. The others needed to be warned.
"Please be careful," Shadow said.
Blaze smiled back at him. "Don't worry. I'll see you when you get there."
Shadow nodded and Blaze took off. Shadow's hand began to wring themselves anxiously almost immediately.
"Hey," Rouge said, taking both of his hands with one of hers, cupping his cheek with her free hand. "It's going to be alright. She'll be fine. But you need to rest."
"I don't know if I can," Shadow said. "I'm afraid of what I'll see."
Rouge frowned, nodding, remembering being woken up several nights in a row by him having a nightmare. "I know you're worried, and I know you don't want to have nightmares. But you need to rest so you can heal and get your strength back, that way we can go home and see Blaze again."
Shadow nodded, but clearly wasn't convinced. Rouge sighed, smiling, then reached up, kissing him on the cheek. His eyes widened slightly, and she released his hands, cupping both sides of his face.
"Rest, Shadow," Rouge said. "I'll be right beside you."
Shadow nodded, forcing a smile before laying down and forcing himself to sleep.
Shadow flipped, firing a burst out of his right shoe, launching himself at the robot, curling himself into a ball as he did, tapping into his Chaos Energy, forming himself a spherical aura of it, his fur and quills all shining red just before one of the robot's tentacles swung around, crashing into him and sending him blasting into the ground, bouncing him, no longer as a ball, before the robot's bulldozer-sized fist crashed into him, sending him exploding into the wall. He crashed to the ground, coughing and groaning before standing and channeling his energy into his right palm, firing a barrage of spear-shaped energy blasts, which flashed through the air into the robot, exploding against it harmlessly before Shadow pushed off the wall, activating his shoes and racing out of the way of several tentacles, which stabbed into the ground in a line after him.
After a moment, he jumped, once again using his shoes and his Chaos Energy to send himself flashing toward the robot, this time exploding into its head hard. Its head, the size of a house, was its weak point, but even so, it was so massive that he hardly hurt it. It rocked backward, then lurched forward, headbutting him and sending him crashing to the ground again. Just as he began to stand, a tentacle flashed down at him, stabbing toward him, only for movement to obscure his vision. Something warm and wet splattered across his face and he staggered backward. Then, he stopped, staring ahead of himself. The robot loomed over him just as menacingly as it had throughout the entire battle, its tentacles had moved to surround Shadow on every side, but his eyes focused on only one, one on which Blaze and Rouge were both impaled through the chest.
They were still alive, though only barely. Their lips moved, but his brain couldn't process their words. Pain ripped through him. A pain worse than any blade or broken bone. Then, both women went limp, slumping forward as their wounds finished claiming them. Grief so powerful it suffocated flooded him, and he let out a cry of despair just as a massive blast of red Chaos Energy ripped out of him, completely obliterating all of the tentacles. Blaze and Rouge's bodies spun through the air, only for Shadow to flash under them and up the wall, catching both before dropping to the ground and gently laying them both down.
"I'm sorry," he said, tears flooding down his cheeks, doing nothing to wash away the blood covering his face. "I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry. I never deserved you two."
The robot began to laugh. "Oops. Guess you need new girlfriends now, huh? It's alright. You'll be seeing them again soon."
Shadow turned, glaring back at the robot, his irises suddenly blood red and shimmering as his fur turned red, Chaos Energy coursing over his body. "I'm going to rip you out of there and tear you limb from limb!"
He exploded forward, speeding around tentacles as they stabbed down at him. The robot's massive fist shot down at him again, but this time he flipped over it, landing on the back of the robot's forearm and sped up it, leaping into the air and sending a blast out of his shoes to launch himself at the robot's head before curling into a ball. He exploded into the robot, instantly letting out a Chaos Blast, sending the robot staggering away. He uncurled, using his shoes to reach the robot's head again, focusing his Chaos Energy to his fist just before punching it, the explosion sending cracks shooting over the robot's head instantly. Tentacles stabbed at him rapidly, but he blasted them all with another Chaos Blast, landing on his feet in the center of the room.
The robot roared, its massive torso opening as the spikes on its back sank into its body, protruding from its torso as barrels and unleashing a massive wall of lasers while missile launchers on the inside of its torso's plating fired dozens of missiles at him as well. Shadow took off in a blur instantly, flipping and ducking around missiles as he circled the room, closing in on the robot rapidly. miniguns suddenly grew from the robot on all sides, opening fire at him, but Shadow narrowed his eyes, speeding up becoming a red streak as he moved to the rounded wall, speeding around and around, the robot's upper body spinning to follow him. Then, finally, Shadow used his shoes to explode off of the wall, exploding into the weakened side of the robot as a ball and smashing through it, falling into the robot. He grinned, setting off a Chaos Blast and ripping the interior of its torso apart before landing on a round piece of metal that he didn't know the purpose of. He grinned, looking up at a camera.
"You'd better get out now," Shadow warned. "I'm going to rip your toy to pieces!"
Then, he was off, exploding around the room as a ball, using his shoes as much as bouncing to destroy everything he could come into contact with, bouncing around the inside of the robot like a giant game of pinball. Finally, he exploded out of the robot's right side just before the entire robot exploded, massive chunks of metal crashing down all over the room. Shadow flipped, landing on his feet and turned, smirking at the smoke in the center of the room where a silhouette was crouched, though it slowly pushed itself up to its feet, turning and glaring at him with its three yellow eyes with red irises.
"There you are," Shadow snarled. "Time for you to die."
Then, he was off, his enemy moving to meet him instantly.
Shadow's eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright as a scream echoed in his ears. He looked around, eyes wide, only to see Rouge sleeping soundly beside him. He exhaled slowly as the scream faded into the recesses of his mind. It was only a dream. Except, it wasn't. He knew what it was. It was a memory. It was his life before coming to this dimension. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. He looked to Rouge, staring for a moment as he reminded himself she was still alive, then sighed.
He reached up, feeling his face gingerly, finding it was fully healed. He stood, walking out of the cave and a few hundred meters off tot he right to a stream, kneeling and washing the blood off of himself before walking back. He stopped at the mouth of the cave, watching Rouge in silence for a few minutes before sighing and walking over, kneeling and gently shaking her awake. She stirred, looking up at him before sitting up and yawning, stretching her body before smiling slightly.
"Did you sleep well?" Rouge asked.
"No," Shadow said. "But I'm healed now. Come on. We should get back to the others."
Rouge nodded, pushing herself up to her feet and catching his hand when he turned to walk outside. "Shadow, are you okay? Do you want to talk about your nightmare?"
"It wasn't a nightmare," Shadow said. "They never were. They're flashes of memory from my life before coming to this dimension."
"Memory?" Rouge asked, frowning. "What happened?"
Shadow was silent for a long while before sighing. "I was fighting a giant robot. It was all black and had spikes all over its back. It looked kind of like a giant black Omega that stood a hundred feet tall, except that it had spikes all over its back and long silver tentacles made out of metal splints wrapped around whatever the core was. I wasn't strong enough to beat it, though, and it almost killed me. Except...you and Rouge sacrificed yourselves to save me. I think...I think maybe the three of us were all together in that dimension, but I don't remember. After you died, I lost it. I used my Chaos Energy on a completely other level to fight the robot, fueling my power with my anger and pain. And I obliterated the robot in a little more than a minute. But, the robot wasn't the real enemy. There was someone...something inside of it. I woke up before I could see what it was though. I just remember it having three eyes."
Rouge nodded slowly. "So...a threesome, then, huh?"
Shadow scowled at her. "Really? That's what you took away from that?"
"Well, that's the only part that matters, right?" Rouge asked. "Whatever it was you were fighting in that dimension, and whatever happened to me and Blaze there, you're not fighting that thing here, and me and Blaze are both alive here. And we both still care about you. So the only thing that matters in my opinion is that you want to be able to have us both."
"I never said that," Shadow said. "I don't remember saying I was interested in either of you."
Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"
Shadow held out as long as he could before groaning and looking back at her. She smiled and cupped his cheek.
"I'm all for sharing with Blaze, if you want to," Rouge said. "Assuming she's willing. But first, you have to admit, right here and now, that you're secretly a hopeless romantic, not a tough guy, and that you desperately want to be able to have me and Blaze both. And you have to admit that your grumpy attitude isn't because people annoy you, but because you're lonely."
"Right now, you're annoying me," Shadow said, Rouge raising an eyebrow. He groaned. "I..." His eyes softened, a melancholy expression filling his face as he recalled his memory, and how broken he'd been when he saw Blake and Rouge impaled on the tentacle.
Suddenly, his brain was seeing their mouths moving, but this time he was able to understand their words. Both of them, saying the same thing. "We will always love you. You will always be the real Shadow to us. And if we ever meet again, we swear to you that we will still feel the same way about you."
Tears slid down Shadow's cheeks. He didn't know how, but they had kept their promise. He had gone to a separate dimension, and yet they still cared.
"I...I need you," Shadow said. "Both of you. Please."
"Close enough," Rouge smiled, then leaned forward, gently pulling him into a kiss.
Shadow reacted instantly, kissing her back and holding her against himself, somehow managing to cry at the same time. After a few minutes, Rouge pulled away, smiling, and wiped his eyes.
"Come on," Rouge said. "Let's go meet up with your other girlfriend."
Shadow nodded, wiping his eyes only to hug her. Rouge sighed, wrapping her arms around him and gently stroking his back as he slowly calmed himself. Finally, he pulled away and nodded again and they turned, leaving their cave and speeding back to G.U.N. HQ where the others should be gathered. However, when they arrived, Sonic turned to them, narrowing his eyes.
"There you are!" Sonic snapped. "Where the hell have you been? We need you to tell us everything you can about what we're up against. Who was the echidna? What do they want? Are they working for anyone?"
"Are they working for..." Shadow stared at him, eyes slowly widening. "Didn't...Blaze tell you?"
"Blaze?" Silver asked. "We haven't seen Blaze since you all disappeared from the city yesterday."
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