Okay... This took a bit to write, mostly because I had a vacation in the middle of the chapter, then when I came back, I had to re-grasp the concept and rewrite quite a bit. Then there was all of the making sure that Shadow stayed in-character (well, in the character of this story - obviously, everyone's a little messed up due to the circumstances, but still...)... Even so, I managed to finish this a day or two before I ever got Chapter Four to stay saved to my computer.

Thanks everyone for the reviews!

And I hope you enjoy (well, maybe "enjoy" isn't the best word for this instance... How about... Eh, I got nothin'.)...

Chapter Five: Wrong Truth

Maria... Why?

Why do I feel this way?

I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't. It's not right. It's not... natural.

My eyes traveled to the window, where I could see the daylight muffled by clouds and trees. He was out there somewhere. Staring at the sky, I was sure. Because nothing had changed. Nothing... except the worst.

He was disturbed by something. Something that he wouldn't talk about. I wanted to ask... I felt in my flesh that I was somehow meant to help him... That Maria meant for me to assist him.

...But did Maria know that... this... would happen?

I walked over to the empty wall, leaning against it, staring at her picture - the picture of her and the professor. The house was covered in pictures of her. It was like having an angel watching over us at all times. That's what she was to me. An angel. A guardian.

Maria's perfect blue eyes saw everything.

So, what am I supposed to do?

I don't know what this feeling is, Maria... But it's here. And it's... overcoming...

What is so strong that even the Ultimate Lifeform can't control it? It was a useless question. Because I knew the answer. But I wished it was something different. Because the Ultimate Lifeform shouldn't know fear... I should have no weakness...

I sighed and pushed myself away from the wall. I had wasted time. Too much time. Without ever meaning to. I'd brought him out here, to the Professor's old house, for seclusion. No one knew about the place. Not even GUN. But seclusion wasn't helping. If anything, the echidna had gotten worse since we'd been out here. Whenever he did fall asleep, he had dreams... Nightmares. He moved a lot in his sleep...

My eyes went again to the nearest window. He was out there still. He would be until nightfall...

A thought entered my head. I pushed it away but not before subconsciously raising my hand to my lips. Damn it. I cursed myself, but I couldn't really make up my mind. What had made me act? What had made me care?

...I need to think.

I hated to leave him. More than ever right then. But... I would be back before nightfall. I'd return long before he'd notice.

My legs raced as fast as my thoughts. Away. There were things I needed to do. Return to the city - at least long enough to see if Metal Sonic had followed through with his plans. I had no regrets about leaving the city behind to deal with the robot. As far as I was concerned, they deserved it. Especially Faker. After what he did... I hated that hedgehog more and more each time I thought about what could've happened... About what might have happened if I hadn't found the echidna... Knuckles... If I hadn't found Knuckles when I did... I frowned.

Then there was Rouge... I just hated the thought of even thinking about her. In my mind, the two of us had never truly been "friends"... But she was the closest thing to a friend I'd had since Maria... And I knew that she had considered me a "friend". And I also knew that she had considered Knuckles much, much more than that...

Those two facts were what made my feelings so confusing. It was never "right" to do the "wrong" thing. But what did that even mean?

What was "right", anyway? Who could say what was "wrong"? I was sure, completely sure, that the words - both of them - had meaning at one point. Long ago, maybe. When things were simple. But life hasn't been simple in this world for hundreds of years. I didn't doubt that at one time there was "right". I didn't doubt that at one time there was "wrong". In a simpler time, I was sure the two could be differentiated easily. Right and wrong. Like white and black. Couldn't be confused... But what about grey?

All it took was one mistake. Just one "wrong"... To turn the pure white palette of life to grey. And no matter the "right" done from then on... The palette will always remain grey. No wrongs can be erased. And no one in this world has a palette of white. We're all messed up in some way...

I was sure of that.

The surrounding forest finally opened up, and I fell to one knee in front of a still pond. A pair of warm, red eyes stared up at me from the water's surface, and I returned their stare, curious of their serenity... They looked so... calm, clear... Almost... happy... It was only when a gust blew over the pond, scattering the image that I realized the eyes belonged to me. ...Happy...? ...

"...the chance to be... happy..."

I am the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. I stood again on both feet. Nothing can stop me. I do what I want. And I know what I want.

I've given those damned people the chance to be happy already. Now it's my turn. I turned away from the water, my thoughts wandering back to the old house I'd left only an hour or so ago... Our turn.

There were no second thoughts, and no half-regrets about anything, then. I could never regret saving him, or helping him, or...

I stopped in place, my breath drying up in my lungs.

Up in the canopy of the forest, hanging along a stray vine, a string of lifeless little colorful carcasses - Flickies -were staring down at the water through milky white eyes.

What the...?

I slowly rotated on one foot, in a mixture of entrancement and horror to look around the vines around the rest of the clearing.

Hundreds of dead eyes stared at me from each individual tree. From every corner of the clearing. And there was no smell of death. No decay.

The kills were fresh.

Too fresh. And too unusual. No natural predator would do something like that. Or kill that many... Without even feeding off of them... I approached one of the overhanging vines and gently removed a single bird's corpse. But every single feather was in place. No scars. No blood.

...No explanation...

The file Metal Sonic had shown me a few months ago crossed my mind.

...It's real... The word I'd noticed, in bright red letters...

"Ragnarok".

D: Flickies? And Shadow? And a file? -Oh my! (Sorry. XD Had to.)

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