I walked through the thick snow as I continuously called out for Shadow, I was alone, unarmed and unprotected. The snow continued to fall softly as the sun began to set and it began to rekindle a horrible glint of fear in me. I grew worried as I was beginning to recognize the environment and it was screaming in the back of my head that I needed to find a way out of the western forest. My fear finally melted away when Shadow stepped out from heavy mist and his eyes shining in an unrecognizable emotion. I reached out my hand to take his hand in mine but he began to back away so suddenly; my face was contorted in confusion.
"Run…" he whispered as his eyes began to fill with fear.
"What?" I replied.
I was answered by a horrific roar that erupted from the mist behind Shadow. He turned in a protective stance keeping me away from harm's way and was suddenly snatched away from my sight into the dark mist; the air was filled his agonizing screaming. Everything was happening so suddenly, I gripped my fingers at my head and screamed as a puddle of blood began to stain the snow in front of me. I pulled myself into an attempt of a run but it was useless, my feet were sunken deep into the snow and refused to budge. Tears spewed from the corners of my eyes as I continued to struggle to get out until I heard Shadow's screaming finally end and I was lunged at by a black being with hauntingly vibrant yellow eyes as I let out one last scream.
"Amy…Amy, wake up." cooed a soft voice.
I heard the soothing sweet voice I had been longing to hear for a long time. Her hands gently wiped my face with a wet cloth to wake me up and it helped; my eyes shot up to meet her silver eyes shining through the dark night. I sat up in a hurry like she would disappear and wrapped my arms around her.
"Be careful." Ella said as she put me back down on the soft snow.
I clutched my casted arm as Ella began to fill a syringe with velani and inserted it into my good arm. The pain began to reduce and I could finally speak again.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"We're almost home, we're in the eastern forest but we're almost close to the southern border." she said as she wiped the sweat from my forehead.
"Where's Shadow? What happened at Eggman's base?" I asked frantically.
"Don't worry; everything will be out in the open for you." Ella said before she began her tale.
It was dark and dreary in the shabby, broken home we took shelter in. Getting in through the shield was easy but we knew would never get out unless we had taken care of Eggman. Blaze stood watch by the windows, often feeding more flames to the weak fire we sat by and cooked our meals. Whatever we took in our travel bags was sufficient but it depended on how long this mission would take.
I sat beside Knuckles tending to his bloody knuckles; he'd punched out most of the robots we had faced along the way; Blaze's flames were useless for the robots wouldn't melt away but she was creative enough to burn down the highway to destroy a section of Eggman's army that blocked our way. Sonic and Silver were silent, most of the time thinking of a way to get in to Eggman's base. We were well aware of Eggman's plan; before we travelled to the western forest, Rouge had picked up a threat from Eggman revealing his plan to G.U.N, his plan had left everyone unprepared for the worst and the world went on global hiatus.
Sonic walked quietly towards the broken high arched window and looked at the haunting towers of Eggman's base. I don't know what was going on in his mind but he was at the beginning of the craziest idea I had ever heard from him.
"Chaos Control." he suddenly spoke.
We all turned towards Sonic, confused.
"What about it?" asked Blaze.
"We may not be able to Chaos Control our way in, but we can blast our way in to the main tower." said Sonic.
"Are you nuts! You're not going to have enough time to blast in with Silver without being detected from the outside." exclaimed Knuckles.
"Unless there was a distraction." I said.
"Don't give them any ideas, Ella! The last thing we want is two more hedgehogs dead…" yelled Knuckles.
Sonic gripped Knuckles' shoulder and Knuckles walked off towards the back room, fuming. He saw Amy as a little sister and to find out that Shadow had failed in protecting her made him snap. I wiped the fresh tears away from my eyes and began to reminisce about the love between Shadow and Amy; truly star crossed lovers. Rumor has it that they were captured and were killed before Eggman; Shadow was made to watch Amy take a bullet through her head. He was spared to live a few days but it was more than torture to live in insanity alone.
It was odd and eerie before Silver could break the silence.
"However crazy it is, it is the only way we can get into Eggman's base." said Silver.
"I can distract them by trying to burn down the guard grounds outside the towers." said Blaze.
"Me, Ella, Knuckles and Silver will get to the top of the tower and blast our way through, get the vile of Shadow's blood and the Chaos Emeralds. Blaze, when we leave retrieve everything, you need to come in and burn the inside of the main tower. When we have the Chaos Emeralds with us, me and Silver will destroy the towers and the infected city through Super Mode." Sonic instructed.
"When do you propose we attack?" I asked nervously.
"Tonight." he said determined.
Everyone dispersed to prepare for the mission while Sonic silently walked over to me and gently placed two gold rings in my hand and sweetly kissed my forehead before walking off to the back room. Our beginning and end lay in my hand.
So it was settled, we were to attack the towers at nightfall.
They straddled along in different groups to meet along the wall of the towers; I stayed with Sonic and Blaze and we were to handle the front, Knuckles and Silver took the back and we would meet at the top while Blaze worked her magic. The plan was blurred out and occurred fast. Sonic scooped me up in her arms and sped forward and Blaze took the sky encircled in a fiery aura. The wall exploded to reveal a decent to speed through and soon we running and zipping past the attacking robots surrounding us. Blaze was unrecognizable; the flames enlightened her body to look like she was a lit in a purple fire and her eyes glowed a lovely golden shade.
"Hold tight." he whispered.
It was the last glimpse I caught of her before we began to run up the tower; with Sonic's amazing speed, I wouldn't doubt us falling. The robots continue to shoot at us but none were able to reach us before Blaze pulsed out her flames and tackled them down. Everything went still and the breeze was slow and stiff; we had reached the top. I was put down to my feet and we scanned the area for Silver and Knuckles; they burst through from a glowing green bubble and finally landed beside us. Now was the moment of truth, we couldn't mess up on this mission, not when the world was in danger. Suddenly the surface began to pulse…almost like a heartbeat; the black surface began to ooze and grab on to our legs.
"Ella…" a soft voice spoke.
The visuals broke, the story still unfinished, the war diminished in my mind and we looked towards the blue figure leaning by a tree nearby.
"It's time to go home, the south has taken down its force field." said Sonic as he began to approach us.
I was helped up to legs by both of them and threw my arms around Sonic's neck.
"I'm glad you're safe." I said as I pull away.
A smile grew over his face, "Right back at you."
"I'm sure Shadow has taken everyone safely home, now it's your turn, Amy." Ella said with a smile.
I felt a soft hand slowly take mine and I turned to find Shadow's handsome face looking away from mine; I had no time to react before we were transported through a haze of rushing light. The rush had stopped and I opened my eyes to find myself in my home, alone. I was confused at first, yet able to feel the sick feeling in my stomach from Chaos Control. Thoughts spiralled in my mind in disbelief to what our past few days had been; the excitement from danger was back.
I felt my feet hit the ground and my eyes shot open to my home; I took in the comfort of being home again, the colours, smell and light. I sat down on my couch, awaiting Shadow's arrival. What would he say? But why wouldn't he look at me? It was no use wondering what had happened; I had been falling in and out of consciousness after Sonic's attack. Minutes passed, then an hour but my eyes had deceived me and I fell asleep.
"Why would you foolishly put your life on the line?" a voice whispered.
I began to stir to the voice and slowly opened my eyes to see Shadow sitting by my body; I don't remember lying down on the couch before I fell asleep. His face was serious, his eyes averted from me to the flickering fireplace.
"A life for a life." I said sleepily.
He turned his eyes to me, they held disbelief and frustration.
"Did you even think about what you were doing? He held a gun to your head, for God's sake!" he snapped.
I was hurt from his tone; I grew frustrated at his conservative attitude.
"Better me than you. Either way, Shadow, I'm not interested in being judged for my actions." I said, sternly as I got off the couch and walked away into the kitchen.
"I'm trying to do what's best for your well-being! To protect you!" he exclaimed.
"You were shackled to a wall! You couldn't protect me; I would've taken as many bullets as I could that day just to protect you!" I said.
"Do not say that, Rose..." he whispered with venom on the tip of his tongue.
"Well, that's my reality-" I said.
I was unable to finish my sentence when suddenly I felt myself take a quick yet gentle grasp around me. My eyes closed, his breath on my lips, tense muscles; Shadow held my shoulders firmly.
"I can't lose you, not again. I should have thought twice before letting you follow me into Eggman's twisted game." Shadow whispered.
I opened my eyes to see his, they were genuine. He was hurting, broken, tortured with fear; I couldn't imagine what he could have felt watching me playing the death card. The writhing anger, unbearable heartache, dying to disappear altogether or maybe the urge to murder; I began to see that I was the one torturing him. I was being so selfish to not see what he was doing to keep me alive, I slowly took his face in my hands and broke the silence.
"I'm sorry..." I whispered.
A small smile pulled a corner of his lips and he pulled me into a tender kiss to show the acceptance of my apology resting it with forgiveness and his fiery affection. His lips, like velvet, slowly brushed against mine and enveloped me in his taste, running my hands through his ebony quills. I pulled apart only to see his ruby eyes free of guilt and anger and replaced with a rejuvenated glow in them.
"How did we escape?" I whispered.
His eyes shifted away from me and pulled me back to the couch, gently running his finger through the side of my head. He began to ready himself to tell his tale.
"Don't you dare attack so smart with me! I'll kill you right here, right in front of Shadow!" yelled Eggman as he pushed the gun harder at Rose forehead.
Not a single whimper escaped her lips; she just stood there ready to take the bullet. Watching everything was stirring an odd energy through me until I could feel like I could burst. Anger and hatred ran through me as he pulled back the trigger, I began to lose myself and letting out yell, I was surrounded in a warm burst of light with a series of explosions and broke through the shackles.
My eyes zoomed around frantically searching for Rose and caught the eyes of Eggman with mine. I finally wrapped Eggman's neck around my finger and squeezed the breath out of my body; I gave a final twist releasing all the years of suffering and pain. He choked and writhed in lack of oxygen and finally stopped. My teeth and hand unclenched but all remained was the grimace on my face.
Hell will take it's time with you, Doctor.
The explosions continued and a mob of robots began to pile in through the door; Rose was nowhere to be seen for the smoke was so thick.
"Rose!" I yelled.
I felt a tight grip on my wrist and turned around to see the smoke clear to reveal Silver.
"Shadow? You're alive?" he yelled through the explosions.
"How are you-? Where are the others?" I yelled back.
"They're here! There's no time, Shadow! We have to act fast!" he yelled through the explosions.
"I have to find Amy!" I yelled back.
"The others will find her! Trust me!" he said pulling me along into the black smoke.
The smoke slowly cleared as we came closer to a dark figure and surrounding him were six glowing Chaos Emerald; Sonic's face changed to shock.
"What...?" I heard him whisper, "Shadow?"
"Okay, yes! We all thought each other were dead but we're all fine! Can we get on with it?" Silver told Sonic impatiently.
Sonic nodded and looked to me for the seventh Emerald. I pulled out a glimmering green Emerald and held it out into the smoke and it floated into place with the Emerald, enclosing the circle around us. In concentration, we began to focus on the power of the Emeralds as they began to spin faster and faster around us and burst into a white light and we were surrounded in a gold aura. Our light cleared away the black smoke and we shot up towards the sky until I suddenly was stopped by an idea.
I looked down towards the debris covered floor with the others fighting against Eggman's army and found a pink body lying unconsciously on the ground. I shot a gold bolt of energy towards Rose and her body was surrounded in a gold aura and she soon returned to her usual pink; her breathing began to stir. My attention soon turned to a large contraption attached to the ceiling and it could only be what was keeping the shield force up and shot a blast of energy at it, bursting it into debris.
'Til we meet again, Rose.
I shot back into the sky with Sonic and Silver until we were above the three towers. A green light erupted from the towers and it was signalled that Ella that transferred the others out of the towers. An electrical energy flowed through my veins and soon we were zipping around, destroying the towers. Black ooze began to melt and disintegrate in the ground leaving a metallic surface to the tower.
"We'll have to destroy the entire tower!" Sonic said.
"The civilians?" Silver asked.
"We can't help it. They'll have to understand that the soil is too contaminated with Black Doom's blood, we can't risk them getting exposed to it." I said.
Luckily, they were all evacuated in time through the underground pods. It was a shame that such an accomplished part of town would have to be destroyed. It was now or never, we concentrated all our power into complete destruction and suddenly, a bright stream of energy poured out from us and shot down at the town. I was blinded by the large eruption of white light from ground that poured out into a large doom and soon fire and smoke exploded out around us. I couldn't see a thing or hear but a painful ringing in my ear followed by a crescendo of screaming of a female's voice. I gripped at my quills and yelled out in pain as the splitting pain in head from before seared through again. Suddenly, my ears were finally welcomed with the loud eruptions of the explosions and we were safe on the ground. Without taking a last look at the town, we turned away and head off into the forest to find the others.
"When you were asleep a few moments ago, we had Tails come in to give you a check-up. Your blood was tainted with poison but luckily the velani had slowed its process of shutting down your body. That tea you took was a type of antidote that can be found from a foreign plant and whoever gave it to you was trying to save you because the needle that Eggman's robot gave you was poison, so the poison was not able to give much of an effect." I said.
Her eyes widened to what I had said and they slowly lowered down to my hands, she was emotionless. I could tell from Amy's eyes that she was uneasy about the fact that I had exterminated Eggman's life. Although she was grateful for having to see daylight again, she had never thought that Eggman would suddenly be taken away. I felt uneasy that I had extinguished the last of the Robotnik bloodline but I felt no sign of loyalty to his madness but only to Maria.
Amy struggled to begin a conversation but who could blame her? What would she have to say to whom she cared about the most that held the blood of many on his hands and it had begun again?
"Shadow, if it's killing you inside about what I think about you, well I believe that you've created a better future for the world. Without Eggman, we can finally live in peace and I don't want you to torture yourself with the idea that you are a murder. You're a completely person and Maria would be proud to see what you've done to protect everyone. You've made everyone happy and I love you." she whispered.
My ears perked up to her sweet voice that had confessed her acceptance of me that made my heart to drop. A warm feeling flowed to my cheeks and glint of happiness sparked in me as a smile grew upon her muzzle.
"Rose, all I want is the best for you and I want to protect you so I can never have the feeling like I will lose you. I want to be with you, I want to wake up beside you and remind myself how lucky I am to have someone like you. I love you with all my heart, Amy Rose and I can't live with you. Do me this one favour?" I asked.
"What is it?" she asked sweetly.
The town cathedral's bells echoed in for the New Year as a flash of memories blew through my mind. The first time we spoke on the ARK, our first sunset, our first fight, our first kiss. My heart throbbed against my ribcage; a sensation that made me caught my breath and a rush of warmness blossom on my cheeks. Looking into her curious green eyes, I felt a wonderful sense of belonging as I held her petite hands; they always fit perfectly in mine.
"Marry me." I whispered.
There you have it, folks! That is the end of story, but don't worry! There's epilogue to follow and I hope you really like it as I loved writing this story for all the Shadamy shippers! Thank you for reading my story and for the reviews! Love you~
-ivoryebonykeys