We´re just missing this chapter and one more to go! ENJOY! Inspiration taken from the song "Already Over" by RED.

Darkness Shall Thrive

-Chapter 9: Already Over-

Sonic got out of the destroyed pillar and appeared next to Shadow being followed by a cloud of dust. He was hurt. His gloves were all ripped off and he had a lot of bruises that covered his body. He had an angry smirk expressed in his face, looking straight up to Mephiles, who was in front of Iblis, preparing their next attack.

Sonic noticed that Silver was gone and that Shadow was raging. He didn´t even bother in asking how was him after the collapse. Sonic´s skin started to feel cold as he hugged himself trying not to faint. He closed his eyes strongly and deliberately started spin dashing. He attacked at Mephiles and pushed him to the ground. Shadow quickly responded by throwing three Chaos Spears to Iblis, making it roar. He took one of the Chaos Emeralds, but Iblis´ fireballs made him lose it throwing it to the air and following to the ground.

It quickly grabbed the emerald and followed Mephiles, which stood up and launched a purple energy ball to Sonic and crashed with Shadow. Both got back to his feet and sent a heavy punch at Iblis. It let go of the emerald and got back to Shadow´s hands again.

There were thunders heard from the distance. The rain heavily fell on them making everyone wet. The dense air busted through the group, pushing them a little. Mephiles noticed how Iblis was slowly "melting" because of the drops of water touching its fire body. With this known, he had to fuse with it, and fast. He turned to Sonic and Shadow which were in bad shape. As he focused on the Chaos Emerald the black hedgehog held, he yelled secretly to Iblis:

"Distract them!"

As said, the fire monster slapped both hedgehogs with its lava tail. Sonic attacked back and hit one of its eye. In return, Iblis tried to step on him, but he was too slow for the little hedgehog. When Shadow stood up, Mephiles took advantage of the situation and sent a spiky spear towards him.

Shadow gasped. He looked at his body being crossed by the spear… He felt how it painfully slowly went out when Mephiles return it to his hand. Shadow fell to his knees. He put his hand in the wound as blood came out, and fell to the ground in agaony. He dropped the Chaos Emerald and fainted. Sonic turned just to see his buddy in the wet ground. He dashed through Iblis and leaned down next to Shadow. He held his hand and started calling for him:

"Shad…? Shadow?! SHADOW!"

Mephiles sneaked behind him and took the emerald. He levitated and made the Chaos Emeralds surround him. Iblis transformed into a fire river also surrounding Mephiles. They both began to fuse with each other with the help of the seven miracle gems until they transformed into Solaris, the Sun God. Shining like the sun, Solaris floated away from the hedgehogs and went towards the sky, disappearing in the middle of the clouds, above the storm.

Sonic moved Shadow slowly still calling out for his partner. He began to worry when Shadow woke up coughing. He looked at Sonic, which was crying of either happiness or sadness to see him okay, and smiled. Shadow put his hand in Sonic´s face and asked:

"Why are you crying, faker?"

Sonic grabbed his hand and smiled too, still crying. Shadow´s hand dropped to his body, protecting his wound. The left side of Sonic´s face was now covered with blood. He kneeled and still held his friend´s other hand.

The rain was mixed with the blood and dripped down their bodies, as the sound of the drops of water was the only thing that was heard, aside from Shadow´s gasps, still fighting for his life.

"So-Sonic… You have… to stop Mephiles…" Shadow yelped.

"But, I can´t leave you alone!" Sonic shouted to him expressing how worried he was. "And I can´t fight without you, you´re my best friend!"

Shadow tried to not acknowledge the fact of being alone with the blue hedgehog. He started to feel weaker. Was he really about to die? Had Mephiles reached the ultimate life form´s limit? Was it even possible for him to vanish just like that?

The black hedgehog´s sight was blurry now. He almost didn´t recognize Sonic anymore. He stated relieving all the good times he had experienced. He now was sure that this was the end.

But… there were voices in his head that started confusing him. They were speaking all at the same time that Shadow couldn´t understand any of them. He shut his eyes as he was warped into a black wallpaper, and the voices were clearer now, still talking at the same time. It was not until Shadow felt a warm sensation in his stomach that the voices declared at the same time:

"YOU MUST LIVE!"

The Chaos Emeralds suddenly appeared in the environment and started approaching to the hedgehogs willing to help. They started to shine brightly and started to spin around the pair. Sonic looked how the emeralds were determined on helping them. He stood up and helped Shadow to do so, who had received a small amount to energy to regain consciousness. They both nodded at each other and closed their eyes. When they opened them, the hedgehogs were in their Super form. Sonic´s and Shadow´s wounds were all gone thanks to the power of the emeralds and faster than a blink, they both dashed towards where Solaris was headed, at the top of the world, in the heaven of clouds. In the background, there were thunders roaring with fierce as the storm rushed through Wild Canyon. The rain fell even stronger now.

With the hope they had left, Shadow and Sonic encountered Solaris for the final battle.

Shadow smiled as he found Terios trying to suffocate him, holding his neck with all his might.

"I already told you, Terios… I´m not the bad guy here." Shadow said as his voice got smaller. Terios threw him down. He smirked and laughed:

"Do you really think I still want to kill you?"

Shadow looked at him confused. He stood up as Terios extended his hand. He backed down as the other insisted in shaking hands. Finally, they both did. Terios smiled and said:

"I know that I might disappear, because this future is not going to happen. And soon, all of this will be over, so I´ll try to make everything right until then."

Silver clapped his hands sarcastically as he entered the tunnel slowly.

"Bravo, bravo. Terios found his place in the world."

"Shut up, silver boy."

"Silver?! What happened?" Shadow asked approaching to the new comer.

Silver closed his eyes and said:

"I don´t know. Mephiles teleported me back here. All depends now in Sonic and your present self. If this ends soon, I just wanted to say that I´ll wait for you."

Shadow nodded. "We´ll finally meet up."

"What do you want to do now?" Silver asked to Terios. He crossed his arms and didn´t replied. "I mean… you aren´t with Mephiles anymore, right?"

"No, my plan is to stay with you until this is over."

The three hedgehogs exited the tunnel and jumped into the tallest building of the city. They waited there for the beginning of a new future. Silver talked to Terios and Shadow just stood in the edge of the roof, staring at the burning city. He looked up and stared into the empty, red sky. He sighed and said to himself:

"I will try to find my place in this world. I´ll do whatever it takes, and I´ll do my best, because I haven´t found my place in the present, at least yet. With all this, I figured out that everyone should enjoy their lives as long as they live. And as long as Sonic´s alive, I am going to tell him every day, that he´s the best thing that has happened to me. A real friend… that changed my life forever."

Sonic and Shadow put themselves right beside Solaris and started attacking him. Shadow threw as many Chaos Spears as he could and Sonic home attacked at its body, making it more vulnerable. In the battle, both could hear Mephiles trying to distract them:

"You´re never going to make it!"

"The world must be very disappointed of you two."

"Behold how I bring to this world the darkness it deserves!"

"Join me, Shadow…"

Sonic stopped attacking and turned to Shadow, which listened carefully:

"Let us teach this world a lesson and rewrite the future."

"Don´t try to deceive me." Shadow exclaimed.

"What?"

"You have no desire for revenge. You only crave destruction. Your only lust is to destroy the world, until there is nothing left."

Mephiles took a deep breath.

"It´s a pity, Shadow the Hedgehog. Truly a shame that you wish to go against me once again!"

Solaris transformed into its second phase. It extended its "metallic winds" and roared, making the sky shake as the violent storm kept going underneath them. Sonic and Shadow joined and started to spin dash. They both hit Solaris over and over again in loops. They took turns to punch the creature. It was exhausting for the hedgehogs, and Solaris hadn´t taken any damage at all. It fired an energy blast, making the blue hedgehog lose his balance. Solaris through a meteor at him, making Sonic a bit unconscious. Shadow dashed through the core, this time making a bit of damage to the monster. It now fire nine lasers being sent towards Shadow, which dodged them all.

"We´re not getting anywhere!" Shadow exclaimed.

Solaris threw his lasers again and hit Shadow, sending him flying in circles. He stopped moving and took a deep breath.

"You must realize now that you cannot hope to stop me with your limited power."

Shadow looked up to him. "So you say…"

"It´s futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?"

Shadow grabbed his wrists. "If the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have!"

Sonic approached to him and saw how the black hedgehog removed his inhibitor rings. One by one they fell down and landed seconds later in the dirt. He nodded to Sonic and blasted out energy out of his body. Both said:

"The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…"

They dashed to Solaris and exclaimed:

"Chaos… Control!"

The time stopped and both dashed through Solaris´ core, spinning faster and faster for it to destroy itself. Shadow screamed in victory:

"IT´S OVER, MEPHILES!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And Solaris was being defeated. It fell from the sky and before making contact with the ground, it exploded, disappearing forever.

Shadow closed his eyes and his Super form was gone. He began to fell slowly, as if the Chaos Control was still working on him. Suddenly, Shadow felt a hand wrapping his wrist… Sonic´s hand.

"Yeah… I´m not letting that happen again."

He descended and put the black hedeghog on the ground and transformed into normal Sonic. Shadow put on his inhibitor rings and gently smiled back to Sonic. The blue hedgehog gave him a thumbs up.

The rain stopped and the gray clouds faded away. The sunset shone brightly and the sand started to dry. The cool wind arrived and our heroes could finally rest.

This was a pain to write that I literally cried... Review? :3