Shadow stayed by the fountain for a while, as if leaving it would be a crime. He wanted to make the most of this rare moment of comfort and nothing was going to make him leave, unless he wanted to.

His eyelids gently closed and he wanted to picture Espio, but he couldn't. When he hears past memories, he cannot see anything. He couldn't remember what he looked like, which hurt him. Despite this though, he wanted Espio to be his reason for getting out. His purpose. The mammal even dared a smile at the thought of being hugged by another as soon as his freedom was returned to him. Whilst still sitting next to the fountain, he looked around the room. It was a lot larger than he had first thought, with two sets of stairs leading to two more doors on another landing. Magnificent eagle statues were next to the base of both stairs, while there was one door far left and another on the far right. He had four more paths, which he thought he would work through systematically. Going left first and working his way round to the right.

He rested his eyes for a little longer, still appreciating this feeling of content that he could bask in for eternity. His thoughts travelled to Espio again and gave him enough courage to get up and head to the first door, leading to Storage.

"I will meet you again."


He stared into darkness as soon as the door closed. It was ridiculously black, far darker than anywhere he had been so far and Shadow didn't like it. It didn't seem right, as if this kind of darkness just wasn't supposed to happen. A lit candle in the centre with a lighter next to it provided him with a temporary destination, but he knew he would have to be extra careful. With his eyesight next to useless, he would have to rely heavily on his hearing.

He lit a torch on the wall behind him and went into a now visible door on his left. It led to a smaller room with many shelves for tools and lighters. After picking up three of them, Shadow noticed the end to a drill. He saw it as a potential weapon, assuming he could find something to attach it to, and took it with him.

*Growl*

Once he picked it up, a growl he hadn't missed came from the main room. Shadow hid amongst some barrels and paid attention to the footsteps to determine how close the creature actually was. They were faint and continued to get fainter until the hedgehog couldn't hear them at all. He assumed it was just passing by and got out from his hiding place to continue.

He lit more torches as he went round and found two more paths, some steps going down and a tunnel going ahead. He decided to go down first, into the area with a sign saying 'Equipment'. It was just as dark, but at least a small window at the top of the room allowed some light to flow in.

There were several giant barrels, just like the ones in the Refinery and four more doors. He ventured into the right-most one first, only to find a lighter under a table and a note on top.

'Dad,

I have little time. You need to come to Eggman's base right away! He's captured me and I need your help! Bring Shadow with you; you're going to need him.

I am so sorry! You must be so disappointed in me! I'll never go anywhere without you again! I swear it! I just want to go home!

The address is at the bottom. Please hurry!

Charmy.'

The bottom of the note was torn off, but Shadow's jaw had already dropped. He couldn't understand. How could he have retrieved a Chaos Emerald, whatever that was, at one point just to be captured the next? Was this 'Eggman' person the one who was planning something in the previous notes he had read? The hedgehog felt angry. His nephew, although he still wasn't certain, had been captured and here he was stuck in a dark room. For now, he could only hope that Charmy made it out ok.

The second room wielded only two lighters while the third had two more, plus a piece of the drill that he had found earlier. Shadow was hesitant to pick the part up, but soon relaxed when he heard nothing outside.

Before heading to the fourth, Shadow couldn't help but notice the soothing sound of raindrops on the roof of where he was. He had never truly appreciated the simple touches that nature brought to the world and it felt as if simply being able to hear the outside was a miracle. He then went on to ponder how long he had been in here. To him, it felt like years and he wondered if he would get out at all, if there really was an escape.

The fourth room in the equipment area housed another couple of lighters and the drill's handle. He again hesitated, but picking the part up had no negative repercussions. The hedgehog then got out all three parts that he had gathered and easily combined them into a carpenter's drill.

"Not a very practical weapon…" He thought out loud. "…but it will do for now." With nowhere else to look, Shadow returned to the main area and went down the tunnel with his lantern burning brightly. Another light then took over his vision.


"This is so cool! I've never been able to hold one of these before, let alone take it home!" Footsteps echoed upon the metal surface.

"…Wait, what was that?" A female voice wondered. Something approached.

"No! Back off! Get away from her! AHH!"


"What the-?!" Shadow was instantly disturbed by what he had heard. The voice screaming was undoubtedly Charmy's and remembering the note he had read previously, he could only assume that what he heard was him being captured. A new sense of anger filled him and in turn gave him more determination to get out alive. He stormed defiantly down the tunnel until he was stopped again, this time by a rock slide that was blocking his path.

Shadow put the lantern down and used all his strength to try and move the boulders, but it was no use, they were far too big. He could see a light shining from through the rocks and knew that there was more of the storage area on the other side. But how could he get through? He wasn't strong enough on his own and he no longer had any chemicals to try and create something useful. The drill certainly wouldn't be strong enough. Shadow decided to go back to the equipment area to see if he could find anything.

He searched for a few minutes, but the only things that even vaguely stood out were two barrels, both in corners that were different from the others. They had taps on them, but they were both rusted and unusable. He saw that they were both made of wood and thought that his newly acquired drill could aid him.

Carefully, he placed the end to the wood and turned the handle until an unknown liquid began to pour out. Thankfully, he still had the chemistry pot and placed it where the liquid was landing on the dirt ground. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much of the liquid at all and the pot was only filled about half way. The hedgehog went to the other barrel and repeated the process to find that the liquid in this one was different. Shadow had no idea how this would help him nor did he know what the two liquids mixed together were capable of. Either way, he carried the pot with him as he made his way back to the rock slide. Whilst walking, a sizzle was suddenly heard and Shadow was quickly surrounded by the endless darkness.

"For crying out loud…" He whispered as his lantern had run out of oil. The mammal was forced to stop and take out his last two pots and pour them in, allowing the lantern to spark back into life.

Once there, he placed the pot next to the rocks and for some reason hoped that it would just magically remove the blockade on its own. Shadow sat on the wooden steps and placed a hand on his chin. He kicked small pebbles off of the step below him whilst he thought, but one of them knocked the pot. It was only slight and Shadow thought nothing of it until the solution began to sizzle and light up. He raised a brow at first, but his eyes shot wide when he realised what was about to happen. "Oh SHIT!" But his realisation was far too late. The blast was a lot more powerful than Shadow ever thought and the force of it slammed the hedgehog straight into the wall.

Dust from the explosion caused Shadow to cough violently, whilst a loud ringing was present in his ears. His vision was a total mess as his head also made hard contact with the wall, making him dizzy. He was forced to rest and recover from the impact, but while the ringing faded quickly, he was certain that he could hear a feminine voice crying.

"Is that the… girl from earlier?" He thought as he remembered the scream nearby the Wine Cellar and Laboratory. Shadow rubbed the side of his head to try and ease the pain, but felt blood slowly trickle down the side of his face. The mammal assumed it was just a scratch as he wanted to conserve what little Laudanum he had, in case of a larger injury. His glove wiped most of it away before he got back up and continued.

Unfortunately, the light he saw from behind the rocks was merely the light from the floor above where they had caved in. The rest of storage however, was just as pitch black as before. Shadow didn't want to use his lantern since he knew his oil supply was running low, but when the darkness was enough that he couldn't see his hand in front of his face; he knew he didn't have a choice.

He came to a smaller room with a path leading off to the left. An island in the middle had a candle on it, which Shadow lit. He didn't look around as he wanted to preserve his oil and proceeded forward, with more voices returning.


"Where are you taking me?! Let go dammit!"


As quickly as it came, it disappeared. Shadow's gut was telling him that what was about to happen to Charmy wouldn't be good and that somehow seemed to bother him. Despite his concerns, he pressed on into another room with two doors.

"Ugh! Seriously? Who keeps this here?" Shadow questioned with disgust as he opened the first door to see decomposing pig corpses hanging from the ceiling. He took a quick skim around the room only to find a lighter before leaving. The smell reminded him too much of the Wine Cellar.

As he approached the second door, he could hear the same voice weeping.

"Hello?" He asked, with his voice sounding stern. He opened the door only to be greeted by a horribly deformed human body staring back at him. Shadow's jaw dropped in horror. This was the first time he had seen the creature up close and his lantern lit up all of its unworldly features. Only one of its eyes was still in its head as the other dangled lifelessly. Its bottom jaw was unnaturally stretched and hung close to its chest with the odd tooth sticking out. The nails of both its hands were more like claws, making each hand swollen and bloody by how horribly overgrown they were. Its bare skin was also stretched and folded over itself. Shadow was certain, whether he could remember or not, that this was the most disturbing sight he had ever seen… and now it had seen him. It began walking oddly towards him as Shadow slammed the door in its face. He glanced around the room, wondering where to hide. His safest bet was back in the pig room. Dirt was kicked up by how fast he ran and he slammed the door behind him and hid amongst some barrels in the opposite corner to the dead pigs.

All of his attention was now focused on the door as he heard the creature break out and start to roam. Each step got steadily louder and Shadow was certain that it was about to break through his door and find him. He mentally prepared himself, but listened intently when he heard the footsteps gradually get further and further away. Once they were gone completely, Shadow tried to sit down, but yelped when he sat on something weird. He turned the lantern back on and looked to see a pot of oil.

"Oh…" Was all he could say as he tried to fight back his embarrassment. Once he saw that the area was clear, he made haste towards some more wooden steps at the other end of the room.


"No! Get off of me! AH! HELP! SOMEBODY! AHH!"


Shadow gasped at the sounds he had heard. Charmy wasn't just screaming for escape, he was also getting brutally beaten up by whoever had captured him.

"The poor little guy…" Shadow trembled. No one should have to go through something like that. He dragged himself up the stairs, feeling hopeless being unable to save him.

He was quickly startled when a fire lit up in front of him and he heard a chilling scream from Charmy echo through his ears. He fell to his knees and covered his head in despair and felt an overwhelming sense of loss. Was Charmy dead? Shadow couldn't be sure, but he knew this feeling was all too real. He had felt this before. He gently placed his hands on the ground and looked up at the flame. A sudden wetness felt cold upon his face. His hand made contact with it and his red eyes widened when he realised that he was crying.

Shadow was unfamiliar with this feeling. He could tell that he didn't cry much or simply wouldn't allow himself to for fear of seeming weak. It was relief, yet he could still feel the despair at the same time. It was nothing short of odd.

"I… have to keep going." He thought to try and keep up his morale. "If Charmy is still alive, then I have to get out of here and find him." With that, he got back to his feet and went through the door to his right. It was a cramped room with only a couple of shelves, but there were three things on them that caught Shadow's attention. One was a note and the other two were strange, rod-shaped items. One was glowing blue and the other, red.

The note explained how the rods, and a third in a study room, helped to power an elevator. He had no idea what elevator the note was describing at this point, but he assumed it was somewhere in the Back Hall. He took the note and picked up both rods before heading for the door. Just as he was about to open it…

*Growl*

…a growl was heard from outside. His instinct was getting used to the pattern by now, turn the lantern off and crouch. He backed away from the door and found a heavy crate to hide behind. It was safe to say that he wasn't moving anywhere for a little while.

Every second seemed to irritate Shadow further. He must have been sat here for a good five minutes and even considered taking a nap just to pass the time. His patience soon wore out and he headed for the door. He was about to swing it open, about to not care if anyone was there or not, until he heard footsteps getting louder. Shadow removed his hand from the handle and backed off. He stood still for several seconds until the creature began knocking the door down. Without saying anything, Shadow dove back behind the crate and remained silent. The door was down in a few hits and the creature limped in without a care. It would growl and sniff every now and then, but despite its intimidating nature, it didn't seem all that intelligent. It only took a few steps into the room before giving up and leaving. Shadow was completely baffled, was this the thing that had been after him the whole time? Was this the one that had scared him? Shadow chuckled under his breath at the thought.

"You are kidding me." He said under his breath with a clear grin. The situation seemed amusing to him now.

After climbing out of his hiding spot for the second time, Shadow easily made it back to the rock slide. There were no creatures, visions or anything… which only made the hedgehog more nervous. He knew how his luck ran by now and was sure to keep his guard up. Nearing the rock slide, another roar, which was louder this time, came from above. It sounded as if it was about to crash down upon him. Shivers ran through his body and he was worried that its cries would attract others. Once he reached the stairs leading back up to the main room…

*Growl*

…another growl came from the corridor in front of him. Knowing what to do, he went back to the lit candle and hid behind some barrels in the corner until the creature left. Whilst he waited, he found a small chest behind the barrels with two more lighters and another bottle of Laudanum.

"How many of these things do I have now?" He wondered as he looked at the lighter in his hand. After a minute or two, Shadow decided that it was safe to move ahead. He tried turning the lantern back on, but it wouldn't work. Shadow had only one pot of oil on him, which he was forced to put into the lantern. The mammal needed to be very careful now as he was nearly out of oil altogether. His luck decided to have mercy on him as no more creatures showed up, thus allowing him to return to the Back Hall.