Shadow climbed through a ceiling window of the GUN base near central city and dropped down to the floor almost silently. The sky had grown dark and the only thing lighting up the abandoned room was the weak glow of a LED light on a computer hard drive. The ultimate life form heard the fans of this large data base computer and guessed that it was still on. He felt about for the space bar on the large keyboard, pressed it and waited for the screen to turn on. He had access to GUN's data base. All the information he would need was meant to be there. He clicked on the search bar and typed in 'Project SHADOW.'
Of course, when the results came up and his file was found, he was blocked out by the need of a password, but Shadow knew it so there wasn't a problem.
M-A-R-I-A
Several files popped up. There was Gerald's journal, stats, event lists, even photos. The events went all of the way to near present day. Project SHADOW wasn't hidden from the world in this time line… but 'Mephiles' was. As Shadow read on further and further in the event list, he felt sicker and sicker. Mephiles had changed the world so much… and he'd made Shadow's life much more of a misery than he could have ever anticipated. Images of his new past flashed through his mind as he read about what happened when he left the ARK fifty years ago to go back to the present. Only this time, the images were complete memories. Some visual and sound was fragmented as his mind held imperfect versions of what happened, but the hedgehog had the data to back up his flash backs.
The ultimate life form, who was known to everyone else as 'Mephiles', was taken captive by GUN after the incident in Maria's bedroom. Shadow's emotions turned to fear as he was marched through the corridors with five guns pointed at his back. When they came to pass Maria's bedroom on their way to the exit. Mephiles, who everyone believed to be the real Shadow, was standing outside of the bedroom with Maria and the Professor. Shadow remembered himself trying to get to Maria but had a gun pushed against his head, so he was prevented from doing so.
"Maria! Professor! Why are they doing this to me? What did I do?" Shadow said, looking at both of them pleadingly, unable to move any closer to them at the risk of getting blown to pieces by dozens of bullets. Maria turned away from Shadow, who she believed was the monster, while the real monster looked at Shadow smugly. The hedgehog was filled with more fear… but with a hint of anger this time. "You Faker! What have you done!?"
To avoid any more fights, Shadow was moved along with a few nudges and threats.
Shadow began to cry as he remembered crying in his past while he was taken away. So young and innocent… he didn't want to hurt anyone, but everyone wanted to hurt him. The ultimate life form fell forward, having to pull himself up by grabbing onto the edge of the counter. His head was in agony again as he realised a change in his past. The hedgehog was locked away on Prison Island with the same cryo chamber but this time labelled as Mephiles.
Maria… Professor… why did you let this happen to me? Shadow remembered thinking as he was frozen in the capsule, not to be seen again for fifty years. I'll teach that Faker a lesson. Just give me those emeralds and I'll teach him for meddling with me… haha, maybe even punish those fools for believing him too.
Shadow shook his head to fight the pain and changes in memory. His feelings were changing also; he was angry at everyone else for believing Mephiles, which included Maria. He became deathly afraid of what he could have possibly done to Maria and the others as his revenge. He thought of Maria, and instead of feeling sorrow or undying love… he felt anger. She betrayed him. Shadow stopped Mephiles from hurting her and in return he got rejected. Why did this have to happen to him?
There was more info on the so called 'Project Shadow'. Mephiles had done well to fool everyone into believing that he was the real Project Shadow. DNA testing could have confirmed that the imprisoned being was, in fact, Shadow, and the shady character wasn't. But, Mephiles told the professor that he was definitely the real Shadow. His conscience and shape was kept when the so called 'shape shifter' spat Shadow's soul out of his own body. In the process of becoming a shadow of his former self, 'Shadow' gained the ability to tap into the Chaos Emerald's power and become one himself, hence the crystal form. And everyone believed his lies.
Project SHADOW was continued and GUN left the Professor and the ARK alone. 'Shadow' proved himself to be innocent and on the military's side. With some training, 'Shadow' was accepted into GUN. Eight years after the Mephiles incident, Maria was cured of her illness and given immortality and agelessness. Gerald could have given her this gift a lot earlier, but he didn't want her to be a child forever so kept her alive with a separate treatment until she was old enough. When Maria was cured, she could finally go to Earth. Gerald continued his research on the ARK until he died five years later. He was missed, but 'Shadow' and Maria continued to enjoy their lives living together.
Mephiles knew all about this timeline, so was able to help GUN prevent all kinds of disasters. The faker was seen as a hero. He met Sonic shortly after Eggman's attacks on South and Angel Island. With the help of Sonic, the demon managed to stop Chaos' attacks before it became perfect. The world had gone through a lot less anguish with Mephiles around. Shadow felt useless. Everyone was better off without him. But how was he freed? What happened?
The hedgehog looked up information on 'Mephiles' and found that shortly after the Chaos incident, Eggman discovered it was imprisoned and released to take over the world.
Shadow grabbed his head again and fell to the floor. He grit his teeth to hold back the screams of agony. He couldn't make a sound or he would get caught infiltrating the base. New memories filled his mind, new emotions existed along with old ones. Shadow's mind was filled with memories from two lives. The hedgehog didn't forget his old life, the one he had before Mephiles changed the past. Instead, he knew two different timelines, and it hurt like hell because Shadow refused to forget his true destiny. The hedgehog could have given in and become this new identity but he wouldn't let it happen. He needed to change the timeline back to the way it should have been and stop Mephiles from ruining his life even further.
Recollections of battles with Sonic, Mephiles and GUN flooded the hedgehog's head. Feelings of anger, hate and rejection took over his conflicted heart. Feelings of envy and jealousy for Mephiles made Shadow's blood boil. Shadow did as he was told to by Eggman because they both had the same motive, to get rid of 'Shadow.' Shadow let everyone call him Mephiles, it wasn't like they would let him back into their lives after all of this time. The faker had taken over and there was nothing he could do about it. The ARK was out of bounds, so the Eclipse cannon wasn't used in this timeline because it was guarded and surrounded by the many scientists that still used the Space Colony. Instead, Shadow just used his lust for revenge on the world as fuel for causing mass destruction, but he didn't get very far. Mephiles could travel in time so, acting as 'Shadow.', he took down this foul creature before more than a fence was destroyed.
The real Shadow was frustrated, angry and simply distraught that he was treated this way. Not only was he betrayed, he couldn't even express his anger. To make matters worse, Sonic and Co arrived to create more problems for the real Shadow. It would be impossible to redeem himself or get his revenge by then. So, he took his beating and left. To avoid going back to Prison Island, the ultimate life form went into hiding, while his imposter lived the life Shadow had always wanted, the life he was supposed to have!
But GUN was looking for him ever since, so had Sonic and his friends. 'Mephiles' was feared by them all and everyone was desperate to get him locked up before he tried to kill anyone else. The so called demon tried to destroy Maria… he tried to cause devastation to the world. And little did they know, the real Mephiles, the one they were really looking for, was working with them the whole time. And they were too ignorant to see that.
Shadow banged his fist on the keyboard in a fury, he gritted his teeth in an attempt to hold back a scream of rage. Then, he heard many loud footsteps. His presence had been detected. The hedgehog looked up to the open window and jumped up to it. The hedgehog grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself up. Out in the darkness, he was unseen, so he made his way to somewhere safe.
He reached a forest on the outskirts of Station Square at sunrise and sat down against one of the trees. Remembering all of the injustice he'd suffered, Shadow banged his fist on the grass beside him. This only fuelled his rage even more. He hit smashed the ground with his fist again, then again, clenching his teeth in fury as he did. Then he turned around and hit the tree behind him. His fist went straight through the thick bark; splinters and chips flew in all directions. If Shadow's eyes weren't shut tightly while he hit the tree, he would have gotten many splinters in them. The hedgehog didn't care, though, he continued to punch, kick and smash up the trees around him, imagining that they were all Mephiles and the ones who betrayed him. He grunted and roared as he causes more and more damage to the forest.
Sonic, Rouge, Maria. They all hated him. All of them. And it hurt Shadow deeply. It hurt him right in a chest. A lump formed in his throat as he gave one last weakened punch. His fist hardly hit the tree before he fell to his hands knees while shaking and breathing erratically. The ultimate life form, the one who always triumphed in the end, the one who was always stoic and hard to upset… was crying. The hedgehog curled up into a ball and sobbed. He felt pathetic… but no one could see him so he thought he might as well let it all out. Until...
"You asked me what I could possibly do to you," came the gloating voice of Mephiles. "How is this for you, hedgehog?"
Shadow revealed his face from his knees and looked up at Mephiles furiously. The demon saw the moisture around the hedgehog's eyes and laughed to taunt him.
"I've done it. I've finally cracked you, hedgehog. You cannot possibly solve this problem," Mephiles gloated. "And it's not even over yet…"
Shadow gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, getting ready for whatever Mephiles had planned for him. The demon waited for a reply from the hedgehog, but Shadow didn't say anything.
"Your friends have decided to come and look for you in order to kill or capture you. You can run all you like, hedgehog, but resistance is futile. I'm a part of the search party, and I always know where you are. You don't stand a chance against us."
"So… taking my friends from me wasn't enough… you have to have them try to kill me too?" Shadow said in disgust. "Hmph, go ahead. I couldn't care less what you do to me anymore… it's not like I can save myself anyway… I'm probably better off dead."
"But it's not you who will be dead, hedgehog…" Mephiles said and let out a maniacal cackle. Shadow gasped and looked up at Mephiles in shock; the hedgehog felt his whole body freeze when he heard this. The suffering wasn't over for Shadow yet. The hedgehog cringed as Mephiles engulfed them both in a semi-transparent sphere which teleported them to another location.
Lucy Labrador