In Cosmo's Shadow
By Kellie Fay
Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Cosmo, and the others all belong to SEGA, Team Sonic, 4 Kids and other people not me.
Yay! I got one review! (waves to Kiari-Ninja) See it's not hard! Please review!
Chapter 8
Not just a Nightmare
Three hours later Rouge sat in Shadow's room quietly reading a book. She did see signs earlier that some dreams disturbed Shadow's rest, but he simply tossed a bit murmured something unintelligible and settled back down.
Suddenly without warning Shadow's eyes snapped open. Without looking or even acknowledging Rouge's presence in his home Shadow advanced on the computer with a fearsome scowl on his face that reminded Rouge of those few days on the ARK.
"Shadow? What's the matter?" Rouge asked, but Shadow walked past Rouge and angrily faced the computer and desk.
"Shadow?" Rouge called again, thinking to herself that she owed the little tree out in Tail's yard a fresh bag of fertilizer or something. Behind both of them the red Chaos Emerald began to glow indicating Shadow channeling the power.
"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow shouted, out completely destroying the computer and desk.
"Shadow!" Rouge called a third time, but clearly Shadow could not hear her. He's sleepwalking! Rouge realized, and then noted that this marked the first time Shadow became violent while sleepwalking.
Shadow moved over to where the computer used to stand, and proceeded to pound every bit of it into powder. I can't help but wonder if this doesn't have to do with the data chip that Sonic gave Shadow yesterday. When she saw the chip peeking out of the ruined desk she decided she'd better protect it. Quickly she leaped up into the air, and swooped down over the desk snatching up the little disk. Thankfully out of habit she followed proper GUN protocol, and placed the chip back in its container before storing it. It survived the destruction of the desk. With the disk in her hand she suddenly became visible to Shadow, but not in a good way. He flung another Chaos spear in her direction, only having it miss her because she still flew. She knew that on the ground she would be no match for Shadow's speed.
"Shadow, wake up, you're dreaming!" Rouge tried to call to him, but he didn't seem to register her as anything, but something he had to fight to get the chip. She managed to duck and avoid his blasts, but she wasn't going to be able to keep it up forever. Shadow managed to get her on the tip of her left wing causing her to go into a tumbling crash, into the door of Shadow's special room. A wide awake and aware Shadow wouldn't talk about the room at all. Considering that Shadow once sleepwalked into this room, and had a conversation with thin air there, Rouge didn't know how he would react to her being in this room. She tucked the data chip securely into her breast plate, and ducked under a table. Hopefully without the disk or her in his range of vision when he entered the room, his sleeping mind would lose interest.
Shadow walked into the room, that terrifying scowl still on his face. He seemed determined to hunt down anyone and anything between him and that chip. He took two steps into the room where his eyes fell onto the drinking glass with the three little star flowers inside. Suddenly Shadow scanned the whole room not seeing Rouge, but taking in certain elements of the room, like a string necklace of fresh water snail shells, several Flicky feathers arranged on the book cases, and a charcoal drawing of a chaos emerald attached to the wall nearest the bed. Suddenly the scowl was replaced by a look of utter despair, and Rouge watched the Ultimate Life Form collapse onto the floor howling with grief and anger.
"Why WHY? Why did he do that to me? Why did he make me do that?" Shadow sobbed over and over. Rouge realizing the complete change in attitude tentatively approached Shadow, and sat down on the floor to gather him up into her lap. Once she had him she began to rock, and talk softly to him while he cried out his frustration."
"Shhh shhh it's okay Shadow. Everything is all right. It's just a bad dream." Rouge crooned over and over. Eventually Shadow quieted down in her arms going back into a true sleep. With a grateful sigh, Rouge looked up at the ruined door, and saw a very ticked off blue hedgehog looking right back at her.
Shadow opened his eyes, and winced. He was in Maria's room again. Did Rouge guide him in here during the backrub? He had been sure he fell asleep in his own bed. Sitting up Shadow noticed several things wrong with the room. Several of the items he left here were out of place. It looked like a miniature whirlwind came in and blew everything around. He got out of the bed then saw the door hanging halfway off its hinges.
What the hell happened last night? Did I do that, or did I sleep through some kind of attack?"
Going out into his part of the house only made him feel worse. Where his computer once rested on a desk, only rubble remained. A few other areas had significant singe marks that could only have been made by his own Chaos Spear. At his own table Sonic the Hedgehog sat leaning on the two back legs of the chair, his feet crossed on top of his table. Shadow noticed that Sonic did not sport his trademark grin, his eyes were closed and his face serious.
"Morning Shadow," Sonic said. His tone was light, but very tired. Shadow almost wished Sonic would yell at him for whatever happened, but he knew Sonic wouldn't blame him for what he did while sleeping.
"Sonic, what happened here?" He asked. The unwanted question came out anyway. "Did I do all this?"
"'Frade so pal," Sonic said opening his eyes. "Rouge said you got up, and started to trash the computer and anything to do with that data chip I gave you."
Suddenly a panic settled in Shadow's throat. "Sonic, where is Rouge?"
"She's fine," Sonic said evenly. "I sent her up to her tree house to get some sleep. I got here just after the fireworks finished. Now he looked at Shadow directly. "You don't remember any of it, do you?"
Shadow couldn't do anything, but shake his head no.
"I'm sorry,"
That Shadow didn't expect. He looked directly at Sonic, and asked, "Why are you sorry? You didn't do any of this!" You're not the one losing his mind.
Sonic didn't look at Shadow, but he answered, "Maybe if I didn't give you the chip it wouldn't have happened. I thought I was helping."
"You didn't tell me to look at the chip," Shadow reminded him. "That was my choice." He decided not to mention that Egg-man told him looking at the chip might be a bad idea.
Sonic sighed. "I want to help you work this out Shadow, but I can't help you if you don't tell me when you're having problems. You should have told me you go sleepwalking sometimes."
Shadow frowned. "I don't want your help," he insisted, "and I don't want Rouge's help either."
Sonic deliberately looked back at the debris that used to be his computer desk. "You may not want our help Shads, but you know you need it."
"Well I don't need it now," Shadow growled. "I'm awake and I'm fine. Go do whatever it is that you do. I can take care of things myself. "
Sonic nodded, and rose from the table. "If you need anything, Shadow, just let me know." with that Sonic went to the door, and vanished.
Shadow surveyed the mess. The first thing he needed to do was repair the door to Maria's room.
The last thing he needed was a visit from Amy Rose.
Coming Soon
Chapter 9
Visitors
Shadow winced. He knew they both were right, and after attacking Rouge last night he was desperate to rationalize his actions. "You looked in there after you put me back to bed," he accused Rouge.
Rouge blushed, something Shadow never saw before. "Just a quick glance, but yeah, Shadow, who do you expect to use that room?"
The idea almost made him angry. "That room isn't for anybody but-" He couldn't' get the words out. Not that word. It wouldn't make sense to them. "I need it," he changed his words. When Sonic and Rouge looked at him puzzled he added, "Just like you need to run, and she needs jewelry. I need it." Sonic was still giving Shadow this odd look, so he decided to say, "And don't try to read my mind!"