Aftermath: Part 1

Shadow's escape-capsule hurtled through space towards Earth. It fell from the Ark at an incredible speed as the Space Colony Ark grew smaller and smaller. Shadow's mind felt blank other than the feeling of absolute hopelessness and he stared at the ARK fleeting from his sight.

Shadow winced as the capsule penetrated the atmosphere and picked up speed with fire burning around it. Shadow was on his knees, clutching at the floor of the capsule and clenching his teeth at the overpowering force and heat of the speed he was falling. He fell into blue skies and soon there were clouds rushing by the glass of the capsule.

Seeing land below him, he thought he would crash into the Earth, but then a parachute popped out of the top of the capsule and his speed slowed to a floating rate. The escape-pod floated down with the large parachute above an expanse of green fields and it touched down in the middle of a large field of corn. A few stalks were crushed as it landed sideways in the field and the parachute fell all spread out over the escape-pod.

Lying on his back in the sideways capsule, Shadow breathed heavily from the descent from space with the parachute blocking his view.

Then the door of the escape pod flung open and pushed the parachute up like a tent over it. Shadow scrambled to his feet as the door opened, and pushing the parachute aside, he emerged into the air of the Earth for the first time. Shadow climbed on top of the escape pod and stood tall on it to look around him.

Shadow gazed in awe at the luscious green of the thriving stalks of corn all around him and standing on the escape pod, he could see even beyond the fields of corn to the pretty rolling hills and tall majestic trees scattered among them. He looked up at the sky and saw the plush white clouds in the pale blue, where he couldn't even see the normal black of space he was used to. Then a breeze blew by, ruffling the stalks of corn, and Shadow breathed in the clean, crisp Earth air.

Shadow reached out in front of him and plucked off a large leaf from one of the stalks of corn. He rubbed it between his fingers, enjoying its strange texture, but then he crushed it in his hands and threw it on the ground. He sat on top of the escape pod in exhaustion and anger and buried his face in his hands as Maria crossed his thoughts.

Maria…she was dead. Shadow was finally to Earth, but it was without Maria. They were supposed to share this moment together and experience the wonders of Earth at each other's side, but Maria was dead.

Shadow tilted his head back to look up at the sky, wanting to see the Space Colony ARK in the sky, but all he saw was blue. He gazed up at the sky where Maria was with a terrible longing for her.

Shadow jerked his head around when he heard a noise. Behind him way at the end of the corn field stood a farmer who had just stepped off his small red tractor. The old man stared at Shadow with bewilderment in his straw hat and overalls, but as soon as Shadow saw him, he dashed away. Shadow zoomed through the corn field of corn in a flash and left the stalks trembling as he skated toward the green fields. He skated away over and down rolling hills and meadows in a streak of orange heading nowhere.

Shadow just ran and ran with thoughts of Maria chasing him down. How could G.U.N do this? How could G.U.N. kill Maria like this and kill everyone else and destroy the ARK? It wasn't fair. Shadow's eyes were tearing up and they flew past his cheeks as he ran. How could life go on without Maria? She was the happiness to all on the ARK, and she didn't deserve to die. Shadow kept running over the hills as if he wanted to just run away from his worries.

The scenes in the Space Colony ARK replayed in his mind. The images of the hall as he ran towards the escape pods, the G.U.N soldier with his gun pointed toward Maria, and Maria lying on the floor with blood on her shoulder flashed in his eyes. Her voice rang in his ears, "Sayonara, Shadow the hedgehog," and he could see her falling to the ground when she had finally died. It was all just too much to take and Shadow finally slowed down and stopped on top of a hill, falling to his knees next to a lonesome tree.

Maria's death was just too stressful for Shadow to stay on his feet. He looked up grievingly at the small wide oak tree with its large leaves not far from the ground. Shadow imagined himself sitting under that tree with Maria, both of them admiring its beautiful leaves, and climbing onto the outstretched branches, smiling, together.

Shadow closed his eyes in pain and hung his head down over his knees. He didn't want to look at the tree. He was supposed to be looking at it with Maria. She wanted to see the nature; this was what she had wanted. Shadow clenched his fists. If Maria couldn't see the tree, then no one could!

Shadow leaped to his feet and shouted in anger. He ran to the tree and with the strength of his rage he punched the trunk with his fist, cracking the bark with a splintering blast. He threw his fist at the trunk again and the tree roared as the trunk split and began to topple. With shaking branches, it fell backwards and hit the grass in a crackling boom.

Shadow looked down upon the fallen tree with his fists still clenched, feeling like its existence wasn't worth it if its sight couldn't be given to Maria. He felt as if it was the tree's fault that Maria couldn't see it.

Then, beyond the fallen tree, Shadow saw civilization. Nearest to him were spread-out rows of homes in a wide expansion, each with a green yard and a traditional homely look with shutters and plank sidings. The homes became more dense as they went towards the heart of the town beyond, where there were an array of buildings ranging from brick to concrete and tall to wide. Shadow saw cars drive to and fro among the buildings and in the nearer homes, he saw the humans. They were outside, walking along the road or playing in the yards or watering the plants.

Shadow's fists tightened harder as he saw them. He realized as he lay eyes on them that it wasn't Professor Robotnik's fault that Maria died, it wasn't Shadow's fault, and it wasn't the tree's fault either; it was the people of the Earth's fault. The soldier who shot Maria was from Earth and it was because of him and G.U.N. that Maria was dead. Shadow's rage grew more intense. His pain was from the cruelty of the humans from Earth and all of them must be evil and wicked. They were the ones who killed everyone on the ARK and Shadow would take revenge on Earth. They took away everything from him and he would take everything away from them. They killed Maria and he would kill them. He must destroy all!