Hey guys I'm just giving you a bit of a warning- I try to never write from a Cannon Character's point of view because it is so hard to really imagine what the character is thinking (Especially with Shadow)

I had been getting a lot of questions about why Shadow is so protective over Allie- and I didn't want to answer that straight foreward- so without further ado here's a look inside the ultimate life-form's confusing mind…

::Shadow's point of view::

I had always had a very high tolerance to temperature change but I could tell by Allie's paling skin and her occasional shivers that it was cold outside.

"What will you do if I'm dead?" her voice petite and despondent.

The silence and pressure to answer her dreadful question was strong enough to almost waver my solemn expression.

I took a minute to process the thought.

What would I do? I was unsure on my reaction to this possible outcome. This whole thing was risky- taking any mobian possibly capable of protecting her out of range just to find an emerald. Of course the possible figment of her death could be a result to my altogether idea.

A small flash of a memory played for a partial second...

Maria's hand that grew cold gripped the lever. I pounded relentlessly on the glass- how I wanted to trade places with her... she had so much more to live for; the professor was so close to a cure... A small jolt rocked the tube and time slowed as my adrenaline rushed- a soldier's gun brushing up into the back of her golden hair, a flash of shimmering blue life caught my eyes as they connected to her large sapphire orbs.

I barely heard the noise of the gunshot over the deaf tone ring in my skull. My mouth roared open and my chest pained just as I saw the life fade from her eyes. Then the gravity changed and I was slung into the top of the pod as it blasted into the world below me...

I thought of what I would do.

I know that if she where to die- it would be my fault.

The guilt would definantly have an effect… To what the effect would be?

... I did not know.

I tried to push the entire entity of the idea out of my head and stood. "Whatever I need to." My voice remained flat, I took a simple pace away almost lost in thought again but she had jumped to her feet and taken ahold of my arm.

I looked down to see my inhibitor ring on her wrist; and her energy was unstable-another negative factor.

Another factor that was my fault...

"What do you mean by that?" Her voice slithered through the air and clouded my mind.

What did I mean by that?

What was the need I would have to do? What would be the lengths I would go through just because I have to? Would I kill someone?

It was most likely that I would... But she was just a human- was she worth killing over? Wasting the energy? Wasting the time?

I was hesitant to answer due to the cascading flow of questions that shredded my focus.

Maria's eyes blended into my mind again. I tried to think of how She and this girl where similar... I couldn't find any sort of connections. Physically and psychologically they seemed parallel... Maria was calm and pristine- like an angel.

Pure...

But this girl... The one in front of me... Her hair was a chestnut brown angled cut- the longest pieces grazing her collar bones and the shortest in the back swept over her first visible bump from her vertebrae. Her skin was pale from lack of sunlight and her eyes where dark...

Her eyes used to be a plain hazel brown-green mix before becoming tainted with Chaos energy...

My chaos energy.

Even before the energy's spark she was sporadic and quick to anger. We had fought and argued far more than too many times to even like each other on an acquaintance level. She was horribly stubborn and tended to not think before throwing herself at death.

She was a moron.

But yet I found myself saving her more often than I would for most people. Was it the fact she called for me even if I was nowhere near? Was it the fact that she, for some reason, trusted a weaponized life form over the Hero?

Maybe it was the fact that even after all that had happened she had risked herself so I could retrieve my rings- even though I had purposely removed them. I barely remember the fog of her scramble to find the keys to my energy- then ordering me to never remove them again; exclaiming that I would have died had she not been around to help...

She had risked herself so I could live.

Then I wondered:

Would I do the same?

I looked up to her with this last idea.

Would I die for her to live?

The extremity of the question finally gave me back a voice, bringing me back to the cold pre-afternoon concrete behind her high school.

"I don't know. But I am hoping to not have to learn…" my voice felt distant.

She looked down to me, obviously lost in her own thought. My answers where obscure spoken aloud and vague- she most likely wondered what I would do if her life was to be at risk.

A small pain reached the middle of my forehead and a void replaced the feeling in my stomach.

I held back a shiver.

Maybe I should stay and let the others go... I retraced from the thought.

"It's time for me to go." I forced the sentence out in monotone. She released my arm and there was numbness to my hands.

"Yea… me too…" She stepped back a bit and tried to give a re-assuring smile "Good luck."

Even behind that encouragement she gave me the tension in the air was enough for me to know she was terrified...

I didn't know what to think about that.

Should I say something?

With a nod to her I held the chaos emerald and thought the command.

A part of me didn't want to say anything.

A parallel part wanted to say everything.

But what was everything?

As I disappeared into a swirling light I could see her smile fall- then my surroundings had been replaced.

I was alone at the rendezvous point in the forest.

I was alone with my thoughts...

I stared up at the sky that was a grey sheen from the looming clouds.

This "Washington" place was dreary and in no way help my current state of confusion.

Then that damn question presented itself front and center:

Would I die for her to live?

What possible variables could lead to the ultimate life form dyeing for an insignificant human? But was she really so insignificant? Was it her stubbornness that could so easily be confused with vigor?

The pain in my forehead snapped me back to reality. I hated having so many questions to ask myself. My fists clenched and I let out a solid breath.

It would just be three days...

I regained my normal composure of a scowl, waiting for the Faker, Pink and the Echidna to arrive.

"Hey shadow! How'd the talk with the lady go?" the Faker skidded to a stop in the small clearing.

I stared at him blankly.

Before this mess I already could barely tolerate him. But due to his more recent incompetence to do anything properly I was on the verge of being completely intolerable.

And his choice of words wasn't helping...

"It went fine." I snarled.

Knuckles was next to appear- he certainly wasn't bright, but he was the most tolerable out of the Faker's bunch besides Rouge.

"Alright let's get this show on the road." Knuckles cracked his fists.

"Wait!" a very high pitched voice cracked against my ears and I cringed.

"Shadow I think someone should stay back and keep an eye on the girls!" Amy jogged up to the small triangular formation we had.

I stared at her for a moment. Would she be strong enough to protect them then I remembered the fight against her and the faker.

She would have to do.

We needed Knuckles for his skill at honing into chaos energy sources- of course I was just as capable but having him and myself was going to cover more ground and this trip would take less time.

As much as I hated to admit it- The Faker is a help to this mission. He may not be able to feel the energy but his speed will allow him to cover more ground. At that point I decided Amy had a decent idea.

"I agree." I grumbled "the less of you around to annoy me the better."

She perked up a bit more "Wonderful! Now if you'd be so kind as to chaos control me to her house." She walked over to stand by me with an attempt to slink her arm around mine.

I quickly yanked away. She put her hands on her hips "I have to have contact with you while you teleport- Shadow, don't be such a dummy!"

"I am well aware of how my abilities work. I am also well aware that her house is two and a half blocks away and that your legs function." I ground out.

"How rude! Making a lady walk!" she pouted with a stamp to her foot.

"Then have the Faker take you there. I am not a chauffeur."

"You should really learn some manners!" Amy's growing voice was cut off by Sonic's "look Ames we need to go so I'll walk you back, how's that sound?"

"Sounds like a gentleman is speaking." She huffed and walked with him out of the clearing just before he scooped her up and dashed off.

I turned to Knuckles who caught my cold aura and flash of wonder of how these next few days may go by.

"Shona's nervous too." his voice was low. He had taken a guardian role over one of Allie's best friends in this whole debacle of realities.

I nodded in agreement "Allie's no more than paranoid as always..." I honestly had no reason not to trust him nor dislike him.

"Didn't go well did it?" He asked.

I unwrapped my crossed arms and rubbed at the pain in my forehead with two fingers "Not very, no." my voice a sigh. My headache was defiantly stress related as well as going to be an issue.

"How's her energy?"

"Unstable... Her anxiety won't help either." I returned my hands to my sides in clenched fists.

Knuckles opened his mouth to speak but stopped at the return of the Faker.

"All right let's do it to it!"

I cringed at the saying he had been using for god knows how long. He was so damn annoying.

Without another word spoken I shot south of our current location- retracing my path from my first encounter with Mephiles in this realm.

As I skated my mind drifted off into the wind.

How had that demon managed to get free again? Sonic, Silver and I had sealed him and Solaris away...

God damn this whole situation was irritating… Why did I have to be involved in this? With these annoyances… with that girl…

With a snarl I returned to the present and banked left as I skated through the Oregon country side. I slowed a bit to look at my location, a small buzz under my skin from the chaos energy in close proximity.

I pulled my emerald out from my fur and stared down into its' jade glow. I closed my eyes and embraced the power of the gem in my palm, allowing myself to let the connection of energy lead me in the direction of the other emerald.

Behind my closed lids my environment re-appeared in faint glowing wisps. I focused on the other energy of the emerald and a red glowing trail snaked away from my position.

I opened my eyes and walked along the trail of energy, the buzz starting to grow stronger.

"Hey, Shadow! I think it's over here!" I heard Knuckles ahead of me, halfway out of the ground. I nodded and kept pace on my path, the buzz was starting to prickle my fur like static electricity.

He disappeared back into his hole and tunneled away.

I picked up my pace, wanting to find the emerald first, and closed my eyes again for a moment to look at the trail of red energy.

This hunt for the emerald was going by much faster than I had imagined, and I had a feeling in my gut that churned- this was too easy…

I came into a clearing and stopped dead in my tracks.

In the midst of the clearing sat the red chaos emerald… and nothing else… there only noise was my breathing and the small cold wind.

Something was terribly wrong…

So there's part one! Sorry the answer for why he protects her isn't so obvious but I plan to answer that better in the second part to this chapter! It's all part of the master plan…

Ok anyway:

::Question for the Chapter::

Based on what you've read so far- how do you think Shadow feels about her? Why does he protect her? Trust? Guilt? Maybe even something else?

Let me know what you think!

~FurrReal