(RACHEL'S POV)

But it was too late.

All hell broke loose.

A loud horn blared throughout the entire city, sounding off an alarm. Once it reached my ears, I gasped loudly and whipped my head around to survey our surroundings. All the lights on every building simultaneously went out. Tragaria was now completely pitch black. The sound of the citizens laughing and chattering transcended into bloodcurdling screams. Men were shouting, women were wailing, and even what sounded like babies were letting out pained cries. Suddenly, the strobe lights on our building flashed back to life, except now the previously white light had become blood red, like the lights of an intrusion. They all turned sharply and shined their light on me, Shadow, and the Chaos Emerald.

We had unleashed the ultimate nightmare on the city of dreams. Darkness. That must've been what the Chaos Emerald was being powered for. To light up the entire city. Because without it, Tragaria was dead. I was almost guilty that I'd been involved in this whole ordeal. I played a part in the downfall of an innocent world that was practically bursting with its own unique beauty and tranquility before we arrived. We had brought it into hopeless misery. But I didn't have time to show my sincerity. The only lights in the city, and possibly on the entire planet were on us for everyone to see. It wouldn't be long before someone showed up to arrest, attack, or even kill us for what we'd done. We needed to get out of here!

"Shadow," I stated urgently to get Shadow's attention, facing him as my hands started to quiver. I saw that even he looked stunned by the effect of taking the Chaos Emerald out of the console on this building. The Emerald still showed off its rich cerulean beauty. He curled his fingers around it tightly and growled, extending his hand out towards me to grip my sleeve.

Once he got a hold of me, he held the Chaos Emerald above his head.

"Let's go!" he shouted. "Chaos...Ahh!"

I gasped and watched in horror as the crimon-striped hedgehog stiffened and arched forward, shouting out in shock and pain as he shook violently. It appeared that an unknown energy was taking him over. His body thrashed itself to the ground, causing him to release me and land on his stomach as he squeezed his eyes shut. He slowly twitched and tried to regain control of himself, keeping the Chaos Emerald protected underneath him. I felt my heart begin hammering against my chest.

"Shadow!" I screamed. Worry and fear captivated every feature on my face. If he was hurt, then there was no hope for either of us. We wouldn't be able to escape if he was unable to warp us away using Chaos Control. But what exactly happened to him?

I then looked up and saw one of the armored guards from before looming over him, holding his weapon in a strange stance. I had almost completely forgotten about the guards. I then noticed the blue sparks dancing at the tip of his weapon, and realized that the worst had happened. He electrocuded Shadow.

The guard was accompanied by several other guards that stood on either side of him. They were no longer looking at him, and now had their sheilded eyes plastered on me. I was too scared to move, too scared to speak. I remained frozen in place. The guard that had struck Shadow with his electric taser thing, stepped over the now nearly unconcious hedgehog and viciously stalked over to me.

He made a low growl that came from the pit of his stomach. My fear managed to reach my feet and I started to back away. I came to the frightening realization that I was trapped between the guard and the edge of this building. And I could feel the edge coming closer and closer.

The guard hastily raised his weapon up again, preparing to strike me. He held down the trigger, so that more sparks were emitted from it. They crackled and popped, swirling around each other in a chaotic frenzy, ready to launch their petrifying energy on the nearest person. And low and behold, that nearest person was me.

"Say goodbye..." an eerie voice whispered from underneath the armor. I paused and took a moment to absorb the new outrageous fact that I learned about this planet. The inhabitants here could speak English. How that was possible, I had no earthy idea. I then let his words sink in, and concluded that this was it. I was done for. I looked down over my shoulder and saw the empty nothingness of this groundless city directly beneath me. The edge was right underneath my heel. To fall into this empty, perpetual void and be swallowed by darkness, was like all my worst nightmares come true. But there was no escape. Even if Shadow could help me, I had a feeling he wouldn't. He had the Emerald, so he would escape while he could and leave me to die on a planet that wasn't even my own. My body would never be found. I would dissapear without a trace.

A warm tear slid down my cheek. I love you Mom, Dad, Grandpa, Emma, and Travis. I'll miss all my friends. I'll miss Station Square. I'll miss the rare, precious moments of seeing Sonic the Hedgehog run around the city. I'll miss the warm Earth air on my face. I'll miss being me. A normal, happy, innocent sixteen year old girl named Rachel Tower.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that this happened. Sorry that I made you worry for me, all because I was stupid enough to let myself get kidnapped. I was stupid enough to make myself a part of a situation that I was never meant to be involved in. I'm sorry that you never got the chance to see me again. Just know that I love you, and that you'll always be in my heart.

All I wanted to do now was wrap my arms around my family, and feel the warmth of their embrace envelop me. I wanted to hear their familiar voices laughing, and to hear my own laugh, all melted together. I watched the past events of my short-lived life flash before my eyes as I waited for the pain to come.

Goodbye.

(SHADOW'S POV)

I picked my head up slowly, groaning in agony. I'd been electrocuded before, no doubt. It was usually never even enough to slow me down. But this, this was something unimaginably worse. My whole body felt like it was filling with needles. My heart was burning in white hot pain, and my blood was on fire. It felt like I was paralyzed. If I made even the smallest movement, the needles turned into sharp knives. It was agonizing.

After my eyes lifted, I looked ahead of me only to find that my vision was blurred. After it shifted into focus, I saw a girl standing at the edge of the building, with her arms curled against her chest fearfully, and her head bowed down. I then saw the same guard who had attacked me was raising his readied weapon in her direction, and my eyes shot open fully. That girl...it was Rachel.

Even though I could hardly think straight, I knew one thing for sure. I would not let these people hurt Rachel. And that was clearly about to happen. Hmph, not if I could help it.

I didn't know what it was, but just like the first time I encountered her, I felt the strange need to protect her. I ignored the stabbing pain filling my body and buckled my legs straight. I picked myself up quickly before the guards behind me could react, jumping forward at the guard. I summoned all my Chaos power as my mouth inverted into a vengeful scowl.

It's payback time.

(RACHEL'S POV)

"Chaos Spear!" I heard Shadow yell.

I opened my eyes and looked up quickly, just in time to see raw, yellow darts of energy shoot through the guard like arrows. He groaned loudly and dropped his weapon. The sparks nearly grazed me as they fell. The guard then slumped forward and tumbled off the building's cliff, flipping sideways as his unconcious body descended into the darkness. I watched the gruesome sight as my hair blew around me until he was no longer visible, and felt the images branding themselves into my memories. That had definitely scarred me for life.

I flung back around and gaped at Shadow the Hedgehog. He spun into a ball and drilled himself into all of the other guards until they were down. He moved quickly in a black and red blur, before stopping and landing on his feet. His eyes shot back towards me, and he suddenly sprinted at me. My heart dropped. For a moment, I thought he was going to attack me too. I flinched away uncertainly and mentally prepared myself for the blow. But my confusion was further extended when I heard him jump, and felt the tingling sensation of his touch as his arms pushed me forward then wrapped around me. I gasped and tried to step back.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

I instantly lost my balance and stepped off the edge. As soon as the gravity started to pull me down, it was like my heart and stomach simultaneously did five thousand flips for each dragging second. I let out a loud, broken scream as we both plummeted downwards head-first into the unforgiving black abyss. My arms unintentionally flew forward and tightened around the hedgehog's body. For the second time tonight, I waited for the end to come.

(SHADOW'S POV)

I took in a deep breath the moment Rachel and I began to fall. She screamed over my shoulder, and I felt my heart skip a beat as she actually brought her arms around me and clutched me tighter to her. I smirked to myself, but quickly let it drop and resumed my serious attitude, intently focusing my mind on a new location so we could warp.

"Chaos Control!"

As soon as the white light swallowed the both of us, I strengthened my grip of Rachel's weak figure. I couldn't tell what I was holding on tighter to: the Chaos Emerald, or her. But I didn't care. Right now, I didn't plan on losing either of them. My only intention was to get back to the Egg Carrier and leave this planet behind forever.

As soon as the light faded, I found that me and Rachel were still falling in the same position, but now it was above the buildings rather than below them. It was hard to see through the dark, so I based all the energy I had left solely on my instincts, leaving it up to them to guide us back. I flipped around so that we were falling in an upright stance, and transferred Rachel's legs into my hand so that I was carrying her. I let the Emerald slide into her lap, and she quickly latched one hand onto it, while bringing the other around me neck.

As the buildings neared, I positioned my feet and landed among the railings, jumping and grinding across them as I made my way out of the city.

We were finally out of harm's way.

(RACHEL'S POV)

It was unbelievable. Incredible. Indescribable. No...all those words were understatements. But flying around these buildings with Shadow as he carried me in his arms was like something out of a superhero movie. Even though Shadow was supposedly the bad guy. But still, I couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort around him now. I expected him to leave me here to die. But he saved me...since when did he have a heart?

Time seemed to be going in slow motion as Shadow whisked around with me through the buildings like Spiderman without his webs. He did several jumps, dashes, and even grinded through the rails of the buildings like it was nothing. However, despite how proffesional he appeared, it was very evident on his face that he was pushing himself to make it through. I silently willed him to keep going, while holding the Chaos Emerald protectively in my lap to prevent it from falling.

"SHADOW! RACHEL!" A gruff voice hollered from above us. We both extended our necks toward the star-peppered skies and saw Eggman flying overhead in his hovercraft. He did a rushed wave in our direction.

I breathed in nervously, forcing myself to speak back to him. "Eggman!" I called up to him, my voice hitching from the jolting feeling in my stomach. "Did you meet the Ambassador?"

He grinned and pushed his glasses over his nose with one finger. "Indeed! Although he wasn't too thrilled about the whole city losing its power and whatnot, and somehow found out that I was connected to the event. So on that note, I decided to get out of there!"

He paused and studied the blue Chaos Emerald in my hand, then gave an appreciative nod. "Good work, you two! Now let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Shadow continued pelting himself like a ricocheting bullet through the city until we finally made it out. I turned back around and looked behind us, watching the black city slowly fade from view. It was depressing to remember how beautiful it was before we got here. And now, we had drained it of its light, and left all of its inhabitants behind to fend for themselves in the darkness. This Chaos Emerald better be worth all the trouble it's caused.

The Egg Carrier slowly came into view. It was parked on top of an isolated hill in the middle of various, cascading ravines. I never thought I would be so happy to see anything even slightly associated with Eggman. But the Egg Carrier was my way out of here, so I was desperate to get on and get off this planet.

Shadow tightened his fingers around my leg and brought me closer. At first, I was uncomfortable from the closeness, but quickly adjusted and got over it. The main door on the Egg Carrier opened and fell before us, allowing us entry. Bokkun was flying around near the doorway, gesturing for us to hurry and get in with his arm. "Hurry! Hurry!"

Shadow seemed to increase his speed and jumped through the door, landing roughly on the metal floor inside the Egg Carrier. Eggman trailed behind and eventually made it inside as well. After we were all in, the door slid back down and sealed itself, leaving us all panting heavily with relief.

Eggman hovered off in his hovercraft to go park it in its original spot. Once he was gone, Shadow gently pulled his arms out from underneath from me. I stumbled as soon as my feet touched the ground, swaying a bit as a small feeling of motion sickness washed over me. It felt weird to be standing still again. My body had begun getting used to the fast movements.

Before I could think any longer, Shadow snatched the Chaos Emerald out of my hands, bringing my attention back to the world. He slowly started to walk off. My eyes scanned his body as the space between us grew wider. Without thinking, I pursed my lips and held out my hand.

"Wait! Hold on, Shadow," I called to him urgently. My voice was still shaking slightly. It was a little embarassing to hear in my own voice how evident it was that I was new to all this.

The hedgehog stopped and turned his head back around slightly to look at me. He didn't say anything, so I took that as an indicator to go on.

"T-Thank you...for saving me..." I said almost bitterly. I really was more grateful than I expressed, but it was hard to describe what I was feeling. It was like all my emotions were racing each other to see which one got to my brain first. It was out of my nature to be so cold towards someone that had gone out of his way to rescue me. But, I couldn't help but look at Shadow and instantly remember all the reasons why I hated him. Do I hate him? Still? My conscience was split into two voices that were shouting different things at me. One was telling me to actually give Shadow a chance and let him show that maybe he's changed over the course of these sixteen years. But then, I mentally scolded at myself. How dare I give a murderer a chance? I'd rather listen to the wiser and more sensible other voice, insisting that I never leave myself open to Shadow the Hedgehog. No matter what happens.

Back in reality, Shadow lifted a surpised eyebrow and chuckled darkly to himself. "This is what, the second time I've saved your life? You really owe me for all the trouble you've caused, you worthless, annoying girl," he spat.

My eyes widened at his hostility. I clenced my teeth and frowned. "Excuse me? I owe you nothing, you arrogant, senseless hedgehog! Can't you just accept the thank you and move on like a normal person?" I yelled, turning on my heel and stomping off in the opposite direction. "Alright, that's it. I've had enough insanity for one day. Bokkun! Show me where my room is!" I demanded towards the little hovering mutant.

Bokkun sighed and flew in front of me, grumbling to himself. "I swear, there's something weird going on between you two," he said.

He then whisked around and gave me an angry look. "And by the way, where exactly is my thank you? Because I haven't heard it yet! Has anyone here thought to thank me for opening the door? You guys wouldn't have been able to get in if it weren't for me! And you all think I'm good for nothing... I get no recognition in this family and I'm sick of it!"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Uh, family? What family?" I asked in disbelief. "I have a family, some infinite number of lightyears away. If you expect me to treat you like I treat them you can forget it! Because this isn't anything even remotely close to a family! I've had just about enough of everyone here on this damn ship! If this is what getting one Chaos Emerald is like, there's no way I'm going to go out and help look for more! I'm not cut out for this! I'm freaking sixteen, I'm a human, I don't have any abilities! I'm...I'm..."

"Weak."

I stopped dead in my tracks, finally reaching my boiling point. I looked over my shoulder angrily to glare at my least favorite hedgehog in the entire universe. I was sick of him calling me weak, telling me who I was and what was wrong with me. But before I could start an argument with him, I saw that he was gone. The space where he once stood was empty. I rolled my eyes and continued walking, letting Bokkun guide the way. Figures. He would say something rude and then dissapear. Coward.

Bokkun stared down at the ground, seemingly thinking to himself. He then looked at me curiously. "Hey. You know what they say about a boy and a girl who can't stand each other and hate each other's guts? They start out that way, but then they always end up falling in love with each other. That's how it's supposed to work. Although I can't see you two ever liking each other at all. But still, can't you just get along and quit fighting like brother and sister? You both have such a dumb rivalry."

I felt my cheeks flush. Me? And Shadow? Together? That's wrong on so many levels! Right when I was about to retort, Bokkun stopped me and gestured towards the door.

"Here's your dang room. B-12. Now get your crazy butt in there and prepare for take off!" he commanded before buzzing off.

I growled and stepped inside, allowing the door to shut. After standing there silently for a few seconds, I broke down inside and ran over to the bed, burying my face into it. I wept uncontrollably.

I was sick of crying. I was sick of feeling sorry for myself. But today was such an overwhelming day. And once again, the only thing I yearned for was to be home with my family.

But instead of pitying myself by thinking about them and how I might never see them again, I closed my eyes and relived the moments that I experienced with Shadow. The way he carried me through the city, never even coming close to dropping me. Maybe Bokkun was right. I should drop some of the grudges I held for him and give him a chance.

It was a crazy idea, but it was worth a shot.

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(Me speaking) Alright now we're finally getting down to the nitty gritty. Next chapter will be the break chapter, but that doesn't mean nothing will happen :)

But then again, let's freeze and take a moment to decide if this story should really continue. Should I keep writing, or just give up and move on? I have other stories I'd like to write, but I've already grown attached to this one. I'll keep writing chapters, but I don't have to post them on here. It's up to you. The fate of this fanfiction is in your hands!

Jk, I just need one person to tell me that they want me to continue and I'll be happy. So thanks for reading and take care!