Travis's pov:

Not even half a second after the phone rang, my father and mother's hammering footsteps came treading through the entrance of the living room. The television remote slipped through my fingers as I turned in direction of the blinking, chiming gadget, while Emma looked up from her crayons on the coffee table. Her eyes were drooped and slightly dazed as she slowly tightened her index finger around a lavender tinted wax.

"I got it, I got it!" my dad declared hastily, prying the phone off the receiver, cutting it short of another ring and pressed it against his reddened ear. My mother cooed to herself quietly and leaned against his shoulder, moving closer so she could catch a listen as well. Her navy eyes closed while inhaling a bumpy breath.

"Please be good news...Oh please be something that's good news..." Mom whispered to herself, right as Dad greeted the person whom had called as a fresh sheen started dribbling down his features.

The voice on the other end came out in a gurgled murmur through the speaker that distance seemed to magnify. It sounded male, and a little rugged and compressed. The only people who could understand it were my parents, while Emma and I watched them carefully and waited for their expressions to shift into something of either utter joy or total despair.

Just like us, they were waiting to hear that new information on Rachel's whereabouts had been uncovered. Somewhere in the mixture of emotions, a churning spark of hope for her return still spun rapidly. We hadn't given up. Not yet. Not on our lives.

After a while, Mom and Dad's eagerness began to physically deplete. The brightness in their eyes dimmed away, and worry lines carved back onto their faces. Me and Emma exchanged a worn glance and turned back to our activities, overhearing a few sure's and okay's from their direction without a second wandering thought.

Then Dad called me.

"Hey, Travis," he said calmly.

I flickered my eyes from the monotone pixels on the television screen and faced my father curiously. He was wavering the phone in my direction.

"It's your grandfather. You know, Grandpa Abraham?" he said, as if expecting me to have forgotten him. "He wants to speak with you."

Emma quickly whisked her head around to peer at the three of us, silently assuming that there was something I knew that she didn't, and now my grandfather wanted to discuss the topic without including her. But when she saw that my parents were equally weary, and both slightly uncaring of the scenario altogether, her eyebrows dropped and she went back to working at her drawing again. It was a scrabbly picture of Saturn in outer space. The stars were substituted with purple flowers, and the absent darkness of space itself had been replaced by a rich shade of magenta.

Despite my confusion, I calmly accepted the phone from my father and held it up to my own eardrum, a little cautious of the voice I would hear on the other end of the line. I knew it was my grandpa, but I didn't know what exactly to expect from him, or how much delirium I needed prepare for. It'd been forever since we'd spoken.

So when I heard how completely at ease he was, my muscles strangely tensed up.

"Travis," he said quickly, not allowing me time to even fit in a hello. His voice, while not completely over the top with happiness, was bathed in an unusual warmth and cheeriness, like warm cinnamon.

"Say, how're you doing sport-o?"

For a second I was flat out stunned. My mind blanked out while my lips hung apart. I could feel my parents watching me from behind.

"I-I'm doing... just fine?" I said as my forehead creased.

There was an airy chuckle on the other end. "Well good," grandpa replied. "I'm glad to hear. Anyways, I'm sorry if I've disturbed you. I just wanted to ask you a question if you don't mind."

"Oh yeah? What's that?" I asked a little less than interested. I also couldn't help but be slightly put off by his bubbly upfront.

He cleared his throat before continuing. "I was just wondering, how would you and Emma like to spend the upcoming weekend at my house with me?"

And then an uncomfortable pause.

"Uhh...is there a reason why you would want us to?" was the only thing I could come up with.

Another laugh.

"Ah, I understand how out-of-the-blue it is. But it's only because I don't believe we've spent much time together, besides, well..." he cleared his throat for the second time, "We've only been together during all these bad times. You know, during the countless problems that we grown-ups are dealing with."

I couldn't control my hostility. Through the sweet, candy-coatedness, I knew exactly what he was referring to.

"How are they the grown-up's problems, Grandpa, if my sister is involved, if not root of it all, and she's only sixteen? Because last time I checked, sixteen is definitely not a grown-up."

"Travis," my mom whispered, ending in a small, barely there whimper. She was still heavily emotional when anything associating with Rachel was mentioned.

"Please...just behave."

"Behave?" I retorted almost instantly. "Behave? I'm only saying what's true!"

Emma lifted her eyes again, her crayon freezing halfway across Saturn's ring. She twitched her blonde eyelashes in bewilderment.

"No, you're misunderstanding. Calm down, son," my grandpa coaxed over the phone.

But I was too far along on my rampage, too irate to slow the pace of my fury that I was practically deaf to any sort of pleading that came my way.

"No! Why should I! How is any of this your problem? It's my sister's problem. Not yours, not mine, not anyone's, but her problem! If there's any problem happening here with us, it's that you're not trying harder to find her and instead want to call me to have a dumb little chat!"

"Travis."

It was only my name, but the way my father said it came out like a scolding. My fingers tightened around the cool metal of the phone, and I took a deep breath, suddenly realizing how angry I'd become.

"See," my grandfather said. "This is why I think you should spend a weekend with me. Since you seem to think that this is being done out of laziness or selfishness, I get the feeling you don't even remember me all that well. We haven't done something like this in months anyways, right? Hung out together, just us three? Besides it's only for Saturday and Sunday. I know you kids have school now during the week, and the last thing I want is to come in the way of your studies."

I shook my head to myself. "Ah, so that means you've given up, right? You're not looking for her anymore, and that's why you're inviting us over."

His warm tone chilled. "Of course I haven't given up. You know I would never do that. Even if it took...if it took the rest of my life, I would never call off the search. My duty as Commander of G.U.N., and more importantly as a grandfather, is to bring your sister home no matter what it takes. You know that, Travis. You do."

He softened again.

"And as strange as it may sound, this is why I want to spend a weekend with you two. Despite everything...and everyone who's focused on bringing Rachel home, I haven't forgotten the rest of my family. I still love you both and want to spend time with you while I still can. Just in case something happens and I can't be around you anymore, I want to cherish every day I have with you both. You're the only grandchildren I have in the world, and until the third is back in our arms, we should hold onto our relations tighter than we ever have before."

I could hear the ache in his voice. He had my heart in the palm of his hand.

"O-Okay..." I said before he could go on. My brain had turned to dough, and I couldn't even remember what I was mad about.

"I understand. I get it. If Mom and Dad say it's okay, then we'll go."

My eyes darted down to meet those of my twin's, and I gave a simple nod.

"Emma, you need to go pack an overnight bag. We're spending the weekend at Grandpa's. Okay?"

She smiled back, tossing her crayons to the side and beaming like a shiny new penny.

"Okay."

I turned sideways, only to be met by my parents' clownish grins. My gaze became a pair of slits. They seemed so happy...so disgustingly proud of this. I didn't get it at all. Maybe everyone was right, and I was too young to understand some things.

My grandpa never said another word, but I knew he was smiling too. Maybe that's why he'd gone silent.

And for the first time in months, I decided to loosen up a little, drop my defenses and soften like the crusted remains of a certain creamy blue frosting.

I closed my eyes...and forced a little smile.

Rachel's pov:

My heart was pumping quicker than the little trinket thoughts in my head could process. I raised the lamp and took another swing at Shadow, a snarl burning its way out my throat. He jumped back in time so that the end of the lamp barely managed to brush by his chin. Knowing that I was unsuccessful yet again made my blood boil a million degrees hotter, and my animalistic growls turned into shrieks of rage.

Shadow looked a little disoriented, but that didn't stop him from continuing to provoke me.

"What's the matter?" he asked, dodging another slanted blow as I watched him carefully, with a strand of hair messily concealing my right eye.

"You can't even hit what's right in front of you?"

Instead of swinging this time, my glare turned hard as steel, with frustration nearly oozing out through my pores. Just as Shadow finished his sentence, I turned and landed a kick right in his stomach, a little ways away from where he'd been wounded not too long ago. His red eyes turned dull as he went stumbling towards the corner of the room, deeply exhaling.

To my annoyance he recovered almost instantly, which I was stupid not to have expected in the first place. The hedgehog gave no indication of having been attacked as he rocked his head to the side and looked up.

But lucky for him, his defenses kicked in right in the nick of time. Both black and crimson streaked arms leapt up to grab the lamp right as I prepared to slam it down and bludgeon him on top of the head. His fingers wound around an area that was directly beneath my own. Our wrists barely came into prickling contact. I struggled to press the light further into his face, almost attempting to smother him with the hot circuit.

Both our arms were shaking as our strength canceled out and kept the lamp stuck in a quivering balance between us. The bright lighting danced off Shadow's features, highlighting certain parts of his face that made the contrasting values deepen into a terrifying scowl.

"I never thought I'd have this kind of trouble fighting you off," he admitted slyly, some minor mockery coursing through his voice. He managed to push the lamp a little bit closer to me. My eyes squinted tighter and I tried to revert it back, but once again it wouldn't budge.

"You still won't win," he continued, laughing under his breath. "You're no match for me! Never have been and never will!"

I myself almost chuckled out loud. Whether that statement was meant to have a double meaning or not, I found myself bouncing brows at the irony.

Shadow finally released his grip and let me keep the lamp. Perhaps it was done out of pity. Perhaps it was because he wanted to continue fighting and knew that while he had the power of Chaos harnessed inside his framework, all I had some pathetic little lamp. Either way, I didn't complain. I selfishly pulled it back just as he moved away. A trickle of sweat laced down the side of my face as I dipped my chin down, locking wild eyes with his, and readied myself like a bull that skids its back legs across dirt right before a dash.

In my heart, something about the way my organs were deteriorating with these unknown fires, and the way my mind was moving at a superhuman rate, instinctively told me that all this power was giving me my last buzz of energy. After that, I could fizzle out and possibly die from the overworking energy.

I knew it wasn't impossible, because there was no way this was natural. I was so nauseated and dizzy, with pain splitting through every limb. But I couldn't sit still and allow these rocketing molecules to settle. They willed me to move, despite that I felt like I could drop dead to the cold floor at any second. And for some reason, I was too blindsided by the rage and anger to be bothered. In fact, the only thing it did was motivate me more to kill Shadow the Hedgehog once and for all, finishing what my grandfather started and should've been finished generations ago. And maybe then I would finally feel a sense of accomplishment.

Shadow froze where he was, staring at me intently and awaiting my next move. His determined gaze, combined with his totally still body threw me off all at once. But I knew better than to not take advantage of the moment.

"No match, huh? You really think so!" I yelled, hoisting the lamp back behind me as my hair bristled past my ears and filtered the sound waves. I swung it forward with full force.

But instead of the object coming into contact with his face, he raised one hand and caught the lamp with an open palm, pushing it to the side.

"Yes, I do."

My fury grew thick and hot. I chewed the inside of my lip to keep the desire of exploding and going on a murderous rampage at bay. Eventually I sank my teeth down so hard that I could taste coppery blood, and felt the substance beading underneath my tongue.

He suddenly became more savage and tore the lamp across from him, sending it colliding into the wall, and since I had it in a death grip, I was helplessly yanked along with it. The light bulb cracked open upon impact with the surface, with triangular glass shards flying past my hand, and for a moment the light glowed more intensely from the exposed wire. But then it hissed and went black. We were left in almost complete darkness.

I could still make out the jagged lines of Shadow's form. He was switching between looking at me, the lamp, and then back towards me. And then he shook his head slowly and sighed through his nose.

Even though time had seemingly paused, I still yearned to destroy the sorry excuse for an Ultimate Life Form as he stood there radiating his disappointment. I found myself pulling away from him, bringing the lamp with me and jutting it out like a knife, using the leftover shards of glass that still clung to the outlet as my weapon.

Shadow jumped away with a huff of dissaproval.

"I should've known."

I still held the lamp up as I glared at him curiously.

"Should've known what?" I demanded.

"That Eggman would be wrong about what he said earlier."

I didn't move an inch. There were practically visible question marks dancing around me. Shadow noted my confusion, but seemed intent on not giving me any valid answers.

"I see now that you're fine. There's nothing actually wrong with you. You're just having another episode of yours, but that's gone on too long for it to be considered unordinary. I had no reason to come back here and expect you to be dying. Eggman's whole theory about what happened because of the kiss was entirely wrong."

My eyebrows slowly rose at his mentioning of it.

"You know as well as I do that there's no point in fighting me like this," he concluded, his voice soft but eyes still fierce. "If you're going to turn nothing into something then go ahead, create as many issues for yourself as you please. Even though a fight would be interesting, again, there's absolutely no point. What we've done so far is enough. I know you're tired, and if you keep going you'll only end up getting yourself hurt."

My lip quivered for a moment, and I was hoping to God he wasn't programmed to see in the dark so he could witness how shamefully mad I was. Oddly enough, I couldn't help but agree with him. This was pointless, and I myself never desired a fight to begin with. This seemed like the perfect time to take a deep breath and calm down. Even I knew that I was taking this and turning it into something way over the top.

But I couldn't stop or slow down now. I simply couldn't. I still felt the need to move, to attack, to kill. And before I could stop myself, I started to drive the remains of the lamp back towards him as my teeth clenched together, aiming directly for his face.

For a second he didn't move, and just watched me with a disturbingly casual gaze. I thought I was about to actually land a hit, which caused me hold back a little.

I finally have the chance to hurt him...but I know this isn't really what I wanted at all.

I staggered. Well no, of course it isn't! I mean maybe I thought that's how it was. Somewhere in the back of my mind I've only ever dreamed of smashing his face in. But I don't think I ever could. I never would...

I hit my breaking point a long time ago. So that's not what's happening now. My body wants me to do this, not me. Not my head or my heart. Inside I know that I wanted to distance myself from him. God knows how badly I wanted to keep away, not get closer. Something's wrong. Something has to be.

I don't even know how I'm supposed to end this.

Shadow must've been under the impression I was going to go through with attacking him, because next thing I knew he had a hold of me this time, instead of the lamp. He squeezed my forearm, sending endless beams of static shooting through me from the spot. I dropped the lamp, my thoughts coming to a screeching halt, and gasped in obvious discomfort.

"You're being incredibly stupid, Rachel. You know that?"

My lip trembled again, my eyelids sticking together from the lasting residue of the tears as I watched him carefully. Every indention and crevice in his scarlet hued eyes turned its focus onto me.

"You wouldn't really kill me, would you?" he asked with a small prick of empathy.

His question caught me off guard, and of course, even though I'd already thought this over myself, I was hesitant to give a straight answer out loud. How was I supposed to tell him what I was feeling? No matter what I said, he would find a way to twist my words, misinterpret them, or somehow use them against me.

But I didn't have to answer. Because another straying voice from the intercom system outside in the hall interrupted us.

"Hello? Is this thing on? Shadow the Hedgehog! Hello! Where in blazes did you go!"

It was Eggman's voice. Shadow released me and we both looked towards the closed door.

"Alright! I'm not entirely sure where you are or what's going on! I understand that you're worried about Tower and decided to pay yourself a badly timed visit, but we have no time for that now! I'll have the medical robots give her a check-up if it puts your mind to rest. As for you, you need to get back here this instant!"

He took a pause as if expecting an answer, and then breathed out, his voice soaked in agitation.

"We've currently entered the Storm Galaxy and are preparing to land on that unnamed planet. Gravity fields are strong, so we're practically being reeled in like helpless fish. I need you to be ready! Do you understand?"

My hardened gaze instantly became vacant with wonder.

Since when were we coming close to landing on another planet? I didn't even know we were inside a whole different galaxy. You can never tell from inside here.

And what does he mean unnamed?

Oh well. They need Shadow to find the last Chaos Emeralds. That means he'll leave, and that's good enough for me.

My eyes widened.

Hold on...wait a second! If that's the case...then what the hell? Why did Shadow even come here in the first place! Worried about me? What for? And why would I need medical attention?

Decoe and Bocoe must've told him and Eggman that I'd gone completely insane. Maybe that's why and I can actually wrap my head around that. But do they really think what I'm experiencing could be so bad that I needed actual help? Specifically, help from Shadow?

Before I could ask him this, or even mumble another sound for that matter, the strangest sensation latched itself onto the center of my chest, and my breathing hitched.

It was entirely foreign. It wasn't a burn, or a sting, or an ache of any sort. It was like a...tangled...electrified...itch. Almost like a bulging jumble of matter that seemed to be bubbling in place. I stopped all at once, still shaking like a lunatic intoxicated on caffeine, and looked down, tracing the tips of my fingers over the affected area.

But the moment I touched my skin, it burst inside me.

"Hyaaaah!" I squealed at the top of my lungs, arching forward as both my arms snaked around my torso in a protective front hug. It didn't even take Shadow a mere instant to fling around.

"And what seems to be the problem now?" he asked.

The floor began humming under our feet. The walls echoed off the sounds of battering winds that were brewing outside. My stomach flipped and felt weightless for a moment. It only stretched my fear and uncertainty out to its full length, since I wasn't entirely sure what was going on inside my own body, let alone outside the Carrier. I choked out a whimper, closing my eyes and trying to will away the discomfort.

When they re-opened, I heard the clop of metal shoes and knew that Shadow was beginning to step towards me. He didn't seem fazed by the noise that was surrounding us, and strangely enough appeared, more or less, confused about me.

"Hey. Why don't you stop messing around and answer me for once?" he demanded.

My mouth parted to speak.

I don't know where to start...I wanted to say...I don't know what's happening, but it's weird. Honestly, I'm a little bit scared.

Another cluster formed. This time somewhere in my rib cage.

No, I changed my mind. I'm freaking terrified.

"Agh, n-no...!" I yelped through my locked jaw, almost grabbing the area, but then I remembered what had happened previously from my touch. My hand just hovered over it and buckled in place. "No...no no no no!"

Shadow grabbed my shoulder. "You know I can't do anything if you don't tell me what's wro-"

The cluster popped.

I screamed again, ripping away from him and grabbing a hold of my mid-section as little sparks of energy strayed through me, right from where the small bundle had appeared.

It's all in your head! My mind screamed at me. It's all in your head, Rachel! Don't let it tell you what to feel or think. Don't let it convince you that you're in pain. You're letting it win. You're letting your nerves take over! Stop it! STOP!

"SHADOW! GET HERE THIS INSTANT!" Eggman yelled again from the crackled static of the speakers."THAT'S AN ORDER!"

The entire ship lunged downward, and for a second we were free-falling. I collapsed to the floor and landed on my knees, holding my weight up with shivering arms.

And then tons of little bundles formed inside me all at once.

"...Shadow! G...Get out of here! Please go!" I hissed in agony, the force of my muscles crumbling and growing weary of when these jumbles would decide to explode.

Shadow cast an eye in the direction of the door before turning back and kneeling in front of me.

"Can't you just tell me what's happening to you?"

I gritted my teeth. The clusters prickled and then burst, all at differing times. I jolted with every single one.

"Inside me..." my eyes watered, "It's inside me...I swear...Little...bits...of something...I have...no idea what..."

Shadow extended a hand towards me, but I instantly swatted it away.

"I told you to go!" I yelled.

I didn't want to be alone if I knew, or felt at least, that I was close to passing out or even dying. But I'd choose dying alone in the dark of this room rather than have Shadow here asking endless queries. He's the last person who could help me in this scenario, and I felt I knew that for a fact.

"Get out! I don't even want you in here with me!"

"SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!"

"The energy..." Shadow breathed, watching me carefully. "Chaos energy."

His metal shoes clapped against the floor once again with his steps. "It's inside of you…isn't it. Eggman wasn't wrong after all…"

I looked up, knowing my expression was no longer wishing to murder and instead switched to one that pleaded for help.

"What do you mean...energy..." I sighed out. The pain had become so overwhelming, it had me expecting to regurgitate acid.

And then I felt two hands grab both sides of my face. I groaned quietly.

In an instant, Shadow shushed me. "Listen to me. Everything will be okay if you just cooperate for once."

Before I was given a chance to respond, his thumb traced my jawline, and I winced under the electricity.

By now, my head pounded with a ricocheting ache. My stomach twisted and curdled from the inside out. More clumps formed and burst all along the interior of my body. I was feeling faint. Everything started to get darker than black.

"No!" Shadow yelled. "Don't you dare fall asleep now. I want to help you, and I can't unless you stay awake. Will you do that for me?"

My eyes fluttered.

"SHADOW!" Eggman shouted. The Carrier dropped for a few more seconds. A siren sounded outside. An alarm.

"Will you?" he repeated more urgently.

I started to grow weak. The power from before had practically ebbed into nothing, and I was left as limp as a napkin in the wind. The only thing holding me up was Shadow, his thumb now dragging down the side of my neck, past my pulse and over my collar bone. His face grew blurrier and blurrier, and I became suffocated with exhaustion.

"Since when do you care about me..." I whispered, some of my words dropping in and out of existence. I was losing the ability to speak, to see, to hear...

to breathe.

Shadow jerked me a little to wake me up. "Since the day I met you, Rachel. Isn't it painfully obvious?"

And that seemed to seep some adrenaline into me. Remembering when I met Shadow.

The alarm outside rang in correspondence with the throbbing clusters. Shadow didn't make it quite clear if he heard it too or not.

Then it went silent. All was blank for a good ten seconds.

Eggman spoke again.

"...Shadow? I think you might want to get up here now. We have company."

Again, I wasn't sure about Shadow, but I listened closer.

Company...

Eggman started to giggle. But it wasn't a happy kind of laugh. It was nervous, baffled, and incredibly disbelieving.

"Aaahahaha, and get this, it gets even better! The company comes in the form of our favorite blue headache," he chortled, ending the last words in a sing-songish voice. "Oh, and looks as though he's brought some friends along as well!"

Shadow spun around on cue.

It then sounded like the microphone was being fumbled with and bumped around. Eggman must've not realized it was still on, because as he put it away he muttered something that was barely comprehensible between the frightened giggles, but made everything ten times more real.

"Oho, this is gonna be a blood bath."

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(A/N) Hi...my lovely sparkle muffin babies. Yeah well uh, yeah. It's 8 AM :)...I haven't slept :). I stayed up all night :) I tried to sleep around 5 but couldn't so I decided to finish this chapter :)

:)

:)

:)

-_- shoot me.

Ya know with me, I write in bits and pieces and only get fragments down at a time. And that's usually why it's slower for me to update than it should be. But here, I wrote the last half of the chapter in under an hour, and revised and edited three times. I'm so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open. The birds and cicadas are singing outside. Glad to know they're well-do, because I am about to fall over. In fact, they're probably face-palming at the only female awake in the household, because she's griping about something that she chose to do on her own will.

Now I look back at my chapters where they're like "Oh yeah I stayed up til 11 PM doing this because I think I'm cool and I love you guys. Yeah, 11 PM. Totally hard in the paint."

Hah...HAHAHAHA..ha.

No.

I wonder if all the cool authors know what this level of sleep deprivation is like -.- I guess this means I just became a member of the cool author club. Eh f*** I don't even know what I'm talking about. Who am I...what am I...life...what is it. I don't know.

I'm gonna sleep and then wake up and see if this needs editing. This chapter is short for my standards, but we're still nearing the end. Anyways if you read it once, throw up your hot pocket, then come back to read and the fanfiction opera is singing, it's probably because I got some Z's in and maybe a cup of caffeine, and edited a buttload of stuff.

So I'm gonna leave now. Review. PM. Love me. Ya.

Bye~

(Edit):

Good lord. Well I kept my promise and came back to edit. Slight changes here and there, but nothing significant. I'm sorry about my loony talk up there ^ And no, I wasn't faking or over-exaggerating. That was me...straight up waffling after working on 0 hours of sleep. And yes, I am one of those people who NEEDS sleep. I wondered if I should delete the A/N above, or edit it to make me sound more...er...professional? But actually I realize it's a little look at how I get at times.

So far I've gotten...*counts reviews pretentiously*...8 reviews after the chapter has been up for only a few hours. That's a lot more than usual. If I could kiss each and every one of you I would.

Because I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school... I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy. ;-;

Heh, sorry. Long author's note is long. You can get back to your lives now.

Buh bye for the second time :)