A gentle wind drifted over his fur, carrying with it a fragrance sharp with pine and petrichor. It was a spring breeze, akin to a warm embrace and not at all like the chilling winds he had grown to expect as the weeks grew colder and colder.

Shadow opened his eyes. Though the air was warm, dark gray clouds loomed overhead. He was alone, out in the middle of a rolling field standing elevated upon a stone slat. The breeze skimmed along the surface of the pasture, swaying the grass like waves on the ocean.

The castle was nowhere to be seen.

Shadow turned his head, expecting to find it to his back. But there was nothing, only miles and miles of empty grasslands. A rustling caught Shadow's ear, and he returned his gaze forward.

Someone was standing out in the field before him now, having seemingly materialized from thin air. Or perhaps, somehow, Shadow had just not noticed him before.

It was a hedgehog, fur bright blue with downturned spines shifting in the wind. Grasshoppers cascaded in his wake as he parted through the grasses, and soon, he was standing just below Shadow.

He had a kind expression on his face, and he carried with him the smell of rain and the earth. His eyes were closed, one hand tucked behind his back. The other, he extended out, presenting an open palm up to Shadow. It was a chivalrous gesture, and one so unexpected that although Shadow was only a short hop away from the ground, the thought had not crossed his mind. Before he even realized what he was doing, Shadow had raised his hand from his side and placed it onto the stranger's.

Fingers wrapped around him, supporting his weight as he stepped down from the stone. Shadow now in front of him, the hedgehog slowly lifted his eyelids, revealing a set of brilliant green irises.

At last, Shadow's senses caught up to him, and he jerked his hand away. The stranger let out a small chuckle, curling the now empty hand and retracting it to join the one behind his back. He twirled on a heel and took a few lackadaisical steps back toward the way he came.

For several heartbeats, Shadow simply watched the stranger. He opened his mouth, intent to say something though he did not know what.

But before any words could escape his lips, an intense wind blasted across the field. Through slitted eyes, Shadow could see that the stranger had turned back to face him, eyes intense and full of amusement.

He mouthed something, but his words were drowned out.

The blue hedgehog faced back into the wind, gazing off towards the path of parted grass he had come from. And then, with one hand thrown back, he launched forward, taking off in a dash so powerful it sent another burst of air through Shadow's already wind-swept quills. Shadow shielded his eyes from the blades of grass that whipped into the air, and when he lowered his arm, the hedgehog was gone.

Red eyes wavered, shining and transfixed on the line that cut through the meadow. Layers of flattened grass fanned out in a funnel from where the stranger had been standing only seconds prior.

Shadow could feel his heart pounding in his chest, a rush unlike anything he had felt in a long, long time building in his veins.

There was no more hesitation.

Shadow blasted off across the field, homing in on the trail the stranger had left behind, clueless as to where he was going or why he was going in the first place. It didn't matter. All that mattered now was what the drumming of his heart and the rush in his veins demanded of him.

The stranger's words had been inaudible, but somehow, Shadow knew exactly what he had said.

"Follow me, if you can."

The top of a thick wood appeared over the horizon, and an instant later Shadow was bursting through the tree line, allowing instinct alone to carry him forward. His vision strained ahead as he ducked between branch and trunk, eyes darting rapidly around the negative space they created. And then, he saw it—a flash of blue in the corner of his eye.

Shadow whipped his head around and he was met with a glimpse of green eyes. It was the stranger; Shadow had found him, and now, he was pulling up beside him. He flashed a smile at Shadow, but just as soon as it had graced his features it was gone.

In one bound, the blue hedgehog maneuvered out ahead of him. Shadow clenched his jaw as the stranger ran ever farther down the path, pulling away from him with a speed Shadow had never witnessed before. And yet, this did not cause him to waver. On the contrary, the sight of the blue spines ahead of him only fueled his tenacity, adrenaline pouring through his veins as he urged his body to go faster, to work harder, to do whatever he could to catch up to the one in front of him.

The forest was nothing but a blur around him now. His heart was working rapid-fire, blood rushing like a torrent in his ears as he soared faster than he ever had before, slowly inching closer and closer to his target. And then, it happened. Shadow pulled forward, speeding up until he was neck and neck with his opponent. He glanced over just in time to catch the look of surprise on the other's face as he finally careened past him.

The thrill was nearly intoxicating as Shadow overtook the blue stranger. Excitement welled up in his chest, and he couldn't control the smile that spread across his face, cocky and utterly audacious. He could sense the other close behind him still, unwilling to let Shadow's lead grow any more but nonetheless unable to catch up. They continued their mad dash, running faster and faster through the woods over rock and root until finally, the sound barrier broke around them, a blast wave shocking through the trees in their wake and silencing the world around them.

He was fast, Shadow would gladly admit that much. But in the end, he was up against the ultimate lifeform. And the ultimate lifeform had no intentions of falling behind again.

Time seemed to slow down around him, even as his form cut through the very air itself. Though his own movements felt normal as he shot a look over his shoulder, the stranger seemed to be moving in slow motion. But what was most off-putting was the fact that the blue hedgehog was not nearly as close as he had been an instant prior. Instead, Shadow could see that he had dug his feet into the dirt, skidding to a halt as Shadow's momentum continued to carry him forward and out of sight.

What happened next happened in less than a fraction of a second. He couldn't have stopped himself even if he wanted to, even if he had known exactly where he was headed. The world around him snapped back to its supersonic pace just as Shadow shot straight through a patch of shrubbery, branches scraping against his face and fur. And then, the ground underneath him disappeared.

It was a drop-off.

Shadow whipped around in the middle of his free fall, aghast as the edge of the cliff above him ascended further and further away. A thick canopy of trees awaited him far, far below, but as he plummeted, the foliage began to shift, and then, it began to rise. A gnarled darkness shot into the sky above him, invading the edges of his vision and curling around him like an all-consuming smoke.

A pinprick of blue lingered over the edge of the cliff, hazy beyond Shadow's outstretched hand but a shining beacon in the darkness. It began to grow, and Shadow soon realized why. It was the stranger—he had jumped after him. A gloved hand reached out and wrapped around his wrist, holding fast.

Shadow could feel the fibers of the world fraying around him as he locked eyes with the last remaining light in the void, and then, the world dissolved into nothing .

—

A hypnic jerk jolted him awake, lurching Shadow's stomach and banishing the sensation of falling with it.

He sat upright, back against the headboard and covers bunched at his lap. Already, the dream was fading from Shadow's mind, even as he tried to latch onto it. He blinked once, then twice, and then, it was gone, and all he was left with was the feeling of having forgotten it.

Moonlight reflected off a snow-covered expanse, leaking through his window and casting shadows across the wall. Shadow observed the cross-sectioned patterns, rubbing one eye with the palm of his hand.

He exhaled with a muted grumble, well-aware sleep would not be coming to him again.

Shadow swung his feet from the covers onto the hardwood floor. Rouge's bag rested on the ground beside his bed, and Shadow leaned over to lift it onto his lap, sticking a hand inside to rummage through its contents.

When he pulled his hand out, a small device sat in the middle of his palm. Shadow rubbed a thumb over the plastic casing of the lighter with a sardonic smile.

If only he had this with him the day Sonic had insisted on him lighting the fire with his power. That way, he could have gotten the last laugh in the prince's game of weaponized incompetence.

Then again, it wasn't like Shadow had any real reason to hide that side of himself, now that he had come to live here.

It was still rather strange, though. Up until he had come across the mural in the throne room, it had been over a year since Shadow had shown off his abilities this much. Then again, he also knew "show off" wasn't exactly an apt description of how his power manifested back then.

With a twitch, the smile dropped from his face.

In those days, he was Agent Shadow: the cold and cruel arbiter of destruction. It was how his superiors regarded him, and it was how he regarded himself.

In another context, Shadow would have almost found it humorous: GUN had always extended a significant amount of resources into keeping Agent Shadow's existence a secret, even after his awakening. But when Agent Shadow was out on the field, he never bothered holding back. Covering up all evidence of his cataclysmic displays were near impossible tasks at that point.

Of course, if there was any silver lining in the eyes of his superiors, it was the fact that any witness who had the privilege of seeing him in action likely wouldn't have lived to tell the tale anyways.

Shadow fidgeted with the lighter between his fingers pensively.

Things had changed since then. Agent Shadow was no more, but sometimes, Shadow couldn't help but question how much of that notion had hinged on his new identity, on a modest and plain lifestyle.

Now that that life too was gone, where did that leave him?

At one point, his identity as the "ultimate lifeform" may have been the answer to that question. But ever since he had stumbled upon that stained glass mural, Shadow found that he was less sure than ever of what that even meant. His failure in getting any sort of reaction from the emerald had only cemented that within him.

And then, there was Sonic's spellbound look as he watched him light the parchment aflame. There hadn't been a hint of fear or alarm in those eyes. Some surprise perhaps, but ultimately, recognition.

At once, Shadow forced the thoughts of emeralds and murals and Sonic's blooming green eyes to the back of his brain. It was still far too early for such lines of thinking. Instead, he returned to digging inside the bag until he found the source of his craving.

Those'll kill you, you know. An inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Rouge chastised him as he stood before the window, a pack of cigarettes having joined the lighter in his hand.

Frigid air assaulted him, stinging his eyes and lungs. However, it was a necessary discomfort; Shadow would much rather deal with a temporary cold than for the smell of tobacco to linger in his room.

The truth was that Shadow didn't particularly care for the taste of cigarettes, and certainly not the smell. But old habits were hard to kick, even for him. Growing up on the ARK, almost every adult around him had smoked on their off-time. Shadow had even once caught Gerald himself, long after he and Maria were supposed to have been in bed. Back then, he had been told it was a stress reliever. Who would have thought fifty years later they would discover that the things gave you cancer?

Not that that was relevant to him.

Shadow stuck a cigarette between his teeth and flicked the lighter twice before the flame took, shielding the light from the intruding wind as he brought it to the tip. He inhaled, leaning into the window with elbow crossed on the sill. Lidded eyes watched the trail of smoke waft into the clear sky above.

The dawn was approaching, hints of cerulean and lilac creeping up from the edge of the horizon. Shadow followed the gradient down to the top of the canopy, meeting with the overlapping trunks at the end of his sightline.

Shadow soaked in the cold for a while, content with listening to the wind whistling over rooftop shingles above. But between the sharp hums, a different noise at once perked Shadow's ears to attention.

Shadow recognized the sound of crunching snow, just barely audible from the grounds below him. Keen ears homed in on the direction of the disturbance, and Shadow could make out a figure moving away from the castle.

At first, their features were concealed within tall shadows casted by the towers of the palace. Eventually though, they emerged out of the darkness and into the lingering moonlight, dark blue fur standing stark and unmistakable against the fallen snow.

Shadow's gaze turned steely.

He was all alone, form pushing through the snowy grounds. Shadow's body tensed involuntarily as the prince took pause, his muzzle pointed to the sky.

Despite the fact that he was sure he could not be noticed from his current vantage point, Shadow remained still until Sonic fell onto all fours, taking off into a sprint towards the ends of the palace. With his running start, he leaped over the iron fence, and disappeared between the trees.

When he was out of sight, Shadow pinched the cigarette out of his mouth, red eyes narrowed suspiciously.

Just what was he up to, running off into the forest at this hour? Shadow's mind prodded at him. Based on the urgency of his movements, Shadow doubted the prince was simply going on a morning stroll.

Now that he thought back to it, there had been several instances where the prince had disappeared for hours at a time. Shadow had never given much thought to it then, but now, as he stared over the hasty tracks Sonic had left in his departure, a feeling of deja vu rattled his psyche.

Follow me, if you can.

Shadow put out the cigarette on the grout of the window ledge. He snatched his jacket from the bedpost and drew it around himself, dropping the lighter into his pocket and heading out the door.

—

It was Knuckles who had told him each tree, stone, and shrub in these woods was unique. If he took the time to notice that, navigating the woods would become like second nature to him.

Shadow had tried to take all that into account, he truly had. Fundamentally, he was an observant person, detail-oriented and constantly seeking new information.

But now, as he soared through the woods over root and rock, such an idea seemed rather implausible, it not outright pointless. Any semblance of a landmark was lost in the parallax as a blurred world rushed him by.

The truth was, Shadow had no idea where he was going.

By anyone's metric, he was running blindly through the woods. He didn't even know which route Sonic had taken. And yet, something internal seemed to be telling Shadow that he was heading in the right direction. It was the same force that had compelled him to leave his room in the first place, and now, he was willing to see where it took him.

Shadow skidded under a low-hanging branch, and suddenly, the ground sloped below him. It was a sharp drop, and as Shadow fell forward the jolting sensation of déjà vu returned.

Skates collided with the side of the steep hill, and Shadow dragged his heels into the snow as he slid down to the bottom of the valley.

Smatterings of thin birch trees contrasted the thick, gnarly trunks he was used to seeing in the grove. But what Shadow first noticed about them was the sparsity of their leaves, most of them littering the ground in a golden blanket. Unlike every other tree in this place, it appeared that they had actually shifted with the seasons.

Shadow's momentum teetered out as he reached the bottom of the valley. He slowed his pace, a feeling of anticipation keeping him on edge as he approached the center of the , Shadow could tell there was something unusual about this place.

Mere moments later, Shadow's pupils dilated at the sight of an abnormality standing out in the landscape just a few meters ahead.

It appeared to be a post, standing erect over a mound in the snow. Shadow quickened his pace until he was just beside it. Cautiously, he placed a hand onto the wood, gloved fingers tracing over the grain. It was smoother than he expected, and whatever it was, it clearly had been placed there deliberately.

A few meters away, another wooden piece just like it had been propped into the ground. And that wasn't it. Now that he knew what he was looking for, Shadow realized that these same stakes were all around him. Rows and rows of markers had been spaced out, placed in deliberate intervals between the birch trees such that they almost seemed to blend in with the thin trunks around them.

He made his way between each and every one of them in wide arcs, counting up in his head until he had tallied a total of sixty-eight wooden markers.

Shadow's fur was practically straight on end by the time he came to the final post, finally beginning to comprehend just what he had stumbled upon out here.

The sound of quick paces in the distance snapped him alert. Shadow whipped around from the final post, eyes homing into the crest of the hill. Someone was coming towards the valley, approaching in the same direction he had arrived from.

Shadow held his ground as the paces got closer and closer, gaze cold as steel and a slight pound to his chest. In the end however, Shadow couldn't exactly call himself surprised to see the face that appeared over the crest of the hill.

But he also couldn't say he was relieved either.

Sonic mouth was parted slightly, low pants indicating he had probably been running at full capacity. Shadow regarded him with tense eyes from his position at the bottom of the hill.

For several moments, Sonic just stared back at him, not uttering a word. But as the silence between them lingered, the more Shadow's mind began to wander.

Had he outpaced Sonic and beaten him to his destination? Or had the prince realized he was being followed and out-maneuvered him? But if that were the case, why had he waited to confront him until he reached this valley?

Before Shadow could think himself into another spiral, Sonic finally projected his voice from the top of the hill.

"Hey—what are you doing out here?" he called out.

His demeanor seemed to shift, shoulders stiffening and jaw visibly clenched, even from where Shadow stood. But rather than upset, Sonic looked more disturbed than anything.

"Why…why are you here?" He added in a tone that Shadow just barely managed to pick up on. He did not like the way Sonic's nerves seemed to be rearing.

With an exasperated grunt, Sonic dropped from the crest onto the slope, claws scraping into the side of the hill as he slid to the bottom.

Sonic made his way across the valley with quick strides, but Shadow took a quick step back as he approached him.

Sonic stopped in his tracks a few meters before Shadow, visibly caught off guard by the sudden tension that seemed to radiate between them. Then, his confused look dropped into one entirely unreadable.

"You followed me," Sonic concluded.

There was no judgment in his voice, only a simple statement of a fact. Regardless, Shadow still responded with a scowl.

"I never said that." Shadow retorted, "I got here before you, now didn't I? Speaking of which, just what the hell is here , anyways?" He threw an arm out, gesturing to the posts standing all around them.

At this, Sonic's expression shifted into one of sheer trepidation, his upper lip pulled back in a twitch. He looked utterly indisposed, but Shadow wasn't about to let him weasel his way out of this one.

This time, he was the one who took a step towards the prince, and the prince took a step back. Shadow couldn't help but be reminded of the position they had found themselves in the first night they had met, questions unspoken and answers unstated.

Shadow simply couldn't understand it.

Ever since that day, Sonic had been nothing but a never-ending stream of contradictions. On one hand, he had seemed so intent on including Shadow in on the lives of him and his companions. And yet, simultaneously, Sonic could never seem to give a full answer regarding anything about what had actually happened in this place.

It may have been true that Shadow couldn't have cared less about what Sonic did or did not tell him when he first came to stay with them. But if there was one thing Shadow wouldn't tolerate, it was being kept in the dark about matters that concerned himself.

Sonic's very own words echoed in his mind.

"Whether you like it or not, you're linked to this place now."

If that was the case, then Shadow decided he wasn't going to stand for cryptic words or vague insinuations any longer.

"They're grave markers, aren't they?" Shadow questioned acridly.

For a moment, Sonic stood stone-faced. And then, his gaze fell, eyes shrouded with a grim defeat.

Shadow took that as his answer.

"So then, were you planning to tell me about the mass grave site on your property, or was I just supposed to find that out for myself?" Shadow demanded, a fiery scowl setting his features alight.

All of a sudden, a consternating thought reared its way into Shadow's mind. The uneasy feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach from the moment he arrived in the valley began to bubble over.

"Or is it that you meant to lead me out here? So you could take care of me conveniently when my guard was down?" He added with a whisper, eyes laced with enmity.

At this, Sonic snapped up to meet Shadow's glare, expression twisted with mortification. A twinge of hurt flashed over his eyes, but Shadow held firm, fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"Shadow, what are you saying?" he spoke, a slight wavering to his voice. "I wouldn't do that. I would never do that!"

"Then explain yourself." Shadow spat.

Sonic closed his mouth with a click of his teeth. For several seconds, he just looked at Shadow. On Shadow's end, though, it was beginning to feel like ages.

With each moment that passed, the more Shadow could feel his ire growing, until finally a heavy sigh escaped Sonic's throat.

With deliberate steps, Sonic sauntered over to one of the grave markers, eyeing the mound below it with dark eyes. Gently, he placed a hand onto the wood.

"You're right. I should have told you about them sooner." He acquiesced quietly.

Shadow loosened his clenched fists, bristling fur relaxing just a little.

"Who were they?"