Chapter 4 - Fall From Grace
It was eight in the morning when Omega woke up Rouge. Omega had been up all night waiting for me, he never powered down even for a second. He thought I would've been back when it was still dark outside but was surprised when I didn't. Omega nudged Rouge a little.
"Rouge. Shadow has not come back from his dash through the woods yet," he stared at her.
"He hasn't come back then, huh…What time is it, Omega…" she yawned and stretched.
"It is eight hours and ten minutes. I think we should go retrieve him," Omega suggested.
"I think so too. I hope nothing bad happened to him," Rouge sighed. "I'll go tell Sonic."
Rouge went into the room where Sonic was sleeping and shook him awake gently.
"Hey Sonic, Shadow hasn't come back yet, so we're gonna go look for him. Just wanted to let you know."
"Wow, he's lost then?" Sonic woke up immediately as he heard the news.
"I don't think so. He's good at making his way around, I think something else happened to him."
"That's not good at all. I want to come with you and help," he nodded.
"Alright. Are Tails and Knuckles coming?"
"Nah, I think they can sit this one out. I'm just worried about Shadow myself."
"Okay. We need to leave now so we can start looking for him."
"Right." Sonic went straight to Tails and nudged him a bit. "Tails, Shadow has gone missing. We'll be back before you know it, okay? Tell Knuckles about it too."
"Oh yeah, no problem Sonic," Tails said groggily.
"Let's go then," Rouge flashed a smile at Sonic and alongside Omega, they set out to look for me.
Meanwhile, I was sitting at the beginning of a lake, staring at the water pensively.
"Maria… I can't deny that I still miss you. And that it still hurts after all these years. I thought I was over it but apparently not after what I saw in the video and the memories that bastard has made me watch. I don't like feeling like this. I still wish you were here by my side. You would have loved Earth."
I stared at my own reflection in the water.
"I can never change what happened on that day. I keep thinking in my head, how could I have saved you? Then again, even if I had, it would have been futile. Had you had come with me, your disease would have immediately killed you upon breathing Earth's oxygen and being in its atmosphere. Your fate was already written out for you. Yet my mind and heart can't accept it. You were meant to live a long, fruitful life. You belonged here on Earth, not on that soulless floating colony in space."
Tears kept on running down my cheeks. I couldn't stop them.
"What I do know is this, that I loved you and I always will until my last dying breath. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Maria."
I dried my tears as best as I could and took a deep breath. Saying everything that I had said out loud up until that point made me feel at ease and relieved. It was something that I needed to do, even if nobody else was listening. As long as I could listen to what I was saying, that was enough. In a way, I almost felt like if Maria was there listening to what I just said.
I took a small pebble that was near me on the ground and pointed it straight ahead of me. I threw it with the utmost precision and managed to make it skip on the water several times, until it finally fell into the water.
I thought that sometimes none of this made any sense. I remembered Maria's promise, and what she wanted me to do here on Earth, to protect humanity and fight for it, but lately I thought what was the whole point of that. Everything felt empty, shallow and meaningless. I even pondered what was the point of me being alive. I was designed to be the Ultimate Life Form, a being that could withstand practically anything and that wielded inmortality. Of course, I liked to brag about this to others, but the truth was that lately I didn't feel too much like a supposed Ultimate Life Form.
I then heard a branch snap nearby. I turned around and saw Sonic standing a bit far away alongside Rouge and Omega.
"Found you," he said as he approached me. "What are you doing here all alone, Shadow? We were worried about you."
"I was going to head back but I got lost in my thoughts…" My voice trailed away.
"Did something happen? I knew watching that video would be a bad idea for you…" Rouge said.
"Actually, yes. It's hard to explain but… there is another me that is making me relive my memories from the ARK. At first I thought I was dreaming, but I think this is no dream we're talking about. My interaction with him felt all too real," I said.
"Another you? That's really strange. Is he around here somewhere?" Sonic asked.
"That's the thing, it seems to me like he only lives inside my mind."
"Hmm… kinda like a Meta Shadow, then!" Sonic perked his ears up, proud of himself for coming up with a term for the other me.
"You could say so."
"Is he dangerous?" Asked Rouge.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out. I don't know if he can actually harm me. He did harm me inside the supposed 'dream' but once I woke up I felt perfectly fine."
"Even so, be careful, Shadow," Rouge shot a concerned look at me.
"Yes, I'm trying to do so, but apparently not one of my punches or kicks hurt him. I want to get rid of him, but I guess I can't until he makes me see all the memories he wants me to see."
"He sounds very annoying…" Sonic muttered.
"He is. I wish he would stop," I said. "That's also why I couldn't get back to you sooner, because of him."
"Does he just come out of nowhere?" Sonic asked.
"Yes, I'm just there, minding my own business, until suddenly he talks to me and wants me to see a memory."
"Hmm…I'm thinking maybe we can help you the next time he strikes. Like let's say he comes back again, and we can help you fight back?" Sonic pondered.
"That might not be a bad idea," Rouge agreed.
"It's worth trying," I said.
"We must go back to Tails's laboratory so Shadow can rest," Omega proposed.
"Yeah, I agree! That way we can keep an eye on Shadow and Meta Shadow," Sonic came near me and put an arm around my shoulder. He was already too close for comfort.
"The Shadster needs a backup team, and we're just what he needs!" He chuckled.
"How many times do I have to tell you, do not call me- gah, never mind…" My exhaustion was so much that I couldn't deal with Sonic's shenanigans.
"Typical Sonic," Rouge chuckled. "He's right though. We'll figure out a way to get rid of that guy."
Sonic unexpectedly slided an arm behind my back, underneath my arm and held onto my shoulder, hoisting me in the process. "Come on Shadow, we need to get you home."
I didn't reply back to either his words or his actions. Sonic and Rouge started talking about something but my thoughts drifted elsewhere. I stared at the floor, just thinking about the fact that Sonic had said home. The word home made me think of Maria. But I couldn't think of home when I thought of Sonic, his friends, Rouge and Omega. Was this another sign of me not being able to move on from Maria? I was about to dwell more on that idea, but then I was struck with the fear of my other self popping into my head again and gaining control of myself once more. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to trail off into my thoughts like this.
I saw we were finally stepping back into Tails's lab, but I was still shutting out what Sonic and Rouge were saying. We headed into Tails's room, I heard Sonic asking Tails if I could crash on his bed or something among those lines. Sonic turned to me and said I should rest. I nodded and was about to lay down on the bed, when I could feel that familiar stabbing pain striking me in the head. I hit the bed and started screaming in pain.
"Shadow, what's wrong?!" Sonic said, as he held onto one of my arms.
"It's him…that bastard's back…" I muttered.
"Where is he?" Rouge asked.
"You can't see him, only I can. I didn't expect for him to come back all of a sudden."
"Yoo-hoo, miss me?" He teased inside my head.
"Shut up," I growled.
"Shadow, is he talking to you right now?" Rouge asked.
"Yes, he is. Only I can hear him too, by the looks of it."
"It's just you and me Shadow, in our own little world~" He sneered.
"Get out of my mind!" I snapped.
"Sonic, I know we can't see him but try throwing a punch at him." Rouge suggested.
Sonic did as told and flung his fist in the air several times. Nothing happened.
"He really is inside his mind." Sonic blinked, feeling powerless.
Rouge placed a hand on my arm and clenched tightly. "Shadow, we're here for you, let us know if you're in danger."
"We're here for you, buddy!" Sonic held onto my other arm.
I raised my hands up to my temples and clenched on tight.
"Time for another memory!" He cackled.
"No, stop!" I shouted.
"What's going on?" Rouge blurted out.
"He wants me to see another memory," I snarled, not at Rouge, but at him.
"Come along now Shadow, say goodbye to your little friends for a while." He taunted.
"No, don't do this to me!"
As soon as he said that, I lost consciousness and crashed on the bed.
Sonic and Rouge stood there, seeing what just had happened. Sonic shook my entire body a little.
"Shadow? Shadow, you there?"
"Sonic, I think he's gone for now," Rouge turned to look at him, concerned.
"This is really scary," he let out a deep breath and sat down next to me, on the bed. Rouge did the same.
As Sonic and Rouge stayed by my side, the other me whisked me off to that strange place that seemed like a void once again.
"Your so called friends look worried, Shadow." He laughed while he floated in front of me.
"As they should be. They care about me." I asserted.
"You sure about that? You seem awfully convinced that they do."
"They are my friends and that is what friends do. Now, back off." I glared at him.
"May I remind you, you only have one friend, and her name is Maria. She's already dead though!" He cocked his head back and laughed.
"That's it!" I leaped into the air and pinned him. I dug my hand into his neck, clenching tightly around it, in an intent to choke him.
"Nobody talks about Maria that way!"
"You can't harm me, silly. Or did you already forget?" He stuck out his tongue at me.
"I haven't. It's just that it's what you deserve for being such a piece of shit," my eyes shot daggers at him.
"Oho! Language!" He sang. He gingerly took a hold of my hand and set it aside. He hooked his arm with mine and made me float with him. "Let's take a look at Exhibit A, shall we?"
The place we were in turned into the ARK, just like last time.
"I think you're going to like this one." He nodded.
Me and Maria were standing next to each other, while we looked outside the ARK.
"Shadow? Have you ever wondered how it would be like to live on Earth?" Maria asked.
"Sometimes, I do. I don't think about it too much. Not as much as you, though." I chuckled. "Why do you like it so much?"
"I don't know, just imagine how incredible it must be to live down there. I don't think we were meant to live up here in a floating colony out in space. Grandpa says it's beautiful."
"That's true, although I was born here after all. I guess I'm already used to living here. Although I must say Earth looks nice."
"My dream is to visit it someday. Maybe even live there forever."
"I didn't know that was your dream," I turned to look at her.
"I think about it every single day."
I could see the longing on her face while she stared at that big, blue glowing planet. I turned and looked outside as well. What I had told Maria was true, I wasn't that interested in Earth. The doctor had told us lots of incredible stories about Earth and he always brought us books that had pictures of it too. I thought it looked amazing, but the reason behind me not being that interested in visiting it was a rather grim one. We all knew what would happen to Maria upon breathing Earth's oxygen. I knew the doctor was working on a cure for her, and I was also doing the same, but research was developing slowly. It was uncertain if we would ever find a cure to her illness.
If we found out that it would be impossible to find a cure for her, I would want to stay on the ARK for as long as she lived, it just wasn't fair that I would get to experience the Earth and she didn't. Maria's chronic illness was something that always weighed on me, out of all people, why was she the one who had to carry that burden? I wanted her to be free, happy and healthy. I knew that two of those options weren't actual, hard facts at the moment. I don't think anybody could consider themselves as exactly free living aboard this heap of metal floating in outer space. But I didn't know if she was happy.
"Maria, can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Are you happy?"
"Oh Shadow, why are you asking me that?" She chuckled.
"I just wonder if you are." I looked in her eyes.
Maria walked closer to me and held one of my hands in hers. "Shadow, I'm really happy. I have grandpa, my teachers and most importantly, I have you," she turned back to look at Earth. "Even if my illness is never cured and I have to stay here… as long as I have you, that's all that matters to me."
"Maria…" I wrapped my hand gently around hers.
"Aaaaaaand that's it for today's schedule!" The other me blurted out as the memory vanished into thin air.
I was clenching my teeth and my fists, enraged at the fact that he was doing this to me. I was trying to hold back my tears, since the memory had awakened feelings that had been buried deep within me.
"Oh? Don't tell me you're crying after seeing that!" He taunted me.
"Just shut up," I glanced at the floor, trying to hide my face from him.
"Haha, you are!" He snickered. "You still can't move on from this, Shadow. And you never will."
I turned to him and threw a jab at his face. It connected, but as I had expected, it didn't harm him at all. He just let out a booming, despicable laugh.
"That's cute," he said, as he performed a sweeping kick that I did not anticipate and made me land on my back with a heavy thud.
"That's all I have to show you for today. I'll be back to torment you some more tomorrow," he grinned.
And with that, he disappeared and I found myself back in Tails's bed. My first reaction was to wince and to grunt. The stabbing sensation in my head had gone away, yet it still somewhat lingered. I brought a hand to my head.
"Shadow! You're back!" Rouge moved closer to me.
"We were really worried, Shadow," Sonic did the same as Rouge.
"Thanks…" I said.
"Is he finally gone?" Rouge asked.
"Yes, by the looks of it. Just for the rest of today, at least. He said he'll be back to torment me tomorrow."
"That sounds awful," Sonic lowered his ears.
"Shadow, listen to me. You need to rest. This guy has already beat you to a pulp. I know you're physically intact, but not mentally. So, get some sleep now. Sonic and I will figure out a way to get rid of this guy," Rouge placed a hand on one of my arms.
"Thanks, Rouge. I mean it. You too, Sonic," I said, as I took off my skates and went underneath the covers.
"Anytime," Sonic flashed a warm smile at me.
I drifted off to sleep quickly, I really was in dire need of sleep. As I slept, Rouge and Sonic talked.
"This is terrible," Rouge sighed.
"Tell me about it. This all sounds really weird, too," Sonic said.
"We need to find out a way to actually fight the guy. But how can we when he's literally inside his mind?"
"I'm not sure either. Maybe we can't help Shadow after all," Sonic directed a distressed look at Rouge.
"Don't say that. There has to be a way that we can help…"
"All of our enemies have always been tangible. Maybe not visible, but we could fight them."
"That's true."
There was a brief silence before they talked again. They were both thinking of a possible solution.
"Hey, what if this is something he has to fight on his own?" Sonic suggested.
"…you were just worried a while ago that we probably wouldn't be able to help him. Does this mean you're giving up?" She said, annoyed.
"No no, I meant, the only way we can help Shadow is by giving him words of encouragement. Since all of this is happening in his mind…I'm guessing this is a him vs himself thing."
"…go on."
"If we all support Shadow, he'll understand we have his back on this, that he's not alone and that he can beat this guy," Sonic punched the air in excitement.
"…so basically what you're saying is that all Shadow needs is 'the power of friendship'?"
"Exactly!" Sonic's eyes gleamed.
"Hrm…this sounds way too cheesy. But I can't think about another way to help Shadow, unfortunately. This sounds like a stretch, but hey, it's worth trying, right? Let's hope you're right, Sonic," she flashed a weak smile.
"For now, let's get out of here. Shadow needs to rest," Rouge said.
"Oh yeah," Sonic nodded and saw Rouge walking out of the room. He then turned to look at me while I slept and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll do our best to help you." He then left the room soon after.