Notes:

"The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate their own abilities or knowledge. This can lead to poor decision-making, mistrust, and sometimes dangerous situations."

Also this is all based on the assumption that the Paradox Prism shattered the world's past and present, not merely just whoever existed on Green Hill at the time. :3

Crossposted on AO3


Sonic climbed upright, struggling to stand as the battle had worn him out. "One left." He said, "Come at me, bro."

Shadow scoffed, "Nah, I'm good." He turned and revealed that all four stabilizers were attached to his gloves and shoes.

"Huh? No!"

"So long, Sonic." Shadow said triumphantly, "See you back home."

It was a promise to fix everything: but it lacked one thing. A promise to protect the others. The alternates. The shatter spaces.

As oblivious as Sonic could be, and as much as he didn't like to admit it about him, Shadow was dangerous. He knew it. He wouldn't care about the lives of the others, seeing them as mere inferior copies.

Even if they ultimately were, Sonic couldn't stand the idea of any of them being hurt. They were just like his friends, after all, just with different memories. Even if it was all fixed in the end, he didn't want any of them to suffer. And Shadow wouldn't rebuild their worlds.

Ultimately there was a large part of him that agreed with Shadow. HE had messed everything up. It WAS all his fault. And it was true, he might mess up again, but he couldn't sit on the sidelines and watch the shatterspaces be destroyed.

He had to stop him.

Even as they struggled with one another in the middle of the Void, he knew it. He had to.

One minute, the Chaos Council was in the middle of the Void with them, traveling through its endless space. Next, it was entering the Boscage Maze gateway. Momentarily distracted Shadow gained the upper hand and followed after it. Sonic watched in abject horror as the black hedgehog entered the vibrant green gateway.

It was only after his form had vanished with a flash that Sonic raced after him. But the unfiltered energy flowing through his body wasn't acting right now that he was missing Nine's tech. And as Shadow entered the gateway he felt something change as the energy began to fade away.

"No, no, no!" He repeated to himself as he tried to dash over to the gateway. His movements were slower, weaker. He didn't know why.

"Shadow, come back!" He shouted, "Please!"

When he finally reached the gateway he found himself repelled by it, like a magnetic force pushing back on him. If Nine had been there he would have instantly known what was the matter. The prism energy inside of him had reached a level of instability while in contact with the void that had caused it to reverse polarity as a defense mechanism. Now on a different wavelength, the gateways pushed him away.

"No…" Sonic struggled to get closer to the gateway and peered in. He saw small snippets of Boscage Maze, including one where the mother ship was visible, but nothing certain.

"Don't hurt anyone, please…" Sonic muttered, fear rising inside of him as he briefly saw Thorn Rose come into view.


As a matter of fact Shadow did not have an issue with hurting any amount of someones. As he fell through the gateway he smirked triumphantly. Finally, after all this time, he could enter and exit gateways. HE could fix everything. He WOULD fix everything. Because he wouldn't be distracted by naive projected feelings.

Sonic was ridiculous. He contradicted himself at every turn. Did he want to save his original friends or did he want to have fun galavanting across the galaxy making new ones? There was no way to do both. Likewise he seemed to simultaneously treat these copies as individuals AND as mere substitutes, behaving as if he had known them their whole lives. But if they were just copies, why did he care? And if they were really his original friends, why was he bothering to try and get his old ones back?

It didn't make sense, but neither did that idiot himself.

As he fell towards earth, the hedgehog corrected himself, landing on a branch and peering back up at where he had come. No blue faker was coming down after him, screaming and flailing his arms around ridiculously. Good. He didn't need any other distractions on this mission.

Shadow knew to stay on the low: the moment the Eggmen copies spotted him it was game over. At the moment, he had the element of surprise. But where to find the gem?

Having few other options, he watched as the Boscage Maze inmates were slowly overtaken by the badniks. He hoped to find a clue about where they had hidden the gem. From what little he had seen from the gateways he only knew to keep an eye on Amy's copy. The one called 'Thorn'. She seemed overly protective of that jewel and the forest itself.

By the time he found her, he had already figured it out. Sticking to the dark undergrowth, he followed as she rode Birdy through the forest towards the invaders. But before she ever reached them…

"What is it, Birdy?" Thorn asked as the bird pulled up short and whirled around, it's eyes narrowing. She peered in the direction her partner was looking but saw nothing. Still, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of dread.

Something moved. She thought she recognized the shape.

"Sonic?" She said, only hoping that it was him. They could use a hand right now.

The figure stepped into the light, a determined but dark expression on his face. "No." He said, "That idiot won't be coming anymore."

Thorn gripped her hammer harder and readied for whatever was to come. "Who are you? What have you done with Sonic?"

"Much less than he deserves, I assure you." Shadow said as he charged for her. Thorn gasped and struck at him with her hammer, taken back by the sudden violence of the attack. This guy meant business.

"I won't let you steal our jungle!" She said, blocking his spin attacks as they rained down on her.

Shadow scoffed. "That's the least of your worries." He raised his foot and brought it down on her head, knocking her off of Birdy. He grabbed her hammer as she went flying and wrenched it from her grasp. Thorn was disarmed. She coughed as she climbed to her feet and tried to run for him again, but Birdy got between them.

"Birdy, get out of here!"

Birdy shrieked and stamped its claws protectively. Shadow turned his back on it and glanced back at it, his expression smug but dark.

Thorn saw through the trap and tried to warn her companion, but it was too late. Perceiving a weak point, Birdy charged. Shadow sidestepped it with a spin and using the momentum of the bird's dash and his own spinning force he slammed Thorn's hammer into its chest.

"No! Birdy!" Thorn screamed in horror as the bird's delicate rib cage collapsed in on itself from the blow. It fell to the ground with a scream, twitching.

Shadow caught the jewel as it flew out of the bird's mouth. Without a second thought he turned to leave.

The last he saw of them Thorn was gripping her beloved Birdy, tears forming in her eyes. He inwardly shrugged. It made no difference to him. This reality would vanish when the old one was repaired, anyway. That nagging feeling in the back of his mind was just in anticipation of dealing with an idiotic angry Sonic, something he was completely capable of handling, if not already anticipating.

Dashing away from the sounds of battle, he kept to the shadows, knowing that the Chaos Council would soon be on his heels.

He just needed a straight shot to pick up speed…

Soon he came to the big palm tree. Perfect. He skated through the clearing and up the middle of the palm, tearing off its top branches as he did so. Turning around in mid air he dashed back for the ground and vanished.


Sonic peered through the gateway watching as the Boscage Maze crew was slowly overtaken by the council's forces. "Come on, Shadow, where are you?" He muttered. He was hopping up and down in place with the stress of it all.

Suddenly the images shifted to Thorn, teary-eyed and clutching an unmoving Birdy.

Shadow (did) wouldn't do that.

What had happened? Had the chaos council gotten to her? What had they done to Birdy? Had they gotten the shard? Poor Thorn… he had never seen her look so heartbroken. Birdy would be fine. Thorn would be fine. Sonic just had to wait for Shadow to show up and fix everything. He tried to quell the rising fear and panic inside of him as he dealt with being an outsider, only able to watch.

The Chaos Council would pay for this.

There was a flash. Sonic saw Shadow in the images now, overriding all else. He saw the great green. Saw its leaves fall as Shadow dashed through them. "Hey, respect the palm!" He shouted. If Shadow heard him, he didn't respond. The energy billowed outwards, pushing Sonic away. He watched as the energy condensed and Shadow dashed out of the gateway.

"H-hey!" Sonic shouted, feet flailing as he tried to run after him. Shadow glanced back curiously.

"What's the matter with you?"

Sonic steadied himself and pushed onto another crystal. "I'm not sure. I think something's up with my kicks." He shook his head and frowned. "Thanks to you. You left me high and dry there, man. I can't even enter gateways now!"

Shadow smirked, "Well, that works out perfectly for me."

Sonic spotted the shard in his hand. "You got it?"

Shadow gave him a look as if to say 'I told you so.' "My methods are much more efficient than yours."

The image of Birdy injured on the ground and Thorn weeping over her appeared in Sonic's mind for some reason. Strange. "Uh, you didn't do a whole lot of fighting though." Sonic remarked, crossing his arms, "Everyone back in there is really struggling, dude! You could have at least offered a little help!"

He pointed back at the gateway to demonstrate his point. Shadow shook his head. "If we take too long the council will grab the shards and seize power over the universe. The faster I am in and out, the safer we are."

"Yeah, but-"

"Don't you want to restore Green Hill?" Shadow asked him angrily.

"O-of course I do." Sonic said, offended

But not like this. Not like-

"Hey, maybe we can split the tech?" Sonic called, doing his best to keep up with Shadow despite how sluggishly his feet seemed to want to move. "You go and do your thing getting the shards while I help everybody out down there. Sound good?"

Shadow didn't respond. Sonic frowned. Covertly he tried to get close enough to grab at the regulators on Shadow's heels, but the same energy that came from the portals was emanating from him. He couldn't even get near enough.

Shadow noticed the movement and raised an eyebrow. "I told you. Your turn is over. You should wait at Ghost Hill with your friends until I'm finished."

"I won't-" Sonic made another grab but again was pushed back. "let you-" he wobbled and jumped again, "hurt anyone!"

Shadow simply sped up. He entered the golden gateway and Sonic skidded to a halt. In his current state, if he entered this gateway, he might not have enough speed to get out again. And he couldn't seem to touch the shards either. Maybe he could reason with Shadow.

He HAD to.

Shadow dropped off the first gem without an issue. He placed it over the schematic as best he could, hoping that it was in the right place. He would have time to fix that later. Then, dashing out of the mountain again, he barrel rolled straight for the ground and vanished in a ball of prism energy.

Sonic was still waiting there. Shadow rolled his eyes. There was just no getting through to that sentimental fool. He chose instead to focus on his task. Even as Sonic tried to keep up, yapping something about how much easier it would be if they were both working together. "You're the one who caused this mess." He remarked as he reached the gateway to No Place. "Why would I trust you to fix it? And as for me, I work alone."

He was gone. Tumbling towards the water at full speed he steadied himself just as he reached it, using his air shoes to hover. Looking around, he tried to remember where he was. There wasn't much camouflage out there so he would have to work fast. But perhaps when it got dark out…

Remembering that time worked differently in the shatter spaces, and also knowing that he had left the eggforcers in Boscage Maze still searching, he felt he had time. But first, he had to find the shard.

He did not move very fast hovering over the water, but he didn't need to. By the time he got to the Devil's Lighthouse he had a clear view. There was the pirate ship. He just had to get to it. But he didn't want to be seen either, so he waited for the sun to go down before he began the trip.

He didn't have very long since it seemed as though time in No Place went a lot faster than elsewhere. But stealing the shard from Boscage Maze had certainly delayed the progress of the Council.

As far as the pirates were concerned, he would be able to handle them at close range. He just had to catch them off guard.

Even as the pirates were halfway into their evening of celebration, the robot Amy having been decorated as a totem pole much to her chagrin, Shadow came upon them. He knew there was only one way to do this.


"Oi, what was that?" Black Rose asked as the lights on their new boat flickered.

Sails frowned, saying "A short circuit, methinks. I'lll 'ave a look."

He disappeared around the corner of the ship, and the party resumed. But the lights continued to flicker. Dread groaned. "Augh, can't ye work any faster there, Sails? We be tryin' to celebrate me victory!"

When there came no answer Batten piped up. "I will go and ask 'im, cap'n."

But she didn't return either. Rusty Rose's one eye narrowed, but she did not speak up. These creatures were enemies of the Chaos Council. They were to be exterminated when her masters returned.

"I'll go an' get Batten and Sails, cap'n" Black Rose said, and Rusty found herself stopping her. "Wait." She said, "There is an intruder."

"An intruder?" Catfish gasped.

Dread gave a growl and drew his sword, pointing it at the hallway into which Batten and Sails had disappeared. "Whoever ye be, show yerself! Only a coward would attack from the dark!"

They had come for his beauty. They wouldn't get it of course. Dread aimed his sword at the hallway, and the moment he spotted movement he thrust it forward, firing a bolt of lightning. The bolts connected and two forms fell, unconscious, onto the ground.

Black Rose gasped in horror, "Cap'n, you hit Batten and Sails!" She ran over to them, but they were completely out. Had they been unconscious even before the bolt struck?

"They're here…" Dread muttered, turning round and round looking for the intruders. "Ye won't take me beauty back! It's mine! MINE!"

Something hit the boat on its side. Dread ran to it and fired a bolt of lightning at the ocean. He saw nothing. He did not seem concerned about the two crew mates he had struck.

"Are they alright?" Catfish asked fearfully.

Black Rose wasn't sure. She was scared to find out. "Cap'n!" She shouted "What be the plan?"

"Find the interloper and cleave 'em to the brisket!"

"Aye-aye!"

But that was when she noticed something. "What? Me sword is gone!"

"The cannons aren't working!" Catfish cried as he and froggy sought desperately to try and work the tech that the ship came with.

"No no no!" Dread cried, his eyes wild with fear and anger, "Ye won't take it! It's mine! MINE!"

There was a sound and Dread turned. Standing on the other end of the boat was a black hedgehog not unlike Sonic. He held up a sword of his own, its tip pointed at Dread.

Dread grinned savagely. "So ye show face, coward. Let's get this done, eh?"

Shadow dodged the first bolt of lightning, and deflected the second with the sword. Then he charged. Dread's sword connected with his, and he was knocked back. Another bolt of lightning. Shadow dodged. It struck Catfish and the canon. Dread did not seem to notice as the cat slumped in his seat with a brief cry.

Black Rose saw all this. She knew who was next. "Ok there, Rusty." She said, "I know that ye have got somethin' against us, but can ye lend a hand? Ye can take yer shard and go on back to yer masters but please, we need ye!"

"I am loyal to the chaos council." Rusty replied in a monotone voice. "That is my purpose."

Black Rose saw where the shots were coming next. She reached for Rusty's bonds and untied the knot. "Don't fail me!" She cried, only to be knocked back by a stray lightning bolt. The android caught her and looked down at her still form disbelievingly for a long time. Her eye flickered from red to purple.

"Overriding council command. New objective: Vengeance."

As the last of the crew fell Shadow smiled to himself. He wasn't pulling his punches, but the fall of his crew didn't seem to phase the pirate. Dread fought with the fury of a cornered beast. But neither was he being careful. With one final charge, and no one to warn him, Shadow knocked the echidna down with the back of his sword and subsequently knocked away the shard.

"Me beauty!" The fool cried. Shadow raised the jewel and struck the pirate full on with a bolt of lightning even as he charged for him again. The red beast shook, and then collapsed, but he wasn't down yet. He struggled to his feet. Shadow hit him again. Dread was blown back towards the edge of the deck. He still wasn't giving up.

"Ye can't… take me beauty… ye flea-bitten cur!" He raised his sword but a third bolt coursed through his system. He fell backwards, off the boat and into the water, unconscious. Shadow turned, his mission complete. The council would not be able to interrogate them in any case. All except for-

Where was the robot? Shadow looked around but did not see her. She had escaped. Curse it all. She would tell the council what was going on and put a kink in his plans.

Knowing he didn't have a choice, he raced back to the Devil's Lighthouse. When he returned to the void Sonic was waiting for him. But he didn't say anything this time. He kept staring into the gateway.

"Sonic." Shadow said, seeing that the Chaos Council was moving through the Void again. "The council is coming. You need to get back to Ghost Hill. I have one more shard to get and then we are done."

"Dread…" Sonic said quietly. "Dread isn't coming back up."

Shadow said nothing. He again felt that weird nagging feeling but he put it aside. "It'll all be fixed once the shards are put back in place." He said, "Come on."

Sonic stared at the fading image of the pirates. All of them, unconscious. And Dread… Dread had been underwater that whole time. He would be fine, right?

T(he) Chaos Council would pay for this.

Numbly, Sonic began to follow Shadow back to Ghost Hill. He ran through what he had seen in the gateway again and again. Batten and Sails knocked unconscious by a hidden stranger. Dread fighting a dark figure that he couldn't quite make out for some reason. The crew being hit by lightning strikes. Dread…

Good thing Shadow was there to stop that strange attacker and take the prism back. If only he had gone back to help the pirates, too.

It'll all be fixed in the end, he thought to himself. All of it. This is(n't) fine. Shadow (did)n't hurt them. It would all be fixed when they put the prism back together.

The Chaos Council would pay for this.

Sonic watched quietly as the mothership entered and exited No Place rather quickly. He ought to do something. "Nine..." He muttered, and then a panic began to set in. "Nine!" He shouted, trying to get his communicator to work, only to remember that he didn't have them anymore. He had to warn his friend.

(About what? Everything was going great. They almost had all the shards after all.)

"Nine!" Sonic cried again, shouting in frustration as he was barely able to reach a normal running speed. In a flash, the mothership was gone. Sonic stopped, clutching his head in his hands.

"He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't…"

Shadow returned from the Ghost Hill, the third shard returned. "One more." He said as he passed by Sonic, unaware of the other hedgehog's inner turmoil.

On one hand, I mean come on, it was Shadow! His prickly frenemy turned ally. The only one who remembered Green Hill or even knew who he was. He might be a little rough around the edges but deep down he was a good person. He would never hurt anyone.

On the other hand… on the other hand…

"Shadow." He said, trying to catch up with him. "You won't hurt anyone if you don't have to, right?"

"Why does it matter?" Shadow asked. "These are just reflections of the real world."

"I'd just prefer it if there wasn't any unnecessary violence that's all." Sonic replied with a bit of a smile, albeit a nervous one. "Besides, it could have a negative effect on our reality, y'know? I really don't want Nine to get hurt either. Soooo could you promise me that, huh, buddy?"

Shadow glanced at him and scoffed. "I told you. They aren't your real friends and this isn't our world. I will do whatever it takes to bring Green Hill back." He turned back and kept heading for the gateway to New Yoke.

Something slammed into his back, knocking the wind out of him. Shadow landed on a crystaline shard, coughing as he stood upright again. Sonic faced him.

Why was he upset? Everything was fine. Shadow wouldn't do that. There must be a miscommunication somewhere. They would fix it all in the end.

No.

He would pay for this.

"They may not be my old friends…" Sonic said, his mind beginning to clear. "But they ARE my real friends. They're as real as you and I. And I won't let you hurt them!"

He charged, striking at Shadow. Without the Prism he seemed able to make contact again. Shadow blocked the attack and charged his own. Even moving slower than usual, Sonic managed to block and dodge a few blows, but Shadow soon threw him to the ground. Sonic gasped and crawled to his feet, but Shadow was already gone.

But Shadow did not notice how the gateway repelled him slightly more than usual, how the flash as he entered it was a little bit more unstable. Nor did he notice that one of the regulators on his shoes was gone.

Sonic snapped this one onto his glove and charged for the gateway. He only had to get close enough to touch it…

New Yoke was much harder to navigate than the previous two worlds. Shadow had to stick to the alleyways to avoid being seen. He wasn't about to ask for help after all. But it didn't take him long to be lost in the endless catacombs below the city.

This was stupid. Every time he thought he was going in the right direction he would resurface and find that he was in fact headed in a completely different direction.

He passed by many faces in those catacombs… some that he couldn't help but feel he had seen before somewhere. This world was much more populated than the previous two. He briefly wondered if it drew upon more than just whoever existed on Green Hill at the time the Paradox Prism was shattered.

As he traveled through district after district after district… he found more humans then he had originally thought existed in the city. They seemed to be kept underground for the most part, working coal mines and engineering. Some of them looked extremely familiar, in good ways and bad ways. Some were GUN soldiers or mere encounters of his past… But most were complete strangers. It was odd still that the humans seemed to only exist in the New Yoke shatterspace.

It was just a reflection. He was bound to encounter SOMEONE he knew in the original world.

Eventually he reached what he believed to be the Council's main base. Surely the shard was here somewhere. He just had to find a way past these dormitories…

"Yes, thank you."

His ears twitched and he froze. He wasn't sure why, but one of the various echoes coming down through the crowded tunnels stood out from the rest. It was a girl's voice, quiet, and one that he should not have noticed because of its low presence in the face of all the noise.

"Alright, I will tell them. Thanks again."

Shadow whirled around, his heart thumping in his ears as painful memories resurfaced. His eyes scanned the crowd anxiously, but he did not see who he was looking for.

Caution forgotten, he stepped out of the shadows and looked around, searching for the speaker. Strangers bumped into him, surprised and annoyed, but he didn't pay any attention to them.

There. The figure moved around a corner. He followed, oblivious to how similar his movements were to Sonic's when he first arrived in New Yoke and spotted Nine.

"I'm home, grandpa. I brought dinner too."

"Ah, my dear, you take such good care of me… I apologize for being a burden on you."

The second voice brought back even more memories. Shadow moved faster.

"It's not a burden, grandpa! It's the least I can do with you being so ill right now. Don't worry, I'll make enough money for the both of us."

Shadow stood at the doorway of a small apartment among many. He was aware of the security cameras behind him, but he didn't care anymore. He touched the doorknob and pushed it open.

Inside, an old man seated in a floating cybernetic chair. At his side, a young woman in her early twenties with short blonde hair and striking blue eyes.

It was Maria.

But it wasn't.

The two humans stood looking at him in surprise and mild fear as he just stood there, looking at them both.

"Hm? Who's that at the door, Martha?" The old man who was but wasn't Gerald asked. He appeared to be blind.

"I-its a visitor." This Maria called Martha said, "A hedgehog."

"Ah, a friend of yours?"

Martha looked at him warily. Shadow regained himself. "Yes. I should hope." He shuffled nervously, "My apologies for dropping in unannounced."

"Won't you… come in?" The woman asked hesitantly.

Shadow did, shutting the door behind him. He sat at their table, wondering what to say, where to begin. Wondering what he was doing. This wasn't Maria. He should have known there would be a reflection of her here. It wasn't her.

And yet…

"I think…" he stammered, "I think I was mistaken. You reminded me of someone, that's all."

"Ah." Martha said, a little suspiciously. "I see. You're welcome to visit either way."

"What is your name, lad?" Gerald asked, "I haven't had a visitor since they transferred my friend Big the Cat over to another district."

"Shadow."

"Hmhm, good to meet you. I am George and this is my granddaughter, Martha. I was a coal miner before I injured my leg. Now, my dear granddaughter has been trying to make up for both of our incomes. You know how they love to take people away when they can't work anymore." He chuckled but it turned into a cough. "What's your profession?"

Shadow lowered his head. "I do not have one." He couldn't lie to them. "I am an outsider visiting on a mission. But… but you both remind me a lot of a family I lost long ago."

His eyes lingered on Maria. Grown up and struggling, but alive. She wasn't in chronic pain. She wasn't dead. Maria was HERE.

Finally, he understood. He understood why Sonic was so protective of these people, of their worlds.

"It doesn't make sense." He muttered, "But, maybe it doesn't have to."

Martha and George waited, both too surprised to say anything else. Shadow clenched his fist. Even if he couldn't be there, he would make sure that these two had a happy life in this world. Even if they didn't know him… even if they were just copies… it didn't matter. He would make sure they were alright.

"I have to find the shard." He said, standing. "You won't have to work as hard when things get better. And they will get better."

"You're with the resistance?" Martha asked him.

Shadow chuckled. "Something like that."

She glanced at her grandfather and then pulled him aside. "I can show you in." She said in a whisper.

"I won't get you involved." Shadow said, "I will handle it."

She smiled knowingly and motioned to a painting in the back of the room. "I'm already involved."

The painting was inconspicuous enough, but when she pushed it aside it revealed a tunnel.

"Heading out again?" Her grandfather said, hearing the movement. "Be careful, dear."

"I will, don't worry grandpa."

Before Shadow had a chance to object, Martha was pulling him through the tunnels at a high speed.


Sonic landed in the middle of New Yoke, gasping as his legs hit the ground. He wasn't doing alright. But passing through the gateway seemed to have reset his speed, anyways. And one regulator was better than none. He watched as the Mothership returned to the Yoke. He had one shot at this.

Running as fast as he could, he dashed straight for the building.


"Sonic is back." Rusty Rose said to the Council, showing them footage of the hedgehog racing down the streets.

"What?!" They cried, "What's he doing back here?!"

"Launch all forces!" Mr. Dr Eggman cried, "We will not let him reach the Yoke!"

Rusty watched as they left. She had not told them about the other hedgehog that had showed up on the ship, nor of the shard that he had stolen. That did not concern her anymore. She had one goal now. And she knew exactly how to achieve it.

She only had to wait. He would show up soon enough.


"The shard should be along one of these hallways." Martha said as they came out of the tunnel. "I can only map out a little bit at a time without being suspicious so I'm afraid I don't know exactly where it's at."

"I will find it. Thank you." He hesitated. "Take good care of your grandfather, and yourself."

He didn't wait to hear her response. He dashed away, keeping out of sight as much as he could. As he ran from his fears he began to look at things logically again. Of course, it was just a reflection world. It wasn't real. He couldn't pull his punches. The world that HIS Maria loved was gone. He had to bring it back at any cost.

That nagging feeling in the back of his mind rebelled against this, but he ignored it.

Sonic raced up the Yoke, dodging the eggforcers that were raining down on him. "Nine!" He shouted as he reached the top. He had to get in somehow. The old hole that had been blasted in the Yoke was still in the process of being patched. A perfect in. A few hits and he was inside, dodging the blasts of the eggforcers and heading straight for the inner sanctum.

He hid as the troops kept searching but eventually spread farther and farther away. Knowing exactly where he was going, he soon found what he was looking for. The Prism shard room, and Nine guarded nearby.

Nine spotted him immediately. "Sonic?" He said, his face lighting up. "You're ok!"

Sonic took out the guards and undid Nine's bonds. "Yeah yeah, we have to get out of here, come on!"

"What's going on?" Nine asked.

"It's Shadow." Sonic said, beginning to hyperventilate. "He's gone crazy. He's going to be here soon, we have to get you out of here. We have to get out of here NOW."

"Wait. What about the shard?"

Sonic glanced at the gemstone. "Shadow will get that. But I need you out of the way so he doesn't… so he doesn't hurt you."

"I can take care of myself." Nine said, offended. "And I'm not leaving the Shard in the hands of some stranger."

"No no, you don't understand-"

But Nine wasn't listening. And just then, Shadow arrived. His eyes widened in surprise when he spotted Sonic. "What are you doing here?!" He shouted angrily.

"Uh…" Sonic grinned nervously and shrugged. "Helping you!"

Shadow saw the fallen eggforcers and the freed Nine, who was flaring his tails out menacingly in his direction. He growled. "You're just making things worse! Get back home! I will take care of this."

"Don't worry, Sonic." Nine said, crouching down. "I can handle this. Go and grab the Shard."

"I…" Sonic hesitated.

Shadow and Nine charged. The two clashed together. Shadow blocked strike after strike from Nine's tails and Nine blocked his returning strikes in a likewise manner.

"Don't fight guys!" Sonic pleaded, "We're on the same side here!"

Shadow snapped one of Nine's Tails. Nine cried out and fell back. Sonic froze.

Another tail snapped. Nine seemed to be in pain. He struggled to get Shadow off of him.

Sonic made a decision.

Shadow was knocked back as a spin attack from Sonic struck him full on in the face. "Stop fighting!" He shouted, but he himself did not let up in his attack. Shadow dodged and struck again, but now Nine was back on his feet and attacking too. It was a lot to handle. But he had to. One well placed punch later and the blue faker was falling to the floor once more. Nine roared in anger and charged at him, but Shadow struck him full on with a second blow that knocked the wind out of him.

"Get back home, Sonic." Shadow said, panting. "I will fix this."

Sonic didn't move. Shadow felt his heart skip a beat. Had he…?

He did not notice Nine struggling to his feet again, aiming a stray eggforcer's blaster in his direction.

"Watch out!" A shout came. Shadow whirled around in surprise as Martha, wielding a blaster of her own, aimed at Nine and fired. The fox gasped as lightning coursed through his body and he fell to the ground, twitching.

"Are you alright?" She asked him. Shadow shook his head in disbelief. "What are you doing here?! You need to stay out of this!"

"I'm not staying back when the rebellion is this close to victory!" She cried, and pointed to the shard. "We have to get this thing out of here!"

Shadow glanced over at the still forms of Sonic and Nine. He would bring the blue faker back to their world of course. He would be alright. Why did he feel so guilty? It was Sonic's fault for following him after all.

It was Sonic's fault.

It wasn't his.

It WASN'T.

He was just doing what had to be done.

He was just-

But even as Martha opened the doorway to the Shard room, Shadow's ears twitched again. "MARIA!" He shouted, and thrust her out of the way as a blast of energy came from beyond it. Rusty Rose stood in the doorway, her expression dark and emotionless.

"Target acquired." She said, pointing first at Shadow, and then at Martha. "You will know my pain, filthy assasin!"

Shadow dodged the blast, but Martha was not so lucky. Knocked back, she got up coughing but not ready to go down just yet. "Get out of here!" Shadow shouted, but she called back, "No way! Get the Shard! I will hold her off. For the resistance!"

Rusty and Martha exchanged shots, but Martha was not as agile or armored as the mechanically enhanced hedgehog. Despite Shadows best efforts she was soon on the ground, unconscious.

Shadow didn't remember much after that. Everything seemed to fade away into pure anger and fury. When he came to, the robot was nowhere to be seen. But he thought that the pile of gears and wires beside him looked vaguely familiar.

Clutching his head, he ran back over to Maria. She was alive, but severely injured.

"I'm so sorry." He said, his voice choking up. "This wasn't supposed to happen… I will fix it. I promise. I will fix it… I'll…"

He collapsed, tears welling up in his eyes. He had done this. He was an idiot. If only he had been more careful. If only he had stopped to think about what he was doing. If only he hadn't entered the shatterspaces in the first place.

He took a breath and looked up at the shard. He knew what he had to do.

Surely, with the power of the prism…

Taking the gemstone, he teleported out of that cursed place and traveled back to Ghost Hill. With the shard in hand, he placed it over the vague schematic and waited. The shard seemed to be missing a piece. No matter. He felt that he would have enough power to do this.

When he had first encountered the shard in Ghost Hill…

When he had taken it from Thorn…

When he had used it against Dread…

He got a strange feeling every time. He felt that it's energy was vaguely similar to the Chaos Emeralds, only the power that he wielded when in contact with them was much more of a time-space and reality changing kind. Now, as he waited, soaking in the energy radiating off of the nearly complete gemstone, he knew he could do it.

He couldn't change much, but he didn't have to change much.

He just had to stop himself from entering the gateway in the first place.

"Chaos… control!" He cried.

The Paradox Prism shone brightly and then let out a blast of energy. He saw in its light his own self struggling to enter the Boscage Maze gateway and being blown away by a sudden blast of energy. Unconscious, his form hurtled towards the unknown depths that his Chaos Emerald had fallen into.

Shadow clenched his fist, understanding that the shard was asking if he was certain about this decision. If that was the sacrifice he had to make, so be it. He deserved that fate.

But before he had completed the change…

He saw something racing after him. Before his limp form had vanished into the darkness it was caught and brought back up to the light of the gateways. Shadow scoffed. That idiot didn't know when to give up on making friends with everyone.

Still…

It was reassuring all the same.

He completed the change, and as he felt himself fading away into the changed reality, he hoped that even if he never knew that an alternate Maria existed, that this reality would lead to a happier ending for her. For her grandfather. And for all of Sonic's friends, too.