In the dimly lit observation room, a figure stood clutching an old photo. The entire planet lay outside the glass along with the expanse of space itself, a view he was all too familiar with. In the photo was an old man with an enormous mustache and a young girl with a bright smile. The hedgehog took one last look at the photo before leaving it behind as he left the room.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog"
One year later
A loud, repetitive thunk echoed through the chill air, a crowd beginning to form along the road. A tree had fallen into main street, propped up on its branches as it blocked traffic in this small village. Some whispered of how long it was taking to cut through, while others noted the remarkable progress of the lone hedgehog working his way through the oak.
Black quills protruded from a brown overcoat and out from under a grey cap. Heavy brown gloves stretched over his wrists, gripping the axe as it came down into an ever expanding trench in the wood. Black boots reached past his ankles, braced against the log as it creaked in protest under its own weight. With a grunt, the hedgehog brought the axe down one more time, crashing through what was left of the gash and separating the two halves.
Once again, the crowd was a mix of reactions, with some in wonder at the feat and others put off by the seemingly unnatural stamina coupled with the woodcutters grim demeanor. Many of them had heard of the strange hermit or had even seen him coming into town to sell firewood and charcoal. He rarely seemed to speak and kept to himself, usually avoiding others during his visits. Some whispered about his identity, his description matching that of a rather controversial figure.
A nervous, elderly vole approached the hedgehog as he began dragging the now severed portion of lumber out of the road, shrinking back a bit as an intense pair of red eyes locked onto him.
"Um, we appreciate the help," he managed to sputter. "We set aside some funds to have the tree cleared, but if you'd like-"
"The tree will do." The woodcutter interjected, his voice like smoke. "It'll make for good firewood with some time."
"Oh, right, of course." The elder said, clearly relieved to be exiting the conversation. "Well, um, I'll just leave you to it."
As the vole hurried off and the crowd dispersed, the hedgehog took up his axe, only to notice the base of his right glove had been hiked up while dragging the log. A golden shimmer peaked out from beneath and he stared at it for a moment, before warily dragging the garment back in place.
"Mr. Shadow!"
Shadow the Hedgehog quickly glanced behind him to spot a small, pale rabbit in an orange coat and dress dashing towards him and waving. A Chao wearing a red bow tie floated along after her, mirroring her cheerful demeanor. A smirk briefly graced Shadow's features, though it remained hidden behind a red scarf.
"Cream, what are you doing out here?" He asked the young girl. The question sounded like a reprimand, but Cream the Rabbit appeared unfazed.
"I'm running an errand for Mama." She replied, holding up a grocery bag. "She forgot some things when she went shopping."
A hum was Shadow's only reply as he began hacking the limbs off of the fallen tree. Cream had always been less apprehensive of him than the villagers, likely because they had met well before he began living in this area. He preferred not to think of that time, but the event seemed to endear him to the young girl. Every so often, she would make a point of interacting with him when he was in town. He'd even met her mother, Vanilla, on occasion and she seemed no more apprehensive than her daughter. It was a strange sensation to the hedgehog for such ordinary people to treat him so warmly, not that he disliked it.
"Still, did you really cut down that tree, Mister Shadow?" She asked, poorly masking her wonder at the feat.
"Technically it had already fallen over." Shadow remarked, having already made it through half the branches on the trunk. A neat pile was growing well away from the road as Shadow worked and Cream giggled.
"I'm surprised the villagers aren't thanking you more." She said, oblivious to the fear the others showed the black hedgehog.
"It's only natural." Shadow said, throwing a few more branches onto the pile. "I'm a former fugitive on the heels of a global invasion. And that's just what the public knows."
"But that's not your fault!" Cream said with a pout, now sitting on a nearby stone. "You've always helped out around town. You even saved me and Cheese from that spooky castle. Not to mention fighting off those aliens!"
Shadow stopped at the last sentence, locked in place by a flash of memory. Images of ruin and disaster passed through his mind, his grip tightening on the haft of his axe.
"Mr. Shadow?"
The young girl snapped the hedgehog out of his morbid trance, causing him to blink a few times and steady his nerves.
"Cream?"
"Yes?
"Don't you think you should be heading home now?" Shadow said, staring ahead as he internally collected himself. "I'm sure your mother's waiting."
Cream's eyebrows furrowed in concern, but she decided not to press the matter. "I guess so." She said somewhat incredulously. "It was nice talking to you, Mister shadow. I'll tell Mama you said hi!" With that the girl regained her cheerful demeanor and ran off, Cheese following close behind.
Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose, a bit disappointed with himself. He knew not to blame the young girl. This wasn't something she could understand and more importantly, he should be beyond this sort of behavior by now.
After finishing with the branches, Shadow tied a rope around one end of the log and began dragging it along the ground. A few passersby stopped in their tracks at the act.
The sun was at its peak when the hermit made it to his home, deep in the woods. It was originally a private hunting cabin, though modest in size and long since abandoned. While it may have been downright luxurious in the past, it had taken quite a bit of work to make it livable again, evident by the patchwork repairs to the roof and windows.
A pair of large, white ears perked at the sound of approaching footsteps, along with the object being dragged behind them. A pair of half-lidded, sky-blue eyes glanced over at the oncoming hedgehog, pink lips curling into a smirk. The figure leaning against the wall wore a burgundy overcoat that went past her thighs, along with a matching beret, brown gloves, and a pair of white boots that stopped just below the knee.
"Shadow the Lumberjack!" The bat called out in amusement, giving her wings a stretch as she stepped forward. "I've finally seen it all."
"Rouge…" Shadow regarded her as he pulled the log alongside his home. It didn't look like it would rain for some time, so he wouldn't need to cover it for now. "I can't imagine you came all this way to see the sights." He left his axe against the side of the cabin as he went to the door.
"Hey, don't knock the real estate you've got here." Said Rouge the Bat with a cheeky grin. "Even if the accommodations are a bit…lacking"
Shadow scoffed, but couldn't help a slight smirk. A part of him certainly missed his old friend, though he'd never say it out loud.
"Well, you came all this way." He said as he opened the door. "Might as well come in and warm up."
A wood burning stove crackled and flickered, warming the small living space. Shadow and Rouge had both removed their hats, the former doffing the scarf he'd worn on the way here and exposing the patch of white fur on his chest. A tea kettle and two steaming cups sat between them.
"I gotta say, for what it is, you did alright out here." She said looking around the modest home. The walls were mostly bare aside from various tools and the kitchen was no more than a space for plates, pots, and cooking utensils. "Throw in a hot tub and I might just have to take it off your hands."
"Right, you living without electricity." Shadow said with a chuckle. "As if you'd last a day."
"Honey, if I can put up with your gloomy shtick, I can handle anything."
Shadow responded with another chuckle as he closed his eyes, savoring the nostalgia and sipping his tea.
"Rouge…" His change in tone made the bat's ears twitch, eyes shifting away from the window to see her host looking at her again. "Why did you come here?"
She paused for a moment, before sighing.
"Party pooper." She muttered before taking a sip and setting her cup down. "The good Doctor's been behaving…strangely."
"Does he ever behave normally?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Said the forest-dwelling hermit from outer space." Rouge fired back, causing the hedgehog to flinch a little. "I mean he's not playing his usual game. His attacks seem…random. There's no clear rhyme or reason to them." She set down her glass and took a deep breath. "And all this started after he broke into a G.U.N. archive."
Shadow narrowed his eyes.
"You're saying he found something that set this behavior off?"
Rouge nodded.
"I couldn't be sure at first." She said, chin propped up by her elbow. "So I did some digging, pulled some strings." The bat looked down for a moment, a little hesitant. "Shadow, some of…well, most of the data was from fifty years ago."
Shadow froze, eyes wide. Rouge's calm facade broke for a moment at his reaction, but she quickly returned to her previous expression and continued. "Nobody's entirely sure, but they don't think he was looking for those files specifically. It looks like he was digging for weapons data and pulled out when he got to this information in particular."
The hedgehog didn't respond, but his hand began to tighten into a fist, a slight tremor running through him. His crimson eyes were glassy and distant.
"Shadow?"
His eyes darted towards Rouge, refocusing before looking around again to get his bearings.
"That…" He only just realized his breathing had stopped, taking a moment to collect himself before speaking again. "That no longer involves me."
Rouge's mouth hung open, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"But…Shadow, you have to realize how this lines up, right?" She said, the sultry mask now gone.
"That isn't my life anymore" He replied coldly, his guest growing visibly frustrated.
"And what if this has something to do with-"
"Enough!" Shadow's voice erupted in the small cabin, causing Rouge to recoil. The black hedgehog took a deep breath and closed his eyes, slowly exhaling as he regained his composure. "I've left that behind me." He opened his eyes and looked at the bat with a pleading expression. "Please, let's just leave it at that."
Rouge averted her eyes for a moment before resuming her usual expression
"Of course, right." She said, her smile painted back on again. "This was just a courtesy call. You've got a nice thing going here, wouldn't wanna ruin that."
Rouge finished her tea and stood up.
"I should get going." She said as she moved towards the door. "It was fun seeing you again, handsome." Another cheeky grin painted her features as she winked. "Even if your place is a dump."
In spite of himself, Shadow let out one more chuckle for his guest. "You too, Rouge."
There was a weight to the air between them as Rouge stood from her seat and moved for the door, pausing just as she opened it.
"Just…don't go and leave everything behind you, alright?" She said with an uncharacteristically sympathetic smile, before leaving the cabin and taking to the sky.
Shadow closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. It had been some time since he'd seen his old partner in crime and he wondered if he could have handled that better.
Shaking his head and rising to his feet, the reclusive hedgehog donned his hat and scarf once more and made his way outside, grabbing a saw on the way out. He had sunlight enough to cut the log he'd brought home into sections, which he could split in the morning. A bit of labor would help take his mind off…everything. Under normal circumstances, dividing the entire trunk would take two adults an entire day with hand tools. In Shadow's case, it would take a few hours.
As the sun began to set, the woodcutter patted the sawdust from his gloves and coat as he looked over his handywork, allowing himself a contented sigh. When he began his seclusion, Shadow was unsure how he would occupy himself and expected to be incredibly bored. To his pleasant surprise, he found this sort of steady, patient work enjoyable. The consistent back and forth of the saw and rhythmic thunk of an axe was practically trance inducing, keeping him firmly anchored in the moment and allowed him to enjoy the sounds and smells of the forest. It pulled him from unwanted thoughts and memories, making it easier for him to live in the present.
Unfortunately, with nothing but dinner left on the agenda, Shadow's thoughts inevitably drifted back to Rouge's words earlier. After setting a pot of soup stock on the stove top to boil, the hedgehog began chopping some vegetables. The meaning behind 'fifty years ago' wasn't lost on him of course. There would be very little worth archiving from that time that didn't relate to Project Shadow.
The namesake of that project mentally kicked himself for letting his mind wander to that subject, throwing the vegetables into the pot along with some meat he'd gotten during his trip into town. His cooking wasn't anything to brag about, but he'd improved considerably since he moved here, out of sheer necessity of course.
The cold night settled in around Shadow's isolated cabin, bringing with it an extra chill. Winter had yet to settle in, but the Autumn air was already becoming frigid. Another log in the stove ensured a comfortable warmth in the small house. The bed that came with the cabin was in far more disrepair than the building itself and, rather than waste money or time acquiring a new one, Shadow opted for some simple bedding he could place on the floor when needed.
Settling in a comfortable distance from the stove, the hedgehog attempted to banish any further thoughts of the past. He'd worked hard to create a life for himself here, however meager it was. Sonic or GUN could contend with whatever nonsense the Doctor was scheming. Shadow was through with that life.
Morning came with the usual tossing and turning through the night. Shadow greeted the morning with a pan of sizzling bacon, scrambled eggs, and buttery toast. A bag of coffee beans sat next to the plate of food, the hedgehog occasionally pinching a few to eat along with the rest of his breakfast. For just a moment, he found himself enjoying his morning, mind finally off the uncomfortable topics of the previous evening.
That moment was shattered by a tremor through the air, almost too subtle to notice. Shadow paused mid bite, hoping against hope that it was simply his imagination. That too was dashed against the rocks as the sensation repeated itself. Dropping his fork and all but leaping out of his seat, he rushed out the door without his hat and scarf.
"No…"
One look at the skyline in the distance was all it took to confirm his fears
"No, no, no!"
Shadow took off at a dead sprint, bounding through the forest towards the plumes of smoke coming from town.
Author's Note:
Hey there.
If you made it this far, thanks! This is my first time posting fanfiction, so I appreciate anyone giving it a shot.
This is sort of a jumble of idea that have been stuck in my head for a while, one of them being a 'what if' scenario with Shadow taking the whole 'leave the past behind bit' with way more gusto.
The other idea was the thought of a Sonic story in the likeness of the 'Tales of' series (look em up there great). Would love to see your thoughts on it!
Also, apologies if the post rate gets sloppy, I have a fairly busy schedule and a minor inconvenience called ADHD.