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Chapter Text

The power from the chaos emeralds made Sonic and Shadow invincible. These super forms gave them the power of gods, and their fight across the surface of the earth proved that. Moving from continent to continent in a matter of seconds was something any adventurous person would envy- but right now Sonic and shadow were at each other’s throats.

A punch from one, cause a punch from the other, both of them evenly matched while fighting. And soon, at the mention of the name Tom, Sonic punched Shadow in the muzzle sending him 60 miles past the atmosphere of earth and even further up to travel the great distance it takes to get to the moon. As Shadow tumbled across the curvature of the moon, he felt the ethereal gold-white from his fur leave his body.

The other hedgehog followed, colliding with Shadow, dragging him through the rocky surface of the moon. The impact caused a long creator to take form below them. Shadow looked up at a super powered Sonic. A super powered Sonic who was mad. A super powered Sonic who wanted revenge. Shadow understood the pain and rage in Sonic’s now red eyes. He also wanted revenge, and blinded by emotion that was the only path he wanted to take. It seamed that Sonic felt that way too. He felt that way because Shadow had hurt that human- Tom -the human that shadow had come to understand acted as the blue hedgehogs father figure. Sonic had a right to be mad. Shadow understood that anger and pain. Shadow understood that Sonic was seeking revenge, as was he. Shadow understood that he deserved this.

Sonics breath was let out in angry huffs, his fist up right next to his face, prepared to strike. Shadow was waiting for Sonic to do it. To finish him off. The ultimate lifeform had done what he needed too… he was done waiting. 50 damn years of the same damn events replaying over and over and over in his head- he wanted it to stop. He was more ready than any other time for it to end. Right then and there he wanted to die.

Before this, it was a simple lingering feeling of missing Maria, and hating living without her. It was what drove him here. Being here, almost facing death, being so close to it… a sense of peace, of relief washed over the dark hedgehog. He would finally rest. He would potentially see Maria. He was ready.

“Go ahead, finish it” Shadow bit with his words. “What are you waiting for? Do it! I’m right here” He heard Sonics loud breathing, morphing from ragged angry huffs to regretful groans when shadow pointed to his chest. Sonic’s eyes were once angry, but now he looked.. scared.

“This.. is not who I am” Sonic said after releasing shadow from his grasp. He began to walk away to sit down a couple feet from shadow, and he sat up confused.

“What are you doing? You won, take your revenge” Sonic sat down, and Shadows gaze stayed directed towards Sonic, anticipating an answer. Watching how Sonic willingly shifted from his golden invincible form to his normal blue hue. It was such a strange yet satisfying awing sight.

“There are no winners with revenge”

Shadows attention shifted from Sonic’s blue fur to his words, as he allowed his gaze soften, realizing the truth in Sonic’s somber tone. His sight shifted to look up at all the stars. There was even more visible here than on earth, because of the moons lack of atmosphere. He stared up. Watching the stars twinkle and shine. He remembered Maria.

“Wow, look at all those stars” Maria’s voice echoed in Shadow’s mind. “They’re like diamonds”

Shadow, decided to speak “The last time I sat beneath stars like this… I was with her” He doesn’t know why he said it. Why he chose to be so vulnerable right after he was almost killed by who he was talking to. Maybe it’s because he’s been holding this in for so long. Maybe it’s because he wants to try and find a connection with somebody who somewhat knows what he’s feeling. Maybe it’s because of that throbbing feeling that consumes Shadow’s heart every time Sonic’s around. It could be one of the three, neither, or all… he didn’t know. But he still continued “I’ve felt this pain for so long.. it’s all I know”

“When I lost Lostclaw, I felt the same way” now shadow didn’t know who the FUCK Longclaw was, but.. there was the common ground he in a way wanted to find. Sonic had lost somebody, and he understands Shadow. But how was he so.. happy? So upbeat all the time?

“Did your pain eventually go away?” Shadow asked, hopefully

“No,” Sonic shook his head lightly, “but with time I learned there was something more powerful than pain.. the love we felt for each other.” Sonic looked at shadow tenderly, making that small ache in Shadow’s chest grow “That’s what you need to hold on to Shadow. Maria might be gone, but your love with always remain” Shadow wondered if that really worked. As if on cue, the sun showed itself through the curved shape of the earth, hitting the moon where Sonic and shadow were now. They basked in the warm glow from the big star in the middle of the solar system.

“A light shines even though the star is gone” Shadow said, remembering Maria’s words. The eclipse canon caught both their eyes. A pained feeling stabbed shadows gut

“This whole mess is my fault” shadow began again “I was so blinded by rage, I thought, I had no choice” It had always felt like Shadow had no choice. From the small decisions, like staying in the crab with agent stone, to punching Tom thinking he was commander Walters, it had always felt like he had no choice. It was his emotions that made it feel that way. Gerald made it feel that way. Gerald made it be that way.

Sonic changed that. He stood up and extended his hand.

“You always have a choice” He gave Shadow a choice to do what is right, to do what Maria would’ve truly wanted. To be a hero, and not kill everyone. Shadow took a moment to think. To choose. And he decided. He took sonic hand. The small warmth from grabbing Sonic’s hand gave him that ache in his heart once again.

“And making the right one is never easy”
Sonic looked at shadow with a proud and understanding smile on his face. The throbbing feeling inside, turned into warmth. A familiar warmth. Doing the right thing isn’t supposed to be easy, as Sonic said. The small warmth from grabbing Sonic’s hand gave him that throbbing feeling around his heart again, but this time it felt… good. The feeling made him stay. To fight side by side and stop the eclipse canon with Sonic.

He chose right. He made the right decision.

“One more this I learned, is that when you really screw something up, you can’t fix it on your own” Sonic gave Shadow a knowing smile, a smirk telling him that they were gonna do this together. And Shadow couldn’t help but return that dumb smirk. Right hands still joined together, their left arms swing up as they met in sync bringing them back to their super forms. The rush of more chaos energy in Shadows veins gave such a sense of euphoria, as well as seeing Sonic in his super form right next to him. He wasn’t alone.

“Gotta go fast” the blue hedgehog said with pride. Shadow couldn’t help but smile

“Don’t tell me you have a catchphrase”

“That’s right new hedgehog! And everyone loves it”

Then they both took off. Both of them were swirling and flying in tempo, like a melody. The harmony was felt by the two hedgehogs as they as they flew towards the eclipse canon. Shadow felt that warmth again. The warmth he felt with Maria when Shadow was done testing for the day and they can play together. The warmth that came from watching non-alien based movies with her until midnight. The warmth that dared to make the corners of the his lips curl up into a smile, betraying the usual pout he had on his face. From the first clasp of their hands, to the rhythmic fighting throughout space, there was that warmth. Feeling that warmth and being super charged with Sonic- Shadow felt like a star. Like a star that Maria would point at and explain the science of. Like a star in a constellations Maria studied and became obsessed with. Like a star Maria would show Shadow, theorizing where he had came from.

“A light shines even when the star is gone”

And Shadow was that light. Maria was his star, and she was gone. But maybe he found a new star. A usually-blue-now-gold star. And maybe he can learn how to grow, to heal with a new star.

As the ray powered up, Sonic and shadow raced to it, destroying robots in their way trying to make it to shield the planet from being destroyed. The beam shot down as Sonic and shadow were flying up.

“This might hurt a little!” Sonic had yelled
As the beam met the palms of both the hedgehogs. It did hurt. And not a little.

“Was this your plan?” Shadow yelled at Sonic. He was met with strained grunts. They stayed there a while, both the hedgehogs struggled noises mixing together. Whoever was piloting the canon, needed to hurry.

“I.. can’t…”
Shadow barely glances back at Sonic as his golden form bleeds back to blue, the beam prevailed.

The force sped towards the earth.

And earth got hit.

Shadow watched as the laser scorched the surface of the planet, causing pieces of each of the continents to explode. The continents sonic and shadow once flew past. Magma and pieces of land were burned, floating as the blast from the ray spread out, exploding the moon and the eclipse canon with it. Shadow failed. And he just floated there and watched. The guilt was eating at his heart from the inside. The guilt of not catching Sonic when he fell. The guilt from not doing what Maria would’ve wanted. The guilt from not realizing he had a choice sooner. The boom from the canon grew and grew hitting Shadow. The feeling of being burned consumed the black hedgehog. If the guilt didn’t eat him alive, the flames would. And soon his vision went black

Until it wasnt.

Chapter Text

Shadow thought he was dead. He really hoped he was dead actually. There was no real chance that he would survive that explosion. It destroyed the whole earth, including the moon, but here he was. Thinking. What was that phrase he once read say? To think is to be or something like that.

He found out he wasn’t dead as his vision faded in, he saw black scattered with stars, which were as bright as they were when Sonic and shadow sat on the moon. Shadow analyzed his surroundings, only to find what was presumably Earth. Can you even call it earth anymore? It was a sight to see. A horrible sight to see. The Earth was shattered. Broken into chunks of either burnt or destroyed land. Reminints of buildings and landforms floated from a magma core, the lava flowing out slowly. The layers of the earth were also falling away from eachother. The moon was also destroyed. The stray rock began to stray away from the moons initial orbit space. Same wa happening with what was left of the broken planet. The Eclipse canon was nowhere to be found, maybe it wasn’t strong enough to brave the blast. But, Shadow was?

The partials floating from the planet.. were almost beautiful, shadow thought. Then the thought of even admiring the sparkle of them gutted Shadow. Why would he even dare think that? What beauty can be found in this? The world was gone and it was his fault. He could feel something bubbling up within him, as he floated there in space. Cold and distant from the used-to-be planet Maria loved so much.

Maria.

She was fucking dead and so was everyone else. Forget the happiness he felt when Sonic spared him. Fuck that. He wished Sonic had gone through. Finished him off. But he didn’t. He decided to do the right thing. He decided to give Shadow a choice. He didn’t have to. Sonic could’ve gotten his revenge. And shadow would be somewhere better, somewhere better than this. Sonic-

Sonic

The last thing shadow remembers about Sonic was watching his blue body float away from the eclipse canon- no. No

An ache consumed his chest. The same ache shadow felt when he was helplessly calling out Maria’s name hoping she was alive. He activated his air shoes and as fast as he could hovered to what remained of the once alive planet. Sonic hadn’t fallen straight into the atmosphere right? He could breathe in space, and he was very strong, so he could survive right? He had too, he just had to. Please… please let him be alive.

Shaodw flew towards Earth, hopelessly rummaged through the debris’s, looking through floating pieces of dirt and rock, and other things that were starting to freeze due to the lack of pressure and heat in space. As he shuffled through the pieces, he became desperate.

Maria. Sonic

Both names echoed through shadows mind as he tried to find something. Something that was at least worth a little bit of the hope he allowed himself to feel.

After what felt like a million years and a million pieces of matter… He found it. A decimated once-blue body, except this time the color in turn of blue wasn’t gold. It was black. And ashy grey rotting black. It wasn’t like shadows quills, no.. it was.. a dead black. A lifeless color. Shadow forced himself to take in the sight of Sonic’s burnt dead body. If Sonic was falling from space to earth, and this was the damage… Shadow couldn’t even begin to imagine how anybody else looked. He was missing 3 of his limbs, the only one that was somewhat intact was his right arm. And even there the fur was burned clean off, leaving his arms a light pink. The numbs that took place had a bone sticking out of each one. Cracks were visible through the tar like coating covering the ends of the numbs. Sonic’s face, the face that once faithfully smirked at Shadow was.. deformed. His eyes were closed shut and sealed by grime form the burns. Through the bottom of Sonic’s muzzle, his lower jaw can be seen, the same tar texture coating the surface of the bones. Sonic quills were burned off too, and then lead to the back of Sonic head. The burns had gone well past his skull, as his brain seemed to be burned. What was supposed to be fleshy pink was shit brown and ashy black. Some quills still floated around, matching the burned state of the rest of (what remained) of Sonic’s body. Shadow almost dared himself to grab one but held back. Blood can be smelt along with the ashy remains of the earth. It was disgusting. Horrible. Nauseating. And yet, shadow still didn’t allow himself to cry.

He stayed there. Staying. Looking at the dead body. Look what you did. You ruined everything. The one person you were starting to care about it dead. And it’s all your fault. You were ignorant and didn’t even dare to look back as he fell. You ignorant piece of shit. You deserve this pain. You deserve it. You deserve it. You deserve it. YOU DESERVE IT

His body ached, his muscles burned, his whole being hurt and he wanted it to stop.
The sight of the earth wasn’t helping.
Just a reminder of what he failed to do
He doesn’t deserve to hate this pain.
He deserves it. He destroyed the earth. It was his fault. He didn’t die because he doesn’t deserve to die. He doesn’t deserve the luxury of getting what he wants. He doesn’t get the luxury of keeping what he wants. He deserves to get it all stripped away from him cause all he is and ever will be, was a science experiment. His head throbbed, as emotions kept on coming and taking turns ripping his heart into pieces. No matter what emotion it was, they were all laughing. At him. Cruel, and mockingly laughing at his face.

He wished he could die

He wished he could go back and time and be a little more stronger

He wished he could go back and save Sonic

He wished he had chosen the right side sooner

He wished Sonic didn’t have to tell him

If he didn’t tell him, shadow wouldn’t miss his voice.

You always have a choice

Not now I don’t

And I will suffer the consequences

Because it is what I deserve