Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything was all so sudden for Shadow. Hell, it had been sudden for everyone.

One moment, everything was like normal.

The next...

There's no way around it. There was no warning, nor were there any signs.

It just happened and now people were suffering because of it...

Shadow had blocked one of the doors on the way to the escape pods. There were some injured scientists in the room with them. Maria refused to leave them, and Shadow had agreed.

That was his mistake.

In minutes, the soldiers had burst through the barricade Shadow had put up. The moment he saw them, he had grabbed Maria and ran.

Of course, as luck would have it, they reached an obstacle: a fucking locked door.

While Shadow was getting it open, he heard footsteps approaching from behind. The soldiers must have figured out they had gotten away. They quickly caught up to them.

Then, there was a shot.

"Maria!" Shadow cried out.

Then came the rage.

He took off his Inhibitor Rings -- all four of them -- and he let loose. While he couldn't recall exactly what he did, the soldiers were gone when he was done with them. Reduced entirely to nothing.

When Shadow had finally gotten that damned door open, he grabbed Maria, carrying her the rest of the way. By the time they had gotten to the escape pods, his hands were covered in her blood.

Then he found out that there were no escape pods.

"Damn it! Where the hell are they?!" Shadow shouted in frustration.

It turns out that they had taken a wrong turn somewhere and were not in the room with escape pods.

All of a sudden, Shadow was encased in some kind of glass tube.

He saw Maria at a console. She was asking him to help the people of Earth, as though they hadn't just tried to kill her... That was Maria for you: Selfless, to a fault. Even in her last moments.

"Shadow... I beg of you... Please, do it for me... for a better future!" Maria coughed out "For all people who live on that planet... Give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason why you were brought into this world." 

She reached for a button on the console.

"Sayonara... Shadow the Hedgehog."

And then the entire world seemed to disappear, as Shadow felt himself lose consciousness.

Chapter Text

A dream. That's all it was.

It had to be.

How else could something like that have happened?

A military raid with no explanation? What a joke!

He could even see Prof. Gerald in front of him.

However, as his eyes began to adjust, Shadow realized that it wasn't his creator standing in front of him.

The man looked similar, yes, but it wasn't him. He looked far younger, and a lot more... round.

"Ah. You're finally awake." The man said "Your recovery has gone well, I see."

"Who... Who are you?" Shadow demanded "And why am I here?"

"I am Dr. Julian Ivo Robotnik." The man introduced.

“‘Robotnik’...?” Shadow mused, his voice laced with a mix of curiosity and trepidation “Then you must know Prof. Gerald, correct?”

"Indeed, I do know him." Robotnik declared, his voice carrying a weight of certainty "After all, he is my grandfather."

"So, it isn't a coincidence..." Shadow thought.

He had never met the professor's family, aside from Maria, so he was somewhat curious. However, he decided not to press the matter.

"How long have I been unconscious?" Shadow asked, still dazed from his awakening.

“If I'm being completely honest, I'm just as clueless.” Robotnik confessed “Yet, if you knew my grandfather, then it's possible that you were imprisoned as far back as fifty years ago.”

"Fifty years ago?" Shadow let out "How is that even possible?"

"Cryogenic freezing." The doctor answered "Your body was sealed away at a military base on South Island."

Then, another question entered his minds. One he found more important than any other,

"What even happened after I was sent from the ARK?" Shadow demanded, his mind filled with memories of what transpired during the raid "Who found me? When did they find me? Did anyone even survive?!"

"The only survivor of the raid was my grandfather." Robotnik informed "I honestly don't know who found you or how they did, but, apparently, you were found a year after my grandfather passed."

"How do you even know all this?" Shadow asked, his voice tinged with a mixture of curiosity and incredulity.

"I decrypted some government files that I sto- err, found." Robotnik answered, stuttering a little "Most of the details pertaining to who you are, however, seem to have been encrypted by my grandfather himself, so when I tried to decrypt them, they got irreversibly corrupted."

"I... I see..." Shadow grimly responded, his head finally clear enough to process what Robotnik had said.

Everyone that he ever knew was dead... Yet, for some reason, it didn't hurt. He just felt... empty.

Except for when he thought about...

...her...

"Now, since you've asked me so many questions, I suppose it's time I ask some of my own." Robotnik decided, interrupting Shadow's line of thought "For example: Who and what are you?"

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog, this world's Ultimate Lifeform." Shadow responded "I was created by Prof. Gerald Robotnik as part of Project: Shadow."

"I see... That explains how you knew my grandfather." Robotnik nodded "The great majority of his experiments were top secret, so I wouldn't have known."

"I see..." Shadow said absentmindedly.

As his memory became less and less hazy, he wondered why he felt so calm. These memories were probably going to cause him a lot of pain later. But, there really wasn't much he could do about it.

"You look... conflicted." Robotnik noticed "Is there anything else I should know?"

"It's nothing." Shadow lied "I'm just... coming to terms with everything."

Well... that last part was true.

His whole existence revolved around protecting others. So when the ones that he wanted to protect had died...

He almost lost control. Luckily for him, it was only an 'almost'...

Just a brief flash of anger. A flicker in the back of his mind.

Nothing more.

No emotions whatsoever.

"I see..." Robotnik said, not fully convinced "Well, I suppose I'll leave you alone."

With that, he turned around, leaving the room.

As soon as the scientist was gone, Shadow allowed himself to break down. The dam that held in his emotional turmoil broke down and tears began streaming down his cheeks.

His sobs weren't vocal or anything; they were moreso just choked-sounding breaths. He buried his face onto his knees while he sobbed quietly.

After a few minutes, he was sure that his tears wet the floor beneath him. He felt noticeably better after, though. And, with his breathing slightly normalized, he started singing to himself. He made the song up on the fly as he was singing it.

"Wish I may... Wish I might... be someone else tonight... Sometimes, I wish I was never born at all... And I'll try to save the world... 'Cause, in the end, I know..."

His voice break as he continued singing.

"...I'm the chosen one..."

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, Shadow began to properly calm down. He would occasionally have nightmares, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

All in all, things were going better than expect.

Or, at least...

That was until he stumbled upon the doctor's factory.

There he saw small, defenceless animals being put into a machine, out of which came the very same robots that were seen around the place, doing various tasks.

"Oh! Shadow!" Robotnik's voice sounded from behind him "I see you've found the factory where I produce my Badniks."

"Doctor, what is the meaning of this?!" Shadow demanded "What the hell is going on?!"

"Well, as you know, my Badniks are highly advanced robots." The doctor began "Naturally, one would wonder just what powers them, and, more importantly, why their AI varies from unit to unit."

"Then, that means..." Shadow let out.

"That's right, Shadow." Robotnik confirmed, a menacing glint appearing behind his glasses "These animals serve as both a power source and basis for the badniks' AI."

This is what the professor's grandson was truly like?!

"Now, I have an offer for you, Shadow. You can assist me in world-domination and gain a high-ranking spot in my empire, or... well... Let's not talk about what happens if you refuse." Robotnik said "So, what you say, Shadow?"

"...you sick bastard..." Shadow growled "What makes you think I would ever agree to something like this?!"

"This is exactly what I feared... It's why I didn't want you finding out yet." Robotnik muttered "Well, it's a real shame to have to do this, but I can't have you around any longer. Prepare to die!"

"And, with that, Robotnik jumped into his 'Egg-O-Matic' and started it up. Shadow began charging up Chaos Energy to attack.

Two missile launchers emerged from the sides of the machine, firing at Shadow, who used his charged energy to teleport behind the doctor and send a kick to his machine, damaging it somewhat.

"Hmph. I see I've underestimated you." Robotnik scoffed "But you won't win this fight, Shadow."

Shadow dodged some more missiles before jumping up to the machine and two more kicks and a punch at it, damaging it more.

"Tch. You fool! I'll give you one last chance to back away, before I make mincemeat out of you." Robotnik threatened.

Robotnik flew to a point where Shadow wouldn't be able to reach him, before continuing to fire missiles at Shadow. But Shadow was smarter than the doctor would think any being other than himself to be, redirecting some of the missiles back at him.

"N-No way! I can't believe this!" Robotnik gasped.

"Tch. What's wrong, Doctor?" Shadow taunted "Where was that confidence I saw just a moment ago?"

"Argh! You're not going to get away with this...!" Robotnik shouted.

Now aware that his missiles were ineffective, the mad doctor retracted their launchers and called in his Badniks to finish Shadow off, reasoning that he would be exhausted by now.

However, he had underestimated just how 'ultimate' the Ultimate Lifeform truly was.

You see, Shadow was not, in fact, exhausted. Quite the opposite, actually. This whole time, he had been charging up Chaos Energy. It was why he only Chaos Snap to teleport at the beginning of the fight. And now was time to release that energy.

"Chaos Control!" Shadow exclaimed.

Several beams of Chaos energy began to engulf the entire room, destroying the Badniks and damaging the Egg-O-Matic to the point that Robotnik was forced to land.

"Alright, then, Doctor. It's time to answer for what you've done." Shadow stated "And if think you can get away from me, you are sorely mistaken. You've seen what I'm capable of."

"I'm sorry, Shadow, but it's you who's mistaken." Robotnik responded, pulling out a device and pushing the button on it.

At that moment, the building began to shake violently, an alarm blaring as the place was covered in a red light.

"In exactly two minutes, this entire building will explode!" The mad doctor laughed "Surely, you must be exhausted from all the energy you just used up, correct?"

"What...?" Shadow let out, feeling a sudden wave of fatigue washing through his body "...damn it..."

"That means you can only save one of us!" Robotnik exclaimed, his voice tinged with lunacy.

"Tch. Very well." Shadow decided "You've made your bed, so I suppose I'll let you lie in it."

And, so, Shadow began a mad dash toward the exit, knowing that if he stopped or slowed down for even a second, it could spell the end for him.

After about a minute and a half, he was out of the building, using the remaining time to get as far from it as possible.

It wasn't a large explosion or anything, just enough to destroy the entire base.

Now, however, Shadow could think about what had just happened.

"How could the professor's grandson be so... sick...?" He muttered, before slamming his fist into a nearby tree "What the fuck is my life?!"

The tears had returned, attempting to show.

He didn't stop them.

After a long while, Shadow finally calmed down.

It was then that he vowed to protect the world. For everyone who died during the raid on the ARK.

But, most importantly, for Maria.

"This is who I am."