Chapter Text
Hedgehog Village lay silent, dilapidated buildings unmoving in the dimness of ending night. Holes punctured wooden walls, some collapsed or gone entirely, splintered into fragments from months of battle. Thatched roofs had been thrown across the ground with a scant few providing pockets of shelter that went unused. Metal and rebar was strewn about the old cobbled paths, debris from the scarred walls too. Homes and stores were silent, abandoned since that fateful day, when a hero fell.
The main hall, where the mayor once conducted business, was half destroyed. Its eastern wing had been flattened while the western side remained somewhat intact with a few shattered windows. A large chunk of the stairs had been carved out, the missing piece halfway across the hamlet after being thrown in battle.
A figure slipped in through the double doorway, one completely torn from the hinges and the other days from falling off the frame. The interior was covered in a layer of dust with the decorations and stair rails in various states of disrepair. They paid no mind to it all, quickly making their way to an upturned classroom. Shifting some desks and chairs they slipped down into the trapdoor swiftly.
Red eyes watched intently as the little wooden cover clicked closed from the shadows.
.
.
.
“Tails, is it ready?”
Her voice was rough, parched from lack of water. She must have forgotten to hydrate earlier. But it had become so easy to forget even basic things nowadays.
The basement under the town hall was cramped, its brick walls doing much to make them feel trapped rather than safe. A bunker left unused for generations - it served as a decent enough hiding space, and had been so for months. Machinery now littered the room with a mattress or two crammed into a distant corner.
A large ear twitched. The chair swivelled with a creak and a pair of well-worn goggles slid back onto the top of a golden head. Dark circles and dimmed sky blue eyes regarded her, a hand still hovering over a rusty console keyboard cobbled together with scraps. Brown fur bridged his face like a mask that barely hid the grief and fatigue. His white-and-brown tipped namesakes brushed over the floor.
“About as ready as it can be,” he rasped in a low, deep voice. “Is anyone up there?”
“No, same as before. Shadow hasn’t made an appearance either.”
“We only have a short window to act, Amy,” Tails reminded her. “If there’s even a chance he followed you…”
“I was careful,” Amy huffed.
The fox rolled his eyes and turned back to the console, keys clicking under his deft fingers. Three Ancient Crystals - golden sun, ruby heart, crackling blue blocks - glowed on the platforms surrounding a large metal ring gate. Wires of all sorts snaked over the ground between each component of Tails’ magnum opus - a result of months of struggle and desperation.
Their near-year of conflict would soon be over.
Amy touched a hand to the brown scarf around her neck, breathing in the stale scent of ocean air and spice. She closed her eyes and imagined selfishly that she could hear that laugh of his again. That loud, boisterous laughter or even the soft chuckle reserved just for them - his friends, his family.
She would not fail him again. She would protect that light this time.
Amy squared herself as the machine whirred to life, sparks arcing and dancing within the ring of the gate. The Crystals’ glow intensified and they began trembling on their designated podiums. She covered her eyes against the bright flash that followed and beheld the swirl of red, yellow, and sweet blue before them.
“The date’s set,” Tails announced. He gave her a sorrowful stare, his smile half-hearted and tired. “Just step on through.”
A nod was exchanged, and she took a deep breath. Her heart fluttered within her chest and her mind floated just on the edges of perception. Slowly but surely she stepped towards the portal to their salvation.
On the other side she would see him again.
Amy startled when a loud crash came from behind. She whipped around, unfurling her hammer from the compact handle. Her breath caught in her throat at the red eyes glaring from the dark.
Heavy metallic steps parted the dust. Those jet boots of white, black and red. Obsidian fur streaked with blood-red stripes. Golden rings on the wrists and ankles like manacles of some unseen chain. A white crest of fur upon a broad chest, an ill-fitting badge of honour in its shape.
Shadow.
The tyrant of this island.
His eyes glanced over them, like they were trivial things, and narrowed on the portal behind her. That frown twisted into a smirk with a taunting fang.
“A foolish trick,” he scoffed.
A snap and blink, and Tails grunted from being thrown into the wall. Amy charged the dark hedgehog with a roar. Her hammer found nothing but air. She twirled the handle to parry a punch but took a second to her side.
Amy clawed herself to a stop and growled. Picking herself back up off the ground, she glared at Shadow as he sauntered closer to her - and the gateway back in time.
Another charge and swing the monster dodged. More punches and kicks parried with luck and a sturdy hammer shaft. Dust kicked up, metal crumpling, shouts and grunts.
A hard backhand to the face sent her sprawling. She faintly made out the snarls of Tails above before he too was thrown aside for another time. How many times had he been hit now?
Amy shook her head, dragging herself back up. She saw the monster now steps away from the portal.
Unacceptable.
Her hammer went flying, bouncing off metal and clocking him in the head. Satisfaction flickered inside her at his grunt. Red eyes turned to glare at her as she picked her weapon up off the ground.
Sparks crawled between them over the floor, walls, and ceiling. The metallic ring shuddered and the portal’s light bathed them all in shifting hues. Only one would go through-
No, the gateway was destabilising. The swirling colours were spinning faster, the whirring now at a fever pitch as more and more arcs of light sparked the air. She could see the Crystals visibly vibrating on the platforms, seams between metal growing wider each second. Tails was cursing somewhere by the console.
Amy roared and tackled Shadow, hammer digging into his torso. Light enveloped them into the sudden freefall. A faint boom echoed distantly as the swirl of colour carried both her and Shadow down, down, down.
The last thing she knew before it all went blank was the glimpse of something midnight navy between his quills.
A favour for Rouge.
It was a simple request: back her up while infiltrating one of the Doctor’s old fortresses. Something about it holding Black Arms data from the invasion that G.U.N wanted to have, to see if it matched the detailed research notes of the Ark.
He had not anticipated it becoming a brawl involving a certain blue hedgehog and his friends over a certain prize: the green Chaos Emerald.
Grabbing a fistful of red fabric, Shadow threw his rival hard towards a wall. The other curled up and bounced back. He dodged to the side, blocking the next hit with an inhibitor ring. A kick to the ball of blue before their fists and feet clashed over and over again.
That smirk and acidic green eyes only fuelled him onward. This hedgehog bothered him deeply, challenging and taunting without words, some unknowable spark in that gaze. He could see the other was having fun with this like he did with almost everything else in life. The excitement was infectious, he had to admit.
Shadow once again grappled the star-spring jacket to force the other down. But Sonic continued to wrestle him in return. The green glint of the Emerald nearby was enticing, far more palatable than the eyes of his rival, and he would not let the blue hero take it this time.
It was his .
He jabbed the blue hedgehog in the gut and made a break for it, evading the other’s attempts to grab him. It slotted into his hand perfectly and he could not help but smirk back at Sonic. The other’s bristling quills were a delight to see, given how unbothered the hero would be most days.
Tightening his grip on the Emerald, Shadow tapped into its power without hesitation.
“Chaos Control!”
But instead of everything slowing to a stop like expected, everything went white as his body was reduced to nothing. Every sense steadily snatched away, agony blazing through every atom in less than a heartbeat.
Time was meaningless.
Coarse softness cradled his side before it too faded.
He could have sworn he heard a familiar voice, in a tone he did not recognise.
“Shadow?”
Then nothing.