Shadow: Awakening II

Shadow: Maria's Wish

Satisfaction floods through me as Gerald starts to talk, and a feeling of accomplishment tingles prominently through my body. Sonic sees what I'm looking at, a bewildered look covering his face as the Professor begins the message he recorded so long ago.

"The countdown marking my final revenge has begun! This is a death sentence for every human being on Earth; in just a few minutes, you will all be destroyed! If my calculations are correct, the Space Colony ARK will hurtle through the atmosphere and crash into this planet with cataclysmic force! In just 27 minutes and 53 seconds, every single one of you will be gone. You took Maria from me, and now I shall take from you all you have ever cared about. You will all feel my loss, and despair as you watch your death--as well as the deaths of all of your friends, your family--arrive! You shall all be punished for your crimes even as I shall be. For this is my revenge!" Gerald stops talking, and a voice sounds from the footage that is not his.

"Is that all you want to say?" It asks, and Gerald's voice replies with a croaky, tired, "No." The voice that I don't know, the one which is not Gerald's, shouts, "Ready!" My throat tightens for a second as I look at what I know is the last footage of Gerald when he was alive. His old, wheezing body more bedraggled than it was when I knew him. His once proud and outlandish mustache looking limp and worn. The horrible chains restraining him to the last moment.

I gaze upon the nightmarish image of the man who created me being sentenced to the fate I was supposed to share. The fate that so quickly ended Maria's life. It feels like a physical wound to know Gerald was helpless to stop himself from being killed. That he instead put all of his faith in me, and remained sure I would follow his orders even after his death. And he was right; I have.

The recording cuts off, but not before the hideous sound of gunfire is heard, its awful din now being associated with the death's of both my best friend and creator. I can't afford to dwell on Gerald's death. Not when I have a world to destroy.

"Sonic," I shout gruffly, my voice feeling rough with emotion, "your time is running out!" Turning, I leap far towards the ceiling, choosing to watch Gerald's revenge--my revenge--unfold from one of the windows of the ARK. I quickly land on a railed catwalk, revving my speed and disappearing from Sonic's sight. It doesn't take me long before I find a window with a gorgeous view of the doomed planet.

Despite the triumph I feel, my mood is somber as I view the last minutes of the planet's life. Of Earth's life. The planet who took Maria from me, will now meet its final fate at my hands. Fitting, in a way, that Gerald would make the plan and I would carry it out. It proves that I really am a weapon at heart. I'll become what humans meant me to be, but by doing so I will ensure their destruction. And they brought this, all of this, upon themselves. Their choices have lead to their end.

"Shadow! We need you! Please, help us!" A voice cries behind me, and I whirl in surprise to see the pink Mobian who mistook me for Sonic on Prison Island. Scoffing at her pleading expression, I turn around and physically ignore her.

"Everything is going according to plan; there's no reason for me to help them." I respond, hoping to drive the annoying girl away. "Besides, there's no way to save the world now."

"There has to be!" She insists, and casts her eyes downwards. "I know people fight over the most trivial things, and some are even selfish, like the Professor said. But, they're still basically good!

"If they try their best and never give up on their wishes, then they can always find a reason to be happy. And that's why you should help them! Saving the world is a good thing to do! Shadow, I beg of you! Please, give them a chance! Give them a chance to be happy!" The girl begs, and I don't need to turn around to see that her eyes are wide and sincere.