The Difficult Task of Raising a Weapon

Shadow: It's Not Fair!

Author's Note: This chapter picks up shortly after Shadow first crash lands on Earth, right after Maria was killed on the Space Colony ARK. Shadow is still discovering his powers, the only of which he knows being Chaos Spear, Chaos Fire, and spindashing. The 50-years-ago Commander of G.U.N. is Jonathan Nefario, a fancharacter of mine. The chapter POV can be seen in the chapter's title, this one being Shadow's.

I open my eyes.

Ugh...What...? Shaking my head in a vain attempt to clear my mind, I sit up, sunlight streaming through the clear tube I'm in. Clear tube... No, escape pod... But why...?

"*Gasp!*" I snap to full awareness as my memories return in droves. No... No... No... She can't really be gone... No! She just CAN'T be dead! My breath crackles through my parched throat; I start to hyperventilate. Biting my lip as hard as I can, I try to focus on a pain I can deal with. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

Stars... Maria... Maria... Why? Why did you have to be so selfless? Why didn't you let me protect you? Why? My eyes flash open; I hadn't even realized they were closed. Why, Maria?! WHY?! Clenching my drowsy muscles, I shake as I review my memories of her martyrdom. Watching them through a screen of reality, I remember our mad dash through the ARK. I observe my mistakes and feel awful. If only I had run faster... If only I had destroyed those men when I had the chance... If only I had convinced Maria to come with me!!! It's not fair! None of this is fair!

She was a girl who never did anything wrong to anyone, but she still died. She suffered her entire life from a disease she didn't deserve! Then someone comes along and shoots her for trying to help me! And I couldn't stop them, not with my powers, not with anything! My chest is tighter than should be possible, and I can't stop the racking sobs that tear through me as I huddle in the corner of the pod. And now... She's gone, and Gerald's probably gone, too. All Maria wanted, all Gerald wanted, all I wanted was to live in peace and to use me as a cure for her, but people attacked anyways! What fairness exists in this world that allows something like that to happen to people so undeserving of their demise? Nothing this awful should be allowed to happen! How is this allowed to happen?! Why can't the world be fair?! Letting conscious thoughts slip away from me, all I can hear in my head is Maria's voice as she told me her wish. All my ears can hear are my gasping breaths, and my occasional sobs. My face is soaked with my tears, and my fur is wet with the ones that have fallen.

!Whoosh! I start back to awareness as my brain is yanked from its numb state.

!Shffshhh! I whip my head around, looking for the source of the sounds.

!!Clank!! !!ClankClankClank!! Something metal--clamps perhaps?--is gripping the pod between several mechanical digits. What the hec--?!

"What the?!?!" I yelp as the pod is ripped from the rocks in which it crashed. Thrown forward, I twist and let my back and head spines take the brunt of the impact as I smack into the other side of the pod. Glancing downwards through the tube, I see through blurry eyes the ridge of granite stone, which I had slammed into only a short time before. The impact was so great, it had knocked me unconscious. Looking upwards through the clear material, I see an enormous ship. A circular logo is blazed on the bottom of it. My stomach twists itself into knots as I read it. The letters G.U.N. arch over a large seal, and I somehow know what the letters stand for. "The Guardian Units of Nations"? My heart pounds as I see a hatch open on the ship, and I roll onto my stomach and raise to my hands and knees as the pod is placed inside.

"*Gasp!*" The world freezes around me as I see the soldiers inside. Those uniforms... These are the same people who killed Maria! The knowledge of who now holds me in their grasp is enough to send me into another fit of crying, but I try to clear my eyes as the pod is dropped onto the metal floor. "Gah!" I let out another yelp as I lose my balance and tumble forwards.