Nightmare Ending

Chapter 5

Shadow's p.o.v.

I groaned as I opened my eyes and came face to face with jade green eyes staring straight at me. I yelped and jolted up, hearing a giggle come from the hedgehog in front of me.

"What do you think your doing!?" I yelled at her and she giggled again

"Knuckles said that you were the last one to wake up so I came over here to see when you'll get up." I glared at her then stood up out of the bed I was given and went outside to see everyone else was already up and talking. I stomped over to Knuckles talking with Rouge and growled at him getting his attention.

"Oh, hey sleepyhead. Nice of you to join us in the waking world." he said

"I told you to keep her away from me, not to get her staring at me while I sleep!" he stood up and faced me

"Last I checked, you said that you won't tolerate her hugging you not her looking at her." 'If we weren't in the middle of a war, I would kill you myself.' I clutched my hands and stomped over to Tails and sat down beside him.

"Uh... hey Shadow. You don't look happy about something." he asked me and I crossed my arms over my chest and looked over at Knuckles, glaring at him. "Okay, well, if you don't want to say anything then you don't have to." I growled at his smug face then turned back to Tails and Cream and sighed.

"Sorry, its just that echidna is so damn annoying!" I growled and he rubbed his neck

"I told Knuckles not to but he wanted to get you back for tackling him yesterday." 'Of course that bumbling buffoon would do that to me.' I chuckled and put my hands on my hips.

"If thats how he wants to play, then I'll play that way." Cream and Tails looked at each other then back at me and I gave a dark chuckle. I stood up and walked over to Venus who was talking to Espio and Ken.

"If you want to get more help then I suggest we go with you and stop the Lord at his own game."

"That would mean a lot to the five if you could come along." Venus looked at me once I stopped beside her "Hey Shadow, now that you're awake, we should get to the other home planets and get some more help." I nodded and watched as she walked over to the others.

"Shadow, right?" I looked at Espio and nodded "I've heard from Venus how you were the last one killed." I sighed then looked down while rubbing my arm with my hand.

"Yeah well, I don't really like talking about my death." 'Little devil...'

"Oh, I didn't mean to get on a touchy subject, I just wanted to have a conversation with you." I nodded and looked at Venus walking over with everyone else.

"Alright. *Opens portal* Lets go!" she walked through and we followed. Once we landed, I looked around and saw how we were in a forest.

"Which planet did we come to this time?" Rouge asked once she dusted herself off

"Argos, home of the ghosts." Venus put her hands on her hips and looked at us "Lets try to find someone who might help us." we nodded and followed her out of the forest to a clearing where five figures were playing. A pink hedgehog was running with green one and a bee was chasing them. A purple hedgehog and an orange echidna was watching them with interest off to the side. We walked over to the two ghosts and when we got close they called in the other three.

"Hello, who are you?" the purple hedgehog asked

"I'm Shadow and these are my friends Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Cream, Venus, Ken, Espio and Rosie." I pointed to each as they waved

"It's nice to meet you all. My name is Aleena and these are my kids, Sonia and Manic."

"Hi." the green hedgehog named Manic, waved

"Hello." the pink hedgehog named Sonia smiled

"Hi there! My names Charmy!" the bee said while buzzing around us getting the girls to giggle

"And my names Tikal." the orange echidna bowed

Venus's p.o.v.

Once they all started talking with one another, I slipped back into the trees and grabbed out my communicator and turned it on.

"Venus to base." there was a bit of static then I could hear a voice come through

"Base hear, report Venus."

"We've just arrived on Argos and have already made friends with the assigned ghosts."

"Excellent, keep up the good work agent."

"Ten four, over and out." I turned the communicator off and growled at what I would have to do. 'I can't believe I even accepted this to begin with.' I shook my head and went back over seeing everyone talking with one another. I joined in one of the conversations that Tails, Knuckles and Tikal were in.

"So, you need help to take down Sonic and going to each of the home planets to do it?" she asked and they nodded

"Yeah! The sooner we can get more help the better." she nodded at Tails then looked at me

"Hey, I heard from Tails and Knuckles how you needed more help."

"Thats right and if you don't mind then we were hoping that you could come along?" she chuckled then smiled at me

"I wouldn't mind but I would have to talk with Aleena first to see if she agrees." we nodded and she floated over to the purple hedgehog in a different conversation.

"How many more home planets do we have to cover?" Tails asked

"4 more then we can head over to Mobius." he smiled then turned to Knuckles and they got in another conversation while I walked over to where Tikal and Aleena were talking.

"Oh thats great!"

"Whats great?" I asked getting there attention

"We can help you in your mission to defeat Sonic!" she was practically jumping for joy as I chuckled at her childishness. 'This reminds me of him.' I froze when his broken body came into my mind. The way his yellow eyes would plead for my help to make the pain go away. I consider him family since I don't have any to begin with and we grew up together... I mentally slapped myself and inwardly growled at my insecurities. 'Knock it off Venus. I have to do this for him, no matter what.' I looked down at the ground and sighed. 'I'll get you back and keep you safe... even if it means causing him to get his wish.'

"Venus?" I didn't even realize that I wasn't paying any attention to them anymore as they looked at me with worry in their eyes. "Are you alright dear?" I gave a small smile at Aleena's question and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Hehe... yeah, its just the war and all..." she nodded and looked at Tikal who sighed.

"These are tough times but we can't let this get to us." I nodded and looked around

"I still don't know why Sonic would cause this much pain to everyone." I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked over to see Tikal's smiling face.

"He has always felt like an outcast. Even with friends by his side, he felt as if nothing in the entire universe would even consider him a being and let that get to him." I gave a sad smile and looked at Tails and Knuckles laughing while talking. Shadow, Rouge and Cream walked up to them and they all looked like nothing could take away there happiness. "He would surround himself with friends of different types but never felt like he would belong." I looked back over my shoulder and gave her a raised eye ridge. She chuckled and moved beside me. "I've watched from the Master Emerald for years now and sometimes he would come to me for answers for the questions that weighed him down." She gave a heart filled smile and chuckled. "Of course, at the time he wouldn't let anything get to him but with the more he became a hero, the more he realized what his responsibilities were." She shook her head and gave a hearty laugh. "Nothing would stop that hard-headed hedgehog once he got his mind on something." I laughed and we shared a smile.

"I hope that we can help him realize the mistake he made." Aleena nodded once she came into view. We stayed for the day on Argos but my mind still fluttered to what I had to do. 'Please, I'm begging you Exe, don't do anything else to Ash. I'll get you your friends so long as you don't harm my brother anymore.'