I Am...All of Me

The Ultimate Weapon (Part 2)

     "We're on our way," Sonic answered before they were disconnected. Amy looked up at the missing hedgehog with hopeful, teary eyes. She gingerly walked up the metal staircase until she was only a foot or so away from the unconscious dark hero. 

      Shadow dreamt of everyone he knew being caught in the blast without a chance of surviving. At first, all he saw were red hot flames and then the faces of all of the ones he had grown attached to. He couldn't bare losing them anymore, and when the face of Amy appeared he broke inwardly. He had never gotten to tell her how much he cared for her, but he wasn't so sure he ever would if he had that chance. He knew that he never should, seeing how she was in love with another more worthy than he.  He never truly understood what love was, but he believed that he loved her in a different way than he had with Maria. Not wanting to see the tormenting visions anymore, he slowly opened his eyes. Only to look straight at Amy Rose. 

    "Shadow....," she whispered in disbelief, "you're alive."

      "And my mind has created yet another torment for me," he muttered darkly, glaring at her. She frowned. He must think I'm a hallucination, she thought. 

    "Me and the others have come to rescue you. They should be here soon," she tried to reassure him. He only growled.

     "I've heard that story one to many times, and I'm sick of it! Just let me die in peace!"

    He broke eye contact and hung his head, finally admitting defeat. Between physical torture, being used as a live battery for a super weapon, and horrible mirages of what he had lost, it was no wonder he didn't believe her. 

    "That's not the Shadow I remember," she stated forcefully, and he looked back up at her sharply. The girl in his imagination never was as loud as she was in real life, but he couldn't be sure.

    "Prove you're real," he challenged. She slapped him across the cheek. Hard. Though his muzzle was stinging, the anger and disbelief evaporated from his eyes, refilling them with long lost hope. 

      "Rose? It really is you!" he suddenly grew serious, "You need to get out of here. Now. Before they come back." 

     "I'm not going anywhere without you, Shadow," she retorted with her arms crossed. 

    "If they could capture me, what makes you think you can escape them?"

          "I've gotten out tighter squeezes."

     "Rose, these men are not like the doctor. If they see you here, they will kill you without question. I can't let you risk your life like that. Not for me."

                                 "But--"

     "Get out of here now!" he ordered, his voice cracking from lack of moisture and use. Her eyes glistened sympathetically and she cupped his face in her hand. She hugged him and let a single tear fall to the metal floor.

           "Oh, Shadow... We'll get you out of here. I promise," she vowed.

     "So this is the reason you were so reluctant for us to fire at Mystic Ruins. Because you believed she was there, hm?" a third voice echoed. 

     "Jones," Shadow growled and whispered, "Run, Amy, before it's too late."

       "I'm afraid it is too late," Craig answered and grabbed the pink hedgehog, holding her tight with a pistol aimed at her head, "How will it feel, Shadow, to watch the second girl you ever cared about get shot by a human again? It must be aweful, feeling so helpless, not able to move to her defense."