So Long Goodnight (Sonadow)

Chapter XII - Act I

'If we're doing something that involves uncertainty, attention, struggle, and change,' the advice of the ultimate lifeform from before rang inside the blue hero's head as if it was a wake-up call to not give in just yet. 'We're going to feel fear one way or another.'

"S-shadow..." the air was much thicker than the first minute they gatecrashed into the unknown facility – his heartbeat being the only thing which kept the line between everyone's hope and defeat from blurring out.

'And the only way to not feel fear is to not care, to not do anything, and to only surrender to what lies beneath.'

"After all these years of getting struck down by Sonic the Hedgehog, who would've thought this day would come?" whether brought by physical pain he was feeling or the horrendous sight of his rival who appeared to be lifeless, a warm tear slipped from his empty and dull eyes – unwillingly listening to the triumphs of his old archnemesis. "Finally, Dr. Eggman, second to none! This project will guarantee my sweet victory!"
"Brought to you by the genius Dr. Eggman and a filthy rodent," everyone had their eyes on the figure materializing from the shadows above the raven male's body. "Behold... Project Scepter..."

Name taken from the actual material, the Dark Scepter was nothing but a vessel created to contain Mephiles the Dark, a staff that was supposedly shattered into fragments if Iblis happened.

Now, it only became a subtle way of objectifying the killing machine.

Everything was hazy. Each second seemed like an hour. Time felt broken.

Deficient.

'Is fear necessary at this point?' a faint huff of air escaped Sonic's lips as if it was merely driven by his body's natural instincts to keep itself alive. At this point, breathing was the only thing he could do for all he knew whilst waiting for himself to naturally recover and regenerate the littlest bit of chaos energy he had.
For the tenacious hero who always took the road less paved all his life, it gave him the impression like a single move of a muscle would break him to pieces this time around, 'It only gets from bad to worse. We can't mess up again.'

'I have always dreamed of holding you so many times.'

"No, no, no, there has to be another way out of this," the psychokinetic hedgehog attempted yet another teleport dash, only to let out a whimper upon getting his gray fur burnt for the nth time from the barrier locking him in.

'But now, more often than not, I find the future I was supposed to remember as an empty shell.'

Sapphire quills laid down on the cold flooring, quickly losing their vibrance every passing second – gauging the only chance of winning this fight with one last trick up his mortal sleeve.
The overloading chaos would've killed and destroyed his mortal being if it weren't for the two chaos emeralds he was asked to keep. Instead of being forced to make himself as the main host for the immense power, the chaos energy which could no longer be absorbed was luckily redistributed back to the stones.

Now, to hope it would eventually heal and patch the hero back up.

'Things I cannot possibly wrap my head around have changed so much, so fast... I worry that I won't be able to help and change the ending of our fate.'

"Well, well... who would've thought my awakening would be aided once again by the same, scanty, pretentious glutton," soft golden lights dissipated with the dark cloud, crystalline structures appearing around Mephiles' snake-like eyes as he fed off Shadow's pure chaos.

'Time and time again,' the midnight blur's consciousness was no more, systems down, senses dysfunctional without his primary source of energy – but what was created to be immortal still had his mind constantly running – like he was only sleeping. 'They will try killing me under any circumstance if they think it's to their advantage, then celebrate my "sacrifice" for as long as life thrives in this world. Isn't that the very definition of savage?'