I Am...All of Me

Angel

                     What if Maria was alive?

Third Person POV; Shadow's Hill

        Shadow leaned against a wide oak with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. It had been fifty-nine years ago to the day since the Ark incident. Since he lost his first and only true friend. His dark eyelids tightened as he fought the sudden onslaught of memories. He had tried to put the past behind behind, but it felt like it didn't want go be forgotten, not that he could. He had tried.

    He opened his eyes and stared up at the bright summer sky. It was a beautiful day, he realized, a day where even someone as dark as he could enjoy it. He had the day off from GUN, and Rouge was busy harassing a certain echidna on Angel Island. The sable agent actually had some time to himself, which had become more rare the longer he worked within the agency. Shadow smirked to himself as another thought flitted across his mind. Nine years ago he wouldn't have set foot within the building, but time had a way of changing people, even if they were immortal. 

Mystic Ruins

    Sonic and Tails gingerly strolled through the jungles surrounding their remote home. With Eggman recently defeated, the two brothers and the remaining freedom fighters finally had a moment of peace. However, the two-tailed kit had roped his older brother into a new quest far too soon for the azure hedgehog's liking. 

    "Tails," Sonic whined, "as much as I love exploring, don't you think we need at least a little break in between adventures?" 

     The yellow kitsune looked up from his Miles Electric sheepishly, "I know, Sonic, but my handheld has been going crazy over some energy surge in this area. And I wanna check it out and find it before Eggman does." 

    "Good point," he sighed, "So what kind of energy is it? Is it a chaos emerald?" 

    Tails looked at the screen in deep thought, "No, it's not as strong as an emerald, but it isn't weak either. I'm not sure what it is exactly." 

     "Well, let's go check it out!" Sonic replied and grabbed his little brother's free hand. 

    "Sonic? What are you?--Aah!" he yelled as he was suddenly pulled deeper into the jungle at the speed of sound, "SONIC!! S-SLOW DOWN!" 

    "Huh? What? Oh! Hehe, sorry little buddy," the blue hero laughed nervously. He always did have a bad habit of jumping in too quickly, which always led to trouble. Like six angry Zeti trying to eat you, he thought as he remembered one of their most recent adventures. 

    The two looked around at the now very unfamiliar patch of jungle they had, or more specifically Sonic had, wandered into. They stood by a towering waterfall with a small pool and clearing at the bottom. It was a beautiful site, and Sonic whistled in acknowledgment of that fact. 

    "Dude, this is nice!" he exclaimed and found a nice tree to lounge against while his genius younger brother unceremoniously shook his portable computer. 

     "The energy source is close by, but it's hard to get an exact reading," Tails stated. After a few minutes of trying to fix his device (which included not just professional tinkering but shaking and smacking it repeatedly), he finally gave up and sat on a large, smooth rock beside the small lake. What neither he nor Sonic planned on was for him to slip right off the rock and into the pool below. Sonic jumped from his place and zipped to the splash site just in time for his best friend to resurface, splashing a lot of water on him in the process. 

     "Yuck! Tails! Keep your water to yourself," he complained and shook droplets off himself in a way similar to a dog. The kitsune grumbled about pushing him in under his breath as he wrung out his twin namesakes, but before he could voice his idea, his eyes caught a glimpse of light reflecting off the rock he had previously sat on.