By Accident

Ch.3

It was easy for Shadow to teleport to the ARK. Walking through the corridors of the space colony was harder than Shadow thought it would be. He remembers running around with Maria, playing hide and seek, and from time to time they would get scolded from the other scientists. The place used to be so lively and full of life, now it has been reduced to a memory in Shadow's mind.

It was strange for him, that things hadn't changed in the time he was gone. How long was it? 20? 30? 50 years?

And still, everything looked the same.  A space colony had its perks because it wasn't affected by the laws of nature. No dust, no erosion, no human intervention that could destroy the architecture over time. The laboratories, the unused white papers, and pens, the lab coats that were never used again ... Everything was left the same from the day G.U.N. came.

Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to walk around. If Eggman shows up, he could just run to their meeting point.

There was a particular place where he wanted to go since he woke up from stasis.

Maria and his favorite place.

When he entered the room, he couldn't help but notice the blue planet in front of him. Stars surrounding it and even a blue aura that made the planet look like paradise. It was so beautiful that it pained Shadow ... just a little.

He turned around to look at the room. Made up from mostly metal, there were no beakers, no test tubes nor burettes. This room existed for the solemn reason to appreciate the view in front of them. To relax and it was the only room Maria and Shadow could play around freely.

Shadow knew that it was never going to happen but a part of him still had hoped... That Maria would come running through those doors, giggling and smiling like she always does.

Did.

How could this happen? How did he let this happen? For him, just a couple of days had passed since he last saw Maria and now ... She was dead.

And it was all G.U.N.'s fault.

And his fault as well.

He was supposed to be the ultimate life form, he was supposed to be her cure so they could go live together happily on Earth.

"Shadow"

The moment he heard her call his name, the black hedgehog felt his heart stop for a second. He stopped breathing, his body began to shake and for a moment he really thought he was going to die. He let in and out heavy breaths as he tried to get lungs to his air. He felt like throwing up, his chest felt like it had been pierced by a Chaos Spear and his body was drowning in sweat.

It was as if she was there as if Maria had just whispered his name. He just couldn't stop the memory. It played over and over again in his head. Her words, her face ... Her eyes that hoped that someway, somehow they could be saved.

That G.U.N. agent who shot her. The sound, his screaming, the way he saw the lightscape her eyes as she fell dead to the ground.

That was her last memory of her.

Death.

He wanted to forget. Shadow didn't want to remember, it was emotionally and physically painful. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't move and most of it all, he couldn't stop the memory.

He had never felt like this, and for a moment he was scared, terrified that he will keep feeling like this for all of eternity.

Maybe this was his punishment.

"Shadow do it for me ..."

Maria.

"For all of those people on that planet,"