Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Guardian Angel ❯ Into the Rabbit hole ( Chapter 6 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Shadow 6271 
I would suggest reading this on Fanfiction.net if possible, sometimes new edits get put in last minute and i never put them up here as its difficult.
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.17.2007 | Updated On: 11.17.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 208 | Status: Completed
I would suggest reading this on Fanfiction.net if possible, sometimes new edits get put in last minute and i never put them up here as its difficult.
Non Anime: Sonic Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.17.2007 | Updated On: 11.17.2007 | Pages: 4 | Words: 8.4K | Visits: 208 | Status: Completed
How hard can reviewing be? I mean really, if you enjoyed the fiction please tell me so, if you didn't or you did but still thought something was wrong, i would be more than happy to get a little critism to help further my work. Maybe i can fix what you don't like ('cept the OCs, sorry but i need em for reasons that i will show later).
Although I do thank the kind people who did review, I was beginning to think I should just stop this fiction and go onto something else, which would annoy me cos my next fiction is pretty much a sequel. But you’ve managed to keep me writing, and as long as I have at least one dedicated reader I always carry on.
Oh, and I hope someone can guess the identity of the inner voice.
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Vanilla the Rabbit wondered around her house doing odd little chores, trying to keep her mind off of her daughter. She had heard she’d disappeared and was quite prepared to strangle a certain Fox If she didn’t turn up.
“Oh Cream…” She stared out of a window into the coming unseasonable rainstorm. It had swept over from Station Square and had darkened the sky early. As she made herself a cup of tea in her small but cosy cottage she could hear the rain begin to hit the windows in increasing force. “I hope your not out in this Cream.” At Vanilla’s side constantly was her daughter’s Chao, brought back by Tails as soon as she had gone missing. Cheese was whining all the time now, looking out of every window she passed for his master.
Suddenly the little blue creature froze and its head turned and locked on a section of the wall. Vanilla turned, a shiver going down her back as she realised he was looking at the front door through the wall. She ran to the door as fast as her restrictive dress and through the howling wind she heard a loud knock, accompanied with voices she could only just hear with her large Rabbit ears, her senses being amplified by stress helped too.
“We do have a doorbell you know.” Cream!?!
“Do I really seem like the doorbell type?” Unidentified dark male voice!?!? Vanilla swung the door open and looked out into the cold, dark storm. The cloaked figure stared at her, though its hood was drawn. She couldn’t see Cream anywhere, until she realised she was underneath the figures substantial cloak. She could just see the outline of her daughter now, obviously she was being held in this… creatures arms. This fact was made even more blatant as the familiar head of Cream popped out, and immediately the cloaked male moved one arm from holding her to being over her head to stop her getting soaked.
“Hi mom.” Was all Cream had to say at the older doe staring wide eyed at them. Cream was already blushing from her close contact with the male, and the nervous smile did not help her silent protest of innocence.
Vanilla had no idea whether to hug her or beat her senseless, but when the cloaked figure stepped closer and held Cream out to her she decided on the former. The smaller doe was almost crushed as all the worry poured away from her mother in the hug. Unfortunately, after the surge of motherly emotion was over Vanilla’s wide smile became a thin, dangerous one as she remembered her daughters odd companion.
“Why don’t you two come inside…” To Cream, it sounded awfully like “Hello Mr Fly, won’t you come into my parlour?” The Rabbit gulped and Shadow followed her in.
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The creature stirred in the depths of Shadow‘s mind, no. Not creature, more… being, considering it no longer possessed a body. Yes, the being stirred in the depths of Shadow's mind, and grew annoyed at the delays its host was making. It had travelled many light year and even across the barrier of a dimension, struggling to find someone who was attuned with the void enough to hear it. And even now, it counted itself lucky that someone had activated half of a Crystal with their experiments or what ever they were doing. Soon, this Shadow creature would collect the pieces, and release it born again into the universe.
I do wonder. If this beings sensitivity is an accident, I am sure I know of this creator.
It mattered not to the being that the time of renewal would pass in an insufficient two years. Or that the other crystals were scattered in dozens of pieces over the past 200 years. After all, what was time, to a God?
For now, all it needed was the one crystal, even the half stored in this house would be sufficient for now.
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Vanilla stared at Shadow. Shadow stared at Vanilla. Cream sat in the middle drinking her tea silently.
“So, what did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” Shadow answered, he had yet to take his hood off and Cream wondered why he wanted so few people to see his face. “Mr Robotnik, pleased to meet you.” Vanilla recoiled at the name like a snake had bitten her, there was no way it was simply a coincidence. Cream also stared, especially since she knew Shadow was a Hedgehog!
“Robotnik is a very rare name… any relation to Eggman?” Vanilla asked suspiciously whilst she too sipped her tea, somehow making it look threatening.
“The good Doctor and I are related, very distantly through an adoption by a member of his family many decades ago.” Vanilla nodded, noticing the use of his title "Doctor" unlike the common Eggman or Robotnik that everyone else used.
“And why may I ask are you dressed in such a concealing robe?” Vanilla was unable to see anything of her guest but she was sure she recognized the voice from somewhere.
“I was in an unfortunate accident 6 years ago, it left me burnt over most of my body.” Cream tried not to look surprised at the huge blatant lie, his body was fine, she’d seen it! In fact, it was more than fine! She found herself thinking embarassed.
“Oh I’m sorry.” Vanilla said, actually sounding like she was, though her iciness returned in a few seconds.
“Don’t be, I made quite a startling recovery.”
“And how did you meet my… charming daughter?” Vanilla glanced at Cream momentarily, and he young doe wished she could simply sink into the sofa cushion. The only thing she was happy about was the fact she was finally back with her friend Cheese, who was currently lying on his mistress’s knee, happy.
“I located her in a dangerous part of the city whilst out looking for someone, obviously I had to save her.” Vanilla raised an eyebrow, not believing him. “Then I took her back to my home to sleep until I could return her to you.”
“And bringing my daughter back took a full day?” Cream was amazed to see Vanilla had her own glare, true it wasn’t as terrifying as Shadow’s laser version, but it was still enough to make anyone sweat. Shadow however, had not even tensed, carrying on like he was talking about the weather.
“We ran into complications.”
“Right. Cream? Could I speak to you in the kitchen?” It wasn’t a request really, it was an order and Vanilla practically dragged the young doe out, leaving Shadow to wait in their lounge.
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The first half, it was so close! 68 degrees up, 7 metres from it’s hosts position. Without making a sound to Shadow, it slowly slipped it’s crystal sense into it’s host’s brain. It couldn’t hurt to help him just a little bit.
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As soon as they were in the kitchen Vanilla turned to her daughter and spoke with a fierce whisper.
“Where did you meet this… man??”
“Its just like he said, he saved me when I got locked out of Tails car.”
“And?” Vanilla knew she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“He said he needs something from me. Well, something from you.”
“What?” She asked, her voice deadly low. Cream had never seen her mother so angry as when Shadow had arrived, but now it was reaching new heights.
“Some kind of Necklace.” That was enough, Vanilla turned and marched through the door, leaving a puzzled doe behind.
“You!” She almost at the cloaked Hedgehog. “Your one of his friends aren’t you?! Why have you come here?!” Cream looked at Shadow for a reaction, but he revealed nothing. For a second she wondered if he had any idea what she was talking about, until he answered.
“The necklace was meant to be for Cream, my former associate Tanto delivered it with instructions as such.”
“She has no business with that man anymore!”
“Of course not, he is dead.” Shadow answered. Vanilla froze in shock, just managing to recover enough so it wasn’t too noticeable. “However, the fact remains that Kazu wants Cream to have her father’s gift, and I will carry out his orders as such.” Cream turned to look at Shadow, had he said her father?? Vanilla never mentioned her Dad now, when she was younger she occasionally told her tiny snippets but that had stopped many years ago, had Shadow known her father?
“I won’t tell you where it is.” Silently, Shadow lifted the long arm of his cloak upwards, then turned it. Pointing at a part of the ceiling that looked exactly the same as any other.
“It is there, in your attic.” Vanilla’s mouth fell open, amazed at his apparent 6th sense. But Cream, who had seen enough amazing abilities today didn't bat an eyelid. For the last few minutes she had had no idea what the conversation had been about but for that moment at least, she didn’t care. The rabbit just wanted things to go back to normal until Sonic arrived, he’d sort everything out just like he always did. He’d come in, tell her everything, somehow stop Shadow being so mean and then take her out with all their friends.
Vanilla sighed, defeated.
“I’ll get it now.” She turned and walked upstairs hesitant to leave her daughter with the mysterious Mr Robotnik.
You have done well Shadow.
Why? What do you gain from this? He answered in his head.
Its more what I can give you… It teased.
What? What can you possibly give me? Your just a voice!
No, I am creature who has been crying out for many years, searching for someone who could hear me hopelessly until i found you to be my temporary host. And in return for releasing me, I will grant you one wish. The voice lost its air of kindness now and became more suggestive and manipulative sounding, full of arrogance and mischief. Sound familiar? It did sound familiar to Shadow, it was the words he used on the Doctor when he first escaped. But that means…
I’ve seen your memories? Of your attempt at revenge? Of the ARK? Of Maria? Shadow’s response was less a thought and more a concentrated feeling of hate that amused the inner voice, though it didn’t show it. Calm down, why do you think I want you to collect the crystals? They really will help you, you know?
How? He asked, wondering if he was insane or this voice was really telling the truth.
I can use them to give you what you want most.
And what’s that?
Quietly, the voice made it’s offer. His eyes widened as it screwed around in his memories, but for the end result it was worth it. It had offered him the one thing he longed for most, and he was going to take it.
Your sure you can do this?
I promise you.
Done deal.
The voice said nothing else, but he assumed it had accepted. He knew very well now it wasn’t just some sort of mental problem. He wasn’t sane enough for voices that made suave business deals, insane screaming ones about burning down buildings were more his style, but as of yet they had kept away.
Shadow had been sitting rigid on the couch the whole time, Cream staring at him. Only now did he notice her.
“Did you hear me? I said did you know my dad?” She looked worried and he suspected that the inner voice had taken his hearing so he wouldn’t be distracted.
“No, but my friend did once.”
“Is he who you’re going to take this necklace to?”
“Yes, however I do not need the necklace specifically, there is something we hid inside a long time ago.”
“What?”
“You ask a great deal of questions you know.” He glared at her and she picked up the annoyance in his voice. Cream moved a few feet away out of fear and Shadow found himself regretting his short temper. It would take her mother a while to get the necklace, there was no reason why they shouldn’t talk if Cream wanted to. Why do I even care? I almost have my goal, there is no reason to bother with this Rabbit. Shadow had been observing her every chance he got, and overall he was unimpressed. Her strength was small, and her speed unlikely to be high, she was definitely not up to battle standards. And she would be useless to him as soon as he had collected the crystal, considering Kazu hadn’t specified any instructions for her. Logically he shouldn’t give her a second thought. However, he found himself feeling somewhat positive towards her presence. It wasn’t much, he just didn’t have any objections to seeing her again if the situation permitted it.
It took the older doe less time than he’d thought to collect the necklace and when she came in she practically threw it at Shadow, who caught it easily in one hand.
“You have been most cooperative Miss Vanilla. Thank you.”
“Tell this Kazu, I don’t want anything to do with my Husband again.”
“Does that include your daughter?” Shadow asked slyly, though never changing tone. She just scowled at him.
“Cream, get to your room, I’ll be talking to you about this later. You, Assassin, get out of here before I call the police.” Shadow considered informing her how useless most armies were compared to him, but decided against it and quickly walked out, catching a glance from Cream as she hesitantly made her way up the stairs. As Vanilla’s footsteps came the small doe quickly mouthed a thank you and walked up the stairs quickly.
Shadow walked out into the rainstorm, his thick cloak protecting him from any rain just like it had on the way over through the tunnel. As he walked down the path he took out the necklace and stared at it. It was slightly bigger than a coin, a little more than an inch across and made entirely out of gold. On the front runic but intricate carvings had been made, that seemed to swirl around forever and join with each other, making something that could have possibly been writing. In the middle was a narrow pin hole, that Kazu had made very clear was not to be looked through, in fact he had said he had sealed this up, yet it was bare again apparently by itself considering all it had been doing. The mysterious hole glowed purple in the dark.
It’s probably beautiful, Shadow thought having little in the way of knowledge about aesthetics. Yes, I would deem this pleasing to the eye. It could probably be given the title of masterpiece even, certainly a work of art. Shadow realised how much he was thinking about it, it seemed to be sucking at his concentration. He was hardly looking where he was going! Moving his partly gloved hand over it he let his furred fingers touch the casing and a prickling cold took over his bare digits before disappearing.
“Odd gift.” Shadow decided to open it, Kazu had said the crystal was inside and where else coud the glow be coming from. However, upon opening the lid Shadow found simply a picture fixed in. A tall tan brown Rabbit dressed in a suit with a red bowtie was hugging Cream’s mother, who was dressed in some sort of madly elaborate white dress he had never seen before. It seemed to have a long veil to go with it, but that was up. Revealing a young Vanilla’s smiling, blushing face. Between the two of them they held a baby Rabbit, asleep yet still hugging a tiny white Chao, too small to even have gained its basic blue colouring. Behind the happy family a crowd of people threw strangely coloured paper in apparent celebration. The only people he recognized there were a younger looking Mongoose, and a purple Chamelion. Opposite to the picture was simply more swirling writing fixed around a hollow in the metal. I wonder what it says…
Think of it as a kind of riddle. That species always was one for theatrics. It says “parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” The voice said from beneath his consciousness. You won’t get the jewel without figuring it out.
Thanks. Shadow replied but got no answer. He knew how bad he was a riddles, he was bad with anything of that kind of thing. Even poetry was beyond him.
Shadow looked back at the house behind him, its curtains drawn but one light on upstairs, handily located near an old oak tree leaning near the house. Must be Cream’s room. Shadow felt liked going back to see her, to give her this gift. Who knew? Maybe a more imaginative mortal would have an idea on how to solve the riddle, the jewel was deficiently there after all, he could sense its presence, so the voice must be right.
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Cream sighed and jumped stomach first down on her bed, her ears flopping down over her head. Cheese wandered up to her and copied, evidently thinking they were playing hide and seek. She sighed, unsure of what to make. Over the past 48 hours she had been almost raped, kidnapped, escaped, kidnapped again, shocked, scared, embarrassed and any number of other things! Still, in one way she would have liked to see the strange Hedgehog again, he was the only person she had ever met who knew something about her father for one. And she couldn’t help but feel she should stay with him, he was a puzzle to her and she was naturally curious. What drove him to be so forward and confrontational? Why was he so violent? Why did he want so few people to see his face? It wasn’t as if he was bad looking, she thought to herself, blushing.
Cream heard a faint tapping on her window sound and jumped up, it had been hard to distinguish from the battering rain but she was sure it was there. She slowly got up, aware it could be another kidnapper, or it could be Shadow. It came again and she reasoned if it was a kidnapper, he’d have simply broken in. Going to the window with a mix of excitement and fear, she slowly drew the curtain and instantly jumped back, suppressing the urge to scream. Shadow was there, but he was only a few millimetres away from the glass! His hooded figure being beaten by the rain and wind but not moving a inch. She mouthed for him to come in, and he disappeared in a small spark of white before reappearing inside, the water left behind floating for a few seconds until gravity got its act together.
“Hello again.” Cream said happily, automatically closing the door hurriedly in the fashion usually reserved when they have an attractive member of the opposite gender in their room.
“…” Shadow said nothing, unsure what to do apart from remove his hood. He had only ever been in one other teenage girl’s room and therefore didn’t know how to act. I wonder if there are any special rituals I must observe. He thought to himself vaguely.
“Erm… please, make yourself comfortable.” Shadow looked around at the (mostly pink) room, and wondered what this actually meant. Cream had to suppress a laugh as she saw how out of place he looked. He doesn’t fit in with real life, he’s too unreal for it.. She decided.It brought an irony to his own name, Shadow, the creature who couldn’t be placed in light because it would dissolve who he was. Instead of talking more Shadow simply took out the necklace and held it out to her.
Cream took it in her hand and gasped, captivated by it. It looked very old, and the markings o it reminded her of the old writing on the Master Emerald’s shrine, the place she went to play with Chao and bring freshly baked cookies to Knuckles (someone had to feed him warm food).
“It’s beautiful…” She trailed off. Shadow smiled a small humourless smile, he had been right. He was getting better in his observations, maybe one day he’d actually be able to blend in properly. It would certainly make his job easier. “Did you get what you wanted from it?”
“No, but I know its in there. But there’s some sort of trick, I was hoping you might know.” Cream opened it, and stared at the picture with wide unblinking eyes, this was her father. The smiling Rabbit seemed almost alive through the glass. Cream shook her head, and tried to help Shadow. She looked at it and turned it upside down almost looking for a way to hide something, and Shadow watched her with interest. He was too logically for all this, he’d just look it over once and make an analysis, she was doing things he wouldn’t think off. Like smelling it and feeling it, searching for something unusual.
“I don’t understand, there no hidden mechanism or anything. Maybe If we knew what this writing said we could get it.” She said with a sigh.
“It says, “parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” But I do not see how that helps us.”
“Its some kind of riddle. We’ll just have to figure it out, maybe then we can open it.”
“We don’t have enough time, I cannot stay in the same place long. Someone is tracking me, I’m sure of it.”
“Can’t we ask this Mr Kazu you talked about?” Shadow chuckled, and not only as she had called Kazu “Mr”.
“I thought you’d want to be a good girl and stay with your mother.”
“I do, but Mr Kazu knows something about my father. And I want to know more about him, I deserve to.” Shadow saw how determined she was, but was unsure. His task was to recover the jewel and then leave her, then again, if Kazu was really her Uncle like he said he was then he’d probably want to see her. The Rabbit had been depressed for the last few weeks, perhaps seeing a long lost relative would help this. Shadow hoped he hadn’t misjudged mortal emotions yet again, but his choice felt logical enough. Cream waited anxiously for him to finish deciding.
“You can accompany me.” Out of joy Cream jumped up and hugged him in a way reminiscent of Amy tackling Sonic, before she remembered who it was and retreated to a distance, worried about any retribution the Hedgehog and his mood swings might bring. To her surprise, he did nothing but turn and open her window into the storm.
“Looks even worse since we came. I don’t think your cloak is going to keep both of us dry from that.” She said nervously, before screaming as a bolt of lighting made its way across the sky. Silhouetting Shadow and making him seem even more fearsome than usual. Despite this horrifying appearance Shadow removed his cloak without any prompt from the Rabbit and wrapping the thick material around her several times instead.
“Perhaps it will be enough for you instead.” He remarked, Shadow pulled piece of paper from a pocket, quickly wrote a note for Vanilla and dropped It on Cream’s bed. He picked her up easily through the bundles of cloth that made it look like she was simply an oversized baby, and before she could even answer he walked out into the night.
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The cold rain did nothing to stop the GUN troops who were spreading about Station Square. The recovery of the second Void crystal was of the highest importance. Each soldier was dressed in a full black uniform, with numerous reinforced armour parts and a helmet capable of withstanding an elephant stepping on it. In their hands they had ordinary weaponry, but strapped to their backs they had the new prototypes. Where the normal weapons were black and dull, these were a silver grey from end to end. Many had scopes or laser sights attached, and the ammo clip glowed when it was pulled out. Everyman there was wearing thick gloves, and they left no skin exposed to neither the chilling bite of the rain, nor the tragic touch of a crystal.
They had all seen what could happen, they were worse than poison.
They had specially adapted versions for the sharpshooters. The General wasn’t sure how effective they would be, so for now they were planning saturation shots. So far on tests the effect seemed to be cumulative, so the more shots that hit, the longer Project Shadow’s Chaos field would be interrupted, and the longer he would be as weak as a kitten.
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Cream had been more than a little bit surprised to find the black cloak to not only be very warm, but also to shield her against the pelting rain. Her face poked out and got soaked in seconds, but she didn’t mind as long as it didn’t go into her eyes too much. She was more concerned for the Hedgehog carrying her.
They had left her mothers house and Shadow had been forced to take the long route as the tunnel was blocked off by a team of engineers, collecting the train he had broken. It was ironic really, what he had done to save himself a little time had caused him to be delayed massively. And so Shadow had ran across cold hills and through damp forests trying to get to Station Square, carrying her all the way. Luckily he seemed to have almost inexhaustible stamina and a sense of direction that probably rivalled a few plane Global Positioning Systems. Cream was forever struck with a simultaneous feeling of both awe and fear of him, although the fear was more for other people than herself. He seemed also to bring up an amazing sense of mystery and curiosity to the young doe.
Shadow. Had he been given that name when he was first born? It seemed unlikely that anyone would give a child such a foreboding name. Although her imagination was hard pressed to imagine the Hedgehog as anything other than he was now, an immovable pillar of dark fur with the glare of a demon. Had he taken it for himself then? That seemed unlikely too, whilst he certainly seemed arrogant she didn’t think anyone would rename themselves Shadow. But what about the second name he had given her Mother? Robotnik. Was it really his name? In the whole world now there was only one man called Robotnik.
Dr Eggman. Ruler of the Eggman Empire, whose soldiers of metal marched through the world, only narrowly forced back by GUN and Sonic. The man terrified her, as he watched through those reflecting goggles, never showing his eyes, people before him died in their hundreds. Even the Moon had not escaped his wrath, though she had not seen the announcement video she knew it had been destroyed to demonstrate some old weapon of the past.
How had Shadow gotten it? Was he really related to Eggman? There were a hundred names that would have been better to choose so it didn’t make sense to pretend to be that one when trying to keep a low profile.
There were so many questions that clawed at the Doe’s imagination, but for now she decided on one as she stared unblinking up at the face. Hidden by the storm and soaked by the rain, she could still see him every so often, when the light allowed. He never blinked, he stared ahead. What was he? Not Mobian, she realised this much now. Even Sonic or Knuckles would have shivered or something at this point.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Shadow jumped suddenly, and she turned her head at the bright glare of lights that had appeared. It was the outskirts of Station Square. She could see the tallest buildings far on the horizon, in the dark their lights shone like a lighthouse. In the sky slightly more helicopters circled than had before. Shadow wasted no time, firing forward like a bullet from a gun glass shattered as he passed. As the Hedgehog ran, his subconscious screamed bloody murder at him for daring to hold someone like he had Maria comfortably, without embarrassment or loathing.
“Shadow? How fast can you run? Grandfather said you’d be able to run faster than a transport!” Maria’s voice echoed through his mind, festering memories having new life breathed into them by the hope offered to him by his own personal inner demon.
Too caught up in his own speed to bother with stealth anymore, running to prove he was the ultimate life form. Cream was caught up in the massive speed as much as he was.
“I don’t know, I’ve haven’t tried yet. I was only born yesterday you know.” It seemed so far away now, but he could remember the times when the young Maria used to bombard him with questions, always fascinated with the inner workings of his biology. And he had answered every one to the best of his ability. Because she was quite literally, the reason he lived.
“Can we see now?” The young Maria had somehow climbed into his arms and beckoned for him to go forwards. Shadow had complied, hoping the hallway was as long as it seemed to be.
The air around the Doe’s compressed as her carrier began to go too fast and her lungs became oxygen starved, air was moving past them too fast for her to breath. She could see spots as they began to approach the sound barrier.
He hadn’t realised back then, that the speeds he could go could harm people. Even now he forgot on occasion, probably because of the few people he actually knew.
An all encompassing noise exploded around them, to be replaced almost immediately with a silent world, where they moved too fast for noise to reach them. If he carried on she’d be dead of oxygen starvation in a few seconds. Cream banged her small gloved hand as hard as she could on Shadow’s chest to tell him something, unable to make a sound, even if she had the breath to speak. It was like hitting solid concrete. Shadow looked down suddenly, his eyes wide with fear at what he was doing accidentally. It took him only a few seconds for an emergency stop, the ground was torn up where he had forced his feet into the concrete.
“Maria?” He asked quickly, stopping dead on the pavement under a streetlight, Cream was too busy to hear what he had said.
Maria had done the same. For the next few minutes she had just sat there coughing and coughing. Shadow had had no idea what to do except be there and worry.
Cream bent over as she gasped for air, trying to inhale enough oxygen to get herself back to normal.
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24 floors above them a sniper looked down, confirming his targets. His radio buzzed with life as soon as he reported the two he had seen.
“Wait for other snipers to move in before you commence attack, over.”
“Got you command, over.” He could see now, with his thermal goggles, other soldiers making their way over the rooftops. This Project Shadow had really been overrated. He had heard it said he could spot a soldier on top of a small mountain and fire a bullet into his heart. He had in fact, heard this from the General himself! But here he was with the Hedgehog in his crosshairs. How difficult could it be to capture him?
Right now the Project, the most valuable military weapon on the face of the planet, was standing over to the Rabbit command had assured him was of equally high priority. She seemed to be coughing or something on the floor, and it was obvious Shadow was too occupied to notice them.
“Units in position. Fire at will.”
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Shadow put a hand out to Cream and reminded himself to keep the mortal in mind. Not only was she more fragile than he was but she seemed more fragile than most normal creatures too. She thanked him as he lifted her back up, feeling a little strange when he looked her over to ensure she really was alright. Realising she was fine, and without even an apology despite his guilt, Shadow looked around to make sure the place they were in was safe, something he should have done before.
Wow, is that why Sonic won’t carry Amy anywhere? How come Tails can go with him when he goes supersonic but other people can? Cream wondered. After she had gotten herself together she made sure she still had the necklace and turned to tell Shadow she was fine to leave again, however he held his hand up to silence her.
“I hear something. I didn’t notice it before.”
“Wha-” She didn’t finish as she screamed at the sudden gunshot, she could easily see where the bullet had hit for one simple reason. It was glowing purple. It had hit the ground behind Shadow, in such a way that she was sure it had gone through him. However, when the next rang out that idea was proved void. Shadow simply moved his arm up in a way that could almost be described as aloof, and another glowing purple bullet hit the ground behind him instead of hitting it’s mark. When feeling the new energies the bullets had brought, Shadow began to take them more seriously.
Inside Shadow’s mind combat protocols were taking over from the arrogant yet almost bored mindset he usually used when dealing with lesser opponents, immediately he scanned the line of rooftops high above them, and eye sight superior to pretty much any living creature you’d care to name picked out the dozen snipers placed strategically on the buildings in front and around him. Using only the sound to estimate its position he moved his torso slightly to the left to avoid another bullet aiming for his back - realising there was probably one or two snipers behind him as well.
Had he been on his own he would have simply ran up the side of one of those buildings, killed the sniper then used his weapon to kill the others nearby. But he couldn’t possibly guarantee Cream’s safety.
Helicopters circled above and put bright searchlights over them, blinding Shadow from seeing the snipers and stopping him hearing the bullets with the massive whine of the engines. No helicopter would usually fly this low, even when chasing someone. It was obviously planned to disorientate him. Shadow decided a retreat was most definitely in order, he picked up Cream again and ran, at a lesser speed this time. Around him he felt the vibrations of the strange glowing bullets fire into the pavement, thinking they were harmless in the ground he didn’t pay much attention to them until one exploded. In that instant he felt a surge of the strange energy that seemed almost to weaken him, it felt not unlike the energy he sensed from the Void crystal. Yet it seemed far more, shallow. Like there was nothing more to it than a little bit of energy compared to the numerous emotions that spewed from the necklace’s secret.
Shadow fired a dozen small Chaos spears into the nearest Helicopter, knocking it violently although its armour appeared to be unusually resistant to his attacks. He then ran into a long alleyway, his air shoes scattering the water from the ground beneath him as he ran. Cutting through numerous other alleyways and even knocking down part of a wall with his sheer strength he managed to lose the Helicopters easily enough. He was going to find a safe place to rest and teleport away. Hopefully GUN wouldn’t be able to use whatever method they used to track him here. That battle squad had been waiting for him he knew, those bullets were obviously specially designed to take him down. There was hardly any point hiding anymore, they knew their weapon was still alive.
Shadow turned a corner and froze as the road was blocked off by an entire platoon of Soldiers. His eyes widened, and Cream screamed. Unable to close her eyes she watched as they took aim and fired. Shadow took one look at them and clicked his fingers, a smug grin on his face. The doe saw his shock as whatever he had been trying to do had failed. He clicked them again with more emphasis, and she saw a small spark appear, but it had no effect. Too late, the Hedgehog turned and ran, his urgency increasing as she heard the soldiers fire without warning.
Most of the bullets missed, their glowing bodies carving lines across her vision that took a while to fade to normal. But she felt the tense of Shadow’s body every time one hit him in the back, not to mention she could see him visible weakening. Her heart raced at the thought of him dying from the people she thought were meant to protect the world.
His movements were still beyond that of a Human or Mobian, but not by much, and it was still worsening. Inside Shadow’s head, he could see the world blurring, his energy leaving him. As he ran and jumped and ducked through obstacles, he began to become less and less graceful, and more uncoordinated.
“Shadow, are you ok?” The doe asked fearfully looking up to him, surprising him as he saw her teary eyes through his unreliable vision. Was she worried? For him? Shadow didn’t have any more time to think about this as he turned a corner into a suitable dark alleyway and almost ran headfirst into a wall. Managing to swing Cream out of the way was fairly difficult, and he got a cracked rib when he hit it, but at least she was safe and he could only distantly hear the helicopters and sirens now.
Too tired to carry on Shadow dropped to the floor, and gasped for air, leacing Cream where she was and accidentally giving the result of having a small but attractive woman lying over his lap.
“A…Are you ok Shadow?” She asked him, the girl was obviously terrified, her breathing shallow inside the cloak and her eyes constantly looking around for more enemies. Something which was only magnified by the blood draining from him into nearby puddle, its colour an odd blackish colour more than any red.
“I’m fine.” Cream could see he wasn’t fine, he was just being stubborn. The dark Hedgehog was soaked from head to foot, his back was covered in blood. She could see the colour was draining out of his face, and his strength was being sapped. Through what she suspected was sheer will power alone he got up, and tried a few steps before stopping again and coughing up a good deal of the odd black coloured blood. “I just need to rest for a while. We should be safe here for now.” She nodded, hoping he was right. He probably is, its his job to do this sort of thing I guess. It both pleased and scared Cream that she could now think of assassination as a real job, and wasn’t as scared of it as she had been.
The doe sat down a little way from Shadow, noticing his obvious chill, probably a result of his weakened state considering the temperatures he had stood up to previously. She debated going over to him and trying to hug him to keep him cool, or just giving him back his cloak. He obviously needed it more.
“Shadow, take this back. I’m warm enough.” She smiled weakly, and was slightly surprised when he shook his head.
“You need it, I’ll survive.” This odd selflessness confused her, norally he seemed to care only about himself. Then he’d do something to show he cared about her more than himself. Even after numerous (unsuccessful) attempts to get him to take it, and his obvious shivers, she finally decided to try something that made the blood rush to her face. In a bout of mischievousness she simply lowered herself onto him gently as not to hurt his injuries, and then covered as much of him as she could with her own body. Shadow was obviously surprised, but he made no attempt to push her away so she assumed he didn’t mind and promptly curled up on top of him, looking at the necklace she had been given and sneaking the occasional glance into her saviour’s eyes. Eyes that seemed less fierce but still so alive after the danger they had been put in.
Shadow’s chest pressed against her more slowly, and she suspected he might be falling asleep. Well fine, as long as she could wake him up if they met more trouble. For now she just stared at the necklace. “Parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” That’s what the riddle was. So what did that mean? Cream sighed, and looked at the little beam of light that seemed to pour continuously from the front of the necklace, even looking at it when it wasn’t pointed towards her hurt, she couldn’t imagine what looking at the damn thing head on would feel like. Wait, maybe that was the pain? So I need to find something that sees, but doesn’t feel pain. In a parallel universe? That doesn’t sound easy. Cream’s eyes fell in shame, she had wanted to be able to solve the riddle for Shadow, to please him. But it seemed now she wouldn’t be able to. Looking to the ground she saw her reflection in a puddle of water. She was surprised to see she didn’t look too bad in the cloak, it made her look foreign, like the ancient humans she had seen on the documentary channel. She took out the necklace, to see how the gift she was supposed to have gotten looked on her. At first it looked exactly the same, then by chance, the beam of light that constantly sprang from the necklace’s front met the eyes of her reflection. The entire mass of water in the alley pulsed once, each puddle dimming to an uninterrupted black before fading back to the reflection. The doe slowly looked back at her reflection, it was now perfect like it was in a mirror instead of a pool of water.
Cream was surprised at what she saw around her neck to say the least.
The beam of purple light was the only thing that gave it any resemblance to the thing she’d been wearing. In the place of the gold chain, there was a hoop of seemingly flexible crystal, the colour of a sort of blackish purple despite the way it sparkled. Where the pendant with its odd markings had been, there were two bands of purest white, a chain floating near each, orbiting around the crystal.
Imprisoning it.
It was clear this necklace had never been designed for the photo it now held, this crystal was obviously its real occupant. It was jagged and sharp, uncut unlike the Chaos Emerald, the outer layer was a dark purple, whilst the core was beyond black. It was more like a tiny black hole, sucking at her eyes until all she could gaze on was this. She felt a small amount of movement as Shadow woke up, but she found she couldn’t move her attention away from the crystal.
Cream felt a jolt as Shadow woke up and grabbed her and diverted her eyesight. She lost sight of the thing in the puddle, and soon it became just a puddle of water instead of the gateway to another dimension.
“I think I’ve solved the riddle.” She said in wonder. “My reflection sees in a way, but if you shine a bright light into it it never feels pain.”
“Except what you saw was not your reflection, it was another dimension pretending to be something its not.” Shadow answered.
“How do you know?”
“Your uncle tends to drag me into things like this a lot. He’s a conspiracy hunting type of person.” His tone was anything but flattering. “Now, lets see what happens when we do this.” Shadow pulled himself up, took a hold of her necklace and pointed the light at the puddle. She watched as the process repeated itself, although she saw no reflection this time, and figured it probably only worked on the person directing the light.
Without any sign of worry or hesitation, Shadow took one finger and touched the puddle where his own reflection did the same. The fingers met and Shadow was thrown into the wall violently as a spark of purple lightning travelled into his arm.
“SHADOW?!? SHADOW?!?!” He heard Cream scream as he slipped into a deep deathlike sleep. Neither of them noticed the slight glow of purple in his eyes, not the way the puddles formed for a few seconds, a world of crystal and dark before winking out. However, if Cream had seen this before it faded she might have caught the faintest image of a black and red hedgehog appearing in the darkness.
Cream hugged the lifeless body and wept into it with no sign of ever stopping. She could feel him getting colder and colder, and she knew somehow he was dead.
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There we have it, a very long chapter I know and a very mean cliffhanger.
Will Shadow the Immortal life form be killed? If so why have I gone to the trouble of writing this damn thing? Doesn’t make much sense really. Oh well, next time on Guardian Angel, we see the world of the Void and its strange inhabitants…
Although I do thank the kind people who did review, I was beginning to think I should just stop this fiction and go onto something else, which would annoy me cos my next fiction is pretty much a sequel. But you’ve managed to keep me writing, and as long as I have at least one dedicated reader I always carry on.
Oh, and I hope someone can guess the identity of the inner voice.
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Vanilla the Rabbit wondered around her house doing odd little chores, trying to keep her mind off of her daughter. She had heard she’d disappeared and was quite prepared to strangle a certain Fox If she didn’t turn up.
“Oh Cream…” She stared out of a window into the coming unseasonable rainstorm. It had swept over from Station Square and had darkened the sky early. As she made herself a cup of tea in her small but cosy cottage she could hear the rain begin to hit the windows in increasing force. “I hope your not out in this Cream.” At Vanilla’s side constantly was her daughter’s Chao, brought back by Tails as soon as she had gone missing. Cheese was whining all the time now, looking out of every window she passed for his master.
Suddenly the little blue creature froze and its head turned and locked on a section of the wall. Vanilla turned, a shiver going down her back as she realised he was looking at the front door through the wall. She ran to the door as fast as her restrictive dress and through the howling wind she heard a loud knock, accompanied with voices she could only just hear with her large Rabbit ears, her senses being amplified by stress helped too.
“We do have a doorbell you know.” Cream!?!
“Do I really seem like the doorbell type?” Unidentified dark male voice!?!? Vanilla swung the door open and looked out into the cold, dark storm. The cloaked figure stared at her, though its hood was drawn. She couldn’t see Cream anywhere, until she realised she was underneath the figures substantial cloak. She could just see the outline of her daughter now, obviously she was being held in this… creatures arms. This fact was made even more blatant as the familiar head of Cream popped out, and immediately the cloaked male moved one arm from holding her to being over her head to stop her getting soaked.
“Hi mom.” Was all Cream had to say at the older doe staring wide eyed at them. Cream was already blushing from her close contact with the male, and the nervous smile did not help her silent protest of innocence.
Vanilla had no idea whether to hug her or beat her senseless, but when the cloaked figure stepped closer and held Cream out to her she decided on the former. The smaller doe was almost crushed as all the worry poured away from her mother in the hug. Unfortunately, after the surge of motherly emotion was over Vanilla’s wide smile became a thin, dangerous one as she remembered her daughters odd companion.
“Why don’t you two come inside…” To Cream, it sounded awfully like “Hello Mr Fly, won’t you come into my parlour?” The Rabbit gulped and Shadow followed her in.
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The creature stirred in the depths of Shadow‘s mind, no. Not creature, more… being, considering it no longer possessed a body. Yes, the being stirred in the depths of Shadow's mind, and grew annoyed at the delays its host was making. It had travelled many light year and even across the barrier of a dimension, struggling to find someone who was attuned with the void enough to hear it. And even now, it counted itself lucky that someone had activated half of a Crystal with their experiments or what ever they were doing. Soon, this Shadow creature would collect the pieces, and release it born again into the universe.
I do wonder. If this beings sensitivity is an accident, I am sure I know of this creator.
It mattered not to the being that the time of renewal would pass in an insufficient two years. Or that the other crystals were scattered in dozens of pieces over the past 200 years. After all, what was time, to a God?
For now, all it needed was the one crystal, even the half stored in this house would be sufficient for now.
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Vanilla stared at Shadow. Shadow stared at Vanilla. Cream sat in the middle drinking her tea silently.
“So, what did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.” Shadow answered, he had yet to take his hood off and Cream wondered why he wanted so few people to see his face. “Mr Robotnik, pleased to meet you.” Vanilla recoiled at the name like a snake had bitten her, there was no way it was simply a coincidence. Cream also stared, especially since she knew Shadow was a Hedgehog!
“Robotnik is a very rare name… any relation to Eggman?” Vanilla asked suspiciously whilst she too sipped her tea, somehow making it look threatening.
“The good Doctor and I are related, very distantly through an adoption by a member of his family many decades ago.” Vanilla nodded, noticing the use of his title "Doctor" unlike the common Eggman or Robotnik that everyone else used.
“And why may I ask are you dressed in such a concealing robe?” Vanilla was unable to see anything of her guest but she was sure she recognized the voice from somewhere.
“I was in an unfortunate accident 6 years ago, it left me burnt over most of my body.” Cream tried not to look surprised at the huge blatant lie, his body was fine, she’d seen it! In fact, it was more than fine! She found herself thinking embarassed.
“Oh I’m sorry.” Vanilla said, actually sounding like she was, though her iciness returned in a few seconds.
“Don’t be, I made quite a startling recovery.”
“And how did you meet my… charming daughter?” Vanilla glanced at Cream momentarily, and he young doe wished she could simply sink into the sofa cushion. The only thing she was happy about was the fact she was finally back with her friend Cheese, who was currently lying on his mistress’s knee, happy.
“I located her in a dangerous part of the city whilst out looking for someone, obviously I had to save her.” Vanilla raised an eyebrow, not believing him. “Then I took her back to my home to sleep until I could return her to you.”
“And bringing my daughter back took a full day?” Cream was amazed to see Vanilla had her own glare, true it wasn’t as terrifying as Shadow’s laser version, but it was still enough to make anyone sweat. Shadow however, had not even tensed, carrying on like he was talking about the weather.
“We ran into complications.”
“Right. Cream? Could I speak to you in the kitchen?” It wasn’t a request really, it was an order and Vanilla practically dragged the young doe out, leaving Shadow to wait in their lounge.
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The first half, it was so close! 68 degrees up, 7 metres from it’s hosts position. Without making a sound to Shadow, it slowly slipped it’s crystal sense into it’s host’s brain. It couldn’t hurt to help him just a little bit.
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As soon as they were in the kitchen Vanilla turned to her daughter and spoke with a fierce whisper.
“Where did you meet this… man??”
“Its just like he said, he saved me when I got locked out of Tails car.”
“And?” Vanilla knew she wasn’t telling the whole truth.
“He said he needs something from me. Well, something from you.”
“What?” She asked, her voice deadly low. Cream had never seen her mother so angry as when Shadow had arrived, but now it was reaching new heights.
“Some kind of Necklace.” That was enough, Vanilla turned and marched through the door, leaving a puzzled doe behind.
“You!” She almost at the cloaked Hedgehog. “Your one of his friends aren’t you?! Why have you come here?!” Cream looked at Shadow for a reaction, but he revealed nothing. For a second she wondered if he had any idea what she was talking about, until he answered.
“The necklace was meant to be for Cream, my former associate Tanto delivered it with instructions as such.”
“She has no business with that man anymore!”
“Of course not, he is dead.” Shadow answered. Vanilla froze in shock, just managing to recover enough so it wasn’t too noticeable. “However, the fact remains that Kazu wants Cream to have her father’s gift, and I will carry out his orders as such.” Cream turned to look at Shadow, had he said her father?? Vanilla never mentioned her Dad now, when she was younger she occasionally told her tiny snippets but that had stopped many years ago, had Shadow known her father?
“I won’t tell you where it is.” Silently, Shadow lifted the long arm of his cloak upwards, then turned it. Pointing at a part of the ceiling that looked exactly the same as any other.
“It is there, in your attic.” Vanilla’s mouth fell open, amazed at his apparent 6th sense. But Cream, who had seen enough amazing abilities today didn't bat an eyelid. For the last few minutes she had had no idea what the conversation had been about but for that moment at least, she didn’t care. The rabbit just wanted things to go back to normal until Sonic arrived, he’d sort everything out just like he always did. He’d come in, tell her everything, somehow stop Shadow being so mean and then take her out with all their friends.
Vanilla sighed, defeated.
“I’ll get it now.” She turned and walked upstairs hesitant to leave her daughter with the mysterious Mr Robotnik.
You have done well Shadow.
Why? What do you gain from this? He answered in his head.
Its more what I can give you… It teased.
What? What can you possibly give me? Your just a voice!
No, I am creature who has been crying out for many years, searching for someone who could hear me hopelessly until i found you to be my temporary host. And in return for releasing me, I will grant you one wish. The voice lost its air of kindness now and became more suggestive and manipulative sounding, full of arrogance and mischief. Sound familiar? It did sound familiar to Shadow, it was the words he used on the Doctor when he first escaped. But that means…
I’ve seen your memories? Of your attempt at revenge? Of the ARK? Of Maria? Shadow’s response was less a thought and more a concentrated feeling of hate that amused the inner voice, though it didn’t show it. Calm down, why do you think I want you to collect the crystals? They really will help you, you know?
How? He asked, wondering if he was insane or this voice was really telling the truth.
I can use them to give you what you want most.
And what’s that?
Quietly, the voice made it’s offer. His eyes widened as it screwed around in his memories, but for the end result it was worth it. It had offered him the one thing he longed for most, and he was going to take it.
Your sure you can do this?
I promise you.
Done deal.
The voice said nothing else, but he assumed it had accepted. He knew very well now it wasn’t just some sort of mental problem. He wasn’t sane enough for voices that made suave business deals, insane screaming ones about burning down buildings were more his style, but as of yet they had kept away.
Shadow had been sitting rigid on the couch the whole time, Cream staring at him. Only now did he notice her.
“Did you hear me? I said did you know my dad?” She looked worried and he suspected that the inner voice had taken his hearing so he wouldn’t be distracted.
“No, but my friend did once.”
“Is he who you’re going to take this necklace to?”
“Yes, however I do not need the necklace specifically, there is something we hid inside a long time ago.”
“What?”
“You ask a great deal of questions you know.” He glared at her and she picked up the annoyance in his voice. Cream moved a few feet away out of fear and Shadow found himself regretting his short temper. It would take her mother a while to get the necklace, there was no reason why they shouldn’t talk if Cream wanted to. Why do I even care? I almost have my goal, there is no reason to bother with this Rabbit. Shadow had been observing her every chance he got, and overall he was unimpressed. Her strength was small, and her speed unlikely to be high, she was definitely not up to battle standards. And she would be useless to him as soon as he had collected the crystal, considering Kazu hadn’t specified any instructions for her. Logically he shouldn’t give her a second thought. However, he found himself feeling somewhat positive towards her presence. It wasn’t much, he just didn’t have any objections to seeing her again if the situation permitted it.
It took the older doe less time than he’d thought to collect the necklace and when she came in she practically threw it at Shadow, who caught it easily in one hand.
“You have been most cooperative Miss Vanilla. Thank you.”
“Tell this Kazu, I don’t want anything to do with my Husband again.”
“Does that include your daughter?” Shadow asked slyly, though never changing tone. She just scowled at him.
“Cream, get to your room, I’ll be talking to you about this later. You, Assassin, get out of here before I call the police.” Shadow considered informing her how useless most armies were compared to him, but decided against it and quickly walked out, catching a glance from Cream as she hesitantly made her way up the stairs. As Vanilla’s footsteps came the small doe quickly mouthed a thank you and walked up the stairs quickly.
Shadow walked out into the rainstorm, his thick cloak protecting him from any rain just like it had on the way over through the tunnel. As he walked down the path he took out the necklace and stared at it. It was slightly bigger than a coin, a little more than an inch across and made entirely out of gold. On the front runic but intricate carvings had been made, that seemed to swirl around forever and join with each other, making something that could have possibly been writing. In the middle was a narrow pin hole, that Kazu had made very clear was not to be looked through, in fact he had said he had sealed this up, yet it was bare again apparently by itself considering all it had been doing. The mysterious hole glowed purple in the dark.
It’s probably beautiful, Shadow thought having little in the way of knowledge about aesthetics. Yes, I would deem this pleasing to the eye. It could probably be given the title of masterpiece even, certainly a work of art. Shadow realised how much he was thinking about it, it seemed to be sucking at his concentration. He was hardly looking where he was going! Moving his partly gloved hand over it he let his furred fingers touch the casing and a prickling cold took over his bare digits before disappearing.
“Odd gift.” Shadow decided to open it, Kazu had said the crystal was inside and where else coud the glow be coming from. However, upon opening the lid Shadow found simply a picture fixed in. A tall tan brown Rabbit dressed in a suit with a red bowtie was hugging Cream’s mother, who was dressed in some sort of madly elaborate white dress he had never seen before. It seemed to have a long veil to go with it, but that was up. Revealing a young Vanilla’s smiling, blushing face. Between the two of them they held a baby Rabbit, asleep yet still hugging a tiny white Chao, too small to even have gained its basic blue colouring. Behind the happy family a crowd of people threw strangely coloured paper in apparent celebration. The only people he recognized there were a younger looking Mongoose, and a purple Chamelion. Opposite to the picture was simply more swirling writing fixed around a hollow in the metal. I wonder what it says…
Think of it as a kind of riddle. That species always was one for theatrics. It says “parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” The voice said from beneath his consciousness. You won’t get the jewel without figuring it out.
Thanks. Shadow replied but got no answer. He knew how bad he was a riddles, he was bad with anything of that kind of thing. Even poetry was beyond him.
Shadow looked back at the house behind him, its curtains drawn but one light on upstairs, handily located near an old oak tree leaning near the house. Must be Cream’s room. Shadow felt liked going back to see her, to give her this gift. Who knew? Maybe a more imaginative mortal would have an idea on how to solve the riddle, the jewel was deficiently there after all, he could sense its presence, so the voice must be right.
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Cream sighed and jumped stomach first down on her bed, her ears flopping down over her head. Cheese wandered up to her and copied, evidently thinking they were playing hide and seek. She sighed, unsure of what to make. Over the past 48 hours she had been almost raped, kidnapped, escaped, kidnapped again, shocked, scared, embarrassed and any number of other things! Still, in one way she would have liked to see the strange Hedgehog again, he was the only person she had ever met who knew something about her father for one. And she couldn’t help but feel she should stay with him, he was a puzzle to her and she was naturally curious. What drove him to be so forward and confrontational? Why was he so violent? Why did he want so few people to see his face? It wasn’t as if he was bad looking, she thought to herself, blushing.
Cream heard a faint tapping on her window sound and jumped up, it had been hard to distinguish from the battering rain but she was sure it was there. She slowly got up, aware it could be another kidnapper, or it could be Shadow. It came again and she reasoned if it was a kidnapper, he’d have simply broken in. Going to the window with a mix of excitement and fear, she slowly drew the curtain and instantly jumped back, suppressing the urge to scream. Shadow was there, but he was only a few millimetres away from the glass! His hooded figure being beaten by the rain and wind but not moving a inch. She mouthed for him to come in, and he disappeared in a small spark of white before reappearing inside, the water left behind floating for a few seconds until gravity got its act together.
“Hello again.” Cream said happily, automatically closing the door hurriedly in the fashion usually reserved when they have an attractive member of the opposite gender in their room.
“…” Shadow said nothing, unsure what to do apart from remove his hood. He had only ever been in one other teenage girl’s room and therefore didn’t know how to act. I wonder if there are any special rituals I must observe. He thought to himself vaguely.
“Erm… please, make yourself comfortable.” Shadow looked around at the (mostly pink) room, and wondered what this actually meant. Cream had to suppress a laugh as she saw how out of place he looked. He doesn’t fit in with real life, he’s too unreal for it.. She decided.It brought an irony to his own name, Shadow, the creature who couldn’t be placed in light because it would dissolve who he was. Instead of talking more Shadow simply took out the necklace and held it out to her.
Cream took it in her hand and gasped, captivated by it. It looked very old, and the markings o it reminded her of the old writing on the Master Emerald’s shrine, the place she went to play with Chao and bring freshly baked cookies to Knuckles (someone had to feed him warm food).
“It’s beautiful…” She trailed off. Shadow smiled a small humourless smile, he had been right. He was getting better in his observations, maybe one day he’d actually be able to blend in properly. It would certainly make his job easier. “Did you get what you wanted from it?”
“No, but I know its in there. But there’s some sort of trick, I was hoping you might know.” Cream opened it, and stared at the picture with wide unblinking eyes, this was her father. The smiling Rabbit seemed almost alive through the glass. Cream shook her head, and tried to help Shadow. She looked at it and turned it upside down almost looking for a way to hide something, and Shadow watched her with interest. He was too logically for all this, he’d just look it over once and make an analysis, she was doing things he wouldn’t think off. Like smelling it and feeling it, searching for something unusual.
“I don’t understand, there no hidden mechanism or anything. Maybe If we knew what this writing said we could get it.” She said with a sigh.
“It says, “parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” But I do not see how that helps us.”
“Its some kind of riddle. We’ll just have to figure it out, maybe then we can open it.”
“We don’t have enough time, I cannot stay in the same place long. Someone is tracking me, I’m sure of it.”
“Can’t we ask this Mr Kazu you talked about?” Shadow chuckled, and not only as she had called Kazu “Mr”.
“I thought you’d want to be a good girl and stay with your mother.”
“I do, but Mr Kazu knows something about my father. And I want to know more about him, I deserve to.” Shadow saw how determined she was, but was unsure. His task was to recover the jewel and then leave her, then again, if Kazu was really her Uncle like he said he was then he’d probably want to see her. The Rabbit had been depressed for the last few weeks, perhaps seeing a long lost relative would help this. Shadow hoped he hadn’t misjudged mortal emotions yet again, but his choice felt logical enough. Cream waited anxiously for him to finish deciding.
“You can accompany me.” Out of joy Cream jumped up and hugged him in a way reminiscent of Amy tackling Sonic, before she remembered who it was and retreated to a distance, worried about any retribution the Hedgehog and his mood swings might bring. To her surprise, he did nothing but turn and open her window into the storm.
“Looks even worse since we came. I don’t think your cloak is going to keep both of us dry from that.” She said nervously, before screaming as a bolt of lighting made its way across the sky. Silhouetting Shadow and making him seem even more fearsome than usual. Despite this horrifying appearance Shadow removed his cloak without any prompt from the Rabbit and wrapping the thick material around her several times instead.
“Perhaps it will be enough for you instead.” He remarked, Shadow pulled piece of paper from a pocket, quickly wrote a note for Vanilla and dropped It on Cream’s bed. He picked her up easily through the bundles of cloth that made it look like she was simply an oversized baby, and before she could even answer he walked out into the night.
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The cold rain did nothing to stop the GUN troops who were spreading about Station Square. The recovery of the second Void crystal was of the highest importance. Each soldier was dressed in a full black uniform, with numerous reinforced armour parts and a helmet capable of withstanding an elephant stepping on it. In their hands they had ordinary weaponry, but strapped to their backs they had the new prototypes. Where the normal weapons were black and dull, these were a silver grey from end to end. Many had scopes or laser sights attached, and the ammo clip glowed when it was pulled out. Everyman there was wearing thick gloves, and they left no skin exposed to neither the chilling bite of the rain, nor the tragic touch of a crystal.
They had all seen what could happen, they were worse than poison.
They had specially adapted versions for the sharpshooters. The General wasn’t sure how effective they would be, so for now they were planning saturation shots. So far on tests the effect seemed to be cumulative, so the more shots that hit, the longer Project Shadow’s Chaos field would be interrupted, and the longer he would be as weak as a kitten.
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Cream had been more than a little bit surprised to find the black cloak to not only be very warm, but also to shield her against the pelting rain. Her face poked out and got soaked in seconds, but she didn’t mind as long as it didn’t go into her eyes too much. She was more concerned for the Hedgehog carrying her.
They had left her mothers house and Shadow had been forced to take the long route as the tunnel was blocked off by a team of engineers, collecting the train he had broken. It was ironic really, what he had done to save himself a little time had caused him to be delayed massively. And so Shadow had ran across cold hills and through damp forests trying to get to Station Square, carrying her all the way. Luckily he seemed to have almost inexhaustible stamina and a sense of direction that probably rivalled a few plane Global Positioning Systems. Cream was forever struck with a simultaneous feeling of both awe and fear of him, although the fear was more for other people than herself. He seemed also to bring up an amazing sense of mystery and curiosity to the young doe.
Shadow. Had he been given that name when he was first born? It seemed unlikely that anyone would give a child such a foreboding name. Although her imagination was hard pressed to imagine the Hedgehog as anything other than he was now, an immovable pillar of dark fur with the glare of a demon. Had he taken it for himself then? That seemed unlikely too, whilst he certainly seemed arrogant she didn’t think anyone would rename themselves Shadow. But what about the second name he had given her Mother? Robotnik. Was it really his name? In the whole world now there was only one man called Robotnik.
Dr Eggman. Ruler of the Eggman Empire, whose soldiers of metal marched through the world, only narrowly forced back by GUN and Sonic. The man terrified her, as he watched through those reflecting goggles, never showing his eyes, people before him died in their hundreds. Even the Moon had not escaped his wrath, though she had not seen the announcement video she knew it had been destroyed to demonstrate some old weapon of the past.
How had Shadow gotten it? Was he really related to Eggman? There were a hundred names that would have been better to choose so it didn’t make sense to pretend to be that one when trying to keep a low profile.
There were so many questions that clawed at the Doe’s imagination, but for now she decided on one as she stared unblinking up at the face. Hidden by the storm and soaked by the rain, she could still see him every so often, when the light allowed. He never blinked, he stared ahead. What was he? Not Mobian, she realised this much now. Even Sonic or Knuckles would have shivered or something at this point.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Shadow jumped suddenly, and she turned her head at the bright glare of lights that had appeared. It was the outskirts of Station Square. She could see the tallest buildings far on the horizon, in the dark their lights shone like a lighthouse. In the sky slightly more helicopters circled than had before. Shadow wasted no time, firing forward like a bullet from a gun glass shattered as he passed. As the Hedgehog ran, his subconscious screamed bloody murder at him for daring to hold someone like he had Maria comfortably, without embarrassment or loathing.
“Shadow? How fast can you run? Grandfather said you’d be able to run faster than a transport!” Maria’s voice echoed through his mind, festering memories having new life breathed into them by the hope offered to him by his own personal inner demon.
Too caught up in his own speed to bother with stealth anymore, running to prove he was the ultimate life form. Cream was caught up in the massive speed as much as he was.
“I don’t know, I’ve haven’t tried yet. I was only born yesterday you know.” It seemed so far away now, but he could remember the times when the young Maria used to bombard him with questions, always fascinated with the inner workings of his biology. And he had answered every one to the best of his ability. Because she was quite literally, the reason he lived.
“Can we see now?” The young Maria had somehow climbed into his arms and beckoned for him to go forwards. Shadow had complied, hoping the hallway was as long as it seemed to be.
The air around the Doe’s compressed as her carrier began to go too fast and her lungs became oxygen starved, air was moving past them too fast for her to breath. She could see spots as they began to approach the sound barrier.
He hadn’t realised back then, that the speeds he could go could harm people. Even now he forgot on occasion, probably because of the few people he actually knew.
An all encompassing noise exploded around them, to be replaced almost immediately with a silent world, where they moved too fast for noise to reach them. If he carried on she’d be dead of oxygen starvation in a few seconds. Cream banged her small gloved hand as hard as she could on Shadow’s chest to tell him something, unable to make a sound, even if she had the breath to speak. It was like hitting solid concrete. Shadow looked down suddenly, his eyes wide with fear at what he was doing accidentally. It took him only a few seconds for an emergency stop, the ground was torn up where he had forced his feet into the concrete.
“Maria?” He asked quickly, stopping dead on the pavement under a streetlight, Cream was too busy to hear what he had said.
Maria had done the same. For the next few minutes she had just sat there coughing and coughing. Shadow had had no idea what to do except be there and worry.
Cream bent over as she gasped for air, trying to inhale enough oxygen to get herself back to normal.
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24 floors above them a sniper looked down, confirming his targets. His radio buzzed with life as soon as he reported the two he had seen.
“Wait for other snipers to move in before you commence attack, over.”
“Got you command, over.” He could see now, with his thermal goggles, other soldiers making their way over the rooftops. This Project Shadow had really been overrated. He had heard it said he could spot a soldier on top of a small mountain and fire a bullet into his heart. He had in fact, heard this from the General himself! But here he was with the Hedgehog in his crosshairs. How difficult could it be to capture him?
Right now the Project, the most valuable military weapon on the face of the planet, was standing over to the Rabbit command had assured him was of equally high priority. She seemed to be coughing or something on the floor, and it was obvious Shadow was too occupied to notice them.
“Units in position. Fire at will.”
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Shadow put a hand out to Cream and reminded himself to keep the mortal in mind. Not only was she more fragile than he was but she seemed more fragile than most normal creatures too. She thanked him as he lifted her back up, feeling a little strange when he looked her over to ensure she really was alright. Realising she was fine, and without even an apology despite his guilt, Shadow looked around to make sure the place they were in was safe, something he should have done before.
Wow, is that why Sonic won’t carry Amy anywhere? How come Tails can go with him when he goes supersonic but other people can? Cream wondered. After she had gotten herself together she made sure she still had the necklace and turned to tell Shadow she was fine to leave again, however he held his hand up to silence her.
“I hear something. I didn’t notice it before.”
“Wha-” She didn’t finish as she screamed at the sudden gunshot, she could easily see where the bullet had hit for one simple reason. It was glowing purple. It had hit the ground behind Shadow, in such a way that she was sure it had gone through him. However, when the next rang out that idea was proved void. Shadow simply moved his arm up in a way that could almost be described as aloof, and another glowing purple bullet hit the ground behind him instead of hitting it’s mark. When feeling the new energies the bullets had brought, Shadow began to take them more seriously.
Inside Shadow’s mind combat protocols were taking over from the arrogant yet almost bored mindset he usually used when dealing with lesser opponents, immediately he scanned the line of rooftops high above them, and eye sight superior to pretty much any living creature you’d care to name picked out the dozen snipers placed strategically on the buildings in front and around him. Using only the sound to estimate its position he moved his torso slightly to the left to avoid another bullet aiming for his back - realising there was probably one or two snipers behind him as well.
Had he been on his own he would have simply ran up the side of one of those buildings, killed the sniper then used his weapon to kill the others nearby. But he couldn’t possibly guarantee Cream’s safety.
Helicopters circled above and put bright searchlights over them, blinding Shadow from seeing the snipers and stopping him hearing the bullets with the massive whine of the engines. No helicopter would usually fly this low, even when chasing someone. It was obviously planned to disorientate him. Shadow decided a retreat was most definitely in order, he picked up Cream again and ran, at a lesser speed this time. Around him he felt the vibrations of the strange glowing bullets fire into the pavement, thinking they were harmless in the ground he didn’t pay much attention to them until one exploded. In that instant he felt a surge of the strange energy that seemed almost to weaken him, it felt not unlike the energy he sensed from the Void crystal. Yet it seemed far more, shallow. Like there was nothing more to it than a little bit of energy compared to the numerous emotions that spewed from the necklace’s secret.
Shadow fired a dozen small Chaos spears into the nearest Helicopter, knocking it violently although its armour appeared to be unusually resistant to his attacks. He then ran into a long alleyway, his air shoes scattering the water from the ground beneath him as he ran. Cutting through numerous other alleyways and even knocking down part of a wall with his sheer strength he managed to lose the Helicopters easily enough. He was going to find a safe place to rest and teleport away. Hopefully GUN wouldn’t be able to use whatever method they used to track him here. That battle squad had been waiting for him he knew, those bullets were obviously specially designed to take him down. There was hardly any point hiding anymore, they knew their weapon was still alive.
Shadow turned a corner and froze as the road was blocked off by an entire platoon of Soldiers. His eyes widened, and Cream screamed. Unable to close her eyes she watched as they took aim and fired. Shadow took one look at them and clicked his fingers, a smug grin on his face. The doe saw his shock as whatever he had been trying to do had failed. He clicked them again with more emphasis, and she saw a small spark appear, but it had no effect. Too late, the Hedgehog turned and ran, his urgency increasing as she heard the soldiers fire without warning.
Most of the bullets missed, their glowing bodies carving lines across her vision that took a while to fade to normal. But she felt the tense of Shadow’s body every time one hit him in the back, not to mention she could see him visible weakening. Her heart raced at the thought of him dying from the people she thought were meant to protect the world.
His movements were still beyond that of a Human or Mobian, but not by much, and it was still worsening. Inside Shadow’s head, he could see the world blurring, his energy leaving him. As he ran and jumped and ducked through obstacles, he began to become less and less graceful, and more uncoordinated.
“Shadow, are you ok?” The doe asked fearfully looking up to him, surprising him as he saw her teary eyes through his unreliable vision. Was she worried? For him? Shadow didn’t have any more time to think about this as he turned a corner into a suitable dark alleyway and almost ran headfirst into a wall. Managing to swing Cream out of the way was fairly difficult, and he got a cracked rib when he hit it, but at least she was safe and he could only distantly hear the helicopters and sirens now.
Too tired to carry on Shadow dropped to the floor, and gasped for air, leacing Cream where she was and accidentally giving the result of having a small but attractive woman lying over his lap.
“A…Are you ok Shadow?” She asked him, the girl was obviously terrified, her breathing shallow inside the cloak and her eyes constantly looking around for more enemies. Something which was only magnified by the blood draining from him into nearby puddle, its colour an odd blackish colour more than any red.
“I’m fine.” Cream could see he wasn’t fine, he was just being stubborn. The dark Hedgehog was soaked from head to foot, his back was covered in blood. She could see the colour was draining out of his face, and his strength was being sapped. Through what she suspected was sheer will power alone he got up, and tried a few steps before stopping again and coughing up a good deal of the odd black coloured blood. “I just need to rest for a while. We should be safe here for now.” She nodded, hoping he was right. He probably is, its his job to do this sort of thing I guess. It both pleased and scared Cream that she could now think of assassination as a real job, and wasn’t as scared of it as she had been.
The doe sat down a little way from Shadow, noticing his obvious chill, probably a result of his weakened state considering the temperatures he had stood up to previously. She debated going over to him and trying to hug him to keep him cool, or just giving him back his cloak. He obviously needed it more.
“Shadow, take this back. I’m warm enough.” She smiled weakly, and was slightly surprised when he shook his head.
“You need it, I’ll survive.” This odd selflessness confused her, norally he seemed to care only about himself. Then he’d do something to show he cared about her more than himself. Even after numerous (unsuccessful) attempts to get him to take it, and his obvious shivers, she finally decided to try something that made the blood rush to her face. In a bout of mischievousness she simply lowered herself onto him gently as not to hurt his injuries, and then covered as much of him as she could with her own body. Shadow was obviously surprised, but he made no attempt to push her away so she assumed he didn’t mind and promptly curled up on top of him, looking at the necklace she had been given and sneaking the occasional glance into her saviour’s eyes. Eyes that seemed less fierce but still so alive after the danger they had been put in.
Shadow’s chest pressed against her more slowly, and she suspected he might be falling asleep. Well fine, as long as she could wake him up if they met more trouble. For now she just stared at the necklace. “Parallel world, where an eye feels no pain.” That’s what the riddle was. So what did that mean? Cream sighed, and looked at the little beam of light that seemed to pour continuously from the front of the necklace, even looking at it when it wasn’t pointed towards her hurt, she couldn’t imagine what looking at the damn thing head on would feel like. Wait, maybe that was the pain? So I need to find something that sees, but doesn’t feel pain. In a parallel universe? That doesn’t sound easy. Cream’s eyes fell in shame, she had wanted to be able to solve the riddle for Shadow, to please him. But it seemed now she wouldn’t be able to. Looking to the ground she saw her reflection in a puddle of water. She was surprised to see she didn’t look too bad in the cloak, it made her look foreign, like the ancient humans she had seen on the documentary channel. She took out the necklace, to see how the gift she was supposed to have gotten looked on her. At first it looked exactly the same, then by chance, the beam of light that constantly sprang from the necklace’s front met the eyes of her reflection. The entire mass of water in the alley pulsed once, each puddle dimming to an uninterrupted black before fading back to the reflection. The doe slowly looked back at her reflection, it was now perfect like it was in a mirror instead of a pool of water.
Cream was surprised at what she saw around her neck to say the least.
The beam of purple light was the only thing that gave it any resemblance to the thing she’d been wearing. In the place of the gold chain, there was a hoop of seemingly flexible crystal, the colour of a sort of blackish purple despite the way it sparkled. Where the pendant with its odd markings had been, there were two bands of purest white, a chain floating near each, orbiting around the crystal.
Imprisoning it.
It was clear this necklace had never been designed for the photo it now held, this crystal was obviously its real occupant. It was jagged and sharp, uncut unlike the Chaos Emerald, the outer layer was a dark purple, whilst the core was beyond black. It was more like a tiny black hole, sucking at her eyes until all she could gaze on was this. She felt a small amount of movement as Shadow woke up, but she found she couldn’t move her attention away from the crystal.
Cream felt a jolt as Shadow woke up and grabbed her and diverted her eyesight. She lost sight of the thing in the puddle, and soon it became just a puddle of water instead of the gateway to another dimension.
“I think I’ve solved the riddle.” She said in wonder. “My reflection sees in a way, but if you shine a bright light into it it never feels pain.”
“Except what you saw was not your reflection, it was another dimension pretending to be something its not.” Shadow answered.
“How do you know?”
“Your uncle tends to drag me into things like this a lot. He’s a conspiracy hunting type of person.” His tone was anything but flattering. “Now, lets see what happens when we do this.” Shadow pulled himself up, took a hold of her necklace and pointed the light at the puddle. She watched as the process repeated itself, although she saw no reflection this time, and figured it probably only worked on the person directing the light.
Without any sign of worry or hesitation, Shadow took one finger and touched the puddle where his own reflection did the same. The fingers met and Shadow was thrown into the wall violently as a spark of purple lightning travelled into his arm.
“SHADOW?!? SHADOW?!?!” He heard Cream scream as he slipped into a deep deathlike sleep. Neither of them noticed the slight glow of purple in his eyes, not the way the puddles formed for a few seconds, a world of crystal and dark before winking out. However, if Cream had seen this before it faded she might have caught the faintest image of a black and red hedgehog appearing in the darkness.
Cream hugged the lifeless body and wept into it with no sign of ever stopping. She could feel him getting colder and colder, and she knew somehow he was dead.
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There we have it, a very long chapter I know and a very mean cliffhanger.
Will Shadow the Immortal life form be killed? If so why have I gone to the trouble of writing this damn thing? Doesn’t make much sense really. Oh well, next time on Guardian Angel, we see the world of the Void and its strange inhabitants…