ARAAT2: Eclipse - Part 2

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A Rose And A Thorn 2: Eclipse



Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651



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Harley: Not many reviewers this time. I’m ashamed of you all. Katina, I hope our writing skills AREN’T at our peak. If so, we won’t be able to improve! And N/A, I thank you for speaking your mind. I hope you enjoy this chapter more.



Froggy: More torture, dear readers. More degradation of the soul and depravity of the mind. Don’t you love it when we do that?



Harley: This has got to be the most horrible chapter in this story. I hope you all SQUIRM.



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Chapter Sixteen: Run, Just Run



Shadow’s eyes snapped open, and he cried out, wakening Amy. When he touched his face, he realised that he’d been crying in his sleep. Amy was looking at him, concerned. Almost on reflex, he curled up next to her for protection.



“Shadow,” Amy’s voice was soothing to his ears, “Did you have a nightmare?”



He nodded, yes.



“Do you want to talk about it?”



He shook his head, no.



Amy stroked the back of his head, and kissed him gently, "Poor baby… Would you like to stay in bed for a while? I can make you some breakfast if you like."



"Yeah... I would like that," he told her with a feeble smile.



"What would you like for breakfast?" Amy asked, pulling away from him, "I have cereal, porridge, pancakes and waffles..."



"Waffles sound good," the black hedgehog replied, pulling the covers tighter around himself as her warmth left him.



Amy stroked his forehead, "I'm still here, Shadow," she told him, "I'm still here." She left the bedroom and went into the kitchen, finding the waffle mix quickly. At least the kitchen was well stocked and she didn't have to go out shopping anytime soon. She just hoped Shadow would recover soon. Although he did seem to be getting better.



Suddenly, something felt... wrong to Shadow. Why was Amy being so kind to him? Why? It made no sense. He had hit her, he had insulted her… Why did she still stand by him? Something was up. No one was that kind and forgiving, not even her. She wanted something from him. Even now, when he was in such terrible shape, she wanted something from him. Paranoia began to turn into anger... and Shadow realized what was happening to him. He still wasn't free of the drug...



Amy re-entered the bedroom, a plate of waffles in one hand, "Breakfast’s ready!" she said cheerfully. She stopped when she saw Shadow's tense expression, "Baby? What's wrong?"



Shadow looked up at her, a tremor running up his spine, emotions conflicting within... and the paranoia winning, "Run,” he hissed, "Run, Amy..."



"What? Why?" Amy held out the plate, "Shadow, I made waffles, like you asked for-"



"I said run, dammit!" Shadow cried out desperately, clinging to that bit of lingering sanity, “Run! Just run!”



Amy started to back up, seeing the terrified wildness in Shadow's eyes. She turned to leave, but she’d hesitated for just that moment too long.



"WHY DON’T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME?!" Shadow bellowed as he jumped out of bed, stomping towards her.



Amy dropped the plate and ran for the bathroom, the only door in the apartment with a lock…



But she wasn't fast enough. Shadow chased after her and roughly grabbed her arm, pulling her away from the door, "Just where the hell do you think you're going?"



"You told me to run!" Amy twisted in Shadow's grip.



"You call that running? Pathetic... just like you," Shadow spat in disgust.



"Shadow, you're hurting my arm!" Amy tried to pull free again.



"Good! You have hurt me far worse," the black hedgehog growled, "You lied to me. I trusted you, and you were just... manipulating me. Using me! Just like Rouge…"



"No, Shadow! No, I would never use you!" Amy insisted, "I love you, I swear it!"



"Don't you say that... don't you ever DARE say that!" Shadow growled. He struck her across the face, and blood trickled from her lip, “You never really loved me… you always wanted Sonic! I’m just a damn substitute for him, aren’t I?!”



Amy cried out in obvious pain, "I'm sorry Shadow..." she wept, "Oh please... you're hurting me..."



Shadow reached up and grabbed a handful of her quills, pulling roughly on them, "Say it like you mean it, bitch!" he roared.



Amy screamed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm SORRY!" she cried out.



Shadow leaned in and kissed her, but there was no gentleness nor any love in it, "That's a start," he said. Then he started to drag her towards the kitchen.



"No, no, NO!" Amy fought against him, but his grip was far too tight on her arm and her quills, "Shadow, what are you DOING?!"



He didn't explain, but continued to drag her into the kitchen, specifically towards the still-hot stove, "I've been burned plenty of times for my compassion... maybe it's time the same thing happened to you." Grabbing her wrist, Shadow shoved Amy's gloved hand down against the burner.



"No, Shadow! NO!" Amy howled in pain as Shadow pressed her hand against the hot burner. The smell of burning cloth, then charring flesh filled the air.



"How does it feel, Amy?" he growled in her face, her hand still pressed against the burner, "How does it feel to be betrayed?"



"It hurts, it hurts..." Amy sobbed, her face contorted in pain, "I'm sorry, Shadow, I'm SORRY!"



Finally, Shadow removed her blistered hand from the stove, "I've been used before. I will never be used again... never!" He smacked her hard across the face, knocking her to the floor.



Amy cowered in front of him, "Okay... okay..." she sobbed, cradling her hand, peeling off what remained of the glove.



Shadow stared down at her coldly for a long moment, finally leaning down to help her to her feet. Pulling her up, he took her burned hand gently in his, looking at the damage done, "Here... let me look at that,” he said quietly. Then the black hedgehog slammed it down on the table, reached behind him, snatched up a kitchen knife, and drove the blade through the palm of her burned hand, pinning it to the table.



Amy just screamed, more in shock than pain, tears pouring down her face. Only when she'd finished screaming was she capable of sobbing out words again, "I'm sorry," she gasped, her body shaking in pain, "I'm s-sorry..."



Shadow didn’t reply. He snatched her other hand, and taking another knife, pinned that down to the table too, leaving her bent backwards over the table edge, looking up at him with wide, frightened eyes.



"Wh-what... are you... going to do... now..." Amy whispered. The tears were pouring down her face thick and fast.



Shadow crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at her in disgust, "You think that is pain? Multiply it by a hundred and endure it in that spot for several days, and you might begin to comprehend the misery I endured at GUN's hands. I was thinking about you the whole time I did so... praying that I would see you again, thinking that you truly loved me. But that's not the case. You don't love me, and you never did. I was a fool."



"I'm sorry, Shadow..." Amy sobbed, "I'm sorry..." It seemed to be all she was capable of saying now.



"No, I'm sorry. Sorry for playing your pathetic game,” Shadow grabbed another kitchen knife; this one he placed against her throat, "Game over."



"Oh god... please, no..." Amy whispered, tears rolling down her cheeks, "Please, Shadow... please don't kill me..."



Shadow was far beyond reasoning with, only filled with a crazed rage directed at her. All he could think about was how she had betrayed him, used him, toyed with him... he had loved her. He had trusted her. He was willing to spend his life with her, but she had lied to him! He was tired of people manipulating him, using him. He wasn't going to stand for it any longer.



His eyes widening, Shadow let out a cry of hate as he pushed the knife hard into the bruised flesh of Amy's throat and slashed, dragging the steel through the fragile tissue, tearing her windpipe and jugular. Hot, red life-fluid pulsed out, splattering him in the face. He cried out again, feeling hot blood stream down his cheeks and neck, his eyes of blood-red glaring into hers of emerald green.



Amy gurgled quietly, "I'm... sorry..." she choked, blood welling up in her mouth, "I'm... s-so s-sorry... Shad… Shadow… but I still... love you..." The blood flowed down her body in red rivers, and slowly the light faded from her eyes.



Shadow stepped back, the crazed look in his eyes leaving him as he stared down at her bloodied corpse. The black hedgehog blinked and looked down at the knife grasped tightly in his hand. He looked back to Amy, and the hand began to shake, the knife slipping from his grasp and clattering to the floor. For a long while, he just stood there, his mind desperately trying to grasp just what he had done. ...Amy was dead; he could tell from the lifeless, unblinking stare, the paleness of her skin, her chest that no longer rose and fell. And he was responsible for it. He had killed her.



She was dead, gone forever. Shadow choked on his own breath, the shakes in his hands spreading through his body. His vision blurred, his eyes filled with tears. She didn't betray him... she couldn't have. She loved him, and he loved her; it was a fundamental truth to the world, the only one he was certain of. It was the drug, had to be. It made him lose control, just as he warned her that it would. He couldn't stop himself... and because of it, she was dead. He was already a murderer. But now he was her murderer.



A scream of pure agony ripped its way free from his chest, tearing his throat up as he slumped to his knees, "AMY!!!" He buried his face in his hands, smearing her blood through his fur, and began to sob. Then he snatched up the knife again. He would push it into his own black, soiled heart and finally be where he belonged. Hell couldn’t possibly be any worse than living without her, anyway. And it wasn’t as if he was going to forget this…



"Shadow!"



Shadow turned his head slowly, the knife still aimed at his chest. Standing in the doorway, Amy was trembling, her dressing gown still pulled tightly around her.



Shadow blinked, hardly believing what he saw. He looked at the table; the body of his love was not there – although disturbingly, two large kitchen knives were buried about an inch deep in the wood. He stared up at her, his eyes filled with confusion and guilt and fear. He tried to speak, but his words just came out as a strained whimper.



“Shadow, please put down the knife,” Amy’s voice was pleading with him.



“Amy…” Shadow clutched the knife for a few long seconds. Finally he dropped it on the floor, staring at it.



She took a step forward, obviously frightened. She reached out and took Shadow's hand. At some point he had burnt it on the hot burner, and there was a deep gash in his palm where he had sliced it open with the kitchen knife. His face was indeed smeared with blood - but it was his own.



Shadow crawled backwards until his back met the wall. He curled up into a foetal ball and whimpered, "I'm a monster..."



"Shadow?" Amy took another step towards him.



"Stay back! Please, Amy, stay back! I don't want to hurt you!" he cried out, curling up tighter.



Amy was shaking too. She stopped, "You... you told me to run... I ran to the bathroom, and you chased me – I locked myself in the bathroom and you started screaming... you kept saying you were sorry... and you screamed so much... I hid in the bath..." She stepped forward again, nervously, "Please, Shadow..."



"I thought I had killed you, Amy. I saw it... I saw your body. I could feel your blood on my face... I can't let it happen for real... I won't! I'll kill myself first if I have to..."



Amy shivered, "You... you hurt yourself, Shadow," she said, looking at the blood pouring from Shadow's burnt hand, "You need it to be bandaged. Please, Shadow. Let me help you."



Slowly, carefully, Shadow uncurled himself and rose to his knees, looking up at her with bloodshot eyes, "Alright... you can... you can bandage it."



Amy took a bowl and filled it with cold water, bathing Shadow’s hand. When it had cooled down, she took some bandages out of a drawer and wiped his hand clean, then began to bandage it gently, "You're no monster, Shadow," she told him, "You're not, you're not. I would never love a monster."



"I'm a... a killing machine. A weapon ready to go off without warning. Why... why was Gerald such a fool to create me?!" Shadow asked, his voice verging on a scream.



"He created you for Maria's sake, that's all I know," Amy said quietly.



Shadow closed his eyes against the pain in his aching hand as she bandaged it. His inner turmoil was far more painful, "GUN did this to me... I can't let them get away with this. I can't let them do this to anybody else..." Like the other experiments on ARK...



“They won’t… I’ll make sure of it,” Amy finished with Shadow's hand, and wiped the blood off his face, "But for now, you need to rest, and I need to look after you. You need to get their drugs out of your system. And I need to make a phone call or two."



"Ok. I'll be alright," he told her reassuringly. He was lying. His heartbeat and breathing had slowed to a reasonable pace, but his mind still raced with memories of what had just - not quite - happened... and what he had learned in the GUN lab.



"Come on, you've got to go back to bed now," Amy coaxed him upright, "You need to sleep."



Shadow nodded weakly and got to his feet, letting Amy guide him. Maybe sleep would be a release… from his waking nightmares at least...



Amy lay him down on the bed, but she didn't get in with him. She tucked him in gently, "It will be over soon," she told him.



Shadow responded by pulling the covers tighter around himself and closing his eyes.



Amy stroked his forehead until she was certain he was asleep. Then she went to the phone. She found the number she wanted, and dialled it. Not Tails, Tails wasn't enough anymore... GUN was going to pay for what they'd done to Shadow, but his health came first.



"Who is this?" A fat, ugly voice answered the phone, "How did you get this number?"



Amy rolled her eyes. Eggman even sounded fat and ugly, "It's me, Eggman. Amy Rose Blossom. I..." she hesitated, loath to say the words, "I need your help."



"Miss Blossom? Ha! I thought you might," Eggman chuckled, "Shadow’s erratic behaviour getting a little too much for you to handle, eh?"



"It's… it’s none of your business!" Amy felt like crying, "But I need to know what the hell GUN put in him, and I need to know what it does, and then I want to snap off their legs and beat their skulls in with their own feet!"



"I expect you do," Eggman chuckled, "But why should I help you?"



Amy ground her teeth, "Because... because... because I want GUN to fall! I want everybody to know what they do behind the paperwork! If they fall, they won't get in your way! We can beat you without them!"



"Sure you can," Eggman sounded rather patronising.



"Will you help me?" Amy asked.



"Heh... it will take a few hours to gather the data... with my highly advanced brain I'll analyse it and call you back-"



"No, fat-ass, I want that information on paper, in my hands," Amy snapped, "Who's going to believe anything you say? I'll give it to the press, and GUN gets cleaned out."



She could practically hear Eggman scowling, "Very well. We'll meet at 16-hundred hours in... Twinkle Park."



"I won't be alone, Eggman," Amy snapped, "Don't you dare try a double-cross on me, or so help me..."



"Yes, yes..." the doctor hung up, and Amy slumped onto the couch. She couldn't believe that she was making deals with that lard-bucket doctor... She rubbed her aching forehead slowly. This was the sort of thing that led to nervous breakdowns.



After a long moment, she returned to the bedroom, where Shadow was sleeping quietly. She touched his warm forehead again, and then a thought occurred to her, “How did he know Shadow’s behaviour was erratic?” she asked out loud.



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Harley: Yeah, how did he?



Froggy: Do we even care? Shadow murdered Amy in a horribly realistic nightmare! Gruesome or what?



Harley: Something you should all know - this fanfic is already complete and we're well into working on the sequel. So you don't need to worry about it not being finished.