Bloody Domination 2: Straitjacket

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Bloody Domination 2: Straitjacket

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: We’re perfect just the way we are? Well then, I guess there’s no need to improve then.

Froggy: Harley’s only joking with you. We’d better keep improving. Now, this is finally the last chapter of Bloody Domination 2, and it finishes just about the only way it could finish – with violence!

Harley: It’s a very long chapter. But I couldn’t find a suitable place to split it into two parts, and besides, I just want it to end. The good thing is that there’s ANOTHER secondary story by me and Froggy going up RIGHT NOW! You can see it! It’s right there!

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Chapter Seventeen: Death To Some Tyrants

Shadow dropped a few inches to the floor, holding Sonic tightly by the hand. The Chaos Emerald dropped into his open palm. He was still shaking slightly from emotional strain, but he looked around. Yes. This was the place. This was the commanding ship of the Egg Fleet.

Sonic stood up from his crouch, casting his eyes around to look at the toyish look of his surroundings, the colours red, black and yellow dominating the steel structure, "Yeah, this is definitely Eggman's place,” the blue hedgehog commented, his face becoming an image of focused determination, "Come on; let’s find him and teach him a lesson! Which way to the bridge?"

"I'm not sure," Shadow admitted. He picked a random direction, and started running. He didn't know where he was headed or what he was going to do when he got there. This was Sonic's plan.

Shrugging, Sonic chased after Shadow, keeping an eye out for any patrolling robots, obviously important rooms and control panels, or blinking neon signs that said 'Eggman this way'. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised with how badly Eggman violated the list of super-villain mistakes.

Shadow wasn't even smashing the robots. He was just running straight past them, and they paid him no attention. He was taking the most likely route to the bridge, feeling, for no explicable reason, very unwell.

The robots, however, paid plenty of attention to Sonic, opening fire on him with a mix of bullets and energy blasts, which the blue hedgehog deftly dodged. These weren't the most powerful of Eggman's machines, but they were an unwelcome nuisance. Zipping into the group of them, Sonic swiftly dispatched them with a few well-placed spin attacks, returning to chase after Shadow.

"Sonic... why are we doing this again?" Shadow asked the blue hedgehog, his face creased up in consternation, "I... I don't feel... right... My head..."

Coming up behind him, Sonic patted the dark hedgehog on the back. Resistance was getting stronger, so they had to be going the right way, "Hang in there, Shadow. We're almost there!" he assured his friend and lover.

"Yeah..." Shadow realised that a feeling of anger was brewing up inside of him, burning his mind.

"Why bother? It's not as if you'll find out anything more..." said the voice in his head.

Sonic pulled ahead of Shadow, who seemed to be falling into one of his strange moods again. He needed to find Eggman, and he needed to find him fast. If there was anything they could do for Shadow, he would know. He was going to tell Sonic if he liked it or not.

"MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA! Welcome, Hedgehogs, to the Egg Fleet!" Eggman's annoying voice boomed out over the loudspeakers.

Sonic sighed, recognizing this all as very familiar. "Right, and now you put me through some strange obstacle course I breeze through, and then I fight you in some giant mechanoid with a blindingly obvious weak spot on its head. Could we skip to that part, Eggy?" he called out.

"No. You've brought me what I wanted," Eggman sneered, "Shadow, kill him!"

"Huh?" Shadow looked at Sonic, almost drunkenly, "Why?"

"Because he dropped you!" Eggman screamed.

"Oh, yeah..." Shadow gritted his teeth, "I mean, YEAH!" He leapt at Sonic, hands outstretched.

"Wha..?" Sonic managed to utter. It was all he got out before Shadow's hands were wrapped around his throat and he was being pushed backwards by the hedgehog's weight. He tried to protest, to tell Shadow that it was a lie, but he couldn't make breath pass his lips. So he fought back, driving a punch into Shadow's stomach and thrusting his head into Shadow's face. This was a trap. Eggman had been hoping for this all along, to use Shadow as a weapon against him.

Shadow staggered backwards, releasing him, shaking his head to clear it, and then staggered towards the bridge again, once again ignoring Sonic. If there was one thing Sonic really hated, apart from eggs, it was being ignored.

Coughing and gasping for breath, Sonic lunged at Shadow, grabbing his shoulders hard. "He's using you!" he shouted, trying to reason with him, "You know I didn't drop you! He just wants you to think that so you'll turn on me!"

Shadow whipped around and punched Sonic viciously, "That's for touching me!" he shouted, his eyes wild as he stomped towards the blue hedgehog again, furious.

Sonic staggered backwards, clutching his face, wide eyes staying on Shadow. "I don't want to do this!" he told the brainwashed hedgehog desperately.

"Oh, yeah?!” Shadow yelled, "Well what do you want?!"

"I just want you to get better, Shadow! I want you to be happy!" was Sonic's heartfelt reply. Seeing an enraged Shadow approach him, Eggman's smug face on a monitor beside him, Sonic stood up and lowered his hands, his stance relaxed and his guard down. "I won't fight you."

"I'm sorry, we're fresh out of that," Shadow said mockingly, his eye twitching, "All we've got left is painful, untimely death!" He was already charging up a Chaos Spear in one hand.

Sonic could see the madness in Shadow's eyes, and he knew that fighting him would only end badly, one way or another, "You want to work for him?" he asked, pointing at Eggman's image, "You want to hurt me? Because here's your chance." Sonic stood his ground and spread his arms, making himself an easy target.

Shadow twitched again, "You make it too easy," he snarled. Then he spun around and hurled the Chaos Spear at the monitor, which imploded with a hollow boom, and slumped to his knees, clutching at his head.

"Come on! Kill him! He's just standing there, making it so easy," the voice sneered.

"Too easy!" Shadow shouted, "What's the point if he won't fight back?!"

Sonic swallowed, doing his best to hide nervous fear, but he stayed true to his decision. "I care about you Shadow,” he told the black and red hedgehog, "I won't hurt you, and I won't fight back if you hurt me. It's all up to you now."

"Why are you doing this to me?!" Shadow screamed at him, standing again, "Why do you always have to be so fucking noble?!"

Sonic lowered his arms and treated Shadow to one of his cocky grins. "Fame, glory, and a whole lot of excitement,” he joked, "You should try it."

Shadow screamed again, a sort of choked cry, and punched Sonic in the face, "Fight me, damn you!" he shouted, "You think I can't kill you?!"

Sonic gasped and turned his aching face back to Shadow, staring into his eyes and refusing to defend himself, even when faced with the madness Eggman had instilled in the Ultimate Lifeform. "I know you can kill me,” he answered, adding, "You remember me dropping you... but don't you remember us fighting together?"

Shadow hesitated, "Yes..." he admitted, "But... But that doesn't change anything!" he spun around and ran again, heading for the bridge.

Frowning, Sonic sped off after him, running up beside him. "We fought side by side before, Shadow!" he called out, "We can do it again! Please... you know I'm not your enemy!"

"I don't know who is my enemy anymore, Sonic!" Shadow snarled, "So don't push me!" the dark hedgehog skidded to a halt in the control room, where Eggman was sitting in a chair, looking somewhat smug.

Sonic may have been unwilling to fight Shadow, but Eggman was a whole different matter. Approaching the insane doctor with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, Sonic demanded, "What did you do to him?!"

"I didn't do anything to him," Eggman said with a smirk. Anybody other than the borderline-sanity Shadow could tell he was lying, "I saved his life. You should be grateful to me."

"You turned him into something he's not!" Sonic growled, walking closer to the doctor with clenched fists, "You're going to turn him back right now, Eggman!"

"Oh really?" Eggman bent over with a wicked sneer, "You think I injected him with something? Or that I put a microchip in his brain? You think I'd rely on such crude methods as those?"

"I don't care what you did to him; turn him back, or else!" Sonic shouted at the rotund doctor, glaring at him.

"Or else what? You can't reverse brainwashing, hedgehog," Eggman sneered, "Go ahead, tell him I played videos of you dropping him over and over again while I was healing him. I could tell him. He won't believe you. He won't believe me."

"...then you better come up with some brilliant new cure,” Sonic growled deeply, "Because I'm not playing around this time. This time, I won't just let you go. I'll end this." The hedgehog that was staring into Eggman's shades was not the hero that he had fought and lost to so many times before. There was something darker to his gaze, something much more like Shadow in him.

Eggman sneered again, and looked up, "Shadow, are you just going to stand there while he stands here, mocking you with every breath he takes? Kill him. He dropped you."

Shadow whimpered, clutching his head. Was it Eggman or the voice that was speaking? He couldn't tell any more.

"Every one of your plans you've ever made has failed, Eggman!" Sonic snarled, "You better pray you have a miracle up your sleeve!" That was when Sonic leapt into the air at Eggman, curling into his famous spin attack that could rend steel with ease.

Shadow screamed and hurled himself at Sonic, intercepting the blow and knocking Sonic aside, "So much for you playing the pacifist," he hissed, his voice sounding off again, "Come on, Sonic. You want to fight Eggman? You'll have to fight me first!"

Sonic hit the ground rolling, stumbling to his feet and watching as Shadow stood between him and his true enemy. "I won't fight you!" Sonic declared again, "You should fight with me! What reason do you have to side with him?"

"I'm not," Shadow snarled, his eye twitching, "Come on, Sonic. You want to waste his fat ass, you have to fight me first!" his face broke into a wicked grin, made all the worse by the blood trickling down his face.

Grim-faced, Sonic stared Shadow down, considering his options. He had one more plea left to try. "Let me deal with him first,” Sonic tried, "After that, you can do whatever you want to me. I won't try to stop you."

"I can do what I want to you now!" Shadow yelled, "Fight me! I'll MAKE you fight me!" He barrelled Sonic to the floor, fighting him like a mad animal, kicking and punching and scratching.

Trapped against the floor, battered by Shadow's attack, Sonic tried to raise his hands in defence, "Stop, Shadow... stop..." the blue hedgehog gasped

"Faker! You're faking it!" Shadow screamed, "You always faked it! You were just using me all along!" All of his mad, wild fears were spilling out of his mouth, unrestrained, "Everybody uses me! No more! Not you! Not anybody!"

It hurt to be accused of that, even if it wasn't true, even when Shadow wasn’t thinking straight. After everything Sonic had done for him, Shadow, in his deluded state, still thought that Sonic was using him. But that wasn't how it was. No, Shadow was the burden that Sonic had taken upon himself to carry, if for no other reason than he cared what happened to the dark hedgehog. "Then... what are you waiting for?" Sonic asked his rival and friend, looking up at him with a mixed expression of fear and betrayal, "Just... kill me, already!"

"Just fight me, already!" Shadow wailed back, shaking Sonic roughly. The hedgehog couldn't be blamed for his words or actions when he was in this state. Over his shoulder, Sonic could see Eggman grinning like a crocodile about to snack on a tasty treat.

Sonic shook his head no vigorously. "I won't hurt you!" he insisted. Glancing over at the smug scientist, he said, "Look at him. He loves that you're doing this! He is the one using you! Why can't you see that?"

Shadow turned and looked at Eggman. His face twitched again, a tortured expression all over it, "He's just... he's just..." he stammered, and his voice strengthened again, “He’s just standing there! That stupid, smug look all over his fat, ugly face!” His grip on Sonic loosened, and the anger rose, “Just like Gerald when he woke me! Like he’d already won!” Memories, each one painful and abrasive, were leaking back.

Sonic nodded, his face grim and angry. "Just like that,” the blue hedgehog agreed.

Shadow grimaced, tensing up. Eggman watched him for a moment, then shrugged, "Oh, yes, you made a spiffy distraction, Shadow. Well, it didn't exactly go as planned, but hey, the important thing is that the bozo guardian abandoned his island to go chasing after you. Angel Island is now floating in the sea due to a lack of power."

"Say what?" Sonic cried out in surprise, turning his attention to Eggman. Then the exasperated blue hedgehog sighed, "You mean you tricked Knuckles AGAIN?!" He was never going to let this slide with the echidna.

"Yes, I have the Master Emerald!" Eggman laughed, "It's powering the entire Egg Fleet! If you take it, you'll all die! And millions will be killed! We’re right over Central City!"

Sometimes, Sonic really hated his job. Rather than kicking and screaming like he wanted to, he merely pushed Shadow away slightly and stood up, glaring at the crazed doctor. As much as he wanted to smash the human's head in, he had to save those people below. "Well, you better start turning this fleet around, Eggman!"

"Are you going to force me?" Eggman laughed, "The Master Emerald isn't just powering the Egg Fleet!" He pressed a button, and a door slid open, revealing Eggman's latest version of Metal Sonic.

"Priority One: Sonic the Hedgehog," it droned.

Sonic stared his robotic double as he readied himself for battle. "That's it?" the hedgehog asked, "Come on, Eggman. How many times have you tried this? You just can't match the original!"

"The real question is," Eggman grinned, "While you've been messing around with each other, I've been giving my traditional 72 hour deadline to Central City! Give me the planet or millions die!"

Sonic slapped the side of his face and shook his head. "Eggman, Eggman, Eggman...you're really starting to slip! I mean, it was bad enough when you had to steal from your grandfather, but come on! Some big fleet you've just crammed together? Isn't this the time that Metal here turns on you, and you've got to join up with me and Shadow to save the world?"

"You must be kidding me!" Eggman laughed, "Metal, kill them both!"

"WHAT?!" Shadow yelled.

"You are no longer of any use to me," Eggman said casually. Then the metal hedgehog attacked Sonic.

Sonic leapt backwards away from his double's attack. "Shadow, help me out, man! We can take these creeps!" the blue hedgehog shouted.

Shadow glared at both of them. Sonic was having a hard time just dodging the supercharged Metal Sonic's attacks. Finally he spoke, "I... can't decide."

Sonic barely leapt over one of Metal's attacks, feeling the air part beneath him. "Shadow!" he screamed, dodging another attack, trying to manoeuvre himself into a position to do damage against the faster and tougher robot. "You're my pal! You gotta help me out here!"

This isn't going to end well, Shadow thought. Metal Sonic had stopped attacking briefly, and was watching them both, "All I ever wanted... was to have a normal life," he said, "But it never happened."

"You... uh, still can!" Sonic called out, striking Metal with a spin attack. The robot barely looked phased.

Shadow looked angry and confused, "How?! I don't know... I don't know..." The middle of a fight scene was not a good time to have an attack of doubt, and Sonic was forced to concentrate on Metal Sonic.

"Just... trust me!" Sonic grunted, taking a blow from Metal's fist. Staggering backwards, the blue hedgehog noticed that Metal's claws had left three slashes across his belly.

Metal stepped forward again, taking advantage of the situation of a weaker opponent, and punched Sonic in the face. If Sonic hadn't turned his cheek, he could have been killed.

Sonic stumbled back again, tripped, and fell on his spiky back, rubbing his bruised cheek. "I can't take this guy alone!" he called out, his voice becoming increasingly frantic. He rolled and tried to stand up before Metal attacked again.

Shadow pulled out his Chaos Emerald, staring at it as the fight went on in front of, behind and occasionally over him, desperately trying to make sense of the mess of his mind.

"Come on, Shadow..." Sonic gasped before spindashing across the room in an attempt to put some distance between him and Metal Sonic.

Shadow watched, twitching, as Sonic was knocked violently into a metal wall and slid back down to the floor, blood trickling from his body, "I have always been alone," he said finally, stepping between Sonic and Metal Sonic, "I understand that now. So why try to be with others when it always hurts? Everything hurts. So..." he faced Metal Sonic, "Bring it on!"

Sonic leaned against the wall and pushed himself to his feet, clearing his head with a quick shake. It wasn't exactly the attitude he wanted from Shadow... but at least he was fighting now, "Together, we can take him!" Sonic said confidently.

"No!" Shadow snarled at Sonic, charging up a Chaos Spear in his hand, "I do this alone!"

Sighing and grasping his aching head, Sonic knew he just didn't have the strength to argue with Shadow at the moment, "Whatever,” the blue hedgehog sighed, sitting back down. He could help out when Shadow started having trouble.

Shadow grinned at the metal hedgehog, "And I thought Sonic was a fake," he chuckled.

"Priority Two: Shadow the Hedgehog. Moved to Priority One," Metal Sonic replied. Then it attacked. The air blurred, and it ran straight into the Chaos Spear Shadow had been charging. Shadow reappeared behind it, and flung a second Spear.

Sonic relaxed and watched the unfolding battle between his two most famous rivals. Noticing the effective chaos spear attacks, he wiggled his fingers and frowned at them. "Why can't I do that?"

Shadow heard him, "Because you're the good guy!" he snarled. Eggman was still watching. Shadow stood in front of him, and the robot raised one arm to fire charged shots. Eggman dived to one side just as Shadow performed Chaos Control.

"Ooo... close one, Eggman!" Sonic joked, "Hope you didn't singe your moustache!

Eggman had evidently decided that there was too much happening on the bridge, and ran out through a door. Shadow ignored him, all his attention on Metal Sonic. Physically attacking the massively powered-up robot would do nothing. He was sticking with his chaos attacks right now. The robot charged at him blindly, firing death beams. It was clear to see it was using the same tactics as it had with Sonic. But this wasn't Sonic.

"Ha! You've got him, Shadow!" Sonic said happily, pumping a fist in the air. It seemed that Metal's tricks weren't quite as effective on Shadow. Pausing for a moment, Sonic added, "Uh... but I softened him up for you!"

"Shut up, Sonic, you couldn't soften up butter!" Shadow snarled at him briefly. The robot was using up too much energy, slowing down to normal speed. That was the trouble with going Super. It couldn't last. As its invincibility flickered briefly, Shadow snarled and charged a Chaos Spear in his right hand. Still holding it, he delivered a super-speed punch to the blaster in Metal's chest, and released it inside of the robot. The robot sparked desperately, convulsing for a few seconds, before Shadow allowed it to drop.

Sonic stood up and whooped in victory, despite bleeding all over the place, "That was awesome, Shadow! Good job!" he complimented the dark hedgehog.

Shadow turned to look at Sonic, grinning weakly, "Yeah, I guess," he said, "See? I don't need your help. It just makes things even easier."

"Yeah, you just say that when we run into real trouble,” Sonic replied with a smirk, walking up beside Shadow and looking around at his surroundings. Egghead had escaped, and now they had a whole new problem to face. "So... you have any ideas on how to stop this thing?"

Shadow walked up to the bridge. Miraculously it was mostly intact, "Well, all we need to do is find somebody who knows how to fly a battleship," he said.

"Oh, great,” Sonic uttered, looking at the vast collection of buttons, dials, and levers, "The only person I know who could do that would be Tails..."

"Well then," Shadow grinned, tossing the Chaos Emerald up and catching it a couple of times, "I'd better go get him," he glanced at Sonic, "Do you know where he is?"

Sonic scratched his head, thinking it over, "If I were Tails, I would have parked the plane at his Mystic Ruins workshop,” he answered Shadow.

"That place," Shadow threw up the Emerald, "Chaos... CONTROL!" he vanished, and reappeared right outside Tails' workshop. Like Sonic had thought, the plane was there.

Frantically, a two-tailed ball of orange fuzz was rushing around prepping and fuelling the airplane for takeoff, and the reason why was apparent if Shadow looked inside the hanger: a television had been set up in there, and it was displaying the breaking news report of Eggman's fleet hovering over Central City. GUN forces were also mustering to engage the fleet, if necessary, but it seemed that the young fox had planned on trying to do something about it on his own. It was something his blue mentor would have approved of.

"Hey, Fuzzball!" Shadow shouted out, "Forget the plane."

The tense fox instantly turned to face him, and his hand was halfway to his blaster before he recognized the dark hedgehog. "Shadow!" the fox called out, "What are you...? Where is...? Did you see what's going on?"

"Yes, I saw it," Shadow said, "Forget the plane. Sonic needs you on board the fleet. You do know how to fly a battleship, right?"

"What? Oh, of course I can!" the young boy said enthusiastically, "Sonic's already there? Awesome! Let's get going!" Obviously, the boy didn't hold grudges for long, or maybe his mind was just too occupied to think of past events.

Shadow held out his right hand for the kitsune to take, holding the Chaos Emerald in the other.

Tails grabbed his blaster and a tool belt, strapping both around his waist before running over and taking Shadow's hand.

"Chaos CONTROL!" Shadow shouted, and in a flash of blue light, they had travelled through time and space, and were back on the battleship.

Tails shook his head and swept his eyes over the controls of the ship and Sonic, giving his friend a warm smile. "Alright, so what's going on?" he asked.

Sonic answered, "Eggman's got this big fleet hovering over the city, and it's all powered by the Master Emerald."

Tails didn't need to ask if Knuckles screwed up again, because that part was obvious. "Er... so what do you want me to do?" he asked the hedgehogs.

"Fly it and the fleet away from the damn city!" Shadow snapped, "Crash it into the sea or something."

Tails bounded into the oversized captain's chair and pulled himself up to the controls, humming to himself as he figured out which switch did what. "Oh, this is the command ship!" the fox said excitedly, "That means I can guide the whole fleet from here! Eggman didn't think anyone would take advantage of that." With that, the fox's hands flew over the controls, and the ship and rest of the fleet slowly started to pick up speed, heading away from the city towards the ocean.

"Finally..." Shadow sagged, "Can you set it to crash there? I'll get us off before it crashes if you can."

The fox frowned and shook his head. "Computer guidance fail safes won't allow me to crash them,” Tails told Shadow, but then a smile spread over his face as his fingers again danced over the controls, "But I can change all the ship's IFF tags!"

The blue hedgehog blinked, "Eh, what'zat?"

The beaming fox explained, "It means that each of the ships will think that the rest of the fleet is its enemy! They'll tear each other apart!" As he said this, other ships visible in the viewport could be seen to be turning their weapons on each other. Tails spun in his chair to face the hedgehogs, "But we still need to get the Master Emerald! If it falls into the sea, Eggman will just find it again!"

"Can't we just leave that to Knuckles?" Shadow asked, "It's supposed to be his job. We wouldn't need to do this if he had the slightest idea of what duty means instead of running off to kill me."

"No, Tails is right,” Sonic butted in, facing Shadow, "Knuckles isn't going to be able to find it on the ocean floor, and we've all seen how well he guards it." The blue hedgehog grinned. "Actually, it probably would be a lot safer on the ARK with you."

Shadow gave this some consideration, "If Knuckles would ever let me take it up there, you mean," he told the blue hedgehog, "Besides, you can't swim. We'd need a submarine to get it-" he stopped and looked at Tails, who was grinning, "You're about to tell me that you've got a submarine hanging around in that junk-shop you call a workshop, aren't you?"

The fox hopped down from the captain's chair, answering happily, "Yep! The Sea Fox is waiting and ready to go! If we move fast, we'll be able to grab the emerald before Eggman!" Tails scratched the top of his head as he thought it through. As he did this, the ship plating under his feet shook from the impacts of missiles and laser blasts outside. "Uh... but we better get out of here before this ship falls!"

"Alright, the two of you get close to me," Shadow said, flourishing his Chaos Emerald. Sonic and Tails crowded close to Shadow. Suddenly the ebony hedgehog's body gave a lurch. He crumpled slowly to his knees, blood welling up in the back of his mouth.

"Hedgehog... priority... terminated..." Metal Sonic buzzed. While they had thought it was broken, it had simply been biding its time, and then snuck up on Shadow and stabbed him deep in the back with its metal claws.

Sonic whirled around and stared in shock at Shadow's widened eyes and the spike of metal sticking out of his chest. Things seemed to go very still for him... and then the anger ripped its way free with a tortured cry. With no thoughts of self-preservation, he leapt onto the tattered form of Metal Sonic, driving it to the ground as he battered its head and body with his fists, beating them raw against the machine.

Within seconds, the machine was shredded metal. Shadow, however, touched his hand to his mouth, and then to his chest, staring at the thick, dark blood on his hand.

Sonic, panting for breath, lifted himself off the ruined machine and turned to grab Shadow, holding him steady, "Shadow!" the blue hedgehog cried, "Are you alright?"

Shadow coughed up blood, "It's kinda... hard to breathe..."

Holding him up in his arms, Sonic faced the dark hedgehog as blood flowed from the gaping wound. The thought Not again raced over and over through Sonic's mind, "Y-you're going to be alright, Shadow,” he tried to reassure him.

"Sonic... leave me..." Shadow gasped.

"...What? No way!" Sonic responded, holding Shadow tighter, "I never leave friends behind! Come on, Shadow, you can handle this! You were shot before, and you survived, remember?"

"Yeah..." Shadow grimaced at the memory, "Sonic... if you really care about me... just let me go... I want... I want to be free... of humans and all their demands..." he held out the Chaos Emerald, "I want so many things... but most of all... I want you... to take this..."

Sonic stared at the emerald without understanding before tentatively reaching out and taking it. "Why?" he asked Shadow, "Come on, don't give up on me now! You've got so much to live for!"

"Sonic... I've got so much... to die for..." Shadow whispered, "Can you imagine... what it's like... to be immortal... I'll see my friends all wither and die and I'll stay young... forever... I don't want that..."

Sonic shook Shadow, speaking in return, "But you've barely started! You don't have to die yet! I won't let you!"

"I love you, Sonic..." Shadow gasped, "But this... is what I want..." the ship shook with the impact of guns, "You... have to go..."

Tears sprang to Sonic's eyes, and the blue hedgehog tossed the emerald over to a surprised Tails. Sonic stood and lifted Shadow up into his arms. "No!" he cried out defiantly, "I'll carry you off this thing myself! I won't let it end like this!"

He realised that Shadow was crying. Tears mixed with blood and ran down the black hedgehog's face, "I can't... stop you..." he managed.

"You're going to be alright! Trust me, Shadow!" Sonic told him as he looked around frantically for a way to leave the ship, "Tails! How do we get off this thing?" he asked his friend desperately.

The young fox shrugged hesitantly and suggested, "...Chaos control?"

"You can do it... Sonic..." Shadow managed, "Take the kid home... Leave me... Happy Endings are for guys like you..."

Nervously, Tails stepped forward and tugged on Sonic's quills, quietly telling him, "We can't save him, Sonic..."

Sonic whirled on Tails, shock and betrayal in his wide, teary eyes. "How can you say that?"

"Because... It's true..." Shadow said softly. The blood loss had made him tired, and he rested his head in the crook of Sonic's elbow.

"It's not true! It's not! It's not..." Sonic spoke, even as his knees gave out and he broke down, sobbing. Looking at the gaping wound and the blood pouring out, even he knew he couldn't get Shadow help in time. There was just too much damage.

"Sonic... I'm sorry..." Shadow murmured, the blood coating his face, “For... for everything...”

“Oh, god...” Sonic felt sick inside. There was nothing he could do.

Shadow’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, and his eyes widened in a strange kind of terror. And then to Sonic’s amazement... he smiled. His mouth opened again, as if he meant to say something, but before he could, his eyes lost their focus, and the blood stopped pouring from him.

Sonic felt quickly over Shadow's body, seeking a pulse and finding none. The blue hedgehog sobbed over Shadow's fallen form, having lost him for the third time. Tails quietly stood by, patiently waiting as the ship started to fall apart around them. With a heavy heart, Sonic laid Shadow down on the ground and closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

Then he stood up, the emerald clutched in one hand, Tails in the other, "Sayanora, Shadow, the Hedgehog,” he said weakly as he drew on the power of the emerald and disappeared in the flickering light.

THE END

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Harley: THERE WILL NOT BE ANOTHER SEQUEL. Shadow dying was just about the only way this could end. It’s called a Deux ex Machina. God, I love those things. Deal with it. Now, read and review.

Froggy: And then go and read our latest story – Prison Island Break. That is, if you like Alternate Universes done well.