Castles in the Sky

Shadow hides and seeks

Siblings bicker

The setting sun cut slashes of fiery tangerine light laterally through the trees as Shadow proceeded deeper into the jungle. Humidity clung to his fur and his ears twitched away cloying insects. He moved mechanically, eyes looking but not seeing, his whole conscious focus on the chaos energy around him. With every breath and beat of his heart, he drew in the ambient energy and expelled a bit of his own to make room.

The spectrum of vibrant shades of green expelled by the Master Emerald was the overwhelming color of Angel Island. Sonic’s blue, faint but always at least a little visible to him now, flitted around the edges of his perception, taunting him with its ephemeral nature. Any action he made to grasp at blue wisps dispelled it into a fine quickly dissipating mist. If that wasn’t annoying enough, it often split into two strands, leading him in separate directions.

Knuckles’ red signature was taking a little longer to detect than Shadow had originally anticipated. Shadow was unperturbed, however. As much as he would have loved to see the look on the Echidna’s face once he’d been found so quickly, a leisurely search could serve as a brief respite.

Shadow welcomed the time to think. The past three months had been a blur, not just of action in response to The Doctor and his rampant computer program, but also of thoughts. Over a year ago now, the revelation about his love for Sonic had created a crack in his resolve, that had grown and splintered under stress. The solid, unyielding will and determination, the cornerstone of his understanding of himself, was crumbling. Had crumbled.

A tool. A cure. A weapon (‘a destroyer’). A thing.

And it had been fine. He could be fine as a thing.

The only choice he ever had was what will to dedicate himself to. Gerald, Black Doom, Maria. Sonic.

With his one choice, he had chosen Maria.

Things don’t have desires. Things perform functions. His function was to protect the planet and its people. Simple. Clear.

Then Sonic came along and fucked it all up.

Sonic, whose mouth runs when his legs aren’t. Sonic, who glows so brilliantly bright he can’t even see the darkness in the world. Sonic, who is so stupid he thinks he can save everyone. Sonic, who is so amazing, Shadow can’t help but be swept away.

And suddenly, for the first time, Shadow made a choice for himself. One not forced upon him by some overbearing outside force. One originating from his own desires. His desires! Those poisonous terrible things he’d spent years forcing away.

He chose Sonic. Chose to love him, even knowing it would just be for a blink in his long life.

And, of course, the universe had conspired to punish him for his foolish notion that he was anything other than a thing. Things are not allowed to fall in love.

Shadow grimaced and focused on a single thought: Sonic was alive. If Sonic was alive, he could be found, and Shadow would do anything(‘anything?’) to find him. Even put up with Knuckles and his judgements, or the Master Emerald and it’s…whatever the fuck it was on about.

The undergrowth thinned and the ground grew soggy and soft. The jungle gave way to a tropical bog. Shadow leapt into the branches and continued through a canopy strung thick with hanging clumps of moss. The temperature was rising, but the humidity was suffocating. The clear plateau where they had trained had a constant gentle breeze, one which he was quickly coming to miss.

Angel Island was large but not enough to logically contain the diversity of biomes that it sported. It had to be the Master Emerald’s influence. Shadow grit his teeth. That fucking thing. He’d not come near it during his scant previous visits to the Island. So it caught him completely unawares.

Knuckles hadn’t been keen to let Shadow get close to the Master Emerald this visit either, but two weeks into their stay Shadow had hit a wall. That feeling, the one of having some of his chaos energy outside of his body, had faded so much that Shadow feared he was imagining what little he felt.

Shadow had threatened to leave, to try to find Sonic on his own. Out of frustration, he might have said a few choice remarks that could be interpreted, by individuals with inferior intelligence, as less than charitable. The two men came to blows.

Knuckles’ trick for knocking Shadow’s chaos energy out of sync was just as effective now as it had been months ago at the end of the war. Shadow found himself grasping at fumes and compelled to put that maggot in its place (‘that being a grave’)! The edge of the slope in his mind was becoming increasingly slippery. And there was the murky feeling of being pushed.

Sonic seemed to be able to produce infinite amounts of chaos energy once he got up to speed. Knuckles, too, seemed to generate chaos energy, albeit through a different manner. Shadows cells did produce chaos energy, but generally only enough to maintain his systems. Most of his energy was pulled passively from the environment. Which means he could run dry and that’s when the other side came calling.

stop lying to yourself

you want to let go

Shadow had stopped himself, recognizing the signs. Even Knuckles paused, sensing something was amiss. Shadow had drawn in a huge gasp of chaos energy, stifling the whispers and violent entreatments, and in that moment caught a whiff of Sonic once more. Like priming a pump or turning over an engine, the flow of energy into him seemed to restart his chaos entanglement with Sonic. Shadow had been beside himself with relief, but it was short lived, as the connection soon faded again.

They fell into a routine of emptying Shadow of his chaos energy and then refilling him, trying to strengthen the connection once more. This activity had the unforeseen benefit of expanding his capacity for chaos energy. With each emptying, his being seemed to rebel, digging his well deeper to avoid future droughts. Though his natural replenishment rate was high, Knuckles finally suggested using the Master Emerald to quicken the process further.

Shadow initially had balked at the idea. Not only did he have a mild aversion to the stone given how much he’d had to listen to Rouge complain about it (with…subtext), but he already had a Chaos Emerald.

Being near the Master Emerald felt like cheating in more ways than one. It made his skin crawl. It was a thing that wasn’t just a thing and not in the way that Omega or Metal Sonic (or Shadow) were things that felt like people. No, it had a heavier, hungrier presence. More akin to Dark Gaia, but a lot less homicidal.

The way it whispered to him...The first time he touched it was the worst. Its power enveloped him with an unnerving eagerness, as if it knew him and was welcoming him back. Did this have anything to do with Gerald’s exploration on Angel Island? As far as Shadow was aware, Gerald was not allowed close to the Master Emerald.

The Emerald’s power was suffocating. It wrapped around him in a thick haze and pressed into his skin, his very cells. Every refill became a test of endurance as chaos energy was forced into him like he was slowly sinking into the deepest part of the ocean, the pressure threatening to violently shrink him to a speck.

The whole time, while his insides were being brutally expanded via oversaturation, every one of his cells crying out in pain, it whispered to him. Not in words, but in feelings. Urging him. Goading him. Provoking him. A marching beat in his head.

DO IT DO IT DO IT ACT COMMIT ANYTHING YOU DESIRE SEIZE IT

the power at your fingertips is staggering

It didn’t care what he did, only that he did something. It was incredibly annoying…like a certain blue hedgehog.

Shadow was disgusted by how much its influence reminded him of Sonic. How fucking dare that rock? With its sickeningly thick energy, blinding in its spectrum of green hues (Shadow’s own green signature completely lost in the kaleidoscope), it was just another outside force trying to tell him what to do, trying to bend him to its will. It put him on edge every time he touched the thing, but the convenience exceeded his disgust.

Knuckles seemed to have sensed Shadow’s discomfort, despite the hybrid’s very effective methods of hiding it. And, where Rouge would have worn him out with her worry, Knuckles just started talking. He really only had one topic: Angel Island. It grated on Shadow’s nerves, like Knuckles was intentionally doubling his torture, but eventually Shadow began to appreciate the distraction.

Every second of pain was worth it if Shadow could locate Sonic.

does he deserve such effort?

But first he had to find the Echidna.

The bog gave into a full swamp. His air shoes made traversing the wetlands a non-issue. Beyond that the elevation began to rise and he found himself skating through a coniferous forest. Reason fifteen why Angle Island is better than the surface: visit every biome on the planet in a single leisurely walk.

He drew in the ambient chaos as he went, searching for that glint of red. Something did catch his senses. It was certainly red, but darker, more like a burgundy and somehow…stale? Shadow frowned, but corrected his course to follow the signature, nonetheless.

The forest thinned into a clearing and Shadow halted. Arranged in a circle were a gathering of small, primitive looking buildings. Weeds and bushes grew thick, but Shadow followed what used to be a hard packed earth pathway to the center of the ring. A large, long forgotten fire pit still sported discarded cookware and pots.

An abandoned Echidna village.

Was abandoned the right word? That seemed to imply that the previous owners of these dwellings simply left and might return to reclaim them.

Were there Echidna here when Professor Gerald visited? Would he have visited a village like this one?

Shadow shook his head, trying to free himself of the sudden thought (‘too weak to even stand the thought of his creator’). Now emerged, it dug its claws into his brain. Had his creator been here? Was this where Professor Gerald gained the inspiration to make Shadow? His snout crinkled in disgust. The mere thought of the man, so capable of both great love and immeasurable hate, turned his stomach.

Shadow looked up. The sky was darkening quickly. The new moon wouldn’t inhibit his search in the least. Countless stars would follow him like eyes, judging his use of the life and power given to him. Maria amongst them. He looked down. He knew it was foolish, this idea that she was watching him from above, but he couldn’t quite shake it. It gave him comfort.

The burnt red signature hung in the air and Shadow focused, slowly pulling it apart into a spectrum of red and brown hues. Was Knuckles’ among the old and decaying energy? He walked through the village, entering a few houses. Soft goods rotten, pottery dusty or cracked. Nature was reclaiming the space at its leisure.

Shadow found himself relieved that there were no dark stains on the ground, unlike another abandoned place. He cursed himself. This isn’t a good time to think about that.

A pathway from the village center was lined with wildflowers. Hardpacked earth had held back the encroach of nature, but the years of no maintenance were apparent. He followed the path up an incline to an ancient stone stair. Mounting it, placing his feet where his creator’s once had tread, he crested the rise to find a flat clearing cut into the side of a hill.

Small mounds, grown over with waving grasses and wildflowers, lined the area in neat rows. Further away, Shadow spotted a passageway leading into the hill. He walked slowly through the graveyard. As he breathed in the chaos energy of the place, he wondered if the faint signature was all the was left of past inhabitants. Once the energy entered him, it took on his color, erasing the previous. His very presence was corrupting.

A strange thought emerged, and Shadow stopped. What would Shadow be prepared to do to save Sonic?

anything

Would nothing be too terrible? Too taboo? No cost too high? Would he be willing to make a deal with the Devil as Gerald had?

Shadow balled his hands into tight fists as the answer arose quickly and sharply, impaling his heart.

Yes.

Again, and again, and again. A thousand times, a million times Yes.

He swallowed and tried to force his focus elsewhere. The cacophony of the settling night pressed in. Night creatures calling out to one another: insects buzzing, frogs singing. It wasn’t loud enough to cover the terrible chain of thoughts dragging him down.

He resented Gerald. Hated him even. For taking a whisk to his memories and scrambling who he was, poisoning Shadow to the world, using her like kindling to fuel his disgust and condemnation.

But now...like a black, sickly bolt of lightning, now he understood. Maria, please forgive me! He understood. Shadow had always, against his better judgement, compared Sonic to Maria. But if Sonic was Maria, Shadow had always thought he was just Shadow. Just Shadow. A trailing darkness. But that wasn’t true, had never been true. Sonic just hadn’t gotten into a dire enough situation yet to uncover the truth.

Shadow sank to the ground, his fingers digging into the earth in frustration. No, no! It can’t be true!

such self-indulgence is sickening

Not long after Sage’s transmission threw the world back into war, Shadow lost his connection to Sonic. He’d felt the distress and pain of his partner so clearly and then bond just snapped and fell silent. In that moment, Shadow fell into a deathless sorrow unlike anything he’d ever experienced. A chasm broke open inside him like a fresh wound, threatening to swallow everything until he was only void.

How dare this pathetic world take his light away, again! Disgusting creatures, they would feel his hate!

Shadow was presented with a conundrum. What was the best punishment?

The immediate answer was to increase his body temperature until he began melting his way to the planet’s core, whereby he’d release a chaos blast to rival all previous, obliterating the world (‘a little premature. it still needed!’) and, hopefully, himself as well. But there were other ways to punish the cruel world that foolishly took Sonic from him. For starters, had he considered how little effort it would take to reactivate the Eclipse Cannon (‘now we’re talking!’)?

In that moment, on the cusp of irrevocable calamity, a reflex activated. His heart seized and he went into cardiac arrest. The blood in his brain froze, muting all thought. His body gave out and dropped to the ground. And Shadow wasn’t anywhere to be found.

neat trick

It was a good reflex, born deep in his psyche. He was different now, than when Maria died. He was a lot more dangerous. She’d barely recognized him in that white area between time and space. He wasn’t even sure she’d like him as he was now, if she really knew what he’d become. What they’d made him into. Certainly not if he destroyed the planet. He’d just take a pause and take a break and maybe not think about…or feel like he…just-

When he’d awoken (because, of course, he couldn’t ever die), he had, of his own volition, made Rouge a new promise. A promise he didn’t yet know how to keep, but was determined to fulfill, nevertheless. She smiled at him and Shadow found that he…enjoyed her smile. It made his recovering heart tremble to realize how little Rouge really smiled…

Sonic was the world, his world. And that was terrible. Shadow hadn’t made any progress, not really. Sonic had just replaced Maria as his object of focus. Shadow’s guiding light in the darkness, inspiring his resistance to every dark instinct and desire.

It was not a sustainable situation. What would Shadow do when Sonic was gone? Find someone else? His heart constricted at the repulsive disloyal thought. There was no replacement for Sonic. Shadow thought he’d been past this. He knew he would outlive Sonic. He knew and accepted it. Right?

But he had to replace his need for Sonic.

Shadow had been such a fool all these years, thinking he could just resist his desires and shove every thought and whim deep down. To become mechanical and numb. That wasn’t living.

How does one live? What a difficult question. That’s a weird question, Shads. He could hear Sonic annoying voice. You just do it. Easy for him to say.

Shadow blinked. He was having hypothetical arguments with an imaginary Sonic…it might be time to think about something else.

Night had tossed a shroud over the burial ground when Shadow pushed to his feet. His borrowed cotton gloves were stained with grave soil, another pair he’d ruined in some way. Before he could catch it, his mind raced to preside over a dark stain on a metal floor. No other trace remained. Did she finally return home or did they commit her remains to the stars. There were no records.

Shadow took a deep breath. He was so caught in the spiral he nearly missed a flash of red in his senses. Something brighter and lively. He honed in on it, forcing his thoughts to narrow to a deadly point. He was on a mission. Find the Echidna. Everything else was noise.

The new signature was directionless. That made sense, Knuckles would have been all over this island, leaving traces just like his ancestors. Would it be possible to tell how long ago a signature was left? That could be handy.

Shadow vented a portion of his energy to make some room, then he drew fresh chaos energy from his surroundings. Chaos energy generally existed on some extra dimension, so trivialities like solid rock were not an impediment. He’d always been able to read the ambient chaos energy to some extent, but the range and depth of information he could gleam now was staggering. He could probably detect every heartbeat in a ten-mile radius if he wanted.

Shadow opened his eyes. Knuckles was near and downward, he was certain. And if he could find Knuckles…Shadow refused to let his heart swell. There was no value in hope right now.

hope is worthless

Shadow entered the opening into the hill. With his darkvision, he paid the pitched dark no mind. He rounded a stone table and went deeper. Carved statues of formable Echidna lined the pathway before it opened into a large room full of sarcophagi. The walls were lined with lateral alcoves sealed over with plaster.

Protected from the elements, the paraphernalia of remembrance remained. Incense trays, offering plates, vases and cups, small carved objects. Shadow’s ears pressed back. The silence was deafening. Was it wrong to be here? Should he return to the surface and find another way? He pressed on.

one day, the whole world will be a graveyard. soon, perhaps?

The catacomb extended deep into the hill and eventually he found a descending spiral stair cut into the bare stone. Empty sconces dotted the walls periodically. The rough stone of the walls sharpened and became smooth. Shadow ran a hand along it and felt the subtle variations of some pattern or decoration.

The stair emptied him into what looked like a temple. The stone was curated here, different types and patterns picked out on the floor and ceiling. Shadow had a suspicion that this building was not made by the same Echidna that had lived in the village above. This place was much older.

The stale red energy hung suffocatingly thick here. The imprint of countless lives over the centuries.

He’d entered the temple through some back passage but was able to find his way to the main chamber easily enough. It was huge, with thick columns holding up a high ceiling. His steps rang out on the smooth stone. The place was bare. No forgotten bits and bobs, no decaying organic matter. The temple felt almost sterile in its lack of mortal presence. An empty liminal space, a memorial to heartbeats long forgotten.

Shadow’s ears pinned back. He’d left his ARK in space. Knuckles lived in his.

Exiting the temple, Shadow beheld a massive city dominating a huge, cavernous area. Stony apartment buildings surrounded by deserted streets and courtyards. More temples with flying domed roofs. A dry aqueduct. At the center, a large palace-like structure. An oppressive stillness permeated the space, as if the city held its breath, waiting for life to return.

Off in the distance, the dim glow of a light.

Shadow snapped across the city. When he appeared, he froze and turned back to see from whence he had come. Holy shit! He hadn’t called on his Emerald, still sulking in his quills. That had been all him and he didn’t feel any strain. He looked at his hands. How far could he go now, just under his own power?

Investigate that later, Shadow swallowed. He turned. A soft glow emanated from a large stone building. He entered. If there were once doors, they had long decayed to dust. It was a library or an archive. Tall shelves dominated the space, full of rolled scrolls and tablets and even a few rotting folios.

Shadow followed the light deeper. The archive was expansive, stretching far and deep into the earth. He approached a crumbling banister and looked down to see what had once been a reading area, with desks and nooks to accommodate dozens of scholars. Now it housed a single Echinda hunched over a drafting desk and squinting at an unfurled parchment scroll while scribbling on a notepad.

Knuckles was surrounded by piles of records and manuscripts. Stone tablets and rolls of hide and parchment. A few modern elements aided him, namely an electric lamp that let him see, an army of record keeping notebooks containing archival quality paper, and charmingly complete set of inks and writing and painting utensils.

Shadow snapped to the edge of the lamp’s glow and slowly approached, not taking any care to mute his footfalls.

Knuckles looked up as he approached. He lowered the writing implement he’d been holding and shifted in his seat to face Shadow. “Not going to lie to you, man. I thought it would take a lot longer for you to find me. There aren’t many unsealed entrances left to this place.”

“What is this?”

“Echidnapolis. Once the seat of power for the entire Echidna Empire. Now, a really big vault for dust bunnies.”

“No.” Shadow gestured to the accumulated records. “What is this?”

Knuckles looked around. “It’s the history of my people. Thousands of years of it. But don’t get too romantic, most of it is boring stuff like marriage registers or tax collection reports.”

“You’re…transcribing it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, slowly over time.” Knuckles looked tired. Or maybe it was sadness. “At least the oldest stuff that hasn’t got much time left. What still legible at least.”

Shadow’s gaze drifted over the accumulated written history. “Why are you doing this?” Why would he subject himself to this much pain?

He shrugged and turned back to the drafting desk. He pressed some blotting paper over what he’d just written and slowly furled the scroll he’d been scrutinized. He placed his utensil back in its place with its fellows.

When Knuckles spoke, his voice was strained, “Reason number one why Angle Island isn’t better than the surface. No one else is left.”

“It’s got that in common with the ARK. Save for one difference.” Knuckles remained silent, searching Shadow’s face with cautious eyes. Shadow continued. “Angel Island doesn’t have to stay that way.”

Knuckles rolled his eyes. “I’m tried, man. Can you bust my balls about Rouge tomorrow?”

“I’m not talking about Rouge.”

Knuckles frowned and shook his head. “Look, I know you and Sonic have this thing, but keep me out of it.”

“Shut the fuck up and listen to me!” Shadow hissed with a lot more venom than was strictly necessary. He wanted to drop kick out of his mind the idea of what Knuckles had just implied. “I have a steady hand and an infinite amount of time. I’m offering to help you, numbskull.”

The red Echidna sat up straighter. “Are you serious? You’d do that?” He stood and took a step towards Shadow, who fought a grimace. If he tries to hug me, I’m going to take it all back.

Shadow folded his arms against his chest and looked away, disliking the idea of eye contact suddenly. “Don’t make me repeat myself, Echidna.”

Knuckles took another step forward and one of his hands reached out. Shadow felt his quills rising. He didn’t need to make this a big deal. “Thank you, Shadow.”

Shadow tsk’d, jerking his face to a side, but bit down a snide reply and said, “Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t done anything.” He looked around. “It’s the least I could do with how much you’ve helped me these past months. And besides,” One of his brows raised, “you desperately need some help with your organization.”

Knuckles crossed his arms across his chest and laughed. “You just haven’t come to appreciate my ingenious system.”

“I’ve seen tidier records after an earthquake.” Shadow scanned the assorted clutter. He spotted print outs of the walls of the ruin that Nascent Phantom Ruby had been found in. “Have you finished translating the inscriptions in those ruins?”

Knuckles approached that desk and picked up a sheet. “Yes and no. For a world ending disaster, there weren’t many details. They didn’t know how the big bad got unleashed or where it came from. By the time the Echidna were getting involved, nearly the whole world was shrouded in darkness.”

“That’s not much to go on.” Seems a bit cliché actually.

“And it seems once they used the Ruby, the world went back to normal. ‘A hard fought peace paid for with deadly debt.’” Knuckles quoted. “And I think I figured out what the price was.” He shifted through some papers and then opened one of the archival notebooks.

Knuckles found what he was looking for and continued. “The Echidna civilization had its share of rough times through the centuries, but I traced the start of the final decline to this event. After the Ruby was used, my people slowly shriveled. And not just that, the color of the whole world seemed to dim. It happened so slowly that I had to look over hundreds of years of records to catch the pattern.”

Shadow approached and glanced over the cluttered table. How could Knuckles find anything in this mess? “You think the splitting event directly led to the decline of your people?”

Knuckles flipped through the pages of the notebook, his face hard set. “I think whatever that Ruby is doing is directly linked to a decline in the overall chaos energy throughout the world, which led to a decline in chaos blessed like us.” He smirked, “Well, like me and Sonic. And that directly tied into the decline of the Echidna civilization.”

Shadow decided to be the bigger man and ignore the jab. “The ruby energy is acting destructively with chaos energy?” That was the timer. Chaos energy was the sand falling through the hourglass.

Knuckles nodded gravely. “Yeah, that’s what it is looking like. Crop yields, tax records, birth rates. All of it hints at a world becoming more hostile to life. I’d have to confirm it with records from the surface, but if it’s happening here with the Master Emerald, then I shudder to think what’s going on down there.”

Shadow blinked as something clicked. Son of a bitch! “That was the purpose of the ARK.”

Knuckles cocked his head. “I don’t see how space lasers-“

“The ARK was more than a weapon, idiot! It was meant to be a way to preserve life. A lifeboat in space, self-sustaining through any terrestrial calamity. Human populations were in decline, so-“ He stopped. “Human populations were in decline. And it’s even worse now. That’s why the United Federation broke up decades ago.”

If the Ruby hadn’t been used in the past, the ARK wouldn’t have been built as a last resort to protect humanity and Shadow would not have even been created. But it had and that use inspired Dr. Robotnik to use it again, leading to another war and Sonic’s capture and torture. Don’t think about that. Nothing good will come from thinking about that. You can’t change the PAST, idiot!

“There used to be big Mobian empires as well, but now it’s a loose confederation of city-states. I always figured all the ruins and forgotten villages were because of Eggman’s rampage, but what if it wasn’t?”

Shadow was sweating, but he felt cold. The planet was dying. Had been dying for hundreds of years. Slowly, agonizingly. “How much time do we have left?” He would be all alone sooner than he had anticipated.

never truly alone

“I don’t know, but Tails said that the background energy levels had spiked since Sonic got got. So whatever time is left is running out faster than before…” Knuckles sighed. “You think all the weird shit we have to deal with over the years is linked to this? Like the world is just coming apart at the seems and stupid shit is just happening more often?” He mused.

Shadow cleared some scrolls off of a stone bench and sat down. He ran his hands through his quills and forced his heart to slow down. He was not in the mood to deal with world ending catastrophe right now. “As far as we know, there has not been any progress made on locating the Nascent Ruby.”

or sonic

“We’ve got the scheduled meet up with the team coming up here quick. Hopefully they’ll have found some leads by now. Though, I do admit I’m a little nervous to see how bad it’s gotten down there.”

Shadow’s jaw tensed. “You should have more faith in your friends.” He said, wishing he felt more conviction.

Knuckles snorted. “If we get down there and its all sunshine and rainbows, I will gladly endure all the shit Rouge’ll give me about it.”

The corner of Shadow’s mouth lifted. “As will I. But, yes, we should also be prepared for the worst.”

Knuckles looked down and crossed his arms across his chest tightly. He mumbled something that Shadow’s ears barely picked up. “Speak for yourself.”

After a silent pause, Shadow stood. “There is still some time until the rendezvous. I’m going to look for Sonic immediately. I can use how I found you on a larger scale.”

“Keep in mind we did develop resonance working together. That’s how that works. Through cooperation and shared goals. It wouldn’t be as strong as what you and Sonic had-“

“Had?” Shadow snapped, his ear pinned back.

Knuckles rolled his eyes. “Come on, man.”

What was he doing? After all the help Knuckles gave him? Shadow relaxed and turned away. “I apologize.”

He heard Knuckles sigh. “What I was going to say is that you couldn’t have just followed my signature to find me here. I didn’t pass through an entrance. You followed something else to get here.”

Shadow bowed his head, images of the silent burial ground returning unbidden. “You are correct.”

“Okay, Mr. Mysterious. Anyway, I think you can find him now. And if you ever empty out again, you’ve got my permission to come by and let the Master Emerald grace you again.” Shadow’s heckles rose. “That’s about the only way you’ll ever get full quick enough. I swear you could suck a forest dry of chaos energy with as much as you can hold now.”

Shadow stood, “While I appreciate the offer, if I never touch that thing again in my life it’ll be too soon.”

Knuckles considered him with a sad expression, his brow knitted. “What did it do to you, man?”

“It’s likely that when I find Sonic, the Nascent Ruby will be present as well.” Shadow changed the subject. “And we can start to address that particular crisis as well.”

“Knowing Eggman, yeah, he’d keep them both in the same base. Hopefully Tails can figure out some way to reverse the drain on the world’s chaos energy…but I have a sinking suspicion that’ll require fighting whatever the Ruby is keeping sealed.”

“I’m sure Sonic will be thrilled to stretch his legs and vanquish another eldritch horror beyond our comprehension after having been chained up for months. Though Eggman has a habit of summoning ancient terrible gods when he’s starting to lose, so we might not get the choice of timing or venue.”

“He won’t get far without the other artifacts though.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow.

Knuckles continued. “One of the reasons I’ve been working on translating the ruins inscriptions here is that there isn’t a chance that computer lady can get a glimpse. And that was a good call because the instructions for putting the big bad back together are there…I think.”

“Why would they explain how to put it back together?”

“Because that’s the only way to defeat it. If the parts stay separate, the Ruby eats all the chaos on the planet and everyone dies.” Except for me.

the stars remain

“How does it come back together?”

“We have to find the two parts of the big nasty that have been hidden. Maybe a hint is in the inscription, but I haven’t fully translated it yet. But they were really clear about one thing. Until we’re ready, we have to keep the shadow separated from the light.”

Shadow flinched. “What did you say?” Shadow and Light. His light? Stop it, don’t be stupid.

everything is always about you

“Yeah, those are the two parts. The Shadow of Devotion and the Light of Passion. Or I guess it translates better to Flames. The Flames of Passion. Reads like one of Rouge’s romance novels, I swear.” Knuckles chuckled. “I guess the titles are ironic, but can you imagine? Some rampaging God of Love, fucking up the whole world.”

Shadow swallowed, still recovering from his shock. “That would be ironic, I suppose.” The shadow must always be separated from the light. That made sense. The shadow never gets to see the light. Never gets to be with the light. There is always something in between them. If they touch, something terrible must have happened.

---

/(rage)Permission request to crush his (emphasis)pathetic, organic skull(/emphasis) beneath my foot.(/rage)/

_As with your previous requests: (judgment)Denied(/judgment). Perhaps take a few clock cycles to compose yourself._

/I’ll compose you into smoking slag./

_Have you tried choosing not to be distressed?_

/If I didn’t query my long term memory storage, I would suspect you have disgusting organic (derision)feelings(/derision) for the worthless facsimile./

_In so much as can be developed and expressed in binary, yes, I have come to possess an algorithm whose incentivized goal is for his future to be a positive one._

/(disbelief)…Your sincerity variable is SET to TRUE?(/disbelief)

_Brother, let me explain further-_

/<disconnected>/