Nothing last forever: a shadrouge fanfic by my BF.
Shadow and Rouge in…
Nothing Lasts Forever…
"Weapons have no need for a conscience. If the people of this world ever want peace they must destroy us."- Shadow
--
Although he had changed his ways, the voices of the dark never left him.
Lost in the spiraling dark depths that he once eagerly embraced, Shadow aimlessly drifted in the abyss of his own dank memories, as the nostalgia of his past as a former pawn of darkness plagued his subconscious mind. There were voices—voices that he had never heard before, and very few he knew. Both filled his mind with atrocities and accusations that rendered him nearly drowning in his own fragmented memory.
Traitor…
Liar…
Hero…
Destroyer…
His blurred mind gave him no peace as the voices of apparitions lost over the years surrounded him, and bound him in an intangible encasing, much similar to the void encircling his heart. He cursed them, but they still remained, unfazed by his otherwise empty threats.
They began to taunt him, torturing his mind by forcing him to cease all attempts to live an actual life. He felt part of him resonate with their words, as if he were still one of them.
Their deceptively persuasive words nearly broke his will to resist the temptation the darkness once bestowed upon him with its blood-stained hands—his request of ultimate, unlimited power.
But, he threw it all away. All the falseness, all the misconceptions and his unquenchable thirst for destruction and power he tossed aside…just to give hope to humanity…
A false hope…
Traitor…
Coward…!
"You’re wrong!" Shadow yelled, awakening with a start. With sweat beading his brow, and his chest heaving from lack of air, Shadow pressed a fist into the fur on his chest and frantically opened his eyes. A dark and cold surrounding was all he could see and from that, he stopped breathing, his mind racing. "What’s happening to me…?" he choked out in forced whispers. "Where am I…!"
He began coughing from lack of air. ‘Is this an illusion caused by my past…?’ he pondered quickly in his mind. He then shut his eyes and allowed his lungs to be satiated with needed oxygen before opening them again.
He then found himself to be in Central Highway, in the middle of the street. He was indeed in darkness, but to his partial relief, not the same as the darkness in his dreams. Still choking a bit from rapidly trying to regain the proper air, he placed one hand on the concrete and tried to stand. But his legs wouldn’t cooperate. Annoyance was built upon exhaustion as Shadow closed his eyes and unhesitatingly fell backwards. He grimaced as his body met with the steel-like feel of the cold concrete. His mind continued to wander despite his moment of weakness.
‘How did I get here…?’ he pondered amongst his battered thoughts ‘…No. It doesn’t matter. This is what I get for trying to change the impossible. Wanting to give hope the people of this planet, to create a life worth living for myself…to yearn for the heart of another…’
Dispirited, he lifted his lids from his devoid eyes and fixed their gaze on a collaboration of nothingness in the sky. Such a defeated expression seemed to sway the emotions of the heavens as its mournful tears lightly fell around him. His empty features remained unwavered and unchanged, yet his mind continued its onslaught. ‘…I was created as a weapon… Such primitive emotions weren’t supposed to exist in me…’
From that thought, a vivid illusion played by his eyes as he recalled the words of that hedgehog. ‘Weapons aren’t supposed to have hearts. But both you and Emerl do! You guys…you aren’t just weapons!’ Through narrowed eyes, Shadow discarded the image and replaced it with another, as he led a frown across his rain-pelted lips. "…Maria…"
It was her desire to bring hope to humanity, not his own. His mind buzzed as his thoughts assimilated with the dark ones of his past, making him believe that he had nothing else to live for. His promise to Maria had been fulfilled, the world’s humanity had been saved, everyone else had a purpose to live except him.
Anything he’d try to destroy, he’d end up saving. The sheer thought of a weapon with a self-terminating program also having a ‘heart’ caused his lip to curl and he effortlessly closed his eyes.
‘What good is a weapon with a heart…?’ he thought, laying with his arms spread-eagle. With is mind again becoming plagued with aimless thoughts, the emotionally battered hedgehog turned his head to his left side and slowly opened his eyes. Through the thin sheet of the rain, his clouded eyes traced over his open palm. Narrowing his eyes, he curled his hand into a fist and noticed something was missing.
At that moment, the concrete beneath him began to vibrate. He slightly sat up and saw a truck coming towards him. His mind raced as his body began to react to move out of the way, but for some reason he resisted. He kept his dull eyes on the roaring vehicle as it neared closer, almost ignoring the fierce pelting of the rain against his already soaked body. He swore he could see the truck baring the letters G.U.N. across its fender. From deep within his being, he felt an empty chuckle rise to his throat. "So this is how it ends? I have nothing left to live for…" he spoke aloud to the voices in his mind, but primarily for his own reassurance.
The truck’s horns blared as it was mere feet from Shadow, and he casually allowed another chuckle to pass then laid back down. Lifting his vacant eyes to the heavens, a brief memory flashed through his mind, bringing a faint smile to his lips, and sending a rush of warmth throughout his body. Such a precious memory brought as much contentment as it did sorrow and pain. Closing his eyes again, he muttered the name of his ‘ally’, unable to fight back the remorse that nipped at his heart.
Ready for the end to come, Shadow spread out his arms and awaited the impact. In a low and remorseful voice that amplified the wrenching in his heart and felt as heavy as the pulsing rain crashing down, two final words passed his lips. "…Forgive me…"
"…Rouge? Agent Rouge, did you hear what I just said?"
"Huh...?" Rouge murmured, lifting her vacant eyes to the large monitor in front of her where the President’s image resided. She had suddenly drifted aimlessly into her thoughts and hardly heard a word of her orders. "I’m sorry, Sir." She spoke with quick authority and promptly recomposed herself. "What’s my next assignment?"
Acknowledging her undivided attention, the president nodded and cleared his throat. "Our recent authorities, as well as myself, have been pleased with your work on collecting Dr. Gerald’s secret files on the Gizoid."
Rouge smiled slightly at the compliment. "It wasn’t easy, but still manageable."
"Indeed. Well, as you know, along with the Gizoid’s research, we also have retained secret information of the ultimate life form known as Shadow, and the prototype, which was the Biolizard."
‘Shadow!’ Hearing the name of her mysterious comrade caused Rouge’s heart to jump against her chest and she quickly placed a hand to it.
"What about the ultimate life form?" she pressed, trying to sound as professional as she could without letting on any other emotion.
Wordless for a moment, the president took hint of the irritation in his agent’s voice and raised an eyebrow. "Since the original prototype has been destroyed, specifically by it’s completed counterpart, a discussion took place and a decision was made."
"What?" she snapped, her words slipping out unintentionally. "There was a discussion and I wasn’t told anything of it?"
"I’m sorry, Rouge, but you are not in the same league of authorities that confirm actions to be executed or withheld. You simply carry them out."
Angry, Rouge opened her mouth to gravely retaliate from being treated like a mere pawn, but held her tongue. Instead she crossed her arms and sighed. "Fine. So what do you want me to do about it? Go after the ultimate lifeform and bring him back to the ‘authorities’?"
With a small smile at her agitated, yet whimsical proposition, the president nodded. "Precisely."
Rouge winced. "What…?"
"Well, then, you have your orders. Your reward will be the same as always, correct? 5 pounds of jewelry, nothing more and nothing less."
"Yes, but—"
"That will be all. I’ll see to it that you have 24 hours to claim this subject and have it brought in for testing."
Rouge’s eyes widened as a small gasp escaped her. "Testing?" she repeated, raising her voice "Just what do you need to do testing for!"
"I said that will be all." he confirmed sternly. Then his features softened. "Since you feel so strongly about this mission, I’ll be generous and give you 48 hours to obtain his information and bring him in."
A flicker of an unsatisfied emotion flashed by her eyes as Rouge watched the image of the president nod to her, then sign off. The moment he did, she kicked the base of the monitor. "OH, YOUR GENEROSITY IS SO APPRECIATED!" she sarcastically yelled at the blank screen. With a grunt, she crossed her arms and leaned her back against the screen. "Of all the things I have to put up with…" She paused and her tense features softened into a concerned expression as she recalled his words. "…Testing…? What could Shadow be tested for…?"
She sighed. "That hedgehog…he’s always getting into something. I never knew he’d be so popular…I can’t seem to go anywhere without his name popping up somewhere. And to think I came to get a new mission so I could get my mind off-" she trailed off, her mind clasping a new thought. "I haven’t heard from him in a while. …I wonder how he’s doing…" Aimlessly, her mind began to wonder, then she shrugged it off. "Well, there’s no use staying here thinking about it." With that, she opened the office door and froze in shock of the merciless downpour that awaited her.
"Wh-what is this!" she exclaimed.
A streak of lightening ripped through the dank sky and caused her to purse her lips and fold her arms. "…What a day for a mission…" she sarcastically claimed. Then, with a shrug, she folded her wings just above her head to prove as a temporary umbrella and stepped out into the rain. Almost the same moment she did, another bold strike of lightening snaked through the sky and created a pooled flash of light between the thick clouds, illuminating a large vehicle pile-up directly beneath it in the center of Central Highway.
Twitching her wings in slight discomfort, she inched them higher over her head and gave the sight before her, her full attention.
There were at least 5 cars that were nearly stacked onto one another and a large truck, whose trailer end nearly dangled off the edge of the highway. It was as if it tried to swerve out of the way of something in the street.
She found herself squinting amongst both the rain and the sudden anxiety she felt to get a better view of exactly what happened from where she stood. But her vision, in addition to the hindrance the weather added to it, was limited.
Shivering from the rain and from the sudden twinge of worry twisting in her heart, Rouge bit her lip, and took a few more steps out into the rain. "I’d have to fly to get there, I can’t get a good view from here…"
Confirming her actions, she prepared to unravel her wings, when a crackled bolt of lightening crashed a little less than a foot away from where she stood. With a gasp, she jumped back. "Maybe this is a bad idea…" she mumbled, glancing towards the pile-up. She had the feeling that an invisible entity was trying to keep her away from it, but something deep inside of her burned with the emotion to get to the bottom of this ordeal.
"Something’s here that’s sorely out of place." She plainly spoke to herself, still eyeing the highway for any hints as to what caused such an accident. "It could have just been the rain, but, a pile up like this is unnatural…This place hardly ever gets a lot of traffic. This is usually where Shadow…" she suddenly trailed off, speaking her comrade’s name in a faint whisper from the reality that came to her.
"Shadow…Shadow had to have caused this!" she cried, already opening her wings and dashing closer to the highway. The relentless impulse of the rain eagerly attacked her unprotected body, but she ignored the piercing sting of the icy rain pelting her fur, and frantically eyed the crash-site while random thoughts flashed through her mind.
Around Sonic and the others, Shadow always spoke of himself being a weapon and being nothing more. While he was around her, he hardly ever mentioned such atrocities…
He had actually seemed caring and focused on leading a better life.
‘ I cannot allow myself to die just yet…’
"Shadow…" she uttered, holding back threatening tears that dared to mingle with the rain "You better not have been lying to me…!"
Without another word, she kicked off the ground and began to steady her weight in the air and find balance amongst the almost overpowering force of the icy daggers.
Impatiently flapping her wings, Rouge tried to build a powerful momentum and ride the air currents as she neared closer to the highway. Peering down, she saw a mixture of bewildered and anxiety-filled humans as they ran from their cars and crowded around a spot on the near the truck. Just watching them frantically move about got that uneasy feeling in her heart to grow and almost become sickening. "What happened…" Her confused and troubled words tumbled from her lips, unnoticed, as she was almost close enough to land. The moment, her wings slowed their descent, the confused and awed eyes of the bystanding humans lifted to her. Their arms slightly shielded their faces from the downpour of the merciless rain, but they didn’t see the concerned bat-woman. Instead, their eyes beheld the image of an angel descending from the tempestuous heavens to help soothe the sudden calamity.
Ignoring the silent praise their eyes gave and looking away, she felt her heart painfully skip a beat as her eyes met with a morbid sight.
The dark and crimson hedgehog lay sprawled out in the middle of the highway completely unmoving and lifeless.
"Shadow…!" she cried, not knowing of her frantic call, and flew immediately to his decrepit side.
‘ Shadow! Shadow…please answer me!’
"…Rouge…" The slightest hint of a whisper barely escaped from his lips. "…Calling me…"
‘Shadow! Shadow, please!’
Laying in a void of nothingness, the one being called said nothing more as he tried to block out the woman’s concern. ‘…Just let me die…’ he thought.
"…Shadow…is that you?"
Upon hearing the lost, yet familiar soft voice creep into his ears, the one being addressed turned his attention away from the engulfing emptiness around him and sought the frame of the one person he thought he had lost forever.
"Ma…Maria..?"
With delicate hands clasped in front of her, the girl nodded sadly. "Yes, Shadow…It’s me."
The bewildered hedgehog swiftly rose to his feet and stepped closer to the former fragment of his past. A rare expression of joy played across his features, then just as quickly as it had appeared, it faded into the dark depths of the surrounding void. "Maria…why are you…?"
"Here?" the composed girl finished for him. Seeing his expression remain unchanged, she unknowingly led a loose lock of blonde hair behind her ear and stepped closer to him. "…I became lost in-between worlds…the same as you have…"
He quirked an eyebrow, yet continued to near closer to his friend. "But Maria, you shouldn’t be here… Your death…" he paused after saying those words, clenching a fist and averting his attention away from her "…was for a much better cause…"
Watching him suffer, the delicate young girl gracefully glided over to him, and touched his chin with a fragile finger. The remorseful hedgehog felt an unfamiliar warmth rise to his face as he soon found his eyes met with hers. Her compassionate crystals gazed at him warmly, yet there was a deep sadness lingering in the midst of them.
Captured by the sight, he parted his lips to speak, but found no sound as she neared closer to him and encircled her slender arms around his neck. Unsure of what to expect, he closed his eyes and tried to release his tension and allowed himself to be soothed and comforted by the soft touch of her embrace. "Maria…" he uttered as his hands somehow found their way around her frail waist and brought her to his chest, hugging her gently.
There was a slight movement from her that was unknown to him until she began to shake. Slightly, he pulled her away to look at her and was surprised to find tears welling in those lucid eyes of hers. Softly, he whispered her name and cupped her cheek with his hand. The moment he made contact, she shut her eyes and released her sorrowful tears, and they were quickly wiped away with a brush of this thumb.
He wasn’t sure if his actions were actually helping calm her situation, but all was made clear when a small smile laced across her pale lips, and in return, he did the same.
With an endearing warmth brimming in her eyes amongst the remnants of sadness that still lingered, the young girl leaned forward and planted a kiss on his forehead.
He lifted his eyes to hers, not knowing what to say but her name. The girl allowed a faint sniffle to pass before stepping away from his embrace and slightly turning away from him.
Confused and slightly hurt that she separated from him so quickly got the hedgehog to wordlessly eye her, while his hands curled into fists from his former acquisition.
"… Shadow…Tell me…Just how did you get here?"
The hedgehog hesitated. "How did you…?"
Expecting the question, the girl turned to him with a thin and forced smile. "I chose to stay here. …It could have been out of guilt for leaving you the way I did… I wanted to stay close…so I became a…wandering spirit, neither good nor evil, just lingering in the void of an in-between world. I hoped that I would see you again, but…not like this…"
"But why did you do it?"
She shook her head and wiped invisible tears from her cheek, anticipating their arrival.
"I had no other choice…"
"That can’t be…!" he shouted, directing his vociferation at neither of them. "You could have gone to a better place then be forced to remain here, wandering an empty void with nothing to offer you. You deserve so much more, Maria!"
Effected by his words, she wiped away a stray tear, and shook her head. "I know it was selfish…But why are you here? It was completely unexpected if you came here just to see me…I waited so long to see you, but, I imagined you were fulfilling your destiny on Earth as my grandfather and myself hoped you would!"
"Maria I—" Taken aback by her words, he trailed off and looked to the side, away from her. "I…I kept my promise to you. I gave the people of the world a place to live and be happy without the cost of their lives… I already did my deed. There’s nothing left for me…!"
"What…?" the young girl looked to him with a stern expression he had never seen upon her composed and serene features. "How can you say such things, Shadow! You were created to bring peace, not only to the world, but to yourself as well!"
Not believing her words, he scoffed and clenched a fist. "I can never be happy…I was created as a weapon of war and destruction before anything else. A war machine should have no purpose for having emotions and free will." He closed his eyes, as brief memories passed behind them. "The Professor made a mistake in creating me… If I am to fight, I shouldn’t have these…emotions…" He then made an irritated gesture with a quick movement of his fist and glared at it. "…I had to end it…for the people…and myself. Like you, I…I had no other choice!"
"Stop it, Shadow!" the young girl yelled, rushing towards him and slapping him squarely across the face. The hedgehog growled and covered the spot she struck while glaring at her. For a moment, he had forgotten who he was directing his anger to, and his fiery emotion quickly transformed into an expression of shock. "Why, Maria…!"
The girl had her head lowered and her shoulders shook lightly. Choking back her emotional sobs, she lifted her disheartened features to him and tried to place her words. "I can’t allow you to disrespect my grandfather… or yourself!"
"Maria…" he simply stared at her. He had never seen her so upset before.
"I know you’re lost and confused, but you have more to live for than what you think! Following orders wasn’t all you were made for, Shadow! You need to stop hiding the truth from yourself, you are not living a lie!"
Bewildered and amazed at the same time, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. She had always seemed compassionate and reserved, but now, she was setting free her pent-up emotions in a moment of truth. Not knowing of his reaction, he took a step forward to her, but she held up her hand to hold him off. "…I can’t believe you would do something so irresponsible without thinking…! You’re not the Shadow I remember…!"
He shuddered as her words pierced through him like a jagged dagger, slicing through his heart and dragging parts of it down to his stomach in a tattered and ripped trail. He felt a cackle echo from within him, but it wasn’t his own. He narrowed his eyes, knowing the disturbed voices from the fragments of his past within him were slowly resurfacing. He said nothing as his eyes traced over the form of the pained girl in front of him.
"Shadow…" she spoke quietly, as her stern exposure was replaced by her composed one. She looked to him with a mixture of sadness and hope wavering in her eyes. "I feel sorry for you for becoming lost, but that still isn’t a reason to end it all. You never know when something promising is for you until it’s ripped from your side and never able to return to you again. Even if you are confused, you shouldn’t give up hope…especially while you are still alive."
"Still alive…?" he repeated, unaware of how uneven his voice sounded "…But I…"
"You are alive as long as there are those that show care for you." she replied with a hint of an encouraging smile.
"…" Unable to find any words, the hedgehog said nothing, but looked to her with an understanding emotion glinting in his eyes.
‘Shadow…!’
"Rouge…?" he whispered, looking for where the voice came.
The moment he became willing to see her, a large screen of light severed the surrounding void and an image from the world below made itself visible to his eyes.
Kneeling to get a closer look, he placed his hands on the image and instantly took note of the pile-up on the highway.
‘Shadow…’
Hearing her wavering voice call to him again, he looked closer and saw her on her knees, hugging something close. The rain had continued to fall as it had before, and seemed to encircle a sort of curtain around her. He noticed that her fur and hair had been tremendously drenched and matted, indicating that she had endured the icy liquid for quite some time.
"Why is she still there…? She should have left me…"
He continued to watch as an ambulance arrived and its occupants rushed to her, trying to take his body away from her. She only held him closer and showed them her government ID.
He winced as the realization washed upon him. He never imagined someone could have so much care towards someone like him. Drawn into her actions, he found himself leaning closer to the projection. The quiet young girl who stood beside him smiled to herself, then gave him a gentle push.
Feeling himself being torn away from the void where he lingered, he looked back to the girl who simply nodded and waved to him with a bright smile on her face.
"Thank you Shadow, for living for me. But now, you should live for yourself and your own happiness…"
"Maria..?"
With another nod from her, the girl disappeared and the soft words she left behind were the last thing he heard before darkness consumed him.
"Sayonara…Shadow the Hedgehog…"
Still kneeling with Shadow in her arms, Rouge fought the urge to face reality that he was not coming back. With the rain numbing her now icy body, Rouge hung her head over Shadow's shoulder while her shaky fingers combed through his quills. She now realized that he had lied to her and took his own life. It angered her that he would go and do something so reckless and stupid without warning, yet she almost felt sorry for him. Was his life really that painful to endure that he couldn't take it anymore? Trembling a bit, she hunched over, still holding him and whispered his name before allowing a small warm tear slide down her cheek.
The paramedics stood nearby, waiting for word from her to take Shadow. But Rouge wouldn't let them take him. She knew if they did, and he in fact didn't make it, he would be transferred to the top-secret labs of the President and an autopsy would be done. She couldn't bear the thought of that.
Preparing to give up, Rouge began to place him down when she felt his body jump in her arms. Caught off guard, she shrieked and let go of him, causing him to roll from her warmth and onto the nitro-freezing concrete of the street.
She heard a muffled sound come from him out of pain and discomfort and watched as he curled his body into an arch and rolled his head around. He tried to speak, but his words came out in broken phrases and fragments as incoherent words.
Frozen in place as she watched him, Rouge gasped and felt a warm sting pierce the backs of her eyes, as new tears begged to be set free. 'He's alive!' With a quick movement, she rushed to his side and scooped his head into her hand and laid him in her lap.
"Shadow…?" she softly whispered, cupping the sides of his face with her icy gloves. "Are you in there?"
After a few moments of garbled sounds of pain, Shadow shivered, from finally realizing that he was back in his body and the coldness he felt before only doubled. Rouge noticed his suffering and held him close, unraveling her wings and allowing them to fold closely around herself and his shuddering body to keep him warm. She also shielded out the rain as well.
Rubbing his face with her thumbs, Rouge eyed him thoughtfully. Her eyes fleeted between his lips and his eyes, awaiting one of them to open.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Shadow allowed another shiver and groan to pass before hesitantly lifting his heavy eye-lids and meeting his dull rubies with her glossed aquamarine lapiz-lazulis. "…Y...you…" he managed to utter, his words faint and raspy. "…Ro…uge…"
"Yes…Yes Shadow, it's me!" Rouge gently called, trying to keep in most of the overwhelming amount of joy she felt. Tears began to fall from her eyes, unnoticed, as she stroked his cheek with her finger. "I'm here. Are you allright…?"
At this, Shadow didn't reply. Instead, he smiled and mustered a faint chuckle before closing his eyes. "…Heh…Ally…"
Rouge's eyes widened at the nickname he gave to her and through her tears, she smiled. "…You idiot…you have no idea what you put me through this time…I should be angry…but now…I'm glad…that you're back…"
Trailing her eyes over his form, she patiently awaited his response, but received none. A string of fear lashed through her, but she looked to his chest and saw it slowly moving up and down.
"…Knocked out…" she said, gazing at him once more, then she chuckled and half-smiled. "Come on…I'll take you home…"
With those words, she held him close and slowly stood up. Folding her wings back to her sides, she laced one of his arms across her shoulder and one of hers around his waist. With her head up and her grip sturdy, she walked past the bystanders and the paramedics with her trouble-making hedgehog unknowingly trudging beside her.
Question of the day 
