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It was around the middle of the day. Amy and Sonic were on their way to the infirmary of Restoration HQ to check up on Silver, who had quite a bit taken out of him earlier that morning. Him and Sonic had run into some guy named Dr. Starline while investigating something that some guy had told Silver (which ended up being Starline all the same), and Silver accidentally detonated some explosives in an old Eggman base, causing the psychokinetic hedgehog to spend all his energy shielding himself and Sonic from the blast.
Sonic had very quickly ran the unconscious hedgehog to Restoration HQ, where he was placed into one of the spare beds that they had. Right now, Amy and Sonic were going to check on how he was doing.
“Don’t be so worried about him, Sonic. I’m sure he’s fine.”
“I know he is. There was just something so off about that Starline guy.”
Amy didn’t get a chance to respond before a blue, wispy portal opened in front of the two of them.
Sonic took a step back, putting a hand in front of Amy. He wasn’t ready to deal with any more shit right now.
To be honest, Sonic wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting to come out of the portal, but it sure as hell wasn’t Shadow. He looked so exhausted, barely able to stand on the ground, and was holding two chaos emeralds.
He slowly lifted his head up, and when he saw Sonic, there was immediate conflict on his face. He reached a slow hand up to Sonic, hesitated, and then lowered it to stare at his glove. There was something strangely metallic about it. What was going on?
“Shadow? What are you doing here?”
Shadow seemed to flinch at hearing Sonic’s voice. Regardless, he spoke. “How far into the zombot epidemic are you?”
Amy and Sonic looked at each other with confused glances.
“The heck is a zombot?” Sonic asked.
“Good,” Shadow sighed.
“Shadow, what’s going on?” Amy asked, about to put a hand on his arm.
“Don’t!” Shadow hissed, pulling away. He then looked down at his fur. “Damn it, it’s spreading,” he mumbled, before pointing to the two hedgehogs. “Don’t leave the base. I need to go run this off,” he told them, sprinting off.
“Shadow, wait! What’s going on?!” Sonic yelled after him, about to give chase before Amy grabbed his arm. She gave him a look, her eyebrows knitted together in worry. He returned her a look, nodding his head, before pulling his arm away from her and running off.
“Be careful,” he could faintly hear her say as he left the building.
—————
Sonic found Shadow doing laps in a parking lot.
“Shadow, what are you doing?” Sonic asked, tapping his foot.
Shadow skid to a stop right in front of Sonic, presenting his glove to Sonic as he wore a stern expression. Sonic took a close look to see that there was a patch of it that looked almost metal, and it seemed to be spreading. He leaned in closer to touch it when-
“Don’t touch it you fool!” Shadow yelled, kicking Sonic back with his rocket skates.
“Chaos, what is up with you, Shadow?”
“Have you met Starline yet?”
“Uh…yeah? Earlier today. When did you-”
“Ok, so that means it’s happening soon. That’s not good.”
Sonic stood up, brushing off his knees. “Shadow, I’m going to ask this one last time: What the heck is going on?”
“Metal Virus.”
“Metal Virus?”
“Shut up and pay attention. Soon, the doctor is going to spread something he has dubbed ‘The Metal Virus.’ The goal of it is to spread rapidly, infecting every plant and animal it touches, turning them all into robots for the doctor to control.”
“And how do you know all of this?”
“Because I’m from a few months in the future, you dolt.”
“Oh. That would explain it. So I’m guessing Egghead’s plan was botched?”
“Not botched enough. I’m here to fix everything.”
“What went wrong?” Sonic asked, his voice much more serious now.
Shadow hesitated. “...You.”
“Me?”
“You got infected. And while we were holding off the army in Sunset City, I did too. Only thing was, I made it out normal…and you didn’t.” Shadow had a distant look in his eyes. Mourning, almost.
“What then?”
“Then…it was all a blur. Towns overtaken faster than manageable. The Deadly Six, brought in by the doctor, I presume. I…watched Omega get ripped apart. And Rouge get infected.”
“Tails?”
“Him too. Couldn’t figure out a cure.”
“…So what can I do?”
“Not get infected. Duh.”
“And how would I manage that?”
“Amy said that she located an abandoned Eggman base and suggested that the two of you go there. That’s where you got infected. Just don’t go there, and you should be fine for now.”
“Then?”
“Then you and Prower kick the doctor’s ass like you always do. This isn’t that hard of a plan to follow, Sonic.”
“Jeez Shads, you’re acting a lot angrier than usual.”
“Don’t…call me that.”
Sonic looked at Shadow with curiosity. The black and red hedgehog had a very prickly sense to him, and was acting more reserved than was typical. Sonic understood that Shadow had been through…something (he still didn’t quite get what exactly), but what exactly had it done to him? How could something this terrible be in his near future?
“So how exactly is Egghead spreading this infection?” Sonic asked after a moment.
“Amy said he put it on two of his goons he planted in the base the two of you-”
“Waitwaitwait back it up, Amy said this?”
“Yes, she was one of two who still haven’t succumbed to the virus.”
“Who was the other one?”
Shadow gave him a look.
“Oh. Yeah. Makes sense,” Sonic sheepishly replied, ears slightly drooping down.
Shadow sighed. “Anyway after the base I think she said he dumped a vat of the virus over Windmill Village.”
“Windmill Village, got it,” Sonic said, speeding off into the distance.
“No! Wait!” Shadow yelled (sounding a lot more desperate than intended) as he ran after him. Why would Sonic actively run to the place that was about to get doused with the infection? What would he even hope to accomplish? No matter. If he hurried, he could stop Sonic before he did something stupid.
—————
Shadow was too late. By the time he got to Windmill Village, the whole town had been covered in the Metal Virus. And at the center of it all, was that stupid stupid blue hedgehog.
“Damn it, faker. Why do you always have to be the hero?” Shadow muttered to himself before speeding back to Restoration HQ.
Amy stopped him in the hallway.
“Shadow, what happened? Where did you go? What’s going on?” she asked him, before looking behind him. “...And where’s Sonic?”
“You don’t know how to chaos control yet, do you?” Shadow asked, ignoring her questions.
“No?” she answered, confused. “Please, Shadow, what’s going on?”
“I need to find Silver then,” Shadow huffed, continuing to skate down the hallway.
When Shadow found the room Silver was in, he kicked open the door and tossed a chaos emerald onto the stomach of the sleeping hedgehog.
“Ugh, Shadow? What are you doing here?” Silver groaned awake.
“I’m from the future,” Shadow stoically replied.
“No, I’m from the future. You’re from the past.” Silver sounded incredibly tired, and a little woozy. Starline must’ve done a number on him.
“No time for semantics. I need you to chaos control with me. I need a do-over.”
“What did you-”
“Silver just do it.”
“Ugh, fine. You don’t have to be mean about it,” the psychokinetic hedgehog mumbled as he slowly sat up and grabbed the chaos emerald that Shadow had thrown at him.
Shadow walked over to Silver’s beside and the two performed a chaos control, creating a time portal in front of them. Shadow took one last glance at Silver, who’s returning glance was filled with worry.
“Shadow, whatever’s going on, please just fix it right now. I’m not feeling well enough to help out,” he told him.
Shadow nodded, stepping through the portal.
Time for a second attempt.
——*——
”It’s not working! None of my simulations are working! I can’t figure it out!” Tails shouted.
“Tails, I don’t mean to worry you, but you kind of have to. Knuckles is strong…but I don’t know how long he’ll be able to hold off the crowd,” Amy told him shakily.
“I know. You don’t have to tell me,” Tails partly snapped, the virus glimmering around his muzzle.
“Ugh, if Sonic were here,” Amy mumbled, slight tears rolling across her cheeks as she cradled her arms around herself.
“That’s…not a bad idea,” Tails said, stopping what he was doing at his computer.
“What is?” Shadow asked. He had previously chosen to tune out whatever Amy and Tails were talking about, but now they had his attention.
Tails began rooting around some cabinets around the workshop. “I could’ve sworn I had at least two…” he mumbled. He was racing around his workshop frantically, moving faster when he saw metal spreading further across his body. “HA! Hahaha! This is it! This is our last chance!” he laughed out. It was a gut-wrenching laugh. The kind that would make you feel uneasy just hearing.
“...Tails? What is it?” Amy hesitantly asked.
“Two…*cough*...chaos emeralds,” he said before he fell to the floor. Amy quickly ran to catch him before he hit the ground. “Amy, no. Now you’re…”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. It was inevitable. Now tell me your plan, ok?”
“Sonic…he would’ve had a plan to fix all this. I thought…if you two…”
“If two people initiate a chaos control, they can travel through time. Is that your plan?” Shadow chimed in.
“Yeah.” Tails smiled. It was one of the only places that was still organic. “Maybe if you go back…to the past…he could…”
“Amy, get back now,” Shadow directed at Amy, who had frozen in place watching as Tails was fully engulfed by the Metal Virus.
She stayed there for another moment before wiping her hand across her eyes, grabbing the two chaos emeralds from Tails, and running over to Shadow.
“Do you know how to-” Shadow was suddenly interrupted by a loud banging on the door to the workshop.
“Knuckles. We don’t have much time,” Amy stated.
“Alright, then there’s no time to teach you. Think you can do it?”
Amy nodded unsteadily. She was clearly trying her best not to cry.
“Ok then. Chaos…”
“Chaos…”
“Control!”
——*——
“Just listen to me, ok? Don’t run off, don’t do anything stupid, just listen to me. I’m from the future, where there’s this thing called the Metal Virus. I’m here to warn you about it so you don’t get infected,” Shadow stated.
“Shadow…that’s a lot. Are you sure?” Sonic asked, sharing a confused glance with Amy.
“Yes I’m sure, idiot. I already tried walking you through this once before.”
“So why are you doing it again?”
“Because you ran off and got yourself infected, of course. I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t do something stupid.”
“Soooo, this Metal Virus. Is that why you’re so shiny?” Sonic asked, lowering a finger to touch the patch of gray on Shadow’s arm.
“Don’t touch it you fool!” Shadow yelled as he pulled away his arm. “That’s how it spreads!”
“Right, sorry,” Sonic said, raising his hands in defense.
The three stood there for a moment, each unsure of what to do next. Shadow looked down at his arm. The infection was spreading. Again. Of course it was.
“Ugh, I have to go run this off. Please, please just stay right here. Don’t move,” he said before running off.
Sonic and Amy looked at each other.
“He seemed determined. And a little desperate,” Amy said.
“I have to go figure out what’s going on,” Sonic told her, starting after the black and red hedgehog.
“Sonic, wait! Shadow just said to stay here.”
“Oh, c’mon. You know I’m never all that good at following instructions,” Sonic said, flicking his nose with his thumb.
Amy sighed.
“Fine. Just be careful.”
“Me? Never!”
And with that, he was off, doomed to seal his fate once again.
—————
“Sonic! What are you doing here?!” Shadow yelled when he saw the blue blur run onto the parking lot.
“I’m not done trying to figure out what exactly’s going on here, Shadow. What this has to do with Starline, with Metal, with Eggman. What happened that was so bad it required you, not even Silver, to travel back in time to prevent it.” Sonic’s tone was much different than it was just a moment ago inside the Restoration HQ. Shadow had to give him credit; for as goofy as Sonic was, and how quick he was to play things off, he knew when it was time to be serious.
“The virus was created by the doctor. He was brought back by Starline. When I left, Amy and I were the only two left not infected by the virus. Does that answer all of your questions?” Shadow practically hissed.
Silence gently blanketed the two. Sonic sat down on the pavement. He crossed his legs together, and gently pat the ground next to him, gesturing for Shadow to sit with him.
Shadow heaved a heavy sigh and obliged, hesitantly lowering himself next to the blue hedgehog.
“So, walk me through this whole Metal Virus thing. What is it, how did it happen, why you had to travel back in time because of it, all the details,” Sonic said, still serious, but a little more relaxed.
“I’ve already told you.”
“Ok, but you haven’t told me.”
“Fine.”
As Shadow once again explained what the Metal Virus was and why he had to travel back in time because of it, he could see how Sonic was reacting to all of this information, which to him, was brand new. It was the way his eyes furrowed downward, the way his quills seemed to be at a more attentive stance, the way he was slightly chewing on his lower lip, the way his finger tapped on his knee. He clearly had something to say about all of this, but was instead patiently waiting until Shadow was done speaking.
“So what happened to Tails?” he asked when Shadow finished.
“He couldn’t figure out a cure, and succumbed to the virus.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I saw it happen.”
Sonic thought for a moment. He lightly nibbled on one of the fingers of his glove as he triend to remember what else he was going to ask. Shadow could tell he had remembered it when his ears and quills perked up.
“So, you said you already traveled back in time once, right?”
“Correct.”
“So why did you have to do it again? You said I ‘got myself infected’, right? How did it happen?”
“I told you the doctor dumped the virus onto Windmill Village, and you ran off to be the hero.”
“And then what?”
Shadow gave him a look. “And then you got the virus dumped on you, dumbass.”
“Well, what did I do wrong?”
“I don’t know. You were already infected when I got there.” Shadow was getting increasingly more aggravated with every question.
Sonic stood up and began stretching his legs.
“What are you doing?” Shadow asked.
“So I just have to make sure I don’t do whatever I’d normally think to do, right? Got it,” Sonic said with a wink. And then he was gone.
“No! You idiot!” Shadow screamed, racing after him. But by the time they both got to Windmill Village, it was too late. Sonic had raced right into the land of the infected, and didn’t even notice it was spreading across his body until only his head was left.
Shadow wished he could forget the way Sonic looked at him before he became one of them.
——*——
Shadow was driving as fast as he could. If he hurried, he could get the truck all the way to the survivors. If he was quick enough, he could save them.
He was coming up on the bridge that led right to the Grand Gold Flicky Hotel. Only problem being the zombots blocking the way. That was fine. He just had to play this careful, pick up some speed, and he could plow right through them.
So he did. But a few got stuck on the wheels, causing him to swerve and spin out of control by the time he made it to the hotel.
When he opened the door, who would he find but Sonic with the stupidest grin on his face.
“There you are! What’s the matter? Couldn’t find a bigger one?” he asked.
“Can it, Hedgehog. I’m here to help,” Shadow retorted, walking past him to Omega. “Omega, safeguard the truck while Rouge oversees the evacuation,” he told the robot.
“CONSIDERING…ORDERS APPROVED. WHAT WILL YOU DO?”
“Help destroy the doctor’s army. What else? Sonic, let’s go.”
“Woo! I like your energy Shadow! Let’s do this thing!” Sonic said, pumping a fist into the air. Shadow took note of its metallic shimmer.
The two hedgehogs fought the zombot army side by side, Shadow careful to restrict his attacks to chaos spears and other non-contract modes of fighting while Sonic used his typical spindash.
Shadow was trying to ensure that he wouldn’t come in contact with any of the zombots, but realized he was being careless when he accidentally backed up into Sonic, who at this point was more robot than hedgehog.
“Oh no, Shadow! I’m so sorry!” Sonic said when he realized what had happened.
“Don’t apologize. This just means I can now participate in more direct forms of attack,” Shadow said, picking up a zombot and throwing it at another.
“Still, you should be fast enough to run off the infection like me,” Sonic explained, revving up a spindash and knocking over a group of zombots like they were bowling pins.
Shadow looked down at his arm, which was becoming more and more metallic by the second. He looked over at Sonic, who was mostly overtaken by the virus at this point. He was stubborn, that was for sure.
When Sonic noticed Shadow staring, he walked over and took a look at his arm. It was spreading to his back quills by now.
“Yeah, go ahead and run that off. I’ll keep things in check over here,” he told him with a wink and some fingerguns.
Shadow turned to hide the slight blush on his muzzle. “...Ok. You’ll be fine?” he asked.
“I always am.” Sonic was trying to play it off, but his eyes were too tired. Shadow had to be quick.
——*——
It kept playing out the same way. Shadow would show up, try and explain as much as he could to Sonic and Amy, realize his infection was spreading too far, tell them both to stay there, run out to the parking lot, Sonic would follow him, he would try and diverge Sonic from getting infected, and then he would try and be the hero anyway, causing Shadow to have to perform chaos control with Silver to start all over again.
There were a few key details he noticed, however.
1. After Shadow gave a detailed explanation of the Metal Virus, Sonic would always ask what happened to Tails.
2. No matter what Shadow said about the last loop he went through with Sonic, or about how the epidemic started (if he even mentioned it at all), Sonic would find a way to try and be the hero, which always resulted in him getting himself infected.
3. Repeating all of this was beginning to get to Shadow in a way he couldn’t describe. He needed a new approach.
And that’s how Shadow found himself at Tails’ doorstep. He gently knocked on the door to the house that was…shaped like Tails’ head. Sure. Why not. He had bigger things to care about.
“You know it’s open! Come on in, I’ve got a new ‘gizmo’ to show you,” Tails said through the closed door.
Shadow turned the knob and, sure enough, it was unlocked. He slowly walked into the house, taking in his surroundings. Tails was bent over working on some project at a worktable, and turned around when he heard Shadow walk in. He was startled when he saw him.
“Shadow! Hi! I uh…wasn’t expecting you! What are you doing here?”
“I come to ask a few questions.”
“Uh, sure. Have a seat.”
Shadow sat down in the blue armchair adjacent to the worktable.
“What do you need help with?” Tails asked, now putting his full attention towards Shadow.
“It’s Sonic.”
Tails smiled a knowing grin. It was a smug smile he definitely learned from Sonic.
“What’s with the look?” Shadow asked, confused.
“Look, I’ll be real with you, Shadow. This has happened before. And I suppose it makes sense: you wanna get with the fastest thing alive, you ask the person he’s closest to for advice. And let me tell you, it’d be pretty difficult to pull off. For starters-”
“I’m not here for dating advice, Prower,” Shadow said as calmly as he could despite the fact he was blushing furiously.
Tails quirked an eyebrow. “You’re face is betraying you.”
A part of Shadow wished the virus would hurry up and turn him into a zombot already so he didn’t have to deal with the fact that he was blushing even more at Tails’ comment.
“That’s…that’s not what I’m here for,” he eventually said.
“Haha! Fine. Some other time, then. So what do you need?” Tails’ look was a little more serious now.
“Once Sonic’s set his mind on doing something, how do you get him to stop?”
Tails laughed at this. “Pfft, you’re asking me? If Sonic decides he’s going to do something, that is all he’s going to do until it’s either done or he finds something else to do. That reminds me, I should probably look into getting him an appointment…” Tails trailed off.
“Ok, but what if he really needs to stop doing something because the consequences will be terrible?”
Tails gave him a look. “Shadow, if Sonic ever slowed down because of consequences, you likely wouldn’t even be here. What is this even about, anyway? And what’s that on your arm?”
Shadow sighed. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to explain. “I’m from the future, where the doctor creates something called the Metal Virus, which overtakes the entire world, turning everyone on it into his mindless robots. The whole reason I’m here is to ensure Sonic doesn’t get infected.”
Tails went from being mildly concerned to operating at defcon one.
“What happens to Sonic?!”
“He gets infected, starts fighting on the side of the zombots.”
“Zombots?”
“Zombie robots. He named them.”
“That tracks. Who’s idea was it for you to go back in time?”
“Yours.”
“That also tracks. Have you tried explaining all of this to Sonic?”
“Yes. Too many times. It only makes him more determined to stop it at the source.”
“Of course it does,” Tails sighed. “Is there a cure?”
“You tried.”
“Alright, I don’t even want to know what that means. When does he get infected and where?”
“At an old base of the doctor’s, about ten minutes from now.”
“WHAT? Why are we just sitting here?”
“I’ve already traveled back in time several times already. I can do it as many times as I need to until I get it right.”
Tails was clearly very pained by this information and had something to say about it, but appeared to have decided against it. He let out a heavy sigh, practically deflating onto the stool he was sitting on. “I came up with the idea for you to travel back in time?”
“Yes.”
“Ok…was I desperate?”
An odd question. “...Yes?”
Tails sat there, ruthlessly fidgeting with his gloves, words clearly on the tip of his tongue.
“Did you tell him that?”
“What?” Shadow was put off by the question.
“Tell him. He’ll listen to you then. Or at least, I would.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. But be careful how you approach it. He’ll either listen to you fully, or he’ll go dramatically in the opposite direction.”
——*——
”Where were you?!” Rouge asked, furious.
“I got infected. Sonic told me to run it off.”
“Run it-you know what? I don’t care. We have bigger things to worry about.”
“Like what?” Shadow was a little scared to ask.
“Like the fact that, oh I dunno, HE’S ONE OF THEM! I swear, this situation just went from manageable to disastrous,” Rouge sighed, her head in her hands. She then shook her head and pointed at a nearby man with armor and a wispon. “You! What’s the status on the truck?”
“Almost fully loaded, but the rest of the survivors we have are dwindling by the minute,” was her reply.
“He’s picking everyone off one by one. And he’s too fast, so we can’t even see him coming,” she mumbled, almost sounding on the brink of tears.
“Alright, where’s Omega?” Shadow asked, trying to center her back on reality.
Rouge sighed, shook her head, and nodded. “Right. He’s on the other side of the truck, fighting back the horde as best he can. I’d suggest you join him. I don’t think he’ll last much longer.” The worry on her face said it all.
“Got it.”
Shadow ran forward and jumped over the truck, immediately sharing Rouge’s worry when he saw the mob.
It was worlds larger than it was when he left, and they looked like they were going to rip Omega apart.
“Omega! I’m here!” Shadow shouted as he landed.
“YOU ARE INFECTED,” Omega observed, not once hesitating in shooting the oncoming army of zombots.
“I’m well aware, Omega,” Shadow said as he knocked down a wave of the mindless robots with a sweeping kick.
“SONIC IS ALSO INFECTED. HE IS TAKING OUT THE REST OF THE SURVIVORS ONE BY ONE.”
“Rouge already caught me up to speed, don’t worry.”
“OBSERVATION: YOU ARE HERE TO HOLD BACK THE ARMY SO THE SURVIVORS CAN GET TO SAFETY. CONFIRM OR DENY.”
“Affirmative.”
“AFFIRMATIVE. CALCULATING…APPROVED. WE WILL FIGHT SIDE BY SIDE.”
——*——
“So you traveled back in time to prevent me from getting infected?” Sonic asked.
“It was Tails’ idea.” Shadow told him.
Sonic jolted. Shadow could tell he now had his full attention.
“Details. Now,” Sonic demanded, startling Shadow a little bit.
“You had already been fully infected for a while at that point, and Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and I were the only organic people left besides the doctors and the Deadly Six. Knuckles was guarding Tails’ workshop while he tried to figure out a cure. At the time, Amy and Knuckles were the only two still not infected. Tails’ was spreading more rapidly by the minute, and when he realized he couldn’t work out a cure in the time he had, he came up with the idea to go back in time and save you. He figured you’d have a plan or a way to fix all of it.”
“...”
“...It was the last thing he said before he turned.”
“But he’s ok right now?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I’ll keep it that way. Stay out of whatever danger I need to.”
The two sat in the parking lot in silence. There were a thousand things that Shadow wanted to say. A thousand things that he was now able to say, since Sonic was right there, his normal self, and not running off somewhere. The two of them were just sitting in a parking lot, neither going anywhere, and it made Shadow want to say everything on his mind. Made Shadow want to say that he missed their races, their fights, the way Rouge would tease him in private when one was finished. Made Shadow want to say that he missed Sonic’s cocky smile, the way his entire face seemed to curl up to one side and shift over slightly when he got a little too confident. Made Shadow want to say that all of that time without him was so, so lonely.
It made him want to say that he never thought he’d come to regret Sonic finally shutting up for once.
But he didn’t get to. Because Sonic had already started talking.
“So I turned long before Tails did, right?”
“Right.”
“Ok. How did he hold up? Was he ok?”
“Yes? He was quite fine until…well…”
“Yeah. Sorry, I just got a little worried.”
“I was not aware you and Prower were so close.”
“Yeah, I guess so. He’s known me for half his life. Chaos, that’s so weird to think about. It feels like just yesterday he was just a little guy running by my side as we fought good ol’ Egghead together. Man, we were unstoppable. An unbreakable bond, working together against all odds. I…I hate the idea that I’d leave him all alone,” Sonic said, his ears drooping down.
Shadow wasn’t thinking. If he was, he never would have done it. But he found his hand taking Sonic’s in his own, which caused Sonic to look up at him.
“Shadow…” Sonic said. His voice was so soft. “Did you just grab my hand?”
Shadow looked down. There it was. His hand, holding Sonic’s.
Both hands now sharing the virus.
Shit.
Shadow sharply pulled his hand back, and Sonic laughed. It was a soft, sorrowful, genuine laugh.
“Guess you have to go back again, huh?”
Shadow shook his head violently. He couldn’t do it again. Go back again, watch Sonic get infected again, have to go back again. He had gone through that cycle who knows how many times, he couldn’t do it again.
“No. I can’t-” Shadow was cut off by something. Something new. After a moment, he realized it was a hug. Sonic was hugging him. He decided not to say anything, only to return the embrace.
And the world was perfect for a moment.
But it couldn’t stay like that.
And that was when it hit him.
What if there was a reason that Sonic kept repeatedly getting infected? A reason he was fully infected by the time Shadow got back to the truck? What if he and Sonic couldn’t be together at the same time? How different would things have been if it was Shadow who turned into a zombot back there at the truck instead of Sonic? Could the world have been saved? Only one way to find out.
——*——
”Please fix all of this, Shadow.”
“Amy, I thought you were going with me?”
“I can’t. I can’t run off the infection like you can. You have to find a way to do this on your own. I’m sorry.”
“Save your sorry’s. I-”
Holes were beginning to be punched through the door.
“Shoot. Shadow, you have to go now.”
“On it.”
“Hey, wait!”
“What is it?”
“Good luck, Shadow.”
——*——
There he was. Sitting all by himself in a forest, his only companion being a dark chao that had decided to stick along with him.
Shadow was unsure about this. He wasn’t exactly sure if this would work, but he figured it was his best shot at saving the world.
And so, he swiftly approached his younger self.
“Get up. I can’t believe you.”
The younger Shadow slowly stood up, confused. “Look, are you another android or something? I could’ve sworn-”
“Guess again, idiot. I’m you from the future. A future where you screwed up. All because you ran away from your problems. I can’t believe how pathetic you are. Listen to me carefully: cowards run, you win.”
“And what makes you-”
“The doctor is going to invent something he calls the Metal Virus. It can’t infect you. When you encounter it, you better fight like your life depends on it.”
And with that, he teleported away from the younger Shadow. It hurt, to tell him that. To tell himself that, but he had to. If he stayed put at Sunset City, maybe then Sonic would be the one to run off his infection, Shadow being the one to stay behind and succumb to the virus.
Maybe they couldn’t be together, but maybe he could save him so that one day they could be.