A Shadow of a Rose

Chapter Fourty Eight- A Heavy Heart

(Shadow's POV)

"S-Shadow?!" He yelps.

He attempts to back away but I grab his wrist and pull him back to me.

"You have 3 seconds to explain yourself..."

Tails staggers and hesitates.

"I- I-"

He opens his mouth again but teleport behind him and I slam his face into the side of the bed.

He's unresponsive as I quietly reclaim my thoughts.

He just tried to kill me...

What the hell...From Tails too..

Why would Tails-

I shake off the feeling and sling him over my shoulder.

I go back towards the front of the headquarters where Rouge is waiting for me.

"So.. you were right?" She asks as I get closer.

Knuckles fell asleep in a chair near her.

"....yeah.." I say, distracted by my thoughts.

I don't notice she put her hand on my shoulder.

"Hey.. it's okay. We will figure this out.." she reassured me.

"No... no we won't!" I growl.

"How many more freedom fighters do we have to lose?!"

"Shadow- we have G-"

"Don't even say anything about G.U.N.." I spout.

"Remember... Zovaal is in control of the Commander.."

She figits with her gloves.

"Right..." she whispers under her breath.

I look over at Knuckles, a bit sedimental.

"Does...does he know about any of this..?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. But I'm positive he doesn't know about Tails." She answers.

I sigh.

"I hate saying this but.. we should probably dispose of hi-"

"No! He might know something about Zovaal!" Rouge spouts.

"Why would Tails tell us anything? He's probably doing this out of desperation.." I groan.

"You don't know tha-"

"Yes I do Rouge. Why else would he join Zovaals council?" I yell. "He's a Parasite for Sonic.."

Rouge gasps.

"Don't say such rude things about Tails! He's no parasite-"

"He's on the wrong side Rouge. He is a Parasite." I say as I hurl him to the ground.

"I didn't like him anyway..."

I walk towards his workshop.

"Be careful Shadow..." Rouge whispers.

I look back, but all I see is an empty space.

I ignore it and walk towards the workshop once again.

The steps creak step by step as my feet slowly rupture each one.

It's quite an eerie sound when it's so quite.

I go for the doorknob and hesitate for a second.

Wait...

Why am I scared?

I look at the doorknob and then look back at my palm.

I shake off the feeling once again, pushing my hand towards the door.

I break off the knob and kick the door open.

The sense of rage builds up as I see Omega.

He's completely-

I look at him again.

He's completely fine.

My mind toggles the fact for a second before I walk closer to where Omega is resting.

"Omega?" I ask.

No response.

Oh right... he's probably turned off.

The only Light in the room is from the window above.

The moonlight shines down at Omega, making something stand out.

It's a grey square like disk, inserted into where Omega's Memory disk would be.

I push it in slowly and Omegas facial screen begins to glow.

Pictures of Maria begin to show up, drawing my attention.

I become drawn to the screen.

I watch as Maria does many tasks.

As well as spend time with me.

She looks over at me and smiles.

I felt my "heart" throb.

I lifted my hand and brushed my fingers against the screen.

I felt so warm.

I think..I think I smiled.

I hear someone scream behind me, but I ignore it because seeing Maria was too much to bare.

"Shadow"

I wanted to hold her hand.. hug her.

See her beautiful green eyes...

Her pink fur...

Her-

"Shadow!"

My own thoughts cut me off.

That's not Maria-

That's-

I fall to the ground.

"Shadow! Shadow! Damn it Shadow! I knew it was a trap!" Rouge yells.

I look over at Omega.

He's completely damaged.

The inside of one of his metal shoulders is destroyed from the inside out.

I also notice one of his metallic claws has red liquid dripping from them.

"S- Dow! -adow!" I watch Rouge cry, I only hear tiny bit of what she's saying.

"Wha-ats w-wrong..?" I ask, choking on something.

She doesn't answer and I don't reply back.

The next thing I remember is seeing Silver's eyes stare down at me.

"Shadow.."

he whispers.

-TBC IN CHAPTER FOURTY NINE-