FOR YOUR HEART-BOOM

☆Ch37

"What have you done, doctor!" Shadow used a quick teleportation, once he was nearby the base, to appear in Eggman's lab and luckily caught the mad scientist there, basically red-handed, since the man worked on yet another antidote for Maria. Due to getting startled the mustached genius dropped the sample on the ground and the vial broke into pieces upon the collision, causing the light pinkish liquid with tiny golden particles spill across the tiles.
"SHADOW! You can't do this to me, when I am working on something!" Eggman scolded the hedgehog, as he stared at the broken vial with helpless expression in his glasses-covered eyes. He worked so hard on this one!
"I can do whatever I damn want!" Shadow hissed at him in a hostile way and surprisingly gripped the man by his collar as he hovered in the air thanks to his activated airboots, completely catching the man off guard.
"Now spill it! Why were you hiding Maria away from me?!" he yelled at him, the pure, raw anger surging through his entire body caused a thin layer of a crimson aura emerge from him. Eggman stared at him in utter shock and dared he admit, even fear, as he nervously gulped and slowly raised his hands in defensive manner.
"S-Shadow, you see, r-right after this happened to her I-"
"How long is she in that capsule?!" Shadow did not let him even finish his explanation, as he yelled another question at him.
"The w-whole time, e-ever since you ran away," Eggman replied in small voice, scared of the raging lifeform in front of him.
"And you did not even bother to tell me, why?! WHY DID YOU KEEP ME BELIEVING, THAT SHE'S DEAD?!" Shadow let all the frustration, pain, anger and sadness out by his little tantrum, hot tears even streamed down his cheeks without his full realization.

Eggman let him scream at him and actually did feel some regrets deep down. Mostly, he wanted to have Maria's comeback as a surprise for the ebony hedgie, as he wanted to make him happy, once he would succeed to finally cure her of the desease and bring her back to life. Somehow. He still had a lot to figure out, but his surprise got harshly blown out by the hedgehog himself, which made the man now wonder, if it's even worth it to keep the research going or if he should let Maria be... just gone. As she probably should be.
"I worked with Lyric, because he told me, that he might have a cure coming from the ancient times. I was desperate at that time, so I did everything Lyric told me and naively thought, that Maria might be back with us sooner than expected. I planned to tell you, but there was no time for it, as Lyric became impatient and demanding. In the end, he did give me the sample, but as I double-checked it, I found out, that it was a poison, which would make things only worse. Lyric betrayed us both and the happier I now feel about you defeating him for good. Afterwards, I started working on my own research and the cure development, but... I am helpless, Shadow. I am failing all the time," the scientist explained and that got Shadow to finally let go of his collar as the hedgehog landed on the ground and sitting on a nearby chair he sighed whilst more tears formed in his eyes. They both worked for the slick snake out of desperation, for nothing at all.
"Why wouldn't you tell me about all this anytime sooner? I-I know, that I was in a hiding, but you soon found my cave hideout, so you knew, where I live! Why were you keeping it a secret, doctor?!" both anger and sadness flowed through the broken hybrid, making him unstable at the moment and also unpredictable. The aura still surrounded his body due to his frustration.
"I meant it as a surprise for you, Shadow. Once I'd succeed curing her and bringing her back to us, I was going to surprise you with her arrival," Eggman let it out, now that it was spilled anyways.
"Tch... yet, you didn't happen to be extra careful, doctor. Do you want to know, how I found her?" Shadow stood up while clenching his fists.
"I found droplets of the supposed cure in the grass, the trail led me towards that small cave and there I witnessed you coming out of it and leaving it. I felt... betrayed, doctor. I still feel betrayed. As if I was being lied to, for the entirety of my life, ever since the professor passed away and Maria succumbed to the illness," more tears rolled down the hedgehog's cheeks, his lower lip quivered and he was on the verge of a mental breakdown right now.