Shadow's body instantly bursts into yellow flames. His hands become fists and he took a single step back, only to charge forwards with incredible speed.
I shield my eyes by holding up my arm. I quickly lower it though, not caring if I go blind. I try to stand up, my legs shake and an invisible force pulls me back down to the ground made up of darkness. It felt like I was destined to watch what was about to happen.
Shadow leaped up to Infinite, one fist held behind him so he could strike Infinite with it. Infinite holds up an arm, a red shield constructed itself out of cubes around his limb to block what was to come.
Shadow's blows right through the shield, breaking through the cubes and hitting Infinite in the chest. Right where the Phantom Ruby laid. Infinite was sent back from this force, he growled out in pain then soared rearward.
My eyes widen and I gasp, continuing to struggle against the weight tugging at my legs. Infinite hits against the ground, bouncing off and rolling away. When the jackal finally stopped moving, he lay there with his back to us, motionless. My heart pounded, and a swarm or different emotions filled me.
What about the person inside? I think. Shadow... killed him. After killing... Jackal Squad! My gut drops when I finally come to realize that my half-brother is a murderer. He...
Do I still care for him?
Shadow lands on the ground, taking a deep breath as he looked at Infinite's body. When the figure finally started breathing, Shadow stood up and walked towards it, the bright glow around him flickering for only a second.
Infinite groaned in agony, slowly punching a fist into the dark floor. With a trembling arm, he pushed himself up. Infinite struggled, managing to get to one knee. But then he went stiff, his other hand went to his face.
I then realize Infinite's mask was laying on the ground next to him.
Infinite stood up slowly, keeping his back to us. He reached one arm to the ground to pick up the mask. It was too calm. Infinite has always seemed like he never wanted to show his face, so why is he moving so slow?
He isn't in control.
Shadow takes another dash at Infinite while he wasn't looking. The jackal quickly turns his head around, teleports before Shadow could bump into him. Infinite reappears above Shadow's head and delivers a swift kick to the side of his head.
Shadow gets knocked back a few feet, a space missing in his barrier of flames and energy. It quickly replaced itself. Shadow lands on his feet, skidding away while he placed a hand on his head. After a moment he glares up at Infinite, teeth bared while his red eyes burned with anger and power. I swear the wound on his abdomen closed slightly.
"I'm not going to be slain by the same person who murdered everyone I cared for!" Infinite declared, several canons materializing in front of him. He crushes his hands into fists. "You didn't even know their names!"
Canons let out loud booms while they shot large explosive bullets at Shadow. The hedgehog punches through one, concentrating the glowing energy into his hand which causes it to detonate. It doesn't affect him at all. Shadow does a front flip over another.
"Axe and Adham, they were found dead inside the laboratory. Axe had a shattered spine." I heard the crunch of the jackal's spinal column as he collided with the giant test tube I was kept inside. "Adham, his twin brother, was killed his own weapon and blunt force trauma." I remember him laying on the floor, some blood running along a sword laid beside him.
Shadow killed both of them.
No matter how many bullets Shadow dodged, Infinite kept firing more. I've never seen him show this much emotion... distress.
Infinite starts to control the shells, making them move around and hit Shadow when he doesn't see. They whirl around to hit him in the back, side, front, all around. Shadow can barely keep up, and is starting to take hits from them.
"Ryder had a broken jaw, and was struck so hard that his bandages came off." Shadow lets out a growl when a gunshot hits him in the back, forcing him forward. "Diego suffered from multiple broken ribs, a bruised back and neck. You killed Chevron with Diego's sword after pulling out half her hair from her scalp and breaking her ankles."
I shiver with the horror of these visuals. The thought that I had met these people, fought these people, and Shadow had ended their short lives. I almost denied what Infinite was rambling on about, but then I remember the vision I had in the virtual reality world. Shadow had threatened me – pre-Infinite, that's who those leather gloves belonged to.
Was Shadow a monster? Am I a monster for sharing his genetics?
"And Shroud..." Infinite starts, taking a deep breath, the canons firing less frequently. Shadow took this chance and charged at him, punching the jackal in the stomach. Infinite grunted, warping away.
Shadow looked to him, charging again, but Infinite kept teleporting out of reach. The jackal occasionally threw cubes at Shadow, but the hedgehog flipped out of the way each time, slowing him down.
"...The entire right side of his face was black!" Infinite sweeps a foot under Shadow's feet as he charged before teleporting away again. "His leg was sliced open, he had a bone sticking out of his forearm, and had bruises on his neck!"
Infinite starts glitching, he clutches his head. This left Shadow with an open opportunity. He kicked Infinite in the side, quickly grabbing onto his arm to hurl the jackal to the ground.
Infinite got up. "You did all this... and yet, you couldn't even remember who I was when you nearly killed me moments later?!" He was yelling in
Infinite's pupils were battling between white and black again. Shadow stands still and glares at him.
"If this is all about me, then why kill all these civilians?! Why start a war?!" Shadow demands, voice raised and not the usual low whisper it is.
Shadow moves towards Infinite so fast, it was a blur. He held the jackal by the collar fur, glaring into his eyes. "Answer for yourself!" Shadow yells, pulling Infinite closer.
Infinite was silent for a moment. The aura of power from Shadow was reflecting against his mask. "I... I—" he stops, eye widening, pupil glowing white. The actual white of his eye turned a strange colour, it was indecipherable with the red tint from the glass of Infinite's mask. It changed to a dark magenta. He glitched slightly. Shadow stares, eyes widening slightly.
Infinite stares blankly. "I will cleanse this world by all costs. Others' pain is of no consequence to me." His voice was dull, flat. Deprived of emotion unlike it was moments ago.
Infinite's hand generates a green sword that was bent in a strange pattern that reminded me of the slither of a snake.
Infinite digs the blade into Shadow's side. Shadow cries out in pain, the world goes numb and my heart pounds. People yelled his name, but I didn't process any of the words.
Shadow stumbles back before Infinite harshly pulls out the uneven blade from his abdomen. Since the blade wasn't a straight blade, it took a lot of wiggling to get the sword out. Shadow yells, the glow around him flickering as he falls to one knee with a hand over the wound.
Infinite harshly grabs Shadow's face, making him look up. The jackal holds the bloody green blade close to their faces. "Recognize this?" he asks, voice metallic.
In a glow of red, the blade transforms into a grey one. It was bent back at the tip for better slashing ability.
Infinite shoves Shadow to the ground, creating a laceration across his entire stomach. After, he quickly throws the blade up into the air. Infinite takes a step back as the single sword turned to several small throwing knives, a thin rope was looped through a hole at the handle which linked to each of Infinite's fingers.
The knives all strike Shadow. He cries out at they hit him in the stomach, chest, arms, legs everywhere. Infinite pulls his hands backwards, and Shadow comes flying towards him. Infinite raises his arms above his head, the ropes becoming shorter and shorter. This brings Shadow closer, and soon, they're face-to-face.
Shadow glares at Infinite, withholding cries of pain. Infinite glares back, the lightning bolt over his right eye pulsing red.
In a quick movement, Infinite pulls his hands up higher, the knives being ripped out of Shadow's flesh. Crimson went everywhere. Shadow lays on the ground, wincing.
"Ah..." his voice was shaky. My heart felt like it was struck with one of those knives. Shadow looks at me, we lock eyes. His crimson ones expressed pain as the barrier of energy began to fade away. There was something else... regret.
Infinite extends out one hand, a red curved blade with cobalt details appearing in his hand as he took steps towards his opponent. Infinite showed no empathy, and I knew he was going to kill Shadow.
"Infinite, stop!" Sonic yells, firm but desperate.
Infinite snaps his head to Sonic. His magenta eye with the white pupil was not anywhere near normal. It stared, unblinkingly.
"You are not speaking to Infinite anymore," the metallic voice replied.
He raises the sword up high. I look at Shadow, desperately trying to move. I force my arm up, laying it on the ground in front of me then pull myself forwards. I do the same with my other arm, muscles shaking with the effort. After all that, I was barely any closer. The rings Shadow had taken off were in front of me, I reach for them, squeezing them in my hands tightly. I want to cry.
The rings were warm and cold at the same time. They tingled in my hands, having a strange sense of power, but containment at unison.
Shadow looks into my eyes again. He grits his teeth, the flames around him reignited, Shadow stood up, hands in fists. "...RaaaAAAAH!" he yells out effort.
Infinite get struck back by the sudden burst of energy but catches his footing quickly. He slowly looks back up at Shadow, tilting his head as the hedgehog got back up, wounds closing and sealing.
Shadow straightens his back and extends his arms to his sides, gloved hands in half fists. Dozens of bright yellow bolts of energy gathered around him, having a strange resemblance to... spears? They all aimed towards Infinite, who was watching as he levitated less than an inch above the ground.
Shadow's brows furrowed while his muscles trembled with effort. "It's time for you to see what I really am." Shadow smirks, then quickly threw his arms in front of him.
The spears all swarmed towards Infinite. He reacted by constantly teleporting small distances between them, twisting and moving his body to fit through the spaces. Infinite got grazed by several, small lines of blood being drawn from them. Just when Infinite almost avoided them all, one of the spears nicked his stomach. He fell to the ground, holding a hand to the fresh wound.
Infinite got up quickly, hearing Shadow let out a roar of effort. Shadow flew through the air.
"Chaos control!" he yelled. Infinite froze in his tracks, not moving while Shadow created a spear.
My eyes widen, and I think about the person trapped inside Infinite's body, and how Shadow is about to murder both of them. I try to choose between one of them, but they are both the bad guy. One is someone I am trying to save, and the other is a part of me. One made a deal with the devil, one of them created the devil. One is a glitch; another is an alien.
I grip the rings tightly in my hands, a strange numb feeling rushing up my right arm. A sense of power fills me, an ability to change what is going to happen. I am able to stand up, legs shaking with the weight pulling me.
My mind concentrates on where Infinite and Shadow are, everything slows slightly, mind racing. Something happens, my muscles spasm and I'm standing in front of Infinite's body. Shadow's eyes widen as he realizes that he was inches away from stabbing the spear through me. My heart pounds as I wait for the pain, but Shadow quickly forces himself to the ground, digging the spike of energy into the ground with both hands before it could impale me.
He takes pants, looking up at me. "What are you...?" he mumbled, not finishing his sentence. Shadow sees the look on my face, and that I was blocking the world's enemy.
My eyes were burning. Why? "S—s... St—" I stutter, trying to prevent these two powerful beings from killing each other.
The words don't come out, they never do. I crush my eyes shut, trying to keep myself from breaking down from all the trauma today. I can't let the floodgates open, not now. When my eyes close, I scold myself for not getting the words out of my stupid mouth.
My eyes open again. Shadow straightens, not questioning my sudden speed, or anything. He just looked at me. His red eyes were different... vulnerable, regretful. I'm not used to this. Shadow seems like a whole new person.
"Step aside, (Y/N)," he says, creating a new spear by his side.
I stomp my foot into the ground, standing my ground. I squeeze Shadow's rings in my hands tightly, scared of how my half-brother may react and what he will do.
Shadow has a slight look of surprise, confusion and seemed almost agitated. "(Y/N), please," he takes a step forward, shoving past me.
I don't let him. I drop one of the rings and quickly reach for the yellow harpoon of energy, trying to pull it out of his hand. A strange tingling rushes up my hand, my eyes widen and my heart beats with a new pattern. It felt like something deep within me was finally brought to me.
Shadow quickly snatches it away, realizing what it is doing to me. Though the concentrated energy was out of my grasp, my hand remained in a half fist as if I was still holding it. My palm felt like it was burning, yet it was cold at the same time. My body trembles, and though I was overwhelmed by this foreign power, I found myself craving more.
Shadow stares at me, unsure of what to do. His gaze then moves behind me, to where Infinite was. I am somehow able to turn my head to follow even though my entire system felt like it was locking up.
Infinite was slowly glitching while he stood in the same position as he was. After a short delay, he broke free of whatever spell he was under. Infinite's head twitches and he raises his arm out to us. His eyes change again, back to their normal colours before becoming possessed by his demon that is the Ruby.
Infinite claws at his chest, almost as if he was trying to pull out the Phantom Ruby. "Stop struggling!" the metallic voice yells, glitches taking over his body. "I am doing this for both of us!"
The jackal's head quickly snaps up to us, eyes the colour of evil as they were before.
"Guys, stop! We can solve this another way!" I hear a higher, innocent voice yell. We all turn to face it, Gadget was trying to crawl towards us, Sonic a few feet ahead.
Infinite flew a few meters away, out of Shadow's reach.
"Why do you defend this creature?" Infinite asks, glaring at the young wolf. Red cubes manifest around the jackal, ready to be sent in any direction.
"Because that 'creature' is my friend!" Sonic chimes in, holding a hand to his knee to push himself up. That invisible weight must be affecting him too. "Not that you, Eggman, or any villain would know because they never actually have each others backs! In the end, you're all out for yourselves," Sonic stood up. He managed to take a few steps forward.
"You act like a big shot, Infinite – or whoever I'm speaking to – but that mask doesn't hide how sad and lonely you are." Sonic said this bluntly, almost mocking. He glares up, a sinister smile on his face.
"Friends...?" Infinite mutters. "They are nothing but a fleeting illusion." He holds out his arms, cubes duplicating and spreading all around us.
"You can count on nobody but yourself!"