The next day, everyone came over to Tails' house to start decorating for Halloween, which the day after tomorrow. Knuckles, Sonic, Shadow, and Silver set up the outside of the house. Amy and Rouge decided out the food. Shade and Blaze decorated the inside of the house. While Tails and Cream made list on who to invite and made invitations.
"So the guest list we have so far is Vanilla, Bunnie, Antoine, Sally, Monkey Khan, Mina, Ash, Nicole, Shard, Espio, Vector, Charmy, Saffron, Omega, Shade, Breezie, and Honey." Tails listed the names as Cream finished making invitations for all those people. Cream may be younger than her friends, but she was very fast and smart in her own educational and personal way.
(A/N: BTW, I made Cream and Tails a little older in this story. I don't what age to choose though.)
"I think we should invite the Babylonian Rouges as well." Cream suggested. Everyone, including all the boys outside, came in and stared at her. "What?"
"Cream, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Silver nearly yelled.
"What do you mean?" Cream asked.
"What he means is that you are wanting to invite the 3 birds who our rivals." Sonic said.
"Actually, they're YOUR rivals. Not MINE." Cream shot back. (Oooooh, roasted.) "It's just you and Mr. Jet who always fight. Wave and Mr. Storm don't even like to compete that much."
"Well, I guess you have a valid point." Knuckles said. Cream smiled as she looked at Tails.
"Okay then, I guess we could be nice enough to invite them." Tails smiled back as Cream hugged him.
"Thank you, Tails!" Cream thanked him. Tails blushed a little as his friends smirked at him. Tails gave them a glare, and they all looked away. Once Cream finished making the invitations, Tails used his two tails to fly and deliver them to his friends who were invited to the party. Cream then walked over to the girls, who were planning on a special surprise for the party.
"Oh, Cream's here. Let's tell her the plan." Shade said.
"What plan?" Cream asked.
"We were planning to sing and dance to a song for the party. We need one more person to sing with us, and you have such an angelic voice." Amy said.
"S-sing and d-dance?" Cream asked. Cream DID have an AMAZING voice, but she never expressed it to anyone besides her mother, and Amy.
"Yeah. And it seems to me Tails might be surprised to see you singing and dancing." Blaze grinned. Cream started to blush.
"Um, sure. If I get to do it with you guys, then I will do it." Cream smiled. All the girls cheered in excitement.
"Well, then. Let's start practicing at Cream's house tomorrow." Rouge said as the girls nodded in agreement and continued working on the house..
"Why are we doing this again?" Cream asked.
"Oh, you'll see." Rouge smirked. While the girls practiced their dance routine, the boys were outside waiting for Tails. Once he came back, Tails helped the guys set up the decorations outside.
"So, did you guys pick out your costumes?" Sonic asked them.
"Yeah, I did! Blaze helped me pick it out." Silver happily said.
"Of course she did." Knuckles said as Silver blushed.
"Well then don't forget the fact that Shade also choose a costume for you, too." Silver said to him. Knuckles immediately blushed. (A/N: Just so you know, I would have put Tikal in this and made the Knuxikal ship. But in the comics, Tikal died and became a spirit, so it's kinda weird for me. Besides, Tikal is supposed to be a 6,000 year old ancestor of Knuckles, so it wouldn't really work anyways.) The boys laughed at him...... well...... except for Shadow. All Shadow could think of was of the words Rouge said to him:
"If Maria were here, she would've wanted you to enjoy your life as well. Not just protect Earth."
That line of Rouge kept replaying in his head, and then one of his most tragic memories kicked in.
Flashback
(A/N:This is a part from Shadow's backstory. It is from the 'Shadow the Hedgehog' video game, but in more detail. This is based off the events from the ACTUAL STORY of Shadow, NONE OF THIS WAS MADE BY ME. I just wrote it on more detail, please believe me.) Also, this flashback may show up in one of my books, so keep the look out.
Shadow was in a glass tube on a ship called ARK, with no way out to save his friend.
Maria.
"Maria?" Shadow told Maria to come in the escape tube with him, but for some reason, she didn't. "MARIA!" Shadow shouted. "MARIA, LET ME OUT!" He tried to break the glass surrounding him. "MARIA, OPEN THIS TUBE, NOW!" Shadow shouted once more. Maria ran over to the metal door to close it, when she almost did, a G.U.N. agent shot her on her left leg. "MARIA!" Shadow was near letting out his tears as he saw the one person he loved dearly, like a sister. Maria would always call him 'little brother', that's why she was such a sister to him. Maria finally closed the metal door, and locked it. She used the metal bars on the wall as a rail to walk her way over to the control panels, and then started to press some buttons.
"I put in the coordinates for Earth." Maria said.
"Wait, what?" Shadow was shocked.
"You should get there safely." She then looked at Shadow with the sweetest and most saddest smile ever.
"No, Maria." Shadow whimpered.
"Listen to me very carefully, Shadow." Maria said in a calm voice, as she stood near the tube. "Those people down on Earth, are in grave danger."
They then heard the G.U.N. agents trying to break open the metal door. "They have no protection, and they are living in fear." she continued. Shadow listened to every word she had to say, but he didn't like where this was going.
He didn't like where this whole situation was headed towards to.
"I'm not leaving this ship without you." he said to her.
"They are YOUR responsibility now. You need to help them live a better life."
"Maria, no."
"Shadow, please. We don't have much time."
"NO!" Shadow then slammed his head on the glass tube. "I can't live without you." he said with his voice breaking. "I can NEVER, EVER live without a loving sister like you. I need you in my life, you helped me control myself and made me happy." Shadow looked up at Maria. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Oh, Shadow." Maria then put her right hand on the glass, as Shadow aligned his left hand on the glass with hers. She looked out the window to her right. "Wow, look at that." she whispered, Shadow also turned to his left to see the stunning view of the big Earth. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"It is." Shadow said under his breath, but Maria was still able to hear him.
"This view never gets old." Maria said to him as they both stared out the window. Shadow agreed with her, even if they looked down on Earth a hundred times, the view of Earth was always so amazing. "We did a lot of fun things together, Shadow. They were the best moments of my life." Maria said, breaking the silence. Shadow started going through all of their memories of them talking, playing, laughing, roaming through ARK, making stories, studying the things around them, looking down on Earth through the big windows, and just having fun together.
And it was all going to stop.
He didn't want that.
"But dreaming was the biggest and bestest thing we ever did together." Maria said with a positive attitude.
Shadow started to stand tall.
"I know we both had dreams of going to Earth together and live a life there." Maria said with sadness in her voice, but still kept a smile on her face."But you know that I never would've gone down there because of my disease. You know my grandfather couldn't find a cure for it." Maria explained, still looking at the big blue planet. "They NEED you Shadow, you are by far the most amazing defender and fighter I have ever seen." Maria said, turning her head back to Shadow with tears streaming down her face.
"But, what if I mess up?" Shadow asked, looking back at her. Maria chuckled.
"Shadow, do you know what is one of the best things about you?" Maria smiled. Shadow just looked at her. "It's because you always learn from your mistakes. And literally everyone makes mistakes, if we didn't then can't call ourselves a type of living creature." Maria explained. "You've shown me that when you do something wrong, you will always try to make things right again." she smiled. "That is one of the reasons why I love you as a little brother and trust you with protecting the innocent. So don't worry if you make mistakes, they will help you become stronger."
Shadow couldn't help it, he let his tears fall down his cheek.
"I mean, you are already strong enough." Maria laughed as Shadow did as well. "Promise me Shadow, that you will fight for it, and you will fight for whatever home you have. Even if you live somewhere else than Earth, you will fight for everyone and everything around you." Maria then looked deep into his eyes with a strand of her blonde hair in front of her face. "And, maybe even have a good life." Shadow took a deep sigh.
"But, I can't leave you here."
"And I can't let you die." Maria whispered.
"But, i-if you stay here, then y-you will die." Shadow was now sobbing. Maria sighed and just kept smiling.
"Sometimes, the only way you can ever find happiness in your life, is by giving it to someone else." Maria said. From hearing that, Shadow died inside of himself; he knew what that line meant.
Sacrifice.
She was sacrificing HER life...... for HIS safety.
She was sacrificing HERSELF...... so HE could have a life.
"It all comes down to this, Shadow. This moment." Maria said, her voice was also starting to break. "Promise me, that you will protect everyone and everywhere no matter what."
Shadow had no choice, but to accept it. He had to...... for his friend...... for his sister.
"I promise. I will do my best. For the good, and for the better." Shadow said.
And that was it.
That was the end of all their huge dreams together.
Their fantasies, and all their hopes for seeing all of the places on Earth together.
And maybe throughout the galaxy.
Maria laid her forehead and the glass, closing her eyes. Shadow did the exact same by alining himself with her, with their hands still on the glass in front of each others. "I know you will, Shadow. I know you will." Maria smiled even wider as she headed to the control panels. She pressed some more buttons and then tried to walk over to the lever to launch down the tube Shadow was in. Just then, four agents came in.
"Put your hands away from the lever!" one of them ordered her. Maria took one last glance at Shadow.
"Don't do it!" another agent said.
"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." Maria said. Shadow widened his eyes. She pulled the lever, and at that same moment, one of the agents she her on her right leg. She fell to the floor, unable to get up with both of her injured legs.
"NO-" Shadow was cut off yelling, as he was dropped out of the ship and into space heading towards Earth. He looked up at ARK, hoping to see another tube come out which would hold Maria in it. Instead, he saw G.U.N. ships fly out of ARK and saw a huge explosion, turning ARK into ashes. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Shadow screamed. "MARIAAA!"
Shadow didn't want to believe it, he couldn't...... but he couldn't unsee what he saw.
She was gone.
Forever.
He then started lose sight of space, and the tube started to heat up and roll ferociously on the air. He kept hitting the glass, until he crashed onto a surface. He opened his eyes, everything was blurry at first. When his vision cleared, he looked around to see where he was. And that's when it hit him; he was on Earth.
He was on the big green and blue plant...... without the one person he dreamed to come with.
And now, his dreams were all shattered into pieces.
But never to be forgotten.
Flashback Ends
Shadow looked up into the sky, just enjoying the air. Now looking back on it, Maria DID wanted him to also have a life.
"Well, what do you know; Rouge was right." Shadow thought. Rouge was just one of the few people who knew Shadow very well. She even had some of the same characteristic like Maria. And he was thankful Rouge was his best friend. Of course, he missed Maria a lot.
He missed her laughs, her voice, their dreaming; he missed everything they did together.
But he knew that she would be proud of him for keeping his promise with her. The promise he kept was never ending, but he did so he could make her dying wish come true. So then he could be relieved that Maria did the right thing by trusting him to protect everyone, everywhere.
"SHADOW!"
"Hmm, what?" Shadow snapped back into reality as he saw Sonic at his side. All of the boys were looking at him.
"Are you okay?" he asked Shadow.
"Um, yeah. I'm fine." Shadow said. The boys weren't convinced, but they shrugged it off.
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Meanwhile, on another part of Mobius
"It is ready?"
"Almost done."
"Great, and I'm thankful that I made a 'speaking mode' in your system."
"So am I, Sonic and his allies with be shocked."
"Indeed they will. They will be shocked............ TO DEATH!
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OMG, I CRIED WRITING MARIA'S DEATH😭😭!
Okay, so I know I said that none of this was made up, but the quote Maria said was the only thing that was made up by me:
"Sometimes, the only way you can ever find happiness in your life, is by giving it on to someone else."
In the actual story, she says a different quote about sacrifice, but it didn't really have that much of a meaning to it. So I made up my own quote and used it in this story. I'm so proud of my quote, it's so beautiful! *sniff* *sniff*
And another thing, this is an extended version of Maria's death scene and since I put it in this book, you may see this in a future story where I may also put in Maria's Death scene. So keep your eyes open. Anyways, enjoy the rest of the story!