Disclaimer: Italics are lyrics of the game Shadow the Hedgehog, property of SEGA.

Note: Title curtesy of the wonderful writer azngirlchibi. Please check her stories out:)

Warning: Major melodrama and sappiness ahead. Read at your own risk.

Last Story

by Taranea

Heaven can't save us, hell is a joke –

There's no place left to go…

Shadow watched the earth spin beneath him, a planet he had often saved, a planet that had meant so much for Maria but held nothing for him now.

Almost dead…

"Are you sure you want to do this?" a young woman next to him asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Yes. This is how it should have ended, long ago," he replied. Although I was glad then it didn't…

An eternity ago, the Doctor had found his body after he had Chaos Controlled away from the fight with FinalHazard at that time and nursed him back to health. Shadow had become friends with Sonic once more and often fought alongside him in later years, even sometimes accompanying the blue hedgehog on his crazed adventures. Sonic and his friends had shown him how to laugh again...

He hadn't laughed since the last of them had died.

He had had to watch them. Withering away, age consuming their bodies and wrinkling their faces until finally their eyes closed, never to open again. But he had never changed. The Ultimate Lifeform was immortal.

In a way, so had been Sonic. The blue hedgehog had died a hero's death, taking Robotnik down with him. He had sacrificed himself to prevent the doctor from launching a hydrogen bomb and both human and hedgehog perished in an explosion whose fire could be seen from miles away.

Shadow had been there, too, but he had survived. Neither blasts, electricity, water, wind, nor time and nature himself had ever been able to kill him. He had often wondered whether he should have been thankful for that or not.

It didn´t matter now.

The funeral had been worthy of the fallen hero and Sonic was still remembered, even now. Sometimes Shadow had thought that it had actually been better that way, Sonic dying in his prime, not older than thirty, still able to break the wall of sound within the blink of an eye and a grin on his face. The ebony hedgehog was not sure whether he would have been able to watch him fading away like the others.

But while Sonic had been the first to die, he hadn't been the last. They had lived peaceful lives after Robotnik was no more and settled down eventually. Amy had not married, convinced until her final breath that Sonic would return. He never came.

Knuckles and Rouge had lived together but there were no children. The species were too different, Shadow thought.

The guardian of Angel Island had asked him on his deathbed to keep an eye out for the Master Emerald and when the Ultimate Lifeform had promised to do so, smiled, as he passed away.

Tails' inventions had helped technology to a new dawn and although the two-tailed fox had never stopped missing his blue friend, he was able to die knowing that he had contributed a lot to the planet. In this new age of peace and prosperity, no heroes were needed anymore. No saviours, no guardians.

No Ultimate Lifeforms.

Shadow had seen too many winters in his life, too many seasons come and go.
Funny,he thought as he gazed through the window of the space vessel, from here you can't see any weather down there at all.

He went to the suitcase he'd brought and opened it. Inside were the seven Chaos Emeralds he had collected long ago but almost never needed since Robotnik's death. Now they were to be used for the final time.

The young blonde astronaut held her breath as Shadow closed his eyes, the emeralds starting to slowly circle around him, spinning ever faster, enveloping the black form in their searing light, until finally…

...Super Shadow appeared, his quills standing on end, red highlights flashing amid silver gleaming gold.

The hedgehog gave her one last, curt nod, as if he was about to go out for just a few minutes. Then, he left the space vessel through the airlock.

Outside, Super Shadow gazed at the earth as he saw it again, like he had so many, many years ago, but this time the spot on his side was empty. Super Sonic wasn´t there anymore…

He floated towards the planet until he could feel gravity tugging more sharply at his invincible super form that protected him from the deadly space. He smiled for the first time since the last one of his friends had died.

And the Chaos Emeralds flashed brightly and shot away, glittering as if winking at him, into the eternal darkness between the stars.

His golden glow immediately started to fade and the pull of the planet beneath him strengthened. Shadow turned towards the sun for one last time and nearly imagined that he could see Maria smiling back at him from inside that light.

Friction heat began building up and teared at the last vestiges of the Chaos Power enveloping him, but for the hedgehog it was almost as if his first friend had come to travel this final journey with him. Maria, a seraph with blazing wings that held Shadow in a warm embrace, gently burning away his last ties to earth.

And she had been an angel, too good for this world and that was why she had to die…

This time there was no Emerald left to Chaos Control back to earth, but Shadow had no intention to, either. Finally, the outer forces overwhelmed even the last remnants of his super form.

This is what it means to be free…

This would the Last Story of Shadow the Hedgehog.

His arms spread out to the sides and erupted in flames from the heat. He, too, was now an angel, his pinions formed from the same fire that was releasing him…a fallen angel, finally returning home.

There seemed to be no pain…he opened his dying eyes and saw indeed Maria, holding her hand out to him, standing in thin air miles above the planet. His eyes became even wider as he recognized Sonic and the others behind her, smiling and waving, the blue hedgehog grinning cockily at him as if Shadow had just crossed the finishing line of a race that Sonic had won ages ago.

Shadow smiled again as he reached out to touch her, suddenly feeling light and weightless. He rose towards them, paying no heed to the blazing fireball that continued downwards beneath them. It didn't matter anymore. This was where he belonged.

The ultimate life had finally found its end, but wishes are eternal.

Fin

Anyone who has ever wondered about or pitied Shadow for his predestined fate of surviving all of his friends, this is for you.

This is how it should end, for a hero's funeral can only be in flames.