Betrayal

(SA2!AT.) Shadow was supposed to bring Sonic to his demise—not start caring about him. But had anything in his life ever gone according to plan? No, of course not.

TAGs: one-shot, Alternative Timeline, set during SA2

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

[Last Edited: 2019-08-19]

Shadow gazed at the horizon—at the sun that was already slowly setting, its bright shine making the sky and land look as if a molten gold had been spilled onto them. This was about the thirtieth time that he had already watched this wondrous show of nature but something about the experience still felt incredible...

You would have loved it, Maria, he commented internally with a sad smile, recalling how excited his best friend had looked every time she talked about all the wonders of Earth that she wished to experience and how she'd always insist on him to promise her that they'd go see them together.

Of course, after the incident, there was no way for him to keep his word now...

"Why the long face?" his companion asked, once again reminding him that he actually wasn't alone on this small hill.

Shadow looked to his left, the curious green eyes of the hero staring at him with interest, Sonic clearly waiting for an answer.

"...An unpleasant memory," Shadow gave as a simple explanation.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Sonic offered as he pushed himself from his lying position into a sit up instead, drawing his legs close to himself. The hero circled his arms around them and then laid his chin onto his knees, his emeralds eyes still trained on the other hedgehog.

Shadow shook his head, not really wishing to expand on his previous statement. "No," he said, once again turning his gaze to the horizon.

"Alright." Sonic shrugged his shoulders, obviously expecting the answer. "But if you change your mind..."

"I will," Shadow said, appreciative of the gesture—of the unsaid offer. Sonic could be a pain sometimes with his borderline obsession with wanting to help people with their problems in any way he could, but Shadow knew that Sonic meant well, so he tried to show his appreciation of the help.

Of course, when Sonic had figured out that being grumpy was simply his default mood, the hero had stopped trying to inquire what was the reason for his bad mood and just did all to cheer him up—by cracking jokes 24/7 and doing a lot of stupid things just to make him smile.

And even though the two of them had a different sense of humor, it was still amusing—watching Sonic's antics was just strangely entertaining.

...but it also made Shadow feel very very guilty.

When Dr. Eggman let him out out of the cryogenic chamber, the scientist had requested a single thing from Shadow—to bring Sonic the Hedgehog to him.

Originally, Shadow's plan had been to earn Sonic's trust so he could lure the hero into one of the Dr. Eggman's bases and trap him there. And he had been successful with the first part; all it took for Sonic to approach him was just rushing past the hero at the speed of sound. Sonic had then immediately given a chase and once he'd reached Shadow, he'd immediately started to excitedly question him about his speed.

One lie, a couple of short conversations and long races later and the hero had already considered him a friend.

At that point, it would have been so easy to lead him into one of Dr. Eggman's deadly traps.

So easy.

And yet, he had not done so.

To this day, his decision baffled him.

It had been the only rational action to take at the time; all his future plans involved destroying the GUN with Dr. Eggman's help and the only way to achieve this cooperation was to deliver Sonic on a silver platter right under the doctor's nose. Therefore, logically, until he handed Sonic over, there would be no progress in his mission for an alliance.

And yet, he had chosen to go with the irrational choice instead, giving in to his curiosity that thirsted to know who Sonic even was and why Dr. Eggman desired the cobalt hedgehog dead.

To say it was one of the worst decisions he had ever made would be an understatement.

When he had accepted the task, he had believed that Sonic was some spawn of GUN or at least a detestable criminal of some sort—the Robotnik family had always attracted attention from the wrong kind of people—therefore, when he'd found out that Sonic was a freaking hero, he had not believed it one bit.

He had believed that Sonic was only playing some kind of a charade on everybody around to make himself appear like a good guy; that he was a puppet of GUN meant to charm the common folk with his heroic deeds and lovable personality so they would trust him and his word blindly.

But with time, as he continued to observe the hero, he'd realized that Sonic was really not pretending anything. Sonic truly was a genuinely good person—and obviously he didn't hold GUN in a great regard either.

Back then, it had been for the first time that his resolve to keep his end of the bargain had faltered.

Shadow had no problem with killing people; he had been forced to carry out wait too many executions on the command of GUN as a part of his 'training' aboard ARK too feel any remorse over the act anymore. But the idea of taking an innocent person's life—moreover someone as kind and admirable as Sonic—still made his gut twist uncomfortably.

He had even tried to look for flaws in Sonic—some detestable quality that would make leading Sonic to his death easier. However, Sonic was not a bad person—yes, the hero had flaws like being highly impatient, but that was in no way something that would make Sonic deserve death.

And then Sonic had started to ask questions—about his favorite food, about his past, what did he do for living. However, it was not an interrogation that he'd expected would come once Sonic figured out there was something fishy going on. No. All these questions that Sonic had asked had been asked simply because Sonic wanted to know—for no other reason than to get to know him.

It had surprised him as no one, except Maria and Professor Gerald, had ever asked such questions of him. The other scientists and personnel on ARK had all only ever been interested in learning how much damage he could cause and withstand; there had been an uncountable amount of experiments that he had been put through just to sate their curiosity. But then Sonic had come and simply asked him things, genuinely interested about him as a person and not as a project or a weapon of mass destruction.

It had been an exhilarating experience—and most likely that one thing that had made him start to truly care about the cobalt hero.

Of course, he could not have answered all of Sonic's questions honestly at the time and so a lot of times he had been forced to give vague answers, most of which usually lead to Sonic assuming things and drawing various conclusions that he had not really bothered to confirm or disprove.

Which also meant that Sonic now believed that he was working for GUN themselves as the hero had misinterpreted his answer to the job question; Shadow did not know what exactly he'd had said but it had been somewhere along the lines of 'making sure that the planet and its inhabitants are safe'.

Quite ironical considering GUN was his archenemy and that he planned to eradicate the whole organization to achieve said goal, he knew.

Though, his resolve to actually carry out this particular plan was fading too.

Unsurprisingly, that was Sonic's work too. The longer he spent with the hero, the more his focus was shifting away from vengeance to the joys of life instead—the more was Sonic making him see things in colors instead of shades of gray.

It was funny how fast could one change their whole outlook on life. But, unfortunately, in his case, it would not change anything until the GUN was gone; they would not leave him alone until they got him imprisoned again. They would not dare to risk letting him wander around unsupervised even if he promised to settle somewhere to lead a quiet life.

And even if they did, would he even be capable of living a normal life? All he had ever been was a murderer for a GUN.

Did he even deserve such chance?

Red eyes slowly turned to gaze at the cobalt hero that was still sitting beside him, now absent-mindedly playing with a white flower by his foot. The two of them were different in so many ways; a hero and a villain, an energetic chatterbox and a silent stoic, an honest friend and a fake liar...

A good person and a monster...

Shadow watched as Sonic continued to toy with one of the daisies, contemplating whether or not he should ask the hero the question that had been gnawing at his mind for all this time.

Just asking couldn't do any harm, right...?

"Say, Sonic..." Shadow started, the other hedgehog turning to gaze at him curiously. "Do you think...even the worst people can change?" Shadow asked, forcing the question to sound as nonchalant as possible despite the anxiousness twisting in his gut.

"Think?" Sonic plucked the small white flower that he'd been tugging at all this time, gazing at it for a moment before replying with a simple, "...No."

Shadow felt as if a sledgehammer had just hit him in the gut, all his hopes vanishing at the quick 'no'. So even Sonic did not believe that he could change...

"—Because I know they can," Sonic added suddenly. Peach lips curved into a small smile, the cobalt hero turning to him.

"Oh?" Shadow raised a brow at the comment, confused and slightly hopeful.

Sonic nodded. "Nobody is born evil. People can decide whether they'll be evil or good to others." The cobalt hero was now leaning closer to him, his smile stretched wide. "Everybody can decide to change themselves."

Shadow felt as if a great weight was lifted off his shoulder. So Sonic didn't believe he was a completely lost cause...

"But how would you react if somebody actually tried to do that?" the agent asked as this question had been nagging at his mind for some time now. "To change their evil ways?"

"Like who?" Sonic asked, raising a curious brow.

"Well...Dr. Eggman for example," Shadow suggested, choosing a such extreme example on purpose.

Sonic blinked in confusion at the choice. "Well, I'd definitely be wary at first as Eggman had already done that twice—and both times it came to light that it was just a part of his scheme. But..." Sonic leaned against him, laying his blue head on his dark shoulder. Green eyes swept over the area, the hero clearly contemplating his answer. "...with time I'm sure I would learn to trust him. It surely wouldn't be a matter of weeks, more like months or even years, but I'm sure I'd trust him in the end."

"So, you're willing to give him a chance to become a good person despite the atrocities he has done?" Shadow asked, still in disbelief. There was no way anybody this forgiving existed...

"Well, yeah. Though I think atrocities is a bit exaggerated word in Egghead's case," Sonic said, snickering a bit. "He's...not that bad. Yeah, he has all these robots and flying fortresses with which he tries to take over the world all the time, but he doesn't actually physically hurt anybody—just imprison them, which is horrible thing to do too, but you get the gist..."

Shadow felt a pang of hurt. So Sonic wasn't absolutely forgiving, it was simply that Dr. Eggman hadn't done anything that bad so far...

Though knowing the Robotnik family, it was only question of time until the doctor would.

"I see," Shadow muttered, a bitter smile on his face. He didn't even need to confess his crimes—that he was a person responsible for countless deaths of both criminals and soldiers. Even without it, it was obvious he was a monster even in Sonic's eyes. He looked away from Sonic, for the first time actually feeling ashamed and remorseful because of his past actions.

"I'm..." a murderer. A monster. A liar. " I...I guess I should get on my way now. It's getting late," he said in the end instead. He gently pushed Sonic off him and then got up, briefly brushing off the grass and dirt that had gotten stick to his fur before making a move to leave.

"Wait, Shadow!" A gloved hand suddenly wrapped around his wrist, stopping him in his tracks; his rapid mood-change clearly hadn't escaped Sonic's notice. "Is something wrong?" the cobalt speedster asked as he stood up as well, the hero staring at him with green worry-filled eyes.

Shadow returned the gaze, staring at the hero for a long time as he was not sure how to reply. Lying that everything was fine was not an option here as Sonic would immediately see through the act. However, the truth was not an option either.

Therefore, in the end, Shadow just said, "We are never going to see each other again."

"W-what?" Sonic stammered, clearly not expecting this answer. But who would? "Why?" he questioned, the worry in his visage melting into confusion. "Are you going somewhere?"

"There's...a dangerous mission I need to accomplish." A truth, vague, but truth nonetheless. "It's possible I might not make it back."

"I can help you!" Sonic offered—as expected. "I had my fair share of dangerous missions already—"

"No." Shadow shook his head, his tone steady and unwavering, not leaving even a bit of room for discussion. "This is not something that I'd let you help me with."

"And how do you plan to stop me?" Sonic asked, a small smirk on his face and a hint of challenge visible in his eyes. "You cannot outran me like everyone else, Shads. I can follow you anywhere you go."

Shadow snorted in amusement at the hero's defiant display. Of course, Sonic would say something like that.

But he himself still had some trump cards as well. "I don't thinks so," Shadow said as he reached with his hand into his head-quills, green eyes immediately focusing on the limb.

"Say, would you like to see a magic trick?" Shadow asked as he pulled the green-colored Chaos Emerald from his quills, noting how the hero's eyes widened slightly. Furrowing brows, Sonic stared at him, the hero clearly trying to figure out what he planned to do with the gem.

"But before that..." Shadow shifted his grip on the emerald, red eyes meeting their confused green counterparts as the agent started to pull energy from the jewel. "It was pleasant meeting you, Sonic. I hope that we'll have a chance to race again one day."

Alarm flashed over Sonic's expression, but before the hero could say anything, the words had already fallen from Shadow's lips.

"Chaos Control!"

The world around Shadow whirled, the gold and green of the forest disappearing and for a brief moment being replaced with show of colors of which many Shadow was sure didn't even exist in the normal world. He felt himself being pulled into all directions, falling and rising, again and again...

But soon, there was a firm steel floor under his feet once again; the swirling colors took the familiar shape of Dr. Eggman's base, the familiar cold underground air entering his lungs as he took a deep breath to ground himself back into the present.

He opened his eyes, surveying the area and checking the scientist nor any of his creations was around to spy on him. Once sure he was not being watched, Shadow quickly hid the Chaos Emerald back into his quills and instead took out a gun that he'd stolen from a GUN soldier earlier this week when he'd infiltrated one of GUN bases to obtain information about the current GUN Commander's whereabouts.

He flipped the gun over, checking the magazine to check it was loaded. He lightly brushed the barrel of the gun, marveling the simple yet effective design before shoving the magazine back into its place and wrapping his fingers tightly around the gun's handle, forefinger laid securely on the trigger.

Slowly, he started to walk towards Dr. Eggman's main lab, maintaining stable pace even though his fingers itched to finally pull the trigger and start the deadly mechanism.

If his fate is to be a serial murderer, then he shall live up to the title by removing all the threats to the world.

Starting with Dr. Eggman and continuing with all of GUN.