Chapter Ten – Beginnings

Sonic's body had seen better days. had been frozen solid during the snow storms but when the Artificial Chaos shield was created, the weather returned the normal. It was late Summer. It must have taken some time for Sonic's body to finally thaw, but after three months, it had begun to rot. It was full of maggots and smelled, very bad. It was very grostique.

Shadow himself cringed. He was used to dealing with dead bodies, but even he found this hard to stomach. This was especially considering who it was. He looked at Sonic, eager to get the job done.

"What are we doing with it?" He asked again, frustrated. Sonic turned away unable to bare seeing himself in such a poor state. The was incredibly glad he wasn't in there, anymore. Still very grossed out, he eventually answered Shadow.

"Bury it!" He spat, and then looked back and sighed. "Please." He added. Shadow nodded, but frowned.

"Where?" He asked. "Do you have a family grave site?" He shrugged. It wasn't an unreasonable question. The House of Robotnik had one. Shadow knew it well. It was where Maria was buried. Sonic looked up at him, tears rolling down his face.

"I don't have any family!" He sniffed. Shadow was very surprised, and realised that he had never actually asked him this before. But he was very confused.

"What do you mean?" He smirked. "Everyone born has family." He spat. That was technically true. You can't be born without parents. Shadow knew this as he didn't have family, but he wasn't born either. Sonic growled.

"Well, I don't." He spat, and then sighed. "It's a total mystery. You know more about your origins then I know about mine. I've always envied you for it." Shadow raised an eyebrow, but Sonic continued. "I was found as a newborn, still with the umbilicalcord attached, wrapped in a white blanket, in a whicker basket. No note. No nothing. No idea who left me there or why. Believe me, I've looked." He added.

Shadow was stunned, but quite easily believed that. That Sonic would have hunted the entire planet for absolutely anything to do with his origins, and from the look of his tears, had found absolutely nothing.

Shadow gritted his teeth. That was tough. To have no idea who you were or where you came from. Also his Super-Speed, the cartilageskeleton, the Chaos generation, his life-force as the Source, and even his unusual colour. Where did it all come from? Was he even Mobian? Shadow shrugged. He wasn't and realised that they had no way of knowing, especially now that Sonic was a ghost. He thought about his own origins. They weren't the best, but at least, he knew them. He turned to the ghost.

"Look." He sighed. "I will help you somehow find the answers you seek, but right now, you need to decide where you want to be buried." He hissed. He then cringedagain from the smell. "Sooner rather then later, please!" He spat.

He began to walk away. Sonic was stunned and raced after him.

"Hey!" He spat. "Where are you going?" He asked. Shadow stopped and turned to face the ghost.

"Home." He spat. "I've been thinking about where to make my new home down here on the planet. Well, when I walked past that wooded area near Tails' House, it reminded me that there's an abandoned Base beneath it." He smirked. "That I think, will do nicely, with some work." He added. Sonic raised an eyebrow. He knew the place. It was where he'd used his Chaos to regenerate Shadow. He scoffed.

"That a lot of work, Shads." He sniggered. "Are you sure?" He shrugged. Shadow growled. He was very sure. He hissed at the ghost.

"When you decide where you want to buried, let me know." He spat. "I have work to do." He leered, and stormed off to the woods, determined to find the entrance to the Base again. He left Sonic in a pickle. He had a very grostique body that desperately needed burying and no idea where to put it.

Shadow sighed and left him to it. He had his own stuff to do. It took him the rest of day to find the entrance of the abandoned Base in the woods. It was dark, by the time he finally found the pressure pad. He activated it, gaining entrance, and realised very quickly, the sheer scale of the task ahead of him. The Base was in a far worser condition then he remembered. Sonic was right, it was a lot of work.

Shadow sighed, but it wasn't nothing he hadn't handled before. Parts of the Ark had also been in this much mess, and he'd sorted those out. Plus the Base itself wasn't very big. He set to work.

Two weeks went by.

That's how long it took for Sonic to finally decide where he wanted his body to be buried. He hadn't seen Shadow for that entire time, but knew exactly where he was. He didn't tell his friends, either. He wasn't sure how well they'd take to finding out that Shadow was now Tails' new neighbour. He also knew how busy he was, so left him alone, and instead asked his friends to organise the funeral. This didn't go down to well, when they saw the state of his body but they obliged anyway.

When the date, time and location of the funeral was set. Time to tell Shadow. It wasn't until the morning of the funeral itself did Sonic finally pluck up the courage to go and look for him.

He reached the edge of the wooded area, near Tails' House and looked in. They felt very different then before. Properlybecause this was now Shadow's home. He sighed, heading in, his pearly-white ghostly frame shining light all around in the darkened woodland. He to was looking for the entrance and it took some finding as Shadow hadn't changed anything externally to indicate that he was here. This didn't surprise Sonic. Shadow was an intensely private Hedgehog, and didn't want visitors.

Sonic sighed again, this time, nervously, as he stared down at the pressure pad. Shadow had asked him to tell him about his funeral, so the Black Hedgehog shouldn't bite his head off.

He swallowed his nerves and dived down into the pressure pad, he passed straight through it and down into the ground. After a few seconds of passing though solid rock, he came out into open space. He looked around. He was in a brand new, fully refurbished, absolutely spotless Base. Sonic's jaw dropped.

Wow!

The parts of the Base that had collapsed, where bare electrical wires were hanging everywhere and where the ceiling was bowing in places, had all been repaired. Solid metal plating now lined the walls, floors and ceiling. Sonic floated through the Base absolutely stunned until he found the main Console station. He looked up. Where the ceiling had collapsed in on it had also been repaired and the Console itself had been heavily upgraded, with more monitors and more power. The monitors seemed to showing images from all over Mobius and the Ark. It looked like Shadow had rerouted the Ark's Main Console to here. It was seriously impressive.

Shadow was sat in a large black leather chair at the Console, facing the screens, with his back to Sonic. But the Black Hedgehog knew he was there.

"Well, you took your time." He leered at the ghost, without turning round. But Sonic was still stunned.

"This place was incredible!" He gasped. He was amazed at what Shadow had managed to get done in just two weeks. Shadow turned around in his chair to face the ghost. He was smirking, but he looked very tired.

"I'm glad you like it. I'm very pleased with the end results as well." He hissed, sounding shattered. Sonic was still stunned but Shadow was getting frustrated. He spat at him.

"Well?" He hissed. "Have you decided yet?" He growled, his tiredness triggering his temper. Sonic bit his lip, looking nervous. He hovered straight, his hands in front of him, his head down. He nodded.

"Yes. My funeral is this afternoon." He said sheepishly.

Shadow was very surprised. He was expecting to told long before now, as he had planned on helping out. But as he watched the ghost, he noticed something. Sonic's nerves seemed to run a lot deeper then just simply talking to him. Shadow could see that this funeral was forcing Sonic to properly contemplate his own death for the first time. Not only did Sonic now realise that he was actually dead but that there was no going back, either. Shadow understood. He may have been immortal but he had also experienced death. He fully appreciatedhow deep it ran.

Shadow shook off his tiredness and got to his feet, walking towards the ghost. He stood beside him, folding his arms.

"You alright?" He hissed, somewhat concerned. Shadow didn't like to see Sonic like this. He nodded, but the tears ran.

"Yeah." He said. "But I just need time." He sighed. Shadow smirked and his lip curled, he walked out in front of the ghost. He rolled his eyes.

"We're immortal, you idiot. We're got all the time in the world." He hissed, the smirk broadening. He was winding Sonic up. It worked.

"Hey!" He spat. "Who are you calling in 'idiot'?" He growled. Sonic wasn't happy.

Shadow leered.

"Why the only spineless one here." He hissed, referencing Sonic's lack of substance. He growled, but Shadow raised an eyebrow in return. "You know." He added. "I could have called you worser things then 'idiot'." He sneered.

Sonic grinned. That was very true. He was well aware of just how bad Shadow's language could really get. But he was still nervous. So nervous in fact that he actually cracked.

"I know what we need." He suddenly blurted out. "A song!" He giggled.

Oh no! Shadow singing please. He just couldn't bare it. Not in his new house anyway. But before Shadow could stop him, Sonic had started with arguablethe most perfect song for the occasion.

"The toe bone is connected to the neck bone. The neck bone is connected to the hip bone. The hip bone is connected to the head bone." Sonic sang. Shadow growled and put his hands over his hears. He headed towards the teleporter and exit out of his new home. But the ghost kept singing.

"The head bone is connected to the shin bone. The shin bone is connected to the shoulder bone. The shoulder bone is connected to the ankle bone." He continued. He followed Shadow out of the Base and into the woodlands. The ghostly essence light up the whole area. But he still kept singing.

"The ankle bone is connected to the back bone. The back bone is connected to the heel bone." He wailed. Except this time Shadow noticed that the song he was singing wasn't quite right. He growled.

"Sonic?" He hissed, but the ghost ignored him, and still went on, this time dancing to it.

"The heel bone is connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone is connected to the foot bone." He sang, traveling through the woods at great speed, Shadow followed him. Rouge was at the edge of the woods waiting for them. She must have spotted Sonic's ghostly light. With the Artificial Chaos shield, Sonic could now be again seen by everyone. Shadow was close to breaking point with the ghost, getting incredibly frustrated with him.

"Sonic!" He hissed again, very coldly. They were practically next to Rouge when Shadow snapped. But the ghost still didn't stop.

"The foot bone is connected to the knee bone." He jigged, but Shadow cut across him, completely loosing his temper.

"SONIC!" He shouted, finally silencing the ghost. He just looked at him. Shadow was heaving. "I may not be a doctor, but I do have enough medical knowledge to break every bone in your body while naming them. If your going to sing that dam song, can you at least sing it in the correct bloody order." He growled. He wasn't happy.

Sonic giggled, so did Rouge, who heard the commotion. But the ghost huffed.

"Well, considering I don't have a skeleton, I can sing it in whatever order I want." He spat, and with that sped off into the distance, leaving Shadow and Rouge alone. The Black Hedgehog still growling. Rouge, however, was still smiling and began giggling. Shadow leered at her, asking with a look, what the problem was. She smiled.

"It's you two." She grinned. "Your as bad as each other." She laughed. Shadow stared, unimpressed. He didn't find it funny.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He hissed. The Bat gave him a sideways look.

"Nothing!" She defended. "Just don't change, thats all." She shrugged. Then she looked in the direction Sonic speeded off to. Both of them began to follow. She thought of the ghost.

"I take it he's still nervous?" She asked, referencing Sonic. Shadow nodded. It was the end of a chapter for him. It was a massive deal. He sighed.

"I guess witnessing your own funeral is a lot to handle." He shrugged. Rouge guided Shadow down the hill from Tails' House towards Eggman's territory. He was beginning to wonder where they were going. Rouge looked at him, and huffed.

"Oh." She spat. "And I suppose you would know." She huffed. With Shadow's reputation, anything was possible. He smirked.

"No." He leered. "But I have woken up in a morguebefore now." He hissed. Rouge stopped and stared. She put both hands over her mouth, hiding a grin. She too, had seen Shadow regenerate, and knew how much pain he woke in and how grumpy, and potentially dangerous he could be.

They have moved towards the direction of a tree on a hill, near one of Eggman's Base's and began to walk up it. She swore.

"Oh no! How badly did the pathologisttake it?" She asked, giggling. Shadow smirk broadened, remembering the incident well. His eyes lit up. Let just say that the Authorities have left him alone since then, even if he looked dead. He did nearly destroy the hospital.

"Very!" He sniggered, but then he stared.

They had arrived. At the top of the hill, the burial ceremony had already started. Sonic's body had been placed into a coffin. Nothing fancy, but the lid was tight closed. It was being slowly lowered a deep hole in the ground, beneath the tree. A local priest was conducting the funeral, and the grave was surrounded by Sonic's friends, all in black. Only now did Shadow notice that Rouge herself was also in black, and that the only person who didn't need to dress for the occasion, was himself.

Shadow looked at Rouge, somewhat taken aback.

"Wait, this is exactly where he died!" He spat. He growled. It took Sonic two weeks to choose...here. Shadow was again unimpressed. Rouge tried to calm him.

"Yes." She stammered. "But Sonic said he'd grown very fond of that tree, and that here was as good a place as any." She hurried. Shadow looked up at it. It was stunning. Its white late Summer blossom, and small green leaves blowing slightly the wind. But he understood Sonic's point. He'd almost died himself beneath this tree. He sighed, and Rouge was relieved. He looks back at the funeral and notices something missing.

"No grave stone?" He asked. Rouge looked up.

"No." She shrugged. "He says he doesn't want one. But a half dozen letters have been carved into the tree." She added. Shadow raised an eyebrow, smirking, wondering what these were. Rouge continued.

"S. H." She sighed. That was obvious. "And G. B. N. F." She counts out. She frowned. She had no idea what those meant. But Shadow did, instantly. His smirk broadens.

"Gone But Not Forgotten!" He sniggered. Shadow folded his arms, still smirking. Sonic was being very full of himself here. He was a ghost, to remain on Mobius forever. He was going to make dam sure that somebody forgot him. How could you forget someone whose ghost irritated you so badly?

Then Shadow looked up, and around the funeral site. Only now did he notice that a certain someone was very conspicuousby their absence. The ghost was nowhere in sight. Rouge also notice that Sonic was missing, and began to look for him, as the funeral was ending.

Ashes to Ashes. Dust to Dust.

With the burial ceremony finished, several of Sonic's friends began filling in the grave. Including Tails and Knuckles. Shadow sighed. Sonic was close, he could feel it. He thought. That had been getting to him. That feeling. He could feel Sonic's presence before he saw him. He shrugged. Considering they now shared his immortality, vise versa could also be true. But the funeral was under a tree at the top of bear hill, just covered in grass, there was nothing to hide behind. But as several people left towards Tails' House for the wake, Shadow stayed put and scanned the area.

Rouge had given up trying to find Sonic and had joined the others. Soon Shadow was alone, Sonic's grave filled in and decorated with flowers. He looked at it. It was pleasant enough, rather fitting for the Blue Hedgehog. But Shadow still couldn't shake the feeling that he still wasn't alone. He looked again, this time concentrating hard and soon found his quarry.

He'd been hiding in plain sight. But to Shadow, his Chaos Aura finally gave him away, even if he was invisible. It was the reason why he didn't notice it as first, he wasn't looking for it. He'd been watching the funeral, but hadn't wanted to talk to anyone.

He looked very somber.

Shadow smirked. Today was not the day for that. Yes, he'd seen his own funeral but that chapter was behind him now. A new beginning lay ahead of him, one that Shadow was now very much a part of. But the ghost wasn't paying attention, he was still staring at his grave. Shadow's smirked, his lip curled. This was just too good. He had a reputation of moving a silently as a ghost. Time to prove it.

"Boo!" He hissed, rather loudly at Sonic's right side. The ghost jumped a mile. Swearing very loudly, throwing several very harsh expletives deleted at Shadow. He sniggered, taking them all as compliments. Ghosts were famous for scaring people, well, he'd just scared the ghost. It was worth it. Sonic growled, folded his arms and turned away. Then his eyes widened when he realised something.

"Hey." He blurted out. "You can see me!" He gasped. He was still completely invisible. Yet another new ability. Shadow smirked.

"I can see your Chaos Aura, rather then you." He hissed. "No amount of invisibility can hide that." He leered. Sonic looked at Shadow and smiled at him. Knowing the Black Hedgehog couldn't see it. This was why he'd chosen Shadow as his eternal companion. No one did things quite like Shadow. His incredibly dark and very sarcastic sense of humour, (yes, he had one) absolutely creased Sonic. Even though Shadow could be very cruel, Sonic did find him very funny. Most of the time.

Shadow was watching him, with his arms folded. Sonic returned to normal and looked at the Black Hedgehog. He was waiting for him. Loyal to the very end. Sonic sighed. He expected nothing less of him. But Shadow was right. Time to move on and head to Tails' House for the wake. Everyone was properly waiting for them.

The moved down the hill and towards the woodlands, and Tails' House. On this beautiful sunny day, the front door was open and people were mingling about both inside and outside the house. Both Knuckles and Tails spotted them as then approached and came out to meet them. Tails especially was full of mixed emotions, both sad that Sonic had been buried, but happy that his ghost was still around. But Knuckles looked at the Hedgehogs.

"So what now, for our resident Ghost and Darkness?" He smirked. Sonic and Shadow looked at each other. That was rather good. Sonic giggled. He was still cracking up somewhat.

"Ooo!" He grinned. "That sounds like a detective agency. Like The Faker and The Hero, Deceased." He smirked. But Shadow's eyes narrowed and he growled.

That hit a serious nerve. The Chaos Darkness within Shadow flared. His eyes glowed a deep, crimson, blood red. Sonic hadn't used the nickname 'Faker' in years. Not since their first meeting, mainly because Shadow had warned him against it on pain of death. Sonic's smiled vanished when he realised he'd gone too far.

"Ok, maybe Idiot, Deceased." He stammered. That was slightly better but Shadow didn't fancy a detective agency. That would mean being in direct competition to the Chaotix and they were way too musical for him. He liked his privacy, and silence.

He folded his ears back, and still with his now glowing eyes narrowed, whispered something at Sonic that was both very cold and extremely vulgar. It silenced the ghost, and stunned the others. Sonic sniffed.

"Sorry." He said, genuinely. He really didn't mean to offend. Shadow accepted and nodded.

Stunned, both Knuckles and Tails decided to leave the Hedgehogs to it and headed back to the wake. Sonic, deciding that he'd temporarily had enough of Shadow, very quickly followed them. He turned into a ball-of-light and speeded away, leaving a trail of ectoplasm behind him. The Black Hedgehog was alone. He smirked.

'He'll be back." He thought. 'He always was.' He added.

And that was the point. No matter what Shadow did. No matter how unbelievablyevil he was. Sonic always came back. He could rely on it. He could rely on him. Shadow thought back to what Knuckles had said. 'The resident Ghost and Darkness!'

He liked it. It had a nice ring to it. Darkness by name. Darkness by nature. He smirked. But still, what did lie ahead to him and Sonic?

He sighed. Sonic? What of the ghost's origins? Shadow was certain he wasn't Mobian, but where did he come from? He thought. Would there ever find the truth? He smirked. They did have all eternity to find out.

Then there was that revolting Human. What was it going to take to defeat Eggman? He had to admit he didn't know. He looked around at the horizon. The clear cloudless sky really now showing off its new green colour. He sighed.

The Artificial Chaos shield. How long would that last? Shadow had programed it to run indefinitely, but that was not ever was.

Then his eyes fell back on Tails' House and the commotion that had just sprung up there. He was being signal over. He was going to get an ear full for being rude to Sonic. He rolled his eyes, the usual stuff then. Life returning back to normal.

He didn't mind as he slowly wondered down towards the house.

Because it meant one simple thing.

With Sonic a ghost, and now an immortal.

He wasn't alone, anymore.