Epilogue

Super Sonic looked into the distance where the ARK had reappeared. "Yes! We did it, Shadow!" Suddenly realizing the other's presence had vanished, he stared around wildly. "Shadow?" Did he teleport away with the ARK? Can I feel him... Oh no.

He looked down. The pale figure falling below him was bordered by an odd purple glow. Automatically Super Sonic dove after him, then abruptly realized that his dive was perilously close to becoming a plummet. No! If I go after him, we'll both fall! The glowing yellow hedgehog stopped with difficulty and automatically reached out to grab something that was hurtling up towards him. "Shadow," he groaned. Maybe he can still Chaos Control away - he's better at that than I am! Maybe... But he could feel, with the enhanced senses the Super form possessed, the other's exhaustion. Then, something else - Shadow was trying to gather the Chaos Energy...but he was falling so fast, the purple glow was nearly subsumed by the orange burn of re-entry. Then a sudden flare of purple light!

"Shadow?" he whispered. He reached out, trying to sense...

Nothing. Grimly he turned his face back towards the ARK.

The others were gathered in an observation room, when the blue hedgehog found them and stepped silently through the door. They looked up, pleased and excited... but Sonic saw both emotions fade as they realized he was alone. Rouge spoke what was on everyone's mind, "Where is Shadow?"

Sonic looked at his feet, clenching his fingers around the bracelet he'd caught. Made from a power ring, he assumed Shadow had been trying to use it to save himself. There was a somewhat embarrassed shuffling around the room, enough strangers present to make everyone self-conscious about showing grief. Rouge walked over to where Sonic was standing. He handed her the bracelet, not really knowing why. She looked down at it and turned it in her hands.

Hesitating a moment, she finally asked, "Do you really think... that the professor created Shadow to carry out his revenge on all those who live there, on Earth?"

Sonic looked past her, out the window. "He was what he was," he said finally. "A brave and heroic hedgehog, who gave his life to save his planet. Shadow the Hedgehog..."

Rouge looked at the bracelet again. "I guess you're right..." She drifted off towards the door as Knuckles the Echidna - the red dokan that Shadow had never actually met - moved in the same direction. Sonic stayed where he was, dimly aware of Rouge and Knuckles talking, and Tails and Dr. Eggman, and of Amy's approach. Had the professor intended Shadow only for revenge, or was there another reason? He seemed to share so many of Sonic's hitherto unique talents. "Could he have... the Ultimate Life-form?" he murmured.

"What's the matter, Sonic?" Amy's own manner was quieter than usual, which Sonic appreciated. He shook himself. After all, he'd barely met Shadow. They could give him a proper farewell back on Earth. "Oh, it's nothing. Come on! Let's go home to the planet as cool and blue as me!" He waited while everyone else filed out the door, and paused, looking around. It felt like a tomb, with only the faint echoes of his friends' (and enemy's) footsteps disturbing the silence. He looked out the windows at the blue planet below.

"Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog."

A/N: I'm off for a couple weekends now - going to Ireland, yay! - but when I come back I'll start posting Lost and Found. One of the problems with Sonic Heroes was that it had a story but didn't bother to tell most of it. So I'm piecing Team Dark's story together, albeit with a somewhat looser interpretation of the actual game parts than in the first two stories; Heroes really isn't well linked the way SA2 was. So if you enjoyed this one, check back next month!