Epitaph Three

"I...I stabbed him...!" I said tremblingly, in utter disbelief.

I looked down at my hands. Blood had completely drenched my snow-white gloves. I looked a little further up. A narrow piece of metal I'd broken in my rage was shoved straight through Doctor Eggman's chest.

"Sh-Shadow!?" I heard Sonic yell in a panic stricken voice from across the laboratory.

"Sonic!? Why are you here!?" I shouted as I whirled around, flecking blood spatter across the ceramic tile. There was no response. Just like his idiotic, run like the wind self, he had split without giving me a chance to explain.

It's hard to believe that two weeks ago, there was one moment my life had felt perfect. For once in my entire twisted life, I'd felt... happy. That's all gone now.

Shadow the Hedgehog. My name is one that strikes fear into many, and yet Sonic and his motley pie of friends treat me just like one of them. I may not show it, but I adore them for it. Created as the "Ultimate Life Form," I'm incredibly powerful. As far as I know, immortal too. Fifty or so years after my "birth," I don't look to have aged a day. It's a blessing and a curse that are mine alone to bear.

Two weeks ago from this wretched day, It was like any other afternoon. I was taking a break from my missions at G. U. N., the military employer I occasionally do work for. As I didn't have any plans for the day, and I hate wasting my time, I decided it was time to prove conclusively that the "Blue Blur" was NOT the fastest creature alive. If I'm being honest, this was just an excuse for me to spend some time with Sonic. Rash and immature as that idiot can be, I've grown rather fond of having his company. If I'm being completely honest, I've developed... unexpected feelings towards him. He is my polar opposite, and while I'd never tell him, there's nothing I like more then the feel of us racing side by side, faster then the speed of sound.

It wasn't that difficult to deduce his location. As it was a sunny day, he was dozing away lazily in the hammock outside his house. Not one for unnecessary politeness, I simply shoved him out it.

"...OW! What the HELL, Shadow!?" Sonic said, startled, as he unceremoniously fell on the grass.

"Time to race, faker." I replied in a flat, unemotional tone. Our eyes locked, and we instantly knew where the showdown would take place.

Stretched out in front of me was the long, loop-de-looping grassy plain of the Green Hill Zone. Tails had kindly volunteered to referee our race, as he was the only one we both trusted to be fair. Amy had also volunteered, but there was no way in hell I was trusting that tacky, pink, Sonic stalking creep to call OUR race. The race had classic rules, one lap around the entire zone, starting and ending in the same place. The flames in my rocket shoes flared as I prepared my start. I stole a look at Sonic's attractive, incredibly fit body. How did he look that way when he put away so many chili dogs? I couldn't let myself be distracted. Tails yelling the starting "GO!" forced me to organize my thoughts. I let Sonic get the early lead. Torn up ground and patches of grass were flying behind Sonic's feet, smoldering trails of ash behind mine. We both felt the incredible rush of breaking the sound barrier as we came off the first loop-de-loop, our agile bodies running neck and neck. Exhilaration shot through me as we sped around the semicircle turnaround of the zone, the lush scenery rushing past my ears with a zing. Exhilaration is something I rarely feel.

Using my superior eyesight, I could spot the finish line in the distance. Seizing my chance to win, I began maneuvers to push myself in front of Sonic. I didn't anticipate that Sonic would grab my arm. Pounding adrenaline from the race and alarm from the contact made my mind foggy and unfocused. I vaguely remember Sonic crossing the finish line, in first of course, but then we didn't stop. We kept running, his hand tightly clenching my limb. Moments, minutes, hours or however long it was later, we were stopped, sitting side by side in front of a lake. It was the last place I would have expected him to take me, not that I expected him to take me anywhere at all. Sonic's sharp voice cut through my mind clutter.

"Shadow, we're friends right?" He said, picking up a pebble and tossing it into the azure abyss.

"S-Sure we are Sonic." I managed to get out. I didn't know what to think, this was so unlike him.

"It's just, I find you difficult to get. You seem like a lone-wolf kinda guy, and yet you hang around with us a lot." He said, mindlessly playing with his quills as if I were the one acting strangely.

"I suppose, in a way, hanging out with you and your friends is a pleasant break from being a lone-wolf." I said, admitting more then I meant to. I noticed I was tearing up grass and throwing it on the ground. Nervous habit.

"So in a way...we make you happy?" He said, a slight smile playing on his features.

"You and Tails mostly. Not Amy." I said, struggling to get back into my aloof persona.

"Try giving her a chance, she might just surprise ya." He replied with a slight chuckle.

"Why did you bring me here anyway?" I said, slightly brasher then I meant to. I was bad at changing the subject.

"I just think it's a beautiful spot, don't you?"

I took a good look around the area. Trees were scattered everywhere with violet, red, and blue wildflowers splashed across the landscape.

"Regardless, why did you bring ME here?" I said, my sharp detection skills coming back to me.

"Don't worry about it Shadow buddy, just sit back and enjoy the view!" He said, letting out a deep sigh and falling on his back in the grass.

I probably would have smacked him on the head and let out something witty like "Do I look like the kind of idiot who wastes his time staring at stagnant bodies of water?", But I didn't get the chance. Sonic's previous sigh was the sound of him coming under the effect of a tranquilizer dart, and mine went into effect seconds after.

I woke up with a jolt. The first thing I felt was the presence of a Chaos Emerald. The second was the presence of Dr. Eggman.

"My dear friend Shadow, how are you this fine day?" Eggman said, stepping from behind the large apparatus that was obscuring him.

"A hell of a lot better before I saw you!" I retorted, attempting to lunge forward in assault. All my efforts granted me was a ripping pain in my arms and legs. Looking down, I saw that a horde of metal chains and wires held me inside the glass chamber I was looking out from.

"Now Shadow, how is that any way to greet your creator's favorite grandson?" He said in response, tapping his foot impatiently on the ceramic tile.

"Only grandson, and HELL what Gerald would think of you before he went insane." I spat, looking frantically around the chillingly vacant laboratory for some way of escape.

"Look all you wish Shadow, there's no escape so you might as well listen." He said with that familiar look of pride on his face. He always had been an idiotic, verbose bastard who gave away too much of his information. I grimaced and listened intently as he continued.

"You're hooked up directly to my latest and greatest invention, the EggReplicator!" He proliferated, going into some technical jargon I didn't care about. "Using this new tech, I'll replicate this chaos emerald seven times, saving me the meddlesome trouble of hunting down all of them!" He stated proudly, pulling a glittering green emerald out of his coat pocket.

"Blah, blah, blah, rule the world right? What does this have to do with me?" I shot at the doctor, hoping to get more information.

"Well, you being only thing I've ever successfully cloned--"

"--Hah, you call those pitiful androids a success! Laughable." I interjected, biding my energy for another escape effort.

"...And therefore, you'll hold the aforementioned emerald in place during the replication process." He finished, his trademark grin plastered unpleasantly on his face.

Playtime's over, I thought as the Doctor began inputting some commands to the machine by way of a touch screen. Gears began to whirr, electricity crackled in the cage I was in. A small robot was deployed to put the emerald into my confinement chamber. Inserted through a small hole in the top, the gem plopped gently into my outstretched palms. Big mistake Doctor. I imagine he had anticipated I'd use Chaos Control the moment I got the gem in my hands. I might not have cared enough about the specific details he spewed about his invention, but I picked up enough to know that the replication process needed some sort of massive burst of energy as a trigger. Chaos Control was the perfect thing, but unlike that dolt Knuckles, I wasn't going to let myself be manipulated. Chaos energy flared through my body, but I didn't let it take over me, or teleport me across the planet. Instead, I focused it on a single point: the appendages that bound me to the replication chamber. In a blaze of green light, I felt myself freed from my bonds. Then with a focused beam of energy, I sliced my way out of the chamber. Anger and rage pounded through my veins. The expression on the Doctor's face was that of pure terror. I liked it. I broke a long, slender metal bar off my previous prison.

I don't know why I did it. That's a lie. I did it because I wanted to, there was nobody there to stop me. I had a choice, a clear choice, but after everything he'd done, isn't this what everyone wanted? Wasn't this the answer? Countless times he'd had his opportunities for change, countless of his own choices to make. This was my choice, my time. I shoved that piece of metal through his chest with a satisfying crunch. He barely made a sound as his eyes turned dull. His breathing stopped.

"I...I stabbed him...!" I said tremblingly, in utter disbelief.

I looked down at my hands. Blood had completely drenched my snow-white gloves.

"Sh-Shadow!?" I heard Sonic yell in a panic stricken voice from across the laboratory.

"Sonic!? Why are you here!?" I shouted as I whirled around, flecking blood spatter across the ceramic tile. There was no response. Just like his idiotic, run like the wind self, he had split without giving me a chance to explain.

I'm sitting here with a brain-splitting headache. I spent two weeks thinking of a way to explain everything to Sonic. Why was he even there at all? What had happened to him after we were knocked unconscious? Too many questions. Even after I tried to speak with him, we were interrupted by some wretched creature, and of COURSE I was knocked unconscious, AGAIN. Did they defeat it? Where the hell did that thing come from? Why was I dumped here in KNUCKLES house of all places? Couldn't Sonic just speak to me for 5 FREAKING minutes!? Damn you, Sonic the Hedgehog, and to HELL with all your stupid friends.

A/N: Whoa, I have a lot to address here.

First, yes, in my story, Shadow is assuredly feeling something more then friendship towards Sonic. I apologize to any of my readers who are offended by this, but for the direction I want my story to take, it's an important point.

Second, thank you so much to the people who've been reading my story so far! I wasn't able to update quickly as I'd have liked because this past week a hurricane tore through our property and I had to help clean up the mess.

Third, an EXTRA thank you to those who gave huge, meaty, descriptive reviews of my work, especially Solis Knight and Trauts. It means a lot to have such lengthy descriptions of where I can improve, and it keeps me going knowing that my writing style is one you find worth spending the time showing me how to improve. I tried my best to follow your advice with this Epitaph, and I have clear ideas now of what I'm going to do with Chapter Two.

Fourth, Dollhouse kicks so much ass.

I think that just about covers it, thank you everyone for making my first story feel so full of possibilities. To be honest, I think I write crap, but hey, if people keep reading it, I'll try to improve!