Shadow: The Origin Of A Legend

Chapter 66

The moment the explosions go off, all hell breaks loose. The building bucks and rocks, and Scourge immediately dashes off, crashing straight through the plaster wall; weak winter sunlight blazes in and I shield my eyes, stumbling, as the roof caves in. It's around then that my escape plan goes to hell—as the roof tumbles down and the floor caves in, I find myself crushed beneath a mass of desks and assorted office furniture. They break and crack as they collide with my prone form, and I choke out a cry of pain as I feel my bones splinter, stretching one hand out to grasp feebly forward, like I can somehow grab onto the now-decimated floor above me. I can hardly even breathe, so I panic, thrashing about in a mad attempt to free myself. The blast is far larger than I had anticipated—I hear screams and shouts from far below, along with the massive rumble of concrete breaking apart. Rouge, I think, terror pulsing in my veins as another chair smashes into my face. I have to get to Rouge, and keep her safe. Closing my eyes, I try to force myself to focus, summoning the Chaos Energy in my body; it darts and crackles, crawling just beneath my skin. Take me to Rouge! I command, and with a drastic change in air pressure, I find myself falling onto an unbroken concrete floor, my head making a loud thwack noise upon impact, sending my ears ringing at a high and loud tone. My vision flashes and blurs for a moment as I wheeze, trying to breathe, and I hear a very familiar voice shout my name. Thank God, I sigh inwardly, she's okay.

"Rouge," I choke out, rolling onto my side and coughing. I'm covered in plaster-dust, I realize, and battered from the fallen furniture. The shrill tone in my ears fades to a duller sound, one I recognize as the sound of concrete buckling and cracking in on itself—undoubtedly, I'm hearing the floors above us as they fall.

"Shadow, oh my God," she cries, sweeping me up into her arms, "are you okay? What happened?!"

"He must've rigged the place," I rasp, using her to support myself as I sit up. "I'll be fine, but we need to stay here until everything's finished falling."

She does her best to brush the dust off me, and I let her, feeling pretty awful; my whole body is sore, but I can feel my broken bones mending. In fact, I can even hear some of my cracked ribs melding back together, and it isn't a pleasant sound. Rouge notices it too and pulls back, looking alarmed. "Wh-What's that sound?!"

"The Chaos Energy repairing my bones," I answer with a few coughs—I can feel liquid beginning to bubble in my esophagus, coming from my lungs. Dammit, I must've punctured a lung or something. "...Excuse me for a minute." I pull away from her just as a violent coughing fit seizes me, and I crawl on my hands and knees a very short distance away; far enough that she won't be able to see, but not quite as far as I would have liked. Blood splatters on the floor—not a lot, but enough to irritate my lungs—as I hack and choke. Finally taking one long, rattling breath, I sit back, folding my legs beneath me.

"Oh my God, are you alright?!" Rouge screeches, cheeks as pale as her fur.

"It's fine," I pant. "My body will probably heal fully in the next 30 minutes. I just had to cough that up because, er—" I try to clear my still-injured head, attempting to think of some way to explain it, "—it couldn't very well stay in my lungs, now, could it?" What a lame explanation... Turning to face her, I offer a tired smirk. "Once my lung healed, it had to go. Not a big deal," I break off to cough again, covering my mouth with my right hand as a slight bit more blood spritzes it. Bleh. 'Leftovers.' Grimacing, I rub my hand on the floor to clean it off a bit, finally finishing my sentence with, "though I have to admit, it's less than pleasant."

"Wh-What..." My snow-furred partner gapes, uncomprehending. Omega, who, it seems, had been previously lurking in the darkness behind her, steps forward and places one hand on her shoulder reassuringly.