Scream For Me

-28-

"Shadow? (Y/n)? Silver?" The trio had arrived back in Resistance headquarters, now Restoration headquarters, and upon turning around were glad to see Sonic, Amy, and Tails. However, Sonic had said their names, and his voice had a tone of exhaustion to it, and upon closer examination, they noticed some sort of metal substance coating parts of his body. 

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you guys!" Amy cried, leaping forward and gathering all three into a tight embrace. "We were so worried when we couldn't find you guys and then Silver suggested time travel and we wondered if we would ever see you again!" She pulled back, rubbing her eyes with one hand. 

"Well, we made it back," Shadow said, but his attention was fixed on Sonic. "What happened here?" 

"Eggman released his newest threat," Tails said. "The Metal Virus. Infects anything organic upon contact. Creates these things called zombots. It spreads fast and Eggman's been dumping it all over the world." 

"He used to have control over them," Sonic said, his voice tinged with bitterness. "However the zombots adapted and now they're acting all on their own." He lowered his head.

"Are you infected?" (Y/n) asked, frustrated the AI couldn't sound less intrusive and more sympathetic. 

"It's fine," Sonic said, looking up at her with a sad half smile. "My speed keeps it at bay, which means I can fight the zombots and just run it off afterwards." 

"Repeated contact spreads it faster, though, and you're exhausting yourself," Tails said. 

"Are there any survivors?" Silver asked anxiously. 

"The original Restoration headquarters was infected," Amy said. "We're going out to Spiral Hill village soon. Tangle headed over there upon an urgent call concerning the virus and we're going over there to see if anyone has survived and then we're heading to Angel Island to regroup." 

"I'm going to go get the shuttle ready," Tails said. "Amy, would you mind helping me?" The pink hedgehog nodded sullenly and followed the yellow fox out of the room. 

"I'm gonna go see if I can do anything," Silver said, eyes wide. 

"Are you okay?" (Y/n) asked, looking over at him. 

"I remember seeing this in the future," the white hedgehog said, walking unsteadily towards the door. "And I wasn't here." He slipped out of the room, leaving the (a/t) with the other two hedgehogs. 

"It's good to see you again," Sonic said after a moment of silence, rubbing underneath his eye. The touch caused a splotch of silver to start growing on his face and he shook his head. 

"You can't touch anyone else, can you?" He shook his head. 

"Being a hero comes at a cost," he said. "I missed you. I really want to hug you right now." (Y/n) exchanged an awkward glance with Shadow. Sonic noticed it, one of his ears flicking. "Am I missing something? Also, Shadow, what happened to your chest?" 

The dark hedgehog lifted his hand to the mending wound. It was still healing, though it was only going to be a few more days before he didn't have to worry about it anymore. "I got shot," he finally said. Sonic blinked. "While we were in the past, I lost my Chaos powers." He fell silent, dropping his hand. 

Sonic let out a dry laugh. "So, you're telling me you weren't the Ultimate Lifeform back there? You got shot in the chest? You almost...you almost died?" He sat back. "That's...how did that make you feel?" 

"Alive." Sonic nodded slowly, still looking between the pair. 

"Ah," he suddenly said, pushing himself out of his seat. (Y/n) tilted her head. "I can tell. You just didn't know how to tell me. It's okay, though, Shadow, (Y/n)." His ears slowly lowered, though he managed to keep a tiny smile on his face. "We weren't meant to be, and now we can't be." The blue hedgehog walked over to Shadow, his ears standing back up. "You better take care of her though. 'Cause if not, I'll come after you myself." He then gave (Y/n) a nod as he passed her and left the room without another word.