Chapter 23: Repracussions

Warning: thoughts/mentions of suicide are present in this chapter, as well as emotional trauma. You have been warned :)-------------------------------------------------------Authors Note: The events in this chapter are hypothetical, and didn't actually happen in any movies or series. It's strictly from my little mind, so enjoy the chapter!-------------------------------------------------------

Shadow's POV:

I wait patiently for Maria to finish in the bathroom with Rose, excited to see how she's feeling with her new chance at life.

However, Maria is the only one who emerges when the door squeaks open.

She looks sad, with a puzzled look on her face.

"My love, what's wrong?"

She walks into my open arms, gladly embracing my hug. When she leans back, her beautiful blue doe-like eyes make my heart throb with sympathy for whatever's upset her.

"Shadow.... Is uncle a monster?"

The question takes me by surprise. And although I hate to admit it to her, it's not a question I know how to answer. At least, not without lying.

"Why would you ask that?"

Her ears flatten, once again making my heart ache with the desperate feeling of wanting to make her happy smile appear once more.

"It's....Amy. She said that he's a monster. I've been gone for awhile Shadow, and I want to know if it's just his mental state that has deteriorated. Is he... Hurting people?"

Why would she say that to Maria?

He is undoubtably a monster in every Mobian's eyes... But he's also considered family to Maria.

"She said that he....murdered children. That can't be true... right?"

Caressing her cheek in my hand, I smile at the beautiful pink tint claiming the rounded parts of her delicate face.

"No, Maria. You are correct to assume that accusation is false."

Her ears perk back up happily as she tightly wraps her arms around my neck. I smile as she pulls away before kissing me on the cheek.

"I'm going to prepare dinner, does spaghetti sound okay?"

All Maria knows how to make is spaghetti, seeing as she passed as a young child. Even if she were to make it every night, I would never tire of the dish.

"It sounds amazing love."

As she happily bounds away towards the kitchen, I turn my attention towards the cracked bathroom door.

The room is steamy, with a layer of fog coating the bathroom mirror. From what I can see, Amelia is still sitting in a robe exactly where Maria left her.

"You had no right to blatantly talk to Maria that way."

"And you had no right to lie to her face."

I'm taken aback by the statement. Yes, I may have lied to her, but it was to protect her from the truth.

"I have my reasons. As for you, this is your second chance at life. Why are choosing to spend the first moments of it making enemies?"

"I never asked for a second chance Shadow!!"

Flinching as her voice echoes around the bathroom, I take a step back as stands up. Her lips are drawn back in a snarl, with her ears flattened to her head in anger.

My mind flashes back to that exact expression when she felt that I was in danger. Without hesitation, she had barred her teeth for me.

Except this time, that anger is directed towards me.

"We didn't have a choice! You were stuck in a com-"

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE THEN?!?"

My heart stops as the words leave her mouth. I feel as if I've just been dunked into a cold ice bath after hearing the raw truth behind that sentence.

She didn't want to come back.

And I forced her to.

"I've lived through enough torture to last a lifetime, I never wanted to be forced to live through any more of it!"

Her voice breaks as tears start to form, giving her eyes a glassy appearance.

Crumbling to her knees, I see for the first time how tired she truly looks.

The anger I felt from before melts away as I kneel down next to her. Reaching out to place my hand on her shoulder, I hesitate. As much as I want to reach out and comfort her, I don't know if I could handle her rejecting my touch.

"You're a hero of Mobius Rose. You've fought more battles than any one person should ever have to. But you're not done fighting. Not yet."

Her shoulders slump as she drops her face into her hands.

"I can't do this anymore."

...

Amy's POV:

Every muscle and bone in my body are sore. I'm so mentally tired that I was ready to finally rest. Afterlife or no afterlife, I would finally be okay again.

But in a matter of seconds it was already decided that my final chance at peace would be ripped away without so much as a second thought about my own choice. I never told a soul what really happened to me when I was gone for all those years. No one ever truly tried to help me. Let alone cared about me.

But here he is, kneeling down in front of me telling me to keep fighting. When he was most likely the one who pushed for my revival.

How can he tell me to keep fighting when he's the one that took that decision away from me?

"I went through hell to be able to come back here, only to find out that I never left."

Shadow looks puzzled, but the look of concern hasn't left his face for a second.

"Rose, what are you talking about?"

Feeling a fuzzy feeling radiate through my body, I cover my ears as a ringing sound faintly echoes around in my head.

"It was never my choice to leave, Shadow!! I was taken from my home and nobody ever came to look for me. I left my living hell to come back to a completely new one!"

He freezes, a strange look flashing across his eyes. Almost like a soldier who's just been called back to war. He looks petrified.

"....what?"

"Right after I caught Sonic and Sally in the woods, I went on an expedition to the human world to look for a potential chaos emerald. I needed space so I left and never told anyone."

"So the state they found your house in... You had already cleared out your old house?"

"No. The house was a mess after I quickly packed and left, but the humans sent agents to wipe my house clean and plant evidence that I left. Sonic and I grew up with humans, so I never asked for backup when I went on the expedition. I got distracted after I discovered that Chris Thorndyke was put in an insane asylum for starting research on talking animals. Chris had taken us in when we were kids, so I couldn't just leave him there. In an attempt to break him out, I was captured. For the next 3 years I was experimented on until I eventually found a way to escape. I had nowhere else to go, so I came back here."

...

Shadow's POV:

Listening to her story, all of her strange behaviors and hostility start to become more clear.

The only people she ever cared about abandoned her.

She goes into detail about the horrific things that they did to her, and about her escape.

Her childhood friend came to save her, and was shot and killed in the process. It makes me remember flashbacks of Maria's death, and the sadness and rage that I felt.

And we both went through those losses alone.

As Rose is explaining what happened to her in the time that she was abducted, I notice a strange pulse radiating off of her. It's familiar, yet different at the same time.

I'm lucky enough that the doctor doesn't have her in a cell, so asking about the specifics of her revival is out of the question. But even so, I can't help but question the source of the strange pulse.

She's left the room in silence for several minutes now, so I see no better time to ask about her state of health than right now.

"Rose, how are you feeling after your procedure? Honestly."

She seems hesitant to answer the question. Rightfully so I suppose. She doesn't owe me answers after finding out that I'm the one who put her in this predicament.

"Sore."

"...Is that all?"

She looks away from me, avoiding my persistent gaze.

"It feels like every bone in my body was broke and then put back together, and every muscle feels ripped or pulled. My skin is irritated and sensitive and I feel like my own body isn't my own. My ears are constantly ringing, my vision feels blurry, and the rest of me feels numb."

That's not very far off from what was done to her.

"Elaborate on the ringing and vision, there could be something wrong."

Her ears flatten in fear, I'm assuming at the thought of having to go back to the lab.

I reach out to comfort her, but she flinches away.

"I promise I won't tell the doctor anything Rose. I simply don't want to see you in any more pain than you are already in."

Once again, she hesitates before answering.

"It's like a vibration, but I feel it throughout my entire body. I feel it coming from the floors and lights, and if I squint hard enough...It's almost like I can see clouds of light or steam. And the ringing sounds like the buzz of electricity in fluorescent lights."

Vibration from the floor? That almost sounds like...

Chaos energy.

She can sense chaos energy running through the entire facility.

"Rose, take a step towards me and tell me if you see the cloud you were talking about. Or anything like a stronger vibration or buzz."

She takes a small step towards me, as if scared that I'll pounce on her at any moment.

"It's all right Rose, come a little closer."

As soon as she takes another step her ears twitch, listening for the electrical humming.

As soon as I notice her eyes widen in shock, I realize that my assumption is correct.