Chapter 12

Sonic came over to Shadow, putting his hand over his eyes.

“…Sonic? What are you doing?” Amy said, a bit of fear still left to dwell in her voice.

“IF it’s that emerald that’s causing this, Shadow’s eyes are the only part of him they can’t fully take,” said Sonic. “That’s how you knew it was the real me in there, when it was me causing the problems,”

Shadow opened up his eyes, and Sonic was right, they were moving back and forth a little, like they were struggling somehow.

Then, he closed his eyes again, and the black substance returned.

It came up, straight out of Shadow’s being, and crawled up Sonic’s arm.

Sonic exclaimed, coming up to his feet.

He tried wiping it off, but it wasn’t cooperating.

Sonic looked back…and he saw a lake in the distance.

He instinctively ran towards it, using his mighty speed.

Amy was panicking, “SONIC NOOOOO! YOU CAN’T SWIM!!”

Sonic took no heed; the only logic in his mind was, “If this emerald gets anyone else, it could kill everyone left,”

The hedgehog took a deep breath, and selflessly dove into the water he was terrified of.

Amy let out a shrieking scream, and prepared to dive in after him.

But, before she could…the water suddenly turned black, and she couldn’t find where Sonic had dove in.

Sonic sunk down close to the bottom; he was quickly running out of air.

The lake’s water got darker and darker to Sonic’s eyes, the black substance was holding on to him for dear life.

He tried pulling it off, and to his luck, the water loosened its grip on his arm, and it dissolved.

There was a flash, and a solid emerald was sinking down with no substance.

The eerie glow became less and less strong.

Sonic’s attempts to swim were failing.

He was sinking like a rock in the muddled clear water.

Sonic reluctantly…gave in, he was not able to come back up, and he was just…out of breath…and out of strength.

His pure green eyes, closed in tight, he believed this was his final adventure.

There was a strong silence, a gash of memory before his palling eyes.

The emerald lost all its color, and, in one last flash, obliterated inside the water.

The black substance disappeared as if it was never there in the first place.

His hand started shaking, and his heart beat, was slower…and slower.

There was this weird sound; the light began to leave his sight, until he could barely see under the water.

Then a brighter light shot out in front of him, gold, he couldn’t figure out quite what it was, but he felt something grip around his neck, then around his wrist.

He felt this weird feeling, like the water was getting lighter, but he was in such a bad state, he felt close to death.

Then, his heart started beating faster, and faster, as the hedgehog gained feeling in his hand again.

Sonic came out, up from the water, taking in the air.

He was alive…and was now lying on the ground next to the lake.

Sonic stopped after he could breathe again, and then…starred.

He rubbed the water out from his eyes, and saw the one who’d saved him, was Shadow.

Shadow turned his back to Sonic, slowly.

Amy hung on him desperately, in disbelief.

“SONIC!” Amy howled. “Don’t ever scare me like that again!!!”

Sonic didn’t know quite how to take this…just moments ago he’d accepted his own death, but now felt this feeling overwhelm him.

A stronger respect for life, Sonic had been more mindful then most people, but now he was incredibly grateful for life.

There was a tension in the air, but Sonic soon cut it with his laughter. “I guess we’re even, for trying to kill me a few minutes ago,”

Amy and Shadow grunted.

“You almost died! And now you’re laughing!!” Amy complained.

Sonic was still tickled, overjoyed.

Shadow rolled his eyes in disgust.

“I had no free will over the matter,” Shadow mumbled. “The emerald must have had some side effect or something.”

“Admit it Shadow!” Sonic was still chuckling. “You’re a ‘Good Guy’ after all,”

Amy hugged Sonic once again, battering him with a number of different complaints.

But all three of them were relieved it was over, even if Shadow did not come into play until the last moments.

There was still a content feeling shared by all of them, a lovely moment.

The Black Emerald was no more.

The End