These Chaos Emeralds had a gift like no other. Power, strength… and perhaps most importantly, the power to keep Shadow the Hedgehog alive in the face of certain doom. The destruction of the ARK should have killed him, and yet… here he was. Back on Earth, safe and sound. Or as much as one could be, given Shadow’s circumstances. The moment he awoke, he thought he was in the afterlife… he thought he saw…

Maria?

But it was too good to be true.

Still, he took this second chance at life as a sign, one which the brightest stars in the sky seemed to agree upon: his work wasn’t done here. Whatever he did next, he’d do it for her… and he’d do it right.

The trouble was… what would he do?

His first instinct was to find Sonic and his friends, his family, to apologize for everything, but a part of him wasn’t ready to face them yet. Someday, but not today.

Maybe he would go see the world. Just like she said they’d do one day. He had no method of transportation but his own two feet which, like his talkative blue counterpart, he was very quick on, his Air Shoes doing most of the work. Still, he wouldn’t run the whole time; sometimes he’d just… stop. Take it slow. Walk. Something he knew Sonic could never do.

Which is how the jet-black hedgehog found himself tirelessly ambling along the side of some dusty road, in some dusty place. One thing was for sure: he was far from Prison Island.

It was just him and his thoughts for an unbearable length of time, until the sound of an engine caught his ear. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw what Maria called a ‘car’ come up the road, which soon pulled up to a stop beside him. He instinctively kept his guard up, gloved fists clenched as the human inside poked their head out to ask if he needed a lift.

They looked… decent enough. Not dangerous, by any means. So, begrudgingly, he accepted, and got into the passenger seat before they drove off to who knows where.

When asked where he was heading, he only had one destination in mind…

“To the end of the line.” he uttered.