Shadow Bound Chaos Focus

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. They all belong to SEGA.

Shadowspear Focus: Daemonkin Rules If you are eagerly awaiting the pre-order of Warhammer 40,000: Shadowspear this weekend, we have a look at some of the rules for the new Daemonkin units in the battlebox, including a look at a few Warlord Traits and psychic powers from the new Malefic discipline.

The story, however, belongs to me.

Story Beta Read by: Pepper1622

~17~

-Deny, Deny, Deny-

I've been feeling weak and tired all day since I awoke from my capture, which is weird because I've been strapped to this machine, pretty much motionless since. Feeling my eyes close in exhaustion for the hundredth time, I decide to see this as an opportunity to at least get some rest. It's oddly quiet, with only Eggman's almost insane chuckles puncturing the silence every once in a while.

I try to fully relax into the restraints and begin to breathe deeply.

In… out… inhale… exhale…

Like this I can sense Shadow's energy moving in a strange way, almost in time with my breaths. The warm, hectic energy spliced with a bit of my own pulls in towards his center tightly before moving out gradually towards the edges of his body. Maybe it's some kind of exercise to strengthen his control over his energy? I don't really know, but I just let it soothe me into a semi-unconscious state.

Compress… expand… compress—

An intense wave of Chaos flows through the room unexpectedly, and in an instant Shadow's energy is no longer calm and peaceful, shifting into deadly and volatile as the sound of breaking metal reaches my ears. I peel open my eyes to look at his form standing completely erect on the metallic ground, his muscles rigid in preparation for attack.

This all happens in seconds, not enough time for Dr. Eggman to truly realize what's going on, as he's only just now turning around with a confused question on his lips. 'Wha—?'

Like a blur, my black-and-red-streaked counterpart moves to dispatch the evil scientist, hitting him point-blank in the back of his round head, knocking him out cold. Watching as he stands over the prone human, his body slightly hunched as lances of Chaos energy flash and dance around his hands like lightning, I figure now would be a good enough time to escape from my bounds as well.

Pulling with fierce strength, I hear the metal groan then finally snap as it gives, causing me to fall and land on the metallic ground in a crouch. I stand slowly, still feeling just a bit weary; nevertheless, I still call out to Shadow when I see him losing his restraint against killing Eggman. I can't in good conscience let him do that, no matter how much I feel like he should be punished for all the vile things he's done.

'Don't, Shadow.'

He snaps his head in my direction, allowing me to see the energy inside him dancing like fire in his eyes. It's a magnificent sight as well as a deadly one. 'Tell me one good reason why I should let this son of a bitch continue breathing after what he's done! What he did to those people! What he did to you,' he snarls in barely controlled rage, stirring up emotions inside me that I wish to not feel right now.

Turning my gaze downward, I bring my eyes to my golden-buckled shoes as I speak, my tone quiet yet serious all the same. 'Because no matter what he's done, a life is a life. And I don't want any blood to stain your hands.'

I let my words marinate in the room for a moment before I close my eyes and begin to draw in the chaotic energy that still resides inside the Chaos Emeralds, hoping they'll assist me in repairing all the damage that's been done. 'Besides, there are more important things to deal with right now.'

Without even looking, I can tell the Emeralds are beginning to circle my body, revolving faster and faster until they're nothing but a white blur. The following explosion of power as they meld with my form isn't nearly as exhilarating as it should be, strangely enough. I open my now fiery eyes to see Shadow gazing at me in open awe.

He snaps out of his daze when I begin to float towards the third circle on the ground, his gaze locking on the brave Seedrian still sealed in place. I easily break her bounds, and Shadow helps her stand, as she appears to be pretty tired.

I begin to explain my plan to my fiercely determined mate once I'm sure Cosmo is okay. 'You stay here and watch after Cosmo. And keep Eggman unconscious, too. I'm going to go out there and see if I can put a stop to that 'undefeated' army.'

He doesn't like this plan by the look of his frowning visage, but it's the only choice I have. Flying up, I break a hole through the glass, making sure I'm not directly above the two important occupants and take a look outside. It's… horrible. Mobians everywhere are working to near exhaustion on the Doctor's creation with those creepy plant-like sentries watching over their every move. There are… hundreds, maybe even thousands, if I were to go through all the Zones. All of them appear to have no soul with the black hollowness where their eyes should be, every single one following orders like mindless puppets.

The very sight of this desolation puts a daunting weight on my shoulders. 'I-I can't do this…' I whisper hopelessly to myself, for the first time in my life feeling overwhelmed by a situation. Usually when I'm in Super form, I feel free, powerful, unstoppable, but right now I feel like I barely have the life energy to even sustain the form. What is wrong with me?

'Need any help, boys?' In surprise I look down at the sight of Rouge the Bat, sauntering in like she owns the place, directly towards Shadow and Cosmo.

I float down to their level and inquire urgently, 'Rouge, how'd you get here? Do you know about the others?'

She gives me a soft smirk as she places a hand on her hip. 'I evaded the capture of those creeps and kept watch on you guys for your brother and Knuckles. They were the ones who put a stop to the Emeralds before. I imagine it took a lot of work,' she adds while looking at her nails as if she can see them through her gloves.

I show a relieved smile and see Cosmo's face blossom into a look of joy at the news as well. The rich, smooth intone as Shadow speaks causes my attention to focus solely on him. 'I'm glad you and the others made it through this without harm, Rouge. Would you mind watching over things here while I help Sonic with the army?'

Feelings of surprise and gratefulness fill me to the brim as I stare into his unwavering red rubies, even though I try to deny his help smoothly afterwards. 'Shads, you don't need to. I'll be—'

His hand cups the side of my muzzle as he steps closer to me, speaking in an unintentional sultry tone, 'I want to. Oh, and by the way, you look positively ravishing in this form…'

I unconsciously blush, feeling thankful at the understanding I notice in his red orbs.

His warm hand grasps mine, and I allow the power of the Emeralds to be shared among us, marveling at the light golden tone his fur takes on, that blood red of his fur refusing to change even now. I look over at Cosmo and Rouge, who seem pretty companionable watching our scene unfold. 'You sure you'll be okay?'

Rouge takes Cosmo under her arm in a show of ease. 'We'll be fine. I can handle this sick creep'—her foot lodges into the unconscious man's stomach—'just fine.'

'Good luck, you two,' Cosmo wishes to us with a wave.

Shadow and I nod before lifting off, hovering in the night sky like two bright stars. Shadow starts to survey the area as my growing weariness gradually dawns clearly in my mind. I drop a few inches in the air abruptly, snapping back into place when my former obsidian hedgehog speaks. 'It appears that the minions are weakening. See,' he points out, and my eyes take in how sluggish they move now compared to when I observed them not long ago.

'We should be able to take them out with ease. Us being taken out of the machine must have disrupted their link from our powers. This is too easy,' he concludes with a confident smirk in my direction.

I return his gesture, but on the inside I just don't feel all that well. Diving down over the damaged landscape of Emerald Hill, we begin firing concentrated blasts of Chaos Energy at the revolting creations, hearing their sick, twisted screams of agony as they perish in ashes. Cheers break out from the Mobians when they notice our presence; they begin breaking out of the control of the mindless sentries to move into cover from our blasts.

As we fly over the vast Zone, dispatching creatures left and right, the tightening in my chest grows more and more strenuous, causing my breathing to become subtly labored. I lift my hand, feeling the nearly untamable energy gather into my palm as I aim a shot in the direction of a horde of tree-like monsters. As I let the energy go, things suddenly get… blurry.

'Sonic!' The warmth of his hand pulling me up straight in the air brings my vision back into focus so that I can see his vibrant eyes staring at me in confusion. 'What's wrong?'

I look back where I shot, seeing that it went way off kilter, barely even hitting one of them, before I answer his question. 'Yeah, I, uh… just…' I trail off, not sure how to cover up my mistake.

He raises an eyebrow questioningly before letting it go for now. I notice as we continue on how I seem to miss more and more, with Shadow wordlessly picking up my slack. D-damn. What is happening with me? I feel like… like I c-can't keep going much more like this. Should I tell Shadow…? I look over at his blazing form destroying opposition left and right with ease and don't have the heart to worry him. We're already finished with Emerald Hill and most of Chemical Plant. I can m-make it through this.

Breathing heavily and sagging rather than flying through the air, I halfheartedly shoot at the brown and green minions, knowing that with each shot my vision goes fuzzy.

It happens right when we reach the end of Chemical Plant Zone. Shadow had just taken out an immense amount of enemies with a vicious chuckle. I'd moved to help out like I know I should, expecting the usual fatigue and loss of sight to occur.

I really should start expecting the unexpected.

As I gather the energy like usual, my body suddenly locks up in agony at the sharp pain that surges through my abdomen, and I can't seem to breathe. Power begins to seep from me like water through a strainer. My eyes dull as I fall back through the air; the lively golden color of my fur bleeds back into cobalt blue in a fading light.

Shadow's horrified scream falls on deaf ears.

..

'—needs help, damn it! If I lose him, so help me God—!' an angry deep voice registers in my ears vaguely as I feel myself being moved about.

'We'll do whatever we can, sir—' Abruptly, sound ends, and I fade back into darkness.

..

'Sir, you can't come in with him. Hospital protocol,' a feminine voice says with strained patience.

'I'm his Chaos Bound! He's going into surgery! I need to be with him,' that deep voice from earlier speaks again.

'Sorry. It might disrupt the—'

The black void reaches up to claim me again, cocooning me in an empty vastness.

~XxX~

I inhale slowly, a sense of fatigue still buried in my bones as I awaken. The beeping of a heart monitor pulses in my ears in time with my heart, letting me know I'm the person admitted in the hospital. How did I get here, again? What happened beforehand? Foggy memories of fighting alongside Shadow—or more like him doing most of the work—before I passed out enters my mind.

I chuckle dryly for a moment at this. Things just haven't been going well for me lately, have they?

'Sonic? Are you awake?'

The question causes my eyes to open and look at the drained form of my mate, sitting by my bedside, clasping my hand like a lifeline.

I squeeze it in reassurance, giving him a soft smile when I respond. 'I'm fine, Shads. How long was I out? What happened?'

Suddenly looking like he aged fifty years, he tells me everything I wish to know. 'You've been asleep for half a day since your surgery. I brought you in some time last night, and it's almost evening now.'

I open my mouth to question exactly what surgery he's going on about, rapidly looking at my body for some kind of mark at the same time. His tightening grip halts my words, and I refocus my attention on his explanation.

'They refused to tell me what type of surgery, just saying that it would be quick and nonfatal. They wanted to wait until you were awake before fully explaining things.'

My mouth forms a small 'O' in acceptance as I nod. I voice another question that deserves an answer, 'Okay, so after I passed out… what happened with the rest of Eggman's army and our friends?'

'Well, I managed to contact your brother through your Wrist Com. and told him what was going on. He and the Echidna agreed to handle the rest of creations while Rouge took the Doctor to a maximum security facility, and Cosmo mentioned she would head back to you place before helping out with repairs. Tails said taking the rest of the army out with the X Tornado should be pretty simple, seeing as the frequency from our powers was disrupted.'

He rubs my hand with the back of his thumb as he continues, 'The Mobians of this planet are pretty resilient.'

My lips curve up in response to that, and I feel happy to know everything seems to be going fine. The sound of a doctor's entrance snaps our head in their direction and halts our conversation.

It's a female feline Mobian, fluffy and mackerel tabby in color, her overall appearance showing exhaustion yet a determination to help. She's wearing an immaculate white coat over her light blue dress, the tip of her bushy tail twitching and peeking out at the bottom. Her light blue eyes gaze down at the chart in her hands with sympathy, the emotion growing when she glances up at us—not at all a good sign.

Her light tone fills the room as she holds the chart to her chest and addresses us directly. 'Hello, I'm Dr. Flo, and, first off, I just want to say that I am very sorry for your loss.'

My brows furrow as I grip tighter to Shadow's hand holding mine, the pit of my stomach dropping in dread. 'What do you mean? Who did we lose?' I turn my confused emerald gaze to see Shadow looking at the doctor in question, his mind trying to figure it out without the aid of the practitioner.

Dr. Flo looks shocked at my words, the sympathy in her eyes now mixing with wordless empathy. Dear Chaos, what's going on…?

'Are you guys saying you didn't know…?'

'Could you please cut to the chase and let us in on this big secret?' Shadow demands impatiently, the worry from this situation finally getting to him.

She sighs and brushes the soft bangs from her eyes as she says a sentence that shatters my entire countenance, and the world around me suddenly loses its meaning.

'Sonic, you had a miscarriage.'

My heart strains in my chest, the monitor beside me beeping erratically as if to display this fact. I can only seem to stare blankly at the doctor as those five simple words attempt to make a connection in my mind. 'That's not true,' I say this automatically and quite monotonically as I feel a sort of numbness take over my awareness.

Shadow wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his warmth as he demands in a cold voice, 'I suggest you explain yourself or I'll find a way to get you fired for working him up over something like this.'

Although she's compassionate and understanding to our supposed 'situation,' she still stands tall and doesn't back down to my mate's simmering fury. 'I'll have you know, I speak nothing but the truth. Tell me this: have you guys been educated much on mating habits?'

I speak up, after blinking a few times in order to get those words to stop circling my mind over and over again like some sick hypnosis, and tell her the truth. 'I've been fighting Eggman most of my life, so I'm more life smart, than book smart.' My tone unfortunately is still quiet, controlled.

Shadow seems hesitant in his response, and I almost answer for him, as I know he's hardly been here long enough to know much of anything about Mobius, but the words he speaks actually manages to wring a bit of surprise me in my numbed state. 'If I told you my history, you wouldn't believe me, but I did read up on Chaos Bound when I first arrived here. I'll admit that I didn't… finish my study of it, though.'

Dr. Flo nods her head knowingly, and those words come back like a haunting echo. Sonic, you had a miscarriage…a miscarriage… A MISCARRIAGE!

She opens her furry mouth and begins to slowly and meticulously hammer more nails in the coffin. 'Well, I can tell you a brief bit about it. Dominant/Submissive pairs are different than the normal pair of Chaos Bound. They are the only pair who claims each other in a unique way. I see you're sporting your mate's claim bite, which only Submissives adorn.'

I raise my hand to the left junction between my neck and shoulder, feeling the teeth marks left in my skin. So that's what that is…

She continues knowledgeably, her tone of voice gaining a serious note. 'That claim mark is what makes it so that you are able to conceive. You see, Dominate/Submissive pairs don't have the option to reproduce on their own whenever they wish, so this mutation formed to where it can happen… but only once.'

I clutch my chest where my heart is desperately as I try not to let her words sink further into my head. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. Over and over again I repeat that phrase frantically as I feel Shadow's grip on me become uncomfortably tight.

'Once? What do you mean by that?' Even Shadow tries to deny her words, although I know he's a creature of logic and will most likely believe what she says in the end.

'Well, the change a Submissive has to go through is very taxing on the body. Sonic had already developed a womb, which is the easiest part to create, but the most difficult is the birthing canal. Temporarily, his anal passage would act as one for only the purpose of if a miscarriage occurred, gaining a slightly slick and sensitive texture at the time,' she explains while looking at Shadow to relay the technical information.

Join Turbo and his posse, the Fast Action Stunt Team. Filled with comedy, action and fun, this series amps it up to the extreme. Turbo fast. In general watching 'Turbo FAST', gives the feeling of watching 'Dexter's Laboratory' (1996) very much - same short, funny and fast- action packed style of show, except 'Turbo FAST' seems funnier to me. And one more important thing - the music is much better than the music on the movie.

I nearly stop breathing at her last sentence. T-that's why… is that why I felt so different…? My vision becomes foggy and I blink persistently to clear it, as I feel burning liquid slowly travel down my muzzle.

'If this change were to keep happening repeatedly, eventually the Submissive wouldn't make it through the childbirth,' she finishes with a saddened furrow to her brows.

I try so hard to outrun the overwhelming grief that threatens to befall me, but I can feel it already slipping past the numbness I had as a defense-!

It seems that running won't get me out of this one.

'If I… if I really had a miscarriage, where is the b-baby? How come I didn't see it… or feel it?' I challenge through the chocking lump in my throat as a last defense against her.

She looks at me, showing no signs of wanting to hurt me or win this so-called battle I'm having with her, but she answers honestly anyway in a sad, heartfelt tone. 'When you miscarried, you would have noticed bleeding as you passed your child. You probably didn't notice the baby, seeing as it would only be about a quarter of an inch long at this stage of pregnancy.'

I clasp a hand over my mouth in horror as I realize the exact moment I lost it: when I was forcefully hit in the stomach by that robot. That's why I felt so empty, why I felt so destroyed. I knew on a deeper level I lost something precious.

I lost my baby.

I turn to Shadow and crumble into the destroyed ruins of my former self, sobbing into the fur of his chest as I imagine our little one left all alone on that cold, monstrous ship, treated like nothing more than spilled blood. 'Shadow! I lost it! O-our—our—' I can't continue on as the emotions I'd been feeling all along burst forth like a geyser. Nothing can be denied anymore. Our only chance to have a baby together, and now it's gone.

And it's all his fault.

'Sonic, it's… I'm sorry. I'll do whatever it takes to make this right. Seeing you suffer like this breaks my heart,' Shadow whispers to me for only my ears to hear, and I cling to him tighter. I can hear it in his voice, though. He's suffering from this, too. And it's at this moment that I truly realize what Knuckles' message from the Master Emerald meant.

Great loss did follow, but not in the way we thought.

To Be Continued In.. Chaos Bound: Never Give Up

..What? Did you guys think I'd leave you on a cliff hanger? Yes, the sequel's already done and beta read by the lovely Pepper1622. You guys should really thank her. She's been a lot of help with beta reading this story and the next.

The next story actually won't completely focus on what you guys probably think it will. It takes a more darker tone, especially towards the end, and I really do hope you guys enjoy it. I feel like I pushed my writing skills to the next level on that one, heh. It will be the conclusion. No more sequels or anything.

Because you all have been so lovely-I mean I nearly hit 100 reviews! I never even imagined I'd get that far!-to thank you all, I'll be posting the first chapter this Friday before starting up the usual Monday updates.

Again thank you, thank you, thank you! It means so much! :)