Supposed To Be Me (Shadow x Reader)

Chapter 17 Diverging Dreams

"And (Y/N) will be your wife, Shadow! You two are perfect for each other!"

He never understood why she would always insist he marry (Y/N), but he would never dare to object to her dream. Sadly, reality always catches up with the dream, and it shreds the dream to pieces. The universe takes the pieces and stitches them together into something else for its amusement. It doesn't care if what it creates is something completely different from what the original dream was about. And, like always, what Maria would say next would allow fate to tear his dream apart.

"Shadow, please...," Maria begged. There was so much sorrow in her plea that Shadow could feel a sharp stab in his chest when she spoke. The crystal teardrops were forming at her eyes again, and she trembled slightly. Shadow felt a lump form in his throat. He already knew what she was going to ask of him. "I need you to use your wish to save (Y/N)."

If there was one thing Shadow wished he could change about Maria, it would be her selflessness. Maria would gladly bear the burdens of every person in the world if it meant that they could be happy. It sickened Shadow whenever she stopped caring about her own well-being. She would carelessly throw herself into harm's way just to save someone who was practically a stranger. It didn't just sicken Shadow. It angered him. To no end. He hated it. He wanted to grab onto Maria and hold her so tightly she could never risk anything for anyone ever again. But he could never say no to those eyes... He would always relent, and let her make her own decisions. That angered him too. Why was he such a pushover? He knew tough love was what she needed, but he could never give it to her! ...Until today.

"No," Shadow murmured. He had never felt so adamant about anything in his life. She was NOT going to die. He couldn't let her. Not even if she begged, pleaded, and cried. Maria could hate him for all he cared. She was going to live.

"Shadow, you know she deserves to live! (Y/N) never had anyone! She never got to experience anything except loneliness! Please, I beg of you...!" Maria cried with every ounce of desperation she could muster.

Unlike yesterday, Shadow was determined to stand his ground. He wasn't going to let their story end like this. There could be no world for him without Maria. "Maria, stop it. (Y/N) did get to live. She lived for you. It was her choice to shove you into the escape pod, and that was a very noble thing for her to do. She sacrificed everything to get you here, just like you told me yesterday! Her final wish would be for me to save you! You're what she loved most. Not me! There is no one else she would have taken that bullet for, Maria! I refuse to believe she would want us to undo everything she did for us!"

Maria flinched. There was a pain in her eyes. Shadow knew she was still blaming herself for what had happened, and that was only natural. But he wasn't going to turn back. His mind was made up. It was the only logical solution. He had to choose Maria.

"...I know grandpa said the chaos emeralds can only grant one wish before scattering themselves, but maybe the legend was wrong. Maybe you can make two wishes!" Maria stopped when she realized how little sense it would make for the chaos emeralds not to scatter themselves after one wish. "Well..., maybe you can find them again. Then we can make another wish!"

Shadow shook his head lightly. "Maria..., the chaos emeralds won't scatter across just this world. They will scatter across the galaxy. Maybe even the universe. It would take several lifetimes to gather them together again! They were on Earth because the Dark Arms collected them all a long time ago and were hiding them on Earth to keep other alien species from finding them. We only get one chance."

Maria looked down at the floor sadly. "That's it then, huh...? You're choosing me. I'll finally get to live... Like I had always dreamed..."

Nothing in her voice indicated any bit of happiness or satisfaction. There was no rejoicing over his decision to save her. Shadow knew it was the correct thing to do, but he also knew that Maria would never stop blaming herself. She could never be happy. After all, her dream could only be complete with (Y/N) in it. And fate brutally cut her out of the picture entirely.