Gwen and Team Dark are now infiltrating a G.U.N. base. Multiple explosions happen.

"So, G.U.N funded the research that created you and when they got you, they sealed you away for fifty years." Rouge stated.

This made Gwen glower with hatred towards G.U.N, even now she still doesn't trust them one bit, except Team Dark.

"Hmph." Shadow huffed.

A door opens and Gwen and Team Dark enters the room. Rouge begins to type on the keyboard, with Shadow, Gwen, and Omega following behind.

"My point is, don't get too caught up on any vendettas tonight." Rouge said.

Shadow crosses his arms and closes his eyes.

"G.U.N. is not my enemy tonight..."

Gwen and Team Dark face a Blue Falcon.

"...just an obstacle in my way." he finished with a smile.

Seeing his smile surprised Gwen before smiling as well.

"I call dibs!" Omega called.

The Blue Falcon fires multiple missiles at Gwen and Team Dark. Omega goes to attack the Blue Falcon, shooting at it rapidly. A missile flies past Omega and Gwen grabs onto the missile, launching it back up at the Blue Falcon. The G.U.N. Soldier inside the Blue Falcon sees this, and Gwen lets go of the missile, causing the G.U.N soldier to gasp and try to retaliate by firing more homing missiles. Activating her ruby power, Gwen flies up in speed and lands on top of the Blue Falcon and grabs the missile with her whip she summoned, flinging it directly into the Blue Falcon. The G.U.N. soldier tries to get a clear shot at Gwen, but Gwen's graceful dodge makes it impossible to track her. Gwen even leaves a scratch on the pilot's windshield with her whip. As Gwen free-falls, the Blue Falcon fires more homing missiles. Gwen was about to summon her bubble when Shadow teleports in front of her, coming to her aid, and destroys several mid-air before clutching the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Chaos Control!"

Time freezes and Shadow takes her hand before he and Gwen destroys the rest of the missiles, causing a huge explosion. Shadow and Gwen does a Spin Dash straight into the Blue Falcon, sending it tumbling out of the sky. Shadow and Gwen faces the G.U.N. soldier, which causes the soldier to panic, but Shadow ejects the G.U.N. soldier from the Blue Falcon. The Blue Falcon crashes into a tower and Shadow and Gwen boards the elevator leading to the shuttle.

"I wanted to destroy it!" Omega whined.

"Hm." Shadow responded with an amused huff before he and Gwen sit inside the shuttle. "Shadow to Rouge. We're in position."

Rouge begins to type on a keyboard. Omega is standing together with Rouge.

"Copy that and initiating launch."

With everything set, Rouge presses a button, initiating the countdown, and the shuttle takes off. However, the system detects an unauthorized launch, much to Rouge's confusion. Gun Beetles, along with the base's turrets and machine guns, prepare to open fire.

"Omega! Hurry! You have to take out those guns!" Rouge urged in panic.

Suddenly, Commander Abraham Tower steps forward. Rouge looks at the Commander.

"This is Commander Abraham Tower. All forces - stand down." he ordered.

The G.U.N. forces stop the attack. The song "Without You" begins to play in the background.

https://youtu.be/gfGQpCW5uy4

Rouge sighs in relief.

"Abe! I brought that intel you requested."

A screen appears which has the Time Eater on it.

"And aided in the destruction of millions in G.U.N. assets." Commander stated.

"Sorry, but Shadow needed some help saving the world. Gwen is with him." Rouge informed.

Hearing that made Commander sigh.

"If that's the case... despite all that's passed between us, he saved the world from Black Doom, he should've known I would've supported him if he'd asked."

"When has Shadow ever asked for permission?" she smirked.

"You could've talked him down, Rouge!" he retorted.

Rouge laughs quietly.

"There's only one person who could ever do that."

"True... and she was lost to us a long time ago..." Commander said solemnly.

"Yeah... But at least, he has someone he's willing to protect. She too can talk him out of it." Rouge said.

Commander looked at her with confusion.

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about. Gwen the Hedgehog."

This made him recall the time he met Gwen the first time, and he could've sworn he saw his old friend through her for a moment. He smiled a bit.

"I guess you're right..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the shuttle heads toward the Space Colony ARK, Shadow begins to reflect on a possible future he could've shared with Maria. His eyes starts to widen as he flashes to Maria smiling at him, her hair flowing from the wind with him sitting beside her in the glowing field of flowers. Maria placing a blanket over a sleeping Shadow, smiling down at him fondly. Gwen notices his expression and gets concerned. However, Shadow realizes this, and he stops himself and closes his eyes.

"Stop it." he scolded himself, opening his eyes again. "That life was taken from me long ago. I need to focus on the mission at hand."

Gwen places a hand on his arm, making him look at her to see her frowning at Shadow with sympathy and sadness.

"It's okay to feel that way... I too lost my old friend Cosmo from long ago. But I learned to move on... even if it's hard to forget..." she said, making him stunned for a moment. "You know, if she were still here... and we met under a different circumstances in a different universe... I would love to be her friend..."

Shadow stares at her for a while until he smiles softly.

"Yeah... She would like that very much..."

The shuttle launches itself further toward the Space Colony ARK.

"A threat lurks aboard the ARK, and we must eliminate it." he reminded, facing forward.

"Right." Gwen nodded, getting serious.

They both head to the Moon and Space Colony ARK. Meanwhile, through the darkness in the ARK, three pairs of red eyes opens and glows as they face the window where the spaceship is. It reveals Black Doom as he's surrounded by cables, aware of Shadow's approach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the ARK, Maria and Shadow are sitting in front of the window of the main part of the ARK where they can see a full view of the Earth. Maria reaches her hand out to the bright light that shined upon the Earth.

"When we can start our new lives on Earth, we'll see all the world has to offer and learn all there is to know first-hand!" she said with a smile before turning to him. "Won't it be lovely, Shadow?"

Shadow looks at her for a moment before turning away, looking down. He flashes back to the future where he's sitting with his knees close to his chest and his arms around himself in the field full of beautiful white flowers in the starry night sky. He closes his eyes with sadness.

"Maria, I don't know if it will be right for me." he said. "I'm not like you. What if I can't find where I belong?"

Maria places her hand against his cheek to make him look at her smiling face.

"I believe in you. With your courage, you can do anything."

She then hugged him, causing the fireflies to come out of their hiding from the white flowers to make the scenery more beautiful. This left Shadow speechless at the comfort and warmth from his dear friend.

"And if you ever have trouble, you can always count on me to help you."

After saying those final words, Maria vanished into a swarm of fireflies and soared off into the night sky, seemingly never having been there. As he sat there, looking down sorrowfully, Shadow absorbed the warmth he already missed. Only the sound of the wind rustling the white flowers could be heard. At that moment, he hears two footsteps coming up behind him and stopping.

"Shadow?"

He was startled to see Gwen standing in front of him with a lantern in her hand. He sees that she is covering her pajamas with a jacket. Shadow wondered why she was here since he wasn't expecting to see her. When Gwen found him here, she was wondering the same thing because she was having trouble falling asleep and wanted to go for a walk outside. Seeing that he was sad, she offered him rather than asking.

"...Mind if I sit with you?"

Startled by her offer, he briefly flashes from Gwen to Maria for a moment before closing his eyes. He nods and smiles softly. Gwen approaches Shadow and settles down beside him, setting the lantern beside her. Shadow carefully places his hand on top of hers after cautiously reaching out to touch it. She deliberately turns her hand and interlocks her fingers with his as she smiles and gazes up at the beautiful night sky. With each other, the two sat comfortably.