{Hi, everyone!
I mentioned in the author's note (y'know, the section right before this one) that I had some additional content for this AU—ideas that didn't work out, basically—that I'd be willing to share if that was something people wanted, and a few responded with interest, so here we are!
If a cut section is small enough, I'll put it in its entirety here, but if it's larger (I've scrapped more than 10 chapters of different story arcs) I'll just summarize them. Additionally if an idea never made it past the brainstorming stage, I'll be summarizing it as well. I'm going to do my best to keep them chronological, but...Well, to be frank, the notes files for this story, my brainstorming files, are an absolute mess. It's the reason why this is so goddamn late and I truly am sorry for that but hoooooo boyyyy this was.
This was a challenge. As it is, I don't have many 'cut bits' from the first like...forty chapters, because it was only around chapter forty that I realized hey, maybe saving my throwaway files would be a good idea.
I'm really not very bright sometimes...
//coughs. I think that's enough chatter out of me.
Here are the ideas that just didn't quite make the cut, separated by that series of dashes I always do to cut up the scenes and stuff.}
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From around Chapter 10 onward—that's the arc where Shadow was taken to a hospital after meandering around the world for about a year, and not really taking care of himself, for anyone who can't quite remember—I started writing an arc where Shadow takes control of the hospital, his first instance of acting a bit...strange, as we see him do in later chapters. The general premise was something similar to the things The Riddler does in the Batman video games, because I began that concept when I was only thirteen, a notoriously uncreative age for me. In essence, Shadow was using his AU-specific abilities (the powers he has that are not from the Sonic canon...there'll be more on that in the sequel) to utterly trash the hospital. He made all of the technology fail, scratched up the walls (which didn't take any powers, he just...he just used his hands.), and did a bunch of other random things that really didn't make a whole lot of sense.
Apparently thirteen-year-old me figured this was a good enough arc to write about four or five chapters on it, which have since become lost to the void... No, just kidding, I never delete ANYTHING, they're just not going public, and they're probably buried in my 11-year-old Toshiba's files. God only knows where that hunk of garbage ended up. (It's probably in the attic). The events in the chapter are as follows:
-Somehow Shadow has telepathy and uses it to talk to Sonic and his friends, just sort of... complaining at them? This arc really doesn't make much sense now that I'm looking back on it.
-He turns off all the lights and kidnaps Knuckles. Somehow. Presumably when Sonic&Co go off to figure out what the hell is going on.
-There was some fight scene where Shadow yet again fights Sonic using a knife, like he did in Chapter 3 because, again, not creative.
-Shadow leaves behind some shitty riddle—it was really bad, I'm not good at riddles whatsoever—and somehow Rouge shows up (unexplained) and starts trying to solve it.

...And then I gave up and abandoned the story for literally three years. Not even kidding, everything after the first half of Chapter 8 was written three years after the beginning.
Talk about procrastination.

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Original introductory sequence for the moment when Sonic attempts to ambush Shadow and Scourge (it's around like chapter 40 or something, I can't quite find it though):

"Uh, hey, Shadz?" Nervously, Scourge calls over his shoulder to me. "I think you might need to take a look at this."

"Hmm?" I turn to see him crouched on the ground a few feet away, peering down at something; he kneels beside a trashcan, his right knee level with his chest, its corresponding arm draped over his thigh, left hand flat against the ground, palm-down. Despite the darkness, his sunglasses are down over his eyes, and I wonder how he can see anything, especially since we had been standing in the spotlight of a street lamp but he'd moved out of the light to look at whatever intrigued him.

He gingerly picks up the object, holding it between his index finger and thumb. "It's a ring, but it wasn't there when we got here."

"A ring?" I echo, puzzled, but he's right--it's a plain gold band, large enough to fit on one of his fingers. "Unusual," I bend down, hands on my knees, the spray-paint pushed to the side of my grasp but pressing into my leg uncomfortably, "why would that be here?"

"I dunno," he answers, his fur bristling, "but I know that it wasn't here before--I heard the clink of it as it fell."

My hackles rise as well and I stand up stiffly, looking up, casting my senses out. A response hits me immediately, a mind I know far too well. But for some reason he's waiting, biding his time, which is unusual for him. Perhaps this is more important than his usual hijinks? Shaking my head, I turn around and go back to the wall. It doesn't matter anyways.

I decided against using this because it just seemed to lack pizzazz, you know?

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This was an alternative ending to the chapter before Shadow and Rouge's day out...I think. I eventually decided to cut it out because Rouge just seemed out of character in my opinion, and the chapter was already running a tad long.

The door opens lazily as the two of us shuffle in, eyes dull with exhaustion, postures drooping. Not even Rouge can keep her usual perfectly straight-backed pose; her shoulders are lowered, her back bent, and her shoes drag along the ground as she shuts the door. I yawn, stretching with both arms above my head as I trot into the living room, pausing only to kick off my shoes and place them next to a different pair of hers while she tugs her current boots off. "God," she complains, stretching too as she follows me, "I'm exhausted."

"Me too," I answer, cracking my neck as I walk. She hums behind me, rubbing her eyes.

"It's gonna be a cold night," my batty friend comments, seeming concerned. "Are you sure you're gonna be alright? I mean, the sheets on that bed are a bit thin--do you want me to get you a quilt?" As we round the corner, I think carefully on her offer. I don't really want her to go out of her way, but it is kinda chilly outside.

"Wellllll," I drag the word out, stalling, "if it isn't too much trouble..." I speak slowly, not looking over my shoulder, but before I can finish, she chuckles.

"I'll grab one from my closet while you hang that jacket up. Saturday, we'll get it cleaned and repaired, by the way." She swishes into her room, and I pause, eyes wide.

"You mean it's possible to repair it?!" I gasp, excited; my cheeks immediately heat with embarrassment as she shoots me a bemused look over her shoulder.

"Of course it is--after all, do you really think I buy new outfits after every mission?" she answers, disappearing from view. "Jeez, you're such a little kid sometimes. Why's that jacket so important, anyhow?"

My blush brightens a little, and I rub the back of my neck, looking at the floor. Frankly, I care about it so much purely because Scourge gave it to me, and it reminds me of him. I bury my hands in the pockets. "U-uh," I stutter. I have to answer, but I don't really want to tell the truth... "Well, it's the only thing I own," I lie as she steps out of her room, thrusting a thick and lovely-looking blanket into my hands.

"Uh-huh," she answers, though she doesn't sound like she believes me. I blush a bit more, burying my face in the mass of fabric as I hug it close to me in order to hold it better.

"Thanks," I answer softly, struck yet again by how nice she's being to me. Despite myself, I smile at her, cringing inwardly; I know it's such an ugly expression on my face but I really can't help it when I'm around her. To my surprise, though, she doesn't give me a look of revulsion. Rather, her cheeks begin to glow with a slight pinkish hue and she glances away, smiling too.

"D-Don't mention it," she replies, pulling back and still not looking me in the eye. "Uh, anyways, goodnight, Shadow." Her bedroom door shuts with a resounding thump, and I blink in surprise. What was that all about? Tipping my head to one side, I blink a couple times, then shrug it off. Guess she's just really tired. Pacing back to my own room, I gently set the quilt—

And then it ends. Mid-sentence. Because that was exactly when I realized the idea was terrible.

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At one point, I was going to write in a scene where a Team Dark mission goes south, and Shadow ends up getting terribly injured, winding up in the hospital for about the fifth time in this book. Rouge and Omega, of course, are worried sick, but y'know. Ultimate Lifeform. He's gonna be fine. Only problem is none of the other characters know he's immortal yet, they just know his Chaos Energy can heal him, but maybe it has limits, who knows?
The entire point of the scene was that the second Shadow wakes up, he asks if Rouge is okay. Then, once she shows up, she yells at him, something along the lines of, "You fucking idiot! What were you thinking?! You could have died back there!"
To which he replies, "Yeah, but I didn't."

Cheeky little fucker. But I'm not using it because it'd be bland and boring—I'm not gonna kill off my main character here, am I? ...Am I?

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I'm sure everyone remembers the later chapters with Scourge, right? Around chapters 50 and 60. The ones where he's stuck in the G.U.N. hospital with a broken leg. Shortly thereafter, he ends up blowing up a building which really angers Rouge because really, that's just a terrible idea.
The original concept for that mini-arc was for Scourge to escape in the middle of the night, instead, and stop by Shadow and Rouge's place to say goodbye to Shadow. How would he do that? Why, by scaling the building of course.
I'd originally written for him to knock on Shadow's window one night at around two in the morning, having Spider-Man'ed his way up to the second floor, which is really more like the third or fourth floor because the club half of the building has high ceilings.
So, Scourge sneaks in through the window to say goodbye to Shadow for what he worries might be the last time; I was going to write Shadow doing a series of teleportation-jumps to and from their kitchen to grab Scourge some food.
I'd really fleshed this idea out, but... for further character development, I realized I needed to change it. Though the concept of Shadow popping in and out of the room and shoving a bunch of crap in Scourge's face every time is goddamn hilarious to me honestly. "Stripes, I don't need all this—"  "Shut up and take the bagels."

Also, in case you've not been able to pick up on this for whatever reason: Yes. The chapters with Scourge in them are indeed supposed to imply ""a bit more than friendship"". No-one seems to be picking up on this (mainly my fault, since romantic subplot takes a backseat to all the action) so I'll just say it outright: the Shadow in this AU is bisexual. It's not exactly super important to this book, but it'll be prevalent later on in the sequel once things calm down a bit.
So, anyways, if you've a problem with bisexuality and/or LGBT+ characters, fuck off, it's my AU and I'll do what I want with it. There's plenty of other content out there that isn't LGBT+, but I'm not gonna manufacture it, so you won't find it on my page.

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This isn't exactly relevant but I just found a piece in my notes written at 4am that simply says "At some point, Shadow MUST be on a skateboard."
Alright, 4am-me. Alright.

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The beginning of Chapter 45 starts off with an implied torture scene involving Shadow, a robot, and some rather sharp implements. Originally, I wrote out the torture scene—in decent detail, actually, because it was Halloween when I first wrote it and I'd just watched a bunch of horror movies. When I showed it to a friend who occasionally proofreads the things I'm not sure about, he pointed out that most of my story is PG-13, and this scene was definitely whatever rating is above an R. I will not include the scene here, nor will I ever send it to anyone (well, anyone else), but, just in case the effects of that incident on Shadow's psyche were unclear: in essence, Robotnik was forcing Shadow to associate certain things he knows about himself with horrible awful agony. This is something seen in a lot of horror movies, where the villain torments the victim until they block everything they know about someone or something out of their mind.
Pretty gruesome.
Aren't you all glad I've got a proofreader? Lmfao... This isn't meant to be a horror book. Doesn't fit the tone. So, out the scene goes.

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Here's a little one-shot I don't think I'll ever end up using (also it's third-person POV and I feel it works best that way honestly), but some might appreciate:

"Sometimes I wonder...would it be better, for everyone, if I just...didn't exist?" Shadow chuckles, then sighs hollowly, looking down at the roof tiles beneath his feet. "Of course, I know that's a stupid question. I already exist, so it's pointless to think of what the world would be without me. Although, I guess I could just...stop existing, you know?" He shrugs, laughing shortly, "I keep thinking, that's what will be best. All I do is ruin everything, so maybe it'd be better if I wasn't always getting in the way... After all, there's only so many times you can say 'sorry' before it starts sounding fake. I'd better go before I hit that point. No-one really needs me, anyways." He stares up at the deep purple, moonlit sky, breath fogging from between his fangs, clenched in a sick smile.

"Shadow," Rouge murmurs, shocked, "that's not true, that's not true at all. I—We need you." She puts a hand on his arm, and he turns to look at her, fake smile fading. The two make eye contact for quite some time, before he breaks it, laughing as he turns away.

"You don't really mean that," he snorts, "but, for what it's worth," hefting himself to his feet, the dark hedgehog looks down at the snowy bat, "I'll pretend to take your empty words to heart, okay?"

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Chapter 67, Shadow sees Rouge leaving the President's office in an upset rush, and he almost goes to eavesdrop on the President to try and figure it out. He decides against that, though, and instead just leaves, wanting to see if Rouge is okay instead.
That... wasn't my first idea. Initially I was going to write this, another passage supporting the "G.U.N.'s President is an absolute dick" characterization. That's seen more in the second book, with all the interactions in this book leading up to that, in case you weren't clear on that... I feel like it's easy to pick up on, I wrote him as really unnerving for a reason, y'know?

As I grow nearer to the door, I hear voices mumbling, and my ears perk, intrigued; cautiously I inch towards the dark mahogany slab separating me from the oh-so-esteemed President, his voice muffled by its density. Fortunately for me, there's always the crack marking the join from door to doorframe, so I press my eat to that, hoping no one plans on opening the door anytime soon.

"...Becoming of little use to us," he sighs, sounding bored. There's a pause, and I wonder who he's talking about, and who he's talking to. He must be on the phone, since I can't  hear anyone else talking. "Yes, I was thinking so too. She's growing too comfortable—we need to give her a little reminder of just how much power we hold over her."

My blood runs cold. What? Are they talking about Rouge? His tone, the offhanded manner in which he talks about this mystery person, speaking of manipulation—it's chillingly similar to Robotnik's words, the things I was once forced me to forget.

"Yes, I ordered her to, but I've given her more time.... Yes, yes, I know, I know, but as it turns out, he's a bit more clingy than we thought he'd be." A pause; I find myself holding my breath fearfully. "I understand. No, of course we'd keep him, but her... Yes. I'm glad you agree. Now, if I may, hear me out—I've had to give her more time to cut him off. She made a good case for herself, and I folded..."

A very long silence follows, and my blood boils. There's no doubt about it, I realize grimly. They're discussing Rouge and I. It all makes sense now, why she acts so cold to me now, why she keeps pushing me away. A rift is beginning to grow between the two of us nearly tangible, fraught with distrust and my own pain. But now I know why. How dare he. Red blinds me, but I keep still, teeth bared in a grimace of hate. I was wrong. I cannot trust this man.

"I know. I know. If it's any consolation, sir, their relationship is already souring. She's going to follow our orders, regardless of what her heart might say, that much we can be sure of." A heartless chuckle punctuates his judgements, and I sink my claws into the wall out of sheer fury.

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Alright alright that's enough angst, okay! Have a cute little bit I cut from the chapter where Team Dark has to work with Team Sonic (plus Amy), an arc that never actually happened, so it's like a cut bit from a cut bit. I took it out because it messed with the pacing of the chapter, but it's really rather lovely.

"I can't believe we have to work with them," I snarl in disgust; Rouge chuckles, shaking her head. The two of us are walking side by side down the street as snow gently flutters down from a greyish-blue sky, me with my hood drawn up over my head, jacket zipped, and Rouge clopping cheerfully beside me in her usual work clothes.

"It's unavoidable, Shadow," she sighs. "If you're going to work for G.U.N., you're going to have to work with Sonic and his friends every now and then."

"No," I huff.

"Yes," she counters. I shove my hands into my jacket pocket, sneering annoyedly as I slouch down a bit further.

"No."

"Yes." She stifles a laugh, and I find the edge of my lips tugging into a rakish smirk.

"No," I reply with a slightly silly slant in my tone.

"Yyyyyeeeeessssss," the ivory bat nudges me, and I bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"Nnnnnooooooo," I answer in kind, butting my head into her shoulder stubbornly. In response, she grabs the hood off my head and ruffles her hands through my spines roughly, resulting in many protesting yelps from me. "Hey, hey hey!" I yip, wiggling about in a desperate attempt to free myself from her grasp. She breaks out into a fit of giggles as she finally lets go of me, letting me yank my hood back up. I scowl at her in mock-anger, growling a little, but it's so hard to stay irritated at her when her laugh is that adorable—not to mention infectious. I find myself biting back on a chuckle or two (okay, more like twenty, but who's counting?) as well, hooking my fangs over my bottom lip.

"You look like a vampire when you do that," she giggles, shoving me.

"What?" I flick an ear, puzzled.

She stops laughing, taking a few deep breaths, and continues, "You—Every time you're about to laugh, you bite your lip like that, and it makes you look like a vampire."

"I-I do?" Furrowing my brows, I glance down, embarrassed. I didn't even notice.

"It's kinda cute, actually," Rouge answers, giving me an odd smile. I stiffen, twice as embarrassed now, feeling my face heat up.

"I am not cute!" I protest, hackles rising, but she just pats my shoulder, bemused.

"Of course not, hun," she says in a faux-soothing tone, quickening her pace to walk ahead of me. "Hey, hurry up—we still need to pick up Omega from the Robotics Lab, remember?"

"Hm?" I blink for a moment, confused, and then remember. "Oh yeah, you mentioned earlier that he was still over there." We went our separate ways to go prepare, and he went to the lab for some last-minute touchups.

She snorts. "Good to know you listen to me, even though you only seem to be half-listening," her tone drops into acid, and I wince.

"Hey, I do listen to you," I protest, flustered. "I just forget sometimes."

Rolling her eyes, my batty partner shakes her head. "Whatever. Hurry up!"

Additionally, it messes with the concept of Rouge having to act cold towards Shadow, an overarching storyline that'll be resolved in the sequel. She seems to flip between being her normal kind self and being absolutely horrible to him, and I know that's probably been confusing, but here, explanation: Rouge obviously cares very deeply for Shadow, and having to be cruel to him absolutely kills her. So sometimes she can't help herself, she just wants so much to be nice to him, and she can't decide what she wants.

I've seen a couple people commenting things like "what the hell, Rouge? Quit your job! What the actual fuck?" And I just gotta say... Do you really think she's chosen this? Don't you remember how G.U.N. treated her in Sonic X when they first met her? There's something so much larger going on here, something y'all haven't seen yet. I'm surprised no one's asking "Why? What's her story here?" But that's totally okay because I can't wait to explain it and break everyone's hearts.

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The ending to this book was incredibly delayed because I ended up rewriting the final five or six chapters three different times, and only publishing one ending arc. The first was scrapped because it had too many interruptions and POV changes; I brought Shadow's family back a bit early, and the concepts in the first writing eventually became parts of the first chapter of the sequel. The second writing was a bit of a halfway point, where I still had too many POV changes and a bit too much noise, but less so than before. For whatever reason, I figured it'd be a great idea to make the Team Sonic&Team Dark collaboration mission to infiltrate a Robotnik-controlled city. Because, y'know, it's not like they're super-recognizable people or anything. Additionally I wrote a panic attack scene for Shadow that might actually get recycled later, who knows. Plus, there was a rather interesting scene with Shadow and Amy, as well as more information on the whereabouts of Lightpaws plus some more of Shadow's mysterious family. Those bits might get rewritten and incorporated too.
In case you've not figured it out already, I recycle things a LOT. Most of the chapters in this book were only written once or twice and not proofread a whole lot (and it shows...so many typos...) because A) y'all can be a little impatient and I'm a slow person anyways and B) the one friend who was my proofreader is both incredibly far behind and incredibly busy, so I don't like bothering him with this shite.

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Lastly, we have the bonus Easter Egg: the soundtrack. I know not everyone has a Spotify, so I've assembled a list of the songs so that you could, I dunno, make a YouTube playlist or something. Warning: some of these songs are...christ, what's the word. People call it ""screamo"" but I honestly think that's the dumbest term. In any case, if you don't care for that, avoid the ones with "(Volume Warning)" beside them.

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/chuiche24/playlist/17Fsa84xIXyOkPj0o2ITTT

Overall theme: Help Our Souls (Urban Contact Radio Edit) by Nihils
Shadow's Theme, first few chapters: I Am Machine by Three Days Grace (Volume Warning), Gasoline by Halsey
Shadow's Theme, middle chapters: Migraine by Twenty One Pilots, Avalanche by Bring Me The Horizon
Shadow's Theme, later chapters: I Don't Care - Single Version by Fall Out Boy
Shadow's Theme at the end: So What by Three Days Grace, Not A Saint by Breaking Through
Shadow's internal struggle: The Dark Half by Above the Broken (Volume Warning), Me, Myself and Hyde by Ice Nine Kills (Volume Warning), Monsters by Ruelle (special thanks to @gabbyizfrozen for showing me that song, it's absolutely perfect <3)
Scourge's Themes: Dead Bite by Hollywood Undead, One Too Many by New Medicine
There's two other songs—"Rich Kids [Middle Cla$$ Remix]" and "Breaking the Model" by New Medicine—that I can't explain right now because spoilers, but they're mainly Scourge themes.
Shadow and Rouge themes: Punchin' Bag by Cage the Elephant, Say Goodbye by Krewella (Foreshadowing, anyone?)
Rebellion: The Fallout by Crown The Empire (Volume Warning), Rise Of The Runaways By Crown The Empire
Shadow VS Demon: You're Going Down by Sick Puppies (Volume Warning)
Shadouge Theme, platonic: Zoom by Last Dinosaurs
Shadouge Themes, romantic: Partners In Crime (Feat. Ash Costello) by Set It Off, Follow You by Bring Me The Horizon
Shadow to Rouge: Doubt by Twenty One Pilots
Rouge to Shadow: The World Is Ugly by My Chemical Romance
"Insane-Shadow" 's Themes: Stressed Out by Twenty-One Pilots, Control by Halsey, Monster by Imagine Dragons, Semi-Automatic and Ode To Sleep by Twenty One Pilots
Shadow&Scourge's Theme: Vegas Lights by Panic! At The Disco
Heather's Theme: Hope of Morning by Icon For Hire (Foreshadowing, anyone?)
Rouge's Themes: Ex's and Oh's by Elle King, Hit&Run by LOLO
"Insanity" Theme: Mad Hatter by Melanie Martinez
Sonic's Theme: Planetary (GO!) by My Chemical Romance

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{If you've made it this far, then damn, I am proud of you.
Also I've a couple of questions for you, if you want to answer.
Did you find this bonus-content stuff fun?
Do you particularly mind the bits with my garbage original characters in them? I kept cutting those bits out because while Shadow's family is important to the plot... Well, I just really don't know if anybody actually enjoys those parts.
Is the whole soundtrack/playlist thing a fun idea? Music always really inspires me, and I wanted to share the songs I listen to when I'm brainstorming. The second book has a soundtrack in the works too that you might be able to find on my page, if Spotify works the way I think it does.
Have you got any songs that remind you of this story? I will gladly add them to the playlist if they really do seem to fit.
Was anything unclear throughout this book? Unsure of the continuity? Worried I might have made an error (I'm almost positive I did at some point)? Don't be afraid to ask! I'll gladly explain whatever it is. Unless you ask about something I'm gonna address in the second book, then I'll just tell you that's Spoiler Content but I'll try to clear it up without spoiling too much.
Comment to answer any of these questions. Again I'm not demanding it of you, I'm just saying if you've something to say, please say it. I don't bite, I promise.

Last thing, at the time of writing this I've recently pulled the sequel to this book off Wattpad...
DON'T WORRY. IT'S NOT DELETED.
I pulled it offline for revision work, and once I've a small queue built up, I'll publish again.

I hope everybody enjoyed this little mess of an bonus-content package, and if you wanna know even more, feel free to message me, anytime.
....Plus one very last thing I wanna add to spare my own ego is oh my god all my illustrations for this book are SO OLD, my art doesn't even look like that anymore and I want to die.

On that note...
I'll see you in the sequel, Shadow: The Legend Continues. Coming to Wattpad libraries near you as soon as I get off my lazy ass and actually write it.
Bye!

—Rache Tanz}