A/N: Well, here is a brand new story I thought up. I hope you enjoy it. I LOVE Shadow the Hedgehog, in all honesty, I like him better than Sonic. :) But anyways, I'd like to thank TheWhyteRabbyt for her well appreciated help and her fic 'On Mobius' which helped inspire this fanfic. That and a jar of Nutella helped inspire this, I'm not kidding.

I own the storyline, however SEGA owns the characters. The setting 'Big City' was created by TheWhyteRabbyt and is used with permission. The songs belong to their respective bands.

lol So anyways, Thanks so much for all your help Whyte! This one's for you! Hope you enjoy it!

It was just any other day at Sonic's house, loud, boisterous, busy... Parties weren't very high on Shadow's list of favorite things to do, he'd much rather be on the gun range, polishing his sharp-shooting. Either that, or seeking solace in a quiet places where he could sit, be alone, and think.

For lack of a better term, anywhere where the blue idiot wasn't.

Sonic was busy with bragging how he had struck the final blow, much to the chagrin of his friends. It had been over a week since Eggman's latest defeat at the hands of Sonic and Co. After everyone had recovered from their injuries, Shadow included, Sonic proposed a party to celebrate. Cream and Cheese were busy sampling the sweets, offering their opinion to eachother of what could be done to make it better. They had done most of the cooking, and the finger foods they were currently consuming, Amy had bought from the bakery in Big City. Amy, speaking of which, was true to her usual self, boasting about Sonic's brave achievements during the fight while not-so-subtly flirting with him. The young girl couldn't really take a hint, and if Shadow wasn't so bored out of his mind, he would have told her straight up that Sonic wasn't interested and she should look elsewhere. Though if he did that, she could get the wrong impression that he was jealous. Which was impossible, he had trained himself to keep his emotions locked up in the back of his mind, focus only on the mission, the mission parameters and getting the mission done by the book. He vowed to never let anyone inside his heart ever again, due to that fateful day with Maria...

He died the day Maria died.

All that was left, was true to his namesake, a shadow of the person he used to be. That is, if Shadow had cared to let people know of his past pain and failures. He didn't, he wouldn't allow anyone inside, to see his true self. Shadow knew that whoever he would grow close to, they would end up getting hurt or worse. It'd happened to him once, it was sure to happen again. But he would never give anyone the chance, it was way too risky.

Rouge the bat was also doing her own flirting with Knuckles, who was also trying to find an excuse for him to get away. He said something about 'checking on the Master Emerald' and quickly made his leave. Rouge, true to her personality, wasn't going to be brushed aside and quickly followed him. Princess Sally was talking to trying to get Blaze, the lilac female cat, to try some of the foods. The lilac cat politely declined quietly and continued sipping her tea. That was another thing, Shadow didn't really care for the food served here, he'd much rather have some M.R.E.'s. Despite most people hating those things, Shadow found them quite tasty. Although, one thing he did like was coffee. Either straight black or with some cinnamon, or however the waitress at the coffee shop made it. He had no idea, whatever the 'special' that she had always made for him, that's how he liked it.

Letting out a half-sigh half-growl, he turned and began heading for the kitchen to see if Sonic had any coffee. As energetic as he was, the blue idiot was sure to have some. Letting the door swing shut behind him, Shadow was relieved that the noise was toned down significantly in the kitchen. Opening the pantry, he found an assortment of 'quick-fix' meals, also, he found about ten-tons of canned chili. No doubt the fridge would have been filled with hotdogs.

"There it is..." Shadow muttered to himself as he picked up the can of coffee. As he started to pour the ground coffee into coffeemaker, he shut it and leaned against the counter. He pulled out his phone and selected 'Shuffle' and put his earbuds in, closing his eyes.

'I Am (All Of Me)' by Crush 40 started playing and Shadow let his head bob a little to the beat as he opened one eye to look at the coffee, halfway done. Really wishing he had brought a few M.R.E.'s, Shadow started rummaging through Sonic's pantry again and retrieved a curious jar marked 'Nutella'.

"The hell is this?" He asked himself, gazing over the jar. Reading that it was a 'Hazelnut Spread with Skim Milk & Cocoa'. He shrugged, opening it up and grabbed a spoon from the utensil drawer and spooned some out, tasting it. His eyes widened and he checked the back, reading 'Ingredients: Sugar, Palm Oil, Hazelnuts, Cocoa, Skim Milk, Reduced Minerals Whey (Milk), Lecithin As Emulsifier (Soy), Vanillin: An Artificial Flavor.' Whatever the hell all that crap was, it was damn good! "I'll just buy Faker another jar."

He began digging into the jar was gusto, temporarily forgetting his manners as he wanted more of the delicious food. How come he'd never heard of this stuff before? It tasted real sweet, yet it had the kick of chocolate to it. Almost like the various coffees he had tried at the coffeeshop. As he ate a large spoonful, his mouth was suddenly gummy, he attempted to swallow, but it was next to impossible. He set the jar down on the table, coughing as he tried to swallow, his tongue not working right. He smacked a fist to his chest, coughing more as he leaned over trying his best not to gag. He would lose some 'cool points' if he had soiled Sonic's kitchen floor. The blue idiot wouldn't let him hear the end of it if he found out Shadow threw up. He pulled out his earbuds and set his phone down, attempting for the millionth time to swallow. He tried to drink some water, but that only helped slightly. He swore lowly as the coffee wasn't done yet.

"Shadow, what's wrong?" His head whipped up and he saw Blaze the cat entering, the door shutting behind the lilac cat.

"...Demon... in a fucking can!" Shadow choked out, pointing at the jar.

"What are you...?" Blaze began, then let out a laugh as she saw what he had eaten. "You're choking on this? Didn't you know that swallowing a large mouthful can do that to you?"

"Obviously... not!" Shadow glared. "What the... hell do I do?"

"Drink some milk." Blaze suggested simply.

Shadow ran faster to the fridge than Blaze had ever seen the black hedgehog move. Throwing the fridge open, he grabbed the milk and practically downed half the gallon, gasping for breath as he set it back, capping it up and shut the fridge. Resting his hands against the fridge, he tried to catch his breath.

"Do you want me to put this 'demon' away?" Blaze giggled, holding up the jar. Shadow nodded his head vigorously. Blaze walked over to the pantry and put it up. "Think Sonic has enough chili?"

"...Faker...really loves that slop, remember?" Shadow replied, regaining his gruff composure. He crossed his arms, leaning against the counter again putting his earbuds back in and began listening, now 'Lost (Acoustic Version)' by RED started playing. He clenched his hands into fists, Shadow had completely forgotten he had had the song...

"What are you listening to?" Blaze asked curiously, stepping closer to him, leaning against the counter next to him. Without permission, she took an earbud out and put it in her ear, listening.

Can I be dreaming once again?

I'm reaching, helpless, I descend.

You lead me deeper through this maze.

I'm not afraid...

I'm lost in you!

Everywhere I run...

Everywhere I turn, I'm finding something new.

Lost in you...

Something I can't fight.

I cannot escape, I could spend my life...

Lost in you...

Shadow was about to say something, but was cut off by Blaze. "This is a nice song... It sounds awful sad though..."

Shadow said nothing, training his eyes to the floor. He decided against scolding her for doing something so trivial, in all honesty he felt... different when he listened to the song and with Blaze so close to himself. Maybe it was the acoustics invoking a sense of sorrow inside him... Shadow couldn't be sure...

"...I must go." Shadow said abruptly, bringing out a Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!"

After the flash of green light as he didn't even say goodbye, Blaze stood alone and the coffee was done. She sighed, taking the coffee and setting it aside, maybe the others would like some. She full well knew that despite how tough Shadow tried to make himself appear, there were cracks. Underneath the hardened exterior lay a heart, he just guarded it so well. Was there something that happened to him to cause him to cut himself off emotionally from everyone? Maybe Rouge would know, they worked together at G.U.N. afterall. She ran over everything she knew about the black hedgehog and then a nameless fear awoke in her heart as she realized something.

She barely knew him, if anything at all besides his name.

The entire time that he'd been with the group, he had always been the loner, not letting anyone in. Whenever a get-together occurred, Shadow had always been alone. He'd be by himself, arms crossed in his (as everyone else said) 'emo corner'. It was either that, or he didn't even show up at all whenever people made plans. Even the lilac cat wondered why he bothered coming if he didn't like being there. Blaze thought that since Shadow was the way he was, she figured that the hedgehog thought of them as coworkers, not even friends. For some reason, that hurt her. She gripped at her necklace, lost in thought. Why did he shut himself off from everyone? It wasn't healthy to keep emotions bottled up, if he wasn't speaking to anyone. Hiding emotions was one of the easy and worst ways to destroy oneself, Blaze knew, as she had seen it happen to many of the people she knew back in the Sol dimension.

However, as she left the kitchen, she saw that all whom remained were Sonic, Amy, and Sally. She felt a little sad that Cream didn't come say goodbye, the rabbit was her best friend afterall. Though it was a long battle and Cream had actually helped out. She may have been tired, so Blaze didn't blame her for leaving without saying goodbye.

"Where's everyone else?" The lilac cat asked the chipmunk princess.

"They left." Sally replied, her brow suddenly furrowing in confusion. "Where's Shadow?"

"...He left too." Blaze replied, rubbing her arm nervously. "He seemed down, and just suddenly up and left."

"Did something happen between you two?" Sally inquired.

"No. He doesn't like parties remember? I guess that's another contribution to it." Blaze shrugged, then she gave a yawn feeling suddenly fatigued. "Well, I'm gonna head home and hit the hay. I'm tired."

"Ok, g'night." Sally smiled. "You want me to drive you home?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks anyway. Night Sally." Blaze gave a small smile in thanks. She bid Sonic and Amy farewell and left.

As she walked down the moonlit path, as Sonic had secluded his house in the forest due to wanting a (strange enough for his fast living) peaceful living, her thoughts were lost to that small exchange between Shadow and herself. No matter what she thought of, it always went back to Shadow. That, and the song kept replaying in his head. His reaction to the song allowed her to gleam into the part of him that he didn't want anyone to see, he felt vulnerable. That was it. He kept himself emotionally distant and refused to open up anyone due to feeling as if that would make him weak. She would have to talk to him tomorrow, see if she could get him alone and talk things out. If he wanted to talk, that is...

She looked up as she finally broke through the tree-lines and stepped onto the road leading to Big City, she then realized that she had been looking at the ground consumed with her thoughts as she walked, and saw a silhouette shaded against the moonlight on a hill to her right. The form seemed familiar, so she began up the hill and discovered that it was Rouge the Bat, knees pulled up to her chest, hugging them as she looked at the moon.

"...Rouge?"

The bat turned at the sound of her name, patting the seat next to her on the stone bench she sat on. Blaze accepted the gesture and sat down, joining Rouge in gazing at the ctiy below, as the lilac feline just now realized that the other end of the hill was a cliff overlooking the city. Blaze eyed the cliff nervously, then shut her eyes tightly, trying to will away the sickness building up in her stomach. She then made herself look up into the starlit sky, taking a deep breath as the slightly coldness of the air chilled her and began soothing her.

"First off, I don't like heights..." She said quietly, trying to make conversation. Silence, unless it was when Blaze was spending some time alone, was a bit too much for the feline. It unnervered her. "I don't think I'll ever get used to it."

"I understand, hun." Rouge said, bumping Blaze gently with her shoulder, giving a comforting smile. "I used to be afraid of heights too."

"Really?" Blaze asked in disbelief and Rouge nodded. Out of all the people who could have been afraid of heights, the feline had not expected Rouge to be one. She could fly afterall and this new fact that she used to be afraid of heights as well was baffling. "How did you get over it?"

"I think of something completely different, it helped me overcome my fear. And that something 'completely different' used to be me imagining all the heists I could have pulled off. But now, since I'm a spy for G.U.N., that something else is Knuckles." Rouge sighed, and Blaze could have sworn she saw hearts in her eyes. A bit perturbed, Blaze scooted away an inch.

"I...I see." The feline said, frowning as she stared at the grass swaying in the night breeze.

"So why are you here?" Blaze asked her.

"Nothing, just wanted some time alone." Rouge replied.

"Oh, sorry. Lemme guess, you want me to leave now, right?" Blaze said, standing up.

"Nah, it's fine, honey. Take a load off and sit, I'm not that rude." Rouge said, and the feline did so.

No matter what, all Blaze could think about was Shadow, he just couldn't leave her mind no matter how hard she focused on something else. As cliche as it was, she couldn't banish him from her mind whatsoever, he consumed her thoughts. No matter what she thought of, it always came back to him...

Sighing, she opened her palm, creating a small orb of flame and gazed at it. Attempting to distract herself, she expanded the orb into a ring, letting it spin on an axis then letting the ring spin wildly as if falling through the air. Then Blaze separated the ring into three small orbs, letting it spin in a circle, then stopped it banishing the thought that it looked like Shadow when he used his spin dash. The orbs now formed the points of an invisible triangle.

"So tell me, why're you thinking of Shadow?" Rouge asked with a sly wink.

"W-What?" Blaze asked, a light blush coloring her pale cheeks and the fire she had conjured up dispersed immediately. Could she read minds? "H-How did you know I was thinking about Shadow?"

"You just told me." Rouge said with a smirk.

Damn... she was good.

"...Do you have a crush on him?" Rouge asked and Blaze's face grew redder. "Come on, admit it. I won't tell anyone, it would be just between us girls."

"That's... That's not it..." Blaze began, bringing her knees up to her chest, hugging them. "He seemed really down earlier. I was going to talk to him, maybe see if I could help with whatever was bringing him down, but he teleported after saying he had to go."

"Yeah, Shadow will do that to you." Rouge chuckled.

"No, I mean..." Blaze sighed. "When I really thought about it. I don't know anything about Shadow other than his name. I'd ask him, but for obvious reasons, I decided against it. Do you... know anything about what could be ailing him?"

Rouge was silent for a long minute, staring at the moon. "...I can hear him in his sleep whenever I got to the fridge for a midnight snack. A girl named 'Maria'. Every other night, he apparently has a nightmare and wakes up with a scream. I always pretended to be asleep in my room, 'cuz I knew even if I did get up and ask him what was wrong, he wouldn't answer."

Blaze's eyes widened, at the most Shadow only raised his voice to yell, but... screaming? And in emotional pain to boot, that... she couldn't even begin to describe what she felt when she learned this.

"...Who's... Maria?" the feline asked, but the bat shook her head.

"I don't know." Rouge admitted, frowning. "I never asked. I knew he wouldn't give me an answer either way."

"I see..." Blaze stared at her feet. "What does he do when he's not at work with G.U.N. and saving the world?"

"He's holed up in his room. I can hear him playing music from his laptop, but that's about it. He may be doing some kind of work on his laptop, I can't be sure." Rouge answered, then when Blaze gave him a look. "Hey, I don't go snooping through his stuff, I have standards you know."

Blaze nodded, pleased with her answer. "That's good."

For a while, they sat in silence, Blaze couldn't really think of what to say or ask. She assumed the only reason Rouge stayed silent is so the feline could collect her thoughts and word them in the right way, that was nice of her.

"...He needs someone in his life." Rouge said softly. "Shadow is one tough man, from what you've said and from the dreams I've heard, he's just got a cage around his emotions, not letting anyone obtain the key to his heart."

"Never pegged you as a poet." Blaze commented, earning a small smile from Rouge.

"Well... I'm not trying to cut this conversation short, but it's been a long day." The bat got up and stretched, to which Blaze did the same. "You have a good night, Blaze."

"You too, night." The feline replied, and they went their separate ways.

Rouge had given Blaze a lot to think over. She decided to take baby-steps, not to mention Maria right away, that would shut him down real quick. Needless to say, the feline had every intention of getting to know the hedgehog better, whether he wanted her to or not. She chuckled at the thought, he would open up to her, she was sure of it. Blaze didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Shadow would trust her as a confidant.

Opening and closing her door behind her, she kicked off her shoes and in a sleepy haze, stumbled to her room and collapsed, cuddling into her pillow and falling fast asleep.

A/N: Well, what do you think so far?