I was playing SA2 last night and after I beat the last story again it gave me a great idea for an oneshot. Anyways, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog and related characters are owned by SEGA and Sonic Team. I do not own them.

The True Meaning of Friendship

Space Colony ARK slowly approached a soon to be destroyed Earth. Everyone down on Earth was either screaming or spending the last few moments of life in silence. The people (or should I say animals) on Ark, however were hopeful. Two hedgehogs flew around the ARK doing their best to destroy the Biolizard and save Earth.

Tails, Eggman, Amy, Knuckles and Rouge all watched from the ARK as Sonic and Shadow both fought bravely in their super forms against pretty big odds. Rouge shut her eyes as she saw Shadow fall a few meters closer to Earth as he was struck by a laser. She opened her eyes once more, relieved to see Shadow flying towards the Biolizard at full speed, in perfect condition.

Rouge and Shadow had just met earlier on in this adventure. Rouge's job was to find out information about Project Shadow, but instead, she and Shadow ended up becoming great allies. Rouge considered Shadow a friend even if he didn't consider her one. She understood him the most out of everyone and could tell deep down he was a great guy.

Rouge was brought back from her thoughts as everyone aboard Ark began to cheer. Rouge jumped at the sudden loudness and looked back outside to see the Biolizard hanging motionless from where it had attached itself to the ARK and Sonic and Shadow exchanging a high five. Rouge smiled, glad both Sonic and Shadow were going to be okay.

Sonic and Shadow, outside, were currently approaching the ARK at top speed getting ready to use Chaos Control to warp the ARK away from the Earth's atmosphere.

"No way that's getting through!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow was following behind him going slightly slower then Sonic. A voice then went through his head.

"Shadow… I beg of you…"

"Maria!" Shadow gasped.

"Give them a chance to be happy." Maria finished.

As Maria's voice left his head, Shadow felt more determination in what he was about to do. He let a smirk play across his face at what he now knew he must do.

"Now Shadow!" Sonic yelled.

The two sped up towards ARK and began preparing for Chaos Control.

"Chaos… Control!" Sonic and Shadow shouted in unison.

As the ARK was warped farther into space, Shadow felt his super form leave him and he began to fall towards Earth.

"Maria… This is what you wanted right? This is my promise I made to you." Shadow thought as he closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

Once the ARK was safely away from Earth, Sonic looked around and sighed in relief.

"Phew! Looks like we did it Shadow!" he exclaimed; letting out a chuckle.

After hearing no response, Sonic turned around and looked every which way trying to spot his newly gained ally. Much to Sonic's disliking, he could not spot the gold and red hedgehog anywhere.

"Shadow?" Sonic called.

A glimmer in space then caught Sonic's attention. Sonic flew over to it and saw it was one of Shadow's gold bracelets he had worn around his wrists. Sonic picked it up and looked around space once more. Tucking it away safely, Sonic slowly made his way back to the ARK.

Once Sonic landed back on the ARK, his super form slowly faded. He slowly headed back to the room everyone was in moping about the loss of his ally.

"Boy, how am I gonna tell the others? Will they believe it? After all, he was the Ultimate Life Form." Sonic muttered to himself.

Seconds later, Sonic found him standing right outside the door to the room everyone was in. Sighing he walked up to it and waited for it to open. He put on his best smirk in his depressed state as the door slowly rose in front of him.

---

Rouge turned around upon hearing the door opening and walked to the center of the room with the rest of the group. She was confused, however, when she only saw one pair of feet which belonged to Sonic. Where was Shadow? Why wasn't he with Sonic? Rouge glanced out the window to see if he was still out there, but couldn't spot him.

Once Sonic entered the room, Rouge burst.

"Where is Shadow?" she asked; nervously.

Sonic only looked down at the floor and shook his head. Rouge felt her heart almost break in two. He was missing? Everyone else soon wore the same expression as Sonic and broke up from their group and went to different parts of the room. Rouge walked over to a window by herself and looked out to space. She turned around when she heard footsteps and saw Sonic slowly walking towards her.

Once he was by her side, Rouge turned to face him. Sonic grabbed her hand and closed his own around it. Rouge looked down at their joined hands. When Sonic took his hand off hers, Rouge opened her hand and gasp when she saw Shadow's bracelet in her hand. Tears immediately came to her eyes, but she wouldn't let them fall.

Looking down at the bracelet, Rouge began speaking, "Do you really think that the Professor created Shadow to carry out the revenge on all those people?" Rouge asked; surprised to hear her voice cracking.

Sonic glanced at her, "He was what he was. A brave and noble hedgehog, who gave his life to save this planet… Shadow the Hedgehog." He murmured.

At the mention of Shadow's name, Rouge felt as though she couldn't say anything else. She barely managed to get out her next sentence.

"I guess you're right." She uttered.

Rouge looked back down at the bracelet and stared at it. For a second, she could've sworn she saw Shadow looking back up at her. The sight of his face only made her feel worse. Rouge sniffed as a tear slowly trickled down her cheek and splashed onto the bracelet. Sonic saw this and was instantly saddened by the sight of her.

"Rouge, are you alright?" Sonic asked; in a caring tone.

Rouge didn't say anything because she knew she didn't need to. Sonic gave her a small smile.

"You miss him don't you?" Sonic asked her.

Rouge still didn't say anything. Another tear slowly made its way down her cheek. Rouge was mad and embarrassed she was crying in front of Sonic, but she couldn't control herself. Rouge then felt herself gently being pulled closer to someone and arms being wrapped around her. Rouge looked up and was shocked to see Sonic smiling back down at her, his arms wrapped fully around her. She couldn't help but blush as Sonic wiped away one of her tears.

"Don't cry about it, Rouge. He did what he knew was right. You should be proud of what he did. After all, what he did was partly for you." Sonic said.

Rouge knew what Sonic had said was true and a small smile slowly spread across her face. She glanced down at the ring before looking back at Sonic.

"I know… but… I still miss him…" Rouge sniffed.

"It's okay to miss your friends, Rouge. Just don't let it devastate you. I don't like seeing my friends sad." Sonic smiled.

Rouge smiled back at him. Without thinking, Rouge put her head on Sonic's chest and closed her eyes.

"Thank you, Sonic." She whispered.

Sonic looked down at her in his arms and smiled again.

"Your welcome. Just remember whenever you miss him, pull out the bracelet. I'll let you keep it, so he'll always be by your side." Sonic said.

Another tear ran down Rouge's cheek, but this time it was because what Sonic had said had really made her happy. It dripped off her cheek and splashed onto Shadow's bracelet and as weird as it seemed, Rouge could've sworn she heard Shadow's voice.

Rouge looked back up at Sonic and thanked him once more. Sonic smiled and hugged her once more, before letting her go. She slowly walked over to Knuckles, but not before looking back at Sonic and then out the window, clutching the one piece of Shadow she had left in her hand.

Sonic smiled as he saw Rouge show Knuckles the bracelet. He felt good he had made Rouge happy. He smiled bigger as he realized he not only made her happier, he had given her hope that her friend would always be by her side for the rest of her life.

Aw, SonRouge fluff! Anyways, please leave a review and tell me what you thought. I really liked this story. It almost made me cry while typing it:)