Okay guys . . . this is so weird it's not even funny. I was reading some stories with Shadow and Maria. My iPod was on shuffle. A certain song came on, and this came to me. So please enjoy this songfic . . . inspired by impeccable timing . . . a tribute to Maria Robotnik from Shadow the Hedgehog.

I looked out at the flowering field. The spring flowers were white, scattered in the grass. I frowned. She would have loved it . . . and would never get the chance to be here. The sheet of clouds in the sky made the day no darker . . . it only made the sky a soft light gray instead of the usual stark blue of the area. I preferred it the way it was.

La la la la la . . .

What if it had been me, not her? Would she be standing here, right now? Or would something else have gotten in the way of her dreams? I wondered bitterly.

La la la la la . . . I know you. I've seen you in a dream an old familiar scene from somewhere.

I suddenly realized that I was not alone. A young girl with blonde hair, wearing a white sweater over a blue dress, stood beside me. Well, she wasn't that young, I suppose. She seemed fourteen or fifteen maybe. I could have sworn that I knew her. She looked at me fondly. Something was familiar, like I'd had a dream where I had met her.

You know me, there's a glowing in your eyes I know and recognize from somewhere.

She looked like she was greeting an old friend when she gave me a small smile. Her crystal blue eyes . . . where had I seen them before?

"Hello. Isn't this place beautiful?" she asked. Her voice made me feel like I was going insane . . . where had I heard her?

Those voices, singing out, la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . .

An eerie tune rang in my ears, familiar, just like the girl.

"My friend would have loved it here," I said.

"Mine would have too. But they can't enjoy it with me anymore," she sighed.

"Why not?"

"He can't let go. I miss him terribly," she said.

I see them they were people that I loved you were barely old enough, to be there.

"I loved her—my friend. I would have done anything for her . . . I would have taken her here . . . but . . . matters got in the way," I scowled, "You wouldn't know about it."

"I'm sure I wasn't old enough to be there."

But I know you—you have your mother's eyes beneath your dad's untidy dark hair.

"My friend . . . well, I didn't really know his parents per say, but I knew what the people he grew up with were like. His father was brilliant, if a little obsessed with his work. Always had his hair messed up, the old man. (She chuckled before continuing) He didn't have much of a mother . . . well, I suppose this one girl my age acted like a mother hen sometimes. She could always look through the glare in his eyes to find someone a lot like her . . . his hair kind of had a different style like the old man," she said. Who was she? Why couldn't I remember?

Those voices ringing out, la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . .

Her voice made me think . . . and suddenly, the strange song in my ears untangled itself.

"Maria!"

And I would never do anything that could hurt you. They were both my family. You're all that's left of what I knew. You must know somewhere it's true—do you understand me?

She smiled again.

"Shadow. I know you've been keeping me in your mind, that you remember me. I know what you've done since we last saw one another . . . I'm so proud to know you."

"Maria, where . . . how? How are you here? I can't believe it's possible!" That statement rushing out of my own mouth brought something on that I hadn't brought to the front of my mind until I said that.

"Do you know how much I wished you came back? Do you know what I've suffered through? I haven't had a reason to really live except for your promise—so I live on for that. I want to know three things. How are you here? . . . why didn't you come earlier, then, when I needed you? . . . and . . . do you understand how much I've missed you?"

. . . Yeah, I do . . .

Her eyes became watery.

"I will answer your second question first. I was there. I never left your side. You didn't know it. I'm there in the breeze that I never got to feel. I'm there in the night, looking up at the stars where I once lived. When your ears ring in remembering the past . . . that's me whispering for you to wake up, and know I'm with you even now. I'm in everything you've known, Shadow—I always was."

"The answer to your first question is like the second. I've been with you, and I suppose you needed to know it. I needed to see you too, so I get this one last time. But I'll always be here—visible or not."

"The answer to the third is simple. Yes. Why? Because I've missed you too. Every time you said my name, it tore me apart, and yet it held me together to know that you still remembered me, cared about me. You can always know I'm in a better place than I was—because I'm with you—but I can't always say the same for you. When I see you in the night, collapsing under the sorrow and horrible things that have happened, under the pressure of living, for my sake . . . it breaks my heart. I would have jumped at the opportunity to comfort you, but I knew I couldn't. I watched every fight. I was always frightened for you . . . because you're all that matters now to me. You're all that's left. Shadow the Hedgehog," she said slowly, "I love you more than anything."

Those voices, reaching out, la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . . la la la la la . . . la . . .

She sang softly—that that wordless song that had been echoing in my ears for some time now. She leaned closer to me, and kissed me on the forehead. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, she was gone—still there, though, in the music that rang in my ears wherever I went, in the laughter of those I care about, and, most of all, in my heart when I dreamt of the meadow where we last met.

Whoa! Hold on there! This came out of nowhere! I have no clue how I did that! Oh, and by the way, the song's "Those Voices" from a Very Potter Sequel. Seriously, guys, this is strange . . . I don't know how this idea works but it does and . . . I wrote this thing just now! I just started going after I heard the song! Anyway, rate, review, you know what to do. No that was not supposed to rhyme.