Mouseygirl: I'm going to be doing more tragedy fics now, because whatever hormone is currently running in my thirteen-year-old body says that I'm sad for no apparent reason. Also, I still miss my little mouse, Shadow. And my mom's rats, Justin and Oliver.

Maria-Gem: I live with my dad now… Mom said she doesn't want anything to do with a child that's been caught shoplifting five times.

Mouseygirl: Okay, you ARE like your mom, a lot. She stole stuff when she was your age, too!

Maria-Gem: Really? I 'spose that's why Dad hasn't bugged me about it. That AND he sleeps a lot during the day. But then he's at either Espio's Tavern or Club Rouge at night. I get to go to Espio's with him, but he says that Club Rouge is no place for a young lady…

Mouseygirl: Silver is constantly thinking about Blaze, who was killed in a car accident three weeks earlier, leaving the fourteen-year-old hedgehog on his own. As always, Shadow tries his best to help the situation.

Maria-Gem: Don't tell my dad I told you this, but he has to take anti-depressants!

Mouseygirl: Ya think? Shadow the Hedgehog taking anti-depressants? Who would have ever thought!

I walked out of the graveyard gate. Before I'd always been scared of the silent rows of headstones. Before... Before the accident, when I lived with Blaze. Sure, she babied me like CRAZY, making me take naps when I got home from work to say the least, but now I miss it.

Closing golden eyes, I can see it all, hear it all. Just like the old holo-films I watched as a kid… The screeching of tires as Sonic tried to get him to hit the brakes… her scream as the front bumper slammed into her… I was watching it all from the window of my room. Sonic rushed out of the car to check if she was okay… Scourge yanked out of the driver's seat by the policeman… By this time I was down there, holding her hand tight. She was unconscious, blood stains on the road around her and in her lavender fur…

I'm scared of blood now. Even more than I was before.

Before… I was a lot of things, then. I've always been WAY shorter than other fourteen-year-olds I know. I've barely eaten at all since Blaze… went away. I can't bring myself to say it… not yet. I think I'm loosing weight. Probably not a good thing for me especially.

Scourge got his license tooken away and he has to stay in jail for a month. This is the tenth time he's been caught driving drunk, and the third time he's hit someone. It's kind of a shame… he was the only one of us who could legally drive. But at the same time, I'm happy that he's getting punished for what he did.

I always hope that this is a dream, and when I wake up, it won't be to the bustle of South Westopolis, it'll be to Blaze's gentle shaking and her voice. I always drag myself to work, trying to look sick so maybe Vector'll send me home… It never happens. But he DOES take pity on me, letting me work at my own pace, taking breaks when I need it. He can be a nice guy when he wants to.

Today, though… I'm currently in the supply closet, looking at a picture of me and Blaze when we were little. I'm a nervous-looking, mousey little hedgehog with clothes that are WAY too big, and Blaze is all smiles. Sonic kind of reminds me of her because of that.

I can't take this anymore… I just sit there and sob. Shadow, one of our newer workers, hears me and comes in. I don't bother to look up at him. Shadow's always mean to me, anyway.

"Silver? Are you okay? Should I cover for you?"

I can't believe that's Shadow talking. I look up at him. Ruby-red eyes are filled with sympathy. I shake my head, weakly. I really need the rings.

"No thanks, Shadow. Why do you care, anyway? You've NEVER lost anyone this close to you!"

I hear a soft chuckle from Shadow. That sets me off, like so many things do now. I jump up to glare at him. He stands up too, ready to face me. Then I realize just HOW much smaller than him I am. He's probably a foot taller than me.

"Never mind, I'm going home. Though I wish I didn't have to…"

"That's the spirit, Silver. Now come on, you can stay with me tonight."

Before I can protest, which I was going to, I'm lifted off of my feet easily. Too easily.

"So I am loosing weight?"

"Oh, now he sees what all of us have been seeing since your girlfriend was turned into road kill!"

"Shadow, stop it! You know I don't like to talk about it!"

"Geez… you sure you aren't a girl? You have the height of a girl, the sensitivity of a girl, the eating habits of a girl…"

"Shadow… I give up. Whatever you say."

"That's what I thought"

I wanna go home, to me and Blaze's house. She'll make me a cup of hot coco, with hedgehog milk in it, cuz I don't like it too hot, and I'm allergic to normal milk. We're at Shadow's apartment now. Wow, he lives close to where I do.

"Shadow, why are you doing this to me? You've never showed anything to say you like me before!"

"I don't want you to feel bad forever. Emo just doesn't fit you!"

"What do you mean? I'm fine! I can live with it! I'll survive!"

"You'll survive, but you can't thrive. At least, not alone. I know you, Silver the Hedgehog. You need to have some fun!"

"But…"

I'm cut off by Shadow as he pulls something out of his pocket. It's a picture of him when he was a kid. There's a human girl in the picture with him that I've never seen before. The window in the background shows a view of the earth from space. Space…

"Shadow, you were born in space?"

"Sort of…I guess."

Speaking of space, Shadow seems kind of spacey as he looks at the picture. I don't believe it. There is pain, sadness in his normally cold, emotionless eyes. The little hedgehog in the picture looks happy. So does the girl, though her eyes tell a different story. They look like she's in pain, but trying to hide it. I wonder if she was sick or hurt when this was taken.

*click*

The noise brings me out of my trance. I look over in a hurry and see it's only Shadow taking the metal guard-part-thingies on his gloves off. I didn't know that those could come off.

"Somebody's a little jumpy…"

"Yeah, well… living in a post-apocalyptic world almost all your life can do that. And being kidnapped from work doesn't help. Also, I'm not used to being alone."

I'm kind of embarrassed now. I suddenly get curious about the girl in the picture. I wonder who she is. Shadow says he's been alone for a long time; he grew up in an orphanage. Maybe that girl was one of the human kids that lived there too? I don't think mobian orphanages will take human children…

"Shadow, you said you grew up in an orphanage… Who is that girl? Was she a girl that lived there?"

Shadow looked over at me with a look that clearly said 'shut up, Silver!'

I shut up.

"I don't really remember, but I do know that her name was Maria. She was twelve years old when she died…"

I stay silent, urging Shadow on. I wonder how Maria died, and why did she die? Shadow would probably be a lot nicer if she were around. He looks really happy in the picture.

Now the only way you'll see him happy is if he gets Rouge to go on a date with him, and she doesn't wind up calling him a creep and slapping him… and who would watch all of THAT anyway?

"How did Maria die, Shadow?" I get a death glare in response, "Err… you don't have to answer that if you don't want to… I was just wondering! Pleasedon'tkillme!"

"Why would I- never mind… Maria… was shot and killed… by a GUN soldier, right in front of me… and I couldn't do anything about it. She sent me down here in an escape pod, and the gasses in the pod messed me up. When I got out of the darned thing I was two years old. My actual age at the time."

I'm thinking about this, and then it hits me. Shadow talks in his sleep a lot. I could probably find out a lot more through that. But then, Blaze told me to NEVER use my psychokinetic abilities to get information from people. But Blaze is GONE now… Iblis save me… I'm confused. Shadow's morals are kind of messed up, but maybe he'll know what I should do!

"Shadow?"

"Hmph."

I blink, wondering if that means 'yes, talk away' or 'shut up, I don't wanna talk anymore.' I go for the former.

"Do you think it's right to use my powers to get some info from somebody even though Blaze told me not to, but now… I dunno what'a do!"

My childish side takes over, and I just cry. Shadow's holding me close. I wonder if he really cares about me. I hear him sigh, and I feel myself lifted up again.

"You're moving in with me, Silver. You can't make this world on your own. Remember how I lived with Miss Vanilla when I was your age?"

I do remember that, even though I was only twelve years old, Blaze thirteen. I was still much smaller than her, even though we were only a year apart. I still am shorter than she was when… ughhh… I don't like the way this place smells.

I don't know why I go into these thinking "trances" I just do… It's happens involuntarily. Bad when you're trying to fight off a huge firey demon… According to Blaze.

I inform Shadow of this, and he laughs softly, saying,

"You could write a book, Silver. 'The World According To Blaze the Cat' Really."

I gasp as I realize where we are. The weird gothic store where Shadow gets all of his clothes. No wonder I don't like the smell.

There are several teenagers outside the door, smoking cigarettes…

Shadow's been slowly picking out different clothes of different sizes as I take it in. I then realize that I'm still in his arms. We're in the mall… that one mall that Blaze always took me to! The one with the fun slides and the horses you ride on! Wow… I sound really childish now, even to myself!

I'm trying to squirm out of Shadow's arms, but it's no use. He's stronger than me. Shadow can pick up a whole BUS with one arm, and I have trouble lifting my microwave. Maybe they're right; maybe I DO depend on my abilities too much…

I close my eyes; some of the weird-looking teens from outside are coming in to look at me. I can smell mascara on them, even the boys. I can hear the radio above us playing Evanescence and Linkin Park. Yuck. I always though Shadow was Emo.

"Hey… check out the little white hedgie!"

I force myself to stay still, keeping my eyes so they'll think I'm asleep. Big mistake. I feel them running their fingers over my way-too-long-so-I-have-to-roll-up-the-legs jeans. One of the hands touches me in the wrong place. I'm instantly alert, a blue-ish green force field around me.

"Oh, so he's not some sort of demented plushie! Hey, Shadow! Where'd you get 'im?"

What's a 'demented plushie?' I don't know, and I'm not about to ask, either. Shadow ignores that boy that obviously knows him and sets me down, taking me by the hand like I'm a small child. He leads me into the changing room in the back of the store.

I've always felt uncomfortable in changing rooms, only because Scourge told me that they have cameras in them that watch you in your underwear… Scourge and Sonic are known perverts, so maybe it's just the girls' changing rooms?

"Hey!"

I cry out as Shadow starts undressing me.

"What are you doing, Shadow! I have clothes at home!"

"Well, if they're anything like that outfit you've been wearing, you need these."

"But I'm not Goth or Emo!"

"You'll look cute, trust me."

I groan as new jeans are pulled onto me. They're black, and they look an awful lot like girls' pants.

"Shadow? Are these girl jeans?"

"I can't find anything else that looks like it'll fit, okay? And besides, here it's all the same thing anyway."

"Shadow… are they 'sposed to be this tight?"

"What, you've never had pants that fit before? That's believable."

"No, it's not that, these just feel tight, okay?"

"It's supposed to feel like that. Also, nice boxers!"

I liked my old clothes better. And the next thing Shadow pulls out is even worse. A black-and-red patterned miniskirt and a gray and black T-shirt that says 'Way 2 cute!" on it with a picture of a chao with kitty ears.

"I like that look, come on, let's go."

"ARE YOU CRAZY? I'M NOT GOING OUT IN PUBLIC LIKE THIS!"

"Silver…"

"Okay…"

"Hmm…?"

"*sigh* okay, Shadow."

These clothes DO make me feel pretty, though. I like the way the dark colors accent my light gray fur and quills. Oh no, what am I thinking? I don't wanna become a full-time crossdresser, but I DO like the girly clothes… they fit me really well. I still miss Blaze, but Shadow seems like he'll be a lot of fun to hang out with.

Now I recognize where we're going.

"Shadow? Blaze told me to never-ever go near Espio's Tavern… I can hear a Chao Chorus singing to the theme of the 'Goodbye Chao' song from the Chao Minigame.

"Goodbye, Chao! We'll miss yooooou, We'll always beee your frieeeend..*."

*(full lyrics at the end of the chapter)

But then the mournful chaos' voices are cut off by the door coming shut. I'm wondering where my crazy life will take me next.

"Hey, Silver?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever tried beer before?"

"No, Blaze would never let me!"

"Well try some now, Blaze can't stop you. Live a little, Silv!"

"Okay…"

Goodbye Chao Song

Lyrics by CutelittleMouseygirl

Song By some Japanese Dude

Goodbye Chao, we'll miss you!

I'll always be your friend!

Until the end of time,

Our friendship, it won't end!

Oh, Goodbye Chao I'll miss you!

You'll always be my friend, Chao

Until cold death comes on through,

Our friendship, it won't end.

And I'll never leave your side, Chao

I'll always be there it's true, you know.

And I'll never leave your side, poor Chao

Until I must and then I'll sayyy-hey!

Repeat until you get bored!