A/N: Ordinarily, I like to plan out my stories meticulously, but since I had a really depressing day yesterday, I decided that I'd write something off the cuff to make myself feel better.

Shadow the Hedgehog picked up a speedloader and emptied six fresh armor-piercing bullets into his Smith & Wesson Model 29. After slapping the cylinder back into place, he was ready for killing, plain and simple. The Ultimate Life Form wasn't exactly sure what he was going to kill today; he just felt like killing something. It wasn't that he enjoyed committing such a heinous action; it was just business, whether it was wrecking one of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik's grand creations or ruining the latest invasion plans of the Roseinian Empire.

Of course, there was a third possibility, and it was going into Emerald City to enact some good ol' vigilante law. Of course, crime was pretty low in Emerald City, and it had been on a decline lately, so opportunities to do so were quite rare. Nevertheless, Shadow headed there anyways, knowing that if anything was happening in the Kingdom of Mobius, then there was a guarantee that it would be happening there.

It was still morning, so by the time Shadow arrived, the city was bustling with activity. Adults were either out on work, trying to make it to work on time or ditching work altogether. For younger adults and children, it was pretty much the same, but with school or college replacing work. Upon his arrival in the city proper, he took things slow and kept his eyes peeled for trouble, also hoping to remain incognito. However, even in the crowds, he couldn't help but draw attention:

"Good morning, Shadow!" said an orange chicken.

"Good morning."

"Hey Shadow, how's it going?" asked a gray cat.

"I'm fine."

"OH MY GOD! IT'S SHADOW!"

Suddenly, Shadow was mobbed by four females of varying species. They pinned him against a wall and started groping him, rubbing against him, kissing him and just generally smearing their obsession all over him. They even attempted to drag him away to whatever fangirl haunt they frequented, until…

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Though he didn't really need it, Shadow always packed a Chaos Emerald with him in case of perilous situations. Plus, having one gave him as much time as he needed to get away from any threats.

Having disappeared from the fangirls' sight, Shadow kept walking.

"What's up, Faker?" asked a brown raccoon.

"FAKER!?" Shadow brought his fists to bear. "You're comparing yourself to me!? HA! You're not even good enough to be my fake!"

"I'll make you eat those words!"

The raccoon threw a sandwich at Shadow before running away, chuckling. The sandwich had the words "THOSE WORDS" inscribed on the wax paper wrapping. Shadow merely picked up the sandwich and threw it in the nearest garbage bin. Then, he stopped as something struck him like a Chaos Spear.

(Faker…why does that word resonate with me? Why do I even care about that? Perhaps…come to think of it…what's up with Sonic? I haven't seen or heard about him in a while. I suppose I should check up on him.)

So, Shadow blazed a trail out of Emerald City, north to Azure Lake Zone, the second-largest lake on the planet. It was here that Sonic and Tails had a cabin at the southern part. Shadow walked up to the door and knocked. Nothing.

"Sonic, open up!"

Still nothing.

"Sonic, Tails, are you home?"

Yet again, no reply. Shadow decided to head to the garage near the cabin. He figured that Sonic was probably on one of his daily runs and that Tails was working on some project or other. However, when he knocked on the garage door, he got nothing, except for one thing…

"To whoever is trying to reach us," said a hologram of Tails, "Sonic and I aren't home right now. Please come back later."

Tails was of no concern to Shadow. He simply ran away and headed west, across the Badlands. This time, he was looking for Knothole Village, Sonic's second home. Located deep within the Great Forest, Knothole also served as a residence for the Royal Family of Mobius. When he made it to the Great Forest, Shadow took a long time to get to Knothole. He figured he'd taken a wrong turn, so he decided to turn around. In doing so, he thought he'd heard somebody crying, so he stopped to check it out. In a small clearing, curled up in the fetal position, there was Sonic the Hedgehog, who was indeed crying.

"Sonic?"

Sonic sprang to his feet and pointed at Shadow. "All right, turkey, you got ten seconds to explain why you're intruding on my secret crying place! TEN FREAKIN' SECONDS! GO!"

"For your information, it was merely an accident."

"Yeah right! Ya probably asked one of my friends and decided to interfere with me!"

"Believe me, that's not my style. If I wanted to interfere with you, I would just go on about my business and let you make the first move."

Sonic let out a trembling sigh. "All right, I believe ya."

"Now, would you mind telling me why you're crying?"

Tears welled up in Sonic's eyes again. "It's Amy. She's…gone."

"Do you mean she's dead?"

"Yeah."

"Sonic, I'm sorry; I didn't know. What happened?"

"The constables told me she got hit by a car. She was in critical condition at first, but later on, the docs told me her condition was stable. Guess what? THEY LIED TO ME!" Sonic resumed his full-blown crying.

"Being in stable condition isn't always a barometer of good health. Did you try using the Chaos Emeralds to revive her?"

Sonic brought himself down to mere sniffles. "Yeah, remember how I wanted to borrow yours not too long ago?"

"Yes."

"That's why I needed it."

Shadow gave a brief nod. "I see. So, where has Tails gone to?"

Sonic threw his arms up. "WHY THE HELL DOES THAT MATTER TO YA!? AMY'S DEAD AND HERE YOU ARE ASKIN' ABOUT SOMEBODY WHO'S PERFECTLY FINE!"

All the yelling caused Sonic to fall to his knees and start crying again. Shadow knelt down and put a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"Sonic, I…I didn't mean to stray off-topic. Please, let's get back to Amy; is there anything else that I should know about?"

"The last time I saw her, she was askin' me if I wanted to fly to Angel Island and hit up Carnival Night Zone with her," said Sonic. "I said maybe some other time, she says OK and then she runs away! Ya know what sucks is I think it came out wrong, so I tried callin' her to apologize AND I GET NOTHIN'! I TRIED REACHIN' HER THE NEXT DAY AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE TO FIND HER! NOBODY DID! FREAKIN' CREAM DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHERE SHE WENT! BUT WHY THE HELL AM I EVEN TELLIN YA? YOU'RE JUST SOME KILLING MACHINE!"

"You seem to have forgotten that I too have experienced loss, which is the primary reason why I haven't left you to wither away in your own sadness."

Once again, Sonic's crying receded. "Oh…that's right…what was her name…Mary? Marisa?"

"Maria."

"Yeah…I remember now. But you and her got along all groovy-like, right?"

Shadow put his other hand on Sonic's other shoulder. "Actually, there's something I never told you before…"

"Huh?"

"On the Space Colony ARK, we could get television transmissions. Maria and I were particularly fond of a program called The Range Rider, and we used to pretend that one of us was the Range Rider and the other was an outlaw. Ordinarily, I was content to let her be the Range Rider, but she did allow me to play that role once. And you know what? She laughed. I got mad at her because I thought she was making fun of me. I was going to apologize to her the next day, but…she was killed before I could say anything to her."

Sonic's eyes started tearing up again.

"Sonic, everything's going to be all right. You're safe with me. Cry as much as you need to."

Sonic grabbed Shadow, pressed his head against Shadow's chest, and started crying again. With one hand, the Ultimate Life Form gently ran his fingers through the Blue Blur's silky-soft quills, and put the other one on the back of his neck. As he looked down at Sonic, Shadow had a hard time comprehending that this was somebody who was supposed to be his rival. Rivals didn't help each other out…right?

Actually, doing this for Sonic made Shadow think back to the time when Black Doom was invading the planet and how Sonic was there to guide him. Not only that, but he remembered the one time when Ol' Blue had been killed. He actually wished that he'd been able to cradle his body. No, this guy wasn't a rival after all; he was a friend, perhaps not in the same vein as Rouge the Bat, but a friend nonetheless. He supposed that this was the least he could do. Eventually, Sonic stopped crying, but Shadow didn't pull away. He couldn't reject the opportunity to let his friend have his own little slice of heaven. Finally, when eternity had passed, Sonic let go, and when he did, he had a big smile on his face.

"Feeling better, my friend?" asked Shadow.

"Well, aside from the fact that Ames ain't comin' back, I feel fly!"

"Here, you'll need this…" Shadow gave Sonic a tissue.

Sonic blew his nose. "Thanks, man! Where did ya get all those?"

"Since I've been through so much crap in my life, I thought it would only be fair to carry some around just in case."

"Man, that is really sweet! It's too bad more people don't know that side of ya!"

"Since I have plans to attend her wake and the subsequent funeral, I suppose people will have the chance to know that side of me. Speaking of that, I promise to write a eulogy for our dearly beloved Rose."

"Once again, thanks! You're a real prince!" Sonic patted Shadow on the back.

Shadow smiled and wrapped his arm around Sonic, much to the latter's surprise.

"And you're a little ball of sunshine."

Sonic blushed. "Aw, ya shouldn't have!"

"But I did. Now, enough screwing around, let's go back to your place and spend the night."

"Dang, I knew you were a prince, but that's…I don't even know what to say!"

"Come on, sunshine!"

And so, Sonic and Shadow blazed their way out of the Great Forest and made a beeline for Azure Lake Zone. Despite the veneer of happiness, Sonic was still in the grip of mourning. Still, knowing that there were people like Shadow out there helped ease the pain.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.