AngelicPuppy: Welcome back my lovelies! I have finally gotten around to starting the sequel to Blood Fire. I have decided to make it a trilogy, this is the second installment. My sister, Mirror the Fox, will also be doing the sequel to the parallel story Blood Autumn. Technically all six installments will be part of the Memories of Blood series as I have so deemed them. Now, enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, and the other Sonic the Hedgehog characters belong to SEGA. Mari, Karo and his alien race the Darraki belong to me. Mirror the Fox shares the right to use my characters in her parallel story.

The sun managed to peek through my heavy curtains, shining on my face. I had been watching the slow increase in light for hours, having gotten no sleep. I was at Sonic and Amy's house where I'd been for the last month. My apartment building had been destroyed in Clarostra's invasion and there was still a lot of cleanup and rebuilding to do. I never slept well here for more than a few days, it just wasn't my space. That and it was annoying to listen to Amy and Sonic having sex, or be woken by Tails or Karo.

Speaking of the little dragon, he was curled in my bed along with Cream. She had a nightmare, and being her favorite person for reasons unknown to me, she was only too happy to find me still awake last night. Karo often followed her or Tails, though make no mistake he loved to follow me too. Just perfect for an impatient social outcast with anger issues and a need for silence, children. Who love you.

I took a deep breath and sighed heavily before sitting up. I had been awake since four am and it was now seven. And I likely wouldn't sleep until midnight or later, like I had last night. Someone knocked gently on the door.

"Shadow, it's Tails, can I come in?"

He opened the door without my answer, knowing I'd say ok anyway. The poor fox looked haggard, like he barely slept last night. His tiredness showed so clearly on his face it was obvious he'd had some sort of nightmare. My ears flattened in worry, Tails and Cream had been having a lot of nightmares since I came to the house. For a while after the invasion I stayed on Angel Island with Knuckles and Rouge, but eventually I came here because Amy wanted to make sure I wasn't isolating myself. Knuckles and Rouge agreed with her and since then I've been here.

"Had a nightmare again squirt?"

Tails nodded his head and came to hug me. I held him and gently rubbed his head, the exact same thing I did with Cream a few hours earlier during the night. I sighed, I was doing a lot of sighing already and the day had just started.

"What was your dream about Tails?"

"Someone died. I don't know who, it wasn't me, but I watched them drown. And people were standing around laughing like it was funny that he was choking and screaming for help. And I couldn't help, a woman had my tails and I couldn't get away to help. She was laughing the loudest"

I rubbed his head again and put him in my bed with Karo and Cream. I had read that being in a different room can help keep nightmares at bay, good heavens I was getting so soft that I was reading books on parenting. Where had I even gotten that book? I sat on the bed to think and wait for Tails to fall asleep. Of course, he just lay down and stared at me while I thought. Could the woman in his dream be Death? But why would she be terrorizing him? And who was it that he saw drowning? It couldn't have been me, I can swim as can Knuckles, then again I guess it could be me.

"What do you think it means Shadow? I've never had a dream like that before."

"I'm not sure what to tell you, I'm just as confused as you are."

"No you aren't."

I stared at him, his face was almost angry, clearly in disbelief that I knew nothing. "Excuse me?"

"You're not confused. You have a very good idea of what's going on don't you? You always do, everyone knows a lot more goes on in your head than what you say."

"I am not sure what is happening. That was not a lie. And I am confused, because I don't know what it means. I have an idea sure, but why tell you if I can't figure out if it's true or why I even have the idea?"

"You always say that, until it all comes out to everyone else, and then you tell us your insights. I may be young, but I'm not stupid."

"No one said you were stupid Tails."

"Then tell me what the hell is wrong with me that I'm having death nightmares."

I glared at him and he glared back. He was getting bold and disrespectful, and he ought to know that's something I don't tolerate.

"I will tell you this just once Miles, you mind your tongue. I am not Sonic that you can simply say whatever you want and demand things from me. I am not Amy that I will not hit you as discipline, and I am not under any obligation whatsoever to answer you or tell you anything. I am not under obligation to tell anyone anything until I so please. You have no power or right to demand anything from me and I do not appreciate this disrespectful speech. I am not one of your peers and it is not your place to call me out on my tendency to hold back."

I got up from the bed and grabbed Tails by the scruff to accentuate my point and because I was angry now. "You listen good Miles. I do not like being called a liar, and I do not like being spoken to like you have done. Keep it up and I will smack you, I am the adult here, not you. By what right do you think you can command me? You will not die from one bad dream and if you're so smart why don't you figure it out? I'm sure you can come up with an answer, or a sincere apology and a change of attitude. Whichever is first, just let me know."

I dropped him back on the bed and left, using a huge amount of willpower to not slam the door and wake Cream and Karo. I took a large breath and let it out in a rush, I needed a run, like now. The window in the hallway was broken from the invasion a month ago and it let in a frigid morning breeze. Sonic must be on a run because it had been boarded up last night. It would take a while to repair the damage to the house, since few stores were still standing much less stocked. It wasn't very much damage since no one was home for the Darraki to attack and they hadn't broken much inside the house, but still.

A gust blew in and I shuddered. This just wasn't a good start to my morning, bad weather and bad dreams were never a good thing. I yawned long and hard, popping my jaw. I was gonna pay for not getting enough sleep the last couple of days, and probably dream when I finally got to sleep. I leaned against the wall and covered my face with my hands; I was utterly exhausted and wanted to be in my own bed, which no longer existed. I'd much rather be in the woods of Angel Island, asleep in the grass in darkness than in the bright room reserved for me.

I heard the sound of feet and grunting as presumably Sonic climbed through the window. "You ok Shadow?"

I lowered my hands and stared at him, watching his face go from mild concern to deep worry. Doubtless my weariness was plastered on my face.

"I'll be fine I guess. Angry at Tails, he gave me lip after waking from a nightmare. I've never heard him be so disrespectful."

Sonic nodded and glanced away in thought before looking back to me. We stared at each other for a while and his expression showed he was thinking whether he should ask me what else is wrong. He seemed to come to a decision because he spoke first.

"You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, I couldn't talk about it right now, I was too tired and getting cold from the wind and just wanted to run and eat. He shrugged and went to his room, stopping just long enough to toss me a spare coat. I pulled it on and hopped out the window, hitting the ground running.

I ran for miles. I ran past people, cars, trucks, and miles of destruction and rebuilding. There were a few stray Darraki still hanging around to help clean up, courtesy of Lirias and the GUN Commander. I wasn't getting much warmer by running; the air was just cold today. It was dark and overcast, perhaps it would storm later. I hated this weather, winter is a horrid season.

I kept going until I was out of the city and in the forest, then up into the mountains. I had no idea why I was going this way; it would only be colder in the peaks, but I continued to run. Eventually I stopped on a ledge to a shallow cave. I could see the whole city from here, with only three tall buildings still standing, all of them hospitals. That was a good thing, all attention had gone to protecting them and it had paid off.

I shuddered as an icy wind blew under my jacket. I'd never been this cold before, but I was really feeling it today, perhaps it's still just weakness from the battle a month ago. I've never been in such a fight before, not to the degree it went. I stood on the ledge for a while, just staring at the city and into the distance. I'm not sure how long I stood there in a trance, but it was one hell of a shock to my brain when my cell phone rang. I jumped about four feet when it blasted some rock music. I didn't even know it was in my pocket.

"Hello?" I answered the phone, my voice shaky. I breathed slowly to try and control myself.

"Shadow? Where are you? Are you ok?" Amy asked on the other end.

"Umm, I'm out, I needed a run this morning. I'm ok, the phone ringing just scared me, I didn't know I had it."

Amy sighed and I could imagine her shaking her head. She was probably the one who made sure the phone was in my jacket and left it by the bedroom door so Sonic could give it to me. "Well, are you hungry? I'm making breakfast now. Your usual toast and eggs or something else?"

"The usual is fine I guess, maybe something warm too, like cream of wheat or oatmeal."

"Ok, do you want cheese in your eggs?"

"Sure why not?"

"Coffee?"

"No, not right now, tea maybe."

"Ok." She became silent for a moment, another person weighing how likely I'd be to answer a question truthfully. I rarely lied, but oh did I know how to dance around an answer and often just outright told people to leave me alone.

"Did you sleep last night Shadow?"

"A few hours."

"Be specific."

I sighed, rubbing my nose with my thumb and finger. "Three hours? I've been up since four, went to bed around one."

"Shadow…"

"What do you want from me Amy? I don't know why I can't sleep. I just can't when I'm in your house too long. It's too bright, there's too many people…"

"I know Shadow, I know. I wish you'd tell me this stuff though so I could figure something out instead of listening to you wander the halls like a lost soul."

I shook my head and laughed, she was always telling me to stop roaming at night. A lost soul, I've been one of those for a while now. "I'll be home in a few minutes, so I'm hanging up."

"Ok, Tails wants to talk to you and Karo wants a hug or something. Cream is still asleep so come in the house quietly. And use the door, stop unboarding that window, it's cold outside."

"Yeah I know, bye."

She hung up and I put the phone in my pocket. I breathed in the cold air, finding it terribly refreshing even as it stung my lungs. Then I took off for the house. It didn't take me long to get home, I was going fast and taking any shortcut I knew. Amy was waiting for me at the door. She looked tired too. Was no one getting enough sleep?

She waved at me to hurry up. "Come on, before your food gets cold. Then I want you to sleep, I don't care where, but you need rest."

"I'm fine Amy." I said, moving past her into the warm house. The change of temperature made me shiver and my spines bristle.

"You're always fine Shadow." She said, brushing past me and shooting me a dirty look. "You're always perfectly fine, until you aren't. You look like a wreck."

Everyone seemed to be a tad cranky this morning. I shook my head, looking in the living room mirror as we passed it where it hung on the wall. "I don't look like a wreck, and if I do it's from taking a run straight out of bed."

"You don't look like a wreck to you, but to your friends and family who know you so well, you look a mess." Sonic said, getting up from his chair and stretching. I hadn't even seen him there, why was he sitting in the livingroom with the tv off? Sonic was never one to enjoy sitting in silence.

"To me, everyone looks a mess. Are any of us actually sleeping?" I said, throwing my hands up. While I was genuinely concerned, I wanted the attention off of me. It would only lead to questions and I didn't want to answer them.

"No, not really. It's like it's been sucked away, Sonic got up four times to run last night. I'm sure you heard him at least once. I know Cream can only sleep in your room or ours and I just toss and turn. Especially if she's in there, I don't want her to have another nightmare." Amy shook her head and sighed.

"Me not sleeping well either. Scary dreams about my planet, I see fires burning forests." Karo chirped quietly from the stairs.

"I am not sleeping well either, I am having scary dreams about my planet and I see fires burning the forests. That's how you say it." Amy said, reaching through the banister to scratch Karo's ears. He made an almost purring sound, his sign that he understood.

"Shadow knows something about it. He just doesn't want to sound strange or whatever." Tails said. I had to look for him, he was sitting at the top of the stairs, head in his hands, looking angry and ragged. I noticed his ears were flat against his head.

"We already talked about this Tails. We all know Shadow and he will tell us when he's damn well ready. How would you like it if someone tried to pry something from you? Just like you treasure and protect your experiments and hesitate to explain the stranger or more confusing ones, so Shadow does with his thoughts. You still need to apologize." Sonic snapped. Tails' expression remained angry and aloof and he stayed silent.

So, everyone knew I had something to say about this situation. Everyone was aware that I had an idea why we were all losing sleep and dreaming of death. Everyone knew I held my thoughts back all the time. Guess I wasn't as unreadable as I thought. I rubbed my face with both hands, unsure what to do at this point.

"Come on, all of you need to eat, then we'll do something to figure out how all of us can sleep." Amy said. She sounded exhausted and slightly exasperated. I couldn't blame her, surrounded by a bunch of boys all of them tired and emotional and a little girl she couldn't confide in. I'd bet my life Rouge would be here by the end of the day if not sooner.

We ate in silence; or rather Cream, Sonic, and Karo ate. Amy sat watching us, her plate left to get cold. Tails pushed his food around sulkily, drinking some juice here, nibbling there. I had no appetite and let my chin rest on my hand as I stared into space. I couldn't get my brain to agree to much else besides staring at the wall and glancing at everyone else. I heard the doorbell, and then the door as Rouge came in, her keys jingling. It sounded like Knuckles was with her, which was confirmed when they both called hello to announce themselves.

"Damn, I don't think I've ever heard it dead silent in here. What's going on?" Rouge asked as she came into the kitchen."

"Shadow isn't telling us anything." Tails said sullenly. He seemed determined to find someone who would sympathize.

"Shut it Tails, stop causing trouble." Sonic said sharply as he crunched on bacon.

Rouge gave me one of her looks, it was sympathetic because she knew how hard it was for me to share my thoughts, but it was also reprimanding as if saying "now why are you doing that?" Amy simply sighed and rubbed her temples, tired of refereeing. Knuckles went to hug her and gave Karo an affectionate nudge with his foot. Karo growled like a baby alligator, a cute and happy sound of a future predator.

Rouge put her hand on my head, scratching gently before she spoke. "So, what exactly is going on here?"

I pressed my forehead to the table, nearly into my cold food and breathed deeply to clear my head. What exactly was going on here? I knew it had everything to do with the dream I had of Maria a month ago, after we had killed Clarostra. And I had a suspicion that it had everything to do with the future too. I myself hadn't had many dreams, I just wasn't sleeping enough. I felt Rouge scratching gently at my scalp, to get my attention and to make me relax I guess. I'd seen her do it with Sonic and Knuckles too; she and Amy were good people to have around. They just had a knack for dealing with emotional and violent males.

"Lirias mentioned a dream before he left. He didn't tell us what it was, but that it wasn't a good thing. Is that connected to all this?" Rouge asked.

I burst into nervous laughter, Rouge's power of observation was incredible, to the point that it often seemed she was reading minds. Sometimes I did wonder if she had the gift, but it was merely undeveloped.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. What was the dream about Shadow?"

My laughter died in my throat and I suddenly found myself fighting tears and trying not to choke on them. I only partially succeeded, tears seemed determined to stream down my face. I had to grit my teeth and could barely speak without my voice shaking or breaking. I managed to tell her about the dream, about Maria being Death in disguise and about Lirias' interpretation. Thankfully everyone stayed completely silent while I went on, a single question would have derailed me, I'm just that bad at talking.

"Why would Death look for Shadow?" Cream asked. It was a good question, but not easily answered.

"Cuz he nearly dies too much. It's like teasing a dog with bacon; eventually he'll try to bite you." Tails said calmly. I looked up at him without lifting my head from the table. He was resting his head on his arm, staring at me. I'd never thought Tails to be a cynic.

Cream was completely silent, everyone was, while Tails and I kept our eyes locked. "Cream, I think you should go upstairs, try to sleep, you can go in my room." I said, my eyes never leaving Tails' face.

She obeyed quickly and, after hesitating, Karo went with her. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on or if he wanted to know. I imagined he probably thought he wasn't supposed to know, since he was close in age to Cream and who lets children in on adult conversations? Rouge sat down heavily and put her feet on the table; Knuckles shook his head and left the kitchen. He probably had many thoughts in his head, but he often did not like being in overly serious conversations, especially about death.

"Ok, so everyone is unable to sleep and everyone is dreaming about death?" Rouge asked.

"That's about right. Cream can sleep if she's in our room or Shadow's, but then we can't sleep for worry of her." Sonic said, scratching his ear.

Amy nodded, rubbing Sonic's shoulder. "And that's not to say we can sleep when she's not in the room. Last night was the worst, I don't think anyone got more than four hours. I know Sonic didn't, he kept getting up to run. Shadow, well we all know Shadow loses sleep more easily than anyone."

"And Cream keeps going into his room, and Karo follows her, so we can bet he's not getting much sleep just due to that." Tails said, breaking our staring contest and gazing into his uneaten food.

I chuckled, "I haven't even been able to dream. I'm just not sleeping long enough."

Rouge pushed her hand into my fur again; rubbing and scratching in a way that helped me feel calmer. I was so exhausted; I could fall asleep at the table. Amy and Sonic kept talking to Rouge, explaining more of the situation while I drifted into a haze. It was warm in the gray mist, but I was lying down, still tired. My whole body felt heavy, like I was shackled with iron chains and my mind felt full of webs and water, heavy and unfocused.

A voice, sweet and melodious drifted through the fog. "Oh Shadow dear, won't you come here? I haven't seen you in a while, why don't you come play? You seem to love playing at my door…"

The voice seemed like Maria's only deeper, richer, and full of a cunning Maria never had. Was I so sleep deprived that I had gone straight into dream sleep from dozing at the table? The voice kept cooing, trying to entice me to get up and come find her, but I was so heavy and tired. And I was still at the table, if I got up to go to her, everyone would be wondering where I was headed to.

"Come play with me Shadow, come play with darling Maria. Don't you wish to see her again?"

I did want to see her again, but I was still at the table. The voice kept calling to me, and I heard Maria calling for me to come play. I started to sit up, it took such effort, but I managed it. I heard faraway voices, someone asking if I was alright. Was I alright? I started to shake my head no, then thought better of it and nodded yes. And then I felt a cool cloth against my face and the haze cleared. I was back in the kitchen as Amy wiped my face with a cold, wet rag.

"Are you ok Shadow?" She asked.

"I think I was dreaming." I slurred as though I'd been asleep for many hours.

"Well, go lay down then, you too Tails. Sleep in our room ok? Shadow I think you should stay in the livingroom."

I grunted as she sat the cloth on my head and Tails trudged past me and up the stairs. I simply sat in my chair, too tired to make myself move or even really think about my dream. I did keep thinking about how this wasn't going to lay down in the livingroom.

"What did you dream Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"Hm?" I had only half heard her, too caught up in my looping thought of how I should really get up.

She repeated herself, always so patient.

"A fog, someone calling me to go play. Said if I came I'd see Maria." I said, leaning my head against the wall. If I didn't sleep soon I'd just pass out on the chair.

Someone grabbed me by the arm and half dragged me into the living room. I stumbled into the couch and saw who had grabbed me, Knuckles. I growled at him and he gave me the finger and sat in his chair. I huffed and lay down on my stomach. I closed my eyes, barely hearing the others talk and only fleetingly noticed a blanket being put over me. Finally, finally, I fell asleep.

AP: Alright people, here's the prologue for Crimson Frost, the second of the Memories of Blood series. I hope you all enjoyed it, I will be working on Chapter 1 quickly.