Ch1: A is for Anger
Shadow the hedgehog was an undoubtably angry soul. He had much to be angry about, after all. His past, his present, the faker and his irritating presence, the prejudice he still received. Yes, Shadow had many things to be angry over.
Most people who knew him on a more personal level-which wasn't many-thought that Sonic was the most irritating thing to the black hedgehog, but that wasn't it. Sure, the speedster was a royal pain in the ass with his cheeky smile, witty comments, and the way he always nosed into everyone's business. But over the years Shadow had come to tolerate his rival, the same way someone tolerates an allergy. The thing that angered Shadow the most, the thing that made him grit his teeth and tense his fists into tight balls of furry while he tried not to obliterate his surroundings, was ungrateful-ness. And it was something people on earth seemed to have an endless supply of.
Everyday he would walk the streets, whether it be on assignment or on errand, and everyday he saw more people complaining or whining about their perfectly well and good lives. They had homes, food, clothing, and more likely than not people around them who loved and cared for them. Yet everyday he watched them get in pointless fights and groan under the light yokes that denied them pleasure for a short while. Some kid would cry their eyes out-for whoever would acknowledge it-all for the latest toy or gadget that money could buy when they clearly had a perfectly good toy already. All day, everyday, it was the same words, I want, I want, I want! It drove him to insanity! These were the people he had promised to give hope to, to protect?! These ungrateful mongrels who had shoved their heads so far up their asses they were blind to everything around them!
So if he was to answer honestly which of his acquaintances irritated the ever loving shit out of him, he would answer Amy Rose. It wasn't just because out of all the infantile cries that crossed his ears hers were the most petty, grating, and childish. No, it was because they were contradictory. It baffled him how such a childish girl could ever be more than that, a child.
But it was this sun-kissed innocence that brightened even the darkest corners. Seared through walls like they were paper thin. She was life and love in essence, brimming and spilling over the edge to meet the world and burn away its sickly tar like acid. She was honey and sugar, spark and dynamite, and she exploded into the lives of those around her with a rainbow beam, including his.
Now how the hell it happened, he will never know. It was a concept that had eluded his calloused fingers like slime- he would think he had the answer and for a second; an epiphany would abound and then the second hand would tick taking with it the smoke that held the answer- leaving him disgruntled again for the puzzle he could not solve and thus angry. But his anger did not have time to simmer and steam in the brooding echos of him mind, a pink canary with a wide scalding smile would sing them away with a giggle and a kiss. God that sounded mushy, but it was a truth. The girl had somehow swept his rug of curling rage from under his feet and left him staring at the height of expansive universe above him. It was all too overwhelming, but then she was there again, peachy keen arms wrapped around his waist and nose buried deep into his void coat. "Be not afraid." She said. "The unknown isn't so scary when you have someone to bear it with right?"
Indeed it wasn't.