Originally I submitted this story a long time ago, and after one chapter forgot about it. It was kind of hard for me to write using the plot I had created at the time, and then after a long slump I decided to just simply abandon the story.

However… recently I went back and looked at it for a little while, and I have a sudden interest in rebooting it again. So now along with the story on Tron: Legacy that I'm currently writing, we'll have this story as well.

Keep in mind that there might be random updating all based on my college schedule. I've been settling in which is why I haven't done too much in the last few weeks.

Anyway to warn you again, this will be a very dark themed story emotionally so if that isn't your cup of tea I suggest looking at another story.

Anyway, this is a reboot, and I hope you guys like it!

Cedars of Lebanon

I

...

Run… keep going… don't turn back…

…

Sunshine that once radiated brightly over the horizon began to fade, taking the light and slowly replacing it with darkness. It was a cool and crisp summer's night, however need be specific the date was August 10th; you could find this on one of the many televisions within the shops that broadcasted the local 10 o clock news. Many of them just happened to close at around 12, leaving a significant amount of stores empty and dark.

The city's sidewalks were dampened by the morning rain, and the day had remained overcast, not letting the ground fully dry out. A few people could be seen lurking on the streets, the traffic and bustling of rush hour long gone. Many of Station Square's inhabitants were at or heading to the comfort of their homes and apartments, for few stayed out this late at night. Then again, it was a Thursday night, and the majority of them needed a good nights rest for work tomorrow.

Dimly lit alleyways provided gangs places to converse and meet others, talking about news and such. The majority of them participated in an underground drug trade, with cocaine and vicodin being the most sought after. As a result, Station Square had a good deal of crime that was hidden from most of the public view, since the crime was between gangs. The police force in turn made their plentiful wages well earned, as the nightshift kept crime towards civilians to a minimum

However, this didn't bother a teenage pink hedgehog, who at this present moment was scurrying through various alleys, using them as shortcuts to a nearby train station. There was a final train for the night at 12:30, and with her employ of shortcuts, she could effortlessly make it with minutes to spare.

"Gotta, wheeze, hurry."

Her sights were clearly marked on beating the train, only her legs thought completely otherwise. To her they felt like trying to run while having rubber for legs, they would be weak and unbalanced, pretty much a liability in her case. But she kept pace, after all Amy did have a cause for rushing.

(Earlier in the day)

A breeze blew some stray leaves around a tree trunk, but did nothing to break the relaxation of a pink hedgehog. The 16 year old had on a pair of cerulean shorts, and a white top to be paired along with a rather large cerulean hat. She was just enjoying the nice summer day on her own in one of the local parks, although she wouldn't object to the twinge of loneliness she felt at the time.

Nonetheless, today was as good as summer day as any in her mind. Amy finally realized why Sonic enjoyed his carefree lifestyle so much; it was nice just to relax and have your mind free from worries once in a while. For Amy though, having an empty mind was something she wasn't exactly accustomed to. The girl was used to worrying about the multitude of things, mainly her friends. Surprisingly though not always Sonic, as she finally had matured enough to accept that he wasn't right for her.

Despite this however, Sonic and Amy put their differences aside and became good friends. In fact, over the last three years the pair has turned into the brother and sister type, with each of them watching over the other all the time, though not obsessively like the Amy of the past. The two would hang out more and talk more with one another, both things that didn't happen in the past. Then again, Sonic didn't have any interest in talking with the obsessive 13 year old Amy.

She did wish that he was back now, as he had gone to find a chaos emerald that was nearby. Tails had detected it using a special tracker he created. The new one had a longer battery life and had twice the accuracy of the old one, or so he told her. Tails had mentioned some other things about it, but the majority of what he had said was too technical for Amy to grasp, and only caused her to get a headache in the process. She laughed to herself anytime she thought about it.

Amy was about to get up to head back to her house, when she heard some rustling in the branches of the tree above her.

She turned her attention towards the large oak, and tried to see if there was anybody around.

"Hello? Is there anybody there?"

As if on cue, an ebony hedgehog fell out of the tree, and landed backside first onto the ground with a thud. He got angry and glared up at the tree, as if it magically shoved him off itself.

He brushed off the grass and leaves on his legs and turned around to see Amy standing with a questionable expression on her face.

"Rose?"

"Shadow?"

Both paused for a few seconds.

"What are you doing here?" They asked simultaneously.

"Well I was just relaxing by the trunk. It was a nice day so I thought I would come out here," Amy responded. "I'm curious on why you were even in a tree."

"Well if you must know, I like this tree because there is a good spot where I can relax without people finding me," Shadow said, crossing his arms.

"Can I see?"

Shadow lead her over and pointed up to a spot where the branches seemed to be perfectly formed to act as a small relaxation spot.

"Oh cool! Where did you find that?" She asked.

"In the tree of course," Shadow replied nonchalantly.

Amy shot him a little glare, causing Shadow to smirk a little bit. He had to admit, he didn't care for the old Amy and her Sonic obsessive behavior in the slightest. In fact, he downright found it nearly impossible to be around her, as it would just make his brain, and ears, hurt. Now though she had finally decided to mature, and now she was actually tolerable, and sometimes even he would admit to enjoying her company once in a blue moon.

"So anyway, what brings you here Rose? Usually I see you among your friends, never on your own."

Amy felt a bit of sadness upon her realization of being alone on such a nice day, "Yeah they're all busy so I just decided to go on my own."

Then an idea popped into her head. Would Shadow do something with her? She'd always tried to spend some time with him, maybe try to get to know him better. Amy didn't even know that much about Shadow to begin with.

"Hey Shadow, why don't the two of us do something together? It's only around noon."

This got Shadow's attention. Most of the activities any female he knew did had zero combined interest to him. Although getting out of this predicament would be a little difficult.

"I was just going to relax alone today," he said.

Amy shot him a little pout face. "Awe come on Shadow, don't be such a loner. Spending the day with me would cheer me up, I've been lonely today. Please?"

Shadow could only mentally sigh. If he said no now, Amy would do one of three things. She would either get very sad and mopey, get upset and angry, or bring out her hammer. And for Shadow's well-being, hedgehog had no interest in being mauled with a large hammer.

"Okay sure. What would you like to do?"

And so their day together began.

…

Shadow originally just said yes in order to avoid an angry or upset Amy, but in retrospect the ebony hedgehog would be lying if he said he hated all the stuff he and Amy did. In fact, he even enjoyed most of it to be exact.

The first thing they went to do was see a movie, with Shadow dreading the worst as Amy dragged them up to the ticket counter.

"Hello and how may I help you?" the female at the booth asked.

"Hi, uh can we get two tickets to Hobo with a Shotgun please?" Shadow's head cocked to the side in sheer surprise at hearing the movie Amy decided to take him to. She gave the 10 dollars for the tickets and bid the lady a nice day before walking with Shadow towards the snack counter. The pair each got a small popcorn and a coke, and went to the respective theater their movie was playing at.

The movie itself was incredibly outrageous, and in turn this got both Amy and even Shadow laughing at most of the scenes in the movie. He actually was planning to see this eventually, as the effects in the preview made it look like one of those so ridiculous it's hilarious type movies. Amy turned while Shadow was laughing at one of the scenes and smiled to herself, happy she was able to give Shadow a good time for once in his life.

After the movie, she decided to take him to lunch, only to have a problem with doing so. She had no idea what type of food he liked. So she decided to play it smart, and take him to a local bistro place she liked. It was Italian and called Fratellis; and it was one of her favorite little hidden places in Station Square.

Once they were seated and got their menus, Shadow decided to ask about the movie as he was still curious and surprised by the random choice.

"Rose can I ask you something?"

She looked up from the menu, "Sure thing!"

"Why exactly did you pick that movie? It seems like something completely opposite for you doesn't it?" he asked, still sporting a question mark type expression. "Was it cause I'd like it?"

Amy shook her head and smirked a bit in his direction, "Shadow the hedgehog, you assume I'm the type that only watches chick flicks? Sometimes I like a bit of violence… and gore." Shadow blinked, and then chuckled.

"Maybe I did have the wrong impression of you. I expected a girly girl type like you used to be, but you've changed a lot you know. To think that I thought you were the most annoying person on earth at one point."

Shadow tried to oversee that he said that, but got a glare and a slap from Amy, followed by a thank you.

"The slap was for the second part of that, the thank you for the first," she said.

So the pair continued talking until the waiter came to take their orders. Amy got a cup of Italian wedding soup and a small side salad, while Shadow decided on a turkey club with handmade potato chips. Once the food came the two ate and talked about Sonic and the rest of the game, with Shadow trying as much as possible to not talk about his supposed rival. His negativity towards Sonic made Amy nearly burst out laughing at some points on account of how Shadow hadn't changed at all in some ways.

After lunch they went back to the pair and sat together under the tree, both satisfied with their meals. Especially Shadow, he forgot the last time he got a sandwich that good, or even when he enjoyed a meal that much.

Both of them sat in silence for awhile, until it was Amy who was the first to speak up.

"You know, what you said about me changing, I think you've changed too you know"

Shadow looked over at Amy when she said that, curious onto what she thought was different about him. "Do tell."

"Well you're not the moody and lonely guy I used to know for one. And you even seem nicer," She remarked, and then paused a bit for a second, "Is it me?"

He didn't really know how to respond to this. What does she mean is it me?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I don't know, but most of the time you seem to be in a bad mood when around anybody else. Now the one day it's me alone you opened up. I just thought it was a coincidence that's all."

The ebony hedgehog flashed a rare smile, "Well perhaps it is."

A gust of wind blew forcefully across the entire park, making the trees sway and a couple of leaves fell on top of Shadows head. He shook them off, except for one that was stuck. Amy realized this, and reached over to try and help him get it out.

"Hang on, it got caught in one of your quills."

Right when she got it out, she lost her balance and ended up falling into Shadow's lap. He responded by jumping up in surprise, while a faint blush appeared on his face. Amy's face showed the same response as he did too.

"Sorry about that… heh," She said.

Shadow just shrugged it off.

The sun was beginning to set, and the pair watched as the bountiful sun dived behind a couple of Station Square's skyscrapers. Amy commented on how she loved when the sky turned into an array of purples and oranges, to which Shadow replied on how remarkable it was. She looked at her phone to realize that it was nearly 7:00.

"I got to run Shadow, the pharmacy I have to pick up my allergy medication at closes around 8:00, and it takes me a good half an hour to get over there, so I want to leave some time in between," She informed. Amy hated to just leave him, abruptly, but was happy when he seemed understanding.

"Okay, oh and Rose?"

She was getting up as he said that, "Yeah?"

"Let's do this again sometime."

And with that he got up and walked off. Amy just watched him go, her heart suddenly feeling a bit empty as he got farther and farther away.

And this pretty much summed up why the hedgehog was out so late. The 16 year old was almost to the pharmacy, and now had to rush to get there considering that her watch was off by nearly 25 minutes.

Her mind remembered an alleyway preceding the entrance to an Italian restaurant, and if such a way could save her some time, so be it. She turned, now running at a good clip down the dimly lit alley, looking forward constantly to assure that she wouldn't trip. Half broken beer and wine bottles littered the pavement, splinters of fabric too. Burned down cigarette bottoms appeared squished into the grooves of the ground, their boxes crushed and compressed.

Out of the blue however, a pack of small mice scurried in front of the hedgehog, causing her to completely freak out, as she had a fear of the creatures. A squeal parted from her lips, and in an attempt to avoid stepping on the tiny things she sidestepped herself, only to achieve the pain of falling chest first onto stiff ground. She dropped her phone on the pavement, and it bounced a few times before skidding to a halt a couple of feet away.

"Dammit! Why the hell does this crap always happened to me?" She muttered bitterly under her own breath, trying to find her cellular device. It didn't really help that the color of it was black, and it wasn't like there was much light in order to find it. She finally saw it on top of a flattened cardboard box, and she noticed that there were a couple of scratches on the outside of the case. She assumed it to be just as easy fix.

Now continuing her trek to the downtown station, Amy noticed another familiar path through an alley, except this time there was a lack of light within it. She already knew that use of this would threatened her safety and put her in jeopardy. But the pharmacy she used sometimes did close early if they didn't get any customers. Well, on the bright side at least it wasn't totally dark, and she was able to see enough to avoid obstacles.

She walked at a rather quick clip this time, avoiding the urge to sprint down the alleyway to save time, and because of the fact that Amy just so happened to be a tiny bit petrified of darkness. Even though she was 16, falling asleep was absolutely impossible without some sort of illumination within her room. Cream sometimes made little jokes about her nightlight in her room, which even made her laugh sometimes.

And now here she was, striding down a passageway between two aged brick apartment buildings, their shadows in the moonlight coexisting with one another, forming complete and utter obscurity before her. She wanted to prove to her own self that she wasn't that frightened little girl anymore, and proceeded into the dark without a whimper or an ounce of regret.

It only took about 10 seconds to entirely change this to the opposite factors.

While her mind was screaming at her to stop and turn back around, it seemed as if her legs had a mind of their own, and they continued to truck along, unresponsive to whatever was being debated in Amy's mind.

Halt! Dammit why won't you go back! Don't you know who could be lurking around you, and whoever it is, you can barely see them.

She shook off the thoughts of her inner self.

Why am I being so stubborn anyway, after all this path isn't too long, I mean look at that. I can see some light already in front of me, just a little bit longer.

With anxiety building up inside her mind, her legs told her to move quicker, to which she obeyed. Soon Amy was running in large lengthy strides, her phone in her hand this time to safe the case from more abuse from the pavement.

Almost… there…

So it seemed until her left foot slammed into another foot beyond hers. She was whisked through the air, nearly a full 4 feet ahead of her, the phone flying into a wall, while her head crashed into the unforgiving pavement beneath her.

That same person who had tripped the innocent girl slowly sauntered over the body of Amy Rose, and in mere seconds had her pinned down against the pavement, both her knees and elbows severely scraped, though there wasn't a huge presence of blood. He was atop her back, a hand grasping her mouth, making sure that he was extra cautious, if she were to scream, he knew he was done.

And she would be too.

…

Thanks for reading, please drop a review!