Hello! Welcome! My name's Josh, Josh the Crowned Ferret. i thank you so much for clicking on my story, and that you so much more for even reading it! I'm hoping thst this story becomes one of your favorites, because it's my first Fanfic. recently, I've just been working at Fiction press, but decided, Y'know what. I'm gonna do a fanfiction. So, here it is, my story about love, betrayal, lust, and greed. But most of all, This story is about ROCK!!!!!!

Thank you once again,

Josh, The crowned ferret.

Welcome to Midnight

Chapter one: Black Paper Moon

By: The Crowned Ferret

***

Dark.

That's all there was.

Just the darkness and the sound of his ragged breathing.

The breath of anticipation.

It would soon be time, the crew had said five minutes.

But, it seemed much longer than that.

It felt like eternity, a prolonged silence that stretched on forever and a minute.

Not to mention the small fact that he was bored.

Then came the sound.

The cheering of a crowd.

The thumping of a drum overhead.

Loud guitar followed, playing the riff that he knew so well.

He bobbed his head in time to the drum's banging.

The floor under him began to rise.

It was time.

The guitar riff grew to a climax.

Light poured into his eyes as the ceiling above him opened, the ground continued to ascend.

Cheers roared as his rising floor halted.

He was on stage, ivy-covered mike in front of him.

He grasped it with raw, dominating power. And yelled out the words they all knew.

"Welcome To Midnight!"

***

There wasn't much to say about his life. Unless you were the type who enjoyed to hear of such tragic things. He was an experiment. The Ultimate-Life Form. Able to destroy or save whom ever he wished. There was no said limitation to his power. Or his wrath.

He was created to be a weapon that could harness the power of Chaos, A dangerous energy that radiated in the life of every living thing. But this energy was also quite unstable. Extremely so. The experiment they had put him through, to study the focus of his control over the energy, were painful. Excruciating. Flesh had been stripped away, blood had been shed, and sanity had been close to breaking. It was a terrible life, a useless existence.

Then…there was her. The one person that he had loved on that god-forsaken place they had called a colony. The only one he had ever loved. Her name was Maria. She was a young Aphrodite in human flesh. With tresses of silk smooth wheat hair, deep cerulean eyes like oceans, and lush full lips. She had been his savior, caring for him like a brother, like a friend, and, he envisioned, like a lover. She had protected him, stopping all harmful experimentation, replacing it with kinder methods of research.

The two had played together. Talked. Laughed. Even kissed occasionally. They had been the best and the most inseparable of friends. The most secret of lovers. The most enjoyable of days were the ones spent in the gardens, his head on Maria's lap as she read a act or two of a Shakespearean play, namely Romeo and Juliet, or a chapter from one of her books, some more risqué then others, which made him uncomfortable in unsaid areas. Those were happy days. Good times. But like fate often declares, those good times were on a road of conclusion.

There was an attack on the colony. He had grasped her hands fiercely as they ran down the hallway. Silently promising that all would turn out for the better. That the two of them would escape and begin a new life together. No such promise could be kept. As they neared their escape, a shot rang out, a scream, one of agony the other of a name. "MARIA!" That day, his only love had died in his arms, asking him to forgive those who had killed her. There was no such thing as forgiveness in his heart. But he had escaped. Or so he thought.

His creator, Dr. Gerald Robotnik, had caught him and placed the black hedgehog in a comatose-like sleep. Sleep had been his life for an approximated fifty years, until he had been awaken by a foolish, sadistic pig of a man by the name of Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. The 'good' doctor had explained his desire to the Ultimate life form. To annihilate the entire earth and rebuild it with an empire of loyal robotic servants. A plan that seemed to resonate the ebony hedgehog's hunger for revenge. The plan had failed, disrupted by a blue hedgehog, Sonic, soon to be called "faker", and his little friends.

His eyes had been opened that day. It took the young pink Rose to teach him that Maria would not have wanted him to carry out his senseless revenge, but would have wanted him to forgive all those who had done him harm and protect the people of the pitiful planet Earth. He had took this realization and pounded it into his heart, forgetting all about his revenge on the weak human race. Instead he had become their protector, alongside the blue faker.

The name of this unfortunate one is, Shadow. Shadow The Hedgehog.

***

The crowd in front of Shadow cheered with energy as the final strum of the song echoed. Sweat half-matted his fur as he stared out at the people who had arrived to here his band play their two hour show. It was the same violent energy that the Ultimate Life form experienced after every show. And one that he held internally. Chaos.

A silver furred fox, the concert director, Adaam, walked up onto the stage mike in hand "Welcome to Midnight, Everyone!" The fox pointed over to the band. Pathetic creatures, Shadow thought with distain as the crowd cheered and the fox waved his hands in a "give it up" motion. All of them. "Alright! That was a kick-ass two hours! But don't leave just yet! We got you guys a hot closing act, give a big hand to…Alabaster!"

That was Shadow's cue to get the hell out of there and get his rest. Tomorrow was another day. And for now, all the ebony hedgehog wanted to do was get a drink, some beer, or, better, a glass or two of whiskey, it usually went down well after a lengthy show such as this. Stepping away from the mike, he walked to the opposite side of the stage, thoughts focused on what he was going to get at a near by bar. Shadow rolled his shoulders feeling a soft refreshing crack issue from them. As he reach the backstage area a chorus of howls could be heard, his band mates, energized by the way the concert turned out. An arm wrapped it's self around his neck. Shadow looked over to his left to see the lead guitarist of the band and his self declared 'best friend', a red wolf by the name of Fenri, was the owner of the arm.

"Hell! Fucking! Yeah!" He yelled, a tuft of his crimson fur rubbing against Shadow's nose. "We rock the hell outta this place! And Shadow-" Shadow glared over to the kitsune. The wolf replied with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I keep forgetting, Slade." Shadow redirected his piercing gaze elsewhere, while he was still in the concert area he refused to be called anything other than his stage name, Slade. "You, yeah, YOU, fucking blew them away."

The was a definite humph in Shadow's voice as he responded in his own manner, "It was just like the other concerts. A lot of singing and nothing more." He removed Fenri's arm from his shoulder and neck.

"Yeah, but how many bands get to be as famous as us? C'mon man, just lighten up a little. I know you enjoy it every time to yell out those lyrics. Y'can't deny it." Fenri grinned over at his raven partner, violet eyes twinkling. I still can't believe I'm still in the same band as this happy-go-lucky fool.

But there was truth in Fenri's words, Shadow did enjoy blaring out the crude, raw lyrics at the crowd. Every word he yelled was like a piece of his aggression infecting the youth, and the occasional forty-year old, that came to the band's shows. Not that he would admit it out loud. Especially to a fellow band member. "I beg to differ. I can deny that all I want." Shadow trained his cold, crimson eyes on the equally scarlet canine.

Fenri made a tchnoise, "Damn. You're impossible." The wolf grinned over to the inky hedgehog, a glimmer of light-heartedness in his eyes. Ugh…If Shadow knew his partner like he should, which he did, he could see a certain question coming even before the words were out. And every time he asked this certain question, he always got the same answer. Yet, for some unknown reason the wolf continued to persist with the insane request. "He~ey, I know what'll lighten ya up." The wolf jumped in front of Shadow, blocking his path of travel, much to the dark knight's irritation. "Look, I know this is kinda not your style, but, dude, c'mon, you've gotta come to the after party."

"Not interested."

"Yeah, I know," huffed Fenri, staring right into his black counterpart's eyes without being fazed by the intensity they held. "You'd rather go to a bar and get wasted. You can get wasted at the party too. And there's going to be some really hot chicks too."

"By 'hot' I assume you mean extremely large-breasted and puts out on command?" Shadow raised a brow.

"Err…yeah."

"Hmph." It was obvious that was exactly what Fenri considered to be the 'perfect' woman. Loose and well endowed. "That type is not one I benefit from. Moreover, I see enough of that at G.U.N." Shadow brushed past Fenri, their shoulders connecting slightly. Fenri was the only member of the band that knew of Shadow's other occupation. And Fenri had only found out by rummaging through Shadow's wallet and finding his military I.D.

"Oh-ho. Got yourself an eyeful of a secretary, eh?" Fenri hooted, walking over to Shadow's left side and nudging him playfully in the ribs. God, some times Shadow wished he could just kill him. But one rarely kills a friend. Even if they were self proclaimed.

The air cooled to an almost absolute zero as Shadow gave Fenri a scowl that would have frozen a lake solid. "No, you dumb-ass. I am talking about Rouge. My partner," the jet black hedgehog seethed.

Fenri's ear's perked up at the sound of the name. "Ah! You mean sexy bat-girl?" he asked.

"Yes." Then spotting the look on Fenri's face, "Not like that. Don't get the wrong idea. When I said I get enough of that I don't mean in a sexual sense. My relationship with her is strictly professional. Nothing more. I just see more breast than I wish to in a day," Of course, no matter how much Shadow tried to clear this up, it always seemed to turn on him.

Fenri blinked his purple eyes. "More breast than you wish to…Damn, how can you say that? There is no limit to how much boob can be seen and handled."

"I beg to differ." Shadow responded.

Fenri stared hard at Shadow. "Okay, fine. You don't like chicks with big tits. No prob. So what exactly is your type of woman Sh-…Slade?" He gave Shadow an expectant look. The wolf had no actual benefit from finding out this tidbit of information. Unless, he wanted it for blackmail. That would be a bitch all on it's own.

With a exasperated sigh, Shadow forced his anger to recede back into a deep reserve in his heart. "I don't…have a type of woman." After all the only woman that he had ever wanted was Maria. She was only 'type' for him.

With a surprised look, Fenri jumped away from Shadow, both hands held behind him, and he seemed to be covering his rear end. "No…type? Slade? Are you…gay?"

Shadow reacted instantly with anger. "NO! I AM NOT GAY!" What the fuck had led to that conclusion? "I just don't have an absolute type. But I can tell you this, I'm not a breast fanatic like you."

"Got it. I got it," Fenri said, looking a Shadow reluctantly before he stepped away from the wall. His hand, however stayed close to his rear. One day. One day, I'll kill that wolf for these stunts. "But, really. You have to go to-"

A voice spoke up from behind the two, "Ah, tryin' to convince Slade to go to the After party, right Fenri?" They both turned to see their drummer, A white rabbit with blue eyes. "It ain't gonna work. y'know how he is."

"Look Calit. Just 'cause he said no the first few times."

"Thirty times isn't a few."

"Whatever. Just 'cause he's said no a couple of times doesn't mean he'll say no this time."

"Yes it does." Shadow responded, reaching the door to his dressing room. "I have no intention of going. Now let me be." The ebony hedgehog opened his door, walked through with purpose and shut the door. But not before he heard Calit say, "Told ya."

A heavy sigh echoed through the dressing room. Damn that Fenri. One of these days he's going to stress me out. The ruby wolf was a damn nuisance, he was even more annoying than the damn faker. That by itself was an achievement. It was not time to dwell no this, though. It was time for him to leave and have his fill of alcohol.

He walked over to his mirrored table and peered into it for a moment. Reflected in the glass was a black hedgehog with red yes and slicked down, streak-less quills. The figure looked different than Shadow. And that was because the figure was not Shadow. It was Slade, lead singer to the famous band, Welcome to Midnight. "Hmph." And now was the time for Slade to disappear momentarily from the world and turn to Shadow the hedgehog.

Shadow walked over to the small shower the had provided for him in the room, undressed himself, and walked into the shower stall. He turned on the water, very hot, and began to furiously scrub at his quills. As his fingers ran through them, his quills began to slowly return to their normal position, and the water than fell from his head onto the floor of the shower was an inky black. Hair Dye. The moment the water on the floor appeared to be clear, Shadow switched off the water and stepped out grabbing a towel from the nearby rack, drying his body off with it.

As he finished dying himself, he wrapped the towel around his waist and looked in the mirror once more. There was Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate life form, complete with streaked quills, and feral red eyes. The image brought a smile to his lips. He wasn't one to admire himself, but the occasional look into his own eyes brought him satisfaction for some odd reason. There's no time to squander on such trivial things. As hastily as he could he dressed himself in his usual attire, a black long-sleeve shirt overlapped by another ebony shirt, only this time short-sleeved and carrying a skull on the front and a message written on the back: Fuck Off. And about his lower half, black cargo pants with charcoal biker boots.

As he left the room for the management to clean, Shadow hurriedly left through the backdoor of the concert hall. As he walked out he was met with a horde of screaming fans, all of them decked in a black Welcome to Midnight vintage t-shirt. Oh, dear god. They got here faster than I anticipated. But…as quickly as the fans has started to scream, they stopped and stared at him.

"Hey! Who the- hey, Bouncer-Dude! Where's Slade?" Bouncer-dude?, Who where they talking about? He was Slade…oh, yes, he had forgotten that he had changed back into his normal fuck-the-world arrogance. Somehow, his demeanor had translated into him being a bouncer. Deciding to play along with his newly allotted role he stepped forward and sneered at the crowd, "You fools are too late. The singer has already left, now leave before I decide to kill you all." It had been a while since the Ebony hedgehog had been able to threatened someone without getting into legal danger.

"Yeah? Well, you have to remember, you'll get sued if you do. Shadow."

Shadow groaned inwardly to see Fenri standing next to him with a silly grin on his face. He was most likely here to make him go to the damned after party again. The crowd erupted into another chorus of cheers as they as well spotted the red canine. Girls in the crowd pressed forward, crushing Shadow into Fenri and pictures of the wolf waved in the air.

"Fenri, sign my picture!"

"No! Sign mine!"

"Sign my breasts!"

"Bitch, don't try to seduce him."

Laughing, Fenri pulled a pen out from somewhere Shadow couldn't, and didn't want to see and began signing random papers and body parts. How can an he laugh through this? I feel like I'm going to suffocate! Shadow struggled against the sea of females, yet he had no success in breaking away from them. One chaos blast…that's all it would take…

"A'ight, A'ight. That's all for tonight!" Yelled Fenri laughingly at the crowd of fan girls, grabbing onto Shadow's arm and hoisting up the black hedgehog, with an excellent timing as well, for the fan crushed in some more. "If I sign any more I won't be able to play my guitar tomorrow night. And y'all wouldn't want that now would ya?" The crowd surged backwards, giving Shadow room to steady his now twirling head.

"Your fucking insane for enjoying this attention," He muttered to his crimson companion.

"You owe me one though."

Shadow glared upward. "I'll buy you a beer, but under no circumstance will I go to your party." A pout settle on the lycan's face, but then disappeared. It was replaced by a look of dissapointment..not the fact that he had not succeeded in bring the hedgehog…it appeared to be more directed to the hedgehog.

"Fine. Imported from Casino night zone." Sighed Fenri, accepting his offer and trudging past the still cheering crowd of people, but looked back at the hedgehog with a the same disappointed look. "sometimes, I wonder if your living life how you want to." Shadow stepped back in surprise, he had not been expecting a line like this to be coming from the glory hog (no pun intended) of the band. "Shadow. Do you find satisfaction in your life, man? Is everyday as fulfilling as you want it to be?"

There was no answer Shadow could give to the wolf. There was no way for Shadow to answer a question such as that. In fact the thought of living his life had never really occurred to him. To Shadow life had no such purpose…in fact one could say the only reason he had continued with his life was because it was Maria's dying wish. "I-I…"

"I thought so…" Without another word, Fenri walked over to the limousine that was waiting for him. The fans chase with momentous force.

Shadow was left standing on his own, wondering. How could thoughts about the meaning to his life just decide to hide in his mind until now, and be awoken by the most unexpected person of them all. It did not make any sense. Yet, Shadow could not stop, but to think on the matter. Was his life fulfilling? Was it satisfying? No, not at all. He had been living for nothing, and nothing is what was returned to him for that same reason. The only good thing that he had was his being in the band. Not that he necessarily considered that a goodthing. His 'friends' all had a reason to live.

The young fox inspired to be a great mechanic. The rabbit…was most likely because she had a crush on the fox. The echidna lived to protect the Master Emerald. The bat lived to steal it. The Rose girl…lived he life to catch and possibly marry the Faker. And the Faker? To live life in the fullest ad enjoy the simple things in life.

"Well, fuck," Growled the ebony mammal. "I have to stop thinking about this. It'll drive me insane." And he had a bar to get to. Discarding all thoughts about his life and it's meaning, he walked to the edge of the sidewalk and called out to a cab. One of the yellow vehicles stopped in front of him with a screech. The charcoal experiment opened the door to the rear seats and entered the cab. The driver, an orange cat looked over to him. "So where you headed?"

Shadow answer in a sharp voice. "Take me to closest bar." He could see a look in the drivers eyes. Shadow looked across the street to see the glowing sign of a Gay Bar. "The closest straight bar."

"Alright. Don' worry bud. I wasn' thinkin' nothing." Shadow wasn't quite certain.

It didn't take long for the driver to locate a bar, of the heterosexual variety. "Five bucks, chief," billed the cat, extending a hand. Shadow pushed a crumpled fifty into the cats hand and walked off with a muttered, "Keep the change."

The bar that the Driver had pulled in front of had a party look to it, bright, flashing light poured in from the front door as well from the signs and decorations on the building itself. The front sign, just above the double doors, held the picture of a pair of full lips smiling and a mascaraed eye narrowed in supposed seduction. The title of the bar was also printed on the sign. Club Chance. Very original. Scoffing at the name, Shadow wasted no time and walked into the building.

The moment he stepped into the bar, he knew this wasn't exactly what he wanted. In fact it was one of the worst places he could ever think of coming to. A place like this never appealed to him. And he didn't think it appealed to him right now.

A single's bar.

He could tell by the fact that there was rave music and the numerous pairs of male/female 'couples' talking and laughing. Disgusting. Not to mention how pointless it seemed. Almost all of the get-togethers that were being witnessed here would end in one-night stands. But he desperately needed to get a drink. After one or two, he would leave and look for a different place to drink. One with a more somber environment.

Shaking his head in disgust Shadow proceeded toward the bar. "Double whiskey. On the rocks. And a Scotch," ordered the sable hedgehog as he reached his destination. The bartender there obeyed immediately, moving to the racks to find the alcohol. Most creatures of this world usually followed Shadow's orders. The consequence wasn't usually pleasant.

As he waited he looked around the place, unfortunately catching the eye of an especially well-endowed purple tigress. She smile at Shadow suggestively, squeezed her already large breasts together to make them seem even more impressive. And as he had testified to earlier, the gargantuan assets did nothing to him, perhaps disgust him more than anything. Stupid…why did I even decide to enter here? The very moment he thought those words his drinks were served in front of him. Right.

He downed the scotch in one quick swig, letting it's dry flavor caress his tongue ever so briefly before he swallowed. A fine brand. He shook his head as the alcohol made it's way down his throat, smile at the delicious burn.

Shadow was about to down the whiskey he had ordered, but a slight movement caught his eye. It was the gentle and graceful flow of Maria's walk. Shadow turned his gaze in the very direction, then blinked in confusion. A white cat, wearing a black…what were they called? Tube tops? And a pair of black jeans and shoes to accompany the tube top. In her hands she held a glass of some liquor, unidentifiable from the distance Shadow was at.

There was nothing that seemed even remotely Maria-like about her appearance or mannerisms. But…her walk, it was a flawless imitation of Maria's very own. Shadow could not mistaken it, no matter how shoddy his memory might be. It intrigued him beyond compare…

The cat looked up from her drink, met his gaze, smiled promiscuously, and gave him a wink. Damn… It was the same kind of wink Maria gave him when she was about to do something a little more…wicked than usual. The memories that brought back.

"My, my, my. Look who's here. Mr. Shadow, in the flesh," Chimed an extremely familiar voice.

You can not be serious, Shadow thought as he turned his body around to face the person who had spoken behind him. Just as he had suspected. "Good Evening, Rose." In front of him stood a pink hedgehog in a blue and white, polka-dotted top and a white tennis skirt.

"Evening," Amy Rose returned smiling prettily at the scowling face her midnight counterpart. Out of any of the others, Amy Rose was one of his 'friends' that he even bothered talking to. After all, she was the only one who seemed to actually honor the distance he kept away from people. "What would bring you to a place like Club Chance?" Shadow had been hoping that she would not even touch upon the subject. Yet…

Shadow gestured to the half-filled glass of whiskey behind him, "What does it seem like to you? I'm having a drink." As if to solidify his statement Shadow grabbed the glass and took a generous draft from the drink. After he had swallowed he returned to his conversation with the Rose. "But I believe it would be much more proper to ask a lady her business about this place." He gestured to the many couples around the area.

Amy frowned at his suggestion. "Don't get the wrong idea Shadow. I'm just looking for a friend. She ran in here a bit ago and I'm having no luck finding her." That would explain some.

"And your friend would look like…?"

"She's a white cat, wearing all black."

Well, that was quite the coincidence, he wondered if a higher power was behind all of this. "She's over there." Shadow pointed in the general area, revealing the friend's whereabouts to the Rose.

"Ah, Thank you. I should go get her-" The Rose made a move to go and catch her friend, but the cat caught sight of her, smiled and walked over. "Amy! Hey!" there was a definite wobble of liquor in the Cat's voice.

Amy frowned, "Have you been drinking?" It would be no wonder. This is a bar. Yet, wisely, Shadow kept his mouth shut and sipped at his drink silently. Nothing good even came from arguing with a woman, and Shadow had been slapped enough by Rouge to have learned his lesson.

The cat leaned against the bar counter still smiling and giggled, "Only a liiittle bit."

"It doesn't sound like a little bit to me…" argued the rosy hedgehog, taking a motherly, yet scolding tone. Shadow couldn't help but smile at it, Rose seemed to talk to most of her friend in that manner, especially the Faker. "You worried me, you ran off without telling me where you were going. I search all over this district to find you."

A look of absolute guilt appeared almost instantaneously on the feline's face. " 'm sorry Amy." and like acting as drunk as she was she looked at Shadow and smiled naughtily . "I saw you at the other end of the bar…you're kind of cute." You're kind of drunk.

Though he had thought the statement he would not say it out loud in front of Amy, instead he simply said, "Perhaps you can introduce the two of us?"

Amy gave him a curious look, but obliged, "She's Sultry."

The very statement took the dark hedgehog aback. There was no possible way that Ms. Rose would be… "I didn't know you were one who commented so boldly on the same sex."

"N-no! You have it all wrong!" burst the Rose with a definite shade of red on her cheeks. "Her name. Her name is Sultry."

Realization clicked inside Shadow's cranium. Ah, so the name of the cat was 'Sultry'. Of, course, it had been a misunderstanding. "So I realize. A pleasure to meet you Ms. Sultry." Shadow lifted his glass in a friendly bar 'hello'. "I'm Shadow."

Another carnal smile spread out on the cat's face. "Hmm…pleasure is something I'm quite good at." You don't say.

Amy interjected, "Sultry. You shouldn't be saying things like that. Especially to someone you just met." Sultry seemed to be ignoring Amy and was focusing intensely on Shadow. "Sultry!" The cat finally looked at Amy Rose.

"Mm?" Sultry looked away a moment after.

As if thinking the was no use in trying to reason with the cat, Amy sighed. "Why did I even decide to go on a girls' night with you?" She took a seat next to Shadow, "Excuse me bartender? I'll have…I dunno, something sweet." The bartender went off.

Shadow drained the last of his whiskey and turned his body around. "Why did you go on a girls' night out? I would think you would rather be out on a date with the Faker." For about two months now, the blue Faker had agreed to go out with the raspberry hedgehog, and as it would turn out they both, both, appeared to genuinely enjoy the other's company.

"We broke up," commented Amy flatly.

That came as a surprise. "Why?"

There was pain in the Rose's eyes. It was a few moment before she spoke up again. "He said he would rather the both of us go back to being friends." No.

"I…see."

"It hurt…you know? We were going out for such a long time. I thought it would all just work out in the end. Why did he wait such a long time to tell me something like this?" Perhaps the Faker was feeling a little guilty that he actually agreed to go out with you when he didn't want to? Amy's drink was set in front of her, she took a drink from it, and sighed again. "Sultry had forced me to go on a Girls' night out to distract me. Everyone came along, Cream, Rouge, Marine, Cosmo, Blaze, and some of my other friends."

Shadow nodded, "And how'd you end up chasing Sultry here?"

"I don't know, Sultry just suddenly ran off and I followed aft-"

"You ignoooreing meee," slurred the cat next to Shadow. And with good reason.

Amy finished her drink and pulled a ten out of a purse she had on her arm. Shadow stopped her. "Let me handle this. You shouldn't waste your money, I hardly use mine at all."

"But Shad-" Shadow raised his eyebrow, signaling that he would not take anything but a yes as an answer. The Rose gave in. "Alright." Then looking over at the cat. "Sultry, let's go."

And as Shadow anticipated, Sultry protested, "Noooo! I wanna stay hereee."

The was an irritated look on Amy's face. It was clear that she would get forceful if Sultry refused to follow after her. Knowing Rose, She would most likely use her Hammer to 'force' the cat out of the bar, more than likely in an unconscious state. Shadow felt it was obligatory for him to step in. "Don't worry Rose. Leave her here, I'll watch over her so nothing happens."

Amy looked at him, then smiled gratefully. "Alright Shadow, I know I can trust you, So I'm leaving her in your hands. Make sure she gets home safe, 'Kay?" The ebony experiment nodded and Amy walked off, exiting the building through the glass doors.

"Ah, she's gone," Shadow looked to his side to see Sultry lift herself from the bar counter and straighten her back out. The was no hint of slur or alcohol induced speak in her words. She was sober the whole time. You could have fool me. "So, Shadow, you said you were going to watch over me right? Hmm-hmm." The cat looked at Shadow with a sly grin. There had been a plan hatching in that feline head of hers.

He nodded. "I always keep my word." And this time it seemed that his word would be little more…delightful.

The snowy cat walk by him, her tail trailing against his lap suggestively, "So then. Where do we go? Your place or mine?"

Josh:Okay, it was a slow chapter, but it was more of an intro in Shadow's current life as is. I'm apologize in advance, I'm a slow updater, but I will try my hardest to bring you the second installment of Welcome To Midnight.

Fenri: I hope you get to make Shadow go to a After party soon.

Shadow: Don't even count on it.

Josh and Fenri: We hope to see you soon!

Shadow: Hmph.