Author's Note:Hello, readers! This story is dedicated to Azaleatown, who requested I bring it back from the dead from Quizilla.

If you ever have the time, you should check out herShadow the Hedgehog fanfic, "Have Faith In Me". It's really cute – especially since Shadow the Hedgehog was my own favorite Sonic game, too – and it looks like she's much better about updating than I am, so…

"Wake up! Wake up!"

Sonic shouted up the stairs of Chris's house. It was seven in the morning, which was under no circumstances considered to be a decent hour in the household.

Racing up the stairs, Sonic began a feeble attempt at gathering the troops for a day of getting ready for his brother's arrival.

Manic…

Sonic hadn't seen his little brother in so long.

Tails woke with a jolt as Sonic burst through his door. Blinking his eyes open tiredly, he glanced at his alarm clock.

7:00 A.M.

"Ugh…Soniiiiic…"

"Today's the day, Tails! Today's the day!" was Sonic's enthusiastic reply, "Just a few more hours and he'll be here!"

Groggily, Tails swung his legs over the side of his bed and started putting on his shoes, fingers fumbling over the laces.

Beaming, Sonic pounced onto the bed beside him, further messing up the covers.

Tails – his best friend. Sonic could always count on him.

More than anyone, Tails had reminded him the most of Manic. They both had an affinity for machines and computers.

"There are so many things we have to get done," Sonic chattered on, beginning a list, "There's the food, the spare room—"

"Sonic," Tails cautioned quietly, his big ears perking up at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, "Maybe you should keep your voice—"

Tails's door slammed open for a second time that day, revealing a scowling Knuckles.

"—down," he finished weakly.

Sonic leapt off the bed and raced to the red echidna, not even a little put off by the waves of pure rage rolling off of him.

"Today's the day, Knuckles!" he chanted merrily, green eyes shining.

"So I've heard," he muttered darkly.

He reeled as Amy shoved him aside, racing into the room nearly as enthusiastically as Sonic had.

"Today's the day!" she sang excitedly, all pink and energy.

"Today's the day!" Sonic agreed, taking her by the hands and swinging her around.

"She's finally coming!"

"Oh." Sonic stopped abruptly. He had forgotten Manic was bringing a friend with him. What did he say her name was again?

"Drisana!" Amy continued, grinning broadly. She so rarely had a girl her own age around, she couldn't wait for her to get here.

Groaning, Knuckles kneaded his forehead.

So much energy was unbearable before noon.

"Oh!" Sonic gasped suddenly, "Espio, Vector, Charmy, and Cream! We need to pick them up, too!"

He raced down the hallway, followed closely by Amy.

"I don't know, Tails," Knuckles sighed, shaking his head, "He's even more excited than usual. We're really going to be in for it the next few days."

Tails grinned in agreement and followed him out the door.

"Shadow!"

A black and white hedgehog cracked open a ruby-red eye lazily as a voice crackled over the loud speaker, abruptly ending what little sleep he had gotten that night.

His gaze flickered to the alarm clock on his bedside table.

9:00 A.M.

"…I'm going to kill him," he whispered murderously.

"Shadow!" Eggman repeated, more loudly this time, "Meet me in the conference room in five minutes! …And don't be late!"

Shadow pushed himself out of bed, pulling on his socks and shoes, and shuffled down the hall, muttering mutinously under his breath.

Metal hit metal as he slammed the door to the control room open with a loud clang. Looking up from his computer, Eggman waved him over impatiently.

"What do you want?" Shadow asked through gritted teeth.

He had been working with Eggman for some time now – less because they had a common goal and more because, well…he didn't know what else to do.

Shockingly enough, there weren't many places in the world for a synthetic hedgehog.

"Look at this."

Scooting to the side, Eggman pulled up a video on the screen – footage from one of their many surveillance cameras.

He traced something through the sky in the video with a gloved finger as Shadow squinted hard at it, trying to make out what it was.

"…A plane?" he said dismissively.

"No," Eggman corrected, eyes aglow, "That, Shadow, is…well, for want of a better word: a spaceship."

Shadow scoffed and crossed his arms, turning his red glare on Eggman as if to say, 'You woke me up for this?'

"I tracked its flight path," he continued quickly, fully aware of the hedgehog's black mood, "and my receivers indicate that it landed outside of that hedgehog's house."

'That hedgehog', of course, meaning Sonic.

Becoming just a little more receptive, Shadow leaned across the computer to get a closer look.

"They came for Sonic?" he asked thoughtfully, "Why? Who are they?"

"The serial number indicates it's from Mobius. Mobius, as you know, is Sonic's home planet."

"Is it?"

Eggman nodded, "As for what they want, well…that's your job, isn't it?"

Shadow fell silent for a moment, thinking the whole thing over. Then, turning, he waved back over his shoulder.

"I'll take a look."

Satisfied, Eggman turned and resumed his work as Shadow used chaos control, vanishing in an instant.

"Easy, Sonic!" Manic laughed, "How am I going to tell you how much I missed you if you crush me to death?"

Sonic grinned sheepishly and let go of his little brother.

"I missed you so much," he said sincerely, "and I miss Sonia, too."

"We've missed you, too, Sonic," Manic said quietly, "More than you know."

After Sonic left Mobius to save the Earth, the throne had been left up to him. He still couldn't believe it: him – possibly the least responsible of the three of them.

At least, that was how he used to be, but taking the burden of the prince-hood, trying to follow in his brother's footsteps, all while having the support of a friend – a very dear friend – had changed all of that.

Manic turned to the indigo hedgehog at his side who was glancing down at her feet.

She felt like an intruder on Manic's family moment. Scuffing her sneakers on the pavement, she glanced around at everyone shyly.

Drisana was always nervous about meeting new people. It was her eyes – they always made them uneasy.

But Manic just flashed her one of his lopsided grins – he always knew how to make her feel better – and pulled her to the front, making her the center of attention.

She turned a light shade of pink and struggled to get out of his grasp.

"Manic!" she protested, embarassed.

"Everyone," Manic carried on cheerfully, ignoring her indignance, "this is my friend, Drisana."

The purple hedgehog's eyes flickered up to take a peek at them.

Of course the first thing everyone noticed about Drisana was her eyes. They were the most unusual color – a bright yellow, luminous and unnatural.

No animal alive had yellow eyes quite like hers. In fact, the only other person they had ever seen with equally different eyes was…

Sonic gasped at the realization.

Shadow.

Yes, Shadow, with his blood red eyes.

Self-consciously, Drisana stepped a little closer to Manic, but Sonic, after regrouping himself, smiled at her and offered his hand.

"Sonic," he said kindly.

Relaxing a little, the purple hedgehog met his eyes. They flickered with a warm, friendly glow.

"Drisana," she replied, taking his hand and shaking it, "It's nice to finally meet you."

And Sonic couldn't help but think her eyes were like sunshine.

It wasn't long before introductions were made all around, and Manic and Drisana were accepted into the group with open arms.

It was easy to overlook Drisana's strange eyes once they got to know her.

Amy, of course, was the most thrilled by her. Before anyone else could get a word in edgewise, the little pink hedgehog squealed in delight.

"Drisana!" she said the name as if she had to repeat it just once more to ensure she was really there, "I'm so glad you're here!"

Then she gave Drisana a hug, which earned a look of surprise from the purple hedgehog.

"Er…" Drisana turned a bright shade of red, unable to think of anything to say in return.

"Don't ask," Sonic cut in, shaking his head as he pried Amy off of her, "She hasn't been around a girl her age in a long time."

Amy nodded her agreement enthusiastically.

"It's true!"

"So why didn't I ever see you on Mobius, Drisana?" Sonic interjected curiously.

"Oh, I arrived a few years after you left," Drisana explained dismissively, looking the other way, "Or at least that's what Manic's told me…So, where are we staying?"

Sonic was surprised by the quick change of subject. He glanced at Manic who shook his head ever so slightly.

He decided he'd bring it up later.

"You're staying here," he answered finally, dropping the subject and gesturing at the house theatrically, "with Amy, Knuckles, Tails, and I."

"Charmy, Vector, and I run the detective agency in town," Espio added as Charmy buzzed around his head, "and Cream lives with her mother."

Cream nodded shyly, clinging to Vector's tail. She hid her face when Drisana grinned in her direction, but she was smiling as she did so.

Drisana was just getting ready to ask how old she was when Manic's stomach gave the loudest and most obscene grumble any of them had ever heard.

They all looked at him accusingly.

"Ahaha…space travel," he offered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "It's hungry work."

"Hungry work?" Drisana shot back, sharing a conspiratorial look with Sonic, "All you did was bug the poor captain with 'Are we there yet?' every few minutes. You're lucky he didn't use the ejector seat."

"There's an ejector seat?" Manic asked, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Don't get any bright ideas about the return trip, Manic the Hedgehog," Drisana said sternly, making Sonic laugh.

It was good to know his brother had someone like her around – to keep him company, to give him advice…

To keep him in line.

"Well, if you follow me out back," Sonic addressed Manic's stomach, waving the others over, "we just might have some food set up for you."

"Bravo," Manic enthused, marching after his brother as he led the way around back. The rest followed suit.

All, that is, except Drisana.

She had been uneasy for days now, ever since the incident back on Mobius. What had happened back there…well, that was partly the reason why she and Manic were here now.

But ever since then she had been on edge, and strangely enough the feeling had escalated when they arrived at Sonic's house.

She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something was off. Something was at odds in this environment – as if it weren't meant to be here.

When she had heard the crack of the twig snapping, she had stopped, instantly alert, ears perking. Her yellow eyes were sharp, and they zeroed in on the tree in the front yard.

It was the only other evidence besides her glowing yellow eyes of Drisana's questionable background – her extremely keen senses. They were, for want of a better word, superhuman.

"Like some kind of superhero," Manic would always say fondly, tousling her hair.

Now, Drisana anxiously crept toward the source of the noise, yellow eyes ablaze. Cautiously, she peeked up into the branches, skimming the leaves as if something might jump out at her.

"Drisana, you coming?" she heard Manic call back from the other side of the house.

"Just a minute!" she answered quickly, still staring at the tree.

Then, voice lowered, "Who…whoever you are…," she took a deep breath, "…stop following me."

Then, turning, she quickly strode around the side of the house and out of sight.

Shadow relaxed slowly from his tense position in the tree, shocked by what he had just witnessed, because, yes, it was he who was in the tree.

Oh, how far he had fallen – reduced to spying on Sonic the Hedgehog in a tulip tree, no less.

But that girl!

He had hardly moved at all, and yet that girl had heard it from the opposite side of the yard. A small twig had snapped when he had shifted, trying to hear their conversation better, and suddenly her eyes had been trained straight at him!

It wasn't normal…and neither were her eyes.

Dropping from the tree and stretching, he stared at his reflection in the window of their house – at his own blood red eyes.

No, they weren't normal. He would know.

And then what she had said…

"Who…whoever you are…stop following me."

There was someone else involved in all of this for sure – Sonic and Eggman weren't the only parties involved anymore, but who?

Who had she thought he was?

At any rate, this was plenty of information for Eggman to go on. Turning, he started to use chaos control, envisioning Eggman's laboratory in his mind.

He probably wouldn't be sent out into the field again anytime soon, and maybe – just maybe – he might get some of his own answers out of all of this…

Drisana made her way out back and took a seat between Tails and Espio.

Manic and Sonic were jabbering on excitedly at the end of the table, completely ignoring their food. They would need a lot of time to catch up, she was sure.

A chorus of greetings met her as she set her plate down and Tails, swallowing the last of his pizza, asked, "So how long are you guys staying? Sonic didn't say."

"About a week," Drisana answered after some consideration, "Manic can't be gone too long, you see. Nothing can get in the way of his duties now that he's…well, the prince."

It still felt strange to call him that. She could just imagine what Manic was like before Sonic renounced the throne, carefree and mischievous. Besides, he hadn't told her he was the prince when they first met – not until much later.

"He doesn't care for it much does he?" Tails asked, nodding towards Manic, "Being the prince, I mean."

"He looks like a rebel," Knuckles cut in, through a mouthful of sandwich.

Drisana laughed and looked fondly over at Manic – earrings, spiked wristbands, drumsticks, and all.

He really hadn't taken to the job at first,…but he had risen to the occasion quite wonderfully.

"He tries," she said at last, turning back to Knuckles, "but when it gets too hard for him, I can always make some kind of distraction to ease the boredom."

Her face was so mischievous, Espio had to laugh.

"Oh wow," he said with a smile, "you sound just like Sonic."

"She sounds like fun!" Charmy announced enthusiastically, "I like her!"

He then flew up from the table and did a little dance on Victor's snout.

"Well, I like you, too," Drisana said, laughing.

Charmy blushed furiously, which gave Victor a chance to pull him down and wipe the pizza sauce off of his face with a napkin.

Wrestling against Victor's stranglehold, the little bee peeked up at Drisana.

"How old are you?" he asked curiously.

"Charmy!" the crocodile reprimanded sternly, "You're not supposed to ask people their age!"

"Aww, why not?"

"I'm thirteen," Drisana cut in with a laugh before asking, "How old are you?"

"He's si—"

"I'm twelve!" interrupted, puffing out his chest proudly. Vector tried to shush him again, but Drisana just smiled broadly and remarked on how very tall Charmy was.

The bee stopped buzzing abruptly, at a loss for words, just as Cream's little head pitched forward onto her plate.

She had fallen asleep.

None of them had noticed how very late it was getting.

Drisana got up with a stack of napkins and she and Espio fussed over the little rabbit as she snoozed into her mashed potatoes.

"Oh wow," Drisana said, looking down at her plate, "She even ate her vegetables."

She handed Espio the napkins and he wiped her face off as Drisana pulled her ears back from her face.

Cream was so out of it she only blinked a few times tiredly before falling right back into her slumber.

"We'll take her home," Vector said, standing up, "I told her mom I'd bring her back, and it's Charmy's bedtime anyways."

"I don't have a bed time!" Charmy cried, outraged, "I'm twelve years old!"

He flew out of Vector's reach as he made a grab for him, sticking out his tongue petulantly.

"Charmy, get down here!" Vector howled up at the little bee, "You need your sleep! Don't make me come up there!"

"Nyahaha!" Charmy sang gleefully, "You can't come up here!"

"Charmy," Drisana coaxed, as Charmy made himself comfortable in a nearby tree, "You need to get some sleep if you want to come with us again tomorrow. You don't want to be too tired, do you?"

"No," Charmy agreed reluctantly, dropping a few feet. Vector took the opportunity to snag him by the legs.

The two of them bickered as Drisana picked up Cream, walking with the three of them to the front of the house.

"You have quite a way with kids," Espio said quietly so as not to wake Cream up, "Can you teach us how to handle Charmy like that?"

"I'll see what I can do," Drisana laughed, handing the little rabbit off to him. He caught up to Charmy and Vector and waved to her over his shoulder.

"Good bye, Drisana!" Charmy hollered as he buzzed around Vector's head.

"Charmy!" he hissed, clonking him over his helmet reproachfully, "You're going to wake up the entire street!"

"Bye, Charmy!" Drisana called after them.

As they made their way up the street, Cream, hanging over Espio's shoulder, blinked her little eyes open and waved quietly at the purple hedgehog.

Drisana waved back, a small smile on her face, and then made her way back to the other side of the house.

It hadn't taken long for the others to clean up what was left of the little party while she was seeing off Team Chaotix and Cream, and Drisana was only sorry she couldn't find more to help with when she returned.

Afterwards, Knuckles marched straight inside the house. "Beauty sleep," Sonic had murmured to her by way of explanation, earning a laugh.

Tails and Manic broke off to a corner of the yard where Tails's latest invention sat. The fox presented it proudly while Manic looked it up and down, asking questions here and there.

Amy passed by on her way into the house, ticking off the plans she had for she and Drisana as she went. She insisted Sonic give her a goodnight kiss before she went inside, but somehow he managed to shake her off without actually doing so.

"Don't ask," he said to Drisana as she finally gave up and went into the house.

They took a seat on the patio, enjoying the night air as Manic and Tails continued to chatter on about the machine. Drisana caught Sonic's eyes wondering towards his brother, a thoughtful look on his face.

"…He talks about you, you know," she said quietly.

"Really?" the blue hedgehog looked up, surprised, and met her smile.

"Oh, yes," she assured him, earnest yellow eyes turned in his direction, "You should have heard him before we got here – the week before, the ride over here. It was 'Sonic this' and 'Sonic that'."

Sonic laughed, embarrassed but pleased.

"He thinks the world of you," she finished, watching her friend. It was so sad, she thought, that the two of them couldn't be like other siblings. She could just imagine the fun (and destruction) that would ensue.

"Well, let's be fair," Sonic said quietly, leaning towards her as if he were telling her a secret, "He thinks the world of you, too."

Drisana just smiled and looked away shyly, earning a laugh from Sonic.

"How long have the two of you been friends?"

She thought about it for a few seconds before answering, "Oh…about three years or so."

They were quiet for a while after that, watching Tails and Manic go at it with their tools.

Then:

"Well…," Sonic said at last, standing up as the other two started towards them, "I'm really glad, you know,…that you were there for him."

Drisana just shook her head, scuffing her shoes on the patio.

"I'm just glad he was there for me."

And Sonic couldn't help but think how alone she looked, standing in his backyard, her yellow eyes setting her apart from everyone – even her best friend.

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters, including Charmy, Vector, Amy, Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, Cream, Espio, Knuckles, Tails, Manic, and Sonia.