That beautiful rose was at least three years younger than myself. Maybe more. Then again, my age was obscure. I never really noticed her until Snively and Sam's marriage was shaky again. Several of Knothole's citizens, including myself, watched the scene. Sam arrived in Knothole late the night before and roomed with October, a reclusive wolf. She'd set her husband and Senshi up to come into Knothole. She was furious. Amy had come up beside me as Sam demanded an explanation from her husband about the smeared lipstick on his lips.
"What's going on?" the pink one asked.
"Snively's in trouble with the missus," I replied wryly. Her emerald eyes showed sadness. I decided I didn't like her being sad. She'd been sad so long, trailing after Faker for years without any success.
"Why? What did he do?"
"He didn't do what she instructed him to do."
"Oh." By then, the Senshi had filed into the Mess Hall. I turned to leave but stopped. I turned back to Amy, but she'd already gone off with friends. I watched in fascination. Her quills had grown out, falling past her shoulders.
"Hey, what's up, Shad?"
"Don't call me that," I growled. I turned to see Sonic.
"What was Ames doing?" he asked.
"She wanted to know what was going on."
"Oh."
"Why?"
"Why what?" Sonic repeated.
"Why do you need to know?"
"Curious. You and Amy don't seem to be that close."
"For being in love with the princess, you seem curiously interested in Rose's life," I pointed out. Sonic threw his hands up in defense.
"Hey, I just wanna make sure all my buds are past cool."
"Whatever." I walked away. I remained alone while at Knothole. I was close to Snively, but that was only because he and I were accepted similarly in the village. Just outsiders looking in. It just seemed like he was becoming more accepted than me and he was an overlander.
I'd climbed into a tree, watching the villagers go about their day. I watched Snively and Sydney walk out of the Mess Hall. They went straight to Snively's hut. Sam went into the hut almost two hours later. She and Snively came out minutes later, Sydney following behind them. By then, I could smell the smell of fresh food wafting through the air. I jumped down from the tree and followed the humans. I ate with them. I noticed Snively's uncomfortable look and knew. He was seeing Sydney behind Sam's back. He was playing a dangerous game.
I noticed Amy Rose sitting away from the group. I got up and sat by her. I noticed Snively shoot me a curious glance. I blew it off. I didn't appreciate him betraying Sam. She'd done so much for him and he was carelessly throwing it away.
"Why aren't you sitting with everyone?" I asked.
"It feels weird. I mean, Hope just abandoned them for Sophia. I was her friend. I should have told them that she'd been thinking about it," Amy said. She blamed herself?
"It was nothing you could help. Staying out of it could have been more helpful."
"You think so?"
"Yes." Sonic was looking over at us by then. Amy giggled. I smirked; Faker was jealous of the fact I was guiding the attention of his number one fan away. I had to admit, I appreciated having some sort of attention.
Over the next few weeks I spent more time with Rose. Despite her perkiness, I found her company pleasant. She was the perfect foil to me. Light to dark, free to restrained, sun to moon, April to October, peace to war. I was surprised she didn't particularly favor Faker's favorite food. It delighted me. It was intriguing to spend time with someone who was loyal to friends instead of the man who'd cheated on his wife. Snively seemed surprised I didn't want his company.
One day, Snively caught me alone. "Where've you been?"
"Around Sam and Rose," I replied. "You? You seem to be avoiding Sam."
"I am. She's acting so immature."
"She is? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you going behind Sam's back?" I said. His eyes narrowed.
"Great, you too?"
"Aren't you?" He glanced away. "You better decide what you want before it gets ugly. You know Sam and Sydney were enemies at one time. You'll be pitting them against each other again."
"I know," he sighed.
"Then fix it." I turned and walked away. I didn't want to deal with his drama. I had my own to deal with. I found Amy more intriguing with every day. I noticed her spending more time with me than with her own friends. I didn't understand why, so I asked her.
"Because you're fun to hang out with," she said simply. I must have looked stunned because she giggled. I decided I liked her laugh.
"Me?"
"Yes, you!" She paused a moment. I had just noticed it had been dark for over an hour. Dinner had already ended, but we'd both missed it. That beautiful rose had entranced me so. "Shadow?"
"Yes?" I asked. We'd had our fair share of serious conversations. It was either about my time on the A.R.K. or her obsession with Faker.
"Do you like me?"
"Of course." Why else would I spend time with her?
"Like more than a friend?" She sighed when I gave her a confused stare. She got up. "I thought you were spending time with me because you liked me."
"I just told you that I liked you. What more do you want?" I asked.
"Just forget it. It's getting cold." Amy started to walk away. I grabbed her by the arm, stopping her.
"Are you wanting a relationship?" I asked. I stared into her emerald eyes, seeing my ruby eyes reflected back. I saw the same emotion in each of our eyes. Then, I knew. I cared deeply for her. I didn't want Sonic to have her.
"Yes. I do."
"Fine." I pulled her to me and kissed her. It was awkward at first, but blissful. We parted slowly. Amy glanced up and paused. I felt the pull of air as Sonic dashed off.
"I should go," Amy spoke. She was blushing. I nodded. I kissed her again before letting her go. I headed into the Mess Hall, where Sonic was waving his arms frantically. No doubt telling about what just happened between Amy and me.
"Sam?" I asked.
"Yeah?" she replied.
"Have you seen Snively?"
She yawned. "No, why?"
"I just wanted to talk to him." She nodded in understanding. Sam seemed to understand me better than her husband anymore.
"I'll go find him for you. I'll see you at home, October." I waited patiently for Sam to send Snively in….only, he never came. I eventually left to go to bed. I found out the following morning that Sam and Snively had a huge blowout. Apparently, she'd finally caught him in bed with Sydney.
Amy took Sam homemade muffins to cheer her up and insisted I went. Snively saw us as we went to October's. He seemed stunned to see us together. I told Rose to go ahead of me. I had to speak with the human anyway. He came up to me slowly. I'd made it clear several times I didn't approve of his relationship with Sydney.
"So I assume you've heard," he said.
"You know what they say about assuming, but you're correct. And stupid," I replied.
"I know."
"Sam went in to get you last night. I wanted to speak with you." His eyes narrowed in anger.
"She came in because of you?"
"You shouldn't have been sleeping with someone else. And if you were that worried about being caught, why'd you do it on your marriage bed?" Snively paused, trying to form words. I sighed, running a hand through my quills. "Anyway, I'd wanted some relationship advice since I'm seeing Amy now, but you're not exactly someone I should get it from."
"Shadow." I shook my head and turned. I went into October's, seeing the girls chatter. Amy was handing Sam a muffin while October brushed the human's hair back. I stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Tears were streaming down Sam's face. Suddenly, I wished Amy hadn't asked me to come. We stayed for hours, comforting the human. Amy offered to fix me dinner so we went to Amy's.
"That was really thoughtful, Shadow," the pink one said.
"You wanted me to go," I stated simply.
"Well, yeah, but Sonic would have never went."
"You don't understand. I'm not Sonic." My beautiful rose grinned as she hugged me.
"No, you're better." She kissed me. Maybe Snively's love life fizzled out, but mine was just beginning. Amy and I stayed together. We watched everyone get married as well as Snively patch things up with Sam again…and again. We eventually married and had a little hedgehog of our own, a beautiful baby named Sierra. Rose picked out the name. Sierra looked similar to me, aside from her eyes. She had her mother's eyes. My life with the beautiful rose was amazing. It was strange to think that our relationship began because of an argument between Snively and Sam. I loved that beautiful rose more than I could ever dream of and saving the world from A.R.K. for her was worth it.