Disclaimer - I do not own the Sonic characters.

Part 1:

Stop loving me.

I won't.

I will.


Sonic, I love you!

Marry me, Sonic!

Sonic, help!

Of the three cries that Sonic heard from Amy on a near daily basis, he chose to come running for only one. Today was different, though. Today when Eggman carried away a screaming Amy, Sonic merely watched. He watched and wondered if, by saving Amy, he gave her a subliminal message. Whenever he rescued her, perhaps he unintentionally told her that—as she so often reminded him—he truly loved her.

As Eggman and Amy faded farther into the distance, Sonic tapped his foot and wondered what he should do. The answer came to him, soon enough: he simply wouldn't save Amy.

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Chapter One

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Kicking robot butt always amused Shadow, and he needed the workout, so when Sonic asked him to save Amy for him, he accepted. After arriving on Egg Carrier 132, it took Shadow thirty minutes to completely trash the place—nowhere close to Sonic's record three minutes; still, with explosions occurring in numerous places onboard and the ship itself hurtling toward the ocean, Shadow figured now was as good a time as any to rescue Amy.

The door to the room that held her opened with a soft swish. He stepped inside and saw the giant glass tube that detained her. "Amy."

Her back had been facing him, but upon hearing her name, she instantly turned. "Soni—! Shadow?" She'd been smiling, but her smile turned upside down. "Where's Sonic?"

Shadow tapped the glass tube with his finger; it shattered. "He had a doctor's appointment." He held out his hand. "Let's go. This place is going to be underwater in a few minutes, and I don't know about you, but I can't swim."

She hesitated before placing her hand in his. "He…had an appointment?"

Shadow shrugged. "That's what he told me."

2.999 seconds later, Shadow and Amy—hand in hand—stood on Topaz Town's sandy beach. Their eyes were locked on the Egg Carrier 132 as it made its decent into the ocean. Shadow felt kind of warm and fuzzy as he watched. Doing good things was nice, he thought. Holding Amy's hand was nice.

"Did he need to see the dentist," Amy asked, shattering the peaceful moment between hero and the rescued.

Shadow watched as the last bit of the Egg Carrier sank beneath the waves. "I don't know. He just said it was a doctor's appointment." He massaged the back of Amy's hand with his thumb. "Say, do you want to go get something to eat?"

"No." She pulled her gloved hand from his and turned to the direction of her home. "He saw the optometrist last month, so…" Her muttering voice faded as she walked away.

Shadow watched her departure with forlorn eyes. His hand burned from the feel of her touch. His face burned from the heat of the sun. "I'm thirsty."

Shadow never carried money on him, and the floating island was a long ways away. There was only one place he could get something cool to drink. "Give me a Pink Princess Strawberry Splash."

Tails, taking a pause from being a genius of invention, had tried his hand at business and opened a small juice bar. The small juice bar became a large juice club within two weeks. It relocated to a five story building that had a dance floor, game floor, sparring floor, racing floor, and—his favorite—science floor. Having upsized so quickly to something so grand, no one doubted that the young fox was also a genius in business; so no one wondered how Tails, with so much to manage, found the time to run the science floor's juice bar.

"And how do you plan on paying for that," Tails asked, not bothering to look up from his copy of Science Weekly. He sat at the bar he tended, in a room filled with steel tables, lab charts, and other "sciency things."

"Just put it on my tab."

Shadow's indigence had not gone unnoticed by those who knew him. Out of kindness, but mostly pity, they offered him help. Knuckles had offered the most help by allowing Shadow to live on his island. Tails' help had been to offer Shadow a limitless tab that he could pay off whenever he was fortunate enough to happen upon money. With the way money always seemed to fall into his, Sonic, and Amy's lap; Tails had been sure that Shadow would pay off his tab in no time. He'd been wrong.

Shadow's tab was currently at 1058 dollars and 84 cents, and he'd incurred this debt in less than one week. One week! The only logical thing for Tails to do was to revoke Shadow his privilege of a tab until the debt was paid. After all, Tails was a businessman—not a charity.

"Then one glass of water it is." Tails set down his magazine and prepared a glass of water.

Shadow took the glass and downed half its liquid in one gulp. He held the glass between both his hands and stared down into it. The Pink Princess Strawberry Splash tasted bland.

As if reading his thoughts, Tails reminded Shadow, "It's water."

"Oh." Shadow set the glass down. He looked over the counter at Tails who had resumed reading Science Weekly. "Do you think," Shadow asked tentatively, "that Amy likes anyone?"

Tails sighed. So Shadow had finally become aware of his feeling for Amy. Poor guy. "Yep."

Shadow nodded and fingered the rim of his glass. "Who do you think it is?"

"Sonic."

With a sharp intake of breath, Shadow's eyes widened. He felt suddenly nauseous, and the hand that had burned with Amy's warmth grew cold.

"If you're going to throw up, you know where the bathroom is."

Shadow did not throw up. He sat on his barstool with his arms hanging limply at his sides. His eyes opened and shut gradually, and his chest slowly rose and fell with each breath. "I don't believe you."

Tails shrugged. "If you don't believe me, ask her yourself. Or maybe you should just keep your eyes and ears open whenever she's around Sonic." He glanced up at Shadow. The hedgehog was staring into the depths of his glass. He looked fragile—like the tiniest touch might cause him to break. Tails felt the urge to make him a Pink Princess Strawberry Splash. "Do you want more water?"

"No." Shadow stood. "No thanks."

"Going home?" Shadow nodded, turned, and walked away. "Remember your debt if you get any money," Tails called after him.

Shadow arrived on Angel Island when the sun had vanished beneath the horizon. The moon was well overhead and stars peppered the sky. He was hungry.

Knuckles was at his usual spot, in front of the Master Emerald. A fire had been lighted not far away; by the light of it, he waxed the large gem. "Welcome home," Knuckles said upon hearing the familiar footsteps of his island guest.

"I'm home," Shadow replied. "What's for dinner?"

Knuckles nodded to the pizza box by the fire. "Extra cheese with pineapple." He smirked. "The pizza boy was an hour late, so it was free."

Shadow stared at the box. Cold pizza meant rubbery cheese with pineapples that would slide right off. His appetite disappeared.

He sat next to the fire and stared into the flames. "Did you know that Amy likes Sonic?"

Unbeknownst to Shadow, Knuckle's eyes widened and his hand stopped waxing. "What?"

"I just found out today," Shadow said. The wavering flames reminded him of Amy's quills, fluttering in the wind. "I can't believe I never noticed. I'm supposed to be the ultimate life form, but I couldn't even see that."

After awhile, Shadow glanced up at Knuckles. The echidna was still waxing the emerald, but his movements were slow and stiff. "I'm going to turn in for the night," Shadow said. He went to bed.

The next morning when Shadow awoke, it was four o'clock. He went about his usual routine: showering, patrolling, housekeeping, and cooking.

At eight when Knuckles got up, breakfast was on the table. "Did you have a good night," Shadow asked. Knuckles did not reply. He sat in front of the plate that Shadow had prepared for him and started eating. "I had a good night," Shadow said. "And I'm going to have a good day." He shoveled a forkful of eggs into his mouth.

The fog of sleep was lifting from Knuckles. He glanced up at Shadow. "Got anything special planned for today?"

"Yes, and that's precisely why I know it's going to be a good day."

Knuckles nodded and took a sip of orange juice. "Whatcha got planned?"

"I'm going to tell Amy how I feel about her."

The glass slipped from Knuckles' grasp and fell on its side. Orange juice spilled over the table's top and onto his lap. "Shoot!" Pushing his chair back, Knuckles got to his feet. After cleaning the mess, he sat back down.

Shadow was done eating by then, but he remained in his seat. He still wanted to talk. "I was wondering if we could go shoe shopping after breakfast."

Knuckles did not look at him. "I don't think that's a good idea. I have a lot of patrolling to do today, and I was planning on doing some digging."

Shadow nodded. "Okay, maybe some other time." He stood. "I'm going to talk to Amy now. Wish me luck." Knuckles did. Shadow smiled and left.