"Eggman's up to no good again so let's all work together to put a stop to his plans. We all know what to do and stick with your partner. Yes, that means you Amy. Now let's go!"

A darkly colored hedgehog gave a silent growl to himself as he stomped over the flashing beacons that ascended the celestial highway of an all too familiar site, the A.R.K. 'Sonic thinks he can get away with ordering around the ultimate life form? That pretentious hedgehog is fortunate I cooperate with him as often as I do, tolerating his competition when I could destroy him if I so chose.'

The unenthusiastic anti-hero paused at the top of the fluorescent slope before turning back to watch his uneager partner finally join him at the summit where they would advance towards the entrance located on the western exterior of the space station.

"Do you always choose the hardest missions, or is it because you are trying to scare me? Either way it's not going to work Shadow!"

A flushed, vibrant Amy Rose stood next to him, hands resting firmly on her hips, as they stared each other down with mutually frustrated expressions. The roseate young girl kept up her bitter attitude while the onyx hued male struggled to control his threatening postures and menacing scowl only to turn aside, blocking her view of anything but his upturned quills and backside.

'Foolish girl.' He kept his back to her, crossing his arms, while he adjusted his head sharply, quills waving back into place as a sharp cherry eye glazed at her. Amy shifted to rebalance the weight on her feet, impatiently waiting for an answer when she finally let out an inarticulate exclamation to try to force a response out of him. Shadow's eyelids lowered as he grunted in his usual husky, sober voice. "I wasn't the one to decide for us to work together every time we split into pairs."

Amy tossed her head away, walking to the side of the ramp to look down into the abyss of space surrounding them. "Well that's simple. Knuckles and Rouge work together because Knuckles is always ranting about how he doesn't trust her to be alone while the master emerald is unprotected, and Rouge enjoys the opportunity to tease him. Sonic always runs off with Tails to take Eggman head on, so that just leaves the two of us." Amy remarked, smirking to herself. "Besides, I get the feeling you would rather be forced into working with me than have Sonic beating you to the finish line every time." Shadow let out a deep interjection of discontent, making the soft pink damsel look back from leaning over the perilous ledge with a saddened expression. "Is it that terrible to be paired up with me so often?"

Shadow's eyes softened and his mouth parted to speak, when Amy tipped forward, floundering her arms in an attempt to rebalance as she began to fall into the depths of the out-worldly atmosphere. A shrill shriek escaped her when she was suddenly swept up against the solid mass of Shadow's chest and fur, their eyes meeting in panic. Amy's verdure pupils peered into Shadow's, the fear still shinning in her orbs, while his optics quickly covered up the momentary concern for her safety. The heated reddening of soft peach cheeks snapped her out of the momentary mind lapse, and remembering where her loyalties lay, she pushed herself apart from him as she began to brush out the hem of her dress in an attempt to try concealing her embarrassment. Shadow turned his head to the side, willing the flush out of his apricot muzzle.

"You should stay close. Your boots aren't magnetized and could easily allow you to fall to your demise."

Amy paused to look at him with deliberation before softly wrapping her limbs around his neck and jumping up into his arms nonchalantly, caught only by his instinct. Shadow stared down at her in shock, taking a step back to rebalance their weight while she smiled angelically, encouraging the flush to return in his cheeks. In a bubbly chaste voice, she articulated while bringing her face up to his, "You said I should stay close to you. This way I won't fall and you won't have to explain to Sonic what happened to me. Besides, you're strong Shadow, and I'm sure carrying me can't faze you, being the ultimate life form and all."

Shadow's muzzle was livid red. He had never been complimented this much before, especially by Amy Rose, or at least not enough to make him feel such a rise in his temperature, nor ego. His eyes struggled to find a more comfortable site than her pleasant looking visage, and at finally regaining composure, he kept his sights trained forward as he blazed his skates down the ramp to the encroaching station.

Even with the extra weight, Shadow moved efficiently, dropping to a one-armed hold only when he needed to Chaos spear an enemy or balance while skating down random pipes. He raced forward quickly, hitting magnet-alternating pads so fast Amy had no time to concentrate on one spot for long. While her bearer was concentrating on his mission, she had all the time in the world to scan the horizon. Far off to their right she could see Sonic and Tails speeding over staggered metal platforms as two shapes drifted past them, gliding towards the top of the enormous installation. Amy watched them in curiosity as Shadow let their bodies slowly revolve in an upward somersault to rest against another magnetic surface.

'It's Rouge and Knuckles.'

The silhouettes of white and red landed simultaneously, one with far more etiquette and grace than the latter, taking additional steps more reminiscent of a model strutting a catwalk while the larger, huskier form landed hard and immediately dashed forward to slam its' fist deep into the exterior. As the protective surface cracked open and the hull broke apart, small glistening fragments began dispersing into the starry skies, reflecting the light of space around the couple like distant fireworks littering a coral horizon. As Amy watched on, entranced and moving in Shadow's protective grip to see as much as she could, she noticed the sturdier male gently held out his palm to lower the feminine ivory beauty down into the crevice as glittery metal shavings swirled around them, enchanting the apricot hued scene with its magical dust. 'Knuckles really does have a crush on Rouge…. and I think the feeling's mutual from her. Is that why Sonic is letting them pair up, because he's trying to help out a friend?'

Amy looked up to Shadow who was still not casting so much as a glance down to her. 'Does he even know? Maybe… maybe Shadow likes Rouge too.' Amy felt her heart sink. She actually felt sick to her stomach at the thought that Shadow would want to be with Rouge. Ever since the perky adventurous girl met him, she felt some level of attraction for the recessive loner. Most of the time she left that to her mistaken identification of him, but after their moment in the A.R.K. she could never find that similarity to Sonic she once saw in Shadow. Each time they worked together Shadow stuck out from the crowd more and more until she caught herself watching the dark rival almost as much as she kept her eyes on her true blue hero. As Amy's throat tightened, she finally braved asking her battle partner to share his thoughts on the subject. "Shadow, do you think Knuckles and Rouge are… together?"

His eyes still trained forward, Shadow scowled at her voice. He was not much for small talk and Amy was known for expressing herself, much to his current situational irritation. "Must we talk of this now? Yes, I'm sure they are advancing as a team."

Amy asked, sterner this time. "No, I mean together, together. You know- when two people like each other and want to spend every minute of their time in the other's company."

Shadow gave her a tentative glance down before his skates propelled them onto another platform. "I would suppose Rouge does. She talks of him often and the echidna does complain of her enough to warrant one to think he has some level of emotions for her."

Amy continued her innocent stare up to his emotionless face, trying to watch his expressions carefully. "How does that make you feel?"

Shadow skidded to a halt before the panel they had landed on came to its treacherous end, closing his eyes and frowning. "We have no time for foolish discussions such as this. I could care less how those two feel for each other. As far as I am concerned he can have Rouge."

Amy blushed in guilt. She hadn't meant to aggravate the testy black hedgehog, but still felt compelled to keep questioning him. "So… you don't have those kinds of feelings for Rouge, right?" Amy waited, hoping he would answer one final question before shutting her out like usual.

Shadow's eyes pierced through her until she shifted nervously in his arms and he moved forward, silently. After the effects of Shadow's interrogative yet reprimanding glare passed, Amy finally dropped her head to watch her fingers play with the red dress hesitantly, when Shadow's gruff voice broke the silence. "I never felt any relation to these emotions for Rouge. She is an acquaintance and an occasional teammate, no more. Now, does that satisfy your undying curiosity?"

Slowly, her head lifted and Amy tentatively looked up to her self-appointed porter, delicately batting her eyelids during the extensive pause. Uncertain, but thinking it best to answer, she nodded her agreement and Shadow snorted an acceptance, taking off on the last of the scaffoldings to finally reach the door. Pausing to stand Amy upright, Shadow delicately lowered her feet to the surface before the entrance of the western port of the A.R.K. "You can run the rest of the distance with me. I don't see why I should be toting you everywhere when we both know you are capable of handling yourself."

Shadow blasted a Chaos Spear into the lighted pad on the door, triggering the opening mechanism, and strode forth into the massive access with his smaller blossoming companion trailing behind. After passing through the docking station, the pair of hedgehogs entered a dark passage, Amy following Shadow closely while keeping a hand outstretched to rest against one of his back spines, checking their distance to be certain he remained in front of her, or at least nearby.

"What about you and that other hedgehog."

Amy bumped into her leader, whom had suddenly halted to question her, arms pressing against him and the sudden compression forcing his quills to lower at the contact of their bodies. Amy minced backwards in the darkness, clearing her throat in a nervous state as Shadow took an immediate step toward her to urge a response. "I, um, I don't know what you mean."

She couldn't find him in the lack of light, but she felt his presence getting near, almost closing in. "Your own feelings on that adventurous blue hedgehog. You asked mine, now I want to know yours."

Shadow's voice rang out in the obscurity like a disembodied soul, or worse, her own subconscious asking her true thoughts of the topic. She felt as if he had waited for just this moment to ask, knowing that she could never see his reaction. Shadow always remained so distant, so guarded, that she was now certain he planned this route on purpose. Amy's mind reeled at the dark anti-hero actually caring to know the details of her and Sonic's status quo, but most importantly, her thoughts on it. In the pitch of the dark, their bodies lost together within it, Amy's voice delicately spoke out in honest clarity.

"I don't know anymore. So many years have passed that he hasn't acknowledged me in any way besides a friend. I have doubts now that he will ever return my feelings, but that doesn't mean I don't still love him, or I won't give up hope."

The deeper, masculine voice pierced the dark as the sound of a metal shoe approaching her rang out. "And nothing will change your outlook on the situation?"

Amy's answer came sooner than she had anticipated. "Anything could. Sonic could. I could. You could." Her mouth slammed shut at her last sentence, knowing she went too far. It happened each time they worked together, someone stepped past the unspoken line of indifference and Amy always ran from it, but this time there was nowhere she could run.

Once more, the all too close voice of Shadow rang out. "Then prepare yourself." Amy felt a hand reach through the darkness to touch her hip, somehow making contact with the male's intended placement. As his arm reached around her waist, Amy lifted her hand, hoping to touch his chest or muzzle, when she felt the force of speed and her body being flung up into his arms. She breathed out sharply, bewildered by the sudden turn of events, and after exiting the illusive tunnel, could see flickers of Shadow's face in the pulsating emergency lights, the only energy left to the abandoned ship that was not all but a husk of its original quality. Something in her opinion must have changed, because Amy could not find the flaws in her captor she always remembered in prior moments of weakness, and she suddenly felt a light pang in her chest. Through all the denial and purposeful fighting Shadow had slipped into her heart with Sonic. 'What am I going to do now?'