Edit (10/06/2007): I'm beginning to fix some major plot inconsistencies, so that it makes more sense.

Chapter Two

"Wait…what are you saying, Amy?" Tails exclaimed when she heard news from Amy over the phone. "You…and Shadow…are together!" Amy was in her apartment room that doubled as a miniature art studio.

"I know…isn't it great!" Amy replied in a very excited tone. "Oh, you should have seen him…what a guy! He said I was all he needed!"

"Wow…I could never imagine Shadow saying that…" Tails said, still stunned by the news. "Are you sure he isn't up to something? Who knows when he could turn evil again?"

"He was lonely…I was lonely…things just worked out. But I am being careful. Oh, I can't wait to tell Sonic!"

"You just hooked up with him to make Sonic jealous, didn't you?" Tails asked in a mildly scolding tone. "I know you'd do something like that!" Amy suddenly heard her doorbell ring.

"Sorry Tails, I think that's him at the door," she said quickly. "Bye!" She hung up and raced to her door. She looked through the peephole to see who it was. Shadow was there, as she had hoped. She opened the door.

"You can take that thing off now, Shadow," she said. Shadow took the hood and entered the room. He was immediately struck by several paintings of hers that hung around the apartment. All of them were of surprising quality.

"Wow, Amy…you sure are quite the artist…I never thought you as the artsy type. When did you start doing art?"

"About two and a half years ago. I started taking classes. I suppose it's a way for me to vent. When I'm happy, I usually paint. I draw most of the time, though."

Shadow was examining one of the paintings. It was a self-portrait of Amy tossing a framed picture of Sonic over her shoulder. She seemed content with herself in that moment frozen in time.

"I see you found my latest work…I started that about a week ago, and finished it yesterday…when we met. I didn't know what I wanted to have myself throwing over my shoulder…when you came to me…I knew how to finish it."

Shadow nodded. "So the picture represents you getting over Sonic?"

"You could say that," she replied. "Say, you want me to draw you a portrait?"

"Well, I suppose…"

"Great! Go sit over there in the light, would you?"

Shadow did so, and posed as best as he could.

"How's this, Amy?" he asked.

"That's too rigid. Be a little more natural."

Shadow adjusted his position to a more comfortable one.

"How about now?" he asked.

"Perfect! Now hold still…" she said. She eyed him carefully, and began her work. She moved her pencil carefully, and occasionally glanced around the easel to make sure she was getting a certain curve just right. It took her a half-hour before she felt satisfied with her work.

"Okay…I have enough to finish on my own; you can get up now."

Shadow did so, and went over to examine Amy's progress. It was quite good, but one thing did surprise the ebon hedgehog…Amy had put a little smile on his face, rather than his typical neutral expression.

"Cute…veeery cute!" Shadow groaned. "You know very well I didn't look like that!"

"I think you look fine with a smile," Amy replied with a smile of her own.

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Amy did WHAT?" Sonic exclaimed loudly when Tails told him the news. It had been about two hours since the conversation between Amy and Tails on the sudden hook-up. "You had too much sugar again, have you, Tails?" They were at their usual hangout on top of one of the smaller buildings in Central City. Sonic had been lounging around, and Tails was fixing with one of Sonic's broken radios. The blue blur smashed them often, usually because they would wake him up to a song he hated. Tails didn't mind fixing them, though.

"The girl told me herself," the fox replied without even looking at Sonic. "She has changed a lot in the past few years. Face it Sonic…she's not the same Amy anymore. I suspect puberty does that to people. Shadow's return at this timeis probably just a coincidence."

"Still…I can't believe she's over me!" Sonic replied in a slight moan.

Tails stopped and snickered. "I think you liked the attention, didn't you? C'mon…admit it..."

Sonic shrugged off this comment. "Bah! There are probably loads of other girl hedgehogs just dying to be with me! I am the world's greatest hero, aren't I…and who doesn't love a big hero? I'm sure she's just trying to make me jealous!"

"If she is…it's doing an awfully good job!" Tails mocked.

Sonic had just about enough of his friend's chatter. "You know what? I'm going to go straight over to Amy's place and learn the truth! You coming, Tails?"

"Right behind you…as always."

Sonic hopped to the ground in his usual fancy fashion, with Tails in tow, in order to find Amy and Shadow. They didn't get far before Sonic spotted the two heading up the stairs to the Westopolis Museum of World History, chatting it up as well. What was even more surprising was that Shadow had not bothered to hide his face. He was confidently walking around in broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded city. Either people had already forgotten about him, or just plain didn't notice him.

"Well Sonic…aren't you going to say hello?" Tails asked in a slightly annoying tone.

"Just come on…"

-- -- -- -- -- --

"Where are you taking me?" Shadow exclaimed as Amy pulled him along through the museum halls. "Can't you just tell me about it instead of dragging me through this crowd?"

"It's the newest exhibit! Come and see!" Amy squealed. As they rounded another corner, she stopped short. Inertia made Shadow skid a bit. When he regained his bearings, he found himself in an exhibit that he would not have expected to see: "The History of Our Furry Neighbors" was the title of the area.

"Wow…an entire exhibit devoted entirely to our own kind! Isn't it cool, Shadow?"

"I suppose so…but let's do this in an orderly fashion, shall we?"

The two began looking at the different periods in the history of the Mobian race. There were all sorts of old relics in the glass cases…but one thing caught their attention the most: a two-thousand-year-old carving of four warriors, all decked in armor, attacking three evil-looking figures. Two of the warriors were echidnas, one was a hedgehog and a third was a female three-tailed fox. Between them were seven gems. The rest of the tablet was broken, but another pair of feet could be seen.

Shadow looked this over in a mildly astonished manner. The demon that the katana-wielding fox faced had a very strong resemblance to Black Doom. Amy directed his attention to a text box nearby.

"It says here that according to ancient hedgehog legend, there were three hideous and powerful demons who tried to get the seven Chaos Emeralds and destroy the world. But four noble heroes, using sacred weapons forged by "the undefeated one", defeated the trio and their combined forces. Two of the demons were imprisoned in the earth, but one escaped into the stars, vowing revenge. The demon that escaped was supposed to have used great metal flying machines and blasts of searing, unholy light to terrorize the peoples of the Earth."

"That sounds a lot like Black Doom…" Shadow commented. "I wonder if anyone has made the connection…"

"I don't know…people can be pretty dense sometimes," Amy said, shrugging her shoulders. "Anyway, it also says that the second had a vast horde of evil dragons to do his bidding. The third was a master of seduction, and uses a black whip to dominate his foes."

"Sounds like Black Doom had some competition...good thing he's dead, and the other two are imprisoned. What were their names?"

"The whip-wielder was Leawdak, while the dragon demon was…Ragozine…"

Ragozine…the name struck a disturbing chord in Amy's mind…she had heard the name in her dreams…she had seen the name written by her own unwilling hand.

Shadow decided to finish the text. "It goes on to say that the demons will try to destroy the world again…do you have any idea what this means, Amy?"

"What does what mean, Shadow?" Sonic's voice asked from behind them.

"Sonic!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you…and now that I've found you…I want answers…what the heck are you two doing together?"

"We're on a date, Sonic…" Amy quickly answered. "You have a problem with that?"

"Well…uh…" Sonic stuttered. He realized that he had backed himself into a proverbial corner. His true feelings were now as plain as day.

Shadow chuckled a little at this pathetic situation. "I think you're jealous of me…that I have Amy and you don't…that I, the one whom you thought could never be loved, has the one girl you're afraid to admit that you desire…"

Amy didn't like what she was hearing. Sonic, despite his seeming lack of respect for her, was still her friend, so she decided to protest. "Shadow…you don't have to rub it in his face…"

"Nah…I'm done…" Shadow said, and complacently started to the other end of the room, smug from his successful assault on Sonic's ego. Amy gave one last forlorn look at Sonic and followed her boyfriend.

Sonic was just about ready to lash out at Shadow when he felt his arm stopped. Tails had grabbed it before he could anything.

"Don't ruin their happiness, Sonic…"