The pillows were dry tonight, surprisingly. Her pink tangled locks were a result from the tosses and turns and physical feelings of discomfort that have been ongoing since about ten o'clock.

She opened her eyes and squinted across the room towards the hazy red numbers on her alarm clock. Three in the morning. Five hours had passed and she was still not able to get to sleep. The most she had gotten was a ten to fifteen minute doze before hearing the shatter of a glass bottle or laughter outside.

She hoped to God that Shadow would come home. If he wasn't back by morning, she was going to march right out and search the entire city for him. Isolation wouldn't be good for him. What if he never came back again?

Oh, Shadow. You're tormenting me, she thought as she rolled over on the bed and stared out her window. An old, giant tree blocked much of her view of the street, which was unfortunate enough for her. She knew she had to keep her ears open in case the front door should open and Shadow's feet be dragged onto the couch.

Amy suddenly sat up. The sound of footsteps was coming from outside. This was no ordinary passerby. The footsteps had a distinct pattern: they would start getting closer and closer, stop, walk away, stop, and walk back again.

Shadow was probably outside wondering if it was a good time to charge back inside or not. Amy, on the other hand, was dying to let him back in.

The pink hedgehog slipped into a pair of running shoes and threw on a gray sweater over her pajamas and ran outside. She threw open the door and, on first contact with the icy winter breeze, she stumbled backwards into the warmth of her house. What was she thinking going out in just a sweater, a pair of pajama pants, and some running shoes in the middle of winter? But still, her motivation did not wear thin. She ran out of the house as quickly as possible in time to meet a dark figure throwing rocks at a trash can across the street. The noise was irritating this late into the evening.

"Shadow, come inside it's cold!" Amy laughed as she encircled her hand around his forearm.

He chuckled.

"I don't know about Shadow, but I happen to like the cold,"

The pink girl stopped, retrieving her hand in alarm and embarrassment. She took a step backwards, the stranger now stepping into the highlight of the streetlight revealing his neon green eyes, his blue spikes, and his signature grin.

"S-Sonic… sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be here. Especially this late at night," she lowered her eyes down towards the pavement in thought at the finish of her sentence.

"I needed to talk a walk. I haven't been able to settle down and sleep, ya know. It's just…"

Amy lifted her eyes at Sonic to see that he was now the one directing his attention towards the ground.

"It's just what?" she asked.

Sonic began to grin uneasily, almost involuntarily, in attempt to ease the awkward tension. He took a minute to arrange the words in his head properly before letting them out. One word could ruin him for good.

"A lot has happened today—well, yesterday; a lot of things that I wish didn't happen at all," he bit his lip and paused for a second.

"Amy, don't hate me for what I've done. I don't wanna kill Shadow I just—"

"Want him dead." Amy finished bitterly.

"No! No! Not at all!" Sonic raised his hands up to his chest and shook them back and forth in unison with his head.

She crossed her arms and glared at him.

"You tried to kill him and that's all that matters. Sonic, you used to be my hero. I used to look up to you!" she cried, her eyes beginning to grow moist.

"I followed you everywhere wanting to be just like you. I grew up wanting to impress you, Sonic. T-Then I started changing my motives and I… I," she paused and looked at him fiercely, her big green eyes shiny with tears.

"…I wanted you to recognize me as a woman."

Sonic was speechless as he was appalled. Never had he taken the time to see her for who she is rather than the image of the eight-year-old child running after him like he was her favorite doll. He would always dismiss her as a pest and a nuisance the times the chases became excessive. Was it his fault he didn't want to stop for her? He thought in silence, but before he knew it, Amy had spun on her heel and began walking back to her house.

"A-Amy, wait! Don't leave! L-Look, I'm sorry okay? Amy!"

"Sorry doesn't cut it Sonic. It's too late."

Ouch.

With that, the door slammed shut and the blue hedgehog was left alone again. It would just be he, himself, him for the rest of the night. Perhaps it would be for the rest of the week; maybe even for the rest of his life if his old buddies began to turn against him too.

He sighed quietly.

Life is so difficult. It isn't fun when the problems start to jumble in and pile into an untouchable mass of complications. At least for Sonic they were untouchable. The guy wasn't used to worrying. He was a free spirit. He came to "kick butt" when Dr. Eggman would present his expected threats. But that was all. No one ever told him that the older he got, the more life would unfold a real-life soap opera.

Sonic looked up.

The clouds were a musky gray and the air nipped at his skin like a whip lash. It was cold out. In fact, it was freezing. But Sonic couldn't return home. He didn't want to be home. He had too much on his mind that the dark rooms would confine him uncomfortably.

He rubbed his nose and hugged himself, shrugging his shoulders. He'd stay out for a little longer. The cold couldn't kill him.

Meanwhile, Amy was upstairs with a pillow in her arms. Even now that it was quarter to four she still couldn't sleep. But instead of clouding her thoughts about Shadow's whereabouts, she thought about Sonic.

Sonic…

No, no Amy! she scolded herself. You think about Sonic and you let your walls down.

She clutched the pillow in her arms tighter. When she said what she said, Sonic looked as if he witnessed a flying gorilla except with a more earnest expression. It was a shame that things happened the way they did.

Life is just like Reality TV I guess, she thought.

The hedgehog turned on her side facing the window. She wondered if Sonic was still out there walking around. Nahhhh, he was probably out speeding and catching the cool winter breeze. Although it was awfully cold out. And she did walk away without giving him a chance to speak. No! But that was the right thing to do. He deserved it.

Satisfied with her last thought, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a light dream state. But the dream she had would be the last thing that would be satisfying to her.

Images of Sonic flashed before her eyes and disappeared before she can grasp them.

"Sonic," she laughed. "Come back here!"

She chased the images over a strip of black film and into a dark room. For a minute, all she saw was darkness, and was paralyzed with fear. The very thought of not knowing what was in front of her shook her. A corner of the room was suddenly illuminated by the glow of an Exit sign and she immediately ran towards it and out of the room. She bent over and panted, relieved that she had escaped the dark room, but was confused when she looked up and realized that she was inside of a subway train.

She straightened up and looked around. It seemed pretty normal. The color inside was entirely blue from the floor to ceiling. It was empty, that was for sure, only one passenger sitting on a leather seat from across with a newspaper shielding his face. The stranger wore a khaki-colored fedora on his head.

"E-Excuse me, do you know where we're going?" she asked uncertainly.

The stranger lowered the newspaper hastily, causing Amy to jump. When she saw who had been hiding behind the newspaper, her eyes widened in alarm.

"Oh! Shadow, what are you doing here? Are you coming home?" she asked worriedly.

"No. I've got some business to take care of."

"Business?" she plopped down beside him. "What business?"

"Just some stuff I have to clear out. Then everything will make sense again." he said with a slight grin.

She giggled. "Ah, I get it. Still searching for that purpose?"

It felt nice being next to Shadow again. Her heart fluttered excitedly. After everything that had happened, she wondered if things would continue that way.

"Shadow, will you come back home after you're finished?" she asked inching nearer to him. She felt her cheeks heat up. Then suddenly, he placed his hand on her knee and turned to her sharply with a grin on his face.

"Of course I will."

His warm breath tickled her and chills ran up and down her spine.

Her heart was racing by the time the train began to slow down to a stop.

"Well, I get off here," he said, saluting her with his hat and stepped off the train.

After a second or two, Amy's feet dragged her to the door and heard herself yell, "Wait, I want to come with you!"

But the doors slammed shut right before her, and her face made a painful impact with the glass window. The train started up again, running faster and faster. She could see nothing pass by her due to its insane velocity.

"Hey, let me out! I don't belong here!" she cried, fisting the door.

When she realized that she couldn't stop the train from going, she stepped backwards and charged for the window. She leaped up, her body spinning, and in slow motion, she could feel every piece of glass that had shattered dig into her flesh, drawing an oozing liquid from underneath. Her body hit the ground, and although she was badly injured, she didn't feel so. She sat up quickly and eagerly looked down at her state. Surprisingly, she was not destroyed and no blood was to be found anywhere. She looked up. Where she had landed was a complete different story. Voluptuous greens covered every inch of the area, and vines spread from the tops to the bottoms of trees. She stood up and walked for a bit, wondering where she was and how she was going to get back home.

The further she walked, the clearer she heard a cry of agony. Her eyes grew wide as she looked all around her. There was danger nearby and she wasn't prepared for it. She crouched down and got on all fours and began crawling behind the thickly condensed grass that was growing everywhere. The screams were revolting as they grew even louder and her stomach began to churn. What was happening? Why was she here? It was all she could think of.

Finally she stopped and parted the grass carefully with her trembling hands and took a peek. Her jaw flung open in horror.

"Shadow!"

She shot up and ran at the center of the jungle where the black hedgehog was relentlessly beating Sonic.

"Shadow, stop it right now!" she screamed, shoving Shadow off of Sonic. But the black hedgehog grabbed Amy and pushed her away and wrapped his fingers around Sonic's throat. Sonic gagged and flung his hands in the air wildly but was soon strapped down by Shadow's body weight.

As Amy made her way towards the boys again, her face took on an unexplainable look of horror and disgust. It was too late. Shadow got off of his opposing enemy leaving his dead, limp corpse on the ground.

"Why did you do this?" Amy asked through gritted teeth, tears flowing down like an endless river.

Shadow smirked.

"You're a stupid one, Rose. Don't you get it? My purpose was to kill what was getting in my way before he got the best of me first."

He brushed by her coldly, leaving a shaking Amy to inhale the smell of dead love. Dead love…

Dead love… her love. He was. No, he was. Which he? Both of them? Yes, both of them. Both monsters were dead to her. But why did she feel so horrible? Because she was the only one alive and she loved.
She loved…

Amy shot up from her bed, breaking in cold sweat. What was that? It wasn't real was it? No, of course not. It was just a horrible nightmare. She ran her fingers through her hair.

She had to find Sonic.

It was fifteen after four in the morning and she was once again running outside with just her pajamas on.

Her feet took her to what her eyes saw first: a body laying on the floor. She began to sweat again, nervous. Flashbacks from her nightmare began to flood her head and her imagination began to run wild. She approached the body and threw herself on the floor and embraced it.

It was Sonic. Sonic was paler than paper and colder than the temperature itself. She wrapped her arms under his armpits and began to haul him towards her house. When she got him inside, she pushed him up on her bed and threw her covers over him along with three other blankets. She placed a hand on his forehead. He was burning up! She stumbled into the kitchen and returned shortly with a pack of ice that she placed gently on his forehead.

"Oh no, how did this happen," she muttered over and over again.

She placed the back of her hand over his cheek, as if by miracle his fever had gone down. He was still boiling over.

There was not much she can do now that he was unconscious. She would have to wait until he would awake in order to feed him and give him medicine. For now all she could do is wait.

She looked down at him. He looked so charming now that he was asleep and his guard was down. His guard was down…

Curiosity surged through her body and she wondered how far she could go before he woke up. But of course, she wasn't thinking of much than just a gentle touch. So she leaned over and tapped him gently on the lips with her own. His lips were cold. She decided to have another go and this time captured his lower lip in her mouth. She gently trailed her fingers down his cheek and broke the kiss.

She looked down at him intensely. If those emerald eyes of his were to pop open, she'd probably have a heart attack right then and there. But they didn't. He didn't even flinch.

She smiled and gently kissed his cheek.

Sonic has always been protecting me, she thought as she climbed in bed beside him. He's always been there for me when I needed him most. He may have thought I was annoying but he never neglected me during my times of need. So I'll do the same for you. I'll protect you no matter what.

That dream of hers would have her thinking for a while. But now she realized that no matter what he does, she couldn't hate Sonic. They go too far back into her own memory. It was always Sonic who was saving her from a crisis, and after the nightmare she had, she realized that maybe it was time to try to do a little bit more for him than to sit there and wait to be recognized. It was going to take the actions to replace the words.

She wrapped her left arm around him and looped her fingers around his.

Shadow was a different story. She wasn't sure how she felt about seeing him again after what she had just dreamt. Something about it worried her and she couldn't seem to just wave it off as a normal nightmare. She would just have to keep her guard up from now on. After all, her two favorite boys loathe each other and that may cause some serious issues.

She buried her head in his neck.

But as for right now, she decided to just forget about it. After all, what was more important than the moment she was having laying next to her long-time love? She decided it was best just to enjoy what was left of the night.

She smiled warmly and whispered softly into his ear,

"Sweet dreams, Sonic."


Uncloudless: A very important note to all: please excuse my grammar and all, if any, punctual mistakes. I'm not at the top when it comes to writing… and trust me, I know so. My English teacher gave me a tough time during sophomore year because he wanted my writing skills to be "perfect". However, those who are far more experienced than I am, please, do not hesitate to correct me on my wrongs. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and good night ;D