Originally written date: 03-04-13
I took it down (don't remember why) and I'm posting it again. The chapters are already written out, so I'll be putting them up weekly.
The Christmas party glowed with warmth and the smell of cookies. Everyone laughed merrily and had a great time.
Amy, too, had a great time trying to avoid Sonic, which she was having trouble doing as she was always the one doing the chasing while he had been the avoider. He was quite good at following her and she decided to take up some notes from memory of his ways of diverging from her. She could compare the experience to slamming her head in a microwave.
It would have been successful, too, if she hadn't tripped over a passed out Vector (who had one too many cups of eggnog), and knocked straight into a hedgehog.
For one dreaded moment, she believed it was Sonic but then she saw tuft chest fur and no one but her Shadow had fur as white as that.
"Thank God." She breathed, brushing her quills out of her eyes. His gaze was intense as he checked her, and it's the flush in her cheeks that fed him the knowledge of what she'd been doing. Of course, he might've been following her, but… well, her distraught beckoned him and who was he to deny?
"You can't have expected to come here and not be questioned by him. He'd be filled with curiosity." His eyes were aflame. "I would know."
She peered up at him desperately. "I know, but… but it's him. It's Sonic. It's different."
His eyes narrowed, and maybe more angrily than he intended, he snapped out, "What makes him different?"
She trailed her hands down his arms, taking a hold of his hands, "I don't know. When it was with you… I don't know. I knew I could trust you. I felt okay telling you. I didn't have to hide these things from you." Amy squeezed his hands and smiled when he returned it. Her eyes searched the mass of people, flitting from one head to another, "But with Sonic, he was my hero. I looked up to him. I chased him for years. I don't know if I'd be able to handle his reaction."
She exhaled loudly and looked back to him, taking in his controlled gaze, and saw that there was something to be controlled. "Shadow?"
He looked away, but she would have none of it. She placed her hands on his cheeks, forcing him to meet her gaze as she straightened on her tip-toes and leaned on him. "If you don't want me to hide from you, then don't you dare hide from me. What's bothering you?"
He wasn't good with emotions, and this was driving him insane, and if her eyes hadn't been so green and if she were a little less precious to him than he might've been able to avoid telling her.
But she trusted him, so in turn, he gave her his. "You don't… you don't still… with Sonic…?"
Despite the cut off wording, Amy Rose understood. She had spent almost every day for the last couple of months with Shadow the Hedgehog. It hadn't been an easy task, but she learned to read him. The way his eyebrows furrowed, the difference between a scowl and an invisible smile; she began to notice these things. In turn, she began to understand him—the way he was silent because he preferred to observe, the way he was anti-social was because he only talked to people he thought were worth getting to know—people he knew Maria would like.
Amy Rose learned who Shadow the Hedgehog was.
Shadow the Hedgehog was not some epic, dark hero who spent hours staring at the moon and hiding in the shadows and coming to help Sonic at the end of the day as reconciliation towards Maria.
Shadow the Hedgehog was a person. An experiment, but a person nonetheless. He liked eating peaches and watching the Discovery Channel. In his free time he had a habit of picking up young adult adventure books and anything made by Agatha Christie. He hated the snow, had a very deep love for wet grass, and strongly worshiped his shoes and took great care in keeping them clean and updated.
And on his off-hours, he talked with Amy Rose.
He had done so much for her—had become so much to her that Amy wanted to stab herself in the eye for ever making him feel Sonic took place over him.
Sonic was special to Amy. He always was, and he always would be. Sonic was the hero who saved the day and she loved him for it.
But this was Shadow. Sonic could never catch up to him, even at his speed.
"No, not like this." She leaned her forehead against his, and she made the mistake of looking into his eyes and tripping into it and somehow she knew she'd never crawl out. "Nothing like this."
like her nails against his ribs and his scent in her teeth and the world trapped between them.
"A… Amy…" There would've been warmth shared between lips, but Sonic with his amazing timing had finally caught up to Amy.
"Amy!" She jumped, almost tripping over herself (again) had Shadow not been there to steady her (again). Whirling around, she caught the surprised look on the blue hedgehog's face, but more than that, she realized that he'd never let her go till he knew.
"S… Sonic." She breathed shakily, and her hand found Shadow's firm grip, and she used that as her foothold. "I don't want to tell you."
Sonic blinked, having whatever shock he held at seeing her with Shadow eaten by the nagging curiosity that had been threatening to swallow him whole ever since that moment.
She breathed deeply and stepped forward, "But I will."
Sonic knew something was very, very wrong.
He didn't know what to say—didn't think there was anything to say, really. For one moment he observed the others and he believed he shared their expression.
What was he supposed to say?!
They never knew.
They never knew.
But… this was Amy! Amy Rose who chased him every day and joined him in battles and screamed proclamations of undying love to him. How could they have not known?! How could he not have known?!
It never once occurred to him to question whether Amy would have parents or have a job or have a home or need to be fed every day. He didn't think about these things. He never knew that she had a mother who died and a father who abandoned her, never knew that she walked the streets without an inkling of money, never knew that she went home to a barren, run-down house in a horrible neighborhood, never knew that sometimes she went nights without food and sometimes used the newspapers, newspapers where he was proudly displayed on as hero and given gifts and riches, as blankets to shield herself from the cold.
It-It was Amy Rose for crying out loud!
All this time-!
He might've never been able to believe it if he hadn't seen her that day; heavy bags and dirty clothes and matted fur and fatigue like he'd never known. After she ran out of the diner he wasted a moment in pure shock before he ran after her, only he never found her. He went back into the diner and asked the lady of Amy, who responded with a delightful: "Well, that waste of trash don't work here anymore. Not after running out on the job like that."
Sonic wasn't a normally a rude person, but he made the purposeful habit of zooming out quickly and sending tables flying in his forceful rush. He took satisfaction in the loud woman's bellow and took an approving glance at the mess of chairs and food before running off.
After that, he obsessed looking for her, trying to go to her home until he realized he didn't know where it was and searching for her in places he usually found her. He had thought to himself 'tomorrow she'll come running after me and tell me this was all a joke.'
But then she didn't come the next day. She didn't run after him. He waited in the cold, freezing weather of early December and didn't even get a holler of 'I love you, Sonikkuuu~!' He searched amongst Tails, Knuckles, Cream—everyone he knew that even remotely knew Amy, and he was a bit surprised, and overly frustrated, that none of them knew of anything Amy did in her free time aside from chasing him. They assumed that was all she did.
Admittedly, he assumed that was all she did, too. He honestly never considered and simply believed she did nothing apart from the walls of chasing him. He didn't think of what she did when it was time to eat. She just ate, didn't she? He didn't ponder over where she slept, assuming it was some warm, cozy, pink home. He didn't ask where her income came from. He never wondered if she studied or what she did during the day or what she liked to do in her free time (aside from chasing him).
No one knew where she was. The only lucky shot he got was when he asked Rouge, and she mildly pointed out that Shadow might have a clue.
He had wanted to laugh. Shadow! Shadow might know?! Sonic didn't even bother categorizing him as people who remotely knew Amy in the first place.
"Well, he has been going off a lot lately." Rouge absentmindedly spoke as she worked with her mascara.
"Pssschyeah, but he's Shadow. He's always off doing something mysterious in the dark or whatever." Sonic crossed his arms, a bad mood overtaking him out of dissatisfaction of everyone's failure to deliver.
Rouge didn't give much sign that she was paying attention. "Yeah, well, he doesn't let me come into his house anymore."
"What does that have to do with Amy?" He scoffed. Rouge rolled the mascara back into its holder with a 'click' and turned to face him.
"Since when did you care about anything involving Amy?"
He sucked in a breath, tripping over whether he should mention his sightings.
In the end, he kept it to himself, "That's not fair. She's my friend. I do care."
Rouge sighed, turning around and pulled out her lip gloss. "Look, the Christmas party is coming up. There's no way Amy would miss it, so just find out whatever it is you want there. If she really doesn't show up, then Shadow might be there, and you can ask him."
"And if they both don't show up?" Sonic spat bitterly, a feeling of exhaustion purging into him. Although, somehow, he knew it was from seeing her—seeing Amy like that, with that tired face and the grimy hands. It disturbed him more than he cared to admit.
Rouge's eyes met his in the mirror, gleaming suspiciously. "Well, then there's your answer."
And now he had it. Not the answer Rouge had been suggesting, although Sonic felt rather apprehensive at the close proximity of the two hedgehogs and the position he had found them in, but the real answer nonetheless.
He wanted to throw up.
All this time, saving her and having her chase after him and laughing with her and he—he never knew something like this?! What kind of a friend did he call himself? What kind of a hero did he call himself?
"A-Amy…" He choked on his words, and he was surprised at the tears in her eyes.
"Oh, oh Sonic, please don't look at me like that." Her voice cracked and for the first time in his life, Sonic wanted to hide. Hide and burn from a shame he never knew and had never felt before. How—how could he have let this happen to her? That tired look and those scratched hands and he never knew-
She backed into the comfort of Shadow, and for one dreaded moment, Sonic feared that Shadow—Shadow the Hedgehog—might actually know. Know about this. Know about Amy, when he, Sonic the Hedgehog, did not.
"I just…" Her eyes, scared and lost, passed over all of them and this was Amy Rose and he had never seen her look this before and Sonic felt something crack within him. This was supposed to be Amy Rose that ran after him in a red dress and chased him to the ends of the earth. Strong, confident, loud Amy Rose. How could they make her look like that?! Make her look so small and frightened and—
And then her hand tightened around Shadow's and something powerful and vibrant burned in her eyes. "I want you all to know that this shouldn't change anything!"
She met every one of their eyes—Tails, Rouge, Espio, Knuckles, Cream, on and on—and she never looked more beautiful. "Just because of this, I—I'm still me! I'm still Amy Rose! I work hard to earn a living and in my free time I like to join my hero Sonic the Hedgehog on adventures! I like helping Tails out with his machines even though I'm not the best at it and I sometimes make brownies for Knuckles because I assume he likes them! I have tea parties with Cream and-" She smiled back at her stronghold, "I like to talk to Shadow the Hedgehog!" She blazed within the room. "Nothing has changed! If any of you treat me any different, I'll—I'll never forgive you!"
The room held only sound to the cackling of the warm fire and the heavy breathing of Amy. He had never seen her like this before. Angry with vigor and passion and pride. He had seen her angry at him. He had seen her angry at Eggman. This was new.
She was stunning. She was tired. He saw grimy hands. He saw hours of work while he napped in meadows. He saw piles of gifts and he saw her thin form wrapped in nights of merciless cold and hunger.
He felt sick. He wanted to punch something.
Her eyes suddenly caught his, and she knew what he was going to do.
"Don't you dare." She warned him with a shuddering breath.
Tails stepped forward, "Amy-"
She whipped around, pointing a shaky finger at Tails. "No, don't-"
"You could've let-" Cream tried to speak, but Amy turned to her and stomped her foot. Green eyes grew more desperate and desperate as they clawed at her.
Suddenly the rest begun to speak up, throwing at her everything she never wanted. Things she dreaded and made her sick to the bone and she tried at protests to stop them but suddenly they gained fervor and soon she couldn't hold them.
She looked at him with one last attempt. "Please, please don't, Sonic. Don't do it."
"Amy…" He couldn't. He couldn't hold it. "I'm sorry."
That was the last. She burst out of there with a speed Sonic never knew she had and he would've followed her, they all would've followed her, if guilt hadn't nailed their feet.
The only occupant in the room who stood coolly in indifference was Shadow, and it shook Sonic to the core.
"You…" Sonic's voice crawled weakly, "You knew?"
Shadow's hard gaze held him. "Yes."
Sonic felt icicles drop into his stomach. "How—how long?"
Shadow closed his eyes. "It doesn't matter."
The icicles melted into boiling iron. "How could it not-"
"What matters is that you understand what you'll put Amy through." His voice was strong, and just as Amy before him he was resilient. "What you'll all put her through."
Wind chimes rang loudly within Sonic's ribcage. "What do you mean?"
"Amy has been holding herself up since she was a child. She might not have been in the best condition, but it is within the foundation, and within that is her pride." The fire from the hearth reflected in his eyes. "It is what defines her. Your apologies attack her. Your offerings insult her in ways you cannot understand. It is not what you can do for her, but what you mustn't, if you intend to keep her happy."
They stared at him, astonishment and obscurity blending awkwardly around him.
"Shadow…" Sonic caught his opposite's gaze and felt the threat of being scalded. "Why are you saying this?"
Shadow stepped forward because more than anything, he would prove that he was more—would readily give more to Amy than Sonic ever could. "Because I intend to keep her happy, and if you intend to even acclaim a position to her, then you should as well. Otherwise, I'll deal with you swiftly."
And because he was Shadow the Hedgehog, he turned and left the room with a proud, heavy walk, leaving a cataclysm of emotions in his wake.
