This was originally 2 chapters, but I smushed them together since I didn't know what else to do "^_^ Anyway.... here you go..... this one is realllly long :D

While Gwen had been about her day thinking of her strange dream, out on her date with Sonic, and sharing kisses with him, Shadow had skipped school and been lying in bed, thinking. It had started with his nightmare from early that morning.

In it, he was looking down at a midnight forest from in the leaves and branches of the trees. The trunks were old-looking and twisted, like a forest filled with dark magic in a fairy tale.

Gwen stood alone in this forest. Her eyes were wide and frightened. She didn't want to be there at all. It was quite apparent.

A deep, burning sensation rumbling in Shadow's throat caused him to utter a horrid growl that made Gwen tense up more. She tried to slink away from him, with his frightening red eyes that glowed brightly. "No," she whispered.

"Yes," he drawled, his seductive voice heightening to maximum power. He dropped from the tree to stand in front of her and reached out, fingers spread, to place his hand against her pale face. "Just don't look."

Gwen had no idea what he would be talking about, and she shut her eyes tightly. Shadow's mouth approached her neck, teeth sparkling and coated with deadly venom. They slowly pierced her skin and the blood of he girl he loved flowed onto his tongue as she released an earsplitting scream.

Shadow's eyes burst open and saw darkness as he gasped for air. He realized that his face was buried in the pillow, and that it was wet with his venomous saliva. And was that foam and... feathers he tasted?

He sat up in his bed. The moon shone brightly onto him as he tried to catch his breath. Calm down, Shadow. It was just a nightmare. He felt feathers sticking to his quills, and got out of his bed to see what was so feathery.

What he wasn't expecting to see was a shredded quilt, a demolished feather pillow, and a ruined foam mattress where it appeared as if he had bitten chunks out of it in his sleep. He probably had, and had bitten everything else along with it. He shook his head in amazement and proceeded to collect the pieces of quilt, which he would sew back together when he got the feathers cleaned up.

After he finished getting the quilt up, he went into the bathroom and turned on the light to see how bad he looked. He didn't actually look too horrible-just a bunch of feathers stuck to his elegant quills. Besides that, he looked like a normal guy hedgehog with red eyes and only wearing a pair of briefs.

But he noticed something about the briefs. They looked much darker in the front. He slowly reached down and touched the dark area lightly. It was cold and slimy. He put those fingers in his mouth, just curious to see if he could identify the slime by taste.

He was no rocket scientist, but he could definitely tell it wasn't water, urine, blood, or his venom. It was bitter. It was familiar... but how?

Suddenly it came to him-beginning at 12 and 13 in his 'normal' years, he started having erections, and this slime was coming from his penis. It had pretty much gone away after he was transformed at 15. And now it was back... back after he had dreamt of the girl he was in love with. Back just a couple of weeks before the Time.

There was only one explanation of what the slime could be. Semen.

Three words that Shadow had vowed himself to avoid saying aloud, but that he had thought many times, came out of his mouth.

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

He disregarded his swearing and slid down against the wall, wringing his quills in his hands. What was he going to do now? Just leave Gwen alone?

But he couldn't. March was approaching, and he had been planning on using her as his mate for a sex ceremony. No one else appealed to him as much as she did, and if he didn't get the built-up sperm out of his body, he'd truly go insane from the feeling.

And now he knew he could father a child. Would this affect Gwen's decision? Would she still sneak glances at him whenever she could? Would she still want to talk to him?

Now Shadow was getting pissed with himself. What am I going to do now?

After sitting on the cold tiles for several minutes, he looked up from between his legs at the floor length mirror and saw a distressed face staring back at him.

He made up his mind then. In the next few days, he would gradually tell her his secrets and what he was believed to be.

- - - - -

The next day, Gwen and Sonic entered the school hand in hand, smiling, and laughing at something he had said. Several classmates stared at them. They weren't used to seeing Sonic so comfortable with a girl. It was like going outside in the middle of July and seeing 6 feet of snow on the ground.

Gwen didn't like being looked at like this. "Why are they staring?"

"It's just that we're together, is all," Sonic replied reassuringly. He patted her on the top of the head with the hand that wasn't in hers and laughed when she started giving him a death stare.

They soon reached their lockers and began to get ready for the day. As Gwen started putting her books away, a thin notebook fell out of her bag and onto the floor. Before she could pick it up, Sonic had snatched it and opened it. "What's this?" Sonic asked her.

Gwen took it from his hands and closed it, keeping her cool. "None of your business."

Sonic grinned. "Is it a diary?"

"No, just a book of artwork."

"Then why can't I see it?"

"It's..." Gwen tried to find a word that suited it at this point. "Incomplete. There isn't much in there."

"Hey, I don't mind. Any artwork is better than none at all. Can I please see it?" Sonic smiled on the word please.

Gwen thought about it for a moment, then handed it to him and watched him flip through the pages. It wasn't like she didn't want him looking at it. She just wished that there were more drawings in there for him to look at.

Sonic noted details in nearly every drawing, the colors she used, and what the drawings were of. Most of them were of her friends, and there was one self portrait. There were some of him, which made Sonic flutter with excitement. But after several pages, he came across a drawing that made him freeze and stare at it.

It was an unbelievably incredible drawing of Shadow.

"Sonic? Is something wrong?"

"No," he replied and handed the book back to her. "You're an amazing drawer. I bet you could be famous someday." He smiled.

Gwen blushed slightly at his flattery. "Thanks, I guess."

He smiled again and put his books away when he heard something. "Sonic!"

Gwen noticed how tense Sonic had just become, and his erect ears twitched. "What is it?"

"Crap." He straightened up and looked behind him where he could see Amy coming towards him with a hard expression on her face.

"What were you two doing last night?" Amy said accusingly, glaring at Sonic and Gwen.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that shit, Sonic. I know you two were out last night. Together. Alone. With NO ADULT SUPERVISION."

"Yeah, so?" Gwen butted in. "We're teenagers. We're allowed to be out alone."

"That's not the point I'm trying to make, COURTESAN."

"Gwen, just stay out of it please," Sonic murmured to her. "Amy can get ugly."

She obediently took a step back and continued to watch the fight while thinking about the meaning of courtesan. She thought it meant slut.

"How would you know if I was out yesterday?" Sonic shot at Amy.

"Maybe I saw, oh, I dunno, your text messages to Knuckles and Tails?" Amy raised one eyebrow.

"AMY! I told you to stop butting into my phone account! If you don't stop soon, I'm going to have to call the authorities."

"Why don't you call them now? They can't hurt me." She pulled her Piko hammer from its hiding spot and held it in the air for a second, then put it back. "However, that's getting off-track. The point is, I saw your message, and I just went to The French Cafe. Pretty simple."

"How come I didn't see you?"

"I requested a table where I could see everyone from one spot. You know what pushovers those women are. They gave me a second floor balcony table."

"They have a SECOND FLOOR?"

"Yeah. I saw you two come in the door just minutes after I sat down, and I watched you drool over Gwen." She watched Sonic's face flush and shrugged and said in a manner-of-fact tone, "Nothing to it, really. I know how to be quiet."

"Regardless of how good your spying skills are," he said, his skin returning to its normal color, "I am not happy with you watching me when I'm out on a DATE with someone. It makes me very pissed off, and I really want you to just stop."

"Oh yeah? Try to make me." She put her hands on her hips and smirked at him. "Go ahead."

"GOD! See, THIS is why I don't like being around you, Amy. You're too damn nosy, not to mention RUDE, too."

"Look who's talking!"

"You brought this upon yourself, Amy. There's no denying it." Sonic paused for a moment. "Do you really think this will ever make me love you? Do you not see that you're the one losing this battle?"

Amy froze, her hands clenched into fists and her eyes looking like two green flames. She slowly took in his words.

"Because if you do, then there is something SERIOUSLY screwed up with you. You have to FACE THE FACTS. Nobody who acts like a bitch, like YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, will ever have a boyfriend, not to mention get a positive response from their friends." Sonic's speech was powerful, unbreakable. For once, he felt as if he were on a higher level than Amy, and not underneath her influence.

Her lower lip quivered. "I HATE you," she spat. "I hate YOU, I hate your FACE, and I most ESPECIALLY hate your stupid GIRLFRIEND. I HATE ALL YOU DAMN PERVERTS! GO BURN IN HELL!" A tear escaped and she sprinted away from them.

Sonic sighed. "I hate seeing her cry," he told Gwen. "But that chick SERIOUSLY needs a taste of reality. She's lived in a fantasy world for too long now."

Gwen heard his words, but they went in one ear and came out the other. She was looking at the door that Amy had run through. It led to the middle school girl's bathroom.

- - - - -

Gwen slowly opened the door and walked across the slightly small room. She could hear sobs coming from one stall. She knocked softly on the door. "Amy?"

"Go away," Amy squeaked, not sounding anything like herself.

"Amy, it's me. Gwen." Gwen waited for a response. None came. I might as well have just flung myself into a pool of acid.

The door flew open suddenly and Gwen stared at Amy, who looked like a total wreck already. Her quills were sticking up all over the place, and her cheeks were stained with tears. Her eyes were starting to get bloodshot. "What do you want? Did Sonic send you in here? Or did you just come to make me feel like shit?"

"No, I'd never want to do that," Gwen replied. She was shocked that Amy would jump to that conclusion so quickly, but she guessed she saw it coming.

"Then what? Do you hate me?"

"No. I do not."

Amy just stared at Gwen. "You had to have had a reason. Spit it out."

"I just want to be friends, not enemies like you're holding up. I know you must dislike me to the ends of the planet for dating Sonic, but I want to be your friend. I want to hear your side of the story. In a calm, soft voice."

Amy stared hard at the floor as if she wanted to set it on fire, then looked up at Gwen. "I was at least a hundred shades of jealous of you and Sonic when you got connected. I've been trying to get his attention for many a year now. He never thought of me as... pretty or attractive or any of those kinds of words. I tried my best to keep his interest, but he always went back to talking to Knuckles or Tails... or you, when we get more recent. I felt so pissed off at him that I just kept hurting him, over and over and over-verbally, emotionally, even physically. Has he told you the story of the time that I dragged him to my house?"

She paused for a second, waiting for Gwen to respond. When she didn't, she assumed Sonic hadn't said anything about it. "Okay, then you do NOT want to know what I did to him. I'm surprised I wasn't arrested. I feel so bad... he's right. He won't love me if I keep damaging him this way."

She took several shuddering breaths, and a few tears came loose again. "Help me, Gwen! You understand him on a level that not even Knuckles or Tails has reached. You're beautiful, nice, funny... everything that I'm NOT. I'm just a worthless body! A dead weight! Nobody is friends with me!"

Gwen watched her crumple down onto the floor, sobbing and not looking a thing like the strong, sarcastic girl she had seen 5 minutes ago, before she had cracked. She sat down next to her and smoothed down her quills slowly. "Just cry, Amy. Let it all out. It's okay." Amy continued crying, and Gwen soon thought of one thing that she'd be willing to do to make her happy. She swallowed back the lump in her throat. "You can have Sonic."

Amy looked up at her, shocked. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "What? Is this a joke? Some kind of prank? Tell me now if it is. I don't want to get up hope."

"No. I'm being very serious. If you still want Sonic, be kinder and know what he wants and doesn't want. Then, he may realize how beautiful YOU are, and... ask you to be his girl."

"But he loves YOU. It's plain on his face whenever he sees you. You two were meant for each other."

Gwen looked down and shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Maybe this is like a puzzle. I might not be the right piece. But you two might fit together tighter than us." She paused for a moment and realized how perverted that sounded. "Okay, never mind."

Amy giggled. "It's alright. I'm used to that." She sighed and looked at Gwen as she raised her head to meet Amy's eyes. "I can't just take your friend away from you like that. You love him."

"No, I don't." She swallowed back another lump in her throat.

"Then who DO you love?"

Gwen had no answer. She just stared at the wall.

Amy sighed. "I knew it. You love him, too. You want to tell him, but you can't. You're afraid he will think you're crazy. Lovesick, even." She was basically saying what Gwen was trying to deny to herself.

Gwen smiled. "Those are the same words he used to describe you."

Amy laughed weakly. "I'm not surprised. I'm usually described as that by everyone. I'm not a popular girl. I never was. The only reason why I get to sit at that table was because Cosmo invited me over there on my first day of 5th grade a couple years ago. I had been too shy to sit next to Sonic at the time." She laughed again at her silliness.

"Just keep trying," Gwen advised. "Remember that popularity isn't everything. Friends are."

Amy looked up at her and smiled. "I'm glad you came and talked to me. I feel so much better now."

"I'm glad I did, too."

They both stood and Amy gave Gwen an unexpected hug. "I'll see you at lunch."

They both left the bathroom, feeling better than they had felt in a while.

The ending's a bit lame, but I love this chapter, so R&R!!!

~ GABL