Hello Readers!

Today is a short chapter, but fear not! I will be uploading the next chapter very shortly, in less time than my past updates!

Thanks to my BetaReaders: Depressing Shadow, ThisVioletofMine, and WolfsLegend. These three are amazing and I wouldn't be able to do it without them. Thank you! XD

Thanks to my amazing reviewers as well: The-Phoenix-Ninja101, pinksakura271, Depressing Shadow, Day-Week, Mihoshi 2.0, and ShrimpOnAStick. You guys are awesome, and thank you for always keeping me motivated!

Please enjoy this chapter!

Happy Reading!

CHAPTER 10: Friendly Rivals

Emerald eyes glared at red, red glared at sea green, sea green glared at ice blue, ice blue glared at amethyst, amethyst glared at emerald, and Amy stared at the table in frustration. What the hell did a girl have to do to get a friendly meeting in order?

It had started when Sonic and Shadow bickered as soon as they laid eyes on each other - the reason being a certain lavender female who was standing off to the side. Shadow had immediately demanded that she be sent home, and Sonic had defended himself, saying that she was his girlfriend and deserved to be here just like everyone else. People began to take sides, but eventually everyone started in on their own personal arguments.

The only two not fighting besides Amy were Sticks and Cream, who were in the kitchen, baking. Amy sighed and slammed her hammer down as lightly as she could onto the table, soft enough to avoid damaging the table, but hard enough to make a loud bang. It was enough for everyone to stop talking over each other and turn nervously towards the small hedgehog. Her green eyes were narrowed and glaring strongly at every one of them, and her left hand rested on her hip once she'd poofed her hammer away. She waited until a nervous silence had befallen the room before first turning towards the ebony male with a furious expression.

"Shadow, what did I ask you to do before we came? I said to be civil, didn't I?"

"Ha! Like this imbecile deserves any kind of-"

"Stop. I'm sick of the petty bickering. Come over here and sit by me so you won't be next to him."

Shadow opened his mouth to argue, but there was a dangerous aura around the pink female, and he thought better of it. Sonic snickered as Shadow made his way around the table with his head lowered. At the childish sound, Shadow nearly lunged at him, but Amy grabbed the back of his jacket and pulled him to the seat next to her. He landed roughly in his chair, a scowl plastered on his face, his eyes closed in frustration.

"And Sonic, I agree with Shadow."

When that statement reached his ears, Shadow's muzzle split into a satisfied smirk and he opened his eyes in a sneer aimed towards the blue hero across from him. Sonic was shaking in anger when he caught the look, but before he could say anything, Amy smacked the back of Shadow's head; effectively erasing the arrogant look. Once the ebony male had reluctantly grown docile, Amy again turned towards Sonic.

"Please ask your lady- Perci, to remove herself. I'm sorry, but I don't know her and I just don't trust her."

"Wow, living with Shadow has made you a cynic. I thought you would be a better person than that." Sonic growled.

Amy sighed and rubbed the sides of her head. Did she really have to humor two hormonal males? Beside her, Shadow felt an urge to drag the blue asshole outside, to beat him into a bloody pulp, but Amy's presence prevented him from doing so. For now.

"Shadow has nothing to do with my behavior or my opinion on the matter, Sonic. It has to do with the fact that I've been attacked multiple times now. The last time by someone I used to be close with. So you can see why I'm hesitant to let anyone - especially someone I don't really know - listen to sensitive information."

Sonic's ears flattened, and his quills relaxed. His expression turned guilty and he looked at her apologetically.

"Sorry, Ames. I didn't mean to -"

"It's okay. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I was just putting things into perspective for you." Amy smiled warmly at him, and the blue hedgehog turned away, blushing slightly. Amy turned to the lavender bandicoot, who had been standing awkwardly to the side, not knowing how, or if, to intervene.

"Well, honey, I would have to ask if you could lend us your Sonic for the day. I know it was last minute, but we have some important matters to attend to."

Perci looked up, her face shocked at how kindly Amy was treating her. She'd always kind of viewed the rose hedgehog as a crazy ex. Perci wasn't the only one exhibiting shock at Amy's oddly gentle treatment of Sonic's girlfriend; everyone around the table was either looking at her in wonder or throwing glances at each other. Even Sonic was staring at Amy, wide-eyed. The only one who seemed unaffected was Shadow, who was actually looking at her with a bit or pride. That's right. Amy no longer views you in that way, Faker, Shadow mentally shot at the dumbfounded hero.

Ignoring the exaggerated expressions around the table, Amy smiled kindly and walked over to the girl. She grabbed hold of her arm and gently guided her to the door.

"I'm sure he will call you as soon as we're finished. Plus, I bet you could do with a day to yourself; he seems to be quite clingy when it comes to you." She couldn't help that her voice dripped with a bit of envy at the statement.

"Uh…" Perci looked at Sonic to see what his reaction was, but he wasn't paying attention to her. His attention was completely taken by the assertive pink hedgehog. "Uh, okay. See you later, babe." She said, raising a hand.

Sonic either didn't see her or he was ignoring her, because he made no movement. Perci lowered her hand and stepped out. Amy smiled and waved before shutting the door and turning around. The pink hedgehog made her way back to the table, a smile plastered on her muzzle. She took a breath before looking around the table for her next target. Everyone was avoiding her judgemental gaze, not wanting to befall the same fate as the two male hedgehogs. However, no one was safe. She first turned to the white bat who was glaring at Tails.

"Now, Rouge - Tails was wrong when he said he is a better flyer; we all know your wings are better than his tails."

Tails' face screwed up indignantly, but Amy gave him a sharp look.

"And even though that is true, Tails is the better pilot. We all know this, so there's no reason to say otherwise."

Rouge opened her mouth- however, Amy shook her head and turned to Knuckles.

"Please don't insult Tails' maturity, even if he is fighting with Rouge. It just makes you look like the child." Knuckles growled, but she ignored it.

"And Sonic, please don't take out your frustration on Shadow or Knuckles. You may claim it was because you were defending your little bro, but we all know you were just trying to release some steam."

Sonic put out his bottom lip - huffing irately - and there was a silence around table as everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats. However - after several moments of silence - nothing had changed, and they were still shooting sideways glares at each other. Amy rolled her eyes; she was starting to get very annoyed with this group of animals. Scratch that- she was already there; now she was becoming livid.

"I want everyone to apologize to each other... right now."

Everyone looked around the table with arrogant expressions, no one wanting to go first; it seemed like whoever did would 'lose.' Amy scoffed, exasperated, and rubbed the sides of her head- she was starting to get a damn headache. These people were going to be the death of her.

"Fine. I'll go first. Tails, I'm sorry for forcing everyone to come here under your roof. You'll probably have a huge mess to deal with when this is over."

Tails opened and closed his mouth - thinking better of whatever he'd been about to say - before smiling nervously at her.

"Sonic, I'm sorry that I've been short with you lately. It was an issue I had with myself, and I was taking it out on you."

"Uh, Ames, it's okay - I didn't really notice that much."

Amy rolled her eyes and prayed to a higher power to help her through this day. She gave Sonic a fake smile which made the hero shiver.

"Great!" She said with sarcasm before turning to her next victim. "Rouge, I'm sorry I ruined that beautiful dress you gave me yesterday."

"What?! Amy! That wasn't your fault! That was bec -" Amy put up her hand and shook her head slowly. Rouge shut up and stared at the middle of the table. Her ears flattened to her head and she started picking at her nails nervously.

"Knuckles, I don't think I've done anything to you lately except talk you ear off. Sorry for that, I guess." The echidna chuckled, and instantly the air in the room started to feel lighter, and Amy felt some stress she'd been carrying lift from her shoulders.

"And Shadow," She'd saved him for the last, and when her eyes met his, they were soft and gentle. "I'm sorry for being such a burden to you these past few weeks. You've been rooming with me for almost a month, and already you've had to nurse me and almost got injured from saving me from crazy people's hands. So - I guess - thank you, as well."

She smiled warmly at him, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain blue male. Shadow held her gaze for a couple moments before leaning back into his chair with a huff and crossed arms.

"You don't have to apologize - if you were a burden I would've left a long time ago."

"That's true." Rouge added knowingly.

"Plus you attract a lot of danger, which I find extremely interesting. I'm certainly not bored." He said, smirking.

Amy rolled her eyes, but her smile widened and grew brighter. The room's atmosphere had done a complete 180, and Shadow was struck with admiration towards the pink female; she'd been able to defuse a potential war between a group of rivals just by saying a few sincere apologies. It was something that he would probably never be able to accomplish, and he commended her people skills.

"Wonderful! Now that I've done that, I actually feel a whole lot better. Now it's your turn." Amy announced with a clap of her hands, finally taking a seat at the table.

Tails was the first to volunteer; he apologized to Rouge for insulting her talents. Rouge blushed and apologized for insulting his piloting. And it continued as such until it was Shadow and Sonic's turn. Everyone was watching them, but they were both avoiding eye contact.

"Come on. Get this over with so we can get on to the meeting." Amy exclaimed with exasperation.

Shadow looked over at her- she seemed tired and frustrated. I'm making this about me when it should be about protecting Amy. She's the one who's gone through the most shit these past couple days- why am I acting this way? It's because of that faker. He always has a way of ruining my good intentions.

He looked up and at a point just above Sonic's head. Do this for Amy. Plus, if you say it first, she'll probably be happy.

"I..." He said slowly. Emerald eyes widened in disbelief. Sonic glanced up, seeing Shadow was about to apologize, and that Amy was starting to give the black male a huge warm smile. Sonic felt irritated- why was she looking at Shadow like that? She used to look at him like that. Wasn't she supposed to love him and no one else? Hadn't she always proclaimed that? Before the ebony hedgehog could finish his slow apology, Sonic interrupted with his own.

"Sorry for being rude to you, Shadow." Amy looked over at Sonic and gave him a smile. The blue hero felt a tiny bit victorious that he had been able to prevent Shadow from receiving such a wonderful smile. Sonic could feel his own muzzle curl in response to her bright expression.

"Thank you, Sonic. Shadow?"

Shadow's ruby eyes had narrowed to slits. He could guess what the cobalt male had planned. Heck, he had thought about it himself before apologizing; whoever went first would get Amy's approval.

"Sorry." He mumbled quietly and looked away angrily. He felt heat of embarrassment from the situation start to rise to his face. No one in this room had probably ever heard him apologize before - and for good reason. It felt demeaning, and his pride was hurt; the only reason he'd done it was to appease the hammer-crazy female beside him. In an attempt to calm his emotions, he began to think of foolproof ways to kill a hedgehog hero and leave no trace. No one would miss a blue speedster, right? He inwardly smirked at the thought, already starting to feel normal.

Amy glanced at him and caught his eye. She could see the hurt pride in his expression, and she gave him a nod to thank him so as not to bring attention to his embarrassment. Shadow held her gaze for a moment before breaking it with a grunt and looking away.

"Alright, as most of you know, about two and a half weeks ago I was attacked by Lyric personally, and…"

Shadow tuned out. He already knew all of this information; besides, he had some other concerns shooting around in his mind currently. One being the way Sonic was staring at Amy. It was definitely not the look of a male observing a 'friend.'

Shadow was intrigued by this, and also angry. Why was Sonic showing signs of an attraction to Amy when he had chosen Perci over her months ago? Also, why did it bother Shadow so much? Was it a protective instinct, or one of a male who was jealous of his girl being stared at?

The other thing bothering Shadow was the fact that he had done something so uncharacteristic of himself. He had apologized openly in front of people - this would have never happened before allowing Amy in his life. He glanced at the pink female beside him. She was listening to something Tails was saying, her left hand under her chin, her casted arm lying neatly in her lap. She had crossed her right leg over the left, and her right foot was bobbing up and down to some unknown rhythm.

What was it about her that completely sent Shadow's nerves and mind into a crazy spiral? Was it that intoxicating scent she had coming off of her? Or was it the way she held herself in a strong and determined manner, even after all that had happened to her? No one else, male or female, had ever caught his attention like she did. Even when he tried to ignore it, even when he refused to admit it, she still had a hold on him. It was worse than his bond with Maria, and it unsettled him.

With Maria it'd been easy; she was like his sister. Someone who he'd spent his first year of creation with, and someone he'd gotten very close to. With the blonde human he'd never had to explain his emotions to himself, because they'd been simple; platonic love, protection, happiness, and later, sadness. Not only that, but he had never had a relationship outside of hers to compare it to, so he didn't know the difference.

However, with Amy, it was completely different. With Amy he felt a cluster of clashing emotions, conflicting desires, and crazy urges. With her, everything was complicated and new. Nothing felt normal, and everything was unknown. He felt as though he were swimming in an endless churning abyss of confusion. And yet… he couldn't stop. He had never even once wished for it to stop. He continued to allow her to yank and jerk him around like this was some sick puppet show and she was the master. Even now, when he was deep in thought about his situation, he didn't even feel an inkling of desire to run from it. To run from her.

She was saying something again, and her hand left her chin to fiddle with her cast- it was a mannerism of hers that now set Shadow on edge. He found it adorable that she did it when nervous or when in deep thought. He felt as though it were now a secret language between the two of them, a way for her to make him aware of her discomfort. And so he answered her silent plea and tuned back into the conversation.

"...fine. Nothing happened, he just seemed like he was trying to scare me, was all. He knocked me around a bit before Shadow showed up."

"Are you sure, Ames? Because you seem like you're holding something back."

Sonic was leaning forward and staring intently into Amy's face. Amy looked away in slight embarrassment; even now she still had a hard time hiding things from the blue hero. A part of her wanted to give in to his gentle expression and tell him everything. She missed the time when she could talk to him about anything; when he would occasionally give her all his attention and try his best to help her. Now... she could feel something stuck between them, something that had yet to be resolved. She just didn't feel secure enough around him, so she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

The whole time, Shadow had been steadily studying her expression, and from his time with her, he could tell she was having an eternal war within herself. Her eyes had started to take on that look that he despised; emptiness. He could almost imagine her exact thoughts at that moment, and it frustrated him that she had, once again, been reduced to this, simply by something that the blue male had done.

"What she says is true. He'd just slapped her when I arrived at the scene. Maybe he was planning to do more, but I prevented that from happening." Shadow said in a gruff and indifferent voice that was completely misleading to his real emotions. Sonic glanced at him and smirked while leaning back.

"Finally decided to speak, Shadow? Well, what do you propose was the motive behind all this?" Sonic waved arrogantly around the room, as though he already had everything figured out. Shadow replied to his arrogant smirk with a harsh grimace of his own.

"I will choose to focus on the real, important facts, which happen to be the so-called Minzens."

At the mention of the tribe, Amy turned to him, interested. She was glad that Shadow had been able to change the topic to something productive and relevant to what she was trying to accomplish. There was no need for her attacks to be analyzed and picked at, especially when all it served to do was upset her.

"I was thinking the same as well. Glad we're on the same page." She smiled at the ebony male, and although he continued like he hadn't noticed, she could see a slight pink tint to his fur-covered cheeks.

"Anyway, Lyric had a necklace, Paul has a necklace, and Amy does as well. Maybe the first attack was an attempt to find out what she knew. And the second, an attempt to retrieve the artifact."

"That could be," Rouge interjected, "but Paul never asked Amy about the necklace she holds. In fact, he seemed more interested in showing off the one he possessed, rather than searching for a necklace that Amy might have."

"Maybe he really did just run into me accidentally and decided to have some fun. But what I'm worried about is his particular necklace." Amy said, now standing up and pacing behind her chair. "At first, I believed that the artifacts only held the key to controlling elements. But his obviously had healing powers. So what does that mean? Why is his artifact so different than the ones told about in Skye Arc fables?"

"Does that really matter?" Knuckles asked, scratching his head."I mean, so what if the things have weird powers- what does that have to do with Lyric specifically?"

"Well, obviously he's using them as some sort of weapon." Tails replied. "Maybe the Skye Arc people only saw a few of the necklaces, and in reality there are several different types they were never exposed to."

A silence ensued as everyone became lost in their own thoughts. Amy sat back down in her chair and her left hand fiddled with her cast as she thought deeply of what she was missing. In all the text that she'd read, and all the ruins she'd been to, there hadn't ever been much mentioned of the fabled tribe. It was frustrating that she couldn't seem to find the key to unlocking the mystery behind the myths. It was almost like the Minzens were a mist, something she couldn't grab or see clearly. Just what was she missing? Than a word popped up in her memory: yanra. It was a Skye Arc word that was used for the elements, but she had seen it used in one transcript as 'energy.'

"What if… what if I misunderstood the translations of the Skye Arc Tribe fables? Or what if they got it entirely wrong?"

Tails looked at her strangely. The pink hedgehog's eyes had grown large in excitement, and she fidgeted in her seat before standing up again and leaning forward on the table. She seemed like someone had given her a lot of caffeine, and he wanted to find out what had gotten her so riled up.

"What do you mean by that, Amy?"

"Well, what if it's not elements the necklaces control, but energy?"

Tails' ice blue eyes widened and he, too, started to seem excited.

"That would line up with what we are seeing. There is plenty of mythology in all cultures about the harnessing of energy. I mean, machines and batteries are a way of controlling electricity."

"Right!" Amy almost yelled, her emerald eyes bright with her discovery.

"The Minzens weren't using just magic or elements - they were able to harness and control energy. Those necklaces must be some sort of device. I've been looking at this all wrong!" Amy sat back down, a smile set in her face.

"Who wants cookies?" A bright light brown bunny hopped into the room with a plate full of steaming cookies. Tails flushed and looked at his girlfriend.

"We are in the middle of something, Cream - maybe later?" Cream scowled at her boyfriend and Sticks came out from behind her, balancing a tray of lemonade.

"No, no. This is good."

Everyone turned to see Amy, once again, rising from her seat.

"I'm going to make a run back to my house and grab a few things - this might be a good time for everyone to take a break and catch up with each other." She started walking towards the door.

"You sure?" Tails asked.

"Of course! I have to get some things that are useful to our conversation. I'll be right back."

She left the hut, but she wasn't the only one who got up from the table. Shadow followed her out.

"Amy. I'm coming, too."

The pink hedgehog was doing some stretches before she ran to her house. She didn't run at her top speed often, so it was smart to loosen her muscles before running at those speeds. She looked up at him from underneath her arm as she reached for the ground; he was scowling as usual, but it looked a whole lot less threatening from upside down. She smiled at him and shook her head as she came out of her stretch.

"No. I'll be fine. Besides, it's not only my friends in there. Take some time to talk with everyone and catch up without my interruptions."

"What are you talking about? I'm not friends with any of these people." He stated angrily. Amy glanced up at him and shrugged, pulling her right arm across her chest, holding it a moment in a stretch before doing the same with her left.

"You can say that all you want, but the reality is, you like them. Even Sonic." Shadow's face looked so taken aback that Amy laughed and put her hand on his shoulder.

"I want you to stay - I think it's important you get close to people. I know what a great person you really are, and it sucks to see the way they view you."

"I don't care what other people think of me; I never have."

Jade eyes stared sternly into his, and he felt oddly exposed. It seemed as though she could see more than just his surface, and he felt unnerved under her careful gaze. After a few moments, she released him and crossed her arms underneath her breasts.

"You and I both know that isn't true. Shadow, I've noticed things about you that you've tried to keep hidden, and one of those things is that you're a terrible liar."

Their gazes challenged each other for a few seconds before Amy turned around and prepared to leave. As she braced her body for take off she looked over her shoulder and smiled at Shadow.

"Don't think I didn't notice that you tried to apologize first today. I know how hard that was for you, and I just want you to know, it made me really happy."

And with that Amy burst forward in a pink blur, leaving dust clouds behind her. Shadow watched after her, wondering- not for the first time - if letting her inside his heart was a good thing.

Shadow stared at the patch of jungle where she'd disappeared into for a few moments before letting out a defeated sigh. Even though he wasn't entirely happy about the situation, he decided that he had nothing better to do at the moment. He turned to go back into the hut when he saw a blue flash in the window overlooking the porch. The black hedgehog narrowed his eyes and opened the door to the house. He saw that everyone was sitting at the table, eating cookies and socializing, except for Sonic. That must have been him I saw. Why was he spying on us?

He sat back down at the table and rested his head on the palm of his hand. The atmosphere was bubbly and excited, however Shadow just observed the animals, not interested in engaging any of them. Sticks seemed highly annoying to Shadow with the way she turned almost anything into a conspiracy, but surprisingly everyone else seemed to find humor in her deranged rants. Rouge was sharing one of her many treasure hunting adventures with Cream, who sat on the edge of her seat, soaking in every word. Tails was talking to Knuckles about Chaos knows what, and Shadow was wishing he had ignored Amy's wishes and went with her.

About ten minutes had passed before Sonic came back into the room. He sauntered in nonchalantly, but Shadow had been waiting for this. He watched with a narrowed glare as Sonic moved around the room and towards his seat. Only when the blue hero was settled did Shadow say anything.

"Where were you?" He asked gruffly. Sonic looked at him and shrugged.

"Not like I need to tell you, but for your information, I was in the bathroom. Do you want a detailed description of what I was doing, too?" Sonic smirked, and Shadow's frown deepened. They glared at each other for a while before Sonic gave a cheesy grin and scooted closer to Tails and Knuckles to join in their conversation. Shadow continued to glare at the pompous male with murder in his eyes. Rouge, who had finished talking with Cream, turned to Shadow with a curious look on her face.

"What was that about?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me, Shadow - you're a terrible liar, so it's sad to see you try." She gave a shrug and picked up a cookie.

"How is it that you said the same thing she did?" Shadow grumbled, taking a glass of lemonade.

"Who? Amy?"

"Yes, her. She said those exact words you just did. Said I wasn't a good liar." Rouge looked at him and laughed.

"You really have opened up more, haven't you? It took me about a year to realize that fact about you, and it took Amy, what, about two weeks?" The bat shook her head, mystified.

Shadow scoffed and gulped down some of the cool, tart liquid. He quite enjoyed the sour and sweet mixed together. He stared into the glass, thinking a bit, before gulping down the rest and reaching towards the pitcher for a refill.

"She's just nosey - more so than you."

"You still haven't answered my question. Why were you interrogating Sonic?" The bat was curious, although she could probably guess the answer if she tried.

Shadow sighed and leaned on his hand. He was getting tired of keeping all his thoughts to himself, and, looking at Rouge, he realized she was probably the closest thing to a 'bestfriend' that he had. She didn't like the judgement shining in his eyes, but before she could complain, he interrupted her thoughts.

"I think he was spying on Amy and I."

She gave him a careful look, weighing what he'd just said in her mind. It wasn't odd for Shadow to make accusations at Sonic, and she didn't completely believe him. Besides, she didn't think that the hero would lie about something so stupid. The blue male had even announced beforehand where he was going, and he had walked in the direction of the restroom. There was no reason for his story to not be true. She decided to humor Shadow, however, since this was a rare opportunity to take a pick at his brain.

"What made you come to this conclusion?"

"The fact that I saw the bastard peeking out of a window at us before coming inside."

"That is odd. But why does it bother you so much?"

"Because…" Shadow hesitated and lowered his voice. "Because she said some… personal stuff to me, and I don't like the idea that the blue rat heard."

Rouge was very interested now, but knew if she pressed the issue, Shadow was likely to retreat back into himself. Like an adorable tortoise. She unconsciously grinned at the thought, causing Shadow to look offended.

"Is this funny to you?" He growled. His expression had darkened to a look she had only seen directed at Eggman - and sometimes Sonic.

"No! No, sorry, I was thinking of something else." She put up her hands to indicate that she meant no harm, and he relaxed, although his glare remained.

"I don't think you have to worry about Sonic spying on you - if anything, he was interested in Amy." She said, putting another cookie in her mouth. She couldn't help it, they were warm and gooey, and Cream's baking skills were legendary.

"What do you mean he was there for Amy?"

"I'm sure you've noticed as well... Sonic likes Amy." After she said it, Shadow felt a sinking emotion in his heart. He'd tried to push that observation aside- he didn't want it to be true. But Rouge was not someone who was sensitive to people's feelings. This meant that she would observe situations without clouded judgment- she was almost always right. She stuffed another gooey cookie into her mouth, her face scrunched in bliss, while Shadow stared at her in disgust. She opened her mouth and tiny crumbs flew from her muzzle.

"I've known for a while. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. But it's only obvious to the people looking from the outside. Sonic and Amy… well, they have a bizarre relationship. They're caught between friendship and intimacy, and it has driven them both insane."

Rouge reached for another devilish cookie, knowing she would regret it when they went straight to her hips. Shadow was listening to her intently as he slowly picked the sprayed crumbs from his quills. He waited, not too patiently, for her to continue as he watched her finish off her latest cookie with a swig of lemonade.

"So?! What does that have to do with anything?" He demanded, snapping her away from the delicious treat and back to their conversation.

"My dear, don't try and act naive with me. Just admit it- you like Amy."

Shadow shot out of his seat and grabbed her arm. A cookie she had reached for fell out of her grip and rolled a bit on the table. The room became slightly quieter as everyone's attention was directed to Shadow and Rouge. The bat's eyes were wide, and her ears flicked a bit nervously.

"I need to speak with you… privately."

Shadow gave a rough yank on Rouge's arm - it didn't hurt her, but it did make her gasp slightly in surprise. Knuckles got up about to intervene, but Rouge shook her head, smiling.

"Don't worry, Knux! We'll be right back." She smiled warmly at the echidna.

Knuckles hesitated a moment, but Rouge's calm gaze and gentle nod of her head convinced him that everything was fine. He sat back down; it was common between the two ex-partners to act strangely on occasion, and he honestly didn't feel like getting caught up in whatever drama Rouge had cooked up. He turned to his buddies and merrily joined their conversation, blissfully unaware of the storm that had begun.