Cream's adrenaline-filled heart felt like it was about to burst out from her chest as she flew further away from their home. Mr. Cheese quietly flew in front of her as he illuminated their path with a small carrot-shaped night light from her bedroom. For the first time in her life, she disobeyed her mama's wishes. A swirl of emotions raced throughout her mind, each thought mixed with excitement, regret, and her heroic desire to help. She knew better than to venture out in the middle of the night to seek out a mystery, but something deep in her heart told her to go.
The pair of rabbit and chao returned to the spot she played in earlier today: the rose garden far northeast from her mother's large land plot. Her family owned quite a large piece of land, which was divided into several fractions of vegetable gardens, lines of fruit trees, an array of flower gardens, and an open field that was home to their gazebo. Vanilla was the only person who knew the lay of the land like the back of her palm, but Cream favored the path to this particular rose garden she grew up playing in.
To her surprise, there was a visitor in the center of the very garden she suspected. Mr. Cheese whimpered in slight fear as they both steadily hovered above the garden. Cream held her index finger to her mouth and motioned a 'shush' to stay undetected. They slowly lowered themselves onto the ground, being careful to hide behind a tree within sight of the unknown visitor. Her eyes locked onto their suspect as she noticed the figure sitting in front of a small rock she never thought much of before. She struggled to focus her eyes more in efforts to identify them and tried to move slightly closer to see…
SNAP! Both Cream and Mr. Cheese winced as they looked down to her shoes and noticed her foot stepping onto a noisy twig. In a split second, she panicked as she saw her suspect rush towards them in a red streak and nearly screamed until she felt a large glove grasp to cover her mouth from behind. Mr. Cheese squirmed around in the air, trying to launch his body at their attacker and save his friend. Cream could barely stand on her legs from her fear of whoever stood behind her and attempted to push herself away from them. She heard a rugged voice of a man speak from behind that stopped her in her tracks.
"Cream. Calm down." Shadow slowly released his hand from her mouth and sighed out of irritation. "Why are you here? Isn't it late for little bunnies like you? I don't have time to waste tonight."
Mr. Cheese stopped quivering before Shadow and slowly picked up the carrot nightlight he dropped. The orangish light revealed their friend from the past, Shadow the Hedgehog, standing before them. His deep charcoal quills were no longer as intimidating as they were hidden earlier in the dark. With tears forming in the corners of her eyes, Cream nearly wept as she turned around to hug into Shadow's chest.
"Mr. Shadow, how could you scare us like that?! You would've scared Mama too!"
"...Mama? Oh, you mean Vanilla." Shadow glanced down at Cream and peeled her off of himself, keeping a good distance of three feet between them and crossed his arms. He shifted his eyes away from her and towards the rock he sat in front of. "Whatever it is that you want, I refuse. Too much of my time has been wasted having to help you and Sonic." Shadow started to walk back to his original position without feeling the need to look directly at her. He refused to see how much fear spread across the little rabbit's face from the idea of him attacking. The ringing in his ears returned softly.
"Um… Actually, Mr. Shadow… Y-you're the one who's been running around in our garden, aren't you?"
"Your garden? This does not belong to you. I have been visiting this place before you were even born."
"This is my family's garden! Mama's been taking care of this land for many years. I saw you in a hurry to our garden earlier today and you scared the daylights outta us. Why are you here, Mr. Shadow? You could've just talked to us before sneaking in here."
Shadow scoffed at the idea of Vanilla claiming the rose garden. He assumed that they were clueless to any possibility of knowing that Maria used to take him here. "Apparently, I'm not the only one who's sneaking around someplace they do not belong in." Cream could tell that was a small jab at her own actions tonight but did not interrupt Shadow. "Why are you here? Let me be and I will leave like always by dawn." He continued to walk away from them, but the pair followed shortly behind him as they continued talking.
"Always? This really isn't your f-first time visiting us? You know, Mama and I don't mind our friends visiting but we would appreciate it if you told us one day. She was really scared for me and will probably stop me from visiting here. I used to play in this rose garden all the time…" Her voice softened in volume near the end of her last sentence, almost as if she was already defeated.
When Shadow finally stood in front the rock, he slowly returned to the sitting position Cream and Mr. Cheese found him in. Although it was obvious that he was annoyed, Cream did not take the hint and sat down beside him. The three of them all sat underneath the moonlight peaking in between the clouds as they stared at the rock in front of them. Shadow glanced at Cream, who looked down sadly at her knees. If somebody took this garden away from him… like how they took away Maria… he too would share the same disappointment on Cream's face. He spoke looking towards her for the first time tonight.
"I come here every month to visit somebody that I used to know. They are long gone now… We used to visit and play in this very garden just as you did. I would hate for you to experience the same that I do now. If you wish for me to no longer visit, I will respect your word."