Simple and Clean

by Chaotic Reflections

On the surface, one would wonder how such opposites could work so well together. After all, Sally was the beautiful, brilliant princess, destined to fall in love with a prince charming or hero. Shadow was the Ultimate Lifeform, rough around the edges with crimson eyes glowing death and danger. They seemed like two jagged puzzle pieces that shouldn't fit, and yet, they did.

4. Rivalry

4. Rivalry

Competing with her seemed pointless, especially since she'd be wasting her time competing with a mere memory.

Some days it amazed her at how such a memory, or rather, a person, could have created such an impact, and a positive one at that, on someone like Shadow. She, she was once that light that chased away the monsters that haunted his nightmares when he succumbed into a restless sleep. She was his first best friend, his first taste of the sweetness that was friendship, and she, along with the professor, was the first family and companion he was blessed to have. She loved and nurtured him as if he were her brother, her own flesh and blood, treating him like the family he never had and giving him the strength to try and do good. That was something Sally would be forever thankful to her for.

However, Sally sometimes found herself doubting herself, which irked her to no end. Who could fault her though? Maria had did so much for Shadow and really helped shaped him into the person he now was. What more could she possibly do?

You give him affection and a love that he could never obtain from me, Princess Sally. Do not doubt yourself, for Shadow truly does care for you, and he needs you, whether you can fully see such a truth yet or not. Therefore, I pass the torch to you, and it's up to you to either keep its flame burning or let it burn out. What do you choose to do with it?

I guess I'll carry it until it burns out, I suppose. Fret not, Maria. I'll take good care of him, Sally vowed, her heart thrumming with joy. The wind blew harder, and Sally could've sworn she heard the faint sound of Maria's tinkling laughter.

I know you won't, Princess Sally. He's in good hands. Maybe they weren't as different as Sally initially assumed they were. Both of them loved Shadow, just with a different type of love, and they both made some sort of positive impact on the dark hedgehog's life.

But Maria, she was Shadow's past, a lesson both taught and learned, something that Shadow had long since accepted and let go of because he was finished with that chapter of his life. Sally, however, was both Shadow's present and future, something he would have both now and forever, something to be enjoyed and looked forward to, and that's where the difference between them lied.