(Sonic and his friends and enemies are property of SEGA and Sonic Team.)

I looked over Jwan's shoulder.

I had no idea what she was drawing…until she added the heart.

I erased it.

She gave me a big smile which indicated she was playing with my head.

But I wasn't in the mood for games.

"Very funny, Jwan."

I rolled my eyes.

"It was, wasn't it? Maria hearts Sha…"

She smiled brightly as she said it.

Shadow looked at us.

"Shackles. I love shackles. There's not a more fashionable restraint mechanism in the known world, now is there?"

Shadow looked away.

"Shackles? I was sure you'd come up with a better cover than that."

Tikal smiled at me.

"Why is everyone smiling at me? This isn't the time for smiling!"

I tried to put a negative spin on things but I was never really good at doing that on purpose.

"Yes it is. It's the perfect time to smile."

Amy said.

"We're battling an evil villain that has to use a manual to do his evil bidding."

Jwan giggled.

"He has age preferences."

Tikal rolled her eyes.

"His element is dictation."

Sonic stifled a laugh.

"Sorry to break it to ya, Empress of gloom, but this is gonna pretty darn easy."

Even Knux was looking on the bright side.

"We just need to get that jewel of his. It's obviously his power source."

Tails grinned.

"And um… oh crap! You guys took all the good ones! Now I don't have anything to say!"

Cream yelled.

Tiavinah sighed and smacked on the back of the head.

We all looked at Shadow.

"I, personally, couldn't care less about this conversation. From what I've seen, he enjoys seeing people in pain. I don't. If we don't get out of here soon there will be people in pain again. There are still I don't know how many people without powers back on earth who will soon be plunged into a new era without a clue what's going on. It's enough to make a rebellion but not a very big one. Stella is going to have absolutely no idea who any of us are. It doesn't look hunky dory to me. We may be able to beat him but we have a time limit. It's not "Can we?" it's "How fast can we?"."

Shadow, on the other hand, was really good at putting a negative spin on things.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

Jwan looked nervous.

"Now look what you did."

I glared at Shadow.

"You went and made it all look worthless."

"It's better to be cautious than to get your hopes up and have them all crash down."

Shadow glared back.

"Yeah, just like it's better to be depressed than it is to be overly happy."

I rolled my eyes.

"That's not what I said."

Shadow growled.

"No, it's what I said. Because I think the whole world is gonna come crashing down on my head."

I taunted.

Shadow stood up.

He could've killed me by now in one of the many fights we've had but he hadn't.

I stood too.

"You wanna take this to the playground?"

He asked sounding like he meant it.

I fell to the floor laughing.

"Yeah, you know what, sure. Right after naptime!"

I yelled through a waterfall of tears.

No one else really got it.

I looked around to find Haley wasn't there.

"Where's Haley?"

I asked coming out of my laughter fit.

"She went to the bathroom. Why?"

Tikal said.

"I thought you'd gotten over your stupidity."

I growled.

"Hey! Alpha man! I gotta go to the potty."

I yelled.

Shadow chuckled.

Alpha turned.

"You what?"

He asked.

"I gotta water!"

I screamed.

He came over.

"Say it clearly this time."

He hissed.

"I need to tinkle!"

I said urgently.

He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

He opened the door.

I stepped out.

I found he was quite weak and easy to tie up.

"You won't get away with this!"

He thundered.

"Whose gonna stop us? Your jewel?"

I laughed.

Shadow woke up Breeze and Xipho.

Breeze put a time bomb on the ceiling of the dungeon.

It was set for fifteen minutes.

We were just about to leave when…

"Who dares to defy the Dictator?"

We all turned to see Alpha.

He had a hold of his gem and ours were circling around him madly.

"Oh crap."

Cream muttered.

"I rule your pathetic universe! The chaos elements are my power! You would have to destroy them to destroy me! And if you destroy them you unravel the very fabric of reality."

His laughter shook the earth.

"Great. He's unbeatable."

I rolled my eyes.

"This one wasn't even fair."

"See. Now you're prepared for your loss."

Shadow smiled.

"It's your loss too."

Breeze said.

"Oh yeah. Man, this stinks."

Shadow grumbled.

"Guess again!"

I heard the most mechanical sounding voice ever.

"Ogwa!"

We shrieked.

Alpha turned.

Everyone who had been left behind was here.

Trying to save our sorry butts.

Good luck with that.

One by one they fell.

Ogwa was left duking it out with the Alpha mister.

And out of no where Haley came out and took hold of the Master Element.

She held it in the air.

All of the Elements came together to form one large gem.

No wonder.

Haley's element is unity.

Her eyes glowed and her hair waved.

"No!"

Alpha screamed.

Finally, when her hair stopped flapping and her eyes stopped being all shiny, Haley said.

"So that's what this element is for!"

She smiled.

Jwan and Breeze helped the people get back to health.

We went home.

That night Breeze, Stella, and I packed to go home.

I gazed up at the stars outside wondering how this all happened.

It started to drizzle.

I was about to get up when Shadow came out.

I decided to stay.

"They're beautiful aren't they?"

I asked not noticing that Shadow was standing unusually close to me.

"Yeah. Our, Haley's, some one's victory only makes the stars look better."

"Agreed. Shadow… I … Um…"

I couldn't get the words out.

"Yes?"

His ears perked up in excitement.

I looked into his eyes and the deep red sucked me in.

When once sorrow, agony, and hatred filled this space now there was happiness.

Before I could grasp what I was doing I had a hold of Shadow's shoulders.

He moved closer as did I.

Our lips touched and I, shall we say… freaked out.

But still I kissed him.

Yup, here I am.

21 year old getting her first kiss.

YUCK!

I mean the thought is disgusting!

I guess it shouldn't be cuz… well you know… I did it.

But yeah.

I hated it and loved it at the same time.

Creepy, huh?

I could feel his fangs.

That's even creepier!

I could taste him!

EW!

I jumped back.

"What's wrong?"

Shadow asked, his eyes full of fear.

I fell on the ground laughing.

"Oh Shadow…"

I laughed as tears streamed down my face.

(FYI, I never said she was cold and heartless now did I? I'll answer for you. No, I didn't. So there. Besides, she couldn't have a friend if she was heartless. P.S. I stole "you wanna take this to the playground?" from Breeze.)