Chapter 2: Alerting the Media

It was two in the afternoon when Amy Rose arrived back into her apartment, but after sitting at her breakfast nook had the time gone from two to three. 'Maria… Dead? But… how is that even possible? I thought she was doing well…' Amy thought as she let out a sigh. "God… I can only imagine how he's feeling right now."

She grabbed her phone from the other end of the nook and stared at it. Unlike other times where she would seamlessly open her phone with no hesitation, a heavy cloud of doubt overcame her. "… I don't know if it's even okay for me to call him."

'What am I saying? Of course, it is. He just lost someone, for crying out loud. Now is not the time for me to be shy. Come on, Amy. Dial him up. Give your condolences'.

Amy sighed once more, growing flustered at herself. What was once a habitual routine that she adored when she was younger, it's grown harder and harder for her to be "casual". She began to remember Rouge's conversation with her only a couple hours before, as it continues to resonate in her mind:

"Wait, WHAT?!" shouted Amy in disbelief, "You're… you're kidding me, right? W-What happened?"

Rouge silenced her with a hush before continuing, "Can you BE any louder? … I don't know what happened, but I got the call from him the night before. He's… not doing so good."

Amy's eyes softened in empathy, looking down at her hands, "… How can you tell with that guy? I mean, he always has that same look on his face, so it's always hard to tell, ha-ha…"

"I know it's gonna be weird for you," Rouge replied, "… But the reason I'm bringing this up is because I'm gonna need you to NOT be an awkward fucking mess."

The pink hedgehog's eyes widened, her ears drooping slightly, "What's that supposed to mean? As though I start crap on purpose."

Rouge's eyes kept in contact with hers, severity emanating from them. "Look: you're my best friend, but Shadow is my friend, too. I'm going to be there for him regardless of how you two are, we've discussed this," she said as she placed her compact back in her purse. "I just don't want you to make this about you. I'm going to need you and Sonic to be sensitive, because Shadow just lost someone that meant the world to him, and we're all going to respect that. Okay?"

Shadow just lost someone that meant the world to him, and we're all going to respect that.

Amy ruffled her hair and groaned in frustration: "Am I THAT conceited!? GOD!"

She tossed her phone back onto the breakfast nook and made her way to her love seat, throwing herself into its cushiony comfort. "Like I'm the source of any conflict I've had with him in the past… Please…" muttered Amy under her breath. "…But, she did make a good point about Sonic."

Although she and Sonic have been serious for three years, they still have some "sensitive" triggers, one of them being Shadow. Ever since what had happened many years ago, Amy refuses to revisit any discussions regarding him, so it has always been bliss. And ever since Shadow moved away from Central City, no conflicts have risen from that either, so…

"I wonder how he's going to react to this," whispered Amy under her breath. She rose from her seat and grabbed her phone once more, and without hesitation and doubt, dialed Sonic's number.

"Hey, boss! You got a call!"

Over at the Central News Building, Sonic the Hedgehog swiveled from his seat: in-between his piles of articles that needed revisions, he had anything but time to answer a call. Being editor-in-chief at the paper for two years, he valued his work as he did his time, so anything that was outside of the paper wasn't a priority. He takes pride in overlooking his editors and writers, that sometimes that meant some take-away from his personal time, but he didn't mind it. He has it pretty good, for what it's worth: a steady job, a pretty girlfriend… that's all he needed in life. What he didn't need were disruptions.

"Is it that lead for your story? You know… the one you've been raving about?" he answered as he adjusted his glasses and took an article from the pile to edit. The small sunny-colored fox began to sweat, "U-Uh… I thought I already updated my story with their comments on the La Luna's restructuring… D-Did I not get that to you o-on time…?"

Sonic looked up from his desk again and smiled, "Tails. Don't trip: I'm just busting your balls, man. Who's on the phone?"

Tails M. Prower sighed in defeat, scratching the back of his head, "I wish you'd stop doing that… oh, it's just Amy. She says it's urgent."

The blue hedgehog stopped all sense of movement and answered his desk phone with swiftness, "Hey, Ames. What's going on?"

"H-Hey… I didn't think you were gonna answer so quickly…"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I? I always answer your calls—"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there, because you actually really don't. You're always leaving me waiting for HOURS!"

Sonic let out a laugh, "HAHA! Nothin' gets past ya, does it? And I would appreciate it if you gave me SOME credit for actually answerin'. But what's going on, though? Tails said it was urgent."

The other end of the line was radio silent, until Amy's voice pierced through, "W-Well… it's about lunch today with Rouge—"

"OH HEY! How is Knuckie doin' with Rouge? They came back from their honeymoon a while ago, right? God, I wish I went to the Bahamas…"

"Yeah, y-yeah, but um, anyway—"

"Wait… How long have they've been back? I've been messaging Knuckles like crazy and he hasn't even bothered getting back to me… Asshole, am I right?"

"He's been working! But yeah, Rough told me something interesting today—"

"She didn't try to get ya to move in with her again, did she? You need to nip that in the bud already and let her know you're taken care of! By me, of all people."

"Sort of, b-but that wasn't the reason for the talk, can you just…" Sonic blinked as he heard Amy sigh slowly, "I'm just gonna need you to listen to me for a second."

He sat upright in his seat, setting down his pen and shooing Tails from his office.

"… Okay. Can you just tell me what's going on? You're freaking me out."

Another long pause came through the line until: "Rouge told me that Maria's passed and that her funeral is going to be held here in Central City."

Sonic removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose, shaking his head in disbelief, "You're kiddin' me… Maria, of all people? … Man… She was… She was somethin' else. That's horrible news."

"S-So… because her funeral's here, that mean's everyone's going to be coming," she continued. "And by everyone… I also mean Shadow will be coming."

Amy held her breath. 'Oh, God, don't be mad, don't be mad, don't be mad—' "I just hope that's okay! Since, you know… Maria's passing kind of warrants him to be there."

Sonic stayed quite on the other end, giving her the same treatment from earlier. Amy twirled a lock of her hair out of nervousness, "I just wanted to let you know so we can talk about this and be on the same page."

"It's fine," he finally said.

'Shit, he's mad'. "Y-You're not upset about this, are you? I mean, she was his—"

"I'm okay, Ames. Why wouldn't I be? He's just coming to pay his respects and leave right after, right? Not like he's gonna stay here. Relax. It's fine."

Amy's heart, which was ready to burst out of her chest minutes ago began to settle, "Really? O-Okay… that's good to hear… because the way Rouge said it, it seemed as though we were just gonna ice him out through the funeral—"

"The guy's girl just died, Ames. We're not terrible people." 'Jeez, way to make me out to be the bitch.'

"O-K! Just making SURE since you're the one that's usually bothered by Shadow, so…" she rebutted. Another pause.

"… Right. Because I'm the one that usually has a temper tantrum at the mention of his name, even in a regular sentence?"

"Are you really doing this to me, right now? Why are you being such an asshole?"

"I'm just throwing the same energy back 'atcha. If you don't like it, then maybe you shouldn't be playing these games with me."

Amy's face formed a scowl, her hands trembling in rising anger, "Well, I just wish you didn't have to say it like that; as though I AM just some horrible person that's just worried about archaic DRAMA."

"No one's saying that at all. I'm just saying that we can put aside our differences for a time and just be there for the guy. No one's said anything like that about you, chill out."

Amy was about to reply until she heard a slam on the other end, with voices flooding the line, "Shit, okay, I got to go, Ames. I have some very angry writers wondering where their revisions are at. I'll see ya later."

She maintained a grip on her phone even after she heard him hang up. All she wanted to do was to be open, but all she got were smart-ass responses. "I don't even know why I thought it was a good idea to even call him," she said aloud, sitting down on her love seat again. "Why does he always make me feel like I'm the problem? Seriously…"

She sat still for a moment, glancing at her phone yet again. 'I'm not the problem. I'm not conceited.' She scrolled through her contact list and tapped the number of her choice.

'I wish people stopped thinking that I didn't care'.

After the dial tone connected her, she breathed in and smiled.

"… Hey, Shadow. It's me."

'Even if it's him. I have to care about him a little, even after all these years.'

Author's Note: Another chapter! A short one, but it was only because it was nothing but one long ass phone call between these two hedgies. I'll just have ya know that it hurt me writing these dialogues. Totally not because these conversations happened to me iRL at some point... Of course not. .; I was struggling for the longest time on what I wanted Sonic's job to be. I wanted something interesting, something that really wasn't done before, so I decided on him being an editor for a local paper! What's funny is that it all fits pretty well, considering that it's totally not like him to sit at a desk and correct stories, but that's why I think it works well to begin with. I wanna play around with the roles of these characters and put them in situations they've never been in before~ Isn't that the benefits of writing fanfiction? :3 Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you guys enjoyed!