The tense silence between the two, well technically the three, was suffocating to say the least. Knuckles was having a hard time trying to think up what to say and ask the ivory bat Rouge. He opened his mouth to speak, "Rouge I-" though he was cut off the agent. Not that it mattered anyways, he didn't even know what he was going to say.

"You've been gone a little too long Knux." Rouge walked in front of Knuckles, in front of her was Amy who kept her head down in shame and anger as they walked in front of different animal agents and human workers of G.U.N. who stopped and gawked at her in the narrow hallways leading up to the G.U.N. commander's office. Knuckles gave an annoyed glance to a human who bumped into him and struggled to catch up to Rouge who walked a steady fast pace, her heels clicking loudly on the floor as she walked with a professional stance while scrutinizing Amy closely.

"I have my duties on Angel Island, and Eggman has been eyeing the Master Emerald way too much recently. I can't afford to slack off on my duties..." He said, he knew this was sort of a pointless thing to say yet he wasn't too surprised when she simply waved it off.

"Still...I'm worried about Blue. He hasn't been himself lately, me and Shadow noticed how differently he's been acting with everyone. He isn't the Sonic we know." Rouge's voice was low and Knuckles didn't have time to say a response as they reached the door Rouge all but pushed Amy aside and knocked on the door impatiently. The door swung open to reveal the commander himself after a few moments.

He was a tall older human, clearly in his fifties with dark grey hair. Knuckles felt a little unnerved by his different colored eyes, his left eye was green and his right brown. He was clothed in a dark grey uniform with different medals placed alone his shoulder and chest. He's the highest ranking commander, military leader, and boss of Shadow and Rouge. The commander had a serious, gruff stern look on his face as he stared down at them questioningly.

"Agent Rouge. Isn't this a surprise. One would think that you would enjoy your free time being away from work." The bat gave a curt nod while using her hand to motion towards Amy who was shaking in her place, she was obviously afraid of the tall human. Amy squeaked after Rouge used her fingers to push Amy forwards but she didn't do anything. The crazy fangirl no longer had the strength or energy to fight back anymore.

"Sorry commander. I'm here on business to bring in Amy Rose, I've deemed her a threat after she attacked both me, agent Shadow, and Sonic the hedgehog in our home." The man raised a brow and stared down coldly at the girl his agent brought in. He was normally much more warmer to his two favorite agents, however as this was a serious case it would be impractical of him to speak to Rouge so informally.

"Come into my office, I'll send for a lower ranking soldier to get the proper paperwork so we can discuss this..." Blue and brown eyes looked Amy over, "Threat."

"No!" Amy shouted, she spun to look at Rouge with a pleading expression on her face, the gem thief stared at her, disgusted by the hedgehog's behavior. "You can't do this! I didn't mean to hurt you. I only wanted to punish and teach my Sonniku a lesson!"

"What the hell is the matter with you!?" Knuckles yelled, his well-known temper began to show as he ranted angrily. "You tried killing all three of them, the fact that you think Sonic is yours like he is an object is laughable and insane! Think about this, remember when Sonic wanted to save you from Metal Sonic's clutches? That was out of the goodness of his heart when he knew who you were before you were captured. He knew that you are another one of his controlling and whiny fangirls' who think they're entitled to boss him around and chase him like you have been for years but he still chose to save you because he is a damn pure hearted person who has to put up with your crazy bullshit! I've had it with you and Tails! I don't know why the hell you two think you can treat Sonic so carelessly when he's done so much for the two of you idiots!" His words physically struck the hedgehog like verbal punches. Amy flinched back but she was incredibly and stupidly stubborn.

"You're wrong! Sonic saved me because he loves me! He just doesn't know how to show it! And I hate the way he leans on stupid Shads like he needs him or something!" Amy cried out, "He only needs me!" Knuckles growled, moving forward to strangle the idiot until Rouge's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Don't bother." She said calmly, the echidna gave her an appalled stunned expression, his attention fully on to the bat now.

"So what else am I supposed to do? Let the psychopath keep talking nonsense?" He said sourly, noticing Rouge's plump pink lips in thin lines with her face looking strained as if she was struggling to stay as coolly calm as she spoke.

"Yes." She emphasized greatly on the word. "G.U.N. will be taking care of her, right commander?" The two blinked in surprise after turning back to the leader who stared at them bemused, standing next to him was a timid lower-ranked soldier handing the commander papers, a dalmatian with white fur and black spots.

"We already are agent. Now I'll say this again. Let's step into my office and continue this in private." The human pushed the door open for Rouge who had to shove a reluctant Amy into the room and was followed by Knuckles. The man briefly glanced at the lower-ranked soldier before shutting the door, "You're dismissed agent." The door was shut and locked leaving the dog alone in the hallway confused. It wasn't everyday you get called in by the head leader thinking you're in trouble or getting in deep trouble only to find out that you need to bring him some documents. The dog shrugged his shoulders, took a big sigh of relief as he quickly fled the narrow hallway to get back to working. What the commander did wasn't his business.

. . .

Being reclusive, living in near total isolation from everyone is what Shadow's always known. It's what he's grown used to after the Ark...after Maria. Shadow was stubborn and he kept his distance from everybody. Socializing with the other teams was never his thing, it just wasn't for him. They didn't talk to him, he didn't talk to them. He preferred it this way as the only time when they bothered him was when it was an emergency or a meeting of all the teams for getting updates on Eggman and the chaos emeralds. However they stopped after the human scientist disappeared with no trace or sign of any diabolical plans.

Those who didn't know Shadow would say that he was intimidating with his constant scowls, frowns, or even blank emotionless expressions on his face and his demeanor stiff with his arms crossed across his chest made him look more unfriendly and unsociable. The ebony hedgehog with crimson red streaks flowing through his quills that stick up near the end, defying gravity could care less for what people think or say he looks like.

One would think, how such an uncaring being such as Shadow would have such a soft spot for Sonic. He was conflicted inside at first, the cobalt blue hero at first annoyed him to no ends. He was too much of a loudmouth, too cocky for his taste, Sonic acted brashly and never thought about the danger and deadly consequences that could come to him out in battle, it irked the G.U.N agent to no end with how carefree Sonic was. Sonic didn't take anything seriously, all he ever did was throw himself in danger while making jokes about it. Shadow couldn't fathom as to why Sonic behaved like this and Shadow did regret the belittling and cold comments and retorts he made to Sonic now.

He regretted how unwelcoming and cold he was to the sleeping hedgehog curled beside him in the past. Ruby red eyes flickered to Sonic, after resting for chaos knows how long on that couch, Shadow woke up to Sonic wrapped up in his arms. The two were pressed up close together with Sonic resting his head next to Shadow's white furred chest, their legs overlapping each other. A fun fact about hedgehogs Gerald Robotnik told Shadow once that he began to suddenly remember, was that when a hedgehog like him was in a relaxed state of being and mind their quills were as soft and silky almost like somewhat stiff hair. Shadow fondly remembered how Maria often stroked and played with his quills after hearing that, it was common for him to wake up to her giggling and running her fingers through his quills curiously. The ultimate lifeform lightly ran his gloved fingers along Sonic's quills, it was interesting how dangerously sharp their quills could get when at they were up and ready to defend or attack. Yet now they were Sharp pangs of pain, longing stabbed through his chest.

He missed her every day as there wasn't a day he hasn't thought of her, he missed his sister so much. And tonight with the incident with Amy had resurfaced memories of his own. Seeing Sonic nearly dead on the ground scared him. Fear isn't something he was used to, it was only a feeling he pushed away but this time he couldn't... He could only stare as he saw both Maria and Sonic and feeling like there was nothing he could do to help. He froze up being lost in his memories. Maria, with her heart full of love and no hate saved him at the cost of her own. It was eerily similar as to what happened to Sonic not so long ago yet different too...the blue hedgehog told him of how Amy nearly killed Sonic in her delusional jealous rage. Because of him. Maria lost her innocent life because of him, Sonic almost lost his. Shadow protectively held Sonic tighter, how they came so far from being rivals to close friends amazed him.

Though Shadow knew why, because underneath Sonic's fake mask and beneath that is someone full of nurturing kindness and love is hiding who reminds him deeply of his lost sister. Their eyes were alike, alive and vibrant. Only Sonic carried more pain. A pain that he needs help and support in getting through. Shadow promised he wouldn't leave Sonic and he was damn sure he wasn't going to. He'll be by Sonic's side just as the blue blur has been for him. After all the Faker would do the same for him, in fact he's already have.

The front door clicked open after being unlocked swiftly, Shadow didn't bother trying to look at Rouge or Knuckles when they stepped into the home. He merely closed his eyes and listened to Rouge's heels tapping on the floor to get close to them, he heard a tiny squeal and he knew Rouge had seen them. However the hedgehog did not expect to hear the click of a camera and the bright flash of one before he opened his eyes to see the bat holding a camera in her hands as she crooned quietly.

"You two. Have got to be the cutest things I've ever seen. Just look at both of you!" Rouge stated quietly, Knuckles gave Shadow an odd look but remained silent, internally Shadow knew that the emerald guardian would want to talk about Sonic very soon. Shadow noted the wary mistrust coming from Knuckles, the echidna never fully trusted Shadow before and he didn't expect him to now.

"You'll wake him up Rouge."

"Sorry, sorry. It's just you know how I get when you open yourself up some more. Plus, I have commander personally picking out the punishment for Amy himself. Though she'll never be able to set foot around any of us, or have any freedoms of her own."

"She's getting a mental evaluation is what she means to say." Knuckles said to Shadow, the ebony hedgehog nodded. "They want to be proper with her and pretty much check what's wrong and see if she needs help. But even so, there is no way she's not getting put away for a long time. Amy's obsession has been going on far too long." The guardian muttered darkly. Shadow agreed wholeheartedly. Knuckles gave Rouge a brief look and the thief seemed to catch the hint.

"I've got some paperwork commander left me I need to fill out." She said, a white envelope of classified papers tucked underneath an arm made itself known. "I'll let you two talk." She added, making her exit to her bedroom. Her door shutting was loud, silence followed until Knuckles broke it.

"I'm going to be blunt." The echidna started, crossing his arms across his chest whilst staring down the ultimate lifeform and the reluctant sleeping hero of Mobius. "Why do you care now for Sonic? I am grateful that you and Rouge were here for him when I wasn't...Before now you never wanted anything to do with him at all. Yet here you two are snuggling together as if the past never happened."

"..." Shadow had no words to say or explain his sudden change of heart that Knuckles would understand at first. "...Because I see who he really is when I didn't before. I see someone I knew in him." Knuckles sighed, seeing that Shadow wouldn't elaborate further on that.

"Sonic is a close friend of mine, I wasn't here for him when he got hurt but you were. For his sake and Rouge's sake I will trust you. I'm sure that this will be easier on everybody than us fighting. Rouge told me about how he came to you and left, then she explained how she 'asked' you to find him. Sonic...he told you what was wrong, gave you the gist of it I suppose...am I right?"

"Yes, he did."

"Then don't hurt him, I don't care how much you two care for each other in erm- that way. Just know that I will kick your ass if you ever-" He was interrupted by Shadow very quickly.

"Just wait a damn minute, what do you mean by 'that way'?" Ruby red eyes looked at the guardian questioningly, daring Knuckles to repeat his words once again to see if he heard correctly. Shadow attempted to sit up but froze in his movement at the stirring hedgehog, his eyes were uncharacteristically wide staring at Sonic, showing how shaken he was. Knuckles looked uncomfortable now, not noticing Shadow's change in behavior nor Sonic's emerald eyes fluttering open.

"I'm not judging you two if that's what you mean, if you two wish to be together I won't stand in your way."

"Whatever you are thinking is going on between me and Faker isn't happening. Are you really implying that Faker and I are-"

"Knux? Shads?" Sonic muttered. Shadow moved his hands away from Sonic in a heartbeat, Sonic looked between the two with relief. His heart was racing and his mind was a million miles away at this point. Nightmares tormented his sleep. Vividly Sonic could still remember it.

In his nightmare was Amy swinging her hammer not at him, but at Shadow. Rouge and Knuckles were lying deathly still behind her with their bodies sprawled out onto the ground that morphed into a falling pit that consumed him. He tried desperately to hold onto to something, to grab onto anything he could. His hands missed, letting him fall into a pool of endless freezing water. Sonic sputtered and shouted for help with tears building up in his eyes, gasping for air as he splashed in the water trying to swim when he couldn't. What scared him was the laughter, the mocking of his friends and those he considered friendly allies and rivals with their harsh cold laughter. There was the loud taunting scorn from the public, the fanatic civilians he saved time after time jeering at him. What kind of a hero was he if he couldn't swim? He's a coward, an idiot, and a liar. 'They're right...' Sonic thought, his vision had black around the edges and his lungs burned for air. He fell underneath the water and the icy cold water set in...

Then he woke up. Hearing voices speaking, Knuckles' and Shadow's to be exact.

"Are you feeling better now, Faker?" Shadow queried to the younger hedgehog, "Nothing hurts?"

"Never better." Sonic smiled a fake smile, his mask in place.

Sorry for not updating, been having issues with my laptop lately, I've slowly worked on this chapter with what little free time I have. I've been having a hard time right now and my building school work isn't helping me at all. It's been chaotic recently. I hope you guy liked this and again sorry for the wait and as always many thanks for your reviews and concerns. It means a lot... I'll be answering and responding to your reviews in the next chapter. I'm upset I didn't update when I said I would but to make up I got this chapter up to 3k words which is new and longer than I've ever done so I'm proud of that. I understand if the punishment or Amy situation so to speak isn't good or not what you guys liked but I was having trouble with her. With Shadow I realized that he's been different from his normal self and I thought this chapter would give more context as to why. Okay I really have to go now it's very late for me. So please leave your questions, comments, concerns, or really just anything you want that's appropriate. Seriously though you readers are the best, hope you guys have the an amazing week and see you next time.

Is Sonic reverting back to his mask? Will Shadow notice? What tea does Knuckles think is going on? What work does Rouge have to do? Is Tails going to come back to his senses?