Shadow awakens early the next morning, the sun still several hours away from rising. He gently moves a stray red lock from his face trying not to disturb the rest as he sits up. Ruby eyes gaze over the twisted limbs of his teammates, Tails is curled up in his two tails beside Sonic's head, Amy's arm reaches over the fox with one leg laying over the speeder's body, and Knuckles cuddling them all in his arm's protectively.

A small smile appeared on the ebony hog's face, something that was occurring with increasing frequency since he had joined Team Sonic.

It wasn't so bad. Before, he would never have imagined himself in this position, having basically a sleepover with a group of friends and not feeling too annoyed with their presence. In fact, the more he hangs out with them, the more Shadow wanted to be with them. Who would have thought that all the races, fights, and competitions with his rival would lead to this?

Funny how things change over time.

It had started small, like anything else. When he and Sonic had their first encounter, Shadow had tried to run away and lose the hedgehog as he did with anyone else who came across his path. However, he didn't realize the one person he had run into was also a supersonic hedgehog. Sonic challenged him to race, and Shadow fiercely declined, threatening to knock his block off and would disappear, but that didn't deter the blue blur. Somehow he kept finding the ebony hog challenging him as the Ultimate Life form, pestering and begging to see who was the fastest. And as much as he didn't want to, Shadow didn't like to back out of a challenge. Soon enough, they would regularly have races and fight each other as rivals, each striving to better the other. With the contests and races came, of course, the trash talk, the snide comments, and a friendly punch every once in a while.

Then the blue blur brought one of his friends to act as a referee or help keep score. After being introduced to the speedy hedgehog's friends came a few invitations for a bite to eat after they were done sparing. Several invitations later, Shadow accepted once just to get him off his spiky back. The next thing he knew, they were spending hours talking, and he found himself hanging out with the Sonic Team long after their fights. He even joined in on a few of Sonic's battles with the doctor, and the group quickly realized how good Shadow was in actual combat.

The group deliberated and agreed to talk to the ebony hog into joining their team. Surprisingly all it took was a home-cooked meal by Amy and a few little comments on how inadequate Sonic was for him to accept.

He smiled a bit more at the memories. Despite still being mainly a loner, Shadow was glad he had accepted. Life was much more interesting now.

His thoughts were interrupted, ear twitching as he heard Sonic whimper in his sleep. He looked over to see the blue hedgehog's legs jerking, face contorted in distress, and whimpers increasing in volume. Another nightmare?

Carefully he pulled the blue hedgehog out of the pile into his embrace, gently rocking him in his lap. "Shhhhh, shhh, it's ok. Daddy's here," he softly whispered. Sensing the comforting presence, Sonic ceased his whimpers and started to calm down and relax. Continuing to dream as the nightmare faded away.

Shadow rocked him a little longer before returning him into the warm center of the pile. He gasped, cupping a hand over his mouth with a blush. Just realizing what he said, quickly, he stepped out of the fort and left.

Once he was safely outside of any preying eyes or ears, Shadow angrily hit himself repeatedly on the head, "Stupid, stupid, stupid! What the hell?! It's one thing for him to call me that, but to call myself that idiots father? I'm the Ultimate Life form! The hell's wrong with me?! What am I doing? I can't be pathetically attached to them...this-this wasn't supposed to happen...grrrraough!" He screamed, punching a tree with so much force it completely cracked in half and fell to the ground.

Still steaming, Shadow screamed again, then blasted on his hover skates, running blindly into the dark.

His thoughts swirled as he ran. Calling himself Sonic's Dad?! That was ridiculous! Ludicrous! Age wasn't an issue. Heck, he was old enough to be the annoyance's great, great, great, great, grandfather. Shadow was an ageless hybrid unable to reproduce, a downside to being half-alien. There was no way he could ever have another family, let alone friends...they all would die, leaving him alone...again. And all my hard work to make sure it stayed that way gone. All because of that blue hedgehog and his friends!

Shadow grit his fangs, angry at himself for letting his guard down and allowing that blue hedgehog to invade his life. As much as he blamed himself, he wanted to blame Sonic more. He was the one who ran into the ebony hog in the first place. Shadow thought about going back and giving the fastest thing alive a few choice words and sending a well-aimed chaos spear into his head before disappearing into the jungle, forever and yet.

He couldn't do it.

The thought alone made his heart waiver, and he stopped. How could I do such a thing? Shadow looked down at his clenched fists. "I-I could never hurt him," he whispered.

Slowly looking up, he found he had stopped just at the edge of Shadow Canyon, not far from the entrance to the cave he and Sonic had traversed a few days ago. He thought back to that day, the broad smile on little Sonic's muzzle, those emerald eyes shining, it reminded Shadow of someone special he once knew a long time ago. "Maria..."

Shadow's heart ached at the thought of his best friend and older sister. He recalled when he would carry her with him as they raced along the corridors of his first home, space colony ARK. He could almost hear her voice.

"Faster, Shadow! Faster!"

"Maria! If the professor catches us like this, we'll be in big trouble." a younger Shadow said nervously. "I don't care, Shadow. Grandpa can be as mad as he wants! I feel good right now, and you don't have to do any training. I wanna make the most of this time right now!" She laughed; he couldn't argue with her. The girl was right, and Shadow couldn't say no to his sick friend.

Honestly, he wanted to go faster, too. "Alright, hang on!" He gripped her tighter to his chest, speeding down the hallways.

So much had happened since those innocent days. Despite being alive for so long, he hadn't seen much of the world since arriving to Mobius.

After Maria's death, Shadow had concluded it was meaningless to have any contact with others. His life-extending much longer than the average person's lifespan. It hurt too much. He isolated himself from civilization, only watching from a distance, that is until a certain speedy blue hedgehog appeared.

Breath shaking and ears low, Shadow looked up to the last bits of stars twinkling as the dawn of a new day crept into the sky. "Maria...I wonder what you would think of me now? I've tried to keep to myself after you passed. It hurt so much to lose you...I couldn't stand the thought of losing someone else, of having my heart broken again." He whimpered, a single tear falling as he gripped his inhibitor rings, "Recently, I meet someone, they remind me quite a bit of you." he chuckled lightly. "It's nice, nice to be with people again. I didn't realize how much I missed being around others...Maria?..., would you be happy for me if I found someone I care about now as much as I did for you? Would it be alright to be apart of a family again?"

He looked back up at the stars, ruby eyes searching for an answer, and widened when one starlit up brighter than the others. He smiled, "Thank you, Maria." He whispered.

Turning around, he raced back to Amy Rose's home just as a certain blue hedgehog was waking up.