Shadow awoke feeling better than he had on previous nights. He smiled as he looked into Hope's eyes.

"And how are you doing today, my love?" said Shadow.

"You know, you seem to be doing better," said Hope. "That appointment must've done you well."

"Well, it didn't erase the unrest, but it did help a bit with my feelings."

"That's good. Now, why don't we go have breakfast?"

"OK, but first…"

Shadow kissed Hope passionately.

"Wow, I wasn't kidding when I thought you were doing better!" said Hope.

"Come on, let's see Mama," said Shadow.

Once again, everybody gathered around for breakfast, which was bacon and egg donuts with crispy home fries.

"Wow, these are the best donuts I've ever had!" said Hope. "Seriously Rouge, where do you get all these recipes?"

"Well, some of them are old family recipes, some of them I found in cookbooks that I bought at thrift stores, and some I just found while messing around on the Internet," said Rouge.

"ROUGE HAS EVEN UTILIZED MY DATABANKS AS STORAGE VESSELS FOR HER RECIPES," said Omega. "SOME OF THEM LOOK ESPECIALLY SAVORY, INCLUDING THESE BACON AND EGG DONUTS."

"Awww…thank you, Omega!" said Rouge. "You're too kind!"

"I WAS MERELY STATING A FACT."

"Oh, stop it!"

"You know, I can't understand why Sonic and his friends would refer to you folks as 'Team Dark'," said Hope. "You all seem pretty lighthearted to me!"

"I think we got that name because of our dark pasts," said Shadow. "Honestly, I do agree that we might need a new nickname, but on the other hand, why bother?"

"Personally, I wouldn't mind a little upgrade!" said Rouge.

"I AM MORE INCLINED TO AGREE WITH SHADOW AT THIS JUNCTURE," said Omega. "ONE CANNOT ALWAYS ESCAPE THE SINS OF THEIR PAST NO MATTER HOW MUCH EFFORT IS EXPENDED."

Shadow nodded. "I hear you there, Omega."

After breakfast and freshening up, Shadow got his usual hug from Rouge. However, he also got an unexpected surprise…

"Hope, it's Thursday," said Shadow. "What are you still doing here?"

"I got a call from Captain Hoffman," said Hope. "One of the grown-up mechanics agreed to cover today's shift for me, so I'm not needed. But hey, as long as I get to spend more time with you, I'll be pleased as a pigeon!"

Shadow's frown remained.

"Shaddy, why so bummed out?"

"Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with you, but ever since I did that, I feel kind of weird about spending time with you," said Shadow.

Hope knelt down and put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. "Hey, I just wanna let you know that even if I remember this until I'm really old, I'm not mad at you about it anymore! We all make mistakes in life, but what's really important is that you proved to me how sorry you were and that it's really not like you to do that!"

Shadow smiled. "Hope, you're still one of my favorite ladies!"

"Shaddy!"

Hope kissed Shadow again.

"So, what would you like to do now?" asked Shadow.

"Why don't we go up to the spa and meditate?" said Hope. "I've done a little practice on my lunch break, and I think I might actually get it right this time!"

Shadow nodded. "Well, as long as no monsters jump out at me, I'm all for it."

"Hey, if any monsters come at you, I'll clobber 'em with kindness!"

Shadow smiled. "Then enough fooling around! Let's do this!"

Shadow and Hope went up to their usual grassy patch in the spa. Here, they sat down and meditated. Fortunately for Shadow, Black Doom and Mephiles were absent. Rather, he saw a most welcome face…

"Hey Shaddy, why don't we take a little trip into space?" said Rouge.

Shadow smiled. "Sure!"

Rouge chuckled, stepped behind Shadow and grabbed him. In the next instant, the two took off and exited the planet's atmosphere. In space, they flew past the Space Colony ARK, past the next few planets and into the unknown cosmos beyond. Shadow wasn't entirely sure if he could put adequate words to what he was seeing, but being in this place made him feel even better than his usual happy place. It was as if he'd unlocked the secret towards eternal peace and good will towards all. How he got here was beyond him, but he was willing to go along with it nevertheless. Even so, he couldn't spend forever here. Nevertheless, when he came out of it, he was feeling that much better about himself and smiled when he discovered that Hope was still in her happy place. She looked so cute when she was meditating, didn't she? Eventually, she came out of her trance.

"How are you feeling?" asked Shadow.

"Much better! That was the best meditation session I've ever had!"

Shadow smiled. "I'm glad! If you keep practicing, soon nothing will be able to hurt you!"

"I should hope not!"

"So, what else would you like to do, m'lady?"

Hope stood up. "Rouge tells me you have a collection of guns…"

Shadow nodded and did his best to smile in spite of the fact that the whole "gun" thing was rather uncomfortable for him right now.

"And there's a firing range if you wanted to practice," said Shadow.

Hope pumped her fist. "All right! Let's go down there!"

Shadow led Hope down to the armory/firing range.

"So, do you have any preferences?" asked Shadow.

"Just get me something that's not too heavy and easy to shoot," said Hope.

Shadow nodded. He went over to one of the lockers where pistols were kept and pulled out a Beretta 92FS in blued steel finish, plus four magazines and three boxes of Federal Personal Defense HST 147-grain bullets. He also grabbed some earplugs and shooting glasses from a nearby dispenser.

"This is the Beretta 92FS," said Shadow. "It's a civilian copy of the Columbian Military's M9 pistol. Each magazine holds 15 rounds of 9mm Parabellum ammo. The Emerald City Police use a .40-caliber version known as the Model 96. Do you know how to handle one of these?"

Hope nodded. "I've never handled this particular model, but I tried other pistols at the base range on a couple of my breaks."

"OK." Shadow handed the pistol, mags and ammo to Hope. "Let's go to the range, then."

Shadow and Hope went down to the firing range proper. Hope loaded all four magazines, slapped one in and cocked the Beretta.

"Where's the target?" asked Hope?

"Before I show you that, you'll need these…"

Shadow handed the shooting glasses and earplugs to Hope, who put them on without question.

"To select a target, use that terminal to your left," said Shadow.

"Got it."

Hope pressed the terminal's touch screen a few times and brought down a generic silhouette target. She picked up the Beretta, turned the safety off, took careful aim and fired. While not as strong or accurate as Shadow, she found that this particular pistol had manageable recoil, and she hit the target. By the time she'd expended her first magazine, she hadn't hit with every shot, but she was doing well enough. Once all the magazines were empty, she'd proven to Shadow that she was a pretty good shot. He smiled.

(With enough practice, she might be good enough to join us on a mission.)

Hope took out her earplugs and removed her shooting glasses.

"Thanks, Shaddy; that was fun!"

"Glad you enjoyed it. Now, if you will, grab that broom and dustpan over there and sweep up the empty brass."

"OK!"

Hope went to the back wall, where a broom and dustpan were located, and while she was sweeping up the expended cartridges, Shadow retracted the target and not only wrote down the weapon, ammo, date and time, but at the top, he wrote "To Hope; Love, Shadow." He then rolled it up, and when she'd dumped out the shell casings into the proper bucket, he handed the target to her.

"What are you giving me this for?" asked Hope.

"I keep a collection of targets from all of my target practice sessions, and I thought it was only fair that you should have a little souvenir yourself."

"Shaddy, you're too kind!"

Hope kissed Shadow.

"I don't know about you," said Hope, "but I'm getting pretty hungry!"

Shadow blinked. "Already?"

"Well, I'm sure we'll reach Emerald City by lunchtime if we leave around this time. Besides, didn't we agree to go out to eat when we had the chance?"

Shadow nodded. "Oh, right. Didn't you want to go to Five Guys again?"

"You remembered! That's really sweet of you!"

"I suppose it is, but we do have a bunch of leftovers as well."

"Hey, they'll still be good for supper, won't they?"

Shadow shrugged. "In that case, I'll gladly take you."

"Splendid! Just let me get dressed for the occasion!"

After putting away the Beretta + accoutrements, Shadow and Hope went back upstairs. When Hope emerged from Shadow's room, she was wearing a black knee-high sundress with white polka dots.

"I don't know how you do it, but you manage to find the cutest outfits," said Shadow.

"Shaddy!" Hope smiled. "You're too kind!"

Hope kissed Shadow again.

"If you'll excuse me, I have to grab my wallet…" said Shadow.

"OK!"

Shadow entered his room, and not only did he grab his wallet, but also his Model 29, speedloaders and that emergency transponder that Rouge gave to him. He then returned to see Hope.

"Since I love you, I'll let you pick the tape for the drive over," said Shadow. "I promise I won't pull it out and smash it if it's something I find objectionable, either."

"Awesome!"

Shadow and Hope took the Trans Am to Emerald City. She had popped in one of Sonic's tapes, one titled "70S DRIVING ROCK VOLUME 1". Fittingly enough, it was playing "Trans Am (Highway Wonderland)" by Sammy Hagar.

"I'm going to be honest, I'm somewhat nervous about doing this," said Shadow.

"I understand what you mean," said Hope. "However, I'm sure the International Festival of Community has fostered some more good feelings among people and that the unrest is going to decline!"

"I should hope so, because I really love you, and I don't want you getting hurt by this senseless violence."

"Call me crazy, but I'm sure we'll be fine!"

"I sure hope so. On a lighter note, we've known each other for some time, so I must ask: how old are you?"

"I'm 15."

"Officially, I've been locked up for 50 years in suspended animation, but I don't feel that old."

"I'll say! You look extremely handsome!"

Shadow blushed, but kept driving.

Shadow and Hope did encounter a few bits of unrest when they got into Emerald City, and a good portion of it still had burned-out cars and boarded-up shop windows, but overall, they were able to make it to the same Five Guys in Downtown. They ordered the same things they'd gotten on their way to Monday night's concert. Shadow smiled as he ate his burger.

"What's with the smile?" asked Hope.

"I just enjoy looking into your beautiful blue eyes, that's all." Shadow took another bite from his burger.

Hope chuckled. "Stop it!"

"Why?"

"You're just too sweet, you know?"

"I get that plenty of times from Rouge."

"Well, it's the truth!" Hope took a bite from her burger.

"Thanks, that makes me feel better about myself."

"You should, because those red eyes of yours are beautiful, too! I could just stare into them all day!"

"You know, that means a lot to me, especially coming from one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met."

"Shaddy!"

Just then, Shadow's Hedgehog Sense acted up.

"Shaddy…what's up with your ear?"

Shadow shrugged. "Oh…it's nothing. I think something or somebody just gave me some bad vibes."

Indeed, there was a group of people in one corner vulgarly discussing sports, times where they'd been heavily intoxicated and past or future conquests. However, Shadow and Hope didn't pay a lot of attention to them and instead concentrated on how deeply in love they were with each other.

After finishing their meal, Shadow and Hope returned outside. Shadow went to unlock the passenger side door of his Trans Am when Hope put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, why don't we take a little walk, cutie?" said Hope.

Shadow put his key away. "If you say so…"

And so, Shadow and Hope took a walk down the street, electing to hold hands.

"I know I once said romance isn't all it's cracked up to be, but this is just so awesome!" said Hope

Shadow smiled. "It is. Even if this isn't an ideal time for Emerald City, I'm beginning to believe what you said about people recognizing that everyone can get along if they see us being in love with each other. By the way, your hair looks really beautiful with the sun shining off of it."

"I've already said this, but you're such a sweet guy! I mean, you're not perfect, but perfection is overrated, anyways!"

"My personality may have its flaws, but I am the Ultimate Life Form, so my…"

"Hey, get away from that furry, you race traitor!"

Shadow and Hope froze when they got a rude shock: a group of humans carrying guns had emerged from around a corner and were now holding them up.

"Stop!" Hope put her hands up. "Don't shoot!"

"We don't wanna hit you," said the humans' leader, a bald, bearded white guy with an M1 carbine. "We just wanna blow away that dumb furry!"

Shadow raised his fists. "Who are you calling a furry, asshole?"

"It's true! You got it all over that chest of yours!"

"So what? The ladies appreciate it!"

"SHUT UP AND GET AWAY FROM THE GIRL!"

"No."

"C'mon, Steve!" said another one of the humans, a clean-shaven white guy with a mullet, who was carrying a Steyr TMP. "Let's blow the hedgehog away already!"

"Easy, Earl!" said Steve. "I wanna give the race traitor a chance first! Her life matters too!"

"Hey hedgehog, is that skinjob givin' ya trouble?" said another voice.

Shadow and Hope turned around to see a gang of humanoid animals behind them, their leader being a blue fox with a suppressed Ingram MAC-10 .45

"Look, it's not like that," said Shadow.

"Don't worry, we understand!" said the fox. "We'll take care of that bitch for ya!"

"You…you must be one of those right-wing death squads the media talked about!"

"We prefer to call ourselves the Mobius People's Defense Force, thank you very much."

"Hey Glen, can we stop screwin' around?" said a brown beaver with an AK-74. "Those humans are gonna cap us if we don't get 'em first!"

"If anyone's going to get capped, it's you," said Shadow.

With some sleight of hand, Shadow activated the emergency transponder and pulled out his Model 29.

"Shaddy, what are you doing!?" said Hope.

"I'm doing something that I should've kept doing!" said Shadow.

"Wait a minute…are you…?" Hope gasped. "Shaddy…YOU'RE that vigilante I heard about!?"

"So what if I am? Most of the people I gunned down had it coming anyways!"

"No…this is wrong! You can't stop violence with more violence!"

"With enough determination, I can do whatever the hell I want!"

Hope clasped her hands together. "Shaddy, I don't like this anymore! Please drop the gun!"

"And let them keep killing each other like senseless zombies? HA! I wouldn't dream of it!"

"Please, you're scaring me! I don't wanna die!"

"You won't if I can blow them away first!"

"Shaddy, put the gun down! You're acting insane!"

"Am I? Or are these pathetic death squads the insane ones?"

Shadow decided to aim for Steve first, but Hope wrestled his arm out of the way before he could fire and shoved herself in front of the .44's barrel.

"Fine, if you wanna shoot somebody, you're gonna have to shoot ME first!" said Hope.

"Get out of my goddamn way, Hope!" said Shadow. "I love you, and I'm not going to let any of these jerks keep killing each other in the name of equality!"

"If you really loved me, you wouldn't have taken the law into your own hands!"

Shadow tried to brush Hope aside, but she held herself in front of his gun no matter how hard he tried.

"Hey, it's not like me or Sonic haven't done that before!" said Shadow.

"But that's different!" said Hope. "This is just murder!"

"So you're saying that your uncle's life matters, too!?"

"No, I'm saying that…"

"I've heard enough!"

Shadow shoved Hope aside, and she landed in an empty spot on the side of the street.

"Want to take me on?" said Shadow. "I don't need a gun!" He dropped his Model 29. "I DON'T NEED A GUN! You want to kill someone? I'm right here! Come on, eat me! EAT ME!"

"Come on, boys!" said Glen. "You heard him!"

"All right, fire 'em up!" said Steve.

In that instant, thunder roared as the MPDF and the human death squad opened fire on Shadow, much to Hope's horror.

"SHADDY!"

Gunfire at this time of day in this part of Emerald City was not a common occurrence, so people observed from a distance as both sides pumped bullet after bullet into Shadow. By the time the fire stopped, not a stray bullet had struck anything. However, when the smoke cleared, both sides got a big surprise as Shadow was still alive and very much intact.

"Are you happy now?" said Shadow. "Huh? HUH!? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!? BECAUSE I'M NOT! I'VE BEEN MISERABLE FOR OVER A WEEK BECAUSE OF ALL THE CRAP I'VE HAD TO PUT UP WITH FROM ALL OF YOU! I MEAN, SERIOUSLY!? I GIVE YOU FOLKS A CHANCE TO BE HAPPY AND THIS IS HOW YOU SQUANDER IT!? I HAVE NEVER HAD IT SO FAR UP TO HERE WITH SOCIETY IN MY LIFE!" Shadow jumped up and down while flailing his arms about. "YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!"

With one final jump, Shadow collapsed to his knees and started crying.

"I…I can't…no…please…oh my god!" said Shadow. "W-where did everybody go!? I had a friend…who was Maria. Up there…I…I had all these people…who were my friends…but now there's nothing. Maria was special to me. I remember after I was born…seeing a bright light…and there she was. We had so much fun together. I'll never forget the way she laughed, how soft she felt, and this planet…this little planet…I told her about how there were all these green fields that we were going to frolic through and these blue waters that we were going to travel.

Then there was that one night. Maria and I were reading some children's book together when we heard the alarms going off. We got out of there as quickly as we could. I wanted her to come with me so badly…she shoved me into the escape pod…told me to give people a chance to be happy, and what happens? They blew her mind all over the place! I mean…there I am heading for the planet, and just…just…" Shadow pounded the sidewalk with both his fists. "…MY FRIEND SHE'S STILL UP THERE! SHE WAS JUST A PUDDLE OF BLOOD! I GOT TO THE PLANET AND THEY TREATED ME LIKE A COMMON CRIMINAL! AND NOBODY HELPED! NOBODY HELPED! PLEASE, JUST…STOP THE PAIN! I JUST WANNA GO HOME! I CAN'T FIND HER! I CAN'T FIND HER!

Every day…it hurts so bad. They took fifty years away from my life. Sometimes I wake up and…and my friend's not even there. Sometimes I don't talk to anybody for weeks. I can't get it out of my head!"

Though she'd heard Shadow talk about Maria before, to hear him just pour out his emotions while going into detail about how much Maria meant to him and how she'd been taken away was too much for Hope. Her mouth was agape with shock of the purest form. She was afraid of getting shot, but on the other hand, she just couldn't leave her boyfriend drowning in such darkness as this. With fear still about her, she got up, and keeping her posture as stiff as steel, she walked over to the spot next to Shadow, knelt down and hugged him.

Shadow gasped when Hope hugged him, and he cried even harder than before. Even so, he returned the gesture. What really tore him apart was that somehow, he felt as though Maria was hugging him. Nevertheless, he did nothing to push her away. Everything just hurt so bad for him right now, and he just wanted to know that everything was going to be OK. Shadow and Hope were so engrossed with each other that they paid no attention to the photographer from The Emerald City Herald who snapped a picture of the moment. As for the MPDF and the human death squad, seeing how much pain Shadow was in right now and how Hope was comforting him regardless of their species reminded them of losses they'd suffered in their lives, so they laid down their guns…that is, everyone except for Glen and Steve.

"Hey, what the hell are you guys doin'!?" said Glen.

"Come on, let's finish 'em off!" said Steve.

In the midst of this maelstrom of sadness, a familiar face showed up: Rouge. She gasped when she saw Shadow crying.

"Oh my god!" said Rouge. "Shaddy, are you OK!?"

Shadow shook his head. Rouge gritted her teeth and put her fists on her hips.

"All right, what did you cretins do to my poor little baby!?" said Rouge.

"What did WE do to him!?" said Glen. "Hey, open your eyes, woman!"

"Yeah, you should be askin' what HE did to US!" said Steve.

Rouge crossed her arms. "Oh really? And WHAT did this loverboy do to any of you?"

"See that hand cannon he dropped?" said Glen. "He's that vigilante the cops are lookin' for!"

"Yeah, not to mention he machine-gunned some fellow humans on June Ave!" said Steve.

"Is that right? You think he's a MURDERER?" Rouge gestured at Shadow with her hand. "Look at that poor guy! LOOK AT HIM! Does that look like the face of a cold, heartless murderer? Maybe he was carrying that gun for protection! It's a dangerous world, you know! Open your eyes! He's not a murderer! He's my little Shaddy baby…and he's a good little Shaddy baby!" Rouge smiled, went to Shadow and wrapped an arm around him. "Who's a good little Shaddy baby? You're a good little Shaddy baby! Yes you are! Yes you are!"

Rouge tapped Hope on the shoulder to get her attention, and then pointed at the spot in front of one of Shadow's ears. Hope nodded, and then, it happened…

Rouge and Hope began scratching Shadow in front of his ears.

Almost immediately, Shadow stopped sobbing and instead began purring. His frown turned upside down as well. Furthermore, he tightened his grip on Hope and nuzzled her a bit. Granted, there were still tears in his eyes, but these were tears of joy, knowing that two of his favorite women in the whole world were there to comfort him and make everything all right. He didn't even care that Rouge had called him "Shaddy" multiple times in public. Everything was just so soft, warm and cuddly at the moment that he just felt proud to be her little Shaddy baby, and nobody could take that away from him. Glen and Steve kept their guns pointed at Shadow, still intent on destroying him, but how could they destroy something so adorable? Eventually, love and adorableness won out, and the leaders of both groups laid down their guns. The photographer was still on hand to capture what came next: in spite of all the enmity that had been flowing between them, both sides walked over to each other, looked each other in the eyes and smiled as they shook hands with each other, by which time the police sirens were getting louder.

It was over.

A/N: Or WAS it? Find out in the next chapter!

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.