If Sara was waiting for Shadow to cool down before they left Mobius, she just might have been in for a wait. In trying to work out his frustrations, Sonic and Shadow had taken up their sparring matches again. There was a certain ferocity to Shadow's fighting style, which had not gone undetected by his blue counterpart. Sally was privy to a few of the sparring matches, which took place in the palace courtyard.

Blitz and Rift had begun their own matches not far from their father's bouts. The two were every bit as fast as their dad, though they lacked the fighting experience. It was tiring just watching them, but they definitely tried hard. Blitz had learned his father's homing attack, though Rift still had trouble pulling himself into a tight ball. The younger of the two had better turning ability, however, and his more relaxed nature helped him calculate his big brother's movements.

"How long have they been at it?" Amy inquired, walking up to the queen. Ash was seated in her lap for the time being.

"About two hours now," Sally replied; her eyes moved from the red, black, and blue to the younger streaks of orchid.

The pink hedgehog looked over the battlefield that the courtyard had become and heaved a sigh. "I haven't seen them go at it this much in a while. Wonder what brought this on."

"Should we stop them?" Sally made a face.

"Probably. Any ideas?" Amy smiled at her two boys, noting that the younger one was putting his brother to the test.

"Yeah, it's about lunch time...just the mention of chilidogs should get Sonic's attention." Sally grinned. "Sonic! Shadow! Kids! Lunch is about ready!" she called in a surprisingly loud voice.

"Food? Great, I'm starved!" Sonic's foot met Shadow's face, and the Blue Blur launched off of him and darted over to his pink mate and gave a smile to the queen "Tell me there's chilidogs?"

Sally laughed, "I'm pretty sure that can be arranged."

A second later, Shadow's fist met Sonic's face, and he went sprawling along the grass. "Hey! Brawl's over, what gives?!" Sonic said as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Hmph." Shadow rubbed his sore cheek lightly.

"Shadow!" Amy slapped him across the face, giving him reason to rub the other cheek. She looked at him crossly. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but it had better stop fast. I don't know how Sara puts up with you like this!"

"...Sorry." Shadow grunted.

"Daddy okay?" Blitz and Rift had stopped their sparring and were looking up anxiously at their father.

"Of course! No two-bit punch is gonna put me down for the count!" Sonic smirked and lightly patted his kids' heads. "I think we have a lunch to attend now?" He glanced at Sally, who nodded in reply.

"...I'll go get Sara," Shadow said in a more even tone. "You can take Ash with you," he said before turning to leave.

Sara and Maria hadn't gone far; they were in the Royal Gardens. In the center of the garden was a rather large statue of Sonic and company. The tribute had been unveiled on Heroes Day, and she was pleased to see Shadow standing alongside him in stone. The statues and flowers that were arranged around the place were absolutely gorgeous, and the flowery scents were subtle and refreshing. Small white and pink blossoms trailed down a high wall, tall yellow flowers towered over smaller orange ones. Even the trees were in bloom; Sara particularly liked the pink cherry blossoms, while Maria smiled at white apple blossoms. It was also a beautiful day out with blue skies and puffy white clouds drifting lazily across the sky.

The peaceful atmosphere lulled Sara into a half-dreamy state, though she was soon shaken out of it as a small orange hedgehog ran up to them. "'Ria!" He beamed and almost bowled Maria over.

She laughed and smiled at her new friend. "Hi, Chase! ...What have you got there?" She saw his hands cupped together.

"This!" He uncupped his hands, and a small toad was sitting in his hand, though it quickly tried to get away.

"Ewww gross!" Maria made a face.

"Chase! Don't run away like that!" a male voice drifted to Sara's ears, and as she looked up from the boy, she saw definitively the father...Duo. The orange hedgehog was dressed in a uniform that was quite similar to the one Antoine had been wearing and bore a couple of pins on it noting his rank and honors. Beside him was a lemon yellow hedgehog, who she rightly guessed was his mate Raye. He'd quickly noticed the sky blue hedgehog and slowed his pace down. "... Sara?" he called in mild surprise.

"Oh... Hi…Duo." Sara replied meekly, averting her gaze from him shyly.

"You two know each other?" Raye inquired. She found Sara's reaction a bit troubling.

"Ahh yeah." Duo smiled a bit. "This is Sara, we grew up together here in Knothole…. Sara? This is my lady...Raye. Isn't she sweet?"

Sara nodded a bit. "She's lovely. I guess you moved on all right."

A certain realization dawned on the sunny hedgehog, "Ohh... You're his ex-girlfriend, right?"

Sara ran her fingers through her hair and let her brown bangs fall slightly over her eyes, "Yeah..."

"I'm sorry, that explains things a bit." She tried to give a welcoming smile. "Is that your daughter?"

"Oh…yeah." She nodded toward Maria. She had gotten Chase to abandon the toad in a flower bed, and found a garter snake, which she proudly displayed to the boy. He was very impressed that she didn't find that to be weird or frightening.

"Chase has been talking about her. Of course it's something, keeping up with an Extreme Gear on foot, isn't it?" Duo smiled warmly toward the kids. "Maybe they'll pick up where we left off, eh?"

Sara's expression sank at those words. "We won't be staying much longer…."

Raye seemed to read something in Sara's reactions, noting her body language and tone. Her eyebrows pursed together in concern. "...Are you all right?"

"Huh? Oh...yeah." Sara managed a smile but it evaporated quickly.

"I think I'm making her uneasy." Duo sighed and put an arm around Raye. "Ahh…last time we saw each other, we didn't part on very good terms."

Something about the way he said that made Raye wonder. "I see. Nothing too bad I hope?"

Sara was silent and avoided eye contact with the two of them. A number of mixed feelings swam around in her mind, many of which she had long forgotten. The unbidden emotions converged in her stomach, which was now churning with her insecurities. She hoped she wasn't shaking.

"...No..."

Raye gave a glance to Duo; he hadn't spoken much about their breakup, though he'd mentioned she was attached before he'd found her on Earth. It had taken a while for the cheery yellow hedgehog to bring him out of a depressed state after she'd been introduced to him through Tiara, but now that she'd encountered his ex, she wondered how much he hadn't told her. "...Are we going to have to have a talk about this later, honey?"

"Umm...I don't think so...and it's been years, right?" Duo tried his best to smile like there was no problem.

"Yeah. Almost...seven years," Sara replied. "Don't need to bring up...unpleasant memories, right?"

"Right," Duo said in a more relaxed tone.

"I don't know...this could be a perfect time to talk about things," Shadow's voice spoke up from beside his mate. Duo wasn't the only one in shock at seeing the black and red hedgehog, as Sara almost jumped out of her skin at his sudden entry. Raye was the only one who'd seen him coming, and shifted uncomfortably.

"S...Shadow!" Sara took his hand in both of hers. She could feel herself shaking and she felt ill; she had a bad feeling about things. She wanted to draw closer to him, but feared he'd push her away. She didn't have to look up at him to know his crimson eyes were glaring at Duo.

"You know...I'm not sure this is really a good time for this," Raye spoke up, not liking the way Shadow was leering at her partner.

"Why not?" Shadow said coolly. "He has been honest with you about his past, hasn't he?" An unwholesome grin crossed his face.

"... Pardon?" Raye's concerned look deepened.

"Shadow...don't…." Sara said in a partial whimper. "She doesn't have to know about it…."

Duo subtly placed a hand on his gun holster, keeping his eyes on Shadow. "What happened is in the past... I think we'd all like to move on with things," he said firmly before glancing over at the kids. They were rooted to the ground, looking over at the adults questioningly.

"Yeah…." Shadow gave a glance to the children as well, but his calculating stare settled back on Duo. "I see you moved on. Got yourself a mate and kid. Not much younger than Maria…. You work fast for someone who swore he'd have my mate as his own, huh?" he said as casually as if he were talking about the weather.

"...Honey?" Raye asked uneasily.

Sara squeezed Shadow's hand and tugged at his arm a bit. "Please...stop..." she pleaded in a choked whisper. She folded her ears back timidly and looked down at the ground, letting her bangs completely obscure her face.

"He didn't mention that? I'm surprised. I mean..." Shadow went on, "he went far enough to shoot me to get me out of the way." A sadistic smile settled on his face as he watched Raye's expression turn to shock. "What? He never told you? I'm shocked…." his voice dripped with sarcasm.

Raye looked over at Duo, but his tense expression told her there was something to his sharp words. "...Did you?"

"You hurt Papa?!" Maria squeaked.

"...Shadow, please...please...not in front of the kids…." Sara's hands couldn't squeeze tight enough. She felt constricted and unable to run, and from the lack of give in his arm, she knew Shadow wasn't turning away from Duo.

"... I'm sorry, Raye...I did some foolish things," the orange hedgehog confessed. "But like Sara said...there's no need to bring this up...and especially now...in front of the kids."

"Foolish?" Shadow gave a dry laugh. "Yeah. Care to tell her the rest of it? Or are you afraid she'd leave you over it?" he challenged the orange hedgehog.

"I don't think I want to know...and I really don't like your attitude!" Raye spoke up.

"Hmph...just thought you'd like to know your mate there's a rapist," Shadow let the words slip off his tongue to shock from all sides. Maria didn't know what a rapist was, and neither did Chase, but the two of them could tell it was bad if the grown ups were shocked.

"Shadow!" Sara squeaked.

"You're lying!" Raye put her foot down firmly. "He would never--!"

"Shadow...you know he didn't!" Sara insisted firmly, a pained expression hidden beneath her bangs.

Shadow growled, "Didn't he? You had his scent all over you that night! I know what you've said, but I'm really not so sure he's 'innocent.'" Shadow growled more fiercely, his crimson eyes boring holes into Duo's head mentally.

Sara gave a heartbroken sob and fell to her knees, finally releasing Shadow's hand. "Mama!" Maria rushed over to her mother and gave her a tight hug.

Duo frowned deeply at Sara's cries. Part of him wanted to comfort her, but the time when he could do that was long past. "..Seriously...I didn't rape her," he said firmly. "You want to cause more trouble, go ahead and keep it up...but it's not me you're hurting." He pulled Raye to him and then looked over to his son. "Chase? Come on, we're leaving..."

Chase looked reluctantly over at his friend before turning to go. "Sorry, Ria. We'll play later." He frowned a bit and followed his dad.

Shadow glared after him until a small voice reached his ears, "Daddy? What's rape? Why's Mommy crying?" Regret suddenly washed over Shadow's being as he got a good look at his now wounded family.