Three green flickies fluttered over the mall's fountain. Amy smiled from a bench and threw down some seeds. She looked at the cloudless sky and breathed in the air.

I wonder when Cream is finished her homework. We should bake a cake. Or maybe make a scrapbook.

Around the corner, Rouge was dragging Shadow along, saying, "Oh come on. Quit being like this. It's your fault that the floor needed new boards."

"And how does that include all this?" Her hedgehog companion indicated the large bags in her hands.

She held them out and said, "Nothing saying I can't take advantage of a situation."

"We had new boards hours ago. Somehow we stayed here past lunch after coming here in the morning."

"You're just being moody."

Shadow gave her an unimpressed, sarcastic glare. "Right..."

"Anyway, I just have to check those dresses. Ta ta!"

With that, the Bat flew into a store. Shadow rolled his eyes and said to Omega, "I ought to leave, but that theif is holding my chaos emerald hostage."

Amy peeked at him from behind the fountain and smiled.

She approached him and said, "Shadow? What're you doing here?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Um, okay." She threw her hands behind her back and said, "Oh did you have anything to eat?"

"No."

"There's a great place just down this way. They make great soup and sandwiches. And their ice cream is out of this world." There was a sparkle in her eyes as she started obsessing over food, and she held her cheeks at the thought of it.

"Perhaps. Omega, contact me when Rouge comes out of there."

"Roger that," the robot replied.

Shadow followed Amy who still smiled as she eagerly ran down the mall. Shadow calmly followed as she turned and walked backwards to face him.

He remarked, "You're going to hit something."

"I do this all the time," she said as she moved out of the way of a pole.

"You're nothing like last night. You don't do well on your own, do you?"

Her eyes softened as she stopped smiling. She stopped moving and turned to look another way as she answered, "No...It hasn't been the same. When Eggman took everything over, we all had each other. No one had anything to do except stay alive and stop him. But when we got back Station Square, and Eggman became less threatening, everyone has been trying to carry on with their lives. I went from always being with everyone to being on my own most of the time."

Shadow didn't reply. He thought It's just as I thought. She's not better. What do I do about this? I don't know anything about dealing with upset people. But if I don't do something, who will? Something tells me she puts on an act whenever her friends see her, and I somehow stumbled on her being sad.

Amy said, "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll get used to it. You're probably getting hungry."

Shadow still didn't say anything. He watched as Amy smiled at the guy behind the counter. Her emerald eyes gazed at his ruby ones and she asked, "What do you want to eat?"

"I'll take the pizza."

"Hmm, that's not a bad choice. I'm getting the chicken." She reached for a napkin and something slipped from her bag. Shadow caught it, and noticed that it was a hardcover book about fairy tales.

Blushing, Amy took it, saying, "Thanks, that wouldn't be good if it got dirty." She remained very red as she fiddled with her dress, thinking Now, he is just going to laugh. I can't believe I allowed that to happen. I wasn't worried about anyone seeing that except Cream.

"Maria used to like that same book."

"She did?"

He doesn't always talk about Maria. All I know is that she was his friend who died trying to save him from the humans that he hates so much.

Shadow nodded. "The Professor gave a copy to her for her birthday. She used to read it to everyone."

"So you don't think it's weird that I have it?"

"No."

Amy's face softened. She didn't even notice the food coming. He doesn't think I'm weird. I thought for sure he'd think someone who's talkative like me wouldn't be worth his time, but here he is, talking to me as though I never bother him.

As they ate, she said, "This book was given to me by my cousin Robo the Hedgehog. Ever since I was little, he'd read them to me. I was going to show them to Cream because I thought she'd like to see them. Some of them are my absolute favorite. It's this one." She opened it and pointed to a page.

Shadow carefully took it and looked at it as though studying it. After a moment, he handed it back and said, "That was also her favorite. Maria. She used to read this every night--"

It was as though he couldn't go on, and Amy leapt forward and hugged him, saying, "I can't imagine what that's like. I'm so sorry, Shadow." She thought here I am feeling sorry for myself, but here's someone possibly more lonely I was. Even though it's been over fifty years, to Shadow, it's been a couple years since he had lost his friend Maria.

After a moment, he returned her hug but didn't say anything. He thought What is it about her that's more tolerable than Sonic and the others? Normally I would never allow someone to touch me, but this is different.