Okay, here is the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

Shadow paced impatiently through the colourful park in Station Square waiting for Amy to arrive. Bright, cheerful, flowers of many species surrounded him, and the trees bared candyfloss pink blossom suitable for the time of year. The sky was baby blue in colour and only a few fluffy clouds floated through the air changing their shapes. The sun was clearly visible and its fiery rays warmed Shadow's fur and made the park seem even brighter, too bright in Shadow's opinion.

As he walked he noticed a medium sized bush growing dozens of pale pink roses that was the exact shade of Amy's hair. Shadow gave a tiny smile as he picked the prettiest one for her.

' Wait, what am I doing?' he suddenly thought puzzled by his own actions, ' Why am I giving Amy a flower? I am NOT falling for her!' Shadow pulled off all the petals from the rose and dropped it on the floor where he quickly stamped on it, disgusted with his own feelings.

" Heya Shadow!" a cheerful voice cried from behind Shadow which made him jump. He turned round and found the petite, pink hedgehog waving at him cheerfully, blending in with the surroundings. The ebony hedgehog did not look right standing amongst the colour, he seemed too dark and dull unlike the fourteen year old Amy who was a burst of reds and pinks as usual.

" Hello Amy, what's the plan?" Shadow asked getting straight down to business without any friendly words, much to Amy's disappointment.

" Well we need the other seven chaos emeralds aswell as the eighth," she started, " so we should start with them!"

Shadow nodded, she was talking sense. The seven chaos was always tricky to get, so there was no point retrieving the eighth until they had the others.

" I know for a fact that Tails is the owner of one of the emeralds, so we should get that one first. He should lend it to us." Amy continued, and again Shadow agreed with her.

They both set off at a light jog towards Tails' workshop. Shadow would have preferred a quicker pace, but Amy complained much to his amusement that she could not run very well in hot weather.

When the two hedgehogs reached their destination the workshop seemed very quiet. Usually when you approached it loud bangs of a hammer or the sound of machinery could be heard, but today there was nothing. The only sounds that could be heard were the birds singing as they flew across the clear sky, and the waterfall as it poured water into the beautiful lake at the bottom. The mystic ruins seemed to be quite peaceful and relaxing. Shadow had a feeling that Tails was not in, and he was not happy about that. He wanted the Emerald at all costs.

Shadow waited impatiently as Amy knocked on the workshop door.

' Please be in,' he thought to himself, but after several knocks on the door from Amy there was still no answer.

" I don't think he's in Shad!" Amy exclaimed pointing out the obvious.

Shadow rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically, " No you don't say… and do NOT call me Shad!"

Amy's face fell for a second at the remark but lit up again as she pulled out her giant Piko Piko Hammer from nowhere.

" Let's steal the Emerald!" she cried cheerfully. Shadow was taken aback. It was unlike Amy to suggest stealing from her friends, he was not complaining, but it was weird. He watched with a small smile as she swung the hammer into the door shattering into a million splinters and laughed with her as she did a dance of success. She gave him a warm feeling inside, which made his heart tingle.

' Why is Amy making me feel like this?' Shadow thought to himself confused, ' I have not had fun with someone like this since… since Maria died.' His thoughts started to wander to Maria as he saw Amy enter the workshop in search of the Emerald.

Shadow sat down on the grass outside the workshop. Although it was warm, the sun had not evaporated all of the morning dew and the ground was damp, but he ignored how it was wetting his fur as he thought about how Maria died…

Flashback

Shadow ran as fast as he could. The long ARK corridors seemed endless; this was one time he wished the space colony were smaller. He looked over his shoulder where Maria was running a few metres behind him. Her face was screwed up in pain as she pushed her frail body to its full speed, panting, running out of breath. Shadow turned back and grabbed hold of the twelve-year-olds delicate hand pulling her behind him, removing some of the difficulty.

They were running from the GUN soldiers who invaded the colony trying to shut down the professor's research. They wanted both Shadow and Maria dead. Suddenly Shadow stopped in shock. There was four soldiers blocking their way, all pointing pistols at them. Maria gasped frightened and squeezed Shadow's hand tight. All of a sudden a loud BANG was heard as one of the soldiers pulled the trigger. Maria was at the receiving end of the bullet. She collapsed to the floor, her eyes closing shut and her body lifeless.

" MARIA!" Shadow screamed.

End Of Flashback

" Maria!" Shadow screamed as the horrible images came flooding back to him. A tear formed in his eyes and before Shadow could brush it away it fell, rolling down his cheek.

" I've got the Emerald!" A lively voice cried as more tears streamed from Shadow's eyes. He made no congratulations to the pink hedgehog as he sat staring up at the sun; his tears sparkling in the light making them more noticeable to whim he was trying to hide them from.

" Oh Shadow," Amy said softly guessing correctly what Shadow was weeping about put her hand on his shoulder, " We will bring her back soon." She wiped the tears from Shadow's cheeks. Shadow's heart skipped a beat at this gesture, and knew he could not conceal his feelings for her any longer. Shadow stood up and faced Amy staring into her deep Emerald eyes which always held so much energy and happiness, and placed a sweet kiss on Amy's lips making her long for more. As she caught his eye again Shadow blushed a violent shade of pink and turned away from her embarrassed, witch made Amy smile. She knew how rare it was for him to express his feelings.

They sat in silence on the grass all the rest of the day enjoying each others company and watching the sky change from pale blue to orangy red to black, until the stars and the moon were reflected in the lake. None of them saying anything, none of them needing too. Both hedgehogs needed time to think about their lives. They continued to sit until an angry voice made them both leap up in shock.

" WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO MY WORKSHOP!"

I kind of got stuck half way through, so this was the best I could produce. I just could not think of anything! Anyway, chapter three is coming up soon!