Gah! I'm SO SLOW! I meant to post this on Valentine's day but oh well. I hope you enjoy it!

Changes in the Water Level

Shadow rolled over on his makeshift bed, not being able to fall asleep. He felt someone grab onto his chest fur and grinned when he saw Tails cuddling into him. Shadow gave him a quick peck on the forehead and grabbed a furry stuffed animal, placing it in Tails' arms. He got up and snuck back into his normal room, being careful not to wake the kids.

"Oh, hey Shadow. You still awake?" Came the voice of the prince.

Startled, Shadow noticed that a dim light was on in the room and Sonic was wide awake on his bed, wrting in something. "Yeah, so what? I'm just getting a book." He rushed over to a bookcase and his fingers searched for a book he hadn't read yet. He then noticed he had read every single one of them. Shadow sighed and started to head towards the door, deciding that he was going to take a quick trip to the bookstore and pay a friend a quick visit.

"Where are you going?"

"None of your business."

Shadow stalked out of the room, making the gesture of slamming the door but stopped before he actually made a noise. He closed the door silently just in case one if the kids woke up. Shadow walked quietly down the stairs, careful about setting his boots on the ground. He went over to the front door and turned the knob, ready to go out.

"Mom, are you going to Aunt Rouge's?"

Once again, Shadow was startled by the sudden sound and found the young orange fox behind him.

"Tails, what are you doing up this late! Go back to bed." His hand pointed up the stairs.

"B-but the prince scares me. I want to go see Aunt Rouge!"

The comment about the prince instantly makes Shadow want to bring Tails with him. Giving up, he scooped the fox into a hug. "Fine, but we got tell Silver first okay?" He said, earning a happy nod from Tails.

Shadow smiled and set Tails down again, putting his finger to his mouth for the quiet symbol. Tails blocked his mouth and followed Shadow to Silver's room, waiting for the white hedgehog to open his door after Shadow knocked. After two minutes, the black hedgehog pushed open the door and walked over to the sleeping hedgehog.

"Blaze is here Silver."

"WHAT WHERE!? WHERE IS SHE!? BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZE!"

Shadow slapped Silver, feeling as though this has happened one too many times. "Why does that wake you up every time?" He asked, earning a shrug from the hedgehog looking up at him.

"I don't know. I-I just haven't seen her for awhile I guess..." Sadness flashes through Silver's eyes and Shadow can't help but feel sorry for him. Pulling Silver into a tight hug, he tried to make him feel better.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

Tails watched from the entrance of the room, obviously not understanding what was going on but thought the two needed some time. He sat down on the wooden floor, crossed his legs, and stared off at the window, quietly reciting the periodic table to himself. His ears picked up the sound of boots on the floor and looked up, finding the look-a-like of Shadow.

"Mephiles?"

The blue striped hedgehog nodded towards him and made his way over to the other two. He held his arms open, allowing the other two to embrace him.

"It's okay." He said.

"Yeah."

Cosmo woke up in an seemingly empty room. Even though the other little girls were there, they didn't seem to have personality to her. Just some average little girls who acted too cliche for their own good. Unlike the black hedgehog. Unlike Mama.

Even though she was old enough to be out of her crib, she was fine with Shadow still having her sleep in the small space. It's not like they had the money to buy anything too extravagant. Climbing out of her crib quietly, she place her feet gently on the ground still clutching her favored stuffed animal, the rabbit.

Cosmo could hear the sound of quiet sobbing coming from the other room accompanied by comforting words from a low voice, who she recognized as Mephiles. Walking over to the closet door, she pulled it open revealing the other room on the other side and the blue prince.

"Hello! Who are you?" The hedgehog asked her. Cosmo remained silent, her eyes showing no emotion towards the prince.

"Nothing huh? Well, I'm Prince Sonic but just Sonic is fine." His hand reached out to her.

Hesitantly, Cosmo reached over and took Sonic's hand in her own and muttered her own name out. Sonic grinned at her, making Cosmo smile a little bit. She moved herself next to the prince, plopping herself down on the bed next to him.

"What are you writing?" Her soft voice said.

Sonic glanced at her before slamming the book shut, his face turing red. "W-well it's a story I'm writing?"

"Why are you questioning yourself?" Cosmo said. "Is it that private?"

Sonic stuttered his face turning slightly red. Giving up, he handed the book over to Cosmo, who studied the cover and designs very carefully before actually flipping open to the actual pages. Her face showed absolutely no emotion when reading and Sonic was clearly surprised that she could comprehend his messy writing, much less, read.

Cosmo closed the book and set it next to her in a slow dramatic way. "You're homosexual."

Sonic flushed, his face turning a darked shade of red. "Why!? Why do you know these big words!?"

"Shadow."

The blue prince stared at the little girl, surprised by the little girl's one-word answer. "What?"

"Shadow."

Sonic came to the conclusion that Shadow had taught Cosmo how to read, write, and use terms that usually weren't used by 5-year olds. The blue hedgehog chuckled and turned to look at the little girl.

"So what did Shadow teach you?"

The girl seemed to light up, though her facial expression barely changed. She walked over to the bookcase and skimmed the shelves until she found her books. Sonic watched her struggle for a few moments before going over and reaching for the book that was on a high shelf. Cosmo thanked him and gathered the rest of her things before sitting back down and patting the spot next to her.

Sonic sat down and watched as Cosmo flipped the pages, showing off a bunch of equations and other types of fancy math that a 5-year old definitely shouldn't know. She later showed him all her books and comprehension questions that Shadow had given her to do when she was bored.

"You're a smart cookie you know!" Sonic said and Cosmo gave him a questioning look, not understanding what the term 'smart cookie' meant. Sonic sighed and shook his head. "It means you're really smart."

Shadow walked outside into the cold air, the wind blowing what was left of his tears dry. The three hedgehog occupants of the house would occasionally grieve over their loss of their close friends who died in a war a couple of years ago. They had to make sure that none of the kids would find out during that time, so they locked them in the basement of the house.

The princess of the Soul Kingdom, Blaze the Cat, was a close friend of Sliver's. In fact, Silver had grown up in the Soul Kingdom, serving under the princess. When Shadow and Mephiles had passed through picking up anyone who wanted to join them, Silver had automatically joined, calling them his 'big brothers'. Mephiles had requested a time to meet her majesty and was granted a few minutes to talk to Blaze. They stayed in a local town for a few days before Blaze decided she was going to join them on their adventures and Silver was ecstatic.

When they went to war with a few groups of bounty hunters, trying to protect the Village of Water, Blaze and a few others had suffered from too many injuries, resulting in death. Thus, Blaze's bookstore was taken over by the previous treasure hunter, Rouge the Bat.

"Mom! Wait for me!"

Shadow turned around and saw Tails running towards him in the few seconds before the kid pounced on him, making Shadow fall over.

"Oops! I'm sorry mom!" Tails said apologetically. Shadow chuckled and picked up the fox, putting him on his shoulders, giving him a shoulder ride.

"It's fine."

They passed by a couple closed shops that were run by the couple of villagers they had around. There was one cake shop that had the huge cake that Silver had forced Mephiles to buy for him after winnning a bet. Mephiles had yet to get it, though Shadow had no idea why. He could just get it done and over with already.

The two stopped in front of a large building that had an 'CLOSED' sign hanging one the front door. The bookstore was actually just the first floor of Rouge's house, the second floor being her living quarters.

Shadow pulled the opened the door with his key that Rouge had kindly given to him and a small bell rang, announcing their arrival. He set Tails down and turned on the lights to the store. The fox immediately bolted off into a section of the bookstore, leaving the black hedgehog to search for the bat. Shadow went over to the front counter and found Rouge sleeping away, surrounded by a mountain of books.

Though the place was called a 'bookstore' Rouge decided she would let people borrow and return books like it was a library. Of coures, some people still prefered to buy books so she made sure she always had a new copy in her storage room.

Shadow gently shook Rouge trying to wake her up. "Rouge. It's Shadow. Wake up."

The white bat shifted and slowly opened her eyes, still wanting to sleep until she saw Shadow. She sat up in her chair and stretched, pulling her arms above her head.

"Good to see you here this late Shadow. Want to help me sort these books out?" She asked immediately. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"I should be an employee here, after helping you so much." He said. "By the way, you still owe me for running all your errands the other day."

"Whatever. Is Tails here too?" Shadow nodded and watched the bat go off in search of the small fox who called her 'Aunt Rouge'.

Shadow looked at the pile of books and sighed. He grabbed the first and flipped through it, getting completely addicted to reading and not bothering to do the job Rouge had given him. The book's cover was extremely detailed, covered with intricate designs and a few gems. As he kept reading, he found that it seemed to be a dairy of some sort. He flipped the last filled page, looking for the author of the dairy.

In cursive, three words are written.

Blaze the Cat

Okay I'm sorry. Gah this chapter seems like such a filler. I'M SORRY! I'll add some drama and interesting stuff in later. Yes I killed Blaze. OR DID I?