Finally, finally finally finally, we were leaving that lobby.
I couldn't even express my emotions at the time, because I wasn't even sure what they were. I was feeling good about myself for standing up against Della with Shadow(or just watching his brave performance, whatever), I had a slight shaky feeling that seemed to be the aftermath of our romantic moment, and then, of course, there was the sheer joy of leaving that lobby.
Despite that though, as we began to get further from the lobby, my mind wandered. I tried to avoid the inevitable question in my mind, but that was obviously futile.
"What is Della going to do now?"
Frankly, I had know idea. So I considered asking Shadow. But no. I couldn't do that, right?
So when we got back to my room, I shut the door and sat down on the bed in my spot next to Shadow. He put his arm around me and craned his neck to kiss me. As much as I didn't want to, I inched away. We needed to talk more about Della, so I brought it up. "Do you think Della's going to plan something? I mean, she looked pretty strange. Well, you get what I mean. What do you think she's up to?"
He laid down onto my bed and sighed, exhausted of the subject. "Eh, nothing interesting. She's a random scientist. I'm the Ultimate Life Form. You're my girlfriend. She can't hurt us. I'd never let her hurt you."
"Well, what do you think she would do if she was going to do something?"
"Um... I really don't know. Maybe she'd, just go to the professor. That's simple and easy. But, of course, she probably won't because that's the sane way out. She's delusional, if you forgot."
"Well, it's kind of on my mind." Silence. "Shadow, if something were to happen to me -"
"Don't talk that way!" He got up and faced the wall with his arms crossed. Typical Shadow, avoiding the situation.
"I'm going to finish my sentence whether you like it or not." Drawing in a deep breath, I started over. "If something were to happen to me, like, I don't know, something that would involve me going to die. Like, you can't save me or anything. Then I want you to kill me, so I don't have to suffer any longer, okay?"
"Maria, shut-"
"I'm serious. I would want you to kill me-"
"SHUT UP!" He yelled, covering his ears, "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around to see tears streaming down his face.
"You have to promise me this. Okay?"
He wiped his eyes, embarrassed. "Fine. But only because nothing's ever going to happen to you."
"Good. Then let's drop it now."
Della didn't bother us for a while after that. We never saw her around the ARK, and we did nothing but cultivate our affection towards each other for the past several months. Of course, that meant that my grandfather was certainly growing his suspicions, also considering we'd made it pretty obvious in the past. We were in a happy, healthy, steady relationship and things seemed to be really smooth. Though sometimes, I could see a little glint in Shadow's eyes. An occasional something that I would catch when he looked at me. A hint of worry, maybe? A need to protect me? It was a sternness and a heavy-heartedness at the same time. Something so confusing and indecipherable that you would only see it on the face of Shadow the Hedgehog.
Later, in the beginning of February, Shadow and I sat side-by-side, resting against my bed's backboard. We were doing the same type of work that we had been doing the day I met him. Math for me, attack chemistry for him. Or so I thought, anyway. After I had finished, I decided not to announce it but to do some snooping and sneak a glance at his paper. To my surprise, he wasn't doing homework at all. He was writing something. I saw lines, no, stanzas of words.
"Hey! That's private!" He said in a joking voice as he yanked the paper from my view, but I knew he was dead serious.
"Sorry." I admitted, pretending to go back to my own page as he continued to scribble madly. My efforts had not been futile, though, for I had made out two fascinating arrangements of letters.
"Love is"
I thought about it for a half-second and knew what he was doing. But then I wondered to myself,
what is love?
It was only at that moment when I really thought about it that I realized I wasn't quite sure. Wasn't I feeling it right now? We had only been dating for a few months though. Maybe this was all actually just a crush, and I mistook it for love because I didn't know what love really was. It didn't take me long after that to think an unthinkable question.
Are we just a fling?
Hey Guys! It's TheVideoGamer here, and I was wondering if you guys were ready for a HUGE plot twist! Is Maria having doubts for Shadow? I Della plotting a reappearance? Find out in the next chapter!
In other news, I just wanted to tell you guys that I'm really sorry that I haven't been really committing to this story lately, but that's all about to change. I promise. You see, I have SO many projects that I'm working on right now, including recording Youtube videos, producing movies, writing screenplays, writing my original novel, AND writing fan fiction like this one, so I've realized that I need to suck in a breath and relax for a minute before I explode. Oh, and all that's not to mention that I my orchestra has a concert and I have a violin recital to go to next week, so I've been working on my music in the little gaps of freetime I have. Oh, and ALSO, the reason I'm working on this at 9:55 PM is that I spent my whole day doing assignments so I could go to the pool with my friends for Memorial Day weekend! So I know, the "I'm busy" excuse has probably gotten WAY PAST old to you guys, but it's the honest truth. I'm sorry. But like I said, it's time to pause my other crazy projects and write a little of Be My Shadow!
One last thing. If you're enjoying this story, please leave a comment. I've been so pleased with the reviews I've gotten for this story and my face lights up every time I see "New Review for: Be My Shadow" in my email. When I realized what kind of feedback you guys have been giving me, I had a heavy heart and confidence in myself, not to mention encouragement for the next chapter and chapters to come. So in a way, it all bubbles down to this: the more you review, the more I write! And don't feel obligated to write something really nice just because I'm telling you this. All comments are welcome, whether they be pure motivation or much-needed constructive criticism, and I'm perfectly happy with you even if you just write "it was good" or "I liked this part". It'll always put a smile on my face and make my whole day better, so write on, People! (: