Chapter 2: Day 3

Shadow's eyes open slowly as he began to awaken. He then covered his eyes as his vision was blinded by the bright light that he had kept on all night. He had a slight heart attack when he didn't feel anything in his arms. A sound of shattering glass echoed through the lab. Shadow then immediately got out of his chair and looked towards the direction of the crash. There stood a small white hedgehog with the bright blue eyes. "Oops!" Giggled the little hedgehog.

"Willow?" Shadow questioned as he began to walk closer. Then a crunching sound came from underneath his shoes. He flung his hands out to Willow, "Willow," he said in the most soothing voice that he could do. "Do. Not. Move." Willow listened and stood in place. Shadow slowly maneuvered his way to Willow. He swooped her up in his arms. "Let's go see mom."

"Okay!" Said the little white hedgehog. When they were out the door, Shadow put Willow down. Shadow began to walked out in front of Willow. Willow stumbled as she tried to kept up with Shadow. When she finely caught up with him, she held his hand. As she gained her balance she kept holding his hand. He didn't even care. He gave a slight squeeze,a small giggle escaped from little Willow.

As they walked, Willow grabbed her stomach. "You must be hungry little one." He said. She gave a big smile. Willow then ran out in front of Shadow and went into the kitchen. It's like she's always lived here. How is it that she already knows how to walk? He thought.

Shadow's eyes went from the little white hedgehog rummaging in the fridge, to a taller darker hedgehog. She had long, black, and curly quills that had red stripes.

The black hedgehog looked over to the small hedgehog. "Who's that?" She questioned.

Shadow snapped back into reality and dropped his smile on his face. "Willow, your new sister." He said. From behind the curious black hedgehog emerged a gray bat.

"Woah! When did you get her?" Asked the gray bat as he went over to her. With his hand sticking out, "Hi! I'm Flint."

Willow, averting her eyes from the fridge, faced Flint with a bagel in her mouth. In a muffled voice, "I'm Willow!"

The long quilled hedgehog had her arms crossed and leaned against a wall. She looked over to Shadow. "How come I never heard you were adopting a child?"

Shadow snapped, "Because, Sapphire, I never adopted. She's your biological sister."

"But... I have never seen mom pregnant." Stated Sapphire.

Flint then entered the conversation. "Well, she's more of a test tube baby."

Shadow growled, "Flint. Did you go in my lab?"

"As a matter of fact, no, I didn't. I just put the pieces together." he said. "Speaking of which. Where is she." Both Shadow and Flint looked around. Sapphire just rolled her eyes and left to go back into her room. Just as she opened the door, a blue hedgehog with long quilled bangs, was holding Willow on his hip. Sapphire jumped back in shock while Flint walked up next her. Pushing Sapphire out of the way, Flint stood in front of the doorway. "Hey, Dash, what's new?"

"Making a new game. My producers asked me if you wanted to partner up with me this time. Interested?" Dash asked.

"Yea, I'm down with that." said Flint.

"Shooting starts tomorrow." Dash said. Sapphire just stood behind Flint awkwardly. Dash looked over to Sapphire. "I'll try to get you a part in the game too Sapphire, if you want."

She then lifted her head.. "Yea, that would be nice." She blushed a little. "Here I'll take her." Dash then handed Willow over to Sapphire. "See you guys later!" She said as she passed Dash.

When the door closed, she immediately put Willow down and started to sweep off what appears to be 'Willow Germs'. Sapphire then crouched down and looked Willow straight in the eye, which her emotion went from happy to sad within a second. "You. Little. Brat. I can't believe you did that. Dash is mine. Not one of your little toys. You might have dad go 'gaa-gaa' over you but that's not going to work with me. Stay away from that blue hedgehog. Got it?" Willow, all teary eyed, shook her head in agreement. "Good, otherwise," Sapphire leaned in closer. "I'm going to make your little pathetic life horrible." The door opened from behind. Sapphire looked and Shadow was looking straight at her in disappointment. "I was just talking to my new sister. Isn't that right Willow?" Willow had no response she just ran out the front door.

"Sapphire, be nice to her. She doesn't have long." Shadow said. From behind the boys stood in the doorway not making a sound and listened. "Willow has a condition where she can't stop growing. Now, whatever you said you better apologize." Sapphire's stomach dropped. She left to go find Willow. Outside felt very muggy. It had just rained and began to sprinkle. Sapphire looked down to see two different tracks. One showed long and deep footprints while the other had footsteps close together. From behind Dash, Flint, and Shadow stood outside with Sapphire. "You three go out and look. I'll try to find her on my computer." Shadow said. "Don't come back unless you have her." With that he slammed the door. At the same time, a crack of thunder hit, along with a flash of lightning.

Dash walked out in front of Sapphire and Flint and waved them on and said, "Come on guys, lets to find Willow."

"We need to split up, that way we can cover more ground." Flint said. Dash and Sapphire nodded.

"The footsteps go into the forest. We need to look there first." Dash said. He was the first to enter the opening of the forest. Flint followed after leaving Sapphire to go in last.

The rain pounded hard against the ground. It was thick, which made it hard to see. Within every minute there was a lightning strike above head. It's...so.. so. c-c-cold... Sapphire thought. She slowed her pace to a walk and covered her hands over her bare arms. She cupped one hand over her forehead and squinted her eyes. It was almost impossible to see or hear anything with the rain and the big gusts of wind.

Sapphire stopped in mid-walk. when she thought she heard a stick snap. Her heart stopped when she heard rustling sounds coming from the bushes on her right. "Willow?" she questioned. She flinched when she saw Dash come out. Dash gave a little smile. He then walked past Sapphire just like he never saw her. "Dash... A-are you still mad at me?" Sapphire said in a soft voice.

"What? I can't hear you."

"Are you still mad at me?" She yelled.

Dash calmly said, "Sapphire, I don't want to talk about it. We have to look for your sister." He then pushed on ahead.

Sapphire followed close behind. Even though he's been through so much, he is still being so nice. She smiled, still feeling like she has a chance. "Where's my brother?"

"He is just doing a perimeter check to make sure she didn't leave the forest." He turned around and faced Sapphire, "You should go home, you look cold." She nodded her head in agreement. He gave a small frown, as if he wanted her disagree and continue looking for her sister.

She immediately regretted that decision. She wanted to take back what she said and stay with him but he already ran off. She then turned around in disappointment and walked on home.

[At home]

"Where is she?" Shadow asked. He opened the door to find Sapphire drenched with water.

"Dad, it's freezing and rainy." She pleaded.

"Wow, I really hope Willow could just get up and come back home when it's cold and wet outside. Come on, you have more clothes on than Willow does." Shadow just looked at her. Sapphire didn't say a word. "Just get inside." He opened the door for her and he didn't make eye contact.

Sapphire ran upstairs to her room and slammed the door as she entered it. He's never cared for ME! He hates me! He always has... She grabbed a light pink pillow and sobbed. She pulled away from her pillow to see black mascara marks along with red eye shadow smears on the pillow. She hugged the pillow tighter. Just because my father is Shadow the Hedgehog doesn't make me perfect. She curled up in a tight ball. All I've done to make him notice me! I got into all honor classes, I became friends with all of dad's friend's daughters to get closer to him. I even am dated his arch rival's son!

She pulled away from the pillow. She missed Dash. At first she only dated him to get her father's attention. In which it did, but not in way Sapphire wanted. Before, Shadow gave no thought about Sapphire, but after that he questions everything she does. Not in a fatherly way but more like disappointment.

Sapphire broke up with Dash to get approval from her father. Sapphire and Dash haven't even held hands, so she thought it would be easy, but not for Dash. He told her that she was one of the prettiest girls in school and he had the longest crush on her. That made her feel bad about what she did. She then began to develop feelings for him ever since. It was easy to talk to him from time to time because her brother was best friends with him, which her father had no problem with. She felt that Shadow, between Flint and herself, liked Flint more. In depression, she covered herself in her blankets and fell asleep with her messy pink pillow in her arms.