*Rachel's POV*

After 2 months, Rachel's ankle got to the point where it began to heal at a surprisingly exponential rate. One day, she could limp on it for only a short time, and the next, she was able to walk normally with only a slight twinge of pain from each step.

Throughout the entire healing process, Shadow made sure to stop by every single day, and most of the days, that was where he spent a lot of his time. It was almost like visiting her was his only obligation sometimes, and to avoid taking up too much of her space, he awaited the proper time to arrive. From what she had learned, anyway, he really didn't have much to worry about. One day, in fact, he said that he wasn't sure what purpose he had. Death was the last thing that would ever come to his mind, but still, he wondered what he was meant to be doing.

All and all, though, Rachel knew that her company made him happy. That was something she thought she'd never be able to do.

In fact, one conversation they had always stuck out in her mind.

"I was once friends with someone a lot like you," Shadow had sighed. "She was sweet, caring, and optimistic… much like you."

For the first time from what Rachel could remember, Shadow was actually beginning to get sad. He sat there, at the edge of her bed, taking a few deep breaths, almost seeming to fight tears…

"What's wrong?" she asked, hoping desperately that Shadow wouldn't begin to cry. Hearing anyone's sobs, even those of her rivals, hit her with a wave of guilt.

"She was… killed," said Shadow, on the verge of tears now. "Rivalries… got out of control, I guess you could say." A single tear emerged from his eye. "They murdered her…"

Rachel immediately sat up and put a hand on Shadow's shoulder. That was her first instinct whenever she knew she had to lift someone out of sadness. She hadn't had much experience with other people's tears.

She didn't even know what to say.

"…I'm sorry you had to see that," said Shadow, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes and sitting up straight. "You don't deserve to be inflicted with my pain. You already have enough as it is…"

"Don't worry about it," said Rachel. "If it's okay for me to ask… what was her name?"

She immediately regretted asking, for Shadow immediately broke down again. Even worse.

"Her name was… Maria," he began to sob.

As extreme guilt pounded her heart, Rachel hesitantly reached towards Shadow with both arms. She wasn't sure… Was hugging him really going to make him feel better, or would it turn the moment into an awkward one?

She then figured that it couldn't hurt to show that she cared. She quickly wrapped both arms around him, hoping that his tears would soon cease to flow.

To her surprise, she found that Shadow was hugging her back, crying on her shoulder.

They sat like that for about an hour. An impatient, yet melancholy hour. It wasn't that Rachel wanted so badly to let go. In fact, having someone hug her, for the first time in what seemed like forever, was almost like a dream come true.

Eventually, they finally did let go of each other. To her relief, she found that Shadow was no longer shedding a single tear. It was almost like that hour of pain never happened, but clearly, it did.

"Thank you," said Shadow. "Thank you for being there for me instead of insisting that I suck it up."

"Aw, well, you're welcome," Rachel nodded. "You're my friend. Who am I to leave a friend drowning in their pain alone?"

*Shadow's POV*

Rachel had just held him tightly in her arms while he cried about the one thing that had done the most damage to his life. She had held him, while everyone else would say something like "Dude, get over it," or "Suck it up," or "Not this again…"

She had put up with him for a full hour when everyone else would try to stop him the very second he began to show signs of depression. He had to give her credit. She was clearly a very patient and caring person.

"Who am I to leave a friend drowning in their pain alone?" she had just said.

Quite strangely, Shadow suddenly couldn't wait for Rachel to be able to get back up on her feet again. As he spent more and more time with her over the months, he found it more and more saddening to know that she had to stay in bed and couldn't do much of anything. She was almost like a clone of Maria. She was a sensitive, sweet young lady who had dreams, and was doing what she could to achieve them.

In fact, Shadow would have been suspicious that she really was a resurrection of Maria if it weren't for the fact that she was only kind to those she figured deserved it. To others, she could be real stubborn and inconsiderate.

She was the kind of person who did what she felt like doing. Shadow appreciated that and everything else about her.

Suddenly, as he slowly recovered from what was left of his sadness that day, he felt different. What was it about the sea blue of Rachel's eyes, or her beautiful voice… that made him feel like he was going to start blushing?

He had heard of this type of feeling before. Time and time again, Amy Rose had expressed an unsafe amount of it towards that faker, Sonic… But he had always guessed that it was another sort of pathetic thing that mortals went through.

He couldn't believe it, but for a second… On a much lower scale, he thought he was feeling the same way.

At that moment, he found himself getting lost in her eyes for a split second. That was when he got the notion that maybe, by some slim chance, he had developed feelings for her.

*Rachel's POV (The next day)*

Finally… At long last, it was almost like nothing had happened to Rachel's ankle. Only when she twisted it in some sort of extreme angle would it ever hurt again, and it took effort to believe that it wasn't lasting pain from any of the sprains she'd had before.

With a huge smile on her face, she opened the front door and walked out. The fresh air felt better than ever. It was almost like she was released from a prison. A prison of blankets and pain.

She went for a walk, and it felt perfectly natural. She almost couldn't believe she had been stuck in bed for close to 3 months.

As she approached the edge of the forest, she saw that familiar blue blur rushing about in the distance. Sonic hadn't changed a bit, she saw. She continued walking, letting him be on his merry way.

However, she couldn't take 10 steps without being stricken with some unknown force. Wait… was it even a force? It felt so solid. Whatever it was, it sent her falling to the ground, landing on her back. Somehow, her ankle hadn't been reinjured in the process.

Recovering from her shock, she stood up, brushed herself off, and continued walking. She couldn't wait to get to the city, to see what had changed at the local arcade. She couldn't take a break from that place for 2 weeks without coming back and seeing that everything had been moved around.

Suddenly, she saw Sonic jog up to her. She happily waved at him. It'd been a while.

"Hi!" he smiled. "Sorry for knocking you over."

"Nah, it's not a problem," Rachel replied.

"Where've you been?" asked Sonic. "I haven't seen you for months!"

"Broke my ankle a while back," sighed Rachel, seeing that the statement had shocked Sonic. "It's all better now, but I couldn't really go anywhere while it was healing. It. Stunk."

"I bet," Sonic agreed. "Where're you heading off to? Nowhere in particular?"

"Well, I think I'm going to head over to the arcade," said Rachel. "I love going to that place! There's something about crane machines… I don't know what it is, but I love them!"

"Mind if I tag along?" asked Sonic, only a little to Rachel's surprise.

"Sure!" she cheered.

So they found the clearing out of the forest and walked into the bustling city. All was alive here. The trees, the people… the action. Rachel always came here whenever she felt a little bored of everyday life. She lost count of all of the stuffed animals she had won at the arcade. The way you have to position the crane just right… the feeling of satisfaction you get when the crane even grabs ahold of the toy… Aren't crane machines some of the most fun things ever?

As Sonic and Rachel walked through the clear glass doors to the arcade, they approached the change machine, where Rachel got $7 in change. She gave exactly half of it to Sonic, who then wandered around, trying to make sense of some of the machines.

As Rachel had expected, things had definitely changed. The place definitely had more games, and some things were in a completely different place than they were before.

She eventually located her first machine for the day and inserted a quarter. A simple bucket-like claw, designed to pick up capsules with little toys in them. How much simpler could a joy get?

About 15 minutes later, she heard Sonic cheer from across the room. She held her last 4 quarters in her hand, seeing him stare cheerfully at a pink and white lamb toy. As she walked up to him, she saw that it had a heart on its chest.

"Cute," she smiled.

"Right?" said Sonic. "And I know exactly who to give it to!"

And Rachel did as well. She remembered the secret he had trusted her with on that moonlit walk they took, when the city slept and they were like the little rascals who were still awake at that time of the night.

Still, nobody knew but Sonic and herself. Sonic fancied a girl. For some reason, he hadn't mentioned her name. But he fancied her.

As Rachel looked at the stuffed lamb in Sonic's hands, she envisioned it being like those Valentine's Day gifts you see in things like anime. Proudly presented, either definitely or definitely not winning the heart of its recipient.

As they left the arcade, Rachel was completely empty-handed, and she was perfectly okay with that.

However, Sonic walked ahead while Rachel stopped in her tracks, feeling something under her foot all of a sudden. She stepped back a moment, seeing that laying helplessly on the ground was an elegant purple wallet. She picked it up, looking around for anyone who may have been watching her.

She quickly dove behind the nearest gap between buildings that she could find and opened the wallet, leaving the $20 that was there exactly where it was. Although this had never happened to her before, she had a policy in case it ever did.

If there was identification, there was no excuse to avoid finding the owner. If not, finders keepers.

After peeking through every little slot of the wallet, she found a card that specifically said "This wallet belongs to Blaze the Cat."

She ran in the direction she knew Sonic had gone. She soon found him looking back and forth and knew that he had wondered where she was.

"Would you happen to know who 'Blaze the Cat' is?" she asked.

"O-Oh, yeah!" Sonic stuttered, developing rosy cheeks.

"Wait a minute," said Rachel, fighting the urge to laugh. "Is this 'Blaze' the one you-"

"Yes, okay?!" Sonic laughed. "You've got me… I know I can trust you, right?"

"Yes, yes!" said Rachel. "I found her wallet. Why don't you return it to her?"

At that moment, she thought she heard the word "wallet" emerge from someone else's mouth. She turned around to find a couple of new faces scanning the area.

One was a purple, female cat. She wore a purple dress with white pants and red heels. She had to be a princess of some sort.

The other was a silver-white colored hedgehog with cool-looking boots. They were patterned with a cyan color, black, white, and red. They seemed to be rimmed with gold.

Now, he was just a new face. Now, he meant almost nothing.

Anyway, Rachel realized that the cat was a likely candidate for the owner of this wallet. The light, pastel-like purple of the wallet seemed to accent her purple clothes quite well.

There was no harm in giving it a shot.

She ran over to the pair, holding the wallet out and asking "Excuse me… you wouldn't happen to be Blaze the Cat, would you?"

The cat looked at Rachel with great surprise as she replied "Yes," and took the wallet.

Sonic ran up beside Rachel and waved "Hi, guys! Long time no see, huh?"

"Yeah," the other hedgehog nodded. "Long time no see."

"Thank you," Blaze said to Rachel. "Where did you find it?"

"On the ground outside the arcade," said Rachel, nervously pointing to the arcade's entrance.

"You seem nice," Blaze smiled. "…Are you a friend of Sonic's?"

Sonic proudly answered "Yep, she sure is!"

"What's your name?" asked Blaze.

"I'm Rachel!" Rachel smiled, holding out her right hand. She was glad she held out the right hand this time…

Blaze shook her hand and said "Great to meet you!"

The other hedgehog then shook Rachel's hand and said "I'm Silver! Nice to meet you!"

"I wish we could stay and chat," said Blaze. "But we really must be going. Thank you again, Rachel, for finding my wallet… and NOT stealing everything within it."

"You're welcome!" said Rachel.

At that, they walked away. Silver… Blaze… those were neat names. Why couldn't she have an awesome name like that?

She nervously looked at Sonic and laughed. "Heh… sorry for stealing your thunder, buddy."

"Nah, don't worry about it!" Sonic smiled. He looked at the stuffed lamb, which was still in his hand.

"Aww," said Rachel. "Well… there's always a next time, right?"

"Yeah, I see her a lot," said Sonic.

Rachel spotted the setting sun. Today had been the best day she'd had in ages. It held certainly the most friends she had made in a while. It was the first time she'd been able to breathe fresh air in a while as well.

"It was great hanging out with you today," she said. "But my mother usually wants me home by dark."

"With Eggman running around, I can see why," sighed Sonic. "Just stop me and let me know if you want to spend the day with me again!"

"I'll be sure to remember that!" Rachel chuckled. "Bye!"

"See ya around!" smiled Sonic.

By the time Rachel approached the cabin, she could have sworn that what she was smelling was her dinner. Juicy chicken… deep-fried potato fries… She knew the scent from anywhere.

She walked in, eventually being able to put her plate together and sit down on her bed.

"So," asked Rachel's mother. "How was your day?"

"I got to see Sonic again!" Rachel smiled. "And I returned someone's wallet, therefore making a couple of new friends as well!"

"Oh, great!" her mother cheered. Rachel honestly hated when she was like this, but you know… whatever.

After she finished her plate, Rachel said "Great dinner, mom!"

"Thank you!" her mother grinned. "…Oh, Shadow stopped by while you were out. He wanted me to give you this." She held out a plain, white envelope, with Rachel's name carefully signed on the front.

Rachel took it and opened it excitedly. Inside was a lined piece of paper, but it had a beautiful illustration of a sunset over an ocean on it. Shadow had drawn this? Alright, she really should have known that he had this kind of talent, but she was still surprised.

She looked down to see that within the imaginary light that reflected off of the lake, there were words. A poem.

Your company is much like

The calm movement of the sea:

Peaceful, therapeutic…

Calming to me.

Your compassion bears resemblance

To that of a flower:

Reassuring and sweet,

It gives me power.

The words you speak…

They shed light

Where everything is wrong,

You make it feel right.

You… You're like a storm

As rough as can be

Yet serene, brightening,

And beautiful to me.

Rachel read the poem over and over to assure herself that what she was seeing was real, and not some cheerful dream that had found its way to her mind out of nowhere. Shadow had written this… for her. It wasn't mistakenly mailed to her, yet meant for someone else. It was written for, and meant for, her.

She set it delicately on her bedside table and unlocked her tablet. She knew that once her insomnia finally went away, she'd close her eyes with sweet dreams in mind. She could never have asked for a better friend.

Right before she did close her eyes, she looked out at the moon. The sun had set and let the moon take the spotlight, yet it was only preparing for its next act.

Little did anyone know that they would only be witnesses to Rachel's plot in the musical. A deadly tirade of emotion.

*Shadow's POV*

All night, as Shadow tried to get to sleep, he couldn't help but envision the many different reactions Rachel could have had to his poem. He had put his entire heart and soul into its words. It was almost like he did surgery on his heart and spilled words onto the page. But what would come out of it? A sudden romance? Rachel developing a fear for him? He just wasn't sure.

Author's note: I can't thank you enough for taking precious time out of your day/night to read my work. Please… if you can find it in your heart, leave a review! I would greatly appreciate some solid thoughts on how this is going! I love writing it, and I want to know if you feel the same about reading it!