Author's note: I feel like I should issue a Cheesiness Warning for this as well… but I guess it depends on the definition of "cheesy."

*Rachel's POV*

Dreams of an everlasting warmth crowned Rachel all night that night.

Hiding behind a mask of assumptions was the face that spoke the truth of Rachel's lifelong situation. It wasn't until she truly dived into it that she realized what it really was. It wasn't until she had developed feelings for Silver that she realized what love was. That fog that some other people called "mush" was no longer a myth. Romance was no longer a novel. It was a movie, and she had the role of the victim rather than the sideline dreamer.

Yet there was that last thing that Silver, surprisingly enough, had absolutely no role in.

It wasn't until Rachel arrived at Dreamland did she realize that all along… she had simply been unsure of herself. All along being her entire life before that chilly, seemingly dismal Valentine's Night. It wasn't that she was alone, or that she wasn't valuable. All along, it was simply that she had no clue who she was, or what her place was.

That's really all she could speak of it. Any other detail was entirely too shrouded in oblivion.

But still, when she woke up that morning, she awoke to the realization beaming to her like the morning sunlight. Whatever it was that Shadow had done the previous night, it made her realize that she was valuable. That she was meant to be a living being on Mobius. That her chasing her dreams, whatever those were to be, was perfectly welcome.

That her happiness… was meant to be. She wasn't anything but grateful to Shadow for that.

But how would she thank him without coming off as creepy or strange?

Indeed, she would learn later… there was yet another mysterious barrier between herself and total courage.

She slipped on her coat and opened the door, totally focused on finding Shadow for once. For once in forever, it was Shadow that made her smile the most. It was him that she wanted to spend the day with… and possibly forever?

She ventured to the edge of the forest again, where she caught sight of Sonic. That seemed new, actually.

What should have caught her eye was that he wasn't happily running around like usual. He casually leaned up against a snow-misted tree, not even conversing with anyone…. He simply looked around and gave a solemn sigh here and there.

Rachel was almost scared to bother him.

"H-Hi," she murmured.

Sonic looked up, his eyes lighting up immensely when he saw Rachel.

"Hey!" he smiled, standing more upright. "What's up?"

"Not much, as usual," Rachel sighed. "I dunno what to do with my life, really. Maybe I should look for a job so that when I turn 18, I can get my own place. My own little area where I can sing and not worry about bothering anyone."

"Bother anyone?" Sonic shrugged. "I've only heard good about your voice."

"W-Well, still, though," Rachel continued. "It'd be cool to have a place that I can decorate any way I want to.

"My home's pretty much the great outdoors," Sonic sighed, leaning back up against the tree. "I mean, I have a couple of siblings who live in a house, and I technically live there, too, but I pretty much only sleep there this time of year."

"Ah," Rachel nodded.

"…Arcade?" asked Sonic, perking up a bit.

"Sure, why not?" Rachel smiled.

At that, they both walked to the arcade. Same route as usual: A few steps on soaking, cold grass, then steps down water-glazed pavement alongside gray, polluted snow. You know the time of year if you live somewhere where it snows. At first, the white, fluffy stuff is actually white, fluffy, and beautiful. When it reaches its end, it becomes utterly disgusting.

However, when they reached the doors, they found the manager there, fidgeting with his keys, locking the door, and putting up an explanatory sign.

The manager? Mr. Spencer Ricardo, someone who started out as a clown for kid's birthday parties. He was fired immediately after it was announced that being a clown was a long dead business. He then worked at a pizza place as the tech guy, fixing the place's animatronic animals when they broke. He was fired from that, and soon after, the place was the preferred spot for gangs to hold their initiations, so it was closed down. Now, he was here, working most of the arcade. Rachel remembered hearing this section of his life story while leaning up against the ticket counter alongside Sonic. Rachel constantly had to remind Sonic of bits and pieces of it… because focusing on it was difficult, even for her. Simply the waves of putrid odor that radiated from Spencer… Sonic and Rachel were just barely able to succeed in masking their total disgust.

Enough about that, though. Sonic quickly walked up to the sign on the door and scanned it over.

"Looks like their pipes froze," Sonic sighed.

"Yep," said Spencer. "What's a working arcade without a working restroom?"

"Well," said Rachel. "There's other stuff in this town."

"You sure?" asked Sonic. "Most of it is packed with expensively priced, extravagantly displayed girl's clothing."

"There has to be a nerd place in this town," Rachel huffed.

"We can look for one," Sonic smiled.

"Sure, why not?" Rachel shrugged.

At that, they walked a mile deeper into the bustling town. Saturdays… when the sidewalk traffic made travel a form of dance, and the actual road traffic was a test in itself.

Eventually, Rachel set eyes on the sign of the store that seemed to paint disgust over the glamour of all the surrounding places. F.Y.E, one of the most Heaven-like places for a nerd. They certainly didn't have everything, but everywhere else she could ever look had not half of that perfect nerd stuff that F.Y.E had.

They walked in, almost immediately being caught off guard by that type of atmosphere where the ability to dodge could very possibly become necessary.

And they soon knew why.

By the back wall (the one with all the anime DVDs), they spotted Blaze. She appeared to be running from something. She dashed around the corner, zooming past the shelf of graphic tees.

And almost like that one scratch in the DVD where it skips right as the movie gets extremely captivating… There was Silver, chasing after Blaze with a cardboard monster head over his own head.

This was what she needed. To be pushed back into a pool of confusion and futile thinking. Was it that she necessarily wanted to avoid Silver just because she knew he would throw off the mindset that Shadow had given her? Nah, it couldn't be that drastic. She was still in love with the guy. That, she couldn't deny, no matter what.

She noticed that Sonic had stepped into the action, picking up a nearby foam sword and standing in between Silver and Blaze, putting himself in the place of a dragon slayer. All he did was hit Silver's "head" once with it, and Silver faked a death. Rachel couldn't help but giggle.

She couldn't be bothered to focus on it, but Shadow had been forgotten… yet again.

Silver then got up, took the monster head off, and put it back in its original spot. Sonic did the same with the sword.

"What brings you here?" Blaze asked with a cheerful smile.

"Boredom," Sonic shrugged.

Rachel added "We were cursed with the ancient spell of boredom by a wizard named… life." Being around Silver, that statement sounded disgustingly stupid for a second.

But to her joy, Silver actually chuckled a bit at that statement.

"We were cast the same spell," he said.

"This is completely unrelated, but do you know what I feel like doing?" said Sonic. "Dodgeball."

Rachel's ears perked up a bit. An athlete, she was not, and never would be. Yet there was something about dodgeball that was so much fun to her.

"Hey, that sounds like fun!" said Silver. "…But do we have the dodgeballs?"

"We could probably get a sack of them from the local gym," Sonic replied. "Who's in?! Raise your hands!"

Every one of them, except for Blaze, raised a hand.

"Aw, come on, Blaze!" Silver jokingly whined. "It'll be fun!"

"Maybe for you three," Blaze sighed. "…Then again, that won't work as far as teams go, will it?"

"That's the spirit!" Silver cheered.

"And don't go easy on me, either," said Blaze, surprising the other three immensely. "If I'm doing this, I want a challenge."

About an hour later found them at the town's YMCA, where surprisingly enough, there were only a few people scattered about. Just a few in the fitness room, a couple up on the track, and our main characters in the gym, with a pile of dodgeballs.

"Alright," Sonic began. "What do we do about teams?"

"I'll pick a number between 1 and 20 in my head," said Silver. "Then, you all pick a number, and whichever one's closest is on my team!"

"Gotcha!" Sonic cheered.

Here's how it went. Once Silver gave the signal, the rest of them said a random number between 1 and 20, like instructed. Sonic had picked 12, Blaze had picked 13, and Rachel picked 10.

"Alright," Silver announced. "My number was 9!"

It took a second for it to sink in, but when it did, Rachel froze. That totally meant that she and Silver were a team. She and Silver, this guy that she had pretty much fallen for, were going to be working rather closely together on something, even if it was just a short game.

No matter how short, it meant the world to her.

It gave her a bit of relief when she saw that Sonic's cheeks had even an essence of a rosy color on them. This also meant that he was going to be working with the girl he fancied. She wasn't alone on this.

However, she was ever so slightly afraid. Once the game started, it was basically a mad dash for the dodgeballs, which were all in the same area. Everyone was prone to being hit right off the bat.

Each team separated to opposite sides of the gym. Sonic and Blaze huddled, appearing to be forming a game plan.

And as Rachel would soon learn, she and Silver were on the same page.

"If we both go up there at the same time," he said quietly. "we're completely vulnerable. I say that for that first moment, we set up an offense and defense system. One of us goes up, and one of us hangs back."

"I'll be defense," Rachel sighed. "I have to warn you real quick. I'm good at accuracy throwing, but horrible at power throwing."

"We should still be okay," Silver smiled. "We're smart." He suddenly put a hand on Rachel's shoulder. "And if we're smart, we have a great fighting chance."

He then let go of her shoulder, and they both turned around to begin.

Sure, Rachel was focused on the game, but deep inside, she was still recovering. Recovering from the rush of Silver's touch.

Once Sonic shouted "Go!", Rachel realized that the opposing team must have been thinking the same thing. Both Sonic and Silver went up to the dodgeball piles, picking a couple of them up, and running back, tossing a couple at each other in the process. Neither hedgehog was hit.

"Wait, hold on!" Sonic shouted. "Don't we need some ground rules?"

"True," Silver nodded. "If a ball hits the head, it doesn't count."

"And if a boy goes to throw at a girl," added Sonic. "he has to do so with the non-dominant hand. Alright, are we good?"

"Sounds good to me," Silver nodded.

And the game continued. Dodgeballs sailed across the room and into walls. Surprisingly enough, it took a full minute before anyone was hit with a dodgeball, and that turned out to be Blaze. She went over and sat on the sideline patiently while Silver and Rachel worked to knock Sonic out of the game. Within 30 short seconds, Sonic successfully launched a ball into Silver's knee. He went over and sat by Blaze, joining her in the eager viewing of what was now a 1-on-1 game.

That game ended within 30 seconds, when Rachel was able to hurl a ball toward Sonic and into his knee.

"Well, that's it!" Silver said, getting up, then helping Blaze up. "We won!"

"Good game, everyone!" said Sonic, walking over to Blaze and giving her a high-five. Silver then walked over to Rachel and gave her a high-five as well.

"Nice throw!" he smiled. "And nice dodging as well! I guess you wouldn't go down without a fight!"

"I guess not," Rachel replied with a smile.

Deep down, that smile hid the truth. Here, perseverance reigned because any attacks were coming from the outside world. In the form of rubber dodgeballs.

"I must be leaving now," said Blaze, walking toward the gym doors.

"I have to go as well," Silver sighed. "…To be totally honest, I don't feel right. I need to sort of peek in on what Eggman Nega's up to."

"Good luck on that!" Sonic smiled.

At that, everyone left the gym, and each pair went their separate ways, Sonic with Rachel and Silver with Blaze.

As they walked, Rachel noticed that Sonic was a little tense. His eyes weren't as vibrant as normal.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"…You know what?" Sonic replied. "You're one of my best friends. Well, you're the best I can talk to about what goes on in the heart. I just… worry about Silver and Blaze."

It was like Rachel's stomach had just been pierced with an arrow.

"W-Why's that?" she asked.

"The way Silver helped her up like that," Sonic sighed. "The way he seems to cherish her… I think he likes her."

It was like Rachel's heart had been pierced with an arrow as well. Why, of all things, was this the news he had to utter? Granted, he trusted that she would listen to him, but still.

This is where the tirade began. It began like a severe thunderstorm in the sky, striking brutally and gradually increasing in strength with every few seconds that went by.

Her entire life, Rachel had been strong when those behind her fell weak. She had never let much get to her. She'd be calm and level-headed when someone else in the same situation would be completely pissed off. She had always been that one girl with the iron heart. The girl who knew how to cast deadly optimism to combat the grimness in a situation.

That iron shield cracked and fell off at this moment. Her odd-defying optimism spell had always worked in the past, but that was simply what courage was left in her system. What was left after cancer killed her father, a long 10 years ago. It was this "natural" courage that had let her prevail her entire life… until now.

Now, that true courage that was taken from her at age 5 was desperately needed. She just didn't have the strength to deny that Sonic was probably right. It just… wasn't there.

That iron fist she ruled over life with had been knocked clean off of her hand. She was weak… defenseless against this tirade.

"I… have to go home now," Rachel explained, surprised that the tears had held off this long. "Mom probably wants me back for lunch."

Without another word to be said, or heard, she dashed for home, where, on her bedside table, there was a plate of lunch. Two slices of leftover, super cheesy pizza, and some chips on the side.

She ate a little more quickly than usual, casting her plate off to the side and curling up on her bed under the blankets.

This couldn't be true. She couldn't deny that if a statement like that could make her fall this ill with emotion, she was definitely dealing with something more deadly than simple love.

She may very possibly have been dealing with the soulmate concept.

She was so blinded by worry… by recurring thoughts and daydreams of Silver… that she didn't realize that what was right in front of her would very possibly save her life.

*Silver's POV*

He arrived at the metal building with watchful and eager eyes. The same building he had rescued Rachel from HAD to be housing a new invention of Nega's. His gut had been bothering him about it all day. He had played dodgeball with the others to try to shake it off, but it stuck around and strengthened, so he gave in and decided to give the place a look.

Within the third window, he caught the perfect sight of what he had been looking for. An event of interest… a new invention being perfected by Eggman Nega.

All he knew at the moment was that it appeared to be a glass chamber with a faint, grayish-bluish glow to it. What he'd know later would change his outlook on just about everything.

Author's note: One more shout out to werewolf99 for letting me put an OC of his into a cameo role! Thanks, man! And holy mother of Cheez-Its, it's a huge cliffhanger!... Yes, Cheez-Its. I love them, and I am a fan of Markiplier. Markiplier and Cheez-Its go together, right?