The Crown’s Shadow

by love-ruins-everything

Princess Amy has been faced with more hardships than most princesses her age. Now five years after losing her mother, her father hopes betrothing her to a Prince with a questionable reputation will keep her kingdom at peace. But will her personal Knight see through this Prince’s lies? Or will he lose his Princess and the Kingdom he loves to foreign turmoil?

3. Time Warp

Chapter 3: Time Warp

(3 weeks after the death of Queen Ailinda)

It had been 3 weeks since Amy lost her mother. The hole in her heart from her mothers absence felt all consuming. Chamber maids continued to bring food at meal times, no matter how much of it went to waste. Everyday they replaced an old full breakfast tray with a fresh new lunch tray. Then they replaced an old full lunch tray with a fresh new dinner tray.

Rumors spread throughout the castle that Amy would die if she did not get out of bed; that she would succumb to her wounds due to malnutrition. For once in Amy's life, she didn't care about the castle rumors about her. She didn't care for much of anything these days.

The pain in her abdomen every time she tried to sit up only reminded her of that night. The blood pouring from her side... Her mothers hand squeezing hers… The rain… the smoke… the end.

Just as they did every morning, the chambermaids entered Amy's room followed by the doctors. They opened the curtains, letting the mid morning light shine in the room. Amy groaned and rolled to her side to avoid the light, but winced in pain when she did. Tears welled up in her eyes as she held onto her side and tried not to let them spill over.

The doctors sat by her bedside and waited patiently for her to let them look at her wound.

Amy slowly moved her hands away from her side and pulled back the bed sheets. The doctors went to work, quickly and carefully making sure not to upset Amy.

Amy looked away too embarrassed to look at how mangled her mid side abdomen looked under the bandage. The first time she saw it she wondered if she'd ever heal or if she'd always look like some monster took a bite out of her.

Just as the doctors finished putting fresh dressing on her wound, a knock at the door, far harder and louder than anything a chambermaid could create, rang through the room.

"Are you compromised, Rose?" came her fathers voice through the thick mahogany door to Amy's room.

"No, Father," Amy replied, her mouth so dry and sore her words were hoarse.

In came Amy's father, the King, Cream her lady-in-waiting, and Shadow dressed in his shining black metal armor.

Amy certainly wasn't expecting to see Shadow of all people in her bedroom. Embarrassment and nervousness flooded her system, she drew the covers up to hide her wound dressing, and avoided looking at his face.

"Leave us." The king said, and all the chambermaids and doctors fled the room as quickly as possible in an attempt to not aggravate the king.

"Rose… I'm here to talk about some new rules for you…" the King said, nervously.

"Rules? What rules? I've never broken any of our Castle's rules, why then, tell me, am I receiving more?" Amy almost shrieked, she was so caught off guard and upset. It felt like he brought Cream and Shadow into her room just to watch her be scolded or punished, and embarrassment grew heavier in her.

"It's not like that Rose. The castle… the castle isn't safe any more. You know what happened to your mother and you…," tears welled up in his eyes, his voice broke but he pushed through, "it wasn't an accident. Someone came here to hurt us, to kill us." The King blinked vigorously to keep tears from spilling over.

He sat down on the edge of Amy's bed and reached out to take her hand in his.

"The night of the party. As your mother and I… your mother and I-," tears fell like rain but he ignored them as they overflowed in floods down his cheeks, "as your mother and I danced, we spoke of going for a walk on the little path that led out the castle gates to the lake. That path, as you know, starts where the path from the gardens leads out between the stables and the storehouse.-"

"Where we were walking that night," Amy says, almost cutting him off.

"Yes, where you and your mother were walking when it happened. We were going to send you back inside, escorted by Shadow." The king says, nodding to Shadow beside him.

"I went looking for Shadow before I was to meet up with you and your mother. She told me she wanted to walk and talk with you before we went for our walk to the lake, said she needed to talk with you about things that were important… When I found Shadow he was trailing a suspicious looking guard on duty. We discovered him to be a trespasser, but not just any trespasser-"

"-I don't understand, how could this happen," Amy replied, fear and confusion evident in her voice.

"My Knight Captain was being paid handsomely to turn a blind eye to unverified, unauthorized individuals entering and exiting the castle as they pleased. Our internal research leads us to believe that an organized assassination group set up an attempt on the entire castle."

Shock range throughout Amy's entire being as she tried to wrap her head around the thought of it. The entire castle? Who would want to do something so cruel?

"There were six points of explosives set to go off at the same time during the party. Four of the six points were already set up and in location. Knuckles and Shadow apprehended two of the responsible bombers in the short time they were on guard duty after leaving the party. While Knuckles guarded the two caught bombers, I discovered Shadow apprehending the third bomber and questioning them. As we interrogated him in the further corner of the east wing courtyard, we heard the explosion in the west wing. At my age I was not fast enough to get there as quickly as Shadow so I sent him ahead to monitor and control the situation. That's how he got to you in time," the King finished explaining the night's events and Amy just stared, first at him, then Shadow, in complete shock.

"Who would want to do something like this," Amy demanded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We believe the bombers were a team of trained assassins from the Eggman Empire. Their goal was to detonate six points across the kingdom that would weaken the infrastructure of the buildings, take out armed guards and insight panic throughout the castle. When this was achieved they would then move to kill all

Court officials and any civilians on site, including the royal family and members of parliament." Shadow said.

Amy's tears overflowed but she listened as her father built off what Shadow said, adding, "When the guards started catching members of the bomb assassination team, they called off the mission. But when they saw you and your mother in the courtyard and couldn't find me, they prematurely made their strike, blowing up the storehouse and fatally wounding you mother."

The room grew quiet, nothing but the sound of Amy's held back sobs could be heard. She tried her best to compose herself. It was obvious to her now that while she was wasting away in bed, everyone else was properly mourning and figuring out where to go and what to do from here. Amy still couldn't bear to speak about what happened out loud, let alone gather information and discuss it with others.

This wasn't a wellness check up on Amy; this was an intervention. Everyone in the room around her was here to help her face reality.

"Why did they do this?" Amy whispered her question, terrified her voice would crack.

"So far we've gathered that this was an attack set in motion by the Eggman Empire to weaken our nation and take over the Kingdom of Mobania. They knew how heavily the people of our country relied on the royal family and parliament to lead and protect them. With the entire royal family, all of parliament, and court officials all assassinated, they could attack the Kingdom while it was weak. Without us the country would fall into mass chaos… what would have been left of the national guard that wasn't infiltrated by assassins, would've struggled to lead the people in a rebellion against an assault by the Eggman Empires forces." The King answered.

More silence followed, then Shadow spoke up.

"This royal family has managed to lead their people through hunger, disease, drought, famine, and border disputes with more success than any other nation when tasked with the same problems. The same famines that wiped out other kingdoms or gave rise to anarchy, was not only survived, but counteracted by Mobania . Every natural disaster, every attack on your people that was meant to weaken them did not break them, it strengthened them. Your nation is known and respected by all thanks to your family's leadership and can hold its own against any other nation with ease. The Eggman Empire knew if it wanted to conquer the continent of Chaos, its biggest enemies would be Mobania and the United Federation. Eggman hired trained assassins to take out the royal family, weaken the nation, and conquer it." Shadow said. More silence entered the room. Amy's head spun as she tried to wrap her head around this nonsense. My mother died because someone wanted to overthrow our kingdom? The more she thought about it the sicker she felt. The world was a cruel and heartless place. And now more than ever she wanted no part in it.

"Why are you here?" Amy snapped at Shadow, as she questioned him with far too much coldness in her voice.

He hung his head in disappointment and took a step back from her, not answering her.

"Rose. Our last regimen of knights proved to be weakened with times of peace, lack of morals, and more care for money than the safety of this kingdom. As it stands I have banished two-thirds of my knights and councilmen for the parts they played in our kingdom's attack. Which believe you and me is a punishment far lighter than they deserve, but your mother never believed in capital punishment and I will not squander her legacy by disrespecting her morals due to my own anger…

With this in mind, I need now more than ever the kingdom to be protected, for you to be protected.

Silver is the most trusted leader for this kingdom after myself. As our nation's Military General, he as well as I, have given our blessing to knight Shadow. He not only proved himself the night of the castle's attack, but his background check has come back completely clear.

He has plans to bring about a new knights order that will bring respect and pride to those that are protected by them. Shadow ran the strongest Knights regimen in the Ark Kingdom before it was overthrown, and every last one of his knights fought to the very end without surrender or abandoning their post. Those who did not perish have been trying to enter the Knights ranks here in Mobania just as Shadow did. Now that I've seen their skills and know what he can do, I'm placing Shadow as head Knight, and left hand to the King. He will work closely with Silver, right hand to the King, in an effort to keep this castle and kingdom safe from any more attempts from the Eggman Empire." The King finished his speech and waited for Amy to respond.

Amy was speechless. She thought she might faint if she were standing up, but thankfully Amy was still lying down in bed. Before she could say anything the king continued on.

"Aside from taking over the knights training and leading as head knight, his other duty will be you."

"Me?" Amy asked, startled as she began to blush deeply, "what do you mean I'm his duty?"

"I mean he will be in charge of your safety from sunup to sundown. He will be your personal knight whose objective is the role of bodyguard. He will personally guarantee your safety at all times," The King said.

"You can't be serious? He can't watch me day in and day out. And how will he train the other knights? This is all insane," Amy said, her blush deepening at the thought spending every waking hour with Shadow.

"My point precisely. Shadows men from his knights in the Ark Kingdom have been located and knighted into the castle regimen. You will accompany Shadow every day over the next few months while he trains the kingdom's knights. He will be keeping an eye on you as he trains his knights to guard you, they will learn to keep posts outside your room while you sleep and escort you across the castle grounds. Once Shadow, Silver, and I are confident in his training of the troops, you will be free to move about the castle as you wish instead of following Shadow to work training the new knights. Afterwards, all of his free time will be kept guarding you unless he has business with me or training. When he is busy you will be trusted with his knights. Twenty-four-seven protection at all times." The King said as Amy stared in disbelief.

"You can't possibly think this is reasonable. This is insane and it'd never work!" Amy huffed, and she tried to sit up, only to be met with a shock of pain as she clung to her side and laid back down.

"Rose, please, calm yourself!" The king shouted, fear in his eyes. He knelt down beside her bed and took her closest hand in his.

"I do think this is a good idea and I should've done it long ago, long before I let this happen to you and to your mother…" he said, tears filled his eyes.

"We got careless… we had peace… the kingdom was thriving, the people were happy. We were enjoying the fruits of our labors and as we did, the enemy snuck into our backyard… I got complacent, your mother and me, we relaxed, forgot about the evil of this world and the threats that live outside our kingdom. We relaxed too much, and it cost your mothers life and nearly cost us your life too... I know this is hard to hear," her father said, looking deep into her eyes, "but I know this is the right thing to do… I can't lose you too," he finished speaking and bowed his head down, touching his forehead to their joined hands.

"Amy, this is necessary… you know that," Cream said quietly, breaking up the silence.

"I concede," Amy replied after a long silence. The room felt lighter than previously, as if all the secrets being let out had cleared the air and everyone could breathe easier.

As Amy's father stood up beside her bed, composing himself, Amy threw the covers on her bed back in one swift motion.

Her side acked and she felt under dressed in her night gown which she hadn't expected in her wildest dreams that she would ever have Shadow see, but especially not on his second time ever seeing her.

Slowly, Amy sat up in bed, ignoring the pain that throbbed in her side. She began to pant and her head grew light but she pushed through the pain as she simultaneously pushed herself up off the bed. Everyone in the room moved a step closer, preparing to catch her.

The King opened his mouth to object but Amy held up a hand, warning him not to argue it.

When she was fully standing straight and not swaying or crouched over in pain, she turned to look straight at Shadow.

With pain in her side and determination in her mind, Amy took one, two, three, four shakey steps toward shadow until she was staring at the dark metal of his chest plate.

When she caught her breath, she looked straight up at him, staring deep into his eyes and spoke.

"Can you protect me?"

"Yes, your majesty," he responded.

"Can you keep my home safe?" She asked.

"Yes, your majesty," he replied again.

"Will you repay my fathers trust in you with honor and loyalty?" She asked.

"Absolutely," he replied, his dark Ruby eyes burning as he looked into her eyes.

"Then I agree to the terms presented," Amy responded, more to her father than to Shadow.

"Help me back to bed," Amy whispered and immediately Shadow and Cream grabbed her arms and helped her back into bed.

When Amy got settled into bed, she looked to her father and announced, "Tell the staff this will conclude my mourning period. It has gone on long enough and my mother would be most displeased with my behavior during her immediate absence. Please send an official apology to the staff as my manners have been most unbecoming of a princess."

With her eyes closed and hands clasped in her lap Amy continued speaking, "please request a fresh meal tray from the kitchen as I will be eating today."

The King's eyes watered and tears threatened to pour over, and he fell to his knees back at his daughters beside. "You're back… my daughter, she's back…" he sobbed into the sides of her bedsheets.

Cream left the room, no doubt to get the food herself, and not long after chambermaids peeked their heads in the doorway, probably to see that the Princess was finally speaking again.

"Please inform the castle physicians that I wish to start physical therapy tomorrow. Shadow has a lot of work to do fulfilling his commitments to this Kingdom. I do not wish to delay him any longer than I may already have," Amy said, and before the king could reply, Cream came running back in with a fresh hot breakfast tray, tears steadily running down her face.

"Rose, my darling, please continue to rest… one cannot simply stop mourning when they are not ready. Shadow will begin training at once, but he will start his bodyguard duties a week from today. Eat… get your strength up… get some fresh air...

At the end of this week, we are holding an official ceremony to knight Shadow and the rest of his men. I want you well enough to knight them yourself," The king said as he stood up and bowed down to kiss Amy's forehead.

"Yes father," Amy responded, confirming her duties and the expectations he laid out before her.

This was her life. This was her responsibility. Take orders and execute them perfectly. Although her mother was gone, nothing had changed, she realized. Her duty was still to her kingdom first and foremost. She had spent far too much time putting herself before her kingdom, mourning far too long and too deeply for her mother when she should've been recovering and mourning the loss her kingdom had suffered.

With that her father took his leave and Shadow with him. Cream sat by Amy's side and helped set up her food tray to be eaten comfortably in bed.

The food sat heavy on her stomach, she thought she might pass out from the overwhelming nausea eating caused her. But she knew it was because she hadn't eaten in so long, so she pushed through, without a second thought on the matter.

Amy stared out the window, admiring the morning sky as she continued eating her first meal in weeks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( Four weeks after the death of Queen Ailinda )

The ceremony hall was quiet as Amy looked out into the large crowd before her. Members of Parliament sat in the front, followed by nobility, then the castle staff. All members of the court and those who lived and worked in the castle were present to see the King present the new members of the kingdom's guard and watch Amy knight them.

This was Amy's least favorite part of being a princess. There was no doubt by those that knew her that she was born to care for and lead her people. But being in the middle of public displays for a large audience was not her forte. It made her nervous and overwhelmingly anxious to be in crowds so large with so many people watching her every move. It was bad enough she had an audience watching her day in and day out through the castle and during her studies, but formal important ceremonies like this made her sweat. She hadn't felt this nervous since her mothers birthday party. The familiar anxiety coupled with the memories of her last day with her mother made her feel like she was going to drown.

Amy stood at the front of the ceremony hall in a white column dress with juliet sleeves. The bottom hem was sewn with intricate gold embroidery patterns, and her juliet sleeves were cuffed by thick gold armband bracelets encrusted with small red rubies. She wore a golden pendant necklace with rubies on it as well. She wore her mothers old ceremonial tiara,The Kent Diamond and Pearl Fringe Tiara. Her hair fell in loose waves at both sides of her head, she had braided her hair the night before and Cream simply undone the braids and let her hair fall into the set pattern woven into it.

Her father wore a similar outfit, dressed in a white ceremonial tunic with golden embroidery work. He wore his king's coat, a deep red satin robe with gold thread work which bore their family's coat of arms on it.

He sat in the ceremony rooms thrown and held in one had a gold orb and in the other hand a gold scepter, holy items used to represent the king's blessings for the ceremony. He wore the Crown of Christian IV, a crown passed through the kingdom's royal history for the purpose of showing honor in ceremonies.

Amy stood by her fathers side, holding a longsword with a gold hilt. It rested in a scabbard tied at her waist side, and before her and her father stood all the knights Shadow had been training this week.

Shadow assured her father that the previous knights training under Shadow's strict regimen in the Ark Kingdom are still as fresh in their minds and muscles, and that they simply needed a refresher in the new kingdom with new rules and regulations.

Amy quietly stood by her father seated at the throne and listened as he started the ceremony. He first acknowledged the tragedy of last month's events, the passing of the queen, and the panic that followed it. He reassured the nobility and members of the court present that the kingdom was just as strong as it always had been.

He assured the crowd that the queen's duties would soon be taken care of and caught up on by Amy, who took longer than the doctors expected to heal. He then assured the crowd that Amy had made a full recovery in body, mind, and spirit.

Amy gave a smile and made sure her eyes matched to sell it; no one would know it was a fake smile. As Amy's father continued to insite confidence and security into the people, Amy thought about the situation she had put them in.

Amy was no stranger to lying, and neither were her parents. As the royal family it was their job to keep the people calm and happy. Morale can be the difference between life or death on the battlefield, during a famine, and in times of weakness.

If the people in this room do not believe her or her father have bounced back from this attack, they could spread rumors of a broken castle. Not only would this weaken the hearts and spirits of the commoners when they received the news, if word got out to their enemies, they may be more enticed to attack the nation if they assume it's weakened from mourning.

Amy had to hold strong during this ceremony. Her lifeless mourning period had already caused grave damage to her reputation and image as a ruler. She put uncertainty in the minds of those who expect strength and resilience from the royal family.

Her father was trying to spin a story of resilience in the face of tragedy. The nation was mourning the loss of the queen too. The king and princess had to show resolve and strength in order to maintain peace and security in the nation.

This entire ceremony was meant to show the people a newly strengthened force behind the Crown, ensuring safety and peace of mind to those in doubt.

Amy straightened up her posture and smiled brighter as her father finished his speech.

He looked to Amy who took a few steps forwards and unsheathed the longsword on her hip.

She held it firmly in both hands, the weight of it pulled at her forearms and upper back but she stood tall and steady despite the ache in her side.

One by one men and a few women dressed in formal non active duty armor kneeled before Amy.

Amy spent all week in her chambers eating, working with physical therapy, and memorizing every knight in Shadows regimen who would be knighted in the ceremony.

Lilac Walrus? Rotor. Brown Lion? Smithy. White Tiger? Jian. Fuschia Chameleon? Espio. Cyan Ocelot? Slinger. Cream Wolf? Whisper. Yellow Bee? Charmy. Green Crocodile? Vector.

Amy pushed through her pain as she knighted each one. First she laid the side of the sword's blade onto their right shoulder. Then she raised the sword just over their head, then she flipped it counterclockwise so that the same side of the blade would come in contact with the knight's left shoulder ever so slightly.

"I dub thee Sir Rotor. Arise and receive your sword from General Silver….. I dub thee Dame Joan. Arise and receive your sword from General Silver….. I dub thee Sir Espio. Arise and receive your sword from General Silver….." Amy rolled through the names, officially branding them as knight's and knightess's of the Crown.

When Amy got to the last knight, her face grew hot and her heart began to pound. The ache in her side faded away as she struggled to keep her eyes from bursting as she turned to look at him.

Shadow. He stood steady and proud behind his regimen, Amy had felt his gaze on her the entire time she knighted them, but avoided them until now for fear of exactly this.

Every time his eyes met hers, she grew like a fire and her mind fussed over. The room started closing in on her, and she felt the familiar calmness that found her on the dance floor that night.

As she moved back to her fathers sides, Shadow approached her and the King.

The King remained seated, Amy standing at his left side, Silver standing at his right side, Shadow kneeled in front of Amy and her father.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, known as Shadow the Ultimate Lifeform. You bow before us to pledge your life to the service of the royal family and the Crown," the King said, unmoving, his voice carried through the whole room and echoed off the marble walls.

"Yes, your majesty," Shadow responded, not looking up as he kept his head bowed in honor.

"Does thy wish to abandon thyself, and be sword and shield for the sake of the greater good?"

"Yes, your Highness." Shadow responded again, without raising his head.

"Resite your oath so that we may honor you as you have honored us," the King replied, his face showing no sign of emotions one way or another.

Shadow lifted his head up and looked straight into Amy's eyes.

"I, Shadow the Hedgehog, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to the Kingdom of Mobian, my liege, to defend and obey the crown until the king departs his demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood." Shadow spoke loud and clear, and although he said it to the King, his eyes never moved from Amy's, as though he were pledging himself solely to her.

Her knees grew weak and she thought she'd buckle from the weight of her sword, but she found the strength in his gaze to remain standing tall.

Amy gathered every bit of courage, sanity, restraint, and composure she had left in her bones. She lifted the heavy longsword up, dropping it slowly to one shoulder, "I dub thee…" she lifted the sword over his head, resting it on his other shoulder, "Sir Shadow, Knight Captain, and Left Hand to the King." Amy announced as proudly as she could. She placed her sword back in its sheath and approached Silver, holding both hands out, palms up and flat. He placed a large, heavy, dark black metal sword in Amy's hands. It was not like the other new Knights swords. Those were all standard knight swords, one of hundreds just like it. This sword was custom made for Shadow and the honor he was receiving.

She slowly walked back over to Shadow who was still kneeling in front of the King.

She stood in front of Shadow beside the King and slowly lowered the sword into his outreached hands.

As he took the sword the room erupted into cheers from the courts.

A member of parliament approached the king to retrieve the ceremonial golden orb and scepter, which he took and left with followed by other members of parliament.

The king encouraged everyone to make their way to the ball room for a light lunch and music to celebrate the new knights.

As everyone made their way to the left side of the room heading for the doors that adjoined the ceremony hall to the banquet hall, Amy made her way to the back of the room to head out the door and back to her room.

"Has my good fortune for the night ended so soon? Tell me, how will I bear this party now without your presence?," said a deep, familiar stranger's voice.

"My apologies for the haste, Sir Shadow," Amy said, stopping dead in stride but without turning around to face him, "however, I seem to have lost my ability to bear this party with or without your presence." Amy made her intentions of leaving known yet she stayed in place, she could feel his gaze burning through the back of her head. When it was all too much, she moved to take a step forward toward her exit. As she went to take her first stride, a gloved hand grasped her hand in it, and with a very gentle, non commanding tug, she spun around to face Shadow.

With her hand resting in his, she looked up into his piercing red eyes as he spoke, "You have given me an honor I can never repay you for. Allow me to honor you. Stay here, enjoy the party. Your mother would want you to be happy."

"You don't know what my mother would want!" Amy snapped at him, yanking her hand from his and wrapping both her arms around herself as she took half a step back, now standing sideways to him. His ears laid flat against his fur and she watched out of the corner of her eyes as his whole mood and demeanor seemed to shrink right before her.

"Your majesty, I am so, so very sorry… I overstepped," he took a small step back and bowed his head deeply.

Just as he moved to turn away and leave Amy's broken heart leaped out of her chest and she called out to him, "Wait!" He froze, turning his head to look at her, regret etched on his face.

"In my haste to escape, I've forgotten my duty-," Amy said.

"I do not seek your company because it is one's duty. I seek your company because you are the only person here, outside of my knights, who won't make me feel alone…" he said, eyes glossy and Amy could've sworn she saw his face get redder.

"Let me finish," Amy said before repeating herself, "In my haste to escape, I've forgotten my duty… But it is because of my inability to cope with my mothers death that I have pushed away everyone who was once close to me.

I do not wish to start our friendship out with such distance between us." Amy finished her statement and closed the gap between them as she did.

"I meant what I said when I said I wasn't ready for a party," Amy looked straight into his eyes, as her heart melted, her mouth began to crack a small smile, and his ears shot up as his eyes brightened.

"But if you're not opposed to the notion of your first act as Knight Captain being breaking some rules, you can come raid the kitchen with me," Amy said now sporting a wide, toothed grin.

Before Shadow could respond, Amy grabbed him by the hand and began running for the back door.

The pain in her side was overshadowed by the first feeling of joy she'd felt since her mother died. She erupted into a fit of giggles as they ran down the hall to the castle kitchen and though he wouldn't admit it, Shadows let out a chuckle of joy.

His heart raced as she held tightly onto his hand. As quickly as she had whisked him away, she just as quickly dropped his hand when they entered the kitchen, and much to his surprise he was disappointed when she did.

Resisting the urge to reach back out and grab her hand again, he clasped his hands behind his back and assumed his position as he watched her.

She lifted a metal lid off a flat serving tray to reveal cakes, cookies, and pies of random assortments.

"You'll ruin your appetite," Shadow laughed as he approached her.

"That's the point," the princess winked as she stuck her tongue out at Shadow, teasing like a child.

"Here, try this, it's my favorite," Amy said as she held up a fork with strawberry shortcake on it.

"No thank you," Shadow laughed, "I'm not much of a sweet tooth."

"Booooo, no fun!" Amy laughed, "More cake for me!" She smiled as she stuck the fork full of cake in her mouth. Her eyes lit up and she smiled as she placed her hand on her cheek and tilted her head to the side, "It's sooooo good~"

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Shadow chuckled again as he watched her.

"Oh come on! You have to try at least one treat with me!" Amy begged with little puppy dog eyes.

Shadow almost keeled over right then and there, and he grabbed his chest in a feeble attempt to keep his heart from beating too hard. His face grew red at the sight of her cute demeanor and he was sure that she could hear his heart beating fast and loud, because it was all that he could hear. When he realized that she was still waiting on an answer, she took in the deepest breath he could and gathered himself back together before speaking.

"I tell you what," he said, nervous that his answer would upset her, but holding faith that she'd find it endearing.

"I'll try whatever you want me to if you accompany me back to this party afterwards."

Amy's eyebrows knitted together in confusion for a split second before they dropped down in concentration.

She put her hand on her chin, pretending to think hard on his proposal, and his heart lifted when he realized she wasn't offended by the request.

"Welllllll…" she said, her eyes rolling up in a playful manner, "I did say that I wasn't in the mood for parties…" Shadow's stomach tied in knots as he hoped she wouldn't be pissed that he brought the party back up after she'd already told him no.

"Buttttt… it is kinda a party to celebrate you… Be kinda weird if you didn't show up… what would the king think?!?" Amy gasped playfully as if she was in shock.

Shadow's eyes grew wide though, as he was actually shocked. He'd forgotten all about the king and his knights! What would they think if he ditched the party?!? Or worse, was caught, alone, in the kitchen stealing snacks with the princess! The thought made him grow sick with worry but before he could say anything Amy laughed, and then picked up a beignet with powdered sugar and honey on it, and held it out to Shadow.

"Here, try this one and then we'll head back out to the party," Amy smiled, her eyes closed, as she held out the beignet.

Shadow reached out with his hand and gently grabbed her wrist, holding the beignet still. Amy's eyes flashed open when he touched her, and as they locked eyes, Shadow bit a bite off the beignet in her hand. Amy's face grew hot and flushed at the sight of him so close to her and the feeling of his hand holding her wrist still.

She watched nervously as Shadow chewed and swallowed the treat. He smiled a crooked grin, flashing a few teeth her way, and said, "Not bad princess, I like it."

She grew increasingly nervous under his intense stare.

Why did that make her feel so hot and breathless? All he did was eat the food she asked him to try..

She swallowed hard and tried to regain her composure.

"I was hoping you'd like it... It was my mothers favorite," she said, trying to dispel the sexual tension in the air. She coughed quietly to clear her throat then said, "So then… Care to escort me to this party?" She said, staring deep into his eyes.

He smiled, held out his arm for her to hold, and said, "It would be my pleasure, princess."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 5 weeks after the death of Queen Ailinda )

The bright sun of the morning burned at Amy's eyes. It has been far too long since she'd been outside the castle walls. The knighting ceremony party last weekend took a lot out of Amy. She danced with Shadow, met each of the knights personally, and enjoyed treats and music with her father. The night started off with huge nervous energy. Of course a castle party didn't feel quite the same without the queen. But for the first party after her death, this one went well without any drama or accidents, which is all anyone can ask for.

The early morning air made Amy shiver, but she refused to hide in her room any longer. She had duties to attend to and she could ignore them no longer.

Now that her mother was out of the picture, Amy would have to take on the duties of the late queen. She had learned how to do them already, and assisted her mother with some of her duties before, but never had she fulfilled all those duties completely by herself.

As Amy walked through the courtyard, her nervousness grew more intense as she walked the familiar path her mother and her had walked before.

Just as Amy was about to walk into the stables, a flash of red chaos energy appeared and disappeared before her very eyes. Then, a heavy armored, gloved hand rested softly on her shoulder but gripped her tight enough to let her know she was in trouble.

She turned around to meet the stone cold metal of Knight Captain Shadow's helmet. She could tell even without looking at his face that he was displeased.

"Where were you," he said, his towering height difference made her feel like she was being scolded by a giant.

She avoided looking at him so she looked away, but responded, "I was doing my morning duties," Amy stated simply and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Your morning duties start at 7am. You left your room before the crack of dawn," he said, hiding the anger in his voice poorly.

"My duties start when I say so," Amy said, pointing her finger at the beast plate on his suit of armor.

"I am not a child, and I will not rely on others to slow me down," Amy said, glaring up at him, she pulled the visor on his helmet up to see his face. She was met with icy cold angry eyes, and as much as she wanted to take a step back, she stood her ground, threw her hands on her hips and refused to break eye contact.

"Is that why you snuck out your window this morning?" He asked with an icy cold tone. "My guards waiting outside to escort you to your duties would slow you down?"

Amy was completely taken aback, and his icy cold tone made her heart ache. How did he know she avoided his guards all together by jumping out the window?

"I- we'll.. I uhhm-'' Amy's face grew hot and embarrassment crept in, she'd been caught in a lie and it didn't feel good at all lying to him. "I don't have to answer to you!" Amy stammered as she got caught up on her words.

"You may not have to answer to me, but I have to answer for you. I am responsible for you, your health, and your safety every day, every second of every hour." He said so coldly that it made Amy's quills shiver.

"And if you fell out of that window and broke your neck?"

Amy did not answer, she wrapped her arms around her stomach and hung her head in shame.

"I may be the King's left hand, but I am your sword and shield. Your duty is to fill your mothers shoes. My duty is to protect and aid you." Amy felt the shame rise up in her the more he spoke. She knew he was right.

In truth she was only avoiding him to avoid any more intense or emotional moments with him like she had when they first met or when she knighted him.

The more time she spent with him, the more she craved his attention and company, and she knew he was not in her plans as princess.

Shadow took a step closer to her and reached out with his hand. He cupped her chin carefully and slowly lifted her head up to meet his gaze. His hand on her face sent shivers down her spine again, her face grew red, and he was so close she could swear he was close enough to kiss her.

"Please don't hide from me any more." She knew he was referring to his job, referring to protecting her and keeping watch on her, but it felt like more than that. Her heart was pounding so hard she wanted to lean forward and kiss him right then and there, and she might have done just that if he weren't wearing his helmet.

She pulled together all the strength she could and answered him quickly and quietly, in fear that her voice would crack under the pressure. "Yes Sir."

He let go of her chin and took a step back, turning red at the realization that he had put them in a compromising position, he muttered back a quick, "thank you" and they resumed business.

Shadow accompanied Amy into the Stables to evaluate the work that the construction crew was doing on the damaged building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 1 year, 2 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

"What's this I hear about a secret club," Shadow said, scaring the breath out of Amy. She clinched the book tightly in her hands and swatted it at the forearm of Shadows armor, causing a low thunk noise.

He laughed as he relieved the knight who was accompanying Amy to the library of their princess watch duty.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning, Sir Big!" Amy called after the knight in playful anger. The Cat turned bright red and shoved his helmet back on his head before quickly leaving the library.

"You make him nervous," Shadow laughed.

"He should be. How dare he not warn me you were going to sneak up behind me and scare me like that!" And laughed and she joked along with Shadow.

"I thought you had business to attend to today. Why are you back so early?" Amy asked, as she flipped through the shelves of the library looking for another book.

"Ah ah ah, I asked you a question first princess," he replied, dodging her question entirely. "What do you and your new bestie have cooking up," he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Whatever could you be talking about?" Amy said, also dodging questions, as she flipped through the pages of a book scanning the words on the page.

"Hmmm, let me see if I have it," Shadow said, reaching behind the breastplate of his armor to pull out a parchment of paper. A familiar, pink parchment of paper.

"Hey that's mine!" Amy shouted as she jumped for the paper, Shadow holding it just out of reach. Amy jumped up again and reached as far above his head as she could, holding onto his shoulder to try to push herself up above him. Shadow, almost falling over from the force of Amy jumping on him, grabbed her waist and held her against him as he steadied his stance to keep from falling.

"Ah ah ah! You submitted this to the King for review, completely bypassing Parliament. Since parliament is not permitted to see this, it was reviewed by the king's council," he said smugly.

Amy groaned in protest and pulled away from Shadow, giving up her attempt to relieve her paper, she covered her face with her hands and groaned again in embarrassment.

"Oh gods, you saw my proposal!" She said, embarrassed.

"You want to start a secret club?" He teased.

"No!… Rouge does," Amy signed as she sat down at one of the library tables, putting her head down in defeat.

"So it didn't go over too well, I take it?" Amy asked.

"Your father doesn't know what to make of it, he's having a hard time wrapping his head around it. It would've been better if you would've presented the idea in person before the council." Shadow replied.

"I wanted to! But Rouge is too scared to. She's only been here a few years and she's scared the king won't trust her. Or worse yet, that he'll deport her from the Kingdom of Mobania." Amy sighed.

"Rose, just explain it to me. I'll talk to your father," Shadow said. Amy sighed but lifted her head and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, but you can't interrupt and you can't be mad at me," Amy responded, she searched his eyes for any hints of anger, but was met with only a quizzical look.

He nodded, and reached his hand across the table and held on to the top of her hand. "I promise," he said.

With a deep sigh and a lot of worry, Amy began.

"Rouge is a former citizen of the Eggman Empire," Amy decided to start the story at its worst spot and try to get better. Shadows grip around Amy's hand tightened and his eyes grew wide but he didn't interrupt her, just as he promised.

"Rouge was born in the Eggman Empire where she was raised by her parents. As she grew up she realized her nation wasn't the shining beacon of good morals that it had convinced its citizens it was. Most citizens lived in poverty, and fear of being murdered by those in charge. Rogue's parents were part of a secret rebel alliance that was looking to free the citizens of the Eggman Empire from the wrath of Dr. Eggman. But when her parents affiliations with being rebel leaders was discovered, her house was attacked and they were murdered. Rouge was young so the kingdom took her and enlisted her in the nation's military afterwards. There was no such thing as homelessness in the Eggman Empire. You're either useful or you're dead. Those are the only options. Rouge spent most of her childhood as a low ranking child soldier. When the Eggman Empire made its move to take over Ark Kingdom, Rouge made her big escape. She traveled through countless kingdoms across the continent of Chaos searching for refuge. Every time she was honest about her past she was deported or attempts on her life were made. When she made it to Mobania, she kept her past a secret in order to not be exiled back to the Eggman Empire." Amy finished and searched Shadows' eyes for answers.

He took in a deep breath, closed his eyes, slowly breathed out, then opened his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" He said, a touch of anger in his voice.

"I was scared.. I-"

"Do you not trust me after all these years?" He said coldly, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"No! That's not it, I swear!" Amy said, tears welling up in her eyes. This is why she was afraid to tell him.

"I trust you to care for me and protect me. I trust you to do the right thing no matter what. I was scared that you would eliminate Rouge from my life if you believed she was a threat to my safety or well being-" Amy rambled on but was interrupted by Shadow.

"-Do you trust her?" He asked.

"Do I?- What?" Amy asked, startled by his interruption.

"Do you trust her?" He said, loud and clear.

"…Yes…" Amy replied, scared to look at him, so she looked away.

"Then I will investigate her story myself. If it's true, I will tell the King myself."

"You can't do that! If the King found out… he'd never allow this!" Amy responded, shocked.

"I won't tell him I'm going to investigate Rouge. I'll tell him I'm going to investigate the attack on the castle, the attempt that took the Queen's life." He responded.

"No, I won't let you do that! You can't go hunting down stories, there's no telling where you'll end up!" Amy argued, fear rising up in her chest as she saw where the conversation was heading.

"I'm not going to chase stories. I'm going to infiltrate the Eggman Empire."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 1 year, 3 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

Amy stood atop the castle walls, watching the road that led to the castle gates. It had been 2 weeks since she had watched Shadow and two of his men disappear down that path heading to the Eggman Empire.

Tears welled up in her eyes as the sun began to set and she watched another dusk appear without knowing anything about whether Shadow was even okay.

Jian the Tiger gave Amy a gentle pat on the back, "There, there Princess. It'll be okay. I know my captain and he's not going to get busted up by some old egg head. He'll be back before you know it," she said with a reassuring smile.

Rouge came flying in from behind them and landed on the castle wall beside Amy.

"Amy-" before she could finish Amy cut Rouge off, "Rouge this is all my fault! If he doesn't come back this is all my fault!" Amy said, throwing herself into Rouge's arms.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you Amy-"

"What am I going to do? What will happen to the knights and my father? What if he doesn't come back? What will I-"

"I'm surprised you missed me that much," A deep and familiar voice called out from behind Amy.

"Good to see you, Captain!" Jian said.

Amy turned to see Shadow, he had dirt and soot all over him, his clothes, his fur, and face. He wore loose trousers and a plain long sleeve shirt with a huge poncho-cape like cloth draped over his shoulders and around his neck. These clothes had tears, rips, and holes all over it, and some spots on the cloaks were stained with dried darkened blood.

"Shadow!" Amy shouted, and before he could put his backpack down she had tackled him full force to the ground.

"I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Rose please! I'm disgusting, just looking at your dress now.." he replied, sitting up with her in his lap, trying to get her to stand back up so she wouldn't ruin her dress any further. Try as he may, the pink princess would not budge as she wailed and cried.

"You said you'd be gone one week, not two!" Amy shouted, hitting shadows armors breast plate over and over again with her tiny gloved fist.

"I know I'm sorry, we got caught up on the way home. I tried sending word back but we made it home before the messenger could," Shadow said sheepishly.

"You could've chaos controlled here! You could've gotten here instantly," Amy replied, sniffing back tears, as she sat up, attempting to stand up.

"I know," Shadow responded, standing up and helping Amy to her feet, "but Vector was injured. I didn't want Knuckles to have to assist him home alone. What if they were ambushed by highwaymen?" He searched her face for any hints of forgiveness.

Amy brushed her dress off, her bottom lip poked out and pouting the whole time. She looked at him with those big emerald green eyes and his heart melted. Seeing her was the only thing pushing him to get home as soon as possible.

"I suppose I understand," Amy pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"If I teleported away from them I would've never been able to teleport back. We took so many lesser traveled back roads to get there that we almost got lost a time or two. There's no way I could remember the location well enough to teleport back to them."

"I can forgive that, but what is this!" Amy snapped back, all pouting abandoned, as she glared at his outfit.

"Did you get hurt?" Amy asked, picking apart Shadows shirt and poncho. "Where is your armor?"

"We had to leave it behind, couldn't risk being discovered, and the guards' uniforms made us stick out too much. Most of the Eggman Empire is poverty stricken, and the military can't afford uniforms so they wear common mercenary attire. So we did too," Shadow replied, while trying to cover certain holes on his shirt.

"Did you get shot?!?" Amy shouted, snatching one corner of Shadows shirt up, revealing an abdominal dressing that rapped across his entire lower stomach.

"Tis just a scratch," he said ever so calmly. Rouge let out a small chuckle and Shadow joined in laughing at his joke.

"That's not funny!" Amy shouted, "We're going to the infirmary right now!" Amy grabbed Shadows' dirty backpack in one hand and his arm in another and began dragging him to the Castle Wall stairwell to take him back inside the castle.

"I've missed this," Shadow laughed as he nuzzled the top of Amy's head with his cheek.

"I've missed you too, ya jerk!" Amy replied, as her face grew red, and her heart beat faster, from having Shadow nuzzle her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 2 years, 1 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

Amy put on her new gown, a blue puff sleeve ball gown with an apron style bottom. Cream matched a blue headband with it and finally agreed that Amy was presentable enough to leave her room and start her duties.

Amy made her way to the armory and blacksmiths shop, followed by another one of Shadows guards, this time it was Charmy.

"That's a nice dress, Princess, I've never seen you in blue before!" Charmy said, as he flew beside Amy, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of danger.

"That's because I haven't, Charmy! Parliament has always had control on my wardrobe and if they didn't decide what I wore, my mother usually did. I've had very little free reign over my own clothing choices, but now that I'm of marrying age, Parliament members think it best to let me focus on how I dress so that they can spend their time searching for suitors for me and preparing me for marriage and motherhood." Amy replied, emptiness echoed in her voice.

"That sounds so sad," Charmy said, his focus still half on her, half on her protection and surroundings.

"It wasn't that bad, until I realized they never let me wear certain colors. I was forbidden to wear black because I was not deemed appropriate for my age. I wasn't allowed to wear blue, orange, or yellow. They mainly dress me in the kingdom's royal colors, red and white, although I do occasionally get to wear pink and green."

"Why couldn't you wear blue, orange, or yellow?" Charmy replied, half interested, half focused elsewhere.

"I'm not sure… I've had my theories. Rumor has it my dad hates the color blue, thinks it's a tacky color, so maybe that's why? As for yellow and orange, maybe they thought it just wasn't my color? Which I argue I look great in any color so boo them!" Amy laughed.

Charmy laughed in response but kept his eyes peeled on their surroundings.

Amy was about to ask him if he was concerned about something, when she realized they'd made it to the blacksmithing shop.

Amy poked her head into the open doorway and called out.

"Mighty!"

"Princess! What a nice surprise!" Smiled a red and black Armadillo.

"How's my favorite weapons master?" Amy smiled a warm smile as she gave him a hug.

"How are things running? I haven't heard any requests or complaints from the armory this month so I came to see how things are going?" Amy said, searching him and his shop for any visible issues.

"They're great! The only thing I could complain about is the castle knights armor," the Armadillo said sheepishly.

"Their armor? What's wrong with their armor?" Amy asked, confused.

"We'll the border patrol knights got all new armor this past fall. Wanted them to look nice for the refugee when they were rescued from the outer wall, King asked for something fancy, make them look more friendly so people wouldn't run away when the knight went to help," the Armadillo explained, "and the town patrol knight got new armor this spring, Sir Knuckles had all of his knights armor and weapons refurbished."

"When was the last time castle knights got new armor and weapons?" Amy asked.

"Over four years ago, before the current knights and Knight Captain were even in service. I forged the sword that Sir Shadow received during his knighting, but the armor he wears is his own that he brought and it is rather beaten up.. Even the swords the new knights of Shadows received were old swords we had in the armory...

I made the border patrol knights armor with a Silverite to give the metal its white hue. They shine with a silver so light they look like blinding white light of hope to the refugees who see them. It's why they are nicknamed The Angels of Mobania, because they save refugees who flee to our borders and they look like a blinding white light in the sun."

"Sir Knuckles knights armor is made with a red alloy called Bloodstone, which is why all of their armor's metal has the red hue. The villagers say the white and red knights remind them of your family's crest and our nation's flag. They know who to go to when they need help… The knights Sir Shadow has brought in have brought peace and security back to the castle. I want to give them new armor and new weapons that they can be proud of. I'm thinking of using Lazurite as an alloy in the steel to give their armor a blue hue. What do you think?" Mighty asked, holding up fragments of what Amy assumed to be Lazurite.

Amy walked around the shop looking at all the material available. Serpentstone would make yellow tinted armor… Drakestone would make orange tinted armor… Veridium green… Nevarrite purple… Dragon Bone gold… Amy stopped in front of the Obsidian. She picked up a piece, turned to Mighty, and holding the piece up said, "Make them black."

"Black? I know Shadows armor was black, but do you really want the castle knights to all have black? Blue is a much more uplifting color. Even you're wearing it," he said, pointing to the Princess.

"My father hates blue. He says it's tacky. I will not have the knights looking tacky to my father. Sir Shadow is Knight Captain, and leader of The Circle of the Shadows. The castle knights will be dressed in all black armor made from this Obsidian. May no enemy ever again mistake our kindness for weakness," Amy said as she walked back to the table and picked up more material.

"I want Shadow and all The Circle members armors fitted in full black armor as well, however, I need them to stand out more. They are the best of the best. Use this Dragon Bone to give their armors metal detailings that have a gold hue. It will pair nicely with the black." Amy said, handing him some Dragon Bone fragments.

"I also want you to use your finest white fabric to make a bright white cape for Captain Shadow. He will need to stand out from the rest of the Knights, he is a Captain after all. Also because he needs to look presentable during council meetings with my father and General Silver. Shadow is the Left Hand to the Crown after," Amy finished.

"Black armor with gold detailing… yes, yes, I see it now! And Sir Shadow with a white cape? He will look most regal for the Kings meetings, put those stuffy parliament robes to shame!…

Yes, your majesty, of course.. I couldn't agree more," Might said with a smile, before he could ask, Amy cut him off to say, "This will not be put on the castle's budget, I don't want the citizens taxed for this. I will fund the armory and weapon restock for the castle knights myself," Amy said as she made her way towards the door.

"Send the knights one by one my way, and I'll have them fitted and finished by the end of the summer!" Mighty called out to her as she left the blacksmiths shop and headed for the armory.

As Amy made her way to the Armory, she almost forgot Charmy was with her until she heard him buzzing a happy tune.

"Why are you all happy?" Amy laughed as Charmy danced in the air beside her.

"We're getting new uniforms, duh!"

"We'll don't you breathe a word of it to anyone! It's a surprise and I don't want any of the knights knowing I'm paying for it either!" Amy responded.

"Where did you get the money to do that anyways?"

"I'm a princess, my title alone makes me a paid member of staff. I also make money off the trade deals I set up from our kingdom to the next."

"You must be rich then!" Charmy laughed as they entered the Armory.

"Maybe if I knew how to save it," Amy laughed, "I send most of the profits to the citizens, what little I save is put in my separate bank from the castle's bank."

"What's the castle bank?"

"The castle's bank is what is used to pay staff, buy things for the castle, and generally just keep the nation in the world market. I have a group of mathematicians and economists who help me manage the books and balance the checks."

"Well what do you do with your bank?"

"I like to think of my bank as a back up plan in case the world stock market crashes or we end up in financial ruin. I try to keep enough in there to keep up a float should something bad happen. I dipped into it multiple times in the past to help the economy of our kingdom. I pay all the import taxes on goods so that the citizens don't have to. I paid for the vaccines that the United Federal Kingdom came up with for that bad plague we all suffered from almost a decade ago. I paid for food to be imported into the country when that hurricane tore up and flooded the farming fields and silos that held our food for the winter that year. And I fund most castle renovations like the one needed after my mother died from the castle attack," Amy finished. They walked further into the armory passing rows of swords, armor, bows and arrows, among other weapons hanging neatly in place.

"Wowwww, your amazing, Princess Amy! I heard the stories but I didn't know they were really all true!" Charmy replied in awe.

"They probably aren't, people say I'm a miracle worker, but I'm not."

"Sounds like it to me.." Charmy smiled as he said it.

"Not at all," Amy laughed, "Some say I'm a witch too you know."

"Why would they say that?!?" Charmy asked, shocked, stopping dead in his flight.

"Oh not that kind of witch! No, people say I'm a real witch!" Amy laughed as she responded, looking over the rows and rows of axes, halberds, flails, spears, maces, crossbows, and daggers, inspecting them for damages or rust.

"Well why do they think you're a real witch?" Charmy asked, more curious than ever.

"Might be because of the divine messages I receive through my tarot cards."

"Divine messages?"

"Mmm hmm," Amy mumbled as she continued her inspection, "kind of like a glimpse into the future. I've seen plaques, natural disasters, and even famines predicted in my deck. It's one of the many reasons we've been able to prepare for things as well as we have."

"Wowwww, that's crazy! When did you realize you could do this?" Amy paused and pondered for a moment before she said, "We I suppose around my 12th birthday, when I was entrusted with a chaos emerald… I've also gotten some pretty good dowsing skills. I can find water for wells and even people if I try hard enough. I'm usually the first one they call when someone goes missing," Amy smiled at the thought.

"How does that work?"

"I don't know… I just kinda feel where people are… where they've been… where they're heading… I can even feel chaos emeralds when they get nearby. It's how I've known all along that Shadow has one of them." Amy said as she continued to count weapon inventory and check the condition of the weapons.

Charmy was left speechless, having no clue that Amy knew that Shadow had brought a Chaos emerald with him to Mobania, and that no one had tried to take it from him.

"If you can find chaos emeralds, why not go take them all?"

"I believe they are all where they are for a reason. They don't belong to anyone, they're powerful energies that were here long before us and will be here long after us. They are shared amongst the people of the continent of Chaos, and I'm trusting that's how things are meant to be."

"Well if you could see the future, why didn't you know about the attack on the castle?"

Before Amy could register the question properly, the door to the armory slammed shut so forcefully it rated the weapons on their racks and scared Amy and Charmy half to death.

"That's enough," Shadows voice growled from the front of the room and his heavy footsteps made their way towards Amy and Charmy.

Amy could feel Charmy's nervousness just from being beside her, but before she could say anything reassuring, Shadow continued, "You are her knight. How dare you question her? Your duty is to guard her, not interrogate her! Have I made myself clear?!"

"Shadow, it's alright he didn't mean to-"

"Speak." Shadow growled as Charmy shrunk to the ground in fear.

"Yes sir!" He managed to choke out.

"Wait!" Amy said, placing a hand on Charmy's shoulder, her other hand on Shadow's armor breastplate. Shadow shook with anger but said nothing as he waited for Amy's order.

Tears welled up in Amy's eyes as she turned to Charmy.

"I admit I did not see or expect an intrusion, especially not one with such lethal ramifications… the future changes… a lot. What I see this morning could be completely different after lunch, and by evening it may never happen." Amy's tears flowed freely as she continued to answer Charmy's question.

"Natural disasters and forces of nature are easy to predict because they cannot be changed by man. However, people are not so predictable… what a man decides, what he does or doesn't do, that changes things… Every choice we make is an action that causes many reactions…" Amy's tears were steadily rolling off her cheeks and hitting the ground below her, but no one could tell it from her voice. Although she could not control her tears, her emotions and the effects they have on her body were under Amy's control. As she spoke her voice never shook or crackled, her hands did not shake, her skin did not grow warm. She spoke like a true princess as she finished her answer,

"We were in a time of peace… I got complacent… relaxed… lazy. I didn't read the cards that day, hell that week! I was enjoying our peace, enjoying my mothers birthday… I never saw it coming. I made a choice. I chose to ignore my duties, and it cost my entire kingdom, my father, and myself, the best woman to ever grace these walls. Because I was careless, I lost what I cared for most."

Shadow reached his hand out and placed it on Amy's shoulder for comfort.

"You're dismissed. Return to the South Gate guard post. We will speak later," Shadow said quietly, Charmy's terrified face nodded as he quickly flew from the room.

A sob broke free from Amy's chest as her knees caved and she began to fall to the ground.

She was content with crying on the cobblestone floor but Shadow caught her in his Arms and held her in his lap as they laid against a wall, lined with quivers full of arrows.

Amy cried and cried. She sobbed until she shook and her chest ached, then through tears she choked out the words, "It's all my fault!" and then Amy cried harder.

"No it's not…" Shadow signed and he stroked her hair.

"It is!… Mother.. She.. She asked me to look that day!"

Shadow remained quiet to let Amy catch her breath and get out all the words in her head.

"She asked me… to see what father got her for her birthday… and I refused." Amy cried, "I wanted it to be a surprise… and I'm terrible at keeping secrets about presents… so I refused to look, so I wouldn't spoil it."

If I had just looked maybe I would've seen the bombers… maybe I would've seen-"

"Maybe. Maybe. But maybe not Amy. You can't put this weight on your shoulders. There's no telling what the Chaos emeralds energy through your cards would've shown you, and there's no guarantee you would've stopped it even if you had seen it. You can't blame yourself. I know your mother doesn't."

Amy didn't respond. She just soaked in the weight of his words and laid on the chest and cried until she was all cried out. When she was done, she sat up, wiped her face on her dress sleeve and whispered, "Thank you."

"I feel like no one in the world could possibly understand the guilt I carry…" Amy sighed as she crawled off Shadows lap. He stood up, brushed himself off, then bent down to help lift Amy back up to her feet.

"Would you believe me if I said I do?" Shadow asked as he watched Amy brush off her blue dress.

"Could you?" Amy asked, tears welling up in her eyes all over again as she looked to Shadow, pleading for comfort.

"I was furious when I saw Charmy questioning you. It's out of line, a Knight does not question the crown he protects. I must trust that the royal family will never do wrong or grow corrupt. In return they trust that we as their knights will never disobey them. It's why I never took Knighthood in any of the other kingdoms we visited before settling here. Until this kingdom, there were no royal families whose morals we did not question." He said, thinking back on his rage at Charmy.

"But in all honesty, I was already emotional when I saw you, before I overheard your conversation…

You're dress-," Shadow said, reaching down and rubbing the material of the puffy dress sleeve, "-your dress looks exactly like Maria's." Shadow said as his eyes grew hazy.

"Maria?" Amy said, curiosity and a hint of jealousy pooled in her mind.

"Maria was a childhood friend of mine in the Ark Kingdom… her grandfather is the one who trained me to be a knight, well actually he trained me to be a super soldier. To protect Maria and the Ark kingdom."

"Why did the Ark Kingdom need a group of super soldiers?" Amy asked, confused about everything he was saying from Maria to the super soldiers.

"Maria's grandfather was Gerald Robotnik. Her cousin was Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. When he was banished from the Ark Kingdom, we knew he'd come back revengeful and ruthless. We just had no idea how ruthless he'd be…

I fought everyday for months, and slowly, one by one, every city in our kingdom fell to the actions of Dr. Eggman. What was left of the freedom fighters in Ark were me and the other super soldiers, some brave and strong citizens, and Maria." Shadow said, reaching out and grabbing Amy's hands, making her blush.

"Maria was sickly as a child and all throughout her life. Hiding and struggling to survive was hard on her body. She was at her breaking point. By the time we as a group finally gave up on the Ark Kingdom and decided we needed to leave the country, it was already overrun by Eggman's ancient army soldiers. We were planning our escape when our base was ambushed. In my attempt to get Maria out of there safely, we were cornered. She gave her life to give all of us the chance to escape. It's because of her that we all made it out alive…"

Shadow said, his hands trembled in Amy's.

"It sounds to me like she saved your lives? I don't understand why you feel-"

"Because I was supposed to protect her!" Shadow cut Amy off mid sentence and pulled his hands away from hers.

"All my life I trained, day in and day out, for one goal. To keep her safe. I failed my mission… I failed my duty," Shadow said, looking straight into Amy's eyes, fire and anger and sadness mixed together in his eyes.

"She gave her life for yours freely and willingly. She saved you, and that was her choice. Don't let her last act of love towards you be tainted with something like guilt…" Amy said, reaching her hand out to rub Shadows cheek. He let his head lean into her hand, nuzzling her ever so softly, then he stopped and opened his eyes, looking straight into hers.

"I failed my mission once before but I will never make that mistake again." Shadow said as he reached up and grabbedl Amy's hand from his face and held her hand in his. "I will not let anything happen to you, ever. I swear it, on my life." The room grew so thick with tension Amy could feel it weighing on her chest with every breath. She resisted the urge to reach out and hug Shadow as long as she could, before finally caving in and pulling him into her small embrace.

"You won't lose me that easily," she whispered against his armored chest and he let out a light chuckle.

He held her for what seemed like hours before they finally stepped back from one another, blushing over their behavior.

"So," Shadow coughed as he motioned to all the weapons surrounding them, "the armory."

"Yeah," Amy laughed, "you're all getting new armor. On the days I visit the blacksmith I also visit the armory for inventory county and weapons inspection. Make sure everything's here and in proper working condition."

"And to what extent is your knowledge of weapons," Shadow asked curiously.

"Come here and I'll show you," Amy winked as she walked towards the back of the armory. As they got closer, Shadow saw a giant hammer hanging on the back wall. It was a giant Steele hammer made completely out of metal. It had a pink hue to the metal and Shadow could only stare at it quizzically.

"From what the blacksmith can tell it's forged from steel and Dawnstone for the pink tone."

"From what they can tell?" Shadow repeated as a question, looking to Amy for answers.

"It's a gift from the fates," Amy answered simply, as if that would be enough. Shadow's eyes grew to the size of sauces as he stared at Amy. When she saw his look, she went into further detail.

"The hammer appeared the day I was born. Even as a small child I was able to weld it." She said as she reached up and picked it up off the wall.

"We're not sure why, but the stronger I get, the heavier it gets." She said as she held it out in front of her and swung it so swiftly, it caused a gust of wind to pass through the room behind it.

"Every time I train with it and get comfortable with the weight, it grows heavier." Amy said, holding it out to Shadow. He reached out to grab it from her and when she let go it slammed to the ground with a thud, catching him by surprise, the weight pulled him down. He grabbed it with both hands and slowly lifted it up off the ground, his muscles straining as he did.

"Rose, this has to weigh thousands of pounds!" Shadow said as he stared at her and the hammer in disbelief.

"I've almost worked up to a whole ton." Amy replied, confirming his assessment of the weight.

"And you swing it so easily!" He said, fully impressed and for the first time, actively terrified of the princess before him.

"I can also summon it from anywhere," Amy replied, as she placed it back on the wall.

Shadow watched as she held out her arm at a certain angle and the mallet on the wall disappeared and reappeared in her hand instantly.

"This is insane," Shadow said, taking a step back to process, "and I thought I was the ultimate lifeform..."

"No offense," Shadow laughed, "but it seems like you don't need protection."

"For the most part I don't," Amy replied with a smile, "But it does me no good when I'm compromised. The night my mother died I was too shook up and damaged to stand on my own two feet, much less hold my hammer.

And I'm still not invincible or some kind of ninja," Amy laughed, "if I'm ambushed, caught by surprise, I can't arm myself in that kind of situation. My father was right to have you guard me. If a bomb goes off beside me or an assassin tries to slit my throat in my sleep, I'd be a goner... I need another set of eyes to watch out for me while I fulfill my daily duties. And we need guards keeping threats from blowing up the castle again, or worse."

"Why am I just now hearing about your hammer?" Shadow asked.

"The council members and parliament think it is very unladylike to weld a weapon, and don't think a princess should be spending her free time training with weapons.

They want me focused on finding a king for the kingdom and becoming a mother, not chasing down enemies on the battlefield. I practice here in the armory when I can, usually with Rouge, but it has been a minute." Amy sighed.

She hated talking about parliament and her marriage duties, but especially around Shadow. It always made her feel bad for some reason, and there was always a weird energy in the air whenever it was mentioned. They both got quiet and didn't know what to say after Amy's marriage duties were mentioned.

Shadow broke the awkward tension by pointing to the hammer. "As your personal bodyguard and Left Hand to the King, I say it is imperative that you keep up with your combat training. So I will accompany you once a week to the training fields for training." Shadow said.

"Training fields?" Amy questioned with a smile.

"No more training in this stuffy building, you need room to swing that thang!" Shadow gestured to the hammer.

"Now then. Show me what you got," he said, reaching up to grab the hammer and hand it to Amy. Just as he was about to touch it, it vanished and reappeared in Amy's outreached hand. "Bring it," Amy said with a sly smile that Shadow had never seen before. It was like a fire was lit in her eyes as her brow knit together in concentration.

Shadow pulled out his sword and lunged at her and she swung in return and the sword and hammer made contact with a sharp ring of metal clacking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 2 years, 6 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

Amy walked through the courtyard arm in arm with Rouge. Amy wore a pantone powder pink ball gown with a sabrina neckline, flutter sleeves, modified a line, midi length dress. It had tiny, hand sewn on cherry blossom flowers falling all down the dress. Today she wore Queen Mary's Bandeau Tiara. Rouge sported a lilac purple gown with a v neck, raglan sleeved, full circle dress that fell at her mid calves. She matched the dress with a black diamond necklace and matching black diamond earrings.

Today they were celebrating the spring equinox. A feast, sort of like a picnic garden party, was being held in the east wing courtyard garden. The castle staff and decorator, Marine, had decorated the garden with candles, white drapery, and ice statues in the shapes of plants and baby animals.

As the sun set, Amy and Rouge chatted among themselves and enjoyed the tiny cakes and a lemonade they'd picked up from the treats table.

"So now that you're the unofficial official spymaster of the castle, tell me how your spy ring is going." Amy said.

"Hey! I am the official spymaster, nothing unofficial about it," Rouge laughed, "it's just off the books, to keep all the noisy council and court members' noses out of my business. And don't say spy ring, I refer… intelligence agency." Rouge said proudly, puffing her chest out with pride.

"Okay, intelligence agency. But why are you off the books, why is your title unknown by the courts? You deserve the recognition for your hard work." Amy replied as she took a bite out of the small truffle cake on her saucer.

"Because my work doesn't work if the nobles are involved." Amy watched her quizzically as Rouge explained.

"She you're up here with your dad," Rouge said, holding her hands up way high.

"Right below you are the council and parliament members." Rouge said, lowering her hands.

"Now under this," Rouge emphasized the parliament members' level, "is the royalty line. This is where all us nobody's are."

"You're not nobody's!" Amy shot back, distraught at the presentation so far.

"Maybe not to you and your parents, but to the rest of the stuffy wanna be royals in the castle, we are." Rouge replied, measuring Amy's face for permission to carry on. Amy nodded sourly and Rouge continued.

"So us down here. The knights, the chambermaids, the busboys, stable keeps, bakers, farmers, merchants, you name it. We're the ones running the show, we do our jobs day in and day out and watch the royals above us.

So when the chambermaid hears the parliament member's conversations with a questionable foreign visitor, that's a secret. When the baker sees the duke making out with the kitchen maid in the supply closet, that's a secret. When the knight overhears the king mention a tax decrease for the farmers, that's a secret." Rouge said, as Amy nodded along.

"See you guys are up here making all the decisions, good or bad, and us little guys down here are picking up on all the information you're sloppily leaving around."

Amy listened thoughtfully, starting to see where Rouge was going with this.

"So with those secrets picked up by a bunch of 'nobodies', we've indicted a parliament member for treason, caught a duke committing infidelity, and divulged that the king's meetings aren't as secure as he thinks."

"You find the little people who work for the big people and collect the secrets they happened to find out?"

"Precisely! No one suspects the wait staff and wallflowers to see or hear the things we do. You'd be surprised what nobles will say and do when they overlook their chambermaids and busboys and actual living people. The secrets I can gather, the information I can find." Rouge's eyes sparkled with excitement.

Thanks to my travels through the region of Chaos, I've got friends in low places in every Kingdom on the continent. With my work and your oversite, no Kingdom will ever take us by surprise again," Rouge boasted proudly.

"As long as you're still my lady-in-waiting, that's all that matters to me," Amy smiled, giving Rouge a friendly side hug.

"What a weird way to say I'm your best friend," Rouge teased Amy before adding, "I will always be your lady-in-waiting, first and foremost." Rouge wink as she returned Amy's side hug.

The girls had made their way through the garden up to the food table, where Sir Knuckles was helping himself to some fresh grapes he had placed on his small saucer plate.

When his eyes turned to meet Rouges his posture melted and a big goofy grin crept across his face. When he realized the princess was standing next to her, he quickly straightened up, dropping his plate of grapes, he saluted her and rushed out a, "your majesty" before dropping to his knees to pick up the grapes. Rouge had also dropped to her knees to pick up the grapes and they managed to collid, their head butt sending sharp pains through both their foreheads.

"We have to stop meeting like this," Rouge winced as she rubbed her head and slowly stood up.

"My apologies, my lady," Knuckles said, his face almost as red as his fur and spines.

"You've met?" Amy asked, giving Rouge a shocked side eye. "Oh, do please tell me," Amy said and smiled a 'you're so gonna tell me everything later' smile.

Rouge blushed and turned almost as red as Knuckles and she replied, "What's there to tell? My spy work leads me far beyond the castle walls. I may have joined a handsome knight for drinks in a tavern after a busy work day in town."

"Handsome?" Amy and Knuckles said at the same time, Knuckles redder than ever and completely taken by surprise, Amy smirking as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Can I have a word with you!" Rouge interjected before Amy could grill her any more than she already had, taking Knuckles by the arm she led him into the garden, talking in a hushed flurry.

"That was interesting," said the all too familiar voice of Amy's personal knight in shining black armor. Chills ran up Amys quills as she felt his words stick to her ear and neck. She turned right into Shadow's arms; had been standing right behind her when he whispered in her ear.

"I didn't know you were here," Amy said as she flushed a deep red and she held onto Shadows armoured forearms, him cupping her elbows in his hands.

"You never do," he smirked at her, "Rouge and Knuckles seemed far too dazed to acknowledge my presence," he laughed.

"How long have you known about them?" Amy begged with her eyes, her grip on his forearms growing tighter as she leaned in closer for answer, her eyes reflecting his.

"I've known about his crush for months, he was a creepy little goof whenever she came into town, always googly eyed over her," he laughed, "But I didn't know they'd finally hung out until just now."

"You didn't tell me anyone had a crush on Rouge!" Amy said, pulling down on Shadow making him lean forward, still towering over her but much closer now, practically enveloped in each other's arms.

"She didn't? I thought she was your best friend," he asked, honestly, not pulling back or sustaining from Amy's closeness to him at all.

"You're my best friend," Amy said, her eyes sparkled as they looked into his, and he could swear his heart stopped beating all together. "She's my best girl friend," Amy continued. "You're supposed to tell me everything," Amy pouted, poking out her bottom lip slightly as her brows knit together.

"What honor do I have if I can't keep bro code? A knight to knight honor," Shadow, joked back, trying to avoid her pouty lip and puppy dog eyes.

"You swore your life to me," Amy said, dropping her pouty lip and giving Shadow a sly smirk and side eye.

"An oath I regret every day," he joked, making Amy gasp at him open-mouthed in shock, before a smile crept over both their faces and they laughed so hard they held onto each other harder for support.

Just at that moment, a member of Parliament, an old stuck-up looking purple badger gentleman appeared at Amy's side.

"Your majesty," he said cooly, the edge in his voice putting an end to Shadow and Amy's laughter.

"Mr. Morrison," Amy responded, red faced, she quickly let go of Shadows arms she'd been half hanging onto and grabbed her dress curtsying awkwardly.

Shadow straightened up immediately, assuming his guard's position, one fist resting on the middle of his lower back behind him, the other fist crossed over his heart resting on his chest.

"This is a lovely spring equinox festival your father is hosting… a shame there are no acceptable suitors invited with whom you could be spending your valuable time with," he said, face cold and emotionless, with one eyebrow cocked up, as he glared at Shadow.

"Father is not ready to invite foreign royalty into the castle grounds just yet," Amy replied, her eyes staring at the ground to avoid his disapproving gaze.

"And yet you'll be turning 20 years old this summer? Your age of opportunity is passing you quickly. Most prince's want a young bachelorette, not a season maiden who's been spent." Amy almost couldn't register his words but they cut her deep. Parliament members were known to be rude and overbearing in the past but never this cruel. Amy was astonished by the seer audacity of this man and what he said to her.

To question Amy's purity was not only an outdated, archaic, insult of a prehistoric practice, it was also incredibly offensive. Women had not been judged by their purity, or lack thereof, in centuries as they had earned the same respect as men long ago. Women and men were even allowed to accompany each other's presence unchaperoned without either party's purities being called into question. Amy knew her kingdom and many others were well past such dated prejudices, but his reference to the old customs felt like he was trying to insult her honor as a maiden.

Amy struggled to get a reply out her mouth when her father appeared by her side.

Mr. Morrison, the parliament member, stiffened up a little bit at the sight of the King but kept his cool. He addressed the King and bowed just low enough for social graces but clearly not out of respect.

"There you are my Rose!" Amy's fathers smile beamed with joy. He stuck out in the group of four, as Amy and Shadow had shock and disgust on their face, and Mr. Morrison held his cool displeasure despite the king's presence.

"Are you kids having fun? I've been looking for my favorite couple all afternoon!" The King laughed, throwing his arms around Amy and Shadow both.

"They are a couple?!?" Mr. Morrison spat, shock hit his face but was quickly replaced by distress.

"No, but wouldn't they make a great one! Shadow, he is like a son to me," the king laughed, his smile clashing with Mr. Morrison's obvious disgust.

"You can't be serious?" Mr. Morrison scoffed, as he removed his glasses and began cleaning them with a pocket square.

"I am the King," Amy's father said, all traces of a smile or joy disappearing entirely, "I am always serious." He straightened up and stepped forward, towering over the badger.

"I- uhhm- yes," Mr. Morrison coughed as he quickly placed his glasses back on his face, "I understand. Forgive me your majesty," and just as quickly as Morrison appeared he disappeared.

"These Parliament members… they are just so annoying, always with an attitude and yet they do not learn…" Amy's father sighed as he took off his crown and rubbed his head as if it ached.

"They are right," Amy sighed, as she wrapped her arms around herself, turning away from Shadow and the King.

"I am no good to my people unless I marry a strong adversary. We need foreign aid that will strengthen both our kingdoms through a union."

"You sound just like Parliament now! This is no longer the case, Rose. You are strong enough to lead no matter who you choose to accompany you. Our kingdom is strong enough without the need to merge with another. You do not need these arrangements to marry smartly, you can marry for love," The King counteracted his daughter.

"I can't even protect my own mother, what makes you think I am capable of protecting her people!" Amy snapped back at him, tears welled up in her eyes. "If I make one wrong choice, this kingdom and its bloodline ends with me. I don't have the luxury of marrying for love!" Amy said, tears threatening to overflow, she turned on her heels and left the garden party.

Shadow held up a hand and then pointed it in her direction, then made a fist, before holding up two fingers.

Sir Smithy the Lion and Sir Slinger the Ocelot, left their post at the edges of the garden party and immediately followed Amy, keeping a guard on her now that Shadow was not.

"She believes Parliament rules this castle and that they make the perfect choices for her…" the King rolled his eyes and sighed.

"She is not bound by their rule?" Shadow asked to gather information, never having the opportunity before speaking with the King about Amy's marriage prospects.

"I am the King. Parliament thinks they control all, but they know that I have final say in all matters. I could disband them in an instant, but they appeal to the people well. Although they serve unnecessary and outdated roles in the kingdom, firing them would take away jobs that Noble families have held for generations. I do not want to throw them out like a mad tyrant, it would distress my kingdom if I acted so singularly…

Still Amy spent more time in lessons and being taught and raised by members of parliament, than she did with me or her mother. Her childhood was very stressful for her through no fault of her own, and she carried a weight most princesses and princes will never be burdened with. She still carries that weight today… Her mother and I, we were far too busy trying to protect the kingdom and protect Rose whenever she was younger. So busy she had to make an appointment just to see me or her mother. Most of those appointments were set up by Parliament to show off her academic progress and improvements…

By the time her mother and I established peace and were able to hold the kingdom stable… She had a few good years with us… like a real family… Then her mother died. Now she's paranoid that if she doesn't do right by Parliament she'll fail the kingdom and send us back into our past struggles."

"Was it that hard in the past? No one talks about this kingdom like they ever struggled?" Shadow replied, curious as to what the King was referring to.

"It is because of the sacrifices that Rose, my wife, and I made that our people did not suffer. Parliament reminds Amy of that every day. She believes she must sacrifice her all for the good of her people no matter what it does to her. And I cannot convince her that there is no need to make things harder on herself than they already are… If I could do things over, I would've had the lady's-in-waiting to watch and raise her in those hard times. I would've never let them train her as a princess first and person last. I would've never shown her our struggles, she would've never made any hard sacrifices, like her mother and I had to."

"You don't mean that," Shadow interjected, "She would've been a spoiled brat. It sounds like your Kingdom wouldn't be half it is today without her-," Shadow cut himself off, realizing he sounded a little too cocky and opinionated about something he knew far less about.

"This is true," the king chuckled, "still, I would trade my entire kingdom away to see her happy again. It took losing her mother to realize how valuable my time, my family, and our happiness is."

Shadow nodded along in silent agreement but said nothing of it.

"I refuse to force her to marry someone, even if I think she should," the King said, turning to look Shadow in the eyes, "but as you can see, she will not let me change her mind."

Shadow nodded, not fully understanding where the king was going with this, so the king continued.

"I want my daughter to marry for love. But it is going to take an intense and true love to make her turn her back on Parliament's plans." Shadow felt a weird sense like he knew where this was going but kept quiet and listened, his heart about to beat out of his chest.

"I know you love her," the King finally said, Shadows' heart nearly burst right then and there and his face turned blood red. The king reached over and grabbed Shadow's shoulder, squeezing it hard, he pulled him into a side hug.

"Do not let Parliament consume my daughter's life… make sure she marries who she wants to marry," the King said, giving him a light squeeze, before letting his shoulder go.

As Shadow pondered the King's words, he looked out over the party and took in the scenery: commoners enjoying the festivities, guards switching out rotations so they each got a chance to enjoy the party, nobles in their big fancy clothes holding small conversations, children and Choas playing in the garden. The sun was slowly settling behind the castle wall and Shadow knew that soon they'd have a huge bonfire outside the East gate and the women would dance, men would drink, and the children would play under the stars.

"I'd prefer you do your job instead of hanging out with this old lazy geezer," the King laughed, referring to himself. "Go find my daughter!… And be her Knight." He said with a warm smile that reached his eyes.

Shadow bowed to the King and headed out the castle walls to find Amy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 4 years, 1 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

A pink quilled maiden wore a white bishop sleeve cotton dress with a brown leather corset belt and brown leather mid-calf boots to match. Accompanying her was a white furred maiden with a wine red cotton dress sporting angel sleeves and a black leather Elizabethan corset with matching black leather boots.

The two girls were causing quite the scene in the tavern, this cool autumn night. After winning enough money to buy the whole tavern three rounds of drink, thanks to a particular pink hedgehog's sharp axe throwing skills, the girls found themselves dancing on one of the bars tables.

Despite having lost their money in a poorly placed bet against the pair, the men in the bar were completely captivated by the women, cheering them on as the whole tavern laughed and sang and drank ale.

When comparisons that the mysterious womens beauties matched those of the princess and her lady's-in-waiting filled the air, the girls knew that it was time to go.

"You're gonna get me in trouble!" Rouge laughed as she drug Amy out of the small northwestern town tavern.

"Oh, I'mmmmm gonna get youuuuu in trouble!" Amy laughed far too loudly as she hung onto Rouge for support.

"I ditched my guards! When Shadow finds me he's gonna kill me~!" Amy said giggling, but then a somber look engulfed her face. Then she giggled again as though she'd forgotten her trouble already, "I can't wait," she hiccuped, "he looks sooo cute when he's angry~" Amy smiled.

"He's not gonna find you!" Rouge laughed, "I asked Knuckles to take him out tonight to do manly stuff." Rouge led a drunk Amy down the cobblestone streets away from the loud, ruckus that was the tavern. Rouge being drunk herself painted a picture one can best describe as the blind leading the blind. As the music and laughter of the tavern they left faded behind them, the warm lantern lights and music of another tavern down the street greeted them.

"Ooo Rougeeee~! Let's go!" Amy clapped and pointed at the tavern ahead, "Pleaseeeee~? Just one more bar!" Amy begged with her puppy dog eyes and pouty lip.

"Amyyyyy," Rouge sighed, "this bar crawl has turned into a marathon! How many bars do you want to go to?"

"I haven't been alone like this in over four years! And I'm finally twenty-one, so I can legally drink! Besides, it's not my fault that we're getting noticed so soon in every bar we go into!" Amy whined at her best friend in protest.

"I told you to wear the shawl!" Rouge playfully flapped her on the back with one of her wings.

"Noooo I don't wannaaaaa~" Amy whined again.

"Fineeeee," Rouge groaned, already thinking about the hangover she'd be nursing tomorrow morning.

"Yayyyy!" Amy cheered as she hung onto Rouge, the girls approached the tavern together arm in arm.

They made it to the door which a black fox gentleman held open for them with a smile.

The girls entered the tavern and to their delight, people were singing, dancing, and laughing throughout the dance floor.

As they walked into the room, Rouge recognized someone, turning to Amy she said, "Grab us some drinks! I'm going to go talk to Wave, she's here with Jet and Storm!" And with that Rouge rushed over to the group of birds in the room. They were dressed in dark leathers, sleek expensive fabrics, and rogue armor.

Amy giggled as she looked around the room at all the people enjoying themselves.

Things moved a bit slow for her, the noise grew louder and quieter constantly, and her sight was in and out. Despite the dizzy feeling she had, she straightened up and made her way to the bar.

Amy squeezed between two people at the bar and threw her elbows on the table, making sure not to get pushed out of her spot.

"Two pints of beer please!" Amy called out firmly to the bartender. Being heard in a crowded, busy bar can be challenging, Amy has learned.

"Mug or glass?" The barkeep said, not looking up at Amy as he poured a glass of beer for another patron and collected the payment.

"Mug," Amy smiled as the bartender started pouring the beer into two separate mugs, he handed them to Amy and she handed him twenty-four shillings. He looked at Amy questioningly and she laughed, "Keep the change," and then she made her way to the dance floor, a mug full of beer in each hand.

As she made her way through the crowd, an orange tenrec accompanied by a purple lynx ran into Amy, throwing Amy into the ground and spilling all the beer she had all over her dress and top.

"Whoa, there doll face! Looks like you made a mess!" The purple lynx laughed. "…why did you push me?.." mumbled the orange tenrec who was bright red in the face, as he struggled to get up from the floor beside Amy.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Amy huffed and she shook out her quills, and stood up, her dress and hair dripping with beer.

"Say doll face, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" The lynx said and he reached out and grabbed one of the small braids in her hair, tugging on it.

"Did you seriously push him into me?" Amy said sharply, smacking his hand off of her hair.

The lynx laughed, "You were looking a little hot! I just wanted to help cool you off!" The tenrec standing beside him grew increasingly anxious. "…hey Lenny, I don't think this is very nice," the tenrec said, leaning away from his friend.

"Shut it, Thomas, or you'll take another fall!" The lynx, apparently named Lenny, said, growling at the tenrec.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that!" Amy said, jabbing her finger hard into the center of Lenny's chest.

"I could say the same about you doll face," Lenny replied, grabbing the hand she was poking him with and yanking her arm up and towards him.

They were now chest to chest, Amy's arm held straight above her head by his grip, unable to move. They were face to face, chest to chest and it made Amy furious that she couldn't back up.

"Unhand me!" Amy shouted, trying to pull her wrist out of his grasp.

"I will when you agree to come home with me, doll face. You're absolutely soaking wet and your rack is hot stuff," Lenny said glaring down at Amy hungerily.

Horror flooded through Amy's mind as she followed Lenny's eyes to what he was looking at, her chest. The beer had completely soaked the white cotton of Amy's peasant disguise and her breasts were showing through the cheap fabric. Rouge's words flashed in her mind, 'Peasants don't wear undercorsets Amy! Undergarments for the breast aren't worn by most anyone except the upper class. If you wear any of your fancy clothes you'll get us caught for sure!"

Amy's face flooded bright red and embarrassment soaked through her veins. Why did she have to be wearing white of all colors, Amy thought to herself. Amy wrapped her free hand around her chest to cover herself. She took a deep breath in to calm down and steady herself. Then she opened her eyes and looked straight into the lynx's eyes saying, "I am warning you. I am not a woman to be tried. Unhand me!"

Lenny laughed a deep cruel laugh and his grip on Amy's wrist grew tighter, making the joint ache.

"I think what you meant to say is that you'd love to come home with me," Lenny laughed to himself, Thomas the tenrec now nowhere to be seen.

Before he could finish his laugh, Amy pulled back with her other arm and nailed the lynx right in the mouth with as much strength as she could muster in her compromised position and drunken state.

The moment Amy's fist made contact with his mouth, she felt a crunch and Lenny's grip on Amy's wrist loosened enough for her to break free.

When Lenny hit the ground the majority of the bar turned to look at them, including Rouge and her friends who all had shocked looks on their faces.

Still covering herself and now freezing from her wet clothes, Amy sidestepped around the lynx and cried out to Rouge, "Please take me home!"

Before Rouge could move or respond, her eyes grew bigger and Amy turned around fast enough to hear Lenny shout, "You winch!" and see his hand coming at her face. Amy, seeing it coming, prepared herself for its impact, closing her eyes tightly.

When she didn't feel the expected blow, she peaked her eyes open to see Shadows hand holding Lenny's forearm tightly, the lynx flailing pathetically in his grasp, trying to retrieve his arm. At first Amy thought the lynx was putting up a fair fight because Shadow wasn't steady. Then she realized that Shadow wasn't steady because he was shaking, almost trembling, as his grip on the lynx only tightened, causing Lenny to squeal in pain. Shadow gripped him so hard he almost had the lynx pulled off the ground, flailing as Lenny grabbed at his arm in Shadow's grip, his tiptoes coming off the floor.

Amy reached forward and placed her hand on Shadows hand, his eyes filled with pure intense rage darted to her hand then to her eyes, and Amy felt his grip immediately soften. They held eye contact as Shadows hand released Lenny's arm and he fell back to the ground, holding his forearm and cussing.

Without saying a word, Shadow took off his black shawl and wrapped it around Amy who grabbed the edges of the fabric and pulled it together around her.

As Shadows' anger lessened, Amy saw Knuckles behind him and moments later Rouge joined Amy's side.

"Oh, Amy!" Rouge cried, wrapping her arms around Amy's neck. "What happened?!?"

"He threw some poor tenrec into me, spilling all our drinks over me… Then he grabbed my arm and wouldn't let go of me!" Amy cried as she hugged onto Rouge.

Rouge hugged Amy tightly then looked shamefully up at Shadow, his angry eyes made her spine shiver.

"Amy, why don't you let Shadow escort you home? Me and Knuckles will take care of this guy…" Rouge said, looking down to avoid Shadows' stern glare.

"Yeah… okay…" Amy said, mimicking Rouge's avoidance of Shadow's eyes. By now the bar was buzzing with talk again, and a few people had even gone back to drinking, dancing, and singing.

Amy peeked up at Shadows from underneath her eyelashes, his ice cold red eyes burning into her. Amy's face flushed with embarrassment and shame, and she grabbed onto Shadow's arm as he began leading her out the bar.

When they exited into the cold, late night air, Amy shivered, her clothes still wet and now becoming sticky from the beer. Amy tried her best to walk straight and keep from tripping up, but she felt like she'd lost all her grace and grown two left feet during the night.

Amy could feel how tense and red hot Shadow was from under her hands and the longer they walked the more awkward and unbearable the silence grew between them. They had never gone this long without talking while in each other's company and it was more than Amy's heart could bear.

"Shadow, I-"

"-What were you thinking?!?" Shadow cut Amy off, passion and anger infiltrating every word.

"You evaded your guards, left the castle unprotected, got inebriated beyond defense, and always got assaulted!" Shadow yelled, stopping in his tracks he turned and stared Amy straight in her eyes, towering over her.

Amy hadn't seen this side of Shadow before. He very rarely lost his temper and only got angry at the occasional slacking knight or disrespectful courtier. This was something new entirely and she had never seen him this upset. Tears stung at Amy's eyes and it took the look on Shadows face changing from anger to concern to make her realize she was crying. As Amy cried her vision began to blur and she rubbed her eyes, completely sobbing now. Shadow sighed deeply and reached out slowly, grabbing Amy's shoulders and pulling her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry Rose I-"

"-No Shadow I am so sorry!" Amy wailed, "I just wanted to go out for my birthday, I just wanted to be a normal twenty-one year old for once, I just wanted to-" Amy started choking on her tears and cried harder into Shadows chest. He was in his civilian clothes and armorless. Amy hated to admit it, but his armorless chest made her wanna cry longer, just to stay in his arms and hear his heartbeat. She very rarely got to see Shadow outside of his armor, much less feel him out of it.

"Rose, I should not have gotten so loud with you, I'm sorry. I'm not angry, I'm just concerned... What if I hadn't been here?" Shadow said, pulling Amy away from his chest much to her displeasure. He held her back at arms length to look her in her eyes, her hands rested on his chest and she tilted her head to the side avoiding his eyes out of shame. He cupped her chin with his thumb and finger and tilted her head up until she was looking at him eye to eye. Amy moved her arms to hold onto Shadow's waist as she looked up into his rubby eyes and Shadow placed his other hand on the side of her head, his thumb in front of her ear, his fingers running through her hair and at the side of her neck.

"If anything had happened to you… I couldn't live with myself if I knew you'd been hurt by that… that animal…" Shadow growled the last word, and his eyes deepened with an angry fire again.

"It was my fault. I told Rouge I could ditch the guards you placed in my detail.. I'm the one who convinced her to help me sneak out the castle and go bar hopping. You're not angry, you're disappointed in me," Amy said, cupping Shadows face between her hands, as tears flowed silently down her face.

Shadows eyebrows knitted together in pain and he reached up with both his hands and carressed Amy's hands as they held his face.

"I'm not disappointed in you, Rose, I'm scared. Not only have I not trained my knights well enough to protect you properly, but I've lost your trust all together…" he replied, dropping his hands and slowly pulling his head out of Amy's hands. "You told me you didn't want to go out, and that you were going to spend the evening home with your father… I didn't even confirm this with the King, I just believed you and-"

"Please don't say this!" Amy yelled, grasping Shadow's closest hand in both of hers, "I'll lose your respect, I've already lost my dignity!… but please don't tell me I've lost your trust!" Amy cried, pleading with him.

"I did see my father for the afternoon, and I did want to stay home!… originally…" Amy began, "But then the chambermaids started talking about their twenty-first birthday. Everyone told such fun stories.. of the times they spent out with their friends… the drinking games, the songs, the dancing, the people…" Amy thought, hazy eyed about the conversations that afternoon.

"I didn't know people had that much fun.. it sounds more fun than any party I'd ever attended as a royal. More fun than anything anyone had ever invited me to… and I realized when they left, that I'd never get to experience anything like that. I'd never get to be a normal girl or do any of those things.. I can't remember the last time I've been without a guard detail… I'm sorry I know this isn't making much sense and I'm sorry I tricked your guards and ran out without telling you and I'm sorry I'm so drunk now and and and… I'm sorry." Amy cried and cried because she felt she was babbling too much and Shadow was too angry to care.

Contrary to her belief, Shadow took her face in his hands and slowly wiped the tears away with his thumbs.

She looked up at him through stressed and teary eyes and he said, "Why didn't you ask me? I would've taken you out of the castle and made sure you were safe. And I would've loved to have spent your birthday with you."

"My father would never have approved of this.." Amy sniffed as she looked down in shame. She wanted the cobblestone of the street to open up and swallow her whole, right then and there. She was drunk, disoriented, and very embarrassed, not to mention cold and wet. She was spiraling down a hole of self doubt and self hatred when Shadows infamous smirk brought her back.

"Who says we'd tell the king?" He smiled and his eyes sparked devilishly.

Amy gasped, "Shadow! That's blasphemy!"

"Only if we get caught," he winked, "which we're not going to!" He smiled, and then he abruptly grabbed hold of Amy tightly and shouted, "Chaos Control!"

The world disappeared around them until there was nothing and then flashed back all in an instant.

When he let go of Amy she looked around to see she was in her bedroom.

"Did we..?" Amy reached out to touch her bed post, trying to make sense of what happened.

"Teleport? Yeah…" Shadow smiled with a cheeky grin.

"What are we..?" Amy turned to look at him curiously.

"Grab some new clothes and we'll meet back up with Rouge and Knuckles. I'll make sure you finish out the night the way you wanted… safely…" he said, a cheeky grin fighting to show.

Amy flushed bright red with excitement. She ran to her wardrobe and tore through the clothes trying to find anything that resembled peasant clothing.

She stopped at a black nightie.

It had trumpet sleeves and an A line that reached down to her mid calves. Her other nighties were made of silks and satins, this was her only nightie made of cotton with absolutely no embellishments, gemstones, or fancy sewing patterns on it.

"A moment!" She said as she rushed into her bathroom and returned seconds later wearing the dress.

She placed the dark brown belt corset back around her waist, giving the nightie a less lazy and more working look.

"How's this?" Amy asked, her face flushing under Shadows' gaze. He had no business looking at her like that in her bedroom, alone in her night clothes after dark.

"Perfect," he said, blushing as bright as the red stripes in his hair. "I mean! Because if it gets wet it won't be see through!" He blushed harder, looking away from Amy to conceal his blush and to stop thinking any further about her see through clothing than he already had.

Amy made her way slowly back over to Shadow, not breaking eye contact. Her heart pounded and her mind raced as she got closer and closer to him.

When they were so close their chest almost touched Amy looked up at him and he looked down at her.

Before Amy could say anything, Shadow's eyes grew bigger and he jumped up in his spot.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" He reached into his pocket and pulled something out that Amy couldn't see.

"I got you a birthday present…" he said, his face flushing again.

"Better than the soft-serve ice cream you had imported from the United Federation?" Amy joked, remembering fondly how Shadow went to so much trouble to have her favorite treat brought into the castle for the first time since her mother died.

"You tell me…" he said, opening his hand to reveal a thin gold chain bracelet with a single charm on it; a black rose.

"Oh Shadow…" Amy said, admiring the bracelet fondly.

"May I?" He asked, and Amy nodded, holding her wrist out for him as he began fastening the jewelry onto her.

He rolled her hand over and she looked fondly at the bracelet on her wrist, the black rose hanging elegantly from it. Without saying a word, Shadow took her hand and slowly, without breaking eye contact, kissed the back of her hand.

Amy flushed a deep red and wrote off the warm fuzzy feeling in her gut as too much alcohol.

She decided to blame another thing on alcohol and reached up and kissed Shadows cheek. He burst into a bright red blush and his knees almost buckled under her touch.

"So…. Are we doing this?" She asked, her innocent eyes shining up at him.

Shadow's blush felt permanent at this point, his face felt like it was a million degrees, but he swallowed the lump in his throat that he thought was his heart trying to burst out his chest. He grabbed Amy around the small of her back pulling her close.

"Let's do this," he said, so close to her lips she could feel his breath on her face.

"Chaos control!" And off they went, back to town, to finish the night out with Rouge and Knuckles, to celebrate the princess in disguise's birthday.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

( 4 years, 8 months after the death of Queen Ailinda )

Amy strolled through the Chao Garden in the field behind the castle by the lake. She was walking with Cream and Cheese talking about her day's work and the Chao Garden. Amy inspected the fruit tree for signs of disease and when she didn't see any, she summoned her hammer and lightly smacked a few of the tree trunks, causing various fruits to fall to the grow.

As they walked, Amy took notice of the wild variety of chaos, sporting every collect combination imaginable, with various types of wings, ears, hand and foot shapes, and even some sporting horns or halos about their heads. One swimming in the shallow lake caught her eye, it was white with faded blue feet and hands sporting yellow wings and a dark blue halo.

Amy walked to the lake and sat down by the lake side, much to Cream's distaste as she worried about Amy's dress. Cream fussed with Amy's dress trying to keep it clean and unwrinkled as Amy ignored her fussing and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of happy Chaos.

Cream finally gave up on Amy and announced that she'd return to the castle to prepare another dress for Amy to wear to dinner tonight since Amy insisted on running the one she was wearing.

As the time ticked by, she felt her skin warming up under the sun and relaxed in the cool breeze blowing by.

Amy laid back in the grass and took in the warmth and calmness. It felt nice to have a moment to herself. She had worked enough extra hours to allow herself some leisure time in the garden today.

Before she knew it she was surrounded by Chaos, especially babies that looked as new as the day they were born; blue to green skin, pink wings and a yellow bulb above their head. Some older Chaos hung nearby but didn't get too close, dark colored ones with spike bulbs, pointy teeth, horns or spiked tails to match.

The white chaos, with bright wings and halos didn't care too much for Amy's attention and flew about the garden uninterested in her presence.

Amy almost felt herself drifting to sleep in the warm sun but refused to let herself fall completely asleep.

Before she could sit up, a voice and sudden shadow caught her attention.

"Your majesty," smirked Shadow as he stood in front of her, blocking the sun.

"Sir Shadow," Amy smiled back, reaching her hand out to him. He took her hand in one of his lifting her forward and grabbed the small of her waist with his other hand pulling her up from the ground.

She pointed to a patch of trees and they both made their way towards them, her hands wrapped around his arm as he escorted her.

When they got to the tree Amy knocked on it one… two… three times.

Within seconds two Chaos came racing down the tree.

A pink one, with a red and white body, and hair similar to Amy's when it was shorter came crawling up Amy's dress and wiggled it's way into Amy's arms, cooing like a baby.

A black chao with red stripes that looked unmistakably like Shadow jumped onto Shadow's shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. Shadow didn't reciprocate the nuzzle but did reach up with his hand and scratch a spot under the Chaos chin, making it sigh with relief as its spiked red bulb turned into a big red heart.

Amy's Chaos bulb also turned into a red heart as she rubbed its belly while holding it in her arms.

"I told you not to feed them…" Shadow gruffed. "Now they're attached." He said but continued to scratch his Chaos under the chin.

"Now they're attached?" Amy laughed, "you sure it wasn't years ago when they adopted a mimicking fur pattern and hair style?" She teased, shooting Shadow a teasing side eye.

"Look, all I'm saying is now we can't not come back to visit them," he said sternly, but the smile on his face betrayed him as he looked warmly toward the Chao.

"Can't not visit them? Shadow, we visit them every week!" Amy laughed, amused that Shadow was trying to play up his macho man reputation when it was just her and him around.

"You visit them every week, I'm just… doing my job, you know… being your bodyguard." Shadow blushed nervously as he caved and picked up the Chao, holding it in his arms and rubbing the Chaos chin and cheek, its bulb growing into a bigger heart.

"This is your fault anyways. I wouldn't have to come here so much if that Chao of yours wasn't so mischievous ," Amy teased as she reached over and rubbed the Chaos cheek as well, it reached its arm out to touch Amy's hand in return.

"Like yours is a saint," he shot back, smiling and teasing along with Amy, "That pink pervert will chase down anything that gives it any bit of attention." He held his hand out and the Chao immediately crawled out of Amy's arms and into his open hand, snuggling his palm. The black and red Chao reached over and yanked on the pink Chaos ear causing it to yell out. The pink Chao smacked its little limb across the head of the black and red Chao. Before you know it they were all over each other, pulling hair and swatting at each other. Shadow put them both down and off they ran chasing each other through the garden.

"They won't hurt each other," Shadow laughed while he watched Amy nervously watch the Chaos run about. As if to prove him wrong, Shadows Chao got in trouble anyways.

The black Chao was far ahead of the pink one, but as the pink one caught up, the black Chao tripped her, causing her to fall. Her bulb flashed from an exclamation mark to a swirly spiral when they hit the ground face first.

The pink Chao sat up slowly and began to cry. The black Chaos spiky bulb changed into a question mark and it cocked its head to the side, then it changed into an exclamation mark and the dark Chao ran back toward the pink Chao. Shadows Chao reached down and helped lift the pink Chao up. Amy's Chao slowly stopped crying though its eyes were still filled with tears. The black and red Chao reached forward and petted the pink Chaos head and both of their bulbs turned into hearts.

The black Chao grabbed the pink Chaos hand and they ran off together into the garden.

"If only we could get along half as well as they do," Amy joked as she poked Shadow in the side. Amy knew they got along far better than any two people in the whole castle; they were best friends after all.

He laughed and poked her back, "I believe it is time for us to go," he said, with a small smile on his face.

Amy groaned. Stepping into the garden felt like taking off the tiara; for a moment, she was just Amy. Not princess, not her majesty, not anyone of any importance except to a bunch of little Chaos.

"Yes, it would seem so," Amy sighed again as she watched the sunset start to set behind the pond. She reached out and grabbed Shadows arms so that he could lead her out of the garden, but he didn't. He was looking at the sunset and his brows furrowed.

"A few more minutes won't hurt anyone," he finally said, feeling conflicted.

Amy knew that going against her schedule or running late could cause a fit of worry for the staff, and also raise some questions and start some gossip. But she didn't care when she looked from the sunset to Shadow.

He was looking straight at her, his eyes never once moving, as he said, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"What is?" Amy blushed under his intense gaze.

"The sunset," Shadow responded, but he never moved to look at the sunset, his eyes still locked on her.

Amy had a profound feeling that he wasn't referring to the sunset as beautiful but something else. Amy was too shy to speak on this thought or allow herself to believe it. But she could try to test the waters to see if her hunch was right.

"Yes, this is the most handsome sunset I've ever seen," Amy replied boldly, also not looking at the sunset and not taking her eyes off Shadow. His eyes widened ever so slightly and his face grew a small blush. Amy's heart pounded loudly in her chest and she knew she had her answer. They were not talking about the sunset.

He coughed suddenly, covering his mouth and looking away, closing his eyes before saying, "We should… uhh.. return to the castle soon," he said, his face still flushed as he looked back at her.

Amy smiled warmly, a blush also stained her face, as she reached up and grabbed Shadows arm in her hands.

"Lead the way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's a wrap on this chapter! I wanted to throw in some one-shots throughout the timeline to let y'all know how life at the castle has been for our characters over the past five years as well as give some insight as to how other characters interact with Amy, Shadow, and each other.

After this chapter we are back to the post 5 years time skip, and back to present Shadow and Amy issues.

I research a lot throughout my writing process so if you don't know what something is you can look it up.

I describe clothes, dresses and other medieval concepts in such a way that you can look into it, and learn something new or paint a better picture for the characters.

Also I've been reading through so many of the character sheets on Sonic.! Amy's wiki page on there has so much information about her and her powers that I didn't even know about, it's where I learned about her card reading, future seeing, chaos emerald finding abilities! I encourage you to explore some of the characters mentioned, as a lot of the knights listed I didn't even know where characters until looking into it. The Sonic universe is much wider and more written out than I thought!

I also name drop some pretty famous crowns/tiaras so that you can see what Amy or the king are wearing!

I took inspiration for the armor metal color tinting from Dragon Age Inquisition if you're interested in seeing how that looks.

Anyways, as always, please please please leave a comment, even if you hate it! Just let me know what you're thinking, liking, disliking, I take all feedback and it would mean so much to me to see some comments!

Have a Happy Halloween!