Disclaimer: I own nothing of any of the Sonic franchise

4: The Grape's of Claire's de Lune's

For once in a long while, he breathed in his nervousness, wondering if Chaos was going to either berate him, or give him a stern caution of reprieve.

Shadow waited, his left ear-bud a mere distraction, his secure cell-phone like a weighed fixture to his left hand. His back faced against the meager side street, the Dark Reaper parked across by the curb, twin street lamps up and down glowed their orange lights that gave some light to the grey and black brick buildings to both sides of the avenue. But it was the light that hung over the entrance of Clair de Lune's, and the lights on the inside that gave much of the nightlife this little spot in Central City its charm. A nice respite from the day he...and she has had.

"Well," came the drowsy, yet alert voice from his ear bud, "that's four less you have to worry about trying to put a bullet in you."

He breathed out, being glad Tower couldn't hear it. "It's still a mess."

"And one I've already talked about to the night supervisor with Central's Police, and their Restoration liaison that they are going to make tidy for us."

He widened his eyes. "Okay," was all he thought to say.

"How is she?"

It was the question he knew to come since they left the Havana Club, and one he had contemplated what his answer to be when Tower would ask it. In Shadow's mind, she did hold her own. Better than he had anticipated. Again, Tower had been right about her. She did, however, have a rebel streak somewhere under her fur that he wasn't sure if it was just her, or from everything that she has been through. The two gulps from his Cuban Liber she drank showed him her utter defiance to possible new rules, or where she was capable of going. He wasn't set on which one. It could well possibly be both. But, he was most certainly positive she held a confidence in going about objectives in ways that she saw fit to execute them.

Course, it almost got her hurt, if not, killed.

"She did well," he offered. "A few things to smooth out."

"Give it time," Tower commented.

"And as for the jackals?"

This time Tower let out a sigh from the other end. "I don't know. You and Sonic did the world a favor in getting rid of Jackal Squad...Infinite as well."

The black hedgehog nodded, not venturing a thought more. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Okay, my friend. And give Wojtek my regards."

He knew he would.

The line went dead, Shadow removing his ear bud and placing it in his pocket, then his phone. He left his dinner jacket in the Reaper, his white shirt unbuttoned at the top to let his white fur chest breath without resistance, his bow tie unraveled and draped through his collar. His suspenders were the only accent to his attire, along with his holstered pistol and magazine pouch. Walking up the steps, he opened the glassed door to be greeted with the heavy roasted smell of coffee, grilled food, and the sound of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopédies being gently played on the dinner's stereo.

Shadow knew the song well.

Maria had played it to him.

Calir de Lune's had five booths and six stools at the counter, two occupied by a male black cat and his very pregnant silver cat companion. They too were dressed nice as he and Julie-Su, but the way they carried themselves proved more of who they were than just for pleasure or vocation. The brown-furred bear that talked with them under a smile his kept his attention to them as he finished placing the tops of their coffee order together.

Dressed in a white buttoned up shirt, wearing a pair of black pants that Shadow wasn't entirely certain if they were slacks–and it wouldn't surprise him if they were. The apron the tall, muscular, but portly bear, wore was white with food and coffee stains from the day, had a mosaic of music notes, and oddly, too many–but not to Shadow–artillery shells. Wojtek held a special spot in Shadow's dark blood pumping heart: they both loved music, and they both served for a time with each other. The brown bear, born in the sand's of Eurish by the coast, his family migrated north before going across the Atlantic to what had been Spagonia–another star lost to the United Federation flag. Another city decimated in the Egg War. Growing up, Wojtek had only known diners and restaurants with his family starting three, with only one succeeding.

Shadow and Julie-Su were sitting in it.

Rounding the wooden wall that separated the entrance and the diner in general, Shadow saw Julie-Su's eyes entranced to the couple. She had maybe taken a few bites from her chilly dog that was still steaming on the plate in front of her. But her eyes never left the scene beside them. She looked to be pensive with a longing. A want. She fostered something from her stare on them he felt was more of a torment picking at her rather than giving well wishes.

He slid into the booth, looking over to the couple that were now thanking Wojtek, the bear smiling with a nod, Shadow reading his lips of "thank you." The male cat touched his companion's pregnant middle, she placing her hand on top of his. Still, Julie didn't waver her eyes from them.

"Something wrong?" Shadow asked, his voice above a whisper, concerned for her.

She didn't shake her head, nor turn her gaze. "No," she said quietly. "...Just seeing...what might've been..."

There was no riddle to discern from her. For he too had his own touch of melancholy from time to time...wondering how Maria would have lived. Would she have found someone...where he would have fit in if she had?

If...

A steeping tea next to a Clair de Lune's dish that Wojtek was known for awaited him. Ultimate life form or not, he had to eat. Grabbing his spoon, he dabbed at the onion soup, the Gruyere and Parmesan cheese settling at top of the steaming brown broth and caramelized onions. He looked to Julie to find she had broken her melancholy spell to take up her fork.

"How's the chili-dog?" he asked before taking a spoon of his soup through his lips.

"Well," she began, "it's good...but–" She gave him an eye, leaning toward him to give a whisper "–it's not as good as Uncle Chuck's Chili Dog Dinner at Knothole, or New Mobotropolis."

He swallowed, casting her a quizzical look. "Uncle Chuck's?"

"Yeah," she said before taking her own bite before swallowing. "Sonic's uncle Charles."

He held his spoon level, his stare to her the same. "I didn't know he had an uncle?"

The pink echidna's face looked as if he had stabbed her in her heart. "Yeah...he had an uncle," she softly lamented. "His uncle Chuck had been robotozied, but they were able to return him to his freewill state...then to his physical form." She looked on. "Sad we couldn't do all that for his father Jules."

Again, Shadow just kept his stare to her. "His father?"

She nodded. "And his mom, Bernadette. From what I remember when I lived with my...Knuckles...Sonic got his fighting spirit from his mom and dad." She offered a smile. "I tried to help them get his father deRobotozied with my upbringing in technology...but our attempts failed. We were to afraid we might kill him, instead of helping him."

He tried to conceal his feelings of Sonic, but it seemed she had sought it out without his attempt.

"So...how is your Sonic?" she asked.

"He's a coward."

His harsh reply seemed to startle her, but she pressed forward. "Ouch...why don't you tell me how you really feel about him."

He looked to her then away, his face showing if he hadn't accurately conveyed his true feelings. "I just did," he answered. "He's a coward."

Wojtek's heavy Eurish voice broke the minor tension in the booth when he stepped next to Julie-Su. "You still holding that over him?" Shadow inwardly smiled from the bear's rolling tongue through his R's. It had been too long since he had seen him.

Shadow turned his head, giving the tall bear a knowing, yet warning look opposite of his affection to his friend. "And look where that got us?"

"Oh yeah, you not listening to him damn near got you killed, and with us as well."

Julie turned to Wojtek. "Wait...how?"

The bear crossed his arms under his apron. "Oh, ole mister brooder, here, caught the metal virus. Very uncomfortable to have the ultimate life form completely out of control, and completely indestructible."

"We're all still here, aren't we," Shadow grumbled while taking a sip of his tea.

"By the grace of Gaia, and fast thinking...well," Wojtek looked off, "and the cure."

Julie looked up. "I'm not fully understanding of the Metal Virus."

Wojtek gave her a quizzical look, then back to Shadow. "Where were–"

"She wasn't here," Shadow injected.

Wojtek's face registered something, then became surprised, his booming voice, however, affirming his dry sarcastic stance to him. "Oh...well...you...Shadow, why don't you introduce me to your lady friend?"

Closing his red eyes, he opened them. "Wojtek, this is Julie–"

She offered him her hand and a beaming smile. "Julie-Su...no E."

"Ah," he said, shaking her natural hand with his, returning her smile, "you're an Echidna, I presume?" he asked.

"Yep," she smiled. "One of many...but few."

"Well, I'm Wojtek, and welcome to my family's humble establishment."

Shadow shifted in the booth. "It's her first day."

"Oh," Wojtek smiled. "I had one of those, too–with Shadow. Long ago."

"Mine has been interesting," Julie remarked, looking to the hedgehog. "Ran into some...interesting jackals tonight."

Wojtek eyes shot to Shadow then back to her. "Jackals? I thought–"

"Might want to keep your weapon handy," Shadow said, taking a sip from his tea, his red eyes going to the window beside him, instinctively checking the street.

Julie turned her head to him from the remark. "You've dealt with these guys before?"

The bear cocked his head, his right hand scratching his neck as if wanting to forget something. "You can say that." He sighed. "Me and Shadow had worked with Sonic against the Jackal Squad, what, seven months ago? Gotta say, Shadow did what others could not...or would not." He leaned in to Shadow, the hedgehog, turning his gaze to him. "How many, my friend?"

"Just four..." Shadow let his eyes stay to Wojtek's. "They ain't bothering anyone, no more."

"They seemed sloppy in their work," Julie noted. "Heck, they didn't dress for the club."

Wojtek looked on to Shadow. "Yojimbo?" Shaking his head at the thought, Wojtek corrected. "Fifth Profession?"

And Shadow gave a slight shake of his head, but then cocked it. "They tried killing someone."

Julie took a sip from her drink, a soda from what Shadow could see, before swallowing it and adding, "I think they were protecting someone, too I tried to follow them...well." Her hand went to her dreadlocks on the back of her head. "These are going to be sore for a while."

The bear looked on to her with concern. "They try to harm you?"

"Eh," she fidgeted with her eyes, "cardinal rule with Echidna's," she lifted her eyes to Shadow, "don't pull our dreadlocks." She then massaged her scalped with her lavender hair. "Cardinal rule for girls...don't pull our hair, either."

The bear leaned in. "And? What happened to them?"

She gave a smirk, then offered a knowing look to Shadow. "Fun first day, huh?"

Shadow could only shake his head and give a heavy sigh to her that masked an endearing smirk of his own before dipping his spoon back in his soup.

Wojtek only cocked his head again in return. "Well, either way, four less..."

The echidna placed her natural and cybernetic hand in her lap. "So, how do you two know each other?"

Wojtek took the question with a smile. Shadow could blow on his soup before slurping it.

"Well," the bear began, "I joined up with the GUN when the Egg War broke out last year." He looked on to Shadow. "Lost many good friends he went before me." He took a breath. "Anyways, I got into an artillery battery...eh, mostly to carry shells to the M-two-three-fours. We shelled a lot of Eggman's bots, but...not enough to advance.

"Then one day–" Wojtek looked to Shadow, the hedgehog seeing the bear's soften to his, but he nodded to him to continue. He knew what needed to be said–another constant he had gotten used with. "–One day, we get called to help in search and rescue for survivor's when Gabriel was shot down."

Shadow saw the questions going through Julie's eyes, he meeting her's when they came to him, giving her a gentle shake of the head, asking her not to ask them.

"We found Shadow, and–and a few other living souls–" Now Shadow looked up to Wojtek, seeing the horrors trace through his face. Shadow knew them with a clarity as if he could still feel the fire and slam of the ship hitting the earth. "Anyways–we got the survivors care, and–well, Shadow here, he stayed with us. Took rest of the Egg Fleet out with our guns." He leaned down to Julie, but kept his affirming stare to Shadow. "He's good to follow...good leader," he said before dropping his voice to an audible whisper, "if he would speak more."

The bear stood up, crossing his arms. "So, I tagged along for a bit. Said they wanted some muscle as we took out Infinite and Eggman." He then looked around him, giving a fond gaze at his Diner. "And I came back here and took over my family's diner."

Shadow took another sip of his tea. "You seem to be doing well."

"Eh, the honeymoon phase of the re-grand opening is done. Starting to think I should have gotten a bigger place and a little more downtown."

"Nah," Shadow offered. "This is perfect."

"Ah, for you, my hedgehog friend. But business wise...it could be better." Wojtek leaned in. "My offer still stands, by the way."

Shadow gave a scoff before swirling his spoon in his onion soup. "No."

"Oh, c'mon," Julie pestered with smile. "What was the offer?"

Shadow placed his spoon down. "No," he said again, keeping his tone even, though his eyes were more direct.

But Wojtek gave a chuckle. "Oh, for him to work here with me between his adventures."

The hedgehog tilted his head as if a heavy strain just crept up on him. "It's bad enough I'm in a suit when I'm not, but me in an apron asking what coffee of food people want would be too far."

"Oh gosh, no," Julie laughed. "I can just see it. You'd look goofy! And I'm with you. Last time I wore a dress, it was..."

Shadow heard the fade in her voice, Wojtek looking to her from it.

"It was Bunnie and Antoine's wedding," she said, biting her lower lip. "I wore this Echidna tribal dress, and Knuckles...he..."

For a moment there was a reprieve of silence, but Shadow could see the coming pain finding its way to Julie-Su. Her shoulders slumped gently, her face turning to the window.

"Where did you all go that made you dress nice?" Wojtek finally asked.

Shadow answered, keeping his attention to Julie all the while. "We went to see this girl Mina Mongoose sing tonight."

"Oh," Wojtek lite up. "I wanted to go to that tonight. You know, Mina came here before she went to Studioloplis?"

Julie turned her head to the wolf. "You know Mina?"

"Quite," he replied. "She stayed for a good while before...well..."

Julie smiled. "She is so shy, but you wouldn't know it when she's on stage."

"And I was hoping to see her tonight," Wojtek added.

"She smoked it!" Julie said with grin. "I honestly don't think she's ever sounded so good. And her band she has now is so tight!"

But Wojtek just stared off, a smile hanging on his lips, but Shadow could see he truly wanted to be there to see Mina tonight.

"Well, anyways, how is your chili-dog?" he asked after a moment.

"Oh," Julie took a stab at it. "It's good."

"Did you know Sonic has parents and an uncle?" Shadow asked, holding his tea cup in his hand.

Wojtek stared with surprise. "No...no I didn't."

Julie just stared at Shadow, her thoughts lost, a pain far off, but calling. "Yeah...he did."

Another moment of silence, the music going to a jazz guitarist playing Misty. Shadow knew it. Gerald would play it when he would doze off in the chair while his blood was being taken.

And Maria...

"Well," Wojtek said, seeing something from Julie that Shadow also saw, "I'll let you two talk shop while I close mine."

"Oh, don't let us–"

Wojtek cut off the pink echidna. "Oh, no, you two are fine. Besides, its good to see you, Shadow." The hedgehog nodded, actually giving a meager smile.

"Oh my, he can!" Julie nearly laughed out.

"What?" quizzed Wojtek. "Smile...yeah, when he's the mood."

But the hedgehog shook his head. "Don't expect it to be a habit."

Wojtek gave a curt wave to him. "Last time I saw you smile was when you stuck a chaos-spear into Neo-Metal Sonic."

Shadow remembered that, letting one form that he hoped echoed the same smile he had when he killed Eggman's metal Sonic. "That...was a good day."

"Among many," Wojtek ended. "Anyways. Let me leave you two. Shadow, a pleasure as always."

The hedgehog nodded. "Same, Wojtek."

The bear smiled before turning on his black shoes and walked away behind Julie. The pink echidna gave a quick smile before returning to her chili dog.

Shadow leaned back in the corner of the booth, letting the music take him back to the deep recesses of his mind...his heart. For a moment, all was right in his world. No reminders. No feelings on the back of his neck. He thought to pull his phone and check the time. It was at least a two hour drive back east to Station Square. He'd have to drop off his partner. Then he...back to Fort Amanda. Back to his little small cave in the basement of the motor pool where Omega E-123 would be powered down, and Shadow finding his sleep. Till...

Till morning...then seven O'clock.

"So," Julie began, after swallowing another bite, "I know Tower was pretty heavy on the budget talk, but," she motioned out the window, "how did you get a two-hundred thousand credit company car?"

He looked out to his Dark Reaper. The opening to the grill was slightly hidden, the windows gleaming form the street lights, the thin red trim line starting at the upper front corner panel, tracing across the side down the door to the rear and finishing at the side fin of the subtle spoiler. It reminded him of his own red accent down his quills, down his shoulders across his elbow down to his middle fingers. Whether it was divine or chance he didn't know, but the Reaper held an identity not just from its metal skin and profile, but through its hidden soul Shadow felt connect to him every time he pressed the engine start button on the bottom of the console, when he touched the leather wheel...or commanded it into gear. Just driving brought tranquility away from the chaotic world. From his past.

He wondered for a brief instant if Julie had experience that peace that held an elation when she sat right of him. He could see her thoughts tracing by from her cybernetic eye, her face almost numb of emotion, the green pastures and mountains and water ways and the sea channel, like background noise to an episodic trance.

Yet now, her eyes were fixed to him, waiting for his response. Like she has known him...but had she?

"Civil forfeiture," he answered with an even tone, blinking to look away.

"What?"

He shifted in his seat. "One of the intel folks caught a materials shipper double dealing not only with us, but with one of Eggman's lackeys."

"How did you all find out?" she asked.

He shrugged. "He posted up on SmileBook with his new car that was way outside financially of what we knew GUN was paying him."

She looked to the car, again. "So, you all dug into his finances and discovered–"

"Payments that didn't match to his story." Again he shrugged. "He went to jail, and we got a car." He picked up his white mug and took a sip from his tea. "Course, Tower let the analyst go after the investigation that caught the cat double-dipping was over."

This made her stop and look to him. "What...why?"

Red eyes to hers, an unfurnished frown more out of revealing a sincerity to her than scolding. "Tower doesn't like the idea of people with a lot of envy. Thewolf that found it was someone who didn't like what others have...so he wanted to destroy the guy double-dipping out of envy rather than just for the sake for U-F."

"But he caught the guy basically betraying his country?"

He nodded with perched lips. "Yes. And Tower caught someone he couldn't trust on his staff to make correct decisions without bias." He kept his eyes to her. "Tower...Tower is a rarity, that I hope you can understand."

For it took him too long to discover it himself.

She swallowed. "I do believe I do." Casting her gaze again to the Reaper, she allowed a smile of curiosity. "So, does it have some gadgets, or firepower?"

He tilted his head, holding his tea mug just above the table. "Ah...the cup holders keep my coffee warm." He shrugged. "Keyless start, remote start...had some programming done so I can adjust the suspension and traction control on the drive. A few other small things."

"So, no machine guns, or ejection seats–" She gave a sly smirk "–y'know, to kick me out if I piss you off?"

He suppressed a scoff, but shook his head. "No...and you'll know when you get under my fur."

And he left it at that. Yet, what did stir in him came when he thought of the Club. "You said the Shadow of your time...that he smiled more?"

She took a sip, but nodded. "Yeah."

He looked away, but then down to his French onion soup. He was beginning to loose his appetite. "Did...did he have a reason to smile?"

She only gave him a single nod. "I do believe he did." She looked away from him. "I think not working for Eggman anymore might have been it."

"He–" Shadow nearly stammered with an even voice he felt he struggled to maintain. "He worked for Eggman!?"

Again, she nodded. "At one time, yes. Eggman held the truth of his past over his head to get him to do things against us."

"Did he find out his past in the end?" Shadow asked, nearly leaning forward.

"That...I think so," she answered before trailing off. "Sally tried to explain it to me. Something about a damaged disk that Nicole tried to do a deep dive with him and Sonic."

Just mentioning the blue hedgehog gave him a pause. Why would–

"And what did I–he learn?" he asked with a swallowing tone.

This time to his aching heart he seemingly noticed she shook her head. "From what I can remember...it wasn't much. Just about a girl named–"

"Maria?" he offered.

She studied him, questions fading into her eye. "Yeah...did?"

He sighed, turning his face and eyes down. "I'd rather not–" he began, but he let his voice trail.

"Can...I ask you...how old are you?"

He looked to her and breathed in. "I think I'm sixty- one...maybe older."

Again, she studied him. "That is curious," she offered. "I think the Shadow of my time was maybe the same age."

He swallowed. "But...he also had a Maria?" he asked, feeling himself edging towards the memories he had long suppressed within him. His voice slide from his lips, sharp with pain. "And she dies...?"

She's died twice...?

Julie's eyes held him with a gaze of comfort, but sadness. "I–I can't say...but I think she did." She then looked down, her own memories returning to plague her. "Things got so chaotic after our Shadow came to us. And afterwards–" She grabbed her cybernetic arm with her hand. "–We lost touch as things just spiraled out of control on–well, our end." She again looked to him, trying to convey some sort of comfort to him. "But, yes, I think he had good reasons to smile. I just–I'm sorry, I can't remember why, except that maybe he found some sort of peace of knowing what he was...and knowing who he needed to be."

But what about him? He just felt like he was in-between something, with Tower being the only friend that seemed to understand him. Granted, he did have Omega to pal around with, and he had this obligation to watch over this Hope girl that he still didn't understand why he had such a pull towards to do so. After all, she was just another orphan, like so many of this world. Tower...Tower had given him the duty to help take her to Dulcy's Orphanage nearly six months ago. He could still remember seeing her, tears from her eyes, though she seemed relieved and happy. He kept to himself in the Reaper, merely following behind Tower's black SUV after watching her go from the main base's building at Fort Amanda to the passenger seat. He could read her lips, Tower having his back turned to him on both accessions he physically saw her, seeing her thank Tower, and "I'll be fine," with a unsure, but certain with something, smile. She only gave one look to him before she turned to enter the gates to be received by Dulcy, the green dragon looking solemn but joyful with her eyes and smile. He still felt the surge of recognition come from her eyes, her mouth giving an opened brightened smile of her own.

And today of days, he nearly wanted to breath out, she actually waved to me...

She was orphan unlike the all others he had bear witness to, one he felt compelled to watch over, for reasons that he still couldn't fathom as to why.

Such as I being one as well? he asked himself. Or did he cling to her because she had such an uncanny appearance to...?

His next thought dammed the coming flood of anguish, stopping Maria's lifeless eyes and body from tearing at him.

And Tower's always been okay with it...he encourages it...why?

He held his silence, only to drop his eyes and spoon into his soup, elevating it to slurp it down to the pit of his stomach, doing the same with his thoughts of Hope...and Maria...pushing them back to the darkness of his black heart.

Julie cut into her chili-dog with her fork. She had maybe two or three more bites left.

"These little things today," she began after swallowing with a voice steeped in something he couldn't discern, "like anything lately...they seem to remind me of things from my past." She looked to him. "Does this happen to you?"

He wanted to tell her the truth, but he wasn't sure where she could lead him if he did. "Sometimes," he offered in a quiet murmur.

She hesitated some, but turned her eyes to him. "While, I guess, you were shooting those jackals outside...I saw this couple...well," she tried to give a smile, but faltered. "They were really into each other."

He nodded, not sure where she was leading with this–

"Do you know what a Soultouch, is?"

The pause he held gave her the answer. She held her eyes to his, her expression tempered, but he could see she something clawing at her from the inside.

"So, we Echidna's...we have this," she looked on, searching for her words, "thing. That we can sense who are lover is."

"Love at first sight?" Shadow said, keeping his voice even.

She gave a nod but took a breath in. "Something like that...but more." She looked away toward the street from the window. "Our souls become one inside both of us. Like, our souls are imprinted to one another. And...my father said it's a gift...a memory of him..."

What's your name? He heard Maria ask him from long ago aboard the Space Colony ARK.

"...And, I have it...my Knuckles...I can still hear him...

"Feel him..."

Shadow, he had replied, only remembering the name he had been given by Black Doom and Gerald. He felt his heart well up from the past warmth of her small hand taking his. It was the first gesture of kindness he had known.

"Does our Knuckles' have it?" Shadow asked, his voice sounding from afar. Adrift.

Julie kept her stare toward the street. "I don't know. I don't think so..."

"But, shouldn't it be gone since..." He stopped cold, not knowing if it had been the right thing to asked. He felt his stomach churn with shame that he had brought it up.

And he saw her swallow, letting her right hand pull the fabric of her dress back up on her left shoulder being the only movement from her he could perceive. "My...My Knuckles had died once." This pulled him closer to her, though he didn't move from his seat. "He died–and I never felt his touch leave me. Like he was still there." Her eyes went to his. "Because...I guess his future was still with me...with us."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Again, she swallowed. "He...he came back to us. He came back to help us when this alien race was trying to destroy our planet...and we couldn't do a thing to stop them."

"Did he?" Shadow leaned in. "Did...I?"

She shook her head. "No..." She let her eye form a tear. "But Sonic did. And we all thought he died in saving all of us..."

Maria's scarred voice echoed to him at that instant. I don't want to die, Shadow.

"I was so...happy to have him back," Julie said, her eyes now looking down. "And that night...I didn't want 'ah miss a...a chance that I thought I had lost..."

He fostered a memory of Maria sitting at her piano, him sitting next to her. Her soft hand had been pointing to the sheet music, telling him what the notes were, what the rule of fifths were in music...

"...And we found ourselves by ourselves in our new home...room in Knothole...and I kept staring at him...asking if I could...have him completely..."

Maria had closed her eyes, her sleep taking her peaceably in the chair, his voice drifting from the book he had been reading to her...their central lines going through the transfusing machine that treated her blood with his. He was her cure...and her...his...

"...It happened slow...then fast. We were so scared...but...so sure for ourselves." She met the hedgehog's red eyes, his own staring far off, but present. "He dropped his mittens to the floor...and I let him take me in a kiss I never felt from him before..."

Shadow remembered leaning down, giving Maria a peck on her blond hair after Gerald had tucked her in bed when the transfusing session was completed.

"...Then I let him...take me fully..."

Her voice had drifted off, Shadow snapping his memories away to the present. Julie's right hand was under her chin, her locks and hair around head and face her giving her a look of being a castaway. She then breathed in:

"And y'know...the next morning, I awoke to my Knuckles...holding me in his arms...sleeping soundly." Her eyes went back to his, her lips nearly agape. "And I felt guilty...not for what we had done...but for my friend, Sally..."

I won't let you die, Maria...I'm here for you...

"...Sally was waking up to her first day...without Sonic holding her in his arms..." She looked away from him. "And I felt so selfish at that instant. We got to put our innocence to bed...and my dear friend had her's ripped from her."

And Maria's face, lifeless, but loving, haunted him, her body pressing on the red release button that sent him to Earth...before he was to be...

Tower's face imprinted to his mind. The man was younger, beaten, bruised...filled with rage. He held his .45 pistol to the black hedgehog's heart...the hedgehog holding the green chaos spear, about to plunge the green arc of death into the human's soiled uniform straight through his chest. He read Tower's lips as if he were right there across from him.

"I loved her!"

And he could hear his own voice yell back:

"So did I! She was my friend! My purpose of being!"

"And now..." she whispered. "And now... I know what Sally had felt that morning. And I'm feeling it everyday."

He silence passed between them, her soft breathing, echoing a pain in her casting eyes.

Shadow looked to her, taking in a breath. "It's been my constant," he said, a feeling of remorse...sympathy he had not known he still possessed coming from his voice. "It's been my constant since I lost Maria."

She lifted her eyes to him. Her lips, her face, was consumed with a silent dominion of grief. "Well...I'm just beginning mine. And he is still with me...imprinted on my soul. Talking to me..."

Shadow's mind remembered how Tower had stood over him, no more than two years ago, expecting the blow that he felt coming from the human in failing to save his sister from the burning wreck of the Letter of Gabriel. What he didn't expect was the assuring squeeze of his shoulder from the man that had lost not only his childhood friend, and to blame Shadow for...but then his own sister. But instead, the man's grey eyes offered remorse to the hedgehog. "I'm not blaming you, again...my friend," he had said, before picking him up with the help of Wojtek watching over them.

"...He is my passenger," she conceived almost in a whisper. "He's right behind me as I'm trying to drive forward, talking to me, begging me to look back...for me to reach for him. But I know if I do...I'll loose control...and I'm so ready to do it..."

Julie-Su then turned her head to look out toward the Dark Reaper, Shadow following her eyes. And he too at that instant felt what she was meaning. Maria...was she his passenger? Was Amanda Tower? And had Julie violated that seat beside him in his car? What had she become to him in just a few short days...in just this day? He had long ago felt he had left Maria in his rearview mirror, to look forward...to keep going. What would he be if he lost control? Was that temptation even there anymore?

You were created to save a life...a life that no longer exists, he confided to himself.

A short spell passed before Wojtek approached them, towel over his arm, a pay-cube in the other. Shadow began to fish for his phone to tap the pay device when Wojtek skirted a bowel in front of them. "Here! Grapes on the house," he said with a smile. "Figure I let you two have these before I have to pitch 'em when they go bad."

"Oh, wow," Julie said, her face brightening.

Shadow pulled out his Cryptex phone and tapped it on the offered cube. He still had a few bills in his pocket that he would leave for Wojtek when they left.

"Hey, still, no rush," the tall bear said, nodding to Shadow. "Just going to put the stools up and flip the open sign to closed. You two seem to be enjoying yourselves...no need to rush you off."

"Wojtek," Shadow began, offering a smile, "thank you, my friend."

"Oh wow," Julie said with a start. "He does actually smile."

Shadow glared an eye to her, but Wojtek laughed with her. "I told you he does. Just have to give him time."

She gave a knowing smirk. "Beats what he gave me back at the concert."

Wojtek looked to her then to Shadow. "Oh...what did he do?"

Shadow returned with his lips opening just enough to show teeth with a feigned smile, producing a laugh from both Julie-Su and Wojtek.

"Ah...really, Shadow," Wojtek chuckled. "A pretty girl like her deserves more than that."

But the hedgehog waved them off, crossing his arms and leaning back into the booth.

Julie lifted her hand in a wave to Wojtek. "Flattered...but dresses aren't my thing."

"But you look good in it," the bear replied, eyes wide in hoping he hadn't offended her. "Very classy. And it," he pointed to Shadow, "actually complements mister brooder, here."

This time Shadow turned his head away, his arms still crossed. "Wojtek...beat it."

Yet, they still laughed, Shadow doing his best to hide a smile.

"Alright...alright...I'll leave you two be. But still, both of you next time you're in town, come by...especially all dressed up. Gives a nice feel to the place."

"I actually choose this dress because it reminded me of a friend of mine," Julie offered. "My friend Nicole had this purple dress in a toga design. Figure'd I wear something like that in her honor."

Wojtek gave a smile. "I guess that's a high honor to her since you don't wear such things?"

She only nodded. "Yeah." She looked to Shadow. "Gotta make it count some how."

The bear smiled, and gave a small bow. "Alright...I'll let you two be." Wojtek then walked to the counter, placing the pay-cube on it before grabbing at a stool and lifting it upside down on the counter before doing it again to the next.

Julie took a finger of grapes and placed them in her mouth. Shadow could see the flavor popping in her mind with a smile as she chewed. He reached and grabbed one and plucked it in to his mouth, the French onion soup losing it's flavor with some still in the bowl. He hoped it would not offend Wojtek with his gesture.

"You know," Julie began, taking another grape and lifting up to her natural eye, smiling at it before she looked to Shadow, "my Knuckles loved grapes!"

"Did he?" Shadow replied with a even tone, wondering if he should tell her that their Knuckles enjoyed them as well.

"Oh gosh, he was obsessed with them," she said with a laugh. "In fact, he'd do this thing where he would place them all over the table, and he'd become this grape eating monster." She lowered her voice, smiling with it. "Grapes–grape, grape, grape, grape!" She leaned back, still laughing. "And he get a giggle from me, Saffron and Sally...And Tails would...oh geeze, Tail's would egg him on."

Shadow offered a smile, taking another grape and eating it. "How?"

This time she giggled with the thought. "He roll them to him. And Knuckles would get below the table and pretend he was a shark and come up from the edge and chomp on them." She lowered her voice again. "Grape...grape, grape, grape..." She chuckled from it. "Oh, Aurora, it was so funny! This guy who was the Guardian of his people–" she took a finger full of grapes and placed them in her mouth "–and was such a hot head could come up with the funniest things to get a laugh out of us...especially Sally." She gave a giggle as she chewed. "He knew how to get her to laugh so hard she was in stitches..."

Shadow could see Maria laughing at him for something so trivial when he too was learning to live. It made him smile, wondering how she would take Julie–

She abruptly coughed as she seemed to force a swallow of a grape. Shadow leaned in just before she coughed again, harder, forceful that a sliver of worry ebbed to–

This time she spit up what was in her mouth. She grabbed the edge of the table with her cybernetic hand as if to hold on to something as she retched from chocking. He thought to reach over to her but instead he quickly slid from his side of the booth, rounded the table, and glided in next to her. Catching her before her head sunk further beneath the table, he grabbed a napkin from it and placed it under her. But it wasn't a choking cough he was met with...it was sobbing...crying. He knew the difference from holding Maria!

"I'm–I'm gonna kill fucking Thrash!"

The name was foreign to him. He placed the napkin under her mouth as he felt her body quake from her deep sobs. She forced air into her, her back shuddering from it, her dreads falling past her head. "He took my love...from me..."

A warm wetness dropped over his wrist. Looking down, Shadow saw her saliva and tears were mixing over him, the white right cuff of his shirt become stained in purple with every choking cough and cry she heaved over him. He wanted to say something. He wanted to comfort her...but he didn't know how.

He was too afraid.

I don't want to die, Shadow. He stared through the crying echidna, seeing Maria's blue eyes looking back at him. He could only silently mouth what he had said to her:

I won't let anything happen to you.

Yet, it was Julie's whimpering cry that brought him back. "Why? Why did this happen? Why did I deserve...?

"I want him back!"

He reached around with his left arm, moving her lavender hair away from her face...and then held her at her arm. He braced his body against hers as her sobbing became heavier, her tears from her right eye and her replacement streaming down around her face and black nose.

Wojtek's voice, stunned yet concerned came from behind Shadow. "Is...is there something wrong? Are the grapes bad?"

Shadow still kept holding her, letting her cries become moans, returning to angry sobs while her anguish seeped from her...and on to him.

"No, Wojtek," he said, turning to the bear, "the grapes are fine."

I hope in this chapter I conveyed the close similarities to Shadow and Julie-Su. And I also hope I have expressed in this chapter of why I've titled this novel Passengers. What they are holding on to is more than mere baggage.

Again, thank you for reading. please leave kudos and comments of how this story is going.