A gentle breeze blew through the starry night sky as a lone black hedgehog strode sullenly through the forest clearing.
He dragged his feet as he walked, as if each step drained what little energy he had remaining.
He sighed with each step he took. Each breath slow and painful.
He could no longer contain the painful feelings which he had been holding back since he was awoken from the capsule he was certain would be his coffin. Even his stoicism had its limits and he had reached his limit this night of all nights.
He remembered the pained expression in the young boy Chris's as he was knocked backwards by one of his punches. The way the red haired lad bravely stood his ground, unwilling to submit against a living weapon which had razed entire armies with ease in the name of protecting his friends. Sonic the beloved blue hedgehog among them.
"Shadow. You can't do this. Earth deserves a chance to live even if it isn't perfect. Please Shadow. Stop."
Chris's pleading words rang clearly in his mind even now.
Chris. A sheltered and wealthy child who was neither spoiled nor self-centered.
Chris had no super speed unlike Sonic. No keen intellect for building highly advanced machines like Tails or his master Dr Eggman. None of his partner Rogue's finesse or sneakiness. Just a powerless and pathetic human mortal, who could be snapped apart like a twig at a moment's notice.
Chris's heartfelt words were certainly one of the big reasons why Shadow had reluctantly decided against completing his mission for his master. The Earth could live for now.
But there was yet another even stronger reason why Shadow now felt that destroying Earth as his revenge for losing his one and only friend Maria would be like destroying a part of himself. A reason that could be viewed as either remarkably petty, or deeply passionate depending on one's mileage.
There was among Chris's friends; the fake blue hedgehog Sonic. The precocious yet somewhat obnoxious two-tailed yellow fox Tails. And an even cuter but still annoying white rabbit Cream and her incredbibly sweet blue and yellow pet chao Cheese.
Shadow still hated Sonic for somehow possesing all the optimism and propensity for endless happiness that he himself had lost in the 50 years he spent trapped in the life-sustaining capsule he wished had instead killed him.
While Shadow could not bring himself to hate either Tails or Cream for being innocent children caught in the crossfire, nor Cheese as one of the beautiful animals which gave Shadow his reality-warping Chaos powers to begin with. He could feel nothing but admiration for that human boy Chris, since it was ultimately Chris's passionate words of wisdom which encouraged him not to drop the ruins of space Colony ARK onto Earth like a Nuclear missile.
Or so Shadow told himself. And so everyone believed as they went their seperate ways once more with the Earth living to see another day thanks to Shadow's temporary change of heart.
Chris had one final friend which Shadow could not help but feel strongly attracted towards. Moreso than he had ever felt towards Rouge; the only female he had really spent time getting to know aside from his late Maria.
Her first name was Amy. Or as his sworn rival Sonic called her "Ames". She was a pink hedgehog with beautiful blunt quills instead of sharp and deadly quills unlike Sonic and most other Mobian hedgehogs including himself. Her last name was Rose. Amy Rose.
From what he had learned by eavsdropping discreetly a short distance from the Thorndyke Manor where Sonic and his friends lived with Chris; Amy Rose was 12 years old compared to Sonic's 15 and Tails's 8.
The exact age of Maria when she was gunned down during her and Shadow's escape attempt from Space Colony ARK.
If you were to be more exact with their ages; then Amy today was exactly 12 years and 279 days compared to Maria's 12 years and 35 days when she died, but that was a relatively minor difference all things considered and did little to distinguish Amy and Maria from one another.
True to her name; Amy loved to carefully tend a rose garden both on her home world Mobius and here on Earth. Shadow had silently stalked her and become simply amazed at how much Amy knew about gardening practices. About pruning, mulching and fertilizing. How she could identify so many kinds of flora at a glance; from Violets to Foxgloves to Roses to Sakura blossoms.
Maria's entire motive for wanting to come to Earth as soon as her illness was cured was to see all of it's pretty flowers in their natural habitat. And Maria had a garden specifically dedicated to her on Space colony ARK which only she and she alone cared for.
Having spent 2 whole hours silently observing Amy from the shadows he knew she would not find him, Shadow had gleaned several aspects of her persona which were not immediately obvious upon first sight.
How Amy was ambitious but not fanatical.
Devoted but not smothering, if you were willing to look
past the few minor mistakes she sometimes made in an overzealous attempt to be pleasing towards those close to her.
Forgiving, but not stupid. Peaceful, but not defenceless. Tolerant of others yet firm in her own beliefs.
Beneath the gritty and loudmouthed facade that Amy put on; she was well and truly unselfish. She was brave. The fear of death, disease and poverty were unknown to her.
To say that Amy had an uncanny similarity to Maria was like saying that it would take but a drop of water to rehydrate the entirety of the Sahara desert back into a fertile state fit for growing crops.
For one fact that Shadow had managed to hide from everyone including Dr Eggman about his best friend Maria; was the fact that Maria's favorite color wasn't blue even if that was the color of her dress and jacket which she wore daily. Maria's true favorite color was pink. It was the color of her special party dress which she reserved for the most special of occasions, and which Shadow had only seen her in once.
That one time he saw Maria, was the one time he felt truly dazzled by all the wonderous achievments that the short-lived and close minded creature known as humans. Because that one night when he danced the night away with his best friend on ARK's dance floor which he normally stayed well away from on account of him being the most withdrawn of introverts; was the one and only time in his entire life which Shadow had a nosebleed.
A near-fatal nosebleed which forced ARK's surgeons to immediately evacuate him from the dance floor to have him rushed to the emergency room at top speed. They were not a second too soon. Had his treatment which involved stuffing his nostrils with all the cotton wool available in the medical ward he would certainly have died from blood loss, his Chaos powers notwithstanding.
Pink was Maria's signature color, not blue. She only wore blue because her grandfather Gerald insisted she do so for no apparent reason. As well as most likely because if she wore pink all the time, Shadow would keel over from an excessive amount of nosebleeds.
In the same way Shadow looked so good in black, so did Maria look so beautiful in pink. They were like the sun and the moon that night of all nights when they danced the night away together.
A small part of Shadow knew Amy would never be able to fully replace Maria no matter what.
But the other part of him felt deeply saddened when she left with Sonic to return to their homes after the world-threatening catastrophe was narrowly averted.
For a brief moment when he worked alongside Amy to stop the ruins of ARK from colliding with Earth at any cost, he felt warm inside.
A feeling he'd not felt since he reawoke from the capsule that he all but believed would be his coffin and final resting place.
It was like his second chance at life came not when Eggman decided to release him from his capsule to be used as a pawn in the doctor's own sick game, but only when Amy gently caressed his skin to reassure him that everything would be alright.
To let him know that she alone would stand by him whether or not he chose to risk his life to save the world. To wordlessly convey to him that she and she alone could bring herself to root for the anti-hero.
That night as he walked by the large lake he always passed by, Shadow noticed something different about himself.
He could actually look directly at his own reflection in the moonlit water for longer than five seconds without immense discomfort.
"Why do I always want what I can't have?" Shadow moaned, clenching his fists as he choked back a sob. "Why is it that whenever I allow myself to feel close to anyone else, they are always taken away from me so quickly?".
Shadow looked up at the moon. Then defying all his better senses and allowing his baser insticts to completely consume him, he let out a bloodcurdling howl which caused a flock of ravens to fly away with terrifying caws.
"AM I REALLY JUST DESTINED TO BE FOREVER ALONE!?" He shrieked as adrenaline filled his body and he beat his chest while stamping on the ground.
"Some nights, I ask myself the same thing." a quiet voice trilled behind him, snapping him out of his self-induced frenzy.
Gathering a handful of powerful Chaos energy in his shaking hands, Shadow whirled around and threw the glowing orb of green energy without even bothering to aim it. Consumed with rage and self-pity, it was the only thing he could think to do to the stalker who had somehow followed him all the way out into the wilderness at such a late hour.
Shadow's Chaos ball sailed through the air before crashing the ground right beside the pretty pink hedgehog he had been dreaming of, missing her by mere inches as it left a smoking crater in the soft, muddy Earth. A few specks of dust were launched onto her beautiful muzzle and gleaming green eyes, which she quickly wiped away with surprising calmness as she regarded him with a gentle smile.
Shadow quickly covered his mouth with his left hand and held up his right hand in a pathetic attempt to make a gesture of peace. He tried belatedly to apologize, but the words never came. His head and his mouth were not in the same place and he only ended up stammering incomprehensibly.
He never believed he could be in such an emotionally vulnerable state. Even the sad realization that Maria had died didn't leave him in nearly so much shock. He had very nearly killed an innocent girl over his own angst. A hedgehog girl. A Mobian hedgehog girl who had lit the final spark in him which made him whole again.
"Greetings Shadow. Sorry I startled you." Amy softly said, as she dusted off the small spots of mud which had gone onto her simple yet stylish red dress.
"Don't apologize for anything Amy. I'm sorry I didn't know it was only you there and not some creep." Shadow quickly retorted as he took the opportunity to salvage a touch of composure at her kind words.
They stood there in tense silence for the next ten or so seconds. The two hedgehogs unsure of who should be first to speak in this awkward situation where it was unclear who held the superior rank over the other.
Shadow only knew that Dr Eggman was his new master, and that Rogue the bat was the de-facto mediator which kept things civil between the two of them.
Amy only knew that Sonic was technically her ringleader, even if he tried to pretend to himself and her that he wasn't on account of his humble and peace-loving nature. Amy knew that Sonic did not trust Shadow as far as he could throw him, and that Tails had a crippling phobia of the black hedgehog which came very close to abusing the most advanced piece of technology known to mankind to use as a doomsday device.
She didn't even know why she had chosen to come here, when she could have been sleeping in the luxurious bed in the attic which Chris had been so kind to provide her. She expected a far more hostile response from Shadow than what she actually got.
Perhaps Shadow was even better than she expected. She had already felt an inklling that he was more noble than he led others to believe during the ARK incident earlier that day.
The pain in his words as he apologized to her was proof enough that beneath his sinister black quills and bloodshot eyes, lay a saint of great character.
Perhaps even enough to rival Sonic, but this was not something she wanted to think about.
"So um, what are you doing here Amy? Shouldn't you be with your boyfriend Sonic?" Shadow eventually asked, the cold edge of his voice returning now that he'd calmed down a little.
But Amy knew that his attempt to sound menacing and emotionally distant were all just ruses. Disguises he concocted so as not to allow himself to feel close to anyone ever again, so that he'd not have to experience the heartbreaking experience of losing a loved one a second time in his life.
"I came to see if you were alright." She truthfully answered, looking him straight in his eyes so as to prove she was not lying.
"I'm fine as you can see. Now, leave me alone and be on your way. I have work to do tommorow and you're keeping me up." Shadow hissed, his voice soft and dangerous.
"Work with Eggman and Rouge?" Amy asked with morbid curiousity. She had to bite her tongue, so as not to vomit at having to speak the names of her two most despised antagonists in the same sentence. It was a miracle her tongue did not start bleeding with the force of her bite.
"None of your business. Amy. Now go back to Sonic and leave me in peace." Shadow replied, trying to dismiss her with a wave of his right hand.
Amy paused a few seconds for dramatic effect.
"Do you actually like working for that evil scientist and a jewel thief who'd gladly sell you out for two rings?" She asked in as polite and civil a tone as she could manage. Normally she would refrain from ever talking about Eggman and Rouge, but she felt that it was her duty here and now to rescue a loss soul before it sunk below the hope of salvation.
The words and actions Shadow had just demonstrated before her, were the words and actions of a madman.
A madman was a hundred times more dangerous and difficult to control as an evil man hell-bent on world domination via his army of killer robots.
She had seen how close Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream and their new human friends Chris and Helen had come to being killed by Eggman several times over. She could not bear the prospect of Sonic having another enemy infinitely more devious and unhinged to fight.
Shadow's murderous rampage needed to end here and now.
And since fighting Shadow was out of the question even if she could gather the willpower to do so, negotiation was the only other way. But Shadow wasn't looking for anything logical like money. He only wanted to watch the world burn.
But Amy felt that if she didn't at least try to make him see the light just one last time, she would never forgive herself. There had to be some good in Shadow. There just had to. Chris saw it back on ARK, and Amy just needed to find that shred of goodness before it was too late.
For both their sakes.
"Since Doctor Eggman is the one who actually bothered to re-activate me from my capsule, I am indebted to him. Whether I like him or not is another thing entirely. A life for a life is one of the few cardinal rules I remember being taught by my creator." Shadow coolly reasoned, his eyes becoming as hard as stone as they stared at Amy with a look that seared through her skin and spirit.
"What about Rouge? What did that batty brat ever do for you, except to put you in unncessary danger?" Amy quickly asked, pure desperation in her voice.
"Rouge gave me the only smatterings of my past life which no one else bothered to inform me about. More than you or Sonic ever could or ever will." Shadow smartly said as he took a step closer to Amy, his face twisted into a sneer as he conjured up another Chaos ball in his outstretched hands.
"How dare you insult my most trusted informant in such a rude way? You will take back every word you just said against the honest and honorable Rouge right now or I will burn you to cinders where you stand." He growled, daggers glowing in his shining red eyes.
Amy gulped. She had already had one close encounter with death that night and now the reaper's scythe was on her neck once more. She clenched both fists, inhaled and then exhaled as gently as she could. She had come to Shadow with a reason beyond a sentimental offer of friendship which she knew he would never accept. She had come to deliver a message.
A message shown to her by her tarot cards and her crystal ball that Chris had given her to show that she mattered to him as much as Sonic did.
...
"You look sad Amy" The redheaded human caringly noted as he saw the pink hedgehog sulking in a corner of the living room, too sad to go on a rampage with her hammer as she usually did when she got upset over anything.
He had seen her in this sorry state for several days now, but had never built up the courage to tell her. He had hoped that since she was usually such a chipper and optimistc person; Amy would soon recover by herself.
This should have been an easy situation for Chris. Amy was far more outgoing and less reclusive than Sonic. She was a very good listener. She was not waving her hammer around as she usually did when she got cross, meaning he posed no risk of being whacked across his head if he accidentally provoked her while trying to help her this time.
But Amy's fragile state now only made Chris's eyes go wide with fright. He silently begged to himself that she'd get out her hammer again and give it a powerful swing, just so he knew that she had not died completely inside.
With her hammer; Amy was an unstoppable menace that was hard to approach at the best of times. But without her hammer; Amy was a hollow and empty shell devoid of all human emotion. As mindless as one of Eggman's mind-controlled robots.
"Please Amy. I want to help you." Chris pleaded a little louder when he saw that Amy had not heard his first question at all.
The pink hedgehog very slowly turned around with her face buried in her elbow. She let off a few more painful sobs and wiped furiously at her covered face, as if battling to get rid of the last trace of her tears before she let Chris see it.
A minute later and she very slowly exposed her now perfectly dry face, and began to speak calmly to the human boy she'd grown to care for as much as her old friends Sonic and Tails.
"I'm just a little lonely. That's all." pink hedgehog Amy explained to Chris with a voice that was already well under control; despite the extreme sadness she had been under a moment ago. "I'm just a little peeved and vexed that Sonic forgot about the date we planned together, again!."
Chris nodded understandingly. He knew what it was like to have promises broken to your face by those you trusted the most. He had after all began taking antidepressants after confessing before a psychiatrist that he had been taken care off by his butler and maid as opposed to his parents during his formative years.
He had spent most of his first therapy session ranting on about how self-centered and unpleasant his nitpicks about his life must have made him seem. But the wise and devoted doctor had reassured Chris that his grievances were perfectly legitimate.
The doctor then explained to Chris that when a baby grew up without its mother or a mother that was totally neglectful of it whether for sympathetic or unsympathetic reason, then the baby grew into a child or adult whose sense of identity was defective in the grossest of ways. Chris's wealth didn't change this, as wealth was not a subistute for maternal and paternal time and attention.
The therapist concluded the session by telling Chris that his over-doting behaviour towards Sonic was simply an attempt by Chris's shattered psyche to create an identity it never properly developed. This was also the reason why Chris had defined himself overwhelmingly by his relationships with others, and why Chris hated using the letter "I" in a conversation.
Amy did not wait for Chris to speak again before she spoke once more, looking him softly in his eyes and putting her gloved hands up to let him know that she was harmless and would not attack him with her hammer this time like she had done countless times beforehand.
Part of the reason she had been crying was because she was lamenting over all the pain she'd inflicted on all her friends in the past with her hammer. She was now demonstrating through actions louder than words; that a hammer attack from her would never happen again. Not to those she called her friends at least.
"You and I are not so different Chris. We both love Sonic and wish we had more time with him, but we both know deep down that Sonic has no time for us." She noted, still keeping her voice soft and her expression serene while closing her eyes to hide the tears forming behind her eyelids.
"Yep. You've sure got that right." Chris nervously replied, rubbing his head with his shaking arm as he usually did when he felt embarassed.
"I didn't have a good childhood either Chris. My parents were not around to take care of me either." Amy said upon noticing that the conversation was becoming awkward for both of them.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked in utter disbelief, stunned that such a sociable and extroverted fashionista like Amy could have grown up without the tender love of a stable and attentive family which catered to her every whim.
Amy had everything he did not. Confidence. Courage and a very strong sense of identity. After all, she had yelled on the rooftops countless times that she was Amy Rose; Sonic's one and only girlfirend. Even when Sonic had flatly rejected her advances more times than could be counted, Amy never gave in nor gave up.
Amy's childhood couldn't be that bad. Not when she was so eager to return to her home planet along with Sonic.
So it came as a real shock for Chris when a single tear rolled out of Amy's left eye and down her left cheek, hitting the velvet carpet beneath them with a light splat.
"If you must know Chris...Eggman killed both my mum and dad when I was six." Amy confessed, inciting a loud gasp from the redheaded boy who'd provided her and her friends shelter for the entirety of their time on Earth with him. "Or rather his robots did. They shot mum and dad, and I barely got away myself. I didn't know they were Eggman's robots at that time."
"You're kidding." Chris whispered, hoping she really was kidding.
"No Chris. I'm not kidding. I don't kid about my past or my beloved parents." Amy murmured as tears blurred her vision.
"Sonic saved me from starvation. He did for me what you're doing for us now Chris." The pink hedgehog explained, not wanting to mention her deceased parents any further lest she disgrace herself any further before her human companion. "So in a way I want to stay with him because I still feel indebted to him."
"I see." Chris sincerely stated.
"But now he no longer wants me around. It's time for me to move on as well. I've annoyed him long enough."
With her mini tirade about her tragic past now over; Amy dropped a light bow before Chris.
"I'm sorry for all those times I hit you with my hammer Chris. Please don't be afraid of me. I promise I won't do it again."
"Er. Um. Apology accepted Amy." Chris nervously answered, once again scratching the back of his head as he always did when he felt uneasy about the things he needed to say. While Amy's tantrums could indeed be frightening at times for him, he didn't want to impose his power on her and drive her away from him anymore than he wanted to lose Sonic's special friendship with him.
"Thank you Chris. You have a very big heart. It's no wonder you're the only person Shadow was willing to listen to." Amy gratefully said as she held out her right hand and pulled off its glove briefly to let Chris shake her hand.
A few seconds passed in tense silence as Amy slipped her white glove back on.
"I have something special I want to give you Amy as a sign of our friendship" Chris quickly said as something deep in his memory stirred. "I've already given Sonic, Tails and Knuckles a special present, but not you yet Amy."
"Oh goodie. I wonder what it could be?" Amy excitedly replied as Chris ran upstairs and downstairs with lightning speed that would make even Sonic turn green with envy.
Amy's soft smile turned to sheer bewilderment as Chris opened a large, pink box to reveal a deck of Tarot cards in a fine mahogany box and a large crystal ball which shone as brightly as the sun and moon.
"I love it." was the only thing Amy could say as she took the deck of Tarot cards from their box and gave them a brief shuffle before putting them back again. "I've missed having my special cards so much since I had to leave them behind. How did you know I wanted them so much?"
"S, Sonic told me." Chris anxiously admitted.
Amy nodded gratefully as she picked up the crystal ball, which she recognized as one of the set pieces which Chris's movie star mother Lindsay had used during a scene shot in the horror movie she and her friends had worked on alongside Lindsay in the haunted ruins out of town.
Where King Boo and his army of ghosts nearly sent them all to an early afterlife, and only Sonic was able to save them all. A bonding experience that brought all of them closer together than ever, even if they didn't like to talk much about the night of terror where they each saw a real army of ghosts capable of doing harm to the living.
"Is this real crystal?" Amy asked as she gave the polished orb a gentle stroke with her left index finger while cradling it carefully in her two hands.
Chris nodded empathetically. "Made from Amethyst with pearl and garnet, and a pure diamond in the base."
Amy gave the crystal orb one last look, in which she felt as though she could see not only her own future but the futures of all her friends, enemies and everyone else in between. As though the sheer number of possibilities that ebbed and flowed within the orb would cause it to crack at the slightest tap.
Then she put the crystal orb away to help Chris with his homework. Tails was busy downstairs working on upgrades to the X-Tornado jet and Sonic was on another mission trying to see what Eggman was up to this time. Knuckles was dutifully patrolling the Master Emerald as he always was.
It felt so strange. At first she believed that there could never be any goodwill between herself and Chris since they both competed for Sonic's very limited attention, but they had somehow instead formed a unique bond in which they would grow strong together with or without Sonic's help.
She was glad that she had gotten one step closer to putting Sonic behind her and helped Chris overcome his fear of loneliness.
...
"I saw a horrible vision in my crystal ball today." Amy said to Shadow as she pulled out the ball in question and held it up for Shadow to behold.
"Hmph" Shadow harrumphed, doing his best not to be swayed by such an illogical device that was clearly only good for stage magicians trying to cheat their audience out of their hard-earned Cash.
"It involved you and Rouge." Amy stated.
"Really? And just what did you see that could possibly prove to me your pathetic theory that Rouge is somehow even remotely untrustworthy?" Shadow sighed impatiently as he crossed his arms.
"I saw Rouge drop Chris to his death." Amy succinctly summarized as she peered into the ball one final time to confirm her vision from earlier was indeed accurate. "I don't know when it will happen. I don't know where. But I know it will happen sometime in the future. At least in one future."
"Don't make me laugh. What could Rouge possibly have to gain from such a nonsensical decision?" Shadow hissed as he menacingly reached out a hand as if to grab the crystal ball and drop it to the ground in a fit of pique. "I don't even know what it is between you and Rouge that makes you not like her. Just tell me in a straightforward way Amy. Don't try to BS me with your future-telling mumbo-jumbo."
Amy nodded nervously as she put the crystal ball safely away once more. Clearly another cynic who did not believe in the virtue of foresight and farsight.
"When I was a little hoglet after I lost both my parents, I was stuck begging on the streets. And every time I found something good which made me happy, Rouge came to me to try and steal it." Amy angrily growled, making a colossal effort to hold back her rage.
"One time a nice doughnut stand owner gave me a maple doughnut glazed with cream, but Rouge took it away and ate it in front of me. Another time I found a silver coin in a drain, but Rouge saw how shiny it was and took that away as well."
Amy stamped her foot and clenched her fists, as she gnashed her teeth with a gust of devilish fury which made even Shadow recoil briefly. He never believed such a beautiful pink hedgehog was capable of such brutality.
"Rouge was the bane of my existence Shadow. I was small and weak while she was big and strong. The entire time I was homeless, Rouge came to beat down on me. She tried to talk me into a life of crime, but I couldn't bring myself to steal. Only beg."
She sniffed to retract the tears forming in her nose and eyes, and clutched her aching chest which was swelling with sadness.
"I nearly joined Rouge. I would have if Sonic and Tails didn't come to help me. Without Sonic, I would not be the loveable pink hedgehog you see before you Shadow. I would be just another low life. Another thief. Another criminal lined in chalk."
Shadow's eyes went as wide as saucers and his jaw dropped. He did his best to rationalize how Amy's story could not possibly be real, but then he took one look at the fire burning in her emerald eyes and he felt as if his own soul were burning too.
He had heard the legends of such thieves in the action movies he sometimes used to watch with Maria. He never believed he'd be so foolish to go along with one for so long.
It was one thing for bloodthirsty mercenaries to take Maria's life as collateral damage as part of a mission they believed was necessary for the security of the world.
It was another thing entirely for wealthy and distinguished members of the landed gentry to snatch the bread from the hands of hungry hobos who'd lost everything and everyone dear to them.
Rouge really had pulled the wool over his eyes and played him for a sucker.
"I've been so wrong." Shadow solemnly rasped, now truly sorry for what he had done. "How could I have been so stupid."
"Sometimes a single bad thought or intention can ruin perfectly good people and hedgehogs." Amy sagely replied as she put a hand on Shadow's cold left shoulder. "And sometimes you simply turn the wrong way without meaning to. I'm not asking you to do anything bad to Rouge or Eggman. I just want you to know the honest truth about them before you decide what you want to do next."
Shadow was silent for the next minute as he inhaled and exhaled. He looked at his reflection in the lake and at the stars in the sky.
"What am I to you, Amy?" He demanded at last, without looking at Amy. "Why are you helping me?"
"A lost and misunderstood soul and an unsung hero who deserves to be rewarded for saving the world."
"I didn't save the world Amy. Stop trying to be nice to me."
"Yes you did Shadow. Even if you pretend to others and yourself that you don't really care, you do. Not all of your goodness comes from Maria either. You're a perfectly amazing hero in your own right. If you really only cared about Maria, then you wouldn't have chosen to come back to life at all."
Shadow held up a hand as a sudden wave of anguish washed over him. He hung his head in shame as he let out a solitary sob of pain and anguish.
"I'm a corward Amy. A dirty coward. I should have died in my capsule and never come out. Maria was dead before I came back. Why didn't I have the courage to join her? The only reason I was created was to be with her and to protect her."
Amy once again put her hand on his shoulder to reassure him that it was all going to be alright. She had the inkling that she was going to have to repeat that gesture a lot from now on.
"Sometimes Shadow; even to live is an act of courage. Life is a gift." A sudden beam of light hit her muddled thoughts and Amy's next words were delivered with shocking precision, and cold stoicism. "And what makes you think that you were closer to yourself when you were still on ARK with Maria and Gerald? Is it just because that was an earlier version of you?"
"What do you mean Amy? Of course that was the real me. I need to find the memories of my past life to finally become myself again. That's why I've been working with Rouge and Eggman all this time." Shadow explained, unable to look Amy in the eye out of his newfound shame at his long list of crimes.
"Well then let us help you. Me, Sonic and Chris can help you discover all that you want to learn and more." Amy offered, realizing that it was not her place to prevent Shadow learning of his true past if this was his heartfelt desire. She knew what it was like to have a heartfelt desire that could never be fulfilled, only dreamed about.
Shadow looked incredulous. "And how exactly would any you be able to help me? The information I seek is not something any average Joe has easy access to." Shadow protested, unable to hide a slight hint of curiousity at Amy's odd offer.
It was this tiny shred of curiousity that Amy needed to capitalize on if she wanted to close the deal.
"Chris has a super-advanced computer that his grandpa Chuck; a super clever scientist built." Amy explained to Shadow, choosing her words carefully. "He used it to help Sonic track down our friend Cream the rabbit when G.U.N were holding her captive on a top secret island prison so that they could barbarically experiment on her against her will. Without Chris's computer, we would never have been able to rescue Cream."
"G.U.N. Prison island. Barbaric experiment. Rescue." Shadow whispered to himself under his breath. "Chris is more incredible than I thought..."
"Chris can help you find information on your past life and about Maria." Amy chimed in, cutting him off from his train of thought. "He hacked into G.U.N's database once and he can certainly do it again. Especially since we now have our computer genius Tails to back us up."
"You'd really do all that for me after I nearly killed you all?" Shadow asked with a pleading expression that made him look as fragile as glass. Amy knew that she couldn't let the superpowered black hedgehog down now.
"Of course Shadow. I told you already. I forgive you. How couldn't I? I've done some horrible things I've regretted when I got angry in the past, and so it would be hypocritical of me not to forgive you. Especially after you selflessly put yourself on the line to stop the ruins of ARK crashing into Earth."
Shadow began to tremble as he fought back tears of his own.
"I'm sure Maria would be very proud of how you saved us all if she was still alive." Amy proudly stated causing a soft smile to form on Shadow's usually forlorn face.
Shadow allowed himself to weep as Amy took a step back and faced away from him to give him a minute to pull himself back together. She could tell from the way he cried that he had holding his emotions back for a long time so as not to show weakness, and in doing so had nearly killed himself.
Having lost her own mum and dad at a very young age; Amy perfectly understood how Shadow must have been feeling all this time he was manipulated by the dastardly duo of Eggman and Rouge. It was just one of many ways they were so similar.
In a sense; Shadow was like her own shadow. The darkness to her light.
"I'm done with Eggman and Rouge. For good this time." He insisted as he quickly blinked away his tears and balled his right fist so hard Amy felt like it might explode. "They promised me heaven and put me through hell."
"So what do you want to do now Shadow?" Amy timidly inquired, tempted to hide her face in her hands so as not to let Shadow see the increasingly crimson blush in her cheeks. She had already driven Sonic away from her by coming on too hard, and she was determined not to make the same mistake with Shadow.
Shadow looked at Amy with a piercing gaze which seared through her eyes, skin and soul. It was like she was being petrified by the intensity of his beautiful eyes which were redder than any rose.
"Amy. When passion's a prison you can't break free. You ask me what I want to do, and there is only one thing I can do in light of all the things you've told me."
"And what's that?" Amy stammered in a hoarse whisper as sticky sweat dripped down her forehead.
"I think that until I find the truth about my origins and my best friend Maria, I will stay with you and Chris. I would like to know you both better and to meet this young bunny Cream. Is she nice?"
"Sugar, spice and everything nice are the only qualities you will find in that lovely young girl." Amy empathetically replied. "Always polite. Never raises her voice and loves gardening and making daisy chains."
"Loves gardening and making daisy chains..." Shadow echoed back to Amy as his eyes went as wide as saucers. "Not just you but your young friend Cream both share Maria's love of gardening and flowers."
"Not just us but a lot of our friends." Amy proudly remarked. "For example, have you met Chris' girlfriend Helen? She lives two streets down from Station Square where we live. She's bound to a wheelchair, but she's still so kind and cheerful to everyone she meets and she brightens everyone's day. Her long blonde hair shines like gold in the sun."
"Hair like gold." Shadow gasped, almost choking on his words. "Maria had hair that sparkled like gold just like Helen."
"You should meet her. She can be your human friend like Chris is for Sonic. She's very curious about you Shadow, in a good way. Go pay her a visit sometime."
"I will." Shadow said, trying to wrap his head around the fact there were not one, not two but three living creatures who all reminded him of Maria in unique and beautiful ways. It was as if when Maria died, her spirit split into three and all of Amy, Cream and this Helen took one part of it and made it part of themselves.
This was heaven on Earth. Or at the very least the closest thing to it. Good and noble legacies really did last forever, regardless of what his cynical creator Gerald told him in his later years.
"Do you wanna catch a movie Shadow? I'm not really feeling sleepy tonight and there's a really edgy Anime movie at the movie theatre I think you'll really like." Amy suggested.
"And what movie is that?" Shadow asked his new girlfriend who had replaced Rouge as his most trusted informant. He knew he had a long way to go if he wanted to prove to Amy that at his core he was no different to her previous boyfriend Sonic.
Just as both Maria and Amy were tree-hugging pacifists with a strong sense of empathy and concern for the welfare of others, both him and Sonic were speedy hedgehogs who ate far more chilli than was considered healthy. Shadow's trademark food which he'd not told anyone yet, was spicy cow Chow Mein. The Asian counterpart to Sonic's chilli dogs.
"It's called Naruto: the last ninja." Amy replied to Shadow with a light grin. "It's an anime movie with ninjas who sneak around hiding in the shadows, and a edgy main character who's entire motivation is to take revenge on the murderers who killed his entire family in cold blood."
"That all sounds amazing, but does it have any romance in it?" Shadow excitedly asked. "I won't watch a film with no romance."
Amy's smile widened. "Tons of it. Tons of romance, angst and shipping material with the most adoreable waifus you will ever see. That's the entire reason I wanted to share it with you. But we have to run or we'll be late for the preview. Come on Shadow."
And as she finished her sentence, the pink hedgehog began to speed down the forest track on the road back to the city. Leaves were blown from trees and smoke billowed in her path as she charged forward at full speed. Had anyone seen her running through the night, they would have only seen a pink blur.
"Wait for me!" Shadow called out as he followed her. He had to resort to using his Chaos powers just to speed himself up enough to match pace with Amy.
Now he had one more reason never to let Amy down. In Amy he had found another Otaku and lover of romantic adventures in which love always won out against hatred and revenge.
He caught up with Amy just as she was finished paying for their tickets at a ticket booth manned by a cosplaying young teen; who had dyed his hair black and painted a fake scar down his white face while donning a shadowy trenchcoat.
It was if the stars themselves had aligned this evening to give Shadow the best night ever.
Feeling obligated to return her kind gifts, Shadow quickly sped to the snack counter and ordered two big bottles of Coco Colas alongside two of the largest bags of salted popcorn available. He paid using a glowing gold ring he'd not yet used up, reassuring the shy clerk that it was worth a ton of good money in the right market.
The grateful smile on the worker's face as she pocketed the gold ring and blew him a kiss, almost melted his stony heart.
Then he jogged up to Amy as she was waiting patiently for a guard outside the screen area to rip her and Shadow's tickets after checking them thorough.
"I can't wait." He uttered eagerly.
"Neither can I." Amy answered with a giggle.
They went into the Screen 6 room, hand in hand and sat down next to each other on two seats at the very back of the screening room just as the final pointless advert drew to it's conclusion and the film's starting screen began.
The expertly animated feature that ensued for the two hedgehogs was sixteen kinds of wonderful. It was as if in the brief 80 minutes that the movie played, the pink and black hedgehogs could see their past, present and future all in one flashy show of lights, camera and action.
Amy had already seen this film once. It was how she knew with absolute certainty that it would not displease Shadow. But seeing it twice did not dilute its hypnotic effect on her in the slightest. Having Shadow to watch beside her this time made her second viewing worth the price of admission.
Shadow was utterly stunned by the film's masterfully crafted effects. The fight choreography. The film's unique and quirky plot which sought neither to pander to the widest demographic, nor insult its audience as so many blockbuster movies these days tried to do.
So many characters in such a short story. All of them appealing and easy to get behind. But Shadow cared only for three.
Sasuke Uchiha. Spiky black hair and a creepy black jumper which made him look as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. A speedy sprinter who could conjure blazing flames in the palms of his hands to immolate his enemies with. All a result of his Uchiha bloodline created specifically to augment his battle prowess.
Sasuke was motivated only by a thirst for revenge as Amy promised him. Revenge for a family he hardly knew, since they were taken from him at a very young age.
It didn't take a genius to put two and two together. Shadow was genetically engineered to be super strong, and lost both Maria and Gerald just three human years after his creation.
Shadow immensly despied Sasuke from start to finish. Because Sasuke represent the worst possible outcome for Shadow if he did not immediately repent and turn from his wicked ways at once.
Shadow hated Sasuke and wanted nothing more to smash the screen each time he saw the raven-haired edgelord show up. Looking at Sasuke Uchiha was like looking at himself through a mirror.
There was not much to say about the titular protagonist Naruto Uzumaki. He had long and spiky gold hair, and was nigh invincible against any weapons aimed at him. Like Sonic if he was able to activate his super form at any time without the need for the Chaos emeralds.
Naruto loved hot Ramen soup. Another spicy food know for it's high content of chilli similar to Sonic's chilli dogs. He also loved to laze around all day sleeping as Sonic did.
Though Naruto would be the first thing Shadow forgot about the film named Naruto: the last ninja; he had to begrudgingly admit that the lazy blonde's positivity and optimism was very contagious. Shadow felt himself becoming less cynical with every scene Naruto featured in.
Hinata Hyuga. Character B of the three "relevant" characters that Shadow's memory bothered to register as important. While Sasuke was as cuddly as a cactus and as charming as an eel, Hinata was the embodiment of every single loveable quality that Shadow believed to be unique to his deceased companion Maria until today.
HInata was dilligent, content, forgiving. And very trusting. Too trusting for her own good. Trusting enough to almost be seduced by Sasuke's web of lies, and turned into his personal pawn which he would use against his and her former friends that they'd sworn solemn loyalty to.
"Let's just hear what G.U.N have to say, Shadow. You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover." Maria's sweet voice echoed to Shadow as he watched Sasuke wickedly work his deceits on the demure pacifist in the cream-colored coat, and almost get away with it.
Hinata was described by the other ninjas in the movie to be as strong as a three-legged rabbit, with hearing abilities to match so that she turned and ran when she heard a pin drop from a hundred paces away.
Power level 0. Kindless quotient over ninety trillion.
"I should listen to Cream the rabbit's advice closely." He reminded himself silently in his mind about halfway through the film.
Shadow's final, favorite character which he only really started noticing as the film reached its action filled climax, was the role model which would impact his whole life from beginning to end. If the film had no other character but her, he'd still climb every mountain and swim every ocean to reach this theatre today and find it worthwhile.
Between Sasuke the betrayer and Hinata the kind, lay a morally-grey and enigmatic individual whose level of goodness could not be tracked by any scale. A character clearly designed to be nothing more than a joke and a punching bag to be forgotten, but who had won Shadow's heart out of all the other members of the movie's colorful cast.
A piece of art which mirrored neither life nor the director's intention, but the spectators themselves. A dissertation topic that historians millenia from now on would argue long and loud about. The walking example of divisive.
The polarizer of fanbases. The changer of ways. The ugly beauty and the tainted saint were just some of the epiphets Shadow bestowed upon his all time favorite fictional character.
Her name: Sakura Haruno.
Long and lustrous spiked pink hair with bangs, which would later be forcefully cut by her own hand to become shorter and smoother but no less eye-catching. A pinkish red qipao dress in the traditional style of Eastern fashion.
She had a loud, booming voice which never missed an opportunity to insult Naruto and demean Hinata. All while she heaped mountains of praise upon the wholly uncaring Sasuke, who returned her dedication to him with icy silence at first and unrestrained violence later.
In the beginning of the movie, Shadow could not stand Sakura and hated her more than he did Sasuke. He had to close his eyes and block up his ears just to not hyperventilate at the idea of having to stare at and listen to such an insufferable bully.
Come the film's conclusion however, and he could not take his eyes off screen whenever he saw a strand of her pink hair, or a thread of her red dress. Her words which had given him such serious headaches when he first heard her speak had become the voice of heaven itself.
In part this was because she had become stronger, even if never to the same extent as Jedi master Naruto or Dark lord Sasuke. But her biggest improvements came not in the form of some fancy ninja art (or jitsu as they called it) which let her trample her enemies with greater ease.
It came in the form of self-improvement. Sincere apologies on her end to both Naruto and Hinata. Fewer swears from her until her speech was as pure as mountain spring water.
She even abandoned her dream of becoming a ninja whose job it was to break people down, and became a surgeon instead with the intent of putting people back together.
She went from childishly whiniing over every little hardship she was faced with, into becoming a docile and devoted sage who perfomed her work well and complained little.
Instead of using her newfound strength to deliver stronger punches which would cause more pain to her targets, she used it to lift more injured ninjas and civillians to safety where they would be given a second chance at life they otherwise would not have had without her timely interventions.
Rank and reward no longer appealed to Sakura. Shame and disgrace no longer deterred her. She no longer cared about being completely forgotten as Naruto and Sasuke gained an increasingly large army of followers for their own ends.
She became a formidable foe in her own right, despite her sensei Kakashi forsaking her as a lost cause to focus his attention on tutoring Naruto and Sasuke while leaving Sakura in the dust. Her case was helped by the fact that while Sasuke and Naruto were born with the most powerful bloodlines in the whole wide ninja world, Sakura had no such special genes and was just a frail, mortal human.
In Harry Potter terms she would be considered a Muggle.
In Drgaon ball terms, she would be termed Power level null. In Pokemon terms she would be untiered, not even fit for use in the lowest official tier of PU while Naruto and Sasuke were moved out of Overused(OU) and into Ubers to participate in the most legendary of world-changing battles.
So Sakura learned to teach herself instead, using techniques which did not require specific bloodlines, or even Chakra to use. Techniques which took just a few days to learn, but which could be practiced over a lifetime to become as deadly as any of the more flashy and esoteric techniques most ninjas used.
While Sound ninjas practiced how to move as quickly as sound and Earth ninjas practiced how to bend the Earth itself to create huge rockslides and stone barriers on the fly, Sakura learned the far simpler techniques known aptly as the sidestep and the block.
The sidestep involved simply taking one step to evade attacks aimed at her, while the block only required her to move both arms in front of her face to soften any blow she endured.
While most ninjas spent a few relaxed minutes each day going over the hand gestures they needed to fashion their advanced jitsus into being, Sakura spent hours doing very boring and extremely exhausting exercises such as weight lifting and hammer throwing.
It wasn't flashy and it certainly wasn't easy. But it served its purpose in making Sakura stronger in both a figurative and literal sense.
All this culminated with the changer of ways taking on Sasuke the betrayer in a heated battle in which both sustained near fatal injuries. Sasuke had no gratitude for Sakura's past kindness towards him and threw every technique he had at her, including several forbidden techniques that were taboo to use on account of how dangerous they could be.
But Sakura somehow persevered. All the cunning manouvres and flashy stunts Sasuke unleashed on her were nothing compared to the hours of honest, rigorous training she spent knowing this day would come.
A day when no one but her could keep herself safe. A night when the blood moon was on the rise and fire burned in her eyes.
It was a long fight, but Sakura eventually overcame her former teammate despite him holding nothing back.
"Now kill me." He gurgled weakly as he spat out rice wine mixed with blood. "Kill me and let me join my clan in the afterlife. Kill me and let the world know you are as accomplished a ninja as any Hokage, Raikage or other clan leader. Slaughter me in cold blood so that you may have your long overdue revenge on me for all the times I made you suffer without any remorse. End my life and rejoice in your sweet victory as my evil brother Itachi rejoiced in his killing of my entire family."
"I can't" The pink haired ninja girl whispered back.
"Why not? Think of all the glory you'll get when the world hears you defeated me and did what no one else could."
Then Sasuke started to cry. "Please kill me. Please end my miserable existence. Please Sakura, if you really still love me. Just let me die. All my pilfered treasures which I stole from every tribe and every nation will be yours. You will finally find peace with me gone. Now kill me."
"If I kill you, I would be going back to the horrible way I used to be when I was younger." Sakura replied without a hint of hostility in her calm voice. "Back when I saw everyone as toys to be used for my own selfish gains, and when I saw you as nothing but a trophy. I can't do that. I've changed. I'm sorry I couldn't sympathize with your problems properly in the past Sasuke, but I'm different now."
She held out her hand and helped the raven haired warlord into a more comfortable sitting position, and began to bind his wounds by tearing strips of his newly acquired black cloak to make bandages.
"If I kill you Sasuke, I would be a hypocrite. I'm many things but I'm no hypocrite. I learn from my mistakes and I keep my promises. I promised I would bring you back safe and happy."
"And who did you promise?" Sasuke retorted, barring his teeth as he trembled from the horrible pain all over his body.
"I promised myself. I'm still as selfish as ever. That's a part of me that hasn't changed."
"So what do you want with me then?"
"I want to give you a second chance now that you've seen the consequences of your thirst for revenge. What you do next is up to you, but I'm not going to kill you. My goal is to bring peace, and I refuse to continue this vicious cycle of killing."
Sasuke could only groan as a spasm of pain flooded over him.
"You said before that you didn't like me because I couldn't understand you, or feel the same way as you. You told me that even if people did understand you, they would still hate you. Even if they felt the same as you, they would refuse to accept you for who you are. But I now have both of those things. I both understand you AND feel the same as you."
"Then you and I are kin." Sasuke painfully groaned. "You are the first member of the new clan I plan to build starting today, if your words are true."
Sasuke eventually gained the strength to stand, and Sakura set off for the road back to their newly rebuilt home the leaf village with him leaning on her shoulder.
"Why have you changed Sakura? Why have you become so much better than how you used to be?"
As the sun began to set, Sakura uttered the film's closing lines as the credits began to slowly and dramatically roll.
"Sasuke. When I was a child I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I acted like a child. But now that I am I grown woman, I have no need for those thoughts any longer."
...
"That was beautiful." Shadow murmured sincerely as he took Amy's hand and let her lead him out of closing cinema.
"Did you like it?" Amy eagerly asked with a playful grin.
"Very much. I wouldn't have missed it for the world."
"That's good, Shadow. Do you know why I showed you that film in particular?"
"I think so, yes. But I'd rather you tell me anyway."
"Of course Shadow. I wanted to enlighten you in a way that me simply speaking to you couldn't. I wanted you to see the past, the present and the future and how they are all connected with each other. For you to realize that all that you touch, you change. And all that you change, changes you."
"I see that now Amy. Thanks to you. I see that my past will never die, and that I can celebrate my past without being trapped by it. I'll still never forget Maria and how much she means to me, but I don't have to behave badly just because my past wasn't ideal. Especially when there are others who've suffered just as much as me."
As they stopped in the middle of the street to hail a cab back to Thorndyke manor, Amy looked up at the moon and let its eerie yet vibrant glow caress her face.
Shadow's road to redemption would be long and difficult, but she had faith in him to be able to pull it off. He'd saved the world from danger, and now all that was left was for him to save himself.
As a cab noticed the two hedgehogs and began to slow down as it changed course to head in their direction, Amy took the time to remind herself, that she too had a wrong to right and a mistake to fix.
While Shadow had taken particular notice of Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata; Amy's attention had drifted instead towards another character clearly not meant to draw anyone's attention.
Amy noticed Ino Yamanaka. A white-blonde haired young woman with two pointed bat-like ears.
In contrast to Sakura's relatively flat chest and unusually large forehead, Ino's busty appearance and lack of any physical disfigurations made her a delicious piece of eye-candy screaming to be gobbled up by her gigantic crowd of fans she effortlessly attracted.
In the beginning of the film in one short scene; Ino saved Sakura from being picked on by a herd of swine-faced bullies at great risk to herself. Before Sakura met Sasuke and Naruto, she had only Ino to turn to as a friend and confidant.
Ino was at one point a much more kind and reasonable person who was not power-hungry or rude, with a heart of gold to rival Hinata's.
Amy more or less fell asleep after the heartbreaking part when Ino shed her childhood innocence to become just as mean as most of the other ninjas training alongside the main trio. Not because the film was boring or because she hadn't slept well recently.
But because it reminded her too vividly of her own school days when she and Rouge were classmates.
In those days younger Rouge did not even like to speak the words "steal" or "lie". She was the only kindergarten pupil who gave Amy the time of day despite her not being as pretty or wealthy as the other children.
It could be said that younger Rouge was nothing less than younger Amy's royal guardian. Amy's beacon of hope in a world of fear. Rouge was a very good listener and was ready to listen to anything Amy had to say to her.
Rouge wanted to be a civil servant at that point in time. To solve the problem of inequality which was causing the world of Mobius much unnecessary suffering. Ironically, Rouge hoped to put an end to crimes such as thievery, swindling and blackmail.
Amy did not know exactly when or where Rouge went wrong. All she knew was that one day all of a sudden, Rouge began to skive off school and play traunt. It began as a one time thing which only became more frequent despite Amy's plea for Rouge to stop.
Then Rouge failed her first set of exams and Amy lost her family in the evil attack orchestrated by Eggman. The rest was history.
Amy had no problem with thievery when it was performed with truly noble intent. Sonic had for example stolen many of Eggman's things to prevent the evil scientist from achieving world domination. And Amy could never stop herself from weeping like a baby each time Ash's pikachu cruelly blasted Team Rocket off again.
But Rouge in her current state had gone above and beyond. She planned to keep everything she stole for herself because it looked good in her display cabinet, and not because she was starving or wished to feed starving people or Mobians.
Amy had her work cut out for her too. She needed for Rouge to become the next team rocket rather than the next Lex Luthor or Harley Quinn.
But there was only so much she could do by herself. The real fate of her and Rouge was now in Sasuke...er Shadow's gloved hands.
"Amy" Shadow whispered from his position next to her in the backseat of the cab that was driving them back to Thorndyke manor.
"Yes Shadow?"
"If you really care about me, do me a solid."
"Anything for a hero like you."
"In the future when you want to address me, call me Mewtwo. Because that's more or less what I am."
Amy smiled from ear to ear. Finally she had someone in the same fandom as her. Shadow really was full of miracles.
"Only if you refer to me as Moltres from now on. Because that's what I am."
"So. If you're Moltres, then does that make Sonic and Tails Articuno and Zapdos?"
"Well that's obvious. Sonic is cool and calm, while Tails is electrically excitable especially when it comes to building his amazing gadgets. As for me, well, you know me."
"We should give our good friend Chris his nickname too. He'll feel left out if we don't."
"Of course Shadow. What do you think it should be?"
The black and pink hedgehog thought for a moment. Then in perfect unison, they uttered the new name they'd cleverly devised for the sad and depressed young heir to the enormous Thorndyke fortune. A name that carried such power and authority while perfectly emphasizing all of Chris's manifold positive attributes.
"Dratini."
"What a perfect name, Shadow. Now Chris will know he has a brilliant future ahead of him which he shouldn't pointlessly throw away. Now he will know that with rigorous training, he can eventually become a Dragonite. And everyone loves Dragonite. Everyone."
"And soon everyone will behold my overwhelming power. The power of the ultimate life form which will bring about a true freedom over this corrupt and lawless planet."
...
Thank you for reading. Please review if you like this story and want more like it.
I think that a Shadow X Amy pairing could actually work in the context of both the Sonic games and Sonic X anime. Shadow is a fast moving hedgehog who wants to save the world just like Sonic, and Amy likes flowers and helping others just like Maria.
Also as some other readers have pointed out to me, Shadow and Maria would have more of a brother-sister dynamic rather than a romantic one if Maria did actually come back to life. So even if Shadow got Maria back, he'd probably still pick someone else to be his significant other.
Shadow does love Maria, just not in a romantic way.
The Sonic team as a whole seem to prefer Sonic with either Sally Acorn or Blaze from what I've seen. Which makes perfect sense. If Sonic underground is canon, then Sonic is or was a prince of a large and powerful kingdom (Mobotropolis).
So him marrying a princess of another kingdom would be like him coming full circle in his royal journey.
Even in Sonic X when it was Chris who reminded Shadow about Maria instead of Amy, I still think Shadow would be attracted to Amy. Partly because both of them think highly of Chris while most other people don't.
As I've pointed out, Amy is probably the closest thing Shadow is going to get to another Maria unless he finds some way to bring Maria back to life.
I also like the idea of the Sonic team having different hobbies and being part of different fanbases, to add more flavor to their otherwise fairly bland personalities.
Like how Amy and Sonic are both Naruto and Pokemon fans in my story.
As a final question if you want to help me. What animal is Amy please? I really want to know.