A/N: I've been going through a pretty hard time lately, plus I owed KagamiPINKAgreste a non-sex fic involving Shadow and Vanilla, so this was born.

It was a cool fall day in the Kingdom of Mobius, and Shadow the Hedgehog was paying a visit to the home of Cream and Vanilla, which was located on the western shores of Azure Lake. He knocked on the door.

"I'm coming!"

Shortly thereafter, Vanilla the Rabbit opened the door.

"Good afternoon Shadow…"

Vanilla frowned when she noticed that Shadow was looking as though he'd relived the trauma of Maria's death:

"Shadow, you don't look too good. Is everything OK?"

"No Mom, everything is NOT OK."

"Well, I may not know what's troubling you, but I'll certainly listen if you need to. Besides, I just made tea, and I'd love to share some."

Shadow sighed. "All right…I suppose I can't say no to free beverages…"

Vanilla held the door open for Shadow, and she led him to the classic couch in the living room, where there was a vintage teapot with matching cups and saucers on the glass-topped coffee table. Both of them sat down, and Vanilla poured some tea for Shadow.

"Would you like one lump of sugar or two?"

"None, please. And don't get me started on milk, either."

"Very well."

Shadow took his teacup and gulped the hot tea, much to Vanilla's chagrin:

"Shadow, please sip your tea! You'll burn yourself if you gulp it!"

"Hmph, well excuse me for being able to eat broken glass."

Vanilla frowned. "Shadow, I understand if you're upset, and I'm willing to listen to you, but there's no need for such rudeness!"

Shadow gazed into Vanilla's eyes, and then sighed.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I don't mean to be so rude; it…it's just…"

"Yes?"

"So I'm sure you've heard that Mobius has been having democratic elections recently. I was excited to make a difference in the political structure of this country, so I registered to vote and cast my ballot for the first time. Unfortunately, none of the candidates I voted for won."

"I'm sorry to hear that. That sounds like it really hurt you."

Shadow crossed his arms. "That's not even the half of it. The guy who won the position of Prime Minister is not only someone who's unpopular, but also utterly unqualified for office and a convicted criminal. Honestly, all I could think about since then is killing myself, but since I'm an immortal artificial hedgehog, that's not happening anytime soon, so I might as well kill him."

Vanilla gasped and put her hand up to her mouth.

"Shadow…oh my gosh…that's awful! I may not know exactly how you feel, but you mustn't kill yourself! Have you no idea how badly you'd hurt the friends you'd leave behind?"

"Why should I care? Nothing matters anymore, so I might as well go out with a bang."

"Shadow, I can also understand if you're angry at the person who won the election, but do you really think that assassinating him will fix the problem? Mobius has had enough problems with political violence, and do you think perhaps that Mobius would rather have its problems decided by the jury box instead of the cartridge box?"

"What's the use, Mom? This prick's only going to dodge the law! Somebody needs to blow his brains out!"

In contrast to her previous reactions, Vanilla smiled and put a hand on Shadow's shoulder:

"It's OK to be angry. It's a natural emotion. Just know that you have a choice in this matter. You can either choose to make a difference through peaceful activism, or you can assassinate the PM, get arrested and go to prison where you'll never see your friends again."

Shadow opened his mouth to say another angry edgelord thing, but when he made eye contact with his smiling adopted mom, the words died in his mouth.

"I'm sorry if I scared you like that, Mom. It's just…Amy, Rouge, Cream and you are really important to me, as are women's rights in general, and this guy has threatened to roll back decades of progress that previous leaders made, not to mention that Amy, Rouge or Cream haven't been available to talk about this, nor my sister Venus."

Vanilla wrapped her arm around Shadow. "It's all right, Shadow. I'm proud of you for coming to me to talk about this instead of breaking the law. Just know that you're not alone. All of us will be here for you, and you can make a positive difference in this world no matter who gets elected."

"Y-you really think so?"

"I know so, dearie."

Vanilla gave Shadow a big hug, which he returned with a smile on his face. While he enjoyed getting hugs from his girlfriend Amy Rose, his best friend Rouge the Bat, his adopted sister Cream the Rabbit or his platonic soulmate/other adopted sister Venus the Hedgehog, there was just something so indescribably special about getting a hug from the one woman who was like a mom more than anyone else to him. Having never had a biological mother, she was like a treasure to him, especially after the hell that Black Doom had put him through. He did, however, have one request for her:

"Mom…"

"Yes, Shadow?"

"Could you please scratch me in front of my ears?"

"Certainly!"

Still embracing Shadow, Vanilla scratched him in front of one of his ears, causing him to purr.

"Oh yes…that feels good."

"My…I never knew you could purr! That's so adorable!"

Shadow kept smiling. "Thanks Mom."

"You're welcome, sweetie."

Vanilla and Shadow kept hugging each other. Even if the future was unknown, at least the Ultimate Life Form had a family of his own to lean on.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.