A/N: KagamiPINKAgreste suffered a terrible tragedy last night, so I wrote this for her.
It was an ordinary day in the Kingdom of Mobius…well, was…until Shadow the Hedgehog's Hedgehog Sense told him that something was terribly wrong with his girlfriend Amy Rose, so he wasted no time in rushing over to her house as fast as he possibly could. He didn't even bother knocking on the door; he simply burst in and made his way up to her room as quickly as he could, and unsurprisingly, he found her curled up on her bed in the fetal position, crying.
"Amy! Oh my…what's wrong!?"
"DADDY'S DEAD!"
Shadow froze and let out a loud gasp when he heard this. He'd met Douglas before, and while the guy had been typically protective of Amy, he was also a nice guy. Shadow had also heard that Douglas had been in and out of the hospital for the past month, and he worried that something like this was going to happen, but like Amy, he had been hopeful that Douglas would at least make it to his next birthday. Being at a total loss for words, he did what he thought was best:
"Amy, I…I'm sorry."
Without saying anything further, Shadow sat down on the bed next to Amy and gave her a big hug, which she returned. For Shadow, this was probably the worst pain he'd experienced in a while. In a way, it was like being forced to relive Maria's death over and over, and it made him want to break down and cry along with Amy. However, he held as tough as he possibly could, because he knew that she'd want him to be strong for her, to offer her comfort and compassion in her hour of need. After all, it was her who made him feel better about Maria's death, and he could think of nothing else but returning the favor to her. After all, it was her who taught him not only how to live, but how to love as well.
As for Amy, while the death of her mom Petunia had been bad enough – despite the fractious relationship she'd had with her – Douglas' death absolutely shattered her like a fake piece of Grecian pottery. She had been an unapologetic daddy's girl, not only leaning on him when times were bad – and in fact, it was because of him that she was able to cope with Petunia's death – but also sharing in the good times with him. Now, she didn't even have that, and it was because of this that she truly came to understand how Shadow felt when Maria died. Even so, she was grateful that Shadow was here for her now, for out of everyone in the whole world, he was the only one who could make her smile as much as Douglas – if not more. It was because of the Ultimate Life Form that it made crying bearable to any sort of degree, and she kept crying even after she had nothing else to cry out. Even so, she held on to Shadow, until finally, having lost all her energy from crying, she passed out and fell asleep. Shadow gently laid her down on the bed and draped her favorite blanket over her.
(Amy, no words can convey how utterly heartbroken I feel about you right now. If I could use the Chaos Emeralds to bring Douglas back, I would. I'll give you space to grieve if you need it, but just know that I'm always here for you if you need me…as are Rouge, Venus, Cream, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles…all of us. You're like family to us, my sweet little Rose.)
With that, Shadow headed back to Rouge's mansion.
Shadow had hoped that no one would pay attention to him as he rushed to his room, but unfortunately, Rouge came around the corner:
"Hey Shaddy, where…"
Without a single word, Shadow shoved Rouge aside and kept going to his room. Ordinarily, she would scold him for doing so, but she did nothing, knowing only that something was troubling him:
(Shaddy…whatever's hurting you, I'll give you space.)
Shadow slammed the door to his room and sat down on his bed, after which he called someone else who was dear to him:
"Hello?"
"Venus, it's Shadow."
"Hey, what's up, Shadow?"
"Venus…I have terrible news: Amy's father died last night."
Venus gasped. "Oh no, that…that's terrible! That's not fair! Not fair at all!"
"I agree with you. How is it that scum like Dr. Robotnik keep living and someone as nice as Amy's father doesn't?"
"I don't know, but…god, this reminds me of when my grandfather died. I swear, if I could trade my abusive goddamn parents to the Devil just to bring back Amy's father, I would!"
"You and me both, sister. In fact, I considered the idea of using the Chaos Emeralds to bring him back, but…I don't know…" Shadow shook his head.
"Yeah, this is not fair! Ugh!"
"Still, all we can really do is be there for her however we can and give her the space to grieve."
"I know, but…sorry, I'm just really shocked by this."
"I'm kind of shocked, too. To be honest, I feared that something like this would happen, but like her, I was really hoping he'd at least make it to his next birthday."
"Well, in any case, I'm sorry for both of you."
"Be more sorry for her. I've moved on from Maria's death…well, at least I thought I did, but…anyways, let's just do our best to be there for her, OK?"
"Right. Anyways, I have to get to choir practice, so I'm letting you go. See you later, Shadow."
"See you later, Venus."
Shadow and Venus hung up. While Shadow was worried about how Amy was going to handle life without Douglas, he knew that if he did what he could for her, then they'd come out of this okay.
*Venus the Hedgehog was originally created by Greybullet/SaberA2/RedHadal
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.
