After Frontiers: Amy and Shadow

Part 3

The black hedgehog was gazing down to earth from his favorite viewing platform, inside the Space Colony ARK. "Come on Shadow! Let's play hide and seek together!" A girl with dark blue eyes and blond hair was hugging said hedgehog from behind, cuddling tightly with him.

Shadow stood there not really showing any emotion to the embrace, yet he didn't dismiss it, as well. "Maria, I told you there is not much where you can hide here, and you know that!" The girl let go of the hedgehog and set right next to him, joining him in savoring the beautiful view of the blue planet, in front of them. "Awww, come on! Let's play something! Anything! I'm bored!" The girl pouted, but soon after she put on an innocent smile, gazing at Shadow with an expectant expression.

"I'm not in the mood right now, Maria! I'm sorry."

"Oh! You don't have to" she answered with a cheerful voice. "I know you don't need me anymore." Her voice still had an innocent touch, but slowly yet steady, an accusing tone slipped into it. The black hedgehog was shocked and stared at Maria. He never heard her say something like that.

"What do you mean!?" He jumped up, a few inches away from the girl, from whom he thought to be his friend. All of a sudden, a malicious smile stared back at him. "Who are you? You're not Maria!"

The blond's lips formed into a spiteful smile. "Of course it's me, Shadow." The girl came uncomfortably close to Shadow, which led him to take a few steps backwards. "Why are you trying to forget me? Did our friendship mean nothing to you?" Maria stood up and took a step closer to the black hedgehog, who imitatively backed off even more. "Is it because of that other hedgehogs? Do you like them more because I'm just a human?" She tried to take another step towards Shadow, who was still trying to get away from her. "Especially this hedgehog girl." The blond stared into Shadow eyes with an ice-cold gaze. "She....is in the way..." Suddenly, the girl started to grin manically and took more and more steps near her target. "Why don't you...?" Another step. "Just...." Shadow was already pinned against a wall, trembling in horror. There was no escaping anymore. Maria leaned closer and started whispering in his ear. "Get rid of that girl for me?" Unable to do anything against this situation, Shadow closed his eyes in fear.

"N...no, you are not..."

Abruptly, Shadow tore open his eyes again. "Maria!" He screamed, drenched in sweat. Eventually, he sat up, just staring at his hands. "Just a... dream?" he muttered. "But why now? Is it because of Amy?"

"Did you say something?" he could hear Amy's voice from the other side of the tent. Relieved, he wiped away the sweat on his forehead. She didn't seem to hear his outburst. "Hey! Are you okay? Shadow?" She asked again, a little more worried this time. In order not to worry her even more, the black hedgehog went back to Amy's prepared fire place and soon realized, it already turned dark and only the light of the campfire was illuminating the blackness of this jungle. As soon as Shadow passed the corner of the tent to get a glimpse at Amy, he stood there with a question mark above his head.

"What are you doing?" He asked, with a tiny little bit of curiosity, in his tone. Amy sat next to the camp fire and had strange looking cards spread in front of her, with a few of them still holding in her hands. Said girl just gazed at him and put on a cheerful smile again. She was glad, Shadow seemed to be okay.

"I'm trying to use my fortune-telling cards to show us the way." Shadow stared at her in disbelief.

"Are you...serious?" Amy pouted over Shadow's reaction, but it made her look even cuter and more innocent than she already does. The black hedgehog couldn't help but smile. At least inwardly. He tried to hide it as much as possible.

"I'm serious! You probably won't believe me, but those cards led me to Sonic! Without them, I might never have met him." Shadow went closer to the campfire and set down, still, way too far away for Amy's liking, though. Why was he avoiding her so much?

"Are you telling me, you believe so much in your love because of those cards?" Amy pulled the cards, which she held in her hands, close to her heart, while staring dreamily in the sky.

"No, of course not! I already looked up to Sonic, when I hadn't met him yet. Words spread pretty fast about a blue hedgehog who took on the evil doctor, completely on his own. Anyway, one day the cards told me, if I go to a Never Lake, I will meet my fate and that's when I met Sonic." The black hedgehog just sat there blinking, unimpressed.

"Not very convincing. Sounds like coincidence to me." The pink hedgehog put her hands on her waist, leaning in Shadow's direction, pouting even more.

"Okay, but what about every time I search for Sonic, they'll lead me just where I need to go?" The black hedgehog crossed his arms and immersed into thoughts. Amy secretly started to grin in achievement, when the black hedgehog opened his eyes again.

"I think I got an idea, but you need to be well rested." Ignoring everything Amy could have said or done, Shadow stood up and was about to go back to his resting spot again. Just as he reached the corner of the tent, he looked back at Amy one more time. "Make sure you get enough rest."

"I will... but... wait!" The black hedgehog was about to vanish out of her sight, but still turned back to her. "You can sleep in the tent, I highly insist." Said hedgehog wanted to protest at first, but he quickly gave up.

"Fine..." Without another word, he went into the tent and went to sleep.

Outside the tent, Amy still tried to find an answer through her cards, but something felt strange, it was like something was blocking her mind. Every time she was close to the answer, something snapped her out of her focus and everything was gone again. "Grr, this is so frustrating! Why can't I focus?" The girl was wondering if it had something to do with the thing Shadow said. "Something's messing with our brain, huh? Wonder what exactly that means?" Amy took a deep sigh. Apparently, she hit a dead end with her fortune-telling cards. "Maybe I should just go to bed." The pink hedgehog tidied everything up, put out the fire and took a little kerosene lamp to lead her the way to the tent.

Inside, she spotted an already fast asleep Shadow, who was holding tightly onto one of her blankets. He seemed troubled, his face was distorted. Worriedly, Amy sat next to him and softly started to caress his head. Only a few moments later, the black hedgehog relaxed his tense muscles and the expression on his faced softened as well. It was like the pink hedgehog magically took his worries away just by gentle taking care of him. Realizing that the black hedgehog finally got some real rest, Amy lied next to Shadow and tried to sleep as well. "Good night, Shadow" she mumbled, half asleep.

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A/N: Thanks for everyone supporting me :)

I made rather good progress with the story already, but only half of it is "readable" so far. So it might take more times with future updates. I hope you stay patient with me :)

BTW: Here is a link to the header if you like it :)

https://twitter.com/SonicOfficialJP/status/1280328180927131649?s=20