Love in its Winter (A Shadamy Story)

Chapter 2: Uncovered

Amy trudges slowly upstairs to her room, where she looks at the destroyed shrine. She opens a cupboard and brings out a dustpan and brush, and starts cleaning up the mess of glass, paper, wood, and random sonic-related objects. As she sweeps up and puts the mess in the bin, Amy thinks about what Shadow said. "If I'm hostile, then know that there's a reason." Amy says to herself. What did Shadow mean by that? Normally, Amy's first guess would be that he is talking about Maria Robotnik, the girl who was his only friend on the space colony ARK. But he can't have meant that, because Amy already knew about that. And then there was the way Shadow looked away from her, like she was painful to have to see.

A cold, wicked wind can be heard howling outside as Amy sits alone on this sad day. Her head is filled with thoughts of sadness and loss. But, gradually, something else starts taking over her mind once more; anger. "I hate you, Sonic. You hurt me so badly, and I hate you." Amy makes up her mind, and in ten minutes she is storming down the street, on her way to Sonic's house.

Amy arrives at Sonic's home about half an hour later. She pushes the garden gate open and stomps up the path. She reaches the door and bangs on it hard, but she gets no reply. "Sonic! Open the door right now!" She yells, banging the door again, but still the door remains closed.

Amy takes a deep breath and summons her Piko Piko hammer. "Sonic! I know you're in there! If you don't open up right now, I'm smashing the door in! Got it? I know your can hear me!" Even this doesn't get a response, so Amy takes up her hammer and swings it over her shoulder.
SMASH!
The wooden door offers almost no resistance to the blow, and it buckles, cracks, and shatters under the force of Amy's hammer. Amy steps over the chunks and chips of wood that were once part of the door, and enters the house. "Sonic!" Amy shouts again. This time, she can hear voices coming from upstairs.
"Oh, Sonic... You're too amazing..." Amy's blood runs cold as she realises exactly what Sonic is doing.
"Sonic! Get your blue ass down here, you bastard!" The sounds abruptly stop, and Amy hears Sonic's voice from upstairs. "A... Amy?" His voice is slightly panicked, and it's obvious why. Amy storms up the stairs and pushes open Sonic's bedroom door.

If Amy could have washed her eyes out after seeing this scene, she would have. sitting on Sonic's bed is some wolf girl who Amy has never met before. Between what she was saying just earlier and the fact that she has a bright red tinge to her face, it isn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Sonic is kneeling on the bed in front of her with a panicked look on his face, as if he was about to find a way to escape. On seeing Amy, he leaps away, jumping out of the bed. "Oh... Amy, uh... What are you doing here?" The girl gets up, walking over to Sonic. "Who is this, babe? Why is she here?" She asks, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, Lil, this is Amy. You don't have to be worried, she's not my... Girlfriend or anything..." Sonic gives a little laugh, but this only makes Amy angrier.
"What are you doing, Sonic?" Who is this girl? Why are you making out with her?" Amy shouts. Sonic takes a step back, clearly worried. He knows just how dangerous Amy can be when she is mad at him.
"Amy, please calm down. It doesn't matter who she is, and it's not your business who I make out with, okay?"
"No! That's bull, Sonic, and I will not calm down! It very much is my business who you make out with, and I'm tired of finding out that you brought some random girl home just so you can satisfy your own selfish desires!" Amy shouts at sonic even louder, and Lil glares at sonic suspiciously.
"What does she mean? Have you done this before?"
Sonic gulps nervously.
"Both of you, please, calm down a bit..."
Lil gives a snort of disdain.
"If you're not going to give me a straight answer, I'm leaving." Lil snatches up a bra which was lying on the floor, storms into the bathroom and comes out a minute. "I hope you find another girl, Sonic." She leaves the room, and stomps down the stairs. A moment later, the front door slams.

Sonic turns to Amy, an angry look on his face.
"I hope you're happy that you ruined my date, Amy." He crosses his arms and waits for an explanation.
"I am, Sonic. And you know why? I'm sick and tired of you treating every girl you meet like some kind of toy. I've been trying to win your heart for years, but you always ignored me, and you instead flirted with every other girl, except me! And now that you're older, you're making out with random girls that you meet on the road! I hate it, Sonic." Amy's voice breaks slightly on the last part.
"Amy, it isn't your business what I do in my free time, unless it involves you, which this doesn't. So, please leave." Amy stares at Sonic for a few moments before storming out of the room and out of the house without a word.

This time, when Amy feels the dark presence over her shoulder, she isn't surprised.
"Why are you following me, Shadow?"
"Hmph. I'm merely concerned for you, Rose." Amy turns to face him, incredulous.
"Are you trying to tell me that you actually care? I might even believe it, actually."
"Of course I care. I still owe you for breaking me out of the doctor's prison last year, and I always pay my debts. That is all." Shadow's expression does not change throughout this conversation, he remains stony-faced and cold. "What did Faker do in there?" He flicks a finger towards Sonic's house.
"I found him making out with some random girl who I didn't know." Amy's voice cracks. Shadow's face shows real emotion for the first time as he speaks angrily.
"So, Faker is picking up random girls he sees around and bringing them to his home? Hmph. If I was him, I'd go into hiding out of shame."
Amy gets a thought, and speaks quietly for fear of angering Shadow further.
"I mean... Don't a lot of girls like you? I know that you get a lot of proposals from people..." Shadow looks at Amy, an expression of disdain on his face.
"That does not mean I would take every one of them home. I would only pay attention to a girl who has a true heart, is honest about her feelings, and doesn't care about my fame or my face."
"And... Have you found someone like that?" Amy asks.
Shadow looks at her for a long time, as if trying to tell her something. He speaks quietly.
"I believe I may have." He finally says. Without another word, he leaves. Amy hears a shout. "Chaos control!" There's a flash of blue light, and Shadow vanishes.
Amy stands there for a while, thinking. Then she comes to a conclusion.
"Well, what do you know... The ultimate lifeform has a heart."