Because You Loved Me--Even If I Didn't Want You To

Chapter Two: The Beginning of a Great Misadventure
(AKA: Going on an Unexcepted Journey With You)

“Shadow ” Sonic gasped in surprise as he was knocked to the ground harshly, followed by an arm pinning him down by the neck. He growled in anger, trying hard to break free but to no avail.

Crimson eyes glared into his shining emerald ones as Sonic tried to get Shadow off of him.

“Let...me...go.. ” he gasped, trying to snarl out the words.

The ebony hedgehog’s lips parted slowly, revealing a beautiful set of fang like teeth as a vicious smile graced his features.

“Not a chance, faker” he replied in an unnerving soft, calm voice as he brought his face just inches from his own, shifting a little of his own weight on the arm that pinned the other hedgehog down.

Sonic panicked a little from the increase of cut off oxygen but nevertheless, he didn’t fail to notice just how close Shadow face was to his own.

Which made the blue hero feel very, very uncomfortable.

“Could you -gasp- maybe get off of -weez- my throat?”

“I know what you want Sonic.” he whispered to him softly, ignoring his plea. Shadow brought his lips closer still until there were mere centimeters away. He could feel his warm breath brushing against his lips, causing Sonic to shiver–along with other unwanted feelings.

“Breathing ” Sonic cried quickly, his voice slightly pitched now. “Becoming an issue ”

“I know exactly what you want...”

Sonic could feel himself becoming lightheaded, but right now he wasn’t too sure it was just from the fact he wasn’t breathing properly. He looked into those crimson eyes that watched him so intently, so full of. . .

Sonic gulped as he could feel sweat slide down his face.

“Shadow?” he whispered almost desperately. “C-could you...? P-please?”

Well, needless to say, Shadow must have taken the plea wrong because instead of relaxing his grip on the poor blue hedgehog, he simply responded by doing exactly the opposite of what Sonic had been wanting him to do for the last four minutes.

Sonic, who had been putting up a pretty pathetic fight by then, completely ceased all resistance once he felt Shadow’s lips on his own, his emerald eyes as wide as saucers...


“...So Eggman must be planning something big this time, if he went through the trouble of powering one of his machines with a fake emerald ”

“What? ” Sonic exclaimed, blinking his eyes several times before focusing on the small tan fox standing in front of him.

Tails paused to look at him slightly bewilderment then went back to typing some sort of command into the panel.

They had all made their way back to Tail’s workshop–well all except for Shadow who Sonic promised earlier (though now he wasn’t so sure) to find later and officially fill him in on all the information they’d learned.

Cream had been wrapping Knuckles head in bandages (much to his protest) while Rouge simply lounged beside them, paying the echidna and bunny no mind, concentrating on Tails and the big monitor in front of him.

But now they were all looking at Sonic and Amy, who was right beside him as usual, sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Stop day dreaming Sonic,” she scolded. “Tails was just telling us something very important”

“Oh–yeah–about that,” Sonic laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. “Um–what was it again?”

Sighs filled the air as the entire group sweat dropped.

“Eggman. The Chaos Emerald that Amy got from the mechanical spider. It was a fake. Like the one I used two years ago. He must still have the real one.”

“Oh...” Sonic nodded slowly, then couldn’t help but look at Amy, who at the moment, was looking down at her feet almost in shame.

He frowned.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

Eggman’s mecha had begun to pull the remainder of it’s legs inside itself when Shadow landed a nasty blow to the glass that separated him and the control room Eggman was operating in. He landed on his feet and watched in ridicule as the sounds of gears grinding together filled the air.

Very sophisticated mini cannons took the place of the mechanical legs that were there only moments ago. Each cannon aimed itself at a respecting enemy as Eggman continued to flip switches and smash buttons down, getting his aim a special blue hedgehog in particular.

A Chaos Emerald, which was positioned right above the control room as one of the spider’s many eyes, began to glow a bright orange color and in turn, the mini cannons began to charge up as well.

Eggman leaned forward, looking down at Sonic and Shadow who were in his view and the most wicked of grins spread along his round face.

“Did you really think it was going to be that easy?” he questioned with a raise of his eyebrow.

Again, no one was impressed.

“This isn’t worth my time,” Shadow frowned, crossing his arms over his chest while Sonic yawned and stretched out on the grass beside him.

“Agreed, hey guys, you wanna handle this one?” he asked, shooting a side glance up to the air that Eggman ignored.

“Prepare to be destroyed for your insolence” Eggman bellowed before slamming his fist down on the large panel, breaking the glass that surrounded a large button and smashing it down to start the deadly devices.


Watching the entire scene as she ran forward, Amy tightened her grip on her large mallet, ignoring the cries of Tails and Cream to stop.

Who did Shadow think he was telling her that she couldn’t help them fight? That she couldn’t possibly help matters or help Sonic?

He treated her like she was some... nuisance Like she was some little girl with a school girl crush that only tagged along to cause problems for Sonic

Certainly she wasn’t as strong as Knuckles or Rouge. And maybe she wasn’t as fast as Sonic. Or an impressive creature like Shadow. But she was by no means, useless as he tried to infer.

And in case there was any doubt of this, she was determined to prove it. Not only to him but to Sonic and the others as well.

She ran past the two hedgehogs, ignoring the glare Shadow sent her or Sonic sitting up and calling for her to come back.

She clutched her mallet in both hands as she leapt in the air and pulled back, giving a small determined war cry and prepared to swing...

...while, at the very same moment, Rouge had just grabbed Knuckles by the hands as she sped through the air. She paused and stared at him.

“Ready?” she smirked.

“Always,” he winked and returned the gesture.

“Ooookay ” she announced, letting go of one of his hands then with one strong, powerful spin, she let him go, watching the echidna sore through the air.

And she bit her lip when she saw Knuckles’ head collided with Amy’s mallet just as she swung it backwards over her shoulder.

And Amy watched as said mallet went flying out of her hand and out of control...right though the glass and nailing Eggman right in his face, causing him to crash backwards and out of his chair. The mallet bounced off his face and back at the control panel, smashing so many buttons and switches–including the one that controlled the chaos emerald– that it short circuited and the machine simply stopped moving as the entire thing began to short circuit.

It crashed to the ground in a small explosion at the same time Knuckles, who wasn’t in flames but did have nice bump on his head and a very confused expression as he smiled goofily. Rouge appearing by his side and shook her head.

Tails and Cream stopped running and watched the seen before them, Tails in shock while Cream looked rather confused. Sonic’s expression was completely blank as he blinked his eyes a couple of times while Shadow’s, left eye twitched slightly, both having a sweat-drop.

The Chaos Emerald rolled out of the rubble and landed right by Amy’s foot.. She looked down at the orange colored gem in slight confusion then back at the robot, which was now out of commission and picked the gem up, holding it up to her face.

Moments later, Eggman appeared, now in his 1.egg–hover–um–thingy— and flew away quickly, shaking his fist and cursing them all, promising that they would pay for this another day.

They all watched as he disappeared into the night, then all looked back at Amy silently.

Well, that wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, but hey, she got her point across nonetheless.

She simply smiled and hunched at them and Sonic shook his head and returned the gesture.

“Amy ”

She turned her attention to the small bunny that was running up to her with Tails not to far behind, a worried expression on her face as she grabbed her hands.

“Amy are you alright?” Cream asked as Cheese peeped his name in agreement.

She nodded and smiled down at Cream who sighed and returned the gesture when Sonic walked up to them, placing his arms around Amy’s neck and resting his chin on her head.

Meanwhile, Shadow was glaring daggers at the pair.

Well, that had certainly capturing the pink hedgehog’s attention.

“Hey Amy, you did it ” he exclaimed.

She stared up at him for a moment, still marveling over the fact that he was holding her and blushing slightly, she held up the Chaos Emerald.

“Here,”she said quietly, avoiding eye contact as her face was as red as Knuckles. He smiled slightly then winked down at her, ruffing her quills playfully as he let go. She giggled and uttered “Sonic ” in a tone that sounded annoyed but letting it be known she loved it all the same.

“If you children are done playing,” Shadow said in a cold voice, breaking the entire mood instantly as he walked in between them.

Sonic blinked at him then raised an eyebrow while Amy scowled slightly in his direction. He didn’t look back at either, only stood a ways from them with his arms crossed.

Sighing slightly, Sonic agreed. “We have to find the rest of the chaos emeralds if Eggman– ”

There was a groan from Knuckles direction followed by his voice. “A thought you guys said I could go home after this fight?”

“Weren’t you knocked out?” Sonic teased.

Knuckles began to speak but was cut off by Rouge.

“Oh relax Knucklehead,” she replied, dropping him unceremoniously on the ground with a thud and stretching her arms and wings. “Man you’re heavy.”

“There are seven chaos emeralds or did you forget idiot,” Shadow stated. “We have to find them all.”

“I am well aware of how many Chaos Emeralds there are Shadow,” Knuckles snarled at him, emphasizing his name. “But if you haven’t forgotten, my job is to protect the Master Emerald especially when someone like Eggman has a reason to steal it! ”

“But don’t you like spending time with me?” Rouge pouted teasingly and Knuckles face fell into that of surprise as a light blush ran across his cheeks. He gasped at her, as if trying to answer but not knowing how to reply.

“By all means Rouge, don’t encourage him,” Shadow snapped in sarcasm.

Rouge smirked as Knuckles glared at him about to speak but thankfully, Cream cut him off.

“We’re already at a good start–right?” Cream questioned sweetly, clasping her hands together as Cheese squeaked his name and landed on her shoulder. They all stared at her silently and she continued.

“With the chaos emeralds? Amy already returned the first one to us.”

Amy could feel a blush coming on as everyone looked in her direction. “It was nothing, really.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Shadow replied coldly.

Amy glared at him in annoyance while Sonic stared in confusion.

“And just what is that suppose to mean?” she demanded her hands placed firmly on her hips.

But Shadow didn’t bother himself to answer. He simply glared at her before smirking lightly and walking away in the opposite direction.

Everyone stared after him silently in confusion but Rouge had that calculating look on her face as she gave a side glance to–well–no one.

~~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~~~~

‘He must have known’ Sonic thought to himself, watching as Amy played with her fingers, still not looking up.

No one had known what Shadow had meant when he spoke to Amy. Honestly, Sonic just thought he was just in one of his moods.

But once they had gotten back, Tails had discovered that it was indeed, a fake Chaos Emerald.

Or at least he had while Sonic had zoned out.

He placed a hand gently on her shoulder and she looked up at him.

“Don’t worry about it Amy. We’ll get them back from Egghead.”

“You’re not upset that I got the wrong emerald,” she asked in an almost pleading tone.

“Not at all, I’m sure you’ll get him next time.” he replied with smile and wink.

She returned the smile and took hold of his arm, linking it with hers. His smile weaken slightly as she rested her head on his shoulder. He quickly looked at Tails and demanded:

“So, any chance of finding the location of a chaos emerald Egghead doesn’t have?”

“Hmm...” he began, looking at the large screen, frowning slightly in concentration.

Tails made an “Uh Ah! ” sound as he smiled slightly and pointed at one of the two blinking dots on the screen. “There There’s another Chaos Emerald Sonic ”

“And another very close to here,” Rouge stated, pointing to the second emerald.

“Which means Eggman is probably already on his way to find them as well,” Sonic frowned.

“Whatever Eggman is planning this time, it involves the chaos emeralds again,” Knuckles announced.

They stared at him and Rouge, taking a bit of bandage from Cream, wrapped his mouth shut, again, much to his protest.

“Not that it matters. Sonic will stop Eggman, just like always,” Amy gushed as she hugged his arm tighter. He gave a weak laugh and smiled at her as he slowly tried to inch his arm away but to no avail.

Tails nodded and a serious expression graced his features. “We should split up. Sonic, since you already have to go find Shadow, you and he can go find the emerald closest to us. The rest of us can go find this one.”

Amy opened her mouth to protest but Rouge had gotten to her feet and floating over, touched her shoulder.

“Let’s go get something to drink before we go,” she announced as if saying something in code.

Sonic, almost a little to grateful, pulled his arm away, saluted the group and was quickly out the door before Amy could utter so much as a word.

Giving a sigh of slight relief and stretching, Sonic quickly made his way in a northern direction.

It really never ceased to amaze him how utterly hard it was to get away from that Amy.

She was a nice girl. She really was. In that clingy, annoying, worrisome sort of way. Though even he had to admit she was getting better about it, though at times, just like a few moments ago, she slipped.

He looked at the night air, taking in a deep calming breath of fresh air then let it out with a smirk.

It was still late at night, though what time it was was beyond him. Yet he didn’t feel tired–not surprising. He found that he was one full of energy, always ready for and to do anything.

Well–maybe except this.

With a slight unsteady breath, he began to slow down and walk–yes walk– towards a small lake in the middle of the meadow.

He’d be there. He knew he’d be there. The lake was in the middle of a large field where a single tree sat towards the edge of it.

He remembered once when Shadow had told him that Maria had always wanted to sit under a tree, in a field. Out in the fresh air. So whenever Sonic needed to found Shadow, he had realized this was always a great place to start–especially when he was upset.

Though why exactly Shadow was upset, was beyond him.

Shadow was never the glorified hero type, so he knew it wasn’t because Amy got the chaos emerald first. Shadow didn’t need praise. When one was an ‘Ultimate Lifeform’, you just didn’t need someone telling you how great you were he supposed.

But he did get rather–irrate–with Amy having it. And he could have sworn as he was coming to, they were in some argument of some kind. He hadn’t caught all of it really, just pieces, but from what it sounded like: Shadow didn’t want Amy because she was annoyed about a dog.


Or...something.

He paused to think about it a moment longer. Or maybe...that was Shadow’s way of showing how much he cared for Amy...

This caused him to frown slightly, thinking back to that dream–or maybe it was a nightmare–when he’d spaced out.

Now that was just creeping. Shadow may punch and kick and scream and try to blast him into oblivion–but–that?

“You’re idiotic thoughts never cease to amaze me, faker” Sonic found himself quoting, imitating Shadow’s voice.

“And they still don’t,” he heard a voice reply directly in front of him.

He looked up, realizing he had already made it to his destination. Shadow was resting right under a great tree as he excepted eating an apple. The lake shined beautifully behind him as the moon cast a glow across the smooth surface.

Sonic found his face heating up slightly, thinking back to the dream–er–nightmare as he looked at the ebony hedgehog, thanking the stars that it was too dark to see his face.

He avoided eye contact as he sat down on the other side of the tree, resting his arms on his knees.

A hand came around the trunk with an apple in it and Sonic took the fruit, muttering a thanks before taking a nice bite into it. Nice and sweet, just how he liked them.

They sat in silence for a while, simply eating the fruit under the watchful eye of the moon until Sonic finally broke the silence.

“ There’s a chaos emerald very close to where we are now. You comin’ with?”

A few more moments of silence and Sonic realized he was holding his breath. For what? He wanted Shadow to come–he thought. He was always a great help and he honestly enjoyed his company. He growled to himself.

‘It was just a stupid nightmare ’ he told himself, refusing to call it anything other than a nightmare. ‘It won’t happen, it never happened and it never will ”

“I suppose. With those incompetent fools as your aid, you won’t get very far without me, now will you faker?”

The breath was released and he felt a warm smile cross over his face, nightmare forgotten.

“They’re not so bad Shadow. You know that.”

He heard something that sounded like a snort of disbelief before the smooth voice spoke again.

“Yes, I suppose between hitting everything with flying mallets, the moron who can’t control where his fist are flying, and an utterly useless sidelines cheering section in the ways of that rabbit, then yes, they’re JUST fine.”

Sonic noted he didn’t include (he thought) Tails and Rouge in that comment–but then he didn’t really except it to either. Tails had really put forth an effort to help Shadow remember all of his memories and even Shadow had to marvel at Tails determination technical genius. And he already knew he and Rouge were pretty close.

“Cream has always given her support,” he replied. “It’s what she does. She helps when she can but mostly, she gives everyone her support and keeps the spirits high.”

“She’s too cheerful,” Shadow argued.

“Yeah, but you gotta admit, it’s a help sometimes to have someone that cheerful around.,” Sonic pointed out.

“Or an annoyance,” Shadow corrected.

“And Knuckles–well–he’s a bit of–"

”An idiot.” Shadow cut in, making it clear he wouldn’t stand argument on that fact.

“He means well,” Sonic laughed slightly.

“Why Rouge is interested in him, I’ll never understand it. Such odd taste,” Shadow muttered.

Sonic smirked and nodded. Everyone had seemed to catch on to that fact BUT Knuckles. Or maybe he was just ignoring her advances because he wasn’t interested. Sonic knew how that could be. . .

“She’s useless you know,” Shadow announced, as if reading his thoughts and knowing who he was thinking about.

Sonic frowned slightly. “She means well Shadow. She really does try to help out.”

“Trying and actually accomplishing the task are two different things faker.”

“But nothing fails but a try.”

“And this becomes quite effective to our–your cause when it’s done too often.”

“Stop being so hard on her,” Sonic stated in a defensive tone, surprising himself.

“Then stop being so easy on her faker ” Shadow snapped back, his face coming around the tree, his eyes blazing with fury. “We don’t have time to play her little simple minded games and have her tagging along clinging to you everywhere you go ”

There was a slight pause and Shadow’s eyes narrowed and he sneered. “Unless you like groupies clinging to you everywhere you go.”

“She’s not a groupie Shadow, she’s just a friend that cares about me. I can’t help that. ”

“Yeah,” Shadow snorted in disbelief. “Right. A ‘friend’.”

“Yes, a friend! ” Sonic snapped. “ F-R-I-E-N-D. You should trying getting yourself one of those. They do wonders ”

Silence. A thick, uneasy silence is what followed. Sonic’s face softened and he dared to look over to the side where he knew Shadow’s face had been.

And it wasn’t there but he knew Shadow was still on the other side of the tree. And he knew what he had said, whether the ebony hedgehog wanted to admit it or not, had hurt his feelings.

“Hey, um Shadow? I’m–”

“ Don’t apologize. It’s a waste of your time. You’re words don’t effect me faker. You should know that by now.”

Yep. He had hurt his feelings.

“Look, I didn’t mean it like that,” Sonic stated calmly in an apologetic way, crawling around the base of the tree and coming to sit right beside Shadow. Shadow was staring out at the water, a frown planted deeply on his face.

“We’re all you’re friends Shadow,” he continued. Then hiding a his playful smirk, he gave the ebony hedgehog a playful pout as he hugged him around his neck like Amy had done to him so often and sniffed. “It’s just that–you make us feel so unloved sometimes Don’t you like us Shadow? Don’t ya?”

Shadow looked over at him in a shocked fashion–proving that his facial expressions could change into that of something other than negative expressions– then growling at Sonic, forcefully pushed a laughing hedgehog off of him and folded his arms back over his chest in annoyance.

“Awww...does my little hedgehog not like being hugged?” Sonic teased clinging to his arm and batting his eyes rapidly. Shadow shot him another glance then pinned him down to the ground forcefully, the playful expression on Sonic’s face leaving instantly as he tensed up.

He wasn’t choking him but the similarities were still unnerving.

Worried emerald eyes looked into that of piecing crimson as Shadow leaned in, only inches away from Sonic’s face.

Sonic could feel his heart speed up, the red entering his face as it heated up, and he parted his lips a small bit but nothing came out.

“Stop,” Shadow whispered to him in a soft yet firm voice, still staring at him intently, searching for something in his eyes it seemed.

Sonic turned his face away and only nodded and he could feel the grip Shadow had on him relax, much to his relief.

But before either could get up, the ground beneath them gave way and in an instant, both hedgehogs were gone deep into the earth, a half eaten apple the only thing left in their wake.


~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Thank you all for taking time out of your lives to read my story. This really means a lot to me. Also, please feel free to leave feedback, as I’d like to know how I’m doing and what I could be doing better.

Well, other than spelling because I know I probably suck at that. In that case: if you would like to be my Beta Reader, please let me know. I could really use one for my stories.

1. I put the name of Eggman’s Hover Egg like that on purpose.

More to come, thanks again for reading.