Shadaze-Knowing You 4

Shadow just tried to contain the anger he was feeling. He looked at the person holding him up, and sighed.

Blaze had stolen Shadow's heart. He didn't want to admit it, but it was true. He's fallen in love.

Shadow frowned at the thought. This is just proof that love is making him weaker. He has a messed up leg, and is currently being held up, and basically walked home by the woman he's smitten with.

Blaze saw Shadow fuming. She knew this must be hurting his pride, but that wasn't important right now. Right now, she needs to get him home, and see what she can do to help that leg of his.

Shadow perked up slightly when he saw the apartment building. He pointed at it, making Blaze see it.

"That's it." He told her, in a slight groan.

The two walked towards the building. They stopped at the front door, as Shadow slowly pulled out the key to the door. He reached out for the keyhole, but kept missing it for some reason. He stopped trying, and just held the key in his hand, only to see it shaking uncontrollably.

He handed it over to Blaze, a look of shame on his face.

"You do it." He grumbled softly. With a twinge of pity, she took it and opened the door with it.

They entered the lobby, before stopping.

"Which door are you?" Blaze asked Shadow, who felt weaker by the second. He didn't realize how tired he was from the walk from the city to his house.

"Door 24..." He managed to say. "...third floor..."

Blaze felt his body getting heavier. Half carrying him, half dragging, Blaze and Shadow went up the few flights of stairs, until making it to Shadow's floor.

The two made their way to door 24, as Shadow just went straight to the point and gave Blaze the key.

She opened the door, and felt around for a light switch next to the door. She found it, and turned it on, to show the green walls, the blonde carpet, the leather couch, and the wooden furniture.

Blaze raised an eyebrow, not expecting Shadow's home to look like...this.

"Couch...." Shadow groaned, snapping Blaze back into reality. She dragged him over to it, and carefully placed him down.

His breathing became peaceful, as Blaze was sure he fell asleep.

Blaze looked around the apartment, noticing that this style didn't fit Shadow's personality at all.

Her eye caught a piece of paper that was sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. Quietly, she picked it up, trying not to wake the sleeping hedgehog.

She read it under her breath.

"Shadow, I'll be out of town for the next few days. GUN has some kind of assignment for me. Be home soon, Rouge."

Blaze felt her heart drop. That's why the apartment was the way it was. He lived with Rouge.

She never would of thought about it, but it made sense. She knew the two were close, or at least as close as Shadow could get to someone. They work together, and were seen together often.

But living together...that was big. Was it possible the two were more than friends?

Why was Blaze so sad by the thought?

She was interrupted by a moan, as she looked over. She saw Shadow moving around, appearing like he was trying to get comfortable.

She sighed, knowing that she has to make sure Shadow's okay first. He wouldn't like the hospital, and probably wouldn't get treated right over there anyway. For the moment, she was the only one who can help.

She looked around, and saw a cracked open door, which led to a room with black walls. She could have guessed which room that was.

She went over to Shadow's bedroom, to see if there was any pillows or blankets she could give him.

She slowly opened the door so she didn't wake Shadow up. The walls were pitch black, but the floor was still that same blonde carpeting.

She went over to the bed, and grabbed the blanket and pillow on it.

Her mind was racing with the thought of Shadow's and Rouge's relationship, but another thing was overlapping it.

Why did she care so much?

She stopped in her tracks though when she noticed something.

On the nightstand was a sepia picture, with Shadow standing next to a girl with a smile on her face.

She stuffed the pillow and blanket under her arm, and picked up the picture. She looked at it closely, and noticed how happy Shadow looked, and how strange the background was.

Her eyes widened. She figured out who it was.

"Maria..." She gasped.

"What are you doing in here!?"

Blaze jumped, accidently throwing the picture up in the air in the process. She covered her mouth as she watched the picture get caught by Shadow.

Shadow gave her a glare, as he hopped a little towards the nightstand, and placed the picture down.

"Now." Shadow continued. "What are you doing in here?"

"Sorry." Blaze said, feeling her face heat up a bit. "I just wanted to get you something to get comfortable with and I..."

She looked over to the picture, and Shadow followed her gaze. He hopped a little bit towards her.

"I appreciate the thought." He said softly. "But I don't like people going into my room without permission."

"I understand that, it's just-" Blaze said quickly.

"It's just nothing." Shadow said harshly. "I read the note, and when Rouge comes back I don't want her to make jokes about bringing a girl to my room-"

His lecture was cut short by a coughing fit, which made Blaze jump to him and hold him up. It looked like his little adrenaline burst was over.

The two made their way out of the room and back to the couch, the entire time Shadow was just coughing.

He finally collapsed on the couch, and Blaze handed him the pillow and blanket.

"Thank you." He said with a horse voice, as he pulled the covers over him. Blaze nodded, and waited as she saw Shadow slowly fall into a deep sleep.

She sighed, hoping this time he actually stayed asleep. She sat down on a chair next to the couch, as she put her face in her hands.

She wasn't sure what to do. Should she leave? This wasn't her home, and she hadn't been invited in anyway.

But what if Shadow needed her for something? He wasn't okay, that much was for sure. He was the Ultimate Lifeform right? Isn't he able to heal super fast?

So why isn't he now?

And what was that comment about Rouge making fun of him?

"Bringing a girl to his room?" She asked to herself.

So they aren't dating then?

Blaze felt herself smile. Rouge and Shadow weren't an item.

Her smile disappeared when she realized what time it must be. She dug through her pants pocket, and pulled out her cell phone.

She turned it on to see it was 10 at night.

"Dammit" She cursed to herself. She quickly typed in the phone number of her apartment, and brought the phone to her ear.

The tone rang a couple of times, before she heard someone pick up.

"Hello?" The voice asked on the other end.

"Silver, it's me." Blaze said.

"Blaze, where have you been? I was starting to worry." Silver told her.

"I'm fine. Shadow and I were talking, and then there was this accident..."

Blaze stopped talking when her vision started going blurry. She wiped her eyes to see she made a wet spot on her gloves. Was she....crying?

"Blaze?" She heard on the other end.

"Look, Shadow got hurt badly, and someone needs to look after him for at least the night." Blaze told him.

"Blaze, I don't think that's a good idea..." Silver told her.

"Why isn't it a good idea?" Blaze asked.

"Well, it's just...."

"Silver, I know what we've heard about the guy, but I don't think most of those things are true. He's made some mistakes, but Shadow's a good guy. Okay?"

Blaze didn't hear anything on the other end for a few seconds.

"Okay?" She asked again, a bit more menacing than before.

"Okay..." Silver said reluctantly.

"Okay then. I"m gonna go now, I should be back tomorrow afternoon." She told him, before hanging up.

She looked over to the sleeping hedgehog on the couch next to her, and sighed. This might be a long night for the princess.

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"This has to be a dream."

Shadow was looking at a mountain range, with snow covering the tops of it. He was standing in a green field, with a bright blue sky above him.

"Must of passed out." He said to himself. He started walking through the flat field, confused as to what he's suppose to be dreaming about.

Shadow doesn't have too many dreams like this. His dreams are nightmares, filled with memories of his past, and fears for the future.

So why the hell is everything peaceful now?

"Because you're in love."

Shadow froze in his tracks and looked around. Where did that voice come from?

"Down here."

Shadow looked down, to see he was standing in a puddle. The only thing he saw though was his reflection.

After staring at it for a few moments, the puddle slowly started to change into the form of a bat. A very familiar bat.

"Rouge?" Shadow asked, confused.

"Who do you think handsome?" Rouge answered, in her usual seductive tone.

Suddenly, Rouge's arm came out of the puddle, and she grabbed Shadow by the collar. She then dragged him inside the puddle.

After a few moments in the water, Shadow popped out the other end, and landed on his hands and knees on top of concrete. He looked up to see he was in Westopolis.

"Look familiar?" Rouge, who was standing right next to him, asked.

Shadow saw himself, running away from the police. He remembered that. He stopped a couple of people from robbing a gas station, and when the police got there, they pinned the crime on him.

So, naturally, he ran.

"Damn humans." Shadow muttered to himself.

"Yea, you don't have it easy, do you?" Rouge said.

Shadow glared at his bat friend. "You aren't real. You're just some figment of my imagination."

Shadow looked away as he got back up to his feet. He dusted himself off. He looked back to see Rouge was gone.

"Or maybe..."

Shadow jumped and turned around, to see a large, dark silhouette standing there. Shadow got into a fighting stance.

"Maybe, it's just your brain trying to communicate with you."

The figure stepped into the light, to show an old man, with a thick gray mustache, and a white lab coat.

Shadow's eyes widened in shock. "Professor...." He said dumbstruck.

"Hello my boy." Professor Gerald said with a smile. "It seems you're having some trouble."

The two's surrounding's slowly disappeared, and were replaced with Shadow's old home, the ARK. They looked out a window to see the Earth floating down below.

"When you were created," Professor Gerald started, "I planned for you to be the salvation of the human race. A cure for all diseases, an end to all wars, a permanent solution for peace. Of course, things didn't work out like that."

The Professor shook his head. "When Maria died, I was lost. I went mad, and blamed the outside world for something that wasn't entirely their fault. I was so angry, I planned to destroy the world. But that was wrong."

Shadow looked at him, as he tried to understand what the Professor was saying.

"There will never be a time where the entire world is to blame. It may be a few of them, it might even be the majority, but even if there is only one person who isn't at fault, the entire world will never be to blame."

Shadow shook his head, confused. "What are you trying to tell me?" He asked.

"He's telling you to let this girl in."

Shadow turned around to see a blonde girl, with blue eyes, and a blue dress.

"Maria..." Shadow said under his breath.

"Shadow...it's time to stop being angry with the world." Maria told him.

Shadow went up to her and gave her a hug, as he could feel himself start to cry.

"Life is a hard thing to go through," Maria said gently, "but it's even harder when you don't open up to people. You care about her, and she cares about you. It may seem fast, but you need to do this. For me."

Shadow could feel her body fading away, as he grasped at what was left, before that disappeared too. He stood still, his arms still where she was, as the tears still left his face.

"Okay, i'll do it." Shadow said, a bit sadly. "I won't fight it anymore."