Shadow had no idea where he was going. His feet just moved, each step taking him farther away.

  Right. Swish. Farther.

Left. Swish. Farther.

  ‘Oh, Maria…what have I done? What do I do now?’ he ranted silently. His head was swamped with thoughts, to the point that he couldn’t take it. He stopped and merely dropped to his knees. Glancing around, he could see that he had run to a rocky, mountainous area near a lake. No one was around, and that’s all that Shadow needed to know. He curled up, wanting to cry, but the tears wouldn’t come. Frusteration brewed; he could cry so well earlier, why not now when he truly needed to? He stood up, threw his head back, and screamed to the skies. Nothing important was said. He just opened his mouth and let out all of his emotions in one loud, long scream. ‘Maria can’t help me now.’

  When Shadow emptied of his rage, he stared down at his shoes. He couldn’t see them as well as they used to; a sure sign that something was going on with his stomach. “Damn. Damn. Damn.” He uttered those words over and over again. Shadow was done with his emotions now. All he needed now was time to think. Who knew how much time that would take. Hours? Days? Maybe even months.

Shadow sighed. He only had six more months to know how he felt….


~~~~~

  “Sonic, stop, you’re going to give yourself a concussion!” Rouge grabbed Sonic and pulled him away from the wall that he was bashing his head against.

  Sonic sighed. “I don’t know what else to do..”

   Rouge crossed her arms. “Shadow will come back when he’s done thinking. Although it’s not the same circumstances, Shadow runs off to think all the time…”

  Sonic spun around to face her. “Yeah, but he’s not always pregnant when he does!!”

  Rouge patted Sonic’s shoulder. “He’s been fine until we found out, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

  Sonic shook his head. “How can you be so sure about that?”

  “I’m not.”

  Sonic glared at her, then started pacing. There was no way of knowing where Shadow was, what he was doing, and if he was okay. The image of Shadow stabbing himself just to get the baby out kept replaying in Sonic’s mind. He tried to convince himself that Shadow wouldn’t do such a thing, but the truth was Shadow would, could, and probably should.

  “We’ve got to find Shadow,” Sonic finally said. “Who knows what he’s doing right now.”

   Rouge sighed. “But, Sonic, Shadow is fine…”

  “We don’t know that for sure!” Sonic retorted.

    “Sonic the Hedgehog, you’re getting too paranoid!” Rouge went to a kitchen drawer and pulled out something.

  “Well, I should! Shadow’s the mother…er…father…errr….the barer of my children!”

  Rouge walked over, holding a taiser. “Settle down, or a jolt of electricity will settle you down..”