Brave Hearted Heroes

Shadow Can...Smile? Is He capable?

Sonic looked around, focusing on every picture he saw.

"Shadow? Who is that girl you are with in the pictures?" Sonic asked, following him into the room. Sonic planted down on the neatly made bed and watched Shadow's reaction.

"That was my dear friend, Maria." He replied in a matter of fact way, wiping the small table and lifting a piece of paper up. On the picture there was a messily drawn girl and a fine detailed drawing of Shadow.

"Shadow, in these pictures you look so..." Sonic couldn't finish his sentence because of Shadow's pained face. The girl really meant a lot to him although, Sonic never knew the real story. Only Chris did.

"Young? I know, I was about 10 years old." Shadow smiled. Actually smiled! It was the first time since Shadow had appeared in Sonic's world that Sonic had seen him smile.

"Anyway, it's not the point. Don't touch a single thing in here, promise?" He growled. 'Well that lasted about 5 minutes. Nice one Shadow, how about 10 minutes next time?'

"Alright, alright. I promise." Sonic rolled his eyes and watched Shadow walk away but Sonic decided to stay and look at the collage of pictures in the room. Ones of just Maria and ones with Shadow. But mostly they were together and Shadow looked at complete peace. His teeth showing in his smile made Sonic's heart beat fast at how happy Shadow looked. But it also ached pain. Shadow didn't know what he had until he lost it.

All of a sudden, it felt like a hand was placed on Sonic's shoulder. He jumped back against the wall, looking at what had touched him. The girl stood like a hologram, see through looking. She had long, blonde locks and bright blue eyes. Her dress was coated in dried blood but she just stood there and watched. Sonic yelled and watched as her arm came closer, almost touching his ear when Shadow came barging in. The person disappeared into thin air and was replaced by a rather pissed off hedgehog.

"What the hell is wrong with you now? You're killing my ear drums." He growled and saw Sonic sink to the floor, breathing hard.

"Th-there was a girl. Sh-she had a blue dress on with it coated in blood. She tried to grab me." Sonic stuttered and curled up tightly for protection. Shadow's anger began to rise. Sonic knew how hard it was for Shadow when it came to Maria.

"Don't be so foolish! Don't say that about her!" Shadow yelled and pinned back his ears in anger, his heart aching.

"Shadow please, I'm not lying. I wouldn't do that to hurt you." Sonic begged, shaking a little as he stood to his feet, reaching for Shadow. Shadow growled and pushed him against the wall, walking away. For some reason this hurt Sonic. The way Shadow was acting towards him really felt terrible. 'Don't cry, a hero never cries remember.' Sonic repeated over and over in his head until he was able to walk over to his bed. He slid under the warm covers and closed his eyes, a little shaken at the horrid image he had seen. Was that Maria? If so, how could he have seen her?