A/N - Hello and welcome to my brand new story! It will be told from perspectives of Sonic, Shadow and Amy, with about 13 chapters. 3 chapters including this one have already been done and are waiting to be posted over the next couple of days. I had planned on finishing all the chapters before posting, but I was keen to get this out there. You may wonder why the characters are so good at writing and descriptions, but I don't think I could ever write in the style of how Sonic, Amy and Shadow talk. Each chapter has a touch of them with my own writing spin, if that makes sense.

I hope you enjoy!

Sonic's POV

Shadow and I haven't always seen eye to eye.

We were rivals the day we met, and continued to be rivals for some time. That was the case, at least, until a few years back when we decided to settle our differences and ended our long-winded, and seemingly endless battle to come out on top of the other.

We became friends.

That's what we set out to become anyway. That's what we were to each other at first. But then something changed. I got to talk to Shadow on a regular basis, and I got to understand him better. He told me so many things about himself, and I saw a side of him that I had never even seen. He always seemed so calm and collected, strong and smart, when in reality, he was a tortured soul who had spent the majority of his life being controlled. He valued friendship more than anything, and would protect those that he cared about no matter what. I admired him for that. I admired him for everything he stood for.

I don't know when my feelings for him changed.

Maybe deep down they had been there all along and I had only noticed when I got to know the real him. It's hard to say.

I tried to ignore them at first. It was the simplest solution that I could come up with at the time. Sadly that didn't quite work out for me, as my feelings for Shadow never went away no matter how much I tried to bury them. Whenever I was around him I could feel my heart beating faster, almost as if it wanted to burst out of my chest. Even when I didn't see him, he was always on my mind. He was the only thing I thought about and every moment with him I would cherish.

But I was afraid. I had considered telling Shadow how I felt, but I doubted that he would want to take the relationship further. He saw us as friends, but I wanted so much more. I wasn't even sure what more I could possibly want from him. What else could I hope to gain from our relationship? Didn't I already have enough? Maybe it was just my desire to have my feelings returned by him. But that was never going to happen. So I didn't breathe a word about it. Which, for me, was one of the hardest things to do. And yet, I was worried that he would discover how I felt about him. That he would find out about my little secret and end up rejecting me.

Apart from Shadow himself, that fear of discovery and rejection was a lingering thought.

In an effort to forget about my feelings for him, I decided to stay away from him. We talked too often, and it wasn't doing me any good. We drifted apart for a short amount of time. A few months, I think. Did it help me overcome my feelings?

No.

In absence, love only grows stronger. At least, that's what I've heard. It was true in my case.

After ceasing all contact with Shadow, I managed to have some time alone to collect my thoughts and understand my feelings better. I realised that I had to stop letting my emotions get the better of me. Shadow and I were pretty close at that point, he would understand, and with a bit of luck, he would feel the same way. With a bit more time to myself, I plucked up enough courage to tell him how I really felt.

Unfortunately, he had something important to tell me as well.

"...You're going away?" I asked, though the answer was clear and obvious. I was just in shock.

I watched as Shadow packed some of his belongings into a suitcase that was positioned on his bed. "Yeah, GUN has assigned me with some new missions which are abroad." He replied.

"But do you really have to go?" I questioned.

He turned around and began to rummage through his drawers "I have to go wherever work needs me to be." He stated. He then turned around again to face me and I took note that he was holding his dark blue GUN uniform, which he proceeded to fold and place in his suitcase. "I'm not in control of everything that happens in my life. You know that."

"How long will you be gone?" I questioned further. Honestly, my thoughts were racing a mile a minute, and there was so much I wanted to ask him before I could even get to the point as to why I had come to see him.

He shrugged "It's hard to say. I don't really know myself." He told me. There was a pause between us as he zipped up his suitcase and dragged it off the bed. Before I could ask another one of many questions, Shadow piped up with a question of his own. "So what did you want to tell me?" He asked, whilst placing the suitcase on the floor.

That was it. That was my moment, my window of opportunity to tell him how I truly felt.

But I couldn't.

Fear and panic overwhelmed me, and the thought of rejection returned. All confidence I once had was gone, and before I knew what I was doing, I just mumbled a response "Oh, nothing, it doesn't matter."

Shadow gave me an odd look. He knew something wasn't right. "Are you sure? It seemed rather important."

He gave me a second chance, another opportunity to tell him.

But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The fact that I couldn't look him in the eye and tell him three simple words was just heart breaking for me. I shook my head "No, it was nothing. Really." I insisted. Internally I was screaming, telling myself to just come out with it.

"Well, if you're sure." He replied. There was uncertainty in his voice.

Another wave of silence washed over us. Shadow examined me, as if he had been trying to decipher something from my body language. I looked away from his gaze and glanced down at the suitcase. "When are you leaving?" I asked, putting an end to the short lived, quiet atmosphere.

"Tomorrow morning." He answered. "GUN got me a flight at the nearest airport, so... this is probably the last time you'll see me for a while, which you'll be thankful of." He added, and chuckled lightly. He sounded nervous. I always found it odd to see Shadow laugh. I could never get used to it.

"Well, I'm glad I got to see you before you left." I replied, smiling faintly at him.

"Me too." He said. We stared at each other for a brief moment, and became lost in each other's eyes. Well, I'm not sure if he became lost in mine, but I certainly became lost in his. "Sonic." He addressed me, still looking deeply into my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Wait a bit before you tell the others that I've gone, won't you?" He requested. "I don't want a huge 'going away party' or anything like that." He explained.

"Sure thing." I replied simply.

"Thank you, Sonic." He said gratefully.

I turned away from his gaze and glanced over my shoulder at the door. "Well, I better get going." I stated aloud. I wanted more than anything to get out of there. "Good luck. I hope you have a safe flight." I told him as I moved backwards, heading towards the bedroom door.

"Thanks." Shadow replied simply. Before I could leave, he addressed me one last time. "And thanks for coming round. I haven't seen you in a while and..." He paused. "I'm just glad I got to see you again, for one last time."

I didn't know how to respond that. I had already said the same sort of sentence to him. I didn't want to repeat myself or have to linger for much longer. "I guess I'll see you whenever I see you." That's all I could come up with.

"I guess you will."

With my hand wrapped around the door knob, I said my farewells "Goodbye, Shadow."

"Goodbye, Sonic."

And that was that. I blew my only chance of telling Shadow how I felt about him. That's what I believed, anyway, as I made the journey home. Alone with my thoughts once more, I came to the sudden realisation that I still had one more chance. All I had to do was catch Shadow at the airport before he left that following morning. It was the perfect plan.

I rushed home and set my alarm. I'd have to get up pretty early if I wanted to get to the airport in time. To tell you the truth, I didn't get much sleep that night, and I was awake when my alarm went off. But I wasn't going to allow lack of sleep to stop me. I ran to the airport, and as luck would have it, I found Shadow there, waiting for his flight.

He was surprised to see me. I remember the expression on his face rather clearly. It was a nice change from his usual frown. "Sonic? What are you doing here?" Shadow asked. He glanced around the airport "You didn't bring everyone here to give me a big send off, did you?"

"No, it's just me." I told him. "I-" I began, but the words became caught in my throat. It was happening all over again, I couldn't tell him how I felt. I was afraid and I just couldn't conquer my fears. "I just wanted to see you off." I finished. It wasn't a complete lie, I had come to say goodbye, but it wasn't the main reason as to why I had come.

"Wanted to make sure that you've gotten rid of me?" He joked. I chuckled lightly in response, but that little bit of laughter quickly died and then an awkward silence followed. Shadow reached behind his back and retrieved a photograph. "You left this at my house." He stated, holding it out to me. I took the photo and examined it. It was a photo of me and Shadow, our heads pressed up against each other as we smiled at the camera, which I had been holding. I was winking at the camera with a large, toothy grin on my face, whilst Shadow smiled only faintly, with his eyes more focused on me than the camera. We both looked so happy, no matter how much we decided to show it.

The photo had been taken on my 18th birthday. I took it with me often, as it had sentimental value. I most likely dropped it in Shadow's house when I went to visit him.

I was thankful that Shadow didn't question why I had it on me. You would think that I would want him to ask, but I really didn't want to explain myself. If I couldn't tell him how I felt, then I wouldn't be able to explain the significance of the photo.

"Thanks." I said gratefully, lowering the photo and looking at him.

"No problem, it's the least I could do." Shadow responded. "And it was nice of you to come, all just to give me a proper goodbye."

The intercom came on and the speakers announced the next flight that was going to take off. "Well, that's my cue. I better go." He stated, whilst picking up his suitcase. He turned to me and held out his hand. It took a moment to register, but I eventually realised that he wanted to shake hands. I held his hand and shook it.

"Shadow, I um..." I stopped myself. There was no point in trying to tell him anymore. What difference would it have made? He was going to leave anyway. I couldn't spring something so critical like that on him at the last second. It wasn't fair on him. "See you around."

Shadow nodded in acknowledgement and released my hand, and proceeded to walk away, wheeling his suitcase behind him. Once he was a fair distance away, I called out to him one last time "Shadow!"

He stopped dead and turned to face me. "Don't be a stranger!" I said cheerfully, trying to put on a brave face for him.

He smiled at me, which was enough to melt my heart. He lifted his hand and waved goodbye, and then continued to walk away. My gaze lingered on him for some time until he disappeared out of sight. I sighed deeply and looked down at the photograph in my hands once more. As I examined it more closely, I noticed that there was something written on the back. I flipped the photo over to discover that there was a message on it.

"Talk soon" - Shadow.

I gripped the photo tightly in my grasp and pulled it close to my chest.

Now, you may be thinking that we kept in touch while he was away. Well, you'd be wrong. That was the last time I saw and heard from Shadow for a long time.