(Inspired by the song 'Nine While Nine' by the Sisters of Mercy)

'She said do you remember a time when angels...

Do you remember a time when fear...

In the days when I was stronger

In the days when you were near she said

When days had no beginning

While days had no end when

Shadows grew no longer I

Knew no other friend but you...

Were wild...

You were wild...'

(The Sisters of Mercy)

'The autumn air shouldn't be this cold.'

Shadow crossed his arms to keep warm from the cold air. The old train station was empty. Only Shadow and a couple of workers and custodians were on the dock. Sitting on a wooden bech, he glanced up towards the dark sky and let his mind wander about. The nighttime clouds looked down with a sinister appearance. It was fall, there was already snow on the floor, and it looked like it might rain.

"What's there to do down there?" asked a curious, young hedgehog whilst staring out the glass vista portrait of the beautiful blue planet. Maria smiled at him. So inquisitive, this one.

"Well, there's lots of things. On earth, there's nothing but beautiful landscape, blue sky, and the water."

"Well, what about people? Don't they live in cities and towns and stuff?"

Maria smiled again. She loved talking about the planet; her recollection of the infinite blue sky above her blotted with the occassional white cloud, the revitalizing spring air, the flurry of the wind blowing through her hair...

"Of course they do, Shadow, but they also live out on the countryside."

"What do they do there?"

'What do they do there...,'

He began to shiver. Looking over to his right, he noticed one of the station attendants talking to someone beyond Shadow's sight. The man was laughing at something the other had said.

Shadow blew his warm breath into his hands and rubbed his arms. The poor thing was nearly frozen.

If only they could go down there and experience it instead of talking about it.

"The countryside's used for lots of things; farming and creating businesses for example. Sometimes, people live out on the countryside just for the tranquillity and serenity of the wilderness; far away from the bustling noise of machines and automobiles of the cities."

Nine'o'clock was just a few minutes away. Shadow got the feeling the train would be late. All the near-frostbitten hedgehog could do was sit and kill time.

To keep his mind off the cold, Shadow got up from the brown bench and looked around the deck. He found nothing of particular interest; snow on the floor, brown door.

The station structure was wooden. This was a rather rustic town that seemed to be frozen in the nineteenth century. The ebony hedgehog admired the quaint feeling of it all.

'this was what she was talking about.'

He came here to ride the train.

Shadow thought to himself for a moment before formulating another question.

"Maria, why doesn't everyone live out on the countryside? It seems like it would be alot better to live in peace and quiet than to deal with all the noise of the cities."

The girl smiled at the hedgehog.

"I don't think it's that simple-"

"What's it like to live in the city?"

If it had been twenty to thirty years later, the Temptations would have come to mind.

"Well, like I said, it's pretty noisy. In some cities, the sky is grey and filled with pollution."

The ebony hedgehog frowned at this revelation.

"Well, why have them? If all they do is make loud noise and ruin the sky, why are they around at all?"

"It's so damn cold," the hedgehog whispered to himself.

He stared blankly at his reflection in one of the wooden building's windows. He saw a little boy in black fur with crimson streaks. The boy was nearly frozen; his body completely frail frail. The tearful image was augmented by the frost in the window sill. He saw something else, too.

Scarlet lipstick. Lipstick on the window pane.

'Who...'

The lipstick stain on the window pane was obviously caused by someone's lips pressed against the glass.

'Quite a delightful stain, if you think about it.'

The odd part about the mark on the window pane was that it just happened to show on the reflection's ivory crest. Past the crest was the cold creature's heavy heart.

She held her index finger's knuckle to her lips for a moment so she could think of a way to explain it to her little crimson-on-ebony brother. After just a second of searching, the lightbulb lit and Maria Robotnik had an 'A-ha!' moment.

"The ARK is a dull, steel box that has pollution and makes alot of noise. Why do we keep it around?"

That was a question the little hedgehog had pondered since he was taught how to read and write, shown wrong from right, but the boy could not think of a reason why it was important to keep the ARK up and running.

Shadow stepped back to the brown bench to sit again. This time, however, he didn't sit alone; a woman sat on the opposite side of the bench.

He could not see her face too well; she wore black glasses with an elegant black coat that partially covered her face over black pants and a black shirt. The woman had a cigarette in her right hand; the hand obscuring nearly all of her facial features except the forehead. What was not covered, however, was her blonde hair tied back into a pretty pony tail. That beautiful blonde hair seemed so familliar, but Shadow could not place his finger on where he had seen such lovely locks before.

He noticed one more detail; the lipstick on her cigarette.

Shadow sighed and gave up on trying to think of a logical answer.

"I don't know. I guess people just like living in metal cases?"

Maria giggled slightly as she knelt down to pull the hedgehog in for a hug. Her beautiful blonde hair fell to Shadow's back; the locks drifted between his back quills and tickled just a bit.

"Close, but no,"she said while still giggling,"The ARK is around for the benefit of mankind. It's messy and noisy, but the work the scientists do here will help to ensure a better world for everyone. The same goes for cities! They're centers of economic growth. They provide jobs and oppurtunity to people. Not everyone can live in the countryside. Besides, how would we be able to keep our planet safe if all we did was lay around?"

The hedgehog thought for a moment before speaking. He didn't understand what she meant by 'keep our planet safe'.

She looked to be a very young woman; in her early twenties at the most. He wanted to ask her. He wanted to ask her a sudden question the way one would want to scratch a bad itch. After realizing how intrusive and awkward the question would be, he scoffed at the idea and looked back to the clock above the rustic wooden door.

9:05

The train was late. Shadow still shivered.

'Why am I doing this?'

"That's good, but if cities pollute the planet... isn't that bad?"

Maria stood up and continued to gaze at the planet, still intact, through the glass pane.

"Yes, but that's the great thing about science! We can learn how to make cleaner, more efficient technology. Could you imagine a world where everything was clean as well as fun and convenient? The world would be brilliantly fun and friendly!"

She put out the cigarette in the empty space between the two. Shadow, still shivering, noticed a couple of orange embers still glowing in the ash of the extinguished deathstick. He wanted to start a fire with the precious orbs. He wanted to break the bench and snatch the wood to use as kindling for a warm fire.

Of course, this, like asking that silly question, would also be a very silly thing for him to do, so he endured the freezing air.

The clock read 9:08.

'Where's the damn train?'

The weather had been freezing all day, but things kept getting worse as the night pressed on. The sky began to drop cold rainwater on Shadow's already cold body. Rainwater washing on his pelt gave him a gorgeous yet ghoulish obsidian shine. Shadow realized that the weather would only get worse as the the night pressed on. He sighed at the fact that this tumultuous torture would not relent, but, as the ultimate life form would do, he sucked it up and ignored it.

He had realized who the young blonde next to him reminded him of. This, of course, didn't satisfy his curiosity about her, though, because another question had popped into his head.

Shadow beamed. A world with nothing bad in it, a world where nothing but dreams came true. A child's dream.

"Well, is there anything fun to do in the cities now?"

The girl reminisced back to a fond memory of herself as a toddler.

"Yes, there is."

"Really, what?" Shadow broke his gaze from the stars to look at Maria.

She smiled.

"You could ride the train from place to place."

9:09

The train stopped at the docks. The door opened, and the sight of the warm interior was as welcoming as any hot bath in a hotel.

The blonde woman rose from the bench and walked aboard. The shivering Shadow followed. Whether it was out of curiosity or just boredom, he decided to sit next to her.

He had to ask her. He needed an answer.

"Hello," the dark one greeted.

She turned her head towards the hedgehog, eyes and face still somewhat obscured, and greeted in return.

"Hi."

It was killing him. He had to ask.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you riding this train?"

She smiled.