This is my first story on fanfiction! I'm not asking you to go easy on me. This is a ShadAmy story, although it starts out in Tails' POV. I didn't want to put that in the summary. I rated it T to start with but I'm not going to hold back on language. I really don't think I should have to up the rating because of that.

The ages are a little messed up because I used some of the video game ages and some from the comic book. Sonic is 17. Tails is 8. Cream is 6. Amy is 12. Shadow is... Well 50 something years old but physically 18. Rouge is 17. The ages will change in the next chapter anyways. I'm changing a few details, kind of making it my own world instead of going by exactly what the game and comic books say, which is what I'm basing most of it off of. I think a few of the most obvious changes is that all of the characters have hair, kind of like people and they wear clothes. It's just weird they run around in nothing but gloves and shoes. If your not going to wear clothes, why wear gloves anyways? I hope you enjoy. I'd like you to review please, I want to know how I'm doing.

Chapter 0.

The End: Prelude to the Epilogue

~ Miles "Tails" Prower (Day -3499) ~

Tails watched. That was all he could do. Watch as the airship burst into pieces as it crashed below him. The impact shook the trees, Tails could see that from his plane, which he now was trying to land nearby the crash. His ears were pounding from the boom. Metal was scattered everywhere. Helplessly, flames rose up from the debris. Cracking and sizzling echoed through the vacant night after the bloodcurdling noises the explosion made. The starless night glowed red. Tails could feel the fire's radiance as he landed a good distance away from the rubble. It didn't even look like the airship it was anymore. Just a bunch of scrap metal.

It wasn't just any crash Tails had just witnessed. It was the death of his worst enemy. Hated by everyone, Dr. Ivo Robotnik was finally gone.

But he didn't go alone.

"It's not possible..." Tails whispered to himself. No matter what, he always found a way to pull himself through the rubble. It just wasn't logical that he could be gone. He must have escaped the plane right before the crash. He must have found some way to protect himself from the impact and explosion. He must have some way to come through.

Tails watched the fire dance, stretching along the metal, untouchable. Unstoppable. It burned his eyes just watching the surreal gas deteriorating everything in it's grasp. The metal turned bright red and the wood turned black.

Before he flew away from the ship, Tails called out to Sonic. But he said he had unfinished business. He must have had a way to escape. Unless he didn't know it was going to crash...

"Sonic!" Tails called out to the debris. His best friend? His older brother? His hero? Gone? He would have fallen over laughing. Sonic was indestructible.

So it seemed.

Tails ran out into the fire, knowing he was risking his own life. What if Sonic was still alive, barely breathing? Any second could be his last. Any moment could be one moment too late. "Sonic!" He called again. He choked on the fumes spilling out around him. "S-Sonic."

Everything was a mixture of black, red and yellow. He couldn't tell if he was going deeper into the fire or if he had turned around and was heading back to his plane.

A flame lit scrap of metal fell from above him, crashing down onto his back.

Suddenly, it had seemed that the fire had gone out. He couldn't see anything but the darkness.

~ Amy Rose ~

At 2 a.m. that night, Amy's phone started to buzz on her bed side table. She was already awake, staring at the ceiling. Nothing in particular had kept her up that night, just lingering thoughts, worries and hopes. She sighed, grabbing her cell phone and looking at the caller ID. Knuckles.

She sat up in bed, alert. Knuckles never called her, ever because he just wanted to talk. Something important had happened.

"Hello?" Her voice high, even for her.

Knuckle's voice was abnormally gentle. "Amy? Uh- Well Sonic-"

"Sonic? What happened to Sonic?"

"I found what I think is Eggman's plane... Or airship... Whatever. It was crashed on Angel Island. Tails is, um, hurt. Badly. He's unconscious but alive."

Amy's heart quickened to a pace it had only achieved few other times. "What about Sonic?" She urged him to go on. "What happened to him?"

Knuckles paused, seeming to be hesitant. "He- Look, can you come over here. With a doctor. You're the first person I thought to call and we need someone here soon. There aren't any doctors up her."

"Tell me what happened to Sonic!"

"He's..."

"Go on."

"Dead."

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

Sonic's dead. Ha. Nice joke. The thought was bitter in Amy's mind. Her sunken heart had started up again, threatening to breaking through her chest with it's life threatening throbs.

She tossed the bedsheets to the side. Why am I just sitting here? This is important! Tails needs help!

Amy quickly changed into a dress she picked randomly from her closet and slipped on her a pair of red flip flops. She combed her quills out hastily and brushed through her light pink hair. Soon, she was out the door, into her car and zooming down the streets of the city.

Her only thoughts as she drove was that she needed to get to the hospital and how she probably looked like shit without her hair flat ironed or her makeup on.

Somehow, about a half hour later, she ended up in front of a hospital. She paid no attention to which wing she was entering through, she just tumbled into the room and marched up to the receptionist. "We need a doctor up at Angel island! Fast!"

It occurred to Amy that she wasn't even exactly sure what was wrong with Tails.

"Calm down! Now what's the problem little... Hedgehog? Can't ever tell what you animal things are." The receptionist, Amy now saw, was a blond haired human female. The hospital cared for both human and animal patients.

Amy gave a huff and replied, sharply. "Yes. And my friend was on Eggman's airship-"

"Dr. Robotnik?"

"Yes." She snapped back, irritated. "The airship crashed, and my friend, Tails, he was on it. He's hurt. Get some one up to Angel Island to help him!"

The receptionist just blinked. "What's your name?"

"Amy Rose." Man is this lady not getting it or what?

"That girl who's always chasing Sonic around?" The receptionist looked like she was laughing with her pale blue eyes. They were caked with blue eyeshadow.

Amy's fingernails dug into the counter, sending pain shooting through her hands. She didn't care. "Can I just get a doctor or what?"

The receptionist seemed to finally be getting it. "I'll see if I can get you someone."

Amy ended up sitting in a chair in the waiting room,her mind now unoccupied. She spent the time chipping the nail polish off of her nails, her attention fully on getting the chunk off. Her thoughts refused to venture elsewhere and Amy was okay with that. She knew she should be worried about Tails. She knew she should be sad about what happened – if it happened – to Sonic. But her mind was glued to her fingernail polish and now, at this realization, how selfish she was.

"Ms.? Did you need a doctor?" I looked up to see light yellow humming bird in a white coat and short messy hair.

Amy leaped to her feet, nodding. "My friend does. He's on Angel Island."

"Do you have a way to get up there?" He asked, heading towards the door. Amy followed at her side.

"Um..." She blushed with realization. "No you see, I just got a call from my friend..."

"If you have a way to get to the general area I might be able to carry us up there. I might have to go back down later for my equipment and medicine." He replied, understanding. He flapped his wings slightly, as if already preparing to fly up there.

Amy nodded, even noticing herself that she was being unusually quiet the rest of the trip over there.

~ Knuckles the Echidna ~

On one side of Knuckles, Tails laid. His furry white chest fell up and down, not too quickly, not too slowly, but at a perfectly normal pace. It didn't help Knuckles' state of panic very well, glancing over at who was on his other side, laying on the ground. Maybe he should cover him up before anyone gets here, so that it isn't taken as too much of a shock.

Knuckles relived the memory of finding the body under the rubble, fur was disintegrated and skin was the color of coal. His right arm was twisted out of place, shoulder and elbow both obviously dislocated, crushed under a chunk of metal, barely cool after the fire. His head was cracked open, blood in a puddle behind his head.

It was an image that no one should have to see.

Knuckles looked over at the body, just for a second, before his head turned away. Surely, Knuckles had seen gruesome sights before, but this was different. To see someone he considered his friend – although they had their troubles in the beginning – dead didn't make him flinch because it was hard on the eyes, far from it. It was because he couldn't stand the thought of him being dead. A hero. A friend. An annoying brat. Someone who leaped into action without knowing the depth of the situation. Someone with a pure heart. Someone who had beings who loved him and beings who he loved.

He shut his eyes for a moment, feeling for the first time his true loss. Feeling his heart sink inside of him. He would miss the speedy little hedgehog.

Opening his eyes again, he realized Amy would be here soon with a doctor. Quickly, he looked around the room for an extra blanket. He had already covered Tail's in all of the covers he had from his bed. He walked down the hallway in search of one that he might have forgotten he even had.

He heard a knocking on the door.

Come on there has to be one somewhere. Suddenly panicked, Knuckled pulled out an old comforter he found in his closet and headed back into the other room.

"Knuckles?" I heard called from out of the door.

He hurried back down the hall, knowing that the front door lead into his bedroom, where Tails now slept.

It was too late. Amy had already come in through the door and was now staring at the chard and out of place body of Sonic the Hedgehog, laying limply on the bed, eyelids shut, cold. Dead.

~ Shadow the Hedgehog (Day -3288) ~

Shadow found himself sitting around, doing nothing but listening to Rouge comment and complain about little things, like how increasingly hot it was getting that day, sometime in the middle of July. The air condition was blasting and the ceiling fan was on, but Rouge still found it too warm for her not to whine about it. Shadow just listened to her muse, maybe replying when she asked him a direct question or said something that caught his interest for a few seconds. He found this was becoming a routine lately. There wasn't anything to do.

Since Sonic and Eggman died about seven months ago their usual flow of missions given to them by G.U.N. have slowed to almost a complete stop. Shadow had to admit that he was getting bored with the absence of adventure. Every now and then something would happen, but not often enough or big enough. It had come down to tracking down major robbers and murderers, but even the toughest were hardly a challenge.

The lack of things to do was exactly why he was slightly startled when there was a knocking on his bedroom door, located in G.U.N. headquarters. Rouge let a half of a smile show on her face. Shadow knew she was hoping that they had a mission for the both of us and not just him.

He got up quickly and opened the door to see the G.U.N. commander himself. "Shadow. I need to talk to you in private."

Shadow shrugged and followed him out the door. He heard Rouge give a heavy sigh behind him.

After a while of walking, he found himself in a small room with a table and set of chairs. On top of the metal table was something that looked like a basket filled with blankets. He didn't get to ponder what it was for long, because the commander started talking.

"I'm sure you've heard, somewhere, that Princess Sally Acorn had given birth last week."

Shadow nodded. "It's hard not to have, but what about it?"

The commander continued. "First off, it wasn't the prince-soon-to-be-king's like everyone believes. Second, there wasn't just one of them, they were twins. Before she was married, when they were just engaged and hadn't announced it to the public yet, it seems she had at least some sort of relationship with Sonic the hedgehog. It's his kids. Not even her husband knows that. She had them in private. Her daughter, the one she kept, looks enough like her that no one would be able to guess that it's someone other than her husband's. But her son is an entirely different story. So far me and her doctor – Dr. Quack – even know of his existence."

Shadow's eyes fell on the bundle of blankets in the basket again, noticing now, that they slowly rose and fell as if someone was breathing underneath. He heard tiny breathes, barely noticeable while the commander talked. It wasn't a question what was under there anymore. "And?"

"The princess wanted us to find him a new family for him. Not only did she not want to upset her family, the prince especially, but she felt that she would be frowned upon all of her mobians if they knew the truth. You understand that we had to obey the princess."

Shadow nodded. "And you want me to find a family for him?"

The commander shook his head, picking up the pile of blankets from the basket, revealing the head of what looked almost exactly like Sonic the hedgehog, sleeping soundly, wrapped in a fuzzy white blanket. "No Shadow. You're going to be his new family."

"I'm... What?" Shadow hissed, taken aback.

"The princess didn't ask for just anyone to take care of the child, but for someone I trust." He replied, cradling the miniature blue hedgehog in his arms.

"And you chose me? Do you seriously think I could take care of him? Besides, he would only get in my way." Shadow retorted, unable to imagine taking care of that child. Just because Sonic died... And it was the princess' fault for cheating on her husband. Of course, that was unless it was Sonic's fault. But he had a hard time thinking that for obvious reasons, and then there's the fact that the hedgehog... Well, wasn't quite what you would call a prude, but he was a bit naïve if it ever came to that topic.

"Get in the way doing what? Admit it, your not that busy anymore, and you're one of my best agents. You're just going to have to learn to be a dad. Besides, I can't give him to a human family or even the family of another animal. No one's going to believe that, say, a pair of dogs had a hedgehog child."

"Wait. You're not only asking me to take care of the kid, but pretend to be his father?"

"That's the idea. What happens when he gets older and wants to know who his real parents are? You can't tell anyone he's not yours. We can't risk the truth getting out."

Shadow said, with slight irritation in his voice, "Won't someone wonder why he looks so much like Sonic? He's not exactly unknown."

"Maybe. But Sonic's not the only blue hedgehog to ever exist. In fact, it's not even uncommon. They'll just think he'll happen to resemble him. Besides, only a few people have seen him in person."

Shadow shook his head. "Get someone else to do it."

The commander struggled for a moment, then said, just before Shadow was about to turn out the door. "I'll give you a chaos emerald!"

"You can't wave jewels in my face and expect me to do tricks for you like Rouge." Shadow added, "I don't understand, wouldn't you prefer someone else. Maybe someone else who knows a little more about taking care of children?"

"I'll admit you're not the friendliest person out there..." The commander trailed off. "But I know you can be protective and you can be trusted. We can also keep tabs on what's going on if you take care of it, which would be harder if we decided to give it to someone outside of G.U.N.. Shadow, your our best option and, hey, it might even be good for you." He added, "Please Shadow, I'll give you anything you want."

Shadow thought for a moment. He didn't have anything he wanted. But maybe they could make a compromise. "Fine, I'll do it, but I ask of you one thing; You'll pay for anything that I'll ever get this kid. Every meal he eats, every diaper he wears, every toy he uses. Everything."

The commander took only a few seconds to consider it. "Yes, I think I can agree to that." He looked down at the sleeping hedgehog he still carried in his arms and held him out to Shadow. He took it awkwardly, taking a moment to figure out exactly how to hold it.

"So does he have a name?" Shadow asked. It was uncomfortable holding the warm body in his arms. He had already made himself comfortable, clutching his small fingers onto Shadow's tee-shirt a leaning his head against his chest.

"Manic. But I don't see why you can't change it if you want."

Shadow let out a huff of breath that sounded something like a laugh, or at least like he was amused. "Manic? Nice name." He said sarcastically. "But, I think I'll keep it. The princess must have had more of a reason for naming him that than the fact it rhymes with Sonic."

The commander gave half of a smile. "So if that's all, you can leave now. I'll have someone bring in a crib and a couple bottles and such tomorrow, but for tonight I think he'll be fine."

Shadow nodded and started heading back to his room, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He'd never hear the end of this from Rouge. And what if he's one of those babies that stay up all night crying? What about when he grows up?

"Your still in here?" Shadow asked when he got back to his room.

Rouge shrugged. "I wanted to know why he wanted to talk to you. Who's the baby? Let me guess. Someone went back in time and shrunk Sonic before he died and brought him back to you?"

"No." Shadow replied. "Get out of my room."

Rouge asked again, "No, really, why do you have that baby? He does look just like Sonic."

"It's..." He hasn't planned on having to do this so soon, but he had no choice. "Mine. He's my baby." The words felt weird in his mouth. He even felt his face heat up afterwords as Rouge's face lit up in shock. He struggled to hold back his awkward feelings, afraid he would already blow his cover.

"I'd think you're joking if I didn't know that you never joke... Who's the girl?"

Shadow paused, trying quickly to think of something. "It's no one you know. I... We broke up long before he was born. We only saw each other a few times. She... tried to contact me but I just ignored any time she called. She knew I worked for G.U.N. but not what I did. She took him here, because she couldn't take care of him and told them to give him to me."

Rouge blinked, looking just a little confused. She quickly regained her normal expression and smirked. "Well, goodnight... Daddy." She laughed slightly before leaving the room.

Shadow was right, he wouldn't hear the end of it. He looked back down at Manic, still asleep in his arms. It was hard to imagine such a name could be given to someone who just slept all the time. Shadow, gently, at least he hoped it was, pried his fingers from his shirt and looked around for some place he could set him down. He took the comforter of the top of his bed, it was too hot for it anyways, and set folded it up so it would be more like a cushion. He sat it on the table and placed Manic on top of it.

Shadow hoped that taking care of him would be that easy, but it was probably wistful thinking on his part. He climbed into bed and stared up at the ceiling, somehow feeling different than he had before.