Darkness, sort of a purple shade of dark to be precise… trees lost their leaves due to a strange yet gentle breeze… butterflies almost transparent landed on soft white flowerbeds… a figure stood in the middle of it all, surrounded by a silver glow, cause of her snow-white fur, eyes like the bright ocean view and wings that copied the black of the evening… she only had on a long white dress that seemed fit more for a summer wedding day…

"Oh, he'll come around again…" she spoke, mainly to herself then to whoever else, maybe besides the butterflies, "Like in every night I have, he'll come back…"

"You called for me… Princess Rouge?"

The young bat yelped as she turned to another kind of brighter silver glow as it revealed a figure, you couldn't completely see him but she could tell from his spiky hair, he seemed like a hedgehog. His dark blue cape draped all around him, flowing along with the wind just like it was water.

"This may be the final time that I'll ever see you again, my princess…" the figure spoke, his voice echoing throughout the landscape.

"Well, that is, until I find the real you, my prince." Rouge sighed, "It's too bad that you can't even give me a small clue as in to who you are?"

"I'm afraid it is quite impossible, princess… for there are things I cannot reveal yet…" the stranger floated over to her, as she closed her eyes with a small smile.

"I await my kiss, my prince…"

His hand lingered on her shoulder, "Rouge…"

"I really do so await…"

"Rouge…"

"All I need right now is a…" Suddenly, without warning, she received a smack to the face as she yelled out in pain and looked dumbfounded at the frowning unknown figure, "Ow! Hey, that's not very romantic, prince!"

Then he spoke again, this time… in a woman's voice?

"I told you before, I'm not any prince!"

Rouge then awoke into her reality world, which in case you haven't figured by now, she had only been dreaming, and she was indeed a princess, living inside a huge marble palace, but lately… she had disliked her life of royalty just a bit… too much work, too much rules, and just… not enough freedom that she really needed.

"…And it's about time you got up!"

The same voice caused Rouge to focus on the frowning teenage girl next to her bed, same age close to hers. Seeing the frowning pink echidna with eyes of violet flowers and standing behind her, a cotton-candy colored hedgehog, eyes of emeralds, the bat frowned nervously. She had a bad habit of sleeping in.

"My apologies, Julie-Su," Rouge said this to the female echidna, "I was just… having that dream again."

Julie-Su wasn't surprised by this, "What is it with you and these dreams? It's not like you have to go out on the street and dress as a poor princess every day, but no!" She then mimicked the bat's sayings, much to Rouge's secret annoyance, "I want a real life! I want a real life!" Then in her normal voice, Julie-Su added in with her own despair, "Well, I've wanted to be Head Captain of your dad's Guard Army! I just don't see it happening!" She crossed her arms for a brief proud moment, "Though I would make a pretty good one. Wouldn't you say so, Rose?"

The hedgehog, Amy Rose, yawned before she began to reply, "It's a bit early in the morning to be discussing complements, but…" She then smiled, "You? As Head Captain?" She giggled at the silly thought, "I'd love to see that happen."

Julie-Su frowned, shaking her fist feeling offended, "Oh, it's going to happen, Pinky. Just you wait!"

Then, the door opened to reveal a butler, his species being a green Tree Frog. He looked with slight shock of Rouge, "Your Highness, how can you still be lingering in bed? You know full well that your Father expects you to be up earlier then this." He then left.

Rouge got up, murmuring in mock of the frog, "And he should know full well that coming into my teenage years, I'm not really that slow." Julie-Su and Amy kind of giggled at this. Rouge then opened the door to her enormous wardrobe, "What to where?" it wasn't so hard choosing since all the gowns, dresses and costumes she had where arranged all by colors.

Amy pointed to the pink dresses, "Ooh, those are nice."

Rouge however just frowned as she headed for the section of black/white/grey outfits, searching through them, "Let's see… black and white, black and white, black and white… Oh!" She pulled out her favorite outfit, "White and black. Shake it up a little, shall we?"

"Tell me, how does she tell the difference again?" Julie asked, the question always in her head when Rouge went through her dresses.

"Well, she is a bat, isn't she?" Amy returned her friend's question with her own question.

"Never mind."

Later, as the three girls headed down the stairs, they spotted the king himself, Rouge's father, King Gray, due to his dull grey almost-lifeless fur, pale blue eyes and a little chubby. His long baby-blue cape dragged a little behind him, as he frowned, but that was because of the Rouge came downstairs, or rather…

"Rouge, please. You know I asked you time and time before, no flying inside the palace." His voice was rather soft, but Rouge knew he meant serious and landed sheepishly.

"Sorry, Daddy." Rouge then walked over to give her father a kiss on the cheek, as he embraced her in return. The two had lived together for a long time in the palace together, along with Rouge's friends. But about her mother… no one really knows about the story.

Julie-Su then noticed something on the bat's outfit, "Rouge, you got to stop getting lint on these uniforms." She went to pick at it but that made Rouge jump.

"Julie, that was me!"

"Whoops."

"Remember, girls. You have to check on the market place later today." Grey reminded the girls of their daily job.

"Sir, yes sir." The echidna and hedgehog saluted playfully as Rouge simply nodded.

"Good, now see what the chef has left for you this morning." He turned to return to his throne.

"I bet it's Pancake morning." Julie-Su went ahead, smirking.

"No, they promised it would be waffles!" Amy giggled, running after her friend.

Rouge shrugged as she followed them, again flying after them, "I'm pretty sure it's French toast."

"Rouge, no flying in the palace!"

Meanwhile, out on the streets of the market place, beyond the palace grounds, people bustled about, selling, buying, so on… even stealing seemed to be included. Don't believe me? Look at these guys for example.

Two men lying on top of a cart, which sold watermelons. The first was a blue hedgehog, green eyes and he had a cocky grin as he gestured to his buddy, a crimson echidna with dark purple eyes and a white moon mark on his chest. He seemed to be tying a rope around his ankle for something and then tied it to the post where he might hang.

"Ready, Knuckles? You know what to do." The cobalt hedgehog, Sonic, gave a thumbs up.

Knuckles saluted back, "Roger." He then dived over; watching as a rather large pig held a melon and smiled, trying to sell his best fruit.

"Try these and your taste buds will dance and sing." The pig didn't even notice Knuckles as the echidna grabbed a melon from behind and dangled there, smirking, "Hey, porky!"

"What-?" The pig then frowned, seeing the echidna with the melon, "Get your hands off that!"

Knuckles decided to have a little fun mocking the pig, "Th-th-th-th-that's all folks!"

"Why you little-!" As the pig yanked back the melon, Sonic had grabbed the one that had been held earlier. The pig became confused as Knuckles grinned, "Like I've been saying, that's all folks!" He then pulled himself back up.

Sonic laughed, "Now that was smooth, Knuckles!" The two gave a high five as the melon was split into three, one probably being saved for a friend of theirs. "Breakfast has been served."

"Boys." They looked up upon a black hedgehog with red markings in his quills, red eyes, and a frown that plastered onto his face, "You do this every time?"

"Only if something good was going on, Shadow." Sonic then threw up for him the slice of melon, "Bon appetite!"

The black hedgehog grabbed it but sighed, "I mean, you guys aren't getting sick of this? Living out on the street while other people get a rather good life of their own."

The blue boy chewed out a piece of his treat as he became confused, "Why that? We got all the good stuff out here, if we needed to."

"I don't think so…" Shadow frowned, taking a small bit of his fresh melon slice.

Knuckles swallowed, "He's pouting again, isn't he?"

"My guess, almost every 24-7." Sonic replied back.

"I'm right here you know." Shadow frowned with a roll of his eyes as his friends played innocent looks.

"We didn't say anything." Sonic protested.

"Yeah," the echidna agreed.

As Shadow finished up his melon slice, he stood up, "Got to go now, Dad is probably steaming up again of my certain absence."

"Do what you gotta do." Sonic waved as they watched Shadow leave for his own home.

"… well, it's not like things could get any worse." Knuckles shrugged, speaking to no one in peculiar."

"How?"

"How what?" He repeated his blue friend.

"How can things get any more worse?"

The echidna just frowned, "They couldn't. I was lying."

"Dad?" Shadow called as he entered a small almost broken-down shelter, half nervous but he had no idea why he should be. Maybe because he knew his father always had a short temper or… something else. He entered further inside, "No sign of him yet. Maybe still asleep. And…"

"Where have you been?"

Shadow yelped, stumbling backwards, gripping onto the wall for support. He then spotted a much older hedgehog that was black like him only no markings on his body, his eyes seemed to glow a bright Toxic green color. His face was blacked by darkness once or twice, seeming to hide something, mainly the right side of his face…

"Well?"

"S-Sorry, Dad…" Shadow scrambled back up, facing the frowning parent, "But you know, I always hang with my friend for…"

"For all that stealing? You were taught better then that." He turned away, "If it weren't for your old man, James the Hedgehog, we would've been in a deeper problem then this."

"Dad, we're poor anyway." Shadow then placed down a large brown bag he had been carrying the whole time with him, "But I manage to make little money for us, getting us enough of what we need." He frowned in concern, "However, you seem to be focused mostly on these…" He paused, what was the right word? "… Experiments."

"Son, these experiments can help us someday, get us both a better life." James shook a little with anger, still hiding his face half in the shadows, "Isn't that what you want in life?"

"Well, at least a life where we don't have to keep wasting what precious gold we have left." Irony was, they hardly ever got money, "Why in the world would you be doing this inventing in the first place?" That suddenly came as a regretted question.

"BECAUSE OF THIS!" James screamed loudly, causing Shadow to shrink back, covering his eyes. He remembered his father's wound and had to try and avoid talking about such a thing. He didn't want to look again, not in this case…

"Son…" James spoke in an odd calm voice once again, "Please at least look…"

Shadow shivered, "I might as well…" He looked slowly as James had been hiding part of his face in the dark and stepped into the light… his right side of the face finally revealed… a badly burnt scar that dug itself literally into his face. The young hedgehog gagged a little upon seeing his father's scar once again and slowly turned away. It frightened him too much to talk again… James' hand touched Shadow's shoulder almost in comfort.

"You see what I mean, my boy? This was the reason we've lost everything… including…" He whispered the next part into the shaking hedgehog's ear, "Your mother…"

Shadow's eyes went wide, "Mom…" He began to shake again, "It was that fire that… cause everything we had, wasn't it?"

"I'm afraid so…" James hugged his son to cease the shaking, which seemed to finally slow down, "I'm afraid so… Alice was a beautiful woman, a wonderful wife and a loving mother to you, my son… she just was…"

Shadow just silently clutched close to his father. His life had been bad enough… would there be anything to change it? He doubted anyone felt the same way…

But it would be proven he was wrong…

Even for someone inside a certain palace…