Disclaimer: The sonic characters belong to Sega. And sadly, I don't. Hope you like this. This is an AU fanfiction. Hope you like it.

Within Mobius, there stood a huge well-known building called the "Darius Conglomerate"

Inside, stood a 26 year old black and red hedgehog wearing a grey suit in front of a huge glass window.

(Shadow's POV)

My name is Shadow the hedgehog, the youngest son of Darius the hedgehog, the CEO of a multinational corporation, the Darius Conglomerate.

You could say I have everything that very few people are fortunate to have.

A huge company to inherit, a luxurious home, more than ten servants tending you in everything you do, bodyguards watching you day and night, a limousine, a private jet, a yacht, I have almost anything a money can buy.

It was everybody's dream to live a luxurious life, but not mine.

I wasn't happy.

Books and other quotations proved that you can't always have everything, and they were right.

From my personal desk, I stared at the photo of my family. Darius, my father, a black hedgehog just like me minus the red streaks on his quills. Billboards, magazines, newspapers, his face was well-known as the most influential figure all over Mobius. Even in the pictures, he had always had an aura of pride surrounding him.

But only him. The rest of his family remained a ghost in the world, namely, my mother and I. Our faces were never really known in public and it should remain as it is until he passed his throne to the next heir, me.

Most of his friends would say that I was a spitting image of him and may follow in his footsteps one day, but they were wrong. I may bore a strong resemblance to him but for me, I was more like my mother.

My father and I never really had a good relationship unlike before. Most of our conversations only involved business-related things as though he was my boss and I was just a mere employee.

The philosophical idea of 'All things flow' and 'Nothing is permanent', it's all starting to make sense.

When I was young, he was my inspiration, my hero, my savior from the monsters in the closet. But now, I couldn't tell anymore if all of those memories actually existed.

My mother, a hedgehog with blond fur. She had the most beautiful smile I've ever seen, a smile that I often see when I was a young hedgehog. But now, the only times I could see it are in photos.

I rarely see her smile anymore.

My eyes then focused on another female hedgehog with the same blond colored fur. She was my elder sister who I looked up to and loved dearly until an incurable damn illness took her away from us. It's been five years since she passed away and I still can't help but feel utterly devastated of losing her.

Now I believe the saying that "Money can't buy everything"

Her name was Maria, one of the reasons why I still carried on with my life despite despising it with all my heart. Every night I would speak to her in my dreams, letting some tears flow as I tell her how much I hated my life, but she would always wipe those tears away with her invisible hands as though she was really here with me.

I really missed her.

But my father, I'd call myself crazy if there was a slightest hint that he even cared.

Five years after my sister passed away I began to notice that our family is starting to fall apart as I started to notice my father acting different from what he was before.

It was on my 22nd birthday when I first found out that my father and mother never sleep in the same bed anymore and oftentimes, I would see my mother helplessly burst into tears as she spends her money away drinking like it's the end of the world.

'That worthless piece of shit. I love him. I really, really love him…But why is he doing this to me?' These are the words that I often hear from my mother whenever she drowns herself in alcohol.

It pains me to see her like that and the only thing I could do was be there for her and listen to her angry outbursts of how much my father broke her heart.

She had attempted to kill herself once when I saw her frantically opening a bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of tequila on the bedside. I may not be a doctor but I know what happens when you combine those two.

Luckily, I stopped her but I was rewarded with a harsh slap on my face before she broke down on the floor crying.

It broke me inside of how much she had changed because the man that I was supposed to look up to has become a disappointment.

It was all because of him, that useless father of mine, that cheating scum.

My suspicions were sealed when I noticed that he was frequently away during weekends, saying that he was a busy man and didn't have time for a break.

He might sound convincing from the people around him but as his son, I knew he was lying from the very first time I heard such excuse. He was never a busy man like he claimed he was. He had a lot of people working under him to do the job for him. Some responsibilities are even passed down to me to do his job for him, he's a liar and he's never been good at one.

Even the wooden boy from the stories had potential in making a believable lie if it weren't for his nose that grows long whenever he tells one. My father doesn't need a magical nose to let the world know he's lying.

It's like a part of him existed in me literally, my thoughts of his weekend escapades had somehow hit the jackpot. Before, I used to think that love affairs only happen in soap operas that my mother used to love watching until my father proved that it doesn't happen only in the television. There's no doubt that he was sleeping around with a different woman behind my mother's back and it was mostly during a Saturday or a Sunday, days that he should've just used to spend time with his own family, with us.

And today is Friday.

Tomorrow he would make another excuse to get away from us to spend his days fucking the brains out of his beloved and probably under aged whore who he most probably bribed with a life full of luxury. I feel disgusted to even think about it, it's so sickening it makes me hurl just thinking about how happy he must have been while my mother suffered alone.

Even though my mother has never actually told me or mentioned anything about my father's secret affairs, my instincts tell me that she had known this for a long time and I could feel that she's gradually losing herself if he continued on with his dirty little secret. My mother, she was the only one I have after Maria died. The only one I consider my family as of now since it shames me to even consider him my father.

I don't want to lose her like I lost my sister so I vowed to myself that I would put an end to my father's affairs, and make sure that he won't touch another woman behind my mother's back again.

"Young master" a voice behind me called. From the moment I heard it, I immediately knew it was one of my mother's personal assistants, Lana, a female gazelle who had been working in our company for years. She was also a friend of my mother's and was one of my godmothers.

"Yes" I replied, looking at her at the corner of my eye until an envelope on her hand caught my attention.

"What is that?" I asked her

"One of Mr. Darius' business associates wanted me to give this to you"

I looked at her indifferently at the mention of my father's name and she knew immediately that I wasn't impressed.

I took the envelope from her hands and opened it. It was an invitation to a party of one of my father's business associates tomorrow.

"Interesting" I rubbed my chin at the sight "And I'm quite sure my father was invited as well. But you've known my old man for years. He's way too busy to attend parties especially on a weekend. So I guess I'd be going alone again, correct?"

"No, sir"

At the remark, I felt a gasp escape from me

"Your father would be going as well"

I just shrugged and turned away to conceal my own bewilderment from what Ms. Lana had told me.

Then a thought intrigued me, it's either he's not seeing his whore tomorrow or perhaps, she might be in the party as well.

With that I smiled in satisfaction and told Ms. Lana to prepare my suit for tomorrow's party.

This is going to be a great weekend indeed.

After my working hours are over, I decided to go straight home. As I entered our mansion, the scent of alcohol and the sound of classical music caught my attention.

Following the invisible trail, I saw my mother in the living room with a glass on her hand, her face flustered from all of the alcohol she had been indulging.

"Shadow, my dear" she stood the moment she saw me and gave me a hug. The smell of wine made my head a bit nauseous, I've always hated the scent of it especially when my mother indulges in it.

"Mother, you have been drinking again" I scolded as I took the glass away from her and placed it on the coffee table. "I've warned you about this. You shouldn't drink too much"

"You know what day is it?" she asked me in a challenging manner.

Every Friday my mother would always open up a bottle of wine and delve into it, just to forget what day it was, just to be numb enough to convince herself that my father wasn't doing anything behind her back. It's times like this that I wanted to go straight into my father's face and punch it repeatedly, if only he could see her like this, would he stop seeing anyone and be there for her instead?

I looked at the bottle and read the label, she was drinking a Beaujolais Nouveau, a famous wine in France that was given by one of my father's business associate. They say that this kind of wine is only sold on the third Thursday of November according to the French Law.

It was a mild wine that leaves you a soft feeling in your mouth and the taste varies every year but the hangover of drinking it too much is not something that should be looked down upon.

Whenever mother drinks this wine, the hangovers are often strong and she would always end up being bed ridden for a couple of days with a pounding headache.

I shrugged her question and motioned her to sit on the couch

"It doesn't matter what day is it, just get some rest, you look tired" I tried to reason with her, hoping she could still hear me, hoping that the wine still didn't took over her completely.

"Shadow, where is your father? Why isn't he with you?" she asked me

"He will be home soon, I just got home a bit earlier. Come on, I'll take you to your room" I helped my mother get on her knees and carefully ascended the stairs while supporting her.

"You're such a good boy, Shadow…I'm very happy to have you as my son"