Ever since he saved you from Dr. Eggman’s Badniks, you reminded him of Maria. Every time he looked at you, he saw her, the only human that made him happy and soften up. Whenever he could, he’d spend time with you, genuinely interested in learning about you. Shadow himself couldn’t understand it, while you could never replace Maria, to him, it was like you embodied her. Plus, you saw past the “Ultimate Life Form” nonsense and accepted him completely, a broken Hedgehog who needed someone.

While your parents didn’t approve of him, what could they do? You were insistent on spending time with him and always found a way to get to him no matter how hard they tried to stop you. This greatly amused Shadow, but he didn’t try to stop you, he found comfort in your presence. The same comfort only Maria could bring. He had no intention to harm you, so it’s not like your parents could do anything anyway.

It was after school as you sat under a tree with a sketchbook in your lap. Shadow sat beside you, leaning against you as he watched you draw. For an 8th grader, you were an incredible artist. His ears twitched, listening for danger as he watched the pencil glide across the paper, drawing what he could safely assume to be himself in a cartoonish way.

His ears eventually stilled hearing something as he sat up straight. His red eyes darted around the area, anticipating something to appear any moment. His body was tense and his eyes were narrowed as he looked around with intense focus, his guard up and his chaos emerald on standby in case something jumped out.