A/N: For the people who were genuinely interested in this story - I know it's been forever. I was planning on discontinuing this. But when I came back to it, something sparked, I guess. I have a lot of ideas for this story so I'm not ready to let go of it. I do have another story that I'm currently working on (like I've said one too many times) but that one is going to be fully pre-written before I upload it to the site. Since I'm still writing Roses and Royals, though, you can expect to see an update in less time, lol.

Also - there are cliches in this! I know some of them are overused but in this case they just really add to the story, haha.

*I do not own the Sonic characters. They are owned by Sega.

Chapter 2: Such Beauty

Shadow stood directly in front of the gate, mouth hanging slightly.

It was just more trees.

Trees, forestry. And it seemed to drag on for another mile or so, from what the onyx hedgehog could see.

"Well, it would be ridiculous if the gate opened and the city was right outside. It makes sense for the kingdom to be in a secluded area," he mumbled more or less to himself, dusting himself off before hurling his way forward between the trees.

But only about three seconds after Shadow had begun his journey, an alarm sounded off, blaring in the distance, signaling a lockdown about to occur in the kingdom. "Shoot,' he panicked as he continued running, leaving a trail behind him as he went. 'They must be looking for me.'

The hedgehog took the alarm as a sign to move faster, and so he did just that.

He used all the power he could muster in his legs to run as far away from the gate and kingdom as he possibly could. If one were to stand and watch, they would simply see a black blur with hints of red swish past them in a split second.

"Guards! Someone get me Sir Gawain immediately!" the King bellowed in panicking fury as he hustled about the kingdom, worrying for his disobedient son's safety. His wife, Queen Victoria stayed by his side as he did.

With his command, a row of guards appeared before the king, interrupting him mid-step. A red echidna in metal armour arrived just as quick, stepping in between the guards.

"Your majesty," he bowed with respect, kneeling before the King in the massive courtroom. "You have requested my presence?"

"Yes," the sovereign grunted in response, unable to hide his annoyance with his son. "As you all know, my son Shadow has managed to unlock the gate that leads to the outside world," he grimaced, motioning to the alarms sounding off in the kingdom. "The castle is under lockdown effective immediately, but I need you to take some of my strongest knights with you and arrange a search party to find him and bring him back here. Immediately."

The knight nodded, lifting himself up. "Sire, you have my word that Prince Shadow will be located and returned to the kingdom safely," he promised, preparing himself to leave the King's presence before he spoke up once more.

"And Sir Gawain?"

"Yes, your majesty?" the echidna turned around to face King William once more.

"Calculate the distance from the kingdom's gate to the nearest city that harbors it, and inform me right away," the royal hedgehog heaved, rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

Sir Gawain looked at the King thoughtfully. "Well, that would be about 9 hours, Sire. If I'm not mistaken, the forestry ends at the tip of Station Square," he answered, pulling his metal helmet down.

'Hmm… that should buy us some time, then. Shadow can't be too far…' the King considered, before ushering the knight away and contemplating what to do next.

It had been a few hours before the onyx hedgehog realized the trees and forestry were not coming to an end. In all honesty, he was growing quite tired, but his determination and stubbornness were holding him back from taking any breaks.

Unsure of what to do, he halted in his path, causing his form to jerk against the ground.

'But I can't rest,' he groaned to himself internally, 'Knowing my father, he'll have already warranted a search party for me. They'll find me.'

He was having trouble pondering whether or not he should take a quick nap. After a minute or two, he sighed.

Caving, he decided to get a couple hours of shut-eye before continuing his journey through the forest. There were so many trees, but Shadow noticed one bulky-looking one in particular that caught his eye. It was bunched up between two other trees, and was a pretty good hiding spot.

He trudged his way towards it, settling down at the bottom and leaned against the bark, legs arched up with his hands nestled in his lap. His eyes slowly closed in on themselves and his mind began to empty itself for the next few hours…

It was broad daylight and the young prince had jolted awake at the very crack of dawn to continue pursuing his journey. It took the hedgehog about four hours until he saw any sort of opening to anywhere not a forest.

At the four hour point, the prince noticed a small opening to the city through some trees. Dubious of himself, he inched towards the trees and shoved them aside, eyes widening as he took in his new environment. He immediately shielded them as the glare of the sunlight hit them directly.

It looked to be an opening to a small urban city, but highly populated. Very different than what Shadow had been used to growing up. The ground was made of cement bricks, a pattern following through the entire surface. There were little strip stores lined across the street, and many people standing underneath big shady umbrellas as they picked up their groceries. More people scoured through the streets, getting on buses or getting off trains. Shadow had never seen such vehicles in his life, though he had known about them.

Other than the stores, there were tall buildings that each held up the flag of the United Federation. There was music playing somewhere off in the distance, but it was quite distinct to the young prince's ears.

What really caught the hedgehog's attention, though, was the giant fountain set in the middle of the city. It was shaped beautifully, a little dove made from stone resting on the top as water poured from three different spouts. It was quite remarkable, to say the least, and reminded him much of the fountain he had in the garden back home at the castle.

The prince was interrupted in his thoughts when he felt something collide with his arm, causing him to jump back slightly.

"Hey, watch it, dude!" a purple weasel scowled, recovering his head from the impact and rubbed. "This is Station Square! You'd better watch where you're goin'. And you definitely ain't getting nowhere lookin' like that," he sneered, walking directly past the black hedgehog.

The sentence caused Shadow's gaze to shoot down to his outfit in confusion.

"What's wrong with this?" he murmured to no one in particular, running his hand through his vest that was outlined in gold pellets and had a gold sash running through the middle. Shrugging, he averted his attention to the store signs.

He noticed one that said nothing but Station Square on the board hanging above the store itself. A few nails were missing, which in turn, caused the board to hang down slightly.

'Well, that's where I am,' he considered thoughtfully. 'Station Square.'

Warily, Shadow made his way into the store.

Truth be told, he had never been grocery shopping before - or any shopping, for that matter. Usually the goods had been imported to his kingdom, and the food and fruit was just always there, brought and made by the many servants he had encountered in his lifetime.

When he entered, he was completely washed over with amazement.

There were so many people. Hustling about, minding their own business, getting whatever they needed and leaving.

But there was so much fruit! Aisles and aisles of different kinds of fruits and vegetables, even ones that Shadow had not seen before.

To any normal person, it would just look like a normal fruits and vegetable section of a grocery store. Which, of course, it was.

But the prince had never seen such a thing. Everything was handed to him on a silver platter - metaphorically, yet also literally. Anything that was common to the general public - was new to the onyx hedgehog.

Shadow glanced around, approaching a pile of peaches in a corner while ignoring the gaping looks he was getting from people - most of them women. He picked one up and studied it, before putting it back down in its basket.

He rolled his eyes as he picked up on some of the hushed whispers coming from the young women behind him.

"Do you think that's real gold?"

"Obviously not, Nicole. It's probably just some costume."

"But why would you wear a costume to a grocery store? It looks so authentic."

"Doubt it. Look at those seams-"

"Well, who cares if it's not? He's ridiculously hot."

Shadow sighed, realizing he wasn't in his kingdom, or around people who were used to the types of outfits the kingdom's people wore. It was only natural that the outsiders were confused on his attire. Their dressing was completely different. So... modern.

Unaware of his surroundings, the prince sauntered forward, not paying attention to where he was going - resulting in him crashing into a tiny pink hedgehog, who immediately plummeted to the ground.

He snapped back to reality, realizing he was the cause of the girl's entire basket of fruits tumbling down onto the floor (and her brutal fall) and knelt beside her immediately to assist her in picking them up.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized profusely. "I didn't see you there. I should have watched where I was going. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, it's fine, it's okay," the girl mumbled back, frantically picking up her things and placing them back in her basket.

After helping her with her things, he glanced up to meet her eyes, and so did she, unintentionally making eye contact with the onyx prince.

And she dropped the apple she was holding in her hands when she did.

She tried not to let her jaw drop. He was perfect.

Everything about him was. He was a black hedgehog with sleek red stripes running along his quills. Beautiful, ruby orbs staring back at her. His vest seemed to have flecks of real gold in them, not to mention the sash of gold running across it. Aside from that, he wore gold rings on his wrists and over his shoes. Most of all, he seemed to be glowing!

The pink female was absolutely baffled.

Unbeknownst to her, however, Shadow saw similar beauty in her.

The female was small and pink - almost fragile, in a sense - quills extending just underneath her chest; separated into a middle parting. She had stunning jade eyes and a tiny black button nose. She wore a simple red dress that ended right above her knees and small vintage black boots. Though, upon seeing her, the young prince couldn't help but feel a strange familiarity with her. It was almost he had knew her from somewhere.

It was clear that she was a poor girl from the village, and although the prince thought she had attractive features, he caught himself from staring.

"You are quite beautiful," he whispered, causing a blush to form on the rose hedgehog's cheeks before she looked away. "Where are you from?" he asked, forgetting himself.

It was Shadow the Hedgehog! The same prince who hadn't once thought he would ever fall for a woman's beauty. Especially not in the middle of a grocery store in a city outside the kingdom.

"Thank you, but there's no way you really think that," she bit her lip at the notion and stood to her feet. "I live in a village just outside Station Square, and I must go now, my mother must be waiting…"

Shadow stood to his feet as well, puzzled as to why the female had wanted to take off so quickly. "I apologize if I upset you. I had no intention of doing so," he told her, holding a hand out for her to take.

The girl stared at it for a second before placing her hand in his nervously. She then retracted it just as quickly. "Thank you… f-for helping me pick these up, I mean," she hesitated, before turning away from him and making her way out - until she felt a strong hand take hold of her wrist. The feeling of the male's touch made her cheeks redden.

"Wait," Shadow insisted, offering the girl a small smile. "Just tell me your name before you go?"

The rose hedgehog bit her lip. She glanced away for a second before returning her gaze to the onyx prince and blew her front quills out of her face.

"It's Amy. Amy Rose," she responded quietly, before finally taking off without another word.

Shadow just watched her leave with a mystified expression on his face.

'What was that? I've never felt that way with a girl before. And I've never met her before in my life… right?' he thought with a small frown, rubbing the back of his head uneasily - once again, ignoring the ogling looks of the girls behind him, whose jaws were now hanging.

The rose hedgehog - Amy, as it was now disclosed, set her fruit basket down before knocking on the door to her little house out in the village. It was quite small, painted white while the roof remained a deep auburn colour, and seemed to be a one-storey home. Outside, however, it was surrounded by a small garden filled with a variety of different plants and colourful flowers.

An older purple hedgehog answered the door, inviting the girl inside by waving her hand upon seeing her. The door shut not too soon after that.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the whole ordeal, the onyx prince had been kneeling behind a nearby plant, watching and waiting to make his move.

As creepy as it sounded, he'd followed the pink female home, trailing his way after her discreetly; but only with sincere intentions. After having just met her and only knowing her name, something inclined him to learn more about the girl and further pursue his interest in her.

He had quickly taken to the fact that the rose hedgehog must have been impecunious, and had only wanted to help her with her living situation. After all, he was the prince of Mobius.

When Shadow found the coast to be clear, he sauntered over to the nearest window of the house, failing to notice the little potted plant placed right beneath it - resulting in a loud THUD, and a prince splayed on the ground; blinking and rubbing the back of his head in discomfort.

'Crap,' he cursed silently. 'Someone must have heard that.'

Confirming his suspicions, a figure immediately appeared before the window and rolled it down.

Shadow blinked again, realizing it was the pink hedgehog he had run into at the grocery store standing by the window with worry and confusion. He sighed a breath of relief and pulled himself up to his feet, rubbing his cheek and the sore wounds from his rough fall.

The female's eyes widened in shock. "Oh my goodness! It's you! Did you follow me all the way here?!" she exclaimed, panic visible in her emerald eyes as her mouth hung open.

"No," he grunted, resting his arms on the window ledge while facing her, "Well, I mean, yes. But wait! I'm not here to hurt you. I only wanted to help," he defended, his lips curving into a small sympathetic smile.

Amy narrowed her eyes at the hedgehog in confusion. "Help me why? What makes you think I need it?" she argued, disbelieving of the very fact that the handsome black hedgehog from the grocers was standing before her.

Soon enough, she found her eyes seeking refuge in those of her intruder's. Her cheeks burned, remembering the effect looking into them had had on her previously. His ruby eyes were so compassionate, looking at her with such warmth, and glistening in the beaming sunlight that she had almost forgotten why she was angry with him in the first place.

"Well," he began, concealing a sigh. "You seem like you're not in the best of situations. Financially. Do you live alone?"

His response took the pink hedgehog by surprise. "You might come here looking all majestic and superior and all, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't know you. I don't know if I can trust you to tell you that information," she reminded breathlessly, a small frown making its way onto her face. She was starting to feel more comfortable discoursing with the onyx hedgehog.

Shadow leaned his face against his hand while propping his arm up against the side of the window, looking back at the girl casually. "I suppose that's fair. So how about we change that?"

The female cocked her head alarmingly at his implication, "What?"

"I would like to know more about you. I'll even tell you about myself. I'm new to the city and you're the first person I've met here," he explained, flashing her a warm smile. "May I come in?"

Amy pondered it with a blush, unsure if she wanted to let the stranger in or not. She fidgeted with her dress while thinking for about half a minute, before responding,

"I guess so. But only if you tell me your name and where you're from," she stated defiantly, blush never leaving her face. She then rolled the window down lower to make space for the black hedgehog to enter.

Shadow shifted in his position uncomfortably. "I'm Pr- Shadow," he started before widening his eyes in realization and cutting himself off. "Just Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. And I come from… from the other side of that forest that extends till Station Square."

Amy looked down, seemingly mulling it over. "Isn't the Kingdom of Mobius way on the other side of that forest?" she questioned skeptically, unintentionally shooting him a scrutinizing look on his appearance.

Shadow stepped back, putting a finger to his face as if he was in thought. "No! I mean, yes, there is. But I'm from… the east. Knothole," he answered finally, picking up a rock from the ground and tossing it in his hand.

He didn't want to disclose to the girl that he was royalty just yet, if ever. He knew that if he did, she would have acted differently in his presence and might have even stopped talking to him; everything he didn't want.

Amy bit her lip as she listened to his reply.

She was hesitant at first. However, when she looked back to meet the stranger's eyes, she felt a strange sense of trust falling over her. "Alright, come in," she mumbled, gesturing for him to climb in.

The prince took her signal and climbed inside with ease. Once he did so, he dusted himself off and took a moment to get familiar with the surroundings.

Judging by the way the room was modeled, and the painting job, it was most likely a bedroom. Her bedroom.

It was painted a subtle pink, a wardrobe and a dresser on either side of it, and a small bed in the middle of it all. It was pink, of course, like the overall theme of the room.

What Shadow noticed, however, was that the drawers were all pulled open, some of them emptied and the same with the wardrobe. He raised a brow, perplexed.

"If I'm not mistaken, this is your room. Right?" he asked her before taking a seat on the corner of the bed.

Amy looked around her so-called sanctuary, running a hand through her quills. "Why, yes, it is."

"What happened? Are you moving out?" he questioned, gesturing to the emptied drawers.

The rose hedgehog opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and frowned distantly. "I.. Well, not exactly. I was just finding things we could sell since we're… not in a great situation," she released a quiet sigh. "Like you guessed, we're not in the best financial situation. I'm trying to sell my wardrobe and other things that may not be… necessary. So we can get by with some more money."

She slowly made her way to the bed, taking a seat beside the black hedgehog.

Shadow narrowed his eyes at her. "The house is quite pleasant. It seems like you have nice things in here. If I just noticed it I certainly wouldn't have guessed you'd be going through this kind of thing. What happened?"

Amy twirled her boot on the floor. "The man who gave us this house was a good friend of my mother's. He left some things behind so we could use them. And we got the house at a discounted price. We could never afford it on our own," she added sadly. "My mother makes a little money here and there by sewing clothes."

"And the pink paint and decoration?"

Amy flushed. "I like pink. The man who gave us the house had a little daughter who also loved it. Just a coincidence, I guess," she replied meekly.

"Amy? Is someone in there with you?" a voice rang out from the house, causing both hedgehogs to flinch and glance in the direction of the door.

"Is that your mother?" Shadow inquired, recalling the purple hedgehog woman he had seen earlier.

Amy cringed. "I forgot about her." Then, realizing what that sounded like, "I mean, I forgot she didn't know you were here."

Shadow nodded, watching as the pink female rushed to the door, opened it, and informed the older hedgehog that she was just talking to a friend in her room.

But as he watched intently, he felt his heart beat rapidly. Just watching the girl had sent sparks flying inside him. She was so ordinary, but so perfect. She had such beautiful features and seemed to be kind, compassionate, and good-natured. And, she lived with her mother.

"I saw her earlier. She is quite beautiful, just like you," he said to Amy once she returned, in turn, causing a blush to creep up on her cheeks once more. "Do you have any siblings?"

Amy winced at the question, leaning her arms against the dresser as Shadow eyed her. "Well…"

Shadow caught the look of uncertainty in her eyes and understood that something unfortunate might have happened to her. "You can tell me," he assured her.

The rose hedgehog blew her front quills out of her face, slumping. "We live alone. I was supposed to have an older sister, but when my mother was pregnant with her, her partner left her. My mother and the baby were barely getting by, and apparently after a couple years my sister got sick. Really sick. It was hard for my mother to get her proper treatment… couple more years and it got worse, and she passed," Amy sniffled. "I never got to see her. But after a few years, she had me."

The prince raised an eyebrow at the last of the girl's statement. "After a few years? Who's your father?"

The rose female frowned slightly. "Truth be told, I have no clue. I've asked my mother, but she's never given me a complete answer."

Shadow simply nodded, tilting his head to the side to observe the pink hedgehog more closely.

Amy caught his gaze in the dresser mirror, immediately spinning around to meet him face to face.

"Can I ask you something?"

The male was taken aback by the sudden change in demeanor but nodded. "Of course."

Amy's eyes sparkled at the response. "Is that… Are those… flecks of gold, are they real?" she questioned sheepishly, pointing to his silk vest.

He furrowed his brows at the question. He didn't want to lie, though he didn't want to show to the girl that he was above her in any way. Sighing, he gave her the most honest answer he could.

"They could be. My mother gave this to me when I was younger. She had it tailored to fit me and I've been wearing it ever since," he replied, looking down at the vest. Amy squinted at it to see it better.

She clasped her hands together and sat up on the dresser, adamant on changing the subject. "Well, how's Knothole?" a smile beamed off her. "How come you're here?"

"Well," Shadow hesitated. "It's nice. Broad, diverse. Bustling with activity, but not nearly as much as Station Square. I just wanted a change of scenery," he responded half-heartedly, disliking the ruse he had to play along with for god knows how long.

The pair continued to chat about their histories and families, ultimately learning more about each other - common interests, dislikes, etcetera. To Prince Shadow, it was a pleasant change to engage in conversations with a kind and down-to-earth outsider. Amy found herself enjoying the onyx hedgehog's company as well - and might have even considered him a friend - but oh, was she in for quite the bucket of surprises.

"I cannot believe you didn't do anything to stop him," the elegant white hedgehog, Queen Victoria, shrieked at her husband, who was currently seated in his office with his head buried in his hands.

The king lifted his gaze to meet the sapphire eyes of his queen, very clearly quite perturbed himself.

"Victoria, I was not at all aware he was going to do this. If I was, you know I would have stopped him," the older black hedgehog sighed in annoyance.

His wife slammed her hands down on the table beside him, causing him to flinch slightly. "What on Earth are you on about?! You knew he was talking about it! You knew of his plans. Yet, you didn't do anything to change his mind," she pointed out with irritation.

The king rubbed his temples. "I… I thought our nephew had it under control," he whispered, more or less to himself. "I never thought Shadow would do it."

His words had, however, struck a nerve in the snow-coloured queen.

"Enough! Enough with this bullshit!" the ivory sovereign snapped. "You didn't try hard enough to stop your son, because you wanted to see if he would actually escape the kingdom! And he has! You asked Sonic to change Shadow's mind but you can't change what's already there inside. You never talked to your son or had a heart-to-heart with him, and that was your decision! You've been close for years, so what's happened? You say that you never think he'd actually listen to you, but you're his father, and you've just never cared enough to try!" she accused with distaste. "Have you ever given it thought that your relationship is paper thin because you've established the distance yourself?!"

The king's face fell immediately after hearing those words. His mind hurled through different emotions within the span of seconds. From pain, to anger, to confusion…

But most importantly, he was overcome by hurt. Not because his wife had said those things in fury, but because they were true.

Every year, the father and son had grown farther apart. The loving bond was there of course, just not very prominent. King William hadn't intended to distance himself from his son - things had just become awkward between them once Shadow had begun mentioning his schemes of escaping the kingdom. They'd used to talk all the time, share secrets and give advice to one another. But now - now, the King could just feel himself drifting apart from his only son, Shadow.

The queen softened at the sight of her husband. "Wil-"

"Don't," he swallowed, raising a hand in front of him. "You're right. Of course you're right. I never talked to my own son because I didn't think he'd listen to me. What's left of our relationship is slowly deteriorating because I cannot find it in me to sit down with him. I asked Sonic to talk to him only because I couldn't do it myself," he admitted sadly, hanging his head guiltily. "And it didn't work. Of course it didn't work."

Victoria gave the king a look of sympathy and rested a hand on his shoulder, momentarily forgetting her anger with him. "You used to try to talk sense into him when he first started talking about the gate," she said softly. "What went wrong?"

The king sighed, leaning his head against his arm. "Truthfully, I don't know. We just… grew apart. I found it more difficult to connect with him," he responded, feeling terrible. "Now I don't know if we'll ever get him back."

"Don't say that. You've sent our finest knights in search of him. Sir Gawain will bring our son back," his wife assured him. "And heaven knows Shadow is well. He's always been able to look after himself."

The king sank in his velvet chair, still processing what had happened.

Meanwhile, two servants - a flying squirrel and rabbit - had been hunched over next to the door, peeking into the office where the king and queen conversed, silently eavesdropping on their conversation.

The rabbit turned to the squirrel in dismay.

"Do you think Prince Shadow will be okay?" she asked him, chocolate eyes widening from the revelation.

Ray, the flying squirrel, could only shrug. "I don't know, but I hope so," he answered. "It's best if we stay calm. Our prince would never do anything foolish, especially if he knew the consequences."

Cream frowned slightly. "It pains me to see our King and Queen in such distress. I hadn't known King William and Prince Shadow had problems," she murmured dejectedly. "And the outside world can be so dangerous."

The yellow squirrel placed a hand under the rabbit's chin, lifting it up gently so she could look at him. "Don't worry," he smiled. "Everything will be alright, and Prince Shadow will return safely. Possibly even with a girl," he joked, in hopes of raising the little rabbit's spirits.

Although in a downcast mood, Ray's little comment had slightly cheered the girl up. And it was evident when her face visibly brightened.

A small smile spread on her face, "A girl? Never! We'd have to wait ten years before we saw our Prince bring home a girl," she giggled in response.

"Well, you never know," he replied with a laugh, grabbing Cream's arm and stalking off before anyone could catch them loitering by the door.

You never know.

A/N: You might come to notice I love using the forest as a prime environment for the Sonic characters...

If you liked the chapter, though (or have any feedback!), be sure to leave a review!