"So, this is our last destination, right?"

"Affirmative."

"After this...I'll be free!", Amy said enthusiastically.

"At least you are not the one with a height problem," Shadow said looking at himself, Amy's body was significantly smaller than him.

"At least you are not the one with a fashion problem!"

"Of course you don't because everything you wear is 'Loser-pink!"

"At least I wear clothes! Not like other hedgehogs that only wear shoes, gloves and call it a day!"

"Oh, like Sonic?", He remarked. Amy gave it a thought, he wasn't wrong.

"AT LEAST HE IS WEARS A SCARF!"

And of course, as they landed to their new destination, they did nothing to continue their lovers' quarrel.

Love is strange ain't it?

"Now that we are here...where should we go?", Amy said as she landed the airplane safely.

"You know how I told you there are some dangerous and friendly villages?", Shadow jumped off the plane and settle firmly on the ground.

"Yeah one of them almost killed us, the other tortured us emotionally and the other one was..." Amy thought of Elena for a second and didn't hesitate. "...Friendly."

"Well this is one is 'friendly'...kind of"

"Now what is it? Is it a Village of Monsters? Supervillains?...Both?"

"Let's walk some more and you will find out."

.

.

.

The Purple Village, like how Shadow likes to call it, was just like any other Village. Very similar to Hedgehog Village, Amy was very found of this as she has missed home deeply now. However, this Village had something very peculiar...everyone's fur was purple.

Foxes, rabbits, beavers, just everyone...had purple fur.

As they walked past the villagers, Amy followed Shadow closely as if he knew where to go. As they walked through the streets, more and more people began to follow them. Strange.

"Umm...Shadow-", Amy whispered as she began to worry.

"I know...It's alright I know where I am going.", Shadow said, not looking back.

"Is that...Shadow the Hedgehog?"

"I can't believe the stories are true!"

"The hedgehog with a fur as black as the night and eyes as red as blood."

Amy began to hear all type of things coming from the crowd. She was getting more and more anxious with each step and Shadow noticed this.

Then, Amy felt something soft grab her hand...it was Shadow.

Amy blushed and tried to hide it. She never thought that Shadow would be the type to care about such things.

It made her heart feel warm.

Shadow and Amy walked past some more buildings until they had finally reached a small hut.

The cabin's vibes was a very mysterious one. It was clear that something was going on in there....something strange.

The villagers even kept their distance. Shadow looked at Amy who just looked back at him in uneasiness. He grabbed her hand firmly and Amy felt her calmer now. The one thing she could do was to trust Shadow.

They entered the hut which was completely dark but in the middle, there was a candle, illuminating the hut just a bit. Shadow and Amy took a sit in one side, keeping their distance from the candle.

Then the fire of the candle was out and in a heartbeat, it was on again. This time, a purple hedgehog was sitting in front of it.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, I thought you said you will never forgive us.", The purple hedgehog never opened his eyes, he was sitting as if he was meditating.

"Yes, and I will probably never will," Shadow commented.

"Then, why have you come?"

Amy saw Shadow calm as ever. Strangely, Amy assumed that this hedgehog guy knew everything; because Shadow spoke in Amy's voice and the purple hedgehog didn't even flinch about it.

"You know why I am here."

"The last remaining piece of the broken purple gem...it resides where courage is met and sacrifice needs to be done... where the two lovers rest at peace. Where love can be found."

"...I understand, let's go, Amy." Shadow stood up and Amy followed.

"Is the one next to you...your significant other?"

Amy turned her head in amusement, and she could swear she saw the purple hedgehog's eyes open and saw a bit of red tint on them.

She turned to face Shadow now, he sighed and responded:

"That doesn't concern you, father."

.

.

.

"So, where are we going now?", Amy tried to sound as normal as possible. However, the intrigue was killing her alive. She just met Shadow's father and couldn't even greet him properly. She was quiet al the time. What was that about Shadow not forgiving them? Was it because-

"We are going to the Volcanos of Popocatepetl and Iztacchihualt."

"The what and what?", Amy questioned as they walked through the forest.

"A very LONG time ago...there was a princess called Iztacchihualt and a brave warrior named Popocatepetl and they were both deeply in love. To marry Iztacchihualt, her father asked Popocatepetl to go battle and win a dangerous war. While away and during the war, the enemy sent a false message to the ruler and says that Popocatepetl died on the battle. When hearing this, Iztacchihualt fell ill and die of a broken heart. When Popocatepetl came back victorious and discovered that Iztacchihualt died, he took her to the forest to burn her and give her a proper funeral. He was so heartbroken that he stayed with her until she died. The Gods of Chaos were so touched by this that they turned them into volcanos so they can be together forever. The Popocatepetl Volcano sometimes spew ash, just to remind everyone that he is still watching over his lover-"

Shadow stopped as he heard Amy sobbing. "Are you...crying?"

"HOW CAN YOU NOT?!", Amy defended herself, wiping her tears away.

"It's a just a stupid legend, it probably never happened."

"Then how do you explain the volcanos?" Amy and Shadow finally got a full view of the two volcanos. Amy was mesmerized by their beauty while Shadow just let her have her moment.

"Ok so the plan is this...", Shadow interrupted Amy's sightseeing and continued, " Since you have my super speed, you will be the one to check on both volcanos. It would be faster this way."

Amy's amazement ended as soon as he explained the plan. "But I don't know the area...and I am a bit scare-"

"Don't worry the broken piece will be on top of one of the Mountains. Just go to the top and check both."

"Are you sure? I can always carry you!"

"No, Amy, I'll just be in the way."

"Alright, I'll do it!", Amy prepared to run but Shadow stopped her again.

"And Amy...be careful."

.

.

.

Shadow promised to never go there ever again.

He felt pathetic for not accompanying Amy.

But that place terrified him.

Even being this close to it, made his heart beat faster, his hand to sweat and his mind to repeat the same image all over again.

Him finding the last Chaos Emerald, him not being able to control his power and Maria dying on his arms. Right on top of that volcano.

However, Shadow wanted to move now, he really wanted to move.

But he couldn't.

He watched how Volcano Popocatepetl began to fume, gray massive smoke began to come out of it and he could only think of one thing.

"Amy"

.

.

.

Alright, Shadow had lied to her. Amy made sure to double-check both Iztacchihualt and Popocatepetl Volcano and nothing! Just trees, ice on top of the mountain and ash on the volcano.

Wait, what?

This looked bad, the volcano could erupt at any moment. She looked around one more time before taking a run back to Shadow.

Nothing, oh well.

She was ready to run.

But she didn't, well more like she couldn't.

Her head began to be fuzzy, her eyes began to fail.

"How is this happening? Shadow's body is supposed to be immune to the toxicity of the fume.", Amy thought as she grabbed her head in pain.

She fell on her knees and then;

everything went black.

.

.

.

"What is taking her so long?"

Amy was taking longer than usual. By now she should be done retrieving the last piece. With her speed, it should only take her 30 minutes max is she was looked thoroughly.

It has already been 35 minutes.

Shadow began to panic.

He mustered all the courage he had and began to run towards the volcano.

Because, yes, he was utterly afraid.

But he couldn't live with himself if anything happened to her.

Shadow had never felt too tired before. He was completely out of breath, sweating till the point that it made his eyes itch with the liquid of it l. His body shaking after the exhaustion.

But he had finally reached the top of the volcano.

It was terrifying, Shadow didn't remember it being so...intimidating. He tried to open his eyes as much as he could to look for Amy. However, the strong gas emission was too much for his eyes. He wasn't prepared for this. He felt as if his body would burn at any second.

He walked through harden layers of lava, he saw Amy on the ground, the back of her body laying on the hard rock. He thanked Chaos for a moment that Amy was in his body because that was the only way she could stand the extreme fumes for such a long time.

"Amy!" Shadow screamed he couldn't go near her. He could be done in a second if he stepped on the wrong ground. He tried to walk slowly and steadily getting a bit closer to her by the second.

Amy seemed to react to his voice. She moved her head to see Shadow in her body, walking towards her.

"GO BACK SHADOW! I CAN'T MOVE MY BODY! I CAN'T USE CHAOS CONTROL! I JUST CAN'T CONCENTRATE! I DONT KNOW WHY!" Amy shook her head from side to side lamenting that Shadow had come all of this way for her.

"GO AWAY!" She screamed one more time but Shadow had finally reached her. Covering his nose as to not take any toxic fumes.

"You are coming with me", Shadow tried to pick her up, but he couldn't. Her body flinched a little but he was already way too exhausted.

"Shadow...jump off the volcano."

"What are you saying?!"

"If you die in my body then you will get your body back and you can use Chaos Control to get out of here!"

"Yes but that's not happening" Shadow tried again to pick her up again but failed miserably and made both of them fall.

The volcano began to make strange sounds and the ground began to shake.

"Shadow...you know you have to do it." Amy pleaded.

"No, I said you are coming with me!"

"If you don't do it, we are both going to die Shadow!" Amy's voices cracked knowing too well that there was only one option now. Tears began to form in her eyes and Shadow stood quiet for a moment.

"No", And he tried to pick her up again and failed. 

"WHY DON'T YOU EVER LISTEN TO ME! YOU SAY THAT YOU HATE ME! SO WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME TO DIE!"

"BECAUSE I CAN'T, I WON'T LET YOU DIE!" Shadow screamed back at her. "IT'S ALWAYS ME THE ONE WHO HAS TO LOSE! WHY? WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE ME?"

"JUST LEAVE ME! I HATE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART! I CURSE THE DAY THAT WE MET, I HATE YOU SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!

Amy felt soft arms surround her body. A warm embrace that could have probably stopped time itself if it could. "Why?...Why can't you just do what I ask you to do?...just once"

Shadow separated for a bit, looking at Amy. They were both covered by ash, the ground was falling apart little by little, and there was no other way out.

"I can't do it...Because...I hate you too, Amy"

There were no more words needed. The silence that followed spoke more than a thousand words. It a fact that none could deny.

For a moment, the time had stopped. There was no danger, no eruption, nothing. Just two hearts that had finally realized the truth within them.

Amy now knew that Shadow loves her.

But most importantly, she finally realized...

That she was completely in love with Shadow the Hedgehog.

Their faces began to get closer, their eye-lids softly closing as nothing matter no more. They intertwined hands as Shadow closed the distance more and more and Amy was just for their lips to impact at any second now.

Closer

And closer

Closer...

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.

.

It was already night time, Amy and Shadow woke next to each other exalted.

Trying to catch their breath they both looked around.

One second before they were about to die and now they were safe on the forest.

"What did just happen?" Amy looked at the Popocatepetl Volcano and it reminds intact. Dormant as ever like nothing ever happened. As if it was never going to erupt.

Shadow felt something hard on his hand and realized that he had the last broken piece of the Purple Gem.

"I have the piece!" Shadow stood up and looked at Amy and then at himself. No sign of ashes nor injuries, as if they had been sleeping the whole time. "Everything...was a dream?"

"It resides where courage is met and sacrifice needs to be done... where the two lovers rest at peace. Where love can be found"

"It was a test, Shadow!" Amy said in excitement.

"What?"

"Yes, to see if you were worthy of the last piece!"

"Yes, just like your father said!

"You had the courage to look for me although you didn't have your powers. You were willing to sacrifice yourself to stay with me! And love was found when-"

They stood silent. And quickly turned around to hide their evident blush.

"Haha actually I don't know about that part, maybe it was just a mistake!" Amy tried to cover it up and hopes that Shadow did the same.

"Of course, I mean 730,000-year-old Gods make mistakes all the time," Shadow said.

"The important thing is that we have the last piece now we can finally get our bodies back!" Amy twirled in excitement.

"Finally, I won't have to see you again" Shadow began to walk away.

"You know what, I liked you more when we were about to die in the volcano," Amy said sarcastically and showed Shadow her tongue as a gesture of mockery.

"Let's just sleep today and go back to Hedgehog Village tomorrow morning."

And they quietly walked next to each other back to the camp. It was silent, as the night was their only friend.

They didn't want to admit but they didn't want to head back to Hedgehog Village just yet. They didn't want their adventure to end just yet.

Or maybe, they just didn't want to stop each seeing each other.

However, they both knew that they were entering a dangerous territory. One that if they dared to get a little bit closer, they wouldn't be able to go back.

But right now, that didn't matter. Sonic, Shadow's future promises, none of that existed for tonight. Just them and their realization that they were definitely closer.

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A.N: Three more chapters and done!