Shadow and Lune- Ch13- The End

Chapter 13


((The Party/  Resolution.))

"Dude, we totally kicked ASS!!"  Manic shouted, high-fiving Tails.
"Heh, I would have LOVED to see Eggman's face when you and Shadow were like 'Sha-BAM! your plans are ruined!'"  
Amy looked around curiously.  "Hey... where are Shadow and Lune anyway?"  She asked.  "They're some of the heroes tonight."
Sonic smiled slightly and looked out the window of the palace at the the two figures walking into the garden.  "Eh, leave 'em alone.  They have some issues to resolve."

"... so... I'm over fifty years old?"  Lune asked Shadow tentatively.  
Shadow nodded.  "But you're like me.  You'll never age."
"Huh."  She paused.  "... Oddly enough, I have mixed feelings about that."
Shadow let out a short laugh.  "You did back then too."
Lune blinked at him, then turned her gaze, nervously, downward to look at the folder she held in her hands.  In it was everything about her doctor Gerald Robotnik and Doctor Eggman knew and wrote.   She wanted to know.  So badly she wanted to know.  But more than that, she wanted to remember.  Even so, holding many of her answers in her hands....
She was scared.  "What... what will I find, Shadow?"  She whispered.  "When I read this..."
He placed his hands on her shoulders.  "You don't have to."
"I want to remember."  She said softly.  "But I...  I want to try to remember on my own... I want to remember Maria, the Doctor...  You."
He turned her to face him, and brushed her bangs back, away from her eye.  She winced a little.  "Sorry."  He started to pull his hand away.
"Not your fault."  She caught his hand and held it there.  
Shadow's stiff stance eased somewhat.  It was harder to keep his hardened shell up around Lune.  Much of the time, he didn't want to.  
The two stood together in silence, looking out at the koi fish in the moonlit pond.  Some may have been made uncomfortable by the quiet and felt urged to fill it with conversation of some kind, ANY kind, but not this pair.  They eventually moved to sit in the grass, side by side, hand in hand.
Lune looked up at the starry night sky, gazing at the moon.  "It's a beautiful night."  Lune said, leaning against Shadow's shoulder with a sigh.
He looked askance at her, a corner of his mouth raising in a small smile.  "It is.  Especially the moon."
She paused and then tilted her head up, an eyebrow quirked as she gazed at him with her deep amethyst eyes sparkling in amusement.  Her tail flicked.  "Are you trying to tease me?"
"Who, me?  Come on Lune, you know jokes aren't my thing."  Shadow said seriously.
Lune reached out and flicked his nose.  "Wise guy."
Shadow chuckled and captured her hand in his.
"... promise me something, Shadow?"
"What?"
"Never let me leave you again.  Stay with me no matter what."
He nodded.  "I promise."
Lune smiled.  "I promise too."
She leaned in and kissed his cheek, causing a small blush to form across his face.   The atmosphere changed subtly, becoming a bit more intense.  They leaned in, lips millimeters apart...
"AUGH I can't take it anymore!!"  A voice exclaimed.  "Are they going to kiss or not?!?"
Shadow and Lune jumped in surprise, looking over their shoulders at the small crowd that had formed.  
"Aw, sis!  They were so close!"  Manic complained to Sonia, the one who had spoken.  "Why'd you have to go and ruin it?"
"They were taking forever."  She said, unrepentant.
As Shadow started to grumble about how privacy was IMPOSSIBLE to come by around here, Manic and Sonic converged on him, trapping him between them as they each threw an arm across his shoulders.  "Heey Sonic, did you know that Shadow was such a ladies' man?"
"I always knew he had it in him!"  Sonic replied to his brother.
"Get off me."  Shadow growled, trying to peel them off.
Lune meanwhile was pulled aside by the two pink hedgehogs.  "If Shadow gives you any trouble, then you just let us know, alright?"
Lune blinked, a bit thrown by their comradeliness.  
The party moved outside, laughter, friendly voices, and music filling the silence of the night in the garden.
Watching the scene, as the boys rumpled Shadow's usually cool and aloof manner, teasing the stoic hedgehog mercilessly, wrapping the two of them up in their lighthearted antics, Lune couldn't help but laugh.
She may not remember her past yet, but in the meantime, she could make new happy memories with them.  She had new friends.  She had a new purpose.
And she had Shadow by her side.

To her, this was her world.  She had what mattered.  She would protect it.

This was the perfect ending for the first day of her new life.
She had never been so happy.




The End.