Gwen is in her attic room, trying to think of something creative on her empty white canvas. The boys are hanging out with Tom while Maddie had to go to work, so it's Gwen's time alone at last. She was thinking of painting her family to remind her the day they made new friends who are just like her and her brother. Thinking that, Gwen was about to use her brush to do the work when suddenly her ruby starts to glow. Then her eyes flashes red and suddenly, her hand starts to move on its own automatically and does the painting for her. She doesn't know what was happening, but she starts to see some flashes before her eyes as if she's in a memory. All she could only hear is gunshots and screams along with cries. Then she sees three figures running away from several black figures that gives off bad aura. Finally, those words Gwen never expect she would hear.

"Maria!!"

Gasping, Gwen was back in her own state and look around to see she's still in the attic room. She turns to her painting and gasps at what the sight. There stood before her is the painting of Shadow the Hedgehog, who looks rather intimidating and very dark... (Picture on top. Not mine, it belongs to soina.)

Gwen drops her painting supplies in shock and didn't remember painting that picture. She recognizes him when she saw him through her ruby magic state. She wondered why it's showing her.

"I need to calm myself down." she mumbled, walking away from her painting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gwen starts bringing in some candles as she puts them down around the circle before placing the mat in the middle for her to sit. She then sits down and criss-cross her legs, getting into her meditation position. She slowly breathe in and out as Maddie taught her. Just as she was getting her mind calm, she doesn't notice her ruby glows again and causes the candlelight to turn pink. Then the candles starts floating in the air and circles around Gwen.

Not knowing what's going on, she managed to calm her mind and that's when the candles around her brightens up the room with a flash. Everything went black.

Gwen feels something wasn't right as she slowly opens her eyes. Instantly, her eyes went wide and stand up to find herself no longer in the attic room anymore. There she found herself in a pink room full of clouds, stars, galaxies, and a moon. She's in a dream world as she could tell that this is not normal. Gwen even notices a beautiful pink flower tree. She looks down to see a reflection of herself and the world.

"Wow... This is... just... wow..." Gwen gasped in awe.

She starts to walk as the floor below her creates ripples with every step she take. There's so much things to explore here without waking up. Suddenly, she heard a sound of running hooves. Turning, she was stunned to see a beautiful spirit deer as it galloped up to her.

"Who are you?" she voiced.

The spirit deer sprouts its magical wings and sits down. Gwen was confused for a moment until she realized it's asking her to hop on. But for what? Not much of a choice, she jump onto its back to carry her. The deer then leaps off and the pair take off into the skies. Gwen is rallied up with fear and excitement while she clings onto the neck of the spirit deer gently, watching the tree and the pink water room area shrink in distance. She then shouts in excitement as they fly past a flying train and flower fields. The spirit deer dives downwards and flies below the trees of a forest full of rainbows. It then flies upwards and above the trees, when a leaf gets caught up in Gwen's mouth and she pulls it out to see a rainbow leaf full of sparkles. She watches in fascination as they fly past the colorful trees from above.

The spirit deer and Gwen flies towards the bridge where the sparkling river is and Gwen could see a beautiful night sky full of shooting stars passing by.

Oh, she's so gonna paint this and others she saw in her dream once she wakes up somehow. The spirit deer then flies above the clouds and Gwen gazes at the starry sky. The deer picks up the pace and speeds through the clouds. It then does a loop-de-loop and drop-catches Gwen, making her land back on its back. A loud whistle noise was heard and Gwen looked up to see a giant flying whale with a pack of stingray as they soar through the Northern Light. Then she heard splashes and looked down to see they're now running through the water. She could even see an underwater city below her with lights on.

It was breathtaking as Gwen carefully lean down to touch her hands into the water as it did. She could feel the coolness of the water as she let her hand slide through before letting go as the spirit deer then flies towards the horizon of the shining moon. The little land then comes into view in the middle of the ocean.

Little did she know, a certain person was lying down in the tree branch holding a sparkling blue rose as if they're waiting for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They eventually landed in the green hills after flying and sightseeing for what seemed like hours, as they could see mountains over there with one tree each. However, what caught her attention was the same pink tree. Her eyes were fixed on the spirit deer as it nodded at her.

"Would you like me to visit over there?"

After nodding again, it transformed into a butterfly and flew away. In spite of the fact that it is a little far from the tree, Gwen began to walk. Her nervousness increased as she got closer, as if she sensed someone was watching her. Her attention is immediately drawn to a swing when she is close to the tree. Seeing that no one was using it, she looked around. She thought she was alone in her dream since she was the only one in it. Holding the rope handle, she sits down on the swing. Feeling like a child, Gwen swings herself back and forth.

"A swing in the tree teaches us how to handle life when it swings us. Whenever life swings us, we will be ready." she muttered as she swung.

From above, a deep voice spoke, "That's an interesting observation about swing."

Gwen shouted in terror and clung tightly to the rope to avoid falling. Her eyes scanned the surroundings frantically.

"Wh-Who's there?!"

"Up here."

She looked up and was surprised to see the same black hedgehog she saw through her power vision as he look down at her blankly, twirling the blue rose in his hand casually.

"It's you."

"We meet again..."

"H-How did you get into my dream?"

"I should ask you a same thing."

Gwen looks confused.

"Huh? So you're telling me this is not my dream? If so, are we in each other's dreams?"

"Maybe. But not my problem." he said. "The name's Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Hey, I... I'm Gwen. Gwen the Hedgehog."

"Intriguing name." Shadow commented.

"Uh... thanks. You know... back from what I saw in that vision. How long have you been in that capsule thingy?"

"50 years."

Gwen was shocked to hear that.

"Excuse me?"

"It's shocking, really. But I'm used to it. One day, I'll be free for me to finish that promise I'm willing to keep."

"What promise is that?"

Shadow was silent for a moment as he looks at the blue rose fondly.

"It's classified. You'll understand soon."

"I see."

Gwen understood that he doesn't want to talk about it and did not pry.

"You know... you're different. Not what I expected." he said, looking down at her.

"How exactly?"

Suddenly, the tree branch started moving on its own and slowly raised her up to Shadow, making her yelp and grip onto the swing. He suddenly grips her chin for him to get a closer look as soon as she's up to his level. He stares into her eyes, making her blush.

"You... remind me of someone that I cared for dearly."

Gwen notices his eyes are full of pain, sorrow, anger, and... emptiness. He then pulls himself away from her and looks at the view ahead of him.

"Wanna take a walk?"

She looks at him surprised.

"You mean, go around and explore with you?"

"Yeah. I've been in this dream for a long time as it helps me feel... calm. Since you're here, it's... been a long time since I had some company."

Gwen get what he means since she and her brother had been alone for their entire life ever since they lost Longclaw.

"Sure."

Shadow smiles a little and jumps off from the tree and lands before Gwen lands besides him.

https://youtu.be/vD01aQEfYxM

They climbed over a hill and witnessed a sunset in the horizons. They both began to sing "Something Entirely New" as they explore dream together.

Where did we go? What did we do?
I think we made something entirely new
And it wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you
I think it was someone entirely new

Gwen walked through a forest when a butterfly landed on her hand. Shadow came over to observe it, but it flew away and got eaten by a frog. Shadow then picked up the frog and punched it to let the butterfly go as it spitted out, letting the butterfly flew off. Gwen smiles amusingly. Shadow sings first.

Oh, um
Well, I just can't stop thinking

Gwen sings next.

So, um
Did you say I was different?

He glances at her.

And you hadn't before?

She looks back at him.

Of course not
When would I have ever?

Night fell, Shadow and Gwen lay in the grass to gaze at the moon, while talking about the vision and how they see each other through their powers that are similar. Shadow looks apologetic.

I'm so sorry

Gwen quickly shook her head.

No, no, don't be

He looks conflicted.

And now you're here forever!

She looks at him questionably.

What about you?

He raises his eyebrow.

What about me?

She smiles at him.

Well you're here too
We're here together

Gwen placed a reassuring hand on Shadow's hand and then led him into a forest. She began humming her song, to which Shadow then joined in too, forming a reprise of "Stronger Than You" and "Strong in the Real Way". Shadow placed a blue rose in her quills. They reach for each other's hand for a moment until they stop. Hesitating a bit, Gwen placed a hand on his shoulder while Shadow wrapped his arm around her waist before they grab each other's hand. They danced together in the forest as Shadow spins her for a bit, surprising her. She then smiles as he smiles back. Their dance was slow and almost romantic then he holds her up in the air and spins her around, making her laugh.

The mixture of orange and pink combined as their bodies glow, creating a peach fire that start surrounding them. They stopped dancing to see it happening, looking surprised. The peach fire then form into a figure of a flower as it dance gracefully above them before slowly disappearing.

"Wow..."

That was the only word Gwen could say before she felt something odd. She looked down to see her hand glowing and they begin to fade away. She's not the only one as Shadow's hand is also beginning to fade.

"Looks like it's time to wake up." he said.

Gwen was saddened that their meeting had to end.

"Will I... see you again?"

Shadow gives her a small smile.

"Maybe. It depends how destiny brings us."

She wondered what he mean by that, but instead just smile before the entire dream world turn white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Opening her eyes, Gwen finds herself back in the attic room as she lies there on the mat and slowly sits up. She notices the candles around her had died down. She sighed, thinking it must be a dream when she felt something in her quills. Gwen reaches in and pulls it out to see the same blue rose as it sparkles. Her eyes widened in shock.

"How did it get here?"

The sound of the door opening snapped her out of her trance.

"Gwen!! Sweetie! We're home!" Maddie called.

"We've got you your favorite lunch!" Tom added.

"Come down, sis! Let's eat!" Sonic said.

Looking back at the rose, she smiles and gets up and places it in the vase not before pouring water inside and went downstairs to join her family. She looks forward to meeting Shadow again in her dream and maybe hopefully in person someday.