Y/N was walking through the forest when she saw a familiar figure up on the hill. She climbed up and found Shadow standing there where there's a flower at a memorial site.

"Shadow?"

He turned and his eyes widened a little to see her. Shadow said nothing and looked back at the memorial. Y/N looked and frowned in recognization.

"Is it about Molly?"

Shadow kept silent, meaning that he is thinking about her. She placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry for your loss... again."

"It's fine." he sighed. "Like you said, it happens. Sometimes I feel like this is my fault."

"Shadow, don't say that. Some people can be cruel enough to take something away they care for and it's their fault for it."

He looked at her in shock and turned away with a chuckle.

"You can be cute sometimes."

Y/N blushed and chuckled nervously. She noticed that he still had some down look on his face, looking back at Molly's grave. She wants to help him get his mind off of some gruesome memories, but how? All of the sudden, an idea popped out. She slowly smirked.

"Hey, Shadow, you wanna race?"

Shadow looked at her confused.

"Why?"

"Just for fun."

"I don't do games."

Y/N turned away and slowly walked away.

"Well, that's too bad then. I thought you're the fastest thing in the world. I guess my brother Sonic is much more better than you."

Shadow's eyes flared with fire.

"Sonic's never the fastest, I am. You think you can be faster than me?"

She giggled, knowing she got him and went into her position before shouting.

"Race you for it!!"

She quickly zoomed off, leaving him in her dust. He smirked and skates after her. Y/N kept going as she dodged some trees and went through the bushes until she's in the field filled with flowers. She looked back to see Shadow on her tail. She quickly went faster.

"Shadow! Why are you so slow?"

Boy, she's starting to act like Sonic.

"Didn't you say you're faster than me and Sonic?"

"Well, if you insist..."

He activates his rocket air shoes to go faster and managed to catch up to Y/N and tackled her.

"Gotcha, Y/N!"

"Eeek!!"

Shadow rolled himself and Y/N around the ground as flowers and leafs fly off.

"Whoa! Ow!"

"Ooph!"

They finally stopped rolling as Shadow landed on top of Y/N. Both of them began to laugh as the flowers covered them. Y/N blew off the petals off of her face. Shadow placed his face on her chest.

"That was fun." she said, chuckling a little.

"It was. Were you trying to cheer me up on purpose?"

"Maybe. Did it work?"

Shadow smiled, gazing up at her.

"You did good. Why did you do that?"

"Because otherwise you would've been hurt emotionally. I didn't want you to be sad. Maria and Molly would want you to be happy and keep moving forward. I want you to be happy, too."

Shadow was shocked, seeing her eyes filled with determination to not let anyone feel down or else they hurt themselves. He leaned down until his face is inches apart from hers.

"Guess that's what I love you for..." he said and kissed her on the lips.

Y/N's eyes widen for a sec and slowly kiss him back. This is her second kiss she got from Shadow. Their lips move softly and passionately. Y/N moved her hand to cup Shadow's cheek. He presses himself into the kiss just a bit more with a low hum. They remain like this for like minutes until they need to breath as Shadow pulled away first. Their lips parted, catching their breath as they're lost into each other's eyes filled with galaxies and stars. He placed a hand on her cheek and stroke it.

"Shadow... I actually started to... l-love you too. But... I'm not ready yet."

"I understand, Y/N. I'm kinda new to this love I have never felt before. We'll work things through."

She smiled and patted him to lie down next to her. He nodded and lay down. They looked up at the sky filled with clouds and noticed the sunset. It will get dark soon. Shadow glanced to the side to see a red rose and pluck it out and put it in Y/N's quills. Y/N smiled at him. They both look back up into the sky as it turned into night sky after the sun fully disappeared. They stay here for a bit to see what's going to happen. After so many nights of blackness, the fireflies came. The fireflies were a welcome relief. They danced in a heady swarm of light, like a frozen firework explosion above the lake.

Shadow's eyes widen in awe as they fly around them and the flowers to make things more beautiful. The fireflies flew above Shadow and Y/N like they were carried in unfelt currents. Just to look at them gave them a buzz of excitement, as if these tiny glimmers of light had electrified the summer night. Y/N giggled to feel one of the fireflies land on her nose as a few more came and land on her head, making it look like she's wearing a flower crown. Shadow chuckled softly at the cute sight of her. Y/N glanced at him and giggled, covering her mouth. He looked at her in confusion of what is so funny until he saw the fireflies made a version of a mustache with big eyebrows. He gave her a deadpan look with a hint of amusement.

He lightly shook them off while Y/N let the fireflies fly off as they swarm around the night sky. Shadow's hand instinctively move onto hers and interwined their fingers together. Y/N blushed at the contact and held his hand back as they both watch the fireflies do their show. Shadow noticed something familiar as the fireflies form into two figures. His eyes widen to see Maria and Molly smiling down at him. They wave at him, showing that no matter what, they will always be there for him. He reached his hand out to them, but they faded away.

"Shadow?"

He turned to Y/N.

"You okay?"

Shadow felt something wet on his cheek, seeing a tear. He quickly wiped it off and looked back to where the two girls were. Shadow smiled fondly.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Y/N said nothing and nodded. They look back at the fireflies as they started fly away, creating a version of tornado for a sec and went off. Y/N scoot herself to move closer to Shadow and lean her head against his shoulder as they lie there. Meanwhile, the fireflies went past Molly's grave, causing the flower to fly away and follow the fireflies as the wind guide it.