*Sonic's POV *
"The party will what?!" I asked in shock as I slammed my hands on the table. "You know how risky that will be? Anyone could-!"

"We know, sweetie, but we are taking this celebration as a way for you, Manic and Sonia try to find someone as well. You're all of age to get married and neither of you have a partner, plus we are celebrating your birthday a day before so your friends don't suspect anything. This is an open party, anyone can come. But there would be three times the guards as usual and make sure whoever does come isn't a threat. I even invited your friends." My ears perked up.

"You did what?!" Tails and I shouted.

"Mom! They don't know anything! And they think I am going to be here!" I pinched the bridge of my nose over the mask in frustration then stood up. "I have to figure out what I'm going to do."

"I was just planning on telling them you were keeping watch with the rest of the guards. That our brother asked specifically for you because he trusted you." Manic spoke. I thought about it and slowly nodded.

There's a lot that can go wrong but I had to just accept it, there was no going back. Go with the flow.

"Well, all of you should start to get ready for your party tonight." My mother told us as we were dismissed.

"Great, more suits!" Manic said sarcastically and wrapped his arm around my neck then knocked on my mask making a clanking sound. Heavy and dull. "At least it won't break anymore."

"And will break your knuckles." I chuckled.

"You really underestimate me, bro." He laughed and then got closer to me. "Hey, what kind of people do you think will show up?"

"You really think this is where you'll find someone?"

"Hmmm, more like a hookup, you know?" Manic twirled his drumstick as he talked to me. "It gets so boring in here with only Sonia to bother. The guards HAVE to tolerate me. Plus, don't you want to meet someone~?"

"Just go get dressed." I pushed his face away as I laughed.

That night I dressed in a black suit a light blue tie which were very uncomfortable to me. I used Dark to change the color of my quills a slightly darker color then put on the mask as I pushed my quills down making them look fallen.

"You don't look like you." Sonia said as soon as I walked out of my room. "We were waiting for you, Ma wants us to go in together."

"Here they come." I heard a lot of chatter as we reached the ballroom. A guard opened the door and introduced us as we remained on the second floor balcony of the ballroom. As we looked down at the people already dancing, I noticed Tails and the others hanging close to the door which led to the garden.

"We should go greet them." Manic said and he started to drag me to them.

"W-wait...!" Sonia grabbed my other arms and dragged me to my crew then let go before we reached them.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to finally meet all of you." Sonia said as she looked at everyone. Even Rouge and Shadow were here which shocked me that the guards would let then through.

"Hello! Thank you for inviting us." Amy answered and everyone bowed to us.

"Please." I raised my hand and shook it. "No need for that." I said hoping they wouldn't recognize me as I also used Dark to change my voice into a slightly deeper sound. The perks of having a demon, I guess.

"It's really you? Maurice, right?" Rouge said. "Wasn't Sonic here?"

"I asked him to help the guards. He should be around the castle somewhere." I answered.

"It looks like you've met my kids." My mother said from behind us. "Dont be shy, take them for a dance." I tensed up and looked at my mother a little too long catching Rouges attention as she reached for my hand.

"Gladly." She yanked on it as she dragged me to the middle of the room.

I danced with her for a while, trying to remain calm and act like how they trained me to act for these kinds of parties. She was asking me questions but I tried to answer everything short and simple.

"So how do you know Sonic?" Rouge asked.

"By my mother as to protect me."

"Protect you from what?"

"I'm a prince, anyone could get me for money."

"Does he know how you look like?" I growled making her tense up. I hated acting this way to my friends but when it came to being Maurice, I had to make sure no one found out.

"I don't know what you want from me or my family. But I suggest you stop asking so many questions." I let go of her once the dance ended and walked back to the group.

"Why don't you try dancing with someone your type?" Manic poked me after I reached them. "You could ask Shadow, or Knuckles."

"You're into guys?" Amy asked sounding a bit disappointed so I nodded. Will not be getting stuck with Amy again.

"Yes, apologies." I looked at Manic and shook my head.  "I've had enough." I glared at Rouge as I said that making the others look at her confused.

"Maurice, there's someone who wants to see you." Sonia said and as I turned to look at her, someone threw themselves at me.

"I can't believe you're actually here! It's been so long, don't you think? Is that Tails? Come here!"

Chaos.

It's Sally...

Tails walked to Sally and hugged her. "It's nice to see you too. Why don't we go outside and look for Sonic?" Tails started dragging her away before she could say anything.

"Well! Maybe we should go look for Sonic too. We need a favor. Please! Enjoy the party!" Sonia dragged me outside as well as Manic stayed behind making sure the others wouldn't follow us.

After a while, we found Sally and explained what was going on. They then walked inside but I decided to wonder outside for a bit longer and went to the garden. Not many others were outside but I felt like I needed to breathe and sincerely I felt annoyed from how much I was being dragged around.

As the night went on, the more tired I grew faking being someone I was not. I turned the corner after I had finished yet another dance with someone else and tried to go back outside noticing everyone was now inside and I had time to be by myself.

But as I turned the corner trying to head deeper into the garden so no one would see me. I bumped into someone and fell backwards.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean t-" I looked up and saw Shadow standing in front of me as he extended his hand so I could get back up with his help. I took it and got up again.

"You dropped this, Faker." Shadow handed me the mask and my ears pinned down as I looked at it in shock. I quickly snatched it and put it back on.

I messed up...