Once again, as a reminder, do not make any editing or corrections to this, do not point to me of any mistakes. I will not make corrections. I`m leaving this mostly as is of what it was when Tojo and I rped this out. We both have different rp styles so expect there to be some inconsistencies in things such as apostrophes and tenses.

I`ve started doing a little less edits as what I did in the last 5 chapters.
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The gray-stone castle towered over them, mechanical Knights and soldiers clanking about on the battlements. The draw-bridge lowered, the double-doors seperating, allowing them inside. Everything was very ornate; red velvet carpets, tapestries, the likes. It made it feel like a very medieval setting, Shadow slowing down a little so they could enjoy the view,"I can't wait for tomorrow.."

Maria looks around at all the things they are passing through. She smiles to herself thinking about how the red colours here are the same as Shadow`s stripes. She looks up to the ceiling and takes notice of how tall this castle is.

A lot of mechanical robots were wandering around; guards that paid them little attention, brandishing plastic weapons and armor. And then they road through the throne room, where Knights lined up on both sides, heralds blowing trumpets as they road through. There was a dance floor; surprisingly, no-one was here, yet there was a small juke-box in the corner where songs could be selected. Slowing to a halt, Shadow looked over towards Maria, and very seriously asked,"..Would you care to dance?"

Maria finally loosens her hug on Shadow so that she can turn her head to face him. She smiles and seems enthusiastic,"Dance? I would love to."

"Hm.."

He grew silent, he smiled warmly for once. Slowly unstrapping his seat-belt, he got out and helped her onto the dance floor. Shadow began to walk over towards the Juke-Box, looking over a set of songs; not knowing a lot of songs, he started to select a set randomly.

Maria isn`t familiar with many of the songs either but she`s sure she would like them nonetheless.

The songs he selected were the following: Rain drops keep falling on my head, I want to hold your hand, The Last Scene (Sonic Adventure 2), Love Potion Number Nine.. The first few songs that played, however, were slow and classical, more suited to a formal dance. Shadow assumed a position, it seemed as if he at some point during his life-time practiced and learned, perhaps just to be able to dance with her,"Today just keeps getting better and better, Maria.."

Maria takes her respective position with Shadow for the dance. She directs her blue eyes to look to Shadow`s red eyes,"Yes, this has been a fantastic day, Shadow..."

"If there's anything else I can do to make it better..please, just say it."

The songs selected on the list started to play as they danced on, Shadow's crimson-oculi looking directly into Marias eyes. His expression lightened immensely, he was happy, overjoyed, as they continued to dance on. No one came to disturb the moment, no un-wanted company like before at the forest. It felt like only minutes passed by, but the silence went on for an hour or so, Shadow still saying nothing.

As they dance, Maria`s eyes rarely leave Shadow`s. The few moments they do leave, they just shift to the floor for a second and return to Shadow`s eyes. As she thought, the songs Shadow selected are ones she comes to quickly enjoy and they set the mood for their dance very nicely. Maria can`t think of anything more that could be done to make this any more perfect than what it already is.

Shadow continued to dance with her, a sudden over-abundance of new-found energy that she seemed to have had awoken within him. It wasn't until a large grand-father clock in the corner suddenly started to ring, that Shadow actually looked away and stopped; the clock read eleven o'clock,"..It's getting a little late." Shadow eventually admitted, looking back to Maria.

Maria`s voice sounds a little tired though it is mostly her eyes that give away her exhaustion,"Mmm, yes..."

"Come on, I'll take you home.." Referring to the Hotel as their temporary home, he wrapped an arm around her back-shoulder, leading her back to the car.

Maria walks with Shadow, her eyes falling half way closed.

Shadow drove all the way back, out of Twinkle Park and to the garage, where he dropped the car off. If she fell asleep during the drive, or mistake her for falling asleep, held lift her up, walking into the lobby towards the elevator; he stopped when he noticed the luggage bag he had left from earlier.

Maria is indeed asleep. She had fall asleep during the ride back to the garage.

Slinging the luggage bag over his shoulder after momentarily setting Maria down on a nearby couch, he lifted her up and went to the elevator; the elevator slowly took him to the streets, where he proceeded to walk to the hotel. Along the walk, he nuzzled the side of his face against her cheek. Assuming no-one interrupted the walk, he'd continue all the way to their hotel room..232.

Maria makes a tiny noise when Shadow nuzzles her but she doesn`t wake up.

Laying her out carefully on the bed, he removed her shoes only, and set the luggage bag in one corner; he locked the door and left the room, taking a long shower. The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom.

Maria sleeps soundly on the bed. The only movement she makes is rolling onto her side. In her sleep, her fingers delicately move and lightly grasp the wrinkles in the blanket.

After thoroughly drying himself off, removing any remaining bandages or wrappings, he comes out freshened up. Getting up onto the bed, he kicked his shoes and socks off, passionately wrapping his arms around Maria,"..I love you, Maria.." He whispered into her ear, again nuzzling the side of her face. Slowly, he pulled up the covers, then held her again to him.

What signals to the two sleeping beings that it`s morning is the ray of sunlight peeking through the hotel window curtain. It conveniently shines right on their faces.

Shadow was the first to awaken, stirring slightly as he awoke from a night-mare of losing Maria again; breathing heavily for a few moments, he sees that she's right beside him and quickly calms down, wrapping his arms tightly around her like he had done just last night,"Never again.."

"Mmm..."

Maria sleepily opens her eyes half way. She`s still tired and feels a little bewildered at first,"Shadow...?"

"..Ah, Maria.." His hug on her lightens a little, he looks into her eyes,"..Good morning..still feeling fine?"

Her expression changes to a relieved one and her body relaxes,"Oh, yes...I just feel really tired..."

"..Then rest, for as long as you want..there's nothing important happening today." Slowly, he lays down on his back, staring up at the ceiling; one arm is still wrapped around her. "Although..last night I was hoping we could have talked before bed."

Maria rubs one of her eyes,"I`m sorry...I got so tired last night, I couldn`t stay awake..."

"It's not your fault..we were out for a long time." He yawns twice, looking back to her. "..So what do you think of everything that happened?"

Maria rolls her head over and sleepily smiles to Shadow,"I had a great time with you..."

"Best day of my life, I think.." Shadow said, as he smiled back to her. "I wanted to know how you fe-.. ah, I'll talk to you about it later, never mind.."

"Heh, all right."

Maria shifts her look up to the ceiling.

It was a long period of silence, which was eventually broken by Shadow picking up a phone and a nearby menu. "What would you like for breakfast?"

Maria closes her eyes and smiles softly,"Waffles would be wonderful..."

"This is room 232.. we'd like to order breakfast inn..Waffles, milk, and bacon. Alright.." Hanging the phone up, Shadow straightened out and stared back up at the ceiling.

After some quiet time passes, there was a knock at the door, interrupting the silence.

"Hold on.." Getting up and walking to the door. "Who is it.."

'Room service, someone ordered breakfast?' Opening the door, a bell-hop wheeled in a cart; Shadow just nodded to him and showed him out, shutting the door. Shortly after, he served Maria breakfast in bed. "Here.." Setting a wide table in her lap, motioning for her to sit up.

Maria sits up in the bed and props her pillow up behind her so that she has something soft to lean back against. She smiles up to Shadow,"Thank you, Shadow."

"You're welcome.." Drizzling it with maple-syrup and pouring a tall glass of milk from a pitcher, he carefully sat down on the edge of the bed and started preparing his own breakfast.

Maria starts cutting her waffle into small pieces so that she can get eat it. She looks at Shadow as she does so.

"..You were the only one that showed me feeling and emotion.." Also cutting apart his waffles and bacon, pulling up a glass of milk. "And you were the one I spent most of my time with..you were one of thew few that actually cared about me for who I was.. Now, there's nothing stopping us.."

Maria smiles to Shadow as she finishes cutting her waffle,"That`s right. We`re free down here on Earth-"

As she was paying more attention to Shadow and not her waffle, she accidentally cuts her finger with the knife,"Ahh!"

She promptly drops the knife on the tray and holds her finger which is bleeding from where it was cut.

"....!" Shadow reacted abruptly, suddenly rushing to her-side, knocking over his table along with the break-fast. Ripping apart a bit of the bed cover, he made a roughly-constructed bandage, wrapping it around her finger. "Maria, come on..!" He was over-reacting, assuming the cut wasn't that deep, making the move to lift her up from the bed and take her to the bath-room.

"Uhn, Shadow-? What are you doing? I`m all right."

He guided her to the bathroom, bringing her to the sink where he carefully cleaned her cut, being very insistent on going through with things. "Are you sure..?"

Maria tries to give Shadow a reassuring smile,"Yes, I`m fine. It`s not that bad."

"I just want to make sure.." Eventually, he re-tied a proper bandage he took from a small med-kit in the folding-mirror cabinet, leading her back to her breakfast. "Just try to be more careful.." After that, he started to clean up the mess he had made on the side of the bed, occasionally looking back to Maria.

Maria puts the back of her hand to her mouth an chuckles a little.

"What's so funny?" Shadow asked as he looked over, wiping his paws off of syrup, tossing the cloth in a nearby trash can.

She humourously answers,"So much for our breakfast."

"Well..here." He offered to her what was left of the waffles; only two, unfortunately, and no bacon. There was still plenty of milk in a pitcher, Shadow pouring her another glass. "I guess I..over-reacted a little, but when I heard you cry out..I just.."

Maria quickly plants a kiss on Shadow`s cheek,"It`s all right, Shadow..."

"Yeah..I'm just glad you're fine." He froze for a few minutes, rubbing his cheek where she had kissed him. "Here, eat up..it could be a long day."

Maria turns back to what is left of the breakfast,"What about you?"

"I'm fine, I don't need anything. I'll..just have some milk." Pouring himself a glass, he sat back down on the side of the bed, sipping at it.

Maria looks at Shadow for a moment and then at the remains of the waffles. Then she picks up a piece of waffle with her fork and holds it up to Shadow for him to eat it.

"..It's fine, Maria, really, I.." Eventually, he gave in, and decided one bite wouldn't hurt. Hesitantly, he accepted it, chewing at it. "Eat the rest, though.."

"I want you to eat, too, Shadow."

"..." He took a clean knife and cut a bit of the waffle - about 1/4 he dragged towards him. "There. I want you to eat most of it, though.."

Maria smiles to Shadow,"Thank you."

She turns to the rest of the waffle and starts eating it.

As it was only a few bites, Shadow was quickly finished, just drinking at his milk. "It's fine..Today, we can go back to the ruins after getting a few things, maybe make it more..like home. After we have a good time in town."

Maria does finish her waffles but she does finish her milk,"Mmm."

"That's the plan for today. If you had anything you wanted to do, I'm all ears." After she finished her breakfast, he cleaned up the table and lifted it up, setting it back on the cart.

Maria watches Shadow,"You said there was a movie theatre here?"

"Yes, on the other side of the town. I've never been there before." Just standing there at the foot of the bed now, looking to her.

"Perhaps we could do that tonight."

Eventually, he straightened up and offered his hand to her once again as he had before. "Here, I'll show you the rest of town."

Maria smiles and takes Shadow`s hand,"All right."

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