Maria Geraldine Hedgehog ran as fast as she could down the long corridor. Her heart was racing, and her mind was still buzzing with the awful news she had received not an hour ago. It couldn't be true, she thought, it just couldn't... but she had to be sure. The light gray hedgehog reached the end of the hallway and bolted through the double doors, hoping against hope that the sight awaiting her on the other side would calm her down and ease her doubts.

She was wrong. The next sight that met Maria's eyes was not a pleasant one; several of her closest friends and family were gathered in the large room, all of them bearing expressions of unease and deepest concern. Among these people were her mother, Crystal Hedgehog; her husband, Miles Sonic Hedgehog; and her father-in-law, Sonic the Hedgehog. Everyone in the room turned sharply to face the doorway as Maria burst in, and based on the traces of fear and uncertainty in their eyes, the light gray hedgehog could tell they had some unfortunate information that they were reluctant to share with her.

"What happened?" Maria exclaimed nervously as Miles hurried over to her.

"Maria..." the lavender hedgehog began uneasily, placing his hands on his wife's shoulders as though to brace her for the news. "There was an incident. Your dad..."

"What about him?" the light gray hedgehog replied, growing more terrified by the second.

"There was an incident involving the Chaos Emeralds. Your dad was sort of... caught in the middle. He collapsed, and now... he's in trauma."

"What?"

Maria briskly brushed her husband's hands off her shoulders and hurried to the door on the far side of the room, close to which most of the others were currently standing. Upon reaching the door, the light gray hedgehog peered through its glass window into the room on the other side. From where she stood, all she could see was a large group of doctors gathered around a hospital bed, working frantically to aid the trauma victim lying in their midst. Maria couldn't see the victim's face, but based on the information her husband had just given her, she already knew who it must be.

Unwilling to believe the truth until she saw it with her own eyes, Maria suddenly pushed the door open and hurried into the room. Miles, who had been watching her in concern, quickly realized what was about to happen, and in his newfound fear, he rushed to the door to follow his wife. Despite his incredible agility, however, he did not manage to enter the room in time to prevent the terrible heartache his beloved wife was about to suffer.

Maria stared completely stunned at the trauma victim lying on the bed. As several of the doctors in the room looked up at her, the light gray hedgehog felt a horrible icy chill constrict her insides, for the patient's face was the last one she wanted to see in that condition. Lying motionless on the bed, his body covered in injuries and his eyes closed as he lay in a state of unconsciousness, was a black hedgehog with red highlights in his quills: Maria's father, Shadow the Hedgehog.

The trauma victim's daughter suddenly felt as though her world were crashing down around her. How could this be? The very person who had always been a hero in her eyes from her earliest memories was now lying helpless and vulnerable in a hospital, at the mercy of fate itself. It didn't make the slightest bit of sense, and as the realization of the cruel turn of events hit her and tears began to form in her dark blue eyes, Maria shook her head frantically in disbelief and cried out desperately:

"No... No, no! Daddy!"

One of the doctors in the room stepped around the bed, and for the first time since Maria entered the room, a familiar face became visible to her. It was a lilac hedgehog, with eyes as green as her twin brother's: Maria's sister-in-law, Dr. Lily Rose Hedgehog. Alarmed at the sight of the light gray hedgehog in distress, Lily turned towards the door and called out sharply:

"Miles, get her out of here!"

Maria, who had not removed her gaze from her father since she bolted into the room, suddenly buried her face in her hands and began to sob hysterically, her breath coming in sharp, labored gasps. A few seconds later, she felt her husband's arms wrapping around her, followed by his fearful voice in her ear:

"Honey, breathe!"

But Maria could not breathe, not while she was still in shock. As she struggled against the pain that was puncturing her heart, she succumbed to Miles's hold on her and collapsed in his embrace. Her head was spinning, and she felt as though her heart were about to burst. The last thing she recalled of the scene was the sensation of being lifted into her husband's arms while the frantic voices of the doctors filled her ears; after that, darkness closed in on her completely, and she knew no more.


"Maria... Maria..."

A soft male voice was sounding gently in Maria's ears. As her mind recovered its normal conscious state, the light gray hedgehog slowly opened her eyes to see her husband's face directly before her, slightly out of focus and gazing at her with intense concern in his green eyes.

"Maria, honey..." Miles breathed, a note of relief in his voice, "are you all right?"

Miles's wife hesitated for a moment to take in her surroundings. As her vision came completely into focus, Maria realized she was still in the lavender hedgehog's arms, and that he was kneeling on the floor of the room where she had originally seen him first when entering the hospital. Upon looking around the room, Maria noticed for the first time since she bolted through the double doors exactly who had been there waiting for her: aside from Miles, Sonic and Crystal, her friends Sonia Prower and Rex Echidna, as well as their respective fathers, Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna, were also in the room, having been present at the time of the incident. Everyone else in the room was now staring back at her, with expressions of concern on their faces as intense as Miles's.

Maria slowly sat up and quietly stared around at the people looking down at her for a minute, then turned back to her husband and whispered fearfully:

"What happened to my dad?"

Miles gazed solemnly at his wife in silence, unsure of how to begin. He carefully rose to his feet, helping her rise with him, and led her over to a row of chairs against the back wall of the room. Once Maria had taken a seat, the lavender hedgehog stood before her and, after a moment's hesitation, began his explanation.

"The Robotniks had started another of their plans for world domination. Last week, they stole a Chaos Emerald from us, and they used it to build some sort of laser weapon with the power to hypnotize its targets. From the looks of it, they wanted to recruit mindless followers to help them in building their empire. While you stayed home, the others and I went to stop them while they terrorized a nearby city. We didn't think things would turn out like this; we've beaten the Robotniks before without a problem.

"But we hadn't counted on your dad's... sensitivity to the Emeralds' power. We managed to corner Dr. Eggman and Igor in some remote part of the city. Then my dad, Shadow and I faced them in a fight, to destroy their weapon and take the Chaos Emerald back. We brought some of our own Emeralds to the battle; we thought they would help us in our fight against the machine.

"As it turned out... we were wrong. At some point, I managed to break the case in the laser holding the Emerald, but right after that... I was stunned by a close-range shock weapon that Eggman used on me. When I fell back, the Chaos Emerald in the laser started reacting with our Emeralds. That was when Igor decided to turn the weapon on me.

"I saw my dad running to help me; I knew he was gonna try to save me. He was hurrying to stop it from hitting me... but Shadow got there first. It all happened so fast... in the blink of an eye... The Chaos Emeralds were still reacting, Igor fired a laser blast, your dad stepped in the way at the last second... The next thing we knew, there was this huge flash, and when the light vanished, your dad was lying on the floor, unconscious.

"We didn't know what happened; the laser should have hypnotized him, or at least stunned him. We didn't know why his reaction to the laser beam was different from the other victims, but we were sure it had to do with Chaos energy. Well, I recovered and hurried over to Shadow, while my dad finished off the Robotniks' machine himself. Then we brought your dad back to the hospital in Green Hill. As soon as he was in, I called you.

"Maria, my love..." said Miles sadly, watching tears forming again in his wife's dark blue eyes, "I'm so sorry! We never meant for this to happen. It... It should have been me! I should have taken that hit! I'm sure I could have taken it; I had a Chaos Emerald on my side. I should have faced that machine myself!"

"No!" Maria suddenly cried, staring up at her husband in shock. "Miles... what happened was not your fault. And if something had happened to you, I would be just as worried and upset as I am now over my dad, if not more. What's done is done. Now... all we can do is wait and hope that everything will be all right."

Maria averted her eyes from her husband's, looking down at her hands in her lap. After a moment's silent hesitation, Miles took a seat beside his wife, reached out, and took her hand in his. As she looked up to face him once more, the lavender hedgehog proceeded to reassure her in as calm a voice as he could manage.

"He will get through this, you know. Shadow is strong. He'll make it, and everything will be all right. He's in good hands; my sister is the best at her job. Everything will be fine, you'll see."

Maria slowly nodded once to acknowledge her husband's thoughtful words, then sadly bowed her head again, a tear rolling down her face. Miles leaned towards her and gently kissed her cheek, while secretly fighting back the horrific knot of guilt welling up in his own throat. And as he softly leaned his head against his wife's, the lavender hedgehog found himself silently thinking frantically to his father-in-law:

"Shadow... you have to survive this. Don't do this to us; don't do this to her. Whatever it takes... you have to make it through this. She needs you."


Lily shouted orders to her interns in her strictest, most professional voice. Being a second-year resident in Green Hill's Diamond Heart Hospital, it was her obligation to lead the other doctors around her in treating the trauma patients brought in to the best of their abilities. Despite her role as a superior doctor, however, the lilac hedgehog kept her gaze fixed determinedly on the monitors surrounding the hospital bed, refusing even to glance at the victim whose life she was currently trying to help save. She hadn't wanted this case; she was sure the very sight of the patient's face would throw her concentration off... but she was a professional, and she was the best in her year. Whatever it took, she would save him, even if it meant she would have to keep her eyes averted from him at all times.

"His vitals are dropping", Lily called out, making sure to treat this case exactly as she would any other trauma case. Her surrounding colleagues responded almost instantly.

"Charge to 200."

"Clear!"

As the sound of the defibrillator's electric shock reached her ears, Lily resisted more than ever the urge to look at the face of the black hedgehog on the bed, instead keeping her green eyes on the heart monitor before her while recalling the moment when he had first been admitted and she realized who her trauma patient was.

"Male hedgehog, age unknown, collapsed as a result of a hit from a laser. Weapon was built by known wanted criminals Dr. Eggman and Igor Robotnik."

The lilac hedgehog had been listening intently to her colleague's report while hurrying with him towards the pit. The hospital occasionally received cases of victims who had been injured by some weapon created by the Robotniks, so she was not surprised by that particular piece of information provided to her by her fellow doctor. As she turned the corner, however, she had been caught off guard by the sight of her father and her brother waiting near the entrance to the hospital's emergency wing.

"Dad?" Lily exclaimed curiously. "Miles? What...?"

Her question had been answered before it even left her lips. While a gurney was rolled past her by her colleagues, the lilac hedgehog suddenly caught sight of the trauma victim lying on it. The sight of the black hedgehog induced a horrible sensation within Lily; she felt her heart plummet into the pit of her stomach, and as the other doctors called to her, she only barely managed to mutter back to them in shock.

"I... I know him! That's Shadow the Hedgehog! He's... my sister-in-law's father..."

Suddenly realizing that the people around her were waiting for her to react, Lily had then turned back to face Sonic and Miles, an expression of pain and uncertainty on her face. She shook her head pleadingly at them.

"I... I can't..."

"You have to!" her father had replied, his strong, strict tone contrasting greatly with his daughter's whisper. "Please, Lily! We brought him to you for a reason!"

"No, Dad, I can't", the lilac hedgehog had insisted more firmly. "They're very strict about that: we're not allowed to attend to our own family."

"We know the hospital makes an exception for you, Lily."

"Yes, but only in cases of..."

But her voice cut off, for it was at that moment that Lily had finally registered the full severity of the situation. As her face began to pale in near panic, she had spared a glance back at the unconscious trauma victim before looking her worried father in the eyes again, hardly daring to breathe the question now clouding her mind:

"Chaos energy?"

Sonic had not given a spoken answer, but instead nodded once to confirm his daughter's fear. Lily then turned her attention to her twin, whose nervous expression seemed to match her own only too well.

"You're the best doctor we know!" Miles had pleaded. "You're the only one who can help us! Please, Lily, we need you!"

As she slowly registered her father and brother's words, Lily had turned around to look at Shadow again. They were right; having faced several adventures involving Chaos energy in her youth, she really was the only doctor who could help her family. It would be selfish of her to turn her back on them now. She had to take this case, whether she wanted to or not. Turning back to face Sonic and Miles, the lilac hedgehog removed the traces of doubt from her face and her voice, nodded once determinedly, and spoke again in a much stronger and more confident tone.

"I'll do what I can, I promise."

Lily was brought sharply back to reality by the sudden flicker of a steady pulse on the heart monitor before her. As she recovered from reliving her memory, she heard her interns speaking more calmly around her.

"We have a pulse."

"He's stabilizing."

The lilac hedgehog slowly exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. It was at this moment that she finally allowed herself to look upon the face of her patient. Shadow was gravely injured, showing signs of having taken severe damage from the laser weapon, and he was still unconscious... but he was stable, and more importantly, he was alive. Lily gazed at him quietly for a minute... then stepped slowly towards the wall beside the monitors and leaned up against it, trembling as she held her arm out to it for support. The other doctors in the room watched her nervously.

"Dr. Hedgehog?"

Lily turned her head up to face the intern who had spoken, a young crimson stoat standing nearest to her. She stared at him silently for a few seconds, then sighed deeply and replied as calmly as she could to his uneasy tone.

"We just saved my brother's father-in-law", she breathed, still trembling slightly as her emotions finally caught up with her. "I need a minute."

The interns in the room respected their resident's request, falling silent and waiting for her to recover her composure. For a minute, the only sound heard in the room was the steady blipping noise of the heart monitor. After a long pause, Lily took a deep breath, gently pushed back against the wall, and stood up straight once more, regaining her professional attitude as she turned to face her concerned interns. She hesitated for a few seconds, then casually addressed them all with a faint smile on her lips.

"Good work, everyone."

Some of the other doctors smiled weakly back at her, their nerves slowly subsiding at their superior's words of encouragement... until suddenly, something happened that effectively wiped all the smiles off everyone's faces and caused their fear to come rushing back.

Another of the interns in the room, a young jade green raccoon, sharply pointed at one of the monitors near her and cried out to her resident in a shrill voice:

"Dr. Hedgehog! What is that?"

Lily quickly shifted her eyes to the monitor at which her intern was pointing, and immediately felt an icy chill run down her spine. That particular machine was monitoring a very vital factor of Shadow's health, and the signal flashing up on the screen was not a good one.

The interns in the room all turned their eyes simultaneously to their superior, waiting for her to respond. They each felt a terrible knot of fear wrap itself around their insides as they heard her whisper a single fateful phrase:

"What in the world happened out there tonight?"


The group of heroes who had witnessed Shadow's unfortunate accident continued to wait semi-patiently in the waiting room for news of his health. Maria, who had not moved from her seat since her husband had accompanied her to the row of chairs, sat in silence with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, staring blankly ahead while she struggled ever more with her writhing emotions. Miles watched her carefully from the chair beside hers, and, in an attempt to keep his wife as distracted as possible from the thought of her father, he began to make conversation in a barely calm voice.

"How are the boys?"

He was referring to their twin five-year-old sons, whom they had named Sonic and Shadow, after their grandfathers. Maria slowly lowered her hands, sat up straighter in her chair, and, catching on to Miles's intentions, turned to face him, replying in a tone to match his.

"They're fine", she said almost hoarsely, her voice still strained from screaming in desperation. "I left them at home with your mother."

Her husband nodded, not surprised by this information. His mother, Amy Rose, often took the time to look after her grandsons whenever neither of their parents could be home with them... as they couldn't now. Miles frequently accompanied his father on adventures against the Robotniks, while Maria worked with her own father as a field agent for G.U.N. This wasn't to say that the couple was never home to raise their children; in truth, they never left the boys with anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary, for both parents considered raising a family together their top priority in life.

Miles leaned towards his wife again and kissed her on the cheek once more. He then looked towards the payphone on the side wall of the waiting room, beside which his father was now standing, the phone's receiver to his ear; Sonic was in the middle of a conversation with Amy, explaining everything that had happened so far that night. The lavender hedgehog caught a bit of the conversation between his parents from where he sat by the back wall.

"He collapsed... We don't know. We brought him to the hospital in Green Hill as fast as we could... I have no idea. We left him with Lily; we're still waiting for her to bring us news... No, don't tell them anything yet. It's best they don't worry about their grandpa right now. They're only five; they shouldn't worry unless they have to..."

Sighing in relief as his father reassured his mother that the twins needn't be disturbed with the awful news just yet, Miles began to scan the rest of the room, his gaze falling first on Tails and Sonia, who were discussing the workings of the Robotniks' hypnotism laser; then on Knuckles and Rex, who were trying to decipher how the reaction between the Chaos Emeralds had been set off; and finally on Crystal, who was sitting in a chair on her daughter's other side and staring quietly at her, trying to find comforting words to say to Maria while struggling to conceal the full extent of her own fear and concern.

The lavender hedgehog slowly opened his mouth to speak words of reassurance to his wife and mother-in-law... but before he could say a word, the door leading off towards the trauma wing opened, and Lily stepped into the room.

The entire group fell silent as all heads turned to face her. The lilac hedgehog looked around silently at the several pairs of eyes watching her, maintaining an expressionless face while secretly trying to decide where to begin with her report. For a moment, the only sound that was heard in the room was Sonic's voice, hastily ending his conversation with his wife over the phone.

"Gotta go, honey; Lily's here. I'll call you back. Love you!"

The blue hedgehog quickly replaced the receiver on its hook and stepped over to join the rest of the group quietly watching Lily. The lilac hedgehog hesitated for a full minute, still staring back at everyone in silence... then slowly walked towards the row of chairs against the back wall, on which her brother, sister-in-law and sister-in-law's mother were all seated. As the rest of the group hurried to the back wall to hear the news, Maria stared up at Lily with pure terror in her dark blue eyes. The light gray hedgehog soon found herself praying that the words she was about to hear next would not be:

We did everything we could.

As it turned out, that dreadful phrase was not the one to reach everyone's ears next. The lilac hedgehog took a deep breath while gazing directly at her sister-in-law, then softly spoke much more encouraging news for everyone to hear:

"Your father is stable. He was badly injured, and went into shock shortly after he arrived at the hospital, but we managed to recover a pulse, and his vitals are now stable. He's alive."

As soon as those last words left Lily's lips, a shrill cry of relief was heard from Crystal, followed by sighs of equal alleviation from Sonic and the other heroes. The only one who didn't feel a sensation of newfound tranquility take her over at the lilac hedgehog's words... was Maria. She continued to stare at her sister-in-law, unable to break free of the rising terror gripping her insides, for she had heard something very different from what the others around her had heard...

Lily had not said Shadow would be fine; she had simply said that he was alive.

The light gray hedgehog did not react to the lilac one's words, still unsure of what to make of them. Maria and Lily stared at each other in silence, both hedgehogs waiting for the reactions of relief surrounding them to subside. They didn't have to wait long.

The first to notice the unusual lack of emotion on Maria's face was Miles. He had smiled at the news that his father-in-law was alive, but the smile quickly faded as he realized there was no trace of happiness on his wife's face.

"Maria?" said the lavender hedgehog in a confused tone, causing everyone else to fall silent again and turn to face the light gray hedgehog. "What's wrong?"

Maria did not reply to her husband's question directly, instead remaining silent while keeping her gaze fixed firmly on the lilac hedgehog standing before her. As soon as everyone around her was quiet again, the light gray hedgehog took a deep breath and spoke only two words to her sister-in-law:

"What else?"

Everyone who had been staring at Maria now turned their heads simultaneously to face Lily, their fear suddenly returning to plague them once more. The lilac hedgehog nodded to acknowledge Maria's understanding tone, then continued with her report in her ever professional voice.

"We did manage to recover his vitals, and he's no longer in trauma. However, we picked up on something... rather disturbing... in his cerebral activity."

A sharp intake of breath was heard among some of the surrounding people listening to the news. Maria's eyes widened in greater fear as her heart began to sink ever lower.

"What?" she breathed in disbelief. "You mean... he's in a coma?"

Lily rapidly shook her head at these words.

"Not exactly", she replied hastily, before the listening group could have a chance to feel too alarmed. "We ran a CT on him not too long ago, and the scans indicate that his brain is indeed in a profound state of unconsciousness, but he's displaying a sort of cerebral activity that contrasts with comatose."

Miles eyed his sister carefully, a look of confusion in his green eyes.

"What does that mean?" he asked nervously. Lily glanced at her twin for a few seconds before turning back to look at her sister-in-law.

"It means..." she began after a long pause, unsure of exactly how to break the news to the people listening around her, "that something very severe happened to Shadow when he was hit by that laser beam, something that can't be fully comprehended within the realms of Medicine. His CT scans and EEG tests are contradicting each other; one indicates that he should be in a coma, but the other claims that a part of his conscious mind is functioning normally. The best explanation I can give... is that Shadow is somewhere between being normally unconscious and being in a coma."

A long pause followed this last statement. The group of people listening to the lilac hedgehog's report now took to staring at her in shock, not one of them knowing how to respond. Maria gazed silently up at her sister-in-law, tears beginning to form once more in her dark blue eyes. Lily, who was finding it difficult to hold her professional air before her distressed family and friends, felt her voice trembling slightly as she continued to speak to the light gray hedgehog.

"Maria... I'm so sorry I don't have better news for you. I really wish that I could simply tell you your father is going to be fine."

There was another extended moment of silence, in which Maria and Lily simply stared quietly at each other and everyone else rapidly shifted their gaze between the two of them. Finally, after a minute that felt like an hour, the light gray hedgehog slowly stood up from her seat, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the lilac hedgehog in front of her. Miles watched sadly as tears began to slide solemnly down both their cheeks and his wife whispered thoughtfully to his twin sister.

"But you did bring us good news, Lily. My father is alive, and for that alone, I'm extremely grateful to you. You saved his life. Thank you so much!"

The lilac hedgehog hesitated for a moment, tears rolling faster down her cheeks as she registered those kind words, then wrapped her own arms tighter around her sister-in-law. And while everyone else in the room stared at the two hedgehogs with unease in their hearts and concern on their faces, Maria closed her eyes and focused on a single thought occupying her troubled mind:

"Dad... what happened to you?"


"Shadow! Take them out!"

Sonic calling out for him to attack.

"He's an easy target! Shoot him now!"

Something gone horribly wrong during the battle.

The scene playing out seemingly in slow motion...

A large laser beam speeding towards him, a bright flash of light...

Disaster.

"SHADOW!"

Cold... Darkness...

"Shadow!"

"Male hedgehog, age unknown, collapsed as a result of a hit from a laser..."

"I know him! That's Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Voices echoing all around him, seeming to come from far away...

"No, no! Daddy!"

A heartbreaking scream piercing the darkness.

The cold was pressing in ever closer, chilling to the core. The darkness was suffocating, closing in on his body, his mind, his soul...

"Shadow..."

The bloodshot eyes of a black hedgehog suddenly flew open, and the next thing he knew, Shadow the Hedgehog was looking up towards a great span of whiteness. For a minute, he did nothing but stare at the bright light, gradually recovering his senses as he became aware of his surroundings. He was lying on his back, his body was terribly weak with what felt like several internal injuries, and he had a throbbing headache from the voices that had been echoing in his mind only moments ago. And to make matters even more terrifying... he had no clue where he was or how he had gotten there.

After lying still for a long moment, Shadow finally began to feel his strength returning and his vision coming into focus. Slowly and a bit painfully, he raised his right arm, pushed back against the surface on which he lay, and lifted himself up into a sitting position. He then took to scanning his surroundings carefully, feeling his heart sink as he discovered the setting in which he now found himself.

All around him, extending out for what seemed to be forever, was nothing but white mist, floating eerily a few inches above the ground. No matter in what direction the black hedgehog looked, there didn't seem to be any sign of life nearby. It was a desert, a surreal plane of semi-existence unknown to the inhabitants of the real, conscious world. And he was trapped in it.

Shadow was just about to start panicking, wondering how in the world he had ended up in this place... when the last voice that had echoed in his mind called him again, louder the second time:

"Shadow..."

The black hedgehog slowly spun his head around to look behind him, feeling a slight chill run down his spine as he realized that the gentle voice that had spoken his name sounded awfully familiar. Shadow turned to face the speaker... and felt his heart almost leap out of his chest at the next sight that met his red eyes.

Kneeling a short distance away from him, an air of serenity on her beautiful features, was a young human girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She was staring at the black hedgehog with a calm yet solemn expression on her sweet face. That face... He had never forgotten it for an instant since the very last time he had laid eyes on it.

Shadow's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the girl looking back at him, and as a tear began to form in the corner of his eye and he was overcome with terror and disbelief, he managed to breathe a single word to her:

"Maria?"