"Are you all right, Shadow?" Maria asked. She and Shadow were in the cafeteria of the A.R.K., where they sat at a table alone. Other scientists and military personnel were present, but had opted to leave at least one empty table between themselves and the pair. They sat on opposite sides of the table; Maria was happily munching on a dry salad while Shadow, who'd said he wasn't hungry, cupped his hands around a mug of hot tea.

"I don't mind stares, if that's what you mean," he replied. All around them, Shadow could feel the penetrating stares of the people in the mess hall. It had been this way since he woke up a few days ago, and had since learned to ignore them. Maria had sensed that Shadow was uncomfortable, but it was for a completely different reason. The headaches were getting worse.

"I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong, Shadow," Maria muttered, her voice showing genuine concern.

He looked away. Shadow didn't want to tell anyone about his headaches. It would just give everyone a reason to think he was broken.

"I guess I'm just a little stressed, that's all."

Maria tilted her head slightly to one side and furrowed her eyes in thought, then smiled as an idea popped into her head.

Crap. Shadow thought to himself. "Whatever you just thought of, I'll have no part in."

Maria's face changed to one of feigned shock. "I can't believe you just said that! You don't even know what it was that I thought of!"

"Wrong. I forgot to tell you: the Professor made me clairvoyant," Shadow stated calmly as he sipped his tea.

"Oh really?" Maria asked. She leaned closer to Shadow, hands supporting her chin. "Then, what am I thinking about right now?"

"You're thinking 'There's no possible way for him to know what I'm thinking'," Shadow took another sip from his tea, his eyes fixated on hers.

Maria squinted and scrunched up her face. Shadow put his tea down and leaned back, folding his arms.

"Lucky guess."

"If you say so," Shadow responded.

"Why are we here, again?" Shadow asked.

"Well, you said you were feeling stressed, so we're going to get you some fun and exercise so you don't have to think about it! Great idea, right?"

"Not if it involves a pool." He retorted. Shadow and Maria were standing on the edge of an Olympic sized swimming pool, made for the exercise and relaxation of the A.R.K.'s residents. Maria had on a generic swimsuit provided to all civilians, Shadow had… nothing.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maria asked.

"It means this will end badly. My body's density is higher than the water. I won't float."

"Have you tried?"

"No."

"Then you can't complain. Just do what I do, okay?" Maria took two steps, then jumped into the water, wrapping her arms around her legs and curling like a ball before hitting the water. The water splashed up and back onto Shadow, who was still very hesitant about doing anything near the water. After a second or so, Maria surfaced and faced Shadow.

"Can you see my hands and feet, Shadow?"

Shadow looked closely, watching Maria's legs kick back and forth and her arms wave up and down to keep her head above the water. It looked so easy… it was sure to mean instant death.

"Come on! Just jump in!" Maria waved for him to jump.

Shadow sighed. He could've sworn he'd already disagreed to this. But… once again, Maria had somehow convinced him to come this far. Shadow made a mental effort to push aside his instinct for self preservation. He took several steps back, then made a run for the pool, jumping and curling like Maria did.

Several things happened at once. Firstly, Shadow's odd weight proportions caused his body to spin five times in a forward direction immediately after jumping. Maria, while watching in amazement at Shadow's trajectory into the pool, developed a cramp in her side from her lunch from less than a half hour ago. As Shadow's body hit the pool, the same thought ran through both of their heads: Crap.

Just as Shadow predicted, his body sank to the bottom straight away like a rock. Luckily, he'd had the good sense to take a large gulp of air before jumping in. Shadow's feet landed flat on the bottom of the pool, and he opened his eyes to get his bearings. The chlorine water stung his eyes, and he shut them on reflex. After bracing himself, he opened them again.

Floating in front of Shadow was Maria, frantically attempting to swing three limbs and stay afloat, an attempt which failed miserably. As she sank, Shadow wondered if she was trying to tell him how he was supposed to float. Then, he saw her panicked blue eyes looking around, searching for him.

What is she…? At that moment, Maria, who had held her not-full breath as long as possible, let out the air in her lungs and breathed in on reflex. Her lungs instantly filled with water, and within seconds she passed out, eyes wide. Shadow watched as the air bubbled from her mouth and floated up to the surface. Maria?

Shadow tried to run over to her, only to find his movement severely restricted by the water. He realized his air was beginning to run out as well, and that even if he reached Maria, he wouldn't be able to do anything. He stopped moving and tried to think clearly, despite his lack of oxygen.

What do I do?

Chuck and Walter, two security guards aboard the A.R.K., sat in the Section 22 Video and Emergency Security Station. Chuck was closely watching the video surveillance for anything out of the ordinary while Walter… snored in the seat next to him.

Chuck didn't mind though. Walter had recently been up all night going through the paperwork necessary to bring his family onto the Space Colony, a daunting task if there ever was one. Chuck had decided to let the man get a few hours of shuteye.

A red light on the control panel in front of him lit up red, and multiple alarms began to ring. Chuck went into auto-mode, alerting the Main Security Center of the alarm. Walter promptly jerked awake, confused and slightly disoriented. "What's going on?" he asked in a half-asleep slurred voice.

"There's a fire somewhere… it set off the emergency water sprinklers," Chuck was already in motion, grabbing a fire extinguisher and smoke mask.

"Where's the fire at?" Walter asked, fumbling to grab his gear as well as Chuck opened the door to leave.

"The pool!" Chuck called out behind him.

"All right." Walter acknowledged as he suited up. "…wait. The pool?"

Maria slowly opened her eyes. She took a breath, only to feel an intense burning sensation. Resisting the urge to hack up a lung, she looked around. Maria was on a bed in the infirmary, surrounded by curtains and hooked up to a heart monitor. On her right side, sitting in a chair pulled up to the bed, Shadow's head rested on the mattress, face down. His fists were clenched.

"Shadow…?" Maria spoke weakly. Her throat still burned. "Shadow… it's okay, I'm…"

A low rumble interrupted her. Shadow was still face down, breathing evenly. Maria chuckled, realizing that he was asleep. And snoring.

"Shadow," Maria called out to him. "Shadow." He twitched and opened his eyes slightly. Upon seeing Maria, his eyes popped wide open and he sat up.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked.

"I'm… fine. My throat's a little sore… but I'll manage." Maria was surprised at the gravelly sound of her own voice.

"The doctor said that the water flushed out the surfactant in your lungs, and that you'd feel weak for awhile."

"Yeah… but… how did we…? I mean, you weren't able to swim… and I know I didn't do anything. How did we get out of the pool?"

"Some of the Security Team found us. They must have seen us fall into the pool from a surveillance camera," Shadow lied. "When they pulled us out, one of them revived you, and we brought you here. You've been asleep for nearly a day."

"A day? Wow…" Maria brushed back one of the curtains with her hand and gasped. The entire room was filled with at least two hundred flowers, in all kinds of shapes and sizes. "Where did…?"

"I don't know. The violets on the shelf over there are from the Professor, but everyone else just left their flowers at the door, and some knocked to let me know they were there."

Maria looked at Shadow, eyes wide. "Shadow… you haven't been here the whole time, have you?"

Shadow looked down at his hands, folding and rubbing them together. "I… didn't know if you were going to be all right. Even after you started breathing again, the doctors were throwing words around like 'possible brain damage'. I… wanted to be sure that... you wouldn't…"

Maria smiled and stretched out her hand towards Shadow's face and flicked his nose with her index finger. "I'm not going anywhere, dummy," she said before she leaned back. "Besides… I haven't gotten a chance to see Earth yet."

Shadow looked relieved, and nodded.

"By the way," she added. "I am starving! Do have anything?"

"Me? No."

"…Shadow… did you… eat anything?"

Shadow didn't answer, and averted his eyes. Another loud rumbling filled the room, only this time it was lower. Maria snickered.

"I'll go get you some food," Shadow said as he hurriedly left the room.

The next day, Maria was wandering the halls of the Space Colony, thoroughly bored. Shadow had somehow ducked away, further avoiding more "stress management". Okay, so she almost drowned during their first attempt. So what?

A security guard exited a door in the hallway directly in front of her, and Maria recognized him. It was Walter, and if she remembered correctly, he was filing for his family to join him on the station.

"Walter!" she called out. The guard whipped around, apparently not expecting anyone to be there.

"Oh! Maria! How are you doing?" he shuffled some papers he was carrying in his hands.

"Perfectly well, thanks to you and Chuck. I heard that you two were the ones who pulled me and Shadow out of the pool. Thank you!"

Walter smiled. "No problem. By the way, where is Shadow?"

"Hiding from me, it seems. He's been acting kind of strange ever since I woke up. Well, besides trying to avoid me helping him with his 'stress management'. He seems… distant."

"Shadow's not exactly normal, though. Maybe you should let him stew."

Maria's smile vanished. "What do you mean? Shadow's just like you and me; he just looks a little different. When someone's depressed about something, the last thing you should do is leave them alone!"

"He's a little more different than that, Maria," Walter spoke quietly. "Be careful around him; he's dangerous."

"Shadow wouldn't hurt a fly, even if they did exist on this ship!"

"He wouldn't try to. Guns don't intentionally hurt people either, but that doesn't stop them from being dangerous."

Maria paused. "You know something," she stated. " …what really happened two days ago?"

Walter sighed. "We… Chuck and I, went to the pool because a fire alarm went off."

"A fire alarm?"

"Yeah," Walter continued. "When we got there, the entire pool room was as hot as a sauna. And when we saw the pool… I couldn't believe my eyes. The pool was on fire, as if it was filled with gasoline instead of water."

"But… water can't…"

"Tell that to my eyes. Maria, Shadow flash boiled the surface of the water to set that alarm off. The water had already evaporated down to his knees; all we did was help him get you out!"

Maria quickly recovered. "But because of that you were able to save me, right?"

"We didn't save you, Maria." Walter nearly whispered.

"Wh- what do you mean?"

"We tried our best. After we got you out of the pool, we gave you CPR and chest compressions… but you didn't come back, and the medical team was still four minutes away. Chuck and I'd given up on you. We didn't save you… Shadow did. He told us not to tell anyone… but I think you needed to know."

Maria looked down, overwhelmed. The papers in Walter's hand caught her attention. The form on the top was printed in bold "Withdrawal of Request". He couldn't be…

"Walter…"

"Just… be careful. I'd hate to see something bad happen to either of you." Walter turned and walked briskly down the hall, leaving Maria by herself to ponder on what had happened.

(The person who can figure out the Chuck and Walter name reference will get the next chapter dedicated to them. They are technicians for the same type of machine on two different TV shows that spawned from one movie.)