As soon as Shadow stepped outside, the cold sliced neatly through him, gutted him, and proceeded onwards uncaringly. He shook off a fit of shivers and pawed at his forehead, fighting back the caffeine buzz he'd contracted. Dang that old rabbit . . . he'd really managed to get to him. It was funny; Shadow had been scoffing at all the tenets of the holidays himself all along, but hearing somebody else disparaging the traditions of Christmas . . . kind of hurt somehow. Kind of the way he teased his teammates all the time, but got defensive if anyone else said the exact same things about them.
He stood in the snow for a while, arguing with himself. He couldn't keep denying it now: he did kind of, maybe, just a little, wish he was back at home. It's not like he really missed it that much, just that . . . he missed Maria. A lot. The others too, he admitted grudgingly. He didn't really care about sparkly trees or presents or sappy songs, but it still hurt to be left out of the experience when everyone else was there having it together.
Biting his lip, he hesitantly approached the payphone built into the side of the motel. It was an uncomfortable situation; calling home was basically admitting to the others that he missed them. It wasn't an admission he cared to make, especially since he was going to hear about it. Inevitably. For a minute he scrabbled for a suitable excuse. Perhaps pretend he needed some data from Rouge or Tails to continue his research? No, they'd see through that. It would make much better sense to call G.U.N. for that kind of info.
Sighing, he scrapped the idea entirely. Heck, everyone knew he missed Maria, so that could be his excuse. Just say he wanted to wish Maria a happy Christmas. They couldn't make fun of him for that, right?
Well, here went nothing. He pulled out a ring, dropped it into the slot, and dialed Amy's house.
It rang for quite a while. Shadow suddenly wondered if Amy or anyone else would even pick up. Suppose they were all having a good time and didn't care to answer? Suppose they were out watching the kids rehearse for their Christmas play? Suppose they'd changed their minds and had moved to somebody else's house, or—
"Hello?" came Amy's voice suddenly.
Never mind.
"Amy?" Shadow tried to remember what his excuse was. In the process he paused just a little too long.
"Shadow, is that you?" asked Amy. "I thought you didn't get G.U.N. cell service in Holoska."
"I'm at a payphone."
"Ohh, I see. Is something wrong?" Amy's voice took on a note of concern.
"No, I'm fine. I just—" Shadow braced himself— "I just wanted to speak to Maria, if that's all right. Is she available?"
"Oh." A moment of silence. "Um, I—let me go check, okay?" Her voice seemed to quaver oddly for a second, but Shadow passed it off as a bad connection. It was a wonder the payphone was working at all, what with the electrical disturbances.
"So uh, Rouge is here right now. Do you want to talk to her meanwhile?" asked Amy.
"No!"
Much good it did, though; there was already a sound of a fumbling receiver. Shadow almost hung up then and there, but stayed on the line for Maria's sake.
"So, finally decided to give us a ring, huh?" came Rouge's voice. Shadow's eyebrows twitched upwards slightly. He'd instantly been able to calculate the tone he'd expect Rouge to use, but he'd calculated wrong. The question seemed only half-acerbic, as if she was forcing sarcasm. Was something going wrong back there?
"Probably wish you hadn't, huh?" she continued.
"You bet," muttered Shadow.
"Yeah, not the best news to get, I know," sighed Rouge. "Try not to think about it."
"What news?" Shadow's ears twitched forward tensely, his fingers growing tighter around the cold receiver.
"I don't want you freaking out over there, you've got a mission to—" Rouge broke off. "Wait, Amy didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?" asked Shadow grimly.
"Nothing." Way too quickly.
"What is going on over there?" growled Shadow, setting his teeth. "What's wrong?"
"Drop it Shadow, okay? You need to finish the mission, we can't have you going AWOL."
"Rouge! Spit it out!"
"I thought Amy had told you," groaned Rouge, clearly trying to get out of the admission.
"Told. Me. What?!"
"Nothing, nothing, just about Maria being sick—"
"What?!"
"Don't worry about it," said Rouge despairingly. "I'm so sorry, I guess Amy didn't want you w—"
"What's she sick with? Is it serious? Can't I speak to her?"
"I-I . . . "
Shadow took a deep breath, steadying himself against the wall with one hand. He was not in the habit of losing his cool; now was not a great time to start.
"Rouge. Is it serious?"
Silence.
"Rouge?"
"Look, Shadow—"
"Please insert extra change to continue your call!" interrupted a particularly heartless automated lady.
"Rouge, hurry! What's wrong with—"
The call cut off.
Shadow closed his eyes and slowly drew frigid air into his lungs. He reached for another ring to call again, but stopped himself. Quietly the different courses of action laid themselves out in his mind, like a neatly arranged game of dominos. One option was to stay here. He had to complete his mission, and his being back at home wouldn't make any difference in Maria's state of health. It's not like he could cure her just by going back.
On the other hand, the others' evasiveness and assurances not to worry were sure signs that it was serious. Supposing it was . . . that kind of serious? Supposing something were to happen? He had to be there. Even if the worst were to happen, it would be a hundred times easier to take if he could be there with Maria, instead of miles away, as if he'd abandoned her. No, never. Even if he couldn't cure her, he had to be there for her.
He fumbled to pull out all his remaining rings and cursed softly; three. Three measly rings. If he just hadn't had so many refills at that blasted tavern—but then again, he might not be here if he hadn't had that many refills . . . there was no use crying over spilled milk. He couldn't waste his rings on calling home again, he had to contact G.U.N.. Getting hold of the commander was always difficult, especially at this hour . . . and he had a very difficult task ahead of him. How to talk his way out of completing the mission? And that was even ignoring the sting of having to ask Commander Towers for anything.
Sighing, Shadow dropped in the first ring, hoping that three would be enough.
Phone conversations drove Shadow crazy; it was impossible to intimidate people into hurrying when they couldn't see you. Through all the call transfers and holds, he wasted two rings; he had just dropped in the the third when Commander Towers finally picked up.
Shadow drew in his breath resignedly. The situation was more or less hopeless now, there was no way he could convince the commander to let him off within the space of fifteen minutes. But he could at least give an excuse so he wouldn't be entirely AWOL—
"Commander," he said quickly. "This is Shadow, reporting from Holoska."
"Ah. Have you got anything to report?"
"Nothing since the last update," said Shadow, setting his teeth. How to word this? "Actually, I wanted to request—"
"Early leave?" asked the commander drily.
" . . . Yes."
Well, he knew the answer to that already—
"All right."
—and that wasn't it.
"Are you still there?" asked the commander, as Shadow regarded the phone receiver with disbelief. He was starting to wonder if he hadn't somehow phoned the wrong Commander Towers.
"Early leave granted?" Shadow managed at last, regaining his presence of mind.
"I received some notice beforehand regarding your profile status," said Commander Towers wearily. "Apparently there was an inaccuracy in religious affiliation. You didn't say anything about it, so there was no change made. However, it was agreed that if you should ask to be excused from the mission, early or entirely, the excuse would be granted."
Rouge. Gosh darn the bat. Of all the sneaky—ohh, he didn't have any right to complain. She'd only taken what he was too proud to do and done it for him; technically he owed her. It wasn't even her job to save him from himself, and yet she bothered.
"You are aware you'll be expected to make up for this during the upcoming year," the commander continued.
"Of course," said Shadow, not really caring—that was irrelevant just now. "When can I leave?"
"Now, if it suits you. Only take a sample of that rock you were suspicious about. We'll test it and see if that might be the cause of the disturbances."
"Yes sir." Shadow winced, but bit his tongue and said it: "Thank you."
"You're lucky. Goodnight."
The commander hung up just as the annoying automated lady began to chirp "Please insert extra change—", cutting her off neatly. Even in his current frame of mind, Shadow couldn't help but find that somewhat gratifying.
He swung hastily through his room at the motel just to snatch up his backpack. Not long now; just snatch a sample of rock, jet-skate home (or Chaos Control if he could manage it), and he'd soon know how Maria was doing. She just had to hang on a little longer, just a little longer . . .
He was at the windswept clifftop in an instant. Pebbles clicked under his feet as the wind howled around him, sweeping ghostly swirls of dry snow across the stone. He picked one of the pebbles up and surveyed it, wondering if it was made of the same stuff as the main rockface. Well, no sense risking it; he'd just break off a piece of the main cliff somewhere.
Finding a point at the edge of the cliff where the rock seemed slightly cracked, he struck it with the heel of his hand. It didn't show any hints of breaking. Well, worth a try . . .
"Chaos Spear!" he ordered, drawing back a hand. Nothing happened. He tried several more times, but he simply couldn't summon the familiar bolt of Chaos energy—and it was usually second nature for him. Something was definitely off here.
Muttering, he looked around for a tool of some sort. Nothing he could hope to use as a lever, but he spied a large loose rock sitting nearby, on an outcrop of the cliff. Maybe he could use it as a hammer.
Clambering to his feet, Shadow stepped out onto the outcrop to pick up the stone. Just as he was about to grab it, there was a dangerous groan, seemingly from underneath his feet, like thick rope about to snap. He turned, his ears swiveling, as the groaning moved back and forth, changing place, multiplying, growing deeper, mixing in with a crisp crackling noise, crawling around inside the cliff face. Suddenly there came an ear-splitting CRACK!, and the ground dropped out from under Shadow's feet.
"Chaos Control!" he barked, just before something caught him in the head and knocked him cold.
