Before this chapter begins, I'd like to point out that much of the dialogue(as well as the mood) is inspired by the song: Sound the Bugle (From Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)

Once they returned to base, the officers left, and Knuckles and Adalia had to work together to get the unconscious wolf to a doctor, they knew just where to take him. As they arrived at Nadia's room, Kimberly immediately set up another bed for the wolf.

"He's been here for her, the least I can do is return the favor."

Once they all got him settled, Kimberly got the most painful procedures out of the way, the most painful injections, and getting a mental monitor on him to keep an eye on his mental state. While they were inserting an IV to keep a certain medicine in him, he showed signs of waking up.

"His ears are twitching." Sonic noted, having walked in to check on the wolf.

"He's awake, but with all the medicine in him, he's not going to respond to anyone." Kimberly made clear.

Gadget's eyes opened, but were horribly unfocused, strange for the spectacled wolf.

Sonic waved his hand in Gadget's face, just in case he'd respond.

"Well?" Kimberly asked.

"Nothing." Sonic observed.

"He's drugged, of course he isn't responding!" Knuckles added.

Sonic wouldn't give up. "Hey. Buddy. Wake up. Aaaggent."

Gadget snarled, but it was very quiet, more of a sound of annoyance than a full out snarl. He stopped once Sonic quit waving his hand in his face and resumed his unresponsive state.

"Quit buggin' him, Sonic!" Knuckles griped.

"Leave him alone, Commander. He's Sonic."

"Maybe something with Nadia's scent?" Sonic asked, trying to get Gadget to be responsive.

"Do we have anything?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, she was covered in blood, is anything she had on not covered in blood?"

"We actually got the blood out of everything that she was wearing, so nothing has her scent." Kimberly replied.

"Well, go rub something on her scent glands!" Knuckles commanded.

Kimberly nodded, she grabbed Nadia's top shirt, and pressed it against her facial scent glands. "Done." She held it on Gadget's nose.

His nose twitched as he sniffed. "Leave me... Leave me lying here... I don't care... I fought for what I believed in... Take Nadia... She needs help..." Gadget mumbled mindlessly.

"He thinks he's dying on a battlefield." Knuckles observed. "I know someone who can help."

Sonic looked at him. "Who?"

"Go find Amy and ask for Gears."

"We don't have a soldier named Gears..." Sonic started.

"I know, but he's been here since Nadia rescued him from getting blown up. He's Gadget's twin brother."

"Oh. Ok." Sonic sped out to ask for this mystery wolf.

A few minutes later, an agitated voice hollered as a blue blur sped back into the room.

"Easy!" Sonic declared, holding a very displeased dark green wolf.

"Get your rebel paws off me!" Gears yelled, slapping Sonic in the face.

"Ow. Strong paws."

"Meet my brother, he's the Alpha." Gears grumbled.

"Mental note: ow, ow, ow, Don't tick off Gadget. If getting slapped by Gears hurts this bad, getting slapped by Gadget must hurt!"

"Guess Infinite learned the hard way." Knuckles chuckled, remembering for a second how Infinite looked when he and the police arrived.

Infinite looked terrified, and beat up.

"Why did you drag me here?" Gears tapped his foot impatiently.

They scooted out of the way so Gears could see his brother.

Gears was alight with fury.

"YOU SAID MY BROTHER WASN'T HURT IN THE BATTLE! YOU SAID HE WAS ALRIGHT! WHY IS HE HERE IF HE'S 'OK'?!"

"It's a mental condition, not a medical condition!"

Gears froze. His ears drooped. "I promised Mom and Dad's ghosts that I'd protect him, we were supposed to go off on our own, start our own packs, but then the war started, our whole family crushed to death, and me believing Gadget died with them. When I found him, I promised Mom and Dad that I'd protect him with my life. I didn't know at the time that he was working for The Resistance. I can't believe...

I failed."

His knees buckled once he reached Gadget's bedside.

"Gadget..." A strangely female voice called.

Gadget's ears twitched. "Mom?" His head turned to look above Gears as ghosts filled his vision.

"It is not your time to go, Gadget..." His mother's voice echoed. She appeared to him, as green as his brother, but much more gentle. "Be strong, my son, if you give up, what do the deaths of thousands mean?"

Gadget softly gasped as multiple ghosts, some family, most fallen members of the Resistance, and even some he didn't even know, filled his vision. If he gave up, the fallen soldiers would have died in vain, the others, their brutal murders forgotten.

"Be strong tonight..." His mother pleaded.

The ghosts began disappearing, but the tens of ghosts all gave him one last message.

"Remember who you are..."