Tails grabbed Sonic, holding him tightly before nodding to Manic. The green hedgehog concentrated-the pressure to get this right was higher than ever. He took a deep breath, then concentrated on the emerald alter.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Suddenly, Shadow slumped over, head falling on Manic's shoulder. Manic didn't have time to turn his head, so he gripped Shadow as hard as he could as they moved through the special zone. The first thing Manic saw was stars, and as soon as they landed, he fell to his knees, body still not used to inducing chaos control. Tails grabbed Shadow before he fell off, and turned toward the alter. Luckily, Manic had been only a few feet off target, and they were still next to the emerald. Knuckles rushed over, pulling up Shadow. He dangled loosely in the echidna's hands, his eyes half open.

"What's wrong with him?"Tails eyes were wide with fear.

"You need to find a way to recharge him. Now." Knuckles instantly grasped that there was no time for explanations, and set Shadow on top of the Master, then stood next to it. Manic pulled himself up, pushing Sonic up to the alter before collapsing. Shadow's eyes were slowly sliding shut…

"The servers are then seven chaos. Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart…heal and recharge Shadow!" The Master glowed brightly, sending sparks up to the top. Shadow started twitching madly, entire body glowing bright green. Tails could see Knuckles sweating, because he had to keep the power contained. At the foot of the emerald, Sonic started glowing gently as well, but no one noticed. After about a minute, suddenly the power cut off. Shadow started rolling off the Master, and Tails ran to catch him, but he managed to stand on his own two feet. When Shadow pulled his head up, his eyes were bright blue, the color the ocean, and they were full of so much pain, Tails had to turn away.

"Shadow…what happened?" Shadow lifted one arm, looking at it before pulling it up slowly, setting it across his chest before bringing up the other to do the same. When he gingerly curled up his hands, Tails' eyes started tearing up.

Love.

"Tails…me and Sonic…we're sharing a consciousness now. We need to find a way to separate…do you know any way…" Tails took a step back. No way…. When Shadow stepped forward, he held out his arms. Tails hesitated for a moment, before running up into his friend's arms, pulling him tighter into a big hug. It felt…odd, with Shadow's chest fur, but he could feel Sonic in the warmth. He started sobbing into Shadow's chest, and the hedgehog ran his hand through the fox's hair, whispering softly, trying to comfort his friend. Knuckles only watched, not sure what to say. After a time, Tails finally pulled away. His eyes were red, and he was still sniffling, but he managed to speak.

"Wh-what about the thing you were going to do anyway? Could you try that?" Shadow's eyes widened.

"Maybe…it just might work…but we need to give Knuckles some time to rest. Sonic's not going anywhere until then anyway, so might as well get comfortable." Tails was about to argue, but upon seeing the look in Shadow's eyes, stopped short.

"The tents are probably still set up from a few days ago…" Shadow nodded, then his eyes got a glazed over look in them.

"Sonic wants to say something…" He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, they were warmer, happier.

"Tails…little buddy…" Tails ran up and hugged him again.

"Sonic…I thought I'd lost you forever…" Sonic laughed, and it sounded exactly like he always had.

"Even if I go buddy, I'll always be by your side. Forever. Now, let's go get Manic and take a breather, okay?" Tails smiled, nodding happily. They walked over, and Sonic picked up his unconscious brother. When they found the clearing, all of the tents were still there, so they both crawled into the nearest one. When they were both in, Sonic closed his eyes, again.

"Shadow's going to be the one talking, okay? I get a really big headache when Sonic takes over." Tails shrugged. Better than nothing, right?

"So... what really happened? How did you know?" He shrugged.

"I could feel myself fading…the energy wasn't doing much good…when I heard another voice. It sounded familiar, so I tried to figure out who it was, chanting stay here, stay alive, stay here, stay alive. I saw Sonic, and I assumed that I was dead, but he walked up to me and started shaking me. He said something…what was it…oh yea. He said, 'Wake up! You're not dead yet, and they need you!' The last thing before I woke up was him dissolving into mist, saying that he'd help me through. Then, I opened my eyes, and he started talking to me again. After that…well, you saw." Tails' mouth was hanging open. That's amazing…

"But…how do you share…?" Shadow shrugged.

"He stays in the corner of my mind, unless I let him out. Right now, he's listening, but he can't talk unless I let him." In the corner, Manic stirred.

"Oh man, what happened?" Shadow crawled over, obviously letting Sonic take control.

"Bro, what happened? I can't quite remember…" Manic's eyes widened.

"What are you talking about, Shadow?" Tails moved forward, answering Manic's unasked question.

"Shadow and Sonic are sharing Shadow's body until we can separate them." Manic looked from Tails to Shadow.

"And how long will that be?" Tails shrugged.

"Whenever Knuckles is back to full power. So, I'd say…I don't know. Shadow?"

"Probably around 2 hours." Manic shrugged.

"I can wait 2 hours…" Right then, Knuckles tapped the outside of the tent.

"You guys okay in there?" Tails jumped, but laughed when he realized that it was only Knuckles.

"Yea. It's kind of crowded, though…" Manic jumped to his feet.

"I'll move to the other tent, if it's still up. I wanted to sleep, actually." Tails nodded, settling back down. As Manic left, Knuckles crawled in.

"Sooo, how long before we do this?" Shadow shrugged.

"Whenever you're ready. I thought you should be back to full capacity before we try this." Knuckles replied slowly.

"Probably about another hour or so…what about you?" Shadow crawled back a bit.

"Manic had a good idea…I think I'll sleep." Tails stood up.

"I'll go wait outside then." After Tails and Knuckles stepped out, Shadow laid down, suddenly very tired. But, hard as he tried, he couldn't sleep.

Shadow…you can fall asleep. You're keeping yourself up.

Oh, shut up Sonic.

Want me to help?

Fine.

Shadow felt his eyelids drooping closed, and could hear Sonic's smug laugh before falling into a deep sleep…

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