The smell of smoke gracefully wafted against Shadow's nose as he stirred from sleep. The two of them had fallen asleep during the movie, and the television had been turned off. It seemed strange that Blue would have turned off the television on her own, given that she was by all means unsure of where the power button would have been, but an out-of-alignment remote on the coffee table made it clear that she'd watched him control the television without leaving his spot. Not that he could anyway- Blue had curled up on his lap like a cat.

The smoke. The smoke! Shadow's eyes went wide and he shot up. "Blue, where are you?" he said, slightly concerned at the prospect of a fire.

He spotted her in the kitchen, carefully flapping her wings as she hovered in front of a pan on the stove. "Blue, what on Earth are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh! You're awake," she said. "I uh… I wanted to make breakfast. I hope you don't mind angel food cake flavor for pancakes. It's the only recipe I remember off the top of my head." She sighed. "I'm having trouble not burning them."

Shadow smirked. "You set it on high, didn't you?" he asked.

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" she asked.

"Not for pancakes," he said, walking towards her. He reached over and turned the dial from a ten to a six. "You shouldn't use the maximum for much besides boiling water."

"Oops," she said. "Guess that's another thing I'm gonna need to remember."

"Not necessarily," Shadow said. "Do you remember how picky I was with my food?"

"Well, yes," Blue said. "You always wanted it bland. Maybe with butter and salt sometimes."

Shadow smiled as he scraped the burnt pancake off the pan. "Well, I've since learned that you can add other things to make food interesting. I said I didn't like pizza delivery, but that was only half the reason."

"Well, what was the other half?" she asked. She cautiously grabbed the pancake and bit into it before grimacing and setting it back onto the plate.

"How do I put it?" Shadow asked. "Hm…" He poured batter into the pan and tilted his head in thought. "I suppose the best way to say it is that food tastes better when you make it yourself." He took the half-eaten pancake and bit into it. There was a noticeable crunch, but he didn't seem to pay it any mind at all. "Or when someone makes it for you."

Blue giggled. "I'm glad to be safe."

"I'm glad you're safe, too." Shadow flipped the pancake over. "Do you mind getting me the whipped cream and the strawberries? The former should be in a blue can with a red cap."

Blue nodded and went to grab the ingredients. "So, what are we making for lunch?" she asked. "You don't have any bread for sandwiches."

"Sandwiches?" Shadow asked, not even looking away from the pan as he casually took the pancake and flipped it onto a clean plate. He poured another pancake and continued. "No, we aren't gonna make sandwiches this time. Too obvious."

"Then what are we making?" Blue asked, pulled the strawberries out. "Ah, yes, here they are…" she muttered.

Shadow flipped the second pancake over and listened as the liquid sizzled. "We're making onigiri. It'll stay fresh a lot longer than sandwiches would."

"Ah, right. Didn't we make those before?" she asked.

"Yeah, a few times. Though I've since learned that the rice isn't soaked that way. It's why it didn't turn out as well as it could- too much starch."

"I see," Blue said. "Um, I saw that it was cold outside. I'm not sure how warm I'll be able to stay."

Shadow chuckled. "Why don't you go check my bedroom. I left something on the bed that I figured you'd probably like. Not that you have to wear it or anything, but I figured a housewarming gift was in order."

Blue set the ingredients on the counter as Shadow set the second pancake on the plate and poured another. She waited a moment, and then rounded the corner and went down the small hallway.

Shadow chuckled to himself, reminded of how strange the circumstances had become. For years and years he'd wrestled with the idea that his best friend was gone forever. But she was right here. Yes, she was a bit sillier than usual, but he had no doubt in his mind that a lot of it came from her new instincts.

But were those years of frustration and grief a waste? Maybe. He was immortal, after all- it wasn't like he was wasting a finite amount of time. But even so, it felt like those years were for nothing.

No, he thought, don't think that way. They weren't for nothing. He looked at the empty doorway for a moment as he remembered that she went to try on what he'd bought her. They were for her.

He carefully reached into a drawer to the side of the oven and pulled out a thin, glove-like covering. They were specially designed for avoiding the removal of his gloves while also providing burn resistance. Carefully, he slid them on. He flipped the pancake over before bending down to pull out the rice cooker.

"Shadow?"

The black hedgehog flared his spines in surprise and knocked the pan off the stove. "B-Blue?"

The darkling, dressed in a fleece-lined coat, rushed forward and grabbed the pan- but not at the handle- causing Shadow to panic a bit as he came close. "Blue, y-you're hurt, and.."

"No, I'm not," she said. She gently set the pan back on the stove.

"You… aren't burned from that?" Shadow asked.

"Nope!" she replied. "My biology is designed to withstand that. I don't feel pain from heat and I can't really be set on fire."

"Not all Black Arms are like that, you know. And I would know," Shadow said. "When… when did you figure out you could do that?"

"This morning, when I was making pancakes." Blue smirked. "Pretty cool, huh?"

Shadow smiled. "Yeah, it is. I guess you're a lot tougher than I gave you credit for." He sighed as he set the pancake, still somehow in the pan, onto the plate. He then turned off the stove and stood up, opening the can of whipped cream and spraying it on the top of the stack. He pulled a box out from the cabinet above and fished out a container with a series of holes in the top.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Well, sometimes if I think I've done a good job, I let myself have some of these." He poured out a series of yellow star sprinkles on top of the whipped cream. "I figured since you've been brave for me all this time, you deserve to have some." He finished the stack with a sizable heap of strawberries and turned around with the plate, setting it on the table behind him. "Eat up, we have a long day ahead of us."

"What do you mean?" Blue asked. "We're just going to see Sylphic, right?"

"Well, I have a bunch of other errands I need to run with you, too. You aren't gonna be under my roof without the necessities."

"I mean, I have a roof, I have food, what else do I need?"

Shadow grinned. "Well, for starters, you only have two outfits- the one you showed up in and this one." A noticeable blush crept across his face. "It looks… nice on you, by the way."

"Thank you, I got it from a really great guy," Blue replied with an equally wide grin. "He must work really hard for the people he loves. If he ever decides to settle down, whoever he's with is gonna be very happy."

Shadow lost his smile in his own embarrassment. He'd never thought about something like that in his life. He wasn't even sure if he should settle down- he was always the type to keep moving. But even if he did, he doubted he'd be in a couple with anybody. He was already at home with his new sister.

He remembered the kiss he'd been given a few days ago. He wasn't sure why he'd felt nothing with Rouge. She was great- wonderful, even- but there was some hint of wrongness to that stolen kiss. Perhaps it was that he'd never been kissed before. Perhaps it was his own reservations about love. Perhaps it was a third thing he couldn't think of at that moment.

Blue pulled a fork out of the drawer and scampered over to her pancakes, digging in haphazardly with her fork. "Shadow, what's the matter?" she asked.

"Oh? Nothing, it's nothing." He paused. "I just have a lot of stuff on my mind. Stuff I need to sort out on my own." He began to work on the rice, pouring two cups into the removable inner lining of the rice cooker before running it under the water and sloshing it around. What could it be? he thought.

"Oh, I see," Blue said. Her tone was a little different than usual though. "I didn't mean to pry."

Shadow turned around and looked at her. "I-It's not like that, I…"

Blue paused. "Wait, did you just…"

The black hedgehog stopped for a moment and stared. "You can… communicate with me? I thought that was part of Concerto's powers."

"Huh," she said. "Perhaps it's just a feature of the Black Arms race, something she hijacked. It's hard to tell, considering how endangered we are now."

Shadow nodded. "I... " He gently poured the water out, careful not to spill the rice, before pouring new water in and swishing it around. "I don't really put much stock into the whole… dating thing."

"I can understand why," Blue said.

"In fact, I'm still grappling with the prospect that eventually you'll…" he paused. "Best not to think about it, right?"

"Well, the longer you hold onto it, the more it'll eat at you," Blue said. "I don't know if I'm immortal or not, but I do know I'm extremely durable, and that I was created to destroy you. I mean... "

Shadow sighed, and homed in on her thoughts. "I understand what you meant."

Blue nodded. "It's hard not to talk about my Black Arms history and my life before with you like they both truly happened," she thought back to him.

Shadow set the inner-lining pot down and walked over to her. "All that matters now is that you don't wanna do that stuff anymore, that you aren't forced to do that stuff. You're safe here, I promise."

Blue nodded. "I need to finish my pancakes so I can help you out," she said aloud.

Shadow chuckled. "Okay. But you have to wash your hands before you get to touch the rice," he said.

Blue firmly agreed and got to work on her pancakes.

Shadow went back and continued soaking the rice to remove the starch. He smiled and hummed to himself for a bit before thinking. "Hey Blue," he thought. "I forgot to tell you- we're collecting tree feathers today, too."

"Don't you mean leaves?" she replied aloud.

"Guess old habits die hard," he said. He filled the liner with the appropriate amount of water and set it in the rice cooker before setting the lid on and pressing down a button. Then he walked to the fridge and pulled out a jar of purple plums suspended in liquid.

"What're those?" Blue asked.

"Pickled plums, I was gonna put them in the onigiri."

"Huh," she said. "Can I have one?"

"I dunno," Shadow said with a smirk. "They're pretty sour, I'm not sure you could handle it." He spoke the last few words like a challenge.

Blue picked up on that. "Don't tease me, terrestrial," she said. "Gimme one."

Shadow raised an eyebrow and opened the jar before tossing her one. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Blue put the plum in her mouth and Shadow watched as her face turned from joy to a playful panic. "It's… good…" she said.

Shadow shook his head and handed her a napkin. "If you don't like it, you can just say so- I won't be offended."

Blue swallowed the plum in protest. "No way! I'm not just gonna let you win!" she said.

Shadow smiled. "Consider it payback for the time you mixed seventeen different drinks and it curdled in my stomach."

"You remember that?" she asked.

"I remember all of the fun times we had, even if I spent my afternoon coughing up everything inside me from our poor choices. It was still fun," he said.

"Even the gross drink?" Blue said.

"Even the gross drink."

Sylphic sat quietly alongside the University's botanical pond. The ducks had just gone south for the winter, and the wind off of the bay was growing colder than ever. He didn't blame the waterfowl for their choice- he only wished he could have gone with them.

Maria. Right , he thought. She's probably gonna be cold. Oh, but Shadow's probably given her a jacket, perhaps a scarf as well…

It was strange, this sort of meeting. On one hand, he knew Maria well- his predecessor's memories informed him. But on the other hand, she'd never met him before, and in a strange way it was comforting to know that this could be a first impression. Even though it put his mind at ease a little, the strangeness of the interaction was ever-apparent.

He looked at the crows that overlooked the trees. He knew their common augury- a symbol of death- yet he spotted no reason to be concerned. For starters, such superstitions were baseless, but moreover, a generalized prediction was no way to tell a fortune accurately.

A leaf fell into the pond- a red maple leaf- and he smiled, remembering how Maria would collect leaves from aircraft pilots and make scrapbook pages with them, detailing their structures. What a studious young lady she was. Sylphic smiled a bit, content that he'd finally get to meet the one who had haunted him since he was awakened.

A screeching sound rang out overhead as a familiar face caught a goose in her arms. It was Blue, and she was plummeting fast as she jarred a sugary churro from the waterfowl's beak. "You can't just steal that!" she yelled. "That's not yours!"

Sylphic frowned and pooled water below, breaking her fall as she dropped into it. She kicked and struggled to maintain buoyancy before the hybrid gently set her down. The water flowed and soaked into the grass. "Sorry," he said, closing his fist.

"Huh?" Blue asked. She stiffened as a puff of steam sent the wet feeling away. "Oh, I guess that's pretty neat."

"What in the world are you doing out here? The wind chill is only expected to get worse," the hybrid said.

"Well, I—"

"Blue!" Shadow shouted from over a small hill nearby. "You can't just run off like that! I almost…" his voice petered out as he locked eyes with Sylphic.

The hybrid looked at him, then to Blue, then back to Shadow. "I… where is…"

Shadow held up the bag he brought with him. "I brought lunch."

Sylphic swallowed hard and nodded. "I… I didn't know what to expect but…"

Blue tilted her head as she sat down on the picnic blanket. "I… I know we met on the ARK before, but…"

Syll smiled. "Blue, right? Um… Sylphic." He held out his hand. "You… um, don't know me, right? Um…"

Blue smiled and took his hand with both of hers. "I'm afraid you're new, but to you I wouldn't be, would I?"

Syll chuckled. "I-I suppose not…" He clutched his forehead. "I had no idea that you'd be… well, like this."

"I was asleep for a long time, and when Shadow brought me up to the ARK, the memories just clicked together, and I woke up for real, I guess," Blue explained. "Blue was the last color I saw because I was looking down at the planet below."

Syll nodded. "That certainly makes sense. I like that name." He wiped away tears that were forming along his eyes and sniffled.

"I guess he really missed me that much, didn't he?" Blue asked. She scooted a bit closer.

"It's… nothing. I mean, I'm not even him… right?" Sylphic said. "I shouldn't be feeling this way…"

Shadow smirked. "You seem a bit choked up."

Syll frowned. "Shadow, this isn't funny, I'm experiencing some very conflicting emotions…"

Blue leaned against the hybrid and reached her arms around his middle. "Then don't let them conflict," she replied. "Just let them exist. It's what he told me when I was little. Why shouldn't you do the same?"

Syll smiled. "Y-you… remembered that? You were only seven…"

"Doesn't matter how old I was. What matters is that you gotta let the bad stuff out so you can let the good stuff in."

Syll turned and hugged her tightly. "Of course he missed you…" he whispered, carefully stroking her head. "He missed you so much… he lost his mind over you, I…" He trailed off. "Forgive me, it's hard to separate myself from him."

"It's okay to be who you are, even if he's a part of that, Syll," Shadow said. "You aren't that deceit- you're so much more than that. Remember."

Sylphic nodded. "R-right…" He carefully pulled a gift from his satchel. "I hope this isn't too weird of a gift."

Blue took the parcel, a lumpy thing wrapped in brown paper and tied with blue twine. She nodded and undid the strings before grinning. "You… you fixed it."

In her arms was the shell that had been broken before, now patched with gold.

"It's called kintsugi," the hybrid said. "It means 'gold joining' and it's an eastern art form. It… it represents finding beauty in flaws. I tried my best with it, I hope it's okay." Syll looked away. "I know that shell meant a lot to you."

"It does, but I'm not sure if I'll need it as much as I used to. I mean, now I can hear the ocean for real," Blue said. "Even so, it's beautiful. I'll treasure this for a long time. You're right- things aren't perfect and rosy anymore, but I'm here now. Hopefully, that's enough." She leaned into the hybrid again. "Thank you."

Syll felt his tears rush down his cheeks. "Wow, he's missed you that much," he said. "Why am I crying?"

"Because you didn't think this would ever happen. He thought I was gone. You and Shadow thought I was gone. Heck, I thought I was gone. But these aren't sad tears at all- it's called closure," Blue said. She reached up and wiped at his face with the back of her hand. "They're good tears."

Shadow opened the pack he'd brought with him. "It's lunchtime," he said. "I'm starving. I brought a few things with."

"I helped a little bit," Blue said. "My hands were a little too small though, so all the little ones are mine." She chuckled. "You don't mind right? I've become a bit of a big eater."

Syll smirked. "I don't mind."

A ginko leaf fell down into the hybrid's lap, and he grinned as he picked it up and handed it to Shadow. "Here, you said you and her were gonna go leaf-hunting. May as well kick it off with this one."

"Did you find that scrapbook?" Shadow asked.

"I'm still looking for it, but I'll probably find it soon, depending on how many strings are pulled," Syll replied. "Right now, I think I'll just enjoy this weather."

Shadow smirked. "Glad to see you're okay," he said.

"I'm glad to be okay," he replied. "Are you two doing anything later?"

"We have errands, but after eight we should be golden," the black hedgehog replied.

"I have tickets to something," he said. "It's kind of a cool movie theatre- they bring you food and drinks and the seats recline."

Shadow nodded. "Blue, you wanna see another movie?"

"I dunno," Blue replied.

"What if I told you they had sugar?" Syll asked with a mischievous grin.

"Sign me up!" she said, shoving a rice ball into her mouth. "Don't wait to eat! The seaweed will get soggy."

Syll took an onigiri and laughed. "You've become rather curious, haven't you?"

"I always have been, Syll," Blue replied. "I just refuse to be modest about my passions now."

"That's for the better, then," the hybrid replied. He raised his hand. "Hey, um… do you want to see something neat? It'll be like old times."

"Oh?" Blue and Shadow said in unison.

Syll grinned and flicked his hand up with his fingers held together, sending a stream of water into the air. He then separated his fingers, and the drops solidified into thousands of flakes. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Showoff," Shadow said.

Blue's eyes were wide as she watched the flakes fall. She caught one on her tongue. "You remember that too, don't you?" she asked.

"I wouldn't have done it if I didn't," Syll said, chuckling. "Welcome to Earth, Blue."