Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Shadow, the ARK, or anything. But if I did…(drools) (slaps herself in the face) you get the idea! Yeah. I just own Melody…unfortunately…
Melody opened the door to see Shadow leaning his left arm trying to get up. "Hey, what are you doing?" Melody wanted to know. "You're in no condition to be moving yet!"
Shadow lay back down. It was clear that he wasn't going to leave any time soon.
"Well you must be feeling better," Melody said, in a rather irritated tone. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be trying to pull a stunt like that." Melody could see the little bit of rebellion that Shadow had in his eyes as he turned his head away form her and immediately felt guilty. She clutched her left elbow and looked down at it in shame. "I'm sorry for saying that."
Shadow was surprised. He looked up back at her to see her hurt face. The last thing that he was expecting was for Melody to apologise to him. "Maybe I should cut her some slack," Shadow thought. "She did save my life after all."
"You were lucky, you know," Melody said, still not bothering to turn her head back to face him. Shadow just stared at her, with a puzzling look in his eye. "Lucky that the lake is so deep, I mean." She was trying to make light conversation, to try and cut through the density of the room created by her own quick temper when she saw her patient try to get up and walk away. He was obviously unaware of his condition before he awoke. "The deep lake broke your fall, to some extent. Still, you got quite hurt. You broke an arm, a leg, and even a couple of ribs. I didn't really think you'd survive. But somehow, you did. But then, you got a really severe case of pneumonia. That's why you had that fever yesterday. You were lucky to have lived at all." The light conversation she had planned on having didn't seem to work. It just caused more discomfort between the two of them. "I'll get you some water," Melody said after a long minute's worth of silence. "Maybe after you have a sip we can get to a fresh start and clear some things up."
As Melody left Shadow laid himself back down and wondered what she meant by that. Would she ask anything about him? He wasn't sure if he could trust her. He wasn't sure if she would be able to handle it. And although Shadow didn't know it, Melody was wondering the exact same thing about him.
The hedgehog heard Melody sigh before she came into the room. "Here you are," she said, trying to sound and look cheerful. "Drink up." Shadow drank gratefully out of the thin straw and handed the empty glass back to Melody, who pulled up a chair next to Shadow. "Well, I've told you my name," she said as she sat down. "Why don't you tell me yours?"
Shadow knew that Melody would snap at him again, but he had to try. He couldn't stay lying down anymore. He had to get up. Once again, Shadow was surprised by Melody. This time by her actions, not her words. The hedgehog saw Melody offer her hand to him. "I don't believe it!" Shadow thought. "She wants to help me up!"Shadow accepted the teen's helping hand and grunted in pain as he slowly got up. He lay against the backboard of the bed and panted. He was surprised how much energy had been taken out of him when he got up.
"Are you okay?" Melody asked.
Shadow could sense the urgency in her voice. He looked at her again and saw that she was really worried. He decided to try to relieve her. "Yes" he said, "I'm fine."
Melody sighed in relief. "It's good to actually hear that instead of just watching and worrying. Now you want to do me another favour?"
"What's that?" Shadow asked.
"Tell me your name!"
Shadow turned his head away from Melody. He still wasn't sure.
Melody grabbed Shadow's arm, causing him to look back at her. "Look," she said. "I'm getting the feeling that you don't want to tell me anything about yourself, 'cause something drastic happened and you don't think I can handle it."
Shadow was bewildered. "But, how . . .?"
"I felt the same way earlier this morning," Melody told the black hedgehog. "So I decided on something."
"What's that?" Shadow asked. At this point nothing Melody could say or do would surprise him, so he thought, "What's the harm in asking?"
"I want you to make a pact with me," Melody announced. "We be totally honest with each other, no matter what. And if one of us lies, the other will know and demand the truth. What do you say, my furry friend?"
Shadow couldn't help but chuckle. "It's a deal," said Shadow.
(A couple of minutes pass)
"So," Melody said.
"So," said Shadow.
"Weeelllll?" Melody asked.
"Well what?" asked Shadow.
(Melody: anime fall)
(Shadow is totally confused)
"TELL ME YOUR NAME ALREADY!!!!!" Melody screamed. She yelled so loud that Shadow's spikes flew back like Sonic's.
"Take it easy" Shadow said. "Alright, I'll tell you. My name is Shadow . . ."
Shadow told his whole story to Melody, leaving out the part that he was in the lake because he thought that he was just dreaming. The fact that he saw an otter didn't make any sense to him at all. Melody often stopped Shadow to ask questions so that she could get the whole picture of what was going on. About half way through his story, Shadow started to cough. He still hadn't fully recovered from that long plunge from space. Melody immediately went to get some more water for the poor hedgehog and that seemed to do wonders for him.
"I'll hold on to the water," Melody said. "Just grab it if you need some more, okay?"
"Thank you."
Shadow continued his story, occasionally taking long sips of water (it was a big glass). When he finally got to the end of his tale, the sun had set a long while back, the glass was completely empty and Melody was wide eyed with her jaw dropped. She had nearly dropped the glass in her amazement. She couldn't believe how much Shadow had been through. And somehow, he was right there in front of her. ALIVE! Melody felt like she was sitting in front a celebrity that had just dropped by for a visit. This time it was her turn to be bewildered. After hearing the whole story, she had only one thing left to do.
"Shadow," Melody said uneasily as she got up from her chair.
"Hm?"
"I want to show you something. I'll be right back."
In a few minutes, Melody came back with her laptop. "Take a look at this," she said. Melody sat on the edge of the bed and laid her computer on Shadow's lap. She hit the enter key and the movie of how the ARK was saved began to play. It was a news report and in the background there were people screaming. After the movie ended, Melody took her computer back and pulled up the file that she was working on before. "If you stare at this closely, you can see two shiny objects in the light," Melody said. "I couldn't make it out before, but after you're story I think I know what they are. Here."
Melody handed the laptop back to Shadow. He stared real hard at the screen, wondering the technology Melody must have had hidden somewhere to get the image so large, let alone get it at all. He had to look for a long time and squint a lot, but he finally knew what Melody meant.
"That's Sonic and I!" Shadow couldn't believe it!
"Now look at this next shot I got here," Melody said.
Shadow did as he was told. "What happened? Why aren't I there anymore?"
"Pay close attention to Sonic as I play this part in slow-mo," Melody said. They both watched. Shadow bowed his head down and sighed.
"So he is alive after all," Shadow said. "But what about you? I've told you my story, so what's yours?"
Melody stiffly rose from her chair. "I'll tell you tomorrow," she said after she yawned. "It's midnight and we both need our sleep."
"Sure," Shadow said.
Melody turned out the lights. Just before she shut the door, she said "Shadow."
"Yeah?"
"Good job."
"With what?"
"For saving the world, of course!"
Shadow chuckled at her childlike personality.
"Good night Shadow."
As the teen left the room, Shadow realised something. "Melody?"
Melody came back and turned on the lights. "What is it Shadow?"
Shadow blushed. He didn't want to admit it, especially to her. "I need a bit of help getting back down," he reluctantly said.
Melody laughed and helped him to lie down again. "Today was Shadow's turn to reveal his past," Melody thought as she turned off the lights. "And tomorrow will be mine."