Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic Adventure 2 or Shadow or anything... SonicTeam and Sega do.

"Okay, Shadow, you ready?"

"Nnn..." Shadow winced.

Since Shadow's skin had healed enough, the plastic wrap had been replaced with normal bandaging... and now it was going to be removed altogether...

Sonic grinned halfheartedly. 'Great, just what I need to see... Shadow... with no fur...'

Tails, Amy, and Sonic stepped out of the way as the nurse came in the door.

It had been less than a week... and already Shadow had healed sufficiently to have all the dressings removed without a risk of infection. "The skin will heal faster while it's exposed to the air," the doctor had pointed out.

Shadow wriggled at the nurse's touch. 'Not in front of Sonic and his friends...'

Sonic covered Amy and Tails' eyes.

The nurse started to peel off the bandagings, when she was called out for another duty. She sighed. She said to Sonic, "Watch him, please..." She hurried out the door.

Sonic, Tails, and Amy walked over to Shadow cautiously. "How's it feel, huh Shad?" Sonic snickered. "A little cold?"

"...don't call me Shad..." Shadow muttered, his face being free of dressings.

"Does it hurt?" Amy squeaked. She could see some exposed skin where the singed fur had rubbed off.

"No." Shadow shook his head, the loose bandage irritating him. "Get it off..."

Sonic took the bandage and unwrapped some of it. "Sonic, don't..." said Tails. "You're not certified to do that--"

"Whatever." Sonic loosened the bandage. He removed it from Shadow's head.

Shadow opened his eyes wearily. He blinked twice to focus. The first thing he saw was Sonic's face, staring at his. Then Tails and Amy, peering over the edge of the bed.

"...what..." he coughed.

"Shadow's... fur..." Tails' eyes widened.

Shadow turned away and could feel his face flush. 'My fur... it probably all got burned off...'

"Shadow! Your fur... it's growing back already!"

"Wha?" Shadow's eyes widened, more than he would have liked to admit. He tried to look at himself...

"Sonic, he can't see his own face," Tails pointed out.

"What? Oh, yeah..." Sonic shrugged and pulled the bandages off Shadow's right arm.

The fur there was slightly more damaged than on his face, with more of it being singed off, but there was a soft fuzz growing back nonetheless. Shadow blinked and stared at it. His skin was still quite visible, but the black fur and the red stripe were beginning to show...

...and this worried him.

'They'll know who I am...' he thought. He touched his head and quills with his bare right hand. He could feel several quills that had torn or burned off, but still more that were obviously growing back. The distinct quills that turned up at the ends weren't back yet... but they would be.

Tails was also occupied with the same thoughts. "Sonic..." he pointed out, "the military and G.U.N. will be onto him if they can recognize who he is."

"But he helped me save the world!" Sonic said.

"But the military!"

"But we saved the world!"

"But what about 'Project: Shadow'?"

"But we saved the world, Tails!!"

"But you might get caught too!"

Sonic threw his arms in the air. "Tails, you ruin everything, you know."

The nurse came back in. "All right, let's get those bandages--" Seeing Shadow's head and arm free of bandages, she turned to Sonic, Tails, and Amy. "Did you take off--"

"Yeah," said Sonic. "So?"

The nurse sighed and turned back to Shadow. As she undid the bandages, an idea struck Tails.

"Um, ma'am? Could you give us an idea of what kind of condition he's in at the moment?"

"Uhh..." the nurse paused. She checked Shadow's profile. "Well... technically, there's really nothing left, just a few minor injuries here and there."

"Would it be possible for us to take Sha-- uh, him back home to recuperate, if that's okay?"

The nurse shrugged. "I don't know, you have to talk to the doctor about that one..."

As soon as the nurse left (with the remainder of Shadow's bandages), Sonic gave Tails a high-five. "Great idea. We could take him back to our old place. You know, South Island?"

Shadow was surprised that someone like Sonic actually had a place to call home.

Tails smiled. "I guess so. If he's okay, that is."

~*~

The doctor gave his approval, and within another week (with time running short; Shadow was regaining more of his old appearance every day) Tails had reworked the Tornado in order to carry Shadow back to South Island.

Amy volunteered to come with Sonic and Tails. After all, "living out on an island in the middle of nowhere can't be good. You boys need a girl's touch around."

Sonic shrugged. Tails giggled quietly, "Sonic and Amy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S--" before Sonic nearly strangled his best friend.

"Don't... say... that..." Sonic muttered angrily.

With Shadow, who was instructed by the doctor for "lots of rest and no stressors," the four set off for South Island.

~*~

Flying... I'm... flying...?

Has this happened before...

Yes... I remember...

But it wasn't on Earth...

...or was it?

...no...

...it was in space...

...but then it was on Earth...

...in Earth's atmosphere...

...its sky...?

...and then it crashed...

And I was captured by G.U.N....

...a space capsule

that I was in...

sent to Earth by...

...Maria...?

~*~

Shadow shook the feelings of deja vu from his mind. He woke up just as Tails announced their landing. He saw Sonic standing on the wings of the biplane and Amy sitting on the seat behind him. He himself was lying on the middle seat. Tails was piloting.

~*~

Sonic saw his ally's eyes open and stare at everything around him. Sonic grinned. Amazing of Tails that he was able to fix a third seat into the Tornado's design. Or actually the Tornado 3... He remembered the first one, the red and white one, with his name printed on it. And then the Tornado 2, the blue one, that turned into the Cyclone robot. And now the Tornado 3, a remake of the first Tornado, only bigger. He sighed. Exactly how Tails had gotten all the airplane parts and thrown together one in a week was beyond him. He shrugged. Eh, that was Tails' job anyway.

~*~

Tails concentrated on piloting the aircraft. It was a little wobbly... Fortunately, he trusted his talents enough to take quick looks at everyone else. Sonic was standing right on top of the wings, like usual. Amy was sitting on the back seat, apparently enjoying herself. And Shadow was looking around blankly. Absolutely no emotions showing on his face.

Tails turned his attention back to piloting. Why did Sonic seem so bent on keeping Shadow safe? Out of the three times that the two had previously met, twice they had fought each other, seemingly pounding the snot out of themselves... Why did Sonic care?

Of course. Sonic just has a good heart, that's all. He's not helping Shadow because Shadow's a good person. Sonic's helping because he, Sonic, is a good person.

Tails sighed. Hedgehogs. They're so complicated.