-Shadow-

I slowly drift up from the darkness of deep, dreamless sleep. Something insistently prods at my side. I resist the urge to mutter 'go away' and reluctantly crack my eyes open. I'm still exhausted; I can't have been asleep for too long. The fuzzy blur of the ceiling resolves itself into an expanse of grey framing an excited-looking orange-furred face. Tails' blue eyes are brighter than I've seen them for a long time.

"This... this had better be important..." I mutter, still half asleep.

"Oh, Shadow, it's more than important! This is wonderful! Come on, wake up! Just wait 'til you see what's happened!"

I raise myself on my elbows and slowly turn my head towards him. Behind him, I see two others - Amy, who I don't even give a second glance; I expect her to be there, and - no, I can't be seeing straight! It can't be Sonic! But... it looks like him. He looks as if he's heard too much recently to take it all in at once.

"Sonic...?"

"Shadow! What's been happening? I mean, Amy and Tails have said a little, but not much."

I scramble to my feet and stare at him, tiredness forgotten. After all this time, Sonic's awake! I can hardly believe my eyes; I'm not certain I'm not dreaming. Sonic stares at me, eyes widening in surprise. I look down, but nothing seems to be unusual, except that I'm standing in a pile of blankets.

"Shadow - what happened?!"

I try to figure out what he's talking about, but what with my sleep-dulled mind, it takes a few moments. He was expecting to see me as I was a long time ago, before all of this... back before Robotnik took over, before... I look down at myself again, really noticing things for the first time in a while. My attention is stopped and held at my left elbow, where the armour sheathing begins. Dark gray plating with bronze-coloured edging, coming to a point at the outside of the elbow to protect the joint but still allow the arm to bend. Maybe a third of the way down the forearm it stops being armour plating, becomes an actual artificial arm. I lost part of mine a long time ago now, and Tails built this replacement for me. It's wired up to my nerves so I can operate it just like a real hand, so I couldn't take it off even if I wanted to. I look back to Sonic.

"It was several years ago... I was fighting Robotnik... I misjudged my timing..." My eyes are half-closed as I remember. If I hadn't made that fatal mistake, maybe the world would be very different now... maybe Robotnik would never have won. I realise that Sonic's noticed my pause, is waiting for me to speak.

"I... I'll tell you later, Sonic." I haven't really thought about that for a long time... after I recovered, it was just endless fighting, until at the end of most days I collapsed into bed too exhausted to think. I don't think I've not been tired for a long time, too long. Every day blurs into a perpetual haze of exhaustion, every night awakening me just enough to get through another day...

"Shadow?" Sonic looks concerned. I realise I must have seemed to drift off into a world of my own, and perhaps I did.

"I'm all right, Sonic. Just tired." I think that's true. I'm pretty sure that's all it is. Thoughts and vision blurred by weariness, I look at him. He looks concerned, and overwhelmed, and a little sad.

"Get some rest, Shadow. If anything happens, I'll take care of it."

I nod, only vaguely noticing that the others are still watching. Rest... if only it would last...