Shadow was still in surgery at the DWMA medical facility when morning came. Sonic sat in a narrow hallway outside of the operating room. He had taken off his cloak and hung it over the arm of his chair. Dark crimson stains covered the palms of the white gloves that he usually wore. Droplets had seeped into the cuffs of his white collared shirt as well. He'd been staring at his hands ever since he sat down. All he could do was recount the events of last night in disbelief. He wasn't even sure how much time had passed since the operation began.

"Sonic!" Tails entered through the doors down the hall alongside Knuckles.

Sonic took off his gloves and stuffed them into his coat. He frantically rolled up his sleeves, then stood before his friends arrived. Tails noticed that his brother looked exhausted, having likely been up all night. His quills were messy and he appeared unwell.

"How'd you guys know I was here?"

"I was on campus early so I could work with Starline and heard he was conducting surgery. I knew you'd been on a mission since yesterday so I looked into it and…" Tails frowned.

"Then Tails found me in the training area. What happened?" Knuckles asked.

"Our mission got out of hand. I'm not supposed to go into detail until things get sorted out. Shadow's really hurt,"

Sonic sat down looking hopeless and gloomy. Knuckles and Tails glanced at each other with concern. They shifted the conversation to more mundane things that had happened while Sonic was gone. The three friends talked for a while, but things eventually returned to dreary silence.

"Thanks for checking on me, guys. The surgery will be a while. You don't have to stick around for my sake,"

"Okay," Knuckles began wandering off casually.

Tails sighed. "We'll talk again later,"

The fox waved before following after his weapon. Sonic sat alone for some time before getting up to stretch. All of this waiting was driving him insane. He ran a hand through his quills and sighed. Suddenly, the doors at the end of the hallway opened.

"Oh my god. Sonic!"

Amy saw the blue hedgehog pacing around the hall and ran over to hug him. She was taken aback by how stiff his posture felt. "I just heard from Tails and Knuckles. Are you okay?"

"I wasn't the one who got hurt,"

Amy let go of Sonic and stepped back. "How bad was it?"

"Bad," Anger and sadness were mixed into Sonic's expression.

"Poor Shadow," Amy was still worried. It was a relief seeing that Sonic was unharmed, but she'd never seen him act like this.

Sonic sat down on one of the nearby chairs. Amy did the same. She glanced over at him while trying to think of something to say. He looked disheveled and miserable. She quickly realized that she'd never seen him with no gloves on. Dull claws poked out of the fur on the ends of each finger.

"I had just talked with him about you a couple weeks back. After the exam,"

Sonic perked up, giving an inquisitive look. "With Shadow?"

"It surprised me too. I thought it'd be fun but he got all serious,"

"Sounds about right," Sonic smiled through the exhaustion. "What did he say?"

"I don't know if I should tell," Amy gave a sly grin. She hoped Sonic would lighten up but he went back to staring at the floor silently instead. "He said he liked living with you,"

There it was. A look of embarrassment. No matter how many times she hugged Sonic or tried saying something to goad him, he always took it in stride. She'd never been able to make him falter or act insecure. But now, he looked as if she told him something he'd been waiting to hear. Figures. It was the first time she'd gotten this kind of reaction from him, and they were talking about someone else under such sombre circumstances.

"It's funny. When I first asked him if he wanted to get an apartment so we could move out of the dorms, he just shrugged and said 'If you want,'" Sonic recalled with some warmth.

"He mentioned that he had amnesia, and that you helped him out,"

"I almost don't believe he told you that," Sonic looked even more thrown off.

"Does anyone else know?"

Sonic sighed. "Eggman kept it under wraps for a while. Shadow told Tails a while back when he was at our place. Knuckles never interacts with Shadow and Tails said he wouldn't mention it to anyone,"

"Then I won't either," Amy went back to thinking and the two sat in silence. Talking seemed to be helping distract Sonic from the current situation so she started again. "What made you become friends with him? It felt like he came out of nowhere when you became partners. And you're both so different,"

"He kinda did come out of nowhere," Sonic laughed once, weakly. "It didn't come down to one thing. I was just figuring things out and he ended up fitting in," He looked at Amy. "Shadow and I are more alike than you think,"

He looked serious and sad again. Things were taking a gloomy turn once more. Amy stood up to leave.

"There will be plenty of time to learn more about you two troublemakers once he's better. I'll check back again later,"

Sonic nodded, and Amy left him in the hall. She noticed that he seemed to appreciate her last statement. Maybe there was hope for her after all.

Time continued to pass. It felt like an entire day went by from Sonic's perspective, but in reality it hadn't been more than an hour. Doctor Starline finally opened the door of the surgical bay and Sonic jumped up instantly.

"It couldn't be possible that you sat in one place this whole time," Starline joked calmly. He'd adlready removed the medical scrubs from surgery and was dressed in his usual outfit as if nothing had happened.

"How's Shadow? Can I see him?" Sonic blurted with desperation.

Starline smiled, placing a hand on his student's shoulder. "The surgery went well. Now that he's in the clear he'll be moved to his own room shortly,"

Sonic sighed and finally felt a sense of relief. While picking up his coat he noticed that Silver and Blaze were approaching.

"Blaze will be giving you some much needed information seeing as how your missions ended up overlapping unexpectedly. All things considered, that might have been for the best," Starline gave a wry smile.

"Come with me," Blaze commanded.

Sonic didn't need anymore convincing; he walked away with the princess. Silver stayed behind and spoke after he was alone with Starline.

"Now that Sonic's gone, tell me what you didn't want him to hear,"

Starline's smile faded and he looked at the death scythe with suspicion.

"I should be glad the princess walked away too. Or will you be telling her?"

"We'll see," Silver stared intently.

Starline thought for a moment and adjusted his glasses.

"He's stable for now, but I ran additional tests after noticing something was wrong. Suffering such a serious wound from that blood weapon caused some of it to enter his body. It's too early to be certain but..." Starline sighed.

"It's likely Shadow's body reacted to the black blood,"


Neither Sonic nor Blaze spoke while walking through the building. The blue hedgehog had a wide range of questions in his mind, but couldn't think of where to start. They both climbed a large winding staircase until reaching a door at the very top. Fresh air gave Sonic some additional relief once the door opened. Silence continued as the two looked down at the DWMA campus and the distant Death City.

"The Black Arm series," Blaze began. "Do you know what that is?"

Sonic shook his head, so Blaze continued.

"The Black Arm series is a bloodline of potent weaponry. We just fought with one. They were said to have strange abilities,"

"Like the paralyzing screams?" Recalling the sound made Sonic uncomfortable.

"Black Arm weapons were known to paralyze their opponents using their soul wavelengths. I've never encountered it in person, but I know that it's quite powerful against individual souls. Proper soul resonance can protect against the paralysis, which is why they try to disrupt the wavelengths of the weapons and meisters they fight,"

Sonic tried not to think about Shadow's first wound in the battle."You make it sound like these Black Arm weapons haven't been around for a while,"

"The Black Arm series of weapons is widely believed to be extinct. Whispers of Black Arm remnants pop up here and there, but I've never found one until coming to Death City for the first time."

"Death city? Don't you mean Kingdom Valley?" Blaze didn't respond and continued looking out from the roof. A mysterious and powerful weapon in death city? Sonic thought until the realization hit. "Shadow?"

Blaze nodded. "Then just yesterday we met the Darkling. To think I'd find two in such a short time,"

"That guy mentioned something about a brother when we got there!"

"Demon weapons usually don't perceive souls as well as meisters. However, Black Arm weapons can sense their own kind with ease. They're linked by some strange connection that has barely been documented,"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "But Shadow didn't seem to notice anything. And that Darkling guy looked like a monster. How could they be related?"

Blaze sighed in thought. "It is strange. The darkling's appearance seems to be more typical based on what records I've seen regarding the Black Arm series. Their forms were more….unnatural I suppose you could say. Shadow seems like a normal hedgehog, but the red streaks are a giveaway. Not to mention his soul."

"What about his soul?" Sonic asked.

"You've been training your soul perception, haven't you? You'll have to see for yourself" Blaze explained.

Sonic had only just started to see souls clearly on that night. He'd been so focused on the darkling that he didn't think to look at Shadow's.

"That explains why you were giving Shadow the stink eye when you first got here,"

Blaze ignored him and continued. "I came to the DWMA to assist Lord Death in hunting down the Darkling. We didn't confirm that he was a Black Arm weapon until yesterday, but we had our suspicions. Looking back on what we've gathered, it's likely the witch we saw created the Darkling herself after gaining an understanding of ancient Black Arm methods. We believe she's hoping to make the Darkling into a kishin,"

"A kishin? Are you sure?" Sonic asked with worry.

"He's a weapon that can fight independently, has access to the powers of the Black Arms series, and is being fed the souls of innocents. If she isn't planning on making a kishin, she'll get one regardless,"

Sonic thought back to the fight at the cathedral. The Darkling had so much power. Chills ran throughout his body as he pondered the idea of a kishin being born from someone that powerful. He wanted to change the subject.

"Before, you said that people think the Black Arm weapons are extinct. What happened to them?"

"They were originally created by an ancient witch known as Black Doom. Black Doom experimented across generations of weapons, giving them a variety of dark powers. Many weapons couldn't handle having that much power forced onto them, so they perished. The ones that survived formed the foundation of the Black Arm series. Eventually the number of Black Arm weapons grew large enough for them to form an army. They faced off against Lord Death's ancestors and were destroyed along with their creator,"

"Eggman's family wiped them out?" Sonic wondered.

"Not just his ancestors. There were plenty of other groups that sought the power of the Black Arm series. Anyone who could wield or hunt them could become quite powerful themselves. There was also plenty of infighting within Black Arm society as they pursued greater strength,"

"Then what about Shadow? How could he be part of an extinct series of weapons?"

"I'd like to know that myself. Shadow knows nothing, and Lord Death hasn't given me a straight answer," Blaze threw up her hands.

Sonic felt despair build up in his chest, reminding him of how badly he needed sleep. Shadow hadn't even recovered from their last battle, and now he was going to wake up to this?

"If we tell him all this, do you think he'll get his memories back?"

"He might be better off with amnesia," Blaze scoffed.

"How can you say that?" Sonic accused.

She glared back at him. "Sonic, you might think you know Shadow, but he has a whole life's worth of memories to regain. Not to mention that you knew nothing about the Black Arm series until now,"

"He's my friend!"

"He's a weapon!" Blaze countered. "I've studied the history of the Black Arm series extensively, and I can tell you that it all ends badly. Those who pursued the Black Arm series were destroyed by them, or for them. There's a reason there aren't many left,"

Sonic stepped forward. "You're wrong, Blaze. Shadow's not a monster! I trust him, I..." Sonic sighed, trying to regain his composure. "I'm not giving up on him. Especially not now,"

Blaze didn't seem compelled by Sonic's statement.

"That resilience will be an asset for you. Worrying won't help either of you now, though. You were affected by that battle, too. Take some time to think about all of this." She didn't speak with much emotion, but Sonic did detect some concern at least.

"Sonic, Blaze!" Silver opened the door before walking over to meet them. The air around Blaze and Sonic seemed tense. "Is everything okay?"

"He's up to speed on things," Blaze replied.

"How are you holding up?" Silver approached Sonic.

"It's a lot to deal with, but I'll manage," Sonic replied, a bit unsure. "I owe you both for saving me. Also, sorry for fighting you out of the blue when we first met, Silver,"

"I'll forgive you if you buy me food," Silver grinned.

"Sure," Sonic laughed then wavered. "Maybe sometime after Shadow wakes up,"

"Speaking of, they just finished putting him into his own room,"

Silver gave Sonic the room number then watched the blue hedgehog dash away.

"Thanks Silver!"

Blaze approached Silver, whose smile quickly faded.

"What did Starline say about Shadow's condition?" Her intent gaze looked as if it was looking into his very being.

"He's stable. Nothing out of the ordinary," Silver's smile came back.


Cautiously opening the door to his partner's room, Sonic stepped in. Much to his relief, Shadow was laying on the bed peacefully. One IV drip was connected to the black hedgehog as he lay under a blanket. Bandages around his torso were mostly concealed by a hospital gown.

Sonic looked for some time without moving, unsure of what to do. Remembering what Blaze told him earlier, he closed his eyes and focused his soul perception.

A sphere of light floated in front of him. It looked just like any other soul he'd seen for the most part. Glowing red lines that ran through the orb were what set Shadow's soul apart. Redness usually meant a soul was growing corrupted, but the clearness suggested that Shadow's soul was still healthy. Something similar had been present in the Darkling's soul from yesterday. Maybe they were connected after all.

After noticing a cushioned chair off to his right, Sonic opted to sit down. When he placed his coat on the seat's arm, his gloves fell on the floor. Slowly reaching down, Sonic stared at the bloodstains after retrieving them.

He stood silently and thought about how Shadow had protected him when they first met Starline. It was almost funny to him then. Neither of them had been in any real danger at the time, so he didn't give it much thought. This time was different. He hadn't been able to do anything against the Darkling, who came so close to killing them both. He was useless, but Shadow sacrificed himself anyway.

Sonic clenched the gloves in his right fist. Tears fell onto his hand before he moved it away. He covered his mouth with his left hand to try and muffle the sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Shadow,"