Chapter 3 - An unexpected lifetime debt

Once Shadow got his shoes and remaining ring back he Chaos-Controlled out of sight. Silver never got the chance to thank him. Instead he turned to the others and helped them out, Tails had been injured too and Knuckles had fainted sometime during the fight. About 20 villagers had been injured too but none was in danger, or had died. The man in the suit, Saltown's mayor, explained that they had been forced into helping Eggman because he had threatened them with destroying everything yet again -people included-, and that they just had hoped that Sonic and the rest of the gang would save them again this time. They felt awefully in debt, but Sonic just told him he expected them to prepare a real party whenever they were able too and to be sure they invited them. He could be an asshole sometimes, but he also knew how to play his part as the hero. Somehow he made everyone feel hope even in the darkest moments. Right after he finished with the mayor he run to where Tails was lying and put an arm around his shoulders. His expression turned as serious as it could possibly get. The wound wasn't deep, but it had made Tails cry. Sonic would make Robotnik pay for that the next time. A tenfold if necessary.

Once everything came back to normal Silver headed home. Tails' arm would heal in no-time and Knuckles had just been hit in the head, but since it was so hard, he recovered pretty fast and remembered who he was and all. But nobody seemed to care about Shadow, since he would always just disappear like that and somehow reappear sometime later, in full shape. Nobody would care this time, but Silver. He owed him his life, and because of him his leg was in a terrible state... Is it ok just to let him be like that? Maybe I should do something about it...

Once he reached his home he tried to relax and recover from the experience. But he found himself just looking at the ceiling, thinking about how Shadow should be suffering from his wound at the moment. The doubt stayed with him during the rest of the day, and for most part of the night. Silver woke up the next morning with it still in his head. It was eating him alive, and he knew he would have trouble trying to get some sleep again that night unless he acted. The memories of the recent attack weren't helping at all, since he still had flashes of the events ever once in a while, the shouting, the metallic sounds, the pain in his body, the smell of Shadow's blood. So just after the sun started setting, he made up his mind and gathered some stuff on his bed. Once he had all he needed, he left and headed for Shadow's place.

Both Silver and Shadow's houses had been offered as gifts. They had belonged to people who didn't used them anymore and had decided to give them to those who had demonstrated courage and heroism by saving everyone from Eggman's attacks on countless opportunities. Silver had his home redecorated, but Shadow had never changed its appearance significantly since he moved in. It still had the same old furniture and some plants remained dead in their pots, completely forgotten. It was a good thing that even somewhat old houses like that were at least technologically equipped, and Shadow could answer the doorbell from his room, luckily without even having to leave bed.

- "Who is it?" sounded a deep voice through a small speaker.

- "Shadow? It's me, Silver. I-I hope I haven't woke you up..."

- "You haven't. What do you need?"

- "May I come in? I brought you some things..." After a few seconds of silence, Silver added: "I can come in through a window so that you don't have to, uh.. walk much..." He still felt responsible for Shadow's injury. He couldn't help it.

- "... Second floor, on the wall to your left. The last window. I'll open it." Shadow opened said window and a floating Silver was there waiting outside. He just floated a bit below the window level so that his head could be seen, in a rather respectful attitude. He was carrying a backpack that looked a bit heavy.

- "Sorry to bother you like this but... I thought that... well since you... you hurt yourself when... earlier yesterday- well, I... you...uh..." He hadn't prepared what he would say. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all...?

- "Are you coming in or not?"

- "Uh, yeah, sorry" – Silver waited so that Shadow would go back and lay in his bed again to enter the room.

It looked messy. Against the wall to his left Silver saw the full-size bed, hedboard against said wall, with its white sheets all wrinkled under the black hedgehog. There were no blankets, there was no need for them in summer. There were two small bedside tables on each side of the bed. Placed on the one closer to Silver there was an empty jug and a glass with just a bit of water. To the bed's left, at the back, on the other bedside table there was a small lamp, which shed a rather dim, yellowish light that made the room look a bit sad and strangely small. But 'small' had to be an illusion; against the wall in front of Silver, at the back of the room, stood a dark, old-looking, and huge wooden wardrobe. To Silver's right, he could see a rather big desk-like table with some drawers. It's wood was lighter than that of the wardrobe, and it definetly looked newer. On top of it, and also lying scattered here and there all over the floor, he found some blood-dirty bandages and a few newspaper pages. The door to the room, located behind the large desk at the back of the right wall, remained shut.

- "So. What do you wanted then?" Shadow's words caught Silver's attention. He instantly tried to check Shadow's bandaged wound but it was already hidden in between the sheets so he looked at him to the eyes instead.

- "Well... I... just thought I'd offer you my help until you recover from your wound. After all, if it weren't because of my fault, you wouldn't have it in the first place... I mean, I'm responsible for it. I guess you're having a bad time walking, so... maybe I could just... stay.. around until you get better...? I am free this week so... Maybe I could be of help... of use... to help you... until you recover..." Now why did this sounded so much better back at home? It even made sense there for a moment. This is Shadow I'm talking to. I don't know what to say now. And he's just looking at me with those cold eyes... He said nothing else. He just wanted to know what Shadow had understood by his clumsy words so far and what his opinion was. That is, if he didn't just decide to kick him out of his house with his still healthy leg.

- "What... do you intend to do, exactly?" It looked like there was a chance after all.

- "Well... some things like getting you food, buying and bringing you anything you need, and... well, back where I come from, in the future, I got to learn advanced first-aid skills, so maybe I could check your wound to see if it's healing correctly. I heard you've never been to a doctor and thought that you wouldn't be doing it this time either."

- "You guessed correctly. And I don't need you to thank me for what I did. I did it because you and anyone else with the ability to do so would've done the same thing. I don't want anything in exchange for it. And you shouldn't blame yourself, it's not like I was following anyone's orders."

- "Yeah, sorry, but still... I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for you so... this is the least I can do. I owe you. Even if this was unexpected, I guess it's the way things turned out like."

- "What's in the bag?" – Shadow suddenly changed the subject. I guess he's not interested after all...

- "Oh, I brought a medical kit and some food I made back at home. I thought maybe you didn't have anything for tonight?"

- "I have some stuff in the fridge."

- "Oh... I see" – Well, at least I've tried.

- "It won't last long, though. I probably won't have anything for tomorrow, so... I'll take it. ...if that's ok with you." What? Really? Silver smiled.

- "Of course it is."

So he could be a bit useful after all! Now, if he could only make sure Shadow's wound was healing properly, he could return home and finally rest. Silver's thoughts were interrupted by Shadow's voice, which was softening a bit with every sentence he spoke. – "And I accept your offer. I could really use some help right now."

Silver's ears stood in surprise. Did... he said he accepted my help? Well, that surely had turned out much better than he had expected some seconds ago. He felt relieved that he would be finally able to make sure Shadow was recovering alright after having saved his life. It was the least he could do.

- "Oh, that's great! I won't be a bother, I swear. I'll just come for some hours everyday until you can manage everything by yourself. You won't regret it!" His smile was sincere. Shadow could see in Silver's eyes that he seriously wanted to se him fully healed. The ivory hedgehog just couldn't help it, he really felt responsible. So maybe it would just be better for now, thought Shadow, to let him feel helpful.

- "Is it ok if I see your leg?" Asked Silver. Oh. About that.

- "No need to. I can take care of it."

- "Are you sure? It wouldn't hurt, I just wanna be sure..."

- "No one touches me, is that point clear??" Shadow's face turned dead-serious. What was with the sudden change? He seemed so social for the last seconds that Silver had almost forgotten who he was talking to.

- "I... o-ok... as you wish..." Maybe some other time... At least I know I'll see him everyday so if something happens I can always immobilize him... I wouldn't wanna do that though...

- "Appart from that, make yourself at home, I don't care if you stay around, there's even an empty room in this floor if you need to use it to leave stuff or something. You'll find the kitchen downstairs. There are bathrooms in both floors, I don't care which one you use" –Shadow winced a bit, and grabbed his thigh lightly. He looked like he was hurting. Silver doubted for a moment but didn't say anything about it.

- "Thanks. I'm leaving my things in the room and then I'll take the food I brought to the kitchen... Are you hungry?"

- "...yes. I am. But I'm more thirsty than hungry-" he added. His glass was a bit dusty already. – "Go get me some water... please".