Sonic's vision was blurry as he sat up after the Chaos Control that got them out of the mall. He shook his head, still not entirely aware of his location; however, he was aware that he had landed on something soft…

"…Sonic? Mind getting off?"

Sonic jumped up and tried to turn around, tripping over himself and falling on his rear end. His vision cleared. Shadow pushed himself up where Sonic had just been sitting and stood, dusting himself off. Sonic looked around. A long road. A tall, white building in the distance. Chain-link fences with barbed wire at the top. In fewer words, it was imposing.

"That's an unfriendly lookin' place. Where are we?"

Shadow turned around. He had been looking in the opposite direction. "Hmm? I'm not sure where we are, but- Oh…"

Shadow caught sight of the building and fell silent. Sonic stood up and joined him in staring at it.

"Um… What is it?" asked Sonic, giving Shadow a confused glance.

"GUN NIDU."

"Gun knee-do? What does that-?"

"The Guardian Unit of Nations' National Institution for the Deranged and Unstable," explained Shadow, as succinct as ever, "or as the inmates call it, 'the box'."

"Oh…" replied Sonic. Was this the 'insane asylum' he'd been told of?

"I didn't mean to bring you here, Sonic. I'd meant to go to another part of Redwood Park. Come on, let's go back."

Sonic took Shadow's hand. "Don't wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe some other time. Chaos Control."

Shadow was relieved to find that they'd arrived unharmed at the street corner where the Redwoods bike path connected to the city streets. She'd taken Sonic here a few times already. It wasn't a particularly fancy spot; just as decorated as any other corner in Redwood Park, but Shadow had a few good memories here. Maybe that's why her Chaos Control was on the fritz…

As for Sonic, he had landed bottom-first in one of the corner flower boxes and was currently covered in potting soil and red carnations, flailing for help and spitting out foliage that had somehow ended up in his mouth. Shadow sighed and offered her hand, which he gladly took, freeing himself from the dirt-and-vitamin-mixture. He dusted himself off as Shadow looked around; being near the box let her see the city in a new light.

When Redwood Park was founded as a town, the people living there built their houses in a particular style. It wasn't particularly fancy, but like all the other cities in the world at the time, they wanted their own style to go by. They went with a sort of colonial style; columns holding up balconies with set-in outer walls. Shutters on the windows, flower boxes hanging outside, meticulously fashioned street lamps near the occasional fenced-in tree. Everything was brick red and cement white. Built-in flower boxes on every corner, benches and hobbies to the locals and largely ignored by the tourists, save for a photo op. Above the buildings were the towering skyscrapers, mostly steel and glass, but somehow steeple-like and elegant, never truly waning from the picture of the entire city; and above them all, the immense conifers of Redwoods National Park. It was something to behold, nature's giants rivaling, even dwarfing the creations of modern-day humans.

Shadow shook off her reverent observations and turned to Sonic, who had finally completed cleaning out his mouth. Having just spit out enough leaves and blooms for a bouquet, Sonic hurried over to Shadow's side before asking:

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starved."

Shadow nodded, and they walked to the nearest restaurant; Sonic whistling whatever song came into his head, and Shadow simply observing.

Wolf's was a sort of fast-food-slash-barbeque restaurant named for the city's sports mascot, the Ethiopian wolf. It made sense, both were red and white. Sonic and Shadow were given a table and their drink orders taken (a Pepsi for Sonic, water for Shadow) before the waiter left them to their own devices.

"Have you ever been here before?" asked Shadow, trying to start a conversation and looking around at the African décor.

"Yep," replied Sonic, fascinated by the napkin dispenser on the table, pulling out several handfuls of the thin, white papers, "you?"

"No; Eiglestein's took most of my eating-out budget. Sort of an occupational loyalty thing, you know?"

"I get ya'," said Sonic, starting to fold a few napkins into a sort of tangram-slash-origami shape, "So this is new to you? Cool."

"It's very nice, really…" said Shadow; Sonic noticing that he was really looking at him. Sonic got a bright idea. He turned around in his seat.

"Do you have a pen I could borrow for a second?" he asked to the patrons behind him. They were happy to comply. Just a pen, after all…

Sonic wrote something on a napkin and quickly folded it in half a couple of times before slipping it into an origami envelope. He handed the pen back to its owners and pulled out a few more napkins.

The waiter came back by, bringing their drinks and taking their orders (Sonic ordered a hamburger with fries and Shadow didn't want anything) before leaving again. Sonic sipped his Pepsi and went back to folding.

"I've never been to Africa," said Shadow, absently. "Have you? I mean, of course you did; that whole 'world adventure' thing about six years ago."

"You heard about that?" asked Sonic, a little worried. How much did Shadow know about that?

"Yeah, it was kind of hard not to; everyone felt the earthquakes, I happened to be in Kansas. A GUN mission."

So Shadow didn't know about the whole werewolf thing. Thank goodness. "What happened to that whole GUN agent business, anyhow?"

"I was fired, er, 'dishonorably discharged', as they put it, after the thing four years ago."

"That… Did I mention I'm sorry about that?" asked Sonic, setting aside his origami for the time being.

"You're sorry? Three years I didn't know whether you were alive or dead after something I did, and you're sorry?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I interrupted what you were doing; I- …You didn't know I was alive?"

"You were in a coma for seven days, Sonic! Day three I was freaking out at your bedside and people in white coats had to drag me away!" Shadow seemed more amused than unhappy with this information he was revealing to Sonic.

"That's… That's how you ended up in… the box?" asked Sonic, gently.

"Relax, Sonic. It's in the past," sighed Shadow, still smiling a bit, "and yes. That's how it happened."

"Three years?" whispered Sonic, incredulously.

"It was more the lack of information than anything else. If you were alive, sure, we could laugh this off. We could forget about it. If you were dead… I would mourn. And then I would probably cope. I don't know. I'm glad you're not dead."

Sonic's thoughts were interrupted by the return of the waiter. He set down the burger Sonic ordered and went over to his next table. Sonic dug in. Shadow sipped at his water and sneaked a few fries. This composed the next ten minutes. Soon Sonic's plate was clean and he finished up his paper-folding project.

"You want dessert, Shadow? Here," Sonic handed the envelope and paper flower to Shadow as the waiter came back with the same question.

"No thanks." Shadow examined the flower and carefully opened the envelope, "I didn't know you did origami, Sonic."

"Something I picked up in Chun Nan," he replied, getting up to pay at the cash register.

Shadow unfolded the tissue that had been inside the envelope.

"I love you" were the words that Sonic had written in small letters in the middle of the napkin. There were two stick figures at the bottom of the page; a clear representation of herself and Sonic. They were in neutral poses, standing apart, but still smiling. Nothing fancy.

'What'd you write, Casanova; 'be mine, Valentine?' joked Uncharted Territory as Sonic paid the bill.

'Shut up. I didn't put anything special in there! …Nothing new, anyhow,' sighed Sonic, mentally.

'Oh, the whole 'I love you' thing? You know, if you're not careful he'll…' drifted Uncharted Territory as Sonic walked back toward the table.

'He'll what?' asked Sonic, stopping momentarily. Uncharted Territory slipped in front of him, oddly taller than before. And wearing different clothes.

'He's gonna fall for that lovin' shtick. Even if you don't really mean it!'

'You… You think he will? I sure hope not…'

'You say that, but I know better. You don't wanna break his heart, right?'

'This is Shadow the Hedgehog we're talking about, UT.'

'He's got feelings too; you should know! ...You of all people should know that.'

Sonic tried to shake off the worry, but it came back as he returned to the table to leave a tip. Shadow was smiling at him, standing up and putting the paper crafts into his hooded sweatshirt's pocket.

"Ready to go?" asked Shadow, his innocent question giving Sonic a chill.

Shadow the Hedgehog? Falling for him? It was a terrifying thought, but, something about it gave Sonic a strange feeling.

Much like a cross between hope and indigestion.