It must have been hours since they last saw him. Sonic and Silver were still being held by Mephiles clones in that very meadow where they'd fought earlier. "Does he plan to hold us here forever?" Silver called out to Sonic. The hero shrugged his shoulders.

Then, just as suddenly as they'd initially appeared, the clones vanished. Sonic stretched out his arms. "What the hell was that all about?"

Silver, wasting no time, immediately began to run toward the coast. "I don't know but we have to find Shadow! He was dragged this way!"

They traced the trail of upturned dirt, grass and sand all the way to the cave where Shadow was being held. They entered without hesitation.

"This place is damn creepy…" Sonic muttered under his breath, looking around at the wet floor and rock formations. "Hello!" His voice echoed about three or four times.

Silver immediately grabbed his arm. "Are you trying to get us discovered?! Mephiles is probably keeping Shadow hostage, and if he's in earshot then he knows we're here!"

"Jesus, relax. Getting angry isn't going to help at this point."

They walked for a long while, peering around corners carefully every now and again, taking light, quiet footsteps. Until finally, Silver yelled, "Look!"

There, in the middle of the floor, Shadow was curled up in fetal position, not moving at all. Mephiles didn't appear to be anywhere in sight. They sprinted toward him and got down on their knees. Sonic turned him over and checked his carotid artery. "He's not dead, thank God. But, he's covered in blood and sweat! Nasty!"

"You're faster than me! Get help! I'll watch him!" Silver commanded. Sonic gave a nod and ran out of the cave, going at supersonic speed. "They better get here soon…" The ivory hedgehog muttered. "Shadow, can you hear me?" His older friend's eyelids were slightly open, but he didn't appear to see Silver. "Shadow?"

Upon closer observation, he could see dried blood around Shadow's mouth, and his arms and legs were badly scratched. He figured that after being dragged the whole way there, Mephiles must have beat him. Silver's gaze traveled to Shadow's torso and abdomen. "What is this…?"

There was something else on him aside from blood and sweat. There was… what was that…?

Silver's eyes shot open upon realization. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Fuck! Oh my God!"

Shadow's breathing pattern changed, and all of a sudden, his eyes opened all the way. Silver was kneeling above him, looking extremely alarmed. The white one looked his friend in the bloodshot eyes. "Shadow, you're probably going to make something up out of pure shame but you need to tell me the truth and the truth only. What did that demonic son of a bitch do to you?"

Shadow stared at him blankly. He slowly brought a hand up to his neck and rubbed his throat, which was covered in bruises that Silver hadn't noticed before. "Don't worry, Sonic's getting help. He'll be back soon. You need to tell me what happened."

Shadow slowly opened his mouth and sucked in a shaky breath. "I… don't… want… to tell you…"

Silver choked back a sob. It was hard seeing such a strong person depleted to nothing. Especially when it was one of your two best friends. "Shadow… you need to tell me."

The ebony one shook his head slightly and closed his eyes tightly. "Don't make me… please…"

A tear fell from Silver's cheek, and he sat up to wipe the moisture from his face. "Okay, okay, not right now. You need to rest. Not right now."

The echo of footsteps became audible and Sonic came flying around the corner. "Medics are gonna need a good hour to get here. Too far from the hospital."

"Screw this. Tell them we'll take care of it." Silver got up and shrouded himself in a teal aura. He lifted a hand and Shadow was suddenly shrouded too.

"Silver, I appreciate it, but we probably shouldn't move him. They'll get here when they get here."

Silver thought about how he knew what Sonic didn't. He also knew that everyone would know if Shadow was taken to the hospital. And that was a whole lot of dignity that he wouldn't force Shadow to lose.

"No. We're going to Amy's apartment."

"Are you cra-"

"I have a reason for this." He looked at Sonic with determination on his face. "Trust me."

The blue hedgehog stood there for a moment, skeptical. He looked over at Shadow, who was beaten to a bloody pulp. Shadow was. Then he looked back at Silver, who was as still as stone. "Okay. Okay fine. Take him to Amy's house. But whether or not she approves of this sure as hell isn't up to me!"

-XXX-

"This just in, Sonic the Hedgehog comes running to the Station Square Hospital screaming for help!"

Amy's eyes widened. She turned up the volume on her TV. "That's right Della, he claimed that Shadow the Hedgehog had been brutally attacked by Mephiles the Dark. From what they could tell, doctors say he was probably in critical condition."

"Oh my God…" The pink hedgehog muttered.

"And why do you say 'probably', Jack?"

"Because when paramedics arrived at the point where Sonic claimed they had found the Ultimate Life Form, nothing was there but traces of blood."

"And what could this all mean, Jack?"

"Authorities suspect that the hedgehogs got tired of waiting and took him somewhere else. Curiously, it wasn't the hospital."

"You heard it here first on Channel Seven News! I'm Della McGuire."

"And I'm Jack B. Jones!"

"Next up, we've got a local cat-"

Amy turned off her TV and stared at her reflection in the black screen. "Oh my God…" She repeated, "What happened?"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Amy! Open the door; it's an emergency!" Sonic's voice echoed through her apartment as she scrambled to let him in.

"What's going- Holy shit!" She covered her face with her hands in shock. Shadow was covered from head to toe in dried blood and bruises, and his fur was matted with sweat. Silver was holding him up with telekinesis, and the outsiders entered without bothering to greet her. "You can set him down on the couch over there."

"Thanks, Amy." Silver set his friend down and stretched out his arm, which had been suspended in the air for the past hour or so to hold Shadow up. The ivory hedgehog was exhausted.

"What happened?! I was just watching the news! They say this had something to do with Mephiles! Why didn't you go to the hospital?"

"That's what I'd like to know!" Sonic exclaimed. "Silver insisted that we not! He got so serious about it! I don't know what brand of crazy's gotten into his head this time but apparently it's the end of the world to give Shadow proper medical treatment!"

"Look, I'm just trying to-"

"Save it, Silver! You too, Sonic!" Amy interjected, "This isn't the time to fight! Someone's life is possibly in danger here! So tell me what the hell happened, but don't scream at each other in the process!"

Silver took a deep breath. "We were walking, just having a conversation, and before we knew it, we'd gone far into the wilderness. Somehow, someway, we came across Mephiles and a fight broke out."

"Right when we thought he was gone," Sonic added, "His creepy coils of darkness grabbed Shadow by the legs and dragged him a about a kilometer and a half from us into a cave! We would've followed him but his damn clones caught us and we were stuck like that for a really long time! When we finally got free, we found Shadow like this and Mephiles was nowhere in sight!"

"Okay, I think I get it." Amy sat down in a chair and rubbed her temples. "So then, Silver. Why didn't you wanna take Shadow to the hospital?"

"I-it was too far away."

"But you brought him here, didn't you? My apartment's only like a block from there!"

Sonic clenched his fists. "It's obvious you're lying to us!"

"I can't… I can't tell you!"

"And why not?!" Sonic was yelling now.

"Because Shadow would never forgive me if I did! He wouldn't even admit it to me himself, but I could tell!"

"Tell what?" Amy asked.

"Nothing!"

There was a silence between the three. It was obvious that silver wasn't going to say what he knew, so there was no sense in screaming about it at this point.

Silver turned to Amy. "Do you have any extra blankets?"

She nodded. "I'll go grab one."

The white hedgehog watched as Sonic sat down next to Shadow on the couch. "What could you tell…?" He mumbled. "I only see scratches and bruises."

Shadow curled back up into a ball. "D-don't look at me."

"Why not? What are you so afraid that I'll see?"

"Go to hell." Was the only answer Shadow gave.

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "Have it your way. But we're all going to find out sooner or later."

Amy came back with a grey wool blanket. "Here you go, Shadow." She set it down on him gently.

"Thanks…" He muttered.

She sat down on the couch next to Sonic. "So, when Mephiles dragged you into that cave, what happened exactly?"

Shadow blinked a few times, like he was trying to remember. He actually remembered every second perfectly. It was how to word it that took all the thought.

"You know… the works. I got dragged, then beaten. Then left for dead. Typical behavior of the sick bastard."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's what he does. And he's a pathetic scumbag."

Sonic smirked. "I couldn't agree more."

After another minute or so, Amy walked over to the kitchen. "Shadow, do you want me to call Rouge? She probably saw the news, so we should tell her you're here. And that you're alive."

He looked over at her weakly. "She's going to want to come over. Don't let her do that."

"Why not? Isn't she your very best friend?"

"I don't give a damn who she is right now, Amy. Don't let her come over!"

"Not until you give me a reason first!"

He sighed. "I… I just want to rest. Please, tell her I'm not taking visitors."

"Wish me luck getting her to listen." Amy sighed as she dialed a number and began to speak to Rouge. She quickly walked into her bedroom. "Rouge, it's Amy. Shadow's here, and he's alive, but he's really weak and covered in dried blood. It's gross."

"Oh my God! I'm coming over right now!"

Amy looked at the closed door, then walked farther into the room and lowered her voice. "He didn't want you to for some reason. Rouge, he and Silver know something that Sonic and I don't. It's something to do with Shadow. I think it might be something that Mephiles did. I'm really worried."

"Are you saying I can't come see him?"

"No. I'm not. In fact, come over. He's going to be angry, but you're our best chance of finding out what's going on."

"Okay. I'm leaving the GUN HQ right now. See you soon."

"Bye."

Amy left the room and came back into the living room where the others were. "I couldn't stop her. She's on her way. Sorry, Shadow."

He cursed under his breath.