ZONE 1: THE FOREST

ACT 3: I DON'T THINK THAT GUY'S EVER BEEN TO MEDICAL SCHOOL...

By the time Shadow reached the edge of the forest, the morning wasn't too far off. The clouds were painted purple above them, and the chilly night air was starting to give way to a warmer breeze. The crickets, too, were now occasionally joined by a bird's song.

But Shadow was no longer concerned with the goings-on of the forest; his attention was focused solely on the town sprawled out in front of him. He scanned the skyline for any building he thought might be a hospital, and had the good fortune of spotting one with a red cross set near the middle. He would head there first. Hopefully, it was an actual medical center, and not just some church breaking the Geneva Conventions.

Shadow started down the hill leading out of the forest with determination. His tattered shoes clacked when he took his first step onto the stone pavement, and Sonic was roused from his half-asleep state. He lifted his heavy head off of Shadow's shoulder and looked around.

Nothing about the town looked familiar. The buildings were cozily built, country-style structures made out of dark wood. They reminded Sonic of cowboys, and he half expected to see a horse and wagon when Shadow turned the corner. Unfortunately, there was no horse in sight, and the street was completely empty except for a tumbleweed rolling idly in the wind.

The further they got into the town, the closer they got the hospital, and the more modern the architecture started to become. Now, as Shadow stood at the steps to the tall building, Sonic felt his stomach flip when he looked up at the countless windows staring down at them from the steel behemoth.

"Talk about a change of scenery," Sonic whistled. "What's a place like this doing way out here?"

Shadow peered at the front doors to the hospital. The lights were on, and he could see movement inside. It came as a surprise at this hour, especially after walking through the deserted streets, and Shadow couldn't help but frown. "Let's find another way inside," he said.

Sonic pointed to an open second story window. "How's that for a backdoor?"

The window was about twenty feet off the ground, but unlike the rest of the buildings in town, this one had several anomalies in its design, including steel protrusions that were just the right shape for a hedgehog-sized hand to grab hold of.

Yeah. Shadow could make it work.

The dark hedgehog crossed the hospital's metal courtyard, paying no mind to the sculptures he passed along the way. Sonic, on the other hand, took note of them with a mixture of interest and discomfort. Maybe he wasn't a fan of modern art, or maybe he just didn't like the way the cold steel horses looked at him.

When he had hoped to see a horse, this wasn't what he'd had in mind.

Regardless, he didn't have to look at them for long, because Shadow made it to the space underneath the window in no time flat.

Shadow spared Sonic a glance. "Ready?"

"Yup," Sonic replied. He got the feeling he'd never been more ready to see a doctor in his entire life. "Let's roll!"

Shadow hopped up onto the first story's windowsill. From there, he jumped up and to the right, and grabbed onto a square bit of steel that was jutting out from the wall. He was glad his glove could still find purchase on the slippery surface, even when it was stained with blood.

It took a bit of maneuvering, since he could spare only one hand for the task, but eventually he managed to swing himself up to the next handhold, and then the next, and the next, until he and Sonic were just one handhold away from the open window.

Of course, that was when something had to go wrong. Shadow honestly should've expected it. The building was already so weird–why wouldn't it have changing architecture? The bit of steel that he was currently hanging onto suddenly retreated back into the wall, and Shadow lost his grip on the now smooth surface, and started to fall. That was, until something even stranger happened.

The bottoms of his battered shoes lit up, and halted his descent. More than that, he started rising, and, well, he didn't think too hard about it, he just kind of willed himself toward the open window, and before he knew it, he was there. The light from his shoes spluttered out the second his feet were above the windowsill, and he kicked them off a second after that.

The shoes sparked and exploded when they were halfway to the ground below.

"Wow!" Sonic said, his eyes wide. "Nice save! Did you know that was gonna happen?"

Shadow was pensive. "No," he said honestly. But he was certainly glad it did.

With no more distractions, Shadow ducked into the hospital through the open window. The room he found himself in was small and dark, with only the emergency light glowing a pale yellow near the door. There was also no one in the room, which was very lucky. Almost too lucky. But he decided not to question it. Instead, he headed over to the bed in the middle of the room before setting Sonic down on top of the folded sheets.

"Stay here," Shadow told him.

But it was unnecessary. The only thing Sonic wanted to do right now was melt into the mattress. He flashed Shadow a thumbs up and said, "You do your thing. I'll watch the door."

It didn't take long before Shadow found a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of bandages in a drawer on the other side of the room. He also found a stack of rags in the bathroom by the window where they had come in, and made sure to get one of them damp with the sink before returning to Sonic's side. With the wet washcloth in hand, he set the disinfectant and bandages aside for now.

"Ridding yourself of the dirt should be your priority," Shadow said.

"Darn. You sure? I kinda like how it looks," Sonic joked. But he took the washcloth and scrubbed it out of his fur anyway. When it came to his broken leg, however, he hesitated.

"Wait," Shadow said. Then, he took the washcloth from Sonic and gathered him into his arms again. "There's no sense in hurting yourself further. We can use the sink."

Sonic tried not to look too relieved, but his face betrayed him. "No objections here," he said.

After they washed the dirt from Sonic's broken leg down the drain, Shadow returned him to the bed. Then, he grabbed the bottle of disinfectant and said, "Brace yourself. This will sting."

Sonic winced only a little bit when Shadow sprayed his wounds with the disinfectant. He hadn't realized just how many cuts he had been carrying around with him on his arms or chest, but he was definitely, uncomfortably aware of them now.

When Shadow was done with the disinfectant, he dropped it in favor of the roll of bandages. Then, he held out his hand. "Let me see your arms first."

Sonic obliged him, and was struck by the efficiency and ease with which Shadow wrapped the worst of his injuries. And when he was done, Sonic flexed his newly wrapped fingers, and said in awe, "Maybe I should start calling you Doctor Stripes, huh?"

"I'm no doctor," Shadow snapped. Then, he frowned.

Shadow's sour expression intrigued Sonic. "You remember not havin' a doctorate?"

Shadow furrowed his brows. "No. It's just a feeling, that's all."

Sonic offered Shadow a small smile. "Gotcha. Well, for what it's worth, I don't think I'm a doctor either."

Shadow sighed. His expression lost its sour edge, but gained a tenser one when he turned to the one thing he'd been dreading since entering the hospital: Sonic's broken leg. "It needs to be realigned," he said. That much had been obvious to him from the start. He just wasn't sure whether or not Sonic realized it too.

Sonic's smile got bigger with nerves. "Yeah, I figured. I mean, legs aren't supposed to look like…" He gestured to the misshapen leg in question. "…that."

Shadow set the bandages down. Then, he picked up a clean rag and offered it to Sonic. "Here," he said. "Take it."

Sonic stared at it for a second before realizing what it was for. When he did, his stomach grew cold, but he still took it. The sooner they got this over with, the better.

With a wordless nod to Shadow, Sonic bit down on the rag.

Shadow didn't hesitate. He snapped Sonic's leg back into place with one precise motion, and then wrapped it up with the bandages. It took less than 10 seconds total, and Sonic was grateful for that, because he didn't know if he would've been able to stand it if it had taken any longer. As it was, black spots were swimming in his vision from the pain, and Sonic had to squeeze his eyes shut in order to make them go away.

"The worst of it is over now," Shadow said.

It was possible that Sonic was just imagining it, but he could have sworn that Shadow's voice wasn't gruff when he said that. For once, it almost sounded… gentle.

Sonic handed Shadow back the rag. "I just remembered," he said, "I hate hospitals."

Shadow returned the disinfectant, bandages, and rags to where he had originally found them. He paused when he noticed a wardrobe in the corner of the bathroom, and took a second to look inside of it. There were a few sets of clothes, both for Mobians and humans, on the inside. He took his pick of gloves and shoes, and discarded his old bloodstained gloves in favor of the new ones. He grabbed a pair for Sonic too, assuming that "Blue" wouldn't mind a pair of light blue gloves.

When he walked back out into the room, though, he found that he was unable to ask him about it, because Sonic had fallen asleep. A bad move. They couldn't stay here–what if someone walked in and saw them? That would be trouble.

But…

Shadow sat down on the foot of the bed. He watched Sonic's chest rise and fall, not in shuddering breaths like earlier, but deeply and evenly. Peacefully.

With a sigh, Shadow resolved to let him sleep. Just for a little while.