ZONE 2: THE HOSPITAL
ACT 1: SPOILER: THERE WON'T BE ANY DEFENESTRATION (THIS TIME)
Sonic spent the first 5 seconds after he woke up blissfully unaware that anything was wrong. When 6 seconds rolled around, however, he started to get the feeling that maybe something was a little weird about his current situation. It was the pillow that gave it away–the thing was just too darn fluffy. It was unnatural. And by the time 7 seconds passed, he cracked his eyes open, and was greeted by a familiar room that did nothing but confirm his suspicions.
It was the hospital room from before. The simple fact that he recognized it was part of the problem. Because he had spent all of yesterday not recognizing anything, and he was kind of hoping it was just a bad dream. So, now that he had woken up and wasn't magically transported to a world where he didn't have amnesia…
Well, it was a little undeniable.
But whatever. He could put that on the back burner for now, because there was one more thing that was bugging him. And this one was a bit more urgent than the whole "I can't remember who I am" thing. And it was that, aside from himself, the room was empty.
He might have a faulty memory, but if there was one thing he was positive about, it was that he hadn't been alone when he'd fallen asleep this morning.
So that begged the question: where was Stripes?
With a not unsubstantial amount of effort, Sonic sat up. Then, he noticed a pair of gloves folded neatly at the bottom of the bed. They were light blue, and sitting within arm's reach on top of the thin sheet he was covered with. Wait, he didn't remember crawling under the covers–
Sonic shook his head. Just add it to the list of things he didn't remember, and move on, he thought.
After he grabbed the gloves, he put them on. The light blue felt… different… but it was nice to cover up some of the bandages, at least. So, he didn't mind too much.
His broken leg ached horribly, so he tried to be as mindful of it as possible when he scooched forward. He got as far as the bottom end of the bed before stopping, both of his legs now hanging down over the edge. From there, he leaned forward, peeking around the corner and toward the door. It was still closed. Okay. He looked the other way, toward the window. It was still open. Hmm.
With a frown, Sonic sat back. He thought about how, unlike himself, Shadow was able to move around without any issues. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Even with all the craziness earlier, Sonic had still noticed the other hedgehog's limp. But still, he was in way better shape than Sonic was currently. So, if he wanted to…
If he wanted to…
Sonic stared out the open window.
A slight rattling noise suddenly caught his attention. The sound was coming from above, and when Sonic looked up, he saw the bolts holding the air vent to the wall slowly becoming unscrewed. Before the metal cover could fall to the floor, however, a gloved hand reached out and snatched it. And then Shadow's head appeared from inside of the vent, and he looked down at Sonic.
"Oh," Shadow said. "You're awake."
Sonic couldn't help but grin. "That's a pretty cool entrance, Stripes."
Shadow dropped down from the vent. It was only after propping the metal cover up against the wall that he turned back around to face Sonic and said, "The door didn't seem like the best idea."
Sonic snorted. "Still cool," he said. Whatever worries had been coiling in his stomach before were gone now. He was wondering, though… "What made you wanna go all Mission Impossible?"
Shadow glanced at Sonic's leg. "I was looking for something to help with that," he said, "that I couldn't find in here. Those bandages won't hold up as a support for long. But this should." He held out something to Sonic, a black brace suited for a Mobian-sized leg.
Sonic started to get excited. As grateful as he was that Shadow had been carrying him around up until this point, he definitely didn't want to be a hedgehog-shaped tote bag forever. "Good thinking," he said.
After slipping the brace onto his leg with only a moderate amount of pain, Sonic felt way better about their situation. He hadn't realized just how miserable having a broken leg was making him until this very moment. Really, it almost made his memory problems seem like a nonissue by comparison.
"How does that feel?" Shadow asked.
"It feels like I could run a marathon," Sonic replied.
Shadow frowned. "Don't push your luck, Blue."
Holding up his hands, Sonic said, "Just kidding. This thing would probably only be good for a half marathon, anyway."
Shadow's frown deepened, the joke totally flying over his head. But Sonic didn't mind. He was just happy to have some of his freedom of motion back. With a sparkle in his eyes, Sonic asked, "Will you spot me? I wanna try to stand."
Shadow started to say, "This is no time to be reckless," but was cut off mid sentence by Sonic.
"Pleeeaaase?"
Scowling, Shadow averted his eyes from Sonic's puppy dog face. "It's your decision," Shadow said, knowing that if he didn't agree, Sonic would probably just do it anyway. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."
Sonic beamed when Shadow held out his hand. He took it eagerly, pulling himself up onto his feet as quickly as he dared. He put most of his weight onto his good leg, so the twinge in his bad one was kept to a minimum.
"Satisfied?" Shadow asked.
But Sonic wasn't. Not yet. He dared to take a step forward, and the brace clacked against the hard linoleum floor when he did so. Now all he had to do was put his weight on it, and he would've taken his first real step since waking up in that crater yesterday.
Sonic knew it was going to hurt. But he didn't care, and after he took that one, small, painful step, all he could do was grin.
"Yeah," Sonic said, giving Shadow's hand a squeeze. "Now I am. Thanks."