If I ever get out of this, I'm going to be claustrophobic for the rest of my life, Shadow thought to himself. He had no idea how long it had been since he'd been buried alive, but he did know it was a very long time. The pain throughout the dark hedgehog's body and everything else had numbed, he felt empty and hopeless. The hedgehog kept falling in a out of consciousness due to fatigue. This made it impossible to keep track of time. A thousand years could have passed but it could have felt like a few hundred because he was unconscious for the rest of it.

Then he heard something. The sound of soil getting displaced and moving above him. Shadow groaned as he tried to speak, but couldn't. The sound went on for a while, until he felt the box vibrate as a shovel hit the lid. The distressed hedgehog opened his mouth to call out to whoever was digging, but it was made impossible due to his dry throat and lack of oxygen. His sense of gravity was swayed which meant the box was moving somehow. He'd been found. The trapped being's heart rate increased, this was it, he'd finally be free.

The subsequent few seconds felt like hours, then he saw a flicker of light. The lid was opening, and his skin felt sunlight again, he reached out his hand to whoever was opening the box. The lid was off, but Shadow's eye sight was blurry so he couldn't see who had helped him.

"Shadow!" he heard the voice. He knew that voice, his eyes widened, which didn't improve his sight at all but showed his surprise. "Shadow… I'm so sorry I couldn't get to you sooner buddy. C'mon, I'll help you out."

Shadow felt the first contact he'd felt ever since he'd been shoved into that deep dark hole. It felt… warm and intimate. His rescuer picked him up by wrapping his arms around Shadow's body and lifting him out of the box, the pained hedgehog was then laid out on the grass.

Shadow reached out to his rescuer, first touching the leg of the hero, then Shadow's gloved hand was held by another gloved hand. "It's okay now… I've got you."

Shadow slowly and painfully took in his first breath, first through his nose and then through his mouth when he felt comfortable. Then he was hit with a splitting headache. Unable to scream out or move and put his hands on his head, tears streamed from his eyes, very salty and scarce tears. Crying was something Shadow would have refused to do in front of anyone, but the circumstances were special, he wouldn't hold back.

"Oh man… Shadow, I'll go and get you something to drink!"

Shadow felt the contact leave him, his hand was dropped by his rescuer and he heard rapid footsteps. The dark hedgehog's sight became clearer temporarily, he looked forward and his suspicions were proved. Leaving the gates of the grave yard of great speed, was Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic took his usual trip into the city to get a drink, but stopped when noticed it's difference. The buildings were no longer the usual sky scrapers and square buildings, they were of various shapes, some were even round. They weren't made out of crumbling concrete, but robust metal. The surroundings weren't of a dull tarmac, but shining metal and marble. Sonic's mouth gaped open, where had he thrown himself into this time? An alternate dimension where Eggman never existed perhaps?

The blue hedgehog looked over the large screen on a large control tower. It took a while for his eyes to adjust, was that image, 3D? It certainly was… and the date in the corner of the 100 inch screen?

"I'm not in the 21st century anymore…" Sonic said, feeling sick to his stomach.

Nearly getting hit by that car had caused him to go into panic mode and he performed chaos control with the two emeralds he had, without a thought of where he wanted to go, and he ended up outside of graveyard and ran to the spot he'd stood over before and began digging without second thought. He used a shovel left next to a nearby tree by the people who used the grave yard last.

Now where was he? In the same place… in the 23rd century. His mind jumped to why he'd come here in the first place.

"I need a place to get a drink for Shadow…" Sonic said, thinking of the vending machines in the 21st century. He sped up to find one, or something that looked remotely like one.

He looked across the street full of humans and saw a window in the side of a building, there was a large shiny vending machine built into the building. The hedgehog ran over and admired it. "This is… fancy…" he said, sounding puzzled. There was nowhere to insert money. He pressed the code for what drink he needed and decided to work it out from there. A dim light flashed in his eye, which made him squint.

"IDENTITY UNRECOGNISED. PLEASE REGISTER TO USE. IF YOU THINK THIS IS AN ERROR, TRY AGAIN." The machine droned.

Sonic's mouth gaped open. He looked around desperately for a shop that sold what he needed. As he was walking, he gained a lot of confused and surprised looks from humans. The poor hedgehog was surrounded by them, he had to push his way through the crowds, but there were no shops around. It was all electrical vending machines.

"The future is complicated…" Sonic sighed. "There's only one thing I can do."

Shadow was in serious need of a drink, and desperate times call for desperate measures. The hedgehog made sure no one was looking and punched the glass of the vending machine. Sonic yelped in pain and keeled back as his fist just bounced off the reinforced glass. "I just want a drink! What do you want from me!?" the frustrated hedgehog yelled, and gained more stares from the humans around him.

While Sonic stood by the machine, thinking of a way to get his much needed drink, he was tapped on the shoulder. He looked to his side to see another anthrop, the only one amongst the bustling crowd of humans.

"Hardly any vending machines take cash any more. It's all by credit it… I know, it's annoying," they explained. Sonic sighed, he didn't have a credit card, or even a bank account for that matter.

"Do you have cash on you? I'll get you need and you can pay me back."

"Yes please, and make it quick. I have someone waiting for me," Sonic said urgently, he pointed to what he needed then watched the anthrop get their eye scanned. "Thanks!" Sonic snatched the cans of drink and put a few notes in his hand. "Keep the change-"

"Wait… this is the old currency!" The blue one was already gone from sight.

Sonic returned to the cemetery to see Shadow crawling over to the tree near the entrance. "Shadow, what are you doing… you should rest," Sonic said with concern.

Shadow just scowled at him and put his hands on the bark, he then pulled himself up. Sonic was confused as to why Shadow would want to stand up at a time like this. The blue hedgehog was about to grab his weak friend, but he heard the sound of trickling water and stopped. Sonic left Shadow to it, not wanting think what a two hundred year old pee would feel like.

When the dark hedgehog finished, he faced Sonic with a pained expression, he one had scruffy matted fur and dark circles under his eyes. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but couldn't. "Here Shadow, I got you a drink!" Sonic said and passed it to him.

Shadow weakly took it by slowly reaching his hand out and gripping his fingers around the can. It looked as if he had trouble focusing on the object as he held it up to his face and looked at it. The dark hedgehog frowned, his eyes narrowed at Sonic.

"What's wrong?"

Shadow just grunted and dropped the drink, his body fell after it. Sonic stepped forward to catch him. Shadow's body leant against Sonic's, their arms wrapped around each other's, Shadow's head hung over Sonic's shoulder.

"Water, Sonic… not soda," Shadow's raspy voice sounded through his deep breaths. "You… never cease to surprise me… faker."

Sonic gently lay Shadow down on the ground. The miserable one watched Sonic through squinted eyes, open one of the cans and hold it over Shadow's mouth.

"Open up Shadow, I'll poor it down your throat… you'll feel a lot better,"

"No… way."

"But it's an energy drink Shadow, you'll recover quicker," Sonic whined. "Come on!"

Shadow's mouth remained closed, the stubborn hedgehog would not drink the fizzy drink. Sonic sighed and stood up. "I guess you want me to buy you some water then," he complained.

"Hmph… how about you take me home and run some from your tap, you live with Tails by his work shop right?" Shadow grumbled.

"Shadow… it's not the 21st century any more…you've been buried for over two hundred years," Sonic said solemnly.

"Stop messing around, Faker! If that were true, you'd be dead," Shadow growled.

"I… came to the future with Chaos Control…"

Shadow's eyes widened.

"So… that wasn't just a time illusion caused by pain. I really was in there for centuries…" Shadow breathed. Sonic noticed the emotional pain in Shadow's eyes when he realised that so much time had passed. The blue one had a mischievous idea when he also noticed that Shadow's mouth was also open. Sonic bent down and poured the drink into Shadow's mouth.

Shadow coughed and spluttered as the fizzy drink hit the back of his throat unexpectedly. Sonic stopped when he noticed the dark one's spluttering. Shadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic in hatred, then snatched the drink out of his hand. The ebony hedgehog sat up and gulped the rest down.

"I hate you Faker," Shadow grumbled and got up from the floor, feeling his body absorb the sugar and caffeine almost immediately.

"You're welcome, Shadow," Sonic smirked and trailed after Shadow, who was slowly making his way out of the grave yard with the usual callous look on his face.