In the middle of the night a black form leapt down from one of the trees near the huts and made it's way silently to the window of the hut Sonic was taken to earlier.

Shadow the Hedgehog slowly opened the door and walked into the room silently. The room was rather plain with the old oak boards still showing. A bookcase sat at one wall with the bed on the wall next to it. The bed was simple with a red heavy blanket draped over the top of the blue hedgehog beneath.

Shadow smiled softly as he walked over and sat on the bed by his friend's side. Gently he pulled a peach arm from beneath the blanket. The golden cuff on his friend's wrist made his smile grow as he tucked the other back in.

Once he had stood up again Shadow placed his hand on a blue forehead and closed his eyes, "Chaos… Heal!"

A flash of green engulfed the room before vanishing to reveal a groggy blue hedgehog.

Sonic frowned at his blurry vision and rubbed his eyes before looking again. A dark chuckle met his ears as he did so making them perk up and him sit up straighter. Opening his eyes again he saw a black hedgehog with red streaks and red eyes.

"S-shadow?"

"It's me Faker. Go back to sleep, your body still needs to catch up with the healing process. I'll be here when you wake up."

Sonic frowned before nodding and lying back down. He scooted over and patted the bed next to him; "You'll get cold on the floor."

Shadow smirked and nodded before climbing on top of the covers and lying down. In a few minutes both black and blue were asleep.

XXxxXX

Shadow blinked and opened his eyes as a ray of sunlight shone on his face. With a silent growl towards the sun he turned his head away from the light.

The sight immediately brought back memories from the day before. Transporting with Sonic, Black Doom, the war, Rouge, and finding Sonic passed out.

Said blue hedgehog was now resting silently in the bed with the top of his head in the crook between his arm and side and one peach arm stretched over his stomach and frankly looking rather… cute. Looking at him now Shadow would never guess that this was the same hedgehog that had beat him in battle many times.

Laying his head back on the pillow Shadow huffed and watched as a cloud of vapor appeared in front of him before vanishing.

The blue hedgehog next to him had always managed to catch his attention. Just when he'd thought he'd managed to figure him out the hero would do something completely opposite that dashed everything he thought he knew to pieces.

For instance after Sonic's birthday he had a fight with Eggman in Station Square. Just after that a bunch of lawsuits had suddenly appeared towards him, for property damage, injury, even for simply disturbing the peace. Apparently the humans never took time to realize without him how much more property damage there would be, how quite a few of them would be dead, and how little peace they would have if Eggman captured their city.

Instead of growing upset or even pouting a bit he had just… vanished along with the fox-kit. Only his friends could ever find him and Tails now, and only when he wanted them to. Eggman still was stopped, but the only sign of him being anywhere near the area would be rumors and whispers. For a few days after Eggman was stopped the wind would blow around the area with a vengeance, before disappearing for a month without a single breeze. One of the more popular (and more wild) rumors among the humans was that he'd finally run so fast that he became the wind instead of just acting like it.

No matter what happened he would simply take it in course and run with it.

That was one of the things that fascinated Shadow, Sonic had had the weight of the world on his shoulders many times, and yet he acted like it was a game.

Feeling Sonic shift next to him brought him out of his thoughts as he turned his attention to the younger one.

The peaceful look had disappeared to be replaced by a frown accompanied for a second by a whimper.

Frowning slightly as he realized that Sonic was having a nightmare he reached out a hand to rest it on top of his head where fur started to turn into quills before ruffling the area slightly.

Quickly Sonic stopped squirming and fell back into a peaceful rest, Shadow soon dropping to sleep as well.

XXxxXX

The next time Shadow woke up was to the sudden sound of something shattering.

Immediately he sat straight up in the bed and focused on where the sound had come from.

The pink hedgehog he'd fought before was standing in the doorway staring at him in shock and a broken bowl was on the floor by her feet with a light brown substance, most likely soup, on the floor around it.

Her shock turned into anger as she straightened up and opened her mouth to say something. Whatever it was, was never heard because at that moment the dark hedgehog vanished with a streak of gold behind him, into the dark forest and back towards the castle.

XXxxXX

Sonia rushed over to her brother ignoring the shards of pottery lying around on the floor. Flipping the blanket off of him she sighed in relief to find that he had no injuries, in fact it looked as if the Black Arms prince hadn't harmed him at all.

She frowned and walked out the door to get another bowl of soup for when he woke up. She could question him then.

XXxxXX