Once they'd gotten back to Central City, Shadow laid down in front of the fireplace in Amy's house, where he and Omega had been brought to rest. He faintly heard Tails talking with Knuckles, discussing the recovery of Omega.

"I can try," Tails offered to a half-asleep Shadow, "I'm not sure if I can repair him completely, but I might be able to repair his voice box and memory chip so he can at least talk again."

Shadow barely heard the little fox, but he grunted his approval anyway. He looked at the skeleton of Omega one last time before Knuckles, Tails, and Vector carried it out. At this point, any bit of hope the hedgehog had was lost. For the most part, anyway.

Amy and Blaze proved to be incredible nurses for Shadow, even though he insisted that he needed no help. The girls understood that he was the Ultimate Life Form, but they argued that even the Ultimate Life Form needs rest. After long bouts of bickering, Shadow finally gave up. He realized that they weren't going to let him go, even after his wounds had healed themselves almost completely.

A few days dragged on, oozing their way along like a snail in a race. One day, Amy told Shadow the news of Rouge undergoing mental therapy for her mind to be restored. He nodded, his relief strong but not outwardly showing. As he mustered up the energy to finally sit up in bed, another knock came at his door.

"Come in," grumbled the tired hedgehog.

The door creaked open to reveal Blaze, Sonic, and the G.U.N. commander with a few agents by his side.

"Shadow," the commander started, his usually powerful and demanding voice strangely soft, "We're so glad to see you alive and well after your mission."

Shadow lowered his head. Something in the back of his mind told him that the commander wasn't necessarily sincere, but he'd always encountered a twinge of suspicion when it came to the commander.

"Rouge's mind is recovering," the commander announced, "after another week of therapy, she'll have the ability to reason again, though her ability to react quickly or remember small things will never be the same."

Shadow remained silent. He felt there was nothing to say, not even a smart remark. Not when his team was broken in this way.

"We sent search parties after you," he continued, "After we lost touch with you and the communication signals were cut off, we knew something was wrong. Some men claimed they'd picked up spikes of Chaos coming from you, others claimed it was completely hopeless. Nevertheless, we searched and found no evidence of what had happened; we feared the worst."

Shadow cringed upon hearing that. "The worst" had come far too close for their team, especially for Omega.

"What about Omega?" Shadow cut in as the robot popped into his mind, "How is he doing?"

"Tails is still working on him," Sonic piped up, walking towards his rival with the slightest limp, "He'll probably be another week or so. He says he doesn't know a lot about Eggman's style of robotics, so he's trying his best to at least jog his memory and boot up his voice box."

Shadow squinted.

"Any word from or sign of the doctor?" he inquired, his voice at a mumble.

Sonic shook his head.

"Everyone looked for him in and around that Egg Carrier," he said gravely, "Not a trace of him. He'll bounce back; he always does. But we should probably keep an eye out after . . . well, y'know."

Shadow pursed his lips. It seemed that everything failed to process in his head—G.U.N. and their search parties, Tails working on Omega, Eggman's disappearance and Rouge's therapy. Everything was a blur in his mind. It was starting to give him a headache.

"We've also provided you with a new motorcycle," the commander said, "We heard what happened to your old one."

The hedgehog jumped off of his bed and walked towards the doorway. He haughtily decided that he'd had enough news for one day.

"Shads . . ." Sonic said, his voice dropping, "Where ya goin'?"

Shadow gripped the doorknob and lowered his head.

"With any luck, I'm moving ahead," Shadow replied. He turned to Amy and nodded. "Thank you for the help," he said quickly. Everyone watched as he stepped out of the room and listened as the front door closed shut behind the dark hedgehog.

Shadow had always been used to wandering and feeling lost, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this way without his teammates. Normally, he'd have Omega by his side, and they'd mock each other and have a good time, in their own little way. As the hours passed, he stood at the hill that overlooked Westopolis and swam in his never-ending thoughts. He knew Rouge would be okay, but the team would suffer greatly without their robot companion to accompany them. The hedgehog shook his head. He couldn't think like that—at least, not until he was absolutely certain.

The hours turned into days, and the days turned into a full week. Shadow found himself back at G.U.N. HQ, sleeping on one of the lounge chairs. When he woke up from a long nap, the hedgehog journeyed back to the hill and sat under the single tree. He looked up between the leaves of the tree to find dark clouds looming overhead, signaling the approach of a storm. There were flashes of light that erupted from the sky, and rolling booms followed. Not caring about the weather, the hedgehog's thoughts created their own tornado again in his mind.

Rouge thanked her therapist as the thin woman left Club Rouge. The bat went into the bathroom. She examined herself in the mirror, specifically staring at the scars on her face. She struggled to recall how she'd gotten them, although something in the very back of her mind told her that Shadow was involved. Rouge brought her hands to her face to feel the bruises. They still gave a dull pain, but it wasn't so bad anymore.

The bat suddenly saw an image flash in her mind. Shadow's face, angry and seething, coming closer to hers. With a slight gasp she recalled the fight in the cavern, and the aftermath and repentance. Her mind moved to Omega and how he'd been the one to push her and Shadow out of the cave when it was falling on top of them. She remembered the sound of crunching metal and wires that echoed through the forest outside of the cave.

"Omega," she mouthed, her lips forming the name in an almost affectionate manner. She remembered. "I remember," she said aloud. "Oh my god, I remember!"

Getting excited at the return of her memory, Rouge rushed to the front door and reached for the doorknob. Just as her fingers made contact with the cold metal, three knocks came from behind it. Rouge could make out a red figure through the foggy glass, and fortunately knew who was standing there. When she opened the door, it revealed a nervous-looking Knuckles, holding a bouquet of assorted flowers.

"I remember!" Rouge cried, taking Knuckles by the shoulders. "Knuckles, I remember what happened!"

"Good! Good!" Knuckles replied, his eyes wide and face turning redder than it was. "Uh, remember what?"

"I need to tell you everything!" Rouge yelled, nearly in hysterics, "Come in, come in, and sit!"

Rouge pulled Knuckles into the house and slammed the door shut. She shoved the baffled echidna into a chair and sat herself down in another, and began telling the story of her mission. She told the story with exaggerated hand gestures and a frantic voice. Knuckles followed along, his heart sinking with every turn of events that Rouge recounted. There was no doubt that Team Dark was tightly bound, but it was terribly disheartening to hear about how their experiences nearly ripped apart their close friendship.

Shadow remained under the tree as the dark clouds overhead started to let down sheets of rain and rumbles of thunder. He wasn't paying attention to it, though. His thoughts kept returning to Omega and the times they'd had together—it was the same kind of thought as one about Maria. He'd try to recall everything they'd done together on the ARK, and it was often hard to remember. However, with Omega, Shadow remembered nearly everything. The vivid images in his mind weren't creating a pleasant feeling like the ones about Maria, but rather they haunted him. He'd been so awful to the robot, and all of a sudden Omega's main objective was to look out for his teammates and protect them. Shadow knew very well Omega didn't need to protect him—not after the way he'd treated him, especially during the mission.

"Why, you damn piece of junk?" Shadow wondered aloud. "Why'd you do it?"

Shadow's ears twitched as he picked up the sound of his G.U.N. cell phone ringing. He flipped it open and pressed the "answer" button.

" 'Lo?" he mumbled.

"Shadow! I've picked up some readings of activity in Omega's memory chip!" cried an excited and young voice on the other end. Tails.

Shadow blinked, processing the news.

"Huh?"

"I can't figure out how to charge him back up, so you and Rouge need to come over here right now! He's almost out of time!"

Shadow's eyes widened as he realized the gravity of the situation.

"We'll be over right away," he said, his voice more clear. The hedgehog hopped on to his new G.U.N. motorcycle and rode off to Club Rouge.