*Chapter 6: West Wing/Rescue*

The pictures on the walls are torn, and there are gargoyles around as well. Pretty spooky. Maria saw a door which lead to Shadow's room. She turned back, making sure no one was there, and she opened the door to look inside. The furniture was destroyed, torn sheets on the floor, and the room itself is dusty. Maria walked in the dark room, she notices the bed. Good thing Shadow isn't here or else there will be trouble. Then, she saw a torn portrait of a handsome man with the same red eyes as Shadow.

'Wonder who it is...' Maria thought, staring at the torn portrait. She can barely see the rest of the picture since it's so dark in the room. Maria squints her eyes for a closer look until a light shines behind her. She turned to see the enchanted rose float in the glass dome.

"Oh my..." Maria gasped, walking up to the rose in trance. She smiled at the sight of it. She carefully lifted the glass dome, use her free hand to reach for the rose to touch one of the pedals. Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared behind the rose and Maria. The girl gasped to see the black hedgehog glaring at her. He took the glass dome from her hand and place it over the rose, growling softly. Maria backed away from Shadow.

"Why did you come here?" Shadow asked, turning to her.

"I...I'm sorry." Maria said.

"I warned you to never come here!" Shadow yelled, walking towards her.

"I didn't mean any harm."

"Did you realize what you could have DONE?!" Shadow yelled, destroying the table near him with his fist. Maria backed away scared.

"Stop!"

"Get out!" Shadow shouted. Maria ran out in panic. "Get OUT!" Shadow screamed on top of his lungs. But after the terrified girl ran away, Shadow sighed and face palms that he got angry again. "...I didn't mean to frightened you." He said. "I didn't mean to..."

Maria rushes down to the main lobby of the castle, wearing a cape and have a hood on. She ran past Sonic and Knuckles who were looking for her.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Sonic asked.

"Promise or not, I can't stay here for another minute!" Maria said, opening the main doors to get outside. It was snowing outside. She found her horse standing by the gates. She climbed on it and made it go towards the woods. She is going back home. She wanted to forget this whole night.

Maria and her horse are in the middle of the forest, trying to find a right way to get to the village. But the howls are heard. Maria turned to see the wolves surrounding her and the horse. The horse made noises in panic. Maria got off of it and grab a stick. One wolf snapped at her, making her jump back in fright. She made a swing at one of the wolves, but one of them got her cape to make her fall on the snow. Then, one wolf is about to jump on her.

"No!" Maria screamed. The wolf is about to launch on her, but something pushed it away. Maria looked up to see Shadow standing by her with a glare. He went over to her, got in his fighting stance as the wolves came around, growling at him. "Shadow..." Maria spoke.

"Stay behind me." Shadow said. He uses the homing attack on the wolves. He kicks some of them, punches them, and he uses Chaos Spear to paralyze them. Maria watches Shadow fight off the wolves in awe, but in worry. One of the wolves bit Shadow's arm, but the black hedgehog kicks it off. He grabbed one of the wolves, and throw it against the tree. Then, the wolves began to run away from the hedgehog. Maria got up and grab her horse, but she sees Shadow limping a little. He opened his mouth to say something, but he fell on the snow.

"Shadow?" Maria gasped. She went over to him and see that his arm is bleeding from the bite. She looked back at her horse, then back to Shadow who is unconscious. She can't just leave him out here to freeze to death. It's not like her to leave someone who just saved her life. "Okay. You came for me to return to the castle, so...I will return for you. But let me help you." She says as she picked up the hedgehog and place him on the horse. She guides the horse back to the path to return to the castle.

By the fireplace, Maria is bandaging Shadow's arm who is resting on the floor. The servants are watching the girl nursing their master. Shadow groaned and opened his eyes to see Maria finishing up his arm. The girl looked at his red eyes.

"It's alright, Shadow." She said. "Let your arm heal. I clean it up so it won't get infected." Shadow didn't say anything to her. "I'm...so sorry. I really shouldn't have go into the West Wing."

"You shouldn't have go in there. If you haven't run away, this wouldn't happen." Shadow said with a look.

"If you haven't frightened me, I wouldn't run away." Maria said, glaring at him back. She crosses her arms, looking away from him. "You really should control your temper." She muttered. Shadow sighed a little and sat up, he touches the bandages on his arm. Maria turned back to him. "Listen, I wanted to say..." She paused for a moment, brushing the hair away from her face. "Thank you for saving my life." She said. Shadow turned to her. He gave her a nod.

"You're welcome." He said in a gentle tone. The servants smiled at the two. Shadow cleared his throat. "You really should get to bed. It's really late." He said. Maria didn't say anything. She got up from the floor and head out of the room, but she turned back to him.

"Good night, Shadow." She said. Shadow watched her leave him and the servants alone by the fireplace. Sonic went by him with a smile.

"Now that was something. You saved her, she saved you." He said. "And you were gentle to her this time."

"...Yeah." Shadow said. He slowly got up from the floor and left the fireplace. He needs some sleep as well. It's been a long day.

Back at the house of the Robotniks, Ivo and Isabella woke up from the sounds that were coming from downstairs. The two head down to see their grandfather packing up and ready to go. But, where is he going at this time of hour?

"Grandpa? What're you doing?" Isabella asked. "It's late."

"I'm going back to that castle, kids. I'm getting Maria back." Gerald said with a look. "You two stay here. I'll be back."

"Wait a minute." Ivo said. "You want to go back to wherever Maria is, all alone out in the cold? You'll catch your death out there!"

"Yeah, can't this wait till morning?" Isabella asked. Gerald didn't listen to him. He grabs a lantern and head out the door. Ivo and Isabella watched him from the window. "He's gone nuts."

"What do we do?" Ivo said. Isabella shook her head and went upstairs.

"If he's going, then we're going. I ain't going to do Maria's chores." She said. "Ivo, get dressed." The boy let out a groan of annoyance. He went upstairs.
After the two kids left the house to follow Gerald down the road to get to the woods, there is Myrin watching them leave. He was expecting Maria to be with them, but she isn't. The man thought back of what Gerald said at the bar.

"I can't do anything till the family comes back. Maria will have to be with them." He said. "It better be soon." He leaves the area to get back to the village.