Shadow's eyes widened. 'I'm going to die?' Then he laughed and began to walk away. 'That's cute. In case you forgot, Silver, I can't die.'

'You might not be able to die, but that doesn't mean you can't be killed.'

Shadow kept walking. He knew Silver wasn't just talking about semantics. He couldn't age, and he couldn't die of natural causes. In order for him to perish, he would have to be killed, and he was only growing stronger as the years passed. And if all the nemeses of his past hadn't been strong enough to kill him in White Space, then what hope did anyone else have of succeeding where they had failed?

Silver stepped in front of Shadow and grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop in the middle of the hospital's courtyard. 'Shadow, listen to me.' The silence between his words was filled with the metallic creaking of the swingset and the shrill squeals of children playing. 'In the future, this hospital has been razed to the ground. The only thing left standing is a memorial statue that was erected in your honour – in the very spot where we're standing – because this is where you're supposed to have died.'

A chill trickled down Shadow's spine, and he became painfully aware of Silver's grip on his arm. 'Didn't you hear what I just said? No matter what you think is supposed to happen in your future history, I still can't die. I have immortality –'

'Immortality and invulnerability are two different things. You, of all people, should know that.'

Shadow looked away. He heard a familiar rasp in his head, and his skin prickled. I gave you life ... now I will take it back. Black Doom had believed that Shadow could be killed. He may have been wrong. He may have lied. But Black Doom was the source of Shadow's immortality, and despite that, he had still been killed by Shadow's own hand.

'Look,' Silver said, and his expression was desperate. 'I've never crossed paths with you in the current future. If you're really going to live forever, shouldn't I have come across a trace of you by now, at least?'

Shadow shrugged free of Silver's grip. 'The fact that you can't find me in the future means nothing. I could have been sealed away again by GUN for all you know.'

'This timeline's version of you doesn't have a reason to let that happen.'

'Anything can happen –' Shadow only realised what he had said once it was too late, and he swore under his breath.

Silver pointed at him with a sharp flick of his wrist. 'If anything can happen, then that means that you can also die. Am I wrong?' When Shadow didn't answer, Silver said, 'Listen, I don't want this to be your future any more than you do. That's why I'm here in the first place. Arguing with me or denying reality isn't going to change your fate.'

Shadow glanced at one of the corridors behind the glass walls of the internal courtyard, and he caught a glimpse of Alex striding past. He remembered that she had asked him what would happen if she drained every drop of blood from his body. It wouldn't kill him, but there might be something else that could. In the same way that the human body couldn't survive without blood, he couldn't survive without Chaos Energy. It was his life force. If it were fully depleted, then …

Shadow looked down at his inhibitor rings. He couldn't begin to imagine what it would take for him to die. His death was a statistical improbability, one that he didn't know how to calculate. It was improbable. But it wasn't impossible.

'No,' Shadow said. 'You're not wrong.'

There was a deathly silence.

Silver tentatively reached out, asking, 'Are you all right?'

'Why wouldn't I be?'

Silver flinched and stepped back. 'I-I just told you that you're going to die.'

Shadow stowed his hands in his jacket pockets. A cold breeze swept across the courtyard, ruffling his fur. 'You say that as though it's a bad thing.'

The implications of Silver's words had barely begun to sink in. In moments of weakness, he had wondered whether he was destined to live an endless life forever, searching the horizon for a conclusion that would never transpire. He didn't necessarily believe what Silver was saying. But he also wasn't arrogant enough to believe that it couldn't be true. The only thing he truly believed in was his ability to defy whatever fate the future held for him. But at this moment, all he could feel was a sense of … relief.

'Shadow, I've seen some terrible futures, and they all had one thing in common. I've never found a trace of you in any of them.'

In an instant, that fleeting sense of relief was torn out of his hands. Shadow hardened himself and glared at Silver. 'I still don't know whether I believe you. Did it occur to you that I may not have wanted to be found?'

'Perhaps, but this is the first time I've found evidence pointing to your death.'

'Either way, your future doesn't need me.'

'Yes, it does!' Silver protested. 'Sonic may be able to protect this world in the present, but we live in two different eras, separated by hundreds of years. He can't pass that torch to me, but he can pass it to you.'

'Why should I have to be the one to carry that torch in your absence?'

'I thought …' Silver faltered and trailed off. 'I thought you wanted to protect humanity.'

'That was never my wish. It was the wish of another.' Shadow crossed his arms, tightening his grip until his medals bit through his sleeves. 'I fight for the world even though I have no love for it. And according to you, I'll even die for it. Why should I have to keep living for it as well?'

Silver's quills drooped, and he looked down. The illuminated lines in his cuffs flickered. 'I'm sorry, Shadow. I don't know what to tell you. I wish I could say that I came here for your sake alone, but I'm not that selfless.' Silver hesitated. 'I'm not just here to save you. If you die, then my future could die with you … and I can't let that happen.'

Shadow said nothing. He wanted to sigh, but even that felt like a luxury he couldn't afford.

A slow-burning anger began to simmer in his chest. Even if it were possible for him to die … He couldn't give up so easily. Not yet. He still had unfinished business to take care of. There were still people he wanted to protect in the present.

Shadow tipped his head in the direction of the doors that lead out of the courtyard and skated off, startling Silver out of his guilt. 'Walk with me. I don't have all day.'

Shadow heard Silver let out a relieved sigh, and a moment later, Silver fell into step beside him. 'Sure.'

They passed through the sliding doors and made their way down the corridor, reemerging into the hospital's foyer. The background noise of conversation was deafening, and Silver looked up at the maze of walkways and escalators above them.

One of the receptionists called out to them as they passed by, saying, 'Your friend needs to sign in and get a visitor pass.'

'He's a time-traveller,' Shadow said. 'His details aren't even going to show up in your system.'

The woman didn't even bat an eye. 'No exceptions –'

Shadow grabbed Silver's arm and hauled him into the nearest elevator. 'If he causes a problem, then he can go back in time and undo it.' The doors closed behind them, and Shadow leaned against the glass wall of the elevator cage, slamming one hand against the button for the haematology ward. The doors closed, and he rested his hands on the railing.

'That's not how that works,' Silver whispered.

'Hospital receptionists don't get paid enough to care about the logistics of time travel, Silver.' Shadow lowered his gaze, staring at the worn carpet tiles as though they would reveal an answer to their newfound predicament. 'Anyway. Professor Gerald once told me that I shouldn't pollute the timestream, but you're already here. What's done is done. Can you tell me how many people are going to die?'

Silver stared at him. 'Come again?'

Shadow clenched one hand around the railing, and the metal buckled beneath his fingers. 'Look, I don't care if my exact cause of death was written on the plaque of that damn memorial statue. I still don't believe that I'm going to die, but if I do –'

'It only had a lifespan.'

Shadow blinked and looked up. 'What?'

'The statue. The only information on the plaque was a lifespan. 1951 to 2011.'

Shadow's chest twisted. 'That means I only have six months, at most.' Then, an unwanted realisation dawned on him. 'You said that this statue was erected on the grounds of this hospital?'

'That's right.'

'I'm only going to be here for less than a week, and I don't plan on ever coming back once this is over.' Shadow took a shallow breath. 'If I die here … it's going to be sooner rather than later.'

'Shadow, I'm sorry –'

'Stop that. I'm not going to shoot the messenger.' The elevator chimed, the doors opened, and they walked out. 'And it's not like you're the one who killed me.'

Silver's expression was unreadable. 'I'm trying to save you, not kill you. And I couldn't kill you if I tried.'

'The way you say that makes me think that you've already tried and failed.'

'Perhaps.'

Shadow came to a halt beside the reception desk of the haematology ward and leaned against it, crossing his arms. 'If I'm going to die, then I'll obviously go down fighting. You've clearly tried to kill me before. You should already know that gods and monsters are the only things that would be strong enough to defeat me.' Shadow lowered his voice. 'If I die, the collateral damage will be catastrophic. Forget the hospital – Central City itself should have been levelled to the ground.'

Silver cast a wary glance at the receptionists behind the desk and lowered his voice as well. 'In the current future, everything from the old world has been destroyed. It's impossible to tell what damage was caused by which events.'

'Damn it,' Shadow muttered. 'Am I the reason that this hospital is going to be destroyed in the first place? I won't ask again – how many people are going to die, Silver? Or do you not even know?'

Silver stiffened. 'If you want to get down to brass tacks, then fine.'

'According to you, I'm going to die within the next six months, if not within the week. I think it's time for the damn brass tacks.'

Silver rested one arm on the desk. 'I looked for records,' he said. 'I couldn't find anything. The only clue I could find is the memorial statue itself. The statue was for you alone, but that doesn't mean there weren't other casualties when you died.'

'I'm here on behalf of GUN,' Shadow muttered. 'Whatever's going to happen, it wouldn't surprise me if they cover it up. They'll probably classify the information, at least.'

'Why are you here, anyway?' Silver glanced around the ward and his brow knit in confusion. Have you already identified some kind of threat in this location?'

'Several. Sickle cell disease. Hemolytic anaemia.' Shadow shrugged. 'Cancer.'

Silver blinked several times. 'What?'

'I'm not here as a field agent.' Shadow shook his head, dismissing Silver's gesture toward his medal-studded uniform. 'I'm participating in an experimental program.'

'To do what?'

'To throw up one last "Hail Mary" for these kids,' Shadow said. 'They have nothing left to lose, and neither do I.'

Silver held a hand to his head, prompting a concerned glance from a passing doctor. 'Wait. Am I actually in the right timeline? Because this doesn't sound like the version of you that I know.'

'Don't get it twisted. This is a PR stunt for GUN. It just suits my purposes to go along with it.'

'Huh.' Silver crossed his arms behind his head. 'I thought that maybe a splinter cell extremist group had infiltrated the hospital and they'd sent you in to deal with it.'

'… Are you trying to give me a hint?'

'What? Oh, no. I'm here because I don't know what's going to happen.' Silver blinked and shook his head. 'Or has happened. Or will have happened –'

'Would you shut up?' Shadow growled. 'And don't say things like that in the first place.'

Silver looked stung. 'I have to account for all possible outcomes.'

'And I have to account for the fact that hundreds of children could die if we can't sort this mess out. I don't have time for abstract hypotheticals.'

Silver took a step back. He looked around, seemingly registering the doctors, nurses and patients walking past them both for the first time. His whole body tensed. Then his shoulders fell, and he exhaled. His voice was quieter when he spoke again. 'Ok. I get it. There aren't that many people left in the current future, so I'm not used to accounting for collateral damage. I was just … focused on saving you. Look, I need you to not die.'

'I already told you that your future doesn't need me. They'll still have you –'

'If you don't survive, then they might not have me either.'

A beat passed. Shadow exhaled through his teeth and put his arm on the reception desk, resting his head in one hand. 'No.'

'Shadow, listen to me.'

'No. Stop. I don't care what you've seen or heard in other timelines. We're not doing this either.'

'But –'

'But nothing.' Shadow hesitated. 'Silver … I can't have children.' He waited for Silver to register the implications of what he had just said before he continued. 'Even in the unlikely event that I die, you're still not going to disappear.'

'How do you know?'

'Know what?'

'That you can't have children. Don't look at me like that … My existence is still in peril as far as I'm concerned.'

For a moment, Shadow wondered whether everyone from the future was as equally forthright, or if Silver was just especially abrasive. 'I think I just worked out how I'm going to die.'

'You have?'

'Yes. I'm going to throw myself out a window because you kept asking me stupid questions.'

'You think that would be enough to kill you?'

Shadow walked toward the nearest window, and Silver yelped, yanking him back by the arm. 'I'm trying to keep you alive! Don't make my job any harder than it already is.'

Shadow pulled free and swore under his breath. 'If we were related, then you would have a basic grasp of sarcasm.' He looked Silver up and down. 'And we're not related. I know my own body, and I've read the Project Shadow files front-to-back.'

'But –'

'Enough, Silver. Do you honestly think that the United Federation would have let Professor Gerald have control over a self-replicating biological weapon?'

'A biological weapon that can self-replicate sounds like the exact kind of thing that the United Federation would want,' Silver shot back. 'As long as GUN gained control of it first. From what I've heard, you were in stasis during the final stages of Project Shadow. Gerald altered your memories, didn't he? Do you even know what else he did to you?'

Shadow froze. His heart slammed against his ribcage once, then resumed beating as normal. 'If you're trying to distract me from the fact that I might die, you're doing an outstanding job.'

'Thanks?'

'That was not a compliment.'

'Oh.'

'How did you even get this idea into your head?' Shadow asked wearily. 'Like I said before, I have no love for this world. I would never choose to bring someone into it, even if I had the ability to.'

The light in Silver's eyes dimmed. 'I know very little about my past. I've been looking for answers in different timelines. I didn't think the theory was that far-fetched, but now that I know how you feel about the matter … It seems less likely.'

Shadow wanted to tell him that sometimes the past was best left forgotten. His own memories were fragmented and incomplete, and he had made no effort to restore them. He didn't want to remember his past in the first place. What he did remember was already painful enough. But he knew Silver may not have a choice in the matter – to define the future, you often had to study the past.

'If you're that concerned about your survival, then forget about all of this and focus on helping me stay alive.' Shadow tried to keep his expression neutral. 'Because at this point, it sounds like your only other alternative would be to reverse engineer a scenario where I conceive a child with someone within the week.'

Silver paused. 'Well –'

'You can't be serious.' Shadow briefly considered raiding the nearest medical supply closet for a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. If he drank enough of it, hopefully he would black out and forget that this conversation had ever happened. 'Pick your battles, and pick the ones you can actually win. I don't even like children. '

'You're volunteering at a children's hospital,' Silver said.

Shadow glared at him. 'And one way or another, it's going to be the death of me.'

The doors of the haematology department swung open, and Shadow glanced over. He was expecting to see Alex, the chief of haematology, or maybe Iain, the hospital's medical director. It was the start of a new day, after all. His head was still spinning from the events of the morning, but it couldn't be helped – there was work to be done.

Abraham walked into the haematology ward, and the doors fell shut behind him.

Shadow stiffened. The world turned green with a sharp flash. It took Silver a moment to realise that time had stopped, but once he did, his cuffs unlocked and illuminated. 'Is he a threat?' Everything within eyesight began to glow, and even the glass in the window frames glimmered with light.

Shadow grabbed Silver by the shoulder and said, 'Stand down, damn it. He couldn't kill me if he tried. And like you, he has tried.'

'Then why did you use Chaos Control?'

'Because I needed to warn you not to tell him that I'm supposed to die. I haven't even had time to work out what I'm going to tell people, even if I even choose to tell them anything at all.'

Time resumed. Abraham caught sight of Shadow, and his expression darkened. He strode over. 'There you are.'

'I thought I had comms for a reason, Abraham –'

'Be quiet.' Abraham said, and Shadow's fur stood on end. 'I had barely finished explaining away your latest stunt to our scientists before they detected another spike on their monitoring equipment. What the hell have you done?'

'A spike?' Shadow repeated.

'Don't be facetious. I'm a military commander, not a scientist. I'm not going to embarrass myself by attempting to explain theoretical physics to you.'

'I'm not being facetious – I'm asking because I didn't do anything.'

'Are you just trying to spite me at this point?' Abraham demanded. 'You're the only person with in this area with the ability to manipulate spacetime that we know of. If you didn't do something, then who the hell did?'

'Sir, it wasn't him,' Silver said sheepishly. 'It was probably me.'

Abraham turned and glared at him. ' And who are you?'

'He's a time traveller,' Shadow said.

'I don't care what he is –' Abraham stopped and did a double-take. 'You're a time traveller?'

'Y-Yes.'

Abraham's anger dissipated, and he rubbed his jaw with one gloved hand. He sighed. 'Sure. Why the hell not?' His gaze sharpened, and he said, 'State your business, then.'

Silver froze, but Shadow didn't bat an eye. 'He travels to the past each time that his future needs saving. His reappearance is probably what caused the "spike" on your readouts.' Shadow gave Silver a pointed look. 'For that matter, you should go. I think your work is done here.'

'I was talking to him, not you,' Abraham said abruptly. 'And he's not going anywhere.'

Shadow jerked one thumb at Silver and said, 'He has psychokinesis. I hope you're not particularly attached to the car you that used to get here, because he'll throw it at you if you try to stop him from leaving.'

Abraham raised one eyebrow, but then his expression became stern once again. 'I don't think either of you understand the gravity of the situation. The more risks you take when manipulating time, the more fragile the spacetime continuum will become, increasing the chances that a threat like the Time Eater could break out of White Space and into our reality.'

'But Sonic destroyed the Time Eater in this timeline,' Silver said, and his brow knit in confusion. 'Right?'

'It's a Lovecraftian creature that can tear through swathes of space and time,' Abraham said wearily. 'We don't know if it will stay dead. We don't even know if it's the only one of its kind. There are far too many unknowns.'

Silver's eyes widened. 'Sonic is still alive in this timeline … isn't he?'

'He was running around City Escape last time I saw him,' Shadow said. 'And if he had died within the past week, it would have been international news.'

'Then why can't he fight the Time Eater if it reappears?'

'The Chaos Emeralds were scattered after we returned from White Space. We've only identified the locations of one of them so far,' Shadow said, and he brandished the yellow Chaos Emerald for emphasis.'

Silver turned pale. 'O-Oh. In that case, I'm not going anywhere even if I wanted to.'

'Care to elaborate?' Abraham said.

Silver spread his hands helplessly. 'I need two Chaos Emeralds to travel through time at will. You were the one who taught me that, Shadow.'

'I did? When?'

'It was in a different timeline. Look, just forget it.'

'I can't forget something that I don't remember.' Shadow frowned and asked, 'Why didn't you bring two emeralds with you?'

'When you travel through time, you can't bring any emeralds with you. Only one version of each emerald can exist at a single point in space and time –'

'All right, that's enough,' Abraham said, cutting Silver off. 'We're going to be here all day at this rate. The long and short of it is that you're stranded here. Correct?'

Silver gave him a wary look. 'More or less.'

Abraham exhaled. 'GUN is looking into the locations of the other emeralds, but we have more pressing issues to deal with. In the meantime – and I cannot emphasise this enough – try to exercise restraint. Unlike Shadow, I can't give you carte blanche to use your powers without civil-military repercussions.'

Silver paused. 'Um, I don't quite –'

'Just lie low for a while,' Shadow muttered. 'And when you eventually leave, don't rip a hole in the fabric of time on your way out.'

'If I return to the future, it shouldn't damage the spacetime continuum in your present …' Silver gave Abraham an irritated glance. 'Which is what I'm assuming you're concerned about. But it's still a moot point until we find more of the emeralds.'

Abraham weighed Silver up, and his gaze was calculated. 'If you're here to save your future … Then what exactly are you here to save it from?'

'It's none of our business,' Shadow said. 'For all we know, the sky in his future is the wrong shade of blue, and he needs to kill a butterfly in our present to fix it.'

'For the last time, that's not how it works.'

'I'm not asking out of idle curiosity,' Abraham countered. 'I understand that you may not want to unduly alter the timestream. But if something is happening in our present that will jeopardise your future … I would be remiss not to ask how it could affect us.'

'Uh …' Silver trailed off and gave Shadow a panicked glance.

Shadow tensed. He could stop time again and help Silver come up with an excuse, but despite his age, Abraham had sharp eyes. He might notice if Shadow interfered.

'There's going to be a, um … financial crash,' Silver blurted out. He pressed his pointer fingers together and winced. 'In about a month.'

Abraham looked as though he didn't know whether he was supposed to laugh or not. 'And that affects your future … how?'

'The housing market isn't in a good state 200 years from now. Let's put it that way.'

Shadow turned away and cleared his throat.

'Shadow, I thought you couldn't get sick,' Abraham deadpanned.

'It's the antiseptic fumes.' Shadow cleared his throat again and turned back around with a blank expression.

Abraham sighed. 'Well, if you're trying to prevent a financial crash, you should have headed for Empire State on the East Coast. That sounds like a job for Wall Street, not the Guardian Units of Nations.'

'Is that far from here?'

'… We're on the West Coast.'

'I guess I better call a Lyft, then.' Silver glanced out the window. '… You people do use ride-sharing in this era, right?'

'I don't know what Lyft is,' Abraham said, 'but Uber was founded here in Central City in 2009.'

'Right.' Silver took a step back, and he seemed uncertain. 'Am I free to leave?'

'Yes, yes,' Abraham said impatiently. 'You're dismissed. We'll be in touch …' He stopped and reluctantly held out a hand. 'I didn't get your name.'

'Oh.' Silver smiled and took Abraham's hand. 'It's Silver.'

Abraham gave him a dry smile in return and stepped back. 'What else was I expecting?'

With one last glance at Shadow and a flash of cyan light, Silver dashed out of the haematology ward and ran out of sight.

Shadow looked up at Abraham. 'You're clearly not afraid of death. You do realise that he could have broken every bone in your body without lifting a finger, right?'

'So he's just you, but with grey fur?' Abraham shot back.

Shadow blinked. He felt a faint itch in the back of his throat, and his chest constricted. He coughed and covered his mouth with one hand, disguising a laugh as best as he could. 'We're nothing alike.'

Abraham looked in the direction that Silver had left. 'Do you trust him?'

'… He's not a liability.'

'I'll have to take your word for it. I wish I could say the same about you.'

Shadow could almost feel a literal rug being ripped out from beneath his feet. 'Excuse me?' he asked, and his voice was dangerously quiet. 'You told me I wasn't a liability only mere days ago.'

'I was talking about your involvement in the terror investigation when I said that. The risks you're taking by rewinding time are another matter.'

'I had no choice!' Shadow snapped.

Abraham rounded on him and said, 'I know that!' He took a deep breath and exhaled. 'I know. I saw what happened outside the hospital when I drove here. News stations are already running footage of you intervening in the fuel tanker incident.'

'If I hadn't intervened, then I would have to live with the knowledge that I had failed to act quickly enough for the rest of my life –'

'I understand. And I'm sorry that you had to make that decision. But while I may not hold you liable for many of your actions, GUN still might. I may be the commander, but I only have so much power to shield you. Our agents are starting to worry about what could happen if you keep taking these risks. And I'm starting to worry that you're going to end up in a situation where I can't protect you –'

'I don't need your protection,' Shadow said abruptly. 'And do you really think that the Time Eater could reappear? Or is it just an outcome that GUN has to account for?'

'I have to account for the fact that even someone like you could perish if they had to confront the Time Eater without the Emeralds.'

Shadow's chest constricted again, and his breaths became shallow. 'I can't die, Abraham.'

A strange sensation slowly sunk its claws into his body. He felt … tired. His legs felt weak, as though he'd removed the inhibitor rings on his ankles and made his body pay the price. His wrists still smarted from the strain of stopping the fuel tanker in its tracks. His head ached from trying to wrap his mind around Silver's anxieties about his past. Even the surgical wound in his back hadn't fully healed yet.

Abraham rested his hand on Shadow's shoulder and said, 'You say that you can't die every time that I bring the topic up. But you can't know for certain. There's always a risk, isn't there?'

While Silver had lied about why he was really here, Shadow also knew that his story was likely based on his future knowledge of events that would actually happen. There probably would be a financial crash. There probably was a chance that Shadow was going to die. He knew why Silver had told a half-truth – because it was so much easier to deceive someone when there was truth mixed in with the lies.

'I'm not going to die.' Shadow removed Abraham's hand from his shoulder and looked up, meeting the man's gaze. 'But there are always risks … Always.'