Author's Chapter Notes:

I still do not own anything but the plot and Maria the Dark Chao. Hey, who invented the Macarena, anyway?

Knuckles bid them a hasty good-bye once they left the Wal-Mart parking lot and raced off to stare at his sparkly rock—err, guard his Master Emerald.

Shadow had been extremely quiet, even for Shadow, ever since he left the G.U.N. base. He was holding onto Maria like his life depended on it with his left hand, and his right hand was trying to squeeze the life out of Sonic's hand, as if he were afraid they would both disappear if he let go even for a nanosecond.

They walked in an awkward silence for a few seconds, then Sonic broke it by saying, "You know, Shadow, I still owe you that ice cream. What say we go get it now?"

Shadow mutely shook his head, his eyes watching his feet.

"You sure?" Sonic asked, concerned. To date, Shadow had not once passed up an opportunity to appease his sweet tooth.

Shadow nodded. He paused, then said quietly. "I no wike it. Cold." he looked up at Sonic again, and raised his arms, wishing to be held. "I want you, Sonic!" he cried.

Sonic was, for the first time in his life, at a loss for words. He quickly picked the toddler up in his arms. Shadow instantly wrapped his arms around Sonic's neck, burying his head in Sonic's shoulder and sniffling.

"Hey, it's OK, Buddy," Sonic said soothingly. "I'd never let those guys hurt you."

Shadow sniffed. "Nots dat, Sonic," he said.

"What's wrong then?" Sonic asked, genuinely worried.

Shadow looked up at Sonic in pure, heart-wrenching sadness and said, "Ice cweam cold. I no wike cold. What goin' do?"

"Wait, that's all?" Sonic couldn't believe his ears. "You're upset because you don't want to eat anything cold, so you don't want an Ice cream cone?"

Shadow nodded gravely, his eyes big. "But want snackies, too," he said, further explaining his baffling dilemma.

Relieved that Shadow's greatest concern was with snack food, not post-traumatic shock, Sonic played along. "That is hard. Hmm…" Sonic pretended to think for a second, then suggested, "Why don't we get Hot Chocolate instead?"

"Hot chock-wit?" Shadow asked, the thought having never entered his mind.

Sonic nodded sagely. "With marshmallows," he added.

Shadow's entire face lit up, relief flooding his features now that his problem had an answer. "Yes! Dat's perfect! I get down now," he wiggled out of Sonic's grasp and started skipping, for Shadow's world was at peace once again.

"You are a weird kid," Sonic told him matter-of-factly.

It was now three a.m. The hot chocolate had been drunk, they had returned home, and they'd all been asleep for about five hours now.

Sonic awoke groggily to someone pounding on his door. He stumbled out of bed, groped around to turn on his lamp, dropped and broke his lamp, and finally stumbled to the light switch on the wall.

The sudden burst of light was painful, and Sonic blinked rapidly to adjust to it. Then he yawned and walked to the door, trying to wake himself up better before greeting his midnight caller.

Sonic opened his door and sleepily greeted Tails, who burst into the room in a coffee-fuelled frenzy.

"Sonic! Guess what? I might have a cure for Shadow!"

Sonic, who as we established, does not function properly when half-asleep, didn't realize what Tails had said until he'd said it and spouted off a ton of technical analyses that Sonic wouldn't have understood if he was fully awake.

The basic gist of it was, there was a chance they could change Shadow back, but it was risky.

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying this could hurt Shadow?" Sonic finally interrupted the kitsune, still trying to figure out what the heck his friend was telling him. "Then forget it Tails—find something else!"

"No, no, Sonic, you're not listening to me," Tails said, still a touch hyper. "It won't hurt him at all. See, it's a machine that stimulates the basic cell structure, systematically restarting his growth hormones. If it works, he'll go back to his correct age and then stop aging. But there's a chance that his body will refuse to age at all," Tails explained. "It's fifty-fifty, but we won't get another chance at it. It has to work the first time, or it won't work at all."

"But there's no chance it could hurt him, right?" Sonic asked for clarification.

"Nope. The worst Shadow will feel will be a slight ticklish sensation," Tails explained.

Sonic nodded. "Then let's do it."

Shadow wasn't sure what was going on. Sonic had awoken him before Sunny came up and told him to come with him to see Tails. Shadow was still sleepy, but Sonic told him that he had to go now.

Now that they were at Tails' house, the fox wanted him to get into a big scary machine that was like the one the bad people had put him in!

And this time, Sonic wasn't trying to stop it.

Shadow was scared. Perhaps Sonic didn't want to be with him anymore? He wanted Shadow to go away? But…but why did Sonic save him, just send him away? It made no sense!

Shadow looked up at Sonic with tears in his eyes. "You no wike me no more, Sonic?" he asked.

Sonic's eyes widened considerably and he knelt down so he could look in Shadow's eyes. "Of course I like you, Shadow!" he protested.

"Den why you no want be with me?" Shadow whimpered, throwing his arms around Sonic's neck. "I want be with you!"

"Aw, I want you to stick around, too," Sonic said, returning the hug. "I'm not trying to send you away. That…uh…thingy…is going to make you feel lots better. Honest."

Shadow looked up at Sonic with tears in his eyes. "Weally?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

Shadow shook his head no. He wrapped his arms around Sonic a little tighter and whispered, "But I still am be you Buddy, wight?"

"You betcha!" Sonic said, grinning. "You and me, we're Buddies for life!"

Shadow smiled and let go of Sonic, stepping into Tails' machine. Tails shut the door and turned it on. After about a half an hour, it died down and Tails nervously opened the door.

A full-grown Shadow stumbled out of the machine, a confused look on his face. "What…happened?" he asked.

"Eggman sort of turned you into a toddler," Tails explained.

Shadow looked at him, then frowned. "Humph," he said simply, turning to go.

"Hey, uh, Shadow, wait a sec."

Shadow turned with annoyance to Sonic. "What?" he asked coldly.

Sonic seemed to consider his next words. "Well…I was kinda wondering if you still wanted your pet," he said.

"My… pet?"

"Yeah, I got you a pet Chao!" Sonic said, perking up. "You picked her out yourself, and named her, and everything."

"I see." Shadow crossed his arms. "Well?"

Sonic rubbed the back of his head nervously, wondering if calling the Chao was such a good idea, then he shrugged and decided to go for it. "Maria! Here, Maria!"

The Chao flew into the room, the edge of one of Tails' science beakers hanging out of her mouth. She squealed with delight and ran up to a startled Shadow, hugging his kicking leg.

Shadow scowled at her. "Maria?" he asked, his voice showing no emotion whatsoever.

Sonic gulped. "Yeah. You said she was Maria and that she was beautiful."

"Humph." Shadow lifted the Chao, who was cooing with delight. The ebony hedgehog's eyes might have softened slightly, but it was hard to tell.

"I was thinking you could just keep her, since you're the only person she doesn't try to tear apart and all," Sonic continued.

Shadow sighed heavily. "Perhaps," he conceded. "I suppose I should thank you…"

"No problemo, Shads," Sonic said, grinning. "What are buddies for?"

A ghost of a smile appeared across Shadow's muzzle, disappearing as swiftly as Sonic could run. "Don't call me Shads," he warned.

Sonic's ears seemed to droop. "Right. OK."

As Shadow walked past him, he said, barely above a whisper, "Thank you, Buddy."

Sonic beamed at the back of the retreating hedgehog's head. Then he whooped with joy and sped off in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, in another part of town…

"Open up in there!"

Silver the Hedgehog woke, wondering who in their right minds would be knocking on his door at four in the morning. The physic hedgehog went to his front door and opened it, revealing a ton of police officers.

"What in the…"

One of the officer's grabbed his arms and yanked them behind him. "You sir, are under arrest."

"On what charge?" Silver demanded to know.

"Child abuse. You're in a lot of trouble mister. That kid's mom is the best attorney in the state."

"Child—what are you talking about?! I don't even know any children!"

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge, mister," said the bored police officer.

The officers dragged the still-protesting Silver off into the night.

Chapter End Notes:

Thought I'd forgotten about that stunt Sonic pulled in the park, huh? 'Tis dark days, friends. Dark indeed, at least for Silver.

Project Starvix: There we go. Fixed so every story is closer to the proper order!