It was cold enough in the city to see your breath as it left your mouth. Ice-cold rain poured down and left even the most heavily-clothed people to shiver helplessly. Shadow leaned against the side of a brick building, in a dark, dark alleyway. So dark, in fact, that he was more or less camouflaged. His arms were crossed over his chest in a seemingly casual manner, at first glance, but take a closer look and you would see that he was secretly trying to retain the last bit of his body heat that he had left. His quills drooped with saturation from the harsh weather, and he did all he could not to let his teeth chatter.

No weakness. He begged himself, That would be pathetic.

It wasn't like anyone could see him, he was truly just trying to prove to himself that he could remain strong in tough situations. They had offered for him to come to Amy's apartment and escape the rain. They had said he could have some hot chocolate and watch TV with them all night.

"It'll be nice!" The blue hedgehog had told him, "C'mon, Shadow!"

"No. I don't want your shelter. I can fend for myself." He had replied, turning his back on them and walking away.

And now here he was, begging himself not to regret what he told them. Begging himself not to show up at Amy's door, soaked and shivering. He'd never forgive himself for looking so… so…

Pathetic.

And there's that word again. That's what humans were, and Shadow would never sink to that level. His ears drooped as he slid to the ground, feeling numb with the pain of the dreaded temperature.

Shadow kept his arms crossed and his knees bent up to his chest. At this point, he couldn't help the shaking. It was inevitable, because it now had more than one reason to be present. He was officially (and embarrassingly) scared for his life.

"F-f*ck immort-tality." He mumbled to himself, "I'm going to die here. And I'm going to hell, because I failed Maria just because I was too stubborn to go with them. He began to think about Sonic, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Silver, and Blaze. Everyone in the group that had offered to provide him shelter for the night. He wondered if they would find his dead body in the morning, huddled in an alleyway, still and cold as ice, with his mouth pulled up in a permanent grimace, his teeth clenched from chattering. That's when he realized that he couldn't hold that back anymore either, and his jaws were now clashing together rapidly.

His fingers all lacked feeling, despite being tucked under his arms. He probably couldn't even form fists at this point, not that he cared enough to try. His toes were having the same problem, and his arms and legs felt like they were going to go next.

Minutes began to pass by, then a half hour, then an hour. It was all a blur at this point. The only thing he was aware of anymore was that he couldn't feel his own body. His consciousness was slowly beginning to drift away. Clear, blurry, clear, then blurry again. His vision was being tampered with too. To top it all off, his ears were ringing now.

Then something moved him. It was such a gentle touch, but to him, it was a rude jostle. He moaned pitifully, his voice cracking as he strained to be heard over the pelt of the water droplets. Was somebody… picking him up?

He tried to see who it was, but his eyesight was too bad to comprehend who was before him. Suddenly, said figure spoke. It was a female voice. His vision corrected for a moment and he was shocked to realize that they were no longer in the alleyway. Another check of his surroundings and he took an educated guess as to say that he was probably on an outdoor bench on the sidewalk. Any available shelter was far away, because it was now so late that all stores were closed.

"Shadow?" called out his name. He blinked, but his vision failed him again.

"..."

"Shadow," It said again, "Are you alright? Can you hear the sound of the falling rain?"

He was suddenly engulfed in a powerful dread for the freezing H20. With this newfound energy, he replied croakily, "Coming down like an armaggedon flame."

He could almost hear the person smile. Or maybe the silhouette had even chuckled a bit. He couldn't tell. Things were still too blurry. "Can you open and close your hands?"

He swallowed his spit before responding, "No."

"You didn't even try."

His hands were now at his sides, limply lying beside his body. He tugged them inward with all of the might he had left. They moved slightly, but not much. "No." He repeated.

The mystery savior didn't respond, just took his hands and rubbed them. He jumped slightly, realizing that these were human hands. The digits were longer, more slender, and naked. No gloves, no fur. Just flesh.

As the friction rubbed some heat into his hands, this relaxed him slightly. He slurred his words slightly as he softly asked, "Who are you?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Damn. People always… say that." He took a pause to regain his strength before continuing, "Just tell me for the love of…"

"It's not going to help you. Let's focus on more important things."

He wanted to continue to question, but he had no energy left to interrogate the strange human right now. Instead, he just eased into the bench and shivered as the warmth was rubbed back into his hands.

"Try moving your hands now. Make a fist."

Reluctantly, Shadow began to tense up his fingers again. This time, they moved more. Not making a full fist, but still showing significant improvement. "Good." The person announced, sighing slightly, "I think that's good."

"Do I… have frostbite? What will…"

He was shushed. "Oh yeah, I'm sure you've got plenty of frostbite. But don't think so negatively. You'll be okay."

Suddenly, he realized that his consciousness had been coming back. Unfortunately, the reason that came to mind is because it started to dissipate again. His eyes, already closed halfway, began to close farther. And farther, and farther, until they were just so barely open…

"Wait, Shadow! Don't leave me just yet!"

He was jolted awake. His eyes flew open, and the figure before him was shown more clearly. She had blonde hair, reminding him of-

"If you fall asleep before..." She trailed off.

"I… don't care anymore." Exhaustion manifested itself throughout his entire phaneron. He couldn't take it anymore. Sleep seemed like the antidote to the universe at that very moment.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the shoulders and pulled into a sitting position. "You need to start caring! For my own sake, give a damn about your life!"

At that moment, his vision became clear enough for him to identify the human. It was Maria.

He awakened immensely and loudly asked, "M-Maria?!"

"Hm, you caught me." She sounded disappointed.

"But, I don't, I don't…"

She hugged him, then pushed him down against the bench again.

"I don't…" His voice cracked again, and was getting softer.

"Get well soon, Shadow. Feel better, in more ways than one."

"...Understand…" He managed to utter that last and final word before slipping away into a deadly form of unconscious.

"Shadow?" The ebony creature's eyes fluttered open, but he wasn't on the bench anymore. He was in Amy's apartment, on the couch. He sat up and looked around, throwing an onslaught of blankets off of himself.

A quick look at his surroundings revealed many passed out mobians in chairs all over the room. The TV flashed colors around the dark room softly.

Silver stood by the couch, showing that he was the one who'd just called Shadow's name. "Silver…" He mumbled.

"We found you at Amy's doorstep, soaked to the bone and really pale. Your lips were blue and your fingers were purple! Why didn't you just take our offer in the first place?"

He extended his arm and smacked Silver in the stomach, knocking his breath from his body. "Shut up for a second, will you?"

Shadow walked over to the window and saw the bench outside that Maria had set him down on. It was right in front of a convenience store with the same dark alleyway beside it. "Are you sure you didn't find me over there?" He pointed to said location.

"No, I'm positive you were by the door. It wasn't a sight to forget."

"But… I don't…" He sat back down on the couch and put his head in his hands. "I don't understand…"