Chapter Text
He woke up in a deep hole, reeking of ozone and ears ringing. He woke up to his body aching, his eyes stinging as he forced them open to be greeted with a bright blue sky. Instinctively he threw an arm over his face to block out the blinding light. A breath practically forced itself into him, rattling his crackling ribs and stretching his burning skin.
Slowly, he lowered his arm. Shadow squinted up at the open sky, breathing shakily through his mouth and trying to ignore the distinct scent of burned flesh and fur- not to mention the feeling of it.
Where… Where am I?
This was not where Shadow had been the night before. This wasn’t the fort he’d built with Maria, with Christmas lights strung up through it and the television they’d dragged in to watch. The bowl of popcorn, with only the unpopped kernels left in it, was missing. The guitar, the pillows, Maria’s goggles. Maria was missing. The base itself was missing.
Shadow stared up at the sky, slowly peeled himself out of the dirt, and wondered how on Earth he’d gotten here. He wondered how far he must have fallen to make such a deep hole in the ground. Wondered how his skin had gotten so burnt, why his muscles sang bitter soreness at him as he hauled himself to his feet. Why was there blood- wet, warm, slicking down the back of his head like he’d taken a headshot or two? A sound escaped him, somewhere between a whine and a growl, but Shadow strangled it down before it could get too loud.
He didn’t know where he was- but this certainly didn’t look like the area around the base. There was a dense treeline of pines, mountains off in the distance. The land was lush, green, inviting. No buildings or indications of human life anywhere to be seen. This was not a place Shadow was familiar with- though he wouldn’t be familiar with most places on Earth. He’d never left base.
That was when he noticed his first- second? Most immediate? Problem. His inhibitor rings, the ones that he wore on his wrists, were not there. Missing from his soot covered glove cuffs. He frowned at his hands, and looked left and right. Shadow didn’t know how long he’d been laying in this hole, chaos energy bleeding out of him. That certainly explained why he was hurting so badly- chaos energy usually fixed him up in a matter of hours where usual beings would need days. Days instead of weeks, if the injury was bad enough.
But if it was just pouring out of him, uninhibited, it wasn’t going to help him. In fact, depending on how long it had been, it would make him worse. It would eventually kill him and–
Shadow shook his head, and immediately regretted that choice in action because the motion sent a fresh spike of pain through his temples. He hissed softly and gripped his head, his ears pinning back.
“Okay,” he whispered to himself. “No idea where I am. Inhibitors missing. Don’t remember how I got here.” That was already a lot to unpack. Even with the fact that he’d summarized most of it. “Break it down, Shadow. Inhibitors first.” He took a deep breath, then hacked up a small spattering of blood on the dirt. He had to steady himself, bracing against his knees as he spat blood out on the ground.
No sudden movements then. No deep breaths. Go slowly, and he’d be fine. Shadow took a tiny step forward, and resolutely ignored the way his bones themselves howled in protest.
Okay, yeah. He could handle small steps. He surveyed the hole he was in, noting that it was definitely more like a crater than a natural hole. More questions he didn’t have answers to. Other than that, no inhibitors. Not good.
A glint of light did catch his eye though. Something green and bright, sitting on the disturbed earth like it had been placed there for him. Shadow limped over to it, stooping to grab it.
The gemstone was heavy in his palm- heavier than it should have been for its size. It practically glowed as he brought it up to his eyes, turning it to inspect it. The surface was perfect, and strangely, it seemed to whisper comfort into his bones. Shadow squinted questioningly at it, but sure enough. The chaos energy in him settled just a touch, and the gemstone nudged him gently forward.
Shadow wasn’t sure how he understood that, but he allowed the little mental nudge to guide his feet as he climbed out of the crater. Once out, he found himself standing in a field. It was lush, green, filled with wildflowers that swayed gently in the breeze. It was like places he’d only seen in the textbooks he and Maria shared.
She would have loved it here.
The gemstone nudged Shadow again, reminding him that his body was hurt and that he needed to keep moving. Right. He followed the pokes and prods until he came upon a second crater, and glinting up at him from the dirt was the familiar gold of one of his inhibitors. He couldn’t stop himself from grinning wildly at it. Maybe he wasn’t as screwed over as he thought.
Storing the gemstone tucked into his quills– somewhere only he could get at it since most people didn’t dare rifle around in the spines on his head and back– Shadow skidded down into the hole to retrieve it. He didn’t see the other, but one was better than none, so he picked it up and clipped it back onto his wrist. The roar of chaos energy in his ears dulled slightly, though he was pretty sure some of that was the sound of blood rushing his head.
The longer he stood, the more aware he became of the various ways his body was damaged. The burns made themselves more apparent the more he moved, his skin aching and burnt fur smell becoming more difficult to ignore. He couldn’t breathe too deeply, every time he tried he was rewarded with sharp pain in his ribs and blood on the next coughs that nearly put him back on his butt.
Shadow scrabbled his way out of the second crater almost on hands and knees, breathing hard. He wasn’t a stranger to pain, but the lingering of it was a bit odd. It didn't usually last. He must have gotten hurt bad.
Shadow stood at the edge of the hole in the ground, catching his breath carefully. The taste of blood in his mouth still lingered, tinny on his tongue. Squinting across the field, he didn’t see any more craters. No indication of finding his second inhibitor. No indication of where he should go next, where Maria or the base was, nothing.
The gemstone sang again, pressed against his skull and kind of tucked against his ear. Chirped almost, that it would guide him to where he needed to go. Shadow took a shuddered breath. “You… know where I can go?” he asked it out loud. Yes, yes, yes, bring you to help, it warbled at him, and without waiting for his agreement began once more prodding his mind to move his feet in the direction it wanted.
Shadow sighed shallowly, bringing a hand to his ribcage where it pinched. “Alright,” he muttered. “Help better mean the base. Or wherever Maria went. Regular doctors aren’t gonna cut it for me.”
The gem sang back a feeling of surety, steadiness working its way down his slightly wobbling legs. He turned towards the treeline that the gem wanted him to walk into, grit his teeth, and he walked.