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You’re Going Through So Much
-After Tom and Sonic left, Maddie felt an overwhelming lack of direction. Sonic had rushed through his explanation, saying that he knew someone was at the mercy of the blizzard and was desperate to find them. When he mentioned Tom and how he felt whoever it was was dying, Maddie knew nothing would sway him, nor did she try to. Sonic promised to give more details upon their return, something Maddie could agree withOnce they left, silence filled the house, a forgotten game left lifeless on the table. Waiting for Tom and Sonic to return was a no-brainer, but what should she do in the meantime? Prepare? How so? Who even was it that they would find?
-Deep breath, Maddie. Focus. You’re a mother of three super-powered-teenage-aliens, for goodness’s sake. You can do this. Maddie cleared her throat.
“Knuckles, can you and Tails head on upstairs for bed?” Maddie turned to the two, who seemed surprised at the request. Knuckles spoke up first.
“But what if this stranger the Lord of Donuts and the hedgehog will bring?” Maddie glanced at the door for a few moments before looking back at the two.
“Whoever they are, chances are that they would be overwhelmed by so many people. Add that three of five are super-powered…” Maddie didn’t finish the thought, but Knuckles and Tails seemed to get the message. With a small nod, they headed on upstairs. Maddie gave a smile.
“Thank you, boys. I’ll let you know who it is in the morning.” Knuckles nodded as he followed Tails up the stairs. Once the hatch closed, Maddie took another deep breath. After a quick survey of the room, she focused her nerves on organizing. Putting away the game, replacing the pillows, and even getting one of the thick blankets out. She quickly spread it out on the back of the couch. No sooner did she finish all that up then she heard Sonic’s signature knock against the door: Rap rap rap rap raprapraprap
-Classic Sonic. Still, Maddie could sense an urgency in his knocking, and she rushed over to the door. She opened it up to find Sonic and Tom at the door. Tom was holding something bundled up in a blanket, and it took Maddie only a moment to realize that it wasn’t a something, but a someone. Sonic glanced from Tom to Maddie.
“We find out who it is, Maddie. Just, uhh…don’t freak out.” Maddie rose an eyebrow, but gave a nod. She gestured for Tom and Sonic to enter, though kept her eyebrow raised as the two stepped through. Once Maddie shut the door, she turned to face them.
“Well? Who’d you find?” Sonic, who had already started removing his winter coat, bit his lip as Tom gestured for Maddie to approach. Their silence was unnerving her, but once she saw who it was, she couldn’t control the little gasp that slipped out, along with his name.
“Shadow.”
-Maddie reached out, slowly taking the bundled up-hedgehog in her arms. She felt her hear sink when she could feel him trembling in her arms. Tom removed his own coat as he spoke.
“We found him in Sonic’s old cave. There were some take-out boxes, but that was it. He was like this when we found him.” Maddie chewed her lip as she slowly worked the blanket off so she could get a look at him, trying to quell her rising emotions. On one hand, this was the same hedgehog that had almost killed Tom and came this close to blowing up the planet.
-On the other hand, Tom had explained it had been because the hologram-device had given him Walters’s face. And Sonic had convinced Shadow to change his mind. And he had helped save the world. Not to mention that the very same hedgehog was in her arms, bruised, unconscious, and severely hypothermic.
-The other hand won out on this one. It wasn’t even close.
-Maddie quickly worked the blanket off of Shadow before taking him to the couch, where she had set up the thicker one. Once she draped the blanket over his shoulders, she wriggled her hands behind the blanket and scooped him up, taking in the injuries he had before raising her head to look at Sonic.
“Sonic, you said you would explain all this?” Maddie made sure to keep her voice calm as she sat down, Shadow still in her arms. She was starting to get worried at how unresponsive he was, but she focused herself on Sonic’s explanation.
“Okay, so, uh, when Shadow and I fought together, we split the power of the Master Emerald. When I passed out holding back the Cannon’s laser, Shadow used his powers to push back the Cannon. I think the fact that we used that Master Emerald’s power together kinda gave us some kind of connection, because a week ago, at the start of the blizzard, I could feel that someone was out there in a cave; I just didn’t know it was him. Then, when we were playing UNO, I felt him again, and I felt that he needed help…” Sonic looked away, his hands interlocking. Maddie got the sense that there were some details he didn’t mention, but the way his hands had shaken as he spoke was more than enough for Maddie to not push. She nodded.
“Okay. You said you found him in your old cave?” Sonic looked back at her and nodded.
“Yea, before I hadn’t known where he was. When I felt that…that connection, earlier, I could almost see the cave in my head.” Sonic’s hands, though still connected, started to shake even harder. Tom seemed to notice and laid his hand on Sonic’s shoulder, slowly leading him to the couch next to Maddie. Tom didn’t say anything at first, just kept his hand on Sonic’s shoulder before he glanced over at Shadow.
“Do you have any idea why he wasn’t woken up yet?” Maddie shook her head.
“No, I don’t. All I can really tell is that he’s bruised, burned, severely hypothermic-oh no, I forgot!” Maddie quickly got up and set Shadow down on the couch. How could she have forgotten this?! Sonic rose an eyebrow.
“What is it?” Maddie rose her head to look at Sonic.
“If he’s hypothermic, we have to take off the shoes and gloves, and I forgot.” Maddie reached to take of his right hand glove, but the second she touched his hand, Shadow’s face scrunched up in his sleep. Maddie pulled her hand away, and he relaxed. Sonic, who caught the change in Shadow’s expression, glanced from him to Maddie.
“He didn’t react when Tom touched him.” Maddie’s mouth pulled into a frown. She couldn’t explain what caused Shadow to react; she could only think to find a way that worked. She suddenly felt an idea form in her brain; she just hoped it would work.
“Sonic, do you think you could try?” Sonic seemed surprised at the question, but knelt down to try. Maddie bit her lip, watching as Sonic reached out to touch Shadow’s hand. To say relief coursed through her when his touch gave no reaction was an understatement. After a good tense couple minutes, Sonic managed to wriggle Shadow’s glove off, and he worked on the next. Maddie watched as Sonic worked. When her eye caught Shadow’s ungloved wrist, she felt her stomach drop.
“You’re doing great. I just need to talk with Tom for a second. We’ll be right back.” Maddie gestured for Tom to come with her as she headed to the kitchen. Tom followed, and seemed to catch the look on Maddie’s face.
“Did you see something on him?” Maddie nodded, not quite sure how to gently put what she saw into words. But maybe gently wasn’t what any of them needed.
“It doesn’t make any sense. His right wrist has what should be a second-degree burn, but…it’s almost as if it healed over. It looks closer to a mild first-degree burn now.” Tom’s eyes widened as the realization of what she was saying dawned on him. Maddie turned to where Sonic was still working. She turned back as Tom swallowed.
“How is that even possible?” Maddie shook her head.
“It’s not. Not technically. But I don’t think we’re working with what’s technical.” Maddie gestured to where Knuckles and Tails were sleeping with her right hand, and where Sonic was working with Shadow with her left hand, hoping her point was made. Aliens weren’t really all that technical when it came to these things. Tom seemed to understand, nodding in agreement.
“Okay, so we’re not really working with human injury and healing factors. So then, how about the blue on his ears and around his mouth?” Maddie gestured towards the window, where the blizzard seemed to have gotten even stronger since Tom and Sonic’s return; as if nature itself was angry they had taken Shadow from the storm.
“Like I said, he seems severely hypothermic. At a certain point on a human, their temperature will drop so low that certain parts of the body like fingers, toes, hands, feet, ears and even lips will turn blue.” Tom nodded again.
“Did you catch that his left arm was burned as well?” Maddie nodded.
“Doesn’t look like it was a second-degree at some point; just looks first-degree. It’s the bent ear and the slash on his chest I can’t make heads or tails of.” Tom glanced over in Sonic’s direction for a split second before looking back at Maddie.
“And the fact that he hasn’t woken up yet? Or reacted to anything besides when you touched his wrist?” Maddie turned to look at Sonic and Shadow.
“That I can’t even begin to figure out.” Maddie gestured for Tom to follow her back to Sonic and Shadow. Once they returned, she could tell Sonic had been working; He had taken Shadow’s gloves and shoes, like Maddie had asked, but had gone even further and removed the socks as well. Given her worry about forgetting, he had most likely done that last one just to be safe.
-How lucky she was to have such a sweet boy to call her son. She couldn’t help but smile despite the grim reality they were all in.
“Thanks for this, Sonic. I think I can keep an eye on him from here.” Sonic glanced up at Maddie, worry filling his eyes. It was clear he didn’t want to leave. Tom seemed to catch on to what Maddie wasn’t saying and laid a hand on Sonic’s shoulder.
“Come on, bud. We’ve done what he can. Now it’s time to let the expert handle it.” Sonic bit his lip and nodded. He got to his feet, but before he left, he looked Maddie in the eye.
“Let me know if you need anything.” Maddie’s smile grew just a bit. She had such a sweet boy.
“Of course.” Sonic nodded again, then headed up with Tom, who was clearly leading him to their room so they could simply discuss all of this. Understandable. Maddie walked over and dimmed the lights, then scooped Shadow up her arms before sitting back down on the couch. She took in every cut and bruise, the way the blue tinged his ear and wasn’t fading, and how shallow each breath was that he took. Her voice was a whisper in the dark room.
“What happened to you?”
-Shadow didn’t respond; not that she expected him to. With a deep breath, Maddie leaned back and closed her eyes, holding Shadow tight.
- -*-
-Maddie’s eyes opened before she even realized she had fallen asleep. She took a glance out the window. The blizzard still raged on outside, but she got the sense it had been a couple hours since she’d fallen asleep. When she looked around the room, she noticed that someone had turned off the lights she had dimmed a while ago. Oh well; it helped to not get startled by lights, she supposed. She glanced down at Shadow. She couldn’t make out much in the dark, but she could hear Shadow breathing. It seemed a tad bit deeper now; not by much, but it was something. Maddie shifted her hands a bit to wake them up somewhat, her eyes on Shadow.
-Which meant she caught when his eyes fluttered ever so slightly.
-Maddie took in a slow, deep breath as she watched Shadow’s eyes slowly flutter open. Even in the darkness, Maddie could see his pupils were dilated, which only further her suspicion of him being hypothermic. What had he been doing, waiting out a blizzard in an open cave?! Maddie blinked a couple times to force the thoughts into a mental bin labeled ‘Later’. For now, she focused on Shadow, who was slowly waking up. Maddie just hoped he wouldn’t freak out upon realizing the change in his surroundings. She watched as Shadow gave a dull blink, his eyes never falling on her as he seemed to try taking it all in. Maddie felt her entire body stop moving when Shadow’s fell on her. Whether it was the injuries, the hypothermia, or just flat-out exhaustion, fear never shone in his eyes; just a tiredness that he couldn’t seem to shake as his eyelids drooped down, leaving his eyes half-open. It was then that Maddie noticed the shaking had died down a bit; like his breathing, it was starting to improve, but it wasn’t fixed yet. Maddie could see a faint trace of worry forming in Shadow’s tired gaze. She slowly adjusted her hands and started rubbing a slow circle with her thumb along with back, making sure her voice never breeched a whisper as she spoke to him.
“It’s okay; we’re here to help you. We found you in the cave and brought you indoors. Just rest.” Between her hushed tone and the constant motion along his back, Maddie could see Shadow was quickly falling back asleep. Maddie raised her arms just a bit so his head rested against her chest, her eyes catching the moment that his eyes drooped shut. Just as she was about to take in a breath, she heard him mumble something under his breath. It was barely audible, and the words were stuttered, but she could make them out.
“This is a nice dream.”
-Maddie felt her heart sink. Did he think he was dreaming? That all this was in his head, and that he would wake up in the cave at the blizzard’s mercy? A part of her wanted to whisper it was real, but she knew there was no point. He was already asleep.
-Besides, he would figure it out in the morning. Maddie glanced down at the sleep hedgehog in her arms, her eyes finding the slash on his chest and the cuts, bruises, and burns on his arms, and how his right ear was bent.
-With scars like these, Maddie could only hope Shadow would survive the night.