Author's P.O.V.
Shadow slowly opened his eyes, his body was numb but the pain was still there, the bright light that shone through the window landed right on his face and the realization that he was still alive. 

It was hell.

He groaned lowly and tried to raise his hand to block the sun, but this only made the pain worse. 

He hissed quietly and dropped his ears, his temper slowly rising. The hero noticed this and looked at Shadow then walked to him. "You need to drink the pill." He said softly as he reached him. "Open your mouth." 

Shadow lightly glared at his rival. "Close the curtains…" He whispered lowly since he didn't have much energy to speak any louder.

Sonic sighed. "Open your mouth first." He didn't want to fight him. "And don't look at me like that. I'm trying to help you."

The black hedgehog just rolled his eyes and shook his head, his one eye was closed since the sun landed right on it. This irritated him so he wasn't going to do anything Sonic told him to, unless he did what he asked first.

The azure hedgehog noticed this and sighed then closed the curtains. "Will you listen to me now? I'm trying to help you, everyone is so worried about you, Rouge is worried about you, I am worried about you! Now let me give you the damn pill so you can eat after." He was mad since his rival wasn't listening to him. 

This surprised the wounded one, who wasn't expecting this from his usually calm 'friend'. 

He didn't like seeing him mad, so he listened and opened his mouth, still being embarrassed about it. The smaller hedgehog sighed and gave him the pill then the straw for him to drink the water. "Thank you." He sighed and walked to get a plate of soup. "I'm feeding you since you can't move, and I swear, if you say no then I'm not going to help you anymore." He sounded mad, all the hero wanted was to help him and for everything to be over. "So just please listen to me." 

While he had his back facing Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't help but lower his ears at the way he was speaking, he didn't want to get him mad, but he didn't want to be treated like a baby either. 

"Fine…" He whispered and looked around. "Where is everyone…?" He asked when he noticed that the place was a little too quiet than usual.

"Rouge took everyone else to help her with Eggman. She said they should be here by tonight." He said a bit more calmly and walked to him with a plate of food and put it down on the table beside him then grabbed a chair and set it next to Shadow. 

The azure one grabbed the plate and looked at Shadow. "Open your mouth, you haven't eaten anything." 

"Because I'm not hungry..." He tried to sit up since he couldn't eat while he was lying, but he couldn't feel anything other than his arms, so that led to nowhere. He groaned quietly and looked at Sonic. "Can you help me with this…?" 

"It won't hurt you?" The blue hedgehog lowered his ears not wanting to hurt his rival. "I don't want to hurt you, Shad." He confessed. 

"It won't… Just make me sit up…" The dark one shook his head and looked at the other one for help, he knew it was going to hurt, but it was better than practically choking himself trying to eat while laying down. 

"Alright…" He was hesitant. "But you're laying down after you're done." He got closer to Shadow, it was strange since he'd never been this close to him without fighting. The smaller hedgehog gently held Shadow and helped him sit up, being as careful as he could. 

Even though both hedgehogs were careful, the dark one couldn't escape from the pain, that built up each time he moved.

He hissed quietly and lowered his ears then rested back on the couch when he was finally sitting up. He held his stomach and rubbed his face as he panted softly. 

The ebony's rival quickly let go of him and moved back not wanting to make the black and red hedgehog mad. He had his ears dropped at hearing the other hiss in pain. "It will be just while you eat, then you're laying back down…" It was clear he was worried about the other.

When he finally calmed down, Shadow nodded and looked at his rival. "Alright." He cleaned his throat and coughed when he tried to speak louder. 

"Open your mouth." He told Shadow calmly and softly. "Please." He grabbed a spoonful.

"You sound like a doctor." The Ultimate Lifeform mumbled before he opened his mouth, this action was starting to become more and more uncomfortable for him, without knowing the reason.

Sonic started feeding Shadow, he was glad that Shadow was letting him. "You're not as grumpy. It's nice." He mumbled softly as he kept feeding him slowly. 

"Because I'm not in the mood for a fight." Shadow sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm not in the mood for anything…" He rested back on the couch once more. 

"Don't give up, Shadow. Please." He sighed. "Rouge told me that you were giving up… You're important to us Shadow, please don't give up." 

"I'm important." The agent scoffed. "Yeah right. Nobody seems to understand what I'm going through." He slowly laid down without asking for Sonic's help, making it more painful for him. "If you were in my shoes, you'd be trying to run away." He closed his eyes and growled lowly at the pain. 

"I could slap you but you're too hurt. To be the Ultimate Lifeform you're an idiot sometimes." He sighed. "We care about you Shadow, you're important to us, you're our friend for chaos' sake! If I were you, I wouldn't be giving up because I know they care! Get it through your head, damn it!" He was mad at him and he didn't know why. The azure hedgehog felt different towards his rival but he didn't know in what way. 

"If you 'care' about me, just end my suffering already." The other one growled as a response, hearing Sonic saying those things, they hurt. Because he knew he was right, but he didn't want to get attached to anyone. "I've lived long enough and learned that this world is a mess and that everything leads to pain. Everything." 

The smaller hedgehog felt his heart break at this, he didn't know why it hurt him so much to hear Shadow say those words, he wasn't as attached to him nor did he know him well enough but it was clear that it hurt him since a few tears started appearing in the corner of his eyes for his words as he kept his ears dropped. 

"I care about you… Helping you kill yourself is something I would never do." He shook his head. "I can't understand why… You… You've been here for so many years but the only person you've ever let talk to you was Rouge, she cares about you, you think she's going to be okay if you kill yourself? I care about you Shadow, just as much as Rouge does, heck, I don't care if you've almost killed me, things wouldn't be complete if you were to disappear!" He panted softly since he said that quickly as he let a tear roll down his muzzle. The poor azure hedgehog had been bottling up his feelings for so long that this was making it harder for him not to break down. 

Shadow looked Sonic in shock and disbelief. He's never expected to ever see his rival cry or raise his voice. 

He was always wondering how, after all these years of hurting and threatening him, Sonic was still trying to be friends with him.

"Sonic…" He said softly and lowered his ears slightly, he was speechless yet his mind was racing. "I… I didn't know…" He tried to find the right words, but it was pointless. "I'm sorry…" He looked in his rival's emerald green eyes, he was slowly letting his guard down and was focused on Sonic.

All the blue hero could do was look at him a bit shocked. Never had his rival said his name nor ever apologized to him. He looked into his eyes trying to find if he was being honest but the tears were making his vision blurry. He had his ears pinned down by now as he tried to calm down. "Please… don't give up Shadow… I know you can get better… I want you to get better… After you do so… I promise I'll leave you alone… You won't see me around or hear my name anymore… I promise… Just please… Don't give up…" The smaller one said softly as his voice broke a few times, which only made the dark hedgehog's feelings worse.

His heart felt like it was slowly breaking, while his body started aching more at the thought of Sonic leaving. 

"Alright…" He nodded. "But after I'm healed. You're leaving."