It was probably quite a sight for a bunch of dirty, exhausted kids to come knocking on the door of a little cottage on the edge of Sinseria just before dawn, but Quetzal insisted on it.

Quetzal knocked sharply on the door, and then stood nervously as the door was opened and a green hedgehog peered out. "Who's knockin' on my...oh."

Quetzal looked down at her feet. "...Hi, Mr. Hedgeling."

Mr. Hedgeling looked at the group, then smiled. "Come in, all of you."
They all stepped inside, grateful for the warm, dry house. "Goodness, you all look like you could use a good meal and baths."

"At this point, I wouldn't even care..." Sonic mumbled as he sat down by the fire.

"Sorry for waking you up at such an early- oof!" Quetzal was cut off as Mr. Hedgeling hugged her tightly.

"I missed you too, Q..." Mr. Hedgeling said. "...even if my little girl's all grown up and thinks she's too old for hugs."

"Heh heh...yeah, okay stop." She pulled away from him. "Guys, this is my dad, Dominick Hedgeling...Dad, these are the princes and their friends."

"Oh, I know..." He smiled. "You kids have made it quite a distance. I'm sure your folks will be happy to see you."

Shadow laid Venice on the couch, the youngest prince still unconscious after being healed. "I hope you've got lots of water, because there's a lot of us that need to bathe."

Mr. Hedgeling grinned. "There's a shower in the bathroom down the hall, first door on the left..."
______________________________________

Shadow felt so much better after showering and getting into clean clothes. He hadn't bathed or put on fresh clothes since they'd left the Bogs.

He came out to see the sun rising outside, casting shadows off the walls that spread over the city like a blanket.

Quetzal's stepmother was up now too, and had fixed them all pancakes and syrup. "Ah, and here's the eldest." She said, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

"Yes..." Shadow took a seat, managing a smile as she placed a plate in front of him.
He saw Venice across the table, drawing something on his plate with his fork out of the leftover syrup. "Good to see you're up, Venice."

"Uh huh..." Venice mumbled, not looking up at him.

"Is something wrong?"

Venice's fork clattered against the glass plate. "What do you think? I try to fit in and literally almost die from my mistake! Am I destined to be the boring brother that gets in the way of you heroes? Why did mom send me to be a mechanic while the rest of you are made famous!?" He got up, walking off towards the bathroom.

"Venice-" Silver started, but he was cut off by the door slamming shut. "...Oh dear."

"He'll get over it." Sonic replied. "He just needs time to cool off."

"I don't think he's going to 'get over it' until he feels like a hero...like he's our brother."

"He saved our butts back with the Icoria." Tails reminded.

"Yeah, screaming in terror is totally being a hero." Rouge replied.

"Quettie!" They turned as two more teenage hedgehogs came running out to Quetzal, who was unwillingly picked up in a hug by the girl. "You survived!" The boy replied.

"Manny said you were a goner out there!" The girl announced.

Quetzal stiffened in the hug. "Well I wasn't...so can you please let me go now?"

"Boys, these are the twins, Sonia and Manic." Mr. Hedgeling introduced. "Kids, these are the princes and their friends."

"You're joking...Eeek! You're not!" Sonia quickly regained her composure. "Hi...!"

Shadow could see everyone else grinning at her reaction, but he just couldn't.
Back at GUN, if someone recognized him, they were very calm and kind of weary of him, but here everyone was acting like they were big celebrities... He didn't know how to respond to that.

He spaced out, though he wasn't aware of it, and images flashed by his vision, like memories suppressed.
Him as a toddler playing with Sonic... reading a book to Silver and Venice, even though they were too little to understand...a hedgehog resembling Sonic giving him his inhibitor rings.

"YO SHADOW!!!"

Shadow snapped out of it, looking at Sonic. "Wh-What?"

"Dude, you okay? You zoned out for a second there!"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine...let's just focus on getting ready to go to the palace..."