Your mother, Maddie, had called you in a hurry while telling you to take Knuckles back to the house from your walk to the park. You were confused, of course, until her next words reached your ears "Shadow is back, he's home with your father" And, of course, you panicked —because the last time you had seen the black and red hedgehog, he had tried to kill your father.

You and Knuckles ran back to the house in record speed. You weren't met with chaos, but a dark lump lying on his stomach with black quills and red highlights. It was indeed Shadow, but he was obviously in pain, and his black furr was matted with dust and ~was that blood?~

His black quills prickled when you both stepped closer, one of his eyes opening to look at you —red irises burning like flames. Knuckles' quills prickled as a response, baring his fists and his teeth at the Hedgehog as if in warning.

However, Shadow didn't see you as a threath. You were human, a young one and a female at that. It was strong, male, Knuckles that made him feel threathened.

---

When your mother came back home, with Sonic and Tails aswell, Shadow displayed hostility towards her aswell even when she was just trying to do a check-up on him with her medic knowdelge.

You were the only one he didn't feel threathened with, he'd curse his subcounscious for tieying your concerned eyes and young age to the memory of Maria. So that's how you ended up being one checking him up. He had a broken arm —now bandaged—, a healing cut on his side, and burns from the explossion of the last time Sonic seen him.

Shadow's quills prickled, bristled, in hostility to everyone that tried to approach or touch him —red eyes glaring at them. But here he was with you, curled up into a black ball of furr right next to your thighs on the couch. He cursed his subcounscious for making him this vulnerable at the paralalell between late Maria and you, but he still had his head on your lap —ears lowered, muscles tensed in thinly veiled pain.