Shadow after the death of Maria had PTSD and was scared to lose his loved ones, one of them being Sonic. He had been experiencing a lot of nightmares that made him relive Maria's death. However, ever since he and Sonic started dating, it changed. Shadow's nightmares continued but they were different. Shadow no longer/very rarely had nightmares about Maria. Instead, he had nightmares where Sonic was dying and he couldn't save him. Every time Shadow got the nightmare, he woke up screaming Sonic's name and then had a small panic attack right after. Due to that, Sonic started to sleep with Shadow, not wanting to leave him alone, but it didn't help the nightmares one bit. Shadow kept waking up in the middle of the night, screaming Sonic's name with tears streaming down his face. And every time it happened, Sonic was there to comfort him and reassure him that it was just a nightmare.

This night, wasn't any different. Sonic and Shadow were sleeping with Shadow clinging to Sonic's arm during the nightmare until it came to the part where Sonic was dying and Shadow woke up screaming, causing Sonic to wake up. Shadow: "SONIC!!"