Chapter Text
Cold
Heavy
Alone
Shadow had woken up wearing these uncomfortable emotions on his skin like a cloak he couldn’t easily shrug off. He remembered anger the most, followed swiftly by grief; pain. And then, voices. They were meant to be familiar somehow, though he couldn’t place their names.
“I just called you stupid! Now you’ve gotta get up and do somethin’ about it already!”
Hope.
“You’ll be alright, Shadow. Just hold on.”
Warmth.
Shadow reached out a leather gloved hand towards the horizon streaked with rose gold. He tried to push the swarming feelings away, desperately trying to latch onto those voices. The moment his fingertips brushed that shining sky, ice crackled beneath his metallic boots.
Without remorse, Shadow plunged into an endless sea of darkness.
As though it never broke, the ice froze over, solidifying back into place and trapping him beneath the waves. No matter how hard he tried, Shadow couldn’t break the surface. Left drowning without air.
His Chaos energy, so quick to roar at his command, now lay slumbering just out of touch. Shadow yelled, swinging a heavy air shoe through the syrupy water and towards the barrier. The ice rumbled with no effect.
Ebony fur swayed with the lunging waves while Shadow forced his crimson eyes to stay open. In his desperation, the image of midnight violet wings and obnoxious blue quills were thrown to the forefront of his mind. Rouge and Sonic were out there, waiting for him.
He forced himself to remain conscious. He had to get out of here, no matter what. Surviving the Ark, living on Earth and protecting its people meant he refused to die like this. His right arm kept him swimming upwards while he closed his eyes.
Raising his dominant left hand, Shadow slammed a fist into the frozen crystal to no avail. Despite his efforts, not a single attack had made its way through.
If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost make out words permeating the impenetrable wall. Sonic, Rouge, two others his mind wasn’t able to recognize, and then. Soft and breathy, his name filtered in. Suddenly, a web of cracks broke out across his icy prison.
“No. That’s not-”
Thick, choking water flooded his lungs, using the opportunity to lock onto the inhibitors weighing down his legs. This time, his shock outweighed his fighting strength. The painfully familiar intonations of his name drove Shadow deeper in.
That voice. It simply wasn’t possible to hear that voice.
Not anymore.
“Maria?”
——————-
“Shadow?”
The clipboard falling onto sleek tiles echoed through the hallway. Cobalt ears folded down while spring green eyes snapped up to meet Maria’s pale face. Rouge, Tangle and Whisper stood just behind Sonic, stolen of their abilities to speak when tears flowed around laughter lines.
Sonic’s breath sputtered out when Shadow minutely flinched in his arms. Looking down, he saw his rival’s previously peaceful face contort. A mocha brown muzzle curled, dark eyelids pressing down at the call.
Sonic hesitated to open his mouth, unsure what he could possibly say.
“Professor? You alright? Do ya know this hedgehog?” Tangle asked delicately, her striped tail wound tight.
Whisper gently laid a gloved hand on her partner’s shoulder. “Tangle.”
Dark amethyst eyes rested heavy on piercing sapphires gazing back. Nodding, the lemur leaned into the touch, shifting to look at Maria with concern. Rouge stepped up to be level with Sonic, her expression precisely contained.
“I’m so sorry hun, I can see how difficult this is for you. Though I’m not aware of what’s happened, right now we need your help.” Rouge’s words were spoken softly yet carried a glinting edge to them. “Shadow needs your help. And we aren’t sure if there’s any time to lose here.”
The directness of the bat’s attitude gave Maria a goal to ground herself with. Salty tracks glistened down light wrinkles lining her cheekbones before she let out a shuddering breath.
“Yes. You- you’re right. He- needs my help. I won’t let him down.”
Everyone heard the unspoken not this time in her faltering declaration. No one chose to say anything. Maria swiped her tears away before breaking her stare from Shadow to bend down and grab the fallen clipboard. Without looking in their direction, she then raised a hand and smacked it hard against the corridor’s wall.
A gentle hiss released from the metallic surface before a door slid open to the left side. Maria kept her gaze on the silver plating when she addressed the others bringing up the rear of their group.
“Whisper? Tangle? If you could, please take them to Med Bay One. I will- I have to-” Maria breathed out through battered lungs the same moment Shadow took in a shallow inhale. “I have to go get some other things together. Treat him as though it were me in the same condition.”
Maria waited for a brief nod from Whisper before she spun on her heel and disappeared through the passage in the wall. The door closed with a hiss behind her. Sonic could only grip Shadow closer and hope he hadn’t made a huge mistake coming here. Tangle beckoned them forward, her striped tail twisting into a spiral.
“Uh- right. This way to the Med Bay, Sonic. Yer more than welcome to come with, Rouge.”
The bat huffed, fluttering her dark wings. “As if you could keep me out, darling.”
Metal echoed across the floor when Rouge’s heeled boots clicked sharply and Sonic’s sneakers squeaked. The hallway turned into a blur, filled with various different Mobians dressed in lab coats and scrubs. Cobalt spines defensively rose up, giving Sonic just enough room to breathe.
An older cat with pristine white fur and deep brown eyes introduced herself as the Chief of Medicine, but Sonic couldn’t focus. He had been directed to lay Shadow down on a medical bed. Sonic couldn’t remember the cat’s name if he tried, the smell of sanitation and cleaner burning his nose.
Shadow always avoided clinics like this.
Words filtered in through piecemeal to swiveled blue ears. They needed to start testing Shadow. Checking his vitals. Drawing blood to find the contaminant. Curating an antidote to give him.
The thought of leaving his unconscious rival anywhere near doctors made Sonic’s skin crawl. He held the ebony hedgehog tighter, beginning to back away without thinking. His peach furred arms lightly trembled, his legs itching to bolt out of there and find somewhere else. But where could they go?
Thankfully, Maria chose that exact moment to stride back into the room. If possible, her messy bun looked even more disheveled than before. The round glasses perched on her nose had moved atop her head to keep any stray hairs from falling into her eyes. She clutched a thin, worn folder in both her hands.
Sonic could only guess what its contents were when Maria held it out to the Chief. With a raised eyebrow, the white cat grabbed one end of the file.
“Professor, this is a welcome surprise. What exactly is this?”
“These are-” Maria swallowed, briefly looking at Sonic before shifting back to the cat. “These are medical records for- your patient. They might not be exact, but they should be fairly accurate. Along with- other important factors you need to be aware of. They should help you refrain from running too many basic tests.”
Maria paused, still gripping the other end of the folder tightly. “Let me be absolutely clear, Chief Willow. You are to find an antidote for whatever is afflicting Sh- uh- your patient. But you are not to share these files with anyone outside of myself, Rouge and Sonic. Do we have an understanding?”
Chief Willow wasted no time in nodding. “I understand, Professor. I appreciate you finding these records for me to work from. Now please, allow me and my team to stabilize him.”
Maria hesitated before carefully letting go of the folder. “I must warn you. You will see- eh- similar attributes to my own medical records. Be sure to keep that in mind in case you are in need of anything else.”
Chief Willow’s dark brown eyes imperceptibly widened before the microexpression wiped clean off her face. If Sonic were paying any less attention, he would’ve no doubt missed it. A wordless nod from the cat left all eyes on the charcoal hedgehog struggling to breathe.
Glancing over, Sonic could barely make out Shadow’s name on the cover, penned with delicate loops. Chief Willow tucked the file away between other reports in her hands. Sonic just about asked what was going on when a silk glove firmly rested on his shoulder.
Whipping his head around, Sonic met Rouge’s steely turquoise gaze. The bat fluttered her wings before squeezing his arm, cognizant of his flared quills.
“Let him go, Blue. You know I’m not leaving his side, especially in a place like this.”
Sighing, Sonic loosened his grip on Shadow. “Yeah, you’re right. I know you’re right. Just- come grab me soon as he wakes up?”
Rolling her eyes, Rouge let go of him and stepped back. “Please. Who do you take me for?”
With a slight grin cracking through the worry on his face, Sonic took one last glance at Shadow. His expression had settled back into a smooth curve of brows and a flat line cutting across a dark chestnut muzzle. Sonic wasn’t sure if Shadow could hear him at all, but he had to try.
“Just hang on, Shads. We’re gonna figure this out and get ya home.”
Without any indication from his rival, Sonic slowly handed the dark hedgehog over to the team of Mobian doctors silently waiting. Two other doctors had to help carry Shadow onto a medical bed before he was wheeled away. Rouge immediately disappeared after them without looking back.
Sonic watched the closed doors and wavered. Free of the heavy weight bearing down on him, he began to fidget with his gloves. Picking at little threads poking out of the soft cotton, pulling them down farther on his wrists before moving to loosen them. He had nearly forgotten who he shared the room with.
“Sonic?”
A startled emerald gaze turned, meeting equally shocked cornflower blue. Maria wordlessly gestured a hand towards the door, silently asking him to walk with her. In all the chaos, Sonic had nearly forgotten who this woman was.
Maria Robotnik. Alive.
He had heard bits and pieces of Shadow’s human sister. Always spoken with such reverence under a blanket of starlight. The only time Sonic had been able to break through his rival’s defenses was when the full view of the Ark stained the night sky.
Maria’s distressed reaction hadn’t been so different from when he’d first met Shadow. Nodding along to her request, Sonic shuffled across the room with Maria by his side. So many questions filtered to the tip of his tongue, but how could he possibly begin?
Sonic’s padded footsteps and Maria’s softened footfalls interspersed with the sound of conversations bouncing off the metal walls. They passed quite a few different Mobians on their way to- wherever they were going. Nearly every time a new face rounded the corner, Maria would adopt a bright grin to greet them.
Sonic shuddered at the sight, all too familiar with the tactic himself. Once they got further away, she led him out a side door that opened up to the courtyard outside. With the moonlight shining high and the sound of crickets chirping their melody, Maria broke the awkward silence.
“The two of you,” She glanced at Sonic, shifting to clasp her hands behind her while they walked across worn cobblestones. “Seem close.”
Sonic shrugged, letting his arms hang loose when he met her gaze. “Do we? Pretty sure the guy hates me. Even though we’ve saved the world a couple times, it’s kinda hard to get along with him. Let alone talk t’ him.”
Suddenly remembering who exactly he spoke to, Sonic scrambled to explain while he waved his hands around. “That is- I mean, he’s still a good guy! For the most part- uh- he just doesn’t really like talking at all? And that’s totally fine! I’m just sayin-”
Maria hummed, coming to a stop near a tall oak tree and resting a hand to her chin. “And yet, you knew exactly who I was talking about.”
Grumbling to himself about her being similar to Tails beneath his breath, Sonic leaned against the tree. Cobalt quills splayed out against darkened wood, creating the shape of a large star. Maria focused solely on the smoothened leaves hanging down over the both of them.
“I am happy you both seem to get along well. He needs someone like you.”
Sonic glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Really? He sure has an odd way of showin’ it.”
Blowing out a breath, Maria reached out to catch a falling leaf. “In my experience, he never truly got the concept of expressing himself. Not that my Grandfather really allowed it.”
Wincing, Sonic pushed off from the tree and walked a few paces away. He looked up towards the indigo sky, searching for answers just as Shadow had done so many times.
“Guess that explains a lot.”
Letting the leaf go, and watching it fall to the soft dirt, Maria turned to Sonic.
“Please, tell me more of what he’s like. Does he truly not speak?”
Sonic sighed, crossing his arms and digging the heels of his sneakers into the loose soil. “Well, let’s just say he’s not the best conversation starter. Or ender. In fact, it’s a miracle if he goes more than two sentences without insultin’ me or anyone else near ‘im. But that’s just Shadow for you.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like the Shadow I knew at all,” Maria softened her voice, the words sounding wistful in their longing. “That is to say, he was always very shy and didn’t like talking very much. But occasionally, he got a hold of my books and found a subject he enjoyed. If that happened, well,”
A small laugh tugged at the corners of her mouth. “He could go on for hours. Of course, I also never liked to interrupt him when he got going, rare as it was.”
“Huh, that does sound kinda- outta the ordinary, I guess.” Sonic stared up through the patchwork green leaves, trying and failing to remember a time when Shadow willingly talked for so long. “Shadow I know sure likes clammin’ up pretty quickly. He’s just very private. At least, that’s what my friend Amy says.”
Maria sent him a pained smile. The glasses perched on her head reflected the soft moonlight back into the tree. Brushing hair away from her eyes, she traced the rough pattern of shadowed bark under her fingertips.
Sonic shoved his gloves together, trying to keep his foot from tapping along the ground. Something didn’t feel right.
He carefully looked up at Maria, studying her features closely. Golden locks with streaks of silver fell loose, framing a lightly wrinkled, kind face. A dusting of crow’s feet cradled her cornflower blue eyes. Sonic realized she didn’t look nearly as old as Commander Tower from GUN. Yet, she should’ve been older than him.
His mouth opened before he could think.
“How do you look so young?”
Dusty blue met bright spring green.
“Excuse me?”
Maria tilted her head in amusement, staring at Sonic with a questioning yet open glance. He slapped a cotton glove over his peach muzzle while his quills rose defensively.
His words came out muffled, at first. “I mean, I guess that didn’t come out right.” Sonic pulled his hand away, dropping it back down. “I don’t wanna be rude or anythin’ but I was just wondering ‘cause well, you don’t look barely past fifty. Obviously I’m no expert on human aging, but even I know- uh- I should really shut up now, huh?”
A twinkling chuckle erupted from Sonic’s left.
“I understand the confusion. It has been a little over seventy years since everything,” A long sigh escaped Maria, the corners of her mouth tugging down. “Since everything fell apart.”
The air felt suffocating. Thick with a tension Sonic hadn’t been expecting. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, wondering what he could say. His mind screeched to a halt when Maria quietly continued.
“You- deserve the truth. You brought Shadow back to me, after all.” Her nails scraped across the dark wood before she let go, patting the trunk in apology. Maria kept her gaze on the oak bark. “In truth, I’m not supposed to be here. Not really, that is,”
“My Shadow was supposed to be one who made it to Earth.” Maria breathed out. “But he never even made it off the Ark.”
Sonic’s breath punched out of him. Uncertainty crawled in and took away any words caught in his vocal chords. Was he finally going to learn what had happened in this crazy world?
He stared at Maria with wide eyes, shifting his weight from foot to foot. She didn’t seem to mind the extra attention as she carefully sat down on the grass underneath the great tree.
Sonic opted to stay where he was, knowing he wouldn’t be capable of sitting still.
“You know of the Ark, but what exactly do you know of what happened aboard?”
Swallowing past his sudden dry throat, Sonic hesitated. He had never been comfortable talking about the Ark without Shadow present. It never felt like his story to tell. But, Maria Robotnik herself was asking. Maybe, just maybe, he would get a pass this time.
“Well, uh-” Sonic rubbed at the back of his neck, glancing down at the flowers sprouting next to his sneakers. “Shads doesn’t really like t’ talk about it, at all. Only reason I even know is ‘cause GUN was chasing him and mistook me for him. Somehow. Then it kinda became this whole big thing-”
Sonic cleared his throat. “Anyways, that’s not important. Shads told me that you two were really close, like siblings aboard the Ark. He would’ve done anything to keep you safe,” He dropped his hand, focusing on a little firefly skimming across his vision.
“Tried to, anyway. I’m sure I don’t need t’ tell you about GUN forcing you guys into a difficult spot.” Sonic let out a tiny sigh. “In the end, he ended up in the escape pod to Earth, and you- well, you didn’t.”
Maria hummed, lost in thought as she ran a hand through dewy grass.
“It seems our time was always meant to be short.” A trembling frown made its way across Maria’s lips. “I tried to save him. But there were too many to outrun. They overwhelmed us.”
Sucking a deep breath in, Sonic watched as tears pooled in dusty blue eyes. He carefully walked over and knelt down next to Maria, folding his hands in his lap. She sent him a watery smile through golden hair falling over her eyes.
“Even after so many years, it still feels,” She released a heavy sigh. “Just before Shadow got into the escape pod, a GUN soldier broke through the door. He- I couldn’t do anything but stand there when he shot me down. I wasn’t supposed to survive.”
Salt tracks ran down pale cheeks as Maria wiped a careful hand over her face. She paused, forcing a shaky inhale past the tightening of her throat.
“I don’t remember much after that. But when I woke up, Shadow was there. Yelling at me, sounding so scared.” She raised a trembling hand over her heart, the lab coat crinkling with the movement. “I’d never heard him sound so frightened before. But he- he’d taken his gloves off and was pressing down on my wound. I- I didn’t even know he could,”
Maria struggled to swallow, her chest heaving with the effort of drawing in enough air. Sonic hesitated before placing a light hand on her shoulder. She looked over at him, watching his ears fold back, cobalt quills puff in distress. He really did remind her so much of her brother.
Closing her eyes, Maria concentrated on the feeling of soft, damp grass beneath her fingertips. The cool night brushing a smooth breeze across her drying tears. Trickling moonlight flowing down through checkered leaves. The weight of Sonic’s gloved hands on her right shoulder.
A tiny cough crept its way out, Maria turning to capture it in her elbow by instinct. Opening her gaze, she nearly saw a baby blue dress staring back. For the entire beginning of her life, she’d always been sick. Now, it had become hard to remember she wasn’t anymore.
“I didn’t even know he could heal. I don’t think he knew either. But the cost of bringing me back,” Maria curled her hand into a fist, grabbing hold of multiple blades of grass. “Took his own life in exchange.”
A sharp breath from Sonic caused her to look over at him. Silence hovered over them both, stealing any words forming in response. The air grew ever more solemn while Sonic digested everything Maria told him. After a few moments, the hedgehog tightened his hold on her shoulder before recapturing his voice.
“So, that’s why you’re still young?”
A grim smile curved Maria’s mouth. “I still don’t understand the exact details, but yes. Paired with the countless blood transfusions I received while aboard the Ark, my body has aged slower than it should.”
“Oh. But, Shadow never said anythin’ about blood transfusions?” Sonic asked uncertainly, his hand slipping off her shoulder.
Maria glanced at him. “Perhaps he chose not to tell you about certain experiences. After all, my Grandfather’s greatest wish was to cure me, by any means necessary.”
Sonic broke his stare, looking down at a tree root next to his leg. “Shadow.”
Maria nodded.
“My Grandfather was a brilliant man, but to a fault. After the Ark fell and we lost-” She stopped to clear her throat, tired cornflower eyes glazing over. “Shadow. He was arrested by GUN and locked away. They told him I had been unable to survive outside the Ark, further causing his descent into madness.”
“There was only one reason GUN didn’t lock me up for experimentation. And that’s because it’s far less easy to justify the capture of a small, human girl than it is for an alien being.” A withered sigh escaped her, telling Sonic of decades filled with regret. “I tried so hard to find my Grandfather but even I couldn’t find him. Eventually, Ivo found him and broke him out. By then, not even I could stop them.”
The pit of Sonic’s stomach curled with unease while he poured over everything they’d spoken of. In some parts, Maria had chosen her words very carefully, omitting certain truths from him.
Spring green eyes looked up at her, the moonlight casting shadows across her face. Seeing the familiar round glasses atop her head, his instincts braced for a viper’s sting.
“You- you lied earlier, didn’t you?”
Maria tilted her head at him. “About?”
Sonic swallowed. She didn’t immediately deny it.
“You’ve already figured out dimensional travel, haven’t you? But you- chose not t’ try it out.”
A weary gaze settled on Sonic. “It seems you’re a lot smarter than you let on.”