Work Text:
Pinch. Stab. Flick.
Ability training.
Record.
Repeat.
This is Shadow's life once a week, if not sometimes more frequently. He's normally used to it—but today, something is weighing heavy on him, and being poked and prodded and ordered around and used is mentally draining him more than usual.
“Heart rate and blood pressure are overall higher than last session,” says a scientist. “Subject appears to be stressed.”
Yes, somewhere in the back of his mind, Shadow worries. Something is wrong with him, and he’s terrified that he won't be able to protect Maria when it’s imperative. It's like a nightmare playing in his head—running from something in the dark, not being fast enough despite super speed, not being strong enough despite super strength.
And it's teetering on the edge of his reality like a word on the tip of a tongue.
It's always physically draining, but when he's finally released from the lab, he has to drag himself with every step, even with his rib cage squeezing his lungs and heart like a vice and his brain screaming to find her.
He manages to reach the Observatory, finds his sister smiling at him, and collapses into the beanbag nest that she has set up. Everything is too heavy–his body, his eyes, his thoughts.
“Hard day?” Maria asks next to him.
Shadow curls into her silently.
Her arms are immediately around him. “What's wrong?”
“I feel like something bad is going to happen, and I'm not going to be able to protect you,” he says, his voice small.
She smooths his quills down. “What's making you think that?”
“Nothing,” he says. “That's what's frustrating. There's no source except for my own paranoia.”
“Were your lab results not good?”
“Well, no, but I felt this way before them, not because of them.” He sighs. “They weren't what was expected of me. I couldn't focus, I was slow and weak. How am I supposed to protect you if I can't perform adequately?” He scoffs, then mutters, “some ‘ultimate lifeform.’”
“It's okay to have bad days–”
He jerks his head up to look at her. “Not for me!”
She doesn't flinch. She places her hand on his muzzle. “Shadow,” she says gently. “You're not perfect. And I don't expect you to be, even when it comes to me. Even if something bad is about to happen.”
He clings to her, tears springing to his eyes. “I can't lose you, Maria. I feel like I just rescued you and you're about to disappear and it will be my fault.”
“It will not be your fault. Listen to me, little brother. I'm not about to tell you that everything will be fine, because I don't know that. But Grandfather told me that your soul and my soul are the same. So even if we're apart, we will always be with each other. Because I'm a part of you, and you're a part of me. If something were to happen to one of us, you'll never lose me, and I'll never lose you. Even in death. Okay?” She smiles assuredly.
Shadow breathes out a shaky sigh. “Okay.”
They embrace tightly, and together, they watch the clouds billow and roll on the earth below.