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Chapter Text

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom called Araceli. It was ruled by King Gerald Robotnik, a highly intelligent man who always tried to make decisions with the good of his kingdom in mind.

The king had a granddaughter, Princess Maria Robotnik. She was a ray of sunshine whose very existence filled the people with joy. One day, Maria fell terribly ill, and the entire kingdom was heartbroken. The king did all he could, hired the best doctors in the kingdom to try and heal her, but nothing worked. At this point, this was when people looked for a miracle.

The miracle in this story came from the heavens themselves, in the form of a falling star. It landed near the outskirts of the kingdom, and Gerald took it as a sign that this was the miracle he was praying for. The royal guard was immediately sent out to retrieve the comet. When they finally brought it back to the castle and into the sickly princess’s room, something magical happened.

The comet opened like a cocoon, spilling out a bright light from its interior. From within, a tiny Mobian hedgehog emerged. He had black fur with red stripes, upturned quills, a brown muzzle, and fluffy white chest fur. The little thing couldn’t have been older than two. Everyone was thrown into silent shock at the sight of the small hedgehog taking in his surroundings. His ruby red eyes darted around the large space and many faces in confusion and fear until his attention landed on the princess lying on her bed.

The hedgehog quickly padded over to Maria’s bed, the king lifting him onto the sheets when he struggled to pull himself up. The tiny hedgehog crawled over to the princess to look at her up close. Maria was pale, her skin a ghostly white color. Her breathing was shallow and labored, and she was so thin you could see the outlines of her bones. The hedgehog’s eyes glistened with sadness as he took in her ill state, before reaching to rest his tiny paw on her frail hand. And what the striped hedgehog did next shocked everyone.

In a small voice, he began to quietly sing a song, his black fur shining a brilliant pale-gold color as he held Maria’s hand. When his song finished and his fur darkened once more, the gold coloring seemed to have flowed from him and into Maria’s veins, the princess’s skin glowing faintly before the light disappeared altogether.

When the gold was gone, Maria’s appearance shifted. Color returned to her face, her breathing evened, and her body seemed to fill out, hiding the bones underneath once more. When she opened her bright blue eyes - which held the same shine they did before her illness - she was met with the sight of a tiny hedgehog staring at her.

The princess smiled, somehow knowing it was him who saved her, and pulled the little Mobian into a hug. Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, the king rushing over to join the hug as tears filled his eyes. His Maria was safe all because of this magic hedgehog from the stars.

That same night, lanterns were launched into the sky, in celebration of not only Maria’s miraculous recovery, but the blessing who saved her. The magic hedgehog - named Shadow by the princess - became a part of the Robotnik family. He was even given a title: Shadow, the Star Prince of Araceli. And for a few moments, everything was perfect.

For only a few moments.

You see, on the night Shadow healed Maria, there were many people in the room, including Doctor Starline. Starline was one of King Gerald’s closest advisors. When the platypus witnessed the hedgehog’s power he was in awe, as were many others. But he recovered quickly afterwards and had many, many, ideas of what could be done with the new prince. He tried to convince the king to let him study and experiment on Shadow’s powers to see what he was capable of and what that could mean for the future of the kingdom. To see just how powerful this healing ability was and what advantage that power could give them. They could invade other kingdoms knowing they have an infinite healing source for their soldiers, and offer other kingdoms this extraordinary ability at a ridiculously high price.

Starline expected Gerald, a man of science and research who did all he could to help his kingdom, to jump at an opportunity to expand his rule. However, the king immediately denied. The new prince was becoming as beloved as the princess. The two were best friends - siblings, even. Gerald stated that the kingdom was big and rich enough as is, and it would be pointless to start problems between neighboring kingdoms that they were already at peace with.

Starline was infuriated. How dare the king not see his vision? Didn’t he realize this hedgehog from the stars could make Araceli the most powerful kingdom around. In his anger, Starline made a decision that only benefitted himself.

In the dead of night, not even a week after Shadow fell from the sky, Starline enacted his plan. He silently crept into Maria’s room, where the princess and Shadow slept next to each other. The platypus carefully pried the hedgehog from the human girl’s arms. Starline swiftly made his way to the balcony and opened the doors. When they opened, a cold wind blew into the room. The frigid air bit into the princess’s sensitive skin, waking her up, and the sight that she was met with horrified her.

Exiting Maria’s room was a cloaked figure. Worst of all, her new little brother was in the stranger’s hands. Maria screamed for help, but it was too late. The figure had gotten away. The guards searched and searched but they found nothing. It was as if the two had completely vanished. The truth was sad but it needed to be said.

Shadow was gone.

… Not exactly. While the kingdom searched, Starline had escaped with Shadow in his arms, taking the hedgehog to a place no one would find him. Deep inside the woods, tucked away in a hidden valley stood a large, isolated tower. It was seventy feet high. No way in or out. Unless you were Starline.

Using a gem called the Warp Topaz, Starline was able to get in and out of the tower without having to worry about Shadow getting out.

Shadow was too young to remember much of anything before the tower, so Starline took to raising him, sort of becoming Shadow’s father. Starline made sure to keep Shadow away from the world. While he did what he could to shield Shadow from the world. Starline couldn’t hide the sky, though. So, every night on his birthday, he would sneak out of bed to watch the floating lights that only appeared on his birthday. Shadow was sure they were meant for him, he felt it in his very soul.

Shadow dreamed of being able to see them in person some day.

Chapter Text

The day started the same way it started every day for the last 16 years of his life. At 7:00 AM on the dot, Shadow woke up. He sat up, he yawned, he stretched, he swung his feet over the side of his bed and he stood up. The striped hedgehog swiftly made his way over to his vanity mirror on bare paws to inspect his appearance. He grimaced slightly at the sight of himself. No matter what he did or how many years have gone by, Shadow always got the worst bedhead. So, the dark hedgehog sat down and began to groom and comb through his quills.

His morning grooming took the same amount of time as usual, and he was already moving over to his wardrobe by 7:25 AM. Shadow started dressing himself by putting on a white, long-sleeved shirt. Next, Shadow pulled on a pair of loose, charcoal gray trousers. Both items of clothing had ends that tucked in nicely underneath the gold rings on his wrists and ankles. Over top of his shirt, he slipped on a black sleeveless vest and tied the red laces going up the front to secure it. To finish off the outfit, he tied a red fabric sash around its waist. It had no use, he just liked it.

Both the sash and vest had golden star themed embroidery on them, courtesy of Shadow himself. The ebony hedgehog had a lot of free time, so he had to come up with many ways to distract himself.One of those activities happened to be altering his clothing. Most of the time, he had to alter his clothing anyways as his father didn’t take his quills into account when he got him clothes, so Shadow had to cut holes in the back of his shirt to make room. And if he so happened to add unnecessary little details to all of his outfits just because he wanted to, it was nobody’s business. Not like anyone would see it or appreciate his attention to detail anyways.

Inspecting himself in the mirror once more, adjusting any bit of clothing that may be out of place, he deemed himself presentable and moved to go downstairs. It was 7:40 AM.

Descending down the staircase with all the poise that one of royalty would have, Shadow made his way to the small kitchenette area of the tower to make himself pancakes for breakfast. The dark hedgehog took to looking around the room as he waited for his breakfast to be ready, tracing the lines and cracks along the walls and ceiling that he’s long since memorized. His food was completed not long after and Shadow sat down to eat alone at the small, two chair table. Taking his time as he had nowhere to be.

The grandfather clock read 8:00 AM when he had finished eating and cleaning up, causing Shadow to let out an over-exaggerated groan. Running his bare paw pads against the worn spines of the few books on the shelf, Shadow plucked one out at random. The hedgehog took a moment to be weird before reading, pausing to inhale the smell of the old book. It was a small, completely unnecessary thing that did nothing but appease his enhanced senses. It was the same with the fabric strip around his hip; it was only there because the ebony hedgehog liked the texture of the fabric on his fingers.

He flopped down onto the window seat, the sunlight seeping into his dark fur in a warm, comforting way. A quiet, clicky purr started up in the back of his throat. After 10 minutes of laying in the sun, Shadow rolled onto his back to sit up so he could properly read the book he picked out.

Shadow called it quits at 9:00AM, memorizing the page number before setting back on its exact place on the shelf. Standing in the center of the room, Shadow assessed the space around him. He should clean. Hmmmm. No, he thought. Shadow decided he would instead do a deep clean of the whole tower - minus his father’s room, as he was forbidden from entering it.

By the time Shadow was done, he was exhausted. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, pants bunched up at his knees, and quills tied up high off his neck. Shadow had cleaned the entire tower, surely it was past noon by now. Shadow looked at the clock, expecting to see the clock hands telling a time late in the afternoon.

It was barely 11:00am.

The dark hedgehog released what was a mix of a groan and a growl, throwing the cleaning supplies still in his hands to the ground. He was upset and he was sweaty, which wasn’t helping with his poor mood. The striped hedgehog stalked over to the main window of the tower and threw open the shutters. Shadow hopped onto the window sill and let his feet dangle off of the edge, letting the summer breeze cool him off. Shadow spared a glance down at the grassy ground far below. A seventy foot drop. He couldn’t get out on his own. The only way out of this tower was through his father’s portals.

Shadow had this view memorized. He could draw from memory in great detail with his eyes closed. Eyelids fluttering shut, he raised a claw and traced the path that was burned into the back of his eyelids. It was the path that the floating lights took every year on his birthday. There was variation, of course. It couldn’t be the exact same every single time. After the lights disappeared he would rush up into his room and draw the view from that year in the special notebook he kept hidden underneath a loose floorboard under his bed, buried by the many other things he strategically placed under his bed. He’s not quite sure why, but he always kept his late night viewing of the lights a secret from his father. Shadow just felt like it was a private thing just for him.

Shadow turned his attention back towards the tower’s interior. His gaze followed the movements of the various paintings of his that decorated the walls until it met the space above the fireplace. There were velvet curtains draped over something above the mantle, but he never bothered to look behind them. Shadow gave the walls a once over. He was running out of painting room on the walls, but he couldn’t let this idea not be drawn. Shadow needed to paint it.
The black and red hedgehog’s pants were back at his ankles when he had climbed up onto the fireplace’s mantle. Moment of truth, he thought. Shadow gripped the edges of the drapes before ripping them open. Shadow wasn’t entirely sure what he was expecting to find behind the curtains, but was very happy with what it was. It was a completely blank and empty space on the wall. The perfect spot to paint what he was planning.

Shadow rushed upstairs to grab his paints and brushes from his room. Hopping back up to his place on the mantle, paints in hand, he grabbed his biggest brush, dipped it into the dark blue color, and painted over the entire space. Shadow didn’t tend to smile that often, but the red and black hedgehog couldn’t help the grin that made his way onto his face while he painted. He can’t remember the last time he was this excited about painting something. Switching between his various brushes and colors, his tail began to wag as he happily filled the space.

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Far away from the hidden tower, three mobians scaled the walls of the palace of the kingdom of Araceli. This would be the biggest job ever done by any criminal. The green tenrec, malachite fennec, and cobalt hedgehog swiftly made their way across the castle’s roof. The tenrec and fennec continued moving as the hedgehog skidded to admire the view from the roof of the palace.

“Wow,” the hedgehog sighed. “I’d love waking up to a view like this.” The hedgehog rested his weight on a decorative part of the castle’s roof.
The tenrec and fennec noticed his absence from where they were set up for the job. The fennec glared at him as the tenrec hissed. “Sonic. Get that blue butt of yours over here already.”

“Just a moment,” Sonic called back. Placing his gloved hands on his hips, Sonic surveyed the kingdom before him once more. “Yeah, I wanna wake up to a view like this all the time.”

The fennec’s glare intensified as the tenrec bit back at the hedgehog. “We finish this job, and you can buy a place far away from the guards here with a much better view. Now hurry up and get over here already!”

“Fiiinnnneee,” the blue hedgehog whined overdramatically. Crouching next to the others, he prepared for rope to be tied around his waist so he could be lowered down. Instead, watery tendrils emerged from the pack on the fennec’s back. “Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, hold it,” Sonic raised his hands in a placating, defensive manner. “Where’s the rope? The heck is up with the water things?”

The green tenrec jabbed her thumb towards the fennec. “Kit’s tech will make this job much easier than rope would. And what’s up with the reaction to the water? Scared we’re just gonna drop you down there?” She spoke condescendingly.

Sonic scoffed. “Really, Surge? Me? Sonic the Hedgehog? The Blue Bandit? Scared from a little water? Of course not! I’m not a child,” he chided.

The tenrec and fennec - Surge and Kit - narrowed their eyes in unison. “Mhm. Whatever you say blue,” Surge replied, unconvinced.

A tendril of water wrapped around his waist, and the blue bandit was lowered into through the hole the thieves made in the roof. The target of this job was what might’ve been the most expensive thing they could’ve stolen. But it was also the hardest job. For the three of them were after the Star Prince’s crown. It rested on a red pillow with pale gold embroidery, placed delicately upon an ornate pedestal. The room had one entrance and many guards. But all of the guards were focused on the entrance, completely unaware of the hedgehog being lowered into the room.

A guard standing close to the pedestal, a red wolf, let out a sneeze. A voice came from behind him. “Gesundheit. Ya got allergies?”

The guard responded without thought. “Thank you. And yeah, they get bad this time of year.” The wolf paused for a moment afterwards before it clicked in his brain. “HEY, WAIT,” he yelled as he whirled around but he was too late. All that could be seen behind him was the empty pillow and a blue hedgehog being lifted out of the room, with the Star Prince’s crown held in his hands.

The three thieves rushed out of the kingdom, already crossing the bridge that separated the island of the castle town and palace from the forest of the rest of the kingdom. The cobalt hedgehog had purposefully slowed down to match the pace of his partners in crime. Yes, Sonic could just book it with the satchel that held the crown, but he couldn’t risk their ire just yet. Surge and Kit were always partners in the crimes they committed, while Sonic was a solo act. The only reason he got them to work with him was so he could pull this off. When they got into the forest, he planned to speed away and ditch them, leaving them behind for the royal guard to find.

“WOO! Can you guys believe it? I can’t believe we pulled that off! Well, of course we did, thanks to my awesome thieving skills,” Sonic bragged as they ran, not breaking a sweat.

Surge snarled at him. “Yeah, it was great. We woulda gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you and your big mouth. We coulda gotten far, far away with the crown long before they noticed. But of course, you had to run that big mouth of yours, and now we got the head of the royal guard and his lackeys right on our tails!”

“An easy getaway? Pfft! Where’s the fun in that?” Sonic called back. The hedgehog just played it off as it being his usual cocky and playful nature. His two ‘partners’ didn’t need to know that he wanted the guards chasing them so he could ditch the two of them and leave them for dead.

The three thieves ran into the woods, royal guard not far behind as Sonic smirked. This would be too easy.

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Shadow mindlessly plucked at the strings of his guitar from where he sat next to his drying work in progress behind him on the mantle. Shadow twisted back to examine his painting. It was all dry by now. Shadow made his way off of the mantle. It would have been easier to just set his guitar down next to the fireplace but he personally needed to put it back in its normal location in his bedroom.

Opening the curtains obscuring his room from the rest of the tower after returning the guitar to its spot, he paused on the landing to admire his work. Framed between the velvet above the fireplace was what he now considered his masterpiece. It was a deep blue night sky, white stars speckled across the space. Towards the bottom, Shadow had painted the nighttime forest that was an important detail in the view he adored. And the grand focus of it all; the lights. They were drawn in his brightest yellow paints, a stark contrast against the dark colors of the rest of the painting. The floating lights followed the same pattern they always did. But for this painting, he chose a specific path from a specific birthday. His eighteenth birthday was tomorrow, so he felt it was only fitting that he recreate the pattern of the earliest birthday he could remember.

It was beautiful and he felt as though he was home as he stared at it, a feeling familiar to the one he got when he watched the real lights. But something felt off. Shadow felt as though he needed to add something more. Then it hit him. The striped hedgehog practically leapt down the stairs before rushing over to the fireplace and climbing up to the mantle. Opening the box that held his brushes and paints, he grabbed what he needed before starting.

When Shadow stepped back once he was done for sure this time, a soft smile slipped onto his face. Added to the painting, Shadow drew a small version of himself sitting atop a tree and gazing at the floating lights above him. The dark hedgehog opted to make his quills their glowing golden color in this painting instead of their normal black, to make it seem like those lights were for him and that he belonged with them. Shadow just stood there, admiring his work and dreaming about what he wanted for his birthday this year.