Chapter Text
White closes in around the corners of her vision, and Maria accepts whatever is to come next, as scary as that is. She saw that mix of dread and anguish on Shadow’s face, she knew what that meant, even if she hadn’t remembered it’s cause in the strange void she’d been brought to.
All her senses blur and then go numb for a moment, the first one to return was touch, as her next breath pulls in the familiar crisp, processed air of the Ark. Her sight is the last to come back to her. Looking around, she eventually figures out she’s in one of the escape pod rooms… and then notices the pod itself is missing.
And in it’s place, there was a small, modest memorial.
The photo resting in the middle was her own.
…
…
what
…
Oh Gaia, no…
She can’t know how long she stands there, in shock, but she’s eventually roused when she hears the door to the room open.
And she whirls around to see a Shadow who’s expression mirrors her own, the sheer disbelief shattering the stoic composure her brother seems to have developed in their years apart.
“I’m here. Um. Now. I… don’t understand… Did you..?”
“No.”
“Then… How? I’m still there too…”
There’s a long pause, where Shadow’s eyes dart over the memorial, and then back to her; “I… Don’t know…”
There’s a lot he seems to not be saying, but for now that’s fine.
“Do you know someone who might be able to help figure this out?”
“Two of them, both of which are trustworthy, but… unpredictable. And I’m not exactly fond of the prospects of calling on either one, to be honest.”
“What’s wrong?”
“One of them’s a nosy child, and the other one’s ego would be insufferable for years, if I asked him for help.”
That… didn’t give her much to go off, so she just shrugs; “Well, they’re your friends, I’ll let you decide who to ask.”
“They’re not my-” Is the hedgehog’s immediate reaction, before correcting himself; “I’ll ask Rouge to bring one of them up here.”
“So they’re a friend of yours?”
“… yes.” He admits after a moment.
“Good. I’m glad you weren’t alone after-…”
“For now, let’s focus on keeping you alive. There’s some food on the shuttle, most of the Ark’s perishable supplies have gone bad.”
That sounds slightly odd. The Ark was designed to have its own food supply grown on board, to be mostly independent of supply runs from Earth… “How… long has it abandoned been like this?”
Shadow winces, hesitating, before just flatly saying; “Fifty-Six years.”
The silence hangs in the air, lingering as those words echo down the metal hallways of the Ark. Eventually, Maria gathers her thoughts enough to, almost whisper; “That… can’t be… So, everyone we knew…”
“Abraham is alive. He works for G.U.N now. I don’t believe in all that talk of changing corrupt organisations from the inside, but if anyone could actually achieve such a myth, it’s him.”
Having Shadow and word of at least one other person she knew who’s also in the here and now helps ease the anxiety of being so far out of her time. Just a little, but… perhaps that’s enough.
“How do you cope with-…” She trails off, not sure how to communicate the jumbled mess of questions all tied into this topic…
“I don’t, for the most part.” Oh. The pain was still raw there, only partially healed. He hadn’t lived all of those years either. He’d definitely felt older than her in that strange white world, which was strange to get used to on its own considering she was used to the reverse, but he’s not that much older.
“That… makes a lot more sense, now.”
The hedgehog doesn’t reply to this, but a small smile works it’s way into his expression. Taking this as her cue, she puts the existential questions aside for the moment to tease her brother.
Unfortunately, trying to run over and give him a hug, to embarrass this new, stoic-y version of her brother pushes her body past it’s limits, and as she gets close, her legs give out. A familiar sensation at this point, but no less frustrating for it.
In an instant, Shadow’s at her side, helping her back to her feet; “That’s proof you’re not frozen in time, at least.”
Now that he mentioned it, she’d felt great in that strange place, dislocated from time. None of the usual aches, dizzy spells, moments of weakness… Well, it can’t be helped. She asked not to be frozen in time, and Shadow clearly kept his word, so she just has to take the good with the bad.
“Are you okay?”
The question shakes her out of her thoughts, and she nods; “Yeah, I should be fine.”
Hesitantly, Shadow lets go, once he’s sure she’s standing on her own just fine.
“Really, I’m fine. Where’s this shuttle of yours parked?”
“It’s about an hour away for me, only the docking bays on the planetoid side of the space station survived, there’s been.. several incidents with the eclipse canon.”
“Incidents?” This time she walks more slowly over the window, looking down at the earth… but it’s still spinning peacefully below them, vivid blues and greens. Weirdly, though… no, she has to be imagining things, right? It looks… far larger than it should in the window.
“Earth is fine, though it has been merged with another reality that used to carry the name Mobius.”
The name did ring a bell, but one so faint it took her a few moments to find the answer; “Wasn’t that the place Grandfather was visiting to research a cure?”
“Yes. It happened while I was in stasis, so it was… disconcerting… for me too. The world seems to have mostly adjusted by now, though.”
“Oh, wonderful! Two whole worlds to explore! I’m excited to-…” she trails off as she remembers the problem; “Have they found a cure?”
“No. However, all of Gerald’s research has been sealed away up here.”
As the siblings walked and talked, they reached a room with dozens of desks, each one with a computer screen showing a different external camera’s feed on the left, and a list of controls on the right. Shadow walks straight through the clear aisle in the middle without pausing, but something catches Maria’s eye.
The moon. Or rather, what remained of it.
“Oh no… Shadow, what happened to the moon!?”
“The eclipse cannon happened. It’s a long story.”
Guilt. Clear as day in his tone. She decides not to push it.
They stop to rest Maria’s legs for a time, then keep walking. It takes closer to two hours, all the breaks slowing them down even if she tries to match shadow’s walking pace. More than once, they pass scenes so horrifying Maria struggles to keep down… whatever it is she ate before she got lost in time. Shadow tries to shield her eyes, but each time she pulls the hand away. She needs to see this, needs to understand… why she died.
The other version of her deserves that much, at least.
The docking port Shadow leads her to is blissfully clear of reminders of the Ark’s horrific past, so she can properly be caught up in awe at the shuttle he came here in.
She’s seen the space ships others used, in her time on the Arc. Scrappy things with loose wires poking out from every panel, every single cent of the construction money needing to go to keeping Space out.
This vessel, in the other hand, was like nothing she’d ever seen. The interior space actually looks… almost comfortable, to exist in, and the controls console has several large screens built into it, next to the physical ones. She whistles, and sits down on one of the side benches, grinning;
“I’m going to Earth in this thing.”
It’s more a statement of intent than anything else, but somehow it sounds final.
Shadow tosses her a pouch of Astronaut food; “The technology hasn’t improved everywhere, I’m afraid.”
It is indeed, just as foul as the stuff in her time was. And this time the Ark’s gardens were apparently offline, so this is all she’s got for the next few days.
But, everything was alright. She’d cheated death, reunited with her brother, and apparently rejoined the modern world without issue? It was almost too good to believe.