Chapter 1: Hold My Hand
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma, 1971)
Maria Robotnik liked living with her grandfather. She got to go on all kinds of adventures whenever he got government contract work, and she’d been all over the world at only eleven years old. This new assignment in Oklahoma would be no different. Her grandfather, Gerald, led her inside their new temporary home in a GUN government base, the girl holding her cardboard box of the belongings she hadn’t been willing to part with when they were packed and sent ahead by the moving team. She glided along beside him on her roller skates, long blonde hair pulled out of her eyes with a headband.
“So what is this new project even about, Grandfather?” She looked up at him with bright eyes.
“A meteor crash was all I was given.” Gerald smiled fondly. “I’ll know more after my debrief, sweetheart. You go on and get settled in, and I’ll fill you in over supper tonight.”
She grinned. Security clearances meant very little between the two of them, and she probably knew more government secrets than most high-level CIA agents. Or GUN, the new agency Gerald was working with now. “Okay. I’ll see you then!” She zipped off her skates, bright smile beaming ahead of her. It would take her a little while to get used to the layout of a new place, but the building had appeared round from the outside. Theoretically, she’d eventually end up right back in the same place if she got too lost… though judging by the soldiers everywhere, someone would direct her before she got too turned around.
“Whoa there.” One of those soldiers held a hand out to stop her from turning down a hallway, a frown on his face. She was used to that look. No one ever seemed to know what to do about a child on a military base. She was less flustered about it than she had been when she was younger.
The second soldier beside the one with his arm out patted the first one’s arm. “Easy, that’s the Professor’s granddaughter. He takes her everywhere.” He glanced at the box she was holding, reading her name across the front. “Hey there, Maria. I’m Captain Walters.”
“Nice to meet you.” She smiled, shifting everything in her arms to hold out one hand to shake. Walters enthusiastically returned the gesture. He seemed like a nice guy, and had a kind smile. “Do you know where my room is?”
“Down this hall, third room on the right.” Walters nodded. “Make yourself at home. But… maybe lose the skates, kiddo. There’s a lot of equipment, I wouldn’t want you or it hurt in a crash.”
“Okay.” She nodded, though she figured she’d take them off once she got to her room. The two soldiers let her pass and she skated by, counting the doors until she found her own. Sure enough, all her belongings were boxed up and delivered, ready for her to unpack and settle. She set her box on the bed and plopped down, unlacing her skates. Her sneakers were in the box, but she decided to run around in just her knee high socks for now. She had plenty to do getting moved in… but the allure of exploration was too great. Maria was a Robotnik, a genius who wanted to know and see everything there was around her. Her grandfather had always encouraged her mind, and any obstacle was nothing more than a temporary setback for her to overcome.
She didn’t believe in failure. Only discovery, and she loved every single thing she’d ever discovered.
She left her little cross body bag on, which contained both a small toolkit her grandfather had given her and her markers, and slipped back out of her room to poke around. Other than Walters and his partner at the mouth of the hallway, this section of the base was relatively empty. Unlike the halls she’d come down when she and Gerald had first entered, which had been bustling with support staff and soldiers.
They must all be at the debriefing meeting Grandfather mentioned. I guess I’ll meet the research team later.
Gerald always had a team, people who listened and deferred to him while he ran the show. He was eccentric, but brilliant… and he loved Maria absolutely. She returned that love, grounded him in reality when his ambition threatened to soar too high. Which it had done before, and was part of the reason her uncle didn’t let him see her baby cousin Ivo much.
She padded around the corner into an open door, spotting the twinkle of machinery under dim hazard lighting. It was a round room, full of monitors and back lit buttons all linked to the machine in the middle. It was the only place with a direct light on, a spotlight to emphasize the importance of the nearly floor to ceiling tube full of bubbling green liquid.
Suspended and facing away were two creatures, both with their heads bowed like they were sleeping. Maria couldn’t contain herself, tiptoeing over to examine them. They both appeared furry, with thick keratinous quills poking through in sets of bundled spikes in place of longer head hair. Both had markings along these bundles, the colors somewhat muddied by the green suspension they hung in, but the base fur underneath was jet black. Both were barefoot, their marking continuing down their legs and the pads of their paws the same colors, which where outstretched and their pinky fingers hooked into each others.
They’re holding hands…?
Maria inched a little closer, trying to see more. They were clearly one male and one female, the girl wearing what looked like a hospital scrub shirt as a dress. The back had been slashed in the back to let spines on her upper shoulders through, which were smaller than the ones the boy had. She had two pairs of hinged gold bangles, one set around her wrists and the other on her upper arms. They matched the two sets the boy had, on his wrists and ankles. Neither one of them was much more than about three foot tall, though the boy would be a few inches taller if they were flat footed. As Maria’s hand reached slowly towards the glass, both of them tensed.
She pulled back as both heads turned and they let go of each other enough to turn around. They both had round, cute faces with triangular upright ears, the boy’s nose longer than his counterpart’s and both with an oxygen line. There was a recognizably suspicious look on his face as he looked Maria up and down, but it was eclipsed quickly when the girl got between him and the human. Her face was pinched, ears pinned and a scowl painted across her otherwise adorable muzzle. Her arms were held open wide, puffing herself up to make herself look bigger and more threatening. Despite the attempted ferocity, Maria spotted the nervous way her eyes darted from side to side.
She’s scared, but she’s trying to protect him. Maria reached into her bag, fumbling around a moment before pulling out a marker. Determined to show the creatures she was no threat, she quickly started scribbling on the glass that separated them.
The two aliens, because what else could they have been, watched her draw. The girl’s head cocked to the side, expression faltering into confusion, while the boy moved from behind his partner to her side. She put an arm out, trying to block him with a near-pleading expression, but he simply took her hand and held it again before looking back at Maria’s drawing on the glass. It was a bunny-eared smiley face, surrounded by little stars. They both looked somewhat bewildered, leaning back to examine the ink from different angles, before meeting Maria’s eyes.
She smiled brightly, dropping the marker back in her back and putting her hands against the glass. They exchanged looks, the girl alien squeezing the boy’s hand. He seemed to be the leader of the two, and nodded before putting a striped hand against the glass where Maria’s was. The girl hesitated before following suit on the other side, making a little triangle between the three of them.
“I’m going to get you two out of there.” She murmured, knowing they couldn’t hear her. She wasn’t even sure if they spoke English, but she’d teach them. One way or the other.
“Maria?” Her grandfather’s voice startled her and she turned around, finding Gerald walking into the room with a group of other researchers. Gerald looked like he always did, a lab coat over his favorite sweater, khakis, and slippers instead of boots. The other researchers looked far more professional, but they still deferred to the Robotnik authority. “What are you doing in here, sweetheart? I thought you were unpacking. And where are your shoes?”
“I left them in my room. I wanted to look around.” Maria looked back up at the tank, where the two creatures had shuffled back to the far side of the tube. The girl was back in front of the boy, sharp little teeth bared when she saw all of the white coats around them. “Why are they locked in the tank?”
“This is what I’ve been called in to study. These two were found inside a meteor that crashed down nearby.” Gerald explained, fresh off his debrief. “No one knows what they are, or what they’re capable of.”
“They’re friends.” Maria said thoughtfully. “They were holding hands when I came in. I think they’d be my friends too, if you’d let them out.”
“They were holding hands when we found them inside that meteor. That hasn't stopped the female from trying to bite everyone who’s gotten close to them.” One of the researchers said sourly. “We’ve had to sedate them to move them from the original device we used to dissolve the meteor from around them in. They’re both too strong for traditional restraints, and outside of that liquid designed to keep them drowsy, the female has some kind of telekinetic abilities.”
Another researcher snorted. “It broke out sixteen windows in a tantrum.”
Maria gave them a disapproving squint at the use of the word 'it'. “She’s not throwing a tantrum. She’s afraid, and I bet you didn’t even try to reassure her.”
There was some noncommittal squirming among the scientists, none of them able to meet Maria’s eyes. Gerald walked over, putting his hand on Maria’s shoulder. “Do you really think you can befriend them? Maybe get them to comply with testing?”
“It won’t hurt them, will it?” Maria looked back over, where the two were watching Gerald with distrustful eyes.
“No. I won’t let anything hurt them. I promise.” He patted her shoulder.
“Okay. I’ll try, then.” Maria put her hands back on the glass, doing her best to look reassuring. “Let them out, and I’ll see if I can talk to them.”
“You heard the little lady.” Gerald looked over his shoulder at the research team. “Un-jar the gerbils.”
“They’re hedgehogs.” Maria giggled. “Look at their heads and backs. They’ve got quills.”
“Professor Robotnik, have you lost your mind? Those are aggressively powerful alien lifeforms, and you want to unleash them for a play date with your granddaughter?” One of the soldiers at the doorway snorted.
“They’re kids too, I think.” Maria said thoughtfully, watching the way they leaned into each other. “Just let me try.”
“Nothing else you guys have done has worked.” Captain Walters, a tranquilizer gun in hand, walked in. “I say let the kid try. If it doesn’t work, I’ll knock them back out and they can go back in the goo tube.”
Maria looked up at the hedgehogs again, getting their attention and waving for them to come close again. The boy still led the way, though this time his female companion seemed much less hesitant, and they placed their hands back against Maria’s through the glass. Behind her, the begrudging research team started pressing buttons. The machine made a noise, the duo looking up as the green liquid started being pumped out of their tiny glass cell. The boy turned back to Maria, a small smile hovering around his muzzle.
Like autumn leaves in a still pond, they sank to the bottom as the liquid drained, eventually leaving the two of them sitting on their knees and damp. When the hatch on the tube side opened, they both looked at it and back to Maria, unsure expressions in their eyes. Without the distortion of the green goo, she could tell the boy had red markings and eyes while the girl sported a soft blue.
“Hi.” She said gently, watching two pairs of prick and turn towards the sound. “Can you understand me?”
“Yes.” The boy said, voice surprisingly deep for something of his size. Still, there was a sort of softness to the way he spoke that told Maria she’d been right. They were kids, around her age.
“I asked them to let you out. They won’t hurt you as long as you don’t hurt any of them. Okay?” Maria moved to the hatch, holding a hand out.
“You asked?” The girl frowned, eyes fixed on the offered hand and her own reaching for the boy beside her. Her voice was a sweet-sounding alto, belying the distrust in her eyes. “Why?”
“I wanted to meet you.” Maria said simply. “My name’s Maria. Maria Robotnik.”
“Maria.” The boy repeated back, getting to his feet slowly and helping his partner to hers.
“That’s right. What are your names?”
Silence followed, the two looking at each other and back at her for a few minutes. “I… don’t remember.” The girl said softly.
“I don’t remember anything.” The boy confirmed. “Until we woke up here.”
The girl frowned, eyes drifting her where her hand was tightly entwined with his. No, she remembered nothing before that moment with the meteor dissolving around them, in this place. But the very first thing she’d ever seen was his face, and it had been the only thing that had mattered since then. She was supposed to protect him, though she didn’t know who or what had assigned her the task. It didn’t matter. What did was that he’d been holding her hand. He’d reached for her in the dark, and she’d reached back.
“Could I give you names, then? I don’t want to call you Subject One and Two. That’s not nice.” Maria scrunched up her nose, trying not to giggle when the hedgehog boy copied her seemingly without intention.
“What would you call us?” The girl looked back up.
“Hmm….” Maria tapped her fingertip under her bottom lip thoughtfully before pointing at the boy. “You’re mimicking my expressions like a little shadow, so that’s what I’d call you. Shadow. And you….” She squinted at the girl for a moment. “Your quills have five points, and you came from the stars. So I’d call you Star.”
“Shadow.” He nodded, tracing out the syllables of his new name. “I like it. And Star suits you.”
“Does it?” Star accepted her naming without much commentary, just a quiet nod of acknowledgement to Maria. The human girl’s hand was still outstretched, beckoning them out of the tank.
“I think so.” Maria giggled. “It’s gotta be kind of cramped in there. Will you come out?”
“Will they let us?” Star looked suspiciously at the adults behind Maria.
“They won’t hurt you. My grandfather promised, and he’s in charge now. Right, Grandfather?”
Gerald, standing closest behind her, nodded. “Right. No one is going to hurt you. We just want to find out more about you. If you’ll let us do that, then we’ll work together just fine.”
Shadow reached out and took Maria’s hand, his own surprisingly warm for being soaking wet. He was careful of his claws, aware after watching Star snap at the researchers just how fragile human skin was. Star followed right behind him, wherever he was going she was too. Once they were on the floor, dripping little green puddles, she took one of their hands into each of her own. “C’mon, you two can stay with me now.”
“You’re taking them out of the lab?” One of the scientists asked.
“Yeah. There’s nowhere in here for them to have their own spaces. Or even a bed. They can share my room.” Maria said firmly, walking the two hedgehogs past the gauntlet of soldiers and researchers with an entirely unafraid air about her. The two of them simply followed, tucking themselves close to her side until she'd marched them down the hall and into her little bedroom. She immediately showed them how the pneumatic door controls worked, noticing how Star's quills puffed out like a distressed cactus as soon as it closed. "Don't worry, you're not trapped in here. I promise." Maria said soothingly. "I'm your friend. You're safe with me."
Shadow sat on the floor beside beside Maria's bed, watching her curiously and trying to wipe the gummy green gunk out of his fur. "Thank you." He finally said softly. "For helping us."
"It was the right thing to do. And you would have done the same if the roles were reversed. You're good, I can tell."
Shadow smiled. He liked that, the idea that this kind little guardian angel that had swooped down believed he and Star were good. He knew nothing of himself but his unnamed connection to the blue-striped girl, and the desperation of being trapped since he'd gained consciousness. The constant poking and prodding, needles and restraints, made him feel like a lab rat rather than a person. He hated it, and hated how furious and terrified it made Star too. Maria was a balm to what they had already endured, and what was yet to come.
Star knelt down beside him and started trying to clean his quills, her own starting to relax now that she felt like the door was a protective barrier rather than a trap closing behind her. She wanted to believe Maria was right, that she was good and would have done the right thing given the chance… but she wasn't sure. She was afraid, had been afraid as long as she could remember, and her own fear made her furious. In her heart, she wasn't violent. But her teeth still snapped shut on hands that came too close to her and Shadow.
"Do you want to take a shower?" Maria asked, gesturing to the attached bathroom. "That stuff looks like it's getting sticky as it dries, it can't be fun to have in fur. Hold on, my shampoo is in my box. I'll get it for you."
Star patted Shadow's arm. "You go first."
"You sure?" He lightly nudged her, the two of them sharing a very tactile communication style. Maria guessed it was from being in the tank so long, unable to speak to each other. They touched and tapped, fingers drumming palms and arms, shoulders brushing, knees pushed against the other's leg to accompany subtle looks. It felt like observing a whole internal world.
One Maria wanted to join.
Star nodded and stood, pulling Shadow back to his feet. Maria offered him the shampoo, which he took with a murmured thanks, and shuffled off into the bathroom. After a few moments of staring and knob-twisting he figured out the shower configuration, and finally got started. Maria left a towel for him on the sink and started digging through her boxed up clothing. "Let me find something that'll fit you." She told Star. "I've got some stuff I've outgrown that I just couldn't make myself throw out when we moved again. It'll be more comfortable than that scrub top."
Star plucked at the slimed shirt with a thoughtful nod. "You… you're not like the rest of them." She murmured. "The other humans. You're kind."
"I try to be." Maria dumped out a box on her bed. "What's your favorite color, Star?"
Star blinked. She'd never thought about it before. Colors were muted in the tank, glimpsed only in fragments when they were brought to the surface by the humans. Most of it was white and gray, dull and overlookable in the sterile environment of the lab. Only one color really stood out in her mind as particularly beautiful, staring back at her whenever Shadow looked her way. "Red."
"Red, huh? I would have thought blue, with your markings." Maria smiled cheekily. "Maybe I'm projecting. Blue's my favorite."
Star looked at her blue sweater and darker blue skirt, matching her headband. "I see."
Maria giggled. "Well, what do you think of this?" She held up a jumper dress she'd outgrown, vibrant red with cap sleeves, and a white shirt with sleeves that would have been elbow length on her. On Star, it would be more like ¾ sleeves. "I've got tights to match."
"Thank you." Star returned to sitting on the floor, watching Maria set clothing aside for her and put her own belongings away. She was already making the sterile base room look like her own, taping up posters and putting her record player out. "We had gloves when we woke up, and shoes. But they took them away."
"I'll ask Grandfather to get you new ones. Do you like music?" Maria asked curiously.
"I don't know." Star shook her head.
"You really don't remember anything about where you two come from?"
"No. Shadow is the only thing I know… except for you, now." Star gave a faint smile, drawing her knees up to put her cheek on them. "You're an odd little human, but I like you. You didn't have to help us, but you did. If even the other humans didn't like that you did."
"It can be the three of us against the world." Maria smiled. "But I think you'll find other humans are good, too. My grandfather is. You'll like him when you get to know him."
"He said he wants to learn about us." Star mused thoughtfully. "I wonder what's so interesting."
"I'll find out exactly why. He tells me everything." Maria unpacked a stack of blankets and sheets. "But nothing like you exists on this planet. Can I see your hand?"
"It's sticky." Star cautioned, but nodded and offered her right to the human girl. Maria knelt beside her on the floor, examining the pads on her palm and fingertips under her sharp claws.
"You have toe beans, like a kitty." Maria grinned. "They said you broke a bunch of stuff, but how can you be dangerous when you're so cute?"
"You think I'm cute?" Star blinked.
"Very. So is Shadow." Maria reached up, flicking the lynx-like tufts at the tip of Star's ears. The green goo drying on her made it tacky. "They said this green stuff stopped you from using powers. What kind of powers?"
"Chaos." Star said the word like it was made of something divine, though she didn't know how she knew.
"Show me." Maria's eyes sparkled with a matching reverent delight.
There was a sound like a whip cracking and Star was gone, leaving behind only a small dark spot on the floor where her damp fur had touched. Maria made a strangled noise, waving her hands through where the hedgehog had been like she thought it was a trick. She jumped when she heard laughter behind her.
Star was across the room, back to the door and in the same position she'd been sitting. "Whoa!" Maria squealed, scrambling back over. "How'd you do that?!"
"Chaos." Star repeated. "Shadow can do it too. Among other things."
"Other things?" Maria was already over to her, practically vibrating. "Can I see? Please?"
Star wasn't used to humans looking at her like that. She'd been here for weeks already, and the only consistency she'd experienced was the look of fear in the scientist's eyes. They were afraid of her as much as she was of them, and they all hated each other for forcing that weakness… but Maria was different. There wasn't a trace of anything but joy in her eyes. She was special, safe, and kind. She could be trusted, even when nobody else could.
The three of us against the world.
"Back up and I'll show you." Star looked up, the blue of her eyes eclipsed by a white-gold glow. Sparks of the same color arched up her quills and off her fingertips, static electricity crackling in the air and making Maria's hair stand on end. She eagerly scooted back again as Star got to her feet, the little hedgehog walking over to the unplugged glitter lava lamp Maria had just taken out of the box. She crouched, touching the plug, and the bulb lit up brighter than Maria had ever seen it.
"It's energy?" Maria gasped, fascinated. "Shadow can do it too?"
"Yes." Star nodded. "But he's even stronger than me. There's things I can do that he can't, though."
"Like what?"
Star backed up from the lamp, the sparks dying on her quills, and lifted one hand. A bluish glow formed around her palm and she held it up a little higher, smiling when Maria came off the floor with a squeak. Star levitated as well, floating over to the human girl and rotating her upside down. "Like this."
"This is amazing!" Maria flailed, delighted. "How do you do this?!"
Star set her down gently on her bed as they heard the water turn off. "I don't know." The hedgehog girl murmured. "I'm sure I did, at one time. But it's just… a part of me. Like breathing. I can feel the Chaos under my quills, and the rest… it's just like stretching my legs. Just another limb."
They both looked up as Shadow came out of the bathroom, still scrubbing water out of his freshly cleaned fur and quills. Star's fond smile caught Maria's attention, and she gently poked her new friend. "Your turn."
Star nodded agreeably and gathered up the clothes and towel Maria provided. As she shut the door, she heard Maria ask Shadow to let her brush his quills. A little flicker of happiness fluttered through her heart, that they were finally going to be okay… the hopelessness she'd felt when she couldn't use her powers faded away.
Maria was their friend now. That changed things.
Star got in the shower under the hot water, scrubbing off the half-dried goop she'd been submerged in. Maria's shampoo smelled nice, like fruit and flowers that grew somewhere on this planet she'd never had a chance to explore. She liked the sweetness of it, and the feeling of being clean. Once she'd gotten all her quills scrubbed, she climbed back out and scrubbed herself as dry as she could. She had to stand on tiptoe to wipe the condensation from the mirror, examining her reflection for a moment.
There's nothing like us on this planet. That's what Maria said…
She didn't know who she was, or even what she was. All the power in the world didn't change that disconnect, or feeling of emptiness. She wanted to escape, to be free of the soldiers and scientists, but where would she go? There was no way to return home if she didn't know where home was. She'd fallen from a vast sky, with no way of knowing how to get back. She didn't even know why she'd left…
All she knew was Shadow. And now, Maria. That would have to be enough. She'd remain by their sides, and find a way to build a life on this world. Maria promised no one would hurt them, and Star believed her.
Once she was dry enough, Star pulled on the clothes she'd been given. White tights and shirt, the red dress, frilly ankle socks, and a white bandana with gold stars on it from Maria's old Halloween costume. It matched her bracelets, so she tied it around her neck and inspected herself in the mirror one more time. She did her best to arrange her quills the way she liked them, then walked back out to join Shadow and Maria again.
Gerald had come into the room, listening to Maria eagerly relaying everything she'd learned from talking to both hedgehogs. The man was nodding, taking notes on a small notepad. Shadow had moved to the corner, watching him and Maria interact, so Star crept over and sat beside him.
"You showed her your powers?" He leaned against her as soon as she was settled.
"She asked." Her head dropped onto his shoulder. "Should I have refused?"
"No. We can trust her." He shook his head, the two of them getting comfortable. "I'm just surprised. You've tried to bite every human we've met."
"The others kept trying to grab us." Star muttered. "She's kind. She's… patient. I like her."
He nuzzled against the top of her head absentmindedly. "I do too. She asked for beds for us, to share this room with her."
"So we'll stay together?" Star sounded hopeful, and caught Gerald's attention.
"Yes, my dear. You will." He answered. "I'd like to study you and Shadow in regards to this Chaos Energy you showed Maria. Every evening, you'll be able to return here."
Star looked immediately to Shadow, who simply nodded. This was acceptable enough. Like her, he knew they had nowhere to go and no one to help them if they managed to escape. As long as Gerald and Maria were there to show them decency, might be okay.
Chapter 2: Test Subject
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma, 1972)
Decency stopped and started at the laboratory door. Star had learned that in the last year, and tiredly resigned herself to it as a part of life now. Every morning, she and Shadow reported to the lab for testing. Gerald kept his word that they could return every night to Maria's room, and he offered them his version of kindness when he could. No one outright hurt them, but that didn't stop the humiliation.
She sat on a lab table, in a booster seat to account for her size, and looked down at her feet with a hollow expression. Shadow sat beside her, head and chest stuck with monitors trailing wires. Star had them too, and a muzzle on over her nose and mouth. The scientists besides Gerald refused to touch her without it on after how "aggressive" she'd been when she'd first been found. No one but Maria recognized it as what it was: fear. And they did nothing to alleviate it, either.
She winced at the sound of an electric razor, tucking her chin against her chest as someone shaved the fur off her inner arm. She constantly had bald spots, mostly her arms and temples, to accommodate sticky pads and blood draws. Beside her, Shadow's fingers found hers and they hooked their pinkies together. They were never far apart, Gerald often commenting he only had to look two steps back from Shadow to find Star. He made her life bearable. She was sure she'd have gone insane by now without him.
Once they'd put an IV line in place, Star sat quietly watching vial after vial of blood taken. "Alright, onto the treadmill." One of the scientists pointed with a pen, singling her out. Unhappily, she slid down from the table and shuffled to what amounted to a giant hamster wheel in the middle of the room. Some days they ran circles on a track, to collect the Chaos energy that trailed off of them. Today was a stress test.
I wonder if everyone on this planet is like them… or if there's more like Maria. I hope there's more people like her than like them. Star stood still while a few more monitor lead lines were stuck to her head, chest, and back. Her shoes, a pair of Maria's old Mary-Jane's, already had holes in the sole from all the running she'd done in the last year. Her paw pads hurt with every step, but there was no way around it. There never was… Nor was there any way around how hard it was to breathe while running with the muzzle on. She couldn't get her mouth open enough to pant, leaving her dizzy.
Do it for Shadow. Do it for Maria. So we can stay together, like Professor promised.
Behind her, Shadow watched with a worried expression on his face. He was one of the few people who knew how soft Star was on the inside, how sweet she could be. "Psst!"
He looked down at the soft whisper, finding Maria on the ground behind the table he was sitting on. She gave him a wink, disconnecting the wires on his temples and sticking them to a teddy bear she had tucked under her arm. "I'm busting you and Star out."
"How do we get her?" Shadow immediately perked up, conspiratorial light in his eyes as soon as he was free and climbing behind the counter with Maria.
The blonde girl looked over at the running hedgehog, expression shuttering immediately. "What's that on her face?" She didn't usually come into the lab when the research team was working, spending hours tinkering in her room when she wasn't doing her schoolwork.
"They always make her wear it." Shadow whispered back.
Maria frowned further, watching Star stumble as her speed hit over three hundred miles per hour on the monitor. "Sneak out the door, I'll be right there with her. Meet me at our room."
Shadow nodded, army-crawling along the floor and slipping out the door. Maria picked up a small vial of glowing Chaos, a dark gold color indicating it had been taken from Shadow. Star's was a lighter white-gold. She turned on a Bunsen burner and tossed the vial into it, then ducked. It was volatile but only a small amount, setting off the equivalent of a firecracker and utter pandemonium throughout the lab. Maria grinned, tucking and rolling across the back of the room as everyone ran to try to find the cause.
Star slowed to a stop, watching them smacking burning paperwork on the desks to put them out with a curious tilt of her head. What had-
"Psst!" Maria poked her head up from behind the wheel. "We're breaking out."
Star scuttled down immediately to her, Maria unbuckling the muzzle from the back of her head and pulling the sticky pads off her. Cheeky, she stuck them to a second teddy bear and pulled Star by the hand across the floor to the door. They made it out without being seen, and as soon as the lab door closed behind them Star grabbed Maria's hand and warped. They landed in the middle of Maria's bed, bouncing on the mattress. Shadow had been waiting, sitting on the floor, and hopped up as soon as he saw them.
Star let out a relieved laugh, sprawling back on Maria's blankets and rubbing the sides of her face. "That's so much better."
Shadow climbed into the bed with them, checking over the sides of her muzzle where the straps had dug in. "You okay?"
"I am now." She looked at Maria. "Thank you." She'd know Maria was her friend, the girl had spent the last year making that abundantly clear. But being rescued from a test… she felt a surge of the protective devotion she always held for Shadow, now for Maria too.
The three of them against the world, indeed.
Maria smiled, leaning over to hug them both heedless of their quills. "Any time."
The hug was warm, comforting, and smelled like Maria's fruity shampoo. Strawberries, they'd learned over the last year. When the three of them broke apart, Maria stood up. "You're not going back in there today, and I'm telling Grandfather that something's got to change. They can't keep treating you that way. I'll see him tonight. But today is just for us."
Star dropped her head to Shadow's shoulder as the girl started fiddling with her record player, looking around the room. Across from Maria's single bed was a set of bunk beds for her and Shadow, though the top one was mostly storage for Maria's stuffed animals now. Shadow and Star insisted on sleeping together on the bottom, hands always reaching for each other in the dark. Maria had noticed from the beginning, how they were always touching. A constant reassurance, unspoken whispers. I'm here. You're not alone.
When the music started playing, Maria walked over and reached for their hands. They took hers and each others, forming a triangle when she pulled them into the middle of the room swaying to the beat. "What are we doing?" Shadow asked, a frown more curious than disapproving on his face.
"Dancing!" Maria grinned. "C'mon, have you really never danced before?"
"Not that I remember." Star wrinkled her nose, but let herself sway to the beat. It wasn't unpleasant.
"Try this." Maria dropped her hand and pulled Shadow's, so the three of them formed a line, then made a wave with her free arm that extended down to Shadow's. He picked up the pattern, transferring the move to Star with a wiggle.
Star knew they looked ridiculous, and that Maria was only trying to distract them from the rough treatment in the lab, but she couldn't help but follow the wave and sling out her free arm to send it back to Shadow. A giggle from her made his ears swivel around, picking up the way her features softened when she was smiling.
He couldn't have been more than thirteen himself, based on Maria's guess they were a year or so older than her. It didn't change that Maria was the ringleader of their little band, her knowledge of the world far greater than their amnesia. But sometimes, when the light hit Star's blue eyes just right, he thought he might understand what Maria's storybooks were talking about when they mentioned seeing into somebody's soul.
"See? You two are pretty good dancers." Maria grinned.
"It's more fun than I imagined." Star laughed again, reaching for her hand to close their circle again. "Thank you for showing us." .
"No problem." The human girl was happy to slip her hand into Star's gloved one, the three of them wiggling around to the beat of one of her Beatles records. They weren't very good at it, no matter what she said, but they were enjoying themselves. Maria had a way of making everything uncomfortable fade into the background. She was a bright light that shined all on her own, guiding them out of a tunnel. Their sunshine in a persistent string of rainy days.
When the song ended, Maria inspected their faces for any trace of the stress she'd seen on them in the lab. Satisfied they were appropriately distracted, she let go of their hands to go turn off the record player. "I made you two something." She explained when they cocked their heads to the side, twin looks of adorable hedgie confusion. Sometimes they reminded her of kittens, soft and cuddly when treated softly but likely to bite and scratch if frightened.
Shadow curiously trotted after Maria, pulling Star along with him. "For us?"
"No, my other best friends in the whole world." She giggled. "You're practically my brother and sister now."
"As long as we're not each other's brother and sister." Shadow shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. Maria had asked them were they siblings once, not long after they'd all met. Neither he nor Star could explain the visceral absolutely not they'd both felt, like the suggestion violated something unspoken but binding.
Maria just snickered. "I learned my lesson there." She set two pairs of shoes on the floor in front of them. "Here. I saw you two were wearing through the pairs I gave you before, and I saw Shadow trying on my skates when you thought I was sleeping."
Shadow's flush showed through the thinner fur of his muzzle. "You saw that?"
"Sure did. I thought it was cute." Maria giggled.
"I am not cute." He grumbled, ears drooping with embarrassment. "Tell her, Star."
The blue eyed hedgehog had picked up the shoes Maria sat closest to her, examining them. They were Mary-Jane style again, with thick metal soles that had been anodized gold to match the side buckles and had a short spoiler off the heel. The bottoms showed four little depressions that looked like rocket thrusters. "Handsome is a better descriptor." She answered, bringing the shoes closer to her eyes while Shadow made a choked sound. "Rocket tracks, Maria?"
"Yup. Completely frictionless." Maria grinned. "No more knees hurting, or wearing out the bottoms when you run. You won't touch the ground at all once you activate them, and Shadow could hover a couple feet in the air with them. You'll still levitate, I guess."
"There's no visible power supply." Shadow picked up his own, black and white like saddle shoes but with anodized red metal soles. His were more angular than Star's, bent upward in the front to accommodate extra thrusters. Shadow was a little heavier than Star, and couldn't fly the way she could. And examining the shoes gave him a minute to recover from the shock of Star's calling him handsome. He hadn't expected it… but he liked it.
"Not until you put them on." Maria laughed. "I designed them to be powered by your Chaos Energy. You'll have full control."
"You figured out how to power devices with Chaos?" Star's eyes flicked up from the shoes to Maria.
"I've been studying everything you do. I wanted to understand you two better." The girl explained.
"That's what they say in the lab, too." Star sounded a little forlorn, her usual sharpness going flat.
"They want to understand you to help themselves." Maria reached over, booping Star's nose to startle her out of her own head. "I want to understand you to help you."
Shadow smiled, slipping out of the worn sneakers he'd been running around in for the last year. "That's why we like you best."
"We do." Star nodded agreeably, Maria's explanation washing away her melancholy.
"Then try them on, and if they're comfy we can test them out." Maria rubbed her hands together like a little fly, blue eyes alight with a combination of affection and tiny mad scientist delight.
Star swapped out her shoes and stood up, smiling at how the thick soles made her a little taller, before practicing running Chaos energy through the shoes. The thrusters lit, lifting her off the ground a bare few centimeters. While Shadow was doing the same, she curiously tried to take a step and nearly collapsed when her foot shot out in front of her like a cartoon stepping on a banana peel. Maria caught her from behind, righting her before she landed on her tail. "…. this is harder than anticipated." Star mumbled. "It feels like I'm standing on that jello they serve in the mess hall."
"That's because they're frictionless." Maria stood her upright and caught Shadow before he landed face first in the floor. "You can't walk like you normally would, you won't hold your balance. You need to skate. Push yourself off with one foot at a time." She grabbed her own roller skates and quickly laced them on. "You've seen me do this. Just try the same motion, like this."
While she demonstrated the movements, the two hedgehogs did their best to follow. It took a while, and several falls for both of them, before they were managing to move smoothly across the floor. Shadow picked up a little faster, though he'd never tell anyone it was because the time Maria had caught him wearing her skates was far from the first. Star, on the other hand, was wholly absorbed in the task of perfecting her new skill. Her expression was rapt, focused on every movement she made down to the degrees by which she turned her ankles. She moved in slow, careful circles around the room, arms outstretched for balance, a burning intensity in those blue eyes.
She looks so… pretty, when she's so focused. Shadow couldn't help but think. She looked the same as she always did, but it felt like seeing her for the first time. Had he never noticed how pretty she was? How bright her blue eyes shined, how her quill markings were the same color and highlighted how shiny and dark her fur was.
When she flipped around and started skating backwards, her tiny and self-satisfied smile made his stomach twist in a way he wasn't sure how to articulate. "I think I've got it." She cruised past him, holding a hand out for him to take. They turned in lazy circles around the room, Maria watching them laugh. Outside of this room, they were the "dangerous alien test subjects." But inside it, they were just kids. Just like her.
"It'll be easier to run in these." Shadow said as they twirled. "We might even go faster."
"I broke three hundred miles per hour today. How much faster could we go?" Star blinked.
"Want to find out?" They looked over at Maria, who was holding up two jump ropes, with a pair of lab goggles on her head.
The hedgehogs looked at her, then each other, a pair of twin grins moving across their faces. Shadow was the first to speak. "… Put a helmet on."
"Test run four!" Maria pulled her goggles down, grin filling the rest of her face. They'd been tweaking the hedgehog's shoes for weeks now, making the Chaos Synthesizer she'd invented more sensitive and responsive to their control. Gerald had taken a great interest in what they were doing, calling off the lab testing in favor of overseeing this instead.
He believed Chaos Energy was the secret to building a better tomorrow for humanity. Maria was just trying to have a good time with her friends, and her invention had bought them their freedom from the needles and muzzles for a while.
"You put on knee pads this time, right?" Star looked over her shoulder. She and Shadow had jump ropes tied around their middles like harnesses, Maria holding the end of each of them. The "test runs" were always high speed racing around the bunker's outer circle, towing the human girl behind them until her skate wheels started smoking. Gerald had replaced them three times for her already.
"Yes. And elbows." Maria nodded. She'd fallen more than once, the most recent one sending her skidding on her knees until her jeans had shredded. Luckily it was a pretty smooth floor inside the bunker, so she got away with nothing more than a couple strawberry-colored contusions and a bruised chin. Star and Shadow had been more upset about it than she had, putting ice packs and ointment on her and cuddling on either side of her in her bed while insisting she rested. That had been the moment Maria realized exactly how important she'd become to them, laying with her sore knees propped up on cushions and the two furry creatures who'd become her best friends with their noses pressed into each of her shoulders while they slept. Her hands had been folded over her stomach, with both Shadow and Star's hands hooked at the pinky on top.
She had gotten what she'd hoped for, when she first met them. Entry into their little bubble, a part of the world that they kept everyone else out of. But she belonged there now, and had access to the most fragile parts of the super powered preteens'. She had to treat them with care, and herself too. They loved about her.
Now she stood, knee and elbow padding in place with her helmet and goggles, eager for adventure and careful for their sakes. Their love was hard earned, after all.
"Ready?" Shadow dropped low, stretched out like a marathon sprinter with his palms on the floor. "We have to go the exact same speed or she'll get pulled off balance."
Star dropped to mirror him, a smirk on her face as she nodded. "Think you can keep up?"
"Cocky." He rolled his eyes fondly.
"It's only cocky if you can't back it up. Otherwise, it's just stating facts." The smile she shot him was electric, bright as her namesake and meant to make him laugh alongside her.
"We'll see about that. Three."
"Two." Star grinned, body tensed as a coiled spring.
"One!" Maria cheered, and they took off like bullets, snatching her after them. She whooped, hanging on for dear life as the duo laughed and matched their steps despite the playfully competitive banter. They held pace, pulling Maria at breakneck speed around corners and turns and narrowly avoiding barrelling over soldiers and researchers alike. Walters was the most amused of all of them, used to the shenanigans by now. He'd accepted the aliens were children pretty quickly, and was somewhat surprised how few others could get past the fur and quills on Maria's companions.
"Watch out you three, there's a-" He started as they disappeared around the corner. The hallway intersection was crowded with support staff, moving rolling carts of desserts from the kitchen to mess hall. Star and Shadow tried to hit the brakes, the jets on their shoes going out. The metal bottoms touched down too hard, both hedgehogs pitching tail over quills into furry bowling balls. Maria's smoking skates couldn't slow down either and she shot between them, still holding the jump ropes, and crashed into the cart of pastries. The slack in the ropes ran out and she dragged her friends into the mess as well.
Maria sprawled across the floor in the midst of the sugary wreckage, looking around. Shadow looked startled, a trail of sticky donut glaze on his cheek. "You okay?" He asked.
"The breaking system needs tweaking." She let out a little snicker.
He laughed and turned, looking over on his other side to look at Star. She was laying on her back, a cupcake frosting side down on her forehead. She was covered in sugar shrapnel, and a glob of cream filling dripped off her quills onto the floor with a wet plop.
The gathered witnesses, mostly humans who still remembered Star's flashing teeth when she'd first been captured, all winced. Walters slowly reached for his stun gun, just in case she snapped. He'd been warned time and time again, the female was the angry one. The most dangerous of the two.
Maria reached over Shadow and swiped some icing off Star's cheek with a fingertip. "I knew you were sweet." She grinned, sticking it in her mouth before flopping back over. She slung her arms and legs out, making a snow angel in the mess of destroyed confections.
Shadow watched Star blink twice before her face split with the most body-shaking, full chest, infectious laughter he'd ever heard. He couldn't help but laugh too, both of them following along with Maria and smearing the sugary mess all over the place.
Walters' hand relaxed on his weapon, watching them cracking up. They really were just kids… "Having fun, you three."
"Sorry, Captain." Maria sat up first. "We couldn't stop in time."
"I saw." He offered her a hand to her feet. "You need a shower."
"Yeah…" She gave Shadow an arm to pull him upright, and looked over as Walters turned to offer his to Star. The hedgehog girl was still laughing, shaking cream puffs off her quills, when she noticed his extended hand. She blinked at it, the smile falling from her face before she looked up.
Walters smiled encouragingly. "I don't bite."
"She does." Muttered one of the other soldiers.
"Nah, she's fine. Right, kid?" He didn't back down.
"… Right. Thank you, Captain." She hesitantly took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.
"Go get cleaned up." He smiled, gesturing for her to follow Maria. She was used to being given orders, but this time… it didn't feel so dismissive. He was making an effort to be nice to her.
She wasn't used to that.
She trotted past him hurriedly, taking one of Maria's hands as the human girl led the way back to their room. "I didn't think anyone but you and Professor would be nice to us." She murmured.
Maria patted her quills gently. "The world's full of great people, Star. You can't let yourself miss out on them cause you're scared."
Star couldn't argue with that, really. Maria knew this world better than she ever had, and was her only guide to what existed beyond the bunker walls. If she said there was goodness out there, then Star would choose to believe it. Maybe, one day, she and Shadow would get to see it for themselves.
"Why are they called pony beads? They aren't shaped anything like a horse." Star leaned against Shadow's shoulder, sitting in a circle on the floor with Maria and a mountain of beads and para-chord they'd gotten from one of the GUN supply lockers.
"I'm not sure, actually." Maria shrugged, focusing intently on threading letter beads together. "I'll ask Grandfather this afternoon."
"Does he really know everything?" Shadow looked up curiously, trying to see what Maria was making. He'd just been playing around with the supplies, sticking beads on the end of Star's quills while she figured out how to make a long-necked lizard out of orange and green ones.
"He has more experience." Maria glanced up with a smile. "But nobody knows everything. That's what makes life so fun, you never have to stop learning."
"You enjoy learning." Star pointed out.
"Well, yeah. Grandfather says learning is one of the great joys of life. And everything is learning, not just classrooms and stuff." She pointed at the bead lizard on Star's lap. "Like that. You learned how to make that, and now you're having fun doing it. What else would you want to learn, if you could?"
Star pondered for a minute. "… How to cook. All kinds of different foods, like we see in the movies."
"I'd try them." Shadow elbowed her gently. "Whatever you made."
"Even if it was bad?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah."
Maria smiled, watching Star's fingers tremble for a moment on her beads. "We could try cooking in the kitchen sometimes? I bet they'd let us."
"Do you know how to cook?" Shadow looked surprised.
"Some stuff. Like cookies and brownies. We could have them when we watch movies, with the popcorn." Maria finished tying a knot and grinned. "Hold your hands out."
"Right or left?" Star asked.
"Hmm. Left. We'll all do left."
Two gloved hands reached out, and Maria quickly fixed a para-chord and bead bracelet on each of them. Both had blue, red, and yellow beads on either side of a name spelled out one letter at a time with knots tied between each one. She slipped her own on and held her wrist out to show they matched, each bead spelling out the owner's name and SMS with a little pink bead shaped like a heart.
"SMS?" Star blinked, touching hers thoughtfully.
"Shadow, Maria, and Star." Maria beamed. "They're friendship bracelets. People make them all the time at summer camp."
"Summer camp?" Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"It's like the bunker, but really fun. You sleep in cabins and spend all day doing arts and crafts, or swimming, or hiking in the forest. You make friends, and roast marshmallows over a campfire while you tell scary stories."
"Outside?" Star's eyes sparkled in the overhead light, fascinated.
"Yeah. You go way out away from any cities so you can see the stars shining, and try to pick out constellations. Sometimes when you can't find the real ones, you make up your own and tell stories about them." Maria nodded eagerly.
"They'll never let us go outside." Shadow sighed. "But at least I can still see one Star from in here."
"I don't shine." She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them, ears drooping. Going outside sounded so nice, the world Maria described so beautifully was calling her name.
"Sure you do, Starshine." Shadow nudged her, deliberately unbalancing her so she had to uncurl or fall over. She couldn't help a smile forming when he wrapped an arm around her once she did.
"Starshine, huh?" She let herself lean further into him, their cheeks almost touching.
"I think it suits you. " Maria nodded.
Shadow nodded. If he never saw the sunshine in the day on the world outside, he had Maria. If he never saw the stars in the night sky, he had Star.
Chapter 3: The Light Still Shines
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma, 1973)
"And that is the basics of how to operate most motor vehicles. Though I don't think either of you are really tall enough to worry about anything with four wheels, you might could handle a motorcycle." Gerald smiled fondly, looking at Star and Shadow. He'd had the lab mostly to himself today, most of the research team off for Memorial Day. The GUN soldiers who didn't get holidays during their contract mostly stayed to the rec areas, since there was little risk of the hedgehogs making an attempt to escape. They all knew by now what no one aloud: Star and Shadow wouldn't ever try to escape without Maria and Gerald. They had formed a strange little family of four within the bunker, the eccentric Professor happy to take the hedgehogs under his wing like auxiliary grandchildren.
Star squinted up at him curiously. "Does this mean we're going to be somewhere we would need to drive?" She didn't specifically say outside, just to avoid being too disappointed if he said no.
"You never know what wonderful opportunities will present themselves in the future, my dear." He patted her quills gingerly.
"That wasn't a no." Shadow pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you know that we don't, Professor?"
"At current, nothing." Gerald laboriously knelt, gesturing for the two of them to come close. "But let me let you two in on a little secret. For now, our position and funding with GUN are secure. But government contracts… they can be a bit dicey. In the event I lose this, I can't leave you two here in good conscience. Plus, Maria would never forgive me. So I'm setting aside resources for an escape plan, and the four of us will disappear."
"Together?" Star's hand slipped back into Shadow's immediately.
"Of course. Together til the end." Gerald nodded. "But if anything should ever happen to me, you two must promise you'll protect Maria."
"With our lives." Shadow said immediately, squeezing Star's hand. He didn't have to wait for her agreement. They both knew where the other stood on that issue.
"Good, good. Now run along, enjoy the day. Some of our old belongings that were lost in transit have turned up, and I think Maria's guitar was in the boxes. She'll love getting to play for you two. She might even teach you how to play."
Shadow pulled Star gently by the hand out of the laboratory, through the halls lined with soldiers and support staff. It was still somewhat unnerving to see the weapons on their belts and backs, even after all this time. They didn't say anything as they walked, both still processing what Gerald had said.
He was making a plan to get them out. To take them with him and Maria, out of the bunker and into the world she was so eager to show them. There was freedom, a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, for them one day… Gerald was a genius, there was no reason he couldn't feasibly make them disappear to somewhere GUN couldn't find them again. After all, only he and Maria really understood the technology that was being built around their Chaos Energy.
They ducked into their room, finding Maria sitting on the floor in the blanket fort they'd all built together. It was cozy, full of pillows and brightly colored blankets lit by hanging string lights. Their TV was at one end if it, the Cartrivision cassettes of their movie collection stacked neatly on the shelf nearby. Maria looked up with bright eyes, beaming when she saw them. "There you two are! Look, my guitar finally turned up. And Walters went out and rented a new movie for us to watch. He even let it be PG-13 this time."
"Well, you're thirteen." Star smiled, crawling into the pillow fort and taking her favorite spot curled up in a triangle of overstuffed couch cushions Maria had stolen from the rec room. Shadow flopped himself down beside her on his preferred pillow, both of them facing Maria to watch her fingers move on the guitar strings. "What are you playing?"
"Just something I made up." Maria smiled, continuing to strum. "I'm calling it 'Live and Learn.' Tell me what you think."
They listened as she picked up the rhythm again, coming up with words on the fly. "Live and learn, hanging on the edge of tomorrow. Live and learn, from the works of yesterday. Live and learn, if you beg or if you borrow. Live and learn, you may never find your way."
Shadow leaned back slightly, so he was half propped on Star's cushions and she could put her chin on his shoulder from behind. "Sounds like a lesson there."
"She's always teaching us lessons." Star nuzzled into the side of his neck absentmindedly, not noticing the way he stiffened.
Maria beamed. "So you like it?"
"You have a pretty voice." Star nodded. "And very thoughtful lyrics. Are you trying to tell us something?"
"Maybe a little…" Maria set her guitar aside. "I don't want you two to get so caught up in all the bad things that happen, that you forget to look forward to the good things that will come. I know it's hard for you two to trust anyone, except me and Grandfather. Don't lose sight of all the other people out there who'd love you too."
Star just turned her face a little closer into Shadow's neck, the male hedgehog closing his eyes and leaning in. Maria must have known about Gerald's plan too… "We'll try." He said quietly.
Maria smiled softly, reaching out for their hands. They both instantly reached back, curling gloved fingertips into her soft human ones. "That's the only thing anybody can never ask of you. Try."
There as a long, silent moment of the three of them, holding hands and staring at each other. Star and Shadow were quiet, much of the trio's understandings reached in wordless glances and silent touches. What wasn't said meant everything; Maria wanted them to be happy. She wanted them to let go of all the places that hurt, so they could embrace a better world. Shadow was distrustful, Star was afraid… but she loved them enough to want better for them.
Star cleared her throat, first to speak when the silent conversation got too heavy to bear. "You want to watch that movie now, Maria?"
"Yeah. It looks like a creature feature." Maria nodded eagerly.
"I'll go get the popcorn from the kitchen while you two set it up." Shadow volunteered, getting up and zipping out the door with the glow from his shoe thrusters leaving a trail behind him.
Star laughed quietly and climbed out of her little nest to help Maria. "I didn't expect him to get so flustered."
"Well, you were all nuzzled up to the side of his neck." Maria teased. "And you know he's got a crush on you."
"What?" Star froze mid-step, her ears swiveling around towards her friend.
Maria, in the middle of opening the Cartrivision, blinked. "… No. There is no way you didn't know. You're the most observant person I've ever met!"
"I watch for threats." Star frowned. "What do you mean, about Shadow?"
"He has a crush on you. I mean he likes you."
"I like him too. What does that-" Star started, but Maria cut her off with a waving hand.
"No, he likes you. Like… he wants to kiss you." Maria's grin was massive. "You like him back, too. I can tell."
Star's cheeks felt hot as she thought about it. She and Shadow had been attached at the hip as long as she could remember, and she was no stranger to love stories despite her bunker-bound existence. Maria loved them. Kissing Shadow had crossed her mind plenty of times, but she'd always been afraid to bring it up. The connection they had was too special to ruin… but if he felt the same way, that changed everything. "Of course I do." She finally murmured. "He's… everything."
Maria smiled. "You should tell him. It'd make you both really happy."
"It wouldn't make you uncomfortable?" Star blinked as Maria took her hands again, rubbing her thumbs across the back of Star's knuckles.
"My two favorite people in the whole world would be happy. How would I ever be anything but happy for you?" Maria said it so sincerely, like nothing else could have possibly crossed her mind, that Star felt her heart skip.
"Alright. I'll talk to him about it when we're alone." She breathed. "Thank you, Maria."
Maria pulled her into a hug, heedless of Star's quills. "That's what sisters do."
They finished setting up the movie and moving pillows around so they could all lay on their stomachs to watch. Maria let the credits roll, pausing just before the movie started to wait for Shadow. When he finally returned with a huge bowl of popcorn, Star patted the floor in the middle of her and Maria for him to settle down on.
He did so obligingly, and Star wrapped her arm around his closest one. Automatically, he propped himself up on the other elbow and separated his fingers so her own could slip between them. They held hands and cuddled like this all the time, but for the first time… it felt different to Star. The movie in front of them felt more like a backdrop to her thoughts, her eyes drifting down again and again to Shadow's hand wrapped around her own.
Did I really never notice how he felt? Am I oblivious, or was he hiding his feelings? Maybe for the same reason I was…? What happens after we talk about it? Will everything change? Would he be happier? I want him to be happier… is it selfish to think I could make him happy? I want-
Her thoughts, rotating around her head like a dish in the bunker kitchen microwave, snapped back to the present when Maria playfully tossed a handful of popcorn at her and Shadow. A buttery projectile bounced off of Star's nose, making her startle, and Shadow gave Maria and incredulous look while she feigned innocence.
"Unbelievable." Shadow mumbled. "You see this?"
"She's trouble." Star smiled.
"You two love me, and you know it." Maria grinned.
Shadow rolled his eyes, but it was true. So he turned his gaze back to the movie, and Star did her best to follow along since she hadn't been paying attention. Before she could figure out what exactly was going on with the giant lizard monster, a caption card came flying up that felt like a targeted knife straight to the chest.
BEWARE THE ALIEN FREAK.
Shadow stiffened against her arm, his eyes going wide for a moment before his head dropped. Star turned her own face away from the screen, nosing under his jaw both to comfort him and seek it for herself.
Is that all we'll ever be? Alien freaks, monsters for people to be afraid of? The researchers still looked at them with fear and suspicion, no matter how much time had passed. Star knew they still thought of her and Shadow as "it", despite Maria's protests.
Maria frowned, glancing over at them as the two hedgehogs seemed to shrink in on themselves. She'd thought movie night would be something happy to share, but she hadn't realized what the film was about. She doubted Walters had either… But it wouldn't do to leave her friends so upset. She got up and turned the movie off. "I'll be right back."
When she'd padded out of the room, Star and Shadow were left to their own devices for a few minutes. "You okay?" Star murmured, squeezing his hand.
"… that hit harder than I thought it would." He said honestly. "Is that how they see us? Like the monster in the movie?"
"Maria doesn't." She whispered back. "Professor doesn't, either. Or the Captain… he's nice to us, now." It felt like a pipe dream in the moment, to think that Maria was right about there being other people in the world who could love them. But she wanted to believe, if for no other reason than to see Shadow's smile.
"But the rest? They believe it without knowing us."
Star growled softly. "Well fuck them." She muttered, the swear quietly rebellious if spoken softer than the rest of the sentence. She was, after all, only fourteen and profanity was still restricted to secret moments when no adult could hear and scold. She lifted her head to meet his eyes.
Shadow was surprised by her forcefulness. "You're angry."
"Because you're hurting." She softened her voice immediately. "I just… want to protect you. You mean everything to me."
"Star-"
Before Shadow could say what he wanted to, to explain his own complicated knot of feelings for the girl holding tightly onto his arm, the door opened again. Maria stood in the doorway, triumphantly barefoot and holding a keycard aloft in her hand. "Come with me. I've got something to show you both."
Curious, and still a little tenderhearted from the movie, the two hedgehogs got up and crept out after her. She guided them through the halls, peeking around the corners to make sure they went unseen and avoiding any security cameras they'd long since memorized the blind spots of. They headed to the main lab, the one they'd met in, and piled into the service elevator that had been used to bring their meteor down from the outside.
Star and Shadow had never seen the outside before, and while they'd understood the theoretical of it… nothing prepared them for so much open space. The night sky, a deep blue-black that both seemed impossibly deep and stretched on all sides for forever. Starlight shimmered like diamonds, the Milky Way itself visible in the absence of light pollution this far out into the plains. All around them were small white flowers, low growing with their faces pointed up towards the moonlight. Just like the alien duo, standing breathless in the silver light with their spiky heads turned upwards.
"It's…" Star breathed.
"Beautiful." Shadow finished.
Maria grinned, flopping back into the midst of the flowers to stargaze. "Isn't it?"
For a moment Star considered scooping Maria into her arms, grabbing Shadow's hand, and running. As far and as fast as her legs could take her, until there was half a planet between them and this place. She wanted to find somewhere safe, to tuck Shadow and Maria inside and plant herself by the entrance ready to fight anything that came after them. She'd draw blood and rend flesh or bone, as long as nothing took them away and she never had to get go of way air outside the bunker felt in her lungs.
But she couldn't. It would hurt both Maria and Gerald to be separated, and he had a plan in the works to save them. She had to trust him. He was the closest thing to a parent she might have ever had, at least as far as she could remember.
Shadow joined Maria on the ground after a moment, folding his hands over his stomach and looking up. Star did the same, their heads all nearly touching in a little triangle. Star clasped her hands over her chest, watching the sky for a long time in the silence of the night. Finally, in a voice so soft it almost felt like she hadn't spoken it all, she managed a single sentence. "So… that's what real stars look like."
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Maria held a hand out, like she could catch the starlight like fireflies. "Grandfather says that it takes millions of years for their light to reach us, and by the time it does sometimes that star doesn't even exist anymore."
"The light still shines, even though the star is gone." Shadow's voice held an almost childlike wonder.
"Good thing our own Starshine is never far away." Maria giggled. "Right?"
"Never." Star agreed. She belonged by their sides, and she'd never leave them.
They all looked up, the wind swaying the small flowers around them and carrying the heavy perfume through the air. Maria smiled, eyes still fixed on the sky. "I wonder which star you guys are from."
"We don't know." Shadow shook his head, the melancholy back in his eyes at the thought. "We don't remember anything about where we come from."
"We don't even know what we are." Star sighed, looking up again. Was there someone out there missing them? Someone looking to bring them back home?
Maria sat up. "You're my friends. My best friends, in the whole world."
The two hedgehogs both sat up as well, turning to look at her with the breeze rustling though their quills. "Maria, do you think we're dangerous?" Shadow asked quietly. "I see how the scientists look at us, even after all this time. I know they're afraid, like we're the monster from that movie…"
Soft little human hands reached out, tucking under each of their furry little chins. Maria turned their faces to her, eyes soft and thoughtful. "I know you better than that. You can choose to be anything you want, and I know you'll always choose what's right in the end. Because you're good people, not because of your powers but because of who you are in here." Her fingers dropped, touching the white patch of fluff on Shadow's chest and the middle of where Star's bandana fell.
They both looked down, Star reaching up and putting her hand over Maria's on her chest. "I don't know what we'd do without you." She whispered.
Maria smiled. "If there's ever a time that we're not together, promise me you'll keep each other safe. Until I can find you again."
"Promise." Shadow nodded.
"We promised Professor we'd protect you too." Star scooted a little closer, so the three of the them could link hands and sit in a row, watching the sky once again. This time, she appreciated it a little more. It was beautiful, if overwhelmingly large…
"It just goes on forever, doesn't it?" Shadow whispered as she tucked her head against his shoulder.
"Infinite possibilities." Maria grinned.
"One day, we're gonna run to that horizon." Star murmured. "And see what's on the other side."
The trio snuck back into the bunker before sunrise, tucking themselves into their room to catch what sleep they could before breakfast. It was still a holiday long weekend, they'd get to sleep in and spend the day messing around. Maria was hoping to watch a different movie, to erase the bad feelings left behind the night before. She cuddled up into her blankets, trying to dream up the perfect way to spend the day with Star and Shadow.
In the bottom bunk across the room, the two hedgehogs also were curling up. They always shared a bed, usually wrist to wrist. Separate, Star tended to have a hard time sleeping. Tonight, however, it was Shadow who felt restless. He waited, listening for Maria's breathing to settle and watching Star in the dim glow of the hazard lights on the floor. She'd curled into a ball like normal, one hand poking out to hook her ungloved pinky into his. There was something intimate about the way her squishy paw pads pressed into his, soft as the inside of the flowers he'd just seen for the first time today.
"Star?" He whispered, once he was certain Maria was asleep.
Her eyes popped open instantly, liquid reflection of the dim lights making them shine like her namesake. "What's wrong?" She asked instantly, ears pricked to the anxious thread in his voice.
"Nothing's wrong. I don't think." He sat up, the blanket they shared pooling at his waist. Star followed suit, smoothing her tense quills with her hands back into a semblance of neatness. "I was thinking. About what you said, before we went outside."
Star blinked and he watched her mentally rewind her day. She had perfect recall, every detail seared indelibly into her mind… everything but what came before their waking up here. It bothered her, the blankness so stark against her otherwise unparalleled recollection. Shadow was often just grateful he didn't remember so clearly. He could let bitter memories fade with time. For Star, they were preserved like an insect in amber. "Which part?" She finally asked, unsure of where she'd misstepped.
"When you said… I meant everything to you." He repeated the words in a way that caught her attention, like he was holding onto every one of them to weigh their worth before speaking.
"You do." Star said automatically. "Was I not supposed to say it?"
"No, I… I'm glad you did, it's just… I wondered what you meant. When you said everything."
Her head cocked to the side curiously, thinking back to what Maria had said about Shadow having a crush on her. "Could I just… show you?"
"What do you mean?" Shadow blinked as she sat up on her elbow, leaning over him.
"Just close your eyes." Star smiled, nervously pushing a few bedhead stray quills out of her face.
Obligingly, those ocher red eyes of his closed. She considered his face for a moment, really taking the time to admire it. It was the only face of her kind she'd ever remembered seeing, and she didn't know what standards by which her own people might judge attractiveness… but to her, Shadow was breathtaking.
Her fingers settled on his cheek, watching his lashes stir but he kept his eyes closed. She closed the gap, leaning down until her nose brushed his. Shadow sucked in a sharp breath and she heard the beginning of her name before her lips pressed to his and silenced him entirely.
An electric crackle danced across her quills and his, Shadow's eyes snapping open for a split second before he realized what was happening. She'd kissed him, was still kissing him, unexpected but by no means unwelcome. His only frame of reference was the same as hers, a long list of movies, books, and love songs Maria shared with them. But that was enough to guide his hand to Star's cheek as she pulled back with an almost shy expression.
"Do you understand now?" She whispered.
"Maybe tell me one more time?" He chased a spark of Chaos through her quills with a fingertip, watching the way her blue eyes had turned glowing gold and faded back to the hue he knew best. His own were bright red as a neon sign now, just the smallest fragments of their powers putting on a light show in the brilliant afterglow of a first kiss.
Star actually giggled, bloomed into the teenage girl she was instead of a frightened and hostile lab animal, and shifted to lay beside him again. He turned to face her, pulling her close as she could get in anticipation of another kiss. This time, when her mouth found his, he was quick to reciprocate. It was far from graceful, a click of teeth here and bump of noses there, but it was honest and sweet. A tangle of black fur and wagging tails like eager puppies, happy despite all the reasons they had not to be, because they had one another. They always had, since the day a meteor crash landed in an empty field in Oklahoma with its cargo of two small aliens who'd reached for each other in the dark.
When the kissing finally gave way to sleepy cuddling, their shared blanket wrapped around them both like a cozy insulation against the outside world. Star's cheek rested comfortably in the middle of the white fluff on Shadow's chest, her arm tucked under his shoulder and other hand holding his. His free fingertips toyed thoughtfully with her quills, rearranging them as he liked. "What made you decide to kiss me?" He asked softly. "I didn't think you ever would… what changed?"
"I think I always wanted to. But… maybe we're just finally old enough for it to mean something." She nuzzled further into his fluff. "Nothing changed about how I felt. Just… how I looked at it, when Maria said you had the same feelings I did. There just didn't seem to be any reason not to."
"Logical." He snorted, but there was no bite to it. "I thought there would be more… lead up. A conversation or a confession, like in the stories."
"That's not our style." Star hummed. They weren't planners, they never could be when their lives were condensed to the interior of the base. What life could a couple of kids really plan between testing sessions and government issued curfews enforced by heavily armed operatives? Every significant moment in their lives had been the same thing, one way or the other. A brief moment of understanding, a shared glance, and a synchronized realization. I guess we're doing this.
Shadow understood, but a lack of planning didn't mean they couldn't dream. And a possibility now hung in the future like that unending horizon outside, a chance for things to change. He adjusted his hold on her, pressing his face into the top of her head. "Hey Starshine? When we get out of here, what do you want to do first?" He whispered, leaning into Gerald's promise. That there would be a
Star smiled, letting the dream overtake her too. "I want to kiss you under the stars."
Chapter 4: End of the Line
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma, 1974)
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." Maria was strumming her guitar, Star and Shadow watching her with smiles from their spots in the pillow forts. Ever since the kiss that had changed everything and nothing at all, Maria had gone out of her way to find cute little things for them to make up for the fact that they couldn't go on dates. She'd ask for movies she thought they'd like and leave them to watch while she spent time with Gerald, or played music for them. Sometimes they tried dancing, just the two of them. Other times, like tonight, they sat with with their arms wrapped around each other and listened.
Star picked her head up from Shadow's shoulder, ear twitching at the sound of footsteps. Hurried, heavy ones. But it was late, no one should have been up right now. The scientists were clocked out, the guard staff in their barracks. "Someone's coming."
Maria turned as the door opened, revealing a rumpled and somewhat frantic looking Gerald. "Kids, we have to go. Now."
Startled and concerned, the three of them all got to their feet. "Professor?" Star frowned. "What's wrong?"
"There's no time, come on." Gerald waved for them to hurry, already stepping backwards out of the door. Maria was still barefoot, but she dropped her guitar and followed her grandfather with a frightened look on her face. Shadow took her hand, both comforting and to help her hurry along. Star grabbed the other one, a united front, just as the overhead alarms went off.
"Grandfather, what's happening?" Maria paled.
"They're trying to take Shadow and Star away from us. We've got to go!" Gerald picked up the pace, ahead of the three young ones as the sound of boot steps started echoing over the alarms behind them.
Shadow looked back, heart leaping to his throat when he spotted a squad of GUN soldiers he didn't recognize. Their guns were out, pointed directly at him, Star, and Maria.
Star saw them too as they turned, almost out of the front entrance. All that was left was a last dash towards a waiting jeep, a gauntlet of storage hangar full of giant tanks of stored Chaos energy. It felt like an impossibly long distance, though it was really only a few hundred yards. She and Shadow could have made it in less than a second on her own, but they wouldn't leave Maria and Gerald. How could they? They were all the hedgehogs knew of the world, and everything they loved in it. Love slowed them down.
"What are you doing?! Those are children!" She heard Walter's yelling and glanced over her shoulder to see him being seized by another soldier, holding him back from rushing to try to help.
"We have our orders, Captain."
The finality of the man's words struck like a shard of ice in Star's chest, her eyes fixed on the barrel of the guns leveled at her little family. They're going to kill us.
She didn't have more than a split second between realization and the click of a trigger. A tiny gesture, nothing but a fingertip, that destroyed everything faster than even she could move. It sounded nothing like the movies she'd seen, a definitive and recognizable bang that carried the plot along. This was so much louder in the enclosed hangar, sucking the rest of the sound out of the area like a projectile vampire. The shot was hastily aimed, missing her head by a narrow margin and flying over her shoulder. It hit one of the canisters of Chaos energy, the volatile substance reacting to the sudden kinetic energy and exploding in a chain reaction that turned every canister on that side of the hangar into live ordinance.
The hedgehogs and Robotniks were thrown off their feet, flying out the mouth of the open hangar bay as everything burst into flames. Gerald, further ahead than the kids, skidded and landed on his stomach, one side of his mustache smoldering when he picked his head up.
Star's hand was ripped out of Maria's, her small body bouncing across the concrete until she came to a stop curled into a tightly protective ball of quills. The world around her had narrowed to a high-pitched whine and spots behind her eyes from the impact, but she struggled upright and shook her head to try to clear the cobwebs. Shadow, thrown several meters from her, was doing the same and rubbing his head. If he was alright, they could grab Gerald and Maria to run. They could still make it, get away from here-
A tattered bit of blue fabric shifted in the updraft of the inferno behind them, revealing a bloody hand in the firelight. A small hand. A young girl's hand, wearing a para-cord bracelet strung with lettered pony beads.
"Maria!"
Star and Shadow both scrambled, running to her sides as Gerald crawled towards his granddaughter. Shadow gently shook her shoulder, eyes flicking frantically between her motionless body and blood-streaked face. "Maria…? Maria, wake up."
Star dropped her head to the girl's chest, ears pricked for the sounds of life. Even if it was weak, as long as he was alive then Professor could save her. There was still hope, as long as Maria's heart was beating.
But… it wasn't. There was nothing under Star's ear. No heartbeat. No ragged breath. Just stillness and the damp feeling of blood spreading across the fabric of Maria's favorite blue dress. She slowly lifted her head again, eyes hot and vision blurring as her trembling jaw struggled to get the hateful words out. "Sh-she's gone…"
Gerald let out a broken sob, falling back onto his forearms as the soldiers reached them. Star blinked back her tears, teeth bared with a kind of fury that felt like it had scooped out her insides to replace them with a black hole. She hated them in that moment, hated everything and everyone that wasn't grieving next to her.
They'd killed Maria. Happy, brilliant, kind Maria. Living sunshine, walking hope, entirely innocent of anything that might have deserved this. Star wanted to fight, to make them hurt as much as she did. They'd ripped her heart out and stolen the future she'd barely dared dream about. It only seemed fair that she rip theirs out of their chests with her bare hands.
Before she could get her feet under her, prepared to die if it bought time for Shadow and Gerald, a soldier put a gun to the back of Shadow's head. "Move, and I shoot him." He stared right at Star, the look in his eyes lethal.
Her burning gold eyes widened, the light flickering out as the sparks on her quills died. Clenched fists slowly relaxed, the faint glow of her telekinesis dissipating. She was prepared to die, but not to lose anyone else. Especially not Shadow. Slowly, she lifted her hands into the air in silent surrender as furious and grief stricken tears finally rolled down her ash-covered cheeks.
Walters had managed to slip free of of the men who'd been blocking him and walked up slowly, pushing the gun away. "What the hell is wrong with you? They're kids!"
"They killed Maria!" Star screeched, still frozen in place on the chance someone targeted the only remaining people she had in this world to love.
"I know. I know, Star." Walters did his best to calm her. "But I need you not to fight. It's just going to make everything worse. Just do what they say for now. Just… trust me."
Her jaw trembled, looking much more like a small child than a dangerous alien in the moment. "We didn't do anything wrong…"
"I know." Walters whispered.
We didn't do anything wrong… why is this happening?
She and Shadow were scruffed and thrown into separate containment cells, built of something stronger than glass and meant to keep their powers contained. The parting shot of a painful shock from a cattle prod seemed like nothing but deliberate cruelty that made Walters' jaw tighten, but he said nothing.
Star pressed herself against the side of the glass closest to Shadow, who was sitting numbly with his knees drawn up staring as someone spread a sheet out over Maria's body and Gerald was led away in handcuffs. No one looked at them as the fires were put out and the area cordoned off, staff interviewed and official stories concocted to cover up the nightmare. When Walters finally managed to pull rank and take back some semblance of control, he glanced over to see the two hedgehogs with their hands pressed to the glass towards each other.
Just like the day they'd met Maria…
He winced at the thought and gave an order, watching Star and Shadow loaded up onto a truck.
"What happens to them now, Captain?" One of his subordinates asked.
"I'm still trying to figure that out. This research is going to be shut down due to the loss of life here… and that Robotnik's the only person who could understand it and he's out of his mind with grief right now." Walters rubbed the bridge of his nose. "But those two… that's a loose end nobody knows how to deal with."
"So what's the answer, sir?"
"I'll let you know when I do, Private."
(Prison Island, Tokyo Bay, Japan )
It took days, but eventually Walters found the answer to the dilemma posed by Shadow and Star's existence. They couldn't be forced into compliance, they'd only bide their time to escape without Maria and Gerald there. They were more dangerous together than separate, but separation would make them more desperate. They were too dangerous to be freed by virtue of their powers, though Walters didn't really believe they'd harm the general public. GUN operatives, though… he didn't discount the possibility that they'd hunt anyone they thought responsible for Maria's death for sport.
But they were too valuable to destroy. Robotnik's work had barely scratched the surface of Chaos Energy, and the two creatures produced it in their quills. In the end, there was only one choice to make. Cryostasis.
And Walters had to give the order.
He walked into the holding facility, aptly named Prison Island, just off the coast of Tokyo. The hedgehogs had been transported here ahead of him, their containment cells hooked up to two floor-to-ceiling machines that would later recess into a hidden maximum security basement. Star was nudging her foot at the glass of hers, Shadow tense and eyes darting around, when the Captain walked in.
Almost immediately, both hedgehogs looked visibly relieved. He'd stood up for them before, back at the bunker. Walters felt sickeningly guilty at the tiny flicker of hope in both pairs of eyes. They thought he could save them, and he was here to issue the order that imprisoned them indefinitely.
And even worse, in separate tanks. He knew from three years watching them how much they comforted each other, from the very beginning. Being unable to reach one another must have been torture… and one he couldn't end.
"Captain?" Star pressed her hands against the glass when he got close, voice muffled and pleading. "Tell them to let us out."
"Start the process." Walters couldn't look her in the eye. A technician pressed a button, and two nasal cannulas dropped in from the top of the tanks. "Put those on." He glanced at the hedgehogs, focusing on a spot above their striped heads rather than their faces. He had to remain calm. They trusted him, that was why he had to be the one to oversee this.
Confused, they both slipped the tubes over their heads and fixed the lines in place, jumping when a thick green liquid started pumping in at their feet. Star instantly started to panic, pounding against the glass. "Captain!"
Walters could only watch as they realized they'd been betrayed, hurt and fear on their faces while the cryo liquid kept rising. Shadow's expression was frantic as it reached his chest, the two tanks sinking into the recessed floor. Finally he looked up, eyes snapping onto Walters and narrowing as a flash of chaos turned them hot-coal red. But it was too late to escape, they'd wasted the narrow window they might have had because they'd trusted him. The look on their faces as they vanished, however, spoke one message loud and clear.
If we ever get out, we won't make the same mistake again. Traitor.
Walters felt genuinely terrible. These were kids… aliens, but kids. But he couldn't save them, any more than he could save Maria Robotnik. And if there was an afterlife, he hoped Maria would forgive him for what he'd done to her friends.
In the subterranean level the liquid the two hedgehogs were suspended in got colder and colder. Star hugged her arms tight around herself, wincing when the oxygen in her line started to smell like some kind of sedative. Her world had become soundless, frigid, and alone. Outside the tank was blurry and disorienting as condensation gathered, and all she could make out was the outline of Shadow curling up inside his own tank.
I wish we were together… so I could hold his hand.
She put one hand against the glass as she got dizzy and blackness licked at the edges of her vision. She tried to fight it, but every limb felt made of lead. There were no tears to cry under water, only a sense of defeat and miserable acceptance. They couldn't get away, not like this. Either they'd have their air cut off and they'd drown once they passed out, they'd be poisoned, or the cold would kill them… GUN wasn't ever letting them go. She'd never chase that horizon with Shadow, or kiss him under the stars…
Walters lied to us… but we didn't do anything wrong. And neither did Maria, but they killed her too.
At least, if they died, they might be reunited with her. She'd told them about Heaven, an afterlife where nothing bad ever happened. Somewhere perfect and happy, the three of them back together again.
If she tried to imagine it, it looked just like a field of white flowers in the middle of Oklahoma, under a night sky full of stars. It was warm, and Shadow and Maria were already waiting for her.
I'm sorry. I couldn't protect either one of you, even though I promised… I'm so sorry.
(GUN Maximum Security Prison, six months post Shadow Base Incident)
Gerald Robotnik sat quietly in an interview room, picking a thread in the knee of his orange jumpsuit and eying the shackles that bound one wrist to the table bolted to the floor. He'd been kept in solitary confinement since he'd been brought in, simmering in his resentment and loss until it permeated every cell of his being. The doting grandfather who'd come to care for the alien creatures under his study like they were his own family had been drowned in loss and loneliness. What remained was vindictive, brilliant, and calculating. This was the first time he'd been out of his cell since he'd arrived, for a meeting with the last person he'd expected or wanted to see.
Captain Walters hadn't agreed with blaming Gerald for the tragedy at Shadow Base, but he'd been overruled by a higher chain of command. The only kindness he could offer the fallen scientist now was something to occupy his mind. He sat down across the interview table, hands folded in front of him, and waited to see if Gerald would acknowledge him first. When he didn't, Walters let out a heavy sigh. "Professor."
"Captain." Gerald mumbled. "I didn't expect you to come see me. To what do I owe the privilege?" He didn't bother looking up. He'd wanted to die for months now, and almost hoped being uncooperative would encourage GUN to send him along to Maria.
"I came to bring you a proposition. I thought having something to do might be comforting." Walters said gently. "Nothing will ever make up for what happened to Maria-"
"That your people let me take the blame for!" Gerald snapped, finally raising his eyes. "As if I'd ever hurt her. She was my granddaughter! She was my pride and joy!"
"I know." Walters sighed. "What happened was a tragedy."
"If GUN had left well enough alone with Shadow and Star, it wouldn't have happened at all. The greatest scientific discovery in the modern age, and only a mind like mine could truly understand the potential they had. That was what made Maria so special. She wasn't just studying them, she was a part of them…" Gerald grimaced, remembering the split second before the explosion when Star and Shadow had Maria's hands held so tightly in their own. How they'd tried so hard to protect her like he'd asked of them, and even with all their power… they'd failed. "And now what's become of them? Did GUN dissect them, destroying all that potential and learning nothing?"
"They're safe. I made sure of that." Walters decided to offer a small olive branch to the grieving grandfather. He'd cared about those little aliens too, their lives mattered to him. "They're in stasis, in a secure facility, but they're alive."
There was a twitch in Gerald's eye that Walters missed, a seed of an idea taking root. Star and Shadow were alive, which meant access to an enormous amount of Chaos energy could be right at his fingertips. Far more than the sparks coming off the red quill he had found stuck to his clothes after his arrest… The quill might buy him an escape when the time was right, but getting Shadow and Star back would be instrumental in finally having his revenge.
The only way to give his beloved Maria's life meaning was to destroy the thing that had taken her away. Humanity. And what better help to burn them all to the ground than two aliens, who'd also loved his granddaughter.
"That's good to hear." Gerald did his best to keep his expression looking beaten, when he instead felt elated at the prospect of vengeance. "I think about them often… it's very boring in solitary. I might go insane."
Maybe he already had.
Walters was sympathetic, at least. "I floated a proposition to command that might help occupy your time. They want a defense mechanism that can be deployed anywhere. You're brilliant. In exchange for your design, we could arrange for more… agreeable accommodations for you. I can't get you out, but I can mitigate how miserable you have to be while you're here."
"That's very… thoughtful of you." Gerald nodded thoughtfully, mind already whirring. "I could do that. But the machine would have to be built to my exact specifications. No questions asked."
"Done deal." Walters held a hand over the table to shake. The captain was trusting. He knew Gerald, knew him to be a nice old man who spoiled his granddaughter and scolded scientists for being too rough with her little alien friends. Why wouldn't he trust the Professor he'd been working with for the last three years?
Fool.
Gerald reached across and shook his hand. "Thank you, Captain. You have no idea what this means to me."
"I'm sorry it has to be this way, Professor. But I am glad to have you back on our side again."
Once the handshake ended, Walters had to go. Gerald was uncuffed from the table and led back to a cell that suddenly didn't seem so depressing. He was allowed pen and paper, so long as the pen couldn't be taken apart to make an impromptu shiv (not that he couldn't have made a weapon with what he had, if those idiots thought he couldn't they had sorely underestimated him). But he had no need anymore for a violent escape. He'd get out when he was ready, but for now…
He reached into the front of his jumpsuit, pulling out the red quill. It pulsed occasionally with Chaos Energy, almost like it was alive itself. Like he wasn't really alone in this miserably tiny cell. Shadow was here with him, and wherever Shadow was Star would always be. Two steps behind him, where she belonged.
He brought the quill to his tongue, an electric zap sparking through his head like he'd licked a light socket. It made him dizzyingly lightheaded, almost high, and kicked his brain into overdrive once again. "Let's get started. Shall we?" He licked his lips, picking up the pen and a fresh sheet of graph paper to start drafting designs.
A weapon of unparalleled power, built and funded by the very people it was designed to eventually destroy. They'd never know what it was truly capable of until it was fully powered by Chaos, and by then it would be too late. Shadow and Star would help him destroy this worthless planet that had snuffed out the greatest light it had ever known; Maria. And when it was done, he would join the aliens in ending where they began: the cold silence of space.
Only then could the sins of planet Earth be absolved, and justice had for Maria.
In messy, manic handwriting that spoke wordless volumes to the madness seizing Gerald more each hour, he put pen to paper and titled his first draft to keep track. He'd need many, before the final blueprint was ready.
DRAFT 1: ECLIPSE CANNON.
Chapter 5: Hypnopompia
Chapter Text
(Prison Island, Tokyo Bay, Japan. 2024)
"You are my sunshine…"
Guitar strings vibrated out of vision with each pluck of Maria's fingertips. Chipped blue nail polish decorated the tips, a band-aid wrapped around the right index from a cut when she was working on one of her tinkering projects. Star was close enough to see the ridges of her fingerprints, that wholly unique pattern each human had and left behind in everything they touched. Maria could leave them in places her fingers never brushed, on hearts and minds the way she had with Star and Shadow.
They'd carry her forever, like a tattoo, on the softest parts of themselves. Under the quills and teeth, the places only Maria had seen when she'd first spotted them in that holding tank.
"My only sunshine…"
Professor stood in the door, sweat on his brow, eyes frantic behind his glasses. The hall light behind him silhouetted his panic. They had to go, right now. There was no time for Maria to even grab her shoes, running barefoot down the concrete and steel hallway with both hands occupied by Shadow and Star's.
"You make me happy, when skies are gray."
The soldiers behind them had guns. Star was terrified of guns, she had been ever since she'd first understood what they were. Loud, explosive instruments of death. Every guard and soldier carried one, hands resting on their holsters every time she or Shadow passed by. Professor told them again and again that the guns were only for protection. That humans were fragile compared to her and Shadow, that they were afraid. But if the two of them just behaved, those guns would never leave the holsters. He'd promised they'd be safe. They just had to do what they were told, not bite or snarl when someone jabbed them with a needle and wear a muzzle politely during testing even when it held her jaw uncomfortable and made breathing while running harder. They just had to be good. Professor had promised.
But he was wrong. The guns were out, aimed right at them.
"You'll never know dear, how much I love you."
Maria was squeezing her hand so tightly as they ran that her fingers ached. She was scared, those blue eyes flickering back over her shoulder at the soldiers she'd trusted now with their weapons drawn. Only one was questioning this, only one seemed to recognize the innate horror of looking down the barrel of a lethal weapon into the retreating backs of children. Everything felt like slow motion when the gun exploded, the flash headed for the canisters of Chaos stacked around the hangar. Then the deep, booming explosion that rattled inside Star's lungs pushed outward. A blooming, fiery rose that consumed everything in its path with dragon-like ferocity.
Maria's hand was ripped out of hers so viciously it tore the seam of her glove.
"Please don't take my sunshine away."
In a tank, hidden in a sub-floor containment block inside Prison Island, a pair of blue eyes snapped open.
Standing in front of her tiny prison were soldiers, guns out, once again. Star hadn't been awake more than a few seconds, and already there were silent death threats pointed at her. She'd done nothing to them, but they already wanted to murder her…
Behave, and they won't hurt us. How many times had she told herself that, fighting her urge to fight back when she was terrified and mistreated. She'd believed in that truce, that promise of safety through compliance.
That promise was a lie, and Star wasn't behaving anymore.
She took a deep breath and ripped the cannula out of her nose before they could drug her air again, then threw her arms out. A pulse of faintly blue telekinetic energy cracked the glass of both tanks, Shadow seizing the opportunity immediately and punching through his. Star followed suit with a kick, twin gushes of the liquid they'd been suspended in soaking the floor.
Before the gathered soldiers could react, both hedgehogs warped out of sight and reappeared behind them. Metal soled shoes and superhumanly strong fists slammed into the nearest targets before they warped away, selecting another target at random before striking again. They cleared the room of highly trained commandos in less than three minutes, leaving them all unconscious in the ice cold puddles left on the floor. Star scrubbed her arm across her face, wiping off the trickling rivulets dripping from her fur as she took several steadying breaths.
"Star." The whisper of her name made her turn.
He was soaking wet, fur slick and fists slowly unclenching at his sides. His eyes looked redder than she remembered, like the color had leached from his powers into them. But they were still beautiful, heart-wrenching, and most importantly alive.
"Shadow."
They both bolted, crashing into each other in the middle of the room. Star's arms flew around Shadow's neck, his tight around her waist, and they clung to one another. For the first time in who knew how long, no wretched glass and distance existed between them. Against all odds, somehow, they hadn't been murdered while they slept.
A moment passed, Star's face buried in Shadow's chest and his in her quills, both of them entirely heedless of the blaring alarms overhead. Nothing mattered but their reunion, the feeling of the other starting to tremble in their arms as the adrenaline wore off and left them for what they were. Two terrified fifteen year olds, battered by grief and circumstance, doing the only thing they had ever known to do when times were hard. Reach for each other in the dark.
"I thought I'd never see you again." Shadow mumbled into the top of her head. The desperation in his voice felt like a third person in the room, bigger than the two of them both.
She turned her face up, their foreheads resting together for a moment as she tried to breathe the same air he was. To get closer, until they were tangled in each other's ribcages. He already long since had her broken heart in his hands, why not give him access to her lungs? She needed him more than air anyway. He was all she had left. "Let's go. Far away from here, far away from GUN. I don't care where."
Shadow nodded, only letting go of her to take her hand. She threw the other out, smashing through the wall with a punch of telekinetic power, and they darted through the hole. Their prison was on an island in the midst of a storming sea, but in the distance they could make out the faint light of a city on the mainland. Hand in hand, Star levitated them to the water's surface and they activated the thrusters on their shoes. They took off, skating across the choppy ocean like skimmed stones thrown expertly. Chaos crackled across their quills, the power amplified by their relentlessly grasping hands that refused to let go.
This wasn't the way Star had hoped to chase the horizon with Shadow, but until she had gotten her bearings… she'd take what she could get.
The city was disorientingly bright, full of flashing lights and movement. Cars, motorcycles, and blinking billboards in a language neither Star nor Shadow understood made their eyes ache. The streets were crowded with people, some of who pointed and smiled at the two hedgehogs while the majority seemed bizarrely unconcerned at their presence. Despite the benign reception, the pouring rain reflected the stormy emotions the two of them were still wrestling with.
They were lost, alone in the world with nowhere to go, and Maria was dead. Nothing would change it, no matter how far and fast they ran.
"Where is this place?" Star winced at another blindingly bright billboard. "New York, maybe?" Maria had told them about New York, about Times' Square and how the city never slept. She'd made it sound magical, but if this was it then Star didn't like it at all.
"No. The signs would be in English." Shadow squeezed her hand, moving halfway in front of her when a car whipped by and sent a puddle spraying over their already soaked heads.
"I'm starting to really hate humans." Star gritted her teeth, spitting muddy water miserably as she started to shiver.
"Me too." Shadow, ever the best thing about her life, did his best to wipe some of the muck from her face gently. He didn't have a plan, and he knew Star was looking to him to lead.
Star looked over his shoulder, brow furrowing as the date popped up, finally in something she could read. "… Shadow. It says the year is 2024."
He spun around, starting at the billboard with a horrified expression. "2024… We've been trapped for fifty years?"
It felt like being dropped back into cold water. Fifty years? They weren't just lost physically, but now entirely out of time. Technology, culture, nothing that Maria Or Gerald had tried to prepare them for would apply anymore. Star pressed herself against his side, shaking her head in disbelief. How had so long passed? Had they been entirely forgotten… no one had cared enough to think that it was wrong to keep them locked up?
How are these the same species as Maria? She was so good, and everyone else is so awful. She said there were good people out there, but I'm starting to think she was mistaken…
"Hands in the air!" A sharp voice had her spinning around, pressing her back to Shadow's as she heard the click of firearm safeties coming off. They were surrounded by soldiers in riot gear, pointing weapons and carrying heavy shields. Painted on the front of them were the familiar, hateful insignia the two hedgehogs knew all too well. GUN soldiers. They'd tracked them down once again, determined to put them back in a jar for good this time. If fifty years had already passed, they must have intended to never let them go.
"Why can't you just leave us alone?" Shadow hissed, but he sounded so tired. He just wanted to figure out where the hell they were, so they could plot a course literally anywhere else. He wanted to find somewhere quiet and safe, for five minutes, so he and Star could lick their wounds. They'd never been allowed to grieve what they'd lost, kidnapped from the scene of Maria's death to the prison they'd been trapped in. "I don't want to fight."
Star's fists clenched at her side. She had always believed in Maria's promise of the three of them against the world. Without the human girl, Shadow was her world. She gritted her teeth and levitated off the ground. "Maybe I do."
A shockwave blasted outwards, launching the circled soldiers off their feet. When the first to recover tried to open fire, the weapons were torn from their hands and broken. They never managed to fire a shot, but Star's ears still flattened back against her head while her quills puffed out like an angry little cactus. She still hated guns.
GUN and their weapons had held control of her life for over fifty years now. She'd missed so much: sunsets and starlight, growing up with Shadow… and they'd murdered Maria. She'd been running scared for far too long. This time, she was fighting back.
There was no stopping her when she started warping around the block, choke-slamming one soldier after another, so Shadow joined her in the fight. Weapon muzzles bent with a flick of her wrists, more than one exploding in the hands of the unlucky soldier who tried to fire it without realizing.
"They're calling for reinforcements." Shadow warped back to her side as they cleared a city block, his back pressing to hers and their quills interlacing when she leaned in.
She huffed, picking up a couple cars with her telekinesis and using them to block an intersection. "That'll slow them down."
"We can't fight them all, Starshine." He caught her wrists. "We don't have the firepower for a full scale war."
She glanced over her shoulder, hearing the rumbling of a tank approaching. "We don't need to fight them all. We just need to slow them down enough we can get away. Somewhere they won't follow, where we can hide. I'm just sick of seeing guns pointed at you."
"Yeah. Me too." He pulled her behind him as the tank came into view. "Think you can flip that too?"
She reached around him, wrapping one arm around his waist as she lifted the tank as well. Inside, she could hear the soldiers screaming. "Hm. Guess I can." She hoisted it higher, breath hitching with exertion as she sent it flying down the block on it's side. It wiped out half the cars that had been abandoned when the fighting started, several catching fire when spilled gasoline reacted with downed power lines sparking.
Shadow just squeezed her hand resting on his stomach. "Impressive."
She pressed her face against the back of his shoulder, quietly scanning for the next approaching threat. They both looked up when something loud moved overhead, expecting an attack from above. The GUN helicopter was expected, but instead of it opening fire the hatch on the side opened instead. Three figures, barely visible in the dark sky, came jumping out.
"Back up behind the building." Shadow tapped Star's hand. "They don't look… human."
"They look our size." She didn't argue, slipping her hand into his and backing out of sight to watch. Sure enough, the three caught themselves midair and slowed their descent while holding onto each other in a stack. It gave Star and Shadow a good look at them. "The blue one… another hedgehog, like us." She blinked.
Shadow's fists clenched. "But why is he working for GUN?"
The question hung between them for a long moment as the other hedgehog and his companions landed. The red one was large and muscular, with no visible ears and heavy spiked mitts rather than gloves. The smallest one was recognizably a yellow fox, but with two tails that spun like rotors and somehow enabled him to fly. He had a little device in his small hands, looking at it quizzically with his head cocked to the side.
Red, blue, and yellow. The beaded para-cord around her left wrist felt impossibly heavy all of a sudden.
Shadow decided to face the new dilemma head on, marching up the undercarriage of a flipped over car to stand over the trio. Star followed quietly, watching like a hawk for the slightest indication of hostility. Maybe there was some kind of common ground between them and the other aliens, some kind of explanation for their involvement with GUN. Maybe they even needed rescuing… Star and Shadow had rescued themselves. She didn't mind the idea of helping someone else, of being the person she wished had come to save her. Maybe if that person had existed, Maria would still be alive… Despite her words to the contrary, she still wanted to believe there were good people in the world. People like Maria, whose lives she could save when she'd failed her own friend.
The little fox gasped when he got a good look at them. "Sonic… he looks just like you!"
"And there is another." The red one, an echidna Star thought, eyed her. "A girl."
"You're a colorful bunch." Shadow cocked an eyebrow, reaching back for Star. She leaned in when his hand settled on her hip, pulling her to him. A show of a united front, but also soothing for the both of them. It had been a hard day, and it just kept getting harder.
"And you look like me!" The blue hedgehog huffed.
"I don't look like you. You look like me. Why do you look like me?" Shadow retorted.
"I'm asking the questions here, new hedgehog! Who are you, and why do you look like me?!"
Star sighed, rubbed her forehead. Oh boy. "This is getting repetitive."
"Well, I'm supposed to bring you in. But I really don't want to fight you." The blue one, Sonic, offered. Star didn't miss the set of cuffs sticking out of the top of his glove, and nudged Shadow gently to bring them to his attention.
"Actually, I would like to fight." The red one wasn't very good at a stage whisper, voice loud enough they could hear it.
"No. You don't." Star crossed her arms, sizing him up. He looked strong, but she wasn't too worried. She'd just lifted a tank, she could handle him if he tried anything.
"Easy, Miss Prickly." Sonic held his hands up. "Why don't you and your lookalike boyfriend come down here and let's talk."
"You just jumped out of a GUN helicopter. There's nothing to talk about." Shadow's voice went cold, his mind made up.
So much for helping them. But I guess he's right. They aren't our problem. If they want to throw their lot in with murderers like GUN, it's blood on their hands.
Star felt Shadow's grip on her waist loosen and he turned, walking away. The human operatives had retreated to send in their furry defense team, so they were leaving. "Just stay out of our way, before you get hurt." She said quietly, turning to follow. They weren't her and Shadow's problem, but she did feel a tiny sliver of kinship. They were all same same, or same enough, kind of alien. She'd call it a truce, if they'd just walk away.
"If you will not come willingly, I will make you. On my honor as an Echidna Warrior. Brothers, apprehend the female. It would be dishonorable of me to strike her with my full strength." Both Star and Shadow heard the footsteps as the echidna came charging at them, but rather than warp or dodge the girl turned and threw a single hand out.
Her opponent stopped midair, feet off the ground, an inch from Star's fingertips. She stared dispassionately for a moment, head cocking to the side, before her eyes started to glow. "Don't. Touch. Him."
Before the other two could react, her leg snapped up viciously and slammed into the echidna's ribs. He went flying like a rocket out of her telekinetic hold, smashing through a nearby convenience shop. Sonic and the fox both turned, horror in their eyes as he groaned in pain. "Knuckles!" They rushed to his sides, trying to help him up.
"She is more impressive than the hedgehog I fought previously." Knuckles muttered, rubbing his ribs.
"Dude, I'm right here." Sonic groaned.
"I told you you didn't want this fight." Star huffed, turning back around. "Can we go?"
Shadow nodded, reaching for her hand. Behind her, he spotted Sonic pulling out the cuffs he'd had half concealed and holding them almost threateningly towards Star. The thought made his blood boil. He'd already lost Maria, Gerald, and fifty years of his life. Nothing, and he did mean nothing, was taking his Starshine away too.
"Don't." He hissed, pulling her behind him and out of Sonic's direct path.
"They can't take all three of us at once." Sonic muttered. "Stick together."
Shadow looked at Star. "Separate them."
"Done."
They both warped, Star going back after the echidna while Shadow targeted Sonic. The two male hedgehogs moved with near identical speed, but Shadow was stronger and used his warp abilities with ruthless efficiency, kicking his blue counterpart into stories into the air before grabbing him and slamming him into the street.
For her part, Star found Knuckles to be a very straightforward fighter and easy to rage bait into mistakes. She kept one step or warp ahead of his swinging fists, wearing him down with her hands nonchalantly in her dress pockets and an almost disinterested look on her face that infuriated him. She'd warp behind him and deliver a punishing kick to his back, then wait for him to recover and charge her before she blipped out of sight again. "Hold still and fight with honor, hedgehog woman!" He snarled, taking another swipe with his spiked fist.
"Honor?" She hissed as her focus sharpened, this time bracing and catching his fist in her own. The concrete cracked under her shoes, but she didn't let him take her off her feet. "What do you know about honor? You work for GUN."
"What do-" Before he could finish the question, she twisted his wrist and her knee slammed up into his jaw. He let out a cry of pain and an uppercut landed in his gut, throwing him all the way back to the wrecked tank. Then she turned to the little fox, eyes flashing and quills sparking dangerously.
He took a frightened step back, holding his little device in both hands, before his tails started spinning and he took off in the air. With a crack, she warped directly in front of him. "You can fly too?!"
Wide blue eyes stared at her, sheer terror in them when he realized both his big brothers had already taken a beating. He looked so small, so scared…
He's just a child…
She grabbed him by the front, snatching his device from his hands and tossing it. "Tails!" Sonic yelled, trying to get to them, only to immediately be intercepted by Shadow and given another beatdown.
The fox, Tails, covered his face and curled up in preparation for the same treatment. Star just stared at him for a minute before lowering both of them to the ground. She dropped him on his ass roughly, but nowhere near enough to hurt him. "You and your friends should learn to mind your own business."
He peeked up from between his fingers at her annoyed expression and crossed arms, then around at Knuckles still groaning and Sonic struggling to get off his hands and knees. "You… you're not going to hit me?"
"You're a kid. We're not monsters." She huffed, looking almost offended.
Behind her, Shadow came ramping over the top of a wrecked car on a motorcycle and skidded to a halt. He slammed his foot down hard, catching a dropped pistol from one of the GUN agents they'd dealt with and sending it flying up for him to catch deftly. "Star!"
"Then what are you?" Tails peeped as she climbed on the back of the bike, wrapping her arms around Shadow's waist. He didn't understand how she and Shadow could willingly cause so much destruction. Or how they'd ended up on GUNs radar to begin with, when they seemed more concerned with getting out of here than a prolonged fight.
"Alive, despite their best efforts." She muttered, pressing her cheek against Shadow's back as he gunned the engine, and the two of them took off with a screech of tires.
"Any luck figuring out where we are?" Star peeked her head over Shadow's shoulder as he maneuvered the bike through traffic. It was crowded, but hopefully they could get out of the city lights and vanish into the dark for a bit.
"Not yet." He shook his head. "We'll figure it out."
"Where are we going once we do?" She hugged him a little tighter. This ride might have been almost romantic, if she hadn't known GUN was still hunting them.
"… Home. At least for now." Shadow knew they'd be followed to the old base eventually. But it was the only place he could think of, the only place he knew at all. Maybe they could get their bearings there, making a plan before fate caught up with them again.
Star nuzzled into his back comfortingly. She knew how hard it would be to go back there… and how much they needed to see it again. To say goodbye. "Alright."
"Hate to interrupt whatever little moment you two are having." A streak of blue light caught up to them and slowed, revealing Sonic's grinning face. "But hey, while I'm here. A hedgehog to hedgehog, I've gotta ask. Who does your highlights?"
Shadow growled. "The more you talk, the harder I want to hit you."
"Touchy. What about you, miss? C'mon, blue's gotta be your favorite color, right?" He winked at Star.
She flicked a hand out and tripped him with her powers, watching him skid and tumble. "Actually, it's red."
For how annoying he was, Sonic was pretty resilient. He picked himself up and got right back to following them. Shadow huffed with irritation, adjusting his grip on the handlebars and twisting around to fire the gun he was still holding.
The slow-motion crawl of the soldier's finger on the trigger, and the impossibly loud explosion sucked the warmth out of her bones. The bullet, the canister, the Chaos… the explosion. Maria's hand, so tightly holding onto hers, ripped away as the seam of her glove tore. Blonde hair and blue dress, stained with ash and blood, Maria's kind face still and empty forever-
Shadow heard Star yelp as she buried her face into his shoulder, jerking like she'd been struck with a live wire with every gunshot he fired. He frowned, trying to keep an eye on the road and his target, when he heard the tiniest of sobs. "Star?"
The gunshots were so loud they eclipsed the world around her. The bullets were loose, bouncing around her skull like he'd fired them there. The last time she'd heard that sound, her world had ended. Her best friend had died an explosive, pointless death. That sound brought only death, too close to her and Shadow. "T-too loud…" She managed to rasp.
To his credit, Shadow tossed the pistol the minute he realized what was wrong. "Hold on. We'll lose him."
Star nodded, clinging to him more tightly as she tried to catch her breath and swallow the sudden clawing bile in her throat. It's okay, we're okay. No one's shooting at us. He's safe. I'll keep him safe. I promised Maria.
"Stay with me, Starshine." Shadow muttered, patting her hands clenched tight around his middle.
The reassurance felt like a sedative, an instant relaxation that spread from his touch to all the corners of her near-frantic mind. "Always." She breathed. With him where she belonged. Just two steps behind.
"Good. Catch me when I fall?" Shadow turned the bike hard when he realized he couldn't shake Sonic, heading for the highest building he spotted.
"You won't fall. I'll make you fly." She promised. "Don't slow down."
He gunned the engine in response, but instead of crashing into the building a glowing ramp of Star's creation arched them into the air and straight up the side of the building. Sonic followed suit, right on their heels. Shadow kept driving until he ran out of building, straight up into the air, where he flipped around and used the bike to propel himself back down at Sonic with his fist cocked back. Star simply let the bike fall from under her, levitating as streaks of blue and yellow-gold Chaos energy collided like a superstorm. Shadow's strength won the upper hand, slamming Sonic into the roof they'd driven off of with enough force to knock him unconscious and cause the city lights around them to black out.
Star caught Shadow's headlong descent, lowering him to his feet carefully as she followed to stand over the limp blue hedgehog. "What do we do with him now?" She frowned, hand moving to her hip thoughtfully.
"Search him?" Shadow shrugged. "There's got to be something useful."
She nodded, checking under their downed adversary's gloves and socks as Shadow rifled through his quills. "Found these." Star held up two pairs of cuffs he'd been carrying. "Guess he really thought he was taking us in."
"I'm not letting you end up back in a cage." Shadow grumbled, pulling out a little rectangular device from the thicket of blue. "The hell is this?"
Star snapped the cuffs on Sonic's wrist right wrist and hooked him to the roof access ladder before scooting over to investigate. "There's a button on the side."
Shadow pressed it, blinking as it lit up. "Face ID scan?" He held it up to see closer, and startled when it unlocked to another screen. "…. It accepted my face. I guess he does look like me."
"You're better looking." She leaned over his shoulder, grinning when she realized she could manipulate the screen by touching it. "Ooooh! It's a tiny computer. Look, it's got a map feature. We can figure out where we are."
Shadow nodded, pressing the screen curiously. "Shibuya, Tokyo… we're in Japan?!"
"What the hell did they ship us here for?" Star scrunched her nose. "Which way's East? It's a straight shot across the Pacific to get back to America, and we can make our way to Oklahoma once we hit the west coast."
"Since I can open the little computer, we'll take it with us. East is that way." He nodded and pointed, stuffing the device in his own quills.
"You think they can track it?"
"We'll get rid of it once we're on the right track."
Star nodded, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "Then let's go home." It wouldn't be a happy homecoming, but at least it would be on their own terms. He pulled her close and they took a tandem step back, falling backwards off the building for her to catch them and zoom them out towards the water. As soon as they got to it, they ignited their rockets and took off in a streak of light. As fast as they moved, they'd be across the ocean in only a few minutes. Then it was only a matter of reviewing a course with Star's perfect recall, ditching Sonic's stolen phone, and getting back to Shadow Base.
Chapter 6: Anywhere But Home
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma)
"There it is." Star whispered, coming to a halt in front of the abandoned wreckage of what had once been the only home she could remember. Shadow's hand was tight around hers as they both looked at the wreckage. GUN hadn't done much in way of cleanup, putting out the fire and removing Maria's body… but they could both perfectly picture where it had been. Where she'd died, and left them behind.
"We'll leave as soon as we have a plan." Shadow promised her, but his footsteps stayed slow as he led the way in. The ghosts were waiting for them, and even their usual method of near constant touch wasn't enough to fully tether them in the here and now.
They wandered the halls, pausing at familiar places just to let the bittersweet memories wash over them both.
In the kitchen, sitting on the counter because they weren't tall enough to reach anything standing. Star was stirring a bowl as Maria dumped in ingredients for brownies, flour coating all of them liberally. "Maria?"
"Hmm?" The girl looked up from opening a cylindrical tube of chocolate candies to dump into the batter.
"Your surname is Robotnik, right?"
"Yes." Maria cocked her head to the side, a habit she'd picked up from them. It seemed fair, they'd adopted plenty of hers over the years. "Why?"
"Does everyone on Earth have surnames?" Star looked up thoughtfully.
"I think most people do. Some cultures do them differently though. Mine is a family name. My father got it from Grandfather, who got it from his father. If I get married when I grow up, I'd change my surname to match his and our children would have his too. But in some places, you get and keep your mother's instead. Some places you take both and put a hyphen between them. And some, your parents make a whole new one up when you're born based on circumstances around your birth. Isn't that interesting?" Maria's eyes sparkled under the florescent lights. "One day, I want to explore different cultures like that. Maybe the things I build can help them."
"You always want to make the world a better place." Shadow was trying to find the source of overpoweringly strong peanut butter smell around him, not realizing there was a dab of it on top of his head where Maria had deliberately patted him with it on her hand. She loved to confuse them both with harmless little teases.
"I do. But why do you ask, Star?" Maria sensed there was some melancholy in her friend's blue eyes and leaned against the counter beside her.
"… If we have one from a family, we don't know them." Star frowned. "They never came looking for us, and we don't remember anything before this place."
Maria softened, scrubbing her sticky hands off on her apron before cupping Star's cheeks in both hands. "Then let's make you one for your life here on Earth. Maybe it won't be the same as a family name, but it can be a title about where you came from?"
"Like Joan of Arc?" Star blinked. Maria liked history that showcased women, and Star loved listening to her talk about anything that got Maria fired up. She had a mesmerizing way of telling stories that could make you feel something, not just know it.
"Star of Meteor crash landed in Oklahoma?" Shadow tried not to snicker.
"Actually, Ark might not be a bad name." Maria tapped her own chin thoughtfully. "Remember the Bible story, about Noah and the Ark?"
"The boat for a flood?" Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"A boat filled with two of each kind of animal. A boy and a girl, so the species wouldn't go extinct. There were two of you on that meteor… so it was kind of like the Ark. A modern day one."
"Star of the Ark." Star tested the syllables like they weighed something on her tongue, smiling faintly. "I like it."
"I'll just stick to being Shadow the Hedgehog like it says on all my lab paperwork." Shadow finally located the peanut butter on his head and gave Maria an incredulous look, as if he couldn't believe she'd do such a thing to him. Despite it being her favorite thing to do.
"That's alright. They don't have to match, you're not brother and sister. As you keep telling me." Maria grinned, reaching for a bag of marshmallows to stick to his quills.
Shadow's shoe brushed something in the hallway, shocking Star out of her reverie. A battered and dry-rotted rollerskate lay in the middle of the ash and dust of the hallway between the kitchen and their room. He crouched to touch it, tracing a crack in the plastic wheel. Star put a hand on his shoulder, wishing there were words that would comfort him. But nothing ever would, because nothing would ever bring back what they'd lost.
He closed his eyes. "Why did it have to be her?" He murmured. "It should have been me."
"No." Star pulled him to his feet. "I don't know how I'd survive without you."
He sighed and nodded, putting an arm around her as they kept going down the hall to their old room. Things still looked much the same here. The pillow fort with its string lights still sat under the layers of dust. While Shadow stood, staring att he collection of movies they'd all watched together, Star walked over to the bookshelf. Fallen onto the floor, the glass broken out, was a framed photo. She picked it up carefully, brushing the sharp shards out of the way.
It was the three of them, Maria sitting cross legged with her arm around the hedgehog's middles. Both of them leaned in to fit in the frame, soft smiles on their faces as they squished in around her. Gerald had taken the picture, so they were all looking up.
We look so small… so young and happy. Now look at us, Shadow and I fifty years out of time and Maria… she'll never grow up. She'll never see all the things she wanted to see. It almost feels like I'll never be happy again. Like it's disrespectful to, without her.
Maria wouldn't have wanted that. Star knew it, but… it was hard to imagine a world without her best friend. Her big sister. Her guide to a planet she barely understood.
And there was still the issue of GUN. They'd gotten away with murder, and seemed no worse for wear. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair that the people who ruined her and Shadow's lives and ended Maria's got to grow old and have lives when an innocent little girl rotted in a grave somewhere and they'd relieved the same nightmare again and again for half a century.
"I thought, if we came back, we'd find some kind of peace." Shadow murmured, fiddling with the record player as she took the picture out of its frame and placed it in her dress pocket. "But it just seems like the pain is worse."
"I know." She walked over and took his hand again. "But it's all we have left."
He put his head down on her shoulder and let her hold him, her hands smoothing his quills and down his back. "I have you." He finally murmured. He had Star, when he had nothing else. Something other than the pain of loss exist, in the spark between them.
"You'll always have me. For a lifetime." She promised.
After a few minutes, he managed to lift his head again. There was only one more place to see before they said their goodbyes for good and started looking for a new life.
The lab.
The glass of the tank they'd first met Maria in was shattered, some still standing. Shadow put his hand against it, closing his eyes. Star didn't know how to help him, or herself, so she just put her hand beside his on the glass and her head on his shoulder.
"I thought I'd find you two here." A voice from behind made them turn, finding themselves facing a man in a lab coat, with a bushy white mustache.
"Professor?" Star gasped.
"In the flesh." Gerald smiled. He had more wrinkles than she remembered, and was a little heavier set. But his eyes were the same, if dimmed by the same grief she and Shadow felt. "I knew you two would find your way back home. Back to the last place we had Maria."
"I can't get her out of my head." Shadow murmured. "The pain. It's too much."
"I know." Gerald held his hands out, ever theatrical. "But I have a plan, for justice. It's already in motion."
"What do you need us to do?" Shadow latched immediately onto a sense of purpose. Getting justice for Maria made the world seem less vast, and himself less overwhelmed with figuring out what came next.
"I've already started the process by leaving a trail that my long-lost grandson won't be able to resist following. Once he arrives, we'll have access to the technology we need for the rest." Gerald moved down the steps slowly, as if every step was an effort. "Fifty years we've all rotted in a prison, one way or the other. But I started evening the score as soon as I could. I created our weapon of revenge, on GUN's dime. The Eclipse Canon. The only trouble is that it takes two keys to activate, from where it's hidden under GUN's headquarters in London. One key is inside the HQ building… the other is carried by someone you two might remember."
Star instantly scowled. "Captain Walters."
"Commander now, but yes. When I laid my trail for Ivo, I made sure he was caught in the crossfire. Sadly, I don't believe he died." Gerald shook his head.
"He lied to us." Star's fists clenched. "He tricked us into cooperating, and had us locked up."
"You hate him, don't you?" Gerald crouched in front of her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "For what he did to you and Shadow? For what he let happen to Maria?"
Star nodded, clenching her jaw to stop it from trembling. "Yes, Professor."
"He's been airlifted to a GUN hospital in Washington DC. You can make it there and back in a few hours, before Ivo gets here. Go, get that key, and come back, Star. I need Shadow's help here."
Star nodded. "I'll get it."
Gerald patted her head gently, and she turned to give Shadow a quick kiss on the cheek before running out of the base. They heard the boom as she broke the sound barrier outside, before he looked at Shadow. "I'm going to tell you something, Shadow, that I need you to keep to yourself for now. Star won't understand yet, but she will later."
"You want me to keep a secret from Star?" Shadow looked doubtful. He had Star didn't keep secrets. It wasn't their way, and it didn't seem right…
"Just for a short time. We both know Star's hotheaded and might react emotionally if she's scared. Once she has time to see why this is necessary, we can tell her."
Shadow didn't like it, but he nodded. Star was volatile when she was afraid, and if Gerald was right then this was justice for Maria. She'd come around. And he had no doubt she'd forgive him. She'd always forgive him, though he'd never had to count on that before now. "What is it?"
"When the Eclipse Canon is ready, it won't just destroy GUN. It will destroy the Earth, and us on the canon's orbital station as well." Gerald's expression was dead serious. "Drastic, yes. But what else do they deserve for taking Maria from us?"
"Star doesn't deserve to die." Shadow frowned.
"No. Neither of you do, really. But you want do, I can see it on your face. You feel hopeless and don't know where to go. You want nothing anymore but to make the pain go away. And Star couldn't make it alone."
Shadow almost heard her voice atop Gerald's, just a few minutes ago. "I don't know how I'd survive without you."
Gerald was right. He did feel exactly that, hopeless and overwhelmed by the agony. He hadn't really thought about dying. But if they were going together, then it would finally be over. No more suffering, for either of them. Star would be at peace too, and they'd all be reunited with Maria. It was the only way, the only choice he really had. "… alright."
"I knew you'd understand. Come with me, let's see what we can salvage from this place. It'll be gone for good when we leave it."
Star dropped into the intensive care unit of a GUN hospital, after entering in through the air vents to carefully scope out where the nurse's station was and assure it would be empty for a few minutes. There was a patient roster on the computer screen in front of her, left unattended by a too-perky nurse whose third cup of coffee had sent her running to the bathroom down the hall with an almost hilarious urgency.
Walters, Walters… ah. Room 302.
She warped into the room with a cracking sound, not wanting to get spotted on any security camera she could avoid. Walters lay in a hospital bed, a cannula in his noise and monitors everywhere. He'd been pretty badly burned, it seemed, and was covered in bruises. Almost like he'd been through an explosion… She winced at the thought.
His clothes, a GUN uniform with the Commander's insignia, lay tattered on the bedside chair, so she turned her attention to digging through the pockets for the key. Probably something like the keycard Maria stole to get us outside that one time, right? It can't be a metal key, not so far in the future… the medals on his lapel made a soft noise, and huffed in frustration.
"Star?"
Walters' voice made her jump, dropping the uniform and his personal effects to the floor. He was awake, eyes open and frowning as he looked at her. She felt like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar, but she forced herself to straighten her shoulders and try not to look as guilty as she felt. "Walters." She did her best to sneer. She hated this man; he'd lied to her and tricked her into trusting him just so he could lock her and Shadow away. But deep down, a tiny part of her was far more hurt than angry.
We trusted you. Maria trusted you. How could you?
"What are you doing here?" He frowned, doing his best to sit up. He looked frail, heavily bandaged and almost pitiful. It was a far cry from the young captain who'd tried to stop the raid on Shadow Base. Who'd called others out for pointing weapons at children… Where had that man gone, when she and Shadow were being drugged and forgotten in stasis?
"I'm here for the key. Where is it?" She demanded coldly. She couldn't afford to reminisce. He'd double crossed her once, he'd do it again.
"Key?" He frowned.
"For the Eclipse Cannon. Where is it?" She repeated.
"How do you even know about that? What are you planning?" He reached for the nurse call button, startled when she simply levitated his bed away so he couldn't reach. "Planning to kill me?"
"I should." She huffed, voice cracking. "You betrayed us. For fifty years, I had to relive the night she died, again and again. You knew we weren't to blame, but you let us suffer anyway."
"I didn't have a choice, Star. "
"Oh?" She sneered. "You were the Captain. We were children and you knew it. We trusted you to help us, and you threw us away and forgot about us. Like we were nothing."
"You have no idea how difficult that decision was." He said quietly.
"Not difficult enough to come back for us at any point in fifty years. Quit trying to trying to convince me you feel even an ounce of regret. Just tell me where the key is."
"I don't have it. I gave it to someone you'll never be able to catch."
Star picked his uniform up again, and pulled a blue quill off his jacket. "That blue hedgehog, Sonic? That's your hero?" She didn't bother to hide her contempt. "You haven't changed at all, and neither has GUN. Still expecting kids to fix your problems for you. You'll get that blue idiot killed protecting the key, and sleep just fine at night, won't you?"
"It's not like that." Walters coughed, his blood pressure monitor and heart rate spiking with a loud beep. "Don't get involved with the Eclipse Cannon. You don't understand what it's capable of."
"I don't care." She hissed. "I know what I need to. That it can take GUN to it's knees for what they did to Maria. That's enough for me, and Professor will tell me whatever else I need to know. I trust him, he didn't stab me in the back the way you did."
"Star." Walters' monitor beeping got louder. "Don't do this. You're not a villain, you don't have to-"
"Shut up." She snarled. "If I'm not a villain, then why did you have me imprisoned for fifty years? I didn't get to have a life like you did, Commander. And neither did Maria. Save your breath, it looks like you need it."
He fell silent for a long moment, staring at her. "You… really meant you weren't going to kill me." He muttered, struggling for air.
"She wouldn't want that." Star snorted, walking over and pressing the nurse call button for him. "And that's the only reason you're still alive."
Before a nurse could walk in to help the gasping, injured man, she warped out of the room with a sharp crack.
She reappeared on the roof and rubbed the bridge of her nose, settling the growl that wanted to claw it's way out of her chest. She hadn't gotten the key… she'd failed her directive. Professor Gerald had asked this one thing of her, and she hadn't pulled it off. But at least she knew who had it… this blue hedgehog, Sonic.
She and Shadow had beaten him once. They'd do it again, and then everything would be in place for their revenge. Maria would have justice… GUN would fall. And with Gerald leading them, they could use the cannon to change the world into something better. A kind of world Maria would have been proud of.
Maybe then, the empty place in her heart would go away. The pain would ease up, and she and Shadow could finally find somewhere quiet to live out their lives without anyone bothering them. They didn't need much, after all… just each other, and the ghost of Maria Robotnik.
Chapter 7: Family Reunion
Chapter Text
(Shadow Base, Oklahoma)
"I'm sorry, Professor. He'd already given the key away to the other hedgehog." Star stood with her head hanging in front of Gerald, having returned back to the base empty handed. "I didn't know where to start looking."
"It's alright, little one." He patted her head soothingly. "He'll be coming to us."
She blinked, looking up. "He will?"
Shadow put a hand on her arm. "It's all part of the Professor's plan. His grandson is working with the three we fought in Japan."
Star frowned. "If he's working with them, how's that going to help us?"
"Ivo will come around. I'm his only living relative now." Gerald said with a smile. "Besides, I did a little digging into his history. He's had two separate confrontations with this Sonic. Revenge is a Robotnik trait, after all. He'll jump at the chance."
Star's frown deepened, but she nodded and leaned into Shadow's side as Gerald went back to fiddling around with a large white egg-like robot. He rubbed his cheek against the top of her head. "You okay?"
"This feels… uncomfortable." She finally said. "To deliberately manipulate his grandson like this… isn't that wrong?"
"He barely knows his grandson."
"Yeah, but that's Maria's cousin. Shouldn't he care more, like he did about her?"
Shadow sighed. "Don't get so invested, Starshine. We're doing this for her. Nobody else matters."
She tucked herself under his chin with an unhappy noise. "I guess so… Still, Walters said something, when I was looking for the key. That we're not villains…"
"We're not. This is about justice." He said quietly, weighing what he could tell her. It had only been a few hours, and he already hated keeping secrets from her. "Professor told me the plan. Everything will be better once it's over."
She nodded. She trusted him absolutely. If he said it was fine, it was fine, even if she was curious about the plan's details. "So what's next?"
"Once we get the key from Sonic, we'll go to London. The other key is inside their headquarters. Professor wants to confer with his grandson on the details of getting it out. Apparently Ivo is a genius too, and has the technology to make it easy."
"And then we'll have the Eclipse Canon?" She glanced up. "How's it work?"
"It's orbital, and can hit any target on the planet." He sat down on the steps, letting her snuggle to him. Her presence felt like a balm, insulating him from all the misery. The pain of losing Maria, the guilt of what he was doing now… leading Star to her death while he condemned all of humanity. There was a niggling part of his heart telling him Maria wouldn't have approved, but it kept being overshadowed by the knowledge Maria wasn't here to confirm that because of GUN.
"We're going to space?" Star sounded hopeful. He knew she'd always harbored a sliver of hope that somewhere beyond the stars was a life they'd left behind. That someone might care about them to be looking… going to space, where they'd come from, felt like a rebirth.
"For a little while." He nodded.
Star smiled, nuzzling into his chest with a happy little purr. "That's enough for me." She murmured. "As long as we go together."
"We will." He reassured her, hugging her close. She'd get to see the stars again before it was all over, that was the least he could promise her.
Gerald looked over his shoulder at them. "They're here. Let's give them a proper welcome."
Star begrudgingly sat up. "Yes, Professor."
They glanced at the computer screen he showed them. Three moving dots, three groups to deal with. "You take the left corridor. I'll take the right. We'll meet back here to take the middle one." Shadow suggested.
"Right. Be careful." Star nodded, cracking her knuckles. She and Shadow parted ways down the hallways, moving silently as ghosts. This was their home turf, the outsiders didn't' know these halls and passageways. But they did.
Shadow found himself behind the red echidna from Japan, the bigger guy holding a flashlight and talking to himself. "An echidna warrior does not fear anything. Not even ghosts. You hear me, ghosts?" He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than anyone else, and Shadow used his rocket shoes to propel into the ceiling when he spun around with the light. Knuckles' purple eyes were wide, stress wrinkling his furry brow.
Afraid of ghosts… Shadow mused thoughtfully. He couldn't understand that fear. He'd give anything to see the dead again.
He lowered himself slowly right behind the echidna, breath right at the back of his neck. "Boo."
The scream that echoed out was terrified and higher pitched than anticipated, but he made quick work of putting Knuckles out cold with a sharp punch.
Across the base, Star chose to float through the dark rather than risk alerting her adversaries by the sound of footsteps. She found herself watching a darker skinned human man in a suit and tie (but no shirt under the blazer, oddly enough) walking alongside the little yellow fox boy.
I told him to stay out of other people's business…
She watched their interactions curiously, judging how likely they were to defend each other.
"You're adorable." The human said sheepishly.
"Aww, thanks." The kit, Tails, smiled as he looked at his little handheld devise he'd recovered after Star had Frisbee-ed it across Shibuya.
"So, what's it like being Sonic's assistant?" The human asked after a minute.
"Oh, I'm not his assistant. We're a team. Sonic's the leader, Knuckles is the muscle, and I'm the gadget guy. We all have a part to play, and that's what makes the team so special. That and we're best friends. Like you and Doctor Robotnik."
"Friends… yes, of course. That's exactly what we are." Star heard the barely concealed disappointment in the man's voice. He must have been the assistant to Gerald's grandson Ivo, but he sounded so lonely… Star found herself feeling a bit sorry for him. She'd never been lonely, despite all she'd been through. She'd always had Shadow.
And now, Shadow was counting on her.
It was a little nostalgic though, hearing Tails talk about their team. She could almost hear the ghost of her own past. Shadow was the leader, she was the strength by virtue of her psychic powers, and Maria was their gadget person… Red, blue, and yellow. This new group had formed in their image… but she still had to put a stop to them. They were working for GUN, her enemy, and it was as cut and dry as that.
She warped immediately in front of the two interlopers, both of them setting up panicked screaming.
"I told you to mind your business, kid." Star said simply, before using her telekinesis to smack their heads into one another and knock them both out.
She stepped over them calmly, heading back for the lab. She'd come back for them once the last intruders were dealt with.
She crept back into the main lab quietly, finding Sonic facing away. He was looking around, eyes wide as he took in everything. The giant hamster wheel, the broken glass tank, the teddy bear Maria had once swapped out to rescue them from testing… He put his hand quietly on the glass, and for a moment Star could perfectly picture Maria standing where he stood. Back when the lights were on and there weren't holes blown in the roof, when Maria was alive and everything didn't feel so hopeless.
They watched her intently as she scribbled the drawing on the glass, a bunny face with a goofy smile. They'd learn eventually that it was just how Maria was, funny and joyful. She liked to make others laugh, to put them at ease and earn their trust with her kind heart once the walls came down. It was the first sign they were going to love her one day, the first step that would eventually lead them to a hangar full of Chaos and a burning explosion that snuffed her out.
Shadow was moving before Star could react, shooting past her to twist Sonic's arm behind his back and shove his face against the glass so hard it cracked. "I'm tired of giving you warnings." He hissed.
Sonic struggled, trying his best to get away. The moment he managed to get free of Shadow, shoving the dark hedgehog back, he was caught in Star's psychic abilities. "You found us faster than I thought you would."
He squirmed in her grasp as she pulled him into the air. "Star, right? If you could just let me go and I finish up checking this place out for Egghead, we could talk out this whole situation. Tails told me you went easy on him, really appreciate that, he's my little brother and-"
"You talk too much." She slammed him into the wall, knocking him out cold.
Shadow huffed. "You made that look easy."
"It was. I'll get his brothers and the other human. You deal with the long lost grandson?"
"Sure." He leaned over, pressing a kiss to her cheek before walking out. "We'll be done with this place forever, soon. I promise.
She levitated Sonic to where Gerald had left the egg like robots, leaving him on the floor to go back and collect both his brothers and the lonely-sounding human.
Done with this place forever… I wonder what Professor has in mind. I hope Shadow explains everything soon, this being in the dark isn't much fun.
"Ugh…" Sonic groaned, head swimming. When he opened his eyes, he found himself chained in a triangle to Tails and Knuckles. Eggman, however, was standing free talking to what looked like an older version of himself. "Please tell me this is a concussion induced nightmare."
"So you must be the long-lost grandson." Shadow huffed, standing to the side and untying a dazed looking Agent Stone.
"And you must be another stinking hedgehog." Eggman retorted.
A pebble smacked him in the back of the head, and both he and Sonic looked up to see Star sitting with her legs crossed daintily on top of a piece of broken machinery. "Two hedgehogs, that you need."
"Ugh, there's a girl one now." Eggman grumbled.
Gerald smiled and clapped his shoulder. "Star and Shadow's power is the key to making this world our own. Make your grandpal proud, and get along with them for now."
Eggman scoffed, but Star drifted down and landed beside Shadow with barely a click of her shoes on the floor. He reached for her hand immediately, squeezing it for a split second before letting it go. "Get the key."
She nodded, walking over to the three brothers with an icy look on her face. Sonic tried to shuffle them away, but Knuckles was too heavy for him to scoot them. She crouched beside him, cocking her head to the side and examining him thoughtfully. Sonic swallowed hard. "Y-you, uh… always do what your brother over there says?"
"He's not my brother." She pushed his chin into his chest and shoved her arm into his quills, fishing around through the bundled spikes until her fingers closed on something flat. "Walters tell you that? He never really understood Shadow and I, even when he was pretending to be kind to us."
"Aw, c'mon. He feels really bad about the whole thing. He said you two are good people deep down." Sonic wiggled as she pulled out the key, a plastic keycard much like the ones she remembered from when the base was operational.
"Not good enough for him to change his mind about locking us up. He had fifty years." Star shrugged, getting up and walking the card over to Gerald. He took it with a smile, handing her a little device and watching as she trotted back to Shadow's side.
Gerald grinned. "One of two keys, to launch my perfect weapon. The Eclipse Cannon. The second is in GUN headquarters, which will conveniently be our first target."
"Something that big will kill thousands of innocent people!" Sonic protested.
Star shook her head. "GUN will surrender first. Like the cowards they are."
Sonic turned big green eyes towards the two hedgehogs as Shadow slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close and taking the device from her hand. Gerald led Eggman, and a still dazed Stone, towards the massive crab-shaped ship they'd arrived in with a wave of his hand. "Finish it once we're clear."
"Yes, Professor." Shadow nodded.
Star put her head on his shoulder, watching the humans leave. Sonic tried to appeal to her and Shadow's better nature, having assigned himself leader of his brothers and desperate to keep them safe. She understood the panic he must have felt, the terror of losing them greater than any fear for his own safety. Exactly the way she'd felt that night in 1974, with her hand wrapped tight around Maria's before the explosion that took her away from them forever. The way she'd felt about Shadow every moment since, with GUN breathing down their necks.
"Shadow, Star, Walters told us everything. About you, and about Maria. Eggman's bad news, and it looks like his geriatric version is too. You don't have to be involved. Don't lose who you really are inside." Sonic pleaded.
Shadow's grip on Star tightened, eyes going cold. "We've spent fifty years reliving what they did to her. This is who we are inside." He pressed a button on the little device and tossed it.
Sonic gritted his teeth. "Oh yeah, a magic marble. Real scary."
It morphed into a miniature black hole and started sucking in everything around it. "That is really scary!" Sonic immediately retracted.
Shadow smirked, warping Star out of the building and onto the Crab with the Robotnik duo and Agent Stone. She looked out the window as the base was sucked in on itself, disappearing in a shimmer of darkness and dust. A sad look dimmed her eyes. "It's… gone."
"It was just a bad memory." Shadow said quietly.
"Not all of it…" She scrubbed her hand across her face. "Her things were still in there…"
Shadow hated to see how miserable she looked, the beginning of tears starting to shine in her eyes. Star's smile was his favorite in the world, and he wanted her to be happy for as long as they still had left. So he pulled her a little closer, tipping her chin up so he could kiss her while their past vanished behind them. It both distracted and comforted her, and she melted into his arms. "It's okay." He murmured when they broke apart. "We keep her with us."
Star nodded, wiping her eyes. "Right… oh, I found something inside. I'm glad I grabbed it." She carefully pulled out the picture of the three of them, holding it out to him. "I know I have a didactic memory, but you don't… I know the little details go first for people, like her eye color… I didn't want you to lose her."
Shadow nodded, rubbing his thumb gently over the photograph. "Thank you… hold onto it for me, for a little while? Just until this is over."
Star nodded. "I'll get some plastic to wrap it in, so it won't get damaged. We'll find a new frame for it, and put it wherever we end up."
His throat felt like it was closing when she looked at him, trusting beyond a doubt. She had no idea how this was supposed to end, planning for a someday that wasn't coming… but she wouldn't survive without him, and Gerald had explained everything. He wanted to die, but he couldn't leave Star behind. It was the only path, and the only way to give Maria's life meaning… at least according to the Professor. And he trusted Gerald; he was the only adult in the world he had left to trust, after all the death and betrayal. So he just pressed another kiss to her forehead. "It'll be a couple hours til we get to London."
Star looked over her shoulder as Gerald and Ivo seemed to be hyping each other into a manic, laughing craziness while sorting out some kind of virtual reality device to spend "quality time" together. Stone was standing with his hands in his pockets, a forlorn look on his face.
He looks at Ivo like I look at Shadow.
She carried her picture over, gently tugging on Stone's sleeve. "Are you alright?"
He jolted, like he hadn't meant to let his face say his thoughts aloud. "Oh. Yes, I'm fine. Do you two like coffee? I make a pretty good latte."
Star smiled. "I don't know what a latte is, but I like coffee beans."
"You just eat the beans?" He blinked, dragging his sad dark eyes away from the Robotnik duo quizzically.
Shadow watched her thoughtfully as she explained, mentally walking himself back through the story.
"Whoa." Maria whispered, clinging to Star and Shadow's hands as they blipped into the empty kitchen. "Warping feels weird."
"You get used to it. And there's no cameras in here, like in the hallway." Shadow smiled. "Now, what are we looking for?"
"Snacks." Maria grinned. "I know there's more than powdered eggs and popcorn in here. We're going to find it."
"I thought you said Professor had ordered different food." Star asked curiously, but levitated up to the top cabinets to start poking around.
"Yeah, but that won't be here til the next supply shipment. Then I'll show you how to bake brownies." Maria beamed, digging through the bottoms ones. "Shadow, go check the drawers over there."
"I don't even know what I'm looking for." He still did as she asked, albeit with his nose scrunched up.
"Me either. The only thing we've eaten since we've been here are the MRE things." Star grimaced. They tasted pretty gross, but it beat starving. "What counts as snacks?"
"Crunchy or sweet, usually… it'll take forever to explain unless you try it." Maria paused. "Earth hedgehogs have really good senses of smell. You two probably do too. Just grab anything that smells tasty and we'll try it back in our room."
"Understood." Shadow nodded.
Star was already pulling out a foil bag curiously, poking her nose against he mouth of it. It smelled strong, a sort of earthy, nutty and bittersweet she liked, and was labeled "Whole Bean Arabica". She tucked the back in her pocket and kept digging, eyes bright. They'd probably get into trouble if they got caught, but Maria had convinced them that was half the fun. She wasn't wrong, the thrill made Star's heart beat a little faster and her keen senses honed even further to the threat of detection.
Maria had something labeled "Pop Rocks" and Shadow had found a hidden bag of potato chips and glass bottles of Pepsi in what was clearly one of the kitchen staff's stash inside a stock pot. "This should be good." She grinned. "C'mon, let's get back."
The three linked arms again, warping back into their room and landing in a heap on Maria's bed. They spread their haul out like the little criminals they were, Maria pausing when she saw Star's contribution. "Coffee beans?"
Star shook the bag. "It smells kind of sweet, and it sounds like it's crunchy. That's what you said, right?"
"Most people make it into a drink, but you can try it I guess." Maria giggled, holding her hand out. Star shook a couple beans into it, then Shadow's, before getting her own and they all tossed them into their mouths. Maria made a face. "Bleh."
Star and Shadow's eyes were both massive, and Shadow held his hand out again before Star had swallowed her first handful. "I like this."
"Me too." Star grinned, giving him some more.
Maria scrunched her nose at them, picking up the Pop Rocks. "Sometimes I forget you two are really aliens. Then you eat something like that!"
They both laughed. Maria never meant mentioning their species in a bad way and they knew it. "Then we don't have to share." Shadow teased.
She just laughed. "Well, have some Pepsi and try the Pop Rocks. I wanna see your faces."
"Is it gonna do something?" Star cocked her head to the side.
"You'll see!"
By the time Star had finished telling the story, Stone had led her to the small kitchen inside the ship and sat her on the counter like a child. Shadow watched from the corner as Stone took the photo from her and carefully placed it between two sheets of cardboard, then inside a plastic bag to protect it. Once it was safe Stone then showed her how his espresso machine worked, her eyes bright and curious. "Have you ever cooked before, Star?" He asked kindly, letting her have a handful of beans before he ground some.
"Only a little. I've made brownies and popcorn." She explained, ears twitching at the screeching the sound of milk steaming. "Is it supposed to sound angry?"
"It'll quiet down in a minute." He assured her. "How about I teach you how to cook sometime?" He set out two cups and dropped in the espresso, then carefully poured in the hot milk. She watched, fascinated, as he used the foam to make a picture. A minute later, he was finishing a second one for Shadow. "Here you go. Two lattes with steamed Austrian goat milk. They're the Doctor's favorite."
Star levitated Shadow's to him helpfully, taking her own in both hands. The foam made a flower, white and perfect, that reminded her of the ones that grew outside of Shadow Base that one night Maria had snuck them out to see the stars. When she looked over at Shadow, hoping the memory would comfort him the way it did her, she found him staring out the window with a sort of empty look in his eyes she'd never seen before. It made her nervous, her hands twitching like if she didn't reach out to grab him he might fade away into smoke. She slid down from the counter as Stone started making more lattes for Ivo and Gerald, treading lightly to her boyfriend's side. "Shadow?"
"Hm?" His body didn't move, but his eyes slid to watch her out of his periphery.
"Are you alright?" She shifted her coffee to one hand and slipped her other one into his. "You seem kind of… far away." He'd been a little off since they'd found Gerald, but the Professor seemed out of character too. He'd always been a little eccentric and prone to grandiosity, but the maniacal laughter and praise to cruelty seemed… forced. A facade put on in Ivo's presence, more of that manipulation that made her skin crawl under her fur with questions about the discrepancy between Ivo and Maria.
"I'm fine." Shadow tugged her a little closer, putting his cheek against hers until their quills were interweaving into each other. "Just a lot on my mind."
"You can tell me. You know that."
"I know." He nuzzled a little closer. "We'll talk about it later."
"Alright." She closed her eyes and took a sip of her latte. It was pretty good, despite her reservations… still, she offered Shadow some of the handful of espresso beans Stone had given her. The familiar crunch of their favorite snack was a balm to whatever was haunting him, and that tiny smile she loved so much came back for a moment.
Chapter 8: Rising Shadow, Falling Star
Chapter Text
(London, England)
The Crab was securely hidden in the sewers as Star and Shadow followed Gerald and Ivo out of a manhole. Stone followed behind, looking somehow worse for wear despite having had the last several hours to neaten himself up. Ivo had been utterly fixated on Gerald, trying to recapture a childhood he hadn't had with the only living member of his family.
Star tried really hard not to notice the differences in the way Gerald spoke to Ivo versus the way he'd once spoken to Maria. It was calculated rather than truly affectionate, the exuberant near-madness more a mask to ingratiate himself than a real connection. She felt almost guilty thinking that way; Gerald was the closest thing to a parent she'd ever known. Or at least could remember… but he was making her uncomfortable. He wasn't himself, something broken inside him she could feel but not name. It was spreading like a contagion in the Crab, infecting Shadow too. The only time he seemed like himself was when Star pushed, making her presence impossible to ignore, and even then he seemed distracted.
Ivo didn't even give Stone a second glance.
"There it is. GUN headquarters." Shadow muttered, stepping up beside her. She looked across the reflection pond that separated her from the oddly shaped building. It looked innocuous, wedged between other government and office buildings. Sonic was right. A targeted attack would catch civilians in the blast radius…
She couldn't really imagine Gerald would pull the trigger. He was kooky, not evil… though he'd been acting strangely since they'd been reunited. This was all an act she didn't understand, and while she wasn't a fan of being in the dark she trusted Gerald. And Shadow, who knew the plan she didn't, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
"It's right there. Let me go get it, and destroy anyone who gets in my way." Shadow stepped it, eyes carrying this sudden intensity that made Star's quills prickle. This didn't feel right. Shadow wasn't a violent person, despite how much destruction they'd both caused in the last two days. They'd been pushed, and she was more likely to fight than he was. She always had been… so why now did she feel so sick about it?
Before she could try to think of something to say, Gerald shook his head. "That would draw far too much attention. Ivo and I will go incognito."
"This is wasting time." Shadow clenched his fists. "I want revenge."
"Patience. Once we have the key, you'll have your revenge on a scale you can't possibly imagine." Gerald knelt, eye to eye with Shadow. In his periphery, he spotted the worried crease forming on Star's brow and the way she fiddled with her bandana anxiously. It only confirmed he was right, Star wasn't to know the plan until it was too late to stop it. She was too temperamental, too impulsive… the only people who'd ever been able to control her were Shadow and Maria herself.
"Suits!" Ivo interrupted, Stone handing him a case containing two carefully crafted outfits specifically for this heist. "Ready to go, Grand-pap?"
"Let's do this, kiddo." Gerald nodded in agreement, smoothing his mustache and bringing a red quill out of his pocket and up to his lips. It zapped him, making his eyes cross, and Star didn't know if she found that or Ivo's repeating the action with a blue quill more disturbing.
"Is that one of mine?" She frowned.
"Not at all, hérisson fille. Yes, I know French. I got it from that pestilential blue speed freak we exterminated in Oklahoma." Ivo grinned, clapping Stone on the shoulder. "Babysit the hedgehogs, keep the Crab on a low boil for me."
"Yes, Doctor." Stone agreed, though his dark eyes went back to looking sad and abandoned. The two Robotniks took off, arm in arm, and he headed back to the sewer grate. "Come you two. We've got fresh avocados in the Crab. We'll make guac."
"Revenge guac." Shadow said, voice still cold. Star felt her skin crawl at the way he said it, and she couldn't help but think once again at Sonic's protest that thousands of innocents could die.
Professor wouldn't do that… would he?
Shadow went down the ladder first, back into the Crab. Stone put on some telenovella that Ivo had been watching on, something for background sound, and smiled. "Star, do you want to learn how to make guac?"
"It's a weird word, Agent Stone." She frowned, glancing over at Shadow. He was staring at the TV, arms crossed, like he didn't want to get too comfortable. For the millionth time since she'd come back from failing to get the first key off Walters, she felt like Shadow was a planet away despite standing right beside her. Something was bothering him, way back in the back of his mind… but she knew him well enough to know he wasn't going to talk about it with Stone around. He wasn't honest like that, not with anyone but her and Maria.
"It's short for guacamole." Stone answered, heedless of her racing thoughts and whatever storm cloud existed behind Shadow's eyes. "C'mon, I'll teach you. Let me get a step stool."
"It's okay, I'll hover." She levitated over to the counter, watching him dice onions and jalapenos while instructing her on the proper way to open an avocado. She tried to pay attention, but her eyes kept drifting over to Shadow.
Stone noticed her look and gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Everything alright?"
"… just a little worried about Shadow and the Professor." She admitted in a quiet voice. "Something's not right. They're keeping something from me."
"The Doctor never tells me the whole plan." Stone admitted. "You get used to it."
"You're still miserable. I can see it on your face. You're in love with the Doctor."
Stone froze, eyes wide. Caught. He hadn't expected the young girl to pick up on his most closely guarded secret so easily… then again, he hadn't been guarding it so well lately. No one had been around but Ivo, who was somehow the greatest genius he'd ever met and idiotically oblivious. "… You're so young. What do you know about love?" He whispered.
She looked over at Shadow. "More than I know how to put into words."
Shadow's ear twitched, but his eyes were still fixed on the the TV. She didn't think he was paying her much attention, which stung a little, so she went back to squeezing lime into the guacamole. On his part, Shadow had heard every word despite actually being invested in the love triangle on the show. For the first time since they'd come out of stasis he felt his chest clench in that prickly, butterflies in his stomach way that Star could only get out of him. They'd never actually said those words, 'I love you' despite the years since that first kiss. There was always something unspoken that never needed to be broached. Neither of them were great with words, they just knew…
Maybe, before it was all over, he'd tell her.
He shook his head as she floated over to him with the guacamole she'd help make and some tortilla chips, offering him a snack. "This show any good?" She asked softly, hoping to stir some kind of conversation.
"Gabriela should kill them both. She's not a prize to be won." He shrugged, but took a chip and scoop of dip.
"Lighten up, Shadow." Stone said, encouraging as he cleaned up the counter. "We're about to rule the world."
"When we're finished, there won't be anything left to rule." Shadow said sharply.
Star and Stone exchanged looks, the agent concerned and Star alarmed. "That's dark, even for you." Stone said cautiously. "What are you and the Professor planning?"
Shadow didn't answer, his expression darkening again, and went back to looking at the television. Star set the bowl and chips down on the table beside him and backed up, watching him with a sudden guarded expression. Alarm bells were screaming in her head, but the shuttered look on his face said Shadow would give nothing away. She'd been trusting all this time, sure he'd never lead her astray. He never had… but now, whatever was wrong with Gerald had passed along to Shadow. Following him felt dangerous all of a sudden, her usual place right at his side no longer feeling safe.
She slipped into the cockpit of the Crab, climbing into the seat and starting to type at the holographic keyboard. Ivo had been a former GUN operative, he'd had access to their servers and copied the data to his own. If Gerald had been working on this all along, then she should theoretically be able to find-
"Gotcha." She whispered as they popped up. The full schematics of the Eclipse Cannon, down to Gerald's initial concept notes. Her eyes scanned through them sharply, pieces falling into place as she recognized features built into the core. Features she'd seen in Maria's design for her and Shadow's shoes.
The Cannon's core is Chaos Energy compatible. Without us, it's capable of surprise orbital strikes, but if we overloaded it… Her blood ran cold in her veins as she calculated the firepower.
"What are you doing?" Shadow's voice in the doorway made her spin around, her quills puffed out like a startled cactus. He was standing, holding the bowl of guacamole still.
"Shadow, something's wrong with the Professor." She whispered. "Either these calculations are wrong, or he's completely out of his mind."
"What are you talking about?" He frowned, stepping in next to her seat.
"The core design. I recognize it, it's based on Maria's Chaos Energy tech she used for our shoes." Star explained. "Once we introduce Chaos into it, the Cannon will be capable of a strike with a 25,000 mile radius. That's more than enough to completely destroy all of Earth. And the resultant interaction with the planet's core would cause an internal chain of events that destroys everything in Earth's gravitational pull, including the Cannon itself."
Shadow didn't look surprised or horrified like she'd expected. He just nodded, looking at her expectantly. "Yes."
"Shadow, everyone on Earth would die. And us." She whispered.
"I know."
He could have done no more damage if he'd ripped her guts out with his bare hands. Her heart stuttered in her chest, her eyes stinging. "You… know?"
Shadow sighed. "Professor said you wouldn't understand."
"Do you hear yourself?" Star stared at him, her hands shaking. She was terrified and her usual reaction, to bite and scream and fight for her life, no longer applied. This was Shadow… but all of a sudden, her familiarity had been ripped away. She had always known how Shadow felt, what he was thinking, before he said it. Now she didn't understand what was going on. "We can't destroy the world."
"The only way to give Maria's life meaning is to destroy the world that took her from us. Professor helped me understand, and I can help you."
She shook her head, eyes burning. Her ears were ringing like he'd hit her in the head, mouth so dry it felt like she'd tried swallowing sand. "She said there are good people out there… there's billions of people on the planet. There's got to be other little girls, just like Maria-"
"There's no one like Maria." Shadow snapped harshly, and Star flinched. It made him pause. She'd never flinched away from him before…
"Even if there's not… we'd both die too." She whispered. "Were you just going to… lead me right to my death without saying a word?"
"Once it's all over, the pain finally stops." He tried to sound comforting, reaching for her and startling when she pulled away. "Starshine…"
"You were just going to kill me?" Her voice cracked, heartbroken. Beyond the betrayal, she could hear Maria's voice just as gentle as it had been that night under the stars.
"If there's ever a time that we're not together, promise me you'll keep each other safe. Until I can find you again."
"What else do we have to live for?" Shadow asked, hollow eyed.
She almost wished he'd just swing at her, it might have hurt less than realizing he had given up. That the person she loved most, the only thing that had ever been constant throughout the whole of her memory, who there existed no time before for her, wanted to die. And take her with him.
"We promised." She whispered. "You might have forgotten, but I didn't. I told her I'd keep you safe. I can't let you get yourself killed."
"It's already in motion, Star." She frowned, frustration creeping into his eyes.
"Then I'll put it out of motion." Tears pricked the corner of her eyes, but a spark of Chaos darted up from her fist when she clenched it. "No matter the cost."
"You're not seriously considering fighting me." Shadow looked stunned.
"If it's what it takes to keep you alive, then yes." She swallowed hard. "I can't just watch you die. You mean everything to me. I-" The Crab rocked under their feet, the sound of rushing water making them both look up.
The entire Crab went tumbling through the sewers, legs getting ripped off against the walls as they went spiraling. Metal tore with a screeching sound, water coming in as Stone shouted and started to gurgle, trapped under debris as the ship started filling. Star and Shadow were pin-balled across the cockpit and spilled out into the main area. Shadow grabbed her arm as they righted themselves, freezing and filthy water around their knees. "Let's go. We'll warp out."
"Oh, now you want to save me? I'm not leaving Stone here to drown." She snapped, pulling out of his grip despite how it made her want to cry more. I don't even recognize him anymore. This isn't Shadow. Shadow's a good person, a better person than me. What has Professor done to him?!
"Why? None of it will matter soon, anyway." He frowned, catching her left wrist. Through his glove, he felt a set of pony beads roll against her fur.
"Because this isn't want Maria would have wanted! I refuse to act like that doesn't matter, and end up doing something she'd be ashamed of! She was the only guide we had, and that matters!" She snatched out of his grip and took a dive into the water, going to the bottom to yank the fallen debris off Stone. She felt the warp crack as Shadow disappeared, but the water hid her tears as she dragged the human man to a wall and ripped her way out with her telekinesis. They were caught in a current the second they got out of the Crab's metal hull, sucked into a tunnel and spat out into the River Thames.
Star dragged Stone to the surface, grimacing as she spat river water. "Y-you okay?"
"I think so." He groaned. "Where's Shadow?"
She shook her head, paddling her way to the edge of the canal so they could drag themselves out. "Professor did something to him." She muttered, helping Stone up onto dry land. "Can you call Ivo?"
"Yeah. But what's wrong?" Stone frowned.
"Professor's plan isn't to rule the world. He wants to destroy it, and us too. If you love Ivo like I think you do, call him and try to talk him out of launching the Eclipse Cannon." Star looked around, trying to find the GUN building. "Or at least stall. If I can stop Shadow, he can't overload the Cannon's core."
Stone nodded, wiping water off his face as Star found her destination and took off skating across the landscape. He didn't like this, any of this. He had to hope Ivo would listen to him and call off the plan, because he didn't think he could stand to lose the Doctor again.
Star warped into a hallway, frantic and dripping wet. The energy shield around the building had been disabled, thankfully. Now she just needed to find- "Shadow?!"
Instead of her dark furred counterpart, a human man walked out of a room with his arm in a sling. He was muttering into a communicator, her sharp ears making it out halfway down the hall. "Tails, I've got the key."
It looked like Walters, but it couldn't have been. She'd left him bedridden, only a few hours ago. There was no way he'd recovered enough to be released. This was an imposter, a trick of some kind. If he was talking to Tails, that must mean that he'd survived the base collapse in Oklahoma. Sonic's team must have been present.
A crack behind her made her turn, finding herself nose to nose with her boyfriend. "Shadow." She sighed with relief, reaching for his hands. She'd been terrified she wouldn't find him in time, that Gerald would get his hooks in even deeper. She could still stop him, save him, before the world ended. She just needed him to hear her out. "Listen to me. This has to stop, we can-"
He held her gaze for a moment before the motion behind her made his eyes move past. Immediately, his face contorted into a steely mask of fury and he pushed her to the side. "Commander Walters."
"Shadow, no. It's not-" She tried to grab him again, to turn him back to face her, when he shot forward with his fist cocked back. "Shadow, wait!"
Instead, he slammed the human in the gut with a blow that echoed through the hall like thunder. The man went flying, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. His head cracked against the floor and his body went limp, his face distorting and turning into that of a much younger man.
Shadow froze. "What…?"
"It wasn't him." Star whispered.
Behind them, footsteps ran into the room. "Tom, Tails said you got- Tom?!" Sonic's voice flew up an octave and he shoved past them both, skidding to his blue knees next to the human's limp form. "Tom! Tom, wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He hedgehog almost screamed, shaking the limp man by the shoulders before his hand fell limply on his chest.
In a split second, Star was back outside of Shadow Base. It was Maria, not Tom, on the ground with a gloved hand helplessly pleading for her to open her eyes. She could smell the smoke, the charred flesh and blood, and taste bile in the back of her throat.
"Maria!" Shadow dropped to his knees beside her motionless form, shaking her shoulders. Tears pricked his eyes as he looked up, first to Gerald and then to Star. "Maria…? Maria, wake up…"
Star dropped her head against the girl's chest, ears straining and heart begging for the steady pulse of life. There was only silence and the flames crackling around them. "Sh-she's gone…"
Not again. Star couldn't breathe, knees shaking. Another dead human, an innocent person, lying on the ground with a hedgehog crying over them. This time the monster wasn't GUN. It was them.
It was Shadow.
"What did you do?!" Sonic screeched, shaking and tears beading in his green eyes.
Star looked at Shadow, jaw trembling. "Don't…" She whispered. "Please."
He didn't even look at her. "What I had to." He warped with a cracking sound, leaving her standing in the hallway of GUN headquarters. She took a trembling step back as a pretty woman with dark skin came running into the hall, trailed by Knuckles and Tails.
"Tom!" They all rushed to the downed human's side, his loving family, and Star couldn't bear to see their grief. She warped out of the hall, outside the building, and huddled into a ball underneath the nearest shrubbery with her hands over her ears.
We're the monsters. We're the murderous alien freaks, like that movie. Maria said we could be anything we wanted, that this was our home… what have we done? What have I done? I couldn't stop him…
In the distance, she heard cracking ground and motors. Slowly, she peeked her head up to see the jellyfish-like Eclipse Cannon ripping out of the river she'd just nearly drowned in. It ascended rapidly into the sky, and she pressed her hands over her mouth to keep herself from throwing up.
He's in that ship. He's going to do it. He's going to overload the core and destroy the Earth. All these innocent people are going to die… he's going to die.
Ragged, helpless sobs broke through her clutched hands as she failed to stop herself from breaking down. Shadow was going to die. She'd failed her last promise to Maria, she hadn't kept him safe. The only tiny comfort was she'd soon be dead too, and wouldn't have to live with her failure for long. But it was overshadowed but a sickening realization.
Maria had been the first person to figure out Chaos Technology. Gerald had cannibalized her genius in the name of his revenge. The weapon Shadow was aboard and arming was made from Maria's brilliance… and he was pointing it right at Star.
This is how the Trio falls apart. At the end of the world…
It wasn't the first time Star had been trapped, nor the first time she'd been afraid. But it was the first time she'd genuinely felt alone. Hopelessness had a physical weight, one that depressed her breathing and made every quill feel like lead. She was usually a fighter, scrappy and sharp, but she couldn't find that fire she usually displayed when she was backed into a corner. She'd failed, she'd let Maria down, and when she got to whatever afterlife there was at the end of the planet's existence, she'd have to beg her best friend for forgiveness.
Her head felt like it was buzzing with a swarm of bees inside her skull, each with tiny voices telling her to do something when she didn't know where to go. She should be fighting, trying to stop this, but it felt almost laughable to think she could attempt to save the world. She was a miserable little alien displaced out of time, who couldn't even save her own tiny piece of it. Maria was dead, Shadow was brainwashed, and she was lost. What blinding arrogance did she have to have to believe she could change anything at all when her portrait was painted in the colors of her past mistakes?
Sirens made her jump, and she crawled further under the hedge as an ambulance came speeding up to the front entrance. Paramedics, not soldiers, came rushing past her with a gurney. She frowned, momentarily distracted by her own insurmountable grief by curiosity. Who else had been injured? They were moving far too quickly to be coming for a dead body… the Tom guy, Shadow had killed. That he'd killed someone innocent, in cold blood, still felt impossible to think about…
The gurney came flying back out, surrounded by paramedics and the pretty dark skinned woman from before, trailed by Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails. The woman got into the ambulance with the gurney, looking back at the boys with a concerned look before pushing a fake smile in an attempt to be comforting. Star had seen that look before in Maria's eyes, when she was trying to make them feel better but had no real guarantees they'd ever get out of GUN custody. But the way they looked at her, wide eyed and trusting as they searched for reassurance…
She's their mother…
The ambulance doors closed and it took off in a whir of sirens and lights, leaving the three brightly colored boys standing alone. Tails was the first one to speak, putting a hand on Sonic's arm. "It's going to be okay…"
"Okay? Tom's fighting for his life and you think everything's going to be okay?" Sonic's voice was bitter, eyes sharp when he whirled on the smallest teammate.
Knuckles deep voice was soothing as he stepped in the middle. "The fox is only trying to comfort you."
"Well I don't need comfort." Sonic said, though he definitely did. "I need to stop him, by any means necessary."
"You don't mean…" Tails started, eyes widening.
"The Master Emerald. Where is it, Knuckles?" Sonic demanded.
"The Emerald must never be used for vengeance. Your heart is full of anger, hedgehog. You are in no position to make decisions right now." Knuckles said firmly. "We made an oath."
"Oaths don't matter right now. What does is stopping Shadow." Sonic gritted is teeth. "And if you two won't help me, I'll do it myself."
"But we're a team." Tails' voice sounded so much smaller than he was right now, his tails coming around him so he could clutch them like a child's toy. "I thought that was what made us so special…"
"I won't ask you again, Knuckles." Sonic's green eyes were glowing blue, lightning crackling along his quills and clenched fists. "Where is the Master Emerald?"
"Don't do this." Red sparks danced along Knuckles' fists and quills too, his purple eyes turning red with a rumble of thunder that made Tails flinch. Star hunched lower in her hiding place, sure she was about to see the two tear each other apart, when the echidna took a deep breath and let the power flicker out. "Part of our oath is to trust one another. I must keep that promise, even if you have chosen to break it. But be warned, the Master Emerald is guarded by a mighty warrior. It get it, you will have to go through him."
"Who?" Sonic demanded, not seeming to recognize the level of maturity and restraint it was taking his elder brother to let this go without a fight.
"Wade Whipple."
Sonic didn't even bother with thanks, pulling a gold ring out of his quills and tossing it behind him. A portal opened up, and he walked through it without glancing back.
Tails let out a weak little cry, miserable. "He just left us…"
"I am disappointed also, brother fox." Knuckles sighed, putting one big mitt on top of the kit's ears. "But we must find our own way to help. Let us think of a plan."
Star's head was reeling. Master Emerald… whatever it was sounded powerful. If Sonic believed he could take down Shadow with it, then she had to get involved. She had to make something right. Maria had believed she was a good person, and she had to try to be. She couldn't let Maria down again.
Carefully, she crawled out of her hiding place and brushed the dirt off her white tights before slowly approaching the two brothers. "… Excuse me?"
They both jolted, spinning around. Knuckles fists were crackling with energy again, and Tails had lifted a little weapon that looked too much like a gun for Star's comfort. She squeezed her eyes shut, putting her hands in the air as she fought her innate urge to swing first and eliminate the thing she was afraid of.
She had to do different. She had to be different.
"The light still shines, even though the star is gone."
"I'm not here to fight." She said, shakily. Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me.
Knuckles spotted her trembling knees and spasmodically twitching fingers, and waved for Tails to lower his weapon. "You are afraid."
"I'm always afraid." She whispered. "But I need your help. Please."
Tails frowned. "Why should we help you? You tried to kill us!"
Star nodded, eyes still shut. "I know. But the Eclipse Cannon is more powerful than GUN knows. It won't just take over the planet. It'll completely destroy it."
"And you want to stop it." Knuckles frowned. "Why have you had a change of heart?"
"I didn't know what the plan was." She forced her eyes open. "I thought we were just forcing GUN to surrender, not attacking the entire planet."
"You were okay with destroying GUN though." Tails crossed his arms.
"They killed my best friend…." She shook her head. "I thought it was the right thing to do, but I was wrong. But if Professor pulls the trigger on that weapon, it'll kill all life on Earth and Shadow too. I'm not a big hero like you three, but maybe I can save him… that'll save the world."
Knuckles and Tails exchanged anxious looks. "It may be too late to save your friend." The echidna murmured. "Sonic has gone to find the Master Emerald. With it's power, he will become like a god. Shadow will be overrun."
"And he's so angry about what happened to Tom, he'll probably try to kill Shadow." Tails shifted uncomfortably.
"Can I catch him before he gets this Emerald?" Star's entire expression, which had been so carefully controlled and shaky went into full panic. Shadow's life was in more danger than she'd realized. Gerald wasn't the only threat.
A streak of gold light shot through the sky, like a shooting star coming from the Earth rather than the heavens. "It is too late." Knuckles shook his head,
Star's eye twitched as the light blipped, crashing through the Cannon and heading back towards the planet's surface. "…. I can calculate where they'll land based on that trajectory, but I won't make it before they make landfall."
"You can make that calculation just based on seeing them?" Tails looked startled.
"It takes a lot of brainpower to run my psychic powers." She explained hurriedly, fingers twitching as she did the math.
Tails dug into his bag and pushed a small golden ring into her hand. "Throw this, think about where you want to go, and it'll open a portal."
"Thank you." Star nodded. "I owe you." She tossed the ring with a flick of her wrist and dove through it before it was totally to full size.
Hold on Shadow. I'm keeping my promise to Maria.
Chapter 9: Supernova
Chapter Text
Shadow stood quietly with his arms crossed, looking down at the Earth fading away beneath him. Gerald stood beside him, neatly dressed in a new white suit coat reminiscent of his old lab coat but with a distinctly evil-villain collar. Ivo had a matching red one, behind them on a communicator firing Agent Stone for trying to talk him out of the plan. Stone would remain on the Earth, vaporized like all the others, when the Eclipse Cannon fired.
So would Star.
"It's time, Shadow." Gerald said quietly.
"Professor." The hedgehog looked at his reflection, the discolored shape of his quills for a moment looking a bit too much like Star's. He could still imagine her expression perfectly, as she tried to talk him out of this the same way Stone had with Ivo. "Is this really what Maria would have wanted?"
"I refuse to act like that doesn't matter, and end up doing something she'd be ashamed of!"
Gerald sighed, crouching in front of him. "It isn't about what she would have wanted. It's about what they deserve. Don't forget what she meant to us. Don't forget what they took from us."
"What about Star? She said-"
"Star betrayed Maria's memory, Shadow. I told you from the beginning she wouldn't understand, and I was right. She's sided with GUN now. How could we forgive that?"
Shadow winced, looking back out the window. Star, siding with GUN…? It sparked a new kind of pain he hadn't expected, one that layered over his grief about Maria, and he warped into the outside circuit of the core before Gerald could see him tear up.
He started running, sparking Chaos energy as he dumped all of his misery and rage into the machine. Spurred on by flashes of memory, and the unfairness of it all.
Star's hand wrapped tight in his as the meteor around them dissolved, teeth bared as she tried to protect him.
Maria's smile on the other side of the glass, coaxing them into trusting her.
Smoking skates and Maria's laughter, Star racing just alongside him with a jump rope tied around her middle and a bright grin on her face.
Three matching beaded bracelets tied onto left wrists, all of them curled up together in their pillow fort in the middle of their room.
A thousand stolen kisses behind closed doors.
The diamond brilliance of starlight, laying among the flowers as they looked up.
"The light still shines, even when the star is gone."
"Good thing our own Starshine is never far away."
"I don't know what we'd do without you."
Shadow couldn't catch is breath as he ran, eyes glowing burning red and dripping furious tears as the core absorbed the Chaos rolling off him in waves. How could Star have abandoned him in this, their final chance to get justice for Maria? Wasn't it enough to lose their beloved sister, but now he had to face death without the only constant he'd ever had? She'd told him he was everything to her, so why wasn't she here with him?
Maybe he hadn't been entirely sure he wanted to die before. He'd been hopeless and miserable, and Gerald had introduced the thought to his mind… but now? He was counting down the seconds until it didn't hurt anymore. Until the pain was over. Until everything was over.
Until they were all back together.
When the core was full and pulsing with Chaos Energy, and he'd exhausted his tears, he warped back to Gerald's side. He ignored the devastated, confused look on Ivo's face, finding it much too similar to the way Star had looked when he'd told her the truth. "It's done." He muttered, walking back to the window. He put his hand on the glass, the coolness of space leeching through his glove. "It's almost over, Maria. You'll finally have justice."
Or so he told himself, but Star's voice kept screaming in his head like his own Jiminy Cricket.
"She said there are good people out there… there's billions of people on the planet. There's got to be other little girls, just like Maria-"
"We promised her… you might have forgotten, but I didn't."
"Because this isn't what Maria would have wanted!"
A flash of gold light drug him from his tormented thoughts, something burning gold and headed right for them. "Is GUN shooting missiles at us?"
"It's moving too fast." Gerald frowned, taking a step back.
Behind them, Ivo held up the stolen blue quill he'd been licking all afternoon and it turned gold in his hand. "It's him."
"Him?" Before Shadow could clarify, a furiously shining gold version of Sonic smashed through the glass and grabbed him by the chest. He was dragged through the length of the ship and out the opposite window, both of which were shuttered with steel as he and Sonic traded blows in open space.
The no-longer-blue hedgehog was phenomenally stronger than before, but Shadow wasn't willing to give up just yet. If he was going to die, it was on his own terms. A fight to death felt better than sitting and waiting on the end on the Cannon, alone with his memories of Maria and Star. "So you finally decided to attack with everything you had, instead of pulling punches."
"You hurt my family!" Sonic half-screamed, fury just a shade past hysterical.
"Now you know what I've felt for fifty years. And you made the same choice I did." Shadow snarled. He knew exactly how Sonic felt after he'd leveled Tom. The pain, the hatred, the desperation for revenge… but it didn't make him feel any kinder towards Sonic. If anything, he hated him more. How could he not? Sonic had made such a point of trying to be the hero, of throwing his mercy around and trying to appeal to Shadow's better nature. And now, he came alone on the same self destructive path Shadow had. He was no better.
"I'm nothing like you!" Sonic screeched.
"We'll see." Shadow grabbed him back and they went crashing towards the earth, both trying to choke the life out of the other. As if killing the face in the mirror would somehow make the reflection less hateful.
Star skidded out of the ring portal into the middle of what looked like volcanic lava flats. A burning streak of light was headed right for her, her calculations correct, but there was no time to congratulate herself. Sonic and Shadow were actively trying to kill each other, and she had to break up the fight. Despite the mysterious power of the Master Emerald, which she didn't understand in the slightest.
She braced herself as they came hurtling to the earth, arms held open to try to catch the comet of furry fury with her telekinesis. They were moving too fast to stop, despite her best efforts, and slammed into her as they cratered the cooled crust of the lava, all three of them entangled and swinging furiously. She broke Sonic's grip on Shadow's throat, catching a punch to the gut for her troubles that sent her rolling across the uneven ground. She wasn't sure which one it had come from, but it didn't matter. "Stop! Stop!" She coughed, getting back up immediately to try to rush in.
"Star?" Shadow's fist glowed green when he hit Sonic with a punishing blow, the gold falling off his quills like paint. "What are you doing here?!"
"Ending this. He's going to kill you!" She snapped back.
He growled under his breath. "Whose side are you on, anyway?"
"Mine!" There was a sparkle on the ground, seven little brightly colored gemstones that had come flying out of Sonic when Shadow hit him. If she could get them, she could keep the crazy gold power away from both of the unstable boys. She could make them listen, and maybe even stop Gerald herself. That would save Shadow's life, and the world. That would be enough.
"This ends now!" Sonic snarled, getting to his feet.
She kicked off the ground hard, diving for the gems at the same time Shadow spotted where her eyes had fallen. Sonic was moving too, the three of them colliding shoulder to shoulder as three hands landed on the glimmering jewels. It felt like a hot wind rushing over Star as she went skidding back on her heels. Instead of catching herself with her psychic abilities, she just… didn't fall. She hovered without having to think about it, a few inches off the ground, and looked around.
Sonic was golden again, green eyes turned crimson in the blaze of power. He was staring at her, and she glanced down at her arms only to see her black fur had turned a near white-gold. Her blue markings still shone through, but her eyes had turned a vibrant pinkish red and the ever-present gold bracelets she wore had a glowing line in the middle like they were trying to contain the energy her body was thrumming with. And standing on the other side of her, making a triangle of hostility, was Shadow. His fur was rosy gold, red eyes brighter than before, bright as his scarlet markings. He flexed his hands, getting used to the same rush of unparalleled strength she was experiencing. "Interesting." He murmured.
"Don't do this." Star pleaded, trying to get between him and Sonic. Sonic simply bowled her over to take a swing at Shadow.
He blocked the blow with his forearm, eyes dangerous. "You were right about one thing. This ends now."
His punch sent Sonic hurtling at mach 5, and he gave chase with a crackle of Chaos. Star swore under her breath and went after them, trying to keep up as they pin-balled across the planet. "You have to stop!" She grabbed Sonic's arm when they slammed through a snowdrift in Antarctica, getting hurled nearly to the equator for her troubles before she was zipping back and trying to get between them again. "Sonic, stop! What about what you said before?! About who we are inside?"
This time Shadow kicked her, sending her flying into Sonic and both of them through a set of Greek columns. The ruins were already falling apart, stone clacking dangerously around them. She groaned, getting to her feet as Sonic pushed her off him, hovering in the air between him and Shadow who'd decided to hover menacingly on top of the columns.
"He's not going to hear you out, Star." Shadow said darkly, hands open. "Look at him, eaten alive by his anger. Why are you alone, Sonic? What happened to your friends, your family?"
"Don't you dare talk about my family!" Sonic snarled, starting to rush him until Star caught him by the middle and dragged him back go the ground. She looked over her shoulder at Shadow, locking in on that awful hollow expression on his face. Too little too late, she knew what it meant now. Maybe if she'd understood sooner, they wouldn't be here.
He's trying to bait Sonic into killing him. He wants to die.
She used every scrap of her new super-powered strength to hold the struggling Sonic. "Don't listen to him. He's just trying to make you mad." She gasped into his shoulder. "Stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it-"
"They tried to stop you too, didn't they?" Shadow knew he was digging his own grave, but he couldn't stop himself. Something about seeing Star on the opposite side of a fight, hearing Gerald's assertion she was a traitor playing on repeat in his head, was driving him out of his mind. "And you left them behind. Your anger was too much."
"Shadow, don't." Star warned, Sonic bucking and trying to climb over her shoulder to get to him.
"Why? What kind of hero abandons his friends? His family?" Shadow's tone was mocking, hard and cold as ice. Sonic grunted and kneed Star in the stomach, still furiously trying to get past her. The irony wasn't lost on her, as she tried to hang on, that Shadow had turned his back on her too. That was why he sounded so angry, though. He hated himself, and Sonic for making the same decision. "And here I thought you cared for them. Especially… what was his name?"
"Shadow!" Star half-screamed. She knew what was coming, the minute the name came out of Shadow's mouth. It was the same reaction she'd have if someone spoke the same way about Maria.
"Oh, that's right. Tom."
Sonic's elbow slammed down on the back of Star's neck, knocking her to her knees and rocketing up. His fist cracked into Shadow's jaw, the air seemingly sucked out of the entire planet as he shot straight up out of the atmosphere. Sonic was right after him, murder in his eyes.
"NO!" Panic clawed it's way out of Star's throat and she dove after them, trying to push herself fast enough to catch up as they hurtled ahead to the moon. If she didn't make it in time, then Sonic might as well bury them both.
Shadow hit the moon's dusty surface and skidded, Sonic right on top of him. The rosy gold faded off his quills and fur, stripping him of any chance to win this fight. This was it, the end he'd been waiting for all along. He thought death might have held a little fear for him, but he couldn't find it as he watched Sonic's fist cock back to splatter his skull across the piles of silver rock. "What are you waiting for?" He demanded when Sonic's hand trembled. He pointed at the white spot on his chest, a perfect target. "I'm right here. Do it!"
Sonic froze, eyes dropping to where Shadow insistently pointed. Tom had done the same thing to him, just a day ago, poking him lightly in the chest and telling him how proud he was. That Sonic losing Longclaw at such a young age hadn't changed him in his heart… and yet, here he was ready to kill someone who was hurting just as bad as him.
This wasn't him.
He started to let Shadow go, the golden light starting to dim off him, but before he could separate himself he was struck by a screaming projectile of silvery white gold and blue. He was knocked off his feet, bouncing in the low gravity of the lunar landscape and tumbling. He managed to catch himself on his knees and looked up, finding himself face to face with a wide eyed Star. She was still glowing, hands bunched into fists as she planted herself between him and Shadow.
Her breath was ragged and her hands shaking, but her eyes were unwavering. "You'll have to kill me first." She rasped. "Before I let you touch him."
Sonic shook his head, sitting down on the ground. "No."
Shadow peered around Star, eyes wide. "What are you doing? You won. Take your revenge."
"There are no winners with revenge." Sonic shook his head again.
"But-"
"Shut up, Shadow." Star muttered, dropping onto her tail in the dirt and pulling her knees to her chest. The golden light dissipated around her, leaving her looking somehow so much smaller than he remembered. She rested her chin on her knees, glancing between him and Sonic, and he spotted the sparkle of tears on her cheeks in the dim light.
"Starshine…" He frowned.
She buried her face in her arms. "You were the only person in the whole world I was never once afraid of." Her voice was a ragged whisper. "And then you pointed a weapon at me… One she designed. How could you make that her legacy, of all things?"
"It wasn't supposed to end up like this." He said quietly. "But how can you not want revenge? They took everything from us."
"Not everything." Star's ears dropped, and it occurred to Shadow that neither of them had really had a minute to grieve. They'd been running since they'd woken up, headlong into fights and Gerald's plan for vengeance without taking a breath. It made her look so tired, so… vulnerable, in a way Star never let herself be with anyone but him. "I still had you." She whispered.
Shadow froze, taken aback. "You…"
"I'm angry too, you know." She scrunched up a little tighter. "I hate that she's gone, that they took her away. I hate GUN and everything about them… I wish they were gone, but ... It's not right to kill them."
"When I lost Longclaw, I felt the same way." Sonic said quietly.
Shadow looked up at the sky, the stars shimmering like diamonds overhead. The constellations from the moon looked different than they had on Earth. "The last time we sat under stars like these, we were with her."
Star looked, wiping her face on her sleeve. "She said we could be anything we wanted, that night…" She almost felt Maria sitting beside her, just outside of her periphery, like she'd never left them at all. "Does it ever stop hurting, Sonic?"
"No. But eventually you realize there's something stronger than pain." He leaned back on his arms to look at the sky himself, thinking hard. He could only imagine how he might have turned out without people like Tom and Maddie, who'd been inspiring him to be a better person even before they'd known he existed. The path Shadow had gone down made perfect sense. But the same thing that had saved Sonic could save him too. "For me and Longclaw, it was the love we had for each other. That's what you've got to hold onto. Maria might be gone, but your memories and that love aren't."
"The light still shines, even when the star is gone." Star said, lifting her head to look at Shadow. "You said it yourself, fifty years ago…"
The sun came up, over the edge of the Earth, spilling golden light across the three hedgehogs. It felt like a breath of fresh air, clarity pushing away the storm that had been clouding his vision. Star was right. Sonic was right. Ending the world wouldn't bring Maria back, it would only destroy the things she'd loved. Including Star, who hadn't been willing to die next to him for revenge but had been willing to die for him instead.
"This whole mess is my fault. I felt this rage for so long, it was all I knew… I thought I had no choice." He breathed.
"You always have a choice." Sonic smiled, getting to his feet. "And it's never too late to turn it around."
Star nodded, shoving up and dusting off the back of her dress before she held a hand out to Shadow. "We can still make this right."
He took her hand immediately, letting her pull him upright. Quick arms wrapped tight around her, his chin coming to rest on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
Star nuzzled into the side of his neck. "There's nothing I wouldn't forgive you for."
He squeezed her in a silent acknowledgement, then looked over at Sonic. The blue hedgehog was grinning brightly, a knowing light in his eyes as he held his hand out. "One other thing I've learned. When you really mess up, you can't fix it alone."
Star begrudgingly turned, looking at the outstretched hand. She put hers in, on top of Sonic's, and gave Shadow a light bump with her hip.
He chuckled and put his own hand. As soon as his fingers brushed the stack, the glittering gemstones from before circled them and their quills blew up and turned three shades of gold. Sonic grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Oh yeah. Gotta go fast."
"Don't tell me you have a catch phrase." Shadow snorted, but with a smile as he flexed his shoulders.
"That's right, new hedgehogs. And everybody loves it." Sonic smirked.
Star put her hands on her hips and stretched from side to side with a grin. "You boys just try to keep up."
They took off, three swirling lights taking off at breakneck pace towards the Eclipse Cannon powering up in the distance. Star hadn't felt this free in all her memory, weightless and stronger than ever. I always wanted to go back to space… look at us now, Maria. We are the stars we used to look at. Shooting stars, for making wishes on…
The underside of the Cannon flipped open, revealing a hatch full of robot drones. "Guess Professor saw us coming." Shadow commented dryly.
"Seems like it." Sonic nodded. "Let's do this."
They rocketed in three different directions, Star taking head on while the boys veered to the sides. Sonic was slamming into the metal monstrosities while raucous laughter, his delight in being alive infectious. Shadow was smashing through as well, using the rocket on his shoes and his fists to blast them apart. Star swooped through, practically dancing as she kicked and her extended hands glowing with psychic energy that crushed the bots like soda cans.
The boys went spinning past her, Shadow flinging Sonic into a group of robots with dizzying centrifugal force. She giggled when he pulled up close to her and held a hand out. "Can I have this dance?"
"I thought you'd never ask." She took it immediately, laughing when he dipped her back with one hand tucked in the curve of her waist. Sonic was coming back towards them, leading a stampede of robots that were chasing him. Shadow held a hand up, gold spears of Chaos Energy forming in a double circle around him and Star. She threw her hand out next to his, upside down still, and a third and forth row formed. The smirking couple launched them with wicked precision, destroying the last of the Robotnik robots together.
Star looked over Sonic's shoulder. "The weapon is fully charged. We're running out of time."
"I've got an idea." Sonic waved for them to follow him, and they planted themselves between the planet and devastating super weapon. "This might hurt a little."
"This is your plan?!" Shadow demanded.
"You got a better one?" Sonic shot back.
Star just gritted her teeth as the Chaos-charged beam struck, the three of them holding it with bare hands and sheer willpower. "We can't hold this forever…"
"I know, I'm thinking!" Sonic grunted. "Usually I have my brothers…"
"Star, we've got it. Get in there and turn the weapon off." Shadow huffed.
Star didn't argue, despite being loath to leave them. "As fast as I can." She said, backing up out of the cannon's range, and warped.
Gerald was looking over a railing, a dark rasp to his laugh, as Star appeared onto the Eclipse Cannon's bridge. "Oh, Ivo. You're no Maria."
"Neither are you." Before he could turn his head, the elderly madman was struck with a sharp kick that sent him tumbling down the gangway.
"Star." Gerald did his best to right himself, flailing limbs like a rolly-poly on its back as he grunted. "You were… once so useful to me, just like Shadow. Now you choose betrayal." When he finally sat up, she cocked her head at the missing left-hand side of his mustache.
"We didn't betray anything." She watched him get to his feet. Behind her, Tails rose over the edge of the railing from out of a ring portal, Knuckles holding his ankles with one hand and pulling Ivo from where he'd been about to fall to his death with the other.
"You betrayed Maria's memory." He lifted a hand, now covered in oversized metal and fingers viciously sharp. Star had hoped there was a way to talk him down, to make him see how wrong he was. She wanted to save him. But she had to save the world from him, even if it meant the end of everything she'd ever known.
She hoped Maria could forgive her.
"We loved Maria. And she loved us. You only cared about us as long as we were useful. Fifty years ago and now." When the giant arm came down, she blocked it with a psychic barrier. While she kept Gerald busy, Tails and Knuckles dragged Ivo to the controls to start trying to turn the weapon away from the Earth once they realized they couldn't get the machine off. "If you really cared about her memory, you'd never have tried to get Shadow killed. You were the only family we had left. We trusted you and you were going to make us into the monsters she spent years showing we weren't. You don't get to do that to us!"
Gerald couldn't keep up with the super powered punches she leveled, and the final one shattered his oversized weapon hand and sent him flying off the railing. His high pitched screech cut off with an abrupt buzz as he hit the overloaded core and sparked into dust.
Star winced, shaking her head, eyes hazy as she scrubbed her face on her arm. I'm sorry, Maria… I tried.
"Say what you want about my grandfather." Ivo whistled, catching Star's resigned grief off guard. "But he made one hell of a bug zapper."
Star shot him a sharp look under her lashes and flew over to where he, Tails, and Knuckles were all fighting the controls. "There's no way to turn the beam off until it's run it's course." Tails explained. "The controls are damaged."
"But we can turn the cannon away from the Earth." Ivo had his entire body weight leaning on the levers. "Little help?"
"She cannot touch us in the golden state." Knuckles shook his head when Star reached to help.
She blinked, then shrugged and their hands were wrapped in a bluish glow. "Good thing I don't need to touch you." She threw all she had into it as they did, the ship lurching when she did and the beam narrowly missing the planet's surface.
"I did impeccable work, if I do say so myself." Ivo grinned, right up until the turn overshot and the cannon cleaved off a chunk from the lower half of the moon. "Look what you did!"
Star looked at Knuckles. "Will he die if I touch him?"
"I am unsure. Why?"
"I want to slap him in the back of the head."
"There's no time for that. Look!" Tails pointed. Outside the window, the gold light faded off of Sonic and Shadow shoved him out of the way of the cannon's blast. He went careening backwards, caught in the gravitational pull of the planet. "Even Sonic can't survive falling from orbit!"
Star glanced back as Ivo finally got the weapon offline, the stored Chaos now causing cataclysmic reactions in the core. "Go save your brother. We'll find a way to stabilize this."
The two nodded, Tails patting his bag to give her a ring in case they needed to make a quick getaway. "… I only have one ring left."
Star gave him a tiny smile. "I'll get creative. Go."
He and Knuckles darted off, diving out of the base airlock to go after Sonic. Shadow warped into the ship just as they did, reaching for Star's hand. "Did we do it?"
"The core is destabilizing." She shook her head. "If Doctor Robotnik can't stabilize it, the entire ship will explode. With the amount of Chaos in the core, it'll be catastrophic."
"That does that mean for the Earth?" Shadow frowned.
Ivo winced. "… A destroyed atmosphere, contaminated rain that kills crops and melts the flesh from your bones, and a surface scorched by radiation. If you don't mind that, then nothing much."
"Then we're not finished yet." Shadow gritted his teeth. "This is our last chance to do the right thing."
"We'll push the ship away from the Earth. Try to stabilize the core and buy us time." Star nodded to Ivo before turning to Shadow with a small, sad smile.
Ivo gave a suitably dramatic nod in return. "Ve con Dios, erizos apestosos."
The two hedgehogs warped back outside, both dropping one of the sets of gold rings they wore. They floated loose in the space around them as they put their shoulders into the metal and started pushing with all the physical and psychic strength they had. "You're a genius." Shadow grunted, looking at Star's profile. "At this rate, once we get it out of range of the Earth how long do we have to clear the blast radius?"
"We don't." Star didn't want to look at him as she said it. But she couldn't deny herself what might be the very last time she saw his face, or him her honesty. Once the Eclipse Cannon was far enough away from the planet to save the people on it, there would be no time to save her and Shadow.
"What? Why are you-"
"You didn't think I'd leave you, did you? "She snorted, meeting his incredulous expression with her own. "I'm not afraid to die next to you. I just wanted to die doing the right thing… We're not the alien freaks they said they were. We're good, lime Maria believed."
Shadow's eyes drifted to the bracelets floating just next to her, and he gritted his teeth and turned, putting his back against the cannon and grabbing them before glancing at the ring portal opening up in the distance where Knuckles and Tails were saving Sonic. "Not yet." He grabbed her wrists, snapping the bracelets back on.
"Shadow, what-?" She blinked, eyes wide.
"I should have said it a long time ago, and I'm only going to say it once." He shook his head, and she was alarmed at the start of tears in the corner of his eyes. Shadow didn't cry much, and it scared her more than the idea of her death.
He wanted to say a thousand things. That he'd rather die alone than know she died for his mistakes, that he was sorry he'd led them to this fate, that he wanted her to prove Gerald wrong and show she could survive without him. But there was no time, and whatever he said next would be the words that followed her for however long the rest of her life was.
He yanked her to him, one last time, and pressed his lips to hers. It didn't last nearly long enough before he pulled back and met her eyes. "I love you, Starshine." And then, with all the newfound strength his golden form had… he threw her.
Star yelped, flying backwards too fast too process what was going on before the dark of space flickered into low-altitude blue sky as she passed through the still-open ring. "Shadow!" She tried to grab onto the edges, to stop herself and go back, but the gold was falling off her quills and he'd thrown her hard.
He turned around again, returning to his task of saving the world now alone. He'd saved her life and, as the ring closed and turned inches into miles of distance between them, gave up his life in the process. He closed his eyes, a small smile hovering around his lips as he let himself remember the better times. The days with Maria and Star, on the planet he was dying to save.
It didn't feel so lonely now, to die doing the right thing.
Star hit the ground harder than the meteor she'd arrived in, cratering the center of a farmer's cornfield in Green Hills, Montana. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had landed nearby and were in the middle of a brotherly hug when she shot overhead and struck, moving faster than they had been by virtue of Shadow's strength.
"What was that?!" Sonic wiped the dirt off Tails' face, doing his best to be the apologetic big brother he felt like. He'd just apologized for running off on a quest for retribution against Shadow, and there was a lot of making up to do.
Knuckles, protective as ever, walked ahead to look over the edge of the crater. To his surprise, a shaky gloved hand came dragging over the edge. "It is the hedgehog girl!"
Star barely heard him, eyes glazed in pain as she half crawled out of the hole she'd left behind. She was bleeding, red soaking into her clothes, and she couldn't get to her feet. There were rocks embedded in her back, shattered quills full of broken corn cobs and leaves, and sh "R-ring…" She rasped. "I can still… I can… Please, I need a ring…"
Sonic crouched beside her, letting her latch onto his arm with an iron grip that belied the tremble in her arms. "We're out of rings." He said quietly. "Where's Shadow?"
"Still… pushing the Cannon." She slurred. "It's going to-"
Above them, the sky exploded into a firework display of color and light as the Eclipse Cannon exploded.
Tails froze. "…. Shadow and Doctor Robotnik sacrificed themselves to save everyone."
"Oh no." Sonic whispered.
Star's entire body jolted like she'd touched a live wire, eyes fixed on the sky. "Shadow…" She whispered, tears welling up and rolling down her cheeks. He was gone… he'd saved her, and the Earth, but she was all alone now. It was too much, coupled with the pain and blood loss, for her to bear. Sounds disappeared as she went limp, face down into the dirt, and she felt movement when the three brothers gathered around her. But they faded from sight as well as her vision whited out, into blessed and protective nothingness.
Chapter 10: Black And Blue
Chapter Text
(Green Hills, Montana)
Maddie Wachowski had been having a series of rough days. Her planned camping trip for her middle child's B-Earth Day had been interrupted by a government helicopter. She'd been dying of boredom without her boys, only to immediately find out they were in danger. And when she and her husband tried to help they'd ended up held at gunpoint, nearly impaled on falling rebar inside a government building, and then an angry teenage alien almost killed her husband thinking he was someone else. So after almost three days of fighting international logistics, she'd managed to get Tom transferred to a local hospital in Great Falls. She could finally go home and see her kids. Knuckles had sent her a text letting her know he and the others were okay, but she knew he wasn't especially tech savvy so she didn't press for details. Sonic had lost his phone in Japan, and Tails… well, he was eight. It was bad enough her kids were dragged into this mess by GUN, she wasn't going to traumatize the littlest one further. Tails was a sweet little kid, he deserved some gentle handling after a rough start.
She opened her front door with a sigh. "Boys. I'm home!"
"Maddie!" Sonic zipped around the corner from the living room, eyes wide, with their dog Ozzie right on his heels. "Hey, quick question and don't freak out."
"That's not inspiring confidence, buddy. What's going on?" She took off her jacket and hung it up. It was part of the disguise she'd been in, a fake GUN uniform. It had made getting Tom transferred easier, once she'd called her sister and brother-in-law who actually worked for GUN for help.
"We had a little… accident, coming back from space." Sonic squirmed.
"Who's hurt? Is it Knuckles or Tails?" She felt instant maternal panic in her chest, and Sonic took her hand to lead her into the living room.
"Neither." He said hurriedly.
Laying in a limp heap on her couch was another furry little alien, a girl this time. It took Maddie a moment to recognize her as a hedgehog though. Broken quills stick up haphazardly all over her head and back, the back of her red dress torn to ribbons and stuck to her fur with dried blood. There was debris and greenery stuck all over her, and her white undershirt, tights, and lace-cuffed socks were all also bloodstained. In the corner were a pair of black Mary-Jane style shoes with gold metal soles. Knuckles was sitting vigil by the side of the couch nearest her head, arms crossed and a serious expression on his face, while Tails seemed to be scanning her from all angles with his little handheld.
"Oh my god." Maddie gasped. "Is that…?"
"Her name's Star." Sonic explained.
"She looks like she went through a blender. Has she been here with you guys for three days like this?" Shifting immediately to mom mode, Maddie crouched beside the couch.
"Yes. We attempted to render aid, but once we got her here we were unable to touch her." Knuckles sighed, leaning over and reaching towards Star. When his mitt got within a few inches of the still-damp bloody fur, it was stopped by a faintly glowing blue barrier. "Her powers do not accept our help. Even my strength cannot break through."
"She's psychic." Tails shook his head. "It started when we took her shoes off, and she curled up into a ball before the shields popped up. We've tried everything."
"Has she woken up at all?" Maddie frowned. "Sonic, go get my work bag from upstairs?"
He zipped off as Maddie put her hand near Star's head. Another barrier formed and she pressed at it, gently exploring the invisible structure. It felt smooth and cool as glass, with an almost heartbeat like pulse under her fingertips. A thready, weak pulse that fluttered like it was in distress.
"You getting anything?" Sonic peeked over her shoulder, back with the bag.
"I think I can feel her heartbeat through her powers. It's not as crazy fast as yours." Maddie leaned closer, scritching her fingers against the shield like she did behind the boys' ears. "You must be scared to death, trying to protect yourself even when you're asleep. But you're safe here, I'll help you."
"You think she can hear you?" Tails leaned against Maddie's side, eyes wide. He'd been trying to help since they'd dragged Star home, but once she'd started blocking them from contact he couldn't even try to stop the bleeding. The couch was probably ruined, but the upholstery was less concerning than the living hedgehog on it.
"Only one way to find out." Maddie softened her voice further. "Star, sweetheart. My name is Maddie. I'm going to help you, but you have to let me in. Can you do that for me?"
Star's fingers twitched, wrapped around the edge of a couch cushion. Maddie kept murmured gentle reassurances, until the barrier under her fingers felt like it splintered. Maddie's hand dropped gently atop Star's ears and carefully petted them.
"It worked!" Sonic gaped.
"How have you done this when my muscles failed?" Knuckles demanded, as Maddie gently shifted to turn Star with one hand and get her stethoscope in her ears with the other.
"Sometimes you can't break down a door, you have to ask gently for it to be opened." Maddie explained, listening to Star's heart before gently pinching the skin of her forearm. "Hypovolemic shock, dehydration, multiple open wounds…" She muttered to herself, glancing over at her boys too. "Once I get her cleaned up, I'm checking you all over."
They all nodded, knowing better than to argue with her. She carefully gathered Star up in her arms and headed upstairs, turning on the shower to warm. Then stripped Star's filthy and bloody clothes off and lay her carefully in the tub, rolling towel up to place under her head. While she cleaned the blood and dirt off, picking debris, broken quills, and rocks out of her head and back, she took stock of the full scope of injuries. "You had a rough day, didn't you honey? You were brave, I can tell. You're no older than Sonic…"
Once Star was clean, Maddie carefully pulled her out of the bath and wrapped her in several towels to keep her warm. She carried her to the guest room, laying her on the bed before going back to get her supplies and an old t-shirt for the girl to wear. "I'm gonna give you some fluids, honey. It'll keep your organs from shutting down. It's a miracle they haven't already, but you little aliens are so tough. Sonic got blown up the first time I met him, and popped up like he was just taking a nap. Little pinch." She talked to the downed girl as she worked, warning her about the needle poke and cold, the ointment and bandages of her injuries, and that Maddie was dressing her.
"There now. That's gotta be more comfortable." She finally said, laying Star back and tucking her in. "I'm gonna check on my boys, then I'm gonna warm up some soup and try to get some calories into you."
Star didn't stir, but Maddie hadn't really expected her too. She headed back down to the boys, who were helpfully trying their best to clean the crime scene off the couch cushions with the pet stain remover she'd bought back when they were still house training Ozzy. She just shook her head with a wry smile. "Knuckles, you first. C'mere, to the kitchen." The teenage echidna shuffled in quietly, sitting in a chair she pointed him too. "Tell me what happened." She asked, starting with his hands.
"I am not sure of all the details." He admitted. "We fell from a great height above the planet, and used a ring to land in Green Hill. I was able to break Sonic and Tails' fall, as they were both unconscious."
"That explains the road rash on your back, big guy." She sighed, digging out the ointment again. "You're a good big brother."
"This is my new tribe. It is my duty to protect them." He said sagely. "… and you. I am sorry I did not stop the Donut Lord from being injured."
"Tom's going to be fine in the long run. He had surgery on his stomach and his arm is broken, but he'll be coming home in about a week."
"That is a relief. Sonic was… most distraught."
"I can only imagine. But you and Tails kept him safe." Maddie gently patted his arm. "Anything else hurt?"
"No. I am well."
"Good." She carefully hugged him without touching his bandaged back. "Love you, baby."
"I am not a baby."
"You're my baby. All three of you are my babies."
He sighed, but wrapped his arms back around her waist. "I did not have the opportunity to tell my first mother my feelings before her death. I will not make the same error. I love you too."
She kissed his head. "Attaboy. Send me Tails next?"
Knuckles nodded and padded out, the little fox kit shuffling in next. Maddie smiled fondly and patted the chair for him to climb up and sit in. "I'm not hurt at all, Maddie." He said, ears pricked towards her. "Promise."
"Never hurts to make sure." She smiled. "You wanna tell me what happened?"
Tails nodded. "It's a little complicated, and I missed some details. But after you left with Tom in the ambulance, Sonic was really upset. He made Knuckles tell him where the Master Emerald was, and they were about to fight…" He hugged his tails. "Knuckles was the one who settled everything down. But then Star showed up, and she wanted to help stop Professor Robotnik… and save Shadow, cause if the Eclipse Cannon fired it would kill him too. She's really smart, she could calculate where Sonic and Shadow fighting was going to land just by looking at them coming into the atmosphere. So we gave her a ring and she went to go try to stop them. Sonic says they were kicking each other's butts pretty good but she was trying to break it up, and then they ended up on the moon."
"The moon?" Maddie jolted.
"Yeah. He said they talked up there, but he seems kinda sad about it so I didn't ask about what. But Knuckles and I used a ring to go up to the Cannon, and we rescued Eggman cause his grandfather turned on him. Then Star showed up and fought Gerald, and won… and we turned the cannon so it wouldn't hit the planet while Sonic and Shadow blocked the beam. We kinda broke the moon a little though… sorry."
"… That explains why it looked like that when I looked out the window the other night. How'd you get back?" Maddie sighed.
"Sonic blacked out and started falling, so Knuckles and I jumped out to grab him and used a ring to land mostly-safely. We only messed up a little part of that cornfield." Tails kicked his feet, both adorable and sheepish. "But then Star came flying out of the ring before it closed, and she was going so fast she skidded and left a huge crater. That's how she got so hurt."
"And she's been unconscious since then?"
"Not exactly. She was awake and crawled out of the hole, asking for a ring. She couldn't even stand up, but she was trying to get back to the Cannon for Shadow. And then it exploded up above us… and she just went down."
Maddie made a sympathetic noise and kissed Tails head. "I see."
"Is she gonna be okay? Cause she was sort of nice to me in Japan. Even if she beat up Knuckles. He did technically swing first."
"I'm going to take care of her the best way I know how. Will you send Sonic in next?"
"Yes, mom." He grinned, sliding down from the chair and shuffling out. A minute later, the blue brother poked his head in.
"Am I in trouble?" Sonic frowned.
"Did you do something to get in trouble?" Maddie pointed at the chair, and he quietly took a seat as she immediately started checking him over for injuries. It looked like mostly just bruises, nothing lasting, and she chalked the good fortune up to him having the golden powers.
His ears drooped and quills wilted like an under watered plant. "I let my anger get the better of me when Tom got hurt… You put all that faith in me to make good choices, and the second it got difficult I let you down. I really was going to kill him… I'm sorry."
Maddie gently tipped his chin up. "But in the end, you didn't. You made the right choice, like I knew you would, because you've got a good heart. Tell me what happened on the moon."
Sonic leaned his cheek into her palm, all the energy and lightheartedness she was used to going out of him. Whatever this was, it sat heavy on her boy. "He wanted me to hurt him." He murmured faintly. "And I thought about what Tom said… about Longclaw being proud of me, because I didn't let pain change me. And I realized that I didn't want to let it, even if I was angry. And then… Star was there in the middle, and said I'd have to kill her first, to get to Shadow. She loved Maria as much as Shadow did, but she didn't want to let pain change her either. And she was ready to die to save him because she loved him so much…"
"And he's not here." Maddie realized.
Sonic shook his head. "He sacrificed himself the save the world. And Star… but that means he never got to see how good life really could be. And I don't know how she's going to be when she wakes up."
"We'll look after her." Maddie reassured him, opening her arms when he leaned forward to let him fall into her chest. She hugged him tight, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Promise."
"Thanks, Maddie. You're the best."
She rubbed his ears. "Love you, little guy. Now, let's just unzip the pillow covers off the couch and throw them in the wash."
"Are you okay?" Maria asked softly, sitting outside Shadow base. Star's knees were drawn up to her chest as she sat at her side. The white flowers were blooming, perfumed and sweet on the air. The stars shone overhead like a back lit canopy with holes punched by countless careless fireflies.
The Star on the ground shook her head. "You're gone. And Shadow is too. I'm all alone now."
"Aww. You're not alone, Star." Maria nudged her gently. "But even if you were, it's not so bad. I've been waiting a long time here by myself."
"Why?" Star frowned, looking at her. Her long blonde hair was pulled back with her favorite headband, her blue dress breezy and soft. She looked just like Star remembered, bright and vivacious, the light in the dark times.
"Waiting for you and Shadow." Maria shrugged. "When you both get here, the sun will finally come up. And then the I'll take your hand in my left and Shadow's in my right, and we'll run straight for that bright horizon."
Star looked out over the dark landscape. "So… you'll just keep waiting?"
"Yeah. That's what friends do." Maria smiled. "I'm excited for us to be together again… but don't come too fast. You've got a lot of stuff to do first. I can wait, it's okay."
Star buried her face in her knees. "I miss you so much. I don't know what to do… without either one of you."
"Make new friends. And don't bite anybody this time. Okay?" Maria patted her ears gently. "You're going to be okay."
"I don't feel okay."
"I know. But you will. Just let people love you, Star. I'm not going anywhere any time soon."
"Maria…"
"Shhh. It's okay."
"Shhh. It's okay, honey." It wasn't Maria's voice soothing her, but someone was still petting her ears. Star's eyes snapped opened, breath hitching in a sudden start. Instead of the familiar face of Maria Robotinik, she found herself looking at a pretty woman with dark skin and warm eyes, leaning over her. She wasn't in a GUN base with its mass produced, standard square ceiling tiles. This was a smooth ceiling, with a ceiling fan that had little decorative charms on the pull strings… a house?
Star squinted at the face inches from her own. "… I've seen you before." She mumbled, surprised by how raspy her voice sounded. "You're… Sonic's mother."
"That's right." The woman smiled. "My name's Maddie Wachowski."
"Maddie…" Star mumbled, fumbling an arm out of the blanket wrapped around her to press her palm to her reeling head. She was surprised to see her gloves gone, and bandages wrapped around her cut paw pads. Someone was… taking care of her? "Where am I?"
"My house. The boys brought you home after you crash landed." Maddie explained. "You've been here a couple days. I'm a vet, so I've been patching you up."
Star frowned, pushing herself half upright despite immediate pain through her back. "Why?"
"Don't try to sit up yet, honey. You're still hurt, you-" Maddie started reach for her, but was rebuffed when Star bared her teeth. "Easy, sweetheart. I'm not going ot hurt you." The human woman showed her hands immediately.
"The last time I saw you, you were wearing a GUN uniform. Shadow hurt the one named Tom, and you cared for him." Star's voice was barely above a growl, but Maddie spotted her eyes darting towards the door behind her with something more akin to desperation than malice. "So why are you helping me, if not a trap?"
"Because you're just a kid." Maddie said softly. "The GUN uniform was just a disguise to get into the headquarters. We're not GUN agents."
"… Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails jumped out of a GUN helicopter in Japan." Star's puffed out quills did slowly start to smooth back down. Sonic, she felt might be trustworthy. He'd taken the time to understand, to offer a hand in friendship back on the moon.
"Yeah. They showed up and interrupted a family event demanding the boys come help them." The frustration in Maddie's voice couldn't be faked. "The only reason they cooperated is we don't want them to take the kids away permanently. We had a sort of understanding with Commander Walters."
That, Star could sort of understand. She'd cooperated with GUN so she could stay close to Maria and not be separated from Shadow… Her shoulders dropped, hands curling up by her chest. Don't bite anybody this time. "I'm sorry." She said softly, eyes apologetic. "For snapping at you."
"It's okay, honey. You're in a strange place, with strange people. You must be scared to death." Maddie reached for an extra pillow, using it to prop Star half upright. "Now that you're awake, how do you feel? You took a beating, and lost a lot of blood."
Describing what she felt was familiar. Star could be a good test subject, had tried to be for Gerald. It hadn't stopped him from turning his back on her, but still… she'd try again. It seemed stupid to dream that maybe this time would be different, but what did she have left but dreams? "My back and shoulders hurt the most." She said almost robotically. "My body feels heavy, like I'm not strong enough to move it correctly. And my arms and legs feel like their asleep. Tingly."
Maddie nodded, pulling the blanket off Star to examine her legs. Star got the first look at the bandages all over her, and the t-shirt she had been changed into. She didn't know what Sailor Moon was, but the art made her think of Maria.
"I'm gonna try pressing on your feet and bending your legs. Let me know if it hurts and I'll stop." Maddie said, surprising Star. She moved slowly, gently checking for damage beyond the surface. "Doesn't look like any broken bones or torn muscles, thank goodness. Just a real bad landing. Tails said you flew through the ring faster than they did."
"Shadow threw me." Star looked away. "He knew I wouldn't leave him willingly… so he made me."
"He saved your life."
"I don't think I'm all that grateful." Star said flatly. Maddie just winced. She was just a kid…
"How about we see about getting you something to eat? I've been pushing IV fluids for couple days, but I could only get you to swallow a few spoonfuls of broth. You've gotta be hungry, huh?"
Star accepted the offer with a tired nod and leaned back a little further in the pillows. "… thank you." She murmured, folding her hands over her stomach and finally noticing her bare wrist as Maddie got up to go grab her something to eat. Nothing remained but the beaded bracelet, in it's haunting red and blue and yellow reminding her of the trio she'd been a part of. The one that didn't exist anymore. "Doctor Wachowski?"
"You can call me Maddie, honey."
"… Doctor Maddie. Where are the other bracelets I was wearing? There were four of them."
"I took them off when I gave you a bath. They're downstairs with your shoes. I tried to wash your clothes but they were too ripped to salvage."
Star nodded. "Can I have the bracelets back? They're important." She felt raw without them, like the least little thing was going to pull her apart. Back in Oklahoma, the scientists had called them inhibitors. They regulated the Chaos energy she and Shadow radiated, keeping it from harming them by limiting the flow through their bodies. Without them, she felt fragile and on edge even if she didn't use her powers. She'd only removed one set in space, and just to be strong enough to save the Earth.
Not that it had been enough. Not to save Shadow, no matter how hard she tried.
"I'll bring them up when I come back." Maddie nodded.
Left alone with her thoughts, Star squished further back in the pillows and tried to figure out her new reality. For the first time, it held neither Shadow or Maria… What did she do now? She'd never been the last one standing, and never planned on it either. Her earliest memories were tied into feeling like her life's duty was to follow Shadow, to keep him safe like a knight serving her prince… but the prince was gone and she carried on, armor rusted and her sword too heavy to lift.
She jumped when the door pushed open, scrunching nervously away from it. She couldn't defend herself right now, and didn't know who else was in this house. What if they turned her back over to GUN? She doubted they'd waste time putting her back into stasis, they'd likely just shoot her. But if they did, and she had to endure another 50 years of nightmares?
She couldn't take it, not again.
Before she could contemplate throwing herself off the bed and crawling under it to hide, a blue spiky head poked in. "Psst! Star? Maddie said you're awake now."
"Sonic?" She blinked.
He trotted to the side of the bed, her bracelets in his hands. "Here, I brought you these."
"Thank you." She slipped them on hurriedly, the gross feeling that lingered around her quills fading.
"How are you feeling?" Sonic climbed up on the bed next to her, green eyes bright. From the doorway, she spotted Knuckles and Tails peeking in.
The trio's united curiosity just made her miss Shadow and Maria more.
"I'm… alive. I guess." She shrugged, then winced. "I don't really know what to do with myself."
"You don't have to do anything. Tom and Maddie are great, they'll take care of you. Just like they do the rest of us." He smiled, putting a hand on hers.
She just turned her head. "You really shouldn't trust me with your humans. I could hurt them."
"You won't." Sonic squeezed her hand. "You're gonna be a part of a family. It's gonna be great. I promise."
"I had a family, Sonic." Star whispered. "It's all gone now."
The Wachowski household had no set routine Star could follow, no comforting expectation of what each day would hold. She woke up whenever, usually before any of the boys did. After the second day, Maddie cleared her to walk up and down the stairs unassisted, so she wrapped a blanket around her sore shoulders like a cape and wandered the house with exploratory curiosity when no one was up yet.
The boys shared a room in the attic, full of colorful furniture and personality. Sonic's bed looked like a racecar, while Tails had an airplane one that Tom had dutifully suspended from the rafters with care and many heavy-duty hurricane ties to protect his youngest from falls. Knuckles' bed was a monster truck, and he slept sprawled out across it with one foot hanging off the bed. As long as she could hear the cacophony of snores and squeaks, she poked around their beanbag chair and collection of comic books. Some she even recognized, like the Flash and Justice League. Maria had loved Wonder Woman, way back when.
The walls around the house were covered in pictures that told a story Star could only piece together. Tom and Maddie's wedding, where her sister looked less than thrilled in every photo. Pictures of Maddie's collage graduations and Tom in a police uniform, which made Star recoil involuntarily. A little niece's birth, birthdays and holidays, adopting a puppy… Star was a little nervous around the now large dog, Ozzie, but he seemed entirely unimpressed by her presence whenever he was in the same room as she was.
Eventually, Sonic started appearing in the pictures. Then Tails and Knuckles, seemingly at once. All three boys seemed to favor Tom, hanging on him in family shots while Maddie grinned from the side. They seemed proud of everything the boys did, from Sonic trying on new shoes to Tails tinkering with a plane engine, or Knuckles picking everyone up on his shoulders. Star didn't know what to make of the photos, the clear evidence of affection. The only photo she'd ever had of herself was the one she'd saved from Shadow Base, which she hadn't seen since she crashed into that cornfield. It had probably been lost in space or destroyed… her last chance to see Shadow and Maria's faces, gone forever.
There were, at least, a few familiar things in the pantry. Campbell's soups, Jif peanut butter, Hershey's chocolate, all things she remembered from shipments that Maria had shared with them. Coca-cola tasted the same, even if it came in plastic instead of glass bottles now.
Most mornings, she wandered around until she heard Maddie stir, then planted herself at the kitchen table with her blanket cape cocooned around her. Maddie would wander downstairs in her pajamas and talk to her in a soft voice while she made breakfast. The smell of cooking brought the boys down, rambunctious and affable, and Star and her blanket moved to the couch to watch the whirlwind of their day to day. She didn't really know how to participate, so she observed.
Maddie would sit with her sometimes, patient and soft spoken. Star liked that, and how she always kept her hands where she could see them. Maddie let her pick new clothes out on her phone, and let her listen to music. "This is from the 90's. The best generation." She would laugh.
"I'm from the 70's." Star said mildly.
"I'm gonna get you a little notebook to keep stuff you want to try in this time in. Like Captain America." Maddie smiled fondly, adding something else to the Amazon cart. "You'll have to watch those movies to get that reference."
"I like watching movies." Star nodded, pulling her blanket a little tighter around herself and nuzzling her cheek against the fabric.
I gotta get this kid a stuffie.
"No ghost movies. Knuckles almost broke Sonic and Tails' hands when we watched Casper. Horror is fine if you like it, just no ghosts."
"No alien movies." Was the only reply.
Maddie gently patted her quills gently. "Fair enough." Her eyes flicked upward when she heard the doorknob rattle. "Oh, that must be Tom. Wade was going to bring him home today."
"Wade?"
"That's his best friend. He and Knuckles spend a lot of time together." Maddie got up, and Star squished back further into the corner of the couch. Ozzie went bounding past Maddie's legs, as did all three of the boys.
"Tom's home!" Sonic practically dove for the door, Maddie scooping him up onto her hip before he could launch himself on the man who limped inside with his arm in a sling. "Tom!"
"Hey, buddy. Miss me?" Tom grinned, ruffling Tails' ears with his good arm. Knuckles simply wiggled between him and the other human who'd been helping him inside, and Tom leaned on him like an armrest.
"Only a whole lot!"
"We have someone for you to meet." Maddie said carefully, leading him and Wade both into the house. "Star, sweetie?"
When she got back to the living room, Star and her blanket weren't on the couch. Instead, the disheveled lump of cotton and quill was perched on the staircase, blue eyes peeking out of the mass. Tom leaned closer to his wife. "… Is that the same Star-?"
"Yes. Be gentle with her. She's shy." Maddie smiled fondly. "Honey, you wanna come down and say hi?"
Star just shook her head silently, eyes never leaving Tom or Wade who'd arrived in uniform.
"That's okay." Maddie helped Tom to his armchair and patted Wade's shoulder. "Thanks for bringing him home."
"Of course." Wade grinned. He had a kind of clueless innocence about him that Star didn't quite believe, seeing as he had a gun on his hip. "See you when you get back, Tom."
"Stitches come out in a week, and then I can do desk duty until my arm heals." Tom nodded, looking up at Star. She was remarkably intense for saying nothing, but her little cotton cocoon oozed up the steps without breaking eye contact, and he heard the door to the guest room shut. Once Wade left, he looked at Maddie. "So. Star?"
"The boys brought her home injured, but she's really a nice kid. Just… skittish." Maddie sat on the arm of his chair and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Give her a chance. She doesn't have anyone else."
He slipped his good arm around her waist. "We've never met an alien we couldn't parent. We'll make it work."
Chapter 11: Ghosts In The Twilight
Chapter Text
"Star?"
The hedgehog girl was laying on her bed on her stomach, thumbing through a stack of cookbooks Maddie had gifted her. She was settling in a little more day by day, still figuring everything out. They'd gotten her a bed shaped like a spaceship to match the boys, though she had her own room since she was the only girl. Maddie had even found her bed linens in red, and a little CD player for her to listen to music as long as she didn't blast it too loud. There was a collection of familiar stuff from the 70's, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones mixed in with her new interest in mid-2000s alternative rock like Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance. Tom called it appropriately emo, though she didn't know what that meant.
She looked up, telekinetically turning off the music as she did, to find Tails standing in the doorway with a nervous look on his little face. He reminded her more and more of Maria the longer she got to know him. Brilliant, kind hearted… only he lacked her confidence. She'd overheard him talking with Sonic about being rejected by his whole village before he'd come to Earth, all over that extra tail of his that seemed so useful to her… she didn't get it, or really know how to interact with him.
Or any of them really.
Sometimes it seemed easier to just avoid everyone, then explain how when she saw the three boys hanging out she saw her own reflection next to ghosts of 50 years prior. But he'd sought her out, and she didn't have it in her to be outright dismissive of those big blue eyes. So she closed her cookbook and sat up. "Yes?"
"I heard you tossing and turning the last couple nights." He explained, a box behind his back. "I've got really good hearing, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop or anything, I swear-"
"It's alright Tails. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." She shook her head. "I don't… sleep well. Not anymore."
"How come?" He took a few small, hesitant steps into her room and looked around. She'd put up a few posters of bands, and several star maps of different constellations. Tom had given her an old telescope too, which stood by the window near her desk that had a stack of printer paper and box of colored pencils on it. She seemed to like art, though she hadn't really let anyone see what she made.
Star hesitated, trying to decide how much to say. Tails was a kid… but he'd asked, and she was a terrible liar… it couldn't hurt to to tell the truth. "… I never used to sleep alone." She admitted. "Shadow and I shared a bed, and Maria slept in the same room. I'm still getting used to the quiet."
Tails blinked, eyes wide, before he made it to the side of her bed. She scooted over, making space for him to sit. "I thought it might be something like that. Before I came to Earth, I had a hard time sleeping too." He said softly. "So I got you something. Maddie helped me pick it out, but I thought you'd like it." He handed her the box, which was almost the size of his whole little torso. "Open it."
Star took the box and set it in her lap curiously, peeling up the tape with a claw and pulling it off. Inside was a squishy stuffed doll, red and shaped like a dollop of frosting, with big shiny plastic eyes and gold wings. When she lifted it from the box, it was weighted with glass beans in the torso and head. "What is it?"
"It's a chao stuffie." Tails explained. "They're really cute, and we went to live show in Tokyo…"
Star let the box slide to the floor and set the doll in her lap, wrapping her arms around it's oversized head. The smooth fabric it was made of had been sprayed with something that made it smell of cherries, and there was a little button she could feel in it's left hand. When she squeezed it, a small steady heartbeat played for about a minute straight. "It makes sounds?"
"Yeah. There's a little compartment in the wings for the battery pack, so if it runs out we can change the batteries really easy." Tails smiled. "Do you like it?"
"I do." She nodded, hugging it a little tighter. "Thank you."
He decided to risk it and leaned over to hug her, little arms around her and the chao. "I know what it's like. To be lonely." He breathed "If you ever want to come sleep in our room sometimes, you can share my bed. There's space, and the anchors are secure. I triple checked."
"That's… really nice of you, Tails." Star nodded. Part of her wanted to take him up on it. The other half told her it was pointless. Nothing and nobody would ever replace Shadow and Maria… Being alive as complicated, exhausting, and she had to learn to do this on her own.
Asking for help felt like too much. She was already embarrassed he'd clocked that she needed it… but she did like the chao doll. She'd never had a stuffie of her own.
"There's one more thing." Tails smiled. "We found this in your pockets when we first brought you home. Tom helped me get a frame for it." He reached into the little bag he always carried, pulling out a framed photo, black with painted red spider lilies across the sides. Star's eyes brightened as he handed it over, touching the glass over the old picture of her, Maria, and Shadow.
"I thought it was destroyed…" She whispered.
"Nah. We just wanted to make sure it was in a nice frame for you." Tails chirped. "Maddie ordered you a weighted blanket too, but it hasn't come in yet. She wanted to find one with a cover that matched your bed stuff." The fox kit released her from the hug. "She got me one when she found out I was scared of thunderstorms… I guess you aren't really scared of much, though. You probably think that it's silly."
"Not at all. I'm... well, it's not exactly true that I'm not afraid of anything." Star admitted.
"Really?"
"Guns." Star nodded. "I can't stand them. They always had them in the base in Oklahoma, and then a stray shot is what caused the explosion that killed Maria… Even when Shadow was the one using it, I wanted to crawl out of my quills. I was never as brave as he was."
Tails leaned his little head against her arm. "I don't think you're any less brave."
"Thank you." She said quietly flopping over on her side wrapped around the doll.
Tails smiled. "I'll leave you to it. I hope it helps."
Once he'd padded out of the room she pushed the heartbeat button again, bringing it up to her face, and closed her eyes. Just hearing it, even knowing it was only a simulated sound, was comforting. For a moment, it was 1974 again. Shadow was next to her, and Maria in the next bed.
And she wasn't alone.
"Okay, so here's how this works. Knuckles is gonna hold it, and we're gonna stack up the ultimate s'more. Then we eat it as fast as possible." Sonic grinned, waving a bag of marshmallows. "The faster you eat the less you gotta share."
"What is a s'more?" Star frowned, arms crossed, as she inspected the dubious collection of sugary treats on the wooden picnic table at their campsite. Tom and Maddie had wanted to pick up the B-Earth Day celebration GUN had so rudely interrupted before now that Tom was mostly back to full health. Star didn't really understand it, but Maria had once told her camping was fun. She trusted that memory, if nothing else.
"Traditionally, it's graham crackers with a toasted marshmallow and chocolate between them." Tails explained. "But we put a lot of extra stuff on there."
Star gave the picnic table another baleful look. It looked like it would make a sticky mess, and she didn't want to ruin the new clothes Maddie had just gotten her. She had a white dance leotard, an open back comfortable for her shoulder spines, under a high-waisted red denim skirt that had two rows of gold studs down the front seams. She still wore her white and gold bandana and maintained her preference for frilly lace-cuff socks with her shoes. "Pass."
"Live a little, Star." Sonic groaned.
"Pass." She repeated, retreating to the edge of the fire pit to sit and watch as they stacked up an abomination of sugar and syrup. Before Maddie could get a picture of it, it had already been eaten.
"Knuckles, how could you?" Sonic gasped, covered in marshmallow goo.
"You gotta be faster than that!" Tails laughed.
Star hunched her shoulders, watching them from her periphery. She wanted to be nowhere near their mess, content with her own company… at least until she was alone. Then she was lonely, until she was around others.
There is something irredeemably wrong with me, isn't there?
She scrubbed her hand across her face, muffling a groan in her palm. This was so stupid, she was being stupid, why did she feel-
"Ever roasted a marshmallow before, kiddo?" Tom's voice was suddenly right beside her, and she startled a foot in the air like a scared cat and fell off the back of the log seat. "Hey, you okay?"
Embarrassed, Star jumped up and brushed leaves off the seat of her skirt. "I'm fine, Mr. Wachowski." Her voice was too sharp, too brittle, but she couldn't help it.
"You sure? here, you got a pine cone stuck to your-"
"I'm fine!" She snapped, jumping back when he reached for her. His hand hit an invisible barrier and he froze, staring at her with a quizzical expression as he tried to figure this kid out. One who so clearly craved affection, yet went ice cold on him every time he tried to give it.
Saving grace came in the form of Sonic's voice. "Hey Star! We're gonna settle a bet with a race. You in?"
"S-sure." She cleared her throat, turning away from Tom and walking over to the starting line the three brothers had set up. She couldn't make herself think of them as her brothers yet, but they were each others' at least. "Where's the finish line?"
Tails showed her a map on his screen, grinning. "Down past the lake, then back up the mountain and circle back until you get to the clearing with the holograms."
"Holograms." Star pursed her lips. "Your doing?"
"Yeah. We had to keep Sonic occupied last time." He beamed.
"Let's do this!" Knuckles boomed, cracking his… well, knuckles. When Star winced and covered her closest ear, he dropped his voice. "My apologies, sister hedgehog."
She crouched, one knee under her and the other leg stretched out behind her. "Let's go."
Sonic grinned. "Gotta go fast."
She rolled her eyes as Maddie counted them down. "Three. Two. One." The air rushed around her as the four kids took off in a rainbow of streaking light. "Remember, no cataclysms!"
Tom walked up beside her, adjusting the strap of his sling. "… Star really does not seem to like me."
"She likes you. Or, she will. Just give her some time." Maddie leaned against his good side.
"You sure about that? She jumped a foot in the air when I sat beside her, and she's only three foot tall. That's a big leap." He sighed. "Not gonna lie, that one stung. It's been weeks, and I get the same result every time."
"She's not like the boys." Maddie patted his back reassuringly. "They needed a dad. A leader for Sonic, a chief for Knuckles, and a protector for Tails. And Star's going to eventually need all those things too. It's just not what she needs right now."
"So what does she need?" Tom sighed.
"To feel safe. We only know bits and pieces of what she's been through, but it's obvious she's terrified. Think of her like a feral cat. She needs a soft touch and to learn to trust us… she might also have a harder time with you, since the only men she's had a lot of experience with are Walters and the Robotniks."
Tom looked at Ozzie. "And this is why I'm a dog person."
Halfway up the mountain, Sonic was narrating the race as he pulled out ahead. "To the surprise of absolutely no one, way out in front, it's the blue blur. The red-shoe rocket. The-"
"The loudmouth in second place?" Star skated past him on the left side, trailing a streak of white gold light and wearing a smirk.
"Oh, you're on!" He grinned, putting on another burst. "I don't lose races."
"You sure about that?" She doubled down, leaving Knuckles and Tails in the dust as the two hedgehogs went neck and neck.
"Give it up, Star. I'm the fastest thing alive." He grinned.
"Only while I was in a tank." She narrowed her eyes, dead serious. "There's a reason GUN called us the Ultimate Lifeforms."
Sonic was still laughing, but all of the sudden it didn't feel like a game for Star. She had to win, to prove something… it wasn't true, but it felt like if she could just win this race, if she could just run fast enough, maybe when she got to the finish line everything she had lost would be found again. If she could just be good enough, she'd deserve to be happy again.
But Sonic couldn't just let her have this. He was competitive and laughing right beside her, feet moving just a hair faster as the finish line approached. She felt her chest clench when he pulled out a nose ahead, every scrap of Chaos in her making the rockets on her shoes burn bright and hot. When he crossed the finish one step ahead of her, she felt like ice water had been dumped directly into her veins. She banked and skidded to a stop, panting, as he ran to Tom and Maddie. Both were grinning, congratulating him and holding his hands as he jumped up and down.
It knocked the wind out of her, and her knees buckled as Tails and Knuckles caught up. She sank down onto the ground, watching everyone else laughing and joking. It was so unserious… just a race, just a game…
It's not a game to me…
"Star?" Tom, trying to take his wife's advice, edged slowly towards her. "You okay, kiddo?"
She flinched and warped, disappearing from sight with a loud crack.
Sonic blinked. "What just happened?"
Maddie sighed heavily. "…. let's give her some space, guys."
It was getting dark when Knuckles decided it was his big-brotherly duty to go find Star. Everyone was quietly worried about her, but there was no manual on how to handle whatever was going on. "I am the most physically sturdy." Knuckles said, tapping his chest with a broad hand. "If she should be upset enough to wish to fight."
"She beat you up twice in Japan." Tails pointed out.
"I am one million percent muscle. If she needs to vent her frustrations, she may do so." Knuckles just smiled, heading off towards the lake where Tails' scanner picked up the flickering Chaos Energy that hung around Star like a comet's tail.
Finding her wasn't hard, she'd made no effort to hide. She sat at the edge of the lake, the ripples close to her feet, drawing in the dirt with a stick around her updrawn knees. It didn't look like she'd moved for hours.
Her ear twitched when he stepped out of the woods, shoulders hunching further. "… Are they mad at me?" She asked in a quiet voice, not looking up as the echidna sat beside her.
"No. They are only concerned." Knuckles rested his elbow on one knee, looking out at the water. "They do not understand why you ran off."
"I lost the race." Star's drawing didn't stop, though her hand slowed down.
"Losing a race to Sonic seems inevitable. He is unnaturally fast."
She gritted her teeth. "I know. I just… nevermind. It's stupid."
Knuckles lightly tapped her side with his fist, not nearly enough to hurt. He'd learned to soften his blows, gentle and even playful with Tails, as time passed. "Tell me."
She huffed, finally dropping the stick she was drawing with, and wrapped both arms around her knees. "It felt like… if I could just win, maybe I'd be good enough. That I could win them back… I know it's impossible, but I keep looking for ways to cheat the truth… If I could just be good enough, they'd come back to life."
"I have felt the same way, many times." He didn't quite touch her when he put his hand down on the ground between them, but left it close. An offer of comfort, an olive branch she'd have to reach out and take.
The broken glass in Star's heart wanted to snap at him, tell him he couldn't possibly understand what it was like to be the last one standing when everyone else you loved now existed only in your memory. But there was a tiny part of her who wanted desperately to believe that he did, so it wouldn't be so lonely to live like this. "… you have?"
"I am the last of my tribe." He nodded. "The rest were killed in a war I now see was pointless. The owl who raised Sonic as a child, Longclaw, killed them."
Star blinked, turning to look at him. "And you don't hate him?"
"I did. But my tribe also killed her, and Sonic chose not to hate me. Now, we are a new tribe." Knuckles shrugged. "Time softens the edges of grief."
"I don't think it will." She peeked over her folded arms at her drawing. Knuckles followed her gaze, finding a drawing of a human girl with long hair sitting cross legged next to Shadow. It was carefully rendered, catching the little intricacies of her crooked grin and the way his quills curved and stuck out.
"That is very detailed." Knuckles said solemnly.
"I have a didactic memory." She breathed. "I don't forget. I can't."
"That may be a blessing. As time passes, I find myself forgetting." He mused, chest rumbling. "I sometimes cannot recall the sound of my mother's voice, or my father's eye color. If I think hard enough, it comes back but… I wish I did not fear the day it doesn't."
"I don't just remember those details." Star shook her head. "I remember what it felt like to lose them. In the moment, like it's happening again. How's time supposed to soften that, when it's always fresh?"
"I do not know." Knuckles shook his head. "These are questions for the fox, or Maddie. But… you will not face the future alone. You and I are much alike, and I have found sorrow is easier born when shared."
"We're alike?" She frowned.
"A last survivor, with a temper, who trusted their allies and was tricked? I know the grandfather of Eggman betrayed you, just as his grandson betrayed me." Knuckles pointed out. "Now you struggle to trust at all."
"… I guess so." She scrubbed her cheek on her arm. "I'm sorry. I know I'm… difficult. I don't know why I'm like this."
"Life on Earth will change you. Let it." He got up and offered her a hand up, reminding her of Sonic back on the moon. Maybe that was where he'd gotten it. "Come. It is time for the roasting of the marshmallows again, and this time you must try one."
"I'm going to get sticky." She took the offered hand.
"Sticky is delicious. You will try it." He didn't give her wiggle room to argue, just hoisted her literally off her feet when he helped her up. "Now, sister hedgehog, come along."
She followed him back to the campsite, eyes on the ground once the fire came back into view. Tom and Sonic were sitting close together, warming chili from a can in the embers of the fire to put on the hot dogs they were attempting to roast on sticks. Tails was sitting in Maddie's lap, showing her one of his gadgets, so Star sat down beside Knuckles on one of the felled log benches.
She could almost feel Maddie and Tom both wanting to ask her if she was okay, but Knuckles simply took a couple sticks and stuck a marshmallow on each of them before handing her one. "Do not catch it on fire." He cautioned, before immediately catching his own ablaze.
Star stared at the burning sugar bomb before putting a hand over her mouth to muffle a snicker. Her laugh, distorted as it was, seemed to break a spell over the rest of the family. "Every time!" Sonic laughed.
Tails looked at Star, showing her a miniature flamethrower he used to carefully toast a marshmallow into golden perfection. "It's a matter of distance from the heat source and rotation. You calculated an orbital landing in under fifteen seconds, it should be no problem for you!"
She nodded, looking seriously at the marshmallow as she held it close to the fire and turned it. Sonic was complaining about how long toasting them took, helping one-armed Tom with a chili dog, everyone else laughing and chattering. She narrowed her focus onto the marshmallow. Do it right. Get something right. I lost the race but I can do this-
When she misjudged how hot an open flame could get, this her first time ever working with it, and the marshmallow caught she felt hot tears prick the corners of her eyes. Another failure, another reason to want to bury herself in the dirt. Before she could either throw the entire thing in the fire or warp away, Knuckles pulled the stick towards them both. He blew the flame out and, with surprising delicacy for wearing mitts, he pulled the charred outside of the marshmallow off. Underneath was a gooey center. "It is not ruined." He explained. "Try."
She was pretty sure this was a life lesson she hadn't asked for, but she stuck the whole end of the stick in her mouth marshmallow and all. It was soft, sweet, and sticky as she imagined. But Knuckles was right, even the charcoal surface hadn't ruined it. "It's good." She admitted quietly.
Knuckles patted her back, rough but well-meaning. "Now you see."
Star nodded quietly. Maybe she did.
"Movie night! Movie night!" Sonic cheered. "Who's turn is it to pick?"
"Technically, it's Star's turn." Tom chuckled as the blue gremlin climbed into his arms in the recliner. He'd carried the kid one time when he first met him, and he never wanted to be put down again.
"Please pick something that was made in the last twenty years." Sonic groaned.
Star, sitting on the floor in front of the couch next to Maddie's legs with her blanket cape and chao plushie, made a face. "You know that I don't know any."
Maddie smoothed her ears. "Want me to pick one I think you'll like? You gotta trust me, it's got alien in it."
Star squished her doll tighter. "… I trust you, Doctor Maddie." She made an effort to trust, the way Knuckles had implied would help her. Earth was supposed to change her. She had to let it.
Maddie smiled. "Tails, put in 'Lilo and Stitch.'"
"You got it." He grinned, setting up the DVD player and zipping back over to sit between her and Knuckles on the couch. The popcorn bowl was passed around as Maddie skipped the opening credits, and Star couldn't help but think how useful that feature would have been back when she was watching Cartrivision tapes with Maria and Shadow.
When the opening song started, she was instantly fascinated by the depiction of Hawaii as full of brilliant colors and life. She wanted to ask if it was really so vibrant, having heard Tom and Maddie talking about her sister's wedding in Hawaii that had been the catalyst to adopting Tails and Knuckles. But she decided to wait until after the movie.
And the minute Stitch appeared on screen, the questions left her head.
She saw herself and Shadow in the weird little Experiment 626, unsure of where he belonged and strung along by what felt like an inescapable destiny to destroy. Exactly how Shadow must have felt, dragged along by Gerald with her tethered at the wrist.
At first, she saw Maria in the strange but curious little Lilo. The instant acceptance of the "ugly", dangerous alien, the unusual interests… but the longer she watched, the more she could see Maddie. And Tom, even if she still had a hard time making herself relax around him. She couldn't help it; most of the GUN operatives and scientists had been men, and the other father figure she was familiar with had been Gerald. Betrayal and eventually being pushed to kill him hadn't exactly inspired a lot of confidence in paternal affection.
By the time the ugly duckling scene played out, her eyes were watering and she'd buried the bottom half of her face in her Chao plush. She leaned against Maddie's leg and tried to sniffle quietly. I guess I see why she wanted me to watch this one…
When the movie finally ended, a perfect wrap up of found family and inspiring sweetness, she was half curled around Maddie's calf and hiding in her blanket. "You okay, baby?" Maddie whispered.
"Yeah." Was the muffled croak.
"You like the movie?"
"… yeah."
Maddie oh-so-gently patted her ears. "Alright, kids. Time to head upstairs. Some of us have to work in the morning."
The boys groaned, still hyped up from the soda and tray of brownies Star and Maddie had made for the movie night, with MnMs in them the way Star remembered. Tom chuckled. "It's the weekend. You can take the snacks and stay up, as long as you keep it to dull roar. We're old, we need sleep."
"Star's older than both of you." Sonic snickered.
"I'm the same age as you. Just… in a prolonged holding pattern." She grumbled, picking herself up and wrapping her blanket more securely around herself and her chao. Knuckles gathered up the snacks, including a half eaten pizza, and the four of them ascended to let the adults get ready for bed. Star started for her room when Sonic caught her blanket and gave it a gentle tug.
"Come hang out with us? You spend all your time cooped up in your room." He smiled. "After Tails and Knuckles fall asleep, we can go out the skylight and look at the stars from the roof."
Star hesitated, glancing at him and her socks intermittently as she thought about it. "You don't have to invite me out of obligation." She said quietly.
"I'm not. You're our sister now. Come spend time with us." He shook his head. "You saw the same movie I did. Ohana, remember? Nobody gets left behind."
"Or forgotten." She finished the quote, something in her eyes seemingly perking up. "… Okay. I'll come."
"Whoo!" Sonic pumped his fist, forever excitable.
"Sonic. Dull roar." Tom called from downstairs.
"Oops, sorry." He called back sheepishly, then reached into Star's blanket and took her hand to pull her to the ladder for the boys' room in the attic. "C'mon. It's gonna be fun."
It's been a long time since I've really had fun…
She let Sonic drag her along, levitating up the ladder after him. He joined the circle of the other two boys, grinning as Tails set up a video game console for them to play. Sonic looked delighted, a slice of pizza halfway to his mouth, when he looked back at Star. The happiness in his eyes was palpable, and for a moment Star saw the ghosts of herself, Shadow, and Maria in the new trio. Red, Blue, and Yellow.
She almost turned around and went back downstairs, but Sonic waved her over and she was already spotted. He handed her a can of soda and a brownie, sitting her between him and Knuckles. "Watch. We're gonna show you how to play MarioKart."
"It is a challenge." Knuckles nodded.
"That's because you don't have use of your individual fingers." Tails handed Star a controller and quickly explained the mechanics. Then they got started, Star picking up surprisingly quickly on how to trip the rest of them up.
After about two hours, Tails had passed out over the controller when his sugar rush wore off, and Knuckles put him into his plane bed carefully. Then the echidna crawled into his own bed, and was snoring in a matter of minutes.
Star looked up from closing the chip bags and pizza box when Sonic nudged her. "Still up for stargazing?"
She nodded, leaving her blanket and chao on the floor to be picked up later, and levitated out after him to sit on the roof. The stars shimmered, just like she remembered in Oklahoma, in the clear night sky. Sonic didn't immediately speak, letting Star settle and start the conversation. "I couldn't see them in Tokyo." She said quietly after a moment, eyes upwards. "The city lights were too bright. But they look the same here as they did when I was with them."
He didn't have to ask who she meant. It was something he never thought to question, that Star always had Shadow and Maria on her mind. Even just in the background, the way he always thought of Longclaw. "I used to hang out outside my cave and look at them a lot, especially when I first came to Earth."
"They look different than they did that night on the moon." She whispered.
"The moon looks different now too." He nodded, eying the shattered bottom of it. It was a constant reminder of what had happened. For him, it was a niggling regret that he'd saved the world but not everyone. For Star, it was irrepressible proof that nothing would ever be the same.
The cracked moon reflected in Star's eyes. "You said, up there that… the pain didn't go away. But love was bigger."
"Yeah." Sonic nodded, scooting a little closer to her and offering a shoulder to lean on.
"I'm having a hard time with that." She whispered. "I'm glad that you found it, that you got everything you wanted. A family and friends… You must be so much stronger than I am, to still smile like you do. You must think I'm pathetic because I'm still stuck like this, fifty years later."
"No, I don't." Sonic shook his head. "I had ten years from when I lost Longclaw to when I met Tom and Maddie. I know it's been fifty years, but for you Maria only died a few weeks ago. And Shadow even more recently."
Star closed her eyes and lay back on the shingles. "It feels like the world ended, Sonic."
"I know." He lay down next to her, giving her his hand. And it wasn't Shadow's, but she took it. "But it didn't. You're still here, and new people love you now."
"It won't replace them."
"It doesn't have to. They'll always be a part of you, just like Longclaw is always a part of me."
Star went quiet for a long time, and Sonic pretended not to notice the tears rolling down her face and onto to the roof under them. She'd only get embarrassed and disappear if he made a big deal of it. Star was proud, if fragile. The wind whispered in the trees around them, pushing wispy nighttime clouds across the sky. The cool air dried Star's face after a while, and the cramped breathing she'd been fighting to stop from escaping as a sob softened. "Do you really think there's such thing as Heaven?" She murmured. "Maria used to talk about it."
"I don't see why not. Longclaw talked about a world beyond, and Knuckles calls it the place where warriors don't fall. So maybe it's all the same place."
"You think his tribe and the owls made up?
Sonic smiled a little. "I hope so. All that fighting over the master emerald, just for us to end up working together… and I lost it anyway, for revenge."
"You saved the world in the end." Star folded her free hand over her chest and took a deep breath. "I hope Longclaw looks out for Shadow and Maria… they could use a better parent than Professor."
"No kidding." Sonic squeezed her hand. "I'll be she would, just like she used to look out for me. And until we meet them again, you and I can look out for each other."
She squeezed back. "Thanks, Sonic."
Chapter 12: Hoplophobia
Notes:
This fic will be on hiatus until the next movie drops in 2027! Check out the rest of the multiverse as it drops in the meantime.
Chapter Text
Tom walked in late, wincing as he tried to shut the door as quietly as possible. He'd been trying to get home earlier, but a call was a call and he took his duty to serve and protect seriously. Honestly, the further removed he got from his original idea of going to San Francisco, the happier he was that he'd never taken the other job. Big departments, large forces, they seemed like they'd be easy to get lost in. To lose accountability, until people who'd started with good intentions turned into the bad seeds he saw on the news. He could never be a crooked cop in Green Hills. There was nowhere to hide and everyone knew his name and face. It kept him honest.
He guessed he owed Sonic for that one, too.
Maddie was still up, sitting at the table with a cup of decaf and eating a small bowl of something that smelled divine. Ozzie was sitting by her side, big brown eyes pleading for a bit. "No Ozzie. This isn't for puppies."
"Late night?" Tom leaned over and kissed her cheek. "I thought you'd be in bed by now."
"Me too, honestly. But Star decided to make maple butter coffee cake for breakfast, and I said I wasn't going to touch it until morning… and I lied." She held up a fork full. "Here, try."
Tom dutifully took a bite and made a happy noise, closing his eyes. "Oh, that's good."
"I know, right? She found a recipe in one of my grandmother's old cookbooks, the ones made entirely of faded index cards, and started tweaking it. Knuckles licked the bowl clean."
Tom snickered. "I'm sorry I missed it. I got stuck on a bad wreck. No injuries, but a trailer came off and went rolling down the mountain. Took forever for the tow to get there."
"All part of the job, though. Right?" She grinned.
"Yeah. But still, it sounds like Star's starting to really find her place."
"I think so. She finally stopped calling me Doctor every time she said my name." Maddie nodded. "They all went out together today. Sonic showed them his old cave, and Knuckles was teaching them about Echidna warrior customs. The leaf mask was a little much for Sonic, but he did try learning the spear moves."
"Proud of him." Tom nodded. "Guess they clocked out early?"
"Yeah. Tails was asleep before I got all the pine cones out of his tails, but I did the bedtime stories anyway. The older boys act like they don't like it, but I know they listen." Maddie smiled fondly. "And Star hovers around the ladder like I can't see her powers glowing in the dark."
"I'll stick my head in and check on them. I'm glad to be back at work and on full duty, but I miss spending all day with the kids."
"I know. Me too." She finished her coffee cake. "I better go brush my teeth. See you when you come to bed."
He gave her another kiss and headed up to check on the kids. He went to the attic ladder first, peeking in. Tails was snuggled up in his plane bed, squeaky snoring and his shoes laying neatly underneath where he'd sleepily left them. Sonic's quills were the only thing sticking out of the blankets on his race car bed, his shoes in a disordered heap right next to him. Knuckles, on the other hand, had both legs dangling off the side of his monster truck bed. His shoes were still on, but he avoided the issue of tracking mud in his sheets in the most creative way. Tom padded over and quietly as his patrol boots could be to gently pull a blanket over the oldest of his boys, smiling when Knuckles grumbled something about "one million percent" and rolled half over.
Satisfied they were all comfortable and safe, Tom crept back down the ladder. The door to Star's room was cracked open, a good sign. She'd kept it closed and locked at first, a silent declaration of distrust. Bit by bit, she'd gone from triple checking the lock to leaving it unlatched, and now left cracked about an inch. The hall light cast a beam across her bed, where he could see the shape of her quills poking out, and a striped hand holding tight to a red chao doll. She didn't wear her gloves or socks to bed like the boys did, it seemed. Tom wondered if it was because she didn't remember the planet she came from and it's social rules, or if she was just more comfortable that way.
He gently pushed the door inward, getting a better view to check on Star. She was wrapped around her plush, face half buried in it where she'd dozed off listening to the simulated heartbeat. The blanket was draped loosely over her middle, her paws poking out the bottom with their squishy blue pads that reminded him of a cat's toe beans. He was pretty sure the shirt she was sleeping in was one of his old Panic at the Disco shirts…
He'd never thought he'd like being a dad so much, until he had Sonic in his life. But now, having a daughter… even a sometimes standoffish teenage one, it felt right. He could already imagine, once she'd warmed up a little bit more, taking her fishing too. The best life advice happened in a fishing boat. And hopefully, she could swim a little better than Sonic.
The door hinges creaked slightly as he got it open enough to take a step into the room, and Star's eyes snapped open. Backlit by the hall light, she couldn't make out his face. Half asleep, she didn't see Tom Wachowski the Green Hills police officer and her new parental figure. She saw a GUN agent, coming to either take her away or kill her with the service pistol hanging from his duty belt.
Before Tom could say a word, she let out a earsplitting scream and sat bolt upright. There was a sound like a cracking whip and the scream was suddenly coming from outside. "Star?!" Tom yelped, running to the window. Just in time to see she'd warped outside, missed the roof, and was falling to the ground still screaming.
She hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and the scream stopped dead. Ozzie started barking and the ladder started rattling, all three boys now awake and coming to investigate. Maddie came running out of their bedroom, her hair in a bonnet now. "What happened?!"
"Star fell off the roof!" Tom spun on his heel, heading for the stairs to get down to her.
"Fell off the roof? She was in bed?!" Maddie started running for the stairs.
"I know. She did that warp thing!" He was right behind her. "I don't understand what happened. She just woke up and freaked out-" As Maddie opened the door, they spotted Star slowly sitting up in the driveway. Her left arm hung at an unnatural angle, an unlucky fall considering what they'd seen her survive before. She let out a pitiful half-sob when their shadows started towards her, legs scrabbling back as she tried to get away before she'd gotten her feet under her.
Sonic zipped over before the others could get fully out of the door, in case she tried to run. "Star?"
"S-sonic?" She rasped, right hand latching onto his arm when he got close enough. "We have to go, they're here. They found me, they're gonna-"
"Nobody's here but us." He reassured her, getting an arm around the back of her shoulders.
"I saw the gun." She buried her face against his shoulder, shaking like a leaf in a gale. "I saw it."
He blinked, looking up at Tom in full uniform, with his duty belt on. A horrified look passed through his eyes. "Tom, stay back."
Tom froze mid step, eyes widening. "What?"
Tails looked between the two hedgehogs and Tom. "Oh no… Star's scared of guns." He whispered.
Maddie pushed her husband gently behind her. "Go change and watch the boys. I'm going to take her to the vet's office. She needs x-rays."
Numbly, Tom nodded as Maddie ran out in her pajamas, gently scooping Star from Sonic's grasp. He darted in and got her keys, helping her get Star into her car, and came back to Tom's side as they pulled out of the driveway. The hedgehog girl looked so small in the passenger seat, curled into a ball around her left arm. "I didn't think about my uniform scaring her…"
"You couldn't have known." Tails latched on around his leg, and Knuckles leaned against his side.
"She'll be okay. Maddie's got her." Sonic slipped a hand into Tom's, both to comfort the man and himself.
"Star is a strong warrior. She will recover." Knuckles guided the whole half the clan back inside and planted himself with Ozzie by the door to wait for the girls to return.
Maddie gently set Star on the x-ray table at the vet's office. "Can you lay your arm down, baby? I need to get some pictures."
Star winced and did her best to extend her screaming left arm flat miserable little whimper escaping her. How this hurt worse than falling out of space and taking out a corn field, she wasn't sure.
"Lemme get one of those bracelets off, it'll distort the picture." Maddie lay a lead-lined apron over everything but her arm, and pressed the release latch on the bottom inhibitor. She clicked her tongue when she did. "Baby, this bead bracelet… your wrist is swelling, I need to take it off."
"Please don't cut it." Star practically begged, lifting her head up. "You can go ahead and put the muzzle on, just please don't cut it."
Maddie stared at her. "Star of the Ark Wachowski. I am not putting a muzzle on you, you're not a chihuahua. You're not going to bite me, I trust you." She softened when the still raw girl flinched. "Alright, I'll figure out how to untie it. Just hold still, lemme get these images and I'll grab a pick."
Star nodded, and Maddie put another lead apron on herself and took a series of x-rays. While they developed, she picked Star up again and moved her to a slightly more comfortable exam table, laying her arm on a cushion to pick open the fifty year old knot of the beaded bracelet. She hadn't closely examined it when she'd cleaned Star up the first time, but now she was faced with an untold story about 3 kids in a bunker and a friendship that outlasted a half century and death.
After a long minute of working carefully to not jostle the arm, she sighed. "Did they really used to put a muzzle on you?"
"They wouldn't touch me without one. I… bit a couple people. I was scared." Star murmured. "They weren't gentle like you. They didn't care if they hurt me, or Shadow."
"Is that who you thought was in your doorway?" Maddie's voice stayed soft.
"Yes." Star swallowed hard. "All I saw was the outline of a uniform, and a gun…"
Maddie got the knot open and pulled the old bracelet off, placing it firmly in Star's right hand. "No one is ever going to treat you like that again, baby. I promise."
She got up to go check the x-rays, and her chest bloomed warm when a small voice followed her out of the room. "I believe you."
Star didn't believe in many people. She'd been let down too many times. But Maddie had gained that trust, and she was going to hold it sacred. She came back in with the films and put them on a backlight in the room, to show Star. "Looks like you landed bad, hon. Radius and ulna are both broken. I'm going to have to set it and put it in a cast. I'll give you something for the pain. It'll probably make you sleepy too. You okay with all that?"
Star nodded hesitantly. "Do I have to take the medicine?"
"It's going to really hurt for me to set those bones, baby. You don't have to, but it's going to hurt as bad as breaking them did."
The little hedgehog chewed her lip anxiously. She didn't like the idea of being drugged, but she was already in a lot of pain. More was only going to put her at risk of blowing every light in the town out with Chaos energy. Maddie had promised nobody was going to get her… "Okay."
"You're gonna be okay, baby. When it's all over, we'll go straight home."
Star nodded, giving Maddie her right arm to install an IV. Maddie was soft handed, careful with her, and she barely felt it. She did feel the cold of the saline and medicine in her veins when she started the drip, and everything started feeling fuzzy and detached. Maddie talked, though she lost track of the conversation into a lull of comforting coos.
A loud snap made her turn her head. "Wawas that…?" She slurred.
"Your bones, honey. Did it hurt?"
"Nooo…" Star was struggling to stay awake, a better constitution than most creatures of her weight class. Maddie was wrapping the now set arm with thick gauze as padding for the splint that held the bones in place.
"What color cast do you want? I got red, blue, pink, and green."
"Red…" Star mumbled.
"Good call." Maddie started winding on fiberglass casting tape, making sure it was smooth. When she was done, Star's arm was frozen at a 90 degree angle at the elbow, immobilized all the way down to the fingertips with her thumb stuck out. "There was go. It'll be dry in about 15 minutes. I'm gonna take the line out of your other arm now."
Star nodded hazily, watching her walk around and talk her through every step. She got a piece of gauze and twist of vet wrap in the corner of her other arm, and Maddie sat her up. She leaned on the woman's shoulder, burying her face in the soft material of her pajama shirt. Maddie smelled nice, like lotion and fabric softener… it was so starkly gentle against the backdrop of the life Star had known before. She still wasn't used to it. And without meaning too, she started crying into Maddie's arms.
"Shh." Maddie rubbed her back, avoiding her quills, and rocked her back and forth. "It's okay, Star. You're safe now."
"I know." Star hiccuped, good hand clinging to her shirtfront. Maddie didn't know how to respond to that, but to cradle her a little closer and let her cry it out. The tears fell out of Star like a monsoon she couldn't control. She was actually safe, maybe for the first time in her entire life. She trusted the people around her… she should have been happy. She didn't even know why she was crying, except maybe that Shadow wasn't ever going to know what this felt like. But he and Maria would have wanted it for her, and it was a hard pill to swallow that she'd experience it alone.
No, not alone. She had a family now. No one got left behind or forgotten.
When she finally stopped crying, Maddie gently scooped her onto her hip like a small child, and carried her back to the car. "Let's go home, baby.
She nodded, wiping her damp face on the back of her good arm. "Home."
When they got back to the house, Maddie carried her back inside too. Knuckles was waiting by the door like an honor guard. He fell into step behind Maddie, who nodded to Tom on the couch where he'd been anxiously waiting to find out how bad the fall had been. "She's okay, babe. Just a broken arm. You can talk to her in the morning, she's a little sedated right now."
He sighed with relief and nodded as she headed upstairs to put Star back to bed. Sonic and Tails got in line behind Knuckles, trailing after her. "You three going to keep an eye on her?" Maddie asked with a fond smile.
They all nodded. "She was injured because she felt unsafe. We will fix this. We are her brothers." Knuckles climbed into the bed sideways, opening his arms for Maddie to gently hand Star over. He set her head on his chest sideways and Tails handed her the chao plush, cuddling up in front of it as she cuddled close. Sonic crawled to her back, using Knuckles' arm as a pillow. They all looked stubbornly determined to keep guard, so Maddie put a blanket over them and turned off the light.
"Love you." She murmured.
"Love you too." Tails called back sleepily, already draping his tails over Star and snuggling close as possible.
She sniffled and cuddled back. "Thanks, guys…"
"We got your back." Sonic nodded, putting his against hers from behind so their quills touched.
Star closed her eyes, listening to them breathing as they dozed off. For the first time since she'd gotten it, she didn't fall asleep to the sound of a simulated heartbeat from her chao doll. She was still in some pain as the medication wore off, still felt limp and helpless, but she wasn't scared. Her brothers were going to take care of her if something happened. She trusted that.
She trusted them.
When Star woke up, she was alone in her bed again. She sat upright slowly, rubbing her messy bedhead. Her arm hurt once again, but that was to be expected for a broken bone so she got up slowly and made her way to the stairs, holding onto the railing with her good hand as tightly as possible.
The house smelled like something sweet and buttery, but lacked the usual wild energy of the boys running around. Tom was standing in the kitchen, wiping the counters down and flipping pancakes. He looked up when he stopped her in the doorway, tensing slightly. "Morning sweetheart." He said in a soft voice. "How you feeling?"
"I'm okay…" She shuffled a little closer, cradling her cast to her chest. "Where is everybody?"
"Maddie went to go pick up a prescription for you, and get a heating pad. She took the boys with her so you could sleep a little longer." Tom explained. "You want some pancakes? I got all the fixings; strawberries, chocolate chips, whipped cream. Whatever you want."
She climbed carefully into her seat at the table and thought about it. "Strawberries?"
He brought over a plate with sliced strawberries, along with the butter and syrup. He half entertained the thought of cutting it up for her, but decided it might be considered patronizing. She did fine with a fork anyway. While she ate a few bites, he tried to remember how she liked coffee and fixed her a cup. "Black with sugar, right?"
Star smiled faintly. "I've never had a cup of coffee I didn't like. Thank you."
He rubbed the back of his neck as she took a swallow. "Star, about what happened last night-"
"I'm sorry." She said immediately, setting her coffee down. "I shouldn't have p-"
"Wait, wait." Tom waved his arms. "You're not the one who should be apologizing. You were asleep."
"I panicked and lost control of my powers." Star's brow furrowed. "That's unacceptable. I could have hurt you."
"But you didn't. I didn't think about your history, and walked into your room with a weapon on my belt. I didn't know you were afraid of the, but I should have asked." Tom sighed deeply. "When we brought you into this house, Maddie and I made a commitment to protect you. And I didn't. I was what you were afraid of. And you got hurt. You're not the one who should be sorry, I am."
Star frowned, looking at him for a long minute. "… I think you're the first adult human to ever apologize to me."
"Seems overdue." He shook his head. "After all you've been through."
"You and Maddie are the first adult humans to seem concerned with that, too. Most of the time, people only wanted to know what we could do for them. Even before Maria died, Professor talked about all the applications of our powers. All the problems of the world we could solve. Only Maria wanted to know about us for us…"
Tom hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. "Kids aren't supposed to fix the world for adults. Adults are supposed to fix it for kids. You didn't deserve it then, and you don't deserve it now."
To his surprise, Star didn't subtly pull back like she usually did. Instead, she leaned in until her head rested on Tom's arm. It was the closest to a hug he thought she was capable of most of the time, and she closed her eyes. She'd said "thank you" a lot lately, but she dint think it really captured the depth of how much she actually had to be grateful for. Even as much as it hurt to be alive sometimes… "I wish you ad Maddie could have met Maria." She finally whispered. "She would have loved you."
"I think I would have loved her too. And Shadow." He said the last part firmly, hoping she understood what he meant. That he hadn't really met Shadow, not when the poor kid was hurting as much as he now knew Star was. He wasn't a bad person. He was just fifteen, just like Star, and he hadn't deserved what he got.
Star rubbed her face against Tom's sleeve and just let the quiet settle around them. "You're a good dad, Mr. Wachowski." She finally muttered.
"That means a lot kiddo, and you can call me to Tom. But I'm supposed to be making you feel better. What's your favorite snack, I'll get Maddie to pick it up on her way home."
"Coffee beans." Star looked up. "We already have some."
Tom raised an eyebrow. "I got one better than that. Hold on." He got up and walked to the pantry, digging around in a high shelf. "You absolutely cannot ever tell Sonic about these. He's hyper enough as it is, he'll detonate." He said seriously before handing her a little cellophane package.
"What's this?" She used her telekinesis to open it, one hand down.
"Chocolate covered espresso beans." Tom grinned. "Try one."
Star said she'd never had coffee she didn't like, and she she'd meant it. She popped one of the beans into her mouth and her eyes got massive. "This is the most amazing thing I've ever eaten."
"That's my girl." Tom ruffled her head, mindful of her quills. "You keep those for you, and finish your breakfast. I'm gonna finish cleaning up."
She nodded, putting a handful of the beans on her pancakes before going back to eating with renewed enthusiasm. From the sink, Tom watched her with a smile and shot Maddie a text.
I think she's gonna be just fine. Bring home some more of those chocolate covered espresso beans?
Star couldn't sleep. The dull ache of the broken arm was getting better day by day, but now that she wasn't taking the pain medication as often her insomnia was back. Even her plushie's heartbeat wasn't helping. She knew what it was, after several nights of sitting up thinking.
Guilt.
Guilt that she was starting to feel happy without Maria and Shadow. Guilt that she had a new family to love her, like they'd be jealous in the afterlife. Or they'd think she'd forgotten them. It was illogical and she knew it, neither of them would have begrudged her happiness. If anything they'd have been happy for her, especially Maria who'd always wanted her to believe there were good people out in the world. It didn't change her feelings , as insistent and ridiculous as a toddler concerned the doll that feel off the bed would be sad she'd left it there on the floor while she was asleep.
The last few nights she'd lain awake wordlessly, tracing the signatures on her cast. Tom had said it was an Earth custom to sign them, so she'd collected the entire family plus Wade and Crazy Carl, among a few others. But tonight she felt restless as well as sleepless, so she crawled out of bed and opened her window. It was an easy wiggle out, even with a cast, and she climbed out to sit on the room and look up at the sky. The broken moon shimmered, the distant stars a backdrop of memory and melancholy. "You guys would like it here." She murmured. "There's no locked doors or key cards. We go outside whenever we want. Yesterday I got to see a baby bunny. Maria, you'd have loved to hold it. It was so tiny…"
“Star?” Maddie's voice caught her off guard, and she turned to see the woman hoisting herself out of the window to join her on the roof. Pajamas and bonnet, barefoot, and with a deep look of concern in her dark eyes. She must have been talking to the ghosts louder than she'd intended, to catch the woman's attention. “Honey, why are you out here by yourself? You’re gonna fall again.”
“No I won’t.” Star felt guilty all over again for disrupting her sleep, hoping she could reassure her and let Maddie get back to bed. “That was an accident… Mr. Wachowski startled me.”
“Tom’s really sorry about that, by the way. He didn’t know you were afraid of guns and badges.” Maddie didn't seem concerned about her REM cycle and settled onto the shingles next to her furry little daughter.
"It’s not your fault. I didn’t tell you…” Star turned further away, twiddling with the scribbled signatures on her cast. Maddie was determined though, and just got closer.
“What’s on your mind, baby?”
“I miss them.” Star whispered, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of her mouth. Maybe it was because of how genuinely kind she knew Maddie was, or that she finally felt safe. Maybe she just needed someone to understand how she felt, even if she didn't. How could she have so much good given to her for nothing and still feel like this? “Maria used to take Shadow and I to look at the stars like this… and I couldn’t save her from the explosion. And I couldn’t save Shadow either. You should return me to GUN. I’m not good for anything.”
“That’s not true, baby. None of it was your fault… and besides, we love you. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Tom, and I.” She put her arm around Star, and the hedgehog melted into her side. Silent tears watered up, not as explosive as the jag she'd experienced when she'd broken her arm but enough to dampen her cheeks.
“Even though Tom got hurt?” She didn't know why she was so determined to point out everything she thought was wrong with her. Maybe she just needed to hear that it didn't matter. That she was loved anyway, one more time. Loved when it was hard to love herself.
Maddie didn't disappoint, either. “Even then. You aren’t a bad person, and neither was Shadow. You were just kids, with nobody to show you the way.”
“I wish he was here, Maddie… I think he’d like you.”
"If you loved him this much, I know I'd like him." She kissed the top of Star's head, catching her by surprise. "After all, I love you."
Star snuggled into her side, comforted once again by the reassurance that someone saw her in all the places she was broken, and somehow loved her anyway. "I love you too… Mom."