*Author's Note: Before we begin, I want to tell you about this short story. It's originally supposed to be a flashback in "Memories of the ARK", but I scrapped it and save it for another story. Then, I started working on it, and I decided to make a 3-4 chapter story of the "lost chapter" from my fic.
This is a "midquel" after "Maria Robotnik's Return".
WARNING: May find depressing. Please grab some tissues.
Thank you for reading and enjoy!*
*Prologue: Maria's Secret Past*
Shadow and Maria are up in the ARK, packing up Maria's belongings from her room. The yellow hedgehog puts her old human clothes to the other box for charity since she's not fit into them. Shadow went through the closet and found a old photo falling from the top shelf. He picked it up and stare at the black and white photo of Maria and a boy who looks older than her. Who is this boy? It's not Mardic. He is wearing royal clothes like a prince.
"Maria? Who is this?" Shadow asks by showing the yellow hedgehog the photo. Maria turned around and her eyes grew wide. She snatched the photo from Shadow's hand and started to cripple it. "Maria! What're you doing? You're in that picture."
"I don't want to talk about it, Shadow." Maria said in a quiet voice.
"I never met him here years ago. Was he visiting before?" Shadow asked. "Those clothes look formal for a guy to wear everyday." Maria sat on her bed and open the cripple photo. Shadow sat next to her. "Maria, please tell me about him. Who is he?"
"...He's...a prince." Maria said. Shadow looked at her. "A Prince of Soleanna. His name is Leslie. He's the first born of his castle, then he had a little brother." Shadow recalled about his days at Soleanna with Princess Elise, and the Solaris Project. But those days haven't happened yet in their decade. "You see, right after I turn 12, he...lands in my life. So, it's months before I met you here." Maria said.
"Tell me more." Shadow said. "I can tell that you've been holding this in for years now. I'm your first to know this. No one else needs to know." Maria took a breath. She never told this secret past of hers to anyone. She wanted to forget, until Shadow found this photo. Now, Maria will tell Shadow everything.
"Okay. I'll tell you." She said. "I just turn 12 that day. We didn't have a party, we just have cake. I was only happy for my grandfather to have time to be there for me with others who care for me. Like Mardic, Abraham, everybody." Shadow nodded a bit, listening to this without saying a word. He must hear every detail of this story.