Well, my semester's over. I don't have classes again until August and I'm waiting to hear back from my boss about attending an informational seminar so I can apply for a higher position. Until one or the other happens I really don't have anything else productive to do, so I guess I'll just write. Sorry if it's a little sappy…for some reason almost everything I write turns out that way. The topic I chose for this fan fiction is sort of humorous considering that where I come from, we don't have fireflies because it's the wrong climate for them. I've never actually seen a firefly in person before, which is pretty funny when you think about it. Anyhow, read and review/constructively criticize please, it's much appreciated! If you're just here to flame…go somewhere else on the web to do your dirty work. This one's dedicated to all the fangirls out there who've always wanted to see the softer side of Shadow….which probably includes myself at some level. Enjoy!

Fireflies and Stars

To refer to something as a "shadow" can suggest several things. It can be a dark shape, caused by the blockage of light by a physical body, or something more hypothetical. To be "a shadow of your former self" may imply that you aren't the person you once were, that you are void of emotion or perhaps that you're losing your mind. He let himself fall backward into the grass. The night was dark and starless and the moon couldn't be seen due to the cloud cover. Shadow tried to relax. The hedgehog didn't know what to think of himself and aside from the obvious he didn't quite know what he was. Was he truly created as a weapon who's sole purpose it was to cause destruction, harm and decay, or was he more than that? He used to be able to feel emotions other than anger and sorrow….but that was long ago. He was indeed a shadow of what he once was, so what was missing now? The most obvious of the lost pieces of the puzzle was his beloved Maria. When he was around her, he could feel other emotions. The light tingling in his chest when she spoke to him, the urge to defend and protect her from whatever it was that endangered her and the urge to bring her comfort when she was hurt. Just thinking about it brought back a deep seeded memory.

…

"Shadow? Grandpa Gerald said that the world doesn't accept things as a blessing when they're strange or different. That's why we're all the way up here in ARK. I don't quite understand it." She cooed as she gazed out the window.

"I think people are afraid of things they don't understand. They don't know if it's good or bad, benign or malicious…they find comfort in the knowledge that something won't hurt them. When they see something new, they don't know if it means to cause them harm or not. They will willingly shun away anything which has an unknown purpose to prevent the possibility of being hurt, weather it means to hurt them or not." the hedgehog said as he sat next to her. "Dr. Gerald Robotnik is quite eccentric and intelligent when it comes to his inventions, and this gives him the potential to become extremely powerful. They don't know what he might use that power to accomplish. He could use it to solve the world's greatest problems, or he could become the world's greatest problem, and that scares them."

"Grandfather says he wants to help mankind through his machines but…..lately it seems like he's losing faith in humanity." Maria had a concerned tone in her voice. Shadow smiled back at her.

"Shakespeare had it right…man really is a piece of work. Everybody loses faith in mankind every now and then. Humans are known for making foolish mistakes and when they do, the rest of them are so self-righteous that they forget that they're human as well." He reassured. Maria smiled as she glanced back at him.

"But what does that make you?" She asked playfully. Shadow laughed to himself as he took in her expression.

"Well I'm not sure I'd fall under the "human" category…." He sighed. "….but I'm certainly not claiming to be perfect." Maria smiled from ear to ear as she gazed out of the window. She seemed mesmerized by the stars.

"Shadow….I know you've never seen it yourself, but Earth really is a beautiful place." The hedgehog looked at her fondly. "I remember when I was really little, every summer I'd go outside at night and catch fireflies. It's those little things in life you miss the most." A concerned gaze found its way to Shadow's eyes. "But when I look out into space it makes me feel a little better because, the stars…they look just like fireflies." Shadow smiled at her again and made a silent promise to himself. He would always protect her no matter what the cost. "Grandpa Gerald's taught me a lot about the stars. See that group right there? That's Ursa Major, The Great Bear. And see her tail? It's the handle of The Big Dipper! And that constellation over there…that's Orion. The three stars in a row across the middle are his belt. See him? That one is Pisces, that one's Taurus…and that one over there is…."

…..

Maria's voice seemed to fade into silence as Shadow's eyes slowly flickered open. Had he fallen asleep? He tried to take a moment to decide whether or not he'd been dreaming.

"Am I losing my mind?" He whispered to himself. He was beginning to feel guilty that he'd let her slip away from him. What was the point of making a promise if you break it? It was like carrying a piece of glass over concrete. One second of carelessness and it's shattered. The night that ARK had been invaded by the GUN operatives played over and over in his mind like some sick recurring dream. He could only remember bits and pieces after a certain point, but the most traumatic part rang out as clear as a bell. He could still hear Maria's screams and cries echoing in his mind.

….

ARK was ablaze with gunfire and tear gas and several dozen men in black armored suits were darting here and there shouting orders at one another. The entire space station was going to be overrun by GUN operatives and even amidst the chaos he had to find her.

"Come on! Move, move, move! Get the old man out of here and take out anyone else you find! Don't leave any of them alive!" Shadow's eyes were watering from the hellacious mist in the air but he managed catch the glimpse of something blue in his peripheral vision. Maria's dress!" He reached out for her. Though he was disoriented by several nearby gunshots that had left his ears ringing, he managed to grab her by the wrist and pull her out of the line of fire. "What the hell was that!"

"It was black, but it was moving too fast to tell what it was!"

"Shadow, I'm scared! What's going on!" she cried as he pulled her out of sight, into a nearby corridor. In the distance she could hear Dr. Gerald Robotnik yelling at one of the operatives.

"Get your filthy hands off of me! What have you done with my granddaughter!"

"Cuff him and get him out of here! We need to get this bastard locked up in the prison for questioning! You're under arrest for acts of terrorism, and the production of illegal weaponry!"

"No, Grandpa!" Maria tried to break free from Shadow's grasp but he kept a firm hold on her wrist and pulled her back. She fell to her knees and started to cry. Shadow looked her square in the eyes and placed a hand on her shoulder to try to reassure the distraught girl.

"Maria, listen to me! They're locking him up, they aren't going to kill him…not now at any rate. They're destroying anyone else on board involved with the project. If they catch you they'll kill you too! We need to hide now! Once things have calmed down we can go after Gerald!" Maria nodded weakly. "Follow me and stay low!" Shadow whispered as he pulled her off the metal floor. He continued down the hallway, tugging her along behind him.

"Where did it go!"

"That way! Down the hall!"

"Damn! They're after us!" Shadow hissed. As soon as he turned the corner, he pulled her into the nearest room and scoped it desperately until he noticed a large metal fixture jutting from the wall. "Quick, over there!" He pulled her out of sight behind the fixture and forced her against the back of it. "Get down! Get down!" the hedgehog whispered. The two crouched behind the steel barrier and held their breath. Shadow's ears flicked as he tried to listen for any sign of movement from the GUN agents.

"They got Grandfather!" Maria whimpered. "And they're killing everyone else! We're going to die….it's over." Shadow put his finger to his lips in a silent gesture but Maria continued to cry.

"Maria, shhh…. Be still. If we don't move...if we sit here and don't make a sound…they might not find us." He could hear footsteps approaching the door. The sound of metal beneath military boots was growing louder by the second as the gun operative paced the hallway. "Hush! Maria, please be quiet, they'll hear us!"

"Where did it go!" one of them yelled.

"Try that one over there!" Shadow clasped one hand over Maria's mouth and held her close to himself with the other, as if he was ready to throw himself in front of her…even if it meant he had to take a bullet. There were a couple of loud bangs on the metal door until it finaly snapped off its hinges. Maria's eyes were wide with pure terror and there seemed to be nothing but dead silence. Shadow tensed himself.

"They can hear us breathing…if they can't hear us breathing, they can definitely hear my heart pounding." The hedgehog thought to himself. "It's so loud! How can they not hear it?" His mind screamed. It seemed to pound in his chest, rise into his throat, ache in his head and sink all the way down into the pit of his stomach within seconds. He could hear the footsteps of the operative getting closer and shadow tried to concentrate on them. "Only one set of boots. I only hear one….the others must have gone to check the other rooms." He thought. "If I have to fight, Maria might be able to escape…" The beat of a heart or a soft quivering breath must have given them away. Not even a second later, they were at gunpoint. The operative stood before them with the muzzle of his gun pointed directly between Shadow's eyes. "I can't die!" he thought. "If I die, I can't save her!" Shadow couldn't quite tell what happened next. He was filled with a rage so deep that everything seemed hazy. He'd practically thrown himself at the GUN agent…and then what? He couldn't remember. The only thing that was clear to him in that moment was the scream that rose from his throat. "MARIA, RUN!" Had he merely slammed his head into the floor hard enough to knock him out? Did he beat the living daylights out of him? Maybe he'd even beaten the man to death. However it had happened, he had incapacitated the soldier and left him "out of action" so-to-speak. He snapped back to his senses when he heard another loud gunshot and Maria screaming in pain. "Maria!" There was no response. "MARIA!" His mind started to race as her leapt to his feet and tried to make a run for the control room. He couldn't help himself as visions of what may have happened to her began to flash through his mind. What if she was injured? What if she was unconscious and helpless somewhere on the space station? Worse yet…what if she was dead?

"…Shadow?" When he finally reached the control room, he was greeted by a disturbing sight. Maria was standing next to the control panel holding her side, stooped over in pain. She looked horribly pale, and as she turned the other way he could see a large crimson stain seeping through her dress. His mouth dropped open in terror.

"Maria! You're hurt, who shot you!" He tried to run to her, but was stopped in his tracks by a cylindrical glass barrier that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Through the sound of bullets ricocheting off of the glass tube and his own screams, he could barely hear her weakened voice.

"Shadow….please….I want you to make me a promise….." She gasped. Everything seemed to go hazy again as he began pounding his fists on the glass hysterically. "…you promise?" He couldn't remember what it was she had asked him.

"I promise, Maria…" Those were his last words to her. He saw her reach over to something on the panel, though he couldn't tell what it was and seconds later the entire tube he was encapsulated in seemed to jolt to life. It moved at such a high velocity at first that it nearly made him sick as it began to drift outward into space, but he was desperate to get one last look at her. Tears began to flood his eyes as he saw her helplessly staring out of the window, her face nearly pressed against the glass, knowing that he shared the same expression. Hopeless…lost…gone. Fear flashed back into his eyes at what he saw next. One of the GUN operatives pulled her away from the window, grabbed her around the neck with one hand and held a handgun to her temple with the other as ARK finally began to disappear from his view. "MARIA!"

…..

"…Maria…." he whispered. A tear began to roll down his cheek. "How could I have failed her like that?" A light breeze flowing through the grass and a distant chirping of crickets were the only other sounds around him. Empathetic, beautiful, loving and innocent…so why did they have to destroy her as well? Did the value of existence really mean so little that they would purposefully end such a young life? It made him horribly angry and yet filled him with sorrow at the same time. As he stirred about in the grass, trying to stifle the sound of his own crying, he noticed a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eyes. Thousands of tiny glowing lights began to rise from the grass and slowly drift into the night sky. "Are those…..fireflies?" he whispered in amazement as he watched them fluttering and dancing about in the air. He sprawled flat out on his back and gazed into the sky. "Maria...she was right." He sighed as he began to smile. Despite the many atrocities, if you were in the right spot at the right time…Earth truly could be a beautiful place. He continued to smile as another tear streamed down his face. His anger seemed to slowly fade and disappear as he lost himself in the peace and wonder of the moment. For the first time, in a very long time….he truly felt happy. "The fireflies...they look just like stars."