Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. SEGA does.
Prologue: Breaking Away.
.w.
His power was still scaring them.
Yes, they had created him. He didn't know the reason they had done it for – to save this world or to destroy it. He never really cared. The only thing he knew was that one day they had got scared of what they'd done… and had tried to get rid of him.
Not too fair, if you wanted to know his opinion.
They had managed to catch him off guard somehow. There was a fight, and a tough one, but at last he had ended up being put into that goddamned tube. Disgraced. Defeated.
And then he had fallen asleep.
He was not really sleeping… His mind was floating, surrounded with thick, pleasantly cold substance, twitching slightly when burning sparkles of thoughts flashed nearby. At first the comprehension of himself being defeated, of his own weakness were searing through every part of his being, making the substance around him boil instantly. But the time was passing by… and he finally took his current state as a matter of course. Almost got used to it.
Sometimes he could see the room a tube with his body was left in. But every time he found it dark and void, so he cut off those sorties shortly.
He couldn't break this closed circle, couldn't get free again. At least by himself.
The only thing he could do was to wait…
.w.
It took some time for him to realize that the substance was no more embracing him, that it had gone along with the feeling of endless free fall. That it was the air tickling his fur, fondling it, caressing it.
The air… as still and cold and fusty as it had been when… then.
How much time had passed? A day? A year? A century? He couldn't tell, but he was eager to know.
A faint shining of pale blue caught his attention, reminding him that he still was not alone in the room. There were no glass before him anymore, and he could clearly see the one who had freed him.
A hedgehog… Not a complete lookalike, but rather close to it. Black fur with red stripes, strangely upturned quills; traditional white gloves, odd-looking shoes. Golden rings on his wrists and ankles. Was Gerald still using them as energy controllers? How primitive…
Pity that he couldn't see the face of his savior from his place.
The dark one was leaning over one of the control panels, examining it curiously. The former prisoner glanced over the dark room, and his lips formed a wily smile as it became all too clear for him that there were no scientists around. And that could mean only one thing… The black hedgehog sure had gotten into this forbidden but so tempting area secretly to explore it without having someone's eye on him. And he certainly had had no intention of freeing anyone - he simply had pressed one of the buttons accidentally.
It would be nice to explain him what a mistake he had made…
Very, very slowly and carefully the fugitive stepped outside the capsule.
He could swear he hadn't made any sound – but his dark copy twitched as if someone gave him a sudden flick on his ear. And turned around. "Who are you?"
The lookalike's hearing was perfect, he had to admit. Or maybe wasn't it? Maybe the dark one just saw a blurred reflection on the screen before him or his intuition poked him gently at his shoulder?
Eh. Whatever it was, this only meant the awakened one had to be on his guard henceforth.
"Strange that you don't know. I thought you would recognize me," a low purr came out while the runaway stepped a little bit forward – just to check up the other's reaction. "I thought I was pretty known, at least to everyone who lives in this colony."
The lookalike didn't step back nor tried to stop him, but tensed up visibly. He glanced over him once again, more cautiously this time, trying to recall this vibrant blue fur – or anything he could have ever heard of it.
"No, I don't know you," he said finally.
'Damnit. I could guess Gerald concealed that story from the government so he could continue his mad experiments, but didn't he at least cook up a couple of dreadful legends to frighten children and some naïve hedgehogs? What a shame.'
Green eyes met gleaming red ones. He had to get back to business before his lookalike would get a bright idea of calling up the scientists.
"That's bad."
The dark one was given no time to realize what the other was up to. In a split second he was thrown against the wall with his forearms pressed painfully against the cold metal. The runaway practically leaned against his opponent, set on fixating him in place- and at the same time trying to reach for that tiny button on the floor with the tip of his shoe…
The dark back arched in shock and a strangled cry came out, making the blue furry chuckle in content.
"Then let me tell you the story by myself," the blue one tilted his head to let his nose touch the other's briefly. "Once upon a time one hedgehog lived here on ARK…"
"Let me go!" the striped one twitched to escape, but the other was ready for that and managed to keep his hold on him, tightening the grip and threatening to crush a couple of bones.
"One day bad scientists decided that they didn't need him anymore, caught him and froze him. Goddamned liquid, still makes me shudder…" Hot breath washed over the slick black ear, making it flick and fold back instinctively. "And now, as you did him a favour and freed him, he's gonna…"
And in the next moment the blue one was thrown off.
He didn't even notice the movement. Just a second later he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, while the dark one already was near the door, bringing his whole weight against it, striving to open it. Leaving the other behind to admire his strength and speed.
One tiny thing prevented the striped hedgehog from escaping – the door was already locked.
The blue one had managed to push that button, remember?..
The fallen hedgehog stood up easily, shaking the dust off himself purposely slow. Looked up to meet startled red eyes. "Bad idea."
…The fight between the two was fierce, but short, very short. Less than a minute passed, and the blue one was already pressing his lookalike against the wall, one hand almost lazily squeezing his throat. The dark body was squirming wildly against the hand, trying to remove it, taking uneven, hard breaths. Yet taking…
Both of them knew who was going to lose. Even if one of them still refused to admit it.
A single drop of blood emerged from a thin cut above the black eyebrow. Slowly, almost regretfully it slid down tan cheek and then fell off the chin, splitting itself against the back of ungloved peach hand. Warm, almost hot… The fugitive could swear he felt its metallic taste on the tip of his tongue.
The blue one looked at his enemy once again, green eyes locking with dull, darkening red ones. The enemy… and still the savior. Was it right to let him die- to kill him like this? Probably not.
The dark one jerked once again, breathing sharply as the grip around his throat loosened a bit.
"Y'know, I just thought it would be a bit ungrateful for me to kill someone who saved my quills, dontcha think?"
Peach fingers were still pressed against the dark hedgehog's throat, yet no more suffocating him. Despite this, the dark one was already glaring daggers at his captor, his poise if not back completely, then very close to it. "Whatever you want… you won't get it. I won't let you get away with it."
"Oh?" a blue brow quirked, showing amusement. "Please, don't make me laugh. Haven't you got enough yet?"
Instead of words, a dark hand reached forward sharply in reply and closed around the blue throat. The grasp was surprisingly firm and slightly painful and all of a sudden, but the blue hedgehog threw it off with his second hand almost immediately. Peach finders caught gloved ones and pressed them roughly against the wall. "It's not cool to use someone else's ways, you know? Hey, I didn't mean this, but seeing how badly you want it…"
Ungloved finders tightened, and the dark furry gasped. His legs kicked wildly and his whole body began twisting, desperate to get away from the suffocating grasp. The blue one now had to put much more effort in keeping his lookalike in place, his grip hardening even more beyond his will. He bit into his lower lip uneasily. With the dark hedgehog acting like this, there was only one way left for the blue one to get out of this…
"Shadow? Are you there?"
The blue one froze. The black one followed him, but not for long. The dark body moved slightly, and peach ungloved hand shot up to press itself against tan lips. Just in time – a faint mumbling vibrated against bare fingers, but definitely didn't reach the door and the girl standing behind it.
About the girl…
"Shadow?"
Her voice sounded faint and uncertain as if the girl knew she wasn't allowed to be here as well. But at the same time she already was… Did she know precisely about her black-furred friend beyond the door, was she aware of all the sounds the hedgehogs had made, or was it just her brief, unfounded surmise?
Two bodies met in fierce, but absolutely silent wrestle. One of them was trying to break free, to throw the hand off his mouth and give the alarm, while the other was desperate to make him stay still and quiet. For now the second one was prevailing.
The whole goddamned eternity passed before the fading sound of footsteps hit the blue ears. And then their owner finally let himself relax a bit.
"Shadow…" The blue one whispered softly, staring straight into red eyes, dull and shaded again. His fingers loosened for the second time. "Is it your name?"
Peach hand still was covering tan mouth, so the dark hedgehog nodded silently, obviously more quiet and less stubborn now and almost limp against his tormentor.
Something clicked in the blue head. "That girl looking for you… Sounded like she was a good friend of yours or something…" He licked his lips; maybe there still was a second way to solve it. "Look… you still want to stop me and things, don't you?"
A nod of the striped head. A small and uncertain, but it was a nod.
"Fine. You don't even mind getting into trouble after releasing me, right?"
Something shifted in red eyes. Probably the dark furry had already forgotten about his fault, and the thought about the punishment definitely didn't seem too pleasant to him. But he still nodded.
"Alright. But what about her? If you're friends, it's gonna be hard for you to explain Gerald that she has nothing to do with it."
Bingo. Something close to terror reflected in ruby orbs, which went impossibly wide at once. There indeed was a storm of thoughts, a feverish silent search for a better way out of this… and the blue one just needed to give the other a tiny push in the right direction.
"Now look. How about we pretend that nothing happened? I don't touch you and your friend and leave the colony, you don't tell anyone about my escape. Trust me, it will take ages for them to notice it."
Inner fight. Wordless, but still clearly visible as if the blue one was looking straight into the lookalike's soul through the two scarlet-red windows. Pride against safety. What would win…?
Slowly, very slowly he nodded.
"Fine." A bright smirk crawled across peach muzzle. "Knew you would make a right choice. Now go away and be a good hedgehog, or I'll have to go back one day and finish with you."
And it wasn't a joke. And the black hedgehog's faint shudder told clearly that he had no problem understanding it.
The blue one pushed him away, and the lookalike couldn't prevent himself from falling onto the floor limply. It took less than a second for the fugitive to unlock the door and slip out of the room. For a single moment he looked back, and shining green eyes met glowing red ones in something caught in between a challenge and a farewell. Then the eye-contact was broken, and the blue hedgehog vanished into the dark void behind the door.
He was running through the dark and silent colony, finally able to move at the speed of the wind, able to control his own body. He knew he still had to find the way to leave ARK somehow, as well as to avoid being caught by humans when finally on the Earth. But he simply couldn't help letting this large devilish smile spread across his muzzle.
He was free. And no one was going to stop him.
And maybe someday he would get a chance to see Shadow again…