Author's note:

Several things before you start reading the story.

First, if you thought the story is about some lost brother or sister or whatnot of Shadow, then no, there won't be any of those.

Second, the story is based on both Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. Of course you don't have to be familiar with them to read the story, but it'd really help you to understand what's going on.

Third, I'm aware of a certain game's featuring the black hedgehog existence in general, but I wasn't taking Shadow the Hedgehog into account while writing this specific story. To put it simple: no Black Doom or anything related to him. I guess that is enough to state the story isn't canon, but I wouldn't dare call it an AU either. Hm... should I call it semi-canon, then?

Fourth, I was using SA2-based version of Shadow's creation, according to which he was created during the last week before the ARK's seal. And this is an important part.

Fifth, there will be much more of Shadow in later chapters. This first one is something of an introduction; I know there isn't too much Shadow in it, but I have to keep it this way.

Sixth, sorry for the long introduction. And enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. SEGA does.

.w.

It was nighttime aboard the ARK.

Though it was nothing like nighttime on the Earth. Since the spacescape beyond the windows never changed, the only differences between day and night were smaller amount of light and lack of people in the passages. Although sometimes, during the most exciting and vital experiments, people were out of their bedrooms even at night as well. Still, they tried to keep quiet and certainly looked more embarrassed than normally.

For the two men in the laboratory night came when they had a free minute or two to sleep - which means it hardly ever came at all. Both of them looked tired to excess, and their feelings matched their look. Professor Gerald Robotnik, the older of the two, now appeared nearly twice his actual age, his face resembling a wax mask. Alles, the assistant, somehow managed to preserve more energy, but not enough to avoid deep shadows appearing under his eyes. His hair, still untouched by the grey color, stood on end from occasional tousles.

A small computer between them was buzzing quietly until it let out a small beeping sound and produced a long and thin piece of paper. Professor Gerald happened to be the first one to seize it and look over it.

"Negative."

Alles sank back into the chair he had barely risen from. "This makes three, and result's still the same. Professor, do you think it's enough already?"

"I'm absolutely sure it's not enough, and would insist on carrying out at least ten more experiments if the circumstances were different. But I believe you know what the circumstances are just as good as I do."

He approached the table which had a small interphone on it. Picked up a receiver and dialed some number.

After about half a minute he frowned. "Again…"

Another number was dialed. This time the answer came almost immediately.

"Shadow? Yes, yes, that was rather obvious. You'll explain yourself later, and now I need you in the laboratory number 118-s. It's very important- what? No, don't even think of waking her up - she hasn't got too much sleep lately and she really needs this rest. I need only you. I'll be waiting."

The man took the receiver away from his ear, but didn't put it down straight away.

"He was in Maria's room, I take it?" asked Alles, who failed to find another subject to bring up.

"Where else? Amazing how a girl has more power over him than me and all my colleagues altogether, isn't it?" Keeping on twisting a piece of white plastic in his hands in an absent-minded way, the older scientist looked back at his assistant. "I hope you understand I'm doing this not because I actually want it, but because I have to finish the research I was forced to join."

"Of course, professor," the voice of the younger male didn't falter as he feared.

"Experiments with blood samples won't allow me to obtain the remedy. In order to get it I'll have to infect Shadow himself with the virus."

Alles understood. He never blamed Gerald for the decision that had been made, and he believed no one of their colleagues would have blamed him if they had known about the experiment. But it seemed that stings of the professor's own remorse were just enough to make him suffer.

"I know, professor. You're doing it right."

Their conversation died down, making room for another waiting which felt different this time. Robotnik, who had been previously sitting motionlessly in is chair as if dozing, was now striding slowly across the room. He marched from the shelves full of various samples to the table with a messy heap of papers on it, and then back to the shelves. His assistant was looking at the computer screen absent-mindedly. Silence felt thick, as if someone had spilled a vat of cold jelly between them.

There was a small sound indicating that someone was standing in front of the lab door. Both scientists twitched involuntarily; the professor who stood closer to the door went to open it. He let in a black and red hedgehog, silent and tensed as always. Without asking a single question, Shadow followed Gerald to the shelves.

As soon as the professor and the hedgehog moved away from the door, it slid open again. Alles stood up in a swift movement and laid a hand on a shoulder of a girl who had just slipped in. The pressure of his palm wasn't too hard, but it still was there preventing the girl from following Gerald and Shadow.

"I thought Shadow said you were sleeping," he tried to make his voice sound gentle, but it came out tired. "Did you let him stay in your room again?"

"We were reading together and I didn't notice falling asleep. I woke up when grandfather called," Maria looked up and smiled in a disarming way. "I know Shadow is not allowed to walk on his own, so I followed him. May I have a look at what he and grandfather are doing?"

"You better not. They'll be done in a couple of minutes anyway, and professor will let you two go. Maybe he'll even allow him to stay with you—"

"Please!"

Alles had never had kids, and every time he had to talk to Gerald's granddaughter he felt at a loss. Right now he had an indistinct feeling that a helpless look and angelic smile were a part of some innocent plan to influence him to do what she wanted him to do, and he didn't know how he was supposed to react to that. On the other hand, the girl didn't have to know what her grandfather was doing to Shadow right about now…

He let out a heavy sigh, already knowing he was going to eat himself up inside for upsetting her, and shook his head. "Sorry, but you really better wait outside."

Maria frowned in somewhat amusing way, obviously not going to give up so easily. Alles was saved by Gerald himself, who chose this moment to finally approach them. The black hedgehog was following him silently.

"Now that's all," he exchanged glances with his assistant and then turned to his granddaughter. "I thought I asked Shadow not to wake you…"

"I woke up on my own, grandfather." She embraced Gerald's elbow gently, nuzzling rough fabric of his white lab coat. "How are you?"

Alles let out an uncomfortable cough and turned away to study the papers on the table with unreasonable interest. The thought about the second witness of this touching family scene danced into his mind, and he looked sideways. Shadow, unlike him, didn't bother looking away and kept watching the girl and her grandfather, still without uttering a single word.

"Good enough, my dear."

"You haven't got any sleep in the last days. Are there any problems with your project?"

"No, no, no, it's going on perfectly well. In fact, my work is about to be finished already," Robotnik was obviously feeling a little uneasy now. Lying to a heavenly creature like Maria was nearly a crime, but, again, he couldn't tell her what the last phase of his experiment actually was. At least, not now. "By the way, you refuse to go to bed too often, too, and you don't have a project that could excuse it," he moved away from Maria and pointed a finger at her. Despite his mock anger, he looked rather amusing now. "Go take a rest, now. But wait, lead Shadow to his laboratory first. You know it is where he's supposed to be at nights."

Maria drew her clenched fists up under her chin - an involuntary gesture of nervousness of a high degree. "Grandfather, may he stay with me? I promise nothing bad happens to him or to me!"

Gerald bit his lower lip. After a few moments of hesitation he addressed Alles a helpless glance, which was met with nothing more than a mere shrug. NIDS - neuro immunodeficiency syndrome, which Shadow was now infected with - wasn't transmitted via the airborne route or through skin contact; the hedgehog was no more dangerous than Maria in this respect. Despite being in possession of colossal power, the last prototype of the ultimate life form never showed any signs of aggression towards other creatures. But there still was a rule which didn't allow experimental monsters to go wherever they wanted.

But there also was Maria who had never been overfond of this rule.

The professor who was left alone face to face with his beloved granddaughter didn't stand a single chance. "Maria, formally he's still one of the prototypes, he's not supposed to leave the laboratory at all," he tried desperately.

Shadow chose this exact moment to open his mouth for the first time and remind everyone that he was still present. "I don't really mind staying in the laboratory."

"No, you shouldn't say so, Shadow!" Maria knitted her brows and turned back to the professor. "Grandfather, you can't do this to him! You know he can't sleep, he'll have to sit in the laboratory all alone for hours!"

Gerald finally gave up. "All right, all right. You win," he raised both his hands up. "Now go to Maria's room, you two. I can't believe I'm saying this, but make sure nobody sees you. Very few of my colleagues would be pleased to see Shadow running free."

"Thank you, grandfather!" In one swift movement the girl embraced the professor and smooched the part of his cheek which wasn't covered by the moustache. She grabbed the hedgehog's hand and dragged the confused sapient out of the lab. A quiet fading laughter could be heard outside.

Warm smile that had touched the professor's lips at the end of the conversation faded slowly. From a kind and good-natured grandfather he suddenly turned into an old scientist, tired, lost, and exhausted. He leaned against the table heavily. "Just think about it… Only a couple of days passed, and she is already attracted to him so much," muttered Robotnik, taking the medical gloves he had been wearing off. "And that's why I feel so… nasty."

"Don't blame yourself, professor. We have reasons to believe everything turns out well in the end. What was the dose?"

"Two ml of that solution we created yesterday."

Alles sank into his chair slowly. "But… you… do you realize it's capable of killing a full-grown human in about two days?"

"I suppose what you said about two days is an overstatement. I'd give that human about a week. Keeping in mind that Shadow is not human and not a regular anthropomorph, I'd give him about three weeks, give or take. Although if his body manages to overcome the virus, we'll be able to take blood samples even earlier to create the remedy."

"But why take such a risk?"

Robotnik made a sound that someone with rich imagination would call a chuckle. "The ARK is about to be closed, there's plenty of signs and I'm not so naïve to ignore them. I guess I won't be mistaken if I say we have only a month or two left. And it means we're almost out of time- and we have to act quick, as quick as possible. The experiment we started today is the last one. Once it's complete, I will be able to start working on the medicine. If I succeed, I— I will report the results of my work to those GUN leaders. I'm sure they will change their mind as soon as they see that we are actually getting closer to achieving our goal…"

Looking into strangely gleaming eyes of the professor, Alles could only slightly shake his head. He was one of the few people who happened to know about the possible shutdown of the colony, and he couldn't believe that Gerald's report stood a chance to make GUN forget about all dangerous experiments they had been informed about lately. And what is more, he doubted the professor himself ever believed his own words. He had never tried to make a secret out of the fact that he had joined the research solely because of his granddaughter - finding a cure for her illness was all he cared about. Sometimes Alles thought that Robotnik's plans ended at the point where the remedy was found and Maria was cured; the following events could include pretty much anything, starting with mysterious disappearance of both Robotniks.

Alles doubted he would find a better solution himself if he was in Robotnik's shoes.

"The information is not confirmed yet. And even if it was, it's still too…" he hesitated, searching for the right word, "…reckless."

"And cruel. I know," Gerald had been wiping his glasses with a sleeve of his coat absently for about a minute now. "I don't remember if I told you this before, but I really wish the circumstances were different. But, alas…"

He looked at his wrist watch and shook his head. Reached for the keyboard and entered the code which powered the computer down. "I suggest both of us taking a rest. We had a very tiresome… tiresome… Chaos, I can't even remember how much time have passed since we started."

"Hm… Same here," Alles stretched and stood up lazily. "Yes, a rest is what we can afford now. After all, the rest of it doesn't depend on us anymore."