Disclaimer: I don't own Maria, Shadow, or anyone of these peoples. The story isn't even mine, and I believe I shall cry.

Alright! I got it done, and just in time too; I'm so proud of myself. In fact, I'm so very proud that I'll make you all suffer through some review answers, cause I'm horrible and stuff! :D

Person Who's Name Consists Of Ten Question Marks - Sweetheart, calm down and use spaces, ok? If you get hyper, I'll get hyper and then you won't be able to read this fic, 'cause, for reasons unknown to me, I write in HTML when I'm hyper. Really bad HTML, and you won't understand a word cause I don't. Recently, I found out I write it in Latin. I don't even speak Latin. O---o Or study, or know much about it. And the grammar I use! OH MY GOSH, don't get my started on the grammar!! -.-'

eggboy - Aw, you feel sorry for him? Really? Oo Hmmm...maybe I should lighten up on him, eh? ....maybe....just a little................nah....Nice to see he has some support to get him through this though.

kai the hedgehog - Yay!! It luvs you too, and will love you even MORE if you come back and review. As in now. No, down....go down, review. I don't CARE if you haven't read the story yet, give two reviews. One before, one after. In fact, why don't you ALL give two? Right now.

You're...eh....not reviewing. -eye twitches-

Sonik fan - -eyebrow twitches cause you like Sonic more- Well, I guess you are entitled to your own fav character...even if Shadow is obviously cooler. And Sonic Team MUST love him more, because they didn't want to ruin his character by keeping him alive and disrupting the sequence of the storyline with his presense and reducing him to a forever mourning, regretting heap like that DBZ creator did to Vegeta. Only seen two full episodes of Dragon Ball Z people, the one where Veggie first shows (Lord, the destruction was awesome) and the one where he died cause of Frieza and was crying while he went. Not cool, Veg, not coool.

Shadow: They could've just had me disappear. Or come back and say I needed to go and find myself....or something....-.o

You're right, they could've, huh? Stratch that, they definately like Sonic more. Besides, Blue-boy has more games and merchandise.

Sonic: On the other had, if I'm so loved, why does Shadow get more attention from the fans?!

Good point....

DragonessFei - Lesse, the Sonic X episodes are off Ares and sonicanime .net. The information is from a number of sites, so you can go to like, Google or somewhere and type 'Shadow's Story' or you can go to sonicanime and go into the link with the Chao on the pic. Kojichan has a Shadow site linked on there somewhere. And, girl, dear heart, stop changing your naaaaame! i-i I can't remember them all, my single brain cell only works so well, you know! And 90 percent of what I've got in here... -knocks on head, making hollow noise- ...is useless Shadow junk that can't really be incorporated into any fics. For instance, did you know his favorite color is lavendar?

Shadow: LIAR!! IT IS NOT!!

You're just saying that. I saw the curtains, I know you really feel... -giggle-

Shadow: Those were ROUGE'S curtains, you stupid bald biped! I was picking them up from the drycleaner for her!!

Uh huh, suuuuuuuuuuuuuure....

LoneGunGirl88 - Hmm, well Maria does and doesn't get in trouble. Trouble is such a vague term. Anyway, read and see if it's to your tastes!! :)

Golbezandcrew - Hmmm....if I can tickle your heart, what is to stop me from entering your head and taking over your MIND!!! -concentrates, but suceeds in only tickling her brain cell- AGH!! MY BRAAAAAIIIIN!! IT IIIIIITCHES!!!!! -runs around, trying to scratch it-

The Nameless Muse: Oooh, a show!! -watches, eating popcorn-

Dragon Master Naya - Don't die! Or you'll stop drawing and writing and reviewing and I shall be very sad! i-i Please don't make me sad, I'll develop a s-stutter. P-P-Puh-PLEASE don't do this to meee?

Sonic: Faker.

Shadow: You're one to talk. -.-

Sonic: What's that supposed to mean?!

gohan11 - HEY!! I was expecting another short review! O-o But, I got a long one, which is even better!! Yaaaay! And I wish I would update this more frequently, and my other stuff too, but it's not as esay as it looks, trust me. I haven't slept in days.... i---i

ChaosFlower -I know you didn't review, but you did help me in the IM we had, thanks for the music idea, my revenge is complete!!! ....okay, I didn't really erase my sister's music, but I DID move it all to a differentfile on the computer, so now she can't find it! :p Technically, it's all the same, right? She still has no music! HAHAHA!!

"Don't speak of her like you know! You know nothing about Maria! She was kind...and good, innocent! Now she's dead! She was perfect, the only perfect human, my best friend! Maria was the most wonderful thing that could've happened to me, and it was humans like you who took her away! You murdered her, and you deserve to die for it!!"

"What are you doing...?"

Maria stiffened, clutching the still groggy hedgehog in her arms, and fretfully biting her lower lip. She had spent so long planning this moment, preparing herself for this day when she could save her own rescuer and hide him from the eyes of those whom would lock him up again, the second time permanently. Now that her Grandfather, understanding and dear to her though he was, had seen her, he would surely take Shadow away, and modify the locks so she would never again free him. She swallowed hard, trying to ready herself for a lecture.

"What is in your hands?"

Maria held in a gasp, eyes wide and sparkling with hope and terror. Had he not noticed that she held his experiment in her arms? Could she keep him from realizing what she truly held, or would he see through any tricks and know? Could she, would she, lie to her wonderful Grandfather?

"It's...it's just a toy..." Maria mumbled, trying to make the matter seemed unimportant. "One of the scientists....gave it to me....."

"Which one?" She knew she couldn't give him a name, he would ask any specified person.

"I-I'm not sure....I've been a-asking around, trying to figure it out..." She stuttered, hardly able to choke out the words. She balled her fists into the jet-black fur and felt the smaller form twist slightly in her grasp. Maria loosened her grip, but not before she heard a soft whimper. Her mind fought to think up an excuse for the noise, but before she could, the small body shivered and a loud cough echoed through the hallway. Her face paled, losing what little color her face had retained after so many years out of the sun, and she hurried to try and run down the corridor to her chambers on the opposite side of the colony. After all, for a sickly human child, she could run pretty fast.

Her grandfather however, was faster.

Gerald had the young girl by the arm in seconds, and spun her around halfway, freezing when he saw the hedgehog she clung to. His face twisted with a hundred different emotions, everything from fear to disbelief to disgust, before finally settling on a baffled sort of enragement. His hand raised up behind him, and for a moment, Maria was sure that the outraged professor would indeed strike her, though he'd never done such a thing before, no matter what he caught her getting into. But in the instant his balled fist was at its highest and she was postive it was about to come crashing down against the side of her face, the weight in her arms disappeared, and everything froze as a low, hoarse growl filled the air.

Standing between Maria and the outstreched hand of the professor was the experiment, snarling and bearing his teeth, fur on end, crouched down as though about to leap up and tear out the scientist's throat.

Gerald gave a startled gasp and stepped back, forgetting to shift his weight evenly and losing his balance. His experiment moved forward, lips still pulled back to show off the sharp canines and quills straight and ready to bury themselves into any skin they came into contact with. Gerald sputtered from the floor, obviously at a loss with what to do. His creation gave a growl that rumbled from the back of his throat and pounced, causing the professor to launch himself backward in an attempt to get away and press his back against the wall. The project landed where the human had been sitting only seconds ago, growling to himself in frustration, angry for miscalculating, before making ready for another try.

"No!!"

Maria, sensing the danger her grandfather was in, moved to stand between him and the attacking hedgehog, not knowing for sure what the experiment might do if he got hold of her elderly relative, but guessing that it wouldn't be comfortable for him.

In fact, Maria thought. He might try to do to Grandfather what he did to the Prototype!

But even as she rushed forward to defend her grandfather, the Ultimate Lifeform sprang forward to carry out his vengence against the scientist. They collided and Maria's momentum from the sideways angle she'd ran from carried them onward in her direction, and sent them tumbling. Maria ended up on the bottom their tussling masses, and would've landed first, painful for the crippled girl, but at the last second, Shadow switched their positions and landed on his feet, the blonde girl in his arms, before letting her drop to the silvery floor.

Maria toppled to the ground, staring up at the hedgehog, who glared right back, apparently angry with her interference. Maria pulled herself around to fully face him and clasped her hands together, making sure she was between him and her Grandfather.

"Please, leave him be! He meant no harm!" She pleaded, staring deep into his crimson eyes for some sign of pity. "He's a good person, really, just a little rough around the edges. He meant nothing by it!"

If the stony hedgehog heard her, it did not register on his face. Instead, his countenance remained as it was, cold and silent, a deep frown cutting through his muzzle, fierce scarlet glaring behind narrowed lids, arms at his sides, and fists clenched. Maria searched through his gaze and tried to pull out some shred of mercy. She knew she could reach the hedgehog if she tried, he couldn't hate her grandfather so much. No one could truly hate anyone so very much, could they?

No. Maria decided. They could not.

But she couldn't help but wonder, for Shadow had been trapped for seven years, and that time of captivity had made him so very angry that he would try to strike down her grandfather, imagine how much more angry he would've been after another day? If she had waited longer, had released him tomorrw, next month, next year, how much more would he be starved for his revenge? He might've simply gone on a massive killing spree, and butchered everyone, even her. But she had saved him today, and perhaps, even after all this time, some small bit of the hedgehog who had saved her before remained, for she could not believe that this creature attacking her grandfather was truly the same hedgehog whom she had tried so desperately to help all these years. Still, he had to be under all that anger....somewhere...

Maria pressed her hands more tightly together, and tried to make him see her, to look at her. The hedgehog glared just as furiously as before, and Maria could hear her grandfather mumbling something very, very softly. No doubt Shadow could also hear it.

"Please!" She whispered as urgently as she could, and the hedgehog's stare fixated on her. She tried not to shudder. "Please....for me...?"

Then she saw him, and knew he truly saw her.

Almost at once, the glare softened, and the hedghog's ears went back. She smiled and threw her arms around him, drawing him into a tight embrace, which the smaller anthro returned gently, much more so than she had thought he could've. She buried her face into the pitch fur and gave a slight gasp when Shadow carefully pushed her off. Before she could go back too far however, he caught her by the wrist and held her upright. Then he pressed his free hand against her palm and smirked at her. She stared at their hands in surprise, having thought he was too asleep to know what had happened at the time. He released her wrist and brought up his other palm to meet her now free one, then did the most amazing thing of all.

"Pleased to meet you, Maria..."

Her face broke into a full blown grin when she heard that, and behind her, Gerald Robotnik gasped loudly, whereas he'd been mostly quiet the last few minutes. Maria ignored him, and the two, human and hedgehog, beamed at each other.

Then Shadow's head jerked around, and his ears swiveled around to follow, pricking forward in the direction he faced. Maria looked also, not understanding at first, but soon hearing what the bionic creation had: the sound of many feet coming closer and closer. It dawned on Maria then that her Grandfather must've been calling for help earlier; he usually had a small communicator on him for emergencies, and the breaking out, or rather assistance in escaping, of this most valuable experiment was probably to be considered a rather serious catastrophe by all the scientists aboard the ARK.

The human crowd, about twelve people in all, a small few armed with tranquilizers, rounded the last corner and came toward them. Shadow's eyes narrowed in anger, and Maria grasped his hands firmly, hoping to keep him from going after them. These people were all her friends, were kind to her and helped raise her. Maria was pratically related to all of them, her scientist-surrogate family. She couldn't bear to see them hurt, and if Shadow did something to them...

...she couldn't even let herself think about it.

"Stay...stay back..." Maria's blonde head whipped around to look at her grandfather, who was using the wall to hoist himself up, his right hand extended out in the universal symbol for halt, obviously the speaker. "Leave them be...my granddaughter has taken care of it."

Shadow was also looking at the human, his expression unreadable. The eyes of the creator and creation met, and there was silence, the static in the space between them almost visible as they sized each other up, and came to a very complex, and yet agreeable, compromise of understandings. They would tolerate each other, for the small blonde child between them, looking back and forth as they reached their respective decisions. They knew that they needed the other to be able to keep her. They would exist together as long as it meant staying near her. Shadow gave him the smallest nod possible for his quilled head.

Gerald moved foreward slowly and placed his large hand, as Shadow's eyes followed closely and suspiously, upon Maria's blonde head, who beamed up at him, knowing that it would all be fine now; Shadow was free and would not be placed back into the cold statis chamber to float amongst the chemicals until the research was done. He would be free, and together they would someday escape the second prison that was the metallic, yet life-giving, grip of the space colony. Someday, they would all go to Earth and be free forever of the cold depths of colorful darkness which she had longed to see so long ago, but now only thought of leaving.

And her grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, looked down at them as they clasped their hands together tightly, as though afraid to ever let go, lest they lose one another, and saw their unbreakable bond, the crippled child desiring her freedom, the powerful anthromorph wanting, no, needing the same, and understood. He watched their smiles and shared secrects as Maria hugged and held the hedgehog he had born from pure energy into fur and flesh, watched as the furry helped her to her feet and as she led him away, through the little mob he'd called for help, and knew.

Everything was going to change...

Okay, that's it for today....I mean, tonight. Or something. Geez-zus, it's almost twelve. O-O I'm gonna go to bed now, okay? I mean, if I don't sleep today, or...um...tonight, I might not see tomorrow...or...well....now it's today. SCREW IT!!!

Review, though, okay?

And remember!! -holds up two fingers- TWICE!!!