AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, this is the first chapter of the fic! I hope you all don't ask too many questions about it. First chapters are normally confusing if a story is sorta complex. It will all make more sense as each chapter progresses. Please RR but don't be nasty!

Maria and Sonic the hedgehog do not belong to me-none of it does accept Damaris!

CHAPTER ONE: A Strange Place

Geez Feebe,

No one seems to know or care that moving might affect me in other ways than just the environment I live in. Am I being the selfish one or are other people more selfish than I am about this whole thing? I still can't believe I have to move so away from my friends and everything I've known for a long time to go to a strange place, full of new, strange people, with new places. Everything new. Mostly everyone feels the way I do when they have to leave that small, familiar circle I guess. I'll bet there's always something different in each situation though. In my situation, I'll be moving away from Shadow and Amy Rose. It won't be hard for him to visit me because he can run as fast as Sonic, but I know he won't see me very often since he has a family now. I was the one who went to see him most of the time. I know he loves me and won't mean to ignore me, but I know him too well to know that he won't see me often when I go away.
What am I to do? That's only the first of my worries. The reason why Mom's moving us is because we're not doing so financially well. Her job isn't paying as well as she'd hope and she found a better paying job in Lumberopolis. I guess I'm the selfish one for not caring as much as I should whether or not her job pays enough. I just want to stay near the people I love and the shops I like. I don't want to have to worry about making new friends or finding those small shops that no one else knows about. The really cute, fun shops. Sort of like gift shops.

And what is Lumberopolis like? I've never been there in my life. I've seen Casinopolis, Carnivalopolis, Knothole, Metropolis, Jungleopolis, and Ruralopolis, but never Lumberopolis. Shadow told me that it's called that because there's large lumber mills where wood is processed into chips, boards, and other building essentials. He told me that it's known for its large, dark forests around the city and that the cities themselves are small and old-fashioned. I don't like the sound of that. I'm not used to little, old things; I'm a city girl and I need the skyscrapers and technology.

I'll bet my mom will love it there. She's an insurance secretary and will be getting 3.31 dollars more every hour than on her last job. I know I won't like it there. I know I won't like the forests because the dark scares me; I know I won't like the schools if they're not like the ones here; I know I won't like it there period because Shadow won't be there-neither will Amy, Tails, Knuckles, or Sonic… I feel so sad. There won't be anyone there to give me hugs or send me silly cards like my friends here. Ya, I can still email them and write letters, but it's not the same as them actually being there.

You think I'm overreacting, don't you Feebe? Some diary you are! You're supposed to be sympathetic, not a heartless old hag. I am not overreacting! Lumberopolis is at least 100 miles away from Metropolis. It's not that easy just to get up and run back to visit Alane or Maral. Driving takes gas and money and time and I hate traveling. I feel like I'm going to cry over this.
We move tomorrow morning and everything I know will be left behind here. I feel like the outcast no one wants, the ugly, clumsy, worthless girl that gets in the way and revolts everyone she sees. I know I won't make friends in Lumberopolis. How will I get over this? I am being the selfish one. I know we're moving for Mom because she needs us to have money to pay for bills and other necessities. If only Daddy were still alive.

That was what Maria Anastasia wrote in her diary on May 9, Friday evening, at her desk that sat in front of her window, casting a light around her outline. That was the last night she spent in her lavender, pink-speckled room with pale purple carpet and lively pictures of those she loved hanging around the walls. It was the last night she slept in her warm bed and the last day she was able to weep within the sanctuary of her private room. She wasn't even able to think about the possible next owner of this precious room that she had spent some of her most important growing-up years in. The thought was disgraceful. Anyone else having parties or sleepovers in her room would ruin the past memories of the original owner's existence.

This was the room Shadow had slept in and laughed in with her; this was the room Amy Rose had sung; the room Maria had been able to laugh in at the sight of Shadow laying a lip-smacking kiss on Amy. Sonic had first met her in this very room. Tails and Knuckles were the special ones she had told stories to during the dreary, rainy afternoons to pass the time away. She recalled Cream fastening a pearly necklace around her neck-a necklace the cute bunny had bought for her. Big had dried her tears in this room. Everything important and special had happened here; all those little memories that bring out the person inside had happened here and now she was going to leave it all behind. Would they be forgotten, eaten by moths and dust of the years to come? The thought drove her to tears.

It was nine AM Saturday morning, May 10. Maria stood, silent, in the center of her new bedroom. Empty and lifeless, she tested her voice and it echoed off the vacant walls. This room was slightly larger than the last one she'd had, but the walls were a putrid, bright red and the carpet was maroon. Whoever had lived here last had had horrible taste.

The furniture that was to go in her room was sitting out in the garage for the time being for she wasn't going to allow it in this room until the walls were painted a light lavender with pale pink, bump-mapped paint splatters over the purple just as her old room had looked. That's why she was standing here now, with a bucket of paint near her shoes and a wide brush in the other.

Maria shoved the window up to open it and stared out across the houses down to a wide, long river crowded by boathouses, sailboats, and people swimming. There was no beach to this river like the one outside Shadow and Amy's house in Metropolis. This river had sharp, cruel rocks with no soothing sand. She glared at it in disgust then turned away, plunging the paintbrush into the bucket and slapping wild, immature lines of paint over the red paint.

-MICHELLE TUMES: MISSING YOU-

Shadow, please don't forget me. Don't forget me Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Sonic. Don't forget how I love you and think of you constantly. I'd read your notes right now, but I can't. I'm too busy. The notes she spoke of were farewell love letters from each of the team. They had given the papers to Shadow, who had stuck them all in a fat envelope, and given them to Maria on her move out. She would always remember his sad eyes, the way his hand had slid over hers, how he had spoke, so softly, so slowly, the way he had clung to the side of the car, unwilling to let the seconds slide away without confessing some relic to her. He had, hopelessly, let his grip slide when she had whispered 'sayanara, Shadow the Hedgehog' to him. She recalled the loving kiss she had placed on his forehead and then he was nothing but a black speck as they drove away.

"Sayanara…" The word croaked out of her throat, "For now. Please come see me soon." Life was going to be strange for a while now. Maria worried about school coming up the next week. She worried over everything small and large, things frivolous and important but mostly, she worried about acceptance.

Monday morning, May 12. Maria found herself an awkward form among the thick, weaving students of Lumberopolis High school. Metropolis high school's had, by far, been more packed than these schools, but the teenagers she knew there hadn't treated each other in the brutal, rude manner students seemed to treat each other here. As they walked, boys would shove other boys out of their way. Girls were just as worse and to make the whole situation a gaping pit, both genders disrespected each other to the extremes. Girls openly screamed at boys; boys shoved girls. Maria tried to dodge the glances students shoved her way and the alarming physical abuse as she rushed down the hall to the principal's office for her inspection.

She fled inside the small office and closed her eyes heavily.

"Miss Anastasia?" The principal snapped her out of the frightened moment she was in. Maria stepped forward towards what appeared to be a refined individual in this savage building. "I'm Miss Ann Lane. Please, have a seat and I'll make this quick for you so you won't be late for any classes on your first day. It's always wise to make a good impression."

"Yes, thank you." Maria clutched the backpack in her sweaty fingers.

"I just need to know your full name, age, and grade."

"Maria Calista Anastasia. 16. Tenth grade."

Anne clicked her keyboard a few seconds, "Thank you, Maria. You may go to class now. If you have any problems, remember to come see me or one of your teachers." The principal winked, sending shivers down Maria's back. Certainly a strange woman, she thought, to have a job like this in a wolf-pack of wild savages. How in the world did that lady end up here?

A few minutes later and the halls were mostly empty. Maria sighed, but bravely ventured through the doors into her first class: history. Most of the students rudely met her gaze, the guys smirking flirtatiously. Already, Maria had reasons to groan, which she did so and very loudly. There were thirty desks divided into three rows of ten. At the front of the room sat a wide desk, old and chipped severely. Two shelves guarded the desk, one on the left: full of dictionaries and books; the other one on the right being empty.

Maria shifted forwards and forced her stiff legs to bend as she sat at her desk. Her solitary meditation was soon interrupted. "Hey, what's your name?" The male student in front of her grabbed one of her braids, tugging it hard, a solid grin plastered across his cute, but dark features.

"Maria." She grabbed the long, golden braid from his grimy fingers, "Keep your hands off of me."

"Maria is it? That wouldn't happen to be Maria Anastasia?" He grinned at her sudden suspense, "I'd be careful if I were you. People know about your old man and lots of rumors go around these parts. Watch your back."

There was something cynical in the boy's voice that Maria felt threatened from. Something warned her against holding any form of conversation with him. "Oh, ya? Like what? Anything concerning me or my father is most likely going to be false if started by you all." This was said not with bitterness or anger or spite, but with the normal quiet, soft voice Maria always used. "Please leave me alone."

"Why so scared? I'm not the enemy. I was hoping we could be friends."
"I-I don't know. We'll have to see." But she doubted any relationship between him, "What's your name anyways?"

"Dillan."

"Please take out your books, class," The teacher broke them off, "We have a new student: Maria Calista Anastasia. Please stand up and say a word about yourself, would you miss Anastasia?"

Immediately, Maria disdained her teacher. He was short, pale, and very skinny-unhealthily so. His mustache poked out in a strange, yet familiar way, forming spikes on each end; his uniform slightly resembled British regimentals. With every move, his hand gestured up and down as if his bones were stiff and he groaned almost with every step. Maria wanted to run from the room, away from him, and away from everyone, but could not.

She rose slowly, "I'm Maria Anastasia, but you already know I guess. My mother and I recently moved here from Metropolis. I've never been here before so I don't know any places around here. I'm 16, and a writer."

"Thank you, Maria," The frail old teacher turned to the board, "Pretty name. Familiar. I would have named my daughter that if I had ever had any." He scratched his back and reached for the chalk, "Today's lesson is…"

It's sunny out. I wish I was outside. Maria neither heard nor cared for the lesson that day. Her heart was set on a certain black hedgehog over a hundred miles away and what he could possibly be thinking of at that moment. She envisioned him happy, enjoying the cool beach water, and envied his circumstances. He and Sonic had found similarities between each other and had formed a brother friendship. Tails was currently teaching him advanced mechanical engineering and Knuckles was advising him in boxing. Amy and he were married and celebrating the second birthday of their little girl, Suger. Shadow's life was perfect, why couldn't hers be? It wasn't fair but Maria knew she was pouting and being selfish again.

Uneventfully, the days turned into a week and the week turned into two weeks. Shadow didn't come to visit Maria during the span of the time she had been living in Lumberopolis so far. The weeks became a routine of school, homework, and writing for Maria. She had made no friends, didn't care to anymore, and her hopeful, optimistic personality dissipated under the hopeless, depressed Maria of the present. Mornings: Maria awoke, ate breakfast, and boarded the bus to school. School: the normal procedure of pretending to ignore the rude students and their outrageous rumors concerning her. Afternoon: come home; cry her eyes out, sat at the computer for some writing and poetry and homework. Evenings: eat dinner, walk around the city for an hour, come home and write in her journal, go to bed.

Indeed, although her life was average and gray, her mind was wild and full of colorful thoughts only being able to be spoken through the keyboard and monitor. Everyday, Maria spilled her ideas out on scribbled paper and later typed them all out orderly. It was the only way she kept herself from breaking down.

Currently, the sun was burning directly overhead. The date was May 30-two weeks and one day after the move. Maria found her feet stepping into unfamiliar places she had never explored before. There was so much city left to see and such little time,;but being Saturday, she had to find an escape route and fled into the park. Happy children ran to and fro; dogs barked; people tossed Frisbees; Maria imagined Shadow running down a long stretch of road towards her but when she opened her eyes, he was never there. Just tall maple trees, cement fountains, short, clean grass, blue sky.

"Whoa!" She clumsily tripped over something large-a rock perhaps-but caught her fall with her hands. "What was that?" Turning, she paused: a green hedgehog sat surprised, looking at her. She stopped breathing: his eyes were as violet emeralds; his fur thick and dark hued as a faded mint green; he wore regular white gloves, but also wore two gold rings on his right arm and brown, leather strips at the ends of his spikes. Maria noted the peculiarity of the bottoms of his shoes and the huge metal side screws lining the inner walls of each shoe.

The hedgehog rubbed his ringed eyes and struggled to his feet, "Crud, guess a guy can't ever get any sleep around here."

"I'm sorry. I didn't see you lying there," Maria made haste to get away from him, "I'll leave." She felt stupid in front of this guy and didn't even have a legitimate reason to. Everyone made mistakes.

"No! Wait, what's your name?"

"Oh," She turned back and saw him standing up near the bench, "its Maria."

"Cute name. Can I tag along? I need to buy somethin' to eat in town, I'm starved! Guess you waking me up wasn't so bad after all." He chuckled but she turned away irritated at his ability to laugh at her folly. Maria decided to venture leftward but saw the motion of a greenish figure slightly behind her. Just great.

She tried not to look his way as the strange couple treaded out of the park together, for she feared he'd see her blushing cheeks. He's pretty cute for a hedgehog but that doesn't matter. Why am I so nervous? No guys have ever made me feel this way before.

"Say, I didn't catch your age," Damaris had a singular style of striking conversations, "I'm 17. I'll bet you're… 15?"

"Sixteen actually, but you were close," Maria glanced down, but it was a mistake. He winked up at her and her cheeks burned. "Um, did you say where you were from?"

"Nowhere." Voice dry, he cracked his knuckles loudly, "Don't got a place to call home."
"Why not?"

"I just don't." The milky treble had left his voice and Maria decided it was best not to continue that line of conversation.

"What were you going to get to eat in town? I'm a little hungry as well. Perhaps I'll get something with you."

"Hey, that's a swell idea! You and me eating together! It's been ages since I last had someone to talk to-especially a girl! I can eat anything. Even dirt! Dudet, this will totally rock!"

He sounds like Sonic… in a deranged way… "I am sorry for tripping over you," Maria changed the subject, "Did I hurt you? If I hurt you, it's my responsibility to make sure you're looked after."

"Ahh…ah…" Damaris backed up a pace, "No, no go. I won't be looked after by a girl." He tried to conceal the large bruise on his leg rather sheepishly, and so rudely continued, with a touchy and irritated tone in his voice, "I've been on my own for a while and doin' quite fine, thank you very much. No little bruise or scrape is a good enough reason to put me in some smelly hen house with a bunch of clucking chickens who don't give you the privacy of day. Besides, what's up with girls and responsibility?"

"What! Clucking chickens? We don't cluck for your information! You are such a rude brat! It's no wonder you're on your own-no one WANTS you!" Maria was shocked that he'd ever insult her or other females so openly to her face. She couldn't believe how outrageously rude this hedgehog was. Tears streamed down her now beat-red, angry face. Fists clenched sourly, she grit, "I-I just…I… will… not eat lunch with the likes of YOU! Good BYE if you don't want me to help you! If you're going to insult me, you don't deserve help or love of any kind!" She turned to run off, but he grabbed her wrist.

"I see we both have the same problem…"

"You maybe? And let go of me!"

"No," There was no hint of the chipper, happy-go-lucky hedgehog she'd just met left in his downward countenance, "Rejection." He let his wrist slide but Maria couldn't run away from him anymore. He was obnoxious, rude, openly insulting, but alone and sad like her. Was it possible that he was telling her the truth and not lying? Her heart wondered how he could have possibly known that she had no one and no friends to talk to.

"How did you know that?"

"It's just something I see in people. I don't know what to tell you but you shouldn't stick around someone like me if you don't wanna." Damaris shifted his feet angrily. He always managed to blow it with people-especially girls-and the purple bruise on his leg was increasing in size, turning blue, and really starting to smart.

"I really should but I can't. Someone needs to help you with that bruise and since that's my fault, I guess it should be me."

"You're a nice person, ya' know that?"

"I used to think so, but I don't know what to think of myself anymore. C'mon, I'll take you to the doctor."

Damaris hated doctors. If there was anything he was afraid of, which were a blessed few things, it was doctors. Of course he wasn't about to reveal his fears to this strange girl-it was none of her business-but he wasn't about to go in without a fight. "No! I won't see a doctor! They're all uneducated hillbillies!"

"Since when? That's just plain absurd. Why not?"
"Because…" Nothing came to mind, "Because!"

"Real logical. Really, what's wrong with doctors? They always manage to make my sicknesses go away."
I doubt that. They didn't fix your mental illnesses. "They never do no good for me. That's why because."

Maria cocked her head impatiently, "I have things to do and I won't stand here and argue immaturely with you the rest of the afternoon. Either you go with me and I pay for your medical attention to make your leg feel better, or you can sit here and have a sore, aching leg for weeks without care or help. You're choice. I'm going home." Turning, she started walking down the path leisurely, half regretful and feeling guilty, but that hedgehog was nothing but a filthy-mouthed pest and if he didn't want her help that was just fine. Let him be stupid.

"Hey, don't go! Ok, ok, ok: I'll see a doc!" He wined, prolonging the word 'doc' into a long, tiresome string, "But you better not make a big deal out of it!"

"Fine with me. By the way, I didn't ask you what you're name was."

"Damaris."

"I've never heard that name before."

He smirked, "Ya, it's Greek. Means gentle." And laughed as if the definition was something hilarious. "It doesn't fit me I think."

"We'll just see as time goes by I guess." Maria kept her hands away from him so he wouldn't try to grab them. Damaris seemed eager to hold them. They walked side-by-side, but with a considerable gap of space between them, talking about small, meaningless things, as they headed out of the park and into the city. She didn't know what would come of them but she knew she was still angry with him for insulting her. He didn't seem to have or want a clue of what she thought or said. Everything that came out of his mouth was stupid, worthless, clueless, selfish, or rude. The words contrasted with his flowing, mediocre voice and she found herself having to look at his face to understand what he meant behind the words.

"I have tracked Host 767 to one of the smaller branch cities of Lumberopolis. According to the scans, he's somewhere in this facility."

"Good work, Unit 1," A tall, slender blond woman traced the circular region on the map with her gloved finger, "We should send in some soldiers to find him." She flicked her long, thick hair out of her face.

"Not without our supervision. Soldiers are clumsy and loud and will never get the job done if left alone." Unit 2 perched her hands on her hips, looking thoughtful, "I don't like hunting him down this way."

"I know how you are with him but your job comes first and he is, afterall, just one hedgehog."

"That GUN has spent millions on." Unit 2 calmly sipped her coffee, "Yes, you know how I am with him. I practically raised him from infancy and I don't like the way he's being treated."
"But if the experiment works, you would have a real son, not just a hedgehog."

Unit 2 didn't want a real son. She didn't want Host 767 to be exposed to the evils of the final stage. Her heart had become involved and she had finally realized how wrong and horrible her occupation was. Unit 1, as her co-agent worker and close friend was called, and she had always worked together to track down runaway experiments or look after the toddlers and children who were waiting to be used for some inhumane way or another. Back then Unit 2 hadn't seen the tools used for dissecting internal organs; she hadn't heard the cries and screams of the innocent or witnessed the transformation or death of one of them. Now she had and it had been malicious and bloody. Her hands grew cold against the cup remembering that day with regret.

"What are you thinking of?" Unit 1's viperous voice interjected through her, "Never keep things from your partner."
"I was considering the possible strategies of capture," She lied professionally, "Host 767," she spoke, hating the dubbed name of her adopted son, "Will be looking for places to hide."

"Obviously."

"And I know where he's liable to go since I'm the one who knows him the best."

"And those are?"

"Arcades, casinos, or carnivals."

"You're joking."

"No… Not at all." They stared blankly at each other for a few seconds, "He's a boy in more ways than one. Whenever I took him, it was always somewhere fun. Carnivals are his favorite places, casinos are goldmines, and the arcade is a hobby."

"If you say so. It surprises me that he didn't seek refuge in Casinopolis or Carnivalopolis then"

"It is strange… I have the arcades and other locations centered in by the blue dots on the map. You will take fifteen men and I will take fifteen men. Do not confront him without me, as I know that he'll jump away to safety with his Turbo Spring Shoes. If you find him, call me and I will come and confront him. There's no one else that can confuse him as I can since I am him guardian."

"That doesn't sound very logical but I trust you on this. I'll go gather the men and fetch you when I'm ready-if I locate him first that is."

"Alright."

Unit 1 strutted from the room, leaving a disturbed Unit 2 behind. This is wrong… Unit 2 groaned, I can't go through with this. I can't betray Damaris. But if she didn't bring him back, someone else would, Unit 1 no doubt, and she knew how brutal her partner was.

Unit 1 was a parasite; a flirtatious snake that lived to break men's hearts with her untouchable beauty and graceful form. It was all a deceptive show, a game of "look but don't touch", and one the woman loved to play. Unit 2 hadn't realized how heartless and evil her partner was until she let her own foster "child" die alone and frightened. She couldn't do this… But if she didn't, Damaris would fall into the hands of someone less lenient. If she didn't complete this herself, he would die.

Where are you, Damaris? Where are you hiding? I want to find you and keep you safe but I feel trapped… What could she do? Unit 1 sat up late that night thinking over possible defective plans.