Maria was outside, leaning against a large tree that was in the front of the house. Quite a ways away from it, but still near enough. Mighty walked towards her slowly, not knowing really how sure he was of talking to her. He cautiously walked up and stood beside her. She did not look at him, she knew what he was going to talk about, and frankly, she didn't want to say anything to anyone about it.
"You okay?"
"I'm just fine until you ask me if I'm okay."
"What was that all about?"
"Nothing."
"Somehow I highly doubt that." Mighty spoke almost immediately after Maria's reply. Somehow he knew she was going to try and keep it hidden.
"Why is it such a big deal? What did I do that was so interesting?" She spoke sounding irritated. That didn't surprise Mighty all too much.
"It's not what you did, it's more what you didn't." He paused and turned in front of her and looked her straight in the eyes. "Anyone with half a brain can see that you didn't tell me--us-- something, something that you're trying to hide?"
She stared up at him and pushed past him as she replied, "Yeah, so what if I am?" She continued to walk away, not even turning to see Mighty still facing the tree. He sighed and dropped his head, eyes closed, placing his hands on the tree.
"Well, that's not suspicious." He opened his eyes hearing Espio's voice. He looked around, seeing nothing, and then looked up to see Espio clung to the tree trunk, reappearing from his cloaking state. He was high on the tree, and he did somewhat of a flip as he jumped off of it and landed right beside Mighty.
Mighty remained silent, being not too sure of himself with his thoughts on the situation. Espio stared at him shortly before Mighty looked back at him. "You think she's lying?"
"I know she's lying. Mighty, the way she's acting, I know how it is."
"So what, you know what she's dealing with? If you do, please, do tell."
"I'm not saying that, but I can say that I've probably been where she's been."
"Yeah? And where exactly is that?" Espio stared for a minute before letting out a small sigh.
"Growing up with family troubles, school troubles, bad influences, it all comes back, Mighty. Maybe it's not the case with her but I'd give it a good chance that that's what it is."
"How exactly do you know all of this? You a psychologist now too?"
"No, some of us just didn't have great lives growing up." He started to walk off towards the direction Maria had gone, but stopped and turned his head halfway around to see Mighty out of the corner of his eye. "Think about that for once and see what you come up with." He then turned around and disappeared.
Mighty stood, somewhat shocked by what Espio had said, then muttered to himself, "damn." He turned around and leaned against the tree the same way Maria had when he came out. That's when Charmy decided to fly out and attempt to grasp the situation.
"Hey, where'd she go?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"
Charmy paused for a moment, not really understanding why Mighty had said that.
"Well, I was just--" he stopped feeling a little underestimated and hovered quietly until Mighty spoke.
"She went off for some solitude. Not everyone likes company all the time you know."
"Why didn't you follow her?"
"Why would I have?"
Charmy smiled a little by his absent-minded answer.
"Well, 'cause you like her."
◊◊◊
Maria was, once again, dwelling on the water's edge. She seemed so troubled, so scared, but neither her eyes nor expressions showed it. Only her actions, her voice, only they revealed her deep fear of something. Nowhere had she signaled to anyone what that something was yet, but Espio intended to find out.
He walked up slowly. She was sitting on the edge of a large rock that jutted out over the water. It was high and from the beach easy to go onto. She was sitting there as if she were completely dazed. Off in her own little world, and maybe she was. As he approached, she spoke as if she had eyes in the back of her head and had seen him come.
"You come here to pry at me too?"
Espio was caught by surprise, as he had been silent. Maybe she had keen senses because she was part feline, but he couldn't be sure of how she knew.
"Depends," he paused and sat down beside her, she looked at him sitting down quickly, then back out over the water. "Do I have to?"
She did not reply, just kept on staring. Espio looked at her waiting for her to look back, but she never did. Her focus was elsewhere. She was fingering a necklace that was hanging around her neck. A small steel diamond set on a silver chain. Espio had never seen anything like it before, but she seemed to be very attached to it. He became curious.
"What's that?"
"What does it look like?" Maria still remained gazing at the water-covered horizon.
There was silence yet again. Espio was definitely over having things hidden from him, especially when the answers were right there in front of him. He was tired of it.
"So, Maria," he paused and looked at her. "Show me something." Her gaze was suddenly directed at Espio and their eyes met in an intense moment. She was surprised by his comment, but had an urge to tell him everything. Her past, her problems, her plans, she wanted to let him know all about it. She kept her composure while she looked away and replied.
"Show you what?"
"Show me what you can really do with your powers. Throwing water can't be the only thing you've learned how to do."
She sat there, waiting for something so it seemed, but was quiet. She was debating on whether or not to do what she felt was right, or do what she knew she didn't want to...walk away.
She held out her hand, palm up, and the water from about four feet beneath her maneuvered its way up to her hand. The gem in her forehead, once again, began to glow bright white in the darkness. Espio watched closely as she twiddled her fingers and moved her hand. Every time she made a movement the water took a different form. She made live sculptures of fire burning, a tree blowing in the wind, Espio himself, and then some others that Espio did not recognized. She stopped after creating one of a young man, an echidna Espio saw, and she stared contently at it. She made one more, of a little girl this time: small, innocent, and normal looking. He finally gathered up the voice to speak.
"So, who were they?"
She froze at his question and closed up her palm letting the water drop and fall through her fingers back to the source. Espio just waited for an answer.
"Friends," she paused and let her hand drop into her lap as the gem died yet again. "Family." She refused to look at Espio. She started to finger the necklace again.
He sat for a moment thinking of what to say before deciding to ask about the unique piece of jewelry.
"Where did you get that?"
She was hesitant to answer. "My father," she paused and looked at Espio, "Before he died."
"I'm sorry." He paused, not feeling completely comfortable with the situation. "Were you close?"
"Maybe, maybe not." Espio looked at her, confused by what she'd said. She looked at him and saw the misunderstanding in his eyes, only after did she continue. "I never really saw him. The only time I remember even talking to him was when he gave me this." She paused and held the necklace out in front of her face and seemed to study it. "'Never take this off Maria, ya hear? When you wear this you hold all that is in your hands.' When I asked why, all he told me was 'All in time.' To this day I don't know why." She looked at Espio who listened very closely to what she had to say. Maria was starting to see him better than before. Maybe he wasn't such a jerk after all.
"Do you know why he gave it to you?" He looked over at her while she replied.
"No, and I don't know why he gave it to me instead of my..." she caught herself in her words, knowing that she would have trouble with talking about this. "Mother." She dropped her head a little and stared at the necklace pendant again.
"Does she know?"
"I'll never be sure. She's gone too." Espio sat a little shocked. He had no idea that she had gone through that. She seemed to handle it so well. At least he thought so before her voice started to waver a bit. "I only knew them for the first eight years of my life. They passed soon after my sister was born."
"What happened?" Espio did feel that the question was somewhat untouchable, but nonetheless, he tried.
"I don't know." She said it forcefully, as though it wasn't that big of a deal. She sounded like she was forcing it, and that's what gave it away to Espio that she was lying. He didn't want to ask again, although he was curious, he didn't want to cause her anymore pain. She looked at Espio and asked her own question. "So what about you? Any family?"
He looked at her and shrugged slightly, "Yeah but, my father walked out on me and my mother when I was only five. When she remarried after I'd turned eight, I ran away from home. Haven't seen any of them since. I honestly think the last words I said to either of them was that I never wanted to see them again, and I guess it just worked out for me." He looked down thinking about all the times he'd thought about it. She continued to look at him.
"Is there anything you regret?" He looked up surprised by Maria's sudden interest and understanding.
"There are plenty of things I regret. Never telling my dad that I wish he'd stay, never telling them I loved them as much as I did. I regret never letting my mother be happy with a husband and son again." He paused and looked down with a chuckle, "I regret never taking my mother's advice and asking Donna Maple to go on a date."
She gave a little smile at his comment and he looked up at her. "What about you? Anything you would go back and fix if you could?"
Her smile soon turned into a sad frown and she looked away. Espio debated whether or not he should take back his question, but just as he was about to say something, she cut him off with a reply.
"Life doesn't come with a receipt."
"No, it doesn't." Espio listened as she continued.
"You can't just take it back and ask for a new one. You're trapped in what you get." She paused and looked out over the water again. "Are there things I regret? Yeah, of course there is. I would erase my whole life and start over, if I could. But no matter how much I think about it, how much I pray and hope and wish and dream, I'll never have what I once lost. There's just too much missing." She paused again and grabbed the necklace in her palm and held it out in front of her. "I regret what I did to my sister, my friends," she felt a tear form in the corner of her eye and she wiped it away. "I regret never finding what I set out to and never finishing what I started." She looked down again and wrapped the necklace in a fist, like she was trying to force anger inside to stay there. "Regrets? Sure as hell seem like nightmares, but yeah. I regret almost every minute of my life. But what I regret the most, is realizing that every minute of my life, I've wasted the time I had to do something with my family and my friends. Instead, I'm sitting here trying to find out why I did what I did, and what I should do now. That's what I regret."
Espio thought quietly for a moment before truly realizing what she was talking about.
"You left them, didn't you?" She looked over to him with a sad, sad look.
"Yeah, I did. I left my sister, my best friends, the ones I loved. I left and I can't figure out if it was the right thing to do or not." She looked back at the medallion and started think on her own, but still listened to Espio.
"So what brought you here? Why'd you come to Mobius?"
"Trying to carry out on a mission."
Espio was now confused. She didn't seem like the type to stick with a plan of any sort.
"What kind of mission would that be?"
She hesitated then dropped her necklace again and looked at him.
"Why? Why do you guys care so much?" She was waiting for an answer when suddenly her vision blurred and turned to pitch black. Then, images started to run in front of her eyes again. This time though, it seemed so different. She'd never remembered it, but it seemed so real, so familiar.
Amethyst was kneeling at her window and her head was bowed. It was a clear, starry night and it was calm and quiet. She was talking to herself near silently.
"Dear Lord, it's me again. I wanted to ask you for something. I know you can make miracles happen, but I don't wanna miracle, just a favor. Maria needs an angel now. Do you think you could send a guardian angel? Please, keep her safe...for me." There was a short silence and she looked up at the stars glistening in the dark sky. "Amen."
She stood after a short moment and went to her bed. She stopped and kneeled down, looking under her bed. Soon after, she pulled out a small journal and wrote in it under a small light. She sat on her bed and let her pen and mind work as one on the paper. Suddenly, her head shot up and stared daggers straight ahead, almost at nothing. But Maria felt like she was staring straight into the scene, the girl sitting there.
Finally, Maria snapped back to real life and looked at Espio, stared at him for what seemed like the longest time. He just kept looking back. Once he made the slightest move, she blinked a few times and turned her head away quickly.
"I came here looking for answers. I need to find out what really happened to my parents, and my best friend. I need to learn what this pendant is for and figure out what my father's words meant. That's why I'm here. It's as simple as that."
"Doesn't seem so simple, does it?"
"Not when I hear it said." She let the corner of her mouth curl up in the slightest.
"What kind of answers exactly, what happened?"
She turned towards him and stared. "Even if I did want to tell you," she stood up and turned to walk away as he stood ready to follow. "A burden is always something to be avoided, and trust me," she began to walk off. "It's a burden." Espio followed quickly and walked next to her, wherever she was headed.
"You know, keeping things locked up inside can cause trouble."
"How do you figure?" She looked at him then her eyes widened. "Move!" she pushed him out of the way of a large built fox.
Espio refocused and looked at Maria who was distracting three larger men. It was only after he had grasped the situation he stood up trying to figure out what was happening. He stared in complete confusion until it was too late. Suddenly, Espio was grabbed, from behind by another large man. He had had no idea that anyone was back there behind him. When he looked back at Maria, she was on the ground gasping for breath. One of the large men must've knocked the wind out of her and forced her down. While she was struggling, the two men closest to her walked up behind her and grabbed her arms, holding them firmly behind her back. Espio was forced over closer to her, but not too close. It was as though they didn't want him to be able to reach her, at all. Then, a smaller man, not by much, walked up from behind the unoccupied man and stared at Maria who was still kneeling on the ground. He walked up right in front of her and started to talk to her. She didn't look up, just stared at the ground in front of her.
"Still conning people into fighting your fights, huh? What are you givin' this time?"
"Maria, Maria, Maria." He starting to shake his had back and forth before he continued. "Haven't you ever heard the saying," he paused and bent down to her level. He held his hand out and held her chin up, forcing her to look him straight in the eyes. "Curiosity's what killed the cat."
