Chapter 2: Lingering Memories

Just like that, Shadow was a pup again, zipping around her room in excitement. It was his first time being allowed inside, as the Professor hadn't been sure if Shadow may have been a potential allergen for Maria. After extensive testing on his fur, quills, and skin, he was shown to have been no threat to the sickly girl, at least not as a cause of any major allergies. Delighted, Maria had immediately invited Shadow to her room to play. She had been waiting a long time to be able to spend quality time with her new friend, away from clinical safeguards like gloves and masks and from nosey scientists treating the pair like test subjects. Maria wanted to be able to speak to Shadow about anything. She had so many questions for him, as he did her. But more than that, she wanted them to become closer. Shadow was still wary of humans, understandably, but Maria wanted him to be able to trust her completely. Every time she looked at him, a wave of maternal affection washed over her, despite her young age of eleven.

Shadow had been revealed to her, or as she preferred to think of as born, on her eighth birthday by her infamous and brilliant grandfather. Still too young to understand the situation fully, Maria would spend countless hours peering into the glass holding Shadow's unawakened figure. "He's still growing," Gerald would try to soothe her impatience to meet him, "Very soon, Maria, it will be very soon…" Unfortunately, she would have to wait another year before he would be awoken, and almost another before she would be allowed to spend any time with him. The first year were tests and more tests, and Maria's heart would clench as she stood upon cargo boxes to peer illicitly into the lab's windows, trying to catch a glimpse of Shadow before anyone discovered her. On the rare occasion that she managed to see him, she never liked what she saw. Countless tubes, needles, pokes and prods. Shadow never smiled, only looked down in apathy and defeat as the scientists continued invading him. "I bet they tell him this is all for his own good, just like what they tell me…" she sighed, eyes filling with tears as she bared witness to the poor creature who reflected her own situation. At this time in her life, all Maria longed for in between her own treatments and tests was the chance to talk to Shadow. Finally, when she turned ten, the two were allowed to become acquainted.

"Maria, this is Shadow the Hedgehog. He is the Ultimate Lifeform, a being capable of honing Chaos Energy and of unthinkable power. At the same time, he is also a young boy not so much unlike yourself. In this dark and uncertain world, I hope that the two of you can become friends…" the elderly man lowered his gaze from his smiling, yet sickly, granddaughter to the red-and-black anomaly standing rigidly beside him. He sighed. Although he thought of Shadow as his greatest creation and felt a certain sense of pride in him, it was a complex feeling. When he thought of Maria, he felt a rush of familial adoration which channeled all of his resources and efforts into protecting. He cherished her. However, Shadow, although technically his offspring in a scientific sense, was an alien. He felt fondness for him, but it was mixed with fear and something else… Perhaps pity. The creature's deep ruby eyes were constantly drowning with a look of profound sadness and longing that Gerald knew he had absolutely no hope of filling. The hedgehog needed a friend, and that friend had to be Maria. He had, after all, programmed Shadow's soul to be pure and good based on Maria's own, and Shadow's very purpose in life was to cure her. In a perfect scenario, the two would become close and that would eliminate any possibility of Shadow building resentment towards Maria for being succumbed to testing for the sake of her cure. Two birds with one stone, if you will.

"Shadow, this is my granddaughter, Maria. She is ten years old and has been very much looking forward to meeting you for the past two years. I trust that you will be kind, gentle, and respectful to Maria in all aspects. She has a rare ailment known as NIDS and therefore cannot handle rough play and must be kept in a sanitary environment at all times. Thus, I ask that the two of you limit playtime to this sterile lab and only in the presence of supervising scientists using proper equipment. Understood?" He said the final part of his sentence as an order, and Shadow nodded automatically, without taking his eyes off Maria.

In fact, during this entire interaction, Shadow hadn't stopped staring at Maria. It wasn't an angry, defensive, or accusatorial stare- but it was intimidating all the same. Maria had never been stared at with such intensity in her life, especially not by a non-human entity with burning red eyes. Still, Shadow's eyes were beautiful and glowed like the precious and rare hard candies from Earth that she would sometimes manage to sneak from the supply shipments that would arrive. She decided it best to stare back while smiling as her grandfather spoke, thinking that was maybe how he communicated and that might put Shadow at ease around her. After all, she had never actually heard Shadow speak.

"Maybe he doesn't know how to…"

"Understood, Professor. It's nice to meet you, Maria." Shadow stepped forward, and nodded his head in a small gesture of respect. His quills gently bobbed up and down as he did so. The entire action caught Maria completely off-guard. He could speak after all?! And his voice was not what she expected at all for a creature only two years of age! It was calm and mature, much more mature sounding than her own! And his quills! How absolutely charming!

Shadow lifted his face again to meet Maria's eyes, his own lids slightly dropping at the sight of her, anticipating her next action. Was he bored? Annoyed? She would later learn that this was a sign that he was relaxing, something that only ever happened around her. Still naive, Maria fell speechless and was suddenly hit by a wave of insecurity, embarrassment, but also relief. A light flush fell on her cheeks as she realized that she had been pitying and projecting herself onto Shadow from afar this whole time, but it turns out he was doing much better than she expected!

"I-it's so very nice to meet you too, Shadow. I've been so excited for this day to come! I really hope the two of us can become good friends!" She smiled widely at him, beaming with sincerity. Shadow's eyes widened a bit at this, as it was the first time anyone had ever smiled at him this way in his life or seemed genuinely happy to see him outside of the context of a favorable test, sample or result. He didn't yet understand why at the time, but he felt something inside of himself shifting immediately and softening. So, when Maria extended her hand for him to take, Shadow did so without hesitation, much to Gerald's surprise.