Shadow

Unexpected discovery

Lara carefully pushed the door open, peeking inside. The things were thrown all over the place, destroyed and broken

Lara gasped, looking around

"Choas... what happened here?" She asked, stepping inside, as she didn't notice a gun on the ground, some bullets also laying next to it

As Lara walked around, she saw a broken table covering something. Two people. She didn't quite see them, but they didn't move. Taking another step, Lara saw a blade. Too much of familiar blade from last night... also bloodied as much as the floor next to the table...

"Lien-Da..." Lara gasped, covering her mouth

And then she felt herself stepping on something... a family picture...

Two hedgehogs, one of them wad blue girl with long hair and bright green eyes, wearing a red dress with black and yellow additions, and other was a pink boy with similar green eyes, but his had more Emerald green color, wearing a white shirt with red jacket over it. Both of them seemed to be barely out of their teens, smiling and their eyes filled with life and happiness

"Such a tragedy... that your lives were cut that short..." She looked over the table, as she could make out the couple being the people on picture in her hand. And then... her eyes fell on something

The girl on the picture was holding something. A miniature black hedgehog, warped into a blanket. Their baby

'They were parents...' Lara thought, her eyes saddening. 'Lien-Da probably went after the baby too... I just hope she didn't have a heart to kill an infant...'

And then, she again heard the noise. The cry came from behind a curtain in further part of the house. Lara carefully stepped over to it, pushing the cloth away from her face to peek inside

There was a baby blue blanket, with something quickly moving under it. She carefully put her hand out, not sure if she should pull it away or not... but then she sighed and did so, to reveal the very same hedgehog baby from the picture. The tiny hedge rubbed his face from sudden light with his small hands, before staring at the echidna infront of him

Lara titled her head, confused and interested in her unexpected discovery, as the baby copied her, letting out a small squeak. Leading by her curiosity, Lara moved closer to the infant, when he sneezed, making the woman jump away

"O-oh chaos..." Lara sighed out, again walking over the bassinet, wiping her hand with the cloth, watching the babbling baby laying on his back, before she had enough courage to pick him up, looking at him "Quite interesting one, I say... what ARE you?"

Lara started looking the baby over, only to find his diaper used, when she started hearing him letting out some weird noises, turning the little boy over. He was making bubbles with his mouth. Lara carefully put her finger to his mouth, as the bubble popped.

Letting her curiosity go, Lara decided to bring the baby over her face, his sight also focused on her, putting his small hands out, touching the echidna's face, as she felt herself smiling, carefully holding the hedge in her one hand, putting the other to his own small one. As the baby continued to touch her hand, Lara's smile grew even wider, now into a soft, motherly smile.

Next moment she knew, the black baby was snuggling into her chest, as she cradled him close, caressing his still soft head quills.

"Well, well!" A voice called from back, causing Lara to gasp and turn around

"Lien-Da!" Lara frowned, holding the baby close to her chest

"Didn't think we'd run into each other so soon again, Lara!" The younger echidna smirked, walking towards Lara

"What are you doing here!? Didn't you have enough by killing my son!?" Lara hissed, holding the baby tightly

At the next second, Lien-Da jumped towards Lara, who came out of her way, causing the younger one to jump into the bassinet, baby was before

"Ugh..." Lien-Da sat up, rubbing top of her head. And then she again pulled out her sword, aiming at Lara

"Oh, dont even think about-!"

But before Lara had time to finish her sentence, the two echidnas were flying out the window, breaking it, as Lien-Da lost her sword, leaving her and Lara to fight bare handed in a huge piece of cloth, that worked as a roof for little gazebo to the house

"For your information, lady Lara! IF your brat didn't run, he would be STILL alive!" Lien-Da bared her teeth, before she cut the cloth, both of them falling out of it, when she slapped Lara across her face

What they didn't notice is that the baby falling out of Lara's arms, squealing and laughing as he rolled towards the net. But when they did, both of them gasped, Lara kicked Lien-Da off herself, running towards the infant hedge, who was carefree rolling in the net

"Oh! You won't beat me that easy!" Lien-Da started, as she jumped on the net, starting to crawl towards the baby

The two echidnas resumed their fight, but now it was who would get to the infant first.

The hedgehog stopped rolling, once he got to the middle of the part, where Lara was, smiling and squealing as he saw her. Lara, on other hand, was scared to death for the baby, looking how far Lien-Da was from there, Lara saw the hole was too small to get the baby out through it. Her best hope was to get him to the edge and then hold him for dear life

Lara sighed and put his hand lower, trying to reach for the baby. She just needed to have a grap on him! Not much else! Tiny hedge smiled, reaching for Lara, through not realizing what was happening around him

"Come on, little one! Just one more inch!" Lara said, before she felt the shaking under herself, but it didn't matter! She HAD the hold on baby's shirt! 'Thank Chaos!'

Lara, carefully not to get the baby in way for Lien-Da to reach for him, moved towards the edge, finally pulling out the tiny hedgehog into her arms, as he squealed, again reaching for Lara's face, as she teared up, smiling at the baby

"Oh, thank CHAOS!" Lara pushed out, calming down, finally holding the baby tightly in her arms

"Don't think this is over!" The voice called, making Lara gasp again

Lien-Da growled, as she kept breaking the planks on her way.

"Oh, come on, Lara! Give up! You can't keep protecting that kid forever!" Lien-Da smirked, making her way towards the two

Lara gasped again, looked back. A cliff, a certain death

"Just hand it over to me and I'll leave you be! Or listen to your stupid 'mother' call and get yourself killed in the process!"

But then Lara saw a part of some metallic construction on ropes.

"Oh, seriously?! You're going to risk it all for THAT thing!? Are you insane!? What is even so special in it!?"

Lara frowned, holding the baby in her arms, stepping back

"You will never understand that, won't you?"

And then she jumped off the board, into the metal construction, holding the baby close to her body, as the rope broke, sending them to fly off, also warping itself around Lien-Da, warping most of her body, as she was stuck on the top of mechanism, which also allowed Lara not to have a painless landing

She looked up, watching Lien-Da struggling to get free, before quickly walking up to the bridge, she came to this house in the first place, before looking up, a frown on her face

"You will NOT take this baby from me!"

Every moment now, the bond grows stronger
Two worlds, one family
Trust your heart, let fate decide
To guide these lives we see

And then she started making her way back to the tribe