Maria

To Serve & Protect

She talked in her sleep.

Not all the words she would say were distinguishable, but there was that one word she said without question. She would say it in a single breath, as if it were her last.

Shadow.

Shadow.

Shadow.

It was my name. She would say my name in her sleep while all other words couldn't be understood. In a way, at the time, it validated me. It gave me a sense of purpose and what I stood for.

My job was to keep her safe. My job was to keep her alive.

But I failed.

I failed Maria.

I failed the professor.

I failed myself.

. . .

Maria woke up late into the day and saw Shadow staring at her like a dead corpse. Surprised, and imagining for a moment something much worse than Shadow there, Maria let out a scream that nearly broke Shadow's ears as she threw her covers back over her head. Watching her with a partially amused grin, Shadow took in a bit of delight as the human girl started to kick and flail under the covers as she spat rather colorful words once heard from the ARK's scientists. Shadow waited a few moments for Maria to cease most of her spaz attack, took a step back, then leaped on top of her to hold her down. In a swift motion, Shadow uncovered Maria and tossed her blanket to the floor.

"Hello." he said to her after successfully pinning her down on the bed. Maria found out all too quickly that Shadow was stronger than her, but that didn't stop her from struggling nonetheless.

"Get off of me!" Maria demanded. Shadow gave her a smirk while giving a rather indifferent shrug.

"Anything you want." Shadow told her as he rolled off. Maria shook him off and got out of her bed in disgust.

"Now get out of my bed!" Maria then told Shadow with an irritated voice.

"I don't know..." Shadow said to her as he started to get comfortable. "Now I know why you talk in your sleep. This bed is really hard. How do you even sleep on this thing?"

Maria opened her mouth to retort back, but the door to her room opened to reveal Gerald, who was searching for the girl.

"Maria, there you are!" Gerald said before realizing that Shadow was also in the room. "And Shadow, this concerns you as well."

"Good afternoon professor." Shadow told Gerald quite pleasantly.

"The same to you as well." Gerald agreed, forgetting for a moment the reason why he was searching for Maria. When he remembered, he shook his head and turned to look at her before saying, "Maria, why aren't you dressed yet? A small handful of members from GUN have arrived to review your progress within Project Shadow, you need to be ready to greet them in a few moments."

"I didn't even know they were coming." Maria told her grandfather as she started to feel confused with a small mixture of anger.

"You weren't informed of this at your last check up?" Gerald asked her, feeling a bit confused as well. But he shook his head again. "That doesn't matter now, please use some haste and get dressed as soon as possible. It won't sit well with them, but I'll greet them at the dock and you can join us in the live specimen room when you're ready."

"Yes Grandfather." Maria agreed before her father left the room. The human girl then turned to the hedgehog.

"You're not going to leave... are you?" she asked in a soft, angered tone. Shadow's only reply was a smirk.

. . .

From the Desk of Gerald Robotnik

Date: Omitted

Subject: G.U.N.

Text:

The current Commander of the Guardians Units of Nations came for a visit today, along with half of his men it seemed like. Somehow, information that 'the fruit of Project Shadow' was sharing 'vital DNA' with a 'hapless youth' aboard the ARK, and it warranted the Commander to come to see for himself what was going on. In layman's terms, GUN isn't amused that I've been using Shadow's blood to help cure Maria's Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Not that they particularly care, if it wasn't for the DNA used that helped create Shadow to begin with, I'm sure no one would have batted an eyelash.

I... I've been holding back a lot of information about Shadow's creation that what I would like. Especially to Maria and Shadow. In order to allow a creation that is immortal, but able to also be biologically similar to the living creatures on Earth, Project Shadow required some... alien concepts. Years ago, before Maria was born, an alien called Black Doom came to Earth and caused world spread devastation. GUN was -barely- able to retain him long enough to send him back from whatever world he came from. In part of some negotiation they made, Black Doom had left behind a part of his DNA for GUN to study. With some time, the ARK was lifted into the air and Maria was the first child born in space, the effects of that experiment are what we see today. Project Shadow was started shortly after Maria was diagnosed, and although the idea was proposed to GUN as a development in war arms, my main goal was to cure my granddaughter. It wasn't until recently GUN realized my true intentions. And they are not happy about it.

I've been warned by the Commander himself that if the rumors of my meddling are held true, then Project Shadow will be terminated by any means necessary.

Personally, the Commander can kiss my ass.