A/N:

Haha, I have to apologize for the third time in a row...

So this nine-month gap is partially the work of distraction (I've written a lot, just... not on this), and partially depression plus general lack of inspiration for this story. Sorry. I'm tired.

It's clearing up now, especially since I decided to cut this chapter short. I'll have to mess with the outline to make this fit into 15 chapters again – this is the intended ending point of chapter two – but stopping here before I ended up with another huge mess of a chapter felt better. And I'll have a fresh start, which will make writing easier.

If this isn't done by October 2020 then I'm going to have to temporarily switch focus to a different story. It's the ten-year anniversary of a fic reboot I'm planning, so it has to be started then no matter what I'm in the middle of. Hopefully it won't come to that.

I never dreamed of escape anymore.

Fifty years ago... Sometimes I close my eyes and it feels like it was yesterday. Even, like I'll open them again and be there on the ARK. I can still feel who we used to be. Who I used to be. If I woke up back then, I think I'd almost be able to go on like nothing had happened.

But then, when I opened my eyes, I'd be in Soliraz. I would stare into a mirror and no one would be looking back.

It's not like it was before. Our world is different now. And people change too, you know? Sometimes I still feel like that scared little kid, but I'm not really a kid anymore, am I? I guess I'm still me, but it's not the same. It never will be.

And you don't have the years I do. You said you couldn't remember anything, but are you still the same as you were back then?

Anyway, at least we're away from the military. That's all that's important.

I don't know what's going to happen... But I hope you'll have the chance to pursue your own dreams on Earth, for once. And I promise I'll be there... No matter what you do, I meant it when I said I would always be by your side. Even if you don't know it. Do you believe me?

There's a whole world out there, Shadow! I know it's not what you wanted, but... You're here now. And there's all sorts of things on Earth, the things I promised we'd get to see. Seasons, and trees, and cities... Even under these circumstances... I can't wait for you to experience them too!

For such a long time, I'd given up... I thought that you'd be stuck down there forever; I was always wondering why I bothered staying. And I know that G.U.N. is after you, and I know the future is uncertain... But all that is behind us. There's a better world waiting for us, I just know it.

Shadow... We're really free, aren't we?

Get out. It was all he could think of, all there was. Look forward. Run. Escape. Nothing else mattered but the hallway stretching before him, not even...

"Shadow?"

He whipped around. Somehow, she had fallen behind, he'd been so worried about going forward that –

He tried to jet towards her, but his feet were cemented to the floor. All at once, his limbs were too heavy to even fight it.

We have to go. Why wasn't she moving? Her eyes were blue cinders; he couldn't tear his away. We have to go, now! Until he heard the drip-drip like water and a freezing cold crept through him. With every drop that hit the ground, he felt as if he was being ripped further out of his body.

She spread her arms, smiling with chilling cheerfulness as red stained her skin and snaked down her fingers, falling to the floor.

"I'm dying, Shadow."

The hedgehog jolted awake, not a cry or a whisper escaping him as he nearly scrambled to his feet. At the last moment, he remembered where he was and sank back into the chair. Only a startled Maria noticed the trails of energy that wisped up his arms and evaporated in the dark.

Shadow immediately chastised himself for falling asleep in the presence of this strange man taking him to places unknown. But for now, the Doctor was too engrossed in the hovership's controls to have done anything to him. Where he was driving them, on the other hand...

Turning his gaze out the window, Shadow assessed the area and saw the distant twinkling lights of a cityscape against the ocean. It was full night now, and black had engulfed the world like the inky depths of the sea. He couldn't make out anything but those few lights.

Maria, for one, had been paying attention. She must have passed through this city to get to Soliraz, she'd thought, frowning. It had perhaps even been where Christian lived.

But before the darkness had shrouded it, the land meant nothing to her. All her time in that city had been spent inland, the ocean nowhere near in sight. And it'd been so long ago, she couldn't remember how long she'd walked from those quiet suburbs to reach the coast.

If she reached hard enough, she'd be able to see it like she was still walking there. Blue skies, picturesque houses lined up behind her as she left them behind. Every road she crossed to get to the docks, every step. But it was buried under years and years of memories, hard to find.

She wondered, could she just find the right street, if that old house would still be standing there. She wondered who she'd find inside it. Where did children on Earth go once they'd grown up?

But then, Christian had gone to join G.U.N. There was no telling where he was now.

"Awake?" Robotnik's voice startled the both of them. Maria noticed then one of the cameras on the front panel pointing towards the back of the cockpit, showing Shadow's silhouette and the empty chair where she sat. "Good. We're almost there."

Shadow didn't acknowledge him, his gaze trained out the window. Though he could see little, he was able to pick out some features of the landscape as they began to change.

What few trees there were thinned out to occasional branchy, dead things standing alone. The land flattened, fading to black before it could hit the even horizon. Dotting the terrain were the huge dark forms of rocks, alone or stacked into hills.

Even Maria was perplexed by the strange scenery. The rocks and sparse flora made her think of the deserts she'd seen in picture books, but what kind of desert was covered in brown grass and bushes?

Shadow jumped as something pinged! off the metal ceiling of the ship, like a gunshot shattering the quiet. "What was that?" he asked in alarm.

"Hmm?" Robotnik glanced back, but his gaze was soon distracted by the controls.

That sound rang through the air again, then again, and Shadow stiffened with each tiny assault on the hovership. But the Doctor didn't even seem to notice, hunched over the front panel with his face faintly lit by a green glow.

When nothing happened despite the pings turning into a faster thump-thump-thump on the roof, Shadow relaxed a bit. Though he still remained tensed, ready to jump into action at any moment.

Finally they came to rest in a seemingly innocuous patch of empty desert, dry grass billowing out as the hovership slowly descended to the ground and stopped with a slight jolt. Robotnik stood, stretching and pulling out a rectangular device from one of his many coat pockets, as Shadow peered out into the darkness. "I don't see any – "

The device beeped as the Doctor tapped it, and the whole ground quaked violently and wrenched itself open before the ship. Rumbling, two squat buildings rose as if magic from beneath the earth, a simple door set into one and a tall, wide opening engulfing the other. Moonlight gleamed off the polished white surfaces.

"Alright, everybody out." A side door on the ship cracked open with a whoosh, and Robotnik gestured towards it. Shadow and Maria complied, hopping into the cool night air.

It was like stepping through a forcefield into a new world. All at once, Shadow was aware of the distant rushing of wind through grass blades, the endless drone of insects that seemed to occasionally take a breath all together. On Soliraz that wild sound had hummed faintly far away, but now it was encompassing around him. The hedgehog pricked his ears forward, listening to it.

The hovership's door provided a brief shelter against the weather, but Robotnik began to maneuver the vessel into the larger building, fully exposing Shadow to the weather. He was scanning the dark horizon with narrowed eyes when the first raindrop hit him. He yelped and whirled around, a ball of chaos forming in his hands.

When nothing happened, Shadow lifted his arm to stare at where he'd been struck as another drop collided. He looked up in alarm, then flinched as one of those cold bullets hit him in the eye.

But, realizing that this wasn't a dangerous threat, he reached his hand out to the stars. In growing wonder he watched as the drops of water hit his gloves and spread over the cloth. Like an ocean falling from the sky. A tiny miracle.

Presently Robotnik emerged from the wide opening, its metal door sliding swiftly shut behind him. "Come on, get inside," he said disinterestedly, heading for the other building.

When Shadow didn't move, the man looked back, seeing him staring in wonder at the raindrops like it was some marvel. "What? Have you really never seen rain before?" he asked, crossing his arms.

Shadow blinked and looked at him, clearly perplexed, and Robotnik remembered. "Right, you were created on the ARK," he noted with a nod. "You've likely never experienced anything like this before."

The hedgehog stared, tilting his head at those familiar words. "The ARK...?"

Realizing that he'd slipped, Robotnik turned away quickly. "Get in, before someone notices us."

There weren't signs of civilization for miles, so this was hardly a concern, but that wasn't what Shadow was worried about. He dashed after the Doctor as he stepped through the door, heading down a brightly lit stairwell that seemed to stretch to infinity.

"You promised you'd tell me more about who I am!" he yelled down it.

Despite the man's stocky form, he was having a hard time keeping up with him as they descended the narrow stairs. Anything short of level ground felt like a strange phenomenon. Where was he from?

Robotnik stepped off the last stair and into a long, darkened corridor. By now, Shadow was right behind him. The lights clicked on, making him flinch, as the Doctor raised his rectangular glass device and poked at the screen. "First, I don't make promises."

He pressed a button, and Shadow hastily hopped off the last step as the stairwell began to rumble and condense into itself. When it was done, the long flight was only a few feet tall, its closed door leading straight into rock.

"Second," he continued, turning and walking briskly down the hall, "my exact words were that I would tell you what you needed to know. And precisely what that entails is up to me, is it not?"

Begrudgingly Shadow followed, though his frown was apparent. "If you're not going to give me answers, then I'll leave and find them myself – "

"Shadow, you are several stories underground, in my base no less. I would advise you to think more about your situation before you make any hasty decisions." Robotnik met the hedgehog's glare, but Shadow said nothing. He wasn't wrong – even if he had to kill the man, he had no idea how to get out of here.

Shadow stopped, staring in silent consternation at the smooth white tiles beneath his feet. Killing Robotnik, just to get him out of the way... Why had that been his first thought...?

Maria, tagging along silently, was beginning to think she didn't like her cousin very much.

Sighing, Robotnik turned and continued, heading down a much identical side hall. "Regardless, it isn't my intention to make an enemy out of you. And frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if you're worth the trouble," he muttered under his breath. "If you want to leave, you are free to go."

They reached a metal door, which slid out of the way, allowing him to step into a huge round room. Shadow scanned the area, eyes widening as he took it all in.

A center console lit up with a hologram showing the date and weather, among other mundane information, as they approached. Lining every inch of the walls were screens, packed with information, graphs, or what looked to be camera feeds. Beneath them lay rows and rows of metal consoles, filled with all manner of confusing buttons and dials.

Robotnik headed over to a lavish chair, too large even for him, and sank tiredly into it. The chair whirred and began to sweep along a track cut into the inner perimeter of the floor, resting in front of one of the many consoles.

"However," he continued, "if you have questions, then I will try to answer them." The display above him flashed as he began fiddling with the glowing buttons.

Shadow had been staring up in confusion at one of the screens, but at this, he looked back. "You said something about this 'Project Shadow'. That I'm some kind of experiment. What do you mean by that?"

Robotnik's eyes flicked across a screen for a moment, stalling, before his chair spun around. "In truth, I don't know much." He sighed, fingers steepled as he began. "Project Shadow was a top secret Federational experiment conducted aboard the Space Colony ARK, headed by my grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik.

"That, I presume, is where you were created." A brief smile cracked across his face, twitching his moustache. "Not exactly difficult to put two and two together there."

That had been Maria's fault. Then again, Shadow's official name was Experiment 56, so it wasn't meant to be that obvious. The girl leaned on the central console, watching her cousin continue his spiel.

"The project, however, was suddenly shut down. It was said that Gerald was planning to overthrow the United Federation with a weapon of mass destruction – you, I imagine. He and the other scientists involved were captured and executed by G.U.N., the ARK and its projects abandoned. End of story."

Robotnik sighed. "This is what the public was told. And eventually, everyone just forgot."

Shadow stood silently, processing this. So he was some kind of... weaponized test subject? And that was why they'd locked him at the bottom of that facility? He wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that.

Maria was not exactly surprised at this version of events. She'd heard that story a thousand times before: her grandfather a traitor, Shadow no more than a vaguely referred to "weapon". No mention of her, or the people who'd been murdered. Or Project Shadow, for that matter, not by name.

"Do you want to know what I think?" Robotnik didn't wait for his answer. "I don't believe a word they said about what happened that day. Grandfather wasn't exactly the... world domination type. Doesn't run in the family." He snorted. "And my cousin, Maria Robotnik, was somehow killed too. She wasn't much older than twelve or thirteen; I rather doubt she was one of the revolutionaries."

Shadow blinked and furrowed his brows, suddenly overcome with a strange feeling like a memory about to break. "Maria...?"

The girl looked over at him in surprise, but his eyes were fixated on the shiny metal floor and the blurry reflection staring back up at him. He seemed to have total amnesia as far as she could tell, but the way he'd said her name...

"Yes. Maria." Robotnik glanced back, but if he was thinking something, he didn't speak. There was no way this experiment had known his cousin. "After that, the Federation made sure my parents kept quiet and didn't ask too many questions, especially about her and Gerald.

"I was too young to really know what was going on, but my father started becoming obsessed, convinced himself she was still alive somehow, and – "

Realizing that he was saying too much, Robotnik quickly spun around, returning to typing on a panel. His hurried motions spoke of something different than his unwavering voice. "Anyway, I think there's more to it than a treasonous old man and a kid caught in the crossfire, and that's what I've been trying to figure out."

This was somewhat a lie – he would have liked to know more about the project, his grandfather, his cousin. But his motives were much simpler than that. Gerald may not have intended to use Shadow to take over the UF, but Ivo...

Well, he'd just have to see how this all played out. "I don't know why G.U.N. so suddenly and violently ended Project Shadow, but I would guess that they captured you after subduing the ARK. And you've been interred at Soliraz Island ever since."

His chair flew across the room, bringing him closer to Shadow, and he glanced over. "Any of this sounding familiar? Professor Gerald Robotnik, the ARK, G.U.N.?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes, reaching back into his memories. Those words stirred something inside him, but his mind was just as blank and empty as before. "No. I don't remember anything."

He hesitated – but the Doctor didn't need to know about those strange wisps of visions, a man standing before him, a girl's far-off cries. Whether those were remnants of memories, or just a product of his imagination, he wasn't sure yet.

"Hmm." Robotnik's expression was obscured by the huge chair's bright plush back. "Well, that's all the information I can offer. I could only recover some of Gerald's logs."

Shadow was still deep in thought when Robotnik circled the room again, coming to rest right in front of him. "Let's make a deal, Shadow." He flashed whitened teeth, blinding in the harsh coloured glow of the screen-lit room. "We'll figure this out together. You help me with whatever I ask, and I'll help you find out more about your past."

The hedgehog crossed his arms, taking a few steps back. He was unsure about his directive, or where to go if he didn't accept, but even he knew that an open-ended deal like that might not be in his best interests. "How do I know you're not just making all this up?"

Sighing in mild irritation, Robotnik turned and pressed a colourful glowing button on a silvery panel. Scrolling through menus on the screen before him, he found what he was looking for and activated it.

Shadow turned as the center console lit up, the list of information replaced with a video feed. A man's wizened face appeared, blurry in the stretched hologram. His exhaustion was apparent even through the pixellation. "Beginning Project Shadow weekly log. January 20, 1958. 20:32 hours. Week 372."

The man went on to list various mundane data points, but Shadow didn't catch a word of it. Him and Maria both stared up at the hologram with identical looks of shock. "That's... the Professor," Shadow said quietly.

How he knew that, he wasn't sure. But that was Gerald. He was positive.

"Grandfather..." Maria stepped towards the hologram, reaching out. She hadn't seen his face in so long – and even then it had only been blurry, black and white pictures in a newspaper. The video feed was low quality, but there he was, moving like he was real, like he...

The hologram flicked off before she could touch the light, and Robotnik turned back. "If you don't want to stay here, you don't have to..." He shrugged, barely masking a coy grin. "But I'm your best shot at finding out more about your past. Help me, and I'll help you."

He stuck out a hand again. Shadow glared at it, but relented, taking it in a terse shake. "Fine."

Standing between them, Maria watched this interaction with concern. Something was... wrong here. Shadow seemed wary too, so that was some comfort, but she wasn't sure how to feel about her cousin's intentions.

Still, she couldn't blame Shadow for wanting to know more about what had happened back then. Maybe, once he'd figured out that much, he could leave and make his own path. Though she wasn't sure how he could find the information he was looking for – G.U.N. probably had it under lock and key. And military-grade encryption.

All she could hope for was that this exchange was only temporary.

Robotnik's grin broke, and the next instant, he was already across the room again. "Good." Standing at the other end of it, Shadow couldn't help but feel like he'd just made a deal with the devil. "So that means our first order of business is..."

He glanced back at Shadow, who lingered near the center, unsure of what to do now. "Well, I'll worry about that tomorrow. For now, get some rest. You'll find bedrooms in the northern wing, take the first two rights you see."

Shadow was about to protest – he still wasn't sure if he could trust this man, and going to sleep in his underground base seemed like a distinctly bad idea – but he was surprised to find that, despite having spent the last fifty years in a medically induced coma, he wasn't just tired. He was exhausted.

He'd just clawed his way out of the bottom of the most protected facility in the United Federation. And all the chaos he'd used was taking its toll on him now. It was a wonder he was still on his feet as it was.

So he relented, turning to leave. Maria, propped up on the center console unwary of its switches and dials, slid down to follow him.

Before her feet could hit the floor, bright lights flooded the area as alarms screeched and wailed, instantly turning the peaceful room into a cacophony of colours. All the screens flickered and flashed in unison as if possessed.

"What did you do?!" Robotnik yelled, hopping to his feet and shielding his eyes from the intense shine.

"I didn't do anything," Shadow retorted, squinting. He was already half out the door.

Seeing that he was nowhere near any of the controls, Robotnik grumbled and hastily flicked a few switches. The room instantly returned to normal, but for the black screens flashing loading symbols as they all rebooted at once. "I just rewrote the OS, I thought these glitches would stop..."

Maria, crouched on the floor, stared wide-eyed at the buttons she'd been sitting on. She reached out and curled her fingers around a lever, slowly, like it might shatter. When she finally tugged down, it remained locked in place. Immovable, just as always. Not even a part of her reality.

Turning, she ran off after Shadow before the door could shut, putting those thoughts out of her mind.

~~...~~

Shadow sat up with a sigh, rubbing his forehead as he pushed himself off the cot he'd been laying sleepless on. His first night, or day, or whatever time it was, was not going well. It wasn't exactly easy to rest in this place.

The room he had chosen was as cold and identical a white as all the ones next to it, and the halls he'd passed to get here. Empty, bare of all but a simple bed and a chair and table. Solitary scientist didn't need to worry much about decorating, he supposed, and it's not like he minded the lack of luxury.

But the crushing, blank white and the overhead lights forever flickering on were burned into his mind even when he closed his eyes. And, to be honest, those were the least of his problems.

What was really keeping him up... That he wasn't entirely sure of.

Something was tugging at the edges of his mind, memories lingering threateningly on its horizon, the promise of nightmares should he dare to sleep again. And that had haunted him relentlessly though he'd kept his eyes tightly shut for hours.

Maria, sat cross-legged on a crate that had been haphazardly tossed into the corner, watched Shadow pace the tiny room. She didn't know what was on his mind, but the furrow of his brow and his restless wandering told her it was nothing pleasant.

She wished he could see her, she could talk to him, and they would figure this out together like they'd used to. Long ago. But Shadow went on walking by her like she wasn't even there. For him, she couldn't be. There was nothing she could do to help, and that was the worst part of all this.

Shadow stopped in his tracks, turning towards the shiny metal door. Pacing circles in this room was going to drive him insane, and it was reminding him of something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but definitely didn't like.

He needed out. Just for a minute.

The halls in this facility were unnaturally long and twisting, almost as if they had been designed to be confusing. Little adorned them but the occasional blue panel, their screens flickering with unknown buttons and commands.

He ran his fingers along the immaculate white walls as he walked, turning left, left, left at every crossroads he encountered. Not noticing the figure trailing just behind him like his own shadow.

On and on he wandered, his thoughts as aimless as the spiralling hallways.

Occasionally a small mechanical creature would whir by, its machinery clicking as it rolled hurriedly down the halls. Shadow and Maria had only a moment to marvel at the strange creations, splashed in red paint, before they were gone.

Beyond that, it was all quiet but for a distant machinery's hum. Shadow walked, turning, turning, and Maria stayed just in view, watching him disappear behind the curves. In a labyrinth like this, she was afraid to let him out of her sight. Like he might just fade away again should she take her eyes off him for a second. That was a fear that would probably never go away.

It seemed like an eternity before, finally, a tall white wall rose up before the wandering hedgehog. He stared up at it, as if the wall might shift and part to reveal a hidden path, but it remained solid and empty. Nowhere left to go but back.

Have you forgotten me already?

Shadow stiffened as the walls spoke to him, whispering echoed remains of a past he couldn't remember. A girl's voice, strangely familiar yet impossibly alien. Always gone as soon as she had arrived.

"Who's – ?!" Maria rounded the corner a few feet behind him just as he whipped around.

They both stopped. The look that struck his face reminded her of the one from a few hours ago, the one that had, just for a moment, stunned him long enough for her to catch up. The one that made her wonder.

"...There?"

Just another white wall, turning back down the path; not even a shadow of the person he'd seen standing at the end of the hall. Nothing was there. For Maria, as that brief, haunting moment of recognition flickered out of his eyes, there might as well have never been.

You can't hurt me.

He ran past her, leaving her staring at where he'd been standing as if he might return. As if they could go back.

Shadow collapsed on his bed, clutching his head before rolling violently over to block out the light. With all the strange things he'd seen, the even stranger revelations, those voices and that phantom chasing the edges of his vision wherever he went...

What was the difference between memory and reality? That question haunted him until, somehow, he slept.

Sweet, empty dreams, filling his head and his soul. Not quite the evanescent peace of dreamless sleep, but a nebulous void, vacant.

And yet, there was something there. The uncertainty of a promise unfulfilled, lingering, waiting. Something dark.

It scared him. He didn't know why. But that formless void wasn't just empty star-studded space; it was alive, and there was someone in there waiting for him.

Shadow...

That voice, infinite, unending. Resounding forever through walls bleeding black. But wrong, somehow, not right, not her.

Not...

Shadow.

More insistent, firmer. She didn't talk like that, or she hadn't, at least, not back then. Even when her eyes were empty, leaking tears and blood, her voice never had that hollow ring behind it.

He didn't like that implication, like she was calling him back to something. Some directive from long ago, eclipsing everything he knew, everything he'd felt in that old dead world.

Don't you remember?

Calling, calling. The echoes of screams that no one heard, red pouring from dying stars and flooding the Earth. His heart torn from his chest and held up in front of him. Looking down, he saw a cavity engulfing his soul. A crater filled with infectious darkness. Spreading. Unstoppable.

She rose up before him, wrong, wrong, wrong. Soft baby blue had turned harsh scarlet, bright eyes dark and dull like grey stones. His heart melted in her hand as she stared, not moving, not breathing. Not real. Not right.

But the only thing he knew, the only one he could trust.

Standing over him, rising, when she lifted her hand again he saw something shiny and black peering down at him. An endless chasm that would take them all to where she'd gone, that place he couldn't ever follow.

She pressed it into his chest, her eyes like the singularity of a black hole, like the muzzle of a gun, leading nowhere. Consuming everything.

What are you waiting for...?

The gun was ice cold in his hands. It felt perfect, the thing he'd been searching for so long finally found. A directive. A purpose. A glimmer of truth in this world full of cruel lies.

She smiled. Behind a face dripping black ichor, her teeth were sharp and white.

Avenge me.

Note: This story is on hiatus for now as I work on The Channeler and later this year on Remnants of Time: Save (Legend of Spyro stories if you're interested; the former is kind of a standalone thing too so if you like dragons and fantasy maybe give it a look).

I've had a hard time keeping inspiration for this story, especially since it came during a bad time in my life. I'll work on some other stories and come back when it feels fresher. That could be years from now but I'm not intending on just dropping it.

If you're interested in my writing/art in general please follow me on Tumblr (under SnickerToodles), or just check on the Echoes of Eternity tag every once in a while so see any snippets I've written, art I've drawn, or updates on this story.