Chapter Text
The ever present buzz of electrical ambiance fills the otherwise silent room. Machinery clicks and whirs, harsh blue light bouncing off the cold metal walls. It makes the space too bright, too clinical. Maria and Shadow sit atop a thin, metal trolley - cushions lined the seat in an attempt to make it more comfortable. Despite this, Maria’s legs still ache where they dangle off the edge. Both of them wear blue dotted hospital gowns, stopping just at their knees. Standing above them both was Gerald, wearing his coffee-stained white lab coat. He has a small tray beside him with medical equipment - an empty vial, a needle that is so long it makes Maria queasy just looking at it. He fumbles with the equipment with nervous hands, snapping the pieces together, before approaching Shadow.
‘Are you nervous?’ Gerald asks Maria, as he rubs a numbing agent into the crook of Shadow’s elbow with a cotton bud.
‘No.’ Maria replies, squeezing Shadow’s spare hand with her own. Gerald never asks him - but Maria knows he hates needles, despite how many are jabbed into him. At least he has the decency to give him the numbing agent in the first place. She understands not wanting to admit fears to Gerald - after all, she had just lied to him about her nerves. Shadow sucks in a quiet breath as the needle punctures his vein, and he squeezes Maria’s hand tighter.
‘I have been waiting for this moment for many years of my life now.’ Gerald monologues, watching thick, dark green liquid slosh into the vial. ‘I know it will be a great success.’
‘Are we sure it’s, you know… safe?’ Maria challenges, shifting her aching legs as Gerald slips the needle back out of Shadow’s arm. She eyes the blood in the vial, Gerald holding it up to the light to inspect the contents. Beside her, Shadow slumps against her arm, dizzy from the sudden blood loss.
‘Well done, buddy.’ She whispers to him.
Gerald hums, turning to show her the strange liquid.
‘Yes, I am most certain. After all, we have been perfecting this DNA for many years - and I can say with confidence that this very vial will heal you of your illness,’ he grins, proud of himself.
‘Right, well,’ Maria deadpans, ‘Let’s do it, then.’
Despite her nonchalant tone, she can’t help the rush of excitement that bursts through her. It had always been her dream to go to Earth, to get better; and the part of her that had long since given up begins to hope again. Earth had always seemed so far away, like she was stuck being a spectator, like it was fiction - now suddenly, it felt real again, like life down there was something she could participate in. Gerald takes a deep, shuddering breath as he presses the needle into Maria’s pale skin. All three people in the room watch as the liquid drains from the vial, into her bloodstream.
‘So,’ Maria continues, half-joking, ‘When can we go to Earth?’
‘We?’ Gerald looks puzzled.
‘Me and Shadow.’ Maria clarifies. Gerald blinks at the hedgehog sitting next to her, as if he’s just remembered he's a real person. He clears his throat, uncomfortably, unsure how to tell her that he would be considered a weapon on Earth. Unsure how to tell her that he sees him as a weapon too.
‘You should be grateful to him, you know.’ Maria frowns. ‘I’d be dead if it wasn’t for Shadow.’
Gerald flinches.
‘Yes, well. At the end of the day, it is still a creation for medical purposes…’
Maria’s words catch in her throat, offended on Shadow’s behalf. At the audacity he has to say that right in front of him. Shadow simply continues to sit there, takes the abuse, like he’s used to being perceived this way.
‘So what were you planning to do with him once he’d healed me, then? Just throw him away?’ Maria hisses.
‘It has served its purpose-‘
‘Oh my God!’ Maria stands up, rattling the metal trolley as she jumps down from it. ‘Come on, Shadow. Let’s get out of here.’
Gerald simply watches as his granddaughter storms out of the room, Shadow in tow. Before she makes it into the hallway, he clears his throat, and Maria stops.
‘You should be more grateful, dear. I have just cured your illness. This is a moment for celebration, isn’t it? I even had a cake delivered specially to the ARK for later. Strawberry, just as you like.’
For a brief moment, guilt flashes through Maria. She knows her grandfather cares about her. That maybe, in his mind, he’s really trying - just not in the way that she’d like him to.
‘Thanks.’ She mumbles, regardless.
‘A couple of weeks, Maria.’ Gerald tells her. ‘Just to monitor you. And then I will let you go. I will… see what I can do about Shadow going with you.’
‘Thank you.’ Maria says, again, and this time she means it.
-
Maria doesn’t feel much different. That evening they have the cake that Gerald had ordered - a huge strawberry shortcake topped with cream and sauce and chocolate chips. The majority of the ARK staff squeeze into the room that serves as the kitchen. Gerald stands at the table with a large knife, cutting haphazard chunks off of the cake and dumping them onto paper plates. Everyone has brightly coloured cone hats on, even Shadow - and Maria has to admit, it really does feel like a party. Gerald is smiling, properly smiling, and makes a point of dancing terribly to the music every time she glances his way. They drink too-sweet soda from red cups. Both familiar faces and new ones approach to congratulate her, and she soaks it all in with a smile. Most of these people had dedicated their lives to her. It was strange to think about.
After a while of sitting contentedly in the corner with Shadow, picking at cake and watching people mingle, the hedgehog tugs gently at her sleeve.
‘Hm?’ She glances down at him, and concern streaks her face at his worried expression.
‘What’s wrong, Shadow?’
‘Can I ask you something?’ Shadow asks. He doesn’t make any effort to speak up over the music, but Maria can hear him just fine.
‘Always.’ She shifts on the couch, balancing her paper plate in her lap.
‘Now that you’re cured, I just worry.’ Shadow admits. ‘That you’ll go to Earth, and you’ll find your people, and that - well, that you won’t need me anymore.’
‘Shadow, what are you talking about?’ Maria’s eyebrows crumple. ‘Of course I need you. You’re my brother! Forget all that crap my grandfather spews about serving your purpose or whatever. Your purpose is right here, with me. Always.’
‘You’re too kind.’ Shadow smiles down at his shoes, pushing the remaining crumbs around on his plate with a plastic fork. When he looks up at his sister again, she seems far away, eyes focused on the ground in front of her.
‘Maria?’
‘Oh, god. I think I ate a little too much cake.’ Maria complains, dizziness washing over her. She stands on wobbly legs, making her way towards the bathroom.
‘Do you need help?’ Shadow offers.
‘No, no; I’m fine.’ Maria replies, hand over her mouth as she stumbles from the crowded room.
After throwing up and padding back to her room, a glance at the clock tells her that it’s about time to sleep. She’s glad for that - today’s been a lot, after all, and she still feels unwell. As she sits on the side of the bed, removing her tights, a sudden fear grips her that Gerald’s treatment hasn’t worked at all. She shakes that thought from her head, trying to rationalise that it’s only been a day, that she’s been sick for a long time. It was stupid to expect it to work right away. Maria sighs, flopping into bed and pulling the quilt over herself. She stares out at the stars from her window as she drifts to sleep, at Earth, bright and blue and gorgeous, and waiting just for her.
-
Spiralling galaxies. Shifting shades of red, orange, gold, like paint mixing and swirling to create something more beautiful than the human mind can imagine. Sparkling planets that glitter in the moonlight, thousand year old constellations not yet discovered. Do you ever feel like we’re being used? Held captive? Maria was falling. Tumbling and screaming through the milky sky. Obsession. Experiment. She’s not falling anymore. She’s walking now, touching bright, burning stars that explode under her touch. Maybe he should just let me die. It’d be better than this. She comes face to face with a figure. Not human, nothing remotely like it. Yet she recognises it all the same. Black, red, glinting bronze chains. Its three eyes burn into her own, alight like a wildfire. You remember me, don’t you? Maria feels a tug on her very soul, and once again, she’s falling through the galaxies, burning up now like a comet. In the distance, the ARK twinkles sadly, cold and abandoned. A whole new species, a race of aliens she’s never seen before, swarms her.
-
Maria wakes up in a cold sweat. She gasps for air, as if she’d just been out in the vacuum of space. Her mouth is dry and sore, her gums ache - and most annoying of all, her back really, really itches. Through the strange new sensations, she glances at the clock. 3am. Groggy with sleep, she throws off the covers, finding her way into the bathroom down the hall. Her mouth feels grimy. She reaches out to turn on the tap, and freezes at what she sees. On her forearm, tiny flecks of scales had appeared. Captivated, Maria runs a finger over their red and black surface, wondering if they will wipe off - but they remain in place. Maria’s mind goes blank. She leans down to inspect her legs, and found the same spots of scaly skin appeared there. She swallows, hard. Her teeth. She needs to brush her teeth. With a shaking hand - when did her nails get that long? - she turns on the tap. Water bursts from the faucet with such force that it shoots back up to splash her face. Maria startles, twists the tap until the flow is just right. She fumbles for her toothbrush, sets to work. After a few seconds, horror sets in. Maria’s gums are bleeding, profusely, running down her lips and dripping into the sink, the bristles of the toothbrush stained red. She tests a tooth with her tongue, smearing red across it, and just like that, it falls out.
Maria’s breath comes in short panicked gasps. Her toothbrush clatters into the sink next to her fallen tooth, and she leans into the mirror to inspect the hole left behind. Gingerly, she presses her fingertip to what had appeared in the tooth’s place. Another tooth - this one stronger, sharper. The very tip of a fang. Maria steps backwards from the mirror as a wave of sharp pain stabs through her temples, and for a brief, confusing moment, she swears she can feel Shadow there with her. Like she’d cried for help, and he’d heard her. Maria bursts from the bathroom, running back to her room, blood still streaking from her face. There on her bed, where she had been lying a few moments prior, were feathers. Black and red and straggly, like a crow that’d been run down by a car. Maria becomes aware of that horrible itch on her back again. She tears off the hospital gown she’d been using as pyjamas, twists frantically in the mirror to inspect herself. A raised, red rash, spanning almost the entirety of her upper back, reveals itself to her. Somehow, seeing it makes it itch more, and as she desperately scratches at it, more feathers fall from her back.
Distantly, she hears her bedroom door burst open, Shadow rushing in with a horrified face. She hadn’t even realised that she’d screamed. Shadow is next to her immediately, placing a hand on her lower back, below the rash, and trying to soothe her. Maria is hunched over, kneeling on the floor by her bed, shaking violently.
‘What’s going on, Maria?’ Shadow asks, voice as calm as he can manage. ‘I felt you calling for me, somehow.’
‘I don’t-‘ Maria gasps. ‘I had a weird- dream. Woke up. Thought it was just- just my usual pains, and then- then- ‘
‘What did you do to her!?’ Gerald demands, entering the room. He’s furious. Pure, unbridled rage, directed at Shadow.
‘What did you do to me!?’ Maria roars back, her voice cracked and hoarse. Her eyes flash dangerously towards Gerald, despite the pain.
Before Gerald can respond, another blinding pain sears through Maria’s body, worse than the others. She’s terrified, and she’s certain that she’s dying.
All she can do is scream, raw and piercing, as her entire body ruptures.