Ugh... What's...going on...? I sway as the liquid supporting me disappears, trying to keep my body over top of my feet. I start as my hand reaches out automatically to press against the tube and steady me; my own body feels very unfamiliar. Leaning in against my arm, I breath in deeply, and then out, trying to dispel my dizzying headache. In only a few seconds, I feel my head clear as the room comes into focus. 

Vrummmm... I stumble a bit as a humming noise vibrates the chamber. Gasping, I realize what is happening. The tube that holds me is moving! Upwards, towards...the surface? Where am I?

A sense of dread hits me as I remember exactly where I was locked away. The room of scientists, the man who shied away from me, the falling wire sliver, the numbing liquid that thrust me into unconsciousness. Anyone could be up there... But why are they releasing me? Glancing downwards, I see that I am still wearing my rings and shoes, and I neither see, nor feel restraints on my limbs or body. Do I still have my powers? Am I now powerless? Do I have any hope of escape? Did I...die? Shaking my head, I try to focus. No, I'm alive, so I must have survived being shot... But why did that gun effect me when none of the others did? It must have had something stronger than bullets. Shaking myself again, I mentally snap at myself to figure out the details later.

I need to escape from here before they realize I've woken up... I crouch down as I see a door open above me, and fire up my shoes, the ones Gerald gave to me on the ARK. As the pod ascends through the opening, I glance around and see no one in the room. The pod withdraws, leaving me on a raised platform in the middle of the space. Hovering several inches above it, I jump off and land on the floor.

I hope I can cut through this... I think as I observe the wall. Jumping forward, I spindash into it and--as I hoped--slice through the metal with my sharp spines. I shoot out into a large hallway, and zoom off towards my right. Hopefully this will lead me out of here...

I continue along it, keeping a sharp eye out for any people, but no one is around. Hearing the sounds of a fight somewhere behind and above me, I assume that everyone is there. I slow down as I approach a stairwell, and cautiously open the door leading to it. Listening, I decide no one is in it, and start to run up.

Yeep! I mentally yelp as my legs move in a blur. I had no idea I could run this fast! I reach the top in no time, despite having passed many levels. Leaping out of the door at the end of the stairs, I find a window in no time. Woah.

I stand far above the land below, and realize that I am at the top of the building I was trapped in. Taking a deep breath, I step back and leap forward. Using my spindash for the second time, I smash through the heavy glass and careen out the window. Biting back a scream, I drop all the way to the ground. I brace myself for impact, expecting pain, but my legs absorb the crash like it was nothing. Not stopping to question how I am completely unscathed, I shoot off towards my right; there appears to be a large amount of cover there.

This is madness! I think as I run through the jungle-like foliage. I don't even know what's going on, but there are troops of people and giant machines everywhere! I flinch as yet another machine zooms over me, and I pick up the pace. I start to see pinpricks of light through the trees in front of me, and wonder what they're reflecting off of. Guess I'm going to find out, I decide, and grit my teeth as another loud mechanical...thing flies over my head. I am seconds away from the tree line, and build up as much speed as I can so that it will be harder to hit me.

"Whoa!" I jump off the last few feet of the shore, hoping with everything in me that I can skate on water. "Yeeks!" The surprised cry tears out of me as the water becomes a surface under my feet, and I almost lose my balance. I would have been embarrassed if I had made such a blunder in front of Gerald, but I realize with sadness that I have no idea what happened to him. Why did I have to think of the past now? I'm trying to live through the present! An approaching roar yanks my head to the left as I try to see the object making it. If I knew curse words, I think I'd use them about now...

I pale as a humungous machine flies over the water at me. It looks something like a robot, and I panic as a spray of water from its gunfire splashes me. That was close! If I get hit off balance, then I'll fall into the water and be practically helpless to fight or dodge! The terror I feel at being brought back to the facility I had just escaped rips through me, and I feel a shift in how my mind links to my limbs. Everything around me seems to slow down, and I feel a strange rush as my body works faster than I had ever known it could.

"Yahhhhhh!" I scream as I zoom miles ahead in seconds, and with a glance behind me, I see that I left a sonic boom in my wake. This is terrifying! No, exhilarating! I never knew I could do this! For the first time since I had woken up, I felt something other than panic or confusion. Something...nice. It wasn't the same emotion I had known when I had laughed with Maria back on the ARK, but rather another type of happiness. A feeling of freedom, in which I didn't have to fear anything. Nothing in the world could catch me now, nothing!

"Whooooooo!!!" Despite the sadness bearing down on me, I manage to yell in excitement, which admittedly makes me feel guilty. It's not fair that I get this chance to be happy, not at all, but Maria loved so much to see me smile... Maybe she's out there somewhere and can see me. I hope so. I turn my face to the sky as I zoom across the water, searching for the ARK in the daylight sky above. I don't see it, but the clouds would have made Maria squeal in delight at how beautifully they are arranged. Maria...

I glance back in front of me, and I'm surprised to see I'm only a few miles off of land. The transition from the water to the harder land catches me a little off guard, which results in me tripping over my own feet. I grit my teeth to hold back a yelp as I fly into the air, and manage to land on my feet and skid to a stop. That was...interesting. Note to self: Don't look up at the sky while traveling at supersonic speeds. I really want to sit down and start dealing with my memories and with the grief I feel, but I know I need to get to a hidden place first.

Hmm... I think as I cast my gaze around, and I stand up straight in pleasure when I see buildings peaking over to my left. Lots of buildings, all towering high above the ground. A city! Firing up my shoes again, I use my newfound speed to rapidly approach the unknown megalopolis. That's what I take it to be, now that I see the insanely packed buildings with little space between them. Lots of people must live here... I bet there's a million places to hide.

I practically fly towards the nearest building, and I start running up it before I can even think about what I'm doing. I jump onto the roof of it, and take a quick look at the city below. Innumerable humans walk through the streets below, and I look for a deserted part. My eyes light up when I see a secluded alley, and the fact few people are walking near it tells me it will be nigh on deserted at night. Great! If I'm in the city, I'll be able to find out what year it is, and maybe even start fulfilling Maria's wish to protect people. The gravity of the last statement hits me like a truck, and I fall to my knees before I can even try to pull myself together.

"Maria... *sniff*" Tears fill my eyes and I look into the sky like it can show her to me. My breathing becomes short, cut off, and the salty water from my eyes runs down my face. "Ma-Maria!" I screw my eyes shut and contort myself into a painful position. My knees stay on the ground, but my hands hit the concrete right in front of them and I pull my face into my own chest.

It doesn't matter that I'm alive, it doesn't matter that I survived to continue on her legacy. All that matters is that she's gone. She's gone. She's gone. She's gone. No matter what I do, I can never bring her back. I'll never see her face again, never hear her voice, never touch her hand or hug her ever again. She's gone forever. Maria, my best friend, my life, my purpose, my sister, is gone, and she has left only her wish behind. I'm carrying the only piece of her that's left.

My sobbing is loud, messy, and I've never cared less about anything. The things I say in my mind, the things I know and have now stated to myself, they crush me. The knowledge I'm going to have to come to terms with them is gaping in front of me as an impossible task. How... I don't even care enough to think about how I'm going to try to move on. Not now, at least.

I can't accept this. But I have no choice, because it's the truth. I can't change it. No matter how much I deny it, it's still the truth. I lose myself in my sobs of pain, of emotional torment. Memories of Maria, of us, come to mind, a different one each time. All horribly painful. All filled with that horrible, horrible denial. Denial of how someone so full of life and energy and kindness and everything that makes a living creature alive could be cold and lifeless and gone. How is it even possible she's gone? How can a body so alive one moment be stilled? How can a person just...end? Not even how, why? Why? Why let people live if they're going to just die one day? It's so horrible!

"It's n-not f-fair! It's not! How is this a-allowed to h-happen?! It--" A sob breaks my words, and a wave of racking convulsions shakes my body to the core. I have no tears left to cry, but my eyes sting painfully in an effort to bring some. Despite the power I know I have, I feel more frail than a twig. My small limbs are shivering, shaking with weakness. Weakness from hopelessness. Weakness from having everything I know shattered. I open my mouth, trying to talk, but all I can do is make choking sounds. I give in to my sadness, curling into a ball of quivering limbs. What I wouldn't give to have her with me. I would give anything, everything to bring her back. But I can't bring her back, so it doesn't even matter what I'd give. I give up on coherent thought, instead letting all of my grief pour out of me.

I would have cried for longer if it wasn't for the helicopter. The deafening roar of its blades destroying the silence, something I can hear painfully loudly even through my unpopped ears, coming closer to me every second. Making me wrench my head up, blurry, stinging, bloodshot eyes squinting at the machine flying not a hundred yards away. Shivering as it flies closer through the darkening sky. Watching as it sweeps a spotlight over the roof next to me. The fear of capture wrestles with my overwhelming sadness, and I manage to drag myself to my feet. My body runs shakily to the edge, and I leap down to the building next to me. Pausing on the new rooftop, I listen for the helicopter approaching me, but thankfully it flies the other way. They must not have seen me.

Wiping my runny nose on my already soaked-from-crying gloves, I flare up my shoes and head in the direction of the alley. Dusk has already fallen, something I note with worry. How long was I crying in plain sight on that roof? It's been hours since I escaped stasis. The long stretch of misery, despite its toll on my emotions and body, actually seems to have helped. I guess I needed a good cry... Shaking my head, I carefully jump from building to building, finally finding my darkened alley. I nearly fall off the six-story building I stand on, barely managing to land quietly in the alley. It's between to a bakery and a grocery store, something I note gladly. Both buildings should be quiet at night, and the trash they throw out should contain lots of discarded food.

Speaking of food... My stomach lets out an angry rumble, reminding me I haven't eaten today, and before that when I was put into stasis, and before that when I got shot... How many days has it been since I've eaten? Counting stasis, where my body didn't seem to shut down, how many weeks? Months? Years? The thought I might have been in stasis for years scares me, as I have a desire to find Maria's killer.

I need to find him. I don't know what I'll do yet when I do, but I need to find him. I scan the ground, my eyes still blurry from crying. Seeing nothing but a bit of plastic, and still not entirely sure what I'm searching for, I open the large metal bin besides me. It's so big that I have to climb it to open it, and I do so carefully. I feel relieved at the sight of flattened cardboard boxes, and I also see a dirtied white tablecloth near it. Yanking both out, I decide the bakery probably threw out the cloth when it was stained beyond use. I lay the cardboard down, then fold the tablecloth into thirds so I can use it as a blanket. Hmm... I wonder...

Hopping back into the bin, I find a crumpled paper filled with current events, and quickly scan it for the date. Wednesday, March 14th, 3235*?!?! It was 3185 back on the ARK!!! That means it's been... I do the math, find myself not believing the answer, and do the math again. It's... It's been almost fifty years... I was created on June 19th, 3185... And now it's March 14th, 3235... I feel shocked, for the first time since midday focusing on something besides Maria's passing. I let the paper fall, collapse onto my makeshift bed, and see stars of blackness dancing before my eyes before I force myself into full consciousness.

He's... The man who shot Maria was in his thirties, maybe older... What are the chances he's alive now? Now I'll never be able to...to do whatever I was planning to do to him. I don't even know what I wanted to do, but now I don't even get a chance... I really need a curse word right now.

Using the stupid, ridiculous task to distract me, I filter through my earliest memories to when people were terrified of me, back when I was created. Let's see... There was "holy shoot" and "savior of hell." So... "shoot" and "hell" are curse words? I'll use them next time I need to scream something in frustration... Having found some choice words, I drift off towards sleep, reminding myself mentally that I need to get up early so I can hide from the humans. My last conscious thought for the night drifts upwards, its beautiful, familiar feeling wrapping me in warmth.

Goodnight, Maria... My eyes close, and a whisper escapes me, so quiet I can't tell if it was a thought or a spoken sentiment. I love you...**

Author's Note: *Yes, I actually looked up what day it would be on March 14th, 3235. Which, incidentally, is the year that is currently canon in the Archie Comics (which have their own canon separate from the games). **It's sisterly-brotherly love. I'm fine with Shadaria, and even think it's adorable and cute, but they're not a thing in this story. And, yes, Shadow was all over the place in this chapter. I know, it's weird. But how would you have acted in his place? Hopefully in a similar manner to what happened, because I was working on this forever trying to get him right. ^-^