I apologize for taking so long in getting this up. I`ve been distracted. So here we go. Once again, as a reminder, do not make any editing or corrections to this, do not point to me of any mistakes. I will not make corrections. I`m leaving this mostly as is of what it was when Tojo and I rped this out. We both have different rp styles so expect there to be some inconsistencies in things such as apostrophes and tenses.
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It had been months that Shadow had traveled out into the world on one crazy idea. He had been driven near mad after the Arc Incident, after facing off against Sonic the Hedgehog and his companions, all at the loss of Maria. Now it was close to a year, and after countless battles, he had gathered all chaos emeralds, and located Maria`s frozen body; it turns out that during the Arc incident, a service robot had managed to freeze her body in a cryogenic tank for future reclaim. It was one of the few things Shadow could find on the space-station. By a miracle of using the chaos-emeralds and chaos-control to warp their power, he sought to revive her.

Bandages covered Shadow, wounds from previous battles. He barely slept, barely ate throughout his time of assembling everything; they were in the ruins far from station square, deep under-ground, sealed off. A few patched couches, collections of food in the corner, medical supplies, and other things were strewn about. Suddenly, the chaos-emeralds glowed in unison, bathing Maria in a blinding light. Her wounds sealed, her disease was all but erased from existence, all the while Shadow focusing all of this energy directly at her; the cryo-tube suddenly opened, a rush of cold-air entering the room. It would only be a matter of minutes before Maria would awaken, revived. Shadow collapsed to the floor, feeling drained. He managed to gasp out,"...M-Maria..."

Maria`s eyes finally open. They looks just as soft and gentle as they did over 50 years ago on the Arc. Her head moves around slightly to see where she is. Being in the frozen has passed time instantly for her. In her mind, she just launched Shadow to the Earth just maybe minutes ago.

Things were different, very different; as her eyes would adjust, she'd see hard-stone covering the walls. A few miss-matching carpets lined the ground, and varied sheets and pillows to "provide cushioning", for her, presumably, against such a rough-environment. There were a lot of packaged foods lying around; canned goods, packaged snacks, not the healthiest but enough to survive on. A few roughly assembled "beds" consisting of mattresses were in the corner, un-used. And there, before her, was Shadow. He had bandages everywhere on him, detailing combat wounds. Asides from that, he hardly changed asides from that. A calendar on the wall, crookedly hanging there, had the months date; she could see the year was 50 years after the event on the space station.

Maria shifts her body a little. She feels stiff from laying still for so long. She was left unaged so her body, like her eyes, are the same as they were. She takes a hold of the sides of the tube and slowly pulls herself up to a sitting position. It doesn`t dawn on her of the date of the calendar since Shadow has her immediate focus. Didn`t she shoot him down to Earth in a pod? Not being used in a while, Maria`s voice is extra quiet and a little hoarse,"Shadow?"

Although Shadow's ear flicked a few times, his good ear (the other had a bandage wrapped around it), he didn't respond automatically. Slowly, he began to look up from where he collapsed, dragging himself forwards, reaching out to her with awe in his eyes,"..Maria.."

His voice sounded rough and haggard, as if he had been through very rough events; it matched how he appeared.

Maria climbs fully out of the tube and throws her legs over the side. Her feet touch the ground but she holds onto the side of the tube for extra support. She looks at Shadow again,"Shadow, what happened to you?"

Maria being his main concern, he waved his paw side to side, dismissing the question,"...It's not important...do you feel fine? ..Are you alright..?"

Some of her clothing, likely, would have been ripped and lined with "frozen" blood, but her wounds would be sealed up. Her disease was snuffed from existence, too.

Maria answers him,"Strangely...I feel fine."

She looks at herself and sees where the bullet`s exit is. Her hand goes over this wound like she doesn`t believe that she is alive despite the injury. She looks at Shadow again with surprise as the last of her memories from the past come to her.

Shadow coughed a few times, his eyes wincing shut as he barely supported himself upwards,"...Then it was..."

Coughing a few more times,"...Worth it.."

She could start to see the seven chaos emeralds lining the floor, around the cryogenic storage tube. He looked up, she could tell he was tired, nearing exhaustion,"..It was all worth it.."
He repeated himself, smiling slightly, perhaps the first time he had ever smiled since the time of the Arc incident; he began to buckle on his own weight, closing his eyes.

"Oh! Shadow-!"

Maria quickly drops down to the floor on her knees and catches Shadow in her arms before he hits the floor. Once she catches him, she hugs him tightly into herself. Her face contorts like she is about to cry and she whispers,"(What has happened to you...?)"

Shadows eyes fluttered a few times, before he managed to look to her, crimson-oculi looking into hers,"....When the soldiers came...shot you...my heart ripped into two... I was shot to earth..."

Pausing, as the memories flooded into his mind,"...You were dead...the professor was imprisoned...I did not emerge until..much later.... That was..fifty years ago... I felt much hatred...-Much- hatred.."

Maria closes her eyes as she listens to Shadow`s story. Her hand begins to stroke Shadow`s quills.

"...I tried to destroy the earth....I fought so many battles...I ended up saving it..because I thought of ..."

Coughing once,"..of what -you- would want... that was on the Arc station..I fought the bio-weapon.. almost a year ago, I went back to the station, I found you there..frozen..I brought you back to earth..chased a crazy idea that..if I got all the chaos-emeralds, I could revive you.. I spent the last year collecting the chaos emeralds.."

Maria`s hug on Shadow tightens a little more again for a moment and she smiles gently. Her head tilts to the side and touches the side of Shadow`s,"So then...We`re on Earth? We came to Earth like we wanted to...And you saved everyone. I knew it, I knew you could do so much good for everyone."

"...All for you, Maria.. and yes, we're on Earth..in the mystic ruins..away from GUN and those idiots.."

Weakly hugging around her, he had the look of contentment on his face, looking off,"..I collected food and water..if you're hungry..don't eat too much, I don't know if you being revived will bring any negative side-effects.."

"Right now...I`m just happy..."

Maria nuzzles gently into Shadow, he could begin to feel tears escaping her eyes,"I`m so happy, Shadow..."

For a while, he was silent, closing his eyes as he hugged around her, nuzzling the fur on the side of his face against her cheek,"..It's been so long, so very long...all those years of suffering, but this makes it worth it..."

Maria takes a moment to look around the room again and get a better look at where she is. For her first view of what Earth is like, this is very different from the pictures her grandfather showed her. She sees the calendar again,"It really is the future, isn`t it?"

"...Y-yes..fifty-two years.."

The stone covering the walls were old, ancient. After what felt like hours, Shadow began to stir from her grasp, reaching out for one of the chaos-emeralds,"..I need more..energy..then we can...leave..go out.."

Maria loosens her grasp so Shadow can move as needed but she keeps one arm beneath him in case he collapses again.

Taking a bit of power from the emerald, he felt more energy, which substituted his numerous sleep-less nights and lack of proper diet. Rising up, he ripped off a few bandages, tossing them aside. Looking back to her, he had a confident smile, offering her a hand to arise,"..Everything will be alright now..we can go look for a home, scrape out a life for ourselves now that we are re-united..I want you to look outside."

Maria looks at Shadow and gives him a smile that she has given him so often. She takes his hand and with his assistance, she stands up to her feet.

Clasping his hand around hers, he slowly led her out of the ruins; a few path-ways that led upwards, the sandy-looking stone disappearing. Pulling up a pair of sun-glasses from one of the various crates strewn about, he offered these to her,"..Put these on.."

Then Shadow led her to the opening; bright light filtered into the room, it was about mid-day.

Maria puts on the sunglasses and takes a moment to adjust them to a comfortable position on her face.

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