ARAAT4: Origins

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A Rose And A Thorn 4: Origins

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: I only just finished this today.

Froggy: But we finished the actual fic like, about a year ago!

Harley: Yeah, but I can be a lazy cow sometimes. Well, are things as hopeless as they seem? Not without closure! I guess you could stop reading now, but then you’d never find out how Mirage changed the present. And I’d send evil demon things to your house to eat your face.

Froggy: IT’S THE EPILOGUE! IT’S CLOSURE! I LOVE CLOSURE!

~~~

Epilogue…

Project Midnight managed to open one eye. His entire body burned. He choked up blood and managed, barely, to focus on his body. Half of it had been ripped apart. He wasn’t sure how he’d survived this long, even though it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Every passing second felt like years.

A thought occurred to him, I don’t want to die…

He shifted onto his left side, which was slightly less agonisingly painful than his right side, and began to drag himself towards the area containing the stasis booths, his life bleeding out behind himself with every step he crawled. He could feel important organs on his right side open to the air.

I don’t want to die…

He continued to crawl, using the last of his strength to drag his body into a stasis booth and close the door. The energy of the booth pulled him into an upright position. Then time stopped for him.

~~~

34 Years After Ark…

It was early spring on Angel Island. Squirrels were going about their business, gathering nuts as they had for many years past. Nothing ever changed. As usual, they scampered around an Altar, a Master Emerald, and a crusty old cyrostasis tube with a tiny red baby echidna fast asleep inside. Occasionally they trotted over buttons, which blinked and flashed. Some of the buttons didn’t blink and flash. They were broken.

That might have been how it would have gone forever, except that this year a particular squirrel chose a particular route over a particular sequence of buttons.

The tube opened.

After a few minutes, the red baby echidna inside blinked a couple of times and woke up. He saw the Master Emerald on its Altar. To a child only a few weeks old, it was something big and shiny. The baby watched it for a little while, waiting for it to do something.

After a while, the baby echidna fell asleep, right next to the Master Emerald.

~~~

45 Years After Ark…

It was mid-summer on Christmas Island. And a couple of young squirrels were having an adventure.

“They saw there’s ghosts in this Zone,” said the boy.

“Yeah, right, I don’t believe in ghosts,” laughed the girl, “This is Green Hill! Come on, Elias! Grow up!”

“No, seriously, Sally,” the boy – Elias - said, “Years and years ago something crashed around here and the cops and the army and reporters and regular people all came poking around but they never found it. It must be worth a fortune!”

“And it fell around here?” Sally asked him, “No way!”

They continued to push through the wood. It was easy to understand why people thought Green Hill was haunted – nobody lived there, and as they pushed through the thick undergrowth, crossed ancient bridges, and jumped from platform to crumbling platform, the silence grew more and more oppressive.

“You’re scared of ghosts! You’re scared of ghosts!” Elias taunted back at Sally.

“Am not!” Sally yelled back at him, “Now just wait up!”

Suddenly they both skidded to a halt. It was obvious what had stopped them. An ancient tube, half-buried in the earth, covered in rust and vines, was right in front of them.

“Woah...” Elias whispered.

“We found the treasure!” Sally agreed.

They both peered at the tube. Thanks to the filth covering it, it was impossible to see what was inside it. Sally stepped forward and scraped some of the dirt off it. Under the dirt, the tube was freezing cold to the touch, even in the summer sun. She didn’t make much difference, but at least now they could both see that there was some sort of shape inside it.

“Come on, let’s open it!” Elias said.

“You’re sure we should do that?” Sally asked him.

“Well, sure. How else are we gonna find out what’s inside?” Elias asked her.

They started pushing and pulling at the tube, hammering at the buttons. Eventually it split open. A figure inside blinked a few times, “Hey... where am I, man?”

“Wow!” Sally enthused, “We found a friendly space monster alien thing!”

“I’m not a space monster,” the blue creature muttered, “I’m... I’m...” he looked at the envelope in his hand. It was addressed to Sonic the Hedgehog, “I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”

On the back of the envelope was written in a neat print, “Do not open this letter until I tell you to.” Sonic opened the letter impatiently. Inside was another envelope and a small letter, “I knew you would do that. Now, do not open THIS letter until I tell you to. In the meantime, do not worry. If you have time to worry... just run.”

“You don’t look much like a hedgehog to me,” said Sally.

Sonic wasn't really listening. Who had sent him this letter? And more to the point, who was he? Where did he come from? Why could he remember nothing? He realised he was worrying. So he ran.

“Wow!” both Elias and Sally watched as he ran, and then hurried to keep up with him.

~~~

56 Years After Ark…

Bright light, the sensation of falling, a deep, numbing chill... and then it was over. Their feet touched down on the steel floor, their eyes looking out at the infinite stellar horizon, tiny pinpricks of light surrounded by inky blackness. They had arrived, standing before the wide window in the old lab where Shadow's greatest tragedy had occurred. The red and black hedgehog turned away from the stars and looked inward at the space station, its corridors and rooms familiar territory to him, "We're here."

The ARK was cold, and Shadow could almost feel the destruction that had taken place there. Destroyed robots and dead bodies lay all over the place. In the clean, clinical environment they had simply shrivelled rather than rotted. But there was life too – thanks to his most recent escapade and the increase in his powers, he could sense it.

"GUN is already here," he said, certainty in his voice, "They are searching for the experiments."

Espio shifted into a combat stance, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice, "Where do we begin our search?" the chameleon asked his friend. It was a good question. ARK was a huge place; the size of a small country. There were many places a biological experiment could be held.

"We will need to split up if we are to have any chance of beating GUN to the experiments," Shadow said, "I'll check the labs where they made me; I know them well. Espio, make your way to the storage level and the other labs, and see if you can hack into any computers along the way. Perhaps we can find some hints that way. But be fast."

Espio agreed and left the lab. It would be beneficial to their mission if they could avoid detection, and the ninja was well trained in the art of stealth. The fact that he could naturally change colour certainly helped, too. He hadn't visited the ARK before, but the occasional map on the wall allowed him to head towards the location Shadow had mentioned.

Shadow walked towards the place of his birth, looking around at the battle-damaged hallways, trying to remember how exactly it all happened. He knew the basics, broken memory fragments, the running and fear, the screams of the dying, Maria pleading with him to do something... and her demise at the hands of GUN. Shadow shook his head. Was it his fault that she died? Could he have done something differently? Until he knew the full truth, such questions would remain unanswered. But perhaps the other experiments could shed light on his past.

Espio flattened himself against the grey steel wall, changing colour to blend in as he heard the cycling of airlocks, ships docking nearby. With a hiss of air, the doors opened, and armed and armoured GUN soldiers entered the colony, spreading out and sweeping their weapons around the entryway, searching for threats. The chameleon stayed as still as possible, remaining invisible.

"All clear!" one of the troops shouted.

Another man stepped aboard the colony. His age was evident from his greying hair, his expression looked chiselled from stone, and he was wearing an immaculate dress uniform that showed his rank to be that of Commander. This man was obviously leading the troops. He swept his eyes, one brown and the other green, around the room and just barely nodded, "Spread out and find those experiments," he ordered the soldiers, "If they can be moved without being awakened, take them back to the shuttle. If not... destroy them!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers shouted back with a smart salute and then left to follow those orders, running past the undetected ninja.

"We are going to rid the world of Gerald's abominations," the Commander said to himself, drawing a pistol and checking it, "Shadow among them. I hope you have come here, you monster. I've been looking forward to this..." The Commander walked past Espio slowly, and the reptile waited until he was out of sight before he moved again.

Finally, Espio moved on towards the other labs, being careful to avoid the soldiers. The GUN troops were limited and could check only so many labs at a time, which meant that there still was a chance to find the projects before them. But he would have to move fast, and he would have to be lucky.

There were many false leads and dead-ends in his search. Broken equipment and the enormity of the task didn't help things. Thankfully, he knew something about the ARK that the troops didn't. After the most recent ARK incident, the Chaotix had gone to great pains to learn as much as they could about the colony and its secrets, including those of its computer network. Accessing a terminal, he searched for all he could find on Project Mirage and Project Ashura. He could find nothing on Ashura, but he did find some scattered bits of information on Project Mirage.

Much of it was encrypted or corrupted, but there were some useful bits to be found. He narrowed his search down to four labs, finding a number of words that could be passwords, and some basic information on the project. He memorized it all for future reference and took off quickly towards the four labs, hoping GUN didn't get to them first.

He found nothing in the first lab and had a close call with GUN soldiers in the second, but upon entering the third, he found something that looked promising, a series of steel cryogenic tubes, their contents frosted over. The chameleon could find no obvious labels to them, just a series of letters and numbers on the sides of the tubes. Narrowing his eyes, he examined each one carefully. Those were serial numbers... and one of them he remembered seeing from the report on Mirage. Trying to access the tube, a keyboard slid out and asked for a password. Frowning, Espio went about trying to enter the right one. The obvious ones that were used with Shadow and Emerl, ‘Maria’, ‘Give hope to humanity’ and similar passwords didn't reveal anything but "Access Denied" in bold red lettering.

After fifteen minutes of trying passwords, the ninja was starting to get very irritated. If he didn't succeed soon, he wouldn't succeed at all! Taking a deep breath, he searched his memories of the report for words or phrases that could be the password. One word came to mind that seemed... odd. Out of place. Something concerning Project Mirage's relation to Project Shadow, although Espio wasn't sure how. It was from an incomplete report, ending with one word; ‘Duty’. And so, he entered that one word. The words ‘Access Granted’ flashed up in green.

The frost began to clear on one cryostasis tube. It held... something. Its eyes closed, its arms crossed over its chest. Something looked at Espio with burning, crimson eyes, taking him in slowly. It was a female, he realised suddenly. But a female what?

It was then that she smashed out of her cryotube and fell forward onto the floor. Then she stood slowly and carefully, the ice evaporating off her fur into the air.

She was partly feline from the thick black fur and the long tail that bushed out at the end, and partly hedgehog from the five solid quills, and bare tan muzzle. She had blood red highlights on those quills, as well as her arms, legs, at the corners of her eyes, and a splash of red at the end of her tail, as if it had been dipped in blood. Finally, there was a thick patch of white fur covering her breasts.

He stepped back, keeping a safe distance between himself and the female, standing in a defensive fighting stance, ready to draw his shruiken in an instant. He observed her silently, waiting for her to make the first move.

Long claws slid out and the female patted her quills. They were softened by fur, kinked up at the ends, and hung more like the dreads of an echidna than Sonic or Shadow’s quills. It was clear that they would be useless for attack purposes, "You are not Shadow," she said eventually, almost accusingly.

"No... I'm a friend of his," Espio replied slowly. With no way of knowing just how the female would react, he preferred to be on the defensive.

"Where is my equipment?" the female asked suddenly. Her voice was clipped and artificial sounding, as if every word was carefully chosen before being vocalised.

"I don't know about your equipment," Espio admitted, "Shadow sent me here to find you. We're both in danger. GUN soldiers are looking for you."

"GUN?" the female blinked. She suddenly looked worried, "GUN is here?" She moved over to a wall and stared at it for a moment, then ripping a panel off the wall with her claws, reached into the hole and took out a open-fronted vest, trainers, two fighting daggers, a necklace and three Power Rings.

The trainers were identical in appearance to Shadow's, but they had treads instead of jets. Clearly she didn’t run fast enough to need jets. And the vest was white with a red border. She pulled them on determinedly and hung the necklace around her neck. It had a green jewel as a pendant, about the size of her thumbnail. Finally, with a little difficulty, she pulled the three Power Rings onto her tail, and stretched.

"Yes, and they intend on destroying you. Shadow is in another section of the labs looking for the other project. We should go meet up with him," Espio told her as she dressed. No gloves, he noticed.

"There are no other projects," Mirage replied, "They are all... gone. Who are you looking for?"

"You and a guy called Ashura,” Espio explained, "Are you sure he isn't on board? If so, we have no further reason for staying here"

"Ashura? He is not a project," Mirage stated, "And he is dead. I killed him."

Suddenly, those throwing stars seemed to be magnetically attracted to his hands. Espio supposed he had no place to judge her, though. After all, he was a ninja, "I see,” he replied, his emotions masked, "You're going to have to explain that to us later. Right now, we need to get away from the men with guns."

"You mean those soldiers?" Mirage pointed at the door, where several soldiers were already standing.

A soldier quickly shouted into a radio, "Sir, Project Mirage is loose! And we have intruders on the ARK!"

Espio immediately took action, hurling throwing stars at the soldier's weapons, disabling them, "Let's go!" he shouted to Mirage.

Mirage narrowed her eyes, "I am so sick of all of this," she snarled, and gestured violently. Her shard glowed, and two soldiers screamed, falling to the ground and clutching at their chests. Their hearts followed them.

Espio stared in amazement at the dead men, their hearts removed without any apparent intrusion into their chests, "What did you just do?"

"Chaos Tempest. It removes an object - say a heart - from existence for a few seconds," Mirage replied, "Now you said about leaving?"

"Right... yes, I did. Let's go..." said a worried chameleon. Suddenly, those throwing stars of his weren't nearly as comforting as before.

Mirage followed him closely. She was sick of the ARK, sick of everything it stood for. It made her want to hit somebody long after there was any need for hitting. Killing those soldiers was only a brief respite from the pain this hunk of metal had caused her.

Espio swiftly and stealthily made his way towards the section Shadow had spoken of. Chaos energies were something the ninja had little experience with, and he felt it would be safer to have the Ultimate Lifeform with him in case the crazed hedgecat directed her wrath on something other than human troops. Shadow never mentioned anything about mental instability... maybe it just ran in the family.

~~~

Despite Shadow's best efforts, he couldn't find the other project. He could feel no hint of his presence, no sign in any of the labs. Sweeping his crimson eyes over the cryogenic tubes and their control pads, he softly touched the keys, feeling for something. A word appeared in his mind, a word that had been entered before. He typed in the word 'Genesis' and hit enter.

The frost on a cryogenic tube cleared, revealing it to be empty. No green hedgehog, no Ashura. Shadow sighed in frustration.

Several seconds later, Espio and Mirage burst into the room, "Thank goodness you are okay!" Mirage managed, "Come on, GUN's crawling through this place something chronic..."

Shadow's eyes widened upon seeing Mirage run inside, surprised to see the semi-feline female with such a striking resemblance to himself. "Mirage? Is that really you? You remember me?" he asked, approaching her slowly, cautiously.

"Yes," Mirage smiled, "I remember you. Oh gods, I am so glad you are okay..." She darted forward, surprising both of them, and hugged him, "I was so worried..."

Blinking in surprise and unsure of what to do, Shadow hesitantly returned the embrace. "Yeah, I'm ok..."

Mirage pulled away, "I am sorry," she apologised, "But it has been what... thirty years now? Or is it longer..."

"57 years,” he corrected her, "It’s been almost 57 years since the incident. And I... have to warn you that my memories of that time are vague at best. I only remember glimpses of you, feelings."

"That is okay, I had expected that," Mirage replied, "I have large gaps in my memory too... but maybe sometimes it is better to forget. And besides... Ashura is no big loss."

"Loss? Is he dead? I thought that maybe I would find him here..." Shadow began, and then shook his head, "I shouldn't be surprised. So many have died here. But at least you lived." Giving a sharp nod, the red and black hedgehog pulled out his chaos emerald, holding it out before him. "We can talk later. First, let's leave this floating tomb behind us."

Mirage nodded as a troop of GUN soldiers arrived in the door, led by an aged man with one green and one brown eye. Damn, he looked awfully familiar… "And fast."

Fast was something Shadow knew well. With his free hand, he held onto the hedgecat's arm. Espio needed no prompting to move closer and do the same. Giving an angry glance at the approaching man with the strange eyes, he shouted, "Chaos Control!" And the three of them left the ARK in a flash of light. Another piece of Shadow's dark past was lifted off of his conscience.

~~~

Harley: Can you see what two things have changed? The obvious one is that Ashura is gone. What’s the other? Amyway, I ORDER you to listen to “Hero” by Nickelback. It fits Midnight so brilliantly. And then you must, yes, you MUST go to read A Rose And A Thorn 5: Resurrection.

Froggy: It contains amnesia as a plot device!