#ark writes

[landprince]

The first thing Riku notices when he wakes is a warm body next to him. He grins, too tired to tamp down the giddy and raw emotions that cross his face as he bundles in closer to Sora’s sleeping form. 

Sora’s home.

Sora’s home. 

Long arms wrap around his boyfriend as he curls his body into the shape of Sora’s, and he hears sleepy giggles erupt from the younger boy as he turns in Riku’s arms to better face the keyblade master. 

“Hey, lover boy,” Sora says, voice rough from sleep, and exhaustion still evident in his tired smile. 

He leans forward, all warm affection as he kisses Riku chastely on the lips. Riku can still smell the mint on Sora’s breath from his toothpaste, and it means Sora’s been home barely some scant hours. 

When Sora pulls back, Riku leans forward, chasing him down, hand sliding up to tangle in the messy bedhead Sora has and guiding him into a proper kiss. 

“Hey, sweetheart,” Riku greets in return when Sora is nice and molten against him. “Mission ended early?”

Sora nods in the dim morning light and tucks himself up into Riku’s body. 

“Yup. It was no problem.” Sora postures, puffs out his chest proudly at his accomplishment. 

Riku, still in the last dregs of sleep, can only smile fondly at his boyfriend. 

“Welcome home. I missed you.” 

[fallstreakfeathers]

Info needs updated

Name:

 Akihiko Kanda

Nicknames:

“Aki” “Old man” (Charlie, teasingly) “Sir Long-Ears” (Charlie, teasingly) “The demon who eats demons” “(The) Demon Cannibal” “Massacre Demon” “Traitor”

Ethnicity:

Japanese

Species:

Demon (Oni)

Age: 

Chronological Age: 95

Physical Age:  35

Mental Age:  35

History:

Akihiko found himself in a grief-filled tale of horrific circumstances, forcibly transformed into a demon when Muzan sought a convenient distraction.

When he accidentally regained part of his memories- in which he watched himself kill and eat his wife and only son, along with several family members- the sheer weight of his rage and anguish inspired him to invoke Muzan’s curse and rip the cells from his body. This freed him, but left him permanently scarred. Unbeknownst to Akihiko, his torment was so overwhelmingly powerful that Muzan subconsciously felt it along with the curse's destruction through his shared link with his demon kin, and it even forced his eyes, although momentarily, to mist over.

In their shame and terror of the Incident, those left of the Kanda family condemned Akihiko entirely- not that he’s tried to return. Akihiko has accepted his disgrace with the utmost dignity. However his older brother, the only one to truly believe and to argue that Akihiko was under control of something- and would never have willingly harmed his family- was also shunned.

Akihiko’s estate stands abandoned by the family and is believed to be cursed.

Because Muzan’s cells changed his DNA, he can still regenerate at a (much) slower rate than other demons. Akihiko has vowed on battling Muzan if they ever meet again. In preparation for that, Akihiko gathered the broken blades of Demon Slayers who sought to kill him (though Akihiko never harmed them) and found a smith willing to melt them down. He then submerged the end of his tail and both arm-blades in the molten steel. This formed the Nichirin blades he wields on his body, though the process was so painful it left him delirious for days. It was an unexpected surprise for all involved when these newly formed blades revealed a striking change in color.

Muzan has a bounty for his head or death, and so Akihiko has lived in hiding on one of Japan’s unpopulated islands until he met and rescued Charlotte Ainsley.

Ainsley willingly (insisted) gifted Akihiko a small amount of her own blood through transfusions in return for protection and training, and eventually they both came to think of themselves as family. Because Akihiko has torn Muzan’s cells from his body and feeds off of other Oni and Yokai, he no longer feels the need to consume humans, but has no qualms killing any human that willingly works for Muzan- rare as they are.

When the Demon Slayer Corps eventually tracked Akihiko down, he fled- leaving an unwilling Charlotte Ainsley in their care until their reunion two years later.

Personality:

Stern, strict, though not without moments of humor. Tends to not speak shorthand- “do not” vs “don’t”. Akihiko carries himself with a swift grace that has been compared to a deity. This has been noted to contrast strongly with his fighting style- which is often rather brutish. He has a very strong sense of duty and honor and tries to make sure those around him uphold their own. He recognizes his faults, and regrets, and seeks to live better moving forward- though there are some wounds that can never heal. He can come off as overbearing and rigid but he means well. Frequently butts heads with Charlie about her behavior but loves her dearly as his own daughter and refers to her as his ‘gift from the sea.’ He and Charlie are well known for their snarky banter. He is creative in solving problems- even teaching Charlie how to wield a glaive without having much prior knowledge. He also came up with the idea of his oni mask, which is capable of filtering Charlie’s wisteria smoke (and therefore preventing his own poisoning) using charcoal, and a cloak he wore to hide from the sun he wishes to one day be able to walk freely in.

Akihiko has a unique relationship with his demonic abilities- while he despises them, he recognizes that it is now a part of who he is. He hates what he has become but will not give up on his sense of self or his journey to find redemption in any way possible.

Despite his hardships, he is a strong believer in the good in the world. He hopes for a day when everyone is free from suffering, and often tries to relieve the pain of others.

Due to his past, Akihiko holds a legendary hatred towards Muzan and his sympathizers.

Rank:

Akihiko holds no official ranking within the Demon Slayer Corps, but is an ally.

Demon Blood Style: Solar Burst

Fire erupts from cracks in his flesh, encircling his body and connecting back to other fractures in a way very reminiscent of a solar flare. Not only does this fire burn other demons, but it can also be released in powerful blasts. These cracks and the markings in his skin glow orange when activated, as does his eyes.

Aside from his blood art, Akihiko fights using his tail alongside the blade-like protrusions on his arms. He also utilizes his wings, in which the muscles on his back thicken with blood, enabling him to fly. This thickening also forces the scales on the edges of his wings to rise, turning them into serrated weapons that shred flesh with ease. This ability makes him an even more formidable opponent, as it gives him a total of 7 limbs and 5 blades.

He controls every inch of his battlefield, often leaving no time or chance for his opponent to move.

Though he feels it dishonorable, Akihiko attacks his demon prey from behind; using his wing-arms to crush their skulls and render them completely blind and deaf to who attacked them (and therefore preventing the demon from alerting Muzan to his position).

He is deceptively fast, and creative in the ways he uses his body in battle.

Hobbies:

Frequently writes poetry, but he burns the paper after he finishes, so nobody has ever read his work.

Avid reader. Can generally be found with a book or pamphlet of some type.

Enjoys creating paper lanterns and hanging them at various times of the year.

Can play several instruments, including the shamisen.

Is often found relaxing in hot springs. The water and minerals do wonders for his joints and scales.

Likes to bake treats from recipes he’s memorized. They’re the only things he can cook that he can guarantee will taste good, since he hasn’t eaten human food in over 60 years.

Plays Mahjong with his friends, and Charlie.

Special Skills

Including all skills that come with demonic transformation, Akihiko has garnered several personal abilities. Akihiko lacks the instinctual fear of fire that most Oni and Yokai are born with. - Fire Absorption Charlie Ainsley and Akihiko frequently tag-team strong opponents. One of their most dangerous moves involves Akihiko absorbing the fire from Charlie’s attacks into his own body and then releasing it in a terrifying blast that incinerates everything in front of him.

- FlightUnlike most of Muzan’s kin, Akihiko’s transformation and eventual evolution granted him the ability to fly using his massive wings. He dislikes this skill, and only flies when necessary.

- Night Vision

Akihiko is able to see perfectly as he prowls the darkness. 

- Demonic Cannibal Having altered his body during the process of expelling Muzan’s cells, Akihiko is best known for his ability to devour and gain strength from other demons instead of humans.

- MedicUsed to healing Charlie’s battle-wounds, Akihiko has learned to patch humans fairly well and can even take care of some otherwise fatal injuries.

- IntuitionHis keen intuition allows him to discern most people's emotions or mental states, allowing him to better approach or convince them to accept his help or work with him. As such, he is able to actively avoid people who hate demons indiscriminately, like Shinobu and Sanemi, but is very understanding of those emotions.

- Alpinism

Akihiko’s powerful wing-arms and grip allow him to scale vertical cliffs that would otherwise be untraversable except by flight

His wing’s hands are strong enough to smash stone with ease, and he uses them to create footholds for Corps members to climb.

Other Trivia:

Though a talented poet, Akihiko cannot draw well

Dipping his tail and arm-blades into molten nichirin steel caused him so much pain that he was delirious for nearly a week

His arm-blades- which he lacked in his initial demonic turning and now has the ability to harm demons- may have been created by his body in an act of redemption. They are a means of striking back at the demon lord that drove him to murder his beloved family.

He considers the nichirin steel’s color change as a gift of the gods, though the color itself (Tyrian Purple) leaves a sour taste in his mouth

Shinobu scares the hell out of him, but he also understands her hatred towards demons. He tries his best not to hang around her any more than absolutely necessary.

Although he initially planned to hunt down Muzan as a suicide mission, when he realized how much he and Charlie needed each other, he abandoned the plan and chose to live to protect her as his own child

In his secluded home, he created a shrine in his family’s honor and visits it every day to remind him of the love he felt for his family, and to pray to the gods and those he killed for forgiveness.

Akihiko has been known to read Charlie’s favorite books to her to help her sleep at night, since she cannot read Japanese all that well. He denies it, but she has heard him reading in a soft, sing-song voice many times

Animals seem to be able to sense Akihiko’s kind heart (and Gyomei has even commented on it!) despite his terrifying appearance. He can often be seen with a swarm of bird or butterflies or forest animals

 Akihiko gave Charlotte her shinobue flute, only to immediately confiscate it when she proceeded to tweet it as loud as she could

Quotes:

To Charlie: “Charlotte Ainsley, you are a blight upon the peace!” “Thank you.” “It was not a compliment!” 

To Charlie: “You’ve failed.” “What? How?! The demon is dead!” “And so will you be, if you continue to underestimate your enemies!” 

To Sanemi: “Do not mistake my patience for weakness, boy.” 

To Akaza: “Get away from my daughter!” 

To Kagaya and Co. : “My humanity has been stripped from my body, but that does not mean it has been stripped from my heart.” 

To Kagaya and Co. : “I can never atone for what I’ve done. I cannot bring my family back from the dead, but I can make sure other fathers do not have to know the same loss.”

To Zenitsu: “Do you ever stop screeching? I am not going to hurt you!” “You’re so scary! My heart can’t take this anymore!” “I am just sitting here…?”

To Charlie: “Everyone has their burdens to bear. How you carry them is up to you.”

To Charlie: “It’s okay to be scared, but it is not to bow to that fear. Stand up.”

To Charlie: “You have the subtlety of a raging bull in a tea shop.” 

To Inosuke: “Child, if you eat that bug, I will put you in a headlock. What are you? A wild beast?” 

To Charlie: “Rengoku seems the type to treat you well, Charlie. Don’t you think so?” “Oh, Gods. We’re just friends!” “Is that so? Pity...” “...” “What about that Tomioka boy? You seem close.” “No! We are not doing this! Goodbye!”

To Tengen: “There is never a dull moment on your watch, is there, my friend?” 

To Akaza: “I’ve never eaten an Upper Rank…Come, then! Let us shed blood!” 

Theme Songs:

Tigrex (MHWI/MHF2)

The Calling- Marcus Warner

Central Park (King Kong, 2005)

Magnamalo (MH Rise)

The Blood of my Brothers- Dwayne Ford & Joel Jorgensen

Battle Cry- Imagine Dragons

[metalotaku-da]

Dick and wally were sitting at the wayne family dinner table with their joint families announcing their engagement. Just before desert their was a knock on the front door. Alfred went to tend to it. Nobody thought anything of it till Alfred came back to dinning room with a large meta with him and two scruffed young kids hanging from his hands.

"I believe you have a guest master dick, master wally." Alfred said looking at the red head with a bit of judgment.

"You." The large meta with a goatee and flaming seemingly flaming hair. Motioned to wally with one of the kids who protested. "Well shit you are all here." He looked around the table. "Good I only need to do this once then hopefully. Quit fucking with the time stream." He ignored the throat clearing of the butler and the half raised from the seat posture of most of the dinners guests. "I'm tired of cleaning up all these timeline collapses you speedsters cause. So here is the deal." He sat the protesting kids down in to wally's lap. By phasing through the table. "I'm going to pull all your kids who would cease to exist from the now failed timelines and drop them all in your laps. And I don't care how many it ends up being. You want to cause me problems. You're getting all of yours 10 fold." As he backed out of the table. He pointed an accusing finger at the speedsters. "Do not try me! Oh and By the way. Congratulations on your engagement." He gave a rough pat to alfreds back. "Thanks old man." And then he vanished from sight.

The bats stared at the speedsters. "Care to explain that?"

"Who was that guy?"

"OH my god I'm a dad!" Wally said in shock looking down at his two kids. Ignoring Barry arguing with half the bat clan.

"What are your names?" Dick said all smiles at the two little kids sitting in wallys lap.

"Jai"

"Iris"

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

I AM ACTUALLY GOING FERAL

FOREHEAD TOUCHES IN ANY WAY KILL ME

THIS WAS THE MOST TENDER THING NSMDNFNSMWFNZNAKDNXMCNSKFNSMDN

MARIA IS SO AT PEACE AND SHADOW IS JUST IN SHOCK AND IS MISERABLE AND DESPERATE TO SAVE THEM AND HAVE THEM IN HIS LIFE AGAIN UGHHHHH

MARIA'S GENTLE WHISPERING

AND THE WAY SHADOW JUST SHUT HIS EYES AND WAS TREMBLING

HE HAD TO LOSE THEM AGAIN

HE COULDN'T BEAR TO FACE THEM AND WATCH THEM FADE AGAIN HE JUST HAD TO LEAVE (if he'd hugged them that would've been the most painful cherry on top that I would've eagerly devoured)

AND HE. FREAKING. CRIED.

They pulled a thing kinda like in Sonic X where it showed clearly he was crying but it wouldn't show his face as he did, just a passing, silent reveal... 😭😭 And the way Rouge's expression softened into a somber realization as she registered what was going on... AUAUSUGDBFFMKSMDNFMDSMSN

ALL PAIRED WITH THE BEAUTIFULLY DRAMATIC MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND 😭💔💔

[noisyghost]

i wish you'd take better care of yourself

[smallpwbbles]

Learning

Finally got this one-shot finished, I know I keep talking about how I don't expect these stories to be as long as they are when I start writing but I am just flabbergasted I could write 9k in two days. Uni pebbles could never.

Anyway take this fic going over some of Maria and biolizard Shadow's time on the ARK

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Maria Robotnik knew many things about herself, her favourite colour was blue, she loved to read and draw, she’d prefer to pour the milk in her bowl before the cereal cause it’d get soggy faster otherwise and she really loved to look out the windows of the ARK observatory. 

The planet earth looked like such a small little thing from the view she was granted, but as she stood in the gigantic room, aboard the space colony, the little blue ball of earth gave her hope. Hope that someday she’d be away from the machinery and labs that did nothing but fill her with apprehension. 

She yearned for the many things her grandfather Gerald told her stories about, to feel the grass between her feet, to smell the air of the oceans. These fantasies made her feel warm and filled her with that hope, but woefully, Maria knew one other thing about herself. 

She was sick.

Maria Robotnik was a victim of disease and it slowly worked to hinder the small hope she garnered as she looked out the windows of the observatory. With every burst of excitement that came as Gerlad told his stories of the earth, came the concerning reminders of her sickness as she felt her lungs strain when she overworked herself. Maria wished she could run without feeling like her legs would collapse on her at any second, or sleep a good night's rest without worrying she’d wake up with a fever. 

But it was sad to say, she had to make due with these things. Maria believed this would be the routine of her life, until she was informed about her grandfather's latest project, she heard many of his scientists rave and rant about this project when Gerald didn’t think she was listening in. But Maria was a sneaky little thing when she wanted to be, unfortunately the most she was able to gather were inklings of a “ultimate life form”, whatever that meant. 

Her interest boiled over when her grandfather sat her down one night, he was absolutely buzzed with excitement and told her of all his findings, research and effort to find a cure for illness. Maria felt despondent when it came to her sickness, it was a horrible, disgusting, parasitic thing that was taking everything from her, but she was beginning to come to a sort of term where she’d just live with it. Her grandfather had already been doing so much with no results so she couldn’t help her apathy towards Gerald’s enthusiasm.

Though it did have something to do with that ultimate life form thing she had eavesdropped on, the perfect being that would have all the answers to all diseases? She didn’t doubt that her grandfather could do amazing with his intelligence, they were Robotniks! It was in their DNA to do great things. But the idea of something that could achieve feats as grand as curing all diseases was quite ludicrous. Maria kept that to herself as she didn’t want to curb her grandfather's elation. 

There wasn’t much on the project for her after that, Maria kept on with her stagnant life for many months, going from the usuals rounds of feeling normal to sudden long visits to the infirmary. It was a sad existence and Maria knew this, but it was the only existence she knew for herself. Maybe it was quite crazy to think this but better her than anyone else, she wouldn’t wish such a life on her worst enemy. 

The blond girl walked down the long corridors of the labs, she wasn’t really allowed to do so without permission but what her grandfather and the scientists didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. The corridors were dull and grey, she wished Gerald would allow her to maybe put up some drawings or just some cute decor, it did get boring walking down such drab walls. She was talking it slow as she was recovering from a recent fall, Maria had no idea what caused the spike in her temperature and neither did the scientists, it amazed her how quick her body could be to hinder itself.

The steely doors to Gerald’s private lab were presented in front of her, she pressed an ear to the door, lately when she took to creeping around the labs she could hear rushed voices and shuffling about, it was clear there was something pretty important happening as of late, Gerald had been quite absent from the recreation rooms and just in general. The last time she’d seen him was a couple days ago and he had that look she’d seen before, he was about to break through with something, she was sure. 

The code box to the right of the doors tempted her, she knew the code. A peek into his labs wouldn’t hurt. 

Maria meticulously entered her birthdate with the right keys, she was sure literally everyone knew the code but didn’t enter into restricted areas out of respect for principle. The doors slid apart and Maria felt a cold air flow around her body, there was nobody in the lab which worked heavily in her favour. 

Her heels clicked as she walked into the labs, there were notes strewn about and many coffee cups standing or thrown on top of the worktops, the amount of cups she saw told her an unhealthy amount of coffee was consumed in this room, however what caught her immediate attention was the middle of the room, she’d been the private lab before and was never presented with the gigantic test tube flowing with whatever green liquid was in there. 

The most important discovery of her observation was a little creature floating in the tube. Maria hesitantly approached the glass cylinder to get a closer look, the little thing was a hedgehog of sorts? Maria couldn’t safely say that as the little greyish black creature was full of a lot of red scales and had quite a long tail, almost as big as its entire torso. Though there  was one thing she couldn’t deny about the creature, it was stinking adorable.

“Maria?!” A voice yelled behind her, she felt her heart leap into her throat as she whipped around to find the source of the yell. Gerald was standing in front of the doors, he held a coffee cup in his wrinkly hand and looked absolutely swamped. “What are you doing here?! I was so worried when your caretaker said she couldn’t find you” 

“Oh- uh, Grandfather I’m sorry I just-“ her words fumbled about, she didn’t really have a good reason for being in here other than she got bored and missed her grandfather “I just… haven’t seen you in a bit and was wondering what the fuss was in your lab”

The old man sighed, he wasn’t mad at her, just concerned she was missing in the entire ark for a moment, he was just realising how scarce he himself had become from Maria and felt a tiny bit like a hypocrite “I apologise Maria, it’s just been quite hectic with the project”. 

“Are you the one with all these empty coffee cups grandfather” she questioned, the old man blushed at the accusation as he also hadn’t realised the ridiculous amount of caffeine he’d consumed in the past week let alone the past day, he decided he wouldn’t worry Maria with that fact though. 

“No, just the one” he shook the paper cup in his hand with emphasis. 

Maria seemed satisfied with that answer and turned her eyes back to the tube. Gerald hoped he could present this project when it was actually ready but he overestimated his granddaughter's patience. He walked to join Maria in front of the glass tube and put a hand to its surprisingly warm exterior.

“This, Maria, is project shadow” he announced, the little creature in the tube twitched at his voice but made no other movements, its eyes were screwed shut, it would move its head every so often slightly to the noises of the machinery that surrounded the labs. It scrunched up its itty bitty snout and Maria fought with the power of her ancestors to hold back a squeal. 

“This is to be your ultimate perfect creature grandfather?” The blond girl looked up at the old scientist, her tone sounded incredulous to Gerald.

“All that and more Maria, what do you think?” The scientist asked.

“Well that makes sense, it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life” Maria concluded.

Gerald raised a brow “Maria, my darling, it’s not the perfect creature because it’s cute”. While Gerald could agree his creature was small and therefore looked seemingly harmless, he felt a bit defensive at the idea that he had worked these many months to make a creature with the grand potential this one contained only to have it be called “cute”.

“Grandfather if you didn’t want me calling it cute you shouldn’t have made it cute” the girl lightly chided, she was just riling up the old man but she then watched as the tiny thing yawned, it had one little fang poking out of its gums and she almost started crying at the absolute adorableness of the tiny hedgehog, lizard thing.

“It has not finished growing Maria, we’re currently having Shadows growth accelerated as we are quite behind on the time frame of the project” Gerald explained.

“Shadow?” Maria looked to her grandfather “is that what your calling it” she asked 

“I think it’s quite a fitting name, its fur is actually going to look much darker in the next coming months” Gerald felt a bit shaken from all the caffeine he’d consumed and was going to double check on the validity of that claim later. 

“Shadow” she repeated as she watched the small thing float in the tube, she’d only just met the creature, but she loved him. Maria couldn’t explain the feeling that began warming her heart as she watched the infant in the tube, but she was reminded of how she felt when she looked down at the blue planet from time to time. 

It was that feeling that reminded her that not all was hopeless.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maria thanked the lady, who was entrusted with the duty of cafeteria leader today, as she was handed a few chocolate chip cookies. The plump lady was called Barb, she believed. Maria did her best to remember everyone she could on the ARK but her little 11 year old brain could only remember so many names. 

Barb was her favourite in the cafeteria because when Maria was on her best behaviour she’d be rewarded with treats from the kind lady, though today, as she carefully deposited the cookies in her pockets, she knew the treats would be of need for emergency use.

Shadow had grown considerably in the many months after Maria invited herself to Gerald’s lab and met the black creature for the first time. As an infant he wasn’t much bigger than her hands, and from time to time Gerald would give special permission for Shadow to be allowed out of his tube for closer inspection and testing. Once Maria had the chance to hold the tiny thing, she cradled him like a baby as he cooed and hiccuped in her arms. She thought she would ascend to heaven on the spot, he really was the cutest thing. 

Unfortunately he had grown too fast and much too big for her to do such a thing now, he was also a very quick learner as Shadow was quite cognizant, it was like there was a fast forward on the creature's ability to learn as he picked up on things just from observing. Teaching Shadow basic knowledge was a breeze for Gerald and his scientists and so it was for Maria, she mainly taught Shadow his manners and how to pull the perfect puppy doe eyes to sway people to get what you want. 

Maria loved discovering the facets of the little hedgehog’s personality, he soaked up the praise of all the scientists and other people aboard the ark when he did something asked of him successfully, Shadow didn’t talk much but Maria was sure if he did he’d be bragging a lot as he was starting to get a bit of an ego. 

The blond girl patted at the cookies in her pocket as she made her way to her accommodations, the current emergency she tasked herself with solving was due Shadows hubris ending up getting him into trouble, he’d recently joined Maria in her private studies with Gerald. The little creature was smart and Maria couldn’t deny that but she wouldn't say he was smarter than her grandfather. Shadow thought otherwise as the lesson she thought she’d be fighting sleep to get through turned into two people trying to one up the other.

The black hedgehog lizard stubbornly tried to correct the old man on a simple innocuous problem that Gerald wrote on the black board for him and Maria to solve. The scientist however was just as stubborn as he stood his ground that the answer he’d written next to the problem, right after Maria gave up on it, was in fact correct and Shadow needed to knock it off. It had been amusing at first watching the little hedgehog wipe off the chalk and rewrite the answer but as the two kept bickering, Maria just wanted to slam her face into her desk. How she wished she snuck in her sketchpad into today's lesson.

Shadow had edged towards a tantrum and absolutely lost his nerve when Maria intervened and begged him to give up in his pursuit to be right. Gerald had just face palmed when the hedgehog ran away clearly feeling ganged up on “I put way too much of us robotnik's into that boy”.

Maria had to agree, because now she was in her room trying to coax Shadow out from under her bed. The little guy always hid out under her berth when he was upset, Maria could recall doing so herself at a younger age. Despite probably being mad at the blond girl for not taking his side, he couldn’t help but seek out comfort in the darkness from underneath her bed.

“Shadow? Won’t you come out please” Maria begged, she bent down and poked a hand under the covers that hid the darkness underneath her bed, in response Shadow swiped at her fingers as she quickly pulled them back. She noticed his claws were unsheathed when he swiped, he was clearly really upset. 

“Sorry, sorry I won’t make you come out if you don’t want to” the girl apologised, she did however retrieve a cookie from her pocket and placed it right in front of the space Shadow was occupying, she sat on her knees patiently and waited to see if he’d take the bait. 

She watched as a clawed furred and scaly hand slowly revealed itself from the darkness, it quickly swiped at the cookie and brought it into the darkness. Maria waited a few seconds, it usually took Shadow a minute to come out of the covers after being given a bribe. 

Just as she had predicted, Shadow poked out his head to make eye contact with her, his face seemed a little red and his muzzle was tear stained. She opened up her arms inviting Shadow to come into her embrace. 

The little creature hesitated for a second before nearly bowling her over with how quickly he crawled into her arms, Maria brought her arms to cradle to him, he certainly wasn’t a baby anymore as he came up to about her waist height wise but she couldn’t help but still try cradle him like one, she even rocked slightly as that always seemed to help calm him when he was like this. 

She brought a hand up to his head to stroke at his quills, it was a weird feeling as her hand caressed his spines to his scales, she wondered what it was like to be a mammal yet also reptilian. She could feel Shadow begin to purr slightly, Maria wouldn’t say it around the black hedgehog but he was the cutest thing, he’d grown tired of her calling him that after about the fifteenth time so she made a point to only do in her head now. 

“You are so smart Shadow but if you have something to prove you shouldn’t just blindly argue with Grandfather, he’s as stubborn as you and won’t listen if you do that” she scolded the hedgehog.

Shadow looked up at her, his face was flat as he didn’t look like he wanted to be lectured at that moment, but Maria didn’t want him arguing with her grandfather, it made studying much worse than it could already be sometimes.

The hedgehog instead nuzzled his face into her waist, she wasn’t sure if he had acknowledged what she just said but her attention was taken off his apathetic attitude to the pile of scales that lay on her skirt, probably pulled off as he rubbed his head into her torso, she picked at one and held it to her face.

“Gosh you're shedding a lot, I hope you're not getting bigger, you're already hard enough to hold at this size” she complained, the hedgehog on her lap looked unstirred by the idea. 

She wondered how she was going to get him to apologise to Gerald for ending studies early due to his little outburst, shadow looked like he’d rather take a nap right in her lap and he looked rather adorable so she was edging towards letting him. Maria calmed her thoughts as she decided she’d let the hedgehog off just for today. She was sure her grandfather was making himself busy somewhere and probably already put the tantrum aside.

The girl began to stroke at the little hedgehog's head of quills and Shadow in response started up his purring again. Everything would be fine.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything was not fine, it had all started going downhill a couple months after that incident during studies. Maria wondered if there was some higher power or something that just wanted a laugh and made Maria and her loved ones the victims for some hardships that began taking place.

Shadow by all accounts was a perfect being or at least should have been, he was strong, fast, could harness this power that Maria was told was chaos energy. He healed so quickly after even the largest injuries, most of which he would get during tests that Maria was not well informed about. However the scientist couldn’t have foreseen the extent of Shadow's progress.

The hedgehog grew, the escalation of his size was alarming at first. He began reaching the torsos of many average height humans on the ARK, the alarm turned to panic when he shot up well past that overnight. Becoming double the height of even the average person of Shadows species had made the scientists scramble for answers, Gerald was absolutely stunned with the mutation Shadow developed. 

As the hedgehog did not stop growing, his body fought to keep up with the rate of enlargement. Shadow had  become poorly as a result of his heart struggling to provide sufficient blood flow around the body. He should have been fine but as his body kept increasing his heart had to constantly readjust to how much work was required to keep his blood flow steady. 

Maria hadn’t seen Shadow in some weeks as an outcome of this event. She sat on her desk as she struggled to gain motivation to draw. The pencil barely scratched at the paper of her sketch pad as her frustration grew, she chucked the pencil across the room and threw her head into her hands. 

She felt sick and not because of the aching disease that ate away at her cells, Shadow was in the labs being poked and prodded as the scientists did their best to keep him alive. It wasn’t supposed to be him in pain, wondering if he’d make it through the day. It should have been her like it always was. She had never wished this pain on anyone, so why was Shadow being punished because she couldn’t be well?

The page her pencil had only barely touched was ripped right off the metal spirals that held her sketchbook together. She tore the page into pieces, shoving all her frustrations into desecrating the empty page. The paper had done nothing wrong but Maria couldn’t think of anything else to alleviate all the negative thoughts that swarmed in her brain. 

She wanted to see Shadow so badly. Tell him it was all going to be okay, hold his hand in hers and just be there by his side. Maria didn’t even know if he was okay.

It was like the universe was listening to her, as the doors to her room abruptly opened, surprising her. She stood up to face the intruder, who happened to be Gerald. The old scientist looked rugged, it was clear he hadn’t had a good night's sleep, as evident from the bags under his eyes Maria could see even through his glasses. It seemed the old man was about to greet her but Maria’s voice was faster than her manners “grandfather, is shadow-“

“Settle down Maria” the scientist quickly interrupted whatever word vomit that was about to erupt from the girl. He walked over to her desk and placed a hand to her shoulder and guided the two of them to her bed to take a seat. “Shadow is stable, we’ve done everything we can for him for now, but only time will tell how he’ll recover”. 

“Did you figure out why he started growing so big, grandfather?” She couldn’t help but ask, it was part of the Robotnik charm being so curious. 

“There’s too many variables that we couldn’t point down, it could be his chaos energy, possibly something mutating with his additional lizard DNA, maybe even an effect of the accelerant we had him under, we aren’t too sure at the moment Maria my dear. Our focus was just stopping the growth before it got too much for Shadow to handle” Gerald explained, he felt irate at not being able to determine the main cause of Shadow's recent mutation. 

The hedgehog was a one of a kind being and Gerald couldn’t just watch Shadow waste away and start over. The scientist and his team had invested their lives into the project and Gerald’s attachment has grown too great. 

Maria looked down as she fiddled with her hands, she appreciated her grandfather for being honest with her about Shadow’s condition, even though the details wrenched her heart to hear. It was nothing compared to what shadow was most likely going through.

“May I see him?” her voice was quiet, she really didn’t expect Gerald to let her but she had to ask.

“Maria I don’t think that’s a good idea-“ she’d expected him to say that but it didn’t stop her from screwing her face, her eyes felt hot but she didn’t want any tears escaping them. 

“Please, please may I just see him grandfather” Maria turned to her Gerald, she had an idea of what her face looked like but she wasn’t even attempting an usual expression that would sway the old man, her face bore her anguish and the second Gerald looked down at her face he knew he didn’t have the strength to say no. 

The scientist sighed as he stood and placed a hand to offer, Maria would usually be jumping for joy at the success of being able to see Shadow when he was in the labs but this time when she took the scientist's aged hand, she was scared. She was afraid of what had become of Shadow, what would she come to find when she saw him she wondered. 

Her thoughts weren’t left unanswered for long, when Gerald had taken his granddaughter to the labs she was introduced to an entirely new section, it reminded her of the zoo she’d seen in a picture once. It was a gigantic space that had large windows that let people view from the outside which was where Gerald had taken her instead of directly Inside the enclosure. However what was inside the enclosure was a large beast, it was larger than large, it was huge to Maria. It was so huge she could hear the things breathing, It was very laboured and it made the girl feel sympathy.

It only took her a moment to identify the familiar black quills and red scales, she was flabbergasted that she was presented with Shadows presence in all his gigantic glory, she’d only not realised it was shadow because of how pale he looked as well as the fact that a behemoth lay in place instead of the three foot creature she was used to. 

Maria could just barely see his face which was currently covered by his arms, he looked flushed and his face kept crumpling in what she assumed to be pain, he was sleeping fitfully. A lump formed in her throat as she watched the beast lay there in suffering, she balled up her fists and before Gerald could do a thing she slammed her fists into the glass of the enclosure. 

Maria couldn’t think of a concrete reason for doing that, it wouldn’t have solved anything, slamming the glass wouldn’t have magically made Shadow better. Maybe she wanted to spread her pain literally anywhere that wasn’t just her, maybe the glass just looked really annoying and deserved the hit. All she knew after the fact was she really shouldn’t have slammed the glass. 

One of Shadows' gigantic and significantly fluffier ears perked up at the source of the noise and he painstakingly lifted his head in the direction of Maria and Gerald. The girl hadn’t even noticed her grandfather scolding her for attacking the glass as Shadow began making his way towards them, the windows they observed him from was at a notably higher higher platform than the one Shadows enclosure was built at, but the height difference was no problem for the hedgehog as his new height made it easier for him to cross the dissimilarity. 

Maria felt ashamed of the sudden fear that struck her as the monstrous hedgehog took earth shaking steps towards where she stood, Gerald had finally noticed as he watched the girl's face turn white and turned to the source of his granddaughter's fear. His eyes abruptly widened, Shadow was not meant to be up just yet. Gerald and his team had continuously worked for weeks to halt the upsurge of growth that literally could have killed Shadow had they not. An idea formed around the scientists to create something to inhibit Shadows powers as the hypothesis between them was that it was a combination of Chaos energy and Shadows overall unstable DNA that was mutating him 

Everyone was relieved when the  plan worked well in execution and the hedgehog had indeed stopped enlarging. Gerald had measured the hedgehog and Shadow was capped off at exactly about thirty-five feet. He now wore brown metal cuffs that were equipped with additional tools to monitor the hedgehog's condition. The old man thought they were quite an eyesore on his project so he declared the cuffs would be a prototype until he and his team could develop something better, given that Shadows rapid increase in size was quite abrupt and his team had to act quickly.

“Maria stand behind me” Gerald commanded, the girl was frozen in place as Shadow haphazardly placed a claw to the window of the enclosure right in front of where she stood. His claw was so huge he could crush her in seconds if he wanted, Maria scolded herself for such a thought. Shadow would never do so. She felt her arm being tugged as she was carefully pulled behind her grandfather, he pulled a device from his pocket that Maria couldn’t really identify until she heard him talk into it. His voice was low and calm but she could hear a spike of panic in it.

Her attention was taken away from the old man when she heard creaking, and then cracking. Her blood turned to ice when she realised the weight Shadow was putting on the windows were making them break, she wanted to yell at the hedgehog to stop but her throat was not eager to listen to her commands, she was too afraid, she was just a useless sick and afraid girl. 

“I believe he is feverish, you will need to come in carefully and administer the sedative” she heard Gerald instruct into the walkie talkie like device. 

In the corner of her eye she looked into the other side of the enclosure, away from where Shadow currently stood. Two scientists apprehensively walked into the gigantic rooms, they were armed with something that looked like a weapon, were they going to hurt Shadow? Maria wanted to speak up but she was still frozen still behind her grandfather. The old scientist himself was standing still, he didn’t want any sudden movements to irritate or confuse the hedgehog, if Shadow broke through the glass, Gerald didn’t know if he and Maria could move away in time to prevent injury. 

Maria could see the scientists whispering harshly to each other, from the distance she was at she obviously couldn’t hear their words but she deduced from their movements they were arguing about who should use their weapon on the distracted hedgehog, in their bickering the taller scientist between the two suddenly and accidentally fired off their weapon. 

A syringe blasted off with smoke trailing it and got Shadow right in the calf, the hedgehog yipped in response and accidentally leaned his entire arm weight into the window. Maria didn’t know what was happening in that moment as glass shattered and she felt herself be shielded as the old man in front of her took the brunt of the glass, there was yelling and panic as she heard the two scientists in the enclosure scream at each other. 

There was a angry roar she was sure came from a provoked Shadow, the sound of shots rang throughout the enclosure as she held on for dear life to her grandfather, her heart couldn’t stop racing, the room shook as Shadow lunged for the scientists that had shot off more sedatives in the their panic at the hedgehogs provokation. They sped towards the steel doors leading out of Shadows enclosure before he could get his claws on the squealing duo. The doors shut quickly as Shadow practically rammed himself into them.

Maria felt her ears ringing, there was just too much going on, her heart felt like it was going to explode out of her chest, it was painful. There were concerned shouts as scientists and other ARK personnel entered the hallway of the enclosure viewing. The floor was covered in so much glass as were Gerald and Maria, she was shielded well from the accidental attack so she only felt the littlest pricks of tiny glass that flew onto her bare legs. She couldn’t identify if her Grandfather was as lucky as she was, her head just felt so light. 

The scientists began examining the blond girl and her grandfather as they were rushed to exit the enclosure. Maria could only spare a couple seconds to look back at Shadow. The gigantic hedgehog lizard looked absolutely distressed, he had done a number on the steel doors as they were covered in claw marks and dented from punches Shadow threw in pursuit to get the doors open. He was on his hands and knees and wobbled due to the effects of the sedatives. The beast turned to catch her eyes in those spare seconds, Maria knew that look he gave, his pleading eyes told her everything.

“I need you”.

Maria felt her eyes droop as the stress of the situation finally caught up to her and she knew no more as she felt herself be pulled to unconsciousness. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ARK was permeated with tension and quietude the past couple weeks. It was like the atmosphere itself was affecting the residents of the ARK as almost everyone aboard the ship was in low spirits. Gerald had been released from the infirmary a while ago, he hadn’t been too harmed by the glass the day of the incident, however the doctors and nurses didn’t want to risk anything as the scientists was still a fragile old man. He was eager to leave the recovery room as soon as he could, he had so much work to do concerning Shadow.

The enclosure had been rebuilt from the ground up, it was double reinforced to prevent such an incident from happening again. The windows and walls held strong as Shadow was monitored in the large room. He had slept for quite a while after the event due to all the sedatives that were carelessly shot into him. Gerald had reprimanded the two scientists of his endlessly for their actions.

 He understood the situation was not the easiest to deal with but he couldn’t have his team panicking the way these two did if such an incident was to occur again. Training would have to be implemented to any new personnel hired into his team. 

The old scientist was busy working on blueprints for what he hoped would be the final version of his device to help Shadow, the perfect inhibitor rings that would perfectly cap off Shadow's immense power and prevent any further mutations. Gerald ignored any advice from his teammates to take a break, he was quite engrossed in his notes and wanted the prints to be just right.

As his brain stormed with new ideas to add to the inner workings of the rings but  his mind ended up wandering to his granddaughter. Maria had recovered from the incident, he terribly regretted putting the girl in the situation. She could have seriously been hurt, Gerlad couldn’t have foreseen the events playing out as they did but he was her guardian and should've known better. 

However it perturbed the old man when he instructed she was to go nowhere near Shadows enclosure until he deemed it safe, she readily agreed with his command which was so unlike her. Such a prospect would usually have her arguing with the scientist for hours. Maria was a sickly thing but she could really stand her ground when pushed enough. 

He knew how close his granddaughter had become to his project, the two were kind of like siblings in the way they would act. Shadow could be quite the troublemaker when he wanted to be and annoyed Maria sometimes until she was begging the old man to put him back in the labs, and other times she’d be scolding the scientist for checking in on them so much when Maria had Shadow hiding in her accommodations. He’d find them in a makeshift pillowfort doing who knows what in the mountain of pillows. Usually Maria was styling his quills and decorating them with whatever adorable trinkets she owned. 

He missed how elated he saw Maria with Shadow's presence, he hoped that this experience hadn’t deterred the girl from wanting to see shadow. Gerald would allow her to do so in time but he himself felt uneasy with Shadows' new state and knew his scientists and himself needed time to adjust. 

Maria didn’t know what she was doing as she lay face planted down in her bed. In the time since Shadow had been provoked and nearly attacked those scientists, she couldn’t bring herself to even try and see him. Every time she thought about it her heart would begin thumping faster in her chest, she thought about Shadows looming and intimidating presence when he was up so close to the glass. His gigantic claw as the windows fractured from his immense weight leaning on them. The way she could feel her entire body vibrate at the strength of his footfalls.

Shadow was dangerous now, there was no denying that. He was always dangerous before, Gerald always reminded the girl of the immense power Shadow had lying dormant, but he never used it on or around her. The most she’d see was his chaos energy flickering when he was having a tantrum, but this never put the absolute trepidation in her that the gigantic Shadow from a few weeks ago did. 

This was stupid Maria decided, as she sat up on her bed. She turned to her wall that was full of doodles she’d put up with some tape. It was mostly drawings of things she’d wanted to do when she got to earth someday, she took note of the one drawing that was Shadows. She had to beg the hog to let her put it up as he was quite self conscious about his artistic abilities at the time. It wasn’t the best drawing in the world but she loved it because it was a crude drawing of Shadow and herself. Maria was honoured to be the muse of the artistic piece and treasured the little piece of paper.  

Fear of the monstrous hedgehog or not, she missed him. 

She felt guilt build in her chest, she’d been avoiding the hedgehog for so long now. A strong wave of determination overwhelmed her guilt as she tried to gain the persistence to make action. Shadow was her friend and he wasn’t himself during that incident. She recalled his face when she managed to catch a look back at him before she was carted right to the infirmary. 

Maria wished she told him she was right there and it would be okay. There was no reason she couldn’t do that now though. Apart from her grandfather catching her in the act and grounding her for life. Honestly though, being grounded felt better than the guilt currently swarming in her chest. 

Whilst she’d only been to the enclosure once, the trek there the first time had been so cemented in her mind it was no problem making her way there again. Maria had to deter a few scientists that passed her direction and questioned what she was up to and if she was okay which she appreciated. She didn’t want them immediately reporting her presence to Gerald so she kept the conversation light and simple. 

She got a bit sneaky when she got to the labs, keeping herself discreet behind some crates full of things she couldn’t identify. When the coast was clear she found herself face to face with the corridor, the same corridor that allowed a view into the enclosure. Maria felt her heart beginning to pump faster and her palms get sweaty. She wanted to scream at her fear and tell it to pipe down but she remembered her grandfather once telling her fear is an irrational thing, Maria had every reason to be afraid but she just didn’t want to be. 

Her heels clicked as she took slow paced steps down the corridor, her mouth felt dry as she noticed the windows were good as new. No evidence that a feverish giant hedgehog had previously tore a hole through them. Speaking of the giant hedgehog, Maria was greeted by his presence as she stood a couple feet from the windows. She wasn’t frozen in place like she was last time but she couldn’t help but stand in awe of his stature. 

He looked much better compared to the pale and sickly hedgehog she saw before. His breathing looked much better, his crimson scales were practically shining anew and his quills looked strong and healthy. Maria could only spy the behind of his head as he lay turned away from her, he was quite a thing to behold.

Maria hadn’t even realised she walked over and put her hands to the glass. It was only when she saw his head perk up and look toward her did she quickly remove herself from the window and return his stare. How did he know she was there?

There was a stare off for a moment as it seemed like Shadow couldn’t believe she was actually there. She felt her cheeks heat up as she was sure she looked quite silly. Suddenly she watched as the hedgehog rose to his hind legs and moved himself to a corner of the enclosure. It was a part of the giant room that was lightly obscured from view of the observation platform unless Maria walked herself down the corridor a bit more. Was Shadow trying to hide himself? From her? 

Her fear began to fizzle a little, instead replaced by curiosity. The giant hedgehog began to curl into himself, it looked like he was trying to make himself smaller, he was failing unfortunately. It was a sad sight and Maria felt her insides shrivel, in all this time she was wallowing in her inability to not be afraid, to be stronger, it hadn’t even occurred to her what this change felt like to Shadow. 

She couldn’t imagine what it was like to see the world change around you only for your body to be the only thing to change, and for everything to become unaccustomed to yourself. But there Shadow was trying to gain some semblance of control, clearly trying to not frighten the poor blond girl by his mere existence. 

She needed to get down there. 

Maria hurried down the corridor, forgetting her previous efforts to be sneaky and avoid attention.  She whipped her head around the environment and her observation was rewarded with some stairs leading down the platform towards the enclosure, she spied some steel doors at the bottom which she was sure led inside.

The blond girl wasted no time sprinting down the steps, she was hit with a bit of clarity to slow down when a wave of dizziness passed over her,  she was then greeted with a code box next to the doors. She really hoped her grandfather would never change the password, it was so easy to guess it honestly felt kind of cruel the little effort she put when she entered her birthdate. 

Maria was annoyed when she felt that little twinge of fear come back as she entered the enclosure. Unlike the windows there were still clear huge claw markings maimed on the other side of the doors and walls, it seemed Gerald and his team hadn’t had time yet to sort it out and it was a good reminder to Maria that she wasn’t supposed to be in there yet. 

The rest of the enclosure looked the same as the last time she was introduced to it, but honestly her memories of the enclosure were so repressed she couldn’t accurately compare. It was still the same gigantic empty room except there was a giant hedgehog huddling in one of the corners of it.

Shadow was really trying to put himself in that corner. He looked absolutely dismayed that Maria had actually come into the room, he did what he could to make himself look as least threatening as possible as he lay on his front and covered his head with his arms. If Maria didn’t know any better she’d say the monstrous hedgehog was afraid of her.

“Shadow?” Maria called out, she gaped at the black hedgehog as he seemed to flinch at her voice. She heard a whine rumble from out of him and it tore at the heart.

The blond girl wondered what to do, Shadow was clearly distressed by her presence. She didn’t want someone coming by only to catch her in here before she could make things right. 

She trudged dubiously to the giant hedgehog as his whines pitched up, there was one of his claws covering up his large head. It was just as big and petrifying as the last time she was approached with the claw, it hit Maria why he’d even put his hand to the glass last time. He wanted her, he always wanted her when he was upset, even if he could be obstinate with his affection he always held it out towards her. She wanted to facepalm at the fact she let her fear overwhelm her so much that she didn’t realise it sooner.

Maria took her own palm to his oversized claw, his scales felt so smooth as she began to pet them, she could feel he was trembling slightly, this only ignited her to continue in her efforts. Shadow slowly took the claw she was comforting off his face, she saw his strained expression and saw fat globby tears threatening to roll down his muzzle. Maria wished she could just collect Shadow up into her arms and rock him like she used to but he was way beyond a point where she could even attempt that.

“I’m here, I’m not going anywhere” her heart wasn’t hammering in her chest anymore, rather it beat proudly as she kept her cool and looked up at the massive hedgehog, he kept his hands to himself, clearly he was well informed of what he had done while in the incoherent state he was in previously. He didn’t want Maria to come to harm like she almost had on the observatory. 

“It was an accident, look! Not even a scratch” she emphasised by waving her arms, the little scars where glass had broken her skin begged to differ but Shadow didn’t need to know about that.

The hedgehog sniffled, she watched his face scrunch up as she did so. Maria made an attempt to wipe at the tear on his left cheek that lost its battle trying not to fall. He moved his face away from her slightly, clearly words alone weren’t gonna convince him she meant her words. 

Shadow choked on nothing as Maria marched up to his other claw that happened to be near her, she made an attempt to heave up a finger and curl it around herself. Shadow in response made an attempt to become as still as a statue, did she not realise the danger she was in right now? He was beginning to grow irritated. 

Maria smiled smugly at the hedgehog's incredulousness and curled the finger around herself tighter “I’ve got your hand all to myself now! Are you gonna do anything to stop me?” The girl challenged. 

Shadow brought his snout closer to Maria as he growled in warning at her, she felt his growls vibrate through every nerve in her body but she kept her composure, she noticed how he curled his other fingers around her. It was such a gentle unconscious gesture, it was kind of funny how Shadow could bore such an angry expression while literally cradling her in a claw. 

Her smug smile disappeared as she placed a palm to his thumb. “See, your so annoyed at me but haven’t done anything to hurt me” she pointed out 

Shadow ceased his growls and took a moment to comprehend Maria’s statement. Before she entered his enclosure that day he was lost in his head thinking about the changes to his person, his body felt like a prison. When he moved it made the scientists that took readings of him flinch. If he made a sound they would brace their ears in case he was too loud. It was all so much and happened so fast. He was small and somewhat normal once and suddenly wasn’t.

Then Maria had seen him, his thoughts weren’t coherent then, he had just seen her and wanted nothing more but to be by her side and hear her talk about the things she got up to that day, he’d only realised something was amiss when he felt a throbbing pain in his leg, by then the damage had been done and his massive body had accidentally caused damage to the enclosure and in doing so to Maria and Gerald. 

The old man had greeted him after the fact with apprehension, Shadow knew the scientist was doing his best to not seem afraid but he could just feel it in the way Gerald talked. He was just like the other scientists that flinched and kept away, Gerald could just hide it better

Maria wouldn’t even come see him. He didn’t bother asking about her, why would she want to  after what he did. 

But she was here now, in his claw, by his side like she always said she’d be. 

The thought made his eyes well up again as he brought his head down on the ground at level with Maria, she felt his previously tense claw relax around her as did his entire body. She joined him on the ground as she made an effort to get whatever she could of his muzzle onto her lap, she mostly got a face full of fur but she was the best she could do. 

“Your shedding is going to make people so annoyed” she complained as his muzzle fur clung onto her dress when she moved her torso off his face. She felt a series of vibrations go through her and the floor but then realised he was chuckling. 

“No seriously, you know what, I bet I could ask someone to knit a sweater with all this fur you have now. Think of the possibilities and all the sweaters we could get out of this Shadow” she chatted on.

Shadow had missed her little rambles that tended to tangent onto other things, it was always hard to keep track of but he just loved listening to her talk. He loved Maria. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Maria get off of Shadow this INSTANT” Gerald exasperated.

“I will not. I am perfectly comfortable here and see no reason to come down” Maria replied nonchalantly. 

“Maria I do not have time for your games we are behind schedule on tests and you are in the way, come down” Gerald commanded, Maria could swear a vein was popping out of his bald head. 

“The only way I’m coming down is if someone comes up and gets me” she folded her arms in emphasis. 

Gerald raised his arms in defeat and stomped out of the enclosure, Maria leaned over Shadows red scaly torso to double check he was out before swiping at her forehead, she thought he’d never give up. 

She was feeling quite rebellious when she woke up that day. She wanted to do things her way or the highway, which meant being a good member of society and completing her studies which she guessed wasn’t actually rebellious. 

But it truly kicked in when she was rejected from spending time with Shadow today, Gerald and his scientists had recently been testing out the limits of Shadows chaos energy after applying the finished inhibited rings to Shadows wrists and ankles. Maria told the titanic hedgehog the gold rings made him look snazzy in which Shadow couldn’t help but strike a cool pose down at her. He was so adorable.

But she hadn’t seen him in a couple days and decided now was the time to abuse her power as she formed a one woman strike when she entered into the gigantic room without permission and told Shadow to put her upon his chest. He was so jarred by her confident yet commanding aura that he didn’t protest and simply did as she instructed. 

The argument that ensued between her and Gerald was kind of worth the confusion as the girl had the old man so riled up he simply stormed out of the room. Shadow had no idea Maria held such power to sway the scientist like that, it was usually with a puppy eyed face she had to get her way but that was beginning to get old. 

As she sat on the gigantic hedgehog's chest she was open to his heart hammering in his torso. She could feel it beating right under her, it was accompanied by his breathing which made Maria feel good for some reason. She was always alert on her own breathing in case something was amiss and she needed to report it to the nearest doctor or her grandfather. Maria guessed she felt better knowing Shadow was healthy.

The hedgehog lay spread out with his arms folded and cushioned under his quills. He was at a perfect ease and Maria couldn’t be more than glad to see him as such. 

Shadow had grown to be really confident in interacting with the tiny people around him, Maria could barely remember her previous fear and apprehension at Shadow's stature, he was just so tender in how he held her in his palms. The worst he'd gotten that Maria could recall was when he’d cupped her in his two claws a little two tight but it was an unfortunate quick reaction to Gerald calling her for lunch that had surprised Shadow. He was normally so perceptive to people coming in and out of his enclosure so he was quite embarrassed by the slip up.

Maria saw Shadow's head turn towards the enclosure entrance and did so as well, there stood Gerald, the man’s face was flat as he whipped his head back to the doors behind him, he simply said “Tony get her”.

Tony? That was one of the bio engineers on the project, he was such a lovely fella and treated Shadow so well that he actually gained the privilege of being allowed to touch Shadow, most people would get a growl in response to unwanted

physical contact with the hedgehog. 

She watched as a hulking form sped past Gerald and hopped up onto Shadows tail, Maria released her strike was about to come to an end, she twirled around to her last resort “Shadow! Hide me in your quills! Quick!”.

The giant hedgehog's eyes bore into her for a moment before a smirk spread across Shadows face, his fangs poked out as he shrugged and went back to looking comfortable. Maria was aghast that the hedgehog would do this to her. Tony had made his way to Maria’s spot on Shadows chest and gently lunged for the girl “sorry little miss, got strict orders to getchu outta here so we can get back to work” at least he sounded apologetic. She swore she could feel and hear a rumble from Shadows chest, the traitor had the absolute audacity to laugh at her plight.

Maria’s effort to grab at Shadows chest fur was a feeble effort as she stood no chance against Tony’s muscley form, she was a sickly little girl and she knew it meant she’d be removed from her strike that was against the oppression of doing as you are told. Tony walked towards the doors with Maria in tow as Gerald’s eyes cut into her like knives “to your room young lady”. 

She glanced a look back at the gigantic hedgehog, oh how she loved him but as she learned today, betrayal never came from your enemies.

If anything she guessed she learned something new about herself today. She was a sucker for revenge and Shadow was definitely going to get it once she was ungrounded from whatever punishment Gerald had in store for her 

[muckyschmuck]

ultimately!

[hanasnx]

MINORS DNI 18+

INDIANA JONES has that effortless brat-taming way about him. When he tells you to “Sit down.” because you’re getting too uppity, you’ll sit down. When you’re acting fussy because he’s spending too much time away from home, he’ll call you out on it before finding a satisfactory solution for you. For the most part, he’s highly logical when presented with problems. So logical sometimes it’s hard to argue with him because he doesn’t wanna see the emotional side of things. Oh, but when you give him the silent treatment... it's an entirely different story.

His boots thunder after you as you walk away from him with your nose stuck up in the air. "You ignorin' me?" he questions. He knows the answer, but he's incredulous. You've noted how when he's angry, he's looser with proper pronunciation. So at least you're getting somewhere.

"Hey." he warns, his large hand clamping onto your upper arm to whip you around and face him. "Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you."

You glare up at him, jerking your limb from his hold. "Oh, were you? I didn't notice, Pa." As you speak you cross your arms, closing your eyes to pivot your head in the opposite direction. The nickname you call him so affectionately is now used to pierce him. Instead, it backfires. You see it in the way he sets his jaw.

"I'll show you why you call me that."

With all the rage a father can have, and all the passion a lover is capable of, he makes sure to teach you not to address your Pa so informally. Your poor ass a mess of a sloppy, red welt when he's done.

[atlas-nsfw]

Minotaur + Pregnancy kink?

Since you arrived in this strange world, you have been host to a number of strange beings’ spawn. There were the gnolls who licked your ripened breast incessantly. There were the naga who filled you with eggs and treated you like a god. There was the fairy who liked cumming inside you while you slept.

Your favorite though was this minotaur. He lived in a small herd, tucked in a single communal building. He was the herd’s leader, large (so large) and strong. His cows listened to his orders, growing a hay like substance which was used for food, bedding, basket weaving, and more.

He never ordered you to work, though. Instead he let you sit to the side and watch, often coming to check on you. He would place his hand on your stomach, feeling his child inside, squirming. Often times, if he was busy, he would send one of the cows to check on you instead, bringing you food and water. But he always kept you in his line of view.

You had gathered since you came here that the monsters were in crisis. They were struck by infertility and you, and some other humans you have only seen in passing, were brought by the god of this world to assist them.

You didn’t mind. While some of the monsters were rough, all of them still felt good. The minotaur was an excellent example. The day he got you, he screwed you in the field over and over until you were gushing seed in front of his cow. Then he took you back to the barn at night, let you eat, then fucked you again. It went on like this for days until he could ascertain you were growing his calf in your belly.

After that he grew more gentle, touching your tummy as he would stroke his cock between your thighs, speaking softly in a voice you didn’t understand. He looked like he might even love you. You couldn’t help but think maybe you would like to stay here. He was better than the other monsters you had and perhaps even better than the life you had on earth.

Gunna start using this universe of mine that I have been cooking more. It is so juicy. Humans are placed in a fantasy world full of monsters who are attracted to and want to breed with them. The longer the humans stay, the more they realize something is up with this world, like how monsters can only get pregnant or impregnate the humans, or how angels come down at times to save them from especially dangerous monsters that may kill them. Will def do a lore write up later!

[hellspawnmotel]

terranigma, a cool game

[fosermi]

On this ARK we sail together...

@stillafanofsonic enabled me and I RAN with it.

[landprince]

riku’s never believed in gods but he believes in sora 

riku’s never prayed before, but sora’s name falling out of his mouth is a benediction, and he repeats it over and over until it’s nothing short of holy

riku kneels at sora’s feet, fingers brush through his hair, blue eyes crinkle at the edges in joy and pink lips smile at him with such fondness he feels the urge to look away from that brightness but he can’t he can’t he can’t

he won’t

riku turns his head ever so slightly, watching this perfect being’s reaction as he rains kisses over the calloused skin of sora’s palm, worn from use, soft enough to bring him to ruins, and he’s never known destruction to be so sweet

sora is so bright, so blindingly good that riku feels filthy just standing next to him

but sora’s on his knees next, in the mud and dirt and worms with him, arms around his shoulders, hands in his hair, and he’s breathing out riku’s name like a plea, like a invocation, and riku can’t help but run to the call

we’re the same, sora says as his tongue traces the seam of riku’s mouth and he brings his hands to riku’s chest to feel that thundering heartbeat beneath his rib cage we’re filthy and dirty and human

be human with me, be holy with me

sora makes riku feel brave enough to walk into the light

[oneluckydragon]

Twig enjoyed going for walks alone. It turned out she liked to go for walks with company even more.

Go read The Present is a Gift by @sincerely-sofie. Her lovely characters Ark and Twig are always on my mind.

[another-goblin]

The path of the Hunt seems a bit self-contradictive.

Yes, most of the Hunt characters are proactive, energetic, enthusiastic, and singleminded, but 'hunt' in the traditional sense implies murder. Whereas most of it's characters seem to be motivated by the sanctity of human life, to a certain extent, or the idea of protection at all costs. It's usually not obvious at first glance but becomes clear when you get to know them a bit better.

Seele, who seems unfriendly and gruff at first, whose singular concern is the safety of the Underworld

Yanqing, an arrogant and overconfident child who, without hesitation, challenges two ancient legendary warriors to protect the people of the Luofu.

Sushang, who is called 'naive' in her Character details, is already a Cloud Knight at 15, who spends her days helping others and protecting the people of the Luofu.

Dr. Ratio, whose underlying philosophy of "all lives are worth living" is hidden under his stern exterior.

Topaz, whose methods are absolutely messed up and horrible, but her sincere goal is to give the people of Jarilo-VI the best chances to survive, whether they want it or not.

Boothill, who pulls a gun at everybody he meets, seems genuinely offended when Aventurine accuses him of killing his bodyguards.

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

New story drop!

This one is for all you Ark Sibling fans out there, especially now that Sonic X Shadow Generations is out to the public.

This one is based off one of many artworks my friend @cosmoshard did months ago and let create a story based on it.

Summary: There’s so many things that the Ultimate lifeform can handle whenever it was thrown at him at full power to take him down. He just never took note a mere child would end up being the one to break his stoic exterior.

Just another fluff filled Ark Sibling story.

======

“Ugh….” Shadow leaned his body against the wall with his eyes closed, the cool temperature of the metal seeping through his thick quills on his shoulders and back, bringing some relief to his aching limbs. He rubbed his eyelids with his thumb and forefinger, an attempt to try to keep them from shutting close.

The professor had him do some drills to test out his ever growing chaos powers, causing quite a long session to where he pushed himself a little too much for his body to handle to which he ended up passing out due to it. All he remembered was waking up and feeling his body throbbing to where he wasn't able to move for a while.

Luckily, Gerald showed some mercy and decided that it was all they needed to do for the day.

Even then, he felt like he still couldn't fully relax due to his mind still buzzing around.

Mostly due to the other testing they did prior, trying to see if his blood can be made into a cure for Maria. They still haven't found a change in the results as far as he knew, they were just the same as always with very little to say that they made a breakthrough.

But It's been almost 2 years, longer than any of them had originally predicted to find a solution.

It was frustrating to say the least, knowing he was improving on everything except for the exact reason why he was created…

What was even his purpose-?

“Shaddy!”

His ears perked up at the sudden sound of a familiar, young voice coming from his right. He turned to see the source of the voice running at him at full speed, the girl’s pigtailed hair flew out wildly behind her while her sock covered feet nearly caused her to slip on the newly polished floor. That didn't seem to faze her as she kept coming right towards him.

“Shaddy, Shaddy!”

Shadow smiled widely at her and held out his arms expectantly, to which she launched herself into his arms. He caught her with ease as she wrapped her arms and legs around him like a koala, hearing her signature twinkle-like giggles as he tightly returned the hug. Despite the girl barely coming up to his chest in height, she was barely a struggle to hold due to his natural strength.

“Oh man, you're getting heavy.” Shadow groaned feignedly, shifting both of his arms to support her small body better. “You gotta tell your grandpa to stop feeding you so much.”

The girl merely giggled, pulling her head back and giving him a wide smile. “You keep saying that, I’ve seen you lift heavy stuff before.”

“Yeah, but you're a different kind of heavy. The type where your arms can hold something one minute then the next they just give out- WHOA!” He suddenly released his arms, making Maria drop before quickly catching her before she hit the ground, causing her to scream out.

“Hehey!”

“See? I don't know why that happens.”

“You did that on purpose!” She laughed out, trying to keep a mad look on her face, breaking immediately when Shadow narrowed his eyes and smirked at her.

“That's not true,” he bounced her in his arms slightly. “I told you that sometimes my arms just give out-HA!” He fake drops her again, making the girl squeal out. “Tried to warn you.”

Maria laughs breathlessly, trying to lightly pat her hands on Shadow's face in a form of retaliation, with him moving his head back to block from the “attacks”.

“Maria!” The two were then interrupted by a shrill, panicked voice and saw that it was Allison, Maria's tutor during the day, looking stressed beyond belief. Shadow also saw that she was holding a small pair of shoes in her hand as she came near them panting with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. “Ah, there you are.”

“Allison.” Shadow, slightly amused at her flustered state but fought against teasing her since she did look a bit distressed. “What happened to you?”

The woman took a sharp inhale, her gaze fixed upon the pre-schooler, who was currently distracted by playing with some of the quills on the side of Shadow’s head and paying her no mind. Immediately he knew that Maria had been the main reason, the discarded shoes being one thing, but the fact the kid was probably running around before she even saw him was too much of a coincidence.

“I was trying to keep up with her. As soon as we left the nursery, she took off like a bat outta hell-, uh heck.” She quickly corrects herself seeing Shadow raise a brow at her and Maria looking towards her with curious eyes. “I think she just wanted to see you, but I almost had to leave the other kids alone if Paula didn’t offer to watch them.”

“Ah, I see now.” He places the squirming girl down on the floor, loosely crossing his arms. Maria merely smiled up at him until she noticed his change in demeanor and pauses, slightly curling in on herself under his look of disappointment.

“Maria, you know you’re always supposed to stay with Ms. Allison whenever you’re leaving the nursery, right?” He scolded lightly, watching the girl’s shoulders hunch up at the tone of his voice.

She nodded her head slowly, finding the buttons on her shirt more interesting than looking at him. “So, why did you run off like that?”

She shrugged her shoulders and mumbled under her breath that even his ears couldn’t pick up. Sighing, Shadow got on a knee and gently raised her head up with his finger so she was looking at him. “Say that again?”

“I just wanted to see you…” She muttered, tucking her chin into the collar of her shirt.

Shadow’s sharp gaze then softened. He was still getting used to the way a child’s mind worked in comparison to an adult’s since he was around the latter majority of the time, but he was aware of how Maria’s personality functioned unlike the other kids and that was she can be stubborn as hell, which could also be mixed with determination whenever she had a goal in mind and did whatever it took to get it.

She was only four, but a quick-witted four year old at that.

And for her, it was to see him again since it had been a day or two since they last saw each other; which can feel like a lifetime for a kid her age.

“I understand that you wanted to see me, but you have to understand that you can’t run off like that without telling anyone, especially if you didn’t know where I was and was searching for me randomly.” He placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring that he wasn’t mad at her when her face started to scrunch up and lip was quivering. “Hey, hey I’m not mad. You just got to think about that next time, okay?”

Maria nodded, wiping at her nose with her sleeve. Shadow fought back a grimace of disgust as she did and decided to help by wiping at the tears in her eyes. Seeing that she was about seconds away from actually crying her eyes out, he gently pulled her into a side hug, to which she immediately melted into, allowing her to release her emotions if she needed to.

Shadow then shifts his eye up towards Allison, who is watching the two of them with a look of adoration, as well as any of the other adults passing by and seeing the whole event, making his face flush red from the attention.

“Could you do me one more little favor?” He patted her arm, pulling back from the hug and waited for Maria to focus on him. “Can you apologize to Ms. Allison for worrying her?”

She glances over at Allison and bows her head towards her. “Sorry, Ms. Ally.” She quickly looks away bashfully, hiding her face in the crook of Shadow’s neck again.

He gave Allison an apologetic smile. “Sorry again about that.”

Allison shook her head. “No worries, I'm just glad nothing worse had happened.” She handed him Maria's previously discarded shoes. “Since you're with her, I’ll release her to you for the rest of the day, if that's alright.”

“Of course.” Even though he was allowing it due to him being trusted well enough to watch over her, he could honestly tell that she was done with watching Maria for the day.

“Thanks.” Allison said in what sounded like pure relief. Giving them both a wave, she started in a small jog down the hallway back towards the direction of the nursery.

Once she was out of sight, Shadow felt a light jostling on his hand, seeing Maria look at him, worryingly. “What's wrong?”

“Am I going to get into trouble with grandpa?” Her voice was small and in a whisper. “He told me to behave when he's not here.”

“He's not going to be mad at you.” He said reassuringly. “He may be surprised that it happened, but it'll take more than that to get him mad.”

Her eyes lit up, relief masking her face. “Really?”

“Yes, really.” He motioned to give him her foot, putting on the shoes. “Although, I think he will be very amused hearing that you were running like a wild rabbit with no shoes on.”

Maria let out a giggle as she balanced herself against his shoulder as he helped her put on the other shoe. “I'm not a rabbit!”

“I know that, I said that you ran around like one.” He joked, quickly running his fingers under the arch of her foot, causing the girl to let out a squeal and fall back against him as she lost her balance. “You can be hyper as one too.”

“Well, you look like a hegie-hog.” She said in an attempt of sass, making Shadow huff out a laugh in response.

“It’s pronounced hedge-hog, and I know that already. Even though I’m something else entirely.” He murmured the last part to himself as he managed to get the last shoe on.

Maria happily tapped the heels of her shoes against the floor, starting to move her arms around and hum to herself, getting lost in her thoughts as she did a small uncoordinated dance.

Shadow motioned his hand out to her, to which she grabbed onto while the two walked together. She began to run in small circles while simultaneously grabbing each of Shadow’s hands as she did, who stopped her abruptly by grabbing onto her shoulders.

“And you need to be careful about running around like that, I noticed you were panting pretty hard when you saw me.” He definitely noticed her panting deeply once he held her in his arms, as if she couldn't catch her breath.

Due to her condition making her body have to work twice as hard, it made her become exhausted quicker than most kids around her age group, even if the low gravity helped with her condition to a minimum.

She gave him a sheepish smile and nodded. They continued to walk in a comfortable silence for a while, with Maria breaking it by singing a random song she made up on the spot or asking Shadow random questions, it was mostly stuff he could recall telling her in previous conversations but still answered them to satisfy her curiosity.

=======

Continuation on Ao3

[theocddiaries]

Shadow [Tries to show her a piece of paper]: Maria, look. Maria: No. I'm still mad at you. Shadow: But look, these are all my good deeds of just today and-- Maria [Throws the piece of paper to the side]: Shadow, just get outta here. You spiked-ball. Shadow [Looks at the paper on the floor. Snaps]: No, you out. Maria: No, you. Shadow: You. Maria: You! Shadow: You! Maria: Fine. I will. Shadow: …No! I will! Maria: I'm leaving first. Shadow: I'm leaving first! Maria: No powers, that's cheating! Cheater! [IN ANOTHER ROOM] Commander: And how's Project Shadow performing? Gerald: Accordingly. And he's been a great help to my granddaughter, Maria. They're very close-- [Loud bang] Commander: What was that? Gerald: Um, rats. [Shadow comes in running and closes the door. Presses a finger to it] Gerald: Uh, big rats. They're chewing on the wires. Oh, the connection is lost! Oh, oh, no! [Hangs up]: Shadow, what-- Maria [Bangs the door from the other side]: Open this door, trog! Gerald: Shadow, open the door. Shadow: Okay. [Shadow steps aside and the door swings open. Maria stumbles. She grabs Shadow by one of his quills and pulls him down to the ground with her. They both struggle] Gerald: Hey, hey! What's up with you two now!? Little Ivo Robotnik: Hey, grandpa! Gerald [sighs]: Why did I agree to have him for the summer? [Separates Shadow and Maria]: Neither of you move. [Turns to Ivo] Ivo [Shows him a clay figure]: Do you like it? Gerald: Um… Yes, it's a very well done worm, my boy. Now, why don't you go look for Abe and pester him? I know you love that. Your cousin and her friend needs some help. [Turns back to Maria and Shadow] Ivo [Crestfallen]: A worm? It's--It's a tunnel that connects the ARK to Earth so we can be closer-- Shadow: She's touching me! Maria: I'm not touching you. [Maria is pointing at Shadow] Shadow: Yes, you are! Maria: Look where my finger is. Not touching. Shadow: Touching me! Maria: It's free air. You'd know if you pay attention to our less-- [Shadows licks half her face] Maria: Ew! It's in my hair! Grandpa!!! Gerald: Why did I succumb to the social norm of having a family instead of dedicating myself to science only…?