Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow the hedgehog or any characters associated with him. They belong to SEGA/Sonic Team, the only character that is mine is Kittie. All band/musician lyrics are copyrighted to the original owners unless I use my own. I altered the story a lot for a reason, and this is my first Sonic fanfic, so please be gentle. Read and review and tell me what you think :)

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Memories.

Why didn’t he have them? Here he was again, after being captured and sent off to an asylum. Was it even an asylum? He had no idea where he was at.

Maria.

The blonde-headed girl floated in his mind.

What happened to her?

Trying to resist whoever it was that was trying to stick a needle in his arm. He heard the screaming of another girl from behind a large window to the room he was being held in.

Kittie.

The blonde-headed girl’s friend, Kittie. Her best friend. Her sister. She could do nothing but watch them drug her friend into blissful sedation, but it certainly looked like he was resisting. As much as it pained her, she soon felt someone jab a needle into her arm as well, as she fell onto the glass window with a loud ‘thump’, gathering Shadow’s attention, he jerked his head over towards the window and saw her face sliding down the glass, eventually falling to the floor.

And even though it was effortless, he flailed violently, smacking the needle out of one of the men’s hands, and trying to make his way towards the door to rescue his friend.

Kittie.

He soon found another doctor tackling him back into the room, with another needle in hand, attempting to do to him what they’d done to his friend.

Kittie!

Barely being able to see, now, after feeling the sharp pinch of the syringe being dug into his arm, he could see them carrying her off to her own cell.

Maria...Kittie!

After a few minutes of struggling...his eyes rolled back into his head, and everything went black.

MOTHER!

In The Beginning.

White lights glowed around the room, creating an eerie look to the two girls standing behind Professor Gerald. Gazing into the capsule that held a small child in it, green liquid glowing against the white as the bubbling sound of the water was heard throughout the room. The two girls had been waiting for this moment just as much as Professor Gerald was. Glancing at her grandfather and then back at the capsule, Maria twiddled her fingers nervously.

“Is he awake yet?” She asked.

A minute or two before replying, he turned and nodded. “Yes.” He said as he pushed a button, and the green liquid began to drain out; a small infant coming into view.

Handing Maria a small blanket, her friend nodded and smiled warmly. “You’ve been waiting for this. I think you should be the first thing he sees.” She said.

Smiling back, Maria nodded at her black-haired friend. “Thank you.”

Jumping back suddenly, at the sound of the capsule’s lid popping open with a hissing sound, Kittie put a hand over her mouth and made a face, stepping back, seeing that she’d angered Gerald with her surprised yelp. Stepping forward with the blanket in hand, Maria carefully placed her arms into the capsule and lifted up the small infant into her arms.

He felt himself being shuffled into a soft blanket, and being lifted up to a warm chest as he was cradled softly. Staring at the glowing figures of Maria and Professor Gerald, Kittie tilted her head and clasped her hands to her chest, excited overrall. Finally, after staring at the child for a long time, Maria turned to Kittie with excitement written all over her face. She nodded at Kittie, and she went to look at the infant without hesitation.

Looking down at the small child in Maria’s arms, Kittie melted at the sight of him. A tiny little black hedgehog with up-pointed quills, red outlined the outer-tips of his eyebrows, and left a large red stripe from his forehead to the back of his quill, and the others were lined with a single red stripe as well. From his shoulders and onto the top of his hand, and from his hip, down to the top of his feet, were red lines also. Kittie giggled at this, his up-turned quills she found cute; they looked like small horns to her.

But the thing that the two girls loved most about him, where his large, deep crimson eyes. Opening them, he looked up, and could see the face of a blue-eyed blonde looking down on him with a warm smile, and when he looked to his left, he saw another warm face of a girl with bright grey eyes and she had straight black hair with bright red tipping the ends and it came a little bit above her shoulders, her hair seemed to be as shiny as ever.

Placing a hand on her cheek, Kittie giggled at this along with Maria. “Oh he’s so adorable.” She said.

He blinked at the two girls with interest. Maria smiled, waving a hand in front of him playfully.

“Well that’s done.” Professor Gerald said, coming up behind the two girls. “You two are in charge of him until he’s old enough to have his own room.” He said, placing his hands behind his back. “He is one of our greatest projects, so I expect you to take great care of him.”

“You can trust us, Professor.” Kittie smiled at him.

Gerald smiled back at her and nodded in response. “I also expect him to learn quickly.” He looked at Kittie.

She blinked. “Me? You want me to teach him?” She questioned, pointing to herself.

“You and Maria. He should be a fast learner, so I want you to help her teach him how to speak.” He smiled.

“Thank you, Professor.” She nodded happily.

“Yes sir.”

“Yes, grandfather.”

The two girls nodded, staring up at him. “Good. Maria, why don’t you take him to your quarters, now? I’ve some business to attend to.” He said before walking out of the room.

“Come on!” Maria giggled with Kittie before they too, walked out of the room.

Arriving at Maria’s room, where she and Kittie stayed as room-mates, the door slid open and they both walked inside, trying to escape the other scientists who wanted to see the infant. Handing him to Kittie as she sat down on her bed, while Maria had disappeared into another room to change clothes.

Kittie rocked Shadow in her arms softly gazing into those large red eyes. “Take a look at the trash heap that is your new home.” She smirked, lifting him up just enough for him to look around the large white room that looked like the inside of a cafeteria. The only thing that had color was the beds; Maria’s bed had dark blue covers, and Kittie’s seemed to have a deep grey color. Various posters hung on the walls on Kittie’s side, and bookshelves and a bunch of novels and text books remained on Maria’s side. Kittie had a few of her own, seeing as she was studying the same things as Maria. And off to a corner next to Maria’s bed, was a small crib.

Losing interest in the room, the infant looked back up at Kittie and blinked again. She couldn’t do anything but let out another smile at him, feeling herself melt all over again. “My, do you have beautiful eyes.” She scrunched her face up, smiling at him.

He giggled at her and stretched his arms out as if he was going to grab her face. Jerking back, Kittie giggled. “Oh, no. My face is not for grabbing, little one.” She smirked, letting him flail his arms playfully for a bit. “Maria! Are you done yet?!” She called out to her friend.

“I’m almost done!” Maria answered.

Placing her knuckles on her cheek, waiting for Maria, Kittie suddenly saw that Shadow had calmed down, but his eyes were wide with interest at something. Looking down at the child, blinking at him just as he did her, she looked at the black and white striped arm-warmers that she had on her hands, and looked back down at him grinning.

“Oh, what? You like these?” She said, opening her hand and hovering it above his little face as he stretched out and immediately grabbed her glove, giggling with excitement. “Well...I think you’ve already decided your fashion sense.” She giggled at him.

“Alright, I’m done.” Maria said, walking out and immediately bursting into giggles, watching the scene.

“I think he’s got a thing for my fashion.” Kittie laughed.

Shaking her head, Maria sat down beside her and took the infant into her own arms as Kittie leaped up and went to change into her own clothes. “I wonder if we should stay up a while and play with him.” Maria said. “He’s just been awakened, shouldn’t he get some time to be awake?” She said.

“Well...I dunno.” Kittie replied.

In that instant, Maria looked down at the hedgehog and he let out a large yawn, giving her a good view of his tiny little fangs. Bursting into more giggles, Maria placed a finger on his little nose and smiled. “Aww...poor dear. He’s already getting tired. He just yawned.” Maria said.

“What?! I missed it! That’s not fair...” Kittie called out, finally emerging from the changing room.

“I think we should let him sleep. Is that what you want?” Maria looked back down at the black and red hedgehog.

He blinked at her again and gurgled a few sounds before sleepily blinking again.

Kittie looked up at her friend. “I think that’s a ‘yes’.”

Literally spooking the two girls out of their sleep, a painful cry was heard in their room, assuming that it was Shadow. Leaping out of bed, Maria searched for a warm bottle to give the infant, while Kittie rubbed viciously at her eyes and making her way towards Shadow’s crib.

“Uh oh. That means ‘Feed me’, I think.” Kittie said, scooping him up into her arms and rocking him comfortingly. It broke her heart to hear the child wail in such a way.

“Here.” Maria said as she handed Kittie a warm bottle and carefully placed it up against his mouth.

Finally taking in, he seemed to calm down for a minute before taking a few sips of the formula from the bottle. The girls let out a sigh of relief, until he began to squirm and moved the bottle from his mouth.

“Well you’re a picky little thing aren’t you?” Kittie said, wiping his mouth with part of her shirt. “You have to eat!”

Ignoring her completely, the child still let out wails of distress. Kittie hardly knew anything about babies, as did Maria, so they were running out of options. “He doesn’t need a diaper change. He hasn’t been fed in a few hours. What should we do?” Kittie looked up at her friend.

“I don’t know...” Maria said, biting a fingernail worriedly.

“Shh...it’s alright...Kittie and Maria are here for you...Shhh...” Kittie placed him closer to her chest and rocked him again, trying her best to calm him down.

“Oh!” Maria said as if a thought came to mind. “Why don’t you sing to him? You’re a singer...you might be able to put him to sleep.” She said, nodding.

“Are you sure that will work?” She questioned.

“It’s worth a shot!” She exclaimed, gesturing towards the wailing infant.

Sighing heavily, Kittie nodded and lowered Shadow again. “I am not singing to him. I might wake someone else up.” She said as she began to rock him once more.

“Well then...why don’t you try your voilin?” Maria questioned.

“My violin?” The grey-eyed girl looked over at the dark-brown violin sitting in its holder next to the end of her bed. “I could try it...” She said, handing Shadow back to Maria. “You could hum to him, you know.” Kittie said, glancing up at her friend.

Maria rolled her eyes. “Alright.”

Kittie placed her fingers onto the strings of the violin as she began to softly pull on the stick, causing a soft note to play out from her fingers. Shadow instantly silenced as he looked over at the girl, watching her right arm moving back and forth rythmically as her left one twitched onto the white strings, making more gentle sounds enter his ears. He eventually closed his eyes.

Kitte looked at Maria and saw her smiling, looking down and seeing that his eyes were shut and his breathing was calm. Both of them wanting to go ‘Aww’, instead, Kittie carefully stopped playing her violin and placed it back into its holder, as Maria wiped at his wet eyes and removed the damp tears from under his eyelids. Nodding, and handing him to Kittie, she carefully placed the child back into his crib and pulled a soft cover over his body and walked back to her bed.

“Well...it seems you’ve found another use for your talents.” Maria giggled quietly.

“Oh, hush. I like my music to where I can feel the whole floor vibrating underneath my feet.” Kittie whispered back, smirking. Finally able to lie back down and get some sleep, even if Shadow would wake them back up in an hour or two.

Jerking herself forward in a major shock, being woken up by both a horrible dream...and the sound of Shadow’s wailing again. Kittie tried to stop her hyperventilating as she moved her head around to look at the room, making sure that it was just a dream. Sighing with relief, she sunk into the headboard of her bed, looking at the clock and then back at Shadow’s crib.

“Six thirty AM.” She growled. Looking over to her left, she realized that Maria wasn’t there. Leaping out of her bed, she found a note on top of Maria’s covers.

“Kittie,

My grandfather called me to the labs again. He said he wanted to talk to me.

After that I’m heading straight to class. I hope Shadow will be alright with you asleep.

I’ll be back shortly.

-Maria”

Kittie dropped down to the floor in annoyance. She looked over at Shadow’s crib and had forgotten that the child was still screaming. Rolling her eyes, she got up and leaned on the side bars of the crib, looking down at the infant who was kicking fitfully.

“I think you need a pacifier, sweetie.” She said, as she began rummaging through her piles of junk. After that, she began digging through Maria’s things. But she found no pacifier. “Oh, this is ridiculous.” She said, standing up and picking him back up, rocking him softly again.

Sighing, she sat him back down for a minute, pulled on a housecoat tightly over herself, slipped on some house-shoes, and scooped Shadow back into her arms as she headed out the door to look elsewhere for a pacifier.

She soon found herself in the room that Professor Gerald was working in, and she knew better than to disrupt him while he was experimenting. However, another scientist discovered her sudden appearance and he stomped towards her, she could see the anger on his face.

“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be taking care of the infant.” He said.

Glaring at him, Kittie blinked. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am trying take care of him. But he won’t stop crying and he won’t eat when I try to feed him! All I need is a pacifier or something that will hush him up.” She shouted over the baby’s cries.

“We don’t have such a thing in here. Now get out before you anger Professor Gerald!” He said before shooing her away and returning to work.

Kittie stopped outside the door and glared at the floor. “What a prick.” She snorted, heading back towards her quarters.

Grabbing another warm bottle out of the mini-refrigerator in her and Maria’s room, she sat back down on her bed and attempted to put the bottle near his mouth, and this time, he accepted it and suckled happily.

“Well it’s about time you made up your mind.” She smirked.

“Mrrf.” He protested with a muffled sound.

She began giggling at the glare he was giving her. “I see you’re developing an attitude.” She smiled and saw his eyes narrow. She smirked again. “Will you please stop crying, then?” She asked. The child just huffed as if he understood her.

“Fine, yeesh.” She joked, placing him back in his crib. “Try to get some rest then, yeah?” She said, looking down at him.

He just glanced at her...an evil glare spreading across his face.

She just giggled. “Being an annoying little twit ain’t gonna get you nowhere, buddy.” She said, running an index finger across his forehead. Strangely enough, she expected him to smack her hand away, but he seemed to enjoy the soft feeling of her finger petting him. He shut his eyes calmly and acted as if he was going to fall back asleep again. She just smiled down at him and carefully lifted her finger, hoping that he wouldn’t throw another fit.

He seemed to be well asleep, however. She sighed in relief again, and stood up straight, making her way over to their walk-in closet to change and get ready to go to her classes, after realizing that Maria would be there any minute.

Finally, Maria had arrived back to their room and had taken over taking care of Shadow while Kittie was away to study. She sat in her bed and read a few or more books happily while Shadow slept silently in the crib at the end of her bed. She would check on him from time to time, making sure that he was alright. He had begun to throw a couple fits while she read, and it seemed that all he wanted was attention.

Soon, Maria wondered when her friend would be back. She’d been gone a fair amount of time; longer than her studies should go on, and she wondered if Kittie had to drop by somewhere else before returning.

Suddenly, a crackling noise came into the room, spooking the child as he squealed. It was just the intercom that hung from over the door.

“AH!” Shadow uttered out, his eyes wide at the black screened contraption over the door.

“Oh hush, it’s just the intercom.” Maria giggled at him.

“Maria Robotnik, Kittie Ultima will not be returning to her quarters tonight. She has a show to preform and she will be back in the morning.” And with that, the crackling stopped.

“Oh! Our friend is having a concert! Would you like to see that?” She asked him, touching a finger to his nose playfully.

“Gahh!” He replied happily, grabbing her finger into his smaller palm. “Mah...” He said, looking up at her.

She giggled at this. “No, it’s not ‘Mah’. It’s Maria...” She said, pointing to herself.

“Ma...” He gurgled, forming his hand into a point just as she was doing, but pointed to the ceiling instead.

“I’m Maria...Maaa-reee-aaah.” She said, pointing to herself.

“Mmmmaaaaaah...!” Was all he could manage. “Mama...”

She giggled at him. “Oh goodness.” She said, trying to believe that he just said ‘Mama’. “We need to get to Kittie’s concert.” She sighed, taking a breath from all her laughter, placing Shadow back into his crib as she went to change out of her lab-coat and into some more...decent clothes.