Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful kingdom called Araceli. It was ruled by King Gerald Robotnik, a highly intelligent man who always tried to make decisions with the good of his kingdom in mind.
The king had a granddaughter, Princess Maria Robotnik. She was a ray of sunshine whose very existence filled the people with joy. One day, Maria fell terribly ill, and the entire kingdom was heartbroken. The king did all he could, hired the best doctors in the kingdom to try and heal her, but nothing worked. At this point, this was when people looked for a miracle.
The miracle in this story came from the heavens themselves, in the form of a falling star. It landed near the outskirts of the kingdom, and Gerald took it as a sign that this was the miracle he was praying for. The royal guard was immediately sent out to retrieve the comet. When they finally brought it back to the castle and into the sickly princess’s room, something magical happened.
The comet opened like a cocoon, spilling out a bright light from its interior. From within, a tiny Mobian hedgehog emerged. He had black fur with red stripes, upturned quills, a brown muzzle, and fluffy white chest fur. The little thing couldn’t have been older than two. Everyone was thrown into silent shock at the sight of the small hedgehog taking in his surroundings. His garnet eyes darted around the large space and many faces in confusion and fear until his attention landed on the princess lying on her bed.
The hedgehog quickly padded over to Maria’s bed, the king lifting him onto the sheets when he struggled to pull himself up. The tiny hedgehog crawled over to the princess to look at her up close. Maria was pale, her skin a ghostly white color. Her breathing was shallow and labored, and she was so thin you could see the outlines of her bones. The hedgehog’s eyes glistened with sadness as he took in her ill state, before reaching to rest his tiny paw on her frail hand. And what the striped hedgehog did next shocked everyone.
In a small voice, he began to quietly sing a song, his black fur shining a brilliant pale-gold color as he held Maria’s hand. When his song finished and his fur darkened once more, the gold coloring seemed to have flowed from him and into Maria’s veins, the princess’s skin glowing faintly before the light disappeared altogether.
When the gold was gone, Maria’s appearance shifted. Color returned to her face, her breathing evened, and her body seemed to fill out, hiding the bones underneath once more. When she opened her bright blue eyes - which held the same shine they did before her illness - she was met with the sight of a tiny hedgehog staring at her.
The princess smiled, somehow knowing it was him who saved her, and pulled the little Mobian into a hug. Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, the king rushing over to join the hug as tears filled his eyes. His Maria was safe all because of this magic hedgehog from the stars.
That same night, lanterns were launched into the sky, in celebration of not only Maria’s miraculous recovery, but the blessing who saved her. The magic hedgehog - named Shadow by the princess - became a part of the Robotnik family. He was even given a title: Shadow, the Star Prince of Araceli. And for a few moments, everything was perfect.
For only a few moments.
You see, on the night Shadow healed Maria, there were many people in the room, including Doctor Starline. Starline was one of King Gerald’s closest advisors. When the platypus witnessed the hedgehog’s power he was in awe, as were many others. But he recovered quickly afterwards and had many, many, ideas of what could be done with the new prince. He tried to convince the king to let him study and experiment on Shadow’s powers to see what he was capable of and what that could mean for the future of the kingdom. To see just how powerful this healing ability was and what advantage that power could give them. They could invade other kingdoms knowing they have an infinite healing source for their soldiers, and offer other kingdoms this extraordinary ability at a ridiculously high price.
Starline expected Gerald, a man of science and research who did all he could to help his kingdom, to jump at an opportunity to expand his rule. However, the king immediately denied. The new prince was becoming as beloved as the princess. The two were best friends - siblings, even. Gerald stated that the kingdom was big and rich enough as is, and it would be pointless to start problems between neighboring kingdoms that they were already at peace with.
Starline was infuriated. How dare the king not see his vision? Didn’t he realize this hedgehog from the stars could make Araceli the most powerful kingdom around. In his anger, Starline made a decision that only benefitted himself.
In the dead of night, not even a week after Shadow fell from the sky, Starline enacted his plan. He silently crept into Maria’s room, where the princess and Shadow slept next to each other. The platypus carefully pried the hedgehog from the human girl’s arms. Starline swiftly made his way to the balcony and opened the doors. When they opened, a cold wind blew into the room. The frigid air bit into the princess’s sensitive skin, waking her up, and the sight that she was met with horrified her.
Exiting Maria’s room was a cloaked figure. Worst of all, her new little brother was in the stranger’s hands. Maria screamed for help, but it was too late. The figure had gotten away. The guards searched and searched but they found nothing. It was as if the two had completely vanished. The truth was sad but it needed to be said.
Shadow was gone.
… Not exactly. While the kingdom searched, Starline had escaped with Shadow in his arms, taking the hedgehog to a place no one would find him. Deep inside the woods, tucked away in a hidden valley stood a large, isolated tower. It was seventy feet high. No way in or out. Unless you were Starline.
Using a gem called the Warp Topaz, Starline was able to get in and out of the tower without having to worry about Shadow getting out.
Shadow was too young to remember much of anything before the tower, so Starline took to raising him, sort of becoming Shadow’s father. Starline made sure to keep Shadow away from the world. While he did what he could to shield Shadow from the world. Starline couldn’t hide the sky, though. So, every night on his birthday, he would sneak out of bed to watch the floating lights that only appeared on his birthday. Shadow was sure they were meant for him, he felt it in his very soul.
Shadow dreamed of being able to see them in person some day.