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Dear Shadow the Hedgehog,
I would like to formally invite you to this year’s Star Festival. The festival normally happens once every one hundred years, but the special comet has returned much sooner than expected! On behalf of the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, we hope you are able to make it.
Sincerely,
Princess Toadstool
Peach
“Oh, hey, you got that invitation from Princess Peach too?”
Shadow glances up at Rouge from where he sits at the kitchen table, reading the letter. He’d said nothing about it, having just opened it a minute before she walked in, but the envelope and letter itself aren’t exactly subtle in letting one know of its sender’s identity. Pink adorns the white paper he holds with a border and notebook lines, and the pink envelope itself had been sealed with a golden wax stamp with a simple crown engraving. Shadow couldn’t help but be careful when opening the letter, afraid of damaging it.
“Yeah.” He flips the letter over to find the actual invitation and details of the event written on the back. You’re invited! Please join us at the Star Festival. November 12th, sundown to sunrise. Mushroom Kingdom, Castle Gardens. Guess they don’t have a reason for super complicated addresses over there, he thinks.
“Omega and I got it too,” Rouge says, then takes a sip of her coffee. “You planning on going? I’ve heard the comet releases these small colorful things and the Toads use ‘em to make a big shiny star. It’s not a gem , but y’know, I’m already intrigued. How lavish!”
“I’m not sure,” Shadow says, putting the letter to the side. “I don’t think I’ve directly talked to the Princess outside of a tennis match…”
Rouge does a half-fake dramatic gasp and places her coffee mug on the table to put her hand over her heart. “You’re gonna reject an invitation from a princess , Shadow? From another dimension? ” She flaps her wings to levitate a little off the ground and leans in to point her manicured nail at his face from the other side of the table. “I’m sure she’s just inviting everyone who went to the Olympics! It sounds like a cultural thing too, don’t be rude!” She pokes his nose and leans back.
“I guess, ” Shadow says, scrunching his face when she pokes him and waving her hand away. “She’s not even the only princess from another dimension we’ve met .”
“That’s not the point!” Rouge says, upset but through a snicker. “Come on, it’ll be fun! It doesn’t seem like the super-loud type of festival. You know all of us need a day off, especially you.”
Shadow raises an eyebrow, although he wouldn’t have if Rouge hadn’t said that last part as if it were an insult. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t make me start.” Rouge picks her coffee mug back up and takes another sip. “You going or not?”
There’s no point in fighting it. She will only keep insisting if he does. Maybe she’s right, even, but he’s not admitting that to her out loud. “Fine,” Shadow says with a sigh.
A month passes and the Star Festival comes sooner than Shadow realizes.
The interdimensional travel, while not being something they do often , is familiar enough to feel nostalgic. Although, walking along and seeing the golden currency one can find floating in mid-air be coins instead of rings is still a little bizarre to Shadow. It’s a bit of a stark reminder, one letting him know that even in a world so similar, it’s still an entirely different place.
The festival itself, while not overtly loud, is lively. Whatever Rouge’s source was on the traditions of the festival was right; Toads walk along collecting what he now knows are called Star Bits falling from the sky. Shadow thinks he sees Cream and Charmy among some Toads in the distance by the castle’s entrance, running around to participate in the ritual.
As Team Dark walk along the streets before the castle, Rouge gasps. “ Shadow, ” she says, the words sounding like they’re through a mouthful of food before she turns and Shadow realizes she is eating something. “They taste like honey. ”
“You can eat them?”
“AFFIRMATIVE,” Omega says, watching a Star Bit jump up and down in the palm of his claws. “MY SENSORS CANNOT PICK UP SOME OF THEIR OTHERWORLDLY PROPERTIES, NOR FIND HONEY ITSELF WITHIN THEM, BUT THE FLAVOR OF IT IS PREVALENT.”
“Huh.”
“Try them!” Rouge says, holding up a handful.
He does. It’s sweet. His teammates are right about the honey, but there’s a savory twang of something else in there that he can’t quite place. Otherworldly, as Omega described.
“Oh, hello, Team Dark! I’m so glad you could make it!” Princess Peach exclaims once they make it to the bridge in front of the castle entrance.
“Hey, guys!” Sonic yells from somewhere in the garden. Mario waves next to him with a simple hello.
“Hello, Princess! It’s an honor to be here,” Rouge says with a curtsy. Shadow sees Omega bowing out of the corner of his eye and figures he should do the same.
“Oh, no need to be so formal!” The princess waves a hand and shakes her head. “Have you been enjoying the festival so far?”
“Well, I gotta say, it looks gorgeous out here! I had no idea the Star Bits were edible, they’re delicious,” Rouge says.
“Aren’t they? We have Rosalina to thank, I’m very glad she made a return so soon. I baked a Star Bit cake, please feel free to go inside and treat yourself to some!”
Rosalina? Shadow’s not sure he’s heard the name before.
“Star Bit cake ? Now that sounds like a delicacy. C’mon Shadow, let’s go get a bite!”
“I’ll try some later,” he says. He turns to the princess and nods, and she gives him a smile. “Thank you for the offer.”
“Alright, hun, just don’t wait too long!” Rouge says.
“ROUGE IS RIGHT. EVERYONE ELSE WILL FINISH IT BEFORE YOU GET THE CHANCE,” Omega says. He and Rouge then make their way inside.
Shadow decides to go on a walk elsewhere. He finds a quiet spot on a hill to sit on, away from the liveliness of the festival but able to observe at his own distance. Star Bits fall from the sky around him and he looks up, remembering he’s not exactly on his own Earth when he sees the ARK isn’t visible in orbit. He raises his knees to his chest and tosses a Star Bit into his mouth, savoring its sweet otherworldly taste.
What a strange thing, to be from so far away yet be so familiar.
He’s not sure how long he sits there as he watches the commotion in the gardens. He sees familiar faces among the native citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom, both from his own world and people he recognizes from the Olympic Games. It’s relaxing to sit there, listening to the twinkle of the Star Bits as they fall from the starry sky and focusing on the sound to push out everything else. He’s lost in his thoughts as he chews on them when he hears someone behind him.
“Hello,” a voice says as they float up next to him, and he turns his head to see who it is. “Is it alright if I sit here?”
Were this the Shadow from a while ago, this wouldn’t have gone well. The appearance of this woman would’ve sent him into a spiral, blonde hair reminding him too much of someone else, blue outfit warping into being stained with red in the eyesight of his memories, the sight of the Star Bits and night sky surrounding them reminding him too much of the fall from space. He’d have had to excuse himself with short breaths and shaking hands, leaving the woman to wonder what happened.
He’s not exactly the same Shadow from a while ago, though. He looks up at the tall woman floating next to him and when he thinks of that time for just a fleeting moment, it doesn’t hurt. Something, other than the way she levitates in the air without wings and attracts more Star Bits around her, tells him she’s not entirely from here like he is. It makes her familiar in a way other than her appearance. She’s holding two paper plates and it’d be rude to leave her standing there, so with a nod he says, “Be my guest.”
“Would you like some Star Bit cake?” she asks once she sits down and offers him one of the plates she holds with a small smile and a twinkle in her eye.
He nods and takes it. “Thank you…” he says and trails off, realizing he doesn’t have a name to thank.
“Oh, how rude of me! How could I forget to introduce myself?” she says, and a low giggle escapes her throat. She puts a graceful hand over her heart. “My name is Rosalina. I watch over and protect the cosmos. And you are?”
“Shadow the Hedgehog. I’m the world’s Ultimate Lifeform,” he says. He realizes he now has a face to put to the name Peach mentioned earlier. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I heard you’re responsible for the festival in some way?”
Rosalina nods as she cuts her cake with the fork on the plate. “The ‘special comet’ in question is my home, the Comet Observatory,” she says. “I visit this world once every one hundred years. I don’t usually make a return so quickly, but…” she looks off to the commotion in the distance. “Meeting certain people has changed that for me.”
“You… visit every one hundred years?” Shadow asks. He can’t stop the slight widening of his eyes as he turns his gaze toward her and tilts his head. “You’re immortal too?”
“I am,” Rosalina says. “I traveled into space as a young girl and being up there for long… changed things for me. I’ve not been the same since, but it is something I’m grateful for at the end of the day.”
A young girl changed by space. To the Shadow from a while ago, that would’ve stung. The Shadow from now can only be glad she got that chance.
“What about you?” she asks. “Is that what you mean by the Ultimate Lifeform?”
“That, among other things,” Shadow says. He decides to take a bite of the cake. He has to take a moment before speaking again because of how the flavor melts in his mouth, the honey taste of the Star Bits combining itself with rich and fluffy cake goodness. “I was created fifty years ago on a space colony to be both a militaristic weapon and a cure for my creator’s terminally ill granddaughter… my sister, Maria. Now I protect the planet because I believe humanity deserves the chance she couldn’t get, and because it’s the right thing to do.”
He stops and purses his lips. He’s not sure if he should say what he’s about to say, but he does, anyways. “She looked a lot like you.”
“My condolences,” Rosalina says. “The feeling of grief is inevitable to the type of life we live. I wish I could have said a proper goodbye to my family, but I cherish the memories of them that I do have.” Her gaze doesn’t leave the garden ahead of them as she speaks, and Shadow thinks she’s focusing on the big tree in the middle of it. She cuts into her cake again and says, “It seems we have some things in common. I apologize if this is strange, but to tell the truth, I watched you from afar for a bit before I came over here. There was this sensation… something telling me you weren’t entirely of this world like I am. It sounds silly, but I believe it was the cosmos themselves telling me of someone alike.”
“I got the same feeling when I saw you. You seemed familiar, not just because of your appearance.” He takes another quick bite of the cake on his plate. “You say you protect the cosmos?”
“I do. I’d initially gone to space to help a little Luma find its mother, but the trip took a long time. We never found her and I realized I’d never see my own mother again, either. More Lumas arrived on the spaceship we rode, and when I realized they’re all destined to turn into things like stars, planets, and comets…” she looks up at the sky and smiles again, “I decided I’d stay with my children until they’re ready to go.” She turns to look at Shadow, putting her plate to the side, and she raises her knees to her chest. “You say you protect the planet?”
Protecting the cosmos. The same place he was created. “I do. I tried to destroy it once,” Shadow says. “My creator’s grief for Maria caused him to manipulate my memories and use me in a revenge plan to destroy the planet once I was reawakened fifty years after our home was raided by the same military he created me for. I was freed by his evil dictator grandson Doctor Eggman with nothing but the warped memory of my sister’s last wish being revenge upon humanity and the mission to collect all of the Chaos Emeralds to activate the world-destroying weapon on the space colony.
“Sonic, blue hedgehog over there—” Shadow nods his head towards Sonic, who seems to be in the middle of an intense competition with Mario over collecting Star Bits, “—helped me save the world from being hit by the colony once Amy Rose, pink hedgehog—” he nods his head towards Amy who sits in a bed of flowers talking with Peach, “helped me remember I actually promised Maria I’d give the world a chance.”
“Oh my,” Rosalina says, a hand over her mouth. “That’s a lot to go through.”
“…Then I fell from space, lost my memories, thought I was an android for a bit, discovered I’m half alien and had to save the world again from an invasion by my other alien creator who wanted me to join him…” he says, summarizing everything. “It was hard, but if I never made any of the mistakes I did, I never would’ve grown and learned to make sure they don’t happen again.”
Rosalina hums. “No battles are more intense than those we fight within ourselves…” she says, a little quiet, almost like she’s saying it to herself. There’s a sad expression on her face Shadow can only describe as motherly. “I’m sorry your own creators made you go through that. To bring you into the universe and treat you like that…”
Shadow sighs as he pokes the cake on his own plate with his fork. “I’ve come to terms with it. I’m the one to determine my own destiny. Like you said, grief is inevitable with the lives we live, but I can’t let ghosts bring me down.”
“How old did you say you were?”
“I’m…” Shadow starts, thinking about it for a bit. He realizes he’s never actually been asked that. He’s not sure whether to answer with the literal or mental age at first, but settles with the mental one since he knows that’s what Rosalina looks for. “Fifteen.”
Shadow hears Rosalina take a deep breath with closed eyes. She exhales softly and continues like normal. “You protect the planet because your special one wished for you to do so, but you also said it’s the right thing to do,” she says. “Is that part of you determining your own destiny?”
Shadow finishes his cake and puts his plate to the side, raising his knees to his chest again the same as Rosalina. He thinks for a moment, then nods. “I was stuck in my own head for a while, trying to figure out how to protect a world so full of flaws when my memories from fifty years ago were still so fresh in my mind. I wasn’t sure if I was doing anything noteworthy when things calmed down after the alien invasion.” He rests his arms on his knees and his chin in his hand. “People on the planet hate each other. It’s the simple truth, although I wish it wasn’t.” He opens his palm in front of him and catches a blue Star Bit. “I think the good on Earth far outweighs the bad, though.
“The owner of the convenience store I frequent offering me extra bread, a good song, a stray cat finding a forever home, the simple scent of lavender—” he glances over to his teammates in the distance, “—the people who stand by your side, no matter what.” He tosses the blue Star Bit into his mouth and swallows. Blue, like the planet he protects, like the starry sky above him, like the hedgehog who helped him, like the clothes adorned by his sister, like the clothes adorned by the immortal sitting next to him. “I think that’s what makes protecting the planet worth it for me.”
Rosalina sits up straight. “You’re a living star ,” she says with what sounds like amazement in her voice.
Shadow’s eyes widen and he’s not entirely sure what to say. He finds himself stifling a snicker. “Pfft—I appreciate the compliment.”
Rosalina lets out a chuckle of her own before continuing. “I mean—a beacon of hope on your own! By protecting the planet, you’re fulfilling the wish of your special one. I think you’ve been doing what you’ve hoped to this entire time, Shadow.” She looks down at the grass and squints a little, trying to find her words as she motions with her hands, then relaxes her shoulders and lays her palms flat on the grass. “I have seen the universe restart many times. Each time, it’s never quite the same way. The last time I visited, King Bowser attacked and I aided Mario in his journey to save the princess… and then it happened again, but differently. The things you describe, though, are pieces that never really change throughout every galaxy and reset. Every time, I have to come back home to nap in my favorite sleeping nook.”
Shadow almost feels like he stops in time for a bit as he sits under the moonlight, chunks of stars falling around him. In the midst of the slow moment, he realizes something. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone else understand it quite like you do.”
“I have to say I share the sentiment,” Rosalina says. “I’ve seen many things throughout my life and met many different beings, but it’s nice to speak with someone who truly understands.”
Shadow nods. He then yawns, putting his hand over his mouth. He scrunches his nose and blinks the tears out of his eyes.
Rosalina stifles a chuckle. “Are you tired? It is getting late.”
“I don’t… usually need sleep. Part of being the Ultimate Lifeform,” Shadow says, a little embarrassed that the lack of it only caught up to him now, in the middle of a conversation and during a night festival. For whatever reason, he can’t find himself to be dishonest with Rosalina. “I guess I need some now, though.”
“Well, whenever it is that you go home, I’d be glad to see you off,” she says. “I know the travel might make it difficult, but I’d be happy to speak with you again.”
Shadow’s not sure if he’s just tired, but he thinks he has an epiphany, and he knows he can’t sever this connection. This is someone he has to keep in his life. “Will you be attending next year’s Olympic Games?”
“Oh, Mario told me about that event! Of course I will,” she says, clasping her hands together. “Although I don’t think I’ll actually participate. I’m happy to just watch for now.” She then raises her pinkie in front of her. “Here, I’ll make this promise to you. One day I’ll show you around the Observatory, and you can show me around your world when I visit.”
Shadow smiles and raises his own pinkie. “Promise,” he says.
The two immortals interlock pinkies under the night sky.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the Star Bit cake,” she says. “I gave Peach the recipe I made when I was younger.”
“Rosalina? Rosalina?” Peach says in the midst of the loud stadium as she does her warm-up stretches before the first 100m race. “Are you alright, darling?”
Rosalina—sitting on a bench in casual attire different from both her usual and the sportswear everyone else adorns—snaps out of her thoughts at the sound of her friend’s voice, finally putting her focus on something other than glancing every which way of the large stadium. “I’m… looking for someone,” she says.
“Oh? Who are you looking for?”
Among the heads of the short Mobians that walk into the stadium from the locker rooms, she finally sees the black-and-red quills she was looking for. “Shadow!” she shouts, floating her way over.
Shadow turns his head from the crowd and his eyes light up when he sees her. “Rosalina,” he says with a small smile, meeting her halfway. “I’m glad to see you again.”
“Me too,” Rosalina says. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been well,” Shadow says. “I’m looking forward to that tour of the Observatory you promised.”
“And I’m looking forward to seeing your world,” she says.
A whistle goes off and echoes throughout the stadium, warning the participants of the first sports event starting soon.
“Although, it looks like you have a race to win first,” she says with a chuckle.
“I guess I do,” Shadow says as he looks in the direction of the sound’s origin. “Everyone in this stadium will be eating my dust.”
“Oh, I know they will. Shoot out there like a star, alright?” Rosalina says with a wink.
Shadow puts a hand on his hip and smiles. “You know I will.”