A/N: Hey everyone! The Tales of Our Lives is my first Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic in a long time. The first one I made was waaay back when I was...12? Either way it wasn't a pretty sight.

Anyway, there's a few important notes that you may want to know about the fic. First is that I've been writing the chapters a little bit at a time, so it may take me a while to post a new chapter. I'm going to try to update once every time I make a new chapter (I'm at chapter five now) or once every two weeks, whichever comes first. I'm trying to stop my habit of leaving stories unfinished, and this may be the best way to do it.

Second is that the timeline for this story is going to be a little different. Initially I wanted to have the story in Shadow's POV, but as I kept writing, I ended up staying in Maria's. Since I still want to write Shadow's experiences too, I'm going switch POVs and times every major instance happens. So, for example, after four chapters of being with Maria, we'll switch back to Shadow at the beginning of the story. I apologize if this causes any confusion, and it will most likely change after the story ends.

Third is that this story happens after Sonic Heroes, and that Shadow the Hedgehog didn't happen. The reason for this is because I've never played Shadow the Hedgehog (although I wish I could!), and though I know some of the basics, I don't know enough to even attempt to make things accurate. I may take some plot points from the game and incorporate it into the story, but it will be completely different.

Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog, it's characters, places, etc. belong to the Sonic Team and Sega. This fiction is solely for fun, and definitely not for profit or to take credit of any of the previously mentioned.

Thanks for your patience! Enjoy!

The Tales of Our Lives

Chapter 1: Sleeping Beauty

In the haziness of her mind, she had come to realize that she had slept too long.

Her body ached as if she hadn't moved in years, her nerves sending waves of dull throbs from her head to her toes. In fact, her lungs felt as if they were yearning to pump faster, as if they were aching to move more, as if they were on fire...

She struggled to open her eyes as the pain made her more alert. To make matters worse, she was starting to believe that she was drowning. Drowning in what? Water? It felt thicker than that. Was she dying?

Finally, she gained the strength to push her eyelids open, and opened her mouth in pure instinct to breathe-a pointless gesture! The brown translucent liquid clouded her vision past the glass dome that she was entrapped in. Panic set in, and she pounded the window with her fists as hard as she could. Couldn't anybody hear her? She was going to drown! She started kicking the glass, growing more and more desperate as every second passed by. With a shrill sound, she slammed her feet into the prison. She heard a large crack, and the fluid seeped out of the large hole. She couldn't wiggle out just yet, so she continued pounding against the spider web cracks until she was free.

She pulled herself out of the glass coffin with an agonizing protest from her body, violently coughing up the fluid from her lungs. It felt like she would never be able to breathe again, and what may have been only a minute felt like hours to her. Finally, the coughing spell had subsided, leaving her exhausted and very much enjoying the ability to inhale.

At last, she could concentrate on seeing. Perhaps the contaminated water had affected her sight, as everything was still out of focus. She rubbed her eyes-wait, what was that gritty feeling? Looking down at the back of her hand, she noticed that her skin color was tanner than her usual fair color. And they were bigger, it seemed. She squinted and felt her hands. Was it hair? Or more like fur...

As her vision came back, she began to realize that it wasn't just her hands that had changed. Her feet were different, her limbs skinnier, and dear goodness, was that her nose? She stood and turned to the capsule, noticing that her favorite blue dress now wore like an oversized blanket. After attempting to look at the skewed image reflected off the machine, she picked up a broken piece of glass and looked at her reflection.

"What...?" Her rough voice cracked. Immediately she brought her free hand up to her face, feeling her fuzzy cheeks, transfixed by the stranger copying her moves in the mirror. She tried to run her fingers through her normally silky hair, only to find that the consistency had turned to something akin to soft needles.

Clearly, she wasn't human anymore. She was like-

The memories of gunshots and people screaming filled her head, and with sudden panic, she dropped the fragment and ran to what looked like the exit.

"Shadow!"

The door activated and screeched open as if it hadn't been used in years. Against the strangeness of her new body, she ran as best she could down the hallway, yelling for anyone to answer.

" Hello? Where is everybody?" Her voice echoed through the metal halls. "Grandpa?"

The last she could remember was Shadow screaming her name and pounding against the glass of the escape pod as it launched. After that, she felt the heaviness of her body being too much, sinking to the floor, and closing her eyes. But what happened after that? Was everyone okay? Did anyone find Shadow?

She turned left at the fork, towards her grandfather's office, calling out until her voice went sore. No one answered, and she was left confused and once again breathless. Tears began to spring from the corner of her eyes, and the eeriness of the silence in the usually bustling colony started to creep up on her. The halls were even dingy and looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a long while, and the only accompaniment to her wavering emotions were the flickering lights. Had G.U.N. detained everyone on board? It felt like she was the only living creature in the colony!

"Don't cry," She mumbled to herself and took a few deep breaths. "I can't do anything just by crying." Chances were, someone had to be here. After all, the colony was still up and running, and it would be crazy to think that such a place would be abandoned. What would be the best thing to do right now?

She looked down at her hands. Even if nobody else could tell her what happened, then surely she would be able to find out herself. She turned back the way she came, this time at a much slower pace. Her footsteps echoed against the metal walls, and she concentrated on the sound. She could hear noises that she had never heard before.

"Hedgehog ears." She smiled despite herself, and reached to touch her new ears. The appendages twitched from the disturbance and it tickled a little. She always wondered what it was like to have ears like Shadow's, and now she knew.

Eventually she had made it back to the original hallway. Funny though, the door she came out of had malfunctioned and remained open. The security lock appeared to be roughed up, as if someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. Since when did that happen?

Come to think of it, she never could go in that room before. It was one of Grandpa's top-secret project facilities, and no matter how much her and Shadow tried, they could never figure out the password. Why did they put her in there instead of the infirmary?

Her apprehensiveness began to transform into curiosity as she stepped back into the secret room. Upon an initial sweep of the place, she had noticed that several monitors connected to the now offline machine and the liquid that nearly drowned her lay in small puddles around the capsule. Broken glass and colored cables littered the floor, and it looked like the whole system was supported by its own monster of a generator. But what intrigued her the most was the small metal table holding surgical items nearby.

Careful of the glass, she tiptoed her way to the table. A scalpel, tweezers, a bullet-that bullet. Quickly she tried to reach for her wound, only to find unbroken skin. That had to be impossible though, as she remembered the bullet tearing through her flesh and piercing her heart. There was no way she could have survived...

Then she caught sight of a video camera a few feet behind, pointed at the capsule. She hesitated a bit. Was she really ready to see this? Maybe the better question was if she was going to be able to accept the truth.

She went to it and grabbed the recorder from its stand. Her mouth went dry as she rewound the movie as fast as possible, looking at the tiny screen with a certain fear. Finally, the tape gave a small click, and the movie began.

The screen cut to the capsule, still holding her human body inside. The monitors beeped and flashed with all sorts of information; anything from her heartbeat to her brain signals were being tracked. She could barely make out the stained bandages wrapped around her chest, and the fluid being muddied with what could be assumed as her own blood. Her stomach churned at the sight, and she covered her mouth in disgust. Suddenly her grandfather appeared on the screen, addressing the camera.

"I don't have much time. In a few days, the soldiers will shut down the station and take any last survivors with it." His eyes shifted to something off screen, possibly the door.

"When one of my assistants found Maria's body near the escape pods, he brought her here, to the G.A.R.S.. She," He gave a shaky sigh that pierced her heart. "She was in bad shape when she came in. Those damned soldiers shot at whoever was in the facility. Shot her like she was an animal."

She placed a hand over her chest where the bullet had lodged. Her grandfather continued. "We had to remove the bullet before placing her in the machine. She is in critical condition, but the procedure seems to be stalling any further complications. By integrating Shadow's genetic code into the system, his regeneration capabilities should be able to become a part of Maria's code. However, while the theory may be sound, the results can be anything from pure rejection to..." He paused and grimaced at the thought. "I honestly don't know if this will work, but it was the only method I could think of in order to save her life. The doctors couldn't do anything more for her-" His voiced hitched at the end and he fought back a sob. She could feel the tears rise up from her own eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Maria! My beautiful granddaughter! I'm so sorry about everything!" The video cut off and back on, this time the date stamp had changed. Her tears rolled down and splattered onto the floor as she watched her own heart rate become flat, and her grandfather and fellow scientists swarm around the machine. She couldn't understand what happened but after a few minutes of flurrying activity, they slowed to a halt. Her grandfather never looked so defeated in his life, hunched over her still form. He ordered the others to leave, and one by one, they shuffled out of sight. A loud gunshot was heard, and he jerked up from his slumped position. Her grandfather glanced at the camera with the most frightening look she had ever seen. It sent chills down her spine, and she had to force herself not to drop the camera.

Heavy steps emanated from the speakers. Another voice popped in, unfamiliar. "All clear, sir." The soldier appeared next to her makeshift casket, peered into the glass for a few seconds, and pulled the cords from the monitors out. That horrible flat noise stopped, and the soldier walked away.

The film went on with virtually no change for the few minutes that followed, and she pressed the fast forward button to see if that was all that the video could offer. The screen flickered to black and then to fuzz.

Briefly she wondered if Grandpa would have considered this a success or a failure.

Still, for now she was the same old Maria on the inside. If nothing else, she still had her life. Now if only there was a way to get into contact with Shadow...

...Or perhaps she was better off going to her room for a quick bath and a new set of clothes.

to be continued...

Trivia Time!

This one's an easy chapter to understand the relation to the title. Sleeping Beauty refers to, of course, Maria waking up from her 50 year coma. Only instead of a prince waking her up, it's fluid flirting with her lungs. :)

Second is that home video cameras (or, at least portable ones) didn't actually exist until the late 1970's. Technically the film we see of Gerald Robotnik was made probably on a large, non-portable one separate from the one in the chapter. The video camera we see in this chapter is what I imagine to be an extra security camera made into a makeshift camcorder.

I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. Thanks for reading!