She took herself aside to clean the wound on her arm, away from the cautious eyes of her Father and the curious eyes of her Uncle. It was not, in relation to injuries she had sustained in the past, that bad. It was a clean line and the blood seeped out slowly, like jam through a gauze. It stung, she could not deny that, but as she parted the flesh she could see it did not run deep and would heal in a matter of days. It might have been longer for regular folks, but her genetic make up was different to most. Her Father was well aware of this too, and he knew her tolerance to pain was high...though that strength mostly came from her Mother.
No, the reason she could not let them see, was the fact there was no visible source to cause a cut. The city was peaceful and the streets were clean. Years upon years of war with the Eggman empire meant an entire generation knew nothing but the need to repair and replace and to clean and to clear. The remnants of a battle could take a town a day to remove. A battle had indeed taken place here only a day ago, and she was part of the patrol keeping an eye on things, but to look at the place now you would never know.
She grimaced, wondering how she was going to cover herself up. She had left her jacket at headquarters, her body glowing with an unnatural heat for this time of year. Her temperature never seemed to regulate to the weather around her and she was constantly changing her clothes to suit the varying levels of cold and warmth that seeped in to her from the ether. Her Mother told her it was down to her hormones and the crazy ways a teenage body fluctuated as she matured, but Nula knew that to be a lie. Or at least, she knew it was not the truth, but whatever her parents truly believed was not something they would share with her.
The same could be said for the golden, metal collar she wore around her neck. Her memory was fuzzy now, but in her minds eye she could see her Father clamping it around her neck as a child. Or, her Father was there holding her as he was also in front of her fitting the collar...somehow he seemed to take shape in both roles. She had always been told the same thing, that it was to help control her speed and strength. She could run with more focus and aim a spin dash better. She could lift heavier weights than expected of her small stature, and now without losing the surge strength and toppling over. It made complete sense, but what did not make sense was that she wasn't allowed to take her collar off, not that she even could if a moment of rebellion took her. While she was at rest, while she slept, while she ate, her collar was forever fixed around her neck. It was mostly just background noise, but at times she could swear she felt it fizzle and crackled, like it was charged with static. To that she was told, she was just imagining it.
She heard her Father call her name, but there was a surge of anger inside her and she crouched down out of sight. For so long now she had been hiding these pains and the damage that appeared suddenly on her skin. She could always come up with an excuse to hide the truth. She would say it was from fighting a Badnik or training with one of her various cousins or a slip while she was cooking. She was always prepared, but this time she had been caught unawares and now was not the time to tell her Father that she magically got hurt for no reason, because if she went down that route she knew she would end up screaming at him. Screaming at both of them for telling her that her twin brother was nothing more than an imaginary friend she had created as a child. Screaming at all their friends, who called themselves her Uncles and Aunts, who went along with the lie. Screaming in to the air, hoping her brother could somehow hear her, and show himself to her finally so she could beat him to a pulp for abandoning her and never coming home.
She looked at the wound on her arm, and wondered how bad the one on his arm was. Did they match? Or did she only feel a residual energy and he had bore the brunt if the impact. She did not know if the connection worked both ways, or if he even knew she was out there. Was he still with Shadow? Was her twin-from-another-Father alone in the world?
Her ear twitched at the sound of her voice being called again. On the brink of tears she spied a small collection of trees close by and she ran for them at a silent and formidable speed. She crashed in to a branch, only causing damage to the tree itself but it certainly looked like it could have wounded her. Crying out in fake distress her Father was soon by her side.
"It's been a while since you lost control,'' Sonic sighed with a light tone in his voice, "I've told you before about taking it carefully around woods. Hidden low branches everyw...''
"I know Dad,'' she interrupted with a little more frustration in her voice than intended, "I guess I'm still a little sleepy.''
The blue hedgehog pouted at her, "want me to take you home and tuck you in? Read you a story? Get you some warm milk and a teddy bear?''
"Daddy stop it,'' she snorted, the anger she was feeling starting to fade in the wake of the gentle teasing of her Father, "I'll help you and Uncle Espio finish the patrol and then take a nap.''
Sonic smiled at her proudly, "Alright, but let's get that covered up first. Your Mother finds out I let you wander around with a wound exposed to the elements she'll clout me.''
Nula grinned back at him and nodded. As he bandaged her up she looked out in to the distance, hoping that the speed she healed at would at least aid her long, lost, Not-Twin.
