It was a dark night in Station Square. The moon, providing little illumination for the city, barely shone through the clouded skies. Since most people had gone to bed, the streets were quiet… except for the cries of a lone bat whose white fur glistened in the moon-light as she ran down the streets.

A few blocks down, Shadow was at his house watching the late show on television. The nonsensical babble was idiotic in his mind, but it was an acceptable diversion. He didn't want to accept the fact that he, the ultimate life form, had nothing to do on Saturday night. Suddenly there was a sharp, frantic knock at the door.

"I wonder who that could be." Shadow pondered as he opened the door.

There standing in the doorway was a dark figure.

"May I come in?" Shadow recognized the voice instantly; it was Rouge.

"Come on in Rouge. Man I am so glad you're here. I was so…" As Rouge stepped through the door, Shadow was shocked. She was covered in cuts, bruises and burns. The only seemingly good thing about her appearance was 3 band-aids; 1 on her forehead, 1 on her arm and 1 on her cheek.

"Oh my god what happened?! Come in, you sit here and I'll get you an ice pack. Ooh and maybe a first aid kit." said Shadow as he took Rouge by the hand and lead her into his living room.

"Thank you, Shadow. You're so sweet." Rouge said as she gently tried to lay herself down on his couch. Shadow walked into the kitchen and went to his freezer. He opened it and found an ice-pack.

"I really hope Rouge is okay." Shadow thought as he shut the freezer door. "She couldn't have been injured at G.U.N. because I'm her partner. Wherever she goes I go. Well, except for the bathroom." He chuckled.

"Shadow?"

"Uh, I'm coming Rouge." He walked back into the living room and gave Rouge the ice pack.

"Thanks." She said as she pressed it to her forehead.

"Rouge, what happened?!" Shadow said frantically. Rouge was silent.

"Look, Rouge, I know this might be hard to do, but you need to tell me what happened so I can help you."

Finally after a few more minutes of silence, Rouge said silently,

"He hits me"

"Beg pardon?" Shadow said.

"Knuckles. He hits me."

"Knuckles did this to you?!" Shadow practically screamed. Rouge removed the band-aid on her cheek and began to tell her story.

Flashback

Rouge opened the door to her apartment after a long day of working at G.U.N. as a secret agent.

"I'm home Knuckles!" she exclaimed as she stepped through the door.

"Where the hell have you been?!" he shouted, walking in from the bedroom.

"I was at work!" Rouge said as she shut the door and hung her coat in the closet.

"I thought I told you to NEVER go back there again!! I just know that you're cheating on me there!" he screamed.

"I would never cheat on you! I only have feelings for you!" Rouge said, knowing that that was a lie. A big lie.

""BULLSHIT!!!" Knuckles shouted. He ran up to her and punched her on the cheek, very hard. Rouge fell to the floor.

"Oh my… You poor girl! Come here" Shadow opened his arms and gave Rouge a big hug and a little kiss on the cheek.

"Oh! Um… thanks…" Rouge said. They were both blushing now.

"Well what happened after that?" Shadow asked. Rouge removed the band-aid on her forearm, revealing a dark-purple, very recent-looking scar.

Flashback

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!" Rouge said as Knuckles bent over to see eye to eye with her.

"You remember what happened the last time you lied to me?" he said. Rouge nodded with tears in her eyes remembering that night. [He beat her so hard that night; she was an inch away from death. Fortunately, someone next door had heard the ordeal and called the paramedics. But she had simply told the doctors and the police that someone had broken in and started fighting with her.

"Now, tell me who you're cheating on me with." Knuckles said.

"No one! I'm not cheating on you!" Knuckles stood up and kicked Rouge in the gut.

"Please stop this! I'm not cheating on you" she cried

"Tell me!!!" Knuckles shouted.

"It's no one!" she said. Knuckles then took out his pocketknife, flipped it open and stabbed Rouge in the arm.

"Augh!!!" Rouge screamed. Her arm was steadily pumping out blood as her tears mixed with it.

"Okay! Okay! It's Shadow. I've had feelings for him ever since he saved from the bomb on Prison Island"

"Oh really now?!" Knuckles stormed into their bedroom,grabbed something and came back out.

"Oh my god! Knuckles please don't!!!"

"You mean you actually have feelings for me?" Shadow asked.

"Yes I do. But I had to keep them a secret because I didn't want Knuckles to know. If he knew…."

"…He'd kill you." Knuckles had been known to be one of the most violent people in all of Station Square. After all he did take down a whole troop of Eggman's robots and then manage to get Eggman himself. Shadow shuddered as he remembered it…

"Rouge… I have something to tell you…" Shadow said

"What is it? And remember, you can tell me anything." Rouge said with a small smile and a wink as she dried her tears from remembering her beatings.

"I have feelings for you, too. Ever since I first laid my eyes on you, that day at the ARC, I knew it was true love. It's just…"

"Just what?" she asked

"It's just after I said that remark about the chaos emeralds to you, you know the 'If you want to live, leave the Chaos Emeralds where they are', I was afraid you would forever hate me. I hated myself for saying that. That's why I disappeared after saving everyone; I couldn't bear to see you after saying what I had"

"Shadow I want you to remember one thing: no matter what you do, I will ALWAYS love you." Rouge said with new tears forming.

"But then once you saved me from that pod in Eggman's lair, I hoped that we could start over."

"Aw, Shadow you're so sweet" Rouge said. They both sat there for a little bit, until Shadow started moving closer to Rouge. They both then looked deep into each other's eyes and smiled. Then they both leaned in closer and their lips touched. They then closed their eyes and enjoyed it. Shadow and Rouge then put their arms around each other. Shadow opened his mouth and explored Rouge's mouth as she started to quietly moan. Once Shadow needed to take a breath he opened his eyes and stopped. He then noticed something behind Rouge, that seemed invisible until now. He glanced over her shoulder and a wave of terror rushed through him. In the mirror that they had been making out in front of sat Shadow and an empty couch.

"Rouge, why… Why can't I see you in the mirror?!" She then looked down at her feet crying again.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked. Rouge then looked up and removed the band-aid covering her forehead. In its place was a small but very noticeable crimson red bullet hole.

"I just wanted to tell you that I love you, before I had to go..."