CHAPTER 1

It was complete darkness and the only thing that could be heard was terrified voices of others talking and shouting.

"What do you think you're doing?" A familiar male voice shouted.

"You can't do this!" Another had shouted out also sounding quite familiar.

"This isn't fair!" That voice. It sounded like it could have been Espio's.

Rouge let out a tired and groggy moan as she slowly opened her eyes only to find herself in a wide and well lit room that looked like it resembled some sort of courtroom with a large staircase leading up to the top floor. She found it difficult to move as she was on her knees and her wrists were restrained behind her with what it felt like handcuffs. In front of her, she caught sight of a yellow fox woman sitting behind a large brown desk that resembled the type of desk a judge would sit behind. She recognized the fox woman right off the bat. It was none other than Mayor Sarah Wish. While she wondered why she was present, she continued to scan around the strange room and spotted the leaders and captains of the rest of The Council standing around her. Even the entire Chaotix team were gathered together. Seeing The Chaotix detectives was both relieving yet alarming especially when they all had horrific looks on their faces. Her heart raced inside her chest when she also caught sight of a few G.U.N. soldiers pacing around the room. The last thing she could remember was confronting a couple of military soldiers outside of her home. After that, everything was a blur. The more she observed her team members worried looks, the more she wanted to go into panic. She started to attempt to break out of the handcuffs that were around her wrists. "...What? What is this? What's going on?"

"Rouge?"

She gasped as she heard the familiar voice call out to her. She turned and saw a black and red male hedgehog setting next to her with him in the same position as her.

Despite him being in the situation they were both in, he seemed relieved to see her. "You're awake."

"Shadow?" Her eyes glanced up at the male yellow lion who stood next to Shadow while holding a large axe down beside him. The closer she looked at him, the more she was beginning to recall her last previous moments before ending up at the strange place. Right before she fell unconscious, she caught sight of two figures wearing black tactical uniforms but one familiar lion had stood out. He was none other than Trevor Grey. Commander of the G.U.N. military. He was the one who attacked her and Shadow. But why was the question? "Trevor? What's going on?"

Trevor looked down at her ready to respond until Shadow had spoken first. "It appears we've been unwillingly summoned to a trial", he spoke while giving Sarah a serious look from afar.

"...A trial? What?" Before she could ask anymore questions, the yellow fox woman had spoken loud enough to silence everyone in the room.

"Silence! Now that we're all here, we can start the trial for Shadow The Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat who both affiliated themselves with The Dark Alliance."

Nicole nervously clasped her hands together and spoke quietly over to Luke who stood next to her, "This isn't good..." It was a nerve wrecking feeling for her and she was sure for others as well to be assembled together for something so serious.

"Tell me about it", Luke replied back to her in a whisper.

With an excited look on his face, Rick rubbed his hands together as he impatiently waited for the trial to officially begin. "Heh, this is gonna be good!"

With Trevor standing near him and Rouge with a dangerously sharp axe in his hands and the entire Council with all team members gathered in one place, it was a given that this would all turn into a life or death situation. He had to admit. He saw this coming but before he or Rouge could confront Sarah or The Council peacefully, they decided to take matters into their hands the hard way apparently. "Sarah, let me explain..."

"You will be silent until you are given the right to speak!" Sarah demanded.

After Sarah angrily shouted towards him, he figured it would be best to be quiet and answer her questions when she wanted him to. One wrong word could be the end for both him and Rouge.

Espio took a small step forward and held his hands out while he looked up towards Sarah. "Sarah, you're going about this all wrong here! Shadow and Rouge are fine now. Just look at them!"

Sarah turned to the purple chameleon with a look that completely brushed away his words. She angrily pointed towards him, "And you! All of you! Your entire team disobeyed my orders! You took matters into your own hands and pursued them without informing me or the rest of The Council! I should disapline you and your entire team for your treason!" Her eyes had then angrily flashed over to Luke, "That goes for you too, Luke! If you know what's best for all of you then you will all remain silent!"

With a deep gulp, Espio slowly stepped back and realized from that point on, what he wanted to say wouldn't matter. If he hadn't went under her orders, maybe she would've been more open towards him. He still didn't know how Sarah ended up finding out about their own personal mission to go confront Shadow and Rouge. One part of him wanted to think Luke had spoken something about it. However that wouldn't be possible with him knowing what consequences would happen if Sarah learned of his involvement with the mission. All and all it didn't really matter in the end. He screwed himself and now he had to stand back and hope that Sarah would have mercy on them.

Sarah had glanced down at some papers and then looked over to Rouge. "Rouge The Bat, Weapon Specialist of The Chaotix Detective Agency, you were captured by a member of The Dark Alliance and was involuntarily turned into a demon am I correct?"

Though Rouge had little to no memory of her time of being a demon, she was determined to answer all of Sarah's questions to the best of her ability. "Um, yes."

"And while you were in that state, you confronted The Chaotix team's leader also known as your husband, Shadow The Hedgehog. You reactivated his demonic powers by forcing him to drink your own demonic blood?"

Though she wasn't filled in on what all completely happened, Shadow did tell her that The Dark Alliance used her to restore his demonic powers. "...Well that's what I've been told. I was apparently under some sort of mind control so I honestly can't remember what all I did after I was turned."

Sarah placed a finger to her chin as she heard Rouge confirm her question. "I see." She had then turned to Shadow, "You Shadow, were still aware of your words and actions while being overshadowed by Darkness. Am I correct?"

He made a small nod, "Yes..." Every time his demonic counterpart took control of his body, he would still be aware of what was going on during the time. He hated remembering all of the things Darkness made him do. At that point, he had wished he had no memory of what had happened either.

"Then tell us. What all actions did Rouge perform while she was turned?"

He bit his lip as he hesitated. He glanced back at the worried bat woman who was beside him and then back at Sarah. He knew he had to tell what all had happened. However it wasn't easy to just come out and say it. "...Do I really have to..."

She made a nod with a bitter look on her face. "Yes you are on trial may I remind you. You lie about anything and it will be your head."

His eyes shifted over to Trevor who closely stood next to him while making sure he presented the sharp blade of the axe front and center with him. With him reassuring that he would carry out his threat once he was ordered to, Shadow found out he really didn't have a choice. He turned back to Sarah, "...She killed people...we both did. We killed innocent lives and attacked our teammates. We attacked everyone..."

Sarah leaned her back against the chair she sat in while she continued to listen to Shadow.

He didn't want to make Rouge look like a monster. After all it wasn't all her fault. "But please. Rouge...she had no control of her actions. She was forced to do all of those things."

"But you..." Sarah spoke while she slightly rubbed her chin. "You knew what was going on. Didn't you?"

"Y-yes...but Darkness...his will was so overpowering. I couldn't fight it. I couldn't fight him." His eyes traveled down to the floor in both remorse and guilt. There was no other time in his entire life that he truly felt utterly weak. He was beginning to wonder if it was even possible to ever fight Darkness' control over him.

Sarah made a disappointed and heavy sigh as her eyes slowly shifted away from him, "That's what I was afraid you'd say..." Her eyes had then looked down at the papers on her desk, "Shadow The Hedgehog and Rouge The Bat...for affiliating yourselves with The Dark Alliance and the murders of these known victims...Carrie Summers, Vincent Ray, Mike Burnside, Kelsey Fields..."

The more of the victim's names she read, the more both Shadow and Rouge felt guilty. It was sickening to hear all of the names of the people they had apparently killed. And the worse part of it all, they were just people they confirmed that were killed by them. Those weren't even all of the victims and Shadow even knew that. All of those people. Innocent people. Their eyes fell heavy on the floor as they couldn't look at anyone in the room.

After reading all of the names of the victims, Sarah looked away from the papers and looked back at them. "And for also threatening and attacking The Council, I sentence you both to an immediate execution."

After giving out her sentence to them both, horrified gasps and comments filled the entire room.

Sarah locked her cold eyes onto both Shadow and Rouge, "Death by decapitation."

Tonya wanted to think that this all couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. "Miss Wish! No!"

Espio thought there was something they could do to stop this all from happening. There had to be. "Sarah! Are you crazy?"

"You can't do this to them!" Luke shouted angrily.

While holding Spike in her arms, Tikal was sure to present Spike towards Sarah. "But you can't kill them! What about their son? You expect him to grow up in a world without both his parents?" She had hoped that Sarah would lift the punishment for their son's sake.

Sarah's eyes fell onto the sight of the content baby hedgehog smiling at her without a care in the world and with him completely not knowing what was going on. She didn't want to do it but she had to put her personal feelings aside and do what was best for everyone. Even if it meant taking the baby hedgehog's parents away from him. "I feel for the child. I really do but I can't take anymore chances." She took her clenched fist and slammed it down onto the surface of the desk. "I won't have this Council let alone the entire world become threatened by these demons any longer."

Shadow's heart raced when he looked over to see Trevor step over to Rouge. When Rouge realized that he was going to kill her first, she turned to Shadow with tears swelling in her eyes.

"...Shadow?" She spoke in a frightened and cracked tone before Trevor forcefully pushed her head down to the floor and held the blade of the axe near her neck.

Once he saw the terrified look in her eyes, he didn't want her to suffer the same fate as him. He thought if anyone should die, it would be him. It wouldn't be right to take her life away especially when she couldn't even remember the things she had done. "No..." He quickly turned back to Sarah, "Wait a minute, Sarah!"

Sarah slowly shook her head as she tried to keep a focused look on her face. This was the first time she had to make a decision like this and it was challenging for her but she did this because she thought this had to be done. "I can't lose anymore of my people to you. I just can't..."

"Sarah!" Shadow shouted in a panicked voice. "Sarah, no! It's not her fault! She couldn't control her actions! Hell she can't even remember what she did!" As he spoke out, it appeared that none of this words were getting through to her but he was determined to keep trying. Especially when he saw Trevor starting to raise the axe above her. "Look at her! Look at her eyes damn it! She's not a demon!" He had then saw her glancing over to look at Rouge's aqua and tear filled eyes. "She's nothing like me! Please!" He begged in a desperate tone, "Don't kill her! It's me! It's me you want dead! Kill me instead damn it! Just kill me!"

When Sarah looked back over to him, she could see his tears streaming down his face. He loved her. He really loved her and he wanted her to continue living her life and raising their son. She made a slight sigh as she began to question was it really necessary to kill both of them? All demons and apparently half demons had red eyes. Rouge's eyes were still aqua green. He was right. Rouge wasn't a demon. Especially when the biggest threat was only Shadow himself. She quickly held her hand up and out towards Trevor signaling him to pause from his actions. "Wait. Due to her being unaware of her actions, I will spare your wife's life."

After she made her announcement, Trevor took the blade of the axe away from Rouge's neck and stepped away from her.

Two G.U.N. soldiers approached her and picked her body off from the floor and released her wrists from the handcuffs that were restraining her.

A relieved look appeared on Shadow's face as he saw her being released and pulled over to the side with the rest of the group. He couldn't be anymore happy that he convinced Sarah to refrain from killing his wife. His ears twitched as he heard Sarah's cruel tone of voice speaking out to him.

"But you..." She spoke while pointing towards him. "We will deal with you another way..."

Tikal's legs shook nervously as she held Spike closer to her. She watched as Nails placed a hand on her shoulder and gently rubbing it to try to calm her down. "I don't think my heart can take all of this suspense", she whispered over to her lover.

"Hey they released Rouge. Shadow will be okay too. You'll see", Nails whispered back to her in a hopeful tone.

Sarah rested her elbows on the surface of the desk while she looked towards Shadow. "I say the leaders will do a vote on whether you live or die."

After hearing that, Espio glanced at Leon, Amethyst and Sally who all had looks on their faces that appeared that they wanted Shadow dead. Even with Luke's vote on not killing him, it would still be three against one. "Oh shit..." he swore harshly under his breath.

Tonya turned to Espio with a worried look on her face after hearing him swearing under his breath. "You can't say anything?" She asked in a whisper.

The chameleon sighed heavily in frustration, "I'm afraid not. This just turned into a leaders only thing. Other than Luke being on our side, it looks like Shadow doesn't have a chance."

Tonya placed her finger gently to her lips, "Oh no..."

While Freya stood quietly next to the rest of the worried group of Chaotix detectives, her eyes wandered over to the leaders of the other teams who all seemed to give the hedgehog hateful glares. She then looked back to Shadow who seemed that he had given up hope on trying to fight for his life. She slowly clenched her fists that was hanging next to her waist and gave him the same cold glare from where she was standing.

Sarah had then looked over to the male brown lion who stood closely next to his second in command none other than Rick. "Leon of The Crimson Blade. Your vote?"

The lion glanced over to Rick who had his arms crossed and gave him a slight nod with an evil smirk. He turned away from him and looked back at Sarah with a hand in the pocket of his pants. "He's a demon and a menace just as the rest of them. Kill him."

After hearing his vote, Sarah turned to the black male jackal with his second in command Dave standing next to him. "Luke from The Black Shield. Your vote?"

The male blue skunk looked over to Luke as he began to speak out towards her.

"I know Shadow and he would never harm or kill anyone. He loves his family and his team dearly. The man who we all saw kill all those people and attack us, that wasn't him. Spare him."

Even when Espio already knew that he could rely on Luke, it was still refreshing to hear such positive words towards Shadow pass through another Council member's lips.

After hearing Luke's vote, Sarah turned to the pink female lynx who stood next to the white rabbit woman who was her second in command. "Amethyst from The Radiant Guard. Your vote?"

The pink lynx woman made a saddened look as her eyes slowly shifted away from Sarah's. She nervously rubbed her hands together. She hated nothing more than to see another Council member on the verge of death by just simple words. She was never the type of person to be for violence but this was all for a different matter and she had to put her feelings about it behind her for once. "I didn't want to believe it, but yes Shadow can be a danger to us and our society and I'm not willing to take that risk again. Kill him..."

Espio's eyes slowly wandered down to the floor as he feared this would be the result of everyone's vote. Only one more vote would end up saving Shadow or either sealing his fate. He and the rest of the room had then had all their eyes set on the brown chipmunk woman standing silently next to her second in command.

While biting her bottom lip in worry, Nicole turned her attention to her leader who had a cold and unreadable expression on her face. She remembered how Sally came back from her mission from Acorn Kingdom and annouced to her and the rest of her team that her and Shadow had called a truce with each other and they declared themselves friends. However she didn't know if she felt that way now especially witnessing what had just happened.

Sarah looked over to Sally, "Sally Acorn from The Royal Guardians. Your vote?"

And at that moment, the entire room had their attention fall on her. Back in Acorn Kingdom, she stood in front of large crowds on a regular to announce royal declarations but this was something entirely different. This was it. Right then her vote would decide if Shadow were to live or die. Though she was nervous wreck from the inside, she tried to conceal her emotions.

Appex saw the cold expression Sally was giving off and leaned over to Espio to whisper to him. "Everything's going to be fine right? She and Shadow are supposed to be cool now. Right?"

Espio slightly shook his head and whispered back over to him. "While he was Darkness, Sonic said something about him attacking her so I don't know..." He remembered when Sonic confronted him and accused Shadow of possibly raping her. He himself wasn't sure of what the real story was. But whatever he had done to her, it didn't look like Sally carelessly brushed it off.

Appex remembered that Sonic had came and talked to Espio about something. Shadow had attacked Sally? What did he exactly do? Wouldn't she had said something to The Council about it by now? And most importantly, why was she being so quiet about it? "What?"

When Sally saw Shadow raising his head from the floor and making eye contact with her, her heart sank. Just like that instant flashbacks between her and Shadow had flooded her mind. From when they first met and completely hated each other, to them finally talking about their feelings and becoming friends leading up to the mistake of her looking at him more than just a friend. Even when he had confronted her about them being strictly just friends, she always buried a hidden lust for him. And with his demonic couterpart tricking her to sleep with him, her feelings for him have never been more out of place. The way he kissed her, the way he pleasured her, how good he made her feel at that moment. But it wasn't him. It wasn't his actions. It wasn't his feelings. He was merely a puppet of that moment. Like her, he was just being used. And it made her feel dirty and vile for the things they both had done together. She didn't know if she could live with that kind of guilt especially with him still being in the picture. She gulped and clenched both of her fists tightly as she found it difficult to look away from him.

Rick noticed her hesitation and couldn't understand why. After all she like him had hated Shadow so much up to point where they both wanted to kill him. He gritted his teeth and glared over at her. "What the hell are you waiting for, Sally! Vote already! Have them kill this piece of shit!"

Sarah's eyes flashed over to the grey hyena, "Silence, Rick!" She had then looked back over to Sally and had to admit that she was running out of patience herself. However like Rick, she couldn't understand why Sally was so hesitant. Did she perhaps have some sort of soft spot for him? "Sally? Your vote now please."

With everyone getting impatient, she couldn't bring herself to say her vote. While she slowly unclenched her fists, she turned away from the black and red hedgehog and sadly closed her eyes. She slightly shook her head as a silent vote.

When Sarah saw her shaking her head, she took her reaction as a vote to kill him. "Very well..."

Tikal noticed everyone's worried looks and had feared the worst was happening. "Wait...what's...what's happening?" She had then heard Freya's low voice speaking while she stood next to her.

"Shadow is finally going to die..."

When Tikal turned to Freya, she saw nothing but a cold and hateful look on her face while she stared at Shadow. "Huh?"

"Good riddance..." She muttered in a hateful tone under her breath.

Tikal knew that Freya had developed a new hate towards Shadow but her words still sent her into shock. After all Freya at one point had looked up to Shadow. It was actually pretty horrifying to see her like this.

Just when she heard Sarah's final verdict, more tears swelled in Rouge's eyes. Her tears streamed down her face as she saw Trevor stepping closer to Shadow while holding the giant axe tightly in his hands. She couldn't believe it. This was actually happening. Shadow was actually going to die. "No..." she softly sobbed. "Shadow...Shadow!" Before she could run over to him, she was held back by the two G.U.N. soldiers that stood close to her.

Shadow slowly looked up at the male yellow lion when he heard him speaking out to him.

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I really don't want to do this..."

As he looked at him, he could tell that he didn't want this to happen either. But due to it being his job, he truly had no right to stop this. At this point, it was better off to give up and let everything happen. "It's okay, Trevor. It's okay..."

Rouge sobbed and screamed loudly while she was still being restrained by the two soldiers. "Shadow!"

Shadow looked over to Rouge who had tears streaming down her face. As much as he hated seeing her like this, it was all for the best. She was safe and it was all that mattered to him. "I love you, Rouge. Take care of Spike."

With her face drenched in tears, she couldn't believe that this was the end. She didn't want to face it but it was reality.

Shadow had then looked over to Espio who looked like he was on the edge of tears. "Espio, take care of everyone. Take care of my family."

After hearing him say that, he couldn't fight back his tears any longer. A tear had slowly streamed down his face as he realized that he was going to lose the person he had been close with for years. His best friend that was practically a brother to him. "Shadow..."

While everyone else seemed to have depressing and silent looks on their faces, Rick's loud and thrilled voice could be heard throughout the room. "Yes! Finally! Kill that demon scum once and for all!"

"I'll never forget what all you've done for me and G.U.N. Thank you and goodbye..." Trevor slowly raised the sharp blade of the axe in the air and had it aimed for the back of his neck while Shadow had looked down to the floor.

While Shadow held his head down towards the floor, he shut his eyes tightly and awaited for his fate to be sealed. He had then heard a woman's voice yelling within the silent room.

"Stop!"

With him suddenly hearing the loud yelling, Trevor swung the axe down slightly to the right just enough to miss slicing Shadow's head clear off. He recognized the voice and looked over to the brown chipmunk woman.

Sarah turned to Sally who was stepping forward towards Trevor and Shadow. "Sally? What is the meaning of..."

"Don't do it!" She shouted while she stopped in her tracks and turned to the confused fox woman. "Don't kill him!"

Shadow slowly looked away from the floor and turned to Sally as well. He had wondered why she suddenly had stopped the execution.

Sarah arched an eyebrow towards her in confusion, "He deserves this, Sally! You know that!"

Sally made a slow nod towards her, "I know. He's done things. Horrible things but Luke is right. The man who threatened us and attacked us. It wasn't Shadow." She had then looked back over to Shadow, "Shadow is the most kindest and purest of us all. He saved this city countless times. He even helped to restore and balance the G.U.N. military." She looked back at Sarah, "He's been there for you, for The Council, hell without him my kingdom would've been destroyed. We all would not be where we are today without him. The world needs him. The world needs Shadow The Hedgehog."

After Sally's words, Sarah and the rest of The Council members began to overthink their thoughts about Shadow.

While everyone was murmuring and talking amongst themselves Shadow locked his eyes with Sally and saw her having a small yet warm smile on her face. He didn't know what was going on. He just knew she had hated him for what he had done and to her. Why was she suddenly on his side?

Sarah looked over at Shadow and made a small nod, "Very well. Shadow The Hedgehog, your life has been spared."

With a sniffle, a happy and relived look formed on Rouge's face. "Thank God!"

While everyone had relieved looks on their faces, Rick had an angered expression on his face. "What!"

Sarah continued to speak, "Instead you will be suspended of your duties on The Council and acting out as leader of The Chaotix until further notice."

Ker had figured since that was Shadow's punishment, it wasn't as horrible as he thought it was going to be. "That's not so bad", he spoke lowly to himself.

Sarah continued announcing her verdict, "And you will be sentenced fourteen days in the G.U.N. maximum security prison."

Ker had then placed a finger to his bottom lip as he had gotten nervous all over again. "Oh..."

When Trevor lowered the axe and eased his grip on it, he leaned over to Shadow to whisper to him. "It's okay. You got this."

Shadow made a small nod in return until he and everyone else heard Rick's angry shouting above them all.

"No! No! No!" Rick shouted as he angry stepped forward. "What the hell are you all doing? Did you forget what all he did? He killed innocent people! He deserves to suffer the same fate! He's a monster!"

Sarah coldly turned to the angered hyena. "Rick!" She then saw him angrily storming over to Trevor to snatch the axe out of his hands and shove him to the side.

Rick clenched the giant axe tightly in his hands as he angrily looked down at Shadow. "Pathetic! If no one is going to kill this bastard, then I will do it myself!"

Leon's eyes widened as he saw Rick holding the blade of the axe up and aiming it at the back of Shadow's neck. "Rick, stop!" He knew having Shadow's life sparred was going to upset him but he didn't expect him to react like this.

Sarah quickly stood from her chair as she saw him about to swing the axe down at Shadow. "Rick! If you swing that axe at that hedgehog so help me God!"

Before Rick had the chance to swing the axe down at Shadow, Trevor had grabbed and snatched the axe away from him. "What!" He angrily glared towards the lion.

"That's enough, Rick!"

Before he could do or say anything else, he was suddenly pulled away from him by two G.U.N. soldiers.

Rick struggled to get out of the soldiers' grip around him, "No! You don't understand! Let me go! He needs to die! Shadow The Hedgehog needs to die!"

While the two soldiers restrained Rick, Trevor turned back to Shadow and helped him to his feet, "Come on. Let's get you out of here..." He was sure Rick would be the only one to lash out at Shadow but he didn't know who else would attempt to try to kill him.

When Rouge saw Trevor about to escort Shadow out of the room, she ran over to him and hugged his body tightly. "Shadow!" She placed her hands on the sides of his face and looked up at him with tears swelling in her eyes. "You're okay! Oh God! They almost killed you!"

"As long as you're safe, I don't care what happens to me." Before he could lean in to kiss her, he felt Trevor tugging on his arm.

"Come on, Shadow. We have to go."

Her hands slipped away from him as Trevor pulled him away from her. Shadow's life had been sparred but now they were both going to be apart from each other. "I love you, Shadow", she sniffed with tears once again running down her face.

He turned to her one final time before he was rushed out of the room by Trevor. "I love you too, hun. Don't worry. I'll be okay."

Even with him trying to assure her that he would be okay serving out his sentence, she was still heartbroken that he had been torn away from her when she had needed him with her the most.

Author's Note: It's finally here! The sequel to Demon Wars is a go! Now I know from the summary, this story's going to be one hell of a cluster and may confuse new readers about what's going on. But to sum it up a little better. This story will tell of Shadow and Rouge's emotional struggles from the damage they have done to not only their friends and comrades but to themselves as well. Also new villains will be introduced *coughInfinitecough* And perhaps some questions will finally get answered. Will Shadow and Sally's secret finally get out? If so how will this effect Rouge and Sonic? Stay tuned! New updates are in the works! By the way the rating on this story could change at anytime. I don't know for how long this will stay a T rated story. I'm so used to writing M rated stories. lol but anyway I hope you guys will enjoy this story and I will see you all on the flipside!

In The Next Chapter...

Risa: Is your mom okay?

Freya: She wouldn't be like this if it weren't for him...

Leon: What the hell is wrong with you?

Rick: Idiots! He should've been killed!

Tonya: Rouge?

Rouge: I miss him so much...