Dealing Hearts:

Random thought of the day- Sonic 06 is without a doubt, a questionable game at best, but the Shadow and Rouge moments are something I live for…

SORRY FOR AN Y TYPOS/MISTAKES! I've been rushed off my feet with work and didn't have time to proof read but wanted to get this up asap because I haven't posted in FOREVER. I'll go back through this shortly and re-post if necessary.

Anyhow- on with the chapter.

Chapter 7: The Date (and the Aftermath)

(Rouge)

The restaurant was definitely up to my standards of classy, and as soon as we sat down we were offered champagne. Understandably, I went to accept the offer without hesitation (how could a girl say no?) but was interrupted by Knuckles before I could get a word in edgeways.

"Okay, before we order anything unnecessary I think we need to establish who's paying for this meal."

I noticed Shadow and Amy shoot him daggers as they had done earlier. I hated that Shadow and Knuckles didn't get along, but tonight I didn't so much mind the backup. Shadow putting him in his place would cause far less of a drama than if I did it, and to be honest, after his comments earlier, Knuckles wasn't exactly in my good books.

"I've got it," growled Shadow, "after all, let's not pretend I don't make more money than you." I rolled my eyes at just how bitchy and petty Shadow's comments could be at times, but he was right at least.

"No, don't worry, I'll chip in too," I offered, somewhat hoping that Knuckles would jump in and offer up some cash if I did. I wasn't the type of girl who wanted a guy to pay for absolutely everything, but the offer was still nice. Shadow and I almost always went halves on things, because frankly we were equals, but it seemed Knuckles didn't see things that way.

"Good, that's sorted," he grunted. Amy kicked him under the table, to which he merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I'll throw in some cash," Amy stated, pointedly glaring at Knuckles. Being the hopeless romantic that she was, Amy could undoubtedly see every last thing that he was doing wrong, and I could feel her pitying me. To say the least it made me uncomfortable; all my life I had been the girl that other girls envied not pitied. It was humiliating, and worse than that I felt out of my depth, no idea how to respond to such a foreign situation.

"No you won't, Ames, I got it," Shadow chimed in. Ames? When had that happened? By the blush creeping across my best friends cheeks, I gathered it was just now. Amy giggled and blushed too, clearly loving the attention.

I knew it was wrong, but jealousy began to seep into my brain as I watched them. I was seething over Knuckles' behaviour and a part of me I didn't even know I had suddenly craved to be treated like Shadow treated Amy. It was weird, thinking of Shadow as the 'boyfriend material' type, but he'd really come out of his shell and as much as I hated to admit it, it was Amy who had brought him out.

Despite our years of friendship and all the nights I'd stayed up with him until the crack of dawn learning his innermost thoughts and feelings, I had never been able to break through to him like she clearly had in just a few days and a handful of polite conversations. It was complete madness, and another contributing factor to the shameful levels of jealousy I was feeling. I deserved to be the one that made him happy. I'd spent so much of my time dedicated to him, I would have followed him to the ends of the earth, and she had just swanned in and achieved everything I had been trying to without any effort.

Selfish as always, I thought, I should be happy for him.

And I suppose I was in ways, but tonight, when my date wouldn't even pay for his own meal let alone mine, I couldn't bear to see the two of them together.

Knuckles looked oblivious to my inner turmoil and kept switching between reading the menu and checking me out. Ironic considering how much he hadn't wanted me to go out in this dress. Speaking of which, the thing was entirely too tight and restricted my breathing. As I began to become more and more upset and angry, I became more and more irritable about the matter and wished I'd just taken the damn thing off when Knuckles had suggested it.

Shadow on the other hand was shooting me a concerned look from across the table. He always knew when something was wrong. When you bared so much of your soul to someone, I supposed those were the consequences. Before I could give any sort of reaction, Amy drew him straight back into a conversation about something so irrelevant I barely bothered to listen. I never thought it would annoy me so much seeing Shadow's attention on anyone besides me. Was this how he felt when I started bringing Knuckles home? I initially assumed not, but now that I thought about it; could that be a reason for Shadow's distain for him?

If so, did he really hate him as much as I thought? I mean, I liked Amy, really liked her actually, but since she and Shadow started hanging out, she'd been getting on my nerves. I had been the one with the master plan, I'd been the one desperate for this to work out. In theory, it was all good: Shadow was happy, he was on the verge of getting a girlfriend for the first time ever, and I liked that he was finally able to let go of the past enough to pursue this new venture. Though now, sitting here in front of what I had created made me feel as though I'd truly hand crafted my own nemesis. And I hated myself for that.

"Ready to order?" chimed our waitress as she approached us. She was a pretty yellow squirrel named Hannah, according to her nametag. As I watched her smile away as she spoke to us and scribbled down what we wanted, I couldn't help but think about how easy she made it look to act like she was enjoying herself. Chances were she didn't want to be at work, she wanted to be at home tucked up in bed watching numerous episodes of a TV series, or out drinking with friends, or on a date. People hid their negative emotions so often; just bundled them up and pushed them down to the deepest regions of their mind. I was no stranger to this, and could put on a front like no one else I knew. But tonight… something about Knuckles' nasty comments, plus Shadow and Amy being way too cutesy, plus my heinous overthinking made it impossible.

"Rouge? What do you want hun?" Knuckles asked, nudging me out of my thoughts. Hannah was looking at me expectantly, so I shook the messy heap of thoughts from my head and ordered my meal. Once Hannah had left, I took a hearty swig of champagne, hoping the alcohol would cloud my mind a little.

For the most part, the starter and main course went by mostly uneventfully, with everyone doing their best to make small talk. Amy- being the only person not resenting a single one of us that night- did her best to throw in topics we could all happily discuss, and Knuckles and I actually found ourselves getting along a lot better or a while.

After our starter, he refilled my champagne for me and kissed me on the cheek before handing me the glass. It was a sweet gesture, and Amy looked at us as though it were one of pure romance, but something about it just felt… empty. Like everything else we had done since making our relationship official. Part of me was beginning to think that the only thing that ever drew me to him was the chase, the unending fighting and bickering and just how much we made each other work to get just one kiss. Having it all laid out there for the taking made things far less exciting, not to mention that since becoming my boyfriend, he seemed to think he had some sort of divine right to have his say in everything I did.

Which apparently had no limits.

"Would you like to see our dessert menu?" chimed Hannah as she came round to collect our plates. I'd always wondered how waiting staff managed to balance so many plates up their arms, there had to be some sort of trick to it.

"We'd love to," I responded, speaking more for myself than for the others. I had to admit I had a sweet tooth, and frankly, I'd never really cared about counting calories. As far as I was concerned, beauty was in how you presented yourself, how you held yourself when you walked or how you treated those around you. Besides, I was lucky with my metabolism, and though I was aware that I was far from 'skinny', I wasn't exactly obese either. I was confident for the most part, and any digs made towards me for whatever reason could easily be forgotten.

So why was it that Knuckles' next words shattered all of that in one fell swoop?

"Are you sure, babe? You've eaten a fair amount already."

Just a stupid comment, just Knuckles being dim-witted and having no knowledge of socially acceptable behaviour as usual. He didn't mean to hurt me. But he did.

Amy and Shadow, again, looked at him in awe of just how clueless he was. I was at a loss for words. Usually, I would've conjured up a quick comeback such as 'that's no way to treat a lady' or 'wow Knuckie, speak for yourself'. I would've been angry, but as it happened I was just upset. Purely upset. What was wrong with me?

I looked up at him in disbelief, shaking my head. I couldn't be there a second longer, I couldn't sit there being insulted while Shadow and Amy gazed into each other's eyes and pitied me. I had to leave.

"Are you kidding?" I finally said. "First the dress, now this? What so I'm not just a whore, I'm fat now as well?"

Knuckles's face mainly showed confusion, but I didn't even care, I carried on.

"You don't even offer to pay for yourself, and you sit there making sly little comments all night as if you actually have a place to say them?"

"I just-" he attempted to respond.

"Save it," I cut in. I began to gather up my things as Hannah watched awkwardly, taking a few steps back from the table. Before I could process all the eyes on me, I was out the door and out into the cool night air.


(Shadow)

The tension at the table was thicker than Knuckles' skull.

Several people sat at other tables looked over to catch a glimpse of what all the commotion was about. I could feel anger rising within me, a force so powerful and untameable that I worried what might happen when I reached my limit.

I turned to Hannah, deciding to deal with her before I got too out of line. It wouldn't be fair to yell at her after all she'd had to put up with from us tonight.

"We're okay for food thanks," I said, trying my best to keep my voice level. "But we'll have the check please. You can give it to him." I gestured towards Knuckles, who audibly growled upon realising what I was doing. I didn't care. He'd well and truly earned this fate.

I could tell by Hannah's face that she agreed with me, and before swooping away, she whispered "excellent choice."

It didn't take long for Knuckles to kick off. His lack of self-control was laughable, and suddenly made me feel a lot better about my own anger issues. Being around him always made me feel smarter, more collected, as if I were some sort of disciplined Zen master and he was an uncivilised brute. Not far off the truth.

"What was that for?!" he yelled, drawing even more attention to our table.

"If you don't know, then it's clear you're a lot more stupid than you are vile. For your sake, I hope you take that as a compliment, because if it were the other way around I would have to ruin you for what you've done."

Knuckles looked dumbfounded. Not a surprise.

"Sorry, was I using big words?" I asked as patronisingly as I could. This only served to anger him more.

"What have I done?!" he exclaimed, seeming genuinely unaware. "What is it with you people tonight? First bat girl goes off on one, now you. You two really are as moody as they say."

I could tell that Amy was getting just as aggravated as I was, and it wasn't long before she added to the argument.

"Knuckles, you should be ashamed!" she scolded. Amy had such a motherly way about her, especially when she was angry with her friends. I half expected her to ground him. "Some of the things you've said to Rouge tonight really weren't nice. You should show a girl you like- any girl in fact- a little respect. You get what you give out. How can you expect her to show you any sort of affection when she feels constantly picked on and insulted by you?"

"I…I didn't realise I'd upset her so much," came Knuckles' response. "I don't remember a time when Rouge and I didn't pick on each other!" I wasn't buying it.

"We had this conversation not two minutes before we got in the car!" I countered, instinctively raising my voice more than I'd intended to.

"Yeah about commenting on her clothing" he argued.

"And you think cautioning her on her weight is any better?" Amy added, "that's no way to treat a lady Knuckles."

"Look, I'm sorry guys!" Knuckles said. I would have accepted the apology had it sounded sincere, but he sounded more like a young child apologising to a teacher to get them off his back, not because he meant it.

"No you're not," I stated bluntly, "but I do think you need to do some serious thinking about whether or not you actually want to be in a relationship. In truth, you don't seem like the type."

"Oh and you are?"

I hesitated in my response before quietly admitting. "…I'm working on it. Unlike yourself."

Amy looked up at me with those beautiful jade green eyes and smiled, happy to know I was making genuine effort for her. She was so pretty, and it made me happy that she believed in me and was willing to stick around while I got myself together.

Before the moment could become anything, reality set back in. Rouge was upset, wandering outside on her own. Sure, she could handle herself against others, but could she handle herself against herself? It was rare to see her so upset, and part of me wondered if there was more to the story than met the eye. Was something else on her mind besides Knuckles being a dick? Either way, I hated to see her that way, and I needed to find her.

"Maybe I should go check up on Rouge," Amy offered before I got the opportunity. "She seems like she could use some girl time."

Amy and Rouge hardly knew each other, but the compassion that Amy showed towards her was as strong as she would for a close friend. How she managed it I would never know.

"That's sweet of you," I replied, taking her hand in mine so as not to come off too demanding when rejecting her offer. "But if I know Rouge, she's never been one for girly chats. I'm her best friend, I'll go, she'll talk to me."

Amy nodded, a blush creeping across her cheeks as she looked at our intertwined hands. Where my sudden confidence had come from, I wasn't sure, but I leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her cheek before I got up to leave.

"I won't be long," I promised. "See you in a bit Ames." I cast a quick and dismissive glace at Knuckles. "Have fun with that bill!" I sarcastically called as I sped out of the restaurant.


It didn't take me long to find Rouge and she hadn't gone far, as if she were secretly hoping someone would go after her. She was sat on a small set of stone steps leading up to an apartment building, none of her usual arrogance and flair about her, but still full of grace.

She looked up as I approached, a half smile tugging at the corner of her lips when she caught sight of me.

I came to an abrupt holt beside the steps and managed a feeble "hey." I was never good at comforting, I never knew what to say. Rouge would've known what to do if it were the other way around, but I was hopeless.

"Hey," she replied half-heartedly, looking back down at her shoes. "I'm sorry I ran out on you guys."

It was unlike Rouge to apologise, which meant only one thing: her confidence had been seriously knocked this evening. From what I had gathered over the years, she was the type of person who could swing from walking all over everyone like they were nothing, to blaming herself for every fault in her life and the lives of those around her. It hurt me to see, but I supposed she had to have some sort of vulnerability to balance out that ego.

"No worries," I replied, sitting down on the step beside her. "I left the dickhead with the bill." At this she laughed out loud.

"You didn't?"

"Every cent." I confirmed.

"Good," she concluded, "now I feel a little better, at least."

Silence momentarily set in between us, as the important question stirred in the air. I was finally the one to ask it.

"So, what do you think this means for you and Knuckles?"

She hesitated, as if about to answer, but soon gave way to a defeated sigh.

"I have no idea," she admitted. When I didn't respond, she continued. "It's rare for me to not know exactly what I want and how to get it, but this… this is harder. Years I thought Knuckles was the only person I wanted to be with- I may not have admitted it- but every time I flew over to that island was to see him, not that stupid emerald."

"Woah back up!" I exclaimed, a look of mock wonder on my face. "Did Rouge the Bat just call a jewel… stupid? Wow you really are depressed." She laughed and slapped me playfully on the arm.

"Enough!" she scolded, a smile still firmly in place. "Can't you see I'm having a nervous breakdown? I'd like to have it without interruptions."

"There's no need to worry about what Knuckles says, okay?" I said, "nervous breakdown over."

"Ughh you don't get it," she replied, anger and upset setting back in. "he made me feel like a joke tonight. He made me feel unwanted, he made me feel ugly. I don't know what's changed, but it's as if he suddenly thinks I'm not good enough. Maybe the thought of being with me was better than the reality."

Hearing her talk about herself in that way- and especially because he had caused the negativity- broke my heart. I had to do something.

"Okay listen," I began, taking a firm hold of her shoulders and forcing her to look at me. "Not a word of what you have just said is true. First off: you are beautiful. You know that, you can see it, I can see it and the rest of the world except some random dumb echidna can see it. Secondly: you're only allowed to be a joke when I make you a joke because no one is allowed to make fun of or insult you besides me." I took a deep breath, trying to slow down the words that were spilling out of my mouth. Where the quiet, moody and reserved Shadow had gone, I didn't know, but I was on a roll.

"And lastly," I continued, "you're more than wanted, you're needed." I lowered my voice again, happy to have gotten everything off of my chest. "I don't know where I'd be without you, Rouge. It takes a special kind of person to stand by someone who has done the things I have, who is messed up beyond all belief. You're special, and if he can't see that, that's his loss."

At first, she did nothing. She merely stared off into the distance, being careful not to make eye contact with me while she processed my words. Had I dug too deep? Had I shared too much? Had I well and truly chased away the one person who had always stayed by my side? And then, wordlessly, she leaned towards me and wrapped me in a tight hug, one that caught me uncharacteristically off guard.

I could feel relief surge up in her as I held her in my arms and she let out a contented sigh. It always shocked me just how small she was, how fragile she was to touch for someone so tough and so intense.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I know what I need to do, I need to end it."

We pulled away from one another and I assessed her face for traces of uncertainty. I found none; I could tell she meant what she was saying.

"Do whatever you have to do to be happy," I told her. "Whatever it is, I'll stick by you."

We managed to exchange a quick, understanding glance, but before the conversation could go any further, Rouge sat bolt upright, her ears twitching as her superior hearing picked up on something I couldn't register.

Slowly and silently she rose to her feet, gesturing for me to do the same. I could tell she was in business mode, and all traces of the saddened girl I had just comforted on the steps had been pushed to the far back of her mind.

She put a finger to her lips, telling me to remain quiet, and beckoned me to follow. She crept down the steps and down the street. As we got closer and closer to the source of the sound, I began to pick up more and more of it. It was a voice, just one voice, most likely somebody talking on the phone. And it was familiar.

Rouge stopped dead in her tracks in front of a corner in the path and leaned in, listening around the corner as best she could. She turned back to me and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to her so that I too could get a clear reading on what was being said.

"I can't get any more money, I already told you," the voice said. It was husky, relatively high pitch and somewhat grating to listen to. "G.U.N are onto me. I've seen far too many of their agents lurking about, I can't pull off another robbery." There was a brief pause while the person on the other end of the phone spoke. "But Dr Eggman, please…"

Eggman. Robbery. G.U.N on their trail. Rouge and I didn't need to say a word to one another, we both knew the situation. This was the guy from the talent show, the guy Rouge was supposed to find. The one who had robbed the bank- and now Eggman was seemingly involved, it was even more serious. The man was a serious threat, not to mention a horrible backstabber if ever you got too close to him.

We rounded the corner together, fists clenched and ready to strike. What we saw was not what we were expecting.

On the phone, in the dark alleyway, was Silver the Hedgehog.


Dun dun dun. Nice cliffhanger to enjoy! Sorry about the wait, I really will try my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible! Reviews more than welcome especially since I feel a little iffy on this chapter and will be happy to make adjustments!