CHAPTER 8

DEVASTATION

Shadow couldn't take his eyes off of the hedgehog who held his lover's heart in the palm of his hand. "Who the fuck are you? What have you done to Rouge?"

"You know me, Shadow", he spoke with an evil smile. "I'm your lost counterpart."

He paused as he tried to figure out what he meant. He stared into his glowing piercing red eyes deeply. His eyes widened in horror as realized who he was. "Darkness…"

He made a nod, "Correct…" He held the bloody heart up towards the traumatized Shadow. "Now can you guess what this is?"

Shadow just stared at it with a horrifying expression.

He once again nodded. "That's right. This is your beloved wife's heart. Look at her, Shadow", he spoke as he pointed at the bat's lifeless body laying on the floor next to the broken glass from the window. "This wouldn't have happened if you were there to protect her. This is your fault."

"…Rouge", he murmured as he stared at her painful expression. "I…failed you." His eyes widened as he saw the demonic hedgehog beginning to lick some of the blood away from the heart. He fell to his knees in agony from the sight, "God! Just stop!"

He laughed evilly as he dropped the heart onto the floor. "Heh, watching you suffer is pretty entertaining."

He dug his fingertips into the floor as he clenched his teeth in anger. "Is this what this was about? You…you wanted to see me…suffer?"

"It's the only way, Shadow. I can't kill you now can I?"

He growled, "You bastard…" He was suddenly startled when he heard Spike's voice near the doorway of the room.

"Dad", the young hedgehog called in a worried voice. "Is everything okay?"

In horror, Shadow saw Darkness' eyes shift over to his son menacingly. Judging by Darkness' expression, he knew he was going to attempt to kill Spike next. He quickly turned to the confused young hedgehog in panic. "Spike, get away!"

Suddenly purple lightning had formed around Darkness' hand and began to pursue towards Spike.

When Spike had realized the danger he was in, he was too frightened to move. He watched in surprise as he saw Shadow jump in front of him to let the attack hit him instead. He heard his father cry out in pain and fall to the floor while holding his sides. "Dad!"

Darkness had suddenly felt an intense and painful shock within his body. He winced and held his sides. "Damn you!" He looked back at the young hedgehog who kneeled beside his injured father in tears. 'Damn it! I can't kill the boy. Shadow will just continue to throw himself in the way to protect him from my attacks and that'll do me no good if he dies from it!'

Tears streamed down Spike's face as he saw some blood flow from the wounds on his sides. "Dad, are you okay?"

The black and red hedgehog had winced slightly from the searing pain and tried to turn to his worried son. "I'm fine", he spoke in a weak voice. "Are you all right?"

With tears dripping from his face, he made a slow nod towards him.

The demonic hedgehog formed an evil smile. "Well, one out of three isn't bad. What's done is done."

Shadow and Spike watched him spread out his huge wings and fly through the broken window.

"Dad, he's getting away!"

Shadow slowly forced his body from the floor while still feeling some aches. "Leave it be. There's nothing I can do to stop him."

Spike was stunned at how Shadow refused to stop him, but he soon realized that he was right. They couldn't do a thing to stop the evil hedgehog. His eyes then shifted from his father to his mother's dead body that was lying on the floor near the broken window. As he stared at her bloody body, he couldn't hold his tears back from the gruesome sight. "That…that man…killed mom." He placed his hands over his eyes and sobbed for a moment. He tried to get a hold of himself and be strong but as his eyes turned to Shadow, he saw him caressing Rouge's head in his lap.

Shadow held her in his embrace lovingly with tears dripping from his face. "Oh God…", he murmured. "Rouge…you…you can't die. You…can't die!"

"Dad…" He stared at how devastated Shadow was and knew this would change him for the worst.

A/N:

Espio: I'm...so sorry this happened man.

Shadow: I was...weak...

Tonya: I can't believe I lost my best friend...

Fakir: Oh Miss Wish, dreadful news from the Chaotix team...

Sarah: ...What?