Shadow was walking down the sidewalk. He counted the numbers until they reached…her number. She had left before him and streaked down her road in a fast attempt to get home before he could say anything to her. His feet stopped willingly at the front of the house while his mind contradicted his movements. His sharp eyes caught a glimpse of her running up the stairs. He felt awful and the guilt hit him again and again when he saw the salty tears that swam down the sides of her cheeks. How hopeless he felt…sometimes, the hedgehog didn't know what in the world was wrong with him. Was it embarrassment? Shock? Undefined anger that made him hurt the blue ally? It was clear enough though that the bat was furious with his behavior. Shadow agreed with her fully inside. He was acting just like that overgrown, tomato-colored echidna. No wonder she was hurt. He growled at himself,
"Everything just seems to turn around on me and bite me in the ass…" he grimly told himself. The hedgehog flashed a dark smirk at himself in a puddle, enjoying the only bit of humor throughout the day that amused him. The smirk was immediately reformed into a frown when he saw the kitsune and Amy behind him. They called out his name and finally, Shadow stopped walking away from the annoying others.
"Sonic wanted to really show his true unhappiness about your situation so he asked if there was anything in the world that he could do for you." Tails and Amy breathed out simultaneously. The dark hedgehog shrugged. There were a couple of things, but that was out of Sonic's league…impossible things.
"No…nothing." He replied in a deeper tone of voice than what he had planned. Tails drew back his outreached hand while Amy shot the kitsune a quick, worried glance.
"You absolutely sure about that?" Tails asked again, his young voice breaking the uncomfortable silence that hung in the air. The hedgehog dipped his head slightly and Amy sighed as her eyes now showed a more…defeated look. Tails nodded, a little hesitant to leave, as if Shadow would change his mind any second. They both turned around slowly and headed back more quickly when they remembered the unattended patient at hand. Shadow watched them dash off and was relieved from his distress for a bit. Rouge had been peeking through her lavender curtains, glancing at the seen, figuring mentally what they might be saying. Shadow flashed his quick eyes in her direction as they seemed to shoot themselves into her own eyes…bright with tears. She uttered a small gasp as she quickly sunk below the window, hoping that he didn't see her. The dark hedgehog made no indication that he had seen her though so she relaxed. He had his arms folded and seemed to be staring after Amy and Tails with this somewhat sharp look. The dark hedgehog stood there for quite some time that Rouge began to think he was dozing off while standing. He was conscious though of his surroundings. The bat quickly remembered about a certain club she had to run and whipped on a raincoat. Quietly, she slipped out her back door and began running. She angrily told her feet to hurry themselves but they were exhausted from today. Flying was out of the question as well, her wings would fail on her in the air and she would soon plummet to the ground. Her legs ached and the wind whipped rain into her face as she scurried down the dark streets. Rouge skidded to a quick stop and made a sharp dash for the stairs up into her changing room above the noise and party. She quickly stripped herself of her clothes and replaced them with drier replacements. While grabbing a warm towel and dabbing her face slightly, she gave herself time to thing about today. She had proven her point that she was furious at both boys and that was all that really mattered to her right now. Never did she want to speak with them again…they were just rude, back-stabbing, heartless people. She winced at the choice of her words but didn't regret the truth. All night, she sat on a wooden stool. Once and a while she would stop a scuffle or a little problem but it gave her no excitement. It was almost as if she had no more life inside of her. Disgusted with herself, Rouge folded her arms and rested her head on them. She angrily told herself it was all because of her own ways that she was this miserable but a little voice inside her head told her that she just missed Shadow a bit. The bat pouted and glanced towards the thick door that separated her from the cold, rainy outside. Half of her wanted Shadow to come walking through that door to attend his job for today…and half really wanted him to stay back. Nevertheless, half of her was satisfied. Shadow hadn't come…it had been obvious, but Rouge was still allowed to hope. She spent a couple of minutes shooing out late-night drinkers and putting things back in their right places. Surprisingly, the other half of herself was relieved for a minute when she saw Shadow's crimson eyes glance at her from the doorway. Late…was her only thought. The dark hedgehog stuck his head in as his eyes flitted to every corner of the room to see if everyone truly had left before he stepped inside. The bat's eyes immediately dropped to avoid his gaze. She pretended to be preoccupied as she rubbed a glass cup clean. Shadow broke the silence with his deep voice,
"I guess I'm late." Shadow caught himself. He had almost said sorry again…that would've really annoyed the bat more than he could imagine. Rouge glanced up for a second and realized how close Shadow suddenly was. The glass cup nearly slipped out her gloved hands. He realized her surprise as to his closeness to her, so he stepped back a bit.
"A little…" she replied softly as she hung up her rag. The bat brushed past Shadow and grabbed her coat to leave. She could almost feel the hedgehog's sigh of annoyance as she stepped outside into the freezing rain. The door swung shut leaving the hedgehog inside…alone. He sunk down into a wooden stool and put his clasped hands in front of his emotionless façade. Slowly, his eyes shut themselves and he was left alone to think. It seemed hopeless to come in the first place. He made a quick motion to get up and chase after her, but decided to wait a bit and his hand dropped. The bat was a slow walker, but it proved helpful at times. She could have more time to just let go of things that were on her mind. Shadow and Knuckles were a particularly sticky subject though. The rain slid down her hood and she shivered a bit as it touched her warm skin. She quickened her pace and splashed through puddles. The bat made a face every time the dirty water splashed up, but she held her tongue. She slipped on a slick part of the sidewalk and fell back, hitting the ground. Shadow was no longer around to protect her…she wistfully thought. The bat bit her lip in pain as she got up. Her lips pulled down into a frown as she rubbed her back. Determinedly though, she pushed forward with a hopeful, quick glance behind to see if Shadow was possibly following. The road was ominously black and hard to see though. As she turned, his eyes flashed open and softened as he saw her in pain. That was all that was visible of the hedgehog, the rest of his body was intangible. Rouge rested a bit against a wet lamppost to her right, unknowingly. Breathing a little heavily, she winced as her back shot pain through her body and exhaled slowly. Inwardly, she barked at herself to get up. Her legs seemed to give away as she held the post and she steadied herself. Shadow shook his head silently only a couple feet away. She limped her way slowly to her home. It hurt Shadow inside to watch her struggle though, when she was hurt he was as well. It was a stupid connection, but it kind of helped him tune in to what she was doing at the moment. That was what Knuckles couldn't take away, he supposed. The echidna wouldn't understand that with his brash mind…the hedgehog realized that he could step up a bit and silently followed in the dark, being very wary of the lampposts that appeared every once and a while. No wonder his name was Shadow…he froze in place when she whirled around, suddenly very careful. Rouge almost heard him walk; he cursed his loud, metal shoes inwardly as she gave a last glance behind and kept walking. He felt a little weird, almost like a stalker. He made a face and kept going. The rain was really pouring down now, and both were drenched in the tears from the sky. The bat was finally at her front door when lightning struck. It lit up the roads and for a second, it felt like a movie. A fantasy. Shadow spun and hid behind a tree. Rouge paid no attention, even if did she see, and hung up her coat inside. She hugged herself, warming her freezing frame, and sitting on the edge of the windowsill in her room. Shadow shot his crimson eyes in Rouge's direction as she thought about how rainy it was nowadays. How fitting, she thought ironically. The dark hedgehog wasn't at any calmer mind. His thoughts were rampaging his mind. He talked to himself,
"Just go in, and ask…ask about how she is…or something." He clenched his teeth angrily. He had decided to go into her home and get it over with. He couldn't deal with the stress and unhappiness. Might as well just find out what the problem is and try to solve it. No words were passed between the two anymore and he hated having to try to figure out her mind. Suddenly, he heard a crash and a scream. He saw the window broken on the top floor, he first thought of it as a burglar. Now, there was no choice, but to act upon the situation. How could he have missed that? He burst through the front door and clambered up the steps. He saw the echidna…he had knocked out Rouge, which a bit surprising. That echidna was changing his tactics everyday. Shadow glared at him and Knuckles finally spoke,
"Now that you're here, let's finish what we began." Shadow sighed; he was talking about fighting again. Obviously, his rock hard brain didn't get anything. Rouge made him worry a bit though, who knows, he could turn into a pure white hedgehog because of all of this unneeded worry.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt her anymore." Knuckles laughed meanly at Shadow. How amusing…the hedgehog thought. Knuckles began barraging Shadow with attacks, paying no mind to anything else. The echidna just seemed like he wanted the hedgehog's blood, very out of character, he made a mental note of that. Shadow dodged them and turned into a ball, confusing the dull echidna. Quickly, he shot himself toward Knuckles, barreling him through the wall and out into the street. Knuckles slowly got up and wiped the blood from his mouth that was dribbling out. He yelled and flung himself forward. Shadow, though, was too sophisticated in his fighting for him to land a hit right now. Knuckles' mind was too wild and if it were more focused, it would've possibly been a more evened out battle. The echidna just kept getting flung into dirt and pavement so, he stopped.
"Giving up, echidna?" Shadow asked, it was the most fun he had had all day.
"No…going to get someone who will help me." Knuckles replied. The echidna had insisted on taking on the hedgehog first to balance out his choices, now it was pretty clear to him. Shadow thought about what he was talking about, shrugged inwardly and let the echidna escape his grasp. Rouge had almost vanished out of his priorities, so he brought himself back to the situation. Dashing back up to her room, there she was still, lying still. He felt her pulse, it was still beating strong. She always pulled through. He thanked whoever was the boss of these kinds of things and picked her up gently. Carrying her through the dark streets he stopped at that same lamppost. He thought of bringing her to his place, but that was quickly eliminated as an idea, he lived in a cardboard box. Going to any of Knuckles friends would be bad too; who would want to strain relationships? This always happened…nothing was ever planned out because of these things. These sudden changes were always part of him; it was new to Rouge though. He a twang of guilt again and he twitched. Promising Rouge silently he would protect her even if she did hate the living daylights out of him, he ran off to the only sane place to him…that same park where their feelings first truly clashed. His crimson eyes were filled with certainty now; he was going to win his mental fight of right and wrong. Stopping by the brook, he placed her down gently. Her face was smoothed out and gentle, like she was having a wonderful dream instead of being in the middle of a crisis. At least she wasn't screaming and flailing her arms about, Shadow thought. Placing himself next to her, he waited for the morning sun to rise…so he could find out what that echidna wanted now. The moon was full behind the rainy clouds that were starting to part bit by bit, like a new beginning of something beautiful. Too bad the moon wasn't his life. Shadow grunted to himself as he glanced up at the otherworldly light. He had a pretty good feeling that this was going to end a little harshly on somebody's side. Better his side though, he didn't want to put anyone else in danger because of that wayward Knuckles. Exhausted, Shadow splashed a little bit of the water in the brook on his face. It was cool and refreshing, like different water than the one that had crashed down on him earlier tonight. He glanced over at Rouge and finally relaxed a little as he lay back and glanced up at the stars, forgetting that he had someone next to him. Shooting stars flashed by, trying to spread hope for everyone in the sky. The hedgehog closed his eyes slowly and his breathing began to slow a bit as he rested…
AN: Again [and again, and again...] I DO NOT OWN SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND ANY AFFILIATED CHARACTERS. Are you keeping up with my super long chapters? Sorry for making you guys suffer. XD HANG IN THERE, WE'RE ALMOST TO THE END. [if that's what you want...]
