CHAPTER 9
SLEEPING PRINCESS
It was early the next morning with the sun shining brightly and the birds chirping like there wasn't a care in the world. Shadow and Rouge had decided to go and give Joseph's mother the bad news. They both sat in a red sports car that was parked in front of a small house that was in a small and quiet neighborhood.
The white bat woman stared at the small house sadly. "So…this is the place?"
"Yeah." The black hedgehog looked and saw that she was holding a dark blue hat in her lap. The hat was the same hat that belonged to Joseph. He gently placed his hand on her thigh making her turn to him. He took the hat from her, "I'll be back."
She said nothing and made a small nod. She watched him lean over to her to give her a small kiss on the cheek and got out of the car. She saw him walk up to the front of the house and knock on the door a few times. Soon enough a brown raccoon woman who practically resembled Joseph had appeared at the door. Rouge bit her lip as she saw Shadow introduce himself to her and then showed her the hat. She wanted to tear up when she saw the woman slowly take the hat from Shadow and began to cry. She couldn't imagine how terrible she felt to find out that her only daughter who went missing for months ended up in such an unfortunate incident.
A few days later, the funeral for Joseph had taken place outside in the back of a fairly big church. The atmosphere was depressing with rain pouring from the gloomy gray sky. Joseph's mother, close friends, family, the Chaotix detectives, and even some members from the G.U.N. military had shown up. Everyone stood in the wet grass and had their eyes glued to the small coffin setting in front of them.
Espio stood beside Shadow who was wearing a black suit. He noticed that the black hedgehog seemed more angered than saddened. He leaned over to him and whispered. "You doing all right, man?"
His angry eyes shifted over to the purple chameleon. "…G.U.N. soldiers are here", he growled under his breath.
He now figured that Shadow was only angry that some military officers were there. "…Yeah they are, but they're only here to show respect. Don't let that one guy get to you." He noticed Shadow going silent and looking away from him. With the state of anger he was in, he decided to not say anything else to him.
Rouge stood next to Shadow and noticed how angered he was as well. She whispered to him softly, "I miss Joseph too but we can't blame the entire military over one soldier's mistake."
He looked over to the white bat woman who was wearing a black mini dress and a black blazer. She had a black umbrella that was big enough to shield both of them from the cold rain that was pouring from the sky.
She waited for him to speak to her but he said nothing and turned away from her. She had hated it when he was like this. He would get so angry, he would become stubborn and would rarely listen to what anyone had to say. She could see why he was so infuriated but in the end, it was just an accident after all. Her ears perked up when she heard his cold voice.
"Take a good look at Joseph's mother…"
She looked over to the brown raccoon woman was standing near the small coffin. She saw her sobbing and mourning while her friends and other family members circled around her trying to comfort her. It broke her heart to see her so torn up over her daughter's death.
"…That so called mistake just took that woman's only angel from her."
She sadly looked down at the wet grass and knew that no one had meant for this to happen but at the same time, she had to admit that she was both sad and angry about the situation. When she looked back up from the ground, her eyes shot open in disbelief when she saw a familiar man walking towards the small coffin. The man was a red fox. He appeared to be in his late fifties.
Shadow gave the man a cold and menacing glare as he stood in front of the coffin and placed a rose on top of it. He knew that he was the same military officer that had killed Joseph.
The man looked down to the ground and shook his head sadly as tears dripped from his face. "I never meant for this to happen…" He slowly lifted his head away from the ground and turned to the raccoon woman who was still sobbing. He figured that she had to have been Joseph's mother. "I'm…so sorry…", he choked.
The woman gave him a look full of disbelief and continued to scream and cry.
Before he could walk away, he spun around only to face an angered black hedgehog.
"How dare you show your face here!" The hedgehog spat, "Did you just come here by some kind of order or do you truly feel bad for what you've done?"
Rouge shook her head slightly as she saw Shadow angrily confronting the man. She turned to a green crocodile man who was wearing a black suit. "Vector…"
The red fox man trembled nervously as he thought that the hedgehog's anger was so bad it made him unpredictable. "I-I didn't mean it…I'm sorry…" he sobbed.
"What?" He spoke in disbelief, "You didn't mean it? You shot and killed an innocent ten year old girl! You call yourself helping people? Trying to make this world a better place to live in? Bullshit!"
Everyone gasped when they saw Shadow lay his hands on the man.
"It's people like you that makes the military look like absolute shit!" He was then forcefully pulled away from the man by Vector and Espio.
"Shadow!" Vector spat, "Stop this! Not here!"
The hedgehog clenched his fists tightly and huffed heavily before flashing eyes back at the terrified man. "I hope you enjoyed your years serving G.U.N. because I'll be sure you never wear a military uniform ever again", he growled.
Everyone watched as the furious hedgehog stormed off and began walking throughout the graveyard.
Before Espio could run after him, he felt a hand fall upon his shoulder. He spun around to turn to Vector.
"I'll go talk to him."
The chameleon made a small nod agreeing that it would probably be best for him to talk to Shadow instead.
When Vector found Shadow, he spotted him standing in front of a tombstone while smoking a cigarette.
Shadow heard footsteps approaching from behind him. He knew it was Vector but he never spun around to face him.
"…Shadow…" Vector called in a worried voice.
The hedgehog sighed heavily. "…We live in one fucked up world, Vector. You know how the court is about shit like this. Kill a civilian and make it look like just an accident…and the asshole gets off free."
The crocodile shook his head slowly. "No…this guy will definitely lose his job over this."
"I know he will but I'm just stating how it normally is in everyday life in the military." He took a puff of his cigarette. "…It must be nice…"
Vector remained silent as he listened. He knew Shadow was always bitter about G.U.N. but he never knew he was this hateful towards them.
He flicked his cigarette on the wet ground and looked up at the rain falling from the sky. "…Having the freedom to bark orders at people who they feel are inferior to them because they wear a fucking badge on their uniform."
He knew deep down that he was still upset over the fact that Joseph was dead. It simply wasn't just about the military. "…I know that this kid was a good kid, Shad."
"Yeah", he spoke as he placed his hands in his pants pockets. "…She was. She was so afraid of what the world would offer her but then again…she would never stop talking about growing up. She was so scared, she didn't know if she could do it but in the end…she knew that she wouldn't be able to…"
Vector watched him slowly turn to him.
He made a weak smile as the rain streamed down his face. "I suppose she thought of her life nothing but a fairy tale…"
Author's Note: Well, here's some trivia for you...originally this fic was going to be my first adult story believe it or not. And when I thought of a plot, I totally lost sight of what the fic was originally going to be about. However, in the near future I will be writing another full on adult fic so don't be disappointed you pervs! lol Anyway, I hope you guys really enjoyed this fic. I wanna thank all my wonderful readers and supporters for being with me during my work on this story! You guys rock! Keep a look out for more of my work!
