Chapter 11 - A New Day
There was a cool breeze in the morning air. Shadow found himself standing on the tallest building in the city, gazing down at the world below him. Arms crossed, he thought to himself "Today's the day Rouge and I confront Eggman… I just hope she's rested last thing I need is-" he sat for a moment wincing at his thoughts "the last thing I need is to lose her too." he shuttered at the thought, though Shadow had been alone most of his life, he couldn't imagine being without Rouge. He let out a deep sigh, then he pulled out the red emerald and used chaos control, teleporting back to Club Rouge.
The bright light light up the room, Rouge saw Shadow appear and smirk.
"You ready to go see Egghead, hon?
Shadow grabbed her arm and nodded, then used chaos control again, this time they landed on Eggman's ship.
Rouge was about to fly off to look for him, but Shadow grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him. Her eyes met his.
"Rouge, please, be careful." Shadow said letting go of her arm.
She noticed the worry in his eyes. "Shad, it's just Eggman, I could take him blindfolded."
He smirked at her confidence, then waved her off.
She flew one direction, he skated the other.
It only took a few minutes for Shadow to stumble upon Eggman.
Shadow stood in the doorway, crossing his arms and leaning up against the door frame. He studied the doctor, he was working on a machine, it resembled a cannon.
Shadow cleared his throat, startling Eggman and making him drop the wrench he was using to work on the machine. He turned around to find the ebony hedgehog staring coldly at him.
"Well well, if it isn't my favorite hedgehog." Eggman said with a huge smile. "Did you bring the emeralds for Mephiles?"
Shadow just shook his head, and began walking towards the doctor. "Listen doc, we have a lot of history, we've worked together and fought countless times in the past. Working with someone like Mephiles though? That's low, even for you."
"Well Shadow, between us, he forced me to… look Shadow, you know I have nothing against you, most of the time you stay out of my way! It's that blasted Sonic I hate."
"Well Eggman, you must have been sleeping under a rock." Shadow said with a smirk. "Mephiles killed Sonic, I killed Mephiles."
Eggman grinned from ear to ear. "Oh Shadow your power never ceases to amaze me, thank you for taking care of Mephiles. So what did you come here for?"
"Well… you promised me Maria, remember?"
Eggman shook his head. "Oh Shadow… you really didn't think on this did you? Mephiles played with your mind, Maria has been dead for years Shadow, she never made it off the Ark."
Shadow felt defeated. "So, you… lied to me?" he growled at the doctor.
Rouge peered in the doorway and listened in on the conversation.
"Now Shadow, I had to lie, Mephiles would have killed me. Surely you can understand that can't you?"
Shadow couldn't believe he had gone through all that trouble over an illusion. "Doctor, believe it or not, I'm not mad. Mephiles was a monster. He wanted to destroy time itself."
"I'm glad you see it that way, Shadow. If you don't mind me asking, what now?" Eggman said scratching his head.
Shadow sat in thought for a moment, "Well, with no Sonic, this world could use a defender… but that's not my job. I don't know, doc, maybe Rouge and I will move away. Shadow and Eggman had no clue Rouge was listening in on the conversation, she blushed at the thought that Shadow was willing to just leave everything behind to be with her.
"Well Shadow, whatever you decide to do, I hope you won't get in the way of the Eggman Empire, you know, we could work together like old times, no Sonic around, just you, me, and Rouge, you can bring her along too." Eggman held out his hand for Shadow to shake it.
"Maybe one day doc, I don't care what you do to this planet. As long as you leave me and Rouge alone, you can run the planet for all I care."
Eggman let out a evil laugh. "Well Shadow, I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised that you're willing to let me have my way for once, no catch? Other than leaving you and the bat alone, obviously."
Shadow sat there for a moment, then responded. "Yeah doc, but I'm keeping my emerald." He smirked at the doctor.
They shook hands. Shadow knew the doctor was evil, but he was too tired after fighting Mephiles to pick another fight, he just wanted to rest. He knew it would take Eggman time to even be able to take the planet over. In a way, Eggman was actually like a friend to Shadow. If it wasn't for the doctor, he would be in a cryogenic sleep chamber, or even frozen in time and space. He would never admit it, but the doctor had saved his life multiple times. In a way, Shadow felt like he owed him.
Shadow turned and began to walk away. "Until next time doctor." He looked back at Eggman and gave a slight smirk. "And there will be a next time."
Eggman let out a nervous laugh "On good times I hope! Now go on Shadow, I have work to do."
Shadow walked out into the hallway and turned right into Rouge, and she pulled him away.
"Shad, you can't seriously be considering letting him run the world." She said with a lost look.
He smirked and rubbed his hand on her cheek "Rouge, if Eggman ever becomes a real threat to this planet, I'll take care of it. Until then, I had other plans."
She held his hand and looked into his crimson eyes. "Like what?" she giggled.
He sat there holding her and swaying for a moment, then spoke "I'd tell you, but why would I when I can just show you?" he pulled out the emerald and used chaos control. They both appeared on the balcony at Club Rouge. He pointed out towards the horizon, before walking inside and coming back out with a tiny bag.
As she looked out into the water, she felt Shadow putting a necklace around her neck. He attached it, and gave her a little hand mirror.
"Oh my god! Shadow! I- I-... it's beautiful." She stuttered with happiness.
He let of a bigger smile than usual, then turned her around to look into his eyes.
"A beautiful necklace for a beautiful girl." His words brought tears of joy to her eyes.
"Dammit Shad!" She smiled, trying to hold back her tears. "When did you become such a sweetie." She rubbed the fur on his chest.
"Oh don't cry yet, the necklace is just the appetizer, you ready for the real thing?"
She shook with excitement "Shadow I swear if you got me that handbag I wanted I'm gonna slap you!" she exclaimed.
He gave a nervous sigh, then grabbed her hand. "Ya know, I've known you for a really long time. I've met a lot of good and bad people over the years. I've also never had someone put up with me as long as you have. I swear, some mornings I wake up and can't believe you're still here. Even on our worst days, you never left my side, even when you probably should've."
He wiped the tears off her cheek and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "So, I figured after everything we've been through, maybe we're destined to be together?"
She had a huge smile, she was close with Shadow, but he had never opened up like this.
"Remember when we first met Rouge, and you told me the day we met that Eggman was using me… your mission was to get information on me, a forgotten project. You picked helping me over your mission, you stayed with me when I finally left Eggman behind, you had my back against the Medarex, shit you've never not had my back." He smiled and got down on his knee. "So, why don't we do this forever? Why don't we always have each others back?" He pulled out a ring with a gorgeous diamond on it. "Rouge, I wanna be yours, only yours, forever. Will you marry me?"
She was now crying uncontrollably, yet she had the biggest smile, she fell to her knees and let Shadow slide the ringer on her finger. "Of course Shad, I can't imagine myself being with anyone else." She fell into his hug.
The locked eyes, then found themselves in a deep, passionate kiss. Neither wanted it to end, eventually they pulled away and just smiled at each other.
"I love you, Shad." she giggled, rubbing his chest fur.
"I love you too, Rouge." they embraced each other, gazing off into the ocean.
And that's it! I do have plans on doing a sequel to this, I'll likely bring Eggman back into it too. I also plan on doing my take on Shadow's origin story, not sure if it'll be shadrouge as well or if i'll just focus on Shadow. If you enjoyed, feel free to drop any feedback, and if you're interested in any sequel or even my take on Shadow's origin, feel free to follow me! More will be coming in the future, thanks for reading!