CHAPTER 13

Early that next morning, Shadow and the rest of the Detective Council had all met up at Sarah Wish's office in Tech City. The group was discussing about Shadow and Freya's encounter with Scourge the previous night. They were all sitting at a long brown table. They all had listened as Shadow told them about the encounter with Scourge.

"And after that, he pretty much got away", Shadow had finished.

Luke had rested his head on his hand while he looked down at the table in disbelief. "I...can't believe this is happening." He slowly lifted his head and looked up at Shadow. "A demon? Scourge?"

The black and red hedgehog made a nod. "Freya and I caught him covered in blood and eating off of a dead teenage boy."

Amethyst placed her hand over her mouth in horror, "Oh God." She slowly turned to Luke while she sat beside him. She saw the distraught look on his face and just could imagine how he was feeling knowing one of his own team members betrayed him. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Luke, I am so sorry."

Leon slammed his fist down onto the table. "Damn The Dark Alliance! How dare they turn one of our own against us."

Luke slowly shook his head, "I know Scourge. If they tried to turn him without his consent, he would've fought to the very end."

Sally nodded her head as she did recall that there was some disagreements within the team before Scourge did take off. "Well you two did leave on bad terms. He probably got pissed off and went to Dark willingly." Her eyes shifted over to his, "Because of whatever happened, he's completely turned against you and the rest of the Council."

Luke turned away from her in sadness. He couldn't help but to think that him leaving was entirely his fault.

Sarah who sat at the end of the table had spoken up. "It doesn't matter what happened before. The current matter is that Scourge is no longer on our side. He is now just another one of those murderous demons out there on the streets." She stood from her chair, "We can't save him now. He's sealed his fate."

The group listened to her closely. She was right. If Scourge willingly went to Dark then he had every intent on making sure the Council wouldn't get in the Dark Alliance's way.

"If he's spotted and comes at anyone with an intent to kill..." She took her clenched fist and placed it in the palm of her hand. "...We must take him down at all costs. Understood?"

As everyone nodded, Shadow's eyes wandered over to Luke as he saw nothing but pure guilt and sadness on his face.

Meanwhile at the Radiant Guard headquarters, Lydia was discussing with the group about what had happened in Tech City last night.

"So", Kevin began. "When is Amethyst coming back from that emergency meeting?"

Lydia checked her cell phone to see any new messages from Amethyst but there wasn't any. She placed her phone back into her pants pocket. She slightly shrugged her shoulders. "She left for Tech City earlier this morning. She should be back soon."

"I heard some shit went down last night over there", Silas spoke.

Kevin looked back over to Lydia. "Scourge right?"

The white rabbit made a nod. She knew the meeting had something to do with Scourge but she had no idea what had happened. "Of course we don't have any details of what happened. We'll have to wait for Amethyst to come back and fill us in."

Riley's heart raced as she heard them mentioning Scourge's name within their conversation. She slightly turned to Fiona who was grabbing her black coat off of the coat rack near the entrance door. While Lydia was talking with Kevin and Silas, she walked over to Fiona before she started to walk out of the door. She placed her hand gently on her shoulder. "Fi", she called in a soft whisper. "Where you running off to?"

The red fox turned to her with a careless look while she put on her coat. "Just going for a walk."

She could tell by her tone that she was so heartbroken and bitter about the situation with Scourge. Ever since the Council released the information about him being a runaway fugitive, Fiona had completely changed. She started to shut everyone out and became distant. This worried her as she thought she became like this because she had actually really liked Scourge and now he was gone. "But Amethyst will be back soon...don't you wanna hear the new info about Scourge?"

"Why does it matter?" She spoke in a low and cold voice as she placed her hand on the handle of the door. "We all established that he's a traitor...and he's never coming back."

Riley watched as she quietly opened the door and left the agency.

Later at the Chaotix in the medical room, Espio was sitting at his desk typing on the computer. He had his back turned while he spoke with Tonya who was in the room with him.

She had sat in her wheelchair while she watched Espio working on the computer on the other side of the room.

He slightly stretched his arms out tiredly, "Shad should be back from that emergency meeting soon."

She looked over to him, "I still can't believe what happened last night. The Council's in for an earful."

Espio made a slight nod in agreement. "Yeah and I can't imagine what Luke's going through. After all, he was his weapon specialist." He shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well. You think you know a guy huh?" His eyes slightly scanned around his desk as though he was looking for something. "Great", he spoke in a low and sarcastic tone. "Where'd I put my clipboard?"

Tonya glanced around the room until she saw it on another small table across from her. "I found it. Did you want me to bring it to you?"

He looked back at the computer screen and slightly shook his head. "Nah I'll get it in a minute." He continued typing on the keyboard for a moment until he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He knew it was Tonya. He figured that she went on and got him the clipboard full of paperwork that he had needed. "Ton", he spoke. "I said I'm fine. I didn't need it right..." When he spun around to turn to her, he looked up at the purple cat standing in front of him with the brown clipboard in her hands. His mouth dropped to the floor as he stared at her. "...Now..."

She looked down at him with a wide smile and tears swelling in her eyes. "Heh, I think you needed this."

In both amazement and happiness, he slowly stood from his chair and stared her up and down. Was he dreaming? Was this even real? She was standing. She was really standing on her feet. "Tonya..." he spoke. "You...you're standing?" He looked back over to the empty wheelchair and back at her. "You...walked?"

As she made a nod, a tear fell from her face, "Yeah", she sniffed. She even had surprised herself. She had been practicing walking and standing with Espio for about a month now and she always thought that she would be nowhere near ready to walk again. Before she knew it, the clipboard she had held in her hands had dropped to the floor as Espio happily embraced her in tears.

"Oh my God, Ton", he sniffed. "You-you're walking. You're really walking."

She held onto him tightly as more tears ran down her face in happiness. "I'm so happy, Espio."

He slowly pulled away from her and placed a hand gently on her cheek. "I knew it", he spoke in a soft tone. "I knew you could do it, Ton."

She placed her hand over his gently while she smiled at him. "I couldn't have done it without you." She sniffed, "Espio, I love you. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life." She had then noticed him shifting his eyes slowly away and then looking back at her again. This kind of worried her with his sudden change of behavior. He had looked like something was wrong.

He took his hand away from her cheek and held her body closer to him. "Tonya", he spoke. "Can I say something really crazy?"

Yes his behavior did get strange. She had wondered what was running through his mind. She had hoped it was something on a positive note. She made a slight nod, "Sure, hun."

He bit his lip lightly before he spoke and looked into her eyes. "Marry me."

Her eyes widened and her heart had raced. Did her ears deceive her? "Wha-what?"

When he saw the surprised look on her face, he had spoke again with a small smile on his face. "You heard me. Will you marry me?"

This was it. After years of being together, they had their ups and downs with each other but they always were with each other. They always had each other's back. Now he was prepared to spend the rest of his life with her and she was prepared to do the same. More tears had swelled in her eyes as she nodded happily. "Oh, Espio. Of course I will. I love you."

"And I love you, Tonya." He leaned closer to her until he happily pressed his lips against hers and continued to hold her in a loving embrace.

Back in Crystal City, Fiona found herself wandering through a graveyard that was practically covered in a thick blanket of fog. The air was dry and cold and she felt like she couldn't see a thing in front of her. Where was she going? What led her to a place like this? She wanted to be alone and she just knew somewhere like the graveyard would be empty. She wanted to get away from everyone. She had to clear her mind. She had to forget about the one who felt like the only one who understood her. She had to forget about him.

She stopped in her tracks and stood there while she thought about what was actually going through her head. No matter how hard she tried, his face always came to her mind. She placed her hand on her forehead and sighed. "What am I doing?" She asked herself in a low voice. "I gotta get him out of my head..." Before she could take another step, she heard a stick snapping from behind her. She quickly drew her handgun from her belt holster and spun around. When she turned, she didn't see anything. She wanted to shrug it off. Perhaps it was a squirrel or something. What made her suddenly draw her gun though? Her mind and nerves were shot. She knew she wasn't thinking clearly and it would be dangerous outcome for anyone if they snuck up on her.

Although it was hard to tell because of how thick the fog was. Her ear perked up as she heard leaves rustling in front of her. She again had pointed the gun out in front of her. Someone was there. She could hear their footsteps stepping on the dry and dead leaves on the ground. "Who's there? Come out and show your face!" As she held the gun tightly in her hands, her heart raced when she heard a familiar male voice call out to her.

"Fiona?"

When the fog started to clear a bit, she looked harder and saw a fairly big tree in front of her. She thought that someone may had been standing behind it. When she heard more leaves rustling, her finger had remained on the trigger until her eyes widened when she saw a familiar figure slowly come from behind the tree. She dropped her gun to the ground as her eyes fell upon a male green hedgehog who stood across from her with him having his red eyes locked onto hers. "...Scourge..."

Author's Note: Well there you have it! It took awhile but the story is officially done! It took a lot of will power but I got there. I hope you all enjoyed the fic. The next upcoming story will be called Whispers In The Dark. It's sort of a short story but will still stick to the main story line. It'll tell what will happen between Scourge and Fiona and also going more in depth into Luke's personal life. Whispers In The Dark will be posted by Monday so stay tuned! And thanks guys for all your support! Over and out!