CHAPTER 14

THE LOVE OF FREEDOM

In the control room, the Chaotix team were studying Krad's horrific facial expression. They all could just tell that who or whatever he was, he wasn't going to be like any other enemy they had faced before.

Charmy arched an eyebrow while he stared at the gray hedgehog who still had an evil look on his face. "Something's really strange about that guy."

"You don't say?" Espio said sarcastically while he couldn't take his eyes off of him.

"Silence!" Krad demanded. "Prepare to witness my true power!"

Espio stepped forward showing the hedgehog he wasn't afraid of him. "What power?"

"How about I show you?" He raised his hand towards the chameleon and saw him levitate in the air.

Charmy's jaw dropped when he saw it. "Holy crap!"

Tonya placed her hand over her lips at the sight. 'How is he doing that?'

The hedgehog then swayed his hand in a slapping motion and flung Espio's body into the wall knocking him unconscious.

"Espio!" Tonya shouted in worry.

Vector clenched his fists in fury, "You!" He ran up to the hedgehog ready to hit him with a powerful punch.

The gray hedgehog licked his lips and clenched his hand into a fist in his direction.

Tonya and Charmy gasped in horror when they saw Vector stop in his tracks and fell to his knees while holding his chest.

"Vector!" Charmy shouted in worry.

Tonya had wondered what was going on and how Krad had the power to all of this. "What are you doing to him?"

"I'm just showing him a little taste of my power and just merely crushing his heart."

'No!' She thought, 'How is this possible?'

"I literally have his heart in my hands", he spoke in a devious tone.

'Who is this man? He…he can't be a mere Mobian…' Tears swelled in her eyes as she feared for Vector. "Leave him alone!"

He shrugged, "As you wish." He unclenched his fist and saw Vector fall to the floor groaning in pain.

"Vector!"

Tonya and Charmy ran over to him to make sure he was going to be okay. They once again heard Krad laughing deeply.

"You fools! You actually thought you could take me on? When I can kill you in a blink of an eye? You have yet to witness my real power!"

Tonya found it hard to admit even to herself but she was afraid and wished that everything that was happening was all just one huge nightmare.

Meanwhile, Rouge's body began to tremble a bit as she was trying to control herself from fighting Shadow again. She looked up at the hedgehog who had his body on top of hers and saw his hands reach for the collar around her neck. She closed her eyes tightly awaiting the searing pain the collar would bring to both of them if the collar was ever attempted to being taken off.

Shadow tightly shut his eyes, quickly gripped his hands around the collar and started to pull it apart.

The both of them began to let out agonizing cries as the electricity from the collar started to shock their bodies.

Rouge felt her body burning from the inside but she tried not to move as she knew deep down that Shadow had to be getting close to getting the collar off.

As he pulled harder and harder, he could feel the collar around her neck wearing and the electric shocks weaken.

She felt the collar get more and more loose around her neck.

At last, Shadow used all of the strength he had left and felt the collar break in half within his grip. He opened his eyes and found the collar broken in half in the palm of his hands. He looked at Rouge and saw that she didn't open her eyes and her head was laying to the side. He threw the broken collar to the side, got off of her, and held her body close to him. "Rouge?" He shook her body lightly, "Rouge!" He shook her body again, "Wake up! Open your eyes!"

She laid in his arms with her eyes still closed and her body not moving.

He started to worry and thought maybe she didn't make it. Maybe the shocks were too much for her. Or maybe the injuries from their fight were too serious. Regardless of the possibilities if she had died, he would've blamed himself. He began to remember what Espio had told him earlier.

'If she dies, you'll never be able to live with yourself.'

While remembering that, it just made him want to think that he really had lost her. He laid her body back onto the floor and kneeled down in front of her. He couldn't take his eyes off of her beautiful face. She seemed so peaceful. "Rouge, this is all my fault. If I wasn't being so selfish, you wouldn't be upset with me. You wouldn't have gotten captured. You wouldn't have been in this situation. I wish you could hear me say that…I'm sorry. I should've treated you better. I never knew how good you were to me until the very end. I…I need you in my life." He leaned his forehead onto hers and began to softly sob. "Please Rouge, come back to me…"

When his tears touched her face, her eyes had slowly started to open. She saw him pressing his forehead against hers and saw him softly crying. Seeing him do such a thing warmed her heart. She made a small smile and placed her warm hands on his cheeks.

He had slowly opened his eyes and saw that Rouge's eyes were open as well and were laid upon his. "…Rouge? You…you're alive?"

"Of course I am, silly", she spoke in a weak tone. "It'll take a little more than a few electric shocks to get rid of me. I am the guns girl after all."

He placed his hand on top of hers when she set it on his cheek. He made a warm smile towards her, "And a damn good one."

"Shadow", she began. "I…I'm sorry…for what I said about you and…" Her words trailed off as she didn't want to upset him over again.

He shook his head slightly, "No…No don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one who kept bringing up the past. And perhaps I need to learn to let things that happened in the past stay in the past."

"But Faye was very dear to you."

"And you're not?"

She remained quiet and couldn't believe what he was actually saying.

"Rouge, you're my partner…my teammate…my ally…my friend…"

After hearing his words, she felt like she wanted to start tearing up. She had been waiting so long for Shadow to respect her and treat her like a friend and not just a co worker. "…Do you really mean that, Shadow?"

He made a small nod, "Of course." He took her hand from his cheek and softly kissed it. "I want you to be happy and to be honest, I can't see us having a relationship anytime soon."

She wanted to look away from him after when he had said that. She really liked him and wanted to give things a go but she could see why he didn't want to date in general. It was just too much for him to handle in his already busy schedule. He just simply didn't have time for it. She tried to smile to show him that she understood why he had wanted them to stay friends. "I understand, Shad."

He made a small smile and stood from the floor. He held his hand to her to offer to help her up.

She took his hand and slowly got off of the floor. She was still a little weak from the fight she had with Shadow. She had suddenly lost her balance and accidentally fell on top of Shadow knocking them back down to the floor. As she laid on top of his body, she blushed when she looked into his eyes. Her blush deepened when she felt him stroke his fingers through her hair. "…Shadow?"

He was so lost in her eyes, it took him a few seconds to respond back to her. "…Yeah?"

"Do you think we can make this just friends thing official after we share one last kiss?"

He formed a warm smile and placed his hands on her cheeks. "Of course…partner."

She leaned in closer to him until her lips had met his for one final passionate kiss.

When he took his lips from hers, he had the urge to kiss her again but a horrific scream had echoed in the tunnels.

Shadow and Rouge quickly stood up from the floor and looked around.

"What was that?" Rouge asked as he turned to the hedgehog.

"That scream…it sounded like Tonya."

"Oh no…she might be hurt." Rouge's face was full of worry. By the way Tonya had screamed, it sounded like she was in life threatening danger.

Shadow pointed down a distant tunnel, "I think it came from that way." He took Rouge's hand and made her follow him, "Let's go!"

A/N:

Rouge: You'll pay for what you've done to me!

Krad: I've been waiting a long time for this moment...

Rouge: Just what the hell are you?

Krad: You can't win!

Shadow: I'll make sure you never lay a hand on my friends again!