CHAPTER 21

AT FAULT

Espio sat there on the bench along with the Chaotix gang with his heart rate beating at such a fast rate, he thought it would jump out of his chest. He became so confused with the entire situation. Shadow wanted him to confront everyone from what he had saw and he didn't get it. He began to assume that Shadow had wanted to go to jail because he really couldn't think of another reason. He was startled as Tonya placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered over to him.

"Go ahead, Espio."

He made a small nod and knew he had to do what had to be done. He stood from the bench and began to walk up to the stand beside the judge. As he walked past Shadow, he had a feeling that he was mindlessly staring him down and it made him even more nervous. When he finally arrived at the stand, he awaited for the judge to speak.

"Espio the Chameleon, you were the one who witnessed Shadow actually having sex with the body?"

He made a small nod, "…Yes."

"Would you have any clue why Shadow would do such a thing to your former teammate?"

"…No…I don't know what made him go off like that…"

Shadow crossed his arms as he listened to Espio speak.

"I mean I knew he was indeed deeply in love with Rouge but I didn't want to believe what I saw that night was him getting so depressed…so upset…he'd…" He paused as he felt that he could no longer carry on with the sentence.

"I see…losing loved ones do cause depression some have it more severe than others…was Shadow always the depressed looking type to you?"

While Espio replied his eyes had met Shadow's dreary blood red eyes. "…I've known Shadow for a long time since we were both 18. We joined the Chaotix at the same time and everything…we did everything together. He was my best friend…a brother more or less."

Tonya bit her lip as she noticed the way Espio and Shadow were looking at each other with deep and sad expressions.

Espio continued, "And if I had to say that Shadow was a depressing individual then yes…he got depressed a lot."

The judge nodded as he was taking all of what Espio said into his mind. "Okay and how did you see Shadow deal with his depression?"

Before he could respond, he paused and gave Shadow a worried look until he saw the hedgehog give him a small nod. He bit his lip as he knew that Shadow wanted him to tell everyone in the courtroom about how he actually handled his depression. "Shadow…he…he was a… self abuser…he…self harms…"

Everyone in the courtroom began to whisper to each other from Espio's shocking answer.

The judge tried to ignore their comments as he focused on Espio again. "Name some of the things he would do to himself?"

Espio didn't want to name every little thing Shadow did to himself but Shadow was standing across from him staring him down giving him the okay to say everything that had to be said. "…He would use blades to cut his wrists…he would bite himself…he would pound his fists into bricks…he would try to overdose on his medication…he drinks a lot…and he…would just…" Tears began to swell into his eyes as he felt that he couldn't continue with the list.

Everyone's stunned eyes fell upon the hedgehog who just stood there watching his best friend practically go into a breakdown in front of his very eyes.

The judge turned to the hedgehog in shock. "Mr. Hedgehog, is this all true?"

He made a small nod, "Yes…"

Espio sniffed and tried to hold back his tears as he continued. "It's all my fault. He's been destroying himself all this time and I promised I wouldn't say a thing all because he didn't want others to get involved."

"Yes" the judge spoke, "You were wrong for not telling anyone this so they could help this poor man's depression from getting any worse."

"Shadow…", he spoke as tears streamed down his face. "…I'm sorry. This is all my fault that you're like this…"

"Shut up it is not", the hedgehog murmured.

The chameleon's eyes widened as he focused on the surprisingly calm hedgehog.

"I made you shut your mouth about it because no one had the right to get into my affairs. They're my problems and no one else's."

He tried to wipe away some of the tears away from his face, "…But you had sex with Rouge's corpse…don't you feel bad for doing that at all?"

His eyes traveled around the entire courtroom studying everyone's curious looks, "You all really don't get it do you? Rouge was my wife. I love everything about her! Her hair! Her lips! Her eyes! Her smile! The clothes she wears! Her sweet scent is my drug for God's sakes! Everything about her turns me on and I can't live without her! I refuse to! That is why I fucked her dead lifeless body!"

Afterwards everyone in the courtroom had remained silent and just stared at the heartbroken hedgehog.

"…Mr. Hedgehog", the judge began. "…How do you plead?" He was suddenly startled when he heard Shadow slamming his fists down onto the table he was sitting at.

"Guilty! Fucking guilty for fucking the woman I love!"

"Hey!" One of the cops shouted. "What did we say about that mouth? Calm down!"

The judge shook his head slowly and bashed his hammer down onto the stand. "We'll take a short break and then we'll decide if the defendant is innocent or guilty..."

A/N:

Espio: Shadow, do you hate me?

Shadow:...

Midnight: I don't think Shadow's gonna be walking out here a free man...

Vector: Things look pretty bad...