CHAPTER 21
Many hours had passed and it was starting to go early into the next morning. However it was early enough for it to be still dark outside. In the playroom of The Nest, the group of demons were gathered and had their attention on Dark who was sitting on his throne looking back at them with a disturbed look on his face. They all had figured something had happened.
Dark leaned and rested his back against the chair he sat in while he made a slight aggravated sigh before he had spoke out to the group. "It's official. I can no longer sense Darkness' essence."
Angel knew that Dark was the only who could feel Darkness' energy for miles due to the both of them having the same blood. If he couldn't sense his presence anymore than what had happened and what had became of him? "The mission went wrong?"
Devil had his arms crossed while he stood next to Angel. "Well no one has returned yet. And if Darkness' essence can no longer be sensed, I bet money The Chaotix or The Council has found a way to bring Shadow and Rouge back to their normal selves." It had to be what had happened otherwise something would have been reported.
Angel gasped and was shocked from the fact that Shadow and Rouge were brought back to themselves once again. She was curious to know how everything had happened. "Oh no! Darkness-san!"
Luthor rubbed his chin as he tried to figure out what could have caused all of this to happen. "But we just discussed this plan yesterday. How could they have known that they would be there? They couldn't have tracked them."
Dark placed a finger under his chin as he went into deep in thought about the situation. "Hmm...Fiona and Scourge aren't back either."
Another worried look came across Angel's face, "Do you think they're dead? You think The Council wasted them?"
Devil turned to her with a finger under his chin, "Scourge and Fiona are much stronger than they appear. So with them being both dead is not very likely."
Luthor spun around to Devil, "Then what does this mean?"
"It means..." Dark's blood red eyes slowly scanned around the room as his eyes glanced at the group who stood before him. "Someone wasn't very thrilled about Darkness' arrival and possibly dropped some kind of intel with The Council..."
"A traitor?" Luthor knew right off the bat that there were several possible candidates that could be the double crosser among them. As shocking as it was. The reality was not all of them were excited for Darkness' arrival.
"And it's interesting Scourge and Fiona didn't come back..." Devil had pointed out.
"Yes", Dark spoke in a low yet bitter tone. "Very interesting..."
While they all exchanged uncomfortable looks towards each other, Sky stood afar from the group while giving them all a cold look.
Meanwhile down in a large and dark basement of a small home located near the outskirts of Tech City, the only bit of light that was lighting up the basement came from a small television setting on a small metal table set in front of a large dark grey reclining chair. Hanging from the dark walls, the light from the television had reflected off of the sharp blades of axes, knifes, and other types of different blades. There were also different types of guns being displayed. Ranging from rocket launchers to simple handguns. Sitting in the recliner was a male gray panther with snow white hair that peeked out of the black fedora hat he wore. The panther appeared to be in his mid forties. He wore a black t shirt, a tan sleeveless vest, faded blue jeans, black boots, and black gloves. Around his neck, he had on a necklace that had strange white canines from teeth hanging around it. He slowly rocked back and forth in the chair and had his light blue yet bloodshot eyes lazily staring at the news on the television while he held a half empty beer bottle in his hand. He raised the bottle to take a sip of the beer that was left in the bottle as he continued to watch and listen to the news.
There was a newswoman who was talking about the mysterious cannibalistic murders that were taking place within and around Tech City. He lowly grumbled under his breath and slightly slurred his words, "Demons...those goddamn demons..." He suddenly took the beer bottle and threw it against the wall behind the television. The glass bottle shattered and the remains of the beer had started to drip down the wall. He continued to angrily glare at the screen of television, "I'll kill them. Every last one."
Much later on in the morning, the sun was finally out and slowly lighting up the azure sky. At The Tech City Hospital, Freya was in her mother's room to see how she was doing. She was sitting in a wooden chair beside her bed and held Joyce's hand as she looked at her with a small and warm smile. "I'm glad you're doing better, mom. At this rate, they'll end up releasing you and you can finally come home."
Her mother sent her a comforting smile back towards her while she held onto her daughter's hand. She caught sight of her no longer wearing her hospital gown. She was now wearing her casual attire. "Of course, sweetie. Nothing can keep me down. How are you feeling? Better I assume since the doctors officially said you can leave the hospital?"
She was relieved that she could now leave the hospital but at the same time, she didn't want to completely leave her mother's side. The doctors had told her that Joyce was in much better condition than she was but they recommended her to stay a few days longer so she could fully recover. She paused and then shrugged her shoulders carelessly, "Hey I'm alive aren't I?"
Before Joyce would say anything else, she heard the cell phone in Freya's pocket alert her of having a message. She watched her take her phone ouf of her pants pocket and began to read the text on the screen of her phone. "Who might that be? Midnight? He worries about you."
She slightly shook her head as she didn't take her eyes away from the screen of her phone. "...It's not Midnight."
Joyce had then saw the sudden serious expression on her face. She had figured something had seriously happened and it didn't look good. "...What is it, Freya?"
"I..." Her eyes stayed glued to the screen of her phone with her hands slightly shaking while she held her phone in her hands. "I think I have to go..."
She had given her a confusing look as Freya continued to stare at the screen of her phone.
Meanwhile at Shadow and Rouge's house, Shadow tiredly made his way downstairs and caught sight of Rouge sitting at the kitchen table. As he looked at her, he noticed an upset and tired expression on her face. She appeared to be deep in thought. With all that happened with him and her, he could only imagine what kind of things she was thinking about. He took a deep breath before he finally walked into the kitchen and approached her. "Good morning, hun."
She slowly picked her head up from the table and slowly looked up only to see him standing from across her with a concerned look on his face. "Good morning", she replied tiredly. She had then saw him pulling up the chair that was across from her at the table and took a seat.
"How'd you sleep?"
With her elbow setting on the surface of the table, she used her hand to rest the side of her face. She took her other hand and rubbed the side of her forehead. "Horrible." She had then rested her back against the chair she sat in and tiredly shifted her eyes over to him. "I barely got any sleep."
"Yeah. Me too." He figured she had a hard time sleeping and in all honesty, he had trouble as well. It was rough for him as he was way too focused on recollecting the things he had said and done while Darkness took control of his body. He took his hand and tiredly rubbed the side of his head, "I'm glad Nails and Tikal are looking after Spike while we try to regroup after what happened." He slowly shook his head and sighed heavily, "I'll be straight with you. I'm nervous as all hell about heading over to Sarah's office." He crossed his arms and shifted his eyes away from her, "It's gonna be a real pain in the ass trying to explain about what happened. Something tells me it's not gonna be pretty..." He wanted to believe that Sarah and the rest of The Council would have mercy on them both from what they had done but he had a bad feeling, it all wouldn't end well.
Rouge took her back away from the chair and leaned forward towards the table as her head and eyes were directed on the surface of the table. She bit her lip before she started to speak out, "I just wish..."
His eyes traveled back to her when she began to speak. "Hm?"
She had her hands placed on her thighs and slightly gripped onto them with her fingertips. "I just wish I could remember everything that happened while I was..."
He wasn't at all surprised by her wanting to know what she had done while she was under the mind control. The only things he had told her was she made him drink her blood while she was a demon which caused Darkness to break free. But he never told her of any intense details. He found it hard to even look in her direction as he remembered the lives they both took together.
She noticed his silence and slowly looked back up at him with a look that seeked answers."...I...killed people. Didn't I?"
While still not facing her, he made a small and slow nod, "...We both did."
With tears beginning to swell in her eyes, she slowly shook her head as she wished that everything was just a horrible nightmare. "But we didn't just kill them..." She spoke in a low and broken voice. "We...ate them..." Her stomach sank as those words passed her lips. She gripped onto her thighs tighter and found it hard to swallow as she tried to fight back her tears.
Just by hearing the sniffles and change of tone in her broken voice, he knew she was crying but he still found it difficult to look her in the eyes. "I...I know..." His ears perked up when he heard the sound of her chair being pushed back and her quickly getting up. When he turned, he saw her running over to the nearby trashcan in the corner of the kitchen with her lowering her head into it. The next thing he heard was the coughing and the sound of vomit splashing at the bottom of the trashcan. It tore him apart to see her like this. Even though he felt exactly the same way she did. He quickly stood from his chair and hurriedly made his way over to her. While she spit out the last bit of vomit into the trashcan, he rubbed her back gently with his hand. "Are you okay, hun?" When she wiped some of the vomit that was left around her mouth with her wrist, she lifted her head from the trashcan with her face soaked in her tears.
"I feel...so sick..." she sobbed softly. Her body was then forced into a tight and loving embrace. He gently ran his fingers though her soft white hair while he held her in his arms.
"I'm sorry, Rouge", he spoke softly. "I'm sorry you had to experience all of those horrible things. The things you did and said...the things I did and said..."
When she heard his voice slightly break up, she knew that he was trying to fight back his tears as well. When she looked back up at him, he took his hands and placed them on both sides of her face to slightly caress her.
His tear filled eyes locked into hers. "Everything I did...everything I said...you may not remember but I treated you like fucking dirt and he made me not care about anyone or anything. He truly made me a monster..."
At this point, she knew that he and her were both feeling the same way about what had happened. She knew he was upset about what happened but by just looking into his eyes, he was an emotional wreck. Just like her. "...Shadow..."
"He made me hurt you in the worst ways imaginable. And God I am so sorry, Rouge..."
It was obvious that Darkness was a cold and cruel demon who was self centered. After all she did encounter his counterpart before. He did just about anything to get what he wanted. But she had to wonder. What things did he make Shadow do and say to her? She was already well aware if Darkness controlled Shadow, he would still be aware of what was going on with his words and actions. So he knew what had happened during their time together as demons. One part of her was curious to know. Yet another part of her was way too frightened to ask. "Shadow", she spoke in a soft yet hesitant tone. "...What happened?" Her eyes widened when she saw a tear streaming down his face with continuous silence coming from him. Was it so bad that he couldn't easily come out with what he had done to her? This made her even more frightened to know the truth.
"Rouge", he finally spoke with his voice cracked. "I'm so sorry..."
Her heart raced. She could tell in his eyes that he was terrified and showed so much remorse. Was he going to tell her? If so how was she gonna handle it? Would the two ever be the same around each other ever again? "Shadow..." They were both suddenly startled when they heard a text notification coming from Shadow's cell phone. She watched him slowly take his hands away from her and take out his cell phone to read the message. As she looked at him, the worried look he had on his face never went away. "...What's wrong?"
"It's Espio. He wants me to call him." He looked away from the screen of his phone and looked back at her. "He says it's an emergency."
"Emergency?" She repeated in a blank tone. She had then watched him starting to make his way outside.
When he stood in front of the door, he turned to her to see her standing there giving him a worried look. He didn't even know what was going on but he tried to look like everything was fine. For her sake. "Don't worry. Everything's gonna be fine. I'm gonna talk to him. I'll be back."
She made a slow nod and watched him open the door to step outside to call Espio. Once he closed the door behind him, the kitchen was silent and the horrible thoughts that filled her mind wouldn't stop. She had to calm herself. She knew she couldn't face Sarah and the rest of The Council if her nerves were already shot. She had to snap out of it. She looked over to the cabinets and decided that maybe if he had a small cup of coffee, that would ease her nerves a bit. She tried wiping some of the tears from her drenched face as she walked over to open the cabinet. She could hear Shadow's voice from outside of the door. It was like he was talking to someone. Espio she had assumed.
"Espio? Slow down. I can barely understand you."
Her body began to slightly shake nervously. It was clear from Shadow's reaction that Espio was nervous and panicked about something. She wondered what was going on. She suddenly heard a loud thump coming from outside the door and then complete silence followed afterwards. She turned towards the door with a concerned look on her face. "...Shadow?" After not hearing a response from when she called him, she decided to make her way outside to be sure he was okay. She hurried over to the door and swung it open. Once she stepped outside, she glanced around her and didn't see anything that was unusual until she saw Shadow laying down on the deck appearing unconscious with his cell phone down on the ground setting beside him. "Shadow! Oh my God!" Before she could step over to him to see if he was okay, a male voice had suddenly spoken behind her.
"Hold it right there!" The male voice ordered.
She froze in her tracks and quickly spun around only to turn to two strange figures wearing black tactical uniforms with black helmets with the lens tinted so she couldn't see who they were. Her eyes caught sight of the G.U.N. logo stitched into the upper chest area of their uniforms. The both of them had pointed two strange rifle life weapons towards her.
"Don't move!" The other soldier had ordered.
At the moment she didn't care who they were. All she wanted to know was why they were there at their home? And what they had done to Shadow? "What? Who the hell are you? What did you do to my husband?" Before she could ask anymore questions, she was suddenly grabbed from behind and felt a sharp needle being shot into the side of her neck. She immediately felt dizzy from having the strange needle injected into her neck. While she was getting dizzier by the moment, she took the little bit of strength she had left and jerked the strange vile that contained the remaining amount of green liquid inside of it out of her neck. Once she took it out of her neck, she dropped the small vile down onto the ground and fell to her knees. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, the effects from the liquid had gotten to her quickly and everything was starting to get blurry. She saw the blurry image of a male yellow lion wearing a black G.U.N. uniform standing above her with the two soldiers standing beside him before everything had gotten black.
Meanwhile in the far outskirts of Tech city, on a large hilltop that was covered in green grass, a male black jackal had stepped towards the ledge to look down upon the large busy city in front of him. With his long white dreadlocks fluttering in the wind, the jackal stared down at the large city. His breathing could be heard through the silver metal mask he wore that only exposed a glowing yellow eye through the red visor. "So" he spoke. "This is Tech City..." He slowly raised his hand up, "At last I've come one step closer to finding one of the most powerful demons of them all..." He slowly clenched his hand into a fist, "Shadow The Hedgehog..."
Author's Note: And that's the end! Or is it? What's going to happen to Shadow and Rouge now? Will everyone forgive them for their actions? And who is this new mysterious jackal? Hmm! All will be revealed next week in the new story, Countdown To Zero! Thank you all for reading and supporting this story and I will see you guys on the flipside!