Chapter Twenty-One

Yukon River Hospital was far from quiet that night, but Tails was settled in a single room, getting seen to with the right treatment. Rouge and Knuckles were situated outside of his room, waiting on Blaze to make her appearance. It was going to be a really long night waiting at his beside and by the phone. It was a familiar feeling to do so but this time, it was too serious to make light of the situation or even make a joke to lift any spirits.

Rouge pushed herself lightly off the beige wall, twirling her body to face Knuckles. She had a few things on her mind. "Why do you think Tails didn't tell us about her?"

He lifted his head and met her eyes. Knuckles took a few seconds to think it out before giving a definitive answer from his point of view. "Well, if you had been through what she has, would you have had Tails tell anyone?"

"Valid point. Another question: do you think Shadow knew before she was taken?"

He didn't need time to think about how to answer that. "He knew."

She titled her head to the left only a few ticks and pursed her lips before asking him to elaborate. "Why do you think that?"

"They were in love, you should have seen them together. They looked at each other like nothing else mattered but each other. It's the kind of love you want and dream of when you're a kid. We've known him a hell of a long time, we know what he's like. I never thought he would get this point, but she brings it out in him. He does the same to her, I can see it in her eyes. I guess that's what love does to people, it changes us, its unpredictable. Its like a blackhole in space. You try to understand it, but it just sucks you in and sends you to another place."

She smiled. "Colour me impressed, you're quite insightful, you know that?"

He chuckled with a shake to his head. "I read."

"You said 'were in love', do you think she won't make it?" Rouge spoke softly, worry and fear slowly consuming her. She didn't want Shadow to go through loss again, and this one will cripple him if it comes to pass. If he can't save her.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Look, I don't know what's going to happen, no one does. I really do hope to any and all of the gods that he does get to her in time but there is a chance that he won't. We need to be here for Tails, he's just a kid."

"He's not just a kid, he's insanely smart and bright for someone his age and he's done so much." Rouge caught glimpse of Tails' sleeping form in the hospital bed from the doorway, the sight of him like that made her heart ache. He wanted to get away from the danger, live a normal life. It could never escape him.

Knuckles followed her line of sight, he softly rubbed her shoulder. "Yes, he is but he's still fifteen years old."

Her hand met his on her shoulder, she needed the comfort. "Yeah."

In that moment, she felt warmth from within, she was content for just a little while, but reality was waiting. She turned her head to his, they were inches away from each other. "He doesn't have a home, it's just ash now."

"We'll think about that later."

The car couldn't go any further, the dirt road stopped half a mile from where they needed to be. Shadow parked the car and he couldn't jump out of his seat faster. They resorted to running through the forest as if their lives depended on it or rather Kiera's life depended on it.

Silver pulled Shadow to a stop as his eyes caught a mismatch of shrubbery and foliage. "What?"

"Look, does that look natural to you?" He took a closer look and noticed an exhaust pipe poking out of the greenery. Shadow pulled as much branches off of the hidden vehicle he could in as little amount of time as he could – Kiera is always on his mind. He found the license plate. The car was theirs.

Lorenzo is here.

Alistair is here.

Kiera is here.

That was all he needed to know. He moved to push into that burnt out house like a bulldozer, but Silver pulled him back once more.

"What's your problem?" He snarled at his friend, but Silver didn't mind or care for his attitude for the moment.

He pushed him back. "If you go in there right now guns blazing, you will get Kiera killed. Do you want that?" Silver asked him rhetorically, knowing full well what the answer was. Shadow just needed to be reminded of what the situation was. They needed to treat it like any other case. Remove all personal attachments which will prove difficult for him.

"What's the plan then?"

Silver pointed the opposite direction to the house. "We're going through the back entrance, through the hidden tunnel."

Shadow wasn't exactly thrilled. "The sewer."

"Let's go."

Lorenzo hit her again, this time a little too hard as her chair rocked back. He knocked her unconscious, again. He growled at her. "For fucks sake." He turned away from her and pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his pants.

He quickly got annoyed as he couldn't unlock it with blood on his fingers. He wiped her blood off of his hands on his shirt like it was just paint or sauce. Once opening the phone, he checked the security cameras he installed days before. He saw an unfamiliar car.

"The boytoy – it seems he does love you after all." He sneered at the picture.

Lorenzo pivoted to Alistair who was sat on a rusty metal table playing Angry Birds on his phone. "Once you're done playing with your phone, why don't you go make yourself useful by going through the tunnel and dragging whoever cares enough to save her here. Roughed up, not dead. Understand?" He had to use small words with him.

Alistair exited the game and put his phone on the table, he left through the tunnel. Lorenzo turned back to Kiera, waiting for her to wake up and slowly she does.

Her head slowly lifts up and finds his eyes staring right back at her, she blinked a few times through the discomfort. The restraints were starting to strain and burn her, it didn't bother her at first. Now, it did which just added to the day she was having.

He smiled happily at her, he was ready to slice her up and open six ways from Sunday. He pulled that knife she knows so dearly back into her view. "Scream for me, little sister, what is mine will always be mine."

He was suddenly surprised. She started to laugh at him and that brought back the anger and annoyance in him. "What the fuck are you laughing about?"

She hummed at the sound of the click of the safety of a gun. His face slowly dropped as he felt the barrel of said gun against the back of his head and his jaw tightened. "The lover, I presume?"

"Drop the fucking knife, or I swear to the gods, I will kill you where you stand."

Lorenzo smirked and laughed. "I have a better idea."

A shot rang out.

A/N: I'm basically just uploading as soon as I finish typing the chapters up so I know that they're up and out there. One final chapter and the epilogue to go! Remember reviews make me feel better about myself! Much love x