CHAPTER 24

Freya let out a low and saddened sigh while she laid on her stomach on her bed inside of her bedroom. She had her chin resting on the soft white pillow she had up against her neck. While her eyes appeared to blankly stare up at the white walls of her room, she felt her best friend's hand gently rubbing her back.

Risa sat beside Freya on the bed while comforting her depressed best friend by rubbing her hand against her back. She saw her tightly clench onto the white pillow she had held close to her chin.

"I can't believe Midnight dumped me..." She bit her lip slightly and fought hard to hold back the tears that were swelling in her eyes. "I'm so stupid..."

Risa heard her voice becoming hoarse and cracking. She knew she was on the verge of breaking down crying. Ever since Freya called her over to talk about her break up with Midnight, she had broke down in tears every time she tried to talk about it. She slowly shook her head while she looked down at her, "No, no, Freya", she softly spoke. "This wasn't your fault." She saw her make small nods before burying her entire face into the pillow she held onto.

"Yes it is! I just...threw myself at him! He probably thinks I'm some slut and hates me!"

Risa took her hand away from her back and made an annoyed glare towards her. "Don't be ridiculous! There's no way he would think that way about you!" She paused when she heard soft sobbing coming from the pillow that Freya was crying into. It broke her heart to see her best friend hurting and she couldn't deny that she was a little upset at Midnight for breaking up with her over something so trivial. About his loyalty towards Shadow out of all things. She frowned and folded her arms across her chest, "I'll tell you who you should be sorry for this! That damn hedgehog!"

When she heard Risa bring up Shadow, she slowly and slightly peaked her head away from the wet pillow she had cried into and turned back to her.

When she saw Freya turn her attention to her, she continued to speak. "Shadow is not only playing the Chaotix team but Midnight as well. They all know he's a menace, but he's trying to convince them all that his actions should just be ignored!" She angrily pointed her index finger towards Freya, "He attacked Mayor Wish! He attacked his friends! Cheated on his wife! And killed your mother! And Midnight just forgives him? He's a killer! A manipulator! A monster!"

Freya slowly raised herself from the bed and sat up before completely turning to Risa. She wiped away some of the tears from her face before replying to her. She let out a sniffle, "I-I know that, but what am I supposed to do?"

She slightly shrugged her shoulders, "What do you think? You need to talk to Midnight and convince him that Shadow is the enemy. Take him back and bring him to his senses. No matter what it takes."

She paused as she took in what all Risa was saying until she made a small nod towards her while giving her a serious look. "You're right. Midnight needs to be reminded who Shadow really is!"

The white full moon was enough to light up the dark and quiet park in Tech City. Shadow stopped in his tracks and found himself lost in his thoughts while he stared up at the beautiful white moon that set above him in the clear dark night sky. With his hands in the pockets of his dark grey hoodie, he stared at the bright moon. He felt the cool and chilling autumn air brushing through his quills. It was so silent around him, all he could hear was the rustling of leaves blowing in the wind. As he stared at the moon, all he could think about was his wife and him not just believing about what had just happened between them. He let out a low and saddened sigh, "It's over..." he spoke lowly. "...Isn't it?" His ears had then perked up when he heard the clicking of a gun behind him.

"I guess you could say that..."

He heard the sudden male voice coming from behind him. Before he turned, he knew he had heard the voice before. It sounded so familiar and he feared he had a feeling who it was. He quickly turned his head and saw a male grey panther standing behind him while pointing a magnum gun at him. His eyes narrowed at the panther who stood before him, "...Vic..." he practically growled under his breath.

"Well, well", the panther spoke with an evil smirk. "Fancy meeting you here eh, demon?"

He slowly turned his entire body to face him while keeping the same cold glare he made towards him.

He noticed him not making any comments towards him and widened the smirk he had on his lips. "What's the matter, demon? Not feeling very chatty tonight huh?" He lowered his gun down beside his waist and placed his free hand on his hip, "I guess I don't blame you. You did after all just watch your wife bang another hedgehog."

His eyes widened as he was surprised that Vic knew what had just happened between him and Rouge. "...What?"

"Boy that must really suck huh?"

"How did you..." His words trailed off as he began to think about how Vic really knew about what happened between him and Rouge. Especially when he wasn't there to witness it. He relaxed his shoulders and flashed his eyes sharply over at him, "...It was you..."

He took his hand from his hip and raised it upward to scratch the side of his head, "Huh?"

"Don't play dumb!" He took his hands out of his pockets and pointed towards him. "The cameras...they were your doing!"

His smirk widened even more while he placed his hand up against his chest, "Oh no! I've been found out!"

"You snuck into everyone's homes including mine to plant those cameras! Why?" He shouted angrily.

"What do you think?" He raised the gun back up to point it at him once again. "To track you, demon! But since I got found out, I guess I can't really rely on that little tactic again. Too bad I had to destroy them all so that annoying bee hacker of yours couldn't trace them back to my location. It's fine though..." His finger rested securely on the trigger of the gun. "I saw what all I needed to see. It's a shame you did too."

He clenched both of his fists tightly and adverted his eyes away from him.

He made a deep chuckle, "Poor demon. You should have known not to mess around with mortal women. Now look at you! Heartbroken and alone. Pathetic!" He held the magnum tightly in his grip while he pointed it at Shadow. "How about I just put you out of your misery?" When he saw Shadow focus his attention back to him, he used his finger and pulled the trigger to the gun firing the round at him. Once he heard the loud gunshot fire, his smirk widened when he knew he fired a clear shot at him. He knew he wouldn't miss because Shadow wouldn't be fast enough to dodge it. He watched him stand there awaiting for the bullet to pierce through him. Suddenly his smirk faded from his face as he saw Shadow still standing in front of him and didn't move an inch from the impact of the bullet. "Wha? What?" He couldn't believe what he was seeing but apparently Shadow was still standing there staring at the bullet that had came to a complete stop in front of his forehead. The bullet stopped in front of him without him even touching it. "What the hell is going on?" He then saw the bullet that was in front of him shatter into tiny pieces and scatter onto the ground. With his mouth hung open, he looked away from the pieces of the bullet that was on the ground and then back at Shadow. His heart raced inside of his chest when he saw the pupils in the hedgehog's eyes dilate and get slimmer making him look seemingly more demonic. He now even saw fangs flashing from the inside of his mouth when he began to talk. It was the same look he had before when the two had fought.

"...I've...lost everything..."

Before Vic could even move an inch, he saw Shadow appear in front of him within a flash of white light. With him suddenly appearing in front of him, he had no time to react. He was roughly grabbed by his neck and lifted off from the ground by Shadow using just one hand and then throw his entire body into a large tree that was near him. His back slammed into the tree before he flopped down onto the ground.

While Vic groaned in pain, Shadow slowly approached him and grabbed him by his black shirt to drag him up from the ground. He took his body and slammed his back hard against the tree.

With blood seeping from his mouth, Vic's eyes widened in horror as he saw the glowing green aura of energy surrounding his hand being held close to the side of his face.

When he saw him shut his eyes tightly, he slammed his body against the tree again. "Don't shut your eyes! Take a good look, slayer!"

He slowly peaked his eyes open and gazed upon the hedgehog's angered yet demonic face. "Oh shit", he muttered.

"I've lost my status, my friends, my wife, my family..." He clenched his fangs and shifted his eyes away from him, "No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to fit in with society and I'm fucking angry inside..."

Vic had then let out a painful cry when he felt the burning of Shadow's Chaos energy when he suddenly wrapped his hand around his neck.

Shadow slowly turned to look back into Vic's terrified eyes while his Chaos energy burned him. "But I know who to take my anger out on!"

Rouge ran through the dark and cold streets of the city with tears streaming down her face. After what had just happened, she didn't know where to go and what to do. All she knew was that she had to get away. Far away. She kept running until she found herself at a dead end within a dark and narrow alley. She placed her hands up against the cold brick wall of the back part of the building that was in front of her and quietly sobbed. "Oh God...", she sobbed softly. She turned away from the wall and rested her back against it when she turned outward to look out of the dark alley. "What have I done?" She paused when she felt a sudden harsh and freezing breeze. It seemed like the air around her had gotten thinner almost feeling suffocating. Before she could move, she felt something grabbing her from behind. When she tried to scream, she couldn't because a hand had covered her mouth. She screamed and tried to struggle to get free until she heard a familiar male voice speak softly into her ear.

"Calm down. It's only me."

Her eyes shot open as she began to recall the strange yet familiar voice. When her body was released from his grip, she stepped away and then turned back to face him. The figure was a black jackal wearing a strange mask to conceal his face. "...Infinite?"

"My apologies, my white flower. I didn't mean to startle you."

Just from the sight of him, Rouge felt like she couldn't move her body. She didn't know what to do. She knew that he was clearly dangerous but yet she didn't want to run from him. "...What do you want?" She had then watched him step over to her to reach his hand out to her. She slightly flinched when she felt his finger gently wipe away a tear from the side of her wet face.

"You've been crying..."

She had then shoved his hand away from her face and turned away from him. "It's nothing..."

"Is it?" He spoke while slowly pacing himself around her. "Or is it your husband again?"

She bit her lip and wondered if she should even confide in Infinite. Obviously he was a dangerous demon that wanted to kill Shadow. However, she wondered why he went out of his way to expose Shadow to her. She wondered if he really did just want to help her? Or just to lower Shadow's guard to kill him easier. "...I...I don't know what to do. Shadow's gone and I...I don't know what to do..."

"My dear..."

She turned to look back over at the demonic jackal when she felt his hand reach out and hold hers.

"Shadow has been keeping secrets from you. He slept with that chipmunk and he hid the fact that you still carried demonic attributes. Shadow cannot be trusted by anyone. Not even you, my dear."

Tears began to swell in her eyes all over again at the horrible thoughts rushing back to her mind. "I don't even know where I belong anymore...Am I demon or a mortal?"

"My flower..." He took his hand away from hers and pointed at her, "It doesn't matter if you're half or even a quarter. A demon is a demon and that was Shadow's mistake when he explained that concept to you."

"...What should I do?" She had then saw him holding out his hand towards her.

"Come with me my dear, and I shall give you the answers you desire."

Before Rouge could take his hand, she had then heard a familiar woman's voice shouting at the end of the dark alley.

"Rouge!"

Rouge held her hand back away from Infinite's and turned towards the entrance of the alley only to find a black bat woman standing across from her. "...Nails?"

Nails pointed angrily at the jackal demon, "Rouge, I know what you're thinking but don't do it! That guy can't be trusted and you know it!"

"But Nails, Infinite's been right. About everything! I want answers and he seems like the only one who can give them to me!"

Nails had then gave her a sympathetic look, "Rouge, are you listening to yourself? You're about to let this demon take you to who the hell knows where!" She saw how saddened she had looked and tried her best to try to talk her out of leaving with him. She made a deep sigh, "Look I know you're hurting but everything will be okay. Shadow is a total ass but...he's not a monster. Just talk to him okay?" There was a long pause between them until she finally heard Rouge speak out again.

"...We already did and it's over..."

"What?" Her eyes widened when she saw her standing next to Infinite closely and then watch the both of them suddenly disappear after a harsh and cold breeze blow around her. Afterwards her mouth hung open while she looked all around her but couldn't find Rouge anywhere. "Rouge? Rouge!" In uprising panic, she ran out of the alley and looked around her to see if she could find her but still there was no sight of her. "Rouge!" She called over and over until she finally realized that she had gone with Infinite.

Author's Note: Talk about a cliffhanger eh? So much has happened and yet there is much more to come! I just wanna take this time to thank all of you guys for reading, reviewing, and supporting this story! I apologize if the end to this is bittersweet but I assure you all this is far from the end! The continuation will be in the next story, 'Endless Waltz.' Again thank you guys for all of your loving support and I will see you all in the next story!