026. Remorseless

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"Look at you crying and begging for help," Mephiles's voice carried over into her ear as he placed his hand underneath her chin, tilting up her tear stained face to him, "It suits you."

Tikal quivered, biting the corner of her lip. She leaned off of his hand in quick haste, as if his touch poisoned him and withered back until she was in contact with the wall behind.

Just looking at him, just hearing him. So merciless, so unforgiving... and so evil. Tikal was scared of it. She was scared of it more than she ever remembered being scared of anything else.

He was everything that had to do with evil. Everything.

And she couldn't believe she was being helpless throughout it all.

Tikal yelped when Mephiles appeared in front of her again, this time closer. He was knelt down to her level, his green demonic like eyes searing into her own. He reached out his hand and slid his fingers down the side of her face. She was frantic against it and tried to take it off but he gripped on her wrist, making her freeze all together.

"You're a gorgeous girl," he said and trailed his hand down the spine of her body until they rested on the hem of her skirt, "It's no wonder he finds you so endearing."

"D-Don't," Tikal shivered and withered her legs again, but it was fruitless. Her eyes suddenly widened when feeling his hand riding up beneath her skirt and she immediately pushed it away, much to his own amusement.

"You have so much power yet... you refuse to use it," Mephiles let out a ruthless chuckle, "How pathetic. Why should such strong chaos energy be wasted on the likes of you?"

She grimaced at his words and because of the fact he would not keep his hands off of her, like she was some toy that he wanted to play around with.

"No matter," his voice grumbled lowly, "The Solaris Project is still intact and I will need all the power I can get," Mephiles leaned in closer to her face, "Whether you refuse or not won't change anything. I'll make sure that you'll fuse with me once I find Iblis."

Tikal pressed her lips together and vigorously shook her head. "I-I won't let you!"

"Oh?" He was of course at her sudden temper change, "And what makes you think that you'll stop me?"

Her eyes turned solemn as she drifted them downwards. She exhaled shakily, curling up her fingers. "Bringing hate and destruction to the world..." Tikal whispered almost inaudible, "W-What good will that accomplish? Why... Why would you want to put fear into people's lives?"

Mephiles just silently stared at her. Tikal looked up, afraid that she had spoken too much that she might have triggered him to touch her again. After a moment too long, he spoke again, detest running through his tone. "People will blame Shadow for that."

Tikal stilled. "...What?"

He just smirked at her and continued, "Shadow the Hedgehog did all those things before, did he not? People will just shift the blame onto him and he'll be captured by their leaders."

"Shadow... h-he didn't," her words got caught into her throat and she swallowed harshly, "Shadow only did those things when people kept lying to him about his past. People kept insulting him even though he made up for it by doing so much. He even saved the world..."

"And it still doesn't do much for the reputation he holds," Mephiles said with another chuckle, "They will still go against him. They will find someone to relish their anger out on. And that someone will be him."

"No."

"No?" he repeated.

"I won't let that happen," she said with a bit more confidence, though the tremor in her voice was still there, "I-I'll never let Shadow be the blame for all of this. That's not fair on him. I-I don't want him to suffer through that ever again."

"So you're his puppet, are you?" Mephiles wrapped his hand around her chin, the other laying on her waist, "You'll follow him around and do as he pleases, like his little slave."

"That's not true!" Tikal yelled almost hysterically, angry and hurt that such words were being said to her, "Y-You don't know about anything I have with him... All you did was steal his shadow to make yourself exist. That's all you are!"

Mephiles gripped onto her tighter. She gasped, wincing at the pain but tried to remain calm as she held onto his arm.

"Don't spout foolishness," he growled, "I would not dare to cross that line if I were you."

"B-But it's true!" she managed to say and gripped onto his hold, "You're not him. Y-You're never going to be him..."

"You are right," he said and breathed across her face, "I can never be Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm just a copy. A copy of the Ultimate Lifeform, swore to destroy every single thing that comes in my way," his lips came in contact against her neck, "I will take away whatever he has, including his beautiful and delicate echidna princess."

Tikal whimpered and tried to push him off of her, but he was far too into with what he was doing. His hold on her thigh felt like they could bruise from the sheer force and strength alone. She felt her innocence crumble into pieces as he continued to lick the side of her face.

No, no, no...

Suddenly, the door blasted open. Tikal gasped and saw Mephiles being ripped away from her as he got thrown and slammed into the wall, causing a small quake in the base. Pieces from the ceiling fell upon him whilst the smoke began dissipating.

She opened her eyes to see a dark figure stalking up to her captor, a red aura surrounding him. Blinking again, realisation struck upon her when she saw Shadow... looking the most angry she'd ever seen him before, glaring harshly at Mephiles who was coming into terms with what just happened.

"Don't ever," Shadow's voice was so low, but the vexation and rage was sounded loudly and it made her involuntary shake at how thick the tension was becoming under his undeniable fury, "Put your filthy hands on her again."

Tikal tried to get up but the bruises from her legs prevented her from doing so. All she could do was watch as Mephiles cackled out a laugh as he floated up from the pile of pieces from the walls.

"She's your weakness isn't she, Shadow? Your delicious weak-"

He was cut off when Shadow teleported in front of his face and landed a hard kick behind his head. Mephiles went flying off into the wall again, but this time he managed to stop himself mid afloat. Shadow ruthlessly charged at him once more, but the other disappeared off to somewhere that neither of them could sense him this time.

Tikal sat there, frozen still. Her breaths became jittery and she wrapped her arms around herself, the feeling of Mephiles's hands still engraved into her mind.

"Tikal!" Rouge flew down by her side and held her shoulders, staring down at her bruises in shock, "Oh my god..."

"Confirming analysis," Omega scanned down Tikal, "Tikal the Echidna does not appear to have any life threatening injuries."

"Thank god she doesn't," Rouge got out a small band aid and wrapped some around Tikal's wrist, causing the echidna to wince a little, "Sorry, it's the best I can do for now until we get back."

"It's okay," she croaked, her throat dry from the illicit trauma she wanted so desperately to forget.

"Rouge."

They all paid their attention across to Shadow. His back was turned to them and Tikal saw that his red aura had died down. "Go with Omega and track down the chaos emerald. It's around here."

"But Tikal is-"

He shot her a glare, swallowing down the rest of the bat's protest completely.

Rouge just rolled her eyes and sighed, getting up as she quietly motioned Omega to follow her. "I'll let you know when we find it."

Once they went, Shadow immediately met her gaze. Tikal yelped and quickly drifted her eyes down as she tucked her knees closer to her chest. She felt ashamed. Ashamed that she'd be captured so easily. Ashamed that Mephiles touched her they way he did and pleased.

Tikal bit the corner of her lip, trying so hard to refrain from crying when tears brimmed her eyes. She hiccuped and shook, breaths becoming haggard, like it was just difficult to breathe alone.

Shadow came and knelt down in front of her. She glanced up at him, seeing his eyes traveling down her arms to her legs. Her skirt was slightly ripped, so some bits of her thighs were showing and her bruises could easily be seen. Tikal saw his eyes flashing with anger again and a low growl emitted from his lips.

She shivered, murmuring out a soft but hesitant, "I-I'm sorry..."

Tikal was tired. Going through all the struggle of trying to flee and cry for help finally got to her, and she was physically and mentally exhausted that all she could say to the hedgehog was a pent up apology.

Shadow remained silent, trailing his fingers down her frame before his stare locked onto a small part of her shoulder. He glared at it for a longing moment and she noticed the muscle in his jaw clenching.

With the little strength she had left, Tikal lifted up her arm and reached for his muzzle. But Shadow enclosed his fingers over her hand and closed his eyes halfway.

"Where else did he touch you?" he asked lowly as he looked at her, the restraint in his question unhidden.

She didn't answer. She didn't want to answer that question.

And seeing Shadow's reaction to her lack of response explained why.

Tikal could actually feel him shaking against her. Not out of fear. Not out of small spite.

Out of rage. Pure rage.

"Shadow... no," As much as Tikal could understand how he must've felt, she didn't want the hedgehog to lose control of his temper. The consequences would be far too thin to mend and she knew... they knew that it wouldn't be worth it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gently pulled him in, "Calm down, please."

"He touched you, Tikal," Shadow seethed and growled again, but his voice softened the very slightest, "He touched you."

"I know but," Tikal let out another shaky breath and tightened her hold around him, "I-I'm fine. I'm just happy you're here."

He stared at her, his lips thinning into a frown. "I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough."

Her lips curled into a weak smile. "It's not your fault."

"It is."

"It's not, Shadow."

"It is, Tikal!" Shadow suddenly growled and gripped onto the bridge of his nose, "That bastard knew you were a target! He knew what power you held within the chaos emeralds. He knew I would finally break if he ever did something to you!" His breaths jittered as he pulled away from her and punched the wall behind, "I'll kill him, Tikal. I'll kill him..."

Tikal watched the hedgehog take a deep breath before she gingerly stood up on her feet. His angry eyes went over to her but they dropped their vicious nature as she buried her face against his chest, wrapping her arms entirely around his neck again. She shook and Shadow shook, his shoulders progressively relaxing as he slithering his arms around her as well. Tikal whispered sweet nothings against his muzzle and he did the same, the both of them calming each other down.

"Let's go and find the others," Tikal suggested quietly when they finally pulled away, smiling softly as she wiped off the sudden tear underneath his eye, "I remember seeing Sonic, Knuckles and Tails before I got here. Rouge and Omega should be back soon so we can go then, okay?"

Shadow took his time to respond. He looked at her, and then all around her body from her head down to her feet. When he settled his gaze back onto her, his grip increased lightly against her hold as he nodded. "Okay."

Tikal closed her eyes, feeling completely drained. When she felt Shadow picking her up; she fell into a deep sleep and she was happy to be in his arms again.