This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 7: Going Home
Rouge watched as the sun rose from the horizon, and the dark sky turned to a bright orange, then a light blue. As she gazed out, she thought about how her life and the life of her two loves turned out. Shadow and Bunnie were happily married and had a son of almost 2 years of age; and last she heard, there was another one on the way. Rouge on the other hand was rather well off and ran one of the hottest nighttime spots in Baltesaria; but although she was wealthy and a hit with the late night crowd, she knew that she was really lonely.
In the time since she left Mobotropolis, she had only gone back twice; shortly after Randy's birth, and then on his first birthday. Two visits in two years, it was hard to believe how distant she was from those two now. But this was what she wanted, she didn't want to interfere in their lives, but a part of her wanted to stay close to them anyway.
Rouge wondered what she was doing to herself. She left Shadow and Bunnie behind, but had not gone very far away. Perhaps it would be better to leave and go far, far away, to put them out of her life, and her out of theirs, forever. Or should she go back, just face up to the fact that she missed them so much, and move back to Mobotropolis. Of course, she wouldn't go back to living with them, that would be too close; but maybe find a place of her own, possibly opening a new club there.
These were thoughts that she had been fraught with before, and like so many times, she pushed them aside to worry about later; it was getting late and Rouge was very tired. Rouge walked over to her bedroom, flicked a light switch next to her door to turn off the apartment lights and went inside.
Rouge laid in bed, while she waited for sleep to come, she imagined that she wasn't lonely under the soft sheets. She so wished she could have Shadow in bed with her, and also Bunnie; but no, she was alone, totally alone.
The bat tossed and turned, the feelings of loneliness were not letting go. She wondered just what she would do if she returned, what would she say to the lovely couple that she left behind so long ago. Rouge knew why she left, she didn't want to get in their way, wanting them to have a happily married life together with nothing to break them apart; perhaps now they were bonded enough that it was safe for Rouge to come back.
No, it was when she was very young that her father ran out on her, and Shadow and Bunnie now had a two-year-old son; she couldn't possibly jinx it now. Maybe she should just pay them a visit, maybe have a bit of fun to remember them, perhaps by some luck, she could…
Rouge shook the thought out of head, she couldn't expect that, she was too busy with the club to even consider starting a family of her own, by herself. She remembered how hard it was for her mother, raising Rouge alone; Rouge had plenty of money, but living above a nightclub was totally inappropriate.
Rouge laid back in bed, trying to push all thoughts out of her head.
Shadow…
Bunnie…
A child…
Family…
Mother…
"How long are you gone for?"
"I'll be back in a week or so. I'll call when I know for certain."
"Have a nice time, you haven't had a decent vacation since starting this place."
"I know, I know. I'll see you in a couple weeks."
Rouge walked outside and dragged her suitcase into the back of her car that was waiting outside. Rouge shielded her eyes from the bright sun, the first time in months that the bat had come out in the day. Opening her purse, Rouge pulled out a pair of sunglasses; the glasses helped her see in the bright day, but it was still pretty bright even through the darkened lenses.
She looked upon her club in the daytime and the large sign in neon letters using a script font that spelt out "Club Rouge". For the last year, she had spent almost every single second inside the building, not even coming out for groceries and other things as she had that all delivered; she was simply too busy making her club a success to bother with anything else. It was her baby, the closest thing she had to a family of her own. In retrospect, it might have been a sad commentary on her life to this point, to be once so carefree and lively, now locked away inside a prison of her own design. She really did need to get out more.
Rouge dropped her purse on the passenger's seat and stepped into the driver's side. She started the engine and put the car in gear. As she drove away, following the roads that she was only vaguely familiar with, Rouge considered when she should return, or if she should even go back at all. Deep down, she wanted to just leave it all behind and start over, go back to the free life, traveling about, looking for adventure; or maybe it was time to settle down, to finally find someone else and put Shadow behind her, and start a family of her own.
For right now, she knew where she was going, and what she wanted to do.
"Yes, who is…" The woman at the door froze when she saw Rouge waiting in the hall.
"Hi, mom."
Rouge: "Dear Diary, it has been very lonely these last two years. Just today, I was talking with someone about loneliness and he wanted to write up my story and post it on some stupid internet site. I didn't like that so I gave him a quick boot in the teeth."
