CHAPTER 3

HEARTBREAKER

It was early that morning at Shadow's house and Shadow was scheduled to get up at eight, but he forgot to set his alarm so he woke up on his own. As he woke up he saw the time on the clock it was seven fifty-five. He rubbed his eyes and was about to get out of bed, until his phone rang. He got out of bed with nothing on and answered his phone. "Hello?" He said tired.

"Shadow, it's me Rouge." She sounded like she was crying.

"Rouge, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Yes, it's Knuckles."

"What about Knuckles?"

"He-he's dead..."

Shadow couldn't believe it. Knuckles dead? "He's dead? When? How?"

"Last night."

"Huh?"

"They had no idea what caused his sudden illness."

"He had an illness? He seemed fine yesterday?" He knew he was healthy on a count of he could fight well.

"We're trying to figure it out now. Shadow, please come to Angel Island and help us. I...need you with me."

"I'll be there." He put the phone back on the hook and quickly got dressed.

When Shadow got to Angel Island he ran to the shrine of the Master Emerald and saw the Chaotix looking sad especially Rouge. She was leaning on Tonya sobbing on her.

Tonya patted her back saying it's okay.

Shadow ran to them. "Rouge, I'm here."

Rouge took her face away from Tonya's shirt and leaned on Shadow and started crying on him. "Knuckles..."

Shadow hugged her and held her close to him, "I'm here now, everything's gonna be okay."

Rouge took her face away from Shadow's chest and looked up at him shaking her head, "No, it's not I lost my husband."

Shadow forced her head back in his chest.

Vector came over to them, "Shadow, come look at this."

Shadow didn't want to take Rouge with him, he figured she had already seen his body. Shadow took Rouge away from him and followed Vector.

Vector led Shadow in front of the shrine of the Master Emerald. There they saw Knuckles lying there lifelessly, with dry blood around his mouth.

Shadow kneeled down at the corpse taking a good look at him, "What happened?"

"Ask Julie." Vector allowed Julie-Su to talk with Shadow.

"Shadow, it was awful I don't want to talk about it." She was still in shock from last night.

"You have to, so we can find out what happened to him."

Julie-Su had to think for a few seconds finally she decided to talk, "Okay it started when I heard Knuckles coughing, at first I thought it wasn't a big deal but as it got worse I got worried. That's when I saw him coughing up blood. Before I knew it he was throwing up his insides...and then he-he died." Tears started to run down her cheeks.

Shadow put his hand on her shoulder, "Is there a certain illness spreading on the island?"

She shook her head, "No, no one has had this before on our island. We've never seen this happen before."

"...Thanks for telling me this information. If we find anything we'll tell you."

She nodded and turned away from him to cry some more.

Shadow walked to Vector telling him the information that he obtained from Julie-Su. "She said this illness has never happened here before...never."

"Then what happened?" He said scratching his head.

Shadow shrugged, "I don't know, Vec. I just don't know."

When they got back to the Chaotix Shadow was analyzing Knuckles' body in the examination room. He was wearing his lab coat. He looked at his blood through a microscope. He didn't see anything in his blood, it seemed that his illness was just something that just appeared out of thin air. This time this case was a hard one. He heard someone come through the door as he looked behind him he saw Rouge still unhappy. "I'm sorry about Knuckles. You must feel terrible."

Rouge sighed, "That's all I've been feeling lately."

Shadow continued looking at Knuckles' blood, but he knew there was nothing in there to get concerned about.

Rouge looked in there as well, "Did you find anything?"

Shadow shook his head, "No, nothing. It seems that he didn't have an illness after all, but I don't know what caused his death."

Rouge hugged Shadow, "Tell me if you find anything out, okay? Don't hold any information back."

He hugged her back, "Sure, Rouge." They let go of each other.

Rouge walked out of the room leaving Shadow to do his business.

When the Chaotix's shift was over they were going home.

Shadow was walking home by himself until Rouge came up behind him and started walking with him. "Shadow, I have a favor to ask."

"Yeah sure what is it?"

"Can I stay with you for tonight?"

Shadow stopped, "What?"

"I said can I stay with you for tonight?"

"Well uh sure. If you want."

Once they got inside of Shadow's house they were sitting on the couch together. Still discussing Knuckles' death.

"Do you think you and Knuckles would've gotten along in the end?" Rouge was thinking.

Shadow shrugged, "I don't know maybe."

"I think you would've."

To her yeah, but to Shadow there was a strong negativity.

Rouge hugged on Shadow embracing on his chest. "I'm glad I have you with me."

"Really?"

Rouge nodded, "You're the only person that I'm comfortable with most of the time."

"...Same with you..." Shadow thought this was the perfect time to tell her how he felt. "Uh Rouge, I have something to say."

Rouge looked up at him, "You have my attention."

"I-I...I think you're a great person to hang with." 'God damn it!' He shouted in his head.

She removed her body from Shadow and smiled at him because of his nice comment, "You too, Shadow. I'm glad were together."

"...Together..."

Rouge and Shadow's lips slowly made impact. They kissed each other passionately. They broke away and they both started blushing.

"...I'm sorry..." Shadow didn't even say he liked her yet and yet he still made a move. Shadow was ashamed, but Rouge on the other hand enjoyed the kiss.

She pulled Shadow's face to hers and they lip locked again and that time they had their arms around each other and their tongues met. They did it for at least a minute, until Rouge pulled away realizing what she was doing.

"No Shadow, this is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I love Knuckles, I'm not suppose to love you."

Shadow was getting upset again, "But he's dead, you can't love a dead man."

"It doesn't matter we're suppose to be married, Shadow I need the ring."

"The ring?"

"Yes the engagement ring I gave you. Where is it?"

Shadow then thought back when he was angry he threw the ring into the lake. "The ring? Well I...threw it into the lake when I was mad that day."

"You what! You threw it into the lake! Knuckles, was right. I shouldn't have ever trusted you!" Rouge moved away from Shadow and sat on the other side of the couch.

Shadow was sick of being heartbroken so he ran upstairs and decided to go to bed.

Later that night Shadow was asleep in his bed still feeling lonely until he felt someone's lips meeting his. Shadow didn't open his eyes. He thought it was Rouge. As she was sticking her tongue in his mouth. Shadow woke up. Seeing a black bat in his face. He pushed her away and Shadow got up from the bed and reached for his gun in his belt. Once he got the weapon he pointed it at the bat's forehead. "Nails, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Just checking on my dear little sister and my sexy black hedgehog."

"What's your plan this time? Is it just another scheme to just get into my mouth?"

Nails shook her head, "No, I just wanna see how happy you are with the wish you made."

"Wish? What wish?"

"That wish that night you made about Knuckles dying."

"That's right. How do you know that?"

"That black cat was me. You made the wish and I granted it."

Shadow dropped his gun to the floor allowing Nails to move around. "I don't understand."

"Remember the last time we met. I said if you ever needed anything just make a wish and I would grant it for you. That's how Knuckles died, by your wish."

"Damn it, no...it's not true."

"It is. You Shadow, killed Knuckles by jealously. You wanted Rouge to love you instead of him. Well you got your wish."

"You...killed that echidna on Angel Island?"

Nails nodded with an evil smile on her face.

Shadow kneeled down on the ground holding his head saying in his head this was all a bad dream. 'Witchcraft. Damn that evil witch.'

"Shadow...Nails?" Rouge said in the doorway.

Shadow and Nails looked at her.

Shadow stood from the floor and faced Rouge, "Rouge, did you hear all of that?"

Rouge nodded, "You killed Knuckles?"

"No I..."

"How could you! I hate you Shadow the Hedgehog! I don't ever want to see you again!" She ran out of his house crying. 'I thought I could trust him, I guess I couldn't.'