A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Wow, four for my tiny prologue/intro...:D
Here's chapter two...I hope you all like it. If it seems a bit dry right now, I can assure you that the pace will pick up from here on out. And...(-Puts down a giant sign-) Thus begin the long chapters.
Disclaimer: I don't own any SEGA characters, places, plot elements, etc. All similarities regarding other characters are purely coincidental.
Chapter 2 - Suffering and Solace
There are four...five cameras.
The stealthy white bat slipped behind a column as the camera a few feet in front of her turned slowly in her direction. Her lively teal eyes surveyed the circular room and met the object of her desires once more. Her skin-tight black garb catered perfectly to every contour of her body as she dashed behind another column with flawless dexterity. Once more she turned her attention to the center of the room, where a crimson gem glittered exquisitely behind its simple glass case. Making certain that her dark disguise was secured over her white fur, the bat took a deep breath and pondered over her plan of action once more in her mind.
After a few moments of silence, she heard a muffled explosion in the distance. The security cameras around the perimeter of the jewel crackled softly and ceased moving. Taking this window of opportunity, the bat ran from her hiding spot and gave the glass case a swift kick, shattering it into countless glimmering shards. Paying no head to the sharp fragments which were scattered about her like drops of dew on morning grass, she took a step forward, her eyes enthralled by the gem. Slowly, she extended her hand, trembling slightly, and touched her fingertips to the magnificent stone. She gingerly wrapped her fingers around it, lifting it from its pedestal, and drank the beauty in with her exhilarated eyes. This euphoric moment, however, was short-lived.
As quickly as the bat had assumed the gem to be hers, a hand swooped down upon it and pulled it out of her grasp. She jumped backwards, fear and confusion conspicuous in her eyes, and regarded the creature who had just had the nerve to rob her of what she had rightfully stolen on her own. Moonlight poured down through the solitary window set into the ceiling, and she could clearly make out the shape of a red, flustered echidna holding the gem tightly in his hand. Her heart throbbed, and it felt as though an iron weight had just burdened her stomach. The bat backed up another step and bit her lip. This act of thievery had already become much more complicated than she would have hoped, and with this new arrival, she found herself perplexed over what was truly the correct thing to do. She had come here for the gem that he now held in his hand, but...
"So what will it be?" the echidna asked abruptly, eyeing her with frustration. "Surely you have seen what this Chaos Emerald is capable of by now. Are you really so obsessed with gems and riches that you would endanger the world?"
The bat winced and gazed into his eyes. His brow was furrowed in fierce devotion, and his violet irises were full of passion and loyalty to his own objectives. She closed her eyes and smiled, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"My, my...so quick to jump to conclusions, aren't we?"
The echidna's face began to turn as scarlet as his fur as he tried to formulate a comeback. After an intense period of silence, he snapped, "Don't try to deny it! We both know that your only priority is to acquire as many riches as you can get your filthy hands on!"
The bat glanced up at him again with an agitated scowl apparent at the corners of her mouth. She took a step forward, and the echidna took a step backward in subconscious response. The moonlight rained upon her, and she moved her eyes from the echidna to the gem and back to the echidna. The gem was, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a lovely specimen to behold as it sparkled in the soft moonlight, its red coloring rivaling that of the echidna's fur. She smiled and met his eyes with hers. He maintained his tough expression, but it was blatant that he was feeling rather awkward.
"I'll tell you what. You can keep that gem, but you should at least try to look beyond the stereotypes that you have created for people," the bat murmured with a slight grin. "Are you honestly naïve enough to believe that someone such as...say...Doctor Eggman...would not know that a Chaos Emerald was being held by the military? Would it be better if Eggman had managed to get his grubby little hands on that Emerald?"
The echidna stared at her in astonishment. He grasped the Chaos Emerald even tighter and took a step towards her, watching her as if expecting her to reach out and grasp the Emerald at any moment. He paused for a while, his mind completely barren of a cohesive response.
"Why...?" he whispered to her, almost seeming as if her unexpected generosity had saddened him. "What are you trying to prove by not causing a fuss?"
The corners of the bat's lips formed a smirk, and she turned away from him. Laughing to herself, she began to walk away, her footsteps resounding about the stone chamber. The echidna followed her movements for a moment as if he were fascinated, but he regained his composure and began to chase after her.
"Hey!" he called out, speeding up as she left the room and turned right in the hallway. "Bat girl, slow down!"
The bat turned left into another corridor, and the echidna growled in frustration. His dreadlocks flailed out viciously behind him as he sped up, nearly losing his balance as he rounded the corner behind her. She peeked over her shoulder at him and accelerated, further augmenting the echidna's vexation. At his wits end, he finally stopped running and watched as she lessened her pace ever so slightly.
In a last attempt that he presumed would be futile, he shouted, "Rouge!" at the top of his lungs, reddening by the moment with aggravation and embarrassment. Much to his surprise, she quickly pivoted and took a few steps back in his direction, ultimately stopping a few meters in front of him. He gulped and prepared to ask her once again, but she held up her right index finger to silence him.
"You really are an idiot if you haven't figured out that much yet," she giggled, turning as if to continue running. "But...if you really must know..."
She moved her lips as if to say something, but no sound escaped her mouth. Holding her hands up to her mouth in shock, she tried to say something, anything...but it was as if she were being suffocated by the oppressive silence. The echidna continued to stare at her, waiting for the response that he expected to come, but he did not take any notice of the fact that she appeared to be struggling. Tears began to flow from her eyes and she fell to her knees, unable to sob or scream for help. Meanwhile, he stood there, only a short distance away, yet he did not so much as reach out his hand to aid her. Inside of her chest, her heart had become lead, and she could not bear to suffer like this any longer. Closing her eyes, she allowed her body to slowly fall to the ground. These few instants seemed like an eternity, during which she relived every ounce of pain that she had ever known. These memories, like small, relentless needles, pierced her body and ripped her entire being apart to the point where everything she had ever known to be good had been brutally destroyed, leaving no traces of joyful moments or thoughts. As she was about to hit the ground, there came an ephemeral sensation of having landed in someone's arms, but that sensation, too, had been torn apart by her own misery.
Rouge felt her body shudder as she "hit" the bed, ending the latest in a series of dreams that, for her, had been very frightening and depressing. She stared at the ceiling of her dark apartment room for a while, her hands folded on top of the blanket. In actuality, the dreams were a topic that she tried not to think about if she could at all help it. Every time, she would only wake up to find herself more depressed and anxious. Her concerns had recently even become apparent in her daily life, as her everyday actions were now sluggish and done in a perfunctory manner, and she seemed to shift sporadically from being distracted to being downright melancholy.
Swinging her legs around to her left side, she sat up on the edge of the bed and rubbed her eyes. In the vanity mirror across from her, she could clearly see her white fur, disheveled from tossing and turning, and her teal eyes, slightly glassy from sleep deprivation. She let out a deep sigh, bringing her knees up to her chest and embracing them as she gazed at her own pitiful reflection. Pushing the bed away behind her, Rouge stood up, stretching her back and blinking as she felt a slight jab of pain sear in her lower back and up through her wings. The door to the apartment's small balcony had been left open, and a gentle breeze was blowing into the bedroom. With great caution, the bat made her way outside and leaned her arms against the cool metal railing, looking down into the busy streets below.
From her position on the ninth floor, it was extremely difficult to make out any particular details of the nighttime scene. However, being at such a high vantage point gave her an excellent view of Central City, constantly alive with brilliant neon lights which set the night sky ablaze. In the distance, she could hear the wailing of a police siren and the honking of car horns at a busy intersection. She gazed up at the sky, and a small smile formed at the corners of her mouth. Even through the light-polluted atmosphere, she still had a clear view of the stars, shimmering like diamonds in dark satin. The full moon shone down upon her, bathing her in pale moonlight as she remained at peace, albeit only temporary. However, soon her bliss was replaced by anxiety as she recalled the nightmare she had just awoken from.
They all feature Knuckles... she thought, shifting her weight to her right foot, as she reflected back on the dreams she had been having, but why am I troubled by this?
Rouge began to make her way back into the room, still deep in complex thought. From the closet on the opposite side of her bedroom, she pulled out a long, custom-designed black coat, which she pulled around her body, carefully maneuvering her wings out to avoid causing herself pain. Finding a pair of boots in the closet that were to her liking, she pulled them on in a hurry and slipped out of the room. She quietly snuck out of the apartment, locking the door behind her, and crept down the stairs. The evening breeze playfully disturbed her fur, and under the cloudless sky, everything surrounding her seemed to have a certain degree of tranquility, despite the fact that she lived in a very thriving city.
She instinctively began to pace as her thoughts rambled on, one trouble after another. Completely at the mercy of where her feet wished to go, she continued to walk, her mind lost in the realm of dreams. The more she thought of the ridiculous nature of the dreams she had experienced, the more she was aware of how unrealistic such scenarios were. Each passing dream, however, made her even more concerned. The exact reason for this eluded her, but it was destroying her life.
If we had both been there in that situation, she reflected, he wouldn't have reacted so calmly when I let him have the Chaos Emerald without a fight. He certainly wouldn't have pursued me in order to find out why I had not tried to claim the Emerald for myself. And...
Rouge had managed to find her way to a nearby residential area which she had never seen before. Ivy was climbing up the brick walls which formed boundaries between the wealthy estates on both sides of her and the cement pathway that ran through them. The individual mansions were truly wonders to behold, with towers, large balconies, and detailed stained glass windows basking in the glow of the moonlight. In truth, Rouge found herself a bit envious of such luxury, as her infatuation with beautiful treasures of immeasurable value had never borne any such fruit, and for the most part, she found herself as having fallen quite short of almost every goal she had ever set for herself. Her determination and love of riches, however, prevented her failures from impeding her true desires.
The one memory that I can't forget...is when he saved me. He wouldn't have let me die, if there was any truth at all behind that dream.
The troubled bat knew in her heart that the aspect of the dreams which had brought her the most grief was the recurrent theme that she would find herself dying in front of Knuckles, who did nothing to help as he simply watched her suffer. In her most recent dreams, these moments would occur following a point in time where Rouge would try to somehow alert the clueless echidna to her feelings for him. This, by itself, was an unrealistic scenario. She enjoyed toying with someone like him, and did not see herself as the type of person who would admit her feelings in such a straightforward fashion. Also, despite distinguishing himself as a loner, Rouge knew that he was in fact loyal and even compassionate. It had been those concealed traits that had led him to save her life during her mission to provide information on the "Ultimate Life Form" for the government.
During her mission to research "Project Shadow," Rouge and Knuckles had spent a great deal of time gathering pieces of the Master Emerald. The Emerald had been shattered when Knuckles tried to reclaim it from Eggman (who, ironically, had been trying to steal it during a dispute between Rouge and Knuckles over its proper ownership). They had encountered each other once again at the Space Colony ARK, where they both fought fiercely over its rightful possession. In one heart-stopping moment during that battle, Rouge had lost her footing and plummeted towards the lava, her life flashing before her eyes as she extended her hand upward, hoping for a miracle. At that moment, a warm hand wrapped around hers, and she gazed above her to find that the echidna had saved her life.
Rouge smiled as thoughts of that instant rushed through her mind. As she recalled his reaction, she giggled and closed her eyes.
He claimed that he did it all for that Emerald of his...However...
She clenched her hand gently, vividly remembering the blissful feeling of his hand holding hers, unwilling to release it until he was certain that she was unharmed.
"I'm sorry...if I hurt you," the bat thought to herself, a summery warmth filling her chest. That's what he told me after our fight.
Rouge repeated that line over and over in her mind as her feet moved involuntarily, driving her past larger, wealthier estates. In the midst of the dreams that plagued her, thoughts such as these put her at solace, however temporary it might be. Rouge's feet began to move faster, and she soon found herself dashing underneath the glittering sky, her long coat flowing gracefully behind her. The cool air felt revitalizing as it pushed back against her face, and her pace quickened as she passed through a segment of pathway completely enveloped by the dark boughs of well-maintained trees. As a treasure hunting bat with a lust for beautiful gems, such dark, mystical scenes earned much fascination and appreciation within her heart.
But...we haven't talked for such a long time now...
Rouge's stomach churned, and she gradually came to a stop in front of a large double gate. Still concerned with the echidna, her eyes half-heartedly rose to survey the grand mansion that stood before her. The building itself was a magnificent structure, crafted of flawless white marble and adorned with countless crystal sculptures of seraphim and graceful birds. Intricate designs of snakes and archaic language were carved into the eight marble columns supporting the front of the four-story mansion. In the courtyard behind the gate, water was flowing from the mouths of four stone sirens in a large, elegant fountain. Above the mansion's main doors, a stained glass window depicting an angel with a broadsword was clearly visible.
The bat ran her hand slowly down the front of the gate and sighed deeply. She stared in silence at the angel holding the sword as if hoping it could liberate her from her troubles. She meditated in silence for a minute, gathering her bearings and preparing for the journey back to her apartment building. A powerful gust stung her cheek, and she watched as a blue poster skittered past her and into the night.
"Excuse me, Miss. May I help you with something?"
Rouge jumped upon hearing this sudden voice, and she frantically searched for the source as her heart beat rapidly with explicit fear. Behind her, a slender cat stood in a pool of ashen moonlight. His hands were lost in the pockets of his black tuxedo pants, and his olive eyes were full of happiness and ambition. Rouge could not help but notice that, from his thin glasses to his well-kempt tuxedo to his polished black shoes, he appeared to be rather well-off. He stood at about her height, perhaps a bit taller, and had gorgeous black fur that made Rouge rather self-conscious about her current disheveled appearance. He took a few steps toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder, gazing into her eyes.
"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, his eyes full of concern.
Rouge scowled and pushed his hand off of her shoulder.
"I'm fine," she replied grimly. "You just startled me. I didn't expect to see anyone at night in such a quiet neighborhood."
The cat smiled kindly and moved his eyes to the side. Rouge followed his glare to find a sign that read, "SOLD!" on the locked gate of the enormous estate.
"I'm terribly sorry that I startled you," he apologized, and Rouge shifted her attention back to him. "And if you don't mind me asking...You do not seem very healthy. Is something troubling you?"
Rouge grunted and folded her arms, looking away from the cat.
"That's none of your concern..."
He stared at her for a moment and nodded to confirm that he understood.
"Say...do you have any interest in fine arts, Miss?" he asked, digging in his jacket pocket to find a blue flyer.
"Not particularly," she responded, eyeing the object in his hands. "Why do you ask?"
The cat smiled and explained, "There is going to be quite an event in town tomorrow evening, and I figured that you might like to go."
He handed her the flyer, and she scanned it quickly as the cat continued to speak.
"It's bound to be spectacular. I figure that...after this little accidental meeting...this might serve as a decent method of consolation. Anyway, whether you would like to attend or not, it is up to you."
After she had finished reading the flyer, Rouge stared up at him with a slight grin.
"You certainly do know how to deal with a lady, don't you?" she joked, and he chuckled softly. "Thank you for the offer, but I must be going."
"Take care!" he told her, grinning. He gave her a slight wave as she began to travel down the deserted pathway again, and she waved back to return the sentiment.
As she walked, she folded up the flyer and tucked it inside of her pocket. Her fingers brushed against something inside, and she dug deeper to find that a ticket for the following night's event had somehow mysteriously appeared. Mumbling to herself, she turned fully around, and her eyes fell upon the spot where the cat had previously been standing. Just as her faint clouds of breath were dissolving into the cool night air, the cat had vanished into the all-encompassing shadows of the night.