CHAPTER 22

DEMON 10 IZUKI DEMON OF BETRAYAL

Later at Dark's base, Dark had walked into the dining room seeing Shadow drinking wine probably out of boredom. Shadow took his mind off the drink and had his attention on Dark, "Lord Dark, what are you doing here?"

Dark walked over to him with a smile, "I have good news and bad news."

"What's the bad news?"

"Seraku is dead."

Shadow took another sip of his wine, "Of course." He acted like that was going to happen, "What's the good news?"

"The good news is that Seraku had killed one of the detectives."

Shadow dropped the glass of wine on the floor, "What?" He hoped that it wasn't Rouge.

"Yes, I know isn't it great? Only four more to go."

"Wait, which one did she kill?"

Dark had to think for a moment, "I think it was a girl."

Shadow eyes widened, 'Please don't let it be her...' "What girl? What does she look like?"

"It was a purple cat."

Shadow knew it was Tonya, "Tonya..." He said softly. "What did you mean when you said four more to go?" He knew he was talking about Charmy, Espio, and Vector but was he talking about Rouge as well?

"I mean the rest of the detectives of course", Dark said making it obvious.

"You mean Rouge too?"

Dark nodded, "Yes, is it a problem?"

"I'm sorry Lord Dark, but yes. I love Rouge and I don't want her to die."

Dark shook his head annoyed by Shadow's feelings, "I could care less about your love life, Darkness. When I said I want all of them dead I mean all of them."

Shadow clinched his fists, "I'm sorry Lord Dark, but I can't allow you to kill my girlfriend."

Dark began to think that Shadow was disobeying his orders, "What are you saying, Darkness?"

"I'm going to stop this", he said bravely.

Dark sighed, "I knew from the beginning that you would make a horrible ally." An orange aura came from his right claw. The orange energy came from his claw and struck at Shadow.

Shadow jumped out the way making the orange blast miss him. Shadow then ran towards the door.

Dark faced him, "Go on, rejoin with your friends. I doubt if they'll accept you. Everyone hates you."

Shadow didn't say anything. He just walked out the door.

Later at the Chaotix, everyone was mourning over the death of Tonya.

Espio was sitting at Tonya's old desk having his head down crying.

Rouge thought she shouldn't disturb him but she wanted to make him feel a little better. She walked up to him and tapped him slightly on the shoulder. "Espio..." She said softly.

Espio took his head from the table and looked up at Rouge with a glare, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say sorry about what happened to Tonya. She was a good person."

"It's all your fault", he murmured.

Rouge could barely hear him, "What?"

"It's all your fault!" He shouted.

"No, it isn't."

"Yes it is! You're her friend! You're suppose to help her out, make sure she's safe and you couldn't do that!" He stood from the desk chair and got in her face like he wanted to fight her, "You and Shadow are just alike! You care about no one!"

Rouge gasped. She never wanted to be like Shadow. Heartless and cruel. She then ran out the Chaotix now thinking it was because of her that Tonya had died.

Vector walked up to Espio and slapped him in the back of the head.

Espio was wondering why he did that, "Why did you do that?"

"You know better, Espio! It wasn't Rouge's fault that Tonya died and you know it."

Charmy placed his hands on his hips, "Shame on you, Espio!"

Espio then felt guilty, "I didn't know what I was thinking. I was so upset about Tonya's death, I would've blamed anyone."

"We gotta find her!" Charmy shouted.

"Then let's go!" Vector led Espio and Charmy out the door.

Later it had turned dark and Rouge was deep in the woods. She was walking through the dark woods crying. "Espio was right, it is my fault. I didn't do anything. I'm so worthless."

"Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery once and for all", a strange voice said.

Rouge looked around and ahead of her she spotted a man wearing a black cloak, with short green hair, with a tank on his back. He was also wearing a necklace with a green jewel in it. She knew it was one of the demons. She backed away a bit, "Another demon!" She shouted.

"I'm Izuki the tenth of the fourteen demons", he took a showerhead from his back and pointed it at Rouge.

Rouge stood there confused, "What are you gonna do? Hit me with a showerhead?" She thought this demon was more of a joke than a threat.

"That's when you're wrong bat girl. This tank that I have on my back is full of acid."

Rouge gasped, "Acid?"

Izuki nodded, "That's right acid and it comes from this showerhead. You're gonna burn alive, bat!" He laughed. He walked up to her while holding the showerhead in his hands.

Rouge quickly took out the Z-X, pointed it at the demon and shot at him.

Unexpectedly Izuki took his showerhead and pointed it at the ongoing bullet. White acid came from the showerhead and made contact with the bullet. The bullet exploded in front of him.

Rouge dropped the gun to the ground knowing there was nothing she could do. She kneeled to the ground giving up. 'I guess this is what I deserve for killing Tonya. At least now I can finally rest.' She closed her eyes tightly not wanting to feel the acid burn her.

The demon pointed the showerhead at the bat and almost pulled the trigger to it until he felt something painful going through his stomach. He looked at it and saw a bloody hand through his stomach. He then fell to the ground slowly dying.

Rouge realized she hadn't met her fate yet, so she opened her eyes and saw a black hedgehog licking blood from his hand. "S-Sha-Shadow..." She fell on the ground unconscious.

The black hedgehog walked over to her unconscious body and started to carry her in his arms.