CHAPTER 7
It was beautiful early that next day within Tech City. It was a little past nine in the morning and the sun was shining brightly with the exception of just a few clouds in the blue sky. Even though the season was supposed to be autumn, that morning was strangely warm with slight chills in the air here and there.
Rouge leaned the front of her body up against the window sill within the kitchen of Nails' apartment staring out the open window. With her arms resting on the window sill, she stared at the birds and butterflies that were fluttering about through the air. So much had happened in such a short amount of time and she was using this opportunity to try to reflect on all that took place between her and Shadow. She took her hand and rested it against the side of her face while she continued to be deep in thought. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened. She found out that Shadow had an attraction towards Sally and the demon inside of him used that to his advantage and toyed with Sally's feelings towards Shadow just for the hell of it. Infinite had revealed the fact that Darkness used Shadow's body to have sex with Sally. She began to think that if only Shadow was honest about what happened in the first place and just told her everything maybe she wouldn't have gotten upset as he had. So jealous. So jealous to the point she used Sonic, Sally's boyfriend to get back at both Shadow and Sally. God she wished to turn back time and stop herself. All she wanted to do was make Shadow feel the way she had when she found out about him and Sally. Now she wanted to just take it all back. She strayed away from her thoughts when she heard Nails and her lover, Tikal talking distantly in the living room.
"For the last time", Tikal spoke while making small giggles. "I got it. Eggs, milk, and those little chocolate peanut butter cups you like so much."
"Are you sure?" Nails asked as she sounded like Tikal would forget something. "Hold on. I'll just give you a list."
"Fine if it makes you feel better", she replied back while chucking in amusement over Nails making sure she didn't want her to forget anything.
Rouge had then heard a slight pause and then a small smack of their lips making contact with each other. Despite her sad situation, she was happy that her sister and Tikal had such a happy and healthy relationship with each other. Witnessing that kind of relationship couldn't help but to make her feel envious. She and Shadow seemed to always argue on and off but she thought that was just natural with any relationship. Even Tonya and Espio disagreed here and there. Now she really was second guessing herself.
"I love you", Nails said to Tikal. "Call if you need me, hun."
"I love you too and I will!" Tikal replied back to her.
Afterwards, Rouge heard the door to the apartment open and shut. She then heard Nails' soft steps make their way into the kitchen she was in. When she heard her step into the kitchen, she didn't turn to face her and kept looking out of the window.
Nails stopped in her tracks and turned when she noticed her sister leaning against the window still and staring outside of it. She saw her wearing blue denim capri jeans, black ballet flat shoes, and a bright pink short sleeve t shirt that slightly fell off her shoulders with the bottom of it showing some of her exposed stomach. As she saw her long white hair gently fluttering within the breeze coming from the window, she knew she was deep in thought from yesterday. She could tell just from her melancholic mood. A small smile formed on her lips as she decided to try to cheer her up.
Rouge had let out a small shriek along with body being startled from feeling Nails who had playfully tackled her from behind. She quickly spun around to turn to her with an embarrassed look on her face. "N-Nails! Christ!"
"Oh calm down, little miss grumpy pants!" She teased with her still hugging her with a wide smile on her face. "I just felt like tackling you like we used to do when we were kids."
When she gently pushed her sister's body away from hers, she folded her arms across her chest and shyly shifted her eyes away from her. "Yeah well that was a long time ago. We're not kids anymore."
"Well gee! Sorry!" She carelessly apologized while stroking her own fingers through her short black hair to fix it from tackling her from behind. "I was just glad that my sister's okay. You know?"
Her eyes looked back over to the black bat woman and saw her wearing a very baggy and loose dark blue t shirt that she had the bottom tied into a knot to expose her stomach, dark blue jeans that hugged her hips, and black flip flops.
She placed her hands on her hips and rose an eyebrow at her, "You had us all worried when you suddenly took off with that jackal demon." She sighed heavily in relief, "Just thank God for Shadow bringing you back in one piece."
The once saddened look she had on her face had suddenly returned as Nails had brought up the dark hedgehog's name. "...Yeah..." She slowly spun back around and again stared out the window. "Right..." she spoke quietly.
After seeing her becoming depressed all over again, she realized that she had spoke of her husband's name and didn't mean to put him back on her mind. "Uh! Shit...I'm uh sorry, Rouge." She walked over and stood next to her to give her a sympathetic look.
While Nails looked over at her, she continued to stare out into the blue sky above her while slowly shaking her head. "...He doesn't want to be around me. He hates me, Nails", she sadly spoke.
She shook her head towards her, "No, no, sweetie." She took her hand and placed it on top of hers while she had it set down on the window sill. She leaned closer to her as she gave her a serious look. "Rouge, you listen to me." When she saw her slowly turn her head to her, she made a small sigh. "Look what I said before when everything happened..." She used her free hand and used her index finger to point to her chest. "I was wrong to say those things about him. Like you and everyone else at the time, I was just pissed. But the guy that screwed Sally, wasn't him. Shadow still loves you and very much."
She slightly shrugged her shoulders and shifted her eyes from hers. "But he still admitted to having 'feelings' about Sally before all of that shit even happened."
"So he was a little horny back in Kingdom of Acorn and thought about doing some dirty shit to Sally while they were both there alone. So what? Guys...and women...think about shit like that all time."
"He fucking kissed her...", she spoke in a low and angrily.
"And he had a little slip up! But when he realized it, he told her it was an awful thing to do and he immediately cut the bitch off. Think about it! If he was the heartless asshole you think he is, then he'd still be pursuing her. But Rouge...in the end, he chose you."
"I know. He's done with Sally but..." She looked back at her with tears swelling in her eyes, "You should have seen how he talked to me last night, Nails." She felt her voice beginning to get weak as she tried to force herself not to cry. "He didn't even give me a chance to talk about what happened. He didn't...let me tell him how sorry I was that I hurt him..."
After when she saw a tear stream down the side of her face, she forced her into a tight embrace. As she held her close, she could hear soft sobs while her face was buried into her chest. It was clear as day how much Rouge was hurting and she knew that Shadow was too in his own way. She took her hand and rubbed her back gently while she spoke softly to her, "It's going to be okay. Just give it all time..." She wanted to assure her that Shadow would talk to her again eventually. It was just a matter of when and also if he truly did actually hate her like Rouge thought he did.
Tiredly, Shadow walked through the lowly lit hallway of his home after coming from down the stairs. The only thing he was wearing was an old pair of faded blue jeans while he practically dragged his feet on the black carpet floor. With a yawn he rose his wrist up so he could see the time his watch had said. He took his palm and gently rubbed his eye while he stared down at the watch. "Shit", he swore under his breath. "It's past noon. I guess I overdid it with the sleep." He lowered his wrist down beside his waist and made a small sigh, "I'm surprised that little snitch didn't sneak in my room and tried to wake me up..." He then felt himself almost trip over something slippery that was down on the floor, but he had fortunately caught himself from doing so. He had used the corner of the wall from the living room to catch himself, "What the?"
"Ah you're awake!"
When he turned to look in the living room, his eyes widened when he saw Nell sitting on the floor in the middle of the room that was almost buried in papers and sticky notes. There were so many papers, it practically covered the entire floor. His eyes flashed over at the male brown owl who sat there on the floor looking back at him with a wide and cheerful smile on his face.
"Good morning, sleepy head! Or should I say good afternoon?" He greeted with a smile while holding a clipboard and pen in his hands.
He swore lowly, "What the hell?" He froze in one spot as he was still looking at not only the floor, but the coffee table, sofa, and even the parts of the kitchen floor had papers on it. His eyes had then flashed over to him in uprising anger, "Nell!" He saw the cheerful look on his face fade and a sudden confused one had took its place as he paused and focused his attention to him. "Why is there fucking paper everywhere?"
He watched the hedgehog slowly and carefully try to make his way into the living room that he was in. "Oh! Well about that..." He turned the clipboard he was holding around and showed him the paper that he was writing on while he continued to step into the room. "You see from the time Nails put you under that sleep spell until towards the end of last night, I realized I didn't take a single note because of all the action that happened. So I spent all morning trying to catch up with all the events that happened last night. So sorry I didn't wake you up sooner."
"Uh, no. Please don't apologize for that", he spoke in an angered yet sarcastic tone when he finally managed to step foot into the living room. "Just apologize for using my entire living room as your office!"
As he slightly flinched from hearing Shadow's loud voice, he raised the clipboard he held slightly up to cover some of his face shamefully. "I said sorry! Geez! I gotta do my job and make sure I got every detail from last night." He caught sight of him picking up and tossing some of the papers off from the sofa. He watched him quickly skimming through some of the papers to see what he had wrote and then saw him angrily toss them onto the floor while letting out an annoyed low growl. He figured whatever he had written about him probably annoyed him. When he saw him sit on the sofa his eyes slightly widened and used his index finger to point towards his bare stomach. "Oh wow! Your injury! It's completely healed now!"
"Huh?" He looked down at his stomach and saw that he was right. The hole from where Infinite had impaled him with his sword had healed and closed up. He honestly didn't even know it had healed. He figured he must was too tired to even look when he woke up. "Yeah I guess you're right."
"Amazing! You demons really do heal quickly!" He exclaimed while he started to write more onto the clipboard.
"It's nothing extraordinary really", he replied dully. "I just needed a little bit of sleep." He had then laid his body completely down onto the sofa while laying on a few papers that were still on it. He placed his hand on his forehead while he looked up at the white ceiling above him. "Too bad I still feel fucking exhausted though."
He had paused writing and looked back at him with a face full of questions, "Well even if you did heal rather quickly, it makes me wonder..." He started to lightly tap his pen on and off from his chin. "Why was Infinite able to start healing himself faster?"
"Because", he replied while still staring up at the ceiling. "Infinite like other demons heal themselves and restore their strength by not just sleeping but eating."
"...Eating?" He repeated blankly. He had then saw Shadow shift his eyes back over to him.
"Mortal flesh", he simply spoke.
"Oh...I see..." he spoke with a disturbed look on his face. "Uh, then the reason why you can't heal as quick is because..."
"Because I'm not eating or drinking flesh and blood", he finished. Afterwards he heard a slight pause coming from Nell before he even spoke again.
He made a heavy sigh of relief before he decided to write more down onto the paper that was on the clipboard. "And thank freakin' God you sure don't!" He exclaimed in relief.
"Yeah", he spoke bitterly before looking away from him. "And because of that, Infinite's got a brand new fucking arm way before I could even finish healing my damn self."
"Well", he spoke before setting the clipboard he held down on the floor. "That's no problem because you can just blow his arm to pieces again."
"That's not the point." When he sat his body up from the white sofa, he bit his lip and lightly clenched his fist while he looked downward. "The point being is, even though he's a half demon like me, he's still stronger because of that aspect. If I go up against him again, it'll be like fighting a brick wall." His ears perked up when he heard Nell call out to him in concern.
"Shadow?" When he saw him turn his attention to him, he couldn't help but to slightly fidget with his fingers nervously. "...You're not thinking about drinking a demon's blood are you?" He saw how Shadow's eyes slightly widened while he paused from his sudden question. "Because if you did, you wouldn't be the same person anymore...would you?"
He was surprised that he had suddenly asked him such a question and seemed extremely bothered by it. "...N-no I wouldn't. But I'd never stoop to that level. Despite what the situation may be." He couldn't help but to feel slightly depressed while memories of when his demonic counterpart took over his body flooded his mind. "I'd never do something that would put you or the guys in danger like that."
He made a faint smile when he heard him reassuring that he wouldn't give in and let his demon half completely take over his body. He made a small sigh of relief, "Good cause I won't lie. Yeah it was cool seeing you beat up Infinite, but it was also really scary."
He couldn't possibly imagine the worried and terrified looks Rouge and Nell both had on their faces from when he and Infinite fought. He honestly wasn't trying to use majority of his demon powers but dealing with Infinite, he didn't really have a choice. If he didn't, he really would have died in battle. He gave the owl a small sympathetic look, "...I know. You must were scared there for a sec. I'm sorry, Nell."
"Well", he spoke when he stood from the floor that was covered in papers. "You didn't go completely psycho so I guess it's okay." He walked over to him and sat down on the sofa next to him. "...So...", he started. "...Did you really mean what you said last night?" He asked while he leaned over close to him.
He paused and arched an eyebrow towards him in confusion, "Uh, what are you talking about?" He asked while he slowly moved himself slightly away from him.
"With Miss Rouge!" He exclaimed as he placed both of his hands down on the sofa while he leaned in even closer towards him. "'Needing time apart?' You're not gonna get a divorce or anything are you?"
"Wha?" He had a feeling questions about him and Rouge were gonna come up with Nell sooner or later. He honestly didn't want to talk about anything relating to her. He heavily sighed and took his fingertips to roughly rub the front of his forehead while he shut his eyes in aggravation. "I...I don't know..." He had then took his hand away from his forehead and quickly stood from the sofa to walk towards the kitchen. "I don't want to talk about her allright?"
Nell frowned in both disappointment and defeat when he figured he wasn't going to get much information out of him about his feelings for Rouge. He stood from the sofa and peaked into the kitchen to see Shadow opening up the fridge to take a beer bottle out of it. He figured he had hit a nerve when he asked about Rouge, but he was genuinely concerned about the both of them. Especially how he remembered how much Rouge had broken down and cried after he had left her last night. "...Miss Rouge thinks you hate her..." he spoke in a low and sad tone.
After opening up the beer bottle and taking a sip from it, he turned to him with a frustrated look. "Look I..." He paused and took a deep breath before speaking again. "...I don't hate her okay?"
He arched his eyebrow towards him in confusion, "Well if that's not it, then what is?" His body was then startled when he heard him suddenly slam the beer bottle down onto the kitchen table angrily.
"Look the only thing I hate is that I didn't keep it in my pants and screwed around with Sally and I hate that Rouge fucked that goddamn blue idiot to get back at me! Then all of this shit between us could've been avoided!"
"...Well", he spoke lowly. "Too bad you can't really avoid Miss Rouge forever", he said in a sarcastic tone.
"Yeah? And why the hell not?" He asked angrily before picking up the beer bottle to take another sip from it.
"Because...", he spoke. "You two still have a child to raise?" He had heard him make a long and awkward pause before swearing loudly and once again slamming down the beer bottle onto the table.
"...Goddamn it!" He realized that avoiding Rouge wasn't going to be a long term option for him. Nell did make a fine point. If he stopped seeing Rouge, then it would be like abandoning his own son and he couldn't leave Spike just because he and Rouge were having problems.
With watching him storm his way out of the kitchen with the beer bottle still in his hand, he saw him pointing over at him in frustration.
"Nell, you're a pain in my ass!"
While forming a sly look on his face he watched him storm his way back up the stairs. This gave him hope that Shadow and Rouge would finally talk to each other much sooner than Shadow had intended. He hoped that this would just be one step away from them both reuniting with each other.
The small television in the living room of a home had the volume turned low as it broadcasted the news. There was a dark red reclining chair setting in front of it with a black jackal sitting in it comfortably with his legs crossed and his elbow resting on the arm rest of the chair. While listening to the news that was on the television in front of him, he held up a newspaper to his face as he read through it. The front of the paper's headline read, 'Cannibals or Monsters? More Half Eaten Bodies Discovered.' His ears twitched as he heard the newswoman speak of homes being broken into and apparent half eaten bodies being discovered. A small yet devious smirk formed on his lips as the news report was like literal music to his ears. He let out a small chuckle and shut the newspaper he was reading before tossing it carelessly onto the floor. He slightly shook his head and made a sigh, "My, my", he murmured lowly to himself. "The Dark Alliance can be so messy. Those demons leave their food just lying around." His smirk had faded when he took the finger from his hand to place on the edge of the arm rest to tap it on and off of it. He blankly stared at the television in front of him as he remembered how he and Shadow had fought last night. "...Shadow The Hedgehog..."
He remembered how well Shadow had fought against him. Almost up to the point where he had almost blew his entire body to pieces with a mere ability he had learned. An ability he could not do and that made him slightly weary. "We share similar powers but yet we aren't equal in power." He took his hand away from the edge of the arm rest and rested his finger on the side of his forehead while he continued to be more deep in thought. "He was strong but...why do I have the feeling that wasn't all what he could do? Even though he almost blasted me to smithereens" He took his finger away from the side of his forehead and clenched it into a tight fist, "No matter. I will find a way to kill him. I will be the last halfbreed standing", he growled lowly. He had snapped out of his thoughts and glanced around the dark and dismal living room he was sitting in. With the except of the television being on, the entire rest of the house was dead silent.
His eyes shifted over to look at the kitchen that wasn't too far from him and made a small smirk. "Hmm, I wonder if there's any coffee?" He stood up from the recliner he was sitting in and started to make his way towards the kitchen. While he had, he casually stepped over two half eaten and bloody corpses that were laying on the living room floor. The dead bodies appeared to be a young married couple. When he stepped onto the kitchen floor, he heard light splashing below his feet. There was a trail of blood coming from the hallway leading into the kitchen. The only thing that could be seen from the corner of the hallway was a stuffed teddy bear that was covered in blood.
In The Next Chapter...
Sally: I never meant to hurt you...
Sonic: Then maybe you should've told me from the beginning that you wanted to screw around with another hedgehog!
Midnight: ...Freya?
Freya: I'm so sorry, Midnight. I was wrong...
Espio: Grace!?
Grace: Hehe! I think I have a plan to get Shadow and Rouge back together!
