Chapter 8
Knuckles was now deeply confused about what Shadow had done. 'Why would he want to fight me and then simply hit himself, making me win?' Amber looked over at Knuckles curiously and spoke, breaking his train of thought. "Earned what right?"
Knuckles snapped out of his spaced-out state and faced her. "Oh it's nothing."
Amber simply raised a brow but only sighed. "I guess that's the best answer I'll be getting out of you."
Knuckles smirked. "You know me."
Amber smiled and released the Echidna. "Yes, I know you all too well." She mumbled as she made her way back into the house. Knuckles stood there for another moment before realizing it was still raining and he was totally muddy. The Echidna turned around and quickly sped back into the house.
Rouge The Bat's Mansion
Everyone else was already seated back in the living room with yellow towels around their shoulders when Amber and Knuckles entered the room.
"Here ya go guys!" Rouge said as she threw them both a towel. Both hedgehog and echidna caught it and began stroking their wet fur.
Knuckles scanned himself over and realized he was still filthy. "I'm gonna take a shower guys." And with that said, the guardian walked upstairs into the bathroom.
There was an eerie silence in the room and after a while, Sonic decided to break it. He looked across the room to see his dark counterpart leaning against a wall.
"Hey Shadow!" The dark hedgehog turned his head slightly and looked at the sea blue hedgehog. "Why were you and Knuckles fighting anyway?"
Shadow scuffed and turned his head back to its original position. "That does not concern you."
"Well, I think it concerns me since you were fighting in my yard!" Rouge addressed the hedgehog with a hint of anger in her voice.
The night hedgehog faced the albino bat. "Oh really?"
Rouge narrowed her eyes. "Really!"
Shadow smirked. He knew he was stretching the bat's nerves but decided to test his luck a little more. "It still doesn't concern you."
Shadow smirked when he saw Rouge's reaction. The white bat practically changed color to red as her face crunched up in anger. But instead of her screaming at him, Rouge's face began to contort as her eyes softened. "You DAMN stubborn hedgehog!" She yelled before jumping up and running out of the room.
Shadow closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall as everyone in the room faced him. "Wow Shadow, you really screwed up this time." Sonic mumbled.
Shadow however, caught that comment. "What did you say?" Sonic jumped a little before mumbling a faint "nothing."
Amy however, who had been silent this whole time also jumped up and walked over to the dark hedgehog. Shadow faced her with annoyance. "And what do you"-SLAP!
Shadow was cut off by a hard slap from the rose hedgehog. Everyone's eyes widened as Shadow rocked back a little. He regained his composure and faced Amy.
"What the hell was that for?" He yelled at the hedgehog.
Amy pointed a finger directly in his face. "For doing that to Rouge!"
Shadow scoffed. "I didn't do anything."
Amy's eyes narrowed. "Yes you did! You are totally mean, unfair, and inconsiderate to her and everyone else."
Now it was Shadow's turn to be angry. "Don't tell about fair. Not after what happened to Maria!"
Amy sighed slightly but her hard face remained. "Shadow, that was fifty years ago!"
Shadow was still unconvinced. "Neither she nor anyone else knows about the pain I went through!"
Amy's lips lifted to reveal her bared teeth. "You think she doesn't know about pain? Well how about this; when you died fighting Eclipse, Rouge wept for you everyday for a whole entire year!"
Shadow's eyes widened a little. "You're lying!"
"No she's not Shadow!" Sonic cut in. "Rouge really did cry for you every night."
"But why?" Shadow asked confused while staring at the floor.
"BECAUSE SHE LOVES YOU!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs.
Shadow snapped his head to face her. "What?" He whispered.
"Don't you see Shadow?" Amy continued. "Rouge loves you. It's totally obvious and she even told me after we fought Metal Overlord."
"And she told me when you died fighting Eclipse." Sonic added.
Shadow's world was starting to spin out of control. 'She loves me? But how? Why?'
The dark hedgehog faced Amy and Sonic, who were now in front of him. "Now," Amy said, returning to her sweet innocent voice, "I believe you have someone to apologize to."
Shadow did not say anything but only nodded as he made his way out of the living room and upstairs. The dark hedgehog carefully walked down the long hallway to Rouge's room on the far right. He stopped to see the door cracked and hearing small muffled sounds.
'Is she crying?' Shadow gently pushed the door open a little more to find Rouge laying on her bed with her face buried within the large white pillows. Shadow opened the door completely and stepped in. "Rouge?"
The bat quickly snapped to attention and faced Shadow. Her eyes were a puffy red form and small streaks were seen on her face. She quickly hid her face and brushed the back of her arm across her face in an attempt to clear her broken state up.
"What do you want?" She asked rather harshly
Shadow stepped closer to her and sat down on her bed beside her. The bat still had an angry look on her face but Shadow chose to ignore it. "Look Rouge, I have never said this to anyone before but I suppose there is a time for everything. I'm sorry."
Rouge scoffed. "Oh, so the ultimate life form has some compassion after all?"
Shadow looked away form her sadly. "I really am sorry about what I said and did Rouge."
"Well you should be!" Rouge replied while huffing.
Shadow began to think that she would never accept his apology so he started to get up when he felt a tug on his arm. He looked back to see Rouge with a smile on her face. She quickly jumped up and embraced him in a tight hug.
"I forgive you Shady." She whispered.
