Several hours passed while Knuckles and Rouge waited for some news on Siberia condition. Now without Seth, who had been taken away by Tails and Talim when they left, dropping him off with Vector, Seringhetti and Charmy. A bland hospital corridor was no place for a young baby. Amy had rushed over to Siberia's house to watch Draco, Sonic disappearing soon after they had arrived. Amy was used to him wondering off but was worried, thinking about the fact that he seemed to be suffering from ' The morning after' syndrome. Everyone was stretched as far as possible trying to look after the two babies, and now it was possible they were about to be getting two more. ' How are we going to cope?' Rouge wondered to herself, especially with these being born so premature.
Knuckles hadn't said much since she had shouted at him, and he was staring blankly at the floor, his eyes unfocussed, shy. Rouge felt more than a twinge of guilt at her rushed reaction to his surprising request, but she still felt her answer was the right one. How could she raise his mood without lying to him? The answer baffled her for a while, before she shyly began with
" Knuckles". The echidna looked up, his eyes now focussing fully on her and paying attention to whatever she had to say. " I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. You asked that question a such an inappropriate time and I wasn't prepared for it" she said, her voice had a hint of gentle desperation as she slowly figured out her sentences and spoke to her partner. Knuckles didn't appear any happier at her speech, and gave a heavy sigh, averting his eyes once again at the ground.
" No, I'm sorry. I was thinking so selfishly earlier. All I wanted was more children like Seth, more guardians. But I didn't stop to think what you would think about it. Off course you don't want to go through all that again, Last time, it caused you such agony and discomfort. Those eggshells..." She shock the image out of his head " It's obviously not natural for you too have my children, and I should have realised that..." He said, his voice low and miserable, his back bent, his dreadlocks falling in his face, shadowing it. Rouge reached up and stroked his head gently, leaning closer and gently whispering
" I know how you feel Knuckles, and to be honest, I have considered more children. Hell, sometimes I wish I had a million of them! But right now we have to think realistically instead of about what we want. Seth is still so young, and do you even know if the Master emerald will let me conceive again? Do you even think it can again? And your right, I certainly don't want to go through another pregnancy. You may not realise it, but loosing your figure, as well as your will to resist any type of food and any kind of control of your emotions, isn't the greatest thing in the world". Rouge found herself crying, gentle tears rolling down her eyes as she too realised how unlikely it was that they would ever have anymore children. It hurt her, she loved Seth and Knuckles, but her motherly instants still begged for more, but she had to keep refusing it, refusing it for herself. Knuckles saw her tears and shed a little of his own, taking Rouge in his arms and cradling her, almost as if she were an infant herself. Knuckles sniffed and took the advice Siberia had given him, saying
" Can we have this discussion again, when Seth is about...two? Three?". Rouge smiled, glad for an agreement, and kissed Knuckles gently on the lips. He raised and eye brow and said cheekily " Is that my yes?". He never got an answer, for the doors of the room Siberia was inhabiting finally opened, the nurses and doctor milling out slowly. Rouge was almost immediately through the door, finding Siberia laying, asleep, Shadow by her side, watching her anxiously. When hearing the doors swiping open, Shadow said without looking up from his wife.
" She keeps going into false labour. The doctors don't know what's wrong, and they say it's definitely not time for the babies to be born yet. So they've sedated her to stop it, and are running some tests now". He sounded half dead. Rouge sat beside him and said
" Amy is looking after Draco". Shadow sniffed a little rudely and replied under his breath
" I don't think that's a good idea. She'll probably go into labour the second she picks him up " he said darkly, clearly in a bad mood. Rouge frowned at his low joke and said a little scornfully
" Don't be like that Shadow! She's only five months pregnant". Shadow snapped and yelled at her
" Yeah! And Siberia's only Six months! And look at her lying here!" He said, pointing to her, his finger shaking in scared fury, his red eyes quivering. Rouge, a little startled by Shadows sudden explosion, said in a shaky voice, attempting to calm him
" Just calm Shadow. Everything-" . She was interrupted when Shadow grabbed her by her clothes and hoisted her in the air, bringing his face very close to her own and yelling
" Don't tell me to calm down! My children are dying! My sons are dying! I can't just, calm down!" He yelled, kicking at the nearby cabinet in frustration . Knuckles sprung into action when he saw Rouge in danger, although his reaction was a little slower because of his half asleep head. He knocked Shadow over by charging into him, grabbing Rouge as he did so. The knock didn't help the hedgehogs nerves and he began thrashing around on the floor, almost screaming, out of control. Alarmed by the absentees of his usual, calm, collected behaviour, Knuckles put Rouge down and jumped onto Shadow, attempting to hold the squirming hedgehog down. It didn't seem to be having any effect, as Shadow kept screaming, so Knuckles grinded his teeth together and punched Shadow across the face, hard. The hedgehogs head snapped to the side and his noises stopped. It seemed the blow shocked the hedgehog into silence and for a few seconds he simply lay there, not even breathing. His head slowly turned to stare at the echidna on op of him, his eyes wide with astonishment. And then, without warning, the normal stable, calm hedgehog burst into a fury of tears. Knuckles got off of him, embarrassed. He looked incredibly pathetic just laying on the floor, like a baby, acting just as his son would. Suddenly feeling incredibly sorry for him, Rouge moved over to his side, making him sit up on a chair. She imagined how she felt when she was told her son wasn't going to make it, and in her head multiplied that by two, knowing just how terrible Shadow must have been feeling. She gently shushed him and stood up, asking in a kind, gentle voice
" Do you want us to leave?". Shadow sniffed and nodded, his face buried in his hands. Rouge complied with his request and she and Knuckles silently left.
He breathed deeply, tasting the fresh air in his lungs, the kind of ice cold air you could only breath when it was rushing past you at 500 miles per hour. This run had cleared his head, and he needed it to think about his situation. Thinking about it, it had been so long since he had ran like this, he had almost forgotten how it felt. Since Amy had become integrated into his life, all evidence of his special abilities seemed to disappear. He didn't know what had happened that night he had got drunk with Knuckles and Tails, but one thing still rang in his mind ' We gotta' get our lives back. We gotta' get back Robotnic'. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought about it before, but it just seemed like such an absurd idea. But part of the bliss of being drunk was the fact that you were totally out of your head, meaning things that you wouldn't even consider became serious considerations. And the more he thought about it, the more he realised just how much it made sense. He needed to take his mind of the terrible wrong that he had done, and fighting Robotnic was just the thing to do it.
Over the everlasting desert sands, the prison came into view, it's small, cube like shape looked almost insignificant in it's boring appearance. But Sonic knew it was just the place he needed to go. Easily jumping the perimeter fence, he actually laughed out loud as he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline at the up coming adventure. Being who he was Sonic had clearance to this prison, one of the 10 people in the entire world. He moved his eye to the retina scanner that stuck to the wall of the small base, letting it confirm just who he was. In obedience, the doors slid open and he casually strolled in. Being that only one person was imprisoned her, there was no need for large spaces. He passed a bored looking guard who was watching TV with a brain dead stare. He gave Sonic a swift glance and went back to his TV screen, not bothered by the hedgehogs appearance. Sonic was disappointed by the lack of security, surly the mad scientist who had tried to destroy the world too many times to count deserved more than this sad excuse for prison.
After a few bland corridors, Sonic found the man himself. Slouched in the corner of his small cell, bars half obscuring his view, old chains clamped around his wrists and arms. The prison was filled with backward technology for a reason. Eggman was a computer genies, so a force field instead of bars would run the risk of being shut down by the great doctor. Or any robots sent to guard him could be manipulated by any devices Robotnic managed to sneak into the prison. This way, with the imprisonment involving strength, something Robotnic really didn't have on his own, it was assured that the doctor could never escape. Or so they thought...
Sonic watched him for a while, the doctors head bowed so he couldn't see his rival. The hedgehog grinned at the thought of how he looked so pathetic, so different to how he used to. His prison uniform hang over his finned out body, his face hair tinged with grey, wrinkles defecting his face, while no hair still grew on his forehead. Sonic stared with interest, the doctor still had his famous glasses, typical, he thought.
" Hey doc. Long time no see" he said, talking just how used to. Robotnic jumped at his speech, as he was perhaps asleep. Slowly , he looked upwards, straining in the light too see. The doctor stared in amazement for a few minuets, simply not believing what he was seeing. Then, finally, he spoke up, in a gravely, weak sounding voice he said
" Sonic...arn't you dead yet?". Sonic laughed and said
" As caring as you always were Egghead. Nope , I'm still going strong, which is more than can be said about you. How old are you now? A hundred?". Eggman gave a weak laugh and said in a spiteful voice
" That would be telling". Sonic frowned and huffed, and Eggman stared at him a little more. " Why , why are you here of all places?". Sonic's grin was replaced and he said
" You should be thanking me Robotnic. I'm going to set you free". Of all the things the doctor expected Sonic to say, that wasn't one of them. He erupted into a fit of coughing and yelled in a choked voice
" What!" He grumbled to himself and said in a scornful voice " You shouldn't be shocking an old man like me. It's not good for the heart". Sonic grinned and said
" I'm not joking Eggman" and with that he pulled himself into a spin dash and broke down the rotten bars of the cage. Eggman stared with disbelief, before rising unsteadily to his feet. He stumbled out of the door, passing Sonic, who casually added
" To your immediate left is a room with one of those weird floating chairs you liked too sit in, the locks broken already". Eggman gave him one last look, as if analysing the possibility for a joke, and mumbled
" Your a fool". Sonic laughed and said
" Maybe. But at least I'm not old". Eggman gave him the middle finger and stumbled out, and Sonic was away from the prison before anyone could even suspect him, literally singing with joy at what he had just accomplished.
Amy was quietly changing Draco's nappy, humming casually, happy that she had a chance to practise before her own baby was born. At this thought she took a look at herself, smiling and thinking ' Not too far away now'. Draco was moaning in announce for being away from his mother, but Amy put him in his play pen, and he was soon happy, crawling around and chewing his toys. She sighed as she remembered Sonic rushing out on her, again. She wondered if he would come back before nightfall.
Then, as if to answer her question, the door burst open and Sonic rushed in, going faster than he had in a long time. Amy forgot he was that quick.
" Amy are you all right?" He said anxiously, rushing up to her immediately. Amy was shocked by his sudden concern and said, feeling confused
" Yes, shouldn't I be?". At her response Sonic looked disappointed, and began searching around the house, after that looking out the window as is he was expecting something to happen. After that he called everyone he knew, asking them if something, anything had happened to them. One such conversation ended in Sonic slamming down the phone angrily when Vector wouldn't stop talking about how Espio was still missing. He flopped onto the sofa, huffing moodily. Amy looked over at him and wondered over, sitting down beside him and asking what was going on.
" Nothing" came his angry reply, his arms crossed over his chest like an angry kids. Amy sat next to Sonic and put an arm on his shoulder, gently squeezing his upper arm affectionately. She didn't have a clue what had happened, but she knew from experience that she needed to treat situations with Sonic's anger carefully.
" Are you worried about Siberia?" She asked. Sonic looked at her, giving her a funny look and replying moodily
" No!". Sonic sighed and apologised for being rude, looking at Amy, at her pregnancy that was showing itself by now, serving as a reminder at what he had done. Sonic thought about what he had just done, thinking maybe things wouldn't be so bad with his child after all. He and his son could fight Robotnic together, and they would live happily. It would have been perfect if it didn't sound like some fairy tale.
" I hope my son doesn't end up being born early, like Shadows are". Amy thought she realised just what was wrong with him, and was glad that they were talking about their child, even if Sonic was calling it ' His' child instead of 'their' child.
" Yeah, me neither, I don't want to end up giving birth in a months time" Amy joked, laughing slightly, Sonic wasn't listening particular, and seemed to have gone into a world of his own. Then Amy realised something else strange about what Sonic had said. " You said 'Son'. It's not necessarily going to be a boy". Sonic looked up from the floor and said forcefully
" It is! I know I'm... we're, having a son. He's going to be blue, like me, but it'll have your eyes, maybe some hints of red in his coat. And he's going to be super fast! Like me! And help me fight everyone who threatens our planet!" Sonic announced, his eyes shining as if he had just witnessed a vision. It was the happiest she had seen him in so long, and because of that she didn't feel she needed to remind him it may be a girl again. Just seeing Sonic talk about what she had done for him in such a nice way was enough for her.
She was pleasantly surprised when Sonic turned round and kissed her, smoothly and slowly and Amy felt tingles of pleasure run up her face. His gentle touches excited her, as his hands felt her back and massaged her neck. Then, she felt them in a place he hadn't touched before. One had wondered to her belly, and It was slowly stroking his son inside. Amy's heart sprinted with delight. Sonic had almost ignored her pregnancy from the moment she announced it, carrying on as if nothing had changed. Even when she started saying things about how she felt or how she would soon need new clothes, he would seem not to hear, so in the end Amy had got the message, and stopped talking about it. But , her he was , touching her and their child, underneath her fur. It was a moment she had dreamed off for years. Heaven had sudden reappeared.
Sonic smiled as he touched and caressed her. Maybe Amy wasn't so bad at all.
Shadow stared, as he had done for the last 2 hours, at his wife's resting face, willing for her to wake from her forced slumber. His back ached from so much inactivity and his legs willed him to walk, but he refused them both, not wanting to be absent when Siberia finally woke up.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, her eye lids flickered and opened to half their capacity, and she gazed dreamily at the ceiling. Shadow's pains suddenly flew away at this sight, and he quickly took her hand in his own, exclaiming
" Siberia! Your awake! Your ok!". She didn't seem to hear him at first, and looked around her surroundings slowly. Her mind wasn't working well at that point, and she was dilution. Shadow started to worry. " Are you feeling ok?" He asked, concerned. Finally she seemed to spot him and smiled, seeming dazed, and lazily asked
" Where are our sons?". Shadow tried to reassure her with a smile of his own and reached forward with his hand, laying a hand on her belly.
" In here Siberia, and their ok". At this Siberia frowned and said weakly
" No, I felt them, I gave birth to them. They've been born, they were so beautiful..." She trailed off into a dreamy fantasy, and Shadow realised she must still have been drowsy from the drugs, hoping that was all that was wrong. He bit his lip and tried to convince her that she was still pregnant, but in the end she wouldn't have it. He watched her, worried, as she called for her babies. He felt utterly helpless as he cried for them, her cries almost unbearable. She carried on, until, suddenly, she stopped, and made an unhealthy sounding noise from the back of her throat. Shadow became alarmed and leaned forward, stroking Siberia's forehead. He asked if she was feeling all right, and, in response, she leaned over the side of the bed and vomited over his fur. He was too shocked to be discussed, and almost immediately concern took over. That definitely was supposed to happen. He knew something was wrong with Siberia. He took a tissue from it's box and wiped Siberia mouth clean, while she gagged and coughed, a little more of the disgusting liquid dribbled down her mouth. He didn't know what to do, so he gently pushed Siberia down to the bed, telling her to sleep again. He couldn't bare to see her in such distress, screaming for her sons, blaming him for taking them away. As she was forced back to sleep, she mumbled a few more words.
" Are our sons ok?". Shadow almost lost it when she said that, and he gulped down his tears and replied with a breaking voice
" Yes, their fine". He just hoped he hadn't lied.
AUTHORS NOTES
Ah! Theres so much going on I can't fit it all in one chapter! Tell me all of you who thought it was getting repetive, is it still repetative? If it is, something major needs changing.