"Did you find their signatures yet?" Knuckles demanded fiercely, his eyes blazed brightly with anger coursing through him. The guardian was practically breathing down Tails' back, the teen had been typing furiously fast on his laptop at his desktop with no sign of slowing down, a steady quick pace of clicks were made from his speedy typing.
Those damned idiots had chased the trio away from Rouge's home, they had managed to get away by flying, or gliding in Knuckles's case, out of there back to Sonic and Tails' place. Right now, the echidna waited impatiently for Tails to pick up any signature from Sonic or Shadow since they seemed to have just disappear off of the Earth itself in the midst of the journalist and paparazzi chaos. Rouge stood off in the corner of the lab, she behaved calmly, though the bat was feeling very anxious and worried for the two hedgehogs, whom she kept attempting to call through her communicator to no avail.
Knuckles received no answer from the kitsune, who had been completely silent during the whole ordeal. Only uttering soft words so quiet that even Rouge had trouble picking up on them despite her super hearing. Frustrated, Knuckles let out an angry, loud sigh and stomped out of Tails' lab to let off some steam, slamming the door shut with a loud bang that made both mobians jump. Rouge stared to where Knuckles had stood sadly, however she knew he needed some alone time at the moment. Things had been hectic and it was common knowledge amongst the heroes how much large crowds made the guardian echidna severely uncomfortable.
"...I-" Tails whispered nervously, fingers tapping on his desktop, namesakes twitching every few seconds. "-I f-found Shadow's chaos signature..." The kitsune teen turned around to awkwardly face Rouge in his spinning chair. "It's f-faint, but it's coming fr-from the Space Colony Ark...Shadow must've taken him and Sonic there to escape..."
Rouge nodded, she stood up, letting her heels touch the floor as she started to speak to Tails,"Are you silent because you have been thinking about what Knuckles said?"
"..." Tails opened his mouth but no words came out so he simply shut it and nodded, blue eyes avoiding the gaze of the older woman. Rouge crossed her arms across her chest, tapping her foot onto the ground.
"So what did you come up with then? Are you finally acknowledging what you've been running from?" Rouge's voice was stern, very different from her normally free vivacious one.
"I am being self-centered. My ego has gotten in the way of my compassion and sympathy..." Admitting he was wrong had earned the tiniest bit of respect from the ivory bat, but there was much disappointment in her gaze. Tails may have been reciting what Knuckles said earlier but with the look of acceptance and confusion in his eyes had convinced her that maybe Tails wasn't a lost cause when it comes to being there for Sonic.
"Did- did Sonic really get hurt? H-how bad was it?" His words further cemented some compassion from Rouge, her face contorted into one of anger, barely contained hatred and loathing at the reason as to why Sonic was even hurt in the first place. Amy Rose.
"Amy potentially could have killed him, that psychopath broke in and swung that hammer at him. Chaos did it feel good to take her down..." Rouge's chill personality disappeared and was replaced by the serious agent. "Shadow went into shock at the sight...it triggered traumatic memories and I couldn't for the life of me shake him out of it." Teal eyes became cold and steely. "Sonic was dying. That doesn't even help his mental state of mind. At. All. That poor hedgehog came to us for comfort and somebody to listen and understand us, he is vulnerable and she had the stupidity and nerve to try and hurt him because her obsession went unchecked and was even fueled and encouraged."
Tails flinched at her words knowing that she was talking about him, the fox went pale with his face turning very ashen. He never thought Amy would try and kill Sonic. The reality began to weigh down on him as he thought about it... Sonic might've been dead at this moment had Amy not been stopped in time. Other questions began to bubble and cloud his mind, plaguing him with horrifying and scary thoughts of what-if's and remorse left him feeling nauseous and panic-stricken. What did she mean by Sonic's mental state of mind, why did Sonic seek out comfort from the two G.U.N. agents? Shadow the hedgehog, a cold and emotionless man like him went into shock? Was it truly that bad?
"Why did you and K-Knuckles really come for me then?"
"Sonic asked us to. Frankly I would've let Knuckles beat some sense into you, but he asked us not to hurt you. Sonic told us many things he has kept to himself, like how you have changed into a brat with no respect or caring in you." Rouge divulged. "He isn't...well. With the constant weight on his shoulders, it took a toll on him. I'm guessing Sonic came to us for-" She tapped her chin, thinking up the more simpler way to say it. "-Somebody to understand. Comfort. Other reasons that I don't fully know about yet."
"...Why you two? He could've came for any other people..." Tails asked, fingers twiddling together. Despite how his words may have sounded, they were only a soft innocent question a child might've asked. Like the child Tails once was.
"Hm...let me rephrase. He came for Shadow really..." Rouge grew uncharacteristically quiet. Not with jealousy nor hurt, only because Sonic should be the one answering his brother's questions, not her.
"How do you know? Did he say?"
"I can see it..." Rouge simply said, secrets swirled around her words, tightening her voice shut from uttering anymore. "We have wasted enough time...I'll get Knuckles and we can figure out a way to get into the Ark." Twisting around with the heels of her shoes, Rouge took two steps forwards but was stopped by the kitsune.
"I have a chaos emerald!" Tails blurted out, he grew uncertain and embarrassed at his outburst once Rouge turned back around to face him. "I received one as a prize...for er- entering an invention in a contest few weeks back. I-I'm sure either you or Knuckles can do chaos control."
"Things...are looking up. Let's see if luck will be on our sides that those two are alright." The ivory bat was gone, leaving behind a teen who had finally began to let the words and truth sink into his mind. For no matter how hard you may try, the truth will seep underneath any walls you bear until the only thing left to do is to finally face it.
. . .
Rouge wasn't very knowledgeable about the layout of Sonic's home, so the treasure hunter had a spot of trouble in finding a certain echidna who guarded the powerful Master Emerald. Stepping down narrow halls outside of Tails' bedroom and lab, she began to take in the house Sonic lived in. On the walls were many pictures that were taken over the years, photos that captured memories that Rouge was apart of and others Rouge wasn't.
Getting closer looks, Rouge could see the bright shining faces of many mobians Rouge knew. The heroes who had saved the people and the world itself many times. There were the groups they had classified themselves and were known as.
Team Sonic: Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Team Dark: Shadow, Rouge, and Omega. Team Rose: Amy, Cream, and Big. Team Chaotix: Espio, Vector, and Charmy. The Babylon Rogues: Jet, Wave, and Storm. Then there were the individuals who had worked with the heroes. Silver, Blaze, Mighty, Ray, Sticks.
Sonic had pictures of everybody from over the years, it was easy to tell seeing as how young and vibrant everybody looked. It was a group photo, it had been a giant pain just to get everybody there to take it. At the time, this was when all the 'heroes' as they were dubbed by the public, had still been very close together and was tightly knitted into their teams.
But that was many years ago, nearly six-ish or so. This may seem like a short amount of time to some, but people change, things change. In a span of seconds, a persons life can be drastically changed. There was a less need for heroes and such these days, so everybody began to move on and accept their new lifestyle as celebrities and famous people like Jet, Amy, Vector, and Charmy for example. Or others like Espio, Big, Cream, Blaze, and Sonic had disliked the attention they were given so they had taken up private lives away from the bustling crowds. However Sonic wasn't able to escape the worlds grasp as easily as they.
The blue speed demon has met so many people, many he's called a friend. But having friends...can feel like you don't have any friends at all. Like you have nobody there for you. Nobody to see what's beneath your mask, if there is even a mask at all.
The group photo hung up on the wall, getting a closer look Rouge marveled at her friends. Her eyes landed on Shadow first, the ebony hedgehog was of course, sulking in the photo. Rouge herself, was leaning against him with a sly smile, next to her was Omega E-123 Omega, an intelligent robot with a bulky frame, Omega threw his hands up into a peace-sign that the ivory bat had taught him to do. Grinning at the picture, Rouge's lips then thinned as she remembered her friend Omega fondly yet solemnly.
It had been hard on her and Shadow after the poor robot had taken one too many attacks during one of Eggman's stupid, pointless raids only two years ago. He had shut down as nobody could repair him. G.U.N. had let them keep Omega and Rouge keeps him at her club downtown in the heart of Mobius city, with the hopes that maybe their friend would get repaired.
Sweeping her teal eyes over to the rest of the friends in the photo, Rouge saw the different faces shes known over the years, some are smiling brightly, a few others are brooding like Shadow, Charmy had stuck out his tongue, Silver winked, Jet flexed much to the amusement of Wave and Storm. A few others did crazy antics and Rouge found Sonic himself. He's smiling...throwing his hand into a thumbs up with with his other arm wrapped around Tails and Knuckles gleefully. He looked happy yes, but inside his eyes was this look of sadness. Taking other glances to different pictures, Rouge can see that Sonic smiles brightly and cheekily in some with Tails when they were noticeably younger. Yet in the more recent photos Rouge can see the pattern.
Sonic smiles less truthfully, a fake one he has mastered over time, he only looks more exhausted and tired but no matter what he kept that mask of his on. As if he couldn't take it off even if he tried.