"Can I see him now?" Silver begged the doctor, "Please? I've been waiting forever."
"He's still really groggy from the sedative, but I guess he's stable. Go ahead."
Rouge followed as Silver entered the room. The cardiac monitor showed a calm, steady heartbeat. Shadow was lying in the white bed, conscious but fragile.
"I'm sorry, Shadow…" Silver began.
"..."
"I… I shouldn't have called 911 like that, without your permission. I knew how much you didn't want to go to the hospital."
Shadow lethargically turned his head to face Silver. "It's in the future now. We're not going that direction."
Silver smirked. The drug was making him talk nonsense. He turned to Rouge. "So, how long is he going to be here for?"
"Yes."
"I wasn't talking to you, Shadow." Silver shook his head, the smirk still there. "That didn't even make any sense."
"Probably like seventy."
That got even Rouge to smile, and she'd been really shaken up from the events of earlier.
"Nevermind."
"Peace on Earth."
"He'll be in the ICU for today, but we'll take him off Morphine tomorrow." A doctor explained, who'd been writing something on a clipboard when they entered. "Then he'll have his common sense again."
"Alright." Silver sat down in a chair. So did Rouge.
"Before I leave you three alone, there's something I need to say about his condition."
Silver motioned for the doctor to go on.
He tucked his clipboard under his arm. "Okay, this is going to be hard to hear, but… we found evidence that he was sexually assaulted."
Silver looked at the floor and nodded. "We already know that."
"Well you see, it's standard protocol to conduct an investigation, so we'd have to collect DNA samples and such. We can't do that without the consent of the victim or the victim's family, though."
"Shadow… doesn't have any family." Silver explained solemnly.
"Wait, what do you mean by investigation?" Rouge asked suddenly, "We already know who did it. Mephiles the Dark!"
The doctor looked stunned. Clearly, he hadn't seen the news. "Oh. Well in that case, we can give you directions to the nearest police station! Under these circumstances, I would advise you to check out today."
Silver scoffed. "He's not gonna go to the police even if we drag him there. He's jacked up on morphine anyway!"
"It'll wear off in four to six hours. The station is open twenty-four-seven so don't worry about time." The doctor cleared his throat. "But I'm only making recommendations. Ultimately, what you do is up to the victim.
"Okay, well…" Silver looked to Rouge, wondering what they should do.
-XXX-
"I'm still really not sure if I want to do this…" Shadow mumbled as he and Rouge sat in the back of a Taxi.
She stroked his quills, which were still damp from the hospital shower. "It's worth it. I promise you."
The sun was long-gone and the city lights were stunning from the inside of the vehicle. Such a cozy ride, to such a frightening task. Shadow knew how it all worked. He'd be led into a little room, and he'd have to explain all the tiny details of his assault into a microphone while a human asked him violating questions.
"But what's it really going to help, if we already know who did it?" He asked. His breathing was shaky.
"Shh… I know you're scared." She wrapped her arms around him and whispered, "It's going to help them figure out how to trace it back to him, for one thing. Human government, as you know, is very particular. They need evidence before they can go to capture and hopefully kill the sick son of a bitch."
"But that's not going to change the past!" He raised his voice, startling her.
"But it'll stop him from ever doing it again! Don't you want that peace of mind, Shadow?"
"I'll never have peace of mind again."
"We're here." The driver called to them from the front seat as he pulled over.
"Thank you. Do you accept rings?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, thanks again." She opened up a purse that was slung over her shoulder and handed him a few of the golden circles, before getting out of the car with Shadow.
The taxi pulled away and Rouge looked over to her right at Shadow, who had his eyes closed and was taking a deep breath. "Alright, let's go before I change my mind."
Without saying another word, Rouge grabbed his left hand. He turned his head in shock for a split second, but didn't shake her off. He just squeezed her hand tightly and entered the police station.
They walked up to the front desk, together. A man with short blonde hair was scribbling something down on a sticky note, holding a phone between his ear and his shoulder. "Sir, sir, sir! Please calm down! I'm going to transfer you to a hotline. Hold on one second!" He slammed the pen down and grabbed the phone with his left hand, pressing a button and ending the call before putting that device down too. "I'm sorry about that." He said before he looked to see who it was. When he saw Shadow and Rouge, his eyes opened wide. "Oh my God! It's, I, I saw you on the news!" Shadow glared at him. The man smoothed out his collared shirt and blinked. "I'm sorry. Really sorry. I'm just shocked. Why're you two at the police station?"
Shadow's grip tightened enough to make Rouge wince. "Sh-Shadow, go ahead."
"Sir, if you heard the news, you'd know that... I was attacked earlier today... B-but it's more complicated than that. May I speak with somebody please?"
"Yes. Absolutely. That's what we're here for. I'll be right back." He stepped through an open doorway behind the desk, and Shadow loosened his grip.
"You're doing really well. I know this isn't easy. I'll be here as long as you need me." Rouge said gingerly, smiling at him. He didn't look at her. Just stared straight ahead at the wall next to the open door.
After a minute or two, the man came back, and another man was following him. This new man smiled and said, "Hello, I'm officer Richards. But, you can refer to me as Dean today."
Shadow nodded at him.
"So, please follow me and I'll bring you to the interview room."