"I'd rather have just stayed back at the apartment." Shadow mumbled.

"I think you'll be happy you got some fresh air." Shadow and Rouge were back in a taxi, headed toward the central park. The female figured it wasn't good for him to be sitting around all day, even if he'd gotten no sleep. Shadow the Hedgehog always fared better while in motion.

Shadow stared out the window at the stores they passed by, until they began to drive by an electronics store. "Wait, pull over!" He yelled suddenly. Rouge paid their bill and they climbed out of the car.

"What's wrong?!" Rouge questioned as soon as they were on the sidewalk.

Instead of answering her question, Shadow ran up to the window of the store, where many TVs of all different sizes were blaring the news.

"Look! They're talking about me!"

"This just in, we've got more news regarding Shadow the Hedgehog being attacked by Mephiles the Dark!"

"And what news would that be, Diane?"

"Listen to this recording that was leaked by an anonymous staff member at the Station Square Police Station and find out for yourself!"

Shadow turned to Rouge, horrified. "Oh my God…"

Other people were beginning to gather around the television screens as the recording played. They had skipped right to the part where Shadow began to explain the worst of it.

"What happened next?" Asked a male human voice. There was some static in the background of the recording, but you could hear it clearly enough.

"Well," Shadow's voice began, "this part was a bit of a blur. He said some stuff. I said some stuff. I don't really remember the whole conversation. But what I do remember is this: I told him, '(beep) you'. And h-he replied…"

People began to look over at Shadow as the voice on the recording took a small pause. He covered his ears and backed away from the store, not wanting to hear himself say it. Rouge followed him and said, "We'd better go."

Suddenly, the voice of the recording continued. "He replied, 'you read my mind.'"

Some people took a sharp gasp. Others turned to look at him with shocked faces.

"Wait, what are you saying…?" The human voice asked. Shadow's quick, raspy breathing could be heard as he tried to keep himself from breaking down. The recording cut off there.

The present Shadow suddenly stopped backing away. He looked down to his feet and shook his head violently, muttering trivial nonsense to himself.

The news broadcast continued. "That's all we will show you due to lack of time and for the sake of viewer discretion. However, you can come to our website to watch the entire thing!"

"So, Diane, does this audio clip mean what it implies?"

"That's right, Jack. Mephiles the Dark is looking at more than charges of battery here. As of now, he's looking at sexual assault!"

The humans continued to express their concern. Shadow grabbed Rouge by the hand. "I-I…"

"I'm getting you out of here." Rouge led him through the crowd of people and they quickly fled the scene.

They stopped at a bench in the park and Shadow glanced around the area frantically before sitting down. These people hadn't heard the latest news yet. Of course, that didn't stop them from shooting a few glances in his direction. They didn't know the worst of it, but they still knew that Shadow had been attacked.

The Ultimate Life Form chuckled dryly, despite the episode he'd had just a few minutes earlier. The tears on his face were still drying. "I don't blame them, really. Look at me." He had a bandage sheltering stitches on one arm, a ring of bruises around his neck, and a slightly blackened eye. "I look like I got mauled by a bear. Not to mention what people can't see. Hell, I've got stitches in my mouth because I got bitchslapped!" He turned to Rouge slowly. "God, I'm a public spectacle. Why don't I just… I don't know. Walk around with a sign taped to my back? I give up on this."

"Shadow…" She grabbed his hand again. "There's no easy solution. Like I said, the only thing you can do is move on. And it's not going to happen overnight. But I promise you, it will happen."

Shadow closed his eyes and reopened them slowly. Instead of saying anything in reply, he just extended his arms and pulled her closer to him. She snuggled up against him happily.

"Well, this is unexpected. And in a public park too."

"As of right now, at this point, I officially can't find a single fuck to give."

She looked around at the other people in the park. The two were still receiving glances every now and then. But now people were smiling instead of frowning. After a few minutes she looked back at Shadow, who was looking around nervously.

"I thought you didn't have any fucks to give."

"Not about the humans."

"Then what's wrong?"

He pushed her away and straightened his posture. "I thought I saw something. Out of the corner of my eye. I'm probably just paranoid, but…" He shook his head. "H-he's out there. Somewhere. What if…"

Rouge got up. "We should go-"

"What if he comes back?"

"He's not going to come back. The police are watching for him. You're safe, I promise. In the meantime though, we should go back to Amy's place."

"Y-yeah. Okay." He got up too and they made their way to the sidewalk.

Rouge hailed a taxi as soon as they reached the street, and they were on their way home in no time. The whole ride was silent between Shadow and Rouge.

"Hey, welcome back! You're just in time for lunch!" Amy greeted as she opened the door for them. Shadow looked slightly shaken up. "Is everything okay?"

They sat down at the kitchen table, which had already been set for three. "It's a long story." Rouge said.

"Alright, let me grab the food and we can talk about it together." Amy grabbed a plate of sandwiches off the counter and set them down on the table. She then sat down and they all helped themselves.

"Okay," Amy began as she swallowed a bite of ham and cheese. "Tell me what's going on."

"Something tells me you haven't seen the news today." Rouge replied simply.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good."

"It's not." Rouge agreed.

"We saw the forecast through a window in an electronics store." Shadow said, picking at his food. "They were talking about me again. Somebody at the police station leaked everything. In fact, they even gave those news idiots the recording of me."

Amy almost spit out the water she was drinking. "Oh my God! That's horrible! How could they do that? Isn't that a violation of your rights or something?!"

"Probably."

"They showed a part of it, then said that there's a full-length version of the recording on their website!" Rouge added.

Amy's eyes grew wide. "I have an idea! Maybe Tails can hack into their site and take it down! He could take down everything they have on you!"

Shadow was, shockingly, less than excited. "It's not going to change the past."

"Well, it would stop a whole lot of people from seeing it!"

"Don't you get it?!" He raised his voice suddenly. "I don't even care about that anymore! It doesn't change the fact that it happened!" He pushed his food away and laid his head on the table. "Everything we do now is useless."