A/N: I'm thankful for everyone who's supporting this story! And thinking of kind readers, a thousand thanks to Krispina the Derp for creating some fan art inspired by this story! You're all awesome! (:

The deity let go of Rouge and she stepped backward, right into the hands of a Mephiles clone. She watched, terrified, as Shadow was thrown down onto the carpet of Amy's living room. The demonic creature knelt down next to him and Shadow began to growl again. He considered giving Mephiles another punch in the face and escaping, but Rouge was in the tight grip of his clone. It wouldn't work under the circumstances.

"There aren't words in any language that could possibly express my hatred for you, Mephiles." Shadow said threateningly.

Mephiles chuckled and shook his head.

"However," he continued, "I could think of a few actions that would express my thoughts nicely."

The evil one straddled his victim and gently touched Shadow's face. "Would this be one of said actions?" He suddenly took his hand away and balled it into a fist, which collided with Shadow's cheek.

The ebony hedgehog yelled out in pain; Mephiles possessed a deadly amount of power when he wanted to.

"That'll teach you to talk to me that way. I own you Shadow the Hedgehog. You're mine, and only mine."

"Shut up! That's not true!" Rouge screamed. The clone twisted her arm and she whimpered.

"Stop making noise." Mephiles said simply, glancing in Rouge's direction.

"...Make me." She challenged, furious.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Okay." The clone turned her around and punched her the same way Mephiles had punched Shadow. "Satisfied yet?"

Rouge knew she'd have a black eye after that. Probably a broken nose too. She groaned.

"I'm going to take that as a yes."

He turned back to Shadow, who was growling even louder. "You hurt her one more time, and I swear to God, I'll kill you. First chance I get, I'll kill you."

"Wow, what's with the disobedience today? I thought I warned you about talking rudely to me." He motioned to Rouge. "I'm being very nice here, and all you do is yell and scream and insult me. Careful, or I'll get angry. And if you think this is bad, it gets a whole lot worse when I'm angry."

He punched Shadow again, twice. Blood began to dribble out of his prey's mouth, who spit it at him. For the second time.

"You can do idiotic things like this, but it's just a few more seconds that you'll have to lay back and tolerate me!" Mephiles raised his voice near the end of the sentence and it suddenly became distorted and frightening. "I was really trying to be nice, but now that that's not going to happen, I'm changing my whole game plan!" He touched Shadow's face again, and his voice went back to normal when he said, "Look what you made me do. Such a shame." Shadow winced. His face was already bruising.

"Just… get on with it already. What are you waiting for?" Shadow asked.

"You've always been so eager. If I didn't know any better I'd think you enjoyed this kind of activity."

Shadow didn't reply.

"But here's the thing. As much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, this isn't going to be as simple as yesterday."

Shadow just blinked.

That's it. I'm shutting down until this is over.

"And by that, I mean, if the humans called last time 'brutal'..."

He brought a clawed hand down Shadow's side suggestively.

He leaned in toward the ebony hedgehog's ear and whispered, "I'll show them what 'brutal' really is." Suddenly, Shadow felt an intense pain and realized that Mephiles had raked his claws down the victim's side, leaving deep red wounds that began to bleed onto the carpet.

He didn't mind though. It made him think of something other than what was surely about to happen. Rouge was probably watching, too. He hoped they wouldn't have to talk about it later. Speaking of time, the whole concept was kind of starting to confuse him. What happens now will probably still feel like yesterday in five decades. That's how it worked with Maria, up until the point when he decided to move on. But nevertheless, he knew that Rouge was probably right, and he would eventually get past it, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. Maria would probably say the same thing too. Then again, for all he knew, Mephiles would rape him everyday until he couldn't take it anymore and ended his own life.

But then he was jolted from his thoughts because Rouge had grabbed his hand and was crying. Once he fully came to, Shadow realized that Mephiles wasn't there anymore, and the rain had stopped. The sun was beginning to crest the horizon.

I wonder how long I was out of it for.

"Shadow? Shadow! Please answer me…" She was sobbing. He felt very lightheaded and dizzy.

"How long's it been…?"

"Since what?"

"Since Mephiles ambushed us."

She checked an analog wall clock. "I-I think he arrived at eleven-ish. When he left, it must have been… Oh God I don't know… but I called the police and kicked the door open. Apparently Amy didn't hear anything last night. Mephiles must have done one of his damn demon things. I don't know…" She shook her head.

His eyes started to close.

"Shadow! Stay with me. I need you to stay with me. You lost a lot of blood! I… what if you never wake up again?!"

He tried to keep them open and moved his head to the side, attempting to wake himself up. What he saw made him voluntarily shut them. And tightly.

He was lying in a puddle of his own blood.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled again, "Open your eyes!"

He forced them open again. "I… I don't remember…"

"You don't remember what?" Sirens began to blare faintly in the background.

"Anything… after he clawed me."

"Well…" She wiped the tears out of her vision, which were quickly replaced with more. "Good, I guess. Because…" She didn't finish her sentence.

The sirens got louder. Noises all began to blend together.

Then the broken door was pushed open and Shadow could see Amy leading paramedics to him. Of all the sounds he could hardly make sense of, one isolated itself and reverberated through his head. It was a male paramedic's voice. He was probably looking down at Shadow with a hopeless expression on his face when he said it. "There's just no way he's gonna survive this."

The world began to spin way too fast, and he couldn't take it anymore. His consciousness was slipping away. The black hedgehog couldn't tell if he actually said it or not, but he could feel his lips move as his eyes closed. "I love you." He whispered, hoping to God that Rouge could hear him. And then he drifted away.

"No. No!" Rouge had stepped back a few paces to let the medics work, but when she saw him close his eyes and lie still, she sprinted toward him. A human grabbed her.

"They're doing what they can. It's not going to help to interrupt them." He said. "Can somebody take her outside?!"

Another human came up to her and said, "We're doing what we can, but for now, please come with me." She took one final look at Shadow's limp, blood-covered body, and followed him out of the building. Amy came with her.

When they were in the fresh air, the paramedic asked them to "please stand by and await further instruction". He then went back into the building.

Rouge was still crying and Amy hugged her. "He's going to make it. He's going to make it." The pink hedgehog comforted her.

"I don't know what to believe anymore." She replied. "I promised him that Mephiles wouldn't come back. And then this happened. Amy, it was so horrible…"

"Rouge! Amy!" Sonic's loud voice made them turn to look at the street. Said blue hedgehog was there, Silver following. "We heard sirens and came running to make sure everything was okay. Sadly, our suspicion was right."

"Is he okay?!" Silver frantically asked. He then saw that Rouge's hands were bloody. "H-how'd that happen…?" He asked softly.

"All this blood…" she held her hands up in front of her face, "was just from holding one of his hands."

Sonic and Silver's eyes grew wide. "So, what's gonna happen?" Sonic asked. "I mean… you know. Is he gonna make it?"

Amy shrugged. "It looked really bad. They said they were doing the best they could…"

Silver grabbed her by the shoulders. "So yes or no?!"

"We don't know yet!"

"Excuse me." Rouge walked past them and sat down on a bench near the edge of the street, staring out at the passing cars. She looked absolutely desolate.

Amy stepped nearer to Sonic and Silver. "Here's the deal. I didn't get too close, but from what I saw, he was lying in a pool of his own blood. It really didn't look too promising."

"Oh my God." Silver backed away and leaned up against a tree near the sidewalk. He began to gag.

"H-he's one of my best friends." Sonic stuttered. "You really don't think he's gonna pull through?"

"I'm not a doctor. I'm just making guesses here."

Sonic stared blankly into space. "This is so horrible." Amy hugged him. He didn't move.