Rouge couldn't sit still. She and the others were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. Every minute or so, she'd get up and start pacing, then sit back down again. Then get up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down.

"Rouge, you're gonna burn a hole in the floor." Sonic said, putting his head in his hands and looking down at his shoes.

"Look who's talking." Silver joked. Even though he tried to lighten the mood, nobody laughed.

"Please, sit down. Shadow wouldn't want you to be this worried." Amy told her, getting up and guiding her back to the row of black chairs.

They hadn't even sat back down before a doctor came around the corner of a long, narrow hallway. "Ms. Rouge, can I have a word with you?"

She followed him away from the group and into the hallway. "Is he going to live?"

"Let me explain the situation."

"Oh my God. Oh my God oh my God oh my God…" She mumbled, leaning against the wall.

"Miss, relax! It's not like that!"

"Then tell me what's going on!"

"He's alive right now. But we're not sure whether he's going to be tomorrow. His vitals are going up and down. We can't seem to get a good hold on his condition. In fact, we're really not sure whether we should ask you to take him home and keep him comfortable, or if we should let him have visitors at all."

"Seeing his friends can only be good, right? Please, I need to be with him. I've never been more scared in my life. And I'm in a line of work where things can get really crazy."

He hesitated, but nonetheless began to nod. "Okay, okay. You can see him. But only one person right now. We wouldn't want him to get any more stressed than he already is." She followed him farther down the hall until they stopped in front of a room numbered one-sixteen. Before he opened the door, he turned to her and said, "Not a whole lot of energy, okay? I'm not positive that this is the best idea in the first place."

"Okay." She said softly. "I can manage that."

"He's not on morphine right now, so it might be a little difficult for him to speak, but at least he won't be talking nonsense." She probably would've smiled on any other day, but she simply kept a straight face as he turned the turned the doorknob and pushed it open. "I'll be back in five minutes, when I'm done talking to your friends." With that, he turned and went back into the waiting room.

Without looking inside, Rouge quickly walked in and shut the door behind herself. Her back was to the room for a moment, just staring at the door. Finally, she got the courage to turn around. And there he was.

Shadow was lying in the bed, cords protruding from his skin that were hooked up to who-knows-what. His eyes were closed, and his chest was moving up and down slowly. His torso was wrapped with gauze, along with the arm that was already covered from his last trip to the hospital, and one small square of white was taped over a wound on his forehead.

"...Shadow? You awake?"

His head turned toward her slowly. She now had a good view of his face. "Hey." He said softly. A cardiac monitor beeped melodically in the background.

Despite the tears that began to fall from her eyes again, Rouge smiled and walked up to his bedside. "How're you doing?" She knelt down so that they were at eye level.

"Oh, you know." He was hardly talking above a whisper as he turned his head again, now to face the ceiling. "Been better."

"I wish there was something I could do. There's never anything I can do." She looked at him and touched his hand gently. "Hey, we've got matching black eyes."

He smiled slightly. "That's pretty pathetic."

"At least it's not matching tombstones."

"Actually…" he took a pause. His ribs hurt. He figured he'd been punched there somewhere along the lines. "Death doesn't seem too bad right now."

"Don't say that."

"Well, I'm not just broken anymore…" he took a few shallow breaths. "I'm in pieces."

She decided to change the subject. "I only have a few minutes here with you, so I'm going to spare us both the introduction. I heard you tell me you loved me."

His eyes opened wide. "I- Rouge- I thought I was going to die."

"I'm glad you said it though. Because Shadow… I feel the same way about you."

"...That's a relief."

She chuckled quietly, taking his hand in hers. "Get well soon, Shadow. Because when you do, we can… we can…"

"What…? Run from him again…? To no avail in the end…?" He talked slowly, gasping for breath after every few words.

"No. No that's not going to happen. When you get well, we can be happy together. Happy and free of that demonic son of a bitch."

"And how do you propose... that will happen...?"

She shook her head. "I don't know yet. But it will. I promise."

"You also promised... that Mephiles wouldn't get to me again."

She put her head down on the side of the bed and didn't say a single word until the doctor came back.

-XXX-

"Where're you going?" Sonic and Silver both asked in near-unison as Rouge came fast-walking around the corner and passed right by the area where her friends sat.

"Not sure yet." She admitted as she pushed open the front doors of the hospital and left.

Rouge soon found herself walking aimlessly among the closest shopping center of the city.

"There's got to be something I can do. Something I can get him, maybe? Something that'll keep his attitude up. Or maybe…"

She passed a store called, "Caroline's Jewelry". An idea forming in her head, the bat walked inside. A red-headed shopkeeper seemed shocked to see her at first, but then began to smile.

"Welcome. I'm Caroline." She told Rouge politely. "And I think I know what you're looking for."

Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah. Follow me." She brought Rouge over to a shelf containing many small closed boxes. "It's not like I haven't seen the news. You guys have a big demon problem. And that's where I can help." She handed a box to Rouge, who opened it and held up what was inside. It was a silver chain with a shiny cross strung on it.

"A crucifix necklace."

"Yep."

"Thank you." Rouge nodded once and put it back in the box. "This is exactly what I needed. How much?"

"On the house."

She looked up at the human in front of her with shock. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Caroline reached up to her neck and pulled a similar necklace out from underneath her shirt. "I've always worn one. I believe it keeps me safe. Sometimes, when I see someone who's troubled, I'll give them one as a gift. It's just something I like to do. And not only are you troubled, but it really suits your situation."

"That's kind of you. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. Put it to good use." Rouge turned and walked toward the door. When she was about to step outside, the store owner called to her again. "Oh, and one more thing, Rouge."

"Yeah?" The bat looked over her shoulder at the lady.

Caroline smirked. "Show that monster who he's messing with."

"Roger that." Rouge gave a salute before pushing the glass door open and walking back to the hospital.

She entered the building with a smile. "What'd I miss?" That smile of her's vanished without a trace as soon as she saw the looks on her friends' faces.

"Rouge, we didn't know where you'd gone, and you didn't have a cell phone with you." Sonic said solemnly, "We really wanted you to be here."

"Why? What happened while I was gone?!"

Silver looked up from the floor with lifeless eyes. "Shadow died. Six minutes ago."

Thud.

The little white box fell from her hands and hit the ground.