CHAPTER 7
It was early the next morning and Rouge was at her house in her room looking out of her window. She stared at the dark grey sky and watched the light rain fall from the dreary sky while she was talking on the phone to Tonya. She sighed in an exhausted tone as she heard Tonya's voice through the receiver of the phone.
"What a fitting day for a funeral am I right?"
Rouge walked over to her mirror that had set on the wall. She looked at herself wearing a black tight blazer with a white collared shirt underneath, a black mini skirt, and black high heeled shoes. "Tell me about it."
"At least we get to see everyone at the funeral."
She paused and remembered that Shadow wasn't going to the funeral. …"Um, yeah", she spoke in a sad tone.
By the tone of Rouge's voice, Tonya assumed that Shadow wasn't going. "…Shadow is going…right?"
She paused and shook her head slightly. "Um I don't think…" Her words trailed off when she heard the door opening to her room. She spun around and spotted a black and red hedgehog stepping into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw him wearing a black blazer, a white collared shirt, a red tie, black pants, and black dress shoes. "…Oh my God."
Tonya could tell by Rouge's sudden pausing that something was going on. "Rouge? Are you okay?"
She snapped out of her daze and decided to reply back to Tonya. "Um yeah. Tonya, I'll see you at the funeral." Afterwards, she had hung up her phone and practically dropped it onto the surface of her dresser.
Before Shadow could speak a word to her, he was pulled into a loving embrace by the bat woman. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him as they stood in the middle of the quiet room.
While she hugged him, she felt tears swell in her eyes, but she fought them back. She took her hand and caressed the side of his face as she stared happily into his red eyes. "I'm so glad you're here, baby."
He took her hand away from his cheek and gently kissed it. "I'm sorry…for how I've been acting. I just…"
She shook her head slightly and made a small smile, "It's okay."
He held her hand, "…Vector's done so much for us. The best we can do is be there for him one last time."
With a tear falling down her cheek, she nodded and hugged him once again.
Later on that morning, Shadow and Rouge had both arrived at the church where Vector's funeral was held. When they stepped inside, they looked around the fairly big church. The lighting inside was very dim making everything look dark. It was so quiet, they could practically hear every rain drop hit the roof of the church.
Everyone who was sitting on the wooden benches, turned and stared at Shadow and Rouge who were standing at the doorway.
They saw the entire Chaotix team, Rouge's ex boyfriend Knuckles and his girlfriend Julie-Su, Sarah, and other people who were close with Vector. They both didn't really pay attention to everyone's stares. They were too focused on the closed casket setting in the front and center of the room.
Rouge made a small but weak smile at Shadow before she walked away to look for somewhere to sit.
When a green crocodile woman saw Rouge walk pass her, she flashed her eyes over to the black hedgehog who was still standing at the doorway who acted as though he was in a daze. She angrily gritted her teeth. "I can't believe he's here", she muttered under her breath.
The yellow and black bee who was sitting next to her clearly heard her murmuring about Shadow, but he didn't seem to care enough to comment about it.
Before Shadow could sit down with Rouge a yellow fox woman approached him.
The fox woman gave him a sympathetic look, "Shadow, I…" She sighed heavily as she tried to think twice before actually saying what she wanted to him. "…I'm sorry."
His red eyes shifted over to the female crocodile who was sitting next to Charmy and then looked back at her. "Margaret's over there you know?" Before he could walk away from her, she had spoke out to him again.
"I know how you feel, Shadow. It's okay to feel guilty. A lot of us feel that way, but we all know deep down that we didn't cause all of this."
"You're right", he spoke without turning to her. "We're not responsible for his death."
A faint smile appeared on her lips as she began to think that Shadow was slowly taking Vector's death better than he had. A nervous look had overcame her face when she saw him turning to her with a look full of anger.
"It was Kiba", he growled. "Him and the rest of the Silver Fangs."
Her eyes looked away from his, "…I know."
"You'd better do something about this, Sarah", he demanded in an angry but low tone.
She could tell he was getting more and more upset and feared that he could possibly make a scene in front of everyone. "I know you're upset, Shadow. We all are, but first of all, The Silver Fangs vanished without a trace. They're no where to be found so there's nothing we can do right now."
Shadow was hoping to hear some better news from Sarah but it was the same information she had given him the entire week. Hearing it over again just infuriated him even more.
"And second, I've alerted the detective council and all city directors that they are wanted criminals and are accomplices with Dark Demon. Sooner or later they'll be found and brought to justice."
"…You mean killed."
Her heart raced. She wanted to think that Shadow was just angry and he was just saying things he didn't mean, but he had looked so serious about it. "…Shadow, the system doesn't work that way and you know it. There has to be a trial first…" She was suddenly cut off by Shadow.
"No! Damn the detective council and the TCPD!"
She flinched as Shadow's voice had gotten louder, "Shadow!"
"You weren't there! You didn't see it!"
"Calm down! You're not understanding me!"
"He fucking cut his head off, Sarah!" He was startled when he suddenly felt Espio's hand fall upon his shoulder. In annoyance, he turned to the purple chameleon behind him.
"Shadow", he spoke in a calm and low voice. "Not here, dude."
After Espio had broke the two up from their argument, Shadow had then realized that this wasn't the place to decide on what to do if the Silver Fangs ever got caught. He took a deep breath to help him calm down and decided to sit down with Rouge.
As the funeral went on, everyone cried, smiled, and remembered the wonderful moments they shared with Vector. It was just the shocking reality that he was no longer with them.
After the service, everyone was starting to leave.
Shadow was eager more than anyone else to leave it seemed.
Rouge watched as Shadow stood from the bench and took her hand.
"Come on Rouge, let's get out of here."
She was surprised at how sudden Shadow had wanted to leave. "Hold on, Shad. Don't you want to talk to everyone a little first?"
He sighed heavily before he responded, "…No not really."
She couldn't believe it. Shadow didn't want to come to associate with anyone. He just did what she suggested to him and it was to come simply for Vector's memorial service. "…Not even Charmy? You don't want to say anything to him?"
Shadow glanced over to the bee who was still wiping some tears away from his face. He looked back at Rouge, "…What can I say to him? What can I say to anybody?" Suddenly, he heard a bitter feminine voice behind him.
"Really? You have nothing to say especially while you watched as Kiba took my husband's life in front of everyone's face?"
Shadow turned to Margaret who was standing behind him with her arms crossed and an angered look on her face. Before Shadow could respond to her, Rouge had surprisingly spoke up.
"You know what, Margaret?" Rouge spoke out in a furious tone. "Shadow had always been there for everyone and for some reason you still see him as this cold hearted monster. Yes, Shadow may have a temper on him and he may act selfish at times, but he has a heart and soul like every single one of us. And when he tries to do one humane thing in respect to Vector, you wanna be the first to judge him. Do yourself a favor and go fuck yourself because Shadow is more compassionate than you will ever be."
And with those words, Margaret watched in shock as Rouge stormed pass her.
Before Shadow could leave out the church with her, Tonya had called out to him.
"Shadow!"
Shadow slowly spun around to the purple cat woman.
A worried look had appeared on her face, "…What's going to happen? To the Chaotix? To us?"
He paused at first. He looked around at his teammates who stood there eager to hear an answer from him. There was so much going on and so much happening. He never actually thought about what would happen to the team after this? Would everyone split up and go their separate ways? Would this truly be the end for them? He gave her an unsure look, "…I don't know…"
With Tonya and the rest of the group frowning upon Shadow's reply, they watched as he left out the church along with Rouge.
Meanwhile, inside of a suspicious club located in the west district of Tech City, bikers and gangsters were hanging out drinking and gambling.
There was a purple and white male weasel who wore a brown jacket, a white collared shirt, white fitted pants, a brown hat, brown shoes, and brown gloves sitting at the bar. He glanced around the bar and then turned back to a shot glass that was full of alcohol setting in front of him. After when he took a sip out of the shot glass, a brown male chipmunk and a green squirrel woman suddenly joined the weasel and sat next to him.
The chipmunk was dressed in a white t shirt, blue jeans, and wore white sneakers.
The squirrel's attire had more of a goth look to it. She wore a black crop top, a leather blue jacket, a black mini skirt, black fishnet leggings, and black knee high boots.
"Nack, we have news!" The chipmunk exclaimed.
The weasel arched an eyebrow towards him and wondered what had gotten him so excited. His eyes widened as he saw him suddenly slam a newspaper down onto the counter in front of him.
"It's all over the news!"
Nack's eyes slowly read the headline of the paper. "Well, well", he spoke in an interested voice. "The Chaotix is finished!"
"And their precious leader, Vector is dead", the squirrel added.
"They lost their agency and leader! What luck!" The chipmunk spoke.
"Apparently those Silver Fang detectives went rogue and no one knows where they are." The squirrel explained.
"Heh! Who cares?" The weasel turned to the two, "They fucked their shit up so that means we can tear this town a new ass."
The chipmunk bit his lip as the image of a black and red hedgehog came to his mind, "But…what about Shadow?"
"Yeah", the squirrel agreed. "He's still alive."
Nack acted as though he wasn't concerned with the hedgehog. "Please! You think after all that, he's running around playing hero?"
The two both looked at each other and shrugged.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go fucking nuts!"
In The Next Chapter…
Shadow: I can't do this…
Rouge: Shadow, they need a leader. They need you.
Shadow: This is just too much.
Rouge: I don't know what you need.
Shadow: I need this. I need you…