CHAPTER 18

REALITY

Later that next day, Tonya, Rouge, and Espio were taking a walk throughout Tech City. The day was sunny and the weather was fairly warm.

After when Rouge had told everyone at the Chaotix about her shocking confrontation with Shadow, Tonya and Espio figured having a nice day out would clear her mind.

By the way Rouge had looked, it seemed that she wasn't doing too well. It was obvious that she was still very much upset about what had happened between her and Shadow. Even though it only happened a few days ago, she still acted like it had just happened. However, what could they expect? Shadow and Rouge had been together for as long as they could remember. The entire situation was heart wrenching for her. However, she tried to cheer up a little as she knew she was getting great support from her concerned friends. "Thanks for hanging out with me today, guys. I really had to just get out."

Tonya gently placed her hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. "Hey it's no problem, Rouge. We're here for you."

The depressed bat woman slowly looked up at her and made a small smile.

"I still can't get over this", Espio spoke angrily. "What could've possessed him to do something like that? I expect this kind of behavior from me! Not him!"

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Tonya's head. "For once I kinda agree with Espio. I always thought of Shadow as a passionate guy when it came to relationships." She gave Rouge a saddened look, "You two went through so much together and it's just weird of him to just throw everything you two had away."

Espio crossed his arms, " Yeah! And over another woman too? That doesn't sound like him at all!" He turned to Rouge, "I bet this chick isn't even that hot!"

Rouge stopped in her tracks and her eyes wandered down to the ground in sadness. "…She's not hot…she's gorgeous…"

Tonya and Espio were in shock that Rouge had started to praise the woman who they thought she had hated.

Tears swelled in Rouge's eyes, "No wonder he left me for her…"

"Oh, Rouge! Stop it! There's no way this woman is prettier than you!" Tonya spoke angrily.

"Exactly!" Espio added. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and made her look up at him. "And no matter how bad things may seem right now just remember…"

As she listened to him, a warm tear ran down her cheek.

"…Things will get better."

Tonya made a small nod as she agreed with him.

"You have a lot of friends who's got your back including Tonya and myself. So don't forget that you're never alone in anything."

Tonya took Rouge's hand and made a warm smile. "That's right. We'll all get through it together."

Rouge wiped the tear from her face and smiled at the two before she hugged them both. "You're right! Thanks, guys! Thank you so much!"

Tonya slowly pulled away from the two and smiled widely. "Come on! No sense in wasting an entirely beautiful day! Let's go shopping! I bet there's a shoe sale going on somewhere! Can't go wrong with a new pair of shoes!"

Before they had started walking again, Espio and Tonya noticed that Rouge stood in place while fixing her eyes on a red echidna woman who was standing near a newspaper stand. They both eyed the woman who was glancing through a magazine.

The woman wore a black leather jacket with a white tube top underneath, blue denim skinny jeans, and black high heeled ankle boots.

While Espio practically drooled over the sight of her, Tonya looked back at Rouge in worry. "…Um, Rouge?"

"That's her…" She growled under her breath. "…Lien-Da…"

Tonya and Espio looked back at the echidna woman in shock. The way she was dressed they had assumed that this was her day off. "What!"

Espio pointed at the woman in disbelief. "That's her? That's the chick Shadow hooked up with?"

Tonya placed her hands on her hips as she gave the chameleon an angry look for overreacting at the sight of her.

"…Uh…" He shrugged his shoulders carelessly and pretended like he didn't find her attractive, "Big deal! She's not so hot…eight out of ten would bang."

Tonya shook her head as she had gotten annoyed with Espio's comment about Lien-Da. She looked over to Rouge with a worried look once again. She suddenly saw Rouge's sad expression turn into an angry one. "Rouge?" She called, "Are you okay?"

The bat woman paused for a long moment before she had replied to her. She clenched her fists harder and harder the more she had glared at Lien-Da. She suddenly dropped her purse to the ground angrily. "…Hell no!"

Tonya and Espio watched in horror as Rouge began to suddenly storm her way over to the echidna woman.

Without warning, Lien-Da felt herself being forcefully shoved. It was almost hard enough to push her down. She dropped the magazine she was reading and turned to a furious white bat woman standing next to her. When she realized who it was, her confused expression turned to a sly one. "Well, well if it isn't Shadow's little jealous girlfriend."

"Ex girlfriend, you bitch!" She spat angrily.

Judging by her angry tone with her, she figured Shadow had told her about his affair with her. "Aw you're upset?" She asked in a sarcastic tone. "Is it because a certain hedgehog got tired of a nagging jealous bat girl always on his case?"

"I had every right to be on his case! He apparently wanted to fuck you!"

She placed her hands on her hips and nodded. "Oh he sure did! And hey it's not my fault he knows a good thing when he see it!"

"Fuck you!" She yelled.

"Oh come on now! If it wasn't for you pushing him away, I would never have had such an opportunity to getting to know him intimately…"

She began to unclench her fists. "…I never meant to push him away", she murmured softly.

"But you did and now he couldn't give a fuck about you!"

She didn't want to believe that Shadow didn't care about her anymore. She had thought if he didn't care, he would have never confronted her about his affair with her and look so upset confessing it. He truly looked as though he regretted it ever happening. "…You're wrong! Shadow still cares about me! I know he does!"

She chuckled under her breath, "If he still cared about you or regret the things he's done, do you think he still would be fucking me?"

Rouge's face had then gotten still and pale. She was lost for words. '…Shadow isn't still seeing her…is he?'

"…What? Did you think we had sex only once?"

She had gotten quiet and had begun to become full of sadness once again. She remembered when he had confessed, he told her he had sex with her only once. Could that have been a lie? She had wondered how many times they had actually had sex before he confessed to her that he was cheating? She had begun to get sick from the thought.

"If he was truly sorry for what had happened the first time, we would have never had sex yesterday."

Espio and Tonya were under shock to know that Shadow was still having relations with her even after he told Rouge about his cheating.

An evil smirk formed on Lien-Da's lips. "It's obvious he's moved on to better things. He has a great job and he has me. Seems to me he's forgotten all about you."

With tears streaming down her face, she clenched her fists and began to yell and scream at her. "You're a liar!"

She arched an eyebrow towards her, "Oh? I'm lying? Go ahead and ask him yourself what it was like to have him down on his knees eating my pussy!"

At that moment, she was seeing red and her anger exploded inside of her. "You fucking slut!"

Her eyes widened when she saw her approaching her and suddenly starting to attack her. A hard slap had smacked her on the side of her cheek. Before she could send another hit towards her, she grabbed both of her wrists and held them behind her back. "You're trying to take on a highly trained military lieutenant? Grave mistake!" She suddenly kicked Rouge hard in the back, so hard she fell to the ground.

Tonya and Espio came running over to aid her. "Rouge!"

Tonya glared over to the echidna as she stood in front of them. "That's enough, Lien-Da!"

She shrugged her shoulders apathetically. "What? I thought she wanted to fight me over a guy who obviously doesn't give a shit about her?"

Tonya and Espio remained silent and gave the echidna a hateful glare.

"Let that be a warning for your pathetic friend over there. Next time, I'll throw her sorry ass in a pretty cell for assaulting a G.U.N. officer…"

"…You bitch!" Tonya growled angrily.

She giggled softly as she found the entire situation between them amusing, "Oh I very much can be!"

They watched as she slowly walked away from them. Afterwards, they helped Rouge from the ground.

Tonya saw Rouge wiping the tears from her face. "…Are you okay?"

Before she had spoke, Espio had spoken first.

"As much as I hate to admit it, she's right…" Espio spoke as he turned to Rouge, "You're lucky she didn't arrest you for that."

Rouge paused for a moment and then made a small nod. "I guess she's right about a lot of things…Shadow is an asshole and I need to learn to accept it…"

Tonya and Espio watched as Rouge began to slowly walk down the sidewalk in sadness.

The purple cat turned to the chameleon in worry, "…Espio…"

After hearing the tone in Tonya's voice, he knew that she wanted him to go talk to Shadow about the entire thing. Espio had talked to Shadow on and off during the entire thing but everything was short on Shadow's end and he never got any straight answers from him. As much as Espio didn't want to interfere in Shadow and Rouge's situation, he thought it was time for him to finally confront the hedgehog and get some clear answers.

In The Next Chapter...

Espio: You're drunk? That's a surprise!

Shadow: You don't know what I've been going through...

Espio: I know you've been acting selfish and stupid!

Shadow:...She'll never take me back...

Espio:...Do you love her?

Shadow:...