*Hey, check it out! No warnings, no denouncing stories! That means that this Chapter is officially completely readable. Yep, read it all. I sorta kinda redeemed myself in this one, so the characters should be on track (within general reason) Now, do enjoy my attempt at redemption!*
"Yes Shadow, it is me," the other said.
"But… how?!" Shadow stammered, putting a hand to his head.
"Hey, are you okay? Here, sit down." She walked up to him and guided him to the bed. Shadow sat down and could only manage to stare at her with a look of disbelief on his face.
"I think I'm fine, it's just… Rouge, I can't believe you're back. Especially after what happened-" he started.
"That's why I'm here; I need to talk to you about that. I realize I said that I would never want to see you again if what happened did, but that was before. What happened at the dock… changed things. You really surprised me Shadow; I could tell you were truly being honest with me and… I liked that. And, I wanna ask you something."
"Anything."
"It's more of a deal, really. I'll come back and do this again if you promise me one thing- please try to act more like you did a few moments ago. That's the side of you I'd… like to be around more often. Could you maybe do that?"
"Of course. If that's what you want."
A smile soon appeared on her face. "Thanks, Shadow. It means a lot to me." They were silent for a moment, then Rouge took in a deep breath and began to speak again.
"Listen, Shadow," she began nervously. "I had been thinking, and since you were honest with me, I wanna be honest with you."
"About what?"
She sighed again. "I didn't come back just to ask you something. There's more to it than that."
"More?"
"Yes. Back at the dock, you were a completely different person; I hardly recognized you. You changed, for whatever reason, into someone… I could talk to. So I figured I would; about what I had asked you, and about something that I need to tell you; something I can't keep to myself anymore."
"What?" Shadow asked nervously.
"Well, during these past three days, I discovered something. It was something that had always been there, but something I always ignored- no, denied myself, because I always thought that what I wanted from it… would never be possible. But what you did showed me that there might be a chance after all. So, I feel that I should tell you… how I really feel… about-" she took in a deep breath. "-you." Shadow's eyes widened, utterly astonished by what he was hearing. His heartbeat was soon racing out of control.
"Shadow, I've felt this way ever since I met you. At first I didn't know what it was, or why it was happening to me. As the years passed, I finally figured it out, but I kept it to myself."
"Why?" he cut in.
"Because I was afraid of how you'd react." Subconsciously, Shadow slightly leaned in closer to her, and said in a low tone,
"Don't be."
She hesitated her words, but she took no time in leaning in towards him.
"Shadow," she said softly while she moved to him.
"Yes?"
"I think I'm…" Her voice trailed off; their action would speak louder than any of her words. Their faces continually got closer- dangerously so. They became like magnets that were placed too close together- each so attracted to the other; they were unable and unwilling to pull away. As each second passed, the space between their faces grew smaller, being almost completely consumed, when,
"-this!" another voice said. Its owner shoved open their door, causing them to snap their heads in that direction. What they saw shocked them; a small bee was hovering in the doorway, gazing at them with wide eyes and an opened mouth. Soon, another joined them.
"What're ya starin' at, Charmy?" the second voice asked. Its owner joined up with Charmy, and as he looked into the room, a look of embarrassment crossed his face.
"Uh… Sorry about this… Charmy here doesn't know how to knock…" he said awkwardly. However, Charmy had gotten over his shock.
"Oooooh!!" he said excitedly, talking to the other. "Did ya see that, Vector?! Did ya see what they were gonna do?! They were sooo gonna kiss!!" He began laughing uncontrollably, but was soon silenced by Vector's hand slapping against his mouth.
"Stop it!" Vector said. "They can do whatever they want without you gettin' in their business!" Charmy managed to push Vector's hand away long enough to say,
"But it's not my fault! You're the one makin' me open every door, 'cause someone can't follow directions!"
"Those 'directions' were impossible to follow! You try-"
"Shut up both of you!!" Shadow interjected. He marched to the door, completely fed up with them. "Let me tell you something," he said through gritted teeth. "If you wanna live, I suggest you leave. Now."
"But, our boss-" Charmy started. Shadow glared at him, cutting his sentence off.
"Do you really think I give a damn about your 'boss'?!" Shadow continued. "As far as I'm concerned, you don't have one. You aren't needed here; I can get the Emeralds just fine, so you three can get yourselves out of my sight, this base, and most importantly, my life."
"And who's gonna make us?" Espio asked threateningly.
"Trust me; you don't want me to 'make you'- you wouldn't survive, I can promise you that." The three of them glared at Shadow, but decided it was for the best if they left.
"Fine, we'll play it your way, Shadow," Vector said coldly. "C'mon guys." He walked down the hall, with Charmy and Espio following behind. Once they were gone, Shadow slammed the door shut.
"Is everything okay?" Rouge asked. Shadow waited a moment before answering her; he wanted to calm down before he spoke.
"Yes. I just needed to get rid of them," he said as evenly as he could.
"Alright then…" Her voice trailed off again. When Shadow turned to look at her, she was sitting on her bed, lost in thought.
"What?" Shadow asked her.
"He was right…" she said to herself. She looked at him then and said, "That kid was right. We were gonna…" Then a look of horror crossed her face. "Oh my God!" she said frantically, standing up. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to-! I don't know what came over me!"
"It's fine, really," Shadow reassured her. "Don't worry about it."
"But still, I shouldn't have! I promise not to let that happen again." She let out a yawn then, and looked at the clock, surprised. "Wow, it's really late. We should get to sleep." Shadow nodded, and they each went to their sleeping areas. Shadow couldn't help but smile to himself; he now knew what he had hoped to be the truth- Rouge cares. That thought kept running through his mind, keeping him smiling even while he slowly slipped into the unconsciousness that came with sleep.
*Ha! I tease you yet again!! : P It's fun to be the author! But! This was majorly climatic! Now Shadow knows how Rouge feels! Eeek!! Will he tell her? Mum's the word over here! Mwahahaha!*
The next morning, Shadow woke up to the sound of Eggman's voice blaring through the intercom beside Rouge's bed.
"Shadow!" the intercom repeatedly sounded. "Come to my office immediately!!"
Angrily, Shadow got out of his bed, walked over to the other intercom and punched it, silencing it. Quiet instantly filled the room. He left then and made his way through the twisting hallways until he finally reached Eggman's office. Shadow shoved open the doors and walked up to Eggman's desk.
"What?!" he snapped. Eggman paused a minute before responding.
"I need to discuss with you the current situation. As you know, we only have three Emeralds in our possession."
"And?!"
"I have become impatient with this slow progress; I need those Emeralds. So, I have come up with a plan that I believe will speed things up. Since you on your own have shown… incompetence, I have provided you with assistance."
"Incompetence?! Assistance?! Just who do you think I am?! I said this before- I don't need help with those Emeralds!"
"Wait, let me rephrase that. I've provided you with some motivation."
"If you think those three guys've-"
"No, not them! They have strangely quit. I have something else." Eggman ducked behind his desk for a moment, the reappeared with a silver briefcase in his hands. He gave it to Shadow and continued to explain. "Time is of the essence, Shadow, for us to have all of the Emeralds. I realize that you have delivered three of them within this small amount of time, but I need the process to go faster."
"What, like all of them in a day?" Shadow asked, sarcastic.
"Precisely." Eggman was serious. "Let's look at it this way; the sooner I get what I want, the sooner you get what you want. And as I said before, I think that will help. Open it." Shadow obeyed, and was shocked to fine a shiny silver revolver resting inside.
"What is this-" Shadow started.
"Motivation," Eggman interrupted. "Collect those Emeralds- by any means necessary." He waved his hand, motioning for Shadow to leave. Shadow did, weapon in hand, pondering all the ways he could use it successfully.
*Uh-oh! I think this should sum things up nicely: Shadow + lethal weapon = yikes!! 'Nuff said.*
Meanwhile, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy went their separate ways after Sonic left them, and Tails has busied himself with another project inside his workshop. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door, and when he opened it, he was completely astonished with who he saw. Sonic was standing in the doorway, a mix of sadness and exhaustion on his face.
"Mind if I come in?" Sonic asked wearily.
"Not at all, but… are you okay?"
"Well, I kinda need to talk to you about that."
"Well, please come in first."
Sonic did, and he leaned against the wall adjacent to the door, starting to explain. "You've provably noticed that I haven't been myself lately, right?" Tails nodded. "Well, I… honestly don't know why, and I was hoping you could help me."
"No problem. So, what exactly is wrong?"
"Well, I just haven't felt like myself at all. My feelings've gone all 'extreme' on me. Like, if I'm mad, I'm furious, and if I'm sad, I'm… depressed. And what's weird is that the littlest things set them off. You saw what happened yesterday."
Tails nodded again. "And when do you think these changes started?"
"I'd say yesterday right when Amy showed up. Before that I was fine."
"Odd…" Tails said distantly. His eyes wandered slowly around the room until he looked at the Emerald in Sonic's hand. There was something about it that caught his eye, and he soon got an idea.
"Sonic, have you kept that Emerald with you ever since Amy gave it to you?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I think I've got the answer to your problem."
"Really? What is it?"
"It'd be easier if I showed you. Follow me." Tails started to walk up the staircase, with Sonic following behind. On the upper floor there was a desk holding a laptop computer, and next to it a chamber of some sort that extended from floor to ceiling.
"Tails, what is all this?" Sonic asked.
"When you left yesterday, I came back here to continue studying the Emeralds."
"What is it with you and the Emeralds?"
"They're the most powerful things in the world. They can't help sparking interest into the curious. Anyways, during my research I found that the Emeralds each emit energy naturally. Normally, it's neutral; we can't feel it. But, that can be manipulated."
"How?"
"That's what I wanna find out. So, I set up this chamber so I can see what's really up with these Emeralds."
"Huh. But… how'd you figure out that it was the Emerald doin' all of this?"
"I didn't; it's just a hypothesis. But, at first I put two and two together. You weren't acting yourself, you had the Emerald with you the entire time, so there you go. But then, I noticed something else. The Emerald… looked different."
"How?"
"You know how the Emeralds' colors look the same throughout? That one wasn't. Let me show you." Tails took the white gem from Sonic and brought it into the sunlight, turning it so that split-second glimpses of a red color were visible within it.
"See that? That's not normal. Something's up with it, and I'm gonna find out what." Tails put the Emerald into the chamber, then started typing things into his laptop. Soon, green beams of light passed through the jewel and various numbers appeared on the screen. Tails scanned through the information, his eyes widening with amazement as he went through it.
"Incredible!" he said at last.
"What is it?" Sonic asked, looking over Tails' shoulder.
"This Emerald's energy's been modified all right. It's giving off tremendous amounts of negative energy. But what's more amazing is what's causing it. There's… DNA in there."
"What?! How's that even possible?!"
"I honestly have no idea. Whoever did it is extremely technologically advanced. They even managed to extract the part that encodes the individual's emotions and put it in with such precision it's hardly noticeable." Tails was silent for a moment, then continued. "Sonic, this is bad. If they can do this, who knows what they could do on a large scale. We've gotta stop 'em."
"One problem- we don't know who did it."
"You're right… Wait a minute; Amy said she found it, right? If she told us where, we could find out who's behind all this."
"Perfect! Let's go!" The twosome ran out of the workshop and towards the train station so they could hopefully get the answers they most desperately needed.
*How was that, people? Did that fix the Sonic problem? Well, I couldn't have done it without the ingenious suggestion from Mimzy13. Otherwise, this story would've taken way longer to write. So a million times thanks!! But, continuing on…*
Fifteen minutes later, Sonic and Tails arrived in the nearby city of Station Square, and entered the apartment complex that Amy resided in. Once they found hers, Sonic knocked on the door.
"Amy, are you there?" he asked. "Me and Tails need to talk to you." However, there was no response. After a few more minutes of unanswered knocking, they walked inside the apartment. Strangely, it was pitch-black inside; no lights were on and the curtains were closed.
"That's weird…" Sonic said to himself. He felt through the darkness, searching for a light source. Soon his fingers brushed by a lamp-like object, and he fumbled with it for a moment trying to turn it on. Once he did, his eyes grew wide, shocked. The room was a complete mess; most of the furniture was overturned, and there was glass on the floor. But most troubling, Amy was nowhere to be found.
"Amy? Amy, where are you?" Sonic called out. Then a faint moan came from somewhere inside the apartment. Frantically, Sonic and Tails searched through the house, opening every door, only revealing more destroyed rooms. Eventually, Sonic came across a door partially hidden in the hall. When he opened it, he discovered Amy on the floor in the tiny closet. Her hands, ankles, and mouth were duct-taped, and she looked at him with genuine terror in her eyes.
"Amy!! What happened?! Who did this?! Never mind, lemme get ya outta here." He leaned down to pick her up, but she shuffled back away from him and shook her head frantically. "What's the matter?" he asked, confused by her reaction.
"Nothing, faker, she's just being smart," a dark voice said coolly. "And if you want either of you to live, I suggest you do the same."
"Just who do you think you are?!" Sonic asked while turning around. Once he had his question was answered; he was confronted by two glowing red eyes and a villainous grin only a foot in front of his face.
"Shadow," he growled, giving him a hatred-filled glare. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Simply what I've been obligated to do: collecting the Emeralds by any means necessary."
"And what's that-" Before Sonic finished, Shadow answered his question; he flew around Sonic with impossible speed, entered the closet and roughly pulled Amy up. He then pointed his concealed revolver at her head, much to Sonic's horror.
"Don't you dare hurt her!!" Sonic snapped, staring to advance towards Shadow.
"One more step and she dies, Sonic," Shadow threatened as he clicked the weapon into its loaded position. Sonic stopped dead in his tracks. "Very good. Now listen closely- I think I've been very patient with you in terms of these Emeralds, and that patience is wearing thin. Put simply, I'm tired of not getting what I want. So, I'll make this very simple for you: hand over that Emerald, and I spare you little girlfriend here. If you refuse, well, use your imagination."
Several tense seconds passed as Sonic stood there, stymied. As he looked at Amy, he saw her slightly shake her head, arguing against the choice she knew he would make. Sonic couldn't help but admire her self-sacrifice, but he wouldn't allow her to make that decision. It wasn't hers to make.
"All right, Shadow, you win," Sonic sighed, his tone defeated. "Just hand her over first." Shadow walked up to Sonic, dragging Amy behind him. He threw her into Sonic, and as Sonic caught her, he handed the diamond-like gem to Shadow.
"It's been a pleasure working with you," Shadow said smoothly. "Now I must leave."
"Who's stoppin' you?" Sonic snapped. Shadow hesitated for a moment, then teleported away without another word. Sonic began to release Amy from her binding, and once finished he asked,
"What happened here?"
"I don't really know. I was just minding my own business when someone knocked on my door. When I answered it, Shadow was there. I tried to shut the door on him, but he pushed it open and started to walk towards me. So then I started to back away from him, and he told me to wait a minute and that he just wanted to talk to me. I panicked and ran away, and he started chasing after me. I ran thought the whole house, which he destroyed, as you can see. Then stupid me had to open the closet, getting myself trapped. Shadow caught up to me and grabbed me, then taped me up with that duct tape. He threw me in the closet and told me to stay still if… I wanted you to live. I did, and Shadow shut the door on me. I sat there for what seemed like forever, then you showed up."
"He didn't hurt you or anything, did he?"
"No, he just scared me. But he might've if you two didn't show up when you did. Thank you. But just out of curiosity, what were you guys doing here?"
"Oh yeah," Tails said finally, after being silent the entire time. "We needed to ask you something."
"Where'd you find that white Emerald at?" Sonic asked.
"Um… I was taking a walk, and I just found it lying on the ground."
"Just lyin' there?"
"Yeah. Then I noticed some kind of small square hole half-covered by leaves nearby. I looked down into it, but it was completely dark. Why?"
"Well, that Emerald was changed in a really bad way, and we were hoping that if you knew where you found it, then we could stop whoever's behind it."
"Wait a minute," she said. "I think I remember hearing someone from down the hole. He was mad about something; I heard stuff crashing down there. His voice sounded familiar though…" Her voice trailed off, and she was deep in thought. Soon, her face lit up with a realization.
"Eggman! That's who I heard!" she said at last.
"Eggman?! We shouldda known he was behind all this! We've gotta find him before it's too late!" The three of them started to make their way to the door, but when they opened it, they were surprised to find Knuckles standing in the doorway.
"Knuckles?!" Sonic asked. "What're ya doing here?!"
"I've been lookin' all over for you guys!" he said. "I've got something I think you'll like." Knuckles pulled out an amber colored jewel with a smirk on his face. Sonic, Tails, and Amy just stared at him with wide eyes, much to Knuckles' satisfaction.
*: P Nyah! I leave you hanging yet again! Don't worry, we'll get back to them eventually… But now, we can get to more fun things! Here we go!*
In an instant, Shadow reappeared outside the familiar iron doors leading to Eggman's office. He pushed them open and found Eggman sitting in his chair as if he was expecting him.
"Hello, Shadow!" Eggman said, oddly cheerful. "I see you've retrieved the Emerald. They didn't give you too much trouble, did they?"
"No, but… something about this particular Emerald doesn't feel right to me."
"Really? Bring it here," he said with honest concern. He knew better than to doubt Shadow's instincts. Eggman looked over the Emerald for a moment, then said,
"What happened to this Emerald is because of my doing. You see, I had been researching the Emeralds, and discovered that it was possible to alter the energy they produce either positively or negatively. This would cause the individual exposed to react in the respective manner. However, in order to get the desired effect, one would need a powerful something to act as a 'key' to unlock this power. As it turned out, the key was DNA."
"DNA?"
"Yes. Namely, yours."
"Excuse me?!"
"In order for that Emerald to emit negatively, the DNA had to be from someone who themselves were negative, and I saw no better candidate than you. So, I had gotten into your room one night and-"
"You stole my DNA?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"I was merely thinking of the bigger picture. Imagine what we could do if that Emerald were truly all it was cracked up to be! We could gain the allegiance of anyone we desire; even Sonic!" Shadow considered this, closing his eyes and folding his arms, letting out a sigh. He remained silent for a moment, then said,
"Listen, I'm only here to collect your Emeralds, not be a part of your evil schemes. So, you will reverse what you did."
"But I-" Shadow's eyes snapped open, cutting Eggman's protest off. He glared at him for a second, then turned to leave the room. Once at the iron doors, Shadow paused, and simply said,
"Fix it. Or else." He flashed Eggman his weapon and passed through the doors, leaving Eggman truly stunned.
*Ya know, I realize that last little bit was weak, but I've been rewriting that part over and over, so you're lucky you got anything. But as always, if you can do better, feel free to message me with your suggestions. Anyways, we've only got a teeeeeny section left, so hang on!*
Shadow walked through the halls and eventually came to his room. He opened the door and found Rouge standing there with her hands on her hips, much to Shadow's surprise.
"Where've you been?" she asked.
"Getting those Emeralds. We have another one."
"That's great, but you could've told me-" Rouge cut herself off, her voice disabled by what Shadow held on his hand. Shadow looked at her when she became quiet, and saw a look of terror in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked. He then followed Rouge's gaze with his eyes, and saw that she was staring at the weapon in his hand. A wave of horror rushed through him, realizing what Rouge must be thinking of him at that moment.
"Rouge, listen," he started, walking towards her. "I can explain this; I-"
"Don't bother," she said, her voice small. "Just please, please don't hurt me. Not again.
"Hurt you?! Rouge, I wouldn't do that. What makes you think I would?"
"You've done it before; why wouldn't you do it again?"
"Because you said it yourself- I changed."
"Did you?" Shadow instantly became more concerned; his worse suspicions may be realized.
"Rouge… Don't you believe me?"
"A better question would be, 'Do I trust you enough to believe you?'"
"Trust me?! What do you mean?"
"Think about it. If I can't trust you, how can I believe you?" Shadow paused; she left him with a burning question in his mind, one he was partially unwilling to ask.
"Then… do you trust me?" he said, a hint of desperation in his voice. Rouge hesitated then, and she refused to look at him.
"Do you?" he urged her. Rouge looked at him, remaining silent. She wanted to answer him, but she couldn't; she needed to know the answer to his question just as much as he did.
*Okay then! Don't you guys just LOVE cliffhangers? Haha, I know. But what you're really gonna hate is this: I'm pretty much ditching the effort here. I mean, I know what I wanna write, but I have no inspiration to write anymore of this, and with the writing of my Fugitive story (which is waaay better than this. If you haven't read it, I really think you should, and I'm not just saying that for my benefit) there'd be no time. I'm really sorry to anyone out there who actually liked this, but who knows; I have actually started a Chapter 8, and have a Chapter 9 and 10 (the ending) all in my head, so in a long time from now, maybe I will resume. Thanks for reading!*
