I don't have much to say about this chapter... more violence with Aidan, I guess, LOL.
"Ugh!" Rouge yelled in disgust, jumping away from the pile of throw up on the floor. Blaze had awakened at the sickening noise, and Cream whispered into her ear what was happening. I saw that Sonic was waving to a guard I didn't recognize to come clean up. We spoke in low voices so that the guard couldn't hear us.
Amy just stared, frozen. "Shadow? Are you positive that you were seeing Shadow?"
Aidan nodded, then continued in her strange new voice. "My visions are in black and white, but I can definitely tell it's Shadow. Looks exactly like him - same quills, the fur, the shoes, everything."
Shadow sat next to her, looking worried. "How am I dying? I need to know this kind of stuff, y'know."
Aidan groaned, squeezing her eyes tight shut. "You've been whipped until your back has been sliced open. You're begging him to stop, but he just won't. He's stabbing you with a blade."
Shadow's eyes widened. "Who's 'he?'"
Aidan shook her head, unable to answer immediately. Then, "A hooded figure... I think it's a cat... but I can't tell."
"This is bad, this is very bad," he muttered under his breath, putting his head in his hands.
Silver waited until the guard had finished cleaning and had left before speaking. "It might not be. The future is fluid, as we all know. If we change something now, we could prevent Shadow from being murdered."
"True," Aidan allowed. She had pulled herself up and was leaning sideways against the bars that separated my room from theirs. "The future could always change. But if it doesn't then this WILL happen." A fresh tear escaped. "What are we gonna do?"
"I wish I could use Chaos Control to see what was going to happen," Shadow said, looking up again. "But they've taken my Emerald."
"Same here," Silver and Sonic said, one after the other.
"Aidan," Amy said, now standing next to her with her hands on her shoulders and her jade eyes piercing Aidan's bloodshot blue ones. "Look harder into your vision. Try to identify the hooded figure that's hurting Shadow."
"I can't concentrate," Aidan whispered. "This vision is unlike any other. I usually see happy things... not murder."
I had remained quiet; now I felt I needed to speak with Aidan for a second. I waved her over so I could whisper in her ear. "Iron Lotus, it will clear your mind."
She nodded. "Of course. I hadn't thought of that." She sat on the floor, twisting her legs into Iron Lotus position. She straightened up, and with her eyes closed, pressed her pointer fingers and thumbs together.
Meditation had been able to calm her for a long time, and I was glad that she had taught me how to do it so I could recommend it to her now. As we watched her without a sound, I could imagine her thinking of a meadow, filled with long soft grass that swayed gently in the breeze. Summer time, with the sun looking at us through the clouds, heated the breeze and blowing the scent of lavender from the other side of the meadow.
A minute or two later, her eyes opened again. Her voice was no longer the creepy raspy tone that she had taken when she threw up, and we sighed with relief when she spoke. "Okay."
"Now look harder into your vision," Amy repeated. "Try to identify the hooded figure."
Aidan's eyes shut, and she pressed her fingers to her temples. She definitely looked calmer, less like she would shoot anyone who touched her. "Of course I can't see it in full color, but I know this is someone we've never met before. A hybrid... fox and cat. Narrow eyes, and sharp teeth, like a vampire." She shivered. "I was mistaken. Most definitely female."
"How do you know?" Shadow asked.
Aidan's eyes opened and she glared at him. "I don't think a lot of men have a super-thin figure and wear a short skirt, do you?"
"Well, no, not really..." Shadow stammered.
"Didn't think so." She lifted her head in what could be seen as a look of supremacy. "Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that... I think she's really searching for us, our little group." She shifted so that she was sitting in a normal cross legged position. "But here's my question: is she just searching for Shadow? Or is she planning on using him to get information to find the rest of us, and does she want to murder him because he couldn't or wouldn't give her any information?"
My best friend was being a detective. Go figure.
Cream shivered. "I hope neither, honestly."
"Well she must want to murder Shadow for a reason," Tails said. "Who knows? Maybe she just wanted to inflict fear upon us."
"That could be true," Blaze said. "But, as Amy Lee of Evanescence once said, 'Fear is only in our minds, taking over all the time.' We need to get past the fear that Shadow could be killed." We nodded in agreement.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked.
There was silence as everyone thought for a moment. Then, Amy said, "We could try to sneak out of here and get an Emerald so someone can find that serial killer hybrid."
"Too risky," Shadow automatically said. "If we get caught we WILL be killed, for certain. All of us."
"Shadow's got a point," Sonic said. "I hear that electric chair is pretty scary."
"ANYWAY," Amy said, trying to get them off of that subject. "Does anyone have any other ideas?" When nobody said anything, she straightened up, her jade eyes grave. "Then trying to get that Emerald is the only thing we can do."
"Wait."
Everyone turned to look at me. "Renata? Do you have something to say?" Silver asked.
"What if I just tried to talk to Mephiles?" I asked, feeling like an idiot for suggesting such a thing. "I doubt they're on the same side. I bet if we got him to side with us that the hybrid cat thingy would leave us alone."
"Hm," Aidan said, stroking her muzzle. Then she grinned. "I think that's the easiest thing we can do, Amy."
"I have to agree with Renata on this one," Shadow said. "I haven't known her for long, but she seems like she's got some brains."
I blushed.
"I say Nata's idea is good too," Sonic added.
"Same here." Silver grinned at me as he said the words.
Everyone else responded yes... that is, until I got to Rouge. "No."
"Why not, Rouge?"
"Well, FIRST of all, Re-na-ta," she said, her hands on her perfect hips, saying each syllable of my name separately in a hard tone. "I happen to be an extremely successful jewel thief, in more ways than one, and I've worked for YOUR government as a spy before. I never got demoted, just promoted. So I wouldn't get caught if you wanted me to go find your precious Emeralds. SECOND of all..."
"Shut up, just shut the fuck up," Aidan hissed in her face. "We don't want to hear your stupid crap about the government AGAIN when your so called boyfriend, who doesn't love you, is supposedly going to be dead soon."
Rouge glared at her. "I can do whatever I bloody well please, little girl, and nobody is going to stop me, not even with that kind of mouth."
I saw it coming; Aidan's gun flew from her pocket, pressed to Rouge's temple. "NOBODY calls me a little girl."
Rouge gently pushed it to the side. "Chillax, I didn't mean any harm."
Aidan put the gun back on her belt, but suddenly her hand darted up to clasp around Rouge's neck. With her intimidating behavior, she backed the slutty white bat up against the wall. "I know very well you meant harm."
"Rouge, stop being an ass and leave Aidan alone. You're being overly mean to her and I don't like it one bit."
My eyes widened. "Shadow? Why are you so concerned about this?"
He blushed slightly and began stammering again. "Well, I like to be involved in these things. I mean, Aidan's my friend, and I stand up for my friends."
"Sounds a lot like you've got a crush on her," Sonic said, grinning.
He might as well have just dropped a bomb on himself.
I like the ending :D R&R :P
~ GaBl
