There was a pause on the other end of the line before Silver started speaking again, "Is Amy okay? Is it a serious injury?"
"Amy's fine. She's asleep and recovering... Do you think you could come get me from the hospital?"
"Of course, babe. I'll be there soon." The two hung up and Blaze sighed. She turned to the ward, but before entering she saw something that made her stop in her tracks. She peaked through the window to see Shadow cleaning Amy's body. Blaze suddenly became transfixed on the two as she watched intently. Shadow was rubbing gently but thoroughly, as though he wanted to get rid of any trace of Robotnik that was on her body. After Shadow was done cleaning Amy, he began changing her clothes, a very gentle and loving action that took Blaze aback. She watched as he positioned her on the bed when he was done. He stared at Amy's face before he caressed her forehead. Blaze saw a loving and tender look she had never seen before plastered on his face. In the many years she had known him, she had never seen Shadow make a face like that to anyone. In that moment, Blaze felt like a stranger. Her phone vibrated suddenly, snapping her out of her trance. She quickly read the incoming caller ID being Silver. She answered it quickly as she walked away from the ward, "Hello?"
"Hey babe, I'm parked downstairs at the front of the entrance. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm coming down soon. See you in a few minutes." Blaze hung up and looked back at the ward in time to see Shadow kissing Amy's forehead. She gulped and turned to walk to the exit quickly. Tails came out of the elevator just as she was about to enter and gave her a sweet smile.
"Blaze, are you leaving?"
"Yes, I'm going now. Shadow has this taken care of so... I should get back to Silver." Tails nodded.
"Have a pleasant evening, Blaze."
"You too. Later."
Blaze walked to the elevator and hit the first-floor button. As the doors slide shut, she slid down the wall and took a few deep breaths. She stood back up shakily as the doors opened and made her way to Silver's car. He gave her a kiss and rubbed a hand through her purple cat ears, "Hey babe, are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Her eyes closed as she leaned on his shoulder. He smiled and covered her with his jacket as he let her sleep the entire way home. Once they got back to their apartment, he picked her up and gently carried her up the stairs to their room. He opened the door and then shut it with his foot. He went to their main bedroom and put her in his bed, tucking her in best he could and kissing her lips gently before going to the bathroom to shower. Once she heard the water running, Blaze's eyes opened weakly. She buried herself deeper beneath the blankets and the pillows. The image of Shadow kissing Amy lingered in her brain. She had wanted confirmation on her suspicions. She wanted to know if Amy was the girl he was in love with and had been in love with for a long time.
But now, she knew. All these years the girl Shadow had loved was Amy. But how? Blaze had always thought that Shadow and Amy weren't that close. How did he fall in love with Amy over her? She tried to think deeper about things that the two went to, before she started putting things together.
Sometimes when they were in high school, Shadow never went to school gatherings. However, it seemed that every single gathering Amy went to, Shadow would go to. However, the two of them would hardly sit together or talk.
There was also one time when Sonic had organized a camping trip in the mountains. That night, Blaze had woken up late during the night and had crawled out of her tent to pee, when she saw Shadow and Amy sitting very close together near the campfire. She was tired and shrugged it off. When she went back to her tent, she saw Shadow fanning off Amy, but again shrugged it off and went back into her tent. The next morning, she found out everyone who had slept in a bag outside had gotten bit by mosquitos, everyone except Amy. That night, Shadow must have spent the entire night chasing the mosquitos off her.
There was another time when they entered college. Normally she and Amy would travel to see Shadow and he would treat them to lunch. However, afterwards, Blaze had tried to go see Shadow by herself, and he would find ways to refuse seeing her. At the time she thought he was just busy with filming, but it must have been because Amy had not come up with her.
And after that, Shadow would sometimes initiate conversations with Blaze. She believed nothing of it, but now she was recalling that every time they talked he always seemed to ask about Amy. All these years, he hadn't really cared to talk to her, but only wanted to know about Amy.
If it hadn't been for tonight, she would have never found out how much Shadow could love someone.
The hospital was silent and peaceful. Shadow felt his body calm and relax as he stared at Amy's sleeping and calm body. He felt as though he had gone through a life or death situation, and he felt exhausted. If it hadn't been for Rouge's call warning him, who knows how far Robotnik would have gone with Amy?
And it was in that moment, that a fear ran up Shadow's spine, it grabbed his heart, and drowned him. If anything were to happen to her in his crew, he could never forgive himself. It was like there was something stuck in Shadow's throat. He held Amy's arm gently. The image of him charging into Robotnik's room, beating him almost to death, was still fresh in his memories. He couldn't help but grip onto her hand tighter, before lifting his hand up to kiss her slim fingers.
At two in the morning, Tails who had been outside waiting decided he could do nothing more and went to sleep in the car. Just as he got comfortable in his seat with a blanket snuggled around him warmly, there was a knock on his window. He jumped suddenly, as he reached around for a weapon in case it was someone trying to break in, when he saw Shadow standing outside holding Amy in his arms. He sighed and unlocked the doors as Shadow slid himself and Amy in the back seat.
"Jesus, Shadow, you scared me."
"Sorry..." His voice was soft and quiet, before he spoke again, "Let's take Amy back to the house." Tails nodded, fighting off his sleepy state, as they drove off towards the mansion. When the car reached the mansion, Shadow carried Amy in his arms to the front door. Madame Vanilla had just woken up and looked at the two in a confused state.
"What's wrong with Amy, Mr. Shadow?" Vanilla asked in a concerned voice.
He didn't say anything as he walked past the rabbit and put Amy in her bed, tucking her in and closing the door as he made his way back to the entrance where Vanilla stood. He turned to her, his tone flat, "Don't make her anything too cold for breakfast, and don't make her anything too oily."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't disturb her until she wakes up. Other than that, I'll be off." She nodded as he walked out the door to attend to more business. She frowned as she looked up at the stairs, wondering what had happened to the poor pink hedgehog.
Amy had had a dream. In the dream, she was with her father and her mother. Though they had left her so many years ago in a tragic car accident, she still remembered their young smiling faces. She also remembered their courtyard, their apple trees, and how every autumn there would be bright red fruits hanging from the limbs. In her dream, she also saw a young boy standing under one of the trees. He was a black hedgehog in a school uniform. As she got closer, the young male turned into a modern clothed, charming yet cold Shadow the hedgehog. Suddenly the scene changed again. Shadow was wearing a dark suit, her a dress. Their friends surrounded them, giving them their best wishes. Were they getting married?
Shadow and her exchanged vows, rings, and during a round of cheers, Shadow had leaned down to kiss her.
Then Amy woke up from her dream. The world around her was silent. She blinked before realizing she was at home. She sat up quickly in a panic and turned to look to her side and realized no one was beside her. The curtains weren't shut, so the sunlight was very bright. Wasn't she at the hot spring last night? How did she get back home? Amy tried very hard to remember what had happened last night but couldn't remember. She reached for her phone seeing as she had a shoot that afternoon when she saw it wasn't around. She frowned and looked around the room for her bag. Not there either. She pulled the covers off her as she hopped off the bed, her pink feet taking her to the kitchen where she saw Vanilla. The rabbit turned and smiled at Amy.
"Good morning, Amy."
"Good morning, have you seen my bag?"
Vanilla shook her head, "I'm afraid when I saw you this morning Shadow was carrying you. I didn't see a bag."
"I didn't have my bag?" She looked away momentarily. Shadow was carrying her? She looked down and saw herself in some brand-new Chanel clothes. What were these? Why had Shadow carried her home? Vanilla smiled and put a plate on the counter, motioning to it. It was a croissant with eggs.
"Here you are, breakfast."
Amy nodded and leaned against the counter as she ate her breakfast, muttering a quick thank you. Once finished she handed the plate back to Vanilla, still confused as to why she couldn't remember the events from last night. She looked at Vanilla, "Did Shadow say anything to you this morning when he brought me home?"
"He told me to let you rest and to not disturb you. And to make you something warm and not only for breakfast."
"Nothing else?"
Vanilla shook her head, "I tried to ask what happened, but he did not want to answer. But other than that, that was it."
"Hm..." Amy looked a bit confused but shrugged it off. Before she could say anything else, the doorbell rang. Vanilla smiled, "I'll go see what that is." She turned to the main entrance and Amy washed the plate herself, not wanting to give Vanilla more work than she needed. Suddenly she was hugged from behind and jumped. She saw Cream hugging her with tears in her eyes.
"Amy! You're okay!"
Vanilla smiled at the two, one who was confused and the other in tears, "Miss Cream, can I get you something to eat?"
"Yes, please and thank you." Cream smiled, before turning to her pink friend. "I'm so glad you're safe Amy! You don't know how scared I was! Sally that bitch! I knew she wasn't a good person, but she went too far this time! But don't you worry Amy! This time she buried herself into the ground! I heard Blaze kicked her ass last night also! The news and the media have completely been exposing all her scandals! Even her fans have turned their backs on her!"
Amy was in a daze as Cream went on and on nonstop without breathing the entire time. When Vanilla came back with the little rabbit's food, Cream stopped her rant and chowed down quickly. Amy blinked, held her head, and looked at Cream calmly.
"Cream, what are you talking about? What happened with Sally?"
Amy's question made Cream choke on her food. After a few moments, Cream realized Amy seriously didn't know what happened. If Amy didn't remember, then Cream would tell her. She put down her fork and held Amy's hand gently, "Sally drugged you and took you to Robotnik's hotel room last night. Robotnik almost raped you. He sexually assaulted you for sure, but Shadow and Blaze were able to get to you on time before anything else could happen."
Amy tensed up, her eyes widened as her eyes investigated Cream's with disbelief and shock. "I was almost... raped?"
"You really don't remember...?" Cream asked quietly.
"Amy, someone already threw out the drinks that you drank that were drugged. So, we already lost the evidence..." Cream said quietly. But if it hadn't been for Rouge last night, we wouldn't have been able to find you. Rouge could tell something wasn't right, so we looked at the video tapes and sure enough, there was footage of Sally and her assistants pulling you away. The drug had already taken affect and you couldn't fight back.
Amy didn't say another word as Cream went on. The rabbit took a deep breath, "I wanted to call Blaze, but Rouge insisted we call Shadow first. So, we called Shadow and he took off to the hotel, and apparently Tails and Blaze went with him. Rouge told me that Sally admitted to taking you to Robotnik's room." Cream sighed, "But because the news would affect you badly, so news of what happened were cut off early. Not many people know."
She tightened her grip on Amy's hand as the pink hedgehog's eyes filled with tears, "If you want to thank someone, you should thank Shadow. He was the one who saved you last night. If he hadn't rushed back from his meeting immediately last night, Robotnik would have..." She trailed off, not wanting to imagine the worst that could have happened. Amy's eyes trailed down to her arm, where they were a hole in her arm from what looked like an IV. Had Shadow taken her to the hospital last night? Vanilla did say that Shadow was the one who brought her home. On top of that, now people were coming out and exposing Sally for the person she was. This was going to be the end of Sally's career...
"There is another thing that happened..." Cream whispered, "Robotnik pulled out his billion investment in the movie. That was half the movie production and costs. The other billion was invested by Shadow. If we can't continue shooting this show, then Shadow will also have lost a billion in this." Amy's eyes widened, "For him to go after Sally is one thing, she deserves it. However, if we can't find someone to cover the investment that we lost, they will have to stop filming."
Panic ran through Amy in that moment.
Because Robotnik had pulled his investment, the production team had stopped working temporarily. Cream had showed up first with Amy to help retrieve her bag, and to stay with her and make sure she wasn't alone again. A few minutes later the two left, and after they did that's when the news about Robotnik pulling out his investment started to pour in. Amy had been on twitter all day, reading all the tweets people were talking about. Her mind was filled with willed thoughts all night, but she forced them to calm down once Vanilla had told her to come down for dinner. When dinner was over she had gone back to her bedroom when her phone rang.
The call came from Sonic's mother, Aleena. She never called much unless she needed Shadow to come and pretend to be Sonic. Amy grabbed the phone and walked to the balcony. She opened the windows, and then opened the phone, "Auntie Aleena." When she was around outsiders, she was to call Aleena mom, however in private she could call her Auntie.
"Good evening, Amy. Have you had dinner yet?"
"I have. It was delicious. How about you, Auntie?"
"Oh, just waiting on your uncle to get back so we can eat together." There was a pause before a continuation, "Do you remember that Sonic's birthday is next Friday?"
"I remember." Amy lied. She had honestly forgotten in how busy she had been.
"Sonic's birthday party must be well managed. You must inform Shadow of this."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Okay, that'll be all. Have a great rest of your evening, Amy."
"You too, Auntie." Amy hung up and sighed. She stared back at her phone. Should she call Shadow or text him? Before she could decide, she received a text from Cream.
"Amy, I just heard some more about what happened last night with Robotnik. He also had to go to the hospital last night. He was hurt bad. Robotnik won't say who did it, but a lot of his stuff in his hotel room was smashed. There was a lot of blood on the floor. There was glass everywhere, and the coffee table was kicked over. And I also heard Robotnik didn't want to pull out his investment! He was forced to!"
Amy dropped her phone. "Shadow, you didn't..."
She thought for a moment. Why was Shadow doing all of this for her? It wasn't like this was the first time Shadow had saved or protected her either. There was the time with Sally insulting her at the dinner, and there was the swing incident. Though she was a little upset that he would ruin his own career for her, a part of her was warm and happy. She really wanted to see Shadow now. She quickly opened her phone and called Shadow.
Rouge waited outside the meeting room of the company's headquarters as she saw many motions storm out with scowls on their faces. She stood in the hall for a while, before going to get some coffee. She carried her coffee and walked over to Shadow's office. She knocked on the door but didn't hear a peep from inside. She walked in anyway, not really caring if he got mad. She saw him standing in front of his window smoking a cigarette. His attitude from earlier was different. Instead of the intense and rude vibe he had earlier during the meeting, his aura was now cold like usual. He sighed as he heard the click clack of her heels making their way to his desk. "What Rouge?"
"That billion-dollar investment... you thought of a plan on how to get it yet?"
He said nothing to her and she sighed. She pulled something out of her wallet and placed it on his desk loudly. He turned to see a few bank cards laying on his desk. She smiled, "These cards have my earnings from the movies I've filmed all these years. Besides the amount the industry strips from me, I still have quite a bit on my hands. If you add it all up, that's about five to six million. The pin code is 123456."
His eyes narrowed, "I don't remember us being such good friends Rouge..."
"Afraid I'm up to no good?" Rouge smirked. Rouge didn't want to scheme against Shadow. She understood you could hardly trust anyone in the entertainment industry. However, she didn't want to see this place fall. That and Shadow was that person's older brother..."Look, I'm not joking anymore. If you're worried, then just take it as my investment into the movie. When we start earning money, just give me a share."
"Thanks, but that's okay." He smoked a cigarette, "I don't need anyone else's help to protect Amy."
"So how will you produce a billion out of nothing?"
"I sold ten percent of my shares of the industry." He replied calmly. Rouge's eyes widened.
"What!? Shadow? Are you crazy? Jesus, the stuff you're willing to do for this girl..." She sighed, "If you sell ten percent of your shares, you realize there is a possibility you will no longer be the chairman of the company? The entire fortune you spent to build this company could fall into someone else's hands."
"So, what?" He huffed, "I earned all of this for her to begin with." It was like he was talking to himself when he spoke next, "I'd let them have all my money if I could go back in time and change everything."
After who knows how long, Shadow's phone went off. The caller ID lit up with her name on it, Amy Rose.
