In Third Person
Chapter 2: Through Rose Territory
"Stay here, Rose"
She gazed at the firm back of the ebony hedgehog, eyes glistening with fright. Was he really going to take that thing on, one on one?
She didn't fear the robot. She had long since gotten over her fear of the mechanical enemy due to her extensive experience in fighting them. No. She feared for the safety of her friends, the safety of her family... the safety of the ebony.
"Is that... an Eggman robot?"
The rose gazed to her left where the rest of her friends examined the threat. It was Knuckles who'd asked, standing in a battle stance, fists raised. His gaze was... confused to say the least as he stood in between Sonic and Tails. Sally, Cream and Rouge were all perched behind them. The Chaotix stood even further behind them, ready. Vector was in front of Vanilla who was partially through the door; hand on her mouth, fearful of the robots possible destruction to her home. Charmy and Espio were positioned, the chameleon's arms crossed, the bee flying, at Vector's flanks, ready for action.
No. He would not fight alone.
"I'm... not sure. It doesn't follow any of Eggman's common designs, nor his style. And doesn't he put his insignia on them? I don't see his stamp on this one," Tails inquired, using his watch to pull up an analysis on the robot after scanning the bot from a distance, his watch a virtual computer on his arm. He tapped on the virtual screen, face determined.
"Well, whoever its creator is, it better be prepared to play! Man, I haven't fought one of these in a while. C'mon guys, let's teach this bot a lesson," Sonic chirped with a smirk, dashing forward to meet the robot head on.
"Sonic, be careful! I haven't detected a weakness on it yet! Oh boy. He never listens..." Tails shouted, defeated.
"That's Sonic for you. Thinks everything's a game. I guess we just follow his lead then. Rouge, stay here. We'll handle this," the echidna sighed, cracking his knuckles and rushing off to the battlefield.
"What! But... I can fight! You need me!" Rouge shouted to her knuckle headed partner. She sighed in defeat.
"Ugh.. If only patience existed somewhere between the two of them and I could gather enough information to tackle this robot in ten seconds flat. Never mind. Stay with Rouge and Amy, Cream. This shouldn't take too long," Tails said, dismissing his watch and flying out to join his teammates.
"But.. Wait! Tails, I can ... help..." Cream's shout diminished as her boyfriend grew smaller. She sighed.
"Go get 'em, boys. I'll stay here to protect Vanilla and her home in case that bot gets too close," Vector commanded, gently pushing a worried Vanilla back inside the house, closing the door.
"Yes sir," the two remaining Chaotix members said in unison, charging out to meet the threat like the rest.
"Shadow," Amy whispered, reaching her hand out to touch his shoulder. Although he'd told her to stay where she was, he hadn't left to fight like the others.
The ebony looked back at the rose as her hand perched on his shoulder. She gave him her wavering gaze and he gave her his closed, focused eyes. When he opened them, he revealed to her the emotion that was coursing through him, which he rarely did for anyone. That contagious emotion of... hope.
The rose's heart stopped.
The ebony turned, using the end of the porch to launch himself toward the battlefield, air skates blazing, heart throbbing, snow flying, determination set.
As the ebony neared the robot, a bubbly, purple and metal arm came slashing down to interrupt his charge. It came, flying past the ebony as he dodged the arm with ease, skating around Knuckles whom ran to punch a hole into the robots hand, only leaving a large dent as the hand came up to swat at it's chest. The bee kicked at the robots leg, stinging it as the chameleon through his weapons in areas he thought were weak. Near it's torso was a spinning blue orb, Sonic initiating his famous spin dash in hopes he could cut through the robots interior, but failing, perching on it's shoulder in exhaustion.
The robot was a tall, black and silver with glowing neon purple streaks coursing through it like they were veins. It's head resembled a war helmet from the middle ages, only a set of glowing purple eyes visible from the eye area from under the helmet, the rest shaded black and unknown. Its shoulders were rounded as if the robot were muscular, arms and legs a similar design. The bots chest was also rounded, a large hole glowing purple at the center. It's feet were block shaped like the bottom of two buildings.
"Man! You are one tough guy. Woah, careful buddy! Swatting flies off you shoulder can be pretty tricky!" Sonic exclaimed, hopping from it's shoulder to it's head as it's arm came up to crush the blue on it's shoulder. The impact caused the robot to dislodge it's own arm from it's shoulder. Tails flew by it's arm as it slowly crunched when it hit the ground with a low, satisfying thudding noise.
As the bot went to swat at it's head the blue blur jumped, landing on the ground near Shadow. The ebony glared at him.
"This isn't a game, faker. If we do not dismember this robot quickly, it could destroy Vanilla's home and those who reside in it!"
"I got ya, Shad! No need to get your panties in a twist." And with that, Sonic speed off, distracting the robot as he dodged it's ground smashing attacks with it's remaining hand.
The ebony growled, summoning his chaos energy to release on the robot's arm.
"Chaos spear!"
A metallic rip was heard as the bots other arm came crashing down to the ground below. Shadow and Knuckles jumped out of the way. A shout of victory was heard from Tails, who was in the air, ray gun in hand, and Charmy.
But their cheers were in vain.
A shudder erupted through the air as the missing parts of the robot materialized out of thin air, this times his arms made from a skinnier silver material.
The kitsune, the bee, the chameleon and the echidna looked up at the robot in shock. The blue blur muttered a curse, finally realizing the true danger of the situation. The ebony gazed at the threat with a hard, angered face.
With a fierce force, the robots arm came swiping across the ground, much faster than the ebony had expected. In his attempt to dodge the offending hand, he lunged to the side only to be smacked by the hand into the neighboring woods. He crashed, leaving a trail of broken trees and a large dent in the ground. He grunted as he emerged from the flying debris of dirt and snow, looking up at the threat in the distance, determined to rip it to shreds, incinerate it and send its ashes to hell.
~aAa~
With the departure of the ebony came the restart of Amy's heart. She'd never witnesses... that side of the ebony. Had his open emotions always been there... like that?
"Hmp. I can't believe they told us to stay here! I mean, we are the better half," Rouge pouted, muttering loud enough for her female companions to hear.
"Ohh. I Hope Tails is okay. That robot looks tough," Cream sighed with worry.
"Maybe they need a tactician. I think I'll go and participate in this battle," Sally said.
"Do you even own a bit of common sense? That robot said it came for the princess and the closest person with that title is you. If you go out there without decent back up, you'll just be giving it what it wants," Rouge growled at the princess of Acorn.
"I'm a hero to my people! I will no just stand here and do nothing while an offender threatens to demolish my kingdom!"
"But Sally, what if you get captured? We aren't even sure this is one of Eggman's robots. What if we can't find you? What if you never come back? Mr. Sonic would be devastated," Cream tried to give Sally a few ideas to chew on to change her mind. Although she was no longer fond of the princess, she didn't wish any harm on her highness.
"Exactly! And then you'll not only be a hero to your kingdom, but a failure. Is that what you want?"
"Stop! I know what I'm doing," Sally commanded, pushing past Rouge to go back into the house.
"Ugh! " Rouge moved to sit on the edge of the porch, watching the battle with bored eyes. Cream walked to the edge of the porch, now between the sitting Rouge and the standing Amy. She looked down to Rouge and then up to Amy.
The rose stared intensely at the current battle, eyes glistening emerald as her clasped hands remained in prayer position. Every smash and crash had the rose on edge as her heart beat erratically.
"Amy? Are you alright?"
The rose turned her head to the bunny, smiling whole heartedly.
"I'm okay, Cream. I just," she looked back at the battle, "want to find a way to help."
"Maybe we could be helping if the guys hadn't glued us to this porch..." Rouge muttered, ears folded back.
"Well, I don't know too much about robots or how they work. The closest I've gotten was changing the battery to the toy robot Tails made for me, and even that was a challenge. They batteries just didn't want to fit-," Cream's voice was tuned out from Amy's head as a thought came crashing through her like an avalanche.
A battery! The robot runs on some sort of power source! Even if it's not a battery, if we find it and cut off one of the wires that run in the robots circuits, the robot will shut down!
As the rose came back to her senses to alert her friends of her discovery, a noise from the battle caught her attention. She came to in just enough time to see the ebony being smacked into the forest by the new arms of the robot. She watched, holding her breath as the ebony crashed into the trees with a deadly velocity, shaking the ground as he was pelted into the ground.
Both the bat and the bunny stared at where the ebony had landed in shock.
"That's it! I'm going to go help, whether they like it or not!" Rouge stood on the porch ready to charge into battle.
"Wait! We can't help them on the battle front. That's not where we're needed," the rose exclaimed, stopping the bat with a hand on her shoulder. The bat gazed at her friend, recognizing the formation of a plan in her eyes.
"What do you have in mind, Amy?"
The rose looked at both of her best friends, asking them for their trust.
"I'll explain as we go."
The rose led her partners into the clear night of the forest to walk a path around the battle to the back end of the robot, where the rose felt they were needed.
~aAa~
"Man, this guy just won't budge!"
Sonic and Knuckles, who were formerly back to back, battling the robots arms, separated in a haste to dodge the arm that meant to crush both of them at the same time. As the two flew through the air, they went to attacking the stationary arms, that were in the ground where they formerly stood. But within four seconds the arms came from out of the ground to smack an annoying bee and kitsune from the air. Both flying fiends dodged the arms with agility like no other, but they were growing tired. They were bruised and sweat ridden.
The ebony, returning from his catastrophic plunder, emerged from the trees with a death wish written in his eyes for the bot. When he was at a decent distance from the bot, he charged up another chaos attack.
"CHAOS-"
The sounding of his voice alerted the robot, as it turned its head to the ebony as it continued to occupy the others. It took one of it's arms, palm outstretched as if to guard itself from the offending blast, and transformed the hand into a large cannon.
"BLAST!"
A burst of chaos energy erupted from the ebony's body, shaking the ground and seemingly entering the cannon part of the robot, as if it had absorbed the blast without feeling the repercussions.
The ebony gazed at the bot with genuine confusion and a bit of caution for the robot had not removed its arm from his presence.
And in two seconds flat, the robots arm cannon began to glow purple and shot an energy blast right back at Shadow, who could not escape the entirety of the blast as he jumped out of the way.
He emerged from the ground with a frustrated growl, his ears twitching at the sound of a ... battle cry?
"Aaaaahhh!"
Sally came forward, riding her horse onto the battlefield, emerging from the side of the house where she retrieved her stallion. The horse galloped forward as the princess held a sword over her head. With both the princesses hair and the horses mane taken with the wind they charged, ready for anything.
"I KNOW YOU'RE HERE FOR ME, FIEND! NOW COME AND GET ME!"
The team that fought on the field had all given Sally their attention as soon as her battle cry rang about the clearing. Sonic looked terrified as his fiancé gallivanted through the light snow, in the sights of the threat.
"Sally! Get out of here!" Sonic shouted erratically.
She couldn't hear him, for the robot merely aimed it's cannon toward the princess, firing what was left of the former chaos blasts three times. The third shot hit the horses legs, dismounting the princess and making her fly several feet across the clearing into a pile of fallen leaves and sleet. She went unconscious as she tumbled across the clearing, the wind being knocked out of her with the impact.
"SALLY!"
"Give. Me. The. Princess. Or. Suffer."
The robots order put the battle back into action as an enraged Sonic initiated several homing attacks to the robots interior. The robot was faster this time though, smashing Sonic like a fly, pealing his body off his chest and flicking him to the ground below. He hit the ground with a deadly crunch, breathing heavy, struggling to get up.
Shadow examined the state of the battle.
A war cry from Knuckles was heard as he charged for the robot, latching onto its hand and crawling up it's arm to do some damage and end this battle. Tails flew around the head, blasting his ray gun and dodging the robots swatting hands as Charmy tried to sting the bot into submission. Espio was running over to Sally to check for a pulse. Sonic was smashed into the ground.
Maybe they'd rushed into this battle too quickly...
~aAa~
"So basically, we just need to pull the robots plug," Rouge questioned as she stepped over a tree root, a low thudding emitting from the battle around them.
"Pretty much. We just need to find it's main source of power and disconnect a few wires. Then, the circuits within the robot will go incomplete and the robot should shut down. If it doesn't, we'll just need to either destroy the battery or head for the brain of the robot which might have a back up source," Amy explained.
"Sounds easy enough. But, what if neither of those ideas work?"
Amy stopped, looking behind herself to Rouge. She smiled.
"Then we'll just have to hope for the intervention of Chaos himself."
As they held each others gazes, a cry was heard along with three thudding blasts that shook the ground and lit the forest around them for a few split seconds. Amy turned, continuing her leading. Rouge crossed her arms with a smirk, standing in her place as Cream caught up to her.
"What's wrong, Rouge?" the bunny asked, concerned.
"She's definitely grown up, Cream. She's more herself than she's ever been," Rouge's gaze lingered on the traveling rose.
"We should catch up. C'mon, Rouge," Cream jogged to the rose, the bat following close by.
They reached the backside of the robot, which was oddly quiet considering the destruction occurring on the battlefront. The females looked upward, contemplating the climb with near terror.
"It's sooo high up," Cream muttered.
"We need a visual. Can one of you fly up and see if you can find an opening into the robot?" Amy asked.
"I'll go!" Cream exclaimed. Using her ears, she took to the sky, gliding safely to a ledge on the robots boxed leg. She slipped a bit when landing, but caught herself as she leaned on the metal leg for support. Her heart thudded in her chest as she looked down. She forgot she was afraid of heights.
"Be careful! We'll be here to catch you if you need it."
The reassuring message from Rouge and the smile from Amy allowed her to go on. Climbing the length of the robots leg and using her ears to propel her little body upward, Cream continued on to the butt of the robot. Her shoulder length wavy hair whipped in the breezed, flying across her face as the breeze made her shiver.
She reached the top half of the butt, standing on the ledge with bent knees as to keep her balance. She squinted to see the square shape that was cut into the robot, drilled shut at the corners. She walked up to it, pulling at the edges in an attempt to open it. She had a screwdriver with her because her boyfriend said it was always handy in situations such as these. She grabbed it from her dress pocket and proceeded to fit it into the screws... but the tool wouldn't fit the bolt.
She examined the bolts and noticed she hadn't recognized the shape of the bolt at all, considering she's seen so many different ones in her boyfriend's workshop. It was alien to her. It was in the shape of three separate triangles, obviously meant for a special tool. She sighed, leaning over the edge to call to her companions.
"Amy! I found an opening! But I can't open it!"
Down below, Amy looked at Rouge.
"Mind giving me a lift?" Amy asked.
Rouge smirked. "It'd be my pleasure."
After getting a good grip around Amy's waist, Rouge thrust upward outstretching her wings to catch the air. She flapped them harder than normal, for she not only had extra weight, but the breeze was killer that high up.
Amy was let go of as Rouge landed on the ledge. Cream was looking at the square cut out bolted to the bot with worry when they came to her. She looked to them.
"I don't know what kind of bolt this is. It's foreign to me."
Rouge examined it, frustration appearing on her face suddenly. She reached into her shirt, pulling something from her cleavage. Cream and Amy looked to her as is she were crazy, but switched to gazes of curiosity as Rouge fiddled with a gadget that had multiple mini tools folded into it.
"This robot is definitely not Eggman's. It's probably from some alien planet to have bolts like these," Rouge thought aloud, flicking one of the folded tools from the gadget, pulling off a tool that looked like a laser pointer.
"Let's hope this works."
Rouge pointed the gadget in front of one of the bolts. A green laser beamed from the pointer to the bolt, the end of the laser forming itself to fit the crevices of the bolt. The laser solidified as Rouge smirked. She turned the bolt swiftly, hearing a satisfying clank as the bolt hit the metal ledge. She proceeded to do that to the rest as fast as possible, freeing the metal cut out and revealing to them a large, glowing energy source and a thousand interconnected wires with purple energy flowing throughout.
"Wow. Who knew your boyfriends gadgets would work on alien technology. He must be that smart, huh." Rouge looked from her gadget to Cream who blush and then... pouted.
"Tails made that for you? Why didn't he give me one?" she muttered, looking down at her useless one size screw driver.
Rouge shrugged as Amy reached into the clog of wires, getting zapped as she touched one of the wires.
"Ouch. Hey, do you happen to have something to disconnect these wires?" Amy asked Rouge.
As Rouge fiddled with her gadget, Cream to the liberty to see if her screwdriver could be put to better use. She pulled back her hand and threw her screwdriver toward the energy source like a dart. The sound of glass breaking startled the group of girls who shielded their faces during the impact. They coughed, opening their eyes.
The battery's glow diminished as a purple smoke emitted from it into the sky. The energy that coursed within the wires slowed and they turned grey. The whiz sound that signified that functioning of the robot began to slow and diminish.
"We did it!" Cream hugged Amy who smiled and laughed. Rouge smiled, hands on her hips.
But... it wasn't over.
The whiz of the robot sounded once more, the wires within the bot regaining their purple glow in a snap second, flowing upward and faster than before.
The females panicked.
"W-what! No! But.. we destroyed the battery!" Cream nearly cried.
"Damn it all. I knew it was too good to be true!" Rouge kicked the robot.
Amy looked frantically at the wires.
Why are they still flowing?
Then, she noticed their flow.
Upward.
With her hair whipping past her face, she looked directly upward.
An external source...
"We need to get up there! Hurry!" Amy order, pointing up to the robots head.
Without a single hint of hesitation, Rouge grabbed Amy's waist, darting upward, Cream following right behind them.
~aAa~
Shadow examined the further damage with rage in his eyes.
The robot had taken down the rest of his companions who struggled to get up from their holes in the ground. As the dust cleared, revealing the ebony to the robot, it turned both of it's arms into cannons, preparing a blast to eliminated its final foe.
But the ebony prepared a blast of his own.
Just as the robot was about to fire, its system shut down, it's eyes dimming and arms following gravity back to the their place at the sides of the machine. All was quiet.
Shadow gazed at the bot expectantly. After a minute of silence, he headed for his fallen companions to get them into Vanilla's home.
But a revving from the robot was heard by the ebony, and he turned to see the robot come back to life with renewed purple eyes, preparing its cannons once more.
He growled, charging the bot for the last time. With one fist raised, he jumped, hoping from one arm to the other until her reached the torso. Once he was there, he punch the chest getting his hand stuck within the robot the impact jerking the robot to one side. With his hand still inside he began to chant.
"Chaos... SPEAR!"
An explosion rumbled the insides of the robot. After a moment of silence, Shadow looked up. The bot looked down to him as if to say 'Is that all you got, you worthless creature?'
The robot then flicked Shadow away like he did Sonic and the rest and let him crumble into his very own hole of defeat.
But the ebony got up, continuing to fight as his comrades tried to stir from their own pathetic holes.
~aAa~
The girls continued their climb up the broad back of the robot, having a little trouble as the bot was moving with renewed vigor. As they came close to perching atop the robots shoulder, the torso of the bot was roughly jerked to the side as an attack was dealt to it.
"Ahhhh!"
Amy and Rouge looked down to see Cream barely hanging on. She tried to flap her ears to propel her body up, but the wind kept her from doing that. She looked up at them with pure terror in her eyes, fingers slipping.
"Hold on, Cream!" Amy shouted to her. She looked at Rouge.
"You have to let me go. I climb the rest of the way on my own while you save Cream."
"I have a better idea," Rouge said, placing her gadget in Amy's hand. Rouge looked to the sky, viewing the distance between them and the robots shoulder. Amy gazed at the gadget with confusion until Rouge threw her into the air.
Amy landed on her feet, legs a little shaky, on the shoulder of the bot. With legs bent with caution, she turned and looked down.
Rouge had flown down and caught Cream in a protective embrace, standing on a ledge. She gave Amy a thumbs up.
Amy sighed in relief, turning to view the square cut out on the back of the robots helmet head. Running to it, she pulled out the odd finger pointer tool, ready to unscrew the bolts. Suddenly, a loud and familiar chant was heard and shudder erupting throughout the robot. Amy struggled to keep her balance, grabbing onto the bottom of the robots helmet with all her might as the metal below her feet shook. Cream squealed, stuffing her face in Rouge's chest and squeezing her waistline. Rouge held onto whatever she could, clutching Cream close to her and keeping her balance on the ledge.
As the shudders stopped, the rose steadied herself and proceeded to unscrew the bolts. The robots torso moved about as it continued to battle with bloody intent as the rose yanked off the square cut off that was seemingly stuck. Once it was off, she stared in awe at the intricate assemblage of the purple flowing wires that connected to their back up power source. I was a large, rectangular glass filled to the brim with sparkling purple... fairy dust? At least, that's what it looked like. A cage made of metal, which made it harder to get to, surrounded it.
Suddenly, the robot began to move... as in walk forward for the first time. It's legs were slow moving, but getting faster as each step shook the ground. Amy panicked. She flipped through the gadget, looking for something sharp. In her haste she dropped it and it slid off the robot to the ground.
"No!"
Amy dived for it, but came up empty handed. She looked back at the opening with fear. What was she to do?
Her hair taken with the wind she stood, walking over to the opening. She gulped, perparing herself.
Sticking her hand within the opening, she held onto several wires at once which immediately began to shock her hand to no end. With a cry of pain, she yanked with all her might.
Bzzzzz!
With heavy breathing and a handfull of grey wires, the rose sat on the metal shoulder as the robot's movement came to a hault and the whizzing sound came to a slow stop for good. A silence came over the battlefield.
After catching her breath, the rose gathered herself and stood, hearing a final shout of victory from her rabbit friend. She looked down to her female companions. Rouge looked up and nodded, smiling as a cheering Cream squirmed in her embrace.
The rose walked across the shoulder, using the robots head to keep her balance. Now at the front of the robot she viewed the battlefield with a calm countenance, watching her comrades, who were climbing out of their holes.
On the battlefield, Sonic stirred, rising from the ground and looking around. He saw Knuckles emerge from his hole, clutching his head, bruised but intact. He noticed Tails dragging Charmy across the field along with Espio. Out of the three, Charmy had the worst bruises and looked as if he were finally waking. Then, he saw Sally and he remembered.
"Sal!"
He darted over to her limp body, dusting off the leaves and snow from her form. He gently hugged her figure, asking in hushed whispers if she would wake up. After a few minutes, he picked her up and rushed to get her inside.
Shadow remained in the clearing, looking up at the rose that stood at the top of the robot looking down. Knuckles walked up to him.
"How do you think she got up there?" Knuckles asked, holding his bruised stomach.
Shadow pointed. Knuckles followed his finger and raised his eyebrows at the sight.
Coming from behind the robot's leg was Cream and Rouge. Cream was flying, darting past them into the house. They could hear her muttering about the health of her boyfriend as she rushed inside. Rouge on the other hand walked leisurely to the echidna and ebony. As she approached, she looked to the echidna.
"Are you alright?" she asked, straight-faced.
"Just a few bruises. Nothing life threatening. My back hurts a little though," he responded, rubbing his back the best he could.
"Good," the bat grabbed the echidna in a tight embrace, "because you aren't ever going into a battle without me again. I was worried sick about you, moron."
Knuckles was taken back by the hug, but snapped out of his shock and clutched her curved waist tightly, as if he didn't want to let go, closing his eyes. He patted her hair as her ears went back with distaste; she was obviously angered that he'd dared go to battle without her support. As she pulled away from him, she sniffed, regaining her composure. She turned to the ebony with a smirk, hand on her waist.
"So, you going to go get her or what, lover boy?" Rouge questioned, as the ebony continued to look up at the rose. He looked to the bat, almost with an... innocence in his eyes.
"Do you really believe that... I am falling... in love... with Rose?" he asked, letting the phrase 'in love' roll off his tongue oddly. He hadn't actually been in love, so he couldn't recognize it for others, let alone himself. His love for Maria was... different.
"I can tell just from the fact your nickname for her is 'Rose', Shadow. You look at her like you'd blow up the universe if she'd asked you to, valid reason or not. You treat her differently than the rest of us, in a positive way for sure. You would take a bullet for her if need be."
"Is that... a bad thing?"
"Pffft. I don't know. You tell me."
Shadow looked to his former partner with a gaze that reached into her soul. Rouge's eyes didn't lie. She was giving him honest advice.
"Thank you, Rouge."
Rouge walked toward the house, clutching Knuckles hand as he blush from the contact, stuttering her name. Rouge raised flicked her hand upward as Shadow watched her retreating figure.
"She's all yours," Rouge finalized.
The ebony looked toward the rose, sighing.
"Chaos control!"
~aAa~
Amy shielded her eyes as a green flash erupted from beside her. She looked up, smiling a warm smile.
There stood the ebony, looking to her with a serious face.
"So, are you the rescue party?" she asked, cutely with a blush. He walked up to her, making her seem so small. He looked down to her with authority.
"I thought I told you to stay on the porch."
She looked down. "I wanted to help. I-I had an idea."
"You could have been killed."
She clasped her hands together, fiddling with the bottom of her shirt. "But, I've always fought in battles, knowing the consequences."
"You disobeyed orders. Did you not think there were consequences for that?"
"A-are you... mad at me?" Her shoulders fell, ears folding back in shame and fear of his shouting.
A sigh made the rose's ears flick up. She raised her head, wide eyed at the ebony. He chuckled, eyes closed arms crossed. She waited.
When his eyes reopened, they were half-mast. He uncrossed his arms, picking her up like a bride, clutching her to his chest. He breathed out.
"I could never be mad at you," he whispered in a hush.
And with that, he chaos controlled back inside Vanilla's home.
~aAa~
"Sally! C'mon. Wake up! Please. Don't leave me..."
Sonic was on his knees in front of the couch where Sally was placed with a wet towel on her head. Sonic was shaking her, pleading with her to wake. The Chaotix took their places on the other couch. Vector looked to Sally with worry as did Charmy, on the verge of tears. Rouge sat in the rocking chair that was moved to the opposite side of the room to make room when Sonic brought Sally in. She lounged with her eyes closed, rocking lightly as her boyfriend leaned on the wall next to her, his stomach and arms wrapped with bandages, eyes closed. Cream appeared from the bathroom with her boyfriend right behind her, all bandaged up. Vanilla walked by, cleaning up the dining room table. She was the one who said that Sally would be fine and that she just needed some rest. She continued returning the food and her dishes with a calm and serious countenance. Amy walked through, helping Vanilla with the cleaning, Shadow leaning on the wall by the dining room table, watching the rose closely.
Rouge was the first to speak up.
"Sonic, Sally's going to be fine. You should probably just take her back to the castle and let the royal medics handle her. They know more about her health than we do."
"You right. We'll leave immediately."
Sonic picked up his bride-to-be, speeding out the front door to the awaiting carriage.
Knuckles let out a sigh as the cleaning came to a close and Vanilla and Amy watched the group from the dining room.
"We should go home. It's been a long night."
"Yeah. We should head back to the mansion before it gets too late," Tails agreed.
Cream yawned.
"Yup. My bed back at the mansion awaits," Cream muttered cutely.
"You mean my bed, right?" Tails smirked at her as she giggled bashfully.
"Vector. Charmy. Espio. Your beds are ready. I made them this morning," Vanilla called.
"Thanks Vanilla. You don't know how much we appreciate you!" Vector replied, he and his team headed upstairs for bed.
As the rest got ready to leave Vanilla's home, a gasp was heard.
"Wait! What about Amy? It'd be dangerous if she walked all the way home by herself! If that alien robot was out there, only chaos knows what's out there now!" cream exclaimed.
Everyone looked to Amy who shared gazes with each of them, confusion showing.
"Guys, I'll be fine. I walk in the forest at night all the time!" she said, hands up in defense.
"I will accompany you."
The group parted for the ebony as he walked up to the rose, stopping with a foot between them.
"You don't have to," she whispered.
"I insist."
"Alien robot? What do you mean?"
Shadow turned to Tails question.
"It had to be from another planet! The bolts used on it weren't the standard! Trust me! I couldn't even use my trusty screw driver on it!" Cream exclaimed.
"She's right. The bolts needed a specialized driver and the energy source to it was almost like magic in a glass bottle. I think we might have an alien mystery on our hands, guys," Rouge backed her up.
"Well, our mystery can wait until tomorrow. Goodnight, Vanilla! Have a nice night!" Knuckles called, hand behind Rouge's back, leading her out the door. Cream and Tails followed suit, Cream saying goodnight to her mother.
Shadow and Amy remained, looking at each other. She looked at him, with a serious face.
"Are you sure you don't want to go with them?"
He nodded. She smiled, leading them out the door, following a path opposite their friends.
~aAa~
And so Little Red continued her stroll through the forest side by side with the hunter, humming with happiness. She laughed at nothing in particular as she was happy to have a companion. She couldn't remember the last time she'd went on a walk with someone or had company. The ebony looked over at her with curved eyebrows. The night was chilly as the breeze bristled the couple and the near naked trees.
"What's so funny?" the ebony questioned, stepping over a root and kicking a pile of leaves as he walked.
"Oh. I just haven't been around company in a while. It makes me... well.. giddy inside... like a kid on Christmas morning."
She walked in front of him, walking backwards as to face him.
"So, how has life been to you? I don't remember the last time I simply just talked to you about your life," she explain, simply curious.
He examined her, checking for any traces of hidden motives, be he found none. It was just an innocent curiosity, he concluded.
"Life has dealt me well. I eat, I shower and I live. There's nothing more to be said."
"But, you haven't done anything with your life? Like.. go on a trip, get a job, master a skill... meet someone new..." the rose whispered the last part.
The ebony tilted his head, trying to find what she was implying with the last part.
"What do you mean by... meeting someone new?"
"Oh! I was just," the rose turned to walk forward, hiding her face from the ebony, "wondering if you'd met someone interesting. You know.. someone you find... appealing."
Now he understood her hesitance. Well, sort of. She wanted to know if he'd found that significant other. What he didn't understand was why she seemed so.. shy about the topic. She almost seemed to pout in disapproval. Was she... jealous?
"I have yet meet someone of interest as you say, but why bother when I already know a handful of interesting creatures?"
She turned her head slightly to him, one emerald eye examining him. A ghost of a smile was evident on his face. She giggled.
"Have you done anything fun lately?"
He thought for a second.
"Well. Knuckles did trick me into going with Sonic, Tails and himself to a race track. I never knew go-kart racing could be so... exhilarating."
"Really? Who won?" The rose came to walk beside him once more.
"I did, naturally. Although, that faker made a habit of bumping my kart out of the way to try and take the lead. I guess he didn't know the difference between racing cars and bumper cars."
She giggled. "I guess there is some sort of a distinction."
"Hmm. And then Cream and Rouge joined us for our second race after their shopping trip. They slaughtered us in the last three races. Sonic swore there was something wrong with their go-karts. Tails told Sonic that all the chilidogs he ate before hand slowed he and his kart down. After that, he didn't eat chilidogs for a week as the joke traveled around the house."
Amy was hysterical with laughter, a tear appearing at the corner of her eye. As she calmed down, she noticed the ebony looking at her, as if to say "what about you?"
"Well, my stories can't be as great as yours."
"But, you've done something with your life, have you not?"
She sighed.
"I guess you could say I've mastered my cooking and baking skills, since I've had so much time to myself. I sell baked goods to pay for my bills. I've... also planted a garden and looked into adopting a chao."
"Is that all?"
She held her gaze to the ground, hangs rubbing her arms. Was that all?
"I... guess it is. Unless you want to here about my boring shopping trips or the time I battled a garden snake with a broom."
He chuckled. "If you'd like to share, I don't mind."
She laughed, keeping her gaze to the ground as her face turned serious. She walked slower than normal, breath shown in the frosty air.
"Shadow?"
He looked to her, but her bangs covered her expression.
"Yes, Rose?"
She sighed, a puff floating from her mouth.
"Do you think... that robot was really after Sally?"
He hesitated.
"To be honest Rose, I think not. I don't know if you witnessed this, but Sally came charging on her horse during the battle and the robot simply shot her off her horse and left her in the snow. If it was truly there for Sally, that fight wouldn't have lasted as long as it did."
"Makes sense."
"Why did you ask?"
She met his gaze, eyes shaking.
"I just.. feel like I recognize something about the robot. It's presence, it's structure.. its .. power. Like I know someone who wields the power source found within that robot. Someone.. evil and torturously vile. Someone from a distant past." The rose shivered a bit.
"I don't know, Rose, but we should be careful. Only Chaos knows if something else will come, looking for this 'princess' of theirs. Whoever they are."
As the ebony concluded his statement, they came upon parting within the trees, revealing the rose's home. It was a two-story home, made from dark greyish bricks. There was a garage, a stone path leading to the steps to the door on the left and and a large window with yellow curtains on the far left, the window to the kitchen. The window at the top was covered with silver curtains decorated with pastel colored leaves and vines. A chimney jutted out to the far right of the house, solid and poised.
The rose regained her joy at the sight of her home. She skipped up the stone path, walking up the steps and then stopping suddenly before she hit the door. She turned, seeing the ebony who had stopped at the first stone step. He watched her, arms at his sides.
"Are you.. going to go inside?" His question broke the silence.
"I.. um." She had just taken notice of the bruises and blood on his body. Had he not taken care of that back at Vanilla's villa?
"Rose?"
"Do you want to... come inside?"
He froze. He never thought she'd want him in her home. It would just be the two of them... in a nice, warm house. Alone... with her... with no one to hear them for miles. He blushed.
"Umm... I don't want to intrude. I should head back."
"No, I insist. It's late out and you'd have to walk all the way back." She held his gaze.
He looked away.
"I will fair."
"You're hurt."
Shadow looked down at himself, taking note of his heavily bruised and somewhat bloodied body. If he hadn't notice the slight tinge of pain from the scars, now he did. Sure, he was suppose to be immortal, but he still took damage.
"I heal faster than the average, Rose. I'll be alright." He still did not look at her.
"...Shadow."
He slowly looked up.
"Please?"
He could not deny her, not with those eyes. He sighed walking up the path and taking the steps until his warmth radiated right next to her.
"Shall we?" she questioned with a smile. He breathed.
"Continue. I will not leave."
And with that, the rose stepped on the red welcome mat, unlocking the red door with the key she retrieved from her pocket. She stepped inside, turning on the lights to the living room and kitchen.
Shadow hesitated at the door. There was no turning back after this.
He sighed once more, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him.
After locking the door, he noticed growing warmth as he discarded his scarf onto the coat hanger, taking off his shoes and placing them in between the rose's boots and red house slippers. He walked down the short hallway that had a path of grey tile that was cold to the touch. At the end of the hall, the tile was met with a room full of white carpet. As he took a singular step into the room, he hummed at the carpet's unbearable softness. To the left was the kitchen, lit by the chandelier above the table near the window. To his right was the living room, where he saw the backside of the couch and a fireplace that was newly lit, a TV mounted above it. The rose stood by the fire, rubbing her hands together and sighing happily. She looked to the ebony, waiting at the hallway.
"Don't be shy. Come in. The carpet doesn't bite."
He walked slowly into the living room marveling at the light brown walls and black flat screen. Her main couch and smaller couch were a light brown, and her rocking chair was made of wood. The coffee table in the middle was glass with brown legs and the unlit lamp on the side seemed to be some shade of brown. The simple light from the ceiling plus the fire light the place. The room was very... cozy and warm. Easy to fall asleep in.
"Oh, how rude of me! Can I get you something warm to drink?"
"Umm..."
"Stay right here. I'll only be a moment!"
As she left into the kitchen, the ebony sighed, not sure what his purpose in entering was anymore. He debated sitting on the couch, but thought otherwise when her remembered his bloody state.
The rose returned with a pastel blue mug filled to the brim with hot chocolate. She handed it to the ebony, standing in front of him with a goof grin on her face. He held the mug to his chest, looking into it for a second. He looked back up to her with a blank expression as if he had no clue on what to do with the beverage. Amy just looked at him, blinking a couple times and just.. staring and waiting with her hands clasped in front of her.
"Umm... Rose?"
She blinked, tilting her head cutely as if to say "Yes?"
"I... don't want to bleed all over your nice white carpet."
"Oh! How silly of me. Come! Right this way!" The rose burst from her trance in a fit of giggles, running behind the ebony and pushing his idle body to the stair that were across from the front door on the other side of the living room.
As the ascended the stairs, Amy opened up the first room at the top of the stairs. It was a large room, painted grey with a queen sized bed with dark brown sheets, comforter and pillows. A dresser, a desk, chair and a closet were on the left half of the room. On the right was a door in which Amy opened.
"This is the guest bedroom. My room is right next door. I just cleaned this bathroom so it should be stocked with towels and such. Go ahead. Just leave the towels in the hamper when you're done."
Shadow took a step inside the bathroom, taking note of the sink in mirror right in front of him, the toilet to his right and shower to his left with brown curtains. A fluffy grey rug was placed in the middle, a door to his right where the towels would be.
"Use as much hot water as you'd like! And I'll take this," she said, taking the mug from his hands.
Within a blink she was gone, out of the room in two seconds flat.
The ebony blinked, turning back to the bathroom. He closed the door, starting up the water in a daze. He couldn't believe he was really here. Under the same roof as his 'more-than-crush' as Rouge had explained to him. Showering in a bathroom decorated by her. It was a dream.
As a steam began to cloud the mirror, the ebony stepped in, moaning as the hot water relaxed his muscles, turning to do the same for the back. He tried his best not to flinch at the stinging that occurred as his wounds were subjected to the purifying affect of the hot shower.
The ebony looked at the shower rack on the back wall of the shower. There were all sorts of shampoos, conditioners, liquid and bar soaps available, the top half female products and the bottom half for males. He picked up a black bottle, opening it up and sniffing. He didn't know what it was, but it had a sort of spice to it. He decided it was best and grabbed one of the many lofa's hanging from the bottom rack. It was a black one, of course.
After spreading the soap onto the lofa, he began scrubbing his body down, ridding himself of the dirt, leaves and blood from the battle. He made sure not to further irritate his wounds as he scrubbed his chiseled body, making sure to add extra soap to his white chest fur to insure all the dirt left and his fur was white as snow.
He turned off the shower, stepping out and retrieving two towels. He wrapped one around his waist as he used the other to pat his body dry. In the process, he opened the door, eyes closed. When he opened it, he stopped dead in his tracks to avoid running into a figure. They stared at each other, blank expressions on both.
The rose stood on one leg, the other bent in the air, foot pointed. As she was frozen in place, her arm was bent, hand in a fist ready to knock on the bathroom door while her other arm was behind her back. All in all she looked pretty damn cute.
She blinked, blushing as she saw the water dripping down the ebony, bringing attention to his... areas... from his pecks to his abs to his... everything. He stood looking at her, towel in hand, frozen on his damp quills. She put her foot down, clasping her hands in front of her cutely, head looking at the ground, face red, but with a smile.
The ebony then took notice of her attire with a blush. Her hair was wet, falling down her back and shoulders, bringing attention to her cleavage that showed as she wore a light blue night gown with thin, stringy straps, ending a few inches below her hips. It seemed a bit short for her, but hey, she hadn't had to worry about company until now, so why should she have to dress appropriately? He wouldn't be there for long anyway. Her full thighs were accented by the form fitness of the gown and she went bare foot. Shadow's gaze came back up as she began to speak.
"Y-you... smell very nice. I like the scent."
"Umm ... thank you.. I guess."
She looked up at him, a warm smile crawling across her face. She reached for his wrist, pulling him out of the room into the hall.
They entered her room, which had white walls painted with forest designs in pastel colors. Her bed was at the center, covered with pastel pink covers and red pillows. A lamp was in the corner, a vanity in front of the bed, the closet was closed on the left and a door to her own bathroom to the far right. She pulled him over to her bed, sitting him down on the edge. She turned, opening the drawer of her side table, pulling out her first aid kit. She sat on the edge of the bed in front of him, being sure not to flash him a look of her underwear in the process. She took out some alcohol to start.
"Give me your arm."
She began the process of disinfecting his wounds, being gentle like the most experienced nurse. While she did this, the ebony couldn't help but stare at her window. The curtains were partially opened and her could see the tree that was oh so familiar to him. The branch he was always perched on, the wood that he'd called home. She had to know. He wouldn't keep her in the dark.
"Rose?"
"Hmm?" She continued to turn him around to his back, where she put alcohol on a large gash across it.
"Do you remember... the promises we made to each other... the day you left three years ago?"
She hummed, remembering it all too well.
"Yeah. You promised me you wouldn't kill Sonic and I promised to take care of myself. We kept our promises and here we are."
"Yes. But do you remember what you said to me. The very last words you spoke to me before you left."
She slowed her cleaning of his back wounds until her hand laid at rest on his toned back. She stared at her hand, remembering.
"Yes. I remember."
She turned his body again, cleaning his other arm.
"What were they."
She thought for a moment.
"I said 'Watch over me from above , ultimate life form.'"
"And I told you I would."
Amy turned his body to face her again, cleaning his chest now. She focussed on her work, contemplating.
"I may have... taken your last words to heart."
She finished cleaning, tossing the dirty rag in her hamper looking up to the ebony with a straight face.
"Are you saying that you've been... watching me?"
He just looked into her eyes, his ruby orbs signifying a questionable "yes?"
She looked at him a moment longer and then gave him a warm... smile? She pulled out the bandages as the ebony looked at her, confused. She wasn't angry with him?
"That's so sweet. Unless... you've been sneaking a peak at things you shouldn't have?" she said coyly. He smirked.
"You can't fool me, Rose. You always change in your bathroom and if you don't, you always close your curtain."
She laughed as she began wrapping a bandage around his stomach.
"I alway do that. I never know when someone would come by on a surprise or something."
She tied the bandage tight and continued on his arms.
"But... I never really had company."
Her ears dropped sadly, but a smile still remained on her face, eyebrows curved up.
"Rose." The ebony lifted her chin to look at him. She giggled a watery laugh.
"And yet... you were always here. And I didn't even know it."
He sighed. he hadn't meant to make her cry. He used his thumb to catch a singular tear. She laughed again, regaining her composure.
"So, you're like a gaurdian angel or something, right?"
She finished on his arms, putting her kit away.
"I... wouldn't go as far as to classify myself as that."
"Oh sure! I wouldn't be surprised if you had invisible wings on you right now." She
made bird wings with her hands. He laughed. She yawned, rubbing her eyes like a child.
"You're tired."
"No... I'm not," she muttered slowly, continuing to rub her eyes.
"Don't deny it."
"But.."
He stood up from her bed. She grabbed for his hand. He looked down to her.
"Don't go back to the mansion tonight."
"Don't worry. I'll be here when you wake up." They were whispering suddenly.
"Where?"
"In the guest room."
"Promise?"
He leaned toward her. She leaned back with a flush on her cheeks, head pushing into her pillows. He pulled her blanket above her, tucking her in.
"I promise." He was inches away from her face.
"G-goodnight." She didn't mean to stutter.
He kissed her forehead.
"Goodnight, Rose."
And without a warning, the rose drifted into a slumber like never before, dreamless and yet full of dreams as the ebony backed out of her room, closing the door gently behind him.
~aAa~
The ebony returned to the guest room after turning off the remainder of the lights within the house. He sat on the edge of the guest bed, immediately feeling the exhaustion he'd dealt to his body for the day. The bed was comfy and soft. Oh boy could he get use to this.
"What! No. I couldn't intrude on Rose. I refuse to use her for her living space and her selflessness." The ebony could not take her kindness. He felt as if he were asking too much of her already, using her for all of her benefits and giving nothing in return.
As he turned to turn off the side table lamp, he notice the mug from before, the hot beverage obviously reheated for him to enjoy later.
He smiled at the gesture, sipping down the warm beverage as his body relaxed, once and for all.
"This is her territory. I'll simply just do as she says."
A/N: Jeeze, my back hurts! Anyway, hoped you enjoyed this! Review!