Chapter 2: "Tonight, We Run"

"Where exactly are we heading to next?" Rouge finally questioned as they neared the exit of the base. She knew that Shadow had basically exhausted all of the known leads on recent bases belonging to Eggman at this point, though maybe it was possible that he knew of another that she didn't. Still, it didn't seem likely that Eggman had left any information about the Time Eater within his normal bases. She had gathered a small amount of data regarding the Time Eater for G.U.N the night that she and Omega had helped Shadow get to the Ark, but it was nothing that Shadow hadn't already been filled in on. That had been the only intel she had come across regarding that monster; before finding that, she had infiltrated at least 7 other locations belonging to the Doctor with no luck. It seemed to her that Eggman had deleted basically any obtainable information about the Time Eater, and the little she had found had possibly been the only file left that he hadn't wiped.

When Shadow didn't answer right away, Rouge spoke again.

"Our best bet would be finding the Doctor himself to interrogate. I think the only data about the Time Eater left now is stored in his mind... I believe he thoroughly wiped his physical research on it in order to keep anyone else from discovering how to use its power. Interrogating Eggman would be easy; the problem however, is that he and his younger incarnation disappeared entirely once they were beaten... they're suspected to be trapped within the White Space, so we would need to find a way to either pull them out of there, or get in there ourselves."

The two stepped outside of the base as she finished, and Rouge stopped, waiting for any input from the hedgehog. As per his usual, the angsty hedgehog had been quiet the whole walk back.

Shadow glanced at Rouge, then down at the ground for a moment before looking up at the sky. It was starting to get late; the sky was beginning to turn a shade of twilight, various shades of orange, dark blue and purple. Shadow, as if by habit, folded his arms and resumed his usual brooding posture as he stared at the sky, his mind racing.

Should he keep looking? Was there even a point? Where would he go next? Rouge was probably right; his best chance of getting any knowledge worth knowing would be from the mouth of the Doctor himself. But of course, even attempting to look for him could be dangerous. Perhaps the world might finally be free of Dr. Eggman's constant attacks with him trapped with his alter ego in a mess he had caught himself in.

"Hm. At this point, G.U.N. or some other organization is more likely to have answers, at least until the Doctor manages to return. If he returns," Shadow finally answered, adding the last bit with a slight smirk. "As for now... I'm not sure what my next step should be." He sighed heavily, and after a moment, looked up at Rouge.

"Be honest, Rouge. If you were in my position, what would you do?" He asked softly.

Shadow's question caught Rouge off guard; him asking for her input, especially in regards to no doubt, the most important thing in the world to him, was not something she had ever expected him to do.

However, she recovered quickly from the shock and looked up at the sky, trying to put herself in his shoes.

"Hm..." A few moments passed, and she closed her eyes and sighed. She wanted her response to be absolutely genuine and truthful, but picturing herself in his situation proved to be incredibly difficult. It took quite a long time for her to think it through, but Shadow was patient, understanding that this wasn't an inquiry that could be so easily and quickly answered.

At least a couple of minutes had passed before she opened her eyes, looked at him again, and responded.

"Shadow..." she began softly, and for the first time in years, she allowed her mask to slip completely. "I... I was alone for the most part growing up. I didn't have someone like Maria; for most of my life, I never felt I understood what it felt like to be cherished or loved, or how it felt to really love or cherish someone else... I had never felt the gravity of a loss like you have before." She paused to swallow the growing lump in her throat, but she never broke eye contact between them. "So, finding my honest-to-god answer to that question seemed impossible for me to answer... at first."

Her expression had held a complex mixture of emotions; sadness, frustration, anger, sympathy, and anxiety, but now a small, pained smile broke through as she forced herself to speak her next words. "But then I thought about how much it hurt earlier when I thought about losing my best friend... you." A bitter, flustered laugh escaped her as she realized how vulnerable and weak saying that aloud made her sound, but she pushed herself to continue anyway. "The way I felt when thinking that all of the memories I have with you could be erased if you were able to find a way to change history..." Rouge was aware of how her voice shook now, but she tried to ignore it and keep talking regardless.

"Before I get too sappy, I'll get to my answer," her eyes narrowed with unwavering determination and sincerity. "In your place, I wouldn't give up on finding a way; I'd hunt down Eggman or anyone else, no matter how dangerous or selfish it may be. If something were to happen to you, I wouldn't hesitate to find a way to change that, even if it was just to see you one more time. I won't pretend to understand the level of your grief, because I've yet to actually go through such a loss... but I'm by your side for whatever you decide to do, no matter how extreme."

A heavy, shaky sigh escaped her, and she finally looked away from him. "But know this, if history does change, but I still have my memories of you, I will also try to find a way to use the Time Eater's power, to send myself to wherever you are in time... I'll likely fail, since I'm no Ultimate Life-Form, but I will try."

With no more to say, Rouge turned away completely then, feeling too embarrassed to face him at all after all of that. She couldn't believe she had actually said those things, and she felt her cheeks grow even more flushed than they had been before. The treasure hunter found herself wishing she could hide herself somewhere before Shadow had time to respond, but she simply crossed her arms and awaited the hedgehog's reaction.

Shadow was quiet as he pondered Rouge's answer. He wasn't used to Rouge showing this much emotion, unless valuable gems were involved, but this was different. Here she was, truly offering to help him with whatever his goals were, even if it meant risking losing... him? Shadow had never taken much time to assess his value in other people's eyes, yet Rouge was genuinely distraught at the idea of not seeing him again. Wasn't she? Shadow was never good at reading emotions beyond the surface… Either way, he hadn't expected her to say something so recklessly sentimental as altering time to see him again.

Hm. Not that he was one to talk.

After internally debating how to respond for a stretch of silence, Shadow sighed and put his hand on Rouge's shoulder, and gently turned her around to face him.

"It's okay Rouge; like I said, I'm not going to do anything foolish," he said softly. "Maria already asked me not to... no matter how much a part of me might want to, I won't." He offered her a small, soft smile, missing the snark his smirk usually carried with it. "You won't have to pull off any kind of time-heist of your own to see me."

At the feeling of Shadow's comforting hand on her shoulder, Rouge had felt a jolt of... something she hadn't felt before, at least not this strongly. It flustered her more, but at the same time, made her feel warm and elated. A blanket of relief settled over her at his repeated assurance, and she returned his smile.

After a moment, Shadow's expression hardened again.

"Still, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop looking for an answer that works, if there even is one," he added. "If the Doctor is a dead end, at least for now, we must look elsewhere. We can try G.U.N.'s database next." Shadow glanced up at the increasingly-dark sky again, and sighed.

"But... I guess it can wait until tomorrow," he said moodily. He took his hand off of Rouge and started to walk away before turning back.

"Come on, I'll take you home," he offered. "My motorcycle isn't far from here."

When Shadow had removed his hand, Rouge's shoulder suddenly felt strangely cold, and she couldn't help but wish they could have stayed in that moment for a while longer. Receiving any little amount of affection from Shadow left her hungering for more, but she wasn't about to make a bigger fool of herself by saying that aloud too. She already felt more embarrassed than she could recall ever feeling, but at least her words had seemed to make her point clear to Shadow, so it had been worth it.

"You realize we're at least five hours away by vehicle from Club Rouge, right?" the bat asked as she came around from the sort of daze she had been in. Her usual smirk returned. "It would be more practical to just book a room at a hotel somewhere, as late as it already is," she pointed out in a slightly suggestive tone. "I mean, you've yet to find a Chaos Emerald again after they scattered from Sonic and his younger counterpart's fight, right?" She thought for a moment, then asked, "Unless you'd be able to use the fake emerald to Chaos Control that far of a distance?" Without hesitation, Rouge reached into her shirt and pulled the imitation Chaos Emerald from her cleavage. She took a moment to admire it, then held it out to him.

"Five hours? Please, I could get there in-" Shadow started to reply, but then paused mid-sentence at the sight of Rouge reaching into her top to produce the fake Emerald. Shadow's eyes widened, his mouth seemed frozen open and his face began burning a shade of red. After several tedious awkward moments, Shadow snatched the imitation Chaos Emerald from her.

"You're... shameless, you know that?" Shadow muttered, overly-aware of how warm the gem was in his hand. He tucked the fake Emerald away and tried to continue on.

Rouge giggled as she watched Shadow's face flush. She had only seen him blush a handful of times in the time they'd known each other. Somehow, seeing his reaction helped to ease her own lingering embarrassment.

"Using this phony Emerald for Chaos Control can be unpredictable" Shadow spoke, trying to change the subject. "I think Sonic just got lucky when he saved himself back on the ARK. Sure it can use Chaos energy but a fake one like this could shatter if overused. It should go back on the ARK at some point. Come on, let's get to my bike and we'll figure out where to go."

"Alright hotshot, lead on then." As Rouge followed Shadow to his motorcycle, she pondered more on their destination options for the night. If they could make it back to her place, she could likely convince the dark hedgehog to stay in one of her guest rooms. She missed the days when he would sometimes crash at her place. Whenever he did, occasionally, he would agree to watch a movie with her or play some video games before turning in for the night. She had always enjoyed spending some recreational time with him. However, he hadn't stayed the night at her place in nearly a year now; hell, she'd barely even seen him within the last year for that matter.

On the other hand, Rouge acknowledged just how exhausted she was starting to feel. Between watching and waiting for nearly half a day in a ventilation shaft, and the weariness she felt after her emotional outbursts, she felt like finding a place to stop closer by was probably the best decision right now.

Another thought crossed her mind; one that was... indecent, to say the least. If they stopped at a small enough hotel, perhaps none of the rooms would have more than one bed, and the two would be forced to share... Maybe...

'Oh, get a grip, Rouge,' she internally scolded herself with a frown. 'Shadow would simply insist on just sleeping on the floor or in a chair if there's only one bed. I shouldn't even be thinking like this, especially with everything he's going through.'

Shadow glanced back at Rouge as they made their way to where he'd hidden his motorcycle. He considered everything they'd been through today, and everything that had happened that day when Shadow and Rouge had last seen each other. Between all the outbursts the two of them had had today, and everything on their minds since the Time Eater and Black Doom incident, they'd probably been more emotional in front of each other in a few hours than the last few years they'd known each other combined.

Now, Rouge was being uncharacteristically quiet as they made their way back. Shadow surmised his ally just had a lot on her mind like he did. Little did he know how different their thoughts were at that moment.

Finally, Shadow stopped by a few trees casting some shade over what looked like an empty spot of grass on the ground. Shadow hit a few buttons on his wrist communicator, and suddenly his motorcycle appeared in the empty spot. It seemed to shimmer into existence when he deactivated its stealth field.

Shadow quickly hopped on, and instead of inserting a key, the bike's handlebars read his unique handprints and the motor roared to life when it confirmed it was in fact Shadow going for a ride.

"Hop on," Shadow said to Rouge, habitually revving the engine in anticipation.

The snarl of the engine fully snapped Rouge out of the unrealistic thoughts she had allowed herself to indulge in.

"Woow, you've really upgraded this thing since I last saw it," she marveled while slowly circling the bike. At first she was only intending to check out the motorcycle's high-tech makeover, as it did genuinely impress her, but at some point her eyes wandered back to Shadow, and she found herself checking him out instead. 'Damn he looks sexy on a bike, but then again, he always has...'

Shadow couldn't help but feel a small bit of pride as Rouge examined his bike. Despite it not being as fast as his own top-speed with his fire-skates, Shadow had grown to love the feeling of the powerful engine, and the challenge of fully mastering how to drive it to peak efficiency. It was also sometimes safer to take than just running in somewhere on his own, due to all the motorcycle's built-in stealth and security features. Since Shadow had been tracking Eggman bases for so long, this seemed like the logical choice of transport.

When Rouge stopped to look at him again, however, Shadow raised an eyebrow at her. Damn, even for someone as eccentric as her, Rouge sure was behaving strangely tonight. Noticing his look, Rouge innocently turned her attention back to the bike.

As Rouge circled back around to the front, she forced her gaze back down at his ride and ran her fingers across the sleek, shiny metal.

"Maybe you could actually get us to Club Rouge in half the time on this, though I still think planning to stop at a hotel would be better. It would give us... more time," Her eyelids lowered and she gave him a flirtatious grin. "You know, just to relax, unwind, and get a full night of rest..."

"Hmph. Fine," Shadow replied as Rouge climbed on. Once she was seated behind him, she smirked. Despite all of his fancy upgrades, the seat was still only made for a single rider, so she had no choice but to press her body firmly against his back. It was actually quite comfortable... for her at least. He was incredibly warm, and his quills smelled of what she could only describe as "autumn sunshine." Rouge wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder.

Shadow reflexively tensed up when he felt Rouge's arms wrap around him and felt her press up against him securely. Still, he forced himself to relax a little. It had been over a year now, but he had given Rouge a couple of rides on his bike, just to show her why it appealed to him so much. This wasn't the first time she'd held onto him like this, he told himself, so he tried to act natural.

Trying to keep his focus away from how distracting Rouge's behavior was, Shadow punched up a GPS on his bike to find a hotel in the nearest city. Even while he did so, the back of Shadow's mind remarked how warm and soft Rouge was against his back, even the slight weight of her chin on his shoulder felt secure...

"There's a four-star hotel about an hour and a half from here," Shadow told her, shutting his thoughts up. "I'll get us there in twenty minutes. That sound agreeable to you?"

"Yes, but how about we make your claim a bit more interesting?" Rouge purred, glancing from the GPS to his face as her chin still rested on his shoulder. "Care for a friendly bet? If you get us there within twenty minutes, you name your prize, but if not, then I claim victory. Sound fair?"

"Hm. You're on," Shadow replied with a smirk, and kicked off the kickstand. "Hold on." With that, he hit the gas and the two of them sped off in a split second. In no time at all they were well over a hundred miles per hour, and Shadow wasn't done speeding up.

If there was one thing Shadow found entertaining, it was overcoming any appealing challenge presented to him, especially if it involved speed in any way. He knew that Rouge knew that, and had to admit to himself, he liked that about her.

Before too much longer, the city they were headed to came into view over the horizon. Shadow merged onto the road, and now began expertly zipping and weaving past the other cars. Whatever the speed limit was, Shadow was blowing it out of the water.

For a while, Rouge had kept her head resting on Shadow's shoulder, watching the world pass by in a blur. She tightly held on to him, though she didn't feel even the slightest bit of concern as they reached speeds that no other vehicle could possibly top. With The Ultimate Life-Form driving, she felt completely safe and secure. She did need to remember to keep her wings tightly folded into her back though; if she were to outstretch them, the racing wind would likely blow her away.

She always enjoyed the motorcycle rides she took with Shadow. The initial rush was exhilarating, and after a while, everything around them seemed to just melt away. It was hard to describe, but it was like the only things that truly existed as they sped along were Shadow, the bike, and herself. Everything else around them felt like an illusion; a beautiful painting made up of vibrant flashing colors. It was actually extremely relaxing, blissful even.

Wearing a bright smile, Rouge shifted her gaze to Shadow's face again. Another thing she loved about these rides was seeing how relaxed and in his element the hedgehog always was. He smiled more when driving his bike. After a minute or so of admiring his smile, Rouge removed her chin from his shoulder and instead nuzzled her face into his back. She closed her eyes and gave a soft, contented sigh.

Shadow felt Rouge shifting around behind him but was too focused on the road to really notice what she was doing. As many times as he'd done this, even one slip could mean a bad crash. As much as he obviously didn't want to damage the bike or hurt Rouge, oddly enough, making an embarrassment out of himself by losing the bet with a wreck was what kept him focused.

Soon, they were within the city limits. Shadow only slowed down a little to better make the turns as he continued navigating towards the hotel on the GPS. The hotel would only take about seven or eight minutes to get to at this point.

But then, a series of red and blue lights began flashing from behind them, shortly followed by a voice on a megaphone that took Shadow back to his time on Radical Highway.

"Pull over immediately!"

"Shit," Shadow muttered, and then chuckled a little. "Well, this might take a couple more minutes. Hold on!" With that, he suddenly braked and slid the motorcycle sideways down an alley, immediately giving the police behind them the slip. As they skidded, Shadow spun the bike around and then sped down the back alleys they found themselves in.

A thrilling rush quickly replaced Rouge's relaxation, and she found herself laughing heartily as they evaded the cops and whizzed through the dark alleyways. She raised her voice a bit so Shadow could hear her over the growling of the engine, "This feels just like old times!" Her giddy giggling continued, and she glanced behind them to see if any of the officers had been smart or quick enough to actually follow them.

"Aww..." she half-jokingly whined. "Did they really lose us already?! Lame!"

"There's probably still some nearby!" Shadow replied, his smirk now having spread into a devious grin. "Let's see how competent the local force really is; I'll gun straight for the hotel and see if the fools even notice!" He hadn't even noticed just how much he was enjoying all of this. Rouge was right; this WAS like old times, he was just glad G.U.N. wasn't involved this time. Shadow made another quick turn, and then sped down a road that, with a bit of luck, would give them a straight open shot to their destination.

The distant wailing of sirens grew close behind them again. "Seems they're on our tail again, but I can fix that!" Rouge knew that Shadow would surely win the bet if she helped him evade the cops, but she also hated when she didn't get to show off in situations like this. In one swift, fluid movement, her arms let go of Shadow's waist, but she wrapped her legs around him instead to keep herself steady. She realized this might fluster the hedgehog (which made her smirk), but she needed her hands to be free for what she was about to do.

Sure enough, Shadow's eyes blanked once he felt Rouge's legs squeezing his waist, and his face flushed for a second.

"Damn it, she's trying to distract me to win the bet!" He thought to himself, and shook the distraction out of his mind, forcing himself to refocus on the road. "No, not this time!"

Reaching into her shirt again, Rouge pulled out three tiny lavender colored orbs, and called to Shadow, "Let's see how far they can get when they can't see at all!" The nimble treasure hunter twisted her body around enough to get a good aim, and tossed one orb to each side of them and one directly behind them. On impact with the road, the orbs burst into thick clouds of purple smoke that rapidly grew in size. Within seconds, the road behind them was completely shrouded, and she could hear the screeching of tires as their closest pursuers were forced to stop, or else risk crashing into each other within the smoke clouds.

"Hell yeah!" Rouge shouted in triumph. Her arms returned to Shadow's waist and she dropped her legs from around him. "Let's go, speed up before they find a way around that!"

Shadow stole a quick glance over his shoulder to see his ally's handiwork, and his devious grin returned. He complied with her course of action and sped up again, gunning the bike as fast as he dared towards their destination.

Author's Note:

So my wife and I really wanted to include a motorcycle chase after seeing he was getting one in the movie. Thought we could make a cute bonding moment there. Also sorry if Rouge's fanservice "storage" is in bad taste or anything. Blame my wife, lol, she wrote Rouge's parts.