Shadow stepped down into Team Dark's quarters. Rouge turned around. 'How'd you go, handsome?'

He folded his arms over his chest. 'Rouge, what are these?'

The glittering array of metals was reflected in Rouge's widened eyes. 'O-Oh. You noticed.'

'I noticed that you went behind my back.' He pushed past her and walked into the kitchen. 'What were you thinking?' He picked up the bag of coffee beans that Rouge had left out on the counter and took a mug off the drying rack. 'That wasn't a rhetorical question, by the way. Talk.'

Rouge rested her arms on the kitchen island. 'I thought you might want them one day.'

He poured coffee beans into the mug in silence. 'You could have taken them for yourself. You could have pawned them. You could have melted them down. Anything would have been better than this.'

'Don't you think you deserve credit for everything you've done? Or recognition? Or – Chaos forbid – to be rewarded?'

Shadow slammed the mug down on the counter. 'It doesn't matter what I deserve – because I don't want any of it! All of this is meaningless to me!' He knotted his hand into the tangle of ribbons and metal and squeezed until it felt like his hand was being cut. 'It –' His fingers snagged on the fourragéres. He stopped, looking down. A red cord – a testament to their shared exploits – was knotted around his ring finger like a red string of fate.

'I know how little GUN's opinion means to you. But these are still your own achievements.' Rouge's head was lowered. She refused to look at him, tracing an invisible pattern on the kitchen counter. 'You keep saying that you want to move on. But when I look at you, it feels like you're … in limbo.' She rubbed her eyes with one hand and blinked several times. 'You're always the same, and it's a constant. It's comforting, but … I want you to make new memories. I want you to be proud of yourself. I wanted to see you wear that stupid jacket one day.' She finally looked up at him. Her eyes were bright and blue and luminous and full of life, love and compassion. 'I've always been selfish, but is it really that selfish of me to want you to be happy?'

Shadow froze. His heart pounded in his chest, beating against his entangled hand.

He slowly walked around the kitchen counter like he was treading on cracking ice, reaching out with his free hand. It felt as though if he made one wrong move, then she would dissolve, leaving only her uniform and a pair of white boots behind.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. 'It's not selfish.'

'It's not?'

'But sometimes we want what we can't have.'

She abruptly straightened up. 'Shadow –'

'I don't need to be happy, Rouge.'

Her face crumpled. 'Don't say that.'

'I have you. I have Team Dark. That's all I need.'

'Shadow … I'm not going to be with you forever.'

The silence in the room was deafening.

'I know.'

'I don't want you to wait to start living the rest of your life until after I'm gone.' She clasped his hand in hers, interlocking their fingers together. 'I want you to start living it before I go.'

'You …' He fell silent and squeezed her hand, a weak gesture that did nothing to convey how he really felt.

Rouge's eyes drifted from his face to his chest. 'Oh.'

He looked down and realised that his hand was still entangled in the medals and cords.

She began to untangle the medals and pins, freeing his hand piece by piece. 'You're going to ruin your gloves.'

'I have spares.'

'Of course you do. How many times have you ploughed your hand through the tarmac while sliding on that bike of yours?'

One of the medals caught on the white fur at his collarbone, and he hissed. 'Watch it.'

'It's not my fault you're so fluffy,' she muttered. 'Hold still.'

She unknotted the crimson cord around his finger and let go of his hands. 'There. I'm … sorry about this. I didn't realise it would affect you this much.'

'No. I'm sorry.' He looked down at the array of medals. 'It's just … no one has been listening to me. And it kept happening, over and over. This was just bad timing.' He lowered his voice. 'Just … bear with me. If you can.'

Her expression softened. 'Of course.'

He zipped up the jacket and fastened the buttons. He still wasn't used to the metallic clinking. And despite Abraham's conviction, he still didn't see any meaning in the medals and pins on his chest. But for some damn reason, those medals and pins meant something to Rouge.

'Oh my,' Rouge teased. 'Do I sense a change of heart?'

'It's been getting colder in the base.'

'We're at the beginning of August. It's summer. But either way – lucky me.'

'Why?'

She stepped forward, placing one hand on his hip and the other on his chest. 'Because I love a man in uniform.'

Shadow rolled his eyes and picked up his coffee mug. 'Nice try. We've been over this – there's nothing you could ever do or say that would have an effect on me.'

She traced his spine with her fingertip, from his shoulder blades to his lower back, before grasping his waist and pulling him closer. 'Well,' she said, kissing him on the cheek. 'You never know.'

'I feel sorry for you,' he muttered.

'If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you didn't have a heart –'

'You could have anyone that you wanted. Why bother with me? With this? It's a joke – literally – and it always has been.'

She shook her head and sighed. 'Yes, I could have anyone that I wanted.' Then she shrugged, elegantly rolling her shoulders. 'But you don't want anyone, so how else are you going to experience intimacy unless I volunteer my efforts?'

'I don't need intimacy.'

Rouge stepped back. 'You don't need to eat or sleep either, but you go along with the charade anyway. And if you're going to live forever, then why not try everything at least once?'

Shadow realised that his mouth had fallen open. He immediately shut it again. 'I was talking about cigarettes. And … and … I don't know, axe throwing.'

'"Everything" means "everything", you know. You can't pick and choose. How do you know whether you like something unless you try it?'

'Rouge.' He set the coffee mug down and rubbed his face with both hands. 'I'm old enough to be your father. I normally humour you, but for the love of Chaos – listen to yourself.'

'You're physically the same age as me, and you have less than a decade of lived experience,' Rouge said in a deadpan voice. She leaned forward and grinned. 'Don't tell me that you thought I was being serious.'

'Where's Omega?' Shadow said abruptly. 'He should be threatening to self-destruct and kill all three of us by now.'

'He's not here to save you,' she cooed. 'He threw a fit and shut down after I threatened to reprogram him.' She sighed. 'But we both forgot that he had automatic firmware updates turned on, so we won't see him for several hours.'

Shadow adjusted his jacket sleeves, pulling his wrist guards up over the cuffs. His inhibitor rings glimmered. 'You only have a finite amount of time. Why do you insist on wasting so much of it on me?'

'I don't see it as a waste.' Rouge leaned against the kitchen table. 'Even if it's only for the rest of my life, no matter what happens …' She smiled. 'Know that I'll always remain by your side.'

Her words echoed in his head, and he felt something splinter. For the briefest instant, cracks spiderwebbed across his field of view, and then they disappeared. He staggered slightly and held a hand to his head.

Rouge rushed over to him. 'Are you okay? Shadow?'

He gritted his teeth and held her at bay with one hand. 'It's nothing.'

'What was that?'

'I don't know. Déjà vu, I guess.'

'I don't think déjà vu is supposed to give you a brain aneurysm.'

'It's just a headache.' He gritted his teeth, then straightened up. 'Have you … said that to me before? That exact combination of words?'

She stared at him and faltered. 'Not that I can recall.'

'Are you sure?'

'I-I'm pretty sure.'

His vision was blurred. He was seeing blue and green.

… Know that I'll always remain by your side.

His earpiece beeped, and he winced. 'Dammit. Rouge, listen –'

'Take it. And take some ibuprofen.'

Rouge flitted away into her room. His earpiece beeped again, piercing through his skull. He cursed and let the call through. 'What?'

'Shadow, it's Agent Verity. Is this a good time?'

To be continued...

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