Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Deliverance ❯ The Ultimate Fear ( Chapter 4 )

A/N- This chap’s a lil longer. Just because you mentioned the other chapters were becoming shorter, Mystery. ^^;; I think I told you they would probably be, but just for you, this one’s a lil longer. I need to estimate how many chapters this story will have O.o   -   Deliverance: Part 4 “There's no need to repeat past tragedies! Nobody else ever needs to go through the things that I have!”~Shadow the Hedgehog   -   Over in a secret room located within the basement of the White House, the keen eyes of two of the President’s Intel personnel watched Rouge’s every move by radar on a large screen. While typing furiously away in their logs on her, one of them spoke into their mouthpiece “The enemy has destroyed the first transmitter. I repeat, the enemy has destroyed the first transmitter.” “Excellent.” The President’s voice replied. “Switch me over to the experimental wing. I want to know the well-being of our samples.” He said, referring to children growing inside her. “Yes sir” the agent replied and did as he was told. Once switched over, one of the scientists answered, eagerly awaiting the President’s call. But since the experiment Rouge was used for would be considered illegal within the United States, a special code had to be dispersed between that lab and the President. “Lavender sheets?” the scientist’s scratchy voice asked. “Not after Labor Day” the President replied. Smiling, the scientist grinned and turned his attention to the ultrasound radar before him. “No need to ask, Mr. President. I’ve been watching the offspring’s development all day and it seems they are continuing to cultivate well inside the womb.” “Good. How far along would you say they are?” “At Stage 5, sir. Meaning, due to the accelerated enzymes, the embryos are already beginning to take shape in a matter of days! This process normally takes weeks to begin!” “Well, that’s definitely impressive! But tell me, truthfully, do you believe she has long to live?” “With so many elaborate changes within her body, I cannot say. Her blood sugar and body temperatures are holding well against the Ultimate Life’s genes…for now. There are no signs of it being rejected just yet.” “I see…” he stated, new thoughts beginning to seep into his mind as he looked through the papers scattered across his desk for Rouge’s files. “Very well. Good work. Also, see to it that she lives after the offspring are born. That is all.” And with that, that particular connection was closed with a single button press. “Hmmm…” the President pondered, placing his fingertips together on his desk in thought. “One transmitter down and the blooming conception of 2 ultimate beings… With that being a success, I won’t have to worry about losing the Ultimate Life. We extracted what was needed from him.” He added with a grin. “Now that little Rouge has taken on his task, all we need do now is wait… Stay a live for just a bit longer, agent…and we might be able to make a deal…” he chuckled, eyeing a photo of her from when she first joined the government. The picture was faded in a monochromatic color and presented her saluting in a military uniform with a fitting beret atop her head. The words “First day of recruitment and training” were etched in gold lettering along the bottom left corner of the photo. Next to those words was a dollar sign and a hefty price following it. Seeing this got the President’s chuckling to malform into a bout of laughter. “Ohhh, this is too good! I’ll be sure that this deal will be an offer you could never refuse…!” And with his malevolent laughter resounding down the hallways, the President rose from his seat and headed for the door. Taking one of 4 cell phones he owned out of his pants pocket, he input a number he kept on speed dial and placed it to his ear. “Hello, Travel Department Personnel. This is Connie speaking.” “Connie, prepare the jet for me and get me a good pilot. There’s some interesting information I need to check out.” Without asking any questions as to why he didn’t just send anyone else out to do it for him, Connie responded obediently and closed the call. “You may be able to hide from me Rouge, but I’m going to make sure I corner you into having no place else to go!” he cackled, briskly heading down the hallway.   --   Feeling a sudden chill run through her, Rouge immediately stopped walking, as did Shadow. Noticing her quiver, Shadow gently placed both hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Rouge, what is it? What’s the matter?” “…I…I don’t know…” she responded, shivering again. “I just got this strange chill…” she exclaimed, rubbing her arms. Shadow said nothing for a moment, but his eyes narrowed as they traveled down to her abdomen. “…” Feeling her continue to shake, Shadow wrapped his arms around her and brought her into a hug. “Just relax, Rouge… I won’t let anything happen to you…” A faint cackle echoed in the pit of his soul as he got the unnerving feeling that he was going to regret saying those words, but he pushed it aside and focused on her well-being. Lightly, he brushed his lips across her forehead and looked at her with his forehead against hers. “…Are you allright…?” “No, I’m pregnant!” she wanted to retaliate, but instead, she just shook her head and slowly pulled out of his embrace. “Thanks for your concern, Shadow, but…I think I’m just going to sit down and rest for a minute, okay?” she stated, already heading towards a large pine tree. Shadow wordlessly watched her lean her back against the tree, fluttering her wings gently so they wouldn’t irritate her too much, and slump down into the grass. It was obvious that she was struggling with something within her, but he knew she didn’t want to tell him that. Slightly, a light smirk curved his lips as he walked over to her and crossed his arms. “You can relax you know. You don’t have to keep pushing yourself, Rouge.” Glancing up at him, she sighed. “Shadow, you know there’s nothing I can do about this…” Then she frowned. “Why don’t you try getting injected with a few ovaries and have some children!” “Ouch…” Shadow said, still carrying that smirk and sat down next to her. She scooted away from him slightly and turned her attention elsewhere. Not surprised in the least by her behavior, Shadow leaned closer to her and chuckled as she moved even further away from him. “Stop…!” she declared, almost in a whining tone. “Shadow…!” This received a chuckle by Shadow as he inched closer and placed his chin on her shoulder. “Please, calm down, Rouge…” “…” “…Look…” he began in a soft and understanding tone, “I know you’re irritated and angry…and you’re probably in pain. But you need to let your body and yourself relax.” She thought about his words for a good few seconds and turned to him slyly, while discreetly clutching her midsection. “It seems to me that you’re implying something…” Shadow gazed upto her with large and cunning eyes. “Maybe. “ Rouge chuckled and gave him a slight push. “…Here we are in the middle of nowhere and you want to get frisky with me?” He smiled, but shook his head ‘no’. Rouge blinked, secretly relieved. No offense to him or anything, but she wasn’t feeling too aroused at the moment. And Shadow, just as anyone else, could understand why. Any other person would be in a blinded rage or broken in a state of solitude. But not Rouge. She took that reality pill and swallowed it whole. Shadow knew it had to have taken a lot out of her and he admired her endurance. But she couldn’t handle it all by herself. Smiling, he moved away from her warmth and rose to his knees. Feeling a slight dizzy spell suddenly come over her, Rouge barely had the chance to glance to Shadow kneeling next to her before he crawled over to her feet already and started tugging at her boots. “Shadow…Shadow what are you doing?” “Shhh. Just close your eyes and breathe, Rouge.” He reassured. Feeling too uncomfortable to argue with him, Rouge kept an eye on him for 2 more seconds, before they involuntarily shut from her body being overwhelmingly exhausted. Once she appeared rested and peaceful, Shadow pulled off her boots and began to rub and massage her feet. He was no Grade-A masseuse, but he certainly got the job done. Completely relaxed, Rouge mumbled incoherent words in her sleep. Hearing her mutterings range from coffee cakes, to ice cream and his taste, Shadow laughed inwardly to himself, but listened intently to what other odd and random things she may say. But soon, Shadow found himself drifting off into his own thoughts. Moments later, he gave her feet a final and soft rubbing before crawling upto her waist. Silently, his eyes wandered over her midsection partially hidden by her hands. His features softened sadly by this and personally didn’t blame her for wanting to hide it. Discreetly, he glanced to her face and gazed at her while she slept. Her breathing was slow, and her lips were slighted parted, a faint ‘kuhh’ sound emerging from between them as she breathed. It sounded like a cross between snoring and breathing loudly, but Shadow didn’t mind. That was all he needed to make sure that she was fast asleep and no quick movements would wake her. Delicately, he reached for her hands and placed them on either side of her in the grass. And then, still glancing up at her to make sure she was still sleeping, he touched the edge of her tattered t-shirt and pulled it up just enough to get another look at the remains of her incision. He felt his throat run dry and become coarse by the sight of it and almost looked away, but he caught himself and continued to examine it. Lightly, he traced invisible lines across and around it with his finger, then gingerly pressed down on her abdomen with 3 more fingers. With each inch and placement he relocated his fingers to, he felt something different. There was definitely something beneath his touch. And it would move in its position every so often when he touched it. Shadow’s brow furrowed as he felt around the right side of her midsection, and then the left. Confirming his theory of her indeed carrying other lifeforms within her, he carefully removed his hands and placed an ear to her abdomen. His eyes widened as he heard it…the faint rhythm of multiple heartbeats. Multiple…? Not knowing how to react, Shadow abruptly pulled his head away from her stomach and looked at her with a multitude of emotions and unanswered questions running through his mind. His breath soon became short as he realized there really were children inside of her. But whose were they? He inwardly cursed himself for wondering that. Rouge was his lover, he shouldn’t have to have second thoughts of who the father of her children would be! But something inside of him just wasn’t so sure… He trusted Rouge, but wait— Thinking back, when the spirits tortured his soul into believing that he and Rouge had already had children waiting for them in death, he was told that Rouge was unable to have any children. And if that were true, then …why was she laying right next to him with obvious life swimming around inside her?? ‘Could it have been a lie…?’ Shadow thought feverishly. Part of him didn’t want to believe it, but the other part didn’t know what else to go by. He knew HE couldn’t reproduce. So whose children were they? And if their heart beats could clearly be heard, just when did she become pregnant in the first place? His mind continued to litter these wretched and disheartening thoughts upon him until he remembered something very important. When he and Rouge first  became one with the other, he knew she hadn’t been with anyone else before him. She even told him that. And that…was only 2 or 3 days ago. Even if she had slept with someone else, she couldn’t have gotten pregnant this fast. That would be insane. Insane… Looking up, Shadow suddenly realized that he was in another part of the forest and Rouge was nowhere in sight. He had been so trapped within his thoughts that he didn’t realize that he had roughly gotten up and stormed away from her into a further area of the forest. Lifting an open and shaky palm to his heaving chest, Shadow closed his eyes and forced himself to catch his breath. Slowly, once he calmed down, he reopened his eyes and lifted his eyes to the gray heavens above. It would be nightfall soon. Sighing, he shook the negativity of his assumptions out of his arms and legs and then stretched. Regaining some of his common sense, he turned and began to head back to Rouge. Yet his mind still continued to wander, but his thoughts were more level-headed this time around. He didn’t know completely what happened within the time that he had left and then returned with the help of the Chaos Emeralds. He had more hunches than anything else, but he did remember saving Rouge from a hospital somewhere. “Hospital….that’s it!” he exclaimed to himself. Something had to have happened there that would tie all his unanswered questions together. So what really happened there? What happened to Rouge…? Besides being injected with some of his genes, what else occurred? He still didn’t know how much of himself or his abilities that she had, if any at all. Determined to figure out the truth, Shadow ran back to camp, gliding over the grass and weaving through the trees with ease. “Rouge…?” he called eagerly, as he approached the area where he had left her. But she was nowhere in sight. He doubted she got up to go anyplace from the obvious deep sleep she had been in. So where could she be? Narrowing his eyes, he strained his ears and listened. He could hear her breathing. Walking over to the tree she laid against, Shadow stood directly next to it and touched it to check for warmth. But suddenly, his ears twitched and he instinctively looked upwards. And much to his surprise, there was Rouge---draped lazily across 2 thick branches on her stomach. Alarmed to the way she was laying more than where she was, Shadow took a step back and teleported upto the tree. Holding onto the majority of the main bark, Shadow reached over to Rouge but before his fingers could touch her, she disappeared. Alarm and shock coursed through him, sending his heart down to his shoes. ‘How did she do that?!’ Looking around frantically for her, he teleported back down to the ground and nearly tripped over something. Kneeling down to examine it, his eyes shrunk as tiny as pin-points and his breath got caught in his throat. It was--- ‘Rouge!!’ he cried in his mind. But how?! Did he teleport her by mistake? No, he didn’t even touch her to do that. So how could she…   Then it hit him…and the pain welled up inside of him and stung the backs of his eyes. ‘No…’ he hesitated, not being able to control his emotions and hugging her tightly. “NO!!!” He had hated himself for being created for the longest time, and now, the one woman he fell in love with and was his reason to live—had become just like him.     - Points to clear up= ~The President realized and remembered that he and the government had BOUGHT Rouge to come aboard to work as a double agent for them. She didn’t join for free.   ~While Rouge was sleeping, and Shadow went to find her, she was teleporting in her sleep because of his genes. Looks like those genes are starting to have more showing side effects, huh? Hmmmm Perhaps that will effect her children’s growth as well? Or has it already?     Mel