Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Framing the Shadow ❯ Gift and Promise ( Chapter 3 )

Framing the Shadow Chapter 3

Silently drifting through the depths of space, the emerald-alloyed capsule, that contained the femme Rouge the Bat, endlessly spun at a weightless pace; resembling that of a lucid droplet of dew slipping down the thread of a dark and ongoing cosmic web.

The view from inside of the emerald's luster was a beautiful sight of the sun spreading a layer of its vastness over one side of the planet. It was truly a gorgeous and rare sight to see.

And the one woman who had this wonderful creation unravel before her, was too painfully tangled in her emotions to accept the beauty for what it was. All alone in the middle of space, she knelt in the center of the emerald pod with glistening tears in her eyes. Feelings of remorse, anger and danger filtered her heart as she hung her head and shook it-wondering if the risk she took was actually worth putting lives on the line for.

In a broken whisper, the name of the one who she felt the most guilt towards, tumbled from betwixt her quivering lips. " Knuckles..."

She knew that she had hurt him, but deep down, the one she was really hurting was….

"…Rouge! Rouge, can you hear me?"

"…" Of course she could, but the question was, did she want to?

"Are you allright?" Shadow continued, with a deep concern in his subdued voice"…Rouge… answer me…"

Rouge shuddered. There was so much comfort in his voice, she didn't know whether to shut him out…or let him in. He sounded so sincere…

She wasn't angry at Shadow. She trusted him, and if nothing else, she respected him for his nobility and intelligence. She was just unsure of herself.

Shadow had promised that a dream of hers would be fulfilled, in return for her helping him. Promising someone their dream seemed really farfetched, and she had no idea of where this "promise" would lead her, but as long as valuable jewels were involved, she didn't care how dangerous it was. The more challenging it was, the better, and in the depths of her heart, she knew she was in good hands with him-- even if she never saw Knuckles, nor the others again, life would still go on…

She'd miss the Master Emerald, though. And as for that hot-blooded echidna---well…

Any feelings she had towards him, she had to swallow and keep them secretly to herself.

"Rouge!"

"Yeah…" she replied in a shaky, but assertive voice, "I'm here."

"Good. I'm glad you're allright."

Feeling most of her tension melt away from the sound of sincerity in his voice, a very light smile curved her crimson lips, but Rouge said nothing in reply. Instead, she leaned her back against the slowly spinning pod and allowed her eyes to aimlessly wander through the vast pools of stars and dark matter around her. Then finally, to break the silence, as well as ease the butterflies in her stomach, she spoke. "So…what's next on your agenda Shadow? How will you get us out of this one?"

"I won't. You'll be the one to get yourself out of this one."

Shocked, Rouge gasped as her tension came right back. "WHAT!!?" she shrieked "You're kidding!! You bring me all the way out here and then expect me to FEND for MYSELF?!"

There was a slight pause, probably Shadow recoiling from the sudden shrill tone of her voice.

"If that was your attempt at telling a joke, it's not very good!"

"Listen! You put most, if not all, of your trust in my hands the moment you willingly left the ark!"

She sucked her teeth. "So?!"

"…And now you're starting to have doubts?"

Opening her mouth to protest, Rouge realized that Shadow did have a point, and quickly shut it. With a defeated sigh, she leaned back against the glass with crossed arms and rolled her eyes. "Point made. So just what do you propose I do?"

There was a small chuckle from his end of the frequency. Rouge could tell that Shadow was quite amused.

"I'm surprised a jewel thief like you hasn't realized what you are encased in, yet."

"What are you babbling about?" she muttered, with a hint of annoyance to her voice. Lazily, she looked at the capsule's frame and tapped a finger where the luster of the alloy was most radiant. "It's just a mineral alloy. …Actually, it looks kind of like a…" she trailed off when it finally hit her. "…A chaos emerald!?"

"Exactly. I'm going to tell you what to do, so listen carefully..."

With a faint smile, Rouge twitched her ears from side to side. "I'm all ears."

There was a small cough on the other end before Shadow spoke his words. "Stand….stand directly in the middle of the capsule with both hands pressing against the sides"

Rising to her feet, Rouge did as Shadow said and stabled herself against the weightless spinning. She didn't understand how this was going to help save her life, but she somehow felt confident about it. She was willing to do whatever it took to be rid of that pod, anyway-emerald alloy or not, she hated to be confined in such tight spaces. "Okay. What next?"

"…Command space and time to bend to you. Picture yourself at a nearby location and say Chaos Control!"

'Of course!' Rouge thought 'Why hadn't I thought of that?' She knew that the technique was powerful, she had seen him use it all the time. Only, Chaos Control was also something that Shadow was constructed for specifically, but, if Sonic was able to use its powers, maybe she could do the same.

"That's a great idea Shadow, but…are you sure that I can use it?"

There was a pause from Shadow, indicating that he was thinking over the situation. With directly choiced words, he replied: "Rouge, earlier I extended a desperate hand to you and you firmly took hold of it. And because of that, I'm now able to offer my hand to you. I honestly had faith in you before, but now, it's your turn…to have faith in me and in yourself."

"Shadow..." Rouge murmured, feeling an odd twinge in her heart and a warm rush to her cheeks. She knew the guy actually had a heart under his shell of confusion and despair, but, for him to be so enchantingly alluring…

Was it just her, or could Shadow have…changed somehow? With a shrug, Rouge pushed the thought to the back of her mind and moved denial in its place.

'He probably just hit his head on a stray moonrock…or something.'

With that settled, Rouge began to prepare herself for transport, when a falling object caught her attention from out the corner of her eye. Almost instantly, she recognized it to be the deteriorating ark and her breath got caught in her throat. 'Knuckles!!!'

Just then, the pod rocked and jostled her around. The capsule had already entered deep into the atmosphere and would break apart with her in it if she didn't do something.

"Rouge?! Rouge are you still there?"

"The ark…the ark is destroyed!" she cried, completely not caring about herself for a good three seconds.

"What..? Rouge I can't hear you! Yo…brea….ing up!"

"Shadow!" she exclaimed frantically. Then quickly, she set all aside, pressed her hands against the glass and uttered: "…Chaos Control…!"

She felt a surge of energy course through her torso, but nothing else happened.

'Dammit' she cursed inwardly. After seeing the ark dissipating before her very eyes, her mind became disrupted. All she could think about was Knuckles and if he had made it out or not.

The capsule's shaking had become worse. Struggling to maintain in control, she pressed her hands firmly against the glass and tried again. "…Chaos Control!"

Again, she felt a pulse of energy flow through her, but still nothing else happened. Her mind a tangled mass of thoughts, Rouge frantically glanced down at the nearing planet below and without knowing, shouted at the top of her lungs. "CHAOS…CONTROL!!!!"

And in a flash of green and white light, she disappeared from the pod the moment it entered the core atmosphere of the planet and imploded from the compressed pressure.

And then, all she saw was darkness.

"Ru…ge! W…t hap…n…d?? ….Are y…u allright?! Rouge! Rouge---!!"

**

Down in a forest on a remote island in the middle of nowhere, smoldering clots of smoke rose high into the tropic air. Randomly implanted inside the moist ground of the forest, were the scattered and overheated pieces of the escape pods that were "involuntarily forced" from the bottom of the space colony. Moments after its harsh landing, the sound of one of the pods being pounded was sent throughout the forest. Seconds later, a bent door flew off of one and a disgruntled Knuckles fell out of the pod with a mildly traumatized Sonic not too far behind. Both laying flat on their backs with their arms spread, they gazed aimlessly into the hazy orange sky above them.

"Did…we…make...it...?" Sonic raspily asked, his chest heaving with each heavy breath he took. "Are we…still alive…?"

Wordlessly, Knuckles slowly turned to Sonic and stared at him for a moment before returning his glazed eyes to the garish sky. He then narrowed them. "We're alive…." he groggily answered, his voice deep and broken "…But at what cost…?"

There was a small pause of wordless silence between them as they both tried to catch their breath.

Knuckles' mind soon became flooded with Rouge as the hazy horizon above consumed his vacant eyes.

Seconds later, Sonic was the first to shakily push himself up from the soggy ground to a sitting position. "….Tails….Amy…" he uttered, while trying to push himself up even more "…and Eggman…"

Those three were still in the pods---most likely trapped. He had to get them out…but he couldn't do it alone. "Knuckles..." he spoke softly, turning to face his friend to ask him to bust open the pod doors, but… the emotionally and physically tortured echidna had already succumbed into a deep sleep. His brow was furrowed and his lips were in a frown. His mitts were curled tautly into a ball. Sonic could tell his friend had felt the cold and bitter pain of failure and defeat.

For all the trauma that had rattled his comrade, the remorseful hedgehog began to feel sorry for him. First, Knuckles had somehow lost Rouge onboard the ARK, was unable to control his emotions, and was now in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Giving Knuckles one last sympathetic glance, Sonic forced himself up and headed to the remaining pods without him.

**

Rouge soon found herself all alone in a dark room. The only slither of light that emitted was from the magical shimmer of a ruby chaos emerald in front of her. Sure, the place looked eerily suspicious, but, with a jewel so close, she didn't care about the odds or even how she got there. Instinctively, she glanced around to make sure no one was looking and casually sauntered upto the crimson jewel. The very moment she slipped her eager fingers around it, a heavy object in the form of a small cube dropped down on her. Startled, she fell to her backside and dropping the emerald. She then realized that she was enclosed in a tight and narrow cage. It wasn't so much the cage that got her on edge, but the lack of space was the very entity that could rob her freedom from right under her nose.

She hated enclosed tight spaces…

"Rouge!! ROUGE!! Answer me if you're still there! Rouge!"

Shadow continuously called to Rouge, who lay unconscious in a deep sleep in a remote location. Yet, despite her comatose state, she still heard his frantic voice, and unknowingly responded to it.

"…get me out of here…"she whispered.

"Rouge!…"

"…help me…" she mumbled. There was a gasp from Shadow, as he began to call out to her again, until he realized that she wasn't aware of her words. It occurred to him that she must have fallen unconscious somewhere after the warp.

After much struggling, Rouge had given up on trying to get out of the cage and sat in a slouch. She had no idea on how to get out of the situation. The last time she was locked inside someplace was when she was pilfering emeralds for Eggman and got trapped inside a large and guarded room. She felt as helpless now as she did then. Even with all her skills, she couldn't escape on her own, and had to be rescued by someone.

Shadow…

So, where was he now? Blankly, she looked over to the emerald she clumsily pilfered, that lay outside the cage. Thinking to herself, she could remember a voice telling her that she had to have faith in herself. Reaching for the jewel, she managed to take hold of it. Giving it a placid look, she seemed to have seen something in it as the image of someone came to her thoughts and the words he spoke uttered from her lips. "Chaos Control!"

It came to her so clearly, she could have sworn she heard him right there with her…

"…mm…" Rouge finally began to regain her consciousness. A cool breeze fluttered through her hair and aided her in coming to her senses. Countless and mindless thoughts churned rapidly in her head as she tried to move her limbs and get up. With her eyes still closed, she could feel her body shivering from the cold thrill she barely escaped from earlier.

Where was she…?

"Rouge….." Shadow called, his voice now heavy with concern.

Groggily, from the sound of his voice, she responded to him with a dispirited groan.

"Rouge!!"

"…What…" she murmured, placing a hand to her head and slowly shaking it.

Shadow chuckled lightly at her reply, but he was glad that she was safe and sound. " Do you know where you are?"

After a few moments, Rouge managed to open her eyes. With a gasp, she slowly rose to her feet.

Using Chaos Control from space had sent her to the very top of the most visible landmark on the planet---the Great Wall of China!

Her breath nearly got caught in her throat as she almost couldn't believe what her eyes beheld. The view from the wall was vast and ongoing, but the element that was the most appealing to her was the large mandarin sun, setting in the west. Entranced by sight, she spread out her arms and gladly allowed the sun to caress her skin with the gentle stokes of its warmth. Taking in a deep breath, she eagerly unraveled her wings to allow the soft embraces of the returning wind to catch in their fullness.

This was when she truly felt alive. This was her dream. She had always wanted to travel the world, not only for jewels, but for the sake of freedom--her freedom.

This was truly a dream come true but…how would Shadow, of all people, know of what she loved most of all?

His promise to her was real.

There had to be a catch, but in her complete moment of solace, she'd worry about the full details later.

"…Rouge?"

Slowly, not wanting to miss a second of the Eastern wind's gentle caresses, Rouge touched the earpeice. Her voice was soft, yet uncertain. "…Why are you doing this, Shadow…..?"

"Doing what?"

"If Chaos Control…had all this power…why are you sharing it with me? If your real reason for letting me use it was to help find you, then why are you helping me to achieve my dream goal in the process?" Her eyes, glistening with the same gleam of the sun, contently wandered the horizon as she spoke. A chaste smile formed on her lips. "To travel the world to collect its jewels and see its greatest entities; to feel the wind in my hair, my wings and to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin---this is what I love. Adventure and freedom are my most cherished possessions that not even all the jewels in the world could take their place. They do manage to take a close second, though. But, this is something I've procrastinated over many times, and never actually took the time to put into action…And for that, I thank you, Shadow." After a pause, she mentally added, 'From the bottom of my heart.'

There was a pause by Shadow as he carefully took her words in. He was truly touched. Aside from all the fancy and dashing phrases that came to his mind, all he could reply with was:

"Well you're….you're welcome, Rouge."

Rouge slightly pulled herself away from her sunset, recognizing the hint of a certain emotion in Shadow's voice. "Hm?"

" You're…the first person to ever thank me."

Surprised, Rouge raised an eyebrow. "I am? You mean...Maria…never thanked you?" she asked, being sure to say Maria's name as gently as possible.

Taking her discreetness to heart, Shadow said nothing for a while, then replied in a distant tone: "I said you were the first."

"Ohh…" she trailed off, "…Sorry…"

"Don't be."

Wordless, Rouge returned her attention back to the scenic sunset. She felt a little disturbed that she may have bruised a sensitive spot, but tried to take her mind off it. Placing a hand on her hip, she walked around a bit, lifting up her heels to admire the heart-shaped embellishments on them. "So…" she began, trying to change the subject, "Just what got you to make and keep your promise?"

Shadow, again, said nothing for a while, but this time his silence seemed less painful than the last.

"… I knew it was a way to get your attention. I needed to contact someone who had knowledge of my capabilities."

"I see." she replied, leisurely fanning her wings as she walked "But you know, I'm not the only one who knew, and wasn't the only one with a device for commuting frequencies. You could have contacted Dr. Egg-"

"Don't go there."

She half-smiled. "Well, you could have."

"You seemed more interested in the chaos emeralds than he did."

"Yeah well..." she stopped herself. She knew that Shadow was using a cover-up on the details, but, whenever he included her and jewels in the same sentence, he still had a point! "Hmm…can't argue with that. But since you need a jewel, and I'm the perfect candidate for finding and pilfering them, I'll get you what you want. "

"And you want freedom with adventure. Getting the Chaos Emeralds themselves will ensure that. And after you get them, you're free to transport to anyplace you desire…as long as you control it."

Rouge chuckled to herself and stood on the edge of the wall with her wings fully spread. She flapped them lightly as the wind began to fill them.

"…You drive a hard bargain, Shadow, but it's a deal. Besides, the benefits are astounding and in my favor!"

"Hmph. I thought you might like that." Shadow replied, mildly amused.

"Maybe."

"Just don't take too long."

"Hmph! So where do you want me to get this emerald?"

He paused. "What are you wearing…?"

Rouge nearly lost her balance on the wall.

"Wh...WHAT?! Just what kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Calm down! I didn't mean it like that!"

She smirked mischievously. "Why Shadow, I never knew you were so straightforward! So THAT'S what you've been thinking while talking to me, isn't it?!"

"No-"

"You creep!" she playfully chirped.

"Rouge! Be serious!"

She grinned. "I'm fine. You're the one getting all bent out of shape. Oh…that could be a pun, couldn't it?"

Trying to be serious, Shadow couldn't help but let a chuckle escape him. Hoping she didn't hear it, he cleared his throat.

"…Can we get back to the mission, if you don't mind?"

"You were the one asking confidential questions." Rouge replied, thoughtfully swaying her tail. "You're blushing aren't you?"

"Are you done?"

Rouge grinned. "Maybe…"

"Anyway, what I was trying to say before I was accused from an assumption, you may want to change first before getting the emerald."

"That's all you had to say…"

"If you're still wearing that white and pink outfit, you'll have to get something darker."

"Oh, I see. You must want me to sneak in somewhere and steal the emerald."

"Could you do that?"

"Child's play."

"Hmph. Just don't get locked in like you did before. I can't warp in to save you, nor the emerald this time. Everything rides on whether you make it or if you don't."

About to open her mouth to give a smooth reply, Rouge was briefly reminded of her dream. Being trapped in that cage felt almost exactly the same as being trapped in that locked room with the emeralds from a while back. She felt a little bothered by Shadow bringing it up, but she knew he was right. She had to be cautious.

She just hoped that dream wasn't like a premonition of some sort.

"I got it." She answered, casually, flapping her wings. "I'll swing past my place to change, then go after the emerald."

"Good. And Rouge?"

"What?" she asked, already leaping off the wall and adjusting her balance in the air.

"Be careful."

She smiled. No matter how things managed to get, Shadow always seemed to care in the end. For so much concern to come from him, it did seem a little strange, but, Rouge hoped that strangeness would be there to stay… at least for a little while longer.

'He definitely must have hit his head, but…'

"…Thanks…" she uttered, giving her wings a large flap and soaring off into the distance.

--…It was a bit of a challenge getting Rouge and Shadow in tune to their game counterparts. For Rouge, in my opinion, her Sonic X personality seemed to be too old, so I had to go by her SA2 personality. Same with Shadow…

Anyway…I had fun with this one ^^ You see how long it is…

And YES, I support Knuckles/Rouge too. Just as I do with Shadow and Rouge…or Shadow and Amy. Ha, well, she's too young. But it's fun. Mixing the couples gives good variety, especially if they have high possibilities of being together anyway. You don't have to agree with me, but that's what I think.

It all boils down to how the characters react to one another.

Welp, see you next chapter

-Mel