Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Framing the Shadow ❯ Closure and Conspiracy ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters!

A/N: This is long overdue but just in case he ever reads this story again, I'm giving props to DarkXeno for making a comical note about Sonic feeling up on Amy. That isn't what actually happens in this story but, its still a funny thought.

 

A/N: Did I mention this chapter was long overdue?

A/N: Don't get upset over the Amy bit. It was just a joke.

 

Framing the Shadow Part 7

 

Early the next morning, the sun warmly peeked over rows of valleys and hills as it slowly ascended into the sky. Feeling the soft warmth pierce through the tree-tops and spill onto his body, Shadow groaned in discomfort before opening his eyes.

He had slept all the night with his back up against an old tree that had an uneven layer of bark wrapped around it. While anything was better than sleeping face-down on the ground, Shadow had to force himself to deal with the small pieces that poked through his fur and punctured some of his quills as he leaned against it. It was harsh, but it had to do.

Shifting his good shoulder to sort out its stiffness, the ebony and crimson hedgehog hung his head and took in a small breath.

`It's amazing I'm still surviving…' he thought, slowly lifting his head up and leaning it against the tree. Aimlessly, he allowed his eyes to wander around until they reached the sun.

Eyeing it for wordless moments, Shadow's mind became instantly ridden with thoughts.

`…Maria…is this really what you wanted? …I'm still able to live with each passing day. Could it be that my purpose isn't completed, yet? ..What is my reason for being here…?'

“…Live…”

His ears instantly perked up at the sound of the woman's voice. `Who is that?' he wondered, slightly looking around. He heard the voice again, but this time realized it to be coming from the walkie-talkie-like frequency device that he had kept nearby. “…It's Rouge…” he said aloud with a faint smile. Carefully, he stretched his arm down near his ankles, and with a few piercings of pain stabbing through his body, he managed to grab the communicator and lean back against the tree. He panted for a moment as he caught his breath and relaxed his body from the sudden sheers of pain.

Holding the receiver in the palm of his hand, he looked at it for a moment before pressing a button.

“Good Morning, Rouge. You're up early…” he said placidly, trying to mask the pain.

He received no answer.

Thinking she didn't hear him, he tried it again. “Rouge? …Are you awake…?”

“…Inside…outside…”

Shadow raised a suspicious eyebrow at her almost garbled message, then spoke a little louder. “Rouge?”

“…Livin'…livin' la viva…loca… Live…Livin'...la viva…”

Shadow instantly became wordless as a curious expression washed over his features from Rouge's…singing. “So you're still asleep…” he uttered, directing his words to no one. “…It's rather amusing. I don't know whether to find it humorous or outright horrifying… But, for the time being…” he trailed off, setting the device next to him in the grass and leaned against the tree again, secretly listening to her talking…and singing in her sleep.

__

 

Laying comfortably in her silky bed, Rouge mumbled a few more mixed words before turning on her side. The night before, she had been so exhausted when she got home, the moment she touched the bed, she fell asleep. Her body was so drained, that she had completely forgotten about the earpiece and left it in. She slept in such a wild way, she accidentally turned it back on.

Changing position again, Rouge uttered a name while clutching the Chaos Emerald she received the night before from Knuckles protectively to her chest.

“…I'm sorry…” she uttered, barely above a whisper “…The emerald…is mine…”

There was a slight sound of brushing on Shadow's end of the line. He spoke his words softly. “…The emerald…? What emerald…?”

Half-asleep, Rouge took in his words, and sighed. “…Sapphire…”

“…What?”

“…Shad…ow…” she trailed off.

“Rouge? Rouge!” Shadow called to her, but she had already fallen into an even deeper sleep.

 

__

 

Placing the communicator aside, he sighed and ran a hand through his quills. “…A sapphire emerald? …Does she already have a Chaos Emerald…?”

Mentally wrestling with his unanswered questions, Shadow leaned his head against the bark and let his heavy eye-lids crumble to a close. “…She's hiding something, I know it…” he whispered as he painfully made himself forget about the aching strains on his body and forced himself into an uncomfortable slumber.

 

__

 

Over at the little campsite, Sonic and Tails were already up, working on Tails' invention to get them off the island. Knuckles had gotten up around the same time they did, but parted himself from them and wandered off someplace to clear his thoughts.

Thinking about it, Sonic remained wordless for a moment, while he leaned against the side of a tree watching Tails.

The little fox was eager to get started on his project right away, and seemed to work faster because Sonic was nearby.

“Need any help?” Sonic asked, catching Tails mid-way in a tune. He quickly turned to Sonic with a bright smile on his face and a blow-torch in his hand. “Nope, I got it! But thanks, anyway!” Tails cheerfully replied.

Watching him be so delighted with such dangerous types of machinery led Sonic's mind to wander, but he set his thoughts aside and glanced over at Amy.

Still fast asleep, Amy lay on her back with one hand on her stomach and her knees slightly bent to one side.

She had been in that pose for an hour, after Sonic had gotten up. Watching her with thoughtful eyes, Sonic felt a small smile creep across his lips. `…She's actually kind of cute when she's asleep…'

As if she could hear his thoughts, Amy fidgeted a bit, and turned her head to the side, in Sonic's direction. “Sonic….” She murmured, while still in a deep sleep.

Sonic's ears twitched at the sound in her voice, and half-smiled. `…I can't believe this…'

“Hey Sonic…?” Tails called to his friend, causing him to jump.

“Y-yeah? What's up? You need help with something?”

Tails blinked at Sonic's behavior, then turned to his invention and pointed to a gear wheel. “This gear is pretty rusted, but it can still move again if I had some kind of oily substance to put on it.”

Sonic raised an eyebrow. “Okay… Does it have to be anything specific? Our resources are limited, you know.”

Tails nodded, and grabbed another instrument to continue building the machine. “I know, but, almost anything will do, like sap from a tree, juice from berries…”

Sonic smirked. “You almost make it sound like you want me to get started on a picnic!”

Tails laughed. “Yeah, it does kind of sound like it, but that's all we can use. …Maybe after I'm done, we could have a picnic. It's hard working on an empty stomach…”

Sonic nodded. “Yep, sure is. But just hang in there. I'll gather up your ingredients in no time!”

“Okay, but...Sonic wait—!“ Tails called, but his friend was already gone. A bit discouraged, he lowered his ears and shook his head. “Now both Sonic and Knuckles are gone…” Aimlessly, his eyes trailed over to Amy, who was still fast asleep. With a shudder, he hung his head. “…Now, I'm beginning to get worried... I've got a bad feeling…”

 

__

Deep in a secluded mass of trees, Knuckles stood perfectly still in the Bow stance with both hands raised in front of him and his legs 45 degrees apart. His eyes were closed, and his brow was furrowed, indicating the depth of his thoughts.

A lucid sound, similar to the crashing waves on a shore, ruffled through the trees above and washed over his meditating form as a light breeze and encircled him.

No words passed his lips as the wind picked up around him, but he shut it out completely.

Focusing only on the slow and steady breathing escaping from him, Knuckles took a slight step forward, and enclosed himself in the aura of his chi.

__

 

Racing through the forest of trees as if it were a simple detour road from a highway, Sonic easily avoided the sway of the winding tree trunks and gathered random objects in his arms as he passed.

“Blue-berries, raspberries, more blue-berries…aha!” he chuckled, coming to an abrupt stop. With his hands on his hips and a grin on his face, he looked up the bark of a particular tree. “This oughtta be where I can find some sap!”

Setting the berries aside, Sonic took out a small container. Just as he approached the tree, the flow of the wind passed through his quills and perked his curiosity in the traveled direction. By doing so, his eyes passed through the trees and stopped on a certain red echidna. “Hmm…and speaking of which….” Sonic mused, putting the container away and stepping closer to his comrade.

The moment stepped foot into the circling tress, he slowed his run to a mild walk and took in his surroundings. These sets of trees were the tallest he had seen in the forest.

Amused, he whistled, then glanced to Knuckles, who didn't move an inch.

The echidna made no attempts to acknowledge him, but Knuckles could sense Sonic was there.

Knowing Knuckles heard him, Sonic stepped right in front of his face and crossed his arms. “Hmmm....” he mused, waving a hand in front of Knuckles' face “Are you meditating, or sleeping on your feet?”

Knuckles said nothing, but twitched an eyebrow.

Seeing his reaction, Sonic smirked continued on. “Well, whatever you're doing, don't put too much thought into it…you might hurt yourself.”

This comment received a glare from Knuckles as a grim frown slithered across his lips. “You're in my space.”

Sonic shrugged. “How perceptive.”

“…If you'd like to leave in one piece, I suggest you back out of it before you get a fist down your throat.”

Sonic recoiled and feigned to be intimidated. “Is that a threat, or one of your strange fetishes?”

Instead of becoming agitated, Knuckles simply smirked and tightened his fist. “Why don't I let you find out!”

“Whooaaa-hooa!” Sonic cried, taking a few playful hops backwards and held up his hands in caution. “If that's the way you want to be about it, then I've got nothing to do with it Knucklehead.”

A sly grin formed across Knuckles' lips and he chuckled. “That's what I thought you'd say, but guess what, THAT ANSWER ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH! Now ready yourself!”

Sonic blinked and nearly had time to dodge one of Knuckles' fists that clearly had his name on it.

“Hey!” Sonic shouted, dodging another attack. “What's the big idea?” he smirked, jumping onto a tree and hanging from one of it's limbs nonchalantly. “Wanna lose again?” he joked, making a silly face.

With a throaty chuckle, Knuckles smiled at Sonic and growled through clenched teeth: “Sorry Sonic, but I can't go giving the spotlight to you this time…”

Sonic laughed and tossed Knuckles a goofy look that just annoyed him even more. “Oh really? Who says it isn't already? I sure got your attention didn't I? Besides, for someone who was supposedly getting in touch with his `mellow-side', you sure lost your focus pretty quick! I warned you about thinking too hard, Knuckles!”

“THAT'S IT!!” Knuckles roared, nearly losing track of his balanced composure and plowed for the tree, but instead of punching it, he shook it, causing a bewildered Sonic to eye him suspiciously. “Man what's gotten into you? You've lost your touch Knuckles!”

“That's what you think!” he retaliated. “This time you're mine!”

“Eww, okay now you're creepin' me out, but whatever!” Sonic chirped, leisurely swinging from the branch and bouncing off Knuckles' head with his feet, sending the echidna in a growling fit into the ground. With a “hmph”, Sonic shrugged and peered down at his new footstool. “Hey! How's the dirt down there? “ he laughed and the second Knuckles rose to strike again, Sonic playfully leapt backwards and held up his hands. “Hey man, you win.”

A flurry of different types of confusion ran through Knuckcles' head from that response and it clearly showed by the extremely puzzled expression on his face. Lowering a fist, he blinked. “Huh—wha—What?!! What do you mean I win?!! Are you upto something Sonic?!”

The hedgehog shook his head. “No. I give. Honestly, I didn't come all the way out here to spar with you. I was actually on a technical errand for Tails, and found you here.”

“So?”

Sonic shrugged. “I just wanted to make sure you were allright, that's all.” He answered in a carefree manner, folding his hands behind his head in a nonchalant fashion. “Is that allright with you?”

Knuckles said nothing for a moment, taking deep slow breaths with long exhales as he closed his eyes

Not having much of a clue of why he did that all of a sudden, Sonic blinked twice and impatiently waved a hand in front of Knuckles' face. Sensing the invasion of space, Knuckles grabbed Sonic's wrist and his eyes popped open—a sly smile across his lips. “Yeah.” He replied with a suave and deep tone to his voice. “Yeah that's fine. Thanks….” He smirked, then swiftly released his grip. ”Heh, see ya around, Sonic.” He chuckled, turning his back to Sonic and heading back to camp. Watching him go while lightly rubbing his wrist, Sonic couldn't help but smile. And the more he thought about it, that smile had already turned into a big grin, then he laughed. “You're still a hopelessly in love knucklehead, man.” He commented, noting Knuckles' desperate attempt at trying to calm down from his previous concerns about Rouge and losing track of her. Then he sighed. “But you still haven't given up on her…”

And with that thought in mind, Sonic led his eyes to gaze upwards towards the treetops above and follow the travel of the loose leaves fluttering in the wind before running off to gather the rest of the materials.

--

Back at camp, Tails tinkered rapidly between his new machine and the stray pieces from the wreckage that seemed salvageable to keep himself busy. He hated it when Sonic and the others left. Whenever that happened, he always felt as if there was no one else he could talk to or relate to. Granted, Amy was usually around for him to talk to but… He paused in his work to dare a forced glance at Amy, whose position had changed to her laying on her stomach with her head turned to the side. Tails shuddered. If he were to ever tell her the others had left him there with her, she would have a fit. Worried, he shook the thoughts from his head and continued his work. “Knuckles…Sonic...somebody come back already, please!” he murmured under his breath.

And no longer than a moment later, a rush of red tore out of the forest clearing and made his way to the center of the camp. Seeing one of them come back so soon, Tails smiled and started to wave, but because both his hands were full, he proceeded to hop a little instead. “Heey Knuckles!! You're back!”

Treading past the burned out campfire, Knuckles nodded to Tails with a smirk. “You bet.” He then snagged a glance at Amy, who had yet again changed her position to sleeping on her side. “Sooooniiic” she muttered in gurgled gibberish.

Making a face, Knuckles slowly looked to Tails and they exchanged glances.

“Uhhh right, so anyway, you're building this new machine eh? Are you sure it'll get us off this island?”

The energetic fox nodded. “Yep sure do! None of my inventions have failed me yet!. Unless they get shot at, …or stop responding to their energy source….but! That wont happen with this one! Instead of traveling by air, we'll sail by sea! Or maybe even underwater… “

Knuckles raised an eyebrow as he watched Tails fumble with his thoughts and what his next words would be.

“Um..maybe I should let Sonic know about that first…”

Knuckles chuckled. “Naah! That would spoil the fun! I wouldn't miss watching the fuzzball turn green from sea-sickness anyday!” he mused, the thought of Sonic actually being sea sick passing through his thoughts.

Completely oblivious to Knuckles' strange ideas, Tails half-smiled and continued to build his machine.

Not liking to be the only one left out in understanding heavy, complex machinery, Knuckles turned his attention elsewhere but found his eyes glued to the sky.

It wasn't long before his mind was littered with images of `her' again. He missed her, but everytime he thought about her, he just got furious. “Why Rouge…” he questioned under his breath. “Why….”

“…Love…”

“What!?” Knuckles inquired from the sound of the soft voice. “Who said--!”

“…I love you….Soniiic…..love…you!” the groggy sounds of Amy continued, much to Knuckles' dismay.

With a heavy sigh, he mentally kicked himself for being so hopeful and tried to focus on getting off the island---and keeping a good distance away from Amy while he was at it.

“…Soooonniiiiic..” she moaned, starting to squirm slightly while still asleep. Appalled and also annoyed, Knuckles glared at her while Tails added a curious look.

Frowning, Knuckles shook his head. “ Tails go wake Amy up.”

“What! Why do you want me to do it? B-besides I've got work to do!” he chirped quickly and dashed back to his invention.

With an irritated groan, Knuckles shook his head. “FINE, I'll wake her up then!” he growled, then looked swiftly around on the ground. “Where's a rock...”

At that moment, a gust of wind burst through the camp, causing tree-tops to bend and dust to fly. Knowing the cause of it, Tails and Knuckles remained unphased by it. It didn't wake Amy up either, but due to the pressure of the wind, multiple objects from the trees flew off and a multitude of acorns fell and bounced around her. She stirred as if some of them hit her or made her uncomfortable, but still made no signs of waking up completely. Seconds later, Sonic appeared and waved. “Hey guys, I'm back!” he spoke cheerfully. Ignoring a sideways glare from Knuckles, Sonic eagerly gave Tails the materials he had asked for. “Here ya go Tails. Extra berries and extra sap...” he added, slipping a finger point at Knuckles, “are all right here.”

“Thanks, Sonic!” Tails beamed and took the items.

Unknown to the 3 of them, a squirrel who had been shaken from its home in one of the trees frantically and greedily started heading for some of the many acorns scattered around Amy, and went after one that had rolled under the hem of her dress.

“Show off” Knuckles muttered and Sonic's ears twitched as he heard him. “Yeah thanks! You too, Red!”

Knuckles scoffed. “Hmph! Yeah thanks.” He said with a grin and the two slapped hands.

“So, we're cool, now?”

“Ha…I guess… until you piss me off again that is…” Knuckles replied.

Sonic chuckled. “Fair enough!”

“Yeah, so Tails, why don't you tell Sonic what kind of invention you're building and where it plans to go…” Knuckles brought up with a sly toothy grin.

The fox looked surprised then turned red in shame and embarrassment that he didn't tell Sonic sooner. “W-well…you know where submarines go, right?”

At that moment a rippling moan quivered through the camp and the boys stopped breathing for a good 3 seconds.

“Wh-what was tha--?”

“Shh!” Sonic shushed. “Listen…!”

Knuckles looked around, bewildered and curious. “Was….that a moan….?”

Low and behold it was heard again, but this time much louder.

“nnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic” It continued. “Sonnnn uuhhhhhnn”

Knuckles raised an eyebrow . “Hey doesn't that sound like..”

“AAHHHNNN SONIC!!” Amy cried in an licentious tone, rolling around on the ground kicking her legs and panting in her sleep “SONIIIIIIC!!! OHH!!”

And in that tiny second, realization hit them.

“Oh sh—“

“Holy fu—“ Both Sonic and Knuckles were unable to finish their words from the shock.

“Agh Amy not here!” Tails cried, shielding his eyes from the thought of Amy doing `something' to herself. “I never wanted to see any of that until I was 10 years older!!”

“Cork it Tails! She's not doing any of that!” Knuckles yelled, then lowered his tone “I…I think... Hey, Sonic go see what's wrong!”

“What? Why me?!”

“Because its you she's calling for in her sleep, genius!”

Cringing from the weight of the responsibility, Sonic took a deep breath and reluctantly forced his way over to Amy, and actually took …his… time.

Shutting his eyes, he reached down to grab Amy by the arm to wake her up, but that just made things worse as the squirrel ran frantically, getting trapped within her skirt until Amy finally woke up, let out a scream, and kicked the closest person next to her squarely in the jaw.

Sonic fell to the ground with a thud and the confused squirrel scampered off.. A hearty and extremely loud cackle from Knuckles rang in Sonic's ears as he shook his head and pulled himself to his feet. “I hate being the responsible one…” he muttered to himself.

“Did you just SEE that!?” Knuckles bellowed in laughter. “A frickin squirrel was what caused all that! Haha! I guess you should control your Sonic Booms, huh Sonic???! HAAAAHAHAAA!”

“CAN IT KNUCKLES!!!” Amy shouted, flying over to him and swinging at him with her hammer out of nowhere.

“Ey yo! What the--!!” Knuckles called, leaping out of her range.

And just as quickly, she regained her composure and ran back near Sonic with a remorseful and pitiful expression on her face. Meekly she looked over to Sonic and apologized for kicking him. “I'm so sorry Sonic!! I really didn't mean...I…--“

“Don't worry about it…” Sonic stated, dusting himself off, completely ignoring Knuckles outburst and Amy's anger trip. “Meanwhile, we've got to plan to get off this island. So, are we good to go, Tails?” he asked, overlooking Amy's flushed features.

“Yep” Tails nodded nervously “Just…uh… give me a few more minutes, and we should be good to go.”

“Allright” Sonic agreed, then snuck a glance at Amy. She was still a little shaken, but not as much as she was when she first woke up, and that he was glad for. Smiling faintly, he rubbed his jaw, making sure it was still in place properly and laughed. “The fun never stops does it? So, what kind of machine is this going to be Tails?”

 

--

Over at Club Rouge, it was already nightfall. Slowly stirring from her nap, Rouge groaned as she stretched to smooth out the kinks she received from her awkward sleeping position. Once satisfied, she placed a few elegant fingers to her mouth and shut her eyes as she yawned. With a smile, she felt around on the bed for the sapphire emerald and kissed it once she recovered it. “I hope you slept well…” she murmured to it, or was she also directing that question towards a certain echidna who gave her the emerald in the first place? After a while of holding the emerald close, she placed it on her nightstand and ironically her thoughts drifted to Shadow.

“Mmm..I wonder if Shadow's still allright out there…” she pondered aloud, searching the bed for her earpiece. She would have panicked if not for the low sounds of what she thought was snoring resounding in her ear. With a gasp, she lightly touched the part of her ear where the earpiece would be and sure enough found it to be there. Relieved, she began to laugh lightly and got out of bed. “So you do snore in your sleep, Shadow!” she smiled, totally disregarding the fact that he may have heard her talking or snoring in her sleep. Heading into the kitchen, she grabbed a quick snack out the fridge and went into the living room. Gazing up at a pair of large windows, she realized how late it was and finished her snack within seconds and dashed to the bathroom. There she took out the ear-piece and took a quick shower. Moments later, she had emerged and put the ear-piece back in while heading to her room. “Shadow…” she called softly, not wanting to startle him awake but just enough for him to hear her and respond. “Shadow…wake up..I need to talk to you.”

A faint and deep sound drifted from the other side of their connection and Rouge's ears perked up eager to hear his voice. “Shadow….wake up…”

“Mmph…don..'t…don't…not me…”

Puzzled and confused, Rouge paused in what she was doing and called a little louder to him. “Hey Shadow…speak up I can't hear you!”

Silence.

Losing her patience, Rouge raised her tone. “Shadow!!!”

“Leave me out of it!!”

“WAKE UP”

“Aggh! What…Where am I….?!” He called, sounding frantic for a moment, then there was a pause and the sound of rustling. “Rou..” His words were cut off from the sound of rapid coughing.

Rouge almost felt sorry for him and she secretly wished for him to get a hold of himself and fast. “Shadow…? Are you...Are you still alive?” she asked, feeling stupid for asking an unnecessary question when the answer was already clear.

There was another round of coughing then a sound that was supposedly a deep and painful sounding chuckle. “No, I'm dying…”

“What?! Shadow! Be serious!” Rouge cried.

“I am… But, to be fair, I'm still alive for the moment. Hmph. A lot of good that has done for me. Anyway have you found any emeralds yet?”

“…No….” she lied, sneaking s glance over to the emerald next to her bed. That emerald meant more to her than just being another pretty stone. She couldn't let Shadow know she already had one without him knowing. But deep down, she had begun to feel sorry for him with his worsening condition, and herself for being doused in guilt for not telling him the truth.

Apologizing silently to him in her mind, Rouge bit her lip then tried to sound annoyed by his question. “Don't be silly! You of all people would know if I had one. I would have been there already if I did…” she continued, feeling even worse inside for the lies she was spewing at him and hoping that he'd believe.

There was silence on the other end, then a small chuckle. “Allright Rouge. I believe you.”

`Whew' she sighed in her mind, then tried changing the subject. “And you don't have to tell me about what to do next. I'm already getting myself prepped to head over to where you want me to get this emerald. Where is it anyway?”

There was a pause as if to indicate he was choosing his words. “In a bank…located near an abandoned warehouse …in Emerald Town…”

“Okay…”

“There may be suspicious security there. Keep an eye out.”

“Got it…”

“…And Rouge..?”

“Yeah what?”

“….Is there something wrong..?”

Rouge suddenly froze in her actions and couldn't think of anything to say but words tumbled from her lips without her realizing. “I'm just feeling a little uneasy about this whole thing, allright.”

“Why…is there something you're not telling me?”

`Would he get off that subject!' Rouge groused in her mind. Reluctantly avoiding the question, she went to her closet and took out her black and pink sneaking suit. “It's really getting late. I just want to get this over with tonight so you can have an emerald by morning.”

“Hmmm…”

Then there was silence. Rouge knew Shadow didn't believe her and knew she was hiding something, but neither of them said nothing about it.

Silently slipping her sneaking suit on, Rouge brushed out the wrinkles and made her way out the door and flew upto the grooved rooftops of the building. Hovering above it, she allowed her eyes to take in the fullness of the sky, ripe with a silvery full moon. Her eyes glued to it, she immediately felt heavy remorse for what she did and for her betrayal…to both Shadow and Knuckles. She was even betraying herself and she didn't realize it. Eyeing the moon with a lamenting gaze that mirrored its pale glow, Rouge could only think of those two as she prepared to continue her acts of disloyalty. “Are you going to judge me too?” she muttered in a low whisper towards the moon. “You're going to hate me.”

“Did you say something Rouge?”

“No…” she responded abruptly, then changed her tone to a more casual one. “No Shadow. It was nothing.” She lied.

A faint sigh emitted from the receiver.

“You know, Rouge…”

“What?” she asked, biting her lip.

There was a slight silence, then, “Nothing. Forget it. Just prepare yourself allright? And come back in one piece.”

Puzzled, but not wanting to risk questioning him, Rouge sighed and carried her remorseful eyes to the horizon before her.

Knowing what she had to do, Rouge hesitantly slipped the sapphire emerald out of her garment and kissed it. “For luck...” she whispered.

“What..?” Shadow questioned curiously.

“Nothing really that important.” She retaliated quickly.

There was a slight pause, indicating that Shadow didn't quite understand or believe her but he was sarcastically amused at how long this guessing game was going on. He knew she didn't want to keep talking to him for a while, which was fine. He could sense it in her voice. So to save her the trouble of saying it, he preferred to do it for her. “Whatever you say Rouge. And if you don't mind, I'd like to take a nap while I wait for you… But be sure to wake me up once you get there”

Rouge winced at his words, and looked towards the earpiece in relief as if a huge weight had melted off her shoulders. `How…how did he know --?' she wondered, then tried to refocus herself. `It doesn't matter. Without him listening in on the other line until I actually get there, I can sneak in and out without him ever knowing I already have an emerald…!' With a guilty smile, and thanking goodness that he couldn't see her expression, Rouge agreed with him and nodded. “Yeah, sure thing Shadow.”

“Sorry Rouge. You were making so many strange noises in your sleep, it was hard for me to take a nap earlier. But I had no power over that…” Shadow chuckled, making up an alibi to cover himself.

And Rouge didn't catch on. “What!?! Why you--!”

“Save your energy. You're going to need it.”

At this statement, Rouge instantly got quiet and without her knowing, she blurted out. “That should be you who needs to conserve energy, not me. You're the one I'm worried about…” she added, the last sentence muffled by the biting of her lip.

The other line was silent for a moment, then a cough rippled through the transmission. “Sorry” Shadow apologized, but couldn't shake the uneasiness of her keeping something from him—something important. “I'm… not feeling very well. I'll contact you later Rouge.”

“R…right. Goodbye…Shadow.”

“…Be …careful.”

Those last two words echoed throughout Rouge's being and struck a chord deep within her. Before she could say another word, their transmission was cut off. Not wanting to hear the constant static that was left behind, she turned off her earpiece, and sighed. Looking down at her hand clutching the sapphire emerald, she began to wonder if she were doing the right thing keeping it a secret from Shadow. He needed help—her help. And instead of going straight to him, what was she going to do? Use a power that he taught her to acquire more of what she actually needed.

“But I'm still doing this for him” she tried to reassure herself. “The emerald at the bank is for Shadow. This one…is for me only. It's better to have an extra anyway. What if one gets lost or the former owner wants it back…?” She trailed off, thinking of Knuckles, then sighed. “I need to get out of here.” She decided, then flew off in the direction of the bank. With an utterance of a few tiny words, green and white beams of light encircled her form and she was taken into time's void.

__

 

 

*Yeeeaaaah ^^;;

Points to clear up:

*Shadow's outbursts as Rouge was calling to him to wake up, didn't mean anything pertaining to her, but moreso he was having a bad dream about something…

*Dealing with Amy……it was just a random idea. She happened to be having a dream about Sonic way before the acorns fell around and on her. I didn't want to go into too much detail, but what was really going on was the squirrel's fuzzy tail brushing against her legs and that was what got her to be so loud. But she thought it was Sonic

 

See ya next time!

-Mel