Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Babbysitter Affair ❯ Regret and and a Prequel to Dilemma ( Chapter 4 )

 

 

The Babysitter Affair: Chapter 4

 

 

Perched devoidly atop a secluded hilltop, a small groan passed by frowning lips as the hand holding his cell phone dropped to his side.

“Still no answer…” he grumbled, holding up the small device. Glazed crimson eyes scanned over the number he had punched into the phone and his frown deepened.

“Why isn't she answering…?” he questioned himself. A fleeing thought passed through his mind and he closed the phone. “Could she…have forgotten about me?”

Possibly. It had been four years after all…The last time he spoke to her was 4 years ago… She had just had a birthday…and an engagement party all in the same day.

He was invited to both and the wedding held weeks shortly thereafter, but he didn't stay. The moment he had walked through those doors and saw her with her husband to be, he couldn't take it. He couldn't bare to see her with another male, even if she was happy.

But deep down, even though she told him that, he didn't believe her.

He scoffed at himself. He didn't blame her for not wanting to talk to him or for forgetting about him.

He disrespected her by not showing up to either of those priceless and precious moments and on top of that, he had stopped trying to contact her two years after the wedding. Whenever she called, he didn't answer. He never knew how to face her.

And now, 2 years after that, he regretted ever doing so.

It had been 4 years later, and NOW he was attempting to call her again?

“Pathetic.” He lugubriously stated. “Absolutely pathetic.”

Growling curtly, the dark and carmine hedgehog rose from the boulder he had been slouching on and brought his phone back into his line of vision. Placing his thumb along the groove that separated the top from its bottom, he let his thumb roll along the top part of the phone as it rolled open.

Staring into the brightly backlit screen, his deep eyes scanned over all the icons and leafed through the menus the phone had, checking to see if he had gotten any new messages or voice mails.

And from what he saw nearly was shocking enough for him to drop the phone from his hands, but he held it tightly.

Someone had called him! Twice! And they had left a message!

Eagerly, the hedgehog pressed a few buttons to check, when another incoming call came, and since he had already been punching in buttons, he accidentally accepted the call.

“Finally!” the slightly nasal voice on the other end exhaled. “Hey Shadow! What's up?”

Recognizing that distinctive voice anywhere, the dark hedgehog growled as he placed the sleek phone to his ear.

“What.”

Startled by such a cold greeting, but not letting it show, Sonic's cool voice continued to sound as enthusiastic as ever. “Sorry to catch you at a bad time, but could you head back to the house for a sec? Amy and I have something we want to ask ya!”

Saying nothing as the hedgehog's words passed through his ears, Shadow looked down in thought, as his eyes aimlessly gazed upon the wide horizon beyond his location. He wondered if she lived around here…

“Shadow? Hey Shadow, ya hear me?”

“Yeah…” he replied, his features softening a bit at the thought of her. “Just give me a minute, I'll be there.”

“Wow he agreed to this a lot easier than I expected!” Sonic's surprised tone wavered through the phone. “Allright meet ya here! Later!”

>click!<

Standing to his feet, Shadow closed the call and returned to his previous engagement of discovering who called him.

But much to his dismay, it was only that cobalt hedgehog who had called AND left the message.

Frowning even more, Shadow mentally kicked himself for ever getting his hopes up about the past. Slipping his Chocolate phone back into its former inventory, Shadow gave one last look to the city below, before teleporting away.

 

--

 

Driving down the highway, Rouge instinctively looked both ways, and then glanced in her rear view mirror before she merged into the left lane closest to her.

In the back seat, Akai and Amethyst contented themselves by gazing out the windows on their respective sides and naming what they saw.

“Look there's another one of those big blue signs on the right with all the pictures on it!” Akai called, pointing towards a pit-stop/resting sign.

“Yeah, and here comes one of the big green ones up above!” Amethyst named, pointing a gloved finger towards the route signs.

Glancing back at them, Rouge smiled lightly then kept her attention on the traffic ahead of her. Gradually, she started to slow the car down.

“What's that?” she rhetorically asked, squinting to peer down a good mile or so in front of her.

Looked like a build up!

Groaning, she stepped on the gas and cut in front of a car as she moved over to the furthest right lane. “I'll just take an exit and go another way.” She uttered to herself.

Little did she know that, the beltway she just turned off of was the same one Knuckles had been stuck on…

While steering the car with one hand on the wheel, Rouge smoothly took the acutely curved turn around the exit's bend and found herself not that far away from a gas station.

Once she saw it, and noticed that it had a mini mart attached to it, her stomach began a rumbling protest.

“Uh oh!!!” Amethyst sang playfully.

“Mommy's hungry again!!” Akai finished for him, with a grin that almost matched one of Knuckles' exactly.

Laughing at them from how cute they were, Rouge glanced back at them through the mirror and smirked. “You BET mommy's hungry! Let's say we swing on over there and get some snacks huh?”

“Oooh!! As long as it's candy-snacks!” Akai brought up.

But when his brother made no agreement, Akai elbowed him in the arm and he immediately jumped. “Yeah candy!!”

“I'll think about it…” Rouge smiled. Rolling up into the station, Rouge pulled into a parking space and pulled up the brake.

Being slightly jostled from the action, Amethyst and Akai both drew their eyes to their mother, out of habit.

Grabbing her purse, Rouge turned and looked back at them. “Akai, you're in charge. I'll be back in a minute.”

“Okay!!” Akai cheered, pretending to flex his little muscles. Amethyst looked at his mother with big pleading eyes, then turned to his brother and pushed him. “You don't have any muscles!”

“Yes I do, see?” Akai challenged, making a fist and attempting to show off his extremely small bicep to his brother.

Amethyst made a face and slapped his arm down. “You don't have any! Right mommy?” he asked, hoping his mother would agree with him.

But instead of even giving him a response, Rouge's eyes lay half hidden behind her eyelids and she had been staring off into space.

Unknown to her children, their display of sibling rivalry caused her to fall into a mesmeric state. Akai behaved just like Knuckles…and if looked at by a glance, he could easily be mistaken for his smaller mirror image. The only difference was his red eyes….which fit his energetic and fiery personality perfectly. And Amethyst, while he was the cooler head of the two, his body shape also matched that of Knuckles. The only differences were of course, the color of his coat and his slightly smaller hands. He didn't have mitts like Akai and Knuckles did. But his eyes were violet…just like…

Feeling a pang of sadness and pain suddenly rip through her, Rouge jumped in the seat as if she had been frightened by a ghost and slowly came back to her senses. Blinking, she rubbed her eyes and looked back at the boys, who greeted her with bewildered and confused expressions.

“Mama…mommy, are you allright?” Amethyst asked, leaning forward in the seatbelt. Even though he was the farthest away from her, the gesture he attempted to make towards her made her smile. “Yes, sweetie.” Rouge replied, taking hold of his hand. “Mommy's fine. She just had a thought…about your father, that's all.” She added, trying to keep her smile so they wouldn't worry.

Akai's eyes narrowed. Even at his young age, he knew something was up, but he didn't say anything or direct any of it towards his mother.

Giving them both winks each, Rouge gripped her purse firmly, as if to remind herself that she still held it and slipped out the seat. As she closed the door behind her and headed towards the shop, her two sons watched without a word, but assorted looks on their faces. Akai wore a skeptical expression while Amethyst appeared worried. “I really hope mommy's allright…”

“She's fine…” Akai scoffed, crossing his little arms. “But anyways, I'm so hungwy!!”

“Me too!”

“I hope mommy comes back with lotsa candy!”

“And jelly donuts!”

“Yeah! Donuts!”

--

Back at Sonic's place, Amy idly gazed at some of the old toys she was giving away, while Sonic was still unpacking boxes from the attic and lugging them outside.

On his way back in, his phone started to vibrate, and he quickly took it out and flipped it open. Seeing that it was Knuckles who called, Sonic stepped to the front door and peeked out at Amy. Hoping she didn't see him, Sonic inched to a side of the doorway. ,“Yeah…? What's up?” he asked, barely being heard, then nearly had to pull the phone away from his ear as a stream of growls and angry swears flew out.

Cupping a hand over the speaker so Amy wouldn't recognize Knuckle's voice, Sonic ran upstairs and into one of the bathrooms.

Locking the door behind him, he held the phone back up to his ear. “Hey man, what's your problem? “

More grumbles that Sonic couldn't make out. “What? Well at least you called. And what is up with you and Amy, man? All's she's been doing for the past few days was ask about you!”

Hearing Amy's name, there was a slight sound of coughing on Knuckles' end.

“Knuckles speak up!”

“...Look, Sonic I'm going to need you to help me out.”

“Huh? Help you with what?”

“Well…it's a long story, but…”

“Just tell me where you are and I'll come get you…”

“…Well… from the looks of it, I'm about to be taken down to the county Police Station…”

“WHAT!” Surprised by such a response, Sonic almost burst out laughing, but held it in as best as he could, knowing Knuckles was serious.

“Allright I'll be there in a flash, Knux. And don't blink!” he added with a smirk, and closed the phone. Unlocking the door, he pulled it open and nearly leapt backwards into the shower from the sight of the curious pink hedgehog looking at him with wide green eyes. Her hand was raised in a light fist, as if she was about to knock.

Sonic broke out in cold sweat, then nervously laughed it off,. “A-Amy, what are you doing here? Can't a guy get a little privacy?!” he squeaked, rubbing the back of his head. `Man, did she hear me talking to him…?' he thought feverishly.

But a large exhalation of breath whooshed from him when Amy tossed a thumb to her right and the form of Shadow literally darkened the doorway.

“Whew! Man, am I glad to see you!”

Eyeing him keenly, Shadow's lips twisted into a detested smirk and he shook his head. “Don't ever talk to me about how happy you are to see me while standing in a bathroom again, hedgehog…”

Amy gave Sonic a wild look then began to snicker.

Sonic laughed it off. “Yeah well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I gotta run!”

“Hold on” Shadow stopped him. “What did you call me over here for?”

“Sonic got lonely” Amy joked with a daring smirk.

From the look that she gave him, Sonic couldn't tell if she was being playful or serious. Actually, it sounded kind of cold.

Well, worry about that later! He had Knuckles to save.

“Amy can tell you where to find them, but there are these cool walkie talkies that she has, and we need to make sure that they work over long distances.”

Shadow's lids lowered. “…So because I have the ability to cover vast distances within seconds with Chaos Control, you want me to do it…”

Both Sonic and Amy nodded.

Shadow sighed. “Fine, but what's in it for me?”

“Eat all the food you want, I don't care.” Sonic shrugged, itching to get out of there.

Shadow half-smiled. “You know I haven't been eating that much lately, but whatever. When I find something, I'll let you know.” Turning to Amy, Shadow suddenly touched her shoulder and the second she looked upto him, they disappeared. And so did Sonic, out the bathroom window, at the speed of sound.

 

 

-To sum up, Shadow didn't live near the city at all before moving in with Sonic. It just so happens that ironically both Knuckles and Rouge live in that city too

 

-Mel