Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Babbysitter Affair ❯ DILEMMA ( Chapter 5 )

The Babysitter Affair: Chapter 5

 

--

“Here they are.” Amy gestured, while picking one of the walkie talkies up. “Here, you take this one and go out abouuut say, 20 meters and say anything, if you can here me.”

“Got it…” Shadow replied dully. Sneaking a quick glance at her as she reached over for the one she was going to use, a smug smile swept across his lips. “You still haven't told him yet, have you…?” he asked, referring to Amy telling Sonic how she really felt.

Hearing this, Amy paused for a second, then turned to casually face him. “…No.”

“I knew it…”

“I did try to…twice! But Sonic, he…! He just doesn't get it!” Amy shot back, green eyes flaring. “You'd think a pretty girl like me wouldn't need to do too much OVER-explaining about wanting to be with someone. But even THAT doesn't work!”

Shadow chuckled. “I'm not surprised. “He can be pretty dense at times.”

“Yeah….” Amy sighed, trailing off. It wasn't long before her thoughts started to wander. Shadow was able to sympathize with her somewhat—to an extent. It almost seemed like the reason why he did was because he pitied her.

Amy wasn't too glad about the pity part, but she needed to talk to somebody all those years living with Sonic.

But Shadow wasn't too fond of the house and still had plenty of disappointments towards his recent past and shut himself out from them and everyone else most of the time.

Amy never really knew why he shut himself out so much, but she DID know that he wasn't too crazy about Knuckles. One of the times she brought his name upto Shadow, she remembered him getting so angry that he teleported out of his room and she hadn't seen or heard from him until 3 days later when he dragged himself back into the house, nearly famished from hunger.

She knew not to do that again.

And with Knuckles leaving soon, Shadow would be all she'd have to talk to, and unless he woke up bright and perky the next morning, she highly doubted that would ever happen.

She sighed.

“Knuckles…why…!” she muttered, not realizing she had her finger pressed on one of the buttons on the walkie-talkie.

An enraged sound was heard from the other end, breaking her out of her daydream and she suddenly realized that Shadow had left already to test out the devices and when he heard that name..

“Oh shoot!!” Amy shouted, covering her mouth for letting Knuckles' name slip again round Shadow. And what was worse was that she said his name without realizing.

That…wasn't good.

“I'm sorry Shadow!! It just--!”

“Just drop it Amy…” he groused, pushing his anger aside. “I'll get over it. “ He sighed. “Well, it seems like these things still have range. How much further do you want me to go now?”

“Um…” she thought, looking around for another location and biting her lip. “H-how about 2 miles?

Shadow's ears flinched at the number. “Fine with me” he stated, neglecting to inform her that his use of chaos control had been giving him a few problems lately. Nothing too serious, just shortages every now and then. Using the walkie talkies would actually help him test out his distance. Contemplating on the distance ahead of him, Shadow disappeared in a small flash of light.

 

--

 

Reaching the Police Station, Sonic got there just in time and actually met Knuckles and the officer he ran into at the doors.

Standing there, leaning against one of the station's pillars with one arm, a playful smirk flickered over his lips. “Miss me?”

After a brief explanation that Knuckles was associated with Sonic and that he was just having a bad day and didn't mean any harm, the officer let Knuckles go.

Heading down the steps to the station, Knuckles rubbed his wrists. “Man that was the first time I've gotten arrested in a while around here!”

With a questioning look, Sonic darted his attention to Knuckles, obviously interested in hearing more about this story, but Knuckles knew better. “Forget it, Blue. You're not hearing any of that one!”

Sonic chuckled. “Fine! But if you don't mind, I'm kinda in a rush, so hang on and don't get sick!” Sonic chirped, grabbing Knuckles by the arm, and before he could protest, Sonic took off blazing down the street.

Once back at the house, Sonic zipped in through the back door and dropped Knuckles off in the kitchen. “You wait here while I go get Amy.” He stated with a new serious edge in his voice.

“Sonic, wait! ..Ugh it's no use.” Knuckles grumbled and loosened his shirt collar. Talk about leaping out of the frying pan and into the fire… Amy was going to light him up if she saw him now! He still needed to get his and Rouge's argument off his chest, so any more drama would have to wait.

Back outside, Amy whirled around the minute she heard Sonic close the front door behind him. Smiling faintly upon his return, she opened her mouth to greet him with a `welcome back' but the odd and rare serious expression on his face stopped her words before they were formed.

“Hey, sorry to keep you waiting. Hand me this for a sec.” Sonic spoke dryly, his words just tumbling out with hardly any emotion at all.

Of course this got Amy to worry, but she handed him the walkie talkie. And the instant he pressed the talking button on the device, his voice magically seemed to perk right up. But Amy knew he was forcing it.

 

-

 

“Shadow! Hey Shadow, come in, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, loud and clear, Sonic” Shadow replied, gliding gracefully through the city. “What happened to Amy?”

“Oh, she's right here, don't worry!”

“Allright” Shadow uttered.

Discreetly, his eyes moved from one side of the city, to the next and then to the previous one as he passed through at wind-breaking speed. It was as if he were looking for someone.

“Allright, stop there!” Sonic stated and Shadow did just that. “Allright, where are ya man?”

“I'm…..” Shadow began, looking around until his eyes fell on a brightly colored gas station and searched for a name. “…at the Grexaco Gas Station…”

“Really?” Sonic whistled “That's some distance! Hey Amy!”

Amy's voice could be heard through the receiver. “Yeah Sonic?”

As Sonic talked to her, Shadow's attention wavered elsewhere and he gave the gas station another look.

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Shadow clenched a fist out of habit and walked over closer to it.

There weren't very many people there today, but the ones he did pass gave him odd looks and snickers. Glaring at them, he didn't even have to say a word and they moved by with without a second thought.

Satisfied, Shadow stood near one of the vehicles and glanced in, then did a double take.

For a second her thought he saw four eyes looking at him, but nothing was there.

Mildly amused that someone may be playing a game with him, he smirked and lowered his lids. “Hmmm…”

 

“Hey! What do you think you're doin', Akai!?” Amethyst shouted in a hushed tone to his brother, who was beginning to peer out the window again. “Aww be quiet Amafist!, you were looking too!”

“Yeah, but I stopped! You're the one still lookin'! Now stop before mom comes back and sees you playin' with strangers!!”

Akai scoffed and turned up his little nose. “Ha! Mom won't even know! I'll be done lookin' before she comes back! Besides, maybe that spiky haired guy left already!” he figured, starting to turn back towards the window.

Boy was he wrong.

Two glowing red eyes looked back at him through the window. A small smirk played across Shadow's lips, taunting the little echidna.

“Waaaah!!!” Akai shrieked, falling back into the backseat.

“I TOLD YOU!” Amethyst reprimanded.

“You're not helping!” Akai shot back, scrambling to sit up.

Helping his brother to sit up, Amethyst reached over for his seatbelt. “Here, put this on, put this on!!”

“I am!! I am!!”

As the little echidnas hurried to pretend as if nothing had happened when their mother came back, Shadow continued to watch them hurriedly move about.

A thin smile drew across his lips from their behavior, but a scowl soon took its place as his next thought came to mind.

`…They look so familiar …. Almost like Knuckles…'

Knuckles? Knuckles was the only known echidna living that he ever knew about. His hands balled into fists to prove it.

He knew that when he and Rouge last lost contact, she was courting Knuckles.

Shadow's face began to contort into one of the most sour expressions ever imaginable as his mind continued to plague him with images of those two together.

So…these were …their children?

A sudden sense of nausea swept over him at the thought of Knuckles being intimate with Rouge and he stepped back from the car.

At that same moment, the doors to the gas station's mini mart opened, and there was Rouge—holding a honey bun in one hand, a giant pretzel in the other and a bunch of other snacks and hot dogs bundled and jumbled in her arms.

But the second she looked up at the car and saw some stranger so close to her children, everything dropped from her grasp.

Hearing a muffled crash, Shadow tore his attention away from the van, just in time to duck a high kick from Rouge. It crossed his mind that she was still in great shape from since he last saw her and he smiled without realizing.

But had it been that long that she would actually confuse him for a stranger and attack him?

Highly possible, he figured.

While he continued to block and dodge her lightening fast kicks and drills, Shadow's mind began to wander again. But he placed his thoughts aside and caught the next blazing fast kick she threw at him.

“Hey Rouge…It's been a long time…”

Hearing her name spoken in such a familiar way, Rouge gasped and leapt away from Shadow—lucid green eyes searching him for answers.

Seeing her remembering, Shadow fought against the slight pain of seeing her try to remember him and tried to smile when her glistening jewels graced his face.

Something inside him felt latched into place the moment he beheld her face light up and a broad smile grew across it.

That face! The same face she thought she would never see again.

After all the years that had gone by without them saying a word to each other, he still remembered her? She had never forgotten about him either, but she had given up on figuring out why he stopped calling her. She thought for the longest time they weren't friends anymore.

“SHADOW!!!” she cried, already running to him and nearly tackling him with a huge bear hug. “OH SHADOW!!!! How ARE you?!! I've MISSED YOU!!!” she cheered, squeezing him tighter with each word.

“I…missed you too, Rouge…!” he managed to wheeze out between squeezes.

Realizing he could barely breath with her hugging him like that, Rouge released her grip from him and stepped back. “Oh… sorry…” she murmured. Her watery eyes searched his eagerly, trying to extract any hint of emotion from him.

And then as if someone had tripped a switch, Rouge brow furrowed and she slapped Shadow hard across the face.

Faltering a step back, Shadow immediately rubbed his cheek and stared at her with his mouth in a gape—silently asking a million questions.

Smiling slyly, Rouge crossed her arms over her chest and smiled darkly.

“…That's what you get for running into me by coincidence instead of AVOIDING me all these years!”

Shadow eyed her with confusion and shock. “But, Rouge, I wasn't avoiding you…”

“Oh really?” she scoffed. “What kind of best friend goes to another's wedding, then leaves out the door before anyone can even say hello?!”

Shadow's brows rose as he heard this. “You…saw me…?” he whispered, barely inaudible, but Rouge's excellent hearing picked up on them right away.

“Y-E-S, I SAW you, Shadow!”

“But that was—“

“I wasn't finished yet!”

“…!”

“What kind of best friend would stop calling someone he so called `cared' for after the supposedly happiest day of her life?!”

There was a brief pause in silence as both Shadow and Rouge realized what she had said.

Her getting married was supposedly the happiest day of her life?

There were two words in that sentence that should not have been together—especially when dealing with marriage.

So what did that mean?

Rouge inwardly cursed herself and looked away for a moment.

Feeling the weight and pressure this was putting on her, Shadow stepped closer to her and hesitantly placed a light hand on her shoulder. “Rouge?” he called softly, but in return, Rouge shrugged his touch away and turned her back to him.

Stepping back, Shadow rested his hands at his sides. Tilting his head, he eyed her significantly and as the next thought came to mind, a slick smirk drew across his lips.

`So…she wasn't happy with marrying him…' he thought, almost relieved.

“…You're not happy…are you, Rouge…?”

The woman flinched at his words, but then her demeanor calmed. Taking a deep breath, she lowered her head then slightly gazed sideways at Shadow.

“… …Ha… that sure didn't take you long to figure out. …” she murmured, barely whispering “…You were always great at…figuring me out…” she continued, her words beginning to waver.

Knowing she was holding back her tears, Shadow sighed and placed his arms around her shoulders. And without any resistance, she accepted. Shaking, she placed her hands on his arms and laid her chin on them. Resting his head on hers, Shadow's eyes drifted off into the horizon ahead of them.

What could he do to make things right for her? She still considered him a friend so that was good, but…she needed more than that.

Or did she?

He wondered about that.

 

“Hey it's that guy again!!” Akai reported, standing up on the backseat and looking out the window again. “He's still there!”

“You'd better be careful, Akai! You don't want to get in trouble again!” Amethyst warned.

“Pssh! Forget that! Hey! Mom's HUGGING him again! Better not let daddy see!”

“Yeah, or he'll yell!” Amethyst responded, already covering his ears.

 

“Shadow…” Rouge's soft voice slowly brought Shadow out of his thoughts and he pulled away just enough to look at her.

But she didn't do the same, as she continued to stare off into the remote distance with her back to him.

Cool and quiet winds whispered past her and fluttered playfully in her hair. Her face was illuminated with a warm outlined glow from the setting sun.

Watching her while nature amplified her beauty a thousand-fold, a blooming warmth spread throughout Shadow's body and ended up laced in a streak of crimson across his face.

With all those years gone by, he had continued to miss Rouge and his frustration for not doing anything that could have changed both of their lives followed him as well as his feelings for her.

He had always cared for her and was always there to support her until the day she was married.

Something inside of him stirred and he wondered…what if he had stayed that day? Maybe the wedding would have been called off. Maybe he would have even intervened and objected to it.

But all of that was in the past now. There was absolutely nothing he could do to get that moment back to “correct” it.

It just was what it was.

And he had chose to live it.

But what were Rouge's views on the whole thing?

Shivering from her previous restraint of tears, Rouge finally fully turned to him—a small smile dancing upon her lips.

Shadow blinked at her sudden mood change, but his softened as well.

“Yes…?” he asked, eyeing those beautiful green jewels of hers.

The ends of her mouth quivered as she tried to keep the smile steady, but the weight of her unborn words were baring quite a toll on her.

Unsurely, she spoke. “…Why…Why did you come back…?”

Shadow's eyes widened and he was taken aback by her words.

Why did he come back?! Of all the questions to ask!

Holding down his frustration, he took a small and shallow breath and answered her flatly. “Because I wanted t—“

“Shadow! Hey Shadow!” Sonic's nasally voice called from the walkie-talkie. “Hey man, sorry about that. Was talkin' to Amy about sumthin'.”

Damn that Sonic! Such terrible timing he had!!

“Not NOW Sonic!” Shadow growled back into the microphone.

“Huh?” the blue hedgehog appeared quite surprised. “Haha what're you talkin' about Shadow? Did I catch you at a bad time?”

Shadow groaned “Of all the obvious…YES, you caught me at a bad time!!”

“Here, let me say something…” Rouge stated, holding out her hand for Shadow to give her the device. When he refused, she snatched it from his hands and pressed the button.

“Listen up, Sonic, Shadow is having an ordeal right now, so get off his back, allright?”

There was a sharp intake of air, then silence on Sonic's end as if he had heard the news of his life.

“What? What is it? What'd he say?” Amy's curious voice drifted over the speaker in the background.

Fuming, Shadow threw a glare at Rouge and she returned it with a `what is it now!?!' look of her own.

“…I don't think you should have done that…!!” Shadow forced out through clenched teeth as he took the walk-talkie away from her.

Great, another example of bad timing!! Was it going to get any better than that?

-

 

“Rouge is that you?!” Sonic shouted—a little louder than necessary while holding the walkie-talkie to his ear like a phone.

Things had just gotten a little more interesting, he couldn't help but want to hear more. HE had to…for Knuckles' sake.

But unknown to him, that little stunt was going to cause more drama than he needed.

Hearing the bat's name clear as day, Amy gasped and nearly shook with shock. “ROUGE is with HIM?!!!??”

“Where is Rouge??”

At the sound of the new, yet familiar voice, both Sonic and Amy turned to see a flustered Knuckles standing just outside the house's doorway.

Blazing red eyes met with liquidy green opals as the hurt and confusion painfully grew within Amy's heart.

Watching her delicate emotions shatter into mere pieces right in front of him, Knuckles turned away from her. He couldn't bear to face her.

In tears, Amy looked to Sonic.

That idiot!! He must have brought Knuckles here on purpose! But for what reason?

Suddenly, the reason no longer mattered to Amy and she angrily pushed Sonic. “You KNEW, didn't you!!” she yelled “You knew all along Knuckles was here!!”

Alarmed, Sonic tried to catch her assaults but could do nothing against them or her. “A-Amy I…!”

“Don't LIE to me, you bastard!!! Tell me the fu#king TRUTH for once!! You always LIE to me!!!”

“Amy, stop!!” Knuckles vociferated, flying over to her and slipping his arms under hers, locking them in place to restrain her. “Killing Sonic won't do you any good! It's me you need to be angry with!”

Squirming in rage, Amy shook her head roughly and violently tried to kick Knuckles in the knees to let her go.

“LET GO OF ME!!”

“Not until you calm your hyper ass down!!”

“I SAID let go!!!!”

“The both of you get a hold of yourselves!” Sonic shouted. “This isn't getting us anywhere!”

“Shut up, Sonic!!” Amy spat, and Knuckles casually clasped a mitt over her mouth. But that didn't stop her, and she continued to curse Sonic out in muffled words while still attempting to get free.

Sighing, Knuckles looked at her, then to Sonic. “Where do you want me to take her…?”

Sonic cocked his head towards the door and directed a thumb to a side of the house. “To the living room. You go sit her down and I'll get her something to drink to calm her down.”

Knuckles nodded. “You got it!” And with that, he proceeded to drag Amy into the house as Sonic raced ahead of them.

 

 

 

 

-Mel