Give me your heart ~Sonadow~

Chapter 18: It's not you, Sonic.

Shadow's POV

"Shadow, this kind of behaviour is unacceptable." GUN's head of department spoke with me, eyes steely and cold and yet not scary to me. "Skipping out on important work, and for what - to fraternise with the enemy? I could fairly easily overlook Sonic, as he is your enemy and not ours, but Gerald Robotnick? Are you out of your mind?! When the governors hear about this...!"

"They'll do what?" I looked up, staring at her as intently as she had been looking at me. "Let's face it, Allie, this company needs me far more than I need you. Not only to stop me from turning on you, but you need my resources and skills. The most, and I mean the very most, they'll do is suspend me for a little and I highly doubt they'll even do that. So tell me, what do you believe you'll get out of this conversation?"

Allie gulped, clearly fazed by my comfortable and calm reaction to her full out rant. She also didn't seem able to think of what to say next. "Um... I'm sorry, Mr Shadow, but you have to understand that they cannot let you get up to these antics for long! They do not need you free, they could imprison you...!"

I laughed cheerfully, raising a gun and twirling it around my finger. It didn't really do anything for me, but it definitely fed fear into her eyes. "Imprison me? You must be mad. No prison can hold me, and GUN knows it. Otherwise, they would have imprisoned me from the start. Now, considering you don't have anything of importance to say, I shall take my leave."

Allie's face remained in a shocked position as I stood up and made my exit, heading her call out my name as I shut the door quickly. Rouge looked up from her desk and rolled her eyes.

"Of course, you know she's the one who'll be in trouble for your antics, right?" She asked, crossing her arms to add more relaxation into her feet on the desk, leant back position. "Not you."

"Why should I care?" I walked past her, grabbing my coat. "I pretty much stated that I didn't when speaking to her, don't pretend you didn't hear. Your bat senses would have picked up the conversation whether you wanted to listen or not."

"Where are you going?" She asked, noting my walking away. "You can't skip again. GUN need you, but they won't put up with too much, Shadow."

"You think I don't know that?" I snarled, glaring at the bat in a manner that clearly scared her by the look on her face. "Silver came to me a short while ago. He has an issue with the future. When GUN heard about it, they insisted I fix it."

"Well, you can't go alone." She stood up, a grin on her face. "I'll come with. Who knows, this could even get interesting."

It was my turn to roll my eyes now, as I held the door open for her. "Follow if you want, not that I need you to. Just don't get in my way."

Rouge glared at me, walking back with a casual sway of her hips. Ever since I told her about Sonic and I (she was the only one who knew) she felt somehow superior to everyone, even me. "Oh, look at you, Mr big shot I don't need help from nobody. One of these days you're gonna need me, and when that happens-"

"You'll rub it in like salt in the wound," I scowled, following behind her as she headed away from the GUN headquarters. "Not that that'll ever happen."

"Yeah yeah," Rouge turned on her heel, hands on her hips before giving a flirtatious wink. "Just you wait."

***

"So what's it like?" Rouge interrupted my thoughts. She was flying above me as I ran at a comfortable speed. We hadn't spoken the entire journey looking for the white hedgehog with whom I had a love/hate relationship.

"What is what like?" I asked, unsure as to why she would interrupt the blissful silence to ask me a question.

"Dating blue," she gave a playful wink as my cheeks turned a hint of red. I'd never let my guard down by her before - but now she had leverage, something she knew would always get to me. "Surely it's confusing for you."

"It's exactly as you'd expect it to be," I glared, eyes narrowed as I tried to push away the blush. "Enough said."

"Aww, no juicy details?" She begged, eyes wide as she batted her eyelashes. "About how much you looooove him?"

I rolled my eyes, speeding up slightly. Of course it wouldn't do any good, she'd still be following me, but it was the thought that counted. "There's nothing else to say Rouge. It's all out in the open."

"Okay, then answer me one thing, truthfully. Do you love him?" She asked, and as I looked up I realised she was dead serious. She wanted an honest answer, but I wasn't going to give her it until I knew her reasons.

"Why?" I asked, tilting my head. "Why would you care?"

"Because, believe it or not, I actually do care about Sonic in a sisterly way. And more than that, I care about you. This is the first time I've seen you like this and, despite how nonchalant you intend to act about it, I can see in your eyes that you're infatuated. You'd rather just go home to him right now. So please, I want to know."

I sighed, tilting my head downwards. Despite what I was about to say, I had to preserve some of my dignity. Whilst it was difficult to see her as a loving mother, a defensive sister was fairly easy to picture. "Y-yes, I think I do."

Rouge looked away, but I saw the happiness in her eyes. Or rather, for lack of a better word, the coo look in them. It was hard to miss, but that didn't stop it embarrassing me. "I'm glad."

We settled back into a comfortable silence, but it wouldn't last long. Suddenly, a silver line emerged from the trees on the side of the field we were running through, and I only realised what was going to happen at last minute as I crashed into the creature causing it.

"Ow," it winced, and as I turned, a smile immediately came to my face. Just the hedgehog I wanted to see.

Silver looked at me, confused as to why I was happy and not squealing in pain. I only stood up and held my hand out to him (I've been in a good mood ever since last night). "Silver, just the hedgehog I wanted to see!"

"Oh! W-well I wanted to see you too!" Silver stuttered out, ever as awkward as the first day I'd met him. Despite how strong and powerful he was, and don't tell him I said that, he could sure act like a wimp. "I've found out something important about the future!"

I nodded, waving my hand in a constant circle, a sign that I wanted him to continue. After all, this was what I'd come for.

"Well, just... keep an open mind, okay?" He asked. Not exactly a good sign, but I nodded anyway. I didn't really have much of a choice. "Well, someone was coming through the towns yesterday. It was telling everyone to watch out, and do it's bidding, or die a miserable death. It was a hedgehog, and... well... it was blue."

I took a step back. Of all the things he could have said, that was unexpected - and unbelievable. "You're not accusing Sonic of this again, are you?"

"No!" Silver exclaimed, though it seemed like he'd only come to that conclusion after I'd spoke. "Well, the resemblance was uncanny, but no. Still, it's a clue, right? A pretty big one, if you ask me."

"Silver, how are you going back and forth between the present and the future?" Rouge asked, a question that I was surprised I hadn't thought of.

"It's a little complicated," he shrugged, rubbing his shoes in the dirt. "To put it simply, I went to Tail's after I got here to ask him to send me back. He fixed me up a machine and sent me back, but once I'd seen that hedgehog I got sent straight back here. I think someone, or something, wants me here."

I nodded without a smile and took off again, figuring the conversation was done. I knew all I needed to. The hedgehog was no longer of any use to me.

Still, I soon saw him running alongside me with a frown set into his features. "Hey! Can I help or something? I don't really have anywhere to stay or anything to do whilst I'm here, after all..."

I sighed, not really liking the suggestion, but deciding that if anything he could keep Rouge occupied. "Fine. Just don't get in my way."

I heard Rouge say something to Silver from further behind, from what I could hear "he said that to me too", but I didn't really care. This was my mission. If they wanted to tag along, that was fine. But I didn't need them.

"Hey, Shadow?" I heard Silver speak up again, and looked to my right. He had a smile on his face, but he didn't look particularly happy about anything. "I have to tell you something..."