Mirror Image

IX - Technical Difficulties

"What on Mobius were you thinking?" said Rouge, turning her back on the red echidna, who sat hunched over on the sofa, clutching a bag of ice cubes to his snout.

"I was trying to straighten Sonic out," Knuckles muttered, sounding like he had bees up his nose.

Good luck with that, thought Rouge, Knuckles caught sight of her wry smile, looking up to glare at her.

"What are you smirking about?" he said.

"Oh, nothing really," said Rouge, dismissing him with a graceful wave of her hand. Her mirth went hand in hand with pangs of guilt. Sonic & Shadow had turned on their friends, leaving one battered and broken, the other bleeding and angry, yet all she could think about was their tawdry romance.

"Where did Tails go? And Amy?" asked Knuckles.

"I asked Amy to take Tails to stay with Vanilla & Cream. I really don't want him here when Sonic gets back."

"Let me guess, he didn't want to go, right?"

"Yeah," said Rouge, intrigued, "how did you-?"

"He actually believes that crap Sonic has been feeding him," said Knuckles, his voice becoming agitated, "that this is somehow his own fault." Rouge's heart sank as Knuckles spoke. This whole situation had hit him hard, and it showed in the way he carried himself. Beneath the anger, a great weariness bubbled to the surface, making him sound tired. Sonic & Knuckles didn't always see eye to eye, but Tails was the heart that brought them together. Rouge placed a comforting hand on Knuckles' shoulder, and he brought his free hand up to meet it, practically engulfing her hand with his glove.

"Oh, Red," sighed Rouge, "I wish there was a simple solution to this, but we have to stay strong. Things aren't going to be the same anymore."

A flash of crimson light, and a crash like lightning directly overhead shocked Rouge out of her funk. She recognised the tell-tale signs of Chaos Control immediately, and gripped Knuckles' shoulder tightly in anticipation. As the blood-red light faded, the familiar silhouette of Shadow eclipsed the light of the front window. Under her hand Rouge felt Knuckles shuddering with rage, and she pressed down with all her weight, hoping to prevent him launching himself at Shadow.

Shadow's face, never the picture of sunshine & happiness, seemed softer than usual, almost relaxed to Rouge's eyes. To her greater surprise, Sonic lay draped across his arms like a newly-wed bride. Meeting her eyes, Sonic's face turned to shock, and he leapt from Shadow's arms to his feet.

"Rouge!" he said in alarm, "what are you doing here?" Sonic's eyes fell upon Knuckles.

"Hey Knuckles, what happened? You kiss the Master Emerald too hard?"

Rouge couldn't hold Knuckles back any longer, her hands flying into the air as he leapt from the sofa and charged at Sonic, snarling. A blur of black zipped in front of Sonic, and Shadow appeared between them, driving his foot into Knuckles' abdomen. Knuckles toppled backwards, and Rouge ran forward to catch him by the shoulders.

"Shadow!" cried Sonic, running forward to where Knuckles lay supported by Rouge, "what did you do that for?"

"He was going to hurt you," said Shadow, and Rouge thought she heard a mote of worry in his tone.

"I can handle myself, Shadow!" snapped Sonic, turning to face Knuckles, "you okay, buddy?" he said, placing a hand on the red echidna's shoulder. Knuckles tried to wriggle away from Sonic's touch.

"Don't you 'buddy' me, Sonic!" barked Knuckles, but Rouge could see genuine concern on Sonic's face, and wondered how this could be the same mean-spirited hedgehog that Knuckles described to her earlier. Her curiosity turned to fear when Sonic rose to his feet, panic-stricken.