It had taken weeks to get Rouge to come out of her shell, the once proud bat had inverted to a quiet, nervous woman. She clung to Shadow's side, constantly seeking the protection and comfort he offered her, but she never spoke about what Scourge had done. Not even to the black hedgehog who she'd come to care for.
``Rouge, I can't help you if you won't let me.'' Shadow sighed, looking down at the pearl-coated female who was curled up on the couch at Shadow's apartment, knees pressed tightly against her chest and wings wrapped around her like a comforting cocoon. The bat flinched at his softly spoken words. Her mouth opened as if she was going to speak, but a flash of pain cut through her expression. She sealed her soft lips yet again. Days passed in this manner.
Sonic had been banned from Shadow's apartment (where Rouge had moved to, unable to handle being alone when the shadows of her own home at night leered at her with eyes of ice and sharp teeth) when he'd come to visit Rouge and accidentally scared her. The situation got worse when Shadow returned to his home to find the blue hedgehog caught between leaving and trying to comfort Rouge, who was a sobbing, screaming mess in the dining room.
A short shouting match later and a kick to the blue hedgehog's rear had solved the problem, calming the frightened woman down.
``Please don't ask me to talk about it. I don't want to talk about it.'' Rouge whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks as she was in yet another quiet confrontation with the dark hedgehog who had opened his home to her. He stood in front of her, arms crossed in his distinct fashion. Carmine eyes glowed with reserved worry.
Shadow spoke softly next, ``It's not going to get easier for you if you don't face it, Rouge.'' the warrior shifted his weight, ``You can't keep hiding from the world. You're going to have to face it at some point. Talk to me. I won't tell.''
A slight shudder went through her form, and she swallowed hard, ``I want to deal with this on my own Shadow. Please.'' her white ears lowered as she looked up at him again.
The black hedgehog deflated, his ruby eyes briefly showing hurt as his friend wouldn't let him help, but he finally relinquished. ``Fine.''
More time passed, and Rouge seemed to get better. She stopped falling apart at the slightest scare, she stopped panicking when she crossed paths with Sonic -but she still went out of her way to avoid him, which greatly hurt his feelings- and she even went back to work at her bar, Club Rouge. To most, it seemed as though she'd put her past with Scourge where it needed to be, in the past.
But Shadow was not fooled.
``I'm fine, Shadow, let it go.''
``Rouge-''
``Just go away, please. It's ten minutes until rush hour, and this place is gonna be flooded. I need to get ready-'' her sentence was cut short when Shadow grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. Sapphire eyes locked with smoldering red.
Around them, Club Rouge was mostly empty, only a few customers or employees were milling about. Shadow felt the need to take this conversation elsewhere. Still holding her wrist, he lead her into Rouge's office where their conversation would be private. ``Talk to me. I want to understand. Why are you pushing me away now? You spent two months clinging to me, and now you want me gone. I don't understand. All I want to do is help.''
``Help? You're trying to help? How is this helping?'' she snapped, looking down at her trapped wrist with a heated glare, tugging briefly to try and remove his grip, ``I'm trying to put this behind me, and you keep bringing it up again! Everytime you look at me, you give me this broken stare, like you expect me to wither away at the slightest touch! I don't want your pity! I want to forget, and you won't let me!'' her cries began to morph into sobbing begs, ``I want to forget... I want to forget... Please let me forget...'' her knees shook as she leaned back to sit on the ornate wooden desk that occupied her office. Her face was hidden behind her hands as she tried to hide her sobbing. Shadow released her wrist in silence, not wanting to upset her any more. Shadow breaks as well, but in a different way, ears lowering and eyes widening at her outburst. For once, he appears vulnerable and pained by her words. But like always, the flat expression returns like a mask.``Fine.'' he says simply, taking a deep yet somehow still reserved breath, ``I'm going back to my apartment, I'll be there if you want to talk-''
``I don't.''
``- and Sonic says to say hello and he hopes you feel better.''
``I'm fine.'' she snapped, wiping a tear from her eye that was leftover from her emotional break-down. Rouge turned her back to her friend and started to clean the desk off, trying to find something to distract herself from the black hedgehog. Shadow left quietly, as was his habit, but Rouge found herself wishing she hadn't chased him off so roughly. Part of her missed their friendship the way it had been before Scourge came along. She missed teasing him, sparring with him, going on missions.... As well as a few drinking games she'd talked him into. Rouge had learned that getting him drunk was surprisingly easy, it was getting him to stay drunk that was the hard part.
Smiling at the memories, the white bat lifted a picture frame from her desk, tracing her thumb gently across the image inside.
It was a picture of everyone's last visit to Twinkle Park. Rouge, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles (surprisingly), Cream and Cheese, and even Shadow had been there. She remembered it well, it had been so much fun. Roller coaster rides, games, contests, parties... It had all been so sweet in her memories.
A thought occurred to her. Shadow didn't believe that she was fine, so she would prove it to him. So Sonic says hello then, hmm? Rouge would prove that everything was in the past and they could all stop walking on eggshells around her. The thief lifted her cellphone and dialed in a number she didn't call very often.
``Hello?''
``Hey Tails, is Sonic there?''
