Through the Looking Glass: Chapter 9-C
Shadow: Chapter 9
Shadow had been unable to sleep that night. Somehow, the past few hours of his life had been so horrifying that he was unable to sleep. That said, Shadow took to simply staying awake, thinking about everything as Cream rested on his belly. And then, in the middle of the night he felt a slight headache as he looked to Rouge. Whatever she had done with Banjo, he had known. True to his word, however, he would not say anything about it, and so he looked to the screen.
What he saw on the screen was a little disturbing, such that it chased his headache away from the sheer shock involved.
Tails was standing so still his two tails were unmoving. This was a sight he had gotten used to; Tails never moved until Eggman had specifically told him to. However, he saw robot lackeys running around leaving various objects inside the room. Squinting to get a better look, the black hedgehog saw sharp and blunt objects alike being placed around Tails. Seeing this, the black hedgehog's eyes widened.
No... he thought. He isn't...
His thoughts were interrupted as the robot lackeys left the room that Tails was in. He stared at the sharp objects. There were a whole bevy of swords and knives, as well as bats and hammers laying there. Blinking, he realized that Eggman did indeed intend to kill them.
Just then, the lights came on in the room. Shadow knew it was only around seven in the morning, but usually the lights never came up that early. Eggman was never that cruel.
Rouge was the first to stir, and everybody else followed suit rather quickly.
"What's going on?" asked Amy groggily as she gripped Sonic's arm.
Just then, they all saw the items around Tails on the screen. Reeling back a bit, everybody gasped in shock.
"Oh my God..." said Rouge. "That can't be..."
"No..." said Sonic.
Just then, the doctor burst in, a deranged grin floating on his face.
"Good morning, everyone!" he said in a high pitched voice that everybody was unaccustomed to from the mad doctor. "And today, is the day that you'll all die!"
After these words were uttered by the doctor, everybody looked wildly around, shocked.
"Now, I'll give you one chance to save yourself," said the doctor. "Rouge."
The bat was at attention instantly as the doctor looked at her and paced around the room. "I know you hid your emerald somewhere. Now, if you'll only tell me where that emerald is, I will spare one of your own."
All eyes were on the bat as she looked at the doctor. The bat was pretty crafty. "How do I know you won't grant them the quickest death of all of us?" she asked.
"Because they won't even leave this room," replied the doctor. "In fact, I won't even have any guards in this room. So choose wisely. And if you choose that goddamn blue hedgehog, then I'll kill all of you anyway."
Rouge nodded.
"Rouge..." said Sonic. "Just... tell him where it is... I'd rather have one person still be alive than have us all be dead."
The midnight hedgehog looked over to his friend, and from the look in her eyes he was able to tell that she had made up her mind.
"All right," she said, nodding gravely. "It's in one of the air vents close to this room. I changed the grating; it's the one where the whole thing is closed off."
Turning to one of his robots, Eggman nodded. The robot lackey left, leaving a tense silence to hang on the air.
The silence had disappeared completely when the robot entered the room again with the emerald that had been in Rouge's posession. Smiling darkly, the doctor nodded.
"Excellent," he said. "Now, who do you want to spare...?"
Rouge looked to the entire group. The choice was very difficult. Sonic was out of the question because of the conditions Eggman had set, which left everybody else. Her topaz eyes darted throughout the room, falling on the Lord of Games, on Amy, on Cream, on Shadow, even on Gruntilda. The hedgehog had a feeling that he knew what would happen next.
"I..." began Rouge. "I choose Cream."
With this, Cream's teary eyes lit up as she looked at the rest of the group. "But... but--"
"Cream, you're only a child," replied Rouge softly. "I... I can't take your life away from you."
"But... but what's worse, living in torment forever, or dying quickly?" asked Shadow morosely.
Rouge shook her head. And from here, Shadow realized that Rouge knew something he did not. Deciding to trust the bat with whatever she knew, he nodded.
"I'm sorry," replied the black hedgehog.
"All right, so Cream shall be spared!" replied the doctor. "Robots! Sieze them all and bring them to Tails' cell! And whatever you do, don't touch that rabbit!"
And as the cage doors swung open, everybody except Cream was dragged out of their cages. Shadow was dragged out of the room with everybody else. When he was able to afford a glance before the door shut between them, he saw Cream sobbing so intently that the hedgehog could not help but regret his decision to stay by Rouge's decision.