*Shadow's POV *
"Are you crazy?!" Rouge shouted at me as we walked out of the building.
"Why did you do that?" Aleena asked me. "Does Sonic know?" I shook my head then gave the ring that I had given Sonic back to her. She had given me this ring years back so I could propose to Sonic. She dropped her ears.
"I think you gave this to the wrong person." I said calmly but my heart was broken and I just wanted to cry. "I'll be leaving the castle and stay at Rouges place." I looked at Rouge. "If that's okay with you."
"O-of course Hun. You are always welcome." She nodded, taken back.
"You're always welcomed at the castle, Shadow." Aleena said and I nodded.
"Thank you. Will you please catch up Sonic when you see him? I will keep in contact to be able to see the kids." I walked towards Rouge.
"You won't tell him yourself?" Aleena asked confused and I shook my head. She was aware of our situation. "Stay safe, Shadow."
With that said, I chaos controlled me and Rouge to her house. I couldn't help but break down as soon as Rouge hugged me.
"Oh Hun...." She rubbed my back and walked me to the couch. "Talk to me..." I feel so pathetic.
*Sonic's POV *
"Sweetie. We need to talk." My mother said as she peeked into my room. The kids were already asleep.
I nodded and stood up then walked outside with her. "What is it?" I asked confused.
"It's about Shadow." She said with a hint of concern in her voice. My ears lowered at hearing his name. "He left, sweetie. He's going to work at G.U.N again and won't be staying at the castle anymore. He said he'll keep in contact to be able to see the kids." My heart broke at this.
What was I thinking? Of course Shadow would leave. I shouldn't be surprise after what he heard me say, after he saw me so close to Jet before.
Did he think we were together?
Was that his last straw?
I couldn't blame him, I would feel confused and hurt if I would had seen the same thing. But still... part of me hoped that Shadow would wait and we would talk things out. I don't know what I want still, don't know if I want to be with Shadow anymore or if I want to just start new anyways so I guess this was for the best.
I'm sorry Shadow...
"Sweetie?" I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at my mother. She reached for my face then cleaned away some tears I did not realize had escaped. "Why?"
Her question was so simple, a single word, yet it was so complicated at the same time.
Why I let him go?
Why am I not chasing after him?
Why did I need a break?
Why am doing this?
Why am I not in love with him anymore?
Why?
Why?
Why?
My heart was beating loudly, my hands were shaking and my breathe started to hitch, I held my chest in pain and let myself fall down to the floor.
Did I not love him anymore?
Was he not a good partner?
That's not it. I love him. He's an amazing partner. He's an amazing father. He's an amazing friend. But I couldn't be around him anymore. I needed time to heal.
I could feel the hot tears escaping my eyes and rolling down my muzzle, traveling down to my chin and landing on my hand. I could feel my mother sit down beside me on the floor, not caring her dress would be ruined. I could feel her warm embrace, wrapping her arms around me to pull me close and help me stop crying. I could feel the knot in my throat start to form again as I tried to stop. The weight in my stomach as I tried to not throw up from the emotions I was feeling.
My hands were shaking uncontrollably. He said he would wait. He said he would wait even if I was never ready. So why did he leave? Why now? Did he give up?
"Sonic?!" I couldn't look up but I recognized that voice. It belonged to my best friend who I could hear was now running towards me. I heard him fall to his knees while sliding until he reached me and hugged me tightly along with my mother.
I could hear my mother explain to Tails what had happened and he suddenly pulled away. He made me look at him by grabbing my face. My ears perked up and gasped when he was suddenly showing me a tomato.
"Huh?" I asked confused making Tails laughed softly.
"I learned that the best way to snap you back is by doing the randomest thing to confuse you. You okay?" Tails said and I noticed I was no longer crying. Damn Tails and how well he knows me.
"I... think so." I mumbled and grabbed the tomato from him confused as to why he was even carrying this. Was he always carrying this in case of something like this happening?
"Take a deep breathe and let it out. Then we can talk." My mother soon left after noticing Tails had it under control. I couldn't help but hug him again. I felt like a kid.
I did what he told me to and relaxed a bit then slowly pulled away. "Great. Now we can talk." Tails smiled, he pulled me to where he was at, resting back on the wall as we remained on the floor. "Shadow leaving the castle isn't bad, Sonic. Maybe he is just trying to give you the space you wanted."
"Jet was here." I explained since Tails already knew about Jet and how he felt towards me. "He asked me if I still loved Shadow and I said no, Shadow heard me." Tails lowered his ears lightly.
"Well that does complicate things. So you don't love Shadow anymore?" I shook my head.
"I do. Well... I don't know if I do. I think I do. I will always have feelings for him, you know? He was my first real love, my first real partner, he is the father of my kid, he treats the twins just like his. But I don't know if that's all I feel towards him. It was different back then." I sighed and looked down at my hands.
"I see..." Tails looked up at the ceiling. "You can love someone in different ways, Sonic. Maybe the love you had for one another has shifted, you don't have to be together to love each other." He explained and I remained silent as I listened. "Maybe you just feel love towards him as a friend now? After something this big happened, some love stories are just meant to not be together anymore. It doesn't mean you don't love him any less, it just means your story ended. It may have been short but it was beautiful wasn't it?"
"I don't want it to be over." I whispered with a broken tone. "The kids-"
"Will understand." Tails cut me off. "You can't push yourself to love the way you used to. It's been over a decade. Maybe your love will rekindle after some time, maybe it won't. Just don't push yourself, Sonic."
