Last one standing (Extreme would you rather)

Ch. 3

Taking a deep breath she said, "Brand me." Rouge quickly covered her mouth in shock of her own words, and Shadow even let out a little, "Oh." Opening both his eyes in surprise.

Rouge braced herself for whatever pain would be coming at her. Eggman made a quick note in his computer, "Another unexpected decision..." he said. "Now, just warning, don't squirm, or your mark will just look worse."

She stopped fidgeting, and shielded her body with her wings, curling her limbs into the shield, silently praying that it was allowed.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the arm made it's way to her.

It pushed hard into her wings, screaming as it burned through layers of skin in her wings.

She blocked out Eggmans counting.

She felt a hot sensation on her shoulder, her wing had burning a hole she realized. Panicking, she moved, and it seared into her inside burnt portion of her wing. She let out another scream as tears began to well in her eyes.

"Five."

With that, the iron was replaced in the fire; As Rouge stared at the damage. To her horror, not only was her wing branded with an everlasting heart to remember this horrific day, but parts of her wing had been completely burned away.

Even though the heart wasn't that big, it was when she'd moved, it left a ugly smear of black against her dark purple wings. Small little holes littered around the heart.

She probably would have a harder time flying, she thought bitterly, forcing tears down.

"Show the boys not to cry." Rouge thought as she held her head up high.

***

Knuckles sat, watching, feeling pitiful for the bat, as she tried to flex her battered wing. Knuckles was surprised the Rouge hadn't shed a single tear as the iron burned away holes. He looked at his friends. Scared and shocked faces, except for Shadow.

Shadow sat taking in the whole situation. He had been ready for Rouge to brand him, being she was far more selfish. But this test was proving his thoughts wrong.

He didn't really know what to make of the situation to be fair. When Eggman turned his attention to Shadow, Shadow felt his stomach drop, knowing his decision already.

"Ok Shadow!" Eggman said after drawing his attention to the hedgehog's decision. "Your 15 seconds begin now!"

This needed to be smooth, he needed it to look like a hard decision. He'd been planning the whole time, Shadow thought to himself.

"So, will you chivalrously brand yourself or Sonic?" Eggman asked, eagerness in his voice.

Shadow stole a glance at Sonic, giving him what he hoped looked like a reassuring smile of some sort, despite the following words about to be said from his mouth.

"Ahem?" Eggman cleared his throat.

"Sonic..." he whispered in defeat, with a pang of guilt sweeping over him. It didn't need to be faked.

He took the branding iron as he approached Sonic. "Sorry..." Shadow said. "On your right side on three."

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Shadow held it as light as possible on Sonic as Eggman counted the time. He tried to hold a steady grip, but he felt clammy all over with guilt. Sonic sucked in air, as his fur singed.