Diamond in the Sky

Traumatizing the Bat

Deep in his lair, Eggman has Rouge trapped in a capsule barred with red lasers.

"Welcome back to my lair. I know you have fond memories of this place, Rouge the Bat."

"I hate this place!" Rouge replies.

"Heh, I know. By the way, I gave it some thought and realized... my achievement wasn't killing Silver. The real masterpiece is the security footage. That's all I need to prove my evilness to my colleagues. So I decided to post it on a villain discussion board online and voila! Eggman is number one again. By the way, have you seen this video?"

Rouge snubs him, turning her nose up and folding her arms.

"Oh I see, everyones a critic. You should watch it. Reliving the death of your obnoxious son ought-ah break your spirit. Oh and don't count on Team Sonic to save you. I sent Obliterator Bot to attack the village a few minutes ago, so they're tied up right now. Plus... you don't have a communicator. Whose the ass hat now?! Later!"

He turns on a transmission that completely engulfs every visual and aural crevice of the space. Now giggling, he then turns off the lights and leaves her all alone to relive her worst nightmare. She tries to ignore the blaring video as it progresses to the moment of Silver's death, covering her ears and tightly shutting her eyes.

"It's not real, not anymore!"

Unfortunately, her mind goes to a hopeless place, reality becomes unclear...

What if it was all for nothing? Did I really rescue him? Could it have been a dream? My age is the same again, did twenty years really pass? Oh no! What kind of a mother am I? How could I let my baby die?!

Panicked, she screams and throws herself at the laser bars, hoping to break free. Instead she severely scorches the front of her body and repels backwards. The bounce causes her to get scorched in the wings and the back too. She lands on the floor of the cage, burnt, and listens to the sound of her own weeping on the video. In pain, she looks up accidentally and sees Silver dead all over again. Her heart sinks. She holds herself and shivers. The video shuts off. The door opens. Silver enters.

"Oh thank goodness," she cries with relief. "Let me ought-ah here, won'tcha, sugar?"

Not a chance. For he instead, comes closer to the lasers wearing another menacing grin.

"Did you electrocute yourself? That's totally hilarious."

She gasps and shuts her eyes tightly once more, though unable to turn away due to the pain of being singed so deeply.

"You're not my gem!" she yells. "Even if you hadn't been stupid enough to reveal it back in the jungle, I'm a famed treasure hunter! I can spot a dud! I would have figured it out!"

"Are you sure? I mean, are you really sure? Don't you wanna look into the eyes of your precious Silver just to be one hundred percent sure?"

Foolishly gives in and allows herself to glance at him. Amused at her gullibly, he points and laughs, like an obnoxious bully on the school yard.

"Haha, made ya look! Of course I'm a fake! You only wish I was real. The facts don't lie, the real Silver died, and in mommy and daddy's arms too. Hmph, pathetic."

"Please stop this game, Morpho" she begs as big, fat tear drops drip from her eyes. "It's too much. You, you don't understand. He's my new treasure now."

"Suuuure, like a jewel thief ever cared about anything other than herself," he laughs. "And you're the idiot that rammed into a bunch of lasers. Ha, Eggman was right. This is too easy. Maybe I should let you out."

He shuts off the lasers. Rouge darts to the door... but via his psychokinesis, it slides shut and locks! Now, the room is pitch black... but his cyan palms reveal a sadistic look on his face as he cracks his knuckles. Rouge's heart pounds so violently, that the sound of thumping begins ringing in her ears.

"It's no use. It's locked. It's okay, Mommy, dearest, I'll put you out of your misery."

Morpho swings a good punch at Rouge, hoping to sock her right in the eye, but Shadow suddenly Chaos Controls in front of her and firmly catches his fist in his palm. 

"Playtime is over, you fake hedgehog!"

With almost no effort, The Edge King twists the imposter's arm and pins him, face down. He then grinds his knee into his back causing him to shape shift from Silver, back to Steve.

"Uncle, uncle!" he whimpers, "I surrender, I surrender!"

Revolted, Shadow shoves Morpho aside as Rouge huddles against the door. Shadow kneels before her and holds her head up to face him. He's never seen her hurt this badly and it upsets him.

"Rouge, look at me! Are you alright? No. No, don't black out!"

SWOOP. The door opens. Mombot has arrived! Now you're gonna get it, Steve! The maternal robot catches Rouge as she curls into fetal position. Furious, Mombot's eyes turn red and spotlight a trembling Steve Eggman.

"Steve Eggman! How dare you!"

"M-Mombot?" he cowers. "Haha, I was just messing with her, haha. Just playin' around!"

"Shadow, you get Rouge to a doctor! Steve Eggman, you're in big trouble, young man!"

Without hesitating, Shadow scoops Rouge up and Chaos Controls away.

In the sky, they reappear, where he carries her through the clouds using his hover shoes.

"I'm sorry Shadow."

"For what?" he asks, confused.

"Sorry I didn't tell you the truth about us."

"You're injured," he insists. "Don't talk."

"You didn't want me. If I were you, I would hate me. That's why I didn't tell you about knocking me up, because I knew you'd never choose me. What an awful way for me to retaliate. I stole your chance to raise our son and now I've stolen the future from him."

Deeply concerned, Shadow reminds her...

"You're not a thief anymore, Rouge the Bat."

"Please Shadow, don't let Silver anywhere near Eggman's lair."

"Silver's fine, Rouge!" Shadow begs.

He feels her go limp.

"Rouge?"