The Hero and the Thief

(The Deal)

It was 1:00am in the morning and Rouge was just locking up after shutting down the club for the night. It had been a few days since her and Sonic had their fight. She had thought about finding him but she had a feeling he didn't want to see her.

Rouge checked to make sure the doors were locked and headed for the stairs. She looked at her necklace which was made out of the two chaos emeralds. She smiled at it but it quickly went away when she remembered how she got them in the first place.

"Why did these gems have to come at a price?"

As she made it to the top of the steps, Rouge heard a loud knocking at the door. Her heart quickened a bit thinking it was Sonic. She flew down to the door and unlocked it, when she opened the door Rouge gasped in surprise.

Standing there was Dr Eggman. "Hello there Miss Rouge" he greeted her with a smile and a small bow.

The bat looked up at him with a questioning look. "I'm sorry but were closed" She went to close the door but Eggman stopped it with his foot.

"I know, but I was hoping to talk with you?" Rouge thought about it for a moment then opened the door and let him inside. "What do you want?"

"Quick and to the point I like that" said the dr as he walked over to the bar and took a seat on a stool. Rouge walked over and took a seat beside him.

As she sat down Eggman glanced at her necklace. "I see you have some rare jewels on your necklace there" Rouge narrowed her eyes and put her hand over it.

"Don't worry I'm not interested in your gems I-" Rouge started to laugh. "What's so funny?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Please dr, everyone knows you're always after the chaos emeralds to take over the world"

Eggman smiled as he stroked his mustache. "Yes, while that is true I was hoping to hire you in retrieving an artifact for me" The white bat gave the man a questionable look. "Why do you need me? Can't you just retrieve it yourself?"

"Indeed I could, but I think it's better to have someone who is more skilled in breaking and entering" Eggman explained as Rouge walked around the counter and poured two glasses of water. "The artifact is a rare metal from space that is locked up in a space study lab in the city. I wish to study this rare metal and add it to my robots"

Rouge handed him a glass of water which he nodded in thanks. "Ok....say I do agree to this job. What is in it for me?" Eggman smiled a bit as he took a drink of his water.

"Ahem, well I will reward you in gems of course" He said as he put his glass down and pulled out a small case from his pocket and opened it. Rouge's eyes lit up as she saw the sparkling sapphire sitting there snuggly in the case. "Oh my"

She reached for it slowly but Eggman closed the case and put it back in his pocket. "There is more where that came from. So do we have a deal?" He stuck his hand out to her as he stood up.

The jewel thief thought about it for a moment and remembered what Sonic had said which caused her to get a little mad inside. "Deal" She smiled and shook Dr Eggman's hand firmly causing the mad scientist to grin.

(Sonic's House)

Sonic was relaxing on his roof looking up at the stars. He had too much on his mind to be tired. It wasn't as much as something but someone that haunted his thoughts no matter how hard he tried to shake them out. "Rouge....why?"

Suddenly the top of a ladder appeared on the edge of his roof. He slowly sat up wondering who put it there. His question was soon answered as Amy's head appeared in view. "Amy?"

The pink hedgehog smiled. "Hey Sonic what's up?" Sonic was still trying to figure out what Amy was doing here. "Um just thinking...why are you here?" Amy got up on the roof and walked over then sat beside him.

"Well for the last couple of days you seem troubled and that's not like you at all. So I thought I would come and find out why" Sonic raised an eyebrow at his friend. "At 1:30 in the morning?"

Amy rubbed the back of her head and chuckled nervously. "Heh....yeah I guess I could have picked a better time. But to be fair I was busy all day and I know you stay up late most nights"

The blue hero smirked a bit. "It's cool, I appreciate you checking up on me" She smiled as he said this. 'You're welcome. So what has you so well...not you?"

Sonic sighed as he lay back down and rested his arms behind his head. He told Amy about how he met Rouge and how he was starting too really like her and enjoyed hanging out with her. Amy listened carefully and quietly as he also told her about Rouge stealing the emeralds and them fighting.

Once he was done Amy was thinking what to say. After a while she turned to Sonic. "Well it seems she is a bit hard to trust but....Sonic if you really like her then don't let this thief and hero thing get in the way of that" Sonic glanced at his close friend as she spoke. "You should work harder to try and work things out. You're not a quitter Sonic so don't let this make you start being one"

He slowly sat up as he let Amy's words sink in. "You're right, I shouldn't be letting this trouble me. I should be trying to hold our friendship together and see if it can go further than that"

Amy smiled and nodded her head glad to see Sonic acting much like his normal self. The blue hedgehog then pulled her into a tight friendly hug. "Thanks Ames I needed this"

The pink hedgehog smiled and hugged him back. "Anytime Sonic"