Words Hurt

Losing the Fight not the Battle

Previously, on Words Hurt~

"Zonic, sir, what do we do? we're losing the battle," Zilver asked, shooting at some of the clones.

He looked around, seeing a few bodies belonging to his fallen comrades.

"Tell them to fall back; take the escape pods! We'll have to re-group at the sky base. Now go," he commanded.
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As the smoke cleared they could see Sonic, who was taking on Mephiles. His breathing was laboured as he tried to stay in control of himself.

"Sonic!" Shadow yelled, mind racing as he bolted toward them. He didn't make it far before Sonic turned, a sad smile was directed toward him as his hands clutched the Emerald in his hand.

"Get everyone out of here take the escape pods... Just make sure everyone stays safe." His eyes shined as he disappeared, a tear slipping down his face before a familiar call of "chaos control!" Filled the room.

Shadow stumbled before he fell forward, his arm outstretched barely inches away from where his mate had been.

"Damn it," he muttered, a growl emitting from his throat.
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The present~

Rouge pov~

It has been two days since we lost the fight at No-Zone. There was still no trace of Zonic and Zhadow, and things were only getting worse as Fleetway and Mephiles destroyed everything in their path.

While we took care of the injured Shadow and the others helped evacuate the people in the closest cities, the Commander sent out a warning to the other cities before they where also brought to destruction. Even if it was hard, the evacuations were successful.

"I feel so useless, Rouge. There has to be something else we can do?" Amy asked, bringing me out of my thoughts while she was treating a young boy, who had lost his family.

"I'm sorry hun, but, until Shadow and the others come back, we have to help the injured," I sighed as they looked to a corner, that was occupied by a little girl.

"This is her father, he doesn't have much time, but he insisted upon seeing her." As I looked at the young girl, I couldn't help, but feel, so useless this is the fifth child to lose their family and the numbers were increasing.

"Rouge! A word please," Zilver called coming through the door. I simply nodded as I followed him out to the hall.

"What is the news for today?" I asked him as he just looked down. "We found Zonic and Zhadow, but..." He paused as he took a deep breath and looked at me.

Dread stirred in me as I saw the sadness in his eyes. "They didn't make it did they," I stated, knowing that look. It's the same one Shadow would give me when he had dreams of Maria and how he lost her.

"We found them close to each other. It looked like they were reaching for each other, for one last time, before they... they..." His eyes slid shut as he turned. "Aaah we lost the battle."

"Zilver, hun, it's ok to let your emotions out. They were your friends; you have every right to grieve. But we only lost the fight not the battle," I told him. He sighed before taking another deep breath to compose himself.

"Rouge! Come quick, it's Knuckles!" Cream exclaimed in a panicked voice. I turned, heart-clenching as I quickly followed her back to the room, to see him laying on the bed. I gasped, his fur color was now a pale red and he was bleeding.

"What happened?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper. I was in shock, my gaze never leaving from the huge gash on his side. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

"We were ambushed by some of Mephiles' clones. He pushed me aside, taking on one of their attacks," Scourge informed me gravely, cradling his arm as it bled freely.

I sighed quietly as I started to get what I needed to treat both of their wounds. 'Shadow, please come back safely. We're not doing so well over here...' I prayed silently to myself as the hope everyone had at the beginning was slowly fading.

Elsewhere~

No pov~

"Shadow I don't even know if coming to Angel Island will give us any clues on how to defeat Fleetway," Tails injected hesitantly as they entered the archives.

"We need to find out if we can separate Sonic from him. If we can do that, then we'll have a chance," he responded, determined to get his mate back.

"What about the book Zails gave us? Can't you find the answers in there?" Sonic Boom asked.

Turning his head, Shadow glared at the pair, "I'm not going to kill my mate, because some book says it's the only way," he shot back. There had to be another way, and he was going to find it.

They walked around, looking at the stories on the wall, trying to find something that would help them but none of them seem to be lucky. that was, until they came across a door.

"I've never seen this before," Tails hummed curiously as they tried to open it... But it wouldn't budge.

"Knuckles must have closed it which means there has to be something he didn't want anyone to find," Sonic Boom declared as he started searching the wall by the door.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked him, not sure what his mate's counterpart was looking for. He felt around for a few minutes before he grinned. He pushed a stone slab inwards, causing the door to open.

"In my dimension, Knuckles has hidden passageways littered around the place. So, I figured that your dimension of Knuckles would too,"  he explained, walking through the door.

Shadow raised an eyebrow, impressed before he followed him. Tails trailed behind, squinting into the darkness. "But why did he block this off in the first place?" The passage opened up into a larger room, that was equally pitch-black.

"There has to be a light source somewhere," Sonic Boom mused, feeling around for anything. "Huh?" As if summoned by magic, various lanterns lit up showing exactly what they were looking for.

Shadow looked down, noticing one of his shoes was on a slightly elevated platform. He frowned, before looking up to blink at his surroundings. He gulped.

"Is that..." Tails paused, astonished by what he was seeing.

"These drawings don't just tell us about Fleetway, but also about Sonic! Tails, take a picture and let's bring this back to Knuckles. He should have the answers we need Sonic Boom instructed.

Once done, he turned to leave before reeling back at the sight of Shadow glaring at him, from the now-blocked doorway.