Chaos Born

Where IS Sonic?

Rosemary was turning in her sleep, whinging and squeaking with every breath. Her 'father' watched over her. He wondered if, maybe, the little Seedian knew what was going on. Maybe she could sense the loss of her uncle. She had been bizarrely quiet when Tails and Zooey had gone to retrieve her after Sonic's disappearance was discovered.

Tails gently stroked the child's soft, petal-like skin. He was very much in love with Zooey but there were times he wished Cosmo were here to give extra advice on what to do.

"Yeah, he'll be okay," Tails whispered to Rosemary and to himself, "He'll be okay. He's Uncle Sonic, isn't he?"

Rosemary yawned and her face softened. She looked so much like her mother...

- - - - -

"Rouge?" A large mittened hand, so very strong and yet so very gentle, carefully rested on the bat's shoulder. "Rouge, we should probably get going."

One by one, the Allies had gone their seperate ways, some hanging around longer to hear of any news and others deeming it wise to leave Tails' house which had somehow become a social hub for them all. 

Rouge was of the former group, hesitant to leave should there be a new development, but even she could see that cluttering up the front room at this time of night wasn't going to be of any use.

"Guess there's nothing we can do here, huh?" she asked, somehow hopeful that there might be a chance of being able to do something.

 Amy was on her feet and she shook her head which caused her quills, having grown longer in her adult years, to rustle slightly.

"Not unless you know a way of getting Sonic back," she answered and, for the first time that evening, attempted a smile, "You get back home and rest, Rouge. Stressing won't help the baby."

A ghost of a grimace appeared on Rouge's face and she hurriedly attempted to hide her expression.

"...Look at who the parents are," she shrugged, "I think the baby's gonna be tough enough to handle this. You worry about yourself."

"And... you know," Knuckles added, nodding toward the stairs, "keep an eye on him." He was referring, of course, to Tails.

Amy was pressing her teeth into her lower lip but she nodded, hard. "...Yeah, I will."

"Don't worry about making a call to GUN," Shadow then said, appearing from the kitchen and looking at Rouge, "I'll handle it once I've heard back from the Chaotix."

"Thanks," Rouge sighed, grateful for Shadow's concern but slightly annoyed that he seemed to have something to do and she didn't.

"Okay," she finally said, "let's get back to Angel Island."

Knuckles still had a hand on her shoulder. "If you wanted to stay..."

Despite her foul mood (a pregnancy side-effect, she was sure), Rouge smiled. 

"I'm missing my jewels," she lied, "Anyway, I've got to get some beauty sleep before seeing the doctor tomorrow." The truth was, she was getting more and more emotional the more tired she got and the last thing a girl like Rouge wanted to do was break down in front of all those who knew her to be a brick wall when it came to sentimental emotions.

Whether Knuckles saw through this or not, no-one knew. He simply turned to the only other echidna in the room.

"What about you?" he asked Shade, "Where are you crashing tonight?"

Shade had a place to stay in the city but she'd had trouble settling ever since she bought it five years ago. Before then, she'd been sleeping in a cave in the Mystic Ruins and bunking on various sofas but even though she now had a fixed roof over her head, she was still adjusting.