Because You Loved Me--Even If I Didn't Want You To

Chapter Five: Prelude to a Storm
(AKA: A Prelude to the Delicious Yet Devious Plot of the Vixen Named Rouge)

The day and been a long one, but for Rouge, it was exactly what she needed to see her plans fall through.

You see, she was a woman who was never very serious when it came to romance. Or men. They adored her. Cherished her, bought her things. She swished her hips, give a little seductive smirk, the flirtatious wink. And men would fall to their knees–or at least blush a little here or flirt back there.

Everyone that was, but one man.

Knuckles just down right ignored everything that made her the glorious woman she was. He took her winks as suspicious, frowned when she smirked, and looked down right dumbfounded when she flirted, like he wasn’t sure what he should be doing.

She always thought a boy like Tails was naive in love, but Knuckles just completely took the cake in this department. He was in the same category as Cream. Cream. And even she gave Tails more play then Knuckles gave her.

She leaned back on the wall as she watched the crimson echidna help Cream with her tray of hot chocolate, ‘hmphing’.

Knuckles was just sad. He spent his entire life guarding that Master Emerald...

The Master Emerald. It’s how the two even met. She smiled softly at the fond memory.

She had come to steal the Master Emerald and Knuckles had caught her red handed, so to speak. They argued and he said something about it being more than just some pretty gem–and he was right, it was, but that hadn’t mattered to Rouge. Just the mere thought that someone was telling her she couldn’t have something, especially any type of jewel, simply infuriated her.

Then Eggman came along and tried to steal it right from under their nose–the nerve that someone would steal something she was trying to steal first–and Knuckles had broken it. Then he went off to find all the pieces, leaving her to do the same. When they’d met again, they fought to get the other’s pieces and she had tried to kick him off a ledge–and nearly fallen to her own doom. But at the last moment, Knuckles saved her life by catching her and bringing her back on the ledge safely.

And that’s when it had happened. That split second, that split moment, when their faces where only inches apart and he looked as though he would simply kiss her. And to her own amazement–that was exactly what she’d wanted him to do. To simply plant his lips on her own. The tension, the mood, everything had been right and she knew it But he simply stared at her, as if he were to afraid to do the simplest of task.

And irritated, she pushed him away and accused him of being fresh. And he, of course, denied it and went off with his Master Emerald.

She blinked out of her memories as Knuckles tripped over Cheese and caught the tray before he it landed on Cream’s head, causing pick the small chao up and thank him. He made a gruff sound and nodded.

Rouge rolled her eyes a bit and went back into her thoughts.

After everyone had escaped the ARK, she went back to her duties as a government agent while Knuckles had gone back to Angel Island to continue to protect his precious emerald.

But it didn’t take too long before the yearning came back–and she tried to steal it again. And again. And again.

Until it became a game of sorts. One that Knuckles didn’t seem to be aware of.

After a while, she even stopped trying so hard to actually succeed at stealing the emerald, anticipating the upcoming fight that would ensue once Knuckles had caught up with her and took his emerald back, annoyed that she just didn’t seem to ‘catch the hint’.

And then the moment when she made her revelation.

The idiot was no where to be found and the Master Emerald was right there for the taking. Rouge found herself looking for him, later finding out that he had simply taken a break to get something to eat for himself but at the time, she had figured it had to have been important as she had never none him to simply leave it behind for someone to easily steal.

And that’s when she first realized something was wrong with her. Because she found that she didn’t want the emerald. Because if she took it and finally succeeded, then it wouldn’t giver her an excuse to see Knuckles anymore.

And that’s how he found her when he returned with his fruit, sitting on top of the emerald with her legs crossed, her hand resting in the palm of her hand as she tapped her index finger on her temple, thinking.

With another huff, Rouge stood upright, glaring at Knuckles as he left the small den and headed back for the kitchen, not paying her any attention at all.

That stupid echidna. Making her feel things for a man she’d never felt before–and not even paying her or her feelings any attention.

A smirk formed on her face.

But then. . .that’s why all this excitement was about to start as well. It taken her a while, but she was positive that with the proper calculation, she could set her rather ‘fun’ plan into action and start her little game of chess.

Because in the end, that’s all love and relationships were. A game. A game of calculation, strategy, planning–chess was the perfect analogy for it. Yes, she was the queen while Knuckles would be her king. And everyone else was set to her pawn. Her adorable, simply, unknowing little pawns.

And her first such pawn had found its place in her plan within the past day in the form of–you guessed it–Sonic the Hedgehog.

My my, how interesting the day had been

After Shadow and Amy had their little talk, Sonic had begun to act a little weird by Rouge’s standards. He hadn’t mentioned going to fetch Shadow since and after some time had passed, Cream finally brought the subject to everyone’s attention. Sonic expressed how they didn’t ‘need’ Shadow but he hadn’t fooled her. There was a *reason* he didn’t want Shadow around anymore–and he had set it upon herself to find out why.

But after watching him more closely, she began to suspect this reason was Amy Rose.

Because another thing that was odd to Rouge was that Sonic was spending an awful lot of time with her. Not that it wasn’t what Amy had been shooting for since the first time she’d asked Rouge for a little help in getting Sonic’s attention–but she couldn’t help but think that it was just too soon.

He was overly sweet to Amy, helping her around the workshop despite her worries about his injury, engaging her in long conversations, asking her simple questions like her favorite color and food and such. If Charmy was around, he would have flown right in Tails and Knuckles’ mouths they were so wide with amazement.

Rouge was brought out of her new thoughts as she felt someone tap her hand softly. She looked down to see Cream looking up at her with a polite smile.

“Miss Rouge, would you mind asking Sonic and Amy if they’d like some cocoa and cookies?”

Rouge shrugged and started toward the hallway. “Not at all, back in a sec.”

Actually, it gave her an excuse to listen in to more of the duo’s conversations. Not that she was spying on them mind you. She was doing a favor for Cream this time–you know–being polite.

As she got to the door, tucking away the random note that Cream chose to cook all of Tail’s favorite treats, she heard the high giggle she knew to be Amy’s mix in with a deeper voice she knew to be Sonic’s.

She wasn’t sure why they were laughing but it died down just as she got to the door frame, making sure to keep out of view as she listened in.

Then after a breath, she heard Sonic ask a question. And Rouge frowned in interest.

Now it was becoming clear exactly ‘why’ he was spending so much time with Amy now.
He wanted to know exactly what it was that Amy and Shadow had been talking about before he had come in on the conversation.

A good question. One that Rouge herself wanted the answer to–though she had her suspicion. And if things progressed like she hoped, she’d be able to use them to her advantage at gaining Sonic as a pawn.

There was a deep silence after this question and Rouge couldn’t help but take a peek around the corner. Amy was staring at Sonic almost blankly, her emerald eyes burning into his. Both seemed to be searching for answers but it was Amy who seemed to find her’s first. She let a soft smile play on her face before she answered simply that it wasn’t anything important and he shouldn’t worry about it because she was sure she and Shadow had come to an understanding.

Sonic made a groan and tried to press further but Amy refused to budge in fashion that Rouge couldn’t help but feel proud.

The ‘old’ Amy as she would refer to her, would have teased Sonic to no end about possibly being jealous and smothered him in hugs, scaring the poor azure hedgehog into oblivion. But the ‘new’ Amy–the more mature, sophisticated ‘bend your man to your whim as you’ve learned from the master’ Amy– was playing the entire situation on a cool string. She made some small excuse and made her exit, leaving a slumped and annoyed Sonic with a bitter frown etched on his features in her wake.

Rouge took this moment to make her presence known waltzed her way into the room, plastering a concerned expression on her face when he looked up.

She took a place next to him by the couch and continued to stare at him in her mock emotion, choosing for now, to forget about Cream’s hot chocolate mission.

“What’s wrong Sonic?” she asked softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. He stared at her momentarily then looking at his feet, sighed.

“I dunno,” he had admitted. She nodded thoughtfully and decided to play her hand. “This wouldn’t be about the little conversation I over heard with Shadow and Amy would it.”

At this, his head shot up and he glared at her. “You heard the conversation? The entire conversation?

Rouge nodded slowly, a smirk playing on her lips. Sonic frowned. “Wait–how could you? I never saw you when I came down stairs and I thought you only heard the very end of the argument–after I got there.”

“No, Knuckles and the others did and you’re just not very observant.” she lied, correcting him as she waved a figure in disapproval. “Come on Sonic, you should know by now that my spy skills are second to none. What kind of a spy would I be if you were able to see me spying?”

Sonic thought about that for a moment and finally nodded. Rouge smirked widened as she continued to plant her seeds.

“It’s a wonder Amy was able to let him down so easy,” she began, refusing to look directly at him now. She could feel the emerald eyes back on her and she continued. “Shadow may not say much but he can be pretty strong on the emotion when he does express it. But you should know that by now right? After all, you’ve been on the recieving end when he feels ‘anger’–but then who hasn’t, right?”

Silence.

“It was almost kinda sad, you know,” she continued, looking down at her hands and plastering on a troubled expression. “He all but told her he loved her you know? But Amy..”

She sighed. “Amy let him down just as easily as she could. She told him that she was interested in well—you.”

She could feel the tension in the air and still refused to look at Sonic. But she could feel those emerald eyes staring at her intently as she spoke, soaking in her every word. Good.

“How much she lov–liked you. And well,” she finally looked up at Sonic, a playful expression on her face. “You know Shadow. ‘Faker’ this and ‘faker’ that. How much you didn’t deserve a girl like Amy because you were too blind to see a good thing when it was right in front of you. How she deserevered someone that would show her the same effection that she was wasting on you.”

She saw a flicker in his eyes at the last part of her sentence. The frown was so deep on his face that he reminded her of Shadow at the moment. His emerald eyes had a gleam of the one emotion she hoped to see in Knuckle’s eyes soon–otherwise her plan would go to complete waste: jealousy.

“And what did Amy say?” he asked quietly but she could tell he was anxious for the answer. She pretended to look a bit uncomfortable again, messing with her thumbs and taking in a small breath, as if she didn’t really want to answer. It was so unlike her–but that was the point. It was getting a rise out of Sonic and his nostrals were flarring slightly as he asked his question again.

“Well you heard what she said Sonic. The relationship between them would never work. But right before you came–I don’t know. It was the look she had, you know? Like she was actually thinking about what he said. Like she wasn’t sure if what she was about to say was what she really wanted to.”

There was a deafening silence then and Sonic sank back into the sofa, his quills drooping even lower than before as a bitter, almost pouty expression crossed his face.

Rouge forced a questioning look on her face but inwardly she smirked. My, how a boy doesn’t like another boy playing with his toys.

“Come on now, don’t look so glum,” she said in a cheer up fashion, patting him on the shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll still pamper you like the baby you’re acting. Now she just has a man to think about in the mean time.”

This earned her a very evil glare from Sonic. “What’s that suppose to mean?” he snapped. He sounded slightly aggravated.

Rouge hunched slightly. “Well...I mean...come on Sonic. You’re older than Amy–but you’re about as immature as Cream when it comes to romance and relationships. Amy is a girl that knows what she wants in love but she’s too blinded by her crush for you.”

“Crush?” he asked, almost as if she had insulted him. She hunched. “What else do you call it? She’s blind by her puppy love for you but don’t except her to stay that way forever or until you finally decide you want to humor yourself with a romance with her. Shadow has already noticed her for the woman she is and it won’t be too long until she realizes that herself–and that she doesn’t have to wait for a love that will never happen to find her happiness.”

Sonic didn’t speak. He only stared down at his shoes as if he were in a deep, troubling thought. Rouge took this moment to smirk openly. She really amazed herself sometimes, the way she could manipulate the mind.

“Oh don’t worry Sonic,” she stated in annoying cheer up fashion again standing on her feet and pulling him up to his own, surprising him a bit. She winked at him. “I’m sure you’ll wake up before it’s too late. And if not–well–at least she’ll have one super fast hedgehog to cuddle with right?”

Sonic opened his mouth to retort but she could tell it wasn’t going to be polite in the least, so she cut him off. “Everything will work itself out, don’t you worry.”

She could hear footsteps and voices coming close to the door, and a grunt she knew all too well. A sly smile crossed her lips as she timed the moment perfectly in her head before she engulfed Sonic in a friendly hug just as the door opened.

She heard a surprised gasp, from the doorway and from Sonic.

“Miss Rouge? Mr. Sonic?”

They both turned in unison to see the gang standing in the doorway. Cream looked slightly worried as she held her tray off hot chocolate and cookies in her hand. Tails looked bewildered for the millionth time that day while Amy frowned slightly as she looked between the two.

Then her eyes fell on Knuckles.

Rouge couldn’t fight the excitement that ran through her body as she realized her plan would work.. Not only did Knuckles look completely jealous just as she’d hoped–the crimson echidna looked positively livid as his violet eyes trained on the azure hedgehog, his fist clenching and unclenching at his sides.

So her king actually did care about his queen. As she thought, he was just going to need a little ‘push’ to help him express his emotions for her openly.

As complicated and messy as it was–as much as she knew this could possibly make quite a few people very anger at her if they found out (though Amy should be happy with the development Rouge thought) her plan was going to work.

The result was simple: when she was through, Knuckles soul ache for her, he wouldn’t be able to have a straight thought unless it was about her. He would be just as passionate about her as he was about protecting that Master Emerald, even more so if this all worked out well.

Rouge the bat was not going to simply make him say how he felt no, that was too simple. Too easy. She was going to make Knuckles the Echidna show just how much he cared for her. And just by the way he was staring now, she new she was going in the right direction, that she was doing it exactly right.

And while she had developed her first pawn, he wasn’t going to work out exactly like she’d hoped.

Certainly Knuckles would be jealous but there was too much to risk with Sonic.

While Knuckles didn’t know how to explain such emotions properly he was not however, afraid to confront anyone about anything. Which wasn’t the problem in least–actually, it was what she was hoping for. But it would only be a matter of seconds before Sonic let the truth be know before she could obtain the information and confirmation she needed. There was the chance that Knuckles would be too hard headed to listen, but then there would also be the problem of Tails, Cream, Amy...heck anyone that knew the pair that could stop the train wreck before it began.

Not to mention she didn’t feel like trying to dodge a Piko-Piko hammer whenever Amy was in a five yard radius of her.

Not to say that Sonic wouldn’t have his uses–oh no. He would still play a major role in helping her use Knuckles’ own quick judgement against him.

But what she need now was a new pawn. A better pawn.

“What were you to doing?” Knuckles asked finally, still glaring daggers at Sonic.

“Don’t mind us,” she laughed at him as she broke the hug. “Sonic just needed a little comfort after being away from Amy for so long. Oh and Cream remember: you don’t have to say ‘Miss’ or ‘Mr.’ to us.”

Tail looked at Sonic as Cream made a ‘ah’ sound and Amy blushed slightly as she smiled. Sonic just gave a sheepish laugh and inched away, shooting a glare at Rouge. But Knuckles continued to stare at him in complete annoyance.

Sonic took a seat back on the couch and Tail’s joined him. Amy took a seat on the other side of him. Rouge watched as Sonic looked absently at her then, as if mentally pressing himself onward, placed his head on Amy’s lap.

Amy blinked down at him and Tails stared at the pair out of the corner of his eye. Rouge couldn’t help but chuckle at the poor tan fox. It was obvious to her that this behavior in Sonic was something Tails’ was not use to seeing.

Amy smiled down at him and began running her fingers softly through his quills before playing with the delicate lining of his ear lob. He gave a content sigh and closed his eyes in comfort.

When Amy looked up at Rouge, she gave her a quick wink and sauntered over to Cream, taking a cup of cocoa.

“Well...we found the next Chaos Emerald,” Tails began before thanking Cream for his own cup when she offered. He took three cookies and balanced them on his leg before using his now free hand to take out a small device. He pressed a few keys on the panel and four dots began to flash while it made a soft blinking sound. “Four to be exact.”

Sonic opened his eyes and tried to sit up only to be laid back down when Amy coxed him to. “Four? Together?”

“Sort of. One is by itself here,” he pointed to a small blinking dot. “Located somewhere deep in this jungle. But the other three are in this mini industrial plant here a few hundreds yards away past it.”

This time, Sonic sat up and stayed up, though Amy still played with his quills. “That must be Eggman’s base.”

“Or a temporary one,” Rouge pointed out as she took a sip of her cocoa, causing everyone to look her way. “Eggman had quite a few if I remember correctly. It keeps the government from finding him so easily.”

“Mr. Eggman set up this new base so he could be closer to the Chaos Emerald?” Cream asked the group, worry evident on her face as she gave a cup to Amy and offered one to Sonic..

“Must have,” he nodded as he refused the cup but took a few cookies.

“Three emeralds–Tails, is one of those–”

“I’m sorry Knuckles,” Tails announced, sending him a sad glance. “He doesn’t seem to have the Master Emerald with him.”

Knuckles looked angry for a split second, but his face faltered and he frowned, leaning back on the wall with his arms crossed. He looked away from the group and went into his own troubled thoughts.

“How can you tell?” Cream asked him curiously.

“The Master Emerald has a different power core on my radar when I detect the Chaos Emeralds,” he explained. “It would produce a more powerful trace than the Chaos Emeralds.”

“So what are we waiting for?” Sonic announced, jumping to his feet, an excited smirk on his face.

“Just hold on a second,” Rouge announced, holding her hand up. The entire group looked her way and she put her second play of her chess match into motion.

“Shouldn’t we get Shadow?”

She was met with silence. Sonic glared at her as if she were a traitor and Amy frowned thoughtfully. Cream stared at her in wonder as did Tails but Knuckles cut her an annoyed side glance.

“I mean, we could certainly use his help after all. With this many Chaos Emeralds to be had, we’ll need two teams won’t we? One to track down the emerald in the forest and the other to stall Dr. Eggman and steal the emeralds he possesses so far. Since I’m use to Eggman’s compounds, I think that should be me. Since I’ll need some backup–not to mention we just get along better and he knows Eggman just as well as I do–I would like Shadow to be with me. The rest of you can find the Chaos Emerald.”

And just like she thought, suspicion would take the better of at least one of them and to no further surprise, it just happened to be Knuckles.

“Why should we let you and Shadow go to Eggman’s base?” he challenged, glaring at her now. “How do we know we can trust the two of you not to join up with him and double cross us? Or just run off with the emeralds you steal?”

It never failed. Rouge batted her eyes and gave him an innocent smile. “Now Knuckles, when have I ever given any of you any reason to distrust me? Really, it will be easy: we’ll just stroll in there, divert the doctor and take the chaos emeralds for ourselves and leave.”

She knew exactly how she had worded the sentence because everyone looked a bit uncomfortable after that and Knuckles looked almost triumphant. It was no secret that she had a history of simply walking of with Chaos Emeralds that didn’t belong to her and Shadow wasn’t exactly clean in the ‘giving up Choas Emeralds’ department either. Though he was doing better than her lately.

And just as she’d thought, Sonic spoke up. “Maybe we should make the teams more even. Besides, I happen to know Eggman just as good, if not better than you Rouge. So Tails, Rouge and I can go meet with Egghead and Knuckles, Amy, and–”

“Not so fast Sonic, you forgot Shadow,” Rouge corrected him, though she knew very well he meant to.

Before he could speak up, Amy spoke first. “Sonic wait.”

She watched as Amy placed her cup down and took his hands into hers instead of what Rouge knew she would normally do: hug him.. He looked at her puzzled as she began to speak.

“You look like you feel a lot better and your wound doesn’t seem to be bothering you as much, but I would feel better if you let,” she paused when she caught Rouge staring at her and taking a breath, she spoke again. “If you let someone go with you–someone that will be able to take care of you if something else happens to you. That way if you get hurt again, I’ll be sure that you’re okay. O-or you could just go after the emerald in the jungle–it’s not as dangerous.”

She looked down at their hands, avoiding his eyes. “Just don’t want you hurt anymore, that’s all. I worry.”

Rouge sighed softly at Amy’s save. She had specifically told Amy not to invite herself to accompany Sonic–let him invite her on his own. But in the process, let her best aspects that they both knew he liked shine through. Like her concern for his well being. Not even Sonic could deny it was nice to have someone that cared about him so much.

Sonic’s face softened as he looked at her and Rouge saw him squeeze her hands. Amy looked up at him and he smiled. “Come on Amy, this is Egghead! You know better than tot think he could throw something at me I can’t handle.”

Amy blushed but her worry didn’t falter. He gave her a confident smile. “You know I’ll be fine! I’ll have my little buddy with me and having Rouge around is like having Knuckles. Only she thinks.”

Rouge saw Knuckles look outraged as he gave a gruff “Hey!” in protest but Sonic ignored him.

Cream walked over to Amy and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure Mr.–um– Sonic will be okay Amy. But if you’re really worried, I can go with Tails and Knuckles and we can go find the chaos emerald. If anything happens to them, then they’ll have me to help them, that way you can help Sonic and Shadow or Rouge if they get hurt.”

Tails nodded. “With Knuckles, we’ll find it in no time.”

“ And with Shadow to help us guys, Sonic won’t have to excert himself so much,” Rouge added.

She watched as Sonic looked slightly annoyed but he finally agreed, seeing four people gang up him in their own small ways and it just appeared that Knuckles was content on glaring at the back of her head.

“So it’s agreed then,” Rouge sighed happily, outstretching her wings and placing her hands on her hips. “ You guys will find the chaos emerald and we’ll go stall the doctor. But in the mean time, someone has to go find Shadow and clue him in.”

Sonic took a step forward as he began to sigh out an answer put Rouge put her hand up. “Thanks but I think I should be the one to go get him. After all, we’ve always gotten along better and if he’s still angry about–today–“ she shot the pair of hedgehog a meanful look, each taking it for their separate meaning. “Then he may not want to see you right now. Better that someone cool him down since we’ll all be spending a bit of time together, right?”

“You sure you won’t just go off and find the emerald first?” Sonic joked.

She hunched and looked directly at Knuckles as she replied. “Nope. Some things are just more important.”

She saw the flare in Knuckles eyes again and he uncrossed his arms as if he was about to snap at her but before he could utter a sound, she had taken to the air and flown out of the room, past Cheese he was sleeping on the couch and opening the door, out of Tail’s workshop to find her second pawn.


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Author's Note:
As always, thanks reading and reviewing my story. It really means a lot to me. I'd also like to thank everyone for being so patient with this update. I'm soo sorry. I would have updated sooner as I wanted to give you all a chapter for Christmas, but family came up. Then for New Year's I got really sick (I'm just getting over my cold now.)

My updates should be as frequent as before though. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! More to come later!