Chapter Text
A wall of monitors and screens glowed their luminous blue light in the thick darkness of a cave wall, illuminating a sickly pale face staring back at them with large gaunt eyes. The creature in front of the computers tapped away at the keyboard mesmerized by the images that it saw.
Years of research, waiting, and searching.
Years of unrequited revenge, finally paying off.
An unnerving smile that would have chilled the blood of any soulful creature crept across its face revealing its yellow and sharp fangs.
“Oh, how ironic fate is.” it ruminated to itself as it continued to watch the monitors closely. Fate itself couldn’t have planned out a better form of ironic revenge if it had asked for it. These things just had a way of setting themselves up didn’t they? The hardest part of it all was of course the waiting.
Waiting and watching.
She was clever of course. Always managing to slip through the cracks and always be just out of reach, even losing track of her from time to time. She had a knack of playing hard to find, skills it knew it taught her. They had lost her for a few years. Perhaps the game of chase was one sided. Perhaps she thought that it was over and they had all forgotten about her. Why else would she be so careless about her life? It was so long ago after all. But now they had found her. Her and her oh so precious family.
The creature clicked the picture that was on the screen and enhanced it. The picture was blurry, but it was her no doubt.
“It has been far too long, Rouge the bat.” it spat the name out from its lips. Rouge’s white face stood out amidst the street of civilians along with what looked to be three much younger and smaller bats trailing close beside her.
A nervous metallic knock disturbed the beast’s plotting.
“Enter.”
“The elites are all awaiting your commands sir,” said an owl who’s inherently nervous voice put the creature on an annoyed edge.
“Thank you Octus,” He said, spinning his chair around. Octus the owl took a few more steps in closing the door behind him. Years of questionable experiments at the behest of his master had left his skin with a sickly green glow causing feathers to molt off around him at an alarming rate.
“Are you sure that now is the right time? I’ve been surveilling them for weeks and they have skills that are nearly unmatched to any we’ve encountered!”
“And who taught her those skills in the first place?!” The beast suddenly rose from his throne flaring his leathery wings out and slamming a scepter onto the stone floor. Octus winced and several feathers loosed from his wings as he flinched back.
“You did, of course!”
The creature squinted his eyes at the hunched screech owl in a glare.
“The cards have fallen right in place for such a time. Now they are young, vulnerable and easier to manipulate." he smiled his wretched smile.
"The ritual will not work with the two we’ve managed to recover, a miraculous feat I thought I'd never see. But as for the other five, we simply have to lure them in."
Octus nodded and smiled matching his smile with his master’s. The master placed his hands on top of his scepter pleased. His clawed fingers let out small slivers of glowing green light from a strange gem that sat atop the scepter.
“We hit hardest where it will hurt the most.”
“How will she know it will be us?”
“Oh, She will know. Her time of retribution is now.”
***
Rouge woke with a jolt, flinching in bed. She felt an icy, tingling, sensation creeping all across her body as she suddenly became aware of her heart racing. She took in a deep shaky breath and tried to move her legs like it would break the ice that was covering her.
‘I haven’t had that nightmare in years!’ She thought to herself, her mind now racing with an old sense of anxiety she hadn’t felt in a long time. Some of the details of the nightmare had changed with time. But the plot remained the same.
There was a rustling of sheets next to her and she felt a warm hand on her shoulder.
“You ok?” a deep groggy voice asked. Rouge swallowed and put her hand on top of his, his touch melting away the ice.
“Yeah, I just thought I heard Kagé." She whispered back. Why did she lie? She felt Shadow gently squeeze her shoulder and draw his hand back and let out a deep breath going back to sleep. Rouge also breathed in again and pulled the covers up closer to her chin and tried closing her eyes, releasing her breath.
She still felt anxious, but at least her heart had slowed down. She also felt a bit guilty for lying, but she shook her head and brushed it aside. It wasn’t something that she or Shadow needed to worry about. She usually wasn't the one having the nightmares. Sure she had bad dreams, but nightmares? Not as much. It was just a bad memory trying to resurface, and she refused to let it.
After a few minutes Rouge settled down enough to drift back off to sleep again, but not without strange vague dreams of being chased.