Disclaimer: I wish I owned them, then I would have money and never go to school.

Warning: This fic contains some violence, mental torture, curses, and implied…stuff. Go on, use your imaginations.

Was on my hard drive for a while, so I should just send it in. Now of course you may not like this. I'm conflicted on this one. :s The idea just came to me while listening to some music, so blame music for getting this inside my head. Those who like the Shadow and Rouge pairing may hate me, or not. Depends on your view. It's not as weird as some other fics, I think. Please forgive me for any OOCness. I tried my best to keep them in character, though it's kinda tricky with this concept. But I should just shut up and let you read. Flame or review. Just be gentle. (goes to crawl under a rock)

Devil's Serenade
By Darkhymns

-

No one would believe her. She was alone now. It had been so easy.

She knew that he watched her. Even when he was far away, she knew that he was going over her image in his mind. Looking at every curve, at every limb, his eyes flowing around her.

He was alive, and he wanted her.

And all she could do was try to escape.

The bat was now flying over the world, her black wings torn and shredded beyond recognition. Her blood trickled through her open wounds, drops of scarlet rain falling to the ground below and be soaked up by the brown earth.

She knew that he was looking for her now. He was calling for her. His lips formed the sounds to her name, enunciating the vowels. His face was so near, close, overstepping the boundaries.

You fell inside me.

Shadow was alive, and he wanted her.

Rouge, the treasure huntress, the notorious spy, was fleeing for her life, her dignity, her sanity. Flying toward the one person that would give her a helping hand. No one else had believed her before, right from the beginning. She was crazy, insane. They thought that she still mourned for him, and that it wouldn't leave her mind. A part of the past that refused to be bury.

But they didn't see his eyes. They didn't know what he did.

Shadow refused to die.

He had just appeared one night, midnight quills blending with the dark. She had been walking around town like always, a nocturnal creature who did not until now fear the obscurity of the evening.

The hedgehog had stood in front of her, an inexorable phantom of memories. The white bat had stopped in utter amazement, shocked to see her long lost companion standing before her, breathing. His eyes were pinpoints of red in the murky atmosphere. His chest heaved up and down slowly, breathing, panting as he stared.

She had almost ran to him, wanting to see whether this was really illusion or reality. A hope rose in her, grateful that her friend was truly alive.

No, not just friend.

Shadow's orbs of crimson went deep inside, probing into the corners of her mind, then examining her form silhouetted against the pale moonlight.

He smiled.

The mind gets taken apart.

He grabbed her arm in great strength, the face twisted in anticipation. Then he almost…he almost…

But she pulled away and ran, seeing the fire in those orbs of red.

Shadow remained there, waiting. Because he knew.

Rouge had told the others of the past incident, her voice strained from remembered shock and terror. She explained how she saw the supposedly deceased hedgehog standing and breathing, just not what he had almost done.

Almost.

None believed her, especially Sonic. He reiterated the final battle amidst the black vacuum of space and how he saw his dark counterpart fall to oblivion. No one could have survived that descent. Their eyes had been filled with grave pity, maintaining that she had been seeing things. Only one friend showed a hint of faith, solely giving sympathy that no one else took her convictions to heart.

They had said the mind cannot always perceive what is real or not. He was dead.

Your mind is a part of me.

But he had been there, he had spoken to her. His voice low in soft baritone, his eyes much too bright. Shining like she had never seen. His face spoke of lust.

You are so beautiful.

And then he had reached for her.

But she ran.

Weeks after that, Rouge tried to forget, hopeful that it actually was just a minds deception. She even began to smile once more, a mouth that had no cares. Everything seemed to flow to her liking again.

But then Shadow came for her in a second attempt, this time at her home.

She had opened her door to find the hedgehog leaning against the wall, eyes flashing. His face showed impatience as his body trembled for what it yearned and demanded. In his right hand was the golden bracelet, twirling playfully around his deft fingers.

A gift Sonic had given her after the fall, a memento of Shadow. Every evening she would look over at her nightstand where the shining object laid, and then she would remember her departed friend.

Not just friend.

Shadow put on the treasure around his wrist, smiling white teeth that illuminated in the dark shade. The intoxication flooded his senses, an urge that needed to be sated.

He went for her again with brute force. Rouge fought him off skillfully, her fangs parted in ire.

This is not real.

But Shadow dealt her a devastating blow to her skull, slowing her speed and reflexes. It had caught her off guard and now she would pay for her folly. The demon stood over her, eyes aflame.

No time for fantasy.

Then…he took her. Like some common whore, he took her. Grabbing her immobile body, carrying her to the room, then shoving her onto the soft mattress. His face showed no benevolence, for he would not be denied. He would have her, all to himself.

And he did.

Beating, thrusting, screaming. A pure primal act that no eyes should ever witness and no body ever experience. A twisting of arms, entangling limbs, his mouth all over, devouring. It was hell in the bedroom, a vicious act of souls breaking, rebuilt, then broken again.

And again, and again, and again.

But what was worse…she enjoyed it.

Despite the skin being torn and her face repeatedly bashed against the bedpost. In spite of his mouth suffocating her and his body crushing her.

She had enjoyed it.

She had fucking enjoyed it.

His eyes were all she could see. Or maybe it was her blood. The memories all melded together into one entity.

Lost inside, tainting deep. Put your soul within me.

Rouge had left after, when he was sleeping, his right arm around her waist. His face then had looked calm and peaceful, almost like himself once more. When she had first met him.

A remarkable contrast between angel and demon.

The bat silently crept away in the early morning, wounds stinging and clothes ripped to rags. She then flew through the skies, not believing anything now. Perhaps it was just some vicious nightmare.

But she had actually enjoyed it!

And he knew it. He would take her again.

Put your soul within me.

No, she could not tell anyone. Shame was being too cruel on her, not letting the woman even cry. Her face was as set as stone, unyielding to the torment brewing inside. There was no value in it.

He had taken her because he knew that she wanted it, right in the back of her mind. His hands everywhere, his mouth over hers…

Because that is how it should be. I am inside your mind.

Now traveling in the gentle skies, her blood dripped from her numerous cuts slashed around her body. Her energy finally slipping away, she plunged into a forest beneath her. The emerald leaves hid her from view, protecting the bat for now. Nature was forgiving.

Even after her body hit the ground that somehow felt so soft, she knew that he was now waking.

Shadow was angry, she could essentially feel the heat of his rage. He was tearing up her house, ripping the mattress to shreds. He was shouting her name, needing her again.

Because it should be like that.

You cannot leave me.

Rouge could picture the black quills ragged and out of place as he ran out of her house, looking for the bat that belonged to him.

Don't deny me!

Rouge still could not weep, because he had had her already. Because amidst the sadistic pleasure, he had held her close in such protection, his breathy whispers in her ear. She recalled his hands on her waist, moving slightly. His mouth breathing, sighing, murmuring. She had felt safe…for a while.

His eyes had held that in them. The amusement of seeing blood flow, seeing the soul break. Perhaps he had always been like that, but only now showed it to her.

We should have never met.

She had been drawn to him from their first meeting way up high, where the cares of the world could not reach. At first it had seemed an unimportant feeling, but not to Shadow. No, not to him. Because even back then, his eyes had stared deep. They always had. She had known. Even when his voice had been indifferent, she knew that he still looked at her. Lingering, investigative, over and over again. The beautiful pupils drowned deep in a pool of crimson, they flowed around her, eating hungrily.

And only now had he acted upon it by coming to her and holding her down and bringing his mouth to her own and…and…

His mind was wrong, twisted from the fall. The atmosphere from the void above had restricted his thinking process. Yes, that was it. That had to be it. And now he was only a demented creature who could not determine between right and wrong. Resorting back to primitive instincts, he had acted upon the first initiative. He was broken too, a shattered shell. He looked to her to fix him, to help the cravings finally go away.

Rouge remembered that last night she could hardly breathe.

The bat crouched in the forest, the leaves whispering above as if to contemplate the cause of her sorrow. She shivered, trying her best not to remember the warmth of his body. Night fell, her body finally waking.

Where could she go now? She couldn't go back to the others. Not show them this. Shame still had not relinquished his grip. No, they cannot know that the independent treasure hunter was now a tainted woman. It was best for them to not know.

Because Shadow would find her, and he would take her again.

Her mind suddenly switched to one friendly face. Yes, of course, he would help her. He was the only one who had expressed any belief. He would protect her and make her strong once more.

Unfurling her torn wings, she flew through the ebony sky dotted with sparkling diamonds, beating the black skin painfully in rhythm. Shadow had nearly torn them off, laughing at her screams. Because he knew that deep inside she loved it.

Fate can be fucking cruel sometimes.

After an eternity, she found Angel Island; a lonely mass of earth, forever doomed to wander the empty heavens. He would help her, for he had a gift to drive away sorrow in his calm voice. He had comforted her when she mourned for Shadow's supposed death.

If she had known of what would portend, the bat would have thrown the golden bracelet into the sewer.

The life of the island drew her close.

I need to hear your voice.

She landed on the ground and was now running toward her savior, her wings no longer strong enough to carry her weight. A trail of red stained the green grass in her jog, droplets falling through the night air.

He would help her, he always had.

She found his form, silhouetted against the beautiful green gem, a beacon of last hope. She saw his head raise at the sound of heels crushing the soft grass stems. With one flick of his hand, he beckoned to her.

He'll help me. He'll help me.

A relieved smile stretched her lips. Rouge stretched out her arms.

Wait…

Her footsteps slowed, the scarlet rivers on her white fur still cascading down her body. He was standing there, smiling at her discomfiture. Because this time it was different.

You came to me.

Shadow was looking deep inside her again, bloody pupils always staring with that strange lust and pleasure. He loved watching her, because she was beautiful. He had told her so.

Because she was his.

The Guardian, Knuckles, lay sprawled next to him. His body crumpled up next to the Master Emerald, the very relic he swore to protect until death. Shadow thought of it as a fitting end.

The dark violet eyes were open, bare of any light that had once lived inside those gentle irises. His lifeblood formed around him, staining the pure scarlet fur, his dreadlocks falling over his empty face. Staying true to his duty until the last.

Shadow had known he was in the middle. He had felt it last night with her. The damned echidna stood between them, like a vicious love triangle. So the black hedgehog broke him, swift and easy. The Guardian never knew, only that somehow the night had stabbed him in the back.

Now Rouge and Shadow were alone, bound, joined in isolation. Nothing between but memories. And memories can fade away.

She collapsed to the soft ground, finally crying. Because there was no one else. There was nothing now but him, always watching her.

Damn it! Damn you! No…no…

She could dimly hear his soft footfalls coming towards her. Halting before the bat, he watched her weep, silently and patiently.

This is how it should be.

She curled up in a ball, wanting to lose herself in the darkness. Deep black, void of anything, of everything. He was darkness, and he was here.

She felt his arms gather her broken soul, lifting her up gently. Cradling her close, he watched the crystal rain fall from aqua irises. He would take her again, but not until she stopped. Not until she finally accepted it.

Her voice quieted, her body's quivering ceased from fatigue.

Rouge felt the rush fly past, a myriad of colors. Just like back then when she had been trapped in the metal prison, holding the three jewels secure, her closest companions. Shadow had come for her and held her close as they vanished through the fabric of time.

Just like now. Just like now.

In her room, he still held her close. Their breathing, a slow gentle breeze in the dark.

Tied together in bitter fate.

Sighing, she waited patiently for his mouth.

And this time, it did not hurt.

/Fin/