About an hour passed before Rouge came to. (Y/N) used that time to calm herself down, having been in tears over the fear of what was next, and then more tears when she realised what she had. Shadow offering a home to her, kissing her, it had been overwhelming. But now she was content, happy, even more determined to get this over and done with.

Her ears twitched as the bat stirred, letting out a groan and she started to sit up. Rouge gripped her side almost immediately, her ears laid back in pain and the (a/t)'s ears lowered as well. She walked over and crouched next to the other female, a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." She said slowly, "How are you feeling?"

The bat jumped at first, but relaxed when she saw it was only (Y/N). She cracked a painfilled grin, shaking her head,

"Hun, I've taken a bullet to the side, I think I was better before I passed out, I couldn't feel it then."

"Adrenaline is a blessing sometimes." Shadow walked over, also crouching next to her, "Do you think you can move? We need to get out of here right now. G.U.N could be on their way right now."

The bat nodded, before trying to get up, "I'll have to either way, won't I?"

Shadow let out a huff, before helping her to her feet. The bat swayed, clinging onto Shadow's arm as she grimaced in pain. He waited patiently for her to get her bearings. Once she had, she gave him a thumbs up.

"Good, we should head out the way we come in. I may have a Chaos Emerald now, but as Tails mentioned earlier, the energy surrounding this place could affect how my Chaos Control works. I don't want to risk anything."

(Y/N) nodded, before wrapping her arm around Rouge's side, "What are we waiting for then? Lets go."

The three Mobians, now content with hiding the Golden Moon, set off through the temple again. For once, Shadow was grateful they had sprung a few of the traps, it was a lot easier to walk around a giant boulder when it wasn't moving, and not having to worry.

Of course they still had to dodge the spears, evade the snakes and keep an eye out for axes. The rooms where they hadn't triggered anything were even more dangerous now as well, since they didn't know what they were looking out for, and the room was in reverse. Where should they stand?

Rouge was limping against (Y/N) as they walked, one eyes closed as she tried to focus on her footing. (Y/N) kept her eyes on her, making sure she didn't step anywhere or trigger any sort of trap. So far, so good.

Shadow himself was also trying not to trigger anything, though he couldn't help but continuously look back at his two partners. He was afraid they would get hurt, especially with Rouge in her condition, they wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time.

The hedgehog glanced back at them once again, watching as (Y/N) guided Rouge through the patterned tiles, and he couldn't help but smile. He had been right about the (a/t)'s worries, leaving the Golden Moon behind and having nowhere to go. And he was happy she had kissed him back, happy to have given her a way out, and helped her in her dilemma. There was no way he would abandon the (a/t) after all of this, they were far too close now. And that showed, as he worried over her safety.

Something below his foot moved, and he turned his attention to the dark tile as it sunk into the ground. The sound of gas being released made his ears twitch, and the hedgehog raised his ruby gaze to see a spark in the roof. He barely made it out of the way of the fireball as it blasted into the tiles below him. The heat from the flame caused the girls to stumble back, and Shadow managed to summersault over them and stop them from falling on any other darker tiles.

"Careful, this room's theme is fire." He said, though that was more than obvious by now as the flame in front of them slowly died down. The tile below was glowing red, a large crack through the centre.

"Gotcha hun." Rouge said through gritted teeth.

The hedgehog nodded, before once again taking the lead and getting them through the room. He thought to himself as he walked, he had never been distracted like that before. He wondered if that was a good or bad thing.

Meanwhile, (Y/N) watched him with concern. She had seen him look back, just as he had stepped on the tile. Had she known, she would have warned him, but she couldn't. And the (a/t) had once again noticed, when he jumped behind them, that the light sparks were still moving through his fur. The hedgehog didn't seem at all worried about it though, so she decided to drop it.

Finally, they reached the bridge, and everyone let out a sigh of relief, it was all blue skies from here, as the two rooms after this were practically empty. The only obstacle now was getting over the old bridge, and with an injured bat, both Shadow and (Y/N) shared the same thought.

This won't be easy.

They started slow, both hedgehog and (a/t) supporting the bat across the bridge. Shadow took his place in front of them once again, making sure to watch his footing on the decaying boards, while (Y/N) made sure Rouge followed is footsteps and not fall over. The bat, although overly flustered from this babying, couldn't complain. Though she did have a burning question.

"So... What'll happen if this bridge collapses?"

"No idea, we'll find out if it happens." Shadow said with a grunt, "Though I'd really rather we don't."

"That's fair..." She gave light chuckle, before groaning and holding her head, "How much blood did I lose..? The room's starting to spin..."

Shadow raised his gaze to her face. It was true, she was extremely pale now. A glimpse at her wrapped wound showed that she had bled through it. Crap, she was still losing blood.

"Quiet a bit." The hedgehog said, before trying to sound reassuring, "But don't worry, we're nearly out. Tails will be able to help you out more than I can."

"Okay hun..." She smiled, before swaying again. All three jerked as she stepped forward, and the board beneath her cracked, giving way. (Y/N) caught Rouge just before she could fall, pulling her back; but one misstep later, and she too was falling through the bridge.

Shadow acted quickly, grabbing onto Rouge's arm and holding onto the timely rope that kept the bridge up, The bat let out a whin of pain as (Y/N) hugged her waist, blood smearing over her arm. Great, now what?

"Rouge." Shadow said through gritted teeth, "I need you to fly."

"I... I'll try..." The bat's arm started to shake in his hold as she flapped her wings, "But you'll owe me."

She started to lift, her face scrunched up in pain as the lifted the two off the bridge and over to the other side of the room. Once the ground was under them, Shadow and (Y/N) both dropped down, both able to catch Rouge as she fell onto them.

The she-bat was panting, her eyes closed in pain. Her leg was covered in blood as well, she was losing too much of it. At this rate, she won't make it out of here.

"(Y/N)." Shadow raised his gaze to her as they gently laid Rouge down, "Go into the next room and see if you can find any cloth. We need to stop the bleeding."

"Why not just use my shirt?" The (a/t) tilted her head, before looking at the fabric, "This stuff is tough, but I could rip some off; it's thick enough, it should stop the bleeding."

Shadow blinked, before nodding, "Yeah, sure."

The (a/t) gave him a look of determination, before grabbing the end of her shirt and ripping it off with ease. She handed the piece of fabric from him, and he quickly changed the old wrapping for the new one. Rouge was still panting, but her body shook. Shadow knew she wouldn't be able to stand after that. He'll have to carry her.

Carefully lifting the bat, he turned to the door, "Right, lets get out of here. It should be a clean run out into the open."

(Y/N) nodded, and they took off through the rest of the temple. Once they were outside, they noticed the sun was setting, it was getting dark, and they needed to get through the chaos force field before they couldn't see anything.

The two shared a glance, before giving a curt nod and took off towards the chaos energy. Shadow let out a shudder as they walked through the defensive cloaking shield, the cold making him feel as if he was walking through another dimension.

And he was instantly hit with the energy. His body felt as if he was going to collapse then and there, it was being overloaded with the energy surrounding them. He felt (Y/N)'s hands wrap around his arm, tugging him through the strong force. He was grateful she was there, otherwise the energy would run him into the ground.

The sand was also a problem, as the wind felt stronger than it had earlier, it nearly pushed the two over as they walked, and Shadow's arms started to feel like jelly. Rouge was starting to feel like lead, and he was starting to wish they really had just risked teleporting.

Nonetheless, they got through the shield. Once they broke free, Shadow buckled and fell into the sand, Rouge letting out a groan as the two hit the ground. (Y/N) was by Shadow's side instantly, sitting behind him and gently holding his head in her lap. He was shaking in her hold, and the white static through his quills was more visible now. The (a/t)'s ears lowered, concerned.

"Shadow...-"

"I-I'm fine..." The hedgehog managed to speak, cutting her off, "We need to... Get to Tails..."

"That won't be necessary." (Y/N) froze as she slowly raised her (e/c) gaze.

The Commander was standing in front of them, a gun trained on her. They were surrounded by soldiers, all aiming their weapons at the three Mobians. They had been ambushed.

"Fuck..." Shadow groaned out, before slowly sitting up and holding his head, "You're too late... The Crescent Life Source is gone, hidden in the... Temple..."

"I am well aware." The human said, glaring down at the hedgehog, "But I'm no longer after it. I want her."

He raised his multi-coloured gaze to (Y/N), who glared back, a growl coming from her throat.

"Why do you want her...? She's useless to you..." Shadow said, before slowly getting to his feet, he stood between the two, taking a defensive stance.

"You know why I want her. We found your fox friend. We know everything." He nodded to behind him, and a guard stood there, a gun to Tails' head. The fox was close to tears, shaking slightly. He had a black eye, and Shadow growled.

"You hurt a child over this? Tails is innocent, let him go." The hedgehog demanded.

"I don't think so hedgehog." The Commander huffed, "He's working with you, therefore he too is a wanted criminal. You're all under arrest for treason."

"Fight me." Shadow growled.

The Commander watched him, before a smirk appeared on his lips, "Not this time."

The sound of something being shot filled the air, and Shadow felt a sting in his shoulder. The hedgehog stumbled, before reaching back and grabbing a dart. Another sting hit his back, and he stumbled forward. His head started to spin, and he lifted his gaze, only to have the Commander's foot meet his face.

He was thrown to the side by the kick, stars appeared in his vision as another sting appeared in his arm.

"Shadow!" (Y/N) jumped to her feet, but the guards surrounded her, grabbing the (a/t) and forcing her to her knees.

"That should be enough." The Commander stated, "Two elephant tranquilizers should have been enough to knock him out."

"Just being safe, sir." One guard piped up.

The human nodded, before walking over to the (a/t) with an evil smile. He pulled out a collar and clasped it around her next. The girl instantly felt weak, slumping against the soldiers.

"Do you know what I just did?" The Commander asked, "I just took your abilities. As I will the other two."

Two guards stepped forward and place collars on Shadow's and Rouge's necks. The two let out shaky breaths as their powers were stripped away, the white static from Shadow seemed to die down slightly, though remained through his fur.

The human chuckled, before walking back to the hedgehog, who was struggling to even sit up. He pushed Shadow back into the sand with his foot, leaning over the hedgehog menacingly.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to your friend?" He asked, before glancing at the other Mobians, "I'm going to have her experimented on. I want to know how she got the abilities of the Crescent Life Source, and I want to know what she can do. Once I know, I will use her as my new weapon, and you'll be put back into chronic sleep."

Shadow let out a growl, but his vision was starting to fade, the feeling of sleep was too heavy.

"If she decides to decline my request, then I will take great pleasure in... Gently... Persuading her." The human said, glancing at the (a/t) with a smirk, "Take them away."

"No! Shadow!" (Y/N) struggled against the soldiers, trying her best to get to the hedgehog. Her eyes were trained on his back, hoping he would pull through the darts and get up. But the hedgehog didn't move, "Shadow!"

Two other soldiers stepped forward and grabbed Rouge, hoisting her to her feet and injecting her with a needle as well. Tails cried out as he too was injected with the drug, and the two were soon knocked out.

"No!" She yelled, before a sting appeared in her shoulder. She kept struggling, but slowly, her arms grew heavy, and her eyelids closed, "No..."