{"submission_id":"1569165","keywords":[{"keyword_id":"9534","keyword_name":"amy rose","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"8637"},{"keyword_id":"1147","keyword_name":"bite","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"954"},{"keyword_id":"26172","keyword_name":"dark sonic","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"98"},{"keyword_id":"932","keyword_name":"death","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"4990"},{"keyword_id":"123","keyword_name":"female","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"520776"},{"keyword_id":"2968","keyword_name":"fighting","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2507"},{"keyword_id":"861","keyword_name":"force","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"900"},{"keyword_id":"1008","keyword_name":"hedgehog","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"47862"},{"keyword_id":"1670","keyword_name":"horror","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"2264"},{"keyword_id":"165","keyword_name":"male","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"640446"},{"keyword_id":"1003","keyword_name":"m/f","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"22958"},{"keyword_id":"39178","keyword_name":"shadamy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"391"},{"keyword_id":"20724","keyword_name":"shadow the hedgehog","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"8504"},{"keyword_id":"28051","keyword_name":"sonamy","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1594"},{"keyword_id":"2116","keyword_name":"sonic","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"33808"},{"keyword_id":"115764","keyword_name":"sonic boom","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"1642"},{"keyword_id":"7252","keyword_name":"sonic the hedgehog","contributed":"f","submissions_count":"29069"}],"hidden":"t","scraps":"f","favorite":"f","favorites_count":"6","create_datetime":"2018-03-21 22:10:46.740925+01","create_datetime_usertime":"21 Mar 2018 22:10 CET","last_file_update_datetime":"2018-03-21 21:54:11.651118+01","last_file_update_datetime_usertime":"21 Mar 2018 21:54 CET","username":"Chinry","user_id":"447612","user_icon_file_name":"153322_Chinry_image.png","user_icon_url_large":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/large/153/153322_Chinry_image.png","user_icon_url_medium":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/medium/153/153322_Chinry_image.png","user_icon_url_small":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/usericons/small/153/153322_Chinry_image.png","file_name":"2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","files":[{"file_id":"2229248","file_name":"2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_full":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/full/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_screen":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/screen/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","file_url_preview":"https://nl.ib.metapix.net/files/preview/2229/2229248_Chinry_ic12.doc","mimetype":"application/msword","submission_id":"1569165","user_id":"447612","submission_file_order":"0","full_size_x":null,"full_size_y":null,"screen_size_x":null,"screen_size_y":null,"preview_size_x":null,"preview_size_y":null,"initial_file_md5":"998ff74c375b629f2bf3f34d6f105eff","full_file_md5":"998ff74c375b629f2bf3f34d6f105eff","large_file_md5":"","small_file_md5":"","thumbnail_md5":"","deleted":"f","create_datetime":"2018-03-21 21:54:11.651118+01","create_datetime_usertime":"21 Mar 2018 21:54 CET"}],"pools":[{"pool_id":"49514","name":"Internal Combustion","description":"My full blown story about the trials and tribulations of Amy and Sonic's early relationship. Boom based.","count":"14","submission_left_submission_id":"1554176","submission_left_file_name":"2205572_Chinry_ic8.doc","submission_right_submission_id":"1576313","submission_right_file_name":"2240544_Chinry_ic14.doc"}],"description":"*hisses like Gollum* Dark Sonic is the precccccciouuuuussss\n\nOkay so, I suppose there is a mix of Sonic influences in here. Boom who seems to have little troubles, Dark from Sonic X, and Super from STC/Fleetway (who had a real thing for wanting to kill Amy, seriously). I will freely admit that Dark is my DRUG and there is so little of him. In Forces it is said that Sonic is tortured on the Death Egg, but when you find Sonic he's like \"Whaddup I'm fine, lets go be heroic and shit\"\n\nNo. Somethings gotta give eventually. So sorry guys, blue cracked. ","description_bbcode_parsed":"*hisses like Gollum* Dark Sonic is the precccccciouuuuussss

Okay so, I suppose there is a mix of Sonic influences in here. Boom who seems to have little troubles, Dark from Sonic X, and Super from STC/Fleetway (who had a real thing for wanting to kill Amy, seriously). I will freely admit that Dark is my DRUG and there is so little of him. In Forces it is said that Sonic is tortured on the Death Egg, but when you find Sonic he's like "Whaddup I'm fine, lets go be heroic and shit"

No. Somethings gotta give eventually. So sorry guys, blue cracked.  ","writing":"This time, though a wave of nausea washed through her, Amy managed to keep her lunch down. Shadow kept a strong hold of her while she steadied herself. As her eyes were trying to get back focus, all her other senses captured the sudden and overwhelming nostalgia. The smell of the trees, the sound of the birds, the feel of his strong hand holding on to her lean frame. The world, and the lost house in the clearing she had come to know so well, came back in to her view. Her senses encouraged her tongue to desire reminders of it's own.\n\n\tHer mind engaged before her hormones could take over. She wriggled out of his hands and jumped back a few paces. In her haste she failed to notice they were at the very edge of the wood, and she just as quickly leapt back to his side. \n\n\t“What's going on? Why have you brought me here?” she babbled, her mind unable to handle the sudden change in environment and company. There were too many memories of him and this patch of land.\n\n\tHe turned to face her. His look was stern but not cold, and he grabbed hold of one of her hands. It's familiarity was filled with a bittersweetness and her breath caught in her chest. She tried to pull away but he would not release her.\n\n\t“I don't know what is going on in that brain of yours, but whatever you're thinking of isn't happening,” she snarled, unable to hide the tremble in her voice. She was too close to the woods and too close to him and it rattled her nerves.\n\n\t“We're going in to the woods,” he replied.\n\n\tShe pulled against him even harder, “The hell we are! I've done my stint in there. You're the glutton for punishment, not me! Let me go!”\n\n\tWith his free hand he snatched her upper arm and pulled her close. His sudden proximity grabbed her heart with an iron fist. She stopped fighting against him.\n\n\t“That faker,” he breathed, “Sonic...he's lost in there.”\n\n\tShe took in a sharp gasp, the shock of cold air in her lungs causing her to cough, “Why...how...what....what the fuck have you done to him?”\n\n\tHe looked pained, and she regretted her words for a second. She placed a hand against his chest as she caught her breath and mumbled a weak apology. Her quick temper mingled with fear made her too quick to look for blame. Though it was a small act of comfort, on the hand he held he intertwined his little finger around her index finger. Her shoulders dropped in submission.\n\n\t“He asked me to bring him here,” Shadow explained, “I refused at first, but he was quite adamant. He said wanted to experience what you went through for himself.”\n\n\tShe let out a jittery breath, followed by a string of curses aimed at both the absent blue and the present Shadow. All the while she was getting the shock out of her system he kept his physical contact and she allowed it. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her in this state before. Unlike when she was lost in the woods, he could protect her now.\n\n\t“I tried to find him myself,” he told her once she had exhausted all the bad language she knew, “but if the darkness had taken over him he is not going to respond to my voice. I need you to come with me.”\n\n\tShe looked at him with wide jade eyes. “Together?”\n\n\t“Together,” he nodded, with the smallest of smiles, “they can't concentrate on more than one creature at a time, so they aren't going to come for you. But...what they might be showing him...are you prepared for that?”\n\n\tShe shook her head, then nodded. She interlocked her fingers with his, wanting to keep contact just in case, and turned towards the foreboding treeline. \n\n\tA shiver crept up her spine and her confidence faltered, and she found herself falling against Shadow. She felt pathetic. She had faced the beasts within and they could not affect her now, but the memories of what she had seen haunted her as if they had been real. His touch was reassuring, and they proceeded. \n\n\t“How long has he been in here?” she asked.\n\n\t“Roughly sixteen hours,” he replied, deadpan.\n\n\tShe looked around them nervously, “He could just be lost. These woods are so dense and he might be caught out when walking slow.”\n\n\tHe shook his head, “That's not how it works Bud. Once you've beaten them you walk straight out the other side. These woods, they're endless and nothing at the same time.”\n\n\tShe started calling Sonics name. Her voice echoed all around, making the silence that followed each cry even harder to hear. The endlessness Shadow spoke of seemed so absolute, it made a mockery of her efforts.\n\n\t“Will we get stuck here too?” she whispering, as if she feared the darkness hearing her, “if we can't find him?”\n\n\t“I can teleport out of here,” he replied with a shrug, “otherwise we would be. That's why I couldn't bring any of that gaggle of friends of yours. Can't risk losing anyone.”\n\n\t“Except Sonic,” she snapped.\n\n\tHe shot a glance at her, “You really think I did this to hurt him? I thought you knew me better now.”\n\n\tShe sighed again and rubbed her head, “I know I'm sorry, I don't...I don't mean it. Sonic, I don't think he knows what he fears. I was mostly prepared for what came my way, but him...”\n\n\tWhile Amy carried on calling, Shadow used his heightened senses to detect change in the air. He used the same ability at the crack of dawn that morning when he realised Sonic had not made it through. He called his name till his voice went hoarse, listening to the smallest shuffle in the foliage. There was nothing. What he hoped was that the blue hedgehog was hiding somewhere and that Amy's voice would bring him out. But it was growing more likely that was the very best case scenario. The worst was not worth thinking about, for all their sakes, but he had to be prepared for it all the same.\n\n\t“Is this my fault?” she suddenly squeaked, “should I have told him?”\n\n\tHe stood still. Her whole body looked like it was closing in on itself. Her eyes were wide with increasing fear and a tear traced it's way down her muzzle. He could find no words, so he wrapped her in a tight embrace to make up for the words he couldn't utter. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, as she had all those months ago after their love making at night. He found it hard to stick around then, the fear of growing close to her made lightning in his feet. Now he stood firm, trying to drain her fear out of her, breathing in her scent. He missed her, he had to accept that finally.\n\n\tThere was a growl. It was a low, prowling sound, and it was closer than he would have wished. Amy didn't react, the octave so low her female ear hadn't picked it up. That could only mean it was directed solely at him. It shouldn't have been possible for anything to sneak upon him like that.\n\n\tThere was a rustle in the leaves and Amy whipped round. She couldn't see a thing through the blackness, but it couldn't be anything normal. Anything natural. Not in this place of horrors. She was about to call out when Shadow pushed her so hard she went flying. As the world moved so quickly passed her eyes she only saw a flash of colour across her vision, but the animalistic cry that followed was crisp and cut across her ear drum.\n\n\tWhen she looked back to where she had been flung from, Shadow had morphed from the quiet protector to a savage animal. His sharp claws had shredded through the tips of his gloves and his fangs were bared. His quills seemed to shake as his hackles raised in front of his opponent. \n\n\tIt was Sonic. At least, he might once have been. His fur seemed so much darker now, like a shadow was cast over his entire form. Every hair, every quill on his back was raised and he was poised on all fours, like a dog going for the kill. His shoes were gone and his pads were bloodied. He too had claws bared and his gloves were long gone. He growled again, and though she could barely hear it she felt it pulse through her heart. \n\n\tShe whimpered in fright, unsure of what she was being presented with, and it drew attention to herself. His head snapped her way, and she could see his eyes were almost all white. He snarled, spittle forming in the corners of his mouth like a rabid animal. The blood froze in her veins and her mind went black.\n\n\tShadow took the distraction to make his first leap, but Sonic was prepared and they clashed before a blow could fall. Forehead to forehead, hands against hands, they pushed hard against each other. Sonic snorted and barked while Shadow continued to bare his teeth, hissing at the strain in his arms, a unnatural strength having taken over his blue rival. He looked hard in to Sonics eyes, to silently plead with him, but he was buried too far.\n\n\t“Shadow, what...” Amy breathed, but her voice was too weak to be heard over the harsh sounds coming from the boy she loved so much. She wanted desperately to look away but the scene before her held her focus. It was a horrific captivation. Of all the things she had seen in those woods, nothing could prepare her for this. Sonic, her Sonic, had been taken from her. \n\n\tShadow must have shown a moment of weakness for Sonic managed to break his hold and swiped and deep, raw gash right across the black hedgehogs chest. In return Shadow landed a blow straight in to Sonics jaw, but with a quick twist of his head he shook the impact off as if it were a bug bite. He leapt in the air, but Shadow transported out of his reach before he could land.\n\n\tTheir chase began. Amy was frozen to the spot, her eyes fighting to keep sight of them through the everlasting night and the thick, dense forest. She could hear them more than see them, and much to her horror she could hear Shadow's cries of pain over and over again. He was pleading with Sonic for him to snap out of it, but Sonic didn't seem to hear or care. He didn't utter any words, just barks and howls. \n\n\tThere was an almighty crash, the sound of a tree slamming in to the ground. Then followed an eerie silence. The same silence that had nearly taken over her when she last faced these demons. Her eyes desperately scanned her surroundings, her ears twisted at all angles but the world had stopped. She eased herself to her feet, finding the strength in her desperate need to help Shadow. She had never heard him cry in pain like that before. \n\n\tEven alert as she was, she didn't see him coming. Like smoke he formed in front of her, throwing her against a trunk. He used his whole body to press her in to the bark and she screamed in shock and pain. Sonic was too strong, and try as she might to claw out of his grasp he had her tight. She called for Shadow but this only enraged him more and he bit down in to her shoulder. Unlike his mark, this wound was deep and blood was staining her dress crimson. She screamed so hard her voice cracked.\n\n\tHe threw her to the ground and pinned her to the forest floor. A smirk played across his bared teeth. Her vision faded in and out of focus as pain and tears jostled for the right to her sight. The way he pressed against her told her his intention, but her limbs had lost their strength under his terrifying gaze. One of his clawed hands worked its way up the inside of her thigh. \n\n\t“Sonic, stop,” she choked, “it's me, it's Amy! Your Ames.”\n\n\tHis face was close to hers, blood was on his hot breath, but all the same he halted.\n\n\t“Yes that's it! Listen to my voice, listen to my...listen to me. Sonic, come back, come back to me,” she gasped, pain still crying through her entire body, but nothing compared to the pain in her heart. Her Sonic was there, buried under the darkness and fear that had consumed him.\n\n\tWith a shaking hand, she cautiously stroked his muzzle.\n\n\t“I love you.”\n\n\tSuddenly he was sent flying. Shadow had appeared above them, and with a spin barely visible to the eye he had kicked Sonic in the head. As blue landed with a heavy thud, Shadow landed and stood on all fours over her. Blood from the wound on his chest landed on her arm, hot and sticky.\n\n\t“We need to get out of here,” he snapped.\n\n\t“No!” she cried, rolling over to lie on her front and cast her eyes towards her fallen lover, “we can't leave him!”\n\n\t“This is no time to indulge your feelings!” Shadow snapped, but Amy crawled away from his protective stance. An amazing feat given the wound in her shoulder. \n\n\tShe found her feet, but even injured his reflexes were quicker and he hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her back in to him. She fought against him, and he yelped as she crashed against the wound on his chest. His body shuddered with the shock of the pain and she froze, wanted to break free but not to hurt her saviour. \n\n\t“Amy look at him!” Shadow grumbled in her ear, “we need to regroup and return with a better plan! At this rate one of us will die. That includes you! Do you understand that?”\n\n\t“He...he wouldn't do that, he loves me” she whined, powerless. \n\n\t“The demons of the woods have got too deeply in to him. He's an animal Bud, the only thing he's running on is instinct. He can't....”\n\n\tShadow lost the words he was going to speak. A thought ran through his mind.\n\n\tShe twisted an ear at him when he fell silent, “What? Shadow what is it?”\n\n\tShadow pulled her dress away from her shoulder. She jolted in pain and looked away as he examined the wound. The teeth marks were much too deep. This bite had been to incapacitate her. It could just have easily been her throat. The anger inside of him burned with the heat of the sun, but in a twisted way her wound may also have provided them with an answer. He didn't know how to say it, but luckily for him she seemed to read his mind.\n\n\t“His mark,” Amy gasped, “it healed. If you were....if you were to do it...”\n\n\tShadow sucked in a heavy breath, “It's risky Bud. It might enrage him even more.”\n\n\tShe laughed without mirth, “I don't think that's possible. I know I got through to him Shadow, but I can't talk to him buried so far beneath all that monster.”\n\n\t“You think being marked as mine will hurt him emotionally?”\n\n\tShe trembled, carrying the weight of her suggestion so heavily. She nodded, “Fight animal with animal.”\n\n\tHe swallowed. He had never marked a female before, but he knew how it would lock him to her until she was healed. It seemed a logical thing to do, if it would save them all he would do it, but he wasn't sure how well he could handle it. Some wounds were harder to heal.\n\n\t“If this goes wrong I'll transport us out of here. But, transportation is pretty tough on the body, it's not going to be comfortable or very safe for you.”\n\n\tShe nodded, “I trust you.”\n\n\tThe dark blue mass stirred. Both their bodies tensed up but they needed him to witness this if it were to have the right impact. \n\n\tAmy felt Shadow carefully dip a claw in to the back of her collar. Sharp as a blade he delicately tore through the fabric, pulling her dress apart, stopping in the middle of her back. The sound had caught Sonics attention. He turned their way, sharp white eyes scanning them thoroughly but he made no motion to move. She could see he was trying to calculate the situation.\n\n\tShe felt his nose against her body, breath burning a hole in her skin. Even in their desperate situation she felt a pang of desire, but at least she would be giving off the right scent this way. Her cry caught in her throat as Shadow finally bit down on her scruff. As before, when they had fought and he had held her in a vice like grip, her body fell slack. His strong arm supported her, but with her head down she couldn't see what was ahead. She was at the mercy of both of them. There was a sharp pinch as one fang pierced her skin, and just as abruptly he let her go.\n\n\tA yelp escaped her lungs as she was freed from the spell. It was a cry of pain mixed with desire, short and sweet but so loud it surrounded all of them. Her eyes shot forward and fell on Sonic, his mouth wide with a cry of silent protest. They had used his animal senses against him, cutting to the very core of his being by fooling him in to believing he had lost his property. But in realising he had lost something like that, his emotions had finally seeped back to the surface.\n\n\t“A...Ames?”\n\n\tThere was a swirl of black smoke radiating off him, and as it dissipated in to the air it left behind her Blue. Pushing away from Shadow she ran to him, regards for her safety out of the window at the sound of hurt in his voice. She fell to her knees.\n\n\t“Sonic? Sonic, can you hear me?”\n\n\tHis big green eyes regarded her, before a trembling hand reached out to cup her cheek. It was soft, his claws had retracted and his fur was the blue she knew so intimately. She smiled through her tears as the light he radiated so purely returned to his aura. The darkness was banished.\n\n\t“It's really you this time,” he gasped, tears flowing freely down his poor, battered cheeks. She cradled his head to her chest as she cried too. Through the tears she could see Shadow approach cautiously, blood drying in his snowy white chest fur. Now was not the time to talk, but she held a hand out to him and he took it, connecting the three of them to each other. Consequences would be dealt with once they were all safe.\n\n\tLight appeared through the trees as the real world beckoned them home.\n\n******\n\n\tIn his arrogance, he was distracted by the house at first. If Shadow had brought him here, then it must have been where Amy had spent that month away from home. It was nothing special; in fact it looked cold and devoid and comfort. It was however, surrounded on all sides, and he could feel the claustrophobia of the circling woods close in on him.\n\n\t“I strongly advise against this.”\n\n\tSonic looked over as Shadow, stood a few paces away with his signature arms folded pose.\n\n\t“Yea you said,” Sonic replied with a jerk of the head, “and I still don't care.”\n\n\t“This isn't a game,” his rival snapped, his quiet voice rising, “the creatures you will face in there....”\n\n\t“Like nothing I've ever faced blah blah,” he mocked, “isn't that the point of a challenge?”\n\n\tShadow turned toward the woods, “What are you trying to prove?”\n\n\t“Prove? I don't have to prove anything. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm doing this to try and get my head around my girlfriend.”\n\n\tHe heard a snort come from the black hedgehog.\n\n\t“You can stand there and be high and mighty about this if you want, I don't care. I'm sure you think you know her better than I do...and maybe you do. But she came back to me. She faced this for me. I will find a way to crack that shell she has about this place, even if that means I have to face it myself.”\n\n\tShadow turned back to him. His expression was different, softer than usual, almost sad.\n\n\t“She faced what lies within for herself. I offered to take her back to the village, but she was determined. You've seen how she fights in her sleep. Are you sure you're up to the same task?”\n\n\tSonics bravado had taken over and logic was the last thing he was looking to, “If you can do it, so can I. The fact you shared this with Amy is the one hold you have on her.”\n\n\tShadows face contorted back to it's usual, angry self, “Whatever you see, you do not touch anything. What you see is not real, they cannot physically harm you, but they can destroy your mind. Don't let them do that, and you'll walk out the other side and straight home.”\n\n\tThe tone in Shadows voice made Sonic waver for just a second, the sight of the house where Amy had given up so much of herself to someone else kicked him in to gear, and he broke the treeline.\n\n\t“Idiot,” Shadow mumbled as he watched him go, “I never had a hold on her.”\n\n******\n\n\tSonic did not fare well in confined spaces, and the woods felt like the very definition of oppressive. The way the trees stood so close together to block his path, the darkness so like night though he had seen the sun rise before he entered, even the air felt heavy and unmoving. There was no way he was on his own soil any more. This place was too spooky, too unnatural, to be part of his world.\n\n\tSpooky, however, did not scare him. There was an uncompromising, eerie atmosphere but it was nothing a well made Haunted House couldn't conjure up. At this rate he would step back in to the Village in no time and he could show Amy he would face anything for her.\n\n\t“Hey Sonic!”\n\n\tHe whipped around. There was a clearing in the trees that hadn't been there before, and in it stood Tails. He was younger, probably about the age that Sonic first met him. He was waving enthusiastically, wagging his tails back and forth. Young Miles Prower, not exactly the scariest sight to behold.\n\n\t“Hey kid, what's with the double wag?” he laughed, recalling those as the first words he had said to the young fox.\n\n\t“Watch!” the cub replied, and with some strained effort he got himself airborne. His face lit up with pride and Sonic gave him a thumbs up. They were kin from that first meeting, Sonic with his unnatural speed and Tails with the ability to fly.\n\n\t“Shall I go higher?” the not-Tails asked.\n\n\t“High as you can little buddy. See if you can impress me! Show me what you got!”\n\n\tHe did just that. With a laugh he spun his tails faster and raised further and further in to the air, the branches of the trees somehow parting to gain him access. No light seeped through so soon the little fox was out of sight. He could still be heard however, and his laughter soon turned to gasps.\n\n\t“Woah time to come back down,” Sonic called, and his request was granted. Tails came hurtling towards the ground at speed, screaming in absolute terror. He landed with a gut wrenching thud, and there was the distinct sound of cracking bones. As Sonic ran to him he found the little guy twisted and broken, blood spilling from his agape mouth. His eyes looked up at Sonic, their cold dead stare accusing him.\n\n\tSonic covered his mouth as he gagged. He stepped back and closed his eyes, fighting the image now etched in to his memory. Tails had faltered as he was learning to fly, but with Sonics encouragement he had always carried on regardless. If Sonic had thought he would ever end up like this...\n\n\tHe shook his head and ran in the other direction. It wasn't real. Tails was older now, an experienced flier both in and out of machines. He had grown up since then, and he was able to say no to Sonics bad influence. He was. What kind of bullshit was this wood trying to pull, using something that no longer worried him like that?\n\n\tThe Blue Blur stopped still and took a deep breath to steady himself. Okay so that had caught him off guard, but he knew what he was dealing with now. Tails was his youngest friend but that didn't mean he was weak. The woods...they misunderstood Sonics feelings towards the young fox if they thought he was scared of that. Tails was independent now.\n\n\tThere was stillness again but Sonic tried not to let the thickness of the trees ebb away at him. Instead he began to whistle a tune to try and keep his spirits up and the silence from encasing him.\n\n\tA whistle echoed back. It was a higher pitch, a feminine and flirty sound. Where had he heard that whistle before? With a little more caution than before, he walked towards the sound, whistling as he went and following the one that responded.\n\n\tWhat he saw was himself. Younger by a year or two, walking with false confidence towards the whistling female. The chipmunk, Sally, the girl he had popped his cherry with. He watched with a morbid curiosity as she knelt down in from of the ghost him and began to...\n\n\t“Hey wood demons, that isn't how this happened. You can't have had the best sex life if this is what you consider a nightm....”\n\n\tHe stopped in the middle of his speech when she heard her crying. Distracted by the other him getting hot and heavy in front of him, he hadn't noticed the ghost forming behind him. It was the perfect image of Amy, her arms wrapped around herself as she sobbed. She was watching the ghost him intently though it was obviously painful for her to witness.\n\n\tThe real Sonic found it hard to tear his eyes away from her. He knew he had hurt Amy, but now he was actually seeing her pain it cut deeply in to his heart. A cold breezed up his arm and snapped him back to attention. Close call.\n\n\t“You almost got me!” he cried to the air, “but Amy and I are going to work though this. I fucked up okay, I'm going to regret it forever but I know she cares for me all the same.”\n\n\tHe gave a derivative snort as the ghost him gave a pathetic whimper of pleasure before they all faded. What guy didn't make that sound when getting head? Come on. They were going to have to step up their game.\n\n\tThis time he saw the mist swirling in to form near him. He took a stance as if he was going in to battle, but the shape that merged before him was himself again. This time he was a baby, stood on his shaky legs in a pen while his parents stood nearby. At first he was happy to see his folks, but their faces were twisted in disgust as they looked down upon his younger image. The baby Sonic started running around in his pen, circle after speedy circle. His Mother started crying.\n\n\t“What's going on Jules? Should we seek medical help?”\n\n\t“And tell them what Bernie? Our son is a freak of nature? Who knows what they might do to him.”\n\n\t“I can't take him outside! What will I tell everyone!”\n\n\t“Perhaps....I mean look at what he's doing...he might have an accident...”\n\n\t“Bullshit!” Sonic cried in to the air, and all at once the ghosts vaporised in to nothing. He was still glaring at the spot that they stood.\n\n\t“My parents loved me...they love me! My Dad encouraged me to run! Mom told me I was blessed with this ability. She discovered my spin dash! You dropped the ball on this one!”\n\n\tOf course, there was no reply, and all that remained was the sound of his own voice echoing all around him. His abilities were out of the blue but his parents had always been proud of him. They told him to go out there and save the world, and that's what he did! He was only a child when he left home and they had encouraged him to do so! He hadn't ever taken that as a sign they were pushing him out!\n\n\tDid he? No of course not, it wasn't like he couldn't go back and see them. He was their only child and they liked having him around. They were always happy to hear of his stories and of his battles. He would show them how these powers were a blessing. Nobody ever called him a freak of nature. Only...only perhaps Eggman.\n\n\tA familiar sound in the air felt like he had thought him in to existence. There he was, weaving in and out of the trees in his Eggmobile. His robots were not in tow, but in his hand the Doctor held a vicious looking rifle. He never used weapons like that. He was Eggman, but somehow not him at the same time. He looked so much colder, so much more like a machine.\n\n\tAll around him villagers popped up out of the smoke. So many faces he knew, young and old, new friends and new faces; just about everyone in his memory was there. He was there too, but he was stock still, staring skyward in fear at the Doctor. The real Sonic followed suit as the first crack of the shot gun rung through the air. \n\n\tDown went Dave. The bullet passed right through his head, and he dropped to the ground in a pool of his own brain matter. Next went Old Monkey, and Knuckles as he ran to help.\n\n\tThis was not Eggman. Never would he kill in such a cold and calculated manner. Sonic didn't even have to worry that the villagers would be struck down so brutally, so to watch, helpless as his whole neighbourhood perished was like being stabbed in the gut repeatedly. He wanted to speak but bile was catching in his throat and his vision blurred with tears. They were so innocent.\n\n\t“Sonic, why aren't you helping?” Sticks cried. Sonic ran a few paces towards her before he realised she was talking to the ghost him. The badger then fell too, a shot to the stomach, and a agonising, wheezing death.\n\n\tSonic turned to his ghost counterpart, who was walking slowly in their direction. \n\n\t“I can't, remember,” he sighed as Sticks took her last breath, “I'm not anything any more. No more running, no more spinning, no more saving. No more Sonic.”\n\n\tThe real Sonic watched in horror as his ghost walked away from the scene. The sound of the gun rang through his ears and he could no longer take the sound or the sight. He bolted as fast as he could, darting between trees and ghosts and bullets. He wanted to hunt his ghost self down and scream at him that he wasn't the sum of his speed. He was more than that, he could still save their lives if he just tried! Normal people could be hero's too!\n\n\tInstead he was aimless and he ran blindly. He barely felt the sharp stings of the knife like branches as he was whipped by them over and over. He finally stopped when he caught his ankle on a fallen limb and he was sent flying.\n\n******\n\n\tTime didn't pass the same way in the wood. He could no longer deny that pain raking at his body. His ankle was swollen and pressed tightly against his bindings. He removed the tape and his shoe, noticing at least it wasn't broken.\n\n\tThe cold seeped in to him. It wasn't a chill like he had ever known. It was more like a wave of ice, pouring though his core. He had been so stupid, he had been so arrogant.\n\n\tHe had been so [i]Sonic[/i].\n\n\tHe was no hero, he was just some freak who got lucky. If he didn't have the bizarre make up in his genes, he would be nobody. Would anyone tolerate his smug attitude if he didn't have all these abilities? Would Tails have idolized him so much? Would Amy have stuck around?\n\n\tBlowing through the cold came a rush of warm air. It touched his cheek softly, a welcome kiss of heat. The encompassing silence was broken by a gentle, soothing hum. Turning round, he no longer cared if she was a ghost or not, he saw his Amy. He raised himself carefully to his feet and smiled widely as she approached.\n\n\tShe looked older than she was now. Her quills were tied neatly behind her head and she was fuller than her teenage form. Her face was the same though, from her delicate lips to her beautiful button nose and her stunning, clover eyes. She smiled and sighed his name.\n\n\t“Sonic, my true Blue. Come over here.”\n\n\tHe desired her touch more than anything, but he hesitated. As he took a step back she raised her arms and a wisp of smoke took shape in her arms. It was a bundle of blankets, but his ear caught the lightest sound. A gurgle, and a squeak of laughter. It grabbed him by the heart and pulled him in.\n\n\tShe was a beautiful little hoglet. Everything about her was so tiny. Her fur was a deep lilac shade, much like his Mothers, and her glistening eyes looked much like his. Having children seemed so far in to his future, but this image before him, this little family, he knew it was the one thing he needed. Hadn't Amy dreamed of just the same?\n\n\t“Hold her?” Amy sighed, “Take the baby, Sonic.”\n\n\tThe baby. Hearing those words in her voice shot an arrow of doubt through his head. His Amy, the real Amy, she had uttered those words in her nightly horrors, not her dreams. She had never explain the details to him, but it was enough to send a warning to him and she stepped backward.\n\n\tIt happened so quick, he had no time to react. Shadow appeared behind the other Amy, and with a swipe as fast as lightning he had clawed a deep, gaping hole in her throat. Blood coloured her soft, pink fur a deep crimson and she coughed away her life.\n\n\t“She's mine, or nobody's,” Shadow growled, and as Amy fell he made a grab for the baby. That's when Sonics instincts took over and he lunged at the scene, reaching for the child before he lost her too.\n\n\tThat was the last he remembered clearly. There had been black, so much black. Flashes of trees shooting passed, sounds of demonic laughter, incoherent attacks on his senses and he had lashed out. Smoke demons that tried to kill him. The taste of blood on his lips. Nothing was real until he heard her break through the mess. A tiny yelp, a sound of both pleasure and pain that stabbed through his defective vision. There was only one time she made that sound. The sound should only belong to him. His eye focussed on her in Shadows arms, but she had run to him and held him and comforted him. She was real once again; she was alive but all the same she was hurt and she was no longer bonded to him. Their animal heritage lingered in their blood, and now Amy had been marked by another, she just didn't smell the same.\n\n******\n\n\tHe had so many questions for her but he could not face them. He knew in his heart of hearts he had hurt her in so many ways. She was bleeding freely from a bite in her shoulder when he had awoken from his spell. Her face, even as she beamed so brightly at him, showed a wariness. As she had held him close, she had held her hand out to Shadow too. She must had bonded to Shadow to protect herself, and worst of all to protect herself from him. She had fallen in love with his rival for all the right reasons. Who was he to think he had any right to love her, to expect it in return?\n\n\tShe would admit it to herself eventually. Sonic wasn't going to be the man she thought he would be. He needed her to make him feel more than just the Blue Blur, but that was not something he could demand of her. She would be safer with Shadow and he would never have the feel the pain of losing her again. It would be easier if he detached now and let her go.","writing_bbcode_parsed":"This time, though a wave of nausea washed through her, Amy managed to keep her lunch down. Shadow kept a strong hold of her while she steadied herself. As her eyes were trying to get back focus, all her other senses captured the sudden and overwhelming nostalgia. The smell of the trees, the sound of the birds, the feel of his strong hand holding on to her lean frame. The world, and the lost house in the clearing she had come to know so well, came back in to her view. Her senses encouraged her tongue to desire reminders of it's own.

\tHer mind engaged before her hormones could take over. She wriggled out of his hands and jumped back a few paces. In her haste she failed to notice they were at the very edge of the wood, and she just as quickly leapt back to his side.

\t“What's going on? Why have you brought me here?” she babbled, her mind unable to handle the sudden change in environment and company. There were too many memories of him and this patch of land.

\tHe turned to face her. His look was stern but not cold, and he grabbed hold of one of her hands. It's familiarity was filled with a bittersweetness and her breath caught in her chest. She tried to pull away but he would not release her.

\t“I don't know what is going on in that brain of yours, but whatever you're thinking of isn't happening,” she snarled, unable to hide the tremble in her voice. She was too close to the woods and too close to him and it rattled her nerves.

\t“We're going in to the woods,” he replied.

\tShe pulled against him even harder, “The hell we are! I've done my stint in there. You're the glutton for punishment, not me! Let me go!”

\tWith his free hand he snatched her upper arm and pulled her close. His sudden proximity grabbed her heart with an iron fist. She stopped fighting against him.

\t“That faker,” he breathed, “Sonic...he's lost in there.”

\tShe took in a sharp gasp, the shock of cold air in her lungs causing her to cough, “Why...how...what....what the fuck have you done to him?”

\tHe looked pained, and she regretted her words for a second. She placed a hand against his chest as she caught her breath and mumbled a weak apology. Her quick temper mingled with fear made her too quick to look for blame. Though it was a small act of comfort, on the hand he held he intertwined his little finger around her index finger. Her shoulders dropped in submission.

\t“He asked me to bring him here,” Shadow explained,  “I refused at first, but he was quite adamant. He said wanted to experience what you went through for himself.”

\tShe let out a jittery breath, followed by a string of curses aimed at both the absent blue and the present Shadow. All the while she was getting the shock out of her system he kept his physical contact and she allowed it. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her in this state before. Unlike when she was lost in the woods, he could protect her now.

\t“I tried to find him myself,” he told her once she had exhausted all the bad language she knew, “but if the darkness had taken over him he is not going to respond to my voice. I need you to come with me.”

\tShe looked at him with wide jade eyes. “Together?”

\t“Together,” he nodded, with the smallest of smiles, “they can't concentrate on more than one creature at a time, so they aren't going to come for you. But...what they might be showing him...are you prepared for that?”

\tShe shook her head, then nodded. She interlocked her fingers with his, wanting to keep contact just in case, and turned towards the foreboding treeline.

\tA shiver crept up her spine and her confidence faltered, and she found herself falling against Shadow. She felt pathetic. She had faced the beasts within and they could not affect her now, but the memories of what she had seen haunted her as if they had been real. His touch was reassuring, and they proceeded.

\t“How long has he been in here?” she asked.

\t“Roughly sixteen hours,” he replied, deadpan.

\tShe looked around them nervously, “He could just be lost. These woods are so dense and he might be caught out when walking slow.”

\tHe shook his head, “That's not how it works Bud. Once you've beaten them you walk straight out the other side. These woods, they're endless and nothing at the same time.”

\tShe started calling Sonics name. Her voice echoed all around, making the silence that followed each cry even harder to hear. The endlessness Shadow spoke of seemed so absolute, it made a mockery of her efforts.

\t“Will we get stuck here too?” she whispering, as if she feared the darkness hearing her, “if we can't find him?”

\t“I can teleport out of here,” he replied with a shrug, “otherwise we would be. That's why I couldn't bring any of that gaggle of friends of yours. Can't risk losing anyone.”

\t“Except Sonic,” she snapped.

\tHe shot a glance at her, “You really think I did this to hurt him? I thought you knew me better now.”

\tShe sighed again and rubbed her head, “I know I'm sorry, I don't...I don't mean it. Sonic, I don't think he knows what he fears. I was mostly prepared for what came my way, but him...”

\tWhile Amy carried on calling, Shadow used his heightened senses to detect change in the air. He used the same ability at the crack of dawn that morning when he realised Sonic had not made it through. He called his name till his voice went hoarse, listening to the smallest shuffle in the foliage. There was nothing. What he hoped was that the blue hedgehog was hiding somewhere and that Amy's voice would bring him out. But it was growing more likely that was the very best case scenario. The worst was not worth thinking about, for all their sakes, but he had to be prepared for it all the same.

\t“Is this my fault?” she suddenly squeaked, “should I have told him?”

\tHe stood still. Her whole body looked like it was closing in on itself. Her eyes were wide with increasing fear and a tear traced it's way down her muzzle. He could find no words, so he wrapped her in a tight embrace to make up for the words he couldn't utter. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, as she had all those months ago after their love making at night. He found it hard to stick around then, the fear of growing close to her made lightning in his feet. Now he stood firm, trying to drain her fear out of her, breathing in her scent. He missed her, he had to accept that finally.

\tThere was a growl. It was a low, prowling sound, and it was closer than he would have wished. Amy didn't react, the octave so low her female ear hadn't picked it up. That could only mean it was directed solely at him. It shouldn't have been possible for anything to sneak upon him like that.

\tThere was a rustle in the leaves and Amy whipped round. She couldn't see a thing through the blackness, but it couldn't be anything normal. Anything natural. Not in this place of horrors. She was about to call out when Shadow pushed her so hard she went flying. As the world moved so quickly passed her eyes she only saw a flash of colour across her vision, but the animalistic cry that followed was crisp and cut across her ear drum.

\tWhen she looked back to where she had been flung from, Shadow had morphed from the quiet protector to a savage animal. His sharp claws had shredded through the tips of his gloves and his fangs were bared. His quills seemed to shake as his hackles raised in front of his opponent.

\tIt was Sonic. At least, he might once have been. His fur seemed so much darker now, like a shadow was cast over his entire form. Every hair, every quill on his back was raised and he was poised on all fours, like a dog going for the kill. His shoes were gone and his pads were bloodied. He too had claws bared and his gloves were long gone. He growled again, and though she could barely hear it she felt it pulse through her heart.

\tShe whimpered in fright, unsure of what she was being presented with, and it drew attention to herself. His head snapped her way, and she could see his eyes were almost all white. He snarled, spittle forming in the corners of his mouth like a rabid animal. The blood froze in her veins and her mind went black.

\tShadow took the distraction to make his first leap, but Sonic was prepared and they clashed before a blow could fall. Forehead to forehead, hands against hands, they pushed hard against each other. Sonic snorted and barked while Shadow continued to bare his teeth, hissing at the strain in his arms, a unnatural strength having taken over his blue rival. He looked hard in to Sonics eyes, to silently plead with him, but he was buried too far.

\t“Shadow, what...” Amy breathed, but her voice was too weak to be heard over the harsh sounds coming from the boy she loved so much. She wanted desperately to look away but the scene before her held her focus. It was a horrific captivation. Of all the things she had seen in those woods, nothing could prepare her for this. Sonic, her Sonic, had been taken from her.

\tShadow must have shown a moment of weakness for Sonic managed to break his hold and swiped and deep, raw gash right across the black hedgehogs chest. In return Shadow landed a blow straight in to Sonics jaw, but with a quick twist of his head he shook the impact off as if it were a bug bite. He leapt in the air, but Shadow transported out of his reach before he could land.

\tTheir chase began. Amy was frozen to the spot, her eyes fighting to keep sight of them through the everlasting night and the thick, dense forest. She could hear them more than see them, and much to her horror she could hear Shadow's cries of pain over and over again. He was pleading with Sonic for him to snap out of it, but Sonic didn't seem to hear or care. He didn't utter any words, just barks and howls.

\tThere was an almighty crash, the sound of a tree slamming in to the ground. Then followed an eerie silence. The same silence that had nearly taken over her when she last faced these demons. Her eyes desperately scanned her surroundings, her ears twisted at all angles but the world had stopped. She eased herself to her feet, finding the strength in her desperate need to help Shadow. She had never heard him cry in pain like that before.

\tEven alert as she was, she didn't see him coming. Like smoke he formed in front of her, throwing her against a trunk. He used his whole body to press her in to the bark and she screamed in shock and pain. Sonic was too strong, and try as she might to claw out of his grasp he had her tight. She called for Shadow but this only enraged him more and he bit down in to her shoulder. Unlike his mark, this wound was deep and blood was staining her dress crimson. She screamed so hard her voice cracked.

\tHe threw her to the ground and pinned her to the forest floor. A smirk played across his bared teeth. Her vision faded in and out of focus as pain and tears jostled for the right to her sight. The way he pressed against her told her his intention, but her limbs had lost their strength under his terrifying gaze. One of his clawed hands worked its way up the inside of her thigh.

\t“Sonic, stop,” she choked, “it's me, it's Amy! Your Ames.”

\tHis face was close to hers, blood was on his hot breath, but all the same he halted.

\t“Yes that's it! Listen to my voice, listen to my...listen to me. Sonic, come back, come back to me,” she gasped, pain still crying through her entire body, but nothing compared to the pain in her heart. Her Sonic was there, buried under the darkness and fear that had consumed him.

\tWith a shaking hand, she cautiously stroked his muzzle.

\t“I love you.”

\tSuddenly he was sent flying. Shadow had appeared above them, and with a spin barely visible to the eye he had kicked Sonic in the head. As blue landed with a heavy thud, Shadow landed and stood on all fours over her. Blood from the wound on his chest landed on her arm, hot and sticky.

\t“We need to get out of here,” he snapped.

\t“No!” she cried, rolling over to lie on her front and cast her eyes towards her fallen lover, “we can't leave him!”

\t“This is no time to indulge your feelings!” Shadow snapped, but Amy crawled away from his protective stance. An amazing feat given the wound in her shoulder.

\tShe found her feet, but even injured his reflexes were quicker and he hooked an arm around her waist, pulling her back in to him. She fought against him, and he yelped as she crashed against the wound on his chest. His body shuddered with the shock of the pain and she froze, wanted to break free but not to hurt her saviour.

\t“Amy look at him!” Shadow grumbled in her ear, “we need to regroup and return with a better plan! At this rate one of us will die. That includes you! Do you understand that?”

\t“He...he wouldn't do that, he loves me” she whined, powerless.

\t“The demons of the woods have got too deeply in to him. He's an animal Bud, the only thing he's running on is instinct. He can't....”

\tShadow lost the words he was going to speak. A thought ran through his mind.

\tShe twisted an ear at him when he fell silent, “What? Shadow what is it?”

\tShadow pulled her dress away from her shoulder. She jolted in pain and looked away as he examined the wound. The teeth marks were much too deep. This bite had been to incapacitate her. It could just have easily been her throat. The anger inside of him burned with the heat of the sun, but in a twisted way her wound may also have provided them with an answer. He didn't know how to say it, but luckily for him she seemed to read his mind.

\t“His mark,” Amy gasped, “it healed. If you were....if you were to do it...”

\tShadow sucked in a heavy breath, “It's risky Bud. It might enrage him even more.”

\tShe laughed without mirth, “I don't think that's possible. I know I got through to him Shadow, but I can't talk to him buried so far beneath all that monster.”

\t“You think being marked as mine will hurt him emotionally?”

\tShe trembled, carrying the weight of her suggestion so heavily. She nodded, “Fight animal with animal.”

\tHe swallowed. He had never marked a female before, but he knew how it would lock him to her until she was healed. It seemed a logical thing to do, if it would save them all he would do it, but he wasn't sure how well he could handle it. Some wounds were harder to heal.

\t“If this goes wrong I'll transport us out of here. But, transportation is pretty tough on the body, it's not going to be comfortable or very safe for you.”

\tShe nodded, “I trust you.”

\tThe dark blue mass stirred. Both their bodies tensed up but they needed him to witness this if it were to have the right impact.

\tAmy felt Shadow carefully dip a claw in to the back of her collar. Sharp as a blade he delicately tore through the fabric, pulling her dress apart, stopping in the middle of her back. The sound had caught Sonics attention. He turned their way, sharp white eyes scanning them thoroughly but he made no motion to move. She could see he was trying to calculate the situation.

\tShe felt his nose against her body, breath burning a hole in her skin. Even in their desperate situation she felt a pang of desire, but at least she would be giving off the right scent this way. Her cry caught in her throat as Shadow finally bit down on her scruff. As before, when they had fought and he had held her in a vice like grip, her body fell slack. His strong arm supported her, but with her head down she couldn't see what was ahead. She was at the mercy of both of them. There was a sharp pinch as one fang pierced her skin, and just as abruptly he let her go.

\tA yelp escaped her lungs as she was freed from the spell. It was a cry of pain mixed with desire, short and sweet but so loud it surrounded all of them. Her eyes shot forward and fell on Sonic, his mouth wide with a cry of silent protest. They had used his animal senses against him, cutting to the very core of his being by fooling him in to believing he had lost his property. But in realising he had lost something like that, his emotions had finally seeped back to the surface.

\t“A...Ames?”

\tThere was a swirl of black smoke radiating off him, and as it dissipated in to the air it left behind her Blue. Pushing away from Shadow she ran to him, regards for her safety out of the window at the sound of hurt in his voice. She fell to her knees.

\t“Sonic? Sonic, can you hear me?”

\tHis big green eyes regarded her, before a trembling hand reached out to cup her cheek. It was soft, his claws had retracted and his fur was the blue she knew so intimately. She smiled through her tears as the light he radiated so purely returned to his aura. The darkness was banished.

\t“It's really you this time,” he gasped, tears flowing freely down his poor, battered cheeks. She cradled his head to her chest as she cried too. Through the tears she could see Shadow approach cautiously, blood drying in his snowy white chest fur. Now was not the time to talk, but she held a hand out to him and he took it, connecting the three of them to each other. Consequences would be dealt with once they were all safe.

\tLight appeared through the trees as the real world beckoned them home.

******

\tIn his arrogance, he was distracted by the house at first. If Shadow had brought him here, then it must have been where Amy had spent that month away from home. It was nothing special; in fact it looked cold and devoid and comfort. It was however, surrounded on all sides, and he could feel the claustrophobia of the circling woods close in on him.

\t“I strongly advise against this.”

\tSonic looked over as Shadow, stood a few paces away with his signature arms folded pose.

\t“Yea you said,” Sonic replied with a jerk of the head, “and I still don't care.”

\t“This isn't a game,” his rival snapped, his quiet voice rising, “the creatures you will face in there....”

\t“Like nothing I've ever faced blah blah,” he mocked, “isn't that the point of a challenge?”

\tShadow turned toward the woods, “What are you trying to prove?”

\t“Prove? I don't have to prove anything. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm doing this to try and get my head around my girlfriend.”

\tHe heard a snort come from the black hedgehog.

\t“You can stand there and be high and mighty about this if you want, I don't care. I'm sure you think you know her better than I do...and maybe you do. But she came back to me. She faced this for me. I will find a way to crack that shell she has about this place, even if that means I have to face it myself.”

\tShadow turned back to him. His expression was different, softer than usual, almost sad.

\t“She faced what lies within for herself. I offered to take her back to the village, but she was determined. You've seen how she fights in her sleep. Are you sure you're up to the same task?”

\tSonics bravado had taken over and logic was the last thing he was looking to, “If you can do it, so can I. The fact you shared this with Amy is the one hold you have on her.”

\tShadows face contorted back to it's usual, angry self, “Whatever you see, you do not touch anything. What you see is not real, they cannot physically harm you, but they can destroy your mind. Don't let them do that, and you'll walk out the other side and straight home.”

\tThe tone in Shadows voice made Sonic waver for just a second, the sight of the house where  Amy had given up so much of herself to someone else kicked him in to gear, and he broke the treeline.

\t“Idiot,” Shadow mumbled as he watched him go, “I never had a hold on her.”

******

\tSonic did not fare well in confined spaces, and the woods felt like the very definition of oppressive. The way the trees stood so close together to block his path, the darkness so like night though he had seen the sun rise before he entered, even the air felt heavy and unmoving. There was no way he was on his own soil any more. This place was too spooky, too unnatural, to be part of his world.

\tSpooky, however, did not scare him. There was an uncompromising, eerie atmosphere but it was nothing a well made Haunted House couldn't conjure up. At this rate he would step back in to the Village in no time and he could show Amy he would face anything for her.

\t“Hey Sonic!”

\tHe whipped around. There was a clearing in the trees that hadn't been there before, and in it stood Tails. He was younger, probably about the age that Sonic first met him. He was waving enthusiastically, wagging his tails back and forth. Young Miles Prower, not exactly the scariest sight to behold.

\t“Hey kid, what's with the double wag?” he laughed, recalling those as the first words he had said to the young fox.

\t“Watch!” the cub replied, and with some strained effort he got himself airborne. His face lit up with pride and Sonic gave him a thumbs up. They were kin from that first meeting, Sonic with his unnatural speed and Tails with the ability to fly.

\t“Shall I go higher?” the not-Tails asked.

\t“High as you can little buddy. See if you can impress me! Show me what you got!”

\tHe did just that. With a laugh he spun his tails faster and raised further and further in to the air, the branches of the trees somehow parting to gain him access. No light seeped through so soon the little fox was out of sight. He could still be heard however, and his laughter soon turned to gasps.

\t“Woah time to come back down,” Sonic called, and his request was granted. Tails came hurtling towards the ground at speed, screaming in absolute terror. He landed with a gut wrenching thud, and there was the distinct sound of cracking bones. As Sonic ran to him he found the little guy twisted and broken, blood spilling from his agape mouth. His eyes looked up at Sonic, their cold dead stare accusing him.

\tSonic covered his mouth as he gagged. He stepped back and closed his eyes, fighting the image now etched in to his memory. Tails had faltered as he was learning to fly, but with Sonics encouragement he had always carried on regardless. If Sonic had thought he would ever end up like this...

\tHe shook his head and ran in the other direction. It wasn't real. Tails was older now, an experienced flier both in and out of machines. He had grown up since then, and he was able to say no to Sonics bad influence. He was. What kind of bullshit was this wood trying to pull, using something that no longer worried him like that?

\tThe Blue Blur stopped still and took a deep breath to steady himself. Okay so that had caught him off guard, but he knew what he was dealing with now. Tails was his youngest friend but that didn't mean he was weak. The woods...they misunderstood Sonics feelings towards the young fox if they thought he was scared of that. Tails was independent now.

\tThere was stillness again but Sonic tried not to let the thickness of the trees ebb away at him. Instead he began to whistle a tune to try and keep his spirits up and the silence from encasing him.

\tA whistle echoed back. It was a higher pitch, a feminine and flirty sound. Where had he heard that whistle before? With a little more caution than before, he walked towards the sound, whistling as he went and following the one that responded.

\tWhat he saw was himself. Younger by a year or two, walking with false confidence towards the whistling female. The chipmunk, Sally, the girl he had popped his cherry with. He watched with a morbid curiosity as she knelt down in from of the ghost him and began to...

\t“Hey wood demons, that isn't how this happened. You can't have had the best sex life if this is what you consider a nightm....”

\tHe stopped in the middle of his speech when she heard her crying. Distracted by the other him getting hot and heavy in front of him, he hadn't noticed the ghost forming behind him. It was the perfect image of Amy, her arms wrapped around herself as she sobbed. She was watching the ghost him intently though it was obviously painful for her to witness.

\tThe real Sonic found it hard to tear his eyes away from her. He knew he had hurt Amy, but now he was actually seeing her pain it cut deeply in to his heart. A cold breezed up his arm and snapped him back to attention. Close call.

\t“You almost got me!” he cried to the air, “but Amy and I are going to work though this. I fucked up okay, I'm going to regret it forever but I know she cares for me all the same.”

\tHe gave a derivative snort as the ghost him gave a pathetic whimper of pleasure before they all faded. What guy didn't make that sound when getting head? Come on. They were going to have to step up their game.

\tThis time he saw the mist swirling in to form near him. He took a stance as if he was going in to battle, but the shape that merged before him was himself again. This time he was a baby, stood on his shaky legs in a pen while his parents stood nearby. At first he was happy to see his folks, but their faces were twisted in disgust as they looked down upon his younger image. The baby Sonic started running around in his pen, circle after speedy circle. His Mother started crying.

\t“What's going on Jules? Should we seek medical help?”

\t“And tell them what Bernie? Our son is a freak of nature? Who knows what they might do to him.”

\t“I can't take him outside! What will I tell everyone!”

\t“Perhaps....I mean look at what he's doing...he might have an accident...”

\t“Bullshit!” Sonic cried in to the air, and all at once the ghosts vaporised in to nothing. He was still glaring at the spot that they stood.

\t“My parents loved me...they love me! My Dad encouraged me to run! Mom told me I was blessed with this ability. She discovered my spin dash! You dropped the ball on this one!”

\tOf course, there was no reply, and all that remained was the sound of his own voice echoing all around him. His abilities were out of the blue but his parents had always been proud of him. They told him to go out there and save the world, and that's what he did! He was only a child when he left home and they had encouraged him to do so! He hadn't ever taken that as a sign they were pushing him out!

\tDid he? No of course not, it wasn't like he couldn't go back and see them. He was their only child and they liked having him around. They were always happy to hear of his stories and of his battles. He would show them how these powers were a blessing. Nobody ever called him a freak of nature. Only...only perhaps Eggman.

\tA familiar sound in the air felt like he had thought him in to existence. There he was, weaving in and out of the trees in his Eggmobile. His robots were not in tow, but in his hand the Doctor held a vicious looking rifle. He never used weapons like that. He was Eggman, but somehow not him at the same time. He looked so much colder, so much more like a machine.

\tAll around him villagers popped up out of the smoke. So many faces he knew, young and old, new friends and new faces; just about everyone in his memory was there. He was there too, but he was stock still, staring skyward in fear at the Doctor. The real Sonic followed suit as the first crack of the shot gun rung through the air.

\tDown went Dave. The bullet passed right through his head, and he dropped to the ground in a pool of his own brain matter. Next went Old Monkey, and Knuckles as he ran to help.

\tThis was not Eggman. Never would he kill in such a cold and calculated manner. Sonic didn't even have to worry that the villagers would be struck down so brutally, so to watch, helpless as his whole neighbourhood perished was like being stabbed in the gut repeatedly. He wanted to speak but bile was catching in his throat and his vision blurred with tears. They were so innocent.

\t“Sonic, why aren't you helping?” Sticks cried. Sonic ran a few paces towards her before he realised she was talking to the ghost him. The badger then fell too, a shot to the stomach, and a agonising, wheezing death.

\tSonic turned to his ghost counterpart, who was walking slowly in their direction.

\t“I can't, remember,”  he sighed as Sticks took her last breath, “I'm not anything any more. No more running, no more spinning, no more saving. No more Sonic.”

\tThe real Sonic watched in horror as his ghost walked away from the scene. The sound of the gun rang through his ears and he could no longer take the sound or the sight. He bolted as fast as he could, darting between trees and ghosts and bullets. He wanted to hunt his ghost self down and scream at him that he wasn't the sum of his speed. He was more than that, he could still save their lives if he just tried! Normal people could be hero's too!

\tInstead he was aimless and he ran blindly. He barely felt the sharp stings of the knife like branches as he was whipped by them over and over. He finally stopped when he caught his ankle on a fallen limb and he was sent flying.

******

\tTime didn't pass the same way in the wood. He could no longer deny that pain raking at his body. His ankle was swollen and pressed tightly against his bindings. He removed the tape and his shoe, noticing at least it wasn't broken.

\tThe cold seeped in to him. It wasn't a chill like he had ever known. It was more like a wave of ice, pouring though his core. He had been so stupid, he had been so arrogant.

\tHe had been so Sonic.

\tHe was no hero, he was just some freak who got lucky. If he didn't have the bizarre make up in his genes, he would be nobody. Would anyone tolerate his smug attitude if he didn't have all these abilities? Would Tails have idolized him so much? Would Amy have stuck around?

\tBlowing through the cold came a rush of warm air. It touched his cheek softly, a welcome kiss of heat. The encompassing silence was broken by a gentle, soothing hum. Turning round, he no longer cared if she was a ghost or not, he saw his Amy. He raised himself carefully to his feet and smiled widely as she approached.

\tShe looked older than she was now. Her quills were tied neatly behind her head and she was fuller than her teenage form. Her face was the same though, from her delicate lips to her beautiful button nose and her stunning, clover eyes. She smiled and sighed his name.

\t“Sonic, my true Blue. Come over here.”

\tHe desired her touch more than anything, but he hesitated. As he took a step back she raised her arms and a wisp of smoke took shape in her arms. It was a bundle of blankets, but his ear caught the lightest sound. A gurgle, and a squeak of laughter. It grabbed him by the heart and pulled him in.

\tShe was a beautiful little hoglet. Everything about her was so tiny. Her fur was a deep lilac shade, much like his Mothers, and her glistening eyes looked much like his. Having children seemed so far in to his future, but this image before him, this little family, he knew it was the one thing he needed. Hadn't Amy dreamed of just the same?

\t“Hold her?” Amy sighed, “Take the baby, Sonic.”

\tThe baby. Hearing those words in her voice shot an arrow of doubt through his head. His Amy, the real Amy, she had uttered those words in her nightly horrors, not her dreams. She had never explain the details to him, but it was enough to send a warning to him and she stepped backward.

\tIt happened so quick, he had no time to react. Shadow appeared behind the other Amy, and with a swipe as fast as lightning he had clawed a deep, gaping hole in her throat. Blood coloured her soft, pink fur a deep crimson and she coughed away her life.

\t“She's mine, or nobody's,” Shadow growled, and as Amy fell he made a grab for the baby. That's when Sonics instincts took over and he lunged at the scene, reaching for the child before he lost her too.

\tThat was the last he remembered clearly. There had been black, so much black. Flashes of trees shooting passed, sounds of demonic laughter, incoherent attacks on his senses and he had lashed out. Smoke demons that tried to kill him. The taste of blood on his lips. Nothing was real until he heard her break through the mess. A tiny yelp, a sound of both pleasure and pain that stabbed through his defective vision. There was only one time she made that sound. The sound should only belong to him. His eye focussed on her in Shadows arms, but she had run to him and held him and comforted him. She was real once again; she was alive but all the same she was hurt and she was no longer bonded to him. Their animal heritage lingered in their blood, and now Amy had been marked by another, she just didn't smell the same.

******

\tHe had so many questions for her but he could not face them. He knew in his heart of hearts he had hurt her in so many ways. She was bleeding freely from a bite in her shoulder when he had awoken from his spell. Her face, even as she beamed so brightly at him, showed a wariness. As she had held him close, she had held her hand out to Shadow too. She must had bonded to Shadow to protect herself, and worst of all to protect herself from him. She had fallen in love with his rival for all the right reasons. Who was he to think he had any right to love her, to expect it in return?

\tShe would admit it to herself eventually. Sonic wasn't going to be the man she thought he would be. He needed her to make him feel more than just the Blue Blur, but that was not something he could demand of her. She would be safer with Shadow and he would never have the feel the pain of losing her again. It would be easier if he detached now and let her go.","pools_count":1,"title":"Internal Combustion: 12","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"application/msword","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"2","rating_name":"Adult","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"2","name":"Nudity","description":"Nonsexual nudity exposing breasts or genitals (must not show arousal)","rating_id":"1"},{"content_tag_id":"5","name":"Strong Violence","description":"Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death","rating_id":"2"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"t","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"2","views":"127","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}