Swapped Lives
Chapter 1: My Dying Light
The dreams had been plaguing Sonic for some time now. Every night, he heard the bloodcurdling of people he didn't recognize, he felt the crimson splash on his face, he saw bodies falling to the ground before him, one by one. The gunshots echoed in his ear, only disappearing when his savior, his light, spoke his name.
Speaking of which, she was doing that now.
"Sonikku? You alive there?"
Sonic shifted his head, meeting face-to-face with his friend. Her jade eyes met his verdigris-colored ones. Some of her sakura bangs fell in his face, and when they itched his nose, he sneezed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Ames. What about you?" Sonic stretched his arms, before sitting up.
Amy Rose puffed her cheeks, though Sonic smiled when he saw the small blush on them. "I-I was just checking on you. The professor was worried when you never showed up for your weekly checkup."
"Didn't feel like going."
"Oh, come on! Not that excuse again!"
"Yes. Again."
Sonic made a small smirk when he heard Amy make an exasperated sigh.
Amy grabbed the blue hedgehog by the wrist and pulled with difficulty, trying to yank him off the bed. "Come on! The professor needs to see whether or not you'll...you'll..." Amy trailed off, her grip on Sonic weakening as she tried to put it into words.
"I'm fine." Sonic pulled his arm back, clicking his tongue. "Besides, I'd prefer to not know when I'm gonna die. Like most sane people."
"Sonikku...please. Just-I want to know if you're really okay." Amy used her nickname for him again.
The cerulean hedgehog slid off the bed, barely able to resist the innocence in Amy's voice. A faint blush lit his cheeks. "A-Alright. But only because you asked me to!" Sonic pointed an accusing finger at the pink hedgehog. Amy grinned, and dove on top of him.
"Yay! Thank you, my Sonikku!" She shouted, ignoring Sonic's protests as they fell over on the floor, she on top of him.
"I told you I'd do it! Don't make me change my mind!" Sonic threatened, and in an instant Amy was off him, dialing the code to open the door.
Sonic shifted his arm to where it was over his eyes, panting from how much effort it took to keep Amy from strangling him when she had tackled him.
"Get up, Sonikku! You can't be exhausted already!"
"I know." Sonic emphasized the "know" so that Amy would get his point, standing up as he did so. Amy grabbed his gloved hand and pulled him through the door, where they ran down the hallway to the professor's office.
Sonic looked out the large 6-inch thick glass windows. From there, anyone could get a perfect view of the earth, and of the blanket called space with stars in the background. From the ARK, the earth looked like nothing more than a planet filled with nothing but water and clouds-the water which Sonic hated. After all, he couldn't swim. Like, at all, as much as he hated to admit it.
The earth was a beautiful planet that neither Sonic nor Amy had ever been to before. Sonic's reason-was because, well, G.U.N. had backed Professor Robotnik into a corner, and for an unknown reason, Sonic was only brought to life only to serve the military as a weapon. However, the professor had said it was to solve major illnesses like N.I.D.S. or A.I.D.S. Mostly because of Amy.
Amy Rose, used to be a human girl, and the best friend of the professor's granddaughter. She, however, was born with A.I.D.S., and because of that was unable to survive in the earth's atmosphere. She died around nine years old, only alive for so long because of the hospital atmosphere, but even that was to dangerous for her, and she passed.
Then, for some unknown reason, the professor brought the girl back to life at his granddaughter's request. Hence, Amy was brought back in an artificial body, though she had no memory of her past, as well as any of the people she used to love. So Amy was brought here, to the ARK, since everyone that had ever cared about her abandoned her, thinking she was some sort of "monster." Sonic hated them for that.
Sonic was brought to life about three years after Amy came to the ARK, when she was twelve. It had been six years since then, so even though Amy looked like she was twelve, and Sonic sixteen, in truth Amy was far older than him, an awkward eighteen with Sonic being six. Already, though, because of what had been going on, he already acted like he was seventeen. Their ages were way different, and put simply, Sonic acted Amy's age, and Amy acted, well Sonic's age. It was all a huge mess, really.
"Professor, we're here!" Amy pulled Sonic through the sliding door, the azure hedgehog having spaced out for a second.
The said scientist, Gerald Robotnik, was busy looking through a microscope at something Amy and Sonic didn't care about, but upon hearing them entering, looked up.
"Hello Amy, Sonic." Gerald smiled, though it was hard to see through his unnaturally long mustache. He looked at Amy. "I see that you managed to convince him to come this time without using force." He moved his gaze over to Sonic, who was itching at his cheek, slightly flustered.
"Don't need to be so nervous, Sonic. It's just the normal checkup, come over here." Gerald gestured to the metal table always used for science-y stuff that Sonic didn't pay attention to. However, it did bring back the painful memories of what G.U.N. did to him about a year ago. In the event, he nearly killed ten people.
Sonic gulped, but obliged to the professor's instructions, plopping himself down on the table, his legs dangling off the edge. He bit the inside of his cheek in order to keep the memories from surfacing, and mentally told himself to calm down repeatedly.
"Amy, can you go wait outside?" Gerald asked the girl, who nodded hesitantly, before exiting. The scientist peered at Sonic anxiously. "It's okay, Sonic. What happened is over now, okay?"
"I-I know that, but..." Sonic breathed, feeling his heartbeat race far faster than what should be considered normal. "It's...it's hard to forget when she reminds me of it every day..."
Amy waited for what felt like hours outside, though she knew it was only about twenty minutes.
The door sliding open made her snap her head up, and she quickly turned, seeing Gerald step out of the lab. "How is he?" She asked, unsure of how she should express her worry.
Gerald gestured to the sleeping ball of blue fur in his hands. "He did his best to keep from panicking, and he didn't have another flashback, so that was good. He fell asleep during the checkup, and I believe this may be from a lack of sleep. He's been eating fine, so don't worry about that. I'd like it if you could sleep with him tonight to make sure he get's a decent amount of sleep, alright?"
Amy felt heat pool in her cheeks. "A-Alright."
The professor took Sonic back to his room, which was, thankfully, next to Amy's, and placed the hedgehog on his bed. Almost immediately, he curled into fetal position, and Amy flushed at how cute he looked when he slept.
"I'll leave him to you, then." The professor left, leaving Amy and Sonic alone. She crawled into the blankets next to her friend, and grasped onto his hand. The two didn't know that would be one of the last times they ever could hold onto each other.
"Sonikku! Sonikku!"
Sonic cracked his eyes open a sliver, surprised that it was still dark inside the room. "Mn?"
Someone was shaking his shoulders, hard. "SONIC! WAKE UP!"
Upon hearing someone use his full name, the hedgehog's eyes shot open fully, and he sat straight up with a jolt. "What is it?" He looked around the room in alarm, only to find Amy clutching onto his shoulders, tears burning in her eyes. Sirens blared, and the red lights lit up the room.
"Sonikku, I'm scared!" Amy cried, burying her head into Sonic's chest making him blush.
"L-Let's get out of here!" Sonic stuttered, still embarrassed at how she latched onto him like that. He snatched her hand, and ran over to the door-however, several bangs and gunshots were heard outside. Sonic then assumed soldiers or something of the same caliber was attempting to break the door down. He swore, before looking around for another escape.
There was a window, revealing the space outside the reinforced steel walls. After confirming it in some tests about two years ago, Sonic had discovered he could breathe in space, but he wasn't sure about Amy. Plus, where would they go, even if they could escape through there?
Sonic grit his teeth, and looked around the room for another exit, before his eyes landed on an air vent above them. He didn't know where it would lead, but it was his only choice. He set Amy down on the bed. "Hold on for a sec."
He squatted down, before leaping up and pulling on the vent itself. It yanked off, thanks to his weight, and he quickly grabbed Amy bridal style and jumped again.
Sonic made sure Amy safely made it into the air vent, before going back down, and grabbed the vent cover. He leaped for a third time, this time climbing into the vent and setting the cover back in place-just as the soldiers banging on the door from outside knocked the door down.
"Come on." Sonic whispered, gesturing Amy to follow him, as he crawled down some random direction in the vents.
The sirens still echoed loudly through the vents, making Sonic grow panicked with anxiety. Just what could be going on, that could lead to soldiers attacking the ARK? What is it that they want? Why are they here?
"Find the project! Now!" He heard a muffled voice from one of the vent covers, followed by a series of footsteps.
"Sonikku?" Sonic quickly shushed Amy, who was following along behind him.
"We're gonna go to the pod bay and take some escape capsules. And we're going to escape together, okay?" Sonic instructed her, and the sakura hedgehog nodded.
Sonic gave her a small thumbs-up and kicked off the cover on the nearest vent. Sure, there was a risk that soldiers were down there, but he and Amy needed to leave as soon as they could.
He grabbed her hands, which were cuffed with gold rings and covered with gloves. "Hold on." He told her, before jumping down. They both noticed crosshairs appear on their foreheads. Sonic clenched his fist, but smirked, sweat forming along his eye ridge. "Give me a sec, Ames."
She nodded. "A-Alright."
Just as he said, Sonic took only a second, if not less, turning into nothing but a blue blur, one that appeared again about two seconds later, all the soldiers aiming guns at them dropping to the ground. He dusted his gloves off, before taking Amy's hand and continuing to run, fully aware of the soldiers following win close pursuit.
"Don't let the project get away! Make sure no one survives!" Sonic and Amy overheard some random man yell to the other soldiers behind them.
Next thing they knew, projectiles were being fired recklessly, probably in an effort to slow the duo down. In order to shield her, Sonic heaved the girl up and held her in his arms bridal style once again.
Several of the bullets nicked his arms and legs, making him wince. Still, as long as Amy was safe, Sonic didn't care.
The pod bay soon came into eyesight, and Sonic let out a breath of relief. He increased his speed, thankful for his gift of super speed.
Sonic and Amy slid through the door, the azure hedgehog using his shoes to skid to a stop. He dialed a code to lock the door, and made sure that those soldiers wouldn't make it in.
"Come on, Ames. I-what is it?" Sonic realized Amy was staring at something else. He placed his hand on her small shoulder, and Amy shakily pointed in front of her. Tears had already begun to slip down her cheeks.
"Sonic..."Amy used Sonic's real name, which caught his attention. Well, there was that, and when he found what she was looking at, Sonic's eyes widened.
"Sonic, there's only one capsule left. Only one of us can go."
It took Sonic a couple of seconds to process what Amy had said. Only one of them could go to the earth? The other had to stay, awaiting nothing but death?
That wasn't right. It could never be right. Never.
Sonic took in some shaky breaths. "Amy. Go." He shoved his friend from the back, and Amy let out an awkward gasp at his sudden action.
Amy shoved her heels into the ground. "I refuse, Sonic. You're going into that escape capsule." She grabbed his wrists from behind her. Sonic's mouth opened, though no sound came out, as she turned her head to him. The tears that had traveled down her face were now dried, leaving white trails on her cheeks. New ones flowed over the marks. Amy smiled.
"I'm sorry."
Forcefully pushing him, Amy shoved him into the space. In the instant after that, before he could react, the glass slammed down around him, and he swore, realizing that the capsule closed the moment it detected motion.
His teeth clenching again, Sonic threw his fists against the bulletproof-and soundproof-glass. In such a small pod, there was no space to create any momentum, and barely any room to spindash, basically rendering the hedgehog powerless, with nothing but his fists. It hurt realizing that. So, so much.
Though it was barely audible, Sonic heard thuds through the glass, and watched hopelessly as the door to the pod bay broke down. He went into panic mode, his eyes shifting to Amy, who's trembling hands grasped the lever on the console. If she pulled that lever, then it would be the end. Sonic would be sent down to the earth, alone, and Amy would be left to die.
The small group of soldiers shouted something inaudible at Amy, who ignored them. She instead, smiled sadly at Sonic, and whispered words that he didn't hear.
And the lever was pulled.
