Sally's blue booted feet pounded against the wet pavement of the sidewalk, speed walking with her midriff jacket pulled over to cover as much of her head as possible. The rain was pouring down at an incredible pace, drenching everything it touched. Sally didn't mind the rain, it always seemed to calm her inner demons, but at the moment she had something important at hand. The electricity in the town had cut off due to the storm and had received a call from Cream and Rouge if she could give them a hand with setting up some candles. She had been surprised by the call, since it seemed something that they would call Amy for. They had explained that they had called her, but there had been no answer, going straight to her cell phones voicemail.
Sally hoped that she was at home, out of the rain, and just couldn't charge the mobile phone. All home phones had been cut off along with lights, so it had been useless to call her house. No had seen Amy all day, concerning her friends, but everyone blamed it on the weather. No one would want to go out in it, even to see friends . . . except Sally of course.
A quiet rumble of thunder had Sally glancing at the sky to see small flashes of lightning in the distance. She huffed a deep sigh as she walked a little faster, wanting to get home and dry off. Her house was a good distance away, it would take a long time even to run, so she took her time. She decided it would be a good idea to take the shortcut through the forest, and plus there was a little bit of protection from the rain falling. She made it to the tree line and was able to uncover her head and stand up straight. She brushed her long brown hair from her deep blue eyes as she jogged through the greenery, making sure to stay away from trees just in case a surprise bolt of lightning decided to make acquaintances.
She was about to start running when she heard a series of agony filled coughs and a large thud, causing Sally to skid to an immediate halt and look around. She continued listened intently for where the sound was coming from and took off, seeing a figure lying on the ground, trembling and coughing violently. The closer the squirrel/munk got, the more detail she saw. She could make out pink and that's all she needed to know who it was; the girl that everyone had been trying to reach all day.
"Amy?" Sally cried, running quicker to reach the female hedgehog who flinched at the sound of her name being called before realizing who it was. She weakly raised her head to look up at Sally, who stopped in her tracks at the sight of the young girl. She was horribly beaten, bruises and cut covering over her body. Her red dress was ripped and tattered, burnt and charred in some areas. She had a large black eye, a cut on her cheek, three large gauges on her right arm and smaller cuts and bruises covering her head to foot. "Amy, what happened to you?" Sally questioned, getting on her knees and helping the trembling girl into a sitting position.
Amy tried to utter out words, but they came out a terrified stutters turning to coughs. Tears were running down her cheeks, her jade eyes were blood shot, and now that Sally saw, she was horribly skinny and pale. After a fit of coughs, Amy looked up and gave a small, sad smile to her friend before wincing when she put too much pressure on her left ankle. The more Sally looked at her, the more damage she saw, cuts on her lips, her nose had stained blood crusted into her peachy fur, some fur was missing on her quills, arms and shoulders, she gloves were gone, she was coated in mud, dirt and blood, and her body was over heated.
"Oh my God, I need to call Sonic!" Sally said, holding the young girl in her hold as she reached for her jacket pocket for her phone.
"NO!" Amy cried, finally speaking up. Her voice was strained and hoarse, like she had lost her voice and hadn't drunken anything in hours. Sally paused and looked at her with a shocked expression. "I-I d-don't want him to s-see me like this . . ." she said in a quieter voice, barely audible. Sally hesitated before sliding her phone back into place and stood them to their feet, holding Amy up, who released a pained gasp when she stepped on her left leg, nearly tumbling to the ground again.
"You need medical attention, I'll help you to the hospital." Sally urged, starting to lead the girl in the direction of town. Amy resisted and shook her head sadly, looking away.
"Y-you can just drop me-me of at h-home." She stuttered. "No one needs to s-see me." she said, a little more clearly. Sally didn't think it'd be such a great idea to ignore medical attention, but Amy really didn't want anyone to see her like this, not even Sonic.
"Okay, but then I want you to tell me what happened, deal?" Sally said, shifting Amy's arms to her shoulders while holding Amy up steady. Amy hesitated before agreeing and they both turned and headed west, walking along the tree line. Amy didn't moan or groan in pain or show any pain whatsoever, keeping silent and occasionally trying to assure Sally that she was fine and she could make it the rest of the way. Sally knew she was in pain, and wasn't going to let Amy wander off on her own, especially when she wanted to know what happened.
They eventually stumbled across the small dirt path that led up to Amy's small pink cottage, that was tucked safely and securely in the woods. Amy limped along side Sally up the path, but had stopped to close the cover of the bird feeder so the seeds didn't get moist and soggy. Sally was at a loss of words towards this young hedgehog. She was in such a terrible condition, a broken ankle maybe, and she was worrying about the bird's food getting soiled and the garden getting over watered. Sally eventually pried Amy away from the rose bushes, saying that she would help Amy later on with the garden when she was all healed.
Sally helped Amy climb the steps to the front door and Amy took the spare key out of a potted plant, her fingers getting dirty. Sally took the key and unlocked the door, pushing it open and pulling Amy in with her. She sat Amy on her couch, adjusting her position to make her more comfortable and went to check the lights. Still out.
"Do you have any candles, Amy?" Sally asked, looking over at the her friend who had her eyes closed and was taking in pain filled breaths of air.
"Oh, yes, i-in the hallway c-closet." She said, shakily raising her finger and pointing towards the hall beside the kitchen threshold. Sally went down the hall, taking note of all the pictures hanging on the wall; several of Sonic, one of them hugging each other, a few of Cream, Rouge and herself. And there were even a few pictures of Sally there, just hanging out with everyone. Sally hadn't been around town for a very long time, she'd been there maybe a month or so. She felt a little out of place with all the friends Sonic had made since they were kids, but Amy had welcomed Sally kindly, remembering how much she had enjoyed the chipmunks company. Sally smiled when she saw one of herself and Amy sitting on a park bench, caught laughing at a passage in a book Sally had brought along on the picnic that day.
She found the closet and took three candles from the top shelf, grabbing randomly scented ones. She grabbed the box of matches and closed the doors behind her as she hurried back down the hall, only to find that Amy was no longer on the couch.
"Amy?" she sat the candles on a side table and looked around the room, hearing small noises from the kitchen, she went to check. Amy was at the fridge, taking two cans of soda and setting them on the counter so she could grab some bread from a basket sitting beside the sink. "What are you doing?" Sally exclaimed, rushing over and gripping Amy's arm, pulling her towards a dinner table chair.
"I was making us something to eat, I thought you might be hungry." Amy said innocently, smiling as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't. Sally couldn't help but smile at her caring heart, but shook her head.
"Come on, we'll get you patched up and then we can both make something to eat." Sally said, holding her hand out for Amy to take. The sakura hedgehog gladly obliged and limped back to the living room, slumping back to on the couch with a deep sigh. Sally lit the candles and laid them on the coffee table in front of the couch, supporting a comforting light and a easeful aroma. The brunette chipmunk gathered cotton swabs, gauze, a damp towel, a few pain killers, medicine for the cuts and wrapped a piece of surprisingly still cold steak in a small paper towel for her black eye.
Amy stayed put this time, resting up with a blanket draped over her form to help stop her shivering. Sally guessed she caught some sort of cold or fever from being out in the rain, and having open cuts didn't help.
Sally positioned herself at one foot of the couch and sat Amy across her lap so she'd have easy access to her face. Amy winced while Sally gently dapped at the cuts, but didn't stop the chipmunk. After a few moments of silence, Sally finally spoke up.
"So what did happen to you? Don't say nothing, because this obviously wasn't an accident." Sally said, knowing well enough that someone did this to her. Amy was quiet for a moment, recollecting her thoughts on how to respond.
"It had been earlier this morning, before the storm started." she finally spoke, the stutter had left her voice but she was still trembling violently, like she was still being beaten. "I had gone out early to fill the bird feeder and start my gardening, like I did every week. It had been pretty quiet, not a lot of noise. There weren't even birds singing, which was weird for me, but I shrugged it off as nothing." Amy had her eyes closed as Sally gently placed the piece of meat over her horribly bruised eye, waiting for Amy to continue. Amy pinched her eyes closed tightly for a few seconds, obviously holding back tears.
"It's okay, Amy. You can tell me." Sally whispered comfortingly, stroking her quills to ease her fear.
"Um, Eggman . . . I hadn't heard him coming, he had been so quiet, but he stuck up on me. He had metal Sonic with him—" Amy flinched at the name. Her childhood fear, the robot that still haunted her dreams some nights. "They nabbed me and took me to Doctor Eggman's base. They weren't using me for bait like they usually did, they had no intention of luring Sonic to the base at all. Instead, it was pay back, for Sonic destroying the last base and plan. They explained they knew that Sonic wouldn't be as easy to catch, and putting him through the pain wouldn't be nearly as much fun. They said hurting one of us was the easiest and the most painful way to hurt Sonic.
"He said it could have been anybody; Cream, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, you, but I just had the bad luck. But I'm happy it was me, it be more painful seeing someone else going through this." Amy stopped for a second to catch a breath from speaking so much, peeking an eye open and give a small upturn of the lips at the dumbstruck Sally. "Eggman let Metal do his thing, he cut me, punched me, beat me. When I had tried to fight back, he did something to my ankle. For some reason I couldn't summon my hammer, I just felt so . . . helpless." Tears were starting to spill down her cheeks, her voice cracking at the last word, flinching at the memory. "For good measure, Eggman electrified me a few times before Metal dumped me in the woods a few miles away from the base. I had been walking for an hour before you found me.
"I didn't want anyone to see, especially Sonic, since that's just what Eggman wanted. I thought once I got home, I'd just hide out for a few weeks, wait for some of the injuries to die down and play off the minor ones on being a klutz." Amy opened her eyes, realization hitting and turned to Sally pleadingly. "Sally, you can't tell anyone. Please, you can't." Amy begged, gripping one of Sally's hands in both of hers.
She simply shook her head.
"I need to, they'd eventually figure it out. These wounds won't ever permanently heal, you'll have scars, fur will be missing on some places, and everyone knows you're not clumsy enough to actually fall and break your ankle. You are a hedgehog, Amy, you guys don't break easily from what I've seen." Sally said with a wink. Though the mood somewhat lifted, Amy was still upset about someone finding out. It was different with Sally.
"Sonic can't know. Tell anyone, but not Sonic. He'll blame himself for this! I can't let that happen! If he finds out that Eggman did this to me because he stopped a plan, what will he do? He doesn't need to stress of the idea that now every time he stops a scheme, someone's going to get hurt."
Sally understood Amy's fear. Sonic had enough to worry about, the weight of their world was constantly on his shoulders. Of course he knew that his friends had always been targets of Eggman, she was positive that no one knew that he would go to these lengths.
"If he sees me, or asks about my injuries, just tell him it was a freak accident. Anything would be better than him finding out the truth, tell him I got hit by a car, I got in the way of a robbery, I got attacked by a shark—anything! Just not the truth!" Amy was being dead serious about this. Sally saw the desperation in her beautiful jade eyes that were now starting to tear up again.
Sally smiled understandingly and nodded.
"Alright, Amy. I won't tell him." She reluctantly agreed. Amy seemed to ease up a little bit, leaning back against the arm of the couch with a tired sigh. "How about this," Sally moved to Amy's ankle. "When we get you all fixed up, how about some ice cream? My treat."
". . . I'd like that."
-/-/-/-/
It was a few hour later that Amy and Sally were both walking towards the ice cream shop. Amy had been cleaned up fairly well, some of her bruises hidden behind make up and her cuts were cleaned and wrapped tightly. Sally didn't have any knowledge on how to really help her ankle, so Amy had led her with instructions. It was now wrapped tightly in gauze and had a well homemade brace strapped around her ankle.
She had grabbed a walking stick so she wasn't leaning on Sally the entire walk and had a coat to cover the bruises on her arms. Her legs were still bruised and bandaged, but if anyone asked specifically about them, she'd just say she fell. Amy and Sally were giggling happily, joking around and talking about how they needed to plan a shopping trip because Amy's jacket was so out of style.
They grabbed a booth at the shop, Amy pushing her hood back off of her head and smiled. Even though they put lots of pink eye shadow on to cover her eye, the bruise was still easy to see. Maybe not from a distance, but you can see it up close. At the moment, Amy didn't care. People had stared at her in curiosity, concern and confusion the entire walk, but she ignored them and enjoyed her talk with Sally. All she wanted right now, was to enjoy the simple pleasures of a bowl of strawberry ice cream with blueberries and chocolate syrup.
Sally was enjoying her banana split across the table, smiling warmly at Amy as the sakura hedgehog dug her spoon into the bowl and scooped a large amount of the frozen desert into her mouth.
" . . . Amy? . . .!"
Amy slowly turned her head, her mouth still stuffed full of strawberry ice cream dripping from her lips as she stared wide eyed at the person who called her. This is exactly what she had dreaded.