The Greatest Betrayal
By Breech Loader
Breech: I know my warnings were a bit 'Don't like, don't read', but I wanted to warn you. So, StarLightRaven, you think number three WASN'T the worst? You dare doubt me? I'll just have to have Shadow be NICE from here!
Just kidding. Things ain't gonna get any nicer; I just wanted to get the rape of Cream out of the way.
Chapter Four: Betrayal of Hope
"The 11 year old victim, as yet unnamed, was discovered with 27 stab wounds, only four of which would have been potentially fatal…"
"…a blatant sexual attack…"
"…the police are yet to discover a motive or a suspect…"
"…looking for anybody who has any information."
Sonic groaned and turned off the television. It was two weeks since Cream had been brutally murdered, and it was still the primary event on the news right now. After all, her mother was wealthy high society. It was three days since Cheese's little body had been found in a dumpster, his neck snapped. He was sick of hearing about it. Vanilla Rabbit was an influential woman and her daughter was often in the spotlight, so of course it got publicity. But what kind of monster would do something like this to a little girl? He could think of no reason.
Amy had barely been able to stop crying since she had found Cream's body on her doorstep. She had barely left her house either. Sick. Sick. Sick. Like her young friend's body was some kind of gift. Seeing her face stained with so many tears like that had twisted him up inside worse than anything ever had before.
And Sonic knew that she blamed herself unceasingly for losing Cream in that mall. He'd tried to comfort her. Everybody had. Telling her that it had been in broad daylight and she'd only taken her eyes off Cream for a moment. It had done nothing to help. They'd all reminded her that she'd called Vanilla and they had of course contacted the police, but they had told them that people couldn't be reported missing for 24 hours.
Of course, by then it was already too late. Whatever monster had done this had not wasted time.
They had only just returned from the funeral, and Tails was crying right now as he sat next to Sonic. Another twist to the metaphorical knife in Sonic's heart.
"Sonic… why'd they do it? Cream never really hurt anybody… What they did to her… How could anybody…"
Sonic nodded. There had been a lot of people at the funeral. Him and Tails, obviously. Team Chaotix, Knuckles, and even Rouge. Shadow had been there at the back looking grim, then left in his own quiet way. Even Silver and Blaze, who barely knew Cream, had come out of respect for the rest of them. Vanilla hadn't been able to stop crying, and about half-way through Amy had broken down into hysterics, screaming about how it was 'all my fault'.
"I don't know why, little buddy," Sonic knew consoling people over death was tough. He'd never imagined he'd have to do it himself. Part of him had always assumed that if anybody was going to have to do any consoling, it would probably be over his death.
He was great at being cheerful, and even at cheering people up. But when there was no cheer to be had… what then? The thought was like a punch to the stomach. He searched for some words.
"We… we've got to remember her as she was, Tails. A sweet, innocent little girl who-"
"-Who didn't deserve it!" Tails wept, "It's not helping, Sonic! It's not helping!"
Sonic groaned and cuddled his friend.
Then the phone rang.
Sonic picked it up, expecting it to be another sympathiser. The entire team was getting them from people he'd barely even heard of.
"Sonic the Hedgehog. Who is this?" he asked quietly.
"Evening, Sonic…" a voice spoke softly.
Sonic scowled, "No, I'm Sonic. Who is this?"
"Don't you remember me? We had such a nice conversation about your friends a couple of weeks ago…" the ominous voice chuckled.
Oh. Now he remembered that cloaked, mysterious voice, "Oh, calling up to gloat over the death of a little girl, are you? Listen you, one of my friends has just died. I don't have time for your sick mind games, freak. I don't want to hear your voice ever again. So fuck off."
"That's odd, I'd have thought you'd be a lot more interested in me now…"
"Why the hell would I be interested… in…" Sonic's voice was slowing and shaking slightly.
"Those two brain cells of yours rubbing together again, Sonic?" the voice continued, "Yeah, Cheese's neck snapped like a twig. Chao, they're water elements. Kind of like bubbles, really. They just go pop. But Cream… she was more persistent… I had to get rough."
"You? You killed Cream?!" Sonic felt bile rising in his throat. Tails was looking at him, shocked, and he tried to calm himself, "No… No, you're just some insane lunatic who-"
"I'M NOT CRAZY! DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME CRAZY!" the voice shrieked, "But… dying's not so bad, Sonic. Trust me. I've been there before. In a manner of speaking. And this is what you deserve, Sonic. In fact, it's better than you deserve."
Sonic ground his teeth, "You're a monster. A despicable, soulless monster. What about Cream? Did she deserve to die? Did her mother deserve to lose a daughter? Did Amy deserve to have her friend's dead body dumped on her doorstep?"
There was a brief pause, "All your friends deserve this. Being your friend is a crime of stupidity."
"I will find you, and I will make you pay for this," Sonic promised the Voice, "If you've got a problem with me, find me, and fight me. Don't touch my friends."
"Pft. You dropped me. And then you left me behind. And then you betrayed me. And then you mocked me. A slow, painful death is the last thing you're getting from me." Sonic could hear the Voice laughing to themselves on the other end.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Sonic screamed down the phone.
"The fact that you don't know simply increases my desire to destroy your entire life," the Voice informed him, "But if you can't answer that question, here's an easier one. Where am I, Sonic? Go on, take a guess…"
Sonic shuddered with rage, not wanting to play the game, "How am I supposed to know, you sick freak?!" he snarled.
"Oh, come on Sonic, I'll even give you a clue," the Voice sounded like it was smirking, "I'm on the doorstep, I'm pressing the doorbell… Right… now…"
A few bars from the chorus of 'Follow Me' rang out over the phone.
Sonic almost dropped the phone in horror.
"AMY!"
Shadow crunched the cell-phone up in his hand, standing in front of the door calmly. It was being opened right now.
Amy looked up at the black and red hedgehog. She was in her pink dressing gown, and she had been crying until she ran out of tears lately. She hadn't been able to sleep for it, and her face was still covered in tears. She hadn't bothered to put on makeup. It would be a waste of time. He looked grim, and the trenchcoat made him look even grimmer. But then again, he always looked grim, "Hello, Shadow… It's nice to see you again…" he pushed past her into her apartment, "Uh… won't you come in?"
"It's nice to see you again too, Amy," Shadow walked over to the phone quickly, and shifted it a little so that unbeknownst to Amy, it was off the hook, "All alone?"
"Mmm-hmm…" she sniffled, closing the door and locking it, "Why are you here, Shadow? You've never visited me before."
"No, I haven't, have I?" Shadow sounded a little distant, and scratched at his arm a little. While Amy was turned away from him, he swiftly picked up her pink cell-phone from the table, "I do wish I had done so though. Three times, at least…" he chuckled darkly.
"What do you mean?" she asked nervously.
"Amy," Shadow turned to her, "I felt a little bad about Cream. She was only little. But you should have known better."
"I know!" Amy began to sob, "It's all my fault…"
"No, it's not your fault Amy," Shadow held her by a wrist suddenly, "It's Sonic's fault. And he will be punished with every tear you spill."
"Sonic's fault? What do you mean, Sonic's fault?" Amy looked up sharply.
"We could play games all night, Amy," Shadow started to smirk, and when she looked into his eyes, she began to tremble. His eyes were wild and crazed. He was breathing all funny. And when she turned her head… she could see some patches of rough fur where she'd never seen it before.
"Are you… really Shadow?" she asked softly, fearing the answer.
Shadow snarled, "With that question, you have sealed your fate, Amy." With a rapid move, he punched – actually punched her - her so hard that it sent her across the room and into a mirror, breaking it. He laughed nastily, "Oooh! Seven years bad luck!"
She slumped, the back of her dressing-gown cut, and started to pull out her Piko Piko Hammer, "So, you're not Shadow! Who are you, and what have you done with the real Shadow?!"
"I AM THE REAL SHADOW!" he screamed, and leapt at her.
"Piko Slam-"
Shadow caught the hammer in one hand easily, "Oh, please," he sneered, ripping it out of her hand and tossing it aside. Then he punched her again, this time knocking her into a pink vase, which smashed on the floor and scattered its flowers. He picked up one and breathed in the scent, "Roses. Hmmm. Maria's favourite flowers were Daisies. We'd go to the Ark Horticultural Labs between my tests, and pretend we were on Earth… She showed me how to make daisy chains…" he smiled distantly.
"What have you done-"
Shadow tossed the Piko Piko hammer aside up with one hand suddenly, "I don't have time to argue with you, Amy," he snarled, "You'll have plenty of time to beg for answers and make hurtful accusations later."
Amy narrowed her eyes, and to Shadow's shock, swung with the Piko Piko Hammer again. It slammed into his side and knocked him halfway across the room. When he got to his feet and looked back at where he had tossed it, it had vanished, "Well, I'll be fu-"
It whacked him on the head this time, cutting the word short. But he'd taken worse hits in his fall from the ARK, and his time spent with Eggman. The next time it was swung, he dodged under it, and shoved Amy against the broken mirror again, cutting her back more deeply and making her cry out.
She lashed out, her fist punching Shadow in the stomach. He grunted, and swung her around by her long quills, slamming her into a wall face-first. When he pulled her back, her lip was bleeding. He smirked, grabbed her arm, and twisted. She screamed.
"My arm! Shadow, you broke my-"
"There are 215 bones in your body. Be thankful it wasn't your neck. But if you keep this up, next time it will be your jaw-"
There was clamouring on the stairwell; the sound of somebody taking stairs three at a time, "AMY! AMY! DON'T ANSWER THE DOOR!"
Moron.
"Hear that? Sonic's coming, and he's going to catch you, and kick your butt from here to Mobotropolis!" Amy shouted at Shadow, grinning despite her pain.
Shadow glanced towards the sound impassively, and threw a dry smirk at Amy, "Come now, my sweet angel, since when could Sonic catch me?"
Without warning, the dark hedgehog slammed the back of her head into the wall. Her eyes widened in shock for a moment, then she sighed and slumped in his arms, unconscious. He gathered her up in his arms quickly, slinging her over his shoulder. Then with gritted teeth, he leapt out of the window, smashing the glass. Seven flights down was an easy fall for him, and then all that was left to do was vanish into the night.
"AMY!"
Only seconds later, Sonic threw himself through the locked door and into the pink apartment. The place was a mess. It looked like it had been hit by a tornado – ironically, Sonic's place normally looked like this. So this might have not bothered him so much, if he hadn't known how tidy Amy usually was.
The place had been torn apart by battle. Amy might not have been the strongest of the team, but she'd never go down without a fight. Yet down she had gone.
"AMY! Oh god, AMY!" He searched through the apartment with desperation rising in his chest.
"Sonic," he spun to face a tearful Tails, who had just gotten here, "She's not here, Sonic. We're too late."
"No!" he grabbed Tails by the shoulders and shook him, "I can't be too late! I can't be-" he stopped and looked around the room, tears rising in his emerald green eyes. There was nothing there but the two of them.
And the billowing curtains that framed the shattered window…
Breech: Well anyway, reviews, anybody? I want millions of 'em!