DISCLAIMER - I DON'T OWN ANY OTHER THE CHARACTERS
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"I think I may know what happened to you…"
The two hedgehogs were eye to each other, Shadow may not have known he was staring into the emerald orbs of his lover, but he did feel the warmth that filled him up inside, and decided to keep looking where he was, almost as if he knew I was there. I knew well enough though, and was searching the dark hedgehog's eyes for answers to the millions of questions that had arisen from my mind, since the hedgehog in question seemed to be inclined on taking his time carrying on. With a resigning sigh though, he spoke again.
"I, had this dream…" he trailed off again, and I placed my formless shape of what may be called a hand over Shadows, in a hope of persuading him to carry on. Shadow could feel the tingling on his hand and felt comforted to know that the blue hedgehog really was just sitting on the seat next to him, and went on. "You were there, and so was Amy, but, she wasn't angry with you. She looked sad, but sort of happy at the same time." He closed his eyes and tried to think of a way to word it best, "She said, she was sorry, and she wanted to start afresh with both of us. She sounded sincere, and you seemed to believe her." He sighed again. "Then some people charged in, I, didn't know who they were, but they claimed to be friends of Espio." I could hear him growl under his breath, who the hell was Espio?
"They had guns to both your heads, and they led you outside. Amy was terrified, she was in danger too. Amy, I don't know if you remember, but she lives right of the edge of the suburbs. They led you through the forest, right past that house we were going to live." A small smile crept across Shadow's face. "I don't know if you remember it, but it was beautiful, you really wanted to live there, but, there were problems, and we ended up living here." I nodded; there'd be time later to ask what said problems were. "They went on, until they came to a great lake, you always hated water, you couldn't swim. They seemed to know this, mind you, being the infamous Sonic the hedgehog, most people did, and, they gave Amy a choice." He closed his eyes again. "It stopped there."
I was disappointed, what a place for the dream to stop, it was my turn to sigh this time. But Shadow didn't stop. "From where they took you, you can probably guess what happened, and even though it was probably them who killed you, I think Amy holds herself responsible." That would explain why she had said that she'd killed me. "I'm pretty sure on what happened, but, if you want to know the rest, I can go talk to Amy if you want." I could hear him shuffling his feet under the table, he probably didn't want to talk to her, but the unfinished story of my death left a big space in me that yearned to know the ending. Shadow sighed again, I looked at him, although he had slept, he still had bags under his eyes, and he looked more depressed than ever, not that I can blame him, dreams of your love dying are hardly something you'd enjoy.
I wonder how he did have that dream…
Maybe there's something bigger going on here.
I decided it was neither the time nor the place to start thinking about just how he could be having such dreams, when a though struck me. 'Was Amy safe?' I spoke for the first time in the conversation, getting up out of my chair.
"I don't think Amy's safe," I said, I had a gut-wrenching feeling that if we didn't get to Amy quickly, it could be too late; the feeling was all-consuming. I thought it out. "Maybe it would be safer if you stayed here," I told Shadow as I floated off, "but I need to go see if she's safe." With that I'd disappeared out the front door and was going as fast as my shapeless form would allow me.
Which was pretty damn fast.
Ignoring the privacy of the people inside, I flew through several houses until I got to Amy's. By now it was light and the morning dew had settled on the grass of the front lawn. Somehow, I remembered how to get there; it was like Shadow's story of my death had triggered something in me, that told me everything I needed to know to help Amy. I don't know how I knew she needed saving, I just…did.
Like I said, something bigger, but there's time for that later.
As I glided through the front door, I heard an ear-splitting scream from the living room. As I entered, I saw a familiar pink hedgehog held back by a strong muscled lizard, and an equally strong looking creature holding a gun up to her head. I wasn't sure what he was meant to be, I'd never seen anything like him before. It was almost as though he was a humanoid-shaped blot of oil, his form moved even as he stood still, pulsating, like his whole body was breathing of its own accord. He was a deep crimson red, but I couldn't see his features from behind him.
As I came in though, only one person noticed my presence, I bet you can guess who.
As he turned I could see his eyes were yellow and shone brightly, reflecting the natural light coming through the window. I saw nothing else about him as his eyes became fixated on me. Everyone else was confused as to what he was looking at, staring blankly towards my direction, trying to see if they could see it too.
He grinned maliciously; it sent chills done, well, what could've been my spine. He moved slowly towards me, and to my surprise, I found myself moving back at an equal speed, so he never really got closer to me.
"So," when I heard his voice I felt something snap in my mind, "I was wondering if you would turn up."
Espio, I thought, he's Espio.
I looked out into space for a moment as the surprising conclusion entered my mind, but I soon got past it, and stared accusingly at him.
"How can you see me?" The other two jumped, they could hear me, but they still couldn't see me, but Espio could as his eyes narrowed, but the evil grin stayed put.
"Because Sonic, I am like you." Like me? How is he like me? "I'm also in this world as the dead. A shattered piece of my life on this planet. And, Sonic, it's all because of you." He moved closer, but quickly, so fast, I stumbled back in shock, almost falling over. I looked down at my formless shape.
"How did you know it was me though? I look nothing like what I did."
"How did you know I was me?" How did he know that I knew that it was him? I thought to myself. I decided not to ask, it made my head buzz. Instead I chose to focus on a more demanding question in my mind.
"How is it my fault you're dead?" Amy and the lizard looked totally bewildered, looking round in confusion, totally clueless as what to think, but they weren't what I was focused on at the moment. Espio seemed to think about his response for a moment, shuffling the gun in his hand, before finally replying.
"Easy, you got together with that freak of a boyfriend of yours, I kidnapped you, had my way before you escaped, tried to murder that annoying hedgehog, but ended up getting a slit throat. He killed me, but if it wasn't for you he wouldn't have. If it wasn't for you suddenly deciding you loved him, none of this would've happened!" At the end of his speech, his voice had gotten louder, to the point of shouting, but a sudden calm spread throughout his features as he approached me. "But now, once I've finished with her," he pointed at Amy, "I'm going to go enact some revenge, and then there'll be no-one left to protect you." He laughed, that laugh unnerved me, he sounded crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if he really had gone off the deep end.
I was too busy figuring out everything he had said when I heard a huge bang that boomed throughout the house. I gasped as Amy's dead body fell to the floor. No, she's dead; I didn't even see him move. It had happened so quickly, it was so unexpected, and now, he'd killed her. The shock was suddenly overcome with blazing anger; I turned to face Espio, teeth gritted and eyes narrowed. He was laughing maniacally again.
Then he stopped abruptly and returned my stare, that evil glint in his eye as the lizard dragged Amy's body outside, to bury the evidence no doubt, Espio couldn't have his minions in jail.
Then Espio advanced towards me, his hand reaching out to me. My eyes widened in shock when he touched me. I felt different, in the way that I could actually, feel. I looked down, I was in my normal body again, the one from my life, I was azure blue, spines protruded from my back and I wore gloves on my hands as well as a pair of red and white sneakers on my feet. I looked up at Espio, he'd changed too, a purple chameleon, so that was what he had looked like…
I didn't have time to contemplate it when I felt a hand brush against my side. I narrowed my eyes and hissed in warning.
"No!" As soon as his touch left me, I was back to my shapeless form again, and before he could grab me, I'd run out and was going back to Shadow's house, I had to warn him.
Shadow jumped as my voice rang throughout the house. "We have to get out of here, Espio, he's dead too, but, he killed Amy, and he's going to kill you, I, come on we have to go!" I rushed through everything I said, not really making much sense, but Shadow seemed to understand and he jumped into action.
"Meet me at our old house; do you know how to get there?"
"Yeah," at the time it didn't matter if I did, Shadow needed to leave, now.
"Right, I'll be hiding there, it'd the safest place at the moment. Once we've figured out a plan, we'll find somewhere better." My heart sunk, I knew the advantages of going there, and the disadvantages…but we didn't have time.
"Alright, just go." A golden blur told me he'd left. I thought hard, and was pleased to find I did know how to get there, unexplained knowledge, but handy nonetheless, and I sped off too, leaving behind my own blur of blue.
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Gasp, Amy is dead, Espio is back, unexpected twists, what's going to happen next? You'll only know if you review review review!