-Chapter 7-
Later that evening, Gran'ma Rose was preparing supper when Amy suddenly realized something.
"Oh no!" she cried.
"What is it, dear?" Gran'ma Rose asked.
"I forgot to turn in my book to the library today!"
The young flower frantically grabbed her cloak and her book and went racing towards the door.
"Dear, it's almost late." Gran'ma Rose protested.
"I'll be fast, don't worry." Amy promised.
She darted down the hill towards the village. The only light guiding her was the light of the full moon that was out. Amy, at her quick pace, made it to the library just before it was ready to close for the night. After breathlessly apologizing for turning it in almost late, Amy went back out to get home. Only it seemed darker than it was a few minutes ago.
"Oh great..." the cherry-pink female muttered.
A lone and large cloud had drifted into the sky and covered the moon, diluting any light there was. This made it very difficult to navigate her way back home. If Amy were smart, she would stay put until the cloud moved on. But since her grandmother was waiting, she decided to just bite the bullet and go about her way. Didn't seem too hard then.
"Just keep going straight." she told herself.
The sakura hedgehog did just that, but pretty soon, she ended up getting lost in the forest around her.
'Karma must really hate me.' Amy mentally sighed.
As she tried making her way through the darkness and thick foliage, there was a sudden shuffling and low grunting. Amy stopped dead in her steps, frozen in fear and panic. Her heart began to pound against her chest.
"Huh-Hello?" she called out. No reply.
Amy shuddered. Now she was in really deep shit. The cherry-pink female didn't know whether to stay put or to move on. She took a few steps forward and then heard another rumble. The moon peeked out from a break in the cloud that covered it. Amy was at least able to see a little bit of her environment. There was yet another rumble which made Amy jolt to her right and see a large brown bear coming towards her. The young flower literally froze in place. Paralyzed with fright and panic, she stared at the bear in mute horror as it came nearer in a grumpy and territorial rage. He lifted his paw to strike at her and poor Amy braced herself. But before the bear's claws could touch her, there was a sudden roar behind the cherry-pink female which sidetracked the animal in front of her. Then, another creature came furiously racing up to them and lunged itself at the bear and tackled it to the ground. Amy gasped as if all the oxygen was sucked out of her, and fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. She continued to stare in wide-eyed terror while witnessing the bear fighting a wolf-like creature. Amy had never seen anything like it. It seemed like a wolf, but it had the form of a male hedgehog. The sakura hedgehog searched her thoughts, trying to figure out where the hell she had seen those glowing emerald eyes before. Weak from the shock and stress, Amy finally fainted.
XXXXXXX
"Amy? Wake up, dear."
Amy's vision slowly went from blurry to clear. Gazing down at her was Gran'ma Rose. The young flower looked around and found that she was in her room with a damp cloth over her fore head.
"Wuh...what..happened?" she stammered in a low voice.
"You had a little accident, dear." Gran'ma Rose explained, trying to soothe her.
"H-how..?"
"Well, someone came to our dear and left you lying on the porch."
Amy then suddenly remembered what had happened to her.
"Oh, Granny!" she cried. "I-I saw it!"
"Saw what, dear?" Gran'ma Rose asked, perplexed.
"Th-that wolf...thing..everyone was talking about! I saw him! He..fought a bear...and...and..."
"Now Amy, just calm down alright? Lie down and relax. I'm going to get you some camomile and warm milk."
After her grandmother left the room, Amy realized that she just rambled like a blithering idiot. But she knew what she saw.
XXXXXXX
The next morning, Amy's grandmother had insisted that she stay indoors for the day after what had happened the night before. The sakura hedgehog had wanted to, for some strange reason, go out and investigate the area where she had seen the strange animal. Gran'ma Rose wouldn't hear of it and was convinced that she had caught a touch of the flu from exposure to the cold weather last night. Then the elder hedgehog had found that she was nearly out of camomile.
"Amy dear, I'm going to the market for a little while." she announced.
"You're going alone?" Amy asked.
"You are staying here, young lady, until you're no longer under the weather."
The cherry-pink female let out a sigh.
"Okay, okay. Just be careful, alright?" she said.
"Don't mind me, dear." Gran'ma Rose replied. "You rest up, okay?"
A few minutes later, the elder was gone. Pretty soon, Amy found herself really, really bored. She already read all of her grandmother's books, and she didn't have another one from the library to read. Amy had to do something to keep herself entertained. Then she spotted Gran'ma Rose's knitting kit. It wouldn't hurt to try and learn how to knit, figuring that she would have to learn sometime. Amy got out the needles and a ball of purple yarn and began to knit.
"Knit one...pearl two.." the young flower reminded herself.
Suddenly, there was hard knock at the door, causing Amy to jump. She got up slowly and went to answer it. To her surprise, it was Sonic, looking as if he had a bad night's sleep.
"Wha-what are you doing here?" Amy stammered.
"We need to talk." Sonic replied in a serious tone.
"Maybe some other time, Sonic. My grandma's out right now and she wants me to stay indoors."
"Good. Then we're alone."
The cyan hedgehog pushed her into the cottage and closed the door behind him and locking it.
"Wait! What do you think you're doing?" Amy cried.
"Amy, you need to listen to me. It's very important." Sonic replied grabbing her shoulders.
Amy gave out a small gasp when she felt how tight he was holding her. He must be really serious this time.
"Okay, what is it?" the young flower asked with a sigh.
"First, are you alright? Did that bear hurt you at all?"
Amy stared at him.
"...How did you know I was attacked by a bear?" she rasped.
"Did he hurt you?" Sonic asked again, raising his voice a little.
"N-no.."
"Good."
Amy's head was really spinning. Just what the hell was going on here?
"Sonic, what is this?" she cried.
The cyan male was quiet for a moment. He was quite unsure where to start exactly.
"What...what else did you see last night?" Sonic asked nervously.
Now Amy was quiet. Did Sonic have something to do with the creature she had seen? And how exactly did he know all this?
"I...I think...I think I saw a wolf." Amy rasped. "Only, it didn't seem to be a wolf."
Sonic was dead silent as Amy described what she had seen. The sakura hedgehog looked at him and saw that he was waiting for her to figure out what he was trying to imply.
"Sonic...what are you trying to tell me?" she asked.
The blue blur was about to say something, but suddenly turned away with his face buried in his hands.
"I can't." Sonic moaned. "I...just can't!"
Amy's mood softened. Although she was a bit flustered by his questioning, she felt a little down on herself as he began to curse himself. The cherry-pink female approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She immediately threw her hand away from him.
"Oh my God, Sonic!" she cried. "You're warmer than a hot plate! Are you burning up?"
Amy put a hand to the cerulean speedster's forehead to check his temperature. Sonic grabbed her arms and again making her look at him straight in the eye.
"Amy, are you getting what I'm telling you?" he cried.
"Not really." Amy replied honestly. "What are you trying to tell me?"
Sonic took a deep breath.
"Amy. That was me you saw last night." he whispered.
The cherry-pink female let out a shocked gasp. It was here that she realized that those glowing green eyes she saw the night before, were his. Then Amy began putting everything together. Come to think of it, the creature did look like Sonic.
"You mean...you're the...?" Amy stammered.
A intense look from the cyan male confirmed it. The young flower was very shocked to say the least. It was astounding to hear.
"Why?" she asked.
"Why what?" Sonic replied.
"Why are you a...?"
"Do you believe in family curses?"
Amy gave a look like she knew that possibility all too well.
"A little bit." she said lowly. "Is that what this is? A family curse? Was your great-great-grandfather a werewolf?"
"Sort of.." Sonic muttered. "I'm not a werewolf, Amy. I'm a werehog"
"A werehog?"
It didn't make any sense, but it matched with what she saw the night before. Amy looked up at him again.
"Were you really tormenting the village?" she asked. "Be honest with me."
"No." Sonic replied. "In fact, I only intended to stay for about a week at this place."
"What made you change your mind?"
The blue blur didn't answer her. Instead, he stared lowly straight into her jade orbs with a look of want. Then she got the message.
"M-me?" Amy sputtered.
"Ever since, I caught your scent in the wind, I had to find you." Sonic explained in a low voice. "And when I did, I...I imprinted."
The sakura hedgehog was once again befuddled.
"What's that?" she asked.
Again he didn't answer. Instead, he wrapped one arm around her form and buried his free hand into her quills, intensely embracing her. Amy let out a sharp gasped and her eyes went wide as her face went red. Then she went limp in his arms and lightly moaned. After breaking the kiss, he buried his muzzle deep within her neck, taking a huge breath of her scent. Amy was still in a little bit of a daze.
"Okay...why is that a bad thing?" she rasped.
"Because I could place you in danger!" the cerulean speedster exclaimed. "You do realize that there are people who would like to hunt me down and get rid of me."
Amy became horrified. She couldn't fathom the thought of Sonic getting killed.
"No, they can't!" she cried. "I mean, it's not your fault that you're a cursed animal or something."
Sonic made a warm face.
"So, you're not considering me a jerk anymore?" he asked.
"Well...no." Amy stammered with a slight blush.
The cyan male took her hand.
"Will you keep my secret then?" he asked again.
"Yes. Of course." Amy replied honestly.
They went towards the back door that led to the courtyard of the cottage and opened it.
"You're leaving?" Amy asked softly.
"I'll be back later." Sonic replied. "I promise."
In a flash, he was gone.
