Heeeeeeey.

So this went on an unexpected hiatus, and for that I apologise. The bunnies in my head must have run out of carrot cake or whatever...

BUT, we're back and... slightly emotional? I mean, this is the first instalment of the story aspect now a winner has been counted from the polls. Pretty sure you can guess who won just from the tone of this chapter, but I wont explicitly say anyway, just so it's a little surprising or something.

So sadly no explicit content in this chapter - this is setting the scene for the rest of the chapters and all that content, so if you're just here for the action you can give this one a miss. I won't hate you. Probably. Feed the bunnies though, eh?

Next chapter - with sex! - should be up soon.


Chapter 7: Amy's Realisation

When she first awoke, nothing struck Amy as amiss; it was dark, suggesting she had been asleep for a long time. The gentle patter of ran broke though the silence, bringing with it a sense of serenity that accompanies white noise. As she stretched and became more aware, however, the memory of what had transpired with Knuckles came rushing back to her, causing her to freeze. Her cheeks began to glow in embarrassment, while a warm sensation trickled from her stomach down between her legs, arousal stirring at the memories.

Shit. Rouge was going to kill her.

It was around this time she noticed that she was no longer in her own home. Beneath her, the sheets were silky and soft, the blankets upon her still-naked form thinner and smoother to the touch than the knitted bundles she used back home to ward off the spring chill. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, her suspicions were confirmed; she was in an unfamiliar bedroom, the double bed she awoke in pushed up to one wall and a dresser pushed up against the other, a pile of clothes upon it.

The bed is almost the exact depth of the room, though it seems somewhat large for a Mobian, and takes up the majority of the small square space. Just to the side of the foot of the bed, a door surrounded by a thin halo of bright light informs her someone else is home as well, though the room is devoid of any personal objects that could provide any clues. Without attempting to find a light switch, she locates her dress and pulls it on over her head, approaching the door wearily. The hormones within her are slowly being overridden by fear, fight or flight instincts raising her blood pressure and focusing her mind as she reaches for the handle, the anticipation of what lies on the other side making her nauseous.

She takes a deep breath, exhales slowly, then pushes the handle down.

Squinting into the bright lights, at first Amy is unable to see anything. She raises a hand to shield them somewhat from the overhead lamp currently blinding her, allowing them to refocus now her senses aren't so overwhelmed. Though she didn't have any particular expectations, what greeted her wasn't entirely expected either.

It was immediately obvious she was in a city, likely a section of New Mobotropolis, since it was the largest and most well developed on Mobius. It was also easy to deduce that she had wound up in something Sonic had explained to her as an 'apartment'; a single-story, often super-compact living space that were usually built in large, tall blocks in the city to maximize the number of people who could live in a given plot of land. They were usually entirely modern, made out of metals and plastics rather than wood, and had luxuries like electricity and plumbed water.

Given Sonic's descriptions, the room itself was larger than she imagined an apartment to be. On the wall to her right, a large flat television is mounted and currently turned off, an LED strip of white light surrounding it currently set to a dim hue. To her left, an expanse of floor to ceiling windows overlooked the surrounding city, lights along the street illuminating and emanating from nearby buildings blotting out any stars Amy may have been able to see from her vantage point. Below, the odd metal contraption that seemed the size of an ant would trundle past, the immediate area in front of it illuminated by personal mounted lights.

She took a few steps closer to the windows, unconsciously wishing to touch the glass but restraining herself from fear of falling through the clear material, captivated by the vast city before her. Very occasionally, a person - Human or Mobian, she was unable to discern from this height - would come into view below one of the lights along the pavement, a brief reminder the city was always awake before they merged back into the darkness once more.

"You're awake."

Startled, she swung around to face the speaker, meeting his gaze before her mind had time to process the familiar tone. There stood Shadow, quills heavy with moisture and a fluffy towel around his shoulders, indicating he had just left the shower. For a minute, Amy was unable to catch her breath to reply, a combination of the shock from his sudden appearance and the arousal that reawakened at the sight of his damp, naked body.

He sighs, face impassive. "Right. Hormones." The comment snaps the pink hedgehog back to reality as he begins to walk away from her, bringing the towel up to his head and roughly drying his quills as he heads for the kitchen area to the rear of the open plan living space. "When you manage to stop drooling, perhaps we can have a conversation about your current… predicament."

She pouts, screwing her nose up some as she folds her arms across her chest, looking away from him in annoyance. "I was not drooling, you took me by surprise." He snorts in response, and she swings her head back to face him, anger rising within her. "I don't want to be here more than you want me here, okay? So why am I even here? The last I remember I was-"

"Pinning defenseless foxes against ladders to fuck them senseless?" Her cheeks burn a bright red at the memory, mildly ashamed by the arousal she feels as she relives the encounter. He turns to face her, and she can only avert her gaze, playing with the hem of her skirt as she stares down at her shoes. "That's why you're here. At least, part of the reason. The clincher was convincing Knuckles to cheat on Rouge to satisfy your urges." She flinches noticeably, remembering his aggressive use of her body to meet his own needs, though she could hardly claim to have not enjoyed it. "Unfortunately for me, I owed her a favour."

Amy looks up, frowning slightly, though her cheeks are still burning in embarrassment. "Why did you owe her a favour?" He grunts in response, disregarding the question as he discards the towel over a nearby chair and retrieving a small, metallic rectangular object with a glass screen from the kitchen island. "Fine, so you owed her a favour and she cashed it in, but you and I both know this is a bad idea. We're both hedgehogs, you're going to… you know, respond to me when I can't control myself."

He turns on the device in his hands and taps away at it with his thumbs, not looking up as she speaks, the screen casting small shadows on his features as he interacts with it. A few seconds after she finishes speaking, he turns the screen off again, placing the rectangular object back on the counter. He looks up as the female purses her lips, waiting for a response, and he sighs again, rubbing his temples.

"Obviously Knuckles can't control himself around you, and Rouge is angry, so Angel Island is out. Given how he used you already this season, Sonic is disinterested in a long-term relationship. That's another option eliminated." He doesn't notice her face drop at those words, eyes closed as he continues to massage his forehead. "Knothole wanted you out once Tails came forward, so unless you want to live in isolation or a prison cell for the next six to eight weeks, my apartment is your last resort."

When she does not reply for a minute, he finally looks up to see her turned slightly away, breathing a little ragged as she tries not to cry. He frowns, wondering what he said to produce such a response, but soon realises it was likely the mention of her ex-boyfriend, and his frown softens slightly. For the first time since her presence had been forced upon him, Shadow began to feel sorry for her rather than simply agitated. She was struggling with a number of things, not just her biological needs, and her behaviour over the last few days had simply been an expression of this inner turmoil.

Her actions had been inappropriate, that he could not deny, but she needed help he was certain he could not provide.

He studies her, watching her hold back tears and attempt to regain her composure, all the while not noticing him watch this battle against her own mind. He felt sympathy for her - he knew what it was like to feel used, to want to lash out at people in an attempt to control your own emotions. As she took a final steadying breath and straightened her posture, the thought dawned upon him that perhaps they had more in common than he initially thought.

He looked away again before he spoke, not wanting her to know he had been staring. "I've ordered some dinner. It's a little late, but if you've slept all day you must be hungry." Picking up the device once more he headed back towards the bathroom, pausing to motion towards the living area and the plush corner sofa there. "Get comfortable and find something to watch. I need to get dressed before the food gets here, or the delivery driver will lose his shit. Humans hate nudity."

With that he locks himself back in the bathroom, leaving Amy to stare at the closed door, eyes sore from the tears she managed to prevent from falling. In all, she feels bewildered; much of what he has referred to is foreign to her, from 'ordering' food instead of making it himself, to the television he had told her to watch. She turns her face towards the sleek, metal contraption mounted on the wall, aware it is similar to the computer screens they had back in headquarters during the war, but beyond that she had no idea what to do with it.

A soft sigh escapes her lips as she heads over to the sofa, plopping down in the corner and drawing her knees up to her chest, not bothering to try and figure out how to turn the device on as she waits for Shadow to return. More than anything, she feels sick with guilt, and anxious about what she would do once this season was over. Knothole were going to be reluctant to take her back now, and if everyone knew about Tails, she wasn't sure she wanted to return anyway.

Tears threatened at the corners of her eyes, and this time she was unable to hold them back, allowing them to stream down her face as she tried to sob so quietly her host would be unable to hear. She shook slightly as her emotions finally tumbled out, realising her actions were no longer justifiable now she had heard her deeds from the mouth of another, acknowledging how she used those around her in a misguided attempt to manage her own feelings.

The pain she had felt from Sonic's betrayal as raw as it had been seconds after he had left her, naked and dirty, in her bed the night all this began. No longer caring if anyone heard her, she sobbed into her knees, soaking the fabric of her dress.

What have I done?