He woke up, to the smell of freshly watered grass with dew now blanketing the ground, and the sound of raindrops dripping from the giant leaf, puddles being formed underneath. As he groggily searched around his surroundings, he saw that the girl who somehow tagged along with him, Amy Rose, was still sleeping with her matted grass cushioning her head. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but be disgusted by her. She was a woman. An overbearing wench. She couldn't have really taken care of him. Women were only good for one thing, and that was reproducing. Men were here to do the rest of the jobs that women couldn't do. They were weak, conniving, and dangerous to the males who were attracted to their ugliness. Behind all that makeup and red lipstick was a thief that was willing to break you down, chew you up, eat you alive, and ruin the meaning to your life. They were the thief of your heart, except whenever you found it, it was broken as if that thief was a careless and cruel child who thought it was a toy.
Only dirty rotten pigs with makeup and lipstick.
But yet…he knew that last night, she managed to save his life. He remembered how sick he was yesterday, and how close he was to the verge of death. He couldn't exactly remember what she did, but whatever it was, it saved him, and even if he had an arctic heart, he recognized that someone who was willing to save your life even if they didn't completely knew who you were was worth respecting. And defending.
He listened to the sounds of the forest. Everything seemed to be normal, unlike the screams he heard when he fell asleep. He wasn't sure where they came from, but they sounded as if they weren't human. Or hedgehog. And birds flying in the harsh rain and thunder. The birds sounded normal, tweeting a simple rhythm for all the forest to listen to. No screams at all coming from them.
He heard of his mother, back when she was alive, telling him the tales of thunderbirds, a mystic creature that seems to have only lived in the imaginations of some animals and men. But they couldn't be real. Such a thing was impossible. And Sonic didn't, and didn't want to, believe in the impossible.
He looked at her again. He felt nothing towards her. She was just someone who got lucky with her caretaking and managed to save his life. As if his life really was worth saving. He was a nobody now, as low as a woman. What happens to the Prince when he loses his castle, his white steed, and his father's recognition? He might as well not be called a Prince. People could barely tell if he really was. Even Amy believed him when he said he was simply but a commoner who worked in the mines. She doesn't know very much about the South Kingdom, but she was a Northerner, so of course she didn't. There was no mines in the South Kingdom. Only in the East and West. The South was mostly known for the fishing markets. They were right next to a large ocean where many fish thrived. The leather business was also booming in the South. But they mostly get their gold, silver, and gems from the West. And the North, somehow, confided in the East to get their metals and gems.
But yet, he had a dream last night. A wonderful dream. It made him realize, for once, how much he missed being that charming and sweet boy again who was called a prince. He was happy, loved, and from that dream, he could actually feel those feelings, and he wondered if the gods were taunting him.
In the dream, there was a beautiful girl who sang him a song that was so rich in its melody and so sweet that he wondered if it was his own mother singing it, her beautiful lullabies she would croon when he was merely a baby. And when he was with that girl, he felt his heart lighten up. It turned from black to red, and then to gold, and then it sang a song of its own, coursing through his body and giving meaning to his life again.
And as he remembered of that dream fondly, he now could feel a feeling that he hasn't felt in a long time: hunger. Craving. It was euphoria. A drug that he wanted to swallow whole, drink everything like the sweetest and purest wine, and be drunk with joy and dance to the moonlight and hear the nocturne's song. Even thinking of that dream, he began to salivate at that feeling of love. Oh, the things he would do to no longer be numb. He could feel himself becoming the big bad wolf with the large eyes and teeth, willing to devour a little girl's grandmother and then devour her too. Oh, the sweet taste of love! How grand, how wonderful, was that honey that blessed him when it dripped to his tongue and lips! It was such an intoxicating experience, to experience the love he felt with his mother all over again, except with a woman he would usually glance at afar, but that girl must exist! He needed her now! He had to consume her, to taste how sweet her blood will be once he's chewing her corpse!
His arm was quivering rapidly. His fingers were becoming long tendrils that stretched and became long, curved nails that seemed to have a mind of its own. It wanted to touch Amy, caress her, feel her, then cut her, slit her throat, drink her blood, and continue to do the same for so many women, to lap up that love again. Blood came from the heart, so it must contain that wine, and he will feel normal again. He will be able to feel. For a while. Until he had to feed again.
But this Amy, even if he had no use for her, somehow saved his life, and he knew this wasn't how you thanked anyone for rescuing him even if she didn't know his name. And the North Kingdom would surely kill him and drink his blood if he killed her, or as the king thinks, murdering his second daughter. He surely would've thought the cruelest ways to torture him. Put him in the Iron Maiden, chop his head off, anything that he deemed was proper revenge for the murder of his daughters. And even if he didn't care if he died, he couldn't imagine ending his life in the most painful way possible. He would've liked it in battle, or just quick and not violent and bloody. No one was going to bother to collect his corpse anyways. His father would've made sure to that.
He gripped his other arm, the monstrous arm that was turning into a beast they never told you about in tales because they were simply too horrid to even have the name of that creature fall from the tips of your tongue. It was like a curse. And the arm was becoming harder, more dense, shining in the morning light as he realized they were turning into scales as hard as diamonds, the kind you would hear about in those tales about the knight slaying the dragons. He glanced at the puddle near him, his eyes transforming into reptilian slits that he knew belonged to those of the East Kingdom, the slits that were like a chasm that only foretold of madness and hate, and he might as well have gained a forked tongue also, breathing in the hot air and sensing his next victim, nearly tasting of the blood and love they so contained in their bag of bones and organs.
The arm undulated and the blood through it pulsed as if it was a life of its own. It seemed to cringe and swipe at the air, feeling the first few breaths of life, reveling in its birth and wanting to feel more and even tear away from this hedgehog. The nails were becoming bigger, long streaks of silver that glowed in the shadows, his pupils becoming dilated and shrinking and growing, and he wanted so much to keep quiet and not wake up the wench but he was now feeling this incredible pain and he screamed as he wanted to this arm to stop with the torture and would even scratch it until it was a bloody limb on the forest floor, but the scales were too hard, and he was met with a new feeling he haven't felt for the longest time since he was a boy: fear. And damn could he smell it right now with his forked tongue.
"Reginald? Reginald!" she cried along with him, seeing the metamorphosis that was taking place, turning Sonic into this demonic creature that lived in the eighth layer of hell, as if he made a contract with the devil to give away his soul. She didn't know what to do. She never experienced this before and thought this only existed in fables to bad children, and she didn't think Sonic was a bad child, but she couldn't think of anything her mother would do, not even what her father would do except probably executing him, but she couldn't do that, no. She was too weak, too powerless, and she could only clutch him tightly and cry into his fur, the tears moistening him of what remained of his mammal appearance, and she clutched him tighter, tighter, tighter, until he nearly couldn't breathe.
"I'm sorry Reginald! I'm so sorry! I can't do anything like this right! I wished I could help you so much! Forest Goddess, please stop this! Please do something! He's suffered enough, please forgive him! Please make his pain go away!"
The Forest Goddess smirked curtly with her red lips. Maybe she would grant Amy's wish. Just this once. And she snapped her fingers.
Sonic's breathing were long, hallowed breaths as the arm was slowing down, no longer moving of its own accord, and the pain began to recede. The arm seemed to fall flat as of it had no bones inside it at all, and his tongue became rounder and was no longer split and his eyes were no longer thin slits. But his arm remained the same. Blue scales with those long claws that could easily slice through a man's throat. But at least it was no longer convulsing and full of incredible pain.
"Reginald…" Amy said, to get his attention. He lifted it, examining it, seeing that it was the same claw that belonged to dragons, something that you could only see in the East Kingdom. And he wondered if he had to soon live there for the rest of his life and be completely blind like them. He looked at her, trying not to show her that he was scared, but Amy could sense it. She didn't need a forked tongue to know someone was afraid.
"Reginald, what…what happened? Why are you suddenly turning into…this monster? It's a miracle you're alive. If…something didn't stop it, you probably would've fully gone through a transformation."
He held his head with his dragon hand. "I don't know. But you didn't help at all, you damn wench. You're just like the typical woman, aren't you?"
She knew that Reginald was only angry because of the aftershock of what happened, but she still couldn't stand this mentality. "Maybe. Maybe I am like the typical woman, but as you hear me say that word you can hear the word 'man' as well, meaning I'm not a pig or a wench. I'm a hedgehog, and while we're together you better treat me like one, because I'm doing the same to you."
"But I'm no longer a hedgehog," he replied flatly. "I'm a monster now. I've been a monster for so long that my father doesn't even recognize me anymore. I think this is just what's going to happen, my dear sweet princess of mine, I'm going to turn into so much like a monster that even you with your blindness won't even recognize me. And don't act like I care about you or anything like that because if it wasn't for the fact you were a princess and I owe you for saving my life, I wouldn't even tell you this, but it would be wise for you to leave me in this forest to die. If I become this beast, I'll most likely kill you, and I can't have your father think the South Kingdom is filled with thieves and murderers. You're better off by yourself, or maybe you can convince the West to take care of you, because I don't think your prissiness is going to survive in this swamp. Not even soldiers from the North and South of the highest caliber can survive a week here. Get far away from me as you possibly can wench, because I'm just going to get it over with and kill myself. It's alright, there won't be a funeral service. My father, who pushes me to work so hard at those mines everyday, said he doesn't give a damn about me. Just leave me here to die. Not like miners who can't come back to the South Kingdom and most likely can't even go to the West have anything going for them anyways."
"No Reginald…" She felt herself tearing up again. She liked him. She didn't care that he was becoming a monster. She knew there was a way to help him, and she couldn't give up on him. And she couldn't imagine living the rest of her life dealing with the fact that the hedgehog she once saved died by his own hands. "No Reginald, I can't let you do that. I saved your life, and I will continue to save your life. I swear there's something I can do about your transformation, there must be something! I can't let you die! Not after I helped you!"
He was silent, taking in everything Amy said. Amy sounded so irritating with her emotional tirade and it was so grating to his ears, but he thought it would be silly to have the girl save his life and leave him here dead. She was obviously too kind to convince her such a thing, and there was probably nothing he could do. "If you want to be in these swamplands with me while I go through with this, here's something that you need to do for me if you don't want me to take this sword and plunge it deep into my chest."
She listened in carefully, nodding.
"When I become this monster…I would have to give you the duty to kill me with my own sword. My scales might be hard for the sword to go through my body, but if you want to understand me fully, I want you to cut through my chest and pull out my heart and if you want, you can show it to me, but I mostly want to show it to you. I cannot speak of what happened to my heart, but maybe if you killed me, you would understand. And maybe that will be the only way you can understand."
"Why can't you speak about what happened to your heart? I want to know what happened. Is it too painful to talk about?"
"No." He shifted his gaze to the puddles near the leaf. "I cannot simply talk about because I just can't. I cannot even speak her name. You'll only understand if you killed me."
"Who is she? Who is this girl who hurt you?"
"I said I can't talk about it, because I can't!" he growled. "You'll never understand wench, until that day comes when I fully become a monster. I don't know if you have ever much experience fighting monsters, but you better tear out my heart when I'm a monster because if the South Kingdom gets destroyed because of me and everyone will blame me for the rest of their lives I can't die knowing that will happen. You have to swear to me that you'll do this, no matter how weak you are. You have to really promise me damn it!"
He was serious. His face told her that. But she could feel her heart thumping as she thought of this promise. She couldn't deal with fighting monsters. She couldn't deal with killing him. But letting him commit suicide was not an option. "I promise."
"You swear on the dragonfly's heart that you'll tear my heart out?"
The dragonfly's heart swear. The ultimate promise you absolutely couldn't break, or else you might as well be sent to Hell when you broke it. Marriage was sworn by the dragonfly's heart, and she was glad she ran away from the kingdom, because she knew she would've broke it being with a man she didn't love. "I swear on the dragonfly's heart Reginald. If you become a monster I will kill you and tear your heart out."
"And you better be good with this promise wench. You know like everyone you can't break the dragonfly's heart promise. You have to do this. You swore it."
"I know. I will do it for your sake Reginald. For your sake."
Although she knew he didn't show many emotions (except for anger), she could recognize that he felt relieved, as if that arctic heart was warming up a little by her promise.
Something happened to his heart. She knew now. She thought maybe a piece of glass that caused him to see the evils of the world sliced it up long ago and was making it bleed with so many cuts.
She didn't have a mission when she left the kingdom. She couldn't go anywhere. She knew the West Kingdom wouldn't accept her, and she certainly would have no luck in the East and South, and definitely not in the human lands. But now she felt determined to have this hedgehog's heart be showered with light, to become a lantern for them to see through the darkness in this situation. Maybe if he grew to love her they could live in the forest and become their own king and queen in their own kingdom, and they could make crowns out of sticks and twigs and have meals of berries and rabbits everyday and celebrate their own holidays and make their own laws and live in a makeshift house that would be their palace even if it's small and dirty.
And she thought that she would like that. She would like that more than anything.
As Sonic and her walked through the swamp in search of their next meal, she thought she could see some metal floating in the swamp water, and she had the hallucination that it was smiling at her with crooked teeth. Maybe she was becoming sick too, but she swore too that she would take care of herself as well as Reginald.
