Chapter 10: Truth Holds a Knife, Part 2

"M-My King…"

"You came just in time, boy."

"Y-Your hands…" Sonic pointed out, taking a step back from Andriet. "Is that… blood?"

Andriet looked at his hands and chest, seeing the blood didn't even seem to faze him. Sonic saw him smirk and look back at the young hedgehog. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"You killed the Queen…" Sonic said in disbelief, even his own words made it hard for him to process it all.

"I did and, believe me, it was rather easy if I may add. I figured such a warrior like her would put up more of a fight. What shame."

Sonic couldn't believe what he was hearing. Everything was coming at him so fast, making his stomach suddenly hard to hold his late-night dinner.

Nothing was making sense for Sonic. Why… Why would the King kill his own wife? It couldn't be because of a simple argument. That's nothing out of the ordinary for them…

Something was not adding up for the blue hedgehog.

"W-Why…," Sonic seemed to be asking himself, but the King had no problem in answering.

"Why?" Andriet laughed, grabbing Sonic's attention back to him. "Child, she was something that stood in the way of this kingdom's true potential."

"You killed her…"

"The kingdom needs a king to rule, not Athena. She only acted like a king. What a foolish woman."

"You killed her for power!" Sonic yelled, gripping his fists so tight that it made his knuckles white.

"I suppose you could say that."

"You monster-'" Sonic grabbed the hilt of his sword and charged at the King. Andriet smirked, predicting the boy's movement and stopped Sonic's blade with his own.

"Tsk, tsk." Andriet shook his head. "And here I thought you'd agree. However, you did take favorites with my wife. I bet that was because she was the little bit of hope you needed to have a chance being a knight. Isn't that right?"

Sonic tried to push the King back with his blade, but Andriet held more strength than he. Before he knew it, Andriet had forced Sonic's back to the wall. He held his blade close to the boy's neck as he held him in place.

Sonic kicked his feet as he dangled off the floor. It had to be the most vulnerable Sonic had ever been in his life.

"I admire your fighting effort." Andriet watched the hedgehog struggle in amusement.

"I-I'll tell everyone what you did." Sonic proclaimed. "I'll tell everyone you're a murdering power hungry-'"

"You won't." Andriet said confidently, watching Sonic's eyes shake.

"Y-You're going to kill me…?"

"No, that would be too easy. Besides your father would expect me of that."

Sonic didn't say anything for a moment. What scared Sonic was what the King had planned for him.

If he wasn't going to kill Sonic, what then?

"You came at a perfect time, Sonic."

"W-What are you-'"

"Instead of people suspecting this of my doing, I'm putting the blame on you. You are responsible for her death. You will be blamed for it and take it as is."

"And what if I don't, huh?" Sonic glared into his eyes, igniting a fire that burned into the King's. "You can't make me."

"I can and will. Do you want to know why, Sonic?"

"…. W-Why…?"

"Because if you don't pretend you murdered Athena, I will kill your father."

"No…" Sonic's eyes were painted in pure fear and panic. The only parent he had left, could vanish in a blink of an eye. Sonic's father meant the world to him and to have him gone… It was too much for the young boy.

"I know he means a lot to you. You wouldn't want to have him gone too, would you?"

"I-I…" Sonic was speechless and wasn't sure what was the right choice to do. But he loved his family more than anything. If he had to be committed for something he didn't do, just to protect his father, then so be it.

Sonic gazed back at the King, who held some twisted-up pride in his eyes. He must have felt some kind of power and authority pushing Sonic to do something like this… Something's not right with him…

"What would you have me do," Sonic sighed in defeat, which only fueled Andriet.

"That's what I like to hear." His grip on Sonic became tighter, nearly feeling like he was warning the young hedgehog physically. "You will take that knife and stay with that body until a servant comes."

"T-Then what…?"

"Then you will be arrested and hanged for treason."

"T-Treason…H-Hanged?" Sonic's throat suddenly felt dry and tight. "Y-You said-'"

"I said I wouldn't kill your father. I never said you would live."

He was right.

Sonic didn't like the idea of death, but he liked it a whole lot more than seeing his father die. No, Jules deserved better than that to Sonic.

"F-Fine…" Sonic agreed. "Just leave my father out of this."

"You have my word." The King loosened his grip. "Unless you choose to turn on our agreement."

"I won't."

"I know you won't." Andriet warned.

Sonic felt so much shame at this moment. He almost felt as if he actually killed the queen. He never thought he would let someone just use him like this. But he had little choice here and being as young as he was, he couldn't help but be scared and frighten into these rash circumstances. He was only ten years old…

"Now, get into your position and stay there." Andriet commanded, letting Sonic drop to the floor.

"Y-Yes, your majesty…." Another slap in the face to letting the King see Sonic in complete defeat.

Andriet waited until Sonic had crouched over the Queen's body to depart back to his bedroom. He had to make sure everything fell in place here. Not one thing had to go wrong.

Sonic watched Andriet disappear within the Shadows of the hall, letting his demons engulf him for the night.

Sonic looked at the body before him. The Queen laid so still and motionless. Her long pink quills laid in her own pool of blood. Her dress also was wet from her wound, stained with such rich red colors.

The boy could also see a dried tear that must have fell from her eyes, knowing the love of her life would be her undoing.

Sonic could not even imagine the pain she felt from that before she realized she was going to die.

The blue hedgehog grabbed the knife that punctured Athena's abdomen, gripping hard onto the handle. Sonic then wiped some of her blood onto his body. He hated the idea of this, but he had to make it believable enough. If he didn't he was sure his father was dead.

After this, Sonic gazed at his reflection in the pool of blood. He felt his eyes soften, but then quickly hated what he saw. He saw someone weak and unworthy of anything.

"How could I… How could I let this happen…" Sonic felt his throat tighten, stopping the tears before they formed in his eyes.

Footsteps were heard soon enough, and Sonic felt his body freeze. Every step he heard was like listening to a loud grandfather clock, counting down to his time of death.

TICK, TICK, TICK

The echoes just kept getting louder and louder. Voices bouncing in and out of his head.

TICK, TICK, TICK

Shadows formed and walked down the halls. Every second that passed made the shadows grow taller and taller against the lighted candles. They towered the halls and were just about ready to engulf Sonic into total darkness.

The clock finally strikes the deadly twelve and everything is dead silent.

FWIIIING

All eyes were on Sonic as three servants saw the bloody scene before them. Everything felt like slow motion, even the screams of the maids was long and slow.

Sonic knew, this was his end here.

"The Queen… The Queen is dead!" Sonic heard one of the servants' shout and dash away so fast. The other servants froze in disbelief and stuttered at their own words. This was followed by a high pitched scream.

Wait, no. He knew that screech.

Sonic turned around and saw a small pink hedgehog's back running down the hall toward her father's bedroom door. The princess saw her mother… She saw her dead mother. This should never be something a little girl should see.

Sonic wasn't sure if she saw him, but he knew she saw Athena.

"Amy…"

More footsteps ran about the hallway. Suddenly both sides of the hall were crowded with most of the servants and even guards. Every single one of them had nothing but horror painted on their faces. Some which quickly changed to tears or rage.

The King pushed through the crowd, with Johnathan not too far behind.

Andreit had just enough time to clean himself up and make it look like he was just woken up from a beautiful dream. Sonic could guess that dream had something to do with murder. No way did this monster have what everyone calls pleasant dreams.

"You killed my wife." The King nearly spoke emotionless. "You killed her!"

"I…," Sonic stuttered, but decided to stay silent at the moment. He did not want to blurt out anything that would get his father killed.

"I should've known you would do this. This will not stand." Andriet gripped his fist and pointed his finger to Sonic. "Guards arrest him!"

With that simple command, four guards had grabbed and tackled Sonic to the floor. One guard held his head to the floor while the other three scrambled to put chains on his feet. They knew they had to stabilize his speed first. Sonic didn't even fight back, he just stared at the floor, too ashamed to look at anyone.

"What's going on?" Jules had pushed through the servants to the King. "My King?"

"Your son killed my wife."

Jules blinked and looked at the body that laid on the floor. Sonic could feel his father's eyes on him, but he dared not to look back.

"There has to be some kind of… My son would never do something like this."

"Silence!" Andriet yelled. "Servants found him holding a knife over her body. Who else is there to blame? The truth holds the knife here."

"This can't be…"

"Accept it, Jules." Andriet spat, gritting his teeth. "My wife... she's gone."

He obviously had no issues lying to everyone. Sonic could assume it probably wasn't eating him alive. If he was more than okay with killing off his wife for his lust for control and power, it wouldn't surprise Sonic one bit. But, even not having done this crime, Sonic felt so much guilt and like he betrayed everyone's trust.

"I want this hedgehog locked up tight. You hear me?" Andriet barked at the guards.

"Sonic… Sonic!?" Jules had called out to his son with so much pain behind it. Other guards had to hold him back from going after Sonic.

Sonic felt that hit his chest and so many emotions came in all at once. Wanting to prove his father worthy of being a knight, to be strong and someone to be proud of, was thrown straight out a window at an instant. For the first time in a long time, Sonic felt like a complete failure and let the only person he truly cared for their approval on, disappointed.

Sonic couldn't help but think of his father's disappointment. Everything he worked so hard to do for him, gone. He thought he was doing good by taking the blame, but now, Sonic saw that he might've made the biggest mistake in his life.

And in that instant, Sonic let his emotion show through tears and he cried.

"Father!?"

Jules fought back with his fellow knights as they tried to overpower him with their numbers. He too was finally forced to the ground, watching in horror as his only child was suddenly dragged away. His very life, his light in the dark, was taken away from him and there was nothing he could do about it.

Or so he thought...

The dungeon held a lot of secrets and things for any royal to hide. It was cold, damp, and simply just a lonely place to be. Rats were just about the only comfort you would get here, besides the occasional animal skulls of past prisoners who were forgotten in these cells.

Sonic did nothing but sit on the cold floor. It was about the only place he could sit. The King didn't give him the luxury of having somewhere comfortable to sit. No, he had no heart for that, not even for a kid.

The young hedgehog had his feet and arms chained to the floor. The feeling of the chains weighing him down as he awaited his death was all but comforting. It felt heavy enough to weigh him down to Hell.

Sonic hugged his legs, looking at the floor as he felt a leak from the ceiling hit his head occasionally. It made him shiver and hold himself tighter.

He was already missing the warmth of his family's embrace.

Time was hard to tell down here. There weren't any windows for the prisoners to see. Even if there was, Sonic was sure he wouldn't be able to look at with these chains preventing him from doing much movement anyway. It could've been three days pass already and Sonic would have no clue.

One thing he did know, was that, maybe a day ago, the King was having his wife's funeral. Loud music was playing. That much Sonic could hear besides some weeping above his head of possibly the servants.

What a mess he got himself into.

Sonic heard footsteps scramble down the stairway and the door shriek as it opened. The young hedgehog was ready to accept his fate, but it seemed to dwindle when he saw, not guards, but his own father.

"Papa," Sonic's head lifted up, feeling his heart skip seeing someone he could trust, "what are you doing here?"

"My son, I know…" Jules started, "I know it wasn't you."

Sonic blinked, not really sure what to say next.

"Wait, you know I didn't kill the Queen?"

"Yes. I heard the King talk to himself a few times about wishing she was dead in the past… In his studies he'd sometimes ramble on about it. I don't know why I didn't warn her or read these signs."

"Father, I don't want to die…"

"I know and don't worry. We're going to get you out."

"We?" Sonic asked confused.

"Your Uncle Chuck is working on an escape for you right now. We all are leaving with haste."

"But what about being a knight. Your duty is here."

"My duty, Sonic, has always been to be your father and take care of you. That is my duty."

Sonic couldn't help but smile.

"Now, let's get you out-'"

Suddenly Jules grabbed the bars and screamed in pain. He held a hand over his chest, where Sonic saw blood leak through.

"Father?!" Sonic got up from the floor. "What's wrong-'" Sonic's eyes shrunk once more, watching the knife that killed Athena drop to the stone floor. Seeing Jules bend over in pain, revealed Andriet standing over his body.

"Guess we have another to be rid of the evidence."

"Father!" Sonic leaped forward, but the chains held him away from Jules' reach, yanking him back. "No, no! You won't die! You can't!"

At that moment, Jules looked back to his son and gave him a warm smile. Sonic felt his eyes water as he pulled on the chains that held him back.

"F-Father…?"

"I love you, Sonic… Don't you ever forget that…" Jules clinched his wound, but still coughed out one last breath. "I-I'm so proud…." Jules eyes were heavy, and his body fell hard to the floor letting it comfort his now passed body.

Sonic screamed in agony, letting the tears roll from his eyes. He had no shame in letting his enemy see him at his weakest.

He lost his father. Forever.

"He got blood on my shoes." Andriet spat on Jules, making Sonic grit his teeth.

"You monster! Do you know what you have done!?" Sonic screamed between his sobs. His heart, his soul, everything hurt.

"I eliminated a threat." Andriet held out the keys, opening the cell door. He walked over Jules, toward the young hedgehog who still cried at the sight of his father. Sonic didn't even realized the King in front of him until he felt his cold hands suddenly grab his throat. Andriet forced Sonic to the ground while holding and tightening his grip on the child's neck.

"I-I trusted-'" Sonic gasped for air, trying to fight back as much as he could.

"An unwise decision to trust me, Sonic. Now your life will die in my hands as well and so will that baggage. My legacy will live on."

"I-It'll die… I'll destroy you and your legacy…."

"Cute statement to say before you die, child." He tightens his grip, watching Sonic's lungs beg for air.

Everything became hazy and his eyes were becoming harder to open. Sonic felt his body start to leave him and felt himself become heavy.

Sonic's whole life suddenly started to replay in his head. Starting from his father's death and moving itself backwards. Sonic was not sure if this was him meeting death, but it seemed like a slight blissful thing at this moment.

The flashes of his past flooded more and more as he felt his body drift off. He saw himself holding his sword for the first time and training with his father. Watching the older hedgehog wield such a saber was something to watch. He saw Uncle Chuck reading him bedtime stories about knights and dragons. Sonic could see so much joy in his eyes as he read to his nephew.

Oh, how peaceful that was.

Sonic then watched another scene from his past where he held his mother's hand before she passed. She had so much life, even before an illness took her very life. Her smile, was something Sonic could never forget.

Finally, the images stopped, and Sonic saw himself running with such speeds, the wind blowing in his quills and grass breezing along. The world was slow when he ran. Everything seeming motionless as he moved his feet.

Sonic looked forward, seeing his father and… and his mother waiting for him on the other side. Some sort of light seemed to be awaiting behind them both as well.

Every step Sonic took made that light shine brighter and brighter, his body drifting more as he pushed toward that light.

"Not yet, my little Knight of the Wind." A soft female voice spoke, knocking Sonic's sense of speech.

"M-Mother.."

"My son, you have a duty to fulfill with that princess. It is not yet your time." Jules said.

"Mother, father!?" Sonic yelled for them, but he felt his feet moving backward now instead of forward. His feet was moving him away from his death.

"We love you, son." His father spoke with a smile.

"We love you very much, dear."

"N-No, wait! Let me come with you." Sonic begged, feeling the force of, whatever it was, pushing him further away from them. "I don't want to lose you again! Not again!"

"You haven't, Sonic." Jules and his mother held up their hands, giving Sonic a small wave. "You never did…"

Sonic was pushed back away from the light and, once more, saw his childhood flash before his eyes again, but in forward. All his memories hitting his head hard like his brain was reprocessing it all to his mind. It almost felt like headbutting someone constantly without end. Everything passed until finally, he saw himself back to the floor where the King stood before him.

Sonic jerked himself off the ground and gasped for air as Andriet jumped back in surprise.

"I thought you were-'" Out of instinct, Sonic kicked the King back, letting him stumble and hit his head with the cells bars.

The King groaned in pain but was sluggish in his movements. "Y-You were dead… How?!"

BOOM

A giant canon suddenly breached through the walls, just barely missing Sonic and the King. Sonic jumped back and coughed as the dust around him became thick. He waved the dust away and saw his Uncle jump through the hole of the outside.

"Chuck?"

"No time to grieve, Sonny." Chuck grabbed the keys from the Kings belt and freed Sonic from his chains. "We have to leave. Now!"

Both hedgehog's scrambled and leaped out from the opening, falling down the slope the castle sat on. Sonic felt the grass skid across his stomach and dirt fly into his mouth as he fell. Eventually they both hit the water at the bottom of the hill.

Uncle Chuck, knowing his Nephews fear of water, did not hesitate to carry him across the water.

Sonic spat out the mud that built up in his mouth and gripped onto his Uncle. "F-Father…"

"I know, Sonic." The heaviness in Chuck's speech made his words hit both their stomachs. "I know…"

Sonic let another tear fall as he looked back up at the castle. As if the King's actions weren't any worse, he had thrown Jules' lifeless body out of their escape hole, letting it fall and sink into the water like it was trash.

Sonic was devastated.

"Father! Father, no!"

The King stood on top of the hill, looking down at the hedgehogs as they made their escape.

"I'll find you! You hear me?!" Andriet yelled out, knowing good and well Sonic would hear him. "The next time you cross me will be the last!"

Sonic didn't care what the King said at that moment. His rage, all the emotions building up came out. Sonic let his eyes and heart be filled with pure hatred and heartache. Two ingredients that were a deadly mix.

Ever since this very day, Sonic had sworn to take down this king for destroying his very life. He swore, on his life, that the king would not get away with the death of Athena nor his father.

It had to end, and he was going to make sure of it.

ANDDDD There's Chapter 10! WHEW, WHAT A CHAPTER!

I felt so evil writing this one :3 Fits being today is Halloween. Well, here's my treat to y'all being posted today instead of tomorrow. Happy Halloween and try not to get lost in Pumpkin Hill!

Next Thursday Chapter 11 will be posted and will continue on the story ;p

~Anyway, Thanks for reading and reviews are GREATLY appreciated! ;-3