AN: I apologize for the long hiatus and I will try to write again, but I was really stressed out with this chapter for a long time.
This was possibly the hardest chapter I've ever done in my fanfic writing career. It took a total of three weeks, and I rewrote it possibly countless times, as I was off my medication and I couldn't think clearly when I tried to finish it. However, I rewrote it again as the medication is streaming in my veins now, and I believe it's much better now.
I'm sorry for the long delay, and I hope you can still enjoy this chapter despite my shortcomings.
Rain dripped from the leaves and the forest trees, beating on the tent with their wet hands and feet as they ran across it like happy, excitable children. She awoke to the faint lucent shadows sliding across it, and the afternoon sun glared overhead, the heat and the sun's grip on her eyes forcing her to be awake. She wrote so much in her notebook that she fell asleep along with Sonic and Amy, and now she felt sweaty and she felt that her skin was growing thorns. The air was humid now, feeling herself choke a little on the air, as bloodseekers feasted on her and made her skin creep. Humans had a way to keep them off, but her kingdom was too unfortunate enough to make this invention. Her skin constantly itched, becoming red and white, but she was too afraid to smack them. She always was disgusted with the small pool of blood that would gather after a bloodseeker was crushed, but she was too afraid of killing a dragonfly. Dragonflies were often mistaken as bloodseekers, and it was all too common that they were killed. In all of the kingdoms, it was illegal to kill a dragonfly, as they all knew of how sacred a creature they were. And it was possibly the only thing that she knew that the kingdoms could agree upon. And it was sad really. It really was.
She dreamed last night. She actually was awakened by not her usual nightmares about her husband, but she dreamed of the crimson butterfly again, and she thought she could hear the forest beat as it touched upon the dragonfly's heart. As she gazed there, her body feeling rotted away and her own heart aching for her husband to see this sight too, but she could see the trees swaying rhythmically to the beat of the forest, and she could see the silver streams beginning to spout and water the land too. She had this dream before she searched for the dragonfly's heart, and she felt that this dream was possibly telling her something, whispering it in her very ear. But this dream, it seemed to scream that same message, because she was too deaf and dumb to get it the first time. Because in this dream, she saw the Forest Goddess, and she spoke to her from her wet green lips.
Rouge was bleeding on the ground, almost as sick as her husband. Worms were tearing through her heart, and she always felt like she was on the verge of puking a black substance. It was becoming a nightmare to her, as she herself had the Unnamed Illness, and she was going to suffer the same fate as her husband. She was crying, but she felt the Forest Goddess' soft hand lift her chin, and she spoke to her.
Bring Sonic to the Northern Kingdom. Bring him to a Northern soldier and let them take him. And everything will slowly unfold itself to you. And your husband will soon be safe under my arms. And you will be safe, and comforted, as well.
And when the black clouds covered her naked body, she woke up, and found herself staring at the raindrops that gathered on her tent, as they formed peculiar, amorphous shapes. Sonic and Amy were still asleep, and the noon sun was just a lone infant up in the sky, and she knew they had to wake up now, before it got dark, and the moon would become as sharp as the sun.
"Sir Sonic. Madam Amy. It's time for you to wake up. We must leave now before the noon sun sinks and it's night. I trust you two had a good sleep?"
Amy yawned like a lion, her mouth almost appearing just as fanged, while Rouge noticed when Sonic woke up, one of his eyes was a ruby red.
It was slit in the middle, a fine cut of the knife, and he felt his other arm was numb and cold, throbbing just as much as the other one. It felt frigid to the touch, and Rouge felt uneasy around his tail as it awakened too. It could feel the heat emanating from their breaths, and it thought that maybe it could strangle both of them, simply because they were alive, they had two arms and two legs and two eyes in which they could see just clearly. And it was never given any of that. It was simply a tail stuck to this hedgehog's ass, and it hated it. And it wanted to attack anyone who had the chance to be a live animal like the rest of them. Like the fools who don't appreciate the life that was given to them, because it would surely snuff it out before they even began to realize it.
Rouge saw the one red eye, looking as stirring in color as a fine cut gem, and she began to be afraid for Amy, and of course, for herself.
Sonic was becoming more and more of a monster, and now he had one red eye that looked as if it was ready to crack at any time, and she kept thinking that Sonic was going to kill her, before she could save Knuckles. It brought fear, almost agonizing panic to her veins, and she tried to hide it. But it was only like hiding an elephant in the room. She was sure that Amy could still see it.
Why, of course, Rouge thought. Why didn't I think of it before?
This was why Amy wanted the dragonfly's heart to cure Sonic's curse. It was faster than what she originally thought, faster than most curses caused by striking a deal with a witch.
Because he would grow into a powerful demon, so quickly, his transformation possibly completed in the next few days.
And he would kill her and many other people. She even felt that Sonic wouldn't even mind to kill her either. And right now his eye looked hungry, and it thirsted for pain and suffering.
"Sonic…I don't know how I could show you what's going on, but…your eye. One of your eyes…it's red. And demonic looking. And I don't mean puffiness or lack of sleep either. I mean that it's really red."
"Yeah? And so what?" It was like talking to a brick wall. Sonic didn't care, and she knew that he didn't care that he was going to murder Amy any time now. He was a bomb now, and she felt that he was going to be set off any minute now, and he felt that maybe Rouge would look nice without a head now. He still thought that she would've been better off dead than to trust her. And maybe he could've drank all that blood that would've spouted from her head like wine.
"So the fact that you're slowly becoming a demon and kill both of us means nothing to you? Of course, that's how the curse works. I should've known that people who make deals with witches seem to lose their very soul along with their contract. You fool. You stupid, pitiful fool. And there's nothing that could save you but the dragonfly's heart. You stupid, damn fool."
She knew all about the witches and the Counsel before even hearing of the old lady's tale. Because she actually considered giving her soul away so Knuckles would be alright, but she thought that she would rather be with him as a loving wife when he was about to die more than have him healthy and not even care of his presence. She saw that people who left the deal always had their hearts frozen, and she didn't want to be like them, especially not like Sonic.
"Why are you calling me a fool?" he snarled, his fangs exposed as if he was becoming a bat himself. "I didn't do a damn thing like that! I stay far away from witches. They're useless to me and they're nothing but parasites in this world, and I think this whole damn forest would be better off without them. I wished I could finish them all off, and maybe I'll be called a hero. Don't claim things that aren't true, wench."
She knew exactly why Sonic's soul was taken. But even if she told him, he wouldn't remember or even acknowledge it. That was how the contract and the magic worked. They worked at the very seams of the brain to somehow forget the exact event, to carve a completely different story for the sufferers, so they would never know that their heart was gone, that they gave up their very enjoyment of life just to have one simple wish granted. People who made a deal simply thought it was their very innate nature, something that they were born with and that they always were this way. They don't even realize how cruel they acted to anyone. She was better off dropping the subject, even if she felt a little sorry for him and felt Amy's pain in trying to get him to recover. He simply wouldn't remember how his heart was stolen, no matter how many times she told him, and even if she presented him with proof. The whole event with the witch named Elise Blackhawk was completely lost, abandoned. Even if she didn't want to, the magic worked as well as a witch who went through a fair deal and badly desired their heart to keep their youth. Elise didn't want his, and the Counsel punished her by making her a crone now. And she was unloved and lonely, and Sonic was suffering too.
"I'm sorry Sonic. Please excuse my slip of the tongue, I really didn't mean it. Let's move out of this shelter and into the woods now. We can't waste any more time arguing."
"But…I don't understand, Rouge? What do you mean that Sonic made a deal with a witch? What do you mean that…?" Amy merely just tried to understand. She heard of witches in the forest, but her father never told her much about them. He simply said that they were people she had to avoid at all costs, even if she badly wanted respect and only respect in this world. But she wondered what this all had to do with Sonic. Maybe if she knew the truth on what happened to him, she would know his cure, and maybe she didn't need the dragonfly's heart in the end. She could find out his suffering, his misery, and she could absolve all the light inside his soul that was taken away and replaced with something as black as soot, as black as coal, and maybe she could make Sonic right again, make him the happy hedgehog she knew he really was, trapped inside that cold cavern of his mind, freezing.
"I'll tell you later, Miss Amy. Let's go now, the sun is sinking further and further into the sky the more we talk and wonder about all these insignificant details. I don't want to spend any time chit-chatting now. We're already behind schedule, and I know we need to hurry and find that heart so you can heal Sonic. Let's go."
Sonic grunted in mild annoyance, but he went along with the both of them, still gripping onto his sword tightly and his tail still waiting patiently for them to make the right move, setting its chess pieces into the right black squares. He just had to wait for the queen and bishop to make one good mistake, and maybe he could win this game. Maybe he could make the white squares red.
Amy felt that something wasn't right, that something was amiss in this moist, sweltering air, but she walked with them too. She could see in the distance that the trees began to swivel, as if they were reflections off water, but even if she began to sweat and become thirsty, she knew she had to try to be quiet, or else Sonic might react violently. He was a bomb. He was going to explode any minute now, as that one red eye continued to gaze at her warily, looking just as bright as the sun that was heating them. She could almost feel him grinning at her, as if he was drinking in all this madness, and he would even swim in it and have both of the women drown.
They headed out, the leaves' shadows overcast on the ground, making it mottled with darkness, but they still felt sultry under the trees. Amy knew that the sun wouldn't go away until dusk, and it would continue to beat on their backs and make them raw and red. As red as Sonic's eye.
The forest sounds were mostly whispered and muffled, only the screeching of the cicadas audible. Sonic was using his sword as a machete, cutting the bushes and small trees that were in their way, his hands sweaty and blistered while he was doing so. Sonic wished for once that there weren't so many of them, and maybe his arms and stinging hands would relax for once. The drone of the cicadas was still high as they walked, singing of a song that only they knew, that only they could sing with their scratchy voices. But they were mostly ignored, while they hid themselves in the forest, away from sight, away from anyone knowing who was the one who was singing that awful song. The birds even began to feel a little hot under the sun, their feathers not getting much cold air underneath their bodies, and they twittered, begging for the heat wave to stop and they could fly freely again in the air, but they felt they were roasting, and even the salamanders that came out with their wet, spotted skin as smooth as a newborn's felt that it was too hot, their skin was becoming dry and they would become a husked shell if they didn't move faster to a log with the moist ground, hidden away from these animals who thought being in the forest was such a good idea. No, it was time for all the animals to hide, the time was nigh, and they could feel the rumbling of the air, and the forest would soon betray them!
Ha! The salamander chuckled, let them rot, let them bleed under the sun, while I stay under and hide from the heat, while I'm a smart creature who even knows it's suicide to be out here, in a place that's as hot as hell. Salamanders knew what hell was, because they've seen the Forest Goddess talk to them about it before they were born, and she showed them that they had to be kind and be salamanders and not dogs, and not bite anyone with their soft mouths. So it's the creed of the salamanders, to be under the ground and not bite, while these creature's creed is possibly to die, as the sun was a vengeful beast, and it wanted the whole world to suffer. I can even see some of my comrades burning away, their corpses becoming as sapless as a husked leaf, and I know that the sun doesn't like anyone out here, it doesn't like anyone, and it doesn't like me, but I'm under a log, away from everything, away from the world, and away from the bitch known as the Forest Goddess, who showed us what hell was like and who told us we couldn't be who we wanted completely to be, because we would become delicacies to the Fire God, and I'll just cry, and sleep, until morning comes again. The fog keeps me moist, it keeps me happy, and I doubt those travelers would survive a day more, as I can hear the cry of the new age butterflies, and they are a-comin', and they want to make the air metallic and sharp and corpses stabbed. Screeeeak. Screeeeak. Screeeeak.
Sonic thought that the heat was getting to him, that he could hear things and his brain was just as parched as his throat, but he heard that familiar sound, and he saw a pale winged insect with his reflection being refracted on its wings as it had the markings of a psychotic test, black splotches of paint that reached out to his head, and he felt one instinct. Amy tried not to whine about how long it's been since they had water and Rouge being her usual sullen ways, trying not to tell the world on why she really was here. But he knew he had to run now. Run. It was the only way he could get out of here, to get away from these hallucinogenic terrors. They were coming, and he could hear their horrid sounds coming from the distance, and he had to get out of this area, now, while he was still alive.
Screeeeak. Screeeeak. Screeeeak.
He felt the air was getting harder, to where all the oxygen was becoming squeezed out, to where he could feel the jagged spikes coming, and he felt their proboscis near his ear, and they were coming, Forest Goddess damn it they were coming, these creatures made of metal and evil, and he had to tell the others to run, run, run!
"Rouge, Amy, let's get the hell out of here! The metallic butterflies are coming back! They're coming back! Run like hell, now!"
Sonic dashed briskly through the woods, cutting with his sword before he could even think, slicing the metallic butterflies and the bushes and trees, clearing the way, but they were coming even faster now, and they knew what Sonic said, and they were sure now that these animals weren't going to come to the dragonfly's heart alive, and they were going to feast on their bodies and suck their organs with a straw. Screeeak! Screeak! Screak!
Rouge held Amy's hand, and they began to run almost as fast as the wind in the late afternoon's breeze, as the butterflies gathered on the branches of the trees and covered it like a thick white blanket, and they made the world distort. So many birds that were on that tree, so many salamanders, so many other creatures that were around it, and they were stabbed, pierced, their bodies bleeding and feeling as if a sword was through it, slicing through their fragile organs and brains. They were killed almost immediately, but yet they were still alive as the butterflies sucked their body dry, and it was the last thing they saw before they were dead: a torture that some people might've considered to be beautiful, but no, when they were in the Forest Goddess' realm, they would fear butterflies for the rest of their lives, they would see their black marks as a man screaming as pure terror shot through this ink-blotted man before they were stabbed and the creatures drank them to their death, and their bodies were bare and simple skeletons, as they cleaned their skin and hearts and stomachs completely off, and they were still hungry, still starving, and they chased the bat and the two hedgehogs, wanting more. They wanted more flesh and organs to suck, more skeletons to scatter in the land, more bare bones to be littered across the world so they would know their name and their hunger. And the metallic butterflies were always hungry, always thirsty, and they were greedy, and they could never get enough to satisfy them. And satisfaction to them simply didn't exist. They always wanted more to suck, always wanted more to feast, always wanted more to suffer so they could try to shut out the bottomless stomach, but it always reached out to them and screamed that it needed more. They were nothing but greedy babies, but yet psychotic and able to kill anything, even their own mother that would try to please them.
The forest became a green blur to Amy as they ran fleetingly through, as she could hear the butterflies fluttering faster to their ears, but they always seemed to run at least inches faster. But only a few increments, as she could see that the butterflies could get so close to her that they could be tangled in her hair and while they would struggle through her quills her head could be pierced upon the spikes, right through her head, right through her brain. She knew that these butterflies have been improved upon, that they were much faster than they were before, that they were hungrier and thirstier and more deadly. Her heart crawled to her throat as she began to fear them more, these creatures that could've only been created from a delusion, a very serious psychosis, from a man that wasn't completely well, his head completely on fire with visions of God telling him to kill all the animals in this forest. She was terrified, and she no longer took notice of the sun anymore or the dragonfly's heart or anything that mattered to her for a few moments, as if they just suddenly vanished from the world, and she made the world completely dark because these small beasts were possibly the most wicked monsters she ever saw. And not even the demon that Sonic might grow to become was going to be as deadly as these creatures who picked the last small meat off a bird's bones and prepared to glide faster towards them, as she could see the small little teeth on their proboscis. And they droned closer, with their clawed hands and the ink stain of a jabbing knife on their alloyed, ghostly wings, and she wanted to cry so loud that she wanted the whole forest to hear her fear. She wanted them to hear how much she suffered since she was in these woods, and she wanted them to remember what happened to these woods before a tortured human thought he needed to kill all the creatures in these woods, and she missed her father and she wanted to head back to her home in their arms again, but it was too late, and in a few seconds, she was going to die.
So she did cry a loud scream, and the whole forest could nearly hear her. Even the East and West could hear her cry for help echoing throughout the woods, but they only thought it was the battle between the North and South, and it was business that they shouldn't be involved in. Business that their little noses shouldn't be sticking in.
As her legs began to be sore, as the butterflies ripped and tore through small ribbons of fabric off her clothes, she wished so much that she could be taken away by the good Sonic, the kind Sonic, the Sonic that she knew was inside that prince who used to call himself Reginald, but he seemed to have disappeared into the distance, into the green yonder. She couldn't see an end to all this green as the sun decided to no longer shine on this maddening scene of glints of white and a rush of hurrying feet, and she thought that they were running in the same path again and again, like they were reenacting the same scenes, and they would go on running forever. But she could see her childhood as they kept running, she could hear her father's voice speaking to her, telling her of a lullaby she heard as a child. And she thought on how nice it would be if she was in her father's arms again before she died, her one last comfort from this world. She could hear her father so clearly as she felt herself getting slower, her feet bloodied and in so much pain that she couldn't imagine running here anymore. She could see herself as a little girl and her father was cradling her in his arms, and she thought that this was the end of it all, as she could painstakingly hear his voice echoing throughout the woods. She knew that she was becoming a meal to the metallic butterflies, and that all her life, even if she knew and loved her father, she never had a hero. No one could come to her rescue this time. The hedgehog she loved was a demon now, and he was pulling away from her, further and further into this dank forest, and she thought the last thing she would see would be the sun turning into a bright shade of a bloody tangerine as her feet became slower, gradually coming into a near stop as the cicadas tried to warn her of her impending death, but she knew it was all too late. Her hero was slow, and dead. And she heard her father now, speaking to her.
"Run Amy. Run. Even if your feet become bloodied stumps, run."
She knew she was going to die. She thought that maybe she deserved to die because of how hopeless she felt, how weak and stupid and useless she was, how much she failed in making Sonic loved and into a normal hedgehog again. But she didn't realize herself that the butterflies were falling around her like ashes, like a fresh snow coming from the clouds, as they slowly fluttered to the ground, and the blue electrical shocks were beginning to paralyze them as they skit across their wings, as they shuffled in their small needle-like arms and prepared to curl up and die. She felt cold as they cringed and tried to fly again, but it was over. They were dead, and they were beginning to welcome death too, as they knew at this current state they were weak, stupid and useless, and they began to stop moving. They knew there was nothing left, no more blood and flesh and bones to feast on. They might as well just have their life end now. And before they knew it, they were dead. The last thing they saw before they died were eyes made of bloodied tangerine, and they looked like jewels being shined with the fires of hell. And they were glad they were dead when they prepared to die, as they glanced at the demonic hedgehog's face and realized that he was more of a monster than they could ever hope to be. Maybe they didn't want to be monsters after all. Maybe in the human's world, where they were created by a God made of flesh and blood, they would be chosen to do something else. Not kill and eat and drink till they were dead like this.
Sonic snarled as his jowls dripped with blood. His claws were sharp, gleaming in the late afternoon darkness, and his tail was poised, ready to kill. It was more heinous now, with its many protruding spikes and its fingers at the end reaching, even thinking of strangling Amy simply because it was in its way, but Sonic seemed to have controlled it enough to keep her safe. For now.
Even if Sonic was protecting Amy at this moment, she wanted to break down and sob. This wasn't the Sonic she always knew and fell in love with. This was the Sonic she kept trying to run and hide from, the one who warned he would kill her if she didn't reach the dragonfly's heart in time. He was becoming more and more of a demon, more of someone she truly didn't know and knew she would never be with, and she knew if she was with him any longer, she would die, and she would never see her father or even marry the man she truly wanted in her life. Oh, how stupid could she be? Why did she even think she could save him? She was just a whiny, stupid brat that would just get these two more and more into trouble! She should've just stayed with her father and married that stupid bore of a man! At least Sonic would still be alive…
But he wouldn't be. He was just different now. She knew that if it wasn't for her, Sonic would be dead. She saved him. She could've completely ignored him at the time and left him sick and dying in the swamp, but she knew that she couldn't leave someone dead, especially if she could've saved him. No, she could save Sonic at this time too. He was becoming more of a monster, but she would find the dragonfly's heart, and she would make him sane, happy, kind again. It was the only thing she could ever think of doing.
Honey, I'll save you. I'll do whatever in my power to save you. You are everything to me now. I will make you the hedgehog you used to be. It's my destiny now. My Goddess-given destiny.
He attempted to wipe his fangs of the blood, as the butterflies continued to drift aimlessly through the air. They both couldn't think of anything to say as Amy tried to hide her tears from him, but Sonic could sense that the battle wasn't over. The forest was stirring again. It was becoming alive in the moonlight, as the white face commanded everything to arise and move again. He could feel more of something in the air, more creatures that wished to show their ugly heads to him. While the world cooled, more warm blood stirred in these creatures, and the air was making their brains become more awake and alive. The forest groaned, the wind was drafting fiercely, and his bloodied eye was still locked onto the things that were stirring as the moon began to climb up into the black silky night. These creatures that drank the moonlight in like fine wine, they wanted Sonic, and they wanted him dead.
The metallic butterflies were stirring, as they drifted aimlessly through the air, the wind gathering them in one place like discarded leaves that the trees knew they no longer wanted. They were slowly changing colors, as their sheen became a dark gray, then silver, then a matted blue, to the same cobalt blue Sonic's fur was. They were alive again, their wings being reminiscent of the oceans in the South Kingdom, and they formed, lumped together, small puzzle pieces that were being constructed as the madman made them into a larger, more blue, more terrifying butterfly, and they became the fine dust in the wings, metal shards that would cut anyone's finger if they tried to rub it between their fingers, like most antisocial boys did whenever they caught a butterfly in their hands. Its red eyes gleamed as it analyzed Sonic and saw all of the blood on his face and body and sword, and it wanted his blood too, it would stab him with the very air he was listening to in order to devour him. It flapped its wings rapidly, and the air began to solidify around him. He ran, with his newfound demon speed, and escaped, before he could be pierced.
Sonic held Amy by the hand as they whisked through the woods, her nearly out of breath and her feet feeling more and more bloodied. She thought she couldn't run anymore with how much her feet hurt as the bubbled skin continued to blister and peel away, but Sonic was giving her no choice in the matter, unless she was very sure she wanted to die. The butterfly was coming. It was quick, it was vengeful, it was wanting their bodies to feast on, and Sonic knew that the only thing he could really do was run to the ends of the woods, as he could hear it beating its wings. Amy knew however that they couldn't run forever. Even if Sonic's feet never grew tired, they had to go back and kill the butterfly, no matter how afraid of it they were, no matter if the afternoon becomes dusk, they had to kill it, for the entire safety of the forest. And she felt that she couldn't run anymore. She felt that like the blisters in her feet, her legs were going to burn and peel away as well, and she could nearly feel bleed until they were nothing but bloody carcasses. So she stopped, and held onto Sonic tightly.
"Wench, why are you making me stop? The butterfly is coming, and if we don't run quickly, it'll kill us!"
"We can't keep running from it Sonic. Remember when we fought that swamp dragon? We had to kill it, right? That's exactly what we have to do with this butterfly. We have to kill it, before it kills anyone else. We can't leave it here. We can't keep running away from a battle, leaving the rest of this forest to deal with it. We have to face it. It's as fast as you anyways, it'll eventually catch up. And you're the best hedgehog for the job. So it has to be slain. Please Sonic."
The butterfly tore through the trees, the blue metal glinting off the white knife of the moon, and the red eyes were gazing back at Sonic, requesting a challenge, a battle. It had to kill him, just to please its god, and maybe it would be taken to a better world than this one. But yet killing an animal easily was so boring to it. Although it was hungry and it wanted the meat off Sonic's bones, it still wanted a challenge. It still wanted to play for its prey.
And he knew now that "the wench" was right, and he had to stop running and kill the beast. The butterfly wasn't going to give up chasing him, as it thirsted for his very blood. It had to die, for the good of the forest. He wasn't going to have the delusional man who created him have a dead hedgehog body, no matter how much he desired it. Now he had to put his newfound demon abilities to the test, and his tail twitched when it heard in his head the very mention of battle and death. He darted to the butterfly, with his sword stretching out towards it, ready to peel off the steel and metal and crush its gears and cogs. The butterfly rapidly flapped its wings for a moment, as if it was assessing the situation carefully, then it dodged the attack, and prepared to harden the air around him by flapping its scales rapidly. Sonic could smell the scent of the oxidizing air, and he stepped back, before his body could get stabbed. The butterfly continued to flutter near the bright, glowing trees, the metal shining as the blue and pink lights made it seem like the very same tungsten lights in the human's cities. Sonic sat, smelling the air to be sure that it wasn't becoming steel, and he ran back towards it, swiping.
The butterfly swiftly dropped off the trunk of the tree and the butterflies gathered near the base of its body, little small sheets of pink light flowing like a river, away from the sword as if he was striking water. This butterfly seemed to be like water, fluidly ploying from his sword, as the stream continued to rush rapidly towards him and trying to stab him with its own swords, its own small antennae. Sonic leaned back, his neck nearly stricken with his own blood, and he swiped again. A few butterflies fell from its wings, cringing and curling up, but the azurite butterfly was still alive as the moonlight continued to stir it, and it flapped its scaly wings again. The wind rushed around him, the leaves and twigs of the forest being lifted and gathering around him, as he could see small particles of dust and blue fragments that looked very much like glitter, and it collected in his throat and lungs, and he began to cough. His eyes were irritated, burning and urging him to rub and scratch them, and he was temporarily blinded. He could see the butterfly preparing to stab him through his teary eyes, and he jumped back, but was too stunned to attack. He felt as if his mouth was beginning to blur around the edges, feeling numb, as if it was going to drop from his face suddenly, and he even held onto it, wishing it wasn't going to melt. His mind was drifting, thinking of other things other than this killer butterfly, and he wasn't sure whether he was becoming crazy or not. He couldn't even think that possibly the butterfly's scales were making him dissolve away from reality, and he thought that suddenly he wanted to pick at his skin and get rid of all the maggots that were crawling inside his body and drilling away and eating every morsel of his flesh, and he cried loudly as he wanted to suddenly tear his fur away from his skin, because it was making him itch and making him bleed.
Rouge gazed at the distance, hearing of a loud puncturing cry that reverberated in her ears. She thought she could see Sonic in the forest, the blur of blue fur becoming more prominent, but the cry sounded so familiar to her, as if it was reaching into her mind and pulling out some twisted memory that she wished she could forget. And it was, she realized. It was pulling apart that memory and making it more clear to her, the dream that she wished she could escape from and never again see it with her own brain.
Her husband.
Dead.
With maggots crawling through his eyes, eating all the white liquids and making him bleed with black blood.
And as the image was becoming bigger for her, more ugly every time her mind tried to pull her closer to it, she wanted to throw up.
She could hear the cry becoming louder in the stretch of the woods, screaming so harshly to her large ears, and she thought she could even hear the maggots eating through his skin and the bugs and beetles swarming around him, and she thought she could even smell the decay and the shit. She huddled the gun close to her chest and prepared to run, ramming all the powder inside it, as she heard this specter call her name. And she thought she could even hear it claim that Knuckles was going to die if she didn't become closer to the source of the sound.
Come here Rouge. I said come here! Knuckie boy is going to die if you don't come here! Come one, come all, to the blackened flesh of Knuckles, the husband of Mistress Rouge of the Western Kingdom! Tickets are five copper coins each, quite inexpensive, and you can see this dead man for yourself! Children get in free! Hurry up lady, you're going to miss all the excitement!
The trigger was inching closer to her. She was going to kill this bastard. No one was going to mess with her Knuckies. Nobody. And her heart began to beat almost in an arrhythmic beat, as it crawled into her throat, and she thought she could even taste all the blood that was escaping from it. Her hands were drenched with sweat, and the trigger couldn't come any closer without firing. And the gun began to rattle almost so loud that she thought the entire woods could hear it. And her sobs.
Sonic's sword was glowing a clear white, almost translucently, near the moon, and he stared at this butterfly that was resting its wings near the tree, its proboscis flickering near the trunk. It was watching. Waiting. With its cinnamon-glazed eyes. The wings were slowly growing in the light, the wings expanding, sharpening and warm and red that reminded Sonic of heat-wrought iron, and they pointed towards the clear black night, becoming as sharp as long, thick arrows. It gathered more of the butterflies towards it like a newly bloomed flower that they had to get to quickly, as it stood and watched Sonic's moves. It coldly calculated, strategizing on what it had to do next, as the butterflies continued to flow fast throughout him, but it thought if it had a mouth, it would smile and laugh on how Sonic seemed to think his skin had leeches attached to it. He couldn't help but stop and scratch so much that his skin was becoming red and bloody, and the butterflies began to salivate through their proboscis, knowing that their bottomless stomachs could be satisfied for a few moments soon. The butterfly flailed its wings and charged towards him, its tongue nearly tasting of the blood, the air becoming more cold and metallic that it felt like sharp icicles to his skin. And he could feel it bleeding more and more.
And he realized that in this forest, where it was so hot today that he thought him and Amy were going to collapse under the sun's weight, small icy flakes of the sky were drifting towards the ground, and the world around him became parched and dead. The grass was a pale yellow and the trees' glowing orbs became black and gray, like the ice that the world was becoming. It was snowing, small flakes of the cloud's skin were drifting towards him, his breath becoming visible in the cold air, and it was somehow winter. It was rarely winter in these woods. So to suddenly shift between a day that was as hot and thirsty as a desert that was near the humans and then to a cold winter, he thought that the weather was possibly crazy, as if it forgot where it was at, and where the wind blew and what the world's climate really was. It was bipolar. He shivered under the weather's ice, as the butterfly hardened the air around him, and as the stinging thorns were beginning to pierce him. He ran again, blood beginning to run down his sides and face as he got away from the beast. It felt even more penetrating to him from the frosty world, but he could only ignore it. He couldn't tend to it.
The butterfly made of glossy glass and sheet metal struck his sword with its drill-like antennae, trying to pierce through his body and to make his body's organs scrambled, the eyes continued to glare at him, so much more visible in the arctic night. Sonic's sword blocked them, making small dents in the steel, and he shivered as the snow built up so quickly, the drifts gathering on the ground and on the branches like cold blankets. The wind was chilled, and the wings were reminding him not of heat-wrought iron, but iron that was frozen under a thick layer of ice, completely rock solid like the steel that was under it, a glass stone. The wings were transforming from cobalt to solid white, skeletons of frost and ice like a snowflake. Light blue orbs were glowing on the patterns on the insect, becoming crystals in the sheet of frozen metal. There were faint gray lines drawn on the wings, and he thought he couldn't admit it, but his foe was actually strangely beautiful as he watched it form under the winter's snow, and it felt comforting to watch it flit to one tree to the other, instead of looking like a dark psychological terror that he thought this butterfly originally was. Now it was something he couldn't take his eyes off, and he sat dazed, watching the snow flurry to the earth and the butterfly watching him back, as if it was also just as strangely fascinated with him.
They both were respecting each other under the winter's night, astounded by their allure. Sonic felt now that he wanted to touch it, to see if its wings were really made out of fresh fallen snow, and he could feel it between his fingers and feel the burning sensation of the cold. He was a curious child now, wanting to touch everything in this world, to see if it really was alive and fresh in his vision. He even wanted to reach out for his breath and touch it, to see if it would suddenly become a solid thing for him to feel, to grasp the warm air slip between the cracks of his hands. It was getting darker the more he watched the butterfly, and now he wished that the sky was incandescent again. His blood felt it was going to solidify under the cold, and he forgot for a moment's notice he was cold-blooded, as he was transforming more and more into this lizard beast. If he didn't do something about the butterfly he thought, he would die here, freezing to death. He could sense at least one rational thought as it shot through his head that possibly the butterfly was creating this cold wintry night, and even if this butterfly was astounding in its beauty, he had to give it death and rob it of that, making it ugly and pale. He forgot the real reason the butterfly had to die, and even the memory of Amy slipped through his head. He could see her in the moon's light, hiding, but he couldn't remember her name. The pink hedgehog couldn't register in his head.
He sliced through the butterfly's wings, feeling the soft blow of the snow gale in his face, the creature screaming in pain. The small butterflies plummeted to the ground, and a hinge of its wings were torn off, as if Sonic was that same antisocial boy who wanted to see it revel in pain as it was temporarily paralyzed, the wind unable to breeze through its frosty scales. It resorted to the earth, the antennae and wings ready to stab through his skin and body, but at that moment, he suddenly didn't care about dying. He didn't care about being stabbed or to become a corpse for the whole forest to see. He huddled himself, trying to ignite the warmth in his body like the human-made lighters, but he felt his scaly fur become so cold it bit into his skin, and his heart, the fire within it, was dulling, nearly becoming ashes, the murmurs suddenly nearly inaudible through his chest. He could feel himself dying and becoming closer to the Forest Goddess' realm every minute, every second, and he shivered, curling himself from the butterfly as if he didn't want to fight anymore and was now too terrified and weak to move. He no longer cared for the wars and the battles and the demonic body he had, but now, he wished that he was back home, with his mother and father, being loved and warm and no longer this hideous beast he felt himself he was now. He wished he could peel away the scales, he wished the demonic claws were only gloves, and he wished that his face and eyes were only a mask, and he could be back with his family, in his parent's arms, no longer worried about being dead in the woods.
Back to the warm kingdom, with his mother cradling him when he was young, singing him the song that he briefly remembered through his blackened mind. Why was it so blackened? He wasn't sure, and he wasn't even sure of how he became as cold as this winter night, but he wanted to return home and apologize to all of his family. And to become a good prince again. And lead the South Kingdom in a treaty for peace with the North. Because after all, maybe the North wasn't so bad. He was just angry that his daughter was dead, but if they could explain on what really happened to her…
His mind continued to flicker under the winter's frozen breath. He felt himself drifting away, and the world was becoming nothing but a flashing light.
…What really happened to her…
…What…happened…
…And…maybe the angel's larks will sing…
And the dragonfly's heart will…keep us safe…
…Under love's very undying…
…Wake…
…Of the flaming eyes…
…And the heart is so ripe…
…With decay…
His body was casted with metal, very much like the butterfly, and his heart for a moment was no longer a machine, but made of fabric and wires. He couldn't even see the beast anymore, but just the pitch black darkness that was consuming him, ready to eat all of his meat and bones, and he wasn't afraid. He was ready to accept his fate as his vision was ready to become opaque and his body was ready to cease shuddering and give out his very heart and soul to the Goddess. He was praying under the very small light, a twitching sun, that was in the middle of this darkness that he thought was so similar to the galaxies he heard when his father was teaching him all about this world. He was actually interested in this so-called galaxy and space, but his father didn't know very much about it and decided to no longer teach him any more. He was here now, in the middle of the void, with so many stars that looked like blades that were ready to cut through this dark blanket like shears, thinking it was the final place people went to when they were ready to die, the very border between the Goddess' realm and the world underneath this one. His body was ready to be taken by
Death, ready to be seized by the fire's tongues of Hell, knowing that he wasn't such a good person after all. He was going to go to another realm, one that everyone warned him about, one that his father told him all about when he was younger, on how the king of the North would be going to this fiery prison, and if he was good he would be taken to the galaxies and be printed in the sky as stars and everyone would know his name and story. Everyone would hear of Prince Sonic and how he has slain the swamp dragon made by the hated humans and how he fell when battling this contraption of icy wings and fiery eyes, and the Goddess was pleased by his efforts, except when he soon hated his father and everyone else in the world. But there was one person he thought that maybe…he did love her, and he could feel the very small remnants of the memory of the song he heard through her melodic heart when they were introducing themselves to the King of the North and Princess Rose. He thought that maybe they had a connection, and that maybe, they could bring the kingdoms together. He thought his younger self had this dream of having all the kingdoms living in peace and showing the humans that they could all get along and live in a nice society, a greater utopia than most kingdoms in the human world, and he could piece the whole world together, and he could fix it after it was shattered at the very beginning of time. And they could face the end of it with each other.
And as his body was slowly decaying and his heart's fire was beginning to be snuffed out and become a wicker of smoke, the black suddenly turned to white, like sunlight filling a hole like water. His eyes were dazed as the stars disappeared and cut the whole universe to a white canvas, and he could see crystalline wings, looking much like jewels and much like the kind and loving dragonfly's, on a pink hedgehog. She flitted to him, carrying something in her arms in a white blanket, cradling it like it was an infant. And maybe it was. Maybe he was seeing his future with the princess he knew he fell in love with, and maybe his secret dreams were going to come true.
His vision was becoming darker by the minutes, a murky puddle. His body felt like the light was holding it down and putting it in locks, but he could still plainly see her, with the white rose in her hair, her green eyes flickering like malachite, and the silver of the thing she was holding in her arms, neatly tucked away. He could feel the last beats in his heart thumping, as the blood was beginning to turn into lead, the glow of it becoming dimmer, knowing that this was what exactly she wanted, and he had to give it to her, as he laid here, dying and choking on his very last breaths.
"Here Rose! Take it! Please take it! I'm begging you to take it! The thing I've never told you before, when I've been this cold self, this almost completely dead person with a functioning body but no life in my eyes…that I love you. And I've always loved you, right when I had my eyes on you. So you have to take my heart, whatever is last of it, and do with it as you please. Store it somewhere, eat it, stomp on it, I don't care, as long as you take it away from this evil body and let everyone know that you can still be alive but still be dead, a walking contradiction, a hideous creature that I knew the humans outside of this world always wanted to destroy. Please let the goddess take me and let me no longer suffer of this cold heart, and please let me be my true self, the person I was when I was newborn. Take it away, and let everyone know that love isn't always true, isn't always fulfilled, doesn't always end in a fairy tale ending, and that sometimes, it can only be a lie and the closest thing to death. Take it."
She nodded calmly, as if death was a normal occurrence to her and he was just another passerby complaining of "his old bones starting to fade away". She nodded, slowly, surely, the silver child rearing its head so suddenly, not with a smile and a laugh or a cry, but the wish that he was dead, her child made of gun powder and steel. It looked like the gun that Sonic knew he kept away from Rouge, and she ignited the powder inside it, the flames reacting and the bullet beginning to fly as she pulled the trigger, ripping through Sonic's heart with no sign of remorse on her face, no sadness, but only with great tranquility as suddenly the darkness overtook him, and he was sent away to a far off place. A place that he knew wasn't much like this strange world with goddesses that wanted him dead, and maybe in this next world, he would be treated with love.
Sonic awoke, his head and his body completely covered with sweat, his sword lying next to him, with no sign of the butterfly. There was no snow, no coldness in the air, and it felt as humid as it used to be. It was still night, the moon smiling in his face. He saw Amy Rose with Rouge's gun in her arms, cradling it much like in his dream, and he could also see that there was no sign of the bat anywhere, disappearing into the air that was no longer going to be full of steel and needles. There was no sign of anything he last saw before he went to the ends of space and felt himself dying. He lifted his sword, discovering that his other arm was now arranged in a set of deep sea turquoise scales and with claws as sharp as machetes, almost as long as his very legs. He eyed the small puddle on the forest floor that was nearly dried up with the night's heat, seeing that both of his eyes were an audacious red, as bright as this moon in the sky, with black clear slits that looked reptilian, as if he came from the East Kingdom. He didn't recognize, however, was that his heart was stone cold once again, and when he was away from the world, he felt it open, like someone sliced through it, and it gushed with all these feelings for his past and this girl he thought he loved. Well, whoever she was, he didn't give a damn about her. She could rot for all he cared.
"You're awake Sonic," Amy said, wiping away her tears at the contours of her eyes, hoping he wouldn't notice. "I would celebrate you being alright, and I know you're the one who gives orders, but we have to leave, now. This situation we're in, it's not good. At all. If we stay here, we could be dead. Especially you."
He ignored his sudden transformation. For now. "What happened wench? Where was the butterfly? Why did it suddenly become winter? Where is the batty bitch? What happened here?"
"The butterfly…Sonic, I'm still not sure how it all happened, but…" She paused, trying to piece the odd and sudden event together. "You were fighting it, when suddenly, you passed out, and Rouge came along and fought it and tried to shoot it with her gun, but when the butterfly was making her act…really weird for some reason, I took her gun and I killed it. Maybe you would think I actually did something right in this little journey after all."
"You actually killed something, wench? I don't say this very often, and I really don't want to say it but…nice job. I guess. But what happened to bat girl? She was here a while ago, right?"
"Well, maybe it was on account of the butterfly, but she kept telling me that you were dead and we should've left you in the forest so we're not carrying around a carcass, and I said no, we couldn't do that, and that you were still alive…And well, we got into this big argument that suddenly, I got very angry, and I said that if she was going to tell my father about me I was going to shoot her point-blank, like that, and I wouldn't even bury her or anything and this whole dragonfly's heart plan would be done. And I actually did try to shoot her, because she kept saying that she was going to do it because she didn't want me to kill someone named Knuckles, but that was the first time I ever used a gun, and she was really fast, so she escaped before I can fire one shot at her. But we have to leave now Sonic, or else my father's men would be after us. Now we have to really speed up finding the dragonfly's heart."
"So she broke the promise already? That's pretty expected of women. Can't trust them." He shook his head. "But I don't expect you to protect me any longer, Princess. As you can see, I'm slowly becoming more and more into this beast, and if you're with me any longer, I'm probably going to kill you." He couldn't help but find the situation humorous. Such dramatic irony. He chuckled, then continued. "So you could probably leave me to die. I honestly don't care. I can be left to the pigs and I could care less. Leave me be, Rose. There's nothing you can do for me, so you might as well let the king's men find me here and make them do what they want with me. You should leave yourself out of the political business between the North and South, it's nothing but a sticky little business that I have to be killed for."
"No Sonic…" His eyes turned to her. The small hedgehog was trying very hard to be calm and poised, but it was plainly evident that there were tears in her eyes and her fists were tightly clenched, her knuckles becoming a blushed red. "I can't leave you here to die. I saved you…and you're my responsibility now. I will continue to save you. Because there's a reason I have to give you the dragonfly's heart Sonic. The thing is…" She sniffled, brushing the sudden stream of tears away. "
I want it for you. I want you to eat it. So you can be cured of this transformation. And you can be like your old self. I can tell you're hurt Sonic. The old self is still inside you. Something happened that made you this way. And I want to reverse it. I want to make it all better for you."
"Ha! You're sticking your little nose into business that you shouldn't stick noses in. I'm going to be a demon little miss princess, and there's not much you can do, so you might as well just leave me here by myself. You're a woman. You can't possibly change a thing. Besides, I treat you like the pond scum in the swamps. Why do you think you need to take care of me? If I was met with myself, I would leave myself here, hell, maybe I'd kill him." The tears in her eyes still didn't stop him from chuckling again. Which made her crying worse, but she really tried to conceal it, trying to suppress them back into her body.
Even if he was cold and scaly, she reached over and hugged him tightly, even if she felt his nails about to tear her muddy and ruined dress.
"Because I love you. That's the only reason I need, Sonic. I love you."
She thought she would see him with a disgusted and fanged face that would tell her to get away from him and that he was ready to die, nothing you could do to make him better and make him the man he used to be, ready for his heart to be snuffed out, but she saw the face of Sonic's old self, his green eyes and his radiant smile shining back at her. His fur was no longer hardened and full of scales and his hands were no longer sharp nails, but actual fleshed hands that wanted to reach out and hug her too.
"I love you too, Amy. There are no words or feelings for what you're making me feel right now. You're such a strong girl, you know that? You don't seem to realize it, but I know there's a lot of strength inside you. No matter what I say, I want you to keep going, keep testing your limits, and find the dragonfly's heart. I don't want to die Amy. Not when I met such a lovely girl like you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I mean that."
She cried against his body, feeling him patting and rubbing her back tenderly. She wished that Sonic would stay this way forever. Because he was truly a beautiful person she wanted to be with, and she wanted to fulfill his wish and live her entire life with him. He was just hurt, damaged, sharded. Suffering from the case of the blackened heart. And she would find his cure, even if her life would escape from her lips the further they traveled in these woods. She would do anything to make him better again. Whatever it was going to take to make his heart the same color as solid gold. A solid gold pearl that needed to be pried out of this shell he was cursed with.
But when she looked up, Sonic was back to his cold self, gazing at her, irritated. But whatever got him to understand that she wasn't going to leave him to die in this forest, he let go of her hold and continued to walk down the path.
"Alright, fine. We'll go. I still think this is matters you shouldn't be involved in, but obviously you're not going to listen to me. Women like you seem to be born deaf and dumb. Let's go."
She didn't know why, but as he walked, she caught up to him and held his claws. But it wasn't a claw when she held it lovingly in her fingers, as she didn't felt anything prick her. She felt his fingers curling up with hers, and she could feel the warmth pass between the both of them, as if their roots were connecting, like the blue and pink trees that were glowing on the white crested night like lanterns.
And he smiled back at her, his grip becoming tighter, as he sung the song Amy sung to him many times, and they went down the path happily and they never felt more secure of anything like this in their lives.
If they were both going to die in this war, they might as well go out in passionate flames.