AN: I'm very sorry it took a while to get this chapter done. I was planning on releasing it before October ended, but unfortunately, I suffered through a very serious depressive episode from my bipolar. It took several days, but I think I'm a lot better now, and I will continue to write this story until it's finished. The epilogue might come out as soon as tomorrow.
11/2/11: Chapter has been edited.
The pistol clicked, and she could feel the cold metal pressing against her neck, the cold nose of the gun. He just needed to pull the trigger, and it would be the end of her journey. And that would be that. No happy endings. No marriage. No bringing together the North and the South. Just simply death. Just burning in Hell, like the egg-shaped man said. She raised her hands up high, capturing the sun in her fingers, that tried to peek through all the madness and smoke. The glow didn't bother her. Just the cold metal that was rubbing her neck, the finger that was ready to pull the trigger.
"I've heard a little bit about you. While I was catching monsters to kill all of you, I learned that you might be Princess Rose of the Northern Kingdom, is that correct? Answer me, and maybe I'll give you a few more seconds of your life."
She looked at Sonic, and she was silent. The dragonflies could do little to help him. His breathing was slower, not enough air to rush into his heart and lungs. And they soon scattered away, into the dark of the forest. And she was beginning to think that all was lost, all was just as dark as the rest of the woods.
His body was scaly. His demonic tail was back. His claws were long wide silver knives again. He was dying. He was giving in into the beast that was prisoned inside of him. But yet as he laid there, as broken as a shattered porcelain doll, she still loved him. And she had the dragonfly's heart in her possession. She was ready to make it out of this. She would heal her love. Anything for him.
The only plan she had in her head was to stall the doctor. And maybe the demon would awaken and kill him first. And before he would kill her, she could give him the dragonfly's heart, and all will be well. Marriage. White carriage. Honeymoon. Bringing together the North and South. The works. She was determined to make it work. She could still feel his heartbeat inside of him, the steady, but weak thumpthumpthump, the hammering in his chest that was ready to be torn and burst, and she wished she could just stop and listen to his heartbeat one last time until this man had fired a bullet in her brain. So was life. So was death. She was ready to see the Forest Goddess. Or go to Hell, if that was where she belonged.
"Yes," she answered. "My name is Amy Rose, and I'm the princess of the Northern Kingdom. So good of you to do research while you were trying to kill us all, huh?"
The doctor laughed, the cold metal still pressed to her neck, feeling his hot rancid breath in her nose, a welcome visitor from all of the smoke.
"I got my reasons to know more about these kingdoms. And they're all the more pitiful the more I learn about them. The North, with its blindness to reason. The South, with a son who's slowly becoming a demon. The West, with its poverty and their insane queen. And the East is the worst. With their hunger and disease and patriotism. Pride is a dangerous thing, Rose. I may be full of pride, and when you're dead in Hell, I can teach you to never be full of yourself, because it will lead to death and anguish. You understand that, Rose? You understand all the pain inside me? Maybe before I kill you we can exchange secrets. Get to know each other. You're the only one I'm slightly interested in. I would like to know a little of your pain before I put a hole in your head."
There was something more to him. She knew. The man was sparing her life to get to know the delicious details of hers. There was something in his heart that made it bleed a little, a little shard that made it see all the ugliness in the world. Maybe this man wasn't like normal men. Most men left the forest alone and were too attentive to their own devices. This man was obsessed with this forest's destruction. He craved it. He wanted so much to have the other men think of him as their hero. She knew. And maybe before Sonic killed him, she could help him a little. If she got to know some of the delicious details of his life too.
"So why do you want to destroy us all? Is there any reason, any reason at all you want to burn this forest down? You seem to be doing quite a good job of it right now. I was thinking I was going to die back there, with that creation of yours. What makes you want to do such a thing? What's hurting you so much?"
"Hurting me?" he asked, a little shocked, but still pressing the barrel of the gun. "Nothing is hurting me more than to see a disgusting sack of shit here. I simply want to burn this forest down so everyone will see me as the man I really am: a martyr. A saint. That's all there is to it. No other reason. I thought I was going to kill all of you, but I guess you could say you're a meddling kid for being in this business in the first place. Now, why do you want to save this forest? Why did you want the dragonfly's heart that I took in the first place? Tell me a little about yourself. Don't dawdle too much on the details. Or else I'll pull the trigger a little early only knowing your name. Speak. Don't stutter."
Silence. She swallowed the first draft of her words as she carefully planned them, then she did as he said. She spoke.
"I simply want to save my husband. That's it. Maybe I want to bring the kingdoms together too, but if I can be with Sonic and that's all, I would be just happy with that. I'm not picky. I'm happy with just a happy ending for the both of us. And you want a happy ending for yourself. To be a martyr. To be a hero. But I think you're going to need more than that to be one. I don't think destroying a civilization of people is going to bring that at all. Please don't get angry at me and pull the trigger so suddenly. Listen to me for a bit, and then you can decide if you want to end my life."
She saw Sonic stir a little, his arms moving suddenly. She had to be quick now. The dragon was going to awaken, and it was going to kill either one of them with a vicious flash of fangs and claws.
He lowered his gun a little from her neck. She knew that this meant he was willing to listen. And she began.
"You remind me of the East. They want to kill the rest of the kingdoms and simply have an entire large kingdom for themselves. And that's what you said was a deadly disease. Pride. And you told me you wanted to teach me a lesson so I know how evil pride is. I can tell you're not a completely bad person. You maybe even regret the evil deeds you did. Maybe you just simply don't have a golden heart anymore. Maybe someone took it from you. A witch? To be imbued with the great intelligence you have? I can tell you're smart, Eggman. If you weren't, you wouldn't be able to create those beasts you made for this war. You simply traded in your kindness for talent. And while talent is certainly important in this world, don't you think kindness has a place of its own too? It isn't too late you know. You can drop the gun, you can say you're sorry, and you can try to make up for what you did. I'd forgive you. I'm sure Sonic would too. It isn't too late. Drop the gun, and we'll talk. If you disagree with me, you can go ahead and shoot me, but remember that it's simply your pride, your black heart, that's making you do this, and you will never be a true hero among men. You can do the right thing. And I can do the right thing. Please Eggman, you can do…"
"I don't think so!" She shivered as the cold metal was pressed against her again. So be it. She couldn't convince him. And now was her turn to die like the rest of the fallen soldiers on this earth.
"I may be full of pride, but I would never make myself work with the lot of you! I have no business helping any of you, I'm sure I would be a hero among men helping getting rid of all you disgusting creatures! It was nice knowing you Amy, but I think I know what decision to make here. Goodbye Amy Rose, I'll see you in Hell!"
Click.
All he needed to do was pull the trigger, and she would be dead.
All Sonic needed to do was open his eyes, look at the both of them, and both of them would be dead.
The beast was awakened. His eyes were red, golden-rimmed with colors like the sun that was trying so hard to comfort the forest in its destruction, his tail flickered and swished and he grinned madly, seeing the doctor ready to shoot his love, his beautiful wench, his Amy Rose, and he thought he had another plan of action than to murder him with the slice of his knives. Another way to get the man to stop, another way to save his ugly, his pink-quilled bitch, his lovely, his sacrosanct beauty, his Amy.
"Amy…" he growled, his teeth shining through the smoke and darkness. "AmyRose!"
He placed his long, machete claws inside his chest, ripping through the scales and the dense armor, ripping through his veins and his arteries, ripping through the chambers, and he ripped open his heart, his golden heart that could shine through the smoke and the darkness with an aureate glow, that shined so brightly to Amy's eyes and to the egg-shaped man, and she could see it it was as smooth as the dragonfly's heart she was holding, as smooth as velvet, and while black blood dripped from it, creating a pool for the grass that was dying away from the small embers from the fire, he screamed as much as he could with his gathered breath, "AmyRose!Dotherightthing!"
The heart fell from his grasp, the golden metallic, the smooth velvet, the black blooded and the still beating heart fell to the earth, and it chimed with the song that Amy last sung to it, the song about the Goddess splitting the planet in two halves, one with order, one with chaos, and in that instant second, she could see how ugly his death was. His chest was still open, his chambers were still bleeding copious amounts of the black blood, and his scales and knived hands were gone, and he was back to the kind, lovable Sonic, as he laid there, dead and bloody and heartless.
Silence.
He didn't kill either of them. He killed himself, for his love.
Sacrifice. Her father talked about it once. She thought this kind of thing would never apply to her. A drastic situation that most children would never understand. But it was happening now, and she knew exactly what Sonic said to her. Todotherightthing.To ease the suffering of both of them. To quench their thirst for comfort, to bandage the wounds and pain.
More silence. The gun was still pressed to her neck. She still shivered. She still swallowed the draft of her words. But now she knew what to do.
"Here, Eggman." And in the palm of his hand, the one that wasn't holding the gun near her neck, he was now holding the dragonfly's heart. The one he took a while ago, the one that was originally his.
"Eat it. You're the one who needs it more than me. I can tell you're really not a bad man inside. You just need your heart again. Eat it, and I swear everything will be alright. Just eat it. My husband is dead anyways, and I can't give it to a dead man."
He backed the gun away, and she no longer felt the cold metal. He was amazed at the sudden few seconds that happened right before his eyes. Even his black heart could feel it.
He glanced at the heart for a few moments, then back at the pink hedgehog, and he held the heart in both of his hands, and he ate it.
The heart oozed a golden juice as his teeth bit down it, ripping the red skin and the arteries and the veins and the chambers, and the doctor felt a sudden renewal, a sudden rebirth. A phoenix that was arising from the ashes in a burst of scarlet and golden flames. As he continued to devour it, he felt the old him wrap around him, knowing that the gun he was holding and the intellect he had and the pride he had for himself were not the answers, and they slowly dissolved away, much like the fruit slowly dissolved into his mouth. His heart peeled away the black skin, the black dirt and coal and dust that gathered there for many years, and soon, the golden veil inside his heart began to shine in a small sliver, and then to a glow that was as blinding as the sun, as its rays stabbed through the smoky clouds and onto the three of them, and as soon as the doctor managed to process his rebirth, he stopped for a moment and gazed at the pink hedgehog who was kind enough to sacrifice the dragonfly's heart to save his life, and he got down on his knees, and sobbed.
"I'm sorry for everything! I'm sorry for nearly killing you, Amy Rose! I'm sorry for trying to be a god, Forest Goddess! I'm sorry for killing all of these soldiers and I'm sorry for wanting to destroy all of these civilizations…I promise to be good, really! I promise to try to make everything right and good again and rebuild the forest and make up for all the lives that were lost in this forest! I'm sorry! I really am! I'm very, very sorry!"
Amy held his head as he continued to sob, wishing he could go to every single soldier that was charred and battered and bloodied in the battlefield and wish them for a safe trip to the afterlife. He could feel kindness and goodness in his heart again, and he could feel it ringing and beating in every inch of his soul. It sang the last song that it heard, from Sonic's song, from Amy's song, and she could hear it belting out the tune about the two halves of the planet, the halves of order and chaos.
When Amy turned back to Sonic, the bleeding black carcass where his golden heart lied, she could see a green haired woman with red markings on her back, with her eyebrows the green blades of grass on the earth and the moss colored tears she spread when she cried over him. She thought she would never see this deity ever in her life, and many of them only said she was only a myth, and that she never really existed to protect the forest. And she thought she believed it. After all, where was she when the man decided to destroy the forest with his swamp dragon? She knew some said the Forest Goddess was cruel, but she didn't really seem to be, as she touched Sonic's body, her tears flowing down the still warm fur that was drifting away as his heart seemed to take him to Hell.
She turned, then touched Amy with her long arms like tree branches and said, "So it was you. You were the one who saved this forest."
The only thing she could do was nod. She was tired, and very distraught over Sonic's death, the tears in her eyes beginning to form. She could barely think, could barely make sense out of the words that fell from people's mouths.
"You were the one who finally brought order to the forest, and made this whole battle between the human and me very interesting. While I can't promise for order to be always in the forest, you've done me, and a lot of people, and even the warring kingdoms, a huge favor, and we cannot thank you enough. You've brought a very satisfying battle, a very satisfying conclusion, and I think I'll make it up for you in this journey by granting you a wish. And you don't have to tell me what you wish for, weary one. I know exactly what it is that you want, and that's for your husband to no longer be cruel and for him to be alive, correct?"
All she heard was "husband, no longer be cruel" and "alive", the tears streaming down her face, and she nodded, her eyes feeling like they were ready to drop to the floor.
"Of course that's what you want. And I will make it so."
She puckered her green lips, wet with dew from the morning mist before the fire arose, and she kissed the blue hedgehog. Her tears from her moss-colored eyes dropped to his body, and they slowly patched him, allowing his golden heart to return to his blood-soaked body as it inched across the ground like a worm, and the blood soon returned to his body as it sewed into his body like a little girl's doll in those very quick and agonizing seconds as Amy watched him recover. Her eyes couldn't stray away from him as his chest rose, and he breathed slowly but steadily, and she saw that there were no longer any scales on his body or a demonic tail or fangs or machete claws, but it was him, the king Prince Sonic, the prince that was him before his heart was taken away, and Amy was too happy to thank the Forest Goddess, the tears in her eyes beginning to swarm again from so much joy and happiness, as she leaned closer to him, feeling his golden heart beat sing the song she sang to him what seemed to be such a long time ago, and he smiled, looked into her eyes, and said, "Hello, beautiful."
She laughed, and hugged him, the blue hedgehog giving her a strong kiss on the lips as the Forest Goddess made the fires die down, slowly dissolving into the earth, and the smoke whittled away to small gray clouds, and the sun could poke its head again, its long tendrils of golden light shining on Sonic and Amy as they held hands tenderly, their fingers locking into each other, and they hugged as the light bathed them. The dragonflies flit back to them, and the sun glittered on them as they surrounded the lovers, their magic singing out in a little sing-song voice before they walked hand in hand…
And you will forever know of
A dragonfly's heart
AN:Thisstoryisactuallytechnicallynotoveryet.VerysoonIwillwritetheepilogue,andknowinghowquickthesechapterswillcomeoutnowI'msureIcouldprobablygetthisasdoneastomorrow.