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21: Divide And Conquer

"Come on, Amy. Come away from the window and try some of my cookies." Cream twisted around on the couch to give Amy her best pleading look. Amy just sighed and remained standing by the window, unable to shake Dark Sonic's image from her mind. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back and it was frustrating her. She knew what they were waiting for. They were waiting for another mad moment. Looking at her as if she was a wild animal that would go berserk and attack them at any second.

She didn't blame them though. Frustratingly searching through her memories, she couldn't find any recollection of the past few days and what had happened. The last clear memory that she had was talking to Eggman before being knocked out cold. That and a strange dark mist afterwards. A dream perhaps? The mist was so similar to Dark Sonic's though. What had he done to her?

Everyone jumped as the front door was suddenly knocked off its hinges. Shadow and Rouge burst into the room urgently as everyone stared at them with wide eyes.

"Shadow? Rouge?" Tails questioned. "What's going on?"

"You've all got to get out of here." Rouge explained straight away, slamming her hands down on the back of the couch. Everyone continued to stare at them in confusion.

"GUN are on their way over here to attack." Shadow explained a little more calmly, but with a hint of urgency still present in his tone.

"Oh no!" Cream cried out.

"What? Why?" Knuckles demanded angrily. "Did you do something?"

"The whole thing is complicated, but basically they're trying to exterminate every anthro on the planet as they believe that we're all just as powerful as Dark Sonic and that we want to take over the world." Rouge folded her arms and frowned. "They've turned into a bunch of scared little cry-babies because they can't capture Dark Sonic."

"What are we going to do?" Vanilla gasped. "Where will we go?"

"We'll have to hide out somewhere, we can't fight back; we'll be completely outnumbered." Tails said worriedly.

"Just let them try and kill me." Knuckles growled.

"Honey, you can barely walk, let alone fight men with weapons." Rouge responded sassily making Knuckles glare at her.

Amy shook her head and tuned them all out as she continued to stare out the window. This whole thing was stupid. Why would GUN go after all the anthros? Now they were making it that much harder to get Sonic back. There had to be a way to get him back.

"Amy?" She heard Tails call her name and she quickly turned around to face him.

"Yeah?"

"Did you hear the plan?" He asked before acknowledging her blank facial expression and explaining. "Rouge is going to fly off with Knuckles while Shadow will lead the rest of us to safety on the ground. We need to stick together."

Amy nodded, passively going along with the plan, her mind wandering back to Sonic and how they could possibly get him back. Tails said some other things to her while she nodded, pretending she was listening. Vanilla tried to comfort a scared Cream while Shadow issued the last of his orders to the group before they all turned to head out of the door.

Rouge picked Knuckles up and quickly flew off into the distance with him while Amy followed the others as Shadow lead them through the forest. While she tried to remember the past few days, Amy tripped a few times and glared at the back of Shadow's head when he let out an annoyed sigh. Tails shot her a questioning look, but she waved him off as she willed the memories to come flooding back into her brain. Maybe they could provide the answers. She'd have to talk to Tails soon if her memory didn't come back on its own.

"Amy, look out!" Tails yelled as Amy suddenly felt herself being pushed to the side, the sound of gunfire filling the air.

"Thanks." Amy gasped out as they both looked up to see GUN soldiers running at them from the distance, ducking behind trees and aiming their weapons at them, led by a human male with purple hair who Amy didn't recognise.

"Ah, Shadow and Rouge." The man sneered. "I had a feeling it was you two who gave us away."

"Why are you doing this?" Tails shouted as Amy held onto his hand tightly in fear.

"Because you rodents are too powerful for your own good." The man snapped, his eyes wide with the lust for their deaths.

"I suggest you run."

Everyone turned to Shadow at the sound of his voice as he began to glow red. They took the hint straight away and quickly got up. Tails began leading the way with Amy, Cream and Vanilla following. They heard the explosion behind them, but didn't dare look back and kept on running.

"What about Mr Shadow?" Cream asked as she clung to her mother's hand.

"He can take care of himself." Tails replied as the sound of gunfire echoed around the forest behind them. A bullet narrowly shot past Tails' ear, lodging itself into a tree. Tails gulped and tried to pick up his pace. Amy's heart thudded in her chest as she heard the sound of pursuit behind them and she panted as her lungs began to burn from so much running. She could hear Shadow shouting in the distance, clearly outnumbered and now that the GUN soldiers seemed to have scattered, it was becoming harder for him to wipe them all out.

They burst out of the trees and into a small clearing full of weeds and long uncut grass. The thorns from the weeds pierced through Amy's fur and skin as she ran, but she ignored the pain and focused on following Tails until his legs got tangled in some long roots and he fell to the floor.

"Tails!" Amy skidded to a stop and ran back for him. She screamed and halted in her tracks as a GUN solider had caught up and yanked Tails off the ground by one of his tails.

"Let him go!" Amy ordered as she summoned her hammer and pointed it at the soldier. She gasped and froze however when the solider pointed his gun at the young fox's head.

"I wouldn't try anything if I were you. I heard this boy is a genius. It would be such a waste if I blew his brains out, wouldn't it?" The soldier teased cruelly as Tails shook with fear.

Amy lowered her hammer slightly, panic in her green eyes as she stared at the gun, millimetres from Tails' head.

"Such a good girl." The solider patronised her as he placed his finger on the trigger.

"NO!" Tails thrashed about, pulling his arms in front of his head. He heard Amy scream as he felt himself being dropped to the floor. He managed to cushion his fall slightly with his hands before he looked up to see what had happened. Gasping in horror, he registered Dark Sonic hovering above him, holding the solider by the collar of his uniform who began flailing about wildly, begging for help.

"You picked the wrong people to mess with." Dark Sonic hissed with a rage filled expression. The soldier began sweating and panting in fear as he looked away from the glowing white eyes.

"I-I'm sorry. J-Just p-please. Let me g-go." He begged.

Dark Sonic bared his teeth, leaning closer to the soldier. "I don't think so." Moving his hands up, Dark Sonic jolted his wrists, easily snapped the soldier's neck as if it were nothing more than a thin tooth pick. Amy and Tails screamed as the body hit the floor and Dark Sonic turned to face them. He stared at them for a few moments before he ear twitched at the sound of gunfire. Bullets began bouncing off his body as the GUN soldiers drew closer, some of them screaming as Shadow managed to attack them.

Amy and Tails remained frozen in place, not daring to move an inch in case of provoking Dark Sonic's attack. Dark Sonic turned his attention away from them and towards the GUN soldiers running up to them who had escaped the forest and were now in the meadow with them.

Shaking, Amy moved her eyes down to the body that was lying limp on the ground in an unnatural heap. The neck twisted at an odd angle, the eyes still wide open, filled with fear even in death at the sight before him the moment he died. Sonic had done that. No. Not Sonic. The monster that was in possession of him.

Her head whipped around to stare at Tails; his blue eyes were wide before narrowing. She could practically see something clicking into place in that large, smart brain of his.

"He saved us." Tails mumbled to himself. "He saved us before and he's done it again."

"Tails?" Amy questioned before screaming as a group of GUN soldiers began shooting at them.

"Let's get out of here!" Tails yelled over the loud gunfire, grabbing hold of her arm to pull her away.

They zigzagged through the meadow, avoiding the bullets being shot at them, finally managing to catch up to Cream and Vanilla. Some soldiers screamed behind them as Dark Sonic got hold of them. Amy didn't dare turn around, afraid of what he could be doing to them and wondered if they were next. Perhaps he was merely getting the soldiers out of the way first so he could spend extra time torturing them. They couldn't outrun Sonic when he was normal so they had no hope of outrunning him when he had his dark powers.

Amy continued tripping over roots and weeds, the thick green forest becoming visible again in the distance. Hopefully they could lose them in there. That hope was short lived though, as another group of GUN soldiers peered around from behind the trees, pointing their weapons at the four of them. They immediately halted in their tracks just as the man with purple hair stepped out from the side, in front of them.

"Enough games." He glared at them with eyes that seemed to be make out of stone.

Dark Sonic dropped down in front of them, landing in a crouched position, experiencing no fatigue at all despite battling a large army of GUN soldiers. He slowly rose up, clenching his fists tightly, glaring at the soldiers in front of him.

"Thank you for coming to me Sonic. That saves me so much trouble."

"So you're the one who's been causing all this chaos?" Dark Sonic spoke, the manic edge becoming more apparent in his voice. "It looks like I'll have to do something about you."

That voice. The way he spoke. Amy knew she had heard it before this morning. She placed a hand on the side of her head as it began pounding.

"Youngest first shall we?" The Lieutenant pulled out his gun, abruptly aiming it at Cream and firing.

Tails and Amy screamed and watched in horror as Vanilla dived in the way, twisting her body and wrapping herself around her daughter, acting as a living shield. Dark Sonic turned his head around too, his white eyes also widening as the force of the shot pushed Vanilla forward causing her to fall the floor on top of Cream. Blood began oozing out of her back, staining her dress and pouring onto the weed covered ground, dripping off leaves and grass blades.

"Vanilla!" Amy screamed, placing her hands over her mouth in terror. Cream wailed underneath her mother and Dark Sonic's head snapped back around towards the Lieutenant who was smirking as he watched the scene in front of him.

"You're just making him worse!" Tails cried out to the Lieutenant who regarded Tails with confusion. Amy took off, running towards a struggling Cream who was slowly being covered in her mother's blood, and a limp Vanilla who was sprawled out protectively over Cream, even unconsciously.

She stopped in her tracks when a searing pain travelled through her body, her heart began racing and she began convulsing as she fell to the floor.

"Stop it!" She heard Tails yell over the sudden loud buzzing sound in her ears.

Pain shot all around her body as it felt like every nerve in her body was twitching rapidly and painfully. She let out a bloodcurdling scream of agony before another soldier began screaming with her. The world around her blurred as her head spun. Images formed before her eyes. Voices whispered in her ear. Finally, the dizziness and pain became too much and her eyes drifted closed.

.

"Are you here to kill me?" Amy's voice shook as she asked the question to the dark hedgehog standing before her.

Dark Sonic smirked at her and folded his arms over his chest, tilting his head to one side. "Why would I save someone only to kill them afterwards?"

Amy's eyes widened as she gripped the covers of her bed beneath her fingers, her whole body going tense at his words. He looked down at her, his smile widened as she connected the dots in her brain. He took a step towards her and Amy instinctively leaned away as her heart pounded harder than her hammer in fear. She tried to stop herself from shaking in attempt to not look weak in front of him.

"I'm so sorry that I've done this to you Sonic." Amy whimpered as she tried to force back the tears. "I never meant for the mission to go that far." She sniffed, wiping the tears that were threatening to spill over with her gloved fingers.

Dark Sonic took another step towards her, like a predator slowly approaching its prey. Only Amy didn't notice as her head drooped in sorrow. If he did decide to kill her, she wouldn't care. She created this mess. It was only fair that Sonic took her out of the picture so she could never cause him any trouble again. The guilt weighed heavily on her chest, slowly compressing her to a pile of mush. How could she have been so thoughtless? So selfish?

"Ssssh," He comforted, taking another step forward, "It's not your fault. You've actually done me a favour."

Amy's teeth snapped together in anger and began speaking through clenched teeth. "How is this a favour? I've helped Eggman turn you into an evil creature."

"Evil? But I thought I was your hero?" His voice raised in pitch slightly, manically, like he was holding something back. He took another step forward.

"You are, Sonic." Amy sighed as she ran a hand through her quills and stared at the night sky outside the window. "You always will be…but not like this."

He took another step forward. "But why? I'm so much more powerful now. More powerful than Shadow who you seem to have grown so attached to." He growled out the last part and Amy's eyes widened slightly, not daring to look at him. Was he…? Surely not?

"I haven't grown attached to Shadow." Amy explained, watching the stars twinkle. "We were just…"

She jumped as she felt a hand on her cheek and looked up, gasping at the sight of his glowing eyes so close to hers and before she could react, his lips were pressed gently against hers.

.

Amy took in a huge gasp of air as she awoke in a cold sweat. She panted heavily, trying to slow down the rapid, panicked beating of her heart. Her brain felt like it was on fire as the truth from her memories burned her from the inside.

Leaping out of bed, Amy realise she was in an unfamiliar room. A base? The walls were made of bland looking metal, the polished surface reflected her slightly crazed looking appearance as her eyes darted wildly around the room. There was a small cot that she had been asleep on, some paper work in the corner with Tails' handwriting scrawled all over it. A simple square room, with a metal door that Amy feared what could be beyond. The last thing she remembered was passing out in the meadow after trying to help Vanilla. Vanilla! Amy staggered at the thought. Was she…alive? Cream's screaming and crying echoed in her brain; the sight of her sister figure in so much pain.

Swallowing her fears, Amy tip-toed towards the door and pulled the handle. It was unlocked, so she wasn't imprisoned so that was a relief. She poked her head out to see a long metal corridor, similar ones to Eggman's previous base. It was Eggman's previous base. Amy gasped. What was she doing here?

A few feet away, some double doors were open and she shrunk back slightly when Shadow walked passed inside the room. She could hear Shadow, Rouge and Tails talking.

"Will she be ok?" Rouge asked.

"I think so." Tails sighed, sounding incredibly tired. "The bullet didn't hit any vital organ, but she'll still need time to recover."

"What about Amy?"

"She was hit with a strong taser, so she might be a little out of it for a while."

"How long do you think we'll be safe in here?"

"Hard to say." Shadow answered.

Amy suddenly gasped once she realised what she was doing. She stepped back into the room and stared at her reflection in the metal walls before glaring at herself.

"Was that what you wanted to hear, huh?" She hissed at her reflection before turning around and running towards the stationary Tails had left in the room. Most of it was filled with notes on her condition and she quickly threw those behind her until she found a blank piece of paper. She quickly grabbed hold of a pen, bit the lid off, holding it between her teeth as she wrote her letter. Once she finished, she tossed the pen to the floor and left the letter on her bed for them to find.

She had to do this. She had to leave. Then they'd no longer be in danger. If only Doctor Wise could've finished the job. She understood his motives now.

"Why did you have to do this to me?" She whispered to her reflection, her voice cracking with sadness.

Creeping out of her room, she shot one last glance back in the direction of their voices. Satisfied that they all seemed to be ok and that Vanilla was alive, a tear trickled down her face before she turned and ran down the corridor to some place she could never bother anyone again.

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