A/N: Review please. ^_^

Chapter 36

Suddenly Scourge released Nightshade's tail as he staggered backwards vigorously shaking his head. He grunted had howled as his mind and body fought to keep themselves in his control. Guntiver halted in his tracks as he was suddenly confused at what he saw. Not only had his fighting partner released Nightshade, but he now looked as though he was struggling with some invisible attacker. He attempted to speak to him, but suddenly got a stabbing pain in his head as though something would not allow his voice to enter Scourge's mind. Guntiver squinted through one eye and what he saw suddenly made him open both eyes. Scourge was turning back into his human form. The Mystic wolf yelled out as his paws shrunk and his muzzle retreated into his face. In a few struggling moments he was finally back to his two leg appearance.

'You are quite the fighter.' Nightshade said with a grin in her tone as she continued to glare at the struggling Lycan before her. 'But even changing back to your human form will not loosen my grip on your mind. It's now my play thing.'

"Get out of my head!" Scourge yelled as she stumbled backwards with his hands clenching his head. Guntiver approached the green hedgehog sniffing the air as if looking for the invisible attacker, but he could sense no physical enemy, only that something terrible was attacking the Lycan from within. Scourge suddenly lashed out shoving Guntiver away. "AHGH!" He snarled in pain. He still fought for a hold on his own body as he turned toward Guntiver.

'Don't fight it,' Nightshade said as she glared at him. 'You'll only continue to feel this pain otherwise.' Her voice had a triumphant tone as his body took a step towards Guntiver. 'Besides, what does it matter to you? Were you not going to kill him anyway?'

He snarled as he took a few more steps toward the Elemental forcing the werewolf to take a step backward. "No!" He said he clenched his fist and his body shook with the fight that raged within him. "My enemy's death comes at my choosing, I'll never be controlled again!"

'Big words, but they are hollow. You're resistance wanes.' She said as her claws dug into the earth with concentration.

"ARH!" He yelled as he tightened his grip on his head. He felt his foot take a step forward again. He growled as fought his own body, though every fiber and cell told him to move. His arm trembled as it slowly and forcefully came from his head and suddenly his claws shot from atop his fingertips.

Guntiver took another step backwards as he realized that Scourge was aiming those claws at him. He couldn't understand it, what was happening to Scourge? Had Scourge decided that his vendetta against him was more important than the battle with the she Lycan? Had he truly forsaken everything for such a selfish thing? 'No, it can't be.' Guntiver shook his head. Scourge was as low as they come, but even he wouldn't risk ending a blood feud only to die at the paws of an even stronger new rival. Guntiver took a few more steps back and then as he bowed his head, he began to transform. In but a moment, he too had returned to his human form. The battered oaken colored wolf looked up at the green hedgehog. "Scourge, I won't fight you. Not while we are still bound as allies against this she wolf." He said eyeing their common enemy for a moment.

"You, arh, fool!" Scourge growled as he glared at the wolf before him. "Get away!" He snarled. "I'm losing, arh! Control!" He took a few more haggard steps forward.

Guntiver froze as he heard an icy voice in his head. It was that she wolf again. 'Won't this be fun?' She swung her tail from side to side. 'Just think what he did to you when he was focused and fighting on his own terms,' She gave that a moment to sink in. 'Now imagine what he's going to do to you when he's out of control.'

"No!" Guntiver growled as he finally grasped the full gravity of the situation. He looked to his temporary ally, who was still coming towards him with clawed hands. "Scourge, don't do this." He growled as he saw the hedgehog struggling. "You've never let anyone make you do something since you left the Legion, don't start now."

"Don't you think I'm trying?" The Lycan snapped as he glared at his target. He had to fight the imposing mind enslavement as well as his own desires to see Guntiver six feet under, which only made this more difficult. He was fighting a war on two fronts, and he couldn't keep both fights at bay forever. Scourge looked up at the oaken wolf as his body forced him to move forward again. "Move your tail!" He snarled.

Guntiver's eyes were unwavering. "I won't fight you Scourge, not under these terms." He refuse to fight even a age old enemy, if this enemy did not wish to fight.

'There's no need for your pity half breed.' The she Lycan's voice echoed in Guntiver's mind. 'This Lycan will destroy you either way, it doesn't matter if you stand there or fight with the strength of the ancients. You will die at his paws tonight.'

Suddenly Scourge lunged forward ramming Guntiver with his shoulder and sent the werewolf flying hard into the ground several yards away. Despite the pain racking in his now broken ribs, Guntiver got his feet. "I told you I won't fight you." He said as he held his left side.

Amy clenched her fist tightly in fear. "How can this be happening?!" She couldn't imagine seeing another one of her friends become another causality. She felt the fear inside herself swirl with anger. She knew she was only a human girl, but how could she sit by and do nothing? She began to get to her feet, when suddenly she felt a hand grasping her wrist. "Wait," Amy turned to see that Aurora was gripping her with what little strength she had in her hand.

"Aurora," Amy quickly returned to her knees at the side of the severely injured echidna. "You're going to be alright." Amy's nurturing nature took over immediately. "How do you feel? Are you lightheaded? I bandaged up your shoulder as best I could to stop the bleeding."

Aurora turned slightly to look at her shoulder and saw a messy covering of blood stained cloth wrapped around her wound, she realized that Amy had used the torn off sleeve of her kimono to bind her injury. She turned back to the pink hedgehog. "Y-You helped me?" She had glossed eyes. "Even after-"

Amy placed a hand on top of Aurora's to silence her. "Of course I helped you. You're my friend remember." She gave the Elemental a reassuring smile. "Look, I have to go for a minute, but I'll be back."

"No wait," Aurora gripped her friend's wrist once more. "Please, you can't interfere..."

"I have too." Amy shook her head. "I can't stand by and do nothing."

"Please, listen." Amy felt her heart crack at the begging tone of her voice. She turned to see a matching expression in the echidna's eyes. "Please, don't. If you stop Scourge now he'll never be able to live with himself."

"What?" Amy was utterly confused by her friends request.

"I know it's hard for you to understand, but his pride is all he has left." Her face alone told the story of her love for the green hedgehog.

"Aurora," Amy touched her friend's hands. "What about you?" She felt a pang of sorrow. "Doesn't he still have you?"

Aurora had a pain ridden smile on her lips. "He will always have me." Her entire past with the green hedgehog seem to be running across her eyes, her breath and her speech crackled with grunting pain. She looked at her beloved Lycan. "Scourge is blind to me, but even so...I can't bring myself to go against him...I love him."

Amy let out a breath as she felt her words. "Aurora, I can't..." She felt Aurora's grip loosening on her wrist.

The echidna looked up at her. "What would you do for him?" She suddenly asked.

"What?" Amy blinked.

"The one you love. I know how much you love him. I saw it in your eyes, that day at the park. You'd do anything for him wouldn't you?" Her voice almost seemed panicky. "Wouldn't you?!" She asked louder.

"Yes..." Amy heard the word slip from her lips as she drooped slightly, her eyes closing a bit as she realized now just what Aurora was feeling. Amy knew deep within her heart, that she loved Shadow. This was something she'd known for a long time, but the extent, the depth, of this feeling was not something she'd truly grasped until this moment. She understood now, the relationship between Aurora and Scourge. She understood, because she knew that she might one day hold the same relationship with Shadow. She knew that even if Shadow committed the same horrible acts as Scourge that she would love him still.

"Please, as my friend, do this last thing for me." Aurora eyes were glossed with pleading. "Just wait..."

Amy sighed and finally her body sunk fully to the ground. Her will to interfere had been dampened. "Alright. I'll wait...just for a little while." She understood her friend, and she even sympathized with her, but Amy also knew that if Shadow and Scourge's places were exchanged, that she would still do everything she could to save her friends, even from Shadow. She turned her eyes back to the battle to see that Scourge was almost upon Guntiver, who now bore the bruises and scratches of a wolf being beaten.

The green hedgehog's anger was unmistakable. Scourge's rage was seething now, he'd been pushed so far, and his pride was being broken. He had only his words now, those empty promises of not allowing himself to injure Guntiver unless he so desired, and yet he knew not why he ever fought to destroy this annoying wolf. He looked up glaring at Guntiver, this creature, who was so gentle and so honorable, even toward someone like him, how could he ever have once been Gun, the most feared of all the Elementals of the Golden Age, the conqueror of war, the beast of battle, a force with which even the Lycan queen would not wish to face alone. Scourge had always wanted to prove that he could be Gun's equal, no not equal, he would be Gun's better! Scourge had known Guntiver all his life, but he had known him as Gun and only as an idol of what true strength was, but this merciful tender hearted wolf before him was not the wolf he had once known. No, the wolf that Scourge so longed to defeat had died many moons before he was ready to defeat him. He truly was no longer Gun. Finally he snapped back into the fray. "Fight me!" Scourge growled. His eyes boring into Guntiver like hot coals. "Either fight me or get out! Your death is worthless to me this way!" Suddenly he allowed his paw to lunge out and slash across the oaken werewolf's shoulder. "Fight back!" He roared.

"No." Guntiver remained strong in his resolve, now kneeling down on one knee and clenching his bleeding wound. He'd never really known this Lycan as anyone but a challenger and an enemy that had crossed his path many times since his departure from the Legion. He'd known of him in the Legion, but only as a blood thirsty recruit who'd do anything to prove himself, such a title was common among new recruits, but Scourge had gone beyond those ambitions more so than Guntiver would ever know or understand. Even with all this to his knowledge, the werewolf could not bring himself to fight Scourge like this. It went against everything he believe to be honorable and right in battle. "I won't fight you this way, it's wrong." He was on both knees and his free hand trying to regain his strength to stand.

Scourge gave him a glare, as his pride began to choke him. "Damn you..." His clawed paw raised against his will and came down with all the strength of a Mystic Lycan!

"RAH!" A yelp and growl sprung from behind the two. Guntiver opened one eye as he looked up and saw that Scourge's claws were only a few millimeters from his skull. The two locked eyes for a moment before Scourge retracted his claws and the two turned to see Nightshade laying on her side and laying across her was Lavin. The old Lycan had tackled her in the nick of time, breaking her contraction as well as her trance over Scourge.

Lavin lifted shakily up on his one good arm as he looked down at the Lycan he'd attacked. He'd used nearly all his strength to knock her off her paws. He took in ragged breaths as he saw her open her eyes. He stared at her with an expression of pure wide eyed disbelief. "It can't be..." He was so taken aback with surprise that he didn't even prepare for her rage.

She easily jumped to her paws tossing him from her body. She was snarling with fury. 'You dare interfere!?' Her voice yowled in Lavin's mind. She was getting even angrier when she quickly looked over her shoulder and saw that Scourge was free of her spell and standing with his arms folded while he watched and waited for Guntiver to get to his feet. She growled. 'I'll deal with you later.' She snapped as she turned back around. 'I guess I have no choice. I've seen his mind and his powers, he'll be trouble for me. So I'll have to end him quickly.' Her body seem to shake a bit as she summoned a power from deep within, and her eyes began to glow brightly. 'I've wanted to try this attack for many moons now.'

"Wait stop!" Lavin yelled as he realized what she was about to do. It was too late, purple lighting struck up from the ground before her. It was as if an invincible force of unbelievable power had immerged, visible only with crackling purple lighting that radiated from its shear strength. Her eyes, which the unstoppable force seem to obey, landed on Scourge. 'Die.'

"Look out!" Lavin yelled as he saw the path of breaking earth and purple lightening heading straight for Scourge. The warning was too late, even Scourge could not get out of the way in time. Bright red blood spattered across his face and his scarred chest, but it was not his own.

"No..." Amy couldn't breathe as she shook her head.

Aurora stood in front of Scourge with arms stretched out in a protective stance. Before her was a chunk of stone that had been meant to stop the energy blast, but Nigthshade's attack had cut through the twelve inch layer of stone as if it were nothing. A giant gaping hole, matching the cut in the stone, now shown through Aurora's chest as the stone slab fell to the ground. Her eyes were glossed with tears that were beginning to streak down her cheeks. "Y-You can't, ki-ll him." Her words were trembling and distorted with coughs of blood. "H-e's the B-est there ev-re was." Her body seem to show once last spasm as if trying to remain standing, but she fell to her side and blood began to pool around her body. Scourge looked at Aurora as she lay there. There was no mistaking it. She was dead.

"NO!" Amy's emotions finally burst through the dam of shock as she got to her feet and began to run.

"Wait!" Vector, who had turned back to his human form, was grabbing her arm.

"NO!" Amy yelled again as she suddenly turned around and smacked Vector across the face. He released her arm out of surprise, and she ran onto the field and came to a skidding halt on her hands and knees. She moved through the mud until she was by Aurora's side. "Aurora?!" She shook her head. "Aurora!" Her teeth were clenched as she stared at her friends face, she'd died, but her eyes were still open, now lifeless blue orbs. "You didn't deserve to die." Amy whimpered as hot tears of regret and sadness poured down her burning cheeks. She reached out and softly closed the echidna's eyes, unable to stand the look of death reflecting within them.

"Scourge..." Guntiver, who was now standing beside the green hedgehog, looked to him as if wanting to give him a moment with his fallen comrade.

"Let's get back to the fight." Scourge said with what almost seemed like a patient tone. "Now that I'm free of her control, we should be able to finish her easily."

"What is wrong with you!?" Scourge realized that the pink hedgehog kneeling over Aurora's body was yelling at him. "Don't you even care that Aurora's dead!?"

"Should I?" He said staring at her with half closed eyes, almost as if bored by her question. "She served her purpose. She promised to serve by my side until her death. She has kept her vow."

"How could you?!" Amy's eyes were narrowed with anger. "How could make her life seem so meaningless!?" She got to her feet, her legs and hands covered in mud. "All this time she's been by your side, protecting you, doing whatever you asked, no matter how cruel, and you act like it was nothing!" She suddenly ran at him as if about to attack him herself when Guntiver wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from doing so. Despite his grasp, Amy continued to struggle in an attempt to strike the Lycan. "She loved you!" She screamed with tears still in her eyes and voice. "She died for you! She died for you!" She yelled louder as if repeating the words would somehow force their meaning into the dark and withered heart of the Mystic.

"Your words are foreign to me Wolf's Maiden." Scourge looked at her. "Our relationship was not what you describe, it was that of master and servant nothing more. Aurora was a useful tool that no longer exists."

Amy's eyes trembled as she realized her words were falling on deaf ears. Her body went limp in Guntiver's arms as she sunk down to her knees once more in defeat. "Why...Why did someone like Aurora have to die for someone like you...?"