A Second Wind
Disclaimer: this is a fan story, with its own canon. Taking place 20 years after Forces. All official characters belong to Sega. Apologies for spelling and grammar errors, if any are there, I did my best to proof read. Warning long chapters.
It was dark.
It was cold. The snow that was falling from the chilly winter night sky made have been falling gently but to her it might have been a heavy hail. The icy winter winds nipped at her face, making warm stinging tears come to her eyes. But none of the pain the harsh environment caused her, could outgrow the pain in her heart. She started to run a little faster and held the brown bundle of blankets in her arms a little closer.
The shouts of people, no hunters, came from behind her. She knew they weren't going to give up, no matter how far she ran; he wouldn't stop. She knew why they wanted her; it was the same reason they wanted the others. It was all the same. But she had something even more precious than herself, and she wasn't going to let them find it.
She jumped down a snowy cliff and landed into an icy snow drift that made her body sting with cold. She crawled out of the snow and quickly made her way to a small creek, that by some miracle was still flowing despite the cold. She knelt by the river's edge and pulled a small basket from under her cloche. She placed the small brown bundle and a small cylinder capsule on a string into the basket, while whispering the words.
"I'm sorry."
The basket was then placed into the river and was carried away. A great sorrow erupted from deep inside of her heart. Warm tears quickly flooded her eyes, and overflowed onto her cheeks, as she watched the basket flout down the river. She had only felt this pain once before, 10 months ago when another great loss struck her. But her sorrow could only last a few moments, as the voices of the hunters came close enough to be heard. Now, Fear gripped her spine, as well.
She jumped to her feet and ran through the river. Her tears of fear and sorrow froze on her face as she ran. But she wasn't blind. When one of them jumped out in front of her, she threw herself to the ground sliding into his legs and flipped him over her. When he tried to get up, a mighty hammer came crashing down on to his head, knocking him out.
She stood over his unconscious body, holding her hammer, "That was for Vector and Charmy," she said, her voice filled with confidence and pain.
The others came from behind her, but this time she didn't run. She tightened her grip on the long handle of her hammer, twisted her hips and flung her hammer at them. They split, but only two of them managed to escape the flying hammer, the last one was hit in the chest and crashed into the snow. The other two pulled swords and lunged at her.
She effortlessly slipped in between the swings of the metal blades. Once she put enough distance between them and her, she dashed toward one of the trees. She grabbed the thin trunk and kicked her legs around it and into one of her pursuer's heads.
The other pursuer tried to use the golden sword in his hand, but it was clear that he was scared and inexperienced. He lunged poorly, but she used her hand to whip the sword out of his hands all though it caused warm blood to soak through her white glove; turning it red. Now, that he was disarmed, it was her turn. She ran toward him her fist raised ready to destroy the scum who joined the monster who killed her friends, no her family. Jab, block, punch, cross; he fell to the ground.
She stood over him, burning pain and fiery rage in her eyes. Ready to end him, but then the very hammer she had used to protect others for so many years, struck her in the stomach. She fell to the ground. Her torso ached, not just from the blow but from the pain the of now ruptured stitches. Warm blood leaked from the stitches, through her dress and onto the snow.
The two of them now stood over her, one, a Jackal, was smiling with her hammer over his shoulder and the other, a rabbit that was holding his left arm. She couldn't even look at them. She was sure this was the end.
"Well, well looks like we found one, a genuine leaguer," said the Rabbit. Although he tried to hide it, there was a quiver of fear in his voice.
"I-I Don't know what you're talking about," she said coldly, but there was a small shudder of pain in in her voice as she was clutching her now bleeding stomach.
"Oh, don't be so modest! Now which one are you? Clearly not the Thief or the Goddess, no wings or magic." The one with her hammer boomed as he reached for her hood.
She tried to move away but his rough hand grabbed the back of her brown hood, and yanked it down, revealing her soft pink quills, pulled back in to a high pony tail, instead of her usual bob. She glared at them with hatred burning in her deep, green, almost turquois, eyes. It was clear who she was.
"Well, it looks like we got the Heart, or do we call you by your true name? Miss Amy Rose?" said the Jackal in a mocking tone. "oh, wait I'm sorry I mean Mrs. Amy Rose Hedgehog. Or can we even call you that now that So-"
"DON'T SAY THAT NAME! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO SAY THAT NAME!" Amy shouted, as a new crop of warm tear came to sting her eyes. She tried to lunge at them but the pain of the ripped stitches caused her to double over again. "Y-you don't deserve t-to s-say that name."
"HAHA! This is the mighty, Amy Rose?" the Jackal laughed.
She sighed "What do you want?" Amy said quietly.
"What?" said the rabbit.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT? You didn't just follow me in to the woods, for no reason and if you wanted me dead then you have already killed me," said Amy.
"Oh, nothing much, it's just that his majesty wants to see you." Said the Jackal.
"Oh, he wants to see me? AFTER ALL HE HAS DONE TO ME! HE THINKS HE CAN JUST SEE ME?! HE'S TAKEN MY HOME, MY FAMILY, MY LOVE! EVERYTHING! Everything." Said Amy. "If he wants to see me then you have to kill me first. The only ways he is going to see me is as a corpse, or as his killer."
"Wow, the legends always said you have a temper," said the Rabbit, "Now, don't makes this difficult."
"I'M NOT GOING AND TH-" Amy shouted, but she would never finish that sentence, the hammer was swung, hitting her head, and sending her now unconscious body crashing onto the snow.
"What are you two doing?" said, a brown cat that walked up from behind them, "His majesty wanted her alive and unharmed!"
"Whoops," said the Jackal.
"Hey, it's not like she was going to come willingly," said the Rabbit.
"It doesn't matter! We have orders. Come on let's hope that we can keep at least one of those conditions," said the Cat.
The three of them lifted Amy off of the ground and carried her away. Only leaving the blood and tear-soaked snow behind. After that night, Amy Rose was never seen again, dead or alive. Another hero was now gone, but not all hope was lost.
Through forest and field, the small basket flowed down the river. The rocking motion kept the cargo it carried quiet, so no one payed it much mind. Until it came to the Redwood forest Zone.
Two young wolves, one had dark chocolate brown fur that shone in the sun light, and large ruby red eyes, the other had golden fur and bright green eyes. They were down by the river bank to fish and harvest the cranberries that grew in the lake nearby.
The chocolate wolf waded through the river when the sound of an infant's cry rang through the woods. Her heart jumped to her throat, and ran toward the cries while shouting, "Tom come quick!"
She ran downstream, and saw the small brown basket going down the small rapids that lied a little further downstream. She ran toward the crying basket but when she was only a few feet away, one of the stronger rapids capsized the basket and the cries stopped, with a deafening, *splash*. Fear gripped her heart as she rushed to pick up the small bundle of now soaked blankets.
She pulled the bundle apart, revealing a newborn hedgehog, no more than two weeks old. He had soft blue quills and fur. A small group of stray quills, fell over his onto face and unlike the other quills their tips were frosted with the faintest hint of pale pink. He was still as stone, and she feared that she was now carrying a drowned baby. But she blew air into his sweet little face, and he began cough.
"Hello, little one," the chocolate wolf said.
The little hedgehog looked at the wolf, with large deep green almost turquois eyes, before bursting into scared and hungry tears. She cradled him close and began to rock and comfort him.
"shh, shh, its okay little one I'm here, I'm here." She whispered to him.
"Madi! What's going on!" called the golden wolf as he ran toward her from up stream.
"Tom! I found a baby!" she shouted to her husband while still trying to calm the little boy.
"You found a what?" he said with surprise. He came closer to his wife and she showed him the little blue newborn hedgehog. His bright green eyes widen at the little one, and he quickly took off his coat and handed it to his wife so she could wrap the little boy in it.
"How, did he get in the river? Hedgehogs don't usually live in the area," Tom asked with worry and bewilderment in his voice.
"I think he was abandoned; he was in a basket that was flouting down the river. No one does that to a baby unless they're trying to get rid of it." Madi said with sorrow, as she wrapped the newborn in her husband's coat.
Suddenly something fell out of the wet bundles in to the river. Tom quickly reaching into the river and fished out what fell. It was the small cylinder capsule.
"what is this?" Tom questioned.
Tom open the small capsule and pulled out a rolled piece of paper that had writing on both sides. He unrolled the paper and began to read.
"'To whomever finds this note and my son,
I can't tell you how grateful I am that you found my little boy. I would keep him, but our home has become unsafe for an infant. I hope that you can find a good home for him. Please don't hide this letter from him I want him to know that I didn't leave him by choice. I hope that you take good care of my baby, of my little Zephyr.
A.R.H'"
Tom flipped the letter over and began to read the other side.
"'To my son,
I'm sorry that I had to leave you like I did, and I hope that one day you are able to forgive me for this. Know that I love you, and that if things were different, I would have kept cradling you in my arms. Leaving you was one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and one of my greatest regrets will always be that I didn't got to see you grow up. One day when our home is safe again, I will come looking for you, and if I don't live to see that day, know that I will always be with you in spirit. I love you Zephyr.
A.R.H'"
"Zephyr?" Madi turned to the baby in her arms, "Is that your name? Zephyr?"
"A.R.H? Must be one of his parents' initials." Said Tom, still examining the letter. He looked up at his wife, "What are we going to do with him?"
"What are we going to do? Tom! We're going to take care of him. He doesn't have anyone. He needs us. We always wanted a child anyways." Said Madi.
"Madi, look at him he's a hedgehog, we're wolves. We won't know how to take care of him. Besides if we journey up river we might be able to find his real family." Said Tom.
"Did you even read the letter? It said that their home was too dangerous to raised a baby in. If it had been safe, he would still be with his mother, and not here with us. She sent him away to keep him safe, if we send him back it her work would have been for nothing." Said Madi.
Tom looked at his wife, he looked at the ruby eyes with the look of longing in them. He looked at the way she cradled the newborn. His heart began to melt, they have been trying for a child for years and were never successful. Maybe this was why, because this little hedgehog was supposed to be theirs.
He took a deep breath and said, "I guess he is kind of cute." He tickled the little one and for the first time the little Hedgehog smiled. But then the little one began to cry for food.