Disclaimer
-----------------
Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose and all other related characters copyrighted by Sega.
Sarah Arella and all other related fan-characters copyrighted by Tylec Asroc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
-----------------
Stories are like weeds - they don't need much nourishment to start them off, but once they take root, they just keep growing and growing.
I guess my botanical experiment with Fallen Angel started back in 2002: I was working on a separate piece of fanfiction when I thought about how lonely Amy Rose must be, living all by herself, no parents, and only the occasional snippet of Sonic running through her life. She needed a friend. Flipping through my mental rolodex, I recalled a cameo was to occur in this story; a human girl, blonde and pretty, was going to be interrogated by a robot. Quick scream sequence, then she's out of the picture. "She," I decided, "will be Amy's friend."
I modified my story to include the new character, originally named Sarah McGregor. She and Amy hooked up in a refugee shelter after Station Square was destroyed. They were inseparable. That was about all I could tell you back then.
I was writing a flashback scene where Amy (very quickly, very vaguely) remembers how she first met her friend. All of a sudden, I thought, "You know, there's a story to be told here." A prequel, a back-story that would describe how the girls found each other. I opened a blank document on my computer and began writing the final moments of Sonic Adventure from Amy's eyes…
Fallen Angel pushed its way out of the soil. Things got out of control; I never imagined I'd write so much just for a prologue. But the story I posted on the Internet was just the good copy, carefully pruned and watered. Back in the garbage can was an assortment of earlier clippings.
This is a collection of rough drafts and edited scenes that never made it into the final version of Fallen Angel. You could say that this is the Bonus Features section of the DVD set. Some of it is a little off character (Sarah wasn't quite as shy at first); other stuff could have been squeezed in, but would have sent the plot off on a tangent. If you learn anything from these false starts, I hope it is that there are no "born writers". We all just have to let our ideas and our writing styles grow. (Netraptor, queen of Sonic fanfiction, has probably got a closet full of this kind of stuff.)
So, with without further ado, let's get reading!
FALLEN ANGEL:
DIRECTOR'S CUT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Collection of Scenes Written and Composed by Tylec Asroc
Books aren't written - they're rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn't quite done it.---Michael Crichton (Author of Jurassic Park)
The Seed is Planted
(Here it is; the unpublished scene that first sparked Fallen Angel. Amy and Sarah return home after witnessing a thief rob Sarah's Grandfather. Amy has also been pick-pocketed by the crook.)
The city was divided up into twenty major streets that ran parallel along the hillside and coast. Right now, Amy and Sarah were plodding down their home street.
"Mission Street," Amy muttered as they jumped off another tram. "What a dumb name. I wonder what kind of weirdo thought that up?"
She was hoping to get a giggle, even a tiny smile from her friend, but Sarah remained sullen and downcast. Amy sighed and reached for the red gem in her coat pocket. It didn't seem quite so special, now that the loss of her purse was clouding her mind.
They had stopped off at a police station to report the theft and ironically, those two officers from the tram had filled out the report. Ted had told her, as gently as possible, that they probably wouldn't get it back. That had really distraught the young girl. Amongst other things, Amy had left her diary in her purse. She felt very embarrassed that all her personal thoughts and secrets were now in the hands of some creepy rat.
Amy and Sarah walked soberly into their bland apartment building and up the clanking elevator to their room. Their dwelling was in no means luxurious, but the two roommates had the bare essentials: a small kitchenette, one bedroom (they took turns sleeping on the couch), a few chairs, bathroom and a tiny 12 inch TV, which cost a painful 10 dollars extra each month.
Sarah peeled off her raincoat and headed straight for the bedroom. Amy could no longer stand the silence.
"I'm…I'm…" Amy stammered, "I'm sure your grandpa's okay." Sarah paused by the entrance to the bedroom, listened. Her eyes were brimming with hurt. Amy tried to continue, but her words kept getting stuck in her throat.
"He's…he's a tough guy … I mean, he pretty much swam his way out of Station Square when the rescue copters missed him."
Amy watched the Sarah's blue orbs melt before her. The girl burst into tears, her mind flooded with the memories of the Great Chaos.
Amy watched dumbfounded. Then she remembered the refugee shelter.
"No, wait Sarah…I didn't mean…"
"Shut up! Shut up!" she screamed back, face flushed red. Here was her pain, hidden no longer, pouring down her cheeks and through her screams. Sarah ran into the other room.
Amy scolded herself. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid.' How could she have forgotten their first meeting? How she had waited with Sarah for hours … was it days? … Everything had been hazy. They'd waited together for any sign of Sarah's parents.
Slowly, the fantasy had faded … the bodies were never found.
Edits from Fallen Angel
I. Escape from Station Square
(After Amy is left alone, she finds herself in an unstable world.)
Amy stopped.
The awful noise came again: rough squealing and grinding. She cupped her hands over her ears; it was worse than nails on a chalkboard!
Around her little walkway was more scattered debris of the Speed Highway. Some chunks were piled up in the waters; others, like hers, had impaled into buildings like shrapnel and now dangled precariously from the skyscrapers.
Amy watched as one particularly long bridge began to splinter noisily in the center; from middle to ends, it crumbled away into dust. Amy dropped her jaw and followed the chunks as they plopped bellow the waters, leaving only a foamy upheaval in their wake.
Her eyes shot back to the land beneath her own feet. Surely, this one wouldn't fall, right?
Fear crept over her body. How long ago had that crack been there? Or that one?
Amy stood very still, breathing very slowly. She'd heard stories about the colder regions of Earth, covered in snow and ice; about how even the slightest step might send a solid, frozen lake crashing around your feet.
The squealing of concrete continued. Much closer. Right underneath her feet.
Amy took one step, nimble as a ballerina… Creak.
Another step… Creak.
She stopped to catch her racing heart. All she had to do was get across, and into the office building the bridge was jammed into. The windows were all shattered, so she would be able to get inside. "Piece of cake." She said shakily.
Another cracking sound. Amy whined. Why did the building seem so far away now?
Another step… Creak.
The safe building wasn't any closer. Rather, it looked even farther away, at the end of a long, long tunnel. Amy wobbled from sudden vertigo.
Another tiny step. A cracking noise, then a low moaning. It sounded like a hurt animal.
One step… Two step… Three step. Her boot slipped under a stone… wobbled, fell on her knees. More moaning.
Her knee stung. She wanted to cry, but she had to keep moving.
She got up, very carefully, very slowly. Slow was better.
One step… Two step. Crack. Her legs shook uncontrollably.
Three step… Four step. The concrete splintered in delicate veins under her feet.
Amy stepped a little faster.
One step, Two step…. Amy looked behind her. Saw how the bridge was sagging down in a V shape. How it was barely holding up.
One step… Two step. The moaning was like an open mouth, ready to swallow her.
'I'm gonna die.'
Amy took a deep, fitful breath. She was sobbing now. There was no way to make it. 'Oh, Sonic…'
The bridge gave one final, gargantuan moan.
RUN.
Amy bolted. Ran, ran until her lungs were burning. The building was so far away.
She dived. Flew through the broken window onto a wet carpeted floor. Her leg scraped against something rough.
Outside, the bridge collapsed.
Amy curled into a ball on the spongy floor, sobbing in fits. Oh my god, she had almost died out there. Salty tears poured onto her cheeks.
"I want to go home." She sniffled.
But she was home.
II. A Wet Goodbye
(I didn't like Big the Cat much when I wrote this.)
Gradually, Knuckles' scrapping and Tails' begging dimmed out of hearing. Water lapped against the buildings below her. Amy stared intently at the ground, not thinking much about anything. Her breathing calmed down, and she regained control of her eyes.
Tikal… Sonic… Tails… Knuckles… it looked like she was on her own now.
A deep, drawn out yawn interrupted her void of thought. Amy looked up at the purple stranger who stood across from her.
The purple cat blushed and scratched behind his shaggy mane. "Sorry," he said in a dull and dopey voice. "I guess I'm getting kinda tired."
Amy did not reply, but stared cautiously at the strange stranger. Fishing pole, purple fur and a bulk to rival Eggman's. He had the weirdest eyes: two big, yellow globs in his tiny head that looked like the empty headlights on a car.
The wind whistled slightly, ruffling the cat's shaggy fur and grabbing his floppy ears into the air. He just kept standing there like some stupid statue. Amy felt like walking over to him to see if she could push him over, when the cat blinked his yellow eyes, confirming life.
"You haven't seen Froggy, have you?" the cat inquired. "I saw him just second ago."
"Froggy?" Amy said blankly. What's a Froggy?
"Kurribit." Came her reply, which proceeded to hop into her lap.
Amy screamed at the fat, slimy frog sitting on her skirt. She flew to her feet and the frog skillfully leapt away.
"There you are," the cat smiled. "Come here little buddy, I was getting worried."
The frog let out another happy croak and jumped into the cat's ample arms. 'How disgusting,' Amy thought, as she frantically wiped the frog slime off her dress.
The cat continued to nuzzle his friend affectionately. "You getting hungry, little buddy?" The frog gurgled and shook its head vigorously. "Then let's go home, Froggy. We'll have a big supper tonight."
He turned one last time to look at Amy with his empty headlights. "Well, bye now."
Still scrubbing her dress, Amy looked up and scowled. She didn't want anything to do with a weirdo that kept a slimy frog as a friend.
Totally clued out to Amy's hostility, the cat smiled back and waddled to the edge of the concrete bridge. Still clutching his amphibian friend, the cat stood up on the side and jumped.
SPLOOSH! Amy screamed again and shielded herself from the explosion of water that shot up into the air. The miniature tidal wave swept over Amy, leaving her drenched to the bone.
"Kurribit." Came a faint croak from the water. Dripping wet and breathing in angrily, Amy peered down.
There was the cat, floating like an oversized buoy in the cold waters, only a few feet away. He seemed happier now than ever.
"That was fun, Froggy." He laughed. "But I like the jumping rocks at home better. C'mon, I'll race you home!"
The frog dipped below the waters and vanished. Amy watched the well-rounded feline, still holding his fishing rod, drop into a makeshift front crawl and noisily splash away.
She shivered, drenched from the cat's cannonball dive. And she had managed to stay dry all this time too! Her nerves sizzled like bacon.
Amy peered down once more at the cat, who had already turned into a tiny, but fat dot. Why had he come to Station Square? She'd seen him watching the fight against Chaos, but had he actually done anything besides stand around like a stone? Who was he anyway? All of this was just so pointless!
III. Metal Sonic
(The office building scene. Amy is at the window and is pretty sure she's seen the red eyes of a certain assassin mech. Did Robotnik bring him aboard Egg Carrier 2?)
Her hand went for the long hammer in her pocket. The other clutched her bag tightly. The rest of her body dived itself out of the window, fleeing her invisible foe. But her knees caught on the windowsill and she found herself tangled. Amy swore she could feel cold hands gripping her ankles, keeping her from escaping. He had her! NO!
Amy screamed again. Half of her body dangled headfirst out of the window, the other half kicked and squirmed to get out. Her hammer snapped to full length in her hand, flapping uselessly below her head.
Her feet flapped and kicked; frantically, she pumped her legs, the only anchors holding her steady, and pushed against the air. Before she realized what was happening, Amy found herself slipping headfirst out the window.
Red bricks filled her vision, racing to meet her. This was it. She shut her eyes.
Amy felt her body spin upright and jerk to a halt. A burning pain filled her left shoulder. Shocked that this was the only pain felt, she peeked her eyes open.
Her duffel bag, still gripped tightly in her left arm… one of the handles had snagged on a bent girder, a flagpole maybe. She looked down, and found her feet swinging centimeters from red brick.
The bag must have felt the pain flaming through Amy's shoulder because it chose that moment to rip its seams. Amy dropped onto the cement island and her legs crumbled weakly beneath her.
Still she had to get away. He was in the building, and would be coming any second. Amy began to crawl on hands and knees. She cast a sidelong glance back at the building and stopped again.
Her eyes traced around the mountain of brick lying against the building and looked into an unblocked window.
Somehow, someway, He had run down two stories and was watching her. She could see his eyes again, piercing the darkness. Two thin, vertical slits waiting in cover of shadow. There was no escaping this time. Her legs were jelly.
She waited.
He waited.
Amy watched, petrified. Why was he waiting? Why not get it over with.
The two vertical lights flickered, went out like candles blown out.
Amy gasped.
The lights flickered back on, only this time there were four monstrous, red eyes, all fashioned into different shapes.
E X I T
IV. Exiting the Office Building
(Amy's day-dreamy nature is explored in this draft. Gets kinda gruesome at the end.)
Amy peered down again, making sure to hang on to the window frame. "Maybe I could make it." About two windows over from hers was a choice spot that was more or less flat, beyond that was water. Still, how to jump?
She sat her pink duffel bag in her lap and looked it over thoughtfully. Maybe if she emptied her stuff, then held the bag above her head… she could make a parachute.
'Brilliant,' she thought to herself, 'Why not just run down the side of the building while you're at it?'
Only one other solution popped into her head. Amy cringed at the thought, but she didn't want to spend the night in the haunted office building. Already the sun was disappearing behind the smallest skyscrapers.
Amy let her bag drop to the island, cringing as she heard her precious valuables strike the rubble, then she swung her feet back into the building and walked over one… two… three windows and climbed into the third.
She shivered at the vision of what awaited her. Well, if the cat could do it, so could she.
She would by Amy Rose, world famous diving champion. The judges were waiting to see her latest acrobatic marvel. The crowds were going wild, cheering her on. Loudest of them all was a blue wonder, his slicked spines glistening like gold; his grin was to die for… Oh Sonic…
The water was like ice. Amy gasped and sputtered her way to the top and did a weak doggy paddle over to the dry island.
The results were in: 2.7. Hmm, next time she wouldn't hold her nose, or scream.
It was easy to find handholds among the protruding girders and brickwork; soon Amy was hiking up the red brick mountain to collect her stuff.
"I should have brought a hair dryer," she thought as she ran a hand through her drenched mop of quills. Hopefully Sonic wouldn't show up anytime soon.
Her stomach growled. Maybe she should have brought some food as well. She hadn't eaten all day.
Famished and drenched, Amy plunked herself down on the mountain of bricks. Girders stretched up around her like… like
Like palm trees. Yes, palm trees ripe with bananas and coconuts and other juicy delicacies. She wasn't on a pile of bricks; she was on a red island, with trees all around her. She would be queen of the mountain.
Amy looked into the sky. Only a few blocks away, black smoke was still steaming out of Egg Carrier 2. Had anything survived the crash, she wondered. Were there still any robots alive in that mess? Nasty robots with big sharp teeth or pounding fists or burning lasers?
Instinctively, she reached into her pocket and snapped her new long hammer out to full size. They wouldn't get her easily. She peered down the street, looking for anything that ticked or clanked of metal.
A new thought came into her mind: how many people had survived?
Her young mind crashed to a halt, suddenly unable to process this cold reality.
But she couldn't fantasize this time. The question returned, buzzing at her like a mosquito. How many? How many little children died? How many families were thrown into a watery grave?
She cupped her ears and clenched her eyes shut, but she could not stop the questions in her head.
How many were pulled into the waters and made to breath poisonous liquid, to drink and fill their lungs until they died?
Amy opened her eyes and looked into the waters. Perhaps it was the red bleeding off of the bricks, or the glare of fading sun on the water; perhaps she just imagined things, but she saw no more water. It was blood.
Blood spilt from hundreds, no, thousands of innocents. Good, decent folk that she might have met on the street or said hello to.
She opened her ears, and a symphony of screams, of wailing surrounded her. Yes, she could see all the hundreds of people, kicking and screaming in the water, being pulled down and drowned by Chaos. And where their bodies disappeared, red stains were returned, growing and swelling.
Amy felt a tear dribble down her cheek. Then another. Oh, how many people? How Many People?
Why hadn't she done anything to warn them? She knew what was coming, felt it in her bones. Why? Why did he let her go, only to swallow her city, her people?
Why hadn't she done anything to help?
Head held in her arms, the little hedgehog gazed of the waters, where so many had been buried. Was she the only one to survive?
No she wasn't, in fact there was someone floating facedown in the water, right in front of her island!
Amy threw her bag and hammer away. "Hang on, I'm coming!" she yelled.
Thoughts bustled through her brain as she stumbled to the edge of the island. What if he was dead? It was definitely a plump man she saw. What would she do? Or if he needed CPR? What if he was really hurt? What if he tried to pull her under, drown her? Had she really swam in that stuff?
But none of that mattered as Amy reached the foot of her island. She hoped into the water, sinking up to her knees, and waded across sunken girders to the man.
Amy reached for his shoulders and pulled him towards the island. He was lighter than she expected, almost like he had nothing but air inside him. His suit jacket was awful hard and rigid….
V. He Hates Me. And I Hate Him.
(At first, Amy responded poorly when she realized Sonic didn't care about her. Takes place in the gym.)
Amy looked deeply into that grinning, blue face. Before, it might have warmed her heart. But that was before. She took the paper in her fingertips and tore it top to bottom. The girl beside her jerked her head towards the sound, like she had heard a gunshot.
Neatly holding the papers together, Amy tore again, widthwise. Then she stacked again and tore, and tore and tore until there was nothing but confetti falling into her lap. She flipped the page, opened the next sleeve and snatched up the next clipping, crumpling it up and tossing it away like it was something vile.
The girl turned five shades of white. She twitched at every tear Amy made, like she was being torn up inside. She lingered, watching out of the corner of her eye and hesitating in jerks. Amy was going for her fourth page when the girl finally snapped.
"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice warbling like a frail bird. She looked at Amy like she was burning down a church.
"I'm tearing up this book, what does it look like I'm doing?" Amy shot back in a rotten attitude. She attacked the next page, tearing it to shreds.
The girl trembled as she spoke, stuttering everywhere. "You…you can… can't ju, just tear up a bu, book!"
"Watch me." Amy said menacingly. She held the next page up and ripped it delicately, slowly, deliberately trying to provoke the girl.
The pale girl jerked like a knife had run down her back. "You're killing all those stories…all, all th, those ideas and places and people…you might as w well k, k, kill the author."
"Hellooo!" Amy jeered. "Their just newspaper clippings." And she dangled a ripped slice at the girl so she could see. "There's nothing special at all about this stuff."
The girl's eyes fell to the floor, flushed with embarrassment. Then, in a thin whisper of a voice she said "maybe…but I'm sure someone put a lot of work into that."
"Let me keep it," she said suddenly. Her hand clasped over the next page, guarding it from Amy. Then, more quietly, "If…you don't want it… th, then maybe, I cu, could…have it…"
VI. History of Amy Rose-Extended
(Some extra nuggets for the bathroom scene.)
Amy shrugged. "I never really knew my parents. I've lived alone as long as I can remember." although that reality had only just sunk in yesterday.
"I don't remember much now," Amy continued, "But I know that for most of my life I grew up in a little town near Never Lake. I remember staying in an orphanage for awhile, but… I think after awhile, the ladies gave up on trying to find me a family. I guess nobody wanted me," she said with a hint of regret.
Sarah said nothing, but looked like she was in deep concentration. "Never Lake…" she muttered thoughtfully to herself. Then, to Amy: "Isn't that were the Little Planet appears?"
Amy smiled. "Around the first week of December and then it stays for about a month before disappearing. No one ever really knew when it would show up… except for me."
"Every December," Amy continued, "I would be there, just as it was appearing. I sorta got these hunches about when it would show up and when it would leave again. I did used to be pretty good with Tarot cards, but I haven't used a deck in ages."
"The people in town… older folks, mostly… some told me that I was born on the Little Planet."
Amy shrugged. "I would visit the Planet whenever it showed up. Sometimes I would take tourists… or scientists to visit… but that was before I came to Station Square…
VII. The Great Chaos
(I wish I could have been subtler while I was writing this account of the outside world. "Morality lost for Greed". Ugh! I should just hit my readers over the head with a Bible while I'm at it. However, I am sorry that I left out the final italicized passage at the end of this. At the time I thought it was needless preaching, but now, I think it went well with my fic's ideas of friendship.
From my own experience, I know that helping others is a lot more gratifying than any mindless self-indulgence. Video games are more enjoyable when you have a friend to pick up that second controller; it's fun to have someone's company when you get out of a movie theatre, and I sure get that clichéd "fuzzy feeling" when I help someone out with homework or a school assignment. We are a community; a society and we need to be concerned about the health of everyone around ourselves.)
To keep fears and rumors from spreading around the school, newspapers were distributed around the gym and a TV playing news reports was set up in the cafeteria. Everyone was able to know just what was going on outside the shelter.
The media ate up the story of Station Square. It was a reporter's dream: a juicy story of loss just begging to be twisted and embellished into a touching drama. For months there was nothing to read about but "The Devastating Tragedy of The Great Chaos", as the disaster was titled.
Sonic enjoyed another wave of popularity as reporters lined down the street to interview him. The waterlogged photographer who actually caught the battle between golden hedgehog and watery dragon went on to riches and early retirement.
The global reaction to the downfall of Station Square was mass hysteria. The peace enjoyed since the destruction of the Death Egg two years ago was over. Dr. Robotnik was back. The stock market took a massive dive; people began hoarding supplies and building bomb-shelters; terrified citizens screamed for military retaliation against The Doctor. It was like the apocalypse was around the corner.
It took governments about a month to settle things down. Military action against Robotnik was out of the question. His technology was too advanced, his forces too strong and no politician wanted to start a war during election year. For years, world leaders had cast a blind eye at the fortress of Metropolis, standing atop of Starlight City. This policy would continue. Speechwriters explained that it was in everyone's best interest to let The Doctor have his city and hope he stay put.
Others used Station Square for their own agendas. Corporations saw a fat cash cow at their disposal and began manufacturing T-shirts, coffee mugs and other trinkets with pictures of Super Sonic or Perfect Chaos or the sunken city of Station Square. Morality was lost for the advancement of greed.
There were, however, some who cared, people interested beyond selling votes or commemorative plaques made from the rubble of Station Square. Massive charities were organized towards helping the survivors. Scores of volunteers helped the military find people still in the city.
A reporter asked one young man why he was wasting his time in a watery hole that could "collapse on you at any second", when there was absolutely no hope of finding anyone alive.
The man answered, "It doesn't make sense, does it. But even if all I find is one lifeless body then at least one family can give a proper funeral. I'll know that I've helped one family rest easy over a missing loved one. And that makes me feel like I've done the right thing. I mean, what could be greater than the knowledge that you've helped your fellow man?"
VIII. Story Time with Amy
(A more detailed example of how Amy and Sarah passed their first days together.)
The next several hours were spent recounting Amy's Station Square story. Amy tried to put in as much detail as she could remember, recounting the way Egg Carrier 2 had swooped down from the clouds like a giant bird of prey, launching volleys of missiles and lasers; how Sonic had transformed like magic from beautiful blue to dazzling gold. She described every charge he made at Chaos, and the hopeless retaliations made by the watery dragon. She babbled on and on about every minute detail she noticed until Chaos and Tikal finally left for the sky.
The story also took longer to tell because this time, Amy had an active audience. Sarah would stop Amy here and there, often using her hands to flag Amy down when her quiet voice went unheard, asking why something had happened, or who the new characters were. It annoyed Amy at first that her story kept getting interrupted, but she was also overjoyed that someone was actually listening to her stories.
Sarah was the most considerate audience Amy had ever had. She didn't just sit like a stone (or a statue for that matter); she leaned in with her body whenever the tension was rising, she flinched whenever there was an explosion and while Amy described the ascension of Chaos and Tikal, she had her eyes closed, visualizing the scene.
"Wow…" Sarah uttered at the end of the tale, mirroring the amazement Amy had felt.
"That was an wonderful story, Amy," she said and then she shook her head. "It's almost too wonderful."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean… well, everything: the water dragon, I'll buy, I saw that before I fainted but… ghost princesses, the chaos emeralds, a fox with two tails… I just can't believe all of that. I mean, just believing that you know The Sonic the Hedgehog is hard to swallow by itself."
"It's all true though. I'm not making it up."
Sarah nodded, but there was still skepticism in her eyes. "How did you meet him? I mean… it sounded like you two had known each other before…"
Amy realized she was being tested, to see if she could back up her story. Sarah would be in for a treat; this was one memory she could never forget.
"I first met him back when I lived at Never Lake. I was about eight or ten then…
"I was just playing around outside of town… when I saw this dust cloud coming closer and closer. I got a little scared, like it was a tornado or something. It kept getting bigger and closer until I was afraid it was going to hit me!
"Then it stopped. And when the dust settled, there he was… I was freaked… Sonic was the first hedgehog I had met… He asked me if this was the way to Never Lake… I was so shocked; all I could do was nod yes. I must have looked like a real weirdo. Then he was on his way again.
"I just stayed in the fields for awhile… he was all I could think about… another hedgehog… and was he ever fast. I tried seeing how fast I could go… but I could hardly even kick up dust…"
"When I got back to town… he was waiting for me at the orphanage. I think he was waiting there for a while because he looked pretty impatient, like he had to go to the bathroom or something…
"He told me he was here to see the Little Planet, and that everyone around town had told him 'Amy Rose knows'. He asked me when it would show up this year… I just stood there admiring him… another hedgehog… someone like me…
"Eventually I told him it would be at the lake in two days. I don't know how I managed to do it, but I offered to give him a tour of the Planet. I did know most of the place from showing other tourists around…
"And he said 'Sure'."
"So two days later he was back at the orphanage. We ran off together for the Little Planet… he even slowed down a bit so I could keep up. I asked him his name. He was Sonic… Sonic…"
IX. Sarah's Survival
(During the first conversations between the girls, Sarah originally revealed more about her ordeals during the Great Chaos.)
There was an awkward silence. Neither of them could think of anything to say.
To Amy's surprise, Sarah asked a question. She had shifted her body underneath her blanket so that she faced the hedgehog. "Are um… well, are your parents here… Amy?"
Amy shook her head no. "I don't have any parents."
Sarah seemed just as freaked as the lady outside of the gym.
"You don't have any parents?" she uttered in her quiet voice, then, regaining her senses she said, "I'm sorry."
Amy shrugged. "I never really knew my parents. I've lived alone as long as I can remember." Although that reality had only just sunk in yesterday.
Sarah was shocked; she needed confirmation of this unbelievable news. "You lived all by yourself?"
"That's right. I found an apartment downtown. It was a great city… but it was so boring sometimes. Maybe it was just the city… or me staying alone, but I got bored all the time. Nothing ever changed…… Although I guess we got enough excitement for a few years, yesterday."
Sarah hadn't changed her position much, but she managed to look upset enough. "Exciting?" she said, distressed. "Did you think… all of that was exciting!? I don't know what happened to you… but…but I was in my apartment when the pipes…. they…. they just burst, all at once. There was… water… coming everywhere." Her voice warbled like a frail bird.
"The ceiling… the sinks… the pipes in the walls… I... I… I tried… to get out… but the hallway… was already flooded. The water hit me and…"
Sarah took a deep breath, trembling. She wasn't just retelling the story; she was reliving it.
"I didn't know what… to do. The phones didn't work… I couldn't get to the elevator… I…I had to get out…. I was just opening the screen door to the balcony… when…"
She swallowed. "And then the tidal wave came." She said, very calmly. Her eyes were melting. "It hit the building… broke the windows… and I fell into the street…luckily enough they were already flooded."
"There was a voice…. underwater. Almost like the water was talking…"
Sarah looked Amy in the eyes; her scars were burning with fire. "I heard… all this weird stuff… 'Smash them, drown them, kill them all.' And I could feel the water, trying to drag me down… like it was alive."
"I managed to get out… grab hold of something and get out of the water… and then I saw It."
Amy knew what she was referring to: Perfect Chaos, smashing its head out of a skyscraper and giving a loud, bloodthirsty roar.
"I fainted." Sarah said. "And I woke on the boat ride here. My home is gone and I don't know what happened to my parents and…" she had to stop, all choked up in tears, "…and I'm so afraid I'm going to loose everybody."
Sarah collapsed with her head in her hands, breathing tears. Even Amy felt something in her eye after that story. The little doll was falling… going to smash itself on the floor.
"I'm… I'm sorry." Amy stuttered. "I never thought it was that bad for some people…." What else could she say? "But… I'm sure your parents will be fine. I mean… lots of people made it… look at everyone here. They could still be in the hospital… maybe… they're probably okay."
This was hopeless. She was talking to herself, the Amy Rose from last night, abandoned to misery. The one who wanted…
On a sudden impulse, Amy took Sarah's hands in her own, pulled them from her face and made the girl look up at her.
"Listen, Sarah… I'm sorry." Sarah tried to look away, but she kept their faces together. "Your parents… they might have been rescued… I'm sure you'll see them again… and… if you want…" she took a deep breath, preparing herself for this,
"If you want… I can stay with you until they come."
The crying was settling down. Sarah's face was flushed red with tears smudged down her cheeks, but she was thinking again.
"You… you want to stay… with me?" she choked out between sobs.
"I don't have anywhere else to go." Or anyone else to see. "And, if it's okay with you, I'd rather not be alone."
Amy was already getting used to the long silences between speaking.
"Me neither."
F I N
Thanks for Reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
--Tylec Asroc
