Chapter 9 The Burning Past

Dr. Eggman had had quite a battle. That light blue hedgehog was stronger than she looked. The sinister man recieved many scratches on his face which still bled. He didn't dare touch them though, his palms were sweaty, and made his gloves sweaty too, and it stung when he tried to wipe the blood away. Even through his red tears he proudly grinned, he still had confidence in his plan.

"I won't let anything go wrong," he vowed, "Sonic the hedgehog, after I'm done with you you'd better say your prayers! You wouldn't be able to stand going through two hells!"

The evil genuis lifted his head and saw Chaos Control just ahead of him. He had been walking awhile and it was nice to see home.

"Doctor!" Rouge exclaimed running in his direction. She froze when she reached him then looked him over. Stretching her arms out she asked, "What happend Doctor?"

He groaned, "I had a little trouble."

"A little"?! You're a mess!" Rouge put her fists on her hips, "well, I guess I should get you cleaned up."

He responded in a groan and nod of his head.

Rouge offered her shoulder to lean on but soon wished she didn't. ARGH! He weighed as much as a ton of bricks!

Rouge was finally able to support him and she helped him back to Chaos Control.

When they reached it Rouge helped Dr. Eggman into his chair.

"Now," he pondered, "I need to figure this out.."

"Doctor," Rouge spoke up, "may I suggest something?"
Dr. Eggman glanced at her with an annoyed groan followed by, "What is it?"
"I must admit Doctor," she began, "I'm quite curious about this "conection" between Aurora and Sonic. Is there any possible way you could find out about it?"

Eggma rolled his eyes, "What use would it be to me if I could?"

"Well, I don't know I just heard a little gossip from Bokkun."

"So?"

"It was about Sonic and Aurora."

Eggmans eyes rolled toward her in curiousity, "What about Sonic and Aurora?"

Rouge smiled and with a wink she turned from him.

"Well, you know, maybe I shouldn't tell," she teased, "it's not nice to spread gossip."

"Out with it!" he demanded.

Rouge held back the temper in her throat and proceeded, "All right, if you insist. Apparently," Rouge paused for a moment to add impact, "Bokun caught Sonic and Aurora trying to kiss."

Well that got his attention especialy since it was all part of the plan.

"Really? Is that so?"

"It's true." she nodded.

"Well, well, well, it seems Sonic has weak spot for the ladys after all. From the way he treats Amy you'd think he'd hate them."

Dr. Eggman became very excited till the grin on his face made dimples in his cheeks. He was so pleased with himself! At that moment he felt like patting himself on the back an saying, "Good job Ivo Robotnik! You're such a genuis!" In his mind he said, "I know," to his own thought. This information made him eager to hear more.

"Who started it!?"

Rouge was a little embarressed to admit she didn't know.

"It doesn't matter, either way I know who's engenuis plans unfolded it."

Ivo laughed through his teeth, "Now let's get a little more aquinted with our hedgehog friend, shall we?"

Dr. Eggman booted up his computer and started to load information of Aurora's past.

Rouge stood in awe wondering how he could have done such a thing.

"How did you manage to do this, Doctor?"

"It's quite simple my dear girl," he explained, "that chip on Aurora's brow allows me to tap into her selfconcious and download thought, memories, and any other sort of thing such as that. And with my highly advanced computer system I am able to arrange these thoughts and ideas into a pattern of a story or journal if you prefer. But sadly some it might not make sence"

Sure enough sentences lined up until it was a complete thought.

Rouge used her pointer finger to underline the words as she read out loud,

"The farthest I can remember back is when I was on the streets. I faintly remember my parents who were killed by that sucky human kind! I've never trusted them since.

I live in a tree near the alley which is pretty much my home block

I remember stealing some food and hiding it away in an abandoned squirrals nest I found.

The next day I heard the bell at St. Lukes Church ringing loud and clear beckoning me to come to it.

I love hanging out in the Church graveyard, even though the monks in that monestary can't sing worth crap!

Geez, it's getting so hot out here. I want to go in.

I remember hiding in the basement.

It's so nice and cool down here.

I fell asleep.

Whose poking me? Ouch!

My eyes opened to two others stairing back at me!

I remember scuffling backwards and trying to edge up the wall..

Don't touch me! AHH!

I kicked and screamed but they wouldn't let me go. I even bit one of the men!

I thought they would beat me for sure!

What's that? The monk to my left is holding something.. it looks like a club.

OH MY GOD!

Everything's black now.. I feel numb..

I'm awake! Who's this?

"Hello dear friend, what's your name?" he says to me in what I hate to admit to be a friendly voice.

I should have been nicer..

"Back off freak!" I remember saying, "Or I'll kick ya in the balls! And I ain't no deer eather!

"No need to be frightened." he said.

Me? Frightened? Ha!

"I'm not scared!"

I forget what else he said.. Wait I remember!

"It's getting dark out. Would you like to stay here awhile?"

No wait that's not what he said.. that was later.. Oh well.

"I guess so.." I replied.

I remember staying there a couple weeks. I guess I just got used to the idea and decided this is where I would always be.

The only thing I hate about living here is that I have to go to chapel and listen to those guys wail. Geez... But I don't sing along with them, not that it matters considering the music doesn't have any words, at least not any that I can understand.

For some reason I feel like I'm being watched

I just saw something. It was some sort of dark blue creature.. THERE IT IS!

It's another hedgehog. What's he doing here?

There he is again. He's hiding behind that pillar.

Man, is he sexy..

I think I'll smile at him. He smiled back!

Brother Hurbert soon noticed my distraction.

"Get out of here!" he yelled disrupting the whole service.

The hedgehog ran out of sight, and quite quickly too.

(From this point on everything seemed more like, an organized story)

It seemed that every monk in the Church was chasing after the hedgehog I was also there, running with them, curious if they would catch him or not.

When we came around the next corridor we saw that we had reached the "storage corner" where they kept all of their goods. This hall came to an end

making it seem impossible for the hedgehog to escape.

"We've cornered him!" someone shouted.

"You have disordered us!" shouted another.

"What do you have to say for yourself? SPEAK!" demanded one of the head monks.

The hedgehog looked totally shocked! I could tell he was out of breath by the way his chest was moving.

I started to feel sorry for him, I had never seen the monks act like this before!

So, making it look like an accident I knocked over a few monks clearing a way of escape for him. He was more than happy to take and in a split second he was gone.

The next day I got a lecture I'll never forget! I guess they didn't buy my act.

They told me they would have to punish me and I could meet the man who would tell me it up stairs, but first I had to water the garden.

As you can imagine I was truly ticked. I greviously watered the small garden outside of the Church. When I had finished I made my way to the "forbidden stairs" why they call them this I will never know, but I wasn't in any hurry to find out. Just soon as I had reached the stairs I had all ready turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Suddenly I saw something falling from the ceiling that fell right in front of me.

"Hi there! My name's Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog." he said formally offering me a bow.

I was speechless! Yes, I had seen him before but I had no idea who he was or what he wanted.

I finally managed to think of something, "Is there something I can do for you?"

The hedgehog made a noise then shook his head, "Nah, I just wanted to say "hi."

"Oooh," I said feeling I smile sneek onto my face, "Good Bye."

I began to walked away but I stopped short when I heard him ask, "Hey! Where ya going?"

"Away"

"Away where?"

"Some where." I started to walk away again.

I came to a halt when the hedgehog appeared right in front of me with his arm leaning right in my way.

"So, what's a gal like you doing in a place like this?"

"Working." I answered trying to pass him.

"Why?" he ask grinning making me want to punch him.

"Because."

"Because why?
"Because, I want to."

I tried to run past him but he was too fast.

"So what's your name?"

I sighed in defeat, "Aurora."

"Aurora, huh? That's a pretty-"
The hedghog was never able to finish his sentence. There was a monk heading right toward us.

"GET! GET! GET!" he roared.

After the hedgehog ran away he glared at me.

"I don't want you assosiating with that hedgehog! Understand!"
I scoffed, "You're not my boss!"

"No, but the police will be if you don't listen."

I scoffed again, "You don't have any dirt on me!"

"Oh really? How about theft!"
"I didn't steal anything!"

"You used to." he reminded me.

What a horrible Monk-ey!

Even though I was never sent to the "forbidden stairs" the next day was horrible!

First, I was woken up at 2:30 am to work, then when I tried to take a shower they stole my habbit leaving only my purple under clothes which they had thrown in the mudd. They even broke one of the straps on my clear strap bra!!

Even though I was mad I had a feeling only one monk was torturing me to death.

I was able to clean my remaining clothes off but it was still dark out and very cold. It's probably about 4:00.

I don't know how they managed to do it but I seemed to be locked out of the Church.

Now I'm cold, wet, barely dressed and totally P.Oed.

I sat outside of a dead tree hugging myself, trying to keep warm.

When I thought my day couldn't get any worse I saw that hedgehog walking up the hill toward me.

I was officialy freaked out! Especialy when he saw me!

I decided to hide behind the log.

"Hey Aurora." he whispered not bothering to look over the log, "it's me Sonic."

My eyes just barely peeked over the side of my cover, "What do you want?"

The hedgehog came closer and it made me feel nervious. In my panic I accidently bumped the log and sent rolling toward him. I saw his attemp to jump out of the way but it was to late, he was flattened right into the ground.

Despite my appearance, I ran over to see if he was ok.

"Are you all right?"

The hedgehogs head lifted as he sputtered out dirt.

"I think s-"
His eyes widened when he looked at me, "What happened to you!?"

His comment struck me as him calling me fat so I blew up at him.

"I'm not fat!"
He blinked, "I didn't say that."

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't! You're perfe-"

He stopped in mid sentence with an embarresed expression on his face. I got the hint of what he was going to say, I felt myself blush.

"Uh, so what are you, uh doing here?" I managed to get out.

"I should be asking you! Isn't it a little cold to go skinny dipping?"

I felt my face turn red but I know I wasn't blushing.

"I'm not going skinny dipping!" I protested.

It soon dawned upon me of what I was wearing and I started to feel a little self concious and covered myself with my hands. Mostly because of my stupid thong! Plus the wind was blowing so that really didn't help.

I sat on the ground not knowing what else to do. The hedgehog sat beside me.

"So what are you doing here."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I had had such a bad day. I put my face in my hands and began to cry.

"I'm having such a bad day," I said through my tears, "I can't trust anybody anymore."

There was a brief silence then the hedgehog took my hand.

"You can trust me."

My face turned to him and I studied his expression thoroughly. He looked serious!

He started to smile at me which forced me to smile.

Sonic started to clear his throat and I could tell he felt embarressed again. His attitude changed to cocky, just the way I had first met him.

"Well I'm off! See ya around Aurora!" he split.

I wiped the dirt off my legs as I began to stand.

As as I was standing he flashed back beside me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek then he was off again.

My hand cupped my cheek as I gazed off in shock. I was quite for a minute till I heard my name being called from the abby.

My cheeks turned red as my hand slid down the one I held. I smiled.

From that point on we kinda started "dating" but not really... Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night I'd sneek out and we'd meet each other in the graveyard. Not the most romantic spot but I didn't mind.

It's been about three weeks now and I'm really starting to like Sonic.

We haven't kissed yet, but I think tonight's our night. Sonic told me to meet him in the storage room at 12:00 O' Clock sharp!

I wish I had something to wear besides this stupid habbit..

----------

"Hey." he waved quietly seeing me coming.

"Hi." I waved back.

I forget what we talked about but I remember him saying something sweet.

We both leaned in for a kiss, when my eyes closed my feet left the ground.

"YOU AGAIN!!" roared a loud voice who seemed to have a hold on both of us.

I looked up, it was that monk!

"I told you I don't want you here any more!" he said glaring at Sonic.

Sonic and I exchanged looks until a smirk crossed his face and I knew what he was thinking.

At that instant we bolted.

We both ran through the blinding dark searching for a way out.

As Sonic began to run faster his body slowly began to be swallowed by the darkness until I could not see him.

I stopped briefly to call his name but no one answered.

I started to run again just trying to get out. "I don't have to be here!" I kept telling myself.

I could hear the monk shouting behind me, he must be getting close! Pretty soon I could see his lantern.

I started to wish I was as fast as Sonic as the man started to catch up with me.

Before I knew what was happening Sonic had scooped me up and was carrying me down the hall.

He started to cut his teeth, I could see panic on his face.

I know he must have had good night vision the way he was cutting the corners, but he didn't seem to know where he was going.

As we turned another corner I heard a loud THUMP as I went flying into the air and fell over the object that was in our way. I sat up and looked around. I was in an empty hallway.

"Sonic!" I called.

Suddenly something grabbed my wrist and spun me around.

"You again!" I said startled recognizing the monk.

"I told you no!"

I pulled away, "You're not the boss of me!" I told him.

"Do you not understand Aurora? That hedgehog will lead you down a path of darkness and bondage!"

"Bondage of what? Love?"

He grabbed my wrist again and began to squeeze it, "Once you leave here with that hedgehog that's it! You'll drift off until you're too far gone to come back."

"Stop it!" I said trying to get away.

"Don't you get it? He's evil! EVIL!"

"Let me go!"

He pulled me close to his face, "Your only master in spirit is our master and your only master on earth is me!"

I started to feel sick to my stomach. Did this guy have a crush on me? Or was he just hungry for power?

With one swift kick I pushed him out of my way and ran. But he wasn't about to give up so easily. The lantern he held became my prison as the fire spread out around me. Everything around me that was flamable was quickly eaten up by the fire.

When I turned to face my punisher he was gone.

I remember running and jumping through flames and feeling it scorn my flesh. After awhile I could hear Sonic calling me. I tried to follow his voice as I called back to him.

I made it! I could see him ahead.

I ran to him but we were seperated by a flaming fallen beam. The smoke made me back up till I ran out of room.

"Sonic! Sonic! SONIC!"

It's so hot..

I'm burning..

Not even my tears can stop the fire.

I'm too tired to run..

My strenghth is gone..

I.

Love.

You.

Son.

nic.

The computer screen buzzed with errors until recorded memories of creation and early memories unfolded, but Rouge didn't bother to read them.

"Does this mean what I think this means Doctor?" Rouge asked.

Dr. Eggman began to stroke his chin thoughtfully, "I do believe so," he grinned, "I do believe there is alot more to our competitive component than meets the eyes."

"There's only one thing I don't understand," the bat girl mused, "why didn't Sonic save Aurora after the roof collapsed? Was the beam too impossible to pass?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I know who is."