Chapter 3

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. The constant noise disturbed Rouge from her dazed state. 'What's that?' She thought groggily. 'Go away, I'm trying to sleep.' The cause of the sound must not have been able to read her thoughts, for the scratching continued. It was getting louder. Rouge's eyes forced themselves shut. Must sleep. Must drift away and never come back, away from the coldness of this ice.
The scratching was starting to get unbearable when a spiked fist thrust through the layer of ice, grazing her leg. She voiced a feeble protest. The fresh oxygen swiftly cleared her mind. As the fists cleared away more of the ice, a spiky red head came into view.
"Long time no see, treasure hunter." She muttered weakly. She weakly scowled at him as he retrieved the emerald from where it had landed by her leg, checking for damage. Satisfied, he shrank it down to a more transportable size. He stared down at Rouge.
"This isn't a great time to be sleeping, you know." He remarked.
"I was not sleeping! I can't move! I've been buried under a snow bank!"
"Well, I'll just have to get you out then, won't I?" He offered her a gloved hand. After a brief glare she accepted it and he pulled her out of the snow. Rouge screamed. She felt as though she had been torn in two. "Sorry," Knuckles winced in sympathy, "you should have told me you were injured."
"And have you gloat over me? I think not!" Knuckles guided her gently to a nearby rock, where they sat down.
"Here, let me see what you have done."
"What? Have you suddenly become a doctor or something?"
"I have more talents than you realise. Just let me see." Reluctantly, she allowed him to gently probe her arm, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from crying out. Knuckles studied it intently.
"It's not too bad. The bone hasn't snapped entirely."
"Not too bad! Would you like me to break your arm so you can see how bad it is?"
"I just meant it won't take too long to heal. God, you can be so touchy." "You would be too if you were in my shoes!"
"At least my shoes aren't iron-tipped and stained with another's blood."
"If you had breathed in the bloody sleeping gas I wouldn't have had to hurt you!" Knuckles growled in frustration.
"Look. If you make me much angrier I won't help you, and I don't like your chances of getting out of here without me, injured as you are. So just shut up for a minute, alright? I need to bind it straight. You wait here." Rouge bit back a retort as she watched him search the area for sticks. Considering several, he tossed away the ones he didn't like. Finally finding one appropriate, he returned to Rouge. She looked at him with apprehension.
"You're not going to hurt me with that, are you?"
"Get real. I told you, we have to bind your arm straight. I can beat you senseless later on. Would you happen to have a belt or anything of the kind on you?"
"I'm afraid not."
"We'll have to rip some material from your pants, then."
"What! Are you mad?! You think I'm going to tear off my pants for you?!"
"We need material. I don't have anything we can rip up, and I figured you'd rather keep your top half covered."
"These pants were very expensive, I'll have you know! Italian leather! I had them custom made! I'm not ripping them up."
"Would you rather have a useless arm for the rest of your life?"
"Then again, I do have another pair just like them at home," she added hurriedly. She reached down to tear them, only to yelp in pain when she tried to move her right arm. Undeterred, she tried to tear them with her left hand.
"God, let me do it," Knuckles said impatiently. Rouge eyed him suspiciously.
"Any funny business, and I'll-"
"Rouge, really, as if I'd do anything like that to you. Now hold still." Moments later Rouge's pants had become shorts. Rouge pouted like a spoilt child. She'd really liked those pants. Oh sure, she liked her arm too, but the pants! She sulked as Knuckles loosely knotted the pieces of material around her arm, holding the stick in place with one hand.
"Okay, I'm going to tighten the knots on this, I need you to stay very relaxed, so it's tied on properly."
"Of course I'll stay relaxed! I'm always relaxed! You know, me, Rouge, the relaxed one?" Her face was pale.
"Just try, okay? On the count of three. One, two-" Knuckles yanked the knots tight. Rouge yelped painfully.
"Aaah! That hurt! Hey, you didn't say three. Whatever happened to three? Don't you know how to count?" She demanded.
"People always tense up on three. That's why I had to do it on two."
"You could have at least warned me."
"It wouldn't have worked if I warned you."
"Fine, whatever you say doctor Knuckles." She paused. "Why are you doing all this?"
"All what?"
"You know, rescuing me from being frozen to death, fixing my arm, all that. Why are you doing it?" Knuckles shrugged.
"You needed the help. Besides, if we're gonna get out of here, you'll be a lot more helpful to me alive and with a healing arm." Rouge shook her head.
"I don't think I'll ever understand you, Knuckles."
"Don't think this means we're friends now. As soon as we're out of here, it's back to being rivals."
"That's more than fine with me." Looking up at the sky, Knuckles changed the subject.
"We'd better find some shelter, it looks like there's a storm coming in. Follow me." Together, they slowly trudged up the snow-laden path.

----

Sonic walked into the house, wondering why it was so quiet. Tails, who at this time would usually be curled up in front of the television, was no where to be seen. 'Maybe he just went to bed early? Yeah, that must be it.' He thought to himself.
Tails and he had lived in the house for a little over a year now. Seeing as Tails was under age and without a guardian, Sonic had taken him in. It was great living with his best friend, anyway. It wasn't a huge place, but it was fine for just the two of them.

He had been rather late returning home. The whole incident at the beach had really shaken him up, and he had been running to try and steady his nerves. Forget everything, feel nothing except for his feet pounding against the earth, the rest of the world nothing more than a colourful blur around him. Running always made him feel better. But the paranoia was still there, tiny but sharp like a splinter in his mind. He knew one thing for sure; he wasn't going anywhere near another beach anytime soon.

Tails wasn't in his room either. Sonic felt a chill of fear creep up his spine. Tails wouldn't have gone out this late, he was too young. What could have happened to him? He was contemplating ringing his mobile when he heard a noise at the door. To his relief, a familiar orange figure was walking through the doorway.
"Tails! I'm so glad to see you! Where have you been! You shouldn't go out so late, you know!"
"Hey Sonic, it's okay, I was just at Eggman's lab."
"Eggman's lab?! What on earth were you doing there? Did he kidnap you?"
"Of course not! I was just helping him build some stuff, that's all."
"Can't you hear what you're saying?!" Sonic exclaimed in disbelief. "You helped Eggman?"
"Eggman's changed, Sonic, whether you like it or not. He's not evil anymore. He's making machines for good."
"And you trust him! Tails, don't you realise what he could do to you? You're just a little kid." Tails glared.
"Eggman doesn't treat me like a little kid. He respects me, which is more than what you've ever done!" Tails stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door.
"I didn't mean it like that! Tails!"
"I'm not listening!" Sonic sighed. It was pointless trying to reason with him now. He'd try talking to him again in the morning. But really! Working with Eggman? He really thought the young fox had more sense than that. Then again, Eggman hadn't attacked them for a long while... either way, it still seemed suspicious.

Sonic climbed up the stairs and into his room, pulling off his shoes and collapsing in a heap on the bed. How did everything get hard again so quick? Last night his biggest problem was trying to find a good meal in this town. Now there was possibly someone after him and Tails was working for the enemy! He stared at the ceiling. There was no getting to sleep at this rate. With a sigh, he sat up and put on his sneakers again. Perhaps if he ran a bit longer things would just sort themselves out.

----

Amy arrived home shortly before midnight, kicking off her shoes before sprawling out on the sofa, massaging her aching feet. She was so sick of this mission. She had been after the same target for years! Why couldn't she go and blow something up for a change? She liked watching things burn.
Thinking of burning, she found her lighter and lit a cigarette, inhaling sharply. She blew the smoke out leaving a hazy grey cloud about her, and leaned back into the cushions.

She'd had years of training in the deadliest weapons in existence. She knew seven different martial arts, and could knock someone out with a single touch. All for nothing. All for her to do what seemed a pointless mission. She had spent years at it, earning the target's trust, convincing them that she was only fourteen years old. Pretending to adore that disgusting creature. Yet still he evaded her. Time after time, her attempts had been futile. It's not an easy life being an assassin. What made him so special that he somehow resisted every attack? Sure, the fact that she could not let his friends see her as she killed him made it harder, but it was only minor implications. She'd successfully disposed of many targets before, and none of them gave her near as much trouble as this one did.

True, at first she had rebelled against the idea of killing him. He was one of her own. An anthromorphic creature, a 'furry' as they were known to most. But he had made it personal. This character she'd invented to ensnare his trust, the sickly sweet but kind hearted Amy Rose, he treated like dirt. Nothing more than a pest. And she hated him for it, hate that burned furiously inside of her, hidden deep beneath her artificial character but there none the less.

And then there was Shadow. She had been so shocked to see him she reacted in a way which had now become a second nature. Excitable and clingy. Really, how couldn't they see through her false persona? She guessed no one was trying to. Who would suspect her? Yet if anyone would find out, it would be Shadow. She would have to watch herself around him. She could see herself looking into those fiery red eyes and in a moment of weakness revealing everything. Well, she just couldn't let that happen. Shadow was still too distraught about Maria to even think about her anyway. She felt stupid- it was as though she had a childish crush on him. Amy Rose didn't get crushes! Well, 'Amy Rose' wouldn't if Amy Rose was her real name.

Well, sitting there all night being upset over the mission would get her nowhere. It was time to think of another plan. The swimming one was much too hasty. She would have to be more careful. And more clever. Amy leaned forward and put out the cigarette stub on the surface of the coffee table, burning another black mark into the wood. Satisfied with this minor act of vandalism she picked up a pen and began to scribble down some notes on a piece of paper. 'I will get you, Sonic the Hedgehog.' She thought as she wrote. 'You will see. Even if it kills me, I will destroy you.'

----

Just as Knuckles had predicted, it had begun to snow, thousands of tiny white flakes falling swiftly from the sky, swirling in the wind to strike their faces, tiny shivers of coldness. Without exchanging a word they began to move faster, knowing just how dangerous it would be to get caught in the oncoming blizzard. They had yet to find any shelter, and the sky was getting whiter every moment. To make matters worse, that burst of energy Knuckles had attained during their encounter had worn off, and he was looking worse for wear, stopping every few moment to steady himself against a tree branch, muttering things to himself vaguely. Rouge was plagued with guilt. She really hadn't needed to use the Iron boots. Ordinary boots would have hurt him enough for her purposes. Even worse, after she had injured him so badly he had saved her! He had fixed her arm! Although it still hurt severely, it had died down to a constant stabbing pain. She watched him, feeling more terrible by the second. 'What kind of monster am I?' echoed through her mind. Once he had coughed up some blood, leaning heavily on the tree, he shook his head slightly and continued on. Rouge followed after him feeling utterly miserable.

The blizzard gained strength. It was getting harder to see where they were going. The wind had increased and the snowflakes were lashing them fiercely, leaving thousands of scratches on their bare limbs. Knuckles suddenly staggered and Rouge jumped to his side, supporting him with her good arm. If Knuckles was surprised by this gesture, he was feeling too unwell to show any sign. They pressed forward but progress was getting increasingly difficult. "Come on, we have to keep going." Rouge said when Knuckles abruptly stopped to lean heavily against a tree.
"I can't," He croaked, voice nearly lost in the wind. "I can't move anymore."
"You have to Knuckles. You'll die out here otherwise. I don't think we have far to go." The bat part of her could sense a cave nearby, drawing her towards it, longing for the security it represented. Whether of not it was already occupied was a risk they were just going to have to take. "How can you tell? We can't see anything out here." His voice was cracked.
"I can just sense a cave nearby. Trust me, it's a bat thing."
"Trust you? I'm not sure if that's a good idea."
"Oh, just come on!" Impatient, Rouge grabbed his hand and dragged him forward. She could no longer see anything at all, the snow was that thick, so she moved on instinct alone. Some time later, after struggling through the curtain of snow and having to backtrack a few times she had found the opening, a gaping black hole amongst the white. She sighed with relief.
"We made it."
"It's about time. I thought you said this thing was close."
"Close enough! Besides, we're here now, aren't we? Let's just get in there before we freeze to death." He didn't disagree to that. They cautiously entered the cave, brushing snowflakes off themselves. Rouge observed their surroundings. The walls were very narrow, but the cave was deep- the path continued for as far as they could see. Although they had no way to be certain, it seemed that for now it would be safe.

Exhausted by their efforts, they slumped to the ground, making sure there was a good distance between them. Watching the snow whirl around the mouth of the cave, their eyelids began to droop. Tiredness overcame them, and they both slipped from consciousness.