Of Thieves and Hearts

Here's Chapter 2. I hope you all enjoy this.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Marisha and Todd…and Manic! (I wish)


Dungeon Area

The metal door slid open and Sleet and Dingo sauntered in, dragging the struggling hedgehog behind them.

"Let me go! Right now!" she exclaimed, struggling to break free but the wolf and jackal were too strong for her.

"Quiet!" barked Sleet as they came to an empty cell. "The doctor has plans for you, so be a good rodent and stay in there!" with that Sleet took her quickly out of Dingo's grasp and pushed her very hard into the cell. The force of the push caused the young hedgehog to fall to the ground on her knees now uncuffed hands. As she turned back to glare at them the door was slammed and locked.

Briefly she heard the sound of footsteps, then the entry door opening and closing, then silence. A deadly, fearful silence.

She sat there for a moment, looking around the small cell. There were no windows save the small one on the door, the only source of light came from the other side of the door. Otherwise the room was dark. The air around her hung with the feeling of loneliness. Sighing, she curled up into a tight ball on the floor, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them.

Sniffling she buried her face in her knees and began to softly cry. She didn't care anymore; no one was going to hear her.

With Manic

Manic had left Sonya to trail the Furball Twins. Sonya wanted him to so the prisoner could be rescued. Currently he was still crawling through the ventilation system, trying desperately to find the cell they had put her in.

His ears pricked up when he heard something. He listened a little closer. There was no mistaking it; crying. Soft, barely audible crying. He followed the sound until he could tell he was right over it. Looking through the vent that showed a top view of the cell his suspicions were confirmed. Right below the air duct vent sat the female hedgehog, curled up and weeping.

A feeling tugged at his heart as he heard each sob and sniffle but he didn't know what it was. He knew he never liked seeing people cry, especially girls, but the feeling he was getting was the same feeling he always felt when someone was crying mixed with something else. What, he didn't know. He shrugged it off and watched her a moment more, unsure what to do.

He wanted to make his presence known but not in such a way she would be startled and attack or get defensive but not in such a way that she wouldn't notice it.

Finally, he decided on something. Retrieving his drumsticks from his fanny pack and rapped a gentle rhythm on the metal of the vent. He didn't know if it would work or if he was right about it but if he was he knew her response.

The red hedgehog visibly startled and sat up. Manic repeated the gentle rhythm in case she didn't hear the first time then he watched for a response. The girl looked as if she heard it and knocked on the metal floor the rhythm Manic did.

Just as he thought, she was a member of the Thieves Guild like he was. He gently knocked on the bottom part of the vent that was over her head to try to get her attention. The female hedgehog looked to her sides, trying to pinpoint the location of the sound. He rapped at the metal again, this time louder. She looked up to where he was and met his pair of cyan eyes. He opened up the vent and stuck his head through the opening.

"Don't worry," he reassured when he saw a little fear on her face. "I'm a friend; my sibs and I are here to rescue you and some others."

She stared at him for a moment, comprehending what he said, then nodded in understanding.

"What's your name?" she asked, still staring at him.

"Manic. Manic Hedgehog. Yours?"

He was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable under her gaze.

"Marisha." She responded. "Or Mari, whichever one sounds more suitable to your likings."

'Pretty name…', Manic thought.

"Come on," he said reaching his hand down as far as it would go. Thankfully the ceiling was relatively low enough that only a jump and a fully extended arm would allow her to reach.

"Let's get you out of here before 'Buttnik and his goons come back."

Marisha nodded and jumped, managing to grasp his outstretched hand. With little effort he pulled her up and into the vent tunnel. He sat her down next to him.

"Thank you." She said a little distantly.

Manic noticed the distant tone.

"Somethin' wrong? You can trust me. The Resistance can always be trusted." He stated trying to comfort her, he knew Sonya was going to lecture him when they got back to the base but he really didn't care. He'd just do what he always did and pretend to listen while responding with short answers.

She shook her head.

"Nothing…just…thank you for going through the trouble of saving me." She said faltering a smile.

Manic looked at her questionably but shrugged it off.

"No prob, all in a days work for The Resistance." He stated proudly, Sonic and Sonya were going to lecture him even more now for that but he still didn't care.

He moved to start crawling back the way he came but was stopped by Marisha's hand around his arm.

"Hm?" He looked back at her to see what she wanted hoping desperately that Sleet and Dingo wouldn't come back at that moment.

"Why?" She asked trying to search his face as if for an answer to that question.

"Why what?" He responded, confused by her question.

"Why are you saving me? I'm a worthless thief. A street rat! What have I done to deserve the blessing of being saved from Robotnik?" She elaborated.

Manic was heart struck, he knew what it was like to be a thief, but he never considered that being one and not even being able to have a home made someone worthless.

"You're not worthless. I know what you mean but just being a thief doesn't make someone worthless. As for saving you," he smiled at her. "Just call it a Resistance thing. Besides, no mobian, no matter what they did, deserves the cruelty of robotisization."

There comes lecture number three.

Marisha cocked her head to one side in question.

"You…understand what I'm talking about?" She said a little shocked.

Manic quickly nodded.

"I'll explain later, for now I think we should really get moving. My sister's waiting nearby and my brother's gone to rescue the other prisoners we came for. If you have no place to stay you can stay with us until we can figure out how to help you." He assured.

Marisha nodded and followed the green hedgehog through the pipes. Her crystal blue eyes held some hiddenpain in them that Manic couldn't see.

With Sonic

Sonic had taken a detour through the ventilation system. He'd raided the base so much with his uncle and The Resistance that he knew the whole place like the back of his hand. And if there was one thing he knew about the base, it was that it had at least three dungeons. Cyrus told them that they only had seven prisoners to rescue and considering each dungeon had thirty cells that could hold three prisoners at a time Sonic knew they had to be in one of the three dungeons.

Speeding through the pipes at lightening speed he finally found the dungeon holding the captive mobians.


Well, there's Chapter 2. No more chaps till I get the next one finished. And I only work on it at school during free time and lunch because I'm too lazy to work on it at school and if I put it on the computer fully well…….it loses some glamour in my opinion. Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Please review! Flames frowned upon for all eternity.

Kalana Fox