Somewhere in the far east, unknown location
Unknown POV
The sun was slowly setting down, illustrating that it´s almost time to go. I was in my room, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. After a hard physical training I decided to take a cold shower. Water always calmed my nerves and helped me clear my mind. It became part of my routine before going on a mission.
Training – Shower – Mission – Shower
I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. I looked in my bathroom mirror, examining my reflection. My arms and legs were stronger than before, considering the amount of missions and training, and other things, I had to endure. My stomach was more defined than ever before. However, there were some new additions on my body. My hand automatically travelled to the long scar on my torso. I have some scars on my legs, as well as one on my cheek. But none was comparable to the one on my stomach, a painful reminder of the life I had to abandon 5 years ago. Not that I feel any pain anymore. Or anything else. I looked into my eyes. Those jade eyes once filled with life and compassion were gone. Now when I look into them, I see nothing but void. The last time I felt anything was 5 years ago. Everything that made me the person I was – compassion, joy, happiness, love – is long gone now. I feel empty. But it´s better that way for what I am about to do and what I´ve done countless times. My eyes wandered to my left forearm and stopped at the ink on my skin. A red spider lily tattoo. It would be a pretty tattoo, if you don´t consider it being the symbol of "death" and the Sutoku Clan. No time to further think about that, I have to get ready.
I walked out of the bathroom and towards my closet. Everything was already prepared for me. I put on my classic attire – a black catsuit. I complemented the look with black gloves, black shoes that were practically weightless, a leg holster that was holding a dagger, as well as a belt holding a rather beautiful katana. The handle was black with red engravings, as well as the red spider lily symbol. The blade was sharp and the name "Izanami" was engraved on it. That´s the name I go by now. That´s the name I "earned" after proving myself "worthy". They baptized me with this name, in honor of the goddess of the death. I´ll leave it up to your imagination on how I earned this name. I was no longer Amy Rose. I lost the right to be her years ago.
"AMY IT´S TIME"
I signed. Before stepping out of the room I said a silent prayer – I know, pretty ironic considering what I am about to do - and put my black mask on. Let´s get this over with.
Amy´s POV
A yellow lynx, wearing the same outfit as I, was waiting impatiently in a long, dark corridor. The main difference between our looks was her weapon – 2 sais attached on her back and the fact that she was not wearing her mask. Through her catsuit you could see that she was athletic as well, though she does not have the same curves as I. Instead of an hourglass figure, she had a triangle shape with wide hips and a small bust. Her face was slim was well. She was a beautiful lynx with a sharp jawline and baby blue eyes that shined in the dark.
"Finally, you took forever! It´s already dusk we have to get going." We started walking towards the exit.
"Myla I already told you to not call me Amy anymore."
"Well, I´ve known you as Amy and I´m going to keep calling you that even if you became my "superior". That´s so unfair, I´ve been here way longer than you! And Amy is technically the nickname of Izanami," she said carelessly all while rolling her eyes.
"You do realize that technically I have to punish you for that because it´s considered as disrespectful to talk like that to a superior. And if we´re in the presence of others I´ll have to do it considering my rank." I looked at her, studying her facial expression. She was smiling and remained carelessly. How did she survive this long in here?
I already experienced, more specifically I already punished others for doing the same as she did. But she was different. Being 5 years younger than me, I considered her as my little sister. I was very protective of her. Even though she´s young, she is a strong fighter and can handle every situation almost perfectly. It´s almost sad, considering the type of missions we do. But she doesn´t know it differently. She told me she was part of this clan since she´s been 3. Apparently, she was kidnapped from a village, brought here and she did exactly the same thing as I did – survive. She chose to adapt to this lifestyle because she knew she had no other choice. Nevertheless, she stayed carefree and, somehow, happy and cheery. I wonder how. She reminds me of my old self, that´s probably why I like being around her, she makes this place more durable. Opponents tend to underestimate her. That´s typically the last thing they do.
"Now put your mask on and let´s move," I said sternly.
"Yes iZaNaMi." She put her mask on, mocking me. She has some nerves. No one would dare doing this to me.
She put her mask on as we made our way outside, into the darkness of the forest that was in front of us.
"It´s going to take us approximatively 1 ½ hour to reach our destination by foot."
Myla stopped, looking shocked. "We´re going to walk?! Why can´t we take the motorcycles!"
I looked at her and frowned. "So that they can hear us arriving from a mile away? Have you already forgotten that we have to remain silent and strike as no one expects us. If you don´t take this seriously I will instantly send you back and let the others punish you for your childish behavior. Am I clear?"
She looked down, ashamed. "Clear Izanami." After that, she remained silent and we started making our way through the forest. She took something out of her pocket, resembling a pocket watch which served as some sort of a map to know in which direction we have to walk.
It´s not often that I talk in that way with her unless she´s not serious. I love her cheery und childish personality, but not when we´re going on missions. There, we need to stay focused. It´s a matter of life and death.
The night was calm, no animals were heard in the forest. The only thing enlightening our way was the full moon and the stars. It was a rather beautiful night, which is going to end tragically for one side. 20 minutes passed and we were still walking in the dark, silently. Suddenly, we heard a cracking noise. We remained silent. Myla looked at me and we both nodded, taking our weapons in our hand. We listened closely to our surroundings, looking for shadows in the night. The bush behind Myla rustled and a black shadow jumped out of it, towards her. Before she even blinked I pushed her out of the way, took my katana out and slid the shadow in half. The blood splashed on Myla´s face and covered my sharp blade. I took a napkin out of my pocket, removed the blood and put my katana away.
"What the hell happened?" Myla´s expression was a mix of disgust and confusion and her mouth was open.
I gave her a napkin. "Here, clean your face before the blood dries. And close your mouth before the blood drips into it." She kindly accepted and tried cleaning her face.
I looked down to see what I slid in half without thinking twice.
"Aww, it was just a bunny," Myla said, pitying the poor animal, or what was left of him.
I however felt indifferent. "What a waste of time. Come on let´s continue." I didn´t even look back, nor did I feel bad about what I did. These were simply my survival instincts. My former self would be horrified about this action, I didn´t have the heart to kill any animal. Now I did it without even blinking for a second. In my world, sometimes you don´t even have a second. Myla was catching up, walking beside me now. I felt her looking at me or more precisely at my belt.
"Is there something?" I asked.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." I looked at her.
"Why are you using a sword, considering you're a water bender. A pretty powerful one of you ask me, I´ve seen you training at dawn, it´s always very impressing. It´s the only time I see you, I wouldn´t say happy but perhaps happier than you are most of the time. I mean, you are one of the most skilled persons I know with a katana, but I think you´d be far more powerful using your gift. I´m impressed that you earned your rank by only using your sword and fighting skills in a battle. I know no one ever questions your motive on why you don´t use your bending, it´s just that I always wondered. I´ve always wanted to be a bender, preferably earth, but these abilities are rare, making those persons more special than others."
I didn´t expect this question. She´s right, no one ever questioned my reasons, nor about anything else out of fear and respect. I don´t even think that everyone knows that I´m a water bender. The only one that questioned me was our leader and I had to endure a lot due to this. But my motives for not doing so were stronger than anything he did to me and I swore myself to prove him to let me use my katana. Which I obviously did. In return for his willingness I had to promise him something else. Something dark.
I signed. "I´ll tell you something no one knows and is never allowed to know, understood?" She nodded.
"Water represents purity and fertility. In many contexts, it is viewed as the source of life itself, considering that in many creation myths life emerges from water. Also, we living beings are all made of water."
"I still don´t get it, why does no one have to know about that? It still doesn´t explain why you´re not using your ability." She looked at me, even more confused than before.
I gave her a quick and small smile and signed again.
"It´s just that, I don´t want something this pure associated with the missions we do and the lifestyle we have. And it reminds me a lot of my past which makes me sad. Every time I bend water, I think about them…"
She looked at me, a sad expression on her face. "You mean your friends?"
I looked down. "They´re probably not my friends anymore. But yeah, I mean them. It´s funny because I didn´t always know that I´m a water bender. I think I found out when I was 14."
Flashback – many years ago (Tikal was not part of the Team back then)
No one´s POV
After defeating, once again, Dr. Eggman and his intention to build his Eggman Empire, by creating another death egg robot, the Sonic Team decided to take a vacation and embarked on a cruise. However, the blue hero didn´t really feel this vacation.
1. Because he doesn´t like being surrounded by water
2. Because he is trapped on a ship which limits the field in which he can run
3. Because he hates water
"That´s considered as kidnapping!" Sonic said angrily.
"Come on dude, don´t be such a baby. We just tied your feet and arms while you were sleeping and practically carried you all the way here. You´re pretty heavy, you know that? Cut some chilly dogs out of your diet, would you?" Knuckles said, smirking.
"Why are you forcing me to come anyway?!" Sonic didn´t even react to Knuckles attempt to provoke him. He seemed slightly distressed now that the ship set sail, trapping him for good.
"We´re enjoying your little freak show and we love torturing you, Faker." Shadow and Knuckles fist bumped and laughed at Sonic. Tails was standing behind them, wearing an embarrassed smile on his face. Considering that Sonic is a hero, he´s acting pretty, let´s say unheroic at the moment. Sonic was running in circles and pounding at the same time.
Silver surprised Sonic by lifting him up and throwing him in the nearby pool.
"AAAHHHH HELP I´M DROWNING" Sonic was throwing his hands around and screaming on top of his lungs. After a minute or so, he realized that he was still on the surface and calmed down. That's when he realized he was thrown in the kids´ pool, where all the children and parents looked at him, confused and embarassed.
Sonic´s face was redder than a tomato and the boys behind him couldn´t contain their laughter.
"SILVER I´M GONNA RIP YOUR THROAT OUT." Sonic jumped out of the pool and ran towards Silver. Even if his powers are incredible, his reaction time was not as fast as Sonic´s and he found himself tackled by Sonic quickly.
"Ugghh. Son-ic I c-an´t breath. Gu-guys h-help." Sonic was strangling Silver.
"Sonic, stop before you hurt him!" Tails confronted the blue hedgehog, while the other 2 were laying on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.
"I´m counting to 3 and if you don´t release him I´m gonna hurt you." Sonic looked up, seeing an annoyed Blaze, who´s fist was on fire, standing in front of him. He quickly released Silver and helped him stand up.
"Sorry Bro…" Sonic murmured.
"I´m sorry too." They both started laughing and shock their hands.
Silver, who´s back was turned to Blaze, turned around to thank her. "Hey Blaze, thank…" Before he could finish his sentence, he froze and a blush formed on his face. Blaze was standing in front of him, one hand on her hip and the other one holding a bag, in a black strapless bikini with a high waisted bottom, completing the look with a black maxi-kimono. It perfectly showed off her wide hips and legs.
He was not the only hedgehog that was suddenly silent. Standing behind Blaze were Amy and Rouge. Rouge was wearing a one-piece, Leo printed bathing suit with a deep v-cut, exposing a lot of her bust, with big sunglasses. Amy on the other hand was wearing a red, one shoulder bikini that exposed a lot of cleavage, red high leg bottoms and a red translucent kimono over it.
Damn it Rouge, you´re doing that on purpose to drive me crazy, Shadow thought, after obviously checking Rouge´s body out. She smirked, knowing exactly that it was the reaction she expected from him.
"What´s wrong Shadow, cat got your tongue?" she said in her flirtatious voice. He blushed, not taking his eyes off her.
Sonic on the other hand was fixating the pink hedgehog and blushing madly.
Since when does she have a body like that, is that even possible for a 14-year-old? Did her boobs grow? Sonic was also being obvious of his gaze towards Amy. She felt his gaze on her, blushed and quickly looked away. After realizing that she saw him checking her out, his blush intensified and he quickly looked away as well.
"Stop being so god damn perverts and disrespectful guys, do I have to teach you some manners on how to treat a woman?" Knuckles said, smirking. "You all look lovely girls."
Amy walked towards Knuckles, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Aww thanks Knuckles." she said, smiling at him. Knuckles felt Sonic´s glares on him, obviously showing that he is jealous of the attention she is giving him. However, him and Amy were always very close, he was like a big brother to her, considering that he found her on Angle Island when he was a little boy and she a newborn. He´s been protective of her since then.
"Yeah, thank you Mister Knuckles," said Cream, who wore a beige one piece, while hugging him. Even though Cream was only a child, she accompanied the others on the missions, proving herself countless times that she was useful. She regularly trained with Knuckles and Shadow on her fighting skills and helped Tails out as much as she could. Tails blushed at the sight of Cream.
I knew he had a crush on her, Sonic thought, raising his eyebrows and smirking at Tails.
"Come on guys, let´s explore the ship and enjoy our vacation together," said a cheerful Amy, taking both Knuckles and Creams arms and walking towards the pool. The others followed, all chatting and smiling. Sonic however, remained on his spot, unable to move. Amy noticed this and walked back to check on him.
"Hey Sonic, are you okay?"
"Yeah sure, I´m fine Ames, why are you asking? Everything is perfectly normal." He smiled uneasily, putting his hand on the back of his head and scratching it.
"I know you´re not a fan of this vacation but come on, it´s gonna be so much fun. I promise nothing will happen to you and I´ll stop the guys myself if they try a dirty joke on you, okay?" She smiled genuinely at him and stretched her arm out.
"Thank you, Ames." He smiled back, taking her hand. Both were blushing and made their way to the others.
A few days passed and the Team, even Sonic, was enjoying themselves. The food was amazing, every night there was a party, they explored different islands, all went, expect for Sonic, snorkeling and diving. While the girls were taking a sun bath to work on their tan, the boys would typically play water polo and, due to their competitiveness, disturb other passengers. But in overall, the ambiance was good and everyone enjoyed the company of each other.
Today they explored an island, the most beautiful one so far. The water was turquoise, the sand white and the nature was unique with lots of different plants and animals they had never seen. The island had perfect conditions for surfing due to the wind and big waves. Shadow, Knuckles, Silver, Amy and Blaze tried surfing out while Sonic, Cream, Tails and Rouge were lying on the beach, amused at the failed surfing performance of their fellow friends.
"Come on babe, you gotta try it out," shouted Shadow out of the water.
"No thank you, I don´t want to wet my hair and lose my jewelry in the ocean. Also, I´ve got a pretty nice view from here." She smirked at Shadow, admiring his abs. His hair was flipped back and the way he was holding his surfboard, displaying his muscular arms, was enough to drive Rouge crazy.
"Look at this huge wave guys, this time I´ll make it." Everyone´s attention was on Knuckles who was trying to ride a big wave that was coming. He positioned himself on the surfboard, laying on his stomach, his feet pointing to the wave, and started paddling. He tried standing up, way before the wave came and the whole wave swallowed him. Amy and Blaze, who were sitting on their surfboard near the shore started giggling due to Knuckles failed performance and the guys were laughing loudly. Tails and Cream were too distracted with their card game, they didn´t even notice what happened.
"Not everyone is made for surfing Knuckles," shouted Rouge while laughing.
The wave brought Knuckles near the shore as well. He lost a bit of his temper and shouted. "It´s harder than it looks like so stop laughing. Especially the ones who aren´t even trying!"
The others were still laughing. However, he was right. Shadow, Silver and Blaze tried countless times, without success. The only one who managed to surf the waves was Amy. She succeeded after the first time and left the others shocked.
"Come on guys, it´s not even that hard." She said, sticking her tongue out. Another wave came and she managed to surf it was well. It was like she was taming the water. She even managed to do an Aerial, without falling off her board.
"Show off." Knuckles murmured while gritting his teeth.
The girls were standing in the water, cheering on Amy. Shadow, Silver and Knuckles were sitting on their boards and admired, even envied Amy´s performance.
"That was amazing Miss Amy," Cream shouted, holding her hands in the air and applauding.
"Go hun, show them who´s the boss," said Rouge while holding both hands on her hips.
Sonic was still sitting on his towel, enjoying seeing Amy´s performance and smiling. She´s amazing in everything, he thought.
"Come on Sonic, stay beside us. You´ll get a better look of Amy." Blaze called him, smiling after seeing him blush. "Just put your feet in the water, nothing will happen to you."
He stood up, signing. Carefully, he put his feet in the water and made his way to the others.
Cream looked at him and smiled. "See Mister Sonic, it´s not even that bad." She hugged his arm.
Sonic put his arm around her shoulder and returned her smile. "You´re right Cream, it´s not that bad." They went even deeper in the water, half of their body was submerged now. Cream holds on to Sonic´s arm because the water was too deep for her at this point Yeah right not bad but I can´t show them that I´m freaking out, Sonic thought, having an uneasy facial expression. His expression intensified at the sight he was seeing.
A big wave, similar to the one Knuckles tried to ride, was approaching. Amy wanted to try her luck and started paddling towards the wave. She positioned herself, paddled and as soon as she felt a push she stood up and rode that wave. It was huge and suddenly, Amy was out of sight. It seemed like the wave submerged Amy. The others gasped, until they saw their pink friend, doing the most incredible thing: the ultimate surf trick, tube riding. She was riding the hollow part of the wave and she was fully covered by the curl´s lips. Her knees were bend and one arm was stretched out. It seemed like she was controlling the water. Blaze was frowning, carefully examining Amy´s movements. It can´t be, we would have noticed way sooner, she thought.
Amy felt incredible, not knowing how she did it. She was pretty sure that the wave would swallow her, like Knuckles but when she stretched her right arm out, the hollow appeared. She seized the opportunity and surfed this wave gracefully. After exiting the tube, she saw that the wave was not stopping, nor shrinking and charged towards her friends. Rouge, Blaze, Tails, Silver, Shadow and Knuckles ran out of the water, not wanting to be swallowed by the wave. But strangely, Sonic and Cream stayed in the water. They seemed to struggle with something. The wave approached them dangerously, and considering that Cream and Sonic cannot swim properly, everyone freaked out.
"Sonic, Cream, get out of the water now!" screamed an anxious Tails.
"Stop playing around and MOVE!" shouted Knuckles, mainly worrying about Cream because the wave would certainly hold her down the water.
"I can´t pull her out, her foot is stuck in something!" Sonic tried desperately to pull Cream out, but it seems like seaweed wrapped around her feel, not breaking regardless of Sonic´s attempts to pull her out.
"Mister Sonic, I´m scared." Cream started crying, desperately trying to free her feet.
"It´s okay Cream, I´m here. I´ll get us out." He gave her a reassured smile and continued pulling, until she was free. He hold on to her like her life was depending on it and tried to get out of the water. But it was too late, the wave was already in front of them, ready to submerge them. He held Cream even tighter and closed his eyes, fearing about what would come next. Rouge and Blaze gasped, running towards the water but Knuckles and Shadow held them back. Silver was about to use his power to pull them out of the water.
"SONIC, CREAM." Amy, who still standing on her surfboard, reached her arm out to them.
Suddenly, seconds before the wave hit Sonic and Cream, it stopped. The wave curl, which was above Sonic´s head regressed and the ocean was suddenly calm again. Sonic quickly carried Cream out of the water and hugged her tightly, whispering comforting words in her ears.
"It´s fine Cream, we´re save now." He reached the beach and put Cream down who was till crying. Rouge and Tails rushed to her. She held her in her arms and Tails was stroking her back. Amy swam back to shore as fast as she could, wanting to check up on her friends.
"Good Job Silver, you acted fast." Shadow complimented him. He and Knuckles made their way to Sonic and Cream, leaving Silver and Blaze behind.
"But I didn´t do anything!" Silver shouted. The other seemed unbothered, but Blaze looked at him, with the same frown on her face as before. However, Knuckles was wearing the same frown as Blaze and looked at Silver while walking away.
"I think I know who did it." She said, looking at Amy who just came out of the water, running towards Cream and Sonic. She hugged Sonic and you could hear her say how worried she was and how thankful she is that he stayed with Cream, trying to protect her. His blush couldn´t be overlooked.
Silver looked at Blaze. "But that would mean…"
"I know what it would mean Silver. But after seeing ride that big wave who would have swallowed her and now this, I´m pretty sure about it." Blaze looked sure of herself and couldn´t stop observing Amy.
"We´ll have to look further into this." Silver and Blaze nodded and made their way to their friends.
"If I hear one more person telling me that water in not dangerous I´ll literally lose my shit. Never force me to go near water again, do you hear me!" Sonic shouted.
"T-thank you, M-mister Sonic. You´re my hero." Cream said, still hugging Rouge.
He made his way towards her and caressed her head. "You´re welcome Cream." He gave her a big smile and a thump up and she started laughing again.
"Come on guys, let´s go back to the ship before something else happens." Sonic suggested and everyone nodded. They walked back, Blaze and Silver walking behind the whole group, whispering.
I wonder what´s up with those two, Amy thought, looking back. She shrugged and walked closely to Sonic, talking to him.
A few days after this incident passed and the Team was slowly reaching the end of their vacation. The ship currently sailed back home. There had been no alerts of Eggman the whole 10 days they were gone. It seems like he was taking a vacation as well.
Blaze´s POV
Silver and I were walking in the ship, talking. After conducting online research and talking, we were both sure of one thing: Amy is a water bender, without knowing it. Strangely, no one seemed to notice until now.
"I can´t believe it, why didn´t we notice it until now? There must have been some situations before." Silver said.
"I don´t know, there´s never been a situation similar to yesterday. But it has to be it. Maybe it´s normal that your power manifest when your older, especially when you don´t know about them. I mean, we don´t know anything about Amy´s background because she was found on Angle Island when she was younger." Blaze looked down, thinking about something.
"Don´t you think that her birth parents left her something, or a note at least? We´ll have to ask Knuckles." She said, determined.
"Come on then, let´s go."
We made our way to Knuckles room, hoping he would be in here. I knocked, but no one answered.
"He´s not here, let´s look somewhere else." Before I turned my back, Silver opened his door with his powers and entered. I was shocked and heard Knuckles shouting.
"SILVER what the hell? Ever heard of privacy?!"
I entered the room and regrated it immediately. Knuckles was just getting out of the bathtub, and his towel was not wrapped around him. It was just hiding his… yeah you know what I mean. But suddenly the towel moved a bit, revealing too much for my liking. I blushed madly and turned, closing my eyes.
"Omg I´m so sorry Knuckles! I didn´t know he was going to something this stupid. I swear I didn´t see a thing!"
"Aww come on man, we all know you love showing off your body." Silver chuckled. The thing I heard after that was a loud smack and Silver was flying past me, slamming on the wall.
"See this as a warning. Now, before I ask you what you desperately need from me, get out and let me get decent. I´ll meet you outside."
He practically dragged me and Silver outside and slammed the door. I was still blushing and Silver was laughing madly.
"That´s not funny! Why did you do that?" I frowned. That´s typically Silver and his childish behavior.
"I found it hilarious. Plus, I love seeing you blush." He smirked, looking at me. My face reddened even more.
"I don´t know what you´re talking about." I held my right hand on my right cheek and turned my face away. Suddenly, he grabbed my face with one hand and turned it towards his. His face was close to mine… Maybe too close. I think my whole face was red now.
"I think you know exactly what I mean." He sounded serious and seductive and looked deep in her eyes.
"Ahem. I´d love to disturb your moment of privacy like you did to me. So, what´s up with you 2 and what do you want?"
We both quickly took a step back. I immediately looked at Knuckles and tried distracting myself from Silver.
"Ehm yeah, we should probably go somewhere else to talk. I suggest going to one of the living spaces near your room."
"Sounds good to me." Knuckles started walking in the right direction and me and Silver followed, not looking at each other once. We walked for about 3 minutes and sat down on the seats. Thankfully, the space was empty, giving us the privacy we need. I came straight to the point.
"Basically it´s about Amy." He looked confused on why we would question him on Amy, especially behind her back. He nodded, signaling that I should start explaining.
"Silver and I suspect something about her and an ability she might possess, without knowing it. Because you are the one who found her when she was a baby, we wanted to ask you if there wasn´t anything with her, like maybe a letter that would explain her origin?"
He stayed silent. But his mimic was telling me that he knew exactly why we were asking that. However, I decided to let him explain himself before jumping to conclusions. He finally talked.
"Why are you bringing this up? If there had been something, I would have informed her. However, it was a long time ago and I was only 6 years old so you can´t blame me for not remembering a thing of that day. I found her on Angle Island and I swore to protect her, that´s it." He seemed to be defensive. He´s hiding something.
"You spend the most time with her in her childhood. You never noticed something extra ordinary about her over the years?" Silver asked. He leaned back in his seat, waiting for an answer.
Knuckles seemed to hold back his anger now. He stood up, with a piercing gaze. "Okay now listen to me. I don´t know where you´re getting at but learn to not poke your nose in others´ businesses. Understood?" He walked away, not giving us a chance to further talk with him. When he was out of sight, Silver started talking again.
"He´s obviously hiding something."
"I agree, I think he knows what we´re talking about. But why hiding it from Amy for all those years."
"I don´t know," he said.
"It doesn´t look like we´re about to find out." I signed, leaned back on my seat. I felt Silver´s hand on mine. He squeezed it and gave me a reassuring smile.
"Don´t worry Blaze, we´ll find out eventually. Maybe we should talk to Amy about it."
I smiled back. "You´re probably right." We stayed like that for a bit, hand in hand, before making out way to Amy.
No one´s POV
Knuckles was walking away, frustrated.
I knew they saw it. I just hoped that they wouldn´t further question it. What am I talking about, it´s Blaze and Silver. Of course they would further investigate on it, both possess extra ordinary abilities as well. But I have to protect her. Not even her can find out. He was the only one on deck due to the rain. He did that on purpose because we wanted to remain alone to think. Or so he thought.
"How the hell could I possibly tell her about the way I found her. A child, wrapped in a blue blanket and both of her parents, dead beside her." Knuckles started thinking out loud, immediately regrating it.
"What?"
He turned around, seeing Amy standing behind him in the rain, looking shocked. She obviously saw him walking on deck and worried about him. She decided to follow him.
"What did you say?" A frown formed on her face. Her voice was stern and her eyes fixated Knuckles.
It seemed like Blaze and Silver heard him as well, they were in the opposite direction of him. Both were silent.
"Amy…" Knuckles was lost for words, he simply starred at her with an apologetic look on his face. "I didn´t mean for you to hear…"
She interrupted him. "Hear what? The fact that you knew all along that my parents were DEAD?!" She slowly started losing her temper. Her voice, as well as her body was trembling. It started becoming extremely cold and the others felt it. "Why didn´t you tell me?!"
So that´s what he was hiding and why he didn´t want to talk about it. Poor Amy! Why would he hide that though… Knowing Knuckles and how much he loves her, he must have had a good reason, Blaze though, looking at her friend with a sad expression. She just wanted to hug her and tell her that everything is going to be okay.
"Amy, this must be shocking for you but you have to listen to me. Try controlling your emotions before they take upper hand. It could end up badly because…" Blaze tried explaining but Amy cut her off.
"Shut up Blaze! That´s none of your business!" Amy sounded even angrier than before, balling her hand into a tight fist. Knuckles looked at Blaze and Silver, knowing exactly was what about to happen due to the sudden cold. He looked back to Amy, seeing that the ground under her froze, which spread behind her, down to the side of the ship to finally reach the ocean. Suddenly, the ship stopped moving. From another perspective, you could see that the whole side of the ship was frozen, as well as a good part of the ocean around it. This was the reason why the ship stopped. Other passengers, among them the Sonic Team, noticed and rushed on deck. Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Rouge and Cream saw the ice around an angry looking Amy, Knuckles in front of her who looked concerned and Blaze and Silver behind Knuckles who feared the worst.
"What´s going on here?!" Sonic asked, as he approached Blaze and Silver. "Why is it so cold suddenly and why is there ice around Amy?"
Before any of them could answer, they heard Amy shouting again.
"You haven´t answered my question. Why didn´t you tell me Knuckles?! Why did you keep a secret?" She sounded even angrier and more ice formed around her. The others were shocked after seeing that the rain around them stopped. The rain drops stayed on their spot.
You could faintly hear Shadow say, "What the hell." Everyone was shocked and confused.
"I simply couldn´t tell you Amy. I did it to protect you! Please Amy, calm down and let me explain. Don´t let your emotions take over!" Knuckles desperately tried to reason her, which seemed to make her even angrier.
She laughed, but not a usual cheery laugh but rather a dry one. "To protect me? You´re not serious right." She looked down, tears streaming down her face. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably at this point. The whole ground started to freeze due to the rain, trapping the others on their spot. No one could move. Sonic desperately tried to reach Amy, but even he couldn´t. They observed as the rain drops started to freeze into ice.
She looked up, straight in Knuckles eyes.
"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME? I TRUSTED YOU! YOU KNEW HOW MUCH I WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MY ORIGIN, MY PARENTS." The rain drops formed into ice spears now. Everyone was scared at this point and they tried calling for Amy to calm down.
"AMY, you have to calm down!" shouted Silver.
"What is happening, I´m scared." Cream looked shocked. Amy was like a big sister to her and she´s never seen her this angry before. Tails reached for her hand and held it, in order to comfort her. The others tried calling for her, but it seemed like she heard no one.
"YOU KNEW HOW I FELT, THINKING THAT I WAS ABANDONED. YOU KNEW THAT I CRIED COUNTLESS NIGHTS, LONGING FOR LOVE AND ANSWERS. YOU KNEW BECAUSE YOU WERE THERE! EVERY TIME YOU COMFORTED ME IN OUR YOUTH, UP TO NOW. YOU KNEW ALL ALONG AND YOU DIDN´T TELL ME! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I HATE YOU!"
She cried, letting all her emotions – anger, frustration, betrayal, sadness - out by screaming and falling on her knees. Unwillingly, the ice spears started to charge towards the others, uncontrollably. She continued crying on her knees, horrified about what she did. She was about to impale all her friends. "NO," she screamed.
Because of this unexpected event, everyone screamed, fearing that it would be the last thing they did. Blaze quickly reacted and created a powerful fire blast that immediately melted the ice spears. Even the ground was not frozen anymore. No one was harmed.
Amy was still on her knees. "W-what did I d-do?" She looked at her hands, shaking uncontrollably. She started losing balance. Knuckles and Sonic rushed to her side and before her head hit the ground, Sonic caught her.
She looked up. "Sonic?" she said faintly before losing consciousness.
Amy´s POV
Where am I? What happened? Why is everything dark?
I felt something soft under me. Am I in a bed? Wasn´t I on a ship a moment ago? And then I remembered what happened. Knuckles, the ship, ice everywhere, the ice spears. My eyes shot open and I immediately tried to sit up. I looked around me, I was in my room at the base. My friends were all around me, obviously waiting for me to wake up. They all looked worried. On the side of my bed was Sonic, holding my hand.
"Ames you´re finally awake! Please be careful while sitting up, you´ve been knocked out for hours now." I looked at him, then at his hand on mine and immediately pulled my hand near my body.
"Don´t come near me! I don´t want to hurt you!" I crawled back in my bed as much as possible. I was scared. Not of the others, but of myself. What have I done?
Rouge stood up, slowly approaching me. "Hun it´s okay. You´re fine, everyone´s fine. We´re back home now. How do you feel?"
Blaze was next to, approaching me slowly as well. "Do you remember what happened?" Both looked worried and I feel like they wanted to hug me.
"D-don´t come near me! I don´t want to hurt you!" This felt like a nightmare. I just wanted to be invisible in this moment.
"Come on guys, let´s give her some privacy." Shadow stood up, suggesting that to everyone. Tails, Rouge, Blaze nodded. Shadow turned to me and said, "I´m glad you´re okay Rose."
Cream walked towards me with a tray in her hands. "I brought you some soup and a cup of tea to recover. I hope you´ll feel better soon Amy." I looked at her and tried to smile, thanking her.
"Wait guys!" They all looked at me before exiting the room. "I´m sorry for what I did. I-I don´t know how but it was never my intention to hurt anyone." I looked down, feeling ashamed that I almost hurt my friends.
"We know Amy, don´t worry about that. Recover fast!" Tails said, giving me a genuine smile.
The only ones remaining in the room were Sonic and Knuckles. I couldn´t face both.
I know Knuckles. He would never do a thing to purposely hurt me. He had a good reason to keep that from me for 14 years. I have to talk to him.
I looked at Sonic. "Do you mind giving me and Knuckles some privacy." He nodded and smiled at me, caressing my cheek carefully.
Now it was only me and Knuckles left.
"Amy I…" he started talking but I interrupted him by raising my hand. I looked at him, stretched my arms out with tears in my eyes. I just wanted a hug from him. They always comforted me. He understood. Without saying anything, he stood up, laid beside me and took me in his arms. He stroked my back while I was crying in his chest. We were both silent for a long time before I started talking.
"What is happening to me Knuckles?"
"I know I shouldn´t have hidden you the truth. It´s just, you´re like my little sister. And you´re still so young, I didn´t have the courage to tell you that. I just wanted to protect you from the truth."
"I know that Knuckles. I´m so sorry about my outburst, I didn´t mean any of the things I said to you." He kissed my forehead.
"I know Amy." He sat up straight. "Are you ready to hear what I´m about to say?"
I nodded, listening carefully.
"You see, one day on Angle Island, while I was doing my daily patrol on the boarder of the island, more precisely near the waterfall, I saw two persons, brutally beaten. One way lying, the other one was barely standing. They were both wearing a white cape with a blue water symbol on it. I rushed to them, seeing that the woman, a light pink hedgehog, was not breathing anymore. She had a deep cut in her torso. T-There was so much blood around her a-and her eyes were still open." He remained silent for a second to recompose himself. "The man, a brown hedgehog, next to her was looking at me, holding something in his arms – a blue blanket with a pink hedgehog in it. He stretched his arms out, indicating that I take the baby from his arms, which I did. He immediately fell on his knees. It seemed like the only thing that was giving him strength was the baby in his arms. He talked to me. "Please son, take care of my daughter, Amelia. Dangerous people are after her. She must never know about her origin, nor her powers. Not until she´s ready. Promise me." I nodded. Before I could ask him any question, he bended water from the waterfall, wrapping the woman and himself in it, and submerged in the water. I saw both falling off the waterfall. I didn´t know who they were or what happened to them. Also, I didn´t really understand what happened because I was so young. But I made a promise and I intended to keep it. That´s why I didn´t tell you. And that´s why I´ve always been protective of you. I´ve never wanted you to feel the same pain as I did after seeing my parents die. I wanted to take this burden away from you."
He was silent again and I could see a single tear streaming down his face. This time, I hugged him tightly. I completely forgot that we went through a lot as well. We stayed like that, holding each other and feeling each other's pain.
End of flashback
Amy´s POV
After telling her my story, I froze. "Dangerous people are after her." Could this mean… No, it has to be a coincidence. I quickly shock those thoughts out of my head. It seems like Myla didn´t notice anything.
"And that´s how I found out that I am a water bender. After this, I studied every book I found about water benders and learned a lot. About the moon and how it fuels my powers, the spirituality behind water bending, as well as the importance of emotions. You have to control your emotions, or else your bending becomes uncontrollably which is dangerous for yourself and others."
Myla looked astonished. "Wow, what an interesting story! It´s also the first time you´ve been telling me about your past. Thank you." She looked at me and smiled and I smiled back.
We continued to walk in silent for some minutes until she started talking again.
"You know, you said that water represents life and purity. This made me think because, if you look at the ocean, water can be dangerous as well. All those storms, people drowning, the unexplored nature of the ocean, evil water creatures lurking in the depts of the ocean. Water represents death as well. How interesting! Life and Death. Also, you said that living beings are made out water, does that mean that…"
"I recommend not finishing that sentence if I were you," I said, sinisterly. If looks could kill, she´d be dead by now. I looked her in the eyes, with an expression that obviously scared her. She nodded and remained silent until we arrived at our destination.
"We´re here." She said.
I slowly reached for my katana. "Let´s get this over with."
