Thank you for tuning in. This chapter doesn't have many triggering descriptors in it, mild violence at the end, and mentions of blood and a hospital. I hope you enjoy it!

Amy woke up from being knocked out, only she didn't wake up. Distant voices rang throughout her ears as she lay on the bed, stiff as a board. She could feel everything there, but she couldn't open her eyes, and she couldn't move any parts of her body.

For a moment she had thought she was dead, slowly transitioning into the afterlife. How peaceful, she thought. But as the murmurs turned to voices and came closer, she became conscious of her breathing and realized that she wasn't dead after all. Am I sleeping? Why can't I open my eyes?

A voice pulled all of her focus back into the real world. It was clear, as if she had been submerged underwater all this time and she had finally resurfaced, "Of course, Doc, I would do anything for her."

She felt her body calm down at the ease in his voice. It's been four years, and his voice was deeper, more adult sounding. He's twenty-four now, Amy did the math in her head. She hadn't thought about her own age since she got taken, but she didn't feel twenty-three. She still felt like the helpless nineteen-year-old who was struck down and taken four years ago.

I wonder what he looks like, she thought. I wonder what I look like. Amy imagined herself before the dreadful day; happy, vibrant, full of life and joy. Flashes of her rescue ran through her mind. Her wrists were shredded, blood-stained fur, bones peaking out of her skin from lack of food, and bruises from the abuse she had endured. She had wondered what Sonic and Cream thought of her new body.

Next to her, Amy heard a sloshing sound along with a little metal tink. "Your blood is going to help plenty. It's quite helpful that you are O-negative, Have you ever thought of donating plasma? Your blood could do a lot of help for others."

He does already, Amy thought to herself.

Amy stood in line next to the gym doors. The high school was hosting its annual blood drive, and this was the first time she had ever signed up for it. It was the beginning of her freshman year, and she was always too nervous to do it beforehand. She knew that it was silly of her to be scared. After all, up until that year, she had a hand in helping defeat all of Dr. Eggman's maniacal schemes.

She looked at her phone, seeing all the good luck texts from her girlfriends. They all chose classes together so they could try to see each other more during school. Some classes allowed mixed grades to learn together, most of them electives. While the girls, Amy, a freshman, and Rouge, a junior, took classes like photography and art, the guys, Sonic and Knuckles, both juniors, took classes like shop and weights. While they were all still great friends, they mostly only saw each other during summer breaks and scattered weekends, due to coursework.

Amy sighed to herself. She felt so unprepared for this year. So alone. She wasn't, of course, but she was the only one in the group that didn't have a friend in her grade. Even Tails and Cream were enrolled in middle school together.

Person by person, the line slowly inched its way up to the row of chairs positioned across the gym floor. When the line shrank down, and she was at the front of the line, she froze when the man taking blood called, "Next!"

Amy felt her heart start beating faster, her palms became clammy with fear and anticipation. She stepped toward the chair and stood in front of the guy, "I… uh, I… think I might be having… um, I think I might be having second thoughts."

The fox smiled at her, "That's totally okay. Lots of people get nervous about donating. I'll tell you what, if you want to go sit down for a bit and think it over, you can come back over here and I'll get you all good to go."

Amy smiled and went to go sit against the wall. She plopped down and wrapped her arms around her knees, taking in a deep breath and letting it out. Maybe I shouldn't do this, Amy ran that thought and it's reciprocal through her head over and over, not being able to make a decision.

"Hey, Amy," the pink hedgehog's ears perked up at the sound of her friend's voice as he sat down next to her.

Amy smiled a little smile and replied, "Hey, Sonic. What are you doing here?"

"I just donated, I'm just waiting on that free cookie now, and for Knuckles to suck it up!" his voice ran through Amy's head. Knuckles was in one of the chairs, face as red as his fur, clenching his teeth as the needle entered his arm. She blushed a little bit when she looked up at the blue hedgehog. He plopped down on the floor next to her. While she still had feelings for him, she had spent such a long time chasing after him that it was almost a little embarrassing to talk to him. He seemed to be cool with it though, "You donate yet?"

Amy shook her head and bowed it to her knees, "I chickened out."

Sonic paused, "Well how are you feeling about it now?"

You being here gives me strength to not be a wimp and be embarrassed, she wanted to say. Instead, she said, "I'm still not sure. I am terrified of needles and-"

"What if I go with you?"

"Huh?"

He propped himself back up into a standing position, "It's always easier to do when you have someone there to help distract you! Come on."

Sonic reached out for Amy's hand, which she tentatively accepted. In a quick yank, she was up and they made their way back to the fox's chair. Sonic held her hand while talking to her about some friendly competition that was happening between him and Knuckles. They both walked out of the gym, cookies in hand, giggling and laughing as they walked to their other class.

"You really should get some rest though, after donating blood, and all of the runnings around you have been doing while trying to do mine and my colleagues' jobs all day," the doctor chuckled.

"Believe me," he started, "I trust your judgment over my own when it comes to health, but I won't be able to sleep until she wakes up. It's been four years, four years since I have seen one of my best friends. I'll rest when I know she is alright; when I hear from her that she is alright."

The doctor let out a little sigh and cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, nobody told you. She won't wake up for a while now. Her body was so badly mutilated, she needed time to just focus on healing and nothing else. We had to put her into a medically induced coma."

"You did what?"

At that moment, all Amy could think about was the pseudo-itch on her face and the pain that creased in Sonic's voice. If she was in control of her bodily movements, she knew at that moment that she would have thrown up.

"Shouldn't you have asked her family or friends for consent to do that first?" Sonic demanded.

The doctor flipped through what must have been medical records, "It says here that she has no family, and friends aren't considered liable. We have done what is best for her when she needed it. You need to calm down, Mr. Sonic."

"Calm down?" Amy heard his quills ruffle together, and she pictured him running his hands through them, "I haven't seen her in four years! She was one- is one of my best friends!"

The summers were better for Amy. Almost every day was spent surrounded by her closest friends. Bonfires, movie nights on the projector, eating out at local restaurants, it all seemed perfect.

Amy checked her phone. A text came from one of her old high school teachers whom she had kept in contact with once she went off to college. Amy smiled at the text, everything about that night was going to be perfect.

About two weeks before her kidnapping, Amy had asked Sonic to a restaurant. The two had been getting closer, always hugging goodbyes, sitting closer around their friends, and even snuggling a little bit. She wanted to test the waters and see what Sonic felt was more comfortable for him before doing anything further.

She told him to wear something fancier than his usual garb, but she had no words when he had shown up at her house wearing a jet-black suit and white undershirt. With an equal mindset, Sonic was staring at her in her ruby red dress, his mouth practically agape.

"Are you ready for our date?" He asked.

Amy's heart skipped and raced in her chest. She may have stopped fangirling over him years ago, but she had imagined those words plenty of times. The fact that he had referred to it as a date without her specifically mentioning the word when she asked him to dinner made her giggle childishly, "After all these years, who would have thought? You, me, and a date."

Sonic laughed and offered his arm, "Not me." When Amy rolled her eyes he quickly added, "I'm only kidding! Where are we going anyways?"

"You'll see eventually." They made their way down the sidewalk, Amy's heels clicking as they walked side by side. As usual, some people stopped to say hello and thank them for the great things they have done to save the town's people. It has been four years since they "retired", but the Mobians were forever grateful.

The path split into two ways, one continuing through the town to the park, and the other leading up a hill. The path going up the hill was near a street, and the other side of it housed a garden with a beautiful array of colorful flowers.

They walked up side by side, and Amy picked up the pace. She knew that the night ahead of them would be amazing.

"Slow down, Amy," the blue hedgehog said quickening his pace to keep up with her, "the food will still be there when we get inside!"

She smiled at him and giggled, "Wow, Sonic, it's not like you to go slow!" she grinned.

"Well," he said sheepishly, "this is my first date. Maybe it's best if we do take things slow."

Amy's heart skipped and raced, a first date she thought to herself. This was the perfect place for one, too. The long marble staircase barely sank when the pair stepped on it.

The floating restaurant had vines draping on either side of the entrance, topped off with a bulb designed to mimic Russian architecture. The deep maroon color was emphasized by the navy night sky, freckled with little white stars.

When they got inside, Sonic saw that there was a table in the middle that seemed to glow with pride, a sign propped up that said: "reserved". The whole room was lit only by hanging candles, and there were flower petals scattered under and around the table on the floor. He looked at Amy. She donned a sparkling, red halter-top gown that hugged her body in the back and draped down her front. She had silver pearls around her neck and in the lobe of her ear.

She looked gorgeous.

"Amy," he said dazed, "how are we eating here? Isn't this place for the super-rich?"

She smiled and said sarcastically, "We can just pretend to be rich, Sonic!" When he kept looking around she added, "I actually know the owner. Remember that study hall I had in high school where I wouldn't get anything done? The teacher I had, his wife owns this place."

"Mr. Sculli, right?" Amy nodded, confirming and bringing a smile to his face, "I loved him, he was such a good teacher, I had him for history!"

They sat down.

Amy could hear him take a deep breath, his voice becoming flatter than it was in the previous minute, "Can she hear us?"

If Amy could nod, she would have used all of her energy to tell them that she could, in fact, hear them and their conversation. She could hear them, smell them, feel if they touch her body. But she couldn't move. Instead, she lay there on the bed, crawling in her own skin.

The doctor took a step, sounding closer to Amy as she spoke, "Every patient is different. We have had some people say that it was like taking a short nap, others say that they could hear everything that happened."

Amy wanted to scream. After four years of being trapped, now she has to suffer through it in her own being. Her body was her prison cell.

"Once she wakes up, she will need time to adjust to life now. Her life has been put on pause for the past four years. She might not even remember what had happened during or before her abduction. Whoever is taking care of her needs to be patient with her," the doctor's words were solemn but lacked emotion, like she had done it hundreds of times.

Amy could hear the tone of Sonic's voice change, and she knew that his mouth had opened up to a grin, "I'll be the one looking after her. Sally and I are setting up a room for her back at the house." Amy felt a hand come down easy on her shoulder, "Amy is one of the strongest people I know, she'll remember me, and she'll be out in no time. Right, Ames?"

The strain in his voice had become apparent in his last words. Amy's heart ached for him to feel better.

"Sonic, I can almost assure you that she will need some space after what has happened to her," Amy heard the clicks of the doctor's footsteps fade away, figuring she had left the room.

A whisper blew air against her cheek, "Don't forget me. I promise you'll get better, I'll be there this time, just please don't forget me," his hand rubbed against her cheek, removing a hair from her face, and sending her hurtling into her memories.

The sound of a door handle being turned ricocheted down the steps and through the room. Amy woke up some time ago; she was shackled to a wooden chair, her limbs stiff and her eyes unable to adjust to the darkness of the area. She sported a headache, a constant banging that kept reminding her that she was in pain.

Almost all at once, light flooded into the room, followed by a silhouette of a man, and then the light dimmed. The man who opened the door stepped down the stairs, each one creaking under the pressure. His clothes and skin cast a tall, wide outline against the near-black background.

"Nice to see you again, Pinky," his voice came out almost like venom, as if the man had practiced his whole life spitting out those words in just the right way.

Amy's ears picked up the multitude of echoes bouncing off the wall. The voice cut through the pain in her head, digging into her memories and sending a shiver down her spine. The voice was only somewhat the same, only somewhat familiar, but she only knew one person who ever called her Pinky.

"Eggman?" Amy called out, terror and confusion lining her voice, "It can't be! You- you're dead!"

The familiar throaty chuckles came from the man, only sinking the pit that found itself in Amy's stomach, "Most of you never understood the science, not even your wannabe genius friend," he said. "My passing was intentional, nobody in that blasted prison could ever be smart enough to take me out. But I saw an opportunity, and just made my body fail and die. I had my robots transfer my personality and mentality into this body that I had been working on before being caught."

"What personality?" Amy spat. She pulled her shoulders forward and back, trying to break free of the chains she was in, "And his name is Tails."

"Ah, just as feisty as the annoying blue rodent. Not as strong or fast, though, and not as smart as the fox, which is why I captured you," Amy's heart clenched at his last sentence. She had to find a way out of there. She looked around. The new Eggman turned away from her and grabbed something off the table. She couldn't see it before, but now that the light was shining from the staircase, she could see that the table had a full spread of objects. Phallic objects.

"They're going to find me, then you'll be sent to a prison, locked up in a padded room for the insane, where you belong!"

"I wouldn't bet on it, Brat," Dr. Eggman said matter-of-factly. He brushed the hair out of her face and then grabbed her chin, making her look directly at him, "We aren't even in Mobius anymore. And soon not even you will have the will to fight back."