Hello everyone, welcome to another chapter! There is a small mention of rape in this chapter, but there is no graphicness. Again, if you would like me to mention a specific trigger, please PM me! The next few chapters might get a little rough!
Amy sat on one of the blankets that had been laid out across the grass. Her back bones creaked and cracked as she sprawled across the soft fabric. She had worked a twelve-hour shift that day after her manager asked her to stay longer. Needless to say, she was exhausted.
The midsummer's warmness meshed horribly with the slightly cooled wind, making her skin prickle with goosebumps. Everyone else was there alongside her, also finding themselves on a mess of blanketed grass. A blank screen was draped against the tall side of Sonic's house, yet to see the colors of the movie they hadn't yet chosen.
The loud arguing, mostly from Rouge and Knuckles, of what movie to watch slowly became mixed into a soft grumble as Amy dozed off. Soon all of her friends had turned around and pulled out their phones, eager to get in a few quick pictures of the funny sleeping position that Amy found herself in. After deciding on an action movie that would undoubtedly be loud enough to wake the sleeping teen, Sonic offered to bring her inside to lie on the couch.
He scooped her up in his arms, trying his best not to wake her. He shrugged off the ooohs and awws of his friends as he carried her in. The pair had been getting closer at this point, the only thing keeping them apart was the looming college coursework during the school season. That and Sonic's own internal doubts.
The weight of Amy dragged him forward, making his movements jerky and inconsistent. When he reached the door, she had woken up but kept her eyes closed. She took in a deep breath, breathing in the soft fragrance of her friend, and instinctively nuzzled her cheek into his chest. She felt his chest raise when he let out a silent laugh.
He set her down on the couch and she snuggled up to the nearest pillow, her eyes closed the entirety of the transition. When she didn't hear him pull away back towards the door, she allowed one of her eyes to peek open, and a small smile began to form on her lips. A little squeak escaped her mouth when she realized that his bright green eyes were inches away from her own.
Sonic's breath ran through the soft hairs on her face as he spoke, "I knew you weren't sleeping."
The smile widened to a toothy grin as she stretched, "I was at first! Man, but I was doing so good! How did you know?"
"Well, snuggling into my chest when I picked you up tipped me off a bit," He spoke softly through a light laugh. "And there have been plenty of times where we have all hung out and you have fallen asleep, and you only sleep on your left side. Plus you snore; a little too loudly if you ask me!"
She laughed and threw the pillow at him, "I do not snore!"
Sonic reached up and caught the pillow before it reached his head, "I would ask you to get back out there and watch the movie with us, but you're just going to fall asleep again. Get some sleep, Ames, I'll wake you up when it's time to go."
"Okay, goodnight, Sonic."
"Goodnight, Amy."
Amy dozed off again. She woke up the following day in his bed. He had taken the couch.
Amy felt a firm hand grip her own, releasing the tightness after a few seconds, but still resting there.
"You might be able to hear me, you might not, but I'm sorry that this happened to you." Amy felt Sonic grab her hand, "I am sorry that I wasn't there, I tried for a long time to find you. I never wanted to stop looking. I just had nowhere to start. I-"
There was a knock on the door. Light footsteps followed the sound of the sliding door opening. Another hand came down on Amy's arm.
"How's she doing? Has Cream come in yet?" It was Tails.
Amy felt Sonic's hand leave hers as he let out a sigh, "They don't know when she'll wake up. She might not remember… Cream saw her when she was being brought in, I don't think she could stomach this right now. She just went down to grab some food, but she's been outside the door the whole time."
"That might be for the best," the fox said, "I'm sure it was very traumatic for Amy. Look at her. I mean, four years. That's a long time."
"Traumatic." Sonic spat out, "Tails, she was raped. They said that she was assaulted over one hundred times over the four years. Look at her, she has scars and cuts all over her face. Her wrists were bound in chains for four years. She lost four years of her life. She most likely won't be able to have kids. She might not even remember us."
Amy felt a tear drip down her cheek, and a hand came up to greet it.
"Sonic, is this about what happened to Amy or what happened after she was taken?" Tails asked in a genuine voice. Tails sounded older than when Amy was taken. The small influx in his voice at times indicated that he was still going through puberty, she wondered what he looked like now.
Amy heard a chair slide across the floor, "I looked for two and a half years, Tails. Thirty months of non-stop searching and finding nothing. How was I supposed to know that it was some random guy?"
Sonic's tone was hard. Amy realized that his voice sounded lower, more aged. She hadn't thought about how this had affected more than just her.
Sonic had been occupying the couch for what seemed like an hour, though could have been just mere minutes. Tails hasn't left her side, his hand still clammy against her arm. Amy was listening to the news station on the TV. So much has happened in the four years that she was trapped, it seemed like she was in a different world.
She heard the door creak open. A breeze rushed in and met her skin. She breathed in. This place was almost as bad as the hell she spent four years in. Almost. Much better treatment, but it was still dark to her, and just as stuffy.
Two pairs of feet shuffled in and stopped by her bedside. Not a word was said. She could hear crying while the other body continued to where Sonic lay.
"Sonic, wake up. I brought some ice cream."
Amy relaxed at hearing her old friend. Rouge was more grown, however, and Amy could hear it in her voice.
"Thanks, Rouge," Sonic said. "I'm glad you finally joined us, Cream."
"I don't know, Rouge", Amy said to the bat, who was notably more comfortable in her own skin, "I feel like it may be too much for a first date."
The three ladies were shopping for a dress for the date Amy set up for the next night. Rouge had picked out a slew of dresses for Amy to wear, most either too revealing or too tight for Amy's comfort. Cream on the other hand was looking for the "goldilocks of all dresses", as she put it.
"Amy," she replied, "you're nineteen. You need to show your stuff, if you know what I mean."
Amy giggled, "Rouge, even if I had... stuff to show, I'm not sure this is the dress to show it off in. Plus, Sonic wouldn't care what I wore even if I showed up in sweats; he's a gentleman and will probably like whatever I have to put on."
"Hey Ames, wait here while I bust some bots and then run off right after," Rouge mocked the blue hedgehog. "If he were such a gentleman then he would be the one to make the date plans."
Rouge's voice was smooth and low, the twenty-one-year-old was the epitome of "eye candy for men". Low-cut shirts, crop tops, tight pants, she had it all. Amy, on the other hand, was more conserved, not wanting certain parts of her to fall out of her attire.
"That was a long time ago, we were young and he was shy!"
The dress she currently had on was a strapless, black cocktail dress. Amy turned in the room, checking herself in the mirror. She could almost see the bottom of her rear, a tiny bit of left cheek poked out, even after she attempted to pull the back down. She shook her head at the bat, and Rouge handed her the next one to try on, another cocktail dress, this one a bright blue.
Cream came bolting into the dressing room. Seemingly out of breath, she held a gorgeous dress that immediately drew Amy's attention. Setting down the one in her hand, she grabbed the one that Cream had rushed to find.
The dress was long and red, sparkling like the sun on snow. She knew it was the one when she walked out of the changing area and saw Rouge's expression.
"Hun," she said, "you look better than any jewel I've ever seen."
"Hey, girlie," Rouge whispered. She put her hand on Amy's, "Long time no see. I've missed my gossip buddy." She heard a small laugh escape the bat's mouth. Rouge never was super fond of sad emotions. Suddenly there was pressure on Amy's chest, and she felt her body lift a bit. Rouge's chest heaved against Amy's in a great sob, "I missed you so much."
"Rouge don't hurt her!" Cream cried. Amy had only heard her talk this once, and she sounded like she had just been drowned. Nose stuffed, throat groggy. Cream was like her little sister, Amy couldn't imagine how much pain the bunny was in seeing her friend half dead in a hospital.
A sniffle came from Rouge as she pulled away, and Amy's face was caressed, "I have so much to tell you. Oh- you look like a mess. What did that devil do? The last time I saw you, you were just a kid. Now look at you, all grown up. The last time I saw you, you were nineteen, and we had just gone to see a movie and you laughed so hard that your popcorn spilled all down your shirt and then you choked. You got us kicked out and we waited in the bathroom until the next showtime. We snuck in and watched the rest of the movie."
Faintly in the background, Amy could hear whispers of Tails and Cream.
"When will she wake up?"
"The doctors don't know, Cream. Look at her, if this is how she looks after being cleaned up, imagine her when she was first found."
"I'd rather not."
Rouge took a long breath, trying to keep up with her words, "Nothing has been the same without you. You have to wake up soon, I never got to say goodbye, like properly say goodbye. I need to tell you that I love you. You're my best friend, Amy, I thought I had lost you forever."
"Tails," Sonic said from across the room, "I could go for some hospital cookies to shove this ice cream between, let's give the girls some space."
Amy heard the door creak open and closed again, leaving just the three in the room together.
Amy felt Rouge cover up her body with the bed blanket that was draped on her legs, "Cream come sit with us, it's gonna be okay."
A chair slid across the floor and the side of the mattress dipped down a bit when Cream grabbed the edge, "I-"
Her voice split into a sob, and Rouge took over with adult-like authority, "Shh Cream, you don't have to say anything. I mean, we don't even know if she can hear us."
"I hope she can, there's so much I want to say and tell her," Cream paused to sniffle, "I'm a big sister now, Amy. Mom and Vector, they actually make a great pair."
"Knuckles finally popped the question," Rouge spoke softly, as if not to wake Amy, "Turns out he has pretty good taste in rocks, who'd have thought."
"We graduated, Tails and I. He went to a big-name uni, I'm just in Community College."
"Hey now," the bat interjected, "Don't sell yourself short, top of the class in the culinary department. Just because your boyfriend went off-"
"He's not my boyfriend, you know that it's not the right time for all that right now," Cream sounded flustered. I knew they both liked each other, Amy thought. Obviously.
"There is no such thing as the right time, just make it the right time yourselves."
"Sonic and Sally moved in together," the words fell out of Cream's mouth, and she heard a small gasp come from Rouge's lips.
Who is Sally? Amy's heart melted away and left her chest feeling hollow. I guess that's what Eggman was talking about when he said Sonic moved on.
"We don't need to talk about that right now," Rouge hissed, quiet but sharp, her words like daggers toward Cream.
The door swung open again and the boys came in once more, "We didn't know what you gals wanted, so we got one cookie of each flavor."