A/N: HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (throws turkey-shaped confetti)

To anyone who is still sticking by us after my (azngirlchibi's) little absence... THANK YOU SO MUCH! I'm so glad that some of you are still reading. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Enjoy the chapter!

Dedicated to Marianne

"So it didn't matter to me that we were surrounded by our extraordinarily dangerous enemies. As the clock began to toll out the hour, vibrating under the soles of my sluggish feet, I knew I was too late – and I was glad something bloodthirsty waited in the wings. For in failing at this, I forfeited any desire to live."

- Bella from "New Moon."

'Damn, damn, damn it all!'

Sonic felt a low, harsh growl work it's way up his throat and thrashed again against the chains holding him tightly. But far from getting looser, they seemed to grow even tighter, biting deeply into his arms.

He heard a whimper, and the growl stopped before it could escape him. He sighed instead, guiltily, and forced himself to relax his body. He whispered hoarsely, for the umpteenth time – "It's okay, Nathan, Naomi. I'll get you out of this…"

The whimpering grew even louder. He forced himself to twist his head around to stare at two pairs of frightened eyes. He growled again as the two hedgehogs clung to each other, their hands rigid on each others arms. "S-Sonic…" Naomi whispered, before a small sob escaped her. "S-scared…" She sniffed and shifted closer to Nathaniel, holding onto him with all her strength.

Instinctively, he tried to reach out his arms to touch them, but the cold, iron chains held them securely against his sides. Even if he weren't tied up, he couldn't reach them anyway. His captors had thrown them in a small cage, where they were cramped together with barely enough room to breathe.

He thrashed again, futilely. He couldn't believe it – Tails, his best friend… he hadn't believed Knuckles at first. How could he betray them? How could he…

"Sonic…"

He whipped around in surprise, quickly hiding the twins behind him.

"Hmph, so you're as… stupid as ever, I see." The red echidna stepped out of the shadowy fringes of the forest they were walking along, his violet orbs flashing in contempt.

Sonic crouched into a defensive stance and pushed the twins even farther behind him. Despite his pushing, they still managed to peek around his legs to look at the new stranger. Nathaniel looked up at him. "Who he?" he asked him, cocking his head to the side as he studied the echidna.

Before Sonic could answer, the echidna pulled a sharp-toothed smile. "I'm Knuckles… I'm one of your… caretakers'…" he deliberately avoided the word, 'parents,' "…friends."

"Oh…" Nathaniel suddenly pulled Naomi closer to him. Naomi stared just as curiously as her brother had.

"Sonic… he's scary," she whispered, tugging onto one of the blue hedgehog's long quills.

Knuckles could hear her. "I'm scary? Now why would Sonic make friends with me if I were scary?"

Sonic glared at him, but it was Nathaniel who answered. "You no friends with Sonic," he said with a rather impressive accusing glare for a child.

The smile on Knuckles suddenly vanished. He looked at Sonic. "I see you taught them some of your… sass." He smirked.

"How did you find us?" Sonic asked, ignoring his comments. He had a suspicion tugging at the corners of his mind… He brushed it away. He wouldn't… he was his best friend.

Knuckles merely kept smiling. He walked closer to him at a leisurely pace. Sonic was rooted to the spot, as if the grass had suddenly anchored him to the ground.

"Hmm… yes, how did I know?" He flashed another smile, but it looked to Sonic like a sneer. "Let me ask you something – How can you expect someone to keep a secret for you when you've tried their heart just once too many times? How…" His voice got lower. "How do you expect someone to help you once they've been betrayed by the very person that they've trusted the most?"

Knuckles's sneer became more pronounced as he watched the comprehension dawn in the hedgehog's eyes.

"You're a fool, Sonic." His voice was low, but it carried clearly to Sonic, as if the trees around him had stopped to stare. "Haven't you realized yet? We're not your friends anymore… We're your worst enemies."

'Your worst enemies… Betrayed… Tails…' Meaningless words spun through Sonic's shell-shocked mind. Tails… had betrayed him? But… he wouldn't… no… He was his best friend…

"Tails…?" he croaked out, and the pain seemed to bury itself deeper into his chest, smashing away the numbness.

Knuckles was now only a few feet away from him. He growled when he said the fox's name. "That's right… no one's on your side anymore, Sonic."

By the time he heard the whoosh of leathery bat wings and the blur of black quills, it was already too late.

He felt a sharp pain in his back, and the last thing he heard was the screams of Nathaniel and Naomi.

The sound of tears plinking against metal bars awoke him from his reminiscence. He felt a fresh surge of anger, as well as guilt. If only he hadn't called… if only he hadn't wanted to hear his voice once… just once…

Had it been so wrong to call though? He shuddered, remembering Tails's last words – 'That's not my problem.'

He looked around him for a moment. The lightning was dim, and it showed a small room with only one door out. He had been thrown to the floor after being chained, but extra metal clamps had been put on his legs, gluing him the floor. He could only writhe hopelessly, making the metal scrap against the cold metal of the floor.

Tails must have built this small prison, Sonic realized with a pang. What had Knuckles done to convince Tails?

The clank of footsteps against metal flooring startled him from his thoughts. He had only a few moments to compose his face into a featureless mask before a figure entered.

Knuckles.

He looked at Sonic once and smirked. "Looks like Shadow overdid it again – I told him only ropes, but he went for chains and cages."

'So Shadow was the one who put the twins in the cage.' He made a mental note to "thank" the black hedgehog later.

Knuckles walked slowly towards him, never releasing Sonic's emerald eyes from his amethyst ones. "Calling Tails was a very stupid thing to do, even for you. What made you do it?"

Sonic silently struggled against his bounds, but decided to keep Knuckles talking. "Just checking up on old friends. What can I say, Knuckles? I do have a social life."

Knuckles's eyes flashed dangerously, but he quickly stifled them. "Hmm… well, unfortunately for you, Tails is on our side."

"Oh, really?" Sonic twisted on of his hand painfully, and with a small "clink," he felt one of his fingers wriggle free. "I was under the impression that no one quite agrees with your way of thinking."

"Oh?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"C'mon, don't tell me you haven't noticed." Another twist of his wrist, and his thumb was free. "If they were really on your side, you would've found us the very day we left." He decided to leave out the parts about bumping into Shadow – several times.

"And if they were really on your side, they wouldn't have tracked you down in the end, would've they?" The echidna snapped back.

Sonic grimaced. His pinky had snagged onto one of the rings of the chains. "I'm not saying they're on my side – just that they're not entirely on yours."

Anger seemed to flow into Knuckles like a balloon. He inflated ominously to twice his size. "They're either on my side or yours. And it's obvious they're on mine," he grounded out between his teeth.

His hand was free! Now if only he could keep Knuckles talking…

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," someone said quietly behind him. Sonic froze immediately, and slowly turned around.

He had always known that Naomi was fragile – "A porcelain doll" was Amy's favourite term for her. But he had never realized how easily Naomi could die right there and then before him. How Shadow could easily slide that silver knife across the little girl's throat and it would be over. How she would be dead without a sound or a scream.

"You have one minute, Sonic," Shadow continued as quietly as before, but somehow capturing his attention much more effectively than Knuckles had. "One minute to tell us where Amy is."

Naomi paled under Shadow's grip. Nathaniel suddenly started screaming behind his bars – how had he taken Naomi out without a struggle from Nathaniel? The little boy beat against the iron holding him back from his sister, but Shadow only had eyes for Sonic as his face struggled between defiance and horror.

"Thirty seconds."

The knife shone blindingly at Sonic's eyes. Naomi was mute with terror, too limp to even struggle. Her throat was deathly white, the colour drained from her skin.

"Ten seconds."

He remembered when Naomi was little, how she had once hung a little too much over the side of the plane and had nearly fallen. Sonic had gone from the wheel and caught her again just in time, and they had all laughed when she started crying. "Don't worry, Naomi," he had said, "We'll take care of you… always…"

"Three."

He remembered another time when he had saved Amy. He remembered how he had beamed up at him and said, with her amazingly beautiful voice, "I wasn't afraid. I knew you were coming for me."

"Two."

He remembered the nightmare he had, the one where he was dying… and how Amy had cried his heart out for him…

"One."

Rouge smiled, breathing in the silence as she looked at the mirror that glittered in the muffled light.

She smiled again, almost dazzling herself with the brilliance of it. She was already looking better. The dark bruises under her eyes had all but disappeared; her figure was again slim and curved in the right places. Her fur was soft and smooth, and she was finally wearing her clothes, not the other way around.

Beautiful.

Perfect.

She smiled another dazzling smile. Even without makeup, she was still something to behold. Her ears perked up tall and straight, as if listening to some unseen sound. And she knew what she was listening to.

Silence.

Happiness.

She slid away from the mirror, and she could almost imagine it groaning in disappointment. 'Don't worry, I'll be right back,' she thought.

She floated – almost danced to the kitchen. She spent a lot of time in the mirror these days. She loved looking at herself - how she was slowly getting better. She counted the days – no, the minutes that flew by. She poured herself a glass of water and drank it all in one fluid motion.

This was what she was supposed to be like. Graceful, an unearthly beauty – vainly so. But what did that matter if others were jealous of whom she was? It didn't matter – it never mattered.

With lithe steps, she walked past the many doors in the hallway, back to her and Knuckles's room where the biggest mirror was. She paused just before walking in. Maybe Ruby would like to join her. Yes, she was in the mood to be with Ruby right now.

She lifted Ruby effortlessly from her cradle in the room across from hers, and carried her back to her room.

"See?" she said to the sleeping baby. "Your mother is beautiful again. Perfect again." She looked in the mirror. It seemed so natural to be holding her now, as if she had been meant to do it from the start. But of course she was – everything was meant to be hers.

"Look, say hello," she said again, tilting the baby to the mirror. Ruby's head lolled forward lifelessly.

This didn't bother Rouge. She merely smiled. "Aww, sweetie, be good to the mirror. It wants to say hi!" She tilted Ruby back so that her head was resting against her chest, then tilted her up again to look at the mirror.

Once again, her head drooped forward.

Rouge frowned now, getting a little annoyed. "Come on, Ruby…" Her teeth were starting to grit in frustration. Why wouldn't Ruby just say "hi?"

No matter how many times she tried to get Ruby to wave at the mirror, or anything at all, she just merely bowed her head forward.

A snarl suddenly ripped through her lips. "Useless baby!" She stormed back to Ruby's room and set her down harder than necessary into the cradle. Ruby just kept sleeping. "Useless baby!" she screamed at it again, before stalking out and slamming the door behind her.

She stomped into her room, where the mirror once again greeted her.

She glared at it, and the mirror glared back.

She tried relaxing her face. The mirror did the same.

She stepped closer. So did the mirror.

She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was graceful. She was everything a woman would want to be. She was the type where any female in her right mind would flinch and look away when she saw her, but gaze longingly back when she thought she wasn't looking, wondering how she could be exactly like her.

And the mirror – it was someone who had managed to replicate her perfectly. From her manners to her clothes… to everything.

But it was one thing she wasn't.

Insane.

A slow grin crept up her lips, and the mirror copied her.

If insanity was the only thing that could make her perfect, then she didn't mind.

Not at all.

'Something's wrong.' She could sense it before Sonic's blazing trail of dust had even crested the hill.

Amy jumped up, worry written on her face. He never ran so fast before, at least, he wouldn't – not with Nathaniel and Naomi. He couldn't carry the both of them on his back, and he wasn't going to risk dropping Naomi.

Her worries intensified as soon as he was in front of her, breathless…

… and without the twins.

She read the one emotion that Sonic had never been able to conceal from her immediately.

Guilt.

She felt her eyes go cold, her figure grow rigid. Her lips shut tightly over her tongue, preventing her from saying anything.

She battled with her voice for a moment, until Sonic spoke.

"Hi."

Her tongue immediately sprang into life. "Where's the twins?"

He looked away, the guilt more intense than ever.

Her eyes went cold again, but it wasn't from worry. "They are okay, aren't they?"

Sonic flinched away from the coolness in her voice. "Of course they are," he mumbled. It sounded like a half-truth.

"Sonic, what happened?" she persisted. She could feel a scream starting to work it's way up from deep in her stomach as her voice jumped up several octaves. "Where's Nathaniel? Where's Naomi?"

"They're… they're…" He looked at her once, then blanched and looked away from her towards the house. "Er… you have a nice home," he said feebly.

"Sonic." Her words came out harsher than she intended, but she didn't stop herself. "If that's the best you can do to try and distract me, then you're turning pitiful."

"Isn't he?" asked a sly voice behind Sonic.

Amy felt the colour drain out of her face. She looked past Sonic. "Knuckles…" her voice was hoarse.

He was the same as ever. At least… she looked harder. At least he didn't used to sound so… different. She never remembered him using that tone of voice before – he was usually hard-headed, and spoke with a sort of gruff kindness.

She looked at Sonic, faint with an emotion she didn't understand. Was this what betrayal felt like? "You… told… them where I was?"

He looked away from her, and she felt a trill of frustration as he refused to meet her eyes.

"Sonic… I…" her voice broke for a second, before she recovered. Her voice was cold again, an icy fire that lashed out at Knuckles. "Get out. Get out of my home!"

Knuckles smiled coolly. "Oh, I will. You'll just have to come with me."

Amy glared. "I'm… not going with you… anywhere." She said each word with as much venom as she could muster.

But to her surprise, Knuckles just rolled his eyes. "Do you really think I'm going to waste all that effort of tracking you down just by leaving now?" He smiled, a sly smile that she could not get used to seeing on Knuckles's face. "Sonic was rather useful in that department though… looks like he's not as loyal as you thought."

Amy glanced at Sonic again. "Did you… Did you really tell them?" She hadn't really believed it, she had just been mad…

"Yes," Sonic answered back, just as coldly as she had asked him. "I told them."

Amy could feel something in her starting to snap. "Why?"

Sonic looked away, then back at her. His face revealed nothing when he said, "You don't deserve me."

Amy snapped. "What?" Her face grew still, as if her heart had stopped beating. Her voice dropped. "What did you just say?"

Sonic went silence again, and she could almost imagine the raging battle going on inside his head. His emerald eyes flashed with barely concealed anxiety, but she didn't care at the moment. 'I don't deserve him?' What was he talking about? Where was this even coming from?

Sonic was cold. "You heard me."

"I… I…" She stuttered. She felt something else inside her snap. Was it her heart or her mind? "How… how could you say that?" She could hear the shaking of her vocal cords, and tried vainly to hide it. "After… after everything we went though… You… you betray… me?" Her voice went faint, ruining the fury that she was supposed to be feeling.

Knuckles cut in. "As heart-breaking as this is, we have to leave now." He looked at Sonic once, and strangely, smiled. "Won't you come quietly, Amy?"

Amy glared. "I might not care about you or Sonic anymore," she spat. "But I'm not dumb. I won't come with you, so you can just take this… this…" she struggled for a word vile enough to describe Sonic. "Just take Sonic and leave! Get out, get out of here!" she screamed at them, shattering her own eardrums.

Knuckles's smile merely grew wider, even as Sonic visibly shuddered. "I was afraid of this. Sonic? Would you like to do the honors?"

Before she could react, she felt Sonic's iron grip on her shoulder.

"What? Sonic?" She was suddenly spun around, and she was nose to nose with the blue hedgehog.

What was he doing? Why was he suddenly so close? What was this disgusting… thing… doing, touching her? She had never felt so revolted before in her entire life, never felt the need to rip away the skin he was touching. She hated him. Loathed him. She wanted him to feel the pain that she was feeling right now!

"Get off of me!" she snarled at him, trying to rip away her arms. She didn't care if she really did rip off her arms, she just wanted to get away from him. Get away and erase every memory of him, every kind word he said, every empty promise he made, every moment that she had ever spent with him. It meant nothing now.

"I won't, Amy," he said calmly, his voice husky.

Her voice broke, and she felt an angry sob rush up her throat. "Just… just let me go Sonic!" She tugged again, his name burning on her lips. "Get off, get off, get off!"

"You have to come with us," he continued, as if she hadn't said anything, holding onto her arms as easily as if she was a rag doll.

"I won't! I hate you, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Was she dreaming it? She saw a flash of hurt shadow his face, and for a second, she could see her own pain reflected in his eyes. For a second, she felt an odd feeling, like that time when Sonic had kissed her. But they were gone as soon as it had come, and anger took over her body again.

She twisted her arm, and she felt all her muscles screaming in agony. "Let me go!"

The next thing she knew, Knuckles had his dangerous spikes lightly pressed against her skull.

"You're coming with us," he whispered in her ear.

She shuddered as his breath snaked down her neck.

And then, there was nothing.

A/N: Thanks for reading Chapter 14 version 3.0. There were two earlier versions of this - I never got through with 1.0, and 2.0 just sucked. You can thank The Queen of Aces for not letting me post it up - otherwise, you'd all probably get a brain tumor for reading it. Snaps for her!

Once again, thanks to the people who have stuck by this story, and for all your wonderful reviews. I'll be thinking about you guys during Thanksgiving dinner (not that I celebrate it... I'm just there for the giant turkey :P)

Thanks for reading!

Anonymous Reviews:

Ciel-Hedgehog: Yay! Snaps for being our only anonymous reviewer! She really is unstable... and now she knows she's insane. ... Wow, I feel sorry for what we've done to her too. OH WELL:P Thanks for the input!

The Queen of Aces

azngirlchibi