..Wet.
Drops of water were dripping onto my face like the light pitter-patter of a sprinkling rain. As I started to come to my senses more, I began to hear the hiccups that accompanied a series of heavy sobbing. Then, out of nowhere, someone pressed against my torso with nearly all their weight, wrapping their arms around my neck and cradling my head. Grunting from the pain that caused, my eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was a blurry, gray ceiling. It was dark, but the faint light coming from the hallway granted me enough to be able to see what was around me. I blinked a few times and looked beside my head to see a pink one, and taking in a deep, shallow breath, I caught a whiff of her scent. Amy?
"Amy, it hurts.." I muttered weakly as my eyes fluttered back to a close. I had to fight to stay conscious at this point. She raised up off of me and stayed silent, but when I opened my eyes again, I looked up to see her sitting on her knees, wiping her glistening cheeks with her wrists. Her eyes were pink and puffy as she locked eyes with me, and it was as though time had stopped as she just stared, wide-eyed.
"You.. are Amy, right?" I asked, blinking. Things were still a little blurry and hard to make out.
She started sobbing hard again and buried her face in my chest, being gentle this time. "Of course I'm Amy.."
I attempted to sit up, and she helped me, even though it hurt like heck. "What happened? What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice and breath still trembling as she tried to calm down.
"I was attacked by Omega and-" I stopped as the past day's events raced through my mind. Amy had been missing, but now here she was right in front of me! I turned towards her and took her face in my hands to take a better look at her. "Ames! It's you!" I exclaimed suddenly. She smiled a lopsided smile that caused the butterflies caged within my stomach to become enraged.
"Of course it's me. Who else would I be?"
"There was.." I brought a hand up to hold my head. I was so dizzy. What had even happened, anyway? Omega came and.. I looked down at my torso to see that I was all wrapped up in several layers of bandages. It didn't hurt too much, only when I moved, so that made me think that I had some sort of pain medication in my system. Who would have done that? I looked back up to Amy. "You were being attacked by one of Eggman's robots, and afterwards we went to Tails' workshop. You seemed pretty normal, and then we went outside and.." I paused. Tell her about the kiss? No way. "..Suddenly, you just turned into someone else."
She raised a brow. "Someone else? Huh?"
"Yeah. It was a purple dog wearing a black suit. I don't know how long she had been.." I trailed off as her expression slowly changed from confused to heavily ticked. "..and.. woah, are you okay?"
"No, no I'm not." She replied flatly. "What all did she do?"
"Nothing really, just act like you. I don't know how long she had been masquerading as you. Er, how long have you been here, and where exactly are we?"
"We're in that girl's underwater base, and I've been here for about five or six days, right here in this jail-like cell." She said sadly, her gaze drifting to the floor. "They told me I was going to have a visitor, and next thing I knew, they tossed you in here. I thought.." Fresh tears came to her eyes. "I thought you were dead.. you weren't responding at all. I was so worried!"
I smiled and rubbed her head with my hand. "I'm not dead. I don't think." I tried to joke lightly, but she wouldn't budge. Her expression was as serious an expression I had ever seen on her face.
She averted her gaze for a moment, then looked back up at me. "I've been getting threatening letters in the mail for the past few weeks. Well, before I came here. Saying things like I should stay away from you. That I should stay away from my friend at work. And just stupid lies about you.."
"Stupid lies?" My smiled faded and I raised a brow in questioning. "Why didn't you tell me? Who were they from?"
"I was threatened that if I told you about them, I would, and I quote, 'meet my fate early.'" She downcast her gaze. "I didn't know who they were from, because there was no return address. I thought it was just someone who was obsessed with you or something, but now I know that it came from the people who are holding me here. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry.." Her voice faded, and she looked away, adding in a much softer tone, "Why would you care, anyway?"
"Of course I would care! You're my friend, Amy. And anyways, it's my job."
She stopped. "Your job?" She asked with a sting of pain in her voice.
"Yeah, my jo-" Crap. "I mean, to protect people. Er, my friends. To protect my friends! And you're my friend, Amy. So we're friends." I was rambling. Of course I would ramble if I was nervous and didn't have a place to run to. Forced to sit here with her, one wrong move and she would pelt me with her hammer. She was feisty. Hurt or not, she would hit me. If she even had her hammer..
"So.. you don't care?" Her voice was small and pitiful. I sweatdropped.
How could I not care about you! I wanted so badly to shout. My mouth wouldn't obey my mind, however, and I only started to stutter, then stop myself, having no clue what I was even trying to say. She only sighed in response. "So, you couldn't tell that anything was wrong with me?" She asked normally, to my relief. "Before I was brought here, I tried so hard to subtly hint that something was wrong."
I didn't answer. I didn't know how to answer. I really hadn't. Suddenly, I felt guilty, and ashamed of myself. I should have noticed. If I had listened to her silent hints, then I would have investigated the matter, and we wouldn't be sitting in a dark cell right now.
"Ames, I-"
"What's the use. Why would I even continue to like you when you don't even like me?"
I let myself look at her with concern. She was all melancholy now, and it was my fault. How clueless was I?
"Amy.." I started, then stopped. My left ear twitched. Footsteps were echoing off the walls as someone came down the corridor. I leaned in closer to her. "Someone's coming." I whispered quietly. "Do something to get their attention. I'd assume they don't know I'm awake yet."
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
There was a moment of silence, then she slapped her hand on the concrete floor, the sound echoing. "Oh Sonic!" She called out rather loudly. "Stop it, oh stop it Sonic! We're not at home..!"
My eyes widened. "Wh-What the.."
"Ahh... Soniiic~!"
I just stared up at her figure in the dark. I had no idea what she was trying to do, and frankly, it was scaring me. That was not what I had meant by getting their attention. But whatever it was, it worked.
"Hey!" Came a man's awkward voice. "Stop that in there."
More footsteps. "What seems to be the problem?" Another guard asked.
"I think they're.. um..." The guard's voice fell into a whisper, but I couldn't hear what he said too clearly.
"What? Should we.. erm.."
"Hold on, I'll turn on the lights."
Amy gasped and leaped onto me. She lay me down gently with my back against the floor, but it still hurt. When the lights flicked on, she hovered over me and her lips met mine, her eyes squeezed shut.
I glanced to the side. There were two guards there on the other side of the bars, staring at us with wide eyes. I could feel my cheeks light with warmth. They couldn't have been more surprised than I was.
Suddenly, Amy jumped up and shot them the nastiest glare I had ever seen out of her. And I had seen a lot of her glares. "Do you boys have a problem?" She growled, putting her hands on her hips.
They just stared for a while longer. Finally, one of the guards took out what looked to be a walkie-talkie sort of thing and pressed the button. "The hedgehogs are.. um.."
"How is his condition?" A raspy voice asked. The dog! It was the dog girl's voice, the one who had disguised herself as Amy just a few days before.
"He seems to be awake and alert, ma'am. And well.. they're kind of.. um.."
"What are you, a child? Use your freaking words. Separate them." The voice said, then it clicked off.
Amy and I both looked at each other. It was the perfect chance to escape. If we worked in sync, even with my hurt body, we could make it out.
As expected, one of the men opened the door. I lay there as if I were too hurt to move, and watched as the man walked in to grab Amy. When he was close enough, I grabbed onto his legs and helped myself up, grabbing the club at his side while he was distracted by Amy's slaps and punches. I jumped up and kicked him, knocking him to the side.
"Sonic!" Amy yelped in terror, knowing I was hurt. I just smiled encouragingly at her, grabbed her, and zoomed out the door right under the other guard's nose. I stopped to kick the other guard in, closing the door behind me. There were so many advantages to being the fastest moving thing alive.
"Do you know where we should go?" I asked, already panting. I guess Omega's attack had left me a little weak.
Amy pointed to the left. "My hammer is that way, in the guards' break room. You just run, and let me be the one to fight."
"Amy, of course I'm going to-"
"No fighting!" She scolded before I could even finish. Having no other choice, I headed toward the room she directed me to in order for her to get her hammer. Fortunately, there was no one there since it was night time, and the only two guards on duty were now locked in that cell.
I kept running, speeding past big, obvious cameras in the corners of the hallway. Luckily, I was fast enough as to not alert them yet. More advantages. There were robots here and there who had spotted us, but Amy took them out quickly as I ran by. We came across a certain hallway, where I slid to a stop at a closed door. The walls were made of glass, showing the aquatic world outside. I nearly fainted at the sight. I had forgotten we would be underwater. Making matters worse, upon stopping, my torso ached severely. I leaned against the door, letting Amy slip from my arms.
"Sonic, you trooper. You okay?" She asked softly with a kind but sad smile.
"No problem, Amy." I said, smiling back. Suddenly the door I was leaning against opened, causing me to fall forward onto my face.
"Lavender!" Amy cried in anger. I looked up to see none other than the purple dog. So Lavender was her name. I clenched my teeth and tried to raise up, but it hurt too bad and my arms collapsed.
Lavender's foot came and pressed onto my back. "What kind of hero are you, blueberry? Getting weak like that. It's just a little scrape."
"Don't touch him." Amy growled under her breath. "Sonic is not weak. He's hurt, and you should know why. Everybody gets hurt sometimes. Everybody falls every now and then."
"Stupid, stupid little girl.." She removed her foot and walked up to Amy. "Heroes aren't supposed to fall." She smirked in her face before grabbing her neck with one hand.
"Now, is that any way for little girls to play?" I stood as if the pain didn't even exist. I could endure it.
"Well well, has the fallen hero sprouted wings once more? Just to save the princess? Where's your strength without your princess?" She spoke confidently.
"I don't know who you think I am, but I'm not one who can understand metaphors. But I don't save her to gain the strength," I said, taking a step towards them. "I save her because I have the strength!" I declared boldly. But before I could even move, the glass behind us shattered.
I immediately flipped out. Water suddenly surrounded me, and I had no idea what to do. I could barely move as the different currents from both the water itself and the impact of the blow knocked me to and fro. I didn't even know what had broken the glass. All I knew was that that Lavender girl was still in front of me, strangling Amy in the water.
I pushed myself forward, grabbing onto Lavender. I brought my foot up to her torso and pushed as hard as I possibly could, finally prying her off. I hugged onto Amy, but on contact all of her breath flew out in bubbles, and she choked on the water. Having no idea what to do, I brought my hand up to cover her mouth, and tried my best to go up; but I wasn't going anywhere. Soon, my lungs felt like they had exploded and I started involuntarily coughing in the water.
As if on cue, someone pulled me from behind, and pulled me through a door and up into air, I gasped, violently coughing up water as I collapsed to my hands and knees.
I looked up to see Shadow, Knuckles and Rogue the bat standing there in front of me. Knuckles was once again dripping wet, and Rogue was tending to Amy.
"You still alive, faker?" Shadow reached his hand down to me. I took it, and he helped me up.
"Th-thanks.." I said, stuttering slightly from still being out of breath. He put a towel around my shoulders, to my surprise, leaving Knuckles behind there with a "Really?"
"Rogue," I said, walking over after nodding in thanks to Shadow. "Is Amy okay?"
"She should be fine. She's coughed up some water and is conscious now. I think it just scared her." Rogue said, laying Amy's head down on her lap, where she curled up and hid her face. "More importantly, how are your wounds? You got saltwater in them. Let the doctor take a look at ya." Just then, a few men wearing GUN uniforms walked in, one carrying a white briefcase.
I looked to see my bandages were gone. They must have fallen off at some point. It was numb, raw, and looked rather irritated.
"I'll be fine," I said passively. "I prefer Amy to be looked at. She was in a cell for almost a week and-" I stopped to see everyone staring at me.
"Honey," Rogue said after a moment of silence. "You're the one with open wounds."
She was right, but still. I wanted Amy to be looked at as a priority, not me. Despite my weak protests, I let the GUN soldiers take me out of the room, only glancing back at Amy for a moment before being pushed around the corner by Tails.
xoxo