A/N: Erk…. Short chapter alert! Don't worry, this is a once off.

Chapter 33

Rouge drove. Or, nearly drove, the cruise control was on. Amy sat in the passenger seat, legs up on the dash, head in arms, sleeping. Espio meditated. Blade hid from the sun behind his wings, sharpening his dagger. It was a sunny afternoon, and the road was warm. The hover car glided effortlessly over the cracks that would easily halt a wheeled vehicle, especially at these speeds – Rouge checked the speedometer. 300 MPH. Wouldn't want to hit something at that speed. She turned round in her seat and decided to talk to Blade.

"You look a little sunburnt there," She said, not meaning it, but just as a conversation starter.

"Don't you have a road to keep an eye on?" His gruff voice emitted from behind his black wings.

"Oh, don't be so shy…" She lifted one of the wings away with her finger.

"You don't give up, do you?" He smiled slightly.

"Look, there… you're laughing aren't you?" Blade chuckled a bit.

"Well, you are kinda funny,"

"In what way?" She leant on her arms slightly, squeezing her breasts together. Blade stared at her cleavage. She knew this. She left him staring for a moment, to test his reaction. Finally, she said: "Oh, grow up," and turned back to see where they were going.

"No, wait…" He reached out from behind his wings.

"Uh-uh, had enough…" She said, smiling and trying not to laugh. Lucky for her she was sober at the time. Blade sank back down, also smiling. She'll come around, he thought.

"Hey, sleepy-head, wake up," Rouge shoved Amy awake. "We're here."

"Go away," She said, still half asleep. "I wanna stay in bed with Son…" She opened her eyes. Rouge, Blade and Espio were staring. She sat up and shook it off. "We're here already?"

"It was only two hours' drive, there wasn't really much in the way of traffic," Rouge said cynically.

"I can imagine," Amy replied, vaulting out of the car and grabbing her weapons.

They had stopped at the edge of Metal City, right at the gates. They couldn't use the car any further, as there seemed to be no way in without climbing up. Rouge and Blade flew up, no problem. Espio had no trouble climbing up. Amy called from the bottom:

"You guys scout ahead, I'll climb… this… big, fucking wall…" She proceeded to climb up.

By the time she reached the top, the others were a long way off. She pulled her MP3 player out of her pocket. She pressed play as she popped a headphone into her ear. The opening notes of Crawling played out. She adjusted the volume and pressed on. She entered out on to a balcony overlooking the main road into the city. She walked up to the rail, gazing out over the street and the buildings. She dropped her sword and fell to her knees. A tear came to her eye. Never had she seen such a scene of desolation, of ruin… she never thought this could have happened to the city she grew up in, her city…

The first chorus came on.

Crawling in my skin,
These wounds they will not heal,
Fear is how I fall,
Confusing what is real, ooooh…

This was going to be a long trip.