Chapter 10
The next day, Sonic made his visit to Scourge along with every other team lead in the camp. When he entered the man's tent he hadn't felt nervous at all, but Scourge's scrutiny as he picked through every piece of jewelry and every coin unnerved him. Sonic felt like he had been standing in front of Scourge's desk for eons as the man muttered and examined the healthy handful of royal trinkets Sonic had brought him.
Sonic could tell the man was not happy that he and his team had met his demands of a double portion, and therefore had no clear reason to be able to start a fight or dish out a punishment. Scourge was likely making him suffer through the overly-long silent scouring as a small act of retribution.
Scourge felt around in the drawstring satchel for any other last bits of treasure and pulled out the emerald-cut diamond that Amy had exchanged for her mother's ring.
Sonic watched with curiosity as the man blinked, opened his mouth as if in shock, and then closed it with a scowl. Scourge glanced up at him.
"Where did you get this?" he barked, clenching the ring in his fist.
Sonic didn't miss a beat answering quickly, though his heart skipped a few. "I don't know, some fancy Lord or Duke or somethin' on the road?"
"You don't remember?" Scourge said slowly, each word a staccato beat like he was jabbing a finger into Sonic's chest.
Sonic knew it was a bit of a hard lie to swallow - a thief always knew who they robbed, just in case they had to return something or steal an identity. It was just smart thieving, knowing which properties and people you had and hadn't robbed.
"I was busting my ass to get double for you this week and you want me to remember exactly where it came from?" Sonic asked, trying to sound reasonably dubious of the man's demand.
"Yes," Scourge growled pointedly. "A ring like this," he mused, "is rather… unforgettable, don't you think?"
Sonic wasn't quite sure what Scourge meant by that, and made a note to ask Amy about the ring that night.
Then he remembered that he wouldn't see her that night, and he suddenly became grumpy.
"I'll ask around next time I'm working the road. But, hey, this was great! Same time and place next month, eh Scourge?" Sonic shrugged unconvincingly and turned to try and end the meeting himself.
When he received no reply, Sonic glanced back at Scourge and was chilled to find that the man was staring at him, the only thing visible in the darkness his ice-blue irises.
Scourge slowly lowered his gaze from Sonic, looking lost in thought, but still said nothing.
Sonic took this as his cue to leave and emerged from Scourge's tent with a shiver, as he always did after their meetings. He could see his breath in the air when he sighed his relief at leaving the tent.
He had hoped to be done with the whole Scourge-Charmy affair after this meeting, but something about the man's pointed questions and quiet contemplation made him think that perhaps he would never be completely free of Scourge's wrath toward him. It got him thinking about Silver and escaping all over again.
At his core, Sonic knew himself to be a being who craved freedom; emancipation from Scourge and the demands of a thief's lifestyle. Ever since the night before, Sonic couldn't help the intrusive thought that maybe he hadn't felt true freedom for years… at least, not until he had met Amy.
It scared him. Up until recently, he had thought his life plenty adventurous. And that might still be true, but it was not the adventure Sonic had chosen. It was the one that had been thrust upon him by the world.
Stealing was fun, it satiated his thirst for excitement, but he knew there were other ways he could be getting his satisfaction that didn't involve swindling and robbery - and just because he was doing something illegal, didn't mean he was living out a life of adventure.
Just life on the run. And not the fun kind.
Staring out at the sparse camp, Sonic felt directionless without the promise of seeing Amy that night - like he had nothing to look forward to. It was a sinking feeling.
He hated sinking.
Sonic ambled over to the dwindling fire and sat on a felled log alone, stretching his legs and taking breaths to ground himself. He hadn't gotten much sleep when they had arrived back in the early hours of the morning and was feeling utterly spent after going toe-to-toe with Amy all night.
He shook his head to try and be rid of the thoughts that kept plaguing him, the memories of how sad she had looked, her tears, her glancing to his lips... Sonic prided himself on his adaptability. He was usually so carefree. Nothing ever stuck in his mind for too long, and he liked it that way. But Amy… it wasn't so much that she was sticking in his mind as it was that she had taken up root there, and was growing like a forget-me-not.
"Sonic," someone called to him. Sonic's heart leapt and then stilled as he recognized Tails' voice. Tails padded up to him, inviting himself to sit next to Sonic.
"Sorry, did I wake you up when I left this morning?" Sonic did his best to pump some energy into his voice as he looked over to his friend. He sat up from where he had been hunching over, his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, looking intently into the coals of the fire.
"Nah, I couldn't go to sleep that well anyway," Tails whispered, looking around. "I was worried about you. You were so quiet on the way…"
Home, Tails didn't say. They never could bring themselves to finish that sentence.
Sonic smiled and put a hand on Tails' shoulder.
The fox teen was still so kind, sensitive even, despite having been at the camp for nearly two years. Tails had told Sonic that he had always been an outcast in his town - the people weren't ready to embrace his inventions, and when Tails' father died, there was no one left to protect him from the loneliness of the town's fear and misunderstanding. Tails decided to take to the world on his own, but quickly learned that survival was hard when you were only 15 and didn't know the ways of the land. Sonic found Tails, delirious and dehydrated in Bygone, and saved his life by bringing him to the camp.
Sonic didn't understand Tails' science either, but he never judged him for it, and that made all the difference to the teen.
Tails stretched and held his hands toward the dying fire with a shiver. The winter months were hard for the thieves - less travelers on the road, less greenery for foraging, and more cold, cold, cold.
"No need to worry about me, Tails," Sonic said unconvincingly, his hand slipping off his friend. "You know I've got everything under control."
He turned back to the fire, grabbing onto the ring hanging around his neck.
"Yeah, you say that… and yet…" the boy mused, "I've never seen you think this hard."
Sonic looked away. "That obvious?"
"I thought you were supposed to be a professional secret-keeper," Tails joked.
"I am, you're just too smart for your own good," Sonic chuckled back.
"So… you gonna tell me what's going on with you or…?" Tails coaxed again.
Sonic sighed. Goddamn this kid and his nosiness. But… if there was anyone who might be able to see the situation for what it really was, it was Tails. Chaos knew Knuckles would only give him more grief.
"Where's Knuckles?" Sonic hesitated.
"In the tent. Probably asleep. He's still mad at you."
"The plan went off without a hitch and we got our double portion, what could he possibly still be mad about?" Sonic shook his head and grabbed a stick to poke at the fire.
"Well… I think I speak for the both of us when I say that it's not fun only knowing half of what's happening with you, especially when it also means our hides on the line," Tails pointed out reasonably. Sonic noticed that the kid had brought his thin blanket out of the tent with him and was huddling under it. He cursed himself for not taking a blanket or extra jacket from the castle for him before leaving yesterday.
"...You ever hate living here?" Sonic asked bluntly, glancing around to make sure no one else was listening. "You ever just feel like you're missing something? From…I don't know, life?"
Tails hummed to himself and thought for a moment. "I don't know about missing something from life…" he began slowly, "but I do wish that things had turned out differently for me. That's not to say I'm not grateful to you -" he added quickly, "But… I guess I just wish I could find that one thing - have the one idea - that will finally change the world and get me somewhere that's more… home. But I'm young," the teen shrugged. "I still have time to figure out who I am. You…well, you know who you are and what you want. You might be restless because this place doesn't allow you to chase it. Not in the way you want to, at least."
Tails cocked his head and glanced in Sonic's direction as he paused. Sonic didn't dare to interrupt. He wouldn't know what to say, anyway.
"Or maybe," Tails continued cautiously, "you have found what you want, and you're scared to go after it."
Sonic looked over at Tails with surprise.
"Me? Scared? Are you kidding?"
Tails did his best to hold Sonic's eye contact.
"Fear isn't something that only happens when there's physical danger around, Sonic… It's a natural reaction when you face something you've never encountered before. Or when you see something you want, but know you'll have to do something hard to get it. When you see something you want and don't know how to get it, even." Tails searched Sonic's eyes for any indication of how the man was receiving his words.
"There's a lot of reasons to be scared," Tails said quietly. "Maybe… you just haven't been truly afraid in a long time."
The fire popped between them, the surviving bits of log hissing in protest as they turned into hot embers and died away under Sonic's sharp poking.
Sonic swallowed hard. He felt… emotional. About everything. And it hurt in a way he couldn't describe. It was a more lingering and full-body ache than any physical wound he had ever felt before.
"When did you, uh… when did you get so wise?" He tried to crack a smile after a beat, but he was failing to hide how the truth had stung him. Amy had said as much to him last night, but Sonic hadn't wanted to hear it then. Now, Tails' words were just adding salt to the wound she had already cut open.
"It might help if you told us what was going on… fear is always something easier to face with friends," Tails said kindly.
Sonic smiled sadly, finally breaking out of his trance. "You're probably right buddy, but I just can't yet, and you gotta trust me on that."
It was true. The only person he could speak freely about everything to was the very one he had insulted and abandoned the night before.
The irony did not escape him. As Amy had done for him, so too would he now keep her secret from Tails, for his sake. The pair of them lapsed into silence. Sonic could tell Tails hoped for more from him, but he couldn't burden the kid with it all. With a twist of guilt, at that moment Sonic understood a microcosm of what Amy had been experiencing for weeks.
"I'm going back to bed," Tails said, giving in and standing up, "but take your time. It's not so bad to think things over for as long as you need. Just because you slow down, doesn't mean something horrible is going to catch up."
Sonic watched as Tails walked back toward their tent.
Fear… he wondered. What did he fear?
Amy? Her betrayal? No, that wasn't quite right...
Sonic closed his eyes and willed the words and feelings to come to him for the first time in many, many years. Not because he wanted to feel them, but because he wanted to understand them. He wanted to know what to do about the coming night, and he wanted the pain in his chest and throat to go away.
He felt so angry at Amy because he never thought he needed to be afraid that she would lie to him - and about something so big, too. Despite his better judgment, Sonic realized he hadn't put up the same boundaries with her since their meeting as he did when on other missions or handling other people.
She was so fiery, so blisteringly kind and effusive that he hadn't even seen how or when she disarmed him. And the whole time, he thought it was he who was lowering her guard brick by brick. Something about her innately required that he give the same amount of vulnerability that she offered him. Or maybe she didn't require it - maybe she inspired it.
He had been so caught up in the feeling of freedom she afforded him, of the adventure that felt like it belonged only to them, he hadn't thought he needed to fear having it taken from him.
And, she hadn't taken it from him, he realized. In fact, she had stood before him last night and offered him her heart on a silver platter, and it was he who had not taken it.
No, he did not fear Amy herself. Some part of him did fear losing her, and yet he had told her last night that she would have to face the biggest risk she would ever take alone.
There was something deeper, though. Amy was only the impetus for all these new thoughts and feelings - the cause.
What really scared him was the way she seemed to take his hand and turn him slowly to look out over everything he had ever done - his past, his present, his future; the very gears that made him tick, the systems he participated in and the ones that were bigger than him - in an entirely new way. She showed him the truth of what his life was and what it could be, and asked him what he was going to choose to do about it all now that he could see everything.
He pictured her, again, like a beacon from the night before. The crystal clear image of her soft nightgown, her matted quills, her unreadable, unphasable, unwavering spirit shining through the night, across the courtyard and straight into his heart. Illuminating everything it touched.
Scourge be damned, Sonic thought, the camp be damned and fear be damned, too. Nothing was worth giving up the only thing in his life that gave him a sense of purpose. Nothing was worth giving up the first thing to breathe a real sense of life back into him since even before joining the camp.
Sonic always fought back against the injustices of the kingdom, but more importantly of Scourge, in the small ways he could. He stood up for the boys in the camp, guided them, stole only from the rich, and never killed on the roads like some other thieves. Now, Amy was standing before him fighting the biggest battle against injustice in the entire kingdom, and Sonic had left her like a coward when he was supposed to be a hero.
But, he thought, Amy didn't really need a hero. She had that covered.
The revelation that came next hit him like a cold wind in his quills. Familiar, exhilarating, and inviting. It set his body reeling, filled his lungs with air, and woke him fully up. It made his skin tingle and his fur bristle, and it filled his stomach with a fire that stoked his heart back to life.
He was the only person in the entire Kingdom who could see her safely to the throne. Together, they could change everything - change he and his friends' lives - but it couldn't be anyone else. It had to be uniquely him, and uniquely her. He couldn't put a finger on why he felt that way, but he had never known anything more certainly.
His mind was made up. Amy didn't need a hero, she needed him.
And he wasn't one to disappoint a lady.
Amy woke up in the afternoon still feeling like shit, but able to move. She was damp with sweat, but when she pulled the covers off she became immediately cold.
She had awoken when Cream and her mother Vanilla, who happened to be the greatest healer in the Kingdom, opened the door to her chamber carrying bags of medicinals trailed by several maids carting in a bathtub and pails of steaming water.
"Oh, apologies for waking you miss - your majesty," Cream corrected herself in her delicate soprano. "We've brought the tub for a bath. Mother says it would be best if you keep sweating it, the sickness, out. Oh! Do not get up yet, please!" Cream cried when she saw Amy take to shaky legs and try to pull herself off the bed. The girl rushed to her side and ushered her back to sitting while the maids went about readying the tub.
"I think," Vanilla said, placing her bags of herbs on Amy's vanity to begin mixing tinctures, "this is likely a typical cold or flu brought on by the change of weather. You didn't go out when it was cold, or with wet fur, did you, my dear?" The tall rabbit woman was at once delicate and commanding. Her question was kind and her voice warm, but Amy suspected that - like many mothers - Vanilla had an ear for bullshit and a low tolerance for it.
Amy found her presence extremely comforting.
"I suppose I did - once or twice," Amy rasped, then coughed and cleared her throat.
"Mmm, well I'm afraid I must forbid you from it for the rest of the season. It will only get colder, and if you overwork yourself, you'll just keep winding up bedridden," Vanilla said. She turned to Amy holding a goblet, and knelt by her bedside. The woman was so tall that she was still nearly eye level with Amy, and she helped her raise the steaming cup to her lips.
"This will help your throat and balance out your humours," the wise woman said warmly. "It might help you sleep, too. There's nothing for an overworked woman besides rest," Vanilla said with conviction as Amy drank down the earthy beverage.
After sprinkling some carefully chosen herbs into the bathwater, Vanilla excused the maids and left Amy in the care of Cream, who helped her undress and get in the tub. Cream kindly offered to wash Amy's quills, and Amy was too tired to protest when the girl began to run a brush through her quills.
It felt like heaven. Amy wanted to sleep as she sank into the warm water, Cream's claws scratching softly behind her ears and through her scalp. It had been ages since she'd rested like this, and she suddenly felt as though she hadn't really relaxed for years.
But despite how serene she felt, her mind still raced.
Amy knew she needed to keep training somehow. Though she felt strangely devastated to think that she wouldn't see Sonic again, that didn't change the fact that she needed a new opponent, a new ally. Perhaps when she got back, Blaze would be able to train her - if she knew anything about fighting. But that didn't fix her problem - she needed a solution starting now.
Amy sighed as Cream poured warm water through her quills to wash out the soap. The girl chatted idly about preparations for the ball, about how beautiful all the tablescapes looked and how the new porcelain had just arrived from a far away kingdom. Amy thought of the ball, murmuring agreements every so often as her body eased into a near catatonic state of relaxation.
Yes, there was always one solution, Amy thought tiredly.
She hadn't yet signed up for the Tournament of Champions. There was still time to change her mind, drop it all, and just find the most docile, manipulatable husband she could at the ball in two months. She could be the silent puppet master, getting what she wanted for the kingdom with her husband acting as her vessel - he could take all the acclaim with none of the work, at least she would still be making a difference.
Amy snorted at herself, which dissolved into a weak cough. The idea was so ludicrous, so counter to everything she wanted that it made her laugh. She didn't take the thought seriously for a moment. And she didn't want to. Giving in to having a husband meant getting only part of what she wanted… and the part she didn't want…
She shuddered thinking of having to kiss a husband she hated, to touch him. To stand idly by while he made the history books when it should be her paving a new way for the kingdom from the ground up.
Lying down - a half-win? No, that wasn't a solution at all. That was failure to Amy, and she would not be compromising herself - not this time.
She sweated through the rest of her bath, donned a new nightgown, and was led back to bed by Cream. The sick feeling crawling around her body was enough to finally push her over the edge to sleep until evening.
Rest now, her body begged. Solutions tomorrow.
And because she had no choice, she listened to herself and fell back into fitful sleep.
Her father visited her at dinner time, which surprised her. She had no energy to fight, no energy to spend hiding her anger, and she woke up nauseous.
It almost felt cowardly for her father to do, to spring hard conversations on her when she was weak and emotional. It only made Amy feel all the more upset.
"We lost a thief last night," the King reported casually as he stood stiffly by her bedside, his guards waiting outside her door.
Amy wanted to scoff at his informality, how he chose to talk of politics before anything else.
"You don't seem angry," she noted quietly, her throat a little better after rest and more drink from Vanilla. She didn't look at him, just lay still and straight, staring up at the velvet drapes of her canopy.
"He was a mite in the dirt. The thieves are cowards who choose to hide in the woods, and if we do not get to hand him justice, Chaos and Gaia will make him pay for his crimes. We have more pressing issues - what with preparation for the ball and then… the tournament. Speaking of," her father continued, his hands clasped behind his back, "I was thinking that the tournament might be a fine time for your new husband to prove his prowess in battle to the kingdom. We will have to choose someone together who stands a good chance of winning, and perhaps we can convince Shadow not to enter, but instead act as the man's second."
"Second?" Amy asked, interest piqued. She hadn't thought about Shadow still entering the Tournament. She knew if he did, she would never beat him. She would have to write him a letter about it.
"A knight's right hand," her father explained. "The man who will carry your weapon to battle - and your body off the field if necessary."
"Oh," Amy breathed, another issue for another day piled onto her plate.
"I have asked a dressmaker from Angel Island to visit this week and stay until the ball. She's the best new designer so I hear, and will make you a new gown for your engagement. Have you… made your peace with it?" the King asked vaguely.
Amy almost laughed at how unwilling he was to be specific with her, to put a name to what he was making her do. Her eyes glazed over, her canopy going fuzzy. The thieves were cowards? No, it was her father who was the coward.
"I will manage," she muttered. It was the truth. "If Gaia favors me, perhaps she will give me someone who I can manipulate into enacting my own will - despite your best efforts to relegate me to a figurehead," she said. She had meant her words as an insult, but her tone lacked venom, so her answer sounded shallow and childish, even to herself.
"Spoken like a true ruler," her father sighed. Amy shot him her most withering look as he patted her hand, his only gesture of goodwill during the entire visit.
After that he left quickly, and Amy promptly rolled over to wretch.
"Where are you going?" came Knuckles' gruff voice through the dark tent.
Sonic closed his eyes in frustration. It's not like it was hard to catch him sneaking out - there were moonbeams shining through every patch in the tarp lighting him up like searchlights - but he was still annoyed that he had to explain himself to Knuckles.
"I promised the… girl," Sonic shrugged. "Training."
"I thought that was supposed to be a couple of weeks," Knuckles said.
Sonic shrugged exaggeratedly, and Knuckles groaned.
"You got what you want," Knuckles muttered sleepily. "Silver's out. Go back to sleep and forget her. Leave it alone."
Sonic turned back and looked down at Knuckles. The big man had his thick arms thrown up over his face, shielding his eyes from a beam of light that hit him square in the eyes. His quills were splayed under him, his brilliant red fur matted with dirt.
"I… think she needs me a bit longer. And you of all people should understand loyalty," Sonic accused.
"I do," Knuckles said, peeking under his arm at Sonic. "But I have no loyalty to some random rich woman, and neither should you. You should have loyalty to us."
Sonic watched Knuckles' breath fill the air with steam as he pressed his lips together in resignation.
"How long have we known each other, Knucklehead? I wish you would trust me, just once," Sonic finally said after a long moment.
Knuckles opened an eye at him with… was it amusement?
"Then do something to earn it," Knuckles retorted.
Sonic stood for a long while, thinking how he did very much want to tell his teammates about Amy. It would be beneficial for her, too, if they came and trained her. Knuckles was just like her - a power type with an endless constitution. And Tails was the greatest strategist he knew.
If he did, as he planned to tonight, tell Amy that he was all-in, he would ask about bringing his friends into the fold. Amy would surely understand the importance of working together, of having a team.
"Go to your noble lady," Knuckles huffed, pulling Sonic from his thoughts. The big man rolled over and pulled his blanket over his head. "But quit waking me up when you do - that way, when Scourge catches you, I can tell him I never saw you and had nothing to do with it."
Sonic opened the flap with a guilty look. "Just a little bit longer Knuckles, I promise," he threw over his shoulder.
"Oh fuck off already, Sonic," the man grumbled. Sonic chuckled darkly at the stubborn man as he did just that, and took off toward the castle.
A/N: Awwww, poor Amy sick. Now that they've taken the time to reflect, I wonder what will happen when they see each other again? Next chapter... I promise;)
