Chapter 23
Amy shook from exhaustion, and still she took another step towards the camp. She trekked for hours with blind determination, crying on and off as memories came back and tore open the wound in her heart anew.
Her gait pitched forward to counter-balance Sonic's dead weight. She panted and wiped sweat and dirt from her eyes, rubbing her cheeks hard to keep herself awake. She hated that she wanted to give up. She hated fighting tooth-and-nail for every step. She hated the feeling of Sonic's faint heartbeat at her back steadily quieting; reminding her that his time was running out, and she had no choice but to keep going.
At last, the brush under her feet grew thick, and she stumbled over dense tree roots.
Amy cursed and cried out and fought hard to stay upright, grunting and wrapping her arms under Sonic's legs to keep his weight in balance. If she went down… she wasn't sure that she had it in her to get up for a second time that night.
She steadied herself, and looked to the stars to gain her bearings in the pitch dark forest. A short distance away, smoke curled into the sky. Much closer than she expected.
Amy shivered, afraid to realize that she had reached the mouth of the monster's den.
She hiked Sonic up on her back. Her stomach rolled over, empty and nauseating.
She could handle them, she told herself, and shook her head until she felt dizzy.
Whoever was in there - Scourge, thieves, men, monsters - she was stronger, because that was the only thing she could be.
Amy gathered her courage and focused on the one thing that mattered: delivering Sonic to Tails for help. She pushed into the heavy brambles - headed for the smoke with a stone gaze and an iron heart.
Twigs scratched her cheeks and ripped the legs of her jumpsuit, but she waded through the thorn bushes until she stumbled into a clearing.
Amy caught herself on her feet and almost lost Sonic over the side of her back. She stopped herself from crying out with the effort it took to keep her exhausted body upright. Steady, she looked up to see that she stood on the edge of a leveled glade, surrounded by shoddy tents and a couple of dumbfounded, dirty young men.
They stared at her, frozen in shock.
Amy reached out and took a step towards the rabbit boy nearest to her, still bowed forward under Sonic's weight.
"Hello -" she said.
"Scourge!" the kid howled. He fled into the camp at top speed, shouting the whole way. Amy swallowed hard and looked to the other man.
"Please, I have a thief here who needs help," she said. She tried to keep her voice authoritative, but her throat was dry and it hurt to speak.
"Stay where you are!" the thief barked at her. His eyes flashed and he pulled a crooked dagger out from under his coat. Amy swallowed and took one step back. Her hand went to the hilt of Sonic's knife at her side.
Voices swelled from somewhere deep in the campground, rumbling like a storm well on its way. Amy's heart sank.
"Hold on now," she held her hand up to stop him as he took a step forward. "This man needs help first, and then I'd be more than happy to meet with your leader and put him on his -"
Amy heard a thud. The thief's eyes went wide and he opened his mouth to yelp in pain. There was another sharp crack, and he sank to the ground in a heap at her feet before he could make a sound.
Knuckles stood behind him, fist raised and ready to strike again.
"Amy, what happened?" he demanded, his lips pulled back in a snarl as he surveyed the immediate area for anyone else who could hear them. For a brief, happy moment, Amy was delighted to see him. Then she remembered that he was not her friend - he was a thief. And he, too, was responsible for bringing her here.
"Sonic!" Tails cried, pushing out from behind Knuckles to run to her.
"Stay away!" Amy said, crouched and ready to run. In her panic, she pulled the knife from her hip and pointed it out with shaky resolve. "Don't come closer! I'm going to put him on the ground, and then I'm running. If you follow me I'll -"
"Amy, please," Tails begged. He did not slow his advance. "Scourge is already on his way - you need to trust us, we've got to make it look like -"
"Trust!" Amy cried, hysterical. She didn't trust herself anymore - there was no world wherein she could trust either of them, no matter how much her heart wanted to.
Shouts went up behind them. A mass of people were rushing straight for the corner where they stood, hungry and pulsing with the energy of a mob.
"We don't have time for this," Tails realized. While she stood gaping at the crowd, he yanked the knife from her hand and pulled Sonic off her back. The scrawny teen did his best to keep Sonic's body from landing on the ground as Amy shouted and went tipping off her balance. She scrambled to untie the knot of the blue cape around her waist and free herself from her burden.
"Knuckles, grab her!" Tails commanded. He grunted and struggled to sling Sonic's body over his shoulder.
"No!" Amy cried, her worst fears confirmed. She raised her fists for a fight, but Knuckles took her by the wrists and did his best to wrestle her arms behind her.
"Get off of me!" Amy raged and sobbed, and kicked back at Knuckles, worming out of his grip with maneuvers they themselves had shown her.
"Amy don't, I'm begging you!" Tails said. His voice broke as he watched her. His eyes were red and wide in fear. "I'm trying to protect you! If you fight, he'll send more people to intervene and we don't want anyone else to be -"
"Ah, Princess!"
A voice Amy had never heard before called to her, tricky and cunning like a devil inviting her to come and enjoy the spectacle of her own death.
She froze at the sound. Her heart beat so fast it hurt.
"If things get bad, punch me hardin the stomach and make a break for it," Knuckles whispered in her ear, and took advantage of the distraction to pin her arms in a soft lock behind her. Amy twisted in his grip and realized that Knuckles wasn't holding her tight at all. The big man stood on high alert behind her, his eyes bright and attentive as Scourge made his dramatic approach, flanked by his mob of thieves.
"Welcome, your majesty," Scourge grinned and swept a hand back to gesture at the camp, "to my Kingdom."
He disgusted her. His matted green fur reeked, and he smiled down at her like he knew exactly what kind of fool she had been. His silhouette looked too much like Sonic's for her to feel comfortable. Her anger flared as she mistook the men, and thought that she'd like nothing more than to drive this man's smug face into the ground over and over again.
Amy said nothing. She licked her lips and caught her breath and stared at Scourge so hard that she might've turned him into a pillar of salt.
Tails took one big, off-balance step in between them and stopped Scourge in his tracks. The fox held Sonic on his shoulders with shaking knees, and looked the smiling man in his eyes.
"What happened to him?" Scourge asked with a smirk.
"We…" Tails blinked hard as he thought on his feet. "She put up more of a fight than we thought, but Knuckles has her now, and I carried Sonic here. Knuckles can watch her tonight - she's more trouble than you think, and -"
"Shut up," Scourge intoned, and shoved him aside. Tails cried out and went stumbling to the ground along with Sonic.
Amy's snarl slipped and her head snapped towards Tails - relieved to hear Sonic grunt as he hit the dirt.
Scourge closed the distance and leaned over her. He tilted his head as he inspected her face, bloodied and streaked with grime. She didn't look like a Princess. She looked feral - wounded and enraged and wild. Amy felt Knuckles' grip on her arms tighten, like he might yank her behind him.
"What's wrong, sweetheart? You're in good company," Scourge said with a disapproving click of his tongue. "Smack in the middle of a court made of the finest men in the land - men you made. The Kingdom's lost and forgotten fools; thieves and madmen all gathered here just for you." Scourge's blue eyes flashed with glee.
His teeth… his fangs… Amy knew them in her dreams. Somehow, she had seen him before - seen this all coming like a prophecy.
"You know… I've just been dying to meet you," Scourge said, leaning closer still.
She said nothing to him. She bared her teeth, and stared back.
Scourge held her gaze for an agonizing beat of silence. She could see the muscles around his eyes twitch and tense as she refused him the reaction he wanted.
"You're no fun," he sneered under his breath.
Then he pulled back so fast that Amy flinched, sure he would hit her. Instead, he turned and shouted at the crowd.
"Ransom goes out tomorrow!" he called, and everyone cheered.
Scourge motioned for Knuckles to follow him. Amy was shoved forward - propelled through a sea of men who yelled at her and called her horrible, horrible things.
Their words bounced off her hardened heart. She held her head up as best as she could, and let them reel and rally.
Knuckles led her to a large tent at the opposite edge of the clearing. He fell back as far as he thought Scourge would allow, and whispered to her, "I'll be outside all night. You will never be alone with him. But don't try anything until we get a plan together - he's dangerous and you're weak. Now, nod if you understand me."
Amy scowled, but she nodded. She had planned to summon her hammer and get a proper fight started the moment she was alone with Scourge. Knuckles knew her too well - which made her angry, because she no longer felt like she knew him.
Outside the tent, Scourge grabbed Amy by the upper arm and tore her from Knuckles' grasp. He pulled his knife out for good measure and ordered Knuckles to leave them.
The imposing man turned to go - but not before growling one last warning over his shoulder.
"You need her alive, Scourge - remember that," Knuckles said. He locked eyes with Amy. It was the first time they had looked at each other all night.
Amy couldn't hold his stare. It made her feel sick to her stomach to look at him, and feel in her heart how much she wanted - needed him to stay with her and keep her safe. But her mind and body were afraid. They reminded her that Knuckles had not kept her safe. He was guilty of betraying her, too.
Knuckles winced as her head drooped. He blinked hard and turned his back on her, and Scourge pulled her away.
Being alone inside the tent with Scourge suffocated Amy. When the flap shut, she felt the primal urge to scream out for help - make any noise at all, just to satisfy the wild beast battering at her ribs in terror.
Scourge threw her into the room and backed off, much to her surprise. She watched as he turned and laid his knife on a desk. With his back to her in the dark, Amy thought about summoning her hammer despite Knuckles' final plea that she not pick a fight.
"I wouldn't, if I were you," Scourge warned, glancing over his shoulder. "Try anything, that is."
He turned to her, rope in hand.
Amy's heart jolted her body backward like a spooked horse; rearing and trapped. She was in a nightmare, she had to be.
"Though, I'd love nothing more than for you to give me a reason to make your stay at the camp very, very painful," he said, and took a step forward.
"Don't come any closer," Amy commanded. The violent fear in her voice ripped through the tent.
"She speaks," Scourge said, satisfied at last. He slung the rope around his shoulders and stared at her. His voice rasped in a low, carefully controlled tenor. She could hear its sharpness; could hear the scream that sat bubbling just underneath his precariously balanced calm.
"That's not all I can do," Amy said.
"Aww, don't be like that, your highness," Scourge whined and kicked his feet in the dirt like a bashful schoolboy. "This reunion should be fun. Romantic, even. We should see eye-to-eye, you'n me."
"Tell me what it is you want from me. Tell me why you had me brought here!" she said. Her voice rose in uncontrollable panic. She loathed the sound of it.
"Oh come on, you can't be serious?" Scourge asked, leering at her. When she said nothing, his face fell.
His mouth hung open. "You… don't remember?" he said, sounding hurt.
Amy took another step back in confusion.
"What -"
Scourge's eyes lit up in anger. He whirled back around and slammed his fist into the desk.
"Of course you don't!" he screeched. He hunched over the desk and shook with rage, clawing at his quills. "You don't remember a fucking thing - and why should you!"
He turned on her, and Amy squeezed her eyes shut, ready for him to bring his knife slicing down her cheek or burrowing into her stomach or penetrating deep into her shoulder.
But nothing came.
Amy stood, breathing hard in anticipation of pain.
He was toying with her, she thought. The moment she opened her eyes he would strike.
Then his voice cut deep and clear through the silence.
"Open your eyes," he demanded. "Look at me."
Amy forced her courage out from where it had scampered into her stomach, and did as she was told. She had to confront his violence head-on; had to show him that she couldn't be broken. At least, not by him.
Eyes open, she reeled back another step - but not because he had struck her.
Scourge waited before her on one knee. He held a ring between his fingertips. A ring she recognized had come from her own vanity.
"What is this?" Amy asked, her voice quiet with disbelief. "You think… what? That I'm going to marry you?"
"It's only right," Scourge shrugged. He pitched forward and rested his elbow casually on his knee. "You owe me as much."
"You're insane," Amy hissed at him. His eyes darkened.
"You're still not getting it - are you?" he growled. "Then let me make it perfectly clear -"
Scourge lunged at her from the ground and slammed her into a thick wooden stake at the back of the tent. The whole structure shook as her head hit the plank and her vision burst into dark spots. He pressed his forearm against her throat and cut her stunned cry short.
"I remember it all like a vivid nightmare," Scourge said. "I think about you every. Fucking. Day."
Scourge held the ring in her face. "This was an engagement gift from Mobius, my homeland. My father had it crafted for your birth, the second the deal between our families was struck. For years we heard nothing from the royal court, and then one day the King paid us a visit. I was 13. For a month, he stayed - and it all went so well! I was on my best behavior. My father didn't hit me once. But a week after he left we got word - the Queen had died, and I had failed the inspection. The King declared that I was unfit to be the crown Prince and broke off our betrothal."
Scourge smiled. "He broke off my betrothal to you -"
"Impossible," Amy choked out. Tears pricked her eyes as she struggled for a breath. His teeth… his eyes. No, it was all in her head. She knew him only from her dreams.
"'Impossible,' she says," Scourge sneered. "Better believe it sweetheart. I am heir to the land of Mobius. I was your betrothed. I should have been King!"
Amy grit her teeth, pushing to get his body off of her. He was insane - a maniac. He was lying. He just had to be.
"My father had it all wrong - he thought that it was I who had screwed everything up for our family, but I knew better. He blew my chance, not me! And I had to get rid of him if I was going to claw my way back into the King's good graces and marry his only daughter - like I had been promised. My whole life - can you even imagine that?" his voice rose to a fever pitch. "For my whole life I had been promised you! I tried to kill him when I was 15 -" Scourge's face fell and he pouted like a child. " - It didn't go over as well as I had hoped and I was exiled. I learned that day - always pick on the little guy. That's why I busted up the camp all those years ago - brought the palace right to their doorstep and made myself a new Kingdom from scratch."
"No," she croaked. "Not … true." She didn't want to listen anymore. Him, his father… they had burned Greenhill to the ground. They had ruined Sonic's life.
Her eyes flickered to the rope slung over his shoulders.
"Oh, come on!" Scourge rolled his eyes. "It's not that hard to believe. Think about it, doll - any other circumstances, and maybe you'd be with me right now. Maybe we'd -"
"Liar! " Amy shouted and broke from under his arm. She erupted like a volcano, and screamed the scream she had so desperately wanted to all night - right in his face. Her legs kicked out and she lunged at him.
Her fingers - surely guided by Gaia - found the cord around his neck, and she latched onto both ends of the rope.
She twisted it and pulled tight. She strangled him for dear life.
Scourge's bright eyes bulged and he slammed a fist into her temple. His lips split in a manic grin. They struck out at each other, launched into a blind scrap; hell bent on being the one in control of the fight. Scourge punched her again as she gripped tight to the rope and felt blood trickle hot onto her lips.
He screamed a gargled scream and dug his nails into her hands until he ripped her bloody fingers from the rope. His tongue slid across his teeth and he recovered in an instant, grabbing a fistful of her quills to slam her head back into the wood once more. He turned the rope on her and flung himself behind the stake, leaning his full weight back on his heels so the rope burned into her neck.
For one terrifying moment, Amy's vision went dark. Her lungs burned for breath.
Something quiet; something potent and pitiful wound its way around her heart and whispered to let it all go. Give up, the tiny voice of her frightened inner-child begged. It will be so much easier when it's all over. It's not nearly so sad as it feels, I promise.
But Amy refused to go.
She had three words on the tip of her lips that she needed Sonic to hear, and she would not give up until he knew.
She was still screaming, she thought - or maybe she wasn't. She couldn't hear herself anymore. She couldn't see or feel anything except the searing need to survive. In the split second that her body took over, Amy learned what it meant to fight for her life.
This was what it took to win. This was what the fighting in the arena would be.
She slipped two fingers under the taught rope at her neck, angled the rest of her hand as best she could, and prayed it would be enough.
Amy summoned her hammer with the last bit of her strength. The staff appeared in her grip under the rope, and pushed the cord away from her throat as it took shape and form.
She gasped and coughed. Her hammer staff pressed under the rope, tight to her cheek, forcing the cord away from her throat just enough so she could breath.
"It's true, then…" Scourge gasped. The rope went slack at her neck.
Amy dropped to her knees, heaving as it fell away from her. Adrenaline flooded out of her body, and her hammer disappeared.
"I thought my informant had lied… but you can summon a weapon. Does that mean…" Scourge laughed - out of breath - and shook his head. He bent to pull Amy's hands behind her, and she didn't fight. She was exhausted; starving… utterly spent.
Scourge tied her to the stake - yanking the rope as tight as he could around her wrists - and stumbled out from behind her. He squatted in front of her and studied her with thrilled interest. "You were going to fight in the Tournament, weren't you? A spunky Princess with a death wish - how original," he said.
Amy froze. How could he have known? His informant, he had said…
Sonic, she thought with a gut-wrenching wince.
"Thanks for the fun, doll, but I've got work to do. So listen up -" Scourge took her face in his hand and forced her to look at him. "- In one week, you and I are going to ride back into the Rose Kingdom and tell your idiot father that I saved you from a terrible, rotten gang of thieves who dared steal you and try to post ransom. I'll be the lost son of the Lord of Mobius - returning to fine society a hero." Scourge smiled at her, but his eyes were dull. "You, ever so grateful for my rescue, will beg your father to marry me - make me King like I should have been all those years ago."
"My father won't have it," Amy said, her voice nothing more than a husky rasp. "You have nothing. No title, no land, no money. Mobius fell to ruin after its Lord died without an heir."
"Not at all, my dear," Scourge said with a smile. "Why do you think I kept these idiots buzzing around me for all these years? They think I've been providing for them - but every Kingdom needs a healthy horde of peasants to get rich off of. I've been keeping the best of their hauls for myself. By now, I might be the richest bastard in this whole Kingdom."
"And after I marry you?" Amy spat at him. "You kill me? Is that it?"
"Probably," Scourge said, and winked at her. "But you were going to die in the Tournament, anyway. Better to make it quick and easy after I'm crowned."
He let her go and stood. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a ransom notice to send off."
Amy tried to call after him but her throat burned and her threat came out a whisper. "The minute you close your eyes -" she promised "- the second you let your guard down… I'll get out of this, and I will kill you."
Scourge looked at her, bored, and heaved a melodramatic sigh. "No, you won't," he said. "I can think of three reasons why you'll do exactly what I say you will." He held up three fingers and counted them down slowly. "They're nothing to me - I'd love to make them collateral. Just say the word."
Amy fought to get out of the binds, but her wrists and her body screamed in protest.
"You're a monster," she hissed. "What about your code - what about honor among thieves?"
Scourge smiled down at her in pity and shook his head.
"Poor, pathetic Princess. I'm a noble. What use have I for honor?"
He left her, and Amy's body all but shut down.
She slumped against the wooden stake and winced when her head hit the hard surface. Her fingertips skimmed the lower edge of the canvas tent. Everything ached.
Amy sobbed and gagged, but no tears came. She had nothing left to fuel her despair - nothing left at all. She was alone and she was empty.
"Knuckles?" she croaked in the dark. She didn't know what else to do. She didn't trust any of them - but in her darkest moment, they were all she wanted.
Something on the other side of the canvas rustled, and a soft hand found hers.
"Tails," Amy choked out as she recognized him. Bound in angry, biting cord, she gripped tight to his hand. The only lifeline she had left.
The fox sat outside the tent alone with his back pressed to the canvas. He squeezed her hand.
"Shhh," he tried to soothe. "I'm here."
Tears streamed down the young man's cheeks, but he did his best not to sob. He didn't want to scare her or hurt her any more than he knew they already had. He was duty bound to her. To be strong for her.
"Tell me," Amy begged. "Tell me it isn't true. Tell me you didn't do this."
"We…" Tails hung his head. "Scourge found you out. He demanded we kidnap you, and Sonic - he wanted to get you in and out of here in one night, I promise you Amy -"
"Why should I believe any of this?" she whispered, furious and confused.
"You shouldn't - you don't have to… All I can say is that it's the truth." Tails squeezed her hand, and a fresh well of tears pooled in his eyes. "And that I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."
Amy's heart sank into her stomach. She held tight to him and let sadness claim her. Trusting him scared her to death, but she loved Tails too dearly to really believe that he could be telling her anything other than the truth. He was all she had left.
"Did you… hear all that?" she asked. "Just now?"
Tails clapped his other hand over his mouth to stifle his erratic breathing. "Every word," he choked out. "I'm sorry, Amy - did he hurt you bad? Knuckles was taking Sonic to Vector but he'll be here as soon as he can. Oh, Chaos, Amy - I never wanted this to happen to you, and if he did something I'd never forgive myself -"
"Tails, Tails," Amy shushed, but the kit blubbered on.
"And Sonic - you saved him, Amy." Tails bit down hard on his hand and choked down another sob. "You could have - you should have - left him, but you didn't and because of you he… If I lost him I… I -"
"Hush…" Amy cooed. She closed her eyes, let her head back against the stake, and ran her thumb over Tails' soft hand to reassure him. "It's alright. It's alright. Tails, forget what you heard in there - Scourge just scared me, that's all. It's done now. I'm right here, and I need you to breathe. Just… talk to me about something else."
Tails wiped his nose on his coat sleeve. "Okay," he promised her, hoping he sounded brave. "I'll tell you anything - anything at all."
Exhaustion beckoned her to unconsciousness. "Tell me…" she whispered, "of your dreams. Tell me about what makes you feel alive."
They sat in silence, back to back; hand in hand. Separated by wood and rough canvas, linked by their intertwined fingers and the infinite, humbling power of reconciliation.
As she rubbed his hand, Amy forgave him - easily, she forgave him. And as he looked out at the stars for the both of them, Tails found his courage, and told her of his dreams.
"I am… obsessed with flying," Tails whispered to her. "In the moments when the world feels calm, I think of nothing but the sky. I dream of things that don't exist - I wake up thinking that one day they will. And I used to think that…" Tails squeezed her hand, and felt relieved when she squeezed back - it was weak, but it was there. "I used to think that if I could just show everyone - make something so they all knew what it felt like to fly… then maybe the other kids in my village wouldn't think it so weird that I could."
Amy listened to his sweet voice for as long as she could. Her body still screamed to stay awake - it knew she was far from safe. But her heart whispered that Tails would stay with her. She focused on the feeling of his soft pulse under her fingertips, fluttering in his wrist.
As he spoke, his wish became her wish. His heart, she borrowed for hers. She used it to feel again, and it was so nice to be warm; to let a small piece of her anger go in favor of a steady, comforting heartbeat. She listened to him until she fell asleep. And then, she dreamt of nothing. The dark blankness of her mind, heart, and body was her shelter. Finally, released from all the hurt she had gathered in her soul that day, Amy rested.
