The Story of Amy Rose: The Capture

by Fallen Violet Rose

After three years physically and mentally healing, Amy Rose has found herself returning to the side of her friends after separating herself, although she was never alone. But at the first reunion, the team is attacked, the offender responsible claiming they came for the princess. Chaos ensues and the guys find themselves on a rescue mission to save their better halves.

9. United by the Ropes that Take

In third person

Italics = thoughts/ emphases

Chapter 8: United by the Ropes that Take

When she decided to crack an eye open to investigate the noise disturbing her peace, a mesh of blue fur greeted her. Her eyelids fluttered and she pulled away from the warmth that was clinging to her. As she sat up to stretch, she did a double take, hopping away from the form on the bed as quietly as her startled form could manage. She covered her mouth as a small shout tried to escape.

Sonic rested on the small bunk, twitching in his sleep, his arms shaped in the manner it was when he held on to her only moments ago. Now that she was no longer beside him, his fingers quivered and his arms gathered around himself to preserve the warmth, as the small blanket gathered at his feet.

First she relaxed, sighing and bringing her heartbeat to a manageable pace.

Then she was angry.

With her hands on her hips, she walked to the bed, reaching to wake the blue blur, but before she her hand made contact, he whimpered, his eyelids quivering.

"Sal…" he muttered.

Her hand froze mid-reach.

And, despite herself, she brought her hand back to her side, her eyebrows arching upward. She looked away from him, rubbing her arms.

"Oh, Sonic. We shouldn't be having this problem," she whispered.

She leaned over his form, pressing a light kiss to his forehead, before turning and walking to the mini restroom to wash up. As she opened the door, she looked back at him.

"You have your priorities and I have mine as well. I guess that's why we're clashing. They don't fit. We don't fit."

She continued into the washroom, reaching the sink and taking care of her business quickly. As she brushed through her red tresses, the faint noise that had disturbed her sensitive hearing was now louder and more consistent.

She placed the brush in her toiletries bag, walking out of the restroom clean, but still adorning her nightgown. As she left, she could hear the shifting of Sonic's body in the sheets as he muttered her name again.

When she examined the ship's insides, she was met with quite the sight; it made her flush and smirk simultaneously as she crossed her arms. Tails held Cream tight, his face stuffed in her shoulder as she straddled him, snoring lightly as she rested atop him. Quite the romantic position, but one of them was bound to feel it when they woke.

With the main area clear, she waited and listened.

She made her way to the door. She pressed the release, stepping along the ramp as it led her down into the tall greenery below.

As her bare feet made contact with the soft vegetation, she sighed happily, letting the wind sift through her fur. It was mid-morning and the sun's intensity was growing. She walked forward, looking about, hearing the noise. She tried to pinpoint its familiarity. What reminded her of this noise?

Right as she reached the edge of the hill it clicked, a moment to late.

Soldiers, adorned in armor glistening with the sun's wrath, marched up the hill, They were so close to her; she was as good as captured, even as she turned briskly to run to the ship.

As she jogged, doing zigzags in the grace in case she became their target practice, she started counting the soldiers in her head.

There has to be at least twenty of them, maybe thirty! And the others still haven't returned. We'll have to either fight or flee.

As the ramp came into view, she prepared to shout for help, but thought better of it. Maybe the soldiers hadn't seen her yet. The last thing she needed was to give away her position.

Right when her foot made contact with the metal, she was grabbed fiercely, being brought flesh against an armored bod, both chilling and aflame as it penetrated her fur. She thrashed as more soldiers pooled about her.

"SONIC!"

As her arms were restrained behind her, a flash of blue bristled her fur and the sound of metal crunching around her startled her. She looked up from her captor and saw the bodies of downed soldiers littering the field.

Soundly, a thump came from behind her, and before the soldier restraining her could fall atop her, arms brought her to a bridal hold and sped her away to a clear spot in the grass.

"Sally, are you hurt?"

She looked up into emerald orbs, relieved, but stern.

"I'm fine, but we need to wake Tails and Cream and get out of here."

He nodded, but as he looked up to find a clear path to run, the soldiers he was sure he had put out of commission were crawling to their feet. Sonic swallowed and gripped Sally tighter as they brandished their swords, coming at the two with inhuman speeds.

Sonic ran around them in a maze of blue afterimage, dodging the slices of glistening swords, keeping Sally close to his chest. As he passed the last knight, a cool liquid began to drip across his cheek and then a pain followed.

"Gah!"

As he screeched to a stop, closing the eye that had been sliced, he looked around him with one eye. His trajectory was the ship's entrance, but the sword that had struck him turned his path, and now he was positioned quite a few feet away from the ramp and soldiers were surrounding them now, blocking the cleared path he's made for them.

He scanned the crowd of metal inching toward them, holding her closer, his teeth clenching.

"We might have to get captured, Sal. It'll keep Tails and Cream safe and give the others time to find the ship," he gritted quietly.

As much as she disliked the idea, she nodded curtly, holding on to him and bracing herself for the assault.

"Mr. Sonic?"

All eyes, including the wide green eyes of the blue blur himself, turned to the ship entrance, where the rabbit, rubbing her tired eyes, stood in her nightwear, her hair tossed about.

"C-Cream, get away from here!"

As she blinked the sleep from her eyes, she made an odd squeak as she realized what was happening and a single soldier came flying up the ramp at her. She jumped into the sky, catching the air under her ears as she flew around the assailant.

She disappeared from Sonic and Sally's view behind the group that had surrounded them and Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. That is until he heard a small battle cry of sorts that made all the soldiers look around them.

Abruptly, the rabbit began jumping onto the heads of the armored men, using what little weight she could to knock their heads sideways, managing to down a few of them and disorient the rest for the time being.

One expecting knight saw this and as she came at him, he swatted at her with his sword. As she moved to dodge, the flat end of the sword did not escape her and the impact hit her side, bruising her arm and taking her down.

"Ahh!"

As she crumpled to the ground near the blue blur and his fiancé, she used her arms to try and get back up. Sonic ran to her, leaning down.

"Cream! Are you okay?"

When her head darted up, the ferocity in her eyes was potent as the she grit her teeth, her arm bleeding and her curled mass of hair flying around her head in a crazed, maniacal manner.

"I'm just fine!" she shouted as she charged the nearest soldier.

Sonic reached after her, but cringed as he watched her narrowly dodge another sword and shove her elbow into a soldiers crouch area.

He watched her run around the others that grabbed at her, trying to assault them in anyway she could manage. Sonic smirked.

"She's crazy. Guess I should followed suit!" he said as he used the combined weight to jump and initiate a homing attack to a soldier at the center of the madness. As he hit the ground, he made eye contact with Cream, who was in a fighting stance beside him.

"Cream? Cream!"

Once again, all eyes were on the entrance of the ship, where the kitsune now stood, seeing the madness below that had frozen.

"Oh no."

As the action unfroze, a group of three soldiers came up the ramp at Tails, who flew above them and made his way to the other side of the group. When he reached the ground, more came at him and he brought himself into a lowered stance with his arms out around him, prepare to evade and attack at a moments notice.

"Cease!"

As Tails was mid assault and another soldier behind him had him by the Tail, he froze, as did they. He looked into the mass of metal as a path was made for an armored individual. Unlike the rest he wore no helmet and his uneven purple hair was graced with a dainty, stringy crown laced with three oddly colored stones. A grey cape billowed about him and his eyes radiated with color, as he seemed to stare into Tails soul.

"It seems that our little rescue has survived. I do not know how you avoided my assault, neither how you managed to get her so punctually, but it's rather quite extraordinary for such simple beings," he ranted, walking languidly to Tails as two soldiers restrained him.

The kit glared into his eyes.

"The dark prince," he muttered, but he did not seem to hear him.

"No matter. You will see the end to your miserable lives soon enough. Are their any requests before we ascend to the execution site?"

As he said this, his eyes pulsated sharply, and the soldiers pooling around them opened a path to place the restrained Sonic, Cream and Sally next to Tails. Their restraints were thick manacles that kept their arms tight behind them. They did not struggle.

"Leave Amy alone! Please!"

Prince Riven turned to the rabbit, one eyebrow cocked upward. He allowed a smirk to crawl across his muzzle.

"Princess Amelia? Oh, why would I do that, my young sacrifice? She is my bride and the heir to my throne. Without her, I am nothing."

He took a knee in front of her, grabbing her cheeks roughly with one hand, squeezing. He tilted her head, clicking his tongue.

"And you're quite a mess. I must get you clean if I wish to sacrifice you. What a naughty girl. Should I punish you before I execute your friends?"

Cream squeezed her eyes shut, pulling away from the prince. He chuckled.

"Oh, there will be no more fighting. This will all be over soon."

"Leave her alone!"

The dark prince looked over at the princess of acorn that had spoken. She was pulling away from the soldier that pulled at her restraints, seething with anger. Her hair covered one eye as the other glared at the prince. Sonic muttered her name, trying to quiet her.

"It's people like you that get under my skin the most. Thinking you can use you power for selfish reasons and then take away the freedom from others for your own sick agenda. That's why I fight. That's why we fight! And we won't let you get away with this."

"Oh, quite the talker. Too bad I have no use for those kinds of women. You might do as a sacrifice, but you voice is rather irritating. What would the neighbors think?"

With a flash, the prince was in front of her. He gripped her neck, pulling her up and out of the soldiers hold, putting pressure on her neck. She choked out a screech, clenching her teeth.

"Let her GO!"

The prince looked aside Sally, side stepping with ease as a flash of blue charged him. He looked behind him, where the blue blur stood, breathing and growling, arms still restrained, but his legs free and standing as he glared at the dark prince.

Sonic charged him once again, but instead of moving, the prince waited.

"Ack!"

"Mr. Sonic!"

"Sonic!"

The blue blur crumpled to the ground in front of the prince, curling in on his stomach with wide, bloodshot eyes. He hacked up a bit of blood, shuddering. The prince's knee, which remained lifted in the attack he'd just dealt, came back to the ground, all the while Sally seemed to lose consciousness in his hand.

"How touching. I assume this is your lover. I applaud your effort, but it has been wasted."

The prince threw the chipmunk into the ground, letting her body rest on its side. He came down to Sally's level, running his fingers through her mesmerizing red hair.

"It is the color of blood. How foreseeing. Do not worry. Your mate will join you shortly."

And with a swift movement, he pulled her head up by her hair and elbowed her cheek, drawing blood. Her head fell back to the soil with a sickening thud.

"You monster!"

Before the blue blur could get back up, the prince snapped his fingers. Three guards seized the hedgehog's limbs, bringing him to a stand in front of the dark prince, the third guard pulling his blue quills back, forcing him to look into the eyes of the prince that stalked up to him.

"Are you always this useless, blue one?"

Sonic spat in his face.

"Go to hell."

The prince wiped at his face, a calm coming over his features as he examined the fluid on his fingers curiously.

"How uncivilized," Riven muttered, before he smashed his fist into Sonic's cheek, successfully bruising it and breaking something.

"No! Stop!" Cream screamed as she thrashed and began to sob, as her efforts seemed futile. Tails watched her shudder, his fists clenched, jaw tight as he tried to find a way out.

The prince, twisted about, looking at the other restrained couple. He sighed, taking off his soiled gloves.

"Take them to the fortress, and on your way, capture the red and white nuisances that hid in the town. Contain them in the underground hold, but do not put them in cells. They will not be there long anyway; there is no need to waste the time. Four of you will secure their transportation. It seems too basic to salvage for parts, so guard it and leave it untouched. We will destroy it within the fortnight. Dismissed."

And with that they were pushed to march down the hill, the rabbit's face tear stained, the kitsune's face drawn down, contorted in fierce concentration and the blue blur's body dragging.

When Cream looked left, she could see the ship, surrounded by four soldiers and Sally's body, covered by the oddly colored grass, the wind ruffling her hair and fur.

And as she turned to look ahead of her, she saw the prince's cape brush behind his form as he walked west of them. She watched him, until he became enveloped within the distant trees.

~aAa~

She tried shaking him awake for the third time, but she knew better. Knuckles always slept like a rock, and it was especially so due to his injuries. She had to check his pulse continually to keep from panicking.

The door to the underground cellar opened, catching in Rouge's ears and causing them to twitch. She stood from their sleeping nest, fixing the blanket over Knuckles to keep him covered.

As she dusted off the remainder of the dress that held, watching the stairs as Ovaria appeared, holding another serving tray, with the same bread and water.

"How our you feeling?"

Rouge accepted the tray as she offered it with a smile.

"I feel rested, thank you. My partner looks well, he just likes his sleep," she replied, placing the tray on the ground near him. She sat in front of his sleeping form, running a hand through his dreads.

"Do you know when he will wake? I'm sure you must keep moving."

Rouge shook her head.

"Soon, I hope. After we eat, we'll leave this place. We're too close to stop here."

Knuckles seemed to be stirring.

"Ah, I will prepare a few provisions in case you should see more trouble in the near future. Please come up when you are ready to depart," Ovaria beamed, trotting up the stairs.

"Thank you. We'd appreciate that."

The door shut and the stern gaze of the bat came across Knuckles form. His eyes fluttered open, squinting before a smile came about his muzzle.

"Morning beautiful."

She sighed, smiling sadly and brushing a dread from his face.

"How do you feel?"

"Like a million bucks, honestly. I could use more sleep though, but that never changes."

He sat up slowly and she rushed to help him, securing his back. He chuckled.

"I'm fine. We should get going. I can already hear the tapping of Sonic's foot and his annoying whining about how long we're taking."

Rouge rolled her eyes with a smile, standing up after him.

"I don't even know why you guys let him set foot on the ship."

As she reached for the bread to take, a sudden thud from upstairs captured their attention.

Knuckles shifted into a fighting stance, looking at the ceiling as footsteps thudded across it. He placed himself in front of Rouge; glaring at the door, jaw tight as he muttered a curse.

As Rouge pressed her hands to his back, she listened. She heard Ovaria talking, but she didn't have time to pick up what she was saying as the basement door came crashing down and the space was flooded with soldiers from the fortress.

"Knuckles…"

"I've never been too fond of rematches, but I'll make an exception. Raa!"

Before Rouge could stop him, Knuckles had thrust himself into combat. His fists were renewed, smashing one knight into nothing as he went to uppercut him and took him to the ground, continuing his assault. The three other knights took to their swords and went for him, but Rouge hopped into action, becoming airborne and coming down on each sword with her heels, knocking the weapons sideways. As they hit the ground, she picked one up, pointing it to the closest soldier, smirking.

"Not my style, but I'll work with it."

She swung at the man, but he dodged, grabbing her arm. As Rouge dropped the weapon, the knight tugged at her, trying to restrain her arms. Rouge relaxed, using her momentum and his force on her to twist her self onto the knight's back. As she straddled him, he released her arm to try and dislodge her secured leg hold on his sides. That was a mistake. With her arm freed, Rouge brought both elbows down on his armored head. The knight teetered forward.

Rouge flipped forward, letting one hand touch the ground to keep her going as she landed on her feet next to Knuckles, who had finished off the other last two soldiers. She looked into his face seeing scuffs and blood on his lower lip, but a smile nonetheless as he wiped it away.

"Piece of cake."

She shook her head, turning to the stairs.

"Let's get out of here before more of those losers try to kill us."

As they rushed to the top and dim sunlight met them, they surfaced to see the front door of Ovaria's home, broken, the arch where the door should have been revealing the daylight.

As Rouge stepped out of the hole to run, arms behind her brought her against a cold body. She thrashed immediately.

"Knuckles!"

As the man in question climbed out swiftly, he turned to help her, but stopped as the remainder of the room was littered with soldiers, waiting for them. Five soldiers came at him as once, blocking his view of Rouge and he raised his fists to fight.

"Raa!"

Each moving bod of armor that came at him received a punch strong enough to shake the earth and they crumbled, one by one. The last soldier was grabbed and Knuckles took his time shoving his knee where it hurt the most before throwing his body aside.

As he ignored the stings of small cuts on his arms, Knuckles moved to help his lover, but more knights flooded the room from outside and he was overrun. As they overwhelmed him, he struggled to come loose, but even as he did, his arms were restrained behind him painfully and a leg came smashing into his stomach.

"Knuckles!"

When he looked up, a soldier stood close to him, looking him down without emotion.

"You bastard," the echidna cursed.

It was then that he was kicked in the stomach to the point where he coughed up blood.

"Stop! Stop! Leave him alone!"

The singular knight kicked him relentlessly only stopping when another soldier walked in and motioned for them to come out of the home, without an actual word being spoken.

As they were shoved forward and into the daylight, a desperate voice called for the couple, sobbing.

"Rouge. Knuckles. No…"

When Rouge looked over, her pupils dilated. Cream, Tails and Sonic were restrained the same as them, plastered to the multitude of knights that surround the small home and filling the streets. Cream looked as if she had taken a hit to the face, tears staining her puffy and red face. Her hair was like a birds nest and her nightwear was covered in soil. Her shoulders slumped, she wore no shoes and her feet look like that of a slave. Tails had a few scratches, but seems better off as he stared at Knuckles, eyes quivering. Two knights were dragging Sonic. He was out cold, his blood dripping lightly from his limp head.

As Rouge continued to walk and scan her friends, on the far left, lying on the stones of the street, was Ovaria, crumbled in on herself and bloodstained. It seemed the knights were going to leave her there, for she had no restraints. Rouge cringed, a sorrow coming to her.

"Ovaria, I'm sorry."

As the group of the captured walked toward the looming fortress, Rouge looked back once, seeing one of Ovaria's eyes open and lock with hers. The smallest of sad smiles ghosted her face as she mouthed something to the bat. Rouge's heartbeat sped up, knowing that she was still alive.

Rouge was shoved, force to look in front of her and walk faster. As she followed, she watched as the town came to life in the eerie quiet. Creatures waited in their homes, looking at the march behind windows and cracked doors, hiding in alleyways. Very few littered the streets and each face held terror. All Rouge could do was pray one of the townspeople saw Ovaria and made an effort to help her before she bled out.

Rouge looked over to Tails as she tried to decipher what Ovaria had mouthed to her. She tried to get his attention.

"Where's Sally? Wasn't she with you on the ship?"

Tails made quivering eye contact, before shaking his head.

A cold sweat fell across Rouge and she looked down, her eyes clenching shut as she calmed the rage burning with her furnace.

Chaos, help us.

~aAa~

She didn't know what it was like to see someone sleep so peacefully.

When her eyes decided they wanted to drink in the morning light, she'd turned over to ignore the urge and received a face full of black fur. She'd retracted her face with a blush, prepared to apologize, but froze at the sight before her.

Shadow slept, lying like a stone in the grass, the lavender strands that he weighed down curling around his form as if to protect him. The morning breeze bristled his quills gently, lulling him as he rested, hands on his stomach. At first she had the morbid thought that he looked like he was resting in his coffin, as still as he was, but his nose twitched a bit and he hummed in his sleep erasing the thought.

Now, she was close enough to be intoxicated by his warmth. As she sat up, she twisted her form toward him, her hesitant hand coming up to glide across an eyelid. She stopped herself, muttering how creeping she was being, looking away.

She looked back at him, mesmerized once again as her eyes went from his eyelids to his lips. Her curious hands came back, shaking as she delicately used her index finger to brush his bottom lip. She grew warm, especially so as she could feel his breath on her fingers and his lips parted slightly.

Then, a gloved hand crawled around her wrist.

The rose suppressed a squeak as she watched his eyes open abruptly, looking into her own. Instead of shoving her hand away, he reached further, his palm lightly skimming across her curious hand. He sighed deeply, his breath tickling her fingertips. She held her breath.

"Don't move."

She was already frozen and continued to mirror a statue as her fur stood on end. She heard the rustling of leaves in the distance and noticed the shield from the heart pendant that protected them through the night was gone. She didn't have time to question it as an arrow came darting from the trees toward them and Shadow came to life.

She felt a rush and when she opened her eyes, he held her. They were on the far left of the pond now. As he set her down, coming in front of her, they looked in the direction the arrowed had come, expectant.

Twenty soldiers materialized from the brush, stalking toward them, swords sheathed. Behind them, a five archers walked forward, poised and at the ready. Shadow crouched, ready to engage.

"When I signal, run into the brush behind me and don't stop. When I'm done here, I'll come and find you."

"No, Shadow, what if it's a trap? The prince would do anything to separate us."

The group grew closer, surrounding them. There was only one other way for the rose to go if she wished to escape.

"There's no time. If you stay, you may get hurt beyond repair. That is last on my agenda," he growled, scaring her as he prepped a chaos spear.

"But, Shadow…"

"Go!"

Without a moments notice, he released the spear of energy at the nearest archer and the clearing erupted in action. The remaining archers released their ammo, aimed at them. Amy ducked quickly, standing up as another chaos spear was prepared. She began to back up, staring at his tight back, worried and hesitant.

The next chaos spear hit the water and a mist flowered from the pond through the clearing, skewing the aim of the archers. As Shadow was shielded from her view and arrows landed near her, she stopped going backwards and reached for him, walking to where his form was disappearing.

"No, Shadow…" she whispered.

The ground shook and a light lit the clearing. Amy fell back, shielding her eyes with a shout.

"CHAOS BLAST!"

Her heart rate picked up and she crawled to her feet, picking up her dress and digging her bare feet into the soil, making her way into the trees, leaves sticking to her fur.

Her feet were light as she seemed to glide through the woods, hopping over roots and narrowly skimming tree trunks in a last ditch effort at escape. Just as she was going to slide to her left to dodge a tree directly in her path, a shadowed figure jutted out from the side of the tree. She screeched to a stop a few feet away from the figure, gasping for air.

The caped figure moved the fabric covering him aside, revealing a heart shape pendant, lightly pulsing grey in his ungloved hand. As his muzzle lit grey, a sickening grin formed and Amy found herself trapped in the eyes of the dark prince.

"H-how did you…" she began as she backed away.

He took a step toward her.

"How did I find you? Oh, I know your scent anywhere, my sweet. I spent my time while I looked for you soaking my senses in your clothes, memorizing your aroma, in case I were ever to need to do something like this. I will say, you are quite tantalizing."

Her heart rate shot out the roof as she turned and ran back the way she came. His laugh reverberated near her ear and she looked left and right, but he wasn't even close to her.

When she broke through the lining of the trees, she stopped, her eyes graced with the littered bodies of downed soldiers with holes in their bodies. She cringed, but relaxed a bit in confusion, as she saw no blood.

The clashing of armor brought her attention to her right and she found Shadow slamming two soldiers together, before discarding them onto the ground. The ebony heaved a heavy breath, looking up and seeing her, his eyes focusing. His lip was scratched, as was the rest of his body, but there was no blood.

"Rose, watch out!"

She didn't have time to move as her arms were brought behind her and a set of moistened lips pressed against her ear. She froze as she watched Shadow shake with rage.

"Ooooh, Princess, how you scared me so. I was afraid when you didn't join me for dinner last night. I thought my marriage proposal might have scared you off. No matter, you are here now and your punishment is inevitable."

He brought his fingers to her neck, his nails digging as he clawed down the side.

"Ahh! No!"

"Release her or I will send your corpse to the deepest pits of the underworld."

Riven paused and looked up, making eye contact with Shadow. He grinned.

"Oh, and you must be the one who did all this," he motioned to the clearing littered with dead bodies," which I will say is rather impressive. No one has ever succeeded in permanently destroying my legion of undead aside from the king himself."

The snap of the prince's fingers sounded and half of the soldiers came back to life, the others seemingly lost forever. They picked up their weapons and started toward Shadow to restrain him.

"No matter, half of my men will do in restraining you for now."

Abruptly, Amy thrust her head up to the unsuspecting prince, the back of her head slamming into his jaw. While he was disoriented, Amy elbowed his stomach, running to Shadow as soon as he'd released her. Shadow began to run to her, but in a blink, a figure stood between them.

"Ah, ah, ah, you can't reunite yet. You both can do so in the next life."

As Amy went to stop herself from running into him, he turned and grabbed her, placing a dagger to her neck.

"Let her go and I'll kill you quickly," Shadow growled. The soldiers neared him, weapons sheathed, but they did not attack yet.

"Drop your guard and come with me and I will not kill her."

Shadow hesitated, glaring into the prince's cold eyes. After a moment, he dropped his tension, looking away from the prince as his hands relinquished their glow and the soldiers overwhelmed him, restraining him.

"Shadow, no…" was all Amy could mutter as she watched them put him in manacles. They didn't stop there.

A soldier stood in front of him and began to smash his armored fist into his muzzle multiple times. He switched to his knee, bringing it up into the ebony's ribs. Amy bucked forward in the prince's embrace, his knife drawing a bit of blood on her neck.

"No! Stop this, please! Why are you doing this?" she asked, looking up at the prince.

He put the dagger away, but restrained her hands with a rope he was keeping; he tied it tight enough that she flinched.

"It is my only desire, princess, that is why. You see the one thing about the living is that they possess riveting emotions, masterful abilities and minds of independence. This is quite different from what I encountered domestically and it fills me with a sort of satisfaction to see it torn from them. The challenge in ruling a people that can fight back and refuse to take commands as they should tickles my blood and fills me with the desire to punish."

Is he not part of the living?

Amy shuddered, looking back at Shadow who slumped in the hold of the soldiers, head bowed in submission.

"What are you going to do to him?"

"He will be hung for his crimes against the country. As will the rest of your friends."

An alarm went off in her head, as her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"No, you can't! Marry me and pretend they were never here! They're just trying to-" the prince shushed her rant with a finger to her lips as he now stood in front of her.

"There is no need. Let us proceed to the fortress. There is much to do."

They progressed through the greenery to the looming form of white stone ahead.

~aAa~

Rouge felt the weight of her manacles weigh her down slowly as she stood, plastered to a soldier, waiting in the shade of the underground dungeon quarters. It was not the same place Cream had used as an escape and they stood right outside the gate that led to the cells, soldiers standing around them.

Rouge scanned the group for what felt like the millionth time, angered that she could not help them. Sonic had gained consciousness, as well as Knuckles. Sonic's breathing was heavy, but he no longer leaked any of his bodily fluids. Knuckles right eye was swelling and the purple bruises on his body seemed to pulsate. Cream and Tails were near each other, Cream leaning toward him as much as she could while being chained to a guard. Tails seemed to want to talk to her, but when he tried before, a guard had nudged his side with edge of his sword and drew blood.

Rouge looked over the hill in the distance, her eyes catching the sunlight. As she blinked the tears from her eyes, clouds began to dampen the light of the sun and figures emerged from the hill in the distance.

The figures reached their destination and Shadow was deposited in the center of the group, manacles weighing his arms down on his back as he was shoved onto his face. He sat up on his knees as the soldiers opened a path for the dark prince, Amy behind him.

When the rose made eye contact with the bat, a message of apology going both ways was exchanged quietly and Amy proceeded to look at the state the rest of her friends were in. Her chest tightened and she held down the urge to try and rip her arms from the ropes that held her to help them. The prince crossed his arms, examining the captives.

"Quite the group we have here. A rather diverse bunch of savages, aren't you now?" the prince sneered, triumph evident on his face.

Knuckles looked up to the prince, growling lowly. Sonic and Tails looked up to the prince with guarded faces and Cream looked at Amy, tears threatening to escape. Rouge frowned, looking at the prince's shoes. Rouge tried sizing up the men before, but she knew it would be a losing fight as long as they were all still in this state. They needed to preemptively strike if they wanted to stand a chance.

"I admire your efforts as the underdogs, but I have grown tired of your games as of late. See, I have plans for the future and your little rescue act is hindering that progress. While I do like to see my enemies suffer, I'd rather get this done and over with."

Riven stepped aside, placing his hand behind Amy's back and pushing her forward to stand in front of Shadow. His back was to her and she could see the wounds of sword attacks and the soil that littered his fur. The red streaks were no longer a vibrant contrast to his body, but clouded with the brown of dirt.

"Turn the prisoner to face her."

As two soldiers grabbed Shadow to face her, she looked back at the prince, confusion written across her features.

"What are you doing?"

The prince undid her ropes. She immediately rubbed the raw areas on her wrists.

"It is obvious you care deeply for this particular creature and he reciprocates. Although I would prefer that you forget this being in concern for our future marriage, I will allow you a final goodbye before I rend the life from his throat."

Amy swallowed. Could Shadow really die? He'd escaped death so many times it didn't even seem possible. Yet, there were other ways to rid of the hedgehog, so even if he couldn't die from being hung, she still had the reason to worry.

As she turned back to see him, she thought of her other friends. They would surely die from this.

Shadow's head was still low, his arms tight on his back. She started to tear up. It seemed useless to fight now. And even as she stared at the black hedgehog and tried to envision a way that she could release him and work together to disable the prince, her heart was telling her to drop the issue and submit for the good of her friends. She drew closer to the hedgehog and dropped to her knees in front of him.

"Shadow…"

When his head came up to her level, his eyes were hard and focused. When their eyes met, it was as if he were seeing right through her. Amy blinked at first, but reached a hand out to brush the dirt from his muzzle as brown was smeared all over his face.

"Shadow, I'm so sorry. You came all this way and… now look at you."

She pulled her hand away to wipe her tearstained cheeks, when his forehead lightly connected with hers. When her eyes locked with his, she was caught. He was finally looking at her and his red jems seemed to melt into soft orbs of warmth.

"Rose…"

He closed his eyes, gently rubbing his forehead with hers. She flushed lightly at the contact. When he stopped, he reopened his penetrating gaze, his jaw tight.

"Don't let him take your hope away from you," he whispered tightly.

He pulled back a bit, looking to the side to make hard eye contact with the prince.

"There is something on my person that I wish to give her."

Riven thought for a moment and then sighed.

"Whatever crude memento you wish to pass to her is of no concern to me. Make it your last action, the day is passing us quickly."

Shadow leaned his head back into her.

"Reach into my quills."

Slowly, she brought both arms into his hair, feeling silly, but grew serious when her fingers grazed hard, cold metal. She pulled out the object and examined it with both hands. As the word rose glinted off the edge, she recognized the weapon immediately and feared the prince may know of its use and take it from her before she could use it.

The prince walked to look between them and snatched the gun from her hands. Shadow kept his head down, face emotionless, but Amy looked up to him, wide eyed, but kept herself from panicking.

"What an oddly shaped memento. The least you could have done was give her a diamond or something useful, not this heap of scrap metal inscribed with a useless word. Then again, I doubt you believed that today would be your last day to live. I should not judge," he said, dropping the gun back into Amy's hands.

She shook from the adrenaline rush and breathed a quiet sigh, shaking lightly. She brought it to her chest and thanked chaos he hadn't pulled the trigger.

The prince walked away from the crouching couple.

"Release the bindings of the females. I will still use them as sacrifices. Take the men to the city center. I will assemble the Core Seven and we shall proceed with the hanging."

As the soldiers did as they were told and legs shuffled about her, Amy kept her eyes on Shadow, eyes shaking. She felt helpless, even as the answer to her problems was held tightly to her chest. Shadow shared her eye contact, calm and unyielding, yet saying nothing.

Armored legs shuffled close to them and Shadow was stripped from her line of sight and away.

"If you wish to watch, my bride, please take a few guards and they will lead you there. I advise standing in the center of the crowd, for those in the front tend to vomit from the sight of broken necks. Just a warning, my dear. If not, I will see you at dinner."

She continued to stare at the dent where Shadow once was, even as the marching of armored feet and the dragging of limp legs continued past her hearing, into the distance.

When all that was left was the wind in her ears, two pairs of legs shuffled quickly and fell to her level. She blinked her trance from her eyes and saw the stricken faces of Cream and Rouge through blurry vision. They were talking to her.

"Oh Amy, are you okay? Did he hurt you? There's blood on your neck," Cream said as she ripped the bottom of her night shorts and dabbed at her neck.

Rouge rubbed her arm, trying to bring her back to life.

"That fucking bastard. I'm going to kill him, I swear it. Good thing he was too full of himself to realize that Shadow gave you a loaded weapon. Amy?"

Amy looked into Rouge's eyes, her own glazed over.

"Where's Sally? When Shadow rescued me… he told me…"

Rouge motioned for her to stop talking and helped her to stand. Cream stood with them.

"Sally was hurt really badly. She was left near the ship's landing place. I don't know how long she has until…" Cream started to quiver as she explained, covering her mouth, as she couldn't complete her explanation.

Rouge shook her head.

"There's no time for this. We have to do something, whether we try to save them first, or we head to the ship, save Sally before it's too late and try to make it in time to get the boys out," rouge explained.

"But we can't do both. We won't make it in time to save everyone! Plus, they left the ship guarded and we might not last in a fight. Riven's men aren't even living! We'll never beat them and Sally is in no condition to fight." Cream wailed.

Rouge turned to her.

"We have to try. The longer we stand here and bicker, we waste precious … Amy?"

The rose shook, clutching the gun, watching as it caught the dimmed light at its lethal edge. Her friends watched her, waiting.

Anything can happen after you pull that trigger because the ammunition is then no longer within your control. Knowing this may scare you, but it shows maturity and depth of thought. This alone should allow you to shoot, not with confidence, but with hope. And you of all people thrive in this concept the most, I should say.

"Amy, I know it's hard, but we have to be-" Cream began, but was cut short by Amy's penetrating and focused emerald orbs.

"I won't let go."

"Amy?" Rouge reached for her shoulder, but the rose beat her to it, placing hands on each of their shoulders.

"I have an idea. It's risky and we'll have to have faith that Sally can hold out for just a bit, but we have to hurry."

Her companions nodded and together, they made haste through the fortress.

~aAa~

He grunted. The feel of wooden boards on his knees could have only hurt this much if the stage they were now on was neglected and old. Splinters sunk into his red fur and he chuckled sickeningly, a cynical aura coming to him. He looked to his left, where the rest of the stage was laid out.

"So, this is how we die. How pathetic."

Sonic, who was next to the echidna, shot him a fearful look, shifting his arms the best he could in discomfort. He tried finding a way out of his manacles, now that there wasn't a soldier holding him back, but he found the attempt futile.

"This can't be how we die. No, Amy won't let us die. They wouldn't… sit and watch," Sonic whispered. His gaze fell to the growing crowd before him, the townspeople that looked on fearfully just past the noose that hung dead and center in front of the hedgehog.

The clouds enveloped the sky and the sun was nowhere in sight. The city center was a circular clearing within the town, floored with grey stones and containing the stage line at the front with the ropes of death and a black drawn line on the stones signifying the distance at which the crowd could stand. Soldiers from the fortress were speckled across the area and a few lined the bottom of the stage.

"I can't die this way. We can't. Mobius needs us. And Sally, she…"

"They'll do something. Cream's a smart girl, she'll find a way and so will the others," Tails muttered, on his knees on the other side of Sonic.

Sonic looked into his eyes and saw a wavering hope.

"I hope you're right, buddy."

"Don't let your hope get to you."

All three looked the farthest to their left where Shadow kneeled, having been thrown onto the stage last. Tails was hurt, Sonic was frustrated and Knuckles gave him a tired and disparaging look

"What did you say, you… you faker?" Sonic hissed above Tails.

"You heard what I said, faker. Although our lasting teammates are capable, we cannot just sit here and hope for rescue. They did not do so when we came after them, even when we told them to do so. Realistically, we should not let hope do all of the work. When the chance presents itself, we should strike and meet them halfway," Shadow explained, his back straight and chest up as he glared straight ahead into the growing crowd, not stopping to look at his companions. He wouldn't let the dark prince take his dignity.

Sonic looked away, understanding now. He pulled his shoulders back and looked forward as the onlookers whispered among them. They all looked distressed and many of the women look as if they were crying, using their aprons to cover their weeping mouths. The atmosphere was grey and the surrounding stone buildings took on an eerie hue of despair.

Footsteps approached from below them on the stones. They all gave sideways glances down to their left. Right below Shadow, seven short and cloaked figures seemed to glide across the ground to stand at the corner of the stage, looking up at the four criminals.

"Ugh, where are their faces?" Sonic muttered, disgusted as he stared back at the seven, empty cloak hoods.

They all huddled together, seeming to whisper among one another, their sleeves flying around them, gesturing. They didn't seem to have arms or hands either. Shadow's ears twitched.

"They aren't speaking," Shadow muttered.

"What?" Tails asked.

"They aren't speaking on a frequency that I can hear."

Sonic shuddered.

"Creepy."

Silence encased the townspeople and a path was opened in the center of them. The prince came on to the scene, hands behind his billowing cloak as he grinned evilly, scanning the four above him. The crowd glued back together as Riven stood right in front of the stage, just before the black line in the stones.

After scanning the alleged criminals a final time, he turned; acknowledging the crowd as he their silence persisted.

"My people of Aumoris! Before you are the four criminals that have threatened the life of our returned princess. Not only have they come to take her away, but they were bent on ruining the peace we've so wished for our country and for that, they must die!"

A dull whisper scattered about the people in panic. Riven silenced them.

"If you are weak of stomach, I ask that you look on with hopes that this execution will strengthen you. Let us proceed."

As Riven turned to walk up the stage, Shadow grit his teeth. Sonic stilled himself, looking to his right and left.

"I don't know who he's going to hang first, but when he goes to grab one of us, when he's not looking, the rest of us should rush him and knock him off the stage. After that, we scatter through the crowd," the blue blur explained under his breath.

Tails nodded, and Knuckles grunted. They all stilled as the prince's footfalls vibrated against the floorboards.

"Who shall I send down first?"

They all remained still, except for Knuckles. The echidna scoffed.

"Why don't you do us all at once, since you're so high and mighty?"

The prince stood behind Sonic and gave the echidna a flash of his eyes. He frowned in distaste.

"You die first."

The prince grabbed Knuckles by the dreads, bringing him to his feet. The echidna cringed, hissing in pain as he muttered a curse.

"Do not struggle. I am doing you a miraculous favor. As soon as you pass on, I will be sending your female peasants to the next world, where they will be used, abused and then sacrificially offed as a blessing. They will join you in death, as will Amelia as soon as I get what I want from her."

They were all seething.

"You take that back, you heathen," Sonic growled.

The prince laughed.

"You act as if you are in the position to order me around. I am glad that you are humoring me. Executions tend to be quite mundane I underestimated you quite bit, but now it is time to die."

The prince gripped Knuckles hair with two hands now, lifting him up further, shaking him a bit.

"This man shall die first!"

The crowd shouted in fear, disapproval and everything else aside from acceptance. They didn't want this.

Knuckles struggled to get free, but the prince brought the looped rope around his neck before kneeing him hard in the back.

Time seemed to slow as he saw the stone tiles of the ground rushing to him, but stopped as his head was taught, burning and facing the crowd. Noise and movement erupted behind him as he hung, his lungs burning, his neck straining and tensed.

"Ahhh!"

Sonic and Tails rushed to where the prince had shoved Knuckles and he now hung, trying to keep himself from losing his neck. Shadow rushed after the prince last.

Sonic kicked high, but the prince dodged his lightning fast kick and thrust his hand forward, knocking Sonic to the other end of the stage. Tails came into the prince's vision after him, falling to the ground as kicked under the prince's feet. Riven hopped like he was dancing, twisting about to kick the kitsune to where the blue blur now rested, coughing blood.

"Ack!"

The yellow ball that was Tails went flying, landing on top of Sonic, breathing hard.

Shadow stood with a small space in between he and the prince. The crowd shouted before them, and the fortress guard that had come to supervise tried to keep the chaos to a minimum. Knuckles eyes quivered, as they were glued shut, a sweat covering him as he tried to hold on. The prince and the ebony stared each other down.

"Do you wish to die next?"

The ebony's glare was pure fire.

"I'll just have to take you to hell with me."

Shadow rushed him. The prince, armed with nothing, came at him with a smirk. As Shadow closed the distance between the two, he disappeared. The prince's eyes widened as his fists flew through the empty space where the dark hedgehog had been. As he fell through the air, mid-attack, he felt a presence behind him.

"Hmph."

As the prince twisted mid-fall to meet his assailant, Shadow came down on him with his shoes, successfully nailing him to the ground with his weight. With his hands still plastered behind him, he rolled off the prince, running to where Knuckles now hung.

But his body froze.

The prince stood, furious as he spit the blood from his mouth unto the boards. He wiped his mouth, stalking up the ebony that waited mid run, his body suspended.

Shadow could only turn his pupils to the bottom of the stage where he felt the enormous energy holding him was coming from. One of the hood men looked up at him with his empty hood, his sleeves raised up to him.

"Thank you, but I can handle it from here," the prince growled, grabbing Shadow by the quills as his body was released from its hold. Shame speckled the prince's voice and Shadow realized he'd been restrained by the strange powers of one of the cloaked beings that call themselves the Core Seven.

The prince lifted the ebony further as the crowd shouted even louder, some pushing against the guards to get to the stage. Women and babies cried, while the men held them. Shadow eyed them as his energy and power seemed depleted after the member of the Core Seven had handled him. He strained to breathe as his eyes hung low.

Why are they crying? What do they care if I die?

He felt the rope on his shoulders. The shouts peaked in volume and he felt like he was on fire. Riven brought his mouth to his ear. Shadow could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I hope she was worth it. I will take great care of the princess."

Shadow was shoved forward and the rope held him in the air.

Although you can't be killed, you can still be badly injured. Even though you can't be beaten, there are always threats that can reprogram you, make you think otherwise about your own morals and friends. Although you can't be imprisoned, anyone as smart as Eggman can shut you down, put you in a pod full of liquid and give you eternal slumber which is the equivalent to death itself.

Shadow began to see black dots along with a blinking red message that read ERROR. It flashed across his vision in front of everything else and he knew that he was shutting down. His lungs began to burn for air and he wondered at what time period would he end up in when he woke again.

In between those black dots that expanded, a flash of pink flitted through his vision.

He blinked a few times as the dot moved around in between the chaotic crowd. The noise had begun to dissipate as ringing replaced the screams in his ears.

A loud shot rang out.

As Shadow's eyes tried to close, he blinked at the piercing interruption. He struggled to blink a few times and he saw the pink again, growing with each blink. He smirked.

Rose.

~aAa~

When they arrived, the shouting was already at its height.

"There they are."

Amy looked in front of her. It was Cream that had said it, pointing up through the brown cloak. Rouge and Amy had the same covering, their heads covered by the hoods as they were pushed and shove through the waves the crowd of townspeople created. They tried to blend in as they made their way to the front of the madness. Amy looked to the stage, seeing the boys on their knees and the prince nearing Knuckles.

The chaos was picking up, as the prince brought the rope around Knuckles neck.

Rouge was behind Amy and nudged her forward.

"We need to hurry. Do it now," the bat hissed into her ear. Amy shook her head.

"I need to get closer. Plus, I don't want to be near any of the guards when it happens. We might not make it to the stage then," Amy explained as Rouge looked at the guards that rimmed the crowd.

A small sweat fell across the bat's face as she swallowed. They proceeded to sift through the crowd as normally as possible as the shouting and shoving grew.

"Oh no!"

At Cream's exclamation, they looked up and panic fell across them. Knuckles swung on his rope of death, straining to keep his head attached to his body. Rouge's heart stopped.

"Knuckles!"

Rouge shove through the bodies with Cream and Amy following as chaos erupted on stage. Amy got caught between two hard bodies in their haste and took the moment to stop her friends with her hands grabbing on to their cloaks. They looked back at her, fear flashing across them.

"Amy, we have to-"

"We can't go any further! Plus, we have unwanted attention," she shouted through the madness. Amy pointed the roadblock of people before them and then used her eyes to aim in the direction where a guard stood.

In front of them, a wall of civilians kept them from going any further, seeming impenetrable as they shoved against the many guards. Not to far from the edge of the crowd, the girls had caught the eyes of a guard that now watched them closely from the edge.

As they realized the situation, they brought their hoods tighter over their heads and looked back at the stage. The boys had rushed the prince and Shadow had downed him and was heading to release Knuckles.

"Thank chaos."

But the ebony stopped.

Their faces fell as the prince gripped the hedgehog's quills and brought the rope over his head. He was shoved forward.

"No…"

Time seemed to stop as Amy watched him swing helplessly, his eyes low and his face contorted in frustration. Her heart thudded erratically. With a rush, she turned to Cream.

"Cream, distract the guard!"

All at once, they moved, Cream moving through the crowd, disappearing between dresses before becoming airborne, and attacking the guard from the sky. She dropped onto his face and they fell onto the stones, beyond sight.

At the same time, Rouge and Amy shove forward a bit more, moving through the maze of bodies until only two layers of townspeople stood between them and their goal. As Amy looked up, her glistening emerald orbs looked from Knuckles to Sonic and Tails and finally to Shadow. Then, she came across her target.

Rouge covered her ears and crouched low, closing her eyes.

Amy brought her hand up and out from her brown cloak, her pink arm jutting above the crowd and away as her hand occupied a black, metallic gun.

The shot rang out.

Time slowed. Heads swung about before the screams and chaos changed to that of outrageous fear. Everyone scattered, trying to get away from the unknown shot. Amy watched through the spaces of fleeting dresses as the prince fell in slow motion, the right side of his body was shoved back and his cloak fluttered around him as he hit the stage in a splutter of red.

"I missed."

When Rouge stood and looked up, she saw Amy staring at the stage as the retreating townspeople push and shoved her. Amy lowered the gun slowly, blinking once. Rouge looked to the stage, seeing the prince lying and the seven cloaked midgets running to the stage and gathering around him.

The Core Seven wasted no time in gathering the prince and taking him away.

Amy broke from her trance when she saw Cream running up the stage steps, a sword in both hands. She sung it with a shout, cutting the ropes that kept Knuckles suspended. The echidna hit the ground with a thud and he coughed.

All was stuttering chaos as Rouge ran against the retreating bodies.

Amy followed, running straight to Shadow, praying as she pocketed the gun. Her hood flew past her head, revealing her identity, her pink quills flipping and billowing behind her as she ran to the ebony.

Please, Shadow, just hold on for a little while longer!

Thunder shook the center.

As she reached him, she could hear the swinging of a sword and the chopping of a rope. His body fell to the ground and she did her best to cushion his fall.

"Oof."

She opened her eyes after catching him. Now on her knees, she held him. She brought the now cut noose from around his neck and discarded it as the stomping of feet muffled his heavy breathing. She cupped his face, begging him to wake.

"Shadow, it's Amy. Can you open your eyes?"

She saw one ruby gem peak from his heavy eyelids. With his hands still plastered behind him, it took everything for him just to look up at her.

"Rose…"

She smiled, tears welling.

"Thank chaos."

He chuckled lightly.

"So this is the afterlife."

Amy shook her head.

"You're not dead, Shad-"

A raindrop hit her forehead and she looked up.

Fast footsteps approached them and Cream and Sonic surrounded the two. Cream gave Amy a set of keys and she took them, using it to release the metal bindings that held Shadow's arms. As his arms fell to the side of him, Sonic brought on of Shadow's arms across his shoulders, standing him up.

"We have to move!"

Amy stood with Cream and they began to run away from the stage, dodging the various retreating civilians and guards that tried to retrain them.

Sonic, dragging Shadow, followed behind the two as Amy looked around. Cream took the lead as they headed for an alleyway that led further into town. Beside Amy, Rouge ran up to her, Knuckles on her shoulder as Tails helped her carry him.

"We should scatter!" Rouge suggested.

"No! We just came back together! I don't want us to separate and start this cycle again."

Right as they neared the alleyway, a large white carriage, pulled by four horses pulled in front of them, blocking their path. Their hearts stopped and they tensed into fighting positions as the coachman stood on his perch, his dark hood drawn above his head and body.

The rain picked up as the coachman gripped his hood and shoved it away from his face.

Sonic's eyes grew in size.

"S-Sal!"

There stood the redheaded princess, her eye swollen, her body bruised, but intact as she held the reins, a look of seriousness about her. She hurried them.

"Get in!"

They rushed to the back of the carriage, opening the back door. Tails went in first, bringing Knuckles in after him as Rouge helped him on. Cream followed her and Sonic rushed in, lugging Shadow's heavy body with him. Amy looked back at the center as the rain stained the stones.

The center was deserted, with the exception of the few guards that chased after a few retreating civilians. The other soldiers had followed the Core Seven to protect the prince from any more assailants she assumed. The prince was nowhere to be seen and the stage was vacant of life and two ropes.

The rose turned, seeing Sonic and Shadow secured in the transport and climbed in herself, slamming the door closed and securing the latch.

"Get us out of her, Sal!"

"Ya!"

With a shout, a whip sounded and the carriage moved forward. The box rumbled as the wheels rolled across the stones and Sally beckoned the horses to pick up speed. Before they knew it, they were racing through the town. Their transport teetered side to side as Sally made abrupt turns and dodged the frazzled civilians in an attempt to save their lives.

As the tension began to subside, Sonic sighed a breath of relief, laying Shadow on the boards of the wooden carriage and moving to the front of the carriage, sitting next to the tiny window that allowed him to speak to the coachman, the coachman that happened to be his fiancé. When he looked through the hole, he saw the town fly by in a torrent of fierce white and grey as the rain speckled Sally's focused face. He decided to leave her be until they were further away from danger.

The cart shook roughly for a moment.

Rouge crawled over to where Tails had deposited the echidna and brought him up to rest against the wall, placing him up right. He coughed, rubbing his neck, opening his eyes.

"Knuckles don't overexert yourself."

He chuckled as she placed her hands on his chest, pushing him to lean on the wall.

"I should be dead."

Rouge shook her head.

"But you survived. You must be one strong hunk to have lasted that long with a rope around your neck," Rouge joked lightly, brushing a dread away.

"I bet it was that special water you gave me last night."

Rouge shook her head as she hugged her idiot boyfriend. When she pulled away, she began ripping pieces off her cloak, using them to bring his wounds and wipe away blood and particles from his body.

Cream sat on the far left corner, closest to Sonic. Tails scooted over to her, sitting against the wall, brining his body so close that his warmth and her own mingled. She looked up to him, tears staining her eyes.

"Oh, Tails. I didn't think we'd make it."

Tails smiled down to her.

"You saved us all, Cream. You were so brave."

Cream blushed, but shook her head and examined him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Aside from a knock to the head and a few scratches and a bit if my own dried blood, I'm okay."

She let her head fall to his shoulder as his arm came around her. A grunt caught their attention and they looked to Shadow and Amy, as did the rest of their companions. Cream's head came up.

"Mr. Shadow?"

As Cream's voice echoed in the silence, Amy's ears twitched.

Amy and Shadow were closest to the back door. The rose leaned over his body, remaining still as the ebony rested flat on the carriage ground before her. His eyelids twitched and his breathing hitched every few seconds and it seemed his was struggling to stay conscious.

"Shadow? Shadow, its Amy. If you can hear me, please say something."

His ears went back as his eyes peaked from behind low eyelids. A ghost of a frown graced his muzzle as the onlookers watched intensely.

"Rose… I didn't know… that you were… the angel of death."

Amy blinked at him as she tried to make sense of his muttering nonsense. A sweat came about her as she tried to keep him awake.

"But, Shadow, you aren't dead. This isn't the afterlife," she whispered desperately, shaking him.

He chuckled, brining his hand to cup her face. A hot blush caused her to freeze as she remained above him.

"I know, rose. This is… a dream. A dream I'm having while stuck in stasis. A cruel, despicable dream."

He breathed in, humming deeply when he released the breath. He closed his eyes.

"You smell so real. Maybe this isn't so bad. I thought that if my systems shut down from lack of oxygen that I would be encased in darkness until I was rebooted. Yet, here I am, in a blissful dream. All I need now is… Maria."

Tears welled in the rose's eyes and she remembered the blond little girl that had died for Shadow. She wiped her eyes, shaking her head, bringing her face closer to him, whispering.

"Shadow, you're still alive. You're probably hallucinating from the experience you just had and you're head is cloudy."

He brought her head lower, pressing their foreheads together. Her cheeks grew aflame.

"Don't go, rose. Stay."

Amy froze, staring at his closed eyes.

"At least, if you're here, I can rest without worry," he whispered.

When his eyes opened, they focused on the quivering emerald orbs before him. He blinked a few times. His head was no longer clouded and his sensitive hearing picked up the rattling of the carriage and Sally outside of the moving box, commanding the horses and using a whip to bring their transport forward.

He blinked once more as the ringing in his ears subsided and Amy's face focused from three fuzzy faces into one.

"Shadow?"

The rose leaned away from him and he saw his teammates watching behind her. They all had deep blushes on their faces, as if they had walked in on an intimate moment, and the silence was deafening. Shadow blushed a bit with a frown as he realized Amy was practically straddling him in front of them.

Sonic cleared his throat with his signature smirk appearing.

"Go on, Shadow dearest, and don't let our presence interrupt your moment. You were saying?"

Slowly, he sat up, wincing, but stabilizing as the room stopped spinning. Shadow cleared his own throat in embarrassment, muttering the word faker under his breath, but when he looked down into Amy's eyes, he softened. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine, rose. There's no need to worry."

She laughed wetly and nodded, covering her mouth as she suppresses a sob.

"I'm glad. I thought, for sure, we were too late. If the prince had suspected before hand that the gun was actually a dangerous weapon and confiscated it, I don't know what I would have done."

He placed a hand under her chin and made her look up at him.

"Thank you. I owe you my life."

She smiled, laughing a bit.

"It was the least I could do."

Amy proceeded to crawl off of him, sitting beside him as she examined his injuries. The space remained quiet as the rain and clipping of horse hooves rattled about them. The tension in the room grew.

"So, this dark prince. What does he want from you, Ames?" Sonic began.

As Amy removed her hands from Shadow, she fiddled with the bottom of her dress.

"He wants my hand in marriage. I'm apparently the daughter of the former rulers of this country. With my hand he can solidify his position for good, no matter what happens to me afterward."

The boys stilled as Cream and Rouge sat straighter, prepared to help her in her explanation.

"The prince lied to her, telling her that all of her family had died in the battle that had sent her away. Amy's brother hides among the remaining soldiers loyal to the former king and queen and her parents are trapped under the fortress," Cream added.

"Sent her away? As in, off the planet?" Knuckles asked, rubbing his sore neck.

"According to Amy's brother, who helped us escape last night, Amy was sent off in a ship in her early childhood to save her from Riven's tyranny. They also sent her away so she'd fulfill this crazy prophecy and come back with reinforcements to save the country," Rouge explained.

"Prophecy? Sounds so surreal, but prophecies aren't to be taken lightly," Tails muttered loud enough to hear as he mulled the information over.

"The prophecy states that the princess would return, accompanied by two other females, a bat and a rabbit, and together with sacred weapons, they would bring Riven and his forces down for good. After capturing the king and queen, believing the prince to be dead and failing to capture the princess, Prince Riven took over the country and sent search parties through the galaxy to find her. He'd known of the prophecy as well and felt that if he'd found the princess before she was destined to save Aumoris, he'd be able to stop it all and keep his control. Apparently, I'm that princess and he took Cream and Rouge so he could sacrifice them, knowing the prophecy could not continue if they were to die," Amy explained.

"And Riven is the dark Prince, right?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, faker." Shadow shot as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed, gaze low as he listened.

"What happened to the prince? Where is he now?" Tails inquired.

Amy shifted, brining her knees to her chest

"Probably hiding among his men, keeping his identity hidden until he feels that it's time to release our parents. We're suppose to save them together and regain control of the fortress soon."

Knuckles gargled a deep laugh, popping his hands.

"I get it, so we're going to go save the king and queen, right?" he asked.

All eyes were on Amy as her head rested between her knees.

"I'm afraid not, Knuckles."

"What? Why not? Isn't it your destiny?" Sonic asked.

Amy looked up, her brows furrowed.

"Do you really believe this insane story? Me, a lost princess, cast away for her safety and her involvement in a prophecy? I don't buy it; at least not the whole thing. Argentine proved that he was my brother and I believe his every word, but I can't just forget everything I've built on Mobius, shun my existence as a Freedom Fighter, release the king and queen and become their daughter again all because some prewritten prophecy told me I would and I will. I could barely remember my family to begin with and this planet; it's so far from Mobius. They'd never let me leave."

They were all silent as she continued her tirade. Her furrowed eyebrows shot upward.

"I know I should be more accepting and just try to do something. And it's wrong to leave them imprisoned and allow the people of Aumoris to be oppressed just so I can go back to Mobius and live out my life as I please. This place is where I came from and my family deserves to live, but I won't risk your lives for a cause I wasn't aware of until now. Mobius needs you and what would happen if you died saving a planet that even I feel uncertain trying to save? I won't have it. You owe Aumoris nothing."

Amy shuffled to stand as carriage began to slow. They all looked up at her.

"Even if this prophecy is all real and Cream and Rouge and I should assemble to destroy Riven, I want to be able to decide that for myself, not because some prophecy told me I should. If there's a way to save them without threatening your lives, I'll do so myself, but for now I've decided that Mobius needs me first and we should get to the ship and fly far, far away from this place and forget this ever happened."

As the back door flew open, Amy hopped out, standing next to Sally with a sad smile. The rain had subsided and all that was left was a continuing wind and white clouds that ran across the covered sky.

"Sally, I thought something had happened to you."

Sally smiled at the younger girl, patting her head.

"It did, but I'm not a Freedom Fighter for nothing."

Amy laughed, turning to see the ship for the first time. With a sigh, she walked toward it.

As the rest of the team came out, Sonic sped in between Tails and Knuckles to grab Sally in an embrace. They ended up a little ways away from the carriage, Sonic laying her down in the grass, looking her up and down, searching for injuries.

"Sal! You're okay."

She smiled, a few tears welling. She was alive, but the beating she'd taken still stood out against her fur, dried blood and bruises along her he muzzle.

"How did you- I mean- you were knocked out an-" he began, but a finger to his lips stopped him.

"I managed to get away. The soldiers followed my limping body into the forest, where I used the trees to my advantage and took them out. I went into the city looking for you and when I saw the crowd forming and you all about to be hung, I went to steal a carriage so I could storm the place. Turns out the girls had beat me to it," she explained, looking behind him at the other team members that stood near the ship, waiting for them.

Sonic looked back, seeing them all in the distance, the wind picking at their clothing. He felt proud to know his team members were so capable. He turned back to her, brining them to their feet. As he did so, he looked behind her, the glint of light on metal catching his eye. Panic rose within him as he saw a small battalion of armored men on horse back making their way up the hill at top speed.

"We gotta go Sal."

He picked her up, bridal style, and rushed to the ship, pressing the button to release the ramp right before Tails was about to. As the fox lifted his eyebrow to question his haste, the blue blur pointed the opposite direction.

"Not to be the bearer of bad news, but a squad that looks like they're from the fortress are headed this way on horse back. Not that I don't love company, but considering that we lack the presentation for dinner, I was just ganna suggest we leave."

They all looked back a moment, seeing the armor glinting with dimmed sunlight, before turning to run up the ramp of the ship. Amy, however, after doing a double take, waited at the bottom of the ramp, squinted in the distance.

"Wait… that flag."

As the squad approached, Amy noticed the flag, as white as snow, with a stainless rose embroidered in gold, seeming to sparkle as the wind took it. Amy edged toward the horses that raced toward her, not stopping. Her dressed billowed as the grass stained its rim. Shadow turned to see her head that way, and went to stop her.

"Rose!"

Right as he turned to reach her, the men on horse back, circled her, blocking his view of her.

Amy waited as the men surrounded her. As they stopped their spinning, a horse with a shinning gold emblem on it's head trotted up to her and the man on it's back looked down to her, his white locks flying by him as his icy blue orbs graced her being with warmth.

"Sister, the time is now."