Chapter 22

The second round of suitors were the well-to-doers who couldn't stop themselves from fixing their hair and pulling at their cuffs. Amy nodded along as they spoke at her without asking questions, dragged her through dances, and made the occasional remark about how "unique" she was for her outfit choice. She refused to laugh at their inane attempts at chatter, but she did flatter a few of them with shallow compliments. She wanted to test some of the more airheaded ones - see if they could be as harmless as their wits implied. Perhaps that would be her best choice: a vainglorious dimwit.

For the next hour, just as Amy started to feel tired, hopeless, and lost on the dance floor, she caught a flash of blue in the crowd that lured her attention from her partner. Sonic enjoyed their little game of hide and seek. He would be at the front of the crowd as she whirled by him one moment, and the next, hanging back by the other suitors as if waiting in line for his turn.

Each time they locked eyes across the room, time no longer mattered to Amy. Her headache disappeared, the heaviness in her feet turned to nothing, and the droning of her partner faded away. Sonic would flash her a dazzling smile or quirk an amused brow, and she would roll her eyes back or make a face. Then, he would disappear behind an attendant or she would be spun away, and they were thrust back into the party, where Amy's partner had already changed and she was no closer to finding someone to marry.

She looked up after her dance with the youngest Lord from Yokely, ready to call Shadow for a rest, when a familiar hand slipped into hers, and she was pulled tight to a chest she fit perfectly against.

Amy sighed and closed her eyes.

"Finally," she mumbled. She traced a line along Sonic's arm all the way up to his shoulder, relieved to feel him on her fingertips.

"Happy to see me?" Sonic teased.

"You have no idea," Amy said. Chaos, she could have kissed him she was so happy. He looked magnificent in the shimmering light of the ballroom, all done up and holding her close - risking life and limb to be there for her. He had come at just the right moment. She felt so worn down that she could've collapsed onto him.

"I'll be honest," Sonic whispered as the musicians launched into the next song, "I know fuck-all about dancing."

"Why in the hell did you ask for one, then?" Amy laughed at him. She guided his hand to her waist and took a deep breath as his fingers settled on her back. "Come on, I'll lead. Trust me, I have you."

Amy laced her fingers into his and egged him onto the floor. Sonic found himself swept up in her strong stance, led by her expert timing. He smiled as the song carried them away and the room began to spin. He stumbled over his feet a few times before settling into her rhythm.

"Where's your mind?" Amy asked as she did her best to guide him. "Because I don't see it here."

"It's, uh, on my feet. I've never…" Sonic lied. He felt smaller than ever in the center of the grand ballroom. Amy squeezed his hand - another painful reminder of her endless patience and generosity. He tried to relax in her arms, but it was impossible. He had to be ready; he was watching for signs.

"Oh come on, where's your sense of fun?" Amy teased. "You're never going to win the hand of the Princess worrying like that, you know. Just relaaax..." She pulled him closer and hummed along with the music in his ear. She counted for him quietly and laughed when he stepped on her skirt or cursed trying to get the pace right.

"There! That was right!" Amy said after a successful loop around the floor. "See, you're a natural!"

The world spun in a glittering, dizzy circle around her. It must have been the heat of the alcohol in her chest, or maybe it was how happy she felt dancing with him. In his arms, the room sparkled, and her garment fit just right. In his arms, the tension in her body somehow melted into joy. She pretended like it was just a party - just one exquisite, magical night - and all her hard work came together in an instant. Thank Gaia she had planned such a spectacular evening, just so she could have this perfect dance with him.

Sonic flushed to see her so happy. They kept going, laughing and figuring out their pattern together. Amy seemed cheery and full of life - she held him firm in her strong arms and guided him with ease. They were fine, he told himself. They had time. He could afford to let them have this moment together. He held her close and let her carry him wherever she pleased, enjoying the not having to lead for once.

"Best dance partner I've had all night," Amy said, her smile bright and earnest.

"Don't patronize me," Sonic scolded, "I'm about as good at dancing as you are thieving."

"I take great offense at that," Amy said, holding his eye contact. She stumbled over her feet and looked down in confusion. He caught her weight and carried them into the next step.

"Sorry," she said. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Panic struck Sonic square in the chest. He stiffened and gripped her hand harder. She didn't seem to notice.

No, not yet. His thoughts turned into a string of silent pleas to no one in particular. Please, just one more song, one more minute with her.

"Sooo, any frontrunners yet?" Sonic pushed the question straight from his lungs like he had been punched in the gut, trying to cover his own reaction.

"Well there was one -"

"What?" he gaped. Panic struck his heart again, much harder.

"I was intrigued because he gave me the most ornate knife as a birthday gift," Amy said, thinking on the beautiful blade with disappointment.

"A… knife?" Sonic asked. "For a Princess?" This man did sound different from the others. Was he a childhood friend maybe? How could he have known to give her such an illicit and well-suited gift?

"I know! Shadow was scandalized when he saw it, of course. I thought it was gorgeous. It was from Sir Dylan of Highsong - son of Lord Highsong. Shadow didn't remember the name from any of his prior military operations, but I've actually heard before that he's quite handsome -"

"You 'heard'? You haven't seen him?" Sonic asked.

"Well… that's what makes him the only interesting suitor here," Amy said with a pout. "He didn't show up tonight. The knife was a diplomatic peace offering - to make sure I wasn't offended that he didn't come - but the man himself wasn't interested in attending on sort of a personal, moral level."

"Oh," Sonic said. He shook himself out of his own relief. It wouldn't have mattered if the man was here anyway, he had to remember that.

"It's… ironic," Amy said. She had to pause. She couldn't find the word for a second - her mind felt sluggish. "The one guy who might be a good fit for me - the one guy who would give a knife to a Princess - is the one guy who refused to show up…"

Sonic hesitated. The spinning became disorienting, and he lost his focus on the music and their timing. He watched her concentration slip from her face and knew that he had only a few more moments with her, like this. She would be gone soon - too soon - leaving him all alone in a catastrophe of his own making.

"Amy, wait," he said, gripping her tighter, giving her a slight shake. He wanted her to wake up and stay with him; wanted to stall the venom just a bit longer. She looked up, stunned but brought to her senses.

"Are you alright?" she asked, eyes wide. "If it's about the suitor -"

"No, it's just that I - " Sonic swallowed and forced them to a stop so he could look at her, really look at her, one last time. Dancers whirled past them in a blur, and the light of the chandelier felt glaring. Like he had stopped them under a spotlight.

"I just… I want to remember this. Want to remember us, just in case…" Sonic pulled his hand out of hers like he might place it on her cheek, but Amy stopped him and pressed it close to her heart.

"Sonic, there's only one man here who ever really stood any chance with me tonight," Amy said. Her eyelids felt so heavy. She leaned into him, pressing up onto her toes like she might kiss him, but she stumbled and fell forward into his chest. She looked down at her feet with frustration.

"Sorry," she said again. The word came out clumsy and slow, as if she had to drag it from her mind like retrieving a trunk from an attic.

Sonic's stomach dropped out from under him. There was nothing he could do for her anymore. Their dance was over.

A burst of sound ricocheted through the stone ballroom from the courtyard. The bright colors of Tails' homemade explosives lit the room as Amy's body grew heavier and heavier in his arms. People rushed forward around them, exclaiming in wonder and pushing past each other to watch the lavish display of firecrackers.

"What was that?" Amy asked, trying to pull herself from Sonic to see what the commotion was. But as she made to take a step, she crumpled.

Sonic was there to catch her, hoisting her up by the underarms like they were still dancing, pulling her full weight forward onto his chest. His vision went blurry. His heartbeat felt erratic and painful in his ribs.

"Sonic," Amy whispered. Her forehead hit his chest. "Something is… really wrong."

She fought to bring her hand up to his shoulder to get his attention. It broke Sonic's heart to realize that she was asking him for help; asking him to do something. She thought that he was on her side. She thought that he was the solution to her problem, not the cause of it. And of course she did, she trusted him and he had used that against her like a coward.

Sonic shifted her in his arms. Apologies and garbled explanations flew from his lips in a string of nonsense, lost under the cheers of the crowd. He looked around, desperate to gain his bearings in the room. They had stopped spinning ages ago, but he felt frozen to the spot amidst the noise and the people and the explosions and his own visceral, incessant panic.

Then he saw a familiar shock of black and red across the room, and everything stilled.

Shadow didn't budge, didn't even blink against the wave of nobles surging and crashing around him.

The two men locked eyes. Adrenaline shot through Sonic like a bullet.

They both sprang into action at the exact same moment, an ocean of people apart. Shadow pushed against the crowd, the echoes of his orders like thunderpeal over the explosions.

"The exits!" Shadow called to any other guard around the room who could hear him. "Shut the doors, now!"

"Just hold on, Ames. You'll be alright," Sonic whispered. He swept her up and broke for the courtyard, head down like he was a sprinter and the ballroom was his field.

As soon as her legs left the floor, Amy went limp in his arms. "What…" she croaked, fighting to keep her eyes open. "What did… you do?"

Sonic glanced down at her and almost stumbled, but he forced himself to keep running for the doors. He crashed through a few standing candelabras, indifferent to who or what they burned on their way to ground. He had heard it in her voice and seen it in her eyes. She knew who he was now. She knew that this was what he had come here to do.

"I -" Sonic tried to find a promise to give to her, but Shadow barked orders so loud they drowned out his own thoughts. He spared a glance behind him and saw that the knight was still honed in on them.

And chaos, was he fast.

Shadow shoved a drunk Lord out of his way and cleared a table in one smooth leap. Pandemonium took hold in the room. Guards corralled guests and pushed them out of the way of closing doors. Food and trays went flying as wait staff scrambled to the edges of the room. The firecrackers exploded on and on outside, loud and ballistic as cannonfire.

Sonic turned back to the courtyard doors and ran harder. This was a battle of wills. The winning man would be the one who had more to lose, and Sonic knew without a flicker of doubt that was him.

He felt a weak punch against his chest as he closed in on the door. It almost comforted him to realize that Amy was fighting him even as she lost consciousness.

"Don't worry, Ames," he pleaded, breathless. "I can explain everything, it's all okay, please -"

Another weak punch hit his chest just as an arrow buried itself in the door, brushing his shoulder and tearing through his shirt.

Shadow shouted something again. Sonic ripped free of the arrow to slip through the closing doors and closer to freedom.

Out in the dark, he sped up. All he had to do was clear the gate, then he'd be free. He could outrun Shadow if it came down to it, he was sure - no one was faster than him.

Light and sound spilled from the ballroom behind him. Wind whipped through his fur as another arrow sliced by, and then another. He dodged and took off toward the drawbridge. Archers lined the towers, all leveraging arrows down at them. Sonic winced and pushed himself to the edge of his speed, tucking Amy deep into his body to shield her from any careless projectiles.

He passed the threshold of the castle just as the gate slammed down behind him, the hardest part of their escape over.

Still, through the night, Shadow's deep voice rang out loud and true. Sonic chanced a final look over his shoulder.

The knight stood atop a tower holding a bow. He brought his hand down, slow and sure like the hand of God, to notch an arrow into place. He stretched the bow back, red eyes alight with fury.

Shadow shouted. Sonic turned forward again.

He felt a force like a punch at his back and stumbled. He dug his boots into the earth and bent deep into his stride to run even faster, sure he must've just hit a tree root.

Sonic didn't slow as he entered the forest. He ran like a scared child in the dark, clinging to his favorite toy for comfort. He watched - sweating and crazed - as trees flew past him in looming, dark shadows.

"I'm so sorry," he finally heard himself whisper, quiet like the wind that whipped around them.

Amy couldn't hear him - or anything, for that matter.

She watched Sonic's lips move in slow motion. She took shallow breaths to keep herself afloat in the murky void of her body. It took her lifetimes to open and close her eyes. There was so much happening around her and inside her, she knew that, but her mind caught only pieces of feeling and sensation at a time.

There was his heartbeat. Fast; scared.

Her skirt wrapped around her legs like a burial shroud.

"Sorry…"

Betrayal. Anguish, profound and choking in her throat.

A breath in. Slow. Shallow. A breath out.

The last of Amy's strength died, and her hand fell away from where she had been pounding on his chest. As it settled in her lap, she registered another sensation.

Something wet and warm in her hand.

Red where it shouldn't be.

It took her eons to understand. She took a dragging breath and fought to keep her eyes open.

He was hurt.

"Sonic," Amy begged. Her lips hardly moved, her chest heaved with every labored breath.

"Stop," she tried to speak again. The plea slid from her lips in one prolonged hiss.

Her mind told her body to show him the blood, but she couldn't obey. She couldn't even feel if her muscles had twitched. And he was so preoccupied stringing together apologies, strategies. Clumsily explaining his actions away to an audience who couldn't even hear him.

Amy had no idea how much time passed as she watched his white shirt turn red right before her eyes.

The devastation of what he had done crept through her body slow, just like the paralysis. She felt rage spread all the way through to her fingertips, thick and watered down with her blood and whatever poison he had given her.

Was she dying, she wondered? Had he been sent to kill her?

Each new thought hammered another crack in her heart until it caved in on itself.

Just one night ago she had been… happy, hadn't she? She had been in love. And he had kissed her like he was happy; like he was in love.

Yet here he was, ripping forcibly through her chest to try and steal her very heart away.

Hadn't she done enough to tell him, in words that he refused to hear, that he would find nothing more buried in her? Didn't he know that she had already placed every last piece of herself into his care long, long ago?

Her next breath was so heavy, she thought maybe she'd rather not take it all.

Sonic became aware of real pain in his body after countless miles of running. For the whole first part of the trip back to camp, he thought the sharp pang blooming from somewhere in his chest and shoulder was emotional. He weathered it as best as he could, feeling like he deserved every bit of it, but then his breathing grew wet and garbled. He slowed, then staggered. Before he could understand what was happening enough to right himself, he went tumbling to the ground.

His right shoulder buckled as soon as he hit the dirt and he crumpled to a heap on the cold forest floor. Amy fell hard and rolled just out of his reach. She lay splayed in the path, hand outstretched toward him.

Her fur looked dark, like mud. He gasped - had she been hurt?

Sonic reached for her, shaking, and stifled a cry at the shock of pain that pushed into his musculature.

His hand flew to his back.

"No… no," he begged, not sure if he had said it aloud.

His fingertips hit the long shaft of an arrow protruding from somewhere in his shoulder.

So this was it then, he thought.

He was shocked to find that he felt relieved at the idea of being gone soon, maybe forever. At least dead, the universe couldn't toy with him and the people he loved. And after what he had put Amy through…

Amy…

Sonic shook his head. Pain shot up his neck and woke him up.

No, he couldn't go yet. Amy was helpless out here - he couldn't risk someone coming upon her while she fought through the rest of venom.

On his knees, crumpled into the earth, Sonic pulled himself toward her on one arm. She stared back at him, eyes glassy and far away like a corpse. Like he had really killed her.

Sharp pain lit up his nerves. He could feel the arrow tip rub against the muscles in his shoulder. Chaos, he wanted to collapse under the weight of it all.

Amy's eyes widened as he came closer to her. She was scared - but who for, he wondered?

"It's okay," Sonic muttered as he pushed himself up to standing and grabbed her under the arms. He pulled her into him as best he could and groaned at the excruciating pressure in his chest. One step at a time, he moved them towards a section of thick brush off the trampled pathway.

Just a few more steps, he told himself. Get her safe.

They went tumbling straight into a bush, and rolled to a stop tangled together in pitch darkness. He felt her shallow breath on his neck, his arms still around her.

"Ames," he rasped. He flinched as something sharp stabbed deeper into his body. He took some steadying breaths and opened his eyes to look at her. A tear gathered in the inner corner of her eye and rolled down her nose.

"When you wake up, go back to the castle. Leave me here, I'll be -" he grunted, unable to speak past the pain. The darkness around them was too heavy for him to fight. He squeezed her close with the last bit of his strength. Her body heat brought him comfort; eased the fear as he felt his consciousness drift away.

"I'm so - sorry," he whispered. His eyelids fluttered closed, and he opened his mouth to his last breath to apologize again.

But Sonic's heart - his heart that refused to leave him be - wanted something else. And if it was to be his last moment… his heart could have it, he decided. He surrendered, the battle with himself over.

"Amy, it'll be ok… Amy I -"

He didn't finish the sentence. He slipped away into the darkness.

It must have been days that Amy laid in the brush. What felt like days, to her. She could do nothing, hear nothing, and see nothing, but she cried the whole time, she was sure of it. For eons, Amy cried; desperate and confused.

As soon as feeling brushed her fingertips, Amy fought the paralysis like she was in a death throe. She railed against herself in a wild, agonized struggle, until finally her fingers flexed, her jaw opened, and she felt her lungs expand.

She pushed out of Sonic's arms, thrashing about and scrambling to her feet to run. She moaned and stumbled to her knees as blood rushed into her legs.

She wept, dragging her body through the dirt as far away from him as she could. She couldn't stand to be near him.

Only after she had enough distance did she crumple into a heap on her knees, strangled by her grief.

Amy had always been able to trust herself. No matter her duty, no matter her father's berating, no matter the uncertain future - she trusted herself to fight through it all. But on her knees deep in the forest, she no longer felt like an indomitable force. She no longer felt like a Queen, or a Champion. She didn't even feel like Amy Rose anymore. She felt like nothing and no one at all.

Amy pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and let her head fall back toward the sky. Her pain was carnal, uncontrollable, and bloody. She wanted to tear free of her body and howl aloud - a long, moaning bay of devastation that would bring the world to its knees with her.

But she couldn't risk being heard by anyone nearby who might want to hurt her. She censored the brutality of her feelings for the world once more.

She raked her fingers down her cheeks and doubled over, mouth open, to push all the air from her body in one long, silent scream until her lungs burned. She welcomed the feeling of drowning in her own sorrow. Why should she breathe - how could she breathe? She wanted her lungs to burn and then burst with the force of her anguish; with the force of her scream that not a soul heard - not even herself.

She gasped, and sobbed, and pounded her fists into the earth over and over again until her hands were red with her own blood. She woke her body up violently, demanding that her limbs obey her lest she break her own bones just to feel something - anything worse than the pain in her heart.

Heaving, Amy sat back on her heels and looked back at Sonic's face. Her eyes were dull and vague, ghosts of the bright green they had been mere minutes ago.

Sonic's brows were knit together in a grimace and his breathing sounded wet. He looked so pathetic on the ground, his blood pouring out on the grass for her.

It was so unfair of him, she thought. Pathetic, really - to go and get himself hurt and place all the responsibility in her hands once again. He was hers to do with as she pleased, and she wanted to give up. She wanted to forget what it felt like to be happy and in love and stupid.

But her heart would never let her walk away from him, and she hated him for that. She was inconsolable. She was a fool.

And she had to save him.

Amy crawled back to him and tore the knife off his belt, tears still running freely down her dirty cheeks. She cut herself loose from her skirt and shoes and forced herself to stand, left only in her ornate jumpsuit. She pulled off Sonic's boots and socks for her own feet. They were much too large for her, but she would need better shoes for the trek through the forest. She sobbed on and off as she worked with shaking hands, bitter and afraid.

She shoved Sonic onto his side with little pretense to examine the arrow in his back.

He had been struck true and deep, just below his shoulder blade, and most of the right half of his shirt was soaked through in blood.

"Sonic," Amy commanded. She fell to her knees hard, taking his face in her hands.

"Sonic, you have to tell me where Tails and Knuckles are!" she called. Her voice cracked and another sob rocked through her body.

She couldn't take him back to the palace - he would be killed instantly. There was only one place she could go if she was going to get him help in time.

"Where is the camp?" She almost shouted the question, hysterical as she shook him in her hands. "Wake up! Wake up!"

"A-mes…" he groaned. His head lolled back.

He was alive - good. He could feel pain.

"Tell me now, or you'll die out here!" She choked on the words, her throat dry and sore. His eyes flickered open for a second before rolling back in his head.

"5 more miles… down the road… and look for…" he fell silent. His head grew heavy in her hands.

"Sonic!" Amy cried, trying to rouse him again. But it wasn't working. Nothing was working, nothing was right. She reared back to slap him, anger clouding her vision red.

Then her hand curled into a fist and she wept and slammed it uselessly into the ground.

She eased him back onto his side, broke the end off of the arrow, and pushed the tip the rest of the way through his body in one swift, bloody motion.

Sonic's lips parted in a silent scream. His body convulsed before he collapsed to the ground again, blacked out from the pain.

Amy worked fast. She tore his cape, tunic, and shirt off and bound his chest tight in strips made from her red skirt. She stuffed wad after wad of beautiful, expensive cloth in his wound, digging her fingers deep into the inside of his body to try and staunch the flow of blood. Each low moan he uttered was a blessing and a curse. It told her he was alive, it told her he was hurting.

Amy had never wanted to make someone hurt before. And to want to make the man she loved hurt, was a feeling that tore her apart.

She used every bit of cloth at her disposal to cover the deep gash in his back, and still she continued to wrap him up. She wrapped his whole torso to try and keep everything in its place for their journey.

She pulled the tattered pieces of his bloody shirt and tunic on to cover herself, then rolled him onto his blue cape.

Gasping with effort, her limbs still tingling, Amy crouched at his feet and hauled the world onto her back for what she thought might be the final time.

Sonic settled on her back, heavy, like her own furious indifference. His arms dangled over her shoulders and his feet dragged against the dirt. She pulled his legs around her waist and grabbed the ends of the cape, tying them tight around her body in a makeshift sling.

She felt his head nestled into her shoulder, and wiped her eyes until they were dry.

Her old self was gone. That Amy had been stripped clean of dignity by a charming thief - smiled and teased right into a trap that had been waiting for her for who knew how long. For all she cared, that Amy had been the one shot with an arrow, and she hadn't made it out alive.

This Amy looked up, quills wild and eyes frantic; cheeks dirt and tear stained, and put one foot in front of the other. She felt no anger, no fear. She felt nothing at all as she trekked toward the camp to finish what Sonic had started.

Ready and willing to deliver her own self straight into Scourge's hands.