Chapter 25

Sonic stormed through the camp in a single-minded fury. Behind him, Tails protested the plan, careful to keep his voice low as they pushed through groups of thieves watching them in shock.

"How are you even going to find her knight?" Tails asked. "You're hurt, you can't run, Sonic -"

"Watch me," he said.

The contrarian in him protested the very idea that he couldn't do anything - especially not run. He knew on an intellectual level that his body was in serious pain and still very fragile - but he couldn't feel it, buried by all his anger. For Amy, he'd find a way to run. As long as he still had breath in his lungs, until he found that idiot knight, he would run.

"What if he's dead?" Tails pointed out, wringing his hands. "The reality is… he lost her. He failed the crown. He could've been… executed."

That did give Sonic pause, but the man in his head didn't strike him as someone who would allow himself to be so easily thrown away. The way he had sprinted through the ballroom like some divine, primal force of nature that night made Sonic almost certain that he was still alive.

"Something tells me they wouldn't do that," Sonic said. "He's the youngest Champion the Kingdom has ever known. He's their golden boy."

Knuckles snorted behind them. His breath came out in a cloud of warm steam.

"The King already threw away his most decorated Champion once before," he said. "It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. To him, one Champion is worth about as much as any other peasant."

"But this guy," Sonic clicked his tongue thinking on it, "he's too sharp. You should've seen the way he looked at us that night - it wasn't emotional at all, that's what made it so unnerving. It was… I don't know, it was pure focus. Like getting to Amy in that moment was all he had ever learned how to do. It was his only purpose."

Knuckles humphed behind him.

"I don't think he'd let them drag him away - not until he gets Amy back, at least," Sonic said. His tone stung with obvious bitterness. He hated having to admit that this man - this knight who he didn't know - would be better suited to save Amy than he. This knight knew her better, longer; would bring her more comfort. But Sonic was over workarounds. He was over trying to reach Amy himself when someone else was already right there, perfectly positioned to finally grab her.

"What about everyone else?" Tails asked.

Sonic stopped short and Tails almost bumped into him.

"Everyone else…" Sonic mused. He had forgotten about them.

His gaze fell on the mess hall. At the big cooking pot, Espio and Vector sat bickering. Next to them, Charmy was scraping the pot clean and licking his fingers.

Sonic blinked and felt his anger recede as he watched the little crew. Charmy taunted the older men with his dirty hands, and Espio chastised him while Vector laughed.

Watching them, he remembered what made him different; what he wouldn't do. Scourge's father had gone scorched-earth. Scourge himself had made every man at the camp his indentured servant. But Sonic refused to forsake the thieves around him, no matter how angry he was. Those who deserved it would get what they were owed, he was sure of that. But for the rest… they were like him and Tails and Charmy… They were all just kids who were turned into orphans, made into thieves.

He felt the threads of himself weave back together in a way that felt stronger and more real than they ever had been before.

Sonic changed his trajectory without a word and made his way over to the table.

"What're you still doing here?" he asked, nodding at Espio.

Espio looked displeased to see him up and walking again.

"I failed the Chaotix," the merc said, like it was obvious that Sonic should know the consequences of such a transgression. "We were to hit this very camp the night of the ball and… well, you blew that plan up." Espio shot Vector a look that said he would not be forgetting that anytime soon.

"Going back after such an egregious failure to complete a transaction for the guild would be an insult to the institution, and an ultimate humiliation for me," he said with a melodramatic sigh. "I am as good as dust now. I am… a common thief. Like you."

"Gee, what a compliment," Sonic said with an eye roll. "And when I was coming to do another nice thing for you, too."

"Ignore him, Sonic," Vector said, giving Espio a hard but kind pat on the shoulder. "He's just grumpy about his little club -"

"- Sophisticated mercenary society," Espio grumbled.

"- but he'll be alright," Vector continued. "He's got a new little club going for him that's just as good - if not better."

Charmy's wide eyes appeared over the table edge, proud and mischievous.

"Yeah, and our club is way cooler," the kid said. He used his wings to leap up and settle cross-legged on the table top. "But what's the nice thing, Sonic? Candy?"

Sonic shook his head and ruffled the boy's impossibly scruffy black hair.

"Not quite." He looked at Vector. "I came to warn you all. There's… going to be another bust."

Vector's smile fell. He gripped the table so tight that Sonic feared he might break a board off.

"Why?" he asked. "When?"

"As soon as possible," Sonic said. He placed his hands on the table. "And I need your help, Vector, to get anyone who shouldn't be here when this goes down out and as far away as you possibly can. Quietly."

"It's because she's here, isn't it?" Vector asked sourly.

Sonic looked at Vector, accusatory and unimpressed, but he nodded. "She's done more time here than she should have. She's got to get back home before -"

"The Tournament of Champions," Espio finished.

"This is exactly what I didn't want to happen," Vector growled.

Sonic's ear twitched with irritation. "We all made our choices trying to avoid the unavoidable. You helped bring her here, and now this is how we have to get her out. What matters is that you three and all the other kids here don't suffer because we were stupid and acted on our fears."

Espio watched him in shrewd silence, his gaze unreadable under the shadow of his cloak.

"And there is no other way?" he asked evenly.

Sonic shook his head. "This is the only way it should go. Long story short, Scourge is headed out with Amy soon, and he's planning on letting the camp take the fall for everything. Mark my words, another bust is coming, but Scourge can't be behind it again - for all of our sakes, we have to beat him to it."

"Again?" Vector asked, mouth hanging open. He stood, almost knocking over the whole table in his anger.

"I don't have time to explain - ask Knuckles or Tails, they're staying to help." Sonic waved a hand and turned to leave. "The crown is coming. Just be out with everyone as soon as you can. Then, Vector, we'll call it even between us."

Sonic made to leave, but Espio stood and called him to wait. Sonic spared him only a glance.

"Thank you," Espio said with a nod, "for the heads up."

Sonic nodded back at him, ready to take off into the woods.

"Wait!" Tails called.

He ran up to Sonic and almost took him by the arm, then thought better of it. Tails looked disappointed and serious, and Sonic's heart dropped at the telltale signs that he was somehow in trouble.

Tails ushered Sonic farther away from the little group of thieves. "I know you're not trying to leave on this extremely dangerous mission without me?" he said, his tone implying that there was a correct answer to his question.

"Buddy," Sonic said with an apologetic sigh, "I need you here, packing up. Watching Amy. Safe."

"I thought you were done being the hero," Tails accused, his brow furrowing in frustration.

"You know I'll never be done being the hero," Sonic said with a soft grin.

"Alright, well then I thought you were done trying to do everything yourself," Tails said, his tone rising in anger at Sonic's easy batting away of his concerns.

"Listen, Tails, I know you want to help -"

"I don't want to help," Tails interrupted, "I can help. You feel like you have to make up for something - like you have to be punished or do all the work on your own or… I don't know, like you owe Amy or yourself or the world your suffering. But you don't. You owe yourself, and all of the people who love you, your safety. Amy gave up everything to keep you alive - would it kill you to give up your pride to do the same?"

Sonic took a sharp breath, ready to argue, but to his great surprise he found he didn't want to. He could say nothing against his friend.

"I'm coming with you," Tails said with a finality that was new to them both. "And I won't hear otherwise. I'll search aerially within a couple miles of you at a time, just in case you run into an enemy you're not prepared for. If he's out there, we'll find him."

Sonic used his good arm to pull Tails in for a hug, speechless for once.

"You're too smart for me," Sonic grumbled with affectionate annoyance.

"I promise," Tails whispered as he hugged his brother back, "no matter what, we'll get her home. You both… you don't deserve for it all to end like this."

Sonic's heart plunged in his chest.

"I don't know bud, she's… she might never forgive me for this," Sonic whispered, confessing his deepest fear to his wise little brother.

"She will," Tails whispered back firmly. "Maybe you weren't paying attention, but I was. The way she looks at you, the way she's been looking at you from the moment I met her… You're very lucky, Sonic."

Sonic squeezed his eyes shut and smiled a real, relieved smile. He hadn't thought about it like that… he had thought his luck was perhaps the worst in the universe. He had thought himself the Gods' favorite practice dummy.

But Amy loved him, she had told him that herself. And Tails was right - didn't that just make him the luckiest man in the world?

Shadow sat on his steed, exhausted but alert. He had promised the King - on his life - that he would not stop until the Princess was found. If he found Amy any way other than alive, well then, he believed wholeheartedly that he deserved the dishonorable execution of a criminal that would be waiting for him.

Shadow searched for her with carefully crafted, unemotional focus, but on the inside he was… afraid. He was upset. It irked him to know he felt that way, but it irked him even more that he had let any of this happen in the first place. Had it been the two months away that somehow dulled him? Was it his relationship with her that made him so soft? How had he been foolish - no, weak enough to not catch that blue thief in time?

He gave his small hunting party orders, and the knights disappeared into the pitch dark forest. Shadow dismounted and landed on the ground, leading his horse as he held an oil lamp up to scour the area for the millionth time.

This spot was their only lead. He had hoped the blood would trail farther than it did from the arrow wound, but it didn't. Here, at the spot where he stood, it looked like there had been a massacre of unparalleled violence. Pools of crusted and muddied blood, strips of fabric, and confoundingly, the Princess' shoes. There was almost too much evidence. But beyond this spot, there was nothing.

No crimson drips to lead him deeper into the forest, no dragging feet marks. It was like an angel had scooped them up - princess and criminal - and carried them away without leaving so much as a trace. But why would Gaia grant that blue hedgehog such help? How could that scum have - as it appeared to him - gotten up and walked away, as if he had never been shot at all?

The knights had already scoured every inch of the forest within at least three miles of this spot. They had lost men in the dark heart of trees and brush searching. Shadow himself had left no rock unturned; had not slept but a handful of minutes, and only ever returned to the castle to trade out horses. If the Princess' little servant girl hadn't been waiting for him every time he returned with a cloth sack of bread, berries, and water, he probably wouldn't have eaten.

Shadow knelt and pulled a slip of blue, silk fabric from the mud, no bigger than a flower petal. He looked up and frowned at the princess' discarded shoes, trying to piece together the leftovers from that fateful night into a story. But he could come up with nothing that made complete sense.

The fur on the back of his neck suddenly pricked, and he froze.

A branch snapped to his right - quiet, but definitely there. Shadow dropped his reins and sprinted at the noise before it had even finished echoing through the forest.

There was a flash of cool blue and a sound that Shadow recognized from the night of Amy's ball.

His heart slowed and his mind sharpened as he sprang into action. Gaia had finally favored him - had the idiot really come back to this spot? Shadow almost smiled at the thief's foolishness. Then he remembered Amy, and he sobered. This was not about that man. This was about her. He pushed himself faster, suddenly as steely and sharp as a blade. He was no longer a person, he was a weapon - her weapon, and the instrument of her justice.

Two opposing forces streaked through the forest in a silent, fevered chase. Both men whistled through the brush at top speed, ahead of even sound, running for their lives through tunnels made by the wind sweeping back around them. Shadow felt his fingers tingling with anticipation - he was gaining on the man, and fast. Finally, at long last he'd have his quarry.

Sonic's heart picked up as he ran painfully slow for his liking. This was a rematch race that he didn't want - one he couldn't win. But he kept running, hopeful that Tails wasn't too far from him.

He took Shadow all the way to glen, hoping to turn around and try to de-escalate things fast - he had too much to explain. But he didn't even manage to open his mouth; didn't even manage to fully set a foot in the clearing before Shadow caught him.

Sonic felt every nanosecond of their complete collision like it was all in vivid slow-motion. Pain shot through his lungs, his chest, and his head in technicolor.

Shadow's hand found his throat, and they went skidding backward locked together, digging their feet into the dirt, until Sonic's back hit a tree. His vision was spotted with stars, but still he smiled as he locked eyes with the knight for the second time ever.

"Hi," Sonic choked out from underneath the hand at his throat. "Shadow, right? Sonic."

Shadow drew his sword. Its sharp tip hovered over the earth by his side, his shoulders back and tensed and waiting to snap into action.

"I'd shake your hand," Sonic gasped, "but it looks like yours are both full at the moment."

"Where is she?" Shadow asked. He couldn't be bothered to dignify this interaction with a proper introduction. Between the two of them, he forced himself onto the moral high ground. He was a knight. The man he held by the throat - Sonic - was nothing, and in due time he would be made to pay for every second that Amy had been missing from the castle.

"She's fine - well, not fine. She's… she's alive," Sonic said, forcing himself to take long, slow breaths. "Listen guy, I don't want to fight, I need your help -"

"I do not negotiate with criminals," Shadow interrupted, biting and loud.

The knight was so dour, so serious, that he was practically snarling like an attack animal. And yet, Sonic feared him not the slightest. This was the Kingdom's Champion, this was Amy's best friend - but this was not Amy's second. Sonic felt smug and superior to know that position belonged to him and him alone.

"We're not negotiating!" Sonic hurried to correct. "We're on the same team! Look, just put away your -"

Sonic made the mistake of raising his hand just a hair - to gesture at the man's sword. The instant that he moved, Shadow lunged for him.

Sonic watched the sword shooting straight for his throat and moved on instinct. He wrapped his hands around the tree on either side of him and pressed his back into the wood, raising both of his legs to kick Shadow square in the chest as hard as he could.

The knight skidded backward in the dirt, but not nearly as far as he usually would have. Sonic clicked his tongue in disapproval at his weakness. He had forgotten he was injured. This fight was a doomed one.

And yet, he looked down, and his knife was in his hand. Pulled from his belt on instinct.

Sonic cursed himself for his knee-jerk reaction - great, now he was the aggressor. He had found the man intent on confessing everything to him. Everything . A fight, though more his style, was what he had vowed to try and avoid.

Shadow took only a second to recover then launched himself straight at Sonic again, pulling his sword back as if it weighed as much as a feather quill. The blade arched expertly, carving a precise story of maneuvers and timing through the air. Sonic dodged over and over again. He could keep up with the knight, yes, but he could feel himself moving too slow to sustain their dance. Irritation flared in him.

"I don't want to fight!" Sonic shouted again, ducking and backing off from the man. He glanced sheepishly at the knife in his hand. "This is - uh, look - how about we just drop our weapons and talk?"

"You first," Shadow grunted, still bringing his sword over his head with two hands for what would be a death blow if only it would connect. He kept on as the thief dodged, sweeping his sword out in a generous arc with one hand, and then backhanded with deadly force in one swift movement. Both men moved like phantoms, becoming harder and harder to see as the sun set behind them.

"This is all just one crazy story, I swear -" Sonic ducked and swerved through the large clearing, grunting with every twitch of his muscles. Where the hell was Tails? "If you'd just -"

Shadow's sword swept through the air, writing a sentence so complex and sharp that Sonic couldn't dream to see it coming. The stinging edge of the blade sliced so close to his cheek that he knew he had escaped decapitation by only a breath.

"Chaos!" Sonic said, annoyed as he felt blood trickle down his cheek. "Look, just - enough!"

Sonic sprinted to the far edge of the clearing and tossed his knife aside. The thing flopped to the ground, dull and useless in his sluggish hand anyway. Sonic held both his hands out, palms up in front of him, his eyebrows raised in a challenge. He spread his fingers out, wary and defensive, but held his arms wide open from his chest in surrender.

"I made a huge mistake, alright?" Sonic shouted urgently as the knight turned to him, ready to lunge again. "But I want what you want - I want her safe! I want the people responsible to pay -"

Shadow growled from across the glen and took off, unamused and single-minded in his conviction that the man responsible was already right in front of him.

"Truth is, I've been training her, right here, for months!" Sonic confessed quickly as the knight streaked toward him. "We ran into each other one night and made a deal, and we've spent almost every night together since then -"

Shadow cleared the glen and kicked Sonic square in the chest, knocking him to the ground with stunning power. He lunged to pin him. Shadow's foot rested on the ground by Sonic's head and his knee sat heavily on Sonic's chest.

Shadow leaned forward and buried his blade in the grass, right by Sonic's cheek, trapping him.

"Where is she?" he asked again, his voice still low and unbothered even after all their fighting.

"I don't really know how it happened," Sonic rambled, feeling his ribs protest the pressure to crack, "And I didn't know she was the Princess until we broke a thief out of the dungeons together, but by that time I was already invested - even though I didn't really recognize it. So I went to her room -"

"Where. Is. She." Shadow would not listen to this man talk about her room. If he didn't need the thief to lead him to her, he'd be dead upon mentioning it.

"Listen, Shadow," Sonic sputtered, "I'm trying to help you out man. I did wrong by her, and I know that. I'm trying to make it right by catching you up - by coming clean. She deserves that, at least -"

"Do not speak of what she deserves," Shadow spat, a flash of hot anger pulling him out of his body and into his head against his will. "You don't know anything about her."

Shadow pressed his full weight on Sonic's stomach, forcing the air from his lungs painfully. The knight's eyes were wide open and sharp and red as the blood he had spilt with his arrow.

"But I do know her," Sonic coughed out. "I know that she's nosy as hell, she's stubborn, she's got a temper like I've never seen -"

"How dare you -"

"She's infuriatingly forgiving - and hopeful. She demands only the best from everyone, and if they can't give it to her… she helps them find it." Sonic sucked in another ragged breath. Where the fuck was Tails, he wondered? He'd be so much better at explaining than him. "Listen, Shadow, I'm here because… I wronged an incredible woman - the most incredible woman. And I need you to help me fix things. I need you to help me save her."

Shadow's lip curled in distaste. "You don't want to save her - you all but sentenced her to death."

"I know," Sonic winced, looking Shadow in the eye in the hopes that he would see how truly he meant every word he was saying. "I know I fucked everything up, and I'm sorry it took making all the wrong choices for me to figure it out, but I have figured it out. I would do it all over again, and I'll take whatever punishment you think I deserve because… I love her."

Shadow's nostrils flared. He forgot himself for one terrifying moment, reared back with unchecked power, and punched the thief daring to declare his love for the Princess as hard as he could.

Sonic's head hit the dirt and he groaned. Blood trickled from his nose onto his lip.

But he could feel it… he was smiling like a fool. He laughed at himself through the blood, embarrassed and thrilled for how simple it was to finally taste that horrible, wonderful, frightening word.

"I deserved that, I won't lie," Sonic gasped through his laughter, unable to contain himself. "But it's true - crazy, but true. I tried so hard to fight her, but I lost. Big time. And I love that woman so much it scares the shit out of me. So for her sake, I'm gonna need you to pull the stick out of your ass and listen to me -"

"The fact that you're still breathing is a miracle - a mercy the likes of you doesn't deserve," Shadow spat at him, sure the man was manic. "I will not allow you to continue dishonoring the Princess with such declarations - you are not fit to even think of her -"

"On that we agree," Sonic said with a bemused smirk.

"Shut up," Shadow snapped. "Say another word, and I'll slit your throat to keep you from talking."

He was horrified; disgusted. These accusations were not only insane, they were insulting. Shadow refused to listen to this man who repulsed him, but he also refused to humor a world where Amy would dishonor them both in the way he was describing. To learn from criminals… to be in love with one… to fall into their trap and get herself kidnapped… she had to be smarter than that. She had to.

Shadow's ear twitched and he looked up from the grinning thief, suddenly aware of another presence in the bushes just a pace in front of them. His eyes narrowed. The sharp tip of an arrow and a pair of wide, watery blue eyes pierced through the shadows, aimed right at him.

"I'd give him a chance to explain - if I were you," piped a soft voice from the darkness.

Sonic's head fell back into the grass. "Thank Gaia," he sighed.

A fox boy - small for his age - stared at them from his hiding place in the brush. He had his arrow fletching stretched to touch his cheek, knocked and aimed straight for Shadow's throat.

"No sudden moves," Tails said quietly, watching the knight. He was terrified beyond reason, but he swallowed hard and kept his grip on his bow tight. This was for Amy. He refused to fail her.

Shadow sat up slowly, still trapping Sonic under him. He slid his sword from the dirt and pulled back so the sharp tip pointed under Sonic's chin. The three men held their positions, weapons raised, trapped in angles they were each calculating quietly how best to make work in their favor.

"How many of you are there?" Shadow asked, his ears pricking.

"Just us," Tails said. "But we don't have time to argue. Sonic is telling you the truth - we've been working with Amy for months -"

"You dare to speak her name?" Shadow said, his voice back under control, his unnerving gaze trained on the young man.

"I do," Tails said, refusing to shrink back. "Because we're friends. Amy will tell you herself just as soon as we bust the camp and get her out."

Shadow took a long, silent breath in, tired of humoring these criminals.

"You think I'm a fool?" he asked, his tone scathing. "You want me to believe anything you say? You want me to take you at your word and believe the Princess would do something so reckless as to allow herself to be kidnapped by a group of known criminals?"

"It doesn't matter if you believe us," Tails argued back. His tone evened out with each word. "But if you choose not to, the truth will reveal itself sooner or later, and you will have made yourself into a fool for not believing it when first you could have."

Shadow's anger sparked, perturbed by the well-spoken little thief.

"What matters," Tails kept on while he still had the confidence to, "is that we get Amy out, and the only way to do that is to bust the camp. We need your men - we need you to cause chaos so we can get to her safely. The leader of the camp is a disgraced Lord - son of the Lord of Mobius," Tails said. He watched the microcosmic changes in Shadow's expression that told him he knew the title.

"Impossible…" Shadow said.

"And we know he was her betrothed," Tails confirmed. Shadow pressed his lips together, unnerved that the thief could know that. He could not deny that was true.

"He's been planning something like this for years, using the thieves to gather wealth," Tails said. "And when he found out that Sonic had been training the Princess for the Tournament -"

Shadow sucked in a sharp breath, stung to find out that they knew about the Tournament plot. How else could they know if Amy herself hadn't told them? As far as he knew, that was information private to him and Amy.

"He forced us to kidnap her," Tails admitted. "We were going to bust her out from camp that same night - we… we love Amy. We believe in her. We never wanted any of this to happen, but then -"

"You shot me!" Sonic accused from the ground.

Tails hurried on to distract Shadow from focusing back on Sonic, who was in the absolute worst position of the three of them to be his usual smart self.

"He's got her under the watch of almost 50 thieves. We couldn't risk breaking her out while Sonic recovered - not with all of them around. And trust me, keeping Amy from pulling her hammer out all week was a feat in itself, but…" Tails lowered his weapon, appealing directly to the man's loyalty to Amy. "Scourge is going to bring her back to the castle tomorrow to try and claim the throne. We have to bring him down before he gets that chance. That crown belongs to Amy."

"And - in the spirit of honesty -" Sonic groaned from the ground, much to Tails' dismay. "On top of all that, you should probably know that she and I… Well, I'm her second - alright?"

"Sonic!" Tails hissed down at his friend, sure this wasn't the time to add insult to injury.

"For the Tournament and as many days as I get afterwards, I'm going to be there for her," Sonic promised. "She told me once that she'd always fight for me and I… I took that for granted. Not anymore. Now, I'm ready to fight for her, too."

Sonic watched the knight, expecting another punch or any reaction at all to his passionate declaration. He saw the tip of the man's fang as he snarled, struggling to decide just how much to believe them.

Shadow kept his composure, though his mind worked furiously to justify denying that any of this was Amy's fault. No, these men were thieves and liars. He planted his flag in the ground in her favor, like he always had and always thought he would. Perhaps there was some truth to what they had said about the presence of the young Lord of Mobius, but Amy was better than these people. She was above what they had accused her of - above loving a criminal. Sonic couldn't be her second. Not when he had offered to forgo the Tournament this year; he had offered to stand by her side and put his life on the line next to hers. She couldn't, wouldn't , forsake that honor. She wouldn't forsake all that he had given her, for ten years of his life.

He made up his mind and stood gracefully, his sword still pointed under Sonic's chin.

"I don't believe for a second that you aren't loyal to the camp," he said.

"The way I see it, you don't have that many options buddy," Sonic replied, taking the chance to wipe the blood out from under his nose. "Look, I don't need you to believe me - I've said it's the truth, the rest is up to you. I just need you to bring a shit ton of guards to camp, cause some chaos, and get Amy out of there. If you happen to nab Scourge, that's always a plus."

"Very well," Shadow said. He whistled, loud and long into the night, and looked down at Sonic. "I will bring my men to your camp, but you will not see the Princess again. You are the most wanted criminal in this Kingdom, and you will be hanged for your crimes."

Shadow raised the tip of his sword to point at Tails. "You will be the one to lead us to the camp."

"Hang on," Sonic protested, "This is my fault. I should be the one to take you - I need to see her again and make sure she's safe -"

"She will be safest when you are in the dungeon," Shadow said severely. "Which will be in a matter of moments, now."

Sonic opened his mouth to protest, but Shadow held a hand out to silence him. Sonic watched, shocked as the knight turned his palm downward to help him up.

Sonic shrugged and took the hand, and without another word, Shadow pulled him up and slammed the butt of his sword into his temple. Sonic grunted at the force of the impact and slumped to the ground, out cold.

Tails jumped up as Sonic lost consciousness, pushing through the bushes to kneel by his side and make sure he was still breathing. Tails shot Shadow an angry look, but held himself back from lashing out. They needed Shadow after all, and he believed Sonic would be alright. He trusted Amy to see to that.

"Your name?" Shadow demanded.

Tails swallowed hard but decided to give the knight his preferred nickname. Amy loved this man, he reminded himself. He had to be diplomatic - after all of this was said and done, surely he would need to be able to work with him for the foreseeable future.

Shadow's horse rode into the glen, followed by the drum of other hoofbeats - a terrifying, countless number of knights. He slung Sonic's dead weight onto the back of his steed and turned to Tails holding a length of rope.

"Tails," Shadow said. He tied the fox's wrists tight in front of him, yanking with harsh purpose on the rope and meeting the young thief's gaze dead on. "Lead on to your camp. But know this, if your purpose in finding me was an ambush… if you hope to drag the knighthood to hell… you and your leader are fools. The crown is the true reaper, and I it's most loyal lieutenant. The full force of the monarchy is swift and unforgiving, and it is my solemn promise to you that all l who I deem responsible will be punished."

"I'm not here to trick you," Tails promised, unable to help his shaking hands. More and more knights poured into the glen around him. Their faces were hidden behind the same perfectly polished helmet. Tails could only see the whites of their eyes beaming out from under the shadows of their visors, watching him like they were the divine council of God.

"He'll be safe, right?" Tails asked. "Sonic?"

"For as long as I need him," Shadow swore. "He will be safe."

Shadow handed his reins to another knight and ordered the thief be taken to the castle immediately. Tails bit his lip as he watched Sonic's unconscious form disappear into the night. It was so unfair - he had heard Sonic's confession. He knew that Sonic loved Amy. But in a cruel twist of fate, the universe would not let her hear it yet. Now his brother was headed to the dungeon - and likely his death. Would she ever hear it, he worried?

While Shadow was busy debriefing his men, Tails slipped the precious treasure he had taken from Sonic moments ago around his neck. He felt the thin gold ring settle on his chest - a heavy message that was now his burden to deliver. If the end was coming - if they were not headed toward a future where they all could have what they wanted, then she needed to know before it was too late. Tails could deliver her this ring, at least. For Sonic, he could make certain that she got this small piece of what he hoped desperately would become their eternal love.

Shadow walked along the forest in silence, led by the young fox. He held tight to the thief's bonds with one hand, his grip white-knuckled under his silver gauntlets. He kept his gaze forward and his lantern held aloft, trying not to let the blue man get under his skin… trying not to worry as he guided his men through the forest.

He knew better than to believe any of the things either thief had told him in the glen. He knew that he was behaving irrationally and emotionally. He knew that the hedgehog could not possibly be her second. No - there could be no truth to any of it.

And yet… he knew Amy.

He hated how hurt he felt to think about it - how angry it made him. He could do nothing but walk on through the night, led by a man he did not trust, and pray to Gaia that Amy had not forgotten him so thoroughly as he was beginning to fear she had.