PROMPTS ARE STILL ON SHUTDOWN… however, this idea was my own. I felt strongly about it's message. It popped in my head when I was thinking of unusual emotions between Sonic and Amy and how they would share them. I feel this may help those who have suffered a similar experience.
Warning: Sensitive topics may be up ahead! You know me though, nothing too much, but this isn't a 'romantic prompt' just so you know…
Prompt:
Loud pounding slammed against Amy's door, startling her as she woke up. Flinging herself upright, her face revealed the terror and shock on her face; a strained, stretched mouth that bore her chattering teeth at the cold and sudden awake-ness she felt.
Throwing the covers off, she looked at her nightgown and reached for a jacket, rushing to the door as the cold night air still hung dangerously around her.
She checked the peek-hole, her eyes shocked to see Sonic's profile, looking down and gritting his teeth, eyes shut fully with an emotion she had never seen before.
"S…Son-!" she quickly opened the door, "Sonic..!" she blinked with her mouth open.
Earlier, it had drizzled and rained somewhat. The mist of the morning had only just started to reveal the time of day, as the still stormy clouds loomed over her home.
"I… need to talk to you." Sonic looked up at her, making a face at her odd and excited face, sparkling with wonder at seeing him again.
It had been a few months, but the urgency of the moment faded past her and all her thoughts turned to, "Sonic!"
He looked uncomfortable with the expression, and arched his eyes with their lids drooping in disapproval. "You always make the weirdest faces…" he concluded and walked by her, rubbing the bridge between his eyes and pinching on it.
Amy closed the door after him, not sure how to interpret his demeanor but flinched a moment when realizing her attire…
"S-should I change..?" she embarrassingly, no… more so nervously asked. It wasn't like she wanted to change, but she wasn't sure if it was appropriate to him or not…
"I don't care what you wear, Amy." For a moment, she saw his usual charm as he flicked his arm up and swayed to pound himself into the couch, still rubbing his forehead as though he had a migraine.
"D… Did something bad happen?" Now Amy's concern skyrocketed. She leaned forward… seeing him better as he squinted his eyes shut in agitation, still rubbing his forehead and hunching over the side of the couch. Unlike his usual style of kicking back, lifting a leg up and slouching back into the couch, he was much more worrisome in this position, and Amy's heart reached out to embrace and love him.
"Are you sick!?" her hands flung up to her face.
"No…" Sonic muttered, "But something… did happen."
"…A bad thing..?"
"…Me and Tails found a girl who was in trouble with Eggman. We saved her…" he stopped himself, and placed his hands together and pushed against his head again, taking a breath.
He seemed in pain, and Amy immediately began to hop around, growing upset at hearing about a girl, but also growing worried something truly bad did happen.
"S-should I get you a beverage?" she suddenly raced by him, "I'll get you a hot drink!"
"Cold..! Please…" He called after her but his voice faded, he seemed to loss of energy and that also sent Amy's panic into overdrive.
She quickly looked through her fridge, pulling something out and rushing for the ice. "Ice? For your drink?" she started to pour, grabbing a cup as fast as lightning.
He sighed, "For my head too… Would be nice." He kicked the table in front of him, finally dropping his hands and looking surreal unlike himself.
For a 15 year old boy, you would expect him to be his usual cheery self. But he had never come to Amy this late at night… and he had never taken a moment to…
Well, none of that. He was here. This must be something important.
Amy quickly dashed back to his side, handing him the drink and ice-pack.
"Thank you." He nodded, taking the drink and looking as though he was about to drink it, before looking back inside it. "What is this?" he inquisitively looked around the ice cubes to see the unfamiliar color inside it.
Amy quickly moved to be as close as possible to his adjacent side, leaning up into his face.
"You caught me when I only had juice." Her eyes shook as though afraid she had failed him in someway.
He smiled nervously before looking up and shaking his head, finding her words amusing. "Good ol'Amy." He spoke out loud, taking some of the drink again.
He hadn't pushed her away…
He hadn't even commented on how close she was. He even uttered something that burst a soothing warmth over Amy. It gave her confidence. It gave her a stride.
"Sonic… Did something bad happen with the girl?"
He took the drink away, looking down as his eyes revealed the harsh truth to her answer.
There was a moment of silence as Amy leaned back…
"Oh no… this is a confession, isn't it?" her mind raced as Sonic looked confused back to her.
"What?"
"You..! You and her..! You're going to tell me you did something with that other girl, aren't you!?" she went square up right back in his face, only moments before looking devastated as her mind filled her with another woman flirting with Sonic. "I'll kill you both!" She hollered, but Sonic grew suddenly defensive, and pushed Amy back by her shoulder a bit.
"Calm down! I came to tell you the truth! It's not anything like that! I… she asked to be taken home." He moved his hand, and suddenly Amy saw a vulnerability in Sonic she had never witnessed before.
Her anger and shaking fist over her head suddenly lowered and she stared at him… just him… looking utterly and emotionally compromised.
"…She asked you to… take her home?" she was confused now, but Sonic gave her a look and she immediately realized that this conversation was not at all how she was perceiving it.
Returning to worry, Amy crawled backwards as quickly as she could, grabbing a pillow and biting it's top. "N-no, you're telling the story. You're right. I'm just a good listener. I embody a good listener…. Hrmm…" she quite literally bite and pulled on the pillow, as though unable to contain all the thoughts her mind was jumping too. She was attempting to guess the story, but it was clear Sonic needed hear to remain calm and just hear him out.
"…Amy… she asked me to come in. I guess I just thought every girl was like you." He looked away and scratched his head, showing some weakness in his judgment, which left Amy's eyes widening and her whole body grow numb…
"W-What do you mean… by that?"
"Well… Nothing bad. I guess I just assumed before this… incident… that every girl was just decent. Good. Naturally innocent." He explained this with his arms moving around, but Amy's eyes stayed fixed on his face…
It was the most shattered she had ever seen his eyes to be… and yet he kept a cool and refined tone… but there was clearly something wrong.
She didn't speak another word, and he seemed to pick up on that silent distress and continued, pulling his hands back in and letting them drape over his legs.
He looked away, his eyes searching the floor for words…
It took a longer second than Amy had ever thought Sonic could remain silent for.
"She… She took her shirt off, Amy." He covered his face with his arm, swaying his body away from her in clear shame at having to speak aloud the scene.
Amy's eyes blinked wider than ever before.
"I'm… GONNA KILL HER!" she jumped to her feet, swinging her hammer around. "THAT NO GOOD-!" she started going off on a rampage, not even knowing Sonic's silence as he watched her with hurt eyes…
There was clearly more than this…
Her nostrils flared and she kept her arms up, disgusted and full of revenge, she then continued, "So you were scarred! How could she! She clearly doesn't have the same moral standards that MOST women should have! Hmph!" she was still pretty heated, and still didn't stop there. "She probably thought that was her way of 'rewarding' your heroic act! How indecent! Some girls are so loose these days! I mean, I know you're attractive, but come on!" she complained and commented… but it wasn't helping the situation.
Sonic kept staring at her… as though silently asking her to return to a listener again.
She looked down at him, realizing he wasn't reacting and felt a bit bad about cutting him off again.
"T-… There isn't more… is… there..?" she slowly sunk back down, increasingly growing unsettled at his lack of reaction.
"…" he looked away again.
"…I'm sorry that happened to you, Sonic… that wasn't right for her to force that image onto you like that…"
He remained quiet.
"…Ohh…" Amy's eyes shrunk a bit and she gulped, "You… you have questions… about… certain things now?" she wasn't prepared for this, but took a deep breath, shaking in her seat.
"Yeah… a little bit."
She silently screamed inside of herself. "L-l-l-l-lik-lik-like what?" she squeaked her words, shivering out of fright for what he may ask.
"…I ran out of there as fast as I could, Amy… but…" he gritted his teeth again, shaking his fist.
Amy suddenly realized… this wasn't about girls anymore.
"I can't get it out of my head…" he picked up the ice and laid back, seeming to get the words off of his chest. "I've tried too… I don't want it there! It just… sticks."
Amy's whole body sank back into deep love for him.
"Sonic…?" she moved off the couch and onto her knees, as though he was a child, and speaking with absolute kindness towards him. "… It wasn't your fault… you were doing the right thing. You were making sure she safely made it home."
He closed his mouth, but it was clear there was still a fierce underlying emotion there… a self-loathing that Amy couldn't bear to see.
"She was the one at fault here! Not you! It wasn't your fault you saw that! Oh, Sonic… You're… You're not a bad man…"
"… Then why can't I stop seeing it..?"
She took a deep breath… and moved her knees closer to his legs, looking up tenderly at him.
"You know… something I heard a long time ago… I think you need to hear it."
He sighed and leaned forward… tilting his head to her as he kept his head just above his spread legs.
"…A good man… will see something and look away…" she began. "But a bad man looks back… again… and again… and again."
Sonic's understanding came from a neutral expression on his face.
"He stares… and he never quits staring." she lowered her head down, looking as though this was somewhat hard to explain.
"You're not a bad person for having seen it, Sonic. You're only bad if you look back at it. It happened fast, right? You weren't prepared. It came as a shock, and I'm sure that was traumatic in different ways… You can't just forget an experience like that overnight."
She suddenly realized the time, and gasped, looking out the window. "DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!"
To loosen himself from the awkward but emotional moment, Sonic chuckled at her surprise and got up. "Thanks,… Amy." He placed the ice-pack down and moved around the couch, heading for the door.
"I wasn't sure… not at first…I wanted it to go away… I guess it just needs time. I guess… even I get spooked sometimes."
Amy quickly turned around and rushed to the door. "Wait! Sonic!"
"I'm glad I came… but…" he watched her block the door.
"You don't have to go just yet! I can tell you're still thinking about it. If you want, we could talk some more or-or-!" she looked around quickly, "We could watch a movie! An action movie! You love those! We can go for a stroll or-or-or-"
Sonic stopped her with a smile, and in that moment, her heart melted and she realized he just needed to get it off his chest. She had already said what he needed to hear. The comfort would help him in time, but she was right, it wasn't going to happen tonight.
"Sonic…" she moved from the door, seeing she wasn't going to convince him to keep fighting it out with her supporting him.
"Once again," he opened the door, a look of appreciation on his face. "Thanks."
She had told him he was still a good man. She had reminded him he didn't incite it. But most importantly…
She listened.
"See ya around,… Amy." He gave her a salute, trying his best to look like his old, charismatic self again, before shutting the door and disappearing into the night.
That night, Amy couldn't stop thinking about. Her true love… plagued by some girl's random act of indecency.
She thought of herself… just then.
What would she do if she had that happen to her..? Or something similar…
She realized she would want to tell Sonic, but perhaps feel too guilty too, maybe even unworthy or embarrassed to speak to him again.
She was 12. He was 15. And she realized that he had, probably for the first time, really been exposed to something he wasn't prepared for.
She was 12, and she knew doing something like that to a boy was wrong.
He was 15.
She smiled.
He was 15, and he had come seeking her.
He may act immature, but she understood that when worst comes to shove, he really was growing into a decent man.
He probably desperately needed to hear her say that. Hear her, a woman, state that what had happened was wrong.
She felt a little prouder of herself then. A little more love for Sonic poured out from her heart and she smiled with a greater blush.
He had fled from it. He didn't want it. But he came to Amy. He came to her to find answers and refuge.
For the first time in her life, she knew Sonic was more than a hero.
He was a really good man too.
End.
I just feel like people should be there for each other if something horrible happens to them. It's not something you take likely, and it's something that can change people. When I thought of this, I was uncomfortable at first, and realized that universally, a 15 year old boy has probably gone through something like that somewhere or at sometime. I wondered if they had any one to go too, and I wondered what that must feel like. I don't know. Maybe it's late and I was just expanding my understanding of trying to place characters into difficult spots and how things would play out. But I honestly couldn't go to sleep without at least writing these thoughts down. I feel for anyone who has gone through something like that. I hope this helps… somewhat… and I hope it inspires someone and that they don't hold that as a sign of being bad. You're not bad. You just had a bad experience.
I never had this experience, but… My heart goes out to those who suffer in some way to these things. You're not bad that it sometimes creeps back and haunts you, it's only bad if you want it to haunt you, okay? So long as you don't want it, you're not a bad person.
that's all x (teachers keep telling you to write real things, portray the evil in the world, so I thought about it and now this came out uggghhhh I'm sorry, i'm sleeping now lol)