The Rose Among The Thorns, Ch. 35

Tormented.

That was probably the best word to describe the look on the face of the golden-clad blue hedgehog as he lay virtually motionless on the elegant king-sized bed. He hadn't moved since he'd first collapsed out in the palace garden the night before, but his face was contorted in a look of agony. Sonic was trapped in a dream, a nightmare, he couldn't wake from.

He didn't know Amy refused to leave his side, stayed with him through the entire night and even through the morning. Even as the servants came up and asked if she wished to join the knights in the dining hall on the castle's main floor, their offers were refused and they resigned to carrying something to eat for her on an elegant platter up to the king and queen's bedroom. Merlina, Nimue, or Pervical would occasionally check on the two, though sadly not one of them had found out anything on how to wake the knight of the wind back up.

Deep within his own darkness, Sonic was fighting against the vicious beast his werehog side had become. It wasn't going well either. He was losing, and it was impossible to find any shread of strength in the suffocating darkness. Something urged him to keep fighting, to never give up or give in. This was a fight he couldn't afford to lose because if he did it meant he'd have to pay the ultimate price: his life.

~

Amy was barely able to touch the food that was brought up to her. She was much too worried about Sonic, and wanted to stay with him to make sure he was doing okay. Occasionally, Nimue, Merlina or Percival would come in to check up on the pair; Amy grew hopeful whenever they came by, but so far none of them had found a way to wake Sonic up from his current state. Amy was rather disappointed, but she still believed that there was way to help him.

Eventually Amy grew hungry and ate a small portion of the food still left on the silver platter. When she quickly finished, she turned to look at the still form of the blue hedgehog and saw the pained look he had on his face. Amy wished there was something she could do for him, but nothing else came to mind that allowed her to. With a sad sigh, she slipped her hand into his again and gently stroked the side of his face.

"...Sonic...if you can hear me, hang in there...for me. I nearly lost you once...I couldn't bear to lose you again. Keep fighting and stay strong; I'm here for you, and I always will be..." she spoke softly to him. She gently squeezed his hand in comfort, though she was unsure if he was able to feel or hear her at all.

~

Sonic didn't want to give up, but the darkness was pressing so hard on him it was nearly impossible to even breathe let alone keep fighting. Just when it seemed like he'd collapse under the strain, a familiar voice echoed through the gloom. He'd heard it what seemed like a lifetime ago, but it had been so faint he'd wondered if it was even real. It had been distracting him, the wondering, and that's why his beastial side had gained the upper hand.

Now, when all hope seemed lost, the voice was calling out to him, begging him to keep fighting. 'A-Amy...' the blue hedgehog thought weakly.

And then he felt some of the crushing feeling ebb away. Amy, it had to be her. Sonic heard her voice again, more loudly this time. In some inexplicable way he could feel it strengthening him, giving him the energy he needed to keep fighting.

'N-No... I c-can't leave her... I won't!' he thought.

With a burst of strength Sonic got his feet beneath the belly of the beast and heaved it off him from where it had been pinning him down. He scrambled to his feet as it landed with a soft thump nearby. The blue blur ran at it headlong, ramming hard into the beast as it attempted to strike him again.

'I...I won't lose! I won't ever give in!'

~

Amy continued to watch over him while she held his hand. She noticed that the look on his face softened a little. Amy's hopes grew; did he hear her? If he did, that only meant that maybe...just maybe...Sonic would wake up very soon. Amy squeezed his hand lightly again as she gazed at him, not noticing that Merlina had come in to check up on the pair.

The sorceress went over to Amy and asked how she and Sonic were doing.

The pink girl looked back up to face her. "I'm fine, thanks. I think...maybe...he might be able to wake up soon..."

Merlina nodded to her reply and watched silently for a moment at the pair. She then suggested that maybe Amy should take a break and get some fresh air after staying in the bedroom for so long, after noticing how tired she seemed to be. Amy frowned and didn't want to leave Sonic's side; however, she knew that the sorceress was probably right, and that going outside for just a little while wouldn't hurt.

Amy sighed quietly and nodded to Merlina. "...Okay. I'll go. But could I stay for just one more moment with him, please? I promise it won't take too long," she asked.

Merlina agreed to her request and told her that she'll be waiting by the door until she was ready to leave. She left, and Amy turned her gaze back towards the unconscious blue hedgehog.

"Stay strong for me, Sonic. I promise I'll come back for you..." she said softly to him, and kissed him lightly on his cheek. With one last look at him, she slowly slipped her hand away and began to get up to leave.

~

Amy's voice seemed to be a source of strength for the blue hedgehog. The more she spoke to him, the stronger he felt and the easier it became to beat the beast back that was trying to overpower him. Then her voice began to grow fainter suddenly.

'Amy, were are you?' he asked in his mind.

The beast before him sounded a deep, sinister laugh. 'Your source of power is gone. I will be victorious. My will will crush yours. I will be all that remains...' the beast told the hedgehog, snarling another laugh before it tackled Sonic.

He was thrown onto he back once more before he could even react. He tried to push the werehog away, but its power was too much to overcome on his own. It was a part of Sonic after all. It only made sense it had a powerful will. That, coupled with the fact it was corrupted by real werewolf blood, meant this could be a fight Sonic might not emerge alive from.

'N-No...I can't lose. A-Amy...' His strength was slowly failing him.

~

Two days had passed.

Sonic still hadn't awakened yet, and Amy was barely around to visit him. Caliburn and the other knights had been keeping her busy, getting her to do a number of tasks involving her new role as queen. For most of the day, Amy would do various jobs such as writing royal parchments and attending meetings with the knights. There would be some occasions where she was allowed to take a break and visit Sonic, but she couldn't always stay for very long. Sometimes Amy wasn't even allowed to see him at all, and that increased her growing worries over the blue hedgehog. Often the pink hedgehog would ask why she couldn't visit Sonic, and each time she was told that it would help their king, and that it was for the best if she let him be for now. Amy wasn't really sure she agreed with the idea, and was starting to doubt it was working. She said nothing about it, though, and went along with it hoping that maybe things'll get better eventually.

Today, Amy was in another meeting at the round table with the other knights, discussing about royal duties and whatnot. Amy could barely pay attention, though, as her thoughts had drifted elsewhere. The pink girl sighed sadly to herself and just glanced out a nearby window while the meeting droned on.

'...Please be okay, Sonic...' she thought worriedly as she continued to gaze absently out towards the window in silence.

~

There was no sense of time within that endless darkness. It might as well have been years that'd passed for all Sonic knew. His endurance was reaching its limit, and his will was beginning to sway. He couldn't hear Amy's voice anywhere, and was beginning to forget what it sounded like. The beast was just toying with him now, drawing out the battle before it took its prey down permanently.

Shaking where he knelt on one leg, Sonic tried to get to his feet. The werehog wouldn't have it though. It attacked him again, but this time it punched him the hardest it had yet right in Sonic's chest. The blue blur tumbled back several feet before sliding to a stop on his stomach. He tried to push himself up, but his strength was failing him.

Outside in the physical world, Sonic's body was all alone in the bedroom lying atop the bed. His body suddenly started trembling violently. His heartrate spiked to a dangerous level, beating like a small, erratic, lightning-fast drum against the inside of the chest plate he still wore. Things weren't looking good.

~

Amy continued to gaze out the window in silence. After awhile, she suddenly sensed something wrong was going on; something very, very wrong. Right away her thoughts trailed back to the blue hedgehog, and her instincts told her that she had to go see him. Now. Amy suddenly stood up from her seat, causing the other knights to stop talking and look up at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but...this meeting will have to wait. I have to go see Sonic right away; it's important," she told them.

She quickly ran towards the door to leave, only for Lancelot and Galahad to block her way. The two knights told her that her presence wouldn't do anything to help the king in his current state; they assured her that she didn't need to worry about him, and suggested that they continued on with the meeting. Amy could only glare angrily at the two, and didn't move from her spot even as she felt Percival grab her arm and tried to pull her away from the door.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, and yanked her arm out from the knighted cat's grip on her.

Percival backed away and told her to calm down, but Amy didn't listen to her.

Instead, her hammer suddenly appeared in her hands and she gripped it tightly as she glared at the other knights blocking her path. "I'm going to see Sonic, whether you want me to or not. I'm his queen now, and it's my right to know if he's doing okay... He means everything to me, and I know he'd do the same for me and check up on me if I was in trouble. Now please, step aside, or you'll both earn a very hard beating from my hammer," she threatened angrily, and raised her hammer slightly to prove that she was serious.

Their faces turned pale white in fear, and without another word they stepped aside and let her through. Amy hurried out the door and ran towards the bedroom, determined to see the blue hedgehog. She could hear a few of their footsteps following faintly behind her to try and stop her, but the pink girl just ignored them. She finally made it back to the bedroom and burst in, quickly noticing that Sonic's body had started to shake violently.

"Sonic!!" she cried out, and after de-summoning her hammer, she rushed over to his side. "It's okay...everything okay now. I'm here. I promise I won't leave ever you again, Sonic. Just please...don't leave me..." she whispered sadly as a few tears began to stream down her face.

She slipped her hand into his once more, and squeezed it lightly as she gave him another kiss on his cheek. She could hear the knights' footsteps coming closer, but she only ignored them as she continued to stay and be with her golden knight of the wind.

His body didn't relax much even as Amy gripped his hand and kissed his cheek. Not even when Amy wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself close, trying vainly to steady the blue hero, did he seem to respond. Sonic's breathing came in short shallow spurts, like his lungs were being crushed and his heart was about to give out.

~

Inside that endless darkness, Sonic felt a strange ping in the back of his head as he was held in the werehog's unbreakable hold, stuggling to breathe. He heard a voice at the same time. It was familiar somehow, but he couldn't place the name of the one it belonged to. Why was it so familiar? And why did it fill him with a sense of hope and love? Then he heard it again, clearer this time. The blue blur lifted his head weakly, his eyes only half opened and slightly aware. They met the same emerald; albeit far more dangerous; eyes of the werehog.

'You are nothing. You have no one,' the beast hissed, finally ready to end this.

He threw Sonic hard into the ground several feel away. The blue hedghog could barely muster the strength to move, but by some miracle he could just as that strange ping in the back of his mind hit, this time stronger than ever as he heard the voice calling out to him, begging him not to leave. It finally hit him like a tidal away.

'A-Amy...'

Everything about her came rushing back, leaving Sonic momentarily stunned. The werehog took this chance and lunged, claws outstretched and ready to tear out the throat of his other half.

Head bowed, Sonic suddenly blurred out of sight, reappearing behind the werehog. 'You're not gonna make me break her heart...' he told the beast, his voice sounding slightly deeper than before.

The werehog turned around with a growl, only to find himself face to face with a very pissed hedgehog. Sonic's fur had gone almost completely black with his head quills pointing skyward. His pupils and irises had disappeared, and an intimidating and visible dark aura surrounded his body.

The smile on Sonic's face was quite exaggurated and sinister. 'You will never control me,' he told the beast, 'I'm stronger than you, and you're nothing now.'

In a move so fast the werehog couldn't track it, Sonic raised a fist and punched his beastial half hard in the jaw. The beast was sent spiralling backward. Sonic blurred out and ran several dashes over the werehog's body, leaving the beast unable to react at all. At one point Sonic sent the beast flying into the air with brute force and will alone. He blurred out once again, reappearing above his quarry. Sonic balled his hands into one fist and raised it above his head before hammering down hard on the werehog's midsection.

Just as the beast collided with the ground, Sonic blurred out then in again, looming over the face of the gasping creature. 'Any last words?' he asked.

'I will always be there waiting,' the werehog spat, 'You can never escape me.'

Sonic frowned in an exaggerrated way. 'You may always be a part of what I am, but I will never become the twisted creature you are.'

The hedgehog drew back and punched the beast hard in the chest where his heart was. He hit just the right spot with enough force. Sonic smirked widely as he listened to the beat slow until it stopped altogether.

'Be seein' you never,' he said as he looked to the ground and his smirk fell.

The darkness exuding from him faded away, and Sonic returned to his true blue self once more. His knees finally gave out and his body collapsed forward as everything went white.

~

Outside in the physical world, most of the knights were surrounding Sonic. His body stopped convulsing and lay still in Amy's arms on the bed. A thick sheen of cold sweat coated his face as his heartrate and breathing finally started to slow. Everyone waited with baited breath to see if their king was going to come out of this alive. Amy unwrapped her arms from the blue hedgehog and held his hand again as she watched him with worried, tear-stained eyes. His breathing and heartrate slowed, until...it stopped altogether. His body laid still on the bed, and he didn't move.

"No...S-Sonic..." she whispered as more tears brimmed in her jade eyes.

The other knights said nothing, and upon realizing what happened, they all bowed their heads in mourning as Amy began to cry uncontrollably and buried her face into Sonic's shoulder.

"W-Why...?" she barely whispered as she continued to cry.

After everything that they've been through...after all those countless years of being in love with him...was he really just...gone? Amy couldn't believe it, and struggled hard to control herself as all her emotions began to well up inside of her. Memories of her adventures with him and the times they spent together resurfaced in the pink girl's mind, replaying them over and over like some kind of movie. The clearest memory she had was of the kiss that she shared with him only two days ago; her last kiss, or so she believed. Amy continued to sob uncontrollably over him, her body shaking a little from all the overwhelming emotions she had bottled up inside.

Slowly but surely though, life was returning to the blue knight. His heart began to beat: faintly at first but the pulse became steadily stronger. Warmth returned to his body as the blood inside circulated oxygen that came from the soft breaths he inhaled. Feeling began to return to Sonic's body. He felt Amy holding his hand, meaning his gauntlets had been removed at some point. He heard the pink girl crying into his shoulder, but why? He wasn't dead, was he? Sonic wanted to get up, to tell her he was okay. Nothing seemed to respond though.

He instead focused on one action much smaller than sitting up. He focused on the hand Amy had in hers, willing his fingers to move. His strength was weak, but he summoned enough to squeeze her hand lightly.

"Amy..." he called her in a hoarse whisper.

Amy froze as the weak, familiar voice spoke her name. It..couldn't be...could it?

"...S-Sonic...?" she asked softly as she stopped crying. Her eyes re-opened and they widened greatly in surprise as she watched him finally begin to stir.

Heavy lids lifted halfway, revealing the brilliant green eyes he knew she loved. A weak smirk played across his features as he looked at the disbelief on Amy's face. Sonic chuckled softly. "You're not gettin' rid of me that easily," he assured in another hoarse whisper, not looking at anyone else but her.

To be continued...