Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Trust ❯ Chapter 2

Trust: Chapter 1

Italics=thoughts (except for Sonic's dialogue bit in the beginning and the news story in the middle of the chapter. I might put it in boldface ^_^)

Bold= emphasis

Heh! I finally learned HTML! *grins cheekily*

Amy Rose re-arranged the photo frames on the mantle above the fireplace for the hundredth time, admiring the people that were forever captured in them. Sonic stood prominently in one particular photo; hands perched on his hips, lips parted in a rather cheeky grin. Noticing the hedgehog's picture, she promptly flipped it face down, obscuring it from her sorrowful view.

"Sonic is SO over." She said to herself almost reluctantly, frowning at the thought of him.

"Get a life Amy!"

"We will never be together!"

"You're so annoying! I hate you! Can't you get that through your thick skull?!"

His words struck through her heart like icy daggers, piercing her soul, shattering her innocence into tiny shards like a broken mirror. She hated him-yet she loved and treasured him-such as one would treasure a beloved friend or a sentimental photograph. Her contradictive feelings troubled her, what should she do? Sonic absolutely did not want to have anything to do with her; that was for certain. There was really nothing else for her to do but forget about him but for Amy Rose, the love stricken girl who pursued him endlessly, it was not that easy.

With a heavy sigh she picked up the photo frame and extracted his photograph from it. She then threw the picture in the fireplace, watching the flames devour the once cherished memento, engulfing it into nothingness.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

The fire crackled and popped lively in its hearth, vivid colors of orange and yellow combining with a deep red in a zealous dance. She watched it, mesmerized.

The flames, burning ever so bright like…

"Shadow." His name passed her parted lips.

She had thought about him for a while now; the recent events at ARK were not easily forgotten. Besides, his name and face had appeared in every newspaper and magazine. Full news reports on the mysterious being were being replayed continuously on television.

Murder. The news was as big as the hedgehog's notoriety itself.

Three GUN soldiers found murdered, their bodies mutilated beyond recognition. Investigators say that it was pre-meditated. `The killer must've been hell bent' an expert said. Investigators have a prime suspect, Shadow the Hedgehog…"

She sighed as she set the empty photo frame back on the mantle, dusting it off a bit.

The suspect has been known to have a belligerent grudge against GUN forces for reasons unknown. He is also wanted for a myriad of other crimes against the military. It is reported that he has severe mental instability…"

"He is not insane!" Amy said out loud, clearing her mind of the news reports.

He is nota killer. If that were so, he wouldn't have helped us at ARK. If that were so, Sonic and the rest of us would have been dead already. Heck, I would've probably been the first to die…

She flushed, reminding herself of their first encounter. It was all a big accident really; she had thought that Shadow was Sonic despite the plainly obvious difference in their appearances. With a loud squeal she had pounced on him-only to discover that it was not her blue idol.

That predatory gleam in his eyes… It totally creeped me out when I first saw him. From his appearance you could tell that he was dangerous. Dangerous, of course but a killer he is not…

Her thoughts were interrupted by an abnormally loud banging at the front door. BANG! BANG! BANG! The front door rattled with each and every knock, almost threatening to tear the door down.

The pink hedgehog extracted her Piko Piko Hammer from her pant's pocket in one easy sweep, readying it for use on the intruder. She listened to the knocks carefully, trying to decipher if it would be entirely safe for her to open the door. The knocks were rather erratic in nature, seemingly growing louder if force with every bang. She pondered all of the facts, finally deciding that she should open it. What if someone was hurt?

She moved in smooth, almost cat-like strides to the door, mallet out and willing to take down a couple of bad guys. A gloved hand reached out for the tarnished brass knob, tuning it slowly anticipating an ambush. The door finally began to open, slowly at first but growing faster by the second. Unable to handle her suspicion any longer she flung open the door in a burst of strength, only to get the shock of her life.

Shadow the Hedgehog stood before her, eyes half lidded, struggling to remain upright. Blood poured in frequent bursts from his many cuts, most of the crimson liquid seeping out of a deep gash on his left cheek. His lower left arm sags from the elbow at an unnatural angle, obviously broken. Multicolored quills lied plastered to his skull drenched in blood. His air shoes were a complete mess, soles detaching themselves from the rest of the shoe. He looked horribly grotesque.

"Help me!" he gasped almost inaudibly, slumping to the ground. Amy quickly dropped the mallet and grabbed him before he could hit the ground and inflict more damage on his carcass.

She gently lied him down on the cold earth, quickly running inside to get her first aid kit so she could nurse his numerous wounds.

* * *

Shadow's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim light that shone around them. He tried to sit up, only to discover that his body totally disagreed with his plan.

"Dammit!" he cursed, his body twisting with almost unbearable pain. Every bone and muscle hurt him, sending sharp twangs of pain through him. He quickly lied back down on the ground--which he soon found out to be a futon-and stared up at the ceiling, intrigued by the amazing swirling patterns on it's textured surface.

"Shadow?" A meek voice called. He did not answer it, not knowing that it was his name.

"Shadow? Are you awake?"

"Huh? Are you talking to me?" He sat up once more, trying to ignore the pain. His eyes focused upon a pretty hedgehog girl. He soon recognized her to be the girl to be the person that answered his piteous call when he knocked on the cottage door. So that meant…

"I gotta go!" He jumped to his feet which barely supported his weight. Needless to say, he didn't get very far before...

"Oof!" His face smashed into the hardwood floor as he fell to the ground, his cheek making an interesting mark on the shiny ground. A low giggle escaped Amy's throat as she knelt down to help him up, which Shadow quickly refused. He managed to sit up on his own, much to his body's dismay. A dark bruise had started to appear on his cheek, just another injury added to the many he had already.

"Hey are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just fine..." he managed to answer quickly, looking around for an exit. "I just have to get out of here."

"You can't get out of here in THIS condition!" Amy retorted, still giggling from Shadow's unexpected fall. "Besides Shadow, I want to talk to you about something."

"Why do you call me Shadow?" he asked curiously, trying to gather enough strength for his escape.

"Well, that is your name isn't it?"

The black hedgehog sighed; his shoulders slumped in a depressing fashion. "I couldn't tell you myself, pink one. The problem is, I don't know..."

* * * **************

Man that was a CORNY ending... I don't really write that well off of my head on the computer. You might be able to tell a slump in the writing in the second part. The first part I wrote and revised on notebook paper and the second part just came off of my head. Eh, well that's the way it is... For my attentive readers, you might have noticed that it is quite contradictive that in the first chapter Shadow wanted to go to Amy's house and now he is trying to run away from it. That shall be explained in the second chapter. By the way, thanks for all of your reviews! I really appreciate them! If it weren't for you there WOULD be no second chapter to this fic!