Sonic X Fan Fiction ❯ The Order of Membrance ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter Two

“…Amy?”  Sonic exclaimed, his heavy eyes widening in surprise.  Calmly, if not reluctantly, she bent to pick him up by the shoulders, careful of his injuries.  He grunted in pain, but didn’t break his questioning gaze from her.  The girl turned her green eyes to his for a moment, still frowning, and went back to their trek, not once breaking her stride.

Sonic tried again.  “Amy, is that you?”

She didn’t respond, but kept going.  Apparently she wasn’t inclined to speak.  Sonic’s head reeled, but not just from the pain.  What was she doing in a place like this?  What was that thing she had saved him from…?

“Hey, talk to me!”  A tick formed in her eye; was she ignoring him?  That didn’t sound like Amy at all.

All of a sudden, another shrill whistle pierced the air, making Sonic’s ears fold.  Then, out of nowhere, others surrounded the pair, chattering amongst themselves as they stared in what surprisingly sounded like irritation.  Sonic groaned.  His day just kept making more and more sense.  Groaning again, he took as close of a look as he could through the pain to examine them.  They were each cloaked in various shades of what he liked to call “colorless” colors.  White, grey, more white, more grey, stark against the background of the woods.  Did these people live in this forest, he wondered.  The small group suddenly parted, and someone in a glittering silver cloak, different from all the rest, walked through the opening in a dignified manner, telling Sonic that this must be someone important.  His pace annoyingly slow with authority, the sparkly figure approached the two of them.

“What do you have to say for yourself, Lia?”

Sonic’s eyes went wide.  Talk about straight and to the point.  He wasn’t sure why he did, but he glanced at Amy, whose eyes and ears slightly lowered in…abashment?  Wait…was he talking to her?

“Well?” the person demanded.  His voice was edged, cold.  The blue hedgehog’s eyes darted back and forth between Sparkly Guy and Amy…Lia…what?  “Not only do you leave the camp without permission again, and try to take on Demoni by yourself again, but now you’ve simultaneously broken not only your own forsaken record of trouble-making, but our strict rule of no interaction with outsiders!  You don’t even have your cloak, with your silly face bright for the whole world to see!  Now I will ask one more time, what do you have to say for yourself?”

Sonic began to get annoyed with his tone.  “Hey, bud, loosen up—“

“Silence!” The figure glared at Sonic for a moment, his eyes instantly reverting back to the girl.

She was silent for a moment before answering.  “I was hunting.  My hood is always falling over my face, and I can’t see with it, so I left it behind.  That Demoni, along with whoever this guy is,” she glanced at Sonic with her nose high and haughty, “chased away my prey.  So I got rid of the Demoni.  I would have gotten rid of him too if he were in bad-enough condition for me to put him out of his misery.”  Her voice was challenging, not apologetic.

What…is she saying?

“Hmph.  Really.”  Sparkly Guy walked towards them.  Sonic tried to stand on his own, but his abdominal pain forbid it.  “Lia,” however, abruptly decided he could take care of himself and abruptly let go of him, resulting in him falling to his hands and knees and, in humiliating coincidence, right in front of the silver-cloaked figure.  He hated more than anything to be at anyone’s mercy, but hell, he’d be lying if he said he weren’t in some kind of pain.  Looking up with as much dignity as he could, he found himself looking into narrowed eyes like those of a snake: cold, ruthless, and unpredictable.  They were the eyes of an apex predator.  Sonic felt a shiver run through him.  Sparkly Guy stared at him that made him wonder, for a moment, if he should begin to fear for his life.

Suddenly Sparkly Guy smiled, though without mirth or any kind of warmth.  “Hmph.  Well, we could always just get rid of him now.  No one survives in these woods except for the Order, anyway.”  He spoke with a finality that silenced all else.  Turning his back and now returning towards his followers, the silver-cloaked figure called for two of them.

“Bark.  Cleo.  Get rid of him.”

Within seconds, two other cloaked folk drew swords from their belts and held them over Sonic’s neck before the blue hedgehog even knew they were there.  Just before their graceful, deadly arc found their mark, Sonic suddenly felt warmth cover him.  He opened his eyes and found himself looking past small shoulders and long pink quills, hands outstretched in protection.

“Lia!” Sparkly Guy snapped.  “Move aside.  You will not disobey me again.”

“Watch me,” she said, staring straight ahead, into the forest, her gaze unwavering.  “Stupid as this person is, he hasn’t done any harm to us.  Idiot’s probably just lost.”  Sonic frowned indignantly.  “Forgive me, Master, but I believe that’s no reason to kill him.”

“I did not ask you what you believe,” said the cloaked man.  “I gave you an order.  Get out of the way.  He can be of no use to us, and because he was foolish enough to enter here, he is obviously no use to anyone.  Such lack of caution always entails consequences.  Don’t make the same mistake.”

“Our Order does not kill without good reason.  Stupid is hard to get rid of, as you yourself taught me, Master,” she replied wryly.  “Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t like him either.  But this is not the way to deal with it.  Somehow, he got past the Assassin.  Longtime fiend though she’s been, at least she’s been doing us a favor by keeping dolts like this one out of our woods.  He must have some skill to pull that off.  Why not let him join our Order?  If not then, we could just make him our servant.”

What was she saying!?, Sonic thought.

“We don’t just take in outsiders, Lia.”

“You took me in.”

There was a long, uncomfortable pause after that.  Several of the others began shuffling their feet, unsure.  Many unspoken words, undeniable truths, seemed to hang in the air that Sonic couldn’t help but notice, despite himself.  The two cronies with their steel still hovering over Sonic’s neck had yet to budge, ready at the snap of a twig to end him.  He hoped the pain was making him hallucinate what was going on.  Heck, he hoped this entire debacle was just a dream he was having when he’d been napping under that tree just a few minutes ago.  None of this was making any sense to him.  He looked at Sparkly Guy, who glared at both of them, and then at Amy, who remained indignantly still, shielding him.  The situation felt as fragile as a spider’s thread which may very well could be his own neck that could break.  Finally, Sparkly Guy shook his head in disgust before motioning towards his two would-be executioners to sheathe their swords.  However, before Sonic could sigh in relief, the hard handle of one of their swords came down on the back of his head, and the dark took him.



AUTHOR’S NOTE
Now that I’ve gotten back to it, the story just flows right into my fingers as I type.  Soooo excited that the story’s coming together, and I hope you guys are enjoying it.  Let me know what you think and whatever feedback you have for me.  Thanks muchly!

silverfeather