THE NEED 2 SPEED
Amy: ...Our Light Must Shine Brightest
It couldn't be...
He was dead... He had died... I had watched him die...
But somehow, it was...
"Sonic..." I whispered softly.
Though time was no longer stopped, the twelve of us stood still in shock, the chaotic versions of us as surprised as the originals.
After standing still for a moment, he slowly turned his head to look as each of us in turn...
A soft, sad yet caring smile crossed his lips as he looked at our friends.
But then his gaze fell on me...
And it was a gaze of anger and disgust...
He moved so slowly, so smoothly, like walking through water towards me.
"Stop him!" My twin cried out.
The five other doubles leapt at her word and surrounded him.
If he saw them, he didn't show it, he just continued his nonchalant pace towards me.
The dark versions of Shadow, Rouge, Tails, Knuckles and Chaos launched into a massive barrage of punches and kicks, much fiercer than before, now driven by what had driven us moments ago...
Fear...
At first I was terrified... The five of them moved and struck with such speed and force that Sonic MUST have been overwhelmed...
But then I noticed...
Slowly, oh so slowly, the blur of the five drew closer and closer...
As they got closer, I noticed that every blow was stopped by some invisible barrier that surrounded my love...
No... As I looked closer, I could see subtle differences in his steps... He was moving, countering and blocking so fast it seemed as if he didn't move at all...
Finally he was upon us, and a soft moan from him quickly rose to a furious bellow, and his five opponents were hurled away...
Leaving me, Sonic, and my now livid twin...
She shrieked as she leapt at him with her fist drawn back for a massive punch...
I looked away in fear, but the thundering noise and incredible force of the blow still rocked me to the core...
Despite my fear, I turned around...
My twin's punch had been thrown, her right arm extended...
Into thin air... Super Sonic had sidestepped the attack and landed a crushing blow of his own upon her back...
After a moment, she crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath.
Somehow, now faced with our greatest threat, our most powerful foes, and despite his own demise, Sonic had come through for us...
Just like he always did...
He kneeled down before me, and laid his hands upon my still-bleeding wrist.
They began to burn with unimaginable power, that slowly spread, and faded to a warm, gentle feeling of comfort.
When he arose, there was no blood, no scar, no sign that anything had happened...
"Sonic..." I whispered again. "I'm... I can't..."
"Why Amy?" He interrupted, his voice as pure and caring as I remember it being those long 25 months ago, back before this all began... "Why would you do this to yourself? After you have been through so much already?"
Whatever restraint I had left was destroyed by a wave of shame, and I began sobbing uncontrollably... I wanted to hold him, my arms ached for it... But I was half-afraid that he would be gone if I tried, and half-loathing myself, saying I wasn't worthy of holding him...
"Oh Sonic..." I wept on the ground, too weak from all that had happened to even stand. "I'm so sorry... But I missed you... I missed you so much... I just wanted to be with you again, even if it meant..."
"Amy." I felt his hands on my shoulders, and I wearily raised my head to look at him. "Listen, I want you to SWEAR to me, swear that you will NEVER do anything like that again... Maybe you think I'm worth it, maybe not, but no matter what, promise me you'll never hurt yourself again..."
And I saw something I'd never seen before...
A tear, a small, gossamer gem rolled down his cheek...
"I... I promise..."
"Sonic!" The others had recovered and come to meet us at the foot of the statue.
"Sonic..." Tails was crying freely, but at the time I wasn't sure if they were tears of Joy or sadness... Or fear... "What in the world is going on!"
"A good question," he said as he stood up. "Why don't you answer it, Tikal..."
Tikal stood still for a moment, her eyes shining dimly, before answering.
"Very well," she looked at our confused faces and continued. "Believe me, if I had known we had this little time, I would've spoken up, but I thought it could wait for a less-somber day...
"As you know from the 'Chaos Incident' the Chaos emeralds utilize two types of energy, both positive and negative... These forces exist in a delicate balance in every living person... Every time the powers of the Seven are invoked, this balance is altered, both in the host and the gems themselves, in order to unlock one's full strength...
"When Sonic shattered the Seven, their energies sought new focal points, and chose the seven of us, the first and most important people Sonic could think of. Now the seven of us are not like most other people, despite our collective faults, we hold our own positive energies dearer than our negative..."
"And the closer you get to a light" Knuckles added. "The bigger your shadow becomes..."
"Exactly." Sonic concluded. "Few people are capable of attaining their full potential, we are lucky to have our abilities, and it is amazing we can utilize our own positive energies as much as we do."
"However," Tikal continued. "By denying our deepest, darkest feelings, simply because they may not be best, our negative energy was gathered and made physical..."
Shadow turned and looked at the statue behind him. "The Chaos Emeralds..." he muttered.
Tikal nodded. "Yes, our foes are nothing less than our own darker halves, everything we ever strived to be, but were afraid to attain; all our darkest desires we hide from those around us; and the dark intentions that plague our nightmares... The Chaos emeralds usually dissipate this negative energy over time, but they have been used so many times over such a short period that they began to... overflow..."
Rouge gasped. "Sonic... that's what was happening to you?"
"I could feel it back from the first time I turned 'Super'." Sonic tilted his head back as he spoke, the memories obviously painful and frightening. "I could feel myself growing primal, more out of control... And it only got worse every time, till I began to go through some kind of physical withdrawal afterwards..."
"Well," Knuckles coughed to grasp our attention. "Not to sound crass, but how are we supposed to stand up to what is essentially Chaos-powered versions of ourselves?"
"You can't."
There was a moment of stunned silence while we tried to figure out if the dark-siders had returned...
But it wasn't them who had said so bleak a reply...
It was Sonic...
"Wh... What?" I asked in disbelief. "You... You're saying we should just give up?"
"Of course not," he replied with his usual arrogant grin. "But it is impossible to fight them, you can repress your dark side all you want, but it doesn't go away, it only festers, spreads, and grows stronger..."
"So what do we do?" Shadow voiced the unanimous question.
"Good and evil, light and dark, justice and malevolence..." Sonic replied calmly, as if there was no threat at all. "They are all just halves of a greater whole, one cannot exist without the other. Accept this. Accept these feelings of loss, despair and hatred as you own. Know that they are an essential part of yourself that you cannot be rid of, and they will lose their power over you... That is why there isn't a second me here..."
"Wait a minute," Knuckles interjected. "Are you saying that all we have to do is go on a murderous rampage just because we feel like it?"
Sonic laughed, as though we were just friends telling jokes together. "Of course not!" He repeated. "Acceptance and giving in are two different things. Just be sure to stay true to yourself, be it good or evil...
"Although," he continued. "There is little we can do at this stage, save sending the doubles, and the Emeralds into another existence altogether..."
Tails' eyes grew wide. "Is that even possible?" he wondered aloud.
Sonic vanished for the slightest moment, but reappeared almost instantly, having grouped the seven Chaos Emeralds at his feet. "Its essentially the same as Chaos Control," He said. "Only instead of sending yourself through space, just focus on sending your negative energy outward, release it. The combination of the Chaos Emeralds positive energies and your negative, should cause a sort of resonance cascade, eliminating both from this existence entirely."
"NO!" A sharp cry made us all turn towards the source, except for Sonic, whose caring, gentle face suddenly tightened into a determined scowl.
It was the 5 twins, the dark versions of the others, though my double was nowhere to be found...
"No, we will NOT be confined to the darkness again!" they shouted in unison.
Again the ten of them, doubles and originals, paired off and fought with renewed vigor.
But now with Sonic more powerful than ever, the tide of battle had changed...
He seemed to chaos control, suddenly appearing from one fray to another in seconds...
But occasionally, for only the slightest moment, he would pause and glance at me...
I was by far the most combat-inept here, and therefore warranted the most of his focus...
Yet my double was still nowhere to be found...
But then, as he watched me less and less, I heard the voice so similar to mine come from behind me...
"I heard everything..."
I whirled around and fell to my knees in reflexive fear...
She chuckled bitterly. "Relax," she said loud enough for the others to hear, and though their battles continued, there were countless glances at us between attacks. "I could have killed you by now if that was what I wanted...
"But the fact of the matter is... I probably hold the least sway over you than any of the rest of us have over your friends... Because..."
She raised he head to look at me full-on, and her expression was... different...
The sorrow, the suffering, the agony were all still there... But there wasn't a trace of anger or hatred to be found... Only a sad, empty look of acceptance.
"Because you have been more true to yourself than any of the others... hell or high water, no matter what danger it posed to you or your friends, you always followed your heart...
"I just... I wish that I had that freedom, that determination..."
And despite all that had happened, I began to feel sympathy for her, not because she was a part of myself, not because she was regretful...
But because she wanted my life...
Because she so desperately wished for the life I was so willing to throw away mere minutes ago...
A life of joy... But one that was empty without him...
Yet she treasured what I despised, she craved what I took for granted...
Just them, Knuckles' dark side was hurled near us...
And in a flash, I was holding my Chaos Emerald in my hands, as were all the others...
The negative-Tails was soon thrown there as well, followed by all the others as Sonic made one last assault...
"Knuckles!" he called out as the circled the 5 twins, holding them in place. "You know what to do!"
Knuckles thrust the red gem in his hands towards the group of our enemies.
"Chaos control!" he cried out as a beam of crimson flew outward and pinned his twin in place...
"Tails!" Sonic ordered.
"R, Right..." he said uncertainly. "Chaos Control!"
Three more voices, and three more beams took their turns...
Then he cried it out... "Chaos control!" My love shouted, as he hovered over the focus of the rainbow of light, Causing a cobalt geyser of light to fly up from the ground and engulf them all...
"Now, Amy!" he said. "You're the only one left! Do it now!"
But a startling realization dawned on me as I realized the same light that surrounded our foes had encircled Sonic as well...
"But... but Sonic..." I cried, already knowing the answer to my question. "What about you?"
He looked downward at me...
"Amy... there's no time... please..."
"NO!" I screamed, my fear turning into full-fledged hysteria. "You're going with them aren't you!"
The others were shocked, but they too were overcome by the knowledge Sonic and I already shared...
He had to...
He himself was already a manifestation of the emeralds... He really had died... This was nothing left but the residue of his spirit that the Gems had absorbed over the years.
"Amy... I have to go... I don't belong here anymore..."
The colors of light had become a massive, multi-colored blur as the tears had already been falling...
"Then tell me..." I said, my voice shaking. "Answer me one question... You owe me that at least! I've lost you twice already, and now I'm going to lose you again... so please... just tell me..."
"Amy..." he whispered, barely loud enough to hear. "Please... don't do this..."
"I love you..." I said, my courage welling up inside me with the knowledge that it had to be now... If I didn't ask it now... I would never know... "I've always loved you..."
"Amy..." he said again...
"Do you love me too?"
"..."
The silence hung in the air for what seemed to be an eternity...
And again I saw that tear roll down the side of his face...
"No..." he finally said... "... I'm sorry..."
...So that was it... after all my years of loving, of adoration, of worship... I finally knew for certain...
And I fell into a pit of apathy...
I must've fallen literally too, because the world began to roll away from the sight of the energy streams.
"AMY! NO! You need to do this!"
I didn't care... I didn't care if I lived or died... I didn't care what happened to my friends... I didn't care what happened to the world...
Because all meaning was gone from my life...
But a pair of hands caught me, and gently laid me down...
"Don't worry Sonic..." the owner's voice said as it let go of me. "It will be done..."
It was Chaos-Amy...
"It has to..."
She stooped down and took the Emerald from my hands, then walked towards the pillar of light.
But she paused at the base of it...
"I know..." she said gently... "I know because I am part of you... I know there is nothing I can say right now to make the pain go away..."
She turned to face me, and I could see I wasn't the only one who was crying...
"But for what its worth... Remember that, somewhere out there, some small part of you will be with him always, just as a part of him will always be with you..."
She was gripping the Emerald so tightly that a drop of blood fell from her palm...
"Amy..." I began...
But whatever I was going to say, I never got the chance, because she leapt into the fountain of power and I heard those two words for the last time...
"CHAOS CONTROL!"
The blue light suddenly turned a blinding white, filling my eyes despite my reflexively closing them...
A low hum slowly grew into a deafening roar and the very air seemed to shake...
And then, as suddenly as it had started, it was over...
And all was quiet...
Sonic, the six darker-halves and the emeralds were gone... Only a massive crater where they had been remained...
Rouge led the others to me, they were all obviously exhausted with the effort they had shown this day...
But somehow, I was certain my own weariness rivaled theirs...
(One Year Later...)
Here I was again... for the three-hundred-sixty-sixth time...
And it still didn't get any easier...
But it had become a ritual of mine...
A way to help find peace in an otherwise chaotic world...
Just me...
The cliff...
And two roses...
I suppose you could get all psychological, and say that by my throwing my namesake over a cliff, I was symbolically killing myself everyday...
Maybe you'd be right...
Maybe sometimes, the pain of remembering that day was so great I almost leapt off myself...
But it's the least I could do...
I missed him... and despite the fact that he said he didn't love me, my feelings could never change...
In fact, there were times when the only thing that kept me on that cliff was remembering that promise I had made him...
I had done this so many times now, it was almost like my body was on autopilot, and my mind was free to wander in these moments of reverence...
I took the two roses in my hand, and entwined the stems...
"These are for you..." I said... "For you Sonic... and you Amy... I swear to never forget your sacrifice..."
I had then reached the edge, and gazing out towards the sea's horizon, I cast the two flowers as far as I could...
"I hope wherever you are, whatever happened to you...
"I hope in some small way...
"That you are happy..."
THE END
A/N: Just warning you guys, I'm gonna go off on a little rant here, so if you don't wanna put up with it, just skip on ahead to the replies...
Have you ever gotten an idea, one so perfect, so grandiose that, no matter how hard you try, it can never be realized in the way you dreamed? That is how I truly felt about this whole saga... I've said it before, and I'll say it again... I write mostly to help me work out my own personal feeling and experiences...
But somehow "The Need" series was something different... It was more like... I dunno... making art for me rather than writing a story...
Somehow I've never felt that way about my other works before, somehow this one really gripped me and refused to let go... I don't know... I'm a fat slob, I can't draw, paint, sculpt or anything...
I can sing, but trust me, you don't want to go into that...
This has just been such a fantastic creative outlet... despite the fact that no chapter ever came out "just perfect". My only regret is that the perfect story is trapped in my head, and that no one else will ever be able to see it the way I do...
But still I sincerely hope that, in some small way, you enjoyed reading this, I truly cannot thank those who reviewed enough for keeping me focused on this project... it's done more for me than I can ever say...
PHEW! Okay enough mushy stuff, on to the replies...
Kirby-Chan263: Aww shucks, thanks... I'm glad you liked the story up to 9, here's hoping you like the end too (crosses fingers)
JaydenSykehawk: My angst makes your humor! Why didn't you say so! I'd be pumping these chapters out like every week! Seriously though, thanks a ton for sticking through all this, I'm glad you hold me in such high regard, you're DAMN funny, so if you think I'm good, that means a LOT to me bud, thanks! P.S. ARGH! I forgot to wish everyone a happy holidays! (puts on a "grinch" costume.)
kuro-kitsune: Wow... that's nice... uhh... STALKER! (runs off) But thanks for your constant support. And I PROMISE you, (all you readers are witnesses) I WILL re-do "The Truth About Metroids and Space Pirates" (my only Metroid Fic, also my first... SO DON'T READ IT NOW... wait till the re-vamp...) someday, but you know hw slowly I write...
oracle apprentice: Aww, thanks, I read your bio, and I think your idea of an Anti-alliance is a good one, count me in! I've read reviews by the people listed as "suspected alliance members" and the majority of their reviews are hateful, unconstructive, flames. Personally, I think that if you don't like a story, and can't say anything constructive about it (well you're a hypocrite, but) you should just leave it alone... Really, what harm does it cause?
Pink Shimmer: Don't be silly, you can never have TOO much angst (KIDDING! It just gets depressing after a while...). But yeah, I wanted Sonic to have that one last hurrah before the end was through. I hope you (and all the other readers too) enjoyed "The Need" one and two. And let me assure you all, the reason I made sure to explain I have no plans to continue this is to make certain that Sonic stays dead. It's sad, it's dramatic, but I think it makes for a better story...
Spyke the Hedgehog: Yes, I really think that through redemption, sacrifice and effort we can truly be reborn, even if not in this literary sense... (super-powers not included in any spiritual cleansing...)
Daikonran: See? You thought I was exaggerating about my taking forever to upload my fics... But WOW... I LOVED your review... can I hire you to make my synopses? Your summary was pretty much dead-on how I wanted the general attitude of chapter 9 to play out... I'm glad that that much went as planned...
Thalia/RockChick: Well I'm glad you took your time to read this, corny as it may sound, every new review means a LOT to me. I hope you enjoyed the end!
RemedyTheThief: Yeah, it's funny, when I'm reading I hate cliffhangers too, but when I write... It becomes almost... fun... (hides from all the thrown tomatoes) Anywho, I'm really touched chapter 9 resonated so strongly with you, mean I'm doing my job...
Az The Dragon: Yeah, my biggest weakness (least as far as I can tell) is that sometimes I tend to foreshadow a bit too much... But I'm glad you liked my chapter anyway...
Flabbergasted: You missed a chapter! (gets his whip out) Traitor! Nah, you're forgiven because I read all about your airline adventure on your website... Anyway... (reads second review) Wow... and people say I'm dark... But I can see where I may have mislead you on that. This is why I tried to explain the whole positve and negative potential in every person (which I truly do believe BTW... It sound like it'd be fun pondering philosophy with you sometime, though I'd probably just make a maroon of mysell...) so much in the middle of this chapter... But no, just that there are in every person (least I hope so, or I'm REALLY crazy) occasional "evil" thoughts, dreams and desires, that are repressed and ignored, instead of confronted and accepted. The "Chaos Six" or whatever you want to call them, are the Chaos Emerald's physical manifestations of these repressed feelings...
Kitsune Swift: I assure you, I DID finish this chapter as fast as I could, (even though its been more than a month in the making...) but like I already said... something evil in me simply enjoys leaving cliffhangers for my readers... (laughs like a cartoon villain)
Isumo 1489: Oh come on, i can't be the FIRST... can I... really?... wow... But I hope you like the ending, even though I must admit, Shadow's taken more of a backseat here than I originally intended... Sorry... (is chased off by a mob of angry Shadow-fans)
Wow... it's really over... Thanks as usual, a ton to all who read, and a HUGE, GI-NORMOUS thank you to all who reviewed. If you missed it in my rant, I'll say it again. This project has been something... major to me... and EVERY SINGLE REVIEW has just been the sweet icing on the cake.
Thank you all...
thag-the-upset