Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lost Boy, Lost Dog, Lost Bike, Lost Cat,

Every corner stapled

To keep the paper flat.

This splintered old pole has countless times tasted 

Scraps of hope

And effort wasted

Never has it ever learned

Of any vanished things returned

A corner falls with no ounce of pity

On the cement footprints of a long-gone kitty

Air eats away at the rusted tack

Please, always remember

Someone wanted you back.

-Anonymous

She hadn’t expected death to be so pleasant.

Unbearable pain shooting through every nerve, pools of blood soaking her hands and skin, with broken twisted limbs that screamed in agony from head to toe, maybe. But this… this feeling of serenity and peace washing over her like waves lapping a shore, didn’t seem fitting.

She pondered these things as the river gently carried her body through the ever flowing current, bringing her as far as it could go, like electricity waiting for an insulator. 

A lifetime of violence and hatred concluding with a peaceful end. 

It didn’t make any fucking sense.

Yet, as the cool spring sun warmed her burnt, bubbling skin, and the chilly freshwater froze her weakened muscles, she had little choice but to surrender.

Her muscles had given out completely in that last battle, sending her tumbling hundreds of feet from the busted building into the current below. She could barely breathe, let alone try and pull herself to the shore. She listened to the sound of her pathetic, desparate gasps as she floated towards the end. The end of the river, the end of the flow. The end of her life.

After drifting for a lifetime, her head suddenly sank into the ground. It held her tenderly, like a newborn, and she did not move again.

She wasn’t sure how long she laid there in the muddy sands of the riverbank. Was it hours? Days? Or just a few minutes? Time passed quickly. It stopped and proceeded no further, freezing her in place. It dragged on, sinking its claws deeper and deeper into her chest until breathing became impossible.

She closed her eyes and screamed internally for the reaper to just get it over with and take her, already. Hadn’t it been long enough? Or was death going to be even crueler than life, taking its time to relieve her of suffering?

She thought about her past, the one she’d lived before meeting Dr. Starline. The one she had never known, or at least never remembered. Was someone looking for her? Probably not. If she had been missed, there would’ve been missing person posters, search parties, something.

It didn’t matter anyway. That person was long gone. 

But, on the slight chance that there was someone out there that still loved her, someone that still prayed for her return despite however much time had passed… she hoped they’d be alright. When they found Surge the Tenrec’s lifeless body at the end of a filthy, blood-soaked river, she hoped, somehow, it would bring them peace. Closure. Something Surge would never have.

The darkness was coming. It will be there soon. The sun itself was starting to darken behind her heavy eyelids. 

Please, she begged. Just let me die.

Then, she heard it. Someone calling to her, ever so faintly. Dragging her from death’s doorsteps and back into the house of life.

She mumbled and groaned, trying to get words out, but her mouth wouldn’t cooperate. Go away , she murmured. Leave me alone .

But to her dismay, the worried voice only grew louder. Footsteps swished on the tall grass lining the riverbank until they stopped beside her throbbing head.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?!”

No, genius. I’m half dead and all fried up . 

“Hold on, I’ve got you!”

The smell of strawberries and some other sickly-sweet scent she couldn’t name filled her nostrils. Ugh. She would’ve pushed away whoever this way, if she’d been able to move her arms or legs at all. But as this sweet-smelling person picked up her limp body and held it against their warm chest, she had little choice but to surrender, once again, to the flowing river of fate that was refusing to let her go.

Fine , she begrudgingly agreed, as sleep finally graced her.

I guess I’ll stick around a little longer .

She is awakened by the smell of cooked vegetables and the sound of songbirds.

She opens her weary eyes and welcomes the morning sun, or perhaps the afternoon sun, as it peeks through a window near her feet. What time was it? She shuffles in place, trying to make sense of things, but even turning her head sends jolts of pain through her body. She cringes and lays still once more.

She’s laying on something soft, yet firm. A bed? The last thing she remembered was washing up like a piece of garbage on the edge of a river. How the hell did she wind up in a bed?

She tried to recall the events that led up to this humiliating end, but her brain was scrambled. Even thinking triggered a great deal of discomfort. She gave up with a sigh, then coughed and gasped in pain as her broken lungs struggled to find air.

The sound of small, panicked footsteps garners her attention. A door to her left swings open, and in moments someone is by her side wiping her heat-ridden forehead with something soft and cold.

“You’re finally awake! Thank goodness,” the pink hedgehog stranger says. “How are you feeling? Can you speak?”

“Erfmnh,” Surge mutters. It seems that her mouth still did not wish to cooperate.

“It’s okay, don’t push it,” the pink girl advises, giving her a soft smile. “We can talk later. You should just focus on recovering.”

When the girl bent over to wipe her forehead again, Surge manages to grab her wrist, albeit weakly, and spit something out.

“... You …”

“Oh! I’m sorry, of course… you have no idea who I am. My name’s Amy. Amy Rose. I was out picking berries and I saw you lying near the river, so I brought you home.”

Surge scowled as she introduces herself. What a goody two shoes. She had no business saving her life. What was with all these self-righteous grandstanders sticking their noses where they didn’t belong? 

“I was so worried… you seemed really hurt, and I wasn’t sure you’d make it. So I’m really glad you’ve recovered enough to move, even if it’s just a little bit.”

She interrupts Surge’s violent, angry thoughts and holds a warm mug to her lips, urging her to drink. Whatever liquid concoction she brewed and poured into this cup smells like dirt and bitter grass. It’s disgusting. She drinks it anyway, and ends up spitting out most of it onto the floor.

“I know, it tastes really gross… but this will help lower your fever and fight off the infection,” The girl named Amy says with an empathetic expression. “I promise I’m not trying to kill you.”

“Tch!” Surge scoffs, the only noise she can make without overexerting herself. You wouldn’t be the first.

Amy has her take another sip. It’s better the second time, now that she’s prepared herself for the repulsive-fucking taste of whatever the hell this is. She drinks the whole thing and gags afterward. Amy chuckles softly.

“Good girl,” she coos, and Surge feels her chest tremble.

What the hell?

Who was this… Amy Rose? And why was she helping her?

“Get some rest, okay?” Amy stands up and walks towards the door with the empty cup in hand. “I’ll come check on you later.”

She smiles at Surge once more before quietly closing the door behind her. 

Surge makes a croaking sound as she tries to call out for Amy, but the faint muffled sounds fail to get her attention. She has so many questions, and so much to say, but her eyelids were starting to feel heavy again, and the taste of that atrocious herbal tea was making her stomach twist in knots.

She felt herself drifting in and out of consciousness and succumbing once more to the mercy of sleep, with the image of a kindly pink hedgehog etched in her mind and a stupid little rhyme to go along with it.

Amy Rose.

Sweet as pie.

Why couldn’t you just let me die ?

Chapter Text

“You failed. Again.”

His words crept up her spine, paralyzing her as she stood before the ominous figure cloaked in darkness.

“Did you really think you could win without my council? Darling, you’re nowhere near smart enough to do anything like that on your own.”

She clenches her fist until her nails stab through her skin. She feels her own warm blood seeping through her ripped gloves.

“Shut up. You’re dead. You’re fucking dead, I saw you die.”

“My physical body may have perished, but I’ll always be in your head. That’s the power of psychological manipulation, my dear,” he sneers.

“Shut up…” She grabs both sides of her head, digging her fingers into her skull as she squeezes her eyes shut. “I’m not listening to you anymore! You don’t control me!”

“Too weak. Too stupid. Too worthless. You’ll never be good enough without me. You’re just a broken toy nobody wants. Discarded by the world. Forgotten by all.”

“ I said shut up!! ”

Electricity courses through her blood and bursts through every pore in her body. He disappears in a cloud of smoke, returning to the shadows of her mind. She feels her heart palpitate before it stops, and she collapses with a loud thud .

...

The falling sensation yanks her awake yet again. She shoots up in bed with sweat plastering a few of her stray green quills to her forehead and takes deep, heaving breaths. 

The room is dark. It was still night. 

She puts her head between her legs as she hyperventilates, fighting desperately to push the image of Starline out of her mind. He’s dead, she repeats over and over again. He’s fucking dead. He’s not coming back. He can’t get to you now.

When her breathing evens out, she lays back down and stares at the ceiling. She’s not sure when, but at some point she passes out. And thankfully she doesn’t see him again.

However many days or hours later, Surge awakens once more. When she opens her eyes, the sun is peeking through the window and bathing her in golden light.

Her strength still isn’t at its peak, she realizes as she feels the sting of the burns and the incessant ache throbbing in her injured muscles. But despite this, she’s able to pull herself up and swing her legs over the edge of the bed.

Dr. Starline was a fucking twat, but at least he had been smart enough to give her rapid regeneration abilities. Another day or so and she would be fine. Hopefully.

Her head still felt muddy, but she was able to piece parts of her memory of it back together. The intense rooftop battle. The last blow that sent her over the edge. The cold river. The soft sand. The strong arms that carried her, and the bitterness of foraged herbs burning the back of her throat.

That’s right. She had been brought to this stuffy old cabin by that meddling girl.

Tch! Thinking about how that pink hedgehog dragged her here like she was some sort of abandoned puppy really pissed her off. She would’ve shown her the consequences of her kindness if her body wasn’t currently all busted up. She swore that if this goody two shoes ever dared to talk down to her, she’d fry her up.

Speak of the devil. Moments after she rises, Amy Rose enters the room without knocking, carrying a tray of warm soup and another cup of that god-awful drink she’d given her earlier.

“Good morning! Oh, wow. you already look so much better than yesterday! You must heal quickly! Did you sleep well?”

“Mnngh,” Surge tries to protest, but her tongue is still mush and whatever she tries to say still just comes out as a jumbled mess.

Amy puts the tray onto the nightstand next to the bed.

“You should really eat something. It’ll help you regain more of your strength.”

She doesn’t have to tell her twice. Surge’s stomach rumbles as she tries to remember the last time she had an actual meal.

She swipes the bowl of soup and downs it in one loud slurp. Of course, it goes down the wrong pipe and she falls into a coughing fit that doesn’t stop until Amy smacks her back, hard , and the chunks of vegetable stuck in her throat fly out like missiles onto the floor.

Damn, this girl is strong. How can such a little thing pack this much of a punch?

“Let’s try again,” Amy says with a smile. She grabs the bowl and rushes out of the room, then returns again in record time. She hands the newly filled bowl of soup back to Surge.

Hunger is gnawing at her stomach, and the smell of the soup is irresistible, so she eats. Well, more like gobbles it up like some sort of wild animal, but this time at a somewhat slower pace. She wipes the broth with the back of her torn glove as it dribbles down her chin, and when her stomach settles she finds that she feels a lot better.

“You should really take it easy,” the pink hedgehog continues, looking quite concerned. “Your fever just broke yesterday, and you still have those burns all over…”

“W’ever,” Surge manages to stutter out. God, she sounds terrible. But at least she can verbalize something. She leans forward and clutches her knees with both hands. It’s taking a lot of energy just to sit up in this position, but she persists.

“So, do you think you can tell me your name?” Amy asks, cocking her head to the side.

That’s none of your goddamned business, lady.

“Thss…ngh…!”

Why was it still impossible for her to speak? What was wrong with her? Surge starts to wonder if her injuries were more serious than she thought. It’s making her so angry, her arms start to shake with fury.

“Hey, it’s alright. Maybe you can write it down?”

Amy opens a drawer and pulls out a small floral print journal, along with a fuzzy pink pen. The sight of it makes Surge feel like throwing up all the soup she just drank.

Seriously? What was with all the pink?

Amy tenderly places both items in her hands carefully, as if she’s something delicate and breakable. She growls in frustration, but Amy doesn't seem to notice. Or she's ignoring it. Her fist tightens around the pen. Under normal circumstances she’d be able to snap this shit in half without any issue, but it’s taking most of her focus just to hold it in proper form. 

Losing really fucking sucked. But recovering from a humiliating loss sucked even more.

The tenrec takes hold of the pen reluctantly and tries to keep it steady. She fingers through the pages and finds an empty one, then quickly scribbles something down before shoving it back into Amy’s hands. The pink hedgehog skims over, and her expression darkens.

“Seriously?” she frowns while holding up the now defecated page. There are two words spelled out in thick black letters:

FUCK OFF!

Surge snickered for a second or two, although it sounded more like a wheeze than anything.

“Come on,” Amy pushes. “If you don’t tell me, then I’m gonna have to give you a cute nickname. Hmm… what about Daisy? Or Lily? Ooh, ooh, I know, Cecilia!! You kinda look like a cecilia flower, anyway!”

Surge’s eye twitches.

“Surge,” she finally admits. “… Surge .”

Amy smiles victoriously.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Surge!” She giggles.

The tenrec rolls her eyes.

“I don’t know what happened to you, and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” She stands up to grab the tray. “But you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need until you feel better.”

Yeah, right. I'm out of here as soon as I can walk. 

“Feel free to keep using that, by the way,” Amy says as she makes her way out. “You can write whatever is on your mind. And if you need anything at all, let me know!”

She gives her one last friendly smile before leaving the room, and Surge is alone once more.

She picks up the journal and stares at the chicken scratch she just scribbled down. Her mind is racing, trying to make sense of things. Why she’s still here. Why this Amy girl is being so nice to her. Why she kept smiling at her so genuinely, with utmost warmth and kindness, even though she was a complete fucking stranger who could've ripped her head off were the situation different. And why Starline won’t leave her the fuck alone, even after death.

She picks up the pen and starts doodling in the margins, reclining back in bed as she works. Eventually, another dumb rhyme pops in her head, and she writes it down despite how fucking idiotic and lame it sounds.

Amy Rose.

Pink and dumb.

Why save me? I'm nothing but scum.

Chapter Text

The next day, Surge hops out of bed and discovers that she is able to stand on two feet, with a little more of her strength renewed.

She still feels a bit wobbly as she takes one cautious step after another, but after stretching her calves and thighs for a few minutes it gets a little easier. It was strange how the sensation of walking had become foreign in such a short amount of time. 

She cracks her knuckles, then twists her neck until it pops. No more lying around like a piece of shit. She had a job to do.

She yanks the bedroom door open and marches into the living room. She hears the knob slam on the wall, along with a loud CRACK , and feels no remorse at all for whatever damage had just been done. She was ready to get out of this stupid fucking cottage and back to the real world.

That blue piece of shit was going down. No one leaves Surge for dead and gets to walk away scot free.

She lets her rage funnel through her body, amping her up for the next battle, as she saunters past the kitchen. Without realizing it she passes a befuddled Amy Rose standing over a silver pan on the stove.

“Oh, Surge!” Amy spins around with a smile. “Good morning! It’s nice to see you walking around. I take it you’re feeling better?”

The tenrec is grumbling under her breath and barely registers that the girl is speaking to her.

“Tear it down… he's gonna pay…”

“Huh?” she blinks as she watches her stumble through the living room. “Are you leaving already?”

Surge stops when she reaches the front door. She looks over her shoulder at the wide-eyed hedgehog and shoots her a wicked sneer.

“I’m outta here, Pinky,” she says in a raspy voice. “I’ve got important shit to do.”

“Well, do you at least wanna eat breakfast first? You don’t wanna start your day on an empty stomach?”

She motions towards the stove, hoping to entice her with the smell of bacon and eggs, but the tenrec has made up her mind.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ve wasted enough time sitting around in this fucking cottage.”

Again, she grabs the knob and yanks the door open so hard it leaves an indent in the wall. Then, without so much as a goodbye, she charges full throttle into the outside world.

She doesn’t make it very far. Although she hasn’t exactly lost her super speed, she discovers very quickly that her body still needs to catch up with the resolve of her mind. Her legs give out after running about ten feet, and once again she finds herself lying face first on the ground as the sky begins to downpour. The cold rain hits the back of her head, fueling her temper.

She punches the ground and lets out an earth-shattering cry.

“FUCK!”

She was a combat weapon, for fuck’s sake. She was built sturdier than this. Why was she still so broken ? 

Her one purpose was to fight. She had been custom made to destroy, to demolish, to ravage . 

If she couldn’t do any of that, then was good was she?

Unless… was her gear damaged permanently in that fight? If so, then it was possible she’d be stuck like this forever. Starline was dead, the one person who could have possibly repaired her, and Kit was nowhere to be found.

Kit…

She had forgotten about that sniveling fennec. Where the hell was he? 

Had he abandoned her, as well? 

She seethes through clenched teeth and lets out another guttural scream as the rain picks up harder. Little flashes of electric currents blink in her hands and legs.

In her fit of despair and rage, she forgets there’s another person there. The rain and thunder continues to fall around her, yet her face remains dry. A shadow appears above her, and when she looks up, she sees a worried-looking Amy Rose holding a white umbrella over her head.

“Surge?” she says softly. “Come back inside… please? You’re going to get sick if you stay out here.”

The girl’s tenderness is too much to bear. With bleary eyes, the tenrec lashes out, narrowly missing the pink hedgehog’s legs.

“Get away from me!!” she bellows, slicing the air around her. 

Amy jumps back before her talons slash her skin, then furrows her brows and yells out a disgruntled “No!”

“Wh… What? What do you mean, ‘no’?!”

“I’m not leaving you out here by yourself!" she argues with a frown. "Either you come back inside with me, or I’m staying put.”

The tenrec gapes at her with confusion, anger, loathing, disbelief. Amy’s expression is one of determination, something she just can’t grasp at the moment. 

Surge digs her nails into the wet ground and grinds her sharp teeth so hard she can taste blood.

“Why?! Why won’t you just leave me the fuck alone!?”

Her throat is coarse and raw. She’s ugly, ragged, and all worn down, howling like a rabid stray dog and foaming at the mouth like a feral creature. But despite that, this sweet, lovely, beautiful girl is looking at her like she’s the most precious person in the world. Her green eyes are filled with sadness, yet devoid of pity. They’re so tender, so gentle, so loving, that Surge feels her heart is splitting apart just looking at her.

“Because… I can’t. In my heart, it doesn’t feel right abandoning someone who needs help.”

She pauses, parting her rose red lips ever so slightly.

“And besides… Something tells me that you don't really want to be alone."

Her words bring the weakened fighter to tears. She forces them back, refusing to show weakness in front of this meddling stranger. 

Amy doesn't take her eyes off her. She's looking at her like she's worth something, actually looking instead of turning away in fear, and despite her disregulated state of mind the tenrec senses genuine compassion. Something that was formerly unknown to her... until now.

"Surge... you've never had a real friend before, have you?"

She pounds her fist on the ground and glares up at her with pure, unbridled rage.

“That’s none of your goddamn concern!”

“Maybe not,” Amy Rose remains calm in the midst of the storm. “But if you haven't, then I'm going to be your very first friend.”

She holds out her hand to Surge, who recoils like it’s poison.

“You don’t have to be alone anymore if you don’t want to. I’m here for you, whether you like it or not.”

The tenrec stares at her hand for a bit longer. Then, after a few moments of internal debate, she pushes herself off the ground and slaps her hand away. She stumbles back into the cottage, and once she’s inside, she braces herself against the nearest wall as her muscles begin to ache and throb. She cringes as the pain spreads from her legs to her waist. Amy follows her inside and shuts the door, while Surge watches her with eyes slanted.

A real friend, huh?

Tch! What a fucking joke.

“Whew! I’m glad you-”

“Don’t get it twisted, princess,” the tenrec spat out in a gravelly voice,. “I’m not your pet or your fix-it project. And I’m not a fucking weakling. So don’t you dare patronize me.”

At first, Amy Rose is silent. Surge smirks, believing that she has finally shut Miss Goody Two-Shoes up for good. Then, in half of a heartbeat, Amy Rose is standing directly in front of her with a fierce, piercing gaze that Surge recognizes as pure ire. Icy panic pulsates through her heart like blood when Amy slams her hand on the wall next to Surge’s head, leaving another indent in the hardwood.

“... Enough .”

She can feel Amy’s labored breath on her skin as the hedgehog closes the gap between them. Surge exhales sharply; her heart pounds against its cage, threatening to break loose. 

“You don’t get to snap on me like that just because you’re frustrated,” she hisses. “I’m not your punching bag, and I’m not gonna stand here and take your verbal abuse. Friends don't speak like that to each other."

She moves in so close that Surge can smell her strawberry scented lip gloss. The tenrec gawks at her, unable to speak as her pink companion maintains her intense eye contact.

“I know you’ve been through a lot, and maybe you’re not used to having people in your life that actually care about you, but if you’re going to be staying in my house, you will accept my kindness and you will be kind to me in return.”

The scowl on her face has a certain ferocity Surge has never seen in another woman. She made a mental note to never, ever piss this girl off again.

“Got it?” she snarls.

Heat rises throughout her body as Amy Rose stares her down with eyes like daggers. Her face feels like hot coals are pressing against her skin. Blood rushes through her ears as her heart thumps, steadily knocking at her ribcage.

She knows there's no use fighting. This girl has already won.

“... Got it,” Surge concedes.

Then, instantaneously, the sunny smile returns to Amy’s face, along with her cheerful demeanor. She claps her hands together and grins as the bewildered tenrec, whose head is still swirling as she tries to process whatever the fuck it was that just happened.

“Great! Glad we had this talk. And in lieu of a verbal apology, you can clean up all the mud you tracked into my beautiful home and fix all the dents you put in my walls! I have materials out in the barn, you'll clean today and fix stuff tomorrow.”

As she turns her back to her, Surge mumbles something under her breath.

“You made a dent, too, ya know…”

“What was that?” Amy swings her head around and glares at her red-faced guest.

“... Nothing.”

Fuck, she thinks to herself.

I really shouldn't underestimate this girl.

It takes literal fucking hours for Surge to scrub all of the mud and dirt off the walls and floors. By the time she finishes, it’s way past sundown and her arms are so sore she can barely lift them. She hobbles back to the bedroom, with everything hurting so goddamn much. And when she gets there, she sees Amy has laid out a clean shirt and a pair of shorts for her on top of the duvet. Both pink, of course. She wonders if this girl knew that other colors existed.

She peels off her dirty sports bra and stained yellow cargo pants, then tosses them on the floor. She pulls Amy’s shirt over her head, then yanks her shorts up her legs. They're comically small on her, but she is too exhausted to complain.

Finally, now that she has a moment to herself, she sits down on the bed and takes a moment to process the day’s events. Behind closed eyelids, she pictures the fiery Amy Rose pinning her against the wall with her chest pressed against hers and that pretty face dangerously close to her own. With any other foe she would’ve bashed their nose in if they had dared to challenge her like that, but when Amy did it…

She wants to smack herself thinking about it.

Get a fucking grip, Surge.

The journal on the nightstand next to the bed catches her eye. She picks up the pink pen and opens it up to a new page, where she comes up with a few lines that conclude the complicated emotions currently racing in her chest. And this time, she realizes as she rereads it again and again, it doesn’t sound half bad. 

Amy Rose, a girl of thorns.

Tied with vines, petals adorned. 

Then there’s me, an unwilling seed.

Can I grow from this? 

Or will I just bleed?

Chapter Text

The sound of singing cicadas fills Surge’s ears as she sands the wall. Up and down, side to side, smoothing out the plaster until the dent becomes yesterday’s memory. The front door is wide open, inviting warm air and an occasional breeze inside the cottage. She stops for a moment to wipe the sweat off her forehead; it’s hot, and Amy Rose’s cottage doesn’t have air conditioning. 

But she’s almost finished. She just needs to level it a little bit more, then her good deed for the day will be done. She scrubs the wall firmly, but without too much pressure, just like she saw in that annoying U-Tube video she had watched earlier that morning. She wants to avoid more damage if she can help it. As she had quickly learned, fixing walls really fucking sucked.

She takes a step back to admire her work, making sure it’s smooth and even. If it wasn’t, she was certain she wouldn’t hear the end of it. 

It looks good; she lets out an exhausted sigh of relief. She grabs the hem of her shirt and uses the cloth to wipe the rest of the sweat off of her face and neck.

From the corner of her eye, she notices Amy putzing around in the kitchen. She’s been cooking all morning, and Surge can smell the spices and garlic wafting through the room. It smells delicious, but it’s making the cottage feel more like a furnace. Surge takes her shirt off and wraps it around her neck to soak up some of the sweat. Standing there in just her sports bra, she feels much cooler as the wind blows past the doorway and onto her damp fur.

“Hey, Pinky,” she calls out. “Wall’s finished.”

She doesn’t get a response. 

“Helloooo? I said the wall’s finished.”

She looks at Amy to see if she’s paying attention, and when her eyes meet hers, she sees the hedgehog gawking at her with a strange look on her face. Her eyes are wide, her lips are slightly parted, and her cheeks have a rosy glow to them. 

Actually, it looks like her whole face was red. Was she having a heat stroke or something?

She’s been so busy staring at Surge with those googly eyes of hers that she fails to notice the pot of water boiling over. The tenrec points to the stove.

“Your pot’s overflowing, Pink.”

That seems to snap Amy out of her trance. She jumps back when she hears the splatter of hot water hit the gas heater and lets out a little cry as she picks up the pot.

“... Aaaaah! Oh no, my pasta!! Ugh, what a mess…”

She scrambles to save whatever it was, keeping her back turned to Surge. The tenrec peers over her shoulder to see the damage. Half cooked spaghetti is floating in the steaming water, and Amy is frowning.

“Dinner is ruined,” she says dejectedly with a sigh. She pushes past Surge and grabs a brown purse lying on the kitchen counter, then makes her way to the front door as her guest watches her curiously. 

“Come on,” she commands. “We’re going into town to get food for tonight.”

Surge leans against the wall and crosses her arms. There was no fucking way Amy was gonna drag her into one of those humdrum little hick towns full of pathetic weaklings who always relied on others to solve their problems for them. Just the thought of it fills her with disgust. But as the seconds tick on, the pasta starts to look less and less appetizing, and her stomach begins to rumble something fierce. 

She throws her shirt back on and dashes out the door with lightning speed, following closely after her pink savior. 

It only takes about ten minutes of walking for the two of them to reach town. It’s just as droll and lame as she thought it would be. A town full of losers, doing loser things with their loser friends and loser families. Stupid babies crying for their mamas as they shop for fruits and vegetables. Lovers taking long, boring walks through tiny flower gardens and giggling like idiots amongst themselves. Friends sharing fries while they sit together on the sidewalk, watching dumb videos on their phones with cheeks pressed together. Everything was hunky-fucking-dory for them.

The place is full of brainless idiots. It sickens Surge to see everyone acting so jolly. For what? It makes her want to break stuff, wipe those smiles off their ugly faces.

As she resists the urge to destroy everything in sight, the unlikely duo garner quite a bit of attention as they meander through side streets and crosswalks. Specifically, Surge, and it doesn't take long for her to notice. She sneers at the townsfolk who dare to lay eyes on her and smirks when she watches them turn away in fear. Serves them right. 

“Does everyone have a staring problem in this fucking town?” she wonders aloud, earning her a light slap on the chest from Amy.

“Don’t swear!” she hisses. “There are children around!”

“Tch! Who cares. Tell ‘em to grow up.”

Amy scowls at her, and Surge rolls her eyes. But she doesn’t say anything more about it.

They finally stop in front of a deli. Surge leans against the brick wall and shoves her hands in her pockets. She can feel eyes on her, and her ear twitches as she grows more and more agitated. And yet, Amy speaks to her with sweetness, completely ignoring her sour attitude.

“You can wait out here if you want,” Amy says. “What do you want me to get for you?”

“Don’t care. Whatever’s good,” the tenrec waves her away.

She goes inside, and then Surge is alone.

It seems that everyone and their damn brother is out today. Surge loses track of how many couples and families pass by as she stands there simmering. She glares at them all, sneering extra hard when she sees children gawking at her. Watching them cling to their momma’s skirts and burst into tears after looking at her makes Surge feel proud.

Good. Everybody needed to stay the fuck away from her. 

There’s one kid that can’t take her eyes off her, though. And even when Surge snarls at her, snapping her razor sharp teeth like a dog, the girl barely even blinks. When she looks a little harder, she notices something interesting about the little shit.

She’s a tenrec.

Another tenrec… just like her.

The kid’s mom is busy fussing at the cart owner, something about getting her order wrong or some other stupid shit that probably didn't matter. She has long, golden quills that neatly fall to her ankles. Same as the little girl. As a matter of fact, the kid was the spitting image of her mom. Nobody could deny that the two of them were related.

Huh. 

She hadn’t realized there were other tenrecs.

Duh , she thinks. Of course there are others, dummy . 

Surge wouldn’t exist if there hadn’t been tenrecs that came before her. Everyone had parents. She had parents, too.

…Right?

Surge’s mind wanders back to a place she had pushed out of her mind eons ago. A place that made her feel empty and hollow the more she thought about it.

… Who were her parents?

What were they like? Were they annoying and lame? Or were they cool? Were they green, or gold, or something else? Did she look more like her dad, or more like her mom? 

She had a mom, too… right?

Where were they? Did she still have people out there looking for her? Missing her? Wishing they could hold her hand and guide her back home, the way this tenrec mother was guiding that wide-eyed kid that kept looking over her shoulder to see if Surge was still there?

The sight of the little family triggers a swirling vortex of mixed emotions within her. Most of it is anger. Some of it is sadness. The feeling of losing something, but not knowing what was lost. Missing pieces and dark holes left unfilled.

She clenches her fist as tears burn at the back of her eyes. 

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” a shadowy figure croons in her ear. She freezes; an icy chill shoots up her spine.

“Go. Away,” she mutters.

“If your family actually cared about you, then why didn’t they come looking for you?” The platypus taunts her with an arrogant smirk, twirling his greasy fingers through her quills and it takes everything in her not to bash in his bill.

“I said go away ,” she growls, a bit louder this time.

“Who knows, though. Maybe you never had a family at all. Maybe they all died. Or maybe…”

He leans in close, hissing poison in her ear.

“They just simply didn’t want you.”

She throws her fist at the wall, dissipating Starline into a dark cloud of smoke that swirls around her head and leaving behind a modest-sized dent in the cold bricks. Her breathing is uneven and labored. Her heart beats loudly, and her gut feels like it’s been punched.

She only snaps out of it when she hears Amy’s voice calling for her.

“...Surge? Are you okay?”

The hedgehog looks concerned as she stands in front of Surge holding two plastic bags with their takeout. Surge says nothing as she pushes past Amy to hightail it back the way they came. This time, she barely notices the crowd of people cowering in fear as she passes by.

“Hey, wait! What’s wrong?”

Amy finally catches up to Surge after running after her for several minutes. 

“Nothing,” she grumbles, walking faster. “Leave me the fuck alone.”

“You’re clearly upset about something. What happened?”

“Nothing happened . And I’m fine. Stop asking.”

Amy scowls, then stomps ahead and stops in front of her, glaring at the raging tenrec with furrowed brows.

“What did I say about you treating me like a punching bag?” she huffs. “I’m trying to help, you don’t need to snap at me!”

“I never asked for your help!” Surge spits. 

“I don’t care! You’re my friend, and that’s what friends do! We’re there for each other when something goes wrong, or when one of us feels bad!”

Surge's frown only deepens.

“I really can’t stand you… you hero types,” her voice drips with disdain. “You’re all the fucking same. You stick your big noses in everyone else’s business so you can pretend like you’ve saved the day. But you don’t actually care. You just wanna feed your big egos and convince yourselves you’re not pieces of shit like the rest of us.”

“What is your problem ?” Amy raises her voice, ears twitching in annoyance. “All I’ve done is treat you kindly and made sure you’re taken care of. Why are you so angry at me?!”

“Why… why am I angry? ” Surge shouts. “Because… because… you all act like you’re so much better than me! You expect everybody to follow your stupid rules and morals just because you think it’s the right thing to do! Well not everybody has had an easy life like you, princess! Some of us went through hell and can’t afford to view the world as rainbows and fucking butterflies!”

Amy’s face darkens, and she falls silent for a few moments. And for some reason, that makes Surge’s stomach feel uneasy, like something rotten is sloshing around inside her guts.

“...You think I’ve had an easy life? You think everything’s always been great for me?”

She glares at the tenrec as she listens in a state of shock and confusion.

“You don’t know anything about me. You have no idea what I had to go through to become who I am today," She explodes, eyes ablaze. "We’ve all suffered in some way, Surge. All of us have felt pain and loss. You’re not the only one who’s hurting, so stop acting like the world is only against you, because it’s against all of us .”

A few angry tears fall on her cheeks, and Amy wipes them away with the back of her hand.

“You can choose to be mean and cold-hearted if you want, but I refuse to let my pain define me. I’m going to be kind and loving and compassionate, and if you don’t like it, too bad!”

With that, she turns her back to Surge and marches back home. The tenrec stands there for a moment, completely dumbfounded, once again at a loss for words. Arguments with Amy Rose seem to have that effect on her. She goes back and forth between going after her and fucking off somewhere else, but while she’s watching the pink hedgehog get farther and farther away, a weird, foreign feeling in her chest tells her to keep following.

She scoffs, accepting her defeat once more, then scurries after the pink hedgehog before losing her in the forest.

It’s evening by the time they get back. The air is cool and the sky is clear; the heat of the afternoon is long gone, and the world feels comfortable again.

“Let’s go on the roof,” Amy finally speaks to Surge after spending the last fifteen minutes or so cooling off. “I wanna look at the stars.”

When Surge looks at her, she can see the moonlight sparkling in her green eyes. She looks up at the sky, then back at Amy, who’s completely lost in the stars. 

“Alright. Whatever.”

Wrapping an arm around Amy's waist, she pushes her feet off the ground and propels them into the air, leaving jagged scars behind in the grass. Electric pulses swirl around her feet and ankles. Her legs still feel a bit sore, but she can tell the muscles are healing. 

Amy clings to her for dear life and lets out a small yelp. It only lasts for a second or two, but it’s kinda funny seeing Amy all scared. Plus, it’s reaffirming, being able to carry her despite  the fact that her strength is still not yet at 100%. She was getting there though. Slower than she’d like, but still.

They land safely on the roof, although some of their food has spilled out of the styrofoam containers and into the insides of the bags. Surge sits on the edge of the roof, legs dangling down the side. Amy sits down next to her, looking a bit shaken.

“You could’ve warned me you were gonna do that, you know!” she whines with reddened cheeks, handing Surge one of the bags with a messy hot dog looking thing inside.

“Don’t be such a scaredy cat, Pink,” she smirks as she grabs it and takes a bite. The flavor is like nothing she’s never experienced before. There’s some kind of spicy sauce mixed with meat drizzled across the sausage, with a generous helping of melted cheese on top. It’s the most delicious thing she’s ever eaten. She gobbles it up in seconds.

“Aaaaah, man! This shit’s amazing!! What the hell is this, anyway?” Surge talks a mile a minute, nudging Amy with her elbow while the hedgehog tries not to make a mess as she eats her own.

“You’ve never had a chili dog before?” Amy chuckles.

“Never! Do you have more? Can we get more tomorrow? I never wanna eat anything else ever again!”

The hedgehog throws back her head and laughs.

“Oh, God,” she wipes the corners of her eyes. "... Talk about deja vu."

Surge stuffs another chili dog in her mouth, then the conversation dies down. Crickets and frogs are singing all around the cottage, making her feel like the two of them are in some sort of fairytale. Everything feels peaceful and magical. 

It’s ridiculous, actually. Not too long ago she was saying her last prayers after losing to that fucking asshole, and now…

Now, she’s sitting next to Amy Rose. This tiny, cute thing, that for some reason is letting her stick around despite how broken she is.

“So… uh… about earlier…” Surge pipes up, rubbing the back of her head.

“Don’t worry about it,” Amy stops her. “I’ve already forgiven you, even though I know you won’t apologize.”

“Goddamn, woman, at least give me a chance to say something!” Surge throws her hands in the air.

“Okay, okay! ...You’re right. Go on.”

Surge clears her throat, struggling to put words to her feelings.

“... I still think you’re a priss, but maybe you weren’t completely wrong. About some things.”

Amy ogles her, then suddenly bursts into laughter.

“Seriously? That’s your apology!”

“Okay! Sorry! I’m sorry! Fuck!” Surge yells, trying very hard to hold back her own laugh. “This shit’s not easy!”

“Thank you for apologizing,” Amy turns towards her, gazing at the tenrec with softness. “But seriously, Surge… you think you’re alone and that no one else will understand you. And it’s just not true. Just like I gave you a chance to apologize, you’ve gotta give me a chance to understand you, too. If you're not ready to open up and talk about your feelings right now, that's fine, but please... remember this. I'll always be here for you.”

She gently puts her hand on top of Surge’s, who flinches at the unexpected touch, but doesn’t pull away. Amy’s shoulder is brushing against hers, and for some reason their closeness is making her nervous. A weird kind of nervous that makes her insides feel giddy, but isn’t necessarily bad. 

Her cheeks suddenly feel quite hot. She turns her face away so Amy doesn’t see.

“... Yeah, sure. Whatever.”

And that was that. Neither of them say anything for some time, as both are content watching the sky dance with light and listening to nature’s nighttime sounds. While they sit there together, a couple more lines float through Surge’s head that she tucks away until she has time to write them down later.

Amy Rose, sweet to the core.

Eyes like ember, heart that roars.

We share a darkness deep inside

But you embrace

and I

just hide.

Chapter Text

Surge throws one punch after another at the trunk of a large tree, striking it with all the strength she can muster. She finishes it off with a couple of roundhouse kicks and another hard punch, cracking it in half with bark breaking off like powdered crumbs onto the ground. She watches with glee as the tree falls over and lands in another grove, barely held up by its brethren.

Music blasts over loudspeakers as she grins victoriously. Amy had lent her iPhone to Surge so she could listen to something motivating while she trained, leading the tenrec to discover her new favorite artist, Tico Nasty. Her beats were aggressive, her lyrics scathing, and listening to her rap about fighting people and kicking ass resonated with Surge more than those stupid fucking pop stars ever did. It was the perfect workout music. 

And of course, Amy was not a fan. As expected.

“ Really? ” The pink hedgehog comes outside carrying a couple of towels, frowning at the sight of the fallen tree. “Did you have to knock it down?.”

“Relax, Pinky,” Surge claps back, rolling one arm in a circle. “You should be happy I’m still not at full power. I coulda knocked all these stupid trees down.”

“And I would have kicked your ass,” She scowls, with the slightest hint of a smile. “Threaten to destroy my forest again and maybe I will. Also, could you turn it down a little? Or listen to something more… I dunno, pleasant?”

“No can do, princess. Tico Nasty’s the only thing that gets me amped!” she punches her hand with a fist and grins menacingly.

“Well, whatever. I’m going for a swim. Wanna come with?” She beams at her while Surge gawks back in confusion.

“A swim?" Surge pauses the song and tosses the phone back to Amy. "Like, for fun?”

“Uh, yeah? You’ve heard of fun before, haven’t you?”

The pinkest is starting to get cheekier. It’s amusing, if not a little annoying. 

The only fun she was allowed to have while under that fucker Starline’s command either involved tearing shit up or beating shit down. Her and that dopey fennec had never done anything outside of training that didn't have a specific purpose related to their mission.

…Or had they? She can’t remember. Starline had fucked with their minds so much, she was pretty sure she had permanent brain damage. She wonders if Kit was struggling like this, wherever the hell he was. Maybe she'd make more of an effort to look for him later.

But for now, her thoughts lie only with Amy.

“... Sure. I’ll go," she shrugs, trying her best to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Amy smiles and leads her down another forest path until they reach a small lake in the middle of the woods. Nobody else seems to be around, except for a handful of flickies chittering in the trees and scurrying in the underbrush. They have the place to themselves.

Amy unzips her red dress and slips it over her shoulders. She steps into the water wearing only a loose white tank top and a pair of lacy underwear. Surge ogles at her, mouth agape, taking in the sight of her curves with face aglow. Amy dives into the water and disappears under the surface momentarily, then pops her head up.

“What are you waiting for?” she calls out. “The water’s perfect!”

Surge has to smack herself in the face to stop zoning out. She tears off her shirt and pants, then does an obnoxious cannonball into the water to join her. She rises to the surface and feels her quills falling over her head and across her shoulders. Shit. Her ponytail must have slipped off her head when she jumped in. She'd have to ask Amy for another one later.

Amy swims towards her with eyes focused intensely on the tenrec, who can do nothing but stare back at the rosy-cheeked girl with eyes like stars.

“I haven’t seen your quills down before,” Amy says, gently taking one in her hand to admire them. “You look really pretty like this.”

Surge blushes, unsure how to respond to the first genuine compliment she’s ever received.

“...Huh? Wh-what?!”

Amy giggles, her laughter ringing like bells in Surge’s ears. 

“Don’t look so shocked. Hasn’t anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”

Surge furrows her brows, then scowls before sinking down into the water.

“No,” she gurgles. 

Amy’s smile fades when she sees her downcast expression. She moves closer to Surge and puts a hand on her cheek, pulling her face towards her.

“Well, then I’ll tell you now.”

Surge feels a small shock course jolt her heart, like a tiny bolt of lightning through a dark cloud.

“You’re beautiful.”

Her cheeks are on fire. All she can do is gape at Amy Rose as she gently takes hold of her face, gazing dreamily at her as if she’s something important. As if she’s something, at all.

She finally snaps out of it, jerking away and turning her back to hide the deep flush of her face.

“Wh-why are you saying weird stuff like this all of a sudden? You’re weird… you know that…?” She mumbles almost incoherently under her breath. “...Weirdo.”

Amy lets out an amused laugh, then swims up beside her to tease her even more.

“Sure, I’m the weird one, little miss ‘Can’t take a compliment’.”

Then she splashes her, prompting Surge to chase her around to exert her revenge. She chases her around, turning it into some kind of competition, before they tire themselves out and decide to head back home. Amy gets out of the water first, drying herself off as she makes her way to the path that goes back to her cottage.

Surge returns to the shore shortly after her and grabs a towel, shaking the sand and water from her quills. They fall loosely around her head, a feeling still foreign to her. She really had to get that ponytail from Amy later.

“She’s out of your league. You know that, right darling?”

She stops in her tracks, growling in annoyance at the unwelcome visitor who has appeared beside her once again.

“Fuck off, Starline,” She barks, trying her best to ignore him. “You’re not real, you’re just a stupid voice in my head that says a bunch of fucked up shit that isn’t true.”

“Once she finds out who, and what , you are, she’ll only see you as a monster,” he warns as he puts a sleazy hand on her shoulder.

“It’s not true! ” she screams at the disembodied voice, jerking her shoulder away. “Why won’t you just leave me the fuck alone?!”

“Why would she want someone like you, anyway? You’re brutish, slow-witted, simple-minded. Not to mention your looks… unless she’s into the grotesque, though I doubt even she could love an obnoxious beast like you.” 

Surge slashes the air in front of her and banishes the vision of Starline once more. She takes heavy, labored breaths, anger burning through every nerve in her body.

She barely notices Amy, who’s now at her side speaking in a firm, yet caring voice.

“Surge, stay with me. Deep breaths. One, two, three... That’s it.”

She grabs her hand and squeezes it tight, in time with Amy’s counting. She’s breathing really hard; hadn’t noticed it before, but it’s like she’s gasping for air. She follows Amy’s instructions, inhaling deeply through her nose, exhaling hard through her mouth.

“I… I…” She tries to say something, but Amy shushes her.

“Focus, Surge. What do you see? What do you hear? Any smells, tastes?”

“I see… I see…” It feels like Surge’s whole body is heaving. Sharp pain shoots through her chest.

“What do you see, love?”

“… Dirt. Brown dirt. Green grass.”

“Keep going. What do you hear? Smell? Taste?” 

“I hear birds… I taste lake water… I smell your B.O.”

Amy lets out a weak laugh, then squeezes her hand one last time. The tension melts from Surge’s body like molten lava. Finally, finally , she can breathe normally again.

“Good girl,” Amy croons. “You’ll be alright.”

And when Surge looks at the hedgehog, who gazes back at her with nothing but adoration, for once, she finds herself believing it.

Nightfall comes shortly after they return home from their late afternoon adventure. Surge yawns from exhaustion as she rinses herself off and gets ready for bed, but before she can make it to the guest room, she’s stopped by Amy’s voice calling out to her.

“... Surge? Why don’t you sleep with me tonight?”

The tenrec scoffs at her. This must be some kind of joke.

“Aww, what’s wrong, princess? Scared of the dark?”

“No!” Amy huffs with her round cheeks, looking like some kind of angry baby. It makes Surge snicker harder, seeing her all worked up like that.

“I just thought… maybe you’d like some company for once.”

“I’ll be fine, Pinky. I’m a big girl. Besides, I don’t feel like listening to you snore all night.”

She turns around and is about to close the door when she hears Amy speak again, and freezes in her tracks.

“Surge… I know you haven't been sleeping well. I hear you crying out, for hours sometimes… I don’t want you thinking you have to face it alone. I could help…”

A few days ago, Surge would’ve had to fight back the urge to punch her. But instead, she finds herself battling her own tears, clenching her eyes shut in fear they’d break free. She tries to say no, but the words twist on her lips until she finally surrenders to her true desires.

“... Fine. Just don’t get all weird about it like you did earlier.”

She shuffles past the hedgehog, avoiding her gaze, and settles into Amy’s room by plopping down on her bed. The linens are pink, of course, everything's fucking pink with her. There are framed photos hanging on the walls, but Amy shuts off the light before she can make out who's in them. Although it's dark, she can see that there are plants lined up on wooden shelves near the window, a mirror facing the opposite wall, and a closet full of frilly dresses and girly shit organized almost too well.

Yep, this was definitely Amy's room.

Her bed is big and comfortable enough for two people, but when the hedgehog sits next to her it suddenly feels a bit too cozy. Amy lays back and lets out a small sigh of relief, as if she’s been waiting for this moment all day. Surge slowly, hesitantly lays down next to her. Shoulders touching, hearts pumping.

Covered in the blanket of moonlight peering through her bedroom window, Amy turns towards Surge and asks, “Are you comfortable?” 

“Y-yeah…” Surge rolls onto her side, her face a little too close to Amy’s, and presses her cheeks into the bedsheets. Her skin feels as hot as burning coals. Fucking embarrassing. She’s suddenly very grateful for the darkness. Her quills are sprawled all over the place, draping over her forehead and cheeks. She had never asked Amy for that ponytail.

She flinches when she suddenly feels her hand run down her side, past her waist and onto her hips. 

“H-hey…! What are you…” Surge cuts herself off, trying to stifle her reactions to this strange new touch.

“You’re so thin… have you always been this small?”

“... I, I dunno… what kinda question is that…”

“You don’t know?”

“... Ngh! It’s kinda hard to think with you… touching me…”

“Should I stop?”

She falls silent, uncertain herself if she truly wants what she wants.

“... Surge? Should I stop?”

“N… no…”

She doesn’t. Her hands caress her waist, her stomach, her thighs. All while the tenrec shudders and trembles beneath her hands. 

“Has no one ever touched you gently like this before?” She whispers in the dark.

“... No. Never.”

Amy pauses.

“You had a difficult life before this, didn’t you?”

“...”

Surge raises her eyes to meet Amy’s, lit by moonlight and stars. 

“... I was created to be a weapon,” she starts. “My one purpose is to fight, kill, and break shit. Was hard wired that way.”

“So you’ve only ever known pain.”

Surge nods. “I've only ever known pain.”

“It doesn't have to be that way if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t have a choice. I can’t change who I am.”

“That’s not true. You can be whoever you want to be, and you can change into someone new whenever you want. It’s all in your control.”

“Tch. Yeah, sure.”

“I mean it. If you decide that starting tomorrow, you don’t want to be a weapon anymore, you can walk away from it forever. You can start over, with a new purpose and new goals.”

“I told you, Pink. Life isn’t a fairytale. Shit doesn’t work that way.”

“It could. I could help you.”

“If my head wasn’t screwed on right, I’d think you were asking me to stick around.”

“I am.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I’m serious. Surge. I want you to stay here with me. I could introduce you to my friends, or you could make your own. We could go swimming everyday. We could bake pies. We could eat chili dogs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whatever you want your life to be like, we could build it for you, here… together. No fighting, no pain. Just us.”

She slides her hand down to grab Surge’s and gives it a soft squeeze.

“Think about it. Please?”

Surge furrows her brows as she stares at Amy, pondering over her words as she tries to process everything, then slowly lets go of her hand and rolls over to face the wall.

“Goodnight."

“Surge-”

“I said goodnight .”

She curls into a fetal position and lays completely still. Amy shuffles around, and she waits until she hears the sound of quiet, slow breathing to turn back over. She watches her chest rise and fall, long eyelashes fluttering like the wings of a butterfly as she dreams, and finds herself drifting off, as well.

It isn’t long before she wakes up again, throat raw from screaming, body soaked in a cold sweat.

He’s in her head. He’s always been in her head, stroking her brain with those nasty fingers, poking holes in what she hates most. His voice echoing in her ears, deafening her, trapping her, breaking her…

“Stay with me. Come on, Surge. Focus.”

Amy Rose, with a voice like honey, pulls her back to the material world with her soft, soothing words, holding her hand like she'll never let go.

“Breathe, baby. In and out. Yeah, just like that. You’ve got it.”

Surge takes large, heaving breaths, desperately gasping for air after hyperventilating for god knows how long. She feels Amy’s arms wrapped around her body, holding her so gently it makes her cry. The tears she’s been fighting finally erupt. She wails, overcome with despair, face pressed against Amy Rose’s chest so closely she can feel the gentle thumping of her heart. She’s rubbing small circles in her back, rocking her like a baby, nursing her with so much tenderness Surge starts to think that maybe Amy was right, maybe she could be loved, maybe even a monster like her had a chance at being something else, as long as she believed it.

“It’s alright. They can’t hurt you. I’m here. I've got you."

And as she’s held in Amy’s loving embrace, face streaked with tears, her own arms slowly wrapping themselves around her tiny pink frame, she recalls the poem she scribbled down earlier in an almost-full notebook:

Amy Rose, beloved, adored.

You gave me something I never asked for. 

A gift unwanted

with wounds still sore,

could we ever become something… more?

Chapter Text

A pair of petal soft lips brush against her cheek, and her eyelids soon flutter open. Daylight blinds her momentarily, but when her eyes adjust she sees the image of Amy Rose beaming down at her, outlined in a golden glow.

“Morning, sunshine,” she smiles, gently nudging the groggy tenrec awake. “Breakfast is ready.”

Surge pushes herself up and rubs her tired eyes. Her quills fall over his face as she yawns and stretches her arms above her head. Then, she stumbles after Amy Rose into the kitchen.

“So, I’ve been thinking,” she says in between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs once she’s sat down to eat. “About that thing you mentioned before.”

“Wow, that's incredibly specific,” Amy teases while sipping on orange juice. 

"Don't act dumb, princess. You know what I mean."

"I don't, actually. What did I mention again?"

“You know… the thing about me staying, and stuff…” Surge grumbles, then trails off. She feels silly bringing it up now. Amy probably changed her mind.

“Yeah?” her green eyes light up with intrigue.

“...Well, maybe it wouldn’t totally suck balls to do something else. Instead of fighting and destroying shit,” the tenrec says it as casually as possible, observing Amy carefully to gauge her reaction.

“Yeah...?”

“What I’m saying is… ah, hell, couldja stop staring at me like that?! It’s making me feel all weird…”

“Are you saying you wanna stay here and live with me?!” Amy exclaims while standing up. She’s squealing and giggling like a kid, as if this is the best news she’s ever heard. Surge feels her face heat up and brushes some of her quills in front of her face to hide behind. Why was she so goddamn happy about it?

Amy is suddenly right next to her, wrapping her tiny arms around her own broad shoulders. Her chest presses against her reddening face in the process, and Surge freezes up from the unexpected display of affection.

“I’m so happy!! We’re gonna have so much fun together!” Amy cries, hugging the tenrec tightly while bouncing from side to side.

“H-hey! Get a grip, Pinky!” Surge struggles feebly, but finds herself unable to wiggle out of Amy’s iron grip.

The hedgehog finally lets her go and places her hands on her shoulders. She has a fiery, determined expression that catches Surge even more off guard.

“We should do something to celebrate the first day of your brand new life!” she says with eyes ablaze. “Let’s bake a pie! We’ll have to get more berries from the wildberry patch, but it’s not too far from here!”

Surge feels like she’s being whipped around in circles. Her head is spinning, her heart is racing, and her palms are sweating like crazy. None of it seems real. Amy Rose’s over the top reaction. The promise of a new life. The potential for a good future, despite having a shitty past.

Was it really possible for someone like her to start anew after everything she’s done?

Amy Rose must have rubbed off on her, because she’s starting to believe it. A smile blossoms on her lips that continues to grow after Amy puts a small woven basket in her hands and leads her down another path in the forest. She talks her ear off the whole way, as usual, but Surge finds herself captivated rather than annoyed. 

…A life with Amy Rose, huh?

Fantasies of mornings, afternoons, and evenings spent with Amy flood Surge’s mind as they amble through the bushes and flowers and into the patch of wildberries. 

Being woken up every morning by Amy’s sweet kisses. 

Sharing a meal with Amy while she smiles at her from the other side of the table. 

Doing all of those crappy daily chores, like scrubbing the floor or doing dishes, then looking up to see Amy waving at her, making the burden of work a little easier to bear.

The most boring, mundane aspects of life that Surge never considered before suddenly started to sound like heaven.

Is that what it meant to truly live?

She’s pulled from her thoughts and back into reality by the taste of something sweet. Amy plops one red berry after another onto her lips with a giggle.

“It’s sweet, isn’t it?” she says while Surge makes a face. “These are perfect for pies.”

“Blegh!” she sticks out her tongue. “It’s sour!”

“Oops. Maybe those ones weren’t ripe enough yet,” Amy laughs again before skipping away.

And Surge follows behind her, grinning like a goofy idiot.

They gather berries until their baskets are full, eating several in the process to make sure they're sweet enough for pie. Before they head home, they decide to rest by taking a seat in a patch of soft grass. They spend a few moments sitting in silence, listening to the wild flickies chitter and sing around them.

“You know, Surge…” Amy says after some time. “I’m really glad that I met you.”

“Huh? Why?” the tenrec gawks at her, full of confusion.

“Don’t act so surprised!” the hedgehog giggles. “It’s been really fun having you around.”

She gazes out at the berry patch with a sad smile. Surge watches her curiously, wondering what could possibly be going on in that pretty little head of hers. 

“The truth is… I was really lonely before you came along. I lost someone that was really special to me, and I was so depressed I could barely eat or sleep. The day that I found you was the first time I’d left the house in weeks.”

The hedgehog lets out a sigh and turns away. Surge sees her wiping her eyes with the back of her hand before she turns back around to smile at her. She reaches out a hand, then pulls it back as she second guesses herself. She opens her mouth to try and come up something comforting despite how unnatural it feels, but Amy pipes up again before she can spit it out.

“That’s why I think we were meant to be!”

“Meant to be what?”

“You know… meant to be in each other’s lives.”

The wind suddenly picks up and brushes past them, making their quills dance in the breeze. Surge remembers that she never asked for that ponytail from Amy. Whatever. She liked when she left them down like this, right? 

“Maybe you’re right, Pink,” she ponders. “Maybe this is some kind of fucked up destiny.”

She grins back at the teary eyed hedgehog, overcome with a sense of peace and fulfillment.

“I’m not complaining, though.”

Dark gray clouds gather in the sky. The sun disappears behind them. The two hear distant thunder steadily approaching, a warning of the rain to come.

“Come on! Let’s hurry home before we get caught in the storm!” Amy yells. She picks up her basket in one hand and grabs Surge’s hand with the other, pulling the tenrec to her feet and leading her back on the path towards home.

Surge squeezes her hand tightly, never wanting to let go.

Take that, Starline, she thinks to herself as a twisted grin curls around her face. Guess I'm not so unwanted after all, huh?

They’re almost home. Their cottage is just around the corner. 

A loud crack of thunder that sounds way too close for comfort suddenly shakes the earth. Surge accidentally drops her basket on the ground and lets go of Amy’s hand so she can pick up the lost berries. The hedgehog rushes ahead, singing a stupid pop song Surge heard her playing in the kitchen earlier that morning. And after she disappears behind a family of trees, the final lines of Surge's unfinished poem echo through her mind:

Amy Rose.

This much is true.

I just might be in lo-

Then, out of nowhere, a heart wrenching wail shatters Surge’s ears and spikes her blood with terror and dread. 

That was Amy’s voice.

“Amy? Amy?!”

She sprints ahead where she had just seen her moments ago, searching around for any sign of her pink companion. She quickly strays from the path, forgetting which way lead back home, desperate in her search. 

She can’t see a goddamn thing. The overcast sky mixed with the dense canopy has made everything considerably darker. And of course it starts to fucking rain, because that’s just her fucking luck, isn’t it. She’s pissed off, and scared, and angry, and why can’t she fucking find her anywhere-

Something makes a squishy sound under her shoe. When she lifts her foot, she sees the smushed, muddy remains of red and black berries. There are more fallen berries on the ground leading a crooked path out of the woods. She follows them until it leads her back to the cottage and the scene unfolding in front of it. 

“Where have you been?! What happened...?! Oh god... I can't... all thought you were dead!”

“Sorry, Ames… took a beating… couldn’t move for a while…”

“Are you okay? Are you still hurt? What do you need?”

That's definitely Amy, but someone else is there as well. A visitor?

Surge creeps closer, trying to get a better look at whoever the hell Amy is talking to. She’s crying hard, almost inconsolably, and the person is holding her tightly as she cries into their arms.

When she finally sees who it is, her whole body freezes.

Ba-dump.

It’s him.

Ba-dump.

The one she had been created to kill.

Ba-dump.

The one who left her broken, defeated, and useless.

Ba-dump.

And Amy Rose is fucking hugging him. 

Her hands tie themselves around his waist as she gives him kiss after kiss after kiss, on his nose, his cheeks, his lips. Her mouth curves up in a bright smile as she gazes at at him like he’s the fucking messiah. 

Her heart is in her ears. Her breath becomes labored and heavy. She growls like there’s a beast caged up inside of her, banging at the metal bars, demanding to be released. Blood rushes to her head. Fury burns through her veins. Anger, rage and malice flood her thoughts as the urge to destroy everything and everyone rises each passing second.

Then, as if acting on a feral animalistic instinct, she lunges forward with a guttural cry, soaring past a petrified Amy Rose before barreling into the blue hedgehog.

Her hand closes around his throat as she slams him into the nearest tree. Lightning erupts around her entire body, crackling when it makes contact with the tiny droplets of rain falling around her. Electric currents rush through her grip, sending shockwave after painful shockwave through Sonic’s battered body while he cries out in agony.

“You,” she snarls, snapping her sharp teeth at the blue blur while Amy Rose’s blood curdling screams pierce her ears.

“I'll fucking kill you!"

Chapter Text

Her fingers tighten around his throat as he struggles feebly in her grasp.

“You just had to come back, didn’t you?” she snarls, slamming his back against the rough bark of the tree. “You just couldn’t just fucking stay dead!”

She lifts her other fist to deal the first blow, but something strikes her jaw hard , and she tumbles several feet backwards into the muddy grass. Something feels broken and loose; she holds her cheek and swirls her tongue around in her mouth. One of her molars is wobbling, and the sharp pointed end cuts into the side of her cheek. She spits on the ground to get some of the blood out of her mouth, and the tooth falls out with it. She tastes warm iron and wipes the remaining blood with the back of her gloved hand, leaving a smeared red stain in its wake, then stands up again with both feet slowly sinking into the wet earth.

Sonic is hunched over, holding his throat in one hand as his other hand rests on the tree trunk to keep balance. He gasps desperately for air; she can hear his pained wheezing despite the distance between them. She seizes the opportunity to strike again and rushes towards him with great force. Her thighs and calves are screaming; she can sense how weak her cyberkinetic enhancements still are, but pushes through it anyway.

The only thing that matters now is bringing him down. And god damn it, that’s what she was gonna do, even if it meant going down with him.

He evades her attack at the last moment, dashing out of reach right as she throws a punch, and she senses his presence behind her. She turns around, but is a millisecond too slow; he delivers a roundhouse kick to her back that sends her tumbling. There’s a loud crack , followed by a sharp pain that runs down her spine and persists after she crashes back down.

Fuck.

She can tell he’s not at his prime, but even so, he’s still leagues above her. 

And it really, really pisses her off. 

She shoves herself off the ground, forcing the pain in her back and jaw out of her mind, and shoots him a menacing scowl filled with all the hatred and malice she can muster. He stares back at her with resolve and determination. 

“You don’t have to do this!” he shouts over the rainfall. “There’s no reason for us to fight anymore!”

“Shut up!!” she screams back. “I’m so sick of you hero types and your holier-than-thou grandstanding! If you don’t want to fight, then keel over and die already!”

She lunges forward with speed and precision, and due to her quick timing, she manages to grab hold of his shoulders before he can scurry away. She knees him in the stomach and tosses him in the air, leaping upwards to deal blow after blow to his midsection with her stone-hard fists before delivering one final axe kick hitting between his shoulders, which sending him tumbling back down. She lands on the ground shortly after he does with an earth-shattering crash , leaving a large crater beneath her. The muscles in her legs feel like they could give out any moment, but still, she persists. 

Sonic is back on his feet in mere seconds. He steadily approaches her and walks with an aura of confidence, despite the beating he’s taken. He wipes off some of the blood from his busted lip with the back of his hand.

Why couldn’t he just stay down? Surge feels like she’s going to erupt with frustration.

She snaps her neck on one side, then the other. Her fingers roll into fists while she takes step after thundering step towards the blue blur, her aggression increasing the closer she gets.

“Why are you still doing this? ” he yells, throwing his hands in the air. “Can’t we talk things out? Starline is dead, and Kit-”

“No. No talking, no discussing. My life was ruined, and it’s all because of you ,” she laments as the rain falls, plastering her long quills to her face. “So now I’m gonna ruin yours.”

Preemptively, he speeds away and circles around her, running endless loops to throw off her visuals. She darts her eyes around, trying to pinpoint his exact location, but before she can do so he hits her with another hard punch to the jaw. Same side as before. 

She cries out in agony and clutches her face. Keeled over on the ground, she spits out more blood before wiping her mouth once more. He continues to dash around her, becoming nothing more than an annoying blue light that fills her with fury the longer she watches him.

“When I find Kit, we’re gonna destroy you and everything else that you love!” she screeches as she nurses her swollen, bruised jaw. “If we don’t get to have a past, then none of you deserve a future!”

His eyebrows furrow as he suddenly skids to a stop.

“Kit?!”

Sonic looks at her with abject confusion. Surge glares back at him in response. He clenches his fists and squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them to meet hers.

“Surge… Kit’s gone.”

The tenrec gawks at him with wide, petrified eyes full of disbelief. She tries to process his words, combing through the fractured memories in her head to make sense of it all.

Gone? 

What does he mean, gone?  

No.

No.

There was no way…

“What… what?! What the hell are you talking about?”

His expression is unfaltering. He stands defensively as he speaks, aware that she may attack at any moment.

“Don’t you remember what happened during our last battle in Eggperial City?”

“Of course I remember you fucking twat!” she hollers.

“Then think about it!” he slams a fist on his palm. “Aren’t you wondering why he hasn’t come looking for you?”

She pauses and racks her brain as she tries to recall their last fight. She remembers Eggperial City, the intense combat with Sonic, the final moments of their fight when she held him underwater, letting loose a flurry of shockwaves to stop his heart.

And then Kit…

Kit…

…

…

…

“Ma’am! If you keep going you’re going to overload your enhancements! You’ve gotta slow down, please…”

The blue-colored kitsune used his watery appendages to move around her cautiously as she held Sonic underwater. He struggled to keep his distance, knowing that one misstep would lead him to certain death.

“Shut the fuck up, kid!” she shouted with venom. “I told you I’m gonna take care of this my way!”

“But, ma’am-”

“ I said shut it! ” she snapped, whipping her head around to bark at her sniveling sidekick.

That one moment of distraction allowed Sonic to break free of her grasp. He kicked her in the chest, sending her flying backwards into the polluted waters and knocking the wind from her lungs completely. Electricity was still sparking around her when Kit flew to her side.

“Ma’am! Are you okay? Can I-”

“ Out of the way, twerp! ” she cried, pushing him aside into the water as the currents swarmed around them, pulsating as her anger increased. “ I’m tired of your blubbering, just fuck off !!”

There was an ear-splitting scream. A sharp boom of an electric jolt. Flashes of white gold and ocean blue filled her vision.

The next thing she knew, Kit was lying face down in the water. She stared in horror as the sound of his heartbeat grew fainter by the second. 

“ No no no… No! Shit… what do I do!? ”

She knelt down by his side and picked him up by the shoulders. She shook him vigorously in an effort to wake him, but only succeeded in knocking his head back and forth as he laid in her grasp. 

He was limp. Lifeless.

And as she held him, his pulse slowly faded away.

Sonic, who remained silent and at a safe distance throughout, finally spoke after watching the disaster unfold before his eyes.

“God, no… I’m sorry…”

Hearing his stupid, annoying, pity-ridden voice only served as a trigger for more of her violent rage. She snapped her neck around, rage reignited when she saw his pathetic grim expression. 

“... NOOOOOO!! ”

Her entire body exploded with light. The top of the building blasted upwards from the sudden surge of energy, opening up the sky as thunderclouds formed above.

She stood up to face her arch nemesis, staring him down with eyes aglow with fury, fueled purely by grief and madness. Her breathing was ragged and shallow. Her mind was in shreds. The only thing she wanted now was to kill that son of a bitch. The one who was the cause of all their suffering.

But right when she was about to lunge forward and strike

he hit her with a spin dash

triggering an explosion

and she went down, down, down

into the river below.

…

…

…

Surge’s hands tighten around her quills until the skin on her knuckles feel like it’ll burst apart.

She yanks at the roots. She wheezes and gasps. The image of the lifeless Kit sticks to her mind, forcing itself to the forefront after being smothered and silenced for time unknown. 

How could she have done that? She had been so blinded by her mission, so dead set on killing Sonic that she’d taken out the only ally she had in the world and robbed him of his own future. And worse yet, she had completely pushed the memory out of her mind, so caught up in the promise of a new life that she refused to accept the grave reality of the present. 

What kind of a fucking monster was she?

“No… no… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t mean to!!”

Sonic keeps his distance as her mind slowly breaks apart, but speaks to her as his eyes fall to the ground in a downcast manner.

“Surge, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t you dare tell me you’re sorry!” she screamed. “And don’t pretend like you cared about him! He… he would still be here if it wasn’t for you!”

Before he can say anything more, she sprints forward and tackles him, bringing her fists down over and over and over and over , until his face is bloodied and bruised, until he somehow garners the strength to throw her off with a powerful kick to the gut. Her back hits the trunk of a tree once again, paralyzing her momentarily. She lays there for a second or two, breathing heavily as pain courses through every nerve. 

Then, once again, she pulls herself to her feet and approaches the battered hero with slow, unstable steps, muttering curses under her breath.

“You’re gonna pay… you’re all gonna pay…”

He struggles to get to his feet as she closes in. He stumbles, falling to one knee, but forces himself to stand, refusing to give up.

This is it.

She’s finally going to accomplish what she was built to do.

Victory is so close, she can taste it. She licks her lips and tastes blood as it pools from the split wound on her bottom lip.

But right when she’s about to deal the final blow,

Amy Rose appears before her.

“... Stop it… please, just… stop…”

And she does. Surge freezes in her tracks when she sees the pink hedgehog standing between them. She’s panting wildly, like she’s been sprinting at full speed for some time, but holds her head high and stands firmly in place. Her eyes plea for mercy as she stares at the enraged tenrec. 

Amy Rose, proud and strong.

I knew this was coming all along.

“Get out of the way, Pinky,” She grumbles in a raspy, tired voice. “This is between me and that blue bastard.”

“No,” she refuses. “I won’t let you hurt him anymore.”

“Wh… Why are you taking his side?!” Surge cries.

“Because I love him! ”

Her words make the tenrec’s heart shatter. She stares at her, dumbfounded, once again left speechless by the beautiful Amy Rose. She looks at Sonic, then back at Amy, growing more agitated as she feels herself falling apart little by little.

“You… you love him?”

“He’s my friend, Surge,” Amy confesses wistfully. “… I don’t want to fight you, but I can’t just sit back and let you kill him. I lost him once already, and I’m not going to lose him again.”

She tightens her fists. Her expression darkens. Her bobbed pink quills wither as the storm rains down.

Amy Rose, beloved, adored.

I was foolish for wanting more.

“You… you traitor! ” Surge screeches.

Amy squeezes her eyes shut, and when she opens them again, she sees small trickles of tears racing down her round cheeks. 

“If you want to fight him, you’ll have to go through me.”

She summons a hammer seemingly out of thin air and assumes an offensive position. The look in her eyes tells all. She is willing to do whatever it takes to stop Surge from completing her mission.

Anger. 

Sadness. 

Fear. 

More anger.

An unpleasant mixture of emotions swirl inside of the tenrec. Some unfamiliar. Some too familiar.

Her eyes tear up as she stares at Amy Rose, the girl who mended her tattered heart and ripped it back apart. She spirals into despair as the future she hoped for slips through her bloodied fingers and the girl she loves looks at her like she’s the worst kind of villain.

Like she’s a monster.

A anguished, monstrous cry forms in her gut and crawls up her throat.

She clenches her fists while electric currents thrash around her limbs.

She lets out a gut-wrenching scream and lunges forward with fist raised.

Amy braces herself for impact, and the last thing Surge sees is the sight of the hedgehog’s giant hammer looming above her tiny frame.

But when Amy Rose is within her reach, she stops.

Her fist collides with the ground, just a few feet away from where she stands, with a force so mighty it makes the world tremble, threatening to break it apart. 

The tenrec falls to her knees. Tears break through and fall on the wet grass beneath her.

She can’t do it.

She can’t fight Amy Rose.

And she can’t kill Sonic, now that she knows who he is to her.

There’s absolutely nothing she can do, apart from throwing her head back to howl at the sky, grieving the loss of what fractured purpose remained of her life. She’s soaked to the bone, drowning in misery.

Her heart pounds in her ears. Blood rushes to her head. She thinks she hears Amy Rose speaking, but she can't bear to listen, and can't bear to look at her.

Instead, she takes off into the forest, running as fast and as far as her aching, pain-ridden legs can take her. Her feet sink into the mud and almost pull her under, but she presses forward, leaving a trail of white lightning behind as she stumbles through the darkened forest alone.

Amy Rose, you've buried me,

and you will haunt me endlessly.

Chapter Text

Surge the Tenrec
terror and dread
sick and twisted in the head
a broken body
of blue and red
thin crimson lines
and inside
dead

The lines bleed through as she sits on a hard, sharp rock on the edge of a cliff. Legs dangling. Mind racing. She watches the world as it continues onward, caring not that her own is falling apart.

The sky had cleared sometime during the night. She remembers the rain relenting, clouds parting ways for the moon. She had run for what felt like hours, and when she finally collapsed from exhaustion, the last thing she heard was the sound of rushing water. 

She must’ve passed out, because when she opened her eyes again, the sun was shining. Birds were singing. There was a small waterfall in front of her, leading down several feet to a small basin. The clear blue waters were outlined by a spectrum of colorful light that danced in her vision. And the rays of the sun were caressing her black and blue skin as they leapt across the clear blue sky. 

It didn’t make any fucking sense.

Or maybe it did. She had always felt at odds with the world around her. This external world full of light and joy, contrasting her own inner darkness and malice. The smiles of the others as they carried on with their peaceful lives. The jarring scowl she donned as she walked amongst them, her internal war raging on. The warm sunlight beaming down on her, urging her to live. The inky black shadows rising up within her, urging her to die.

Could she really be surprised things ended this way, when she was a creature born of destruction? While other people built and created, she tore down and demolished. 

She was wild fire, unable to be tamed, torching everything she touched and leaving nothing but ash and dust in her wake. 

Amy Rose.

Sonic the Hedgehog.

Kit the Fennec.

All victims of her inferno. 

An eye for an eye. That’s how it should be, right? She stole Kit’s future, so now it was time to sacrifice hers.

Her plan is foolproof. She’ll fling herself off the cliff, and if the fall doesn’t kill her, the lightning will. She still has a little bit of juice left. Enough to stop a heart, if needed.

“I suppose this means I was right all along. You really are a worthless piece of garbage.”

She manages to push herself to a kneeled position as the voice taunts her, haunting her from beyond. Her muscles tense, causing pain to flare through every limb.

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m ending it all for good. Which means neither of us are getting what we want.”

It’s quiet for some time. It seems even her visions have given up on her.

“You still think this is about Starline?”

The familiar voice makes her spin her head around. And when she looks at the shadowy figure standing behind her, she sees her own face staring back.

“... What?”

Her dark reflection says nothing more. She simply watches the weakened tenrec with glowing yellow eyes as dark energy swirls around her.

Surge clenches her fists.

“I can never escape you, can I? Because you’re a part of me.”

Her shadowy reflection only stares back in response.

“I’ve been fighting you this whole time, thinking it was that fucker coming back from hell to torment me. I blamed him for all of this. But even when I was free of him, I kept going.”

She locks eyes with her shadow.

“I turned myself into this monster, didn’t I?”

The jarring yellow eyes of her shadow close as the body begins to dissolve, floating away in the wind, becoming nothing more than dark specs that shatter in the sunlight.

“Figures,” she grumbles. Now, even her darkness has left her.

Surge forces herself to her feet, ignoring the agonizing pain that throbs through her legs like a rhythmic heartbeat. She peers over the edge of the cliff and takes a short, hitched breath. It feels like her chest is full of knives.

This is it.

The end of Surge.

The final spark before the plug is pulled.

She takes a step forward and feels nothing but air.

And she’s about to take another

when she’s suddenly pulled backwards

by a pair of strong arms hugging her tightly.

She stumbles back as the smell of something sweet and fruity fills her nose. 

The warm embrace. The melodic voice. 

It can only be one person.

“...You jerk.”

Amy Rose’s arms are wrapped firmly around her waist, pulling her in close. 

“You don’t get to do this…” she laments. “You don’t get to make me care about you and then just leave like that.”

“Stop! Let me go!” Surge cries as she tries to pull Amy off. And of course she can’t, this girl has the strength of a hundred oxes. How this small little thing is so powerful will forever remain a mystery to her.

“No! I won’t let you!” the pink hedgehog yells with voice cracking, holding back tears. 

“Go back to your stupid boyfriend, Pink,” she says with venom, on the verge of tears herself. “Go back to your fairytale life and just let me die. The world will be better off without me.”

“I said no. You really expect me to leave you after everything that’s happened?”

“Yes!” Surge screams. “I killed a kid! I almost killed your boyfriend! I don’t deserve a happy ending, so just let me go!”

“If you do this, then I’m jumping off after you.”

Surge can’t fight it anymore. The tears win again, racing down her cheeks as she surrenders to her opponent, falling to her knees. Amy still doesn’t let go.

“Why?” she whimpers. “Why won’t you just forget about me? I’m nobody, nothing. You’re wasting your time caring about me.”

“How many times do I have to say it…” Amy says through her own tears. “I’m not abandoning you, whether you like it or not.”

“How… why… after everything that’s happened… why do you still want me around?”

“Because… I know that deep down, you’re not a bad person. You didn’t want to do any of those things. None of that was you!”

Amy hugs her a little tighter. Surge feels her crying as she presses her head against her back.

“Sonic told me about what he did to you… that horrid Dr. Starline… Surge, none of that was your fault!”

“It doesn’t matter!” she yells through heavy sobs. “I made my choices, I pursued Sonic even after Starline was gone, and I made Kit help me! It's all my fault... it's all my fault!!”

She buries her face in her hands, then flinches when she feels Amy's lips flutter against her back in between her shoulder blades. She plants another kiss on the bruised, cracked skin, and the tenderness renews Surge's tears. 

"You've made bad choices, that's true. And because of that, you have a lot of bad feelings. But Surge... that doesn't mean you're bad, too."

"You're wrong..." she sobs. "You're wrong about me!"

“I don’t care!” Amy shouts, silencing her. “I don’t care. I love you.”

She says it so casually, so naturally, as if it rolls off the tongue. Surge freezes as every emotion hits her at once. 

Shock. Fear. Sadness. Hope. More sadness. Disbelief. Happiness.

Love.

“You… you love me?”

Amy lets out a weak laugh. She sniffles, pulling her hands away for a moment to wipe her eyes. Surge turns around, coming face to face with a teary-eyed, red-faced Amy Rose who’s begging her, begging her to stick around.

“Dummy. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t have spent all night chasing you down.”

She looks down at Amy’s red and white boots and notices them covered in scuffs, mud, and dirt. Her red dress has dark stains all over, with leaves and sticks clinging to the fabric. Even Amy’s face is streaked with dirt and sweat.

Surge can only imagine how awful she herself must look. She lowers her eyes in shame, unable to meet Amy’s as despair overcomes her once again.

“How am I supposed to keep going…? After everything I’ve done, all the people I’ve hurt…”

Her battered body tenses up as Kit’s face flashes through her mind. She recalls how light he felt in her arms while he laid there, limp and empty…

“You take it one day at a time,” Amy interrupts her with a gentle kiss on the forehead, palms pressed softly against her bruised cheeks. “You persevere through the lows, and celebrate the highs. You right as many wrongs as you can, and keep doing your best even when it’s difficult.”

Amy holds out her hand to the awe-struck Surge and waits patiently for her to take it.

“And if you need help, you lean on your friends and the people that love you.”

She gives her a weak smile and looks at her with big, beautiful eyes, seeing her for who she is, welcoming her darkness into her light. The sun casts a golden glow that outlines her body, giving her the appearance of an angel come to earth. 

She should say no. She didn't deserve such kindness. She didn't deserve Amy Rose.

But when the summer breeze rushes past her, guiding her towards the bright yellow sun and into Amy Rose, something inside her ushers her to follow.

So she reaches out and takes her hand.

Chapter Text

-A few weeks later-

She stares at the freshly-upturned earth in front of the tombstone as the sun sets behind her, the last of the day’s light peeking over her shoulders. She lets out a sigh, hands shoved in her pockets, eyes glued to the ground. For once, taking time to think through her words and mull them over before speaking them into existence. 

“Look… nothing I could say would ever make this right,” she starts. “A stupid apology won’t bring you back. I wouldn’t expect you to forgive me, anyway. I wouldn’t forgive me.”

She pauses and feels the wind on her back, urging her to continue.

“...Life isn’t fucking fair. The two of us, we got the shit end of the stick. We didn’t stand a chance. I got lucky, but you…” she squeezes her eyes shut, forcing back tears. “...you deserved better. I should have given you better. We were thick as thieves, the two of us. But I was so caught up with our fucking objective that I failed to protect the one fucking person I had by my side.”

It’s no use. A few stray tears run down her cheeks, but are quickly wiped away.

“I’m sorry, Kit,” she says through trembling lips, unable to stop herself from breaking apart. “I’m really fucking sorry, god damn it. But I hope you’re in a better place, and I hope death is better to you than life ever was.”

The tears stream for a bit longer, and she finds herself feeling frustrated for cracking so quickly, angry that there’s nothing she can do to make this right, and so physically ill she wants to throw up. 

The whole thing was sick. 

The child-sized coffin that laid in the ground. The name of a kid written in stone. The fact that they couldn’t even notify next of kin, his background still a mystery to all. She wants to curse god, if a god even exists. She wants to throw herself off a cliff.

A delicate hand on her shoulder interrupts her self-destructive train of thought. She places her own hand on top, keeping her eyes on Kit’s place of rest.

“It should’ve been me,” she says to Amy Rose, who slides her hand off her shoulder and around her waist, hugging her tightly.

“No,” she corrects. “It shouldn’t have been either of you.”

They’re quiet again for some time. The wind starts to feel a bit chillier without the warmth of the sun. It breezes past them as if ushering them away. It was time to let him rest.

“Let’s go,” Surge finally speaks again after some time.

“...Wait.”

Amy Rose pulls a piece of folded paper out of her pocket and hands it to the tenrec.

“I know it might not be the best time, but… this is something you should see.”

Surge takes the worn down paper in hand and unfolds it with care, eyes widening in shock when they fall upon its contents. The writing is faded, worn down by the elements, and the edges are tattered and fraying, but the words are just legible enough, and the striking, familiar image printed at the top stares back at her like a portrait of a ghost.

Reward If Found

Tabitha the Tenrec, age 18.

She’s 3 feet tall and mostly green.

We saw her last in Tenrec Town,

Now she’s nowhere to be found.

She’s cute, but tough, and loves to spar

Our beautiful little shining star.

We had a fight, she ran away,

We’d take it all back if it meant she had stayed.

Our baby is missing, our hearts are in two;

Please come home, Tabitha.

We are waiting for you. 

Love, Mom

A picture of a young tenrec gazes back at her. Green quills. Black forehead. Piercings lined on both ears. 

“This is… I’m…?!” 

Surge gawks at Amy Rose, who gives her a sad smile in return.

“You have a family. You have a name. And if I had to guess, you probably still have a home, too. This is an old poster, but...” she trails off when she sees Surge react. Her hands start to tremble as the tears come back renewed. Amy Rose pulls her into her arms and hugs her tightly, rubbing small circles in her back in a soothing motion.

“Tabitha is fitting, don’t you think?” she says, and Surge lets out a weak laugh like a dog that’s been kicked.

“Yeah, right. Like I’d ever be caught dead with some pansy ass name like that.”

She wipes her eyes as she comes out of Amy’s embrace. Her eyes fall on the poster, still in disbelief. 

She had been wanted, after all.

“How… how did you find this?” 

Amy opens her mouth and starts to say something, but is quickly interrupted by a voice coming from behind a nearby tree.

“...The Chaotix did an investigation of several international missing children cases,” Sonic says as he emerges from the shade. “I had a hunch that Starline wouldn’t have risked kidnapping from any local families, and I was right. ”

Surge’s eyes melt into a glare, but she is subdued by Amy’s touch. The hedgehog slides her hand into hers and gives it a tight squeeze.

“ Tch! Well, don’t expect a thank you. I never asked for your help.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he retorts with the smallest of smirks, leaning against the trunk.

“What about Kit?”

His frown returns, and he shakes his head.

“We traced him back to a children’s home near Moto Mountain, but there were no records of his biological family on file. And no one who currently worked there had any idea who he was.”

“But,” he adds when he sees her growing scowl, “We’re going to keep looking. And we won't stop until we find answers.”

Surge looks back at the missing person poster in her hands for a few more seconds before folding it up and slipping it in her pocket. 

“How do I get to Tenrec Town?”

“It’s way out east, across the ocean. We could take you as far as the coast in the Tornado, but it won’t have enough fuel to bring you across.”

“No,” Surge growls. “I’ll find my own fucking way.”

“Alright, alright,” he puts up his hands in surrender.

God, she couldn’t fucking stand him. Whatever Amy saw in him was beyond her comprehension. This fake hero facade was laughable; she could see right through it. If she hadn’t promised Pink to play nice, she would’ve socked him right then and there.

But she can’t. Amy means too much to her now. And unfortunately, Sonic is off limits. Although he deserved a knuckle sandwich more than anyone, with the way he’s treated Amy. After their last battle, she filled her in on their history hoping it would shed some light on their relationship. All it did was make her hate him more.

“Don’t worry about us, Sonic! We’ll figure it out somehow!” Amy beamed as she clung to Surge.

“We?” the tenrec raised a brow.

“Yes, we,” she lets go of her momentarily to put her hands on her hips. “I’m not letting you go all by yourself.”

Surge frowns and faces Amy Rose with a serious expression.

“Look, Pink-”

“Don’t try to talk me out of it. I’ve already made up my mind.”

“But..”

“Surge.” Amy places a hand on her cheek, gazing at her with determination. “You go. I go. End of story.”

She kisses her forehead, and the conversation is over. Surge leans her face into Amy’s hand, enjoying the last few moments of her touch before they pull away from each other.

When they turn around, Sonic is still leaning against the tree with arms crossed, but now his brows are furrowed and that cocky smirk is gone, replaced by a jealous scowl. A wicked grin spreads across Surge’s face as she watches it all unfold.

“Maybe I should tag along,” He says as nonchalantly as possible, his frown quickly replaced by his typical shit-eating grin as soon as Amy looks at him. “I’ve been thinking about taking a vacation, anyway.”

Once more, Amy opens her mouth to speak, but Surge beats her to the punch.

“Buzz off, loser. This is a girls’ only trip. No boys allowed.”

She rubs salt in the wound by putting an arm around Amy’s shoulders and pulling her close, all while donning the cockiest smile. She delights in his twisted, contorted sneer, and how he falls silent while he watches his former nemesis charm his girl right in front of him. She may not have been able to defeat him in battle, but she still managed to deal the final blow.

Serves him right. He had his chance. Snooze ya lose, as he’d say.

Amy has a worried look on her face as she watches the violent non-verbal exchange between the two speedsters, but Surge guides her away before anything more can be said. She hears Sonic’s quickened footsteps following closely behind, but chooses to ignore him. Amy leans against her chest as they walk. Surge pulls her in closer.

The three make their way out of the cemetery, bidding goodbye to Kit for now. Dusk falls, and she hears the frogs and crickets start their evening song in unison. Surge finds herself lost in thought as she looks up at the dimming sky, the first stars of the night coming out to dance and twinkle.

Her past was fractured. Her future, uncertain.

But as Amy plants another soft kiss on her skin, breaking her out of the cycle, she realizes that neither of them matter.  

She was in the present. And so was Amy.