Loner

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Loner

Co-Written by Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Darkhaven3

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Harley: Hmmm… today, things get interesting. Oh yes, very interesting. Because something important happens in this chapter. Oh yes, very important. And it’s not sex, amazingly.

Darkhaven: Shut up, Harley.

Harley: Some weirdo left a review in that other fic I wrote with you.

Darkhaven: I saw it. What the hell were they talking about?

Harley: I don’t know and I don’t want to know.

~~~

Chapter Four: Saviour

Amy lay very quiet and very still in Knuckles' bed. He was himself sitting on a large seat, watching her, having decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to sleep with her tonight, especially if he didn't want to change his mind about bringing her back. She hadn't fallen asleep all night.

Knuckles simply watched her relentlessly as she twisted and wriggled slightly every now and then in an attempt to sleep, but failing; Knuckles yawned, "Well... New day..." he said lazily.

Amy curled up tighter, "Old pain," she answered.

"Just tell me when you're ready to go back, I'll be in the bathroom," Knuckles said after a second or so of silence; he then yawned once more and walked into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him.

At the edge of the island, Rouge landed neatly. She patted something in her pocket, and smirked evilly, then made her way towards the altar. This time she rather hoped Knuckles would find her this time; she was setting off any number of alarms.

Knuckles returned after only a few seconds, and spotted the silent-alarm monitor; "Fuck, not again..." he said silently, before telling Amy, "Rouge's back, I'll be here in a few minutes." He then walked out the door and dove behind some trees; he crawled up into a crouching position, watching Rouge for a few seconds before attacking. He rushed towards her, his fist cocked back, ready to strike...

Rouge smirked and pulled the gun from her belt, "You've got a thick skull, 'Fuckles'," she sneered, "Can you take a bullet to the head?"

"SHIT!" Knuckles yelled to no one in particular, stopping dead in his tracks and dropping his fist.

Rouge aimed at his shoulder and fired, "That was for calling me a... what was it... a skank?"

Knuckles stepped back a bit and winced as the bullet pierced his shoulder; "Ack...!" he gripped his shoulder where the bullet had entered, trying to stop the bleeding.

She looked at him, and fired at his thigh, "That was for calling me a slut," she grinned madly. Knuckles gasped and fell to his knees. She took another step and pressed the barrel of the gun between his forehead, "And this... is for not giving me my emerald..."

Suddenly, something slammed into the back of her head, and she went flying into a tree, head first. Amy stood behind her, holding a large tree branch in one hand.

Knuckles looked up at Amy slowly, "T-Thanks..." he said, grasping the wound in his thigh. "I owe you big..."

"I should let you bleed to death," Amy snarled, and Knuckles recognised his own madness in her green eyes, "But I'm saving your miserable life... so you can live out the rest of it on this wretched little pisshole of an island..." She grabbed his arm - the one that Rouge had shot - and dragged him into his house.

Knuckles simply allowed her to drag him, feeling the pain in his arm in sharp spasms throughout the rest of his body as she pulled at it; the rest of him simply slid helplessly along the ground. He couldn't feel the lower half of his body, just the pain.

Amy selected a pair of tweezers from the bathroom and dug them into his shoulder, "This will hurt," she told him, pulling out the bullet.

Knuckles grimaced a good bit as she yanked out each bullet, trying his best not to move nor fuss about it; it was his turn to be the helpless one...

"T-Thank you, Amy..." Knuckles managed, trying desperately to stop the bleeding in his leg and shoulder, but ultimately failing.

"Don't thank me," Amy sneered, as she ripped up a bed sheet and tied pieces around Knuckles' shoulder and leg, "Thank your own lack of self-restraint. If you hadn’t raped me and brought me to this island, I wouldn’t be here to stop you from getting shot by Rouge."

Knuckles laughed a bit before coughing up a small amount of blood as he watched Amy tie the pieces of the sheet around him; strange how madness can bring out both the worst and best in some people...

"And now I'm gonna deal with her," Amy glanced back at Rouge, "If she's lucky, she'll come to before she hits the ground." She stepped out of the front door, "I'll be back," she said snidely, as she grabbed Rouge by the hair and started dragging her away.

~~~

It was almost an hour before she returned and sat on the bed, looking down at Knuckles, "You're a jerk," she told him.

"How right you are..." Knuckles said, staring back up at her, "I suppose now you're going to leave me here..."

"And how am I supposed to get back down to solid ground?" Amy asked him, "Sprout wings? Glide down like an Echidna?"

Knuckles laughed, "Good point." He then attempted to push himself up and at least use the wall for support, but failed and ended up rolling over instead.

"Standing ranks quite highly on your stupid things to do list," Amy told him, "I started training to be a nurse once, you know? And you shouldn't try to walk for at least a week. Otherwise you could wind up crippled."

"Heh," Knuckles gave a weak smile at his own luck, being injured and happening to have a semi-trained nurse looming over him.

Amy sat down on the chair, "Maybe you'll die. Then it'll be my job to live alone on this island, guarding the emerald. Fate has a weird sense of humour."

"Oh well, then... My life was shit anyway, I don't care anymore," Knuckles said, his tone rather bored, "But you're right... Ironic, isn't it?"

Amy just watched him for a while. Some of the insanity seemed to have left her eyes, or maybe it was just his imagination. She fetched a bowl of warm water and untied the bandages, washing out the wounds.

Knuckles said nothing as she did so, instead simply complying with her movements; he was the one who didn't want to provoke her now, now that he was under her control, basically.

"How does it feel to be helpless?" Amy asked him, tying clean bandages around his wounds, "I wouldn't screw you if you were the last man alive... but if I get bored I might start hurting you in other ways."

"I suppose there's nothing I can do about it," Knuckles said slowly, as if picking his words; "Do as you wish, it won't matter to me..."

"It will," Amy sighed. She didn't really want to hurt Knuckles... but she kept feeling angry about what he'd done to her.

Knuckles didn't understand exactly what she was planning, but tried his best to keep his mind off of it and instead simply tried to go to sleep... Or something to let his mind wander from his current situation...

Once she thought Knuckles wasn't awake, Amy's face returned to normal. She placed a damp cloth on his forehead, and went out to gather some fruit.

Knuckles opened his eyes after Amy left and felt the cloth on his head; a simple act of kindness... Somewhat touching... Even after he'd done such things to her, Amy was still caring for him. Knuckles was, admittedly, shocked.

~~~

Amy returned a little later with a large basket full of fruits she'd picked. She divided the fruit between them, "You have to eat and keep your strength up," she told him.

Knuckles ate vigorously, taking in everything she'd given him, not realizing how hungry he'd gotten over the course of the day; "Thanks..." he said after finishing, wiping the juices from his muzzle.

Amy ate more slowly, "I don't suppose you feel lonely now," she said.

Knuckles replied, "Yeah, I guess I don't..."

"You had to get shot to feel better," Amy's face twitched into a smile.

Knuckles returned the smile and said, "Life-threatening situations always bring out the best and worst in a lot of people, I suppose..."

"I guess," Amy admitted, "You know, this doesn't change that you raped me and kidnapped me and then raped me some more. For three fucking days."

"Yeah, I understand that," Knuckles said, "And I'm sorry, for what little good that does. I shouldn’t have done that."

Amy looked at the fruit in her hand, "It is boring up here," she admitted.

"So now you understand... My job is done," Knuckles chuckled softly, before coughing again.

"You didn't have to torture me to make me understand," Amy looked concerned at the spots of blood Knuckles coughed up.

"Maybe not, but it worked..." he replied, his expression vacant once more, his eyes still only half-open.

Amy curled up on the seat, hugging her knees, and sighed. She was pretty sure she was thinking straight again... but she was still afraid of going to sleep - or rather, she was afraid of what she'd wake up to.

Knuckles easily spotted her tension; "You don't need to worry... You've got my word that I won't do anything to you... And even if I was lying, it's not like I can even stand..." he finished, looking up to her with a calm and welcoming look in his eyes.

Amy nodded, adknowledging the fact, "I guess so," she said, and lay her head down. She just lay there, her eyes staring through him, "It isn't fair," she said softly.

"Ironic, isn't it?" he said, obviously struggling a little, "You getting trapped here anyway even after I was gonna let you go..."

"That wasn't what I was talking about," she said, "But you're right - that isn't fair too."

Knuckles simply laughed lowly, "Sorry, you lost me."

"It's not fair... that you have to live up here alone... doing something you don't want to do... and I live down there alone... I don't exactly have the best job either. It pays badly and I never have any money to spare after I’ve paid my bills."

"The irony's killing me," he answered; this time, without any laughter, instead he simply looked at Amy with the same blank expression he'd somehow continued to hold onto for a while now.

"You need to talk to someone, and I'm still someone, whether I like it or not," Amy sighed.

"...True..." Knuckles said in almost a whisper, as though picking out the word; there was a short silence.

Amy turned on her side; it was difficult to look at Knuckles - she kept remembering everything he'd done to her, "And nobody's come up here to tell you I'm missing," she said dully, "Do you think they even notice I'm gone?"

"If you think about it, it's more a question if anyone cares that I'm lonely..." Knuckles replied, "I'll be willing to bet they're looking for you all over the place down there..." he touched the wound on his shoulder; it stung as he touched it, but after he removed the fingers he was relieved that it had stopped bleeding.

"True," Amy said, "Nobody would ever think of actually looking for me up here."

"Well, soon, they won't have to worry about you missing..." he said in about the same kind of whisper he had been using for now, "Your freedom is in the eye of the beholder now..."

"What freedom?" Amy asked, "Freedom to sit around, waiting for you to recover and take me back down. That could take weeks. And then... what if you get lonely again?" she curled up tight, "You'll come after me again..."

Knuckles laughed, "It's an expression... It means you're almost in the clear..." he then stopped laughing and continued, "In any case, I should be on my feet in a few days... I heal pretty quickly."

"Damn," Amy said, without even thinking, "I mean, damn right," she corrected herself.

Knuckles said nothing; there was another awkward short silence before he replied, "Er, ok then..."

"Company isn't so hot back down there either," Amy sighed, "It is possible to get lonely when you're surrounded by people, no matter what you think. If only Sonic noticed me more..." she said absently.

"...Filthy wanker..." Knuckles said to himself.

"What was that?" Amy asked, not quite catching his comment.

"Uh, nothing," he replied, shaking his head a little before turning away from her slowly.

Amy just sighed again, "I wonder if Rouge came to before she hit the ground," she said, "I kinda regret throwing her off the edge now..."

"You'll have to learn to accept death... It's natural, whether we've caused it ourselves or not. At any rate, it's inevitable..." he said more clearly now.

"I don't want to be a murderer," Amy replied.

"You're not a murderer... You were defending me, in a way. She would have been the murderer if she had succeeded," he said back to her, still just laying there.

"That was her choice though... I just went kinda crazy... I even forgot it was you she was about to kill for a moment," Amy said.

"You mean you would've-" Knuckes began, before stopping and realizing she would have allowed Rouge to kill him, had her head been screwed on straight in that instant it took to push her away; "Never mind..."

"No... I mean..." Amy shrugged, "I forgot what you'd done to me... I just... couldn't let her kill someone..."

"Well, what's done is done, there's nothing anyone can do to change it now... Don't beat yourself up over it..." he replied.

"I guess getting down from here was just a bonus," Amy confessed, "It's nice to have someone to talk to."

"To be honest I don't know whether to be glad or ashamed of that..." Knuckles admitted.

Amy hadn't looked at him all this time, "You think you can't decide... but what you really mean is that you don't want to admit to what your decision is," she said.

"Alright... I admit, I'm ashamed of it..." he said very lowly so that Amy could barely hear him, "I'm ashamed of taking you prisoner... of raping you…"

"Thankyou..." Amy said quietly.

"...What do you mean...?" Knuckles asked; why was she thanking him?

"Thankyou... for admitting that you hurt me..." Amy said quietly. She seemed to relax somewhat, rolled onto her back, and stared at the ceiling.

"You're welcome, I guess..."

~~~

Harley: Next Chapter is the last chapter. Yes, this is a short fic. Oh yes. But longer than fanfics shorter than five chapters.

Darkhaven: Well duh. When does Sonic come in anyway?

Harley: Does he come in at all? That’s the most important question.

Darkhaven: You said you didn’t own him. That implied he’s coming in.

Harley: Damn right I don’t own him. Tune in people, for the last Chapter next week.