A/N: Gosh, I haven't been up here in so long... (whistles) Okay, hi all! I know I've been promising that the next chapter of "Player Two" would come soon...and obviously it's not there yet. I haven't been responding to PMs and reviews lately either. (slumps sadly into chair) Sorry about that. I'll get on that next weekend, I hope.

Anyway, I was looking through the various things that I've posted and found that while I've written a lot about just Sonic, and Sonic and Tails, I have virtually nothing up here with Amy, which shocked me. She's the third of my "essentials" trio (sorry Triple Threat, I still think you're awesome), so what have I been doing?! I was also looking for friendship stories of just Tails and Amy...and found none. They were all romance stories, would you believe it?

Now, don't you believe for a second that writing "Player Two" ever gets boring. It doesn't. Still, I found this need to be greater, and thus spent way too much of my weekend writing this. I didn't plan this; this story kinda wrote itself. I don't know anything about baking. This is also my first attempt in ages at first person other than Sonic's (and the first that I've posted). Sooo...I think those are the main plot/OOC culprits if they're there.

Again, I apologize, and I will get to those PMs and such ASAP. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this...whatever it is.

-Blur

Just the Two of Us

"Sweet, sweet, you're so sweet…"

The cake batter swirled, smooth and creamy white around the bright red spatula Vanilla gave to me last Christmas. Although it was November first already, today the weather decided it was early September, and I had all the windows in the apartment thrown open for the fresh air to mingle with the sweet cake aroma in the kitchen. More than once this morning I had a few visitors —I threw a few crumbs of bread from the cupboard out to the adorable little Flickies that would occasionally appear on the windowsill.

"Cream sure picked a good day for a tea party," I remarked to a curious red bird hopping on the sill. "The sun is shining, and it's almost warm! You'd have hardly thought it possible a few days ago…"

Like I'd told Sonic via the Miles Electric, everything felt cold and dead a few days ago. I involuntarily shuddered at the thought—green strands of color coming out of the trees, the ground, the planet's very life force being sucked up to the Lost Hex, its fate resting in the hands of the hero I love best…

The Flicky tilted its head curiously at me and chirped, and I blinked and remembered where I was. "Oh, no, I'm just remembering something, that's all. Don't worry about it," I said quickly. It appeared to be reassured, for it chirped a happier note, then took off.

I followed it with my eyes as it met a few friends, chirruped hello, then flew off into the city below. Then my attention turned to the cars on the street, imagining a small streak of blue zig-zagging in between them. He raced up the side of the apartment building, hopping through an open window with a "Hiya, Amy," and that signature grin that always made me swoon…

The oven beeped, yanking me out of the daydream, and I clicked my tongue, chastising myself for standing there dumbly with the spatula almost dripping cake batter on the floor. Swiftly I scooped the batter into the two round pans, opened the oven door, and placed the pans inside. Setting the timer for twenty-five minutes, I cleared away the food items, wiped down the counters as I had many times before, and dusted my hands off on my light blue apron.

"And now we wait…" I murmured to myself, plopping into a chair at the kitchen table. A sigh escaped into the air as my eyes settled on a gold-framed picture on the wall. Once again I wished my hero was here, but of course he wasn't—it was rare that I saw him so soon after an adventure.

"Still, it would be nice if you could come over and say hi a little sooner…" I said to the picture, half-glaring, half-adoring. "I mean, I know Tails sees you…"

Ding-dong.

I started. "Coming!" I called in a sing-song tone, heart leaping. Maybe somehow he'd known? My feet flew to the door, and my fingers fumbled with the lock in excitement. I threw open the door. "I knew you would come—"

My visitor looked stunned for a moment, then laughed. "Uhh, I knew he rubbed off on me, but I didn't think it was that much…"

I blinked stupidly. "Oh." The red creeped into my cheeks, and I rubbed the base of my neck with a hand. "Sorry, Tails. I was just hoping—"

The twin-tailed fox smiled genially. "It's alright. I actually didn't see him until this morning myself."

"Ah." A moment passed, then, remembering myself, I quickly added, "Would you like to come in?"

"Yes, if you don't mind," he laughed again. He stepped in, removing his red and white sneakers, and sniffed the air. "Oh, it smells good in here!" He sniffed again, pert little nose twitching. "Are you baking?"

I waved a hand, gesturing him towards the kitchen. "Yeah, Cream invited me to her house for a tea party later today, so I'm making cake."

"Sounds fun," he mused, sitting down at the table in the chair opposite mine.

"So, what brings you here, Tails?" I noted the shopping bags he'd brought with him, sitting on the floor next to his chair.

He blinked, then looked down and thought for a minute, studying the Maxwell's Machines and Mechanics labels on the paper bags as if the answer was somewhere between the letters. "… I dunno, actually." His eyebrows knit together, and he scratched his head absently. "I… just wanted to see how you were doing, I guess. Y'know, after the whole planet dying thing and whatnot."

"Oh!" I smiled. That's Tails for you—always checking in. "Yeah, I'm alright. A little bored, but all right. How about you?" I sat up excitedly. "How's Sonic? You said you saw him?"

"I'm fine. Sonic…" He shrugged. "I saw him as I was getting off the train, briefly. Said he had a headache and was going home to take a nap—not that I can blame him." He paused, and shrugged again.

It was my turn to knit my brows together. "What do you mean?"

"Didja feel a little funny when we were close to the Lost Hex?" he began, but upon seeing my blank stare, he shook his head. "You probably didn't, since you were on the ground with Knuckles."

"Well, he did say he felt… a little funny." I frowned as I recalled. "Slightly more irritated— I mean, did you see the way he grabbed the communicator from me?" I sat up a little straighter and did my best impression of Knuckles, although it wasn't that great because his voice is much deeper. " 'Just the one? Pfft, weak! I could've gotten them all back by now!' 'I would've wrapped this up sooner, but ehh, whaddayagonnado?'" I shook my head. "I was ready to slap him! How would you like to go up there next time, Knuckles? Hmph!" I crossed my arms and turned my shoulder as if the red echidna had been sitting there instead of Tails.

"Yeah, that's it!" Two gloved palms pushed him up into a standing position. "I noticed that too. And Sonic and Eggman—but it was worse, and different, with them. Sonic was more sarcastic and acted more brashly, and Eggman screamed at the Zeti while we were in Frozen Factory—" He puffed out his chest and spoke in a deeper voice. " 'I'll get fat from eating your black hearts, you Eggman wannabes! I will burn your worlds, you rebellious scum! I will destroy everything you love and make you watch!' Then he punched the screen until it broke, like this—" He punched the air, making angry sounds as he went.

Even though it was only an impression, my eyes widened and I curled slightly into myself. "That… That's awful, Tails."

"I know, and I snapped at him before that…" Then his voice dropped, and he suddenly looked ashamed. "I even snapped at Sonic." He looked away sadly.

I rushed over to his side. "Tails, it's okay! You guys made up later, right?"

He nodded slightly, but he still looked upset. "I… I accused him of trusting Eggman more than me."

"Tails…" I took one of his gloved hands in both of mine. "You know Sonic—he won't hold that against you." I smiled. "I mean, you didn't hold it against him when he was a butt-head and got you stuck in that container."

Only slightly reassured, he looked up at me. "I guess. But I have a feeling that it might've been the Hex itself, you know?" He squeezed one of my hands with the hand I'd taken. "Maybe the Zeti can only control magnetic fields, but they can affect people's thoughts negatively. Put them in a negative haze, of sorts."

"Well, a 'hex' is a curse. Maybe it was the planet itself, and that's why the each of the Deadly Six represent different sins."

"Could be," he rejoined, and we lapsed into silence, stunned and slightly awed at the gravity and darkness of the topic when it was such a bright, cheerful day outside.

Breep! Breep! Breep!

"Cake's done," Tails remarked lightly, and I raced over to the oven. Pulling on the checkered green mitts, I opened the oven door and pulled out the two trays. Now that they were out, the sweet, warm scent wafted through the air all the more temptingly, and I could see Tails' mouth watering as I went to get materials for the frosting.

I laughed, looking back over my shoulder at him standing hopefully next to the counter. "Do you want to help me with frosting them later?"

"Would I!" He clapped his hands once, and I chuckled. He's a genius, all right—but there are fleeting moments when I can look at him and think he's just an adorable eight-year-old kid.

I set the ingredients on the countertop as he stood beside me. "Okay, I was going to make vanilla cream cheese frosting—"

"Oddly appropriate choice."

I grinned. "Yeah, it is, isn't it? Anyway, I was originally going to make it plain, but since you're here, I thought we could make a design for it, if you want."

"We should make it a red star ring," he said, echoing my grin, "with a white background."

I nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard. I can make the red with food coloring," I said, and he promptly went to the cabinet and brought back the small vial. He stood impatiently by as I mixed the frosting, glancing at the cooling cake and tapping his foot occasionally—often enough that I commented, "He really is rubbing off on you."

He stopped, then laughed. "I guess so. I found myself talking to the Tornado as I was doing a quick tune-up yesterday, and I made a silly joke that I didn't really think was funny until I realized what I was doing."

"What was the joke?"

"I can't remember now." He watched me scoop the majority of the frosting into another, smaller bowl, then add red food coloring to the remaining frosting and mix it some more. "Maybe it was one of Sonic's from a long time ago that I just remembered. I don't know."

I placed the mixer into the sink along with the other bowls and items I had used for the batter. "Okay, I think the cake is ready now." I took a plate, placed a little dollop of plain frosting in the middle, flipped one of the layers out of its tray onto it, and sliced the dome off the cake. I then handed the bowl to Tails with the icing spatula. "Okay, just spread some on the top evenly." He took it obediently and began to spread as I readied the second layer. When he was finished, I carefully placed the second layer on top of the base. I took the bowl from him and handed him the red frosting bowl. Then I spread the white frosting swiftly and evenly over the cake until the whole thing was covered. "Okay, you can do the ring, since it was your idea."

Tongue sticking out slightly, with the same expression on his face as when he was aligning two components of his machine just right, or when he was cracking a particularly difficult piece of coding, Tails moved over to the cake. He spread carefully but quickly around the edges of the circular cake with the dexterity of the inventor he was, and although it was slower and slightly messier than what I would've done, I nodded at his work. "Nice job, Tails."

He smiled and set the bowl and spatula next to the cake, admiring his work as well. "Thanks. I had a little practice before—Sonic let me on a few occasions. Once time he let me color half a cake orange, while he did the other half blue. I didn't realize what it was for, or why he seemed surprised when I walked into the room, until he gave it to me the next day." He looked back at me and smiled. "It was my birthday cake."

I stared at him for a moment. "Sonic can bake?"

"A little." He picked up the spatula again and patted a rough patch until it was flat. "Usually with cake mix, unless he's really bored. He doesn't do it much." He chuckled. "He has an apron too. I told him once, a long time ago, that he looked funny in it, but then he whacked me with the rolling pin."

My mind flashed back to a few years ago, shortly after that adventure with the planet splitting apart. I'd decided to walk over to his house, just to see what he was up to, if he was still okay after transforming into… that. I'd knocked, and I remembered the foreign, but delicious scent wafting out of the house into the cold December morning.

"What's up, Amy?"

"Umm," I said awkwardly, trying to stifle my giggles upon seeing my true blue hero wearing a plain white apron with various colored stains on them. Unable to make words come out, I pointed.

He looked down briefly, then looked back at me as if it was perfectly normal. "Oh, I'm tryin' to make those buns I had in Chun-nan, the one's with the meat in 'em." He smiled and patted his stomach as he thought about them. "They're real good, but it's kinda hard, 'cause the bread's light and fluffy but the insides are moist—" He cut himself off, a sudden look of horror taking the place of the calm, cheery demeanor. "Hang on a sec—" He dashed off. Curiously, I took a step into the doorway—a shriek came from the kitchen.

"I've seen him wear it before, yeah," I mused, smiling to myself.

Now satisfied with his red star ring, Tails set the spatula back in the bowl. "So, what time is this tea party, anyway?"

I glanced at the clock—ten forty. "Noon—it's a kind of lunch, I guess. If we clean up now, we can probably leave in a few minutes and catch the train to Night Carnival Zone at eleven. And then we can walk and enjoy the day without worrying about being late." I paused, then quickly added, "If you want to come. I don't think Cream or Vanilla would mind too much if you did, and you helped me with the cake, after all."

"Sounds good to me!" he replied cheerfully, carrying the bowl over to the sink. "I do like Vanilla's mint tea," he said over his shoulder, and I smiled.

Quickly we washed, dried, and set the utensils back in their proper places in the cupboards (lucky that Tails could fly up and reach the high ones), placed the ingredients back in the pantry, and washed ourselves up. Once I'd changed into a cleaner dress (albeit the same design, as with most of them), I returned and placed a plastic cover over the cake. "Okay, let's go." I shut the windows and picked up the cake, Tails took his machine parts, and we left the apartment, hurrying to the elevator.

We fast-walked to the train station—not running, else I'd probably have spilled the cake with all the people around us—and just made the eleven o'clock train. I couldn't help but feel slightly self-conscious from the extra stares due to the cake. Once I caught a small child tugging on his mother's sleeve and pointing at the cake, but she shook her head at him.

Tails, meanwhile, turned around in his seat to look out the windows. "It's been a while since I took the train to Night Carnival Zone," he remarked, watching the buildings and cars fade into green hills. "I haven't really gone over there lately, and when I did, it was in the Tornado or on foot. Or tail." Said tails swayed happily, and he didn't appear bothered in the slightest by the few stares he got from sitting with me. Then again, he's gotten more looks than that before… and it wasn't because of a "good" thing.

Other than that, the trip was uneventful. Eventually the green hills faded into city again, this time with a significantly greater amount of lighting flashing around us, and I honestly wondered for the millionth time why Vanilla chose to move so close to this place. As we got off the train and walked out of the city, I could hear Tails humming something that sounded like "Escape from the City". I didn't know if he knew I could hear him, but a few minutes after we left the city, I began to run—as fast as I could without fear of spilling the cake, anyway—and yelled, "Whoo!"

Tails stopped humming, blinked, and began to run beside me. "Uh, Amy, what are you…"

Ignoring him, I smirked and continued in a singing tone, "Oh yeah!"

Understanding began to dawn on his face, and he began to sing. "Rollin' around at the speed of sound—"

"Got places to go—" I added.

"Gotta follow my rain-BOW!" He did a forward flip in the air, and laughed.

"Can't stick around, have to keep movin' on…"

"Guess what lies ahead…"

"Only one way to find OUT!" we sang in unison.

"Must keep on movin' ahead!"

"No time for guessing, follow my plan instead!"

"Trusting in what you can't see…"

"Take my lead, I'll set you free…"

We both stopped singing at that last line—wafting on the slight breeze was another voice, one we both knew as the song's composer… We raced to the top of the hill we were on—below was the little cottage, windows thrown open to let in the unseasonably mild air.

"Follow me…"

We turned to each other, and grins spread across our faces simultaneously. We broke into a run once again, feet nearly tumbling over each other as we raced down the hill.

"Set me free…"

Childish voices came from within the house, laughing with delight in the way of a six-year-old and a chao. Tails went up to the door first, but I seized his arm with a hand. "Let's go to the window," I whispered, and we went over quietly to the neat little bushes.

"Trust me and we will escape from the city!"

Through the open window, I peeked in and saw the occupants of the living room—Cream and Cheese were dancing around to the upbeat music, Vanilla sitting on couch nearby, smiling, and of course, Sonic at the keys, unaware of the extra two listeners. I touched Tails' shoulder, and he nodded.

"I'll make it through, prove it to you—"

"FOLLOW ME!"

A startled, sharp note came from the piano, then silence as the rabbits, chao, and hedgehog whipped around to look at us. Tails set off in giggles, and I had to set the cake down to follow. Then Cream started giggling, and Vanilla watched us with some combination of disapproval and mirth in her half-smile.

Sonic merely cocked his eyebrow at us and shook his head, a slight grin on his lips.

"You guys."