Return to Aquatic Ruins

Author's Note: The characters of Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog, and any other related characters all belong to Sega Enterprises/Sonic Team. Don't take it upon yourself to say I'm stealing because I'm giving credit. However, the characters of Sara Rai, Rai the Chao, Aozora Kitty, or any other character you don't recognize belong to me, the author.

Secondly, I'm well aware that it's been quite a while since I've posted a story here. But that's due to the skew of viruses I got on my home computer when I split Just the Beginning into 17 different chapters. Imagine how many viruses I got for just uploading one chapter. That's quite a bit.

I haven't gotten much feedback on it, and I'm currently developing a separate arc of this series called Blue Sky Dream. But thanks to Baby Amy who's taken a particular interest in this, I'm back here continuing from where I last left off. I hope you enjoy it.


Underneath The Outer Core

The sun's golden rays awoke a certain sakura colored hedgehog one morning. Due to events that had occurred over the lapse of only a few days, she was far from her normal self. She even had the injuries to prove it. Amy slowly sat up in bed, rubbing her now bandaged neck. A small moan escaped from her lips as one of her fingers had skipped upon one of the somewhat sensitive areas of her wound.

"That was one crazy squirrel bitch", she thought to herself. But her assailant was the least of her worries. Sleep may have healed her physical wounds, but she was more concerned about the one from within. This one coming from the one she held most dear. Amy fell back onto her pillow as a heavy sigh escaped her lips. "I don't know what's gotten into him", she said mentally.

She was still reminiscing over the matter when Rai flew in through the bedroom window. It circled around her bed, singing a sweet little song before landing on her lap to greet her. The girl smiled back at her little visitor. "Morning, Rai", she said softly while petting the exotic chao. It cooed back a small "chao" before hopping up closer to her.

Seeing this cheered Amy up a bit. "At least you care whether I'm okay or not", she said after a pause. A question mark formed over Rai's head, so Amy clarified what she meant. "Don't worry", she said reassuringly. "I'm grateful to you for always showing up at least once a day. But I wish that Sonic would at least pop in and see how I was doing. I just thought he wasn't thinking clearly that night. But now, I'm not too sure."

She frowned at what she had just said. "No, I take that back. Of course he wasn't himself...but...I'm tired of this. He treats me like I'm a final resort or asset." Rai frowned at this, moving up and patting one of her hands gently. "But I shouldn't be sitting here feeling sorry for myself. Just thinking about his behavior is upsetting enough as is". With Rai's help, Amy slowly got onto her feet. "I should try ignoring him and see what happens." Rai gave her thumbs up (well, a Chao hands up), to which she smiled once more. "I should have thought of this sooner. That'll teach him he can't mess with me." Another thought came to mind at the moment, to which Amy added: "There's a small chance he might not even care whether I ignore him or not". A sweat drop formed on the floral chao's head. "CHAO!" it yelled at Amy.

She softly petted it on the head to calm it down. "Okay. I won't back down from this", she promised. "I should have done this sooner. And even though there's a good chance he might not even notice, I have to. It'll save me more time having to wait for a response out of him."

Just then, Sara walked in with a tray of food and medicine. She gave a look to her chao that made another sweat drop appear on his head. It flew over and rested on top of her head, and cooed when it noticed she wasn't angry with it at all. "I hope Rai hasn't been a bother to you", she said softly while laying the tray down on the bed. Amy giggled and replied, "He wasn't much trouble. He's been cheering me up."

Sara smiled back to her, as she gave a piece of fruit to Rai. "That's good to hear", she said softly. She removed a mixture of herbs from the tray, and placed it in a mortar that she had brought along with it. "Now", she said while mashing the medicinal herbs, "how are you feeling today?" Amy responded by beginning to unravel the bandage around her neck. "I feel okay", she said softly. She paused to point to the still sore spot from her wound. "It hurts just a little bit over here, but otherwise I feel great."

"Well, this is splendid news", said the tan hedgehog as she poured the herbal mix into a cup of boiling fluid, making a brew, which she handed over to Amy. "This should help with that soreness." Taking notice of Amy's reluctance, she added: "Don't worry about the taste. It has a bit of aloe and cinnamon in it to even it out."

Sara shot out a smile that said "I told you so" as Amy took a small sip before chugging the whole cup down. "You should feel stronger in no time now", she said reassuringly as she pushed the tray of food towards Amy. She even let out a giggle as she noticed how fast Amy went at her meal. "This is what happens when you sleep for a whole day." she laughed.

The two hedgehogs sat for a while after Amy finished, talking about what lied ahead for the next time they ran into Amy's squirrel assailant. After a bit, Sara left Amy to rest up some more. "Take it easy, or I'll tie you down if I have to", she joked. Rai gave a "chao" after her, wagging his left arm as a sort of warning. Amy complied, lying back down and letting the warm solar rays take her into a light slumber.

Meanwhile...on another side of the island...

Sonic was skipping stones on a pond not far from Sara's cottage. He hadn't been anywhere near the others in over 2 days. Even longer for Amy; he hadn't bothered to go near her since his mouthing off to her in her condition. The cerulean blur skipped two stones at once to get his mind to let his mind wander into something else. He watched on as both stones skipped across a total of eight times each before sinking to the bottom of the pond. He kept on adding one more stone to each skip, but this became tiresome quickly.

"No matter what I do, I can't shake her from my mind", he sighed mentally. He hated himself for how much of a jerk he had been with her that night. "I wasn't thinking clearly when I said all that", he said to no one in particular.

"Damn straight you weren't", said a voice from behind him. The azure hedgehog turned to meet the face of Shadow. He also noticed that Shadow wasn't alone, accompanied by the creature that they had rescued that night.

Sonic growled at him before turning his attention to the lake once more. "I honestly don't know what she sees in such a poor specimen of hedgehog like you", he continued, smirking. "But it's obviously more than you deserve." He turned to leave, motioning for Kitty to follow. Although her name was Aozora, he remembered that Maria also referred to cats as kittens, or kitties. She seemed to instantly take a liking to him referring to her as such. Even to the extend of adding it as a surname, Aozora Kitty.

He stopped in mid step to add: "She loves you, Sonic. If you can't realize that, then I'm afraid there's no hope for you..." And with that, he and Kitty sped off towards the cottage.

Sonic turned around just in time to watch them off. He couldn't help but admit that everything that Shadow had just said was true. True right down to the final word in the last sentence.

As the last word trailed, his mind wandered back to the ARK. To the time where he had found out that Eggman had gotten a hold of Amy, he risked his being just to get to her. Jumping over hurdles, defying gravity. none of which meant a single thing to him except that it got was one step closer to making sure she was safe...

...He breathes a sigh of relief as he notices that Eggman hasn't touched a single pink quill on her head upon arriving at the control room. He mentally smirks as Eggman suggests a trade of his fake emerald for Amy's safety, but suddenly frowns. "A fake emerald is a bad thing to trade her for..." His thought becomes reality as Eggman betrays him, encasing his body within an escape capsule rigged to detonate within 60 seconds. His face wanders over to Tails, he looks a bit freaked out at this. He can't remember much for him except that he asks him to take care of business...

But Amy's expression was unforgettable. He took notice of the fear in her emerald eyes, which were on the verge of breaking out into tears. She had a frantic air of uncertainty upon her; at a glance, she looked as if she was going to cry new rivers. At others it appeared as if she were going to run through and break the glass herself. But whatever she was feeling, he knew that it was genuinely her overall concern for him and his safety. He smiled to her, saying, "Amy, take care of yourself..."

Sonic let out a long sigh as his daydream ended. With his back to the sun, he removed the glove of his right hand to reveal a ring within the palm of his hand. It was too big to fit on any of his fingers, but he guiltily admired it for what it was.

"Someday…the one I love will bear this on her hand."

He carefully replaced the glove back on his hand, making sure the ring was carefully tucked in. In an uncharacteristic manner, he slowly strolled off towards the cottage.

"Until the fights I fight are over and done, Amy...I can't love you..."

"...And I do love you..."