~Never Assume~
It was 8:00 PM; far too early for sleep to dawn over the entire house. Lights were turned on, the fans still running in each room, and some televisions were still on in random unoccupied rooms. Yet besides the noises of these tedious appliances, there was not a footstep to be heard in the entire home.
Half an hour passed, and the doors of the home burst open. An exhausted girl tumbled through the doors, only to collapse onto her living room couch. She giggled like a little girl; the couch was comfortable and warm.
"Soooo-nic!" She called out wearily, knowing that her love should have been home half an hour ago. No response answered to her call; Sonic was nowhere to be found, yet the entire house felt as if he had been home. Everything on and plugged in, as if her home was broken into by the worst criminal ever: he committed the crime of raising her electric bill.
She smirked at her own lame joke. "I should be a comedian," she mumbled sarcastically as she rolled off of the couch. Glancing into the main bedroom, Amy sported a playful smile. The lights were on everywhere else except for this room, and that had to be where he was hiding…
"Hm, I wonder where he went," she sighed loudly before dipping her head back and putting a hand over her forehead. "Oh I just wonder where on Mobius my Sonic could be?" Attempting to hide her smirk, Amy sneaked into the room, and put her head right next to the bed. Trying to hold in her giggles, Amy positioned her hands to grasp the quilt draped over the bed firmly.
"BOO!" She yanked the quilt off to reveal a startled-
Nothing?
"Dammit." She put her head in her hands. Again he hadn't been home on time. Again she made a fool out of herself in her own home. Even though no one had watched her silly game, Amy was utterly embarrassed. Her cheeks were hot and her face was as red as a tomato.
While Amy kept believing in her heart that soon things would turn back to normal, part of her was losing patience. She put on a tough face, and pretended to have a heart of gold, but the real fibers of her heart were made all of glass. Again and again Amy was shattered until she could pick up the pieces, and she lost the patience to pick up those pieces sometimes.
Even she just wanted to cry sometimes.
Resting her head onto the soft bed, she sighed; it smelled just like him. Although she might seem like an overreacting teenager who hadn't seen their boyfriend in a couple of hours, it had been like this for weeks now. Always exhausted, he came home at odd times from odd places. She noticed the money that he constantly had in his back pocket; strangely, it always remained as the same sized wad. At the beginning she silently worried that he might possibly be gambling; but he wasn't losing or gaining any money; staying even for weeks was almost impossible, even for her love.
She waited and waited for his return, only feeling consoled by the cup of coffee that she rested her face on. Amy hated hot coffee; it burned her tongue and disabled some of her taste buds. Slowly downing the warm beverage, she hazily stared at the TV. It droned on and on monotonously, unable to soothe her aching heart.
Finally, a slight rustle could be heard from the door. It was almost half past 10:00, yet he had told Amy he was getting off of work early. He knew he couldn't tell her about it, but he had to think of something, and fast. While he was quick with his feet, Sonic always seemed to fail when it came to being quick with his tongue; Amy was always able to point out each and every flaw with his argument, as if she could read his mind. It was just another thing about her that amazed him.
It wasn't such a big deal though; as long as Amy didn't catch on, everything would be alright. It would all be ruined had she even gained the slightest idea. When that girl started to think, she could come to any realization.
She looked at him and he looked at her. 'The money. He's late.' Was circulating through Amy's head constantly. 'Those eyes. She's been crying.'
"Amy…" He began, and walked up to her, sitting down next to her on the warm couch. Grabbing her hand, he was taken aback: she was freezing, despite all the warmth around her. Amy smiled, and wrapped her arms around his strong shoulders. "You're back," she muttered softly with a coarse voice. Sensing the tension between them, he returned her hug and gave Amy a tight squeeze. "I'm sorry for being late…why were you crying?"
Amy looked up into his eyes; normally Sonic was all about being fast and furious, a speed demon that had little time to slow down and talk things over. For him to be questioning her like this, gazing down at her with those sad, green eyes, he must have really been worried about her.
"I…I just got into a fight at work," she whispered, and leaned further into him. If she had this kind of chance, then she was going to take it. But she couldn't just leave the issue alone; it was eating at her.
"What was your day like? Why were you late?"
Sonic averted his eyes from her gaze. "Same as always; delivering lots of items as always. It's what I always do! There was a package though for a really far location; as always. So I had to take extra long to deliver it; as always."
If Sonic hadn't realized his panicked tone, as well as his repetition, then he was an idiot.
'Idiot' she thought as she elbowed him.
Despite still coming home late, and still carrying that wad of cash, Sonic still came home to Amy, tender as always. However, every time the issue was brought up, he merely ignored her, and gave her the same spiel: 'as always'. He worked for a website delivering packages, and ensured that people could get what they ordered immediately after they bought it. He delivered all sorts of things from spare tires to people trapped on the road, to a carton of eggs for a woman who ran out while baking a cake. He earned a lot of money; the website was managed by Tails, as well as the stock. Sonic delivered the items at a speedy pace, and Knuckles retrieved items from the warehouse for them. Because of the instantaneous service, they all made a lot of money.
When they first started the business, Amy and Sonic hadn't been dating yet. However, Amy definitely took advantage of the delivery system; she ordered from their company frequently, and hence the blue hero got to witness her in many different states; cooking, cleaning, gardening, and even fixing her computer.
In the past, Sonic had constantly rejected her. He thought of her as no more than an immature stalker, and only noticed her true colors when he saw how handy, responsible, and reliable she was. She had many faces that he had never gotten to see; the face of a baker, of a hard worker, and of a mother.
It got to the point where her deliveries made his day each and every day worth the hard work; he ran as fast as he could from each place to ensure that he'd have extra time to spend seeing Amy, and marveling at her daily schedule.
Soon enough, his visits became so elongated and common that Amy began spending her money to order things she didn't need. Each day waiting in its spot was a plate of cookies, baked fresh for her hero.
One day, he finally stopped her. She was on order number five for the day, and she had spent far too much money. Sonic was worried for her financial state. She seemed disheartened when he asked her to stop ordering so frequently, but was quickly cheered up by him.
"I…don't have to be making a delivery to come see you."
Visits led to words, and words led to laughs. In the blink of an eye, love emanated from every glance, every word and every smile. It was clear to Amy how Sonic felt about her; yet he still had his doubts. In his head, time and time again he attempted to refuse Amy into his thought process; yet there she was, every second of every day. Whether it was 'I bet Amy would like this' or 'I wonder what Amy's doing right now', she was the new sun of his life; everything revolved around this one little girl.
It even escalated to the point where Tails had to reluctantly order Sonic onto a two week probation from work; it hurt him to have to do it, but Sonic was ruining their business. It all relied on his super speed, and with Amy on his mind, his feet always carried him elsewhere. For a large payment, Shadow agreed to take over for the two weeks Sonic would be absent.
However, Sonic didn't see this as a punishment, and rather as a vacation. His buddies were occupied with work, and even Eggman wasn't stirring up trouble.
'It's just because she's my only option,' he tried to convince himself.
Nervously, Sonic approached Amy the next day, asking her to go on a vacation with him. He had wanted to go to the mountains and go hiking again for a while, and because running up a slope was a lot more slow going than just running he could use a buddy, and he knew Amy could run pretty quickly.
Love blossomed from every moment of the trip, and one night by the campfire, Sonic and Amy were both side by side watching the stars.
"Wow…" she breathed, smiling up at the orbs of light all throughout the sky. Sonic glanced over at her to notice that the faint moonlight caused her face to have a heavenly glow. He gingerly laid his hand upon hers, causing a surprised blush to spread across Amy's face.
"Amy…"
When she turned her head to look at him, a pair of lips fit right onto her own.
It had been years since then, and the two were currently lovers. Although Sonic's romantic side was very scarce, Amy never minded. In his own way, he always showed her that he cared, and they always shared everything with each other.
But not this time. Sonic was keeping this secret from her that slowly ate away at her patience. She didn't know if that money was to pay for another woman, or to fulfill an addiction he might possibly have. She wanted to trust her boyfriend, but at the same time it was just so difficult to ignore the suspicious behaviors.
After all, normal people use a credit card; why would they need cash? And if this was something normal, then why did it always happen at night?
As the questions continued to pound on her brain, the blue hedgehog next to her shared a feeling of unease. They were side by side in a bed, each not facing the other. Nervous thoughts consumed his brain, so caught up in his own troubles that not an ounce of attention was put Amy's way.
"Sonic," she whispered, her voice finally reaching his ears. It was a delirious, velvet smooth voice that seemed to plead and suffer all at the same time.
"Yes, Amy?"
"I can't sleep," she said lowly and sheepishly. Turning himself around to face her, Sonic wrapped his arms around her strongly, and delivered a small kiss to the side of her head. She could feel the money still in the same place in his pocket.
"Sonic," she mumbled again, now more groggily. "You love me, don't you?"
Now red in the face, Sonic found himself looking down. He was never good when asked such direct questions about his feelings, but for her he would try as best as he could. "Of course I do, Amy. Why would you ask me something like that?"
"Dunno," she lied, "I just wanted to hear you say it."
Another two weeks went by with Amy's anxiety over the money and the late nights growing and creeping in the back of her mind, until one night, the inevitable finally happened.
The money was gone. His pocket was empty, and he came home later than ever, a goofy smile plastered across his face. Walking now with his usual swagger, and even a touch more confidence, Sonic crawled into bed right next to his pink girlfriend, and snaked his arms around her neck.
"What are you doing?" She questioned, and rolled out of Sonic's embrace, falling off of the bed with an "oof".
"Are you okay?" He was on the ground with her in an instant, lifting her body off of their cold, hard wood floor. "I knew we should've gotten carpeting," he mumbled, shaking a fist to the air and chuckling. Something in his demeanor was changed, and it took Amy less than a few seconds to notice it. He was shaking a little bit, and while he seemed excited and happy to see her, something was off.
"Nervous? Did he do something I should know about?"
"Amy."
His suddenly serious voice took removed her from the thoughts that had swam about her head for so long. There was always a spell that Sonic seemed to have over her, that he could manipulate her in any way he saw fit.
"What is it?" The words came out much more harshly than they were supposed to, and almost seemed to be trying to attack Sonic. A fireplace located near their bed, which had been put out hours before, now seemed to flicker with lingering embers. The fire had never actually died down, simply concealed itself for the right time.
Just as Amy had tried to hide her anger, her confusion, and most of all the pain that she felt eating away at her. But it was enough, and she couldn't take it anymore. The tears began to pour down her face at full force, and Sonic simply watched, dumbfounded.
"Why are you acting like this?"
Abruptly, the tears stopped. Her head cocked itself to the side as she stared up at Sonic, utterly baffled and disbelieving. There were a million questions she wished she could ask all at the same time in that moment; instead, she simply stared at her boyfriend.
"Why am I acting like this?" A laugh escaped her throat, pained and choked out. "I haven't done anything apart from what I've ever ordinarily done...but you...you ask me what's wrong with me?" Her laughing was now at full force, and tears began to stream down her cheeks as her laughter only grew more and more hysterical.
"I want to know what's bothering you," Sonic insisted, attempting to remain calm.
"You...you don't know what's wrong with me? You're kidding, right?" Her laughter came to a halt, but the tears continued to flow freely from her swiftly reddening eyes. Only then did Sonic begin to notice the dark circles under her puffy eyes, the paleness of her muzzle. Only then did things begin to click.
"Amy," he whispered, "does this have to do with my coming home late? Because if it does, you know-"
"No more excuses," she whispered desperately, now throwing herself into Sonic's arms in a frenzy. "I'm sick of hearing that you had to work overtime! I'm sick of hearing lies that I know aren't true! I was sick of seeing that damn wad of money in your pocket, and now that it's gone, god knows what you-"
"You noticed?" His voice took on a new form of stress, and he held Amy tightly. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to find out...but I can't tell you...you'd hate me if I told you now." The desperation in his voice was unlike any she had ever heard out of him, and there was nothing that wasn't sincere in what he had just said. But it was this sincerity that made it all the worse for Amy.
"I knew it was something bad."
She lifted herself out of his arms, and stormed out of their bedroom, with Sonic quickly following her behind, zooming in front of her to block her path. His eyes were pleading with hers to hear him out, but she was far too hurt to listen to anything that he had to say.
"What do you mean, bad? It's not-"
"It's bad."
Blunt words struck Sonic right in his heart, and left him standing alone, equally as hurt while Amy ran out the front door, to a place where she could think and be alone. An item fell out of Sonic's pocket where the money had once been, and with it fell a single tear. He leaned down to pick it up, holding it close to his chest and writhing in his own pain for a moment.
"I need to find her." Sonic was off running in milliseconds.
For the world's fastest hedgehog, catching one girl shouldn't have been such a difficult task.
Finding Amy Rose, however, was a different story in itself. She knew the places that Sonic liked, the places he knew like the back of his thumb, and unfortunately for Sonic, Amy wasn't slow. He knew she'd be going somewhere that he didn't know of, somewhere he had simply brushed by without a second glance.
As Sonic's crimson sneakers hit the dirt with exhilarating speed, the hedgehog couldn't help but scold himself mentally. All this time, he had thought he was worrying about her happiness, but instead caused Amy more grief than anything. Ears dropping against the harsh wind, Sonic lifted his head, assuring himself that he would fix this.
And fix her.
"I can't believe this," Amy whispered, her breath coming out in heaves from running so quickly. Hoping Sonic wouldn't find her for a change, Amy had escaped to the coast of Emerald Beach, a place Sonic had most likely not taken a moment to even glance at. After all, it had two of his least favorite things: water and sand.
The pink hedgehog allowed herself to fall into the sand, her back coated with whatever had been strewn about the ground. Allowing her eyes to wander, Amy found herself looking up at the stars.
It was then that everything began to resurface: how Sonic came to love her, the deliveries, her spending all of her money just to get to see him again...and how it led to this. How it led to her heartbreak, his betrayal, all of it...
Yet Amy couldn't help but think to herself how good Sonic was to her, always and everyday. Her eyes fixated on the stars, Amy recalled their first kiss under the exact same stars...
Tears began to fall from her eyes, shimmering like stars. All she could do was cry, and try to avoid the inevitable.
"Amy..."
But of course, with someone like Sonic the Hedgehog around, the inevitable would just have to come to her.
Amy cast him a glance silently, simply watching his face as he approached her, the boundaries taken down and the facade no longer in existence. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as she realized that Sonic was about to explain himself to her.
'But I'm scared to hear the truth.'
That one emotion, fear, managed to penetrate her thoughts, causing Amy to get up once more and make a feeble attempt at escaping. Instead, Sonic caught her arm, and pulled her near to him.
"It wasn't bad, Amy. I promise."
Amy struggled, but it was no use under his strong hold. Putting her struggle to a halt, Amy tilted her head to look Sonic in the eyes.
"Sonic...how do you expect me to believe you?" Amy shook her head violently, the tears beginning to fall. "I don't even know what it is, and this behavior is just downright wrong! People who act like this, like they're hiding something from their lover are always up to no good. Were you cheating on me? Spending money on another woman? Sonic I just-"
"Marry me, Amy Rose!"
Amy was so dumbfounded that she had no words. Everything clicked into place as Sonic removed the object, a black box, from his pocket, opened it up and revealed a beautiful diamond in the shape of a heart, surrounded by small emeralds.
"I...uh..." Sonic started, breaking the silence. "I had a lot of trouble finding the right ring...I spent a lot of time looking for it, and the money you saw was what I used to pay for it...these stones ain't cheap, Ames!" Sonic shot her a warm, nervous smile, and for the first time he feared her answer.
"Sonic...I...I..."
WHACK!
"A-Amy!"
"You big idiot!" In an instant, Amy's sorrowful tears turned to joyous shouts and cries, her hammer thrown onto the ground next to her as Amy lunged at the surprised blue hedgehog. "Here I was, thinking you had cheated on me, and instead...you wanted to...wanted..."
"To make this perfect," he whispered solemnly. "But I guess I kinda ruined it, huh?" Sonic sighed, looking at the ground for a moment. "Sorry, I've never been that good with this kind of stuff, and I wanted to make you happy and-"
Sonic was cut off by Amy's lips, and reassured by the gentle tug of her hands on his quills as she ran her hands through them. Her salty tears refused to stop falling.
"Oh Sonic. You didn't have to try so hard to do everything like I had always dreamed as a kid..." Amy's eyes twinkled with glee, "the fact that you're with me is enough- no, it's more than enough. But...you actually tried to do that...that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me..."
"Well then, Amy, there's uh...somethin' you gotta tell me."
"Huh?" She had totally forgotten. Sonic found himself laughing at her airheadedness.
"You gotta tell me if you'll marry me!"
Amy smiled deviously and pulled Sonic into a tight embrace. She pulled her lips up to his ear, and whispered the words she's been wanting to say to him for so long.
"Yes!"
I've been very very very blocked lately. No excuses, I really haven't been able to come up with anything good for my stories, but after this, I think I've gotten out of my slump. I have half written chapters for all of my ongoing stories, and I think I'll finish Girl with the Light's next chapter first. I also have a lot of incomplete one-shots.
This story...was an idea I got about two years ago, and half of it was written then, half written now. It actually might have been one and a half or something...maybe just one? Oh I don't know. Anyway, please review and fave and follow if you're interested in seeing my newest stuff coming soon! Thanks everyone, and sorry for all the waits. :(