Snowflakes
b y W H I N N I E

Dedicated to shadowmaster7799 for loving me.
...and to Nocturne Namiax, just because.

It was surprisingly bright. Bright -- the kind in summer, where you can dance around in the sun's ray, but you can't see the sky. The brightness where you can smell fresh grass, and feel rain... and see brightness. That was exactly how it felt outside -- which was surprising, considering it was winter, the season of darkness; either the sky was playing tricks on everyone, or Station Square just happened to have pretty wacky sunlight. She yawned, tired, but still continued walking down the street, ears flickering at every single noise, jade green eyes wandering around. It was warm, but it still wasn't enough. She still needed warmth. She always did.

She was walking down the street, backpack hanging from a shoulder. Heh, typical behaviour - she had just dropped Cream off at the Station Square Chao Garden. Despite it being noon, people were swarming all about the sidewalk, and it wasn't only the vast majority of school students leaving for lunch. A bunch of girls in school uniforms walked by, giggling, looking happy and free. In fact, they were too free, too happy... Or maybe it was just the sunlight.

So when she saw the blue hedgehog in an alley, leaning against the brick wall, she had decided it was the sunlight - either that, or she was blind. With piqued curiousity, she stopped and, tucking a lock of her pink hair behind her ear, headed towards her new destination; she halted to a stop in front of the blue hedgehog, who had his eyes closed, looking both stressed and peaceful.

"Hey, Sonic. What are ya doing here?"

The blue hedgehog, 'Sonic', slowly opened his emerald green eyes and gave a faint smile. "Hi, Amy," he replied, addressing the pink hedgehog.

"You still didn't answer my question," Amy countered gently. "Aren't you supposed to be... you know..." She looked around at the dark walls for an answer, and finally asked, "...running around?"

"Uhm..." Sonic bit his lip. Spotting a small ball of ice nearby, he grabbed it and slowly shoved it into his right shoe, sighing in relief. Forgetting Amy for the moment, he murmured, "That feels so much better..."

It was then that Amy noticed Sonic's limp foot. "What happened to your leg?" she asked. "Are you all right?"

Sonic closed his eyes once again, before answering, "No, not really. Well, Knuckles and I got into a bit of a scrap, and... well..." He didn't finish; he didn't need to. Amy understood.

"Let me see your leg," Amy said, dropping her bag to the ground. She crouched down, in front of Sonic's foot, and slowly pushed the top part of it back. He yelled out in pain. "Ouch! That hurts!"

"Congratulations," Amy said in a dull voice. "You broke your ankle." Reluctantly, she shouldered her bag and stood up, advising, "You know, you should go see a doctor or something. I could take you."

"No thanks," Sonic quickly replied. "Uhm... I'll do something about it. Don't worry."

Amy sighed. She knew she should try to do something about it, but she wasn't really a good doctor. And Sonic was so stubborn, he would never listen to her.

In fact, that was probably the reason why she didn't like him anymore.

Amy remembered it so clearly. Of course, you remember everything about how you fall in love, unless you have amnesia. And Amy didn't have amnesia - only a case of heartbreak and lovesickness. But she certainly wished she could forget - about how she met Sonic, how he made her fall in love with him, how he hated her, and how he then made her hate him.

It'd been a pretty normal day so far. Amy had dropped Cream off at the Chao Garden early, because something was wrong with Cheese and he needed to see the Chao doctor. It was 10 AM, pretty early for late risers, and there was nothing else to do but see what Rouge and Wave were up to - that is, if they were awake already, and if Jet would even let her into the Babylon Rogues' airship. So Amy had started for the outskirts of the city, where Rouge's residence was situated; she decided to catch the train to Mystic Ruins later to see Wave.

Amy had just crossed the street when she spotted Sonic coming out of the casino with Tails. Amy smirked - it was her chance to give him a glomp! And besides, she needed to get him back for tickling her last time. So, quietly, she sneaked up behind the blue hedgehog, who was saying his byes to his best friend, and just as he was about to turn around - "SMACK!"

Tails looked down at the ground, where Sonic suddenly was. Amy was on top of him, her arms around his neck, yelling, "Got ya this time, Sonic! And you thought you could get away from last time, didn't you?" The pink hedgehog looked up, and greeted, "Hi, Tails," before she was pushed off of Sonic's rising form.

As Sonic looked at Amy, she could see that there was anger in his eyes. Yet, when he spoke, his voice was so calm and normal that you couldn't hear a trace of fury. "Amy, next time, please don't do that, OK? You know I don't really like being choked to death. And the being pushed to the ground thing... well--"

"That's new!" Tails chuckled, cutting Sonic off. The blue hedgehog turned to see the two-tailed fox clutching his stomach, trying his hardest not to laugh, yet desperately failing.

Amy just raised an eyebrow, then looked back at Sonic. What she saw scared her. There wasn't only anger in his eyes - now there was also hate. Amy knew she'd crossed the line.

"I'm sorry, Sonic," the pink hedgehog whispered, dropping her eyes. With that, she turned back, and ran away, before Sonic could say a word. And he didn't run after her.

Amy knew that he still hated her. She could tell, she had observed, she was excellent at catching details. But this was also a bad quality, for she had observed something else - that he hated, not loved, her. And that was when she had stopped loving him.

The next day, Amy caught Sonic in Mystic Ruins, napping underneath a tree near the train station. "Hey, Sonic!" she yelled, running up to him.

Sonic seemed glum. "Hey," he said, not looking back when she reached him.

"Are you all right?" Amy asked, looking at his foot. It was wrapped in a cast. "What happened to your leg?"

"Oh, that," Sonic said, still in a bad mood. "Well, Tails found me after you did yesterday, and he made me come with him to the hospital. Those doctors said that my leg was pretty all right, considering how much of a beating I got, and they said that I'd get better soon, I just need a lot of rest and no running." He sighed, then added in, "It still hurts, and I've got a slight limp. But what I really hate is the 'no running' part."

"I'm sorry, Sonic," Amy said sincerely. Maybe if she was extra nice to him, he wouldn't hate her anymore. "I sure hope your foot gets better soon."

"Thanks," Sonic replied. And even though he wasn't smiling, Amy could sense that he'd grinned at that.

Jet walked through the grassy plains of the Mystic Ruins, around the lake. He gave a peaceful sigh, looking at the waterfall cascading into the pool of water, undisturbed. And, of course, he was undisturbed as well, until he heard someone say, "Going somewhere, my friend?"

Jet rolled his eyes at the voice. "Hi, Sonic," the hawk replied grudgingly, turbing around to see the hedgehog. But what he saw shocked him; it wasn't seeing Sonic not zipping around, it was the white cast clasped around his foot.

"Whoa..." Jet gasped. Regaining his senses a second later, he asked, "What happened to your leg? Are you all right?!"

Sonic, at the mention of the cast, nodded wearily. "Yeah, listen," he said quickly, changing the subject, "can you help me?"

"Erm..." Jet paused. Finally, pitying Sonic with a broken foot, he replied, "I'm all ears."

"OK." Sonic gave a sigh, then played out his dilemna. "See, I really like someone, but... well... that person doesn't like me anymore, and... what should I do?"

Jet smirked, but he didn't taunt the hedgehog. "So, you're in love with someone, aren't you?" he said.

Sonic raised an eyebrow in response. "Love? Gee, I never thought of it that way..."

Jet paused, fingering the heart-shaped lollipop in his pocket. Finally, he took it out and handed it to Sonic. "Give her this," he instructed, placing it in Sonic's gloved palm. "I was going to eat it tonight, because I really like this type of candy, but the only ones they have in the store right now are heart-shaped, and besides, a desperate person needs it more than I do."

"Hey!" Sonic protested. "I'm not desperate." Suddenly, he smiled, and said, "Thanks, buddy."

Jet grinned. "Hey, no problem, pal," he said, waving, as he headed for the train station.

Amy gave a sigh, looking up. Gray clouds filled the sky, covering the true blue colour and sun. Then again, clouds weren't so bad; if the sky was clear, it'd be blue, and it'd remind her of Sonic.

Cream, sitting beside the pink hedgehog on the wooden park bench, looked up from her sandwich and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing, Cream," Amy assured the little rabbit. "I'm just... thinking, that's all."

Cream didn't believe her, but she knew Amy wanted to be left alone. "Well, Amy, you know you can come to me if you need some help!" she replied with a smile. Waving, the long-eared bunny flapped her ears and, slowly rising into the air, disappeared behind a skyscraper.

Amy waved back, standing up and turning around to try and catch a glimpse of her friend once again. When she finally realized she couldn't, she whirled around slowly and was about to take a seat, when she noticed the blue hedgehog sitting beside her.

"Hi, Amy," Sonic said quietly.

Amy smiled, then shyly replied, "Hi," before sitting back down and staring at her hands, thinking. Finally, she looked at Sonic. He seemed to be staring at the ground, too.

"It's so tense," the pink hedgehog noted. She was about to break the uncomfortable silence between them, when Sonic suddenly looked up at her and abruptly said, "Here, take this," and shoved a lollipop in her hand.

"Huh?" Amy was confused. She stared at the piece of candy. It was heart-shaped, with red and white swirls decorating it. Amy guessed that it tasted like something between mint and strawberry. Finally, she told Sonic, "I don't want it," only to realize that he was already gone, walking down the street and looking up at the sky.

Amy gave a sigh, and looked down at the lollipop once again, twirling it between her fingers. Why did he give it to her? Didn't he hate her for all the things she'd done? Or did he actually... like her?

She wasn't about to take this sitting down. Despite her sad mood, she was still determined to find out.

Sonic was unusually quiet, and thoughtful. In fact, he was so caught up with his thoughts that he didn't notice the cold, pink figure standing beside him, on the edge of Emerald Coast.

"What're you doing out here?" Amy asked, wrapping her scarf around her neck tighter.

"Oh." Sonic jerked free from his zone out and turned to face the other hedgehog. "Just... thinking, I guess."

Silence. Then, Amy remarked, "It's freezing. How do you survive like this?"

Sonic smiled. "I think of summer. It makes life worth living more."

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky. Amy looked up and held her hand out to catch the white specks. "Don't you just hate winter? Snow is nice, but I'd like it better if it weren't so cold."

"Yeah..." Sonic replied absentmindedly, looking out into the water. However, he snapped back to attention when Amy asked, "Sonic, do you... hate me?"

"Hate?" The blue hedgehog looked over to his pink counterpart, who was staring down at the sand. "Uhm... no, why?"

"Well... do you like me... in a more-than-friends way?" Amy steered around his question and avoided looking into his emerald eyes, kicking at a seashell by the water.

Sonic paused. Should he tell her...? "Uhhh..."

Amy looked up sideways at him, her jade eyes digging into his emerald ones. "Please tell me, Sonic," she said. "I need to know."

Before Sonic could think, he replied, "Yeahhhh...?" But his gaze never left hers.

Amy gave a soft smile, looking back at the sandy ground. Finally, she looked up again and spoke. "Why do you like me? I mean, you were really rude to me. I was annoying, I was mean to you, I didn't really give you your space..."

Sonic gave a small sigh. "Well, it's sorta complicated..." He glanced at Amy. She nodded, waiting for him to go on.

"I've always liked you. It's taken a long time, but I finally do... and in a 'more-than-friends' way. But now, since the whole 'break-your-foot' thing, well... you've kinda cared for me the most. So... yeah," he concluded, looking up at the sky.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked. She had a tiny little smile on her face, and her eyes glittered with happiness, yet he could still see the clouds of puzzlement in those green orbs.

"Like I said, you cared for me," Sonic explained. "You told me that you hoped I'd feel better soon. No one told me that, not even Tails."

Amy smiled again, turning away. "Well, I liked you because you were always really sweet and were helping people against Eggman. But after I kept on annoying you and you got mad at me, I stopped... because you were acting like a jerk. I told people I didn't like you anymore, but I kind of lied... I still liked you a bit in the back of my mind, but I had no idea why." She shrugged. "I guess you never do forget your first love."

Sonic nodded slowly. "That's why I gave you the lollipop today," he pointed out. "Jet gave it to me when I told him about my situation. I spent half the day thinking about whether or not to follow his advice..."

"I'm glad you did," Amy broke in. Taking a deep breath, she went on, "I need to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anyone... at least, not yet." Sonic nodded, sealing the secret. Amy quietly said, "I like you, too."

There was a silence, except for the sound of ocean waves breaking. Finally, Sonic's voice broke the quiet barrier that had formed, as he incredulously asked, "Really?!"

Amy nodded. Slowly, they started walking down the beach, side by side, even though the snowflakes fell faster, and the temperature dropped. Neither hedgehog noticed.

"Does your leg feel any better?" Amy asked, somewhat cuddling against Sonic.

"A little..."

"Can you run?"

"Not yet..." He paused, saddened at the fact, but added in, "Thanks for asking, though. That's kinda why I like you so much. Heh..." He placed his arm around Amy, pulling her closer.

Amy gave a sigh. "Aww... You make me feel special. And happy."

"Really?" Sonic perked up.

"Yeah." Amy nodded. "It's nice knowing that I've helped someone feel better."

The snowflakes fell. Down, down, down. Amy shivered, suddenly noticing them.

"What's the matter? You cold?" Sonic asked, concerned, looking down at the pink hedgehog.

Despite the weather, Amy shook her head. She didn't need the warmth.

For once, it was enough.

Hello, readers! Thankies for reading. Yes, this is a Sonic/Amy oneshot, albeit most of you should already know that by now. FYI, this is based on a true story, that happened between shadowmaster7799 and me. Heh, thank you... You've made life a lot better. :)

Also thank you to my beta reader and close friend, Nocturne Namiax. YOU ABSOLUTELY ROCK!

Once again, thanks for reading. R&R. Remember - shadowmaster7799 and Whinnie forever!