The valentine pink coffin was lowered into the ground. The rain fell harder down on the heads of the crying audience. They took out their shovels and poured dirt into the rectangular hole. The crowed left in a hurry, not wanting to see the horrifying process. Only one stayed. He watched as the beautiful, polished wood of the casket drown in muddy brown until the six foot hole was filled. The men left, no emotion on their faces, as if this was as ordinary as brushing your teeth. The blue hedgehog scowled menacingly at them and knelt beside the grave. Tears came to his eyes as he read the tombstone in front of the newly filled grave.

R.I.P
Amy Rose
September 23, 1993 – September 23, 2011

Her birthday. She died on her birthday. And as much as Sonic tried to forget it, he remembered every single detail.

Amy sat in a secret clearing, under her favorite cherry blossom tree. She leaned back and watched the flower petals fly free in the wind. She was going to do that some day. She was determined to see the world in every way she could. Sonic promised they would do it together.

And speaking of that certain, handsome hedgehog, he had entered the clearing. She smiled and waved him over. He sat next to her and leaned back and sighed, closing his eyes. Amy couldn't help but stare at him. She stared at his muscular body that had saved her so many times before. She stared at his perfectly straight, long, royal blue quills and had the abrupt push for to comb her fingers through them. She stared at his warm, tan skin and had the sudden urge to wrap those strong arms around her. And then his lips; he wonderful, tan, full lips that talked to her so many times for hours on end, and she had the advise to kiss him then and there.

But of course she didn't. She knew he didn't like her the way she wanted to. He was her best friend, and she was fine with that. For now. She didn't want to ruin anything they had now.

He opened his eyes. Her absolute favorite part of her hero was his gorgeous Emerald green eyes. They were so deep and moving, she could have gotten lost if she gaped at them long enough. Sonic turned to her and smiled widely, his signature smile that he reserved for her at times like this.

"Come on," he said, standing up, "I got something to show you," he held out his hand to her. She took it and Sonic slung her onto his back. He ran out of the clearing at sonic speed and they ended up on a hill overlooking the blue/green ocean. They weren't alone.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

All her friends were there: Cream and Cheese, Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, Vanilla, Chris, everyone! She smiled happily and Sonic put her on the ground.

"Thanks, guys!" she cried! Cream pulled out a battery powered boom box from the Thorndike's car and turned on the radio. There was so much to do. Several tables were littered with food like nachos, pizza, soda, cookies, cupcakes, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and punch. There were games, like Pin the Tail on the Bat (Rouge didn't seem to like it too much) and Twister and Tag and Spin the Bottle. Amy's birthday wish came true as she spun the bottle and it landed on Sonic. Everyone laughed as he turned as red as a tomato and gave her the quickest peck on the cheek.

By the time the sun had begun to set, they brought out a cake and put it on the table in front of her. It was strawberry with butter cream icing and pink frosting words on the top spelling "Happy Birthday Amy". They lit the candles and sang "Happy Birthday" softly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The only thing that would make this any better was if Sonic told her he loved her. She opened her Jade green eyes and blew out the candles one by one. Her friends clapped and cheered and they started cutting the cake.

"Thought you could have a party without me, did you?!"

Eggman flew over the cliff in his wheezing hover chair, cackling loudly like a hyena. Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance and turned to him, "Isn't it time you gave that chair a break, Eggman? It looks like it could die any moment. And some exercise wouldn't kill you, either. Although I wish it would." His friends giggled at his snarky comment.

"Hedgehog, you better hand over those Chaos Emeralds before I blow this mixer to smithereens," Eggman demanded.

"Is that what the cave men call birthday parties? Mixers?" Sonic chuckled. The laughing grew louder behind him, "Look Dr. Fatman, I don't have any damn Chaos Emeralds. Show some respect and get out of here, can't you see we're having a little celebration here?"

"Oh really? You don't have any?" Eggman pressed on, "Maybe you gave them to one of your friends for safe keeping,"

The crowd's noise died down. No one dared to look at each other. Dr. Robotnick snickered, knowing he was right for the first time. He peered closely at each face, hoping someone would give away a hint that they had any, "So which one has them, Sonic?"

Sonic's face gave nothing away, but inside his head was racing. 'Don't look at her. Don't look at me. Don't look at her. Don't look at me. Don't look at her. Don't look at me.' he repeated it over and over in his head. Amy thought the same thing; 'Don't look at him. Don't look at me. Don't look at him. Don't look at me. Don't look at him. Don't look at me.'

But Sonic gave in to his fear. He gave the slightest glance to her and then back to the villain. Eggman caught it. He smirked, a plan forming in his tiny head. He flew over slowly to Cream, intimidating her, the corner of his eye following Sonic. Cream shook in her tiny shoes and stuttered uncontrollably, her big eyes tearing up with fear.

"M–M–M–Mr. Eggm–m–m–m–m–man, I don't h–h–have any C–C–C–Chaos Em–m–m–m–meralds–s–s–s–s!" Cream faltered.

"Leave her alone, Eggman!" Sonic threatened, taking a protective step towards the rabbit child.

"Or what?" the scientist asked.

That did. Amy couldn't take it anymore. She stole a glance at her hero, and him her. Eggman swiftly turned to Amy and grabbed her arm, jerking her into the air.

"Let me go!" she cried. Eggman shook and shook her violently, "Give me those Chaos Emeralds, girl!" he demanded.

"I don't have them!" she screamed, struggling to get free. She brought out her Piko Piko Hammer and slammed it into his face. He cried with pain and dropped her. She fell to the ground and Sonic ran in front of her, shielding her from anything Eggman might do. Dr. Robotnick shook his face from pain and glared at the two, "You bratty hedgehog! I'll teach you never to mess with me again!" he screamed.

Sonic held his position in front of her, standing tall and strong without wavering. Eggman pressed a button on his hover chair and out of a little slot popped a laser. He fired it straight at Sonic. He pulled Amy out of the way and onto his back. She held on for dear life as he hopped from place to place, avoiding the beams of death Eggman shot. The rest of the team took out their weapons and began to attack Eggman. But his robot henchmen, with seriously rigged upgrades, jumped out and fought back against them, leaving Sonic alone to deal with him and protect Amy at the same time.

Sonic jumped off of one of the tables and over to the edge of the cliff. He tripped and Amy fell off his back and onto the grass. Sonic got up and helped her up. Eggman began driving them back to the very tip of the overhang. A robot claw shot out of the hover chair and stopped right in front of Amy.

"This is your last chance, girl," Eggman told her, "Give me the Chaos Emeralds, or you and your boyfriend are shark bait,"

Amy swallowed and peeked over at Sonic. He looked at her and nodded. She sighed and took three Emeralds out of a pocket in her red dress, putting them in the claw. The mechanical hand pulled itself back into the hover chair and Eggman sneered gratefully, "Good choice," he hissed.

And then a blast of blue shot right at them. Amy screamed as Sonic pushed her out of the way and jumped away. Eggman flew right between them and the pink hedgehog rolled off the cliff.

"AMY!" Sonic screamed. He ran over to the edge of the cliff. An unconscious pink body fell into the rocky water with a loud splash. Sonic prepared to dive in after him when Tails pulled him away.

"Sonic, stop! You can't swim!" Tails informed him, dragging him with great difficulty away from the sea cliff. Sonic growled and called, "Then someone get the police! Hurry!"

The police had come exactly thirty minutes later. They searched the water and in the rocks, but there wasn't a body in sight. They figured she must have drifted away into the ocean, but they promised to keep looking. A week later, they found her. A ting of corpse grey was added to her pink fur and her skin had turned pale. Her lungs were full of water and there were a few broken bones from the fall.

She had died.

He placed a bouquet of silver roses, much like the one he had given her the night he came back to Mobius, on her grave. It stood out against the red roses that lay with his. He sobbed and hung his head. Tear dropped rained down on the roses as heart shattering quakes erupted from his chest. He stood up and ran from the cemetery, ran from the town, ran away . . .

. . . to their special, secret clearing. The sun shone here, lighting up the trees and the dewy grass. He wiped the water from his eyes and stared up at her favorite cherry blossom tree.

"It's my fault," he choked, "It's all my fault. If I hadn't looked at her, Eggman wouldn't have gotten the idea. I should've stopped him. I should have done something. Amy, I'm sorry," he whispered to the tree, as if he were speaking to her, "I know I promised I'd protect you, and that I'd never do anything to hurt you. I'm so, so sorry,"

The clearing seemed to be getting brighter and brighter by the second. Sonic turned around and squinted toward the sun . . . only, it wasn't the sun. It was Amy. She wore a short, white dress with white ballet flats and a white head band. Floating above her head was a golden halo and on her back were golden feathered wings. Sonic gasped at her beauty and she smiled.

"Hi, Sonic," she whispered, her voice sounding like soft, ringing bells. He hesitantly held out his hand to her and she took it. He could feel her, feel her soft skin. He held her closer and cried on her shoulder, tears soaking into her dress. She giggled but held him and patted his back.

"Sonikku, this isn't like you. You don't cry," she told him. He lifted his head to look at her, "Amy, you're dead. How can anyone not cry?" she pursued her lips and took this into thought, "Yeah . . . I guess you're right. Everyone gets sad over death,"

"Except Eggman," Sonic growled, clutching her closer to him, "I'm so sorry, Ame's. I should've caught you. I shouldn't have given you those emeralds, I should've -"

"Sonic, Sonic, it's okay," she whispered, stroking his quills.

"But Amy, you never got to live your life. There's so much you could've done."

She smiled brightly, blinding him with light, and hesitantly kissed his forehead, "It's fine, really. I'm okay,"

Her light began to dim and she looked to the sky, sighing, "I don't have much longer. I just wanted to tell you not to beat yourself up over this, Sonic. It wasn't your fault," she smiled, "And I know you're going to kick Eggman's ass for me,"

"The hell I will!" he laughed, and then his face broke into an Earth shattering smile, taking Amy's breath away, "Ame's?"

"Yes, Sonic?" she asked, trying to regain air into her lungs. But he didn't give her a chance. He pulled her to him and pressed his lips firmly down onto hers. Her eyes widened, and then closed and she was swept into the moment. Her tiny little tongue slid smoothly into his mouth and played with his. He chuckled and fell backward against the cherry blossom tree. Sliding down it, Amy ended up in his lap, his legs between hers. She blushed wildly as his fingers trailed down her spine and she deepened the kiss.

Her light dimmed more and they broke for air. She breathed heavily and hoisted herself off him reluctantly. He picked himself up and pulled her to him again, whispering in her ear, "I love you,"

She smiled widely, her dead heart swelling and leaping with joy, "Gee, well, that would've been nice to know a few days earlier." She joked.

He laughed and kissed her one more time. When they pulled away, his face fell, "Will I ever see you again?" he asked.

She smiled sadly, "Someday," she whispered. He hugged her closer to him; he couldn't bear to let her go. Slowly, very slowly, the blinding white light disappeared, and so did Amy. All that was left in his arms was the memory of her. Tears shown in his eyes again and he looked toward the wind. He swore he could hear her sweet voice in it, whistling in his ear.

"I love you," it whispered.

A small cherry blossom petal landed in his hand and he smiled, tears streaming down his face.

"I love you too,"

"Goodbye,"

"Goodbye, my one sweet love,"