"A-amy? What's wrong?"

I looked up from my tear-moistened face. A tan-furred, lop-eared rabbit girl stood in front of me, with her hands on her knees. Above her, a white Chao with purple strands on the top of its head fluttered, holding a basket. The rabbit was Cream, and the Chao, who always wore a red bow tie was Cheese, and they were my best friends.

Sighing, I sobbed once more. I didn't know how to explain it to someone as young as Cream. Cream was only eight, and we knew all of each other's secrets. But through our closeness, I knew Cream had never had a kiddy-crush on anyone, unless she was hiding it. Regardless, I'm sure Cream never knew the sting of love gone sour, and I was positive she could be kept innocent of such matters for a little while longer.

Cream looked even more concerned now, and even looked as if she were about to cry as well. "Please tell me Amy, we're best friends, remember? Best friends tell each other everything."

As I got out of the sob, I finally relented. "It has to do with Sonic. He said he never loved me anyways."

Grabbing the basket out of Cheese's fingerless arms, Cream kneeled down with me. "I had a feeling something else bad happened; you weren't at my house to have our afternoon tea with my mom." Cream paused to retrieve something from the basket. Her hand cautiously pulled out a slice of yellow cake with vanilla frosting. "Why would that be so bad, Amy? He always ran away from you anyways."

I took a mental note of Cream's words. Yes, she had difficulty processing my true problem as I had expected. With a sigh, I started up. "Cream, you've never felt this way towards anyone, correct?" Unsurprisingly, Cream nodded.

"Okay, imagine if Cheese went missing, or worse yet…died." I wasn't sure if I had given the right gist to Cream, but I continued on anyways. "How would you, f-feel?"

By now, it was unstoppable. After my final word, my face was hijacked by those by now familiar convulsions; a duo of silver rivulets began their journey down my face. Soon, they were in ample company. The sobs utterly controlled me; my breathing was choppy now.

Looking down for a moment, Cream sat down alongside me, and Cheese followed her, too. "You know Amy, I see how you feel now. If I did lose Cheese, I'd be really sad too." Cream began to slide the slice of cake towards me. "Cake?" she offered. "I helped Mom make it."

I forced a smile in between my ample sobbing. "Thanks," I whispered. Slowly, I grabbed a plastic fork from the basket, and incised the tip of the cake onto my fork. Scooping up the wedge, I put in my mouth. Predictably, what would be rich vanilla flavoring was sogged up by my sobs, and I swallowed the bit without truly tasting it.

But then I forced another bite, and I felt okay. It began to taste less watery and more rich now. With the fall of a few stray tears, I had my mind off of Sonic, for the meantime, at least, as I munched on Cream's desserts and chatted with her about everything from how Cheese's subtle appearance changes to life before my friend's birth to our mutual friend Big and what he could be doing in the jungle.

However, our fluid conversation was to take a turn for the worse. Just after Cream, Cheese, and I had finished up Cream's cakes and cookies, Cream began to look very concerned, almost as much as when she was wanting me to open up to her about Sonic.

"Cream, what's wrong?" I asked.

In a distraught manner, the rabbit looked into my eyes. "Before I found you, Sonic told me something he heard. No it wasn't about you."

"What?"

My good friend looked even more fretful. "You know, Sonic said that Eggman took over some area nearby. I think he said it was a little kingdom called Knothole. And he's looking to get control of Green Hill Zone next."

My temporary peace had been shattered like glass, just as it was the moment Sonic told me he just thought of me as a friend. I was confused; Eggman was notorious for being feeble and never succeeding with his grandiose plans. But this time, it wasn't as personal. And most importantly, Cream and I could do something to help.

I turned to Cream. Whispering, I said "Let's go there. NOW. The people there need our help. Sonic can take care of the rest."

With that, Cream and Cheese took off into the air, and I hit the ground running. I followed Cream's lead, hoping my pal actually knew where this "Knothole" was. Unknown to me, we would meet someone who would change our lives, just as Sonic's revelation did. Forever.