List: The Pen Vs The Sword, Flare The Hedgehog, Rugtugba, IHeartSonAmy, Silverdawn2010, Sonic5521, Annabelle Rose the Hedgehog, JonAxDrayda the Belgian Otaku, Shizuku Tsukishima749, and, Pyroboy5000!

Whoo! I finally managed to get past writer's block and its evil curse! Sorry it took so long to update this…but I'm back! Thank you all soo much for your awesome reviews! I loved reading every single one of them. Anyway, let's see where this story gets us, eh? Onwards, march!

Chapter two

The Other Side

Sonic loved her.

It was very easy to see, really. When Amy attacked him with one of her fierce hugs and he didn't run, it was even easier to tell. Why else would he just stand there and take it? Yes, Sonic was a nice guy, and he usually tried to keep all his friends happy. But the mere fact that he allowed her to squeeze the day lights out of him and to only say, "Amy, can't breath", when deep down he wanted a regular hug, meant he was either nicer than the fox knew, or that he was secretly harboring feelings for the pink hedgehog.

"How could he be in love with her with those hugs though?" Tails muttered, confused. Cream, who sat beside him shrugged.

"Who knows," she replied casually, as she put a washed up starfish on her and Tails' mound of sand that they declared their 'sandcastle.' "Maybe he's only seeing her other side."

"Her other side?" Tails echoed, confusion crossing his features, and Cream looked up.

"Yes, Tails," she replied. "Her other side. I mean, she's not always attacking him. There are times when they can share a peaceful smile with no hammer in sight."

"Yeah, well that's rare Cream," Tails huffed, and he leaned back against the rocky wall behind him. Sighing, the fox allowed himself to focus his gaze on the vast ocean, only feet from him. Somewhere, he knew Amy was wandering around the beach, probably sulking to herself that Sonic wasn't there with them. She had just woken up a few minutes ago after Sonic had pulled her out of the water, and she had insisted on going on her walk alone. Cream, who could read Amy like a book, knew that Amy really just needed time alone, so she had come down here, on the beach to spend time with Tails, and Chris. Chris, however, had decided to go off swimming, so that left just Cream and Tails.

"Why'd he dive after her?" Tails questioned. "He can't swim, and I'm amazed he was able to enough to do so." Again, Cream shrugged, as she vaguely watched Cheese as he swam by Chris, the chao seeming to love the ocean more than the sandy beach.

"He sure is a mystery," Cream commented. Tails sighed and picked up a random pink sea shell by his foot, gazing at it in the dimming light.

"Hey," he started, "didn't Amy make some kind of bracelet for Sonic out of shells like this?" Cream nodded, and the kit continued. "What do you think happened to it? I saw Sonic reach for it in my plane…"

"Amy probably lost it in the sea," Cream murmured sadly. "She looked for it in her hand when she woke up and began crying when she didn't see it." Tails bit his lip. He didn't like knowing his friend was in pain.

"You sure we shouldn't go comfort her?" Tails had asked this question before, when Cream had first gotten there, so he automatically knew her answer.

"No. She just needs to be alone. That is all."

Sonic wasn't at supper that night.

It was expected by them all, really. He had just shown a different side to Amy. He had swam and saved her. And the blue hedgehog would know that Amy would want to pummel him and thank him over and over if he got too close to her. So when supper began late that night, an empty seat made them all more aware of what had happened that day.

Sonic had risked his life for Amy.

But as they began eating away at their meal, Amy seemed just as talkative as normal, cheerful, even. She didn't seem to notice Sonic's absent seat, and Tails chanced confused glances at Cream regularly, who merely shrugged. Tails resisted rolling his eyes. Cream was getting good at shrugging.

Finally, Chris couldn't stand it any longer.

"Uh, Amy?" the young boy started slowly, wondering if he should even bring the topic up. "Why're you so…cheerful?" Amy looked at him in a confused manner, until suddenly something seemed to click in her mind.

"Oh, um, well," she said awkwardly, staring down at her plate, "I trust he'll come back sooner or later. That's all."

No one needed to ask who 'he' was, but everyone was asking themselves the same question: Why was she acting so carefree about his return that was sure to be awkward?

Cream was awake, thinking about getting up for a glass of water, when suddenly Amy was crawling out of the bed she shared with her and Ella. Pretending to be asleep, Cream opened her eyes just enough to watch Amy slip her dress on, and then she was out the door. Slightly taken aback, Cream blinked and slowly sat up, yawning tiredly, wishing she were asleep. Looking at the clock, she realized it was past three a.m., and she was quickly taken over with fear. Like many young children, she hated being up late. It scared her, being the only one, except Amy, to be awake.

Pushing the covers and fear from her, Cream stood up, decided to let Cheese sleep, and followed silently after Amy. She didn't know where the pink hedgehog was, but when she didn't find her wandering around the house like she sometimes did, Cream decided to check the park. Amy had gone to the park late at night once. Cream had no idea why; she just knew it as a fact. She had followed Amy for a while until she saw the park, and then tiredness had overcome her and she had gone back home.

But tonight, she wanted to know what Amy was doing. So the rabbit set off, into the dark night, quickly noting that the moon was absent tonight, as were the hiding stars. Cream shivered in her thin jacket, telling herself over and over that there was nothing to be afraid of, that just because everything looked dark didn't mean something bad was going to happen.

When she finally reached the park and saw Amy talking to Sonic, her eyes went huge.

Sonic and Amy were there, talking together, smiling at one another, and Cream gasped. Sonic's eyes weren't resentful, and she could see his green eyes even from where she stood, for the moon was coming out from behind a storm cloud. He looked like he was in love.

"Amy?" She would later come to hate herself for saying Amy's name, rather than watching to see what happened, to see if Amy's story would all add up in the end. But she didn't think that far, so she stammered out her friend's name.

"Cream?"

She watched as both Sonic and Amy lifted their heads in alarm, and suddenly Sonic was pulling away from Amy, who, Cream suddenly realized, had been wrapped in his arms. Her eyes filled with hope, even after the cobalt hedgehog took off in the opposite direction. Excitement filled her blood veins. Had Sonic finally admitted his love to Amy?

"Uh, Amy…?" she started as the wind rushed off. She tried not to sound too hopeful, just in case.

"Cream…He…" Cream could hardly stop herself from shaking.

"What happened?" the bunny squealed, rushing up towards Amy and bounding in place.

"Well…" Amy answered slowly, "I think he likes me!"

Cream stopped bounding. She raised a confused eyebrow, saying as she did so,

"Yeah, we've established that. What did he do?"

"Well…You see, I came out here to think things through, about you know…the beach." Cream allowed herself to grow excited again, even though she was vaguely aware of Amy's empty eyes. Maybe Sonic hadn't said anything. Maybe Amy was irked at the hedgehog for leaving her, again.

But she didn't allow herself to think like that. Not yet.

"And when I entered the park, there was Sonic, in a tree!" Cream gasped.

"Keep going!" she insisted, eager.

"I'll tell you on the way back, Cream," Amy replied, putting on her motherly face. "It's late. Why aren't you in bed?"

The bunny considered telling Amy the truth; that she had noticed Amy leave and wanted to know where she had walked off to. But something was holding her back, and even though she hated being dishonest, she replied casually,

"I was thirsty, and I noticed you weren't at home, so…" At least it was partly true, Cream figured. She had been thirsty. That's why she had been awake in bed in the first place. And she had noticed Amy wasn't home…

"But go on!" Cream urged, not wanting to be caught in her little white lie. "What happened next?" Amy laughed, a dead laugh. Cream decided not to notice it.

"Well, when I saw Sonic I decided I wanted to thank him," Amy said, in what sounded like a pained voice. Cream mentally bit her lip. So far nothing sounded too promising, and the two continued walking back towards Chris's home, Amy's speed being quick, Cream's short, for she wanted to hear the full story in detail. "So I walked up to his tree," Amy continued, "And said, 'Hey, Sonic! You weren't at supper, and I wanted to thank you.' And Sonic jumped down from the tree, and he said, 'Your welcome, Ames-"'

"Ames?" Cream cried, a grin popping onto her face. Amy frowned.

"Well, erm, yeah," Amy awkwardly answered. "Yeah, he sometimes calls me Ames." She scratched the back of her neck, like Sonic sometimes did when he was feeling out of place.

"Really?" Cream breathed, surprised. "I had no idea."

"Well, others call me Ames," Amy replied stubbornly. "It doesn't mean anything." Cream snorted.

"Aw, come on, Amy!" she teased. "Of course it does! Why are you so…out of character right now?" Amy stopped, frozen in her tracks. "I mean, you're not acting right. You'd only act this way if Sonic had, you know…ignored you, or something like that."

"That's right," Amy whispered, as if she was just realizing this herself. "You're right, Cream. I'm not in character. And it's because he doesn't care about me." Cream blinked.

"Sure he does!" the rabbit chortled nervously. "Amy, how many times do I have to tell you, he's just shy?"

"But, Cream," Amy hoarsely replied. "He ran away. You saw him."

"He always runs away-"

"My point exactly," Amy snapped, and Cream looked down. This wasn't going well at all. Amy sighed, and put a hand to her forehead. "I'm sorry, Cream," she muttered wearily. "I'm just really tired, that's all. It's been a long day."

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to," Cream replied politely, although she was aching to hear the whole story. "It's between you and Sonic."

"Yes," Amy said. "It's between me and Sonic." The pink hedgehog began walking again, and Cream followed behind dumbly, her head down. If only Sonic wasn't so shy…

"And then she just started walking off!" Cream cried, tears shimmering in her eyes as she explained the previous night to Tails. The kitsune stared off to space, his look serious. "It's all my fault, Tails. I didn't try to make her sad!"
"I don't think it was your fault," Tails replied thoughtfully, looking at Cream with mixed emotions. "Don't go there. There's something we're both not understanding." Cream nodded, gasping for breath. She didn't want to cry in front of Tails. Now wasn't the time.

"Then what do you think is going on?" Cream questioned, and Tails shrugged.

"You know Amy better than I do," the fox admitted. "If she's not telling you anything, we'll have to figure it out ourselves."

"You could ask Sonic," Cream pointed out. "You know him really well. You're closer to him than me and Amy." Tails sighed, looking tired.

"I doubt he'd tell me a thing," Tails answered sadly. "Every time I ask him what he thinks of Amy, he says, 'She's cool.' That's all. And then he changes the subject or runs off. He's not one to like romance-y conversations."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Cream sighed, and slid down to the floor in Tails room. It was about eight in the morning; she had woken up the fox that earliest she felt she could without him being too tired to register anything. She and everyone else knew that Tails was not a morning person in the slightest.

A knock on the door leading up to the room made the two look up, and Sonic poked his head through the door, grinning at his find.

"Hey kids," he said smoothly. "Time to eat. Ella's been wondering where ya are Cream. I said I'd find you."

"Thank you, Sonic," Cream replied pleasantly, pretending that she hadn't just been talking about Sonic with Tails, as she stood up. She reached a hand down and helped Tails to his feet as well.

"Hey, Sonic," Tails started, "where were ya last night? I didn't hear ya come home."

"Just out," Sonic answered casually. The fox and rabbit decided not to mention what they knew he was doing at three that morning.