Eggman has gone senile. He used to boast about his plans, but this time he went as far as to announce whatever little thing he was about to do. Not that Amy was complaining; if it weren't for his loose lips, she wouldn't have found the way to save Sonic.

The artificial Chaos Emerald she took from Eggman absorbed the negative energy that he had poisoned Sonic with. Sonic must have been particularly careless because Eggman had taken him hostage in a life-threatening manner.

Amy didn't mind being able to return the favour by having their roles switched once in a while, but the experience wasn't worth it if she could lose Sonic in the process. Ideally, he should have found himself locked up somewhere, so she could come and bust him out with her hammer. Amy had plenty of experience of being trapped in cages and various locked rooms. Most of the time, she could have easily broken out on her own, but she still offered Sonic the opportunity to be her hero. As the hero, Sonic was obviously thoughtful enough to consider granting her the opportunity to save him…just that he wasn't ready to take this important step. The day it happened Amy would be so happy she could die, and that would be no good. Amy had a feeling that Sonic preferred her alive, and she always pursued her feelings.

That was how she knew that she should hold Sonic close, remove his gloves and put the artificial Chaos Emerald in his hand. Her own gloves had to be discarded because Eggman's incessant attacks sullied them and she would never allow such unsightliness to approach her hero. If she could help it, she would have taken a bath and nursed him in a more comfortable setting, but this was a life-threatening situation.

She would explain everything that transpired while he was unconscious and extol her love for him until he agreed to forgive her for the transgression of approaching him in her sorry state. She was sure Sonic would understand. Sonic was amazing like that.

And now she could keep this amazing hedgehog warm while nursing him back to health. Sonic looked so peaceful in his sleep. Every night, Amy would pine for a chance to observe him napping. The dreams he was having gave her imagination wings. She would have gladly paid a life and a half to see the things he saw at night. A hero's dreams had to be something else and being there for him all the time would guarantee that they'd share every experience, leaving nothing undone or unsaid.

In truth, Sonic was undoubtedly dreaming about her every night. That was how much he loved her. Amy would wake up horrified whenever one of her dreams failed to include Sonic in an all-encompassing way, but this kind of thing never happened to Sonic on her watch; his face was serene, a reflection of his unwavering love for her. She was positive that he saw her in his dreams just like in broad daylight, only without the limitations of the cold, cruel world around them. Sonic's dreams were not distorted by the world. They were perfect. And, by finding a way inside them, she, too, would be perfect.

The healing was working. The Chaos Emerald let off a familiar glow and Sonic's bleeding slowed down. Tails didn't have the facilities to treat Sonic properly, which Amy found disgraceful, so it was on Tails' conscience that she had to rely on this one method to make Sonic feel better. Amy considered swallowing the emerald to use its power to heal Sonic through herself, but she was too timid to carry it out.

She had to steel herself to find the right words to greet him the moment he woke up and realised the situation he was in. Sonic was beginning to stir. It must have hurt to move, so she held him tight and positioned his head in a way that she could feel his every breath. It was the least she could do.

"I'm sorry, Tails," she heard him say. "I let my guard down."

Amy nodded to him and stroked his pale cheek. Blood loss gave it a distinctive colour that Amy couldn't help smiling about inwardly. A long nursing period was a must, and she would do her best to dispel his feverish mumbling, so he would recognise that it was his girlfriend, not Tails, who was there for him at his time of need.

"My hero," she whispered back to him and closed her eyes. The seating was uncomfortable, the wind was blowing in her face and she was shaking from the cold and exhaustion, but as long as Sonic was with her, none of that mattered.

"How's Knuckles doing?" Something with two tails that didn't matter asked about another thing that didn't matter. Amy could have neither peace nor quiet in this situation. It was appalling.

"How should I know? You saved Knuckles," she said, careful to stress Tails' responsibility.

"H-ah. Doesn't she know I can't fly the plane and look after the wounded at the same time?"

How rude! If she weren't preoccupied with Sonic, she would have walked over there to give Tails a piece of her mind. The plane was designed for two people, yet Tails insisted on handing the single passenger seat to Knuckles, seeing that Amy wouldn't let go of Sonic. Amy believed that Knuckles would have been better off in the luggage compartment since he had already slid down from his seat.

Amy threw a sideways glance at Knuckles' features. "He's breathing."

"Anything else?"

Tails was suspiciously attentive to Knuckles. If the echidna learnt of this, he was bound to scold Tails for embarrassing him. The sole guardian of the Master Emerald didn't take kindly to exaggerated displays of empathy.

"I'm not sure. I'm checking Sonic's heart now."

"You mean his pulse?" she heard Tails ask her in an odd tone.

"I know what I said."

Tails turned around to look at her and perked an eye ridge. "Huh?"

He saw what she was up to. Amy has buried her fingers in the fuzzy softness of Sonic's chest. It was a habit of hers, so she knew how to brush the short bristled hair aside and improve the connection she had with his heart. It knew she was there and its soothing rhythm was proof. If it weren't for her own heart pounding like a drum and the on-looker interrupting a private moment, she would pressed harder to comfort Sonic and further reduce the distance between them.

"Sh-shoo. Eyes on the road…sky. Knuckles will be fine." Amy waved at Tails before turning away from him, careful not to miss a beat of Sonic's healing.

She heard Tails mutter: "Sonic is going to have a field day when he finds out."

Her face twitched at what that could mean. The potential misunderstanding would be detrimental to Sonic's health. That she could not allow.

"Tails?" she began.

"What?"

"Thank you."

Tails didn't reveal it at first, but her gesture clearly shocked him. "Wow! It's rare for Amy to recognise my contribution. What happened to Sonic must have seriously shaken her… I guess I'll break the news to him slowly. We couldn't have done it without her."

Such honesty was refreshing. At least, he wasn't going to interfere with her plan for Sonic's recovery.

Tails provided the basics while Amy handled the rest–Sonic's rest. She was proud of that pun. Sonic made plenty of puns and they always put her in a good mood. It was no surprise his talent for puns grew on her. They were that close already and now she had another way to make him smile.

She sighed dreamily at the memory of his smile. The temptation to turn off and let her imagination loose was palpable, but so was Sonic's hand. She hadn't released it since entering the makeshift infirmary. Amy felt that it was her duty to heal Sonic to the best of her ability.

No, it was her duty to go past her limit in healing him and rekindle his admiration for her in the process. Being unconscious was the worst. It cut out a part of one's life, hampering the experience of loving and being loved. Amy loved Sonic and he loved her, but his love could not progress while he was out cold. His love was frozen in time while he remained in this pitiful state.

Amy pressed her hand against his to coax the Chaos Emerald placed in-between to do its magic quicker. Colour was starting to return to Sonic's cheeks, which showed that Amy was doing the right thing. She knew what was good for her boyfriend. After all, she knew him well.

This knowledge always gave her a peace of mind. Seeing how tranquil he looked like right now, Sonic was sure to agree because he knew her well also. She was caring, attentive and dedicated to her hero. He trusted her. In fact, he has already entrusted her with his life, a closely guarded secret that only a heart overflowing with love could uncover. Because of this, everything he did made sense to her. Her own actions merely followed his lead.

"My hero," she mouthed noiselessly as she took her unoccupied hand to trace the rim of his ear, careful not to disturb the healing. Having obtained plenty of practice while tagging along with him around the world, she had his reaction thresholds down to a tee. The temptation to cross one of them by stroking inside his ear was there, but Amy would bear it. Love was best shared and it wouldn't have felt as nice for her to play with him whilst he had no way of responding to her advances. Her love would grow and his would stay the same.

Amy hadn't realised that she scared herself with that mental image and was now biting her lip. It would be her duty to bring Sonic up to speed after his lapse in consciousness. He was the hero and she wouldn't dare to question the right for his love to tower over and nurture hers for an extensive period of time. Without his guidance, her love would be lost and directionless, inert. Yuck!

Commotion out the window distracted her. She heard a bunch of high-pitched complaints before a yellow two-tailed fox intruded on Sonic's healing time by entering through the window like a thief. Tails stared at her for a moment and pointed accusingly, his finger shaking. He was biting his mouth to stay quiet and keep his irritation in check.

"You-you…leech! I knew this would happen if I let you have your way. You locked me out in my own property, ignored my knocking, banging and pleading, so you better have a good excuse because I am…so far…on the edge." Tails took a deep breath and closed his eyes as if resisting great pressure.

Amy blinked in confusion. It was shocking to hear such an admission. Tails was normally much more collected than this, but she understood where he was coming from. Tails cared about Sonic and was anxious about being unable to see him. Perhaps, the tacit agreement she had reached with Tails was too much for him: since Amy recovered the artificial Chaos Emerald, she was in charge of Sonic's healing and her patient should not have been disturbed by outsiders. More importantly, she hadn't noticed any knocking or attempts to enter until Tails flew in. She was too focused on the matter at hand.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Tails. I, umm, got lost in thought." Amy looked at Sonic as she spoke and realised her hands were still preoccupied with him. Warmth spilled over her cheeks for reasons unknown to her.

Tails gaped at her, his head shaking in disbelief. His attitude towards her was clear and she would have to intervene fast if she wanted to avoid quarrelling with Tails in Sonic's presence. Amy had to make a sacrifice for her boyfriend's sake.

She raised her face to look straight at Tails. "I love him. When I see him like this, he fills me and I space out from the rest. You understand, right?" She pulled on Sonic's arm, bringing it closer to her chest, and clasped it between her hands.

"No."

Amy smiled at what she heard. Tails was a friend and it would have been beautiful if he understood her feelings for Sonic, but he was young and still had a lot to learn, so it wouldn't hurt her much to explain the obvious. Sonic had once asked her to imagine what it would be like in another person's shoes and she frequently exercised his suggestion. That was how she improved her understanding of Sonic.

Tails, on the other hand, was inscrutable. No one could know what he was on about unless he explicitly stated it himself. Amy guessed that he wasn't ready to tell her yet. She had to try again.

"No? I'm sorry, I see I'm not making much sense to you… How should I put this…umm." She paused and let go of Sonic completely. The emptiness that washed over her formulated the right words. Tails was clever, so there was no way that he hadn't reached this conclusion himself, meaning that he intended for her to feel this emptiness inside. Amy gripped the hem of her skirt as a sense of loss took hold. "A moment later and I would have been too late to have this."

There was an audible whine from Tails. "I'm sorry, Amy, I didn't mean to!" He fidgeted on the spot, unable to decide whether to approach her and make amends this way, eventually opting to stay on the spot, facing away in embarrassment. "I just… Knuckles has it bad. I wanted to ask if you could hand the Chaos Emerald to him."

"Of course!" Amy saw no problem with the request and offered the jewel to Tails. He was worried about his close friend Knuckles, an attitude she found admirable. Though, the confusion he expressed when he realised her intention–having him leave with the emerald to attend to Knuckles–didn't sit well with Amy. If he cared about Knuckles so much that he chose to risk disturbing Sonic, he should have thanked her and gone over to his patient immediately.

"I'll watch over Sonic for now. He needs professional care, not a possessive fangirl pretending to be a nurse."

Amy thought her ears were failing her. Tails appeared to have said something outrageous after shutting his mouth. His attitude has been going down for a while now and Amy was worried about what could have caused this sudden change. Even if he was rattled by the possibility of losing Sonic, he should have stayed strong for his sake like a good friend.

Before Amy got the chance to address the issue, her concentration shattered: Sonic's eyelids slowly rose, bestowing the sight of his dazzling green irises upon the world. The hero was back. Order to Amy's life was restored at last.

"Sonic!" she squeaked excitedly. She had missed him so much she was ready to pounce at any second.

She was stopped dead in her tracks when he started screaming sooner than he regained focus. It was an uncharacteristic panic fit that clashed with his outer calm. Tails didn't seem to be surprised by it; he didn't react to it in any shape or form all the while Sonic continued screaming.

The blue hedgehog wouldn't stop panicking until he spotted Tails next to her and opened his mouth to speak. "Ah, Amy. What's up?"

By then, Amy realised that something was seriously amiss. The joys of a reunion would have to wait. She had to figure things out if she wanted to keep Sonic safe.

"I'm going…to check on Knuckles now."

Amy heard two people sigh in relief once she said that even though neither Sonic nor Tails showed a visible reaction. Was the stress getting to her? Was she going insane?