Knuckles opened his eyes, finally waking up from a deep sleep. He definitely needed it from the beating he had endured yesterday. The echidna glanced over to his side, expecting Rouge to be there, but to his surprise, she was gone.

"Rouge?" He called out and stood up, hoping that she was still around. Despite how irate he acts around he, he really did enjoy her company. Knuckles walked to the edge of the river and splashed water on his tired face.

"Knuckles?" A high-pitched voice called out and he turned his head.

"Cream?" He watched the small rabbit and her chao run towards him. "What are you doing here?"

Cream's eyes widened as she stared at Knuckles' broken fist. "I was out exploring with Cheese when I saw you. What happened to your hand?"

Knuckles rubbed his fists and looked up at the sky. "It's those things we were fighting. Somehow, I ended up lost in this forest. Rouge was here but…." His voice drifted off and Cream nervously held Cheese by her side, remembering the awful fight the team had gone through. "I'm sorry I haven't seen her. But the Blue Typhoon is over there." She pointed towards a large spacecraft sitting on a clearing in the woods. The Blue Typhoon stood out in its position; it looked so out of place in the dark forest of trees.

"Oh…" Knuckles muttered and started walking towards the ship. Cream innocently followed behind him with Cheese faithfully trailing along.

Amy's POV

"Amy!"

I whipped around, hearing a familiar voice shout out my name. Oddly enough, it was Sonic, running towards me with a concerned look on his face. "What did I do, Amy? Please…" He held my hands and looked deep into my eyes. "I want to make things right."

"What….?" I mumbled, confused as to what he was shouting about.

"You've been…ignoring me." He looked down at his feet. "I was wondering what I did to make you so upset."

Reluctantly, I didn't answer and just started to walk away from him. "I don't have to be around you all the time, Sonic." I said, trying to keep myself from going back with him. "It's not like I'm in love with you or anything. You aren't the only thing I care about."

Even I myself, was shocked as the untruthful words came out of my mouth. The first thing I wanted to do was apologize, but I couldn't. If I didn't let go of him now, I would never be able to later; and my whole life I would be trying to love someone who had no feelings back for me whatsoever.

"What do you mean, Amy?" Sonic ran up to me and grabbed my arm with a hurt expression on his face.

"I mean that I'm done, Sonic!" Tears started running down my face as I struggled in Sonic's gentle grasp.

"Huh….?" He stuttered, wondering why I was so upset.

"Ever since the day we met, all I did was show you how much I cared about you!" I was practically screaming at him now. "But never, not once in my life, have you ever told me that you cared about me! It's like I don't even exist to you! I'm through with all the hurt, all the running!" I looked down at the ground and tried to hide my tears.

"Amy….I didn't know…" Sonic mumbled, shocked.

He tried to move towards me, but I jumped back. "I never want to see you again, Sonic the Hedgehog!" I yelled before running off alone, in the cold desolate forest.

And this time, I wasn't coming back for anything.

Sonic's POV

I stood there frozen, watching her run away from me as if I was some kind of monster. Everything she said was true, yet, it felt like I was hearing it for the first time in my life. Suddenly, my legs gave out on me, and I sat there, kneeling on the ground. I touched my face and stared back at my hand in shock. Tears. Not caring who could see me, I let myself cry. I had never felt so rejected, so alone, or so hurt before, and I could only imagine how much worse Amy was feeling. The pain I was feeling was worse than getting beat up by the toughest robot, or shot by the largest military tank. It was heartbreak.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"What's wrong with Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked, looking out the window of the Blue Typhoon. Both her and Knuckles had just entered the ship, and were confused as to why Sonic was standing outside, alone in the rain.

Tails joined her and worriedly stared out at the blue hedgehog. "I didn't see much, but he got into a huge fight with Amy this morning…..and now….she's gone."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and gave him a hard stare. "What do you mean….she's gone?"

"She ran off, somewhere out in that forest…" Tails pointed towards the seemingly endless forest of trees. No matter how bright the sun was shining, the area always appeared to be dark and gloomy.

"All by herself?!" Cream worriedly held Cheese by her side.

Knuckles stood up and looked out the window. "Does she have ANY common sense?! If she comes across another one of those monsters, she's a goner for sure!"

Tails opened the door and cautiously walked over to where Sonic was. He had been in that same spot all morning, staring out into the sky. "S-Sonic?" Tails took a step closer to him. "Are you alright?" Tails' eyes widened hearing that Sonic was softly crying. Sonic just stood there, hiding his face from the young fox. Tails stared at him with his deep blue eyes, and even though Sonic couldn't see him, he could feel Tails' concerning stare and it somehow convinced him to talk.

"Never in my life," Sonic spoke softly, still hiding his face. "Have I ever wanted Amy to hate me. And I ended up ruining her life."

Tails blinked hard and put his hand comfortingly on Sonic's shoulder. "I'm sure that Amy doesn't hate you, Sonic." Sonic pulled away, and Tails could actually get a good look at his face.

The hero that everyone looks up to; the strong, dedicated Sonic the Hedgehog, had finally broken.

His face was flushed with red and stained with tears. There was no longer a youthful sparkle in his eyes, but a sad, dull shine. "How would you know?! You weren't there when she broke down in tears because of ME!" He unintentionally started yelling at the fox, and Tails jumped back in fear and shock. Sonic looked down, ashamed of himself. "Now she's out there somewhere…I don't even know if she's alive. Especially with those freaks running around."

Tails started to fly up in the air and nodded his head towards the woods. "Come on Sonic," He smiled at the confused hedgehog behind him. "Let's go find Amy."