Samantha27, Tyranifex, Delta 2-1, 01sonamy01, Jonman14, Kurdave125, Alyssacookie, Koollolly, Novus Umbra, SherryBlossom, GGUNDAMFAN34, fireworkmage, JackleTheKitsune, AutoKnight01, faithshipping4life, Mana the Cat Magician, JazzTheHedgehogSingingStar, IHeartSonAmy, Sonamyluver718, Kizziefoshnizzie, ZehHyperactiveAuthor, zeldaskeeper, PhineasandFerbs1Fan-notIrving, poka, SkulY2K, SherryBlossom: Now you see why I don't write Shadow more often... *shakes head* Oh well. Any tips would help.

Oh, and I forgot to mention last chapter... it was Samantha27's idea for Amy to throw Sonic out of the house... but it was completely mine about Shadow and him thinking Sonic was cheating on Amy when he wasn't. Sorry I forgot to mention that. ^^'

Chapter 7: All My Fault


Cream the Rabbit sat down on the edge of her mother's loveseat, one arm draped around Amy's shaking shoulders, the other cradling an unusually quiet Chase. Only a few hours ago, the teenage mother had come into their house, crying and whimpering about how she'd found out Sonic had been cheating on her. This knowledge had shocked Cream: Sonic was cheating on Amy? Was that even possible?

"Why would he do that, Cream?" Amy asked, her eyes glittering with tears. "I feel so, betrayed... all this time... he didn't love me... and now he's gone... with another girl..."

Cream frowned more and hugged her sister closer, and the pink hedgehog rested her head on the rabbit's shoulder. "Why..."

"It's okay, Amy... please don't be sad... things will turn out okay..."

"Amy, honey, please try to calm down," Vanilla said for what seemed like the millionth time, and readjusted Sierra, who was in her arms and playing with the frills on her dress. "You don't have any proof that Sonic did anything."

"I know..." Amy sniffed and bit into her trembling lip. "But why would Shadow lie and tell me that? And..." Amy hesitated, but realized it'd be better to get it all out anyway. "I'd ... I'd always been worried that he was cheating on me... anyway... and so, hearing that was like... " she wiped her leaking nose on her sleeve. "... a confirmation."

Vanilla frowned. This whole thing seemed very unlikely to her, especially since Amy hadn't seen Sonic with another girl firsthand, and was going off a rumor from a very dubious source. "So... you're going to believe Shadow more than Sonic?" Vanilla asked gently.

Amy closed her eyes. That was the issue, wasn't it? Should I have believed Shadow...? she wondered. At the time, Amy had just been too horrified to even think that Shadow might not be telling the truth. She'd harbored that doubt and distrust of Sonic for a while; her faith in him had been pretty thin. And so one little hole had torn the whole darn relationship. Her rather quick and violent temper had played a role as well. "Oh, but Ms. Vanilla... why would Shadow-"

"No, dear," Vanilla said firmly. "Forget about Shadow. Think about Sonic. Has he ever acted suspicious? Has he been distant towards you? Or has he been showing you love this whole time?"

The pink hedgehog looked down at her hands, and suddenly felt a hint of remorse. Oh, what if... Sonic wasn't really cheating on me? Then I would've snapped at him for no reason...

"No..." Amy said. "Just... no... he is... argh, I don't know!" Amy started crying again, more from confusion than anything else. "But... he's gone... and I want him back...." she wailed. "I didn't mean it... I didn't..." her words were swallowed up in sobs.

Cream continued her soothing back rub, tears pricking at her own eyes for her best friend. What could she do, though? Sonic was either with his true girlfriend or on the other side of the world right now, and he was what Amy wanted.

If only, there was something I could do... Cream thought, and then an idea popped into her head. He would know what to do.

With one arm still curved around Chase, Cream suddenly slid off her her place on the loveseat to slip away from the living room, putting Chase at her hip. Her small feet padded against the floor until they finally reached the kitchen, and the baby hedgehog reached over to grip one of her ears, trying to put it in his mouth.

"No Chase," she scolded her nephew gently and pulled away her long ear from his mouth.

Finally coming upon the phone, Cream's free hand took hold of it and started dialing up the numbers she'd embedded in her memory. The small kitchen phone was the only thing they had at the moment, though Cream was hoping to get a cell phone soon. But that thought didn't linger in her head long as the dial tone cut off.

"Hello?"

Cream's heart skipped a beat at his voice and she smiled in spite of the situation. "Hi Tails."

The fox on the other end blushed. Even over the phone he knew that voice. He turned on the visual part of his phone, hoping that he would be able to see her, but all he got was a blank screen and just audio. Dang, she must be calling from her house. One day, when he worked up the nerve, he'd install a video phone there.

"Hey Cream, what's up?"

"Can you come over?" her voice took an urgent tone.

"Ummmmm," Tails stuttered, still blushing. "...sure... why?"

"Good. Because... oh have you heard? Sonic and Amy got into a huge fight."

"What?" Tails blinked. This certainly was news to him. Why, just yesterday Sonic had bought her the engagement ring. Oh don't tell me he asked already and Amy turned him down... "Why?"

Cream swallowed and lowered her voice even more. "Sonic has been cheating on Amy."

"What?" Tails repeated, this time much louder, and Cream cringed at the noise in her sensitive ears. "Cream, that's... ridiculous. Sonic would never do that!"

"I know," Cream admitted. "But Amy can't stop crying. She said Shadow told her he saw Sonic with another girl yesterday."

"Another girl? Who was it?" Tails continued, still incredulous.

"She didn't say. But please, Tails... can you come over and assure Amy that Sonic wouldn't do that? She's just really upset because she yelled at Sonic and threw him out of the house."

Tails winced. That didn't sound good. Well, he'd just have to go over there and vouch for Sonic, then... assuming the hedgehog really was innocent, of which Tails had no doubt. Otherwise, why would he be buying Amy the engagement ring yesterday? Obviously he wouldn't do that if he was messing around behind Amy's back.

Why would Amy believe Shadow, though? And more importantly, how in the world would Shadow get the idea of Sonic cheating on Amy? Apparently he'd seen Sonic with another girl... but who? Who else would Sonic ever run around with...?

And that's when his blood froze.

"...Tails, you still there?"

Oh no... Shadow must have seen Sonic with Rouge when we were looking at engagement rings! Tails realized, and had to swallow. Oh no! This isn't good! Oh... What did I do? This is all my fault! I'm the one who thought to bring Rogue along... and now...their relationship is completely ruined, all because of me....

Tails felt like he was about to cry when Cream called his name again.

"Tails?"

"Wha - Oh Cream," he half-sobbed. "I'll be right over..."

He turned off the video phone and closed his eyes. Oh, why why why why did I think to bring Rouge along. All she did was barely help us. And now Shadow saw us and got the wrong idea... and it's all my fault now that Sonic and Amy are broken up. Oh... I can't go over now, Amy's gonna kill me when she finds out... and Sonic probably hates me now...

Little did the sobbing fox know that right behind him, a black hedgehog was materializing from Chaos Control. His red eyes scanned the workshop, and finally came to rest on Tails, who was shaking. Shoot, he must have already heard. Shadow had been hoping to catch him before the knowledge.

"Tails..." he ventured quietly, and the fox opened his blue eyes.

Immediately ashamed that he had broken down into tears, Tails wiped at his eyes and turned to face his visitor.

"...Shadow?"

The black hedgehog remained where he was, a frown deep set into his muzzle.

"You were the one who told Amy Sonic was cheating on her?" Tails suddenly said, remembering what Cream told him. His eyes narrowed in righteous anger. "Why..."

Shadow looked down at the floor, remorse etched on his face. "I have made a grave mistake. I felt that she deserved to know when I saw what I did; however I just ended up ruining their relationship."

"But you know that Rouge and him couldn't be dating... I was there, with them! Didn't you see me?" Tails protested. "You know Sonic would never, ever do that! Why would you even think that!"

Shadow didn't respond directly. "I know that now... I acted foolishly. However there is still a chance to make things right, if only for Amy."

Tails shook his head. "Then why did you come to me first?"

Shadow produced the ring box out of his back-quills. "He threw this at me in his haste," was all Shadow said as he handed it over to Tails, who gasped and eagerly received it.

Tails opened it and sighed in relief at seeing the ring still in tact.

"If we show this to Amy, it will be proof of Sonic's real intentions," Tails muttered to himself, but then questioned the thought.

His stomach turned in indecision as he remembered his promise to Sonic, not to tell Amy. But haven't things changed now? "At the same time... won't that just make her feel worse, if we show it to her?" Tails wondered out loud. "I mean, if she's already thrown him out of the house... then it will be a double blow..."

"But then she will know that he wasn't being unfaithful, and will forgive him when he comes back," Shadow added, sure of that last phrase. "You hold onto it, though... I've done enough damage here."

"You're bowing out?" Tails asked, a little angry but not about to disagree with Shadow.

"No, I plan to go with you, if just to tell Amy that I was mistaken. But I felt that you would be able to vouch for Sonic as well. She'll listen to you."

Tails nodded, and closed the ring box, very conscious of what exactly he held in his hands. What this ring represented was worth far more than it's price in diamonds.

"What about Sonic? Do you think he'll come back?"

Shadow nodded slightly. "He acted in haste and ran away, as usual, but he won't be able to stay away for too long. But we don't have much time... I must undo what I've done," Shadow said and pulled out his cyan Chaos Emerald.

"Let's go, Shadow," Tails said, grabbing the hedgehog's arm. But even as they disappeared using Chaos Control, Tails couldn't help but still feel guilty.

...~...

"Amy, I'm here to tell you I've made a grave mistake," Shadow admitted as he looked into her sad forest green eyes. Seeing the girl so upset because of him was hard for even Shadow to take. He had always had a soft spot for Amy, even though he knew it wasn't romantic.

Romance was something he'd given up on long ago.

"I apologize. I did see Sonic and another girl together, but I found that nothing inappropriate happened between them. I acted without getting all the facts. I'm sorry that I caused so much pain to both of you." He looked at Tails, who piped up.

"He's right, Amy. Sonic's not cheating on you; I promise. He just had to ask Rouge's help for something-"

Her eyes flashed. "Rouge?"

Shadow closed his eyes, and Tails frowned. "Oh, you didn't know it was..." Crap, I can't keep my foot out of my mouth can I...? "But Amy, I was with them. And..." he was about to tear up again. "...it was my idea to bring her along. Sonic agreed, but it was my idea. So please, be mad at me, not at him... Trust me, Amy, he does love you." Tails was about to reach for the engagement ring box, but couldn't bring himself to do so.

"What did Sonic need Rouge's help with?" Amy spat.

Shadow opened his eyes to look at Tails expectantly, silently imploring him to show her the ring, but Tails shook his head slightly. "I... I can't tell you, Amy, but please... I was with both of them. And nothing happened. Sonic was... doing... something for you."

He looked into Amy's still tear-filled eyes, and realized he was going to have to show her now. He had gotten tired of his internal debating and had a feeling he'd regret it if he didn't do this when he could.

Tails stuck his his gloved hand toward Amy, palm up as he slowly opened his fingers to show her a velvet covered box. Amy inhaled sharply in recognition, her heart stopping. Is that... is that... Before she could get a good glimpse of it, Tails hid the box away again.

"Something you're going to love, Amy, and he asked for a girl's advice... though it was my idea. But please, Amy, don't be mad at Sonic. None of this is his fault... it's all mine..." Tails trailed off and looked at the floor.

Tears were about to flow from Tails' eyes when he suddenly felt a small hand on top of his, gripping it for comfort. He traced the arm up to Cream's brown eyes and soft smile, and the tears stopped before they'd made their way out of his eyes. He turned his hand over and let two of his fingers intertwine with Cream's.

Amy's own tears stopped, but she still sniffed. Was that, what Tails had, what she thought it was? Sonic really... looking at engagement rings? Is that what was in that box...? Oh, but... "...so Sonic's not cheating on me?" she muttered.

Tails vigorously shook his head, and Shadow said, "No."

Amy stared into space for a minute, trying to process everything, before her face crumpled up again. "OOOOOH, he wasn't, and I..." another round of sobs started. "... and I told him I hated him... and I never wanted to see him... it's all my fault..." Amy couldn't finish, for she was now shaking so badly that Cream pulled her into another hug, though she was still holding Chase with one arm.

"It's alright, Amy..." Cream soothed her best friend. "Sonic will come back... he knows you don't really hate him..."

Shadow suddenly stood up, knowing there wasn't any more to do here. "I will go look for Sonic... hopefully I can work things out with him as well. Chaos Control," he muttered and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Good luck with that," Tails muttered, though he was still watching Cream and wondering how the girl could have so much strength; to be able to hold and comfort her best friend, and himself, and hold her nephew so close as well. She was a pretty awesome girl.

A large boom suddenly rocked the whole house, throwing the inhabitants way off guard. Amy, Vanilla, and Cream all screamed, and the babies started wailing. Yet another explosion rocked the planet from the distance, and Tails was up off of his seat.

"Eggman," he breathed, used to these sort of explosions and knowing where they would come from.

Oh crap... that would be the time when Eggman would attack, when Sonic was nowhere to be found. But... it didn't matter. He squared his shoulders, his mind already in the cockpit of the Tornado. This would be up to him now... oh, if only he were braver...

He got up and set his face firmly. "Guys... be careful, stay here, I'll see what I can do..."

"Tails, you're going to go?" Cream asked him, her eyes huge in fear. "Alone?"

The fox nodded. "I have to Cream. Sonic's not here, and..."

"Wait Tails," Amy said and sniffed loudly, sending the mucous down her throat. She roughly rubbed at her still wet eyes. "You're not going alone."

"Amy, no." Tails refused, realizing what she meant. "You stay here, be safe... you're in no shape to go and fight." And Sonic's gonna kill me again if I let you get hurt...

Another huge explosion echoed in the background.

"No... I have to help." She insisted and stood up. "Sonic's not here, and... " she looked at both of her children. "Someone's got to protect them... and Sonic might show up..."

Amy felt her heart rip in pain, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to stand the fact that Eggman was attacking... and it might be the only way to get Sonic back.

You're going to leave your kids, Amy...? her conscious questioned.

I don't have a choice...

The teen mother looked at Vanilla and Cream, who each had one of her children in their arms. "Would you two take care of them...?" she felt a little awful.

Vanilla nodded softly. "Be careful, you two."

"I think that'd be defeating the point..." Tails muttered, and winced at yet another explosion. He had to get out there, very soon... without Sonic they didn't have much hope, though...

First Amy went over to Vanilla, giving her quasi-mother a hug, and then planted a kiss on Sierra's forehead, before repeating the process with Cream and Chase.

"Please, take care of them..." Amy pleaded again, looking back at the twins with teary eyes once again.

"We will... go stop Eggman, Tails and Amy," Cream said.

Amy nodded and then followed Tails out the door. They hadn't gone even a hundred feet before Amy had to stop running. She looked back at Cream's cottage and bit her lip.

"Tails, I just abandoned my children," Amy realized, frozen to the spot.

The fox turned, but had to cringe at yet another sound of an explosion, which was louder this time. The look of fear on the mother's face got Tails thinking, wondering if this very reason was why, for the longest time, women were not allowed to fight. But he wisely decided to hold his tongue on that thought.

"Just like Sonic..." Amy continued, and wanted to cry again.

Tails shook his head. "Amy, don't second guess yourself. Please? C'mon... without Sonic around... it'll be up to you, me, and Knuckles... we don't have time..." he tried to reason.

"No," Amy said and shook her head. "I... I can't leave them... " she insisted and ran back towards the house.

The cottage was soon darkly eclipsed by a gargantuan airship descending on it, ripping the roof off and throwing it to the side. Amy hit the deck to shield herself from any flying debris, but the shingles and wood landed on the other side of the house. A large protruding claw from the air ship then entered from the top, reaching inside to pull out the four inhabitants: two rabbits and two hedgehogs.

"NO!" Amy cried in despair for her children. "Sierra! Chase! NO! Come baaack!"

"Cream! Vanilla!" Tails called out from behind her, looking up as the airship floated away, leaving evil laughter in its wake.

"Oh ho ho! Look what we have here!"

"NO!" Amy cried out again, one hand reaching up towards the airship which was quickly flying away.

Her already flooded eyes were filling up to the brim once again, over-spilling down her face and muzzle. First, Sonic had been taken from her because of a misunderstanding... and then she'd said some untrue things to her love in anger. And now... she'd abandoned her own children, only for them to be taken as well...

A sudden bout of rage bubbled up in Amy's body, and the girl let out an angry yell that almost shook the earth to its foundations. It was the cry of a mother whose babies had been messed with.

"EGGMAN! You're going to PAY FOR THIS!" Amy screamed and pulled out her hammer before turning to run with Tails to scramble to get the Tornado ready.

...~... Half an Hour Prior ...~...

About a few hundred thousand feet above the ground flew a large, egg-shaped, souped up, flying fortress. And in control of this airship, was a somewhat jolly, fat man dressed in a red suit, cackling, "Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!"

But don't let that fool you... this man is no Santa Claus. Though he might be delivering a few presents later today.

"Oh yes... I have finally created the perfect weapon. And the best part? It's so very personal!" Eggman cackled once again as he talked to himself.

The evil doctor typed a few commands into his keyboard, his cobalt blue glasses flashing as the eyes behind them looked over info on the said weapon. It was a means to an end, this new creation. It wouldn't make him world dictator immediately, but it would put him well on his way to get there. By taking out his greatest opposition.

The other day, while looking through some scrap metal of one of the (many) old projects that Sonic had destroyed, Eggman had chanced upon a piece that had some of the hedgehog's blood spattered across it. That's when he had gotten the brilliant idea to use the blood to gather Sonic's DNA and create a missile that was designed to scan all the world for Sonic's unique genetic pattern, and track him like a seeker. But no matter how fast the hedgehog ran, he wouldn't be able to avoid it. The missile would explode on contact, making the hedgehog no more of a nuisance.

Brilliant.

He knew.

"Well, let's get this party started," Eggman cackled and began typing in more commands. His head was already spinning, dreaming about the world that would soon be under his command. "Oh Sonic, Sonic, Sonic... where could you be?" he muttered, watching the DNA radar do it's thing across the monitor.

"TARGET NOT FOUND IN FOUR THOUSAND MILE RADIUS," the computer spat back at him.

"DRAT! Where is that blasted hedgehog! He's never around when I actually want him to be!" Eggman yelled out, frustrated with his machine. He slammed his fist down on the computer, when an idea suddenly struck him. "Oh, he'll always come around when I start trying to do anything..." a smirk crawled up his face. "So, I guess I'll just have to get busy."

The doctor started steering his ship off course a little, allowing the radar to continue to search, but let a few bombs fall out of the ship, exploding on the ground below. It was no big deal; he was flying over rural, uninhabited areas right now.

"C'mon, Sonic! Show up to be the hero now!"

"SIMILARITY TO CREATURE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG FOUND IN VICINITY," the computer suddenly emitted.

"Similarity?" Eggman asked with surprise, but didn't have to question further, as the computer spelled it out for him.

"50% MATCH TO CREATURE SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. TWO CASES."

"50%?" Eggman questioned, though his IQ was high enough to figure out the only thing that could mean. No... it couldn't be... did Sonic really... Eggman found himself absolutely stunned at this knowledge. But then, out of nowhere, came laughter. OH, this was too perfect. Almost better than Sonic himself.

"Oh, ho ho ho ho ho! Sonic, starting a family and not telling me... you have just made the biggest mistake of your LIFE!" Eggman cackled, and guided his ship towards the fifty percent match, only to capture not only two way-too adorable baby hedgehogs, but two rabbits as well.

...A/N...

ARGH why didn't Tails just show her the ring?... I thought about that for a while... debated with myself, danced around it... and decided that hinting at it would be the best thing to do.

Yes, I am also very uncreative, with the whole Eggy thing. (And a DNA radar... isn't really possible [is it]... just go with it) But I needed a way to get Sonic to come back... and a way for Eggy to realize that Chase and Sierra are really Sonic's kids. What, don't tell me this wouldn't be an issue sooner or later... I'm making this story as realistic as possible, trying to hit all the bases... and Eggman hasn't gone anywhere, even if Sonic is being all "I can outrun my problems..."

Oh, and wow... I actually went one whole chapter without writing from Sonic's POV even once.. wow... that's something I haven't done in... *looks back at previous stories* two months...? What can I say, he's my favorite... but don't worry, I'll be making up for that.

Chapter 8 is going to take awhile, because I'm not even sure what I want to happen... I know where I want to end up, but it's the getting there that's the hard thing. Plus I'm now spending every other evening watching incredibly tall men run up and down a court and throw around an orange sphere... Oh, and I got a lot of college work to do at the moment as well. Yes, SilverDawn has a life... but hopefully I can spend at least a little time each day trying to tie the knot, though it seems like it's just getting more and more unraveled... it might make for a stronger knot, in some sort of odd way.