A/N: Well, well, well! Hello, friends :D. I toldja I would update on time C:. Tuesday is on time now. Yess, Tuesday is my new Stone Cold updating day. So no need for "WTFEMMA" pm's after all. Sorry for the disappointment… but the deal still holds for this week :)!

Believe it or not, the thing that's stressing me out most right now, even with exams fast approaching, is art. UGH. Okay, so for art, we don't have an exam... which is lovely and all, I don't have to go to school that day, but we're doing this culminating project, a calendar. And I'm so behind with it. I mean, I've got 100 percent in art right now, but you can't get the credit if you don't finish. I know that I'll finish it… but that doesn't stop me from stressing out over it. We're supposed to be on day five or something, but I'm just so far behind schedule :P!

Oh well. It'll be fine. I just need to be reminded to breathe every once in a while.

Oh! And from now on, I'm going to be updating on Thursdays (:. MiLly and I decided that would be best, now we're also updating MoT on a weekly basis (Fridays, to be exact!)

Hmm… things've been pretty somber around here lately. One of my friends lost her older sister last Monday in a car accident. It's really awful, the poor thing. And, I mean, she was the last person to deserve that. She's one of the sweetest, happiest people I know… I just hope she's okay.

Anywaya, sorry for that x).

Readandrevieww!

--LA


What a dreadful sound.

It raked at the inside of his head with furious claws, shredding away at his ears. He could hardly move in a straight line, those squeaks and yelps made him cringe so. He, of course, had no way of knowing it, but the noise was Cream's sobs, as she and Amy made their way down the other side of the block.

The other watched him, not understanding. Though he could hear the same noise breaking the night air, it didn't bother him.

At both of their sides sat the partly-eaten, round little creature. He sat in static, which Sonic and Knuckles didn't mind. He'd been an irritating little insect, fluttering around just above their heads until one finally figured out that the way to go at the situation was to leap up and grab him.

Around them, a fine mist rose from the ground, making the air moist and cool.

The echidna roared furiously, his minimal patience finally snapping. He pounded his fists against the side of his head, trying to muffle the noise.

Sonic growled in annoyance. He continued forward, self-appointed alpha of their twosome. Knuckles didn't seem to be aware of the social status situation, but he was too troubled to object anyway. Sonic wondered, if you could really call the blunt inquiry cycling through his mind wondering, whether or not he would be better off simply re-killing the creature.

He gritted his teeth irritably, finally striking one hand out to deliver a sharp hit.

Knuckles snapped up, brow low, a growl emanating from his throat. He seemed to have been put in his place, though he sent Sonic a mutinous glare which was occasionally interrupted with a wince.

The two stood still for a moment, both listening to the girls' loud trek through the night. Knuckles half-consciously chewed the inside of his cheek. He started forward, clearly set on extinguishing the sound. Maybe he'd get a meal out of it, too. The little blue one hadn't exactly been filling.

Sonic shot in front of him, stabbing Knuckles with his hand again. He glared warningly, and turned away. When Knuckles tried to follow, he was met with another sharp strike. The body language somehow spoke even to his primal mind: stay put.

The echidna roared in objection, but Sonic had already disappeared.


"Cream, it's okay." Amy said impatiently, trying to think through her friend's miserable calls. Shouting like a banshee, the bunny had spent the past hour sobbing Cheese's name into the cool night. She looked up apologetically, cheeks pink.

"I'm sorry, Amy."

The hedgehog sighed. She wondered blandly if the sun would be rising any time soon. The street was empty, naturally. Particularly empty, it seemed, of any sign of Cheese. Even though her shouts could likely make most anything inaudible, Cream kept her ears perked askew for the slightest sound.

The girls walked on along the sidewalk, though Amy often found herself drifting from full awareness. She tried, for Cream's sake, to keep her eyes peeled, but they didn't want to focus, and she hadn't the energy to whip them into shape.

The bunny hesitated before letting her right foot touch down.

"Amy," she breathed, voice threatening to rise to an ear-splittingly high pitch, "did you hear that?"

Amy paused, swiveling her ears to pick up the noise.

"Footsteps." She said softly, hating the word as they slid past her lips. Those footsteps which had so seldom carried their owner in her direction. They could be no other's.

When she saw him zoom out onto the road before them, Amy's feet froze in their boots, suddenly too heavy with emotion to function. An instinctive fear in the back of her head screamed to run, flea, hide… to simply get away. But her chest was tight, compressed, paralyzed. Perhaps she'd drown in the fog. Perhaps that would be better than this; seeing his face again.

Only half aware of Cream's whimpers, she felt her own face contort into an expression of renewed sadness as that original wave of loss washed back over her, but she couldn't keep away the hope in her eyes. She felt arm come slowly forward as she dragged her feet in a hobble towards him.

He saw her. He was looking at her, but he couldn't be seeing her. Never could he stare at her with that look in her eyes. His eyes wouldn't let that look seep into them.

"Sonic," Amy half sobbed. Her voice seemed to be out of reach.

He didn't react to the sound of the word.

Amy had, deep down, half hoped it might be like a fairy-tale. The sound of her voice, softly speaking his name, could shake him from the monstrous form. He'd embrace her, like she'd always dreamed. The holes in his gloves would mend, and their hands would brush against one another.

He rushed forward, clasping both arm in a bone-shattering grip around each of her arms, and pinned her against a lamp post, letting out a bellowing roar into her face.

"Cream, go." Amy yelped. The bunny, giving her a horrified look, then disappeared behind the bushes and slid out of sight. Amy prayed that she'd run. Run straight home and padlock the door.

Sonic took one small steps forward, rankly exhaling in her face. She couldn't help but take in a shallow breath, though it caught in her lungs. Once, this had been Sonic.

"Sonic…"

Neck askew, she held her cheek against one shoulder, suddenly wanting to be nowhere near his touch. He disgusted her; his smell, his clammy grasp on the bare fur of her arms. But she feared what she would see when she looked into his eyes.

His hands tightened to the point that it was unbearably painful, and Amy let out a muffled, 'stop'.

She quivered beneath his fingers. Then, Amy felt him give her body a great shake, forcing her face into the open. Their eyes clicked together for only a fractured moment, two different shades of green meeting.

Amy let out a choke of tears at their emptiness, but his hands held her still. Though quickly snapped her head away again, she could feel that his eyes were still set upon hers. He gave her another shake, like she was a rag doll. Again, and again, until she finally returned the stare.

He peered imploringly. No intelligence, but there was something there. Amy felt an inexplicable rush of calm flow through her limbs.

"Sonic," She repeated once more, unable to stop a hint of hope and curiosity from lifting the end of the word.

Suddenly, he thrust his face into her quills. She could feel the tickle of his inhaling nose.

She tried to breathe, eyes peering frantically around. One of her hands placed themselves on his chest. She noticed it really wasn't all that much different. A small amount of force had him withdraw.

Amy looked at him, not noticing that he'd softened his grips on her arms. Again, his eyes didn't say anything to her. But she couldn't deny the familiarity. In spite of it all, she found herself with a sense of peace stronger than any she'd felt since he'd left the first time.

Without warning, he lifted her into his arms and shot from the lamp post's circle of light.


A/N: Hiiyaa :D!

Good gracious it's cold here 0m0. It was negative forty-one this morning. Forty-one below D8! I mean, what IS that? I'm sure everyone in the arctic is like, "suck it up", but I don't know how they do it up there! If any of you live in the Arctic, I salute you XD.

Ahh… I know this one's short, but I've got much expanding to do on Amy's little kidnapping :D. I'm trying my hardest to steer clear of the zombie-movie stereotype. Lots of originality to come. Yaay.

Ahh… can't really say too much now, I've got Science homework to do! … and math. And art. And geography, come to think of it. Shit.

Anywaay, R to the E to the VIEW!

--LA