Chapter 10
Rose Palace
Amy, Cream, and Rouge stood in front of the door petrified as Vanilla stood over them her arms crossed over her chest. "Where did you three go?" Rouge looked away from Vanilla and gently shoved Cream forward who clutched onto her new chao for comfort.
"Umm, we were just hanging out in the rose garden." Cream stuttered quietly. Vanilla nodded still staring her down.
"Really," Vanilla said reaching over and taking the chao out of her arms. "Where did you get this then." Cream looked away from her mom and looked back to Amy and Rouge for help. Amy came up next to Cream and gently squeezed her shoulders. "I made it for her." Amy said confidently.
Vanilla handed Cream the chao and got closer to Amy's face to see if she flinches. "That was nice of you. But now I have a question for you Amy." Amy looked back calmly and relaxed her muscles. But all three of them became terrified when Vanilla pulled out an opened envelope from her apron pocket. "Why do you have letter from Mobius signed by the prince."
Amy stared wide eyed at it mouth a gape as Cream and Rouge shrank back in fear. "W-where did you get that?" Amy asked on the verge of tears.
"Your parents were wondering where you were so they sent me to get you from your room. And when I came in I saw this sticking out from your desk drawer. I went to fix it and put it in but found dozens of letters from Sonic the Hedgehog, prince of Mobius." Vanilla said calmly.
Amy looked away in shame while Rouge was behind her hitting her forehead. "Please don't tell anyone." Amy said quietly. Vanilla lifted her chin so she could look Amy in the eye. Amy had tears at the corner of her eyes.
"I'm not going to tell anyone about this." Rouge's eyes widened.
"You're not?" Vanilla nodded with a small smile and handed the letter back to Amy.
"Next time though, come to me before running off so I can cover for you." With that Vanilla turned around and gently pushed Cream forward to go to their room. Amy gently grabbed Vanilla's hand to stop her. "Why?" Amy asked.
Vanilla turned around to Amy and gave her a gentle smile. "Because I have always seen this hatred that the Kingdoms have for each other as unnecessary and childish. Also, who am I, or anybody even, to tell you who you can and can't be friends with." The three looked at Vanilla curiously at the way she said 'friends', like it had a double meaning. As Vanilla and Cream walked out of the kitchen Rouge leaned close to Amy's ear to whisper to her.
"Is it just me, or did Vanilla mean something else when she said friends?" Amy shrugged and the two headed back to Amy's room.
Mobius Palace
Sonic lay in his bed with both arms resting behind his head, staring up at the ceiling as he thought about what had happened last night. Whenever Amy was near him he felt lighter and happier and whenever she touched him his heart raced. But he couldn't understand why until she left and he felt a little empty. 'Could I be falling in love?' he thought to himself.
Sonic stood up from his bed and walked over to his desk drawer and pulled out some of the recent letters he had gotten from Amy. As he looked through them he felt a small blush form on his face when he thought of Amy's pretty smile as she wrote them. When he got to the last letter he had gotten from her he stumbled upon the ball she was talking about. And how her parents would probably send dozens of men her way to try and find a husband. Just think about another man having all Amy's attention and love made his blood boil.
'Stop it Sonic,' he told himself. 'She's not yours. It's not your place to get jealous and possessive.' But he couldn't help himself. Then it dawned on him. This ball was tonight! Sonic sat down in his chair pondering another idea.
A knock suddenly came at the door and without waiting for an answer Knuckles and Tails let themselves in. "Come right in guys. Not like it's not your room." Sonic said sarcastically before turning back to the letter and his previous thoughts.
Knuckles rolled his eyes and sat at the edge of Sonic's bed while tails sat on the floor in front of him. "So what are we doing today? As far as we know there is nothing going on today." When Sonic heard that a small smirk came to his face as he got up and walked towards Knuckles and Tails.
"We do now." Knuckles and Tails looked at him curiously before Knuckles eyes went wide in realization.
"I know that look; you only look like that when you're thinking about breaking the rules. What are you thinking?" Sonic's smile widened as he put down the letter on the desk and headed towards his closet.
"We're going to a ball." Said as he started to pull out some of his party clothes.
Knuckles and Tails cocked a brow in curiosity. "Your parents didn't plan a ball for tonight." Tails said as Sonic came out of his closet with a nice button up shirt and slick black pants.
Sonic shook his head as he grabbed a black suit jacket and put it on and looked himself in the mirror. "Not here, at the Rose Kingdom." Sonic said as he put on two gold cuff links. Knuckles jumped off from the bed and stomped up to Sonic and grabbed him by the collar but Sonic didn't look intimidated. He just smirked at Knuckles' annoyance.
"You're insane, we just snuck out yesterday. I doubt it's going to work two days in a row. On top of that, you're asking us to sneak into the Rose Kingdom undetected, during a black tie event no less." Knuckles yelled angrily.
Sonic gently pulled Knuckles' hands away from him. "We'll be fine. My parents are usually busy all day anyway and they trust you two to handle. Also we can just sneak in through the servant's quarters, easy as pie." Sonic said as he fixed the collar of his shirt. "You two should get dressed."
Knuckles groaned and turned to Tails. "We are not helping you this time. Tails, please tell Sonic he is insane." But Tails just looked away shyly before standing up and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Tails?" Knuckles said nervously as Sonic turned to Tails with a hopeful smile.
"It could be fun." Tails said as Knuckles looked at him in shock. "I wouldn't mind, also I had fun with Cream last night and I'd like to hang out with her again. You can't say you had a horrible time with Rouge, you two looked to be happy."
Knuckles rolled his eyes and turned away hitting his head against the wall. "You two are insane." Tails smiled and shook his head before walking to the door. "I'll go get changed and be right back. You should do the same Knuckles."
After Tails had left the room Sonic turned to Knuckles with a smirk. "Two against one Knuckles," Knuckles groaned and slumped to the door. "I hate both of you." he said before leaving the room.
Sonic looked himself in the mirror and slicked back his quills. He didn't want to admit but he hoped Amy would be impressed with what she sees. Before Knuckles and Tails came back Sonic quickly opened his desk drawer and took out the necklace Aleena had given him and put it in his pocket. Ten minutes later Knuckles and Tails came back in wearing black suits and a black cloak over them. "We better hurry before anyone notices." Tails said. Sonic nodded and grabbed his cloak.
Slowly the three walked down the hall and did their best not to draw attention. It worked until Sonic's mother walked up to them. "Sonic," She said as she took his hands and kissed his forehead. "Where are you three going?" she asked sweetly. Sonic thought of an excuse.
"Tails said he found a book in the library on fencing and said Knuckles and I should check it out." Sonic said calmly. Aleena nodded and let go of him. "Well, have fun." She said before she started to walk off but stopped and turned back to them. "Oh, I almost forgot. Sally and her father will be here tomorrow to go over a few wedding details." Sonic suppressed a groan and nodded calmly and watch his mother walk away. Once she was out of sight he looked at Knuckles and Tails and nodded towards the front entrance.
Once they were outside Sonic got into the same wagon they used last night as Knuckles and Tails got in the front. As they got to the gates and were let out they left the wagon in the same place as last time and got on their horses. As they rode to the Rose Kingdom Sonic was filled with thoughts of Amy.
Rose Kingdom
Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails approached the doors of the Rose Palace. They circled around to the other side of the wall and saw a number of servants pulling bags of wheat off of a wagon. The got off their horses and tied their horses to a nearby tree before sneaking in with the other servants' into the kitchen. After placing the bags down the three snuck out of the kitchen and navigated their way towards the ball room.
As they approached the entrance to the ball room they were suddenly pulled into another hall by Cream, Rouge, and Vanilla. "What are you doing here?" Rouge whispered angrily to Knuckles pinning him against the wall.
Knuckles pushed her off. "Sonic wanted to come and I was out numbered." He said glaring at Sonic and Tails. Rouge hit her forehead and Cream shook her head in annoyance.
"What?" Sonic asked. Without warning Rouge moved his cloak out of the way and saw Sonic's black suit. "Just as I thought." She said before stepping back. Sonic looked down at his clothes then back at Rouge in confusion and shrugged.
"Take a look at the three of us and tell us what we all have in common." Cream said pointing to herself, Rouge, and Vanilla.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles finally took a look at what the three were wearing. Cream wore a silver dress that reached the floor with loose long sleeves and a diamond belt. A long sliver necklace with a blue stone hung around her neck and she wore small white heels. All the makeup she wore was just a simple light pink lipstick. Rouge wore a long silver dress with off the shoulder sleeves. At the bust was a single white ruffle and at the right side of her hip were white ruffles cascading down to the ground like snow. Around her neck was a white chocker with a blue jewel. Her hair was in tight curls and her face was painted in red lipstick, pink blush, and a light purple eye shadow. Vanilla wore a simple silver dress with a white corset.
Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know, you're all women." Knuckles said sarcastically. Rouge glared at him and smacked the back of his head. "Owe!" he yelled rubbing the back of his head.
"You're all wearing silver and white." Tails said.
Cream nodded. "And so is everyone who was invited. You go in there wearing black they'll have you in the dungeons in seconds. You stick out like a sore thumb." Sonic, Knuckles, and tails looked down at their clothes and then to each other.
"But we can help you." Vanilla said. Sonic looked at her in confusion. "I apologize, my name is Vanilla. I'm Cream's mother. And I'd be happy to help get you some better clothes. We still have some time before their majesties arrive to the party." Vanilla took Sonic's hand and started to lead him down the hall. "Cream you take Tails and Rouge, take Knuckles." The girls did as they were told and followed behind her with Knuckles and Tails.
In a room down the hall from the ball room Knuckles stood perfectly still as Rouge fixed the silver pants she had picked for him. "Okay change into this." Rouge said as she threw a silver shirt with a high collar to Knuckles. She turned around and went into a trunk to pull out two white gloves, a silver, a long white vest, and two black shoes.
When she turned back around she was shocked to see a shirtless Knuckles. And was even more shocked at his huge muscles. As she marveled at his large arms and toned chest a very noticeable blush appeared on her cheeks. Unfortunately Knuckles noticed her staring and chuckled as he put on the shirt. "See something you like." He said with a flirtatious grin.
Rouge glared and threw the vest at his head. "No!" Knuckles smiled and put the vest and then the gloves, belt, and shoes. "How do I look?" he asked. Rouge looked him up and down for a moment and had to admit to herself he looked handsome. Of course she wouldn't tell him that.
"Turn around." She said. Knuckles did as he was told. Rouge took out a rubber band and pulled Knuckled dreadlocks back into a low ponytail. After she circled him one more time and fixed any wrinkles or loose threads. "Wow," she said stepping back. "You almost look civilized." She said mockingly. Knuckles just rolled his eyes and the two walked out of the room.
In the next room over Tails wore white pants with a silver seam, black shoes, and a baggy silver shirt with a ruffled collar. He stood still as Cream placed a white vest on him. As she back up to take a look at him she gave him a soft smile. "Okay, you're done." She said before putting his other clothes in a trunk.
Tails cleared his throat and moved a little closer to Cream. "I didn't get a chance to tell you yet but you look very pretty." He said with a deep blush on his cheeks. Cream blushed and looked away to hide it.
"Thank you but you don't have to be nice to me just because Amy and Sonic are friends." She said before heading to the door. But before she could open tails stepped in front of him and looked at her a little hurt.
"I thought we were friends." He said. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you and for calling you shorty. It wasn't right for me to just assume you were bad. You're actually really nice." Cream smiled and her blush deepened a little.
"You should be sorry." She said smiling. "And I am not short, I'm fun size." Tails laughed as Cream opened the door and the two exited the room.
In the last room Sonic stood in a tight silver shirt, with a white jacket with a tail and a silver belt. As Sonic fixed the cuffs of the jacket Vanilla go some black boots for him. As he put on the boots Vanilla smiled at him. Sonic cold feel her eyes on him and looked at her a little awkwardly. "Yes?"
Vanilla came a little closer and her smile widened. "Are you going to tell her?" She asked. Sonic looked at her confused. "Tell Amy you love her?" Sonic's widened and he stuttered as he stood up and fixed his quills. Vanilla laughed. "I saw the letters and I could read in-between the lines. Why else would you have come all the way here?" Sonic looked away blushing. "Is that why you're here, to tell her how you feel?"
Sonic shrugged. "I'm not really sure how I feel."
Vanilla smiled gently and straightened out his jacket. "Well no one could blame you if you love her. She is very beautiful."
Sonic shook his head, looking off in a daze. "It's not just that. She is beautiful but she's also sweet and free spirited. And she just loves making others happy." Vanilla's smile widened and she turned Sonic around so he faced the mirror.
"Well, I'm sure she definitely has at least a little interest in a handsome young man like you." Sonic smiled at his reflection.
Vanilla stepped back and headed to the door. "We should go, the party is about to start." Sonic nodded but when Vanilla's back was turned he quickly grabbed the necklace from the pocket of his other suit and put it in the pocket of the white jacket. 'Here goes nothing.'
They all approached the entrance of the ballroom, Vanilla going in first to attend to her duties. As they passed the guards Vanilla turned back to the other five and whispered. "Cream, Rouge, keep an eye on them." And with that she left them for the evening, but not before giving Sonic an encouraging wink. Sonic gave her a small smile before following the others onto the dance floor.
Rouge turned to the boys and gave them a stern look. "Do not talk to anyone. Amy should be out in less than 5 minutes. And DO NOT, under any circumstances, talk to Amy's parents." The boys nodded and did not fight her. For five minutes they all just stood near the stairs drinking wine and waited on Amy. They all jumped a little when they heard trumpets blaring and an announcer introducing the royals. Sonic looked up and saw Amy's parents walk down the stairs and saw they held themselves the same way is parents did. Confident and cool but still approachable. And he could see where Amy gets her looks. Her mother was beautiful.
Sonic watched the two walk by and then turned back to the stairs as Amy walked down. And she took his breath away, along with every man in the room. Her hair was put up in a big bun and you could see her sparkling jade eyes even more. On her head she wore a white crown. Her face was painted with red lipstick, a light shade of eye shadow, and a little blush. She wore a white ball gown with a split down the middle where you could see her silver ruffled underskirt and bottom had a few scattered silver pearls sewn in. Her sleeves were a white see through that came to her elbows. She wore a simple pearl necklace, three pear bracelets, pearl earrings, and white heels. And she still wore her gold locket. Sonic couldn't take his eyes off of her and when she was half way down the stairs their eyes met and Amy looked at him, pleasantly shocked. And in that once look Sonic knew. 'I really am in love with her.'
Sonic walked in front of Amy at the bottom of the stairs and smiled brightly at her before taking her hand and kissing it. Amy smiled and bowed to him. "Do you want to dance?" Sonic asked. Amy nodded and started to pull Sonic to the dance floor. Cream smiled but Rouge looked at them curiously. Knuckles noticed and whispered in her ear.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"Am I the only one who saw that look those two shared?" Rouge asked as she pointed at the two who now seemed to be dancing rather close. "Almost like it had a deeper meaning behind it."
Sonic never looked away from Amy's eyes as he clutched her tighter. As they moved across the floor Sonic could see men staring at Amy in the corner of his eye and he would move to where they couldn't see her face. "So why did you come here?" Amy asked.
"I just thought it would be fun to hang out with you here." Amy smiled and laid her head on his chest. Sonic's heart sped up and he hesitantly rested his head on hers. 'Please don't let this end.' As they danced a man dressed in a very expensive white suit walked up and tapped on Sonic's shoulder. Amy and Sonic pulled apart and looked at him. "May I dance with the lovely lady?" Amy gave Sonic an apologetic smile and started to pull away but he pulled her back and held her protectively against himself.
"Sorry, but she's spoken for." The other man gave him a small glare and started to walk away. Amy looked up at Sonic curiously and he gave her a small smile.
"Oh this is not good." Rouge said as she watched Sonic and Amy while her and Knuckles were drinking wine.
"What?" Tails asked, being pulled away from his and Cream's conversation.
"Sonic's getting possessive of Amy…I think he might like Amy, more than a friend I think."
Knuckles and Tails burst out laughing, startling Cream and Rouge a little. After about a minute of laughing they calmed down and Knuckles explained. "Trust me, Sonic has never shown any interest in women. He barely ever notices pretty women." Rouge nodded slowly.
"Mmhmm," Rouge said coming a little closer to Knuckles with a sly grin. "Then why is he making googly eyes at her?" Knuckles looked at her curiously before looking over at Sonic who had his hand on Amy's lower back and was staring right into her eyes, never looking away. "Oh no." Knuckles said quietly.
Sonic looked around and could still see all the men looking at Amy. "Hey, in one of your letters you said I should see the palace rose garden in winter. Mind if I take you up on that offer right now?" Amy smiled and nodded before pulling him towards the door leading to the rose garden. As they walked out the door Sonic moved closer to Amy as they walked. Every few steps they would steal glances at each other and then look away.
As they approached a large tree with a bench under it Sonic noticed Amy shiver. "Are you cold?" he asked as he led her to the bench and sat her down.
"A little." She said rubbing her arms. Sonic smiled and took off his coat and put it around Amy before sitting down next to her. Amy snuggled into the jacket and laid her head on Sonic's shoulder and they both looked up at the stars.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Sonic asked as he kept his eyes on the stars. "The night we met."
Amy smiled and looked up at him. "I'm glad I went to Mobius that day. Can I tell you something?" Sonic looked to her and nodded. "I thought you were really handsome." Amy said blushing. Sonic chuckled.
"Can I tell you something?" Sonic asked. "I thought you were really beautiful." Amy laughed and hid her face in Sonic's shoulder to hide her blush. Sonic chuckled and rested his head on Amy's. With a deep breath Sonic started to build up some courage to tell Amy what he so desperately wanted to tell her. "Can I tell you something else?" Amy pulled away and looked him in the eye and Sonic lost a bit of his nerve. "Um, um." Sonic stuttered but then he and Amy got caught in each other's eyes and slowly started to move in. "I…I…" Sonic trailed off as he and Amy got closer and closer till their lips were only an inch apart. But they were interrupted when Knuckles, Tails, Cream, and Knuckles came in and called them.
"Sonic," Knuckles said making both of them jump apart and look at the others in shock. "It's getting late. We should get back." Sonic looked between Knuckles and Amy trying to think of a reason not to leave.
But Amy cleared her throat and stood up, handing the coat back to Sonic. "He's right; I don't want you to get in any trouble." Amy said trying not to look him in the eye. Sonic slowly took the coat out of Amy's hand. Amy turned away and walked back to the ballroom with Cream and Rouge. Sonic stared at her as she leaved. Knuckles gentle nudged Sonic but he pushed his hand away.
"I can't go." Knuckles and Tails looked at him a little scared.
Knuckles and Tails gentle grabbed his arms and started to pull him forward. "We should really go Sonic." Tails said, but Sonic ripped his arms away from them and shook his head frantically.
"No, I can't, not until I tell her." Sonic said as Knuckles and Tails looked at one another terrified at Sonic's next words. "Not until I tell Amy I love her."
Author's Note
Holy shit, I put up two chapters within two days. The apocalypse is here! Hell is freezing over, Satan is skating his way to work, and I'm pretty sure I just became a monkey's uncle! And if you got my reference, I love you. My creative juices were on a roll today and I just kept on writing and may even get half of the next chapter done tonight.