Appreciating the silence that he was experiencing for the first time in almost two hours, Tails decided to take his time walking up to his front door. The flight back to Angel Island had been a difficult one to stomach. All Knuckles could seem to do was rave and rant about Sonic. Frankly, the fox was tired of hearing the echidna's crap. In fact, he couldn't even understand why Knuckles would have such a problem with Sonic. Sure, the Guardian lived alone on an island with an eternal duty but the absolute last person who would go and pity themselves was Knuckles.
An aggravated grunt left the fox's mouth as the echidna's ignorance weighed heavily upon his mind. Knuckles was probably the most important person on the planet. His job as guardian of the Master Emerald was of such importance that should he fail it could mean the end of the world. Meanwhile, Tails was just a lowly inventor who sometimes supported Sonic in stopping Eggman from doing something dastardly. On top of that, the stubborn echidna somehow managed to be more attractive than the fox at the same time. Despite the hours Tails wasted away at his appearance the damn echidna could just show up out of nowhere and almost instantly make Cream swoon. Hell, even Shadow respected Knuckles. So for such a privileged individual to be so troubled by one blue hedgehog was infuriating to Tails.
Before he could reach for the knob of his front door the fox was struck by a sudden memory; Amy and Cream were probably still inside. That thought stopped Tails cold in his tracks. How could he explain away the echidna's wrath? Only Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails knew about the whole situation. Surely there would be many questions, questions the fox didn't feel comfortable answering. Sonic, the hero, and Knuckles, the guardian, were the brave ones. Tails was only a side-kick; bravery wasn't his gimmick.
Upon listening carefully, Tails could definitely tell that nobody was talking inside. Instantly the fox deduced that Cream and Vanilla weren't there…he hoped. If they weren't then Tails would only have to deal with Amy, a task much simpler and less self-involved that dealing with Cream. However, if they were present, that meant that Cream had probably gone to sleep or something due to the obvious lack of talking.
With a huge gulp the young fox took a risk and walked slowly into his home.
At first it was quiet, almost as if nobody was home. The faint smell of food hung eerily in the air as the fox's blue eyes scanned the hall leading into the house. Though only a corner of the living room was visible from the front door, Tails quickly concluded that nobody was home.
"Man, what a bust. I throw a party for Cream and Knuckles has to go and scare everybody off. Figures…" The fox spoke through an inward sigh as he shut the door behind him. He honestly couldn't believe this. The damn echidna was so selfish that it hurt.
His eyes downcast to the floor, Tails shuffled sadly into his house. It was a rare occurrence that something would cast such sorrow over the fox. The last thing to do so was, ironically enough, Sonic leaving thanks to Knuckles.
"Tails…"
Startled by the sudden voice, the fox immediately put his back to the wall opposite of the living room and looked on in growing anxiety into the living room. Sitting stiffly in a chair next to a bunch of pictures was the almost zombie-like visage of Amy. Though his terror quickly subsided in favor of relief, the clumps of wet fur beneath Amy's bloodshot eyes caught the young fox's immediate attention. "Amy, is something wrong?"
Upon hearing his voice, Amy's eyes slowly drifted up to look at the fox. "…Tails…did you…know?" Her voice shook with subtle anticipation and worn out emotion.
"Know what?" Of course the genius spoke without thinking or even observing the room surrounding the weary form of his friend. Lying on the floor beside the quivering feet of the pink hedgehog was Tails' cell phone. His eyes shot wide with thought as he finally took notice of the picture clutched tightly in the hands of the girl before him. The blue of Sonic's fur was clearly visible through Amy's fingers, the color not a bit hindered by the glare on the glass of the picture frame.
A surge of understand spiraled through Tails' body as he quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together, "I'm sorry Amy…Sonic told me not to tell you…"
Sniffling, the pink hedgehog could hardly make a response, "Did he not think I could handle it?"
"That's not it Amy, he didn't want you to think that he needed Knuckles' help to figure it out…"
The picture Amy clung to cracked as her grip tightened in emotion. "Do you think…that he…Knuckles…was right about Sonic and me?" Pain flared throughout her tired mind as the words left her lips. To even speak the echidna's name was like a thousand daggers to the back.
Clearly seeing the distress she was in, Tails moved for the chair nearest to Amy. He could tell this would probably cause an issue. "Well…I'd hate to agree with him right now but…yes, I think he was right. What Sonic did to you was unforgivable. Nobody should have to sit there and admire the one they love most…knowing they don't even know you're there…" It took a minute for the fox to recover from the admission; he'd never told anyone beyond Sonic about his feelings regarding Cream.
Touched by the emotion in the young fox's words, Amy looked to the ground in sadness. "Tails…that's…"
"Don't say it Amy, I don't need to hear it. You, however, need to hear that Knuckles was wrong about some things though." Inspired to go on by the way the pink hedgehog's head snapped up at the mention of the echidna's name, Tails decided to hit as close to home as he could. "I know it was your choice to follow Sonic around, I know that you are well aware of Sonic's disposition towards the idea of relationships, and I know that Sonic's leaving didn't fix the problem. In fact, Sonic was never the one with the problem…"
Amy cocked her head curiously to the side in confusion as she processed the information, "If not Sonic…then…who…Knuckles?"
Nodding in confirmation, the fox decided to try and put this matter to rest for the night. "You know Sonic; he isn't the smartest guy in the world. And Sonic knows that. All you really have to do is play on his emotions with enough persistence and you can get him to believe anything, and nobody is as persistent as Knuckles. That's why I don't think Knuckles is entirely at fault here…all he did was care."
"But what does that even mean…Sonic said Knuckles cared too, but I don't even know what that word means anymore. I mean, he chased off one of my best friends before yelling at me for missing that friend. That doesn't even get close to fitting the definition of caring." At this the picture clutched between Amy's hands broke, the shards falling safely into her lap.
Reacting quickly, Tails moved to help the still quivering hedgehog clean the mess up. "Unfortunately, I have no clue. All I can say is that you know that he has his own special way of handling things, maybe this is how he shows he cares?" It didn't take the fox more than a few seconds to get most of the glass back onto the broken frame safely. He could get the rest in the morning when he was far more awake. "Now come on, you stay here tonight. I've got a guest room already made up just for emergencies."