Hi, remember me? I'm the one writing this hellhole-er, uh, story. ;P

For the record: Yes, I suck at updating. No, I don't plan on abandoning this story. YES, I am scared to finish it due to a weird existential crisis! I feel like if I finish this fic, I won't have anything else to write. x.x

Glad to be back all the same. :)

I did have something I did want to write with Anne and Rolph, but I'm debating whether to or not. First up, what concerns me is, A. interest to anyone reading this now, B. if it would even have an audience outside of this site and C. if it doesn't make it as a fic, to transform it into an original work will be a trip, do'able, but still a trip and is it worth doing? o.O

It'd be a backstory of where Hugh, Anne and Rolph all came from in regards to my headcannon. I did also have one out cute thing for Sonic and Amy, but I don't know how to fram it, I basically only have a punchline for a final paragraph. -_-

No, the title isn't a typo.
On with the show! :D

-Chapter 111: In The Now-

After the whole team was assembled and informed of all that happened, along with what was going to happen, they travelled a familiar secluded mountain path, bound for North City.

Within Amy's mind, she spoke with Chaos.

Chaos got close to her face, "You really know how to make a mess," they sounded as though they commended Amy on all her meddling.

Amy opened her eyes as she floated in the pale pink void with the blue being. "I did what I could to save the man I love and protect my family." She looked down and didn't see her pregnant belly. Her mind began to panic as she felt around for the bump.

"You tried a little too hard, wouldn't you agree?" Chaos folded their arms and their head fins flopped back and forth with the well deserved head shake. "Don't worry, your children are fine. In here, it's only the two of us."

"Thank goodness," Amy sighed in relief. "You have no clue what I was protecting him from."

"Yes, I do. I'm very well aware of everything that goes on in your life. Remember, I'm part of you? Even if you loan out my emerald."

"Sorry, I had to."

Chaos waved the notion away, "Like I said, I know. Physically it may be elsewhere, but it's forever tied to you until your death, or if you willingly pass it on."

"Can't help but notice you said I'd die first. I have no intention of dying, thank you very much."

"You assumed I meant you'd die young," they said with a raised eyebrow.

"Mmm," Amy rolled her eyes.

"Listen. You're safe to go back to normal now. I got all your time issues sorted out."

Amy brightened up, "Wonderful. You can tell them to unfreeze me, if you don't mind."

Chaos held a hand palm up, "It doesn't work like that. I can affect the world around them, but I can't talk directly to people unless an emerald is bound to them. I can only reach others through dream symbolism and omens. Also, it only works if they're open to interpreting it as anything important."

"That's obscure."

"It is what it is."

"Hopefully Mina is as spiritual as she is practical. W-wait, am I still able to use time magic when I return?"

"Yes, you will be able to, but not as strong. You opened that channel in your mind, so it'll always be there."

"Good. As long as I stopped Sonic from becoming Scourge. He stresses so easily sometimes."

Chaos floated backwards, "That's only kind of true; you didn't actually get rid of Scourge."

"What? No!"

"Fate is fate. Be it him or another, the Scourge is coming. Buh-bye," Chaos waved as Amy faded to consciousness.

Amy's body immediately went into labour, in North City's hospital's maternity ward, still in her chair. Her sides contracted in sudden, sharp pain. She clenched the arms of her chair. Amy had no words, only grunts and gritted teeth. She heard her partner's voice.

"Don't worry, Ames, we got you." Sonic and Sticks pried her tightly bound fingers from the chair and stood her up; from there, the nurses helped her up onto the bed and wheeled her into an unoccupied room. Only Sonic and Sticks were permitted in the delivery room.

The rest of team waited patiently in the hallway.

In the aptly named Shadow Canyon, Shadow had made connections in regards to the current situation. He had a stash of laced cookies to stay faded from the hivemind. He spent the night in the dusty ravine and pieced together as much of the information he could before he crashed.

He awoke with a fuzzy mind and a dry mouth. "Why did I live here so long? It's filthy." He wiped his face free of dirt as he rose from a makeshift sleeping spot. The single blanket he'd allotted for rest bunched up as he slept. He looked at the wall of information he'd drawn up. Various bits of putty held papers to the sandstone wall. Strings connected in places of noteworthy interest.

"Who is 'Scourge'? It's got to be a person...Amy warned about someone coming to destroy everything. Did she mean 'destroy' literally, or was it a figure of speech? Or am I looking too deeply into this, and she's referring to Eggman in some way...with a date maybe? I know the Gogo'Ba have a holiday that can be translated as 'celebrating the scourge' too, which would explain the tidal wave."

He took a few steps back and went over the web of information he'd created. "Could she have meant me, 'a plague'..." He crossed his arms and his ears folded down slightly and recalled the time years ago when Sonic called him as such. "From all that we gathered, this 'scourge' is the thing that we don't have all the pieces for. Green could mean the emerald, eye colour, fur colour...locations too. No, it's got to be 'someone', not 'something'."

Shadow connected more strings in areas that had a colour for a name that was close to green. As he stood back again and noticed a pattern form. A word came from dates Amy had listed he hadn't considered before. The beginning letter of each date's name spelled, "Robotised? Interesting, I didn't see that until I heard the word. How many times did we go over this and not find that?" He was frustrated with himself. An incoming transmission interrupted him. Shadow read to himself, "Metal has B.A. Nano machines." A simple text sent to a private, untapped line.

Shadow considered the new data into his own. "There may be a loophole to the dimensional rule that 'two similar beings can't coexist without the universe tearing or righting itself'. If Metal were a version of Sonic from another dimension, he couldn't exist here in the flesh. Maybe the act of robotising someone counts as a form of death. Returning Metal back to normal would mean we would need to get him were he belongs." He thought some more. "Is the scourge an event? Could this be it? He did attack as soon as he was able. Was he programmed that way? Or is he sentient and acting on his own?"

Shadow had managed to watch the scenario unfold in secret, through his brother Rolph's experiences. He planned what to do next. "Hugh, I know it's going to be difficult, but you need to stop signing when you talk." He telepathically spoke to his sibling.

'I'm trying, sorry.'

Shadow sighed, "And stop eating chocolate."

'I found a cupcake that looked like me, it called out to me.'

"Seriously? Food can't talk, Hugh," Shadow said annoyed as he bit into another laced cookie.

A sigh, 'I'll restrain myself.'

"You focus is appreciated. Make it seem like we keep switching back and forth so he thinks I'm still around. See if you can paint Sonic and get him to stand in for you at some point. Throwing that buffoon off as much as possible puts us at an advantage."

'What do I do if someone requests I heal them?'

"You heal them," Shadow sounded annoyed.

'It doesn't work like that for me. I can only heal myself.'

"Dammit. I hadn't considered that." Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'll think of something. I'll keep in touch." Shadow briefly thought back to the time Sonic had accompanied him into the old temple. After their escape he had to give Sonic CPR to bring him around. "Would he have have died if I didn't do that?"

'Probably.'

"Why are you still here?"

'You don't talk to people, so it's not like I'm able to go socialise. I can only stand here and look surly.'

"I'm busy right now."

'Fine, fine, I'm gone.' With that, Hugh's voice vanished from his mind.

Shadow sat down on the floor of the cave and pulled a knee to his chest. His web of info had too many dead ends. He recalled that the Royal family of O'Hedge was set to visit in the coming weeks. "Financially, the island is going to be fine...but I need to find out what Amy was trying to warn us about. What 'scourge' is going to come and destroy us?"

'I...can hear you, darling.'

Shadow was alone in the cave for miles in all directions. He froze in place and his voice echoed out, "...Rouge?"

Back at the hospital, not even an hour had gone by and two lovely newborns came into the world.

Sonic held his and Amy's firstborn, a little boy. He was swaddled in a white blanket, contrasted to his blue fur. "Hey, little guy," he quietly said to his son and gave his a gentle squeeze.

Sticks handed baby number two to Amy after she was swaddled. "They're so small. Makes me want to protect 'em even more," she said and let Amy snuggle the tiny dark pink hedgehog baby close to her.

Amy was exhausted but smiled contently. "True. Um, any reason you aren't questioning her colour?" Amy said and pet the top of the baby's quilless head with a finger.

Sonic chuckled lightly and sat next to Amy on the bed, "Hyper-pigmentation. Rolph said so when I asked him to look ahead for us."

"Look ahead?" Amy was confused.

Sticks sat on the opposite side of the bed, "Turns out Rolph's closed eye can see the future when he opens it, kind of. Tails wants to test it out further, but we're a bit...busy."

Amy smiled, "Yeah, babies are very time consuming."

"So are tsunamis," Sonic said.

Amy's face went blank, "Come again."

Sonic hesitated, "...the house is gone, so is the village."

"..."

"As of right now, only two people are missing. It may sound cruel...but, I just want to be happy right now. For a few minutes," Sonic said and passed the blue baby hedgehog to his partner. He extended his arms to hold his little girl. Amy handed her over.

"Hey there, little lady, we got to get you some B vitamins," he said and held her close. Her hand opened and closed slowly. "It's so neat to think they're learning to live when they reach out like that." He placed a finger and allowed it to be clasped in the tiny grip.

Amy took the information in and remained silent for a minute. She began again, "When you're ready, I'll let you know what I found out."

"Ames? Ya became a mom two seconds ago and now you wanna go back to work? Take a day off already," Sticks scolded her.

"I need to take care of things first; their futures depend on us handling the situation."

Sonic cut in, "I want a future for our kids too Amy, and I want to be there for them. I don't want it to be like how it was with me, or Knuckles or Sticks; I've seen the kind of loneliness lacking a formal family can bring. We were so fortunate to have one another; that's why I want to be there for my kids as much as possible. Sure we all grew up fine, but for most of my life I got to see other families grow up together and wondered why I didn't have that. I want these two to have that kind of life, more than anything. I made peace with being a stay-at-home dad long ago. I can teach guitar or DJ online, and since I worked with Re'Kar, I know how to do inventory and spreadsheets and decipher terrible handwriting. I can contribute when my days as a hero stop." He laughed at himself slightly. "I've had such a privileged life in some ways, but not in the one way I wanted. I don't know if that makes me greedy, or whatever, I only know what I want for these two; I'll give them as much of my life as I can, or as much as they can stand me."

She nodded, "I'll support you in what ever way I can." Amy gave him a confident smile, "I don't know if what I did worked, but I can safely say that you aren't Scourge. Every timeline I visited, you were either gone, no one knew you, or you had turned into him. So few with you and I happy. I feel so lucky," she said and snuggled her son close.

"Ames, what do you mean when you say timelines?"

"I assume Shadow found my ciphers."

"All kinds," he said.

"Old and new, I had codes galore in my collection of diaries and a couple in fiction. Did Rouge enjoy the book I left for her?"

Sonic huffed, "Oh did she ever. She found nearly all the sequels too."

Amy covered her mouth with her free hand, "Oopsie. Anyway, I knew about this event for a long time. I didn't know that the use of time magic would backfire like it did, otherwise, I'd have warned everyone days ago."

A squirrel nurse leaned in said, "Your room is ready, miss Rose."

Sticks stood up from her bedside post and followed them out. "I'll go get the rest of the team."

"Thanks, Sticks," Amy said and was lowered into a wheelchair. She and Sonic were led to the room they'd occupy for the next few days.

"I think it's time to do the 'name' thing," Sonic said with worry.

"I had my two names picked out from the start," Amy said as she laid back in the hospital bed. "Sophia if we were having a girl, and Edward if we're having a boy."

"Heh, I only thought of one that I liked...and I'm hesitant. What if he doesn't like it?"

"No need to project," Amy said with a snicker.

"You're right," he said and handed the baby girl to Amy. "...Markus."

"Oh, I like that. This little one we'll call, Sophia."

The rest of the team piled in the room, "Markus and Sophia, meet the rest of Team Sonic." He half smiled and passed off his daughter to Knuckles and the boy went to Tails. "With all the work Ames put in behind the scenes, I kind of feel like we should change the name to 'Team Rose'."

"I'd be content with a branch off the current team. I wouldn't take this away from you," Amy easily said.

"Your appreciation of my ego is admirable," he said with a now widened, slightly phoney smile, "Speaking of 'ego', dear, did you know about King Robert's plan to grant sovereignty to the archipelago that Seaside Island belongs to?"

Her eye twitched, "He what!? Where's my communicator."

"I mean, if I can be the kind of king who waves at people while you do all the 'actual' ruling, I'm down for that," He tried to sound less freaked out than he was.

Tails handed Markus to Julie-Su and then searched his many pockets. "Right here," he said and handed her and modified model. "I've been on an upgrade kick. Wait till you see Sonic's shoes."

"I look forward to it." Amy furiously quickly texted Mina, "Mina, I'm gonna need my emerald back. I can call it to me from here. All is well. Babies are born. Come to North City when you get a chance, room 104." She held a palm upward and called her cyan coloured emerald back and it floated above her hand, then vanished when it fell and hit her palm. She next called Rob to yell at him. Her body healed almost instantly with her chaos emerald returned safely. Amy stood tall and went to the opposite side of the room to have a short call.

The rest of the team took turns holding the new babies. They were so tiny, Knuckles held one in each hand. "Remember when Alma was born? She was even smaller than this," Knuckles passed the babies to Sticks and Julie-Su again.

Julie-Su nodded, "I remember it well. She didn't take any time getting bigger either; her size nearly doubled in the two months before we came here," she held baby Markus and compared him to his father. "He looks so much like you."

"That's the first sign of trouble," Sonic said and gave his usual grin. He then noticed something through the cracked door. "Do you mind a couple more guests, babe?"

Amy, back half turned, gave a thumbs up as waited on the line to speak with her cousin.

Manic hesitated but led he and Roater in. "Yeah, sorry bout that, we didn't want to interrupt. I guess this is why we were vetoed here so quickly. I thought it was cuz I scratched the Major's bike, but we're meant to be backup."

"It's definitely a little of both," Roater said.

Sonic's communicator went off as the two new additions got to meet the two new lives. He looked at the picture Rouge sent him, followed up by a single word 'imprinting'. Without breaking his poker face, he walked over to Amy silently and showed her the image.

Amy saw the picture and her eyes went wide. She had finally gotten through to Rob, "Hold on one moment."

'You called me, dear Rose."

"Some new information came in, hang on." She looked at the mostly red eyes Rouge sported; a small splotch of blue remained near the bottom on the right hand side. "We have three days."

Sonic nodded, "Shadow was nice enough to get me jot-notes on everything he and Rouge found. Three days gestation and then about a week till they get to Shadow's size."

"Exactly. The hunger a Black-Arm child has while growing that quickly is unsustainable. They're going to diminish our resources at a very critical time. The water might not even go down all the way in three days, let alone be able to support a hybrid child. We need to see if Eggman has a stasis chamber we can use."

"Not possible. His mountain took off and turned into a giant fortress, plus he's gone totally over to the side of evil. He's even trying to recruit people from the village into his brainwashed army."

"Mountain-?! Hmm." She thought, "Tails has a device that can get us to another dimension where Eggman hasn't gone rogue. I'm sure we can find something to barter with to get the technology we need."

Sonic snapped a finger, "Tails' build it box."

"Excellent. We'll produce a few precious metal ingots and wave them around to sway Dr. Eggman. Easy-peasy. Now back to you," Amy went to return to her 'civil conversation'.

Sonic butt in, "One last tid-bit, might wanna keep this hush-hush for now. The new green guy used to be in a long term relationship with Rouge, then Shadow arrested them and enlisted them, then she dumped him-" Sonic was interrupted.

"And now he got knocked her up? Wow, that's rough," Sticks said. "Sorry, I was eavesdropping."

Sonic face palmed, "Yes."

"What are you guys talking about over there?" Knuckles asked.

"Plan of action," Amy said. "I'll call you back Rob. Don't do anything that you can't undo in the meantime."

'I won't do anything to upset the balance. You have my word, mi-lady,' he said and hung up.

Amy glared at the communicator and grit her teeth visibly. "I'll kill him," she said with a growl.

"Aww, I missed your enthusiasm, Ames," he said with a hand over his chest.

Sonic deleted the photo Rouge sent and rejoined the group. Amy and Sonic enjoyed the company of their two new children and their closest friends; they were happy, even if only for a few moments.

DONE! XoX

But...for how long O_O