C O N T R A S T

by Rowan Jacobs

Life is like the ocean; it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm and sometimes it's overwhelming. All we can do is learn how to swim.

5. Crossroads

C O N T R A S T

Chapter 5: Crossroads

---

A stream of rugged breaths escaped Sonic's lips. His eyes fixed on the wicked grin that had grown wider and wider upon the face of non other than Doctor Robotnik himself.

Behind him, along all the halls and narrow corridors, he'd left a steadily growing trail of scrapmetal. He'd torn through the aircraft like a tornado, nothing having been able to stop, or even hinder him from reaching the room where Robotnik had ultimately awaited him.

Now nothing stood between them.

Hero and villain.

Like so many times before.

But this time it was different. Sonic could feel it in every fiber of his being.

Robotnik was not the same man Sonic had faught as a child. Not the same man from merely a year ago. Perhaps not even the same man from a week ago.

As always he was seated inside his trusty Egg mobile that hovered a great deal above the floor, a safe enough distance from where Sonic stood glaring up at him. Bald with a large, bushy mustache that was signifcantly more gray than brown these days, and eyes hidden behind a dark pair of darkly tinted glasses. It was strange, given all the years they'd battled each other, but Sonic had never seen his eyes. What color were they? When he'd tried to imagine it he could for some reason only see them as blue - icy blue to be exact. Cold, hard and unforgiving.

When he spoke his voice was raspy with an unmistakeable detestation, yet also with a sense of calm. As if Sonic had merely been late for an appointed tea party. "Sonic, how nice of you to drop in." Then his eyes darted to the door which Sonic had blasted in through, seemingly expecting someone else to come running in as well. Alas no one did, and he muttered something incoherent under his breath. "I see you come alone. Where are the rest of your little annoying friends, hmm? Don't tell me my little surprise accidentally struck them, that would be a most terrible misfortune.." And for a second the Doctor actually appeared bothered by the prospect of it, like it was something he hadn't considered up until now.

But the approaching storm within his mind was immediately settled by Sonic's spiteful reply— "They're already far away from here, far away from you. And if you have any shred of humanity left and don't wish to get kicked into next week, you'll leave the rest of Station Square alone! I'm here now, you've got me where you wanted - so there's no reason to unleash another bomb!"

"Certainly. Although, considering what you've just told me, you have failed at delivering me what I desired and instead sent it away. Thus putting the situation under different circumstances…" Robotnik's grin faded as a sudden twitch went through his body. His tone darkened and he seemed to be talking more to himself than Sonic when he continued. "Yes, very different circumstances indeed… You can't trust anyone to do anything right. No, you gotta do it yourself or else..-"

While Robotnik was busy mumbling to himself, Sonic took the moment to edge closer. Moving sideways and gradually forward while keeping his eyes firmly locked at Robotnik, ready to strike if the Doctor decided to pull something.

In order to distract him further, Sonic loudly proclaimed— "Well, it's your fault for arriving early, I don't have the Chaos Emerald with me."

"Chaos Emerald?" Robotnik abruptly shot his head up.

"Yeah, the one I ripped out from your lil' robot buddy in Chun-nan! I don't have it with me!"

The entire room fell quiet.

Robotnik's face shifted from pale to red in a matter of seconds and for a moment it looked like he was about to start screaming, but he didn't. Instead a harsh, bellowing cackle rose up from his throat and spread around the room, echoing against the steel walls and bouncing back ten times stronger. His hands grasped his big belly as his body shook in heavy convulsions and if Sonic didn't know better he would've thought he was close to having a mental break down.

But the truth was that Robotnik's sanity was probably already long gone.

Sonic stopped in his movements and was just about to demand to know what exactly was so amusing when he got beaten to the punch. Between the fits of mocking howling, he could make out the words that the Doctor spouted forth—

"The rodent actually believes that my masterful mind is in need of some mere emeralds! No, no, - my brilliance exceedes far beyond their so-called-magic. Technology and intellect is the true superiors of this world and is what shall bring me to conquer Mobius and every being upon its earth - living and robotic!"

Sonic grew confused, not about the usual talk of world domination but about him being wrong when he'd assumed what it was that Robotnik wanted from him.

His blood ran cold.

Robotnik didn't care about the emeralds anymore.

Had his worst of fears been correct all along?

No, Sonic refused to believe that.

"What are you talking about?" He asked slowly, trying not to reveal any of the inner turmoil that threatened to surface at a moment's given.

However, his question was left unanswered as Robotnik had just managed to compose himself again and turned his attention to the control panel on his Egg mobile. With a buttom's press a large entryway opened behind him, revealing an enormous robot with legs and arms the size of several logs tied together. A classical big but surely slow robot that could pack a massive punch but hardly catch the fastest creature alive.

Sonic was not impressed nor intimidated as it slowly made its way into the room, taking steps that caused the floor beneath his feet to tremble but his stance to strengthen.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Robotnik's mouth broadened in a joyless smile.

"Allow me to introduce you to an unit of the newly improved E-200 series - E-201 Kappa! His predecessor E-200 was unfortunately mercilessly slayed in Chun-nan recently, which now that I think about it I'm sure you already know."

Just then something clicked within Sonic's mind. It dawned on him that he did indeed recognize this robot - or at least the model. The soulless "eyes", the brightly colored parts of its body - this being painted in orange - and the slightly crooked stance. Throughout the years Robotnik had developed several versions of the E-series, even going as far up as to ten thousand. But now he was apparently reverting back to the old classification. Sonic only knew one robot of the earliest series to still be in use; namely E-123 Omega, but compared to the robot before him Omega was significantly smaller in size. And its "brother" was apparently the same robot who had been powered by the emerald which Sonic had taken.

All of a sudden, the memory of Amy standing between him and the fallen E-102 Gamma flashed before his eyes. He could almost hear her pleading cries in his head like it was only yesterday and not seven years ago.

Begging him to spare her supposedly newfound friend…

"-He helped me before by letting me escape. This robot is different! You don't need to hurt him, okay?"

Different…

Somehow, perhaps in his very own subconcious, Sonic could tell that this robot was also different. But not in the same way Amy had claimed Gamma to be. No, he could feel it just by looking at it - this was set to murder first and foremost. Still it left the question of what, if not an emerald, it was powered by. Could a mere, single critter be kept inside? However, in that exact moment a load of bullets was fired at him, naturally interrupting his train of thought. But Sonic's reflexes easily led him to swiftly evade the bullets by curling himself up into a ball and blasting up the wall and hide among the many pipes that covered the ceiling. A bullet that just barely missed his ankle pierced through a pipe, sending a small stream of some sort of liquid to leak down onto the floor.

Silently, Sonic drew a quick breath.

From up here he had a better advantage point down at both Robotnik and E-201 Kappa, and the many pipes provided good cover. The only problem was that he could just as easily fall and get shot if he wasn't mindful enough of where he placed his steps.

"So this is what you wanted then?" Sonic called down, trying to buy himself some time and also get confirmation of his previous question. "To get it all over with - to finally kill me?" A new wave of bullets got sent his way, narrowly missing yet forcing him to quickly change position and make his way further upwards.

"Oh, my dear Sonic, I've never had the intention to kill you." Came the ridiculous response from Robotnik down below. He hadn't even moved an inch in his Egg mobile and watched idly how Kappa fired away another dozen of bullets before he seemed to get another twitch and abruptly ordered— "E-201 Kappa, initiate standby-mode!" The effect was immediate and the killer robot practically froze in place, with its gunned arm still raised towards the roof where Sonic had pressed himself against a particularly large pipe.

"So, now that I've kindly given you this little demonstration of why the Chaos Emeralds powers are inferior to my machines..-" Robotnik continued as effortlessly as if he had merely shown off an overly ambitious school project. "Let me answer the question as to why it was most crucial that we speak." And then, Sonic didn't know whether he only imagined it or not, Robotnik's voice seemed to duplicate, echoing through the pipes and making him wonder if the Doctor had changed position. He cast a glance behind him and sure enough - he was gone. There ran a unpleasant shudder down his spine which he quickly shook off, listening to the words that were spoken.

"Throughout the years, and through multiple careful observations I've come to realize something. There are many ways to destory a hero, but to have the hero destroy himself there are three specific ways that are proven most efficient - namely; jealousy, betrayal and grief. And I have decided that in your case the last one will serve my plans most sufficient. You can't imagine how long I've waited for the proper moment… You see, when you were a mere juvenile boy with no ties or responsibilities to anyone but yourself, with no grasp of the concept of loss… You were less vulnerable, yes, but also far less of a reward to break…"

There passed a moment of eerie silence. Sonic could only hear the sound of his own breathing. Readying himself to leave his hiding place and strike as soon as Robotnik began monologuing again.

That is if what the Doctor said next hadn't startled him—

"But you're not a boy anymore, are you?" Robotnik pondered aloud in mock wonder, as if he'd just realized that his nemesis wasn't eleven years old anymore. "You're a man... And from what I've gathered..-" Now a wicked, almost insane grin spread across his face while his hands itched, alternating between twisting around themselves and grasping the edge of the control panel in sudden convulsions. "-you've even gone and gotten yourself a little fiancée."

As soon as the word "fiancée" left the Doctor's lips, Sonic's breath hitched as his entire face paled. He could no longer feel his heart. It had stopped dead in his chest. The only functioning part left of his body was his mind which immediately went into default mode. On pure reflex he heard himself snorting loudly and even uttering a brief, mocking chuckle that under the circumstances still managed to sound quite convincing.

"Heh! Now you've really gone off the deep end, Egghead! Has spending so much time with robots finally turned you into a bolt brain as well?"

Robotnik, however, completely ignored the snarky remarks, seeing right through his lie and possibly through his entire being too. Apparently he must've anticipated the reaction, for his grin widened even more. "Denial, how typical. So I'm to assume the golden ring you wear on your finger is simply a fashion choice, hm?"

Without thinking, Sonic's right hand instantly shot to his left one in order to feel if he'd accidently left his engagment ring visible. But instead found that it was safely covered, just like always. Alas, he realized his mistake too late, and hastily pretended to having merely scratched his hand. His eyes darted around the pipes, searching for Robotnik's gaze yet found nothing. All he could do was to somehow keep denying…

"I don't know what you're talking about, Doc. Maybe you've gone off your meds or something-"

But Robotnik interrupted him, his voice now dripping with venomous hatred and satisfaction in knowing he was torturing the blue hero. "What was her name again? Rosy? Rosemary? No, Rose..? Ah! Now I remember...-" He paused for dramatic effect, and then slowly uttered a name. Her name. "Amy Rose. Don't think that I haven't noticed that you've kept her from me. It must be at least over a year since I last saw her sweet little face-"

"Stop." Sonic growled quietly while he clenched his fists tightly.

Yet again, the Doctor ignored him.

"She must be overjoyed. Oh, It feels like yesterday I kidnapped her for the first time and you heroically came to her rescue... It was practically me who put you two love birds together. I'd be thrilled to congratulate her myself - personally."

At that moment, Sonic understood that the game was over - Robotnik knew. He didn't know how he'd figured it out or how he knew that he wore a ring, but the bottom lime was that he did. And now Amy was in danger, a notion which instantly sparking a fire within his chest. An intense, dangerous fire that threatened to spread through him and consume his very mind.

"You will never get close to her, not as long as I'm still breathing…"

"That could be arranged, I suppose." Robotnik said with an all too friendly tone that just as quickly turned deadly. "Though don't flatter yourself, hedgehog. You should know by now that whenever I want something - I simply. Take. It. And I can imagine she has blossomed into quite the young lady by now. Ah yes… must have been something the moment you realized she was no longer just a snotty kid with a silly girl's crush anymore."

"Shut up!" Sonic snarled furiously through clenched teeth. And, like a strike of lightning, he dropped to the floor, right infront of Robotnik who'd crept along the utter line of his vision. With his fists bawled and his blood practically boiling beneath his skin, he stalked towards the Doctor.

"What's wrong, Sonic, did I accidentely strike a nerve? Perhaps a soft spot..? You should think about watching your tone though… If you're not careful I might just make you watch as I tear each and every last petal off your precious little rose—"

That was the last stroke.

It was a threat.

An open threat towards Amy and thus Robotnik might as well have threatened his entire world.

A mighty blow was sent Robotnik's way, sending both the Eggmobile and its owner to the side as Sonic soon after was standing over him upon the control panel of his craft, grabbing ahold of the collar of his jacket and slamming his upper body against the wall.

"Don't you dare speak of her! If you so much as think about ever laying your darn hands on her I swear I'll-"

"E-201 Kappa, engage!"

Robotnik's cry immediately set off the giant robot to act. It's eyes lit up, targeting themselves at Sonic who in the midst of his furious anger failed to evade the powerful swing that was aimed at him. Like a ragdoll he flew across the room, hitting his head and also putting a deep dent into the wall from the impact. But it would take more than that to put down the hero of Mobius, and soon the room was turned into an arena of life and death.

Bullets blazed, hitting everywhere and everything that wasn't blue.

Steam and spots of the slimy, dark liquid slowly filled the room as metal clashed against flesh and bone. Neither backing down for even a second.

After awhile, emerald eyes could barely see through the thick smoke and had to rely purely on instincts.

In the confusion and fighting, Robotnik had slipped out of Sonic's concious as well as his sight. But via intercom he'd heard the ever so familiar maniacal laughter while he dodged, punched, jumped off the walls and curled into ball form - everything it took to ultimately defeat his opponent.

"Just you laugh, Eggface." Sonic thought to himself as he deflected a jab from E-201 Kappa's enormous arm with a spindash, and using the momentum to send himself soaring up towards the ceiling. There he got his hands on a pipe that was barely holding together, ripped it loose and braced himself to pierce it into the robot's eye. "When I'm done with your toy - I'm coming for you…"

But Sonic would never get the chance as suddenly the entire ship violently tipped itself upwards, making him loose his footing and send him plumenting onto the vertically rising floor. Hence, once his bottom hit the ground he inevitably slid down along the floor towards a corner of the room, the ripped pipe still clutched in his hands. Alas the sudden shift had also caused E-201 Kappa to topple over and as the blue hero had previously stated… - the bigger they are, the harder the fall. And so it was sent rapidly crashing towards the same corner wall Sonic had.

Quite literary cornered, sweating bullets and partially blinded by all the smoke, Sonic only had seconds to act before he'd get crushed by a proximately seven ton robot.

"Oh shoot…"

Thinking fast, he began running in place, building up enough speed to send himself up the now fourty five degree floor, managing to just skirt past E-201 Kappa on the side, before ultimately the momentum wore off and he fell backwards. Back to the corner where his opponent laid in a distressed heap, probably not knowing up from down anymore. Sonic, however, in the midst of falling spun himself around in mid-air and aimed the pipe directly at one of its eyes with narrowed determination.

And the pipe did indeed go through the eye.

But so did the bullet that E-202 Kappa fired at the last second before its circuits got severely damaged and began freaking out. Electricity sparking up from within the gaping hole that the pipe had caused.

It was Sonic's right shoulder that received the shot and the cry of pain that left his lips in that same second echoed around the room in a most agonizing way. Luckily, he had enough wits about him that he at least made sure to land on his feet instead of his back. With a trembling hand he reached up to inspect the wounded area while muttering profusely under his breath. "Aargh… Darn it, s-son of a gun..! Huff, dang, that hu-hurt like a..- arrgh!" A good amount of blood stained his glove, but as far as he could tell the bullet seemed to have gone clean through the shoulder. Which was always something, he gussed. And in the absence of anything to temporarily wrap around his shoulder, he had no choice but to resort to taking off his not so stained glove and press it against the wound in order to soak up some of the blood and somewhat stop the worst of the bleeding.

Even though he figured the risk of him slowly bleeding to death was small, Tails had once told him that one could pass out if enough blood was lost.

However he didn't have time to think about that as the entire aircraft took a sudden dive back into upright position, causing Sonic to get hurled backwards off the robot and hit his back ol the floor. A fall that normally wouldn't have faced him made him then screw up his face in discomfort. Meanwhile E-201 Kappa merely sunk motionless down against the ground.

"Hey, are you getting up or what?" Sonic called to it through gritted teeth as he'd just gotten back up on his feet and readjusted the preassure on his shoulder. Naturally, he recieved no answer. "Guess not…"

Reminding himself that he still had to stop Robotnik from dropping any more bombs over the city, and possibly knock the mad Doctor out of the sky he also wondered where the heck G.U.N. was at. Were they too busy leading people to safety? He'd expected at least some form of air force to have arrived by now despite having lost the element of surprise. The thought of somehow taking in Robotnik on his own was not too likely in his current state. Stalling was his best bet, until Commander Rhys would be able to put two and two together and hopefully send his agents to deal with the arrest.

So, on unstable legs, Sonic began running at a tolerable speed out of the steamy room and further out into the large aircraft's corridors in search of the Doctor. If he would only give him a clue as to where he'd snuck off to - an open taunting via the ship's PA system, an announcment of his next move or even just a boasting of his own brilliancy would be better than the eerie silence. No matter which room or outside deck he came across, Robotnik was nowhere to be found. He didn't recognize the layout of the ship either so using any past knowledge as to clue in where he could have his main operating room was out of the question.

At long last, Sonic was forced to take a moment to lean himself up against a wall in a seemingly dead end corridor.

He had to stop and think.

Why would Robotnik hide from him when he'd specifically went out of his way to seek him up and undoubtedly given him a reason to give chase?

Was he even still on the ship?

What was it that he'd failed to deliver?

Was he not seeing something that he should be?

If G.U.N. hadn't shown up this far along, were they even coming at all?

All of these questions spun around Sonic's head on an endless and tireless loop.

"If only Tails were here…"

Glancing down at his shoulder the glove was now completely drenched so he allowed himself a minute to take off the other one and replace it, discarding the other one to the floor. He reapplied the preassure with his the hand of his healthy arm, but then he also noticed just how nauseous his head was feeling and how rapid his breathing had turned. And had the temperature suddenly dropped?

Was there a draft somewhere?

Bending down to his knees, Sonic held his hand out to examine it closer. And sure enough, there was cool air coming from the dead end wall ahead of him as small particles of dust circled around his shoes. Quickly he got up again, sliding himself along the wall with new found strength over the possibility of having finally discovered something. As he approached and got a closer look on the wall he found that it wasn't a wall at all but a hidden door, only revealed by a small gap the reached from the floor and almost all the way up to the ceiling.

Instinctively, Sonic took a stance and delivered a quick, powerful kick to the door. Alas nothing happened. At a second and even a third attempt he was met with the same result. "C'mon! Give me a break!" Sonic groaned aloud as he proceeded delivered three quick blows in a row to no avail.

"Open Sesame!"

He then tried clapping his hands.

"…Pretty please?"

All that was left for the blue hero to do was trying to blast through with a spindash, despite realizing that by doing so he would most likely inflinct even more damage to his shoulder. But seeing as he was at his wits end, and that he just knew in every bone in his body that there was something important behind that door, he decided to take the risk.

Sonic backed up, curled himself up into a ball and mustering up all power that was left he shot forward like a cannon ball and..-

Bang!

Where Sonic's head had hit there was a deep dent. A dent that had forced the two sides of the door to slightly draw apart and creating a wide enough gap for him to stick his hand through.

Not exactly a hole but…

"that'll do…" Sonic breathed out.

His right arm and shoulder now pulsated heavily - the pain was almost numbing. Certainly not a good sign.

With his bare hands he forced the door open and as he pushed his way inside he was left stunned at what he saw. An enormous missile was resting heavily on an even bigger metal ramp that was angled downwards at the supposedly once closed floor but which now gaped open. The majority of the space was actually wide open, leaving the only place to move about being along the walls and behind the ramp itself which in turned led upwards to a dark storage area. If walking closer to the hatchet opening and looking down one could see Station Square far, far below.

A cold sense of absolute dread washed over Sonic as the reality of the situation hit him with renewed force that rendered him unable to think properly for a brief moment.

"A close buttom..!" The logical part of his brain concluded. "There's gotta be a way to close that hatchet and make sure the missile at least doesn't leave the ship." He suspected that the controls that determinated whether the missile was launched or not was located somewhere else, possibly where sitting Robotnik were at. And since Sonic had an inkling that he was being watched right then, he figured it was too late to leave the room to try and find him again. In that case the Doctor would surely fire. He was caught in a deadlock. Finding a way to quickly close up the hatchet without making it too obvious what he was trying to do was his last resort.

Again, Sonic really could've needed his little brother's genius right now.

Letting his eyes carefully scan the surroundings, he desperately searched for anything resembling a control panel, an emergency button of some sort, a lever…-

In Sonic's growing distress and fatigue he failed to notice the pair of red eyes that emerged from within the dark of the storage area above. Silently stalking closer, the light soon revealed Metal Sonic's full metallic body. Tall and deadly. Unforgiving.

The clanking sound resgistered within Sonic's mind and on pure instinct his body turned itself toward his approaching enemy. "Huh..? Metal!?" And within the quarter of a second he'd managed to meet the blow that Metal Sonic then delivered, catching him in a locked parry. Both pushing with all of their might, trying to get the upper hand over the other one. But seeing as Sonic's body was running on borrowed energy and his shoulder was violently protesting against the great effort, his grip soon began slipping mercilessly. Before he knew it, he was being slowly but surely pushed towards the edge - dangerously sliding closer by the second.

If he was thrown off from up here Chaos only knew what would happen… to him, to the city…

Clogged up blood stained his arm, torso and hands. He could feel his concious slipping as he noticed that dark spots flickered in his vision. Cold shivers ran up his spine all while he sweated worse than ever.

Still, a part of Sonic simply refused to give in. Reminded him what was at stake, who he was fighting for… his friends' faces flashed before his inner eye and with one unsion voice they all called out to him, loud and clear—

"SONIC!"

A roaring outcry of the rawest willpower rose up from within Sonic's throat as he threw Metal's arms upwards, dashed forward and safely away from the edge. In the same breath he shoved the robot's body up against the wall with full force. His eyes glaring daggers up at him. "Where's Robotnik? Where's he hiding at? Answer me!" He demanded. "Speak! I know that you can!"

And maybe Metal Sonic would have answered if not in that exact moment a deafening blast erupted.

The G.U.N. air force had arrived and opened fire.

As a result, Robotnik's entire aircraft shook violently due tot the blasts, which in turn made Sonic lose his focus as well as his hold on Metal. A slip up which would have most disastrous consequences… For in those brief seconds of confusion Metal seized his oppertunity - first sending a dire strike against Sonic's wounded shoulder, then slashing his torso and ultimately locking his claw-like hand around his throat in an iron grip. And watching as his adversaty's entire breathing cut off.

Sonic would later not remember exactly what happened next, only that he suddenly felt like he was floating in mid-air and thinking that this was a good enough way to go.

He was flying…

Falling…

Crashing…

Time was moving in slow motion.

He witnessed the missile launching from within the Egg Carrier.

How it seemed like it was falling along side him instead of following him from above.

He saw G.U.N.'s ship, its silver emblem sparkling in the sun.

He even caught a glimpse of Metal's piercing blood red eyes.

They watched him disappear beneath the clouds.

After what felt like an eternity, Sonic felt how his body collided with the hard concrete of the street only to then feel nothing at all. His body had created a crater that soon afterwards got buried by concrete, shattered glass, fragments of people's lives, people's dreams and hopes. Their homes collapsed all around him. There was nothing he could do. Just watch as the city of Station Square became a ruin. Went up in flames. Ceased to exist…

The world was burning.

Sonic figured he must've been too.

Right before his mind finally caved in, he thought he saw the wings of a single flicky in the sky above.

---

"-The tin soldier stood there dressed in flames. He felt a terrible heat, but whether it came from the flames or from his love he didn't know."

Sonic realized he'd listened to her voice long before he'd even awoken.

Amy's soft, sweet voice spoke words that he couldn't yet register the meaning of. He felt detatched from his body, like he was floating somewhere far, far away from this place. He couldn't open his mouth to speak, not open his eyes nor move a single muscle in his fingers. It was like his body wouldn't, or perhaps couldn't, carry out any of the commands his brain sent it.

His sense of perception was gone as well.

Was he laying down?

Sitting?

Standing?

Was he still curled up in that crater back in Station Square?

No, he couldn't be, because Amy was here. His hearing being the only part left of him still in function, and he'd know her voice anywhere. Wherever she was it was safe, which meant he was safe too.

"He'd lost his splendid colors, maybe from his hard journey-"

Slowly memories seeped into his mind, leaving him in silent horror of what he saw.

Somehow he knew he didn't want to remember.

He instead wanted to continue floating between the fine line of being awake and asleep.

Life and death.

Pain and utter painlessness.

"-maybe from grief..."

Within his mind's eye he saw the bomb fall upon him on repeat in an endless, torturous loop.

The dropping, exploding, bursting of flames, fire… intense heat. His body mercilessly hitting the ground, the feeling like all of his bones breaking at the same time.

Despair… Were the people of Station Square safe? His friends… were they safe?

The bomb dropping… exploding….

Sonic tried shut his mind off to the images but failed. It would forever be etched into his mind.

The bursting of flames… the fire… swallowing him…

"-nobody can say."

Then somehow Tails' figure emerged from the flames. His body merging with the rest of the world's yellow, orange and red colors. But his eyes… his blue eyes stood out like a warm beacon of light, like two bright stars upon an otherwise dark and endless sky.

They saw him…

His little brother's voice now spoke to him too.

He needn't worry anymore.

Everything would be fine.

Whether it was in the past or present time Sonic couldn't tell, but it didn't matter, his voice was comforting. Calmed him. Dispersed the flames and soothed the heat upon his skin. Took away the images from his head and replaced them with a vision of the sky, cooling winds and big white clouds.

Tails… Tails had lifted him to the heavens.

And she… warmth, roses…—

"He looked at the little lady, and she looked at him, and he felt himself melting. But still he stood steadfast. With his mu-"

Amy's voice suddenly went silent. In the middle of the sentence she'd felt like an electric pulse had gone through her body, not in an unpleasant way just astounding her to awareness. Sonic… He'd touched her. Not physically, but mentally. Just as strongly as if he had actually reached out his hand to touch her. Some time within the last minute his presence had returned - she could feel it.

The book that had laid in her lap fell to the floor as she instinctively stood up and fixed her eyes upon her beloved's face, searching for any sign of that he might be coming around.

"Sonic..?"

But as it were he hadn't opened his eyes nor moved in the slightest. He laid perfectly still, breathing regulary and seemingly dead to the outside world. Still, Amy rested the palm of her hand against his forehead and spoke in hopes that he heard her. "Sonic… Sonic, you're safe. You don't need to worry."

"I'm not worried." Sonic in turn wanted to tell her. "I'm never worried when I'm with you."

Then he slipped into the painless and oblivious state of unconciousness once more.

If years, weeks, days or merely hours passed Sonic didn't know. When he finally opened his eyes he found that he was relatively aware of his surroundings but still unable to speak. He tried to think of an easy sentence to say aloud — My name is Sonic the Hedgehog and I'm twenty one years old — yet found nothing coming out when he formed the words with his lips. His throat had dried up, clogged with unuttered screams and thus incapable to create any type of sounds. It felt as if a burning piece of ember had been shoved down his throat, and never before had he been so desperate for a glass of water.

His eyes were stuck staring up at the ceiling, for none of his limbs would obey him. Thinking closer about it, he still couldn't feel any part of his body.

Then a sudden fear gripped his heart.

What if he had no body left to feel?

What if there had been nothing left to salvage of him from that crater?

Perhaps it was his mere soul that still lingered in the world of the living - unable to move on properly due to the circumstances of which he had died. No. No, no. That could not be true. "I can still see and hear which means that I must still have my eyes and ears intact." Sonic thought to himself, somewhat relieving his own panic.

He recognized the sound of a door opening,

"Sonic, you're awake..! Oh, I've been so worried!" Amy exclaimed, her face brightning with instant happiness. She hurried to his side, kneeled by the bed and grasped his lifeless hand in hers. Without being able to control it, tears had broken forth from her eyes and now silently rolled down her cheeks as she then pressed his hand against her chest as if hugging it. But after awhile, when Sonic didn't respond or return her affectionate gesture, and simply stared right up at the ceiling - the expression upon her face paled. "Sonic… can you hear me? Please, look at me..! Sonic?" Her hands were suddenly upon his face as she tried to turn his head towards her but found that even though his eyes were half open they were oddly glazed and unfocused. His emerald eyes showing no emotion or sign of recognition at all.

A terrible fear dawned upon poor Amy as she almost instinctively pulled away.

"Sonic, what's happened to you…?"

Forcing herself to stay calm and think logically, Amy got up on shaky legs and ran downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing the phone on the wall and calling Tails' number. It was early noon so the young fox should be up and about in his workshop by now. Hopefully he wasn't doing anything too noisey to hear the phone ring.

Luckily it didn't take more than a few signals until Amy heard the light raspy voice of her brother-in-law answer with an alert— "Hello? Amy?"

"Tails, thank Chaos you answered! It's Sonic, I think there's something wrong with him! I- I don't know what to do! He won't talk to me! Oh, what if he's dying!? Please Tails, you have to come! I don't know what to do… I don't… I don't know what to-"

"Wait, calm down Amy! Take a deep breath."

Without thinking, Amy did as she was told and took a moment to inhale a great amount of air only to then exhale slowly through her nose. She repeated the notion an extra time just to be sure before she finally turned her attention back to the phone. This was about Sonic's well being, and Tails needed her to be precise in order to properly help her.

"Okay, I'm calm." She reported, keeping her voice steady.

"Good. Now tell me, what's happened - is Sonic hurting in any way?"

"I don't think so. He didn't look to be in any pain at least, it's rather that he looked completely emotionless. Glazed eyes, stiff all over the body, and didn't respond when I tried talking to him."

"No reaction at all?"

"No, oh Tails - do you think the explosion made him deaf? That could happen if you're standing too close, right? And what if he's turned mute as well? You know from shock or something…?"

"That could have happened, I suppose." Tails mused, but hurried to continue before Amy could get a chance to start panicing again. "But not too likely considering who were talking about. And if the explosion somehow damaged his hearing it should be healed by now."

"What, how?"

"Due to the abnormal high levels of Chaos Energy that Sonic naturally coarses through his system, of course. Come on, Amy, you know Sonic heals approximately tripple as fast as any normal Mobian being do. Merely surviving a fall from that high of an attitude is in itself impossible, but even so I'm guessing the pavement took more damage than Sonic's body did once he landed. My take is that he's probably in a state of recovery - both physically and mentally, which would explain why he's not talking nor giving much of a reaction."

"So what do I do then, is there no way I can help speed up the process?"

"I'm afraid the only thing we both can do is really just wait for the Chaos Energy to balance itself within him again. But his bodily needs should soon need tending to. Try getting him something to eat and drink if you can, but keep it moderately so his body gets a chance to adjust accordingly. And let him sleep, that way he can heal up the rest of his body faster."

"Okay, got it - eat, drink and sleep. I'll do my best." Amy promised, feeling a lot more at ease over hearing Tails' calm and collected voice explain the situation. "Can he understand if I speak to him?"

"I believe so. But keep it brief, maybe try reassuring him that what happened in Station Square wasn't his fault and that G.U.N. managed to get the situation under control. You know, to put his mind at ease."

"Yeah…" Although Amy couldn't help but let her anxiety shine through when she then asked— "Do- Do you think, when he finally does come back to his senses, that-… that he'll ever get over that day?"

For the first time during their talk did Tails pause for a moment to think.

The young fox had witnessed his older brother in almost every possible every state of emotional being. From the deepest of unhinged anger as Dark Sonic to the most ethereal of splendor as Super Sonic. And even when he'd seen him suffer through immense physical pain, Tails hadn't doubted for a single second that his brother would pull through.

The power of Chaos was just that strong in him.

And Tails' faith in Sonic even stronger.

His spirit simply couldn't be broken. Not now, not ever.

So with shining confidence Tails' answered her— "Yes. Yes, I do."

After Amy had expressed her deepest gratitude and Tails had promised that he'd stop by the following morning, they'd both hung up. Leaving her nothing else to do than to follow his advise and prepare a meal.

It had to be something light and easy on the stomach she figured, but still enough to satisfy her surely hungry fiancé. He'd always had a great appetite, and due to his extreme way of burning calories he ate more than probably most people do. And Sonic loved her cooking, he was regularly keen on telling her so and showing her his appreciation. Perhaps because he lacked the capacity to ever actually cook himself and sometimes felt guilty about it, or maybe it was just simply out of his own kindness. Even though Amy was just as keen on telling him that being able to feed the ones she loved filled her with an own sense of satisfaction.

She flipped through her own hand written reciepe book, which was filled with reciepes she'd learned from Vanilla but also some she'd come up with by herself. Through many, many trial and errors, mind you. At last she stopped at a particular spread that read; "If your loved one is pained by stomach ache or nausea." . Eyeing through the following pages, she finally settled for a simple broth that were filled with nutrition and, of course, good for the digestion. Then she grabbed a basket and her gardening gloves and stepped out into the garden to pick the correct amount of vegetables that had been instructed.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Sonic had a difficult time determining whether he was truly awake or still dreaming.

After a foggy inner debate with himself he decided to settle for the latter. That way he wouldn't be dissapointed if it turned out that it had all been his own currently delusional mind merely playing tricks on him. Just a moment ago he could've sworn he was a kid again, witnissing bombs raining over Green Hill Zone only to a second later find that he was instead fifteen years old and trapped inside a capsule that got blown off towards Mobius and then feel his body explode into a million little pieces. No, he was sure that part was made up. He'd survived that time. It had looked dark, but alas he'd survived despite the odds. The fake Chaos Emerald had worked…

Buildings collapsed as Perfect Chaos tore through the city.

The moon got blown up several times only to be put back together and eventually turn him into a monster.

He sent Tails to safety back down onto the ground while he stayed behind, his little brother's screams getting further and further away.

He saw all the life and color get sucked out of his home. Out of his friends…

Knuckles… Amy… they- they were gone.

He never got to say…

Suddenly the room flooded with light, spreading an inexplicable warmth that felt familiar and comforting. The smell of roses that came along with it was too distinguished for him to have pieced it together in his mind. Its tenderness filled him with a strong sense of certainty—

He was home.

The real, present-time Amy Rose came towards him, sitting gently down by his side upon the bed. A smile graced her lips as she looked at his sudden clear vision. Sonic tried to speak, and even if his lips now had the ability to form the words still nothing came out.

"Don't worry." Amy whispered to him. "It'll be okay, Tails told me that your voice will return soon. Anyway, I've made some food for you, if you're feeling up to it of course."

With great effort, Sonic actually managed to make a small nod with his head.

After putting the steaming bowl of broth down upon the nightstand, Amy then managed to sit him up a little more by piling up pillows behind his back. She procedeed to delicately feed him small spoons of the broth which Sonic willingly accepted. By the taste, he recognized that it had been cooked on vegetables from their garden. Celery, carrot, parsnip and various others that he couldn't remember the name of at the moment, they all spread a heavenly taste in his mouth and seemed to sooth his dried up throat. If it hadn't been that Amy was feeding him he would've easily gobbled the entire bowl down in under a minute, even though he'd probably end up burning himself in the process.

In between gulps of broth, Sonic trained his gaze on his fiancée. He noted, despite her tender smile and soft expression, just how tired she looked - a wistful glint unmistakably visible in her jade eyes.

Just then, Robotnik's words echoed through his mind—

"Don't think that I haven't noticed that you've kept her from me—"

"-It was practically me who put you two love birds together. I'd be thrilled to congratulate her myself - personally."

"-I might just make you watch as I tear each and every last petal off your precious little rose—"

Amy's hand gently stroked across his forehead as a pain stricken frown had flashed across his face. Her touch was like a cooling breeze that for the time being comforted him, reassured him that nothing bad could happen as long as she sat there by his side.

Sweet, innocent Amy who he adored above all else. Who cried whenever he turned up home with so much as a scratch. Who insisted on burying Flickies they'd come across dead in the forest. And who saw the best in people and believed that everyone, no matter how deep inside of their core it may lie, existed some form of good.

The thought of her within Robotnik's wicked grasp... To even get close to her. For her to live in a world where a madman like him had the absolute control, where nature would be extinguished and replaced by steel and iron, where no one was free of mind or will. A world ruled by tyranny and where the goodness of one's heart wouldn't be anything worth - a mere sign of weakness.

No.

Sonic would never let that happen. He'd do whatever it takes to keep that from happening. He'd defeat Robotnik once and for all. Bring him to justice...

G.U.N had offered to do just that, and he had rejected the idea at first, maybe because he'd feared that by doing so he'd give up some sort of dignity, that he'd might lose a part of himself - that part of him that had always relied on him and his own abilities before anything or anyone else. He'd never needed to think twice about it in the past, but now… Now things were different from a couple of years ago, heck even just one year ago. Something had changed within Robotnik. He wasn't the same clownish scientis anymore that had put woodland creatures into crabmeats or built amusement parks in outer space.

He'd turned cold.

The once maniacal laughther had turned into a raw, malicious convulsion of hatred.

And perhaps only now, in the light of that Amy or any of his other friends might come in his way, did Sonic realize just how mentally unstable Robotnik actually had turned. Yet, for some reason he'd chosen to ignore the signs. For how long he didn't know, but surely this wasn't something that had just happened from one day to another. Was he in fact sick? A sick man with an artillery of heavily dangerous weapons and robots at his disposal.

An unpleasant shudder went down Sonic's spine as he contemplated this.

He still couldn't think straight, or perhaps he'd never seen things quite as clearly before.

"Sonic..-" Amy's voice pulled him back into reality. The empty bowl had been put aside on the nightstand and she'd pulled the covers up to his chin. Misinterpeting his troubled expression she told him as comfortingly as she could— "Station Square is safe. The G.U.N. soliders managed to get most of the remaining people to safety in their trucks, they're at the safe zone as of now, and I heard on the news that they are all doing fine considering everything." She cast a glance down at her lap, seemingly hesitating. After awhile she continued with a lot more sorrow evident in her voice. "But I suppose they are obliged to say that… aren't they? I can't even begin to fathom what all those people must be going through right now - their homes destroyed, the trauma, the poor children…"

Despite what Tails had said about keeping it brief, she just couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye and delude him into believing that everything was fine. Besides, Sonic had witnessed the chaos first hand and had probably already put two and two together.

"But you saved them, Sonic. Without you, who knows what more damage Robotnik would've done to the city? Whatever you did made Robotnik flee the scene, and apparently G.U.N. is already hot on his tail so that's good. And who knows, maybe they'll catch him and we won't ever have to see him again? Either way, I think-… I think everything will turn out all right for us, I really do."

Whether she believed her own words or not Sonic couldn't tell. A brief, shaky laugh escaped her lips before she quieted down completely. They sat in silence - Amy lost within herself and Sonic unable to convey any form of support. Judging by the sky he saw through the window it was somewhere around early afternoon, the sun appearing bleak and occasionally hidden behind passing clouds. The wind still blew and the flickies still chirped in the trees. This could easily have been just another normal day, but so much had changed since the last time he'd enjoyed a day outside in the garden. Everything was happening so fast. Or rather everything was changing faster than he was comfortable with.

All he could do was try to keep up.

It was time to either sink or swim.

---

The next time Sonic woke up it was early evening. His eyes had shot open, but found that he was alone in the bedroom this time around.

It was peaceful, quiet, and Amy had only lit a single keresone lamp that stood on her side of the bed. On Sonic's nightstand there stood a tall glass of water, which he instantly gulped down to relieve his dried up throat, despite it being luke warm and tasting kinda funky. Next to it there also laid a box of tissues as well as several pads which smelled strongly of peroxide. He guessed Amy had regularly made sure to clean his cuts and change his bandages, even as he'd been dead asleep.

Then, slowly, he began to feel his body again and wasn't surprised to find that practically every part of him ached in a dull, yet very prominent way. As far as he could tell, he hadn't moved as much as an inch in probably over two - going on three - days. But worst of all were his legs. They felt terribly stiff and when he tried to move them it was like someone had filled his veins with liquid lead.

A hot bath. That was the only solution in easing up his stale muscles again.

And in all honesty - he could probably use a bath after all the days of being bedridden.

As he slowly but surely managed to sit himself up, placing his feet on the wooden floor, he found that he was completely naked. Not even his gloves had been left on. Although, they had most likely been too tattered to salvage anyway. When the rush of having his head upright after so long settled, he dragged his feet over to the bathroom and managed to set himself down on the edge of the bathtub while the water was filling up. He'd turned it to the hottest temperature in order to be able to really relax his muscles as long as possible. This time he'd have to look past his great dislike of being longer periods of time in water, and instead focus on how it would help his body come back to life.

"It's just a little water, it's not like you'll drown in the tub."

And as Sonic didn't know whether he should remove the bandadges or not before getting completely soaked and thus disturbing any healing cuts, he let them be just in case. When the water had reached a well enough level for it to just barely not spill over the edge, he took a deep, calming breath - stepped in and lowered himself down. Or perhaps sank down would be a better word, for even in a tub the water seemed to drag him downwards like a rock. Because he had a heart of gold apparently, as Amy had put it. He cracked a smile. But then the sensation of the scorching, numbing warmth of the bath water hit his body with full intensity. And Sonic could practically feel all of his muscles and nerves loosening up in one harmonious unity.

A shudder even went down his spine.

"Chaos…" He muttered under his breath, flexing his hands a couple of times as well as bending and stretching out his legs. Cupping his hands, Sonic scooped up some water and gently splashed it on his face. Admittedly, a not as pleasant feeling… But he kept at it and ran his hand several times through his spikes as well until he finally resigned to simply closing his eyes and letting the water work its magic.

In the still of the moment, his mind began wandering.

First he began sorting out all the events that had occured since that evacuation day in the city. The fight, the fall, the dreams… what had been real and what had been utter imagination on his part. What had merely been memories from his past and what had been present. He was pretty sure that no bombs had rained upon the cottage or that Mobius was split apart. The moon was still in half but that was common knowledge at this point. Tails had once told him to use the techquiche of listing of the most basic things about one self when waking up from a long period of unconciousness. That way it helped the brain get back on track, as well as calm any anxieties.

My name is Sonic the Hedgehog…

I'm twenty one years old, soon to turn twenty two…

I live in Sunset Meadow…

I have a little brother named Tails and a fiancée named Amy Rose.

I survived the bombing of Station Square…

Tails and Amy escaped…

They are safe…

Tails and Amy…

Amy…

There the excerise ended abruptly as he couldn't manage to think beyond anything else from that point.

Sonic silently wondered where Amy were at this moment. Surprised she hadn't showed up yet, as he'd made quite a lot of noise after all. Although, he mused, she could very well be out - perhaps gone to the village market or stopped by the Rabbit's for dinner. In which case she could take a while.

Just then, his left ear flicked.

The distant sound of very light steps. A fluttering heart, and soft breaths. Soon after the front door opened and closed downstairs. The vaugue humming of a melody he immediately recognized.

A melody only Amy Rose knew.

Sonic leisurely listened as she walked around down there for a good period of time. And as far as he could tell she put grocerises in the fridge, confirming his suspicion of a trip to the market. But then he could hear the sound of her coming up the stairs, clearly trying to step as gently as possible as not to disturb her, at least to her knowledge, sleeping fiancé.

Amy entered the bedroom and naturally her eyes first and foremost discovered the bed being empty for the first time in almost three whole days. In the brief second it took for her mind to register it, her heart instantly panicked.

"Sonic..?!" She half shouted, half whispered into the seemingly empty room.

Fortunately, Sonic's voice answered her from within the bathroom. "I'm in here, Ames!" And a second later she rushed inside, but just as quickly turned her back at him by pure instinct.

"Oh, Sonic, don't scare me like that! For a moment there I thought you'd..-" But due to her suddenly flustered face, her voice abruptly died down.

Sonic, however, wasn't late at picking up the thread. "That I'd what - suddenly gone up in smoke? Become a ghost?" He grinned but Amy wasn't amused.

"Don't joke like that, you jerk..! Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Every night as I tried to go to sleep I held onto your hand, afraid that you might somehow disappear o-or get taken..."

"Taken? Why would I get taken?"

"I-I don't know! I just-… I've been worried… thinking about everything and nothing at the same time..-"

Sonic noticed the sudden evasive tone in her voice, and the fact that she had her face turned away from him didn't help either. "Amy, look at me." He requested, interrupting her continued rambling. She stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Erm, I-" Amy hesitated, her voice changing yet again, to a more low, modest tone. "We can talk about it later, I didn't mean to disturb your bath."

It took Sonic a moment to realize she was being shy about having walked in on him bathing and maybe more so being, well, naked. As rare of an occureence as it was, he still found her reaction a bit excessive considering this was hardly differing much to that of his normal apperance. And it wasn't like they hadn't seen each other's bodies before. Maybe it was more prone to females or something, he guessed.

Still, he couldn't help but find her behavior oddly endearing.

Through the bathroom mirror he caught her stealing a sideways glance at him. Hastily she looked away and stammered forth—

"T-the bandages, did you take them off before getting in?"

"Eh, no, should I have done that?"

"No, it's okay. I'll just have to redress them later."

"Okay."

Sonic's hand reached out to grasp Amy's, causing her to finally turn around and meet his gaze. He gave her a reassuring look as well as a smile and then softly prodded her to come closer. Graciously she followed suit and sank down onto her knees upon the bathroom floor, close enough for him to inspect her more properly. Besides the obvious fluster, she looked much better than the last time he'd seen her. And he probably did the same because her eyes suddenly softened into a more tender expression. Her eyelids even lowered while the blush on her cheeks deepened, tilting her head slightly to the side. If he hadn't known better he might've thought she was making eyes at him, but he figured she was merely glad to be able to look into a pair of responsive eyes again. Soon he felt her tentative fingers upon his right shoulder, tracing along the outlines of the damp bandages.

All of a sudden Amy's eyes got downcast and she opened her mouth as if she'd been about to say something, but then quickly changed her mind.

Gently, Sonic lifted her chin up with his thumb and index finger. "You wanna…-" He swallowed a sudden hard lump that had appeared in his throat, but still he kept his nerve. "-join me?"

The tub wasn't particularly big by any means, but if it could fit him it most definitaley could fit in her as well. Bathing together wasn't anything they normally did, or had ever done for that matter, because - again - Sonic strictly stuck to showering. And when they went to the beach, it was Amy who did the swimming while he stayed on dry land. In any case, this was different than being at the beach with their friends, more private and certainly more intimate with it just being the two of them.

Thus the gentleman in Sonic felt the need to add—

"I can close my eyes while you get in if you want."

"N-no, it's okay." Amy reassured hastily with a smile - just as touched by the proposal as she was surprised. "We are husband- and wife-to-be, after all. It's only natural that we are bare before each other, r-right?"

"Ye-yeah, right."

And so, without further ado, Amy rose to her feet, slipped out of her sundress and let it fall to the bathroom floor with a soft thud. She then procedeed in taking off her underwear as well as her gloves before finally standing just as naked as the day she was born, and with cheeks the same hue as her namesake. Under his otherwise calm facade, Sonic's heart began throbbing so wildly against his ribcage that it almost hurt. Surely one could hear how loud it beat? He couldn't take his eyes off of her lovely apperance. Her fluttering eyelashes. Dainty knees. Pale peach skin. Soft curves. Delicately shaped to the utmost degree that he was sure she must've been sent his way from a diviner power up above.

Chaos...

She was absolutely beautiful.

Lending a hand to help her get into the tub more smoothly, Sonic then found himself sitting opposite Amy in the warm water. But soon after, as it felt like a terrible waste being needlessly apart from one another, he stretched his arm out between them - inviting her to rest her body against his.

"But - you're hurt." Amy protested.

"It's worth it."

And so, with uttermost carefulness, she lowered her body onto Sonic's, resting her head against his damp chest while he encircled his arms around her. Despite the limited space, Amy found herself perfectly comfortable where she was. The warm water, the steady beating of Sonic's heart, their bodies being so close together with the night slowly approaching outside.

Safe...

Alive.

Delicately Amy's hand moved along Sonic's body. From his abdomen up to his chin, then up along his jaw to his forehead. And from there she slid down back to his shoulder, passing his arm until her hand finally found his and soon felt it being gently grasped. With their hands dripping of water he placed hers against his cheek, pressing it ever so slightly as he closed his eyes and bent his head down to press his lips against the top of her head. With a subtle heave of his chest he breathed in through his nose - his body falling into a deeper state of relaxation. The heavenly scent of Amy spread into his system like a drug that seemed to heal more than just his physical needs, but the entirety of his soul as well.

He needed to live in this very moment as much as he could. Every heartbeat was sacred. Every breath, every word she spoke a sweet melody that was vital for him to memorize. For he knew now that their days together were truly numbered - he could count them on one hand. And after that… Chaos only knew when he'd get to see her again.

To hold her like he did right now.

To kiss her soft lips.

To hear her laugh at some stupid joke he'd just told.

But Sonic promised himself that he would return. Whatever it may take. Even if he'd be forced to drag himself across all of Mobius - he'd do it.

"This feels nice.." Amy whispered moment's silence.

"Yeah, I might have to consider taking baths a bit more often if it's always like this."

"Don't make me blush..."

But, naturally - her cheeks flushed once again.

"Sorry, but making you blush is my life's one true purpose, Amy. I live for it. And it's also partially pay back for all those times you made my teenage self blush like a madman due to all your flirting."

"I couldn't help it, you were just too cute."

"Aw, cut it out." Sonic playfully rolled his eyes, while suppressing a smirk before turning serious. "Anyway, now that I'm not stuck on a snooze cruise anymore, I wanna apologize for doing what I did back at the beach. I'm really sorry for how I acted… I should've handled it better than I did."

Amy could tell he was being sincere, and as much as she had been wanting to shout at him for it these past days - she ultimately couldn't bring herself to muster up the anger again. Somewhere between her watching over his disconnected body laying beside her in bed and this moment, she'd lost her fire. Instead her voice turned quiet, answering him with a will to understand rather than to place blame on him. "I begged you, Sonic. I begged you to let us help you... I know you paniced, but Tails and I..- we are not kids anymore, we're your comrades and you need to trust that we can handle ourselves. You do know that, right?"

"I know, Ames, of course I know that. But you're also my family, and I'm responsible-"

"No, you're not."

"You could've died."

Sonic felt her body shift slightly, her head pressing itself against his chest while her hands clung to him desperately or perhaps passionately.

"Well, in that case, rather it be me than you."

"Don't… Don't say that. Please, I can't stand it."

"You may be able to protect me from evil doctors, monsters and giant killer robots, Sonic - but you can't protect me from the entire world. It's simply impossible. No one is safe forever. And if I'd die fighting by your side, knowing that I did the right thing, I'd say that's a pretty good way to go."

Sonic voice was filled with warmth and a conviction beyond all else when he merely shook his head and proclaimed— "No, you're gonna live, Ames. A long, happy life and have lots of kids, and grandkids and great-grandkids…"

"Any chance you can see how many kids there will be?"

"Oh, at least a dozen or two."

Amy giggled softly under her breath, closing her eyes as though she were trying to picture it. Meanwhile, Sonic felt oddly drowsy all of a sudden, perhaps the warm water did that to you. His legs though had slowly began to regain their strength and already longed for the moment when they'd get out into the open fields and hills. All this sleeping hadn't been good for him nor his body. There was so much that needed to be done. Things that couldn't even wait for more than a couple of days.

How was everything outside?

What was the Commander and all the people at G.U.N. doing right this moment?

And most importantly - what was Robotnik doing right now? What is he planning to do next and where is he hiding?

Sonic realized that he desperately needed to talk Tails. As of now, his little brother was the only person who could clear up all of the oncoming thoughts, who could set both his mind and priorities straight. He knew what needed to be done, but the execution of it would require of him a certain strength that he didn't know if he even had. Tails would remind him, for he knew too - knew what was most important.

Would Tails still be up at this hour?

Yeah, if Sonic knew his brother right then he'd be sure to find the genius fox still up and about. Being a borderline workaholic and, maybe more so, a young teenager, sleep tended to be a secondary need.

With a heavy glance down at Amy, Sonic stroked a hand down the back of her head, her quills a little damp yet still soft and with the heavenly scent of fresh roses. He could feel her fragile heart rush when he ever so gently touched her and brought her face closer to his, kissing her delicate lips with a desparing sense of hunger. But not a hunger of lust - no, only a pure need for her to feel his love.

For her to on some subconscious level understand that everything he'd do would be for her sake.

Sonic thought to himself the things he wished he would've confessed to her out loud if only he could have. "You say you'd be content with dying in my place, but don't you understand that I could never let that happen? There would be nothing left for me in this world without you, for the single reason that it's you who are my world. That's why I'd die for you… and why I'm forced to let you go..."

That notion made his lips all the more desperate. With every kiss he poured yet another little piece of his heart and soul into Amy's loving response. Despite not being as strong as him she tried to keep even steps with him, bringing her hands up to his spikes while her lips returned each kiss he delivered. At the same time their bodies reacted and thus also acted on their own, instincts blending together with tender passion. With a single, swift motion Sonic sat himself up with his back straight, his hands still safely emracing Amy's body as her legs wrapped around his waist. Water spilled over the edge of the tub and down on the floor as he then procedeed to lean himself forward and planted a trail of kisses down her chin, throat and chest.

"S-Sonic…" Amy breathed, a little surprised by his sudden action, but not as much as one would think. Like the very wind itself, she knew her fiancé could be just as untamed and unpredictable to engage with. His free spirited nature and reliance on instincts were what made up the core of his being. It was sometimes easy to forget, but this was after all the young man that was not in any way ordinary or like other men. Ancient energies and supernatural powers coarsed through his veins at all times. Connected to unreachable possibilities and abilities within the mere will of his own mind.

A divine force of nature that Amy was allowed to be under the complete attention of. Even if it were only in fleeting fractions of the cosmos, she didn't understand what she possibly could've done to deserve his love and devotion. She reminded herself to breathe as Sonic lovingly caressed and kissed her delicate frame, alternating between her lips and her body - which every now and again made her let out soft gasps of pleasure. He made love to her without jeopardizing their promise to wait for the day when they'd finally be wed, and also respecting her virtue.

However, sooner rather than later, the familiar sense of dire fatigue grabbed ahold of Amy's heart, making it very hard to breathe all of a sudden. It almost felt like she was close to fainting. Feebly, she tried to withdraw herself from her fiancé's warm embrace and his touch. "Sonic-" She began reluctantly. "-as much as I wish we could go on - I can barely feel my heart…"

In an instant, Sonic ceased his actions and pulled himself back to relieve some of the preassure. His hands took a firm yet gentle hold of her back in order to support her weight for her. "Sorry, guess I got a bit carried away there, huh?" He chuckled sheepishly before taking a proper look at her face. The rosiness in her cheeks, her shallow breaths and weakened expression… She looked like she was running a fever. He brushed the quills from her face, furrowing his brow in concern for her well being. "Are you all right? Do you need anything? I know that I shouldn't lose it like that… shouldn't have rushed you… Man, I'm so stupid - I'm sorry, Amy, rea-"

But Amy put her index finger to his lips, silencing his rambling. She smiled. "Don't be silly, it was very… delightful. My heart is just overreacting, that's all." Then she booped her nose with his, making a playful boop-sound as she did, which managed to bring out a smile from Sonic as well. The bath water had turned just barely lukewarm by now, prompting her to suggest that it was probably time to get on out of the tub.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, time for bed."

That proved to be more difficult than they'd thought however, as Amy's legs could just about keep her upright, forcing her to sit and wait on the edge of the tub while Sonic fetched them a towl each from the linen cabinet. When they'd dried themselves up, he carefully lifted her up into his arms and carried her to instead sit upon the bed.

"I'll get you your nightgown.."

"Thanks."

Sonic zipped over to the wooden closet, opened one the middle drawers and found Amy's nightgowns neatly folded on the right side. On the left side however… Well, he guessed she needed a pair of underwear too… So, with cheeks threatening to turn red, he picked up the closest piece of fabric he could grab as well as a nightgown before hastily closing the drawer again. Luckily, Amy didn't seem to notice his abashed expression as he wordlessly handed her the bundle. She merely gave him an appreciative nod while Sonic let out a mental sigh of relief. During the time she took to change, he went over to put on a fresh pair of gloves and socks. Just as he did, he remembered that he still needed to change his bandages and headed back into the bathroom to grab the first aid kit.

"Oh, right, I'd almost forgot!" Amy told him as he returned with the red kit in his hands. "Come sit down and I'll get those changed."

"You sure? I could just do it on my own, you don't have to strain yourself."

"Sonic, I'm fine. Now stop dawdling and let me help you."

Seeing no point in arguing about it, Sonic settled down beside his fiancée and observed as she happily got to work on unwrapping the damp bandadges on his upper torso and shoulder. When they were fully removed, she cleaned and applied an antibiotic cream of some sort onto the almost fully healed wounds. It was actually quite calming to sit there and get doted on for a few minutes. Amy was always so light and tender on her hand when she touched him, it felt like small strokes of feathers that brushed against his weathered skin and fur. She wrapped the new set of bandadges with utmost care, and as she was done, planted a soft kiss upon the covered wound on his shoulder. "There you go…" She managed to say before letting out a big yawn. "H-how does that feel?"

"Much better, thanks." Sonic answered, bending and flexing his arm a couple of times in order to stretch out the bandadge a bit. Overall his entire body felt considerably better after the bath. Now to do something about his restless legs and feet, they were practically itching for a long, looong run. Preferably five lapses around Mobius. But then another realization hit him, just abruptly as if he'd been roughly smacked in the face while in the midst of a lulling, yet oblivious slumber.

Station Square…

And in an instant, Sonic knew that whatever was left of Station Square had to be his first stop.

Unaware of her his sudden inner turmoil, Amy was ready to give in to the sleep as soon as her head would hit the pillow. Closing the first aid kit and putting it down on the floor, she then crept over to her side of the bed and slipped underneath the covers. She had expected Sonic to follow suit but found that he didn't, instead he got up from the bed and began to put his shoes on. Confusion settled upon her features as she sought out his eyes but his back was turned against her.

"You're not coming to bed?"

For a fraction of a second her whole body froze.

Had- Had she done something wrong?

Fortunately, her worries were quickly put to rest as Sonic, having finished putting on his famous red and white sneakers, turned around again to face her. Within the blink of an eye he was kneeling by her bedside. The initial smile he gave her was kind, but then his expression changed drastically. His voice laced with seriousness as he said—

"I need to go. I need to see the damage of Station Square with my own eyes or else I'll go crazy. If what I've imagined in my head… is worse or not. What happened that day was my fault and I owe it to the people who… didn't make it-" He was silent for a moment before continuing. "-to see the consequences of my actions. And to remember that I've always gotta fight to ensure that something like that never happens again."

Sonic closed his eyes, speaking more to himself than Amy at this point.

"Their sacrafise will mean something. I'll make sure of it."

"Sonic…"

It tore at Amy's heart to see the sheer pain upon her beloved's face, and knowing that there was nothing she could say that would ever be able to take that pain away from him. All she could do was to somehow try and ease it. Tenderly, her arms encircled his neck, bringing him in to lay his head down to rest upon her chest as she hugged him close.

Surrendering all of her strength to him.

---

Morning came, cloudy but still warm and humid as yet another day of summer were about to begin.

Due to last night's endeavors Amy slept much longer than usual, but was still surprised to find that Sonic had not yet returned. Although, as his sleep schedule had been greatly disrupted these past days, he'd probably stayed up the whole night or perhaps dozed off out in the meadows or up a tree. Either way she hoped his wounds hadn't hurt too much and that he'd regained some of his strength by being out in the open again.

And she also hoped the sight of Station Square's current state hadn't plagued him too much.

None of it was his fault, but knowing Sonic, he would without a doubt put all the blame on himself and not were it rightfully belonged - namely Robotnik.

As Amy let out a heavy sigh for her beloved's possible plight, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and was suddenly flooded with memories from last night.

"Sonic was really sweet and gentle with me yesterday… If only my heart could stop trying to jump out of my chest each time he holds me."

Sitting herself up in bed, she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face into the covers while furiously blushing. Then, figuring she'd wasted away enough time of the day, Amy jumped out of bed to get herself dressed. Opening up the wooden closet she picked out a dress at random, put on a pair of stockings and shoes before settling down at her dressing table. She noted that the blush hadn't left her cheeks and wondered if it would remain there for the rest of the day.

Hopefully not.

Several minutes passed as Amy further brushed her quills, applied the usual what's-it-called to her face and skin, slipped on her pristine white gloves, and lastly adorned herself with a ribbon in order to keep her quills in check. It took it's sweet time and once she was done she got up to twirl a couple of times in front of the mirror to examine the result. But just as she turned around she found that a figure had appeared in the window.

"Morning, Ames!"

"Ah! Sonic!"

Hunched over and with his feet upon the windowsill was Sonic, grinning like a fool and ridiculously handsome in the morning light that shined in from behind him.

"We have a front door which you can enter through, you know like normal people do..!"

"True, but where's the fun in that?"

With noteable swiftness and ease, he came in through the window and landed down onto the floor with a soft thud. Then he wasted no time in approaching her and taking her into his arms as he kissed her with such softness, yet intensity that Amy almost felt her breath get taken away. "Did you sleep well?" He asked once their lips parted. His arms, however, remained around her waist.

"Yes.." Amy breathed out in response, feeling a bit woozy from the kiss. "How was your run? Did you sleep at all?"

At that, Sonic chuckled.

"Nope, no more snooze cruises for me! I ran for as long as my feet carried me until I had to stop somewhere around Apotos and turn back home, hehe!"

Not being able to decide whether he was joking or not, Amy merely smiled up at him. Happy as well as relieved that he seemed to have come back to normal and not too torn up anymore. Still, they should probably talk about what he'd possibly seen and more importantly felt when he'd gone to Station Square. She didn't want him to keep it all to himself, and perhaps he was trying to play if off right now. To seem unfaced and be strong for her sake, although, after what he'd said last night… Amy was glad he'd opened up, but it had also subconciously struck a cord in her. But just as she was about to bring it up, Sonic surprised her once again by giving her a quick kiss before taking her hand into his and leading her over to the dressing table. He motioned for her to sit down on the stool while being barely able to suppress a smirk from stretching across his muzzle.

"Speaking of which… I have something for you - a morning gift, if you will."

"I don't think that's an appropriate term to use…" Amy giggled as she fixed herself more comfortably upon the stool. "-or did we get married last night and I somehow forgot about it?"

"Har de har, Ames. Just close your eyes for a sec, would ya'?"

"Fine, fine, closing them now!"

She hastily threw her hands over her eyes, still giggling underneath her breath.

"No peeking, okay?"

"Okay..!"

From within the safety of his spikes, Sonic brought forth something which he proudly displayed in his hands, letting out a playful— "Ta-daa..!"

"Can I open my eyes now?"

"Yes, hence the beautifully melodious 'Ta-daa'!"

"Tee-hee, oh, right!"

What laid before Amy was a rectangular box clad in red velvet.

The last time Sonic had presented her with a velvet box it had contained the engangement ring she now wore on her finger.

She opened the lid and discovered a golden locket that was vaugley in the shape of a heart with curly engravings adorneimg the edges. Looking closer, Amy found that they were actually resembling flowers. Her fingers found the clasp which, as she opened it, revealed that a photo had already been put inside.

"Tails helped me pick out a good one." Sonic remarked, smiling brightly as he saw the awe that spread on her face.

Amy recognized the photo, it was one of her favorites from one of their albums. She, Tails and Sonic stood together on a bright summer's day, all of them smiling at the camera. Sonic had both of his arms around the other two's shoulders while flashing his trademark grin, looking as charming as ever. Tails' blue eyes were lit up in excitment - proudly sporting his pilot's jacket and googles. Amy herself was clad in one of her favorite dresses and had her arms wrapped around Sonic's torso in a tight embrace.

They… looked happy.

After carefully studying her reaction, Sonic ultimately asked— "Do you like it?" As always when he gave her any type of gifts, he got a bashful, almost insecure expression that very much resembled to that of a young boy. Alas, he didn't need to worry for long as Amy soon threw her arms around his neck with a cheerful cry, and quite literary bombarded his muzzle with kisses. "Whoa! Okay! I guess I'll take that as a 'yes' then."

"Of course I like it! Oh Sonic, it's the loveliest gift anyone's ever given me..!"

When the initial joy settled, Sonic helped her to put the necklace on, his hands trembling slightly as he fumbled with the tiny clasp for a moment. However, once the necklace was in place, Sonic took a step back while Amy sat back down by the dressing table to view her reflection in the mirror. The effect was quite striking, if in a somewhat subtle way. The gold seemed to bring out the jade in her eyes, as well as creating a cohesion with the golden bangles around her wrists. It felt as a nice complement rather than standing out and attracting too much attention. And the heart-shaped locket…

On pure impulse she commented on her new appearance with a surprised— "I am... pretty."

"Yes, you are." Sonic responded with a warm smile playing upon his lips, embracing Amy's petite form from behind and gazing at their unified reflection. Immediately, a blush spread on his fiancée's cheeks as she lowered her eyes in modesty.

"I meant to say the locket is pretty..."

"Heh, I'm glad you like it."

Tenderly, Sonic kissed her cheek before lifting her chin back up, trying to show her what he saw when he looked in the mirror. But all Amy saw was how the contrast between them was painfully obvious. He, as handsome as a prince with the most beautiful emerald eyes that no one else possesed. And while his royal blue fur and healthy tanned skin made him appear strong and capable, her own rosy paleness and frail physique were not as impressive looking. She was just about to point out her own inadequacy when she noticed a sudden sad glint flash by in his eyes.

However, in the next moment it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

Had she only imagined it?

"Sonic, about last night… I could tell you were upset. I know there's been a lot going on since you came back from Chun-nan - what with that Metal Sonic showing up,and G.U.N. suddenly beginning to stir things up, and now Robotnik's assault on Station Square…" Sonic's expression was unreadable as Amy spoke, but she kept at it, turning around in her seat and taking his hands into hers. "And I know you're not one to let anyone see how stressed you are. You're strong and you've handled worse situations before. But I can't help but worry about you just the same, and I just want you to remember that I'm here for you. Not just because I'm your fiancée…-"

Amy paused, overwhelmed by flooding emotions which made it hard to keep herself on track. But Sonic needed to hear this. He needed to know that he wasn't alone in all of this, that she, although she might not understand the entirety of his burden, still wanted to share it with him. Support him through thick and thin.

"-… I mean, you are my best friend - my true love. And you are not alone, cause together with our friends we'll get through this. Robotnik won't win because goodness always conquer evil in the end. The true power of friendship is one our side, as a wise hedgehog once said!"

A seemingly genuine, broad smile found its way onto Sonic's lips and Amy took it as a good enough sign. She let out a giggle and once again flung her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

"Thanks, Ames, I appreciate it. Really."

It wasn't much of a response but that's all he could bring himself to say at the moment.

They stayed in each other's embrace for a while until Sonic gently pulled away, clearing his throat as he'd managed to regain his senses.

"Amy I…- I've been thinning too. During the night I was trying to figure out what we should do next, and I think we should go to Angel Island and pay Knuckles a visit. After all, he needs to know what's been going on down here, and together with Tails we can come up with a plan. Maybe the Master Emerald can even give us a clue as to where any of the Chaos Emeralds might be, we'll need them if we're going to track down Robotnik and possibly bring him to justice once and for all." He flashed her a confident smile and winked. "A little Super Sonic action wouldn't hurt our chances at that, now would they? Either way - it's a good place to start."

Instantly, Amy's eyes lit up with a new spark. "Absolutely! Oh, I haven't seen Knuckles for so long, and with Tails coming along we'll finally be back together again! It'll be like a family reunion!"

"Family reunion?" Sonic inquired, cocking his brow in amusement. "Well, I guess Knuckles is very much like the grumpy old uncle I never had."

"Sooonic…" Amy chided, giving him a light swat on the shoulder before asking—"When are we leaving?"

"As soon as you're ready. I've already talked to Tails about it and he's preparing the Tornado for us at his workshop - we'll meet him there."

"That's great! But are you sure you're up for this? I mean you just recovered and-"

"Of course I'm sure, I feel as fit as a fiddle!Besides, Robotnik's already had plenty enough time to come up with yet another scheme, and I'm not going to waste another day just snoring away in bed!" Sonic's excitment was enough to comfort as well as convince Amy that he was truly serious about this and was prepared to get back into action. He'd even jumped to his feet and sprinted over to the closet to get to packing all the things they'd need, leaving Amy with a slightly surprised expression. But she quickly shook it off - Sonic was naturally eager to get going and as always he was moving two steps ahead of everyone else.

But…

"We should at least get some food in you before we leave, you must be pretty hungry. What would you like for breakfast - I bought a bunch of eggs at the market yesterday so I can make omelettes if you want."

Sonic turned around and halted his movements for a moment, his stomach literary growling at the mere thought of it. Besides the broth Amy had fed him while he'd been semi-unconcious, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd eaten a proper meal. Almost a week perhaps. At least it felt like that long a time ago. "That sounds awesome, thanks. I'll just finish up here and then I'll join ya'."

"Alright."

Just as Amy turned to leave for the kitchen, she all of a sudden felt Sonic's arms around her again, giving her a brief hug and a kiss on the forehead. Immediately her stomach filled with the familiar flutter of countless butterflies. Sonic had certainly been oddly affectionate today. Kisses, hugs and a locket of pure gold. Something in the back of her mind told her that she should maybe be concerned as to why that might be. But for the time being she was too elated on her own happiness that she didn't pay this notion any mind.

After all, even though Sonic might still keep some of his general emotions slightly restrained or masked he was in regards to love opening up little by little for every day that passed. It was sometimes hard to remember, due to him being away so often, just how loving he could actually be with her. Physical connection had been a difficult aspect for him at the beginning of their relationship - to share a kiss or a hug hadn't come as natural to him as it had always done for Amy. However, through patience and respect for each other's boundaries, Sonic had grown considerably more comfortable with showing her his maturing fondness.

Last night was a good example of that.

While absentmindedly fumbling with the locket around her neck and having a smile play upon her lips, Amy walked down the stairs to the bottom floor and later into the kitchen. She tied her favorite apron around her waist and got to poking around in the fridge as well as the cupboards.

Soon she'd whipped up two omelettes stuffed generously with tomatoes, cheese and various complementing herbs from the garden to really bring out the taste. While waiting for them to be done in the pan, she set the table and filled two tall glasses full of orange juice. And just to be sure, she even put forth a plate of blueberry muffins on the table. The muffins weren't freshly baked since she'd pretty much been alone for a couple of days and the biggest mouth to feed had been dead asleep during that time.

Amy let out a content sigh, It felt comforting to have someone to cook for again.

When she heard Sonic zipping up and down the stairs two times in a row, she put the pan aside on the stove to cool off a bit, and stuck her head into the livining room. There upon the floor by the front door stood her own backpack and Sonic's rucksack, which clearly had seen better days with the leather straps having began to wither. The sight of it caused Amy to consider buying him a new one, perhaps for his birthday - she made a mental note to remember it.

As Sonic seemed to have disappeared upstairs again, Amy took the time to pack a simple bag filled with various provision they'd need if they were going to camp up at Angel Island. Even if there grew plenty of edibles on the island, the jungle being filled with fruit for example, she knew by experience that the three boys' had a quite big appetites. And one could never bring too much food, she figured. Once the bag was filled to the brim, she put it with the rest of the packing and returned to the kitchen to plate the omelettes and had just began to wonder what Sonic could be doing when he suddenly came rushing in.

"Sooonic, no breaking the sound barrier inside the house, please..!" Amy whined while frantically trying to flatten out her ruffled up quills as well as her apron and dress.

"Puh-lease - that was barely even a light gust!" Sonic rebutted, not even trying to hide his smirk at seeing her pouting face. Admittedly, it was quite adorable. "Ooh! Breakfast!" Within the blink of an eye, he'd taken a seat by the table and was soon busy devouring his plate of food. Sonic held very loosely to the concept of using a knife and fork unless necessary, something Amy secretly couldn't help but finding oddly endearing at times, but mostly just repulsing.

Somewhere right then, as he stuffed another piece of omelette into his mouth with his fingers, Vanilla surely felt a shiver run down her spine.

Resigning to her fate of having a fiancé that rejected everything regarding table manners, Amy simply shook her head and allowed herself a smile, joining Sonic at the table and beginning to neatly cut up her own omelette. Taking exemplary small bites at a time. "Why do I even bother?" She wondered aloud.

That earned her a toothy grin from Sonic.

"Just remember that you love me."

"Believe me, I try."

While they ate, Amy simultaneously read the newspaper which reported on the current plans of reconstruction of the heavily damaged areas in the south as well as the east parts of Station Square, but also on the continued dissapperances of Mobians and Overlanders across Mobius. Lately a larger number of missing people had been reported in various cities, yet, as far as the police knew there was no connection between the mobians in question. Neither in age, gender or social status. And supposedly the risk of unrecorded cases were at a high probability. It stung in Amy's heart reading about it, and prayed that whatever had befallen those people they'd soon be found or return on their own accord, if so was the case that they'd left voluntarily.

Some people did do that, didn't they?

Left and never returned. Became hermits, explorers or simply wanted to begin anew somewhere else.

Parents leaving their children at orphanages or simply out in the wilderness to be found wasn't unheard of, even though it was more common when Amy was little and further back in the past. Previous large scaled wars and conflicts had naturally also contributed to parentless children and broken families.

Amy could barely remember a life prior to her meeting with Sonic. It was veiled in bleak colors, wilting flowers and utterly long and lonely nights where she'd laid staring up at the sky, fantasizing that somewhere out there in the big scary world was someone waiting for her. Someone destined to find her and take her into his arms and promise to never ever abandon her. Not like her parents had done.

That someone had turned out to be Sonic.

Her soul mate.

Her knight in shining armor.

And now, ten years later, her soon-to-be husband.

It was then that she felt his lingering gaze. His emerald eyes beholding her in such tender warmth that she all of a sudden grew uncharacteristically self-concious. What was he staring at? Did she have something on her face? A piece of tomato peel stuck between her teeth? Just when she was about to inquire to his staring, Sonic knowingly directed his eyes towards the window instead. Behind his hand, which he held up to rest his chin against, she caught the glimpse of a subtle smile. If he'd been merely teasing her or genuinely admiring her she didn't know, and guessed the former was more likely. She idly began fumbling with the locket, which made her ponder on whether she was developing a new habit.

It felt reassuring in some way.

Returing her attention back to the newspaper in front of her, Amy skimmed through the rest of the reportage on the missing Mobians, and then flipped to the last page which listed this week's weather forecasted for the western areas of the United Federation. Sun was promised practically all over, except along the coast north of Station Square and up to the Mystic Ruins which showed dark clouds though fortunately no rain.

"I wonder what the weather's like on Angel Island…" Amy reflected aloud. "If it'll be rain I want to make sure Tails brings his raincoat along, and his southwest too. Perhaps a warm sweater for the night as well, if it gets chilly. Oh, Sonic - do you think he remembers to pack an extra pair of socks?"

Sonic, however, kept looking out the window while pulling a face at the question.

"Ames, he's fourteen. I wouldn't count on it."

Amy giggled, raised from her seat and took off her apron and hanging it back on it's place. "I'll just go water all the plants before we leave. It looks like it might rain, but who knows? I wouldn't want the roses to dry up…"

"Yeah… maybe Vanilla can water them while we're away, I'm sure she wouldn't mind. You want me to give her a call?"

"Oh, would you? That'd be kind of you, Sonic - I'll get to watering right away."

And so with a twirl she hurried out the kitchen door, leaving Sonic to his thoughts.

A while later, after every little flower had gotten it's share of water and all the roses been doted on. All the windows had been shut and every door locked in the cottage, and finally the key to the front door was left under a flower pot on the porch. They were in the midst of putting on their backpacks when Amy suddenly took notice of the big duffel bag that Sonic had packed while she'd made breakfast, and found that it was practically stuffed. She turned to him with her brow slightly raised and asked—

"Are you planning on moving in with Knuckles or something? What's in the huge bag?"

"Oh, you know, just the usual stuff." Sonic answered casually, shrugging his shoulders which had just been burdened by his rucksack. "Sleeping bag, pillow, an extra blanket…"

"Aw, Sonic that's nice of you, but I'm fine sleeping on the ground. Really, I am. You don't need to bring the entire bed along."

"Who says it's for you?" Sonic grinned but quickly got shoved in the arm by Amy. In response he let out a mock cry of hurt when in reality it had barely felt more than a light swat. He drew closer and cupped her face in his hands, giving her a tender smile. "Hey now, I want my fiancée to be as comfortable as possible, is that so wrong?"

Amy just about managed to suppress a blush from forming. "I guess not. B-but how are we going to carry all of this to Tails?" Aside from the two backpacks, there where still the bag containing the food, one with various necessaries that hadn't fit in the backpacks and now the big duffel bag.

But at that Sonic merely winked, and in the blink of an eye he'd swung the two duffelbags over each shoulder, swept Amy up into his arms and placed the food bag to rest in her lap. One might've thought the weight would've been too great, but Sonic stood just as sturdy as ever before. Although he felt his right shoulder strain ever so slightly from being burdened but he shook it off. "Welcome aboard the Sonic Express, madame!" He announced loudly while stepping down the porch and via the front yard made his way onto the dirt road. "Please keep all your luggage safely stored, and all arms and legs close to your body. Today's destination is the Mustic Ruins, and along the way we're going to be enjoying the finest of nature's scenery. Sadly we're all out of peanuts on board, but we do got plenty of canned food!"

Sonic took a stance, readying himself and taking a firmer hold of Amy, who buried her giggles into his chest. Like so many times before she felt absolutely safe where she laid, protected by her beloved's arms while sharing the greatest of joys in his life.

Soon the familiar thrill in her stomach bubbled up as wind graced her cheek and the world morphed into a world of perfect harmony and chaos. Glimpses of reality flickered by her eye. Colors blended, faded, mixed. Time stood still and raced at the same time. They were more a part of the world than usual, yet completely in their own reality.

Within and without…

It was a world that Amy knew weren't truly hers. She was merely allowed to briefly visit when in Sonic's arms. Otherwise this was his - and his alone.

No one else could ever possibly feel this way. For if they did, how would they ever find the will to stop?

How did Sonic find the will?

Amy could only speculate the reasons. Beacuse he wasn't like other men, he could continue to run until the end of time and still feel like he hadn't had enough. He never grew tired of the feeling. And it secretly stung in her heart to know that no matter what feelings she herself could possibly evoke in him… they would never beat this one. Running was his second nature - love was not. And there was no sense in crying or dwelling about it, that was just the way it was.

Mindlessly her fingers found the locket again.

---

Tails had awaited their arrival outside the workshop, with his own single backpack already stored inside the Tornado which stood ready for take off on the start of the runway. At the sight of the extra baggage, he'd merely shrugged his shoulders and said that it didn't matter since Sonic always rode on the outside of the plane anyway, so there'd be no problem fitting it all inside. True enough, the seat behind Amy's easily stored the big duffel bag as well as the rest of the others.

Since Angel Island was in constant motion, orbiting in a wide circle that only once a month lined up perfectly above the Mystic Ruins, Tails had to locate it via radar. Naturally, the Tornado had a built in radar system that was displayed on the plane's dashboard, and he actively checked it now and again in order to make sure he kept them on track. Apparently the island was currently floating just a couple of miles off West Side Island, from which's furtherest coast one could catch a sight of it in passing.

It had taken little more than an hour to get within range, flying over nothing but deep blue ocean as well as under a murky sky that gradually got replaced by big white clouds instead.

Once they rose above the clouds to where the sky was clear and the sun's rays weren't being blocked, they came into view of the floating island. Too massive to comprehend at first unless flying around the entire island, as it's sheer magnitude was just far too great. Mountains that reached it's peaks towards the heavens, some even covered with snow while others had waterfalls going down the side of them. The remarkable thing about Angel Island was that it was divided into different zones which all had their own climates and enviroments. Jungles, frozen plains and deserts all existed on the same place as lush hills, ancients cities and pools of the clearest azure waters.

"I had almost forgot just how beautiful this place is…" Amy murmured in awe, just as they passed by Sky Sanctuary.

"Yeah.." Tails replied, who was now steering along the coast to get to the west side of the island where a tropical jungle grew around the edges of wide plains of grass - and most importantly the shrine of the Master Emerald. There they'd with utmost certainty also find its guardian, namely Knuckles himself.

The young fox cast a hasty glance up at his older brother who's expression had been distant, almost detatched, during the entire flight. But now he seemed to have come back to reality as he suddenly straightened his stance and masked any eventual emotions with a smile, as if already preparing himself for what was to come. As if he knew that the next twenty four hours would require all of his strength, after which a whole new different challange would begin. One that wouldn't be much easier.

A thought Tails forced himself to suppress for the moment. And once the coast was in view, he picked out a good spot to land, making sure it wasn't too close to the shrine. "Coming in for a landing, guys..!" He called and in response Sonic sent him an encouraging wink and a thumbs up while Amy grabbed the edges of her seat more firmly.

Landing the Tornado on an open plain was as challenging to Tails as it was breathing air, the wheels hitting the ground with a soft thud as he then decided to park near a cluster of swaying palm trees a few yards ahead.

"That was a sweet landing you did there, buddy!" Sonic praised, ruffling the bangs of his little brother who'd just removed his goggles that he wore during long flights.

Tails, who normally got modest over any form of praise, chuckled slightly and averted his gaze a bit to the side. "Oh, it was nothing. Even you could've landed on a spot like this."

Sonic raised a brow.

"Uhh..! That's not to say you're not a good pilot or anything! I-I mean I'm sure you were great back in the day considering you had no one to teach you, b-but - uhh…-"

However, Sonic only laughed in good nature. "I'm just messing ya', Tails..! You're a way better pilot than I ever was - you just make your big bro proud, that's all."

"Hehe, thanks."

They exchanged a smile between themselves before Sonic then turned his attnetion to the passenger's seats to see to Amy while Tails got started on unloading all the luggage. His ability to fly with his tailses certainly getting to good use in doing so. He then watched as his big brother aided Amy in getting herself out of the plane before they finally began heading off in the direction of the shrine.

"I'm surprised Knuckles hasn't come storming at us yet." Sonic commented after a while of walking.

"Maybe he's off in the jungle somewhere gathering fruit." Tails speculated before furrowing his brow slightly. "Eheh, just hope he won't be too upset that we show up unannounced."

"Dude, don't sweat it! I bet he'll be thrilled to see us again."

"But remember last time when-…"

While the two boys talked, Amy was lost in her own thoughts.

For some reason there had been a gnawing feeling of unease growing in her stomach ever since the morning. And no matter how much she tried to shake it off the uneasiness still lingered. It was stupid, Tails and Sonic was with her, just a few steps ahead, and yet it felt as if she was slowly being pulled under by a wave of water. Her feet walked forward but still she got nowhere.

All of a sudden Amy became very aware of the elements around her. The heat of the sun and the passing winds, the different colors and shades, the humidity from the jungle - even the ground seemed to vibrate from all that was growing and bursting with life around the island. It was all so vibrant, like the whole Island was pulsating with energy.

Everything just felt so much stronger…

Like the entire island was breathing - whispering… - screaming…

Within the blink of an eye, Amy's legs had given way from underneath her and she collapsed like a house of cards that someone had just blown on, Sonic and Tails turning their heads just in time to see her body hit the ground. "Amy..!" Both boys called out in unison, Sonic dropping everything in his hands while Tails' face was struck with worry. Within the blink of an eye, they'd both rushed to her side and got onto their knees.

"Amy, are you okay!? What happened?"

"Have you hurt yourself, Ames?"

Amy felt Sonic's hand brush against her forehead as Tails grabbed a hold of her hand and gently pressed two fingers against her left wrist in order to check her pulse. She blinked a couple of times, her vision slowly going from blurry to clear as her friends' faces registered next to her. "I-… I'm fine. Just got a bit overwhelmed by… the heat, I guess." She soon answered, suddenly feeling greatly embarrassed over having collapsed without seemingly any reason at all.

Tails, who'd just confirmed Amy's pulse to be fairly weak but still at a tolerable level, gave his sister-in-law a relieved hug which she returned the best she could. He smiled meekly, sighed and gave the following suggestion— "Maybe it's the island's strong presence of Chaos energy that's affecting you. I've noted before that I too can get a bit light-headed when up here in the midst of it all, and especially since we haven't visited in such a long time too it might feel even stronger. I assume it's because our bodies aren't as used to the exposure of raw Chaos energy as Sonic and Knuckles are."

Sonic blinked in surprise as he lifted Amy off the ground and onto her feet again. "What? How do you figure?"

"Well, Knuckles has lived among it his whole life, and you are practically a real life embodiment of different Chaos energies. Hence the effects are less prominent to you, or none at all, than it is to a regular person. Of course, being too exposed has its very own side effects - but… I haven't done enough research to fully determine all of them. Seeing as it is, you're my only living study object, hehe..!"

"Hm, glad I can be of use to ya', little buddy. But anyway… it's not dangerous or anything, right - for Amy?"

"Sonic, I'm fine." Said hedgehog automatically quipped.

"No, the body should just need some time to adjust, that's all."

Discreetly, Sonic checked Amy for any scratches before beginning to pick up his bearings again, while also spotting the bag she'd dropped. "Let me get that for you." He offered, despite already being covered in bags himself.

"No, no, It's okay - I feel much better now." Amy insisted, quickly picking the bag up from the ground and swinging it over her shoulder without trying to reveal any sort of distress upon her face. Even if she knew Sonic only meant well, she still hated it whenever he thought of her as helpless. "I'm not some damsel that can't even carry her own bag. Come on, let's go..!" She set off with resolute steps, marching ahead of both Tails and Sonic the rest of the way. Failing to notice the subtle glance that the two of them exchanged.

Arriving at the shrine, the trio found that the whole place was empty and oddly quiet as there was no Knuckles in sight.

"Yoo-hoo!" Sonic called playfully, running a few lapses around the place. "Knuckie, I'm home!"

"Looks like he's out, or, well.. err, out somewhere else rather." Tails remarked, since their echidna friend did indeed have no actual house but instead lived in and around the shrine - considering all of Angel Island as 'home', more or less. His birthplace and where he one day intends to die, after having lived a life of fullfilling his one true purpose. For in the center of the shrine, up a flight of stone steps leading up to the altar stood the legendary Master Emerald in all its majestic radiance. Emitting a soft light that gave the one beholding it a sense of tranquility, yet you still couldn't help but be rendered astonished by it as well. The seven pillars that encircled the altar were in turn intended to uphold a Chaos Emerald each, however, at the moment, they all stood empty.

Amy carefully walked closer to the nearest pillar, gazing up at it in thought. "Do you think he could be away hunting for an emerald, Tails?"

"Hmm, I don't think so..." Tails answered, who'd climbed the altar steps and was now eyeing a very old and worn looking woven blanket that laid spread out on a few steps below the Master Emerald's altar. Around the blanket there stood a basket of what looked to be freshly picked fruit, but surprisingly also a crumbled up piece of paper. A jumble of letters could barely be made out when taking a closer look, but the young fox thought it best not to possibly intrude on Knuckles' privacy and left it be. He hastily drew back and walked back down the stairs.

Sonic had just then ceased his shouting and had began unloading all of the bags from his person at the foot of the altar steps. He was just about to open his mouth to speak as Tails joined him, when he spotted something moving off in the distance.

At the treeline of the jungle an unmistakable red figure had emerged from within the shelter of the palmtrees and came walking slowly but surely towards the shrine. And after nearly five months since they'd last seen each other, Amy met with the distinct violet eyes of Knuckles, who appeared just as mature and steadfast as ever. His mere presence made her feel almost like a child again, as she suddenly became aware of how terribly dainty she was in comparison. He was tall, though still shorter than Sonic but definitely more burly and stout with strong limbs that, with one wrong move, could most certaintly dislocate Amy's entire arm. And despite his mere twenty four years of age, he gave the impression of being at least the double at times, and possessed a respectful and intense aura that probably came naturally due to his heritage.

Sonic, however, greeted him just as carefree and playfully as if they were two kids who hadn't seen each other for some time and finally got together for a playdate. Something Knuckles didn't respond to in the slightest, and instead maintained his personal space and gave them all a simple nod in recognition each.

"It's good to see you, Tails, Amy, Sonic… I sensed you were coming. The Master Emerald has been foretelling me of-"

Just then, Sonic interrupted, swinging his arm around Knuckles' shoulders and saying—"Aw, come off it, Knux! Don't start with that whole "The Master Emerald has been fortelling me"-stuff, not when we haven't seen each other for what? Four months? Give us a hug or at least a mildly tolerable handshake first."

Knuckles muttered something inaudible before shaking Sonic's arm off of him. "I'll try to contain myself from bursting with joy…"

Sensing the tension, Tails hurried to his brother's aid, turning to Knuckles with an apologetic expression upon his face. "Sorry to show up like this without any notice, Knuckles, but things have been quite..- chaotic as of late. And since I didn't seem to be able to contact you on the communicator I gave you…-" Tails didn't know said communicator had long ago been thrown away somewhere in the jungle, never to be seen again. "-we had no choice but to come up here either way."

Loudly Sonic cleared his throat. Seemingly having regained somewhat of a serious composure again.

"Yeah, ol' Robotnik's at it again - world domination, enslavement of the free world, you know, the usual drill."

Knuckles simply snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Don't try and play this off as you always do. Nothing's ever the usual drill when it comes to that mad human."

"Well, I'd say tricking you into doing his bidding was sort of a running theme there for a couple of years…"

"Soonic, what did I just say?"

"What? Can't even take a joke anymore, Knux?"

"Don't call me-"

"Ehm! Why don't I make us some coffee." Amy cut in, clearing her throat and smiling kindly at Knuckles in an attempt to distract him from Sonic. "We can talk about everything that's happened these past weeks and try and plan out what to do next. And one usually thinks better when you've had a good cup of coffee."

As much as Knuckles liked his herbal teas, Amy knew he'd grown a strong liking to coffee over the years. Of course he only ever drank it whenever he was offered, as there grew no coffee beans around the jungle - and he refused to admit that there were certain things he wanted that his island couldn't provide.

To be dependent on outside resources just didn't sit well with him.

Still, it had been quite a while since the last time he'd had some…

"Fine. I'll get a fire going."

Said and done, the four friends soon sat around the sturdy fire pit Knuckles had built out of rocks and which stood a short distance from the altar. It was round and broad, and was were Knuckles cooked the most of his food. Though his diet consisted mostly of fruit, edible plants and roots that grew around the island he would occasionally hunt wild, non-anthropomorphic birds and cook for dinner. With quick and methodical hands Amy prepared their coffee on the open fire. She'd brought a whole bag of beans as well as her favorite coffee pan - a blue one with yellow flowers on - and made sure to make it extra strong in an effort to soften Knuckles' up a bit. Naturally, she'd also brought a thermos of hot lemonade for Sonic since caffeine made it outright impossible to be within even fifteen feet from him. Hyperactivity multiplied by a thousand as Tails had once put it when he'd accidentely given his older brother a steaming cup of coffee for warmth when they'd been up in Holoska. Leading to several igloos and infrastructures of a local village to never be the same again after that. Long story short - they had all agreed and solemnly sworn upon their lives to never ever let Sonic taste coffee again.

On the plus side though was that Tails got to learn how an igloo was built, as Sonic in turn would point out if the story was ever brought up.

"That smells real good…" The blue hero now noted with a sigh as he leisurely sipped his lemonade while gazing at the broiling pan with a somber expression. That comment immediately earned him warning glances from the others, making him put his hands up in defense. "Chill, I'm just sayin'..!"

"Yeah, well you make sure to stick to your kiddy drink - I will not have you run amok on my island." Knuckles told him.

"And risk accidentely knocking over your precious glowing rock? Why, I'd never!"

"Shut your trap, hedgehog, before I stuff it with rocks and throw you head-first into the pond!"

"Ha! I'd like to see you try, Knucklehead!"

But before their banter could escelate, Amy once again cut in and loudly proclaimed that the coffee was done brewing. "Here you go…" She served Knuckles and Tails one steaming enamel mug each before filling one up for herself and settling down beside Sonic on the ground. She then listened as him and Tails collectively recounted in broad strokes of what had happened - starting when Tails heard Robotnik's message on the radio and ending with Sonic's waking up just yesterday. Knuckles being a good listener as he for once remained perfectly quiet and attentive, his deepening frown being the only emotional reaction he revealed.

Except when Sonic in passing mentioned Rouge's name. Then, Amy noted, how his gaze hardened and his fists tightening ever so slightly.

Was it hurt she caught in his eyes?

Anger?

Regret?

Heartache..?

But what it truly was would be for another day, in fact another night entirely, yet in the moment Amy couldn't help but wish she had dared ask.

As late afternoon drew close the four friends had ultimately agreed upon that the best course of action to take at the time being was that Sonic, Tails and Amy would begin a search for the emeralds while Knuckles remained on the island for a few days in case Robotnik would show up in the coming days. Eventually, he would set off on a hunt of his own after Tails had made contact with The Chaotix - Vector, Espio and Charmy had acted temporary guardians of the Master Emerald a few times before, for payment of course. However as Knuckles possessed no type of money, Amy had promised to scrape together whatever she had in order to account for their service. And even though none of them really wanted to get involved with G.U.N. more than absolute neccessary, Sonic surprisingly was the one who pointed out that getting more information on the Robotnik situation couldn't hurt. They'd try and get in contact with Agent Javid, who's number Sonic had been given the last time they'd met, mainly because Knuckles had out right refused any possible cooperation with Rouge.

Hopefully G.U.N. would keep Robotnik occupied for the time being.

At the bottom line, it was not the ideal plan, but any further steps would have to be a later matter. For now they'd simply have to take things as they came…

The remainder of the day was spent in cheerful placidity - going for a hike around the nearby jungle, collecting freshwater, playing cards and then eating dinner together at the firepit. Amy, with the assistance of Tails, actually managed to put together quite the grand feast by some of the ingridients she'd brought from home and the fruit and herbs Knuckles had stored at the shrine. A creamy carrot coconut soup, canned cornbread and a dish made out of wild rice, dried fruits and roasted nuts, and as for desert they shared a single pack of cookies which they all gingerly dipped in their hot chocolate. Savoring each bite.

It felt cozy and secure to sit there around the sparking fire. Together, far from the rest of the world as the sun set behind the mountains and treetops. Joking and talking about nothing and everything at the same time.

For a brief moment they were allowed to simply be just like any regular group of friends, hanging out and seemingly not having a care in the world.

They weren't guardians or heroes… not freaks or orphans.

They belonged.

They were a team.

A family.

Connected in ways that went beyond simple understanding.

And as the talking slowly ebedd out into a comfortable silence, Knuckles had began to leisurely poke into the firepit with a stick. Tails, who's eyelids had gradually grown heavier, soon sat with his emptied cup of chocolate in his lap, staring into the fire with partially closed eyes. All while, opposite them, Sonic and Amy had seamlessly huddled closer to one another.

Soon, maybe out of curiosity or perhaps on mistake, Knuckles found himself observing the pair discreetly.

It was strange, to say the least, seeing Sonic dote on Amy from time to time with such utter unconcealed tenderness. Of course Knuckles had noticed before that his friend was more than a little smitten by her, but not quite like this. She was practically the center of his universe. Handling her as though she were made out of the finest of porcelain. Every action she made had a reaction in him. Every gesture, even the smallest of shifts in her body language translated to his. When she strayed from his side, his eyes naturally followed. As if he was, on some subconcious level, constantly prepared to throw himself between her and any potential threat or impending danger at a second's notice.

And Knuckles didn't know whether to smirk or not as he witnessed the gentlest, most vulnerable side of Sonic showing through his otherwise obnoxiously 'cool' facade.

The Sonic the Hedgehog who had always depended on himself first and foremost. And who, much like Knuckles himself, was a born loner, but whereas he had remained one Sonic had gotten others to prioritize. Tails who was practically his brother in everything but blood, and Amy, while very much a close friend in the past, was now his future wife. It was indeed almost comical to see his old rival so devoted to the same girl he'd once considered a nuisance, a mere damsel in distress, and at times even a burden. Knuckles could still recall those days as clear as day, but now…-

Now not a single trace of it could be spotted on the hero's features as he currently gazed into the eyes of his pink sweetheart. By the subtle movements of Sonic's lips, Knuckles realized that he was speaking softly to her, but he neither possesed the ability to read lips or hear clearly what were being uttered at this distance. Though he figured it was merely sweet nothings, judging by the rosy hue on Amy's cheeks and the loving look upon his face. Their affection towards each other appeared so utterly private and foregein to him, as if he was witnissing something so pure and innocent that he naturally felt guilty having pryed. Fortunately, he just about managed to cast his eyes downwards before Sonic planted a kiss on her forehead.

As far as Knuckles cared it was never a good idea to get yourself too attatched to someone else, and in Sonic's case it was downright stupid, irresponsible and not to say dangerous. And to make matters even worse, Amy were now even his bride-to-be. And for a reckless idiot who had more enemies than friends, getting himself engaged was like begging for someone to put a needle in their oblivious happiness. But whereas Amy had surely been tempted by the promise of marrying her life long love, so tempted that she took no regard for her own safety - Sonic really ought to have known better.

Just as Knuckles mulled these thoughts over in his head, the couple suddenly rose up from their seats, their hands intertwining.

"Hey, Knux..-" Sonic said in a hushed tone, probably out of respect for his little brother. "-Amy and I are just going for a run round the Island - you mind keeping an eye on Tails?"

"You're asking me to babysit a fourteen year old?"

"Heh, Tails can be a handful sometimes…-"

"Besides, he's sleeping…"

"Well, you never know, he might get up and start sleep walking, getting too close to the fire and unknowingly catch his tails on fire, then perhaps wander into the jungle and accidentally start a wildfire, leading to the entire Island burning down and then-"

A deadpanned expression quickly formed on Knuckles' face, quickly interrupting Sonic's rambling. "Okay, I'll watch him. Just go." To his further annoyance, Sonic then merely grinned in response, giving him a thumbs up before proceeding to sweep Amy into his arms and taking off into evening.

At least now he could get a moment's peace-

"Knuckles..?"

As if on cue, Tails' voice had abruptly stopped Knuckles' train of thought dead in its tracks.

"I could've sworn that kid was asleep just a minute ago…"

Slowly, he turned his head towards the young fox, not needing say anything as his eye contact was enough to prompt Tails to speak— "Uh, I…- I can talk to you about stuff, right?"

Knuckles cocked a brow. "'Stuff'? Kid, of all the traits that could be worth taking after from Sonic, I'd say his vocabulary is not one of them." Yet, he also noted that there was an anxious tone in Tails' voice as he spoke, as if he was internally debating with himself whether he should utter any of the worries he was apparently carrying. And even though Tails was coniderably more perceptive than his older brother, he was also a very optimistic indvidual. So if he indeed was worried it was probably with good reason. "But yes, of course you can talk to me, Tails. There's almost nothing you could say that would surprise me anymore, trust me."

To that, Tails nodded, sitting himself up a bit straighter. Fumbling with his gloves for a few seconds, he then seemed to have come to a decision.

"It's just that… Promise me you won't judge Sonic too harshly, a-and please, don't get mad at him either..! He's under a lot of preassure and doing the best he can, lately I think he's just been really confused and afraid about everything that's happened..! And at the same time he's been hurt very badly recently, more so than usual and perhaps it's all starting to add up or something…-"

"Tails, slow down. What do you mean with 'everything that's happened'? Is there anything more I should know about besides what happened at Station Square?"

Reluctantly Tails nodded again before bowing his head down in defeat.

"It's actually been going on for a few months now…-"

---

Night had now fallen completely.

All of Angel Island was covered under the warm comfort of dark. The stilness, the complete darkness, the ocean waves far underneath - it all created a sort of peacefulness that could only possibly exist on a place like this. And at their small corner of the island, the four friends could easily feel as if they were the only ones left in the entire world.

The stars looked so much closer up here.

One could almost touch them.

All they had to do was reach a hand out to grab one…

But the calm of the night was not last.

Once Sonic and Amy returned, Knuckles had wasted no time in approaching Sonic, strongly suggesting that a meditation session on the altar would do him good. The blue hero, while at first a little surprised, had just as surprisingly and willingly accepted the offer. Patiently, Knuckles then only waited as his rival first bid his fiancée good night. Their hands cluthing one another in an almost feverish grip as he kissed her cheek, before he ultimately turned to hug his little brother. And so, while Tails returned to sleep in the Tornado - as he claimed he slept better there than on the ground anyway - and Amy more than welcomed getting to creep into her sleeping bag, Sonic followed him up the altar steps.

Having soon reached the top, Knuckles gestured for Sonic to sit down, watching as he wordlessly assumed a cross-legged position in front of the Master Emerald. For good measure he even shut his eyes hard and took a big breath of air, probably trying to look as concentrated as possible.

Knuckles sharply turned his back against him, walking over to the edge of the altar and rooting his feet to the spot. Staring out into the dark with a furrowed brow.

Half an hour. That's what the echidna had decided to give him.

That's as far as his patience with him would stretch.

Until then, he'd give him the benefit of the doubt. If Sonic really wanted to tell him this would be the time to do it. They were alone and had the entire night to speak if so was necessary.

Now it was up to Sonic to cease the moment.

Time dragged on. Ill winds blew through the shrine, all while Knuckles patience slowly but surely drained by each passing minute. Not a single word passed over his rival's lips, he barely even heard a songlr movement. Suddenly a thought passed through his mind - he couldn't have fallen asleep, could he? Just to make sure, Knuckles treaded as silently as he could around to the other side again. Finding him sitting in the exact same position as he'd left him. And judging by his chest, his breathing was irregular so he wasn't asleep, and hardly focused anymore. His expression being perfectly unreadable…

Right then and there, Knuckles just couldn't contain himself any longer.

He needed answers.

And he needed them now.

"You've kept things hidden from me."

Knuckles watched how Sonic's shoulders suddenly stiffened only to a second later relax as he turned around to face him. The expression upon his face having quickly changed to that of clearly feigined calmness. He even raised an eye bridge as his voice had a hint of amusement in it when he answered—

"Have I?"

"Don't try and play dumb with me, Sonic, cause you're plenty enough already."

At that Sonic merely rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath. "Gee, thanks.."

"Why didn't you tell me about all that's been really going on down there? And I don't mean just what happened in Station Square."

"Oh..."

"Hundreds of people all over Mobius have been injured and have had their villages destroyed, Robotnik has supposedly gone mad and is on the verge of an uprising all while G.U.N.'s has started poking their noses in our business and all you can say is 'Oh'?"

"Look Knuckles..-" Sonic began, letting out a heavy sigh as his expression changed from calm to serious drastically quick. "And you don't need to press Tails for information behind my back."

"I didn't have to, he told me all on his own."

"Well… fine, whatever. You already know everything then, so why are you throwing a fit? I was planning on talking to you about it tomorrow anyway."

"For how long has this been going on?"

"What? Robotnik trying to overthrow the entire world? How about twenty four years or so - give or take…"

"I mean when did he start showing signs of being… unstable? And could you please not joke about this."

"I don't know, Knux… six maybe seven months ago? I mean him attacking innocent villages is not exactly anything new, but… there's something different about him now. You can see it in the way he acts and how he talks, it's less like a madman acting like clown and more just a madman acting… - like a madman…" Sonic's voice died down as his eyes got downcast. "I think I've known for awhile, I just didn't wanna realize it until he threatened to..- to kill her…"

Knuckles didn't need to ask who, for he already knew. Knew who's life he vauled above all else and if threatened could make him face the seriousness of a situation - or so he hoped, at least. Praying that he was wrong in his suspicions, he couldn't help but ask— "Does she know?"

"No, and I intend to keep it that way too. It's bad enough that she was there that day in Station Square, and that that rogue Metal Sonic almost cut out her..-" Again Sonic couldn't finish the sentence. He gave Knuckles a deeply pained look before he continued with renewed determination. "The less she knows the better. The situation with Robotnik is my fault, my burden to bear - not hers. She never asked for any of this."

"And how long do think you will be able to keep that up?"

"For as long as it takes, she's too innocent for all this madness and if I can protect her from it I will! And you would too if you were in my place. Ever since the incident with Metal she's been terrified of falling asleep alone when it's dark, she still has nightmares every other night and despite what she tells me - that she isn't afraid and that we can handle anything as long as we're together - I know it's not that simple. Not anymore."

"I hear you, Sonic, I do… But keeping things from her won't resolve anything..!"

"Neither does telling her things that would only make her feel even more scared than she already is!"

"You can't keep coddling her! She's not a little kid!"

"She's no soldier either!"

"Besides Robotnik blew up half of Station Square. He directly threatened to kill her right in front of you, so whatever false sense of security you thought you had is long gone! You put a target on that girl's back the same moment you decided to put a ring on her finger and indulge in your own selfish desires! And then what? Do you think it'll have been worth it the day when Robotnik's finally gone up and killed her off?"

"I'm warning you, Knuckles, say that again and I swear I'll-"

"You'll what? Cause if I have to beat some sense into you in order for you to understand the severeness of the situation I can assure you that I won't hesitate to pummel your damn head right into the ground!"

But what shocked him was that there was not the usual fire in his rival's eyes. No actual fury. Somewhere as they'd talked the light in them had faltered, only to reveal that there was something else embedded within those pair of emeralds. Something that he kept hidden. His anger… it wasn't real. Sonic's hands was shaking, but not because they wanted to tear Knuckles apart - but because he wanted to tear himself apart.

He didn't realize it til' just then.

Suddenly the entire day played up differently inside Knuckles head…

Tails' worry for him…

How tightly he'd clutched Amy's hand…

The contrasts were subtle at first, and he hadn't even made out half of it as the words slipped out of Knuckles before he even knew it— "What are you trying hide, Sonic?"

But whatever it was, Knuckles never got to know as Sonic had barely registered the sentence before—

"Sonic..?"

Immediately, Sonic's head turned in the direction of where his name had been called. A moment later, coming out of the dark and up the stairs and into the faint light of the Master Emerald was Amy, with knees that were slightly shaking in the cool night air and with a drowsy expression upon her face. He wasted no time going to her side and circling his arms around her petite frame to shield her from the cold. "It's alright, Ames. We were just talking is all." He reassured, clearing his throat hastily which had gotten kinda dry after all the shouting. In the same breath he sent Knuckles a sharp glance.

However, Knuckles didn't take any notice of it, as his eyes were fixated on Amy in an unyielding glare.

"...Right, Knux, old buddy?" Sonic's voice switched to a more lighthearted tone in an attempt to calm things down. But when no answer came and Sonic felt Amy flinch under the echidna's stare he abruptly scooped her up into his arms and turned his back to Knuckles. "Come on, Amy, let's go get some rest. Knuckles is just tired after today, and needs some time to himself."

"Good night..!" Amy managed to call out softly before Sonic had carried her down the steps of the altar and she could no longer see him.

Once back at the firepit, of which Amy had decided to camp out next to, Sonic gently laid her down on the sleeping bag. Tucking her in with the extra blanket he'd brought before proceeding to settle himself down on the bare ground beside her. He then propped his head up with his elbow and focused his gaze on her while absentmindedly pulling at the grass. She was barely able to keep her eyes open, yet he noticed that there were concern emedded within them. It appeared as if she wanted to ask him something but wasn't really sure how to approach it.

They laid in silence for a few minutes before Amy finally mustered up enough strength to ask— "Sonic, what were you two talking about just now? Knuckles seemed quite upset and I heared you arguing... Was-… was it about me? Have I done something wrong?"

"No, no, of course not, Ames, you haven't done anything wrong." Sonic reassured as he gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "Knuckles just likes to mouth off about stuff he doesn't have a clue about. But you don't need to worry, It probably sounded worse than it actually was. Heh, you know how hotheaded us guys can get sometimes." He then offered her a warm, playful smirk which she returned with a faint smile of her own. Not looking fully convinced by that explanation.

"Yeah…"

"I'm sorry that we woke you up."

"It's okay, now I got to spend more time with you."

"Hmm, you've got a point there..." He instictively pulled her closer to him with his free arm, draping it around her before nuzzling the side of her head. Her soft quills brushing against his muzzle. The smell of roses ever so inoxicating. This moment was after all an unexpected gift that had to be treasured for as long as it'd last. Which, judging by the yawn Amy just then let out, wouldn't be too long.

However, soon enough she spoke up, saying—

"You know what Knuckles told me when walked through the jungle today?"

Sonic shook his head.

"He said he's been trying to reestablish chao on the Island. Apparently there's this lush open clearing deeper into the jungle where he's raised a bunch of them! Like the garden in Mystic Ruins. There's plenty of fruit and shelter and even a big pond where they can go swimming! Doesn't that sound just absolutely lovely?"

"Are you kidding me, wild chao? That sounds awesome..! Imagine having those little guys running around here - it'll be like a chao paradise! And they might even cheer the ol' grump up a bit."

A soft giggle escaped Amy's lips as Sonic silently observed how her entire face seemed to light up at the very thought of it. Her eyes twinkling in the flickering glow of the fire. "Yeah, I'd love to see it for myself. Maybe we could come back and visit again soon. After our adventure is over, I mean."

"Defenitely, Amy. That's a promise."

Their lips brushed against one another, and the instant Sonic felt the sweet, cherry taste his mind delighted in the sensation of pure bliss. Amy's eyes immediately closed upon contact, but he kept his eyes half lidded - wanting to savour every emotion, every shift in her expression as he softly delivered each kiss. Delicately he paused every now and then to either nuzzle his nose against hers or stroke her cheek with his thumb.

If Sonic only could've, he would've stopped the hands of time right at that moment.

It ended far too soon.

But his gaze never wavered.

Amy on the hand had turned her attention up at the night sky, where the little stars were looking down upon on them. She'd curled up so close to Sonic that she could hear his heart beat, but it surprised her that it wasn't the usual steady beating. The beat was disrupted - one moment it was racing and the next it was as if it had stopped completely. And this sudden change in her most sacred source of comfort unnerved her in more ways than she was yet fully aware of.

The inner notions she'd tried to suppress for the entire day resurfaced within her consciousness with renewed force. Filling her with the feeling of slowly losing her mind - of having everything slip through her fingers without having any power to stop it. But why?

Sonic was here.

Right next to her.

Her heart was singing, and yet, at the same time it was breaking.

Was she nervous for heading out into the world? To finally set off on an adventure again? It had indeed been a while since last time, over a year even. So maybe feeling a bit anxious was nothing to work herself up about, it was only natural. But traveling around Mobius with her friends was something she'd done for more than half her life. Her childhood and teenage years was filled to the brim with grand, exciting and dangerous adventures! She and her Piko Piko Hammer had smashed anything that had come in their path! Admittedly she was a bit rusty with it nowadays… as there was no real reason to use it in her life back at the village and the cottage. The thought of bringing it along with her to Angel Island hadn't even crossed her mind… It probably stood in the corner of her closet back home, covered in dust.

Suddenly, a new fear took form inside her head.

What if she'd lost touch with her fighting spirit…

What if she turned out to be a mere burden on the team.

A liability.

No, she refused to think like that.

She was not the same defenseless nine year old Sonic had once saved from Metal Sonic. She'd prove herself worthy once more! Become a valuable asset. Someone Sonic could depend on, who could fight alongside him and not have to cower in fear.

They'll see!

They'll… see…

"Sonic..?" Amy inquired, her voice barely reaching above a whisper as she was already slipping into the warm embrace of sleep. Having on pure instinct grasped Sonic's hand in hers so she could hold it even in her dreams. "Have you ever…- ever been so happy that you got scared..?"

But as fate would have it Sonic never got to answer the question.

Instead he carefully bent his head down and kissed his slumbering beloved's cheek one last time.

"Dream lovely dreams, Ames…"

And just as he thought the worst was yet to come Knuckles' figure soon came forth from the depths of the night, his face vaugley lit up by the flickering light. His voice so utterly somber to the point of being almost unrecognizable, as he stated the cold, inevitable truth—

"You know you can't protect her forever."

"I've got to try."

"You will fail…"

Then he drew back into the darkness without another word, leaving Sonic to watch the last few sparks of the fire burn out.

Awaiting the inevitable break of dawn.

---

When Amy Rose woke up that morning she sensed something was wrong before even opening her eyes.

Sonic was gone.

She knew it.

In many ways his absence had always felt stronger than his presence as the stark contrast between the two were almost too much to endure.

The silence that his heart left behind too deafening…

The emptiness when his arms were no longer wrapped around her too great…

A single letter were placed where he had laid the night before. Sonic's trademark crooked scribbles covering the white and slightly tattered sheet of paper. It was evident that the letter had been folded and unfolded several times.

With tear brimmed eyes and shaky hands, Amy read the following—

-.-

"Amy,

I don't even know how to begin this letter

When you read this I'm already miles away and I'm so sorry for leaving you like this but it was the only way I knew.

I've left to deal with the situation and don't know how long it will take but I won't return before Robotnik has been put behind bars once and for all, far away from us. I'm sure G.U.N. will prove useful there. I'm sorry I lied to you, and know that I'll never forgive myself for it… But I could also never live with myself if I knowingly put your life on the line, if you'd end up hurt or worse because of the stupid decisions I've made.

I'm not expecting you to forgive

I had no choice

I know the probably the last thing you wanna do right now is do anything I ask of you, but please - stay on Angel Island. I know you'll be safe with Knuckles. And in case what I do doesn't work, you cannot return to the mainland, you have to stay.

I tried to avoid this from happening, I thought I could keep you out of it, but I can't. I've put you in danger...

But maybe... I know I can still fix things.

I need you to know that I love you more than life itself, and that I'll do whatever it takes to see you again. When all of this is over I will come for you. I'll build us a big new house, with room for as many kids as you want - and if you'll still have me as your husband, I will marry you in time for when the apple blossoms bloom in our garden. But until then

Take care of yourself

I'm sorry, I love you

Yours, Sonic."

-.-

The pain that flared up like a fire in her chest was unbearable.

She felt as if she'd been pulled from the ground.

The world was suddenly so big - too big.

And she so very, very small.

Part of her mind was screaming at her, denying that any of this was real. She was dreaming. She had to be. This was merely another nightmare of hers, and soon she'd wake up and find that Sonic's hand was still in hers. He'd lay there beside her, still true to his word that whatever came their way they'd face it together. He couldn't have left her, not like this.

But even though she pinched her arm until she'd surely bruise, the nightmare kept going.

Somewhere within the last few minutes she had reverted back to her eight year old self. A girl with no past or future. No present. Merely existing in a world where she was completely insignificant and undesired.

Lost but never found.

The prince had never come and whisked her away.

She was utterly alone.

Alone…

Without realizing she'd sunk to the ground on her bare knees in the dirt, Amy was abruptly pulled up by an unknown force.

"Knuckles… Knuckles is still here…"

Surely he hadn't abandoned her.

"Knuckles..!" She spluttered forth, a mix between a tear choked croak and a high pitched cry. Instinctively her feet moved, lurching her forward as she ran towards the shrine in hopes to find her friend. And there he was, at the top of the altar with his back turned against the Master Emerald and eyes fixated on a letter of his own clutched in his hands. She stumbled up the altar steps, falling and scraping her knee a couple of times, but she didn't care.

While up, Amy stumbled towards Knuckles, desperately fumbling for something to hold on to, to get a grip of reality again, but quickly halted as he shot his head up to face her. The look he gave her was filled with such unmasked intensity that he might as well have slapped her. His violet eyes pierced her, a range of emotions evident within them - accusation, anger, resentment… but surprisingly also pity.

And even though it was needless to point out, Amy still heard herself saying— "They..- they've left us…"

"Yes, It looks that way."

"B-but... do you think he's coming back?"

Knuckles cast a glance down at his letter, letting his eyes drift across the written words one more time.

After a while he responded with a simple and honest—

"No."

---

Credits:

"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" in translation of Hans Christian Andersen's "Den Standhaftige Tinsoldat"