Amy slunk back towards her home, dragging her feet with each step as she lost herself in thought.
What should I do now? She asked herself as she mechanically opened and shut the door. She paused in the entryway of her home and pressed her back against the door, slowly sinking down to sit on the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, trying to find some comfort from somewhere deep inside herself. She closed her eyes and rested her head back against the door.
Amy knew she needed to put some space between her, Sonic, and Sally. The imminent marriage proposal and her failed confession combined would surely ruin her. Seeing Sally every day, knowing the princess knew her true feelings while also waiting for Sonic to pop the question—it would only keep her emotional wounds from closing.
But where would she go? Knothole had been her home ever since she was a child. The only other place she had ever called "home" had been the Kingdom of Mercia—but that had fallen long ago to the robot armies lead by the evil Dr. Robotnik. Going back now would mean certain roboticization, and despite the hurt she felt now, Amy would never willingly submit herself to the same fate that claimed her parents and so many of her friends.
She sighed heavily as the thought of all the lost futures she could have been a part of had Robotnik never risen to power; it started to overwhelm her. Thinking about her family always made her feel ill. Even if she still had her cousin, Rob, their relationship was almost nonexistent given the circumstances, and the thought of him brought her little comfort.
That's when she remembered—Knuckles had helped Rob and the remainder of the Mercian people fight back against Robotnik on more than one occasion. The red echidna also just so happened to be away on one of his stints on Angel Island, far away from Knothole Village.
Amy perked up at that realization as the spark of an idea lit up her thoughts. Standing and hurrying into her room, she threw open the door to her closet and dug out an old battered suitcase. She put it on her bed and turned to start shoveling clothes from her dresser into it. She wasn't sure how long she'd be away from Knothole—or if Knuckles would even let her stay—but she figured that right now, this was her best option to get away from the fallout of her confession.
"It'll all work out," she muttered to herself, slamming the lid of her suitcase shut. If she hurried, she might be able to convince Tails to give her a ride.
I'll just leave for a bit, calm down, and come back when I'm ready to face the music. I'm not bailing, I… She frowned to herself and hesitated for a moment before hefting her suitcase up, spinning around to head out for the last time that day. I'm just taking a break!
The hardest part of this plan was trying to sneak very obvious luggage through the village without getting stopped and interrogated by anyone she knew, but through sheer luck, Amy made it to Tails' workshop unassailed.
She crept into her friend's workshop as quietly as she could, placing her suitcase by the door before heading deeper into the disorganized mechanical mess to find him. She found him, predictably, working on the Tornado—or, more accurately, she nearly stumbled over him as he was busy working on the plane's undercarriage.
"Oh! Oh, I'm sorry, Tails, I didn't see you!" She gasped, scrambling back away from him to let him stand up. "I didn't step on you, did I?"
Tails sat up and dusted himself off, frowning to himself then at Amy for having interrupted his work. His expression softened when he saw she was genuinely concerned and he stood with a sigh.
"Hey, Amy. Don't sweat it, I'm fine. What's up?" He smiled as he walked past her, heading over to a workbench covered in blueprints and scrap paper to sort through them for the notes he needed.
Amy followed him and looked over his shoulder, twiddling her thumbs as she stalled to try and find the best way to ask him for his help. Originally, she thought this was going to be a simple get-in-get-out sort of favor, but now she was suddenly feeling a little guilty for interrupting him.
"Well, I actually need your help with something," she said bashfully, giving him a sweet smile when he turned to look at her. "I was wondering if maybe you could give me a ride to Angel Island?"
The fox blinked back at her, clearly surprised at her request. He furrowed his brow and brought a hand up to his chin as he regarded her with faint suspicion. Amy stiffened and maintained her smile, her hands gripping each other hard as she realized she might have to elaborate.
Please don't ask why, just please don't ask! Amy chanted mentally, biting her lip as she waited for Tails' response.
"Well, sure, I guess," he said with a casual shrug, returning Amy's smile—albeit his being more genuine than her own. "Knux should be due for a supply drop by now, and Julie-Su asked me to deliver some letters to him, too. Might as well kill three birds with one stone!"
Amy felt the weight that was pressing down on her lift almost entirely and she clapped her hands, letting out a childishly excited giggle. She was too busy feeling relieved to be embarrassed by it as she skipped back over to the workshop's door to retrieve her luggage.
"Thanks so much, Tails!" She beamed, resting her suitcase on top of a crate near the Tornado for loading before taking a seat on an old box to wait for Tails to ready the plane. "You have no idea how much of a life saver you are!"
It took what seemed like forever for Tails to load the Tornado and get it ready for the trip to Angel Island; as soon as he gave her the signal, Amy hopped in, more than ready to leave Knothole behind her.
The trip itself was a long one, but the more distance that was put between her and her blunder at Sally's house, the more relaxed Amy became. The roar of the wind and the Tornado's engines drowned out her anxious thoughts—for the first time in the last twenty four hours or so, she could focus on something other than her own introspection. It was freeing and just what she needed.
Tails landed near the base the Chaotix team had built on Angel Island back when Knuckles first founded it. Amy climbed down while Tails opened the cargo hold to unload the supplies he was there to deliver. He handed Amy's suitcase down to her first—she put it to one side before turning back to help the fox unload the plane. As she reached up to grab a box Tails was handing her, she heard clunky, heavy footsteps headed towards them. She paused and looked over her shoulder to see the red echidna himself coming to greet them. She bit her lip and put the box down, waving to him.
"Hey, Kunx! Long time no see!" She called as cheerfully as she could while her anxiety slowly started to resurface. This whole plan depended on getting him to agree to let her stay. She had to play her cards right for it to work. Luckily, she knew Knuckles had a strong sense of honor and duty to help those in need—she had seen it herself on several occasions and it was one of his traits that she most admired.
Just play up the helpless girl shtick and it'll work, she told herself as he got closer to them. Knuckles seemed surprised to see Amy, clearly having expected Tails to make the delivery alone. He gave her a polite but stiff nod before turning his attention to the fox.
"Amy. Tails. Need help with anything?" He asked coolly, putting his hands on his hips. Tails popped up from the cargo compartment and smiled down at his friend.
"Nah, I think I got it. Oh!" He disappeared from view for a moment before reappearing, waving a pack of envelopes in one hand over his head. "Julie asked me to get these to you!" He hopped down from the Tornado to join them, handing the pack of letters over to Knuckles. The echidna looked down at them with a wistful smile and tucked them safely underneath one arm.
The look on face made Amy feel more uneasy—it reminded her too much of her current predicament with Sally.
No! Don't get distracted now! She scolded herself and quickly shook her head, trying to rid herself of those thoughts. She took a deep breath and took a step towards Knuckles, bringing her hands up and clasping them together over her chest as she got ready to beg him for refuge.
"Knuckles, could I stay here on Angel Island for a while?" She asked as sweetly as she could, putting on her best helpless damsel act. It might have been a little manipulative, but she was desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Knuckles turned to her, at first surprised, then suspicious. He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, holding his letters in one hand as he gave her his full attention.
"Why? Something wrong in Knothole?" He asked in his own firm, but caring way. "Has Sonic been messing with you again?" Amy winced a little at the mention of the blue blur but she wasn't surprised he had assumed it was something to do with him. She had come crying to him more than once in the past about Sonic when she was still in denial of her true feelings. It was only naturally he would assume it was about Sonic but that didn't make it any less embarrassing.
"W-well, no, not… Exactly," she managed to stammer out, trying her best to push past it. She looked down at her feet and scuffed the ground with her boot. She glanced back up at the Tornado, where Tails had gone back to work unloading the supplies, and hesitated. If Tails was listening to them talking about Sonic, he would surely mention it to him. They were like brothers, after all. Then it would domino into Sonic telling Sally she had fled to Angel Island—then the princess would surely tell him about Amy's confession. Just the thought of that possibly happening made her shudder. She wasn't ready to deal with that. "It's… Complicated," she mumbled, glancing back up at Knuckles.
The echidna had been watching her closely the entire time while she ran through her nightmare scenario and had surely seen her reluctance to talk further about whatever it was that had brought her so far from home. He made eye contact with her for a moment then let out a long sigh, looking away and rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand.
"Alright. If you really need a place to crash for a while that badly," he grumbled, turning to look back at the base. "The Chaotix are out on a mission right now, but you can stay in one of the spare rooms." Amy smiled and nodded to him, grabbing her suitcase and turned to look back at Tails, giving him a friendly wave.
"Thanks for the ride, Tails! See you soon!" She called cheerfully to him; he looked up and smiled back at her, giving her thumbs up before he went back to work. She nodded again to Knuckles as she walked past him to head towards the base to unpack her things, silently thanking him for not prying too much into her motives for staying.
Good ol' Knuckles… He always pulls through right when you need him. Amy smiled to herself as she walked through the base, looking for the spare rooms Knuckles had mentioned. She passed by the Chaotix members' rooms—Vector, Charmy, Espio— all labeled with a metal plaque with the name of the owner. Eventually, she came to a door with no name plaque. Deciding this must be what Knuckles was talking about, she opened the door and stepped inside.
Her assumption was correct—it was an empty bedroom, ready for a new member to take. She placed her suitcase down on the bed to unpack her things when she heard the door to the adjoining bathroom slowly creak open.
She spun around to see who was there, letting out a surprised gasp and quickly averting her eyes. Rouge the Bat was standing in the doorway with only a towel covering her modesty and steam from a hot shower following her out of the bathroom. Rouge seemed just as surprised as Amy, but only half as embarrassed—in truth, she seemed more annoyed than anything.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you old enough to look after yourself or did you get tired of playing grown up?" She sneered, crossing her arms across her chest. Amy frowned and balled her hands into fists, trying to keep her temper under control. She didn't want to throw a fit—that would only prove Rouge right about being childish. She turned back to her suitcase and tried to distract herself with unpacking, huffing in annoyance.
"I'm here because Knuckles is my friend and he said I could stay. What are you doing here? I didn't know they let thieves join Chaotix," she muttered, taking a few pieces of clothing over to the closet to hang them up. Rouge snorted and made her way over to the bed, taking a seat next to Amy's things. She peered into the suitcase and clicked her tongue, starting to pick through the pink hedgehog's clothes.
"What makes you think Knux and I aren't on friendly terms, too?" The batty vixen chuckled, picking up a shirt and holding it between her forefinger and thumb before tossing it away in distaste. It landed right on Amy's foot. This almost sent her over the edge—her hands shook as she snatched it up off the floor and dusted it off, folding and holding it to her chest like a shield. Rouge was getting underneath her skin; and the bat seemed to be aware of that. Amy shut her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, gritting her teeth as she glared back at her.
"Listen," Amy began, her voice shaking as she tried to keep as calm as she could. "I am not having a good day and I do not want to deal with this right now." There was a pause as Rouge regarded her with cool passivity, tilting her head to the side with a small smirk. The ease with which she got a rise out of Amy was almost as infuriating as her cocky quips.
"Oh? What's the matter, girly? Have another fight with your little boyfriend?" That's what did Amy in. It was one thing for a friend like Knuckles to mention Sonic in passing—it was an entirely different matter for someone like Rouge to try and use him as bait to start a fight. It didn't help that it was a particularly sore spot for her at the moment.
The rage bubbled up to the surface and finally exploded. Hot, angry tears filled her eyes. Amy stomped her foot firmly and balled up her shirt in her fists before throwing it at Rouge's feet. She stormed out of the room and stomped down the hallway, blindly following it until it led her to a dead end. She bit her lip hard as the tears streamed down her cheeks. In a moment of bad judgement, she kicked the wall in front of her as hard as she could. Amy immediately regretted it as a shot of pain ran up her leg. She let out a tearful yelp and doubled over to grab at her foot.
Stupid bat! She sniffed and angrily swiped at her eyes with the back of her free hand, clumsily sitting down on the floor. Her shoulders slumped forward as a mixture of frustration and disappointment only added to her tears.
This was supposed to be her get away. It was supposed to be just her alone, recuperating and planning her next move. Now she had to deal with all that plus that bat using her personal problems to needle her until she snapped again. Amy shut her eyes tightly and slammed her fists against the ground, suddenly feeling stupid for letting her temper get the better of her.
If you can't handle her, then how are you going to handle Sally and Sonic?
She took a few deep breaths to force herself to calm down, standing up when she felt she had regained a little of her composure. She took a step and winced as she put her weight down onto her now injured foot. It really only brought the painful stab of shame, serving as a reminder of her recklessness. She clenched her teeth and stood up straight as she powered through it, making it back to the room. Amy stopped outside the door and braced herself to face Rouge again so shortly after her outburst—then she opened it.
"I'm just getting my stuff back," she announced loudly, trying to diffuse the situation a little bit. She was only met with silence, and as she stepped into the room, she saw it was empty. Rouge must have let before she came back.
She let out a sigh of relief and sat down at the foot of the bed, taking a little comfort in the fact that at least she wouldn't have to face her again for a short while. She turned back towards her suitcase to finish unpacking, blinking in surprise when she saw all her clothes were neatly folded and put into one pile on the bed.
She frowned to herself and quickly checked to make sure nothing of hers had been taken. Everything was all there and that made Amy feel even more foolish. She stood and put her clothes and the suitcase away inside the closet before she threw herself back onto the bed. She rolled over onto her side and buried her face into the mattress.
I guess I should apologize, she thought bitterly. Hopefully Rouge had decided to leave the island altogether after their little run in—but Amy doubted it. At least I won't have to swallow my pride just yet anyway…
