The four climbed down through one of the many cavern entrances. Into the system of underground caves in planet Marto. The place smelled of dirt and wet and Tails had wrapped his tails around his bare arms to ward off the cold. Bunnie marched on in the front, still talking in soft tones in answer to Rotor's dazed questions. The light from her watch cast a greenish glow on the rocks around them.

Now that his adrenaline had had time to cool, Sonic could feel the numbness on his face from where the hedgehog had punched him. His throat still burned and he glanced over his shoulder every now and then, his ears cocked.

Tail's eye and lip were starting to swell, and his gait was stiff. The fox no longer looked like a young rebel warrior who could think fast enough to use an attacker's own acid magazine against him, or who could hide from a heat-seeking missile in a thermos.

He and Sonic looked like who they were—two kids who had spent all day doing grown up things, and now needed to go home.

Tails kept close to Sonic and he heaved a sigh. Then he yawned.

Sonic glanced at Tails. He stopped and crouched down low, curling over his knees. "Come on, bro," Sonic ordered. Tails climbed onto Sonic's back, smoothing down the hedgehog's back spikes. The fox let his forehead slump against Sonic's shoulder.

Sonic stood up and shifted his weight as he walked, the corner of his mouth turning up.

Ten minutes later, they rounded a corner and a warm, yellow light beamed up ahead.

"Well, bless mah stars, looks like we found it again, ev'rybody!" Bunnie whispered loudly. She hurried her pace, darting through a narrow crack in the cave wall.

They stepped out onto a rug on the floor of an open cavern chamber and strode forward. A single electric light bulb hung from the ceiling.

Rotor gasped.

It was as if they had reached the heart of the planet. Light bulbs, old neon signs, glow rocks and candles were placed throughout the room for lighting, revealing the chamber. Rock outcroppings, massive overhangs, and ledges jutted out from the cavern chamber walls and floors, but they could not obscure the vastness of the room. It stretched on, past the ledges, and parts of the ceiling rose up in never ending vertical chasms.

The air was cool and fresh and smelled of plants. Somewhere in the distance, water trickled.

Sonic sighed, his shoulders slumping. Tails dozed on, oblivious.

A little girl's voice broke the stillness and echoed through the room.

"Miss Bunnie! Mr. Sonic!"

The stomp of boots echoed through the cavern and then a lop-eared Mobian rabbit child darted around one of the ledges to meet them. She saw them and gasped, her large brown eyes alight with happiness. Her fur coloring was milky cream, except for a few round splashes of chocolate brown on her head, ears, and around her eyes. She stood only about a foot and a half tall and couldn't have been older than ten.

"Crème!" Bunnie said, hurrying to her.

The little girl clutched the edges of a slightly dusty, but crisp, skirt and curtseyed to them. "Good evening, Mr. Sonic!" She paused and her eyes widened. "Is…Mr. Knuckles not here?"

Sonic forced a grin, and strode over to her. He crouched down and met her eyes. "Mr. Knuckles isn't here this time, Crème, but we're gonna get him."

Crème bowed her head, understanding. She didn't speak for a second.

"We've got someone else for you to fix up though!" Sonic said, pushing back onto his feet.

Crème looked past Sonic, her eyes shy. She scooted around him, clasping her hands behind her back. "Who is he?"

"This here is Mr. Rotor, Crème," Bunnie said.

Crème froze. "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Sonic teased, stepping behind her. "I thought you liked it when we got people outta that rotten metal city."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Sonic," Crème corrected shyly. "But I don't like it when they're hurt. I don't like it when anyone is hurt." She faced them all. "You had better follow me. I have a nice ledge fixed up for him, and I have some tea almost ready too. Mr. Sonic, you cannot have any cola because it is much too late for sugar, but you can have honey in your tea, and I'll make sure it's strong."

Sonic snapped his fingers, pretending to be disappointed. "Well, guess it'll have to do! Can't tell a lady no, huh, Tails?"

Tails lifted his head, his eyes still heavy with sleep. "Wha…?"

Crème looked away, fidgeting with her skirt. She turned to Rotor. "Mr. Rotor, I hope you have a pleasant stay," Crème said, clasping her hands. "I will be your hostess, so if you need anything just let me know. I can help you get comfortable, but I'm afraid I only know a little nursing, so if you need a doctor, I will get one for you in the morning…"

And with that, she turned on the heel of her combat boots and began to lead them further into the cavern chamber. The eclectic lighting cast a magical aura to the place. The cave floor was perfectly swept and dotted with rugs. As they walked, they past piles of discarded machinery and furniture along the walls.

Bunnie acted as tour guide. "Excuse the mess, Rotor, we try t' keep this place nice, but Ah need a lot of spare parts for this tin can body o' mine here, and Tails needs to tinker and—well, some of this stuff we just couldn't stand seeing laying out in a junkyard somewhere."

They stepped out past several large ledges into a more open part of the cavern.

Disbelief registered on Rotor's face.

The remnants of a once elegant chandelier hung from the roof over the room, casting light on a circle of salvaged furniture. A stream of water fell from the ceiling into a pool at the far end of the room. Mosses and different types of plants lined the walls close to the pool, clustered under large light bulbs. On the other side of the room, someone had used the cavern ledges as shelves for old records, books, movie reels, and random odds and ends. A makeshift radio, record player and projector sat on the lowest shelves.

All across the room, old soup cans had been placed with care and filled with fresh flowers.

"Wow," Rotor gasped.

"This here is our sittin' room," Bunnie laughed. "Or more like our wrestling room, if the boys have their way. See those records and books over there? We found most of those in the Robotropolis junkyard. The last remnants of New Mobius and life before Robotnik turned on the city. They're some of our most prahzed treasures."

Sonic grinned. "Yeah."

Some of those records were from his family's apartment. He'd found them where their complex had fallen. They were mostly random radio clips his family had managed to tune into and record from earth, across the dimensional divide. The Glenn Miller recordings, good old Winnie's fireside chats—he'd even found the Frankie Lymon record they'd made. That had been one of the newer ones. He remembered listening to them as a kid all the time…

Sonic stepped into the ring of chairs, whistling the opening lines of Miller's Moonlight Serenade to himself.

Tail's ear twitched and he opened one eye.

"Oh, we're here," Tails murmured.

"Sure are, kiddo," Sonic sniggered and dumped the fox off his back onto an upholstered sofa.

Crème covered her mouth, trying not to laugh. She cleared her throat. "Miss Bunnie, please put Mr. Rotor on the loveseat."

Bunnie lowered the speechless walrus down to the sofa. Tears glinted in his eyes. "Thanks."

Creme picked up a quilt and draped it over the walrus. "This will be the best place for you for now, Mr. Rotor. Then while dinner is heating up and the tea is served, I can be your nurse. We have some emergency healing rings here too if you need them." Crème turned to the others. "Mr. Sonic…Mr. Tails, your faces look awful."

They did look awful, but Sonic waved his hand. "Aw, we've been through worse. Your cooking'll be healing ring enough."

Crème's eyes lit up. "Oh! Well, in that case, you had better sit down at the table." She spun around and darted off down a second hall, her combat boots once again pounding on the floor.

Sure enough, a large sheet-metal table sat in the back corner of the room, covered with a green checkered tablecloth, set for four.

"That's more like it!" Sonic blurted, grinning. He raced to the table, already starting to feel better about the future and life in general.

Rotor stared after Crème, his eyes blank. "… I haven't seen a little girl look like that since I was taken to Robotropolis."

"Yeah," Sonic took a seat on a red-backed bar stool. "Most kids have a pretty good amount of energy when they aren't having their Mobium sucked from them every week."

Rotor stared at him. Only he and Tails caught the involuntary shiver that ran through Sonic and how the hedgehog clenched his fists to hide it.

Tails climbed into the seat next to Sonic, wrapping his tails around himself.

Sonic glanced over the place settings on the table and his mind clicked. "Four?" He twisted around. "Crème, who's number four?"

As if on cue, a high-pitched scream rang out from down the tunnel, echoing through the rooms. "Sonic is back?" a girl's voice shouted.

Sonic shot up from his chair, bracing himself against the table. He darted a look to Tails. "—I thought she was working," he blurted.

Tails glanced away, pretending to drink from his empty cup.

A sakura-colored hedgehog charged into the cavern from a side passage, skirts flouncing and green eyes afire. "Sonic! Sonic! Sonic!"

Before Sonic could choke out a word, she dashed up to him, flung her arms around his neck, and collapsed against him, her eyes closed in rapture.

Sonic's voice cracked, shooting up an octave. "Amy Rose!"

"Oh, Sonic," she gasped, "I missed you so much—I was so worried about you! I've been waiting for you all night and here you are, back in one piece, oh! Oh!-"

Sonic opened his mouth. "Am—"

She slapped her hand over his mouth, giggling. "Wait, wait, first I have to look at you."

She grabbed his hands and stepped back, her eyes sparkling. She gasped, a blush creeping over her peach-colored cheeks. She blinked her long dark eyelashes and touched his bruised chin. "Ooooh…my dear, Sonnikku. You are so brave." She sighed again, clasping her hands. "I…I'm so sad I didn't go with you this time."

Sonic's pupils were narrowed to slits. He stood stiff against the table. For three seconds. Then he sagged.

He reached out, snagged Amy's arm and pulled her to him. She let out a little shriek as he wrapped his arm around her.

"Sonic! Sonic stop—aaaaaaah," Amy giggled again, pretending to fight him. She clung to him, leaning her head against his chest.

"Now, Amy, Amy, Amy," Sonic chided with a smirk. "I always tell you, you know, you don't have to worry about this hedgehog. I'm too fast for any of those metal-heads to hit." He pulled back a little and tucked his hand beneath her chin. He tilted her face up. He ran a thumb over her forehead, smoothing back her pink forelocks. "You had all-night cleaning shift at Momma Robotnik's though, and that's no doozy. Whatcha doing here, Ames?"

She looked up at him. Her green eyes shone with adoration and devotion from beneath her eyelashes. Her eyes were a sharper shape than the other Mobians present—an indication of her Eastern Mobian heritage. She let out a long sigh, as if too dumbfounded to speak.

"You…okay, Ames?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

She sighed again. "Oh, yes, Sonic. I'm just so happy you're here." She hugged him again. She closed her eyes hard and a tear escaped. "Everything else is so…so…" she stopped, a sob breaking free.

"Hey, Ames," Sonic said, running his hand through her pink head spikes again. "We're working on it. Don't let them getcha down, okay? Tomorrow's gonna be better."

"Okay, Sonic," Amy choked out. She practically melted into him.

She would behave herself for the rest of the night now. After a lifetime of knowing Amy Rose, Sonic had picked up a few survival tricks. If he humored her, the hammer stayed put, and she'd do anything he wanted.

Plus, she had gotten kinda cute over the last few years, so he didn't mind her hanging onto him quite as much as he used to.

At the table, Tails and Bunnie stared. Tails shot Sonic a tired look of disapproval, one eyebrow raised. Bunnie's eyes flashed with amusement—or was it jealousy?

"Rotor, this is Amy Rose-" Bunnie started.

Amy Rose jumped free of Sonic, then spun to face Rotor. "Oh, hello, hello!" She waved, clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. Then she caught herself, gasped, and burst into a series of bows, blurting in a nonstop string, "What an honor to meet you, sir Knuckles, I'm Amy Rose, and I am Sonic's girlfriend, we're betrothed and someday we'll be married, you've probably heard tons about me already, I am so glad you're alive, we are all honored to even be in your presence, you must be the highest Guardian in our planet, Crème and I will do everything we can to make sure you heal and no one will disturb you or find you down here. All the credit for your rescue must go to Sonic, he's the one who has banded us together, he's dedicated his life to protecting our planet and fighting Robotnik, and I have a gifted hammer I use to fight with, it was given to me as a child, I'm the only one who can use it, but I did not get the pleasure of using it and rescuing you with my comrades tonight because I was detained on cleaning duty as tribute for our oppressor's relatives staying in Aero—but do not worry, I will make up for it by caring for you now, Sir Knuckles-"

"Sugah," Bunnie finally blurted, "That's not Knuckles. This is Rotor."

Sonic and Tails stared in silence. Bunnie had even said Rotor's name.

Amy Rose's eyes widened in confusion from where she remained bowed. Her ears cocked forward. "Not…wha…?"
"We found Rotor in the sewers," Bunnie said.

"Knuckles is an echidna," Tails added, eyebrow still raised. "Not a walrus."

"We didn't find Knux," Sonic said, his voice clipped.

Amy Rose stood frozen in her bow, biting her lip, her eyes locked on Rotor. Her cheeks began to burn red.

Rotor cleared his throat, smiling. "It's…nice…to meet you, Amy Rose. You sound like a lucky girl with someone like Sonic waiting for you."

Amy Rose's face lit up. She straightened, clasped her hands and squealed. "I know!" She spun around, snatched Sonic around the neck and practically jumped up into his arms. "I," she said with a sigh. "am the luckiest girl in the whole world."

Sonic sat down in his chair with a thud, forcing a grin at Rotor. Amy Rose hugged Sonic harder, scooted onto his lap, and tossed her bobbed pink quills.

"You all are pretty lucky," Rotor said.

Amy Rose kissed Sonic on the cheek.

Bunnie cleared her throat, glancing away. She leaned forward against the palm of her hand, a smile gracing her face, "Now, Rotor, yer free, so what would ya like to do when yer all better? Do you have any family left? Anywhere you wahnt to go?"

Rotor stared. "I…I don't know…I don't have any family…I came from Arktica, looking for a job…and…" he sighed. "It was all so long ago…" He looked around the room, "I just can't believe this…Have…have you all…did you?"

"As much as we could, honey," Bunnie said, gesturing to the cavern. "We've been workin' on it ever since we found this place—that was about four years ago, if I remember correctly. It started out as our club house. You know, just a place where we could get away and start a ruckus and train with Commander Sparks."

Bunnie caught herself, glancing at Sonic in concern.

Sonic's gaze was unreadable. If he had heard the reference, he'd paid no attention to it. He was too busy looking down at Amy Rose as she stroked his arm.

Bunnie went on. "But back then, Robotnik hadn't made this fake contract with the queen, and he was still raiding Old Mobian villages. Sonic was training how to fight and the rest of us kinda got pulled in one way or another."

Rotor stared at them in silence. "And you are…how old?"

Sonic, Amy Rose, and Tail looked up. The four young rebels glanced at each other.

Sonic pulled his arms free from Amy and pushed then behind his neck, leaning back in his chair. "Why you wanna know?"

Rotor shrugged a little. "You…you all don't look like adults."

"I'm fifteen," Sonic smirked.

"I'm fifteen as well, and Tails is twelve," Bunnie said.

"I'm fourteen," Amy Rose said, her eyes wide.

Rotor stared.

"-Hey, someone has to do it," Sonic said, waving a hand.

The others remained silent, but agreement echoed in their eyes. Each one of them had been touched by Robotnik's cruelty, at one time or another. They'd just taken the resources they'd had, and put them to use.

"We think Crème is almost eleven," Bunnie said. "But we're not for sure. She was actually one of our first rescues. Poor darlin'. We didn't know how the tunnels worked, so I stayed down here with her an' then she just never wanted to leave. She loves takin' care of this place an' she's safe here. She's workin' on the cave garden back there by the water fountain."

"You—you leave her here all by herself? All alone in a big cave like this?" Rotor looked concerned.

At that moment Crème walked back down the hallway, carrying a tray with a steaming teapot and china dishes. "Oh no, I sleep with Miss Amy at the boarding school at night. In the daytime, I like to stay down here, and take care of the place—just like Mama taught me to." For a moment, Crème frowned, wrinkles lining her smooth brow. "…Someday, when Mama comes back, I'm going to show her our Underground, and I know she'll be very proud of me. It's very important that there's a safe place for people to come back home to."

She put the tray down on the table and distributed china cups around the table. Then she hefted up the teapot, which looked a little cracked and scraped, but clean. She poured tea into everyone's cup. Once she had finished, Crème put two china canisters on the table. "Here is the honey and cream if anyone wants some, ahem, Mr. Sonic. I'll be right back with some medicinal tea for you, Mr. Rotor!" Crème said, then darted back down the hall, tray in hand.

Bunnie waited until Crème was out of earshot. She leaned out of her seat. "…When we found the poor thing, she was hidin' under the wing of one of Robotnik's sneak jets…We'd gotten to her village a little too late that tahme. She knows her family—well, they aren't in any living condition, that's for certain." Bunnie sighed and glanced to the floor. "But she always talks 'bout them like they're jus' gone for a lil' while. I've talked to her about it before, an' Ah think she really does know deep down, but she's in some sort of denial or somethin'…"

Amy Rose watched Bunnie, her eyes wide.

Sonic reached past Amy Rose and snatched up the cream and honey. He poured half of each into his cup, then passed them to Tails. Sonic stirred the tea with a spoon impatiently. "She keeps a good face on it though," he said.

Rotor lowered his gaze. He glanced after Crème sadly. "At least…. she has a chance…in a place like this. Back…back there…you try to keep on a good face at first, but after awhile it doesn't matter anymore…"

No one spoke.

Sonic pinched his lips. Amy Rose and Tails bowed their heads.

Crème came back into the room with a steaming tea cup in one hand. It was filled with dark medicinal tea. With the other hand she carried a picnic basket. "Here, Mr. Rotor! Are they talking to you too much? You can't talk anymore until you're feeling better." She put the tea cup into Rotor's hand. Then she turned to the table. "And here you are, Mr. Sonic!" She opened the picnic basket to reveal pots of chili and hot dogs.

The smell flooded the room and Sonic sat up straight on his stool.

For a little while, life was officially okay again.

Author's Note:

Entrance, Amy Rose and Crème! As you've probably already guessed, Crème is the Retelling version of Cream. I changed her name to fit the story world and feel a little better. As for Amy Rose, I think I rewrote this scene maybe...I don't know, six times? I finally found the Retelling version of her, but I have no idea if she's anything like canon Amy Rose. XD If Amy Rose or Crème are some of your favorite characters, tell me the things you like most about them in the reviews! I might just try to integrate them so long as it compliments the Retelling.

Thanks for reading! I've been working on some artwork of these characters for Pinterest...I'll share the link when they're finished.

~Constance