Sonic stirred, heaving a deep breath. He couldn't remember his dreams…He felt dazed, as if he had just come out of a washing machine. Cleaner, raw.
And he was warm. There was a blanket over him…
Sonic's nose twitched. A smell in the air rapidly flooded his senses—a smell that he would never be able to mistake for anything else in the world, let alone in his semi-starved state.
The hedgehog uncurled and opened his eyes.
He looked up into a face framed by tree limbs and dappled morning sunlight. The soft, round face of a beautiful pink hedgehog girl with dark lashes and bobbed head spikes.
"Sonic…" she whispered, her green eyes lighting with hope. "My Sonic…"
He kept sniffing. "Chili dogs…"
Amy Rose's eyes flashed.
She screamed and the hammer pounded into the grass inches from his head, sending thunder through the ground.
Sonic yelped, scurrying up.
"Chili dogs?" Amy Rose raged, her eyes twitching. "I almost die beneath a building and I follow you for four days all by myself in the messy wilderness, smashing combots and no showers and eating leftovers from suspicious travelers and ruining my only remaining dress—all to find you almost dead—and that's really all you say to me? Sonic, I should-!"
Sonic leapt up. He hurled his arms around the girl, almost laughing through the tears that misted his eyes. "Amy—Amy Rose—" He began kissing her cheeks.
Amy stopped shouting. She caught her breath and hugged him back with all her might. "Oh—Sonic—" Then she started crying.
"It's okay, Amy, it's all gonna be okay," Sonic soothed, holding the back of her head against his shoulder.
"I think those were the worst days of my entire life," Amy Rose sighed reclining against her hammer. "Well…being a hostage in New Mobius was pretty terrible too, but at least then, I had you—this time I didn't know if you were even alive, but I knew I had to try to find you, and I knew if you were anywhere, you would have gone to Robotropolis, so that's where I looked."
Sonic knelt before the makeshift fire and pot of chili and dogs. He heaped another cupful of chili onto his third dog, still licking at some sauce on the corner of his mouth. Tails sat next him, conscious, but still feverish, and wrapped in several blankets. He ate slowly and drank several more gulps from the large thermos Amy had set next to the fire.
"Whew'd you gwet all thish shtuff?" Sonic blurted, licking his fingers.
"Yesterday, I found a village on the way. I asked them for help and they gave me all of this." She flashed a winning smile, clasping her hands.
Tails looked up, his eyelids still half-lowered. "They just…gave you all this?"
"Yes, they didn't need it anymore—they had meat and spices and the sausages and bread and a well with the water, and blankets and the canteen and they just gave it all to me—I think they liked me. I told them all about you Sonic, and how I was your betrothed and looking for you and they felt so sorry for me, they had to help me—they even gave me this new dress," She waved the edge of her new rose-colored, bubble skirt. "They were leaving their village—something about it being too dangerous to live so close to the Capitol—and I can understand, my school is gone now—not that I liked that school—But it is gone, and there were a lot of missiles—probably most everything is gone in Aero now."
"How'd you carry all of it?" Tails asked, still looking at the supplies in disbelief.
"Oh-!" Amy Rose scooted forward. "They carried it for me in their wagons. I was traveling with them when I found your trail yesterday—it was a wonderful arrangement—I get to keep all my stuff and in return, I keep all the combots away from their caravan," she barely touched the handle of her hammer before it leapt into her hand. She spun it like a sword, grinning hard. She put it back. "I also sang for them, and they loved it, but after the first time, we had trouble finding another good time to have an encore performance—oh! And they agreed to help me find you, Sonic— I can always tell when you've been running somewhere," Amy Rose smiled at him in pride.
"Sure you can," Sonic swallowed and winked at her. He smirked. "I have a certain vibe that sticks around."
Amy Rose blushed. "You do."
Sonic lifted his chin a little, popping his jaw.
"Between that and the trench in the ground you made with your Speed, I was able to find you with no problem!" Amy Rose smiled.
"We left a trench?" Tails blurted, lifting an eyebrow.
"You almost done there, Tails?" Sonic hissed, snatching the water canteen.
"I had to say goodbye to them yesterday though," Amy said with a sigh. "I've been carrying the supplies on my hammer instead in the picnic cloth…it only makes it a little heavier—you know, that's the nice thing about magic hammers. I wish they could have stayed with me instead though. You should have heard them go on about how afraid they were, and you—you could have helped them…" Her eyes shone, and for a moment, she really did look like a rose. "And…and you are so good at helping people…everyone knows you're a true hero like that."
Sonic met her gaze, enjoying her face. He smirked.
Then her eyes flashed again. "Just you shouldn't be such a hero and help people so much that you get hurt because of it!" She ended her statement in a growl, clutching the hammer.
Sonic eeked out a chuckle, shaking himself. "Heh…I like it better that way too."
Amy hopped up and pranced around the fire so she could sit next to him. She took ahold of his arm—just as he was about to grab a fifth chili dog—and leaned into him, her eyes closed in rapture. "Mmmm…."
Sonic kissed her on the forehead. Then snatched the dog with his other hand.
"I can't believe I found you," she murmured. "You looked so terrible and still and cold when I came last night...and dirty…and bloody...I was surprised that Tails was there too, I thought for sure he had died."
Tails paused from his food for a moment, glancing at Amy from beneath his forelocks.
Sonic laughed, punching at the fox's shoulder. "Nah, I jush got him shick," he said through a mouthful of chili. "And shpeaking of whisch…" Sonic thumped on his stomach. He had unbuckled his tunic belts on his third dog and he already had a potbelly. "I need to find Twails shome healwing wings." He swallowed.
Tails' eyes flickered. He smiled at Sonic.
Amy Rose's eyes shot open. "Healing rings?"
"Yeah," Sonic eased Amy off of him and staggered back to his feet. "I need-"
"No!" Amy Rose shoved him back down.
Sonic crumpled back to the ground with an oof.
"You rest!" She ordered. "You are still extremely tired! I will pack up everything while you hold completely still and then together we will look for rings!"
At first, Sonic tried to stand up again, but he froze and shrugged. He lay onto his back, crossing his arms behind his head. "Okay. If you insist, Amy."
Amy's face lit up. "Anything for you, Sonic."
Sonic smirked.
Author's Note, 6/11/2019
Aaaand, here's another few late installments. :)
Okay, I just have to say another big thanks for the reviews, guys. You all are really faithful! A special thanks to Nail Strafer for reading and leaving some great reviews (I'll reply more via private message! :)) and also to Ehecatl, a guest, for one of the most comprehensive and encouraging reviews I have ever received.
I normally reply to reviews privately, but since this was a guest a review, I guess I'll do so here. Ehecatl, if you're reading this, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the characters and the story! I am truly honored, especially since one of my goals with this story was to take unique twists on the characters and broaden them. So hearing you go into depth about how you liked them really made my day. I also really appreciate your critique on there not being quite as many victories/recovery times for the characters as there should! That really was a total blind spot to me and now that you mentioned it, I agree. I can now look out for it in my current WIPs. And when/if I come back to edit Rupture, hopefully I can address that here as well. In this story, the repeated failures and lack of recovery time are part of some theme arcs (Sonic doesn't really do recovery time-which is something that hurts not just him, but everyone around him as well), but I should probably make those themes WAY more obvious so that the defeats won't just feel random/repetitive/pointless.
Either way though, these guys are definitely due for some victories. :] All I will say is...we're getting there...XD
OH YES. And ANTOINE. YES. :] So mini spoilers, but yes. He is not in his episode, but he is coming. 3
Thanks again so much for the feedback and encouragement.
Thanks again to the faithfuls! Alexandria, ThinMintE, Zoggerific-ya'll are the best! *thumbs up*
God bless!
~April/Connie
