Chapter 2

I was amazed by the response I got on the first chapter so, thank you! I am happy that you've enjoyed it. Oh, and I will complete this story, so don't worry! :D


Sonic?

Amy

The two hedgehogs stood at the door to the tiny apartment, silently staring at each other as no words were uttered. The late evening sun was slowly beginning to set and there was a certain sense of warmth and calmness that seemed to engulf them. The blue hero didn't know what came over him, but he felt like remaining there, never leaving the spot, and with Amy right in front of him; no one else but her. Only her…

Sonic blinked. What…?

The handsome blue hero looked into the pink hedgehog's lovely, emerald green eyes that held a hint of…confusion? He knew that it had been a month since they had last seen each other. Sonic was aware of her whereabouts. He knew that she worked morning till noon at a local cafe and that last week, she had gone to a village not far from where they lived to check on a family of four. It was Tails who had told him that. The young fox was in constant touch with the pink hedgehog, occasionally telling Sonic what she was up to, while secretly hoping that his brother-like figure would go over and help. Sonic, on the other hand, never bothered to since he was either too lazy or didn't want anyone getting any ideas if the two were spotted together. Tails kept telling him at all times that he had to go help Amy. The young fox didn't want her doing the rounds on her own. Sonic felt that Amy could handle it, no matter how many times a tiny voice inside kept insisting that she couldn't.

What if she isn't strong enough? Do you think that she can handle all that pain on her own? the voice asked.

This is Ames we're talking about. Of course she can handle it! Sonic had shot back, annoyed.

Well, that's where you're wrong. The voice had argued. Not everyone can be emotionally strong. You've seen how she was during those days when you were rebuilding, haven't you?

Sonic then remembered Tails telling him how she had needed company since she had to travel for two hours to get to a certain village. Was it last week?

Wait, is that why she had called me then…?

An instant pang of guilt coursed through his heart. What if she did need someone to confide in or maybe simply someone at her side? He thought of those days when they had been helping rebuild. Amy had stayed strong but more than once, he had caught her crying by herself, caught her returning to the Tornado after a hectic day looking like she was about to cry any minute. Sonic knew better than to ask her about it so he pretended that he didn't notice. Most of the time, she was quiet, much to the worry of Sonic and Tails. When one of them was close to telling her to head back home, there she was, determined as ever, ready to help again the next day.

It was one of those qualities about her that seemed to amaze him. She cared about others deeply, and she always made sure she could help as much as she could. She loved being there for everyone and he almost smiled at the thought of how it was always she who planned surprise birthday parties for their friends. She didn't care how they treated her back. All she knew was that she had to make them happy. Sonic remembered how childish she had been when they first met, how love-struck she was when he had rescued her from Metal Sonic. However, over the years, things have been different. She wasn't the same fangirl anymore; she had grown, and deep inside, he was proud of the person she was turning out to be. She was becoming more mature, and he smiled warmly at that.

'…come in?'

He quickly recovered from his thoughts as he blinked. This was the second time that day. Amy was standing in front of him with searching eyes.

'Huh?' he asked sheepishly.

'Um, would you like to come in, Sonic? Tails must have sent you, hasn't he?'

Sonic gave a feeble nod. 'Y-Yeah, that's true. I heard you need help moving?' he asked softly as he looked into her bright, emerald green eyes that seemed to sparkle as a small smile began to form on her lips.

Amy nodded and stepped back, holding the door open. Sonic smiled at her as he walked in, looking around. 'Wow, a sweet place you've got here, Amy!' he remarked in an attempt to break the awkwardness between the two.

He heard Amy chuckle softly behind him and that helped him ease up a little.

He was in her living room. The room was large and had large cardboard boxes stacked at the center of the now empty room, save for all the furniture. He had never been over to her apartment, no matter how many times he had passed by. He had often considered stepping in for a quick visit, but something had always stopped him and he didn't know what that was. He sighed.

'So, um, how are you Sonic? It's...been a month, hasn't it?'

Another pang. Dammit, I'm so sorry, Ames.

He turned to face her and shrugged as he rubbed the back of his head. 'Uh, yeah, it has. How have you been?'

'Good, actually.' She gave him a small smile at which Sonic glanced away, feeling the guilt slowly take over.

Silence. Neither had anything more to say for a whole minute and it felt awkward again. A month had gone by, and although they had been together for longer, it just felt ...different somehow.

Amy realized she had to break the silence.

'The moving service will be here anytime soon, Sonic. Maybe you would like to have some coffee?' Amy asked kindly as she looked at him.

Sonic nodded, 'Yeah, that sounds great!' he gave her a grateful smile which he had to force on. Amy smiled back, and then she made her way to the kitchen, leaving Sonic in the living room. Once she was out of earshot, the hero of Mobius sighed with relief.

Hoo boy, I've so gotta get used to this!

He then straightened up and looked around once more before making his way over to the balcony which was opposite the front door. Sonic opened the door to the balcony and stepped outside. He walked over and placed his hands on the railing and breathed in the fresh evening air. The view outside her apartment was not that bad. It overlooked the busy street below and there were several other apartments on the other side of the street. There was a popular convenience store right opposite her apartment which, Sonic thought, must have been a great help for her. Other than that, there were several other stores scattered across the neighborhood also. The street was busy with various anthropomorphic animals and birds milling about at that time of the day.

He continued to look out for a couple more minutes before stepping back inside. He closed the balcony door behind him softly and turned to face the cardboard boxes, one of which was open. The boxes had names of various rooms where the objects belonged to scrawled in block letters with a black marker. Sonic made his way over to the open one. He didn't want to peek, but its contents caught his eye.

The box was filled to the brim with plushies and toys of all sorts. There were loads of them and they didn't look too expensive nor too cheap. They were of considerable good quality as well. Sonic picked up a stuffed bear and looked at it. He then gently squeezed it. It was so soft. He chuckled softly as he put it back with the rest.

Why would Ames need all these plushies and toys anyway?

That was when he stopped as he noted something else about the toys. They all looked brand new like they were bought just the other day. The plushies looked clean and untouched and, after testing a few he noted that the toys were working perfectly. Sonic widened his eyes as realization dawned on him. These toys weren't for her; they never were.

The blue hero suddenly recalled those days when they were helping rebuild after the destruction of that colossal Death Egg in space. Amy, each day when they had come over to her apartment to pick her up, always held a large cover filled with soft plushies in her hands. Sonic remembered helping her carry them at one point when it had simply been too heavy for her. Back then, he had known that she was getting toys and other goodies for the children they were going to help. Sonic couldn't recall a single day when Amy went empty-handed. If it weren't toys or clothes, she carried along with her delicious homemade cookies or cakes. It had touched his heart then to see how much she cared for the children and adults who had lost their homes and livelihoods to the chaos.

But what concerned him now was how she still kept at it. It was great helping others, but he was worried as to how she was doing all of this on her own and that too, almost every month or week. He knew how hurt she had been when she saw the plight of all those children when they were helping rebuild. According to him, Amy visited nearby places just to check in. What he didn't know was that Amy still helped. He remembered Tails telling him of her gestures and how often the young fox had told him to help her. He had never listened. Sonic had let her do it all on her own; had let her travel long distances to visit families all by herself; had even let her carry those heavy bags of toys and let her be in pain with no one to comfort her and, just like before, he felt guilty again. Right then and there, Sonic wished he had listened to Tails. He wished he had called her back more often, especially last week. Now, as he stared at the contents of this particular box, he didn't want to see her doing this anymore. After one last glance at the contents, he made his way over to the kitchen.

xxx

Amy Rose was busy preparing coffee for Sonic. She didn't prepare one for herself since she had eaten earlier.

Besides, Sonic deserves this more than I do. He came all this way to help me move after all.

The pink rose let out a sigh at the thought of her blue hero, for whom she still had tiny feelings. It had been a month since they last spoke and it hurt. She wondered why things had come to this. Back in the days of fighting badnicks, the two had always been together. She never liked leaving him alone and only God knew how worried she had been when he was in the Death Egg with Shadow and Silver during those last crucial minutes. She had felt sad when they slowly started to grow distant since then. Once the rebuilding was over, Sonic and Tails went back to their regular lives while she had decided to continue helping. True, they had helped rebuild homes, but they weren't done fixing the broken souls. Only Amy knew that since she had found time to talk to every family and child while the boys were busy rebuilding. It had pained her to see how broken some children were. Some even lost their families in the chaos and she knew that she had to be there for them to help them cope and gain back their footing, and to help them find a reason to hope again.

It was while doing so that she grew distant from Sonic. The pink rose could have asked Cream or Rouge, but the latter was always out with Knuckles and Cream was simply too young. So she made sure to inform Tails of her activity just in the hope that Sonic would come and help, for she knew for sure that Tails would inform him. She even tried calling Sonic directly, but he never answered her calls. Even when he did, it was while he was on his runs. Last week, she had hoped he would come along for a two-hour journey to a village since she simply wanted someone at her side but, he never returned her call. So she had to make the journey by herself and she had been much too tired when she had finally arrived back at her apartment.

Amy cleared her head from her thoughts when the coffee was finally made. She gently poured the steaming coffee into a cup and suddenly, she let out a small gasp of pain that caused her to spill a little bit of the coffee on the kitchen slab. The delicate pink hedgehog grimaced as she placed the now-empty pan in the sink and quickly held onto the slab while with her other hand, she clutched her stomach.

Ouch…

It was that pain again which had been troubling her for quite some time now. Even though it hurt whenever it struck, it never lasted; and it was always in the same location. She never bothered to go to the doctor since she brushed it aside assuming it to be a minor stomach ache, but this time, it felt different. The pain was sharper and it seemed to be spreading to a larger area. Her mind raced back to check if she had eaten anything off lately but couldn't put her finger on any single day. So it wasn't the food, but then what else could be causing her this pain…?

'Amy?'

The pink hedgehog quickly straightened herself up as Sonic walked into the kitchen. The blue hero stopped in his tracks when he saw her.

'Is something wrong, Ames?' he asked, with a touch of concern.

'Huh? Of course not. Your coffee's ready by the way.' she quickly replied as she avoided his eyes and picked up the cup of steaming milk coffee. The pain was beginning to subside now.

The blue hero didn't say anything as he made his way over to her, not bothering to take the cup. The two then stared at each other. Sonic looked at her searchingly while Amy looked on with surprise.

This time, he broke the silence.

'Amy, are all those toys in that cardboard box for kids in the villages you visit?'

Amy stared, and then she blinked, 'Oh, well yes. It's for the children there.' she answered as she looked into his eyes, looking for a trace of humor, but found none.

Sonic let out a sigh as he heard those words. 'Ames, I don't really wanna discourage you but, don't you think that this may be taking a toll on you? I mean, you've been doing this a lot lately and...'

'No, Sonic.' Amy said with a strong sense of purpose in her voice which surprised the blue hero, 'Don't you see? They don't have anyone else to help them. Ever since we helped rebuild homes, everyone has been busy going about their lives that no one sees what really happened.' her voice was shaking now as she continued softly, 'They're still broken, Sonic. They're still in pain over what they have lost and I see that all the time. I don't think I'll be at ease until I fix what Eggman broke.'

The delicate pink hedgehog looked down at the cup she was holding as she continued with a slight tremble in her voice, 'It's all about being there and making sure they get their strength back. I don't want to see them get through it alone. I want to do as much as I can to help them get back on their feet. After all, it's not just their homes that they have lost, they've even lost their hearts.'

She looked up at him again with a small smile, 'I want to help them find their way back, Sonic.'

The blue hero gaped at her, trying to process what she just said. 'But...you've been doing this for a year, Amy. I can now see that this is taking a lot out of you from everything that Tails has told me!' the concern and worry grew on his face as he looked at her pleadingly. He didn't want this for her.

Amy smiled sadly as she felt touched by the concern in his voice, and she nearly lifted her hand to comfort him, but then stopped. He was right. Visiting all those children and families did take a toll on her. That was why she yearned for company most of the time. Almost all days, she was filled with a certain sense of sadness and longing. She was upset how, despite being close friends, Sonic never bothered to visit her; not even once. More than just a couple of times, she had seen him whizz by her apartment in a blue blur through her open window and it broke her heart when he never bothered to stop by just to say hello; even if only for a minute. She was well aware that he hung out with Tails on most days and that he even visited Angel Island to see Knuckles and Rouge. But he never did the same for her. She was always alone, but she tried to stay strong. Her lack of proper company was always upsetting, but she didn't let it depict on her face. Whenever the delicate female hedgehog visited families, she wore a warm smile, trying to cover up the feeling of loneliness inside her. The last thing she wanted was them worrying for her.

What really hurt her most was when she made it back to her apartment after a long day of visiting families. She knew there was no one waiting for her to ask her how she was feeling. She longed to find someone standing there once she opened the door, ready to embrace her with a comforting hug, someone who would lend a shoulder to cry on, someone she could confide in, someone who would just hold her close. But instead, she always opened her door to a dark and lonely apartment. The fact that she had no one to talk to was so upsetting that she walked in exhausted and collapsed onto her bed, crying softly into the pillow with that feeling of loneliness engulfing her heart. Why did she have to be so alone? Why is it that no one bothered to visit or maybe just call her? Was she a nobody to her friends? Nevertheless, she never let those feelings get the better of her, for the very next day, she would wake up, feeling determined for another day at work or at making her rounds.

That was Amy Rose.

'I'm fine, Sonic. There's nothing to worry about.' she said softly while still holding the cup of coffee which was now starting to get cold.

Before Sonic could say anything, the doorbell rang.

The moving service had finally arrived.


There you have it! I hope you've enjoyed it. Please review so that I may know what you think. All sorts of criticisms are welcome.

By the way, for some of you who might have felt doubtful, I canceled my previous fic since I didn't want to include my OC. This story revolves around the same plot as that one except for some changes. I don't intend to cancel this one so don't worry. I look forward to finishing this!

Until next time! :)