Life seemed to be hitting the pause button for him a lot lately. If not for his and Amy's breathing and the disaster of Amy's living room, they might of been statues in a museum display.
This was crazy! No, this was stupid! All he had to do was talk to her. She was his friend! (she was?) He had to keep the ball rolling, they said girl liked to talk about their problems so that was what he had to do.
"Amy, you should know somebody always cares. Even in the worst of times someone out there is caring what happens to you. Even if they don't always show it."
"I now know you care." Said Amy. "So I guess that's one good thing among in this nightmare I've been living."
"Amy nightmares always have to end. That's how life works. But you'll just enter a new one if you don't start living your life instead of drifting in it."
"Your right I guess, your smart for a guy twice your age."
Now Tails was really stricken silent, this was the first time anyone had EVER called him smart or even acknowledged it.
"You call me smart."
"Yea so?"
"No one's ever called me that."
"Huh? But what about Sonic?"
"Never."
"You know Sonic, he's a hedgehog of action not words." Tails had to admit that was true. "I'm sure he knows your smart. He's just not one to pointlessly groom someone's ego."
Tails decided tactfully not to say just how large Amy and Sonic's egos were already. A thought struck Tails, no, a realization.
"We're so much alike." He said.
"What?"
"Think about it. We both have no real family. Sonic took us both under his wing. And Amy, Sonic is my hero too, I just express it differently. Amy, I'm not going to bore you to death by telling you to put your life back together every three seconds. That's something you have to decide on your own."
"Tails, if I died would you be sad?"
"You shouldn't talk like that!"
"Please, would you? You said you cared. But do you? Tell me, would you be sad?"
"Amy how would you feel if I asked you if you would be sad if Sonic died?"
Amy realized she had stepped out of bounds.
"I'm sorry Tails I didn't mean to insult you like that. It's . . . why did you use Sonic as a comparison?"
"Came to my mind alright?" Their was the hint of panic in Tails voice, Amy was actually quite aware of people's moods and expressions, when she actually WANTED to pay attention to them. (which she chose not to do around Sonic) Amy realized something.
"Your kinda cute when your flustered."
Indecision again dammit! Just thank her!
"Thanks Amy." Was the reason he was so unsure what to do around her because when he had been brought into being the writers hadn't included anything for him on Amy? Maybe.
"No time to gawk
now, we got to find Amy!" Tails said fighting off his awe at the sheer
size of Eggman's airship.
He would do what he came to do!
"Amy, hey! Wanna
come see the Tornado Three? I just gave it its paint job yesterday! You
won't believe the stuff it can do now!" Maybe if he shared his dreams,
she could find her own.
Amy looked at him strangely.
"How can you
think of something like that at a time like this?" Bewilderment, not understanding
his thought process. Seeing Amy express something besides disappear made
Tails' heart leap. He hugged Amy. Tails broke the hug in a split second.
Amy's surprise was nothing compared to Tails', where had that
come from? But both had to admit, the hug felt good.
"I'll . . .
. I-I just need to comb my quills. And then we can head out." Amy had to
admit, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.
Over the years.
Tails had come under the impression Sonic Team didn't realize just how
much power their decisions had. Until Sonic Adventure, all the Sonic games
had been on the planet Mobius. Now they had all been on Earth. They had
always been Earth. Game continuity overrode all other media's, from the
comics to the television series. And until Sonic Adventure, they had simply
never said what planet they had been on. So the fans and anima writers
did their own thing. And Mobius was born. It would take time for it to
flow into the continuities, the comics and anima had their worlds all set
in place. But from now on, the stage would be Earth in the game world,
not Mobius.
Tails remembered
other pairings in different fictional worlds, and the writers had decided
to go another direction near the end of the series. The fans had NEVER
excepted it; they had their hearts set on a certain pairing, and it stayed
that way. Tails wondered where the majority of his nature came from, the
minds of Sonic Team, or in the minds of the players of the games . . .
Did a painting, live in the mind of the artist, or in the minds of the
people who view it. Or were the painting seen by the artist and the viewer
completely different? Where they even related?
Tails had to
admire that about fan fiction writers, no matter how little there was to
go on. They wrote. They created. They breathed life where Tails' copy righted
creators had failed. Tails thought of character bashers, those poor lost
souls, even when they wrote a story bashing a character he disliked as
well, he found himself unable to enjoy it. It was just so wrong to distort
reality just to express hatred. He thought of those who bashed the other
girls in Sonic's life just to express they liked Amy better. Expressing
hate to express love, there was something wrong there. Why couldn't they
just focus on Amy's good traits instead of focusing on the bad ones of
others? Or did they think she didn't have any good traits? And where they
looking for something to hate to express the frustration in their own lives?
Tails didn't know.
Tails had to
admit. Amy looked a lot more alive than she had before. Both fox and hedgehog
exited the living room into the hallway. With a purse over her shoulder,
(pink of course) Amy locked the door to her apartment. Tails fought the
urge to ask if they might change the lock on her while she was gone. He
didn't know her rent didn't come due for another two weeks.
"We gonna
see this new and improved plane of yours or not?"
Tails felt relieved that Amy being her normal cheerful self
again. Maybe all she needed was something to take her mind off of things
so he could come back to it with fresh perspectives.
"The train for
the Mystic Ruins will be departing soon." Came the female digitized voice.
After using his debit card (which he kept in his glove) to pay
for their train passage, they entered the train for the long trip to Mystic
Ruins. The player blacked out during this in Sonic Adventure to save data
space, Amy and Tails didn't have this luxury. The train trip always seemed
to last forever. Tails often wondered how he kept his sanity though all
this. He was seriously considering sneaking into Nintendo territory to
get himself a Game Boy.
Amy was in her own world during the entire trip. Skipping from
fantasy to fantasy, (most of them involving Sonic and a chapel) forgetting
everything around her. Soon she was in her favorite part, she was close
to Sonic, snuggling against warm fur, mixing her body heat with his, how
did that song from NiGHTS go? . . .
Every dream I can see, your not far away,
Any time, any place, I can see your face,
Your that special one I've been waiting for, and I hope your look-ikng for someone like me.
In-my-dreams, I can hear you calling me. . . .
In the night, everything's so sweet.
In your eyes . . . . I feel, there's so much inside.
In the night, hidden in light: I want see you standing there.
In the night, hidden in light: I felt someone who really cares.
In the night, hidden in light: I want see you smile again.
In the night, hidden in light: your the one I've waited
for . . .
It was like moving
in quick sand, every movement dragged her down so much more. There was
no way out. Suddenly, something had hold of her hand, and was pulling her
up though the darkness.
She move again, she could breath again, she could see again,
she could hear again. She hugged her savior. She looked into the person
eyes expecting to see Sonic's emerald eyes. She saw a pair of bright blue
eyes stareing into her soul with understanding and fellowship.
Amy awoke her
eyes opening seeing the inside of the train car and the stone tunnel that
covered the last part of the track to Mystic Ruins. The soft warm
thing she was holding she realized was Tails. She looked at him questionably.
"I didn't want to
wake you. I figured you needed some real sleep."
"Thank you.
How long before we get there?"
"I'd say seven
minutes."
Amy kept turning
the dream over in her mind. Sonic was her hero. She admired everything
about him, his bravery, his nobility, the fact he never let what other
people thought of him drag him down. But was that love? Did she know what
love was? Or had she read so many romance novels she had forgotten what
it really was? Love was just a word. And feelings were a lot more than
just words. Tails. She couldn't put word to what she felt about him. What
did that mean?
Flames, comments, reactions, suggestions, and the occasional constructive
criticism all welcome.
