Disclaimer: I own nothing here, not the Sonic characters, at the least, who belong to Sega… Only… the story is mine. And the original characters, and I'd like to keep them that way. Thank you. ^_^

Orin; "It's finished…"

Sonic: "About time."

Knuckles: *Raising an eyeridge*"I'd have to agree with Sonic on this… You're time-keeping is shot to Hell."

Orin: "So you delight in reminding me."

Sonic; "What're friends for?" ^__^

Knuckles; "Besides, if we didn't then who would?"

Orin; "Oh, so you mean those e-mails are something I can ignore?"

Knuckles; "You seem to be pulling it off quite nicely so far."

Sonic; "At least, if this release date is anything to go by."

Orin: "That's not ignoring, Damnit! I've been working!"

Knuckles; *Looking skeptical*"Uh-huh."

Sonic; *Mirroring Knuckles' look* "Right."

Orin; "I have!" *Waving her arms around emphatically and generally looking distressed*  "I needed that Christmas break just to survive!"

Knuckles; "But you did this over your break, out of the kindness of your heart?"

Orin; "Not exactly… the fans would've lynched me otherwise…"

*Silence*

Sonic; "Waitaminute. Fans? What fans?"

Orin; ¬_____¬*Sigh*

Knuckles; ^__^

WINTERHEART- Every Scar Is A Lesson Remembered.

Chapter 4.

Thin Ice.

I'm not the girl you knew before,

So here's the deal – there's the door.

You ran away – left me here

I've learned to live – lived in fear.

-- Except: Emerald Eyes, Hearts of Ice – Amy Rose.

                                    ***                              **                                ***

Amy was dreaming.

She knew this because she had never seen the gray memorial that stood before her, not with her waking eyes. Though she knew it well enough. She had seen it in her dreams before, and she had known she was dreaming then as well.

Because he had been alive then.

She knelt, slowly, watching the cool stone as if it would dissipate before her eyes if she took her gaze from it. There was no sorrow in her expression, and had the situation been real then she would have thought it inappropriate. But Amy was dreaming. So, it was not so out of place there. She could be dispassionate in her dreams, and angry and sad, and no one would ever know.

She wondered briefly if it were possible over time, for a touch to smooth out the letters so delicately carved. Once she had started, it seemed she could not bring her fingers to stop tracing that final letter 's' in ' Knuckles'. The tips followed the carved groove over and over again.

It felt cold. Every time she did it. The friction would not create heat.

Amy could feel the grass dimly beneath her feet, and she knew to the North lay an expanse of open grassland, untamed and untouched yet by Robotnik. She used to stargaze there as a child. The nights had been bright and chilly, but the spot was one of the best to see the night sky and still be safe.

There had been no headstone to obscure the view back then.

She frowned. She did not feel real, not like she usually did in her dreams. Amy felt as though she did not truly exist, and that was strange. She remembered the dream, and it had always felt 'actual' before. It was as though…

She closed her eyes carefully, felt her hand, still moving on autopilot. S. A simple letter. S was for the sunrise he had stood watching, not crying, because he did not believe his comrade was dead.

He had always been stubborn.

S was for stupid. Slow. Seeming…

S…For scar.  For Sonic.

A simple little letter, 'S'. So very versatile.

Amy knew she could sit there in her dream, perhaps forever, and it would not be long enough to erase the words from the stone. Logically, she also knew it was not doable anyway, knew that it was years of rain and wind and long frozen winters were what it took to turn rocks into dust. Geology, something she had learned as a child, the power of erosion. Amy could enunciate each syllable in her mind, shaping the word, knowing it made no difference at all. Grief could not wear down solid stone, no matter its strength.

But it would not happen anyway – the stone would not be there that long.

Because Sonic had been right. In his tenacity and unwillingness to believe – or willingness to believe - he had been the only one who knew the truth.

Him and Amy.

Despite the stone's cold, the air felt too warm to Amy, everything seemed too hot for it to be real. It was not raining; it was never raining when Amy wanted it to. It had not rained either when her father had died. It was not as though she had been expecting it that time. Not really. It was summer then, bright and warm. Not realistic. It was just- Movies. It always rained in movies.

And then there was the silence, a prelude of the something to come. It was an eerie, dead, empty silence, and a sense of stillness that was too profound to be real. Lack of motion, except for her moving hand – her beating heart. A noiseless world, not cloaked in white as in Sonic's dream. But his had been one born from guilt, and Amy had no guilt over Knuckles' fate.

Almost.

But… She should have been used to it anyway. By not acting she had caused it.

He was not dead though. And that much was real. Amy did not know how she knew it, she did not know how she knew a lot of things. And Sonic had not told her about Knuckles – he would not need to, she had known it before it ever came to pass.

It was her gift and it was her curse. To see an unalterable future, one set in a rock more solid than the marble of the tombstone in front of her. And the stillness echoed around her, gift or curse, or whatever it could be called.

Amy wrenched her gaze from the hewed stone, to the bleak sky above.

Because there was a storm coming…

*****

Amy awoke to darkness.

She immediately felt the soft brush of cool air on her face, the sensation of her own body trembling from within. There was a faint pain in her chest too, and for a while she just lay there wondering what it was and why she was feeling it.

She could sense the dampness on her face. She had not cried in her dreams… But sometimes she did not need to.

A familiar sense of warmth surrounded her; she could feel it ease her shaking. Encasing her in a shell of security. Amy felt… safe. But nothing had changed since she had fallen asleep, not really.  The window was ever so slightly open, and that was the source of the cool air. It looked stuck in place, and that was no surprise really… The mirror across the room was still turned partly to the wall, as though someone did not want to see their reflection looking back at them. The moon was lower in the sky. The night was clear, not a hint of red among the lightening blues and fading stars…

It took Amy a moment to recognize why a red hued sky seemed important.

A soundless gasp left her lips when she did, and despite her foreboding, she sat up abruptly. Then she cringed and stilled, eyes closed and silently praying that it had not stirred the still warmth next to her.

She need not have worried though, Sonic could sleep though Hell and high water – and still not wake until morning light.

Amy chanced to open her eyes when there were no signs of change from the cobalt hedgehog. Slightly surprised at Sonic's fatigue, she gave him a careful look. His breathing was slow and easy, and he took up most of the bed. Arrogant even in his sleep. He was completely silent as well. Amy remembered hearing his snores in her childhood – Sonic did snore, despite his protests to the contrary. He snored a lot and loudly.

Not any more it seemed.

And he dreamed too, it was another thing Amy remembered. He used to tell her of his dreams, because they had always been so bizarre they really merited telling. And he loved to talk.

No dreams now.

Though, from what Amy could tell of his recent events, it was a blessing.

She frowned, remembered she was supposed to hate him, and then glared some more at the inert hedgehog. It did not last long though, because as she was glaring, she was also looking and for the first time, it seemed, she was seeing as well. 

The previous night, she had been sure Sonic had not changed, not in the slightest. He had maintained the same mask of cool confidence she remembered. He was still immature and irresponsible. Quick to act and slow to think – although he had gotten them both to safety…

That was beside the point.

But Amy had been wrong. There was no other way to say it.

As he slept there in the half-light and Amy sat next to him, still feeling safe and warm, if a little resentful, she was forced to see it.

The change.

There was the scar. It was somehow brighter in the semi-darkness than it had been by streetlight.  It tore a path down the left side of his face, marring perfect features, imprinting a sense of injury on Sonic, even though the scar was faded and look very much healed. That it was a scar in itself, showed its import.

Wounds heal. Scars are forever.

And the longer Amy looked at Sonic, sleeping silently, the more she could see the change in him. After a few minutes, the hedgehog lying next to her was barely recognizable to Amy. He was hard to reconcile with the Sonic she remembered. There was an unfamiliar hardness to his face, something worn away. His features were relaxed, eyelashes longer than she had imagined, fur darker in the shadowed light. Almost… black.

She shivered.

Then she peered more closely, trying to see where the changes were. Somewhere around his eyes perhaps? Maybe they were harder, even closed. Maybe they would hold a certain knowledge- as they had last night – when open. She could not find exactly what was different, but Amy knew it was there, just beneath the surface.

His mouth looked soft and the same. That was not it…

She leaned closer; close enough to almost touch noses with Sonic. Tilted her head, lost in exploration, and her breath caught.

Oh.

She figured it out.

Sonic did not look like the infallible hero asleep; he looked just like anyone else would.

The things he had been though- 

No.

What he had put her though. He deserved whatever pain he got. More even. And she hated him. She hated him still. She would always hate him.

Amy felt cold then. She shivered again.

She had to get out; he was so close, too close. And he was warm and tired and looked breakable lying out like that, unaware. Nothing like how he should look, how she knew him to be.

Because it was not the Sonic she knew, she had to get out before she could feel compassion that would follow at the image the cobalt Freedom Fighter presented in his sleep. Because however he looked, he did not warrant her compassion. She reserved that for those who deserved it.

Amy shivered again. She raised her eyes to look out the window, and then after another moment, averted her gaze.

Sonic shifted restlessly in his sleep. Amy gave him a quick glance and at his troubled expression, her hesitation resolved itself into a solid decision. She looked up again.

The door.

Her feet touched soundlessly on soft carpet.

Her escape.

*****

Sonic blinked his eyes open slowly, he knew instinctively that he was alone. There was emptiness in the bed next to him, where Amy Rose should have been. And a growing sense of dread in the hedgehog as he realized that she was not there.

He froze. Carefully he relaxed again, half of him not wanting to move.

She was gone. Out of the bedroom at least. That did not mean she had left the apartment. She was not that naive…

A low growl echoed around the room. Sonic's eyes were slitted and angry when he opened them. She was Amy Rose, of course she was that naive. Quickly, he turned his head and throwing the window a resentful glance, realized that the sun was still rising. Barely a night's sleep. He stretched out his arm, moving over the mattress carefully.

The bed was cold. She was long gone. Just like that.

She had left. No thank you. No goodbye – or even a 'see you later'. Nothing at all.

"Ungrateful little minx," Sonic muttered, sitting up slowly. The hedgehog rotated his shoulders once, still glaring around the room. Nothing had changed since he had fallen asleep, his guitar still lay, leaning against the wall, the mirror was slightly turned, the window still half open.

He really needed to get that fixed.

His breath was short but even. He would not panic. She was probably sulking in the kitchen, or the bathroom, or lounge. She would not have left. Her home was gone in a blaze of fire and fury so she had nowhere to go. And there was a gluttonous dictator after her pretty neck so-

 "Aw, Damnit!"

The bed was empty and Sonic out of the room before the syllables faded into silence. She was Amy Rose. Of course she would have left…

"Stupid little- I'm supposed to be the reckless one!"

The hedgehog's footsteps sounded out on the floor, though he was barefoot.

"Yeah, right."

He stomped from one room to the next, searching for Amy – knowing she would not be there.

A low growl.

Sonic reappeared in the bedroom, reached under the bed in a smooth motion and pulled out a worn pair of red sneakers, then sat and pulled them on roughly. His movements were jerky and uneven.

"I'm not the one who goes strolling around the city the day after a nutcase like Robotnik sends a squadron of crazed bots after my head…"

That said; the hedgehog grimaced, his mind racing ahead to all the places Amy could be. If he were honest with himself, Sonic could admit that he did not have the first clue where to begin. Her apartment was a burned, skeletal mess, not worth visiting. But it was about the only place Sonic knew to look.

Because Amy was in danger, and Sonic had been sleeping while she could be dead – or worse.

"I'm gonna' kill her," he snarled softly. Then he stilled.

Because that was a lie. Because killing her would mean more blood on his hands – though it might make Sonic feel a little better for a bit. Because killing her would mean one more friend dead, and another death on his hands. And more blood.

He was tired of the blood.

And afraid.

He closed his eyes. Fought the urge to race out the door full pelt, and instead remained still. Or as still as he could, considering his heart was racing a-mile-a-minute.

Afraid because Robotnik was after her, specifically her and he had no idea why, and she should not have rushed off without thinking – or telling.

And afraid because Amy Rose knew better than to run off when something like that happened.

What had changed?

Sonic fought a wince. The thought briefly occurred to him that the reason she had left was because she could not stand to be near him. Though he had no concept why she seemed to hate him, it had become quickly obvious to him the night before that Amy was not the hero-worshipping girl he remembered.

And he thought it stranger still to find that he missed it…

Or her.

His hands clenched and he curled his fingers around the softness of the sheets beneath him in an involuntary gesture.

"Damnit," he said again.

He had to find her. He would not lose another. He would not… He-

He was tearing down the hallway when the phone in his apartment rang.

Sonic stopped. Momentarily, he debated, indecision halting his momentum somewhere between forward and pausing. 

It rang again.

He gritted his teeth, turned back against his will. Past experience had taught Sonic that sometimes it was better to wait and listen than to tear out the door, guns blazing. And he still had no notion where to look anyway.

If he was lucky, it would be Amy, and she would be apologizing and telling him just where she was and that she was fine, and asking that he come get her and keep her safe, just like he used to….

It was not.

"Sonic?"

It took a moment for his mind to place the familiar voice over the connection. Sonic blinked. Then he relaxed slightly.

"Tails…"

"You're okay!" The fox must have recognized certain weariness in Sonic's voice, because he added – "You are okay, right?  I was worried."

"I'm fine, Mom."

The hedgehog had forgotten all about his companion amid all his rushing. He was secretly glad to discover that Tails was not peeved at his disappearance, and gladder still to know the fox was okay. He grinned briefly into the headset at Tails' sigh.  Because Tails knew better than to rebuke the hedgehog. It would only fall on deaf ears anyway.

"You're-"

"Fine," Sonic repeated harshly. Then he gritted his teeth, regretting the outburst, and made the effort to soften his voice. "Not a scratch, Tails. Trust me."

There was a short silence, followed by another sigh. "Uh-huh…" Sonic could picture Tails shaking his head.  "Where've I heard that one before?" The fox sounded more cynical than was befitting his age. "Well, in case you were wondering-"  Tails began pointedly.

Ah, there it was, not as harsh as Sally, or as Sonic would have expected, but reproving nonetheless.

"I'm at the hospital," Tails finished.

Suddenly Amy fled from his mind, replaced by real fear for Tails.

"Hospital?" Sonic's voice was a few octaves higher than was normal, and he could not keep the panicked note from surfacing in his voice. Bloody images flooded him mind, along with a rush of renewed guilt. He should not have left the fox so quickly, should have checked in on him as soon as Amy was safe, should have - "Why? Are you hurt? What-?"

"I'm fine," Tails assured, and after a moment added, "Mom."

Sonic blinked when he heard the definite smirk to Tail's voice. He scowled, "What're you doing there then?"

"Helping out with survivors from last night's fire… No fatalities by the way… Thanks to a certain hedgehog."

Sonic blinked. "Really?"

He had completely forgotten to bask in the glory of his daring rescue.

Again, he could visualize Tails' smile. "Yup. People are still talking about your rescue."

"No surprise there," Sonic said absentmindedly. It came out on automatic more than anything else. And there was no pride to the statement.

"And Amy's here too."

Sonic blinked. Blinked again.

"What, where?"

"Here," Tails told him. He sounded slightly annoyed that he had to repeat himself.  "In the hospital – and she's fine too." He said it before Sonic could ask. "She was off today, but she told me she couldn't stay away."

Sonic was lost. And just to prove it-

"Huh?"

A crackle sounded over the handset. Tails was sighing.

"From the hospital," Tails said it slowly, with the air of one dealing with someone inherently stupid. "Where she works…? As an intern? You knew that, right?"

The silence told the fox that, no obviously, Sonic was one of the few that did not know.

Sonic leaned against the wall in his surprise. He frowned idly at the door before him. Amy was a nurse… Or almost at least. But she was too young, still a child really. Only, she was older than Tails by a little, and Sonic did not count the fox as a child anymore. Experience had aged him beyond that. But Amy… She did not have that experience.

She was…

His frown deepened. Because as soon as the thought fluttered past, doubt followed after. From the previous night, her eyes on his own were burned into his mind, like shards of hardened emerald. They were nothing like Tails'. But they were not the eyes of a child either.

She knew hate. Children did not. The moment they did, they ceased to be children.

So Amy Rose was no child… But still.

A nurse? Where had that come from? She had never shown any interest in it before. Not in all the time he had known her.

Sonic had to blink again as his mind backtracked.

She had never taken to fighting much. Preferring to help out before, and afterwards… And she could tie a bandage better than anyone Sonic had known as a child, but still… Amy had always wanted to be a great actor, or singer or dancer, one or the other, as long as he could recall…

It was a definite fact that Sonic remembered Amy's voice was not so irritating in song.

"Sonic!"

He gave a small jump, almost whacked his head against the wall. Then glared momentarily at the telephone. He also had to blink again. "Wha-?"

"Are you even listening to me?" Tails sounded upset.

"Of course!" Another habit of concurrence that was said on automatic. Sonic did that a lot. Particularly when dealing with Sally. It seemed more often with Tails as well…

"Right."

Silence.

Another sigh. Though this one sounded more like a familiar vulpine growl to Sonic.

"I said…. I'm heading back to Knothole, okay? Sally wanted me back to help her do an overhaul on Nicole. Y'know she only let me go with you for a day or two."

The hedgehog nodded. He felt a sudden sense of relief that Tails was leaving.

"I know. Time's up."

Sonic did not mention anything of his suspicions of Robotnik to his companion. He felt better that Tails would not be there, whatever happened.

"Yeah…  just- I wanted to see… I couldn't go home without-" More silence, then, "I'm glad you're okay, Sonic."

Sonic closed his eyes briefly. Of course Tails had been worried, it ran both ways. He mentally gave himself a kick. It was all the fox needed, to be put through the mental anguish of not knowing, all over again.

Very softly, "I know. Thanks, kid."

It was the best Sonic could do.

"S'okay" Tails had a shrug to go with his voice. It did not fool Sonic for a second.

"I… Well, I guess I'll see you in a few weeks?"

"Uh-huh. I guess."

Sonic hated farewells. He never knew what to say. And he sucked at them as well.

"Okay then… Um, g'bye Sonic."

"Wait, Tails!"

"Yeah?" The note of hope in the fox's voice nearly hurt Sonic on a physical level. He knew what Tails was waiting to hear – you don't have to go. Stay. Help. Or, I'll miss you. I was worried too… - and a hundred different responses Sonic could have said.

"What's the name? Of the hospital," was exactly what emerged from Sonic's lips.

"Oh… Um… Mercy."

 The disappointment in Tails' voice was palatable. "The Mercy Hospital," he clarified, "It's off Seaview Terrace, Y'know it?"

Yeah," Sonic made a mental map, picking out the best route there, but before Tails could hang up…

"Take care, kid."

"I will, Sonic." The relief and surprise there made Sonic feel a little better, "You too." Because whatever happened, Tails would be safe He could not have asked the fox to stay. He would never have asked.

Sonic hung up and was out the door in the next heartbeat.

******

Sonic hated hospitals.

They were big, and white, and smelled funny, and this particular hospital bordered on excessively oversized. In other words, Sonic was lost. And he had been for some time.

He knew hospitals were places to help people, and so completely necessary though. Useful too. He had been in a few in his lifetime. But they were places for the sick as well, the dying. He hated that. Sonic had never been one to sit down and peacefully accept, be it something as simple as a common cold, or as life threatening as an ambushing squadron of SWAT-Bots.

"I HATE YOU!"

It was a child's scream, and it sounded out, shrill and hitched, angry, bitter and grief-stricken all in one. The fading sounds echoed in the pristine hallway.

"You promised! You said- You said that he was all right!"

Sonic's pace slowed slightly at the sound and he frowned as the orderly hurried past him eyes down as though the screaming someone just around the corner did not exist. That her anguish was simply not there.

It was another thing Sonic hated about hospitals – the way the staff could turn on the indifference without a second thought.

"Y- You lied! You said- I believed you!"

The hedgehog stopped short of turning the corner. He was still frowning as he rested a hand against the wall. The child's voice was becoming unintelligible through her sobs. But her torment rang out loud and clear.

"I believed in you!"

The hedgehog found his fists clenching unconsciously at the sound. He had wanted to do just the same thing not so long ago. To scream and tear at all those who came close. And to cry… And it was so easy to fall into blame. He could have blamed Sally, or Tails… so, so easy.

"YOU COULDN'T SAVE HIM!"

The emerald eyes closed briefly and Sonic swallowed. Then he straightened with conscious effort. Of all the times to lose it – and after so long. Sonic gave his head a brief impatient shake. He squared slender shoulders. It was not Sally's fault, no more than it was Tails'… With a deep breath he stepped around the corner –

And was halted in his tracks.

They were both shaking, and both from grief. The little girl's lips trembled madly and her body shook with badly suppressed sobs. Not far beyond her stood an older lady, perhaps her mother, perhaps just a guardian, Sonic could not know. She leaned against the wall, much in the same manner as Sonic had done earlier, and she looked as though it was the only thing holding her up.

But beyond them both was the focus of the child's ire.

Amy Rose was shaking too, harder than even the child. Her shoulders were slumped, eyes and head downcast. She stared at the floor, unable to meet her accuser's fury. In one hand was a small deck of cards. The fist that held those cards was trembling too. Sonic could see the knuckles whiten as she gripped them tighter and all thoughts of the chewing out he had intended to give to Amy, fled.

"I gave you flowers!" the child screamed. Her little fists flew about in rage, hair and ears flying in agitation. "You said my daddy was okay and I gave you flowers!" She seemed to search for words to express herself further, and seemed not to find any, so she threw back her head and she screamed. Her voice tore and Sonic winced at the ripping sound, knowing how it must burn her throat, and still she screamed.

Amy wilted. The pink hedgehog lifted a trembling hand. Her face lifted, Sonic saw her eyes shining with unshed tears across the distance between her and the anguished child.

"Ella," she whispered, " I-"

"SHUT UP!" The little girl drew back at the pleading and hurt in Amy's eyes. "Just shut UP!"

Sonic read the hate in her expression as she rounded on the trainee nurse with a vengeance.

"Shut up! You promised! You lied to me!"

Amy's hand dropped.

"I know, Ella, and I'm sor-"

"I hate you! I hateyouIhateyouIhateyou!! I HATE YOU!" There was a flurry or movement from Ella and she propelled herself forward, fists flying and breath seething. She looked as though she wanted nothing better than to kill the pink hedgehog with her little fists and feet.

"I HATE YOU!"

She impacted with something soft and threw a quick inexperienced jab. A gloved fist caught it gently, but firmly enough that when Ella drew back in surprise it did not release her.

She blinked at the cobalt hedgehog who had the audacity to intercede between her and her target. She blinked because she abruptly realized that his eyes seemed sad, and he looked as though he understood just how she felt.

But he could not. Her daddy was dying, and nurse Amy had said he would be all right, and she had even done a reading with those magical cards of hers, and she had said that Ella would be happy. And this stranger with green eyes, who looked sad and still held her fist, was helping nurse Amy. He was one of nurse Amy's friends.

She hated him too. Even though he looked like her daddy did sometimes, like he knew lots of things about the world and that was why he was sad…

But she hated him, because he helped nurse Amy.

With a canine growl, Ella withdrew her hand. Just as quickly the other lashed out and it caught Sonic on the side of the face.

"I hate you too!"

He did not even flinch as the little girl slapped him again. Instead Sonic closed his eyes. It hurt to look at her. So close… And all that anger. No one should have to suffer so young. He did not see her turn and race away. He only heard the subdued slapping of her tiny feet across the tiled floor as she retreated. That, and the fading echo of her sobs.

With a silent sigh, he rose to his feet.

"You didn't need to do that," came the soft voice behind him.

Sonic turned to look at Amy. The pink hedgehog faced him with total equanimity; all traces of emotion on her face seemed to have vanished. Except for the ever-present resentment directed at him. The one that Sonic was beginning to associate with Amy Rose. The cards were still clenched tightly in one hand. Her other was caught on her orderly's uniform, and she twisted it between nervous fingers. It looked as though she was expecting an argument. Heck, it looked to Sonic as though she wanted one.

The hedgehog was suddenly weary. His face stung lightly with the dying resonance of Ella's furious slap.

Pain… Sonic was tired of it. He was tired of feeling it, of seeing it. Amy's pain, Tails' pain Sally's, little Ella's. It seemed to be everywhere he looked. There was no escape.

"I don't need your help," Amy was saying quietly. As usual, her voice was tipped in steel.

Sonic felt the old rise of irritation in him at the ice to her tone. Even through the weariness. No one talked like that to Sonic the Hedgehog, not even Amy. And he had just saved her from another bout of pain, again.

But instead of throwing back a harsh reply, he gritted his teeth. Diplomacy, Sally said it was. She also it was one of those traits that Sonic was severely lacking. He was beginning to understand just what went on behind the calmness of the Princess, if she felt a fraction of the emotions that he felt while trying to rein in his anger. Because he wanted nothing more in that instant than to tell Amy that she was still a ditzy, wailing brat, despite the added age and attire.

"You left without saying goodbye," was what he said instead.

Amy seemed taken aback at his reply, and Sonic felt a slight rush of satisfaction at her shock. But her eyes narrowed then and she tilted her head insolently.

"So what?" her mouth twisted, "You do it often enough."

With that, she wheeled and stalked away.

But Sonic was finished with tiptoeing around to save face and feelings. He caught up with her in the space of a heartbeat. His own ire rose to match hers as he fell easily into step with Amy.

"Nice to see you're still a spoiled brat," he said offhandedly. Diplomacy could be damned.

Amy stiffened, but did not slow.

"Funny," she murmured, and he caught a flicker of green eyes in his direction, "I was just thinking the same thing about you."

Sonic smirked brutally.

"And those toys of yours," he gestured to her hand and the tarot cards it held. "You still con people into thinking those things actually work?"

He chuckled bitterly.

"No wonder that kid was so piss-"

She rounded on him, and her eyes burned with fury.

"Shut up!" she hissed. But Sonic had enough. He was sick of the antagonism thrown his way. Without a cause or reason. He was sick of running.

"Shut up?" he looked at her, then sneered, "Time was, when you'd have payed me to talk to you."

"I said, shut up!"

A smirk.

"What did you tell her, huh? That her dad was fine?" The hedgehog stopped at a doorway, he made a show of considering,  "Isn't that against hospital policy or something? Giving false hope to a patient like that-"

He had been expecting the fist Amy flung in his direction. The female of the species were all the same that way. So predictable. So Sonic dodged it without even thinking.

What he did not expect was for Amy to launch herself at him bodily. She was growling, and it was suspiciously like the furious rumble he had heard from Ella – in its echo of timbre and fury.

He caught her, but the momentum sent them both stumbling, through the doorway and into the empty room beyond.

"False hope…"

The whisper came from Amy of course. Sonic looked down at her, still in his arms, caught haphazardly. Her head was partially buried against his chest. She was warm. Her face though, was set in stone.

"Or denial." She looked up at him. "You can see, Sonic, but it's only in the white blindness of your dreams… white as an untarnished glove."

Sonic felt his face heat even as his mind raced through her words, and brought images to the fore of their meaning. White blindness? And all that blood…?

With a grimace of something between distaste and horror Sonic released Amy. Even as he pulled himself unsteadily to his feet, and saw that she was trembling again, he made no move to help her stand.

White blindness? Snow… But she could not know. There was not way- No one knew.

"Don't you think I want to deny it?"

Sonic stilled. Amy was looking at him and her gaze burned.

"She asked me to. She-she wanted to know, she said. They all do. And if it's not what they want to hear, then they get angry with me. They… hate me for it, because I tell the truth!"

Sudden understanding dawned in Sonic's eyes when she turned her head back down, looking at the floor clean and white. But he was able to deny it to himself for the moment. It was easier to deny. It was.

"So, it's easier to lie then?" He already knew the answer. He wondered if she did.

Amy shivered. Her voice was very small. "I saw it. I saw him-" She shivered again. "Sometimes they're wrong. Sometimes…"

Sonic stared. She seemed to believe in her beloved cards still… He shook his head, and though Amy could not see him, she stiffened. Her head jerked up and she fixed him with a blind gaze.

"Yes. I believe in them. I have to believe in something! And they're the only things I can rely on."

She watched his mouth work soundlessly. There was still disbelief in his eyes, but there was a horrified comprehension as well. He shook his head, but he was finally beginning to see. He was beginning to know what she had been burdened to know all her life.

"Because I can't rely on you!"

Still denying, Sonic continued to shake his head. "W- What're you talking about?" His voice lacked conviction. "How did you-?"

"You didn't stay!" she cried suddenly. The pink hedgehog whirled on him furiously, her face awash with accusation.

"You left! You left me- You left all of us here! You thought your work was done and you left! You didn't stay to see- to pull the bodies out of the rubble and the water. You didn't stay to help dig the graves - or see the children-"

She threw the words at him like poison, a part of her knowing they were cruel, but wanting him to bleed as she was bleeding. Wanting Sonic to hurt as she had been hurting for two long years.

The color drained from his face. She could see his struggle.

"Amy I-"

But she would not let him speak; he was drowning, and for once, she wanted to see him flounder, the conquering hero reduced to something useless - helpless. Like her.

So Amy went on instead.

"You left! After Chaos! And I saw it alone! I saw it again - alone! I saw it in my dreams, my nightmares, and I never said anything and then I saw them in the light of day! I didn't say anything Sonic! Then I saw them by the light of day!"

She was not crying. Considering, of that she was proud of herself. There were things more important in her life to cry over this now. Whether or not someone who had been as cruel to her as Sonic had been, saw her cry, did not matter.

"Everything's so real in the daytime..." came her whisper, "It wasn't even raining. Sunny and warm, hot even and we pulled the dead bodies out of the water. Searched for survivors in the rubble. Listened for the cries underneath-"

She knew Sonic could see the way she shattered, even as she shut her eyes tightly. Her mouth thinned into a harsh line, and her hands trembled. She did not move, but she quivered where she stood.

Sonic too, remained still. And the pain echoed around them both, in the silence.

Then.

"But you were gone." A harsh whisper, rising in volume with every word, until she was screaming at him all her pain. "So I had to see it ALONE!"

The tears that threatened to come prickled behind closed eyelids. She would not let them.

She had run. He had run. In the end it had come to this.

"Chaos was what he was. He was hurt, and scarred," her eyes made a momentary flicker to Sonic's own scar, but relentless, she went on.

"But you had no reason. You had the choice, when all was said and done. You could have stayed, and you could have helped. Instead, you chose to go. And I was left with the bodies of the dead."

Sonic flinched. But still he did not speak.

"I was a child then. But when I saw-"

She stopped. And Sonic saw her gather that unfamiliar poise, her frame radiating a composure that was alien for such a young girl.

Amy smiled a fleeting bitter smile; there and then gone.

"You left me alone, Sonic," she said in a breath. Her eyes reopened. Her words so precise, so final, that they drove into Sonic like the sharp point of a needle.

"And then that child died."

With dignity, the young hedgehog turned from the taller form, and walked out the door. She did not look back.

*****

"Sir, our surveillance has picked up the subject."

"Heading?"

It came from the shadows. Behind R-695. He had not even known Maser was there, and his observation had been made to the comm.-link on the motherboard before him. But the  robot showed no surprise. He supposed idly that Master had not programmed him to feel any, because, indeed, he felt none.

"Outside of Mercy Hospital, exact destination unknown, but with current bearing it is estimated to be Sunsand Beach."

"Taking a sunset stroll along the sand is she?"

There was a chuckle in the darkness.

"Sir?"

His master seemed to find something funny. But then, his Master did that sometimes anyway – chuckled for no discernable reason. Only it was never just that, he knew. Master always had his reasons.

"Is the 'retreat' ready?"

"Sir. And waiting."

"Good… Good…"

More silence. He really had no desire to hurry Master, but R-695 felt that his Master did had a point to reach. Sometimes his Masters genius overshadowed his cognitive processes and Master was left lost in the flurry of his thoughts.

"Should I take action, Sir?"

"What?"

R-695 did not hurry Master. He waited for his Master to make the decision, though he had an idea what it was going to be.

"She is alone?"

"Yes, Sir."

"And those cards?"

"We were unable to locate them, Sir. It is most likely she has them in her possession."

"Yes, most likely…"

Another chuckle, "Well then, proceed… In fact… send in the Eggs-terminator… heh, heh…"

Master was laughing. Master did that too, when he had thought up a particularly nefarious plan. R-695 nodded obediently. He did not laugh. He was not programmed to. 

His Master was grinning behind him. He could see the reflection on the glass screen bin front of his display sensors

"It's time for phase two…"

*****

To Be Continued…

*****

That's it. More ASAP. And I mean that. I'll work on the next chapter as much as I can. Hopefully, in a few weeks I'll have a laptop – so it means that there's be computer access at the house. Because I'll not take my 'baby' away from home least something go wrong and she be damaged. My lil' computer is very sensitive. ^_^

Besides, I'm terrified of it behind stolen. Kerry is much safer than Dublin to live.

I have to apologize for the length of this chapter; it's too long still, even though I cut parts out. And Sorry too tardiness -

Sonic; "And the crapiness."

Orin; "Yes. And the crapiness."

Sonic; O___o "Is she agreeing with me?"

Knuckles; "I think it's more out of exhaustion than anything else."

Orin; "Yup."

Knuckles; "And the fact that you become quite obnoxious when she doesn't"

Sonic; "Hey!"

Orin; "Yup."

Sonic: *Mumbles incoherently, but we get the general idea that he's slightly irked*

I wouldn't be surprised if most of those actually following this arc have gotten bored with the waiting. I know I probably would've. And since the quality of this chapter is poor-

Sonic: "You got that right!"

Ahem!

Knuckles; "He's sorry." *Twacks Sonic upside the head* "Please go on."

Sonic: *Glaring* "Ow!" *Looks at Orin* "Or not. You could just stop. Writing, I mean…"

Believe it or not, I was thinking the same thing.

Sonic: O__o

Knuckles: O___o

To be honest, I seem to have run out of energy, and time. So, once this arc is over. I may take a break. A long one…

Sonic: O__o

Knuckles: o____O

I love writing. But life comes first.

Huggles & Take Care

Orin.